After over a year from his release, Relv, now having taken on the name of the Black Paladin, returns to the town of Ponyville to relax his mind from another day of work. What follows is a mental journey through his past, in which he realizes what made him the Black Paladin, who he truly is, and what hope truly means.

Note: This story is somewhat-oddly told. The prologue and epilogue take place in the "present". Each main chapter is split into two separate stories about Relv's life before and during prison that correlate with each other.