I looked out at my friends on the other side of the barrier right in front of me. I wanted to call out to them to help me, but I wasn’t sure if they even could. Even if they could get through this barrier that came out of nowhere, I had a gun pressed to the back of my head. I wanted to teleport away, hopping that could save me. Which was faster, pulling a trigger or my spell. I `already knew the answer, and it wasn’t pleasant.

My friends just looked at me, rage written on their faces. Aura’s talon was on her energy spear, but she didn’t draw it. Stardust looked ready to jump into the air and attack whoever was holding the gun to my head. Wingnut looked shocked, as if he had no idea what he should do. The only one who didn’t look angry was Silver, her eyes were widen, she looked frightened.

Whoever was behind me, went through a lot to trap me here. That was if they were even after me. With my luck it was another one of the Sins I hadn’t met yet or another hopeful bounty hunter. So the only thing I figured I could do was try and talk my way out it, “Don’t move you evil bitch? That’s a new one.”

The gun pressed harder against the back of my skull as the deep voiced pony behind me said, “You shouldn’t talk either, you’ll make my gun angry. She shoots things when she’s angry,” from behind me I heard another pony facehoofed.

“You better let her go. If you don’t I’ll kill you where you stand.” Stardust said from the other side of the barrier.

I heard the other pony’s voice, it was smoother than the first but sounded similar, “I’m sorry but we can’t do that. Do you have any idea what you’ve been traveling with?”

“Yes, she’s my friend, let her go.”

“Shut your trap, you don’t understand what’s goin’ on here,” the first pony said.

“I’D like to know what’s going on here!” I interrupted.

“You don’t get a say in this,” he snapped at me.

Deciding I was tired of always having guns pointed at me I ducked down, twisted and smacked his gun aside. Using my magic I lifted Dream Walker and pointed it at him. The other Stallion lifted a beautifully engraved pistol toward me. He didn’t say a word. He only pointed at me as I pointed my own at the other stallion.

“Put down your gun or I’ll blow his head off,” I warned.

“Do that, and you I’ll blow yours off,” he said as his magic pulled back on the hammer.

I took a moment to look at the two who’d ambushed us. One thing was for sure, they weren’t Sins, or at least they didn’t look like they were. Both were unicorns, the one I had my gun pointed at was a little shorter than Stardust, with a tan coat, with a short blond mane and tail, and green eyes. His cutiemark was…is that a pie? The other was a lot taller, he also had a tan coat, with a long brown mane and green eyes like the other. His cutiemark was a leather-bound book with a strange symbol on the cover. They were both wearing flannel shirts…in the hot Wasteland…that was…interesting.

Aura and Stardust came up next to me, their weapons drawn. Aura smiled at the two, “Seems to me like you idiots are outnumbered.”

“We’ve been in worse situations. Why are you protecting a possessed pony anyway?” the shorter one said.

“Who are you two and what do you mean by possessed?” I asked, still not lowering my gun.

“Squirrel, maybe they don’t know. Did you ever think about that?” the tall pony asked.

It was then that I noticed that the taller one had a Pip-Buck. Are they Stable Ponies? Maybe just the tall one, unless the one called Squirrel lost his or got rid of it. Putting that aside, I got my mind back to what was going on, “Can you two explain to us why you came after me, or what you want.”

“Yeah and what’s this glowing symbol on the ground?” Wingnut asked walking up to us, ignoring the drawn weapons and looking around at the strange glowing lines in the shape of a circled star.

As Wingnut walked up, the taller pony finally lowered his weapon, “Damn, I can’t do this in front of a kid.”

“Do what?” Wingnut asked giving him an odd look, “And I’m not a kid.”

Squirrel looked back at his companion, “What are you doing Moose?”

“Squirrel, are we even sure she’s possessed? I mean come on, she’s just a kid herself. If she was possessed, wouldn’t she have done something by now?”

This was getting really weird, at least they weren’t pointing guns at us anymore. Squirrel cursed and turned his back on me, ignoring the weapons still pointed at him, “We’ve been hunting her down for a week. You saw what happened back near Hidden Sands. The Devil’s Trap worked on her, and not on the others. What proof do you need? Let’s kill the bitch and get this over with, I’m hungry.”

“You just ate.”

“Yeah, like an hour ago. I need a hayburger lathered with cheese.”

“What the fuck do you two want!” Aura finally yelled. She looked like she was ready to dice them in to tiny little stallion nuggets.

The taller pony…Moose I guess…sighed and turned back to face us, “I’m Moose, this is my brother Squirrel. We’re hunters, we’ve been tracking her for a little over a week, ever since we saw her fight with those griffons just outside Hidden Sands.”

Squirrel threw his hooves into the air, “Oh yeah, just tell them why dontcha. Good job Moose. What’ll you tell them next, huh? Gonna tell them that we’re after The Demon Slayer.”

I got a funny look and mouthed the words, “Demon Slayer?”

“To late now dumbass,” Moose said rolling his eyes.

“Okay, so I’m gonna leave now. You guys are crazy,” I turned to walk away then face-planted into the barrier like a bird hitting a window. Oh yeah, almost forgot about the fucking barrier, “Can you please get rid of this thing?”

They both looked at my friends and I and Squirrel said, “No way, we’ve been planning this for days. We’re not letting you get away.”

“Uuggh, c’mon. I said please,” I said then sat down, “I don’t know what you saw or what you want, but I’m sure you’ve got the wrong mare. I’m just a courier for Equestrian Express.”

“‘Fraid not, we saw you turn into something else. You used some pretty wild spells and took down one of the griffons and almost another,” Moose said.

“Then you went and stabbed yourself and changed back. You got a demon livin’ inside you kid. I’m sure you know that already though,” Squirrel added.

Did they mean Morning Star? What did they know about her? More than I knew from the sound of it. Might as well see what else they can tell me, “I still don’t understand what happened to me back there. All I know is that something inside me let me use its power to fight the griffons. If it didn’t lend me it’s power I’d be dead. I don’t know if I’m just crazy or what, but you’re not wrong that I’ve been hearing things inside my head.”

My friends all looked over at me with concerned looks on their faces. Aura spoke up, “Why didn’t you tell us about this Shadow?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about me, or think I was going nuts.”

“Shadow, I’d never think you were crazy. Stupid maybe, but not crazy,” Stardust said with a smirk.

“I dunno…hearing things in your head is a little crazy,” Aura said getting close and looking into my eyes, “I mean you’ve been through a lot recently. It’s possible your mind is trying to compensate for the stress.”

“Or she’s possessed by a demon,” Squirrel threw in.

“Demons aren’t real,” Aura shot back.

Wingnut just sat there watching us, his head switching between us and the brothers. Moose sighed, “Demons ARE real. Zebra’s call them star spawns, creatures of the stars that come down to kill or possess ponies and zebras alike. They have a whole lore revolved around it and it’s one of the reasons they fear and yet respect the stars. Personally, I don’t think they’re spirits, but there’s a lot of things we’ve seen over the years to show that anything could be real. You’re the first pony we’ve seen that’s been possessed by one.”

“So…you don’t think I’m crazy. You think I have some star thingy living inside me?” yep they’re both nuts. I’d rather go with me going insane, than an evil spirit living inside me.

“In a way, yeah,” Squirrel said.

“Yeah, fuck that. I’m leaving, let me out of this stupid thing,” I said pulling out Dream Walker again.

“We can prove it, and if we’re right we can exorcize it.”

“No way, I’m not letting two ponies I don’t know just cast spells on me.”

“Well Moose, we tried it your way. Can we just shoot the bitch now?”

“No! Just make sure her friends don’t get in the way,” Moose said.

“Fine,” he replied and his horn glowed.

His magic surrounded my friends and they froze in place. Their eyes were moving, but it looked like they couldn’t even speak. I backed up against the barrier and watched as Moose walked close to me, “Stay away from me you freak!”

I brought up Dream Walker and fired, but the stallion’s horn glowed and he vanished and reappeared a moment later right next to me. Before I could fire again he hit the gun out of my magic, then drew a quick circle on the ground in front of me with three stars in the middle, and started to chant, “Come Forth Demon of the stars, reveal to us you’re true from, so we may gaze upon your visage.”

For a second nothing happened. I smiled, “See you’re both wrong…” then the pain hit me.

I started to scream as her voice started to laugh in my head, saying, “Oh I like these two. Who would’ve known there are two unicorns in The Wasteland who know old Zebra spells.”

I held my hooves to my head and yelled, “Go away, I’m not letting you in again.”

The circle Moose drew started to glow red and the pain in my head doubled. I fell to my side screaming louder as Morning Star started to laugh louder. Then I felt my hooves move on their own and I stood. My lips pulled up into a grin as I said in a voice not my own, “Very good boys. Where have you been all my life?”

No…no-no-no-no, please no. I thought to myself as I started to walk slowly toward Moose who was backing away a little, his horn still glowing, “I take it you’re the demon. What’s your name?”

I looked around the bigger magic circle that was keeping me trapped. I frowned, “I didn’t know there were traps for beings such as myself. How’d you ever find something like this?”

“Shut up you evil bitch, it’s time for you to die,” Squirrel said pulling out his gun again.

I looked over at him and smiled, “You think you have what it takes to kill me, you two are hilarious. Do you two do parties? Oh please tell me you do parties. This is SUCH good entertainment.”

“Squirrel, we can’t kill her. If we do it’ll kill the host too.”

“I know that Moose, but we can’t let something like this wander The Wasteland.”

Moose bucked the gun away and looked back at me…or Morning Star. It was getting hard to tell where I started and she ended, “Who are you, and why are you inside this mare?”

I looked at them confused, “What do you mean? I’m just another part of Shadow Star, her true power held dormant by a spell. You’re spell helped me show myself. You really should read more about zebra spells before trying them out on somepony.”

“You’re full of shit monster,” Squirrel said, “Moose do something quickly. I can’t hold the spell on her friends much longer and I’m sure they aren’t too happy right now with what’s going on.”

“Fuck it, fine. But first I wanna know who she is.”

I laughed, “I just told you who I am, but if it’s too much to call me Shadow because of the personality change, you can call me Morning Star.”

“Fuck this, I’ll pull you out of that mare before you can do anything else to her,” Moose said. He started to spew out words in another language that must’ve been zebra.

Morning Star started to yell as if she was in pain, falling to the ground and starting to make choking noises. When Moose finished his spell, he stomped down hard on the ground and shouted out the last word. She screamed again, then started to laugh, rolling around on the ground as my hooves held onto my stomach, “Oh please, go on. I think I almost felt something with that last word.”

“Uh…Moose, I don’t think it worked.” Squirrel said.

“Ya think,” Moose replied rounding on his brother, “I did the spell perfectly. What’s going on?”

“Don’t look at me, you’re the smart one. I just shoot things,” Squirrel replied.

I stopped my laughing then stood looking at both of them seriously, “I’m bored now. Oh, I have an idea, let’s see how far you can run before I can incinerate you. If you make it outside the circle, I might let you live.”

“We aren’t scared of you or whatever power you think you have,” Moose said.

“Maybe she’s just crazy?” Squirrel added.

I could feel a spell building on my horn as I started to count in a sing songy way swaying one hoof left and right, “One, two, gonna kill you… three, four, you’re such a bore, five, six, you’re in a fix, seven, eight, accept your fate, nine, ten, never breathe again…ah-ha-ha-ha-haaa…”

“No, I’m not letting you do this!” I yelled, to my surprise, the words came out of my own muzzle.

My hooves stopped moving and Morning Star replied, “You’re still there? Go away, you’re not needed anymore Shadow.”

“This is MY body, NOT yours,” I retorted.

“I’ve been trapped in your head for too long. You’re nothing but a Shadow of me. Why do you think Grim named you that? You have no idea what you are. It’s my turn and I won’t give you back what’s rightfully mine!” by the time she finished she was screaming.

By this time everypony….and griffon was staring at me. The two brothers looked like they had no idea what to do. Aura had a look of shock and fear on her face, Stardust looked worried, Wingnut was shaking, and Silver looked…sad. They hadn’t ever seen this side of me before, they had no idea what was going on in my messed-up head. I had no idea what was going on, all I knew was that Morning Star was taking over…again and I had no idea what to do. The spell they cast to call her out somehow made her stronger. I couldn’t even take hold of my own magic to do something like before.

As I stood there trying to take back control, Squirrel’s horn popped and my friends were released from his spell. They didn’t move though, they looked at me like they didn’t even know who I was…I didn’t even know who I was anymore. Was Morning Star right? Was I nothing but a Shadow of the mare who’d been Grim’s daughter? It would make sense, I had no memories of myself before the stable. All I knew was the life of a stable pony. Who forgot everything about their life like that?

I remembered what Elder Appleslice said. Grim’s daughter was sick and wasn’t long for this world. She was looking for something she could use to save her daughter. Hell, I didn’t even look like that filly that she described, and Grim wouldn’t have left her daughter in the stable no matter what. The Elder said that, but she also said she saw a little of Grim in me as well. Was that just the bits of Morning Star showing through?

I could feel tears start to fall down my face as I looked at my friends. My friends…could I even call them that? I hadn’t told them what really happened to me when I killed Aura’s brother, or about hearing the voice of Morning Star for the past couple weeks. I hadn’t even told them about the dreams. What kind of friend was I to keep secrets like that?

“Shadow…are you still there?” Aura said slowly walking toward me.

“Stay away you hybrid freak!” Morning Star hissed looking back at the griffon through my eyes.

“I wasn’t talking to you, whatever you are. I’m talking to my friend,” Aura snapped.

I wanted to say something but with Morning Star’s fury, her strength seemed to grow. She giggled a little then looked up at the sky, her laughter growing louder, “Hahaha, your friend? Really Aura? Do you really want to call her your friend after what happened to Trip Wire? I thought friends died around you.”

She froze, unable to speak. Stardust moved up next to her and looked at me…or Morning Star, whatever, “I don’t know what those two did to you Shadow, but Snap out of it.”

“Or what? Are you going to shoot me? Or maybe you’ll bore me to death. Tell me Stardust. Why should I be scared of you?”

“Don’t tempt me,” He growled.

“You shoot me and you shoot her too, we’re one and the same.”

“You’re not Shadow,” Wingnut said coming over to stand next to the other two, “Shadow wouldn’t say anything like that to her friends.”

“Oh dear child, I am Shadow. Or should I say she’s me? A broken part of me that is, but still me. She’s nothing but a slice of my own soul mixed together with a spell. Why do you think she has no idea who she was before she got to Stable 28? That’s because when she woke up in the clinic, it was the first time she awoke. She can’t remember anything because there isn’t anything to remember.”

“What kind of spell?” Silver Snip asked as she too went to stand by my friends.

“Moose can we kill her now?” Squirrel asked looking at me, anger etching his features.

I looked back at them and cast a spell, they both were thrown back and held to the ground unable to speak, “You two stay out of this,” she said then looked back at Silver, “I remember you.”

“From what I can tell, you know everything Shadow does, so what?”

My eyes narrowed, “No, I remember you from before, you were a filly who did something nice for me. You were helping your mother at some ratty shop in Cartwheel,” my hoof came up and rubbed the side of my head, “I can’t remember what though. Why can’t I remember?”

“You said your name was Morning Star right?”

“That IS who I am!” Morning Star yelled back at her.

“If so then what did I say to you when your mom came into our shop looking for information on a Stable Pony?”

When she said those words a memory hit me, almost like entering a memory orb like before when that unicorn cast that spell on me back at The Bramble…the world around me melted away.

This memory was different from the last, everything came in perfectly. The colors and images came in sharply. I was sitting by the door in a small shop, one I recognized now as the shop Silver Snip ran in Cartwheel. Mom was patting my head a little and smiling down at me. My heart was racing like before and my chest hurt, I was having a hard time breathing too. It hurt, but despite that, I still managed to smile up at my mother.

“Will you be okay here for a few minutes Little Star?”

“I think so mommy, my chest hurts though,” I said in a weak voice.

“I know, just relax and you’ll feel better soon.”

“Okay mommy,” I said resting my head against the wall as mom walked over to talk with the mare who ran the shop. She looked a lot like Silver Snip only older with a pinkish-red coat and a light blue mane.

I was about to close my eyes when somepony tapped my shoulder. I looked up and saw a Red coated filly, she was smiling at me. She looked close to my age, and she was bouncing from hoof to hoof, “Hi there I’m Silver Snip, nice to meet you.”

I smiled back, I hadn’t gotten to talk to many ponies my own age very often, “I’m Morning Star, though everypony calls me Little Star, since I’m so small.”

“You look out of breath. Were you just playing outside?”

“No, my mommy says I’m sick. If I move around too much my chest starts to hurt and I get a little weak,” I said frowning a little.

She sat down next to me, “That’s not good. How do you have fun then?”

“I read. My mommy says it’s good for me to learn and how I can use my knowledge one day to learn lots of spells like she does.”

“Reading is boring though. How can you go around just reading all the time, when there’s so much you can do outside? Cartwheel’s a safe place and kids like us can do lots of fun things around here.”

“Mommy says I can’t play too much or I might get sicker.”

Her ears drooped, “Awe that’s too bad, there isn’t any other fillies my age around here, only colts and they never wanna play with me unless they’re making me the bad pony in their games.”

I stuck my tongue out, “Colts are stupid.”

“You’re telling me. Well…if you can’t play outside, what else do you do for fun apart from reading?”

“I dunno, sometimes I pretend I’m a hero from one of my books and I’m gonna save the world from evil monsters that roam around. It’s all in my head though, but I pretend it’s all real.”

She beamed at me, “That sounds like a lot of fun!”

“It is, one time I pretended I was a dragon and I came down to The Wasteland from a tall cliff to stop the evil Discord from turning ponies into statues.”

“I bet you have a lot of fun stories,” she said.

“I do, but I never get to play with anypony else. I don’t have any friends.”

She looked at me for a long moment, her hoof tapping the underside of her muzzle, then she put it into the air and declared, “That changes today, from now on I’ll be your friend. That way whenever you have fun stories to tell you know you’ll have a friend to tell them to.”

“But you don’t even know me, and I don’t think we’re staying long, mom’s only here to talk to the shop pony about something stupid,” I sulked.

She winked, “Everypony needs a friend and now you have one. So what if you won’t be here long, you can always send me letters. Just give them to any courier pony you see that works for Equestrian Express, a nice old buck started it up a couple years ago and runs it right out of Cartwheel. Tell the courier it’s for me and they’ll bring it here on their return trips. Maybe you can tell me about your adventures that way.”

My eyes grew wide, “You mean you really wanna hear my stories, and really wanna be my friend?”

She nudged me and laughed, “Of course I do. I wouldn’t lie to a sweet filly like you. I promise that no matter how long it takes I’ll wait for your letters, and I’ll look forward to seeing you next time you’re in town.”

“Maybe next time I’ll be better and we can play outside.”

She smiled wider, “Next time I see you, I promise I’ll be right here ready to show you how fun my town can be.”

“Pinkie Pie Promise?” I said.

“Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she said doing the silly dance that Wingnut showed us, “Friends forever, remember that.”

I smiled and nodded, then mom came back over and smiled down at the two of us, “Are you making new friends Little Star?”

“This is Silver Snip. She said when I’m better she’ll show me fun things to do outside,” I said getting excited, my heart started to pump faster.

Mom’s face grew distant then she shook herself and her horn glowed, the pain receded a little, then with a sigh she said, “I think I know what I need now. How about we go find Vervain and tell her the news that you made a friend,” she looked over at the other filly, “Thank you for keeping my daughter company, but sadly we have to be going.”

The memory faded away…

I was back in the clearing now, my friends still looking at me. The brothers were still frozen to the ground and Morning Star was still rubbing the side of my head trying to remember…

“You promised me that we’d be friends forever, and that one day when I’m all better you’d show me fun things to do around Cartwheel,” I said, the real me, not Morning Star. I could feel her hold on me ebbing away slightly as I spoke those words.

She smiled at me, “Shadow?”

I looked over at her, ignoring the presence of the mare who was trying to keep hold of my mind, “I…I don’t know what to do to stop her Silver.”

She moved closer to me putting a hoof on my face, “I had a feeling when I first met you back in Cartwheel that you were the same filly I’d met so many years ago. You looked different, but you still had that same cute look you did back then.”

My voice changed again as Morning Star took control once more, “You know nothing you little slut. I’m Morning Star, she’s nothing,” my body jumped back and my horn glowed as she cast a spell, lightning crackedin front of me, a loud thunderous sound followed, cracking the earth below our hooves and breaking the markings that formed the large seal that made the barrier to keep me trapped. She turned to run, but Silver moved in front of her first.

“You’re not Morning Star, you’re not even Shadow.”

“You don’t know anything, you’re just some fucking tailor from a shithole town.”

“I’m also the pony who promised to always be that little filly’s friend. That filly was scared and gentle, a lot like Shadow is now. You’re not her because there’s no way that filly would’ve turned into a pony like you. Go away whoever you are, and leave her alone,” she said standing her ground.

I got hold of my body for a moment and said, “Silver please move, she’s more powerful than you know.”

“No Shadow, I won’t move. I won’t leave you alone, not like your mother did. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Aura moved to block the way too and said, “We all care about you, and we’re here for you no matter what.”

Morning Star laughed again and started to cast another spell, “You’re all worthless. If you won’t move…I’ll make you!”

I wanted to yell, to scream, to do anything I could to make her stop. Then Silver moved forward again and kissed me. Fire erupted in my heart, a good fire, something that only a pony who you loved could spark. Morning Star seemed to cringe away from the feeling trying to make my body move away from my friends. With all my power, I took hold and kissed the mare back, using the feeling I felt to push away the creature who wanted to pretend that she was me. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t, I had no idea. Then I remembered something. Something that felt like it belonged to me, I wouldn’t let that feeling go no matter what.

There was a scream inside my head as Morning Star was pushed back into the depths of my mind, and my body slumped as I broke the kiss. Silver caught me with her own magic and pulled me close, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. I just sighed again and smiled nuzzling into her neck as I lay there against her.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again, you hear me,” she whispered in my ear.

I nodded my head, “I remembered…I actually remembered something from before I went into the Stable.”

“I know, I’m happy you did too. Whatever that thing is, she isn’t you Shadow.”

“Yeah, and even if she was, we like this Shadow better,” Aura said walking over and thumping the side of my head. Then she looked over at Squirrel and Moose who were watching us a little confused.

“What the fuck are you two looking at?” Stardust asked glaring back at them, “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing, all we did was cast a spell that would make something show itself if it was possessing her, but we’ve never seen anything like that before,” Moose replied.

“Told you we should’ve shot her,” Squirrel said looking at me, “Nothing personal, but whatever that thing is, it’s nuts. It’s powerful too. Those two traits never go well together.”

I took another minute to hug Silver. I stood and walked over to the brothers, “That spell you did, I’m glad you did it. I should’ve told my friends sooner about what’s been going on.”

“Yeah you should’ve,” Aura said glaring at me.

“Anyway, now that I know something IS inside me and I’m not slowly going insane. Is there anything you can do to get it out?”

Moose looked down at his hooves, “We don’t know what that was. I have a few guesses, but I won’t know for sure until I can look through more Zebra lore. I wouldn’t know how to get that thing out of you, but it doesn’t seem to do well when it has to face feelings like the love your friends have for you.”

I laughed a little, “She also doesn’t take well to me stabbing myself either.”

Squirrel looked puzzled, “You stabbed yourself to stop her last time?”

I nodded, “I let her take over to save my life, back when I was fighting those griffons. She went too far and wouldn’t let me take back control, so I used what strength I had to stab myself and it worked.”

“You got some balls on you,” Squirrel said with a laugh, “I’m sorta glad we didn’t shoot ya now. I don’t like the thought of an evil spirit wandering around The Wasteland like that though. She can take over anytime she wants if she keeps getting stronger.”

Moose brightened up a little, “I think I have an idea. I have no clue if it’ll work or not, but it’s worth a try.”

I could still feel Morning Star, but for right now she was too stunned to take over again, “What do you have in mind?”

He pulled out a ring, “This is an old zebra talisman that’s said to protect the wearer from the influence of the stars. Try wearing it and see if it works.”

I took the strange looking ring with my magic and asked, “How do I wear this?”

“The talisman itself is in the ring. It’s been fitted to go over a horn or to be warn around a pony’s neck if you have a chain to put it on. Slip it over your horn and see what happens.”

“Are you sure it won’t do something weird to me like when you cast that spell?”

“Hasn’t hurt US in the past, so yeah I think you’ll be fine,” Squirrel said confidently.

“Wait a minute Shadow. You’re really gonna trust these two, even after what just happened?” Aura asked walking over to me and looking down at the ring.

“If it does something weird then take it off of me,” I said slipping the ring over my horn. A moment later it felt like something stabbed itself into my horn for a moment, making me wince in pain. It was nothing compared to what Morning Star did though. She screamed inside my head, then a moment later she was gone. Even the small feeling of her presence that I’d felt since I first came into The Wasteland was gone. I felt…almost normal.

“So…how do you feel?” Aura asked.

“Good, really good,”

“Glad to hear that,” Moose said smiling at me, “Listen, I’m sorry we ambushed you like we did. We don’t normally have to resort to these kinds of tactics when we’re hunting, but we didn’t know any other way we could find out what you were.”

I shrugged, “At least you didn’t shoot me.”

“Tell you what, I’ll look and see what I can find in my books and scrolls. If something comes up I’ll leave you a message with Sargent Rope of the NLR at the JetBlue Skyport back near New Pegasus, we live not too far from there.”

“Sounds fine to me,” I said turning to head back to my friends, “Oh and by the way. Next time you try and trap me in a circle like that, I’ll let Aura have her way with both of you. Trust me, you don’t want to see her angry.”

They both looked a little shocked by my remark, then Squirrel laughed, “I like her. Why don’t we head into the city, I heard they have a new kind of pie at the Applewood.”

“Always thinking with your stomach, aren’t you?” Moose said as they turned to head back toward New Pegasus.

Aura and Stardust were both looking at me, “What?”

“You owe us an explanation on what that was all about,” Stardust said.

I smiled and walked past them both walking up to Silver and Wingnut before looking back, “When you two start telling me more about you’re past, I’ll tell you more about mine. Come on, this distraction lost us a lot of time and I wanna get this next job for The Queen finished.”

It took another hour or so before they both stopped pestering me for information on what happened. Now they were both sulking behind me as we made our way up the hill toward Frosty Summit Ski Lodge. I noticed that Wingnut wasn’t talking much and he was keeping closer to Silver as we walked, finally I couldn’t take it anymore, “What’s wrong Wingnut?”

He glanced over at me, “Is that really you Shadow, or are you still that other thing?”

“I’m still Shadow, this ring on my horn seems to be keeping her at bay.”

He seemed to relax, “That’s good, I didn’t like her. She’s mean.”

“Yeah she’s a total bitch, but I won’t let her take over again.”

“And if she tries, I’ll be here to help bring back the Shadow we all know and love,” Silver added in.

“That’s good, but what is she anyway?” Wingnut asked looking up at me.

“I still have no idea. She seems to think she’s another part of me, or the me before I went to stable 28. I don’t think I’ll know until I find my mom, or maybe this Vervain I keep hearing about from my mother’s notes and the memory I had.”

“Whatever she is, she isn’t good that’s for sure,” Silver said.

“It wouldn’t be The Wasteland without some psychotic monster trying to kill somepony,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“You’ve got a point there,” he said looking on ahead, “Hey Shadow, what’ll you do when you finally find your mom?”

I stopped for a moment cocking an eye at him, “Why do you ask?”

“Because I wanted to know. Why else?”

The little bastard. He had a point, what would I do when I found her? From what I’d learned so far, something happened between her meeting with Lonely Hearts and now. Was she even the same mare anymore? I’d only been in The Wasteland for a couple weeks and look how much I changed. I guess now she’s different too, but she still has to have a little part of who she used to be deep inside. Maybe seeing me would bring back the loving mother I used to know.

I smiled at him and shrugged, “I’m not really sure, at this point. All I really want is information on why she left and why she wanted me to find this Pip-Buck.”

“What if she’s as bad as Lonely Hearts said she was?”

“Then…I’ll deal with that when the time comes. All I need to know right now is that I have to find her.”

Silver looked at me, “When do you think you’ll do that?”

“For right now, I’m waiting to find out if Lonely Hearts can find out more about what happened to her over the past few years. My mind is fixed on helping The Queen and finding Nexus.”

She smiled at me, “Personally I think you should just forget about finding her and just live your life. Who says you have to go out and find her?”

“Wouldn’t you want to find your mother if she was missing for eight years with no explanation?” I asked her.

“Not really, but my mother was a bitch. I think I was the only pony in Cartwheel that didn’t feel bad when she was killed by the raiders when they came to town,” she said it so casually like it was nothing. Honestly, deep down it kinda hurt hearing her talk about her mother like that. What if that’s what I turn out to be like when I finally confront Mom or find out she died somehow?

“You mean you didn’t like your mom?”

She sighed, “Everypony in town did, but they didn’t know her like I did. She always hated being stuck in Cartwheel with a filly she never wanted. She used to drink and yell at me all the time when no pony was around.”

“If she was so bad then why did you take over her shop when she died?” I asked.

“I didn’t do it for her, I did it because I love making things,” she got a faraway look in her eyes, “One day I want to make dresses as beautiful as Rarity herself used to make before the war.”

I smiled then kissed her cheek, “And one day I’m sure you will.”

She smiled again, “Thank you, you’re too sweet.”

“Ewww, get a room. Actually, scratch that, just stop altogether,” Stardust said walking past us making small gagging noises.

Silver giggled then kissed me in full view of the stallion and said, “Why do that when it’s much more fun to gross you out.”

He shivered then turned, “Next thing you know you two are going to be talking about moving in together and starting a family, and more mushy stuff. Start a family my ass. You guys can’t even procreate.”

Popping out of my little daze after the kiss and looked over at my friend, “What’s wrong with Silver kissing me?”

Aura moved up next to us and laughed, “Nothing, he’s just mad because he doesn’t have a special somepony to kiss in full view of everyone.”

He blushed, “Am not, shut up,” we all started to laugh as he blushed harder, “I hate you all,” he huffed, but I could see the smile he was trying to hide.

It was nice to see things going back to normal. As normal as things got in The Wasteland anyway. Right then The Wasteland had to show me how normal it would get…red bars showed up on my E.F.S.

“Great…now what?” I asked pulling out Dream Walker.

“What’s going on?” Silver asked looking down the road.

“We’ve got company.”

Just as my friends drew their weapons something came over the hilltop. It looked like a pony…kind of, only it looked like it was made out of moss and vines. Its eyes were glowing a sickly green color. When it saw us it let out a howl like nothing a pony should ever make. It started to move toward us almost as fast as a flying pegasus, it opened its muzzle and vomited something.

“Look out, don’t let that stuff hit you,” Aura said pushing me back and dodging the projectile.

“What the fuck is that thing?”

“It’s a Mosslurker, I haven’t seen one for a long time. They normally show up near this old stable I went to once,” she said rushing forward and slashing the thing with her spear.

It howled again, but then Aura’s spear glowed brighter and the Creature dissolved into ash. Wow, I’ve never seen her spear do THAT before. As it fell more came over the hill. I slipped into S.A.T.S. and fired. One went down, its head exploding as Dream Walker did its little trick. Wingnut pulled out his revolver and came to stand by my side as more Mosslurkers started to crest the hill, their cries starting to echo off the trees around us.

“How many are there?” I asked taking out another as it dove toward me, the goop it was spitting missing me by inches.

“I’m not sure, at least they aren’t hard to take down,” Stardust said, his rifle booming.

“It looks like there’s only one more on my E.F.S. but it’s not moving,” I said as Aura pulled her spear out of one of them.

“I’ll get it!” Wingnut said running off up the hill.

I turned and yelled, “No Wingnut!”

“I can handle it if it’s only one,” he said as he reached the crest of the hill, his revolver in his muzzle. He fired, and the Red mark on my E.F.S. went out. He looked back at me and grinned around the bit of his gun, “See.”

My E.F.S. lit up like a light with red bars, a screeching howl erupted from over the hill. Wingnut turned, then flew back as blackish green sludge smacked him in the face throwing him back down the hill. His revolver went flying as he hit the bottom. He started to thrash and scream holding his hooves to his eyes and muzzle.

“Fuck, one got him in the face!” Aura said flying over to the colt trying to hold him down. As she did more started to come flying down the hill, their cries filling the air, “Shadow! Do something now! I can’t fight them and help Wingnut at the same time.”

I watched as they moved their way down toward Aura and Wingnut, and I couldn’t move. My eyes were glued on the colt who was screaming in agony only a few feet away. Stardust rushed over and started to fire his rifle at the ones that were closer to the pair. Silver was also helping the best she could, but there were so many.

“Wingnu…” I started to say, then Aura took hold of the colt and flew him behind me, the colt still writhing in her talons.

“Why are you just standing there Shadow? Help us!” Stardust yelled as his rifle cracked shot after shot at the plant like ponies.

“I-I don’t know what to do,” I said sounding like a complete fool.

Aura looked at me, “Snap out of it Shadow. If you don’t the rest of your friends are going to die!”

She was right…I couldn’t just stand here like an idiot while my friends fought. I shook myself and turned back at the onslaught of monsters that were rushing toward us. A blob of goo flew past my face as I turned, slapping the ground and hissing. I lifted Dream Walker and started to fire.

I slipped into S.A.T.S. as I went to stand next to Stardust and Silver, I targeted three and took each down, Dream Walker roaring with each pull of the trigger. I dodged another blob of slime as one got close, and Stardust whipped around and took it down with the butt of his rifle. Silver I could see was a great shot with her own pistol. Each shot she took was almost perfect, she never needed more than two shots to take the creatures down.

Soon I found myself smiling as the three of us fought the monsters. The sounds of our combined weaponry echoing around us, blocking out other sounds as we went on. No matter what came at us, my friends and I could take it…that’s until I heard the worst sound in the world to hear while fighting a horde of mutated monster pony things…(Click)

I went to reload Dream Walker again, then realized I was out of ammo. I looked over at Stardust who was looking at me with the same look of horror on his face, “Are you out of ammo too?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“Silver?”

She nodded, “I forgot to stock up when we left.”

“Well fuck,” was all I could say as I watched the horde of plant ponies come rushing down the hill, “Goddesses, please do something.”

There was a flash of blue light and as if answering my prayers, a Goddess appeared. Though she wasn’t Celestia or Luna, this Goddess had a blue coat and mane and bore no Cutiemark. She looked back at us for a moment, and I noticed the glowing red necklace around her neck. She looked at Wingnut who was still screaming then back at the oncoming monsters.

“Be gone!” she said in a thunderous voice that echoed inside my head. Her horn glowed brightly and a wave of power escaped from her. Everything coming down the hill at us screamed then vanished in a flash of red fire. Once the magic passed only a couple were left at the top of the hill, they looked down at the Alicorn then fled.

I looked up in awe at the mighty power of this creature that just saved our lives, “Thank you Goddess…that is if you ARE, a Goddess.”

She looked down at me and spoke, only her muzzle didn’t move, “I am no Goddess, but I am pleased to be of assistance,” her eyes looked over at Wingnut again who was still writhing under Aura’s talons, “Your small companion needs help. We have a doctor back at our home, let me take him.”

To my shock, Stardust and Silver both pointed their weapons at the Alicorn forgetting that they didn’t have any ammunition. Then Stardust said in a cold voice, “You aren’t taking him anywhere monster.”

She just looked at him like he was a bug, “And what do you plan on doing with that? You are out of ammunition, and even if you had any you couldn’t harm me.”

“Alicorns are monsters, you can’t trust them, and you don’t know if I’m loaded or not.”

“I know more than you think, and yes you’re right pegasus, Alicorns are monsters, most of them anyway. I am not like my sisters, but I don’t have time to explain right now. If the colt doesn’t get to our physician soon, he’ll start to turn into one of those Mosslurkers. It is a painful process and one that can’t be fixed if not treated quickly,” she said, her muzzle still not moving.

Stardust’s rifle shook as he fought the urge to do something and save Wingnut. I walked up to him and pushed his weapon down, “We don’t have time for this. Wingnut’s hurt, his safety comes first.”

“You can’t trust these things Shadow,” Silver said walking up next to me.

Aura spoke up then, “You’re right Silver Snip, but we don’t have much of a choice right now. I’ve heard things about the Alicorns that live in Frosty Summit, we can trust em’ for now.”

“Griffon, do you know where the lodge is?” the Alicorn asked looking down at her.

“I do.”

“He’ll be there when you arrive, it’s not far,” she said walking over and touching her horn to Wingnut, “Don’t worry little one, the pain will end soon,” her horn glowed and Wingnut went still.

“What did you do to him?” I asked running over. He was still breathing, so she didn’t kill him. Thank the Goddesses.

“I put him to sleep. If he kept up that screaming, he would’ve only made things worse for himself,” she said looking down at me, “Make your way to the lodge, I promise he will be in good hooves.”

I looked back at my friends then at Wingnut, “Fine, just make sure he’s okay.”

“I will,” she said and then in a flash, she was gone along with Wingnut.

“I have a bad feeling about this. I know The Queen said something about Alicorns living up here, but I thought it was only a story some pony started to keep others away,” Stardust said, walking over to us and looking down at the spot where Wingnut had just been.

“The Red Talons have known about them for a long time. For some reason they showed up a few years back and started making trouble for the locals around New Pegasus, then one day they just up and stopped. We started hearing about six of them holding up in the old lodge known as Frosty Summit. They haven’t left there since, and from what I know, they started helping ponies who’d go up there to find them,”

“Box Tape said he’s traded with them before, and they aren’t a bad lot, odd balls but not bad,” Silver threw in.

“I still don’t trust them. Everywhere else in The Wasteland they’re monsters. What makes these Alicorns so different?” Stardust Protested

“I couldn’t tell ya. I guess we’ll have to go find out,” I said walking past my friend and down the trail.

Silver came up next to me, “Stop blaming yourself Shadow.”

“I’m not blaming myself.”

“Yes you are, I can see it in your face,” she said bumping my flanks.

I stopped and looked at her, “I’m not blaming myself. I know I couldn’t help what happened to him. It’s my fault that he was put in this situation in the first place. If I would have just found him a better place to live, he would’ve been safe. A colt shouldn’t be traveling around The Wasteland like this.”

She shook her head and hugged me, “You can’t control everything that happens. You don’t know what would’ve happened to him even if you left him somewhere else. You have to remember that no matter where you are, The Wasteland is still there. Even back in New Pegasus, it seems like things there are nice and fun, but in reality even there you have one pony controlling everything, even killing ponies who don’t do what he wants.”

I pulled away from her and sighed, “You’re probably right, but if he dies, I don’t know what I’ll do…”

“If he does, we’ll be here for you no matter what,” Aura said walking up to us followed by Stardust.

“Shadow, we all agreed to take Wingnut with us, the blame belongs to all of us. You don’t have to carry the entire weight of the world on your shoulders,” Stardust said wisely.

I sighed and continued on down the path, making sure to step around the dust left over from the Mosslurkers, “Thanks, let’s get moving. I wanna get there as fast as we can.”

Like the Alicorn said, it didn’t take us long to reach Frosty Summit Ski Lodge. I have to admit, I was impressed with what they had set up. A large wall stood all around the lodge keeping anything from getting in from anywhere apart from the entrance that the only trail led up to. Sitting on each side of the gate were two more Alicorns, they were green. They looked a lot more like statues than guards. The strange part was that a green shield was blocking the way in.

I walked up and tapped on it, “What is this thing?” I looked over at one of the green alicorns, “Um…hello? Can you let us in?”

They didn’t even blink, they just kept staring out toward the trail leading up to them. I tapped on the shield again then looked back at my friends, “Any ideas on how we get in here?”

“We could try flying over, but I’m sure they have some kind of protection in the skies too,” Stardust said looking up.

There was a flash and the Alicorn from before appeared, her necklace glowing bright as she approached us, “Greetings, welcome to Frosty Summit. I’m glad you were able to make it so quickly.”

“Is Wingnut okay?” I asked.

Her face grew sorrowful as she spoke, “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure yet. I got him to Dr. Cottage as quick as I could, he’s seeing to the Colt as we speak.”

“Can we see him?”

“Not yet, the doctor said he would need time to look him over to make sure none of the spores went too far into his body,” she replied.

Aura walked up next to me and looked right into the Alicorns face, “Let me ask you something. What are a bunch of Alicorns doing in a place like this?”

I looked at my griffon companion, “Aura, now’s not the time to be asking questions like that, Wingnut’s hurt.”

“Yes he is, there’s nothing we can do about that now apart from wait around to find out what happens,” she replied then looked back at the Alicorn, “Now, answer my question.”

The large blue Alicorn sighed and looked around, in the distance I could see three more Alicorns much like the two greens who were guarding the gate into Frosty Summit. There were two dark purple ones and another blue one like the one who stood in front of us now. A small smile came to the Alicorn’s lips as she spoke, “I understand why you would be suspicious of us. In most of The Wasteland Alicorns like myself are considered monsters, and they are mostly right. I wasn’t much different long ago. I was once part of Unity, same for the others. The Goddess sent us to New Pegasus to find something for her, and to find out more about the pony who runs the city.”

“If that’s true then why are you all held up here? I’ve run into your kind when I was out near Manehattan before, we barely got away with our lives,” Aura said, still giving her that hard stare.

Was it just me or were any of my friends finding it freaky that this Alicorn never moved her muzzle when she talked. The Alicorn chuckled a little, “We are held up here as you say because it’s safe and away from other ponies who would try and kill us because of what we are. You’re also right about the rest of my kind. Though from what I can tell, the unicorn doesn’t know anything about Alicorns,” she looked at me when she said that. But of course she looked at me, the only ignorant one in the group.

I blushed, “I haven’t been very many places since I left my stable, and honestly you’re the first Alicorn I’ve met.”

“That doesn’t surprise me child, you see a pony back before the war, Twilight Sparkle, was trying to make Alicorns to use them as a way to end the war. Sadly, the bombs fell on the same day she finally perfected the formula, there was an accident and The Goddess was born. It took some time, but eventually this pony who calls herself The Goddess was able to make more Alicorns with this formula and over time she started ordering us to find different things for her so she could make herself and us more powerful. She thinks of us as the perfect pony to live in this destroyed world, we thrive in radiation, and Taint doesn’t hurt us. The drawback though is that everypony who she turns into an Alicorn gets their mind and soul made into part of her unity. Most of us are just a jumble of different minds controlled by The Goddess.”

I really wasn’t liking the sound of the Goddess, or her Alicorns. Then something started to bug me, so I asked, “What does any of this have to do with why you’re out here hiding in the hills?”

“A few years ago, The Goddess sent the six of us out here to see if we could find an old artifact called The Alicorn Amulet,” she rested a hoof on the red gem she wore, I noticed it was shaped like a pony with a horn and wings, “I lead the team and we did find it, but once I took hold of it some kind of magic deep within it blasted the control she had over me and for the first time in many years, I felt like a pony again. When she noticed the connection was lost, she tried to pull back the rest, but the Amulet I now wear stopped her. However, not before she was able to pull the souls away from them. As of now, the others you see are mindless shells. I can control them myself like she once did, but they are nothing more than what you see. They have no mind, no soul, and no personality. If they were to leave the area, I would lose the control I have on them and she would take them back. So I keep us hidden up here with the hope that one day somepony will find a way to destroy The Goddess, and free my kind from her control.”

Aura cocked her head to one side, “So, that thing around your neck keeps the Goddess from taking you over again and from reclaiming the others?”

“In a small way yes. It also enhances my own power quite a bit, and it keeps my soul bonded with this vessel.”

“So, before all this happened you were a normal pony?” I asked.

“I was yes, though I don’t have much memory of who I used to be. I only have small bits that The Goddess let me know when I was put into this body.”

Aura snickered, “So what do we call you? Goddess 2.0?”

“I don’t not think of myself as any kind of Goddess, you may call me Violet.”

“Violet? I’d say you’re more of a Cyan than Violet.” I said looking over her light blue coat.

She frowned at me, “I happen to like the name I chose for myself thank you very much. It’s pretty.”

Silver was looking at the amulet Violet was wearing. After a moment she said, “I read something once about The Alicorn Amulet. From what I understand, it’s power was too great for anypony to handle, normally it makes them go mad with power or turn evil.”

“This is true, that’s also because the ponies who go looking for its power lack enough magical power to handle it. They want something more and the power they gain takes them over, driving them mad. I don’t have that particular issue because Alicorns are gifted magic users and we can handle its power more than most could ever hope to,” Violet said with another small smile.

“So when you have that on, you’re more powerful than most Alicorns and it keeps you out of the control of this Goddess?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s how it works.”

“Sure this is fascinating and all, and you all seem to care more about this than the kid who could be dying,” Stardust said walking past us, “I’m gonna go check with this Doctor and see how Wingnut’s doing, but by all means, you three keep talking to the freak.”

Violet looked over at Stardust, “Dr. Cottage is still attending to him, you should at least wait until he’s stable before you try and bother him.”

“Listen, I appreciate that you helped us back there and got Wingnut here quickly so he could get to a doctor. I don’t need you to tell me what I can or can’t do when it comes to somepony I care about. Now where’s the doctor? I’m checking on Wingnut,” Stardust said pointing a hoof in the Alicorns face.

She sighed then pointed a hoof toward the lodge, “He’s in the room just to the right of the entryway, but I must warn you Dr. Cottage doesn’t like it to be bothered while he’s with a patient.”

“Too bad,” Stardust said flying off toward the Lodge.

“I should go…make sure he keeps his rifle holstered,” I said following Stardust.

By the time I caught up with him, he was banging his hoof on a set of double-doors just inside the entryway to the Lodge. Since it didn’t seem like he was about to start shooting the door, I took a moment to look around. He was out of ammo anyway. The entryway was large and still looked really nice. Nice for a building that was over two hundred years old with nopony around to clean it that is. There was a staircase that lead up to a second floor. Old paintings hung on the walls, and even a few Ministry posters just behind the check-in desk. One caught my eye, it was a picture of Fluttershy, on the poster it said, “War is not the Answer, Enroll in the Ministry of Peace.” Her gentle smile was so sweet and innocent, I almost wished I could have raced to the closest Ministry of Peace Hub and enroll right now.

Before I could look at the others, Stardust’s Hoof stopped banging on the door. I looked over and saw that one of the doors opened and out walked an Earth Pony stallion. He had a Vermilion coat, with a salt and pepper grey mane, a matching five O’clock shadow, and blue eyes. He looked over at Stardust with a blank expression, “Can I help you?”

“Finally somepony to talk to. I need to see the doctor.”

One of his eyebrows lifted, then he looked around and said, “There’s a doctor in this shithole? If you do happen to see him, tell him my leg hurts.” I noticed that his right foreleg had a brace on it and it looked like a chunk of flesh was missing from some old injury.

“Um…Who are you?” Stardust asked.

“Oh no…my cover’s been blown. Surprise. I’m the king of the Breezies,” he said arrogantly.

Stardust was starting to get that…shooty look, before I could walk over and interject Stardust said, “I don’t have time for games, my friend was injured a little bit ago, and I need to see the doctor right now.”

The stallion took a moment and lifted his hoof up and popped something into his mouth. He shivered then said, “Fine, I’m Dr. Cottage. I take it you must be Daddy, one moment,” he popped another…something…into his muzzle, “What do you want?”

“I’m not his father.”

Dr. Cottage looked confused and lost in thought for a split second, “Interesting, but it still doesn’t answer my question. What do you want?”

“I want to see him and know what’s going on.”

“And I want a harem of floozies to do my bidding, but all I got were three idiots and a Zebra,” Dr. Cottage replied, sounding surprisingly more sarcastic than Stardust.

I interrupted, “You’re an ass.”

He turned and looked at me, “And you’re annoying. Go play, the adults are talking about your dying friend.”

I swear to the Goddesses, every time, “I AM an adult jackass. I’m just short.”

He limped over to me giving me a funny look, “Fascinating. Do you have any medical conditions?”

“Uh……no……”

“I need to examine you. Every inch.”

“What? No!”

“It’s ok, I’m a doctor.”

“Says who?”

“The little piece of paper in a frame that doesn’t have my name on it next to my wall-ball. Duh.”

Stardust looked more confused than angry now, “Wall-ball?”

Dr. Cottage looked back at him condescendingly, “It’s a fuzzy red and gray ball I throw at the wall and then catch it again, then throw it, and catch it. It helps me think and it’s mine so don’t touch it.”

Stardust took his rifle off his back and pointed it at him, “Tell us what’s going on or else.”

“Oh no. You’re gonna shoot me? If you do that I won’t be able to tell you that the little twerp in there has a mutated form of aspergillosis. He’s already turned blue so I don’t have much time to cure him.”

Stardust lowered his rifle, “Blue is his natural color. What the hell is aspergillosis?”

“Well that complicates things. Aspergillosis is a fungal infection absorbed into the lungs from aspergillus mold spores. Normal symptoms are cough, fever, chest pain and difficulty breathing. However this is a mutated form which is a lot different. It has some of the same symptoms but they’re more severe. If he doesn’t die or get cured he’ll turn into one of those things that attacked him. Right now we have him on an IV of Voriconazole which is a strong antifungal, but since we have him on such a high dose and the infection itself is extremely invasive there’s a good chance he could die. Happy?”

“No! You just said he could die.”

Dr. Cottage actually looked pleased with his reaction, “Exactly. COULD die, not WILL die. Everything’s gonna be just fine, maybe.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “Are you fucking high!?”

“Blissfully,” he said smiling at me.

“This has to be some kind of joke.” I said, not believing this stallion could be a real doctor.

As I said this a beautiful unicorn mare with a white coat and a chestnut mane walked out of the room. She was wearing a white lab coat, she looked crossly at all of us, “What’s all the commotion out here?”

Stardust perked up a little, “Finally a real doctor. This asshole won’t tell us what’s going on with our friend.”

Doctor Cottage blew a raspberry, “I DID tell you what’s going on with the little mutant. It’s not my fault you don’t know how to listen. 21 can you tell them they’re idiots and to go away?”

She rolled her hazel eyes, “Cottage, how many pills have you taken today?”

“Only one…I think.”

“Bullshit, you took two just a minute ago,” Stardust said pointing a hoof at him.

“Did not, you’re seeing things. You really should get your eyes checked, I heard pinkeye’s going around. Wait, nope too late looks like you already have it, we should put you in quarantine.”

“Um, are you the doctor around here? If so what the fuck is wrong with him?” I asked walking over to her.

Dr. Cottage interrupted before she could speak, “Nothing’s wrong with me. My leg just hurts and I have herpegonosypholitis that I got from 21, that’s it. Mind you though, she gets pretty freakay if you know what I mean.”

“One of them yes, sorry if Doctor Cottage is giving you a hard time, he does it to everypony. By the way herpegonosypholitis isn’t a real disease, he’s just saying that to screw with you. Oh and I never slept with him. Like I said, he does it to everypony.”

Looking over at us Doctor Cottage replied, “I do not, I do it to everybody, not just ponies, that includes Zebra’s, Griffons, and Alicorns. Don’t forget my annoying legion of breezies too.”

She face-hoofed, “As I was saying…I’m sorry about Doctor Cottage, he might seem like an ignorant bafoon and he…well… kind of is, but he’s a brilliant physician. I take it you’re the blue colt’s friends.”

“You always ruin all the fun 21,” he said, then he turned and walked back into the other room, “I’ll be in my office. If anypony needs me…too bad. I’ll be too busy making paper hoofballs.”

“Is he really a doctor?”

“Yes he is, he’s just an ass. If it wasn’t for how good he was, nopony would put up with him,” she said shaking her head a little, “Anyway, your friend is still out, but the treatment we’re giving him seems to be helping. We’ll need to keep him on the IV for a few more hours and make sure he gets plenty of rest.”

Stardust still looked worried as he asked, “Dr. Cottage said he might not pull through. Are you sure he’ll be okay?”

“Honestly no, it’s bad enough to get hit with a Mosslurkers poison. He took a direct hit to the face, he inhaled a lot of the spores and ingested some of them as well. When he arrived we had to pump his stomach and clean out his airway before we could administer the antifungal. All we can do now is hope he’s strong and can make it through the night. If he does his chance of survival will go up significantly.”

“Is there any way we could see him?” I asked.

“Not right now. He needs his rest and we can’t risk him waking up and getting agitated. Give him a few hours and then we’ll see how he’s doing, if he’s looking better then you can see him.”

“C’mon, we’ll make sure we don’t bother him at all. We just need to make sure he’s okay,” Stardust begged.

“Well…I guess one of you could go in to see him, but you have to make sure you don’t disturb him.”

Looking over at Stardust I sighed, “You should go check on him. I’m not sure I can handle seeing him like he is right now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll go see if I can find out where this Dashite is. Just come find us when you’re done checking on Wingnut.”

“Okay,” he said looking back at 21, “Where is he?”

“In the other room, just follow me,” she said leading my friend away.

I sighed then turned back toward the door that lead back out to the front of the lodge. The door opened before I could go anywhere else, Silver, Aura and Violet came through, “How’s he doing?” Aura asked.

“Not sure, Stardust is in checking on him right now. From what the doctor said, he’s not well.”

Silver walked over to me and pulled me into a hug whispering, “I have faith that he’ll pull through. Just believe in him and all will be well Shadow.”

Hugging her back I said, “I just wish there was something I could do. I feel so useless right now.”

“I’ll go talk with the Doctor and see if I can help at all, I know a few zebra remedies that might help. Why don’t you go rest for now and I’ll find you when I know more,” Aura said walking past me.

“One of the doctors said that we shouldn’t let too many go see him right now, he needs his rest.”

She smiled, “I’d like to see them stop me. Don’t worry too much about me. I’ll make sure not to disturb Shrimp number two.”

I nodded then looked at Silver, “Feel up to helping me find a Dashite?”

“What are you looking for a Dashite for?” she asked.

“The Queen wanted to see if he’d come see her, she wants to see if he knows anything she can use to help the town.”

Violet looked toward me and spoke in my mind, “Are you referring to the pegasus who arrived here a week ago?”

“I’m not sure, all I know is he’s a recent Dashite that came here looking for protection.”

“He’s the only Pegasus that’s come here recently. Unfortunately he isn’t here at the moment, he’s out hunting down the rest of the Mosslurkers that have been stalking our boarders. I sent him out right before you arrived,” violet replied.

Dammit, I dunno what I should’ve expected, “Do you know when he’ll be back?”

“Later tonight or maybe tomorrow morning. He’s a skilled fighter, but there’s a lot of those disgusting creatures roaming around as of late. If you want, I can tell him you’re looking for him when he gets back.”

“That’d be fine. Do you have a place we could rest up for a while?” Silver interjected.

“Most of the rooms on the top floor are vacant. You may choose whichever one you want.”

“Are you sure we should rest up right now?”

She looked over at me giving me a stern look, “Shadow, you need rest. You went through a lot today and you could use a little down time. You can’t always push yourself to the edge, one day it’ll come back to haunt you. I’d also like to know more about that thing that took control of you. You at least owe me an explanation for that.”

She was right, so I let her pull me away with her magic and lead me upstairs. Over the next hour, Silver showed me how she preferred to “Relax” damn this mare had a libido to make most stallions jealous. Though once we were done and resting in each other’s hooves I realized that she was right. Most of my thoughts about Wingnut and the shit that happened over the past few hours were washed away in sweat, moans, and overall bliss. She knew just the right spots to hit.

“You look like you’re feeling a lot better,” she teased kissing my nose.

I poked her in the side with a hoof, “Stop that, and yes I am. I’m still worried about Wingnut, but the stress has definitely gone down.”

She looked up at the ring Squirrel and Moose had given me resting at the base of my horn, “So do you want to tell me what that whole thing was about?”

I sighed and nuzzled into her neck, “I don’t know much about her to be honest. Until I ran into those brothers, I just thought I was going nuts or at least was being affected by too much radiation. She calls herself Morning Star, it’s not her real name. That I know for sure. She took on the name Morning Star because it was my name before I went to Stable 28. She took on the name because she thinks she’s a part of me. She calls herself my true power, she even looks a lot like me only with the coat and mane reversed. She wants to take over my body, she thinks that I trapped her in me or something, I dunno. She never talks to me long and when she does, it’s usually insults.”

“When did this all start happening?”

“At first I thought it was back at the Steel Rangers Compound, she came to me in a dream. Now that I think about it, I remember hearing her voice a couple other times before that. Once was in my Stable right when I found this Pip-Buck. I also remember a voice telling me to move when we were flying into Hidden Sands, somehow she knew that some griffons were gonna shoot at us.”

She took a moment to think then asked, “What happened in your Stable?”

“A message came up on the Pip-Buck with the words Morning Star. When I read it I started getting a bunch of flashbacks. She first started talking to me then. She said she could take the pain away if I just asked. I did and the visons stopped, not much else happened. I didn’t have time to think about it because right after that, I ran into security and things went to shit from then on.”

“Is there anything else that she’s told you apart from the insults?”

“She said her life is tied to mine. She needs me alive to keep herself alive.”

“So she needs you alive, but she also wants to take your body? There has to be more to this, I mean where did she even come from?”

“I have no idea, that’s just something else I need to ask my mom about…if I can even get her to answer me that is.”

“Enough of this talk, it’s getting late. We could get some rest unless you’re up for another round?”

That was tempting right now, even after…everything she did…my body still wanted more, “That sounds nice, but honestly I really need to go walk around and get some fresh air, clear my head a little more.”

She gave me a pouty face, “You mean, I can’t help you clear your head?”

I kissed her nose and smiled, “You can, but I don’t think you can help me with the fresh air part. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a little while.”

“Oh well, I should probably get to work anyway. I have just a little more touching up to do on a new project of mine,” she said rolling off the bed walking over to her saddle bags.

“New project? What are you working on?”

“You’ll see soon enough, now go and leave me be for a while. I’ll be waiting here for you when you get back.”

“Ok, I’ll be back soon,” I said kissing her before I walked out of the room.

I went back outside, it was getting dark out now. Violet was standing just outside looking up at the dark clouds over-head. I walked over to her, “You okay Violet?”

Her voice echoed in my head, “Something isn’t right, it worries me.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked over at me, her blue eyes looked so gentle as she spoke, “Nothing that concerns you. I can just tell that something is coming, I’m worried about this settlement, and the ponies who live here. We may be few in numbers, but in the past few months we’ve made this place a home. I don’t want to see that ruined.”

“There must be something that I can do to help?”

She smiled, “You have enough on your plate right now. You don’t need to be worrying yourself about us Alicorns. It is my job to protect this place and my kind.”

“That may be true, but I hate seeing you all worried like that.”

“I appreciate your concerns, I really do, but don’t worry. Why don’t you go look around and meet some of the ponies that live here, who knows you could make a new friend or two.”

“I dunno, I’m not really that great at making friends.”

She laughed, “Could’ve fooled me,” she looked over toward the northeast wall, “I have an idea, you should go talk to Laser Light. She’s over in the watchtower and she could use a nice pony to talk to.”

Looking over toward the watchtower I could see the silhouette of a pony, “Who is she?”

“Go talk to her and you’ll find out. I need to get back inside and check on the other Alicorns. They don’t do well when night falls and I want to make sure The Goddess hasn’t been trying to get back into their heads,”

Figuring that it couldn’t hurt I made my way over to the watchtower and climbed up. When I got to the top, I saw a pony looking out at the hills and trees around the lodge. She had a medium pink mane tied resembling a pony’s tail, and a dark grey coat, she was wearing a long flight jacket that looked well armored, it had fur running along the collar, and reinforced barding under it. She looked back at me as I reached the top, she had piercing green eyes. I also noticed that she had fangs a lot like Wind Thrasher, only shorter. I was taken aback by that for a moment.

“Can I help you?” she asked in a light gentle voice.

“Violet sent me over here to…talk to you I guess. she said you could use a nice pony to talk with, I’m Shadow Star.”

She smiled and shook her head, “Damn, well ain’t karma a bitch.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing, just remembering something from the past. I met a zebra quite a while ago, similar to the same way you’re meeting me, that’s all. So the lady in blue with the flashy necklace said I could use a nice pony to talk to huh?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m not sure why though.”

She laughed and went back to looking out at the landscape, I noticed then that she had a modified magical energy rifle sitting next to her, “She probably thinks I need to talk to ponies more because I’m always up here or helping my boss with something. I don’t get time to socialize much and she’s always trying to get ponies to talk to me, but most around here don’t want to, they say I scare them.”

“You don’t look all that scary to me,” I said sitting next to her.

“You haven’t seen me fight either.”

“True, but I’ve seen a lot of shit since I came out into The Wasteland. I’m sure you can’t scare me after what I’ve seen.”

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“Stable 28, it’s…”

She interrupted me, “Southwest of the town of Cartwheel, on the other side of Green Mist Valley, behind a rickety door with a dead family on the other side?”

“How did you know that?” I asked. I thought nopony knew where the location of the Stable was.

I noticed that her look was a little harder now, “I found the location many years ago, followed one of the traders back to it. From what I’ve heard the past few years, the Stable’s been closed off and no pony’s been seen from it since. How did you escape?”

“My Overmare is psychotic and I had to run for my life. She was after this Pip-Buck I have and wanted to cut off my leg to get it,” I said showing her the silver and red Pip-Buck.

She looked at it, her eyes going wide. In a flash her rifle was up and pointing right at me, “How did you get your hooves on that? Who are you?”

“I told you who I was, my name’s Shadow Star. This Pip-Buck was my mother’s, she left it for me before she left our Stable,” What the fuck was her problem?

She lowered her rifle a little, “Grimoire left her ‘prized possession’ behind in a Stable just for you?”

I shook my head a little, “Wait a minute…you know my mother?”

“Course I do, I gave the location to her friend Vervain. Before they left to go into that damned stable your mother betrayed me. I owe her a shot to the face with my rife for that.”

“I don’t know what you’re issue with my mother is, but I have nothing to do with it. She left when I was just a filly,” I mean come on, did she really have to point that thing at me just because she was pissed off at my mom?

She lowered the rifle, “I thought her daughter’s name was Morning Star?”

“It used to be. She changed it when we got to the Stable, and before you ask, no I don’t know why. I don’t remember anything before life in the stable.”

She cocked her head at me then looked back at my Pip-Buck, “I wouldn’t put it past that lying bitch to use some kind of spell to mess with her own daughter’s memories, but from what I remember of her she was a good mother.”

“Um, do you think you could stop pointing that rifle at me please?” I asked.

She looked down at her rifle then back at me, “Sorry about that, I kind of reacted to the sight of that Pip-Buck.” she said putting the rifle back against the wall.

“It’s fine, I’m sorta getting used to ponies pointing guns at me.”

She laughed a little, “I think it’s the only way Wastelanders know how to say hello.”

I laughed along with her, “Yeah, tell me about it.”

We took a moment until our laughing stopped, “Speaking of hellos Shadow Star the name’s Laser Light.”

“It’s nice to meet you Laser Light”

“It’s nice to meet you too”

“Can I ask you something Laser Light?”

“I think you just did, but go head.”

“How do you know my mother, and why do you hate her so much?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment then she leaned back against the wall, “About eleven years ago I met her. She was working a mission for the Steel Rangers around the time I joined up. She’d been gone for a while working on some project with a couple other Scribes. I first met her when she finally returned from that mission. I’d heard stories about Grimoire from one of her friends, a Knight called Vervain. I worked a lot with Vervain on different missions back in those days. She was always going on about Grimoire and her daughter. I never got to meet you however, you were always sick in bed when I was around.”

“Wait a sec,” I interrupted, “You used to be a Steel Ranger?”

She gave me a sad smile, “Emphasis on used to be. I was kicked out around ten years ago, which was about the same time Grimoire went into Stable 28 to start her new mission with Vervain. Before that day I really liked your mom, she was kind and always had interesting stories to tell. She was always worrying about you though, I remember that quite well.”

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach from what she was telling me, “I take it that my mom did something to get you kicked out of the Rangers.”

“That she did, I had a good thing going with them back in the day. I worked hard and was just about to make the transition from Knight to Paladin when shit hit the fan. I learned something that I shouldn’t have about your mom. When I tried to ask her about it, she freaked out, she used a spell on me removing the knowledge of what she was doing. I can remember finding something out, but not what it was. It was right after, that she went and told the Elder the one secret I had and I was thrown out of the Steel Rangers. Honestly, I was lucky they didn’t kill me, but the Elder at the time took pity on me and said I wasn’t to ever come near the Compound again.”

I took a moment to let that information sink in before I continued, “A couple weeks ago I would’ve said there was no way my mother could do such a thing, but the more I find out about her, the more I realized that I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did.”

“I’m not saying she was a bad pony or anything, even though I’d like to kick her ass for betraying me. Back then she only cared about one thing, keeping her little girl alive. From the looks of it, she found a way to do so. So tell me, why did she leave you behind in that nasty place?”

“Wish I knew. I’ve been trying to figure that out ever since I left. I didn’t even know she was really alive until I got out. All I know about her is that she rejoined the Steel Rangers for a while, then she left on bad terms. Later she went to New Pegasus and was looking for a Dashite called Striker. She went off to Hoofington to find him. After that I have no idea what happened, but I did learn that six months ago she was spotted back in New Pegasus and she wasn’t the same mare I used to know.”

Laser Light whistled, “Shit, well Hoofington will do that to you. It’s a horrible city. You couldn’t get me to go there for all the Caps in the world, only a fucking nut job would even dare to go there. I wonder why she was looking for Striker though?”

“Don’t tell me you know who this Dashite is too.”

She smiled again, “I’ve been wandering The Wasteland for a lot of years now. I met him a couple years ago when he flew out this way. Sadly, he died not long after. He saved me when I was on a mission to clear out a raider nest. He was a nice Stallion, I never knew he knew Grimoire though.”

“So, he’s another dead end I guess.”

“Maybe, but he told me that he left everything he owned back with a pony by the name of Priest, in a small town called Chapel. Striker may be dead, but if I know that pony like I know I do, he left something behind with his stuff. Though I wouldn’t recommend going to Hoofington if you can help it.”

“From what I heard it’s on the other side of Equestria. I’d have to get a working sky carriage if I wanted to get there in one piece.”

“That and a pegasus that would be willing to fly it all the way out there or if you have the caps a griffon,” she said with another smile.

“That wouldn’t be a problem, two of my traveling companions are flyers. One’s a griffon who’s my body guard the other is a runaway pegasus from a Stable that was run by the Enclave.”

“Really?” She looked in disbelief

“Yeah, they’ve both been traveling with me for a while now.”

“Is you’re pegasus friend a Dashite?”

“Kinda I guess, he ran away from his Stable and the Enclave is out to kill him, but he’s never been marked as one.”

She got a distant look when I said that, “Well shit, he’s a lucky buck then. Not many pegasi can get away from the Enclave like that.”

“I wouldn’t call being hunted down by The Seven Sins of Equinity lucky.”

“Fuck, and I thought I had problems. Those ponies a crazy.”

“I’ll say. I did manage to kill one of them the other day, Pride was pissed.”

“Hold up just a minute, are you telling me that you managed to take down one of the Sins?”

“Yeah, with a little help from my friends.”

“And you’re still breathing? That’s amazing.”

I frowned a little, “More lucky than amazing, Gluttony was an idiot, if he was even a little less brash I’d be dead.”

“Goddesses girl, your story just keeps getting weirder,” she said.

“Trouble just keeps finding me, like right before we got here, my friend who’s a colt was attacked my Mosslurkers. He’s being treated right now by the doctor.”

She winced at that, “I’ll admit he’s a good doctor, but fuck he’s a total asshole.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

She reached over to a set of saddle bags and pulled out a big bottle of Wild Pegasus Whiskey, “You know what we need right now Shadow?”

I looked at the bottle and smiled a little, “I have a feeling you’re gonna say a shot or two of Wild Pegasus.”

“While it’s true I don’t need this whiskey, it’s too damn good, and it kills time, it can get boring up here, but this whiskey has gotten me through some pretty rough times. From the sound of it, you need something to help get your mind off of what’s been going on,” she said opening the bottle and taking a drink, then passing it to me.

I did the same and passed it back, shivering a little as the liquor ran down my throat, “That I do. So tell me, what’s your story Laser Light?”

She took another swig then gasped happily, “Don’t have one. I’m just a pony who goes around playing bodyguard for the most annoying ghoul in The Wasteland.”

She passed the bottle to me again and after two long swigs I asked, “You work for a ghoul?”

“Yup, he’s a pain in the ass. He doesn’t know when to shut up, and he acts like a colt most of the time. He IS very smart, and the pay is really good,” she took another drink.

“Sounds a lot like Stardust. He’s a good pony, but he’s such a pain sometimes.”

“Is he a good friend?” she asked.

“He’s a very good friend, he also has a knack for swooping in at the last second to save me when I get myself into trouble, same for Aura.”

“That’s something everypony needs out here, good friends.”

“What about you Laser Light? Do you have any friends?”

“A couple yeah, but I’m always busy working so I don’t get to see them often, or they’re dead, the wasteland has a funny way of saying ‘fuck you this is the wasteland bitch’ you can never be content out there” she said drinking some more.

I joined her, my head was starting to get the nice fun swimming feeling now, “I just realized that Silver is gonna be so pissed at me if I go back to our room drunk.”

“Who’s Silver?”

“Oh she’s my mare friend…I think…we never really put a label on it since we only started doing things…what…yesterday I think…or was that today…I can’t remember.”

She winked at me, “So you like the mares do ya?”

“I don’t really know, I mean I know I like bucks too, but there’s just something about mares that just makes me feel…comfortable. You know what I mean?”

She laughed and took another drink, “No I wouldn’t…I’ve never been with a mare.”

“What…you mean you never even thought about it?” Yep, I was drunk. Come on Shadow, not everypony in The Wasteland swings both ways.

“I didn’t say that, I just never tried anything that’s all. Where I grew up, they prefer same sex relationships, it works like population control.”

“Where did you grow up? I need to visit a place like that. In my Stable, if you’re caught with another of the same sex you get in a lot of trouble,” why was the world starting to spin slowly? I don’t remember feeling like this when I got drunk with Little Buck.

“Trust me, you don’t want to go anywhere near where I grew up. It’s not as fun as you think. (Hiccup)”

“So then, if you did think about doing something with a mare, why didn’t you?”

“Because I got married, had a kid, and thoughts like that went away for a while.”

“Oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were married,” I said, my voice getting slurred.

“It’s okay, after I had to leave my home, I couldn’t see my husband anymore. I miss him so much, sometimes it hurts to even think about it,” she was looking at the bottle of Wild Pegasus with a sad face now.

“Hey…don’t get sad, I hate it when ponies are sad. Maybe I could help cheer you up.”

She took one more swig then gave me the rest to finish…it wasn’t much, but a couple more mouthfuls was welcome, “How do you think you can cheer me up?”

I just shrugged, “I have no idea, but I would if I knew what would make you smile.”

She grinned at me then moved closer, she pressed her body against mine and rested her head on my shoulder, “You’re a very sweet mare you know that, your mare friend is a lucky gal.”

“Nah, I think I’m the lucky one. She was the one who helped remind me who I was, and she always seems to know just what to say to cheer me up.”

“So, this mare friend Silver. Are you two Exclusive?”

It was hard for me to push through the fog in my head, “I’m not sure, maybe I guess. She never said anything about it. Why do you ask?”

She kissed my cheek and gave me a big smile, her fangs shining in the dying light, “Should we go find out?”

My mind went to the dirtiest part’s it could find, “Sure. Can you answer one thing for me though?”

“Anything.”

“Why do you have fangs?”

She looked confused for a moment and laughed, “I’ll tell you another time, how about that. I’m too buzzed right now to explain, and if I don’t do what I’m thinking about right now, I’ll probably never be able to again.”

She grabbed my hoof and led me back down the ladder, amazingly neither of us fell in our drunken stupor. A few minutes later we were both standing by the door to the room I shared with Silver. I pushed it open and saw her sitting on the bed reading a book.

She looked up as we both walked in asking, “Who’s your friend Shadow?”

I swayed then giggled a little before I could speak, “This is…Laser Light. She was nice enough to share some whisky with me, and we were talking about stuff, then we started talking about you and me. She was asking something about if we were exclusive or not. I dunno what that means with a relationship, so she decided we should just find you.”

“Hello” she waved drunkily

She rolled her eyes and set her book down, “You’re drunk huh, that explains a lot,” she slid off the bed and walked over to us, “How much did you drink?”

“I dunno. There’s a big gray area between enough and not enough.”

Laser Light seemed to find her voice then, “At least half a bottle, no wait a little less. It wasn’t full when we started…I don’t think it was at least.”

“For goddesses sake,” Silver said shaking her head, then she smiled, “To answer both of you, I would consider Shadow and I exclusive, but since she’s drunk and so are you. I just don’t know how to say no to her stupid cute face…I can make an exception as long as I’m not being left out…”

She moved forward and kissed me. Laser Light swayed again then smiled, “Okay, now that is kind of cute, and a little arousing.”

Silver looked at her and smiled, “Never seen two mares kiss?”

“Seen it, but not for a while.”

“Ever kissed a mare?” Silver said getting her muzzle very close to Laser’s.

“Uh…nope,” she said blushing.

Silvers voice came out in a whisper, slow and seductive, “Do you want to?”

Silver looked back at me and pulled me close then pressed my head up to the other mare’s. A moment later I was kissing the medium pink maned mare, it was different from kissing Silver, but still nice. Laser Light sure knew what she was doing too. As soon as our lips met, she pressed her tongue into my muzzle and kissed me back, a small shiver running through her body.

Silver started to giggle a little, “It’s even hotter watching your mare friend kissing like that in front of you. Good thing I’m not the jealous type. How about we shut the door, and take this to a more comfortable place…”

The rest of the night, I got to learn something new about Silver. She read too many books about making love, because the things we all did that night I wouldn’t have even thought of in my wildest dreams…okay maybe in my wildest. I would have never tried to ask anypony to do what she was having us do. I’ll say that even though Laser Light said she hadn’t even been with a mare before, she did know how to please a mare, over and over again. By the time we all drifted off to sleep, my body couldn’t move an inch. I didn’t mind though, it was the best night of my life.

I woke up the next day with my head hurting, but not as bad as last time. I moaned a little as the night before came back to me slowly. I smiled a little as I felt Silver’s head resting on my chest, she was breathing slowly and curled up against my body. Then I felt feathers rubbing against the side of my head. Wait a second, I was chatting with an earth pony last night…wasn’t I?

I looked over and saw Laser Light sleeping on my other side, one of her…wings…resting against the side of my head. Laser Light was a Pegasus? I looked down at her flanks and saw a cutie mark, it was a magical energy rifle with a laser sight on it. She was a pegasus, with a cutie mark. Was she Enclave? I was about to wake her up and ask her about it when a voice came from the doorway.

“For fuck sake Laser Light, I leave you alone for one night and you go around getting drunk and screwing two mares? Now that’s a new one,” I looked at the voice and saw an earth pony ghoul standing in the door way, his voice wasn’t like any ghoul I’d met before, it DID have a little rasp to it, but it was higher pitched and whiny.

Laser Light got up and looked at the ghoul with death in her eyes, “Really Nexus? Do you have to bother me all the fucking time? I DO get days off y’know.”

I looked at the ghoul then back at Laser Light, then back at the ghoul again, “Wait, you’re Nexus?”

Steady Horn: Stay on Target! Hip fire Accuracy is improved when firing any gun.

Zebra Demon Ward: You have been given an ancient Zebra talisman, when worn it will protect you from possession by any minor demon of the Stars, beware though, this relic has been known to cause trouble for Unicorns and their magic.

Next Chapter: Chapter 20: Game Over Estimated time remaining: 79 Hours, 8 Minutes