“Much worse than that. Nightmare Moon was nothing compared to the dark zony who almost destroyed Equus not once, not twice, but three times.”

Three and a half Months after Leaving New Pegasus…

The door to the Drifter’s Inn flew off its hinges as I tossed a stallion out onto his face. A tired sigh coming from Shot Glass as I stomped out after the dick. “Demon, if you’re going to break my shit, you’d better be able to pay for it at least,” she said as I walked out.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay for the damages,” I said as I lifted the stallion in my magic and slammed him down again, “So you wanna say that to me again dickweed!?”

The stallion whimpered in pain, saying weakly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were The Silver Demon.”

“What does that have to do with anything!?” I yelled, “You don’t go into a bar and start talking shit about a mare’s height or how you’d like to plow her at the brothel! What’s your name anyway?”

He lifted his face from the dirt, and muttered, “C..Cracked Crate.”

I turned my head toward Gaston who was still sitting at the bar, “Yo Gast, we got any bounties on this shit stain?”

He took another swig from his beer before belching, and saying, “Nope, though he looks like one of those traders who comes up from the south.”

“I…I am,” he said weakly, “I’m sorry if I insulted you miss, I just had too much to drink. I let my mouth get away from me.”

I growled down at him and slowly pulled Misery from its sheath. “You like eyeing young mares when you get drunk, is that what I’m hearing? What’re you like fifty?”

He looked at my black and silver sword and shivered in fear. “No, not normally, please I’ll be more respectful in the future!”

I lowered Misery to just under his left eye and made a small cut, just enough to leave a small scar. “Find mares your own age you fucking dust-pile and try talking like a gentlecolt next time. Now you better get your shit and get out of my sight. Let that scar be a reminder to you that I let you live.”

The Stallion ran as soon as I let him out of my magical hold. I started laughing as I watched him trip over his own hooves before getting back and running on. A moment later Solstice landed next to me in her town guards’ outfit, “What did he do?”

I shrugged and giggled. “He was rude and he’s a creep, so I told him to get out of town.”

She moved her head down and kissed me before pulling her muzzle back wrinkling her nose, “Are you drunk already? It’s not even noon yet.”

I swayed on my hooves and smirked up at her. “New drink from Shot Glass, she calls it Unicorn’s Bliss, no fucking idea what’s in it, but fuck does it make things so much nicer, and I feel like I’m floating on air.”

She sighed then walked into the Inn. “Shot, how many has she had and what the fuck are you giving her?”

Shot Glass answered in her normal bored tone. “Ain’t my new recipe it’s the new girls, Rosy said it’s great for making caps and she isn’t wrong. Demon only had two and that’s the limit on this drink. I’m afraid if I give her more she’ll destroy my bar.”

“Don’t worry I’ve had it a couple times now. I’ll be good in a couple hours,” I said with a little bit of a slur.

“Should’ve been here last night Lights Fall, she was signing up a storm and dancing like a mad mare. Was the funniest thing I’d ever seen,” Gaston said, walking up to Solstice.

“Gaston, I don’t need your input, I thought you were lining up a new bounty to go after?” Solstice retorted.

He shrugged. “Already did, the pony will probably stroll through Armadillo today or tomorrow. We’ll take care of him then, get paid quick for once, then enjoy another night of drinking and partying.”

“PARTY!” I yelled as I put Misery back into its sheath.

Solstice sighed then checked something on her Mark II before saying, “Shadow you need to sober up, your uncle is waiting for you at home for more magic lessons. You know what he’ll do if you try to skip out on them again and if you show up like this he’ll kill both of us,” she then looked over at Gaston, “If your bounty shows up tonight then you take the whole thing Gaston, she’s got enough caps for now.”

“Lights Fall…” I said, then hiccupped, giggled, then continued, “Why do you have to be such a party pooper!?”

She glared at me. “If you piss off your uncle again or show up drunk, I’m sleeping in the other room for a week.”

I sighed. “Fine, but if he scolds me again about how I cast my spells I’m going to leave and go find some shit to shoot,” I then got louder, yelling, “And I’ll do it with my best GRIFFON FRIEND!”

“Cheers!” Gaston said before going back to his beer.

“C’mon, I’ll walk you home,” Solstice said with a sigh before reaching into her bags and pulling out a yellow-green potion, “Here, this will help sober you up. I got it from the doctor in town. I had a feeling you’d be drinking again.”

I took it and downed the small potion and a moment later started feeling more like myself. “I don’t know why it matters so much if I’m drinking or not, Ori knows what I do when I have down time. It’s not like it’s a big surprise or anything.”

“You’re practically a borderline alcoholic. I don’t know how you still find ways to fight when you have to,” she said as we made our way to the small house.

“It’s a special skill of mine I guess,” I said with a grin as I looked up at her.

“It’s not funny,” she said irritated, “You really need to stop drinking and partying so much and start looking for Tower 2. I thought that was the whole reason we were down here.”

I shrugged. “It is, but Ori’s had no luck finding any rumors about the location.

“Then maybe we should head south and see if it’s down that way,” she said, her voice getting more frustrated.

“You’re cute when you’re mad,” I teased, then I saw her glare at me and knowing I was pushing my luck I stopped joking around, “There’s one area about fifty kilometers southwest of here that might be where it’s located. From what Ori’s been hearing from the traders, it’s an area everypony stays away from.”

She cocked an eyebrow up at me. “Seems like a good place for it to be then. Why does everypony avoid the area?”

We’d just gotten to the front door when Oricalcos opened the door, saying, “I’m surprised you’re here so early and aren’t you on duty right now Solstice?”

For a moment I was going to say something to my uncle about using Solstice’s real name then just kept my muzzle shut. Our house was far from the others, and no one ever came close to it when I was around, so who’d overhear it? So instead, I said, “Good-day uncle! How are you today?”

He looked over at Solstice. “Is she drunk again?”

“Not anymore, “Solstice said, “I’m still on duty but took a break to make sure our little Demon here got to her lesson on time.”

“What were you two talking about a moment ago?” he asked, looking between the two of us.

I shrugged. “I was telling her about the location you haven’t been able to check on for Tower 2.”

“She said everypony avoids the area, why is that?” Solstice asked as we walked into the living room.

Oricalcos closed the door, then followed us. “Apparently it’s hellhound territory.”

“Seriously?” Solstice said, her eyes going wide.

“Yep,” I said as I sat on the old couch that Gaston normally slept on, “From what we’ve heard so far, there could be between twenty to fifty of them and there’s a rumor that they have a new pack leader who’s some kind of giant hellhound.”

“I was going to have Shadow send Gaston to check it out today after our lesson, need to see if this is true or if something else is going on,” Oricalcos said as he went over to the coffee table and pulled out Minuette’s spell book.

“Shadow, have you ever heard of a giant Hellhound, because I haven’t,” she asked.

“Sure you have, I told you about Rawr remember. He was the hellhound that called himself a Death Dog back in The Bramble. I’m guessing this new leader of theirs is one too,” I said as I moved closer to my uncle to look down at the spell book. He was going over spell preparation today and I could tell he wasn’t in a great mood, so I was going to try my best to be good today.

Solstice took a moment to think about it, then said, “Oh yeah, I do remember that story. Do you think it could be the same hellhound?”

I shrugged. “Possibly, but if so he’s very far from his old territory.”

Oricalcos looked up at me. “There are only three Death Dogs that the Enclave has ever heard of. One is a female named Digger who was last reported to be living up near Vanhoover, the second named Alister hasn’t been seen in at least fifty years, the last is Rawr who’s the oldest of them. If this leader is a Death Dog then it’s a good chance it’s Rawr.”

I looked over at him. “How do you know that’s the only Death Dogs around?”

“Death Dogs are Hellhounds that were created after the war by a former leader of Neighvarro. Only three survived the project and all three escaped about a hundred years ago. The Enclave kept tabs on them when they could but never tried to recover or kill them since they escaped,” he said with a shrug.

“How could they be the same ones if this was so long ago?” Solstice asked.

“Hellhounds have very long lives as it is, we don’t know their normal lifespans, but I’ve heard about a couple that were still Diamond Dogs during the war who are still alive today. Death Dogs are even stronger, smarter, and probably could live longer than a normal hellhound,” he said.

“Well, if Rawr is this giant hellhound, maybe it won’t be so bad to go check the place out,” I said.

“What makes you say that?” Solstice asked.

“I did help him escape The Bramble and I think he likes me. Maybe he can help us find Tower 2,” I said.

“The problem will be getting close enough to talk with him,” Solstice said with a sigh, “I think the only way we’re gonna be able to make this work is if I fly Shadow out to the location and maybe we can see if we can find the tower itself. If we have to land and there are hellhounds around then we try and see if one of them is Rawr. It would be the safest option.”

“I honestly think it would be best to do a fly over first and come back here so we can plan. If there are hellhounds around I’d rather us all be safe,” Oricalcos said as he sat next to me.

I sighed. “I think you’re right. Like I said before, I’ll send Gaston. He should be able to tell us what he finds,” I said.

“No,” Solstice said, “I’ll go.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Why do you need to go? Gaston is a contracted griffon; this is the kind of work I pay him for.”

“This is about Falling Shadows, the less that know about that project the better. I’ll go and we aren’t going to fight about it. I’ve made up my mind and that’s final,” Solstice said.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, do what you want, just don’t do something stupid.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Solstice said, “That’s your area of expertise. I’ll go tell the head of the guard that I have to leave early then go see what I can find out about the tower. I’ll send you a message on the Mark II when I’m finished.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best to listen for it, that is if Uncle Ori’s lesson doesn’t make me pass out from boredom,” I said with a snicker.

Oricalcos just frowned, unamused by my immaturity. “You can act like these magic lessons are boring, but I know you enjoy them. It’s the only time you don’t start drinking when you’re around us.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” I said as I went back to looking at the spell book. I don’t know why I kept trying to lie to him. I did like the lessons, they made me feel normal and helped distract me from the pain of not being around Aura. When I wasn’t in my lessons or training or hunting down a bounty, drinking was the only thing that made the pain go away.

Oricalcos pointed at the page we’d left off on yesterday. “Okay Star, let’s get back to where we left off. Do you remember the last lesson?”

Unlike the other times we’d started a lesson, I didn’t give him a snarky remark. I nodded, saying, “We were going over how the magic that flows in the natural world around us flows into a unicorn’s body throughout the day and how that power is absorbed by the unicorn and stored for use in spells. We also went over how spells are structured and cast, taking what we want to happen and making it a reality.”

Oricalcos blinked then nodded. “Very good, so you have been paying attention,” he said with a smile “Okay, let’s see if we can finish this book today and then we can move on to magical theory and advanced transfiguration.”

When he wasn’t looking, I let a small smile pull at my lips as I listened and watched my uncle. I’d failed at a lot in my life, but I was glad that one hope I’d had months ago had come to pass. My uncle was happy, he found a mare that loved him, he had his old…well kind of his old body back and he was able to sit down and teach his niece about magic. Seeing Oricalcos and Vervain happy with one another was still strange, but amazing at the same time. They both deserved to be happy, they deserved to settle down and ignore the shit going on in The Wasteland. They’d both given up so many years for either my mom or me.

A few hours later I yawned and stretched as I made my way out of our small home and headed toward town. It was dark but the lights from Tails Up were bright. Ever since I’d started seeing Solstice, I hadn’t slept with any of the ponies or zebras at the brothel, but I did stop in now and then to see how Madam was doing and also to pick up Harmony. She wasn’t one of the prostitutes at Tails Up, she just helped clean up the rooms and kept Madam Company while I was off with Gaston bringing in bounties or getting drunk. Over the past month and a half, I’d come to like the zony. She was extremely green to how life worked in The Wasteland, but her upbeat attitude and always looking at the world like a glass half full was nice to be around. She stayed with us and was one of the only ponies apart from my family and Gaston who knew my real name.

I pushed the door open to an oddly quiet lounge, lifting an eyebrow I looked around wondering where the normal crowd of customers were. The lounge was completely empty, even the bartender was missing. I’d never seen this place so quiet before. Pulling on my magic I cast a spell my uncle had taught me only a week ago. It was technically a shadow magic spell, but not one that was part of the same branch of magic he’d had his soul connected to for years. All this spell did was pull shadows and darkness around me making it harder to see my form in a darker environment. The lounge was always dim, so this spell was perfect. I moved to the edges of the room and started moving my way toward the back room, hoping I’d find Madam holding some kind of meeting or something.

It only took me a moment to reach the door to the back room. I used my magic to turn the knob, but found the door was locked. Cursing, I pulled out a bobby-pin and my screwdriver and picked the lock. The lock clicked in a few seconds followed a moment later by the door slowly opening. As soon as it did, I heard a stallion’s voice, saying, “I don’t like asking more than once Madam, where is this Silver Demon? I’ve searched all over this town and I haven’t seen anypony that matches the stories I’ve heard about her. The only thing I’ve heard repeatedly about her is that she comes to this establishment every night.”

“She hasn’t visited tonight I swear to you sir. She normally comes by to pick up Harmony, but she’s late tonight,” I heard Madam say, her voice sounding defiant and oddly a little scared.

“What is the relationship between this filthy zony and Silver Demon?” I heard the stallion ask as I moved slowly down the dim hallway.

“She’s my friend,” I heard Harmony say, her voice light as ever but I didn’t hear any fear in it which surprised me.

“A mare with her reputation couldn’t have friends, tell me the truth before I start beating them out of you,” I heard the stallion say, his voice getting harsh.

I growled as I came up to the door to Madam’s office pulling Misery from its sheath. The door was cracked open, and a dim light flowed into the darker hallway. Using my magic, I pushed the door open softly as I said, “I’d suggest you stop threatening them.”

Madam and Harmony were both on one side of the desk and they looked over at me as I came in. Sitting in a plush chair on the other side of the desk was a middle-aged unicorn stallion. He had a light green coat and a silver and blue mane, his eyes a light red, bordering on pink. He was dressed in a light-weight duster with a vest and colored shirt under it, giving him a strange mix of gentlecolt and scavenger vibe. He also had two revolvers holstered on a bandoleer over his chest, one had black metal with a pearl mouth grip and gold engravings, the other was gold with a black onyx mouth grip and black engravings.

He gave me an annoyed look, ignoring Misery in my magical hold. “Kid, this ain’t the time to be making empty threats. I’m also not the pony to making them to,” he said then looked at Madam, “I thought I told you to keep your staff in their rooms.”

My horn flashed as I took hold of him with my telekinesis and threw him out of the chair and against the far wall. “I’m not the type of pony who likes to be looked down on by cocky morons like you. Now let me ask you something, why are you looking for me?”

His own horn flashed and a moment later, he’d teleported out of my magical grip and reappeared a few feet from where I’d been holding him. His eyes didn’t look as annoyed anymore, and he seemed more interested. “And whom might you be miss?”

“I’m the mare you were asking my friends about, they call me Silver Demon around these parts. You’d better start talking before I start repainting Madam’s office in chunky red,” I growled as I kept my magic ready for an attack. This stallion wasn’t a normal unicorn, I could tell from how easily he’d been able to just teleport out of my magical grip.

He used a hoof to dust off his duster. “Name’s Quick Draw, fastest gun in The Badlands. I’m also one of the best bounty hunters down here. I’ll admit I had no idea the so-called Silver Demon would be so young. I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but from the look on your face, I’d say you’d disagree with me.”

“Quick Draw, there’s no way that’s your real name? Okay, I’ve never heard of you, but that doesn’t mean much. I don’t keep up with the other bounty hunters in The Badlands unless they get in my way. What do you want with me? I doubt there’s any bounties out for me,” I said.

He grinned and I saw the leg of his duster go up a little. The glint of a Pip-Buck poking out just a little. “You’d be wrong there, there are two bounties out for you at the moment. One’s from some nasty gang that you went after a couple weeks back. They said you took their leader when he was sleeping. That bounty isn’t large, only 5000 caps. I personally don’t take contracts from ponies like them.”

That didn’t surprise me much, I knew the gang he was talking about. I’d used one of my stealth spells Uncle Ori taught me to sneak in and grab their leader. I’d gotten a few thousand caps for that one and it was only two hours of work and half a day’s travel. Though from the sound of it I’d have to go back soon and take the rest of them out. I looked back up at Quick Draw’s face. “Even if you did, you’d be out of luck even if you could take me to them. I know for a fact that they don’t have the caps to pay you. Who’s the other bounty from? More useless thugs putting out bounties they can’t afford?”

“Ah, now that’s the interesting one,” he said as he started to pace, still ignoring my drawn sword, “Until you came into the room, I didn’t know the second bounty was for The Silver Demon. It came from north west, from some cult that started up a couple months back. Seems this colt is willing to pay 50,000 caps for a mare called Shadow Star. I guess this mare pissed off their leader or goddess or whatever she is, and she wants her brought in alive. Funny thing is the drawing looks a lot like you Silver Demon.”

My eyes went wide as I asked, “What cult?”

“I’m guessing you haven’t been away from The Badlands for a while. It’s called the Cult of the Eagle, their leader is a powerful unicorn called Aquila. They’ve been growing quite a lot near New Pegasus,” he said eyeing me as he paced.

“Well, I may look like this Shadow Star but I’m not her,” I said as I did my best to hide the panic starting to race through me, “You still haven’t told me why you’re here looking for me.”

He looked at me for a long moment before he stopped his pacing. “Honestly, I’m not here for any bounty, though the one from the northwest is tempting. No, I’m here because you’ve been making waves. You’ve been taking a lot of bounties away from the rest of us within a hundred kilometers and caps are starting to get slim for the rest of us. We bounty hunters don’t all get along or work well with each other, but we do make sure not to take every single bounty for ourselves. I’ve come to put you in your place.”

I started to laugh. “Put me in my place? If you only knew the ponies, zebras, griffons, and more I’ve killed, you wouldn’t be saying something like that,” I lifted Misery, “Now get out of this brothel and leave Armadillo before you say something you’ll regret. I don’t care if you or the rest of the bounty hunters can’t seem to keep up with me, it’s not my problem if you suck at your job.”

He didn’t move a muscle, he just looked at Misery with a hint a boredom on his face. “I could leave as you ask, but more will keep coming until you’re dealt with. If you wanna keep waves of bounty hunters from flooding into Armadillo, then you’ll have to best me in a duel.”

I cocked my head to one side. “A duel? What, you want to have us both go to the center of town and see who can draw the fastest or something?”

He chuckled. “Normally it’d be something that simple. We’ll have a quick draw duel yes, but rules will be put into place to make sure the duel is fair. Us both being unicorns makes it very easy to cheat.”

“I could just kill you here and now and pay Madan for the mess,” I said with a grin, “I’ve got the caps for that.”

“I won’t go down as easily as you might think Demon. Even if you were able to beat me, I’d be sure to kill both of your friends here before I died. Now do you accept my duel, or do you want to chance one of your friends dying?” he asked.

“Fine,” I said, sliding Misery back into its sheath across my back, “What are the rules and when are we doing this?”

He seemed to relax a little as I put away my sword. “It’s quite simple, no magic is to be used apart from telekinesis. That can only be used to hold your weapon and fire. One bullet will be used, and it can’t be an automatic. Revolvers are the only weapon I’ll allow in a duel with me. As for when we will do this I say we mosey on just outside this fine establishment in fifteen minutes or so.”

“Fine with me, but I’m going to send Harmony home, she doesn’t need to see this,” I said, looking over at the zony who was watching the two of us. she didn’t look scared, more curious.

He sighed. “Fine, but the old one stays here.”

“Who are you calling old!?” Madam exclaimed, a bit of her normal fire coming back.

“Shut up Madam,” I said, glaring at her before turning back to Quick Draw, “Fine, I’ll meet you out there in fifteen minutes.”

He turned to leave then stopped and said, “Oh yeah, also no using your S.A.T.S. neither. I’ll make sure to not use my own as well. I have a spell that will keep the spell from working.”

“I don’t need it,” I said.

He smiled and with a flash of his horn, he teleported away. When he was gone, Harmony ran over to me and hugged me. “He wasn’t a nice buck.”

I hugged her back. “No, he’s not, but soon he won’t be a problem anymore. He really picked the wrong pony to screw with.”

“Demon,” Madam said, coming around her desk, “Quick Draw is one of the best bounty hunters in the area, at least before you came along. He’s also one of the best duelists around here. I know you’re good, but you have no idea how fast he can shoot. He’s called Quick Draw for a reason.”

“I’m not stupid, I figured that out as soon as he brought up a duel. If he knows my reputation as much as he says he does, and he still wants to fight, that means he planned for this,” I said as I let Harmony go.

The zony wasn’t much taller than me and she was around my age, maybe a little older, but she always made me feel like she was younger. She looked up to me most of the time. At first it was extremely irritating because she tended to follow me all over the place asking me questions nonstop, but now I liked having her around…most of the time. She looked at me now and I could tell that she was going to ask to stay to watch the fight, or to talk me out of it.

“Do you have to fight him? Can’t you work something out? Not everything has to be dealt with like this. Maybe if you agree to let some of the bounties go to the others he’ll back down,” she said, in her innocent way.

I sighed. “Harmony, the world doesn’t work like that. Ponies like him only understand one thing, and that’s violence. Okay, two things if you count caps. I wish the world was kinder, I wish it was more like it was back before the war, but unfortunately that’s not the world we live in. This is The Wasteland and the only thing it understands is pain, suffering, blood, and death. Terrible, disgusting, and gruesome death. Now, I want you to go home, tell Ori what’s going on, then stay at home.”

I saw a tear in one of her eyes. “I don’t want you to do this, there has to be another way.”

“There isn’t, now go,” I said in a firmer tone.

For a moment she just looked into my eyes then she looked down nodding. “Yes ma’am.”

“Harmony don’t call me ma’am. I’m not your owner, I’m your friend. I’m just trying to keep you safe,” I said.

She walked past me, saying, “If I was your friend you wouldn’t order me around like I’m just your serf,” she took a moment to look back at me as she continued, “There’s more to life than fighting and killing. I can tell deep down that you’re a good pony, but she’s stuck deep inside you. Buried under a lot of hurt. You can keep killing, fighting, and drinking to try and mask it, but I can still see that good pony trying to find a way to get free. I’m gonna help you find her again.”

Before I could say another word, she dashed for the back exit and was gone. I sighed and turned to make sure Madam was okay when I heard Quick Draw yelling from the street in front of Tails Up, “Townsfolk of Armadillo, I am Quick Draw and I’ve come to your lovely town this evening to challenge your so-called Demon to a duel. In ten minutes, the duel will start. If you want to witness the fall of this Silver Demon, then make sure you come and watch. We will be commencing the duel in front of Tails Up!”

“Well, he’s full of himself isn’t he?” I said as I listened to him yell again, his voice sounding magically enhanced. He must’ve been using a spell to make sure the whole town could hear.

“I’ve seen him fight in Armadillo seven times now and he always pulls in a crowd to watch,” Madam said sadly, “If you’re going to do this then you’d better make sure you have a revolver, and I’ll pray to the goddesses that you win.”

“I have an old one in my saddle bags; it should be good enough. It’s not the fanciest of weapons, but it’s kept me alive in the past,” I said, pulling out the old revolver.

She looked like she was going to say something else when another voice echoed in from the street and I felt my heart nearly stop as I heard Vervain yell, “If you think you can beat her, then you’ll have to go through me!”

“Who the hell are you?” I heard Quick Draw say, his voice still enhanced.

“Oh, hell no,” I said as I ran for the front of Tails Up.

“I am a former Paladin of The Steel Rangers, my name doesn’t matter, but if you want to take on Silver Demon then you’ll have to prove you’re good enough. I’m the one who trained her, so prove yourself to me!” I heard her say as I ran through the still empty lobby and burst through the front doors.

I saw them, standing in the middle of the road. Quick Draw looked over Vervain, not looking impressed. “I’m a unicorn, what do you think you can do to beat me in a duel earth pony?”

“Ver…I mean Mother, what do you think you’re doing? Go home, this is my fight!” I yelled.

She glared at me and for the first time in a long time, I saw the fire and anger in her eyes. She held my gaze for a long moment before she said, “Back down, I’m not a weakling so stop treating me like one,” she then looked back at Quick Draw, “I’ve killed my fair share of unicorns with big egos like yours. If you think you have what it takes to win against me, then prove it to me. One bullet, one shot, best shot wins.”

“I shoot to kill, I only need one shot, are you willing to risk your life for this brat?” he asked, nodding his head toward me.

“I’d give my life any day of the week for her,” Vervain said and as she talked I noticed a holster with a revolver on her chest. I had no idea she had a weapon like that.

“Fine, if I win I’ll take on Silver Demon next, once your corpse has been removed of course,” he said, taking a few steps back.

“When I win, you’ll leave Armadillo and never come back,” Vervain said, taking a few steps back as well.

“Oh, so you think you’ll win without killing me do you? Okay, well then you have a deal,” he said. As they talked, more and more townsfolk started to show up, watching as Vervain and Quick Draw stood across from each other.

Quick Draw’s magic glowed, and I saw him getting ready for his pull. Vervain’s muzzle twitched as her eyes watched the stallion a few paces away from her. Everypony watched and waited for the moment when the action would start. I wanted to do something, but I knew Vervain would rip me a new one if I tried to step in. I could feel my heart pound against my chest as the seconds ticked by, then it jolted right as Quick Draw suddenly yelled, “DRAW!”

He was halfway through saying the word, his magic glowing brighter to pull out his revolver when Vervain stared moving. Her head shot down, pulled her revolver out of its holster, the hammer already cocked. Quick Draw’s revolver flew out of its holster and was on its way up to point and fire. Vervain however was a former paladin; she was one of the smartest and toughest ponies I’d ever met. Her revolver was up and her tongue pulling at the trigger before Quick Draw could get his revolver aimed. There was a loud crack and Quick Draws revolver flew out of his magic, falling to the ground a few meters away. I could tell even from where I stood that it was broken from the bullet slamming into it.

Quick Draws eyes went wide as his brain tried to comprehend what had just happened. “How…How did you do that?”

Vervain smiled as she holstered her revolver. “I raised a powerful unicorn; I know what to look for with magic. I started moving as soon as your horn started glowing brighter. Unicorns like you think that they’re the only ones with power because they can cast spells. You’re wrong and you should never underestimate the internal magic of an earth pony. We never miss. Now get out of Armadillo and never bother my daughter or this town again.”

I wanted to run over to Vervain and hug her. The sight on Quick Draw’s face was priceless. I was just about to do that when I saw Quick Draws horn glow brightly right as he said, “I tried doing this like a gentlecolt, but I’m done playing games.”

A blast of magic flew out of his horn and slammed into Vervain so quickly that I didn’t even have time to put up a shield to protect her. In what seemed like slow motion, I saw the blast hit her, her eyes going wide and a look of shock coming to her face. That moment lasted for only a moment before she was thrown back and through the front window of Drifters Inn. His horn glowed again, and another blast hit the building and it started to burn. I screamed in rage and tried to run for the now burning bar, but before I could take a single step, I felt my body lock up as a spell wrapped itself around me, holding me in place.

“Not so fast Demon, or Shadow? I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting your Steel Ranger friend to step in like that or for her to pull a fast one on me, but she won’t be a problem anymore,” Quick Draw said while the towns ponies rushed to the burning bar hopefully to try and save Vervain.

I felt anger like I haven’t since the day I left New Pegasus building inside of me as I said in a deadly tone, “You better hope that you didn’t kill her with that blast, because if you did, I’m going to make sure your death is as painful as possible.”

He sighed and walked closer. “You still seem to think that you can do anything. The sad truth is you can’t. I’m a much more powerful unicorn than you think. You’re nothing but a filly who knows a few spells and can’t really do anything when stronger ponies come along.”

“I’ll show you how much power I really have,” I said.

He laughed. “Shadow Star, I know who you really are. I looked into it when I heard about the bounty. You may find this hard to believe but some of us down here have heard of The Courier. I did some digging and came to find out that most of what you’ve been able to pull off out west was because you had the help of your friends. Let’s see, you had a Dashite who is a great shot and a good fighter, a colt with a lot of tech knowledge, a bat-pony who I’ve heard saved your life a few times, oh and let’s not forget about that griffon, the one who leads the Shadow Talons in New Pegasus. She was the reason you’ve survived for so long, that and a little luck. So, stop portending like your something, when you’re nothing but a pathetic foal. You’re the fool who left your friends behind and came out to my turf with two older ponies and a pegasus.”

I started to run through spells that my uncle had taught me to help me out of binding spells like this. I tried my best not to look at the building that was starting to get consumed by the flames. I saw the sheriff run into the building, I hoped she was able to get Vervain and Shot Glass out. I looked at Quick Draw. “You’ve been planning for this, you’re here for the bounty on me.”

“Of course I am, but not the one out west. I don’t feel like making that trip, but there is one a few miles from here that is worth a good amount. You pissed off a pony who used to trade with those slavers you killed, oh wait your griffon friend did that didn’t he. Still, the bounty is for you, and I could use ten thousand caps. Nice thing is he doesn’t care if your dead or alive. Don’t you worry though, once I bring you in, I’ll be sure to get word back to this Aquilla who’s looking for you out west and tell her right where the rest of your small family is. I have a feeling she’ll take her anger out on them since you’ll be dead and gone,” he said with a chuckle.

I felt something deep inside me start to bubble its way up my body and into my horn. I could tell that it wasn’t my normal light magic, this was dark, and it felt amazing as it fueled the spell I needed to break free of his binding spell. It also enhanced the rage I felt from him threatening to tell Aquila where my family was. In a flash of almost blood red magic, I broke the binding spell and turned toward Quick Draw who’s face had gone pale. I took a single step toward him and said in a voice filled with power and darkness. “You won’t threaten the ponies I love EVER again!”

“How did you…” he started to say before I picked him up in my magic and threw him across the street, his body slamming into a wall and crashing right through the flimsy boards. He yelped in pain, but I didn’t care. I turned my head and saw Sheriff Spur and another pony pulling Vervain and Shot Glass from Drifters Inn right before the roof collapsed.

“Are they still alive?” I asked doing my best to keep the anger out of my voice.

Sheriff Spur nodded. “They’re both breathing but Vervain needs to see a doctor for some deep cuts, and she might have a broken rib or two, but she’ll live. You should come check on her, I’ll take Quick Draw into custody for what he did to the Inn.”

“No,” I said and turned back toward the building where I could see Quick Draw slowly crawling out of the hole I’d made with his body.

“Demon, he committed a crime in my town. It’s my job to take him in and pass judgment, not yours. You aren’t above the law,” she said as she walked toward me.

I used a bit of my magic to slam her down to the ground, holding her in place with my own binding spell. “Sorry Sheriff, this Stallion is going to die tonight and by my hooves.”

“STAR NO!” I heard Oricalcos yell from down the road, I saw him running toward me.

When he was close enough I used a spell to make him trip over his own hooves then picked him up in my magic and put him over by Vervain, “Auntie Vervain needs your help right now. Stay out of this!”

“Star, I can feel the darkness in you, something’s wrong. You need to stop before you do something you’re going to regret,” he yelled.

I ignored him and teleported to Quick Draw’s side. He saw me and tried to hit me with a hoof, cursing, “Stay away from me you fucking monster!”

I dodged the hoof-strike, using some of the moves Vervain had been teaching me. I flipped around and bucked upward, my rear hooves slamming under his jaw and throwing him back. He cried out and when I turned toward him again, I saw blood drooling out of his muzzle. He spat on the ground right before I slammed a hoof into his left eye making his head fly down into the dirt. He moaned in pain but tried to get back up again. I used my telekinesis to lift his head by his mane, making sure he looked into my eyes, “You made a big mistake coming here and an even bigger one by hurting Vervain.”

I used two blasts of air to strike him in the gut twice then I lifted him off the ground by his mane and slammed him back into the dirt. He rolled over and moaned in pain again, but managed to say, “I’ll…kill you…Demon,” his horn started to glow and quicker than I could counter he tried to blast me with a spell. I managed to move to the side, but part of the spell hit my side making me fly against another building.

The blow hurt, but not as much as it could have. He was fast, but his energy was nearly gone, or the pain was making it hard to put power into his attacks. I felt more of the darkness flow into me as I got back to my hooves, my magic lifting him again. I pulled him closer and right as I saw his horn start to glow again I said, “No more of that,” I pulled Misery out of its sheath and used it to cut off his horn.

I’d never done anything like this before and if I was a little smarter I would’ve remembered a lesson my uncle taught me a few weeks ago. Cutting off an enemy unicorn’s horn is the best way to make sure you’ll win in a fight, but never do it when they’re casting a spell. Our horns are the focal point for our magic. The magic itself is in our bodies and our horns are where we cast our spells and put the magic into the world. If you cut off a unicorn’s horn in the middle of a spell. It’s like setting fire to a fireworks stand, things tend to go boom. That is just what happened. As soon as his horn was sliced off, the magic he was putting into whatever spell he was about to cast, blasted out in a wave throwing us back as the wave of magic flew out in a dome of power destroying another home and knocking over a few citizens who weren’t smart enough to run.

I was dazed for a moment from the blast, but it didn’t seem to do much damage, though I’d probably have a few bruised ribs to deal with tomorrow. I slowly got back to my hooves and started walking toward Quick Draw who was moaning in pain a few meters away. He saw me coming and cowered in fear, “Please…show mercy, I’m done. You cut off my horn, my body is beaten to shit. Just let me go…I’m sorry…I’m so sorry!”

I picked Misery up from where it fell when the blast went off and pointed it right at Quick Draw’s eye. “You threatened my family, you know who I really am. How am I supposed to know you won’t still tell others where I am?”

“I…won’t, I won’t, it was only a bluff. I just wanted you to stop taking away my work. I have a foal and a wife to feed. They need me…please show mercy to a desperate father. I was only looking…out for my own family,” he said, starting to shake either from being in so much pain or fear.

“I don’t believe you,” I said.

I heard Oricalcos yell over at me, “Star, you won, let him go! You don’t need to kill him.”

“My foal is only eight, she’s my world…I shouldn’t have been so harsh, I was just trying to do my job,” he pleaded.

“Demon, don’t you dare kill him!” I heard Spur say from where she was still stuck.

“Shadow…you don’t need to do this,” I heard Vervain say weakly.

I turned and saw her looking up at me while Oricalcos held her head in his hooves. For a moment, I wanted to do as they asked, for a single second I almost stepped away. Then I remembered what happened the last time I’d let somepony go who was a threat to my friends. I remembered what happened the last time I’d been too weak. I turned back toward Quick Draw. “Sorry, but you’re the one who decided to fight a demon, now you can suffer with knowing your foal will grow up without her father, just like I did.”

“Wait…NO!” he screamed right as I cast my spell.

“Now Burn,” I said coldly as he was enveloped in a split-second flash.

At first it seemed as if nothing happened, then the spell took effect. Small embers started to appear at the ends of each hair across his body, “What!? What’s happening!? Ah! Ahhhh!” he screamed as the embers grew into black flames and he collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.

“You wanted a Demon right? Well, here I am! That flame is inextinguishable and only goes out if I tell it to or if the target dies!” I yelled through his screams as he rolled back and forth trying to put the fire out.

As quickly as they started, his screams stopped. The flames danced into the air above and disappeared, only leaving behind a charred husk and a pair of melted pistols. As I started to walk back down the road toward the town, the anger started to fade, and the darkness receded. It was only then that I saw what I couldn’t before. Everypony apart from Vervain and Oricalcos looked at me with overwhelming fear. They backed away from me as I made my way closer, some of the mares crying as they looked at my bloody form, covered in wounds. Oricalcos and Vervain however looked at me in sorrow and disappointment. As the dark feeling finally went away my mind cleared, and I realized what I’d just done. I didn’t need to kill Quick Draw; I didn’t even need to cut off his horn like I had.

I stumbled and looked toward a window where I could see a reflection of myself. I didn’t see Shadow Star, I didn’t see the former Courier, I didn’t even see Silver Demon. I saw a bloody monster, a monster who was worse than even Aquila. I started to think about the other ponies I’d killed, the mare from the slaver camp, what I’d made her son do right in front of her, the others I’ve killed or beaten to an inch of their lives while drunk off my ass. As I looked at my reflection, rain started to fall, and I started to cry. I hadn’t cried once since I got to Armadillo, not truly. I heard the towns ponies start to leave as they whispered about what I’d just done to Quick Draw. I heard Oricalcos saying something to the Sheriff about me, but I ignored it all as I looked at the disgusting creature in the window, the creature that had my face.

I felt a hoof wrap around my shoulder and Vervain pulled me close turning me away from the sight reflecting back at me as she said, “Are you ready to finally talk?”

My whole body shook as I said in a horrified voice, “What’s wrong with me? I burned him to death like it was nothing. What am I becoming?”

She lifted my head to look into her bruised face. “You’re a very sad, very hurt filly with too much power. I’ve been telling you for months now that you need to talk to me. Your uncle and I were scared something like this would happen, but we couldn’t stop you from going down a dark path, we still can’t. It’s up to you to find your way back to the light.”

“I…I don’t know how, I…I just killed a stallion that had a foal, a wife, his daughter will grow up without a father because I was too angry,” I started to cry harder, “I should’ve let him kill me!”

I felt my magic starting to stir again as my emotions overwhelmed me. I started to hyperventilate, until Uncle Ori came over and his magic flowed over me. “Shush now Star, sleep and we can talk in the morning.”

It was like he snuffed out my magic, I felt it fade into the back of my mind right as my eyes started to close. As I fell into Vervain the last thing I heard was Sheriff Spur, saying, “You better keep her in that house of yours until I talk with the leaders of Armadillo, but if I were you, I’d prepare to leave. We don’t need ponies like her in our town. We hang monsters in these parts.”

I awoke the next morning with a pounding headache. I moaned and sat up in my bed, reaching over to the nightstand to pick up the bottle of Wild Pegasus I kept there, only to find it was gone. I moaned in pain and sat up more, running a hoof over my face. My blurry eyes looked around the small room for my Wild Pegasus or any drink. I shook my head trying to remember what happened last night. For a few minutes I couldn’t remember much, then like lightning a flash of memory hit me. I saw and heard Quick Draw screaming as he burned, I could remember the remaining husk that still held the expression of pain on its face. I felt tears starting to fall again and I laid back down in my bed, covering my head with the thin blanket, doing my best to force the memories to go away. I needed to force them down, just like I’d done with Aura and the rest of the ponies I’d left behind in New Pegasus. Slowly I started to drift back to sleep, tears staining the pillow.

As I drifted off I could’ve sworn I saw a flash of green light through my eyelids, but I ignored it. The pain deep in my soul was almost too much for me to take. I wasn’t sure if it was because of what I’d done to Quick Draw, or the Slavers, or most of the ponies who’d gotten in my way over the past three months, or if it was just that deep down I knew I was a fraud. Just like being The Courier. In New Pegasus I tried to live up to the image DJ Pon3 and Mr. New Pegasus had painted of me. I’d lived day in and day out not only trying to find my mom, or keep myself alive, I’d tried to do good and help when I could. In the end, I’d failed and when the ponies of New Pegasus needed me most. I left because I was so furious at Aura. The thought of her brought up small memories, memories I’ve been drinking myself into oblivion every night to try and forget. I remembered the first time I’d met her on the cliff outside that old shack, I remembered giving her the healing potion that saved her after Stardust almost killed her. I remembered how I felt when I thought she’d died, or how I felt when she first kissed me. We’d been through so much over the past few months and I’d overreacted without giving her a chance to explain herself.

As I slowly drifted further into my slumber, a voice echoed through the dark thoughts and darker dreams that were trying to force themselves on me. It was a stallion’s voice, one that sounded familiar, “It’s about time you stopped acting like a foal, you’ve been quite pathetic as of late Shadow.”

At first I thought it was a dream, but something deep down told me that I wasn’t dreaming. I tried to open my eyes, my real eyes, but I couldn’t. Everything around me stayed black, apart from two glowing green eyes. If I could’ve moved, I would’ve. Whatever was going on, I couldn’t do anything to stop it, so I did the only thing I could, I asked, “Who are you?”

“You should know me quite well by now Granddaughter, you have seen much of my life due to the memory orbs I made sure were left in the right places for you to find,” the voice of Night Stalker said.

A moment later, the rest of his body appeared, looking just as old as he had when he’d been banished from The Enclave. His mane was a mix of grey and silver, his goatee was grey with a bit of black still in it and his eyes looked haunted, tired, and sad. As I looked him over, the blackness around us started to change and soon I felt as if I was awake and in my own body as we sat overlooking a deep gorge with gray cliffs surrounding us. I found I was able to look around, but I couldn’t see much because a light fog was around the two of us.

I looked back at the old buck and asked, “How are you here? Did I finally lose my mind or something, or does this have something to do with that crystal?”

Night Stalker or Absent Moon smiled and moved closer to sit next to me. I knew he’d been a big pony when he was alive, but as I sat next to him I finally realized just how big he’d been. Sitting, my head wasn’t even as high as his shoulder. It made me feel even younger, like I was a foal. He looked down at me and said in a gentle voice, “You haven’t lost your mind yet Shadow Star, this is partly the crystal and a bit of your soul reaching out to try and help you fix what you’ve broken.”

“I thought that crystal was the thing that cursed The Children of the Night,” I said looking up at him.

He nodded slowly as he looked out toward the horizon. “The crystal was a one-time use thing. It did cast the curse, but after that it was nothing more than a cracked crystal with a little power still remaining inside. The magic inside it now was placed there by an old witchdoctor zebra and a bit of Min’s. I wore the crystal almost every day since my sister passed away. I met the old zebra a few days after Petal’s death. She told me a lot of things that at the time I didn’t want to listen to or believe, but she did place spells on this crystal and told me to keep it on me. I was in so much pain over the loss of my sister that I didn’t even think about the possibility that she could’ve been trying to hurt us. It was one of the few smart things I did when I was young.”

“I don’t understand,” I said honestly.

I saw a small smile pulled at his lips as he said, “This zebra mare knew what it would take to break the curse and how to help Equus. She also knew that my generation wouldn’t be the ones to fix it. She made sure that every member of The Children who had the crystal on them for even a little bit would have their memories placed inside it. Memories that would help make sure that a future descendant of ours would know what to do to fix the sins of our past.”

“Is her spell the reason I’m talking to you now? Are you just a mix of memoires and magic?” I asked.

“An…imprint of my soul lingers in the crystal, mixing that with my memories and you get what you see now,” he answered still looking out at the horizon.

I turned my head to see what he was looking at and my eyes went wide. In the distance, the sun was setting between the peaks of two mountains. As the sun fell, the light hit the snow topped peaks and cast thousands of rainbow shimmers across the peaks, almost like they were covered in diamonds instead of snow. With the beautiful colors of the darkening sky behind them, it was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Greta and I used to come here almost every night when we were young and watch the sun set. It’s one of the best memories of my childhood,” he said, “Aurora’s Twin Peaks they’re called.”

I looked back at him. “Did you love Greta? I mean when you were younger, before the war.”

He looked back at me, and I saw tears running down the old stallion’s face. “I don’t remember when it first happened, when I knew for sure that I was indeed in love with her, but I think I fell for her on the day I woke up after she saved me from the snow. I’d never met a griffon like her, she was head strong yes, but she was also caring, and could be sweet when there was no one else around. Her grandmother and her could’ve sent me back to Equestria to live in an orphanage after I recovered, but they took me in, and Gran raised me as if I was just another griffon. Gran and Greta never treated me like a pony living among them, I was just a part of the family.”

I felt a deep ache in my chest as he talked about Greta, it made me miss Aura all the more. Trying to get my mind off of her I sniffed then asked, “Why are you here?”

He took a moment to dry his eyes before he responded, saying, “You’ve hit a low point in your young life Shadow. The crystal finally reacted and stepped in like this because if you keep going down this dark path, you’re going to die. If you die, Equus will fall into a deeper darkness than it ever has in over twelve hundred years.”

I frowned at that. “You mean when Nightmare Moon took away the sun?”

He shook his head. “Much worse than that. Nightmare Moon was nothing compared to the dark zony who almost destroyed Equus not once, not twice, but three times.”

“You’re talking about that monster Mezzanotte aren’t you?” I asked, remembering the dark creature I’d seen in Moon Light’s memory crystal.

He nodded. “Two or maybe closer to two and a half thousand years ago, he was the first zony. He was born to the Starkatteri Tribe, back then they weren’t as feared as they were in later years, though they were still shunned by the rest of the tribes. Not much is known about his life before he found his dark magic, but we do know that he did use it to make shadow magic and tied the magic itself to his very soul. He nearly destroyed all the tribes when he was a young stallion and if it hadn’t been for the other twelve tribes stepping up and trapping him in some kind of stone prison, he would’ve taken over all of Equus even back then. He was trapped for centuries until one day followers of his cult found a way to free him.”

I interrupted. “How could he have lived that long?”

Absent Moon smiled. “He was immortal, his soul being tied to dark magic or something like that. I’m sure Oricalcos knows more than even I do, but anyway. He needed to build up his power again after his escape and he headed to a young Equestria. He built up a following in our homeland and tried to take over again, but he rushed it and Celestia and Luna put a stop to him, trapping him in another stone prison and Luna herself sealed it with her magic.”

I remembered the memory with Moon Light. “He said something to Moon Light about tricking Luna and because of her becoming Nightmare Moon, he was able to escape.”

He nodded. “That he did and once again, he waited a few years to build up his power before trying once again to take over Equus. He was very strong when he did this and with Nightmare Moon banished to the moon, Celestia wasn’t powerful enough to stop him. It took Celestia and the rest of the first Children of the Night to even stand up to him. In the end, all but one of The Children died fighting him. Celestia couldn’t use the Elements of Harmony after what she’d done to her sister, so Mezzanotte almost won. Moon Light and Celestia combined their magic and opened a rift to the lowest levels of Tartarus. The spell was so powerful that in the end it took the life of Moon Light. At least that’s the story I was able to find.”

I felt a small pain in my chest again, but I ignored it and asked, “What does any of this have to do with me?”

He sighed, looking sad. “It has everything to do with you, you see, you’re the only pony who can stop Mezzanotte.”

I started to laugh. “Yeah, sure I’m powerful enough to put an end to something like that.”

He didn’t smile as he said, “I don’t know everything about what you’ll need to do to stop him if he escapes Tartarus. I only got small bits and pieces from the old zebra, but she said that once you accepted both the light and the dark parts of your soul, that you’d be able to do it. She also said that it will take the power of the stars to put an end to this darkness.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You mean Aquilla’s power? I kind of don’t have her inside of me anymore. She’s sort of running around in her own body now, one made by The Ministry and almost a clone of me. She’s also evil!”

“She’s not evil, she’s just been living with so much pain that her mind split. I would know because it’s my fault all of this is happening. If we hadn’t created Stargazer, Aquilla would’ve been left to grow the way she was meant to. Who knows, maybe she would’ve never needed to come down to Equus to help? Sadly, we ripped her away from her home and trapped her in a lab for two hundred years and because of that we used what we learned from Stargazer to make Falling Shadows; a project that won’t only make a pony even more powerful but will also open the gates to Tartarus,” Absent Moon said and then sighed, “If the Project isn’t destroyed and somepony uses it, the rest of the light magic that does belong to Aquilla will come down and be placed in the pony who is using the project. That power coming down will also destroy the chains to Tartarus and Mezzanotte and many more will escape that prison. Falling Shadows will literally bring darkness down on Equus.

“Why…would you make anything like that?” I asked feeling, disgusted by what I was hearing, “I know you wanted to win the war, but at what cost?”

He looked back at me sadly. “We didn’t know what would happen until it was too late. Minuette tried to warn me, but I was too arrogant to listen, so she made sure the project was locked down until somepony could destroy it. It took me forty years to realize she’d been telling me the truth. I did what I could to help, even giving up my life to hold back the project just in case anypony found The Mark II’s.”

“So, I have to clean up your mess?” I asked feeling angry.

He sighed. “Sadly yes. I’m not proud of what I did, and I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t. I’m sorry that you’re the one who has to do this, but you don’t have to do it alone. You have friends and loved ones who will do anything they can to help you. You shouldn’t run away from that; you should embrace it.”

I looked down at my hooves and the land around us seemed to change. When I looked up, I saw we were no longer on the cliff looking out at Aurora’s Twin Peaks, we’d moved to a dirt road that led between two straw huts. Griffons were walking around, and I saw one small skinny pegasus colt talking happily with a young griffon. They had to be Absent Moon and Greta. I looked over and saw the old Absent Moon was still sitting with me watching the two.

“I’m not as strong as you were, I’m nowhere near as strong as Moon Light was either. How can I do anything to stop any of this when I can’t even keep my friends safe?” I asked.

He chuckled a little. “Nopony is ever born strong, and they aren’t always as brave as most think,” he pointed a hoof at his younger self, “I was skinny, scared, and in love with a griffon. I didn’t feel brave, I wasn’t strong and yet when a friend was threatened, I didn’t back down once from a fight as long as I could keep the ones I loved safe.”

As I watched I saw three older griffon children come up to Greta and Absent Moon right as Absent was giving a beautiful white and blue flower to Greta, a small blush on his young innocent face. It was odd seeing a young Night Stalker, with no scar over his eye and a shy smile on his face. I couldn’t hear anything, but I watched as the three older kids pushed Absent to the ground laughing as he landed in a mud puddle. Greta stepped in trying to defend her friend, but the biggest one punched her hard in the face making her fall to the ground where she started sniffing and tearing up, trying to hold back her tears. Before they could do anything else, Absent Moon jumped into the air and round house kicked the biggest griffon right in the side of his head. He was dazed but it only took a moment for him to shake it off. Absent Moon was yelling at the three as he stood guard over Greta, but I could see his legs were shaking. The griffons and Absent kept on yelling at one another until the one that he’d kicked slashed one of his razor-sharp talons down Absent Moon’s left eye. Blood sprayed and I saw him fall to the ground screaming.

Two of them looked at their bigger friend in horror before running off. The one that slashed Absent was looking at his bloody talons, looking just as scared as his friends. Greta had gotten up and was trying to help Absent, but she looked back at the larger griffon yelling at him. It only lasted a moment before he flew away in a hurry. Greta cried as she started yelling something down the small roadway, getting the attention of a few adult griffons who ran over to help.

“I couldn’t see out of that eye for a few weeks, and it took months before I got all of my vision back,” the older Absent Moon said, running a hoof over his scar, “I was so scared when they came after us like that, but something inside me made me jump in to protect Greta. My father was the same way, he’d always jump in to protect my mom. Nightingale was like that too; my daughter was so much like me it was scary. What I’m getting at is that something in our family makes us want to help others, even if we’re scared, even if we know deep down that we aren’t strong enough, we’ll still do our best to help.”

I was still watching the scene as the griffons picked up Absent to rush him off to get medical aid. I saw a flash of light over his flanks before he was whisked away. My eyes went wide. “Did you get your Cutie Mark that same day?”

He nodded. “My special talent was being a protector of the weak and being sneaky.”

I sighed and turned away from the memory. “I don’t know what to do Absent Moon. I feel so lost, I can’t seem to get the painful memories to go away, I can’t think straight. It’s…easier to just drink, collect bounties, and sleep around. It dulls the pain.”

I felt his hoof rest on my shoulders and slowly he turned me back to look at the memory, only it had changed again. This time I saw something else. It was a smaller M.A.S.E.B.S. tower surrounded by black rocks. My eyes went wide as I knew deep down this had to be the tower I’d been looking for. Absent Moon confirmed that a moment later. “This is the tower you need. It’s not far from here,” he sighed then continued, “We don’t have much time, but you need to hear this. Dulling your pain won’t help, it will only make it worse. You need to face that pain, then forgive yourself before you can move on. If you go into that tower the way you are right now, you’ll die.”

I looked at him, confused. “Why would I die? All I have to do is unlock the system inside, what could be so dangerous about that?”

He sighed again. “Each tower was constructed with different megaspells inside of them. The megaspells work together to power that tower’s purpose for Falling Shadows. Minuette put spells in place to test anypony who wanted to get past the main chamber to reach the control panel. This tower is one of the hardest ones to pass and I can’t tell you what to expect when you go inside with Solstice. Just remember to be careful and to trust in each other if you want to pass and unlock the tower.”

“Can’t you give me a least a hint?” I asked, getting sick of all this shit I had to do just to fix this mess.

He shook his head a little. “All I can do is tell you that this tower will test your courage in some way. Tower three will make you face your greatest nightmares, tower four will test your mind, and tower one, well I can’t honestly remember if Minuette put a spell in place there, she didn’t always tell me everything.”

“Why didn’t I see you get tested when you went into tower four? You just walked in and got into that pod,” I asked.

“I was tested in a way, but you didn’t see that part. The entrance to the tower changes inside Minuette’s library. When you go there, it won’t be in the same place as it was for me. You’ll have to find it by following whatever clues the library itself will give you,” he said.

As he spoke everything started to go dark apart from him. “I’m guessing our time is up?”

He nodded. “Just about, but before I go, I’m going to pass on some wisdom. First of all, don’t keep holding onto your anger over Aura. No matter what you try to tell yourself and who you sleep around with, she is your true soulmate just like Greta was mine. Don’t be a fool like your great grandfather. Go back to her, talk with her, and find a way to fix the rift. If you don’t, you’ll live the rest of your life feeling like you have a hole in you. If Greta and I can fix our own rift then so can you two. Second, don’t trust that griffon friend of yours so much. You’re a smart pony Shadow, but you’ve been in such a deep depression and drunk most of the time that you’re missing things when it comes to him.”

“Gaston? What do you mean?” I asked as his body started to melt into the black.

His voice started to fade as he said, “You’ll have to figure that out on your own, but think about this, it was mighty convenient for you to find such a helpful griffon when you first came to town. Lastly, remember to keep moving forward, stop looking back and always shine bright, brighter than any pony has before…”

My eyes went wide as he said that. The words my mother always said to me. A phrase I’d never fully understood. I wanted to ask him more, but he was gone. Before I could even think about trying to follow him, I jerked awake, falling out of my bed, my heart racing as the spell finished. I put a hoof to my chest as I looked on the bed where the crystal’s light started to slowly fade away. “What the fuck?”

Four and a half Months after leaving New Pegasus…

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” Solstice asked as we stood a mile away from the land the Hellhounds claimed for their own.

I didn’t answer right away as I thought carefully, going over the plan we’d spent the last month coming up with. After I’d killed Quick Draw, I’d spent two days in bed, a good part of that being stuck in the spell the crystal had cast over me. I’m still not sure if that was really a part of Night Stalker I’d been talking to or just the magic, but I’d done my best to try and fix the shit I’d pulled over the months since we’d left New Pegasus. Sadly, I’d relapsed a couple of times during the last month. Apparently it’s not as easy as I’d thought to give up drinking and keeping my anger down was still a struggle, but I’d worked at it slowly with the help of my uncle, Vervain, Solstice, and most of all Harmony.

Harmony had wormed her way into my life more and more over the last month. She never left me alone for long, always giving her two bits when I was reverting back into Silver Demon again. I considered the normally quiet zony a friend now, and as I got better I’d gotten to know more about her. She told me a lot about her life before and after her time as a serf in Hoofington. She’d been raised by her father who was a zebra, he taught her a lot of things about their culture, but he died when she was six and she was taken to The Society where she was made into a serf. Well, that’s what she called it, she was a slave with no collar if you ask me. Her former owner had apparently been a nice older mare who Harmony was some kind of maid and caregiver for. When she died a year or so ago, she was given to her grandson who soon sold her to another mare who later was captured by slavers after some Society ponies ran from some attack in Hoofington. From what I could tell, she was sheltered from a lot of things in The Wasteland. I was slowly trying to help her learn what it was like to live outside the protection of her old home. She never told me about her mother, all I could get out of her was that her mother was a pegasus, and she was killed by The Enclave.

I’d also started to pay attention more to Gaston like Absent Moon said, but so far I wasn’t seeing anything suspicious about the large griffon. He was the same old Gast I’d grown to like, though I had noticed that he tended to disappear now and then for a day or two, but every time he came back he had news about bounties or things going on outside The Badlands. I was still watching him, but I wasn’t going to send him away until I had proof he was up to something. I’d also spent the last month fixing my relationship with Vervain and the two of us were doing a lot better. I’d finally told her what happened in New Pegasus with Aura, and she did what any good mother would do. She held me close and told me she understood my anger and then told me I needed to start finding a way of fixing things with Aura. I wasn’t quite ready for that yet; I mean I’d treated her like shit and…I’d been sleeping with Solstice. I was also sure that Aura wanted nothing to do with me after what I’d said and how long I’d been gone.

Solstice and I both knew that what we had wasn’t love, it wasn’t anything more than a way to help each other get over our own problems, and to scratch a certain itch every now and then. We did care about each other, we were still friends and she’d even told me that if I ever wanted to go back to Aura that she’d understand, and it wouldn’t destroy our friendship. Last week, I’d finally decided to end our strange relationship and oddly we were getting along even better than before. I was in a lot better mindset than I’d been a month ago, but I was still having bad dreams about what I’d done to Quick Draw. Sometimes I’d wake up and swear I was the one burning because I was so hot and sweaty.

Armadillo let us stay after what happened, mostly thanks to Oricalcos, but Sheriff Spur and most of the town now stayed far away from me when I walked through town. I’d also been banned from Tails Up. Madam was so terrified of me that she wanted me as far away from her establishment as possible. That still upset me a little after I’d saved her ass, but I also could understand. We couldn’t stay in Armadillo for much longer, sooner or later somepony is going to try and kill me again or the town was going to find their courage and chase us out of town. We had to get this job with the tower done soon. When it was all done, I was gonna go back to New Pegasus and fix the relationships I’d broken. For better or worse, I had to grow up and ask for forgiveness for how I’d acted.

I finally looked back at Solstice. “If it doesn’t then we’re going to end up as puppy chow.”

Solstice ran a hoof through her mane, slowly looking out toward the spikey black rocks that sprang out of the flat dryland in the distance, a white spire just visible in the middle of them, “When I flew over the area I did see a very large Hellhound who matched the description you gave me of Rawr, but I still can’t be sure since I never met him. Are you sure he won’t just kill us when we try to get close?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I’m hoping he’ll remember that I freed him and he’ll let us go into the tower.”

“And this tower matches the one you saw in the dream?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

“I’m not close enough to tell for sure, but the black spikey rocks match and for as long as we’ve been out in The Badlands, I’ve never seen anything like these before,” I said, pointing at one of the closest rocks.

“They look like crystal more than rock,” Harmony said from my other side.

I’d tried to get her to stay behind with Oricalcos and Vervain, but she refused to leave my side for more than a few moments for the past month. She said she was worried about me and wanted to be close in case I went nuts again. I’m not sure what she would do if I did lose my temper again, but I didn’t have it in me to yell at her or force her to stay behind.

“Yeah they do, the strange thing is, I don’t remember seeing these in the memory of Minuette’s when she brought Scootaloo here to lock down the tower,” I said.

“Maybe they grew since then,” Solstice said, “Crystal can grow at insane rates with the right circumstances.”

I lifted an eyebrow, looking at her. “Since when are you a geologist?”

She just shrugged. “I’m not really an expert or anything, but The Enclave uses crystals for power sources since gems are hard to come by in the clouds. Stratus had a large crystal farm and I’ve seen how fast they can grow.”

“Normally natural crystal growth isn’t very fast, a lab can make them grow faster, but you wouldn’t see it in nature unless there was something else helping them,” Harmony said.

“Oh, so you’re an expert now too huh?” I asked, looking at the zony pegasus.

She smiled. “My dad was, and I had a few of his books and journals when he died. I know a lot about the natural world, be that herbology, petrology, mineralogy, and so on. I’m about as close to an expert as you’ll probably find in The Wasteland.”

“Huh,” I said with a small smile, “Well miss smarty pants, do you know what kind of crystals those are and how they could’ve gotten so large in two hundred years?”

“Magic had to be involved. From what you told me about what’s hidden inside that tower I wouldn’t be surprised if the megaspells are having an effect on the environment. Normally crystals like those don’t just grow in the middle of a dry deadland like this. Typically, they can be found in caves or when magma is involved and many other ways, but them being here is just strange. As for what they are, I can’t be sure until we get closer, but it looks like a large deposit of hematite. Hematite is normally used by zebras and some unicorns for holding dark magic spells.”

“So, if the megaspells had something to do with them growing here, I wonder if they’re some kind of defense system or if the megaspell chambers are leaking,” I said.

“Does it really matter?” Solstice asked.

“It might, but either way we have to get through them and up to the tower,” I said with a heavy sigh.

“Don’t forget we have to make it past a lot of hellhounds,” Harmony added.

“There is that and a death dog,” I said with a sigh before moving forward, “Solstice, if we start feeling anything under the ground shake or if you even hear something that sounds off coming from under our hooves, you get Harmony into the air.”

“No problem, but what about you?” she asked, looking over at me with a bit of worry in her eyes.

“I can teleport out of the way or put a barrier under me if needed,” I replied.

She sighed. “Okay but be careful.”

“I always am,” I said with a chuckle.

Harmony cocked an eyebrow at me. “When have you ever been careful?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, shut up.”

It didn’t take us long to reach the beginning of the black crystal. Before we went further, Harmony took a few moments to get closer to one and examine it, before saying, “Definitely Hematite which is just plain odd since they don’t normally grow like this or this large and I doubt there’s any magma around here.”

“It has to be the tower then,” I said with a sigh as I slowly drew out Misery, “Okay, from here on out we need to be careful. A hellhound could attack at any…”

Before I could even finish there was a loud boom followed by an explosion of dirt and dust as six hellhounds exploded out of the ground a couple meters in front of us. I lifted Misery and coughed, taking a few steps back as the dust filled the air. I was ready for one to attack us, but nothing happened. When the dust settled I saw the six just standing there glaring at us from just beyond the crystals. They all had weird-looking rifles in their filthy paws and crude armor. The leader was larger than the rest, but not as large as Rawr.

The leader took a step forward aiming a rifle that was longer than my body at me and said in what could only be a female voice, “You ponies are not wanted here, this be hellhound land. Leave before pony becomes dinner.”

The three of us looked at each other before I slowly lowered Misery, still keeping it ready in case they decided to attack. “My name is Shadow Star…”

“Marie does not care what small pony’s name is, Marie wants ponies to leave. This be small pony’s only warning,” she said with a loud growl.

“I can’t do that; I need to get to the tower that’s in the middle of your home’s territory. I’m guessing since you aren’t attacking me that you don’t care to kill ponies, am I right?” I said.

Marie growled louder. “Marie’s mate told all hellhounds to not bother ponies from the towns unless they come into hellhound land. If ponies do not leave, ponies will die.”

“Is your mate named Rawr?” I asked hoping I was right.

She cocked an eyebrow, slightly lowering her rifle. “Is pony from clouds?”

“You mean The Enclave? No, I’m not with them,” I answered.

“Then why is pony with two winged ponies and looking for Marie’s mate? How does pony know Rawr’s name?” Marie asked, looking angrier than before.

“I saved him back in New Pegasus when he’d been collared and forced to fight in The Bramble. We didn’t come here to hurt any of your…hellhounds, just to get to the tower and maybe to talk with Rawr. I haven’t seen him in a long time, and I never got a chance to properly thank him for his help back then,” I said, not showing this creature any fear, even if I was feeling a good deal of it, “He said I was his friend when he left to go find his mate and daughter.”

Her eyes went wide. “You are the small weak pony that helped my Rawr get free?”

“I am,” I said, ignoring the weak part. I mean what good would it do me to get angry at that? To a hellhound and with no magic, I was weak.

She looked at the others, saying, “Get Rawr, tell him that pony that helped him is here,” they looked a little confused but in a flash they put away their weapons then dove into the ground. When they were gone, Marie looked back at me and smiled, showing rows of very sharp teeth, “Ponies can wait here until Marie’s mate comes, he will say if it is okay for ponies to enter.”

“Y…you said Rawr was the biggest hellhound you’d ever heard of right?” Solstice asked, sounding scared.

“Yeah, he’s a lot bigger than Marie is,” I replied, looking over at the large female.

Marie scowled. “Rawr is not normal hellhound, he is death dog. Other not as small ponies will give Rawr respect.”

“Y…yes…ma’am,” Solstice said, her legs shaking.

Marie started to chuckle, a very scary sound with a creature like her. “Pony has not met hellhound before, pony shaking like leaf.”

Harmony tilted her head as she looked up at Marie. “I think you’re fascinating.”

Marie moved closer and lifted one of her very long and sharp claws until it was an inch away from her nose. “Does half-breed think Marie’s claws are fascinating as well?”

She didn’t even look scared as she nodded her head. “I read that hellhounds were originally called diamond dogs. They used to work for The Ministries to help dig tunnels and build some of the structures back during the war. I also read that they were used to help mine gems from deep in Equus for Equestria to use for the war effort.”

Before Marie could answer, a large form walked out from behind one of the large spikes of jet-black crystal. As soon as I saw his mangy reddish-brown fur, deep yellow eyes, and enormous size, I knew it was Rawr. The same death dog I’d helped in The Bramble so many months ago. As he drew closer, he said, “Striped pony is right and wrong. Diamond dogs were forced to help, their lands were stolen by the ministry mares, and they were forced to do as they were told. Diamond dogs had to work, had to dig, had to find gems for war, or else diamond dog’s family would suffer.”

Harmony hadn’t looked scared when she was talking with Marie, but she took a step back and her fetlocks started to shake at the sight of the death dog. He was a full head taller than his mate and his claws were even longer and sharper. His eyes glowed in the dim light and his fangs poked out of his jaw and were like daggers. He looked around at the three of us before his muzzle lifted into a small smile when he caught sight of me.

I smiled back, saying, “It’s good to see you’re doing well Rawr, it’s been too long since we’ve seen each other.”

“Rawr is surprised that Small Pony is this far from her home. Small Pony does not look as good as she did last time Rawr saw her. Life has not been kind since the last time Rawr and Small Pony saw each other,” Rawr replied as he moved up to stand next to his mate, who nuzzled under his jaw for a moment.

Gee thanks for outright saying I look like crap after not seeing me for months. I thought we were friends, and he’s acting like an opinionated relative at a reunion. I suppose he’s right though; I could use a bath and a manecut.

Solstice looked ready to bolt at the sight of Rawr, so I put a comforting hoof on her shoulder, saying, “Don’t worry, Rawr is a friend. He won’t hurt us unless we give him a reason to.”

She just nodded as Rawr chuckled. “Small Pony is correct, Rawr is in her debt for saving Rawr’s life and giving him freedom to come back home and find Rawr’s mate and pup.”

“So…you won’t kill us? I was always taught that…hellhounds kill ponies on sight,” Solstice said, doing her best to keep her voice even.

“That is true of most hellhounds, Rawr’s pack lives out here away from ponykind to keep away from judgment and hunters. Rawr’s pack does not bother ponies if they do not bother them,” he said before looking back at me, “Rawr is happy to see Small Pony again, but must ask, why are you here?”

I sighed, then pointed a hoof at the tower just in the distance. “I need to get inside there.”

His eyes widened a little. “Small Pony wants to try to get into the base?”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Base? I thought it was just a strange M.A.S.E.B.S. tower?”

He looked down at my Pip-Buck then at the Mark II on Solstice’s foreleg. “Rawr knows more about the project than Small Pony might think,” he took a moment to think before he turned and said, “You may enter Rawr’s lands and Rawr will meet with you three in his den.”

“Really? You’ll let us into the tower then?” I asked.

He looked over his shoulder at me. “That depends on what Small Pony tells Rawr once they are in private,” he said before looking at his mate, “Go back to patrols, no one will bother Rawr or his guests.”

She nodded, then after licking his nose, she tore into the ground, vanishing. Rawr waited a moment, then indicated for them to follow him. Solstice still looked scared, and Harmony more curious, but we followed the huge death dog past the black crystals and up toward the tower. It only took a few minutes to reach and now and then I saw a hellhound or two watching us from dark crevasses, but they didn’t come any closer with Rawr so close. He didn’t speak the entire time we were making our way up the small hill. At first I thought he was going to lead us right to the entrance, but he didn’t. He led us to a metal door that seemed to be built right into the black crystal growing everywhere around us. He carefully entered a code into a pad next to the door and it opened with a hiss.

He walked in and we followed, the door shutting as soon as all of us were inside. I was expecting to walk into an old mostly rusty tunnel or room, but I found myself in a small library. The walls and floor were a soft brown wood with bookshelves surrounding the large space filling every wall. There were a few sofas, a large desk, some reading tables, and a few terminals around the room. A door on the other side was open and seemed to lead into another room that had what looked like a large bed in it. The room was well lit and there was even soft, pleasant music playing from a beautiful radio in one corner of the room.

All of us looked around in awe before an even bigger shock came as Rawr spoke, but he didn’t speak in the normal voice I’d come to expect of all hellhounds, he sounded more like a dignified pony, “I do have to apologize for the rough way I’ve had to speak and act when we were out there and before Shadow Star. Most of my race is not as well educated as I am, and they tend to get irritated or even hostile when they think one of their own is acting like what they would call weak ponies.”

My eyes went wide as the still very scary hellhound…death dog, turned to look at me with kind looking eyes and a smile on his lips. I looked him over and asked, “Who and what are you…really?”

“I’d like to know that too,” Solstice said.

Harmony just looked at the books as if she wanted to run over and start reading them. Rawr chuckled. “I have not lied to you about what I am Shadow, I am a death dog or hellhound I guess, but one that has been experimented on to make me and the others like me, smarter, stronger, faster, and deadlier than the rest of my race. The death dog project was started by the grandson of Nightingale to protect two of the towers that control Falling Shadows when he was the guardian over a hundred years ago.”

If my eyes got any wider, they were going to pop right out of my head. “You know about the project, and the guardians?”

He nodded then motioned for us all to take a seat on one of the sofas. When we did, he sat in a large chair, and said, “That is correct, and I knew that you were a descendent of the guardians when I first met you.”

“If that’s true, then why did you try to kill me before I got the collar off?” I asked.

He shrugged. “To be honest, it would be better to say that I wasn’t sure if you were related to them until after you got that collar off me. You see, the experiments they did to the others, and I made sure that we could sense the blood ties to a guardian so we would know who we could trust. That gift of mine was dulled when I was under the control of that unpleasant pony Poison Oak. After I was free I knew who you were, but I could also tell that you had no idea who you were related to or the true importance of that Mark II you have.”

Solstice seemed to be coming out of her fear as she glared at Rawr. “If that’s true, then why didn’t you tell her about who she was back then?”

He looked at my friend with a frown. “It’s not my job to tell a guardian who they are or what they have to do. There’s also the fact that Shadow would not have believed me if I’d told her too much back then. I could sense that she had spells keeping her memories at bay and I couldn’t do anything to help her remember herself or her family.”

“Then what’s your job and why are you even here?” I asked, before Solstice could argue more.

“My job for the past century has been to keep this tower safe in case anypony that wasn’t one of the guardians came to unlock Falling Shadows,” he said simply.

“Why would you spend so much time and give so much of your life to doing that?” Solstice asked.

He smiled. “I knew what this project was meant to do and the danger of letting the wrong pony get their hooves on it. I was told a lot, same for my brother and sister about what the project was and what it could do to The Wasteland.”

“So, you know why I’m here then?” I asked.

He sighed. “I wasn’t told everything about what you or whoever was part of your family would need to do when you came here, but I do know that it has something with shutting down the project. I will admit though, until I met you a few months back, I thought the last guardian had died with no one to take their place. I have not met with a guardian in almost twenty years.”

I took a moment and did some quick thinking and mental math. Twenty years ago would’ve been around the time my uncle Striker left The Enclave and left my father in charge of being the new guardian. Mom had already destroyed or stolen most of Striker’s notes and intel on Falling Shadows and Project Star Gazer before my father could get them. Finally, I asked Rawr, “Was Striker the last guardian you knew?”

He nodded. “He was, Striker wasn’t as bad as his father I’ll admit, but he wasn’t a great guardian. Now his grandmother was amazing, she used to visit me once a month just to see how I was doing, or to come and read one of my books or bring me new ones,” he looked off into the distance as a memory overtook him before looking back at me, “I’m guessing Striker is your father then? Wait no that can’t be, you’re too young to be his foal if he passed away twenty years ago.”

I shook my head. “No Striker’s my uncle and he’s not dead, at least he wasn’t when I saw him last a few months back.”

“Ah, so you’re not Striker’s daughter but Night Shade’s then. Did he take up the mantle of guardian then?” Rawr asked.

“He did, but my mother stole or destroyed a lot of Striker’s notes he left for his brother. He had to leave Nimbus quickly after he killed his father. My dad only knew a little about his role and only knew about the power source for Falling Shadows in New Pegasus and not much else,” I said with a sigh.

His eyes narrowed. “More than just your family knows about The Projects of The Children of the Night?” he sighed and sat back rubbing his eyes, “Night Fury was foolish for not telling both his sons about the projects and their roll. I shouldn’t be surprised though; he was power hungry and an angry fool of a pony. I bet he passed his role of guardian over to Striker as soon as he was old enough to do his part so he could focus on getting more power in The Enclave.”

“My mother is a descendent of Minuette, she knew a little of their projects and was looking into more when she started to date Striker back in the day,” I said, doing my best not to let my emotions get out of control as memories of my mom flowed through my mind.

Rawr took a while to think before he looked at my friends then back to me. “Tell me everything that you know, I’ve been out of the loop for to long,” he then looked at Harmony who was still looking at the books and smiled, “Little Hybrid, if you want to read one of my books, you may. Just make sure to put them back when you are finished.”

Harmony looked like she’d just been given one of the best gifts in all of Equus. She ran over to the shelves and started looking at the spines of the books while I looked back at Rawr. “I hope you have a time, because my story is a long one.”

He tapped his foot on the floor. “I’d like you to start from the beginning honestly, but I can’t stay here forever. How about this, your friends and you can stay here while you go over everything you know. My pack will keep you fed and safe and I promise that no harm will come to any of you while you’re here.”

“I’d love to tell you what I can, but honestly, I don’t have a lot of time to do so. I really need to get into the tower and unlock Tower 2,” I said.

Rawr was drawn with melancholy as he said, “Even though I am the protector of this location, that doesn’t mean I know how to open the door that will get you into the chamber. The door is locked and protected by magic.”

My eyes went wide as I asked. “You mean to tell me that I’m this close to finally getting what I want, and I can’t even get through the door!?”

“Sadly yes, I think the only way into the room is to have the key to the door. It’s possible it’s around here. I haven’t looked too hard for it, but if it’s not, then you’ll have to find another way to find your way into the room beyond,” Rawr Said.

“Fuck,” I said with a growl then sighed and asked, “Can a few more of my friends and family join us here then? My uncle Oricalcos could help me tell you more about what happened twenty years ago and honestly we do need to leave Armadillo soon. Unfortunately, I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

He smiled and nodded. “As long as they keep the secret of who and what I am and my full intelligence from my pack and follow the rules, then you are all free to stay.”

I got back to my hooves. “Okay, I’ll teleport back to Armadillo and get them.”

Solstice got up too. “I’ll go get them; you still need to rest Shadow.”

I sighed. “I know, but I need to talk with Gast, it’s time I let him out of his contract. I love the big guy, but he doesn’t know everything about me or the project and the less he knows the better.”

“Are you sure? I can always tell him you’re ending your contract if you want,” she said.

I shook my head. “I need to do it myself; you stay here with Harmony; you’ll be safe as long as you stay here with Rawr.”

“Fine, but if you’re not back in a few hours I’m flying back to find you,” she said with a smile.

I gave her a hug then headed out with Rawr. I wasn’t looking forward to the conversation I was going to have to have with Gaston, but I knew it was time to let my griffon friend go. He was fun, he was strong, and so far he’d been loyal. Even though he’d been nothing but helpful, I still couldn’t get the memory of what Absent Moon said out of my head. The crystal’s magic hadn’t lied to me yet and I knew all too well that not everyone could be trusted, even if they did act like a friend.

Five months after leaving New Pegasus…

Oddly when I’d gone back to Armadillo to get Oricalcos and Vervain, Gaston hadn’t been there. He’d left a note though, saying that he had to head back to his home and that he was ending our agreement on his own. I found it strange that he’d left on the same day I’d found the tower, but it made things easier for me. Oricalcos hadn’t been too happy about us all going to Rawr’s home, but I talked him into it in the end. It hadn’t been too hard once I told him about the small book collection Rawr had.

It took most of the past two weeks to explain to Rawr what happened to my family and everything after Striker left The Enclave. Oricalcos was a big help with a lot of the earlier stuff. He’d been part of the military science team back then and knew Striker well since he’d been dating my mom. Honestly, the part that took the longest to explain was my own story. I had to tell him about how I’d been hurt, my illness, what mom had to do to fix me, the whole getting Aquila stuck inside my body, my time in the stable, my memory loss, and everything since I’d found The Mark II.

During our time at Rawr’s den we spent most of our time in the bunker that was Rawr’s second home. He’d explained that this was where he’d lived until he started forming a pack and when he met his mate a couple decades ago. No one in his pack, not even his mate was allowed in this place. It was still weird to talk to him here, where he talked like most ponies. When he would go back around his pack, he’d revert to the normal hellhound way of speaking.

When I wasn’t talking with Rawr I spent most of my time at the end of a dim hallway just past the few bedrooms in the bunker looking at a large metal door. This wasn’t a normal stable door like I was used to. This door was twice the size and there was some kind of puzzle ring in the middle of the door. Uncle Ori said it was a kind of rotating dial pictograph puzzle. Accounting to him the seven rings around the door had to be twisted around to make one picture to solve the puzzle and hopefully unlock the door. To make matters worse, right in the center of the puzzle a small circle that indicated that a piece was missing, either a gem or part of the picture. That was the place that Rawr was talking about when he said the key was missing for the door. Ori thought it was a gem to power the puzzle, because no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get the rings to move an inch.

If we could find the gem key for the door, the rest shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. I could already tell that the picture was supposed to be the symbol for The Children of the Night. I could see the two black outstretched wings, the crescent moon, and the sword. I’d only seen it once at the power source under Spitfire’s Flight Academy. It was Night Stalker’s cutie mark encircled by Princess Luna’s wings.

“Looking over the door again I see,” Oricalcos said as he came up behind me, sitting to look up at the door with me.

“I’ve looked all around this bunker, and I haven’t found anything that could be the key. Maybe Minuette or Scootaloo took it when they left here. Maybe there’s no way for anypony to get into the room to unlock the project,” I said with a sigh.

“That’s possible, but I’m sure we’re just missing something,” he said “Even if we can’t find the key, there has to be another way to get passed this lock. Minuette wouldn’t have made it impossible to get back into the tower. She wanted this place destroyed more than anything and I think that locking down Project Falling Shadows was all she could do at the time.”

“Maybe, but she was also out of her mind back then. Who knows what she was thinking when she had Scootaloo lock down this tower?” I said.

He looked over at me. “Maybe she remembers where it is.”

I cocked an eyebrow, looking over at him. “Even if that’s true, how do you expect me to ask her? She’s hundreds of miles away.”

He pointed a hoof at my Mark II. “Contact Byte, she could ask her for you.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to bother her or any of them.”

He put a hoof on my shoulder. “Star, you know you can’t keep hiding from them forever. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to go back to New Pegasus. The longer you put off asking for forgiveness, the harder it’s going to be.”

I felt tears falling as I said, “It’s been five months, I’ve been away longer than I was with most of them. How can they forgive me after I abandoned them for so long?”

“Byte, Stardust, Wind Thrasher, Wingnut, and Aura all love you. Yes they may be upset and rightly so after what happened, but I think after all this time, they may have forgiven you for what you said and how you acted. You were in a bad situation and dealing with a lot of stress. I’m sure they understand that and most likely don’t blame you,” he said and pulled me into a tight hug.

I buried my face into his golden chest feeling like a foal again as I let my emotions get the best of me. As I did I said, “I keep dreaming about her…Aura, the look on her face when I yelled at her, the hurt in her eyes and I keep waking up in cold sweats. The dreams keep getting stranger too, I keep seeing her dying while trying to protect New Pegasus and our friends while I’m not there to have her back, or I see the city fall under dark shadows and red eyed monsters. The longer I’m gone the worse I feel, but I can’t seem to get myself to just leave and go back to her. I don’t know if it’s because I’m scared of what she’ll say or if it’s because I don’t deserve her.”

A moment passed then I heard Vervain say from behind me. “Sweetie, you do deserve Aura and she deserves you. The two of you both did wrong, the only way to fix things is to take the first step and ask for forgiveness.”

I pulled my face slowly out of my uncle’s chest to look back at Vervain. She was sitting a couple meters away looking at me with her deep purple eyes. “What if she hates me for leaving?”

Vervain smiled. “I don’t think Aura could hate you for anything Sweetie. She might be angary, she might be hurt, but the two of you share a bond I’ve never seen before. She may even feel the same way as you do, she probably feels like she betrayed you in some way or that she could’ve done more to understand your emotional state. My point is that you won’t know until you face your fears.”

I sniffed then used a hoof to wipe my eyes. “I know you’re right, it’s just hard to bring myself to do it,” I sighed, sniffed again, then pulled out of my uncle’s embrace, “No matter what I decide to do, I can’t do anything until we figure out how to get past this door and into the tower itself.”

“I’ve looked though all the books here and I can’t find anything that points toward where the key to the door would be hidden.” Harmony said as she walked down the hallway toward us with Solstice a few steps behind her.

“I’ve looked under every bed, blanket, in every chest, hooflocker, you name it, and I haven’t found anything that looks like it belongs in that door,” Solstice said as her and Harmony joined us.

“Trashcans!” a slightly disembodied voice said from somewhere near my uncle’s satchel.

Harmony jumped, saying, “Who said that?”

Oricalcos rolled his eyes and using his magic he pulled out the shrunken version of the Discord lamp. The lamp that was apparently a soul jar and had a piece of the lord of chaos’ soul inside it. I hadn’t seen the small Discord lamp since the night he’d trapped my friends and I in a place he called ‘TV Land’. I’d almost forgotten about it.

“You still have Discord?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I figured it was better to keep him with me instead of just letting him lay around where random ponies could find him. He may not be a full version of Discord, but he has enough power to cause problems. He’s also interesting to talk to when he’s able. Plus, he’s not boring and keeps me entertained.”

“Ah thank you Oricalcos! I’d say that you’re a joy to talk to as well, but then I’d be lying, you’re honestly quite boring most of the time!” Discord said. Every time he talked the very small light bulb in his paw lit up.

“Is that really Discord? The one from the old stories?” Harmony asked, her eyes wide.

“He is and he isn’t, he’s an intelligent Soul Jar to be honest. He’s a fragment of Discord’s soul with a bit of the original’s power,” Oricalcos replied.

Harmony took a step back and said something to herself in zebra, which I found interesting. I didn’t know she knew zebra. After a moment she said, “Who would use such dark and forbidden magic?”

“Oh, that is quite simple,” Discord said, “Rarity the head of The Ministry of Image did this with the help of two other unicorns. She got her hooves on a black book and learned how to first attach a soul to an object then she used me to experiment with splitting small parts off a soul.”

“My father always said that kind of cursed magic was dark and evil,” Harmony said, looking sick.

“It is dark, but I can’t say evil. No magic is good or evil, the ones who use it for such things are the problem, not the spells themselves. Though taking a soul and putting it into an object I think is as close as you can get,” Oricalcos said.

“I can say that I am not evil, but I have been called that quite a lot over the years. Most ponies find my pranks to be evil, but in reality they just couldn’t understand my passion for making life more interesting,” Discord said.

Harmony shivered a little but came closer again. “Well, if Oricalcos trusts you then I guess I will…for now.”

“I wouldn’t say I trust him, its more that I’m not worried about him being able to hurt any of us,” Oricalcos said.

Before the conversation could keep going down this seemingly never-ending rabbit hole, I said, “Discord, what did you mean when you said 'trashcans’?”

“Oh, I thought it was obvious,” he said with a chuckle to his voice, “Why would you hide something valuable in places most ponies would look!? If Minuette knew nopony was going to be coming here anymore unless they wanted to get into the tower for the wrong reasons, why hide it where it’s easy to find? If I were her, I would’ve hidden it in a trashcan, or the back of a toilet. Oh, or even better yet, inside a fuse box! There are so many great hiding places that ponies never look unless they’re very intelligent or desperate.”

All of us looked at the small lamp with confusion, all but Vervain. She looked like she’d been slapped. “Of course, it’s just like when ponies scavenge in The Wasteland.”

I looked back at her with an eyebrow raised. “What do you mean?”

She looked just as confused as I did as she asked. “You have scavenged before haven’t you Shadow?”

I shrugged. “Here and there, but honestly Wingnut did most of that when we were traveling. Stardust too, but normally it was a quick check of the places we were at. We never spent much time looking around in trash bins or in the back of toilets, what’s the point of that?”

She sighed. “I forget sometimes that you’re not a wasteland born pony like I am. Yes I grew up as a Steel Ranger, but we have to scavenge almost as much as normal Wastelanders. Most ponies in The Wasteland have learned that some of the best or coolest loot is nearly always in strange places. I’ve found powerful weapons under floorboards, ammo in toilets, caps in trashcans. Hell, I once found a pony’s skull right behind an air vent with a note stuck in its teeth that said, ‘I’m just chilling here with my treasure, take what you want, I don’t need it anymore’ and found a bag of caps next to it. No idea how it got there or why anypony would leave caps in a place like that, but that’s just how The Wasteland is. Chaotic things happen at the strangest times.”

I took a moment to think about what she said then looked at my family and friends. “I guess it’s better than nothing, let’s go see if the crazy lamp is right.”

“Always glad to help, I do so love being out and about,” Discord said as the five of us dashed off to other rooms.

For the next three hours we looked everywhere with no luck. I was pacing around in one of the bedrooms doing my best to keep my anger in check. I looked over at the trashcan that was sitting next to the bed and wanted to curse it. I’d checked this same bin six times even though I knew it was as empty as the rest of them. I was starting to think that somepony, maybe even a former guardian had found the key and trying to keep the Tower safe, took it with them back to The Enclave. Finally, I snapped and kicked the trash can as hard as I could. It flew across the room making a loud racket as it slammed against the far wall. Fuming I sat down where the can had been a moment before and nearly screamed as something jabbed me right on my right butt cheek.

I jumped up and looked down, ready to blast whatever had just poked me, then my eyes went wide as I saw a glowing gem sitting inside a wire frame. I used a hoof to pick it up as tears of joy fell down my cheeks, “I…I FOUND IT!”

My uncle ran in a moment later. “You did?”

I showed it to him, and he smiled happily, taking it from me with his magic. As he did I said, “We can finally finish our mission here.”

He nodded. “We can and maybe we can finally finish our distant grandmother’s mission to stop Falling Shadows.”

I went to the hallway, then down to the door as the rest joined us. He lifted the gem and placed it in the slot in the middle of the door then took a few steps back. As he did I walked closer to the door with Solstice next to me. We watched as green magical energy flowed through the puzzle lock. I was so excited that I didn’t hear the warning my uncle yelled at Solstice and I until it was too late, “Don’t get to close! It might be trapped!”

A hidden glass wall fell behind Solstice and I, blocking us from getting back to the rest. The voice of Minuette echoed in the small space we were trapped in, “Welcome to the second base of Project Falling Shadows. This tower is restricted and only members of The Children of the Night may pass through the chamber beyond safely. Be warned, the chamber has the most unstable megaspells I’ve ever created. This tower like the others contain specific magic to make the project work properly. Every tower has different types of megaspells. This tower contains spells that deal with time and space. If you’re not with a powerful enough unicorn the room beyond can be deadly in the unstable state it’s in at this moment. The terminal in the chamber is also locked down and cannot be unlocked without the proper device. This is your one and only warning, if you go into the chamber beyond, you will most likely die. If a powerful enough unicorn is with, they will need to use their magic to pull the power leaking around the chamber to themselves and hold it in place for any other pony to reach the terminal. As I’m sure no other unicorn but myself or Twilight Sparkle is powerful enough to handle that much magic, you should turn back. If this is General Night Stalker and you are trying to unlock the Project to use it, then I hope you ignore my advice, it would be better for Equestria if you died trying to bring your pet project back online. Either way, the way beyond is a test of sorts, do you have the power and courage to pass through safely and protect a friend?”

I looked at Solstice who asked, “Do you think you can deal with the magic the voice was talking about?”

“I’m not sure, I mean I am powerful, but I’m not sure if I’m as powerful as Minuette was. Also, I don’t know if that was a recording or some kind of AI she set up when she was trying to lock down the project. Either way, we have to try,” I said as I walked toward the door.

I heard a slight banging from the glass behind me, looking back I saw Uncle Ori trying to talk but I couldn’t hear him. I frowned when he saw I didn’t understand what he was saying then he mouthed slowly, “Don’t, go, inside, without, us.”

I looked around the small enclosure and shrugged, saying, “We’ve got no choice. I’ll be careful.”

He looked sadly at me, then closed his eyes for a moment before nodding slowly and putting a hoof on the glass he mouthed, “Be Careful.”

“I will,” I said before turning back to the door. Solstice and I worked together to turn the picture puzzle discs around until they were in place. A moment later there was a loud ‘BOOM’ of large metal bars sliding out of the frame and the door slowly opened.

I looked at Solstice again, then back at the dark chamber beyond. I could feel energy humming just beyond the threshold and at the far side of the chamber, a glowing green screen of a terminal. I took in a deep breath then let it out slowly, saying, “Since you have Scootaloo’s Mark II, you’ll have to get over to that terminal as fast as you can and use it to unlock the tower. Once you do that, do everything you can to get back out of the chamber. I’ll do anything I can to hold back the magic, but if I can’t move, please try to pull me out too.”

Solstice readied herself to dash across the dark chamber, saying, “I’ll do my part as long as you do yours.”

I smiled. “Be safe.”

“You too Shadow,” she replied.

I pulled on my magic, then stepped through the open door. As soon as Solstice and I were passed the threshold, the door slammed shut and bright white lights nearly blinded us. I winced and I’m sure Solstice did too. After a moment I opened my eyes and gasped at what I saw. We were in a hollow tube that got smaller as it went up with at least sixty megaspell pods wrapping around the walls going all the way up to what I assumed was the top of Tower 2. In the center of the room was a spire with wires wrapped around it like a beautiful and deadly braid. Wires poked out at each level going to each pod. At the bottom of the spire connecting it to the ground was a stasis pod much like the one Absent Moon had used when he was dying and used his body to keep tower 4 in the Crystal Empire locked down. This pod was empty though, or at least it looked like it was, there was a layer of dust over the glass dome so I could be wrong.

At the far end of the larger room, I saw the terminal and it’s blinking green screen. At first it looked easy to reach. A quick flight for Solstice, the problem was, that magical energy was crackling around the room. Bolts of massive power slamming into the ground and walls around us and all of it coming from the spire above, making it nearly impossible to reach the far side. That had to be the unstable magic the voice had talked about. I wondered if this was a defense of the tower or was this because the tower had been locked down for so many years that the magic had nowhere to escape.

Either way, I had to do something to make sure Solstice could do her job, so we could both get out of here alive. I looked at her and said, “Remember what I showed you with the Mark II and how to unlock a program it locked down. Be as fast as you can, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to block that magic.”

She looked worried but nodded. “Be careful.”

“You too,” I said, then I ran forward at the same time, letting my magic flow over my horn. I wasn’t sure how to use my magic to draw the blasts of magic toward me, but I had to hope that this would work. If not, then I was about to be a very dead pony…or close to it. I got a few meters before the first of the blast of lightning like magic changed cores and slammed into my horn. My body locked up and I skidded to a stop as a scream of pain escaped my lips. It wasn’t what I thought it was. I was expecting electrical energy to flow through me and yes be painful, but this was something different. It was like somepony was pushing magic directly into my soul. It wasn’t just painful; it was torture. I felt as if my brain was about to explode, or melt, or turn to dust.

I barley heard Solstice yell. “Shadow are you okay!?”

I stopped screaming long enough to yell. “GO…QUICKLY!” and even though it was the last thing I wanted to do; I took another step toward the spire where three more arcs of power slammed into my horn. My entire world went white and the only thing I could feel was pain. After that I have no idea how many more arcs of power hit me. It didn’t matter at that point, I didn’t even know how long I was stuck there, because time became irrelevant. That wasn’t because of the pain, it was because in that moment, my mind and my magic were no longer tied to the normal flow of time and space. I’m not even sure I was Shadow Star anymore.

After an unknown amount of time passed, the pain in my body vanished. To this day I’m not sure if my mind was no longer part of my body, if I was dreaming, or if I died for a bit. What happened to me during that moment of eternity was the strangest thing in my life. My mind flew across time and space, across The Wasteland, and into ponies, zebras, and griffons. For the moments I was part of these others, I became them. I felt what they did, knew their thoughts, I was them. Most of what I saw didn’t stay with me, not right away, it wasn’t until much later that I realized that what I’d seen at that moment was something in the future that might happen, and if it did, I would remember the moment. The things I did see and remember however, happened in the past, and what I saw were the lives of ponies and griffons I knew well. I saw moments of my friend’s lives that should’ve been private, knew what they knew at those moments, felt what they felt. I saw as Wind Thrasher fought with her bloodlust until Aquila forced her over the edge. I saw Sapphire right before she went into Freedom to die. I saw Aquila while she went around The Wasteland making her plans to take over. I saw more and more things I had no idea had been happening to my friends and enemies while I was off doing something stupid. The one thing I saw that nearly ripped my heart out was Aura. I was her as she spoke about how she felt, her fears of us becoming bonded. I felt her emotions and knew that I’d made a terrible mistake by leaving. She does love me, she wanted me to be part of her life forever and she was just scared she’d ruin things with me. I even saw what she’d had to deal with since I left. I also saw to my shock that Stardust, Wingnut, and Byte had left to head to Baltimare to use Byte’s Mark II to unlock Tower 3. So much information was pounding into my head that soon I couldn’t keep up with all the information.

‘Thump…thump………. thump……………..thump.’

I heard something like a heartbeat, a heartbeat slowing down as the experiences flew into my brain. The cascade of information started to slow as the beat did and black started to appear at the edges of what I was seeing. Deep down I knew that I was dying.

‘Thump…………………………. thump…………………………………..’

I felt my mind slammed back into my own body as Solstice ripped me away from the magic. I barley felt her fly me back through the now open door or heard the ponies around me screaming for me to wake up. That last thump echoed in my ears as my artificial heart stopped beating and everything went black as I died.

When I was young…I learned that death was a part of life. Being a sick filly that faced death every day of my short life, I grew to accept that one day it would come for me. Because of that, even when I lost my memories, I’d never been afraid of dying. I didn’t want to die, but I wasn’t scared of it either. Every day of my life that I was still breathing was a gift from the Goddesses. The part of death I was afraid of was what came after. To this day I still don’t know even though I have died. For what I experienced wasn’t the afterlife, more of an in-between world, or it could have been my fried brain seeing things. I still don’t know, but I like to think that what I did see, was real.

I was floating in darkness for an unknown amount of time until one by one, small white dots of light started to appear around me. Soon it seemed like I was swimming in a sea of starlight. I’m not sure if I had a body or not for the longest time. I did however feel at peace for the first time that I could remember, true peace, no more responsibilities, no more worrying about what could happen, or what I’d done. My joy spilled out of what I assume is my soul as I flew around in the sea of stars. Every so often, I saw one of the small balls of starlight zip away as if it was heading back the way I’d come from, one or two flew off in the other direction. I had no idea why, nor did I care that much. I just enjoyed the feeling of peace and joy in my soul.

After a while, I felt my…body…stop, confused I tried to go back to flying around and enjoying myself more, but I couldn’t move. Unsure what was happening I looked around and saw that most of the stars around me slowly moved away except for a few that drew closer. They started to change from small dots of light and into ghostly forms of ponies. I looked down at my own glowing soul and saw I too was turning into a pony, but unlike the mostly white forms walking toward me, I saw that my coat was black, and a bit of silver mane hung over one of my eyes. A moment later I started to remember who I was…what I was…my name…my role…my death, and the ponies coming toward me were ponies and griffons I knew. The two closest to me were Mom and Box Tape. If I had a real body I would’ve started to cry as two of the ponies I missed more than anything drew closer, with bright smiles on their faces.

Box Tape and my mom both looked younger which was not as strange for my mom, but seeing Box Tape as he was in his old photos was strange. He was buff and strong looking, with happy eyes and a glint of humor in them. Mom spoke first and her voice echoed as if she was at the end of a tunnel, saying, “My daughter, my sweet Shadow Star, it’s wonderful to see you again and know you for who you are.”

“M…Mom? You remember me? Truly remember?” I asked.

She nodded. “My body was damaged by my magic, my memories more than anything, but no magic on Equus can make a soul forget. I know you; I remember you, and I am so glad that I was able to trust you when my mind was still mixed up.”

I wanted to cry so badly as I said, “I’m sorry you had to die to protect me…I wish you found a different way to keep me alive…I wasn’t ready to lose you,” I looked over at Box Tape and more pain and sadness entered my being as I said, “You also gave up your life to save me…”

Box Tape laughed, his voice was just as echoey, but it was also rich and boomed. “Girl, I was old, and my time was well past overdue. Ya made this old buck happy and I was happy to save the life of my adopted granddaughter. I just wish I woulda taken my son with me. I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with him more since my passin’.”

It took me a moment to speak again and when I did, my voice was thick with emotion. “I guess it doesn’t matter much now, I’m guessing I’m dead too.”

Another form came close, and I saw it was Gillian, Aura’s mom. “Shadow, you’re on the brink of true death, but you still haven’t crossed over,” she smiled. “You have good friends still on Equus that are doing everything they can to save you. One of which loves you with all her heart.”

Before I could ask her what she meant, another form came close and I almost choked as Silver Snip said, “I’m proud of the pony you’ve become Shadow, you’ve had your ups and downs since I died, but you’ve become strong because of what you’ve overcome.”

Yet another pony from my past appeared and I saw it was Wrath. “You’re doing good down there kid. You’ve just gotta keep fighting and doing what you’re doing. Follow your heart and stop getting down on yourself for the mistakes you’ve made. Take it from a pony who died regretting his decisions. You’re stronger than you think.”

“We all came here to tell you that you’ve reached a crossroads on your path,” Mom said with a small smile, “You’ve started to take the right steps toward being a better pony, but you’re still at the beginning of your new path. If you don’t watch where you’re going, you can easily step back onto the path of destruction you were heading down before.”

Gigi poked my chest with a transparent talon. “You need to find your virtue and your special talent. That is the only way to assure that you stay on the path of good.”

“Gillian’s right,” said Box Tape, “You might have your cutie mark, but that doesn’t mean you fully understand who you are. The cutie mark is a representation of your special talent, something you may have figured out about yourself but might not have fully understood at the time. Your special talent isn’t who you are. What I mean is that it doesn’t define you, but it does help guide you on finding your true path in life.”

Silver Snip smiled and kissed my cheek, I didn’t feel it, but I smiled all the same as she said, “I’m sorry my death was so hard on you Shadow. I miss you and I wish we had more time to get to know each other, but I’m glad you were able to find happiness and real love. Remember that all of us will be watching you and we’ll always live on in your heart.”

“Silver is right, no matter how hard the road ahead becomes, remember that we’re here for you, and we love you,” Mom said.

I gasped again as I said, “I miss all of you…even you Wrath. All of you died when you shouldn’t have,” I took in a deep breath…at least it felt like I had. “Do I have to go back? This place is so peaceful, I feel good here and I don’t want to lose you all again.”

“The choice is up to you Shadow. You’re on the brink of death right now. If you chose to step past this threshold and pass on, then your body will never recover from the trauma of the megaspells, but if you choose to go back, you will wake and in a few days you’ll start to feel like your normal self again. We can’t make this choice for you,” Mom said sadly, “But I hope that you choose to live. Not because you have some mission to complete or because you have to finish shutting down Falling Shadows, but because you’re still very young, and we all want to see you live a long life.”

“What’s…what’s on the other side?” I asked.

“We can’t tell you that, the path to either reincarnation or an afterlife is knowledge that only those who have truly died get to know. It’s something that only the soul can understand fully, and you’re still a soul with a mind and body. You can’t know until it’s your time,” Gigi said.

Before I could say more, my eyes went wide, and one more glowing orb came close and turned into a grey pegasus mare with a lavender mane. She looked young and a little sad. She stopped an inch away from me and said in a quiet voice. “If you go back, I wanted to ask you to give something to Blackjack for me.”

It took me a moment to recognize the voice as Morning Glory. I had only met her for a short time in Hoofington and she’d looked like Rainbow Dash then. I gasped and said, “Glory? Is that you? How…how did you die?”

“We don’t have time for that Shadow,” she said, “I know that Boo made you take that letter for Blackjack. If you still have it and when everything is done with your mission…can you find her and give her that letter? There was a lot I never got to say to her before I died. Things I should’ve said, but I let my anger get the better of me, and in the end, I died before patching things up. So please, if you go back, make sure she reads it.”

Before I could say anything else she stepped back and nodded to the others then vanished into a ball of light and flew past me, back toward the direction I’d first come. My mind was going in a million different directions. Here I felt at peace, my loved ones were here, I was happy, but back on Equus even with all its pain and horror, I had ponies, zebras, zonies, and griffons I loved. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Go back and deal with the pain and anger or stay here and let The Wasteland fend for itself. I wasn’t a hero; I was just a filly who had the worst luck. Did I let it all end, did I let Aquila and the rest win so I could pass on? It seemed to take forever before I made up my mind, but when I did, I looked up at the ones I lost; smiled and lifted a single hoof. “I know what I want to do and what I need to do…”

Solstice…

I’d moved as fast as I could to reach the terminal as Shadow screamed in pain. As soon as she’d drawn the magic toward her, the path was clear, and I flew to the terminal and pulled the connection wire from the back of the matte black Mark II. I connected it to the terminal as a message blinked across the screen saying, ‘Warning, Falling Shadows tower two has been locked by unknown program.

As soon as I connected the wire the Mark II blinked, and a message came up on the screen of my Pip-Buck 3000 Mark II…

This terminal has been locked down by Pip-Buck 3000 Mark II SL for 200 years, 8 months, 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes. Only this Mark II can unlock the level 10 inscription lockdown protocol. Do you wish to remove the protocol from project Falling Shadows tower two, a.k.a. Time Warp Tower?

I clicked yes as quick as I could and watched as the screen on the terminal went blank for a full ten seconds, then a loud flash of green light it came back on with a welcome screen. A moment later, a few messages ran over the screen, saying something about purging the excess energy that was trapped in the tower and using some kind of repair program to fix the damages to the megaspell pods. I didn’t care about that at all. I turned around and saw that Shadow was now on the ground, her body jerking as she seized. I flew toward her and picked her up without stopping. The door to the chamber was open again and the glass wall was gone. I flew out and set her down in front of Oricalcos and Vervain, yelling, “Do something!”

Right then Shadow went still, and a slight exhale of air flowed from her lips as she looked up at the ceiling with a blank look. Oricalcos pushed me away as he checked her vitals. “Shit she has no pulse,” he looked at Vervain, “Go see if there’s any meds I can use to help her,” he then turned her so that she was fully on her back and started doing chest compressions, fast and hard as he said quietly, “Come on Star, don’t give up on me now.”

I felt tears fall from my eyes as I watched him keep pumping her chest. As he worked I heard Rawr yelling at the entrance to the den, “How did you get into Rawr’s Den? Get out!...” his voice was cut off as a blast of green energy glowed down the hall right after Rawr flew into one of the bedrooms with a loud bang.

Harmony turned at the sound and backed up to get behind me, at the same time Vervain ran back into the hallway from the next room with a medical kit on her back as she said, “What was that?”

“No idea, Solstice, go check it out. Vervain, I need your help!” Oricalcos yelled.

“I’ll make sure whoever this is won’t get near the rest of you,” I said. Things might not have worked out between Shadow and me and honestly that was probably a good thing, but she was still my friend and I loved her as my best friend and honestly probably only friend. I’d do anything to give them time to bring her back.

I took a few steps down the hall, readying the magical laser rifles on my power armor to attack whoever had just broken into the den. I heard Rawr growl in pain as I got closer than a voice I hadn’t heard in a while say, “Back off pup, before I decide to just kill you!”

Before I could do anything else, Aura Bloodtalon walked into the hallway, a crackling red and green energy spear in her talon. It wasn’t her normal weapon; she had changed in the past five months. Her feathers and fur were ruffled, and a haggard look was in her ice blue eyes, a scar was visible going from the top of her left eye, between her eyes and down past the right side of her beak. She was wearing a red bandana with the symbol of the Shadow Talons stitched on it. She had a few more scars on her chest, flanks, and it looked like a half digit on her left talon was missing. When she saw us her eyes went wide, and she flew down the hallway landing next to Shadow and Oricalcos.

Without explanation she asked, “What happened?”

“Magical energy of some kind, I don’t really know apart that her heart stopped,” I said, doing my best to push my questions aside.

She looked at Oricalcos. “How long?”

“A least a minute,” Ori said as he still pumped his hooves into her chest.

Aura pulled the medical kit away from Vervain and dug around looking for something, then she cursed, “Fuck, I need real meds, not fucking buck or rage,” she then turned her head back toward the hallway, “Violet! Get in here, ignore the hellhound and help me! You’re granddaughter’s dying!”

To my utter shock, the alicorn Violet flew down the hall, Rawr wrapped up in her magical grip. She set the death dog down and used another spell to bind him to the ground as he growled. When she was done, she asked, “What do you need?”

“I need a way to restart her heart. If she stays like this much longer, she’ll be brain dead, even if we can get her heart to start again,” Aura said.

“Let me see what I can do with magic,” Violet said, “She must’ve done something stupid in the megaspell chamber.”

Before anyone else could do anything, Shadow’s horn glowed a bright red and a pulse of magic threw us all back a few meters. Shadow shot up screaming, then breathing deep and hard, her eyes looking around in terror. She looked around wildly, her eyes locking on Harmony, then my own, followed by Oricalcos, Vervain, then she turned and saw Aura and Violet. A small smile came to her lips, then her eyes rolled back into her head, and she passed out.

Aura ran to her and checked her over before sighing, “She only passed out, but she’s breathing. Let’s get her to a bed so she can rest, and I can keep an eye on her.”

“Aura…how did you get here?” I asked.

She looked over at me. “Long story, I’ll tell you about it later, right now I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“That’s a good idea, here I’ll help you,” Oricalcos said, and he lifted his niece up and I watched as Shadow was taken to a room.

“Would someone please tell me why these two are in my DEN!?” Rawr yelled from the ground. All I could do at that point was laugh…

Light Step: Your experiences as a bounty hunter have enlightened you to the tricky ways of the world and its various methods of hidden death. You no longer trigger ground-based traps, tripwires, and landmines while sneaking.

Gutsy: You have a courageous heart! When others are in trouble, you’re the first to step in and help. Gain +20% damage threshold while defending other beings for a short time.

Furious Flame: You’re quick to anger but not to all out fury. When it comes however, Goddesses help anyone in your path. When pushed far enough with your anger, you will become furious enough to cast the schwarz inferno spell. The black flames produced by this spell burn their target to death and cannot be extinguished by anything or anyone but the spellcaster. The downside of this spell is that it can be seldom used and only when certain circumstances are met.

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