The tumbling up sensation stopped and Gusty finally woke. She stretched upright in an attempt to alleviate her sore over-slouched back. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she finished. In their respective chairs the other alicorns began stirring as well. With her vision slowly clearing Gusty turned to notice Zeccaran still sound asleep. That was probably for the best, she was tired for having just to have borne witness to the treacherous events of the zebra’s past. Luna had used poor Zeccaran as the catalyst for the experience. He probably had relieved the worst moment of his life in real time, Gusty ignored the thought.

“I’m not sure I understand your meaning, Gusty” Luna’s voice drew her back to the blue mare.

Gusty snapped her head to avoid looking at Stormwalker. Luna grimaced at her in concern as she stretched her wings from her position and yawned.

Gusty gave her a deadpan stare.

“Yes, as we were saying before, Gusty, Stormwalker-awwugh...well he is the demon.” Celestia answered through a yawn.

“What? How can that be? No demon I have ever known regretted their power. Nor hated their own visage or spared a helpless creature within their power, like this poor soul has. He can’t be a full demon. He cannot.” she scoffed.

The sisters had clearly never dealt with the real thing. She stood up from her chair and readied herself to look much closer at Stormwalker than she really wanted to.

Luna stood up and put herself between the demon and Gusty.

“You don’t understand. He is most definitely a full-fledged demon. If you make any sort of attempt to remove the demon part of him he will die!” she proclaimed

Gusty went to protest but was stopped by the monster himself.

“Luna, the choice is mine not yours.” he quipped commandingly.

“But I-” Luna turned about and was cut off by Stormwalker.

“Luna.” His voice held a quiet seriousness to it that made Gusty shiver.

The younger sister stepped aside to reveal Stormwalker still on the couch. He lacked his armor, it was piled neatly on the floor next to the furniture. His whole body exposed down to his shiny grey coat. Gusty looked away briefly to catch her breath before returning her gaze to study him with a calmer mind.

Stormwalker was covered in many rugged, harsh scars. His chest alone had five separate dark pink-grey marks each undoubtedly having brought him to the edge of death. He had two more on his back and many more on his legs. His neck even sported a long curved blemish. Each one had a story to tell and Gusty again found herself wondering why he would continually push the limits of his regeneration.

It would seem that he actually wants to die. She mused to herself as she looked over the toned chest and flanks the stallion possessed.

Stifling the oncoming blush Gusty levitated the coffee table that sat between them and gave a short pause.

Can I do this? Can I end him in cold blood? Without him even trying to fight back?

“If you can take this curse from me Gusty, I want you to do it.” Stormwalker’s voice made her look at his face. The long, thick crescent scar over his left eye made her wonder how he had even lived through his most recent attempt at suicide.

Well, at least I have his approval. She thought as she released her held breath. Gusty started walking to him, emptying her mind as she had done so many times before.

He turned his head and met her eyes. His slitted pupils widened with anticipation. Clearing away her thoughts got significantly harder, but Gusty persisted, quickly closing her eyes. She achieved a shaky zen of meditation as she finished crossing the short distance.

But for once, Gusty was unsure how to proceed. Purifying a demon was something she had not done in what felt like several dozen lifetimes. She remembered that to start the process she had to start praying to Origin. Gusty kept her prayers internal as she sat down on the floor just beside the couch. There wasn't much point to chanting in the dead Celestial language she used to speak with God, no pony present would understand.

First step: pray with truest intent, most pure of heart

When Origin answered her, Gusty’s very touch would be able to remove any trace of a demon and its residual energy. Typically, she would do this to a defeated demon while their soul was still in limbo, but it didn't matter when you performed the ritual, it just was a lot easier when the target's body was incapable of fighting. Her current situation wouldn’t make a difference, she hoped. Stormwalker would take time to destroy though, simply because the amount of power he held, even now she could feel his raw strength pulsing in the air around her. Gusty prayed harder and threw the whole of her being into preparing his last sacrament.

The righteousness of her god burst into her body making her feel light and nimble. She breathed in a deep calming sigh and leaned up to make her head even with Stormwalker’s. Gusty opened her eyes and quickly clasped her hooves just behind his jaw, and angled his head down. She was forced to gaze into his eyes as the power she held inside shot into Stormwalker.

His pupils contracted into thin slits his irises turned their brilliant red. Otherwise he did not react to the ritual. Gusty threw every bit of faith and power she had been gifted into her cause. The edges of her vision blurred with a gorgeous myriad of colors. The power of Origin was truly awesome and even more of it poured from her and assaulted the demon.

As she pushed more of the purifying faith into Stormwalker, he began to look more and more confused. It evidently didn’t phase him in the least. Gusty was not particularly surprised by that detail, he possessed incredible power in his own right.

The next step: Pull the purification power out of the body of the target demon.

Gusty started doing just that. It was difficult to gain a sound grip on the energy but she was quickly successful. She pulled with the full force of her faith, her mind, and even a little bit of her luck.

Stormwalker’s eyes sparkled with surprise. Gusty expected him to scream in pain, but he remained silent.

Gusty pulled even harder until the full force of his dark energies came forward and condensed in his chest and head.

Final step: Smite the evil you have drug forth with the power and name of Origin.

Gusty readied her horn to channel the full fury of her ancient and divine gift. When the pressure in her skull built to an unbearable level she loosed the beam of pure energy at Stormwalker’s face.

He didn’t even bat an eye and let it hit him directly. Gusty admired his bravery, there was something to be said about facing death without remorse.

The spell lasted for nearly three minutes. Midway through Gusty closed her eyes focusing the entirety of her being into completing the purification. Perhaps it would save his soul if she gave it her all. She doubted it. Still Gusty found it amazing that a half-demon turned mortal possessed the will to control the power of the Shades he had been forced to absorb. If he hadn’t become such a monster he might have made the most noble of stallions, certainly the most handsome.

The spell ended and Gusty opened her eyes.

Stormwalker’s red eyes glinted at her in the dying light of the spell, his look an amused one. In his body Gusty could still see the dark energies swirling about unhindered by her spell. Her throat tightened in frustration. Quickly she focused her mind and sought to find the certain evil that she knew was there.

Emptiness. Nothing in the entire palace and maybe even the city held evil in it.

The ominous shadows that danced about inside Stormwalker slowly faded from her view as her connection to Origin lessened. Gusty balked, her ability sense evil showed that there was simply nothing malignant about the stallion in the least. The purification ritual would have destroyed anything that could have masked itself as well, yet Stormwalker still sat there a look of benign concern growing on his face.

Gusty couldn’t believe it. It was impossible.

She cleared her mind and called upon the same power of Origin and felt its power well up in her body immediately. Gusty cast the ritual spell again. She tugged with desperate fury at the darkness she knew was in him committing to end him regardless of her own safety. Gusty kept up her assault until her mind hit what felt like a brick wall.

Stormwalker reached up and touched the hooves she still held to his face. His touch forced her to look more directly into his eyes.

What exactly were you expecting to do with this ritual? He asked.

Gusty wasn’t sure if she had heard him or if she was hearing things in her head. Stormwalker’s eyes glimmered before his voice came again.

If you keep going you will only succeeding in absorbing the power my body contains. And that, dear Gusty, kills you. Not me.

Gusty shuddered. She and Stormwalker had just become more intimate than she had even thought possible.

What’s it to you!? It’s not like you care about what happens to me! You already have two alicorns under your control you don’t need a third! She projected back at him, before continuing.

It was all the more reason to keep trying to remove the dark energy she swore she could feel. It was definitely a good way to distract her from the interjection of someone else’s thoughts into her mind.

Sudden feelings of responsibility and guilt flooded into Gusty’s mind. She tried to push them away. They weren’t her emotions to begin with and they certainly couldn’t be real, no matter what her heart would tell her. They couldn't come from Stormwalker. Demons were unable to create such a tangible sensation Gusty was adamant of that, yet they weren't hers either. She was starting to suspect this demon in particular was simply skilled at funneling her own emotions back to her. Gusty pulled harder on what she felt building in Stormwalker, ignoring all that she felt and “heard” from him.

Gusty. That’s enough you really need to- he was cut off.

All sound ended in fact.

The world darkened and even Stormwalker’s glowing eye’s winked out.

Gusty felt herself falling again.

It was similar to what Luna had done but it felt more urgent.

Gusty began to panic.

Was he right? Was this it? Did I just kill myself?

She felt like she was hyperventilating. Yet the air she sucked in was never enough and she was unable to calm herself. The sensation of falling increased and she felt the need to vomit but could not.

“I’m dead….he was right.” Gusty said aloud to her lonely void.

She felt a terrible sadness and regret pool hotly in her chest. She desperately wanted to cry but lacked the means to do so. Instead she pouted in an ever growing pit of despair and depression. The feeling of time ceased to function in her head and Gusty just continued to fall her thoughts racing on in a spiral of hurt and loss.

She continued like this for some unimaginable time, until a familiar sensation settled on her haunches

“Do you honestly think I would let you die, Gusty?” Stormwalker’s voice echoed.

Gusty looked around the falling Abyss to try and find where his words had come from.

“Do you really think I would let you kill yourself for my sake? You are worth so much more than me.” he sighed.

Gusty...

The sensation of falling abruptly stopped. The action might as well have been her falling into an enormous pit of cotton candy. She felt solid ground beneath her hooves and she “stood up” as best she could in the empty blackness she found herself in.

At a distance a small flickering light appeared from nowhere. The vague outline of the great pegasus-demon could be seen as the flame before him danced.

Gusty hesitated for a brief moment before trying to move through the black soup of this strange place. The ground acted like regular non-Abyss ground. She remarked internally that it felt like soft grass. As Gusty approached, the candle began to glow hotter and its flame no longer twitched.

Around her a world began to take shape. Grass covered a small hill that she walked along and the sky above turned to a cloudy overcast day. Stormwalker stood facing her his expression calm and reserved. Behind him a seemingly empty expanse of blustery plains stretched out as far as she could see.

“Where am I?” she demanded once she reached him.

“A place no one else has ever gone to: a place I thought I would always be alone.” he answered.

Gusty curled her lips up in pure revulsion. She knew exactly where she had gotten herself stuck. Her main complaint was why she had been forced here of all places.

He continued: “That was until I met you of course...and you tried to pull that ‘cleansing’ nonsense.” Stormwalker smirked playfully at her.

“I want out of your mind, Stormwalker.” Gusty demanded, just-short-of-snarling

“Not yet. This is an excellent opportunity for us to understand each other better, and I won’t have you leaving until you have learned something.” he answered.

Gusty openly scoffed, groaning absolutely as loud as she could.

“Look, I don’t want to be here in the first place. I was trying to kill you. Not coming to say ‘hi’ inside your head.” she stomped a hoof angrily.

“Oh, I know. You made a good effort, really, and I thought you were actually gonna manage to cleanse my body and put an end to this rather cursed existence I lead.” He said with a pleasant air, “But that was before you started trying to actively absorb my...bad side’s energy...so I had to stop you and-wow. Did I ever get a surprise!”

Gusty stifled a gag. Seeing Stormwalker merrily smile made her sick. She could not stand the thought of him enjoying touching her mind. It was the only way he could have pulled her into this living hell. She glared down at the soft grass and then back up at his handsome face. Gusty wanted to both kiss him and stab him, just to say that she had done both.

She grunted angrily wishing for her sword, she would stab him first, probably at least seventeen times, after that he hopefully would be less attractive. Gusty, pushed the thought aside and instead focused on what he had found so shocking about her.

“Well, what did you find when you violated my mind, demon.” She glowered at him.

He his eyes widened, his face pinching into concern.

“Nothing good. I can tell you that for certain,” his voice was serious. “It was like I was looking through a piece of thick glass that someone had broken into a million pieces and then tried to glue together with fog. And what I could see…” he sighed.

“It was bad...really bad.” His tone made her meet his gaze.

“I don’t know how you hold yourself together. It’s...quite admirable. Though it has only been two days since I have met you, I have often wished I had your resolve.” he smiled kindly.

Gusty found herself blushing, even in this not-real world. She hated that he could manage to evoke embarrassment out of her. Not that she could stop it. Anypony honestly complimenting her made Gusty feel sheepish, or perhaps modestly appreciative. Still she had no idea her subconscious was in such a tenuous state, not that she would let him know she was interested.

“Are you saying something is wrong with me? How very vulgar of you to insult me like that. Are you stupid?” Gusty snapped.

“Uh...?” Stormwalker quipped. “I mean...it’s not something you had control of, someone did something terrible to you. Honestly, I owe it to you to try and find a way to fix it.”

“What? No! I don’t want your help!” Gusty shrieked.

“Well, it’s not a matter whether you want it or not, you’ve already got it.” Stormwalker grinned, his fangs glinting with gleeful mischief.

“Fine then. Why? Why do you want to help me? Hmm? Tell me. Now. I won’t stand for anymore of your tricks.” Gusty held his gaze angrily

“Because…” Stormwalker hesitated. “You helped me.” He mumbled out before he looked away from her to some undisclosed point on the ground. He took in a deep breath and sighed harshly before meeting her eyes again. His demeanor becoming hard, determined, yet reverent.

“And because you are the only pony ever, to not only stand up and tell me I was wrong, but you proved it too.” He said a little unevenly, like he was nervous.

Gusty just raised a brow in concern. He had to be joking.

“Listen, I didn’t used to be such a bad guy, not that my reasons for the Cave are much of an excuse but...” He paused as Gusty’s jaw continued to drop, “The point is: you showed me that I don’t have to give in to my bad side no matter how horrible the circumstances may be.”

Gusty swore she felt her chin hit the grass below her. He was serious. A demon was actually seriously congratulating her for fighting him? He had to be insane, most demons were, but this one had taken his mental depravity to a new level. Gusty gaped at him incredulously unable to form the adequate words for how repugnant the thought remained.

“You don’t believe me, do you? Like, not even a little bit.” his smiled slowly faded to disappointment.

Gusty still lacked words and she just started shaking her head. She quickly placed a hoof up to her face and looked away from him, she was too flabbergasted to continue this farce.

“I need you-need you to understand, that after Nyx...I have new powers that I don’t understand how to use. I need more of your help. I-I...” He looked at her his voice breaking as he plead. Gusty compiled her composure and fixed him with hard glare. He turned away his mood solemn and broken.

“Nevermind, you won’t ever listen to me until prove with irrefutable evidence that I mean well for you and everypony else.” he he whispered.

"Oh, by my moon and stars you demonic fool!" Luna shouted freezing Gusty's memory in place. She let herself collapse down to the ground in sobs. She had followed the rabbit hole to the very bottom of its pit and found the one thing she had been looking for, the inside of Stormwalker's mind. Luna gritted her teeth as her lungs heaved reflexively from her tormented weeping. She had not realized when she had begun crying but it mattered little now.

"Why didn't you ever ask? I would have helped! How was I supposed to know? How was I supposed to understand, Stormy!?" she shrieked at the memory of her favored demon. Luna wallowed in her anger and guilt, ashamed that it had taken until it was spelled out for her before she understood. The only thing Stormwalker had ever wanted was genuine help without the need for his benefactor to be repaid, for somepony to help because they actually cared about him. Her heart and chest tightened at the thought of all the opportunities she had missed. She turned up to look at his face and the sad little smile he always had when he looked at Gusty.

"You fought Nyx! The literal embodiment of darkness and hatred by yourself! And you-you-you won! And you told Gusty! You didn't tell me! The very mare she tormented for one-thousand years! Do I mean that little to you!?" Luna whimpered as loud as her breaking voice would allow. She cast her eyes away from his nonreactive face, realizing she was just screaming at an illusion. Zeccaran's words suddenly echoed in her head, loud over her crying.

Luna stood up remembering what he had said. She had to watch the end of this and gather strength before she moved on. This would be the hardest thing she had ever done, and all the anxiety of having a crush would have to be swept away if she could ever live with herself again. "She may have helped you first," she looked over at Gusty's annoyed face, "But I promise to make up for all the times I didn't, I won't back down again!"

A rush of wind hissed over the grassy hill. Gusty looked up from her hoof to see massive looming black clouds building behind Stormwalker. He turned around and faced out on the empty plain she had seen before. The ominous weather reminded Gusty of what she had imagined for the very demon’s mind she was in, how ironic that he had chosen such an appropriate image for her to see.

Sudden sunlight broke the clouds and scattered them away with ease. She decided that she had seen enough of other ponies’s mind today. She was done with demon minds too.

“Let me leave.” She said to him.

“Would you not stay?” he asked without turning to face her. His voice was hushed, sad.

“Not even for the briefest of moments?” He turned to look at her quickly trotting over to her.

Gusty scrunched her snout in disapproval, but she could hardly stop him from coming over to her. She was certain that even if it wasn’t his mind she could do next to nothing to stop him from doing what he wanted.

He sighed briefly. He unfurled his big wings to their fullness. She looked away from him resenting how easily he used his body language to his advantage.

“Very well. Just put your hooves back up to my face, it will help with the transition back out.” he said calmly.

Gusty grunted unhappily but did as he asked. She tried to not look into his eyes. Unfortunately for her, he was tall enough that placing her hooves back on his face meant she had to. She stared at his slitted pupils and wondered what he was thinking as he looked back to her.

“Okay. Here we go!” He whispered.

Gusty felt his hot breath race down her neck and fought the chills. She was quickly distracted as Stormwalker’s eyes flashed to their red and glowed brighter than ever before. She quickly felt like she was flying up, even her mane and tail caught an ethereal burst of air, lifting the former away from her face.

Gusty suddenly remarked at the softness of a new ground below her back hooves. She drew in a breath and exhaled. Stormwalker’s eyes softened from their bright glow and returned to yellow. This close to his face she could see the smile in his eyes. It wasn’t evil like she had expected it to be, but rather it was gentle, perhaps content. She pulled her hooves away from his head quickly with the intent to forget the sensation and sight of him.

“What...was that?” Luna asked, her voice ripe with something...Gusty was unsure what.

She looked back over at the moony mare and was unable to divine her emotion, it was somewhere between confused and jealous. Jeafused, perhaps? Gusty let it go and answered Luna the best she could.

"You have no idea, Gusty" Luna commented on her rival's assessment. "Come on, almost done." she sniffed.

“An awful experience that’s what it was” she complained. It was an unsettling at best, even when she learned her mind was busted which was rather intriguing, it was still exasperating.

Stormwalker shifted on the couch beside her. He got off the furniture and stood up as Gusty moved out of his way. Due to his size, she was forced to stand next to him lest she knock down one of the princesses.

“I found it rather enlightening. It would seem that there is much more to Gusty than we could have possibly imagined.” Stormwalker chirped.

Gusty grunted in disapproval. She again found herself at the mercy of that damned demon.

“Go on, perhaps?” Celestia raised a brow looking right at Gusty.

“The short sweet version is that something truly horrible happened to Gusty a long time ago, before you two even were born. If we want to figure out who she is and why she suddenly resurfaced now, we have to find out what that something was, so we can help her.” the demon concluded with elegance that made Gusty scoff.

“That is a difficult task. Even with what little of her subconscious mind I have already seen I can say that such an endeavor is the most monumental of undertakings.” Luna commented.

Gusty raised an eyebrow. She wanted to interject but was unsure what she would have to contribute. She had not even known that she was in such rough shape in the first place.

“I agree with Luna. The work involved will be complex and difficult at best.” Celestia nodded with pursed lips.

“I’ll handle all the research and information gathering. Luna, I don’t care how long it takes I want a full mental diagnostic report. Celestia, why don’t you have Gusty accompany you to Afternoon Court sessions and any meetings with foreign diplomats. Somebody somewhere has to be able to recognize her and that’s our best chance while maintaining proper security.” Stormwalker issued out orders.

Gusty stuck out her tongue to augment her fake gagging face.

“Look who’s suddenly barking out orders now?” Celestia prodded, “Very well I suppose I should help, as compensation for trying to cut your head off earlier.”

“What!?” Gusty spouted off in shock finding her voice.

“You want to help him!? What happened to ‘he’s an untrustworthy monster!?’” she gasped at Celestia.

The white alicorn drew up a sheepish look.

“It is rare that my emotions get as riled as they did. His calm demeanor while handling my...outburst, was enough for me to settle down and think about what he was saying...and with the explanation of Luna’s memories-I have no reason not to trust him. I might be still a little scared of the big oaf but that doesn’t mean I think he won’t do the right thing.” Celestia responded, embarrassed.

Gusty just gaped at her unable to respond.

Am I the only one that understand how dangerous, how evil he is? She thought to herself.

She had just gotten some real allies to help her deal with the demon, and now they were following his order. Gusty couldn’t help but fume and curse under her breath not caring if anypony else heard.

“That aside.” Stormwalker interrupted her thoughts,

“There is no time like the present. I expect both of you to put forth your best effort on this.” He said to the sisters as he nudged past her to take up the center of the room.

“I’ll start tonight.” Luna chirped.

“Good.” Stormwalker practically purred while turning back around to face Gusty.

He touched a hoof to her cheek and gave Gusty the most seductive bedroom eyes she had ever seen.

“She deserves the most we can do at the very least. I promise: I'll help you get through this.” he sighed looking into her eyes, with those damned yellow circles.

Gusty felt a hard blush trying to raise its head. She defended herself the only way she had left. She raised her left hoof and slapped him as hard as she could. Her leg stung from the impact but she was pleased to see the strike had left an excellent red mark in the shape of her hoof.

Stormwalker returned his hoof to rub his cheek with a wry smile.

“I suppose I deserved that. Well, I should get going. The Archives aren’t going to search themselves!” he laughed as he turned around to leave.

Gusty wished their was something better than the furniture with which to levitate and pummel him. She hated how easily he had convinced the other alicorns of his “good nature,” it made her question her gut. Questioning her gut made her feel like she was questioning who she was as a pony. Listening to her instincts had been all she had ever known when it came to destroying evil, she despised how that was now coming into question.

“Hey wait! You aren’t seriously going to do research right now are you?” Luna cried, pulling Gusty away from her sulking.

The younger princess had caught Stormwalker at the door.

“I most certainly am.” he retorted opening the door and strolling out it like he owned the palace.

"Curse you, Gusty! You think so painfully slow!" Luna grumbled, "And to think all you did was try to be concerned for him and his fate. And all this affection he just oozes towards you and you throw it away!" Luna heaved a sigh, "Not that I am any better on that front...I'm just as disappointing a companion as you."

“You aren’t even going to tell me about-Hey! Stop walking off and talk to me! Guar-” Luna was cut off by the door closing from her blue magic.

Celestia shrugged at the event and took to staring at Gusty. She stared back, her bad mood not abating in the slightest. The taller alicorn walked over closer as if sensing her continued anger and gave her a short nuzzle.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s actually a big push over once you get to know him.” Celestia said placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“Hardly. You don’t know him like I do. You didn’t watch him...hurt a foal….to be there in person...to feel the terror of seeing flames spring out of his back and his eyes turn that, that horrid red. To feel his malice, pure and unbridled let loose before you....” Gusty responded through gritted teeth.

Celestia gave a light chuckle. She shook her head in a just-short-of-condescending way and looked back at Gusty with amusement.

“Perhaps you are right. But I remember a time when he was an innocent young stallion with a gentle heart, even though he was the same foulness he is now, you’ll come to like him, I’m sure of it.” she told Gusty reassuringly.

“I’ll sooner stab him with my sword and toss him out a window. The rotten pervert wouldn’t even die from it either, the jerk.” Gusty grumbled back.

Celestia burst into outright laughter. It was a rather beautiful sound that was refined yet relaxed. Gusty wondered how many ponies had ever heard the princess laugh so candidly.

“You are going to be an absolute treat during court meetings! Speaking of which why don’t we not have you come to Afternoon Court until the day after tomorrow. I’ll have an aid or maybe even Luna give you a tour of the palace, that way you have ample time to settle in here.” Celestia said trying to stifle her laughter by talking.

“Okay.” Gusty nodded in agreement feeling particularly tired from the day's events.

“I’m going to go back to my room.” she said through a yawn.

“Very well, do you know the way?” Celestia asked.

“I should be fine.” Gusty replied.

“Alright then, it’s time for me to go to bed anyway, early morning tomorrow.” the taller alicorn yawned too.

She paused briefly before casting a glance back towards the room proper.

“Shall we leave Zeccaran here? Is that alright?” she asked Gusty.

Gusty levitated her friend to lay out fully on the enormous couch instead of having him balled up on a chair. The zebra looked significantly more comfortable and even grumbled something tonally similar to a “thank you” but otherwise did not move and continued his soft snore.

“He should be fine.” Gusty responded pleased with her work.

Celestia led their way out of the conference room. She kept walking down the straight of the hallway casting a wave back to Gusty who turned to the right. She walked down the hall towards the throne room. Entering from a small door she found herself behind the right side of the still overturned gold seat. Busy castle ponies and a few construction contractor looking stallions milled about picking up broken glass or setting up scaffolding. They certainly did get here fast, the restoration business was clearly a lucrative and often used business here in Equestria.

Gusty continued through the ruined room and down the ornate stained-glass hallway with the marble arches she had followed to the throne. What was left of the glass depicted a curious set of six ponies. She didn’t quite understand what they were supposed to describe but the characters in the fractured pictures had a certain vibrancy to them she found endearing. She particularly liked the look of the rainbow-maned pony and the pink-on-pink pony, they seemed fun. Otherwise, Gusty continued, making her way back to her room past the devastated art.

She finally arrived after finally navigating a particularly dangerous section of the hall that included a collapsed section of roof, shattered armor suits, and strange spikes of morphed stone, she hadn’t seen it when she had been flying through before, it must have happened before Stormwalker and Celestia made it into the gardens.

Gusty tossed open the door to her gifted apartment and walked in feeling even more tired than before. She found Amethyst still asleep on the sofa, the cookies she had been eating lay on her belly and the cushion she was on. Gusty smiled down at her daughter and picked her up in her magic. She gently moved Amethyst with her into the hall to where her bedroom was. The big window that peered off towards the northeast reveal that it had become nighttime.

Having had an extremely full day Gusty moved into her bedroom to the massive and massively comfortable bed and placed Amethyst on it before slipping into the heavenly soft location herself. She yawned as her daughter mumbled in her sleep and closed her eyes to slowly drift off to sleep. Life was certainly going to be a lot different for the time being she mused as dreams started to take her, but she was ready for it this time.

"Freedom at last!" Luna cheered as the memory ended and she snapped her eyes open to the blue of her bedroom. She took the bare minimum of time needed to re-accommodate herself to the waking world and its realities of physics such as gravity and friction. Standing up from her bed she hopped down from the raised dais where it lay and bolted towards her door.

She was too frustrated, too concerned to try teleportation, thus she ran down the winding stairs into her personal study and its various mirrors, books, and maps before exiting. She turned right swinging past the corridor that led to Celestia's side of the main tower and found the next staircase which she jumped down steps in groups of threes before hitting full flight as she glided down past the ground level. She passed confused guards merely shouting them aside as she slipped down the support structure and into the basement. Once there Luna entered the main underground corridor and zipped down the hall past the Advanced Research facility towards the Nightwatch Barracks.

Outside some of her Batpony Guards stood waiting doors open having seen her coming. They waved her in stoically as she was forced to skid to the ground due to the narrow halls of the Barracks. She turned through the facility, used to the familiar passages until she came upon the commanding officer's room embossed with the name of her quarry. She kicked it open and dashed inside to find a small gathering of stallions. Behind his desk Stormwalker was pouring a glass of whiskey for himself while the other stallions were gaping at her sudden arrival, glasses in various states of full.

"Get out! All of you get out!" she screamed at the lower staff as she charged her horn ready to toss them herself. They scrambled out of the room in short order all leaving their beverages behind. Luna levitated one of the fuller ones over before draining it. The liquor burned as she swallowed but it helped her catch her bearings and slow her racing heart. She turned and closed the door using one of the chairs the officers had to hold it shut since she had broken the lock.

"Luna, are you okay?" Stormwalker asked standing up from the enormous chair he was in. She remained silent as he looked at her. "Because, it's not every day you kick in the door to my office and start doing doubles...what's wrong?"

She shook her head and looked him dead in the eye. "Show me you." she ordered quietly.

"What? I'm not sure I understand what you-" he started, "You know exactly what I mean, Stormy." Luna finished. He looked at her concern growing in his eyes before it relented and was replaced with acceptance. Stormwalker closed his eyes and instantly flame replaced his wings, mane, and tail and he stood before her in his true form. She could see the cracks in his legs and chest where his armor did not cover. There raw white-golden magic boiled just below the surface in an ever-moving dance of power. She saw the long razor fangs glinting unnaturally in the light of his fire and finally he opened his eyes to look at her. They started red their pupils expanded to be round and empty but slowly turned yellow and slitted like that of a dragon or cat.

Luna drew in one last breath before striding towards him. He watched her carefully his eyes still showing the same interest and worry as before. Perhaps Gusty didn't see that part of him, perhaps she couldn't, but she did and with as much confidence as she could Luna pressed her face against his neck. She awkwardly threw her hooves around him causing him to inhale sharply in surprise. After a moment he nuzzled his snout into her mane causing her to feel like she was being lifted off her hooves. But she wasn't done yet, this action meant nothing if she could not speak to him, so Luna backed up and met his eyes once more.

"Guardian Angel, I-I have s-something to say to you." she stammered holding his gaze. He briefly bit at his bottom lip his eyes sparkling with an emotion close to wonder. He gave the smallest nod for her to continue and that was all it took for the words to come tumbling out in a never ending cascade. And for the first time since her time as Nightmare Moon, Luna hoped the night would last forever.

Official Edit- Final edit for Act 1: 10-16-2017
So there we have it, the last bit of story building and character definition. Sorry to have kept it delayed but I am only one man, and I pretty much got too frustrated to proofread in detail so if there are errors they will be fixed later. The below still applies, but now it is more of a joke than a definitive plot point...sorta. Point is everything happens for a reason.

A brief synopsis of the actual PnDcampaign RP that occurred leading up to this...scene:
Gusty's RPer: "I want to cleanse him of all his demon heritage"
DM: "Uh...I cannot technically prevent you from doing that since it is part of your Character...but umm...I don't think its gonna work"
G'sRP: "It'll work, check it! *rolls die* 20
DM: "...Roll again..."
G'sRP *rolls another fucking 20*
DM: "......." *through gritted teeth* "Roll a luck roll, a d10 please."
G'sRP: *10*
DM: (as laughter ensues behind him) "..." "..........." ".................." 😠
DM: " Well, you begin the ritual and...frankly, you aren't gonna like this..."
G'sRP: "Why? This will help him!"
DM: YOU KNOW NOTHING MORTAL!!