“No! Stop it! Leave them alone!” Gusty’s voice echoed off of the stone of the mountains. Zeccaran jolted involuntarily, jerking his eyes towards her yelling. He watched her cast magic at a vile apparition of ash and fire. The beam of energy passed through the abomination a cold manic laughter resounding from its opened, fanged, and fired maw. Gusty desperately slammed her sword into the beast as she screamed frantically in primal terror.

This was the third time Zeccaran had observed this scene. Inflamed creatures swarmed everywhere sowing destruction on the foliage around the small homestead of a time long past. He painstakingly re-examined every detail again, trying to figure out why Gusty kept having this nightmare. Unfortunately his skill paled in comparison to Luna’s but that did not mean he would not try his best for his friend.

Above them smoke and grey clouds obscured the sky but did not hide the forms of a horde of dragons. One by one the great lizards were drug down from the floating smog. Once felled the unfortunate drakes were mobbed by the moving haze of ashen and rage-filled demons. Their feasting and revelry loud, disturbing, as they rent the dragons to ribbons and consumed them while they still lived. Horrendous roars of pain and agony caused the mountains around the small clearing to shake as they were ripped. All the while the alpha of the devilish monstrosities fought Gusty, its chilling cackles louder than the dragons, Gusty, and the blazing fires.

Zeccaran felt a fresh wave of nausea cause him to gag. The dream came with smells. Simply nothing would ever allow him to overcome the smell of burning flesh, flesh that still lived. How Gusty experienced these types of nightmarish visions regularly and still functioned was a miracle. In fact, how she maintained the semblance of sanity she so-well-portrayed bested that other miracle. Still, he just wished there was something he could do to help her.

“Gusty!” he yelled his voice muted and distant compared to the nightmare. “Gusty, wake up!” Zeccaran bellowed again, no louder than before. He sighed as he continued to watch Gusty fight the alpha-beast. She never heard him. This was the third time he had yelled for her to wake. It failed to be the charm, as the old saying goes. Continuing as usual the dream forced Gusty and the monster to fight. This had been the third night in a row, after all.

“Stupid number thing. I hate the number three. Couldn’t have been four or six, or something more creative?” Zeccaran spoke aloud to himself. It was not like Gusty was listening, and he felt rather alone being sucked into her dreams night after night. The irony of the number coincidence also had upset him to the point of rhetorical complaining. A scream from his friend brought his attention back to the nightmare before him and away from his own thoughts.

Gusty was struggling with the creature, her sword cast away. The nightmare would end here like it had the last two days, just as soon as his friend would slip and the monster would bite her neck. She shrieked dodging a set of kicks and a bite from her opponent. Gusty screamed harder still as she lost her balance and fell backward landing with her belly and throat exposed. The demon immediately took the opportunity and pounced, sinking its fiery teeth into Gusty’s neck. Zeccaran sighed loudly, soon enough he would be kicked awake due to being ejected from the dream. Even though it would disturb his own slumber it was better than dealing with this horror.

But the dream did not end.

Time seemed to slow as Gusty futilely struggled beneath her predator. “Oh no.” Zeccaran said to himself quietly. It was the only thing he could manage as the moment grinded to a crawl.

His friend’s horn lit with her golden magic and her previously lost sword zipped towards them. Zeccaran watched in silent terror unable to stop the madness. Gusty swung the blade down in the next instant causing blood to spatter on the ground in heavy thumps. Decapitated head of the beast still attached, the alicorn sprang up stabbing her levitated blade deep into the chest of the still the flailing, headless body. Blood pulsed from its neck in a fountain as an unnatural heartbeat continued to function even with a blade pushed through it.

But the moment passed and the glow of fire and magic that the beast possessed dissipated. The body went limp after staggering a few steps towards Gusty, falling down in a heap, the ash and fire around abating and revealing the simple but bludgeoned form of a headless pony. Gusty freed her blade from the corpse and used it pry the head from her neck. The face of the creature landed facing Zeccaran, a long tawny-brown mane had replaced the fire and empty pained, yellow eyes met his, their sparkle quickly disappearing. It was that moment he finally realized what the creature was: Shadow-kin. With the magic drained from her body the monster was no more than a pony, a very dead pony.

“This isn’t a nightmare! This is the past! A memory! Gusty wake up, you have to wake up! Stop reliving this moment!” He shouted charging towards his friend. The scene had gone silent since Gusty had defeated the Shadow-kin. The baying of the dragons and the howls of the other demons had ceased, making his hoof falls obnoxiously loud. However, no one took notice of him as he continued to yell hoping to somehow reach Gusty and pull her out of this terrible moment.

The other Shadow-kin began gathering in front of Gusty on silents wings, each losing their inflamed visage. They looked at the defeated alpha-mare and back up to Gusty slowly. Zeccaran had reached where the alicorn stood now and attempted to give her a push, in a futile attempt to rouse her. He knew he would just pass through her, unable to stop the dream, but determination was all that he had left. As he skidded to a halt Zeccaran turned to look at the horde of monsters. Out of them, he recognized a face, causing him to freeze in horror. The face of Stormwalker, the one creature in the world that incited fear and desperation in him. He was unblemished and unscarred but Zeccaran was certain it was him.

He stood at the head of the gathering of demons, his face slowly twisting into a look of pure rage. But it was different than Zeccaran remembered, he had seen Stormwalker in his darkest of moments, the hatred and anger directed at him specifically. This creature deviated from that look, its gaze was more hallow, more cold and pragmatic. It was nothing like the fury, the lively disgust that Stormwalker had: the look of angry stallion wronged by the world. That thing that stood before him in the dream may have looked the same but he was nothing like the demon he knew in the waking world. The sinking sensation realization made Zeccaran’s stomach backflip in his gullet. Whatever he saw now, it was something worse, something unimaginably worse.

“Sekthla nal! Y zewt nal eryja!” the monster shouted. It was in that strange tongue that Gusty knew, but was not more than nonsense to him. The horde of Shadow-kin spread apart at an almost leisurely pace carefully attempting to surround Gusty.

“Monsters! Demons! Prepare to die!” she shrieked in response. Charging headlong at the gathering at one-to-twenty odds sword raised with a banshee like yell, Zeccaran could not help but smile at the sight. That was simply how Gusty worked, she did not care if she would die if she brought some big evil down with her. Zeccaran marveled as the Shadow-kin stared on in surprise at the charging alicorn none of them capable of reacting until she had run through one of the beasts with her blade.

The miracle was short-lived.They immediately let her push into their center surrounding Gusty and making it impossible for Zeccaran to see her beyond her flying sword. The dream began to fracture and contort the image more a blurry mess of color. Sounds became unintelligible grunts and the heavy musk of demons, similar to that of a deadly but fragrant poison filled the air. But worst of all, Zeccaran could feel what Gusty could feel. Pain. Unimaginable amounts of pain. There was not a part of his body that did not hurt but his head and the ache of loss and hurt in his chest became completely overwhelming. He had no idea how long it persisted but it devastated him.

Two weeks ago: the day Gusty arrived in the Baylands.

Luna found herself staring at several charts and graphs floating in Twilight’s magic. She was pointing at a green line with a pencil on a diagram labeled “Magic Potentiality Vs. Body Conservation Total.”

“As you can see, instead of decreasing or stabilizing, Subject G’s Potential Magic capabilities actually increase as she reaches her body’s Conservation Total. According to my Theory of Thaumatic Magic, this should be impossible. It certainly breaks several rules of physics and the Second Law of Magic Potentiality. Which is again, Sunburst, the rule that defines that a creatures size and structure is directly related to their volume of storable magic and that magic’s potential power.” Twilight said through a scrunched muzzle of concentration. Luna swallowed hard trying to make sure she consumed all the information Twilight had been going over. It was a hollow gesture to pretend to eat up the details but at this point it was all she had.

“Well...you said yourself that not all of your Potentiality Laws are provable by measured statistics, that they function mathematically, but with actual units it can only be an estimate. I’m not nearly as studied as you or Starlight in that field, but doesn’t that mean that exceptions can be made?” Sunburst asked.

“Yeah. But that is why Thaumatic Magic Theory is a theory not a law of magic. Obviously notable examples that don’t fit the mold are: The Elements of Harmony, Discord, The Crystal Heart, Sombra.” Starlight chimed in. The three magicians exchanged nods working towards their solution having become quite engrossed in their work. Guardian Angel looked over to Luna from where he stood near Twilight a sly grin perking his lips, eyes fixing upon her deviously..

After everything Luna still felt apprehensive using his first name around other ponies. Even among friends like the present, the name did not suit him and his powerful presence. Perhaps it was simply because she did not want to disappoint him. Even now as she sat here looking back into those dangerous, beautiful yellow eyes she could feel him listening to her mind, her every breath, deeply interested and concerned for how she felt. He narrowed his eyes and his grin turned to a full smile before he broke his gaze.

Her stallion cleared his throat, before addressing the gathering. “Let’s not get sidetracked. The specific peculiarities are not important. We need a baseline calculation for what she could do should Gusty access that font of power. Fitting her into the theory can come later. Assessing the damage she could do must come first.” he said steering the other conversation.

“You are right. That’s why we are here after all!” Twilight smiled, clearly excited for practicing some mathematics. Luna narrowly held in a grunt of disdain, always horrified anypony would like calculations as much as the lavender mare in question.

Meanwhile her stallion had motioned for and Celestia to move closer together as he approached. He pushed his muzzle past their manes and right near their ears

“I have a distinctly bad feeling about what they might find. I recommend keeping the information absolutely need-to-know.” he whispered. Celestia moved to exchange places in the center of the listening group.

“I believe that is a reasonable course of action. Given Gusty’s...peculiarities, I’m just glad she hasn’t burned down Canterlot.” her sister murmured even quieter than Guardian Angel. Luna nodded in agreement, and Celestia and her stallion switched placed again.

“It seems that whatever is affecting Gusty’s mind is the key to unraveling this mess. I am going to move the timetable up for my trip to the Frozen North. Hopefully there will be some materials still left in my ancestral home.” he said. Luna switched into the middle this time.

“Must you run off when we actually have time to prepare the country?” she chastised. Guardian Angel was obsessed with seeing this through, she supported him but he needed to be given a hard time, “Could you please try to be quicker this time?”

“I’ll see what I can-”

“Nope!” Starlight suddenly yelled. Conversation abruptly ended the three immortal beings turned to look at Starlight.

“Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!” She recited in hysterics dancing about.

“What is the matter, Starlight Glimmer?” Luna jumped up and rushed around the table to her. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the mare, other than she was panicking. Luna looked over her more carefully still finding nothing as she scooted down to the floor next to her.

“The math! The answer! I-I-I-I-I just.” Starlight finally responded staring not at her but through her. “It's not something I can’t handle, I’m thinking about just erasing the memory.” she said before tossing her face down into her floor cushion.

Luna turned to look at Twilight, to find a mare horrified by a piece of paper. The lavender alicorn’s pupils were dilated to the point that all but the thinnest line of color remained. She glared at the sheet full of notes with a shock and terror only matched by the stillness of her body and the shallowness of her breaths.

“It's...impossible...but we checked it, seven times...even did the process backwards…” Twilight said stoically, her voice a perfect empty monotone. Luna exchanged her magic for Twilight’s and turned the paper over to read. The mathematics present there made her head spin, but her eyes managed to remain focused on one thing a disturbingly large number that was double-circled.

“Twilight. Come here” Celestia stepped toward her with a purposeful concern. She immediately surrounded her student with her wings upon seeing the smaller mare in her state. “Starlight what’s going on?”

Luna cast her gaze to the still buried unicorn to see her jut a hoof out of the pillow where she hid her face. Pointing directly at the floating paper that Luna held with a silent accusation. Celestia looked at her with deep concern.

“I don’t even know, sister. I presumed you know more than I. It looks like there is just a number written here that they keep fretting about.” Luna answered feeling rather put on the spot. Nopony hurt Twilight in Celestia’s presence, and Luna was not about to take the blame for a defiant piece of paper.

Turning as movement caught her eye, Luna managed to see her stallion snag the scratch sheet out of her magic with a lightning fast flick of his wing. He pulled the paper closer to himself, squinting at it critically. A look of horror washed over his facial features like a mighty storm surge. His wide open eyes flashed to red their pupils contracting to thin diamonds as if he was trying to destroy the paper with just his gaze.

Luna shivered as a long chill snaked up her spine. Something disturbing enough to cause her stallion that much distress meant that the situation had gone beyond dire. However, after performing a series of sharp inhilations through his poignantly shining fangs his face relaxed returned to a more pony-like state. He waved the paper with his wing as he bit his lip, turning away from where Luna peered at him.

“Two-hundred eighty-nine thousand.” he said to the group. Luna only understood the number to be quadruple the value Twilight Sparkle had listed for the stallion that stated it. However, she watched in shock as Starswirl took his hat off and tossed it away where it landed atop a more white than orange statue of a Sunburst. The old mage then flopped onto one of the open cushions near Starlight in a manner that suggested” “We’re boned no need to do anything.” Even Celestia’s mane managed to stand still as a look of surprise and confusion took over her face similar to the little lavender mare she still cradled. The room’s attitude had shifted to pure dread by the simple utterance of that number.

While she did not specifically understand the details Luna knew this: if somepony had fourfold the power Guardian Angel held they were not virtually god. They were decidedly god. And were that god Gusty Twilight, a dangerous neurotic madmare, then the world fell neatly into her playthings and whimsy. The realization, though it had been gradual, hit Luna now with full force. She fell to her flanks with a bit of a whump! and found herself looking down at the ground. The room remained quiet as the ponies gathered each coped with the fateful truth.

“So what do we do now?” Twilight Sparkle quoth smally. “How do we do anything now?”

Luna did not look up, her will and strength sapped from her body by her mind. Everypony else soundlessly agreed, none able to answer that dreadful question. The stillness only grew as she tried to overcome the grim prospect she now faced.

“We stop her. We restore whatever it was she lost. Grant her control and solace so she doesn’t destroy everything and everyone. That’s what we do.” Guardian Angel broke the silence. Luna and the room look up to the stallion as he turned from the group. He walked over to the windows on the outer wall. His distorted reflection in the glass betrayed his stress and terror that his voice hid.

“I only fear that our time has suddenly gotten shorter. Sending her to the Baylands…I shouldn’t have let her go.” he grumbled. Luna wondered if anypony else noticed the fangs and dragon-eyes in the gray backdrop. More than anything she wanted to comfort him but Luna knew better than to try until later.

“Do you think that remembering will make her more volatile?” Celestia asked craning her neck to look at him.

“Don’t skirt the issue. Yes. It will make her significantly more volatile. I...I-I should have had this meeting sooner. Should have been more proactive-not-not reactive.” He began to fret shaking his head and staring more intensely at the bleak weather. “I had already run the numbers myself but, I didn’t trust my answer...didn’t think. Fuck! I hate being right! I always think of the worst possible thing, and then it happens!” he loosed a growl of angst as he finished. Concerned glances were exchanged between the ponies of the room as the demigod stomped his hoof down into the floor with enough force to cause the room to shake.

Starswirl cleared his throat, “I’m rather new to the topic of this unearthly mare, but, and correct me if I’m wrong, you have been attempting to fix, I say in quotes, her mind?” he asked tentatively. Hearing Celestia’s story really had loosened his metaphorical belt, thank goodness. However, his question was her expertise.

“Fixing is a broad term.” Luna started. “We are trying to holistically establish some form of coherence for her mind. A task that has been making little progress over the last two years.” The ponies of the room instantly focused their attention on her. However, that was the furthest she could speak on the subject; she turned her eyes up to Guardian Angel who continued gazing out the window, his only indication of acknowledgement his rear facing ears. Luna did not need to wait long.

“Everything Luna is going to tell you...Does. Not. Leave. This. Room.” he said with a hard even grave fierceness. Starlight, Sunburst, and Twilight instantly agreed, Starswirl remained on the fence.

“What if I wish to tell the other Pillars?” he questioned after stroking his beard.

“No. This is above top secret. Even a hint that Equestria is politely harboring the apocalypse will spread like wildfire. The whole world will erupt in riots.” Guardian Angel answered with a snarl. Starswirl accepted the response with no other comment while Luna grimaced. Her stallion’s short demeanor was expected but it did little to calm the nagging feeling of unease she got when he became truly angry.

“Well, with that out of the way. I can explain the nitty-gritty.” Luna started right up, trying to overcome her scruples. “Something cursed Gusty with a very powerful dark magic. And then something equally powerful trapped that dark magic in her mind as a defense mechanism of sorts. That’s the shortest version. Things get incredibly complicated after that.”

“What do you mean?” Starlight sad slowly sitting up to look at her.

“I’m trying to summarize this as best as I can without sounding steepled. The point is: if certain trigger events happen, Gusty regains memories relevant to the events. This normally would not matter, but because of her built-in defense Gusty’s mind has a limit to how many trigger events can occur.” Luna continued.

“That seems particularly strange.” Starswirl conjectured. “Why would anypony cast a mind alteration spell on themselves in such a way?”

“I had thought that too. However, upon further examination of Gusty’s subconscious I came to a conclusion. Gusty was too afraid of the curse to do anything else. She intentionally designed the defense spell to have a limit and a reset. It is meant to prevent her from ever coming too close to falling under the dark magic’s influence again.” Luna answered her dreamwalking and psychology pedigrees prominently showing.

“Do you have any idea who cast the curse on her?” Sunburst asked.

“I do, but I’d rather not say until I have further evidence.” Guardian Angel answered instead, leaving Luna with her mouth partially open. She sheepishly closed it before waiting on everypony to listen to her again.

“More secrets then, hum? I bet I know who did it too. But for your sake, I’ll keep it to myself.” Starswirl interjected as well. Guardian Angel gave him a deeply disapproving glare before nodding for Luna to continue.

“Yes, now...as I was saying,” she cleared her throat. “Celestia mentioned Gusty’s relatively volatile nature. At least according to my observations there is a specific pattern that this follows, peaking just before she is to experience a memory reset.” The room had gotten awfully stuffy as she finished her summary. Silence prevailed before a shuddering breath escaped Twilight Sparkle making the gathering peer at the purple mare still shrouded in Celestia’s wings.

“So...what you are saying is...the more Gusty remembers the more likely it is that she uses all that power.” She stifled a bit of sniff before continuing, “A-are...are her resets always violent?”

Luna chewed on the question and it tasted bitter. With her trips to Gusty’s subconscious, she knew the answer was a fifty-fifty split. However, she did not know how to tell the gathering, the only other pony that knew was Guardian Angel and he had placed his bets on the bad side of things. Luna found her voice after a time, “Her reaction is irrelevant, we need to find a way to help reduce the stress she experiences. That way even if it is violent we have a way to help her. To contain her.”

“Then tell us the rest, sister. We are Equestria’s brightest minds after all. And, we can hardly solve the problem without details.” Celestia purred with a confident grin. “Besides I’ve grown rather fond of that teal troublemaker.”

Luna nodded and started getting down to it. This was going to take awhile.

The pleasantness of sleep ceased and Luna slowly opened her eyes .This left her to gaze on in wonder at her stallion as he sat up in the bed without his armor on. They had spent the remainder of the night together after the meeting had finished. Everypony in attendance had sworn to do their best, each pledging at least two new ideas to help Gusty Twilight. Luna sighed at the thought, keeping her eyes on Guardian Angel she pushed herself up to look at him more closely.

She reached out a hoof to trace a scar that ran from the base of his neck down in between his wings. “Stop that.” he fake scolded her as he lifted a flight pack from somewhere on the floor and set it on the bed.

“When did you get that ready?” she murmured to him.

“After you passed out during round three” he answered with a broad smile. Luna pursed her lips, frustration welling up in her throat, not ot mention a bit of a rush of natural rogue. She remained silent, rubbing the base of his silken wings with her hoof, wondering what he was thinking. If she did not know better she would have bet he was thinking of other mares. Honestly, she was more upset that she was going to have to go without him for about a month. Luna was certain that something bad was going to happen, to make it worse. He carefully looked over to her with his scarred left eye.

“You are worried.” he said plainly.

“Of course I am. My lover is about to run off to a veritable frozen hell!” she retorted sitting up and scooting up next to him. He wrapped his left wing around her tightly and she instinctively nuzzled her face into it.

“No. You aren’t worried about me. Something else...something ominous...did you have some sort of vision?” he asked her curiously. Luna kept her head facing his wing until he gently placed a hoof on her cheek and guided her to look at him. Of course he could just read her thoughts and find out what he wanted, but that was not how Guardian Angel played it. Luna scrunched her nose becoming more disgruntled with the situation.

“It's just that I don’t like this whole thing. You already know how I feel about you risking your life for that mare. So, I don’t need to remind you of that, but...I don’t know Guardian Angel...I just feel like something is going to happen, something out of our control.” She answered trying her best to not sound pouty.

“Yeah but that’s just how it goes. Gotta do my job after all.” He responded like it was no big deal to him. He had never been very good at lying. If something terrible happened that he could not rectify it would devastate him. Luna just needed to remind him that it would, even if he was tricking himself.

“Oh, so now you like doing the dirty work? Going out and about getting yourself killed, over the most far-fetched of hunches?” she grumbled for him.

“Hey somebody has to save the world, might as well be me right?” he answered standing up from the bed. Luna reflexively found herself using her magic to attach his bags to him, strapping them down. He turned in surprise when she finished their eyes meeting. Luna began to blush again, still sheepish around him despite their courtship. He leaned in to kiss her gently making her cheeks feel more like they were on fire than just flushing.

“I have to get going.” he stated blandly as they finished, noses still touching.

“Oh, just stay, you big baby.” she teased. They laughed together looking deep into each other's eyes. Luna wrapped her hooves around his head to kiss again.

“I love you, stay safe. And take this.” she quickly tied one of her scarves around his neck. She had been saving it for just this occasion, having left it out on her nightstand so he could not dodge when she levitated it to him.

“Love you too, but- what is this?” he stood up pointing to the cloth.

“You know…in case you get cold.” she made up an excuse for her insecurity. He gave her a condescending look of ‘really?’ as he started to take it off. “No no no! Keep it on...please. It just makes me feel better if you have it.” she answered knowing he would not take the scarf without the truth. She smiled at him, before he shook his head in acceptance, a grin of his own perking up the corner of his mouth. He looked up at her longingly for a moment before heaving a brief harumph.

“Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” he spoke gently. Luna nodded hardly able to let him walk out of the room. She stood up as he began to make his way towards her chamber’s balcony. He turned as she reached the door to the open platform. Guardian Angel gave her one last long look.

“I’ll see you again soon, love.” he murmured just before he flapping his big wings and floating off the balcony and up into the sky. Luna dashed out to the platform waving as he began to speed off, his head still turned back to look at her. Words almost escaped her mouth before she bitterly bit her tongue, refusing to break their promise. Guardian Angel hated ‘goodbye,’ Luna hated not saying it.

Zeccaran awoke with a start. He looked around the room from the hay-pack cot where he lay. The pain had come to a screeching intensity before jolting him back into reality. Wasting no time he hopped out of the cot and slipped outside into the hallway. He crept along the wall quickly reaching Gusty’s room wondering about the time of day. The dingy light from the torches that bathed the hall would suggest it was still very early morning, but with how often it had rained here in the Baylands Zeccaran was unsure. He turned his attention to the door carefully lifting a hoof up to push it open.

An even fainter light glowed somewhere inside the small quarters, accompanied by a faint set of sniffles. Zeccaran cautiously pushed his head around the corner of the door frame, allotting himself only enough for one eye. There in the murk of the room, illuminated by a withering golden glow, Gusty sat upright in her bed. She sobbed softly, carefully wiping away her tears not even taking notice of the open door or his face peering inside.

“Gusty.” Zeccaran whispered stepping further through the threshold. His hooves, even as quietly as he placed them clopped loudly against the distant sniffs of Gusty and the crackled of the torches. She took notice of him then her eyes watering further as she looked up. Gusty drew her pretty face into an ugly snarl before swinging a hoof towards him in a motion that indicated he should leave.

Somewhere in his mind he was compelled to push his luck instead, “Do..do you wanna talk about it?” he whispered a little louder this time. Gusty’s snarl turned into an outright look of fury.

“Just leave me alone!” she hissed hoarsely. Zeccaran cast his eyes away from his friend. He wanted to help but dealing with such great trauma depended on the pony. He firmly believed sharing it went a long way to alleviate at least some of the existential dread. However, all he could do for Gusty was stand here and see if her initial reaction was merely an ingrained defense and not how she felt.

“Zeccaran. Please...I can’t right now.” came a meek and unfamiliar voice. If the moment had not been such a gravely affair he might have done a double-take. He looked up to Gusty to see her hiding behind her mane her face obscured by shadow and hair.

“Okay. I understand.” he whispered back with a nod. He would just have to leave her alone. But, Gusty was a strong mare, she would overcome the stress and the mental contusion, he just had to remind her that she could. He turned to leave simply because he had nothing more to offer when mumbling from Gusty stopped him. He had to diligently tune out other sounds to even get the barest gist of what she was saying.

“...you do know what it’s like.” he caught part of a sentence she grumbled. “To have your life stripped away and everything…” she squeaked unintelligible words. “I thought I had escaped these memories...this-this suffering, and now its coming back...stronger.”

Until this moment Zeccaran would have never described Gusty as vulnerable. Perhaps she trusted him enough to show him this moment of weakness, perhaps this was who Gusty truly was; a frightened mare, unable to discern the waking world from her nightmares and memories. The small flame of righteous fury lit itself in his stomach. All of Gusty’s behavior, the posturing, the tomfoolery, the overall mania, it was her cover up. He wished he had realized it sooner, maybe he had immediately. That was probably why they had become friends. He was now determined more than anything to help her, even though there was little he could do.

“I’m sorry, Gusty. Why don’t you try to get some rest?” he murmured to her from the door. She cast up a pitiful look to him.

“I can’t sleep again...not-not...for now, anyway.” she mumbled.

“I said rest, not sleep.” Zeccaran gently reminded.

“Oh...oh! Okay yeah, I get it. I should rest. Restore my energy. That’s a good point. Thanks!” Gusty gasped, loud enough to make Bunker roll over next to her. A decent amount of her usual spunk having returned briefly. Zeccaran smiled and waved her goodbye before pulling the door shut behind him. That was a good deed, a good enough deed that he probably was safe from karma for at least a week.

Unfortunately, that was not the case for Zeccaran. As he sat back down on his hay-cot he realized that he was too awake to fall back asleep. This left him to sit mournfully on his bed realizing that the universe had heard his thoughts and intended to jape him in precisely this way. He stood up from his cot thus, and began to make his way towards the Long Hall, merely to abate the boredom. With no specific path in mind he made his way from the guest hall and into that grand main room of Castle Manor. As he opened the door into the chamber he bumped directly into a guard.

“Oi! Ye clumsy oaf! Watch where ya…” he paused after pushing his helmet back up. He gave Zeccaran a cautious look. “Zebra! Da irony. Mine mistress sent me ta fetch ye. A parcel doth arrive for ye early in da’ mornin’.” he spake stiffly through his brogue.

“A parcel? In the morning? What time is it now?” Zeccaran balked completely taken off guard.

“”Tis a quarter past eight, lad. Day’s already begun an hour ago.” The guard grumbled. He clearly lacked an understanding of how late Zeccaran had been up the night before. “Come, ye parcel awaits.” he stated with a motion of his hoof. Zeccaran decided it was best to just follow, there was no need to ask about the strange mail he was receiving.

They walked down the Long Hall before turning into another hallway that branched off the grand room. It was similar to the guest hall, still as brown and plain, but was significantly more narrow. The guard walked him further down the thing stretch before they arrived at a small door, only just large enough to fit the ram. They slipped inside into a bustling chamber full of servants and mail. It was a decent sized room, with stack of packages and piles of letters on the walls and tables. The guard pointed to a rather large box that had curious bars on one side like a jail cell. All the breath left his lungs as recognized the box and a happy presence inside it.

Dashing over to the box, Zeccaran instantly ripped open the door to the cage. Out bounded his slobbering mess of a dog, tackling him to the ground. He did not even notice the screams of the several mail-ewes and the angry, defensive shouting of the guard who had brought him here. He never would get over why everyone thought the wooden dog was anything but friendly. That was when he found himself being ushered out of the room and down the hall he had come. The bitter cursing of the guard along with the hard bones of his skull shoving them down the narrow passage, out a door, and tossing them both out into the lawn of the Castle Manor.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice.” Zeccaran grumbled as he stood. Gunther barked with a plain concurrence. Noticing something strung around his dog’s neck the zebra trotted over and snagged it off his canine companion. It was a rolled scroll, with the Royal Equestrian Seal holding the ribbon that was tied to Gunther in place. Zeccaran gave the presumptuous parchment a tug and the ribbon broke leaving him with the scroll to read. He he unfurled the parchment eagerly, curious as to who sent Gunther to him and what they had to say.

Dear Zeccaran,

It came to my attention just after you left that Gunther had been left behind. I hope it does not take too long for him to arrive in the Baylands. I do not rightly know what he eats but was counseled to provide him with a rations of “jerky.”. May he find you well and again accompany you on your journeys.

Yours, Princess Luna.

“Oh, Princess of the Night, it is no wonder I listened to those cultists, they painted your generosity so very accurately.” Zeccaran mused aloud. He re-rolled the letter and tucked behind his ear as he had not taken his satchel from his room. Gunther wagged his tail violently at his voice, the dog eagerly bouncing on his legs.

“Come on, let’s see if we can sneak back into the Manor.” Zeccaran said to his dog. Gunther just panted ecstatically as his master began trotting along around the the side of the of the building. The timberwolf yipped chasing Zeccaran after a moment, clearly enjoying being free from the cage he had travelled in.

Zebra and dog traversed the side of the castle jogging together through the grass. The facility was larger than Zeccaran had realized, and it took them several minutes to walk fully around the building to the front doors. However, the reached them without incident, trudging along through the dark misty morning. Having spent too much time indoors Zeccaran marveled at the rough hewn grey and brown stone that composed the exterior of the Bayland’s central location of government. It was functional, not extravagant like the Palace in Canterlot. It was hard to believe that this place was the only true center of government in the whole of the country. Dame Gertrude held the Ovis together by sheer force of will and should something happen to this place Zeccaran shuddered to think.

The pair arrived at the main entrance, it was unguarded.

“Welp, in we go, Gunther.” Zeccaran said to his dog with concern. Typically there were at least attendants to watch over the door but today had already been pretty wierd so he shrugged it off and gave the heavy oak doors a push. He slowly slipped them open to find the Long Hall lit fully, golden light reflecting off of Dame Gertrude at the end of the chamber. He could hear talking as he and Gunther began making their way down the hall to the Throne’s partition.

“Then who was the unlucky ram that sired this tart?” Gusty’s voice echoed off the brick of the hall. She sounded quite back to her old self her voice coy and chipper. Laughter of the Golden Dame rang out haughtily at her comment.

“I am no tart, Great Gusty, I am a danish.” came what sounded like a younger more refined version of Dame Gertrude. The hall roared with more laughter at the terrible pun, Gusty cackling right alongside her old ewe daughter. Zeccaran was nearly to the partition by the time he could make sense of who was standing about the grand wooden throne.

Gusty and Bunker sat in lush chairs happy smiles on their faces. But on the raised pedestal sat a curious sight. Two Gertrude the Goldens sat on the throne, each as shiny-sparkly as the other. Zeccaran blinked several times before he came to realize he was not seeing double. The two ewes moved at different times and spoke with differing voices but otherwise were identical.

“You know, if I hadn’t had a second there, I’m pretty sure I would have freaked out.” He said loudly as he passed the partition. Gunther yipped in such a way that it sounded like he agreed. Everyone present jumped only at his dog’s bark, they did not even acknowledge that he had said anything at all, leaving Zeccaran to sigh dramatically with annoyance.

“Where did you get Gunther from?!” Gusty shouted in pure confusion. She was clearly feeling better, hopping up and looking over the timberwolf as if she thought he was an elaborate fake. Zeccaran simply passed her the note from behind his ear and cast a confident look at one of the Dame Gertrudes. He was still unsure which one was the real one, he had to wait for them to speak again. In the meantime Gusty tossed the crumpled note aside with a grunt and a roll of her eyes.

“Well, that out of the way, I would like to introduce to you, Gabriella, my friend Zeccaran and his dog Gunther.” she said with a wave of her hoof towards him. He cast curious glance towards the throne to watch as the ewe on the left to a bit of a bounce down the platform into a curtsy.

“How do you do fine sir?” the young golden ewe said in her sweet voice. Zeccaran blinked his eyes in surprise as she extended one of her hooves in perhaps one of the most formal gestures of greetings. Carefully fulfilling the obligation he to her hoof in one of his and lowered his face to it, he did not bother to kiss. She probably preferred his lips not touch her anyway. He looked up the ewe curiously.

“Judging by the flaxon fleece, milady you are indeed the Dame’s daughter?” he questioned. Zeccaran was still wondering if he was seeing double.

“Indeed I am. And, aren’t you just refreshing? Careful and respectful, good with ettique. So very much more tasteful than my mother...and her..er...mother.” Gabriella the Ewe bleated with a roll of her eyes. Behind her Gusty and Gertrude started to snicker loudly. Loud panting, however, distracted them both from the elder creatures as Gunther padded up right before her Gabriella. Zeccaran drew in a sharp breath of apprehension, while the ewe did not appear to be upset with his dog’s presence he was reflexively preparing himself for the worst.

“Hello, doggie.” the ewe cooed stepping up confidently. “Never have gotten to see a Timberwolf close, is he soft?” she asked reaching for Gunther. Zeccaran went to answer but was interrupted by Gunther whimpering and backing away from Gabriella.

“Gunther what’s wrong? She just wants to pet you.” He said giving his dog a confused look. Gunther responded by moving behind him, keeping his body away from Gabriella.

“Is he okay? What’s wrong doggie?” She asked leaning around Zeccaran to look at Gunther, who continued to yip in stress.

“What is wrong with Gunther?” Gusty questioned as she approached. “Da. He is acting...weird.” Bunker agreed backing her up.

“I-I don’t know...she is just trying to pet him...but he doesn’t like it.” Zeccaran stammered. He was beginning to think the situation was spiralling out of control. Gunther never acted like this, he honestly loved everything around him and only attack things when Zeccaran specifically ordered him to. Gusty trotting up and around him did little to calm him down, sure she was feeling better now, but now Gunther was having trouble? It was all too coincidental for Zeccaran’s taste and the introduction of the Gabriella sent shivers up his spine.

“Well...he lets me pet him! What’s the matter ol’ woody? Are you scared of the color gold?” Gusty cooed. Zeccaran turned to see her petting Gunther with no issues at all. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, or maybe it was the lack of sleep and stress of Gusty’s recent troubles finally taking their toll. He scrutinized Gunther some to see if it had just been a fluke. Evidently it had been, he let Bunker pet him too as the stallion approached and rubbed his dog’s ears. Gabriella began to cautiously step towards him around Zeccaran but the instant she moved Gunther turned worried glowing eyes towards her.

“No pooch, shan’t like mine daughter! What troubles ye Gunther!?” brogued Dame Gertrude hopping down from her throne. “Surely, he be a stranger to her. An’ to me as well.” She strutted up to Gunther proudly and offered a hoof to him. He licked it gently. Zeccaran swallowed hard in a silent fit of rage and befuddlement. He simply could not fathom why his dog disliked Gabriella.

“I be wrong, dear daughter. What did ye do ta’ the dog?!” Dame Gertrude bumbled in shock to her daughter.

“Nothin’! I swear...I-I have no idea why he wouldn’t like me!” Gabriella shouted. Gunther started barking at her raised volume. Zeccaran cast him a withering stare and he stopped. The dog resorted to quietly huffing through his nose in short bleats. Zeccaran just shook his head in defeat.

“I’m sorry. He is just being temperamental. He hasn’t done this since I got him.” He half-lied to the younger ewe. She just shrugged in response a sad little smile on her face. Zeccaran felt disenchanted by his dog’s behavior, it ached particularly intensely because he had actually started having a good day.

“It’s alright, Sir Zeccaran. Not everyone can like everyone.” Gabriella said rather sagely. He turned to contradict her for the sake of argument when a crack of what sounded like thunder stopped him. It stopped his train-of-thought because it sounded like it was manufactured thunder.

“Aye, a strange noise I hear. ‘Twas a bit o’thunder? Nay…” Gertrude grumbled to herself. She was thinking the same thought he had been entertaining. The group remained silent until another boisterous blunder of sound rang out.

“What is that?” Gusty murmured making all eyes look at her. A look of confusion washed over the alicorn’s face as she peered at something on Zeccaran’s left. He turned to behold a pale-faced Gabriella, a gaze of wrath twitching her eyes. Her visage caused him to jump back on instinct, but as quickly as he witnessed it the look vanished leaving him to balk at seemingly nothing.

“Mistress Gertrude! Lady Dame! The city! We are under attack!” shouted a guard accompanied by the banging of opening doors and the stomping of armored soldiers.

“What?! Is it the pirates?! Be they so brazen?!” Gertrude asked her voice sharp and painful. She dashed towards her soldiers barking off marching orders before shouting more questions. Zeccaran found himself being pushed by Bunker and Gusty as they forced him to follow the Dame. Gabriella took the right of the two larger beings Gunther the left and Zeccaran did his best to run in step ahead of them. The mass of bodies and metal pushed along quickly, clambering towards the exit.

“Do we have the harpoon cannons ready?” Gertrude was asking as they exited the Long Hall into the harsh daylight.

“No ma’am.” responded the ram she was speaking to, his ma’am closer to a ‘mom.’

“Then forget mah other order ye nincompoop! We need those cannons ready to fire immediately, they have airships! Ye told me they were ready two days ago!” she growled with a fire Zeccaran was happy was not directed at him.

“I don’t know, ma’am. When we went ta’ emergency stations, we found them disassembled!” the officer crowed right back.

“Who would haff done tha’?!” the Dame shrieked. She loosed an angry sigh, “Then where is the enemy?”

Roar of cannon fire stopped the officer from speaking and the crew of soldiers around them gasped. Zeccaran looked up to the sky wincing from the ringing in his ears. He started wincing instead from the sight of floating sky-ship instead. Its cannons firing a full broadside, an Eyrie-class aerial battleship hovered just above the Castle Manor. It would seem that his studying was paying off a lot sooner than expected. But, that would do little for the innocent citizens of Castle-upon-Barra, their homes already on fire and the screams of the injured reaching into the sky, the situation defined the word grim.

The hovering vessel above had enough firepower to level the Castle Manor and the city along with it. The harpon cannons compromised by either an infiltrator or someone on the inside, the craft was all but invulnerable to arrows or catapults which were the height of the weary Baylands’ army. He could probably disable the ship if he could get onto it without getting killed, but that thought made him shiver in his hooves. He was going to have to try, but without much else to contribute, Zeccaran found a simple statement escape his lips.

“Well, shit.”

Next Chapter: Act 2: Chapter 8 - Battle of Castle-upon-Barra Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 4 Minutes