Beaming with a merry spring in her step Gusty walked down the cobblestone streets of Canterlot. The events of the past two weeks had her in a stupendous mood. It felt strange to think it, but she had felt more like herself than she had in a very long time. And this time it was a feeling that was lasting.

Fishing a number bits from her saddlebags she wore, the teal alicorn pranced up to a small street stand selling candied apples. Not bothering to check the price she selected the treat she desired and plopped the volume of coins down onto the counter top via her magic. They clicked and clanked with the high-pitched rumble that was iconic of coins on wood as she traded the money for her snack in her levitation. She thanked the peddler and went on her way, taking a huge bite out of the caramel coated confection. A long strand of the creamy mixture trailed away from her mouth defiantly trying to avoid being eaten.

A feeling of amusement warmed her cheeks, the ethereal giggles making the warmth wax full blush. Failing as she tried to detach the caramel from her face Gusty looked around trying to find the spy that watched her with a playful scowl to cover up her smile. She found him peering down from a low cloud above the market, his sharp eyes sparkling in the mid-morning sun.

“Don’t have better things to do?!” she shouted up at Guardian Angel.

He popped the cloud with a soft poof that was just audible over the dull murmur of the busy square. Extending his wings the stallion simply fell in place, casually alighting just in front of where Gusty stood.

“Nah,” he replied as his hooves clopped on the pavement. “I’m actually filling in for one of my employees. His wife is due to give birth today or tomorrow.”

“You’ve had ponies spying on me? Why am I even surprised?” she continued to tease as she finally slurped up the caramel. “You aren’t a very good substitute. You gave away your position immediately.”

“Hard to keep secrets from you, sweetheart. With the whole shared mind thing going on.” He motioned lazily with his hoof.

“Well, that’s just how I like it. Somepony has to keep tabs on you after all, and I’m the only one up to the task!” She smiled arrogantly.

“Oh, is that so?” he questioned with a dark flair. He leaned towards her, rotating his good eye towards her face with a raised brow.

Chills raced up and down her spine. Gusty relished the familiarity they shared again. She had nearly suffered a heart attack when not three days after breaking down their connection Guardian Angel returned to fix it. Truthfully, she was grateful; secretly, she had missed him. The three days in between had left her surprisingly lonely and anxious. Especially with everything that had happened initially. Even with the ludicrous amount of magic and time Luna had put into making her feel "normal" Gusty had not ever felt 100%. The damage the Curse had done in that short time ailed her and to be back to the state of normalcy, that was sharing a portion of her mind relieved the stress. After everything that had happened in that short time having again the one thing that made her feel stable was some well-deserved comfort.

Regardless of her emotions on the matter he had said they needed to re-link their minds on a simpler notion: Monitoring her progression and mental state. Without him watching it was more than likely that the Curse’s influence would affect her more quickly. That was what Luna and Zeccaran had established just about six hours before the stallion had taken it upon himself to break their link, or so she had been told. And now because of that mistake it might not even matter if she had him to work with. It was a never imagined situation by both parties. How shocking was it that a demon had been the key, a Shadow-kin no less, the method of stopping his own family’s wrath. The very same demon-stallion she had once refused to believe could ever do any good.

Gusty loathed that thought. She oft wondered if perhaps had her own magics and the Curse not been in place when they met if things would have been different. Maybe she could have sensed his anger at the Cultists and sought the truth before everything went to hell. Such thoughts did not matter. She could not change the past or the current situation. Instead she was happy to have Guardian Angel by her side in this attempt to destroy his ancestors’ work. There was a deep solace that she had not truly recognized that came from his presence. It had became painfully obvious once it was missing for that brief period. Perhaps it was only been because she enjoyed teasing him. She could give him a proper hard time with the level of faux petty suspicion and not-so-faux flirting he deserved. Just because he needed to be kept on his guard and she was the only mare that could do that to him. After all when you spend half of everyday in another pony’s head you can figure out which buttons to press to rile them but not truly upset them. Gusty set about doing a little bit of that now.

“So certainly you didn’t come down from your cloud just to make small talk. What’s your real motive?” Gusty said briskly walking past him knowing he would follow her with haste.

“Honestly...I came to ask you about Ashijinir,” He replied hot on her heels then quickly against her side.

“What about her?” she answered slowing her pace as to not knock their heads together from her bouncy trott. Gusty met Guardian Angel’s eyes, he was concerned, but it certainly was not about his relationship with the Queen of Fire.

“How concerned should I be that the Queen of Fire desires my head served to her on a gilded platter garnished with my bones?” The stallion overindulged the concept perfectly. Gusty stuck her tongue out in faux disgust. It was an apt description of her scaly friend’s righteous rage.

“Not too worried. After all you have me on your side this time.” She gave Guardian a wink and a grin. Hoping that he might involuntarily reveal his true worry.

“That’s welcome news. I did not consider us accomplices in this coverup,” he mused. Though his voice was soft there was the telltale tone of excitement in his voice that probably only she and Luna could notice.

“Don’t get too worked up, flyboy. Only reason I’m helping is because you aren’t at fault for Torch’s death. In all accounts, even Ember’s, it was self-defense. And while I’m not particularly happy you ate his heart, you did it to survive, not out of malice. Kind of a big surprise especially at the time that it happened. You weren’t in a good place mentally.” Gusty hit him in the shoulder with a play punch. He shook his head in acceptance and murmured under his breath that he did not need to be reminded.

A crowd of adolescent colts and fillies chattered around them forcing Gusty to lean in close against Guardian Angel. Coming in waves, there was enough of them to make it seem like a whole grade level was playing hooky. Their irreverence for personal space almost made her press her still sticky cheek into his neck. To avoid that she was forced to maintain her balance by bracing her neck against his chest as they continued to bump into her sides and legs. Once they passed, she took a step back and rolled her eyes indignantly trying to pass off the redness on her face as anger. Her attendant stallion just laughed at her.

“Out done by your own vices I see.” He smirked

“Better mine than yours!” Gusty hissed as she turned about. She purposely hit him as she pivoted on her front hooves. Trying rather unsuccessfully to catch him off-balance and force him to stumble from the impact of her sternum and hips.

Laughing at her more the stallion started to walk through the market. Gusty sprung ahead of him. She was the one shopping after all not him and would not be lead about on her little mid-morning jaunt. So for a short bit they perused the market vendors. Gusty merrily struck up conversations with a few while Guardian Angel remained mostly silent only occasionally making commentary.

She wondered if perhaps he was purposely ignoring her just to get under her skin. While stopping at a stall that was selling hoofheld mirrors, as traveling mirror merchants were wont to do, or so the stall’s owner told her she used one to look over her shoulder at him. The particularly gaudy piece of glass and polished metal framed his face like an old portrait, making his face appear even more calm and contented than she had first noticed. It was almost as if he was daydreaming. Gusty started making faces at him in the mirror. He did not notice, even when the merchant started to laugh, and she began to huff.

Sending her pouty demand for attention along their connection Gusty pursed her lips. His eyes lit up with surprise just as soon as she did and as he focused they locked eyes in the mirror for a moment before he turned his gaze away with a sheepish look on his face.

“Sorry. My mind was elsewhere.” He gave his head a quick shake and a few flicks of his ears. The motion revealed a small black object attached to the bottom of his right ear.

“Hey, you’ve got something on the side of your head,” Gusty said. Inquisitively, she turned around pushed his jaw to his left, peering at the item.

With a prod of her other hoof the device fell out of Guardian Angel’s ear. Snapping it up in her levitation she peered at it in confusion. She had never seen anything like the little machine and did not know what to think of it.

“What is this thing?” she asked as she turned it over in her magic.

“It's called Magical Interface for Communications. Or a mic for short,” the stallion explained. “It is the first wireless transmitter of sound waves. This is one of the prototype models for mass production.”

“Whoa. So I can talk into it and other ponies can hear me? How do I do that?” Gusty felt her curiosity overtaking her mind. It was a healthy feeling this time, and she intended to make good of it.

“Here I'll show you, let’s step out of the way of this fine pony’s shop; he has customers.” Guardian stepped to the side and beckoned her to follow. From behind him a rather posh white unicorn mare stepped up to the stand. She immediately began admiring her own features beneath the brim of her overly large hat. Gusty turned away more interested in the device than the other pony.

Snagging the earpiece with his wing, the stallion rotated it to lay flat. Transitioning it to the frog of a hoof he pointed at it with a singular primary feather. The contraption featured a wide bud and a looped wire that extended from it . “You put the wire around your ear and the little bump inside you ear,” he explained.

Gusty followed his instructions. It was not the most comfortable of devices. A bit itchy, making her want to flick her ear, but otherwise acceptable. Most annoyingly a long bar unfolded and followed the line of her jaw with a tightness that just seemed unreasonable. However, she pushed the inconvenience aside in favor of her curiosity once again.

“Now let me just set the right frequency…’ Guardian pressed his hoof into the bar on the side of her face. A few clicks sounded loudly in that ear before he gave a smile.

“Okay. Hold down this thing,” he touched a portion of the device she had not felt before, pushing it into the edge of her mane, “You’ll hear some beeps and eventually the pony on the other end of the line will pick up and be able to talk to you. Just keep holding the button down.”

“Alright. Who am I calling?” she questioned raising both her brow and then her hoof to the appropriate location.

“Your husband. You’re using my mic so he’ll be pretty surprised.”

The beeping he mentioned followed his words. After a moment or two it stopped and was replaced by a hissing and crackling sound intermixed with the sounds of ponies grunting and shouting.

“What do you want, demonpants? I’m trying to work, not enjoy casual conversation,” Bunker grumbled over the other noise quite clearly.

“Is that any way to address your wife?” Gusty chuckled sarcastically.

“Wife? Gusty? What are you doing on his mic? Did you steal it or something? How did you know how to use the single call feature?!” her husband replied, totally baffled.

“I’m letting her borrow it, you big idiot!” Guardian Angel hissed with a snide grin towards the receiver.

Gusty did not question how he could hear Bunker, especially with the bud jammed as deeply into her ear as it was currently. He probably was just listening to her senses instead of his own. Anymore if he was in her presence she assumed he could tell exactly what she was thinking and why. Mostly because she could do the same to him unless he was specifically hiding his intentions such abilities worked both ways. If she had to pick a time, the feeling stopped being creepy back in the Baylands. It left a surreal sensation in her chest to be able to think that thought so clearly.

“Well, I’m glad he’s shown you how it works. But, unfortunately, now that this pleasant surprise is over I must get back to showing these recruits the fine arts of hoof-to-hoof combat. See you at dinner, dear. Love you!” Bunker cheerfully recovered.

“Love you too,” Gusty released her hoof, putting it back down on the ground. For a moment she stared at nothing, lost in blanket awe at the machine as she took it out of her ear and held it in her magic.

Guardian Angel waved a hoof in front of her face which made her flinch and drop the device. He caught it easily before placing it in his ear, getting even closer to her snout in the process. She swatted his leg down roughly, pursing her lips into a pout. He responded with a wiley chuckle before nodding his head towards a vendor that sold pie by the slice. Perking up out of her stupor, Gusty nearly skipped over to the stand. Her stomach growled in response to the sweet smells of roasted and sugared fruits inside the pastries. It was a good idea to get another snack anyway, it would keep her from devouring and extra meal today, that caramel apple had not been enough.

Just as soon as they got their pie something changed. It was something almost imperceptible. Yet, Gusty could feel it deep inside of herself. She knew the feeling as it raked its talons across her mind. The peace she had enjoyed for the short time she had had it seemed to shatter away into a distant memory.

Her eyes shifted to her slice of pie. How bland it tasted compared to only a second ago. How ugly and unrefined its slimy crust seemed to be, she could not believe she had dared to eat it. However, she refused to let the sensation overwhelm her so simply. Gusty would not go down without a fight.

You are mine…………………...Her stability is……………….fall!...........

…………..Gusty?.....................................you can’t trust him……..

I have to fight……………...the only one that-...........................’t save you…

With a grunt she grabbed her head with both hooves, forgetting her dessert. The pastry clattered to the ground next to her face, as she doubled over in pain. The whole world spun at the sound of the voices. Worse, it was as if every eye now in that carousell of a world watched her while it happened. A prodding, prickly presence touched her mind. She wanted to throw it away, but somehow it brought her comfort. She could not understand, but that did not matter, she had to do something.

“Hey. What’s going on? You gotta talk to me, sweetheart.” Guardian Angel’s voice reached her ears at the same time as she felt a hoof on her left cheek and then back of her neck. She slapped him away, standing up from her hunched position.

For a brief moment he looked hurt she had hit him, but his expression suddenly changed. A shadow overtook his eyes as he leaned his brow forward, the slitted pupils of his shiny yellow irises showing clearly even amongst the common ponies. Gusty snarled at him with disgust.

“It would be unwise to challenge me on my own turf, Mytsn,” he growled.

The name he called her gave her pause. She had heard it before, it was the term he used for the Curse. A derogatory, diminutive name that reflected his hatred for the legacy of his forefathers. Gusty wanted to smile, but felt her mouth turn down in a scowl. When her legs moved of her own accord, real fear made her heart pound, she was not in control of her body.

“You intend to harm your prize? In front of all these ponies? What a villain you are!” Not-her chuckled at him.

“Gusty can take it. She’s accustomed to pain. In fact I’m fairly certain she enjoys it. But you...oh Mytsn, I know you can’t stand it.” Guardian Angel circled where they stood. His wings extending to their full length. Ponies around them looked at them worriedly.

Even in her trapped state, Gusty could feel the magic gathering in the area. She would have to fight the Curse’s influence. No matter how wrong that felt, no matter how right it felt to accuse the demon before her she had to separate her desires from the malignancy in her mind. Her mind recited off a few spare prayers to Origin hoping beyond hope that she could manage it, if not for herself then for the sake of all the innocent bystanders that were about to get caught up in a fight between monsters.

“Vile cur! You’ll regret ever laying eyes on this mare!” Magic fired from Gusty’s horn as her sword was summoned to her magical grip from where it was supposed to be resting in her apartment.

No! I don’t want to fight him! She shouted internally. Applying as much pressure as she could. Not-her huffed angrily before something pushed back on Gusty. It did not hurt her instead it made everything seem duller, the sounds, the images before her, the urge to stop what her body was doing.

However, it had given Not-her pause. It was enough time for Guardian Angel to reach up to his ear, his eyes never leaving the center of her clouded vision.

“Priority one hail on all frequencies. We have a Code Red. I repeat: Code Red. I need three rapid response teams and at least one Princess to move to the North Market Square, immediately.” His voice was calm and clear, but as he spoke his fangs reached their relaxed position, hanging out of his mouth fully. His extended wings began to blur and shimmer with the heat of the fire that they still managed to hide. But in his eyes sparkled an emotion, primal and desperate. Gusty was probably the only pony in existence to even know what those feelings looked like on Guardian Angel, after all it was the original, the greatest motivator, it was fear.

“Oh, how embarrassing. The big bad stallion calling for help?” Not-her cackled haughtily, before abruptly stopping with a brief cone of silence coming over the crowd following laughter. “Die.”

With a lunge that turned into a teleport, the sword was swung at the back of the stallion’s neck. As it came within an inch of his mane he ducked forward spinning downward as more teleportation blurred her vision further. She spied rapidly accelerating back hooves flying towards her even before her sword could swing. Pain reared its ugly head across her gut and suddenly the world was brought back into clearer focus as Not-her was forced to make her body breathe regularly instead of repress Gusty. They tumbled end over end a few times before coming to rest. Even with her supernatural determination, her other half struggled to put the air back in their lungs.

Gusty! You must fight back. I can’t do this alone. All I’ll end up doing his hurting you! Guardian Angel’s voice came from inside her head. As Not-her rolled them over to look at him one of his hooves pressed down on their chest with enough force to knock the wind out of Gusty all over again.

“Monster!” escaped her lips as the last of the air exited. However, magic surged into her horn and she found herself standing on the other side of the square heaving.

Fight! Come on! Don’t just let it control you! The stallion’s voice came again and with it Gusty grit her teeth. She strained her neck and snapped her eyes closed, regaining some control.

Then the real pain came. It felt like something was splitting her skull open with a slow, twisting spacer. She could almost see it happening before her own eyes. It was a gory scene she had known in the past. Gusty cursed the memories and the Shadow-kin for what they had done. How ironic that this one wanted her salvation?

Their greatest work of art………..She’s insane!...................How far will I have to go?
…………….Run! Run! Run!...............................You will become one with me…..
….It is predestined…….Gusty!.........Grab the children and go!.......inevitable….
…...Mytsn, I swear I’ll send us both into the Abyss!.........................Try us, traitor!

When Gusty opened her eyes, the pain in her head ceased. The sound of the unfamiliar ponies’ as they screamed in terror, running from the monster before her. And within their chorus she knew his voice, speaking lies into her mind. The beast that had hounded her, tricked her, put her at his beck and call was now alone and vulnerable. Her little soft-spoken conscious told her it was time. He would fall here, before all these ponies and she would laugh.

Letting go of all restraint, Gusty’s magic caused thunder from its sheer force. Hovering on her wings she sent her sword dancing at the demon. To her delight he made no attempt to dodge. The weapon buried itself deeply into his chest, expertly slipped between his ribs. Cackling with victory she teleported behind him and followed up with a body slam from gravity and her assisted vector. To her shock she bounced off his back as if he was made of solid steel.

Gasping in pain while attempting to teleport, Gusty found herself hitting the cold stone on the ground instead. The pressure on her horn stung as she tried again. Then it dawned on her, the demon had done this before. However, she had no intention of holding back this time, she might not be able to teleport but simpler magic, levitation, kinetic blasts, she doubted he could stop those if she applied her all.

“So that’s how this is going to be huh?” he said turning to face her. His eyes glowed brightly with their nasty red even in the mind-morning sun.

“Maybe. You shouldn’t pretend you don’t know the answer,” Gusty glowered back. Her eyes watched the mouth grip of her sword as it bubbled over with his blood. She had to have hit his heart; too bad the damn abomination did not die that easily.

“Don’t…” he admonished too slowly.

Lunging up from the ground she managed to bite onto the grip of her weapon. Clinging on for dear life, she let the heavy blow from his hooves knock her down and pull the sword free of his chest. Blood flowed down his chest but for a moment, the wound had already disappeared as she reared back. The disgustingly sweet taste of his ichor splashed on the back of her throat and her tongue when she did. It’s vile flavor mixed with the spinning of her head from his strike sent her into a frenzy.

With all her adrenaline and natural instinct kicking in, Gusty slashed at his side. The demon dodged the blow by diving towards her ankles. The force of his whole body forced her to jump only to be toppled over by his forward momentum. They crashed into a cart, sending random objects flying. A yelp of terror escaped an unfamiliar pony’s mouth as they did. She turned to find a plain tan fellow cowering within the broken remains of his stall.

Immediately, Gusty pumped all of her magic into her horn and forced her levitation to work, tossing the unfortunate pony at the demon. To her surprise he caught the smaller stallion with grace, and set him down. Enraged for what suddenly felt like no reason to her Gusty hefted her blade and gave it a toss at the pony that ran away from she and the demon. With his unerring speed, the monster somehow put himself between the flying weapon and the flighting stallion. He successfully knocked her sword out of the air and onto the ground where it bounced and clanged, the blood it had been coated in flicking off

Why the fuck did I just do that? Was it to give myself room to cast or was I trying to clean my sword so I could use my magic on it again? No… that’s not… why did he protect that guy? I don’t...understand...Her thoughts trailed off as Guardian Angel dashed towards her.

He swung his mighty hooves towards her face, on reflex alone she put her own hooves up to soften the blow. As he hit she deflected his momentum, so she did not break her forelegs. With the same motion, she lurched forward. Intent on pinning him to the ground long enough to get a few good stabs in with her sword. Her horn struggled but pulsed out more magic, overcoming his natural ability to defeat spells. Gusty felt her magical grip tighten on the blade and send it flying toward her target just as they toppled atop one another. However, the demon rolled as soon as she contacted him, tossing her away and dodging her attempt to strike him in the same motion.

Her sword clattered by and caused another scream to come from a barrel where it lodged itself. Instead of trying to pull the blade free she simply levitated the combined objects over to herself. Ignoring the demon she peered inside the barrel once it reached her. Inside a tiny earthpony filly sat shuddering just below where the blade had slammed through the wooden container. On impulse she pulled the filly and the blade out of the barrel simultaneously. Grasped in her magic the child’s face streamed tears to the ground as she shook with fear.

How couldn’t she? There was a demon on the loose. A foolish demon. A demon that would… A dark epiphany turned her face to her quarry. He stood a short distance away face shocked.

Gusty held up the filly and gave her a high toss. The stallion snapped his head to her his wings pumping immediately. Her opening made, she struck him across the throat. Hot blood exploded out and hit her chest and face making her quake with pleasure. She wanted him to suffer, to feel the strikes, to hurt.

Unfortunately, he ignored her, and sailed up into the air, catching the little pony she had thrown. He glided back down and landed in front of her again, the wound on his neck nonexistent already.

“Gusty, get your act together!” he bellowed. The noise came both to her ears and inside her skull as he forced the words into her mind. It was jarring and painful but she ignored him. There was nothing she could not overcome when she felt like this.

“You call to her yet you’ll never reach her,” her voice said. Yet the words weren’t hers.

A terrible sinking feeling jumped up and down in her gut as she tried desperately to make sense of everything. Her magic ripped the filly from the stallion’s hooves making her scream in terror.

Wait…

She raised the blade up making it difficult for her quarry to intercept her. She would force him to give up. She turned the child to face her, her eyes were wide and fearful.

“Mr., help me, please!” the little filly cried trying to turn her head in the stiff levitation to look at the demon. How pitiful it was to be a pawn like the child.

She’s afraid...of me!

Gusty froze. Her heart pounded against her ribs, making her whole body rattle to its rhythm. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to make her move, to force the demon to act on his better nature. His better nature? Demons do not have better natures. Her eyes flicked to the stallion. He scooted slowly closer his voice muffled and distorted. The most she could understand was “calm”

New pain made her eyes wince shut as tears began clouding her vision.

Do it! Use your bait! An angry voice cried, who it belonged to she could not tell.

Its command sent more splitting agony across her temples and shooting down her legs like lines of boiling water. Gusty shook her head trying to maintain her focus. She refused to be subdued, seduced into this strange and horrible debauchery. She had endured much worse for far less important reasons, this pain would not be her downfall. That was until her body lurged on its own.

Blade hovering towards the filly Gusty shouted obscenities at herself internally. The more she refused the act the greater her suffering increased, but she would not give in. The little filly in her hooves reminded her of Amethyst. The cries from Guardian Angel like the ones she had made at him all those years ago in the Cave. He did not scream monster, but his tone was no less hurt and scared than hers had been.

“Enough! This is enough! You have to let her go! Don’t give in! Fight!” his voice came to her clearly even over the pain and the pitched screaming of something she could not quite describe.

Abruptly the pain intensified to the point that she could no longer levitate. Her sword dropped down to the cobblestone below with a clang and the filly started to fall before Guardian Angel caught her in a wing. Doubling over into a ball and sobbing as she clutched her head and side with different hooves, Gusty’s vision blurred again. All she knew was suffering, and eventually hysterics. Yet, it was as if she had been removed from her own body and she watched herself spasm as her attendant stallion stroked her mane. With a few seconds it passed. But it had seemed to her that those seconds had lasted hours, the moments endured suddenly sped away and she blinked away some tears.

“You back with us, sweetheart?” Guardian Angel asked softly as she looked up. The child in his wing flinched as Gusty’s gaze wandered to her.

Clarity washed over her and everything that had happened replayed in her mind in an instant. Overcome with grief and regret the heat of her own tears felt scalding compared to how cold her mind felt. She sat up, broken, but in control.

“I-I-I’m so sorry, child” she murmured awkwardly. She kept her eyes away from the filly, but tilted her head towards the small pony to make as much of a gesture of sincerity as possible.

The filly replied with several unintelligible words of her own. What those words were did not matter, Gusty simply hoped she cursed her as best as a child could. She felt she deserved no less. Her sobs turned more into a waterfall as again she caught a glimpse of herself in third person hold up the child in her levitation and threaten her. The look in her eyes was twisted, maddened. It was enough to make Gusty hang her head low behind her mane. Painfully, the soft whispers of the crowd of ponies that had been there to witness her mania reached her ears.

Guardian Angel mumbled something to his impromptu ward before the sounds of her little hooves dashed away. Gusty heard him partially stand before closing the remaining distance between them. She felt his wings touch her sides as he sat down directly in front of her. However, when his hooves reached around her withers Gusty could take no more. Whether it was pride or just left over adrenaline she did not know.

“N-No! Don’t touch me! Leave me alone!” She shrieked, her voice hoarse as she jammed her hooves repeatedly into his chest.

His only response was to growl and pull her closer with more force. Gusty complained swapping her hits from his chest to his belly but that did little to stop him. In frustration she looked up and spat on his face. He flinched only long enough for the spit to settle making their eyes meet.

In his eyes she saw a simple thing: understanding. It was not the sort of perfect empathy, novelists liked to write about. It was the look soldiers gave one another after surviving a terrible battle, a deeper comprehension of each others’ soul. A feeling that she could not put words to, only experience. It was enough. Enough to calm her, enough to bring new tears to her eyes as she returned his embrace, sobbing quietly onto his chest and legs.

“It’s okay,” he murmured, gently holding her head against himself. “Everything’s okay.”

Gusty clasped her hooves around him out of desperation. He was the last pony that should be cradling her, but he was the only one there. Absently she wondered how long it had been since he called for help on his mic. It felt like hours ago to her. Pressed against Guardian Angel she realized she could hear his heartbeat. Somehow through everything that had happened it was slow and steady and its pulse brought her comfort. She forced a full breath through her lungs and closed her eyes.

“You made it through it, today, sweetheart. You’re okay. None of it was your fault.” He started stroking her mane, wrapping his neck around the back of her head gracefully. “It’s okay, I promise.”

His words only made her feel more guilt. Gusty could hear the crowd murmuring their scared voices reaching her through his feathers and calming presence. In the end it proved too much for her. Panic stricken and lost in a sea of guilt and voices beyond the sound of the ponies of the market she shut down and broke down. She did not notice when Celestia and the Guard arrived. She did not realize when she was handed off to Bunker to sob onto him instead, she barely even knew she was awake.

There was magic, there were cries of unrest, of anger and righteousness. Somehow part of that gave her peace. As blurred as her vision was Gusty could not tell what happened as she was taken to someplace quiet. If she was honest she did not care either. All that mattered was the steady drum of a heartbeat in her ears and the simple feeling of companionship she had. With who that feeling she shared she could not answer for now. Perhaps after a nice nap and a tasty breakfast she would know. For now that was all she could hope for.

Next Chapter: Act 5: Chapter 3 - Machinations of the Shadow-kin Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 31 Minutes