“It seems I have acquired a passenger!” Luna proclaimed to herself. The Princess paused the dream she was watching to peer about the astral playground. Nopony was ejected from the projection she had been watching causing her to wonder if perhaps she had been hearing things.

“Get me off this merry-go-round of suffering!” shouted Zeccaran’s voice as if trying to overcome its distant echo. Luna snapped her head towards the sound which emanated from the memory she had been examining.

“Yes. Definitely a real passenger, a rather unfortunate one at that. How am I going to get him out of there?” Luna asked the air. “Deeper in I go, I suppose; since the fool has gotten himself stuck in his own subconscious.” She rolled her eyes at the zebra’s amatuer mistake, even though she probably should avoid considering his endeavors rash. It was impressive that he could even perform the magic necessary to travel the collective subconscious and land in his and Gusty’s dreams. It was likely her own dreamwalking that had kept him near himself instead of being catapulting into the great expanse of ponies’ dreams.

Luna drew a deep -breath to steady herself before she activated the memory again. The screen before her crackled to life as she viewed the world through Zeccaran’s eyes. They were still in the same clearing as before. The viewpoint looked around warily as if he was surprised by his safety and prosperity. Luna was unwilling to break the rest of the way into the memory at the moment. Instead she sat and waited as Zeccaran went through the motions of the past trying her best to figure the most efficient way to pull him out of the quagmire.

Grunts of pain accompanied the zebra’s movements as he slowly rolled over and onto his hooves. He looked down at where he had been laying in the dirt to see a large rock jutting up towards the sky. How he had managed to sleep on such an obvious protrusion was beyond Luna, especially with the frustration she could feel oozing from the memory.

“What exactly is he doing now?” She balked watching incredulously as Zeccaran started digging. The whim had seemingly been chosen as a get-out-of-bed ritual as the small boulder was uncovered in a fit of frustration. It took him quite a bit of time but eventually he heaved the massive rock out onto the grass with a triumphant huffing. He stood there, his view transfixed on the stone, Luna wondering how she had missed this portion of the memory the last ten times she had viewed it.

A sharp tingling sensation caused Luna to yelp in surprise. She snapped her head away from the memory she had been watching to scan her surroundings. Obviously finding nothing amiss in her personal realm she turned suspicious, pursed lips at the dream.

“I sense foul magics and nonsense. Now if only- Ah ha!” She smiled with pleasure. Around the image a fuzzy pink aura now glowed, its presence an indicator of powerful magics being cast on Zeccaran. It was one of her many failsafes, and one that had not been activated since Starlight Glimmer had accidently possessed the entire town of Ponyville during a botched experiment.

“How foolish of me.” Luna snickered at herself, “I forgot my own alert message! Maybe I should make it nice bell sound instead of a shock. Nah. I’d forget what it was if it was something that pleasant. Now, lets see what type of mind-altering magics Zeccaran got to experience!” she rubbed her hooves together enthusiastically. Secretly, Luna loved completing the complex puzzles of dark magics like possession they were always extremely interesting. Eagerly, she reactivated the memory the automatic stopper she had designed for her failsafe and began watching Zeccaran re-live the magics.

A sudden grunt came from where he had hefted the boulder. The voice was unfamiliar so the zebra naturally turned to look.The boulder from before lay placidly and nopony was to be seen. Zeccaran still even heard the snoring of Bunker back towards the smouldering fire. He turned back to face the lake to resume meditating.

“No! Do not turn away!” cried the voice of a stallion.

Zeccaran snapped his head back towards the rock. But still there was only a rock. No movement at all except for the grass dancing with the breeze. Rubbed his eyes and looked around still not seeing anything that would indicate another pony was nearby.

“Fear not brave zebra!” The voice came again seemingly from the rock. “You have pleased your rock overlord! Come- speak unto me great striped one!”

Even while observing, and laughing, Luna could tell that Zeccaran was clearly thinking he was hearing things. He was in fact hallucinating, but he was legitimately hearing the rock, despite the fact that the voice was coming from inside his head. The zebra tried to conquer this event by vigorously smacking himself in the face as he approached the stone. The boulder hummed a pleasant tune and ignored Zeccaran hitting himself content to continue its jaunty tune.

“What sort of terrible pony came up with this enchantment?!” Luna cackled at the original caster’s ingenuity. She would soon find out, such a powerful spell had to have been cast from nearby, and if anypony had an excellent six sense it was Gusty Twilight. The mare’s memories of the events following this one would be her next stop. Luna calmed herself enough to start watching Zeccaran and the rock again.

“Sooooo…” Zeccaran began. “What do you want from me? Oh, strange and mysterious rock god?” his voice seemed bored and empty, it probably could not be helped, he was after all talking to a rock.

“Zebra! Use your powers and fetch me some fish!” the tone declared. Zeccaran made a resigned sigh before turning around and casting his view over the lake. He walked calmly up to its edge before sprinting into the water as she sunk beneath the surface. A green flash overcame the image of the dream as Luna pondered what happened. Zeccaran’s dashed through the lake at incredible speed. His front hooves had become the claws of a bear which he used to gather fish as he had been instructed. Making a sharp turn towards an unsuspecting group of bottom feeders Luna spied a tail of a fish attached to Zeccaran where his lower body should have been. Luna grimaced in confusion slowly piecing together what she was witnessing.

“Is...is that a bear...fish?” She said while staring. “Wait a moment….oh! Zeccaran can shapeshift into animals. Hmm. I guess that’s not unlike a changeling, but he doesn’t seem to be able to do inanimate objects or other ponies. Perhaps it is a special type of Zebra magic. That is an area of magic sister and I have rather neglected studying. We should make a point of doing that, soon.” She blathered her thoughts to herself.

By the time she finished figuring out that she was witnessing something new and unique, Zeccaran had returned to shore. With another flash of green of magic he became his usual zebra self before trotting over the rock and depositing the mass of fish atop the stone’s flat surface.

“Behold my lord, fish for your consumption!” He proclaimed with a flourish, playing along or having already lost control. The rock hummed thoughtfully, as if it was contemplating another task for him. “Chew up the fishes for me, my acolyte! Do so and be rewarded!” It chortled.

“Whoever is behind this curse really needs to be found and stopped. They are simply too good at doing terrible things to ponies’ minds! My goodness!” Luna grumbled. She turned from the sight of Zeccaran chewing up and spitting out fish, gagging. Things were certainly taking a turn for the worst for the zebra.

“I need to get him out of there, no more sense of making him going through this all over again. I’ve seen all that I needed to see anyway.” She said, blushing at her own vanity. Luna cast her magic into the memory-dream. The long white-silver tendril entered the portal altering it into a picture of Zeccaran and the rock. The magic made its way towards Zeccaran who was still chewing fish. It contacted his head just as he began to consciously feel his grip on reality slipping. Luna grunted in shock and disgust at having all of the zebra’s ludicrous sensations being forced into her mind.

Zeccaran vaguely looked at the pink sky and neon blue trees and decided: this is fine. Its juuuuusst fine. He mused over their now shared thoughts. The rock roared with delight and merriment, it kept doing this as Zeccaran patiently waited for his next task, enjoying the taste of raw fish. Luna begged to differ but had no control over what the connection sent her. She could hear somepony yelling Zeccaran’s name, but was too preoccupied with trying to wrench him from the mess and free herself from the taste of fish to listen.The zebra otherwise continued his vomiting of the gooey contents of his mouth onto his overlord as Gusty Twilight became annoying enough to garner his interest.

“HEY!” She yelled into his ear, “What-What are you doing??” She was completely exasperated. Her look of disgust was blatant and unrefined. What was he doing? Serving his hero-god of course! Thus, he informed her. “I’m chewing the food for my rock overlord!” Gusty just stood there gaping. She turned a little more green than blue against her normal teal coat, looking down at the fish wads on the rock.

Luna coughed and spluttered as she started to pull with all her might to get Zeccaran out of his subconscious. The horrid taste of the foul fish almost enough to knock her from her astral realm. Zeccaran’s sheer natural might in the dream magics made his consciousness pull back against her tugs. Luna gritted her teeth and resumed her work doing her best to ignore the hallucinations and the fetid taste of raw fish.

The rock greeted Gusty like some old Shakespony actor: “What-Ho!? Who is this my dear acolyte? Neigh do not tell me, she cannot know of our bond. She is a non-believer! Lest she be converted!” it cried. Luna found it terribly distracting, forcing her to become fully one with Zeccaran’s memory.

Gusty froze, her face locked in a blank reaction. She stared back and forth between Zeccaran and the rock. Eventually she regained her composure enough to speak. “Uhh...right. Zec, you know Bunker is-no! No. Gunther is missing right? We noticed he stopped barking and-”

She continued but Zeccarn had stopped paying attention. Instead he felt as if he was losing control of his bodily functions. He turned and vomited whilst simultaneously farting with such force Zeccaran swore his flanks caught air.

When he looked back up at Gusty she was not Gusty anymore. Instead a red and green tentacle beast with fangs replaced her. The sky flashed yellow and he could taste fear as it yelled. Paralyzed with confusion and insanity, Zeccaran yelled back. Suddenly a blue and pink stone golem approached and growled. The tentacle monster swung its left four arms in his direction shrieking and screaming.

At this motion the stone golem pounced on Zeccaran. His great weight and awful stone hooves pounding into the small zebras face and stomach. It hurt, but frankly he was too scared to notice how much it hurt and kept screaming and struggling. Futilely he flailed. He kept getting beat the more he struggled. Eventually the world became a grey blur and Zeccaran was certain he had finally died. He relaxed and rejoiced in death’s embrace only to be shaken back into the world of the living this time by some sort of amalgamation between pony and ice cream sundae.

Zeccaran screamed again. He sounded incoherent even to himself. The pummeling continued until there was nothing left but pain and confusion. It went on this way for quite some time. He lost track of time and the day dissipated into his imagination…

“OH I DON’T THINK SO!” Luna shrieked at the last moment before being drug down the path of insanity with Zeccaran. Regaining some control from her outburst the Princess of the Night stopped being gentle. This was her realm, her sacred task, and some stupid little spell would not stop her from helping Zeccaran.

She yanked on the mental tendril she had sent to the zebra. It went taut until she pulled again. Luna reared back and concentrated all her mental force on maintaining control of the reality she knew: This was the dream world, and she was its master. The magic of the past yielded to her as she took to using her wings. The portal into Zeccaran’s subconscious began to bulge and buckle as she continued to draw on her line.

With a final tremendous heave Luna felt the walls of the zebra’s subconsciousness collapse in on themselves. Zeccaran came flying towards her, the screen she had been watching absorbed and forming his body. He was screaming hysterically as if he was still reliving his past and his flailing persona hit her mid-air causing them both to be knocked down onto the floor of the empty expanse. Luckily there was no pain in her astral realm and Luna sat up with the small striped stallion in her lap still screaming incoherently, his eyes closed.

“Zeccaran!” she shouted at him. He stopped yelling instantly and opened up one eye and looked up at her. He hastily removed himself from her lap, bowing deeply.

“Princess! Thank you so much for saving me from that horrible dream.” he murmured quietly. He bowed his head even deeper until his muzzle was almost underneath his chest. “This has been absolutely horrible, reliving this...this memory, this nightmare. I am just so relieved!” he panted finally raising his head.

Luna smiled at him gently, surprised and somewhat embarrassed by his subservient nature. She walked across the non-ground of shifting blues and extended a hoof down to him. Zeccaran gingerly took it, kissed it and pull himself up. It took everything she had not to blush, it had not been since Twilight Sparkle had a pony revered her formally. Meanwhile Zeccaran peered around his purple eyes bright with excitement.

“Oh this place! I was here earlier before I got stuck in...my own mind? I’m not sure, where did the doors go to? They were sitting right here” the zebra asked. Her realm moved without her permission and a pair of doors slid in from seemingly nowhere. Luna gasped as she recognized Zeccaran’s and Gusty’s dream-consciousness being pulled into place next to them.

“Here they are! Ask and thou shalt receive. Heh.” Zeccaran nodded approvingly at his natural talent. The Princess stared at him in awe, amazed at his skill. It had originally taken her months to learn how to properly summon specific doors and this striped fool had done it on accident! She lowered her head in pouty anger trying to not snap at the otherwise unfortunate zebra. He had not been given his talents as a gift as she had, but rather a curse, a mirror into his past life. She drew in a deep breath before speaking to him again.

“Yes. How long have you been visiting my realm, dear Zeccaran?” she asked suspiciously. The zebra visibly looked nervous as she eyed him. He shrunk down from her squishing his body uncomfortably onto his sitting flanks.

“If I had to make a realistic guess….probably at least since I started working in the palace. I-I didn’t know I was doing it though! Everything has been super weird, I swear!” He narrowly responded through a pained grimace.

“Very well,” Luna began, “then we shall consider your previous internment as punishment enough for trespassing. Now…” she paused. “I had been doing some research on Gusty again, if you would like to help me, it would be most appreciated. Especially since you were present for the events I have been examining.”

“Of course. I’d love to!” Zeccaran nodded in response. Luna rolled her eyes at him. Perhaps if she did not know his past nor had interest in other stallions she would find him to be a agreeable suitor. No other pony, besides herself of course, was capable of Astral Magic like Zeccaran and that opened up a wealth of possibilities. One such possibility was teaching the zebra how to help with ponies’ dreams and subconsciousnesses. She grinned pleased that it could give her some much needed free time during the night.

“Good.” she nodded. “It would be best to start now then, but perhaps we should stick to Gusty’s mind. Considering that you...went insane for a the next half a day.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m just glad you saved me when you did. It got much worse after that.” Zeccaran glowered looking away. Luna covered up her smile quickly. She would have to keep the part where she had watched longer than she should have a secret. To help distract her companion from her up and coming snickers, Luna cast her magic on the door that led into Gusty’s consciousness. The great foreboding stone portal glowed with its dark aura trying to resist her approach.

The strange malignancy that surrounded Gusty’s mind had always been a mystery to Luna. It was far more powerful than the hallucinogenic spell she had just witnessed the young Amethyst cast on Zeccaran in the memory, but it behaved strangely. That darkness was oily and slippery, capable of sliding out of her grasp every time she tried to examine it. It had proven to be quite the source of frustration for the princess as it was the last portion of Gusty’s mind that she had to analyze for Stormwalker. The magic behaved in a manner she had never seen before and unlike any described in any of Twilight Sparkle’s extensive library of magical physics and spell properties reference guides. Luna watched the black cloud skirt around the edge of her magic tendril and let her touch the door without incident. Solving the mystery of the aforementioned curse on Gusty was the most important thing she could do, but without any leads she was reduced to continually rewatching memories. She futilely prepared to review the familiar scene to see if she missed any important or even seemingly useless details.

Fully activated, Luna’s magic pulled Zeccaran and herself into Gusty’s subconscious. As a flurry of images and sensations assaulted them she guided them to just after the incident where she had saved Zeccaran. They slowly manifested as see-through spectres floating behind the big teal mare. Luna’s skills were significantly more refined than Zeccaran’s and this allowed her to generate the entire world while maintaining a connection to the original consciousness. Zeccaran jumped in surprise next to her as he recognized he was feeling what Gusty was feeling. Luna gave him a short knowing giggle. It took incredible will to not be rendered a babbling mess from such a connection and for a mortal like Zeccaran it was doubly impressive. She pointed back at Gusty and the scene of the zebra himself laying on the ground whilst Bunker held him down. The ruddy burgundy vagabond’s face was pinched in concern as Gusty barked out orders to hit Zeccaran...

Gusty watched earnestly hoping the next time Zeccaran came to he would say a sentence without the words “gravy crazy” in it. From underneath Bunker’s full body Zeccaran’s eyes snapped open and his voice boomed out. “ Cotton candy, evil mix ginger mammy!” Bunker hit him again, again the zebra went limp. Gusty shook her head in dismay.

The magic that muddled Zeccaran’s mind was far from weak. It seemed to evolve as well, changing the zebra’s perception of reality every time he woke. She assumed a spell that powerful required its caster to maintain direct visual contact with the affected, but it Gusty could see nopony in the immediate area, or even any evidence of cover good enough to hide a wizard. Gusty the remembered the wizard probably had made her or himself invisible. That was when she heard Gunther bark.

“Stay here, and…” Gusty stopped as Bunker hit Zeccaran in the mouth just as he started to scream. “Keep trying to knock some sense into him. Who knows, it might actually work. Though, he’ll be really ugly by the time you are done, so don’t hit him too hard!” Bunker turned around and gave her a mischievous grin. He banged his forehooves together with a hardy clop,

“Don’t wohrry, I’ll make sure to hit both sides of his striped head da same amount.” Gusty snorted and rolled her eyes at Bunker, who just laughed dumbly in return.

Luna felt Zeccaran shift uncomfortably next to her. She hazarded a glance at him to see him rubbing his jaw with both hooves, eyes locked in a pensive look at Bunker. Luna would admit: Zeccaran had been a nicer looking stallion than most, that was up until he had his face nearly broken. She would have to recommend magical reconstruction for him later, it was not fair that he had gotten hit so much.

Gusty began moving where she had heard the coniferous canine call. There was a large fern that was growing in the middle of the open field where they had camped. Gunther was tall enough to easily be seen standing or running in the tan grass of the meadow, meaning he had to be on the other side of the bush. Gusty trotted quickly over to the location and began to hear the soft voice of a filly.

Puzzled by the sound of a youth in this wilderness, Gusty dashed around the fern in a full gallop, hoping to catch her quarry by surprise. Pivoting hard, she used her wings to keep her balance on the muddy ground. She came upon an area of flattened grass and a floating Gunther surrounded by a pink telekinetic field. A shrill gasp echoed in the otherwise quiet field and Gunther was lifted up and away to reveal a small foal, eyes wide.

The youngster had a mangy cream-colored coat and a messy light-pink mane. She looked thin, underfed. Her eyes were a bright-lavender sparkling with shock at Gusty’s advent. The young filly took a few cautious steps back, looking about nervously, her mane swinging hard has she did. Eventually she settled on a defeated sigh and looked down at the ground.

A sharp gasp made Luna pause what she was watching. Zeccaran stared on at Amethyst his eyes burning like fire, his mouth drawn into an angry growl.

“ARGH!” Zeccaran bit at the air. “I knew it! I didn’t wanna believe it but it was her! I’ll never let that pesky foal borrow one of my books again!” he yelled. Luna jumped in surprise at his angry outburst. She tried to no look at him but found herself flipping her eyes between the ground and his red-with-anger as he heaved in haggard breaths. It was easily the angriest she had ever seen him He inhaled a deep breath just as harsh as his first and exhaled. His face returned to its normal black and white and he turned to look at her, his face betraying his discontent.

“Tell me, Princess...isn’t Amethyst enrolled in your sister’s school for Unicorns?” he questioned her. Surprised by the inquiry, Luna blinked at him in confusion before realizing she had the answer.

“Of course. Why do ask?” she asked back. Zeccaran pursed his lips and rolled his tongue tentatively around his mouth, bulging his cheeks.. “Who is her sponsor then? I know you can’t get enrolled, no matter how good you are without one. Not even with Amethyst’s level of skill” Luna cast another suspicious glare at him. Sometimes she could see exactly why the Cult of the Night had chosen the stallion as their chief priest. He was thorough and deceptively insightful with his observations and questions. It was decidedly a good thing that she had helped turn him away from his dark past. Having an enemy like this zebra had proven fatal to many a good Nightwatch agent and soldier. Luna smiled, pleased that Zeccaran was now on the right side of the law and morality. He could play the Fool as much as he wanted and it would only bring to light the evils of the world this time, not hide them away.

“Hey. Are you gonna answer or….did I lose you there?” the zebra in question prodded into her thoughts. He was just short of sounding annoyed, masked by an air of concern. “My apologies. I was contemplating some of your more important qualities and judging whether or not I should tell you.” she recovered with a glance away from him. She made sure to smile just wide enough for him to see it behind her mane.

“Oh,” he balked, “I’m surprised you were taking so long to make a decision...but that doesn’t answer my question: who is Amethyst’s sponsor?” he persisted just as carefully skirting her comment. Luna reminded herself that if her wayward zebra friend had history with you, he had a tendency to push his limits when he would otherwise be reserved. She gave him his answer:

“Amethyst’s sponsor is, big surprise, Stormwalker.” she told him. Zeccaran squinted his eyes to the point where they were not really open in response. He pulled his neck back and rubbed his ears before continuing. “You’re serious aren’t you? Like he actually is her sponsor isn’t he? Don’t answer-it’s rhetorical. I’m just...feeling a bit stupefied by that fact.”

Luna giggled at him. His reaction was only natural, all things considered. Equestria’s resident demon went out of his way to not appear as soft as he was in front of his friends and peers. Considering that that group of ponies totalled no more than five and everypony else knew rather defeated the prideful facade he always used. He had not needed much to convince Gusty of his “malcontent” but she had figured Zeccaran had already seen through it.

“What are you going to tell me next, that he is her legal guardian?” Zeccaran asked dramatically. He had either been coming to the conclusion that he actually understood Stormwalker, that or he was phenomenally good at guessing. Luna grimaced plainly as she looked at her zebra companion who went from smiling to an empty slack-jawed expression.

“Uh...good guess?” she smiled sheepishly at him. He responded by slamming his hooves up into his face and groaning. “Why did I ask? I...I should have just not worried about it. Had to be curious, didn’t I?” he chastised himself from behind his muffling hooves. He clearly wanted to know, but for what it was worth he was regretting what appeared to be small loss of sanity.

“Just...just let's get back to this memory, before you tell me that Gusty is the female half of that document.” he moped. Before she could stop herself she responded with a confirming, “Uhh…” Zeccaran looked up at her in his greatest dismay yet.

“No…..Luna. No. I don’t wanna know how he managed to get her to sign the paperwork, I don’t wanna even...just start the memory, please, and we will both pretend that isn’t something we talked about or know, okay?”

“Sounds good, because I don’t know either. The stallion is a miracle worker.” She responded shaking her head. “Now...where were we? Ah! Amethyst, for the first time, curious little foal, even more curious now-”

“Luna.”

“Sorry couldn’t help myself.” she rattled off as she giggled. She unpaused the memory and if flared to life. The filly that troubled Zeccaran so stood defiantly looking at Gusty. An air of confusion could be felt by the older pony as Amethyst spoke up.

“Ok, lady. You caught me.” the little mangy foal said. She turned her head up and looked Gusty straight in the eye with a determination as hard as steel. “But you don’t scare me!”

Gusty balked, her jaw falling open. In the next instant the small foal fired a series of magical bolts from her horn. They were each the classic red beam surrounded by blue electricity that denoted a stun bolt. Gusty mentally prepared herself for being knocked unconscious by a foal. The three bolts hit Gusty at nearly the same time, each administering a hardy jolt of prickling electricity. But, Gusty did not pass out. In fact, beyond their initial impact she felt perfectly normal. She opened her eyes perplexed by her otherwise normal state.

The filly stood gawking. She was blubbering, her mushy words making little sense. her eyes betraying her fear, slowly teared on their outermost edges. “No..no! That’s wrong! That always works!” She spat out hysterically. Gusty flashed her a dastardly smile. The mare noticed the young filly had yet to take notice of her race. Gusty also knew most folks in Equestria possessed a healthy reverence and sometimes fear for alicorns. So, she jumped on it.

“Do you really think...your magic...would affect an alicorn, little filly?” She mulled out slowly. The youth’s eyes widened and tears more readily flowed from her lavender eyes. Gusty did not actually want her to cry. Both fortunately and unfortunately she had a pretty big soft spot for children. Instinctively, she pulled the foal up in her magic and floated her to her hooves. Still, Gusty was not quite ready to drop her act of the mighty immortal being just yet.

“She really has a propensity for performance. It is a decided wonder that Gusty did not get her sorry flanks stunned into next week. Amethyst must have exceeded her limit of control while trying to balance her Dominate Mind spell and those stunbolts.” Luna commented.

“The mere fact that she almost managed it should be plenty disturbing. Not that Gusty thinks things through; she typically just glides by on the skin of her teeth. In this case it just happened to work out for her. There will be a really great example of what happens when things don’t go her way about twelve more hours into this memory.” Zeccaran surmised.

“True enough, for now we shall watch this out. Let me know if anything stands out to you.” she nodded in agreement with his description. Luna let the memory continue as Gusty spoke to Amethyst.

“Worry not, small one. I will forgive you if you tell me your name, and who taught you to hurl stun bolts at strangers.” She said to the foal. The filly quivered in a mixture of surprise and shock. She did not form clear words in the least. Gusty guessed that she was likely around eight years of age and the magic she was performing made her a prodigy. She waited for the foal to calm enough to say her piece. Gusty cradled her against her chest and stroked her mane as she lower her flanks to sit in the prairie grass.

“I’-I..My name is Amethyst. A-Amethyst Scar.” Amethyst stuttered out pitifully. “A-and. My mother taught me those spells.” Gusty raised an eyebrow in concern. The little filly’s mother had taught her child to attack when discovered and produce witchcraft vile enough to directly influence ponies’ sanity? Hardly a decision a responsible parent would make.

Gusty turned her attention back the whimpering Gunther who was still floating a short distance away. “Well, Amethyst. That aside I’m going to need that timberwolf back.” It was going to be the nice thing she did for Zeccaran this year, getting his dog back. Then she would tease her striped friend about it until he went insane from that instead.

“But...I thought he was wild...I’ve even named him! Woody! Woody is his name.” Amethyst said. Gunther chortled out a pitiful yelp. Gusty caught herself grinning and forced herself to stop. She had to look stern, even if Amethyst’s name was better. The little filly needed guidance not encouragement. Stealing and playing mean tricks on ponies were not positive behaviors. She put on her best authoritative and scolding adult face especially since Amethyst seemed to be recovering from Gusty being an alicorn. Then the questions started.

“Wait, are you a princess?” “No, I-”

“I thought only princesses were alicorns. Then what are you, surely at least a noble?”

“Child I’m not a nob-”

“Then what’s your name? Why are you out here all alone with a timberwolf as a pet? Who does that anyway? Who is that big dumb looking stallion? How about the zebra? My mama will wanna talk to him I thi-mm!”

Gusty covered Amethyst’s mouth with a hoof and lowered the filly to the ground.

She kept her hoof over the child’s mouth as she let go and took a deep breath to calm herself. She kept it there while speaking:

“My name is Gusty Twilight dear child. I am a follower of Origin, the god of Creation. I am upset that you are alone here in the wilderness and wish to help you, but your many questions are making that difficult. So know that I am nothing more than a friend that wants to help you..and get my dog back.”

“I have a question this time.” Luna interrupted the dreamscape. She turned to look at Zeccaran directly, “Who exactly is Origin? Gusty references this...individual quite often in her memories. I feel like they are of inordinate importance to properly understanding what is wrong with Gusty.”

Zeccaran hummed and cast a scrutinizing look towards the nothingness. “While I’m not particularly that well read, “ he paused, “I do know that Gusty describes Origin as the mother of all alicorns...that she is supposed to guard her children...all powerful, but subtle. I’m not sure she is even a real religion anymore. The only pony who ever talks about her is Gusty...It’s almost like she made it up but…” he trailed off brow furled in thought.

Luna let him think while she reviewed her own information internally. She was aware of the information he had described already, however she had nothing more than that either. Stormwalker had initially been surprised about the information but otherwise had been keeping his mouth shut as if he knew more than he was telling. Luna had thought this strange at first but with the stallion’s overall behavior change after Gusty’s appearance she had no way to measure his motivations anymore. This had been a major source of frustration for Luna.

She had personally witnessed the tragedies that Stormwalker had survived. She had watched him slowly degrade from the young chipper stallion she had met upon her return to a dark brooding figure that showed little genuine concern for anypony or anything. He had lost many friends over his lifetime and several lovers by murder or magic. Luna felt supremely jealous that just meeting Gusty had seemingly pulled him from the dark pit he had slipped into after the first time he had entered The Cave. She could not blame the stallion for his previous foul mood, for what had happened remained something truly unspeakable. However, that did nothing to help her understand what he saw in Gusty.

“Luna!” Zeccaran yelled causing her to jump. She had done it again.

“Sorry, sorry...I often get accused of spending too much time in this realm thinking…” she responded embarrassed. Luna often found herself easily distracted with the thought of Stormwalker, these days it was the worst it had ever been. A stray thought of the stallion could derail everything she was doing.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t really saying anything important...just some unlikely speculations on Gusty’s “Origin” it was more an open thought. Kinda glad you missed it. Probably sounded stupid.” Zeccaran consoled her.

“I doubt what you said was stupid, but before I get lost in thought again, let us return to the task at hoof.” she said to him. Zeccaran nodded approvingly as she kicked the memory off again. Before them Gusty and Amethyst unfroze and continued their conversation about Gunther, or Woody if one was Amethyst.

Gusty removed her hoof from the little filly’s finally silent mouth. Amethyst stood leaning to one side staring between Gusty and Gunther. She retained this thoughtful look for a short time before inspiration sparkled in her eyes as she let out a quick gasp.

“Oh oh oh!” she danced merrily bouncing between hooves. “Okay! You can have Woody back. But you have to come get him later tonight. I’m not done playing with him yet.”

Gusty raised an eyebrow in concern.

“My mama will want to meet you, too! So come to that big hill over there by the east side of the lake.” Amethyst pointed toward the thicker portion of the forest and a ridge of sharp hills. Gusty went to interject about how she was to find Amethyst but was interrupted by the filly.

“Just go right to the base of the hill, straight from here, there will be a big iron door there, with lots of cool carvings in the stone around it: I’ll be waiting there with Woody.” Amethyst finished merrily.

“How is this a fair deal to me after what you did to my zebra friend?” Gusty asked pointedly. She was not about to out bargained by a foal..

“Oh! Bring him too. And the magic should wear off soon...I think?” the filly shrugged with a grimace.

Gusty frowned at Amethyst’s foreboding words. Though there was not much the mare could do with the prodigy, at least not yet. Not until Gusty found out what type of parenting she was receiving for certain, she would not separate the foal from her mother. After giving her look of disapproval to the young Amethyst. Gusty begrudgingly accepted. The filly merrily skipped in the direction she had indicated humming and levitating the upset looking Gunther alongside her.

Gusty lazily returned to Bunker and the captive Zeccaran. She found that Zeccaran was unconscious finally and seemed to be more himself. The Zebra had evidently taken quite the number of punches before succumbing to the bludgeoning. His head in general was swollen and bruised. It appeared that he could not see from the swelling around his eyes and his mouth was stuck open from likely a broken jaw. Gusty resolved to patch him up later with her magic once he woke up and was not crazy.

The memory faded out as Luna adjust for the time change and the next area of significance came into view was the trio of ponies hiding in the bushes. They stood nearby the very same door Amethyst had described. Next to her Zeccaran shifted his hooves and leaned closer watching intently as the memory picked up this time with a definitively more zebra flair to it.

Zeccaran poked his nose cautiously out of the bush he was hiding in. This certainly looked like the place Gusty had described. Big, iron door, menacing aura about it and the various runes carved into the smooth stone face of the hill. It was the only area in this forest like it. It actually was only one of three sites in Equestria, but he felt like there was no proper way to explain his knowledge of that so kept it to himself. It had always been some sort of strange memory that returned only when stimulated. He was unsure how it worked but that’s how it had been for years now. Gusty already had begun to question his identity and Zeccaran was certain that she would kill him if he didn’t manage to tell her everything soon. It wasn’t too pressing of a matter though. Gusty was always overzealous. He was more concerned with his wayward dog.

He wondered where Gunther was, unsure if his brief bout of insanity had made up the location of his animal companion. Really, he felt that he might be dreaming and he was still unconscious somewhere by that lake, or dead. However, he did clearly remember that Gunther was to be somewhere right by the door. Zeccaran looked again but failed recognize anything that was Gunther-like. As such, he gave a short sharp whistle into the evening murk and was rewarded with a crisp bark and Gunther bounding out from behind a tree. Bursting from cover he ran towards his dog. Gunther pawed at him eagerly his front legs in the air from the collar that tied to the tree he had been hiding behind. He tackled his wooden companion and received many affectionate licks.

“Well we found Gunther.” Gusty said slowly approaching from where she had been hiding too. “Now all we have to do is find Amethyst.” Bunker strode up beside her as Zeccaran tried to look around past Gunther’s happy onslaught.

The forest they were in was filled with oaks and yews. Their tall branches just starting to show the signs of fall. This place was secluded. No path of trodden grass or the setting sun could be seen here. The trees, too, provided a natural sound barrier, as wind rushed through their leaves causing a cascading rustling to erupt around them. It was too nice a place, used to disguise the hideous darkness in that cave.

“I think it’s time we go in.” Gusty chimed. She drew her sword with her magic at the same time. Bunker pulled his axe off his back as well, leaving Zeccaran armed only with Gunther in his hooves. “Zebra-...err. Zeccaran” Gusty continued. “Let’s go.” Offended that Gusty somehow kept forgetting his name, Zeccaran protested.

“Seriously? How do you keep messing that up?” he glowered.

“I’m forgetful ok?” Gusty shifted her eyes nervously.

“I’ve known you for almost a year!”he exaggerated.

“Well, you don’t talk much.” as she rolled her eyes

“I talk all the time, you just don’t listen!” Zeccaran yelled back to no avail.

“Shut up and free your dog.” Gusty glowered as she walked off.

Zeccaran grunted in frustration and went to cut the rope binding Gunther to the tree he was by. Usually rope gave way quickly to his sickle but this rope was particularly stubborn. In fact, Zeccaran was certain he was not making any progress at all.

“Uhh, I think we have a problem.” He said before he began trying to bite the rope. He regretted this decision immediately. While flexible the rope was like biting into steel. Zeccaran hoped he did not harm his teeth and recovered as Gusty turned to ask questions.

“Not my smartest moment: biting into enchanted rope. Nope. Not a good move.” Zeccaran said next to her. Luna just smiled at him, a foolhardy but at least classic decision in the moment. The memory continued as Gusty trotted up, horn aglow.

“Why? Is it enchanted or something?” She promptly began trying to snap the rope with her telekinesis. Zeccaran watched as the rope retaliated with an electrical bolt. It zapped Gusty with a quick crackle causing her to lose control of her magic grip.

“Yep. Enchanted.” she winced, smoke rising from her horn. “Leave him. If Amethyst made that enchantment I’m not breaking it. We’ll have to find her first.” Zeccaran sighed defeated. Gusty was right, that little unicorn was a prodigy, she was probably the only one that could remove the magic. “Ok, I’m coming.”

The whole time, Bunker had been prying the old iron door open with Gusty’s crowbar. Zeccaran watched as he finished, the hinge bolts lay on the ground. With a mighty push and a gruff yell he forced the bolts of its lock apart. He opened the door easily afterwards, a smug grin on his face. Zeccaran went to enter the cave to destroy the illusion of peace the forest gave only to be halted by one of the brutes big hooves. “Wife goes first.” he said. It was perhaps his most gentlecolt-like gesture yet.

Gusty giggled in her “I’m-too-awkward-and-forward-for-chivalry” way and entered the door. Bunker trailed immediately behind, leaving Zeccaran to wave sadly at his trapped timberwolf and enter last.

The cave was dark but lit well enough to show the pony-made architecture. Zeccaran looked up at the intricate crossbars of the stout passage. They were carved out of the granite of the cave, curvy designs depicted the moon, a cat’s eye and stars. They appeared every two meters stretching seemingly forever. In some areas the crossbars had moss hanging from them, helping to emphasize the heavy humid air. The stench of mildew and decay assaulted Zeccaran’s nose, but somehow they were familiar. Too much had happened recently, and the memories of the past blurred together so badly that they threatened to overtake the zebra’s conscious body. The sole source of resistance he had was focusing completely on the task before him, and by doing so repressing those thoughts entirely.

He moved forward, faster than either Gusty or Bunker. He felt he knew the passages of these liars, and he would take his comrades to their heart and rip it out, he owed Gusty that much at least. As they moved down the hall, abruptly the lights around them winked out at once. Before he could stop himself, Zeccaran found himself hitting something hard. It made a bhwaahm! sound that only a magical force field could.

“Felt I knew! Ha! I used to literally be their boss. I am...disappointed I wasn’t able to remember on my own. Would have certainly helped out with the walking directly into a trap.” the zebra grumbled next to Luna. She rolled her eyes and smiled. Zeccaran was only to remember things when it was time, that was how it was to be. When she had granted him his pardon, the price was her control of his darker memories and his knowledge of them.

“Show yourselves!” Gusty boomed. She lit up the area with a light spell. It did little to stifle back the surrounding darkness. But it gave enough light to show that they were surrounded by a black barrier behind and in front of their position in the hallway.

An unknown stallion’s voice rang out, ripe with evil laughter. “Look who came crawling back! It’s the zebra!” “Give them the special treatment!” another echoed at nearly the same time. A third more sagely voice finished. “The Priestess will love having him unsullied for torture later. And that alicorn should prove quite useful for our purposes as well…”

“Cowards! Come out and fight!” Both Bunker and Gusty cried out in seeming unison. Zeccaran was going to say something to the same effect but suddenly found himself yawning. Bunker then fell right over. Zeccaran thought this only slightly strange at first but his mind kicked back on just long enough to yell a warning yawn to Gusty who seemed to be faring the best.

“Sleep gasszzz….” He stuttered as his legs went limp on their own. Gusty’s face showed with a slow recognition, she began channelling a spell. It quickly went out. Zeccaran felt the world go dark, his last thought as he watched Gusty collapse was a simple one: CRAP.

The memory ended again and Luna cast a glance back over to Zeccaran. He retained a brooding look as he rubbed his chin. He caught her eyes and motioned for her to continue to the next section. She hoped that they would come across something soon, or perhaps the events of The Cave would spur Zeccaran to a conclusion she had not reached. A sneaky grin perked up her mouth and caused her companion to issue a small grunt of inquiry.

“Now it's time for my favorite stallion. The fun is about to be doubled!” Luna decreed as they zipped through to Gusty’s mind. She just could not help herself.

Next Chapter: Act 1: Chapter 6 - The Cave and the Cultists Estimated time remaining: 23 Hours, 20 Minutes