Zeccaran watched as Gusty flew off faster than his eyes could track. Beside him Chrysanthemum released a sigh. He turned from his position on Bunker’s back to look at her. She looked haggard and scared. Her previous beauty withered and broken by the dark events of the cave.

“We must reach the village before one of those monsters wins their fight.” She said to him.

Zeccaran nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, hopefully some guards or somepony will be able to get word to Canterlot.” He responded as he slid down from Bunker’s tall back.

He was finally feeling capable of walking now that the nausea had subsided. There was nothing quite like getting hacked open from navel to neck to induce sickness.

“But what about her?” Bunker interrupted Zeccaran’s thoughts. “Demon or not, Stormwalker said she is enemy of state. She will be taken if we go to guards.”

Zeccaran was impressed the Bunker had thought that far ahead, especially when he hadn’t planned that far himself. He was pretty smart for a barbarian that Bunker. Opening his mouth to say they needed a plan Zeccaran found himself cut off by Chrysanthemum.

“It doesn’t matter. We need the whole country of Equestria to know what is going on in that accursed cave. I fear that it will take more than the might of both solar sisters and all their armies to defeat the victor of the demons’ duel.” the priestess declared.

“Are you sure? I didn’t save you just so you could get executed!” Zeccaran felt his mouth protest before he could think about what he was saying. Chrysanthemum looked surprised, so did Bunker, Zeccaran continued the thought. “You’re still my friend, even if you are a bad influence.” He said placing a hoof on her withers

“Thank you. But my life is of little consequence compared to the totality of life on this planet. Especially after all that I’ve done... “ Chrysanthemum paused. Zeccaran could see pain and regret in her eyes, slowly it was replaced with determination. “But this is my chance to maybe actually do some good.”

Zeccaran wasn’t really sure he had heard her correctly. He waited for her to continue, she did so jokingly much to his relief.

“Besides, the Night Mistress would be most upset if the world was to be destroyed by those abominations.” She remarked with a sad smile on her face. “We should get going.”

The trio of ponies began walking away from the entrance to the Cave. Chrysanthemum and Zeccaran walked next to one another while Bunker brought up the rear. Zeccaran wasn’t completely sure where they were going. He remembered that there was a town nearby nestled by a small river off somewhere in these woods. It was the dead of night and the town was likely closed up and ponies were asleep. Unhappy and unfriendly ponies did seem better by contrast to getting eaten by a demon. Zeccaran wondered about the possibility of royal guards being stationed in the town.

Some decent time passed as they plodded along.

While walking Zeccaran tried to piece together why the Cave had had such a strange affect on him. He had remembered being there before. He had remembered the ritual of the Dark Pact. He had even completed it. But he didn’t even know what the Dark Pact was anymore. He only knew how to perform it. The Shade he had summoned, the magic he had felt course through his body before Stormwalker had knocked it out of him. He had used it before, he’d seen them all before, he had done this all before. But he couldn’t piece it together.

Why don’t I remember more than that? He tried to divine. How could it be that he, a druid, possessed these strange and malignant powers?

It certainly wasn’t who he was now, and he never wanted to go back to whatever past he had. Zeccaran knew going back would mean something terrible. The only path he had now was forward, away from the darkness. He knew such in his heart of hearts but why he knew he had no idea and had struggled to understand for years now.

A prickling on the back of his neck at the base of his mohawk reminded him of the other issue he now faced. He had become the Nightmare Shade’s physical conduit. He was the black monstrosity’s tie to this plane of existence. Zeccaran could actually understand what it was doing, how it felt, how it fought, the sensation belonged to a beast not of this world. He hoped it would go away soon. Even if that meant Stormwalker won the fight, he didn’t want to become a slave to the Shade. Over their connection the creature chuckled darkly with delight. It was winning the fight. He began walking faster trying to put more distance between himself and his unholy ward.

They continued trotting north for about an hour. The ever growing delight of the Shade intensifying as they went. Zeccaran looked over at Chrysanthemum. She noticed his gaze.

“What’s the name of this place we are heading to?” he asked trying to break up the silence and distract himself from the Shade at the same time.

“The town is called Hallow Shades. It's not a very big place, but it has a train station and a royal guard barracks. We will be able to immediately get word to Canterlot from there.” She responded.

“How much further is town? Sun is coming up.” Bunker interjected. He pointed at the faintest pink hues in the sky to the east.

Chrysanthemum looked off towards the north again. She turned back. “Probably hour or so at this pace. If it weren’t for these damn trees I’d say we run there but as it stands…” Zeccaran nodded in agreement, they couldn’t press their pace, the ground too uneven and filled with unpleasant roots.

He could see the thick trees huddled together tightly in the forest making the only path the beaten and twisted route they were on. Bunker grunted behind Zeccaran and they fell silent continuing on and leaving the zebra to listen to the Shade.

Their connection now strong enough that Zeccaran could actually hear what it heard, think what it was thinking. It was performing the most excellent manic laughter he had ever listened to. It had defeated Stormwalker, only needing to strike the final blow. Caught in the moment Zeccaran stopped walking too distracted by the Shade to help himself. The Shade spoke in that abyssal tongue he didn’t understand, but the message was clear through its thoughts. It told Stormwalker to die. The Shade lunged at Stormwalker only to suddenly be stopped. Zeccaran felt its cold inky tentacles embedded in something warm but there was something wrong.

The Shade just barely started to panic when pain rolled out from Zeccaran’s chest and encompassed his whole body. He vaguely started to scream before the shock of the torture intensified enough to knock him from his hooves. He blacked out. He could still hear the screaming. Shrill tremors that threatened to peel him from this realm and toss him into the Void alongside them. It was the Shade. It wailed and wailed and pleaded and shrieked. Then all was silent.

Zeccaran woke to Bunker shaking him. He wasn’t sure what had happened. He felt odd, like a great weight had been lifted off his body.

“Zeccaran. What was that?” Chrysanthemum asked. He opened his mouth to answer only to gasp in revelation. The Shade no longer was communicating. The connection was empty, destroyed. It was dead.

“He killed it.” he whispered, finally. Chrysanthemum’s eyes widened in terror.

“But how...” she murmured.

“I-I-I don’t know...the Shade had him beat then something happened...maybe he took it with him to the Void.” Zeccaran tried to make sense of what he had seen and experienced.

“It doesn’t matter. We need to move as fast as we can. Come on!” the mare said.

Chrysanthemum pulled him up from the ground. She began practically jumping to level pieces of ground between the gnarled roots of the forest. Bunker quickly followed suit, his size not impeding him in the least. Zeccaran did his best to catch up but only barely kept pace. They continued at this heightened pace for some time. The zebra found himself getting dizzy from exhaustion.

He bumped into Bunker who had abruptly stopped.

“Hey, what did” Zeccaran paused to breathe, “What did we stop for?”

Chrysanthemum gave him a “shhh” and motioned he come up closer to her. Zeccaran kept trying to calm down his heart rate, he wasn’t used to running for such a long period of time. He wouldn’t ever admit it but he was out-of-shape, tired, and frustrated with today’s events.

The constant fighting was wearing his nerves thin. Discovering an eldritch horror and personally summoning another one also broke upon his mind like waves against soft rocks. Anger was beginning to well up in his chest and even though he knew that if they were spotted by any of the Equestrian Military his day would only get worse it was the only thing they could do. Finally, catching his breath enough to look up from the ground Zeccaran stretched over Bunker’s shoulders to see what was on the other side of the fern the group hid behind.

A patrol of Royal Guards trotted slowly along a dirt path. It was the first road Zeccaran has seen in a month, no doubt it led into town. Eventually, the guards made it past their hiding spot walking away from town. Zeccaran wondered where they were going at such a leisurely pace and felt paranoid that they were only moving away from the village of Hallow Shades so they could turn around and trap Chrysanthemum. Royal Guards,especially the Inquisition Units, like the ponies that had come with Stormwalker, were hardly stupid. The thought made his already pulsing head hurt.

He was still trying to wrap his head around the whole Shade business and the strange influx of new knowledge...and memories? Honestly, he wasn’t sure what was reality and dream anymore. He had been cut in two less than an hour ago He didn’t know how he had known this place or even how he knew Chrysanthemum. But he knew. Zeccaran could actually feel that what he thought was real, he knew the mare in question and he knew the cult. He just wished he knew why, the how was seeming more and more frivolous by comparison.

“Let’s go.” Chrysanthemum whispered. She took the lead and passed around the shrubbery.

Zeccaran nodded and followed his once-friend. They jumped out onto the road and began a full gallop, no longer hindered by the trees. His chest and legs had begun burning sometime ago and now as they neared the blurry outline of buildings in the early morning gloom.

They were almost there, there were no guards, nothing stopping them from finding help. A smile started to appear on Zeccaran’s face. He felt an immense sense of relief. Ahead of him Chrysanthemum slowed down and loosed a deep sigh. Bunker made a short laugh next to him. Something was finally going right today. The sun slowly was breaking the horizon through a gap in the trees on the other end of the road past the town.

“Hold it right there!” shouted a stallion’s voice heavy with a Canterlot-accent.

A pair of Guards shot from around the nearest house and snapped both a horn limiter and pair of forehoof cuffs on Chrysanthemum. They moved with careful precision and it was over before Zeccaran could even open his mouth to protest. Chrysanthemum let out a short shriek of surprise in an almost comically-late fashion before one of the Guards shot her with a point-blank stunbolt and hoisted her onto his back.

“Hey! Wait! W-we have an important information that the Princesses need to know!” Zeccaran proclaimed finding his voice.

The Royal Guards looked at one another briefly before the smaller one turned and addressed him with a disbelieving look.

“Seriously! She has important information on what just happened, a key witness.” Zeccaran started. “And what about due process? You didn’t even read her rights or-”

“I’m gonna have to stop you right there.” Smaller Guard cut Zeccaran off.

“She’s a twice escaped multi-murder convict. She lost her rights a long time ago, guy.” he growled.[

“The only reason we didn’t use more force is because the Colonel specifically gave us orders to make sure she was completely unharmed.” Bigger Guard said pulling closer to his counterpart.

“The Colonel?” Bunker blurted out.

“None of your business, either of you. And if you have some form of complaint to make you should go to Canterlot and visit open court. I’m sure the Princesses would love to hear all about whatever it is that you are sooo concerned about.” Smalls condescended.

“You aren’t even going to listen to me?!” Zeccaran countered desperately.

The two Guards shook their head and started walking away, Chrysanthemum limply hanging from the bigger one’s back.

“No reason to listen to two blokes who were colluding with an international criminal.” Bigger grumbled his voice fading.

“Should...should I hit them with axe?” Bunker turned to Zeccaran and asked as soon as the guards were out of earshot.

“Arrgghh!….No! As much as I would like you to, getting arrested for attacking Royal Guards helps nopony.” Zeccaran gritted his teeth. He spit on the ground in anger.

“What now den? Find wife?” the barbarian conjectured.

“Yeah...let’s search the town, I guess. Stupid Equestrian justice system.’ Zeccaran grumbled.

The unlikely pair of stallions fell silent as they began to see who was awake at sunrise in the tiny town of Hallow Shades. There were very few buildings in the dusty village though all had grey stone walls and red-painted tin roofs. A town meeting hall, one rather large inn which was swarming with Royal Guards, and about twenty homes were all that occupied the three streets of the town. There was a rundown and underused looking train station as well but nopony was even staffing the ticket booth.

Zeccaran and Bunker continued wandering around the town for about an hour. They began yawning by the time the sun was further up in the sky and the journey around the town grow more sluggish with each passing minute.

Zeccaran caught a fragrance of early morning pastries being baked. He quietly began trotting towards the scent. Bunker behind him mumbled something incoherent about sweet rolls and the need for several. They followed the smell for a time passing back through the town a coming to a hexagon-shaped building they had missed earlier.

It was a bakery. Slightly larger than few homes of Hallow Shades the confectionary shop sat near a broad, bubbling brook. Zeccaran could almost see the pony-lifting aroma as he strode towards the front door. He drew in an extra deep breath before opening the squeaky door to reveal a quaint little shop. The walls were a cheery sky-blue and the floor was tiled with a checkerboard of off-white and dusty pink. A large display case hid dozens of donuts and small cakes on various shelves behind glass. Nearby was a countertop and a cash register. Three tables arranged with four chairs each were the only other things in the room.

“Hello?” Zeccaran asked the empty room, wondering if the closed door that was behind the counter hid ponies.

“Da. Is anypony der?” Bunker said much louder as he shut the door behind them.

A sudden clattering and clanging of metal rang out dully for behind the door. The door sprang open and a lime-green pegasus mare with a blonde mane rushed out of the obvious kitchen. She gave a quick scream before catching her breath.

“H-hello! oh...uh...ummm.” She stammered.

“One big rusty red fellow, and a zebra...You must be Miss Gusty’s friends!” she proclaimed with a huge smile.

Both Zeccaran and Bunker loosed a “duhhhhhh” as she continued.

“Here! Have some of our fresh bakes on the house!” she said as she opened up the back of the display and pulled a whole tray out.

The young mare quickly dashed around the counter and placed the tray on the table nearest Zeccaran and his friend. She looked earnestly at them motioning for them to sit and eat. The two both grabbed similar looking muffins and began eating. The entire the nameless mare st a smiled pleasantly seemingly happy beyond reason. Zeccaran had to ask.

“Uh..mmm!” he swallowed his current bite first. “How do you know Gusty anyway?

The mare drew in a deep breath, “You wouldn’t beeeelieve it!” she gushed.

“In the middle of the night my husband and I heard this crazy noise up on the roof and then all the sudden a big teal alicorn smashed right through our bedroom window!” the mare was practically yelling in her excitement.

“At first we were scared until she bumbled right out of our room down the stairs and ate all of our day-olds from yesterday.” She continued.

“And she said, I’ll never forget: ‘These are the best pastries I have ever eaten! I want to buy your shop!’” The mare did a rather excellent rendition of Gusty’s authoritative voice.

The pegasus cleared her throat, “Then she reach into her bag, pulled out a sack of coins, and not just any coins, mind you, real gold bullion! After my husband counted it all up it turned out she offered us about seven times more than both what the shop is worth and all the money we have ever made here! So we sold out….and and and and! You wouldn’t believe, she said we should stay here and comfortably run the bakery just like we always wanted to so long as from this point forward she gets only ten-percent, ten-percent of the profit. That’s it! This has easily been the best day of my husband and I’s life!...and she mentioned her friends might come along so the least we could do was make you all a wonderful breakfast to show our thanks!” she finished with an positively radiant smile on her face.

Zeccaran subconsciously felt the last half of the muffin he had been eating fall out of his jaw. He just sat there unable to respond. He picked back up the last half of his food and shoved it promptly back in his mouth and stared at the plate as he chewed. Bunker did something similar but Zeccaran barely noticed.

He had known Gusty to have some sort of non-equestrian gold, but had no idea she had the amount the mare had referenced. Better yet Zeccaran wasn’t quite sure why Gusty bought the place. Their food stuffs were good certainly but he just didn’t get it.

“So, she just showed up at like...I don’t know, 1 to 2 in the morning broke in, ate some of your food, and offered to buy your home…and. You. Let. Her……” he more stated than asked.

“Yep!” the mare chirped as she did a spin one hoof with her wings. She was as happy as a clam.

A curious set off loud hoof-falls could be heard moving from above them towards the far wall. Zeccaran realized he had missed a set of stairs and down them came Gusty Twilight. Most of her mane was wadded up near her neck and she trounced down the stairs in a zombie-like state. She was without her bags and other equipment and only wore her skirt and the undershirt for her mail.

“Coffee...” she mumbled, taking no notice of Zeccaran or Bunker or even her host.

Zeccaran didn’t bother to say anything to her and just watched as she then practically kicked open the kitchen door and strode through ungracefully. She quickly returned with a huge mug of coffee in her magic. Remaining transfixed on some other realm Gusty sauntered over to the table where they sat and pulled out a chair to join them.

Zeccaran stared on in mild horror as the teal alicorn drained the big mug of still steaming coffee in a single go then picked up two danishes and shoved them in her mouth. It took maybe a few seconds for her to chew them up and finish her breakfast. She was a wind-up clock, as soon as she finished, Gusty’s mane flushed out into its usual position, her eyes brightened up, and a her usual mischievous grin appeared.

“Good Morning, Zeccaran, Bunker. Glad you made it!” she sing-songed.

Zeccaran facehoofed.

“How are you in a good mood?” he asked prodding a slice pie he had been eyeing.

“Well...I guess I decided to change up how I do things and it relieved some stress.” she said thoughtfully.

Every time Gusty had “thoughtful moment alone” Zeccaran got a little more scared. Against all odds they had turned out OK this time, but it hadn’t been because of Gusty. Whether or not she had saved him earlier, the reason they weren’t still fighting for their lives now was because Stormwalker had somehow managed to kill the Shade. He really didn’t know how to address the situation, he decided to start with Gusty’s most recent sentence.

“It...relieved some stress, really? That’s it?” he questioned incredulously. It didn’t help that he was tired from running and not having slept and being cut open like a melon.

“Yes. I have decided I to change my attitude to better suit Equestria and more effectively help ponies.” Gusty replied regaly.

“Okay. Great. Just great!” Zeccaran complained.

“Vhat is vrong, tssebra?” Bunker raised an eyebrow at him mouth full of cake.

Zeccaran turned to look Bunker in the eye. He received a look of confusion. He returned his gaze Gusty only to garnish the same result from her. He opened his mouth to try and explain his frustration but only made grunting noises instead. It wasn’t that his two friends wouldn’t understand him or why he was upset it was just that Gusty wouldn’t care and whatever Gusty wanted Bunker went along with. He absolved instead to just hit his head on the table a few times before sitting back up and jumping to a different topic as she was curiously missing.

“What about Amethyst? How am I supposed to get Gunther back? Aaaand they took Chrysanthemum so what do we do about that?” he scowled at Gusty.

Gusty’s face pinched into a quick scrunch. “Oh.” she said.

Zeccaran rolled his eyes.

“Well good news, is...since I decided to change things up I focused all morning on remembering some ancient clerical spells in order to fix Amethyst’s horn. To make it whole so to speak.” she summarized.

“I actually got it re-attached just before I came downstairs. It really sucked using all that magic but, with practice it won’t be too bad. So, we just go snag Gunther later today after you guys presumably take a nap?” Gusty shrugged.

Zeccaran forcefully exhaled from his nostrils.

“You fixed her horn….on your own….What even are you?” he chastised, his anger growing.

“She’s a Celestia-given gift is what she is, and as interesting as this story is, I’m not sure I want to know more of it so I’m going into the kitchen to help my husband ready for breakfast rush!” their lime host declared.

With a sharp about-face the mare pranced away to the kitchen door humming merrily, content to ignore what Zeccaran could not. He jealously leered at her good fortune and rubbed his eyes trying to refocus his mind. Gusty was right, he needed some sleep. However, there were matters that had to be attended.

“Ok. Fine. What about Chrysanthemum?” he asked again.

“Do what with Cultist Mare? She is criminal of realm.” Bunker interjected.

“Well, it’s not fair, she should have a chance to be redeemed. I mean she really changed after getting away, and it wasn’t fake I’m sure of it.” He argued.

“Zeccaran, for her it is far too late for regret.” Gusty started. “Her punishment will be measured out as she deserves it regardless of her newfound remorse. Face it. She was evil and she’ll get what’s coming to her regardless of what you think or any evidence we can give the Royal Guard.”

“Ok. Fine. But wanna know the kicker to her being gone?” Zeccaran spat through gritted teeth, trying to ignore Gusty’s callous nature.

Gusty raised an eyebrow with almost arrogant aloofness.

“You know that Shade I summoned? Yeah. Stormwalker killed it.” he remarked with a hoof wave.

Gusty’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Zeccaran was glad that she was grasping the volume of trouble they had stirred up. He knew for certain Stormwalker hadn’t been lying about working directly for the Princesses. If he had somehow survived, within the week their little group would be branded criminals of the highest order. He hoped Gusty realized that this was a very real and imminent threat to them.

Suddenly Gusty’s eyes narrowed and she stood up from the table. Taking a quick step up to him Gusty put her face against his own her teeth barred. Zeccaran had no idea why she was doing this, or what she hoped to accomplish. A crazy over-powered mare she may be but Gusty was nothing compared to the previous night’s events. The realization made Zeccaran feel particularly numb when she started grilling him with questions.

“How do you know the Shade is dead? How do you know Stormwalker? And, most importantly, how did you know those Cultists and how to complete their ritual?” She growled at him.

He paused. He only really knew the answer to the first question. Everything else seemingly kept jumping out of the dark recesses of his mind at random and inconvenient intervals. Zeccaran decided he really did not have the brainpower to properly answer her question. His mouth was dry from drinking the coffee and even with the caffeine in his system he was starting to fall asleep. He just slowly put his hooves over his face as he responded.

“I lack the adequate words to answer your question right now Gusty.” His voice extra nasally behind his hooves.

“What do you mean, you don’t have the right words? Gusty was practically snarling. “What are you hiding from me!?”

“I’m not hiding anything, I’m literally too tired to explain. Now if you'll excuse me.” He said standing up.

Zeccaran walked towards the stairs as Gusty kept hurling questions at him. He really couldn’t hear her anymore, he barely even had his eyes open. Everything was slowly grinding to a halt for him and it felt like it took several minutes to reach the stairs. Zeccaran took his fateful first step up the nicely carpeted ascension to hear the extremely fast thumping of small hooves.

Amethyst was suddenly standing at the top of the stairs, the most enormous grin on her face. She released a long high-pitched squeal of joy before shooting down the stairs.

“My hoooorn’s baack!” she sang out.

Zeccaran had made two more steps up when Amethyst intercepted him. She didn’t bump into him terribly hard but it was enough in his tired state. Being knocked off balance and having a lethargic reaction time, Zeccaran found no ground beneath his hooves. He fell down the few stairs he had climbed and landed in a heap on the ground. He hit his flanks and his head and decided that there was no reason not to be “knocked out” and closed his eyes. He heard Gusty mumble something but he he was quickly asleep and free from his aching mind and body.

Gusty scooped up Amethyst as the filly danced about the dining room. She looked back at the now snoring Zeccaran. She grunted in frustration. Amethyst, meanwhile was continuing to sing-song the praises of her returned horn and was busy lifting random tables and chairs into the air and spinning them enthusiastically. Gusty got Amethysts attention long enough to shoot a quick scolding at her.

“Hey settle down a little, I don’t want to ruin these ponies' home, silly!” she said to the foal.

“Oh! Okay. Could you put me down then?” Amethyst asked. Gusty obliged.

“There’s some cake I see that I want!” the little pony chirped.

Amethyst rushed over to table where Bunker still wearily sat and hopped up onto a chair. The foal shoved her whole face into the remaining the cake. Gusty snickered at the tiny unicorn and walked over to the table to busy herself plying Bunker with questions. Besides asking Zeccaran anything and getting an answer was like pulling teeth.

“Alright, hot shot,” she started. “Did you overhear anything important Zeccaran and...what’s her name..Chrysanthemum? Said to each other?’ She asked.

“No.” he stated.

Gusty stomped a hoof and gritted her teeth in anger. She looked away from Bunker upset that the Cultist Mare had bother to keep her mouth shut.

“Only thing of importance dey talk about was warning Princesses. Then Royal Guard take her away and ignore Zebra’s attempts to tell them: ‘Is bad idea.’” Bunker continued.

She looked up at him hoping there was more.

“Cultist Mare did not talk at all elsewise. But, why not ask little cake-covered filly? She likes you, no? Was Cultist child, no?” Bunker conjectured groggily.

Gusty took pause. She hadn’t bothered to ask Amethyst about Zeccaran and his past. Considering that the little filly had mentioned several times that she and her mother knew him Gusty felt foolish for overlooking the detail.

However, she didn’t want to pressure Amethyst into anything. She had just went out of her way to prove she held the moral high ground the night before and wasn’t about to give that up. Perhaps if she distracted Amethyst with a task today while Bunker and Zeccaran rested she could get an answer out of her.

An idea occurred to Gusty that would both speed up their trip to Canterlot and help Amethyst trust her more.

“Hey, Bunker, honey?” she said to her stallion.

“Da!” said Bunker with a jerk of his down leaning head.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get a nap in. I’m going to take Amethyst to get Zeccaran’s dog.” she said.

Bunker yawned and nodded simultaneously before gradually getting up and starting to leave.

“We are gonna go get Woody!?” Amethyst suddenly squeaked excitedly.

“Yes, but not with your face turned pink from the icing!” she replied.

Gusty grabbed an unlucky napkin from under the serving tray with her magic and began cleaning the filly’s face. She took the opportunity to ignore the fact that Amethyst had been rather intently listening to her conversation. Again, Gusty had forgotten an important detail; Amethyst was exceedingly intelligent, not even for just a foal.

When she finished cleaning her ward Gusty picked up the filly with her magic and plopped her on her back. She grabbed the last bit of cake that sat on the table and stuffed it in her mouth. Just as she was making her way to the door a clatter came from behind her.

“Leaving already?! You are always welcome here Miss! Please do come back!” cried her hostess.

“Don’t worry I’m just going to run some errands.” Gusty consoled the young mare.

She nodded enthusiastically at Gusty. “Okay the breakfast crowd will be starting soon anyway, see you later!” she waved from the counter.

Gusty paused briefly as she watched the pegasus fill up the display with steaming baked goods. She noticed Bunker staring at the sleeping Zeccaran on the ground.

“Drag that striped fool upstairs with you would you, sweetie?” she asked him.

Bunker grunted and grabbed Zeccaran’s tail and began dragging him up the stairs. Gusty smiled glad that her companions were quickly out of sight and wouldn’t bother the shop’s business.

She left the shop with Amethyst in tow. They walked around the town for a short time, Amethyst merrily humming from her back. Gusty stopped to grab a bag of apples from the local market stall before taking flight over the small village with the intent of returning to the entrance of the Cave.

“Awesome!” Amethyst gasped as they got up high above the trees.

“Hold on tight, kiddo!” Gusty said turning her head enough to see the filly brightly smiling.

Gusty executed a hard dive making her zip towards the trees. Amethyst squealed in a mixture of shock and joy. Gusty pulled a tight loop into a barrel roll making the little filly’s voice become even shriller and more excited. She made a few more hard banks to the left and right and listened to the child raspy screams of surprise. Gusty found herself laughing at her young ward’s screams.

“Had enough?” she yelled over her shoulder as she leveled out from an spinning dive.

“Never! This is amazing! No pony has ever taken me flying before!” Amethyst’s smile could be readily heard in her reply.

Gusty wasted no time putting on speed and performing all manner of tricks and flips as she made her way towards where they had left Gunther. Amethyst screamed with delight the whole way, panting in between dives and clinging to Gusty’s neck tightly as they traveled by the extra low clouds.

Gusty released the breath she had been holding for what seemed like a whole day now. She was pleasantly free from the feeling of terror she had been experiencing the night before. The relief lifted her wings higher and made Amethyst seem happier than she already was, it made Gusty feel quite good about herself. The night of demons was over but it would seem that there was still more to do before she could believe Equestria and its myriad of innocent ponies were safe from the monsters of the Cave. First, though she needed to talk to Amethyst about her mother and try to see if the little filly would like Gusty herself to care for her.

Her wings were hurting from all the extra exercise by the time the small clearing where the iron door into the Cave came into view. Gusty slowed down by pitching her wings flat against the air and was forced down quickly to the ground. She flapped as she came hurtling to the ground causing a hover just as her hooves started to touch the ground, landing with grace.

Amethyst hopped off of her back and darted towards the tree where Gunther still lay dejectedly. The poor timberwolf yipped in shock at the sight of the filly while Gusty got distracted by the empty portal into darkness. There was a trail of blood leading from the door. The trail looked like it had been left by something being dragged from the depths of the Cave. The occasional deeply smeared and scorched hoofprints in the dirt suggested that the marking belonged to Stormwalker. What was left of him evidently determined to crawl away from the battle. There was a copious amount of blood on the trail leading off into a deeper part of the woods. The fluid was the deepest of reds nearly black and gathered in great pools with enough volume to make Gusty wonder if he had drug his ruined body off into the forest to die. She hoped as much.

Amethyst giggling and Gunther barking made her turn her head towards pair. The filly noticed her gaze and looked away to the ground as if she was embarrassed. Gunther held a stick in his mouth and otherwise looked happy to be free of the magic rope he had be tethered with. Amethyst snapped her head up and practically jumped over to Gusty in one leap.

“M-miss Gusty, how did you fix my horn?” she asked her voice rapt with anticipation.

Gusty was taken aback for a moment but managed stifle her gasp. She was more than happy to tell Amethyst, she just hadn’t been expecting her to flat ask the question.

“I used a very old spell, child. It’s not pony magic.” she answered.

The spell was a very ancient clerical spell. It could literally make severed limbs or broken bones mend in an instant. Gusty had never used it to repair a horn before, in fact she hadn’t used the spell in what felt like centuries. Since the spell could “make things whole” it was all that she could think to do with the injury. Gusty had been elated that it had proven to be so successful. She had always been awesome anyway, right?

“Can you teach me how to do stuff like that?” Amethyst chirped merrily, “I always wanted to learn magic that is more fun or can help me or other ponies...but…” she started to mumble gloomily.

Gusty felt a surge of happiness spring forth from her heart. It made her throat and face burn but it made her feel exceedingly vindicated. She had known Amethyst was worth the trouble. She picked up the foal in her hooves determined to make her her own apprentice, maybe even a daughter.

“Of course!” Gusty gushed. “I’ll certainly try. It’s not magic meant for just anypony but I bet you will be able to learn how to do it!”

She swung the filly around in her hooves causing Amethyst to giggle. Gusty flopped to the ground dramatically and let her ward land on her chest, who continued to giggle merrily. Gunther even came over and plopped his face on Gusty’s stomach making for a rather awkward, but genuine moment. For a while they grew quiet and looked at the blue sky selecting clouds and comparing them to animals.

“Where’s my mother, what’s going to happen to her?” Amethyst blurted out quickly.

Gusty was unable to stop herself from drawing in a loud breath. She had not been expecting Amethyst to start the conversation first. If she was being honest the older mare was glad the foal was smart and concerned enough to start the talk. She had no idea how she was supposed to inform Amethyst that her mother was currently be carted off to some dungeon or worse. Still, even now under the best of circumstances she was hesitant to answer the filly.

“I know she wasn’t a very good pony. And...she made me do things I didn’t want to a lot but she still took care of me...she was still my mom…” Amethyst continued her voice sad.

Gusty found her gumption hearing Amethyst be remorseful of her twisted mother’s loss. She pushed up Amethyst's face gently with her free hoof and looked into her eyes. The filly was crying her lips pushed out in a cute little pout.

“Little gem, I must tell you.” Gusty started her voice shakier than she wanted it to be, “Chrysanthemum did many terrible things besides last night, things you probably don’t remember and shouldn’t try to either.”

Amethyst scrunched up her nose and sniffled dismally.

“The Royal Guard took her away as she came into town this morning with Zeccaran and Bunker. They said the soldiers were taking her away to be imprisoned again. And it pains me to say this: She won’t be escaping again, they likely will execute her.” Gusty finished.

Amethyst just looked away. Her face pinched in pain. Gusty stroked her mane as a few tears fell from the filly’s eyes. She rattled out a rough sigh and lowered her head to Gusty’s chest her usual happy glow faded.

“Now what am I supposed to do? Even if they don’t kill her, mother will never be released. Where do I go? What will I do?” the little filly groaned.

She surprisingly wasn’t crying but instead had the air of someone experiencing an existential crisis. Gusty found it profoundly disturbing that somepony as young as Amethyst was capable of being such a pessimistic adult. She resorted to hugging Amethyst as the filly pouted and grumbled dolefully. She tried to wait to let Amethyst calm down some but Gusty refused to let any child suffer if she could remedy it, especially for this one who she had started become exceedingly attached to.

“Amethyst?” she stroked the foal’s mane again, “I could always take care of you.” Gusty said kindly.

Amethyst sniffled again and looked up at her, her eyes sparkling with surprise.

“You would?!” she breathed at Gusty. “After everything I was really surprised you wanted to even teach me magic!”

“With a watchful eye even the most rebellious little fillies can do lots of good.” Gusty replied booping Amethyst on the nose.

“Hey quit it!” the youth jumped up onto her full diminutive height on Gusty’s chest, her face extra scrunchy.

Gusty laughed and sprang up from the ground forcing Amethyst to catch herself. She ruffled the foal’s mane after Amethyst continued to make a cute little annoyed face at her.

“Come on little gem let’s walk back to give Zeccaran and my future husband time to sleep.” Gusty chided.

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

“Why wouldn't you fly?” she complained.]

“Do you know how old I am?” Gusty smugly retorted.

“No. Do your old wings hurt?” Amethyst squinted.

“Well they do hurt.”

“So do my hooves though!”

Gusty blew a raspberry at her young companion who blew one equally spitty back at her. They laughed at each other.

Gunther started following them merrily barking and running around them in wide circles as they entered the forest. Amethyst broke from her side and jumped on the back of the dog with surprising agility. Gunther didn’t object beyond a short bark and slow of pace in his running.

“I’ll just ride Woody then.” she smiled triumphantly.

Gusty grinned at her new daughter and continued to plod along, glad things had went as well as they had. It certainly was a giant leap of success compared to the last couple of days. It would take them about an hour to get back to the village of Hallow Shades. Gusty gave in and flew them after while, Gunther yowling in terror the whole way as Amethyst held him in her magic through the trip in the sky.

Something hot and slimey was licking Zeccaran’s face. He slapped it away, much more content to sleep. The licking returned immediately this time more insistent. He opened his eyes and drew in the smell of timberwolf breath connected to a familiar face. The zebra wasn’t sure what to do upon seeing his canine companion and simply sat there getting licked for a bit. He eventually got up and gave his dog a hug before stretching and getting out of the bed he found himself in. He had fallen asleep at the bottom of the stairs and evidently had been transported here.

He started to walk towards the door when it burst open. Gusty stood glaring, filling the space.

“Good! You are already up. We need to get moving!” she proclaimed with a wry smile.

“To where?” he asked still groggy.

“Canterlot.” she decreed sagely.

“Thought you’d never ask.” He responded dryly.

Zeccaran pursed his lips wondering what extensive line of thought Gusty had taken to come to the conclusion he had the night before. He followed her down the stairs to find the confectionary shop relatively empty. Beyond Bunker drinking coffee and the two ponies that owned the place, the only other face was an elderly stallion who was reading a newspaper.

“It’s time to go, he’s awake!” Gusty practically yelled to the room.

Amethyst appeared with a hissnap!

“Does that mean I won hide and seek?” she asked.

Gusty gave her a nod. Zeccaran stretched again, feeling like he hadn’t gotten enough sleep while his companions gathered their things. Gusty put on her mail while Bunker refastened his armor straps. Having his bag already attached he sat idly noticing that his male host, a blue colored unicorn fellow was attempting to creep towards him along the wall, a large paper bag in his levitation. Gunther was busy licking his legs and sniffing the stallion over, who in turn just kept saying: “nice doggy, good doggy” on repeat.

Zeccarn whistled at his companion.

“Gunther! Leave him alone!” he demanded.

Gunther turned around to cock his head to a side like only a dog could.

“Come here.” Zeccaran again demanded pointing next to himself.

Gunther obliged and the stallion visibly relaxed. He floated over the paper bag to Zeccaran. He could smell it was filled with something deliciously baked.

“Something for the road.” the fellow’s tenor voice rattled off.

“Thanks!” Zeccaran replied.

“I will never know how that thing is your pet.” he shuddered, shuffling back to his too-busy-to-be-scared wife.

Zeccaran gave a short laugh and shook his head. He stowed the bag of treats in his satchel before stalking over to Gusty and company with Gunther. They were finally ready to get moving, all their bags and equipment strapped to themselves. They started heading to the door Amethyst getting telekinetically lifted onto Bunker’s back by Gusty. They made it out the door and down the stairs of the porch and out in the road before the thumping of hooves caused their party to stop.

The young mare burst from the door. “Gusty Twilight! Do come back and visit would you?” She yelled, “You really changed my husband and I’s life, you are welcome any time!” she was all smiles.

“As soon as I can, I will, I promise!” Gusty shouted back.

“Good bye!” she waved.

The group waved back as her husband appearing, waving too.

Zeccaran realized he hadn’t gotten her or her husband’s name. He shrugged, they were nice ponies, it was better he didn’t know their names in case they were somehow implicated in helping his group. He looked around the town as they walked wondering why that the Royal Guard hadn’t come for them yet. At this point they were could easily be considered arrested for an obstruction of justice charge.

In fact the town seemed to be devoid of military activity. Earlier that morning they had been almost everywhere now only the few townsponies strode the streets, making the town seem even smaller than it was. He was confused. Why would the authorities let them go? He couldn’t think of a real reason so he let it go and kept moving with his friends.

They came to a sign alongside the road on the outskirts of town. It had a few different pointing plaques. The pointing north along a very underused path said: To “Equal City” 79mi. The one directing ponies to the west stated: To Canterlot 188mi. Zeccaran grimaced wondering why they weren’t taking a train.

“I know numbers. Is place we are going the bigger one? Why not take magic steam wagon?” Bunker asked before him.

“Spies travel on trains.” Gusty replied boldly “And spies help badness like Stormwalker and his minions. We walk.” she concluded.

Bunker nodded. Zeccaran was left to wonder why Gusty was so paranoid. Then again he wasn’t one to criticize her for being neurotic when it came to avoiding trouble. That had basically been his modus operandi before he had met her. It left him simply agreeing to trot the long distance in as much haste as possible.

“Besides about one-hundred of those miles are walking around and then up the mountain to the city. We aren’t doing that. We’ll fly up once we reach the eastern face of the spire.” Gusty said as they had begun moving.

“You are the only one that can how is that gonna work?” he asked her.

“Can’t you shapeshift, ‘Mr. One-with-Nature?’ Like turn into a Great Eagle or maybe some other flying thing that should work.” she smirked smartly mocking him.

“Oh. Yeah...sorta forgot.” he grimaced in shame.

Gusty just laughed at him.

Thus, they began their journey. It was early afternoon perhaps two o’clock and they briskly trotted for hours uninterrupted by a passer by or otherwise. They stopped and took a break for about forty minutes eating the goods the bakers had given them and enjoying some water. When they picked back up to move again the sun’s disk was still just above the horizon, visible through the slowly lessening trees.

The Canterlot Spire had come into view some time ago, probably about an hour after they had left Hallow Shades. Now though the mountain was much more prominent in the horizon. As they had started moving Gusty had broke into a light gallop in an evident race with Amethyst. The two kept that pace the rest of the evening as the sun set and the moon’s not-quite-full face shown itself lowly above the trees behind them.

He hadn’t gotten much sleep and by the time Gusty and Amethyst gave out Zeccaran had been running on fumes. He flopped down the ground a wheezing mess. Bunker did something similar.

“Why do females always run so fast?” he grumbled next to him.

Zeccaran could hear Gusty and Amethyst giggling a distance in front of them.

“Well we made it, we really hauled but we made it!” Gusty was yelling between breaths.

He looked up to see a rock face a short distance away, illuminated by the bright light of the moon. They really had made it to the base of the mountain. He was ready to sleep now so he could be well-rested for the morning’s very upcoming and unfortunate flight up.

“Hey, you guys,” Gusty said as she walked closer, “Amethyst and I are going to scavenge around for some kindling and extra firewood. Here’s the last of my starter logs.”

Gusty plopped down one of her bags to the ground and a dozen or so medium to small logs rolled out. Zeccaran and Bunker just gaped at the wood. Neither were aware Gusty had run that distance with that much lumber and were both impressed and shocked.

The mare quickly trotted away towards Amethyst who was making her little horn into a flashlight. Zeccaran pulled himself over to the wood and slowly took the logs and made them into a pointed cone. Bunker righted himself after a while too and they sat their in silence but otherwise breathing heavily. Gunther came plodding up while they waited, he panted heavily as he laid down having just caught up with their group. Zeccaran petted his friend’s head, the poor timberwolf was not nearly as fast as a pony and he was proud the dog had managed to keep pace so well.

A series of chicken clucks could be heard suddenly. Bunker turned his head toward the sound while Zeccaran only directed his eyes there. The bush from where the noises emanated moved back and forth violently. Out popped the heads of six chickens. Zeccaran pulled up his lips in disbelief, there was no reason someone’s yard poultry had made it so far into the wilderness.

The chickens all released a violent hiss like a snake before crawling from the shrubbery revealing their bodies. Each were covered in scales with four stubby clawed limbs that looked to be wilting. Zeccaran knew what they were immediately, even before their eyes began to glow bright red.

“Cockatrices! Don’t look them in the eye! In fact close your eyes!” he cried, pulling his sickle from his bag.

The fiend creatures moved to surround them as Zeccaran mostly closed his eyes and looked to the ground. He was not in the mood to be turned to stone after surviving all the other ridiculous things he had been forced to endure in the last twenty-four hours.

“How do I hit them if I cannot see them?!” Bunker yelled in panic.

Zeccaran had no idea. He had a bad plan in mind but it was his only plan so he blurted it out.

“I’m going to run around and try to get their attention just swing your axe down when I tell you!” he screamed back.

He started running towards the damned bird-lizards as soon as he finished. He planned to entice them and run past Bunker while they chased. Since neither of them could really look at the birds without getting turned to a rock it was their best chance. Fortunately, the cockatrices took his bait.

They took it too well in fact. As they began chasing him leaving Bunker alone they nipped at his back hooves. Cockatrices bites couldn’t case much damage, but they hurt. It was like having somepony light the affected area of flesh on fire from the inside. Zeccaran made his first run by Bunker, grunting in pain.

“Now!” he yelled just as he passed the big stallion and his axe.

“Yeearrgh!” Bunker screamed, followed by the sound of the axe hitting bone. “Did I get one!?” He yelled, his eyes still closed.

Zeccaran turned hard around the unlit campfire and looked as he ran. Bunker and completely smashed one creature into bits.

“Yes! Let’s go again!” he bellowed triumphantly.

He started his second pass the cockatrices close behind. Zeccaran sprinted as hard as he could past Bunker again.

“Again!” he declared.

Another cockatrice could be heard splitting as he passed. His legs re-erupted in fire. The four remaining and snapped onto one of his legs. He started screaming in terror and pain desperately bucking his leg before falling to the ground. He dared to look at the beasts long enough to see that his leg was now bleeding profusely from the sheer number of bites and tearing motions the cockatrices where making. He kicked at them with his other leg to no avail.

“Zebra where are you, how do help!??!” Bunker yelled as he swung his axe at nothing.

Crackling, ppttdeww!’s of stunbolts passed his just over Zeccaran’s head. He looked towards where they had come from to find Gusty and Amethyst standing with horns still smoking. The cockatrices attacking his leg fell limply to the ground their faces locked in something similar to ironic horror. In the next instant Gusty’s old sword floated over in her golden magic and stabbed each one of the horrid beasts though the chest in quick succession.

He laid flabbergasted but glad the monsters were dead his lungs heaving from running and trauma. Gusty walked up and looked him over and noticed his mangled leg. With a flash of her white light as she picked up the damaged limb, the pain he been experiences disappeared. It was such a stark change of sensations Zeccaran only managed an awestruck gasp.

“Filthy creatures.” Gusty said lifting the corpses away and tossing them into forest.

“Bunker you can open your eyes now, and stop swinging your axe around like a lunatic” she drolled out.

“Oh!” Bunker said stopping.

Zeccaran just didn’t know what to do. He managed to stand and see nothing but darkness. He heard sticks being dumped to the ground and the sound of flint and steel clicking. In a moment a fire started to glow behind the silhouette of Gusty and he could see.

“Hey Bunker, “ she said. “Take first watch ok? Wake me up before you fall asleep for the night.”

Bunker nodded and sat down silently staring angrily at the bushes as if he expected more cockatrices to appear. Zeccaran plodded up to find a very asleep Gunther.

“You only ever manage to get in trouble when i’m not around, huh?” Gusty said to him as she unrolled her sleeping bag.

“Yeah I guess so.” he responded laying down next to his dog.

“Well goodnight then.” Gusty unceremoniously said as she flopped down pulling a tired looking Amethyst in the roll with her.

Zeccaran just laid where he was and ponder how he had gotten tangled up with this mess. He decided that it wasn’t worth his time and fell asleep with his head propped against Gunther’s belly.

Official Edit: 10-15-2017