"And I say onto you, spread the word of your Goddess and bring all Ponies into the glory that is her service. The great darkness shall create a world free of want, free of hatred, and free of strife for we will all be one in sisterhood. This is the future Nightmare Moon promises, but it is not one that we can wait for, we must make this future for ourselves. We will spread the joy and glory of Nightmare Moon across this land, and unite this bleak and torn Equestria under our leadership."

I was sitting in the main room of the Temple along with the other mares in my wing listening to High Priestess Dark Midnight speaking. She leaned on her lectern and smiled as she looked out at the collected Alicorns, continuing to speak, her voice carrying weight with it.

"We must not let Equestria suffer," she said as her horn and eyes began to glow with energy. "Equestria is in grave danger as long as it does not welcome us. We are the future, we are what will make sure this great nation survives, and it will only do so under our leadership. So what are we going to do? Are we going to let Equestria destroy itself once more?"

"No!" The gathered ponies said in unison, I joined in, my voice becoming part of the multitude as I did.

"No we will not, we must not, we will fulfill the promise of our Goddess, and carry out her will!" Dark Midnight said as magical energy swirled around the room. Images of Alicorns in flight with the sharp image of Nightmare Moon watching over us all. "Equestria is ours for the taking, and it will begin in the South! When we are strong, the NCR, the Enclave, Applejack's Rangers, and even the relic of the old world Nomad City will fall before our might! Join me my sisters, and we will build this world as one!"

The roar of the crowd drowned out any further words from the Priestess. She smiled as she looked out at the crowd, the Priestess' sermons had always gone over well. The magic continued to swirl around above, showing Unicorns, Earth Ponies, and Pegasi running as they were pursued by Alicorns until they all were overtaken and soon grew wings and horns as they too became Alicorns.

I had been part of the Nightmare Society for as long as I could remember, I was one of the Priestess' most important followers. I was going to serve the goddess for as long as I lived, and I knew that soon enough the High Priestess would have an important job for me and my wing.

"We may be small, but our Goddess has told me that there will soon be a way to grow. Our Society needs to grow in more than just new converts, we must create the next generation for ourselves. There may yet be a way, and we will find it, soon there will be no need for stallions, as we will have only our sisters. Go, enjoy your evenings, I will call upon some of you in time for this our glorious mission."

I took a deep breath and got to my hooves as I looked at the other three Alicorns in my wing and smiled a little as we walked together towards our quarters in the temple. I chuckled a little as two of the Alicorns, Tawny and Red Rider, walked side by side, sneaking occasional nuzzles and kisses.

"Those two huh?" The fourth member of the wing, a light blue Alicorn with a long red mane and tail named Windswept asked as she chuckled a little. "You'd think they'd at least wait until they got to our quarters before they started being affectionate with one another."

"Why's that?" I asked as I looked over at Windswept. "Its not like relationships are against the rules or anything, and we'd see it just as much if it was at our quarters."

"Yeah, I know, but it doesn't exactly make me feel better about it," Windswept said with a shake of her head. "I don't know about you Firelight, but I wouldn't mind having a special somepony, you know?"

"Yeah, I kinda get what you mean," I said with a shake of my head. "But its kind of weird to be with somepony that you're working so closely with, you know? I, just wonder sometimes if maybe there really is somepony out there for me."

"Well, you never know," Windswept said with a shrug. "I think you should think about it at least. There are plenty of sisters out there who I'm sure would love to have you as a special somepony."

I smiled a little and brushed my hair back a little as I tried not to blush. I had to admit, I really was a bit jealous of Tawny and Red Rider. It wasn't that there hadn't been ponies interested in me, but I hadn't ever really felt anything for any of them unfortunately.

I sighed a little and shook my head, there wasn't a lot of point in dwelling on it right now so I opened up the door to our quarters and we headed inside. I looked out the window of the towering temple at the ruined city around it and shook my head a little.

We had a long way to go before we were truly ready to bring peace to all of Equestria, but we were well on our way already. I looked back at my wing and smiled lightly as I got on my cot and laid down, taking out a book I had found discarded one day in the Temple and opened it up to the page I had been reading the night before.

Sometimes I wondered what life might be like outside of the Temple, but the Priestess always said that it was a horrible place where ponies starved and constantly fought each other. That was why we had to bring them into the fold after all, we were going to bring peace to Equestria once and for all.

Right?

00000

The next day we were called before the Goddess in her Private Chambers. I had only been in the the elaborate office at the top of the temple a few times over the course of my life and it was actually kind of nice to be in here again, but at the same time it meant we had a mission to fulfill.

"Firelight, pay attention," Dark Midnight said and I nodded and snapped to attention as she looked us over. "You four are among the finest Alicorns the Society has ever seen. Which is why I have brought you here for a mission of great importance to our cause."

"We are at your command High Priestess," I said and gave her a nod. "Just give the word and my Wing is ready to do whatever you want."

"You are to escort my daughter Starshine into the jungle," Dark Midnight continued as she paced back and forth looking at each of us in turn. "Your mission is to bring her to the coordinates on the map that you will be provided with. This is only a recon mission for the moment, but this is the first step in preserving the Society for the future of Equestria."

"High Priestess, if I may ask, what are we looking for?" Tawny asked, the light brown Alicorn flinched a little when she drew the eye of the high Priestess but she just nodded.

"You're looking for a Stable," she said after a moment and looked between all four of us. "We managed to find information on a Stable here in South Equestria built in the jungle that may have what we're looking for."

What we were looking for meaning a means to have foals without a stallion. The High Priestess had never given up on looking for it, while there was reports of other Alicorns, non-Society ones at that, being able to use a potion to change their genders, shes seemed to have no interest in it.

I never understood why, looking back there was obviously a reason but I wasn't really sure what it was at the time. There were no stallions in the Society, as was said, we were all sisters.

"Is everything clear?" Bright Midnight asked as she looked each of us over one by one.

"Yes High Priestess," I said with a nod and the others in my Wing nodded as well. "By your command, we will make sure that we finish this duty you have given us."

"Excellent," Dark Midnight said and gave us all a smile. "Nightmare Moon is smiling down on us indeed for she has given us a great gift and skilled Alicorns willing to carry out her will. You will all have your places by her side in the afterlife for this."

We nodded and smiled as we saluted back. Dark Midnight called one of her acolytes and they came in with the teenage daughter of the High Priestess in tow. "Starshine, these are the Alicorns that will be your escort to Stable 27."

"Its an honor to serve," I said and bowed my head to the younger Alicorn as the rest of my Wing did the same.

I got a strange feeling at the back of my mind when I saw Starshine, the same feeling I got every time I saw her actually. It was, almost as if I knew her somehow, like there was a bond between us that I didn't quite understand.

But there was no time to dwell on that right now, we were soldiers in the army of the Goddess and she was the daughter of our leader. We heard and obeyed her orders as if she was the High Priestess herself.

"As long as she is with you, her word is mine," Dark Midnight said with a nod as she looked us over one by one. "To defy her is to defy me, there will be no forgiveness for she who does not obey the will of the Goddess or her Prophet on Equus."

"We hear and obey," we said in unison and Starshine smiled a little as she looked up at me, she was small for an Alicorn but she was still young, and she would grow.

"Come on then, lets get going," she said and we started out of the office and down the stairs towards the entrance to the Temple itself.

00000

As we exited the temple I looked back at the tower that stretched up to the sky above the ruins of the ancient city. We had called it home for as long as I could remember, it was one of several tall structures in the ruins, the High Priestess said that they were ruins of the old Equestria before the Zebras came and destroyed Nightmare Moon's perfect society.

Zebras, we hadn't ever really seen any Zebras in our travels around Equestria but we all knew they were still out there somewhere. If ponies had survived the war, then the Zebras must have as well, and they were likely preparing to go to war with us again and try and destroy us once and for all.

I shook my head, I didn't have time to dwell on such things. The Zebras weren't here and that was what really mattered, I didn't want to think about what might happen if they were here. They were dangerous, wicked, and not worthy of even consideration for being sisters.

It wasn't that there weren't a few reports of Zebras in the area, but the Society had hardly ever ran into them and I certainly hadn't seen any. Still, that wasn't part of our journey right now, we had to get to the Stable that the High Priestess had sent us to investigate.

"What do you think the High Priestess wants us to investigate in this Stable?" Red Rider asked as she walked up next to me. "I mean she sent a wing and her daughter, so its got to be something important."

"Yeah, I know," I said and shook my head a little. "I mean we have what she told us, but its not a lot to go on. I guess maybe there's something like a spell or potion or something that lets two mares have a foal?"

"That would actually be nice," Red Rider said as she looked back at Tawny and gave the light brown mare a smile. "Do you think the High Priestess will let us use it first?"

"Maybe..." I said as I thought about it for a moment. "I'm sure she'd be willing to lend a hoof to the couples that are already formed. At least, if that's what we're really after."

Starshine looked back at us and then ahead for a moment but she didn't say anything. She was the only one of us who actually knew what we were looking for and what was waiting for us in the Stable probably, I just hoped that she knew where we were going.

I looked out at the massive jungle ahead of us. There wasn't a lot of trails through it, honestly we didn't really know a lot about the jungle other than that it was big and had a lot of creatures in it, I sighed and looked at the rest of my wing as we fanned out, drawing the machetes that had been given to us by the armorer and started hacking our way into the jungle.

We needed to make sure that Starshine made it out of this okay, she was the first priority of our Wing, and we weren't going to let the High Priestess down.

00000

It was about two hours into our jungle trek when we ran into our first problem. It was a large jungle cat who's territory we had wandered into apparently, and it leapt out at me. I barely got a shield up in time as the massive cat growled and looked at us menacingly.

The big cat walked around our shield growling menacingly as it beared its fangs at us hungrily. I levitated my energy rifle out of its holster, preparing to fire on it as soon as we lowered the shield. a vic

"What is that thing?" Starshine asked as she shivered a little at the sight of the large cat that beared its teeth at us again.

"Sabretooth," Tawny said with a shake of her head. "They're very dangerous mutated animals that call this part of Equestria home. We walked into its territory and it's going to chase us as long as it can."

I gulped a little, that didn't sound pleasant but we had to figure something out and fast. The cat jumped at Red Rider's shield only to be pushed back after a moment.

"What's the plan?" Windswept asked as she looked between us.

"Keep backing away, if we're lucky he won't be able to stop us," I said as we backed away, maintaining our shields all the while.

I looked at the large cat for a long moment, getting a better look at him now. He was massive, bigger than any creature I had ever seen before it looked almost like it was the size of a pony. The Sabretooth from what I had heard about it was a vicious hunter that pursued its prey until one of them fell from exhaustion.

And now we were its prey, and it was too close for any of us to get a clear shot off on it. It wouldn't do much good anyway, this cat was not easy to take down and we all knew it.

Starshine started crying a little and I looked down at her and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry Starshine, we're going to get out of this," I said in a calming tone that made the younger Alicorn look up at me.

"You really think so?" She asked as she brushed the tears out of her eyes.

"I know so," I said, I just hoped that I was right. I had to think fast, the rest of the Wing was looking to me to come up with a plan and I had to come up with something fast.

Then something clicked in my brain, there was one thing I could do to get them to safety, but it was suicidal. I wasn't about to survive this, but I knew I had to do it in order to protect my wing, and the High Priestess' daughter.

"On three, drop your shields," I said.

"What?" The other Alicorns asked in unison.

"You heard me, we need to do this, its important that Starshine gets out of here, I'll get you to safety," I said as I looked back at the four of them. "You'll be okay, I promise."

"We'll come back for you, I promise," Windswept said with a soft smile.

"You'll have your place in the afterlife at Nightmare Moon's side for this Firelight," Starshine said as she gave me a reassuring smile.

"Thanks, that means a lot," I said with a nod. "One..."

My horn started to glow with a magical energy as I concentrated on the temple. Its massive tower, the strange symbol of the six pointed star that adorned its walls, I knew I would never see it again, but what mattered was that I got them out right now.

"Two..."

I closed my eyes as we prepared to drop the shield. I couldn't teleport them out and maintain the shield at the same time. Teleportation hadn't ever really been my strong suit, but I knew that I could at the very least get them out.

"THREE!"

As the shields dropped around me there was a flash of yellow light leaving just me and the Sabretooth that looked confused at me. I was exhausted from using that much magical power, but I managed to summon up enough to point my rifle at the cat and open fire just as the cat pounced on me.

And with a swipe of its massive claws I felt everything start to go dim. For a long moment I could've sworn I heard the sound of gunfire around me as I looked up, I could barely make out the figure of a purple pony looking down at me.

"What are we going to do with her?" A mare's voice asked as the figure turned its head away from me.

"She's an Alicorn, we should leave her for the monsters," a gravelly mare's voice said as I felt a strange tingling sensation, it was faint but I could feel it. "There's no point in saving one of them."

"No..." a third mare's voice said in an accent I couldn't place, but my vision faded to black before I could hear her say more.

00000

I don't know how long I was out for but when I started to regain consciousness I felt a headache that was bigger than the time that Windswept convinced me to try some of the Nightvine Wine that was brewed by the Society. I groaned as I held my head and looked up, I had no idea what the afterlife might look like, but a makeshift wooden ceiling was probably not it.

Where in Nightmare Moon's name was I? I tried to get up but only felt pain going through my legs and wings as I couldn't move. Whatever that Sabretooth had done to me it had really worked me over, and I wasn't about to get up easily.

Maybe I was back in the Temple's Clinic area, that was it, I hadn't ever really been in there but this could be it. They had come back for me and I was healing up there, the High Priestess would probably walk in any minute. I heard a door opening and heard hooves moving along the floor, that had to be her now.

"Well, look who's awake," a mare's voice said, it wasn't one I recognized, but still it sounded, familiar, but I couldn't place my hoof on it. I tried to look at her, but my vision was blurry, there was something about this mare that I didn't really recognize, it was like she radiated something from her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got mauled by a big cat," I said hoarsely. "Where am I?"

"You're in my clinic in the town of Nightingale," the mare said, my vision was slowly returning to me so she was more pronounced as having a white or light grey coat. "You're going to be just fine my Alicorn friend, you just need to take it easy for a few days."

"Umm, okay," I said as I shook my head and tried to clear my vision better so I could see the pony. "What's Nightingale?"

"You must be from the north," the mare continued as she picked up a clipboard or something in her hoof, that was strange I thought a Doctor would be a Unicorn at least. "Nightingale is the largest settlement in this part of Equestria. I must say, I've never had to treat an Alicorn before though."

That accent again, it was like nothing I had ever heard before. There were a few accents that I had heard while going after ponies from different settlements, but I had never heard this one before.

"I can barely see anything..." I said as I blinked.

"Don't worry, it will pass in a moment," the mare said. "For now, just stay where you are. You've been out for a few days already, I'm glad to see you alive. Lemon Lime has been coming by every so often to provide radiation to heal you as needed, its not easy to find radioactive materials after the day of Sunshine and Rainbows so we've had to rely on Ghouls."

My vision finally cleared and I got a good look at the mare that had been treating me. Or more specifically her backside since she seemed to be working on something, I blushed a little when I caught myself staring at it, and then I realized what had been bothering me ever since I woke up.

She was a grey-ish white mare with grey stripes lining her body and a tail that extended from a braid-like section into a long ponytail. This wasn't a pony at all, she was a Zebra.

"What the..." I said and for a moment I thought I was still seeing things as she turned and looked at me with a smile as she adjusted her glasses. "You're a Zebra?"

"Last time I checked, or did I forget to put my stripes on this morning?" The Zebra asked with a giggle as she looked at me through her glasses. "Nice to see your vision is returning miss..."

"Firelight," I said and looked at her in confusion. "I've never really met a Zebra before I have to admit."

"Its alright, we're not very common in this part of Equestria, my family goes back quite a few generations though," the Zebra said. "Oh, my apologies, my name is Neivi, I'm the local Doctor here in Nightingale."

"A Zebra Doctor, now I've seen everything," I said with a groan as I laid my head back.

"Don't be so surprised, each Zebra tribe has their skills that we play well to, I happen to be from the Mendi Tribe so I'm a healer," Neivi said with a chuckle. "I'm the only reason you're here frankly, the others would've rather put a bullet in your head because of how much trouble you Alicorns have given us."

"What are you talking about? We only go after settlements that..." I started to say and was cut off by the Zebra once more.

"That are doing nothing to harm you? That are just minding their own business and trying to survive the daily grind of living in this Wasteland?" Neivi said as I turned my head and looked back at her. "I don't know what you've been told, but we're not the bad guys or whatever here."

"The High Priestess said that you were suffering, that there was so much hunger and pain that it was better to convert you all," I said with a groan. "That the alternative would be death."

Neivi paused a little as she looked at her hooves and then brushed her mane back a little. "I'm not going to lie and say everything is easy out here," she said finally. "But the truth is that we're not like that at all, we're recovering, we're thriving even. I know its going to take a lot of getting used to, but, I want you to see the town we've built here and maybe hear more about what's been going on around Equestria."

I paused a moment and looked in the Zebra's purple eyes. There was a sincere tone to her voice, I didn't know if she was speaking the truth or not, but it still ran counter to everything I had ever been taught. Then again, she was a Zebra and she wasn't trying to kill me or anything right now.

"Alright, I'll see your world," I said and turned my head and looked back up at the ceiling. "You're different from all the stories I've heard about Zebras you know."

"Yeah, I get that a lot from ponies that don't know anything about Zebras beyond what the history books or wartime propaganda tell them," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "But I can promise you I mean you no harm, I'm just trying to live in this Wasteland too you know."

"So how does a Zebra Doctor get made the Doctor for a town anyway?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Oh you know, save a few ponies lives, especially when one is the mayor's daughter, and they look past things like your stripes," Neivi said with a smile. "Trust me Firelight, I'm not here to cause any trouble."

Somehow, I had a hard time believing that, but then again I hadn't ever met a Zebra for real. Maybe this was a big lie but she said that her family had been around here for years, besides she was the one keeping me here so it wasn't like I had much of a choice but to give her the benefit of a doubt.

I just hoped that whatever was going on, she was going to be able to shed light on it.

00000

"I don't like that we're keeping one of them here," a stallion's voice said as I shifted a little and started to wake up a little, the sound of Neivi talking with other ponies reaching my ears. "If she's part of the Nightmare Society, then she's a threat to everypony in this town."

"You knew that when you let me become the town Doctor that I wouldn't refuse care to anypony," Neivi's voice said. "Mayor Steel, ,you have to see reason on this. We cannot turn her back just because she's an Alicorn, if we can convince her..."

"Yes, yes, if you can convince her that she's been lied to her whole life, I've heard about what those monsters do to ponies," the stallion said, he sounded angry, and I was confused as to why. "We don't know who she is or who she used to be, we have to assume that she is a threat to Nightingale."

"Mayor Steel, I already agreed to put her in a Furred Salamander field," Neivi said as my ears twitched a little, what did she mean by that? "She's an Alicorn, we don't even know what the full effects of exposing her to a magic negation field might have on an Alicorn."

A magic negation field? I did feel weaker and when I tried to use my magic to do something simple it just fizzled out. I didn't even think that was possible, there had to be something in the room that was keeping it from being used, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it.

"Fine, if it starts too deteriorate her health then you can switch to the magic negation ring, but I don't want her walking free where she could harm innocent civilians," the mayor said and his voice turned colder for a moment. "You're walking a fine line here Neivi. I already have reservations about you despite my predecessor's assurances that you're not dangerous and wanting to help an Alicorn isn't helping matters."

"I am a Mendi healer Mayor, I do not hurt others normally and I don't leave anyone to die," Neivi said with an icy coldness. "I'm also the best Doctor in Nightingale, if you'd rather trust whatever yahoo you can find with a few healing potions and whatever chems they can scrounge up with the job, be my guest."

"Alright, alright, you win," Steel said as he sounded like he was about ready to give up. "Just keep that thing away from me, got it?"

"Fine, then just don't come back in my clinic," Neivi said and the mayor just grumbled as he trotted out of the clinic and the Zebra mare walked over to my bedside and I pretended to be asleep. "So, how much of that did you hear?"

"Most of it," I said with a sigh as I looked back at Neivi, the Zebra mare adjusted her glasses for a moment and shook her head. "The mayor doesn't trust you either huh?"

"He doesn't particularly like Zebras," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "My family has no love for the old Empire though, my ancestor lived in Equestria during the war, and according to family legend, was picked for some big mission. I, don't really know anything more than that, she was survived by her daughter who had come south with some other Mendi and we've called this area home for generations."

There was a pained tone in her voice when she mentioned her ancestor. I didn't want to press more about it, but I had to wonder about that a little. I gave her a small smile and a nod.

"So where are the other Zebras?" I asked curiously.

"Some live here in NIghtingale," Neivi said as she started checking me over. "Others live in other settlements around, the second biggest settlement in this area at Canterbury is primarily made up of Zebras actually."

"So, why live here if the mayor doesn't like you?" I asked as I looked at her curiously for a moment. I hadn't ever met a Zebra before and I wanted to know more about this one. She didn't seem as bad as the stories I had heard described, so I was more curious than anything else.

"Even jerks like him need medical treatment," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "Don't worry about it, you're going to be just fine as long as I'm here."

I looked at her for a long moment before I smiled lightly. She was nice enough, but right now I just needed to get out of this settlement and tell the others that I was still alive. Maybe they'd understand, I wasn't gone for that long right?

"So Doc, when can I get out of here?" I asked as I looked at her.

"The day after tomorrow, if you're lucky at least," Neivi said as she looked over at me. "There's still the matter of mending your wings, you're very lucky to have survived the fight with the Sabretooth. Very few ponies can claim to have come face to face with one and lived."

"Well, I'm special," I said with a groan as I flexed my wings a little testingly, they didn't hurt but they felt stiff. "What's going to happen to me after I'm released? Can I go back to the Temple?"

"If you want," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "But we're still trying to figure out exactly what to do with you in the Town Council. The Mayor isn't thrilled that we have you here as you've seen and would probably rather have you killed just because you're an Alicorn."

I sighed and leaned back, there was nothing I could really do about that. If there was a chance that the Society was attacking innocent settlements then I couldn't blame them for not trusting me. Maybe, if there was something I could do to prove that I wasn't so bad they'd be willing to at least hear the society out and there would be a reasonable explanation for all of it.

Right?

"Are you having any troubles? Are you feeling weak at all?" Neivi asked as she looked over at me while taking notes on her clipboard.

"Yeah, now that you mention it I'm feeling a bit weaker than usual," I said with a groan. "I feel like I can barely lift myself up, is that normal?"

"No, most of the physical damage has been healed other than your wings," Neivi said as she chewed lightly on her pencil's eraser. "I was afraid of this, its the field that you're being surrounded with. Normally you'd at least be able to walk around, but the Mayor wants to keep you confined."

I sighed and laid back again, I was a prisoner here, no real surprise, I knew that already but I wasn't about to take it lying down. Or at least as best I could, I just wished that I could get up and see more of Nightingale.

"I'll talk to him about switching you over to a ring instead," Neivi said as she walked over to me. "I need to check your leg bones to make sure that they're fully healed, okay?"

I nodded and flinched a little as I felt the Zebra Doctor working on my bones. She pulled back after a few minutes and gave me a nod. "Alright, you're all good, as soon as we get approval to use the ring I'll let you move around some more when you're ready," she said with a smile.

"Thanks," I said as the door to the clinic suddenly opened up and I heard a pony whistling a light tune as in walked the strangest looking pony I had ever seen.

I could easily recognize her as a Pegasus, but she was a dark purple with spotches of lighter purple on her face, chest, and flank. She was dressed in light armor with a hat pushed back on her head. She tipped her hat to Neivi before giving me a look.

"Howdy Doc, Ah wanted ta swing by and see if yah could look at me fer a moment," the Pegasus said as she gave the doctor a light smile.

"What is it this time Storm Wrangler? Did you get clawed by another jungle beast or something?" Neivi asked as she rolled her eyes a little and walked over to the Pegasus who actually had a pretty nasty looking cut across her flank now that I looked at her again.

"Nope, Thunderbird this time," Storm Wrangler said with a chuckle as she removed her hat which let her purple mane fall around her, I could see it tied into a ponytail with a bow at the end. "But yah should see what happened ta tha big buzzard, Ah'm tha toughest thing in tha skies and he learned it tha hard way."

"Your recklessness is going to get you killed one of these days Storm," Neivi said with a shake of her head as she took out healing potions and started working on healing the Pegasus' wounds.

"Not as long as Ah've got tha prettiest Zebra doc in tha jungle ta patch me up," Storm Wrangler said as she winked and Neivi just rolled her eyes as she applied the potion and bandaged the Pegasus up. "Yer no fun, yah know that Doc?"

"Its not my job to be fun its my job to make sure you and the other guardsmares don't get torn to shreds by the wildlife," Neivi said as she tightened the bandages a little.

"Oww, whatever happened ta that oath yah took?" Storm Wrangler said with a snort as she looked at Nevi again.

"I had my hooves crossed," Neivi said with a roll of her eyes. "You're going to be fine, just don't get into any more aerial dogfights with large birds or you might not be so lucky next time."

The southern accented Pegasus turned her head and looked at me again with narrowed eyes. She didn't look happy to see me as she picked her hat up again and put it on. "Ah'll see yah later Neivi, Ah'll let yah know if we need yah on another mission out in tha brush."

She turned and headed out without giving me or Neivi another look. I frowned a little and looked over at the Zebra who sighed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, not all of my colleagues share my interest in keeping anyone alive," Neivi said as she adjusted her glasses a little. "She was part of the team that found you in the jungle, I barely kept her from putting a bullet in your head right there, so you're lucky."

"Yeah, some luck..." I said with a groan. "I'm in a town that hates me and I don't even know how far I am away from the Temple. Can this possibly get any worse?"

"You really shouldn't say that," Neivi said. "I read somewhere that Discord put a curse on that phrase so every time its said something happens that makes things worse."

"Great," I said with a groan as I rolled over onto my side. "I'm just going to take a nap, wake me up if you feel like poking and prodding me some more."

"We Doctors live for that," Neivi said with a chuckle as she went back to her seat at a desk and got to work on something.

00000

I woke up sometime that night to a slight moan, I turned to see that see a light was still on. I rolled over and saw Neivi laying in a bed not far away from me and reading a book, looking at it through her bespectacled eyes. She looked up when she realized I was watching her and blushed as she shut it and pushed it under the covers.

"Oh, you're awake Firelight," she said with a slight blush as she looked at me. "I was just... umm..."

"Do I want to know what you were reading?" I asked as I looked at the Zebra mare with a chuckle.

"Just something from before the war, nothing special," she said as she tried not to look embarrassed. "I'm just trying to, uh, get to know pre-war Equestria better is all, you know? So I read as much as I can to see what the world was like before the war."

I blinked a little, I could tell she wasn't being entirely truthful, though really there was something strangely cute about the Zebra mare being so flustered. I shook my head and gave her a smile.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," I said with a chuckle as I leaned back again. "One of my roommates likes to sneak peaks at old Playpony magazines sometimes so its not like I haven't had to deal with it before."

Neivi just chuckled lightly as she rolled over on her side and looked at me. "Firelight, I, wanted to know more about you, you know? Your life and stuff back with the group you're with, what's it like?"

"Well, I mean there's not a lot to tell, we have our almost nightly services with the High Priestess, but other than that and carrying out our missions we've got a lot of freedom around the Temple," I said with a sigh as I looked at the ceiling. "My Wing is probably worried about me if they even think I'm alive. I teleported them away right before the Sabretooth attacked me, so..."

"So, you don't know what happened to them?" Neivi asked and I nodded softly. "I understand, I'd be worried about my family too if I was separated from them like that."

"Do you have a family?" I asked as I looked over at her.

"Yes, I'm the youngest daughter of a prominent family from Canterbury actually," Neivi said with a light chuckle. "My parents thought I was crazy to spend time here in Nightingale given some of the opinions ponies have about Zebras, but I've won them over. I, sometimes miss them though, its not easy to get here from Canterbury because of the Jungle."

"Yeah... I can imagine," I said with a sigh as I looked over at the Zebra mare. "I don't even know my family, I've always just had the Society. They're my family, they're the ones that raised me and gave me a place to live. They're my sisters, but I don't really remember where I came from, you know?"

"I see," Neivi said with a shrug. "I wish I could help you, but honestly that kind of thing isn't my area of expertise. I'm just a medical doctor, I don't really know anything about memories or whatever. Maybe if you stay here awhile longer I can see what I can do about getting one of the specialists from Canterbury to come by?"

"Maybe," I said with a shake of my head. "Honestly, I just want to get back home right now. If I don't, I don't know what's going to happen to me. I don't really know where else I could go, the Temple is my home after all."

"You, could always stay here," Neivi suggested and I looked at her in surprise.

"You said that a lot of ponies here would hate me," I said. "Because of what the Society has done to the other settlements, was that a lie?"

"No, no, there is definitely a lot of animosity towards Alicorns here," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "It all started with the attack on Pearl 6 years ago, but that's not important right now. What's important is that you get better and we can get you in a position where you can make a decision for yourself. Were you ever given a choice as to whether or not you wanted to join the society?"

"Well, yeah, of course, I'm sure I was," I said though I wasn't so sure now that I said it out loud. "I had to be right? You don't just join those kind of places without being given a choice..."

Neivi sighed and shook her head for a moment before she looked back at the ceiling. "The Zebras believe that Nightmare Moon is a servant of the Stars, I honestly don't know what to believe since I know that Luna herself wasn't so bad. But, you, you worship Nightmare Moon as a Goddess right?"

"That's right," I said with a small nod.

"That's a problem, a big problem," she said with a shake of her head. "Lets ignore the fact that a lot of ponies believe its a lot of superstition, I know a Starkatteri, the stars are a real threat to Equestria. Worshiping them is dangerous on its own, and you're worshiping an actual embodiment of their power? I honestly think you're asking for trouble no matter how you look at it."

I blinked, I hadn't thought about that. But now I was starting to see what the High Priestess meant, if the Zebras believed that Nightmare Moon was dangerous and a threat to Equestria, then they would be opposed to us. I didn't know what to think about that, and maybe that was the real problem here.

I sighed and looked at Neivi for a long moment. The Zebra seemed sincere in her words, but I honestly had no idea what to think right now. Still, at least she didn't seem to want to hurt me, maybe I could get out of here with my flank intact still, I hoped so at least.

"So, what's up with Storm Wrangler, she have a thing for you or something?" I asked with a chuckle as a blush crept over the Zebra's face.

"Well, you see..." Neivi said with a shake of her head. "Me and Storm Wrangler have an, interesting relationship. She's not really my type though, too wild, you saw what she came in with earlier. We call that a good day around here when she's involved."

"I see," I said with a shake of my head.

"So what about you, do you have a special somepony back home at your Temple?" Neivi asked. "A beautiful Alicorn like you, you probably have all the stallions there fawning over you."

"We, don't have any stallions," I said with a shake of my head. "But I've had a few mares interested in me, I just haven't really been interested in any of them. I know it sounds kind of silly, I guess I just never really found the right one."

"No, that's fine," Neivi said and yawned a little as she stretched out. "I'm going to get some sleep, good night Firelight."

"Good night Neivi," I said and smiled a little as I laid back and closed my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

00000

"I still don't like this," a grey Unicorn stallion with a black mane commented as Neivi slipped a ring over my horn. Mayor Steel had finally been convinced to let me at least look around Nightingale as long as I had a magic negation ring on my horn. "How do I know she won't try and escape?"

"Because she knows that tha guards will just shoot her out of tha sky," Storm Wrangler commented with a chuckle as she pushed her hat back a little. "Don't yah?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about me, I'm not going to escape," I said with a shake of my head as I got to my wobbly legs as my hooves rested on the wood floor.

"She's going to need to stay another day or two to make sure that there aren't any lasting effects from the magic negation field," Neivi said as she helped steady me and she shot Mayor Steel a look. "She's not to be given any trouble, she's under my care, do you understand Mayor?"

"Yeah, yeah," Steel said as he waved his hoof and shot me another look. "You better keep your word, the last thing we need is trouble in my town."

"I will," I said as I returned the look with one of my own. "I don't want to cause any trouble, I just want to get back home."
Steel just snorted a little as he headed out of the clinic. Neivi shook her head and looked at Storm Wrangler who just adjusted her hat a little.

"Look, Ah ain't gonna cause any trouble," the Pegasus said with a shrug. "Ah'm just here ta represent tha Guard. Ah may not trust an Alicorn, but Ah ain't about ta cause trouble fer ya'll as long as yah don't cause trouble fer me or tha town."

"Good," Neivi said and looked at me. "Would you like a tour of Nightingale Firelight?"

"That would be nice," I said with a smile and a nod as we headed out of the clinic and out into the last thing I had ever expected to see in Equestria.

Nightingale wasn't just a settlement it was one that was built up in the trees itself. We were towards the top of a fairly large tree that looked out over the jungle for miles. There were other buildings with sturdy looking bridges running to them throughout the treetops and I could make out a wall a good distance away that marked the edge of the town.

"You, built this town in the trees?" I asked as I looked at Neivi surprised.

"Yeah, we sure did," Neivi said with a chuckle. "The worst of the monsters live on the ground, save for the Thunderbirds but we've got eyes in the skies for them. This whole place is a fortress in the trees, nothing to worry about."

I honestly had no idea what to make of this, I hadn't ever seen or heard of anything like this. I could see some buildings down on the ground along with planting areas and other things, but most of it was up here.

"Why build this high?" I asked as I looked at the two ponies native to this strange, seemingly impossible town.

"Well the story goes that Nightingale was founded back when the jungles were still completely overgrown," Neivi said with a shrug.

"Yeah, tha ponies here needed ta find a way ta survive, so while they fought against tha jungle below, they started buildin' up high," Storm Wrangler said. "Tha whole place was a masterful feet of engineerin' thanks in part ta tha Propoli Tribe and good old fashioned Earth Pony ingenuity. But still, it ain't perfect, sometimes tha jungle still seeps in and fights back."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked as I looked at the Pegasus confused for a moment. "How can the jungle fight back? Its just plants, right?"

"Well, that's kind of part of it, there's also the animals as well," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "But, something happened to the jungle down here on the Last Day, something nopony can really explain. Its like, it was affected by the radiation and it became alive. Well, more alive than usual I mean, plants are still alive, but they don't normally act like... sorry, I'm rambling, I'll stop."

I chuckled a little, the Zebra was getting flustered at herself and it was strangely kind of cute. I shook my head and nodded at them both. "Its okay Neivi, I was just wondering is all," I said with a shake of my head. "This is amazing, its, not like anything I expected the outside world to be like."

"Yeah, I'd say we've done pretty well for ourselves," Neivi said with a light smile. "Doesn't hurt that we haven't had a lot of trouble from groups like the Society around here."

Actually now that she mentioned it, I hadn't heard of Nightingale before here. I thought maybe it was because we were too far into the jungle's interior to be considered a target, but they had said that nearby settlements had been targetted, that was weird.

"Well, at least as far as we know," Storm Wrangler said with a shake of her head. "Tha truth is that there are occasionally ponies who vanish from town. Mostly tha elderly and sick ponies, and tha guard can't figure out how it's bein' done."

Neivi paused a moment and looked away from us with a sigh as she adjusted her glasses and brushed her mane back after a moment and looked back at me. "Its true, a few ponies here and there have vanished, but only ponies and never Ghouls. The Zebras and Griffons here in town are completely untouched, its the strangest thing."

That was strange, I honestly couldn't explain it either but maybe it was something worth looking into. These Ponies, sorry, Ponies and Zebra had helped me out when I was in danger, it was the least I could do before I headed back to the temple.

Besides, I was actually curious about learning more about this settlement and its allies. If I brought this back to the Temple maybe I could prove to the High Priestess that we didn't have to keep taking ponies by force like we had been doing. They didn't seem to be suffering or anything, so if I could prove to her that it wasn't necessary we could do this a lot more civily.

"So, what group did yah say yah were with?" Storm Wrangler asked as she looked up at me curiously, her black hat perched on her head as she looked at me curiously.

"The Nightmare Society," I said and she looked at me with a frown for a moment. "What?"

"Nothin', just Ah heard tell that ya'll were wiped out years ago by some pony named Bright Feather up on Mount Pleasant Island," she said with a shake of her head. "Well, that's just what Ah heard mind yah and tha tales said nothin' about ya'll bein' Alicorns."

"I see," I said and blinked a little. What was she talking about? We had always been Alicorns and we hadn't ever been on Mount Pleasant Island, so she had to be mistaken. "Well, we're still here, I don't know where you got that information but its wrong."

"Well, Ah guess that's certainly possible, but Ah just think its a a mite weird," Storm Wrangler said as she shrugged a little and we started down one of the bridges towards a larger building below us.

"I think you could use something other than my clinic food," Neivi said with a chuckle. "My cooking isn't exactly anything to write home about I know, but I've at least got the best healing potions in town."

"I thought it was fine," I said with a shrug as we headed into a large building which I was surprised to find contained a series of tables and chairs with a counter at the far end.

It was mostly empty save for the ponies behind the counter who were working on getting some food made. The only other pony was a green mare with a yellow mane, though this one wasn't a normal pony, she looked like she was rotting, but I could tell she was an Earth Pony as she looked up at us with greenish-yellow eyes.

"Hey Lemon Lime," Neivi said as she waved to the rotting pony who was eating, she grunted a little and gestured for us to take a seat. "Firelight, this is the Ghoul I mentioned that was helping provide the radiation to heal you."

"You're lucky I was willing to do that with what I've heard about your kind down here," Lemon Lime said in that same gravelly voice that I remembered from before. "But Neivi here saved my flank awhile back, it was the least I could do to help her out."

"Ah think Neivi's saved everypony's flanks at least once," Storm Wrangler said with a chuckle as Neivi got up and headed over to get some food for all of us.

"Yeah, well it still would be nice if she could help me find what I'm looking for," Lemon Lime said with a shake of her head as she looked at me. "What's wrong, never seen a Ghoul before?"

"Honestly? No," I admitted with a shake of my head. "I mean I've heard of them, you're a pony changed by radiation right?"

"Yeah, changed by radiation, that's the nice way to put it," Lemon Lime said as she took a drink of water and looked back at me for a moment. "Only reason I'm here is because I'm looking for something, and I doubt you'd know where it is or be willing to help an old Ghoul out."

"I see," I said and frowned a little. The Ghoul mare seemed to be dismissive of me, but she didn't seem to outright hate me, at least not right now. "Look, if there's anything I can do to help, I know ponies who..."

"No, no, there's no point in asking, I'll find it on my own if I have to," Lemon Lime said with a shake of her head. "Its not that I wouldn't mind a little help, but, well, its personal. I'd rather find it on my own as best I can, and its not like the scouts around here are able to point me in the right direction."

She took another drink and I looked at here for a long moment, I could tell the pain in her voice and face but there wasn't anything I could do about it right now. I nodded a little as Neivi came back with the food and set it out in front of us as she gave us a smile.

"Lemon, I know you're disappointed that we can't help more..." the Zebra said as Lemon shot her a look. "But we're still looking. There's a big jungle out there and a lot of it is still uncharted because of the, rather strange flora out there, we can barely get caravans to our settlements let alone to look for a pre-apocalyptic location."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lemon said with a shake of her head before she looked back at me and then at Storm Wrangler. "Still, I have to wonder something about you Alicorn. Your kind doesn't usually go traipsing around in jungles like you were unless you've got a very good reason."

"I, was on a mission from my High Priestess," I said with a shake of my head. I couldn't tell them any more than that right now, it would compromise the integrity of the mission. "Me and my wing were escorting a VIP through the jungle when we got jumped by that Sabretooth. You caught the tail end of that encounter of course."

"Yeah, well I call it stupid," Lemon said with a shake of her head. "You don't go waltzing into unknown territory like that unless you've got a very good reason."

I shook my head. "My business is between me and the High Priestess, I'm not going to tell you what we were doing there," I said.

Lemon Lime just snorted as she took another drink and looked at me for a long moment. "I don't like secrets," she said with a shake of her head. "But fine, if you don't want to tell us what you were doing out there, then I don't really care."

"Lets try not to get into a fight here," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "Firelight, are you going to be okay waiting for a couple of days to make sure that everything is okay before you leave for your Temple?"

"Yeah, that should be fine," I said. "What exactly were those things that you had in your clinic?"

"Furred Salamanders, they're a species native to the deep jungles, they negate magic around them," Neivi said and shook her head a little. "I don't like using them personally, the full effects on a pony body from prolonged exposure hasn't exactly been tested and I'm not sure I want to start taking volunteers to find out."

"Yeah, Ah flew into a nest of those things once, dropped right out of tha sky," Storm Wrangler said as she took a long drink of her soda. "Ah don't like 'em personally, there's just somethin' about it that's creepy."

"Its a perfectly natural defense mechanism," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "There's predators in these jungles that use magic to track their prey. Its simply that the Salamanders happen to negate magic around them so they aren't hunted as easily by them."

"Interesting," I said and shook my head. I hadn't heard of anything like this before, it was probably something that was unique to this part of Equestria so it made sense at least. "Are they common?"

"Oh sure, you can find entire areas in the Deep Jungle that you can't even use magic in for quite a good distance," Neivi said with a nod. "Its a big concern of course, though interestingly enough it doesn't seem to have any affect on Zebra Potions."

"Curious," I said with a nod as I looked between them for a long moment. "Does everything in this jungle want to kill you in one way or another?"

"Pretty much," Lemon Lime said with a shake of her head. "I nearly got my head taken off by a bear my first day here. This place is filled with creatures that you do not want to tangle with."

"Then why live here at all?" I asked as I looked between them. "Why not move north out of the jungles to one of the larger pre-war cities or something? It seems unnecessarily risky to keep living here."

"Because this is our home, its been our home for generations," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "We can move sure, but it would mean everything our ancestors fought for to build would have been for nothing. For that we stay here, no matter what hardships come our way, this is our home and we're not going to let it go."

I glanced at Storm Wrangler for a moment as she took a long drink. There was something odd about the Pegasus, she didn't seem to have the same conviction in her eyes as her friends but she just smiled a little as she gave a nod. Maybe she wasn't from this part of Equestria at all, I made a note to look into her more later.

"Yeah, I can understand that," I finally said as I gave Neivi a nod.

"Not ta mention there's a lot of problems up north too," Storm Wrangler said with a shake of her head. "There's no place in Equestria that's perfect anymore. We all need ta work together ta tame this wasteland and make it our home, that's how Ah see it at least."

"Yeah, you're right," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "I just hope that more ponies get the message."

"You mean like Mayor Steel?" I asked.

"He's only the most prominent example, but yes," Neivi said with a shake of her head. "There are settlements that will shoot you if you approach just because you're a Ghoul or a Zebra. There's a lot of distrust around this area of Equestria, even after the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, well, not everything is sunshine and rainbows around here."

"Ain't exactly easy bein' a Pegasus either, not with tha Enclave's stigma attached ta yah," Storm Wrangler pointed out and Neivi just kind of shrugged. "Ah know what she's talkin' about though, Ah think its disgustin' personally. But at tha very least Nightingale seems willin' ta let anyone in who needs help."

"For now," Lemon Lime grunted.

"Yeah, fer now," Storm said with a shake of her head. "Ah don't like it personally, but Ah'm not exactly high up in tha guard so they ain't gonna listen ta me."

I sighed a little, I had no idea how complicated the politics of the wasteland could possibly be. There was a lot of ponies out there that were going to cause trouble for me just because I was an Alicorn, I guess I really was lucky that Nevi had been one of the ones that found me.

We still had a long way to go before I was ready to get back to the temple, so for now I just wanted to relax and hope that everything was going to be okay.

And that's when the siren started going off.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Daughter of the Night.
Details: As part of the Nightmare Society, you've gained a better understanding of the night and darkness. You get an extra point in perception during nightime or while its dark.