The look on Shadowbuck’s face was hard to describe. Every muscle was twitching into a flurry of different expressions. His eyebrows danced between shock and anger while his lips kept moving together, then away from each other as his mind tried to think of something to say, but it only came out as grunts and stutters. The weirdest part of his little display was the way his nose kept twitching, almost like a bunny rabbit, as he tried to process the bombshell Check and I had dropped on him. I was speaking figuratively of course, but we were alluding to a literal bomb so I think that cliche seems appropriate.

“What?” he said, finally finding his voice although it cracked in a most unstallion like way that was kind of cute in my opinion. “Why would she want to build a balefire megaspell?”

“Perhaps to tip the balance of the war with the Royal Flush. The Steel Rangers would have the most powerful weapon in the world at their disposal if she is successful,” Compass postulated.

“Or maybe cause she’s nuts, ya know?” Check added.

“Hey!” Shadowbuck said with scowl.

“You gotta admit it, Shadow. Cherry Scones hasn’t been the picture of mental health since Orange Marmalade was killed.”

“And she did mentally attack Aria a couple of days ago,” Melody said, giving me a supportive hug. I winced, remembering the emotional turmoil that Cherry Scones had put me through. A weeks worth of stress, worry, pain, and heartache had been poured through the strainer that was my very heart and soul. I could still feel the raw emptiness it had left me in after she abandoned me sobbing on that sweat stained bed in Gigaton.

“Yeah, Shadow. Mind rape ain’t cool, and it’s not the best sign of being very sane,” Check replied. Shadow shook his head.

“That was wrong, but I don’t think she’s crazy. There’s no way she would use it. Compass’ probably right. Maybe she’s just being overzealous in her methods because of how much you guys have weakened the Royal Flush?” Shadow said, trying desperately to defend his leader.

“I want to know how she got the data off of Aria’s Pipbuck. I was holding it the entire time from when I removed it from her foreleg to the moment I put it back on,” Melody said, rubbing her chin with a wing.

“But she read it, right?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah. She helped us figure out how to defuse it since Aria was out cold.”

“I’m right here, guys,” I said, a little perturbed that they were talking about me like that right in front of me, but I really wasn’t that annoyed. My mind was still preoccupied on the memory of Cherry Scones’ intrusion. She saw so much. Exams, my last moments with my family…

“I think she has some kind of special memory thing. Some scribes once said she’s got an idyllic memory or something when they were drinking at Moorheart’s,” Check said.

“You mean an eidetic memory?” Shadow asked.

“That’s it.”

Brightlight and Silver Storm. The zebra and the bomb. My last words to Applebloom.

“Okay, that explains the how, but not the why,” Compass said, biting his lower lip as he thought.

The blast consuming me. My memories of falling through the time vortex. My…

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe she just wants to use it to get the Royal Flush to surrender. Maybe-”

“Wait!”

“What is it, Aria?” Melody asked after jumping nearly a yard into the air and hovering above me, startled by my sudden outburst.

“The time vortex,” I said, getting strange looks from everypony. I was really getting good at making ponies look at me like I was the crazy one. It was really hard to keep telling myself that I wasn't.

“The what?” Shadow asked.

“It’s something the Doctor told me about. When I fell through time, I actually fell through a time vortex. It’s kind of like a current in an ocean if that ocean was time itself.”

“Hold up. Doctor? What doctor did you see about time travel?”

“Not a doctor. The Doctor,” I replied.

“Doctor who?” Shadow said, getting a little frustrated.

“No, that’s the pony’s name. His name is The Doctor,” Melody explained.

“Okay, but what does this Doctor guy or a time vortex have to do with Elder Cherry Scones?”

“When she saw my memories of the time vortex. The second she did she stopped sifting through my mind and started freaking out.”

“And if I remember correctly, she was out of commission for at least a day after that,” Check added. I nodded in agreement.

“The Doctor said looking into the time vortex can be a source of inspiration, but it usually drives ponies mad or makes them lose their memories. Apparently Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna saw it and lost their memories, but their mother, Queen Eclipsa, was immune to its effects,” I said.

“You don’t seem too nuts, Fire Flanks, and you’ve got a pretty good memory if my own serves me right.”

“The Doctor thinks I was immune to it too.”

“That’s good to know, but Cherry Scones didn’t lose her memory so that just leaves…” Shadow said, trailing off as horrified realization started to creep into his eyes and widen them ever so slowly. “It has to be inspiration. She just got lucky, like you, Aria. There’s no way she’d… We’d have noticed it…”

“If she started acting nuts? Maybe like if she was sending the Brotherhood of Steel, fresh off of losing one of their senior members, into a suicide mission for a balefire egg,” Check said, her words driving home the point that finally finished off the last of Shadow’s misplaced sense of loyalty towards his order’s leader.

“Yeah,” he said solemnly, before swallowing hard. “Just like that.”

“So what do we do about it?” Melody asked, flittering over to Compass, her silver shod hooves somehow barely making a sound on the blue grass as she touched the ground.

“We kick her ass and stop her from blowing every pony, zebra, and ghoul in Trottingham to the princesses,” Check said, giving us a confident grin. “Or maybe two hundred years into the future, if Aria’s any hint as to what balefire can do to a pony besides death and zombification.”

Concierge coughed.

“Sorry. Ghoulification,” Check apologized. The undead servants both nodded and returned to their vigil, waiting to be needed.

“But how do we do that? Do you think you can teleport us back to the boat, Aria?” Melody asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Not now, I feel like crap.”

“That was almost a curse word, Fire Flanks. You’re slipping.”

“Alright then, we’ll wait until tomorrow. I doubt Crumpets will be able to find a balefire egg and get it back to Cherry Scones before then,” Shadow said. Compass nodded.

“Yes. A restful night’s sleep would do us all a world of good. Concierge and Valet said that the house is empty since King only kept a small group with him. If we lock the elevator and keep the gates sealed, then we won’t have to worry about any ferals or Flushers getting in, right?” Compass explained before looking to the ghoulish house workers. They simply nodded.

“We shall escort each of you to your rooms. Princess Melody Star and her husband can have Prince Golden Star and Lady Page Turner’s room,” Concierge explained. Compass started to say something, but Melody quickly pulled him into a tight hug.

“Yes. My husband,” she said nervously.

“Miss Check and Mister Shadowbuck may occupy two of the guest rooms,” Valet continued.

“We could always bunk together,” Check said with a devious smile that vanished when Shadow matched my glare with a surprised look. “Kidding.”

“And Princess Aria Rose-”

“What?” I choked, shocked that the ghouls would call me that.

“From what we have seen and been told, Starshine was not an honorable pony, in life nor in undeath. We knew your mother, princess, and she was a loving wife and mother. If she believed you were her legitimate daughter, then we have no doubt in the validity of our former mistresses claims.” Conceirge explained before he and his sister bowed to me. “This estate is as much yours as it is Princess Melody Star’s.”

I was stunned. I wasn’t used to any of this. So many questions were swirling through my head that I could hardly see straight. Was I really a princess? Was Starshine really my father? Did I deserve any of this? And most importantly, had Timestream lied to me?

My mother insisted that she had not cheated on Starshine, and Golden Star insisted that I was a genetic throwback to my medieval ancestors just as Melody was a throwback to Silver Storm. Could the Goddess of Time really be trusted? Death had allowed me to meet my mother and brother and Psyche had helped me under Dream’s instructions and out of what I could assume was her own weird sense of friendship, but Timestream was a mystery to me.

“Thank you,” I whispered. The ghouls nodded again before leading us back into the manor. My manor.

My home.

I don’t know why I thought I would be able to sleep. Near death experience? Permanent minor rad poisoning? The fact that my birthday had absolutely sucked? Nope. I spent at least an hour tossing and turning in my mother’s childhood bed, the sheets surprisingly clean and the mattress softer than some cliche that I couldn’t think of at the moment. I should have been sleeping soundly, but so many thoughts kept me conscious.

Timestream’s words were front and center, needling me with doubts and shame that should have been resolved. Behind that was anxiety over the kiss I had shared with Shadow. Had it meant anything? Did he just do it to shock me out of my Nightmare form or did he really like me like that?

“You mean ‘Our Nightmare form,’ don’t you?” the Nightmare chuckled softly. And there was reason number three. My own little sociopathic voice in my head was back and whispering up a storm. Have you ever tried to sleep when sharing a room with somepony who was talking in their sleep all night? Try doing that when the talker is inside your own head and see how fast you sprint through the gates of dreamland. The answer is you don’t because she takes you out at the knees before their golden arches even come into view.

“Shut up,” I moaned, reaching out with my magic and picking up my saddlebags. A memory orb wasn’t going to provide the R.E.M. sleep I needed, but it would allow my body to rest and recuperate. Blocking her out with an orbs magic influence seemed to be the only thing that would shut the Nightmare up. Digging through my bags and checking my Pipbuck, I was shocked that I couldn’t find that weird white memory orb. It took me a few moments to remember that the orb, which I now knew had to have been left by Death, had disappeared after I viewed it.

Groaning, I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling above me. A few cracks, probably caused by the reverberations of the balefire blast north of the city, made a strange little roadmap that my eyes followed across the room to the closed mahogany doors.

“You know, maybe we should talk about a timeshare plan for this body of ours?” the Nightmare said. Growling, I rolled out of bed and marched out of the room. I didn’t know where I was going, but maybe if I kept myself busy, she would leave me alone.

The halls of my family’s estate were devoid of life. Not even its undead caretakers roamed, or at least I didn’t see any sign of them. For all I knew they could be right behind me doing that creepy ‘appear when you least expect it’ thing. Following the hallways past the stairs, I turned a corner and spotted a flickering sliver of light along the wall ahead. Quietly, I approached the source of the light, a set of double doors that had been left ajar, and I could hear voices.

“So she’s done that Nightmare thingy before?” Check asked as I brought my eye to the crack between the doors. Inside I could see Shadow, his back turned towards me, talking to Check as she sat on a stylized oak desk.

“Yeah. Once before when she and Melody were attacked by Enclave pegasi.”

“So that’s how Melody got that crappy drawing burned into her flank.”

Shadow nodded.

“They tried to use an energy lance to make a makeshift Dashite brand.”

“If we ever make it to Manehatten, Melody can trade Dashite stories with old Radar,” Check laughed sadly.

“If we ever make it back.” Shadow paused for a moment, the firelight coming from the hearth to his left dancing across his features. “Do you really think Cherry Scones has lost her mind?”

“She wasn’t all that stable to begin with, Breezy.”

“Shadowbuck. You’re not supposed to call me by my real name, Check,” he said flatly.

“I didn’t call you by your name. I called you by our nickname for you,” she replied, giving him a grin before jumping down from the desk to approach him. “You remember when we were still together. You liked that name.”

“I gave it up for everypony except the one I plan to marry, Check. Please honor that,” Shadow said, turning towards the fire.
“You’re not that mare so you should just…”

“What? Forget that we dated? I mean, it was fun, but-”

“But I couldn’t give you what you needed. It was just meaningless sex and joking around with your fuck buddy. That’s all those two years of our lives meant to you,” Shadow snapped. He didn’t raise his voice, but there was a mix of anger and pain that bit even harder than any amount of yelling.

“It-It wasn’t like that. I mean, it was, but I couldn’t give you what you wanted either. I couldn’t love you like you loved me.” Check said, putting her hoof on his shoulder.

“Maybe Tekash is wrong. Maybe there’s nopony out there for us,” Shadow mumbled.

“I don’t believe that. I know there’s somepony out there. We may be screwed up, but there’s somepony out there that’s the right kind of screwed up for both of us,” Check said, trying to reassure him.

“How can you be so optimistic?”

“Cause I gotta be,” she said, taking him into a hug and looking right at me over his shoulder. “And plus, I know there’s a certain fiery flanked mare that totally has the hots for you.”

Aunt Luna invite me to the royal sauna! I didn’t know my face could burn this much without being literally on fire. I needed to get out of there before Shadow caught me. Check already had so it was only a matter of seconds before the master scout caught sight of me too. I started slowly and carefully backing away from the door until Shadow asked something that stopped me in my tracks.

“I hope you’re right. You really think so?”

He hopes she’s right? Holy kelp wrapped around the most surprising sushi, he really did like me back. I had to resist letting out a girlish giggle, but it instead came out as a gasp.

“Why don’t you ask her? She’s spying on us right now.”

“Damn it, Check!” the Nightmare and I cursed in unison before I sheepishly stepped forward and opened the door. Swallowing hard, I gave them a nervous smile that probably looked more like an ugly curl of my upper lip.

“Um, hi.”

“Heh, looks like you two have more in common than I thought. You both get that stupid half smile when you get caught.”

“I do not,” I said, knowing that was a complete lie, before hanging my head in shame.

“So this isn’t awkward,” Shadow said sarcastically.

“Why don’t you two talk? Happy Birthday, Fire Flanks.” Check then took a book from her saddlebags as she levitated them back onto her back. “Found this book in the Restoration department at the university. Thought you might like it and it would help make up for me tricking you.” She set the book on the desk behind her. “I’ll just leave this here.”

With that, Check trotted out the room, but not before giving me a playful wink and closing the door behind her. Of course, this caused the awkward tension in the room to become a thick fog between Shadow and myself; it was almost visible. I bit my lip while he rubbed his left foreleg nervously as we stood in silence. Finally, I took a breath, and he spoke up.

“So…”

“I’m sorry I was spying,” I said quickly, shutting my eyes tight and bracing myself. Shadow just chuckled softly before placing a hoof on my shoulder. I opened my eyes again and was greeted by a soft smile and his cool gray eyes.

“Aria, I spy for a living. It’s okay,” he said calmly before nervously adding a few moments later, “So Check wasn’t lying when she said you’re attracted to me?”

“Wha-I-Um-Well, yes. I… Yes.”

“I’d make a joke like ‘If you blush any harder, you’ll burst into flames,’ but with you that’s actually a possibility,” he laughed. I didn’t. My eyes turned down towards my hooves.

“How could you like me?” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

“Because,” he said, taking me into a hug. “You’re the most amazing mare I’ve ever met.”

“But I’m a monster,” I argued, the side on my face pressed gently against his chest.

“Is that really what you think of us? I’m hurt.”

“You’re not a monster, you’re just dealing with a mutation. It’s a part of you and I’m okay with that,” he said softly. “Plus, I can always say my marefriend is hot, but sometimes she’s literally smoking.”

“Marefriend,” I squeaked. Looking up at him while not wanting to break the hug since it felt so good for him to hold me. He looked down at me expectantly.

“Yeah, unless you don’t want to be my marefriend.”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I-” I tried to speak, but my tongue did not want to co-operate. Thankfully, Shadow seemed to know just what my tongue really wanted do as he brought his lips to mine and kissed me again.

It was forceful and sudden, but almost immediately melted into a passionate and soft kiss that had my eyes closed and my knees week. I absolutely loved every moment of it. My heart pounded with every movement of his lips or probe of his tongue. My body tingled with an electricity I had never felt when kissing Brightlight. As the kiss ended and Shadow simply grinned at me, I grinned back like every love struck fool that had ever lived.

“Yes, I want you to be my coltfriend.” He was smiling, I was smiling, and the Nightmare was dead quiet.

“Good to know,” he said softly, nuzzling me gently before turning his head towards the desk. “Maybe I should leave you alone.

This is your brother’s study. I figure you might want some time to look it over.”

“It is?” I asked, snapping out of my happy, buzzing, post kissing daze.

“Yup. Nothing really in here for me. I couldn’t crack the safe under his desk.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he growled before waving his hoof at the desk as if to shoo away the safe for doing its job. “Damn thing’s a combination lock and the tumblers have a silence spell on them or something. Stupid cheater magic.”

“Hey!”

“I mean, it’s awesome when you use it, but it’s crappy when it’s used against me,” Shadow tried to explain. I rolled my eyes.

“And I’m sure everypony says that about Steel Ranger armor,” I said before walking around the desk and crouching down next to the safe. Remembering what Golden Star had told me about his safe, I enter the combination.

“Six-Twelve-Eighteen.”

Click.

“What the hell? How’d you know the combo.”

“Golden Star’s favorite number was eighteen and his birthday was six, twelve,” I said after poking my head above the desk. Shadowbuck stared at me, seemingly impressed. “And he told me when Death let us talk through his statuette.”

“Oh… You really believe in that gods and goddesses stuff?” Shadow asked, wrinkling his nose with distaste.

“I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, they’re alicorns with super alicorn powers like Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna. If they’re gods, I don’t know, but I know they exist,” I said, opening the safe and peering inside.

“If you say so,” he said, coming around the desk. “Anything good in there?”

“Documents, bits, some piece of technology that I have no idea what it is,” I said, giving him the little device near the front of the safe.

“Oh nice. Melody’s gonna love this.”

“Yeah?” I asked, pulling out a box that held Golden Star’s Purple Horseshoe. I could hardly believe he would have left his medal behind. Perhaps it reminded him too much of his injury or of the war?

“It’s a broadcaster for a Pipbuck. It lets a Pipbuck act like a short range radio station. Our helmet’s have something similar in them for radio communication between Brotherhood members in the field,” he replied, tossing the broadcaster from hoof to hoof.

“Cool.” Then my eyes fell on the little purple orb in the back of the safe. “The memory orb is here.” I lifted it up with great care before placing it gently on the desk.

“Your brother tell you about that too?”

I nodded.

“He had made it to give to Dr. Hoofentrotter, but I guess he forgot it when they had to flee to Stable Sixty-Three.”

“What’s so important about it?” he asked, poking the faintly glowing sphere with his hoof.

“Only one way to find out,” I laughed before touching my horn to the orb.

“Hey wa-”

I knew where Golden Star was the moment the world came into focus. The smell of freshly waxed marble floors mixed with the scent of fragrant flowers in ornate vases, the beautifully sculpted statues, the light coming through the stained glass windows like a thousand rainbow colored knives cutting through the fresh morning air. We were home. We were in Canterlot.

To be precise, we were in the hall where many of Equestia’s greatest moments in history were preserved as exquisite stained glass memorials. Golden Star glanced up at the piece depicting Twilight Sparkle and her friends saving the Crystal Empire before returning his gaze to the end of the hall where Princess Celestia was waiting for him. My brother gracefully bowed before our aunt before lifting his head to see her tired, yet warm smile.

“It is good to see you again, Golden Star. I’m glad you’re taking your leave to come see me, but why is it that you wished to see me here? Your letter said it was important?” There was some strain in her voice, but even as stressed as she seemed to be my aunt still had the poise and grace of the goddess that she and Aunt Luna would soon be considered.

“Yes, Aunt Celestia. I’ve come to Canterlot to do something I should have done a long time ago,” he said, his eyes diverting from Celestia’s for just a moment.

“And that would be?”

“I’m going to meet my little sister,” he said, his voice strong again.

“I’m glad. When it came to that affair, I wish I could have done more. I had forced Blueblood to accept his illegitimate child, but when your mother killed herself there was nothing I could do. I could not force your father to accept a child that wasn’t his,” she said sadly.

“I know.” Golden Star trailed off, but thankfully Celestia pushed the conversation forward.

“It is nice that you are going to try to salvage a relationship with your sister. My sister is the most important pony in my life, but what does this have to do with our meeting?”

“Oh. Sorry. Well, you see, Aria, my sister, has two passions. According to my grandmother she loves magic and history, especially Medieval Equestrian History.”

“Really? Perhaps she will be applying to my school when she gets her cutie mark?” Celestia asked with a knowing smile.

“She actually has her heart set on going to Aunt Luna’s school.” Celestia’s smile didn’t vanish, it just changed to one that was more amused. “She idolizes Aunt Luna apparently.”

“I’ll be sure to let my sister know that she has a fan.”

“But anyway, we should get back to business. I decided to brush up on my history, reading up on Sir Swift Strike and Sir Golden Lance and other knights of old. I figured it would give us something to talk about.”

“Naturally.”

“Yes, but then I was reading this book about Equestrian knights and came to a chapter talking about Sir Golden Lance’s Dragonfire Shield and how all but one of the pieces of it had been found. Is it true they are being stored in the Royal Archives?”

“That is true,” Celestia said with a nod. “Whatever beast Golden Lance and his squire fought to avenge my mother was powerful enough to shatter a shield made of orichalcum.”

“Right. And the pieces were scattered all over Equestria, but the shield couldn’t be reforged because one piece was missing,” he said before pulling out a small bag with a thin leather drawstring. “I’m here today because I think I found it when I was a foal.”
Pulling open the bag, Golden Star levitated a small diamond mirror with a golden backing about the size of a foal’s hoof. Something about it seemed familiar, like it was some childhood toy that I had lost when I was too young to have any vivid memories. I felt a strange connection to this simple piece of gold and metal. Aunt Celestia hummed softly.

“It does hold the same shape as the missing piece. May I ask how you came to find something that has evaded over one thousand years of searching by hundreds of ponies?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Golden Star said apprehensively.

“Then perhaps I can help?” Princess Luna asked, her voice strong and forceful. It was a question, that was to be sure, but the strength she carried with each word almost made it seem like an order. My aunt had stepped out from behind a tapestry, there was obviously some sort of secret passage behind it, and nodded to her older sister.

“Luna? What do you have in mind?” Celestia asked.

“Simple, sister. We shall delve into our great nephew’s memories of the event in question. We should know everything we can about this piece before we see if it is actually the long lost final piece of the Dragonfire Shield.”

“My memories? How would we do that?” Golden Star asked.

“A memory spell,” Luna said simply.

“Are you sure? Memory spells are tricky,” Celestia warned.

“Nonsense, sister. I run a school of magic just like you. Such tricks are just that to magical practitioners of our caliber,” Luna argued before returning her attention to Golden Star. “As long as you are willing to undergo the spell. We will relive your memory in a matter of moments instead of partaking in a lengthy story.”

“Sounds like a plan,” my brother said confidently.

“Are you sure, Golden Star?” Celestia asked, still concerned over a memory charm. Golden Star shrugged.

“I trust Aunt Luna’s expertise. If it will make things go faster, let’s do it,” he told her before nodding to Luna. “Ready when you are.”

“Then we shall begin. If you would link your magic with my own, dear sister.” Aunt Celestia nodded, not saying another word, and ignited her horn, bathing it in a soft golden glow. Luna did the same as her own cobalt aura flowed off her horn, meeting with Celestia’s, before drifting over and enveloping Golden Star’s head. Then as if somepony had turned off the sun, which was actually a possibility when you really thought about my brother’s companions in this memory, everything went black.

When the world returned to focus, the buzz of laughing children and the mechanical clackity clack of carnival rides filled my brother’s ears. I could also notice that he was a lot shorter, but I was frantically trying to look around. Of course I couldn’t actually look around since I was along for the ride, but this was an even more surreal situation than meeting any of the Eternals had been.

I was in a memory inside of a memory. Even weirder was that I was riding a memory that Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna were viewing within the memory. I kept wanting to look to my left and see one of my aunts, but the metaphysical ramifications of that would be earth shattering. Still, I was wondering what it would have been like to have seen them again in this ethereal form between memories.

“Mom! I want to play one of the games. Can I, mom?” Golden Star shouted before pointing towards the cluster of game booths on the far side of the carnival grounds. Mom? He was here with our mom? I was not ready for this. I had just met her for the first, and possibly only time, and I knew seeing her again would be like ripping open a healing wound.

“Alright, honey. Just calm down,” my mother said gently. To my brother, the aspect of calming down didn’t seem possible as he tried his hardest to pull away from her and towards the gaming booths, but all I wanted to do was look up at her, taking in the mother I had never known. I didn’t know how old my brother was, but all I could think about was the fact that he didn’t know what he was about to lose. “Here’s five bits, but that’s all you’re getting for games.”

“But it’s my birthday, mom. Why can’t I have more?” Golden Star complained.

“Because I don’t want you spending all your birthday money on games. You’re nine now, Golden Star. You need to learn to be responsible with your money.” Golden Star frowned until my mother couldn’t help but laugh. “No pouting, Golden Star. Let’s go try one of these games. Oh, is that Princess Cadence?”

My brother looked up for a moment to catch a glimpse of the pink alicorn princess and the white unicorn stallion I knew to be her future husband, Captain Shining Armor, before dashing off to a ball tossing booth.

“Princess Cadence I- Golden Star, don’t run off too far,” I heard my mother call back, but the bits in Golden Star’s mouth and the allure of the booth’s grand prize, a motorized scooter, trumped even giving our mother a cursory wave of acknowledgement. Tossing the bits on the counter, Golden Star pointed at the scooter.

“I want to win that,” he told the clerk. Turning around, the brown unicorn stallion gave my brother a weak smile before taking the money.

If I had had a body of my own, I was pretty sure my heart would have stopped. I knew this stallion. His dark brown coat and matching mane was only broken up by an electric blue stripe, his odd accent that seemed the oddest combination of Canterlot, Trottingham, and whatever accent Ministry Mare Rarity had, they had been burned into my mind when Dream had given me a vision of him. But now the pony that could have been my father in another timeline was standing right in front of my brother operating a ball tossing booth at a cheap carnival outside Canterlot.

“Good luck to you, kid. I am sure you can do it. Three balls for five bits so here you are,” he told him before teleporting three apple sized rubber balls onto the counter. His accent was the oddest I had ever heard any pony speak. It was as if he took the Trottingham accent and mixed it with that of the members of Canterlot high society. It also partially reminded me of Princess Luna’s manner of speech, but with an odd twang I couldn’t quite place. “Magic is not allowed for that would make the game far too easy, but you can use either mouth or hoof to try to get the ball through the hoop. The red one is what you should aim for if you are trying to win the scooter,” he said, pointing to a vertical red hoop near the back of the booth.

“I’m gonna get that scooter,” Golden Star said confidently before picking up the ball in his mouth. Furrowing his brow as he concentrated and line up the shot, Golden Star took his time before spitting the ball out in a high arc towards the basket. As it soared through the air towards its target, my brother held his breath, smiling as it started to fly towards its target.

Clink.

The ball landed on the edge, spun around the rim once like a figure skater performing half of a figure eight, and popped back into the air before bouncing against the wall and rolling back towards them.

“Oops. You almost had it,” the pony I knew as Guardian Heart said as he scooped the ball back up and put it in a storage basket with the others.

“I’ll get it this time.” With that, Golden Star lined up another shot, chewing slightly on his tongue as his mouth gripped the ball, before letting another perfectly arched toss bounce off the rim and fall uselessly to the floor. “Oh come on!”

“Only one shot left. I would make it count if I were you.” Guardian Heart gestured to one of the closer baskets. While he seemed nice, the fact that he didn’t use contractions was starting to get a little grating. “Maybe one of the lesser prizes.”

“No,” my brother shouted, spinning around before angrily bucking the third ball directly towards Guardian Heart’s face. Letting himself fall to the ground with reflexes that were obviously trained for battle, or at least dodgeball, the ball shot over him, struck the ceiling, and ricocheted directly into the back basket. Golden Star looked at the ball expectantly, waiting for it to fall through the hoop, but the ball was stuck, the rim making it look like an orange with a belt that was tightened a little too much.

“Uh oh,” Guardian Heart muttered.

“This game isn’t fair. You cheated,” he said, a little too stunned to say it at more than a whisper. “You chea-”

My brother had tried to scream it out, to draw attention to the rigged carnival game, but Guardian Heart had already leapt up and thrown a hoof over Golden Star’s mouth.

“Shh. Please don’t tell anypony. If ponies find out that the games are rigged, then my bosses will get mad at me. Please don’t shout and I’ll give you a bunch of prizes,” he begged while giving Golden Star an almost frightened smile. “Can I take off my hoof?” Golden Star nodded and the carnival pony complied.

“I want that scooter,” he grumbled, giving Guardian Heart a frown so pouty that it actually felt like he was straining to achieve it.

“No, you do not,” he replied, looking up at it with trepidation. “The motor does not work and it has no moving parts. It’s for show. Why don’t you take these?” He then levitated down a teddy bear, a miniature dart board, a pair of Neighpon hoof cuffs, and a Swordsmares comic book. “Will these do?”

“I wanted that scooter,” my brother whined, making it obvious that he was in one of those moods children get in when they can’t have something they want.

“Okay, I will add this in as well. You can give it to your little sister or a filly you like,” he said, floating a stuffed white bunny rabbit in a little blue dress. If I had had eyes, they would have been bulging out of their sockets and trying to hug the little rabbit doll along with the rest of my incorporeal form.

“That’s Snuggle Bunny,” I wanted to cry, but couldn’t since I had no lips or eyes of my own. I was just a passenger on this memory within a memory.

“I want that scooter!” Golden Star was practically shouting now, drawing the attention of our mother.

“Golden Star. What’s going on?” I heard mom call over. Glancing back, I realized she was about fifty feet away with Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor, although I didn’t know if he had made Captain yet at this point. It seemed that while she was giving Golden Star some independence our mother was still keeping a watchful eye on her son. “Please excuse me for a moment, princess.”

“Oh, it is quite alright. I was just congratulating the boy on winning so many prizes,” Guardian Heart lied before smiling at Golden Star.

“Give me something really good or I’m telling.”

I wanted to laugh at my brother’s conniving attitude, to hug him and tell him “Way to go, Golden Star. That’s what he gets for cheating,” but I then noticed genuine fear and apprehension in Guardian Heart’s eyes as he looked nervously to the little pouch around his neck.

“Alright.” He paused before taking the pouch and opening it to reveal the little mirror piece from the previous memory. “This is my greatest treasure. It is all I have from my old life before Flim and Flam found me. I… I will give it to you if you do not tell a soul about what you have discovered. I can not let them down. They… they are my only friends.”

I suddenly felt very sorry for this poor pony. This wasn’t the happy, proud warrior who sparred with me in my vision, but a poor and lonely stallion who was willing the part with his one and only treasure to protect the crooks who were his friends.

“What is it?” Golden Star asked, peering into its reflective surface with awe and wonder, his foul mood vanishing in an instant in that innocent way that only a child can accomplish.

“It is a magic mirror,” Guardian Heart explained, taking the diamond shaped piece and the bag and adding it to the pile of winnings he was giving my brother. He swallowed hard, staring at the mirror shard one last time with a great sadness weighing down on him. “At least, I think it is. It feels magical to me. It has not told me anything about my old life so maybe you can figure out where it comes from. Just please do not tell anypony that the games are rigged.”

Golden Star stared at the mirror piece as it slid back into the pouch and then looked at the pile of toys before smiling up at the games booth attendant.

“Golden Star. Is everything alright?” our mother asked as she, Princess Cadence, and Shining Armor walked up to the booth.

“Yeah, mom. Look at all the stuff I won,” Golden Star said proudly, pointing to the pile on the counter.

“You won all this with just five bits?” our mother asked, her eyes going wide at the sight of my brother’s ‘winnings.’

“Yes, ma’am. Your son is quite the little gamespony,” Guardian Heart said, his voice tight at first, but he seemed to be recovering.

“Wow, great job, kiddo. I could barely win that teddy bear for Cadence,” Shining Armor said, rubbing the back of his head and smiling awkwardly.

“And it only cost you thirty bits to do it,” Cadence teased before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Gross,” Golden Star groaned before using his magic to weakly put the pouch around his neck.

“Let me help you with that, little guy,” Shining Armor offered before easily scooping up the rest of the toys.

“A little bunny rabbit? This doesn’t seem like something you’d want,” our mother asked.

“It’s for my little sister,” Golden Star said with such a matter of fact tone that it caught my mother off guard.

“Your little sister?” Cadence asked with a knowing smile that my mother returned with a confused shake of her head.

“Or brother. I heard mom and dad talking about having another baby so the bunny’s for my sister and the bear’s for my brother,” he told them before trotting off happily towards a funnel cake booth. “Let’s get some snacks! I’m starving!”

“I’m so getting a corn dog!” Shining Armor proclaimed as he followed close behind. I could hear Cadence and my mom groan behind them as the world started to warp around my brother until two regal alicorns rematerialized before us.

This was getting really confusing; I was half expecting to have that disoriented feeling coming out of a memory orb usually gave me, but it took me a second to remember that now I was back inside the original memory and that had been a memory accessed inside the memory orb. At least my aunts seemed to be shrugging off the effects of the memory spell.

“That was strange,” Princess Luna muttered.

“What was strange? Carnival ponies cheat with their games all the time,” Golden Star chuckled.

“It is not that, nephew. That pony who had the piece of the Dragonfire Shield. Something about him seems familiar, like I had met him some years ago, but I can’t place it. Does he not seem familiar, dear sister?”

“Maybe. I do not know,” Celestia said, shaking her head sadly. “Although that does not explain why a simple carnival worker had it. He said something about a past life. Are we sure that this is really the missing piece?”

“Don’t know,” Golden Star said with a shrug. “But it doesn’t really matter, does it? If it is, then it is, and if it isn’t, then it isn’t. Why don’t we return the piece and see if it will fix the shield?”

“Why is it that you are so fixated on the shield, Nephew Golden Star?” Princess Luna asked.

“Well, it’s because I really think the war effort could benefit if one of Equestria’s magical treasures were returned to us.”

“And?” Celestia asked with a playful smile.

“And being the pony to reforge Sir Golden Lance’s shield would make me really cool in my sister’s eyes,” he said bashfully.

I was stunned. Not only had my brother been the one to give me Snuggle Bunny when I was a baby, but he also had wanted to impress me this much before we had even met. If I had had eyes, I’d have been crying, but all I could do now was watch the memory and reflect on how much I missed him. Having a statuette that held a little piece of him just wasn’t the same as being with my real brother.

Celestia smiled.

“Impressing your younger sister is something I can relate to,” she said, looking fondly to Princess Luna. “A little sister’s opinion of their older sibling is important.”

“It is indeed.” Luna said, returning her sister’s affection with a small nuzzle. She then returned her attention to my older sibling. “Shall we go down into the archives?”

“The archives?”

“Yes, follow us,” Princess Celestia ordered before turning to the wall behind them. Moving the curtain, she revealed a secret passage I would have loved to have know about during the more sneaky days of my youth. Following Princess Celestia with Princess Luna taking up the rear, my brother followed them through the dimly lit corridor until it opened up a few hundred feet later in the throne room.

“Princess Celestia, where did you come from? Prince Golden Star? Princess Luna?” a guard asked as they emerged behind him and to the right of the throne’s raised dias. Golden Star glanced back and only saw a wall behind him. Smiling internally while my brother twisted his face with confusion, I knew now that there was an illusionary section of wall in the back of the throne room.

“It’s alright, sir guard. If you will vacate the throne room, we hast business to attend to with our Prince Golden Star,” Princess Luna ordered calmly, yet firmly.

“Yes, ma’am,” the three guards in the room all replied while saluting. Then, as quickly as they could while wearing their heavy Royal Guard armor, the three white pegasus stallions, who all looked unusually similar in appearance, flew out the room, closing the main hall door behind them.

“Now then,” Princess Celestia said before regally climbing the stairs and circling around her throne. “You are about to see something that few ponies besides myself and my sister have ever seen.”

Lowering her head and igniting her horn in a sheath of golden magical energy that hummed with alicorn magic, Princess Celestia slid her horn into an inconspicuous hole in the wall. A soft click emanated from within before she withdrew her horn and the marble face of the wall slid back, revealing an eerily familiar set of stairs.

“The stairs from my nightmare.”

“I never knew there was a stairwell behind your throne, Aunt Celestia.”

“I did, but how?” I asked myself.

“It is understandable. Very few ponies have ever been allowed down here. Only alicorn magic can unlock the door into the archives,” Princess Celestia said before folding her wings to her body and ducking slightly to step through the door. Princess Luna gestured for him to follow her sister and they continued down into the earth.

The flames of the torches on the walls flickered as they cast dancing shadows all around them. The steeply descending stairwell was restrictive and claustrophobic, but I was freaking out for a different reason. I had never seen the stairs before, especially not when I lived in Canterlot, but I had somehow dreamed about it last night. Was that dream prophetic? Was it another vision from Dream? But how could that be a vision? I had already murdered Spelunker; I couldn’t kill him again.

As they entered the subterranean archives, Golden Star furrowed his brow as he took in his surroundings.

“A bird bath? Some books? Is that a mirror? Why is this all down here?” Golden Star asked.

“Because they are too dangerous to be out in the world. That bird bath reveals the darker side of whoever looks into it and gives it life, those books hold some of the most deadly spells ever created, and that mirror…” Princess Celestia stopped, looking at the mirror solemnly, her face long and worn by sadness. “That mirror leads to another world, maybe more, and anypony who steps through it every thirty moons never returns.”

“So why not just move it to safety on the twenty-ninth moon and return it after the thirtieth?” Golden Star suggested. Celestia turned away from the mirror, her gaze holding on it until that became impossible.

“He has a point, sister,” Princess Luna said, giving her sister a reassuring smile. “Sunset Shimmer is gone, but the other function of the mirror can still be of help to other ponies.”

“It has another function?” Golden Star asked as he stepped up to it and looked into its reflective surface.

“Yes,” Celestia replied, some strength returning to her voice. “If a pony stares into the mirror, a vision of a possible future could appear.”

Just as she said this, Golden Star disappeared for a moment only to return with four other ponies. He was older, smiling as he played a board game with them. One was Page Turner, the mare he would marry, but there were two children, a colt and a filly, that I had never seen before.

The filly was an earth pony that looked just like her father, sans horn of course, while the colt was a unicorn with Golden Star’s eyes, but a green and teal striped mane. They all had Stable Two barding and Pipbucks were around Page Turner and Golden Star’s fetlocks, they were underneath Trottingham after the bombs fell, but at least now they seemed happy. And there, standing behind Golden Star like a ghost of the past, was me.

“What?” Golden Star asked, scrunching up his face as he peered deeper into the mirror.

“What do you see? Is it Sunset Shimmer?” Celestia asked, hope rising from within her that I knew he would have to dash.

“Maybe. I see two mare and two foals with me, we’re wearing some weird barding. I can’t see anypony’s faces clearly. Also the brown mare is different somehow. She’s transparent like a ghost or something,” he explained, but as he relayed to our aunts what he was seeing, the vision vanished.

As if the scene did not want him to speak of it out loud, it was immediately replaced with Golden Star, as he was in the present, staring back at me with confusion and awe. Looking at his reflection, the same as he had been when we first met, it hurt so much to see him again and yet I longed for him to keep staring into the mirror the moment he turned away.

“A vision of your possible future. Star Swirl the Bearded once told us that this mirror was created by the zebra gods of dreams and time, but he never discovered its true purpose,” Luna told him before ushering him towards a display case against the far wall with a gentle guiding of her cobalt wing. Looking down at it, I wished I could gasp. In the case, arranged together like a puzzle but still in dozens of jagged pieces, was Golden Star’s Aegis. In the center of the golden puzzle was a diamond shaped hole, just like the mirror shard Golden Star carried with him now.

“It appears your piece is a match, but there is only one way for us to determine if it is the true final piece of the Dragonfire Shield,” Princess Celestia said. Opening the case, she stared down at Golden Star. “Will you do the honors and reforge the shield?”

“I’m no blacksmith pony, princess. How would I be able to reforge it?”

“Quite simply,” Princess Luna said. “Just replace the shard. Oricalchum is a magical metal. It weighs only a quarter of what comparable metals weigh and is four times as durable as the finest steel. But its most unique property is that it desires to stay in the same shape. Once oricalchum is forged it will always seek to remain in that shape.”

“This is why we can’t give the ancient armor of the knights of old to our soldiers; it cannot be reforged to fit someone other than who it was originally forged for,” Princess Celestia continued. “Just place your shard in the hole and if it is the missing piece, then the shield will be reformed.”

“Okay,” Golden Star said apprehensively before slowly removing the shard from Guardian Heart’s pouch and setting it gently into the void where it was meant to go.

A glorious surge of golden and blue light filled his eyes, it was almost blinding, but he did not blink. The holy aura began to fill the cracks between the pieces as an ethereal hum began to reverberate all around them. Princess Celestia gasped while Princess Luna watched in reverence as the shield pulsed with a new life and, as the light started to recede, Golden Star’s Aegis, I mean the Dragonfire Shield became whole once again.

For a few moments, silence replaced the otherworldly thrum of the shield reforming, but soon Princess Celestia spoke up.

“It’s been restored. You have done well, nephew.”

“Yes, very well,” Princess Luna added.

“Here you go, princess,” Golden Star said as he lifted the shield to offer to Princess Celestia. Their eyes going wide, my aunts gasped in unison. “What?”

“How is it possible, sister? The shield was not attuned to him,” Luna asked.

“Could it be because he reforged it? The ancient unicorn blacksmiths that originally forged oricalchum weapons had to attune their owners to the weapons,” Celestia replied.

“Possibly, but it’s never happened before with any other reformed oricalchum pieces, has it?”

“Princesses?” Golden Star said, but our aunts didn’t seem to notice.

“Not to my knowledge, but the Dragonfire Shield was one of a kind. Perhaps the blood of the Dragon King mixed with-”

“The natural magical properties of moonsilver and gold. It is possible that this allowed it to become a more potent form of orichalcum. One that is partially aware of its need for a master,”

“Aunt Celestia? Aunt Luna?” he tried again, this time with much more strength behind his voice. Realizing their mistake, the alicorn princesses of night and day returned their attentions to my brother, Celestia smiled gracefully while Luna was a little more sheepish.

“We are sorry, nephew. There seems to be an unexpected side effect to your reforging the shield,” Princess Luna said while trying to regain her composure.

“How so? Is it something I should be worried about?” he asked, looking at the shield floating in his telekinetic grasp with some trepidation.

“No. It is nothing you should be worried about. It is just that orichalcum objects deflect most magic used on them once forged. Only the magic of the blacksmith who forged the piece affects it, but they can usually cast a spell and whisper a name to attune the weapon or armor to that pony as well,” Princess Luna explained. “Any other magical sources are usually repelled.”

“It’s why oricalchum is so valuable and was made into weapons and armor. The fact that you can carry it in your magic must be because you reforged it, although that has never happened before with other oricalcum items,” Celestia added.

“But that’s good, isn’t it? That means that I can actually use it during the war to help Equestria win. A nearly indestructible shield of a legendary unicorn knight would be a big morale booster for the troops,” Golden Star said, drawing worried looks from Celestia and Luna.

“We cannot allow the Dragonfire Shield’s reforging to be known, Golden Star,” Princess Luna replied.

“What? Why not?”

“Because although the shield is powerful, the risks of the zebra empire discovering its existence and stealing it are too great,” Celestia explained. My brother pursed his lips and brought his brows together for a near perfect frustrated glare.

“I don’t understand. Wouldn’t you want somepony to use this shield in the war. It’s a legendary weapon that could lead Equestria to victory like it did one thousand years ago.”

“We are not worried about its strength, Golden Star,” Celestia said.

“We are worried about your safety, nephew,” Luna finished while Celestia nodded and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“The Dragonfire Shield was forged through wild alchemy. This is the only time orichalcum was ever seen to be made instead of mined from the earth.”

“We do not need to tell you how skilled the zebra in Roam are at discovering the alchemical processes to enchant almost anything without the need for unicorn magic,” Luna added, her voice much more stern and carrying less of the gentleness and care that her sister’s had.

“So you’re afraid that if anypony knew this was the Dragonfire Shield, then I’d be a target on the battlefield,” Golden Star answered, disappointment heavy in his voice.

“Yes, but I believe I have an idea,” Luna said with a small grin.

“And what would that be?” he asked

“To not use such a powerful tool would be foolish. If Golden Star just told everyone it was a magically forged shield of more common metals then it would be just that to everypony, but he and his troops would have the strength and protection of Sir Golden Lance’s legendary aegis to aid us in this war,” Luna explained.

“That could work,” Golden Star said happily.

“But you still cannot tell your sister of the shield’s true nature. You cannot tell anyone as long as you live. Is that understood, nephew?” Princess Luna said, her voice strong, yet cold. Golden Star looked shocked, turning to Princess Celestia who sadly shook her head.

“We need you to carry the Dragonfire Shield into battle, Golden Star. You are the only one and the war effort needs it. With the incident at Littlehorn and the death of those refugees, I fear that peace is no longer an option,” Celestia said solemnly.

“I am sorry I was not at my school yesterday, Tia. If I had, then I could have stopped such a senseless loss of life,” Luna apologized, looking up to Celestia for forgiveness. “I should return there anyway.”

“No, not today, Luna. You must complete your duties for the Winter Solstice festival before you leave. We should be finished by tomorrow afternoon,” Celestia said, leaving Golden Star to place a loving foreleg around her sister. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know… I know…” Princess Luna mumbled, regret and pain heavy on her heart.

When I awoke I wasn’t in my brother’s study. Bolting upright and reaching out with my magic for the nearest object I could use as a weapon, I was surprised when the nearest object was my shield, Golden Star’s Aegis. Or as I now also knew it, the Dragonfire Shield. Looking around the room, I noticed three things. First was that I was back in the guest room and in bed, which would explain why I was so comfy and warm. The second was that the dim light of Wasteland morning was already peeking through the curtains; I confirmed this by looking at the clock on my Pipbuck. And third, and the most surprising thing was that I was not alone.

Passed out in a chair, my Zebra Infiltration Tactics book open on his chest, was Shadow. The fact that he hadn’t finished the book yet made me smile. On the one hoof it meant that he liked the book and wanted to read which told me I wasn’t getting involved with a dumb soldiercolt. I mean, I knew that he wasn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination, although now that I think about it he could be an idiot some times, but it felt good to know he still pursued greater knowledge. As he slept, head lolled, mane sticking out everywhere with the worst case of bed head I had ever seen, I didn’t think I could have ever seen a more attractive sight.

But the other hoof told me I was a much faster reader than Shadow and that made me a little proud quickly followed by a little ashamed that I was proud of being a faster reader than my coltfriend.

“We’re lucky he’s a better kisser than a reader,” the Nightmare laughed.

“Great… You’re back.” I thought sarcastically.

“Miss me?”

“Not in the least,” I mumbled as I rolled out of bed. The simple action of rolling made my stomach churn and forced me to swallow hard against the arid desert that was my mouth. I queued up a bottle of water on my Pipbuck and levitated it out as quietly as I could as not to disturb Shadow before draining the entire container in large gulps.

“Thirsty?” Compass asked from the door while giving me a worried look.

“A bit,” I replied, turning towards Shadow as he started to stir.

“Wha? You’re awake. Good,” he said, rubbing the dust out of the corners of his eyes. “You didn’t wake up from that memory orb so I got Compass’ help bringing you back to bed.”

“You must have fallen asleep immediately after the memory ended,” Compass said calmly. “I checked the memory orb to see if it had been booby trapped, but it was a normal memory container. Although the fact that your shield is Sir Golden Lance’s is pretty crazy. Melody flipped out when I told her.”

“You saw the memory?” Compass nodded.

“All three alicorn princesses in one memory orb. I know quite a few ponies back in Equestria that would love to see that for themselves,” Shadow added before trotting back to my bag and replacing my book. “Sorry. I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed this.”

“Keep it until you finish it,” I told him, waving the book away, which I might add was a first for me.

“Thanks,” he said before giving me a kiss on the cheek. The affectionate little peck surprised me. It wasn’t unwelcome, I just hadn’t expected it.

“You’re welcome. So have we figured out how we’re getting back to the boat? I don’t know if I have the strength or range to teleport us there.”

“Concierge and Valet actually have a plan. They’ve prepared some breakfast for us and are retrieving a pony they say can escort us past all the ghouls and to our boat. Probably some ghoul down in Sewer Station,” Shadow explained, twisting his mouth in disgust.

“What’s wrong?” Compass asked after we stepped out of my room. I’d get dressed and gear up after breakfast. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I knew I’d need my strength for the coming day; somepony had to stop Cherry Scones.

“We’ve been trading with those ghouls for years now and they kept King’s location a secret all this time. I don’t think I can look at their mayor again without wanting to blow his brains out.”

“Yeah. With all the evil crud Starshine was doing, it just feels wrong that they hid him from the Steel Rangers,” I agreed.

“I don’t think they had a choice,” Compass said, drawing a confused look from me and a glare from Shadow.

“What do you mean they didn’t have a choice?” Shadow said, a hint of unnecessary venom behind his words.

“Well, they said that King helped found and protect their town. He saved them. I think they remained loyal to him just like Concierge and Valet. They felt obligated to protect and help him because of what he had been. The good he had done and his ties to Aria and Melody’s family outweighed the evil,” Compass said before quickly adding. “At least in their eyes it seems. From what I’ve gathered, Starshine helped establish all three of Trottingham’s settlements in one way or another. He helped save the city after the bombs fell.”

“But he was the reason there were bombs falling in the first place. He worked with the zebras,” Shadow argued.

“Zebra,” I said quickly, drawing a huff and an eyeroll from Shadow.

“Zebra,” he chuckled.

“They didn’t know that, Shadow. I’m sure once we get the word out about King’s involvement with the zebra empire during the war, ponies will start turn against the Royal Flush.”

“Hell, I’d be surprised if that little revelation doesn’t cause the whole gang to collapse,” Check said as she trotted out of her room. “Good to see ya up and about, Fire Flanks. You and Shadow have a little fun last night?” She then gave me a wink that set my face ablaze with crimson blush. “Gotcha blushing.”

“Shut up,” I said before playfully punching her in the shoulder. Check and Shadow just continued laughing while Compass watched us descend the stairs for a few moments, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

“Wait a second. Are Aria and Shadow dating now?” Compass asked.

“Yup,” Check said before either of us could respond. We were further interrupted by a teal streak flying past her and scooping the two of us up into a flying tackle hug.

“I knew it! It’s about time you two got together. I was getting tired of the will they or won’t they stuff,” Melody giggled.

“We all were,” Check quipped before the three of them burst out laughing at us.

“We should kill them all,” the Nightmare grumbled in the back of my mind. I wasn’t agreeing with her, but as Melody let me go and I frowned at my friends, I really wanted to at least give them all a good little static shock for teasing me.

“Come on, Aria. Don’t give them that glare,” Shadow said as he gave me a sideways hug.

“Yeah, we’re just playing. We’re happy for ya,” Check added.

I sighed and shrugged, defeated.

“Alright. Alright. Can we just get some breakfast?”

“He will be waiting for you at the end of the tunnel at the base of the lift,” Valet explained as the ghoulish twins led us onto the elevator platform.

“His only term is that you give him a ride on your boat to Big Buck. He has business to attend to down south,” Concierge said before pressing a few buttons on the control panel and starting up the elevator.

“Thank you,” I called up to them as we started to descend into the earth.

“You are quite welcome, Princess Aria. Keep well, my ladies,” Concierge said genteelly as he and his sister bowed. “You are always welcome here.”

We all waved, all except Shadow, before we were out of their sight. I looked over at my new coltfriend and smiled softly.

“Are you okay? You’re being kind of quiet.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Who is this guy and how do we know we can trust him? He might be a Flusher for all we know,” Shadow said, bringing up some very good, if not a little paranoid, series of questions. “And how is he going to get us past all the ghouls in the sewers and the university so we can get back to Check’s boat?”

“Maybe he’s got a lot of these masks,” Check said, holding up the ghoul skin mask she had worn on her trip to the mansion. I shuddered at the thought of having to wear something so ghastly and disgusting.

“I hope not. Can you put that thing away, Check?” Melody asked, equally as disgusted by Check’s newest piece of gruesome Wasteland attire. We had all wanted her to get rid of it, but she insisted that it might come in handy again.

“You're no fun,” Check mumbled before returning the gruesome mask to her saddlebags.

“I’m fun. I just don’t like pony skin masks,” Melody whined back at her.

“I second that,” Compass said, adjusting his glasses nervously.

We rode down the elevator, the gears grinding and the chains clanking as we descended back into the earth. That awkward silence that always appeared inside elevators. It was an aura of dark magic that no pony could avoid; the elevator gods demanded a sacrifice of silence until the doors opened and the pony on the other side broke that silence.

“Hey there, whatcha buying?” the tall unicorn in the purple robes asked.

“Light Change?” I asked, surprised to see the merchant pony down in the ghoul infested sewers. “How did you get here?”

“Well, hello to you too.”

“You’re our escort? How are you going to get us past the ferals?” Check asked.

“You all know this guy?” Shadow asked, giving Light Change a once over and seemed unimpressed.

“Yeah, he’s a merchant friend of Brownstone’s. We escorted him to Stableton a few days ago,” Melody explained, flitting around him and giving him a quizzical look as well. “I wanna know how he got down here too.”

“The same way I’m getting you lot out of here,” he said before his horn erupted in a golden light. The ethereal glow then shot off in five directions, one for each of us, before striking my friends and me in the chest. The world took on a purplish tinge, and an aura of magic surrounded all of us. Even Light Change seemed to be under the spells effects.

“Woah. Trippy. What did you do?” Melody asked.

“My spells all have something to do with getting me past any obstacles blocking me from of my commercial endeavors. Nothing gets between me and making a cap or two,” Light Change said plainly before turning back to the sewer tunnel leading away from the elevator. “Came up with this spell when I wanted to get past the ghouls to trade with Sewer Station. Don’t really know how it works, but if I’m quiet, then the rotters can’t see me. Even the non-ferals are blind when it comes to seeing me.

“We’re trusting you here, tall, dark, and money hungry. This better work,” Shadow warned.

“I gotcha, boy. I need a lift down to Big Buck so I can get in on the little war you Rangers are having.”

“Why’s that?”

“Nothing’s more profitable than a little row between power armor clad, rocket launching ponies,” Light Change chuckled. “At least for me that is.”

While Shadow spent our walk through the dank and smelly sewers glaring suspiciously at our escort, I was trying to figure out this magenta glow surrounding me. This was a magical puzzle I could get behind. The spell seemed to wrap our bodies in a sheath of colored light, but it was different from a normal magical aura. Focusing on the protective coating of light, I started probing it with my own magic, but the moment my blue aura met Light Change’s purple spell, it vanished in a flash of light.

“Don’t do that,” Light Change chastised. “This spell is fragile. Any magical interference will cause it to implode.” With a quick flare of his horn, he recast the spell. “Everypony keep your magic to yourself and keep quiet. The spell stops the ghouls from seeing us, but not hearing us.”

“So it’s an illusion spell, but not invisibility. That would be too much of a strain on you to not be showing after casting seven times so how does that work?”

“Are you called the Nightmare Knight because getting you to stop yapping is a real nightmare?” Light Change snapped.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Shadow growled.

“Fine, sorry. If I tell you how it works, will you be quiet?” Light Change sighed. I nodded, more curious than offended. “Ghouls can’t see a color between indigo and violet. Something to do with their eyesight decay. To regular ghouls, they just see a big blank spot in their vision and react, but the ferals are too out of it to think reasonably and just ignore me.”

“How in Equestria did you figure that out?”

“I didn’t. I just needed to get to Sewer Station one day, I tried to make myself invisible to the ghouls, and, poof, I made this spell,” Light Change answered, but cut me off before I can ask any more questions by adding. “Now let’s get going to Big Buck. I need to get to Trottingham Palace and that’s the easiest route. Got a lot of caps to deposit after my last big sale.”

“Sold all that water to Stableton?” Melody asked.

“Nope. One of you Steel Rangers bought a balefire egg from me for a nice and hefty price. Figured she needed it to blast through some of your armor clad breathern.”

We all froze, staring at Light Change.

“What? Was it something I said?”

“Did this Steel Ranger happen to be a mare, really loud, and have a thick accent?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“How long ago did she buy that egg from you?” I asked.

“How could you sell somepony a balefire egg?” Shadow moaned.

“She’s a Steel Ranger like you, boy. I figured you lot could put some heavy ordinance to good use,” Light Change answered before glancing at me. “She found me down here about two hours ago and bought it with a metric crap ton of caps. Why are you ponies freaking out like this? I thought the Rangers were on your side. They're having a little squabble, but one balefire egg won't do that much damage.”

“Cherry Scones and her daughter aren't, Light Change. They have everything they need to build a balefire bomb megaspell, but they were one balefire egg short thanks to Check and Queen Cadence.” Even I could see Light Change’s jaw drop behind his mask.

“They wouldn’t.”

“They would. Cherry Scones has gone nuts and has everything she needs to do it. We need to get to Big Buck before Crumpets otherwise there won’t be a Big Buck or Trottingham left for us when we arrive,” I said firmly.

“Righto then. Let’s hurry back to your boat. From what I saw, the girl was on hoof, but she could have gotten a hold of a boat in Stableton.” He turned his attention back to Shadowbuck. “Your compatriots are against this psycho Elder?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll help ya overthrow her with all the munitions and meds at my disposal. Can’t sell my wares if I’m a glowing green skeleton, now can I?”

“You’re going to give us medicine and ammunition for free?” Compass asked.

“Who said anything about giving anything away for free? I will, however, give you one percent above cost though.”

“Fine. Thank you. We’ve got to hurry. Let’s be as quick and as quiet as we can be, everypony,” I said before marching forward into the dark tunnels before us, ghouls be damned.

But that was easier said than done. the tunnels farther away from the elevator and Sewer Station were teeming with feral ghouls. Not enough to make sneaking past them impossible, but enough to make us get some really unwanted close ups of ghoul dentistry and hygiene. It really made you wonder how they still had teeth after two hundred years without brushing or flossing. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t been able to brush my teeth since leaving Stable Sixty-Three.

“Yuck,” I thought as a unicorn ghoul missing its lower jaw shambled by me. I ran my tongue over my teeth and around my fang. “I forgot I look like a vampire pony now.”

“I think it looks good on us,” the Nightmare commented, but I quickly pushed her into the back of my mind. I was starting to notice a pattern. When I was busy or doing something that made me happy, she was quiet, but when I was stressed or bored she would come back with a vengeance. Right now was a mix of busy, yet stressed so pushing her away was possible, but she was still making snarky little remarks. “I really wish you wouldn’t do that. I can help you if you just give me your rage.”

“Not really enraged right now, plus balefire makes ghouls more powerful and you're killing me. I’d have to be really stupid to listen to you again,” I thought back.

“Killing you? No. I’m making you better. This is just the labor pains for your rebirth. Our rebirth.”

“Yeah, right.”

Light Change had taken the lead, navigating us as quickly as possible while we kept quiet. While I could assume Check was pretty light on her hooves after being around Shadow for so long and Melody could hover a few inches off the ground, Compass kept us all on edge. Everypony remembered the bottle at the Ministry Hub. Thankfully, Compass had kept his eyes on the ground and was following Shadowbuck’s lead on where to step. While we had had some close calls, we had avoided alerting the undead hordes so far.

Nodding towards a ponyhole cover, Light Change lead us back up to the streets above. I let out a sigh of relief as we made it to the surface, but it was definitely premature as I realized we were outside the Dean’s Hall at Trottingham University.

“This must have been where Check met with the ghouls before taking us to King,” I realized.

Check pointed towards the riverfront and I shook my head. We needed to get back to her boat as fast as possible, Crumpets had over a two hour lead on us. Focusing my magic, I pictured the spot by the wall that I had memorized before and teleported us back to it in a flash.

“See. That was-”

Beep. Beep. BEEP!

BOOM!

An explosion ripped the gate apart only fifteen feet away from us, peppering us with debris and sending us spralling. My ears rung and I coughed, trying to regain my breath. Checking on my friends, I felt a wave of relief as I realized they were mostly unharmed; a few scrapes and bruises, but mostly okay. Pulling myself up to my hooves, I knew we had to hurry, the ghouls would be coming any second now.

As I tried to help Melody up, a bullet loudly ricocheted off my shield. As I stumbled forward, pushing Melody out of the way in the process, Shadowbuck rolled forward and brought the scope up to his eye before double tapping into the chest of a pony on the wall behind me.

“You okay?” Shadow shouted, obviously suffering from the same deafening effects of the blast as I was at the moment.
Nodding, I noticed a red blip appear behind him as another pony with a rifle appeared on the opposite wall. Gritting my teeth, I fired a lightning bolt at the would be assassin and sent her tumbling off the wall. I would have fired another, but the way she landed and the degree her neck twisted told me it would better serve for us to run like hell to the Four of a Kind.

“Go, go, go!” I screamed, finally starting to get my hearing back just enough to already hear the hissing and roaring of the zombie hoard on the other side of the wall. The gate was gone and there was nothing to stop the ghouls from getting to us. Light Change and my friends were already dashing down the dock, which groaned in protest at the unwanted weight, while I stood on the shore.

“Aria! What are you doing?” Melody screamed as the ghouls emerged from the smoke like an army of demons straight out of the pits of Tartarus.

“Get the boat going!” I called, taking a step back onto the dock and summoning a shield around me.

“Batten down the hatches! Raise the mizzenmast!” Check shouted from the steering wheel.

“Do you even know what that means?” Compass asked after cutting the rope tying the boat to the dock with a scalpel from his medical bag.

“Not a clue!” she replied before spinning the wheel and untying the sail with her magic. “Push us off, boys!”

Meanwhile, I braced myself as the first few ghouls slammed into my shield. Some rolled off it and fell into the brackish waters below to thrash and wail as they tried not to sink into the muck. Meanwhile others started to pile on top of the first wave as the ghoulish ponies tried to claw through my shield to its juicy pony center. Each pony hoof that struck my magical barrier was like a kick to my brain, but I continued to pour more magic into it. Thankfully the dock acted as a choke point and only allowed one or two ghouls to attack at a time.

“We’re clear, Aria!” Shadowbuck yelled from the bow of the boat while unloading bullets into the mass of zombified pony flesh in front of me. Looking back, I dropped the shield and allowed the wave of ghoulies to rush forward, but not before I disappeared in a blink of blue magic and reappeared next to Shadow. Panting more from fear than exhaustion, I smiled at him.

“Teleportation.”

“That’s my new favorite word,” he said before giving me a nuzzle. “Just don’t do that again, okay?”

“No promises.”

“Guys,” Melody said nervously as she flew above us. “I think we might have a problem.”

I looked back, but the ghouls were only rushing to the edge of the pier and screaming at us uselessly. It wouldn’t surprise me if the docks gave way at any moment, but I wouldn’t consider that a problem.

“Why are those rocks moving?” Compass asked before Light Change swore.

“Shit! They’ve chummed the fucking waters! We’ve got mirelurks!” Looking back to Check, he added, “Hard starboard, captain!”

“Which way’s that?” Check asked sheepishly.

“Right!” I screamed back.

Doing the only thing I could think of, I fired off another lightning bolt at the nearest gray mass that broke the surface twenty feet down river. The mutated crustacean screamed as the liquid in its body started boiling instantly while the others quickly broke away from him and sped up their charge as we moved with the current towards them. Check turned hard on the wheel, Melody fired more laser shots that only singed a few dark marks into one of the mirelurk’s hardened carapaces before it dove beneath the surface. I fired another shot, which sparked weakly off the waters surface as the charge dissipated and diffused across the surface, mildly inconveniencing the radiation spawned monsters.

“Shoot them, Shadow!” I cried before firing another round. “You too, Light Change!”

“I need to feed in armor piercing rounds! Give me a second!”

“I sold all my weapons at Sewer Station. All I’ve got is ammo,” Light Change answered before toppling over as the boat was rocked by the first mirelurk slamming headlong into its side.

“Do something! My baby can’t take much more of that!” Check yelled as another slammed into the hull. She pulled two apple grenades out of her bags and tossed the overboard at a mirelurk that was far enough away to not catch us in the blast. The crab creature’s shell burst open as the concussive force and shrapnel tore through it, but still another one swam into the side of our boat. I still hadn’t heard the telltale crack of breaking wood, but I really didn’t want to keep tempting fate here. “That’s it! I’m tapped out! We need a bright idea, Fire Flanks!”

“What can I do? Do these things have any weaknesses?”

“Your lightning seemed to work,” Shadow said as he fired the first of his armor piercing rounds into a mirelurk.

“The water’s dissipating the charge! It’s not cooking them, just slowing them down!”

“Mirelurks’ eyes are their weaknesses. They’re soft and easy to puncture,” Shadow replied.

“They also can’t see very well so they rely heavily on echolocation and radar to locate prey. Loud noise might disorient them, but seems our bombermare is out of bombs,” Light Change said. I stared at him.

“How do you know so much about mirelurks?” I asked before another mirelurk body slammed us which was immediately followed by a loud crack from below.

“Compass, go check below deck and try to stop us from sinking!” Check ordered. Compass nodded vigorously, his eyes wide with panic, before rushing down below deck.

“My wife is a real brainiac and used to work for the biggest know-it-all I ever met. She knew everything about everything and so did the missus,” Light Change said while I fired off two more lightning bolts, one actually hitting its mark thanks to SATS.

“But how does that help us?” Melody yelled before peppering the same Mirelurk again, aiming with sats for the black marks she had left earlier and finally turning the beast to dust on the river’s surface.

“Good eyes!” Shadow congratulated her as he fired another piercing round into a Mirelurk before searching the waters for the rest of them.

“Aunt Luna’s lime sherbert,” I cursed as the boat rocked again, drawing a look of confusion from Light Change. Ignoring him, I lifted myself back to a standing position and my mind returned to my curse and I wondered why I always seemed to pair Aunt Celestia or Aunt Luna up with food.

And that’s when I I had an epiphany.

“What would Aunt Luna do?”

“Banish them to the moon?” Light Change responded.

“Celestia did that!” Melody cried down as she scoured the water’s surface for our attackers, but they seemed to have figured out that the surface was too dangerous to attack from and just resigned to striking the bottom of our hull.

“I’m sure Luna could do it too!” Light Change snapped back.

“No, she couldn’t! Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to do it! I don’t think the ministry mares would have done that for her!” Melody argued, putting her hooves on her hips..

“Is this argument really necessary right now?” Shadow spat. Melody stopped, gave an embarrassed smile, and returned her attention to our current problem. I couldn’t tell if Light Change was effected by Shadowbuck’s scolding, you know, due to the mask and hood, but he quickly turned his attention back to the water as well.

“We’re taking on water down here!” Compass shouted, poking his head through the hatch before rushing back to try to plug the leak.

“Melody, use those wings and give us some speed! Fill the sails!” Check cried as she turned the wheel hard to avoid hitting a half sunken boat that was barely visible above the river’s steadily moving current.

“Right!” Melody said before dashing behind the sail and flapping her wings as hard and as fast as she could towards them while still staying aloft.

“No, not that! She’d demand respect!” I said before rushing to the back of the boat. Just as I thought, the mirelurks were surfacing for a moment to locate us. The increase in speed and the addition of the sunken ship had confused them and I could hear their loud clicks and whines from the stern.

Closing my eyes, I focused my magic on casting a spell I had only seen used a few times, one of which being on Princess Luna herself when addressing a crowd of war protesters at the palace just before Littlehorn. It was a simple trick in all honesty, but it wasn’t really in my wheelhouse of magical expertise. Refining my aura to affect my voice box and the air around me, I opened my mouth and unleashed a thousand year weapon of the royal family that I was told was a favorite of Princess Luna at one point in time.

The Royal Canterlot Voice.

“LEAVE US ALONE!” I boomed. My friends behind me winced and Melody was momentarily slowed as she tried to catch herself in her surprise, but the mirelurks in front of me received the full brunt of the amplification spell. My words hit them like a steam train and I could see from here that they were disoriented. Swimming around blindly, the crab creatures bumped into each other and flailed in the water, no longer able to give chase. “AND STAY AWAY TOO!”

We watched as our boat quickly put distance between us and the mirelurks until they disappeared from both sight and EFS. I heard Compass call out for more help below deck and watched Melody and Light Change answer his call. I just stood at the back of the Four of a Kind, watching the brown, contaminated water of the Trottingham River swirl past us until Shadowbuck sidled up next to me and gave me an affectionate rump bump.

“That was some quick thinking you did there. Who knew you could take out mirelurks by shouting at them really loud,” he laughed.

“THANK YOU!” I boomed, sending a blast of sound directly into his face. His eyes went wide and his mane got swept back and his ears pressed flat against his head before I smiled awkwardly and dispelled the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Sorry. I wouldn’t have figured it out without Light Change’s little bit of mirelurk trivia.”

“Yeah,” Shadow agreed, shaking his head and rubbing his right ear with his hoof.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” I asked, checking his ears to make sure I didn’t do any serious damage. Bleeding eardrums would be very bad.

“No, I’m fine. Maybe you can kiss them and make them feel better?” he joked. Rolling my eyes and then taking the chance to glance back at Check as she ‘covertly’ watched us from the helm, I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “That’s it?”

“I’m not very good with PDA,” I admitted.

“PDA?”

“Public Displays of Affection.”

“Oh.” He paused for a moment, just looking at me with those cool gray eyes before kissing me deeply in return. After a few moments, he broke the kiss and grinned at me. “See? Not so bad, right?”

“You’re a real butt sometimes, Shadow,” I said with a frown that was more for show than real annoyance. I actually really liked it when he kissed me like that. He was a lot more assertive than Brightlight.

“And you know you love it,” he said before leaving me to walk towards the hatch. “I’m gonna go help fix up the damage. You get some rest.”

“Why should I get some rest? I can help too,” I replied. I actually felt a little offended that he would think I was so frail as to need to take a nap after every battle.

“Because we’re going to need our best magic user at tip top shape if we’re going to try to get past Elder Cherry Scones’ shield. She’s got the upper levels of Big Buck blocked off to everypony but her most loyal scribes and knights. Since you’re our resident shield expert, I figure you’re are best bet on getting us inside to stop her.” He paused again. “I really hope you’re wrong about her, Aria, but I have a feeling you’re not.”

“I hope I’m wrong too.”

Death take me, I wish I had been.

Footnote: 70% to next level
New Spell Unlocked: Amplify (Sound) a.k.a. The Royal Canterlot Voice!
Author's Footnotes: Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. Here’s to another year of Fallout: Equestria - A Guardian’s Tale and let’s hope school doesn’t get so crazy that it takes me another 3 months to finish a chapter. I’m sorry, I feel really bad about that.
Also, I will be writing Chapter W of the ABC’s of the Wasteland/Fallout: Equestria which should be releasing some time early this year so take a look at that awesome project. 26 chapters from 26 different authors all writing in the Wasteland with a theme based on a letter from the alphabet.
As always, thank you to Chimpso and Tuneout for their help editing/pre-reading this chapter.