~Tangerine~

The crisp morning air has merged with the icy grip of my base desire… which is to simply remain beneath the covers of my bed, wrapped in warmth and comfort until hunger necessitates my rise. But, that is just not acceptable. I have a job to do. We all do.

Just as I begin to rise, I feel another breeze on my ear. It’s warm. Only one stallion I know has the audacity to do such a thing. “Hello…” I mutter at Wolf River through my dry lips.

He responds by nipping at my ear. I giggle and shove him off as I crawl out of bed. I take a glance at him. He is well-equipped for the journey ahead, with a bearskin cloak draped over his steel plating. Such an imposing figure, and yet he smiles like a child at me.

“Black is a good look for you,” he says, brushing his hoof through my new coat. “I’m glad to see that the procedure was a success… aside from the part where you threw Roches against the wall and stormed out of Fillydelphia. Jarl Drake had quite a fit trying to calm everypony down.”

“Am I in trouble with the Carriers?” I ask as I open my armor locker.

“No, we know that the circumstances were beyond our control, and none of the townsfolk know that it was you, explicitly.”

I put my spare set of bladed gauntlets on, followed by my leg plates. “Then we have little to be concerned about,” I say. I give him my vestments and spaulders. “Help me with these.”

He secures my armor to my chest and back, locking the belts in place with speed. He then locks my spaulders to my shoulders. After that, I stand on my hind legs and throw on my furlined cuirass. I’m just as warm now as I was under my blankets, though my want for sleep is waning.

“Will you be taking any of Oregano’s old swords?” Wolf River asks. “It’d be rather fitting.”

“No, that metal is long spoiled. I can’t risk a sword breakin’ in the heat of combat.” I reach under the bed and pull out my weapon locker. I kick it open, revealing two onyx longswords. I attach their sheathes to my cuirass. “Besides, he kept them because they’re important to him. I don’t want to dishonor his memory or his keepsakes. Now, all I need is… Oh!”

Wolf River tosses another bear cloak over me and wraps it around my neck. “I was jumped by a male and female,” he says before heading for the door.

I smile as I adjust my new cloak. “A husband and wife in combat,” I say with a faint blush.

Wolf River gasps and turns back towards me. “Are we married?”

“Of course.”

~Vision End~

Caro and Tohro both rise from their sleep as a shrill squeal of delight echoes throughout the house. Caro’s foreleg flies to his back out of instinct, and in doing so knocks over the half-empty wine bottle. The wine splashes onto the carpet, adjacent to the small droplets that were spat out the night before.

“I think Wolf River has arrived…” Caro mutters.

Tohro grunts and crawls out from under the blanket, standing up and stretching his body out with a mighty yawn. He snorts at the red spots all over the rug. “If Tangerine asks, I hit my head and that’s blood.”

“How is that better than spilling a drink?” Caro asks, setting the bottle upright.

“One of those liquids is expendable, in her eyes.”

“I think you still have her mixed up with who she used to be.” Caro stands and pulls the blanket over the stains.

While Tohro retrieves his bag and unpacks his leather armor, he and Caro hear Shae and Rosemary galloping upstairs, towards Tangerine’s room. “Mum! Are you okay?” Rosemary asks.

“I heard you screaming and—” Shae pauses as soon as the door creaks open. “Oh…”

Caro and Tohro hold in their chuckles, but Rosemary is the one who bursts out laughing, louder than Wolf River could ever squeal.

~Shae~

I feel like I’m in an Imperial lineup, sans the armor. Tangerine made me and the rest of Dragonrein stand aligned outside the front door, for what reason I’m not sure of, but I bet I can look forward to a motivational speech. I’m already charged with purpose; saving Nutmeg and Cinnamon. After everything that’s happened between me and Rosemary’s family, it’s hard not to feel a connection to those kids, even though I haven’t even met them yet.

One of Fauste’s teachings is the presence of invisible ties that transcend time and space, linking future friendships and subtly drawing them towards each other. I don’t believe in destiny, but these ties have proven to be true more than once. I was drawn to Caro and Tohro, after all. The odds of us coming across each other were astronomical, and yet, I was fortunate enough to meet my eventual best friends. I could have happened across any blacksmith, but it was Rosemary working the forge that day. She must have believed in some form of providence to have trusted her heart with me. I’m happy she did.

Hm. I do believe I just supplied a speech for myself. I’m more than ready for this. With the Dragonborn and two lycans among us, it’s hard to feel scared of what could lie ahead.

Tangerine and Wolf River stand beside each other in front of me, Caro, Tohro, and Rosemary. Their authority is secured with their heavy armor and rigid stances. Tangerine clears her throat and speaks.

“It feel so long since I’ve had soldiers to lead. Once again, I fall into a role I wasn’t certain I’d ever have.” She looks over all of us. “You’re all unruly and go beyond common practice to get what you want. You don’t believe in ceilin’s or stagnation. You only believe in goals and decency. It is an example I hope the rest of Equestria follows in the future, but until then, there is the here and now, and what’s happenin’ now is that there are children who need our help. The Empire, for all their good will, would deem this mission infeasible, would take too long to execute it, or would make it a full-scale assault on Fillydelphia. Not us. We are not the Empire. We are merely ponies with the means to infiltrate the Blackwings’ base of operations and take back what they have stolen. My children, and all the other children who have been spoilt their innocence in a cruel world will go free by our hooves.”

“This is just as much for family as it is for Equestria,” Wolf River states. “Are you all ready?”

“Salute!” Tangerine commands.

I do as she says, as do Tohro, Rosemary, and even Caro. We may not be in Imperial armor, but we are soldiers nonetheless, and we stand as one.

I see Tangerine’s aura fluctuate, turning from solid and strong to a soft warm glow, just for a few seconds. I wonder if she’s seen such loyalty in her life before, even from her own soldiers.

The only thing to spoil the moment is the distinct sound of thunder, and the starting raindrops of a coming storm. I can still see the little wisps of Fae within every drop. From a distance, it seems that the sky is filled with falling stars. I’ve always been fond of the rain, but I never thought it could be even more beautiful.

A few days of travel have passed. We’ve met little opposition, aside from the increasing rainfall. The wolves that normally traverse the upper regions of Equestria don’t want to bother us. One would assume that’s due to the rain. I don’t look forward to the day they come out of their holes.

Despite leading the charge and commanding our paths and resting places, Tangerine is keeping to herself most other times. She often goes off on her own when we take a break. One must wonder if she’s focused on her children. I know that sometimes, when I’m emotional, I feel it best just to cope with it myself. Tangerine is far less in tune with her emotions than I am… But, for all I know, she could just be a little moody.

I can see the Fae within the trees and grass. We’ve taken shortcuts through patches of woodland, and they are like luminescent tapestries to me. Every blade of grass contains a single strand of the Fae, which connects to another, and yet another. It’s… Oh, how I wish I could paint. At the very least, I can recall this image and relay it to Lancer and Eavesdrop whenever I see them again. They can make some amazing portraits with the right materials.

As we come out of the woods onto the winding cobblestone path, I do a headcount. Without even looking, I’m able to tell that we have a missing member, due to a change in the Fae around me. “Hold,” I say to the party. All of them stop and look at me. “We’re missing somepony.”

Tangerine looks to Caro and Tohro, then to Wolf River. She sighs. “Rosemary wanderin’ off? Ah, some things never change. Shae?”

“Hold on.” I close my eyes, touch the ground, and reach through the strands of Fae that lead back into the forest. I can sense a familiar aura. Calm, with an inner fire. That’s Rosemary, for certain. “She just fell behind. I’ll get her.”

“We’ll wait here,” Wolf River says.

I gallop through the woods, relying on the sight to guide my movements. Where there’s a stray branch, uneven ground, or thick puddles, the Fae subtly tells me to move around it.

“Rosemary!” I call out as her aura grows nearer. “You’re holding up the group.”

“Huh?” I hear her voice nearby, just around a large tree trunk. “Lassie? I’m sorry, I just noticed this patch, and… I’m fine, I’ll be up with you in a moment. D-don’t look at what I’m doin’.”

“If you have to take care of business… Oh.” I dismiss my assumption. Rosemary has actually stopped to smell the flowers. I can sense that she’s picking the fullest ones and compiling them together. She must be making a bouquet. “Well, don’t do anything alone out here. We’re already on the verge of Blackwing territory, and I don’t want to underestimate Shokenda’s omniscience.”

Rosemary pauses and looks up to the sky. She frowns at it, raises her hoof and thrusts it upwards. “Upyers, ya winged scrote.”

“Don’t be cute, this isn’t the time.”

“Just speakin’ the truth.” Rosemary packs the flowers away and walks over to me. “Hi,” she says shakily.

I raise my eyebrows at her. “Do I sense a surprise for me?”

Before Rosemary can answer, I tense up and turn around. I just sensed something. A new aura is nearby, and it’s not a pleasant one. It’s like prickling spines in the air. Noticing my alertness, Rosemary quietly stands up, clutching her bundle of flowers close to her with one hoof and the other reaching for her pouch.

I hear the snarls of wolves. Three come over a rise, fangs bared and their fur chaotic and matted. They’re not on the hunt; they’re outright feral. I wouldn’t need to see their distorted and hollow aura to know that.

Rosemary backs away from the wolves slowly. “...If I had a surprise for you, it wouldn’t be that.” She taps me on the barrel and presents a vial of lantern oil. “Should we run?”

“Yes. Not taking any chances.” I conjure up flames around my horn. “Do it.”

I send off a spread of flames as Rosemary throws the vial on the rocks in front of us. The droplets ignite. I feel a splash of heat evaporate the water droplets off my face. After that, I don’t bother looking to see our wall of fire sent the wolves running. We just make a break for the rest of the group.

I can still hear them, barking up a storm. I know I’m strong enough to fight them, in theory, but if they get ahold of me even slightly, it’s over. Not wanting to risk the wolves getting a trace on me or Rosemary, I take her hoof, concentrate my aura around both of us, and force us to disappear.

When the world comes back into view, we’re tumbling down the hill. I taste dirt and grass, and then feel rocks against my cheek. I stand up quickly, relieved to see Caro and Tohro in front of me. “We have wolves,” I say quickly.

“Sneaky mutts,” Wolf River grumbles. I watch as he steps forward, his lips pierced as he summons a growl of his own. He sounds just like a dog, it’s uncanny.

“What is he doing?” I ask Tangerine.

Tangerine kneels down and whispers to me. “Claiming territory. You think the Blackwings are the only ones who believe they can own land?”

“But they’re—” I start to say, before trailing off at a strange sight.

Wolf River arcs his neck, looks up, and howls loudly. Again, just like a real dog. How a horse can mimic such sounds is beyond me. What’s odder is that Tangerine sees fit to join in, howling at the sky in the exact same way, though her imitation is less convincing.

The wolves come out of the woods. They aren’t reacting to the howl. They stare us down with their hungry, mad eyes and bloody lips. “They’re feral,” I finish saying.

“Dammit.” Wolf River retrieves his war axe. “As if they weren’t insults to dogs already… Prepare!”

I summon a shaft of purple light into my hooves, with the far end extending outward into a blade. It feels right to wield a scythe once again, and it feels even better to wield it alongside the swords of my allies… save for one.

Caro hasn’t drawn Excalibur. He casts out his hoof and gallops in front of all of us, meeting the wolves halfway up the hill. I half expect him to start acting like a dog as well, with how things are progressing. I keep my hooves held tight to my scythe as he advances on the wolves.

Tohro swallows nervously. He’s the one watching with the most anticipation, slowly reaching for his new oaken crossbow. He needn’t worry. I see some the familiar golden draconic aura rising from within Caro. He’s going to speak a few words and save the day, I believe.

“Dren ov!” he shouts.

The wolves look like they’ve walked face-first into a gust of wind. They all whinge, twitching slightly as they run their paws over their ears. They then shake their heads, looking around in confusion. I notice their auras change, though it’s not a shift in color or frequency; a harsh, jagged, red aura has left their bodies, and is dissipating in the air around them.

With a loud bark from Wolf River, the wolves realize that they’re out of their depth, and run back into the woods. “Cowards,” he grunts.

“They weren’t feral,” I speak as soon as I realize it. “They were being controlled.”

“‘Were’ being the key word here,” Caro says with a snort. “And I thought the Blackwings couldn’t sink any lower... Now they’re messing with animals who have nothing to do with this war? That’s like drafting children.”

“How could you tell this was the Blackwings’ doing?” Wolf River asks.

“It’s the best assumption I have. For all we know, Shokenda could be watching us through the eyes of possessed animals. I know that sounds like witch hunter talk, but…”

“She’s done that,” Tohro says. “I saw it firsthoof. She ordered her unicorn elites to create small armies of wild animals for spying and interceptions. Eventually, she moved up to sleeper agents. Even if we’re not being followed, we’re… well, we’re always being followed.” He purses his lips and passes a nervous look to Caro. “Best keep that shout on hoof.”

“A zebra boy named Kyne gave it to me. Part of it, anyway,” Caro explains. “I wonder if it works on Blackwings? It could save us an unnecessary struggle.”

“Like I said, keep it on hoof.” Tohro taps Caro on the shoulder before waving us down the road. “Let’s go.”

“No point in bein’ a still target for watchin’ eyes, eh?” Rosemary says with a forced smile. It doesn’t stay with her for long, even as I walk alongside her. She opens her pouch. In the spring away from the wolves, she dropped all but a single sunflower.

It occurs to me, and it makes me laugh hollowly. This is what my fellow students at Wintercolt Academy thought Equestria looked like. A blighted sky, seemingly eternal rain, a shouldered burden of dread, death looming around every corner, and a constant reminder of the lives ruined by selfishness and brutality.

It’s most apparent when I look upon the torn up remains of a carriage. I don’t see any corpses, but I wouldn’t expect to find life nearby either. There are two especially large splotches of blood further down the road, next to one of the detached wheels, and even further are emptied crates.

Tangerine gets close to the carriage and inhales, tracing her muzzle over it. “What do you think, hon?”

Wolf River sniffs the air. “Tainted metal, sweat and bloodied dirt…” He shakes his head. “I think Shokenda’s elites were here.”

That’s not good… After my last encounter with that vengeful unicorn elite, I am not looking forward to the possibility of facing more than one of him. Despite my newfound powers, just thinking about him makes the world feel much darker.

“Let’s hope there’s something salvageable,” Rosemary says, turning over pieces of broken wood.

“I don’t think this situation and ‘hope’ belong in the same context,” I say, levitating a few of the boxes around for a closer look. They’ve been cleaned out, sans a few empty flasks and bowls. “Nothing good here.”

“Damn,” Tohro mutters, pushing one of the crates over.

Tangerine takes another long sniff, this time facing away from the carriage. “Wait, someone’s close by. Do you smell that?” She looks in Caro’s direction, her muzzle scrunched up. She looks as though she picked up something foul.

Caro, looking quite tired, is leaning on one of the crates, seeming keen to doze off. He jolts awake when he notices Tangerine’s glare, and touches his face. “Did I lay it on a little thick today?”

Wolf River sighs. “The crate, pup.”

Caro blinks. “Oh.” With a light push, he knocks the crate over. What lies inside gives us all collective pause. I never thought we’d see him again so soon.

Smart Cookie is curled up underneath the crate, clad in sage robes, a powerless scroll spread out before him. His eyes are closed and his ears are covered, while he mutters under his breath. “Ican’tseeyouIcan’thearyouyou’renotherelalalalalalaaaa…” I hope that he didn’t have anything to do with this mess.

Tohro smirks and calls him out. “Oi, Chippy!”

Smart Cookie opens his eyes, only just now realizing that he’s been found out. He crawls away in a panic, until he bumps into Wolf River and looks up. He laughs sheepishly.

“Stand,” Wolf River commands.

Chippy does so immediately, as if he were a marionette. “For the record, I paid Scar back.”

“I know, and I believe the stipulation was to not cross my sight ever again, Iron Shores.”

“Iron Shores?” Tohro asks. “Uh, his name is Chippy… Or, Smart Cookie. I’m not entirely clear on who he is, but apparently he has a fondness for multiple lives.”

“I also have a fondness for not being here. Ta-ta!” Smart Cookie waves and bolts off with a turn, making the basest of mistakes by walking past me. With a casual sweep of my hoof, he is snagged by the tail and yanked back to me.

“No one wants to hurt you, hon,” I say, my tone both sympathetic and hardened. I then point to the gruesome carriage wreck before us. “We just want to know what happened here.”

“I-It’s not what it looks like!” he says, standing up and waving his hoof. “I’m a victim here, though not as much as the other two... I was riding along with some sages to get to the coastline. The bylaws of this war dictate that healers are a neutral party, and can’t be injured without serious ramifications… So sorry that I can’t justify the random chance that the elites would break the code, though, in retrospect, I might’ve seen this coming.”

Wolf River approaches Smart Cookie, leans in close, and sniffs him. After an arduous pause, he pulls away and smiles. “He speaks the truth, for once. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Smart Cookie stands up, dusts himself off, and squeezes the water out of his robes. “You know, nothing I ever said to the Carrier Clan, besides my name, was a lie.”

Wolf River is not amused. “That, in of itself, is a lie. By signing on with us, you agreed to our scriptures. We weren’t just your allies, we were your brethren, and you stole Mjolnir from its sanctum. You lied by betraying our code!”

“Oh, come off it. No one can prove I stole Mjolnir. Besides, you got it… back....” Smart Cookie seems to wish he hadn’t said that. His aura freezes for a moment, just as he does in fear, as Wolf River’s stone-cold stare keeps him glued to the ground. “Look, if you must know, I had to steal it and present it as tribute to Altair.”

That doesn’t help his case. Wolf River snarls at him. “The thief?”

“Keep diggin’ that grave, grampy,” Rosemary japes at Smart Cookie.

“So that’s how you became a Nightingale!” Tohro shouts. “Way to take advantage of Altair’s faith, Chippy.”

Chippy… Uh, Smart Cookie, has had enough. His aura bursts outward from the confines of his body as he stands up, grabs the collar of his sage robe and yanks it off over his head. “Well, Tohro Blackwing, I’ll gladly let you know, I’m done with that! I’m just Smart Cookie! I’m not Iron Shores, I’m not Chippy, and I’m sure as shit not Soothing Melody!” He bucks the robe away as soon as it hits the dirt. “For the record, though, none of that compares to when I infiltrated Wintercolt Academy as Twinkleshine. You’d be amazed what one can do a student’s uniform and an inordinately shaped carrot.”

“Oh, for Fauste’s sake…” I mutter, rubbing the bridge of my muzzle. “Why did you play this name game for so long?”

“Well…” He looks over all of us. While his gaze lingers most over Wolf River, most likely out of fear and doubt from his presence, he sighs, sounding ready to explain what’s been going on under the noses of many an organization. “Okay. So, it started when I found Precursor scripture—”

An intense blast of fire strikes Smart Cookie in the barrel. He flies backward into the wreckage of the carriage, a choke turning into a scream. I see something intrude upon his aura. He leans forward, revealing a piece of wood embedded into his shoulder.

I immediately run to his side and lie him down on his side. He doesn’t seem concerned about his impalement. “Gah, shit…” He clutches his wound with a trembling hoof. “Oh, stop playing games and come out! If you want me dead, then kill me already!”

I feel a stinging presence slice through the aura of the world. I feel them before I turn and see them. Two elites, towering above us on the road. Dark and wicked, armored from head to hoof, with no sign of there ever having been flesh to conceal before. The word ‘elite’ is an understatement. In Shokenda’s place, I would have called them demons.

There is a frightening amount of violent anger radiating out from the one on the left. It’s him, the one who twice came close to killing me. Such anger he carries, permeating the air... Did I lead him here? One could wonder…

The elites stare past everypony else, with shared intensity directed at Smart Cookie. “We know you’ve been hiding a Precursor tomb from us,” they say in unison. “You will tell Shokenda how you found it, and where it is. If you are thorough and truthful, you will live.”

Smart Cookie grins at them. “And you’ll die in a blazing inferno. That’s two wins for m—” He’s cut short by an armored punch to the stomach. He chokes on his words and slumps forward in the air, gasping for breath.

Caro gallops in from the side and shouts “Dren ov!” like he did with the wolves. Despite the same gusty effect rolling over the elites, their aura does not change in the slightest. They both raise their hooves and levitate Caro away, sending him downhill.

“Dead or alive, Smart Cookie,” they both say. “You are either a nuisance removed from our mistress’ presence, or an asset to her endgame. There is nothing you can do to escape her will.”

“Rrgh! Then take me to her! Let me call her what she is to her face!”

The elites advance forward. “As you wish, but don’t think that you’ll—”

“CUNT! She’s a right cunt, just so you know!”

“Wuld nah kest!” Caro dashes in front of Smart Cookie and summons Excalibur to his hoof. It’s like a golden sun breaking through the rain. “I’ve had enough. Chippy, Cookie, whoever the hell you are, when these two are dead, I expect you to tell us everything.”

“Somepony is sure of themselves,” says the left elite. He summons a two black ethereal blades to his side. Something about that aura strikes me as familiar, but I don’t want to believe it’s possible, especially after all I’ve been through. I put it out of my mind and focus on Smart Cookie’s wounds. I summon my most potent healing spell to my hooves and trace over his wounds.

I watch the ensuing battle. As Caro raises Excalibur up high, all the Fae around him changes from a gentle blue to a royal yellow, closing in on him and the sword. “Do you know what this is?” he asks the elites. I can sense their aura rupture as they look upon the legendary sword of kings. “Yes, you do.”

Caro’s aura is like a controlled flame, and his sword carries its golden gleam with every effortless swing. It’s like he’s dancing through the downpour of magic bolts thrown by the elites. He lands a vertical slash against the unfamiliar elite, while my old nemesis turns on me, lighting his horn

I slam my hooves to the ground, summoning a protective dome around me and Smart Cookie. A blast of black aura glances off of it, partially, but the remains of it eat a hole through it. Knowing that it’s me that this elite wants, I decide to make good on his desires. He’ll fight me, alright. I leap through the hole in the shield and call on my scythe.

I land in front of the elite. “This is the third time we’ve met,” I say to him. “Courtesy dictates I at least know your name, before I put you out of your desperation.”

His response is a bolt of black lightning. I quickly raise my scythe, making it glance off. “Elites have no names,” he says. “It has been stricken from me.”

“Pathetic,” I reply, sweeping my weapon. He leaps over it and teleports behind me. I deflect another black bolt. “Another poor creature left with nothing but hatred.” I step forward, twirling my scythe in a continuous revolution. In doing so, I concentrate the magic of the ground, air, and rain into the blade. “Return to the Fae!” With a diagonal swing, I unleash a blast of sharp light.

The elite sidesteps the attack, but I counted on that. With my new reserves of magic, I’m easily able to teleport into the path of my attack, reach out, and absorb it. I feel my horn and hooves bursting at the seams with magical energy, all of which I unleash upon the hateful elite with one forward thrust. He can’t get away. I feel it shred through his armor.

Even so, he’s a resilient one, and my attack only tore off a few pieces of his armor, and merely scratched what remains. Even the exposed underarmor of his legs and chest are bulky. Elites are built like fortresses.

Just as I’m about to charge again, I notice something. I didn’t notice it before from far away, but his aura, while fiery around the edges, is hollow. How can that be? Nopony else’s aura looks like that.

He takes the first step, but the instant his armored horn glows, a monstrous figure rises from behind him. A short-furred lycan. It’s Tangerine. She snatches the elite by his hind leg and slams him into the ground, several times. She’s using him like a child’s doll. After all he’s put me through, it makes me smile.

Rosemary comes around with her sword ablaze, also smiling at her mother’s impressive display. The humiliation is complete when she tosses the elite against a tree. Rosemary then leaps towards the elite, aiming her sword towards one of the holes in his armor. She pins him to the tree with a hard jab and a hollow thud. The sword continues to burn as it pierces his body. “Feel the heat, you bastard!” she yells.

As satisfying as it would be to take vengeance on him for twice almost killing me, I don’t want to relish this. I return to a proper, ladylike stance and do away with my scythe. Tangerine and I share a nod. She steps forward, lightly pushing Rosemary aside. She then draws her two longswords, which fit her wolfen state just as much as her equine form. She raises them up high and slices across the elite’s neck. His helmet falls from his body, rolling to a stop in front of me and Rosemary.

It’s empty.

The elite has no head.

“What the fuck?!” Rosemary exclaims.

The helmet’s eye holes emit more black aura. “What? You think Shokenda trusts equine flesh?” says the elite. His voice seems shared between the helmet and the body… for whatever body there is within that armor, which removes Rosemary’s sword and comes down from the tree. It socks Rosemary across the jaw, then advances on me.

Tangerine snarls and screams at the elite. Even her breathing sounds demonic as she leaps onto the helmet and tries to crush it with her foot. It doesn’t even bend. I think the elite is laughing beneath all of the angry canid noises. Just as she’s about to focus her anger on the body, the other elite leaps on her back, two ethereal swords drawn. She can’t help me while she tries to get him off her back.

The first elite’s body remains focused on me. It summons a ring of black flame that surrounds his him. “I’ll deliver you to Shokenda in an urn.” He waves his hoof. I feel the heat wrap around me. It’s an intense burning sting worse than any I’ve felt before. This oppressive display of dark, inordinate, painful, magic… I’ve experienced this before.

As I create a dome of ice around me, shoving the flames away. It quickly melts. “You used an Elder Scroll, didn’t you?” I accuse.

The elite’s body rushes me, grappling me and pinning me in the mud. “Like I would dare. Only Mistress Shokenda has the power to use the Precursor treasures.”

He shouldn’t have said that. My eyes glow as I breathe flames of my own. I shove the elite armor off, and rise from the mud. “Blasphemer! The scrolls were created by Fauste! Take that back!”

The armor chuckles. “You fleshy equines and your false gods…”

“FALSE GOD?!” I launch forward and shove the armor into the tree. My hooves are faster than a mortal eye can see, pummeling dents deep into the armor. I smash a gaping hole into the armor’s chest. I raise both hooves high up, summoning even more of the Fae into them, and unleash it all into a single concentrated blast. The armor, the tree, the foliage surrounding the tree, it’s all reduced to ash, at my hooves.

Caro, who has locked in sword against the other, intact elite, falters as he sees the devastation I have left. “Shae, how did you—” The elite’s ethereal blade slices into his neck. At his shout, Tohro leaps at the elite, digging Muramasa into its neck.

“Let’s see how you like it!” Tohro shouts. “C’mon, Caro! Even those who can’t bleed can die!”

Caro wipes the blood off his neck. It leaves a smear on his wet coat. “Oh yes.” He swings Muramasa. The Fae gathers around it, making it glow even brighter. He brings it into the other side of the elite’s neck. “And…”

“Now!” Tohro removes Muramasa with a swift swing, breaking the metal of the elite’s armored neck. Caro concentrates Excalibur’s power, intensifying its glow even further, until it unleashes a magical explosion of its own. The elite’s neck armor shatters, its helmet flying off to Fauste knows where. I can’t tell if it landed nearby, because I can’t sense it.

The elite’s armor falls to the ground, as useless as unworn metal could ever be, though its hollow aura remains. I keep a close eye on it. “Is anypony going to take that?” Rosemary asks. “Because if you are, don’t.”

Wolf River has been Smart Cookie’s shield, having transformed into a wolf to cover him. With an affirming grunt, he returns to his equine form. The process seems painful, with his claws retracting into hooves, but he seems unfazed by it after all these years. “Well done, everyone. You fight as brutally as you do strategically.”

“Brutal…” I mutter, looking at the destruction I’ve left from my bout of anger.

“And, on that note, I’ll be going!” Smart Cookie grips his wound as he gets to his hooves. “Just a red potion and I’ll be right as rain.”

“You could have a punctured lung,” Tangerine says. “Don’t chance it. Equestria has lost enough of its founders as is.”

“Up until recently, no one even knew I was alive.” He pounds his wound for emphasis, whimpering when he does. “I… Ergh, I think I’ve made a damn good case as to why anonymity was a good idea. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

Caro and Tohro intercept him, much to his frustration. “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t hear something about a Precursor tomb,” Caro says. “Clearly, that is important to Shokenda. Your safety is already compromised, so clearly there’s no harm in telling a few more people why she wants it.”

Smart Cookie looks around at all of us. I believe he’s gotten the message. “Fine,” he says. “But not here. Shokenda’s eyes and ears are everywhere. Go on with your mission. Don’t come looking for me. Altair will find me before any of you would. When he does, I’ll have him contact you. Come to us, and I’ll tell you everything. Equestria will need its strongest warriors for what is to come.”

“Can you at least tell us that much? What is to come?”

“Uh, a lot of ponies burning to death…” Smart Cookie shrugs. “No pressure.”

Caro purses his lips and swallows. I can feel his aura ripple, just a little bit.

Smart Cookie salutes Tangerine and Tohro, then walks off, pulling a red potion out of his pouch. I hope he has many of those. “Best of luck storming Fillydelphia. Try not to die.”

“Grand advice, good sir,” Tohro says. I notice that he’s trying to put Muramasa back in its sheath, but it resists, not wanting to come out of his grip. “Oh, bugger all…” He tries to force it a few more times, but Muramasa keeps growling at him, louder and louder, refusing to let go. “That’s no good.”

“Of course it isn’t going in, it hasn’t drawn blood yet,” Rosemary explains. “Those elites were just walkin’ armor.”

But they were alive. Does Shokenda truly detest equine flesh so much as to take it out of the picture entirely?

“Well, I’m up a creek…” Tohro touches Muramasa to a wound on his upper foreleg, but it won’t absorb any of his blood. It continues growling at him. “Hm. I guess it likens self-inflicted blood to drinking your own piss.”

“You’re so romantic,” Caro says, rolling his eyes. He offers his foreleg to Tohro, more or less forcing it upon him. “Well? Cut horizontally and it means nothing.”

Tohro, caught off his guard, smiles deeply and raises Muramasa to Caro’s foreleg. “This ain’t nothing, mate...” He cuts gently. The blood seeps into the blade like it were a rag. Muramasa stops its metallic growling and allows itself to be put back into its sheath.

As gentle as he was, Muramasa’s cut still hurts Caro like hell. I should expect no less from a godly weapon. To stifle his grunts, I approach him and go over the slit with a quick healing spell. “To bleed is to care,” he mutters, looking between Tohro and the wound. “...love you.”

This is something I’ve always wanted to try.

Pegasi can fly over the ocean just fine. Earthwalkers need to use vessels. Unicorns lie somewhere in the middle. Already being voyagers in a sea of magic, it would make sense that water is a significant part of our culture. It is believed that Fauste was born in a spectral ocean, and rose to the plains of eternity. It has been observed that the Fae rises and falls like the tide, and now I have seen it for myself. Watching the horizon does make the Fae seem like water.

It makes sense that our capital was built on the water’s edge, and that the most powerful unicorns are marked by their ability to walk on water.

I put my hoof out onto the lake, grazing the surface. It’s turbulent and rippled from the downpour, but with enough focus, I’m able to condense the water beneath my hoof enough to not break the surface.

I step out onto the water…

“Shae.”

I turn my head. The first thing I see is Caro. Then I fall into the lake. After a few seconds of me floating around under the surface, feeling like an imbecile for being so easily distracted, I see Caro’s hoof break the surface. His aura is murky, looking at it from beneath the surface.

I propel myself out of the water, leaping out and landing right next to him. With a breath, I levitate the liquid out of my clothes and let it fall to the ground. A meaningless effort, given the rainfall, but I refuse to be so cold. “What is it, Caro?” I ask.

“We need to talk. Only Rosemary has addressed how strange you’ve been acting, and she’s not exactly looking out for your best interests. She’s more impressed that you managed to leave a crater in a forest. Tohro and I, for one, find it terrifying.”

I knew this would happen one day, just not before we got to Fillydelphia. “Caro, please… Not now.”

“When will be a good time, then? After you destroy a building in Everfree during a Blackwing invasion?”

“You know it won’t come to that. I thought I made it clear back before I lost my vision that I’m done with…” I pause, realizing where I am right now, and much has changed since then, and in so little time. “Once we save those kids, I’m hanging up my Dragonrein coat of arms.”

“It won’t end forever. Even I don’t plan on retiring. I might slow down, return to Riverhoof, or perhaps meditate alone in a cave for a few years. In any case, Equestria needs us, and it’s going to need us long after the Blackwings and the dragons are all gone.”

“I’m sorry, a few years in a cave, alone? You wouldn’t last an hour without Tohro.”

I intended on making him blush, but he’s not budging. “Platinum sanctioned us because she trusts us to be what Equestria needs,” he says. “It doesn’t need ponies too powerful for their own good. Last I checked, someone who dares call themselves a god isn’t in right sorts. It’s something Shokenda would say.”

He has the right to be concerned about my power trip. Killing Chrysalis was many things at once. Thrilling and terrifying, just to name a few. But, he calls me the daring one? “Chrysalis threatened my children. And I am nothing like Shokenda. If I promise to never call myself a god ever again, could we please not have this conversation?”

“Do you have those powers under control, or are you just afraid of confronting what you could become?” Caro retorts. “Shokenda was probably just another pony once upon a time. But she had an insane, perverse idea that Equestria needs to be ravaged, and somehow gained the power to do it. Two things, Shae. That’s all it takes.”

It’s now of all times that I’m happy Tohro has rubbed off on him so. I get the feeling he’s been on the receiving end of this conversation too.

“So… even if your powers are permanent, promise me that when you have your next bad day, you simply walk away,” he pleads.

It seems so easy to think about, but I don’t know when that bad day will come, or how it will change me. Still, I think that if I hold this moment, my future wedding, and my children close to my heart, I won’t lose control. Shokenda doesn’t have as much love as I do.

A simple agreement wouldn’t mean anything. I need to show Caro that I have it under control.

As I walk forward, I gaze up at the sky, watching the steady rainfall from the dark clouds from above. The lake welcomes me, my hooves greeting its surface with a gentle touch. Each step I take sends a ripple into the water, each one making me fear I might fall through. Everypony falls eventually, but I can’t afford to.

One hoof after the other, I make my way across the lake. I’m halfway across, I believe. I falter for a moment, but quickly regain my standing. After another few steps, I stumble again.

Caro speaks up. “Shae?”

He worries for nothing, I’m fine, I’m… I stumble once more. My hooves break the surface of the water. I quickly pull them out and keep moving forward, but it’s too late. The water no longer obeys me.

My head begins to spin like a raging whirlpool. The world is turning dark again… In a moment of weakness, I plunge into the lake. Its icy grip consumes me in an instant. The darkness… I didn’t want to come back here.

A small light pulses amidst the depths. From it, a spiral of stars flows outward like a waterfall. I’m swept up in the current, throwing me across a steadily appearing stream of constellations. My voice is lost in the vast emptiness of it all, until finally my head breaks the surface of this astral torrent. I reach out, flailing like a confused child. Hell, I am a confused child.

My solace comes when I feel a foreleg wrap around mine. The water seems more gentle now. I hold tight to the foreleg, coughing my throat out. My head is still light, but at least I can finally breathe. “Thank you, Caro…” I gasp.

“I am not Uncle Caro.”

I know that voice, but it’s also different. It’s soft, childlike, and yet omnipotent. I look up and see a tall blue alicorn, with a mane made of night and stars. She’s different from the child I love, but she is unmistakably my Luna, wearing a soft smile that makes everything warm again.

“Hello, Mother.”

~Vision End~

Soaking wet and on the verge of panic, Caro sprints headlong through the woods, throwing subtlety to the wind. The trees and bushes blur in his field of vision. He’s ignorant of the tree branches and brambles lashing at his sides. His hooves crush the soil and branches in his path. All that matters is getting back to camp as quickly as possible.

“Shit, shit, shit!” he yells, his voice already out of breath. His panic is getting the worst of him. “Shae, what the hell…”

He only hesitates for a moment when he steps out into a clearing and sees a marching Blackwing party. Their leading officer turns and notices Caro. “Oi, ain’t ya—”

“Out of my way!” Caro just charges and shoves him aside, tossing him into his fellow soldiers. They’re gone from his mind the instant they’re out of earshot.

After fighting his way through another brush, rolling down a hill, and colliding with a tree, he stands back up and keeps running. After jumping a stream and vaulting a rotting log, he finally comes to the campsite. He slows down, bows his head, and allows himself to breathe.

Rosemary looks up from her arrangement of flowers. “Hm? Caro, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Were they friendly?”

Caro waves behind him. “Shae, she… Ergh…” He clutches his stomach. “She’s… gone!”

“She ran off?” Rosemary drops the flowers and stands up. She looks fit to draw her sword right then and there. “Did a Blackwing nab her?! I’ll kill ‘em!”

“No, no, she…” Caro pants, taking another breath. “She just disappeared. She fell into a pond, and then she… I swam until my hooves went numb, but I couldn’t find her anywhere! I even tried my aura vision shout, but that was no good either… How does Shae live that sort of sight for every waking moment?”

“Supposedly, one just gets used to it,” Rosemary mutters, rubbing her eyes. “Dammit. Ever since she, uh, spoke to Fauste, she’s been becomin’ somethin’ strange. Back at the house, I caught her mumblin’ to herself until she screamed ‘What am I?’ I don’t have the words to help her, y’know. I ain’t no philosopher. Hell, I don’t think an actual philosopher could explain this.”

“‘The blacksmith has no sword,’ I believe that’s called,” says Tangerine as she walks out of her tent, Wolf River coming out shortly after. “Shae has been touched by a Divine, and that is a path she must walk alone. I’m sure she’ll come back to us within the night.” She points down the trail Caro came sprinting down. “That being said, I want us all to take up surveillance around her last known location. I don’t want her to be caught unawares by a feral beast or Blackwing when she reappears in our realm.”

“You suppose she’s in another realm, Mum?” Rosemary asks.

Wolf River follows up a nod from Tangerine. “It happens. I remember during one of my earlier missions as a Carrier, Scar was once briefly taken to Tartarus when he touched a blighted relic. It was not meant to be held by mortals. Of course, he fought his way out.”

“And knowing Shae is about as far from Tartarus as you can get, I doubt we have anything to worry about,” Tohro says, coming out of his tent. He wraps his scarf around his mouth, and takes off. “I’ll scout ahead!” he announces, disappearing over the trees.

Tangerine appears to be deep in thought as she passes by Caro and Rosemary. As she ascends the trail, they hear her mutter, “Maybe I made the right decision after all.”

~Shae~

I would make this embrace last forever, if I could. While I always had hope that I would return from the battle of Ghastly Gorge alive, there was a time when I had lost my sight, both physically and spiritually. I had believed that I would never look upon my daughters ever again. To never see such beauty for the rest of my life would be its own type of hell.

Speaking of beauty, it’s finally struck me how odd it is to see Luna like this. I’ve only seen her as a child, both in dreams and in reality. She has spoken articulately in the former, as she does here, but when when she appears young, her words betray her appearance. Now that she looks like a tall, beautiful adult mare, her voice carries much more weight.

“So, this is how you envision yourself in your future?” I ask.

“My physical body is so limiting. I’m not strong enough to maintain a mature form. Celina and I might have to wait a few years more before we can look like this all the time.” She sways her neck and turns her head, causing her starry mane to swing around to the other side of her neck. “A princess of the night, truly.”

“Very much so.”

“Only here may I be what I truly am inside, for now.” She peers down at me, wearing a sly smile. “Unless, of course, you wish me to be your little filly for a while longer.”

“I’m fine with whatever you wish for yourself,” I assure her. “You’ll always be my little filly. Your future as a ruler, however...” I trace my eyes up from her blue hoof regalia, past her crest and up to her crown. “I can’t imagine anyone questioning your leadership. You command such gentle presence.”

She smirks at that, twirling through a collection of stars with the grace a princess should carry. She tops off her spin with a respectful bow. When she rises, her voice turns grim. “That is what I hoped for, especially now that I can finally reach out to you.”

“Has something happened?”

“Your anguish. Every evening, I extend my presence out through the threads of the Fae within Equestria, and see into the sleeping ponies. Should their essence be filled with doubt, grief, terror or anger, I lend a few calming words, leaving a bit of myself in them to quell their pain.” She looks at me with a look only parents should hold for their children. “What pains you so much that I can’t enter your dreams?”

The trials I’ve endured since leaving Everfree run through my head in a flash. Witnessing so much death all at once, Caro nearly dying, losing my sight to heal his leg, so many moments of terror and loneliness, all ended by the gentle voice of Fauste, and an awakening within me... If it weren’t for being in the company of my daughter, I would start to tear up. For somepony with such godlike powers, I’m still so fragile.

There’s the answer to her question. Godlike powers. I can’t ignore this any longer. Rosemary gave me a moment to contemplate what this means and now I must come to a conclusion, lest the confusion over my place between the realms of mortals and gods devour me.

“Luna… In moments of power, or when you exercise your unique traits as a princess of the night… Do you think of yourself as a god?”

~Vision End~

Tangerine, Caro and Rosemary rotate the edge of the lake where Shae disappeared into. It has only been half an hour since then, by Caro’s estimate, but the uncertainty of where she might be seems to stretch every minute three times over.

The question that had been rubbing against both Caro and Rosemary’s minds is about to come to the surface. It seems ill-fitting, given that more pressing concerns away, but Tangerine’s murmurings about her ‘decision’ have continued since the search began, and now Caro feels compelled to ask, “Tangerine, is there something you’re not telling us about Shae?”

Tangerine turns her head, surprised at such a question. She chuckles. “Oh, it won’t change much. It’s in the past.”

“How far past?” Rosemary asks. “If it could help us understand what’s goin’ on with Shae, then it can’t hurt to fess up, y’know.”

“Well, if you insist. It can’t possibly do more damage than what’s already been done…” Tangerine rubs the back of her neck. “So, uh, when I first took Oregano’s place in the Imperial Legion, I was still training up for combat, so most of my affairs as a general involved paperwork and dictation of battle plans, as well as some rather extreme measures that might be put in place in the future, just in case the war went too far.”

“How many deaths is ‘too far’?” Caro asks bluntly.

“The first battle at the gorge,” Tohro says, passing by in flight. “I haven’t seen any of these extreme measures but I’ve heard about them in passing from Gauntlet. The Legion has come dangerously close to putting caution to the wind quite a few times during this war. I don’t think I want to see that happen.”

“Thankfully, Queen Platinum and the other commanding officers were just as reluctant to cross the line,” Tangerine says. “Most of the plans don’t get past their initial planning phase because they are either counter-productive or not viable in long-term warfare. The one that I was put in charge of was simply called, ah, Scholars of War, and if I approved it, it would’ve gone into effect immediately.”

“Scholars?” Caro asks. “That doesn’t sound too threatening... But that’s just a name. What did it entail?”

Rosemary speaks up just as Tangerine opens her mouth. “You were going to draft students from Wintercolt Academy!”

Tangerine swallows whatever gentle confession she was going to make, and slowly nods. “...Yes. And you can probably guess who was at the top of that list. Shae had so much potential as a soldier, and she was already hardened from the deaths of her parents. It seemed like she would be a perfect fit for a magical offensive. We could have overwhelmed the Blackwings with an onslaught of young, powerful mages… Of course, it all sounds so attractive on paper, doesn’t it?”

“You held the lives of hundreds of innocent children in your hooves,” Tohro muses. “How did it feel?”

“As heavy as they would be if I actually held them. In retrospect, it seemed so easy to decline the act, but the battle of the gorge was still fresh in our memories. I had lost my husband. Everyone under my command was in pain. I was so lucky that I had the willpower to say no. In that moment, I decided that we could still preserve a bit of innocence in the world.”

Caro smiles at Tangerine. “I wish I had known about that sooner. I would have had more respect for you, before you tried to have my head cut off.”

Everypony shares in a hearty bit of laughter, put out quickly when Wolf River emerges from the lake in his wolf form. He shakes his head as he turns back into a stallion. “You were right, Caro. She’s all but gone from the world.”

“Just for a little while, hopefully,” Tangerine says, trying to comfort Caro, Tohro and Rosemary’s distressed expressions. “I would’ve envied her, all those years ago. What I wouldn’t have given to just disappear for a short time and let fly all of my worries…”

~Shae~

Luna and I stand beside each other, watching projections of the recent past. My fight against the confused lycan form of Tangerine, my quick and sudden execution of Chrysalis, and from just moments ago, my obliteration of a Blackwing elite, along with a fair amount of nature.

“A unicorn can’t do that,” I say defensively. “They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. But whenever someone tries to hurt me or my friends, I feel as though they’re impeding on something sacred.”

“Fauste’s power is sacred,” Luna adds.

I point to myself. The little lavender unicorn who was once a meager student. “I am not Fauste.”

Luna does away with the projections, thankfully so. I’ve had enough of them. “And yet, her strength is yours,” she says plainly. “It’s funny that you should bring this up, because I’ve been contemplating godhood a lot lately, as the number of ponies I’ve helped steadily rises.”

I’m picturing a little filly musing on the ramifications of almighty power, but with the speech impairments that come with being a little one. I nearly miss what Luna is saying as I smile at the thought.

“I witness not the absolute extent of ponies’ minds and memories, merely what torments them in a single moment. If I were a god, I would be able to do much more than that. At least, that’s how I feel. So… No. I don’t see myself as a god. Though if I were, I’d prefer the term goddess. It carries a much more eloquent ring to it.”

It does, but that raises another point. “And I said ‘god’ to Chrysalis. Such a narcissistic, power-crazed thing to say, but I said it. She threatened you and Celina, and something inside of me just snapped.”

“We both are much different ponies when the things we love are challenged. Remember that screaming match I got into with Celina when she wouldn’t let me play with the ursa minor doll?”

I remember that day with guilty fondness. “She asked politely if she could play with it…”

Luna snaps an intense glare at me. “It’s mine.”

I lean back, trying to find something else to look at, but there’s nothing but stars and nebulas as far as the eye can see.

Luna relaxes herself and chuckles. “Suddenly my physical body’s refusal to change seems fitting.” She taps her chin. “Hm. At the moment, I am merely seen as a child by many, including you. I do not mind, but I’ll only be seen as a leader, or a potential goddess, when I am able to take on this adult form. Celina, despite her magical prowess and beauty, is only treated as a figurehead at the moment. We are both not ready to take our respective thrones, or be seen as leaders, much less deities.”

Now I imagine Celina, somehow appearing even more beautiful and regal than how I last saw her, and Luna as she appears to me sitting beside her, with many ponies bowing before them. “But you will be, regardless of whether or not you see yourselves as such. The difference will lie in how they feel about you. Will they love you, or fear you?”

Luna is taken aback. She shakes her head, very slowly, her eyes widening slightly. “I don’t want to be feared.”

I realize how much like a foreboding prophet I sounded like, and immediately return to a motherly disposition. I move closer to Luna and touch her hoof. “You won’t be. You’re already doing great things for your future subjects, and it’ll keep getting better for them, just so long as you never forget how good it feels to be so kind.”

“It is my understanding that you walk a fine line between kindness and judgment, like I must someday. Yours is a chaotic path, but you choose to walk it anyway, despite having the means to just turn back.”

Luna gestures to behind me, where another projection takes shape. It’s the Rainbow Palace gleaming in the afternoon sun. Celina and Luna, in their younger, physical forms, are looking at me with wistful yearning.

Luna speaks the truth. If I fear my strength to the point where I don’t want to use it anymore, it’d be easiest just to let go. It was my plan in the first place, so what’s the harm in putting the plan into motion now?

I remember what Queen Platinum said at the summit. It’s so easy to give up something you’ve held onto for so long, isn’t it? But she also said that there were some things worth holding onto, and now, more than ever, I understand that last part. I’ve burned so many bridges for the most extreme options, but it was only recently that I’ve found a constant I could never let go of, no matter fargone I might become.

My daughters.

There’s no escaping it, I’m a mother now, and I love it. It’s an inevitability that will follow me for the rest of my life. Everything else is a burnable bridge. But should I burn them down on purpose just because I fear burning them down by accident? That’s not what Caro or Tohro do, and that’s not what I’m going to do either. If anything, I should take comfort in knowing that if everything else burns to the ground, I will always have my daughters to fall back on. They’ll be there for me, just as I’ll be there for them.

I turn away from the projection of the Rainbow Palace. Out of the corner of my vision, I see it disappear entirely. It won’t remain that way for long. “You know, Luna, I always wondered why former soldiers hang up their weapons instead of simply doing away with them, but it makes sense to me now. Their weapons are an integral part of them, a tool with which they made an impression on the world. It’s an extension of their being.”

A smile returns to Luna. I think she knows where I’m going with this. “You can’t dispose of your magic any more than they can dispose of a sword, or axe.”

“No, I can’t… But just because I have these powers doesn’t mean I have to use them.”

Luna is beaming. Her grin could be mistaken for the full moon’s light.

“I’ll finish what I started,” I say. “One more quest, one more battle with the Blackwings, and then I can put my powers aside, until I absolutely need them. I’ll come home to you and Celina, and then… Well, we’ll see where life takes us. I’ll be there for you both, all the way through. I don’t have to be a god. I just want to be your mother.”

Ever since we left the villa, I’ve felt torn apart. Like a piece of myself has been missing, left behind in shreds somewhere on my long journey. Remembering where I’ll be when this is all over doesn’t necessarily return that piece to me, but it grants me a sense of normality that I’ve also been missing for some time.

“Thank you, darling,” I say to Luna.

She nods, takes a reserved bow, turns around, and walks to an emerging white gateway. “My debt is repaid,” she says.

It takes me a moment to snap out of my revelation and realize what she just said. “Debt?” I run to her and stand between her and the gateway. “What…? There’s no debt.”

“Of course there is,” Luna says, legitimately confused. “You brought me into this world. You gave me Celina, a home, a future… The very least I could have done is return the favor and grant you peace of mind in your time of need.”

I am aghast. In my shock, I shake my head and laugh. “W-wait, wait… You brought me here and talked with me because you thought you owed me something?”

Luna is completely humorless as she says “Yes.”

I pace in a circle while I let this sink in. This is what happens when the mentality of a wise goddess meshes with the innocence of a child, and it seems that even in her purest form, that innocence shines through, even in her greatest moments. I’m honored by her selflessness, but that’s no reason to be dishonest about how I feel.

“Luna, there is no debt!” I repeat. “The moment I decided that you were my daughter, all concept of debt went out the window. I mean, do you really think any sane pony becomes a parent expecting some sort of reward for their efforts? That something good will just drop out of the sky for basic decency? It doesn’t work like that.”

“I just… I figured...” Luna trails off, now her own breed of aghast.

“It’s unconditional. I thank you for your help but don’t you ever think that you owe me anything just because I’m your mother.” I come closer to Luna than ever, tightly embracing her godlike form. Despite her size, I can still sense the little filly that I yearn to hold close to me once again. “I didn’t choose to be your mother because I wanted any favors, I did it because I love you.” I nuzzle my cheek against hers. My foreleg wraps around her neck, parting the threads of her mane and breaking through the stars. “I loved you from the moment I first saw you.”

In an instant, Luna’s adult form completely disappears, and in my hooves I find the little blue filly I’m most familiar with. She rises from my embrace and throws her forelegs around me, squeezing me tight, as if she’s intent on never letting me go. The only thing missing is the mortal world, but for now, I will have this.

“Mommy…” Luna mutters.

~Vision End~

“When you’re at war, everythin' you’ve learned about morality can fall away,” Tangerine says. “Everyone in the Imperial Legion, even Queen Platinum, was disillusioned when they saw the damage the Blackwings could do. That they could so easily throw aside the lessons learned from Equestria’s formation. Merciless, and depraved, and selfish… We gave them exactly what they wanted. An enemy.”

Caro has remained focused on the lake, hardly even blinking. If there is sign of Shae’s return, he refuses to miss it. “Cretins will always knock you down and say you provoked them. I had to put up with more than a few of those as a child.”

Tangerine just nods. “Even at the royal level, there are many who seek only their own satisfaction. Rather, very few sought to help those in need, instead of themselves. The queen may well be the last royal who still believes in the lessons learned at the Hearth’s Warmin'.”

Tohro chuckles and waves his hoof at Caro. “I don’t know why, but I can’t picture you as a child. I just imagine a slightly less angry you, but just as big.”

“And with bronze hair…" Caro mutters. "Well, you’re not entirely wrong. But all the strength that came from working the forge was in body, not really in mind. The wandering sheep always gets picked on by the wolves… or some such noise. When the bullying became too much to bear, I trained with the swords I created. I never intended on actually fighting back.” He paws at the ground, giving a snort as he glares at the lake. “Of course, the bullies all backed off when I started absentmindedly carrying a sword on my back. Training for a month in the woods nearby had made it near instinct to equip my blade, even just to buy groceries.” He gives a toothy grin. “The bullies stopped bothering me not because I was stronger, or wiser, but because I had the bigger stick.”

“One sword keeps another in the sheath,” says Wolf River. “That’s a proverb I coopted during Equestria’s more lawless days, before it was called Equestria.”

“Back before the high and mighty invaders came to quarrel over your land, food, and resources, you mean?” Tohro adjusts his feathers, his blades shining in the rain. “I’m surprised it was still just a three way fight, when you natives could’ve trounced them all when their backs were turned.”

Wolf River smiles widely. “Why fight someone who is killing your predators, bringing you food, and slaying themselves? Almost overnight, the number of hydra in the swamps near my tribe had dwindled from twelve and twenty to a mere eight. The manticores were slaughtered for their hides, poison, and fangs. The three foreign tribes were so eager to have the better weapon that they decimated all that had kept us at the brink of death. And now, we flourish, just as everyone else has.”

“But that was just necessity,” Tangerine comments. “There’s a difference between an arms race and threatenin’ the balance of nature and society just for a quick victory. Queen Platinum reacted to Shokenda’s threats by bannin’ worship of Dragos, raidin’ the homes of suspects, and imposin' strict militaristic doctrine on Imperial territories. We very nearly became the tyrants Shokenda claimed us to be.” She grimaces, her muzzle wrinkling and her brow furrowing. “I wonder if that was her plan?”

“Shokenda’s plans have fallbacks,” Caro says in an assuring tone. “Her fallbacks have fallbacks. Alive or dead, pure or corrupt, she sees a use for everything. I have a feeling that even if Platinum had made better decisions, Shokenda still would have used it against her, twisting her words and actions to be just as vile as anything else. The Empire might not have done a good job of putting out the fire, but it wasn’t any one pony’s fault that the fire grew out of control.”

“Mightn’t be my fault, but I didn’t do a thing to stop it, either.” Tangerine sighs. “Well, I’m here now, tryin’ to clean up this mess, and that’s the best I can do, so I’m gonna do it right.”

Rosemary comes out from the woods, a few more flowers tucked into her numerous pouches. “Oi, finished my patrol. What did I miss? Still musin’ over our bellies?”

“Something like that,” Tohro says. “Power. Extremes. That sort of thing.”

Rosemary’s ears flap as a big grin crosses her face. “Ah, I might have somethin’ to add to that. Just some late night thinkin’ I’ve been doin’... Did y’know that I don’t sell my most powerful weapons?”

“And why is that, dear?” Tangerine asks.

“Because you can’t just put a flame-spoutin’ sword into the hooves or talons of some jackass and turn the other way. It doesn’t matter how much money they bring, they don’t deserve it. I keep those weapons for myself because I know how to use them.” Rosemary holds out one of her hooves, and then the other. “And I also know how not to use them. Shae is the same way.”

“How so?” Caro asks, finally pulling himself away from the water.

“She only has her new powers because Fauste deemed her worthy of them, yeah? She wouldn’t be this way if she didn’t deserve it. It’s just like you bein’ the Dragonborn, Caro. Call it random chance, but you’re the lucky pony with a soul of a dragon because you’re the only one worthy of it.”

“I became worthy of this title.” Caro says, gesturing to himself. “But you do have a point. It’s just as Altair told me.” He smiles, looking at his hoof. He remembers that, at any moment, he could summon Excalibur to his side, and with it create a brilliant light to slice through the darkened skies. “Might for right.”

“Oh, I agree entirely,” a young, wise mare’s voice says, echoing across the lake and through the trees.

From the water comes a powerful ripple, following by a sudden large splash. With her red overcoat flowing behind her, eyes radiating with overwhelming aura, scythe in hoof, Shae rises from the water, and with a wave of her hoof stops the water’s movement. It’s like time has frozen only for the lake.

“Hi,” she says calmly to the rest of Dragonrein, who look on with pride, as well as Tangerine and Wolf River, who are just stunned silent.

“There’s my girl,” Rosemary says, her voice filled with joy.

“I’m the voice of Fauste,” Shae continues. “But only for as long as I need to be. My strength is a tool of justice, not used in anger, but as a means for preservation.” Another wave of her hoof, this time towards herself, returns the lake to a flat surface, unblemished even by the rain. She descends upon it, and finds herself walking on water. “Preservation of the things I love, and the—”

Rosemary leaps onto Shae, seizing her in a stranglehold of an embrace. The spell is broken, and the two of them fall into the lake together. They rise back to the surface, Shae sputtering out mouthfuls of water. She then turns around with a nefarious grin. She throws a bit of water at Rosemary, who splashes back in return.

“Talk is cheap anyway,” Wolf River muses.