“Am I... drowning? Dead? Yes, that's it, I'm already dead, right?” the thought crossed my mind as quick as a whisper. There was no pain, only a dull and thudding pulsation in the distance. Such a great distance it was too, like the chasm between life and death.

Or heaven and hell.

The luxury of death is not yours to take, stripling.

A cold, harsh voice with all the emotion of a frozen straight razor brought the floating darkness I seemed to be suspended inside of into sharp relief.

“W-who?” I bent my head upwards, or was it downwards? Was I suspended? Or lying prone? I decided I was lying down and in a snap of perspective I was. On my stomach or my back though? And why? Had a grenade gone off again? Deciding I was on my stomach I pushed myself up, only to be knocked to the floor by a rough blow to the head. The clipped trotting of hooves around me told me I was not alone.

Who am I? You do not have the right to ask such a thing, stripling.

“W-why do you keep calling me that?” I asked harshly, blossoms of pain erupted through my torso, I was sure I had a broken rib. Or three.

It is what you are, stripling, a greenhorn and a foal with no power and no understanding. Or are you not? Prove me wrong? Tell me my name.

“I... I don't know your name, that's why I asked!” I coughed as I tried to stand again, bracing myself for another blow which didn't come. I thanked sweet Celestia for small favors. “Where are we?”

Where... an inaccurate question, stripling, rather you should ask, 'why' are we?

I raised an eyebrow as I tracked the voice in the darkness, I could barely see beyond my own muzzle in the absolute black of wherever it was we were. Or whyever, I mused sardonically to myself.

“Do you get your rocks off on being cryptic or were you just raised by zebras?” I asked into the black, twitching my ears to and fro, trying to get an angle on him.

Why. Tell me why we are, why are we... 'we', stripling. Tell me that, no... TELL ME MY NAME!

The last four words came in a throat-rending roar that would have cowed an ursa major, I flattened my ears as the aural assault nearly deafened me. I turned around to see a stallion, his coat stained irrevocably with what must have been layers of caked, dried, black, and rotting blood. Dull, hard, and impossibly jaded eyes peered out from beneath filth and sin.

Am I the reaper from the myths of old nightfall? When the foals would run beneath their mothers skirts at the advent of dusk?

He advanced violently, the animal stink of his, or its, flesh was overpowering. Somehow he spoke without moving his mouth, I did not dare to guess what passed for a maw beneath the caked on effluence.

Am I Garm? The wolfhound, guardian at Helheim's gates? Tell me. Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me.

Every word brought him closer and closer, so close I could pick out the flecks of maddened froth on his lips and the glisten of madness behind the hard glowing-red orbs.

“I don't know your name I-” pain surged through my mind, a vortex of swirling colors and chaos that brought with it blades and lightning dancing across nerves exposed blindly to the cruel air. “I don't... I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!”

The specter's unvoice had fallen to a deadly whisper as it circled me like a predator.

You know my name, stripling, I can hear it... whispering and weeping in the sores of your violated mind. I can hear it... but it will not whisper to me. It whispers only in your ear, yet you do not hear it! Tell me. TELL ME WHAT IT SAYS!

The darkness closed in, eclipsing the figure despite his closeness to me. Even his ragged stench dissipated for which I was astonishingly grateful. There were no sounds anymore, not the cold unvoice of the specter nor the sense-blast mysterious pain that accompanied his words.

A presence appeared at the edge of my perception, it was not an image, I could not see it but, sweet Goddess, I could feel it. The hate, the abject and undying hate the simply bled from the thing shocked me back on my hooves.

Then there was another. Then another and another and another, until it seemed I could feel them beyond the walls of imagination. They were legion, without number and they all stared, silently, at me. Hating me without thought or reason. They were each like to the one beside them and all to the stallion were coated in a battlefield worth of gore, gristle, and arterial blood.

As one they spoke in a voice like an approaching thunderhead and my mind broke like a fractured mirror at their words.

WHO ARE WE. WHY ARE WE. ANSWER US.

ANSWER US!

Twilight had been busy preparing for the long night ahead of her when the warning came, one of the royal guards set to watch over Captain Shale as he rested in his room at Ponyville General galloped to the door and nearly knocked it from its hinges with the crashing force of his clamoring. The door limned in mulberry light and wrenched open to reveal a panicked Twilight Sparkle staring into what appeared to be an equally panicked guardspony.

“Lady Sparkle, come quick, the patient, that is, the Captain, he-”

What color remained in Twilight's features drained away, “No... he can't be... d-de-” the guardspony cut her off with a quick shake of his head that brought the breath and color back to her face as she sank to the ground in relief.

“No, Lady Sparkle, quite the opposite, he's awake!”

“WHAT?!” she leapt to her hooves with a shriek, “H-how?! Did Zecora... what happened?!”

“Please, Lady Sparkle, the Night Princess is on her way here with a contingent of her Nocturnae to track the Captain but you must-”

“W-woah, wait, wait, wait, back up... 'track'? What do you mean track?” the pair were almost galloping through the dimming streets of Ponyville, the squat white form of Ponyville General rising looming in the distance.

“The Captain, ma'am, when he woke up he went crazy, knocked out the two nurses and the orderly who tried to hold him down,” the color was beginning to once again leak from Twilight's face at the guard's description, unfortunately he wasn't done. “Damn near brought the whole wing down on itself taking out poor Ironshod, the guardspony on duty at the time, then he just up and vanished in all the chaos! No casualties, thank Celestia.”

Twilight let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. If he hadn't killed anypony, and she knew full well how capable he was at it, then he must still possess a modicum of control. Maybe, just maybe, his madness could be reigned in. Twilight cursed herself for a foal for never asking the particulars of why Jasper had been confined into solitary at Canterlot Sanitarium. Of course, given that that was where ponies who were a danger to others were generally kept, and the events that had just occurred, she decided that she could hazard a guess.

“Any idea where he's gone? Any tracks or... or traces?” Twilight asked hurriedly, her hyper-organized mind already tracing the possible routes the errant Captain could have taken to escape from the authorities.

“No ma'am, Lady Sparkle, none at all, even if the Captain has gone off his rocker he clearly still remembers his training, he's covered his tracks damn well, if he hadn't nearly killed one of my men I'd say it was impressive.”

“Celestia look down and spit,” Twilight's panic and anger combined to bring out one of the rare curses in her not-inconsiderable arsenal of profanity. Reading did have it's side-effects. Of course, she thought blithely, he would cover his tracks. For the first time she cursed her friends mastery of combat and guerrilla tactics, knowing neither she nor any of her friends had the skills to track him down, especially not with a head start.

“Ok, the other Elements, where are they?” her questioned answered itself as she saw her four of her five friends look pensive and worried in front of the door to Ponyville General while Rainbow was flying circles above the hospital itself. “Nevermind, Rainbow!” Twilight called out as she joined her friends, “come down! Please!”

The cyan pegasus looked down at the shout and veered, killing her velocity and rapidly giving up altitude as she made one more circle around the hospital before coming to a skidding halt in front of her worried friend.

“I can't see him, and I have no idea which direction he went, but if I were him I'd head towards the Everfree. Trained soldier could survive there and we'd never find him, dunno how long he'll stay in-” Rainbow's rambling report was cut off by the lavender unicorn running forward and pulling her into a tight hug. “Uh... T-Twi', you ok?”

“No, no I'm not ok, not at all. One of my oldest friends might be stranded out in the middle of nowhere, out of his mind and violent. I've made mistake after mistake all because I was too scared to accept the truth, and worst of all, I betrayed the trust of my five best friends last night. So no, I'm not ok.”

Dash let out a slow breath and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight, returning the hug. “Hey, c'mon egghead, I told you we were still friends, I'm not going anywhere and besides...” She pulled away and turned Twilight around to view the damaged wing of the hospital, “I hate to admit it but it looks like you might've been right.”

Twilight shook her head, tossing her mane around, “It doesn't matter if I was right or wrong, I should have been up front with you all, I needed to say that before we do any more of this together, before we try and help Jasper. Please, will you forgive me?”

One of Dash's eyebrows scootched upwards an inch, “Seriously, now? Of all times? Girl, you're crazy...” Twilight's ears flattened against her head and she looked hurt. Then Rainbow gave her a friendly, if sudden, headbutt, wearing a cocky grin, “but yeah, I forgive you.”

Twilight let out a soft sigh of relief, she had hoped but... she knew her betrayal of her loyalty to Jasper had cut Rainbow Dash on a level the others hadn't felt. Especially since Twilight had almost made her an unknowing party to that betrayal, she wouldn't have blamed the weather pegasus if she'd stayed mad.

“So egghead, where do we start?”

A resonant voice answered for her.

“Thou shouldst start by apprising us of the situation, Element Bearers,” Princess Luna had appeared in almost total silence, she was flanked by two ponies on each side of her, each one hidden with a black cloak utterly devoid of mark save for one. The symbol of an eye opening from the well of a crescent moon.

The Nocturnae.

The mysterious agents of the the Night Princess in the time before old nightfall when Nightmare Moon had attempted to overthrow her sister over the course of a single, endless night. Even after her sister's banishment Celestia had kept them around, their skill and training in the arts of subterfuge, divination, and tracking had made them one of the finest anti-crime forces in Equestria.

“Princess Luna, it's good to see you again,” Twilight bowed at a leg, the other five were quick to follow.

“Indeed, Twilight Sparkle, tis good to see thee once more,” the Princess answered with a charming smile. “Verily, I wish t'were under more benign circumstance, I would greatly like to continue our conversation concerning Zebrican Astrology.”

“Oh yes! It's fascinating! I especially love the rich myth culture and...” a sharp prod from one of her friends brought her out of her oncoming tanget. “Ahem, right, to business. The guardspony over there,” Twilight gestured to her guide, “can you give you exact timings, or the next best thing, but the overview is this: Captain Shale woke up and violently assaulted his caretakers in a bid to escape. He knocked Guard Ironshod unconscious and according the damage it appears he made... liberal use of his earth magic in his escape. The ensuing chaos gave him suitable cover to flee.”

“I see, I thank thee Twilight Sparkle, for thy succinct description, I shall have one of my associates question the guard and acquire specifics, but the overview will give us focal points to gravitate to.” Princess Luna flicked her shimmering tail lightly, a silent command to one of her attendants who broke off to question the guard. “Am I correct in stating that the Captain covered his tracks sufficiently to avoid immediate pursuit?”

“Yes Princess.”

“I feared as much, according to my sister he was quite fearsome on the battlefield, a master of stealth tactics, as well as hit and run. I hear he even improved on some of my own methods.”

“Really how did-” the nature of her wording brought the question back with a resounding -snap-, “wait, your methods? What do you mean?”

Princess Luna raised a perfect eyebrow, “Surely thou dost not believe that I, one of the rulers of Equestria, have never seen war. Before I was banished my sister and I fought many wars to establish our co-rulership over the land.” The six Element Bears stared in rapt attention as the younger of the immortal sisters casually described the unthinkable, ponies actively fighting and denying the Princesses. “Many pony tribes opposed our rule at first, ethenarchs and tribal despots who wished to maintain their own rule,” Luna described as she made her way into the wrecked wing of the hospital, followed by six enraptured ponies. “It took nearly two centuries to unite the land and while my sister was a most popular general, preferring to lead from the front with her sun-lance, I, as thou hast surely guessed, favored the cover of the night for stealth operations. I do not think it too bold of me to say that my tactics were nearly flawless, to think that somepony improved upon them beggars comprehension.”

“Wow... I had no idea there even was an age like that,” Twilight's mouth hung open in wonder as Princess Luna cooly examined the wreckage. “There's very little knowledge left about the age before... well, Nightmare Moon.”

Luna flinched but nodded, “Yes, We... that is, I did a great deal of damage to the world when I fell, tis the way of power, the more one has of it the more one's successes and failures are magnified, and my sister and I wield great power.” Her eyes became distant with far off memories for a brief moment before snapping back to the present. “Reminiscing is not my intention this evening though, I must track down the Captain and extract an explanation from him for this...” she gestured over the strewn rubble, “and if need be, return him to his cell in the Sanitarium.”

“Please, Princess... no, Luna, I'm begging you, as a friend, let me try to help him first,” Twilight met the Goddess's gaze shakily and for a moment the Princess was taken aback by the fierce determination in her eyes. However, she slowly nodded, “I see, betimes I forget how truly wondrous mortal ponies can become when driven, and terrible as well. I trust you, Twilight Sparkle, do what must be done, but I shall give thee only until the fall of next night, then it is to me that this duty comes. At any rate, I must gather my attendants and form a plan of action, the extra day will be a boon to us.”

Twilight gave her Princess a grateful smile, one mirrored on the faces of the five mares behind her. “Thank you Princess, you won't regret it. I have a plan too, I think that Twist has a safe-house somewhere near the Ponyville Cemetery and I think he intended to bring Jasper there last night, if I can find it I might be able to find out what drove Jasper to this and, I hope, how to bring him around.”

At the mention of the safe-house Luna's eyes narrowed, “Why hast thou not brought this before us before now, if thou hast a suspicion.”

Twilight shook her head though, “Not really a suspicion, more of a hunch. I hadn't even considered it until this afternoon anyway and I don't have a shred of proof either way, but it feels right, and...” she looked over at Pinkie who gave her a knowing wink, “I've learned to trust my feelings, even if I don't know why I get them.”

The Princess regarded her sisters student thoughtfully before smiling, “I too believe that intuition is a powerful tool, but thou art correct, I cannot commit the limited numbers of the Nocturnae on a hunch, even be that I might wish to. If thou dost uncover some foul bastion belonging to the war criminal Silver Twist we might yet gain a hoof over him.”

Twilight opened her mouth to thank the Princess again but was interrupted, yet again, by another voice from behind. Applejack's country drawl hit on something even Twilight hadn't noticed, “Uhm, pardon mah hearin' yer highness and maybe ah'm mistaken, but ya'll're talkin' like ol' Twist is still... well... alive. An' uh... last ah saw'o him, he weren't exactly a spring chicken.”

“If Twist is truly among dead then I would count us deeply fortunate, however I do not believe he is,” Princess Luna stated plainly, eliciting gasps from Twilight and a few of the others.

“W-what do you mean? How could he possibly still... I mean he took the full force of the Elements of Harmony! He was a SMEAR!” Twilight nearly shouted the last word as she tried to wrap her mind around a pony coming back from something like that.

“Indeed he was,” Luna answered proudly, “and according to sister that would be the first battle against him that did not end in at least a dozen casualties. However, according to our records, Silver Twist, since being declared a war criminal part way through the Griffon Wars, has been reported killed no less than four times.”

All six friends stared aghast at the Princess who herself look more than a little disgusted at the idea.

“Uhm... I'm sorry but I have got to ask,” Rainbow Dash flew forward, “How the HAY is he supposed to have pulled that off?!”

Princess Luna turned away from the question, looking both uncomfortable and troubled. “That... my little ponies, is something for my sister to answer should she choose to. If it as I believe then it is a form of proscribed magic forbidden by my sister years ago.”

“But, and pardon if this is breaching protocol, aren't you and Princess Celestia equal in power? Legally speaking I mean,” Rarity spoke up, her tone one more of curiosity than anything else.

“Ah, yes that is true, it is a balance we decided upon when we began our rule, you see, there were many forms of forbidden magic employed in the dark ages before Celestia and I united Equestria, but sometimes we disagreed on what should be forbidden or not.” This was news to Twilight, who had always thought the sisters agreed on almost everything. “So when we took up the diurnal thrones one of our first royal decree's, and our very first Joint Decree, was that if one Sister declared something proscribed then only she could repeal it and the other had to abide by the ruling.”

“Hmm, that does make a great deal of sense actually,” Rarity mused.

“Uhm, Princess, sorry but we should probably get going, it's getting dark and I'd like as much time as possible to try and retrace the Doctor's steps,” Twilight said before sketching a deep bow again. Luna inclined her graceful head to each of the mares in turn. “I do have one more question though, before we leave...”

“If it is within my scope I shall answer it.”

“If he was declared a war criminal before the war even ended, then why was Jasper allowed to keep fighting until the end of the war?” Twilight's curiosity demanded an answer.

Luna gave a slight shake of her head, “I asked sister the same question, I shall repeat her answer to you: 'because the war was as chaotic as I have ever seen it and the Doctor's schemes were so many that, by the time we unraveled the thread which lead to the Captain, the war had already ended.' I did not ask how many bodies the Doctor left in his wake to keep such secrets for so long, I did not want to know and neither should you, but to forestall my sister in such an endeavor, the price must have been unimaginable.”

Twilight's features hardened at the answer but she nodded, “somehow, I thought that might be the answer, thank you, Princess Luna, for everything, I promise we'll bring back something useful.”

Luna smiled cryptically, “that I do not doubt in the slightest.”

Dusk had fallen in earnest by the time the six friends arrived at the creaking gates of the cemetery. The wrought-iron gates still hung open where they had been violently wrenched apart the night before. The memory of her last exchange with Jasper sat like a brick in the pit of Twilight's stomach as she viewed the mess, her brain forcing her to relive the memory.

GO HOME TWILIGHT!

Twilight shivered but steeled herself, she had to make up for her mistake, not matter the cost. She chuckled a little grimly to herself as she remembered Jasper making the same oath concerning his own need to do what must be done.

“A'right Twilight, what's the plan here? Ah'm assumin' ya got one unless ya'll wanna turn over e'ry grave'n headstone in the place.” Her expression told Twilight exactly what she thought of that idea and Twilight thought she could hear Fluttershy in the corner dry heaving at the very thought.

Fortunately Twilight did in fact have a plan, and not a bad one. “Ok, I spent this morning running augury spells over the graveyard from the library, I figured out where Jasper began his ritual, so we'll start there. From that point we should be able to track exactly what direction Twist came from and what direction they were headed when I interrupted them!”

Applejack tapped her chin with a hoof thoughtfully before shrugging, “Y'know, that actually sounds like it'd work, let's git'r'done!”

“I really hate that line of yours, AJ,” Rainbow grumbled as she drifted past.

“Aw don't be such a stuck up, Dashie,” Applejack said with a dry chuckle as she slapped a hoof firmly across Rainbow Dash's cutie mark eliciting a high squeal and causing her wings to seize up, bringing the flighty pegasus to the ground with a dull thump. Applejack laughed uproariously as she passed furiously blushing cyan mare.

“You're gonna pay for that one cowmare,” Rainbow called out as she dusted herself and caught up at a hover, Applejack still suffering fits of giggles. “Me'n Pinkie'll prank you good so watch yourself from now on!”

“Ah believe it sugarcube, bring it on,” Rainbow and AJ matched challenging glares that brought the whole train to a stop halfway into the cemetery. Twilight was just wondering how to break them apart when...

“D'ya think they're finally gonna kiss?” Pinkie asked in a stage whisper to Rarity and Fluttershy that was deafening in the graveyard stillness.

The atmosphere went from tense to awkward in ten seconds flat as both competitive mares went through several fascinating color changes ranging from pale to crimson all while sputtering in embarrassment as they both turned to Pinkie to argue loudly which, in the nature of such things, managed to make neither of their words intelligible.

Twilight came to the rescue with a loud 'Harrumph', drawing the attention of the arguing Elements.

“Girls, we have a job to do, please,” the seriousness of her tone changed the atmosphere considerably, even Pinkie had the good grace to look a little ashamed of the part she had played in distracting everypony. “Alright, we're here, let's get to work,” Twilight turned away from them, gesturing around the small burial plot they had arrived in. “Applejack, look around for tracks, it hasn't been long and I can't imagine this place sees a lot of hoof traffic, everypony else, spread out and look for anything out of place... and for the love of Celestia try not to obliterate the crime scene.”

“What're ya'll gonna be doin' Twi'?” Applejack asked in a quiet voice, it was as if the cemetery begrudged their noisome presence.

“Now that I know where he started I'm going to try and rebuild what happened her through divination spells, they're not really my strong-suit though...” Twilight lamented honestly.

“What... divination? Ain't that like fortune tellin' or... ah dunno, future stuff?” Applejack had her muzzle almost touching the ground as she spoke, for all the world looking like her pet dog Winona tracking a treat. The comparison struck Twilight as absurdly funny for a moment, forcing her to stifle a fit of giggles before mastering herself enough to answer.

“Uhm, heh, well, that's the common picture but it actually covers a wide range of spells having to do with 'Sight Beyond Sight', that is, seeing without physically using your senses.” Applejack raised an eyebrow and Twilight saw this was probably going over the farmer's head a little. “Uh... it's like closing your eyes and listening for something far away, but with your mind instead of your ears. Divination does cover precognition, the fortune telling and futuresight you mentioned, but it also covers what I'm about to do, which is looking into the past, or postcognition.”

“Uh, ah guess that makes... some kinda sense?” Applejack shrugged apologetically as she skirted around an unused and empty grave. “Sorry sugarcube, ya'll know this magical stuff ain't mah cup'a tea.”

Blowing a frustrated breath from between her lips a notion suddenly occurred to Twilight and she smiled, “Ok, I got it, you're an earth pony so you know the earth, all around us even here, is alive right?”

“Huh? Well o'course the earth is alive, tha's what bein' a farmer's all about,” Applejack answered, confusion as to where this point was headed clear on her face.

“Well, since the earth is alive it remembers what happened from place to place, little echoes of events, and big events leave bigger marks, just like it's easier to remember a really exciting event rather than a dull day,” Twilight explained, falling into total lecture mode.

The dawning comprehension in Applejack's gave Twilight a flush a pride, the Princess had always remarked that she would make an excellent teacher herself someday and the idea of being one who passed knowledge on to younger generations was greatly appealing.

“So... what ya'll were sayin' about seein' the past, postcognition? Tha's just... like askin' the earth ta remember somethin' that ya'll weren't around to see fer yerself?”

“Exactly!” Twilight beamed and Applejack smiled along with her, actually pleased with herself for grasping something magical in nature that she generally had no understanding of.

“Ok, that actually makes a heap'a sense in a way, ah think ah'll letcha get to it then while I look fer the tracks belongin' ta that mad scientist o'yours.”

Twilight nodded and, remembering the patterns revealed by her day spent performing tracing and augury spells, found her hooves planted in the almost imperceptible indents left by the red stallion who had occupied their very same space the night before.

“Ok Jasper, let's see what happened,” Twilight muttered under her breath. With a light surge of power Twilight traced along the mnemonic lines of her mind, plucking out the chords of the spell to reveal to her the shadows of the past.