Lilly and Willow hurried through the settlement, wind whipping their faces and snow flying around their legs as they ran in the direction of the screaming. None of them recognized the voice, but whoever it was obviously needed help. Unlike most ponies, they at least cared about others, and wasn’t about to stand idly by in what may well be an emergency.

As they approached the inn, Lilly caught a glimpse of Duskshine who was just stepping out of the building. He was looking in the direction of the yelling, clearly listening to it. Once they came closer, he averted his attention away from the sounds and looked at Lilly, signaling to her to stop by waving a hoof at her.

She skidded to a stop, almost falling over in the snow. Willow didn’t stop, but once he noticed that Lilly had, he slowed down and looked over his shoulder at her.

“You go on, I’ll catch up.” She called out to him. The Pegasus nodded and picked up his pace. Lilly watched him disappear in the distance between the shanty buildings.

“What was that, anyway?” Duskshine asked her as she approached him. “Did you hear it?”

“Yeah, somepony screaming.” Lilly responded. “We were heading over to see what was going on.”

“Oh.” The stallion said calmly. Without adding another word, he started to walk in the same direction that Willow had taken.

Lilly followed him, trotting on behind him in silence. He was an odd pony. At times he’d never shut up, and at times he closed himself shut, like he was doing now. It was difficult to understand when and why he would go quiet in such a way, and Lilly had given up in trying to understand it. At least, one thing he rarely stopped talking about was what their conversation on the Wall a few days prior had been about.

Duskshine never gave up in his attempts to get into her bedroom, despite Lilly turning him down over and over. She wasn’t really sure what to think of this either, and often alternated between feeling flattered one day, angered the next. Still, he never gave up, and she’d grown to accept it.

“I talked to the Elders about your, uh… Well, what you did at the Wall.” It had been quite between them for a few minutes, and the sound of his voice almost startled Lilly at first.

The Elders. The ponies in charge of their settlement, calling every shot and deciding on everyone’s fate. For as long as Lilly had lived here, she’d gathered that it was a tradition in this area to take the three oldest ponies of each race, and appoint them leaders. Apparently it had always been that way, and no one else seemed to wonder about it the same way as she did.

“Did they…” She began. “Are they upset with me?”

It was always three of them; an earth pony, a Pegasus and a unicorn regardless of gender. Always three, always the oldest. Apparently no one else was allowed to ever see them once they became leaders, and only a handful of chosen ponies had the privilege to ever talk to them. Duskshine was one of those privileged, for reasons he refused to talk about whenever she asked.

“They sure aren’t happy with you. Two of them actually wanted to send you away from town as punishment for your recklessness.”

“So then why am I still here?” Lilly asked quickly. Once the Elders came to a decision, nothing would change their minds. She knew that for a fact, just as well as everypony else. If they wanted her gone, she would already be gone.

“I said only two of them wanted to send you away.” Duskshine said back to her. “The third at least had some sense in him. I vouched for you, and he listened to it. I told him you lost your hat, and that it had high sentimental value to you. The others laughed at what I said, but not the last one. Can you believe it? I’ve never heard the Elders laugh...”

“So they couldn’t come to a decision?” Lilly asked as Duskshine paused.

“No, because of the empathy of that one stallion, they said they would look past just this once. But if you break the rules like that one more time, they assured me that they would throw you out faster than a stinking bucket of manure.”

They could see the Wall of in the distance, as well as a small crowd of ponies gathered around it. It seemed that whoever was screaming was there, or on the outside. They picked up their pace.

“Thanks…” Lilly said shyly. “If you hadn’t said whatever you said to them, I would probably be on the other side of that by now...” She nodded towards the wall in front of them.

“Don’t mention it, missy. Just try to stay out of trouble from now on, okay? That little stunt you pulled off, that was like playing with the sharp edge of a knife, girl. Don't do it again. Oh, and by the way… You said you were gonna tell me about that hat of yours, but you never did. They asked me why it was so important to you, but I couldn’t really give them a good answer…”

“It belonged to the mare that raised me after my parent’s death.” Lilly answered. “Her name was Applebloom.” She didn’t care to hide it from him any longer, after he’d stood up to the Elders for her sake; he at least deserved the truth.

“Applebloom, huh?” He said with a frown. “I think I’ve heard that name before… Did she have an older sister?”

“Applejack?” Lilly raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s her! Oh, AJ… That lass bucked hard, let me you.” Duskshine sighed in what seemed to be nostalgia. Or perhaps longing.

“Yeah, Applebloom told me. Said she could buck apples from sunrise to sunset.”

“I wasn’t talking about apples.” Duskshine glared at her with a devious smile.

“Then what did you mean…?” Her eyes met Duskshine’s, and for a moment she thought she saw something burn inside of them. Like a sudden spark of youth or long lost love.

“Well, I mean we used to… you know. Do the horizontal tango.”

Lilly sighed and rolled her eyes. “Are you ever gonna change, you pervert?”

“Probably not. Can’t help it, I love me a good fu-“

“Just shut up, will you?” Lilly interrupted him mid-sentence; effectively putting an end to what she feared would have been another one of his detailed stories of his… encounters.

Somepony by the wall screamed again, and this time they could hear that it was actually a call for help rather than just inane shouting. Lilly looked over at Duskshine, and he looked back at her at the exact same moment.

Just a few seconds later, they pushed themselves through the crowd gathered in front of them. They came out on the other side, but couldn’t see anypony shouting. The looked around at the other poines around them, but no one seemed to be about to do anything else than just stand there and look at the wall.

“… Please… let me in!”

The voice came from the other side of the wall. It had grown weak, obviously worn out from all the shouting. Neither Lilly Nor Duskshine recognized it, but it was clear that it was a stallion, possibly quite young. They could hear he had been crying, or maybe he still was.

“Can anypony hear me? Please, he’ll come back for me… Please!”

Duskshine spun around and looked at the ponies, not noticing Lilly as she hurried up the stairs leading to the top of the wall.

“Are you all just gonna stand there like gawking cows?” He stamped his hoof in anger. “Why aren’t you doing anything to help him, you silly sods?”

They didn’t answer him; they just looked away or averted their eyes to the ground. They seemed to be ashamed of themselves.

“Damn cowards…” Duskshine sighed as he turned around and set off after Lilly up the stairs.

Lilly was already at the top once he joined her, looking down on the other side of the wall. Duskshine followed her example and looked down as well, seeing a rather small and scrawny little stallion on the other side.

The moment Lilly saw him, she wanted to jump down to him and comfort him, but the threat of the Elders stayed her. She couldn’t do anything else than watch until Duskshine decided what to do. The stallion beneath them looked young, maybe younger than herself, and looked almost as if he hadn’t been eating anything for a long while.

Thin and scrawny, with an unkempt black mane that she even from her spot so high up could see was covered in filth, and his grey coat wasn’t in any better condition. The first word that came to her mind was broken. That, or just scared out of his mind. Either way, the stallion beneath them was clearly in desperate need of help.

Her heart ached as she saw the poor pony rear up on his back legs and slam his hooves into the wall one last time before he slowly sank down unto the ground. She had to fight her feelings to prevent herself from just leaping down to him immediately. Despite being so young, her maternal instincts where strong, sometimes almost overpowering.

“Will?” She whispered without taking her eyes off the stallion. “Duskshine…?”

She slowly turned to look at him, still fighting her instinct to jump down as well as the tears threatening to build up in her eyes. “Please help him.”

Suddenly a red face with frowning eyes entered her field of vision from the left, followed by a rainbow mane. Before any of them could say anything, Willow launched himself off of the wall, sailing down through the air towards the grey stallion. No more than a second later, Duskshine followed him.

They landed on each side of the frightened stallion, who was now too exhausted to move or react to their arrival. He just sank further down on the ground slowly, as if some otherworldly force pushed him down, flattening him in the snow.

“How in the hell are we gonna get him up there…?” Duskshine asked Willow slowly, turning his gaze up towards the wall, towards Lilly.

Willow looked around them, as if he was searching for something he would never find. He moved slightly to the right, spinning around and stomping his hooves in the snow for some reason.

“It seems sturdy enough.” He said back to Duskshine. “Come on, I’ll help you push him up on your back.”

Duskshine nodded and bent his legs while pushing his snout against the now passed out stallion’s side. Willow pushed from the other side, and a few seconds later, they’d managed to push the stallion over Duskshine’s head and unto his back.

“Now what?”

“Here, use my back as leverage.” Willow answered the question, and positioned himself in such a way that somepony might leap unto his back from the side.

Duskshine instantly understood what to do, and quickly trotted off a few meters in order to get more speed. The stallions nodded at each other to signlar that they both where ready, and Duskshine rushed towards Willow, leaping forward through the air. He did exactly what he was supposed to do by planting his hooves in the back of Willow.

He felt a sensation as of a spring pushing him upwards as Willow arched his back hard to give him more speed. It worked, and a moment later Duskshine landed net to Lilly on the wall. As he did, the stallion on his back slid off of him and hit the boards beneath them with a thud. Just a few moments later, Willow clambered up the edge with a little help from Lilly, pulling him up.

“Bet you’ve never seen a Pegasus that needs help getting off the ground.” He said to her jokingly as he stepped past her over the edge.

Lilly didn’t answer his comment, she was already busy trying to help the frightened stallion to his hooves. It seemed the launch through the air had awakened him slightly, and he struggled to keep himself up as Lilly supported him on one side, and Duskshine on the other. As they walked slowly down the stairs leading down to solid ground, the wind around them howled hard.

It tugged on their manes, causing strands of Duskshine’s orange hair to slap across the other stallion’s face, which in turn made him become more awake and aware of his surroundings. Lilly had a hard time supporting him and holding down her hat on her head at the same time, but despite this they made their way down to the bottom of the stairs.

As they did, a quite murmur spread through the crowd of ponies waiting for them, and worried looks where exchanged between them. But none seemed willing to lift a hoof to help.

“He… He’ll come for me…”

The stallion’s voice wasn’t even a whisper as he spoke, sounding more like a brittle sheet of glass about to brake. It faded away as he spoke, disappearing the wind around them.

“Who’s coming?” Lilly asked the stallion who still had trouble standing on his own. Ha swayed back and forth between her and Duskshine, almost causing Lilly to fall over on her side.

The stallion inhaled sharply, and Lilly almost expected him to start screaming again, but all that came out of him was one simple word, louder than a whisper but not strong enough to reach normal speaking tone. One simple word, spoken with such fear that even Lilly felt chills down her back, and Duskshine frowned deeply.

“Death.”

For some reason, Duskshine removed himself from the other side of him, leaving Lilly to hold up almost all of his entire weight on her own. But thankfully, he was standing upright much better now than earlier, but he still swayed slightly. Lilly shot a wondering look at Duskshine. He didn’t look back at her.

“Death comes for us all, but I doubt he’ll be here for you so soon, lad.” He spoke slowly without looking at either of them. Instead, he seemed to focus on something in the distance, perhaps something nopony else could see. Perhaps some drifting memory, slowly fading between the grinding teeth of time.

He didn’t say anything else, and Lilly wasn’t sure what to answer. Instead, she lowered her head close to the other stallion’s ears and whispered gently. “What’s your name?”

“… B… Bucket…” The stallion whispered back to her. Slowly he turned his head to the side so that she could get a better look at his face. A pair of terrified and sad yellow eyes looked back at her. Something wet was building up around its lower edge, and she could see clear stains running down his cheeks.

“What happened to you out there, Bucket?”

The stallion named Bucket didn’t have time to answer, but if he did, Lilly probably wouldn’t have been able to hear what he said anyway. More shouting suddenly echoed across the area, this much closer than the ones from before. The crowd of ponies begun moving about, most of them looking backwards and stepping out of the way for somepony, and Lilly suspected it was the pony shouting.

“Come on, you lazy fuckers, move it! Move it, let us through!”

She recognized the voice, and for just a moment her heart skipped a beat out of worry. The following moment, a second voice accompanied the other.

“Very smooth, Sawblade, really…”

The last of the ponies parted, and Sawblade exited the crowd, followed by Crescent.

“With charm such as that, I’m surprised they haven’t elected you king yet…” Crescent continued with a smirk.

“Fuck you, Crescent.”

“Love you too, buddy…”

The exact same words as back at the inn, Lilly realized. She wondered if that was something they said to each other often, at least it seemed that way.

“Now, what was all that hollering about, I…” Crescent turned to Lilly, his eyes stopped dead at the stallion next to her. “Bucket…?” Instantly, Crescent rushed towards them with Sawblade following right behind him.

Lilly stepped away to allow them more free room, she didn’t want to intrude more than she already had.

“Crescent, I…” Bucket mumbled as he did his best to stand. “, I-he…”

“Calm down, Bucket. Breathe.” Crescent placed a hoof on Bucket’s shoulder to comfort him. “Where are the others? Did something happen?”

“I’m sorry… They’re all… dead.” Bucket whispered slowly, tears once again streaming down his cheeks, creating new stains on his coat.

“Dead? Wh-what happened?

“He… It… He tore them to shreds. To shreds, Crescent, there was nothing left, he just…”

“What are you talking about? Who?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it before… I think… It was a shadow, walking on two legs. Red magic… I just ran.”

“That… sounds a bit too familiar…” Duskshine spoke up as he came closer to the pair of stallions. “As far as I know, there’s only one being that walks on two legs... You know what I’m talking about, right?” He looked at Crescent, wondering.

“You mean…Him? No, that’s impossible, crazy talk.”

“Let’s pray to both Celestia and Luna that it is just that; crazy talk… Bucket? Did you see his face?”

Bucket hesitated a few seconds before he shook his head. “I… Only his eyes.”

“Did they make you feel… soothed? Calm?”

Once again, Bucket nodded. “It was as if they stopped me from moving, and I couldn’t think.. And Crescent, it had… wings. Big, black wings.”

“I don’t like the sound of this…” Sawblade whispered. The other’s nodded in silent agreement.

Lilly had watched in silence ever since they began talking, and still didn’t understand a word of what they were saying. Clearly, the Stalkers knew something she didn’t, and it seemed to terrify them. Shadows with red magic and wings…? Duskshine was right, it did sound like crazy talk.

“What are you all talking about?” She asked, fed up with being kept in the dark, so to speak, in such a way. “What is this ‘shadow’?”

The Stalker named Crescent looked up at her with a concerned face. “You know what a human is, right…?” He said quietly so only the ones close could hear it.

“I know we had a king that was human, a long time ago…”

“Yes. Dust, the man that married Princess Luna and ruled Equestria with her for almost thirty years. He passed away ten years ago, and there hasn’t been another human in our world since, or before him.”

“So… you think this shadow is a human…?”

The three of them nodded. “From what he’s said, it certainly seems that way…” Duskshine said.

“But those details…” Crescent filled in. “Wings and magic doesn’t sound human to me…”

Duskshine sighed deeply, and smoke rose from his mouth due to the cold. He looked at Crescent, then Bucket, followed by Sawblade and Lilly, then back to Crescent again.

“No. It certainly doesn’t.”