I no longer felt Luna's fur or warmth. Something rustled nearby. My eyes opened when I smelled something burning. I was in a grassy field strangely. Black clouds of smoke bellowed upwards accompanied with the thick smell of burning grass. I turned my head and gasped in horror. Somehow I was curled up to a skeleton. I pushed on the skeletal wings enveloping me. With a loud crunch I was freed and crawling away panting.

   I stared at the long dead empty shell, bones bleached white.

   "L-Luna?"

   Luna's silver tiara sat timeworn and blackened with a greenish mold on the skeletal Alicorn's head. I died inside. My friend was dead. Rivers fell from my eyes and I reached my hand out to her.

   "No, Luna...."

   Just seconds ago she was full of life, full of warmth, my friend, my Luna, gone.

   How could she have died? Why am I still alive?

   Crawling up I hugged her skeleton, sobbing heavily. Luna's horned skull fell off, surprising me. Feeling the urge to vomit, I looked away from her headless shell. Letting her go, I crawled away.

   I heard more rustling in the same place. I got up and wiped my eyes, then walked towards an out of place patch of tall grass. It was strangely taller than any grass nearby.

   It rustled again.

   "Who's there?"

   Once I reached out to the grass a black arm burst out of it and grabbed my arm. The grass patch turned into a pile of rotting corpses plagued with flies and worms. I saw in the pile my six friends and Spike.

   The field burning around me was actually near Ponyville. The near endless farms and fruit trees of Apple Acres alight in bonfires, the whole town itself also engulfed in flame.

    I heard sobbing near my left. Sweetie Belle sat just feet away crying over a drawing. My burning eyes stared at her. She turned her head to me.

   "You promised."

   The field fire drew closer to her, burning hungrily at the dry grass.

   "You promised."

   I grimaced in horror as her little form lit up like a torch, burning noiselessly then collapsing to the blackened dirt.

   I tugged at the arm holding me like my life depended on it.

   It pulled harder, forcing me closer to the corpse pile. A Humanoid black form pulled itself out of the pile. It burned my vision with glowing crimson eyes. It looked around, then back to me.

   "Truth, shatters nations."

   The fires drew closer. My heart felt like it was going to burst.  

   "Ebb this dark to gray."

   I tried to pull away one last time, but it held tight.

   "Let go!"

   It yelled back in anger. "Ebb it!"

   "No!"

   The hand let go while I tugged, forcing me off balance. While I fell back, the light from the fires soon lit the figure's dark face. It was grimacing in sadness, tears flowing down its eyes. I recognized it. It was me. I screamed just before hitting the floor.

   "Gyah!"

   Panting, my eyes opened and shot side to side, taking in what they thought were more horrors. An orange dawn burned the clear sky above and a wave of green oceans soon relaxed my paranoia. Sounds of nature helped away the terrors in my mind.

   I saw Luna was still holding me. "Shhhh."

   What a mess, I was going completely insane. To my respite Luna at least remained unharmed.

   I was still shaking. "What happened?"

   "You were screaming horridly in your sleep."

   She gently squeezed me with her wings. "I tried but could not enter your dream. Every attempt at waking you failed. Sadly, all I could do was this."

   "A dream?" I stared into space.

   "Yes, just a dream."

   I pushed on her chest slightly. "I think I'm okay now. Um, thanks."

   Luna was still worried, obviously wondering if I would go on another tantrum soon. "Are you sure?"

   "I said thanks!"

   I didn't mean to yell, it just came out.

   Shocking myself that I actually yelled at her for no reason again, I bit my lip and took a breath in. "Sorry, I just need some air."

    "Very well." Luna gently lifted her wings and let me go.

   To my despair, I went and sat on a fallen pillar. The look on my face must have been quite horrible. I held both my arms and rubbed them. All I could see were the rotting bodies of my friends, the looks on their faces and the worms eating their eyes. My sadness slowly filled up with hate. My eyes watered in pure frustration.

   Luna nuzzled my cheek, shocking me back into my wits.

   "Come on. We still have a ways to go." She walked away towards a trail.

   "We're going to die aren't we?" Normally I would have kept that to myself, but I was not myself.

   "No."

   Luna turned and shook her head. "Not if you can still walk. Can you?"

   I noticed my leg stopped hurting. I loosened the bandage and the gash was gone, a scar in its place. I ever so slightly smiled. Luna must have healed it.

   I rasped, "Yeah."

   Getting up, I followed her, my head still foggy and not all there. Distant whaling echoed inside my mind.

   "I see them."

   Blossom held her foreleg out. "Wait, I want to see where they're going."

   Mistcharger held his position. "That is not part of the plan."

   "Buck the bucking plan. There's no way I am losing her now, so let's have some fun."

   He did not like disobeying a kill on sight order. "But-"

   "Remember, foal, I don't need to return with you."

   Blossom smiled. "Accidents happen all the time, especially while tracking a high risk target."

   Mistcharger cursed his luck. Why did he get stuck with the psychopath? "Like what you did to Highwind?"

   "No."

   She tilted her head, staring into his soul with those demon teal eyes. "I'll start much lower with you."

   He snorted. "Whatever. Let's get this over with."

   Blossom patted him on his helmed head. "Stick by me kid and I might care enough to bring you back alive."

   Mistcharger pushed her foreleg away. "I'm ten years older than you."

   He walked down the trail, keeping to his target distance.

   "Yeah, so what?"

   Blossom snickered and trotted up to him.

   "Older, younger, they all scream and bleed the same."

   She leaned and whispered into his ear. "Like little foals."

   Mistcharger pushed Blossom away.

   She just laughed.

   The cold chill up my spine told me they were close, whoever they were. "Luna?"

   "Yes, I feel it too. We are not alone."

   Luna scrunched her nose in annoyance. "It's that one again. She is turning out to be very persistent."

   "You know our guests?"

   "One, a spellblade, the other I do not."

   I whistled. "A spellblade, huh? They must really want us dead."

   We walked for a bit.

   "So, what's the plan? Lore them into a trap?"

   Luna smiled. "Of a sorts."

   I saw a distant structure.

   "Luna, over there." I pointed at it.

   Tilting her head, she narrowed her eyes. "Strange."

   We arrived at an old ruin covered in vines and forest weathered to a nice older-than-dirt look.

   Luna eyed around, awestruck. "I have no knowledge of this place...."

   I heard distant shouting to my left.

   "What's that?" I turned my head to scan its direction.

   Luna gasped and rushed towards the shouting.

   I ran after her. "What?!"

   "It is Twilight Sparkle! Hurry!"

   "Over there! The traitor Student!" A Purity Squad member pointed his foreleg in Twilight's direction.

   She gasped then grabbed Spike with her mouth.

   "Ow, Twilight!"

   Twilight took off running like the wind blew.

   Her horn flared and Spike levitated to her back.

   Spike looked back and yelped. "They're chasing us! Faster!"

   Twilight huffed. She jumped and sprinted over every forest obstacle that tried to stop her, to kill her and Spike.

   "Stop running! You're only going to die tired!"

   "They said they're going to kill us!"

   "No pony is killing anything. Hold on!" Twilight cast a fire spell on a brush line and jumped over it. A green magical flame burst and engulfed the brush behind her.

   Spike pointed at the fire. "Hey, don't set the forest on fire!"

   Twilight turned and ran. "It's forest fire. It won't harm the vegetation."

   Something swooped in and knocked right into her left side. Spike launched off and landed somewhere in front of her. Twilight landed on her right side, hard.

    She looked up.

   A gold clad Pegasus stood a few trots away with a smug smile on.

   He laughed. "I said you would die tired."

   Twilight tried to move, but her stomach hurt with a strange scratchy ache when she moved. She felt something warm trickle down her belly. Twilight gasped as the pain got worse.

   "Oh, name's Deathwing by the way."

   He eyed her stomach. "I don't think I need to explain why."

   Twilight painfully moved to see her belly. To her nauseated horror, a big cut ran right down her side into her lower belly, flowing blood. Her vision started to blur.

   Deathwing walked up to Spike, he laid unconscious on the forest floor after hitting a nearby tree.

   "But this one will die sleeping."

   Deathwing readied both his shining red stained wing razors. "He gets it easy."

   Twilight tried using her magic to levitate a rock and hit the crazed Pegasus with it, but she slowly felt cold, her senses waning with it.

   Deathwing just smiled and knocked the wobbling rock down.

   She knew she did not have long. Twilight tried pleading to him to let Spike go, that he was just a baby, but she choked up something warm that tasted like bits instead.

   Deathwing laughed while turned back to Spike.

   Twilight prayed to whatever force that could save her Spike, even if she had to give it her soul in payment, she prayed it done.

   She held out her shaky hoof. "Please stop, Sp-Spike...is mine."

   Twilight heard a voice yell over her while her eyes shut, shocking her back awake.

    "Hey, asshole!"

    Deathwing looked at me surprised. "And who are you?"

   I over near to Twilight and gathered energy in my hands.

   "Ar...gyle."

   I turned and saw her on the ground, bleeding out, her usual bright purple coat a dull pasty shell of its former pastel glory. She held a very shaky foreleg up to me.

   "S-save him."

   I froze in shock. "Twilight...."

   "Argyle?" Deathwing thought to himself. "Oh, you must be that Human the Empress wants dead."

   Twilight breathed a few more times, staring at me with pleading eyes. "Please."

   Her foreleg dropped like a rock, while she let out one last breath. She lied there, unmoving, staring into space with glassy eyes.

   I stared at her, like my world had just shattered.

   "Oh, don't worry. You'll be joining her and her little demon lizard, soon."

   Deathwing smiled. "I promise."

   I slowly turned around.

   He hurt my friend. I had enough of seeing my friends hurt. They say when you need it the most, the body reacts with an animal like instinct. The cold came. This time I didn't fight it. I wanted it.

   "Winds shatter all who cannot flee."

   Like every time before, my body moved on its own and gave that beast no chance. It charged with a howl that would've made an immortal feel finite.

   The smug look on Deathwing's face fell white quickly. He readied his wing razors to impale me. My body ran right into his right one. The tip dug into my side.

   "Destroy the wings, no more wind."

   My hand grabbed it. The other channeled force, then punched his wing. It snap like a twig, even with the shielding he had.

   Screaming, Deathwing jabbed at me with his other wing. My body did not dodge. The tip glided effortlessly into my shoulder. I hardly felt it. One hand grabbed his bladed wing, then the other slammed down on his joint, bending it unnaturally with a loud crunch.

   Deathwing pulled away and tried to cut me with his back up hoof blades. Catching one of his hooves, my side ran into the other one, deeply cutting it. I saw the terror in his eyes.

   I watched Deathwing try one last time to escape. Both my hands grappled his muzzle and head. Desperate, he tried to bite me. My hand slid deep into his mouth. Something dark flowed into his choking throat, then out of the corners of his mouth.

   "Embrace truth."

   What was happening to Deathwing horrified me, what I was doing, my doing.

   My mouth smiled as he struggled. His eyed rolled over white, while he slumped down.

   "His mind shattered."

   Taking his head with both hands, they twisted with no hesitation.

   "His body broken."

   His neck gave with a crunching silk like ease that nauseated me.

   My body turned and to Luna. She stood there the entire time, giving me an indescribable look.

   Hesitant on looking away from me, Luna went to check on Spike.

  The cold slowly left me and control warmed back. What I did felt so wrong, yet right in contrast.

  What am I?

  I walked over to Twilight, then knelt and felt her head. Her eyes had closed. There was still a little warmth left. I was so grateful.

   "Luna."

   I rasped, "Get over here and help."

   Luna finished checking on Spike, then trotted over to me. "Yes, I feel she is still alive!"

   A little hope returned. I could still save one friend, do one good thing.

   "Luna, if we both use advanced healing on her-"

   "Agreed."

   Luna's horn glowed. "Then we take her somewhere safe."

   I heard a groan behind me, then a yell. Spike had woken up.

   He ran over with watering eyes. "Is she...is she?!"

   "No, not yet."

   Grimacing a little as my wounds lit up with pain, I did my best to force a smile. "She's going to be just fine."

   "Little one, why don't you help by keeping her head up?"

   Spike nodded to Luna.

   "Anything!" He quickly ran to Twilight's side, then gently lifted her head up, trying not to further frizzle her mane. Sniffling, he let her head lie on his legs, while he brushed her mane with his hand.

   Minutes passed, her wound finally closed and the bleeding stopped. Some colour returned to her coat.

   Luna sighed. "Thank the moon."

   "You said it."

   I slowly got up and looked around while panting lightly. The pain was excruciating. "We need to go. We've over stayed our welcome."

   I heard laughing, then two sets of hooves plop down on the forest floor.

   "Now that was a fight."

   Blossom sneered, "Thought you could hide from me, Bitch?"

   Luna huffed then retorted, "Do I look like a dog, Twit?"

   She laughed. "Well, you're gonna sound like one here in a minute."

   Mistcharger rolled his eyes. "Princess Luna, by order of Empress Solar Flare, you are to be brought into custody and be put before her Holiness in court hearing."

   Blossom sharply turned her head to him. "That's a load of horseapples!"

   "There was never a kill order on Luna, Blossom."

   He laughed. "We had a use for you, so we just told you that to get you on board."

   Blossom sighed, then laughed. The idiot actually told her the truth. She knew they wanted Luna alive. That was the exact reason why she joined Bitterwind's Wing, no competition.

   "Piff, whatever."

   She walked a few paces towards her target, devilishly smiling. "Moron."

   Mistcharger blinked. "That's it? I thought you woul-"

   Blossom Flashed behind him. Her horn glowed, with a look of pure murder in her eyes. Mistcharger turned his head just before she let a lightening bolt fly. It struck him right in his stallion hood, neutering and cauterizing him instantly.

   I grimaced, never hearing anything blare out a howl of agony like that before.

   Another bolt hit him square in the head. The force tore the top of his skull off, silencing his howling cries. Blood gushed while his twitching body fell with an armoured clank. His open throat gurgled red foam.

   Blossom laughed, after kicking his lifeless corpse. She looked at Luna. "Now, after all this time, you're finally mine!"

   "Stay your weapon." Wing Leader Bitterwind walked out of the brush, followed by the whole Wing.

   Blossom turned, her horn glowed in anger. "Oh, it's the bastard that played me. Hello, Bastard."

   Wing Leader Bitterwind narrowed his eyes at her. "No, you played yourself."

   "Holy Empress!"

   Trail Scorcher gasped at Mistcharger's mutilated remains. "Whose side is she on?!"

   Azure glared at Blossom while pulling Trail Scorcher close.

   "She's killed more of our guys than anything!"

   Skydive asked Bitterwind, "Sir, you can't let her get away with this, right?"

   He opened his mouth to respond, but Blossom bared her teeth at him.

  "Just try to take her."

   "Careful. You might be a mean cuss, but I lead a whole Wing of mean cusses."

   Blossom rolled her eyes. "She is mine. End of discussion."

   "You will obey your Empress, or I will assume your actions acts of heresy and have you killed!"

   "Kill me?"

   Blossom snickered, then glared at him with pinpoint pupils. "Idiot, Spellblades don't die, they regroup in Tararus!"

   She cast a bolt at Bitterwind.

   He dodged it and closed in with wing razors poised, then launched himself and struck at Blossom.

   Barely dodging, Bitterwind's wing razors cut gashes in her golden back plates. She was in no playing mood. Pointing her horn at Bitterwind, she yelled in fury. A pressure blast knocked Bitterwind off his hooves with four other soldiers behind him back into the brush.

   Three other Pegasus charged her. Blossom cast two spells rapidly. One fire bolt hit the closest at near point blank range, burning a hole right through her golden chest plate. The molten steel melted into her chest, exposing the ribcage and soft burning tissues inside.

   The other dodged the second spell, but Blossom meant for him to. She already had flashed and swiped her hoof blade at the soft joint in his wing razor. Cutting the wing clean off, she flashed again and smashed his skull in where he landed with her hind leg.

   The last one howled a Solar war chant and closed in to cut her to bits.  

   Blossom smiled. She enjoyed parrying and dodging the Pegasus's every attack, out preforming him in every way of hoof to hoof combat even with her foe's wing razor advantage. War was made her life, this foal barely had half a year of basic.

   After breaking both his wings and inverting his forelegs, by digging a hoof blade edge into either knee joint and twisting. Grinning with great pleasure after knocking his helm off, Blossom brought her right hoof blade down on his screaming head, splitting it open like a melon.

   He let out a unique squeal that sounded ridiculous and funny to her.

   Blossom turned her blood frenzied eyes to where her kill once stood. The Princess was running away with that bipedal freak.

   Blossom cursed under her breath. Her time was running out. She had to ran after them.

   Her armoured hooves dug into the moist dirt, as she leaped into a full sprint. "You're not getting away!"

   Luna and I had taken our friends and ran as the soldiers fought each other. Twilight was on her back, while Spike held onto my neck.

   Sprinting through the Everfree sent ripples of pain tearing my side. Thankfully, my adrenaline was kicking in and the pain's edge let up.

   "Get back here, Nag!"

   I looked back to see the angriest unicorn I had ever seen.

   Spike yelped when he saw what I did. "Scary, run!"

   Luna cast a field of forest fire to give us some distance. It flared and burned sending a wall of green flame upwards.

   The Spellblade skid on the loose dirt. Even with the distance I could hear her. "Buck!"

   I wanted to know if the fire had stopped her, so I let one last gauging look back. The Unicorn burst through the flames and landed on her hooves, soot covered, with a look that would've make the devil run.

   Howling like a crazed beast she charged after us. "You're going to pay for that!"

   Spike yelled in surprise, "No way, what is she?!"

   The Unicorn version of Rambo was on our tail.

   I cursed my ever failing luck. "Keep running!"

   We found the trail that lead back to the strange ruin. Arriving, I grabbed at what looked like a stone door. Grunting, my fight or flight strength still present, I teared at the door.

   Rubbing my hands raw, I reopened my bleeding wounds in vane attempts to budge the door. "Come on, move damn you!"

   "Hurry!"

   Spike yelled, "She's coming!"

   I grimaced and grunted. "I'm trying."

   Luna joined in with her magic, but we still could not get that door open.

   "You can't hide!"

   Spike yelled in fear, "Try harder!"

   "It's not like I can wave my hands and say avra cadavra and the door will magically open!"

   The door groaned, then slid open out of my hands.

   I stood there stammering in disbelief. "Wha- wha?"

   "Well, you just did."

   Spike pointed at the door. "Come on, before-"

   "There you are!" Blossom ran at us, kicking up chunks of moist dirt.

   He yelled. "Oh, no!"

   Luna pushed me in. "No time!"

   The door slid shut sealing us inside a dark room.

   I heard yelling from outside.

   "Nooooo! Celestia-damn it!"

   She bucked the stone door in vain. "Bide your time, Luna! There's no hole deep enough, no pit dark enough, no world far enough that you can hide from me in! I. Will. Find. Yo-"

  The yelling suddenly stopped, then all was silent.

   I was so glad we got away. "Jesus Christ, Luna. What did you do to her?"

    Luna panted. "Honestly, I have not a clue. Before today, I've never seen that mare in my life."

   We were in total pitch blackness.

   I eyed around, trying to see. "Where are we?"

   Luna lit up her horn, then frowned. That room was actually a hallway to a stairwell.

   Spike hopped down off my neck. "Are we in the old fort?"

   I shook my head. "No, this place is older."

   He looked at me like I was crazy. "Older than Everfree? That's hard to believe."

   "Yes, I too am perplexed."

   Luna looked down the stone stairwell. It was deep down, as it turned right into a spiral. "Everfree was built before Canterlot sometime after the Windigo disaster. It served as a template for rule during the Palace's construction. I was but a foal then living with my sister in the Alicorn Kingdom. This however, I have no memory of."

   Luna leading us, we walked down the deep stairwell. Reaching the floor I saw an empty space, like a dark room.

   Luna nodded in approval. She cast the light orb over the room. It held just below the stone ceiling. "Ah, much better."

   Spike looked around in awe. "Whoa."

   The darkness lit up. the normal looking room before us. An ancient bed sat with a large dresser near it. A desk sat with an old stool next to the bed, with a table in the middle of the room and old book cases lining the walls. Even a bare wooden coat stand stood next to me in a corner. Dust clogged cobwebs covered everything.

   I wondered how old the place was.

   "What is this place?"

   Touching the table my finger drew a clot of dust like icing on a cupcake. "Ew."

   I shook it off my hand.

   Luna nudged my side, then gestured to the desk. The skeleton of a long dead unicorn lied on the floor. It wore a time worn blue robe with stars on it. A blue pointed wizard's hat with stars and small bells dangling on it lied near its bare skull.

   Spike was startled by it and hid behind my leg. "Whoa, that's not a good sign."

   Luna gestured to the bed. "Investigate later, for now help me."

   I forced my stiff muscles and helped Luna put Twilight gently to rest on the old bed after I removed the dust clogged top cover.

   Spike ran to Twilight and sat on the bed next to her.

   Luna pulled a dusty stool over with her magic. "Now sit, I have to look your wounds over."

   "Alright."  

   Weakly, I sat down. My skin had gone pale from blood loss and was very light headed. Luna ripped a few strips off my shirt. What horrible shape I was in, impromptu bandages on my shoulders, arms and sides.

   I laughed at myself. "I'm gonna be a mummy at this rate."

   I was getting used to pain. No one my age should have to.

   "Mummy?"

   Luna tilted her head. "Pray tell, what is that?"

   I smiled. "A dead guy wrapped in cloth."

   Luna frowned.

   "Oh, well, no, don't become that." She finished tightening my side bandage. The tender flesh gripped together.

   I gasped. "Gah."

   Luna frowned. "Sorry."

   Grimacing, I waved my hand. "I'll be fine."

   "Here, this may help." Luna cast a small spell. Some of the pain died down.

   I sighed in relief. "Thanks."

   What a huge favor that was. Smiling, I robbed the side of Luna's neck, then lightly scratched where her lower jaw bone met her neck. She seemed to appreciate that.

   Luna let out the smallest of moans, obviously loving where I was scratching her. "I should cast you a numbing spell more often."

   We shared a laugh. It felt good laugh, even a little bit.

   She pushed my hand down. "Argyle, we need to talk."

   "About?"

   "Your behavior of late."

   I knew that question was inevitable. "I can't tell you much. I don't fully understand it myself."

   "Listen, something dark is welling up inside you."

   She frowned. "Like the darkness that consumed me."

   "A darkness? What, like Nightmare Moon?"

   Spike looked at me worried. "Is Argyle going to be alright?!"

   "If it continues?"

   Luna frowned and closed her eyes. "No."

   I heard Twilight grunt.

   Spike gasped. "She's alright!"

   Getting up to check her, I found she was breathing normally. She must have inhaled some dust as she sneezed hard, right into my face to much of my dismay.

   Luna and Spike giggled. I frowned at them.

   Twilight groaned then turned on her side. She gasped, then shot up from the bed looking around in panic.

   "Whoa, whoa, there."

   I gently stopped her from moving too much. "Take it easy, now. You've been through a lot."  

   She looked at me like she had not seen me in a life time. Her eyes watered and she hugged me. "Argyle!"

   "Whoa-gyah!" Pain flared up as Twilight nearly knocked me down.

   She whimpered into my bad shoulder. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

   Glad she was alright I hugged her back in spite of the pain. "Welcome back from the dead, Twilight."

   "It was all soo horrible-"

   She froze then eeped. "Spike! Where is he?!"

   Spike scooched up to her, then patted her shoulder. "I'm fine, Twilight. Princess Luna and Argyle came just in time and brought us here."

   Twilight exhaled in relief then hugged Spike.

   Twilight looked at me. "Uh, Argyle? Can you give me a hoof, or hand?"

   She put a hoof on the floor.

   "Sure." I helped her get out of bed.

   "How are you feeling, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna walked around her checking to see if she was still injured.

   Twilight checked herself out. "I think I'm fine. I feel a little stiff, but no real pain."

   "That is well indeed." Luna smiled.

   "Where are we?"

   Twilight glared around the room then pointed her hoof at the desk. "Is that a skeleton?"

   "Yep, not sure who through."

   I put my hand on my chin. "I'm not sure where we are either. Some kind of old pilgrim hideout maybe?"

   My eyes picked up a silhouette of light. It suddenly appeared near the old desk. Adding to the surprise it was in the shape of a pony.

   "Perhaps, I can be of help?"