We did the feeding early, for I'd be leaving for a good long while, and honestly.. It was fun, to say the least.

“I’ll visit as soon as I can, and thanks for watching Moon while I’m gone.” I gave the ebony queen a light peck on the cheek and she smiled.

She looked into my eyes and said,“It’s my pleasure, if she’s my new daughter then I must get to know the young one. She’s an interesting child, to say the least.”

I gave Chrysalis one last kiss and turned to Moon,“You be good while I’m gone, I’ll miss you.” I gave the small mare a warm hug and she returned it in kind.

“I’ll miss you too Dark. When do you think you’ll be back?” asked the small mare.

I looked to her with a disheartening frown and said,“I’m not exactly sure, I could be gone for a week or two. Luna contacted me while I slept this morning and told me that I needed to head up to the badlands first of all and deal with a rising aggression between the dragons and the equines. After that, I need to head up to the Crystal mountains to deal with an infestation problem. Apparently there’s frost spirits that need straightening out. After those have been dealt with, I should be able to visit for a couple days.”

“So I take it you’re traveling alone as per usual?” Asked the ebony queen. I turned to her and shook my head. “So, who are you traveling with?”

“I asked for Terra Firma, Pyromancer, Axton, and Night Strife to travel with me as well. I even got a hold of an old friend to accompany us during our travels.”

Moon raised an eyebrow in confusion,“Well, I can’t read your mind. Come on then, tell us who this mystery friend is.”

I nodded and smiled as I said his name,“Archimedes. I haven’t seen him in quite some time. In about four or five months I think. Time flies.” I gave both mares a hug and chrysalis a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you two when I come back, have fun.”

“Don’t worry Dark. I’ll take care of Chrysalis till you get back.” The small mare declared, crossing her arms in the process. Chrysalis smiled as she looked to Moon and chuckled a bit.

“It’s a good thing to know that I’m protected.” Chrysalis turned to me and wrapped her arms around my neck affectionately. Through half lidded eyes, she said,“I’ll have a ‘present’ ready for you when you return.”

“Is that so?” I asked with a grin on my face. I looked to the small mare and noticed she looked sickened, like a child watching their parents kiss or show any form of affection.

The sight of her momentary sickness made me laugh, I turned my attention to Moon Shadow and smiled,“Ok.. I’ll drop it...” I looked to Chrysalis and whispered into her ear,“for now.”

//////////////////

“The gang all here?” Asked Terra, I looked to him and shook my head.

“We’re still waiting on that other guy, what was his name.. Archimedes right?” said Pyromancer.

“So where is he?” Asked Axton. Night Strife looked to the group and signalled for them to look his direction, but no one noticed. He waved his arms to attract their eyes, but yet again they continued to chat amongst each other. I could see that no one was paying any mind to our quiet companion and let out an audible cough to signal the others and the group looked to me. I looked to the rest of the group and stared to the blue pegasus. The rest of the group looked to Night Strife as well and he nodded and smiled to me.

“Thanks Dark, anyways. What I was going to say was that he’s right there.” Strife looked to the horizon and we could all see the silhouette of a stallion in the distance.

“A bit dramatic, but this is to be expected.” I said and the others caught me speaking to myself.

“True, you know what? I have an idea..” proclaimed Pyromancer.

“What is it Pyro?” Asked Terra.

The fiery maned pegasus looked to the group and smiled,“Instead of standing here and waiting for him, let’s meet him halfway!” He said this with so much enthusiasm, it was hard to tell that it was sarcasm. “Alright? Let’s go.”

We crossed the field and met up with the white coated, brown spiked maned stallion and I embraced him with a hug,“Brother, I haven’t seen you in ages! How have you been?” I asked the stallion.

He looked to me with squinted eyes and made his teeth visible. I could see an expression of anger overtake his face and I slowly began to back up. He let out a low growl and readied himself to pounce. Archimedes leapt at me and knocked me on my back. The group was about to step in and split us up until laughs from us two came into earshot. “It’s been far too long brother! How was you been? What have you been up to? I’ve been all over the map Dark! It’s so good to see you again!” We pulled ourselves off the ground and embraced each other in a hug.

“So, if I’m not interrupting anything here, can I ask that we get this journey underway? I would like to see my homeland before a war bursts out, and if we’re lucky, we should be there in only a couple of days time. So please, can we start heading for our destination?” Asked the forest green dragon.

I pulled myself away from Archimedes and nodded,“Alright, alright. Let’s get going. We’re burning daylight.” I signalled for our group to head out and we set on our way.

///////////////////

We traveled quite a distance and were about seven hours walking time away from the badlands. We set down to make camp in the middle of a barren field. “I don’t see why I have to set up these tents, I should be handling the campfire!” Cried Pyro.

“After last time? Yeah, that’s not happening again.” claimed the large dragon who was handling the campfire.

“Oh come on, I said I was sorry!” Pyro called out but was shot down by Axton.

“Yeah, you’re sorry. But the entire trip back to Ponyville after the cave exploration, when you burnt all our food, It was a hungry one.”

“At least you knew it was cooked.”

“Cooking implies that you are making food to satisfy your gut, what you did was just against nature.” said Axton.

“I’m a good cook! And Dark knows that for a fact!”

I looked to the blue pegasus and held an expressionless face,“Pyro, yes.. you are a good cook. But intentionally throwing the food pack into the fire was just uncalled for.”

"Well, there was a spider on the pack!" A shiver shot through Pyro's body as he shook in the thought of the spider,"I hate those things."

The rest of the night was loud and fun, everyone talked amongst each other and even Strife had begun to loosen up around the others. I found it amazing that our once quiet stallion finally warming up to the others. Archimedes, being extremely well versed in magic, provided entertainment for the others as I laid in the grass staring into the night’s sky. The sky was clear and the stars shone brightly. I looked to the moon and smiled,“Good to see you Luna, it’s been a while.” My eyes grew heavy and I let out a yawn. I placed my bag underneath my head to serve as a pillow. “I’ll talk to you...” another yawn escaped my mouth. “in the dream realm.”

I closed my eyes and slowly drifted into sleep.

Shadow, i’ll see you there too.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you have a wonderful... rest of your night? Later.

Keep it cool, Condemned.