After I had gave my farewells to the large dragon and the hazelnut stallion, I had set my sights on the Hive. Terra and Axton took the gear we had acquired from the fortress and were taking it back to my house in Ponyville. All except for the two journals they had found and gave to me, to which I would read during my break. I thought to myself quite often about what my grandfather, Firefist, had said. “I love you.” I had never heard those pairs of words directly spoken to me. I haven’t even heard them come from Chrysalis yet. I averted my attention from the thoughts that plagued my mind because they would only grow dark. I tried to focus on the positives. We had managed to gather needed information and materials from the ruin, I met my grandfather, and lastly.. I was on my way to see the two I’ve been dying to see for awhile.

As I strode through the field of green and the skies started to fade into the ever approaching darkness of night, I spread my wings and took to the skies. If I were fast enough, maybe I could make it to the campsite before the night had fully set upon the land. The skies were clear and not a cloud in sight. The gentle wind brushing across my body as I flew through the dimming skies. I felt something unusual, I felt calm.

I haven’t had this feeling in quite some time, the last I remembered feeling this way was back on earth. As my mind drifted back into thought, my speed increased. The gentle breeze became stronger as my speed grew faster. The day I had found myself waking in this land was unusual, but I already knew what I was getting myself into. Another flap of my wings sent me faster. The day I met the elements was strange, but I felt comfortable around them. My body slanted forward, allowing wind resistance to decrease and my speed increase.

Then ‘that’ day. The day when everything seemed to go wrong, I sacrificed my life on earth for the man I’m supposed to call ‘father’. Betrayed and my fate sealed in stone as the portal closed behind him. I felt another feeling, Rage. The fuel that drove me to train harder, that sent me aloft for four months, that had me put my work before anything else and.. that drove me to break away from the ponies I was trying to protect. Sadness, I think that’s what I felt. As I flew through the skies, I felt a tension building around me, trying to push me back but I was feeling so many things, I hardly paid any attention.

I was mournful for the loss of my family and my old life, saddened by the betrayal of someone I was supposed to trust. I felt guilty leaving my life back on earth, and the responsibilities I had. My family came first for me, and I let them slip through the cracks as I left my world behind. The life I had was gone, and my family lost in the void before. That was when I felt another feeling taking over my thoughts, Hope.

I rocketed through the air as I sped by with the rush of my wings, the air around me pushing down on my body and slapping my face as I pushed myself faster. I was hopeful that I would find my family once again, but now.. I have my own. I hoped that one day Moon would forgive me for what I had done to her, and she did. I hoped that one day Chrysalis would feel the emotions I felt for her, and she does. I hoped that their was more to life than my routine of going to work in morning, and coming home at night and sleeping to repeat it the next day. And now, I’m the guardian of Equestria. And one last feeling overcame me. Happiness.

As I soared through the skies, I cracked a smile as I closed my eyes. The feeling of the air pushing me back seemed to lessen as I flapped my wings faster. I opened my eyes and a small white light began to shine in front of me. The light grew brighter and expanded in size. With one final flap of my wings, I tried to surpass the light. I shot forward and breached the barrier that held me back. The light shone bright and a shock wave followed in my step. My speed doubled as I rocketed through the skies, a trail of light following closely behind me. I was coming close to the campsite but with the speed I was in, I could make the Hive in another half hour.

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

I was soaring just over the Hive and tried to slow myself down but couldn’t manage to. I stopped flapping my wings but I continued to fly at tremendous speeds. Slowly but surely, the light trail that followed closely began to fade. “Yeah.” I said but then I began to feel my wings grow numb and couldn’t manage to move them. I began to fall from a great height and soon began to match my speed as I fell towards the ground. I frantically tried to move my wings, but when they wouldn’t respond, I knew what was to come. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impending crash ahead.

As I neared the fast approaching ground, I heard a guard cry,“Watch out!” I heard a loud crash and everything seemed to stop. I tried to open my eyes but everything remained dark. I wondered what happened, but when light was finally visible, I was thrown into bewilderment.

“Dark? What are you doing here?” Asked Shadow.

“Here? Where’s here? All I can see is darkness and.. well.. you.”

“This is the Dream world, but you have this aura around you. That means only one thing.”

I gave my body a quick look over, I was encased in a dark black and violet glow. “Would you look at that, that’s not something you see everyday. I have a quick question. What does 'this' mean?”

Shadow looked to me worriedly,“Well, it means one of two things. One: You could unconscious and may stay this way from a few days.”

“And what’s the other?” I asked.

“The worst of fates, you could be dead.”

“Oh, thanks for the subtlety. Not like life is important or anything, you know.”

“Well, think about it. If you were dead, you wouldn’t be talking this much, even in the dream world. Talking dead spirits are a rare thing, though that’s the only difference between the dead and the living. If you watched two different specimens from afar, one alive, the other not, you couldn’t see the difference.”

“So you’re saying there is still a chance that I might be dead. Great.”

“I’m sorry to say but yes. There’s still that chance. I won’t be able to tell if your alive or not for a few days, not till you wake up. If you don’t, you may be in a coma. After a month, if you still haven’t awoken... well...” My equestrian counterpart trailed off.

“Wait, I have another question.”

“Ask and I shall answer.”

“You work in the dream realm, and you handle both the living and the dead. You can tell if people.. ponies are alive or not with this aura and you exist as a spirit unless you're using your fox form to enter the waken world. So by simple analysis, does that make you the embodiment of..”

“Death. I’m sorry to say, but yes.. partially. I operate with the living and the dead, but I don’t have any say on when their time has come. When they show themselves to me in the dream realm and they are glowing much like you, it tells me that they're going to be visiting mine and Luna’s realm for an extended period of time. Should they not disappear after a month, they become permanent guests.”

I sat on the ground, looking to my brother of the dream realm and pinched my the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. I gave a small sigh and after I opened my eyes once more, I looked Shadow in the eyes. “Fuck.”

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Keep it cool and thanks for the thousand, Condemned.