CHAPTER ONE
It was once again summer. Lunarstar, and her husband, Blizzard, had come through the portal to spend their vacation with Luna’s adopted parents in Ponyville. Luna always loved doing this, since she had time to spend with her adopted parents, and also spend time with her old friends that she had gone to school with. She also got to spend time with Blizzard. However, like everyone, Luna sometimes liked to spend some time alone. When she was alone, she would enjoy her new favorite hobby.
Early one morning in early July, the sun had just risen above the horizon, and the sky was a mixture of orange, and red. Soon the sun would have fully risen, and the sky would be a bold shade of blue. Perfect weather for enjoying one’s favorite activities on a warm summer day.
Luna was in her car, a white 1966 Jaguar XKE coupe ,driving down a gentle country road that ran out of town, and into the neighboring countryside. She was in her earthling form, and had a purple mane, and tail. Her clothing consisted of a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a pair of sunglasses.
For all intents purposes, Luna was in a very good mood. The radio was on, and was playing some fast-paced rock music, while she sang along.
Sitting on the passenger seat of the car was a basket filled with a picnic lunch that she had made earlier that morning. Sitting in the back seat was yellow backpack filed with various items. Sitting next to that was a long black, rectangular-shaped carrying case with an attached handle.
Luna was on her way to the woods near town. These were the same woods that she used to go into alone at night when she was younger, so she could have some time to be in her true form as an alicorn. Now, every time she came across the portal into Ponyville, Luna would be sure to go into the woods alone to have some time to herself. Because she had been in them many times, Luna knew her way around the woods from one end to the other. She laughed to herself as she remembered about how the citizens of Ponyville used to tell stories about the a supposed ‘ghost’ that lived in the woods, and who would glow in the dark at night. Luna had always found it amusing that she could glow in the dark.
About six miles north of the town, Luna turned her car onto a dirt road that branched off the paved road and ran into the woods. The dirt road was dusty, uneven, and strewn with small rocks. Because of this, the car bounced up and down as it drove forward down the road.
The car finally reached the end of the road, and parked in a large clearing surround by trees. Coming to a stop, Luna parked the car, and shut off the engine. She got out, and took a look around the clearing. Running from the clearing into the forest was a dirt path. Running south from the clearing was the road that Luna had just driven on. Besides that, the clearing was completely surrounded on all sides by the thick Oak trees of the forest. The floor of the clearing was nothing but dirt.
From high above, the first full rays of sunlight began shine down onto the forest. The sky was no turning into it’s familiar shade of blue. It was perfect weather for being outdoors.
Luna went around to the passenger door of the car, and opened it. She took the picnic basket off the passenger seat, and placed it softly on the ground. She than reached into the back seat of the car, took out the backpack, than the carrying case, and placed them on the ground next to the basket.
Closing the car’s doors, Luna locked them. She than put on the backpack, picked up the basket with her left hand, and the carrying case with her right hand. She than walked down the trail leading out of the clearing, and headed into the woods.

CHAPTER TWO
After walking for half an hour, Lunarstar reached the end trail, and stepped into another clearing. Like the first one, this one was surrounded on three sides by thick oak trees. The only was leading in or out of it was the trail that Lunarstar just hiked on. Sitting at the northern edge of the clearing, about forty feet away from Lunarstar, was a long dead oak tree, which no longer had any leaves, and was leaning greatly to the right, as if it was ready to fall down. Despite it’s appearance and condition, however, it served Lunarstar’s purpose perfectly.
Putting her bags on the ground, Lunarstar opened up the backpack, took out a bottle of water, and took a few gulps. She put the bottle back into the bag, and opened up the black carrying case. Sitting inside of it was a small sword that had a gold jewel-encrusted handle. It had been a gift from Buster. After so many attempts to kidnap her and kill her, he had decided it was high time for Lunarstar to learn how to defend herself. So, with the blessing of her father, Buster begun teaching Lunarstar how to use a sword. At first, she had trouble mastering the basics skills of sword fighting, but with Buster’s guidance, she soon became proficient with it, and even began to beat the captain of the guard himself when they would have practice fights.
Luna took the sword out of the carrying case, and held by the handle with both of her hands. With the blade pointing upwards, Luna look into it’s shiny surface, and saw her own reflection. Smiling, she admired herself for a bit, than lowered the sword, until it was pointing horizontally in the direction of the tree. Holding the sword this way, Luna walked slowly over to the dead tree until she was standing right in front of it. Luna reeled back the sword until it was over her right shoulder, and than swung it into the side of the tree. The force of the impact caused the sword’s sharp blade to cut deep into the bark of the tree. Using a bit of strength , Luna managed to dislodge the sword from the tree, freeing the blade. Examining the damage she had caused, she saw that the sword had left a deep horizontal cut into the side of the tree. Nodding her head, Luna stood up, walked over to the other side of the tree, raised the sword again, than swung it into the tree, and made another cut into the tree. Satisfied at this, Luna took a few steps backwards away from the tree, raised the sword above her head, took a deep breath, and charged forward. Letting out a high-pitched war cry, she ran straight towards the tree, and began to cut and hack into it like it was some hostile opponent. After two minutes of this, Luna stopped her attack.
Now completely exhausted, Luna was panting heavily. Her fur was soaked with sweet, and her throat was now bone-dry, and sore. These practice sessions took a lot out of her, but thanks to them, her skills were improving rapidly.
Now that she had caught her breath, Luna decided that she had had enough practice for that day, and walked back to her things to have some lunch. She placed the sword carefully in it’s case, and shut it closed. Opening the basket, she took out a folded-out blue blanket, unfolded it, and than laid it out onto the ground. With the basket sitting next to her, Luna sat down on the blanket, and began to enjoy a picnic lunch that consisted of peanut and jelly sandwich, a bag of pretzels, a thermos filled with lemonade, and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. After she had finished eating, she let out a yawn, placed her hands on the back of her head, and lean backwards on she was lying flat on her back on the blanket. Closing her eyes, she laid there, until she fell asleep, and took a nap.

Nearby in the woods that surrounded the clearing, a figure, who had been watching her all this time, was crouched next to some oak trees. As he watched Luna sleep, he thought about all the times in the past that he had encountered. With a feeling of guilt, he also remembered about all the evil things he had done to her, and her friends and family. Gods. How he now hated himself for doing them. But the past was in the past, and he now had a chance to redeem himself for he knew that Luna life’s would soon be put into danger once again. He vowed to himself that he would never let anyone harm her….Even if it meant his own death.

CHAPTER THREE
While Luna slept peacefully in the clearing, a group of menacing individuals were moving westward through the woods directly towards the clearing. They were all earthling stallions and were dressed in jet black suits of lightweight armor. All of them carried AK47 assault rifles, except for one soldier who carried an RPK light machine gun, and their leader who carried a Skorpion VZ68 machine pistol. A scowl was on each of their faces, and a murderous look was in their eyes. They had been assigned an important mission. One that could not fail…no matter what.
After walking for about several minutes, they finally reached the edge of the clearing. Their leader, a stallion with dark blue fur and a gray mane, was out in front of them. Kneeling on the ground, he motioned for the troops who were following him to stop. They did so, and also kneeled. The blue stallion peered through some bushes into the clearing. He saw clearly his target sleeping on the blanket, peacefully…Perfect.
A stallion with light yellow hair, and an orange mane moved slowly forward until he was right next to the blue stallion. “Is that her?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied the Blue Stallion, whose name was Haze, nodding his head. “That‘s her all right. Right where they said she‘d be.” He turned his head, and looked at the yellow stallion. “Would like to kill her, Senkin?”
The yellow stallion, whose name was Senkin, nodded his head. “Your damm right.”
Haze chuckled at his friend’s show of enthusiasm. “Okay, you do the honors.”
A devilish grin appeared on Senkin’s face. He walked slowly out of the bushes, and into the clearing. Making his was slowly, he walked over to the sleeping Lunarstar. When he was finally standing right over her, Senkin cocked the hammer on his rifle, and took aim at the sleeping filly. Placing his finger on the trigger, Senkin got ready to open fire…

From where he was crouched among the trees, the mysterious figure could see everything that was happening in the clearing. He certainly could see the heavily-armed stallion who now stood above Lunarstar, and who was about to gun her down unmercifully as she slept. With every intention of preventing the young mare’s murder, the figure cocked the hammer back on the Colt/Armalite M16A2 assault rifle that he was holding with both his hands, counted up to the number three, than leap from the bushes, and into clearing. As soon as he was fully standing in the clearing, he let out as ferocious roar that echoed throughout the surrounding forest. This had two results:
One, it instantly woke up Lunarstar, who was more than shocked to find a strange stallion wearing a black suit of armor, and armed with a assault rifle standing over. Despite the fact that she had no idea who this stallion was, or what he wanted, Lunarstar had a feeling that she was in mortal danger. She also had feeling that he wasn’t alone, and that he had friends nearby. Fortunately, the stallion was facing away from Lunarstar, and hadn’t seen her when she woke up. Curious about what he was looking at, Lunarstar sat up, and looked into the direction he was looking…She nearly died right there of shock.

CHAPTER FOUR
Senkin couldn’t believe it. Standing before him was an individual who he thought he would never meet in person. He had heard many stories about this horrifying individual, but had only thought that he was just something that parents had made up to scare their foals into behaving. But Senkin now knew without a doubt that he was alive, and real.
The individual in question had green fur, a snow white mane, and glowing yellow eyes, like those of a lizard. He was wearing a dark-green suit of armor. A gold sculpture of a dragon in full flight emblazoned on the chest plate of the suit. In his hands, he carried the before mentioned M16A2 assault rifle. At the moment, the individual was scowling angrily.
Senkin, frozen in his place due to an overwhelming sense of fear, muttered the individuals name quietly to himself…
While he stood there staring at the horrifying individual, Senkin heard the sound of a gasp from beside him. Turning to the side, he saw Lunarstar ,and than suddenly remembered why he was there in the first place. As quick as lightning, he pointed his rifle and was about to open fire when….he was hit on the right side of his head with a 5.56mm rifle bullet. He was killed instantly. Much to Lunarstar’s horror, he lifeless body stood there for several seconds, still holding the rifle. It than fell to the ground right in front of her. His mouth and eyes were permanently open in a expression of surprise.
Horrified at what she just witnessed, Lunastar simply sat there staring at the freshly-dead corpse that was lying in front of her. She had no idea about what the hell was going on, but she knew that her life was in danger. For some strange reason, she didn’t fell that it was the shocking individual from her past who was trying to kill her this time. In fact, the individual had just proven that by killing the stallion. No, it was more than clear that he didn‘t want to kill her. It was someone else who did….Lunarstar, however, wasn’t going to take any chances.
Finally motivating herself to move, Lunarstar, still in a sitting position, and with her eyes focused firmly on the individual, slowly stood upwards until she was standing completely upright. She than stood there staring at him, not knowing about what was he was going to do next. She couldn’t believe that it was him who was standing in front of her. In past times, she would either be fighting him or running away from him. But this time, she just stood there looking at him.
‘Oh Gods,’ she thought. ‘It’s him.’
Before she could say anything, all Hell suddenly broke lose as vicious gunfire burst forth from the tree line that bordered on the western end of the clearing. Like Buster had taught her, Lunarstar instinctively dived for the ground to avoid being hit by any of the speeding bullets that were now whizzing past her.
Unfortunately, due to a tragic flaw in the timing of her reaction, Lunarstar caught the full brunt of the incoming gunfire…

From where he was crouched among the trees, Haze couldn’t believe what he had just saw. Senkin, his long time friend and loyal comrade in arms, had gone out into the clearing to kill Lunarstar, when had been a loud roar, and than a nightmarish individual leapt from the bushes on the other side clearing, and out into the open. Before Senkin had a chance to kill Lunarstar, the individual, for some gods-only knew reason, shot and killed him. When Haze recognized who it was who had just killed his friend, a chill instantly ran down his spine. Standing there was someone who he had thought had been dead for many years. But that apparently wasn’t so because this individual was standing in full view of Haze, who had a foreboding feeling that, despite whatever happened, things were not going to end well. Realizing that he and his troops couldn’t just sit there among trees, and wait to see what individual would do next, Haze turned towards his troops who crouched in rows along the tree line stretching out to the left and to the right of him, and made what would be a fatal mistake…
“Well, what the hell are you all looking at!?” he shouted loudly, knowing full well what they were looking at. Stretching out his left arm, he pointed at Lunarstar. “Kill her!”
The soldiers immediately obeyed, and opened fire with their weapons. In almost half a second, a cloud of lead bullets starting flying towards their intended target. Almost instantaneously, Lunarstar was hit by a number of bullets, and fell to the ground. Haze smiled wickedly as he saw his target lay there in the grass, supposedly dead.
‘Good,’ he thought, satisfied that his mission had been accomplished. ‘The little royal bitch is dead. Lady Minty will be pleased with me.’
However, in his sudden and mist ought haste to accomplish his mission, Haze had forgotten one very important thing…Lunarstar wasn’t the only one who was in that clearing.
Turning away from Lunarstar, Haze turned towards the direction of the individual to direct his troops to fire on him, when bullets starting whizzing past his head. As quick as lightning, Haze dropped from his crouching position to a lay himself flat on the ground d on his stomach as the individual began firing at him and his soldiers. It became apparent that the individual was an expert marksman, since one after the other, Haze’s soldiers started dropping dead left and right after being inflicted with deadly headshots.
Soon, out of the fourteen soldiers that Haze had led into the forest, only five, besides himself, were left. It had only taken the individual about one minute and fifteen seconds to kill them.
At first rejecting the idea to retreat, Haze now saw it as his only chance to preserve what was left of his platoon. Besides, he had completed his mission.
He began shouting to the five remaining soldiers. “Retreat! Retreat!”
The soldiers immediately obeyed and followed Haze as he led them back into the deep woods, and away from the clearing as fast as they could.
Their withdrawal left behind the individual, a supposedly dead Lunarstar, and the bodies of their nine fallen comrades.

CHAPTER FIVE
As soon as Haze and his soldiers retreated, the Individual in the clearing lowered his gun. Despite the fact that he had managed to kill most of him, he knew in his heart that he had failed to stop them from killing Lunarstar. As soon as she was cut down by those bullets before he could react, he knew it. It seemed that he could protect her from one killer, but not from a whole platoon of them.
Gods…How he hated himself for this failure.
Slinging his rifle over his right shoulder, he walked over to Lunarstar’s bleeding corpse, and kneeled down to examine it. She had been hit many times in various parts of her body, especially her stomach and thighs areas. As a result, her body and the grass around her was covered in silver-colored blood.
The individual closed his eyes, and dropped his head. He remained in that position for almost ten minute.
‘Oh gods,’ he thought, sadly. ‘I failed her.’
Despite the fact that his eyes were closed, tears began to form around them, and than ran down his face. For the first time, in a long time, he felt sadness for the death of another living creature.
Opening his eyes, he knew that the decent thing he could do was bury her body, and than, somehow, let both sets of parents know about what had happened, while staying anonymous. Noticing that Lunarstar’s eyes were open as she lay on her back, he reached over and closed them. He than leaned forward to giver her a kiss on the cheek as a sign of affection. As he did, he placed his hand on her torso, right above her heart. Doing so, he instantly felt it…beating.
Now fully alert, the individual checked Lunarstar’s pulse and breathing, and discovered that both of those were working too. To his excitement and joy, he realized that Lunarstar was still alive. His joy, however, was short lived as realized that Lunarstar needed major medical attention immediately. Unfortunately, he didn’t either the materials or know-how to perform any major care. But he was capable of performing some basic fist aid to at least stabilize the young mare’s condition until he could get her to the castle.
Thinking quickly, he grabbed Lunarstar’s picnic blanket, and, using his claws, began to rip shreds from it. He than started wrapping them around Lunarstar‘s legs and arms, where most of the wounds were located, and packing them over the wounds. By doing this, he managed to stop most of the bleeding. But that still didn’t mean much. Lunarstar would need major surgery to remove the bullets, and she would need it very soon. Wrapping her in what was left of the blanket, the Individual picked up Lunarstar in her arms. Closing his eyes he started to concentrate heavily. A fiery, vortex portal than opened up in front of him. The individual than stepped completely thought. As an afterthought, the Individual reached back out of the portal, and picked the up the case holding Lunarstar’s sword. When he went back into the portal, it closed up completely, and disappeared, leaning nothing but the bodies of the dead soldiers, and the overturned picnic basket as the only remains of the deadly battle that had taken place there in the clearing.

The young unicorn stallion was having a very boring day. Ever since he had woken up that morning, he had been busy doing various menial tasks around the castle, such as cleaning, and paperwork. The day, however, would soon become lees boring in a very short period of time. The unicorn stallion, who had blue fur and a yellow mane, was in the entrance hall of the castle, taking a much needed nap in a wooden chair, when he was awakened by a loud whooshing sound. Opening his eyes, he saw the Individual standing there, holding what looked like a young earthling mare wrapped in a blanket in his hands.
“Sunbeam!” shouted the Individual.
The unicorn, who’s name was Sunbeam, jumped out of his chair, and rushed over to the Individual.
“What the hell is all this?” he asked.
The individual had no time to answering questions. “Never mind about that. Go tell Doctor Wigwam that he now has a patient who needs surgery right now.”
Nodding his head in understanding, Sunbeam ran out of the entrance hall, shouting, “I’ll got get him! You take her to the Infirmary.”
Walking quickly up the grand staircase in front of her, the Individual carried the unconscious Lunarstar up the sitars, turned left when he reached the top, and than went down a corridor. A look of fear and uncertainty was on his face as he felt the young mare’s breathing become weaker and weaker...

CHAPTER SIX
Lunarstar just stood there, surrounded by darkness on all sides. Dressed in her white nightgown, she felt very cold. Suddenly, she felt a the presence of someone standing behind her. Turning around, she found an unfairly stallion standing there, smiling evilly at her. He had red hair, a dark red mane, and yellow reptilian eyes. He was wearing a red suit of armor with a black sculpture of a dragon in flight mounted on the chest plate. The strange stallion was grinning evilly at Lunarstar.
“Hello, Luna,” he said. “I have not seen you in a long time.”
Lunarstar recognized the voice, but she wasn’t sure. She had never seen this stallion before in her life. “Who are you?”
“Don’t you remember me?” asked the stallion in an amused tone. “If you don‘t, you should.” He than said something that made Lunarstar’s blood freeze, and also sent a chill up her spine. “Your uncle Star Cluster knew me very well.”
At that moment, Lunarstar nearly died of shock when she heard this last remark. She now knew who the mysterious red stallion was…Fallon.
“No,” replied Lunarstar, shaking her head. “It can‘t be…It can‘t be.” She pointed a finger at him. “Your…your…dead!”
The stallion, who was Fallon in a pony form, smiled evilly. “I came back from the dead.”
“How?”
“With some help.” Fallon smiled, and motioned towards the darkness with his hand. “With this mare‘s help to be specific.” He turned his head in the same direction that hid hand was pointing. “Please come and show yourself.”
Another individual than stepped out of the darkness. In this case, thought, she was a mare. She had mint green fur, a white mane and tail, and blue eyes. She was wearing a black gown, with a red collar. Hanging around her neck was a silver circle-shaped medallion with the image of a group of three-leaf clovers on it. She smiled as she looked at Lunarstar.
“Princess Luna,” said Fallon, “I would like to introduce you to Lady Minty, the very luscious Leader of the Cult of Night Flame. It was she who brought me back from the dead.”
Minty chuckled at being referred to as ‘luscious.’ “You flatter me, sir knight.” She and Fallon than kissed each other. She than noticed that Lunarstar was staring at them speechless. Minty laughed and turned back to Fallon. “Shall we?”
Fallon nodded. “Yes.”
From out of nowhere, the both of them held up Stechkin APS machine pistols, and pointed them in Lunarstar’s face. Before the young princess could react, they both opened fire on her…
That’s when Lunarstar woke up screaming….

Lunarstar suddenly sat up in bed. She was both panting and sweating heavily. At first she was highly alert, but she soon gradually calmed down. Immediately, she noticed that she was no longer in that forest clearing anymore. She was now sitting on a bed in a spares looking room. The walls were made of gray stone, as were both the ceiling and the floor. Lunarstar was lying on a bed with white sheets that was propped up against the near left corner of the room. To the right of bed was a simple wooden door with a golden doorknob. The room had no windows. Propped up against the far wall of the room was a wooden desk and chair. On the far right corner of the room was a pair of large window doors that led to a balcony. On the far left corner of the room was a dresser drawer. In all, the room looked eerily like her old room that she had slept in back at Dream Castle when she was younger. Come to think, the room looked too similar to her room…For a moment, Lunarstar hoped that she had been rescued from the clearing, and than brought home to Dream Castle. It was possible, since her uncles, Starfire and Skyview, had also come across the gate to have a vacation. Perhaps they had somehow rescued Lunarstar, and brought her home?
No. That was impossible. Lunarstar had told no one she was going to the forest clearing to practice her swordsmanship skills. Also, everyone had been asleep when she had left the house early in the morning. They probably didn’t know that she was in trouble. To Lunarstar, this fact meant only one thing: She hadn’t been brought home by anyone. This in turn brought up two important question :Where was she, and who brought her here? Lunarstar intended to find the answers to both questions.

While she sat there in the bed, Lunarstar realized that she was no longer wearing the shirt and jeans anymore. She was now wearing a snow white silk nightgown. It seemed that whoever brought her from the clearing to wherever this was had also changed her clothes. But that wasn’t the half of it. Deciding that she needed to get out of bed before she did anything else, Lunarstar began to climb out of it. But as soon as her hooves touched the floor, she felt an extreme amount of pain in her legs. The pain came on so suddenly that it caused Lunarstar’s entire body to convulse violently. She convulsed so violently that she lost her footing, and would have fallen onto the floor if she hadn’t grabbed the bed. While she was trying to prop herself up, she noticed that her legs were completely wrapped in white bandages like a mummy. What was really shocking was that the bandages were soaked with silver blood. Her blood. On a hunch, she pulled back her sleeves, and saw that her arms were also heavily bandaged, and soaked with blood.
“Gods!” thought Lunarstar as she stared at her bandaged arms, “What the hell happened to me?”
She had no idea about what happened in the clearing after the shooting had begun.
Knowing full well that she couldn’t just lean there on the bed all day, Lunarstar began to painfully force herself to move. First, she pushed herself from the bed so that was standing upright. Slowly she turned until she was facing the direction of the door, She than began to slowly walk towards it, trying not to move her legs too quickly, or she would feel some extreme pain. But despite that, she made some progress. However, disaster struck. When she was made it halfway to the door, she moved her left leg a little too quickly. Instantly, she felt a large surge of pain that made her convulse, and lost her footing. Letting a loud yelp, Lunarstar fell onto the hard, cold stone floor of the room. The impact of hitting the floor instantly sent more pain surging through her legs. This made her gasp in pain.
‘Looks like I should of stayed in bed,’ she thought in an attempt to try and put some in humor into the current situation. ‘Well, I can’t stay here forever.’
She attempted to use her hands to push herself up off the floor in order to get herself up off the floor. Unfortunately, when she began push onto the floor with her arms, she felt even more agonizing pain. So much so that she had stop her attempt. Thinking about what to do next, she tried to crawl back towards bed, but found that when she also felt pain when she tried to move that way. In fact, every time she made the even the slightest move, she would feel a large amount of very sharp pain that would instantly immobilize her. This was not good. She couldn’t move, and was now stuck here on a cold stone floor in a room that looked liker her room back home in Dream Castle. But she knew that this wasn’t Dream Castle, and this wasn’t home. And only the gods knew who was outside that closed door…Was it him, or someone else? She didn’t know, and, in a way, didn’t want to now. It was for this reason that she didn’t shout out for help.
Thinking about the desperate situation she was in, Lunarstar realized that for the first time, in a long time, she was in a desperate situation with no viable options of escape. Lunarstar was completely helpless.
Ignoring her current situation for a change, she began to think about everyone that was dear to her. Her friends, her family, and especially her husband. They were all probably wondering where she was right now. Lunarstar wished she knew the answer to that question herself.
‘Oh gods,’ she thought. Tears began to appear in her eyes. ‘What the hell am I going to do?’
Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and than he, the individual who she had seen in the clearing and who she thought she would never seen again in her entire life, walked in…

CHAPTER SEVEN
Laying helpless on the floor, Lunarstar looked up at him as he entered the room. From what she could see, he had taken off his suit of armor, and was now wearing a dark green long-sleeved tunic, and a pair of black trousers. A gray metal medallion with his personal symbol engraved on it. His pair of dragon wings jutted out from his back through pair of slits that had been cut into the tunic. A hole had been cut into his pants to allow his tail to stick out. From some strange reason, he actually looked less-intimidating.
He walked into the room, stopped, and than looked around. A look of genuine alarm appeared on his face when he saw that the bed was empty. He walked quickly towards the bed, and, for some strange reason, failed to notice Lunarstar, who was still laying on the floor. Not wanting to attract his attention, she remained completely silent. Using all of her will power, she tried not to move an inch, but failed when her left leg moved instantly when she felt a twinge of pain. This caused even more pain, which made Lunarstar gasp loudly. In an instant the Individual turned around, and saw her lying on the floor. Realizing that he had seen her, Lunarstar looked up at him, while feeling a sense of dread. The memories of everything that this individual had done to her and her family, especially to Blizzard, her husband.
In a desperate and panicked attempt to escape, and survive, Lunarstar attempt to rapidly crawl across the floor away from the individual, and towards the door.
This, of course, caused an extreme amount of pain that quickly overwhelmed her, and forced her to stop. Failing in her attempt to escape, Lunarstar, fearing the worst, closed her eyes tightly, and waited for the end.
‘Oh gods!’ she thought with horror. ‘This is the end!’
However, something surprising happened…
Lunarstar lay their on the floor, when she suddenly felt someone wrapping their arms around her, and helping her up until she was standing upright. She had no doubt about who was it was. She felt being completely lifted off the floor, and than being leaned backwards until, she assumed, she was facing upwards. Being cradled in this person’s arms for a few seconds, Lunarstar than found herself being gently placed onto a soft surface. For a few minutes after that, she laid there, being afraid to move or even opening her eyes. Still thinking that he was planning to do something awful to her. However, contrary to her fears, nothing happened. Finally, she managed to gather up enough courage to open her eyes. She found herself laying in the bed on her back. Standing above her was the Individual, who was looking down at her. Looking into his eyes, she saw that there was an expression of concern in his eyes. The expression on his face matched this. For another several minutes the both of them stared at each other silently as if the both of them were afraid to speak to each other.
It was Lunarstar who finally broke the terrible silence. Gathering up enough courage, she spoke by exclaiming the individual’s real name in a quiet, hushed tone…”Teriney?”
Teriney nodded his head. “Hello, Luna. It has been a long time,” he replied, calling her by her princess name.
Lunarstar, however, ignored him. “Your supposed to be dead.”
Closing his eyes, Teriney nodded his head. “Yes, I know.” He opened his eyes, and sighed. “Look, Lunarstar, I know what you are thinking about, and…” But he stopped himself. Now was not the right time to try, and reconcile. Lunarstar needed her rest, and recover. “Well, I shall let you rest for a while. I will tell the others that you have finally awakened.”
With out another word, he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. After he had left, Lunarstar lay there on the bed, thinking about everything that happened to her since the events that had occurred in the clearing. It was all very confusing. As she thought, she began to ask herself a few questions: Who shot her in the clearing? Why did Teriney save her, which she assumed that he had. But she would have to find the answers to these questions later. Right now, Lunarstar had find out where she was right now. She also had to find out who these ‘others’ were that Teriney had mentioned. Unbeknownst to her, this question would soon be answered….

CHAPTER EIGHT
Closing the door behind him as he went, Teriney walked out of the room that Lunarstar was staying in, and found Sunbeam standing there. A look of uncertainty on his face, and he was leaning against the stone wall right next to the doorway of the room.
“What happened?” he asked. “I heard a thump.”
“Oh, nothing much,” replied Teriney. “Lunarstar simply tried to get out of bed, and didn‘t succeed,. So I put her back in bed.” He than sighed. “Course, coming face-to-face with me after all these years shocked the hell out of her. But that’s not surprising.”
Relieved, Sunbeam nodded his head. “Ya, I would guess that would be the case.” A serious expression on his face. “So, are you going to tell Majesty and the others about who your friend really is?”
To Teriney, this was a actually a serious problem. When he had gone off on his mission to save Lunarstar, he really hadn’t intended to bring her back home with him. However, because she had been gunned down, he had been force to change his plans in order to save her life. Since he hadn’t told his companions, except for Sunbeam, about his little mission of mercy and the identity of the individual he planned to save, he had to make up a story about doing some target practice in the woods near Ponyville, and than finding Lunarstar lying in a clearing, injured for some ‘unknown’ reason. (He hadn’t bothered to tell them about the squad of Cult troopers that he had nearly wiped out.) At first, everyone wasn’t too keen about the idea of a strange mare being in the let into the castle, but she was near death, and needed medical attention. Fortunately, Doctor Wigwam was able to successfully perform surgery to remove the bullets. Immediately afterwards, Lunarstar had been moved into the spare room that she now occupied, where she had lay there in a coma. For three days she had been in that condition, which Doctor Wigwam said she had a 50/50 chance of getting out of. A distraught Teriney had prayed to the gods frantically that she would recover. Apparently, his prayers had been answered, since, when he had gone in to check on her, he had found wide awake, and lying on the floor. Course, it had been a shocking experience for the both of them to see each other after many years. What with Lunarstar being fully convened that Teriney had been dead for all that time.
“Well,” began Teriney, “I‘ll just to have to explain everything to them when Lunarstar has fully recovered.”
“Okay,” said Sunbeam, nodding his head. “And after that?”
Teriney, who was at a loss for a good answer, closed his eyes. “I don‘t know,” he said quietly. He opened his eyes. “I just don’t know.”
Sunbeam, who fully understood what Teriney meant, was about to say something more, when he and his friend suddenly heard a female voice. “Hey guys!”
They turned in the direction that the voice had come from, and saw Star Flame walking down the corridor towards them. She was an earthling mare with black fur, a fiery red mane that had both a orange and yellow streak running through it, and black eyes. She was wearing a pair of black trousers, and a red long-sleeved tunic. A bronze medallion that had a five-pointed star engraved on it hung around her neck on a bronze chain. For all intents and purposes, she was in a good mood.
“’I was wondering where you two were,” she said as she walked over and stood with her friends. “I‘ve been looking all over for ya.”
“Oh really,” asked a confused Teriney. “What for?”
Star Flame chuckled. “Don‘t you remember? I was going to teach you how to use a smoke grenade after lunch today?”
Suddenly remembering, Teriney smacked his left hand on his forehead. “Oh, that‘s right! Now I remember.” A look of regret appeared on his face. “I‘m sorry, Star Flame, I completely forgot.”
Star Flame smiled, which meant that she wasn’t angry at all about Teriney forgetting about their planned training session. “That‘s okay. I‘ve been busy doing gods dammed paperwork for Majesty all morning.” She smiled insanely. “I’ve even forgotten who I am.” Everyone laughed at this. Star Flame was always cracking jokes at every moment. She than remembered something.
“Oh, how’s that young mare doing?” she asked, motioning towards the door to the room. “Is she awake yet?”
Teriney nodded his head. “Yes, when I went in to check on her, I found wide awake and out of bed. She had climbed out of bed, and had tried to walked out of the room. Unfortunately, she fell on the floor. I had to put her back to bed.”
“Ya, probably scared out of her mind,” remarked Star Flame. “So, now that she‘s awake, I think I ought to pop in, and saw hello.”
Both Teriney and Sunbeam looked alarmed at this. Star Flame noticed this, and became suspicious.
“What‘s wrong, guys?”
“Oh nothing,” said Sunbeam, quickly. “It‘s just that we think…”
“What Sunbeam is trying to say,” explained Teriney, is that we think that our guest should…”His words trailed off as he couldn’t think off a good excuse to keep Star Flame from seeing Lunarstar.
“I thought so,” declared Star Flame. She than promptly opened the door, and walked into the room before Sunbeam and Teriney could say anything.

Lunarstar was sitting there on the bed, thinking about the current situation that she was in, when she heard the door swing open. Looking in it’s direction, she found an unfamiliar mare standing there in the doorway. With her right hand still clutching the door knob, the older mare stood there in the doorway. For almost a full minute the two of them stared at each other, before the older mare spoke.
“Hi there,” she said cheerfully as she walked towards Lunarstar, “I‘m Star Flame. ”
Lunarstar looked up and down at this Star Flame individual with a sense of caution and suspicious. Despite the fact that her inner instinct was telling her that she had nothing to fear from this mare, she was still cautious of anyone, consider the events that had occurred her in the last several hours. Besides, the colors of Star Flame’s fur, mane were unlike anything that Lunarstar had seen before. She had never seen a pony with those colors before, and had feeling that no other pony in the universe had them. This, logically, meant that Star Flame must be unique in some way…Perhaps unique like Lunarstar herself.
This thought, for some strange reason, made her feel a little less suspicious of Star Flame. Although, she still kept her guard up in case anything suddenly happened…
“Um,” she replied, hesitantly, “I‘m Lunarstar.”
‘She scared,’ thought Star Flame. ‘I don’t blame her.’
“Well,” she exclaimed, trying to break the ice between her and Lunarstar, “your probably wondering about a few things right now, ‘What is the hell is this place?’ ‘Where the hell am I?’ and ‘Who the hell is this mare who’s talking to me right now?’”
Lunarstar couldn’t help, but giggle at this. This Star Flame individual probably wasn’t such a bad person after all. If someone could make Lunarstar laugh, that person wasn‘t so bad. She had always thought of humor as a important trait in someone that should be admired. That, and a caring nature, were the two most important traits that Lunarstar saw in every person. If they had those, it would be easy for them to become friends. Smiling, Lunarstar nodded her head.
“Ya, I have more than a few questions,’ replied Lunarstar. She than heard her stomach grumbling. This told her that she hadn’t eaten in a while.
Star Flame heard it too. “Well,” she remarked smartly, “it seems that somebody is hungry.” She than had an idea. “Tell you what, seeing as it‘s near noon time, I‘ll get us some lunch, and than I‘ll answer all your questions.”
This sounded good to Lunarstar. “Okay.”
“Right, I‘ll be back before you can say ‘Great Rainbow.’” Star Flame than walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Watching her go, Lunarstar knew that she had just made a friend. Considering her current circumstance, she needed all the friends she could get. As she waited for Star Flame to return with lunch, Lunarstar decided to sit there on the bed, and relax. Laying back against the large pillow of the bed, she began to think about how her family in both worlds, and about how they might be reacting to her disappearance-Course, that they depended on whether they even knew that she was gone-Of all her friends and family Lunarstar especially thought about Blizzard. How would he react to her disappearance for the clearing?

CHAPTER NINE
Usually, Blizzard wouldn’t drop in unexpectedly on Lunarstar, while she was having some time to herself out in the woods. He, and everyone else, respected her right to some privacy. However, Booster had announced that he was planning to take everyone out to dinner that night, on account that it was his and Rosebud’s 30th wedding anniversary. Besides, it would be getting dark soon, anyways. Since Lunarstar didn’t know about any of this, Blizzard had volunteered to go tell her. He was now driving his car, a ice blue 1970 Ford Maverick Grabber, down the road that led out of town towards the forest. He was dressed in a white Tuneful Beats t-shirt, a pair of brown slack pants, and a orange sport jacket. It was adequate clothing since it was a little chilly today. It was unusual for it be cold on a summer day in July, but the weather was known to do strange things. Blizzard paid no attention to it.
Since he had gone out to the forest with Lunarstar several times before, and had once been living in it for awhile, he was also familiar with it, and knew his way to the clearing. Driving along, he thought about how last night, he and Lunarstar had talked about visiting Drakon Island again as long as they were here in this world for awhile. Blizzard himself had never been there, but he had heard about everything that had happened before he met Lunarstar, including the battle with Fallon. Blizzard shivered as he thought about it. As far as he was concerned, Fallon was just as bad as Teriney, if not worse.
Thankfully, both Fallon and Teriney had been dead for years, and there was no way in hell that they were coming back. At least, that’s what Blizzard hoped. Teriney had the uncanny ability to show up out of nowhere, and making everyone’s life miserable. He had done that to Blizzard for years. But again, that was all ancient history. Blizzard now had friends, family, and a loving wife…
Oh, and he was also king of Ponyland.
But Blizzard didn’t really valued that as much as he valued Lunarstar.
While he was driving, Blizzard, with one hand still gripping the steering wheel, reached over, and turned on the radio. He than began to fiddle with the knob, while going from station to station. He finally found one that he liked, and stayed on it. Listening to the music, Blizzard began to tap his fingers on the steering wheel along with the music. Glancing out of the windshield, he noticed that the sky was quickly changing from being bright and blue to being dull and gray. In over half a minute, the sky went from being completely empty of clouds to being completely filled with what appeared to be dark storm clouds.
‘Hmm,’ thought Blizzard, ‘looks like a storm is coming. Good thing I brought my jacket.’
Thinking that it was a typical, everyday rainstorm was forming in the sky above him, Blizzard paid no attention to it, and continued on driving.
After a little while, he caught site of the familiar dirt trail that led off the main road, and headed into the forest. Blizzard drove off the road, and onto the trail. As he was driving into the woods, Blizzard caught site of another car coming down the road towards him in the opposite direction. Instinctively, he steered the car to the right side of the road to let the other car pass him, thinking that it was someone else who had been taking a trip out into the woods, and who was now leaving. Blizzard was in for a shock, however.
As the other car came closer, he recognized it as Lunarstar’s Jaguar. Thinking that she was had done with her actives and was now coming home, Blizzard pulled over to the right side of the road, and stopped. He than rolled down the driver’s side window, stuck his left arm, and started waving in order to attract Lunarstar’s attention. The white Jaguar, however, completely ignored him, and simply sped past him. It than turned to the right onto the main road, and drove away. Blizzard, not surprisingly, was confused and surprised.
‘What the hell was that all about?’ he thought. ‘Didn’t she see me?’
For some strange reason, he began to have a feeling that something was wrong. Also, he had a sudden urge to go into the clearing, even thought he knew that he should go after Lunarstar. But he decided to follow his feelings, and go to the clearing. He figured that Lunarstar was probably going home.
Blizzard released the brakes on his car, pressed gently down on the accelerator pedal, and continued driving down the road.

Meanwhile, about several miles away, the white Jaguar sped down the road at almost 100 miles per hour. (Something that it legally could do since Ponyland had no national speed limit.) Suddenly, a glowing vortex-like portal, similar to the one that Teriney had used, opened up in the road ahead of the Jaguar. Without slowing down, the car sped right into the portal, which then closed up in the blink of an eye.

Back in the woods, Blizzard had parked his car in the small clearing, and was now walking along the trail towards the larger clearing. As he walked, he wondered about why Lunarstar had driven past him like a bat out of hell. And why hadn’t she seen him, and stopped? It was quite a mystery, and Blizzard had a feeling that all the answers would be found in the glass clearing. Coming closer to it, his feeling about how there was something wrong was becoming stronger. Soon, it was so strong that it became impossible for Blizzard to ignore it. Suddenly, the jewel encrusted into his medallion began to glow brightly. Blizzard now knew without a doubt that something was wrong. Whenever the jewel in his medallion began to glow, there was something wrong in the universe. Entering the clearing, the young stallion discovered a gruesome sight…
About ten minutes later, he was frantically speeding down the road towards town. A look of shock and horror was on his face. He know knew-Oh yes, did he know-that something was very, very wrong. He now knew that he needed to get back to town, and get help. Yes, he needed help as soon as possible. The reason for his sudden need for help was what he had found in the clearing. He had found several dead bodies dressed in black suits of armor in the clearing. Realizing that this was the reason that Lunarstar had fled from the clearing, he had rushed back to his car. His concern, and fear, for Lunarstar had now completely consumed him. Gods, if anything bad had happened to her….

CHAPTER TEN
About a half an hour after leaving the forest, Blizzard was pulling into the driveway of Booster, and Rosebud’s house. Parked in the upper left side of the driveway was a red 1995 Chevy Impala sedan. Parked behind it was Booster’s gray 1972 Chevy Cheyenne pickup truck. Lunarstar’s Jaguar, however, was nowhere to be seen. Now even more concerned, Blizzard parked his car on the right side of the driveway, next to Booster‘s truck, and than got out of the car. In almost a split second, he is running across the front yard, heading directly for the front door. Reaching it, he flung it open, and ran inside the house.
He didn’t even bother to close it.
Once inside, he ran directly across the living room, and rushed into the kitchen. He found Rosebud standing at the kitchen sink, doing dishes, and who looked up at him when she realized that someone had just walked into the kitchen. She smiled when she saw that it was Blizzard.
“Oh, Blizzard,” she exclaimed, “your back.” She than looked past Blizzard to see if anyone was standing behind him. There wasn’t. With an expression of confusion on her face, Rosebud asked, “Where’s Lunarstar?”
Blizzard said nothing, and simply stared at her. A solemn look was on his face. He was very reluctant to tell Rosebud about everything that had happened when he had went to get Lunarstar from the forest, but he knew that he had to. He was just afraid to make her frightened over adopted daughter’s safety like so many times in the past. Still, she needed to know.
“Blizzard,” asked Rosebud, “where’s Lunarstar.”
“Rosebud,” replied Blizzard, quietly, “it’s about Lunarstar.”
He then told her everything about what had happened when he had gone to the forest, and about what he had founding the clearing. After he had finished, he expected to Rosebud to start becoming upset.
The older mare, however, simply stood there, staring at him. An anguished, but calm look was on her face. The idea that Lunarstar missing, and that her life may be in danger, was something she and her husband, Booster, had faced many times before. This time was no different.
“Rosebud?” asked Blizzard, after the mare hadn’t said a word. “Rosebud?”
Realizing that Blizzard was still standing there in front of her, Rosebud finally spoke. “Blizzard,” she instructed calmly, “call Starfire and Skyview. Their hotel room numbers are written on a piece of paper near the phone, and tell them to get the hell over here as fast as they can.”
Blizzard nodded his head, and went over to the kitchen phone, which was hanging from a wall. Tacked on the wall next to it was a piece of paper that had various phone numbers written on it. Looking down the list, Blizzard searched for Starfire’s cell phone number. He immediately picked up the receiver, and began to dial the number.
Rosebud, meanwhile, ran out into the backyard, and headed towards Booster’s woodshop. Arriving there, she found that her husband was busy cutting some wooden boards with a band saw. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a blue, and a long-sleeved plaid shirt. He was also wearing both of a pair of goggles and headphone, to protect his ears and eyes while he worked. At first, because of the noise that the band saw was making, Booster didn’t hear Rosebud walk into the woodshop. But when he began to have a feeling that someone was watching him, he looked up, and saw her standing there in the entrance of the shop, with a solemn expression on her face, he turned off the saw, and than took off the headphones and goggles. Walking over to her, he noticed that there were tears in her eyes. He immediately became concerned, and realized that something was wrong.
“Rosebud,” he exclaimed, “what’s the matter?”
Instead of answering his question, Rosebud suddenly started to cry.
“Hey,” exclaimed a now concerned Booster, “what’s the matter?”
A now very distraught Rosebud said nothing, and continued to cry.
Now knowing without a doubt that his wife was upset about something, Booster placed his arms around her, and pulled closer to him.
“Rosebud,” he said soothingly, “what’s wrong?”
Attempting to hold back tears, Rosebud told him everything that Blizzard had told her. Booster, on his part, remained calmed and collect. He knew that he had to be in order to calm his wife. Like her, the memories of previous times when Lunarstar had gone missing came back to haunt him. Still holding his wife, he led her back towards the house. He needed to speak with Blizzard himself, and find out exactly what was going on.

Meanwhile, Blizzard was standing in the kitchen, holding the phone’s receiver up against his ear, while he listened to what he hoped was the ringing of Starfire’s cell phone. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, and which was only about two minutes, Blizzard heard a voice on the other end.
“Hello?” said the voice, which sounded a little annoyed for some reason. “Who is this?”
Blizzard recognized the voice. “Skyview,” he said into the phone, “it’s me Blizzard.”
“Oh, Blizzard,” replied Skyview, who now sounded a little less annoyed. “How ya doing?”
“I’m fine,” replied Blizzard, even thought, in reality, he wasn’t. “Listen, I need to talk to you about Luna.”
“What about her,” asked Skyview.”
Blizzard took a deep breath. He was very reluctant to tell Skyview about Luna, but he knew he needed too. “She’s missing,” he finally blurted out.
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Blizzard simply stood there, trying to hear anything. Blizzard sat there, listening to silence. In his mind, he wondered about what Skyview was doing that very moment on the other end of the line. More importantly, what was he thinking?
Finally, Skyview spoke. “She’s what?” he said in a deadly calm. “She’s missing?”
“Yes,” replied Blizzard. He than told Skyview about everything that happened, and about everything he had found in the forest clearing. There was another period of silence.
Skyview then said. “Okay, Blizzard, here’s what I want you to do. Are you listening?”
“Yes,” exclaimed Blizzard, “I’m listening.”
“Okay. First, I want you to guard Booster and Rosebud like a hawk. Don’t let them leave their house, until either Starfire or me get there. Two, keep that key of yours close to you at all times. We may need to go through the gate to get help from the other side. You understand all this?”
Blizzard said, “Yes, I understand.”
“Okay,” exclaimed Skyview, “I’ll be leaving Diamond City as soon as possible. I should be in Ponyville by tomorrow.“ There was a brief pause. ”Oh, and Blizzard.”
“Yes.”
“Pray to the Gods that Luna’s safe, and that we’ll find her. Goodbye.”
Before Blizzard could say anything in response to this, Skyview hung up. Blizzard did the same, and then simply stood there. He thought about Lunarstar, and about where she could be at that very moment. Where was she? He didn’t know. Had she been harmed? He didn’t know. Who had attacked her in the clearing? He didn’t know. There were so many things that he didn’t know, and so little things he did know.
Gods. Why? Why did they let such things happen to poor Luna?
He had been told all the stories about she had been kidnapped numerous times. He heard the stories about when Stardust and his two brothers had been under the control of Star Cluster, and had tried to kidnap Lunarstar. He had also heard about how Star Cluster and Fallon had kidnapped Lunarstar, and had taken her to Drakon Island. There was also the time that he had himself had gone off to murder her.
Gods. How he hated himself because of that.
Now it seemed that someone else had now kidnapped Lunarstar for some new devious purpose. But why?
Blizzard stood there in front of the phone for several minutes, before he realized that someone was standing behind him. Turning around, he saw Booster standing there in the kitchen, with his arms wrapped around Rosebud. They both had expressions of fear, sadness, and uncertainty on their faces. Expressions that were not unlike the one that was on Blizzard’s face.
The three individual stood there in the kitchen, staring silently at each for a full minute, before Booster spoke up, “Well?”
“I talked to Skyview,” explained Blizzard, “and he told me that he’ll call Starfire. They should both be here by tomorrow.”
“Did he say anything else?” asked Booster
Blizzard nodded. “Yeah, he also told to not to let you leave the house until either he or Starfire get here, and that I should keep my key to the gate close to me at all times.”
An expression of disbelief appeared on Booster’s face. “You mean they want us to stay in the house, and not go out looking for Lunarstar?”
“Yes,” confirmed Blizzard, “that’s what he told me.”
“Why?” was Booster’s next question.
“I guess,” theorized Blizzard, “that he figures that you and Rosebud may also be targets of whoever attacked and kidnapped Luna.”
To Booster, that made sense. Whenever something had happened to Lunarstar, Buster and Charade, and than later on, Skyview and Starfire, had always been concerned with his and Rosebud’s safety in case they ever became targets. Remembering it now reminded Booster about the days when Buster and Charades used to live there, and how they would go out with Lunarstar to protect her. Personally, he felt a little sad that they no longer lived there, and protected Lunarstar. It seemed only yesterday that she had brought them home, when they had been claiming to seek work. Course, later on, they later revealed who they really were, and who Lunarstar really was. Needless to say, it had been both a shock him and Rosebud when they found out. But overtime, they learned to accept it, and, like life, times changed. For Booster and Rosebud, the changed had been hard to take. Especially when Lunarstar went to live with her real parents. They had faced many personal hardships when that happened. But soon, Lunarstar, her father, and her uncles had come to live with them during the summer. At first, Booster had had a hard time living with the fact that Stardust and his brothers were now good. He still remembered living with the fear that they would one day catch Lunarstar, and take her way across the portal to the other world. In fact, they once did. And even thought they had turned good, Booster still held a deep hatred for how they had terrorized him, and his family. In fact, during one summer when they and Lunarstar had been staying over during the summer, Booster had entertained the idea of having the three black ponies go out with him into the woods, supposedly to collect wood, and where Booster, using the skills he learned as a commando in the National Equinan Army during the Jungle Wars of the 1960’s, would skillfully and silently ‘dispose’ of them, and make it look like an accident. However, Booster had come to his senses, and realized that doing such a thing would only upset Lunarstar, and would turn him into a murderer. That was something he could never live with on his concise. So, he had learned to get along with the black ponies for at least Lunarstar’s sake. Soon, things became better when Blizzard soon made his first appearance in the grand scheme of things, and Booster and Rosebud found someone new to love. Someone who had became a son to them, and who had eventually married their beloved Lunarstar. But now, it seemed, everything seemed to be in danger of being blown to pieces by the forces of evil.
But who?
Who had tried to harm Lunarstar this time?
It couldn’t have been those who had tried to harm Lunarstar in the past, since Star Cluster had become good and was now the new Guardian of the Flaming Pearl, so it couldn’t be him. Both Fallon, and his younger brother, Teriney, had both been dead for years, so it couldn’t of been them either. So who could it be? More importantly, where the hell was Lunarstar, and how was she? Despite the fact that he wanted to go out and find Lunarstar by himself, Booster knew that it would be a better idea to just sit tight and wait until Skyview and Starfire arrived.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
A solemn expression was on Skyview’s face as he hung the receiver of the phone that sat on top of the nightstand in front of him. Standing there, completely naked, in the middle of the hotel room that he and Raindrop shared, he could only think of one thing.
‘Oh gods, not again.’
Once again, like many times before-Skyview himself had bee more than involved in a few incidents-Luna had been disappeared, and now there was clear evidence that some violence had been involved. This, based on Skyview’s personal experience, led to one question. A question that he hated to ask himself, but he knew he had to.
Was Lunarstar alive or dead at that moment?
He knew that, from what Blizzard had said about finding blood at the clearing and on the picnic basket, Luna had been injured, but how severely? And were they life threatening?
That is, if Lunarstar was still even alive…
Skyview quickly forced thoughts like that out of his head. He had to keep hoping that his niece was still alive, and `was just waiting to be rescued. He had to hope for the best for the sake of his entire family, no matter in which world they lived in. He especially needed to be hopeful for Blizzard and Iceberg. If anything had happen to Lunarstar, Blizzard would become a widower, and Iceberg would become an orphan…that was something that Skyview could never allow that to happen.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a voice from behind him.
“Skyview, honey, come back to bed.”
Turing around, Skyview saw that his wife, Raindrop, who was also completely naked, and who was sitting in bed, staring at him. Noticing the expression on his face, she asked, “Skyview, what’s wrong?”
”I just talked to Blizzard on the phone,” he finally said. He took a deep breath, and added, “Luna is missing.”
“She’s missing?” asked Raindrop, as soon as she heard that her nice was missing. She immediately got herself on the bed, and walked over until she was standing directly in front of her husband. “What happened?” Skyview told her everything that Blizzard had told him. Immediately, a look of shock and horror appeared on her face. “Oh gods!”
Instinctively, she and Skyview wrapped their arms around each other in order to embrace one another. It was apparent that she was now upset over the news that her beloved niece was once again in some sort of danger. This was not surprising, since Raindrop and Luna had become very fond with each other during the past several years. As a result, they were had become close the same way that Luna had become close with her other aunt, Birdie, who was Raindrop’s sister, and Starfire’s wife. Skyview did not doubt for a second that Birdie would also become upset when she learned that something had happened to her niece. In fact, the entire family, and all their close friends, would be come upset when they learned that something had happened to Luna.
After comforting a distraught Raindrop for several minutes, Skyview said, “Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re going to get dressed. Then were going to call Starfire and Birdie and tell them about what happened. Next, we’re going to pack up our things, and store them in the car. After that, we’ll all get in the drive back to Ponyville as quick as we can. We’ll eat dinner on the way. Now how does that plan sound?”
Raindrop nodded her head. “Okay.” She then said, “I hope we find her.”
“We will find her,” said Skyview, determinedly. “We will find her. I promise.”

About twenty minutes later Skyview and Raindrop had both gotten dressed, and while Raindrop, who was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a white long-sleeved blouse , was busy fixing her hair in the bathroom, Skyview, ,was once again dialing a number on the telephone in their room. Holding up the receiver to his ear, Skyview listened as the phone on the other end rung for almost a minute, before he heard Starfire’s voice.”
“Hello?” said Starfire on the other end of the phone. “Who is this?”
“Starfire,” replied Skyview into the phone, “it’s me, Skyview.”
“Oh, Skyview, hello.” Star fire, for some reason, sounded very happy. “Look, I’m glad you called, because I have an idea about someplace where we can eat dinner tonight. You see, me and Birdie discovered a nice little restaurant down by the…”
But before he could finish, Skyview interrupted him. “Stafire,” he said in a serious tone of voice, “I need to talk with you.”
Instantly, Starfire, based on the tone of his brother’s voice, knew immediately that something bad had happened. “Skyview, what’s wrong?”
Skyview sighed. He was really reluctant about having to also ruin his brother and sister in law’s vacation with the news that their niece had disappeared., but he knew that he had to tell them. “Starfire, I just got a call from Blizzard. Something has happened to Luna, and now she’s missing.”
There was an expected pause on the other end of the line. Finally Starfire said, “What?”
“Luna is missing,” repeated Skyview. He then explained about everything that Blizzard had told him.
Before he could finish his final sentence, he was interrupted by a string of curses from his brother, who sounded like he was having a complete thermonuclear meltdown over the fact that his niece was missing, and possibly in danger. Course, he had every right to do so, but it was probably be a bad idea to do it over the phone of a four-star hotel.
Skyview stood there for almost two minutes, while he waited for his brother to calm down. In meantime, he listened to Starfire as he used the foulest language ever exclaimed by any pony in the entire universe. Skyview had to admit to himself that he had never even heard of some of the words that his brother was using. Course, it may just been mindless anger talking, but Skyview could of swore that he heard Starfire curse Blizzard. He probably didn’t mean it, though.
Finally, after almost two full minutes of listening to his brother curse everything under the sun, Skyview heard a calmer female voice in the background tell Starfire to calm down, which he did. “Skyview?”
“Yes, Starfire.”
“We need to get back there now.”
“I’m way ahead of you on that one, Starfire.”
The two of them then discussed what they were planning to do when they got back to Ponyville. After they were finished, Skyview hung up the phone, and called out to Raindrop, who came walking out of the bathroom with freshly combed hair. “What is it?”
“Raindrop,” exclaimed Skyview, “I want you to pack up our things. We’re going to meet Starfire and Birdie in the lobby, check out, and then head back to Ponyville as fast as we can. Okay?”
Raindrop nodded. “Okay.”
She and Skyview then began to pack their things faster then they had ever pack anything before. In both their minds, thought only about Luna, and what she was doing, if she was doing anything at all, at that very moment.

CHAPTER TWELVE
Lunarstar had to admit that she was more relaxed than she had been only a few hours ago. About an hour after Star Flame had left Lunarstar to rest, she had returned with lunch, and new friend, a unicorn stallion named Sunbeam, who Lunarstar had taken an instant liking to because of his sense of his zany sense of humor. After enjoying a delicious lunch at a table that had been set up on the balcony that sat outside the room that Lunarstar had been sleeping in, the three ponies sat back in their chairs, with the intention of lunging around while they digest their recently consumed lunch. Even though she had been too busy eating her lunch to ask her new friends any questions, Lunarstar now found the perfect opportunity to start asking questions about where she was, how had she gotten there, and, more importantly, why was Teriney still alive, when Lunarstar knew perfectly well that he was dead?
“Well,” exclaimed Lunarstar, “that was delicious.”
“I glad you liked it,” replied Sunbeam. “ I cooked myself.”
“So,” said Star Flame, “now that our bellies are full, I think it’s about time that me and Sunbeam here start coming clean about, well, everything. Especially about how you came here, and about…”
“Teriney,” said Lunarstar, flatly. She was surprised by how straightforward Star Flame had been.
Star Flame nodded. “Exactly.” She took a deep breath. “So, where to begin…”
“I think,” interrupted Sunbeam, “that Lunarstar should first tell us about what happened to her.”
A curious look came across Star Flame’s face. “Something happened to Lunarstar?”
Ignoring Star Flame’s question, Sunbeam looked at Lunarstar, and asked, “But only if you can remember anything. Okay?”
Seeing that Sunbeam knew that about what had happened to her, and also seeing that there was a sympathetic look in his eyes, Lunarstar nodded. “Okay.” She then recounted about everything that had happened between the time she arrived at the clearing to when she had been gunned down, and feel unconscious. She was careful about not mentioning her family or any other personal information, because, despite the fact that they were friendly, Lunarstar was still a little hesitant to tell Sunbeam and Lunarstar about anything personal about herself should it turn out that they were the ones who had attacked her, and that having lunch wither was a way of getting to drop her guard in order to interrogate her. What if she was being held as a prisoner in this castle, which she now knew was a castle, which Sunbeam and Star Flame, and Teriney, seemed to occupy here in a world where castles didn’t exist.
An unsettling thought soon started to slowly come over Lunarstar.
What if, gods forbid, everything that had happened to her today, from being ambushed in the in the clearing to finding herself having lunch with Sunbeam and Star Flame, had all been some devious plot that had been orchestrated by Teriney in order to capture her for some devious reason. In a way, it made perfect sense.
Assuming that Teriney had somehow come back from the dead, one of the firsts things he would do would be to try, and get revenge on Lunarstar, since it was her, and her family who had defeated him during that battle in Secret Valley all those years ago. Of course, this itself brought up a number of questions that Lunarstar knew would be only answered by talking with Sunbeam and Star Flame. Of course, this may involve being honest with them about who she really was…well, so be it.
“Okay,” said Lunarstar, “here’s what I remember.”
She then began to recount everything that had happened to her since that particular day began, with specific emphasis on the events in the clearing. While she spoke, Sunbeam nodded his head, while he silently listened. On the other hand, Star Flame appeared to be shocked, and then angered, by what she heard.
“Lousy Cult bastards!” she muttered angrily, when she was finished. “It just had to be them.”
Lunarstar was about to ask about who this ‘Cult’ was, but decided that it would be better if Sunbeam and Star Flame explain. “Okay, now that I’ve told you everything I would like you to start being honest with me about everything.” Laying back in her chair, she said, “Now let’s start with two basic questions; What are you doing here in this castle with Teriney, and how did I get here?”
While she waited for an answer, Sunbeam and Star Flame looked at each other as if to ask each other if they should tell her the truth. They both then nodded, and turned their attention back to Lunarstar.
“All right, we’ll tell you,” said Sunbeam.
He then launched into a full explanation about why she was there in the castle with them and Teriney. He also explained about who exactly had attacked her in the clearing. By the time he was finished, Lunarstar was left in total shock…

While Lunarstar was talking with Sunbeam and Star Flame out on the balcony, Teriney was hidden in the adjoining room. Kneeling against the wall right next to the entrance to the balcony. Listening to Lunarstar as she spoke about the events in the clearing, he mentally cursed himself for not showing up in time. If he had only leapt into the clearing a few seconds earlier, he would have been able to fully protect Lunarstar from the full onslaught of her attackers. But things had turned out differently, and now she was here, talking to Star Flame and Sunbeam, two of Teriney’s closet friends, and learning part of the truth behind everything. There were some things she wasn’t being told, but Teriney knew that he himself would have to tell her about those, which also meant that he would have to com face to face with her. However, because of obvious reasons, this wouldn’t be an easy thing for him, or her, to do after all these years.

As soon as Sunbeam was finished, Lunarstar sat there in her seat, neither moving, or making a sound. Her eyes were closed, and there was a solemn expression on her face. After several minutes of sitting this way, she slowly out of her chair, she silently walked over to the rail of the balcony, and, placing her hands on it, leaned slightly forward as she thought about everything that had just been told her. Most individual would be shocked and in disbelief at what she had had been told. Lunarstar, however, was not. She knew from personal experience that such things were possible. Actually, to completely honest, she only knew that some of the things that she had been told were possible. There were other things that she had trouble in believing that they were possible. But Lunarstar knew that she would have to wait before she would get any more answers. Just as she would have to wait for only the Gods know how long before she could be home again, and be with her family.
Her Family.
Ever since she had found herself in this castle- in a world that supposedly didn’t have any castles-Lunarstar had been thinking about her family, and about they were probably reacting about her disappearance from the clearing. Course, that’s if they even knew that she was missing. She had told them that she would be going out into the clearing that morning, but she didn’t tell them about how long she would be there, so it would take a while before they realized that anything had even happened to her. That’s if no one didn’t go the clearing themselves for some reason. If that happened…well, they would discover that she was missing a lot quicker.
Course, when and if they discovered they were missing, there was no way of telling how long it would take for them to search for her, and they would search for her. Every time, she had been kidnapped, her family and friends would come search for her no matter how long or far it took. Unfortunately for Lunarstar, she had been kidnapped on several occasions during her life, ever since she had discovered the truth about who she really was, and where she actually came from. Looking at the grand scheme of things, it sort of appeared as if all the trouble that had personally affected Lunarstar had started when the part of her life that she didn’t even know about revealed itself to her. In simpler terms, as soon as she had found out that she was a princess from a magical kingdom, the shit had started to hit the fan. Almost overnight, Lunarstar’s life had changed completely. No longer was she simply Luna, the young filly who went to school and the ice cream shop with her friends, who lived with two loving parents, and who was actually a winged unicorn in disguise.
No.
She was now Luna, the young filly who was a winged unicorn in disguise, and who was actually a princess from a magical kingdom called Ponyland, who had been left on the doorstep of two strangers in a non-magical world by her mother, because her evil Uncle Star Cluster had taken control of Ponyland, and who was hunting down members of his family so that they couldn’t threaten his sitting on the throne. As soon as this was all revealed to her, Lunarstar and everyone else began to fear for her safety.
Thankfully, Buster and Charades, who Lunarstar would always consider as the older brothers and who would love them as such until the end of time, had already been living them for a while, and automatically became her two guardians. Lunarstar had very fond memories of how, after dinner, she, Buster, and Charades, would go out into the woods in order to have some fun, and to allow Lunarstar to openly spend some time in her true form as winged unicorn. While in the woods, they would play games, such as hide and seek and tag. They would also sit around and talk. Buster and Charades would talk about Ponyland, while Lunarstar would talk openly about how she felt about knowing that she was actually a princess. It ws here that she would let her true feelings be known. One night, in an angry rage, she had told her friends about how she thought that everything in her life that had to do with Ponyland, magic, Star Cluster, the three individuals collectively known as the Black Ponies-who had at that time had made their first attempt to kidnap her-and being a princess was all a bunch of shit that she didn’t want in her life, and about how she just wanted to live happily in Ponyville with family and friends. Buster and Charades had immediately understood how she felt, and sympathized with her. They also enjoyed living in Ponyville, but, they had told her, there were just some things that one had deal with, no matter what. Lunarstar, who completely understood what her friends were telling her, decided that maybe being a princess in a magical kingdom wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. She would never regret that decision for the rest of her life.

Lunarstar’s thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of heavy footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw that Star Flame and Sunbeam where still sitting where she had left them, and that they were now looking at something. Following the direction that their eyes were pointed at, she saw that another individual had now joined them on the balcony. To her immediate shock, she saw that it was Teriney…

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The mood in the entire house, for all intents and purposes, was one of tension and uncertainty. It had been over several hours, since Blizzard had called Skyview, and had told him about Lunarstar’s disappearance. During the time since then, the three ponies had been nearly going insane as they waited for him, his brother and their wives to return from Diamond City. Unfortunately, Diamond City was located several hundred miles away from Ponyville, so it would take them a while to arrive. To be honest, it wasn’t the waiting that was the problem. It was having to stay put, as Skyview had instructed them to, and not go out and search for Luna, which is what Blizzard wanted to do. At that moment, he was currently pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room as he thought about his missing wife, and how he wasn’t going out to look for her, like he wanted to. As much as he trusted Skyview and valued his instructions, Blizzard still felt that he needed to go out, and find Luna himself. However, he had been told that he, Booster, and Rosebud, might also be targeted by whoever kidnap Luna, so, for their own safety, they had to stay in the house.
Blizzard did not like having to do this at all.
Here he was, the King of Secret Valley, pacing back and forth in total uncertainty about the current whereabouts of his own beloved wife, while he waited for her two uncles to arrive, and take charge of the situation. With how far they to travel, it was going to be a while before they could take charge of anything. As he paced back and forth, Blizzard began to mumble under his breath.
“Godamn Skyview! Godamn Starfire! Why the hell do I have to wait for them to show up, before I can go search for my own fucking wife? I mean, I not some young colt, who has half his skin being eaten away by acid. I’m now the king of Secret Valley, and I will damn well decide what to do when my own wife disappears. And you know what? I’m going out to find her.” And with that remark, he went upstairs to the guest room that he and Luna had been staying in, and began to search through the canvas bag that he had been carrying his things in. After searching for about a minute or so, he finally found what he was looking for. It was a 9mm Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol that was sitting in a leather holster. Blizzard took the gun out of its holster, and examined it. It was gun metal gray, with a handle varnished with oak wood. Engraved on both side of the handle was the image of Blizzard personal symbol, an intricately designed snowflake. Also sitting in the bag was another Browning Hi-Power that sat in a leather holster. While being nearly identical to Blizzard’s gun, it was different in the fact that it had Luna’s symbol engraved on both sides of the handle. The two guns made up a two-piece set that Booster had give to both Blizzard and Luna as a wedding gift, when they visited him and Rosebud the a week or so after getting married. Because guns were a relatively unknown thing in Ponyland, the young couple kept their two pistols in storage at Booster’s home in Ponyville, where they would be waiting for them whenever they came through the realm gate out in the woods. They also decided to keep the guns in Ponyville, because they thought it would be a good idea to keep them a secret away from Luna’s family. They didn’t know how Stardust would have reacted to the idea of having his daughter and son-in-law owning guns, but they knew that they didn’t want to find out. It was a well-known fact that Stardust, based on some experiences during his time hunting for Luna in Ponyville, hated modern weapons, such as guns, with a heated passion. So, for now anyways, the pistols remained firmly locked in place in Booster’s gun cabinet, along with the stallion’s other weapons. (There was no fear of Skyview and Starfire telling Stardust about the two pistols, since they themselves possessed their own vast arsenal, which was stored in an undisclosed location out in the woods near the gate.) While most ponies would see the two pistols as a gift from a loving father to his newly married adopted daughter and son-in-law, Blizzard and Luna saw the two pistols as something completely different. They saw the two pistols as a reminder from Booster that danger, not matter what form in came in, would always be out there, and ready to harm the young couple for one reason or another. The reminder had not been lost on Blizzard’s and Luna’s minds, and they had accepted the gift of the two pistols with full understanding about what they represented.
After placing the pistol back into its holster, Blizzard strapped the holster to his belt, checked to make sure that both his cell phone and his wallet were sitting in his pocket, and then headed downstairs, and into the living room.
Sitting on the couch for the last several hours was Booster, who had been holding a very distraught Rosebud in arms in order to comfort her. They both looked at Blizzard, when he entered the room and stood in front of them.
“I’m going out to find Luna,” he said. “I’m not sure if I can find her on my own, but I can sure as hell try.”
“But Skyview said we should stay here,” reminded Rosebud, “until he and Starfire get here.”
Red hot anger instantly flashed thought Blizzard, when he was reminded of what Skyview had told him to do. But for Rosebud’s sake, he kept his ever-growing anger suppressed, and remained calm. “To be honest, Rosebud, now that I think of it, I really don’t give a flying fuck about what Skyview wants me to do.”
This response shocked both Rosebud and Booster. For as long as they could remember, they had never heard Blizzard curse either Skyview or Starfire.
For some strange reason, however, they both felt a little relieved about how someone was finally going to do something about finding their adopted daughter. Still, Skyview did say that they should stay in the house, until he arrived.
“Look,” said Blizzard as he saw the expression on both Booster and Rosebud’s faces, “I don’t know about you, but just standing here, waiting for Skyview, instead of going out and finding Luna is driving me crazy.” It was apparent that he was trying very hard not to raise his voice. “So I’m going to ignore Skyview’s idiotic instructions, and go out there to look for my wife!” He the marched towards the front door, and grabbed his jacket from off a nearby coat rack as he went. Opening the door halfway, and with right hand still gripping the knob, he turned and looked towards Booster and Rosebud. “Goodbye!”
He then walked out the door, shutting it closed with a loud bang as he went. Once outside, he put one his jacket, and marched towards his car.
Meanwhile, Booster got up from where he was sitting on the couch with his wife, and also headed towards the front door.
“Where are you going?” asked Rosebud, as she watched her husband walk away.
Booster stopped in his tracks, and turned around to face his wife. “I’m going to make sure that young fool doesn’t do anything stupid.”
And with that, he walked out the front door, and headed directly towards Blizzard and his car.

Blizzard had already climbed into his car, and was about to start the ignition, when the passenger side door opened, and Booster climbed in, shutting the door behind him. He then reached over, turned the ignition off, and then yanked out the keys.
A surprised Blizzard looked at him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m here to stop you,” replied Booster, determinedly, “from going out and searching for Lunarstar alone.”
“Now wait just a minute…” begin blizzard, who was going to object to Booster coming with him.
Booster interrupted him. “Now you listen to me, Blizzard, and you listen good. I, like you, love Lunarstar with all my heart. In fact, I loved her long before I even knew you. But yet I love the both of you.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them. “So that means,” his voice continued softly, “if you think I’m going to let you go out there all alone, whoever attacked Lunarstar are still out there, you have another thing coming, because I will not lose the both of you. If that happened, me and Rosebud will be immersed in grief for the rest of our lives, and we’ve already come pretty close to that on several occasions.” He looked directly into Blizzard’s eyes. “Understand?”
To say the least, Blizzard did understand. It was true that both Booster and Rosebud had loved Luna long then he had, and they now also loved him. He also understood about all the fear and grief they had been thought with Luna, while her father and uncles had been chasing her, while under the control of Star Cluster. Later on, he himself had caused some of that grief, when he had been trying to kill Luna, while serving Teriney. Now, both Booster and Rosebud were once again grieved over Luna, but this time they also had Blizzard to be cornered about. In hindsight, Blizzard realized that going out to look for Luna alone-without any true idea about where to look-was probably a bad decision. Not only would be futile, but it would also put Booster and Rosebud in danger should whoever attacked Luna come and attack them. Blizzard now knew without a doubt that he needed to stay out, until Skyview and Starfire arrived. Whenever that would be.
Blizzard slowly nodded his head. “Okay, Booster, your right. I’ll stay here.” He then sighed sadly. “Course, that still means that Luna is still out there. You know?”
Knowing full well what Blizzard meant, Booster nodded his head, and placed his hand on Blizzard’s shoulders in a gesture of sympathy. “Yes, I know,” he agreed. “But we’ll just have to wait for Skyview and Starfire, until we can do something about it.”
Upon hearing this remark, a look of skepticism appeared on Blizzard’s face. He then said flatly, “Booster, can I be honest with you.”
“I thinks so,” replied Booster, who, upon seeing the look of Blizzard’s expression, was starting to have a feeling that the younger stallion was about say something about Skyview and Starfire, and that it wasn’t good. “Go ahead.”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but…” Blizzard seemed to be hesitant to continue.
“Go on,” prodded Booster, gently. “But what?”
“Well,” continued Blizzard, “it’s just that I don’t trust Skyview and Starfire, or Stardust and Star Cluster for that matter.” He then said in a quiet voice. “In fact, to tell you the truth, I think their still evil, and that their been pretending that they changed, since Star Cluster no longer has the power to back him up. What do you think?” Blizzard saw that Booster was only staring at him solemnly, and he began to have doubts about whether he should have told the older stallion about how he really felt about Luna’s father and uncles. He then began to become frantic, and quickly added, “That’s just how I feel. I mean, I could be wrong, and…”
He stopped when Booster took his right hand with his own right hand, and gripped firmly. “Blizzard,” he said gently, “it’s all right. I completely agree, with you. I’ve never liked or trust Stardust and his brothers either, and I’m glad that at least somebody else feels the same way.” He then grinned. “So as you young ponies say these days: Join the club. We have jackets.”
Blizzard began to chuckle at Booster’s joke. It was just the thing to break the tense, emotional mood that had dominated their conversation so far. He was also glad that there was someone, who felt the same way he did. Yet, he had to make sure. “You don’t like them, either?”
Booster shook his head. “Nope, not after the what they put Lunarstar, me, and Rosebud through.” For a moment, the tone of his voice became more aggressive. “To tell you the truth, I have never trusted them.”
“Really?” asked a now curious Blizzard. “Why?”
He listened carefully, while Booster explained his reasons for not trusting Star Dust and his brothers. To say the least, Blizzard explained his own reasons for not trusting them. Abut an hour later; the two stallions had formed a mutual understanding: hey both disliked and mistrusted Star Dust and his brothers. Although, for very different reasons. Talking for a little more, they both formed a theory as to Luna’s disappearance. Despite the lack of credible evidence, they believed that Stardust and his brothers might have had something to do with it. Course, it was also possible that they weren’t evil, and that they had nothing to do with Luna’s disappearance whatsoever, and were innocent.
Neither Blizzard, nor Booster, knew the truth, but they were dead set on finding both it and Luna.
Their conversation was soon interrupted, when Blizzard soon stopped talking, and looked straight out the windshield of the car towards the house.
“What is it?” asked Booster. He too also looked out the windshield towards the house.
The two stallions both saw that Rosebud had come out of the house, and was standing on the front porch of the house looking directly towards Blizzard’s car, which the two stallions were sitting in at the moment. There was a look of uncertainty on her face.
“I think it’s about time we went back inside,” suggested Booster. “Rosebud’s probably been wondering about what we’ve been doing in here for all this time.”
“Yeah, your right,” agreed Blizzard. “Only the Gods know what she’s probably been thinking.”
He and Booster then got out of the car, closing the doors behind him, and then walked back up to the house. Upon arriving at the porch, Rosebud, without saying anything, threw her arms around Booster, and hugged him tightly. Booster did the same.
As he watched them embrace each other, Blizzard thought about Luna even more, and how it was painful for him to stay in one place, and wait for some relatives of questionable loyalty to arrive, while he was own beloved wife was out there, being held captive by an unknown force of evil for some nefarious reason. For all he knew, she might even be dead by now. He just didn’t know, and that was what was painful for him.
When Skyview and Starfire had finally arrived, Blizzard would be prepared to do anything to find his wife.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The two individuals stared at each other from opposite sides of the balcony. As they stared, they each thought about how the other had affected their lives, and about how they had once thought they would never see each other again. They also thought about the series of violent and climatic events that had led to them to the current situation that they now found themselves in. Although, in regard to this, one knew more, then the other did about this.
Off to the side, both Star Flame and Sunbeam sat, watching in silence. They, like the individuals who stood before them, had no idea about what to do, or say.
Finally, after several minutes of awkward silence, the two individuals finally spoke in hushed, quiet voices.
“Teriney.”
“Luna.”
For a few more minutes, there was silence as both Teriney and Luna stared at each other, and took in the significance of them being in the same place together, simply looking at each other. It was, to say the least, a very awkward and incredible situation that either of them had ever been in, and one which they had never thought that they would be in together.
Hell, they had thought that they would never be in a situation, except one in which one of them was trying to kill the other, and such.
But yet here they were, staring at each other silently, as they stood there on opposite sides of the balcony.
Suddenly, Teriney turned his head and looked at Star Flame and Sunbeam. “Could you leave us alone for a while. Luna and I have some things that we would like to talk about in private, if you don’t mind. Okay?”
Sunbeam nodded his head. “Yeah sure. Understand.” He turned to Star Flame. “Come on, let’s give’em some privacy.” He got up of is chair, and walked off the balcony, and into the room. He stopped and turned, when Star Flame didn’t follow him. “You coming?”
Star Flame nodded and then got up, and followed him. As she left, she glanced at both Luna and Teriney, and wondered about what was the deal with those two. She figured that it whatever it was may have had something to do with the strange feeling that she had felt, when she had first met Luna. But only time would tell, whether that was true, or not.
As she walked into the corridor, Star Flame closed the door behind her, and looked at Sunbeam. “What was that all about?” she asked, motioning towards the door, and the balcony, behind her.
“Whatever do you mean?” replied Sunbeam, innocently, as he leaned against the far wall of the corridor, with his arms crossed.
“I mean,” said Star Flame, as she stepped in front of him, “with the way Teriney and Luna were looking at each other, it was like they already knew each other.”
Sunbeam hoped that she didn’t suspect anything.
“Well I thought that they were supposed to be complete strangers,” reminded Star Flame. “So what could they have to talk about in private?”
Acting like he knew nothing, Sunbeam shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Teriney said he hasn’t seen Luna in…years.” With a sense of dread, Sunbeam suddenly realized that he had inexplicably given away the fact that he knew something about Teriney and Lunarstar that Star Flame didn’t.
“Yeah, go on,” urged Star Flame. “You said they haven’t seen each other in years?”
Sunbeam sighed heavily, as he realized that there was no way he was going to get out of telling Star Flame everything he knew. “Al right,” he sighed. “I promised Teriney that I wouldn’t tell anyone, but since we told Lunarstar everything about us, I guess I should tell you everything about her.”
So he began to tell Star Flame everything that Teriney had told him about Lunarstar, and who she really was.
When he was finished, it was Star Flame’s jaw that nearly hit the floor…

Meanwhile, back on the balcony, Luna and Teriney were continuing to stare at each other in silence. Both of them wanted to say something to each other, but they were both reluctant to. In truth, they were afraid of how the other would react to seeing each other again, after so many years.
But still, the tension that had now fallen over the both of them was quickly becoming unbearable…
Finally, Lunarstar couldn’t take it anymore, and quickly blurted out the question that had been in her mind during all this time. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
Teriney closed his eyes shut. “Yes, I am.” He then opened his eyes. “But as you can see, I am quite alive.”
“As can see that,” remarked Luna. “This might be the most obvious question I can ask you, but how? How can you still be alive?”
What could only be described as a sly smile appeared on Teriney’s face. “I knew that you were going to ask me that.”
Luna automatically shrugged her shoulders. “What did you expect me to ask?” she replied. “You’ve been dead for two years.”
“I have been dead for two and a half years,” corrected Teriney. “So, you’re probably wondering about a few things.”
“A few?” repeated Luna. “How about ‘The individual, who I though was dead, is actually alive and well, and is the one who…’ Teriney knew what she was going to say next, “’…saved my life’.”
This took Teriney completely by surprise. He had been expecting her to mention about how he had tried to kill her in order to get control of the Realm Gate. Yet, instead she had mention about how he had saved her life from the soldiers back in the clearing. Teriney took this as a sign that Luna attitude towards him had change. Course, he did still expect her to remember all about how he had tried to kill her and her family, and all the other evil deeds he had committed
“Luna,” he reminded her, “don’t you remember about everything I did to you?”
Upon remembering, Luna shut her eyes tight for a few seconds, and then opened them. “Yes, I remember,” she said, quietly. “I’ve haven’t forgotten, and I never will.”
This last remark caused Teriney to wince in pain. So, she had remembered about everything. Well, it’s not like he couldn’t blame her. “I…” he began, but stopped. Was it really worth…
“What?” asked Luna, when he had suddenly stopped his sentence. “What is it?”
“I,” he said, again, “just want to…apologize for attempting to harm you and your family. It was wrong of me to do those things, and I am sorry.” He shut his eyes, and tears began to appear from them. He then opened his eyes. “I understand if you still hate me.”
The thoughts of all the evil deeds that he had committed, and the grief and sorrow that those acts had caused, suddenly became too much for Teriney, and he quickly turned away from Luna. Then, in one fluid motion, he spread his leathery dragon wings outward, and took off into the air. Once airborne, he headed westward towards the great pine forest that seemed to surround the castle.
Back on the balcony, a shocked and bewildered Luna watched him fly away. She was not sure about what to think at that moment. Teriney’s attempt as apologizing to her for all his evil deeds did tell her that this Teriney was not the one who she had encountered all those years ago. This Teriney, through one way or another, had somehow changed. But what had caused this change in him? Better yet, what had brought him back to life in the first place? Luna figured that the only way to answer these questions and others was to get them fromTeriney. But first, she had to follow him.
In one swift motion, Luna changed from her earthling form to her winged unicorn form, and took off into the air and also headed west to follow Teriney.

CHAPTER FIFETEEN
It was now seven o’clock in the evening. The sun was slowing starting to sink behind the horizon, and the day’s light was slowly starting to fade. In about two hours, the sun would have disappeared behind the horizon, and night would have fallen over Ponyville. As they waited for Skyview and Starfire to arrive, the three occupants at 315 Sugar Tree Road were trying to keep themselves occupied, and keep their minds off of Luna.
Rosebud was in the kitchen, cooking a simple dinner of everyone. It was a simple dinner, because they had originally planned to go out to dinner that night, but then certain events had made that impossible. So they were going to eat something simple tonight, as they waited. Course on the Gods knew how long they were going to wait.
Rosebud had never openly admi