(Note: Hello again! Time to leave Ponyville. Shadow will finally read the letter he refused to read earlier. The story is gonna move along now. I'm super excited to introduce a new group of characters! The ponies of Shadow's squad that I briefly mentioned in the prologue. YAY! I honestly really adore and hope you do too.)

Chapter 10 The Little Prince

Laughing as we got back, it was like we were colts again. Fluttershy opened the door and let us in.

"This is the first time you've smiled since I met you yesterday." Sky was glad to see the expression on my face. I frowned in embarrassment, not meeting her eyes.

"Ooh, what's that you have there?" Fluttershy was examining the dress in its bag.

I snatched at it, trying to hide it. "It's n-nothing," I cried.

"Aww, don't be ashamed Shade," Card snickered. "You're adorable when you're embarrassed!"

"Is this something Rarity made?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yeah."

"It's wonderful. It, uh, suits you." Fluttershy offered shyly.

"Yeah, I know." I glared at Sky Daisy, fed up and changing the subject, "Let me see that note now."

It was retrieved for me, and Card and I read it together on the couch. It was from Sarge! Thank Faust he was still alive. It also seemed urgent, his elegant script more rushed than usual.

Shadethrower and Cardkeeper, what I'm writing to communicate is urgent. Queen Celestia has received contact from a somewhat reliable source. The enemy has made camp outside Los Pegasus, and is planning to attack within three days. You need to say goodbye to your newest acquaintances and take the Friendship Express to Applewood. There's an outpost in the city that you'll be directed to upon arrival. I hope to see you boys soon,

Sergeant Baise Fooler

The messiness of the handwriting worried me, but my attention was focused on something else. The 'somewhat reliable source'. I had a suspicion I knew exactly who that was. It was most likely Scorpan. I…hoped it was him. Where do your loyalties lie Shadow? You either love Card or Scorpan. I wanted to yell I could love both, but I had to keep it in.

"Does this mean we have to go?" Card asked me. I nodded and Card said, "I don't have many bits left for a train ticket…Rarity was being generous when she discounted that dress."

"That's okay, I'll give you some bits," said Fluttershy.

"That's very kind of you." I gave her the first and last real smile she'd probably ever see from me.

"It was nice to have you stay with us." Sky Daisy told us.

"Thank you," Card inclined his head. Fluttershy came with us to see us off.

The train ride took all night. It was pretty much uneventful. The next morning we arrived in the Applewood station. Sarge had said we would be directed to an outpost by somepony, so as Card and I deboarded the train I was looking for them.

"Wow! I've never seen the Applewood sign before." Card was staring up at the hills that overlooked the town. I wasn't really paying him any attention at the moment.

I'd seen something at the end of the station, hiding in the back, waving us over. "Card, come on." he followed me reluctantly as I went to the hidden spot. As we got closer and my eyes adjusted, I saw it was none other than Scorpan. "Seriously?" I muttered.

Scorpan nodded, "Well, I can't very well be seen out in the open. But I wanted to be the one to find you."

"So I'm guessing you're the somewhat reliable source that Celestia is trusting?"

"Yeah, but Lord Tirek doesn't know about my betrayal. And he can't know, not until…" Scorpan just sighed and shook his head, "Just come on, I'll explain more once we're at the outpost. Sarge is there. He's honestly been very worried about you."

We followed the gargoyle through the back alleys of the town, trying to avoid being spotted. It was fairly easy. However, I found the city to be very dirty. Not like wild west dusty. That was completely different. Here I saw litter everywhere, like ponies didn't care what they did with their trash. It was rather annoying. I felt I was having to step over random littered wrappers every few steps.

"How long until we're there?" I asked. Scorpan suddenly stopped, indicating a hatch in the ground. It had the symbol of Equestria on it.

"You'll have to open it." he said. I summoned up a little magic, enveloping the hatch in my white aura, pushing it upward on its hinges. A ladder led down into the depths. Scorpan lowered himself listlessly to the ground, his feet touching down softly. "After you," he told me.

I went first, then Card and Scorpan followed last, pulling the hatch closed. The walls were illuminated for us to see as we descended. Once we reached the bottom I was reminded of what I'd imagine old abandoned mining tunnels to look like. However, concrete was used to support the earth above us and as the walls and floors in some areas.

Scorpan led the way, passing by many side tunnels that seemed to lead to nowhere. This place was like a maze, and I didn't need to get lost.

You're already lost. said my shadows. I shook my head at them, but they relentlessly pestered me. Something about this place awakened the worst of their wrath. Equestria is going to burn. they laughed like they looked forward to it. Don't kid yourself Shadow Bright! If Equestria burned to the ground, you wouldn't mind one bit. "No, it's not true," I whispered to them, trying not to let it get to me. Usually I was good at it, but they were not giving up. They wanted my reaction. We would laugh with you, Shade, you know we would. "Don't call me that." I muttered.

"Is everything okay, Shadethrower?" Card asked me.

Shadethrower, flamethrower, bringer of destruction. You ruin everything just by deduction.

My breathing had picked up, I was trying to relax but it wasn't working. "I'm. Fine." I said gruffly, my teeth gritted. You aren't fine. You're an accident waiting to happen. Remember Midnight? That was all you. Your fault!

I stopped in the middle of the tunnel, taking huge gasps of breaths and having a mental battle with myself.

"We're almost there, I know the tunnel air can be a little stale, it's not too far off. Do you need me to help you?" Scorpan held out his hand to me. I stared at him like he was crazy. It was getting cold, and I knew I was letting my shadows get the best of me. I couldn't let them win though, so I reached up and took the offered hand.

"A pony hasn't given me their hoof in a very long time." Scorpan said solemnly, thinking back on a memory long past.

"A gargoyle has never given me their hoo—I mean hand." I laughed nervously, making eye contact with the prince. I knew I was blushing. Card was looking on with watchful eyes. I shook myself, then continued forward.

"You do a good job of not letting them control you," Scorpan said under his breath, almost to himself. I almost didn't realize he was talking to me.

"What?" he couldn't possibly know about my shadows, could he?

Scorpan didn't respond, it was like he hadn't even spoken in the first place. Now, in front of us was a huge door, and as it opened I saw it was a security checkpoint. Army ponies in booths wearing helmets and carrying guns waved us through. One nodded at Scorpan, letting the others know he was allowed in. There were two gates, this one, and another at the end. The huge door closed behind us, sealing us into the Applewood outpost.

The chamber we were in was vast, and the cavern ceiling high above. Ponies were busy with activities everywhere. It mostly seemed maintenance work out here, but there were ponies lugging large objects on carts. There were also side chambers with access hatches all around, other areas of the base I supposed. I noticed a large sign up above and to the left with big blue block letters that read: La Pezuña de Las Angeles. The Hoof of the Angels.

"Fort Hoof Angel." said a familiar and welcome voice behind me. We were greeted by Sarge, but he only frowned deeply at us. He probably wasn't pleased that we had stayed in Ponyville for a couple days.

He began talking as he walked, leading us into the wide open mouth of another corridor, beneath the sign. "This base was named after Hoof Angel, the Wonderbolt commander that led a journey all the way from Trottingham to the area that is now known as Applewood. Plus, he protected the pilgrims from all sorts of dangers."

"Why are you telling us this?" I asked. I heard Sarge cough.

"He's frustrated." I heard Scorpan say.

I creased my brows, "You are?"

We came to a door, and as Sarge opened it he snapped, "Of course I am! You two continuously run off, and frankly, it's grounds to be deranked. But mostly, I'm worried about you…"

"Worried, sir?" Card asked. He sounded apologetic.

"You two were the best trainees I've ever had. Why do you think I asked for a command position? Certainly not for the paperwork." Sarge chuckled to himself.

"You…asked for a transfer?" I was stunned.

Sarge was nodding, "You two are like sons to me."

I was speechless all the way to the small room with its tiny table, and cork board on the wall. Sarge stared at the board, not really looking at what was posted. It all looked pretty old in all honesty. I still couldn't get over the fact Sarge thought of me like a son…I didn't think I'd ever have a true father. You ruined that a long time ago. my shadows whispered, but their voices were repressed for once. They must've been affected by my low mood.

I've always respected Sarge, maybe even looked up to him, and took examples from him. But did I see him as fatherly? I didn't know. Card broke the silence, "You're a pretty good sergeant, and I'm glad to have you as a commander."

I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard Sarge say, "I'm glad, Card." Sarge moved to the table. Card sat next to me, smiling encouragingly. Scorpan was across from me. He ran a hand through his mane, looking uncomfortable. Sarge nudged him, "Ok, you need to tell them the situation. Tell them what you told Celestia."

"Right," Scorpan gulped. "There's so much…I guess I'll say, I care about ponies, I don't like the way Tirek treats you, the way Sendak taught him to treat you. I, um, I was great friends with Star Swirl the Bearded."

"That was, what, a thousand years ago?!" I burst out.

"Yeah. This isn't the first time Tirek tried to take over Equestria. Last time he was imprisoned in tartarus."

"Tell them about Los Pegasus, Scorpan," Sarge had his eyes narrowed. I could tell he didn't trust the gargoyle. I didn't really know if I did either.

"Yeah, okay…Tirek has a base directly outside the city. He plans to strike very soon. I couldn't stand to see any more of Equestria destroyed." Scorpan sucked in a deep breath, "Tirek has a baby dragon, I don't want Tirek to hurt him. Before I can really begin fully cooperating, we have to rescue him."

"Okay." I nodded, "I'm in."

Sarge have me a skeptical look, "Just like that? You don't even know what all is involved."

"A search and rescue in hostile territory. I think I get the gist. I want to help Scorpan." I meant it when I said that. Maybe I didn't know if I fully trusted him, but I did know I cared about him.

"Okay. Then I want you to meet your new team. And yes, you're gonna need a team for a mission like this," Sarge added with a laugh when he saw my expression.

You've never worked well with anypony other than Card, and that isn't a good thing.

"Ok," I said, but I wasn't happy about it.

There were four other ponies in the bunk room. Two stallions were playing a game of cards, an earth pony and a unicorn; another pony, a pegasus, was sleeping and snoring loudly. Lastly, there was a mare, sitting on one of the beds. She was an earth pony, and she had a light tan coat, and her mane was navy blue. Her eyes were a deep garnet color, and had a glint. She was working on sharpening a knife. I liked her already. I rolled my eyes.

"You got a problem?" the mare snapped.

"We head out in three hours." Sarge informed us. "I'll leave you six to get acquainted. I gotta bring our little prince here back to holding."

"Wait, holding?" I spun around, but Sarge had already shut the door.

Card put his hoof on my shoulder, "It'll be fine."

"Hey, you play?" called one of the ponies playing cards. He had army green fur, and a black mane. He was giving Card a crooked smile.

"No," Card shook his head.

"Oh, come on, what about your cutie mark. You gotta be pretty good at cards."

"He said no," I said with a snort and a glare.

"What're ya gonna do?" the stallion challenged.

My shadows swarmed, wanting to attack him, for me to attack him. To defend myself and Card, tartarus yeah I'd attack this plothole. Thankfully, I didn't have to. The red coated, multicolor maned unicorn next to him spoke, "Leave 'em alone, Mag. We're supposed to be a team. Besides, these two are some of the very few that escaped Mustang Town. Just like you." this last part he whispered in a hiss.

"Oh it's just fun and games, Rainbow." said the mare, "Right?" she was watching me with mindful eyes.

"Sure," I rolled my eyes yet again.

She hopped off the bed, tossing her knife to a side table. "The name's Starbuck. You?" she held out a hoof for me to take.

I took it reluctantly, "Shadow Bright. He's Cardkeeper." I nodded to Card.

"I would say it's a pleasure, but I have yet to determine that. Anyway," she began pointing to each pony in turn, "Rainbow and his brother Grayscale," she gestured to the unicorn then the pegasus lying in bed. "And finally, Magazine Lane," it was the stallion who had antagonized Card.

Card actually started laughing, "That's your full name?" I'd never have expected that out of him, but I would say it was warranted.

Mag was flustered, "Uh, well yeah…um. Shut up, ok? My parents wanted me to be a graphic designer!"

"He'd rather his name be Magazine Clip, which is why he has everypony call him Mag." Rainbow was snickering behind a hoof.

Mag grabbed Rainbow's dogtags, "Shut up, runt."

"Yeah, okay, sorry." Rainbow whimpered. Mag let him go.

"So," he grinned crookedly at me, "you two actually got outa Mustang Town with barely a scratch, eh?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I glared.

"Starbuck saved my flank, I can at least admit that." Mag winked at the mare.

"Oh buck you," she rolled her eyes.

"Yep, been posted in Mustang Town ever since I came outta basic. It's been an honor to serve under Heartless, sad he's getting decommissioned." Mag faked dramatics, heaving a sigh.

"Yeah right," Starbuck said, "you couldn't care less about that ass kisser."

"You're right," Mag laughed, "Heartless was fake, didn't care about anypony but himself. He deserves what he gets."

"Right." I was annoyed, so I turned away. I saw that Rainbow had moved to a bed at the opposite end of the room, to the left of the door. He was cleaning a rifle, pieces of it scattered across the blankets. "Hey," I nudged him, wanting to talk. He hadn't said much, and Sarge said get acquainted. I figured I might as well.

Rainbow jumped about two feet with an audible squeak, "Ack!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," Rainbow smiled shyly at me. Then he met my eyes and blushed. "W-what's up?"

"I was just curious, I mean, Starbuck said Grayscale is your brother, but he's a pegasus and you're…"

"A unicorn? Yeah," Rainbow laughed, taking it in good humor, "We get that a lot. Our dad is a unicorn and mom is a pegasus. We're just lucky we didn't turn out to be pegacorns."

"Pegacorn?" I'd never heard that before.

"A mutation, what sometimes happens when a unicorn and pegasus breed. A pony with both a horn and wings. But either the wings or horn don't work well."

I didn't really have a response. I wasn't talkative, and even just approaching Rainbow had been uncomfortable. But a team had to trust one another. You had to talk to each other for that. I was really doing this for Sarge, because he wanted us to. I didn't want to have a team. I was perfectly fine with Card. But I respected Sarge's decision.

"Hey! Lay off it Mag. Even I know when to control myself." there was the sound of struggle, and I turned to see Starbuck holding Mag off my coltfriend.

"What in tartarus are you doing?!" I roared, charging toward them.

Starbuck gave the tiniest hint of a smirk at Mag, dropping him. He fell to his flank. He glared up at me, "He thinks he's better than me."

I stood right up to him, eye to eye, muzzle to muzzle. "That implies you think you're better than him. Now stand up." I wasn't playing games.

Mag spit at me. I slapped him, hard. "Get the buck up or that will not be the worst you get."

Laughter rang out, Starbuck was outright laughing! "You had that one coming Magazine."

Mag got up. "Shut the buck up," he shot, moving to stand off with the mare.

She smiled widely, like she basked in his pain. "Ooo, I'm so scared!" she giggled, "Go lay down, Mag, before you break something."

Don't pretend you don't like his anger too, my shadows whispered.

Maybe, but I don't openly flaunt it. I responded.

Midnight. One whispered coldly.

Your emotions are broken Shadow.

You broke them! I yelled at them.

I held a hoof out to Card, "You okay?"

Card took it and I helped him up, "I'm fine, thank you." Card tapped the end of my snout with his. "Ima lay down too. Don't let me miss the search and rescue."

Rainbow sat down at the table, beginning to gather cards. He started shuffling them as he asked, "You two are cute."

"Excuse me?"

Rainbow grinned, "That peck he gave you."

I flushed, "Oh."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you didn't have to tell me when I worked up the balls to ask you out." Rainbow stopped shuffling.

"What?!" I stared at him like he had two heads.

He chuckled, "I'm gay, Shade!"

I couldn't comprehend how he was able to just come out like this. How he was able to tell me, a pony he barely knew. "Does everypony know this?"

"Pretty much, it's not like I hide it."

"Well, I don't know about Card, but I don't feel comfortable with everypony knowing…" I looked over at my napping coltfriend, who had taken to his traditional hooves up sleeping position. "Is it that obvious?"

Rainbow shrugged it off, "Don't worry, Mag is too thick headed to notice, and if Starbuck noticed, she doesn't care."

"That's good, I guess." You're insecure Shadow, and maybe for good reason.

"You take care of him, and that's what's good. I wish I had my prince…"

Suddenly thinking of Scorpan, I told him, "It can be a lot more complicated than you think." I was thinking, because Scorpan is my little prince, but Card is my angel. How do I truly decide?

(Chapter 11 set for 2/5/17 12:00am CT

Shadow is so used to repressing his emotions, he just cant figure Rainbow out! Faust, I love this group. It's gonna be exciting! See ya next chapter!)