I had a difficult time trying not to look at the dried pool of blood. I was laying on one of the beds, trying to keep my breathing steady. As everyone else slept, I stayed awake, thinking.

Celestia needs to believe I've been converted. The others should be okay, I won't tell them everything. Celestia will expect a little doubt in them after 'treating' me for a few months. Too bad Tobias is gone, he'd know what to do. I shook my head, can't think like that now. Tobias saved me once, now I have to figure out what to do.

It would be difficult, using only enough dark magic to fool myself and Celestia most of the time. I couldn't fake the love and adoration that would be asked of me, so I needed to find a way to make them real. I couldn't act or lie, not for long periods of time. The black magic would allow me to feel the emotions I couldn't fake.

My hands started shaking at the thought. The only problem is that I'll be walking on the edge of a knife. Too much will make me like I was back before I joined the rebellion, too little and Celestia will get suspicious. Fear lanced it's way down my spine. Celestia will know what type of magic I've been using just by looking at me, and may be suspicious. She's only seen me totally using black magic when I was her 'prize student' like Twilight. Wait a minute, what if Twilight's using black magic and doesn't know it?

I shot out of bed and ran over to Twilight. I shook her awake, "Has Celestia ever taught you magic? I mean actually teaching you how to do something?"

Twilight's yawned, "Huh? Why?"

"This is important!" If she's been using dark magic, I can simply absorb the energy the spells use instead of casting them myself. Still dangerous, but less addicting.

"One, why?"

"What does it do?"

"Extinguish candles and other light sources, why?" Twilight repeated, looking annoyed.

Darkness spell. I deflated, feeling stupid. Darkness spells are the lightest form of dark magic there is. I couldn't absorb any dark energy from it at all.

"Never mind then, thanks."

I felt defeated, and a little more worried than before. I shook that off, and tried to go to bed. The rest of the night passed restlessly. I slept on and off, but never for long. I was asleep when the sun shone through the hole in the wall. I tried to roll over and back into sleep, but a sudden throb in my head made me groan and woke me up fully.

I squinted at the bright light streaming through the hole, and tried to ignore the pounding in my head. Wow, black magic hangover. When was the last time I had one of these?

I looked around, Spike was awake and making a breakfast over a fire pit he had probably made. The flames were green, telling me he had used his dragon fire. He was humming a cheery tune to himself, but the scene was ruined by the dried pool of blood and the lifeless golemn crumpled in the corner. I watched as Spike cooked, and found myself surprisingly hungry, despite the killer headache. I heard Rarity roll over and she whined when the bright light shone in her eyes.

Soon after, she woke fully. Rarity had barely put her hoofs on the floor before she started complaining. I shut my eyes, trying to ignore her loud voice.

"Has she woken up yet?" Rarity asked.

"Nope. I thought I heard her mumble a little in her sleep earlier, but no movement yet," I could almost imagine Spike giving Rarity a mock salute.

"Poor thing, we tried to wake her up earlier, while you guys were outside, but she only tried to fight us in her sleep," Applejack said quietly.

"We should wake her up, she's probably alright now. I wonder what that spell did."

"I-I don't want to know. I don't think anyone should know, Twilight," Fluttershy murmured quietly.

"I agree with Fluttershy, Twi. She looked awfully sick afterwords," Applejack said determinedly.

I peeked one eye open and couldn't help but groan loudly as the light seemed to pierce every pain receptor in my eyes, and shot them to my head.

"Hey! She's awake!" I heard Pinkie bounce over, "How are you feeling? What happened? What was with the spell? Is the fairy gone? Why was there all that blood?"

I slowly sat up, blocking the light with my arm. I brought my tired eyes to rest on Pinkie's bright blue ones, "Pinkie," My voice rasped in my throat, "Please, be quiet."

"Okie-dokie!" Pinkie bounced off again.

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead, trying to clear the fuzziness from my brain, "What's for breakfast?" I asked dryly, slowly standing up.

"Some oatmeal, and some hay."

I shakily walked to the fire, being wary of the green flames. Applejack shoved a bowl full of oatmeal, using one hoof, over to me. I picked it up warily, not sure how hot it would be. The bowl was pleasantly warm.

Rarity began to daintily eat her hay, while Pinkie Pie dove into her oatmeal sloppily. I sighed, and started eating the warm oatmeal. After a few minutes, Twilight cleared her throat. I looked up, "Yes?"

"What spell did you use last night?"

I winced, and shuddered as a sudden chill shot down my spine, "Don't ask, you couldn't do it."

"Why?"

"You've never had to fight for your life, the darkness required to cast that is far more than you can imagine."

Twilight sighed, "That doesn't answer my question!"

"I am not going to answer it, Twilight. This spell is something no one in this age should cast, even if they were able to. Today should be the last day of this trip," I changed the subject quickly, wishing to get the attention off of me.

"Where are we goin' today?" Applejack asked.

"The cemetery, then the capitol. It will be a long walk, and I want this to be done today, so we can't afford to waste any time," I glared at Rarity, "We should leave as soon as possible."

Rubbing my temples, and taking deep breaths helped the headache a little, and by the time we were ready to go, the headache was just a constant pounding behind my eyes.

Exiting the Keep, I looked around at the hills and cavern that had served as Dragon's nests for years. I sighed, but said nothing a we trudged up the overgrown path to the cemetery.

The cemetery was extremely large, and surrounded the path to the city gate. The only break in the seemingly endless tombstones had been the occasional farm. I led them through the debilitated roads, weaving in and out of the grave sites.

The others stayed as close together as possible, staring at their surroundings in surprise and horror.

"What is this?" Applejack asked cautiously.

"The cemetery. It extends around the city. Soon, you should see the wall."

"The wall?"

"Most of the city was carved out of a mountain. The city was built to protect, so they carved one gate and made sure to leave the sides of the mountain to use as walls."

As we climbed a hill, I saw the wall for the first time in a very long time. My mouth went dry, but I kept going. It was massive, rising almost to the clouds. The walls were sanded to be smooth, so ponies couldn't try to scale it. It was cracked, but looked almost the exact same as it had been. I paused for a moment, if only to stop Rarity's complaining.

"Oh dear, it's so dreadful! How did you ever manage to live here?" Rarity whined.

I shook my head, "I never lived out here, I lived in the city."

"How did they make that wall? It's massive."

"I don't know, magic probably."

Twilight looked at me, confused, "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I do not know how they made the wall," I repeated, "It was ancient when I was born. It has been lost to time."

"Are we going in now?" Fluttershy asked.

I shook my head, "No, we're going to the main part of the cemetery first, it's right beside the gate."

Fluttershy whimpered, "Okay," she whispered.

The rest of the way was silent, and I began to really feel the long lasting effects the magic we used around us. My nerves were strung, and I could feel all of the spells that had protected the city from the ravages of time. Much of the magic had dissipated, but it was still enough to set my teeth on edge.

The walk to the main part of the cemetery seemed like it was taking forever. When we finally reached it, I was exhausted, and had to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. When we finally reached the entrance, the gate rotted away, I stood in shock.

There were so many more graves then I remembered, mind I had only seen it a few times before. The others gaped at the sheer amount of graves. I swallowed, and entered.

"What happened?" Twilight asked soberly.

"Lots of things. Accidents, disease, war..." I trailed off, looking at the blocks of stone that had long since lost the names engraved on them. All were broken and weather worn. In some spots, the elements had removed the soil, revealing coffins and bones peeking out from the dirt, "What we did was bad, but so many died needlessly."

"What is war? You've mentioned it a few times," Twilight asked, trying to keep her eyes off of the graves.

"The textbook definition is: a state of armed combat between different nations, or provinces or groups within a province. People kill each other for their country, or whatever they're fighting for. It's sad, and it's ugly, there was a lot of fighting... We were almost always fighting something."

"That's awful."

I nodded, taking in the overgrown, desolate landscape. I sighed, and turned around, "We should enter the city, if we can. If the gate is shut we won't be able to open it."

"Why?"

"Magic. It was deserted, and if the gate was shut, it'll be protected."

Twilight nodded, and followed me to the massive wall. The others trailed behind, taking in the overgrown scenery. It took a little bit longer to get to the gate. Do my dismay, all I saw was a simple, smooth wall, no sign of the gate I knew was there. I looked at the smooth, rock wall, with the tops of buildings peeking over it, and felt a sob wrack my chest. All this for nothing?

I felt a hoof rest on my shoulder, "I'm sorry, sugar-cube."

I shut my eyes, wrestling my emotions. I looked at a nearby tree, and muttered a spell. I poured my emotions into the spell, and the tree burst into flames. I heard Fluttershy shriek, and put out the spell. I glared at the wall, and gently probed at it with my magic.

I had barely touched it, when the magic protecting the city lashed back, throwing me backward and onto the ground. I landed heavily, knocking the breath out of me. I lay on the ground for a few minutes, catching my breath. I sat back up, and looked around, "We can't get in. It's guarded now."

Fluttershy sighed in relief, and Twilight looked a little worried, "I'll be fine. We came all this way for nothing..." I trailed off.

"Not for nothing. I don't believe the princess is as evil as you say she is, but you have proven she's been lying to us," Applejack replied.

I sighed, "Lets start back now. We'll forage for food on the way back."

I stood, wobbling as my bag leg threatened to collapse. I hobbled forward a few steps before finding my balance. I stared ahead at the path we had to take back, and sighed. At least I proved something.

(LINE BREAK)

Author's Note:

This chapter is dedicated to my Mom, who's birthday just passed. Love you, Mom XOXOXO

Aha! Finished another chapter, very pleased with it! After this, I'll go through a bit more episodic tactic, following the series as much as possible. I may combine a few episodes, and I'll obviously skip some. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please R&R!