xel101 - Yup, it should go quite well with his sword. ;)

NoobKillerPat2011 - Unfortunately, I drew from some of my own first-hand experience for that bullying scene... It's unfortunate, but bullies are everywhere. I learned one thing from years of bullying though; It truly doesn't matter what other people think, only what you think. I can't call myself a fan of Trig though (or any math for that matter...) I do plan on watching the new season, but I really hope they don't start introducing love interests... That always kills shows like this for me.

thecreator339 - Well, here's your chapter! Mitta, Ruby and Sunny Town are actually from an 8-bit style game I played awhile ago.

WSRaptor - Yeah... never said these guys were particularly bright... I'm an engineer as well (I'll be starting work on my Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering on Jan 12), and I didn't 'notice' their flaws so much as 'put them there on purpose' (Again, these guys aren't all that bright)

centaurus2 - Lol something like that. Though technically, he'll be fighting (in part) in the name of the Moon ;)

Equuis Zahhak - A little bit... except, y'know, less eating people... I haven't played it either.

KillerWoW - I figured as much.

DragonLovingBrony (Ch43) - Lol. Maybe you'll find out this chapter, maybe you won't... I guess you'll just have to read and find out ;)

DragonLovingBrony (Ch42) - You cannot kill the Nightmare!

DragonLovingBrony (Ch41) - Hmm... Well, I guess you've already got the answers to most of these, but you might or might not find out why he gave them the wrong directions. :D

Noal - I guess we'll find out when Luna tells Blake the Story of the Blanks ;)

Kyguy - That it is, that it is...

A/N - Howdy everypony, and welcome to the first update of 2015! I hope you all had a fun New Year's; I know I did! By the time next week's update gets posted, I'll have started my Engineering classes for the Spring Semester, so we'll see if I can balance my schedule in such a way that I can continue to update weekly. As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

I looked down at myself, the armor barely making a sound with my movements. "That is so COOL!" Ruby began running around me, trying to get a better look at my armor-clad form.

"Yeah… but, how do you take it off?" I spun around, trying to get a view of myself from all angles, hoping to find straps or a release to take the armor off with. I looked down at my hands only to see that the kite shield the formerly empty suit had been resting its gauntlets on was now firmly secured to my right forearm; strangely enough though, it didn't feel like it was weighing that arm down any. The only immediate downside to the shield being stuck there was that I couldn't take my hand out of the grip to use it.

After several minutes of trying to find a way to remove the armor, I gave up. "Y'know what? We can figure this out later; right now, I'm sure Mitta's getting pretty worried about us. Why don't you go on ahead and tell her everything's alright, and I'll catch up in a minute?" Ruby nodded with a toothy grin and disappeared where she stood.

I looked around the room for a brief moment to see if I could find any obvious clues for removing the armor safely. Finding none, I left the hidden room and made my way back to the main levels of the castle. Getting back took longer than expected due to the labyrinth-like layout of the hallways; it didn't help that we had made so many detours and back-tracks in our search for the remaining cultists that making a mental map was all but impossible for me.

Eventually though, I came across the first open door I had seen so far. I peeked into the room to see Mitta lying in the middle of the room with the sleeping form of Ruby curled up against her, watching the little ghost filly as she slept. It puzzled me that a ghost needed sleep, but I decided not to think too hard on it. I knocked lightly on the doorframe, my metal-clad fingers making a much louder sound than I had intended.

Mitta jumped at the sound and her head shot up as her gaze whipped towards the doorway. She screamed and jumped back, scurrying into a corner, passing right through Ruby, who was no longer sleeping. "Huh… Wuz goin on…?" She looked at me and rubbed some sleep from her eyes. "Blake! You're back! What took you so long?" She jumped up and scampered over to me.

Mitta looked up to me. "B-Blake…? B-but how?"

I rubbed tha aventail draped over my neck. "To answer your question Ruby, I kinda got a little lost on the way back... And I'm not entirely sure what happened Mitta; I touched a pendant on a suit of armor, and now I'm wearing the armor." Mitta got up and walked over to me, poking the strange scaled mail covering my abdomen with an inquisitive hoof. "Unfortunately though, I have no idea how to take it off… I can't seem to find any sort of strap or release to take it off with."

She grinned up at me. "That's ok, you'll figure it out." Her face fell a little. "Sorry for reacting like I did, I didn't recognize you in that…" She gestured to the armor sheathing my form.

I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's fine Mitta; to be honest, I kind of expected it, this armor wasn't exactly part of the plan after all…" I looked around for a way to tell the time. Finding none, I shrugged. "Well, we should probably get going if we're going to get you home before nightfall Mitta."

"Y-you don't have to do that! I-I appreciate the offer… but I can find my way from here…" The sudden shift in attitude wasn't lost on me.

"Is something wrong Mitta? I mean, the Everfree in general isn't safe, I figured you'd welcome an… armored escort."

She shied away from me. "It's just that… like I said before, ponies from Sunny Town can be… judgmental… and I don't want anything to happen to you…"

"If it will make you feel better, how about I just take you to the outskirts of town and let you walk the rest of the way? Nopony has to see me; that way, you get a safe trip home, and we avoid confrontation with your town's residents."

She looked up to me. "Well… o-ok… I guess it can't hurt…"

I patted her on the back. "That's the spirit. Now, let's get going before we lose any more light, I'd like to get out of this forest before nightfall if I can."

I gestured Mitta to lead the way, and, with Ruby's assistance, she led us out of the decrepit castle and into the Everfree. When we got outside, it was plain to see that making it out of the Everfree before nightfall likely wasn't going to happen, whether I escorted Mitta home or not. With that in mind, I followed her through the forest on a winding, barely visible trail through the woods.

The entire time we were walking, I kept getting the feeling I was being watched, just as I had the last time I had come into this forest. The more unsettling part of the feeling was that I couldn't sense anything near enough to be watching us with my aurasight. I kept up my vigil, saving my strength by only activating my aura for short bursts every so often. Just when I was starting to feel drained from my 'pinging' of our surroundings, the forest opened up into a small clearing. The 'village', which couldn't have been more than ten thatched-roof wooden houses, came into view, nestled in the center of the small clearing.

Mitta turned back to me. "Well, this is where we part ways… goodbye Blake, I'm glad I met you." She reared up and gave me a quick squeeze before dropping back down and turning around, coming face-to-face with a stallion who had appeared seemingly from nowhere.

"Mitta! We were worried you'd miss the party! Oh! Who's your friend?" Mitta stammered and backed into me in an attempt to escape the stallion's verbal torrent. The stallion looked up at me. "Welcome to Sunny Town stranger! You're just in time for the party! I'm Grey Hoof, party planner extraordinaire; what's your name?" He held up a hoof for me to shake.

Not wanting to be impolite, I shook the proffered hoof released it. "Good to meet you Grey Hoof, I'm Blake."

He grinned up at me. "A pleasure Blake. Come on, the party's just about to start!"

I looked over to see Mitta frantically shaking her head. Something told me I should listen to her, but at the same time, I couldn't see the harm in a simple party. "So Grey Hoof, What's this party for, exactly?"

The stallion shrugged. "No reason in particular, today just felt like a party day."

I chuckled. "You should meet my friend Pinkie Pie, you two would get along great."

He craned his neck to look back at me as he walked. "Does she like parties?"

"She's only Ponyville's self-proclaimed 'Premiere Party Pony'. She's also pretty spastic, but she's lovable all the same."

Grey Hoof turned back around. "She sounds like somepony I'd like to meet… though, where's Ponyville? I don't think I've ever heard of it."

I turned around and got my bearings. "Let's see; the sun is setting, and it's over there, which means that's West… which makes that South… So it would be off over that way, just at the edge of the forest." I gestured in a southeasterly direction, which would lead to the small town that I called home while Grey Hoof watched me.

He turned back around and kept walking. "I may just have to pay Ponyville a visit sometime…" We stopped a moment later. "Whelp, here we are, the party's all set!" He gestured to a picnic table with a plain white sheet draped over it; several balloons were tied to each corner and that was a small array of food on display, mostly baked goods.

Grey Hoof trotted off to tend to the few other ponies I saw in the area, but I stopped as I felt a tugging at my waist. "Blake, please… you can't be here…"

I turned around at Mitta's alarmed whisper. "Mitta, what's wrong? Everypony here seems friendly enough… Hey, where's Ruby?"

Her face fell and she looked away. "I-if I show you, you'll understand why you have to leave…" She looked me in the eyes, tears threatening to spill from her own. "Blake… promise me that you'll leave Sunny Town if I show you…"

I felt a spike in adrenaline as worry welled up in my gut. "Show me what, Mitta?"

Mitta turned and trotted off without a word. Curiosity overriding the growing sense of danger I felt, I followed her. She led me through the tiny village and down a small path leading into the forest on the other side. At the end of the short path lay a hut, smaller than the ones in the village proper and seemingly abandoned.

Mitta stopped outside the door and turned around. "Well… this is it…"

I wanted to question her, to find out just what was going on, but something told me I wouldn't be getting any answers out of the crimson-maned mare. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I opened the door and ducked into the low hut.

It was fairly dark inside, with little light filtering in from the outside; what sunlight wasn't cut off by the forest canopy above was further diminished by the intact blinds over the hut's sole window. I pulled out my flashlight and switched it on, the beam instantly lighting up the small space, cutting through the freshly disturbed dust floating in the air. The thought of how I had pulled the light out while still wearing the armor didn't register in my mind.

I began slowly sweeping the beam around the hut, looking for whatever it was that Mitta wanted me to see. The walls and floor of the hut were bare, with no decorations or even furniture to be had. My light came to rest on a small fireplace set into the wall on the opposite side of the hut from its window.

The fireplace held the ashes and half-burnt wood from some long-extinguished fire, the age of the refuse being apparent in its sad state of decay, which was almost worse than that of the hut surrounding it.

I was about to move on when I started seeing odd shapes in the ash and coals; bits of relatively smooth pieces scattered among the jagged remains of the burned wood. Curious, I stepped over to the fireplace and knelt down. I reached out and grabbed the largest of these objects, which appeared to possibly be a river rock based on how smooth and rounded it was.

I lifted the object out of the ash and shone my light on it. There was something off about its shape, but also strangely familiar. I turned the object over to get a better look at it and nearly jumped out of my skin as the empty eye sockets of a skull stared back at me. I recoiled back, dropping the skull as though it had burned me, it landing in the ash with a dull *plop*. I backed up quickly towards the door, but was stopped when I bumped into somepony standing behind me.

"Now you know why you have to leave…" I turned around to see Mitta standing in the open doorway, the fading light of the sun offering so little illumination that I hadn't even realized she'd opened the door.

"Mitta… what happened here? Who's bones are those?" The wheels in my head started turning as I started to piece together what I could of what happened in here. "S-somepony got murdered in here, didn't they?"

Mitta gave a pathetic nod. "Yes… i-it was…" She trailed off, a tear rolling down her cheek.

More and more pieces of the puzzle came together in my head and the terrible realization came to me; the small size of the skull, the location, the fact that Mitta knew who it was and seemed to regret it dearly. ""Th-those are Ruby's remains… aren't they?" Mitta nodded and collapsed to the floor, kicking up some of the ancient dust.

She began sobbing quietly into her hooves. "I-I should have stopped them… b-but I couldn't… I-I was too w-weak…" She looked up at me, tears brimming in her… glowing… crimson eyes. "I-I was just one mare against… Blake… what's wrong?" She looked at me with worry showing in those eyes… like a pair of dimly glowing light bulbs soaked in blood.

I took a step back from her, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. "Mitta… what's wrong with your eyes?"

She looked at me quizzically before realization dawned on her. "M-My eyes… Oh No!" She looked down at her hooves and we watched as the fur became mottled and pale, her mane following suit, becoming dull and scraggly. She looked back up to me, panic evident in her crimson-lit orbs. "You've been here too long, it's starting! You have to leave, now!"

"Mitta, what's going on? What's starting?" She ran behind me and started pushing on the small of my back with her head.

"There's no time to explain! You need to leave before-"

"There you are…" Grey Hoof's voice rang out from somewhere behind Mitta.

I looked past her to see that several ponies had gathered outside the hut, with what I presumed to be Grey Hoof at the forefront. "You're going to miss the party Blake… you should join us…" The rest of the gathered ponies chanted 'Join us', sending a shiver up my spine. "You'll have all kinds of fun if you just join us…" The crowd once again mirroring his final two words.

Mitta darted around me and stood between me and the crowd. "Blake, run! NOW!"

The wind shifted the canopy above us, allowing moonlight to illuminate the darkened area. In that moment, I saw the ponies for what they really were; decayed, zombie-like creatures, each showing different levels of decomposition. Grey Hoof seemed to be the worst off of the bunch, with patches of flesh either barely clinging to his corpse, or missing altogether. Mitta seemed to be his polar opposite, showing hardly any signs of decay at all, being mostly faded in her colors and appearing dingy.

I placed a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "I'll be back for you…" I reassured her before taking off into the woods, blind as to where I was going.

I made my way through the twisted and tangled underbrush of the Everfree as quickly as I could, the sounds of pursuit trailing not far behind me. "After him! Don't let him get away!" Grey Hoof's voice floated on the wind.

As the sounds of pursuit drew closer, I realized fleeing was a futile effort. I skidded to a stop and turned to face my assailants, drawing my pistol as I did so, once again not registering how I had done so whilst it should have been hidden beneath my armor.

Using a one-handed stance, I aligned my sights and waited, waited for the first of the unlucky sods to burst through the underbrush and meet hot lead. Even though the night was fairly chilly, I was sweating bullets as I waited for my invisible assailants to show themselves. I wasn't kept waiting long, as a pony charged through the brush, only to crash to the ground as a bullet sailed through its decayed skull; the report from my gun rebounded off the trees, sending birds and other creatures scattering.

Another decayed pony came at me, only to be felled in much the same manner as its companion. I hoped silently that Mitta would forgive me for doing this to them, but I had no other choice; I couldn't afford to stand here and let them do whatever it is they had planned, and I certainly couldn't outrun them. I stood my ground against the zombie ponies, each charging at me and falling to my gun just as their predecessor had.

I cursed under my breath as the slide locked back, indicating that I was out of ammunition; the other magazine was already laying at my feet, empty. I sighed and dropped the now worthless gun and raised my shield and my fist, ready to take on any more that were brave enough to come at me. I tensed as I heard hoofsteps softly plodding through the soft loam; whoever this was seemed to be in no hurry, walking at a leisurely pace until the grotesque head of Grey Hoof shifted through the brush; his glowing, crimson eyes calmly scanning the area, stopping only briefly as they fell on each one of his lackeys.

"That wasn't very nice you know…" His voice wasn't that different from what it had been before, being only slightly raspy, but it was still enough to send a chill down my spine.

"I didn't want to hurt anypony Grey Hoof, but I wasn't going to let them hurt me either." I kept my stance, eyeing the wretched stallion warily.

He laughed, a sound that caused me to involuntarily shiver. "Don't you get it Blake? We want to give you a gift, to make you like us. My friends here aren't hurt; in fact, they'll be up and about again by first light. Sure, we may not win any beauty awards after dark, but think of the benefits of being immortal…"

I shifted my stance, preparing for what I was about to say to provoke him into attacking me. "I saw what you did…" his crimson orbs shifted in confusion. "I was in the hut, remember? I saw Ruby's remains! I know you murdered her you monster! Why In Tartarus do you think I'd ever want to be like you!?"

He shook his head at my outburst. "We had to… she had… the Mark…"

It was my turn to be confused. "Mark…? What are you talking about?"

"The curse-mark that appears on the flanks of its victims… she had it… I had to convince the town she was evil, but Mitta… she wouldn't help us…"

Oh please God, don't tell me… "Wh-what does this 'Mark' look like?" Please please please don't be what I think it is…

Grey Hoof sighed and looked at the canopy, his jaw dangling by only a few chunks of flesh, leaving his mouth to gape open while he somehow spoke with perfect clarity. "It… differs from pony to pony… For Ruby, it was a magnifying glass. We couldn't let the cur-" I cut him off, my armored fist connecting squarely with the side of his head, tearing his jaw free from the last vestiges of flesh anchoring it to his face and sending it flying into the woods as his head cocked to the side from the impact.

"That was her CUTIE MARK! You murdered an innocent foal because she found out what she was good at!" Grey Hoof tried to shake off the blow I had given him even as I roared at him in my fury, but I didn't give him the chance; pivoting as I spoke, I wound up before bashing him in the face with my kite shield with all my anger-fueled strength.

The blow sent Grey Hoof crashing backwards and to the ground with a sickening *crunch*, the various bones of what remained of his face giving way to the solid metal of the shield. Despite not weighing my arm down, the shield impacted him harder than my muscle alone should have been able to do. I glanced around, noticing that none of the still forms strewn about the area bore a cutie mark, something I had failed to notice when I entered the town.

I stood over the struggling stallion, hatred burning in my chest for this vile creature that had once dared to call itself a pony. He glared up at me. "You'll never understand! We had no other choice! If we had let her liv-" I cut him off again with a swift boot to the face; a second, sickening, meaty crunch filled the area as the metal of my boot slammed into his already broken face.

"No… You'll never understand… all that mark was was a symbol; it tells other ponies what she was talented at and encourages her to be better at that talent. But thanks to you and your blind, ignorant malice, she never got the chance to live her life and explore her talent. Every. Single. Pony gets theirs when they discover their talent Grey Hoof! It's something to be celebrated, not feared!"

I raised my foot, and before he could muster a response, I drove the heel of the armor's boot into his temple, shattering the already cracked skull and sending bone fragments into the decayed grey matter it had once protected as is skull caved in and liquefied his twisted mind. I wiped my boot heel, gauntlet and shield on the grass, grabbed my pistol and its extra magazine, and headed back to Sunny Town.

The clearing harboring the town came into view fairly quickly, though there was no immediate sign of Mitta. I retraced our earlier steps and made my way back to the hut that served as a resting place for poor Ruby's remains. I heard sobbing coming from inside the small, abandoned house. "What have I done…? I was too weak to save you all those years ago Ruby, and now I was too weak to save Blake…" She began sobbing quietly again.

I entered the open door to the hut; the dim outline of Mitta was curled up near the fireplace. I walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump in fright. "AAH! No! Get away from me Grey Hoof!" She scrambled to her hooves, stopping when she realized I wasn't Grey Hoof. "Y-you're not Grey Hoof…" She shot forwards and wrapped her hooves around my waist, sobbing into my armor.

I stroked her mane gently. "No… I'm not, and I never will be…" She looked up at me. "Grey Hoof told me what happened here… It wasn't your fault Mitta; there was no way you could have stopped the entire town by yourself."

She looked behind me. "Where is everypony? I-I figured they'd never give up the chase… wait, those loud noises…"

"Yeah, I took care of 'em Mitta, though Grey Hoof said they'd be back by morning."

"Wh-what happened to him?"

I shook my head. "Let's just say I gave him the headache of a lifetime." I knelt down. "I want to know more about what happened here Mitta. I know it's hard, but maybe I can help if I know the whole story instead of just bits and pieces."

Mitta sighed. "Alright… It started a long time ago… I don't even remember how long anymore. As far back as anypony could remember, only earth ponies lived here. Back before the forest took over the area, this was actually a nice place to live. One day, a young Pegasus came through on his way to… who-knows-where; it hardly seems important now… Anyway, he had this strange mark on his flank; it was a picture of a tornado. None of us had ever seen anything like it before, and we were all fascinated by it. After the stallion left, one of the villagers got a similar mark, and then another one appeared on his sister… Grey Hoof convinced the others it was a curse; at first, they simply drove the 'infected' ponies out of the village. As time went on though, Grey Hoof started to… change… he wasn't himself anymore, he started seeing things that weren't there. One day, Ruby found a jewel that had been lost, and a magnifying glass appeared on her flank… Grey Hoof convinced the others that running ponies off wasn't good enough anymore, so they… they cornered Ruby in that hut and… and… beat her with their bare hooves…" She slumped to the floor. "When they thought she was dead, they tossed her in the fire… but… but… sh-she started screaming! She wasn't dead, but the others just stood there and watched…" Mitta began outright sobbing.

I knelt down and started rubbing her neck, doing my best to comfort her. I didn't say a word until she calmed down some. "So, who was it that placed the curse on you then?"

She shivered. "It was… Princess Luna…"