Phoenix

Chapter 17

“I’m sorry, I must have had something in both of my ears and Venus must have been suffering from a glitch, but I swear it sounds like you just said my larcom is ‘unrecoverable’.” Dante’s eyes narrowed, as he stared at the Solar Diarch. Though she had been alive for nearly five millennia, this stare was unnerving her.

She cleared her throat, as she use her hoof to point at the spot Dante’s satellites had not been able to scan, a blank spot on the globe.

“General, what you are looking at is the Sea of Clouds. It is a region of the ocean where nopony can cross. Many have attempted, none have succeeded.”

“So the fuck makes this area different from everywhere else!” Dante rose his hands in the air. “I don’t think you’re getting my issue here, Celly! These sats are designed to be able to see through coronal mass ejections! So you’re trying to tell me my shit can see through a mass ejection of nuclear-fucking-fusion but some fucking goddamn clouds are enough to make them fucking blind!”

Celestia held up a hoof. “Please, General, cursing will not get you anywhere. The Sea of Clouds is a tumultuous place, with extreme weather conditions. The storms are so powerful in this region that weather teams are incapable of controlling them. Even the Stalliongradian Weather Brigade is incapable of controlling the weather there. Simply put, nopony can cross into it and out the other side and survive.”

Dante slammed his hands down on the table, causing everyone in the room, including Celestia, to jump into the air a small bit.

“Fucking bullshit! And you fucking know it! My larcom got grabbed by a fucking unicorn and a fucking gryphon, so in order for it to get there, that means someone’s had to both pass into it and out of it and then back-fucking-into it again!” The growl emanating from his throat caused Fortnite and Cadance to subconsciously back up, though caused Celestia to approach him.

“General, you have my deepest condolences. But I wish to make this clear. If you wish to pursue your device into the Sea of Clouds, then that is your prerogative and your death will be by your own hooves, but I will not allow you to risk the lives of any of my guards in your wild-goose chase.”

Dante narrowed his eyes at her. He pointed at the door. “Get out.” His voice shook as he spoke.

“General, please. I want to help you, but I will not allow you to r-”

Without warning, Dante’s hand grasped one of the nearby monitors, ripping it from the wires as he chucked it at the alicorn, who deftly dodged the clumsy toss. The monitor slammed into the ground, as various bits of plastic and glass broke, scattering.

“Get the fuck out!” He shouted as his hand reached for another monitor, the ponies in the room, even Fortnite, quickly retreated through the door.

Celestia slammed the door behind her, as the monitor crashed into it, thumping.

She leaned against to catch her breath, though the distance had been short it had been quite a while since she had moved that quickly on such short notice, that and she had no desire to have a monitor thrown against her head.

She looked to her niece, the young alicorn also had her back to the stone wall.

“Aunty,” She breathed, as she followed it up with a sigh. “I believe the issue is that you called his only way home a ‘wild-goose chase’. And in his mind, that was wildly insulting.”

She turned her head to lock eyes with Celestia. “Please, in the future please refrain from trying to convince Dante something is impossible, even if any reasonable pony can see it’s impossible.” Cadance shook her head. “He’s not reasonable, at all.”

Following their forced eviction from the commandeered room, the three took to the royal dining room, Celestia was looking particularly unregal with her head resting on her hoof, while Cadance was finally taking the time to process the amount of casualties the Imperium had suffered during their civil war, as she had been informed by Dante.

“Four billion… three years.” She muttered as she stared at the table, her mind desperately trying to draw up just what that might look like, despite how sick the images the may be.

Fortnite meanwhile, just had her head resting on the table. With the exception of Cadance, who was merely muttering to herself, none of them spoke.

Honestly, none of them were sure of what to do next. By the time they had finished up in there, the Parliamentary meeting was over, and it had been getting later in the day when Dante had come and ‘collected’ Celestia, so it was now her sister’s domain rather then hers.

However, their question of how to proceed was soon answered when the doors to the dining room found themselves being forced open.

The three ponies jumped slightly into the air, then looked up just to see who had busted the doors open and spooked them, however, due to the way Celestia was positioned, the doors blocked her from seeing who was entering and it prevented whoever was entering from seeing her.

“CADENZA!” A voice shouted, one Celestia knew all too well.

While Celestia pondered on whether or not she had actually seen the air itself move from the shout, the voice sounded once more.

“GATHER THY HOOVES AND ARMOR! FOR THE PARLIAMENT HAS INFORMED US OF THE FOALNAPPING OF OUR SISTER AND THY AUNT!” Luna trotted in, her body covered in what many would consider a gorgeous set of dark blue armor, the metal covering her sides and top, though area on the top of it allowing wings to pass through unhindered. Her legs were protected by separate pieces of armor, still the dark blue color.

The helmet adorning her head was very similar to the one Nightmare Moon was often depicted with, a hole present for her horn to slip through.

Her peytral was also much larger, covering a larger portion of her chest then the one she normally wore.

Clutched in her magic was a long sword, as long as the mare herself.

Without realizing the ‘foalnapped’ Celestia was in the room, the Lunar Diarch trotted over to her niece.

“THEY INFORMED US IT WAS A GREAT BEASTLY AND BALD BIPEDAL MONSTER! INDUBITABLY IT WAS ONE OF THOSE RABBLE-ROUSING MINOTAURS SEEKING REVENGE FOR THE SECOND RAZING OF MINOTAURIA! WE’VE NO IDEA WHY THEY’RE STILL ANGRY ABOUT THAT, IT HAPPENED NEARLY THREE-THOUSAND YEARS AGO! STILL, WE SHALL SEE TO IT THAT OUr SISTER IS AVE-” Luna stopped, Cadance thankful as her mane had nearly been ripped from its roots and blown off her head by how loudly Luna had been shouting.

Luna locked eyes with her foalnapped sister, the light-blue orbs widening. “Oh…” Luna raised her hoof to her chin, seeming to think the situation over. “Jaeger?”

Celestia simply nodded, adding. “It’s a long story, I’ve no desire to discuss it.”

“Aunty Celestia called Dante’s only shot to get home a wild-goose chase and he threw alien stuff at her after yelling at her to get out of his room.” Cadance added.

Luna gasped, Celestia rolled her eyes at what she believed to be an overreaction. “As far as Jaeger is able to tell, his device to communicate with his kind is in the Sea of Clouds. I simply informed him that I would not risk any of my stallions on a wild-goose chase. If he wishes to perish traversing the Sea of Clouds, then that is his prerogative, but I will not order any of my guards to their deaths by assisting him.”

Luna, however, protested. “Sister, you called something Jaeger holds dear to his heart unattainable. In the most offensive way possible!” Luna tossed her sword blindly behind her, as it clattered wherever it had landed as she approached her sister. “You didn’t even grace it with some old, wise way of saying it. You called it a wild-goose chase as though he was a co-worker trying to do something dumb.”

The Solar Princess sighed. “Arguably, pursuing his device into the Sea of Clouds is a dumb thing to do.”

“But it’s his only way home to ponies he has fought and spilled blood for. Perhaps if you’ve seen what I’ve seen you would understand why he took the news so badly. He has sacrificed thousands of years fighting for his home, and he has seen his brothers and sisters fall in the line of duty. And then you go and call his chances of going home, back to the ponies he fought to protect… well, you call them a wild-goose chase!”

“It’s in the Sea of Clouds, Luna! Nopony has ever entered it and successfully exited.” Celestia rebuked, though her sister was having none of it.

“Then how did it get there, if We remember correctly, Jaeger’s device was stolen by a unicorn and a gryphon. Meaning somepony had to enter the Sea to get their orders, exit to steal the device and then reenter to bring the device to their master.”

“You are operating under the assumption that they didn’t just fly into the Sea, either by accident or in a suicide mission.”

“Why would anypony steal an alien device that is quite literally priceless and then do a suicide dive into the Sea of Clouds with it! That is the dumbest conclusion We’ve ever seen anypony reach in all Our years of being alive!”

Cadance soon joined in on the bickering, Fortnite being forgotten.

The disguised changeling was thankful, and quickly slinked out of the room and into the hall, slipping behind the door.

She quietly made her way to the room Dante had commandeered, the halls quiet despite three of the most powerful ponies in the land bickering not too far from her.

She reached the room in short order, and approached the door. She hesitated as she raised her hoof, though, followed through with a knock on the door.

“Dante...it’s me, Four-Tw-… Fortnite. It’s me, Fort, can I come in?” No voice sounded in confirmation, as a result, the changeling could only take a deep breath and ease open the door.

The first thing that hit her was the acrid smell of smoke. Her nose scrunched up, the smell reminding her of the movements she and her squad did during scouting missions around some of the more westerly settlements. Tobacco farming was big there despite the regulations against it.

She didn’t understand what was so appealing about being confused for hours, but she also wasn’t about to criticize someone for what they liked to do.

But this wasn’t just the smell of tobacco, it also smelled like mint, oddly enough.

She nudged open the door a tad more, to be greeted by the sight of a room destroyed. The tables that previously contained the monitors and Dante’s various sciencey equipment were now over turned, monitors smashed and tables broke. The floor was littered with plastic and glass.

As she entered the room, she saw Dante laying on the couch, now in just his underwear, shirt and lower clothing, smoking a cigarette.

“Evenin’… night? Fuck, I don’t know what time it is, Good whatever time it is to ya, Fort.”

As she approached the laying biped, her nose also picked up the scent of alcohol.

“Have you been drinking?”

The biped chuckled as he took another drag from the burning cigarette, his eyes staring at the wall. He breathed out, allowing the smoke to lazily float in front of him. He reached behind the arm of the couch producing a bottle with alien text written on it.

“Bourbon. One-hundred-twenty proof. Produced and bottled in Bards-town, Ken-Tucky.” The alien words lightly slurred out of the biped’s mouth as Fortnite took in more of the scent surrounding the Human.

She allowed her disguise to drop, once more revealing her chitinous form.

“I didn’t realize you were a smoker.” The changeling responded. Dante merely tilted his head to look at her.

“It… it was a bad habit I picked up in the trenches of France during the first World War. Stuck with me for a while… ‘til I met Lakia. I smoked for a while still while seeing her, but I dropped it when she asked me to. I wasn’t planning on breaking my clean streak, but you know… I figured...” He took a swig of the bourbon and the laid it back on the ground.

“Alcohol and tobacco. Two of the only goddamn things that I can regularly partake in and two of the only things I can take solace in at the moment. One of the dead assholes on the Celeste had some stale-as-fuck five thousand year old Newports on him.”

“Well… I hope you have a lot, because tobacco farming is banned in Equestria.”

Dante lazily blinked at the changeling, then frowned.

“Fuck.” He turned back and looked to the bottle of bourbon on the floor. “Fuck, I guess I only have alcohol to fall to, now.”

“Why did you lapse back into an addiction?”

Dante violently rubbed his face with his free hand before answering. “Because who the fuck gives a goddamned shit at this point. Cake-ass is right. Those sats are designed to see through CMEs, but they can’t even see through a bunch of clouds. If they can’t see through it, then there’s no way in fuck any of my UAVs will be able to get through. And if my UAVs can’t get through, then the likelihood of me piloting anything through successfully without having goddamned-motherfucking-shiteating-pissdrinking gremlins in the fucking piece of shit cocksucking electrical-fucking-systems bringing me the goddamned fuck down is nil-to-fuckin’-nil. And do you want to know what I realized, Fort?” Dante allowed his head that he had been holding up to slam into the armrest of the couch.

“Celestia’s right. I’m not getting home. Not without the larcom. It’s the only way I have to get home. But I can’t get to it… so now… I’m here… God fucking knows where I am. But I’m trapped on a planet with a bunch of talking, mythical and colorful creatures. And now I have nothing to keep my mind off the fact that Lakia’s probably dead. It’s been five thousand years, there’s no way she’s alive.” Dante held up his left hand, his thumb and trigger finger holding up a simple gold ring.

He fidgeted with it, while Fortnite merely sat quietly. “’Til Death Do Us Part. Fuck of a husband I was. I did the exact goddamn thing my dad did and disappeared from Lakia’s life. Goddamn, now I feel like a piece of shit… shrugging him off for all those years. And then I fucking go and do the same goddamned exact thing I utterly despised him for doing.” Dante snuffed his cigarette out on a broken monitor near the couch he was laying on. He rubbed his eyes with both of hands, now that they were free.

“I’m an old war-horse, Fort, who outlived its usefulness. I’m useless to my rider, I should have been put out to pasture years ago. Farmer Joe’s farm.” Dante removed his hand from his bloodshot eyes, as he stared up at the ceiling. “Fuck, that sounds nice. I get to live out my last couple of years in peace, before I step in a hole made by a gopher and break my ankle. And since I’m so old, there isn’t anything Farmer Joe can do, so his son who’s afflicted with an unknown and unnamed but very vicious disease who I miraculously made friends with in my last few years ends up being the one who puts me down in a mercy killing.”

There was a pause, as no one spoke, before Dante was the one who broke the silence.

“… I’m rambling again, aren’t I?”

“Yes, Dante, yes you are.” Venus responded. “Specifically, you’re wallowing in self-pity.”

The biped groaned as he sat up on the couch, Fortnite shuffling on her hooves.

This was not the creature she had come to know. This was a broken stallion. One who had been through so much, his back had finally been broken by a single straw.

“So… if finding a way home is off your list… Dante, what’s your plan now?”

Dante sighed, allowing a puff of air to escape his mouth. “Fuck… I don’t know… maybe just continue on with what those princesses want me to do. Get the inquiry and meeting with all the foreign heads of state over with… and then dedicate all my time to finding some way to permanently end my life before this planet’s sun dies out, leaving me alone on a dying rock… unable to die.”

Fortnite silently sniffed their air, detecting something she had never smelled come from the biped.

Pure, unadulterated fear.

“Shouldn’t you at least try to get home.”

“What’s the point of trying, Fort. That’s all I’ve ever done my entire fucking life. I’ve tried to kill the murderers of my mother. I failed. I tried to keep my loved ones alive and I’ve failed. My friends have died because I’ve tried. I tried to keep Lakia and Earth safe and I landed here and then some unicorn stole my ride home when I tried to get it back. All of my attempts to do something has ended in the death of people I love or failure. What the fuck is the point of trying if everything I try ends in failure.”

“Dante, you’re wallowing in self-pity again.”

“Fuck off, Venus! I’m fifteen-thousand years old and fucking drunk, I’m allowed to wallow in self-pity.”

“You’re drunk?” Fortnite scrunched up her nose. “From a couple of sips? Just how strong is that stuff?”

“No,” Dante waved his hand, gesturing to behind the couch. Behind it lay several dozen bottles of bourbon, either stood up or laying on its side. “I downed like… twelve of them in the first minutes after you all left. The rest of them are from the time between I finished the twelvth and now.”

Fortnite shook her head. “Dante, listen, there are still… people out there who could use your help. Surely, you’re not a ‘useless war-horse’.”

“I am. Especially in this world. Do you know what I did back home, Fort.” Dante laid back down, apparently unsure of whether he wanted to sit up or lay down.

“I killed people. I killed threats. I made sure Earth was safe. Or at least tried to. But I wasn’t the only Legionnaire who could have done that. But now that the Imperium has revealed themselves to Humanity, Earth is almost assuredly safer then it was when I was watching over it. My usefulness ended when the Battle of Earth ended. As for Lakia…”

Dante frowned as he once more stared up at the ceiling. “I crashed here heirless, so even if I were to make it back to Earth, the only blood I would have there would be half-blood to me. Nephews and nieces on my dad’s side. No sons or daughters. Mother’s side… fuck, I’m the only one left in the universe with her blood.”

Dante turned pulled a blanket that had been draped over the back of the couch and pulled it onto him. “I’m going to sleep Fort...”

Though Fortnite could feel the desire to help the biped in her, she had to agree, it had been a very long day and she could feel the grips of sleep creeping up on her.

So she made her way over to the bed she had slept in last night and pulled her self up on it. When she finally found a comfortable position, she clapped her chitinous hooves together, discovering that the lights Dante had used did indeed work with more then just fingers.

She lay in the darkness, despite her exhaustion, sleep refused to come to her. So she laid there, the darkness laying upon her like a blanket.

Dante’s voice finally cut through it. “Hey, Fort?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s a little cold, ain’t it?”

“Yeah...” She sighed, as she realized the question contained another question in it.

She quietly hopped off the bed, and quickly joined the biped on the couch, Dante silently covering her.

“Wow.” Rainbow Dash stated, surprise evident in her voice as she flexed her wings. The doctor stood next to the bed she was leaning up.

“I don’t know what the heck Dante used on me, but geez did it work. These would have taken weeks to heal normally.”

The tan unicorn looked up from his clipboard being held in his magic. “Hmm… yes… he called them ‘nanites’… whatever that means.”

Rainbow Dash shook her hoof, as she made to get off the bed. “He called them combat drugs when he was talking to me. Though, to be honest, I don’t even remember being given them.”

Rainbow carefully tested her leg, gently putting weight on it. When she was confident it wasn’t going to suddenly collapse on her, she pulled herself off the bed and onto four legs.

“Geez… I need to get some more of that stuff, I feel great!”

Sergeant Bulwark carefully made his way through the halls of the castle. He wasn’t happy. Sure, he had received his promotion directly from the Diarchy, but there was a more pressing matter that even his fellow guards were pressing him for.

Which is how he found himself speed-walking through the halls of Castle Canterlot trying to find his target. Thankfully, the guardstallions on-duty were more then willing to point him to his target.

He lifted his hoof and gently rapped on the door, a few seconds passed before the doors seemingly opened by themselves.

He stepped inside, bowing his head.

“Oh, good morning Sergeant, how are you doing today?” Bulwark glanced up to be greeted by the chipper face of Princess Celestia and the rather tired looking face of Princess Luna. However, his target was seated near them. A green unicorn, trying to make herself small as she quietly ate a bowl of oats.

“Your Highnesses, please, forgive me for my intrusion. However, I must request Miss Fortnite’s presence in regards to a situation involving… my current commanding officer.”

Celestia nodded in understanding. “Of course, I’m not keeping her, she’s free to go if she wishes.”

Without a response, the green unicorn removed herself from the chair she was using made to follow Bulwark, who closed the door behind them as they walked, leaving the two sisters to eat in peace.

“Uh… Bulwark, is everything okay? Is Dante okay?”

The stallion looked behind him to speak to her. “That’s why I grabbed you. But wait before you say anything. I’m taking us to a private place. I don’t want any rumors from eavesdroppers.” And so she followed him.

During the ride back from Ponyville to Canterlot, she had not gotten much from the stallion, a quiet one. She and Dante had done most of the back and forth, Bulwark only occasionally interjecting. But otherwise had stayed silent.

So now here she was being led by the quiet stallion to an unknown place.

After a few minutes of trotting, Bulwark turned a corner and into a room, Fortnite quickly following behind him.

The stallion was waiting for her in the room, closing the door behind her after glancing out and making sure they hadn’t been followed. The doors closed, the lock clicking shut. He gave them a light tug to insure it had indeed engaged and then turned around to face the interior of the room.

The room they had entered had been one of the various dining rooms for castle staff, rarely used now except for special occasions.

It was only a few dozen feet long and wide, a modestly sized room relative to some of the other ones in the castle.

Bulwark removed his helmet, his white coat reverting to its dark brown color, gently setting the headpiece down on the table.

“Drop your disguise, Fortnite.”

She turned around to meet his eye. “Why?”

“Because I want to talk to you face to face. I locked the door, don’t worry, nopony’s coming in here.”

The changeling dropped her disguise, her green hair turning into hard chitinous armor and her eyes turning into pure blue orbs.

“What in tartarus is going on?” Bulwark questioned.

“I’m sorry?”

Bulwark sat on his haunches, sighing. His eyes pinched closed. “You know what I mean. The General. Dante. Nopony’s seen hide nor hair of him for an entire day. There’s been no explosions, no gory deaths, no gunshots, no shenanigans. Canterlot has been peaceful for an entire day. Where is he? What happened to him? He’s got the entire guard, and amazingly enough, a large amount of nobles freaking out over his lack of… causing disturbances! My guys have been riding my flank trying to find out what in the hay is going on since he’s technically still my commanding officer but the problem is, I’ve not got a singled damned clue. The last I saw of him is when he ordered me to return to the barracks.”

Fortnite sighed, frowning and her shoulders shrugging.

“Celestia said something… and… well… there’s a disease ponies have a name for. A… mental illness, I can’t think of the name. But it’s like… when you have two personalities.” She put a hoof to her chin, thinking.

“Multiple personality disorder?” Bulwark groaned. “Oh, don’t tell me Dante thinks he’s a gryphon named something silly like George.”

Fortnite shook her head while waving a foreleg. “No, no, no. Maybe personality was a bad word, two… like… somepony’s happy and energetic one second and the very next second they’re extremely depressed. Oh… what’s the name for it!”

Bulwark raised an eyebrow. “Bipolar disorder?”

Fortnite clapped her hooves. “Yes! Yes, that! I think Dante may suffer from it and I think Celestia may have triggered his jump from… well, his energetic side to his depressed side.”

“So… you’re saying we’re dealing with an alien who’s not only equicidal, willing to extra judicially execute arrested criminals, had super-equinoid strength, he’s all of those things, but he’s also mentally unstable?”

Fortnite nodded her head. “He’s also immortal, don’t forget that… and maybe a tad suicidal.”

Though Bulwark’s expression seemed to be neutral, Fortnite could smell the incredulousness radiating from him. “Oh… immortal and suicidal… that fills me with confidence. Wonderful, my commanding officer is insane.” He rubbed his temples with his hooves as he tried to piece everything together.

“Okay, so… what do you think Princess Celestia said that triggered his depressive episode?”

“Honestly…” The changeling sat back on her haunches, a hoof raised to her chin once more. “She called his attempts to get his larcom back a ‘wild goose-chase’ and then said she would not order any of you all into your deaths should he choose to pursue it into the Sea of Clouds.”

Once more, Bulwark groaned. “Ugh, no… it’s not in the Sea of Clouds, you’re foaling me.”

Fortnite nodded. “From what Dante can tell, it’s the only place it could be. His satellites couldn’t scan the Sea and he picked up no other signals. I didn’t know what it was and neither did Princess Cadance, so he kind of… foalnapped Princess Celestia.” Fortnite quietly tapped her hooves together, looking away from the stallion. Who could only roll his eyes at the info.

“Honestly, at this point, I’m not even shocked.”

He sighed. “Awesome, so now we have a depressed alien.”

Fortnite nodded. “And there’s an even bigger issue.”

“I know, the Parliamentary Inquiry.” To this Fortnite shook her head.

“No, not that.” Fortnite sucked in a breath. “He’s terrified.”

Bulwark titled his head. “Who… Dante? The hay does he have to be worried about? He’s the most terrifying thing on this planet.”

She nodded her head. “I think the thought of being alone absolutely terrifies him. I could smell it when he started talking about being alone.”

“But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by us.” Bulwark protested, though Fortnite shook her head once more.

“It’s not that. Put yourself in his hooves. Imagine you’re on his world and the only hope you have of getting back here has just been stolen by another Human. And you’re able to track the thing you need to go home, but the Human leader has said she wouldn’t lend you any help to retrieve it. Yes, Dante’s not physically alone, but in his mind, he’s the only one he’s got to get home, but his machines can’t make it through the Sea. So the only way he could get through is with the help of the Princesses. One of whom, Princess Celestia, outright denied him any aid before he could even request it.”

Bulwark paused, blinking. “Wow… that was amazingly empathetic.”

Fortnite shrugged. “I’m a changeling, it comes naturally to me.”

Bulwark shook his head. “I’m still not entirely understanding this.”

Fortnite looked him straight in the eye. “Long story short? Celestia somehow managed to take all the fight out of Dante. His… heart has stopped ticking and it needs a jumpstart.”

Hunter silently stared at the young woman as she peeled and cleaned various fruits and vegetables. He was covered with a blanket as he sat, his knees tucked close to his chest.

“I certainly hope you’re feeling better today, Schwarz.” The young woman spoke, mainly to herself. She had learned fairly quickly that the young man she knew as Schwarz didn’t speak.

Hunter, for his part, had been in the village for a little over three weeks now, having woken up about a week ago and moving about around the same time. Though mainly only to relieve himself, and he only moved when no one was looking. For the most part, he just hid in the hut he had woken up in. The young woman who introduced herself to him as Koch had really been the only company he had.

And indeed, her name fit, she was a supremely good cook. Apparently the cook for the village, and she had been the main person who had taking care of the silent Hunter, who refused to meet her eye.

“I am making a stew. A mixture of potatoes and carrots, as well as some rabbits some of the runners caught. And… as a special treat, some deer meat from a deer they managed to grab!” She did a small cheer, as she hummed a small tune ostensibly to herself, though her main hope was that it would improve the spirits of her charge. Who had still not spoken, and barely reacted to anything around him.

She had yet to see him eat, though she would leave a bowl for him. When she came back later, she would find it cleaned out. So that was good news, she supposed.

She brushed a stray lock of blond hair from her face as she continued cleaning and prepping the ingredients she would need for the stew, occasionally glancing over her shoulder at the young man they had taken in. His eyes were still staring ahead, his mouth unmoving.

He had not made a single sound or smiled at all in the few weeks he had been here. Still… she was determined to get him to say something, and if he couldn’t speak, she would at least get a smile from him.

She dropped a few carrots and a touch of deer meat, her secret, onto a wooden plate and carried it to Schwarz. She gently set it down in front of the sitting man and then retreated back to the pile of food.

“A snack, so you don’t have to wait for the stew to cook.” She said, her back turned. She wanted to turn and look back around, to see him eating. But she knew he wouldn’t eat if she did. If she broke his trust once, he would just wait until she left the hut.

Hunter quietly reached out, his eyes trained on Koch, fully prepared to withdraw his hand should she make any sort of indication of looking over her shoulder.

The meat might smell delicious, but he didn’t want her looking at him doing something.

“I am often criticized for wanting to help you, a stranger… Called silly.”

Hunter did have to wonder why she seemed so insistent on helping him. He hadn’t done anything to help them, yet this girl seemed to be absolutely insistent.

After a few minutes of him slowly eating the deer meat and carrots, carefully so he could react should she try to get a look of him moving around he could stop.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw her legs positioning herself to turn around, so he withdrew his arm under the blanket and stopped chewing.

He saw her eyes glance down to the plate, now not as full as it had been, though he was motionless, nothing had changed, as though he had never moved from the last time she looked at him.

She sighed as she balanced two plates of ingredients for her stew. “I’ll be back in just a little while. Feel free to join us.”

Of course, Hunter had no intention of joining them. Although in his mind, he could come up with no articulable reason as to why he saw the need to hide his movements from them, he just didn’t want them to see him moving.

Hearing Koch leave the hut, he allowed his head to fall to his knees, his energy seemingly having evaporated.

“Dante?” Fortnite, now once more a green unicorn, slowly opened the door to the room. She glanced around, the lights were still off and the room was still as she had left it.

And there, on the plundered couch the biped had probably won in armed combat, was the enigmatic alien in all his glory.

Snoring away without a care in the world.

“Oh, geez.” Bulwark nosed his way into the darkened room, his ears twitching at the sound of the snoring. “He is in a bad way, isn’t he? I’ve seen him react to sounds even I couldn’t hear and he’s still asleep.”

He trotted over to Dante, tossing a manila folder over to a still standing table, he used his hoof to poke the general’s leg, receiving no reaction.

“Okay… this is terrifying. He’s still alive, right?” Bulwark nodded to the sleeping creature, as Fortnite gently kicked the door closed, dropping her disguise in the process.

The room now cloaked in darkness, she clapped her hooves, resulting in the lights recently installed on the ceiling activating.

“Yeah, he is. Just… not… feeling all too well. I think he’s sleeping so deeply because he doesn’t want to be awake… or he’s just ignoring us.”

Bulwark glanced around the destroyed room, tables overturned and bits and pieces of technology belong to Dante’s people littering the floor.

He paused as his eyes landed on a lone leg chair. He picked it up in his magic, the brown aura lifting the leg into the air. He tested its weight and then brought it over to the couch. He lined it up with about where he thought Dante’s stomach would be and then lifted it up to br-

“Wait! Stop! What are you doing!” Fortnite trotted up to the two, her magic intertwining with Bulwark’s in order to prevent him from bringing the makeshift club down upon the biped.

He calmly met the changeling’s eyes. “This is revenge for the crash course he put me through, interrupting my spa time and then disappearing for a few days making my life suck. And just being a nuisance in general.”

“I’m not going to let you hit him!” The changeling protested, tugging on the club with her magic, the green aura fighting the brown aura for control.

“He’s immortal, he’ll be fine.” The stallion argued, attempting to bring the club down, though meeting surprising resistance from the changeling.

“No!”

“Stop!”

“Give me the chair leg!”

“I’m not giving you the chair leg, I want to hit him with it!”

“And I don’t want you hitting him with the chair leg!”

“Listen, I’ll hit him first then give you the chair leg so you can hit him with it!”

“I don’t want to hit him!”

As the battle for the chair leg raged on, both could feel their magic’s grip slipping, sweat beginning to form on their faces as they both fought towards their prospective goal. Fortnite attempting to prevent the assault on the biped, Bulwark attempting to assault his commanding officer.

Once more, Equestrian and Changeling found themselves at odds, at war. They fought valiantly for the chair leg, one for justice and the other for revenge.

Until the Changeling lost. Fortnite’s magical grip slipped, allowing Bulwark’s downward force to bring the makeshift club into the stomach of the stranded alien, still sleeping with his eyes closed.

Fortnite had no time to react, beyond her eyes widening as she saw the club falling.

And certainly, the strike was mighty, backed up by the pent-up anger of a former corporal recently turned sergeant.

Or at least... it would have been, had a hand not reached out and stopped the strike before it could make contact.

Before Bulwark could react, another hand shot out, reaching under his chest and gripping his barrel. Within a second, the sergeant found himself… being snuggled by the biped.

“Bulwark,” Dante whispered into the stallions ear, causing much physical and emotional discomfort. “I may be asleep and depressed right now, but I have ten thousand years of fighting under my belt. You have, at most, a day. What did you think was going to happen when you tried hitting me with that chair leg?”

“Sir,” The stallion squirmed in a vain attempt to escape his predicament, which found him laying on his side and being pulled into the Human’s torso by his comparatively spindly, though surprisingly strong arms. “Could you let me go, this is extremely unprofessional.”

“Trying to hit me with a chair leg was extremely unprofessional, this is your punishment. Unless you want a court martial for attempting to assault a superior officer… I’d hate for you lose those shiny new triple chevrons and find yourself back to no chevrons… or in prison...dungeons? What do you guys even use here?”

The mention of court martials, demotion and prisons, the stallion stopped wriggling, calming down a tad bit.

“What did you need, Fort?” Dante questioned, as a free hand moved to the stallions mane, his fingers digging into the unicorn’s scalp, though one arm still holding tight.

Fortnite felt an odd twinge at seeing the unicorn’s eyes go half-lidded. But she had to ignore it. She raised a hoof to her mouth and coughed. Levitating the manila folder Bulwark had walked in with over to the couch. She took a few documents out.

“Bulwark got word of the Parliamentary Inquiry by a cousin who’s a guard there. He put together a folder of information that might help us… though… it’s not a lot.”

“There’s not a… lot to go… on.” Bulwark groaned through the scalp message he was receiving as punishment for attempting to assault his commanding officer, resulting in Dante rolling his eyes.

“And I figured we should go over it, considering the inquiry is tomorrow.”

Dante groaned. “I had plans for tomorrow.”

“Like what, exactly, since you said you were giving up trying to get home.”

Dante pulled a blanket over his head, covering both him and Bulwark. “Like sleep. If I’m lucky maybe I’ll die in my sleep.” His voice was slightly muffled.

“Could you do me a favor, sir, and not die while you’re holding me. I don’t think I could get out of this hold even if you were dead.” Came the muffled request from Bulwark.

Fortnite, for her part, could only roll her eyes as she grabbed the blanket in her magic and pulled it back down.

“Dante! Now’s not the time for jokes, t-”

“That wasn’t a joke.”

“Don’t interrupt me. That inquiry is important and it could have long lasting effects while you stay here. It could be the difference between ponies tolerating you or attacking you.”

Dante scowled. “Good, of all the people who could figure out how to kill me, maybe the magical colorful talking ponies will have more success then anyone else has.”

Once more, the changeling found herself rolling her eyes. “Dante, will you stop being angsty and just work with us? We’re trying to help you.”

She opened the folder, reading a few documents. “Based on a few things Bulwark’s cousin has told him, avoid most members of the Parliament. Many of them are downright nasty, but most are just concerned about furthering their own political goals.”

“So… any politician ever?” Dante questioned, continuing to rub Bulwark’s scalp, Fortnite ignored him.

“We’ve also identified a few allies.”

“How many.” Dante questioned.

“I can count them with my hooves...” She raised one hoof. “MP Fancy Pants...” She lowered that hoof and then raised the other. “And Prince Blueblood. Of those two, Fancy is the only positive ally. Blueblood is only an ally in the sense that he is utterly terrified of you and refuses to put his name to anything he believes could anger you. He’s been vetoing all proposals regarding you.”

Dante shrugged. “Okay, so he’ll veto any issues that arise, right? I just go in there, bare my fangs at him a tiny bit and I’m good.”

Bulwark shook his head. “’Fraid not. Prince Blueblood may have the power to veto proposals, but Parliament can override his veto with a two-thirds majority vote. Usually they don’t have the steam to muster all those votes, but if you’re terrifying enough, you may be able to unite parliament enough to do so.”

“Okay, so what else is there?” Dante questioned, though both Bulwark and Fortnite met eyes.

“Uh… this is it.” Fortnite answered.

“That’s it?” Dante questioned, eyebrow raising.

“Yes… like I said, we don’t have a lot to go on. No historical precedence. The closest we have to go on are the Gryphonian-Equestrian contact wars, but even then, there wasn’t such a massive gap between physical ability and technological level. They were… well, fairly on par with us. You… though, you’re an issue. Not just from your inability to be killed, but also your ability to seemingly outpace anything put before you.” Bulwark answered.

“So… I’m going into this blind… awesome. You have pics of my ‘allies’?” Dante stopped scratching Bulwark’s head to make airquotes around the word.

Fortnite quickly passed two back and white photos to him. “First one is Fancy Pants, a Level One MP.”

Dante studied the image. “British pony. Probably hates free speech and thinks racist jokes are jail worthy.”

Fortnite shook her head, doing her best to not pay attention to the biped’s crazed speech.

“Second one is Prince Vladimir Blueblood. Level Zero.”

Dante snorted as he examined the second picture. “Vladimir. Well! He’s obviously a tyrant in the making, probably a secret bad-ass. Wouldn’t be all too surprised if he can kick ass and take names.”

There was a pause, as Fortnite met his eye, Bulwark twisting his neck to glare at the human.

“… What! Anyone whose name is Vladimir is bound to be a tyrant who can kick ass. Not that it’s a good thing, but you have to be able to recognize your enemy’s strengths.”

“Dante… that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard from you in the few days I’ve known you. Blueblood is well known for being a coward in Canterlot.” Fortntie answered.

Dante opened his mouth to retort, though paused halfway through, an eyebrow raised. “Wait a minute… wasn’t the wedding incident the first official contact between changelings and Equestrians… Fort… how do you know so much about Equestria if your hive was below ground and segregated from the rest of society?”

Fortnite’s mouth flapped open like a dying fish, as she sought an answer in her mind. “It’s… books. We had books in the hive and soldiers are taught basic infiltration.”

Dante’s gaze hardened. “You want to know something interesting, Fort? Creatures with more mobile pieces on them are far more expressive then Humans are. Humans and Phoenixes are considered some of the best liars in the galaxy because we don’t have ears that twitch, tails that swish or noses that frantically begin sniffing the air. I know what you said was bull…”

Fortnite could feel sweat beginning to form on her chitin, as Dante’s differently colored eyes seemed to stare into her very soul, prying every secret she ever held. Not even the Queen had ever shook her quite like this.

However, Dante’s gaze instantly softened. “Eh, whatever, I can’t be bothered to pry anymore. Probably nothing super important.”

Dante looked back to the two pictures he had in his hand. “So I’m going into this legally blind, huh? Well… can’t say this is the first time I’ve ever done it. Probably won’t be the last.”

Once more Hunter found himself alone in the hut, Koch having gone off to help the tribe cook.

The clothing he wore was simple. The linen tunic had been made by one of the tribe’s weavers. Though he had foregone the leather hide shoes.

And here he was, just as he was any other day. Not moving when anyone was looking at him and just sitting motionless in the hut. He still had not made a sound in the entire time he had been here, nearing one moon cycle.

He had no idea what he was doing. Why he was doing what he was doing. Why these people were still helping him, he also could not fathom.

But for some odd reason, something in his chest was squirming. Something in him was telling him to move, to run. He could not explain what it was, but he could feel something pulling him somewhere.

He resisted it initially. His brain fighting this feeling keeping him sitting down and unmoving. But every minute, something in the back of his mind kept pushing him. And not even he could resist the pull.

Which is how he found himself standing nervously, grasping the hides used to make the portal separating the safety of the inside of the hut from the dangers of the outside world.

What was he afraid of? Nothing had managed to kill him yet, yes, he had been hurt. But he had healed just fine, and he was still breathing. Not even those strange men had managed to kill him.

So why couldn’t he open the portal? His brain was still resisting the urge, but the voice in the back of his head was growing stronger, urging him to a spot. Somewhere he had never been before, but he knew exactly how to get there.

Taking a deep breath, he hesitated, he could feel his muscles attempting to pull back the hides, but his brain resisted his every move.

Finally the voice in his head was screaming at him, drowning out every sound he could hear.

Still his brain refused to allow him pull open the curtains separating him from the outside. His muscles violently fought against his brain, attempting to override the organ.

This continued for a long while, until finally the voice screaming at him not only drowned out the sounds, but drowned out his thoughts.

The muscles, no longer restrained by the brain acted quickly, and violently.

Tearing open the curtains, Hunter’s feet propelled him forward, pushing him past Lange who stared at the running man in shock. He passed Koch, which if he had been able to hear anything at all, he would have heard her shouting.

But the voice, now in control of the young man’s body having wrenched control from his brain, cared for none of this. Instead, all it cared about was ordering his feet and legs to continue moving.

Left, right, left, right, left, right.

He cared not for the sun beating down upon him, or the seemingly impossibly blue sky. No, all he cared about was continuing to move forward.

He passed trees and fallen logs without a care, sharp rocks that cut and bruised his feet were given no attention.

He began his approach to a lake’s banks. The lake itself several hundred feet in any direction. Though the other side visible. Not even he could make this jump.

Though that did not stop him, as the voice in his head refused to allow him to stop his feet, instead pushing him to go faster.

As he neared the edge, where the bank began to incline, his legs forced his body to leave the earth.

A sizeable jump, especially for a Human, though it was not enough, as he saw the water fast approaching.

He blinked. Landing on grassy land instead of water, his brain was able to take control of his body long enough for him to look back, seeing that he was now on the other side of the lake, despite having not been able to jump the several hundred feet separating the two sides.

But once more, the voice took over his mind, pushing him forward.

He journeyed further and further away from the tribe and into the wilderness. He continued running, unsure of how far he had gone or for how long.

He continued running, until he saw it.

A large, furry creature. Rearing up on its hind legs, giving out a roar, fully prepared to kill whatever had angered it.

What was on the ground caused the voice in his head to force him to run even faster.

He covered the last hundred feet in seconds, barreling into the creature, wrapping his arms around as much of the body as he could.

Though the bear had to be close to a thousand pounds, Hunter a mere one-thirty-five from his long time walking. The speed at which he ran into it was enough to send the two tumbling, Hunter being propelled from the bear, his body rolling dozens of feet in the dirt.

He finally came to a stop staring up at the sky, his chest heaving from the run and the tackle.

His mind began wandering, as his disused bones and muscles screamed at his brain to stop and rest.

He was brought back to reality by yelling, rolling over to his stomach, he propped himself with up his arms. Looking from the ground, he saw a child trying to scoot away from the scene on their rear, the bear struggling to find its footing from the surprise tackle.

Hunter followed suit, knowing what would follow if he didn’t get up.

The bear found its feet once more, though ignoring the little girl, eyes fixed on the human that had challenged him.

Once more it reared, roaring.

Hunter pounded the ground with his fists, reciprocating the roar with one of his own. His throat, atrophied from lack of use for so long, protested as the roar vibrated through it. Though, once more he paid no attention to his body begging him to stop from the abuse he was putting it through.

He launched himself from the ground, slamming head first into the muscular beast, his face meeting brown fur.

He wrapped his arms around the waist of the bear, slightly above the bear’s hip. Though his arms were not long enough to wrap fully around the bear’s hide, fat and muscle. He dug his fingers into the skin of the bear, as the beast reciprocated, raking its large paws up Hunter’s backside, the claws easily ripping through his tunic and viciously digging into his back.

With a muffled shout of effort, the anemic young man, weakened by years of not eating, though still stronger then many things that walked this very earth, began trying to lift the bear.

The bear leaned down, digging more weight into the surprisingly solid human, its gaping maw managed to reach the right shoulder of the man, as it bit down in an attempt to stop the assault.

But the man pushed through it, as he felt the bear’s hind legs beginning to leave the ground and his own body slowly taking on the weight of a half-ton bear.

The little girl was shouting, the blood pouring from Hunter’s back and shoulder staining the ground as he continued to struggle to lift the bear.

A claw swipe found his head, pushing it further into the bear’s torso and tearing a large gash into the back, tearing through the fat and muscle present and exposing the bone of the skull, a flap of skin hanging limply on.

With another shout, both of pain and anger, Hunter bent his body back, the bear coming with him, as his hands tore through hide, fat and muscle. Until they found each other.

The bear now suspended near vertically and his face no longer pushed into the belly of a bear, instead the crown of his head pushing into the bear’s torso, he shouted once more. As the bear’s maw chomped down upon one of his legs.

With great effort the two hands grasping opposite pulled down on the bear with tenacity The beast roaring not in anger, but in pain.

Hunter applied more pressure, as a sickly crack and tearing cut its way through the air. The bear’s spine breaking in two and puncturing through the hide of its backside.

Though the bear was still not dead. Its paws swiped at Hunter’s left leg, forcing him to his knees.

In anger, Hunter allowed his hands to release one another.

He grasped the bear as tightly as he could with his left hand, his fingers tearing into it, as his right hand grasped the upper portion of the spine poking through the hide on the back.

His hands coated in blood, gore and spinal fluid, Hunter gave an inhuman roar, one which would haunt the mind of the little girl until the day she died, he gave a mighty pull upon the spine, a sickening crunch and squelch tore through the air and invaded the ears of anyone and anything present, as the young man tore the bear’s skull and brain out of its body through its backside.

With one more roar, the young man threw the spine and destroyed skull away, shrugging the massive beast off of him, the body throwing dirt into the air as it landed from the three foot height it was dropped from.

The blood soaked Hunter began to fall, his hands catching him. As he was there, on his knees, his arms being the only thing separating him from the ground.

His chest was heaving from the physical exertion, the run and the fight had taken their toll on him, as he could feel his stomach forcing itself up.

Blood mixed with chunks of meat, fruits and vegetables poured from his mouth, merely adding to the gore stained dirt. He gave a few more heaves, adding more blood to the growing collection, before finally gasping for breath. His muscles, stomach and throat bellowing at him to stop.

The little girl had grown silent. With great difficulty, Hunter lifted his head, turning his sight from the ground to the girl, who was sitting a few feet from the fight, her eyes wide in shock and tears streaming down her face.

“Schwarz!” Hunter turned his head to the direction of the shout, as he turned his sight to see Lange running up a trail, followed closely by Koch.

Both of them were carrying spears, as they continued running to the scene. “Weber!” Koch shouted.

The closed the gap, Koch sliding to a stop in front of the young girl and embracing her, as Lange also slid to a stop, though his attention was on the blood stained ground and the corpse of the large bear near Hunter.

“What the...” He muttered, his brain struggling to process what he was seeing.

“Weber. Weber, what happened here!” Koch shouted as she lifted the little girl up, the girl sobbing into her shoulder.

“I’m sorry!” She cried, her arms wrapping around Koch’s neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt him. I’m sorry!” She choked through her sobs.

“Weber, what happened.” Lange asked, examining the bear’s corpse with his spear.

He looked to Hunter, confusion evident in his face. “Did you do this?” He asked, gesturing to the corpse and the spine on the ground.

He received no response from the man, who was still trying to breathe.

“I was trying to find an herb to help him.” Weber choked through sobs, muffled by Koch’s shoulder. “Mom always got it when my throat hurt so I thought it might help him talk.” Koch began patting the girl on the back, as her sobs quietly died down and increased in length between them. “A-and I went too far into a cave’n the bear began chasing me. I thought...” Once more, the girl began sobbing heavily at the thought of what would have happened if it hadn’t been for the intervention of the man she knew as Schwarz.

Lange raised an eyebrow, looking at Koch, then to Hunter. “She’s not saying Schwarz,” He gestured to Hunter with his spear. “Did this,” He gestured to the bear’s corpse. “Is she?”

Koch nodded. “That’s what it sounds like.”

“The bloody bear is torn in half! A man can’t do this! Much less a man as emaciated as Schwarz is! Look at him! You’ve been feeding him for nearly a cycle and you can still see his ribs!”

“He did do it.” The little girl’s cries had down once more, being mere chokes and a few sobs here and there, her voice still muffled by Koch.

“It was about to hurt me, and then he appeared out of nowhere and ran into it. And then he lifted it up and killed it.”

Lange shook his head. “Gods above...”

Koch merely embraced the child even tighter. “Oh, you stupid, stupid girl.” She whispered, as images of the child being mauled ran through her mind.

The group heard shouts nearby, the group of men the two had left behind to catch to up to Hunter finally making their way. The gap was closing, though they slowed down at the sight of the mutilated bear, the head of it deflated from the lack of a skull to support it.

“What the...” One of them asked. Lange merely shook his head.

“Don’t ask… strip the bear. That’s a lot of food there and I don’t want it going to waste.” He approached the collapsed and bloody man, kneeling down and wrapping his arm around the upper arm of the biped, he helped the man to his feet, blood still dripping from his mouth.

“Ugh, geeze, Schwarz. Whose blood i-” He noticed the loose flap of skin on Hunter’s head, as well as the exposed muscle and strips of skin stained red by the blood on his back. Chunks of muscles and flesh missing from one of his legs.

“Oh… ah, fuck! Koch!” He turned to the young woman, gesturing to Hunter. “Koch, I don’t think your boyfriend’s going to make it.”

“Don’t say that!”
“Which part? That he’s your boyfriend, or that he’s going to die?” Lange questioned, Koch fixing him with a very angry stare.

“Both. He’s not my boyfriend and he’s not going to die.”

“Look at him, Koch! He’s tossing up blood,” He pointed at the pile of blood and partially digested food. “I can see his damn skull, he’s got curtains on his back and there’s a chunk missing from his left leg! How’s he even going to get back to the village!”

Koch began walking away with the little girl. “Help him. And if he doesn’t make it back there, I’ll beat you Lange.”

Lange groaned, protesting as she passed him. “But look at him! He’s covered in blood, Koch! In the shape he’s in, I’ll have to actually carry him ba- and you’re not paying attention to me…” Lange huffed as he turned to the silent man, Hunter’s eyes refusing to meet his.

“Well, Schwarz, can you walk?” Though the man stayed silent, Lange removed his arm from the man and stepped back.

“Well, come on, Schwarz.” Once more, Lange noted how he seemed to intentionally avoid meeting other people’s eyes.

Hunter took a single step, weight going on his relatively good leg, then took another, which immediately gave out, sending him tumbling violently to the ground.

“Oh, godsda-” Lange sighed as he once more picked the young man up, this time allowing him to lean on him, acting as a support for his bad leg and began taking small steps.

“Oh… this is going to be a long trip.” He looked to Hunter, still trying to find the man’s eyes. “You owe me for this.”

Author's Notes:

Right, so I actually had this on the edit stage for a while, but my work schedule saw me come home and then immediately collapse into my bed so I just didn't have the time to read through it until tonight. I apologize for the wait. Enjoy this chapter.

As always, if you liked and favorited this story, please tell me why. If you disliked this story, please tell me why you disliked it. Thank you very much. I also enjoy criticism as it helps me to improve. So if you do downvote, please leave a comment letting me know why. Be it grammar, spelling, pacing, or you just fucking hate the character!