I blink my eyes as we walked under the hot sun, staff in hand as I lean against it, my calves burning as I walk up the rocky road, barely a road at all, but better than the rest of the mountain. I look over next to me and see Aryas fairing no better than I was, her coat slick with sweat as we continued with our scouting mission...

The real me blinks as I realize that the scene changed rather suddenly, and curious I look around for Mag as my past self and his/my new/old marefriend walk up the mountain pass, a good dozen meters away from what seemed to be the main body of troops from our group. However, there is no sign of the mind magician, and seeing us stopping for a moment, I focus back on my past self...

"...forever now, and we still haven't made it to this encampment yet." I said, pausing to lean against a rock, stretching my back and getting a few cracks from my spine for my effort. "Are you sure we are going the right way?"

Aryas sighs as she sits down for a moment, leaning against her spear. "Drak, I already said that this is indeed the right way. My informant that told me about this heard it straight from the chaos commanders. They will be hiding in these mountains, close to the end of the first valley." She tells him.

The human sighs as he leans against his staff, looking back and seeing the rest of the troops doing the same thing, relaxing and resting as water was passed around. It seems Dux had the same idea of taking a moment to rest and recover before marching on. "Still, it's been three weeks since we first entered this damn valley, and the only thing that I have gotten is nearly sunburned."

My hood was up and covering the majority of my face, to prevent the sun from lashing against my face too much. Overall the temperature wasn't that hot, but the sun's intensity somehow made it feel as though it was nearly ninety degrees. Thankfully the cool breeze helped us from overheating, as well as lift the bird songs from over the ridges to us, though I was worried about Aryas in her light armor. It may not all be metal, but even the thin fake leather that she wore must have made it super sweaty. As I looked, I could see her fur was indeed matted with sweat, slicking her body as it sticks to her. The drops slowly sliding down her curves and-

"Drak, if you stare at me any harder, I may just burst into flames." She spoke, causing me to snap out of the sight before me. Realizing I was staring, I quickly shake my head to clear it to try and hide my slight perving, but the blush on my cheeks made it clear that I was indeed staring at my marefriend.

"I wasn't staring at you I was staring at...at the necklace, yea." I quickly said, trying to recover from my blunder. Thankfully it seemed to work as she looked down at said necklace and smiled. The jewelry itself wasn't too impressive, but a simple-

The real me pauses as I realize that it's the same necklace that I was wearing! The one with the heart and wings! So surprised I was by this that I nearly missed the pegasus talking to me again.

"I still can't believe you bought this for me." She said, smiling as she held it against her hoof.

I just smiled back. "I said I wanted to buy you something to cement our relationship, so...yea. I thought it was fitting on you." I said, getting her to smile more.

Getting up, she walks towards me and leans up a bit to kiss me on the cheek, nuzzling me as well. "Still, I wish I thought of something to get you as well." She said.

This caused me to blush even harder as I remembered that day clearly. "I-I think...t-t-that...I think you already did give me something that night..." I add softly, tugging on my hood a bit.

She grins as she kissed me again, this time as a quick peck on the lips. "Oh I know, but that was more for both of us than just a reward for being a good boyfriend." She adds.

I smile slightly, my cheeks still red as I wonder how the hell I was getting even hotter in this weather. "P-perhaps, but...then there was the next night...and the night after that. And the-"

This time I was able to get her to blush finally, causing her to quickly silence me with a hoof as she gives me a playful glare. "Hey! We only had two more weeks left of our leave. I wasn't going to waste that time, especially seeing as I was your first." She said.

Smiling, I wrap my free arm around her and pull her in closer, making her lean her chest against me as I look into her eyes. Slowly we start to lean in some more, our lips nearly touching each other...

"Hey lovebirds! Dux needs to know how much further to go!" We pulled away instantly at the voice as we turned to see who it was. One of the humans and a unicorn walked up to us, both of them with their standard armor and weapons, the human waving to get our attention.

We quickly untangled ourselves and stood still as stone as they approached, the human who called out to us smirking as the unicorn just shook his head. "Really guys? Can't it wait for when we at least set camp for the night?" He says.

Aryas shook her head as she glared at him. "Oh really? And how about you keep your nose out of our business Humdrum." She demands of him in a rather stern tone, to which he doesn't even flinch at it.

"I mean can you blame him for it? It's only fair since you two seem to always be locked around each other for the last several months." Said the human, grinning as she tightens the belt around her waist, double checking that the sword was still within reach for her to grab when needed.

"And we keep telling you that we don't need any of you guys to be butting into our relation Stella." I added a bit softly. Stella just grins harder as I seem to feel myself sink back farther. "Anyways, it's hard to have privacy in this unit." I add, hoping to drop it at that.

Sadly, she wasn't done with us in a long shot. "That is true. With the noise that you two make nearly every night I bet even the chaos troopers back in their forts can hear you two. Especially Aryas here." She adds, giving a wink to the mare, who snorts and makes a rather rude gesture back.

Before the pegasus was able to retort, Humdrum intervened and stopped them from saying anything else. "Drop it Stella, we got enough to take care of without you starting a fight with Aryas every time you try and tease Drak." He adds.

The red head sighed as she shrugged. "Don't blame me, blame Drak for making it easy to tease him." She adds.

These two were rather recent additions to the squadron, both of them joining us during our leave in the city. They were very promising when they left the academy, and their trainers said they made a very excellent pair, if still rusty along the edges. Our squad, being made of only ponies and humans, and also being one of the stepping stones in helping the new recruits of the Order's army, took the job of battle training the new ones and seeing just how they fair. Sometimes it ended very well, other times...

Shaking his head, the purple unicorn turned to face us again. "Anyways, like Stella said, Dux wants to know the ETA."

Aryas stares at Stella for a few moments longer, making sure that she wasn't going to make any more comments before responding to the unicorn. "Should be soon, within the week I would say. The valley is long but our maps say it ends at a small lake. That is where they will be, seeing as there isn't another water source for miles around."

He nods as he adjusts his cloak. Unlike the others, he was centered to using his magic instead of fighting close quarters, using his spells to support us, so he didn't normally wear armor. "Ok, we'll let him know about-" He starts to say when Stella suddenly silences us.

We look at her, Aryas about to make a witty retort before even she falls silent. We can see the intensity of her eyes as she is scanning the horizon, seeming to be looking for something. The rest of us look in confusion, wondering why she was so quiet so suddenly. Stella is one of the few trackers of the unit, and while she is witty and taunting, she always fell quiet when she is following the tracks of someone or if she hears or senses something's amiss.

It's at that moment that we all realized what it was: the birds had stopped singing. Not only the birds but any sort of wildlife was suddenly silent around them, as if someone flipped an off switch on the sound.

It takes a moment before Humdrum says what's on all of our minds. "We aren't alone any-"

Sudden, there is a low hissing, followed by a heavy thunk as the stallion is jerked back, eyes wide as he looks down at the dark wooden shaft of an arrow as it suddenly appears in his chest. He just stares at the shaft in shock before he slowly crumples to the ground, wheezing heavily.

"Humdrum!" Stella shouts, but before she can rush over to the fallen pony, Aryas is charging her, tackling her to the ground just as another arrow flies right over them mere seconds later, right where the human's chest would have been.

They land with a grunt on the ground as I quickly follow suit, helping to pull them down as well as I look up, eyes darting across the ridges to see just were those arrows came from. It doesn't take long to find a few lone archers up on the cliffs, their bows aimed at us as they start to fire again. Not only that, but nearly half a dozen more archers appeared around the other ridges, taking aim and firing off into the sitting troops. The first few shots landed, causing people and ponies to fall down before any sort of alert was sounded. Soon the rest of the troops were hiding behind either a metal or spell shield of some sort, a few of them already returning fire with either magic or arrow.

"Where the hell did they come from?!" I shout as I try to keep my head down low.

Aryas just shook her head. "No idea, we were still a couple of days away from them at least, a week at most. They shouldn't even be here unless-"

Before she could finish, a loud roar was sounded from behind them, and as they turned they could see dozens...no, hundreds of Chaos Troopers hurdling through the canyon and straight to the main forces. The Order Soldiers were quick to react though, their training paying off as they turn to face the new threat, placing their defenses behind them just in time as the tidal wave of enemies smashed into them.

Still, they outnumbered us two to one, maybe even three to one, the troopers just coming through the valley non stop, ponies, humans and all other sorts of creatures charging and barging against shields and swords, clashing as the push and shove from the initial wave becomes a straight up brawl.

Realizing that we were just staring at the whole thing, and seeing that the archers who were shooting at us before had now turned away, I snapped out of my stupor as I looked back at Aryas. "Aryas, we need to go and help!"

She nods, but as she makes her way to join me, Stella, who was looking at Humdrum's body the entire time we talked, once again tries to get up and rush to it, only for the mare to pull her back down. "What the hell, do you want to get shot?!" The pegasus shouts.

"Humdrum! I...I need to-" She tries to speak before getting silenced with a shake from Aryas.

"Listen, he's dead! I know you care and want to try and save him, but it's too late. He's gone. Now the rest of us are fighting for our lives, and unless you wish to join him, get your ass back and help us push them out!" She demands, giving a glare to the girl.

This seems to snap some sense into her as the red head slowly calms down and then gives a nod. With one last, sad look at the dead unicorn, she unsheathes her sword and rushes forward to the main group, making sure to stay low as to avoid the arrows.

Content that she would hopefully survive, Aryas looks back at me as she nods. "Ok, let's get these guys packing and make them regret trying to ambush an Order Legion." She says to me. I just smile and give a nod, staff in hand as I quickly follow suit to help...

At this point my vision starts to blur, and I feel myself slowly falling back. I see shapes and images wave around me, and it takes me a moment to realize that it wasn't just me, but the memory. For some reason all of this seemed like some sort of blur, as if what I was going through was not only physically tiring, but mentally as well. I shake my head and do my best to focus, slowly falling back...slowly...

I grunt as a human falls over from a smack of my staff, twirling the staff in hand before flipping around behind me and thrusting into the chest of a pony, knocking the wind out of them. Before they could recover Aryas is slashing with her spear, causing them to fall back but not before getting a slice across the face. They cry out in pain before I simply kick them to the side, letting them sputter on the ground as we turn to the next batch of enemies, knowing that he won't be getting up for a while. This isn't our first fight against the Chaos Troopers, and I have found one thing during our battles and the time I spent with Aryas; the Chaos Troopers always seemed to have at least one person in charge of the whole thing, and if they are taken care of, then their fighting spirit would start to shrink and cause less of them to want to fight before they would simply rout.

I take a quick glance at my marefriend, who looks back at me at the same time as she gives a nod. We both knew exactly what the other was thinking at that moment, and I watch her scan the surroundings for a few moments before she points over to a ridge, then having to kick her legs behind her to knock out a pony that was trying to sneak up behind her, only to get a bloody nose before she turned her spear and impaled him on it.

I look to where she was pointing and indeed right on the ridge standing there seemed to be a small group of troopers waiting in the back. While normally this would be normal, what wasn't normal was the fact that one of them was a very large minotaur, and minotaurs weren't normally ones to hold in the back when a fight broke out.

Realizing that was most likely the one who planned the whole ambush, I look around to try and find someone, anyone to alert them of our plan. Thankfully finding Dux was easy enough, having already piled a decent body pile around him of ponies and humans alike. Right now he was finishing the last guy by kicking the human in the head, causing their neck to snap back with a sickening crunch as their body just drops.

Rushing over to him, I call out, "Dux! Over there. I think we found the one in charge of the ambush!" I shout loudly so as to be heard over the clanging of swords and spells.

He glances in my direction before looking to where I was pointing. Seeing the minotaur, he nods before lunging forward, his armored front hooves lashing at the griffon that was just about to slice its claws into his side, only to fall to the ground, its lower beak hanging at a very wide angle. "Well then, get to it Drak! We can hold them off here!" He says before turning to face another two griffons, smashing his armored front hoof gauntlets to the ground, taunting and cursing at them to attack.

I quickly make sure that he is fine on his own before rushing back to aid Aryas, who was starting to get surrounded by a few ponies and human Chaos Troopers. Glaring at the enemy, I yell loudly to get their attention before quickly sweeping my staff in large arcs, causing the quicker ones to back out, while two of them who were too slow got knocked on the head or legs, making them stumble back.

"Took you long enough!" Aryas shouts, making me raise an eyebrow as I focus on the enemies around us.

"Dux says-"

"He says we need to go get the big guy? I kind of guessed as much!" She interrupts me. I just mentally shake my head as I thrust my staff forward, stunning one of the troopers before the mare simply stabs them in the chest. "Well then let's get to it!"

I nod as I start to spin my staff around me, the speed getting faster and faster. While there wasn't a lot of force behind it, it was just meant to distract them for a few seconds, just enough for Aryas to lung forward, slashing and stabbing with accurate hits, creating a hole in the swell of enemies. As soon as the hole was made, we lunge through, blocking and retaliating any attack that came our way.

The way through the horde was slow and painful, but we managed to make it through with minimum damage to ourselves. Once we break free of the latest group, Aryas pulls me to the side behind a couple of boulders, letting the rest of them rush past us, unaware of where we went.

We take a moment to catch our breath, panting lightly as I hold my staff against me, but ready to bring it to arm should it be needed. Aryas peaks out of the top and takes a quick look before quickly ducking back down. "Ok, we're close. Just about a hundred meters or so." She tells me. I nod as I grip my staff tight, taking a quick stock of our situation myself.

Thankfully I was able to avoid most of the lethal blows that came my way, but a few hits did find their marks, my body bruised and scratched up a bit, my hoodie sliced in many spots. It was going to be a long night fixing it. I take a quick look at Aryas and feel my heart stop as I see her bleeding rather heavily on her side. "Aryas! You're hit!"

She blinks as she looks at her side in surprise, seeing it as if this is the first time she noticed it. Probably is with how focused we were in the fight, the adrenaline keeping us alert and unaware of any wounds before now. She reaches up and lightly touches it, giving a loud hiss as she suddenly falters on her hooves. I'm quick to reach over and hold her steady, giving her a moment to adjust herself.

She looks over herself carefully before shaking her head. "Damn it, got too careless with my thrusting again. One of those guys must have gotten me with a sword." She mutters. It takes a few moments before she lets out a small sigh of relief. "Doesn't seem to be too bad, mostly superficial...though..." She winces as she takes a deep breath. "It may have hit a rib."

"If it did, then that's the only reason you're still alive." I tell her. She nods in agreement as I reach into my health kit and pull out a bandage, quickly wrapping it around her. She holds still, even giving a soft coo as she nuzzles into my stomach, making me smile. Even in such a situation that our lives are in danger, she still takes any chance she can to give me such love and affection.

After about a minute I was finished with the makeshift bandage, leaning back to take a look at the work. "Well, it's not pretty, but it will do." I say.

"Kind of like a few of my exes." She says with a grin, causing me to roll my eyes with a groan.

"Geez, can you not crack bad jokes during a battle?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

She just grins as she looks over the boulder again, her smile quickly turning into a frown. "Uh oh. We need to hurry and get the chaos command." She says. I take a moment to look over the top as well, my heart sinking as I see just what was happening.

The squadron was holding its own very well, but the numbers of the Chaos Troopers were taking their toll. Already, from what I could see about half of our squad was either dead or too injured to fight, having to take the more wounded of the troops to the center of the squad and away from the fighting, leaving the healthier soldiers to keep the enemy at bay. While the enemy did indeed take a massive death count as well, their numbers just kept getting larger, a seemingly endless horde of insanity just lunging at us in waves.

I knew at that point that we only had minutes to stop this before Dux and the rest of the squad was overrun...and slaughtered.

I sink back down, gathering myself as Aryas does the same, and with a glance between each other and a nod, we quickly start rushing up to the chaos command area.

It takes a bit as we both rush and pause to avoid being seen by any stray troopers, but thankfully we manage to make it in time, the squad still holding the tide of the chaos. Now behind a few lone rocks again, this time only meters away from the minotaur and some of his more elite soldiers, we analyze the situation as Aryas starts coming up with a strategy.

"Ok, I'm only counting a couple of humans and a pegasus. Seems they have better gear though, makes sense if these are their elite." She says as she looks them over. I give a nod, seeing that the human and pegasus both had long, dark swords that glint in the light while the second human had a large mace and a shield. "I'm gonna try and take the pegasus out before they notice, and then distract the other two while you go take care of the minotaur."

My eyes are wide at such a suggestion. "Aryas! It will be two against one! You know that you can't-"

"Drak right now our friends are down there dying, we don't have a choice. Now go!" She says, shouting the last one just as she launches into the air, her wings pushing her forward quick enough to get the jump on the other pegasus. In surprise, he barely manages to get his sword out before she skewers him, making him choke on his own blood as she lands on top of him. Pulling her spear out, she is already ignoring the dying pony as she rushes to the other two humans, who already have their weapons out, ready to engage.

The minotaur sees this as well, his hands already holding his huge battle axe. He lets out a snort as he glares at the mare, prepared to lunge forward before I rush in, staff in hand and once again sweeping to take his legs out, hoping to end this quick so I could go and help Aryas.

Sadly the commander was much quicker than I expected, easily jumping over it before changing his lunge to an overhead slice, causing me to use my staff to deflect the incoming attack. He grunts as the force of it makes the axe land in the ground with a thud and a puff of dust, yanking it out with ease. During that time I manage to get a few good strikes in with my staff, hitting his side and legs before having to back off.

He barely even flinches from the hits, and while I can tell that it did hurt him, he doesn't seem to be even slightly phased from the blows. He just grins as he holds his axe in both hands, slowly circling me. "And here I thought the Thunder would have more force behind his blows." He taunts me.

I raise an eyebrow, not expecting to get any sort of words from them. Normally they would yell some sort of demand of surrender or something, but it seems this minotaur was more than just muscle...something that certainly didn't bode well. "Hard to hit something that is all body and no brain." I replied.

He just laughs. "Perhaps, but I can do many things with such a body, such as cleaving you in half!" He roars, lunging forward as he gives a side swipe with the axe. I barely manage to dodge it in time as the blade just tears my hoodie up even more while missing my skin, but it was enough for him to shoulder check me in the chest, knocking the wind out of me as I fall onto my ass.

I grunt in pain and try to get up, only to get a hoof kicked in the same spot, making me grunt and wheeze even more from the lack of air in my lungs. I could feel myself starting to panic, knowing that I needed to get back on even footing before he gets any sort of edge. Seeing him taking a step to stomp on me, I quickly spin on the ground as I land a kick on his shins, making him howl from the impact as he jumps back just enough for me to get on my knees.

He is quick however, and is swiftly rushing back, this time lunging with his axe head to my head. I manage to duck it just in time as I take the offense, lunging forward and slamming my staff right into his stomach, making him double over. As I get up, I swing my staff up, hitting his chin a couple of times as I spin the staff in a circle, then giving it a twirl as it slams into the side of his head.

However, even as the blow causes him to finally stagger back more, my staff did hit his horn, causing the vibrations to make my limbs shake and my teeth chatter. I manage to get a hold of it just before he is lunging at me again, his eyes red with rage and bloodlust.

We continue this back and forth for a good while, neither of us manage to get a decisive hit on the other. While he would get close enough to tear my clothes or even land a blunt blow on me, I was able to get back up quick enough to avoid him getting the upper hand. Likewise all of my hits either were deflected with his axe shaft, or simply tanked as he seemed to just absorb the blows like they are nothing.

As the fight went on, I finally began to see my window, seeing him stagger as he takes a step forward. It seems the constant hits and impacts of my staff were finally starting to slow him down, and I quickly take this moment to lunge forward, slamming the end of my staff right into his snout.

He roars in pain, finally pulling back as he covers his face with a hand...giving me just enough time to spin my staff and slam it down on his head, right between his horns. He grunts as he falls onto his knees, axe still in hand as he glares at me through teary eyes.

I keep my stance at the ready, staff aimed right at his face. "It's over. Call off your troops now before more of them die." I tell him.

I already expected him to just ignore such a request and continue the fight, like all the other times I did it facing one of the Chaos Troopers, but instead he just grins, making me feel a bit uneasy. "I don't think so Thunder. I was sent to squash your squad no matter the cost and if that means all of my soldiers must die for it, then so be it." He growls. "And even if you kill me, they will keep fighting. They won't stop till you are all dead."

I just give a small shrug, not letting my guard down. "Then we will just keep fighting on as well." I respond. I know that the most likely case if he were to die would be the Chaos Troopers losing moral and quickly running off but sometimes a few of them would go insane and just lunge at whatever was in front of them. While I doubt that he was telling the truth, I also knew that if he was telling the truth than our squad...with all the damage we already took...

I risked a quick glance over at the soldiers only to feel my heart sink a bit. The tide of Chaos troopers was finally slowing down, but our own men were all over the place, spread out thin and now fighting their own fights. Most of the injured were either on the ground moaning unable to fight back, or just dying from their wounds. Either way, I knew that It wasn't going to end well unless me and Aryas finished this now.

"However I have my own mission myself and I refuse to die till it is done." I turn and face the minotaur as he spoke again eyebrow raised at his words.

"Oh? And what is that?" I asked.

He gives a rather surprisingly large grin at this. "I plan on personally ending the threat of the Thunder and the Lightning once and for all." He says, his eyes staring intensely at me. "And I don't need to kill you both...I just need one of you..." He pauses as he keeps glaring at me, my heart sinking even more. Sure I've heard those threats before and all of them were easily taken care of, but the way he said it, the way he worded it...something just felt cold.

And that cold response of his caused me to falter.

The moment I hesitated, I knew I screwed myself. The minotaur lunges forward with his free hand, knocking my staff to the side as he reaches and grabs my throat. I gurgle as I feel him squeeze my neck tight, cutting off my air for a few moments before he simply lifts me up and tosses me to the side.

I land with an oomph on my side, feeling my ribs yell in protest at the treatment they were getting today, but I push through it, quick to stand back up and get ready to go on the defense...only to see that he had turned away from me and was charging away from me...

And to Aryas.

My eyes are wide as I see the danger approaching her, the mare still in combat with one of the other two humans, the other one having been knocked out a while ago. Before I can even think of what I was doing, I'm quickly on my feet and sprinting after the Chaos Commander, staff in one hand as I call out to my marefriend.

She manages to finish the last human off with a slice to their neck, making them choke on their blood as they fall to the ground. She turns to face me, a smile on her face, only to have it quickly turn to one of shock as she sees the minotaur just feet away from her, axe held to his side as he swings it forward with surprising speed.

Aryas manages to lift her spear just in time to block the blade of the axe, but the iron blade easily shears through the ash wood shaft of the spear, cutting it clean in two, the force knocking her to the side. She tries to get up only for her to cry out in pain as a hoof lands hard on her injured side. The hoof holding her down, she can't do anything as the minotaur grins wickedly, axe raising up as it quickly speeds back down, ready to cleave her in two.

"ARYAS!!!" I scream, running closer with each step, knowing that I wouldn't make it in time. But I had to, I...I MUST make it. Time started to slow down it seemed, each step a century as I got closer, my arm outstretched to try and save her. Her terrified expression as she is looking up at her incoming death, seeing her eyes bright with horror, seeing the flash of life flashing from them myself...

Suddenly, somehow, I managed to make it over to her...just as the axe comes down and makes contact, not with her, but with me.

I scream in agony as the axe bites into my left shoulder, easily slicing through both muscle and bone. It continues going down for a good few inches, slicing into the edges of my ribs on the side as well before it finally stops at the last rib, cracking it. I lose all feeling in my left arm as it suddenly loses all life, hanging limply as all I can feel is fire from where my arm used to be. I can see Aryas below me, looking up at me in horror as she watches, my blood spilling freely as it splatters against her coat and armor.

The minotaur grunts as he gives the axe a tug, sending more waves of pain down my side and after a third tug he manages to pull the axe out of me, the blood spurting out even more heavily as it paints the ground red. Once out I fall limply onto my marefriend, who was shaking me with her hooves. "DRAK! No, why did you...why did you...you..." She starts to tear up as she sees me nearly cleaved in two above her, my lungs aching to breath as I cough up blood, splattering it across her snout.

As soon as the blood lands on her face it wakes her up from her stupor as she quickly rolls me over onto my good side, her logic taking over as she quickly scans me. "Drak, just stay still, don't move! I...I-I'll fix this somehow. I'll keep it closed long enough for the medics to come, just stay with me!" She shouts.

I could still feel myself breathing heavily as I just smile up at her, glad to have at least saved her from such a blow. "It's fine I...I would do it again in a heart beat." I tell her.

She can't help but to give a small, very sad smile as she starts to look for the medical supplies on me. I just lay back, letting myself slowly relax, my mind feeling rather fuzzy, something nagging in the back of my mind...only to look up wide eyed as I see a shadow above us.

In her panic and my injured stupor, we both forgot about the minotaur. He snarls getting Aryas attention as she looks behind her...only to gasp in shock as the axe that was just in me, was now deep in her back.

My eyes go wide in shock and horror now, seeing her gasp in pain, frozen on top of me as the axe remains lodge against her and between her wings, most likely hitting her spine. The Chaos Commander grunts as he pulls back and before we could respond, swings down again, this time searing her side and a wing off.

She screams bloody murder as the blow lands, causing her to fall flat next to me, her eyes wide with shock as she looks at me in realization.

We were both going to die.

I watch as she stays laying still, eyes locked on my own as the minotaur, content with his blows, leans down and grabs the necklace on her neck, yanking it off as he looks it over. "This shall be a fine trophy for my victory over the Thunder and the Lightning!" He crows, idly admiring the trinket.

As he takes a moment to admire his winnings, I grunt, slowly pushing myself past the pain to roll and face over her, using my only good arm to hold me up. I look down at her as I feel my breath come in even more ragged. The mare, the very mare that I met in the woods all those years ago, that I took in and then who took me in...the very mare who admitted her love to me just a few months ago...was dying.

And I couldn't do a thing to stop it.

As I just looked at her and she looked back, a cold, tight grip slowly started to fill me chest, slowly taking over and enveloping me completely. I felt my breathing, while still ragged, much more bearable, my pain numbing a bit as I kept hearing the sounds of victory from the minotaur. The cold grip slowly started to heat up, my very heart soon began to burn as I realized just what it was.

It was rage, and a need for vengeance. A need to kill the minotaur.

Somehow, against all odds, I slowly push myself up, grunting as I fought through the pain, my body yelling at me to just lay down and fade away, but my heart telling me to keep going. Soon I was on my feet, my limp arm and a good portion of my side hanging by just the skin and a few muscles against me. I slowly turn to face the minotaur, reaching down with my hand and grabbing a Sai.

With a yell that chilled even me to my own core, I charged forward, hand held back, Sai pointed at the minotaur as I lunge, thrusting my hand forward as I aim for his heart.

However, the commander was quick to react, thanks to my shout. Seeing me charge him, his eyes go wide with shock, seeing such a weak human with an arm that isn't even on properly and just hanging on him by some threads and a prayer, he still manages to use his axe and slap my Sai to the side.

However, still running on my rage, I just use the momentum to turn around, spinning as my limp arm slapped against him, leaving a blood trail against his chest before I lunged again, my weapon finding its mark in his own shoulder. He howls in pain as it sinks in, and just as quickly I pull back blood spurting out and splashing against my face.

With another roar I lunge again, this time aiming higher, hitting just above his shoulder blade as I pierce his skin again, making him grunt as he starts to get his bearings. He drops his axe as he pushes my head with his massive hand, squeezing my head a bit as he tries to push me off.

However, I refuse to budge, and even with his massive strength, I manage to stay on long enough to pull back and get another burst of blood on me before lunging one last time, this time aiming for his face...and hitting his right eye.

He howls to the sky, the sound shaking the air around us. I however don't notice it at all, my rage finally succumbing to my own wounds as he manages to push me back, making me fall back to the ground as I grunt. I still try to rise, but my adrenalin rush was over, my body a complete wreck as I just laid there. My SaI still in his eye, he reaches up and grabs it, giving another roar as he yanks it out and tosses it against me, making me grunt as it hits me in the stomach before landing on the ground.

He holds his head with one hand, his other hand reaching down as he grabs his axe. Weapon in hand, he takes a step towards me and then stops, glancing over behind him. I can't really see too well now, but something he saw clearly made him shocked and he paused to look at me and then behind himself before giving a low growl.

"Blast it, there are still..." He whispers before letting out a snort. I can barely hear him as he speaks aloud, looking at me again. "I'm not done with you yet Thunder! I will be back, and if you somehow survive this I won't stop till you are dead...or I am." He glares at me before turning around and motioning to something behind him. As he quickly runs off, I see a few more shapes follow him, most likely other Chaos Troopers, a lot of them injured from the amount of red that I could see. None of them bother to even glance at me as they quickly run away.

I just look up at the sky now, seeing the blood red clouds as the sun slowly starts to sink, my mind slowly clouding up. I can feel my energy slowly slipping away, the darkness taking over..

...Drak...

I can barely hear it, my mind so deep in the abyss now as I try to shut it away. I just want to sleep now. Maybe Aryas can deal with-

Aryas!

My eyes shoot open as I realized just who that was. Groaning, I start to struggle onto my good hand, tugging myself onto all three limbs as I look over to where my marefriend lay. Grimacing, I start to slowly crawl over to her, my arm dragging a long blood line across the dusty ground.

Each tug of my hand against the soil made it feel like an eternity, her bright form seeming to not get any closer. But I persisted, managing to get myself closer and closer, resisting the urge to just fall back to the ground and let the darkness take me.

Eventually I managed to get back next to Aryas and sitting down next to her, I use my good hand to lift her head onto my lap, looking down at her. I see her eyes flicker open again as she looks up at me, a weak smile on her lips.

We just stare at each other forever, not bothering to speak for a while. However, she soon parts her lips to try and say something, but all that comes is a cough and a wheeze. She tries again and is a bit more successful, her voice gritty and rough. "Did..did w-w-we..w-w...w-win..." She asks.

I managed to smile, having no idea what the state of our squad is, nor knowing why the Chaos Troopers left, but in my mind, I just couldn't say no to her, especially now. I just give a weak nod in response. "Y-yea...w-we...we won..." I say, my voice just as raw and raspy as hers.

She smiles back, her eyes looking up at me, but at this point I can see the lack of focus in her pupils, realizing she couldn't see me. Her next words confirmed this as she said, "Drak...I...it's so dark...you...you still..."

I gently raised her head closer to mine, letting our noses touch as I look into her eyes, feeling my eyes start to water. "I-I'm here love..."

She smiles still, her breathing slowly getting more and more shallow. She stares unblinking up at me as she speaks one last time. "Drak...I...I lo..."

"Shh...d-don't...don't speak...I...I'll save you...s-somehow..." I say, trying to encourage her to stay awake to stay fighting, knowing it was a hopeless cause.

She just keeps smiling that amazing smile of hers. "Drak...please...p-promise me...promise to...to keep fighting...to...to move...m-move on..."

I feel my tears coming even quicker as she says this. I still remember the talk that we had about this when we first admitted our feelings, and even then I was still unsure about it all. But now, all I can do is to just agree with her every word. "I...I promise...but I...I'll always...a-always..."

She gives a slow, soft shush of her lips, making me fall silent. "No more...w-words, just...j-just...k-k-kiss...kiss m-me..."

Eyes watered, blood and dust all over us and the smell of death in the air, I close my eyes and lean down, kissing her one last time. I gently hold our heads together, lips locked in what feels like one final, loving embrace. I feel her gently shift her mouth against mine as she tries to reciprocate the feelings, slowly the motions dying down to a stand still.

I hold our lips for a few more moments before I finally part, opening my eyes to look at her again...but her light is already gone.

Aryas is dead.

I feel my heart break as I sob, letting everything go as I just hold my mare close to my body, feeling the tears streak down against her as I feel my own strength leaving me. "I...I love you Aryas...a-always have...a-always...will..." I say softly.

I hear voices behind me, but I'm too tired to stand up, to move, to even do anything but to hold my marefriend close to me. Slowly I close my eyes, just letting myself cry long and softly as I lacked the energy for anything else. Slowly, the sounds got closer, yet at the same time softer, almost fading away, my pain starting to ebb away as well.

As I felt my hearing go, my fingers started to feel less of her soft fur against me, then as everything went numb, I felt myself fall back...

Then it all went black.

---

I gasp in horror as I lunge forward, reaching for my belt to grab a sai...only to realize I was naked and in nothing but my boxers. I can feel my heart beating at a mile a minute as I try and gather my bearings, looking around to see just where I am and how the hell I got here.

It takes a moment to realize I was in a large tent, a dozen cots next to me as I looked around. Realizing I was on one of them, I tried to get up, but am quickly forced back down from immense pain on my left side. I try to move my left arm, but I feel nothing. It's all so confusing to me, why couldn't I feel anything, why was I in a tent and...and...

Suddenly it all came back, everything from the sudden ambush of the Chaos Troopers, to the fight against the minotaur commander, and all the way to me holding Aryas in my arm, feeling her life fade away. I grunt as I recalled it all, my mind at a loss as I realized it all again.

Aryas is dead.

I slowly look myself over, remembering my own wounds and wondering how I'm still alive myself now, and seeing the bandages around my left side and my entire left arm showed me the answer. I feel my left arm with my right hand, slowly putting some pressure on spots and just seeing what I could feel and not feel. Surprisingly, I could feel just barely on my left arm, but my left side was still very numb, even pinching against it I felt no pain.

"Morning sleeping beauty." I turn to the sound of the voice and see Dux smiling back at me, his own form all bandaged up and his rear leg seeming to be in a splint. He walks over limply, moving next to my cot before sitting down.

I look at him with surprise and we both just stand there for a few minutes, simply staring at each other as I try to process everything that has happened. Finally, I say the first thing that just pops into my mind.

"You look like shit."

This gets a laugh from the Order Lieutenant. "Speak for yourself." He simply says, giving a small wince as the laughter seems to hurt him a bit. Motioning to my bandaged side, he continues. "We had to use every single bit of our healing bandages on you just to keep that arm on. I'm still surprised that it worked at all to be honest."

I look at him with confusion as he continues. "We found you with barely anything connecting your arm to the rest of you. I thought for sure we would have to cut it off so you could heal, but thankfully Jonas was able to fix you up somehow. I swear that human knows some sort of magic that he isn't saying." He says, giving a grin.

I smile at the somewhat familiar name. "Jonas huh? I'll have to thank him, but..." I pause for a moment, Dux waiting patiently for me to continue. "Why did he use it all on me? Surely there are others that need it more than I did?"

This caused the stallion to raise an eyebrow. "Really? Drak, your arm was nearly cut off of you. I said it before, it was hanging by nothing but a miracle."

I nod. "Yes, but the others-"

He waves a hoof to get me to fall silent. "Besides, we...we don't have anyone else more injured than you...or even seriously injured."

This gets me to give him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

He motions around me at the other cots. "Think about it, you're in the medic tent now and you are the only one here." He states. It takes a few moments as I look around, processing the whole thing before reality hits me like a truck.

Looking back with a grime feeling, I ask the dreaded question. "How many?"

He sighs, leaning back a bit, wincing as he stays off of his injured leg. "I think you mean how many left, Honestly, I never seen a chaos force as strong as that, or as readily armed and trained. It took us all by surprise that's for sure." He pauses as he thinks it over again before finally answering my question. "We lost just about everypony and everyone Drak. Besides me and you, we only have two dozen soldiers left."

My eyes go wide with shock as I let this sink in. "We had...we left with two hundred troops strong, and we have...only two dozen left?"

He nods. "Like I said, this force was nothing I had seen before. The only reason they didn't outright kill us all was cause we managed to block ourselves against a wall and form a shield wall against them before pushing back and charging their commander. That and their commander called in a retreat as well." He says. He shakes his head and smiles. "That's another I'll be owing you and Aryas."

At her name, my heart left into my throat. Perhaps...if I managed to live. "Dux, is...is Aryas...is she..."

As I fell silent, Dux looks at me, the smile gone from his face as he exhales slowly. "Drak...when we got there...she was..." He pauses, not daring to say the words himself. "I...I'm sorry."

I look at him in dead silence, my heart pounding in my chest. I could feel the life draining from me again, as if that axe had cleaved my heart from my chest. I felt even more pain that couldn't be numbed by the magical bandages. I was alive, but my mare...my mare was gone.

At that moment I slowly broke down, my cheek slowly getting wet with tears as I curled up on myself. Crying softly, I feel the pain and lose build up more and more till, with a large inhale, I just reel back and let out a long, pained cry.

Aryas was dead.

---

As the cry echos in my head, I'm suddenly jolted awake as I blink, gasping into the waking world, my mind shocked and muddled. I pant hard, breathing rapidly as I look around for anymore possible enemies, to see where Aryas was, hoping to hope that she is still alive...

I pause, realizing that I was back in the library in Canterlot, Celestia and Magnus both standing by me, worried looks on their faces.

I just look at them silently for a good couple of minutes, neither of them making a move to me during that time. Finally, it was Mag who reacts, stepping closer as his horn lights up. "Please hold still Drak, I need to scan your mind real quick."

I stay still, not saying anything as a beam of light shines from his horn. to my head, slowly sliding up and down as he scans my mind. After a few seconds it stops as he lets out a small sigh of relief. "No mental trauma markings, so the memory didn't damage anything permanently, or at least any more than it already had when you first had it. The magic barrier that seemed to be blocking your memories is finally weakened to the point where it can't sustain itself, so that's more good news of itself. Means your memories will start to slowly come back to you."

I blink as I try to figure out what he was saying. "Wait, magic...magic barrier?" I asked.

He nods. "Yes, a mental magical barrier, to be more precise. When you were going through your latest memory I managed to find the location and weaken its structure just enough so that it collapsed on itself. Your mind should heal within the next few months." He explains.

It takes me a few moments to realize just what he was talking about, causing me to slowly give a nod as it comes back to me. "O...ok then..." I simply said. I just sat there, my new memories already circling in my head...especially the last one.

"I suggest that you take the next week off to rest and take it easy, don't mentally strain yourself too much during it, just in case something did get affected. I doubt I did anything wrong, but one can't ever be too safe." He adds. I nod in response as he continues. "Anyways, I think I can conclude this appointment now. You are free to head out at any time, just take it easy like I said." He gives a nod before giving a nod to the Princess. "Pleasure to help you as always Celestia." He says before he gets up and walks out of the library, leaving me and the white Alicorn by ourselves.

Celestia takes this moment to walk over to me, giving me a motherly smile, if a bit worried. "Drak, how do you feel?" She asks.

I just blink as I shake my head slowly. "Like I just went through a different life." I said, feeling as if everything was just so alien to me.

She gives a small giggle. "I've been told that's how it normally feels. It's like they aren't your own memories, yet at the same time they can't be anypony else's." She explains, causing me to nod in agreement. "Drak...are you really ok though?"

I give her a confused look. "What do you mean?" I asked.

She pauses for a moment before she continues. "At the end of the session, you were screaming and shouting bloody murder. I had to put a deafening spell around us just so you didn't scare any of the guards or maids." She explains. "And your arm. It just...fell limp."

I take in her information as I slowly roll it through my head, realizing just what she was talking about. "I...I'm not sure I can...can talk about it..." I admit, looking down at my hands.

She gently places a wing around me, causing me to glance up at her. "Drak, listen. I've heard, seen, and done so many things during my life. You were there during the most important parts of it, so anything that you say I promise it won't change what I think about you, nor will it surprise me in any way." She says.

I slowly turn my gaze higher up as I look into her eyes, and just for the moment that I managed to hold our gaze, I could tell that she was speaking the truth. I give a nod as I close my eyes and, looking away, I began to tell her everything that I went through, from how I met with Dux's regiment all the way to Arya's death.

At the end of it all, she stays silent, her wing still around me, even having tightened around me a bit as she holds me close. We stay quiet for a good while before she finally speaks up. "Drak...what happened with Aryas was...was very horrible. I still remember when you first told that story to us in the tavern."

I blink, looking up at her. "I...I told you that already?"

She nods. "Yes, back when we just met you. Little Light was trying to get you to open up for one of our daily group talks, but as always you kept to yourself. We managed to get you to tell us about it and about her, but only after a lot of prodding." I pause as I think over her words, another thought passing my mind that causes me to recollect my thoughts. She sighs as she lowers her head a bit. "I'll admit...it...it's still not easy to listen to the second time around."

I nod in agreement as I sigh. "It's not easy reliving it a second time around." I counter.

She can't help but to giggle a little at that. "Very true." She agrees. We both fall silent as we just take in each other's presence. I can't help but to feel a bit more at ease around Celestia now, even slowly leaning against her. She glances down at me when I do, but doesn't remove her wing, just holding me close as I gently relax against her.

Finally, after what felt like hours of silence, but was most likely only thirty minutes, I speak up with a single word. "Where?"

She tilts her head as she looks at me, confused. "Where?"

"Where is she buried? I mean...she is buried, yes? I...I couldn't...I wouldn't...just...leave her there...right?" I asked. The thought of leaving someone so special to me just out in the open, not giving her a proper burial...

Thankfully I feel a bit more at ease as I see her give a nod of understanding. "She's buried, yes. In fact she's close by Canterlot, if by a couple of miles away."

I blink in surprise, standing up suddenly. "Wait, really?! Then let's go!" I said. Something about her being so close, about seeing her one last time even in a grave...it just made my heart jump a bit, but from what I wasn't sure. It felt like excitement, but at the same time I wasn't really happy to see her grave, just...nervous, while knowing that I had to see it.

Before she can respond the bell tolls, ringing out that it was rather late, almost six PM. She sighs as she shakes her head. "I'm afraid I can't show you today. It's time for me to bring the sun down." She says.

I frown, my energy slowly vanishing as I look down, nodding in understanding. "Oh...right. Princess duties and all of that. I...I forgot." I said, letting out a small sigh.

She frowns as she sees this, and after a few moments of thinking she adds, "Drak, if you really wish to see it again, go ask my sister. I'm sure she will be more than willing to show you once she is finished with the night sky."

I blink and look up, feeling that same energy welling back up in me. "Really? You sure?"

She smiles and nods. "I'm very sure." She gets back on her hooves, stretching her wings as she starts to leave the library, to which I am quick to follow her. "She should be waiting in her room right now if you wish to go and see her."

I nod as I walk out of the library with her, both of us walking down the halls. We remain silent now, neither of us wanting to say anything. I know I certainly didn't know what to say other than to stay silent. Thankfully it wasn't an awkward silent, just a...strange silence.

Soon I was before Celestia's room as she pauses before it. Leaning down, she gives my head a small nuzzle with her own, and for once I'm not surprised, even responding in kind, something that surprised me. "Anyways, I need to set the sun and go get some sleep. I do hope you find the answers that you seek." She says. I give a nod before she opens her doors with her magic, walking in and closing them softly behind her.

I stand there, looking at the doors for a few moments before I quickly turn and jog down the hallway. For once I had something in mind, something other than finding my lost memories.

I needed to go to Luna and see my late marefriend's grave, one last time.

Next Chapter: Chapter 29: Moving Onwards Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 28 Minutes