"Are you happy?" Feros asked, hanging off her bed as I was dragged back inside by my handler. "...Clark, how is voice?"

I slumped against the floor, reeking of sex and sweat. "I don't...know--"

"Bathe?" She asked again, her metal chestpiece sitting on the floor next to her bed. "Want bathe?"

I huffed softly. "I can't move...." I felt numb, my limbs refusing to respond. "...Yes, help me please."

Feros nodded. "Yes, I help." She hopped down from her bed, trotting proudly over to me. "How is?"

"How is what?" I asked, watching her take my sleeve in her mouth, slowly dragging me along the floor on my back.

"Life," she clarified. "How is, life?"

I huffed angrily. "Bad. Just found out I got kidnapped.... I'm getting letters shipped to me from back home, can't send any back, but they're letting me have the ones getting sent to me." I felt myself pass over the hardwood and onto the tile. ".... I'm in the dark here, waiting, for something." I stared up at the vent in the ceiling. "They're talking to Cadance...arguing about archaic laws and retinues. I don't even know what the fuck a retinues is!"

Feros pushed the valves open and flooded the room with steam. "Rusva, an...how you say, escort, guard, following."

I huffed softly as Feros mounted the side of the tub and slowly pulled me upright against it. "It doesn't matter. I know what I have to do."

"Hmm? Which being?" Feros asked, her raspy voice muffled as she pulled my shirt off. "What is plan being?"

"Regicide." I stated, "Clearer heads prevailed, and in honesty I can't really see another option. She's not going to let me leave of my own accord."

Feros frowned hard as my shirt popped off. "Lady Luna?"

"Who else? I mean, I'm stuck here because of her! Because she's so out of touch she can't see the line of right and wrong anymore!"

"And can I?" Feros asked calmly, "I- how you say. I come from old land. Different, cultures, many different. Luna, banished many years. Take time to fix." Feros stated, hopping down to help take my pants off. "Worried, very worried."

"Don't be." I felt some feeling return to my fingers. "Here, I think I can handle it." I brushed her away, taking my pants in my own two hands and undressing. "Just, help me up?"

Feros hurried under my arm and hoisted my up, her coat soft to the touch. "Hurt is not good plan." She was a decent size for a pony, not nearly as tall as me even on two legs, but still tall enough to help me upright. I used the edge of the tub to stand up. "Hurt doesn't change, only ends."

I held myself up, shaking violently. "I have to do something. I hit the bottom, I can't let myself go lower."

Feros hopped into the tub, offering me a now wet hoof. "I fight much. Many fights. Some die. Never good, only needed." She looked to the door as I stepped over the short wall. "I think Luna, not required hurt."

"What then? You'd just have her keep hurting me?!" I shouted, settling down in the hot water apart from Feros. "I can't!"

Feros looked at me, bright blue eyes burning me for my violence. "I kill. Sword, lance, axe. Regret many, only few I can say were good." She started to step out of the tub. "Luna, Luna not malice. Luna as us, different, change with time. Words better weapon. Fewer regrets."

"Wait!" I shouted, reaching limply towards her. "Stay...talk with me."

Feros snapped around, her back leg still stuck in the tub. "...You bathe, you want me around?"

"Please...it's nice talking to you."

Feros stepped out of the tub, spinning around to face me dead on. "Flattered."

"Don't be." I settled back, my numb body waking up as I thawed. "I just...I don't know what else I can do. Monarchies, they're arbitrary at times. I mean, old laws, that didn't need to be changed, they still apply. Doesn't mean I'm happy with them, but it means anything I can do is going to get railroaded into the ground." I rubbed my face with water. "Cold Stream...I told her to move on if things ever got this bad. I really loved her, but I can't let her see me like this, I can't force her to deal with all this. It's not fair to her."

"Cold, your wife?" Feros asked, sitting down on the floor, keeping eye level with me.

I shook my head. "We were dating. But now, I mean look at me!" I held my arms out. "I can't go back to her like this! I love her...I know she loves me. But as stupid as it is, I'd rather leave her with some good memories, instead of living like this for her." I rubbed my face again, the hot water lovely against my skin. "I have to focus anyways. I have to get these letters out. I have to get help, and if I have to slice someone apart to do it, I will--"

"Happy?" Feros asked, "Will be happy?"

I stopped dead. "No. Nothing about this is happy." I shook my head as my hands sank into the water. "I have no power over her. The most I can do is stay alive until Cadance figures this out, or I lose my shit and kill someone." I slapped the surface of the water. "Apparently I'm here indefinitely, because some shitty disease control law lets whichever royal finds me keep me, quarantined. Apparently the bite was considered an infection." I shook my head even harder. "Amazing how when they're the ones writing the paperwork it's not an attack, just an infection."

"Violence, make happy?" Feros asked again, staring at me. "I help if so, but--"

"No!" I shouted, flinging water at her. "No. I need to do this. I have a plan, I have a way to get what I need, I just have to wait." I took a deep breath and rubbed my chest. "I'm strong. I'm tired, dazed, still don't actually know where I am or what's going on besides they're looking into it. But I can outlast them, I have to."

Feros nodded. "Strong, with friend?"

"Huh?"

Feros tapped her hoof on the ground. "I friend?"

I stared at the mare. "Yes," I stated with absurd clarity. "You're my friend."

Feros smiled softly, her ears falling back. "Thank...you. Few friends, many dead." She held her hoof against her chest. "Glad, friend."

I smiled back at her. "Me too." I looked around the room. "So...you...don't think I should be violent?"

"Words, hurt more than steel. Deeper pain." She looked out, staring at something far off beyond the walls. "Be strong, but be fair, calm. Speak with authority and defend, never attack."

"You're talking about the rape...." I sank back into the tub. "She's stronger than me. There's not much else I can do, my body goes into auto pilot, it's not like I can force myself not to--"

"Push back!" She shouted. "Push, do not hurt, push!" Her mane swept itself back as she spoke. "Scream, be angry, show! Show hurt, show it! Words, Luna happy you touch her, but Luna is...a fool. She need word, touch, more than you give, more than you want to give. Perhaps, more than is deserved. But words, words may sate, and better to have tried, no?"

I stared at her, snapping my head to the still water I was sat in. "...What am I going to say? Stop didn't work very well--"

"Is not word that is problem. Is tone. Stop, is different than stop" Her voice was heavier, with a deep thud to it. "Be stronger, if not in body, then in voice." She shook her head. "Human think one way, take practice to think another."

I ran my tongue along the inside of my lips. "I'll see. But I'm taking it--"

"What is, it?"

I took a deep breath and pointed to the toilet. "In the cistern."

Feros snapped around, wheeling herself towards the cistern and peeking inside. "Oh...I can see."

"A maid knocked over a vase. I grabbed the biggest chunk I could when I was getting dragged back."

Feros turned to me. "...Happy?" She looked down, a pained expression on her face. "I help you, be happy?"

I stared at the mare. "...I don't know. I'm not sure what you're--"

Feros looked back up at me. "Do I make you happy?"

I stared at the mare. "I- yes? I wouldn't ask you to talk with me if you--"

"Leave in water." She tapped the toilet. "Please, if I make happy, leave in water. Make me happy."

I stared at the mare, steam hanging low between us. "... Maybe." Next Chapter: Cut Out The Heart Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes