"Give me your hand!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, reaching out after Ben. "Ben! Give me your god damn hand!" I laid flat against the edge of the oil rig. "Ben, mother fucker come on!"

Ben looked up at me, his right arm caught up in some cable. His eyes said it all.

"Ben don't!" He reached over to his elbow. His mangled prosthetic jangling loudly as he undid the clamps on his joint. "Ben! Look at me man!"

Ben shook his head. "It doesn't hurt." His arm was torn apart, metal and flesh detatching as he flailed his way down through the metal skeleton below.

I felt my stomach drop as he pinged from beam to beam, finally ending in a heavy splash. "Fucking Jesus! No! No you fuck!" I reached out after him. "Ben! Ben answer me! Ben!?"

I slammed back into reality with a heavy shake. "Fuck--fuck!" I rolled onto my stomach and jumped upright, tearing snow up as I stood. "No!" I reached for my belt, finding only a soft cotton wrap around my waist. I backed up, drudging up snow as I backed away from a statue. "Fuck you no!" I shot a hand to my heart, the beat wild and uncontrolled. I looked around, finding a few pony guards standing around me, wings flared, batons hanging in the air around the unicorns.

"Able?" A tender voice shot out over the rustling. Celestia stood before me, slowly encroaching upon my space. "Were you out here the whole time?" She looked around the snowy garden, statues and bare trees dotting the paths carved into the thick snow. She turned to the guards and nodded. "It's fine."

I rubbed my throat and adjusted my posture. "What the hell?" I looked at the guards as they left, some watching me and glaring along the way. "What happened?" I rubbed my head. "What's wrong?"

Celestia looked me up and down. "Is this where you went after you left the cell?"

I caught my breath and turned to look at a statue of a pony. "What? Yeah, where else was I gonna go?"

Celestia cleared her throat. "Inside."

I turned to face her. "You have a way to get me home yet?"

Celestia's frown returned. "It's been a few hours at most--"

"And?" I straightened my coat out. "Do you have it or not?!"

Celestia shook her head and looked to the place I had laid down at. "Able, you were shaking--"

"If you don't have it, we have nothing to say to eachother." I turned to the spot I'd carved out in the snow. "I don't--"

Celestia stamped over and swung her wing around me. She forced me to turn around, keeping her wing at my back to guide me along. "You know, killing yourself with the cold is about as horrid as it sounds." She patted me on the back to keep me walking through the snowy lot. "Maybe you don't value your life, but apparently you have people who do. So, stay alive."

I spun around, ducking out from in front of her wing. "You're not even trying, are you?" I stepped away and into the base of a statue. "You're not even trying to send me back."

Celestia turned to me with a frown. "There are slightly more pressing matters. Health for one, and like it or not you're under my wing until further notice."

I felt a deep pang skewer me from my ear to the deep meat of my back. The phrase she'd just mumbled rattled around my gut like mad. "Don't say that." I rubbed my shoulder and covered my ear.

Celestia cocked her head. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head and pushed off the statue. "Nothing." I shook my arm out to try and get rid of the feeling in my shoulder.

Celestia followed me as I walked through the salted path that ran through the garden. "Where exactly are you going?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. It's not like you're going to have trouble finding me." I looked around the gardens. A large wall running all around the immediate area kept me pinned. "I don't plan to leave either. I'd just rather be alone." I rubbed my mouth. "I doubt we have a single thing to talk about beside you trying to find me a way back."

Celestia shook her head. "Maybe, but I will keep you alive. First of your kind and you die under my watch, that wouldn't bode well for me." She walked ahead of me and cut me off. "Besides, are you not cold?" She tapped her hooves before my unshod feet.

I shook my head. "I'm fine."

Celestia followed me as I started off again. "Are you? You don't--"

"What do you expect from me?! What do you want from me?!" I held my arms out. "Look at me! Look at what I was carrying!" I shook my head. "I'm not a diplomat. I'm not a good person. I fight, I kill, it's all I know!" I pointed back to the spot I had plopped down in. "What do you think I see when I close my eyes? What do you think I'm going to say to you? What do you want me to do?"

Celestia's face ran through a gambit of emotions withing a mere moment. "I want you to follow me, bathe, then perhaps you can actually rest." She stamped her hoof. "Because right now you're behaving like a petulant child and--"

I snapped around to face her and walked straight up to meet her face to face. "And you're acting like I'm helpless." I leaned in close, causing her to take a step back. We stood off for a bit before I closed my eyes and took a step back. "What exactly do you expect to happen? If I followed you, if we did everything you want, what exactly do you expect to happen?"

Celestia stared at me, eyes wandering up and down my body. "I don't know. But I know that you standing out here on your own and staying silent won't accomplish anything."

I took a deep breath. "If I go with you, I need you to answer me something." I rubbed my face. Celestia's face was curled up, like whatever answer she was going to give would be painful. "You know what I'm going to ask."

Celestia nodded. "There's a chance. But it's a sliver of hope. One in millions." She turned to the giant castle sitting buried in mountain backdrop. "I don't know how long it would take, and even if we get close, any subtle difference could change everything."

I stared at her. I took a deep breath and walked the way she had been guiding me, towards the castle. "I really don't know what you expect. I'm not a good person, I don't make good conversation."

Celestia walked around beside me and cupped me in her wing. "Hmm, I'm sure we could find something to agree on."

I took a deep breath and shifted under her touch. "Ever committed a genocide? No? I didn't--"

Celestia closed her wing on me. "Again, I'm sure we'll find something." She smiled back at me. "And I'm sure you'll be much...happier, not freezing out in the snow. And I'm sure you could talk normally, I suspect you haven't had to, but I can teach you--"

I pushed off her and stepped into the snow. "I'm not something you need to fix or change." I kept my tone very calm, very even. "Don't treat me like a child, and I won't treat you like a horse."

Celestia's eyes popped open. She looked towards the castle for a few moments before wandering off. Her tail swished softly left and right as she walked. "I always assumed a kind hoof would be met more kindly--"

"Hand. Kind hand." I corrected, starting off after her. "And being nice is fine, but don't belittle me."

Celestia shook her head. "Well, it wasn't my intention."

I huffed and hurried ahead of her. "Something about hell and good intentions...some bullshit like that, right?" I rubbed my brow with my fingertips. "I don't eat horse food."

Celestia walked up beside me. "I'm sure we can find you something. And maybe after you've settle and--"

"Shut up. Stop, just fucking stop trying to be nice to me." I turned to face her and kept walking. "I don't appreciate you babying me. I've killed far too many for you to treat me like this."

Celestia's smile wavered for a bit. "And I've killed too many to not try and spread kindness."

I stopped dead, letting her walk quickly past. "What? What the hell did you just say!?" I ran up to her. "Did you seriously--"

Celestia turned to me with a frown. "Like I said, I'm sure we'll have some common ground." Next Chapter: Water Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 56 Minutes