Some will tell you that love is a conquest, and I must admit that there is truth to such a statement. Much can be expressed through some sort of personal crusade to catch the fancy of the one you like. Not to mention pitting yourself against bad times that might be brewing on the horizon. Yes love has every right to be likened with a battlefield at times and it’s from battle that I derive the second part of love that I find to be of great importance. As always there something I’d like to argue and in this case it’s the fact that love is equal parts conquest and equal parts surrender. Unfortunately I cannot tell you when one option should trump the other though, love is a delicate construct at times just as it can be surprisingly robust at others.

“I don’t understand! Why do we have to work with, that?!” One of the bat ponies shouted again, pointing a hoof in my general direction.

I released a pent up sigh while pinching the bridge of my nose as Luna went to work at explaining, once again, why I was integral to this year’s nightmare night event. The two bat ponies had been quite fascinating to me at first since I hadn’t observed any up close before. Although my fascination quickly turned to mild annoyance as the two had started to outright refuse to participate when Luna had introduced the fact that I was supposed to be part of the event. It seemed that my name had given them the impression that they would be co-operating with another pony and not, well what I currently was.

“And why can’t it just provide ideas without participating then?” The irritated voice of the other bat pony rang out.

I saw Luna roll her eyes, making no attempt to hide her frustration with her guards. Personally I was surprised by the fact that she hadn’t reprimanded the two yet. The pair of them couldn’t be irreplaceable, right? I pondered as I studied the two of them. Given the armor they wore their coloration was identical with dark grey coats, yellow eyes and dark purple manes/tails. However given the difference in stature and their voices it was quite clear that one of them was a male and the other was female.

“Because some of his abilities will be vital for the shows’ success.” Luna tried to explain again. She was hinting at my paragon heritage of that I was sure, although I had yet to be completely filled in on exactly what I was supposed to do in that regard. Much less what her grand event for this nightmare night was supposed to be.

As the arguing between Luna and her guards continued I watched Ranger and Gilda enter my training room, most likely attracted by the heated voices of the ponies. For a few seconds they stood in the doorway taking in the scene before Ranger cleared his throat to catch the attention of everyone in the room.

“Since you can’t seem to get along, may I suggest a compromise?” He said as soon as everyone had quieted down.

“What do you have in mind Mr. Ranger?” Luna asked, quirking an eyebrow clearly intrigued by the griffin’s solution.

“Well back in my days as an officer in the Gryphus army whenever soldiers disagreed like this we would just have them slap each other around until they either grew bored or made up.” He elaborated, nodding towards the bat ponies and then towards me.

“A duel of honor of sorts? Hmm yes that could work.” Luna said, tapping her chin thoughtfully with a hoof.

I released another sigh as I fixed my gaze on the older griffin. “Really Ranger? Couldn’t you have suggested something like rock, paper, scissors or something instead?” I asked him but he just responded with a knowing grin. Well you couldn’t blame me for trying, at least my victory would’ve been assured as the ponies only had the option of “rock”.

“Humph, there would be no point in sparring against somepony who isn’t military.” One of the bat ponies, the male one, said in a condescending voice.

Oh please the two of you seem as threatening as kittens. I thought, after all they did remind me slightly of cats with their tufted ears and slitted eyes. Or at least I had believed myself having thought it. Slowly I came to notice just how quiet the room had gotten. I looked back over towards Luna and her guards, both who looked very angry.

Pinching the bridge of my nose again for the second time in the span of about five minutes I closed my eyes. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” I asked rhetorically.

“Uh, yes you did Cloud.” Gilda filled in, causing me to sigh before an indignant voice cut in.

“As threatening as kittens, are we?!” The female bat pony cried out, the outrage clearly noticeable in her tone.

“Well you’re in my home and all I’ve heard so far is bunch of complaints and how I’m some sort of freak of nature from you two, so I’m not exactly feeling the magic of friendship right now.” I shot back.

“Why I ought to-” She snarled taking a taking a step forward but was interrupted as her male counterpart stopped her with a wing.

He gave her a quick shake of his head before he turned to me. “We will accept the griffin’s proposition of a sparring match. Although I’d like to take this outside and since you’ve offended both of us it will be a two on one match.” He stated, a smug tone had crept into his voice towards the end.

Thinking that I’ll back down ‘cause there’s two of you? I thought, a hint of indignation of my own clouding my thoughts. “Aight, you want to spar? Then we shall spar and I will even add one more condition. The match will be hand to hoof only.” I agreed defiantly.

“Fine!” The female bat pony snapped.

I made an exaggerated gesture towards the door with both my hands, causing the female pony to snort before making her way out of the room, her male counterpart following her out. A slightly childish part of me wanted to maintain my frustration with the two bat ponies and another part wanted to know what I had gotten myself into. Eventually I decided that I could dwell on it after we had traded blows before heading out of the training room, Luna, Gilda and Ranger following me out. As I reached my door leading outside, which had been left wide open by the bat ponies I might add, I was greeted by the sight of the two of them stretching. How can I not view them as cats? I wondered to myself as I watched the two of them stretch in ways that I had mostly seen cats do. They remind me so much of that Maine coon my parents had when I grew up. I continued to lament as the two started to discard the armor they were wearing.

With a final sigh I started to do a couple of quick stretches myself. As I warmed up my joints and muscles I observed how the two ponies looked after their armor had been discarded. Before me, with whatever enchantment that made them look similar gone, me stood a cobalt colored stallion with yellow eyes and a grey/white mane, his cutie mark being an arrow in flight. And beside him was a still grey, although darker than before, mare with ruby red eyes and a blue grey mane. Her cutie mark being what looked like two four pointed stars, one light yellow and one white. Hopefully this will be over quickly. I prayed silently as I approached the pair.

Luna looked on with mixed feelings as she saw Cloud finish his stretching and approach her two guards. On one hoof she was intrigued to find out how Cloud actually fought after hearing about his exploits from her sister and his friends but never seeing them in person, and on the other hoof she held a certain sense of pride in her own guards’ performance. Especially due to the fact that her guards were considered better than their solar counterparts and due to that she wanted to see how far they could go. I have to admit that it’s pretty nice not having to actually pick a side to support in this instance though. She mused to herself as she watched Ranger walk up to the three, soon to be, combatants.

“Okay, in accordance to the rules stated by the involved parties this will be a two on one fight with no weapons or armor. The fight will end when either side forfeits or is rendered unable to continue.” Ranger stated in an ironclad voice.

I can tell that he has given this or variations of this speech before. Luna thought with a half-smile as her guards and Cloud gave their assent for the griffin to start their duel. As the griffin raised a talon to start of the fight part of what Ranger had said replayed in Luna’s mind ‘…or is rendered unable to continue.’ Luna’s eyes widened as the full implications of this part came crashing down upon her and all she could think was: Tia’s going to kill me…

Longshot shot forward with a quick flap of his wings fully intent on teaching this hue-man as it been presented to be why the lunar guard was not to be trifled with. His confidence that the hue-man would be easy prey quickly crumbled though when it simply leapt backwards with a flap of its own wings, effectively staying just out of reach. That the hue-man was different from any other bipedal he had fought to date was further cemented when he avoided Star Spark’s follow up attack by quickly diverting her hooves while simultaneously moving into a position where it would be easy to counter.

Luckily Star Spark had been trained just as much as Longshot had and quickly realized the danger, causing her to retreat backwards toward Longshot. The mare threw a glance in his direction, and that glance was all he needed. The only visible response he gave was a quick nod although much more than what met the eye had transmitted through that brief glance. This hue-man had some skill, enough for it to be potentially dangerous to take him on haphazardly. Unfortunately for the hue-man though bat pony patrols were trained to fight in two pony teams whenever possible, and now that they had tested the waters it was time to show this hue-man just who it was messing with.

Luna watched silently as the fight slowly started to pick up its pace, Cloud staying on the defensive most of the time. Although it was an impressive feat to be able to keep two opponents as skilled as her guards at bay it was apparent that it was a losing fight. The well-coordinated attack patterns that the bat ponies employed were slowly pushing Cloud back. Had it been dark outside he would probably have succumbed already, on the bright side though this might mean that they will simply stop due to exhaustion instead. Luna pondered, a hint of hope entering her thoughts.

With a frustrated shout Cloud suddenly launched himself into the sky, her two guards darting after him. When it became apparent that they had no intention of coming back down to the ground she and the griffins took to the skies to follow the three combatants.

“I don’t understand.” Gilda said suddenly, breaking the silence that had existed among the observers since the fight had begun.

“Hmm?” Ranger made an asking humming as he turned towards his daughter.

“Cloud isn’t nearly as threatening as he was back at the inn or at the keep.” Gilda elaborated, perking Luna’s curiosity.

She tried to discretely swivel hers left ear so that she could hear the older griffin’s response more clearly. “I understand your concern Gil and I think I know the reason for it, but all in all I this might actually be a good thing.” Ranger began.

“How can it be a good thing?!” Gilda demanded as Cloud took a light hit from Longshot due to being a fraction of a second too slow.

“It’s good because he can still show restraint. When he spoke to me about his latest endeavors I was afraid that he might come to revel in carnage if pressured to fight but instead it seems he has successfully reverted back to a state of control.” Ranger elaborated, causing Gilda to raise a questioning eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” She asked her father, but Ranger shook his head.

“It is not my place to tell the full story, but you don’t need to worry about Cloud. My instincts and experience tells me that he will be fine.” He said, a tone of finality finding its way into his voice.

I her peripheral Luna could see that Gilda did not look quite pleased with her father’s answer but eventually she seemed to accept it and turn her full attention towards the sparring match once more. Meanwhile Luna’s thoughts has started to spin after hearing Ranger’s rather cryptic explanation. Could he truly be holding something like what Ranger was insinuating back? Luna pondered as she watched Cloud barely avoid an attack from Longshot. I did not pry in what he told Tia during the meeting when he came back. She thought. Well except teasing her a bit how obviously flustered she was. She quickly amended before turning her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

The aerial melee continued without any sign of slowing down as Luna’s thoughts led her down another path of reasoning. Could it be the fact that Cloud has been able to utilize his paragon heritage before that has given him an edge? Is that the part Ranger is referring to?
She questioned.

If that was the case then the same could be said for her bat ponies had the sparring match been after the sun had set. Yes both sides definitely had access to advantages that the other side had not, although neither would be in play in this duel so they were outside the realm of reasoning for now. Luna concluded that particular line of thought. With that she turned her full focus back onto the sparring match that was still ongoing without having slowed down.

First she didn’t notice anything different, Cloud was still being pressured by her two guards and it still looked like the eventual victor had more or less been decided already. However as she looked she couldn’t shake the slight feeling that something had changed, it took her another minute or two finally put her hoof on what it was. Cloud was no longer barely dodging, while sometimes getting hit. No, now he was in near perfect sync with her two guards keeping up with ever changing attack patterns that the two employed against him. What had changed? Luna wondered. The air around the trio was still the same, so Cloud’s improved performance could not be connected to his heritage.

Before she could analyze the situation further though Longshot made the mistake of getting a bit too careless about Cloud’s reach. A whip like strike from the human hit what had to be the flight muscle on the bat pony’s left wing if the surprised cry from Longshot was anything to go by. With one of his wings suddenly stunned, albeit temporarily, the bat pony started to plummet, the human following close behind. He was soon forced to abandon his pursuit though when Star Spark dove in to attack him, and although it quickly became apparent that the attack was a feint it had served its intended purpose as Cloud had been forced to break midair. Star Spark quickly used the window she had created to catch the still plummeting Longshot, setting him down on a large cloud formation.

It didn’t take long for Cloud to follow the two bat ponies though as he landed on the cloud a few moments later. Star Spark and the human slowly started to circle each other before Cloud suddenly shot forward, empowered by a flap of his wings. Star nimbly dodged a low, sweeping kick from Cloud by diving over it only to be caught by a follow up back handed strike as she passed him. Being staggered from the unexpected strike she landed clumsily on her hooves, giving Cloud the opening he needed to catch the bat pony with a hand around her neck. Luna saw Star’s eyes widen as Cloud raised the hand holding her, his intent becoming clear to the well-trained guard.

With a roar he slammed the caught Star Spark, face first, into the cloud he was standing on with enough force to have it dissipate. The lingering expression from the roar quickly turned into one of surprise as he dropped a few meters when the footing suddenly disappeared. Cloud quickly collected himself though and flapped his wings to stop his unplanned descent, and while he managed to do that surprisingly fast for someone that had only been flying for a short time the more experienced guard had taken the opportunity to get away. Actually just getting away didn’t do Star Spark justice in this case as she had managed to locate and bring Longshot safely to the ground as well. A few seconds later Cloud followed them down once he located the two bat ponies again. He landed a few meters away from them where he just stood quietly observing the two before he dove in for an attack once more.

As I launched myself at the two bat ponies again I was not surprised that they nimbly avoided my attempts to land a hit. By the looks of things they still had plenty of fight still left in them and so I settled into the routine of dodging their skillful tag team style of fighting once more. It had taken me a while to realize that they weren’t a foe that I could beat without me actually trying and so I had taken a few hits in the beginning. Although even now when I fought at near max capacity bar paragon heritage I found myself to be close to evenly matched against the pair.

Slowly I found myself starting to enjoy this sparring match, it brought back memories of my times back in my old dojo. And ever so slowly the fear I had been carrying semi-consciously started to lessen. I knew part of the reason why Ranger had suggested this sparring match. He knew that I hadn’t practiced my martial arts or with Imagination since I had fully healed and he knew the reason for that as well. Simply put I was afraid, or I had been up until this point at least. I was afraid that I might lose control over myself like I had done at that fortress in Gryphus if I allowed myself to fight again, but now I was happy to be proven wrong. Although I dared not fully don the mask I had for true combat except for short instances here and there.

Invigorated by the fact that I could still control the metaphorical beast inside I launched myself against the bat ponies again and again, the feeling of joy growing by each foiled attempt to land a hit. The same of course applied to the bat ponies, the failure to land hits at least as I couldn’t speak for what they were feeling. So back and forth the match went until we finally reached a standoff type of situation all three of us panting heavily from the prolonged exertion.

“You- you two are pretty good.” I managed to force out between labored breaths, sweat oozing from every pore on my body.

“Same to- to you.” The mare replied, and to my surprise I couldn’t hear the hostility from before in her voice. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she seemed to be as exhausted as I was but despite the possibility of that being the case I decided to try something.

I drew a deep breath before speaking again. “How about we bury any past hostilities and start over?” I suggested bluntly as I was far too tired to think of something eloquent to say.

The two bat ponies looked at each other for a few seconds before exchanging a quick nod followed by their stances relaxing. “Alright, we agree to this.” The male bat pony answered.

Relaxing my own stance I allowed myself to drop my guard. “Great.” I said, letting out a small sigh of relief as I crossed the short distance between us before hunching down before them.

“Let’s redo introductions shall we?” I suggested, ignoring the leaden feeling throughout my limbs.

The mare was the one to speak up first. “I’m Star Spark.” She said, holding up a hoof which a lazily bumped my fist against.

“And I’m Longshot.” The stallion said before lifting his hoof like Star had done, receiving a hoof bump as well.

With a tired smile I took my turn to speak. “Well then, Luna might have told you already but I am known as Cloud.” I answered the two equally tired guards.

No more words were exchanged after that point, but then again no more words needed to be said for now. We had found a reason to respect each other in the martial skill possessed by both involved parties and that had been enough to clear whatever bad air had existed between us. To be perfectly honest it seemed a bit silly to me in retrospect, and that sentiment must’ve been shared by the bat ponies as we all started chuckling before devolving into full blown laughter when Luna landed beside us to ask if we were done. Our laughter caused the night princess to look between us in confusion but that only made us laugh that much harder, it was the type of situation that only could be funny to those past the point of exhaustion.

The train rushed forth through the afternoon sun, the soft thudding of the rails made for a rhythmic and strangely serene sound throughout the car where he currently sat. The other passengers around him were quietly doing their own things, the most popular seemingly being napping. He had considered trying to take a nap himself as he knew that he still had hours left to travel before he reached his destination but he just didn’t feel tired. It had been close to three years since he left Ponyville and now he was returning. During those three years he had finished the education he had dropped so long ago, and could now proudly call himself a doctor.

But above all that the time spent away from Ponyville had given him time to work with his past, something he hadn’t really dared to before he had met that insane pegasus. Of course he had considered him a friend towards the end but that didn’t change the fact that he hatched some of the most feather brained plans he had ever been involved in. Not that it really mattered now, that friend was gone but at least they had separated on good terms. No what mattered was that sometime after the sun had set the train would arrive in Ponyville and from there he would start on a new chapter in his life.

Swiftmend was coming home.

Author's Notes:

Aight, first things first. This took longer than previous chapters to come out but I did say that this was likely to be the case, hell I should be studying right now. So with that I'll once again stress that the update schedule will be rather "random".

As for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed despite it being a bit of a filler chapter. Well it was necessary for the over-arcing plot, so what I'm basically saying is I'm setting up the pieces for the next part.

Next chapter will most likely be called, Patience zero