It had been thirty minutes since that chaos had happened and Xvital had no idea what she should be doing.

Vix-Lei was sitting in the corner of the room, staying every quiet and glancing at everyone in the rest of the room every once in a while.

Wind Breaker had parked himself against the side of the kitchen door, holding an ice pack against his throat, an ugly bruise forming from where Night had smashed his wing against it.

Rex was tending to Page inside the kitchen, and the last they’d seen of the diamond dog was him looking very flustered which worried Xvital greatly.

And Night… he had barely moved an inch from where it happened, muttering softly to himself and shaking ever so slightly. It was really scary and she had no idea what she should be doing or saying.

She was the leader of this damn crew and she should be doing something, anything. She wished that Vix-Lei would make a joke or something, anything to end the silence.

Suddenly, there was a scraping as Night got to his hooves, his voice becoming clearer.

“I… I have to see her,” he said distractedly, licking his lips as he swayed on his hooves.

Maybe this would be what they-

“No.”

Xvital shared a look with Vix-Lei, both looking worried as Wind Breaker shifted around and stood upright.

“What did you say to me, I have to see her,” Night said, narrowing his eyes.

“I,” Wind gasped for air, rubbing his throat. “Said… no...”

Night growled, pawing the ground. “What gives you the right to say that to me, Breaker?” he spat out.

“I… don’t… want… you hurting... her again..” Wind tilted his head forwards, a similar furious look on his face. “Blade.” he spat out, dropping the ice pack on the ground.

“How dare you, you piece of garbage!” Night shouted. “I would never hurt Page!”

“Then why… did you... beat her...Blade?” Wind sneered at Night, with the bat pony trotting angrily on the spot.

“It was a horrific mistake, you asshole!” Night yelled back. “I would have never intentionally hurt Page Turner; I love her, something you as a Hatchery griffon will never know!”

“Fuck you!” Wind Breaker snapped back, clawing the ground. “At least... I am not an… antisocial loser who… no doubts has mommy and daddy take care of all… of your little accidents.”

Night narrowed his eyes and spoke very calmly. “What are you implying, griffon?” he said the word griffon as if it were a slur.

“You never hitting Page?” Wind let out an ugly chuckle. “Two words, Blade. Bull… shit.”

Night stood still before letting out a feral sounding snarl. “You worthless piece of trash, no wonder your parents gave you up when you were born; take that back or else.”

“Or I will have an,” Wind spat out, his face as furious as Night’s was. “Accident?”

That was it; both Wind Breaker and Night Blade threw themselves at each other, with Vix-Lei and Xvital reacting just as quickly. Vix-Lei had Wind Breaker pinned to her chest with Señor Hardhead held across his chest and Xvital using her arms and tail to hold Night back.

Xvital glared at Wind Breaker, furious that he would actually do something so stupid as to provoke Night like this. They didn’t need this shit right now. She waited for Wind Breaker to acknowledge her; he looked at her before nodding his head and shifting his eyes downward in guilt.

Good, that was settled. Now to deal with Night.

“Look Night, this stupid fighting of yours, it has to stop and-”

Night all of a sudden made this weird angry growling sound before pushing out of her grip

“Fuck this and fuck you, I have had enough,” Night shouted in her face, jabbing a hoof into her chest. “I have put up with you blaming me for every fucking thing that has gone wrong, you treating me like utter shit for no fucking reason and I kept my mouth shut for some unknown reason. But fuck you, you fucking bitch, I have made the worst mistake in my life and when I am trying to make up for it, that asshole is trying to stop me and you are blaming me for this…” He shook his head before glaring at her, baring his fangs at her. “I don’t know or fucking care what your life was like before all this shit began but I had one! It might not have been the best life but it was mine! And you forced me to throw it all away and yet you still fucking mock me at every fucking turn and…” He shoved her to the side and stormed towards the door. “I,” he snarled, “Have had. Enough. Of YOU!” Whirling around, he stalked towards the edge of the clearing. “I’m done with this… with all of this. Fuck Balance, and its damn quest. I quit!”

And before anyone could say a word, he’d spread his wings and flew off.

Xvital was left speechless at this, her mind racing in how to get him back here and, hopefully, back to his senses.

“He’s right,” Wind Breaker spat out.

“Oh no, you do not get to say that,” Xvital growled, almost pouncing him over. “Tu no puedes cambiar de lados asi de repente! Tengo que aguantarlos a ustedes dos idiotas pelando todo el puto tiempo y tu no puedes saltar en su defensa asi como asi!”

Wind Breaker blinked in confusion at her before she realized she’d lapsed into Burroñeso again.

“I said, you idiota, why the fuck are you taking his side now!” Xvital glared hard at him. “What, do you like him now? You two fri-”

“Fuck no, I hate the fucker!” Wind hissed in pain, rubbing his throat before glaring at her. “But he was right that you usually blamed him for everything.”

“No I didn’t!”

“Yes, you did, Xvital,” Vix-Lei said, walking towards her. “You always treated like him shit, mocking him to his face, being a real bit-”

“I DIDN’T do that!” Xvital shouted, shocked as hell that they were making up this crap about the little nutball. “I treated him like I would treat the rest of you assholes!”

“Enough,” Rex growled as he stepped out of the kitchen, cleaning his paws with a towel. “I have witnessed you treating Night poorly for some time and I have been meaning to have a chat with you about it.”

Xvital snorted and was about to rip into Rex when something dark behind shoved him out of the way.

Page looked like shit; while Rex had done his best to bandage her, her entire face was still battered and bruised from where she had been struck, with one eye swollen shut, and she stank of healing ointment.

But despite all that, she seemed to be very much aware of what was going on and looked mighty pissed, with how her wings were buzzing around and the fact she was baring her fangs. She began to walk into the living room, hissing in pain and stumbling a bit but she shook her head when Rex went to support her.

“Dammit Xvital, what happened between you and Night?” Page growled, placing a holed hoof against her face. “Tell me exactly what you said to get him to leave like that.”

“I didn’t say anything wrong!” Xvital snapped back. “Look, I told that we didn’t need him and Wind fighting every five damn-”

“No you did not,” Vix-Lei said. “Well, you might have wanted to say it, but all you got out was telling Night his fighting was stupid and he had to stop before he left.”

“Celestia and Luna dammit,” Page swore before leaning on the sofa for stability. “Look, it might not be clear to you but Night has several issues-” Wind seemed like he was about to open his mouth but Page just glared him down. “One of them is ponies telling him what he has to do; it came from his parents saying no to him.”

Xvital let out an annoyed grunt and rolled her eyes. “Oh please, he’s a noble brat; getting told no is just-”

“No Night, I cannot come out and play with you, I am far too busy,” Page stalked in close. “No Night, I cannot read a bedtime story to you, your father and I are both too tired and we need to get up early tomorrow. No Night, you cannot go out to Regal’s birthday party, we are having several important business guests today and you must be on your best behaviour. No Night, you must see to Striking Blade while your brother is visiting us, we can have your birthday dinner on the weekend. Night, stop acting like a child; it is just your birthday; we stopped giving out gifts and really celebrating them years ago,” Page stopped and glared into Xvital’s eyes. “This was all before he was ten. And then there was his talentmitzvah…” she grumbled, shaking her head.

Vix-Lei’s jaw dropped. “Holy ΓΑΜΩ what is wrong with his parents‽” she exclaimed. “I mean, my dad and I may not get on the best, but at least I’ve always known that he cares about me! Sounds like your guy never even knew that much!”

“They were in their late fifties when he was born and as Night told me, they were all ready to go into early retirement when Night’s mom got the news,” Page sighed, still throwing her a heated glare. “They were suddenly required by social customs to go back to work, and with their other kids all grown up, they didn’t really shift back from adult kid relationship to kid kid relationship. Celestia knows that was proven at his talentmitzvah…”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” Rex said tentatively, the diamond dog looking everywhere but at her.

“Let’s just say it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Night and he pretty much gave up on them. He has got a lot better; he has been calmer and well balanced since then,” Page rubbed her face and winced before tilting her head at Xvital again. “Until today…”

“Hey,” Xvital snapped, feeling her heart race. “How was I supposed to know this? Fuck, if I knew that telling him what the fuck to do would cause him to flip out, I would have not told him what the fuck to do like that!”

“Oh, what were we supposed to do, just blurt it out?” Page rolled her eyes before jabbing a hoof into her chest. “‘Oh hi, this is Night Blade, the youngest member of the Blade family and has a shitton of issues and almost no self confidence, how do you do‽’”

“Well of course not but come the -” Xvital began to fight back when she felt someone push her backward. Looking up, she saw Vix-Lei had stepped in between them, using her hammers to push them apart.

“Both of you; stop it with your bitchfest,” Vix-Lei glared at the unicorn-changeling mare. “Page, take a moment to breath and calm the Tartarus down. Xvital, stop trying to defend yourself and admit you’re wrong here and you treated Night like utter shit for some reason.”

“Fine, I might have treated Night poorly for some reason, the Mictlan if I know why that freakin’ nutcase bothered me so badly,” Xvital huffed, rolling her eyes.

“Did you ever interact with a noble ahuizotl in the past, Xvital?” Page asked her a cold tone. “One that really treated you poorly?”

“Yeah,” Xvital said, thinking of Chantico, how terrible she treated her because Xvital was with… Xvital froze, feeling her blood run cold. Chantico had always nitpicked whatever she did, finding ways to make her feel like she was nothing, less than nothing. “Dios mío, ¿qué he hecho?” she muttered to herself as a wave of shame, regret and horror run through her, reliving what should have been her most special day that she had ruined with her damn logic.

“I thought so,” Page said coldly. Xvital was confused for a second in how Page understood her when she realized she was talking about feeling her emotions. “Perhaps now you understand how you made Night feel the entire time?”

With her head hanging low, Xvital felt the absolute worst for the second time in her life and for the second time in her life began to cry.

“I already have an idea in how to find Night,” Page said sharply, taking control of the situation. “Find my love, Night Blade.” She said into her necklace with nothing happening. The changeling-unicorn frowned and held out her necklace and said again, “Find my love, Night Blade.” Still nothing happened. “Find my love Night Blade find my love Night Blade find my love Night Blade Rex why isn’t it working‽”

Rex stepped over to Page or whatever her real name was and picked up necklace and examined it with his special glasses and winced for some reason. “It is working as intended, Page Turner, but-”

“But what?” she snapped, glaring down at Rex.

“Page, or whatever your true name is-”

“Look, my mom, my birth mom named me Lamella Armor the Tenth, but Hush Tone named me Page Turner and I am Page Turner,” she hissed before she forced herself backwards. “So Rex, can you please tell me why it is not working?”

“Page, do you still love Night?”

The question caused Xvital to snap her head upwards and she was able to see the shock on the changeling-unicorn hybrid's face.

“What kind of question is that? What happened was a mistake, Rex,” Page said while she began to look fidgety.

“I understand that but Page, do you still love him?” Rex pressed the issue with Page beginning to look very panicky.

“I.. I” she stammered, stumbling backwards before hitting the wall behind her. “I don’t know…”

Twack

Twack

Twack

Skirrrch

Night bit his lip hard as his messed up this fucking simple exercise again, his sword stuck in the tree he was practicing on. He did not stop biting until he felt the iron taste of blood, the liquid in his mouth causing his stomach to quiver in revolusion.

As with the other times, he did not try and hold back, forcing his body to dry heave again and sending him to the ground as the weak idiot he was. The pain his gut was in did nothing to take away the agony that was going through his head as his mind forced him to relive that moment he had attacked Page.

Fresh tears ran down his face as he rolled around in this dirty isolated hill in the center of the forest as the guilt of what he had done to the mare he loved promised to break him mentally but refused to send him insane and thus leave him with the consequences of his action.

It was better; losing his mind was the coward's way out and he was not a cowa….

“Ah fuck, who am I kidding?” Night sobbed to himself, holding his barrel tightly. “I’m not anything good or noble…”

“This we agree upon,” a voice from behind, a voice Night knew, a voice that Night knew was truly responsible for what happened to Page. With a growl, he spun up from the ground, grabbing his sword and went for horizontal slash to make the real villain pay. Only for Balance to step out of his reach and backhoof Night as he made his turn. “You are a failure for test after test after test, you failed. Every test I put forth for you and you failed all of them.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Night spat as he stumbled to his hooves. “I don’t care about you or your stupid Elements, you fucking bastard!” He forced himself to do a diagonal slice against the spirit, only for it to move out of the way again and bring its hoof down on his neck.

“Again you fail a simple test,” Balance shouted at him, keeping pressure on Night’s neck as it kicked away his sword. “So much hangs in the balance and it could all fall to ruin and failure because of you!”

“I don’t ca-” Night’s words were choked out of him as Balance increased its pressure on his neck.

“I do not care what you think, Night. You were chosen for this Duty long before you were born, you were born to perform this Duty and yet because of your selfishness and self centeredness, everything could be lost!” Balance roared into his head, the pressure on his neck never changing. “I am running out of tests to give to you for you to awaken your Element, Night, and either you will be one more step into saving this word or be the one that damns it to Tartarus!”

The weight on his neck shifted and doing his best to force his body not to gasp for air and further his own deserved punishment, Night managed to croak out. “But Page…”

Balance grabbed him and threw him across the hill, crashing through several trees before hitting the ground and coming to a stop just before the lip of the hill. Night was not given a second to catch his breath before Balance crashed down onto him, a hoof pressing onto his ribs.

“Again, you fail a simplistic test,” Balance said, making Night feel as worthless as he did back home. “One that could have been enough for you to awaken your Element but again your selfish nature comes first!” Balance loomed in close, staring Night directly in the eyes. “Now listen closely to me, for this will be your final test and you will not speak until I am finished.” It then dragged Night upwards and tilted his head in one direction. “That way you will find your nephew in patrol. If you go to him, he will aid you in your return to Canterlot. In time, you will be able to put this entire thing behind you and return to the life you once had.” It then forcefully turned his head another direction. “This way is where the rest of the Elements are. They are currently walking into danger and while they will receive aid soon, they will not get it without suffering.”

The notion of Page being in danger almost caused his heart to leap into his mouth but before he could even think to ask what kind of danger, Balance continued its speech. “Know this, because of your actions, your assault against Kindness itself, Page Turner will never love you as she once did. Because of what you did, the love you two had is gone and will never be as it was once and you coming to the Elements’ aid will not bring it back.”

Night froze at that; hearing that Page no longer loved him, that there was no way for him to fix things was almost too much for him to take. He began to shake at the very idea that she now hated him, the one person he knew that actually loved him for him, his entire body beginning to break down at this.

“One way, you will get everything you ever wanted, the other you will regain all that you lost.” Balance said as it moved off his chest. “It is your choice, Night Blade. This is my final test unto you.”

And then, Balance was gone.

Night stared at the ground, letting the words eat at him, the guilt of his actions eating away at him even more.

She no longer loved him.

He was so tired, tired from everything. He knew that he and Striking Blade didn’t get along but the fact that his older nephew could help him...

She didn't love him anymore.

He didn’t care anymore, going with them had ruined his life. He was so tired, so very tired.

He was out of his depth, he didn’t know what to do. He just wanted somepony to take charge of things, to let somepony else worry about things. He was tired of ponies yelling at him, hating him for no reason. He would rather be neglected like before than deal with all this trouble. He owed Xvital, Rex, Vix-Lei, Wind Breaker and her nothing. He could easily do it, he just had to fly off in that direction and find Striking and then everything would be taken care of. He could go back home, crawl under his blankets and pretend this never happened. His parents might even recognize that he existed after all this! Despite how much he hated them, this is what he always wanted and he could get everything he lost.

He grabbed his sword and started beating his tired wings, lifting himself clumsily into the sky - he could punish himself for it later and began to fly to where his nephew was.

They will be in danger, they will receive aid but they will suffer.

The memory of what Balance said struck him out of the sky, crashing back into the hilltop that stood as an island from the rest of the landscape.

He could see Vix-Lei and Rex being attacked by some horrific creature in his head, unable to defeat it.

“I don’t care; they don’t care about me,” he muttered to himself, pawing the ground with his eyes shut tight.

He saw Wind Breaker and Xvital fighting some monstrosity, so close to death.

“I don’t care about them, they’ve always hated me,” he whispered to himself, tears threatening to escape his eyes as he dug up the ground, biting his lip hard enough to pierce through the flesh. The pain, for once, wasn’t helping him.

He saw her in danger, something threatening her.

“She hates me, I attacked her and she hates me,” he shouted, sobbing hard enough for his chest to hurt. “Why do I have to keep on suffering‽ Why is it always me‽ Why why why‽” he shouted to the heavens, breaking down as he began to throw everything within reach. “Why can’t I ever be happy‽ Why, what have I done so wrong‽” He wanted to claw his face off, he wanted to die - maybe that way he could be happy, with no one always angry at him.

Through his tears, Night spotted something glittering in front of him and without knowing why, he was drawn to it. Stumbling forwards, his legs weak because he was weak and he had battered the legs for being weak before, he found it was his signet ring. It had escaped his pack after it was put in there when they were still in Canterlot. He stared at it, remembering what it meant, what it said he was.

Suddenly, he knew exactly what he had to do. Dropping the ring on the ground and grabbing his sword, Night did his best to stifle everything he was feeling as he flew off in the sky, his resolve firm.

“Is everything packed up, Rex?” Page asked sharply, causing the ahuizotless to flinch. The dressing down she’d gotten from Page still stung, with the weight of what had happened still heavy on her and how much she had fucked up. She couldn’t believe that she had been transplanting her views on Chantico onto Night but it made too much damn sense and she felt like utter shit for it.

“Yes,” Rex said uncertainly, clearly uncomfortable with the shift of power between her and Page. “Wind, how is your throat?”

“Better,” he rasped, wincing in pain and rubbed his throat. “I can talk… in bigger bursts now.”

“That will have to do,” Rex said bobbing his head and turning to face Vix-Lei, who was starting to perk up since the… dammit, she wasn’t sure what to call what had happened. “Are you alright, Vix-Lei?”

“Ye-yeah, right as could be,” she flashed them a weak smile that the minotaur was clearly forcing onto her face. She then shook her head and put on a proper smile which was actually comforting. “Come on guys, let’s go get that batty bat of ours back.” Her eyes immediately fell, worried if she was overdoing it again as when they first met.

“Yes, let’s go,” Page said, fluttering her wings briefly as she opened the door. Her bruised chitin was healing up nicely with her magic and Rex’s healing potions, although she still had a nasty black eye and was wincing every once in awhile. Page told them it came at her being unable to go back to her unicorn skin for a while, although she still had her cutie mark on her backside.

Stepping outside last, Xvital flicked her ears as she looked around the area before she found herself glancing at Page for guidance. She could understand why Page had kept quiet about the entire matter but seriously, with Page being able to sense emotions and thus other people, they could have breezed through Canterlot without a single headache!

She then felt a wave of guilt for thinking that and saw Page’s ears twitch all of a sudden and quickly glanced towards her.

Wait a second, Xvital thought to herself, frowning. “Page, are you reading my emotions?”

“Well it’s hard not to when you’re broadcasting like that,” Page snapped as she turned around to face her, hissing briefly before letting out a sigh and rubbing her face with her hoof. “I’m sorry, I am just still very shaken up by what happened.” Shaking her head, her cheeks were dark with embarrassment. “Besides, a lot of people don’t realize it, but it’s actually harder for us to block out others’ emotions than it is to deliberately sense them, especially when they are high.”

“High?” Rex asked, tilting his head. He already had his notebook out and was scribbling down facts.

“Yes, that’s how we describe them; when someone is really emitting an emotion, like depression level sadness, wedding level love, all of your sour-tasting guilt, it becomes near impossible to just ignore. Especially when you get a jolt of it, I can taste it in the back of my… well, not mouth exactly but it’s close enough to feel like it’s in the back of my mouth and no amount of water will wash it out.”

“Is there anything we can do to help you out?” Vix-Lei asked, scratching her head. “Like try to not feel it or whatever?”

“No, please, don’t do that,” Page said with real desperation in her voice. “Blocking an emotion only creates a backlog that can send a wave of it down my throat later on and then I’d have to deal with everything tasting sour for at least a few weeks. Just do what you need to do to move on if you want to help.”

“Okay,” Xvital said softly, with Page looking at her, making her feel guilty again. Page sighed, shaking her head before rolling her eyes and walking forwards again. This made Xvital frown; while she felt horrible about what she did, Page was taking advantage of the situation. “One more thing; why are you being so… aggressive all of a sudden? Beyond the obvious, of course.”

“Because I don’t need to watch what I say or act anymore as you know that I’m a halfling now,” Page snapped back before a tiny smile appeared on her face. “You know, despite how horrible it came out, I feel so good that I don’t have to hesitate over everything I do or say to make sure I’m not caught by other people. And by the way, I had to deal with your bitter annoyance for Night this entire time and be careful not to let it slip why I wanted you to make nice with him beyond the fact he was my coltfriend.” Page let out a sigh before shaking her head again. “I’m sorry for all this snapping and bitching I am doing but it feels so good to get this off my chest.”

“It’s okay,” Vix-Lei smiled, patting Page between her wings. “Yah can’t be good all the time and there needs to be times when you need to be an ass to make sure your head doesn’t explode from keeping in all your assholiness inside.”

Everyone snorted at that, with Wind wincing and rubbing his throat again. Xvital felt a bit more confident about herself again, and turned to look at Rex. “So you made the charms that let Page and Night find each other and I know that Page’s doesn’t work anymore but isn’t there a way you could use it to find Night?”

“I suppose I could but it would take a lot of time as I do not have access to all the resources on paw and to be honest,” he said with a twinkle in his eye before his face fell. “I do not like the notion of leaving Night alone for a longer period of time than already necessary.”

Xvital flinched at that, the unspoken worry that Night would kill himself hanging over their heads and it would be her fault that if he did so.

“Hate to be… that guy,” Wind wheezed a bit less than before, eyeing the rest of them. “But what then? I don’t think he’ll rejoin us, and... what are we to do about the whole Element thing? He still has one and...” Wind trailed off, reminding them of that fact too. Xvital wasn’t sure she wanted Night back with them but she didn’t want his death on her shoulders either.

“Look, we’ll deal with that once we get there,” Xvital said as she walked near the front of the group. “We’ll head for the town and ask for help there; do you think we can get those changelings to help us?”

“No,” Page said shaking her head in the negative. “Memorizing Gaze, their leader, told me he needs to keep up appearances in Canterlot and report back to Gentle Step. He said he’d keep an eye on her for us and I can’t ask him or his Guards to turn around for Night.”

“It is still astounding that they actually have changelings working with the government,” Rex said, shaking his head. “I would have thought that with changelings in tandem with the Guards that they would have found your Queen ages ago, Page Turner.”

“They’re not with the hive; I couldn’t sense them until they were in my face, and besides, no changeling would ever give up the Queen, not even Memorizing would do so if ordered to,” Page said hotly. “It has been a thousand years and the Queen has never been given up; and they have tried to break completely broken changelings to give her up. It turns out that threatening our Queen is a good way to rebuild a changeling in an instant, causes them to regain their courage and spirit.” Page chuckled as they walked through the forest.

“What would happen, Pagey, if some bug-changeling gave up the Queen?” Vix-Lei asked, spinning Lady Kabonk around.

“It would be the end of our changeling hive,” Page said simply. “There is something called the Three Pillars that keep a changeling hive going; the Queen, the Hivemind Body, and the Sages of the Past. When Equestria attacked Queen Chrysalis, they timed their attacks on the two other pillars before going after her, to maximize the chaos with the death of the Hivemind Body and the Sages of the Past. From what I have heard, the Queen could alter some changelings to recreate the Hivemind Body and train new Sages of the Past but it would alert the Equestrians and…” Page trailed off, but it was clear what she hinting at.

“By end, you mean,” Wind waved his talon in the air as they walked into a massive clearing.

“I meant what I said,” Page said, turning her black head to look at Wind Breaker. “The death of the Queen would cost us everything. We would be changelings in looks only, because we couldn’t transform, or taste emotions… even our ability to use magic would probably be lost if she were to die.”

“That’s horrific,” Rex barked in genuine terror. “Do the ponies know of this cause and effect?”

“I… I don’t know,” Page stuttered, causing Xvital to raise an eyebrow. She wasn’t sure if the changeling-pony was lying or not, but before she could prod further, she saw Page’s head snap around and her ears flick around. Taking a sniff in the air, she said softly, “We’re not alone and there are a lot of angry people around.”

“That you are, you buggy bitch,” a somewhat familiar voice sneered as a dirty pale brown unicorn pony stepped out with a whole bunch of ponies of different tribes right behind him. “And I am going to enjoy this, you ugly bug bitch.”

As Vix-Lei reached for one of her hammers, Xvital heard a sharp cry as several of the group’s unicorns suddenly charged up their horns, and yanked both hammers away from her. At the same time, several massive, bulky Earth Ponies charged at her and began forcing her to the ground, despite her best efforts to resist. Nearby, Wind Breaker let out a screech as he was dive-bombed by a group of pegasi, one ripping his crossbow and saddlebags away while the others tackled him. As another two grabbed Xvital herself, yet another Earth Pony pounced on Rex, knocking him onto his back and pressing a heavy hoof against his chest. As she struggled against her captors, Xvital saw a dirty gray aura seize Page, and quickly realized the creep in charge was dragging her closer to him as the changeling-unicorn hybrid tried to struggle out of his grip.

“Remember me, buggy bitch?” he sneered as held Page very close to him, his magic around her neck. “You and your broken pegasus bastard nearly got me napped for burning that place down, you bitch,” he squeezed with his magic until she let out a squawk of pain, causing him to laugh. “But now it is you fuckers that the government wants and from what I’ve heard, they’ll be happy with just one of you fuckers alive when we collect the bounty.” The look on his face was told Xvital exactly what that monster was planning and by the horrified look on Page’s face, she knew it too. “Kill the rest of them while I take care of this buggy bitch,” he shouted over his shoulder as he began to drag Page away but Xvital’s view was blocked by a pony holding a sword in his hooves.

Her heart began to race as the pony held the sword above her head with the two ponies holding her steady despite her best effort to struggle away. She didn’t want to die like this but she didn't see any way out. He was about to bring the sword down and she shut her eyes, and felt something warm splattering over her.

But she wasn’t dead...

Opening her eyes, Xvital saw the glint of a sword in her face with the pony in front of her looking completely surprised at the sword in his chest. Before any of them could comprehend what was going on, the sword was pulled out and her would be killer knocked over with Night swinging his sword down diagonally, slicing the neck open of the pony on her left and slicing the guts of the one on her right. He then spun around, kicking the dropped sword towards her as he lept after the pony on Rex, with Vix-Lei up and roaring as the minotaur was tossing ponies around with no problem. Page had vanished for a second before reappearing, using her magic to smash those of whatshisname’s gang on Wind Breaker off of the griffon.

Xvital was lost in what she should do, holding the sword clumsily in her paw - she let out a yelp as someone came at her, swinging the sword as best as she could. Stumbling backwards over the dying ponies, Xvital saw the pony hold a small dagger overhead before a sword jabbed out of their neck and fell over, choking on their blood. Night gave her a worried look before he threw himself back into the brawl, with Xvital aware that she might have to take lives to survive through this. Looking at the growing fight, she could see that Wind Breaker and Rex were side by side, Vix-Lei was smashing through ponies with a pony, and that Page was alone.

What she saw next took her breath away; there was an earth pony creeping up on Wind Breaker, with the griffon having no clue to what was about to happen and both her and Night could see this. She knew that there was no way she could get to Wind in time but Night could which meant he had a choice between changeling-unicorn and the griffon.

Night let out a wordless shout as he flew past Page and tackled the pony over, biting his neck ou-

Xvital let out a shout as a pegasus tried to do a dive attack, swinging the sword upwards and having blood splash down on her before the body hit her.

Shoving it off of her, Xvital forced herself to stop thinking and start fighting.

The griffon jumped as he saw Night tackle and rip the throat out of somepony sneaking up on him, the bat pony flashing a look of concern at him.

“Night, duck!” he shouted as he took his crossbow with both of his talons and fired at the pony sneaking up on Night. Thanking the Goddesses that Night actually listened, Wind Breaker managed to nail the fucker in the face. Standing back upright, Night and Wind Breaker shared a look of understanding and nodding at each other before focusing on their fights.

He was glad Night was back and just not because he was able to deal with a lot of the bastards. He was actually glad to see he was okay and he found himself really worried that something bad could happen to Night or the rest of the guys.

“Fire in the hole,” Rex shouted beside him, throwing a bottle over his shoulder and into the mass of their enemies with a sudden wave of heat smashing into them, making Wind Breaker glad they had this wall of rock as cover. The diamond dog turned to him and asked, “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” Wind Breaker shouted, moving himself in a proper stance, remembering what Night said before. “Nailing a lot of them,” he said with a smirk on his face as he began to poke his head out. “I think we can win th-”

BOOM

Wind threw himself backwards as what sounded like lightning went off next to his head, part of the rockwall exploding.

“What the fuck was that‽” he shouted, holding his head.

“They have a Manechurian Dragon,” Rex whispered softly.

“They’ve got a dragon?” Wind Breaker asked, about to look around for the scaly bastard when Rex dragged him back down.

“They’ve got a fucking Manechurian Dragon!” Rex swore as he shouted in a gruff voice, his usual calm and scholarly manner of speaking gone. “Do you have any fucking idea of how dangerous one is?!”

“No?” he said in a timid voice as Rex forced him low, although Wind Breaker kept his eyes upwards. “I’ve heard how dangerous dragons could be but…”

WIth an annoyed growl as another explosion went off, Rex growled into his ear, “Manechurian Dragons are not dragons!” he then scanned the sky before grabbing and tilting his head upwards and pointed at a pegasus holding a strange metal tube oddly as she began to stuff something in one end. “That is a Manechurian Dragon; it is a dangerous weapon that fires metal at very fast speeds; rips insides apart and packs very strong punch.” Rex growled the last of his words, which only worried Wind Breaker more to see the smartest of them act like this.

Before Rex could stop him or he could think better of this, Wind Breaker took to the sky and began to wrestle with the pegasus. He wrapped his talons along the metal part of the Manechurian Dragon, struggling to get hold of it before the pony could use it again. He wasn’t sure how he could fight this pony, with the pegasus doing her best to bash his beak with her head.

Without even being aware of how the switch came about, Wind Breaker remembered that he was a griffon and that they used to be predators to ponies. Falling into some ancient instinct, he darted his beak forwards and snatched one of the eyeballs out of her face and gobbled it down.

It was instantly effective; the pegasus mare screamed in pain and let go of the Manechurian Dragon, crashing into the ground as she stopped flying. She did not stop screaming in pain, however.

Landing next to Rex with the weapon in his talons, Wind Breaker began to retch as he realized that he just ate somepony’s eyeball while Rex took the Manechurian Dragon and snapped it in half.

“That was completely insane Wind Breaker,” Rex said, eyeing him with concern as he dropped the parts of the strange weapon on the ground and started throwing more of his potions at the attacking ponies. “Are you well enough to continue or should we draw backwards?”

“I’m good,” Wind Breaker said as he picked up his crossbow, loaded a bolt and sent a charging Earth pony hooves over tail. “Let’s end this.”

She took a step backwards as the fight slowed down enough for her to do so, panting for air. She had managed to get her knuckle dusters on and was doing her best to help out. Xvital was still very uneasy with killing but she had already done the deed and it was starting to get easier; especially when it came down to either her living or her not living at the end.

She felt a gust of air overhead as Night flew by and knocked over an Earth pony while stabbing them in the gut.

“You okay?” Night asked her, scanning the battlefield with his back to her.

“I think so,” Xvital said as she looked him over. He had a number of cuts on him along with a lot of blood from the ponies he had been killing. Xvital was so glad that he was on their side; Night was probably the only reason why they were still alive. “You think we can win this?”

“No,” Night said curtly, causing the ahuizotless to gulp as she was aware of how big whatshisname’s gang really was. “But Balance told me help would be near.”

Xvital took this in before working on how to use it for their benefits. Rex and Wind were fighting back to back - no way she could get one of them out. Vix-Lei was in her own little world of combat like Night - trying to take either of them out of it could be deadly for the minotaur or bat pony. Xvital couldn’t go herself - it didn’t feel right for her to leave the gang like that. Which left Page.

“Page has to get the help,” Xvital said, looking at the mare holding back several attackers with strong shields that the librarian was using to knock them around at the same time. Night looked at her and nodded; the two of them agreeing on the plan without any words said.

The two promptly charged at the attackers, Night knocking down the two fliers while Xvital pounced on and cut the neck of the unicorn. Moving her shield around, Page looked at them with a tiny bit of confusion.

“Night said that Balance said that there’s help nearby,” Xvital said as she turned her focus back to the fight. “Go and see if you can find it.”

“I-” Xvital risked turning her head backwards to see Night and Page share a look before Night turned away and leapt after another pony. “Got it.” Page said, her necklaces swaying slightly before she turned the other direction and darted into the forest.

Seeing Night like that had been rough; she wanted to say something to him but she didn’t know what. It wasn’t helping that he was feeling that empty; she’d heard that only those past depression would be like this and it worried her.

Promising herself she would talk to him about this once all of this was over with, she flicked her ears as she heard and felt several ponies nearby.

“Hey, is somepony out there?” she called out as she ran towards them. “We need some help, me and my fri-” The words died in her mouth as she found herself in front of almost a dozen ponies in cloaks and blank white masks, the infamous Questioning Order, standing right in of her and she was not disguised as her normal self.

Already, one had a sword out ready to kill her.

With his attention focused on Page fleeing through the forest for safety a tiny bit longer, he turned his attention back to the battle-

He let out a hiss of pain as some pony used a modified kusarigama with an extra blade attached to it. It was holding him by his right wing, digging into the membrane and the pony no doubt using it try and hold him back, thinking at Night would panic and flee thus tearing his wing up more.

Unfortunately for the pony, Night did the exact opposite and flew towards them, with the stallion’s eyes widening up as Night closed the distance and smashed the pony’s windpipe. Shifting his wing a bit to ease the pain, he had all of three seconds to react when somepony used Vix-Lei’s real hammer to smash him in the side and send him rolling across the ground until he crashed into a body.

Wheezing in pain, he was looking upright when he heard the whistle of a blade coming towards him.

He raised Determined Point to block the attack but it was sloppy and weak. He let out a wince of pain as his sword broke in half, bits of the metal cut his face and blinded him in his right eye.

“I don’t get why you’re here, you fucking bat bastard,” Sharp Point growled at him, holding a sword over his head. “And I don’t fucking care as you and the rest of them are dead.”

“I’ll die before I let you harm any of them!” Night snapped back, his good eye closing as the blade fell.

When he opened his eyes up, Night Blade knew he was dead and in Tartarus.