The Admiral stalked about in a vast room, keeping to the sable on one side of it. Directly opposite of him, a myriad of glowing monochrome screens flared and illuminated a small chair before a massive control panel, and two doors on either side of that panel, albeit barely. These screens were trained upon various hallways and rooms in the base, as well as points within and around the city, each one helpfully labeled with a small plaque bearing the names of the particular locales. Somewhere in the middle of this conglomeration, his red eyes had been trained on one screen depicting a small room with a queen-sized bed in particular.

It wasn't what was in that room; rather, it was who, in this case the mare who laid upon that queen-sized bed with a hoof and a leg affixed to the ceiling. The pony who was with her did not even register to him. "So… yet another reason for insubordination…" he muttered scathingly. "But… at least the Herald cannot actually do anything." He pondered, wondering what to do. On one hoof, Starbreaker could potentially get back to full power before long, and she'd likely wreak some havoc the instant she did. On the other hoof… if that came to pass, then there was a safe bet somepony would go and stop her before the damages became astronomically high.

He didn't even need to bet blades to carriages on who that pony would be, if theoretically Starbreaker decided to cut loose again. As far as he was concerned? He could just kick back and relax and watch that particular fireworks display from the projector in his cozy office. Some small part of him was very, very glad he did not murder Sora given this particular turn of events. Some of that glee worked its way to his muzzle, causing his lips to twitch up in the faintest of smiles.

Still… he acknowledged the mere fact that Starbreaker was in the same building he was, and that made his smile dip just a smidgen. And if things were allowed to progress at their current speed… that, he knew not for certain. There was a slew of possibilities at her particular crossroads, and he considered all of them. She could still be hellbent on burning the world the minute she got out of bed for instance, or she may change behavior-wise. Perhaps she'd become a vegetable, or would be tried for her crimes once she was out of the woods. For better or for worse, or even if she'd actually live long enough to see the end result of her stay for herself… some part of him was eager to find out. And it was admittedly amusing to see her in the medical ward, essentially cooped up with nothing to do...

Another idea began forming in his head. His smile widened as elation filled him. "If you want to babysit her so bad, my little Hawk, then fine… who's to stop you?" he muttered to himself, his grin taking on a cruel cast. "You've already brought her here… and squirreled her away in the medical ward…" He turned away from the lone screen which had caught his interest, and started scanning the rest. A flash of light caught his attention, and he turned to a screen with the launch pad on it. "Hrm?" He peered closer at it without moving from the darkness of the room, and frowned as he saw two ponies take off of the launch pad in a very peculiar formation.

His eyes then gravitated to a myriad of more screens, tracking the duo intently. He picked up on several features, and despite the fact the screens were monochrome he was able to recognize them with but a few glances. "Retiring… outside of the barracks… with that damned Swiftcure..." the Admiral muttered, shaking his head disapprovingly. However, as the two ponies zigged and zagged throughout the city, he sighed in resignation. There was nothing he could do about it, at least not immediately. And besides, even his doctors and the trotting paradox of his own army needed a break every now and then.

That, he decided, was an event he found not worth his time. His eyes gravitated to Starbreaker's room again, brow furrowing when he saw her companion nonchalantly trot out of it. The lights in that room switched off as he left, and the camera shifted to depict a green blot sitting in place of the patient. He turned away again, deciding there was no point in watching her any longer if nopony was going to stay with her for the night.

Besides, he found it boring to watch ponies sleep, especially if the only thing with which to track them was infrared. His horn lit up with a whir, and he vanished in a flash of silver light, only to reappear in his office. He settled in his chair, and closed his eyes. "That Suguri mare…" he muttered, his mind forming her image. "Why in the wide, wide world did Aeverafree make her their leader?" As far as he could tell, Suguri was relatively normal—even in spite of the fact that she had both wings and a horn.

Yet the more he thought of her, the more something started to seem off about her. But what that was, he couldn't place his hoof on it. His brow furrowed as he recalled her eyes, bright like rubies… A whirring sound snapped him out of his stupor, and his eyes opened as the projector lit up. His brow eased as his horn lit up and he cradled its light in his magic, whereupon the screen cleared… to reveal Major Trinity in the mares' barracks, wearing a tight scowl on her face. "Admiral, have you seen Private Sora at all this evening?" she asked, her voice laced with a growl.

The Admiral shook his head. "Cannot say I have, at least in the flesh," he replied smoothly.

Trinity's face hardened. "Where the flying fuck is she?" she growled. "She failed to report to me after I sent her ass out to the city with the ugly wagon!"

The Admiral sighed. "Did you tell her where to meet up at, once she was done with the ugly wagon?" he asked in a low voice. At this, Trinity's mouth snapped shut before she could get another word in edgewise. "I'll take that as a no…" A sable hoof lifted up, and the Admiral let it lightly connect with the bridge of his muzzle, in full display of the projector. "And this is why I'm the pony who gets to punish the delinquent…"

"S-sir, she called me crazy," Trinity uttered, before it registered that her voice had trembled.

The Admiral's hoof drooped and fell onto the desk, slamming it in a sharp retort that made it jostle in place. "And that's no grounds with which to punish her. She could call me a lazy ass with something to compensate for and accuse me of sporting the smallest pair of horseapples on this gods-forsaken world! And I would not give a rat's ass about it, because she knows that at the end of the day I am the one running the Corps," he hissed, lifting that same hoof to wave it dismissively. "Now, if she had perhaps struck you, then that would have been grounds enough."

Trinity winced, as if the Admiral had reached beyond the projector to slap her. "So... " He leaned closer to the light, sizing Trinity up with his red eyes. "Care to tell me what, exactly, did you have Sora do with that wagon?" He smiled as the first of many beads of sweat raced down the side of Trinity's muzzle.

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

Yukito and Sora fought in a medium-sized room laden with punching bags, dart boards and various dumbbells. Both stood upright, one with front hooves raised and using the metal bits to deflect the wicked wing blades that were thrust his way. Both moved with such speed that their limbs were but blurs to the untrained eye. Light danced upon Yukito's horn to illuminate the room, but past that he did nothing with his magic. Every time a blade trailed lower than his withers, his hooves raced to deter them, each impact making a sharp skitter and retort with sparks flying.

They'd been at this for well over an hour, and though sweat beaded their brows, they showed no signs of stopping nor of tiring out. Both had hard, nigh-expressionless masks, eyes entirely focused and movements choreographed with honed ease. Again and again, Sora's blades were deflected, though this impasse did not deter her. And whilst Yukito stood more or less in one spot, he did not let the blades get the better of him. His stance was simple, yet effective; with half-metallic legs raised, he could easily protect his vital organs with no effort on his part.

One strike to the chest rapidly turned to a mere nicking of his shoulder as his leg caught one primary and redirected it, in turn moving the rest of the wing. A second attempt at his face went wide as he merely tilted his head. The next attempt at his stomach was stopped as a frog came to meet with the very tip of a blade, before the whole wing was once again redirected. "What's the matter?" he teased as he parried another strike that would have connected with his muzzle otherwise. "Holding back?"

Sora smirked. "Not at all," she cooed, and thrust both wings at once, toward his neck. Yukito smiled back and crossed his forelegs over his neck, catching the blades once more. He parted them with ease, metal and blades screeching as he threw them off. She angled her wings, one high and the other low, and made to strike from two sides. They met with forelegs again, and were promptly shrugged off.

She kept at it, over and over, each deflected attack ringing in her ears as Yukito matched her move for move. She changed tactics, making x-strikes and pincer attacks, though this accomplished nothing save for the occasional nicking of fur and skin. This was a fight that seemed destined to last all night, caught in a fierce stalemate and with both sides giving no quarter.

That was, until she realized that there was one part of Yukito that he himself was paying little attention to. Sora decided to throw an oddball and aimed for his exposed hinds. With one strike hitting steel, she made an outward sweep that immediately sent his left hind wide, causing him to tumble clumsily into a punching bag. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened to ask if he was alright, but Yukito merely sat up on his haunches, leaning onto the bag for support. He nodded with his magic flickering for a moment.

He adjusted his glasses, as the strike had inadvertently sent them lopsided, a small smile on his face. "Don't mind me, I'm just getting warmed up," he chirped, popping his neck with a few rolls of his head. "It's been ages since we last sparred like this."

Sora flapped her wings once as Yukito parted from the punching bag he had landed upon, and stood once again upright. "You're not too shabby yourself," she teased, donning a slight smirk. "Two more rounds?"

Yukito lifted his forelegs to his neck and walked away from the punching bag, tail swishing with an eagerness he couldn't hide. "As ready as I'll ever get." His face hardened again. "Come at me!" he barked. Sora lunged at him, blades going high, the tips almost touching as she made to cleave him in two. But he moved before they could connect, forelegs going high to block the attack with bravado. She pulled back and darted low, aiming for the hinds again. But Yukito seemed to have seen this coming from a mile away; he did not bother to block, instead hopping over the blades daintily and letting them sweep harmlessly past. She swiped again, and he skipped over them with hinds going as wide as possible.

With that second hop, he got right into Sora's face and made to punch her in the muzzle. Her foreleg, however, reached up and caught it in her fetlock mere inches from her snout. She threw his hoof to the side, before socking him with an uppercut to the chin. Yukito stumbled back, swaying a little as he felt his teeth clack rather painfully together. He stopped and shook his head, working his mouth a few times to feel for any loose teeth or upwellings of blood. Luckily, there were none to be had, and he leveled a small smile at his companion. "It seems I am getting a little rusty," he mused, horn glowing brighter.

Sora bade him on with a curling of a hoof. "Bring it," she muttered. Yukito smiled and charged, sidestepping the deadly blades as they tried to cut his legs off again and again. He got in close, one hoof raised and horn angled low, but was stopped when two front legs grappled him by the neck. At the same time, Sora twisted just enough that the horn could only graze her side, and threw Yukito bodily to the floor.

Yukito responded by throwing his back legs up, the strike going wide at first, before they wrapped around Sora's neck. The two promptly disentangled, and Yukito heaved himself up again with a grin. "I didn't know you liked getting hooves-on," he stated.

Sora barely flinched at the remark. "Says the stallion who tried piercing me with his horn," she cut back sharply, blades shifting to tap impatiently upon the floor. She eyed his horn pointedly. "Are you going to do something with that? Because your fisticuffs need a little polish."

Yukito's smile widened. "That is true..." he muttered. His aura brightened a little more, now blazing like a star. "But… as far as combating unicorn magic goes… you could use a bit of polish yourself."

With that, Sora was flipped onto her back before she could react, caught in a field of blue that immobilized her wings and lifted her bodily. She was then shoved away from Yukito, entirely helpless. "H-hey! Th-that's cheating!" she shrieked, legs flailing for a few seconds before she registered the presence of the aura. Something snapped in her, and a mechanical whir filled the air in tandem with the bizarre feeling of an entity shifting about in her eyes. It wasn't painful, but it still gave the strange sensation and the vibe of something inhabiting her eyes, writhing about in ways she couldn't explain.

Yukito's eyes widened when Sora's face went aglow in a soft light of bright green, which itself started flickering from her eyes. "It would seem your ocular augments have kicked in…" he muttered. "It's been a while."

Sora's smirk was slight, and cast in the glow of her augments, seemed almost demonic. She wiggled her wings as much as the field would allow, before another whir filled the air, followed by a pulse of viridian light that spread across her feathers. As the glow reached the blades, it seeped into them, making them radiate in turn. "Indeed it has," she mused softly, righting herself into an upright stance. Her blades began humming, and then vibrating, and as their light blazed brighter Yukito winced as his glow was seemingly dragged into the deadly weapons.

Before long, the aura he'd used to snare her had been absorbed altogether, entirely neutralized by the peculiar phenomenon happening not even two trots away. He dispelled the glow on his horn before the spectacle could affect him, and dropped to all fours. "Well, I do believe you've won the match," he chirped as Sora dropped back to all fours as well and closed her wings. He eyed her for a long moment, during which her blades ceased vibrating and her eyes lost their glow with another series of whirs preceding that. When pitch darkness gripped the room, he lit up his horn to provide light once more, and trotted up to Sora with a pleased grin. "How do you do that?" he asked sincerely.

Sora shrugged. "I… don't know what the modifications do," she muttered, frowning. "Much less… how to voluntarily access this power."

Yukito's smile fell, and his brow rose. "So… it happens on and off?" he translated. Sora nodded fervently, feeling a slight tingle in her wings from the absorbed magic.

"Do you… feel alright?" she asked, looking pointedly at his horn again. Yukito pondered her unspoken meaning for a moment before he nodded and flashed another reassuring smile at her.

"After this? As fresh as a daisy," he replied earnestly. Sora relaxed and leaned against his neck, sighing in relief. Her wings ruffled, and—next thing either of them knew, the blades started glowing again, before they went haywire and started shifting about of their own accord. Yukito pulled back, eyes widening in alarm as another aura built up and encased his companion. Sora was hefted up, this time without his aid, and for several seconds afterward the glow made her spin in place.

Sora started flailing helplessly again, though all this did was make her spin faster. A startled shriek left her mouth, changing in pitch as the world went round and round for her. It took a full minute for the glow to dispel and for the blades to cease vibrating yet again, and when it did she landed on the floor belly-side up and legs splayed, eyes rotating rapidly in their sockets. Yukito frowned and trotted to her again, immediately looking her over to see if she made it out of the ordeal alright. "Um… do you know how to use the magic you absorb…?" he asked, when it became clear to him she was going to need another minute.

Sora barely registered the question, but the moment it clicked was the moment her head dazedly shook. "I'm… glad I can't use the magic I absorb consciously…" she muttered, giving a pained grimace. "Because… I hate the backlash… i-if it's my own magic, then... this doesn't happen..."

Yukito nodded in understanding, and folded his legs to lay at Sora's side. "Are… you numb anywhere?" he tried. He smiled faintly when that garnered him another shake of the head. Slowly, haltingly, she turned onto her side and then onto her stomach, folding her wings with a shudder.

"I… think that… was a draw," she muttered as the world's pirouetting slowed down to an almost manageable tilting that still went too topsy turvy for her senses. She took a deep breath, and leaned against Yukito after he scooted to her and nuzzled the top of her head. She dared not move after that until the whirling ceased entirely, and even then she waited for her companion to move first.

"Now, then… are you still angry at something?" Yukito asked as he rose to stand. Sora shifted and stood as well, though her legs were still a little wobbly after having been sent through an airborne tumble.

She racked her brain for a moment, mentally sifting through all the things and indignities over the last few days that should have made her blood-boiling mad all over again. Yet… all she felt then was a smidgen of guilt, and a minor sense of irritation, with a side of befuddlement as she recalled the coffin she had to drag around. However, she acknowledged that it could have gotten so much worse overall, and was silently thankful it hadn't. At this, she shook her head and turned to flash him a small smile. "Sufficiently vented," she answered. Her tail swished again, though this time lazily, and some strands of it touched his cutie mark.

Yukito nodded, and he smiled back. "Next time, I'm not doing magic," he muttered. Sora didn't dare argue, and did not twitch so much as a feather as one of his forelegs wrapped around her neck. "Has your mind been changed… about that which you didn't want Starbreaker harping on about, perchance?"

That time, Sora nodded. "I'm down," she replied. "But… we'll need to shower first, unless you want to skip that tonight?"

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Trinity whimpered as a door opened, only to be immediately greeted with a blinding light shining upon her. She trotted inside, eyes squinted to minimize the glare. The door slammed shut behind her, and her ears folded back as the Admiral leveled his ever-steely gaze upon her. He didn't even wait for her to adjust to the light; his horn glowed with a whir, and his magic dragged her across the floor before throwing her onto the desk with rear legs facing him. One hoof raced to her horn and pinned it to the wood, threatening to snap it clean off if she dared use it. "Corpses?!" he roared, his composure all but gone. "You had Sora dispose of corpses?!"

"Th-they were already dead, i-in the city! I-I just put them in the carriage!" Trinity gabled, only to scream as the hoof pressed itself more firmly upon her horn. She could feel it straining, and the pain it sent flashing through her nerves made her squirm uncomfortably.

The Admiral's eyes narrowed. "Oh?" His head tilted. "And why did you fail to report this… sooner?" he asked.

Trinity shivered as a second hoof made to cup her chin, and for a few seconds she was silent. "Th-they were m-marked, sir."

"Marked?" The Admiral dropped his second hoof, and his eyes widened for a split-second. "Cutie marked, or otherwise?"

"O-otherwise… they had strange crystals in th-their shoulders," Trinity replied. "Th-their nervous systems w-were going on the f-fritz, and th-they were bald…"

The Admiral retracted his hoof from Trinity's horn, pondering this for a long moment. "Did you… collect a sample of these crystals?" he asked slowly. At Trinity's nod, he motioned with a hoof. "Conjure it, then." Trinity's horn glowed fitfully, and materializing in a flash of light was an odd crystal which had blackened. It had blood on it, dried and flaky, but that wasn't the strangest thing about it. Rather, it was the base to which it had been affixed; a metallic ring, itself affixed to a small cylindrical base whose bottom had been stuck rather crudely onto a miniature maze of twisting prongs and wires. The wires and prongs bent, and all ended in the tiniest globules of decaying flesh.

The Admiral took the object in his magic and studied it, nose wrinkling by the tiniest margin as the stench of rot graced his sinuses. "From where did this emerge?" he queried.

"O-one of the corpses had… two, one i-in each shoulder… I brought it to study…" Trinity muttered, ears folding back.

The Admiral nodded and made the object vanish in a flash of light. "Very well, then…" he muttered. "I shall see if this… crystal is of any use." His eyes narrowed again. "Tomorrow… I'll expect you to be back here at 13:45 sharp. Bring Takahara with you, if his twisted hoof has recovered enough for him to manage a trot." He leaned until they were nose to nose. "Am I perfectly clear?"

Trinity nodded. "Y-yes sir," she stammered. The Admiral pulled back and knocked her off the desk with a hoof, as one would with no more respect for an insect than they did the dirt beneath them. Trinity promptly scrambled to the door and made to leave, but a cough stopped her in her tracks before the door could even open.

"And one more thing," the Admiral hissed, watching as Trinity's tail nervously hiked up for a second before it fell back down. "Do not engage Sora, at all, until I say otherwise. We need her to keep the Herald's crippled ass in line, and the last thing you need to do is pick a bone with her. If you do so anyway… she could cleave you in half. Only I can engage her, because I know how to stop her attacks before she even thinks to make them." He paused as Trinity gave a shaky nod of understanding. "You may go now." With that, she hastily left the room, tail tucked firmly between her hinds as she trotted into the hall.

The Admiral leaned into his chair, tilting his muzzle to the ceiling. A deep, exasperated sigh left his mouth. "Damnit Trinity," he groused, head falling forward again, "you just couldn't resist, could you…" His brow furrowed as he recalled that Starbreaker was also very much present in the base. His head shook, and then dipped so his muzzle connected with his desk. "Just another day, another insubordinate to punish…"

His nose wrinkled again, and he sighed dismally. He lifted his head and his horn lit up with another whir. "If ponies are dying in the city…" he muttered, before he vanished and reappeared in the control room with the myriad of screens. Carefully sweeping through the maze of black and white realtime captures, his brow furrowed as he saw dead ponies lining the alleys and streets. The number was just small enough that the citizens wouldn't notice; only a hoofful of cadavers were present at any one time and place.

Of course, such a thing was inevitable, regardless of his stance on the matter. He could have ruled the world and bodies would still collapse at the end of the day. This was something beyond even his control, so he chose not to focus on that. Instead, he focused on the features the corpses did have in common… which was to say, almost none whatsoever.

But two caught his eye, in the alley next to the off-duty doctors' quarters. Both were shaved of fur and mane and tail, gagged, and implanted with strange crystals to their shoulders. His face hardened, and he took a longer look at these ponies. "Hrm…" His tail swished, and his frown deepened. "I'll need to post a damn notary tomorrow…"

His musings halted as he registered the presence of the bizarre crystal implants that stuck out from the shoulderblades of the most recent ponies to have acquired them. Then, his mind flitted to Sora… and his frown deepened into a scowl. "Maybe… maybe the pidgeon should investigate this… she'd already…"

His head shook, and his mind cut that train of thought off before it could form fully. His eyes darted again, now wandering from screen to screen without purpose, making note of a building here or a pony trotting on the road there. Yet nothing turned up to point to why, much less how, the ponies with the crystals appeared in that alley. Still, he continued to scan the myriad of screens, wondering if and possibly when something would surface.

But, alas, his search proved fruitless. There were simply so many screens to sift through, and even he with his possibly-augmented eyes could not keep track of it all. He'd have liked to, of course, but his head began aching the longer he tried in vain to look at every single screen he could in his hunt.

He promptly teleported back to his office before his mind could dull from the exertion. When he did, he facehoofed and sat down again. "Maybe I'll send Trinity to look into it…" he groused. He grinned cruelly after that. "And… maybe…" His mind started to run wild, but this was something he was alright with.

He had a lot of time to formulate and picture a whole host of scenarios within his head, in that dismal room he called an office. A lot of time he spent turning ideas over, with which to further refine and hone his escapades. He was careful to consider all that he had so far; an unruly soldier, a crippled criminal lodged in the medical ward, a doctor who retired for the night with said unruly soldier, dead bodies with strange crystals, and a truce with Aeverafree. His horn was alight once again, and a square aura filled in a large space upon his desk.

A black and white pattern emerged within his silver glow, and on it, figurines that were initially devoid of color filled that pattern. As his magic molded faces and legs and cutie marks, though, color started to seep into the figurines. One side had figurines resembling Suguri and her retinue, and a few blank-faced pawns. One of said pawns stood apart from the rest, but only a space ahead, and it was distinct in that it even had a face to begin with. It was a small replica of Nanako, down to the wings and the small devices which hovered incessantly at her side.

His side had a few faces of his troops, Trinity amongst them at the back, though none had moved as of yet. Though, his side had three empty squares—squares where a pawn, a bishop, and a knight would normally be—devoid of pieces. The pieces in question were already one or two spaces ahead, and like Nanako's replica they had faces and marks as close to the real deals as possible.

These three pieces—miniature replicas of Yukito, Sora, and Starbreaker huddled together, one with wings half-spread and the other two with miniature horns aglow despite one of them being broken—rested right in the middle of the board. They had been positioned in a way as to form a perfect triangle, one that itself was surrounded on either side; neither wholly of one stance or the other. It was as if they were their own herd, in a way; a third party that declared the middle of the board their own little haven. This herd, just by virtue of existence, had already broken the rules of standard chess... but the Admiral couldn't have cared any less about that.

The pieces of the proverbial chessboard lay at his massive hooves. He was eager to make the first move, and a hoof trailed over to a faceless pawn on his side of the board. "If you think you are truly able to mend a broken star, Sora… be my guest," he muttered darkly. "But I promise you… you will fail…" The pawn he selected shifted, and all the other pieces remained absolutely still.

"Your move, Sora… your move…" the Admiral hissed, as though she were present in the room with him.