It wasn't more than a week before the bandages came off and the scarred tissue underneath was revealed. It was a sobering thing to see, thinking on the kind of damage that would cause such a contorted scar. I shook the thought from my head and started over towards my armour. As the last plates were folding down onto my face I heard Storm's voice. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I have to know." I turned myself about to face him.

"Then I wish you the best of luck, dear." The statement caught me off guard; he had never called me anything like that before. Accordingly, my tone came out a lot flatter than anticipated.

"...thanks." This caused Storm to cock his head.

"Everything alright?"

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting what you said."

"What part?"

"The title, the whole ‘dear’ thing."

"Oh, should I avoid things like that?"

"I don't know. I don't know what I think of it yet."

"Well, either way, good luck."

"Thanks. Hopefully I won't need it." I made my way to the door, opening it and leaving Storm behind. From there I made my way to the train station. There was little to no trouble boarding, a surprising fact considering that I was both far larger than those around me and fully armoured and armed, and I managed to figure out how the station worked with relative ease. I payed for the ticket with half of the bits I had packed, and my ticket was checked without a hitch. Once the train was in motion it was simply a matter of waiting.

The train eventually stopped in the town that I needed. I gazed out of the window and noticed that the uninviting dead brush of the far south of Equestria was foreboding at best. When I disembarked I took my first steps out into the heat and set my sight towards the mountains I knew to be the boundary between Equestria and the Badlands. From there I began the long journey there.

It took a little bit of searching, but I found a passage between the mountains, a pathway about as wide as two main Canterlot roads put together. As I approached I quickly noticed how different it was compared to everything around it. The passage was verdant, almost painfully so. Trees, grass, moss, and flowers grew abundantly in the little valley between the two mountains, giving it a refreshing, young atmosphere. Upon stepping inside the unrepentant growth it became vastly apparent that there was an entirely different atmosphere here. As I trotted within the glade I felt a deep sense of peace and relaxation wash over me, tempting me with repose and begging me to stop and rest my weary body, despite the fact that I was already well rested. It was quiet, almost unnaturally so. Rather than making me feel on edge, however, it made me feel secure, impressing upon my mind that I was completely alone and that such was a welcome thing. I began exploring around, finding a brook gently coursing through the greenery. As there was no source that I can think of, it was a strange sight indeed. During the time I was within the green passageway, however, the enigmatic presence of the brook seemed to make sense.

As much as I enjoyed the fertile, verdant glade between the two dead mountains I knew that I had to continue my journey. With remorse I finally left the beautiful paradise. As I did, every fibre of my being cried out for me to return, and I almost did. I had to remind myself that I was figuring out who my parents were. Such a thought was enough to keep me moving forwards. As I left the glade, having apparently removed my helmet in my time therein, the scorching hot, bone-dry air of the badlands washed over my face about as gently as a tsunami. The cool air of the verdant scene behind me was certainly inviting, but I countered the temptation by re-equipping my helmet. I then set forth into the depressingly dead landscape that stretched before me.

It was probably for a few, if not several, hours that I trotted before I found anything. In the distance was what seemed to be a gathering of huts. I couldn't tell exactly what it was, mostly due to the distance, so I began making my way over. When I arrived, finding that it was indeed a small gathering of huts, I was greeted by a few ponies wrapped in cloth. The cloth had been white in the past, I'm sure, but was too far soiled by moisture and dirt to remain anywhere near that colour. They seemed hesitant, distrusting of me, as I approached. "What brings you here, outlander?"

"I need to find the city."

"Which one?" I didn't know there was more than one.

"The one with the arena." I saw them look at each other for a moment.

"Why do you seek transport there? Only death will await you in that sick place, outlander."

"Death is no stranger to me. This will be no different. Will you take me there or not?" Again they looked at each other.

"We will do it. Do not blame us if you find yourself soon to die." They turned and began heading to a wooden structure, a boat of sorts. It had a sail, a fairly large one at that. The boat had two skims, with metal lining the bottom, and a back cabin, perhaps large enough to hold a dozen ponies if they crammed in tightly enough. Mounted to the top of the cabin was a strange device; it had shaped slabs of wood on the inside linked to a central point. The opening in the front aligned with the sail, pointing directly into it. I had no idea what purpose such an extension could serve, but I disregarded the thought and followed them on board. Without much delay the cloth-covered ponies activated the strange wooden device. The slabs began turning and, before too long, I could see the sail pick up wind. The faster the mechanism moved the more wind the sail picked up. After a short while, around when it seemed the device hit maximum output, the boat began moving. The metallic base began dragging across the dead, dry dirt below. It was clear that we were on our way now.

After most likely an hour or so we arrived at the boundary. The boat stopped well before the city, when it was just on the horizon to be specific. I looked at the one in control, who turned to me and spoke. "This is where we stop."

"You can't approach further?"

"We don't wish to be caught in the politics of that rat's nest. If you're brazen enough to venture, go. We will not follow." I nodded, not having a response, before disembarking the vessel. As soon as my last hoof left the deck the machine began spinning again. Within moments the skimmer was gone, leaving me stranded. I turned my attention back to the distant city and began my journey there.

It was about dusk by the time I arrived on the periphery of the town. Lights had not yet been lit, and a decent number of ponies were still out in the streets. As I entered the town it became very apparent the kind of place that I had just trotted into. There was really nowhere to look where there wasn't a fight. Whether it was in the street, on the roofs, or in the alleys, there was sure to be some kind of a scuffle. The buildings these ponies fought both on and around were flat on all surfaces, made out of shaped sandstone and dirt. The windows, which were roughly hewn out of the side of the buildings, were closed with thick wooden shutters. The doors were large, heavy wooden structures in and of themselves. Both were reinforced with iron bolts and bars, as if in an attempt to keep something out or to prevent breaking and entering. Beyond that, there was nothing of note, not that I had time to search. I heard some clanking nearby and turned to face it. What met my view was a group of ponies, or at least what looked like something that could have been ponies at one point. The scars and deformities that riddled their bodies made them a grisly sight, one that reflected a life filled with nothing but war and fighting. Their weapons looked like they were wooden hilts with sharpened bones embedded in them; some resembled swords, others axes, and one was a kind of scythe. As they continued to approach I spoke. "Can I help you?"

"Would you look at its pretty face? Unmarred, unscarred, whole. It's a shame, isn't it? Guess that means it's nubile. But is it mare or stallion? One way to find out." I had no clue what they were referring to, as my face was still coated by the plates of my helmet. Regardless, they were approaching, arriving dangerously close now. I got down into a fighting stance in anticipation of the fight. As the first approached I drew a blade. The first of the withered ponies swung, his weapon bouncing fruitlessly off of my armour. In retaliation I drove the blade through his throat, hearing his gurgled response of surprise. With a heft I sunk the blade to the hilt, touching one side of his throat with my hoof. I then reared up, lifting him about a yard off of the ground. I drew the other blade and crossed it underneath the blade that was already sunken inside the pony. The weight on my one leg suddenly decreased as the body of the pony separated from the neck. I then turned to the others and flung the head at them, watching it bounce off of the chest of one of the withered ponies.

"Any of the rest of you have any bright ideas? Or will you just tell me where the arena is so I don't have to murder the whole city finding it?" My sudden change of attitude and tone frightened me; I can only imagine the effect my words had on the ponies before me. One of them pointed with shaking hoof, which caused me to glance over. He pointed down the main street, so I assumed that was where it was. When I turned back around the group was gone, even the body of their friend. I decided it best to head towards where the pony had pointed, so I sheathed my blades, set myself down, and set off in that direction.

Night had fallen as I continued my path. As I continued on my way one of the doors opened. A pony, one that actually resembled a pony, opened the door. His scars were few, but still prominent. He spoke quickly and gruffly. "Get inside, now!"

I furrowed my brow but complied nonetheless; I was in no real danger with my armour on, so I feared nothing in taking up the stallion on his order. Once I was inside of the house the door closed behind me forcefully, the latch quickly being placed. I turned my attention to the pony barricading the door, who was ensuring that it was closed tightly. “Is there an explanation for the urgency of my entry?”

“The husks dominate the city, but even they are afraid of the monsters that come out to dominate the night. We built the houses this way to prevent their entrance. It’s been centuries at least since they started invading. I’d almost rather have dragons…”

“What invades every night?”

“Not every night. It’s periodic, but without pattern.”

“That still doesn’t answer the question.”

“Changelings.”

“Changelings?”

“These hideous monstrosities, they’ve got the whole town on lockdown. They’re insectoid in nature, but the shape of ponies. They cloak as ponies that they’ve seen before.” He paused for a moment before reeling away from me. I unfolded my helmet and cocked an eyebrow. “You’re not one of them, are you?”

“No, not hardly. My name is Aqua, and I come from Equestria. I belong to an organisation designed to protect ponies. Is there any way I can be of assistance?”

“No. We’ve tried and nothing has helped. That’s why the buildings are so reinforced.”

“I see. I have another question, however, that I need you to answer.”

“What is it?”

“What are these ‘husks’ you referred to?”

“Right now, this town is under a bit of political distress. The one side of the struggle consists of ponies like me, ponies who still resemble themselves and haven’t lost their basic morality. We run the businesses, the government, everything. Well, running the government is a bit of a stretch, but we’re the backbone of the city.”

“And the husks?”

“They’re lifeless, brutish creatures that have shed their morality for an increased bloodlust. It gives them strength beyond us, so we basically live in subjection to them. Any time they want something, but don’t want it properly, they put on these helmets they crafted by threading the fragments of multiple skulls together. They paint themselves in their own blood for added effect. They use weapons made by jabbing bones into wooden planks or sticks and sharpening the longer end. They pick fights with anypony and everypony, even each other. It’s all they do. They’re no better than thugs and vagabonds, or wild creatures fuelled only by the scent of blood.”

“I can see why you dislike them.”

“Hate. Hate is a better description.”

“Alright. So, I can’t go out at night?”

“Unless you want to die, or worse, I’d highly suggest you stay in here.”

“Or worse?”

“Many ponies and husks have been carried off in the middle of the night, never to return. We hear their screams outside of the door, then the buzzing, then silence. When we leave in the morning there is nothing there; no corpse, no remains, not a single trace. Sometimes there’s this sick, green, viscous liquid splattered about, but that’s all. We think the changelings take them, but we don’t know what for.”

“Then I think I’ll stay the night.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have a spare room, so you’ll just have to sleep in here. Is that alright with you?”

“Not like I have any other options, now do I?”

“True. Make yourself comfortable, then. I have a little food left over from dinner, if you’d like.”

“That would be appreciated. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“You’re a pony like us. We have to stick together at a time like this, since we have two fronts of enemies to face.” He said this as he went about preparing a plate for me. I happily ate the meal when it was presented to me and thanked the kind stallion. Once everything was set he went off to another part of the house, leaving me to myself.

When the morning came the stallion found me asleep in my armour. He woke me up and offered me breakfast, which I gladly accepted. I sat down to eat with his family, which consisted of him, his wife, and a small colt. The colt bombarded me with questions, which the parents tried to stave to no avail, and I patiently answered them all as I could. It persisted as long as breakfast did, after which I thanked them for the meal and shelter before heading out for the day. It didn’t take long for me to orient myself after leaving the front door. Once I knew my way I set out for the arena that I hoped was there.

It wasn’t more than a few hours by the time I reached the largest building I had seen in the entire town; it entirely dwarfed the nearby structures. It was both several stories higher as well as being large enough to hold an entire city’s population. I figured that this was what I was looking for. With this in mind I searched for a door. I managed to find one leading down a set of stairs, so I trotted within. I entered the door at the end of the stairwell and began looking around. A larger stallion approached me. When he arrived I noticed that he was still smaller than I was, but it only seemed to fuel him further. He had dark brown hide with hair about the same colour. It wasn’t short, but it didn’t get very far off of his head. His eyes almost looked like two black pits, but it was barely noticeable that they were simply a very deep brown. He spoke in a gruff tone, almost shouting at me. “And just what do you think you’re doing waltzing in here? What, do you think this is some kind of playground? Some magical adventure land for fillies? What kind of disregard do you have to have for any decency for you to be plowing through places like this, huh?”

“This is the arena, yes?”

“And if I told you it was, then what?”

“I would like to join.”

“You? Join? Ha! Don’t make me laugh. I’ve seen butterflies tougher than you. This is no place for you. Get lost.” He turned around and started trotting off.

“Would you rather I beat you until you accepted my request?” He paused for a moment before turning back around.

“What did you just say to me?”

“I’m joining this arena whether you like it or not. Might as well make this easier for you and just let me in.”

“And if I did then what? They drag your massacred corpse back down here so I can steal your stuff and leave you to rot out in the streets? Is that what you’re looking for?”

“I’m looking for information, and I was told that this is where I’d find it.”

“If you want information then go to a library.”

“A library doesn’t have information on murdered parents.” He stopped again, looking back towards me. “I’m here to beat it out of whomever I need to. If it means I have to start with you then I have no qualms about it.”

“You’ve got guts. I like it. Welcome aboard the team. The next fight should be starting in a few moments. If our team member comes back resembling a pile of mashed strawberries then you get to go out. If not, then wait until he dies. Got it?”

“As clear as day.”

“Good. I hate repeating myself.” With this he finally trotted off into some other section of the underbelly of the arena. From here it was simply a waiting game. I sat down near the wall next to me and began waiting.

It didn’t take terribly long before I heard movement. I turned my attention to the origin, down the long hallway that lie before me, to see what it was. Before long, a few ponies were trotting down the passage. I couldn’t tell what was going on until they actually entered the main room I was sitting in. They dumped a corpse, positively coated in blood, over the side of the rig they were carrying it on. The stallion was little more than a bloody pulp at this point. The brown pony from before came out and looked at him for a moment before speaking. “Figures. He was worthless anyways. Newcomer, your time is up. Follow those two to find the entrance.”

I nodded and trotted over. When I arrived the two ponies with dead expressions bid me to follow, so I did. It was in deathly silence that I continued behind them until I was standing in a dug out section of the arena wall. Iron bars prevented me from entering the ring, so I had to wait further. Before too long I heard a voice echo through the arena. “Ponies of the city, we have gathered together two more combatants, fresh blood from each side. Only by killing their opponent can they hope to advance to higher levels of combat. In the West corner we have a skilled combatant from Equestria, a rejected royal guard seeking to hone their killing touch for revenge. In the East corner we have a giant of a Pegasus from Equestria as well, seeking answers to vengeful questions. Who will take home the victory, and march that much closer to their goal? Let’s find out. Combatants, begin!”

The gates suddenly dropped, allowing us out. I galloped out towards the centre of the arena, rearing up just before I arrived. The other pony, who had been charging aggressively, halted as soon as he could. He was trying to get a read on me through his guard uniform’s helmet. It gave me enough time to draw my blades and begin heating them. The pony finally approached, his pike thrusting towards me. I deflected the jabs expertly, leaving him looking a bit more than worried. I began stepping towards him, eventually cutting his pike on the handle and rendering it useless. He then drew his sword, which I easily parried. The pony was keeping just out of reach, but he could only manage for so long. He began to tire after a while, so I took action. I sheathed my blades and, from the standing position, leaped upon him. I drew a blade and held it to his neck, hesitating with the strike. It didn’t feel right, especially now that I had him helplessly before me. I saw his glance shoot over to one side, so I followed the look. It was towards a pavilion set up in one of the lower seats in the arena’s audience seating. The seating itself was about half full at this point, but that wasn’t the important aspect. What I saw within the pavilion was a pony, its dark robes aiding in its occult aspect. The shade made it fairly hard to tell what exactly they looked like. I hardly noticed them step up, barely protruding their head from the shade of the pavilion. A black cowl and mask hid all but their eyes, and a bit of their dark green hide from the side of one eye, across the bridge of the muzzle to the other, and ending just beyond the other eye. I saw a covered hoof reach up towards their throat before making a slicing motion. I swallowed and looked back down at the pony underneath me. “No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

I drove my hoof down hard, smashing his head in. The sudden outburst of blood from his crushed cranium shot across the sands of the arena. I removed my hoof and watched the blood trail off of my greave and back down into the sickening mixture of flesh and bone that painted the ground underneath the impact zone. Most of me cried out in protest at the murder of this pony, but some part of me I had never known about before rejoiced, begging for more destruction. I arose and began trotting off, contemplating what had just happened. I made my way back down to the underbelly, eventually standing before the brown pony who had been so hostile before. “Well, wasn’t that something? Beginner’s luck, nothing more. Wait until your next match; then we’ll really know if you can survive or not. I don’t think you will, but that’s just me.”

I nodded and trotted off, sitting in some part of the main room by myself. I looked at the caked blood around the lip of the greave, at whatever small portion of the remains that had barely managed to remain attached to my armour. I sat in contemplation of the mess, and it was as such that I waited patiently.

After perhaps a few minutes a pony came down to the underbelly and headed directly towards the brown pony, weaving through the other ponies down here. After a few minutes they left again. The brown pony followed them out, but stopped in front of me. I looked at him, as he stood eye to eye with me while I was laying down. “So I was just informed by the arena master that your armour is a no-go for the battles. If you keep using it, they’ll provide the other team with tools that can easily cleave an armoured pony in half, and I don’t think either of us would appreciate that.”

“So where would you have me leave it?”

“The corner. Where else did you think I’d tell you to leave it, at grandma’s house?” I looked at him blankly. “What, don’t have grandparents either?”

I got up, heading towards a corner of the armoury, before powering down my armour and placing it as close to the wall as I could. “Now what armour can you give me, then?”

“Find something that fits.” I suppressed a sigh of exasperation as I trotted over and began attempting to equip every last suit of pitifully rusted armour they had. None of them fit, so I turned back to the pony. “None of the sets fit. How am I supposed to do battle without a fitting set of armour?”

“Figure it out. Parry, dodge, whatever. If you’re too chicken to take a hit then leave, because this isn’t the place for pansies.”

“Can you not make a set?”

“What do you think we are? Millionaires? We run a club of savage murderers in a broken city in the middle of a dead wasteland. We don’t run a sportspony club for crying out loud. Even if we had the means to do so we wouldn’t have time. You’re in the next battle, so get yourself ready.”

“So where are your blades then?” He simply pointed over to a smaller rack in the armoury. It was filled with swords, axes, and hammers in very poor repair. With a grunt of frustration I picked one of the larger swords, holding it firmly in my teeth. As long as I didn’t contract some kind of fatal disease, I thought to myself, I should be fine; I was here for information, not diseases. I shook the thought, and just in time for the two ponies to come and bid me to follow them. I did so, finding myself in the arena once more. The announcer’s voice rang out before the battle began. Once the gates lowered I was pitted against a stallion, a unicorn specifically, who used a bow. I tried to make use of what cover I could, although there was next to none. I managed to evade most of the arrows by sheer luck, but I took a few hits. One landed between my left shoulder and my chest, narrowly missing key spots in both, while two others had sunk through my side. One had penetrated the front of my right hind hoof, a shot which had almost toppled me during the fight. I did eventually close in on the pony, swinging my sword in an attempt to suppress the pony. It worked, and I even cleaved the bow in half, before pinning the pony to the wall. My blade was stretched across his neck, giving me the opportunity to glance at the pavilion. From the corner of my eye I could see the sign of death, so I pressed in with as much force as I could. I only stopped when my muzzle hit the wall. By then, I heard a thunk on the ground next to me, followed by another, louder impact. I looked over to find the decapitated body of the stallion. I closed my eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink before turning my attention to the entrance to the underbelly. As I trotted my way back over I tried not to think about what I had accomplished once again.

Once down in the underbelly again I was briefed on my next battle, which occurred no later than ten minutes since the last. After that, I would head up to the fight before returning to the underbelly for further instruction. The pattern had been established, and I wondered how long it would take, how many dead ponies I would have to leave in my wake, before I found anything out.

I was preparing for the last match of the day, fairly tired and worn from my injuries, when the brown pony approached me. “The rules have changed. You can use your armour on this match.”

“What’s so different?”

“You’re fighting the other team’s last fighter.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s a pretty infamous pony known as Flowing Hammer. She got her name for a reason, and it’s because of her skill with her warhammer.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll beat her down just as easily as the rest of those pathetic mutts.”

“I wouldn’t take this one so lightly. She’ll be launching you across the arena so hard that you’ll wish you were back home drinking tea and munching on dandelions.”

“Uh-huh, right. Just let me at her.” I trotted over and equipped my armour, happily embracing the form fitting plates once more. Once the last plate folded onto me I turned and looked at the brown pony again. He nodded as the two escorts trotted in. I brushed them aside and eagerly made my way to the pen. I barely managed to contain my anticipation until the announcer finally spoke.

“Ponies of the city, you have watched fixated as this newcomer brutally killed every single last one of the West corner. Now, behold as she engages in mortal combat with the West corner’s champion, your personal favourite: Flowing Hammer! Who will obtain victory in a supremacy match between these two massive fighters? Let’s find out!”

The gate to the arena, now entirely packed to the brim with audience members, lowered, allowing me to finally get a look at this Flowing Hammer character. Most particularly, the look I got was best when I narrowly parried her hammer’s strike after we closed the gap between us. She was large, about as large as I was. Through her armour I could see what should have been her hide. Rather than the hide of normal ponies, her body was coated in thick red plates, almost chitinous in nature. Her stature was very similar to mine, almost to the tip of the tail. She had a large, long muscular tail much like I did. Across the top of it, and probably most of her back, were what looked like frills, perhaps membranous in nature. Off of her face came two short whisker-like protrusions that dangled down to around her chin. I couldn’t tell what her hair was like, as it was covered by her helmet, but I could have sword that a few white strands dangled down onto her face.

My look was interrupted when she brought the hammer around again. I ducked underneath the blow and lunged at her with a blade extended. She used the momentum of the miss to launch herself out of the way of my strike, skidding a short distance away. As I recovered from the botched landing I could tell she was swinging the hammer down towards me. I rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging the impact that shook the ground beneath me. As she attempted to yank the hammer from the ground I reared up with both blades drawn. I managed to land a few swipes before she swung her tail to launch me back. As I skidded across the dirt on my back I sheathed my swords again, preparing to get back onto my hooves. When I turned my attention back to Flowing Hammer I saw her charging at full speed, hammer trailing behind her. I readied myself, ducking down when I calculated the arc of her swing. I issued a low counterstrike with my tail, swinging it around in fury. It knocked her violently off of her hooves, causing to lose her grip on her hammer. The heavy weapon whizzed over me as she ploughed straight into my side. We both got up, equally glancing over at the hammer, before looking back at each other. She spoke first. “You fight well, almost as well as me.”

“I’ve never met another pony with a tail like mine, nonetheless one that uses it as a weapon.”

“I could say the same, stranger. Unfortunately for you, one of us has to die here.” With that, she bolted over towards her hammer again. I reared up onto my hind legs and drew both swords again. They had heated up fully by the time she arrived with her hammer in tow. She swung the hunk of metal at full force, a force that I was brave enough to try and counteract. I swung my swords out to meet it, jabbing both blades directly into the metal by the time I had compensated for the impact. The momentum carried me about a quarter circle around Flowing Hammer and left my front legs throbbing madly. I recovered my stance and began attempting to wrest the hammer from her grasp. She ultimately won the duel for supremacy, but not without exposing herself. I lunged in, disregarding any kind of grounding of stance that I had before. I landed squarely upon her, sinking my blades into both of her hips. She groaned in pain as a sizzling sound echoed through the arena. She managed to shake me off with her tail, a feat I’m still surprised by today. I sheathed my blades and arose again. Once I was back on my hooves I turned my attention to her once more. It was very clear that my strike had the intended effect, as she was stuck, crippled by the injuries. She did her best to rotate, her hammer still in her mouth. I charged in, parrying the severely weakened swing of her hammer. I ploughed straight through her, bowling her over onto her back. As I stood over her, blades pressed to the armour covering her neck, I turned my attention to the pony in the stands. Rather than a sign for execution, he waved his hoof in the air. Immense cheering came from the crowd before the announcer’s voice came echoing out. “Ponies of the city, the judge has decided that their fight was entertaining enough to spare them both. As such, this fight will be decided another day.”

I turned my attention back to Flowing Hammer, sheathing my blades. I got off of her, allowing her to roll over. She spoke as she did. “What is your name? They didn’t even announce it.”

“Aqua.” Her face seemed to light up in discovery.

“Aqua?”

“Yes, that is my name.”

“They told me I needed to find an Aqua to learn more.”

“Learn more about what?”

“Combatants, return to your corners so the next fight can begin.”

“Learn more about what I am, who I am.”

“I’m still confused. What do I have to do with you?”

“Combatants, the champion will come out to kill you both if you don’t stop fraternizing and return to your corners.” I looked up at the stands before trotting towards my corner. I turned my gaze back to Flowing Hammer as I trotted out, seeing her looking towards me longingly before crawling towards her own side of the arena. As I entered the underbelly again, and as the rush of battle wore off, I could feel the pain starting to ramp up in my front legs. By the time I got to the brown pony I practically collapsed. He saw it and spoke gruffly.

“And what’s the matter with you?”

“I took a heavy hit to the front legs.”

“I already knew that; I watch every battle. I meant why you decided to chicken out and start talking with the enemy.”

“I wanted to find out where she was from, where there are other ponies with tails like mine.”

“There aren’t, and there is no place like that. You two are just freaks, plain and simple. Now get over it and get ready for tomorrow’s match.” I went to step towards him again, finding my step very shaky and filled with immense pain. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re giving up.”

“Something’s wrong with my front legs.”

“It’s called being a pansy. Get over it.” I powered down my armour so I could get a better look at what was going on. Both legs were swollen at this point, and looked a little out of shape. “Great. You’ve gone and broken your legs, have you?”

I didn’t know how to respond. “Get lost, then. You can’t fight, so there’s no point in you wasting the air down here.”

I began re-equipping my armour, turning myself towards the entrance once the plates were fully covering me once again. “Well, what are you waiting for? A sympathy card? Get out of my underbelly!”

I set the coordinates for the warp core before discharging the energy it had accumulated during the fight. When next I focused on my surroundings I could tell I was back in the fertile land of Equestria. I wasn’t more than a few yards away from my house, surprisingly, but I also noted that I was falling. It wasn’t a fall higher than a couple of stories, but the impact still stung my front legs enough to paralyse me. I grunted, suppressing the cries of agony from the landing, before struggling to my hooves again. A tear or two slipped from my eyes as I barely trotted my way back to my house. Upon entering I found Storm finishing up a plate of food. He turned to me with a pleasant smile. “Welcome home, Aqua. How did things go out there?”

“You’re going to need to call Bane.” His face dropped immediately.

“What happened?” I powered down my armour, a mistake in and of itself. Once the hydraulic support was gone I crumpled down upon my front legs, unable to support my own weight. The pain of the impact froze me in place once again. Storm rushed over, most likely upon seeing the condition my legs were in. He helped me up, attempting his best to carry my heavy front half as we trotted together over to the sofa. He laid me down as best as he could to keep the pressure off of my front legs before going out to get Bane.

After several moments, perhaps minutes but I don’t know as pain warps time, had elapsed both Bane and Galaxia came trotting in. I could hear Bane’s sharp inhale before he emitted an ‘ooh’ of discomfort. “Well, you really messed up your legs this time, Aqua.”

“Can you fix them?”

“Of course we can fix them; we can bring you back from the dead.” It was true, and I hadn’t thought of it like that. Galaxia approached first.

“You know the procedure, Aqua.” I nodded as Galaxia began casting her usual spell. Before long I could feel the weight of drowsiness overpowering me. It wasn’t much longer that I succumbed to the inviting sleep.

When I next awoke it was in my bed, with Storm seated nearby. “Oh, you’re awake.”

“Yeah.” I went to rub the grogginess from my eyes, but wasn’t able to move my legs very far.

“You’ve got a few more days before you can continue performing again like before, but at least your legs will make a full recovery.”

“Good, because I still didn’t get answers.” Storm’s face read concern. “And now I have even more questions.”

“So you have to go back, don’t you?”

“Yup.” He sighed.

“Just try not to break any more legs this time, yeah?”

“I’ll try not to.” He shook his head with a chuckle before leaving the room. I set myself back down to rest, closing my eyes and waiting. Before too long my body gave itself up to sleep once more.

The sound of shuffling in my room awoke me next. I turned my attention towards the sound to find a pony sneaking about my room. I didn’t recognise them, probably because they were clad in black, form fitting armour that resembled leather. I sat up, causing them to stop and turn their attention to me. “What are you doing here? Who are you?”

My questions simply caused the pony to jump into action, leaping onto the bed and drawing a dagger. I dodged the first two stabs and went to kick them off, but found that all the pressure on my sheets didn’t allow me to move my hind legs. As such, when she went to strike again, I caught the leg that the dagger was mounted to, barely holding the tip above my neck. They were putting all of their might into driving the dagger down, and they had the help of gravity. Because of the weakened state of my legs I was unable to properly push back, so I was left maintaining the dagger dangling inches above my throat. “Get off of me!”

“Your time has come, Aqua. You know too much.”

“Know too much of what?!”

“We have to stop you before you realise your full potential. You cannot know who you truly are, and you will not leave this room alive. You ask too many questions. It’s time for you to die, just like your parents.”

“I don’t even know who they were!”

“Good. Now,” she grunted through the effort of trying to murder me, “time for you to be silenced, drake.”

I was fighting back as best as I could, and could only hope that somepony else in the house had heard my shouted responses. I managed to send the knife to the right of my neck as I gave up the struggle. The blade sunk into the mattress, giving me time to headbutt the assassin. They reeled slightly, giving me room to kick gently at their chest. It was enough to push them off of me so I could begin attempting to free my hind legs. I wriggled about enough to knock the assassin off of the bed, which gave me time to get out of my covers. When the assassin was next in my view it was with the dagger lunging directly towards me. I reacted as best as I could but still took the shot in the left shoulder. I grunted as they rotated the blade before yanking it out. I wheeled around as best as I could to pelt them with my tail, knocking them back over the bed. I saw the assassin get back up and lunge over the bed, so I bucked backwards at them. My hooves connected solidly, but not before the dagger had sunk through my right hind hoof and straight up my leg. As the assassin crashed through the wall by the door I was left struggling with the waves of agony creeping up my spine. I had crumpled to the ground, barely peeking over the bed in order to see the assassin dusting themselves off before coming back over. I noticed blood on the floor out in the hallway, perhaps signifying the success of the impact. They lunged through the hole and over the bed again, narrowly missing my ear with their swing. I took the chance and lunged at them while they recovered, pinning them to the wall. It was fear-filled desperation that kept the immense pain from crippling me. It was also about this time that I heard somepony else coming up the stairs. I turned my attention there to make sure it wasn’t another assassin sent to help the one I had pinned. The pony that burst through the door was Storm, fully clad in armour and wielding his sword already. The assassin used the diversion to violently swing her head back, hitting me in the side of the head and causing me to fall over backwards. She was already upon me before I could react, jabbing her dagger into my body time and time again. I tried in vain to kick her off. Suddenly, Storm’s sword plunged deep into the assassin’s chest, causing them to lock up. I got the chance to roll their body off of me, barely managing a sit. The assassin coughed a time or two, especially when Storm withdrew his sword, and spat out a large chunk of blood. He went to strike her again, but my voice caused him to pause. Through the pain of my own injuries I spoke. “Wait.”

Storm looked over at me in bewilderment. “They were trying to kill you! What do you want me to wait for?”

“Who sent you? Why are you here trying to kill me?”

“I’ll never tell you, drake.” She spat blood at me. “You ask too many questions.”

With ill intent I focused on the pony before me. Suddenly, I saw my shadow begin moving, reaching out to their body. Before long, the tendrils reached underneath their skin and began worming their way around. She cried out in agony and, after a few moments of her writhing underneath the pain of being flayed, spoke. “Enough! I’ll tell you!”

I dropped the spell and looked at her again. When the tendrils receded she spoke again. “The assassins sent me to kill you.”

“Who is your leader?”

“They hold a prominent place in the assassins. You’ll never find him on your own, and I won’t lead you to them. I’ll die before I betray them.”

“Even to that pain that made you talk?”

“Even to that. I can tell you, though, that the pony in the pavilion in the arena is a member of our group.” I nodded to Storm, who nodded back.

“Thank you for giving me the information I needed. Now, prepare to meet your end.” Her eyes widened, but she didn’t have enough time to react before Storm sunk his blade through her skull. She quickly fell limp as Storm withdrew the blade. He then turned to me.

“Are you alright?”

“Alive, yes, but not alright.”

“I can bind those injuries.”

“It’d be better to get Bane involved. I took a deep stab up the hoof.” I saw Storm wince before nodding. He rushed out, leaving me to myself again. I didn’t even have time to crawl my way onto my bed, or even into any kind of reachable position, before Storm and Bane entered the room again. When Bane saw me he simply shook his head.

“Wow. Can’t even recover from injury without almost getting killed again, huh?” His sarcastic tone caused me to chuckle, which was a mistake. As I winced through the laughter he spoke again. “Sorry. I’ll get to work.”

With that, he trotted over and rolled me onto my back. As he cast the spell the gold colour of his magic enveloped his blue horn. What I felt next was unlike anything I had ever felt before in my life, and I’m not sure if it was good or bad. It was painful, that was for certain. As I glanced down at my belly, which was pointed up to the ceiling with my legs spread, I saw the muscle underneath the skin begin stitching itself back together again, sealing up the wounds and causing a majority the bleeding to stop. My hide then followed suit, ultimately ceasing the flow of blood. When the spell was done, and the strange pain subsided, I looked up at Bane. He nodded in contentment before rising and trotting away. “If you two need anything else, let me know.”

He eventually began trotting down the stairs, the sound of his hooves going step by step echoing up the hallway. I looked back over at Storm, who carried a slightly flushed tone on his face. I cocked an eyebrow before rolling over onto my side and sitting up. “Why the look, Storm?”

“Oh, I had just never seen that before.”

“My injuries?” The look on his face told me that such wasn’t the answer.

“The pose, honestly. Ponies don’t typically lie on their backs.”

“A little too much for you to handle?” I said teasingly. His face seemed to get more flustered as he scrunched his face in bashfulness. It was probably the most adorable face I’ve ever seen him make and it make me chuckle, painlessly if I might add this time.

“When’s the next thing you have to do?” I could tell he was trying to either change the subject or figure out how much time I had to spend with him.

“Well, I still haven’t figured out what I need to from the arena yet, so I should probably head out there and get the information I’ve been looking for for a while now.” His face dropped to a pouting expression almost. I looked at him for a moment before adopting a sing-song tone. “But, that doesn’t mean that I can’t wait for a few days. Make sure I’m recovered, right?”

Storm’s face lit up. “So you’ll stay for a little?”

“Yeah, take a small break from putting my life in danger.” He happily scooted his way over. He kissed me on the cheek, causing me to curiously look at him. He returned a look of curiosity, most likely quietly asking about my own lack of knowledge.

“What’s the matter?”

“I just didn’t know what you were doing.”

“It’s just a token of affection that ponies do. Kind of like this one.” He leaned in and kissed me on the lips. Out of a lack of surety I pulled back my head.

“Ponies do that?”

“Well, the second is only in intimate situations. Like lovers, for example.” I could have sworn my face became a little warmer.

“I appreciate the notion.” I climbed into the bed, ignoring the now-returning, but dull, pain in my front legs. Storm followed suit, climbing on the bed beside me. He embraced me from behind with his wings, wrapping the feathered appendages around my midsection. I felt strangely comfortable like that, so I set myself down into a more comfortable position. He moved his wing out from under me, keeping the one wrapped about my body.

“I love you, Aqua.” His statement made me think for a moment. Did I have the same feeling? Didn’t I have to because of that ‘marry’ thing? What would he say if I didn’t return the sentiment? With those thoughts swirling about my head, making a concoction of doubt, I spoke.

“I love you too, Storm.” The room fell silent, my troubled heart calming. Perhaps I did love him, but just didn’t know it. Love was such a strange concept to me. I let out a soft exhaled snort before closing my eyes. I couldn’t help but smile as I drifted off to sleep.

The next several days passed without much commotion. No emergencies came up, and my journey to the Sanctuary, a trip merely to check on the Order, was too uneventful to do more than mention it here. On my way back, however, I was slowed in my return by a timberwolf. Now, as I was fully armoured this normally wouldn’t have caused me to do so much as double-take, but there was something off about this one. The wolf’s eyes, rather than being that glowing green hole in their head, carried a blue tint. It also seemed to vigilantly be standing in the way of the path, unmoving. As I approached I spoke to it, as I probably would have done with any other animal. “You better move. I don’t want to run you down or anything like that.”

“I will not move until you hear my message.” The fact that it spoke stopped me dead in my tracks a few yards away from it. “Marvel later, for what I have to say is of the utmost importance, Aqua.”

“How do you know my name?”

“He who sent me knows many things. Such knowledge is, at this moment, irrelevant. Heed my warning: Erazul will seek to use Storm against you.”

“How?”

“He will make Storm become your downfall if you are not vigilant. You cannot inform Storm, as his actions will become desperate and cause further devastation. Be warned.” With this, the timberwolf darted into the thicket faster than I could even see. I scoffed a bit at the speed which it used before returning to my journey.

I returned home again, Storm greeting me with food that he had prepared in my absence. I thanked him and partook of it. From there, the rest of the day passed as normal. Nightfall came, bidding Storm and I to turn in for the night. By now, Storm had developed the habit of falling asleep with one of his wings curled around my midsection. He did so this night as well, following his normal habit of sleeping behind me despite him being smaller. Perhaps he felt more like he was protecting me that way. It didn’t matter to me, though, as his wing did make me feel more secure. Rather than sleep in that security, however, concern began to seep into my heart, evolving into worry. Storm fell asleep, as his rhythmic breathing told me, so I sat up. His wing limply fell off of my body, giving me the room I needed to climb off of the bed. I quietly made my way over to the door, ultimately deciding to avoid the noise of the door and simply trot through the hole in the wall. I successfully made my way out without any sound louder than a few hooftaps. Once I was outside of the room I set about a vigilant watch, listening intently for any noise and generally keeping an eye on Storm through the hole in the wall. What the timberwolf had told me concerned me greatly, and I wasn’t about to fail.

Morning came and Storm awoke. When I noticed him stirring I quietly made my way to the bathroom. As I heard him climbing out of the bed I began heading towards the room, hoping it was convincing enough. He opened the door, finding me in the doorway. “Oh, good morning Aqua. You’re up early.”

“Yeah, sometimes I get up earlier.” I wasn’t about to tell him that I went without sleep just to make sure he was safe.

“Well, I bet you’re probably hungry then, huh?”

“Yeah, a little.” That was a lie. The hardest part about the entire night was keeping my stomach from waking Storm up in the middle of the night. I had contemplated getting something to eat several times, but decided against it in case I made too much noise.

“Alright. I’ll get something whipped up.”

“I can cook.”

“Nah, I really like it. It’s kind of fun, you know?”

“Alright.” He began making his way towards the stairs. I followed him down and eagerly awaited the meal. When he brought the food out, mostly an assortment of fruits and a few sandwiches, he spoke.

“So how much longer until you need to leave?”

“I’ve can spare a few more days.” I really couldn’t, but I really didn’t have much else for options. To be fair, though, calling upon Bane or Galaxia for help hadn’t crossed my mind at that point.

“That’s good. Maybe we could go somewhere, like a park or a trip through the woods or something, spend some time together, you know?” It did sound temptingly fun.

“Sure.”

“I’ll spend today thinking of somewhere to go and we can do that tomorrow. Sound good?”

“I like the sound of it, yeah.”

“Awesome. How’s the food?”

“Amazing as always, Storm. Where did you learn to prepare your meals?”

“I’m self-taught.” That statement seemed far more impressive to me than it probably should have. “Everything I know I learned by myself.”

“Then I guess you’re a good teacher, huh?”

“Not hard to teach a pupil if you are the pupil.” He tapped the side of his head. The statement made me chuckle. The rest of the conversation turned to slightly more monotonous subjects, such as the predicted weather or the latest royal news. From there, once the meal was finished, Storm set about looking over the map thoroughly.

The rest of the day continued as he planned and prepared, and as I watched over him religiously, until nightfall came again. As we curled up in the bed again, Storm spoke to me. “Hey, Aqua, try and get a better sleep tonight than you did last night. Within the last hour or two you seemed like you were getting pretty exhausted, and that’s not normally how you are. Are you sure you slept well last night?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I guess just try and make it more restful. I don’t like the bags under your eyes. Doesn’t compliment your beauty as well.” A flustered heat washed over my face, one that he couldn’t see thankfully.

“Alright. We’ll see how it goes.” The room fell silent. I began the painfully long wait for Storm to doze off so I could sneak away, a wait that was exponentially harder this night than the last. My eyes began to droop, giving me trouble as I tried my hardest to keep them open. Thankfully, however, Storm soon drifted off. His wing fell limp and gave me the signal that I needed. Once again I managed to snake my way out of his grip and trot my way out of the room. My hoofsteps were not loud enough to wake him, but were loud enough to cause me to worry about waking him. I did, eventually, work my way out of the room, taking the hole in the wall again. We really needed to get that fixed one of these days, I thought to myself, but when does my schedule ever allow for that kind of time? I shook the thought from my head and began my vigilant watch over the room.

Difficult is a word nowhere near thorough enough to describe the challenge I had in remaining awake that night. After what felt like several hours I wasn’t even able to keep myself trotting. With no real goal other than remaining awake I was finding it highly challenging to keep watch. My eyes grew heavier with each passing minute.

I snapped awake again, breathing heavily. I shook myself and arose to double check on Storm. I found him sprawled out in the bed, limbs going about every which way. I let out the quietest chuckle I have ever heard in my life before returning to my attempted diligent watch. I continued as best as I could, but I could tell the night was still wearing on me. My eyes were growing heavy again, and all I could do was pray that morning found us. I sat down to give my seemingly fatigued legs a rest.

Once more my eyes snapped open. I went to arise, but found myself unable to do so. Confused, I began looking about. A quick glance down at my legs revealed the reason: my legs were hogtied together in a combination between cuffs and rope. How tired did I have to be for that to happen without me even noticing? I shook the thought and began looking around. I was in my bedroom, on the bed specifically. Storm wasn’t on the bed, so I decided to call out to him. “Storm?”

I heard a slight shuffle from the floor to the side of the bed that was to my back. With concerted effort I managed to roll over so I could look. Storm was on the floor, sure enough. Perhaps it was a joke he was pulling on me. Whatever it was, I wanted out of the bindings so I called again. “Storm, wake up.”

He shifted around again. It was at that point when I heard another voice interject, one that was familiar. “I wouldn’t suggest doing that if I were you.”

I turned to the voice, finding a grey stallion. His flowing hair was white, grey, and black, a colour combination that was painfully familiar. The name suddenly came to me. “Erazul?”

“Glad you recognised me. Of course, I’d be a little surprised if you had forgotten already.”

“Why are you here?”

“You see, that’s a bit of a question now isn’t it? Before I answer it I have another question to ask you.”

“That’s not-“

“Ahp-ap-ap-ap, don’t interrupt me. Did you find out anything about your parents in the arena yet?”

“No.”

“What a shame. It would have been quite the interesting revelation. Perhaps you’ll find out the next time you go there.”

“Now will you answer the question?”

“Alright, fine, I’ll play nice. But remind me: what was the question again?”

“Why are you here?”

“Ah, yes, right, about that. So, here’s the deal. I needed Storm out of the way. Well, actually, I needed you out of the way, but getting you to render Storm useless so that I could render you useless is about as good. You see, I didn’t quite anticipate the two of you coming together as a couple. A bit strange if you ask me.”

“Enough dodging the question. What’s going on here?”

“You see, I’ve bound the both of you so that neither of you will be able to escape. I bound you physically, as it was probably going to be the most effective way of going about things. Storm, however, oh he’s bound in a completely and entirely different way. Just as he made you bound to him through marriage I made him bound to you.”

“What, did you perform some secret marriage ceremony for us while you tied me up or something?”

“No, although that sounds like it could be a good idea. I’ll have to remember that for the next streak of mischief.”

“Then what did you do to him?”

“You see, I tied him to you with magic. That silly timberwolf that warned you got it backwards. He kept saying that Storm would be your downfall. I guess it could be seen as being true in a way, but it’s not technically accurate. You see, you will be Storm’s downfall.”

“Why? How? I’m tied up.”

“You see, I put void magic on him and made you the trigger. Have you noticed that Storm writhes in his forced sleep every time you say something?”

“I suppose I did.”

“That’s because every single last word you utter moves the blades embedded in his hide another millimeter closer to his heart and lungs. So far, if my count and math is right, you’ve moved him almost a full two and a half inches closer to his demise. My goodness, you are tearing him up right now. Not much space left before he dies, you know. Not too many words left before his lungs start filling with blood and he drowns.” I glared at Erazul. “Well, I’ve got to make sure that the other troublesome pony is still in stasis. It’s hard work being a demi-god. I’m sure you’d know.”

“What do you…mean.” Before I could even ask he was gone. In frustration I let out a grunt. I tried for a little while to break out of the bindings, but found it entirely fruitless even with my savage strength. With a sigh, knowing how little room Storm had left, I called out. “Galaxia, I have no idea how to summon you, but you’re probably watching anyways, so I’ll say this: I need help. Come quickly.”

I sat for a while longer, attempting in vain once more to break from the bonds that firmly secured my legs together. It was then that Galaxia appeared. “I was surprised when I found out it was you who was calling me. Usually it’s other ponies calling me to help fix you. What did you need?”

“Help.” She began trotting over. “Not me, help Storm.”

“What’s wrong with Storm? He looks just fine.”

“Erazul’s spell.”

“What kind of spell?”

“My words force knives inside.” Galaxia looked over Storm for a while, eventually beginning to cast a spell. After a moment or two she spoke.

“I need you to speak again.” I shook my head, but she didn’t look. “Aqua, I need you to speak again.”

This time she turned her head to see me shaking mine. “Why not?”

I went to move a hoof over my throat, forgetting that they were all bound. I then went to do so with a wing, but quickly found out that my wings were strapped firmly to my side. All I could do was look up to Galaxia in desperation. She started trotting over. “I’ve got to get you untied.”

I started shaking my head more fervently, causing her to stop. “So then what do I do?”

I motioned towards Storm with my head. Ultimately, Galaxia sighed. “Fine. I’ll call Bane. Perhaps he knows a better way to find the pieces.”

She warped away, leaving me bound and mute. I watched over Storm helplessly until I heard the warping of magic. I looked over in hope to find Galaxia, only to be disappointed when I found Erazul standing in my view instead. “Aldorn’s still in stasis, so that’s good. And how goes the adventure here, hm?”

I merely stared at him. “Oh, have you gone and gotten quiet all of a sudden? That’s no fun. Your voice has a nice tone to it. I want to hear it again.”

He began trotting over, causing me to squirm a bit to see if I could make any grounds in escape. “Won’t you let me hear that voice of yours again? The voice of freedom, of protection, of pure, insatiable destruction waiting to be unleashed?”

He was uncomfortably close to my face when he finished that statement. He took a hoof and placed it under my chin, forcing me to look up into his piercingly vivid light blue eyes. He moved my head back and forth, looking at it from side to side. “I can see why Storm chose you of all ponies. Even in this form you don’t lack for beauty, at least to those who care about it. My only complaint is that you keep yourself too plain. You’d look much better dolled up even just a little, yes?”

It almost seemed like he was trying to egg me on to speech, but I was determined to not budge. “It’s interesting, you know, the fact that your hair gets shorter and longer, and even goes so far as to change its colour, depending on which form you take, but that you never need to cut it to do so. Magic can be so fickle sometimes.”

He dropped his hoof from my chin, placing it back down onto the floor. “Although, I have always been curious about one magical property about you.”

Once more he raised his hoof, but rather than placing it on my face he used it to poke at the pearl on my chest. He ultimately rested his hoof underneath the pearl, acting like he was holding it. “What kind of magical properties could a focus like this have? It’s not normal, and by the look of the glow it definitely isn’t like any other pearl I’ve ever seen before. Who is responsible for creating such a masterpiece?”

I stared him down in cold silence, a shiver running up my spine from his penetrating gaze. We stared at each other like that for a moment before he spoke again. “Not going to answer, huh? What a shame. I would have liked to employ them in my kingdom. I’m sure they would have enjoyed it too.”

I bit my tongue until I tasted the metallic flavour of blood. I couldn’t manage to swallow it at this point, so the sanguine fluid built up in my mouth. Erazul began trotting around as he spoke. “Trying so hard not to answer that you’re willing to bleed to death first, are you? You should know better than to cause yourself that much pain. You know, it’d be a lot less painful if you just spoke, even a single word. It’s not too much to ask, is it?”

He had about made his way to where my flank was situated when we heard the sound of teleportation. I looked over to find Galaxia, Bane, and Sparky all standing there. Erazul’s stance changed just as quickly as the trio’s did. “What are you doing here, Galaxia?”

“I could ask the same of you, Erazul. You’ve far outstepped your boundaries and you know that. As per the treatise, it is my duty to banish you to the Outer Realms.”

“You can’t banish me if you can’t catch me, and you’ve got bigger fish to fry.” With a laughter bordering maniacal he teleported away. After a moment or two Galaxia’s stance relaxed.

“The council will hear of this.” I let go of the grip on my tongue, the waves of pain still coursing through my mouth. I swallowed what blood I could, but judging by the looks of the three other conscious ponies I’d say it was a little late for that. “Aqua, there is no more need to silence yourself.”

I disagreed, but refrained from speaking so much as a word. “No matter, Sparky, you said that you were skilled in identifying injuries beneath the hide. If I recall correctly, you were the one that recognised Aqua’s injury first.”

“Yup!” As always with her bubbly personality.

“We need you to locate the position of every last piece of shrapnel inside of Storm’s body. I will extract them so that Bane can heal the wounds.”

“You’ve got it!” She trotted over to Storm, who still looked like he was peacefully sleeping on the ground. Galaxia and Bane followed shortly behind her, stopping nearby. The group focused intently on Storm, the occasional sound of magic echoing through the room. I refrained from trying to break out of the bonds so that Sparky could maintain her focus. In the meantime, I had to focus on not choking on the blood that would well up inside of my mouth. I’m sure at least some of it leaked out, but I was quickly growing both tired of and accustomed to the metal taste of that red fluid.

It didn’t take them very long to finish, and I’m glad it didn’t, from whence they turned to me. “Bane, get that tongue of hers or whatever healed up.”

“It’s her tongue.” Sparky’s normally vivacious tone would replace itself with a very serious, concentrated one whenever she used her ability to detect injury.

“Got it.” Bane spoke these words before trotting over and casting his healing spell. I could tell, although numbly so, from the strange sensation in my tongue. Galaxia then levitated a small bowl before my face. Within the bowl were the small slivers of metal, coated in blood, that used to be embedded within Storm’s body.

“Spit the rest of the blood into here. You’ve swallowed enough as is. We don’t want a vampony on our hooves, now do we?” I weakly chuckled before spitting an entire mouthful into the bowl. It nearly filled the bowl to the brim, a fact that left all of us reeling. “And you’ve been sitting on that mouthful for how long?”

“A couple of minutes.” Before I could stop myself I spoke. I snapped my mouth shut with wide eyes as I quickly locked my gaze onto Storm. He didn’t budge this time, and I started to wonder if I had killed him.

“There’s no need to be concerned for his safety anymore, Protectorate. The three of us removed the shards and disenchanted them. Storm is no longer in danger because of your words, though had you spoken even one more word he would have started dying.” I let out a sigh of relief. “The only pony left to help here is you. Will you finally let me untie you?”

“Now that I know that Storm isn’t going to die, yes.” Galaxia finally came up to the bed, undoing the restrictive bindings that had held me fast. Once I was free I stretched my limbs out. Doing so was a huge mistake, as I found out I was lightheaded to begin with. In reaction to this I simply flopped my head against the pillow and waited for the world to stop pulsating.

“We should also probably get you cleaned up. I don’t think you’ve seen yourself recently.” I shook my head, signalling that I hadn’t. When the world came back into focus I could see Galaxia’s hoof outstretched before me, so I took it. She helped me off of the bed and towards the bathroom. Once inside, and the light was turned on, I got a chance to see myself. The look would probably have caused me to recoil had I not been so tired and worn from the recent ordeals. Blood had streaked from both sides of my mouth, painting its way down my neck and to my chest. There was also dried blood coated onto my hide, roughly starting at the chest area. Most likely as a fortunate benefit, the mirror didn’t give me a wide enough range of vision to see my front hooves.

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Do you feel up to cleaning yourself off?”

“I don’t know. I just need rest.”

“We’re going to clean you before you lie down in that bed. We don’t wish for you have to replace the fabrics or spend so much time washing them. So, again: are you up to the task of cleaning yourself?”

“I don’t know. I’m pretty lightheaded.”

“And you fear falling or fainting?” I nodded, a mistake in and of itself. I stumbled a little, but Galaxia was still there to support me and keep me on my hooves.“Then which of us do you wish to assist you?”

“Can Storm?” I saw Galaxia’s stoic, unchanging face turn as she trotted towards the room. I heard distant, muffled conversation before approaching hoofsteps. Soon, Galaxia was standing beside me again. “Can he?”

“Between my magic breaking Erazul’s spell and Bane’s magic restoring his body, he should be as he was prior to this escapade. He will be up in a few minutes. Do you think you can last that long?” I sat down. “I take that as a no.”

“I’ll last longer like this.”

“If you say so.” The bathroom fell silent. What I could only assume were minutes, which felt like hours, passed as I sat with Galaxia standing over me. At one point I heard her mumble something about needing to be other places, but I didn’t really take note of it enough to dictate again. Eventually, I heard hoofsteps from outside of the bathroom. I turned my attention to the source of the sound to find the dark grey hide of Storm’s front legs. I looked up at him as he looked down at me. He then stuck one of his front hooves out, which I took. He helped me to my own hooves before escorting me over to the shower. Galaxia left the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Storm and I alone. I trotted into the shower before sitting down again.

“Standing is that hard right now, huh?”

“Mhm.”

“That’s fine, I can work around that.” After as short pause he spoke again. “Actually, let’s have you step out for a moment so I can get the water temperature right.”

I did so, letting him take the time to adjust the temperature of the shower. Once he was satisfied with the result he motioned for me to enter back into the water. I looked at him for a moment as an idea formed in my head. “You know, maybe it won’t take as much energy if I’m not in this larger form.”

“Hey, always worth a shot, right?” He chuckled, causing me to do so as well, before I managed to focus enough to cast the spell that Galaxia had taught me. Within moments my perception changed, signalling that the spell had worked. A quick glance to the mirror, which I was still barely within, revealed as much. “I always forget how beautiful that form is.”

I looked back over to Storm, who had his hoof outstretched to help me again. I decided to take it rather than find out the depths of my exhaustion. As such, he helped me into the shower, which was a little on the warm side. Once inside the spray of water I sat down, the streams pouring over my back. Storm then stepped inside and closed the curtain to make sure the water stayed inside of the tub. He then went about the process of cleaning my body, starting with my auburn hair and working his way down to the tip of my tail. “It’s been interesting these past few days, hasn’t it?”

“You could definitely say that.” He was probably talking with me just to make sure I remained awake.

“First the battles in the arena, then an assassin before you even recovered. What caused all the blood at your mouth, though? It wasn’t like that after the assassin, so what gives?”

“Well, I had skipped the last two nights of sleep.”

“You what?” His tone was surprisingly flat, not outraged like I imagined a question like that would carry.

“To watch over you, that’s why I did it.”

“But why?”

“When I was coming back from the Sanctuary, a timberwolf warned me that Erazul was going to use you to subdue me, so I began fretting and remained awake to make sure nothing happened.”

“So what happened?”

“Erazul put knife fragments in your body that would advance closer to your heart the more I spoke.” It fell quiet for a moment. “I almost accidentally killed you.”

Storm had just finished the tip of my tail at this point, so he swapped sides and came around the front. He sat before me, which caused me to look away. “Aqua, it’s alright. I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“Well, yeah, but-“

“No buts. If I’m alive it means you didn’t do it. Besides, it was Erazul who tried to kill me, not you.”

“I would have gone the rest of my life as a mute rather than get you killed, Storm.” I finally looked back up at him, the water running down my face from the shower concealing the possibility of tears. He wiped the hair out of my face before speaking again, but kept his hoof on the side of my face. I gently pressed my face into his hoof.

“I appreciate the notion, but I’d much rather hear your voice.” He looked at me for a moment before pulling me in for a kiss. When he broke it he spoke again. “Now, once I get the taste of blood out of my mouth I can continue washing you off, alright?”

I chuckled, realising that he hadn’t even cleaned the soiled part of me yet. I nodded, so he made his way around me carefully again. “Now, I need to get to your chest and belly. Think you can help me?”

“Yeah.” I went from my seated position, with a bit of manoeuvring and help from Storm as he simultaneously got out of the way and helped me down, to laying on my belly. From there I managed to roll over in the tub basin until I was on my back. Naturally, my legs spread from gravity alone. I looked towards Storm, who hesitated as his face flustered a bit. I cocked an eyebrow and playfully poked at his chest with my right hind leg. “Having problems?”

He scrunched his face up like last time, causing me to emit a cross between a giggle and a chuckle. “Shut up.”

I chuckled again, which caused him to break into laughter. He then approached and began washing my face. From there he worked his way down, going from my neck down to my lower abdomen, where the last blood stain was. When he finished he cleaned my legs and the underside of my tail. At that point he made sure all of the soap was washed off and had me sit up again. He then turned the water off, kissed me again, and pulled a towel off of the rack on the wall. He then dried me, having me step out of the shower, before drying himself. From there, he helped me towards the bedroom. When we entered it became apparent that Galaxia and Bane had left us to our own devices. We both climbed into the bed and curled up in our usual fashion. As exhausted as I was, it didn’t take long for my eyes to close themselves.

The morning found us asleep in the bed. I was grateful for the little sleep I got before the sun beat through the blinds. Storm was the first between the two of us to get up. He turned to me and spoke before leaving the bed. “I’ll bring you breakfast in bed, how about that?”

“That sounds like it would be lovely.”

“Alright. Sit tight and I’ll be back.” I nodded as he left. Once I was alone I took a deep breath in and let it out again. If nothing else, Storm was thoughtful. He was always sticking his hoof out for me, but a thought was nagging at the back of my mind. As I entertained it a little more it came to light. Was that what love was? Was love simply trying your best to help somepony, and that somehow intimacy followed? Or was there something else that I was missing that I had never been taught? If it was as simple at Storm made it seem, did that mean that I did, indeed, love him back? Perhaps I did, and perhaps it wasn’t as complicated as I was making it, but I still had a few doubts left. I decided to shake the thought from my head. No sooner had I done so than I heard a clanking sound downstairs. I figured that Storm had dropped a knife or something, but when loud thumping noises emitted a few times I decided to go and see if he was alright. I climbed out of the bed and trotted my way downstairs. As I rounded my way into the kitchen the first thing to catch my eye were four of the doppelgängers that I had fought before. I recoiled slightly at the surprise, giving them enough time to turn and see me. A voice carried on the wind, unbegotten by any mouth in the room, that bled with surprise and fear.

“She’s awake! Send in backup!” I quickly rushed in, knocking down three of them with a charge. I rounded about, whipping my tail into the fourth. The other three were in the midst of a panicked flight, attempting to flee through the window. I managed to catch one before they leaped through, pinning it to the wall with my tail. With fury I yelled my question at the quivering creature.

“Explain yourself! What are you doing here?”

“Orders from Erazul!”

“What were your orders?” It remained quiet. “Answer me! What were your orders?!”

“Capture Storm, but bring backup for Aqua!” Right then a hole ripped through the wall, the projectile piercing my right hind knee. I buckled as Storm rushed over to try and drag me from the line of fire. With a grunt of frustration I watched the doppelgänger escape.

“We need to get you to your armour, now. It’ll hurt but you have to move. Come on.” I got up, the pain from the shot keeping me from doing much more than limping. We heard the bearing of weaponry outside of the door, a noise which caused Storm to shout in fear. “Get down!”

Storm lunged towards the stairwell, while I simply flopped down a little closer to it than I had been before. Suddenly, the deafening roar of automatic weaponry ripped through the house, riddling the walls on both sides with holes and shredding any furniture in its way. Storm had made his way up the stairs, slithering like a snake at times, while I barely managed to crawl my way there. I took a hit in the left wing, blasting out some of the feathers, and a shot to the tail that paralysed me momentarily. I heard Storm shout from upstairs, perhaps hoping to overpower the noise of the weapons. “Come on!”

I began ascending the stairs by the time the weapon ceased its fire. As I continued my way up I heard the remains of the door get busted off of the hinges and commotion erupted downstairs. I was upstairs by the time the next rounds echoed out. Thankfully, they missed. I could see Storm putting on his armour at this point, preparing his blade. “Where’s your armour?”

“Downstairs, on the opposing side of the house to the stairs.” He looked at me for a moment. He then lunged forwards, leaping over my crawling body, to kill two of the creatures that had ascended the stairwell.

“Why did you come this way then?”

“I was following you.”

“I thought it was up here.”

“I don’t dare keep that kind of weight any higher than ground level.”

“Then get to it as quickly as possible. I’ll distract them.” I looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out how to tell him that such foolhardy heroism wasn’t needed. I decided against it and nodded. I got back onto three hooves and positioned myself behind him. As he went to rush down the stairs he suddenly stopped before backing up quickly. “Back, back, back!”

I moved backwards as quickly as I could, barely giving him the space he needed to avoid the ensuing onslaught of rounds. A hole was punched clean through the roof of the house by the sheer volume of ammunition pouring up the stairwell. Over the fire I spoke, if not to myself then to the pony I hoped it got to. “Galaxia, we’re in deep and we need serious help. Erazul’s attacking again and he brought his army. We’re pinned and losing ground fast. Please, help.”

“She’s not going to get here in time.” Storm’s voice barely echoed above the volume of the weapon downstairs. It suddenly grew quiet, the shuffling of doppelgängers echoing out as they began climbing up the stairs. “Get to the bedroom. If nothing else, you can break through the window and begin escaping.”

“And you plan to just die here?”

“No, but Erazul getting one of us is better than him getting both of us.” The creatures had arrived by then, so Storm’s attention was drawn elsewhere. I momentarily contemplated the options and decided it best to leap from the second story window. As such I began limping my way over. As I was approaching the bedroom I heard orders echo in the wind.

“Collapse the floor. They have too great an advantage.” I tried my best to limp over to the window, but as I approached I felt the house begin shaking. I was knocked off of my hooves, my imbalanced three-legged stance proving no match for the impending collapse. Suddenly, just as I went to vault through the window, the floor shifted before it began falling. The entire corner of the house was coming down, and I was caught in its path of destruction. I braced as well as I could, but the bed slid down and pinned me to the wall a moment or two before the impact. When I hit the ground the bed landed upon me. The impact also caused the roof to drop a few beams, not enough to collapse it but enough to weaken the structure. All I could do was brace and hope for the best.

When the dust settled I went to get up. I very quickly found that my hind legs were pinned underneath the bed. Turning my vision revealed as much. I let out a groaned sigh and continued attempting to free my injured leg. Despite the writhing agony I was willfully shooting up my leg I wasn’t accomplishing anything. I heard the shuffling of building materials nearby, eventually seeing more light pour into the little cavern of house that had formed around me. I hoped that it was Galaxia who found me, Storm even, but was sore disappointed. One of the large mechs of the doppelgängers was holding up the roof section while four of them moved in. Three of them moved the bed off of my legs while the other one maintained the barrel of his weapon directly in front of my face. “Get up slowly and you won’t have to eat bullets.”

There wasn’t much else I could do, and since I was trying to stall until Galaxia arrived I decided to do so as slowly as possible. I played off of the injury to my hind leg, but they didn’t seem too impressed with the concept. With several violent jabs with the ends of their weapons I was given no other option; I had to begin my three-legged trot in the direction they indicated. I turned my head back to behold the ruined house, a sight which stabbed me in the heart. After the revamping and renovation I had to put into that house after the torturer escapade, to see it so broken and desiccated filled me with immeasurable sorrow. I turned back around, a tear slipping from my eye.

We boarded their airship, which had been parked a quarter-mile outside of town and left with a heavy guard of several mechs, and lifted off of the ground. It was surprising that they could lift the vessel off of the ground with as much metal as there was on it, but I didn’t have time to dwell on the concept. After the initial launch, which we were forced to sit through by the metallic grasp of the mechs, we were forced into the underbelly of the vessel. Within the deepest part of the ship was a singular cell, the thick wooden latticework giving the impression that escape was both impossible and futile. Storm and I were both hurled into the same cell, bouncing painfully off of the rough wooden interior. The door was closed and we were left on our own. When the brig fell quiet Storm turned and spoke to me. “So they got you too, huh?”

“Yup. Didn’t make it to the window in time.”

“The floor under me collapsed and I fell directly onto a mech. It was game over at that point; too many guns were pointed at me for escape to really be an option.”

“Yeah, the whole bedroom tore off of the house and collapsed on me. I would have escaped if the bed hadn’t been pinned by support beams from the ceiling.”

“Well, at least we both tried, right?”

“I guess there is that. What do you think his plan is for us this time?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to try and imagine what he plans to do to us.”

“There is one thing, though, that’s at least somewhat hopeful.”

“What is that?”

“Their base is in the clouds. We both have wings.”

“But your wing is injured.”

“I’m sure I can still fly on it.”

“And the smoke is toxic.”

“Don’t breathe.”

He tilted his head while he responded. “I guess that’s true.”

“We just have to find a time when the guard is slacked.”

“Now there’s the tricky part. We just need to study patrols and timing. After that, we gallop like we never have before.”

“And once outside we fly straight down and escape the toxic smoke.”

“Until then, though, we wait.” I nodded solemnly as the cell grew quiet. After another moment he spoke again. “Quite the week though, huh?”

“It just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?” Storm chuckled.

“I wonder what’s next.”

“I don’t. I don’t want to even think about what life wants to throw at me next.”

“Not even a guess?”

“Every time I’ve tried to guess what’s going to happen it goes far worse than I anticipate.”

“Fair enough.” It grew quiet again, and remained so for the remainder of the flight. Storm and I were sitting in the cell for a moment, the quiet air of the brig giving us an uneasy feeling. Suddenly, the floor beneath us split in half and opened downwards, dropping us out of the ship. We tumbled down a short distance before landing into yet another cell. When we oriented ourselves I had a rough idea of where we were. We brushed the dust off, recovered from the fall, and seated ourselves upon the stone floor coated in hay and blood. There were already several guards standing out front, causing Storm and I to glance over at each other. They moved off to the side and began talking with their ethereal, air-bound voices. I snuck my way over as best as I could with my limp to listen in.

“…then these are the two that the master was looking for, yes?”

“Yes. Erazul made quite clear that he preferred to have both, so here they both are.”

“I must congratulate you on the job well done. With the fight that the blue one has in her, I’m surprised you got her.”

“A surprise attack left her with too many injuries to fight back effectively, and we kept her away from that armour.”

“Excellent. Now, Erazul will arrive tomorrow to collect his prisoners. Ensure that they survive until then.”

“Understood.” The conversation ended and I shifted my way back to Storm. The guards passed in front of the cell, looking at us momentarily before leaving. I heard the sound of the door at the far end of the hall close, so I turned to Storm.

“What is it?”

“The guards say that Erazul is coming tomorrow. We don’t have time to sit here and figure things out.”

“No, we don’t.”

“So if we’re leaving, we’re leaving now. I don’t think these doppelgängers realise that I remember how to open the cell doors. Once it’s open we have to move quickly.”

“They still have my armour.”

“Do you know exactly where it is?”

“Not really, but I could guess.”

“You can try and find it, but I have to head straight for the exit.”

“I’ll meet you back home.” I nodded. When I got his affirmation in response I turned and headed over to the door of the cell. I stuck my tail out, as much as it hurt from the injury I sustained earlier, and sought the button in the stone wall beside the door. When I found it I gave Storm one last nod before pressing it. The door open, the faintest sound of beeping starting nearby.

“Go, quickly. I can come back up with my armour if you’re still in trouble.” He nodded and the two of us bolted for the stairs. Storm was the one to break the door, as he had more strength at that point. Once the door was open we began making our way as we could, splitting off in our separate directions. As my limp heavily restricted my speed, I decided to try and use my wings. As it turns out, the injury was a bit more than anticipated and my flight was little more than a very short glide. It was concerning at best when I thought of the practical application it gave with regards to my descent down from this place. I continued my escape, shaking the thought, and made as much ground as I could. I heard commotion in the chamber and a shout emit through the air. I knew my time was highly limited now, so I picked up my pace as best as I could. I stumbled several times, but successfully reached the doors. They were locked shut, so I wheeled about and bucked, doing my best to ignore the agony in my hind right leg, until it opened. Once it was open I made my way out. It was at this point that I heard the gunfire. I leaped out, barely clearing the lip of the building’s floating foundation and narrowly dodging the bullets that whizzed by. I was now in freefall, hoping that my breath was enough to hold through the toxic mist. I closed my eyes and tried my best to remain streamlined. I could tell when I hit the toxic gas, as my hide began to feel like it was burning. My breath was running short and my body began begging me to either breathe in or look to see how much longer it was. I was on the verge of gasping for air when the burning stopped. I opened my eyes, finding clear air, as I desperately gasped to recover. I was now freefalling in the open sky, so I decided to try and right myself, along with get some kind of gliding trajectory. It took several moments, perhaps a minute, to successfully correct my flight. Flapping my wings did very little, and it was hard to maintain a straight flight pattern, so I did my best to glide towards the main mountain where the castle was located.

The glide down took surprisingly long, but it didn’t leave me too far away from town. I turned my attention towards home, both excited to get my armour back as well as heartbroken at the idea of seeing the destroyed house again. I had to shake the depressing thought from my head in order to keep my hurried limp at as fast of a gimp as possible.

When I arrived at the ruined house I sighed. It wasn’t the kind of sight I wanted to see, especially not now. Regardless, I began making my way in. As I entered the surprisingly clear front passageway, for it really wasn’t a doorway after the collapse of the bedroom, I heard commotion inside. I curiously furrowed my brow and inquisitively made my way further into the destroyed house. To my surprise, although not entirely surprisingly, I found Bane and Galaxia rummaging through the debris. Bane’s voice was the first one I heard. “…and you said she called for you?”

“Yes, but when I arrived it was already filled with ruination.”

“So they already took her?”

“I have the highest hopes that they didn’t, or we will be in trouble.”

“Perhaps she’s in the wreckage of the bedroom.”

“I’m right here.” They both turned quickly, but Bane had far more emotion on his face than Galaxia’s unchanging, stoic expression.

“Aqua! Where were you hiding?”

“I just returned from the doppelgänger’s base. I knew I should have slaughtered them before…” Bane’s expression upon hearing that phrase managed to concern me almost as much as my statement concerned him.

“Um…alright. But you are safe, right?”

“Not yet. I have to get my armour and make sure Storm makes it out alive as well.”

“They have Storm up there too?” Bane went to move but Galaxia’s hoof stopped him before he could get very far.

“This is Aqua’s fight, Bane.”

“What do you mean? She’s injured!” Galaxia took a quick look over, but returned her gaze to Bane.

“This is something she has to do. Besides, I’d rather Erazul had just Storm rather than having you. You have to remember your position, Bane. Imagine the havoc Erazul could unleash upon the unwitting inhabitants of this land should he manipulate fate.” Bane’s expression sunk, most likely as he realised the truth of her statement. “Is your armour still here, Aqua? Or was it taken?”

“It’s here, and hopefully still in one piece.”

“Having a knowledge of your armour, I would say that it is probably without scratch or blemish.” I turned my attention to the corner where it was located, trotting over and pushing aside some of the debris from the furniture. I used my magic to shift into my larger form before stepping onto the armour. The plates began to unfold upon my body, eventually covering the entirety of my hide. When the suit was fully ready I turned back to Galaxia. “As I told you it would be.”

“Now the better question: I need transportation back up there. My wing is injured and isn’t capable of upwards flight.”

“I can take you up there, Protectorate. It will be your duty from there to assure the safety of Storm.” I nodded, causing Galaxia to turn back to Bane. “If you have enough time to allocate, I would ask that you attempt to organise and clean this place in preparation for reconstruction of the home.”

“Yeah, I’ll get on it.” Galaxia turned back to me as Bane set about to get the messy remains of my house cleaned up.

“Are you ready?” I nodded. Her horn began to glow, eventually whisking us away. When my eyes focused next I was standing back on the foundation of the building I had just skydived from. “Good luck, Protectorate.”

With that, she was gone. I turned my attention back to the building. I trotted through the broken door before me. I heard shouts carried by the air, mostly shouts of fear. “She has her armour! Get the heavy ordinance!”

I turned my attention to them, galloping over despite the pain in my leg. Perhaps they noticed the small gimp I carried, because they turned back towards me. “She’s injured. Open fire!”

Their rounds bounced off of my armour like nothing, giving me enough time to catch up with them. I heard the ding of the warp core as I neared them, but decided against using it. Instead, I reared up onto my hind legs, although I was barely able to manage such, and drew both blades. I began hacking apart those who were foolish enough to remain in melee range with me. Those that fled made their way over towards the large elevator where they had brought their machines in during the last fight I was involved in up here. I was slowly making my way over when I heard the lift dock on this level. When the door opened I saw Storm trot out, an armada of guns and mechs behind him. When the terror-filled soldiers caught up with the group the entire brigade turned about to face me. One of the mechs grabbed Storm roughly in one of the claws, pointing the gun directly at him. “Halt there or he dies. You know what these weapons do; you saw how they ate through your house like nothing, now imagine the body of a pony. If you really cared about him you would surrender yourself to us.”

“Pathetic fools, do you think your idle threats frighten me?”

“Uh, Aqua? What are you-?”

“Silence, wretch!” They shook him violently, disorienting him. My soul cried out for fury-driven vengeance, but I kept my calm outwards expression.

“Look, I’ll put this simply for you so you can understand the concept with your pitiful minds: let Storm go and none of you have to die. Simple, yeah?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think it’s simple? Huh, well, figures.” I don’t know where the attitude had developed from, but I thought it was helping.

“We’re not handing him over to you. We’re not failing Erazul twice.”

“So then what are you looking for, an exchange? Don’t you remember what happened last time you thought that was a good idea? How many dead did it leave, and you still had empty hooves?”

“We don’t ask for an exchange. We ask for surrender.”

“Now why would I do something as rash as that?”

“Because if you do not comply we will leave this pony as nothing more than red paste splattered across the floor.”

“Didn’t Erazul want both of us, though? So would you fail him like that?” The looked at each other momentarily.

“He wants you. This one is just a bonus.”

“Right. Yeah, that’s not what he told me.”

“Enough of your lies, drake! Submit or we will obliterate your husband.” The title caused me to blink a few times. I didn’t know what that was, and I’m not sure what sentimental value it carried, but they acted like it was important. Either way, I looked down at my hooves, my blades specifically, to make sure that they were heated fully. A quick look revealed such to be the case. In that moment I was grateful that I hadn’t used my warp core yet. I took a quick moment to calculate out where I thought I needed to warp. The doppelgängers were growing impatient of my time killing and spoke again. “You have five seconds to comply before we scatter the remains of your lover.”

I looked back up at them to double check my distance estimates before ultimately activating the warp core. I knew I had a matter of milliseconds to do what I needed to, so I made every moment count. I swung my legs down at the pony in the mechanical suit holding Storm. The blades cut straight through the heavy machine like it was nothing, killing the creature inside. The machine went limp, the pressurised joints holding Storm now letting him drop instead. As I touched down onto the mech I leaped off onto another. I could hear the others screaming orders to kill me as I sunk my blades straight into the doppelgänger within the suit. The sound of their heavy weaponry firing soon blanketed all other sound. I dodged about as best as I could, but my injured leg was slowing me down. Eventually, however, I reached a point where the only way to advance the fight was to bolt straight into their heavy fire. As such, I wheeled around the mech I was covering behind, taking a rain of bullets face and chest-first. I pushed through the overwhelming force, eventually making my way between the last two machines. I jumped up while in the middle and squirmed, causing several of the bullets to tear through the mechs instead of pummel me. The fire stopped, giving me time to land, turn, and subsequently lunge into one of them. Once the creature was dead I turned to the other. Blood dripped heavily from where the pilot would be, so I assumed that it was dead. I then turned my attention to the remaining forces. A quick look around, however, revealed that there were none left. Storm stood triumphantly over several of their dead, one of their guns in his possession. He dropped it, panting all the while. Once he cleared his throat he gained better control over his breathing. “Well, that was something. You had me worried there for a second. I mean, I still am, but in a different sense.”

“We’ll have to address that later. We need to find your armour and get you out of here. My injuries won’t let me continue this fight for much longer.”

“Right. Follow me; I know where it is this time.” I nodded and began trotting behind him. He made his way up the stairs towards the elevator I had first used when I arrived. Once we were both on it he pushed one of the buttons. Moments later, we were ascending the building. When we arrived at the destination floor he signaled me first, and for good reason. There were around a half dozen guards standing around Storm’s gear and gambling on it. I reared up, a bit shakily at first, and drew my blades. Standing here was hard, as I had to either hunch over or punch my head through the ceiling. Regardless, my stature did the trick, as all of the doppelgängers abandoned their gambles and weapons and fled to a nearby room. Storm trotted in and retrieved his armour. “Nice. I’m really glad you’re on our side, because I wouldn’t want to face something as big as you with as much capability of surviving in battle.”

“Thanks. Do you have everything now, though? All of your gear?”

“Yeah, this is it.” He equipped it before turning to me again. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s.” We boarded the elevator again, letting it take us down to the entrance of the bottom floor. I heard the ding of the warp core as we rode down, but figured I didn’t need it yet. Rather, we made our way down to the door I had broken in the slave pens and approached the ledge.

“Ready to jump?”

“I can’t, not in this armour with this injury.”

“Fair enough. But do you have a way down then?”

“The warp core.”

“Right. Well, see you back home.”

“Back at whatever’s left of it, anyways.” His smile turned into a pained smirk.

“Yeah. Well, see you there.” He jumped down following his remark, diving nose-first into the black mist that surrounded the building. I focused on setting coordinates, ultimately using the core to get there. Once my eyes adjusted to the new location I trotted back inside the wreckage of the house. Bane and Galaxia were still there, trying to fix things. I came in right as Galaxia voiced a complaint.

“I don’t see how mortals manage all of this. They can lose their homes and seemingly continue as if unfazed by the radical change that had just occurred.”

“The magic of mortal perseverance, Galaxia, is what you marvel at. Storm’s got it, and you’ve seen it a lot in Aqua.”

“That is true, however, I must interject that Aqua is, technically speaking, a demi-god in nature.”

“Well, Galaxia, there’s something about that.” My voice caused them both to turn about. “If I actually was a demi-god, wouldn’t that mean I was still, at least in some part somewhere, mortal?”

“Yes, and it would mean that we must get that armour off of you and get it fixed up. I don’t know what you faced up there that caused such damage to your armour.”

“Their machines of war.”

“You attacked them head-on, didn’t you?”

“I had no other choice. It was either that or try and pick up Storm’s entrails.”

“Well those aren’t many options.” Galaxia trotted over. I attempted to power my suit down, but the plates on my face and chest wouldn’t move beyond a certain point. As the first couple of plates managed to shift away I felt stinging pain where they had left. “In my time in the voids, I have never seen this kind of damage to armour that’s remained whole.”

I went to look down, but the way that the plates were folded didn’t allow me to. “What is it, Galaxia?”

“Well, Aqua,” Bane interjected, “the bullets didn’t pierce your armour, but they caved it in. Your own armour was stabbing you, and now we have to get it off and get you healed back up again.”

“Call for Aldorn, Bane.”

“Uh, that’s not going to work.”

“What do you mean, Protectorate?”

“Erazul had captured Aldorn.” Her face, although already sombre, seemed to grow even more so.

“Alright then, so who is the next pony we can call upon to remove this armour?”

“He taught me some of his craft, so I might be able to.” She nodded, signalling for me to at least try. I concentrated my efforts, managing to peel the armour off of my body. I figured I could just fix it later when I had the chance. Once the armour was off Bane trotted over. The golden glow of his magic enveloped his horn. It was then that I felt that strange sensation again as his magic reversed the wounds and bound them together again, leaving only minor scars behind. Once he was done he turned his attention back to the rubble pile, which was now somewhat smaller. “Uh, Bane, I’ve got a favour to ask.”

He turned back around. “What is it?”

“Do you think you could use that magic on my leg, tail, and wing as well?” I revealed the injured parts of my body in order to show him what I meant.

“Sure.” He, again, trotted over and used his magic to seal up the wounds. “There. Anywhere else that I need to touch up?”

“No.” I took a couple of steps on my hind right leg, finding that I was able to fully trot on it again. “I should be able to help clean up this mess now.”

Bane nodded before turning back to the pile before him. “Although, I have another idea.”

“And what is that idea, Protectorate?”

“Perhaps I could draw some of my Order over here to assist. It would also help us be prepared in case they attacked again.”

“Do what seems good in your eyes, Protectorate.” Galaxia turned back to the rubble, sighing as she looked at it. I had never heard that kind of expression from her before, and it’s possible that the destruction was getting to her. Regardless of such, I turned my attention to trotting towards Sanctuary. I set out with a brisk pace, hoping to return before Storm arrived at the house.

Upon entering the open square I was near-mobbed by the members of the Order. Among the faces were Ajiin and Sparky, but there were many faces that I didn’t recognise, new faces that filled the ranks of the Order. Ajiin was the first to arrive, pushing his way through the crowd. “Ah, you’ve returned, Guildmaster.”

“Aqua is fine. You can just call me Aqua. I kind of want to avoid the stigma that was around that title.”

“Regardless, Aqua, you’re back. As you can see, we’ve been successful in recruiting new fighters. They’re not the cream of the crop like it used to be, but we thought that enough training might fill that gap.”

“You’re most likely right. One isn’t just born a swordpony, and I believe that courage can be taught.”

“So what brings your return? You are usually too preoccupied with other matters to visit.” Hearing a phrase like that hurt.

“Well, when I’m not recovering from nearly dying I try to be here.”

“So what brings you here?”

“I need some assistance. Nothing major.” Sparky had made her way to the front now.

“How can we help you, Aqua?” Her bright, bubbly tone certainly was a change from Ajiin’s reserved tone; that was for certain.

“I was recently attacked by a group of ponies under the direction of our enemy, Erazul. They demolished a fair portion of my house, which means neither Storm nor Lazuli have a place to stay the night. I hate to ask such a trivial matter of you, but would any of you be able to render assistance?”

“I’ll go.” Ajiin’s determination was touching, if nothing else.

“Count me in!” Of course Sparky was excited to come along. After her, several ponies stepped up to the plate, including several craftsponies who turned to the path of the Protectorate. I had a small following of about ten ponies who galloped off to retrieve anything they might need. The rest of the group simply asked me questions about what had happened, which I answered. It was almost entertaining telling my stories to the crowd that looked to with wide eyes and open ears. When the group returned, and my story was finished, I turned my attention to the main gates. From there we trotted out. I set our course for the ruins of my home and began leading the way.

We arrived moments before sundown. It was clear to see that Bane and Galaxia had grown tired of the work, but were still trying. I approached them and spoke. “Bane, Galaxia, I have brought helpers. You can go back to your realms and rest.”

Galaxia seemed more grateful for the idea than Bane did. Once they left the group of Protectorates began work. It wasn’t much longer after that when Storm arrived. We were engaged in the heavy labour of removing the collapsed bedroom when I heard Sparky’s energetic tone signal his coming. As such, I move the last beam I was carrying and headed over. When he saw me he spoke. “Ok, I’m glad you made it. Who are these ponies, though?”

“Members of the Order. They agreed to help fix things up around here. What took you so long though?”

“I immediately took to the ground and continued my journey through as many forests and behind as many mountains as I could manage so that they wouldn’t track me.”

“Wouldn’t they know this was your destination anyways?”

“Not necessarily. I have a few other places I go to, but they don’t know where those are, plus this place was demolished.”

“Fair enough. How exhausted are you?”

“I’m kind of worn out, but I can help.”

“Alright. I just want to ask you something first.”

“What is it?”

“What’s a ‘husband’?”

“When you’re married, the stallion is the husband. A mare is a wife. So I’m your husband and you’re my wife.”

“Ah. So that’s what the doppelgänger was referring to.” He nodded. “I guess that makes sense now.”

“Shall we begin fixing the house, then, since we got that cleared up?”

“Yes. We will need a place to stay, after all. Lazuli does too.” He chuckled a bit before becoming serious and trotting over to help. I, as well, moved in to help once more.

We worked through the night, eventually clearing the rubble from the house. Once we had, as day was breaking, one of the Protectorates spoke up as he approached me. “Aqua, I’ve been looking at the remains of the house.”

“I think we all have.” It drew a few laughs. “What’s on your mind?”

“Looking at the sheer damage to the walls, I can’t help but think that razing the place and rebuilding is the only option you have. It might take less effort than restoring all of those holes.” I looked at the back section of the wall, the one that was barely managing to remain intact. “What are your thoughts?”

As much as it drew my soul in sorrow I responded. “Raze the building. We will build it anew.”

He nodded, trotting over to the others. By this time, Lazuli was trotting up from the right. I heard her voice and finally turned about to face her. “What happened here? What’s going on?”

“Storm and I were ambushed by Erazul’s minions.”

“Erazul?”

“He’s been trying to get me for a while now.”

“Ah. Evil then, I’m assuming?”

“Yup. Their strike force absolutely demolished the house, so it’s back to square one for us.”

“Like when you had to find the house when you took me in.”

“Kind of, but with a lot more heartache attached to it.”

“Right. How long have you been at this?”

“Since sunset yesterday.”

“You haven’t slept since?”

“Where do we have to sleep?” She got quiet. I sighed before responding again. “We’ve decided to raze the house and build a new one.”

“How long will that take?”

“I’m not sure. I think we might hole up in the Sanctuary until then.”

“Is Storm welcome there? Am I?”

“Yes and yes. After we instated a new Guildmaster things changed dramatically around the Order.”

“So once you were elected as Guildmaster.”

“Yes, but I still don’t really like taking that title.”

“Still yours, though.”

“Regardless, you both are welcome to visit. Your groups are also welcome to venture within our walls at any time you please. It’s time to end the cold silence between the orders that are all trying for the same thing.”

“Well, good luck.” She trotted towards the group of ponies working. “How can I help you ponies?”

They pointed her towards the pony that had conversed with me before. Once there she received her assignment and got to work. I joined in not too long after, brushing off the exhaustion that was creeping upon me. We had our work cut out for us to restore this house; that was for sure.

It took several weeks to finish the project. In the meantime, we had established a camp outside of the house, one that garnered the attention of both neighbours and the mayor. We were given the all clear in the end and continued the project. Once it was finished, though, we all breathed out a sigh of relief. We had taken several liberties in recreating the house, including putting steel plates within the walls, one connected to the exterior wall and one connected to the interior wall, and more thoroughly reinforcing the door. The glass was thicker, and with metal strings running through it to reinforce it. The door was metal with a wooden front to blend in with the rest of the town. Other changes were made as well, but most were either aesthetic in nature or simply changes to room layouts or designs. Once the project was finished I set out with the members of the Order back towards Sanctuary.