"Argyle, time to get up."

   My eyes shot open. The sight of mossy worn rock faces filled my vision. It was still late in the night. The cave stunk of molds and moist decay. Luna stood to my left, stern and worried.

   "We have to leave, now."

   Her irked behavior meant one thing. I needed to get on my feet. "Did they find us?"

   My wounds had healed and my worn spirit rested somewhat, but I still had a horrible headache.

   Luna walked slowly near the cave's exit. "Not yet, but they are near."

   Looking outside the cave, a refreshing breeze woke up my half asleep mind, then howling it whispered across Rambling rock ridge. The moon glared over its white stone face, reflecting the lunar rays back to the clear nocturne sky. I noticed lit torches moving down the lower rock face. Groups of gold clad soldiers walked down the lower path.

   The one leading them barked out orders. "Search the area, brothers. No prisoners, purge any heretics."

   "Damn, we can't run for it either." The safety of the Everfree swayed like an ocean of green in the distance, far out of reach. I hated it.

   "They would see a flashport this close." Luna gestured to the left path. "That path will suffice."

   "I'll go first." That small worn path was not the way out, but it kept us in the ridge's shadow.

   Shouting echoed up the ridge. Luna and myself looked down the cliff to the ridge floor. A group of soldiers brought out three ponies that hid inside a different cave. Each soldier dragged them by their manes. Two were screaming and thrashing, while the other said things to the screaming two.

   One captive, an older looking earth pony, was approached by a soldier.

   "By order of the Empress, Solar Flare, all national deserters, refugees without papers, or possible rebel sympathizers, are to be condemned under pain of death, but not without trial. Now, how do you plead?"

   I soured in distain. I knew what was going to happen. "A death squad...."

   "Not guilty! Please, Sir, my children and myself were just on our way to the camp, but it got late and-"

   "You chose to illegally squat on the Empresses' land? Like the filth you are?!"

   "No! We got lost in the dark and needed rest-"

   The soldier stomped his hoof down. "Silence! It is clear to me that you have not faith in the Empress, for the Sun protects. Her holy name would shatter Empires and you insult her with your blasphemy?!"

   "Please, Sir, have mercy. I have children-"

   He nodded to his fellow soldiers. "Yes, thank the Empress you brought them to me. They must be cleansed of your heretical influence, if they are to yet live in her light."

   I was not going to let them harm those ponies, not without a fight. "Their going to kill them."

   "Stay here, Argyle." Luna narrowed her eyes in anger at the scene below. "I shall handle this."

   The scene reminded me of Erwin Rommel and his campaign in Africa. I wondered what he would have done. I held my hand out at the Princess with a smile. "Wait, I have a better idea."

   Purity squadmates 02 and 04 ripped the two crying fillies from their mother's forelegs.

   Both fillies kicked screaming and crying. "Mommy!"

  The mother yelled and pleaded one last time.

  When the Chaplain attempted to swipe his gold gilded hoof blade across her neck, a heavy sound beat and echoed throughout the white ridge, a very loud noise with somepony screaming in it. Its volume made even thinking clearly difficult.

   Purity squadmate 05 saw a strange figure flash out of nowhere charging at them on two hind legs. Its left foreleg glowed with magic. The heavy noise got louder as the creature drew closer.

   05 screamed, "What foul creature is that, Chaplain?!"

   The Chaplain turned and faced the charging creature. "The true face of heresy!"

   He held his holy hoof blade to bear. Yelling in holy rite, he charged right at the creature in return. "For the Empress!"

   Three other squadmates joined with the Chaplain. "Purge the corrupt!"

   I knew the other soldiers would follow their officer's courage. I planned on it.

   With Rose of Sharyn blaring in my ears, I was practically deaf. The Chaplain was the first in line. Swinging his hoof, I dodged left. His blade slashed my shirt on its side. I punched with a short burst of electricity, connecting right with the Chaplain's muzzle.

   It gave with a crunch under my fist. Blood spurt and the loyalist yelped in pain. His body contracted and convulsed in a stun gun effect. Turning, I noticed too late the two other soldiers pouncing on me. They knocked me down onto my back.

   They kicked and stomped down, trying to flatten my head repeatedly with their hooves. I clicked both my fingers under their lightly armoured undersides. Fire sparked and ignited. The soldiers jumped off, bucking and screaming then tried rolling on their bellies.

   I immediately counter attacked, by grabbing a rock on the ground and smashing it with fury over one still rolling. The soldier's eyes rolled into his head as he fell out cold.

   The other soldier yelled and jumped into the air. His hoof blade ready to drop down on my head. A bolt of magic arced over the soldier's side, launching him away to the left, where he landed out cold.

   Luna stood over the third soldier with her foreleg on him.

   I took my IPod out, hit pause and smiled. "That's Blitzkrieg."

   "I see."

   She kicked the groaning soldier under her hoof. "Twas very well executed."

   I saw two other loyalists with the two fillies in their hooves. Both had their hoof blades poised to slit their young captive's throats. "Surrender traitors, or else!"

   The fillies mother held her foreleg out and cried desperately, "No, stop! Don't hurt my babies!"

   Luna's nostrils flared. "You will not harm my subjects!"

   Only cowards would hide behind children. I despised cowards. Wondering how I could get my hands on those two without harming the fillies, I crossed my arms.

   "Hiding behind children? What would your Empress think of such cowardous?"  

   "Anything goes in this holy purge." The soldier held his blade closer. "Now, surrender."  

   "In your dreams creep."

   They had no idea who they were messing with. I pointed my finger at both of them. "Here's a counter offer. You let them both go and I let you live."

   The soldier laughed. "I guess we all die then." The filly cried out and bit the soldier's foreleg. "Ow, you brat!" The child escaped and ran to his mother.

   Luna's horn flared. The other's foreleg glowed and held in place. He grunted and tried to hurt the crying foal in his grasp.

   I had to protect the running child. The soldier swiped at the filly, but I grabbed his foreleg and punched his head. The loyalist swiped at my leg with his other hoof blade painfully cutting into it.

   Luna flashed while I dealt with the other loyalist. Her target grunted and yelled, his armour held in place by her magic. Luna glared into his eyes and forced inside his mind, showing him the true horrors of the night. She let the screaming and babbling soldier go. His sanity broken, his grip on the child let off and she ran to her mother, safe.

   I grunted in pain at my leg. Funneling my distain into an elemental spell, I grabbed the soldiers helmed head and let electricity flow. The struggling soldier convulsed, armour sparking and popping. Launching backwards he landed out cold and smoking.

  I sat down and checked my leg out. I had worse, but no cut is good.

   Luna looked at my leg. "Are you alright?"

   It hurt, but would not hamper my ability to walk. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

   The mother cuddled her two children. "Thank you Princess, so much!"

   Luna smiled. "Such is my reason for being, please, stay safe. There will not be a next time."

   The mother agreed. "Yes, of course."

   Satisfied with at least one good outcome, I gazed up to the clear milky night sky. Stars weaved and swirled. The moon lit and glared. "Man, it's lovely tonight."

  Something was out of place in the night. I squinted at it. "What is that?" A few dots in the moon light moved towards us. I shot up painfully, turned and yelled, "Move! To the forest, now!"

   Rambling rock ridge was a wide valley. The Everfree forest was a fair distance away, too far to escape a group of Pegasus.

   "Running would take too long."

   Luna's horn glowed. "Argyle, to my side, as well you." She looked to the mother with her children.

   I thought about our group trekking through the wood and how we would surely draw attention, even after a flashport.

   "No, I have to draw them away, or they will track us." I needed a spectacle. I needed noise.

   Taking out my IPod, I switched to a loud song. My Curse flowed across the small LCD screen.

  "That is out of the question, get over here!"

   Luna narrowed her eyes. "Now."

   Tying the ear buds around my neck, I smiled to ease her worry. "Do not worry, I will meet you at the ruins. Now go!"

   I hit play and ran. I knew it a sour promise, as I chose to run away from the fort.

   Luna huffed and flashported away.

   Trail Scorcher heard a strange beat below him and somepony screaming things. "What in Equestria is that?"

   He squinted at the night hidden floor, then looked at the Pegasus carrying him.

   Azure shrugged. "Dunno, wing lead?"

   Wing Leader Bitterwind held his hoof up.

   "Hold fast, traitorous scum could be its source."

   He looked to the ground. Something was running away from them. He pointed his foreleg at it. "There, wedge formation and descend!"

   "Here we go." Azure held her friend tight.

   I was no track star, but I did my best, despite the pain in my leg.

   "Come on, Argyle, push yourself. You got this."

   I panted and shoved onward. My eardrums had been past numb. I made a mental note to perfect that sound spell so It would not damage my hearing one day.

   The wind shifted on my back like something had swooped by me. Quickly looking back my eyes widened.

   Twelve gold armoured Pegasi dropped five more soldiers right on top of me. Each landed and howled a battle cry.

   "Burn the heretic!"

   Fire balls and other magical attacks buzzed and sizzled past me.

   I dodged and picked up my pace. "That's right, you follow me!"

   "Thank you again, if you had not come...thank you!" The mother and her children bowed to the Princess.

   "Tis alright, just follow this trail and in a weeks time you will reach Los Pegasus."

   Luna waved her foreleg. "Now, go."

   The two fillies surprised Luna with a hug. She returned it with a giggle. "Fair well, little ones."

   They waved her bye and followed the trail with their mother.

   "Now, I must help Argyle."

   Luna focused her power on his position.

   "By the moon...." She sighed.

   He was being run down by a Pegasus Wing and a Unicorn strike team. Magic bolts shot passed him, each barely missing, making the look on his face rather priceless, to her humor. He took cover in a cave. Thankfully, Luna knew where he was and how to help him. Her horn flared and she flashed away.

   "Come on, peek in again. I dare you!"

   I hid in a nice hole in the wall, literally, it was about 20 feet long and half that wide. It a horrible place to defend, but I had no choice. Moss dangled from large tree roots in the ceiling, making visibility hard deeper in.

   I held up in that death trap for thirty minutes, throwing rocks and shooting lightning bolts at any heads that popped in. To some humor I did manage to hit a few square in the head. Ten minutes prior they tried to use magic and flood me out, but a well placed thunder bolt saw to their cunning plan.

   "Oh, by her holy name, just rush in and kill it!"

   I frowned. "Hey, mind your own business!"

   The same soldier snorted. [size=14]"Come out and make me, Heretic!"

   "Just use fire, slow cook him out!"

   I shook my head.

   This is bad...really bad.

   Looking around the cave, I grabbed and felt some of the long moss. "It's like Spanish moss, must be growing off these tree roots. There's enough here to make a ghillie suit."

   The only way out of that hole was through a dozen Pegasus and a handful of ground soldiers. I remembered a move with a stunt man burning in a fire suit. The Thing I think it was called. A really, really bad idea hit me.

   "Blossom won, fire it is!"

   I had no choice.

  Die hapless or die stupid?

   I laughed under my breath, wondering if my acting was still rusty while ripping off a large bits of moss.

   "Blossom, cleanse this place." Wing Leader Bitterwind nodded to his Wing Spellblade.

   "With pleasure."

   Her horn glowed and she whispered in delight while eyeing around the forest, "Come on, where are you?"

   The creature inside the alcove yelled, "Alright, you really wish to challenge a God?"

   Blossom snorted. "God?"

   The other soldiers mumbled to each other.

   "Look, little mortals, I am the caretaker of Tartarus. More dead ponies have been pouring in lately, so I came here to find out why."

   Blossom blinked, then laughed. "Stupid."

   Skydive chuckled. "My flank!"

   Trail Scorcher laughed. "Careful now, I think it's trying to make us laugh to death. Right, Azure?"

   Azure looked dubious. "Um, yeah, but what if it's true?"

   Wing Leader Bitterwind frowned. "That beast piles heresy upon heresy! Burn it!"

   Light flickered inside the alcove. The soldiers looked at each other.

   Blossom readied herself. She was a Spellblade, a first class shock trooper. She faces death and spits in its eye. Better yet, the moment she had trained for her whole life was about to finally happen, her revenge.

   The creature loomed out of the alcove, ablaze unnaturally with fire. Blossom let a bolt fly. It just hit and sparked, dealing no harm to the monster. She fell back, cursing under her breath.

   "Now I'm pissed off!"

   The fire on the creature's body flared and rose upwards, catching the tree tops on fire. "Burn in the fires of Tartarus!"

   "By Celestia, the beast is setting the forest on fire!"

   Skydive took to the air. "Fall back!"

   "Stand fools! The Sun protects!"

   Wing Leader Bitterwind stood firm. "If magic fairs not, steel shall suffice!"

   He readied both his wing razors and knelt into attack position.

   "Steel, mortal, bears no teeth to my flesh." It was getting really hot, really fast. That fire was going to kill me unless I did something quickly.

   The Pegasus launched at me and swung his wings in a scissor like swipe. I barely dodged it and stumbled a little. The Pegasus kept the attack. I quickly showered the area with fire, forcing my attacker to back off.

  I had the window to escape, but I lost it. I couldn't focus on a quick flashport like I planned. Running was out of the question, jumping into the pool next to me was my only choice.

   I jumped and hit the water with a hiss of heat cooling rapidly. My head surfaced and I was grabbed out of the pool by my shirt and hair.

   Luna hid in the brush, watching her student being held captive. She had already put to rest the scouts and was still wondering just how to take Argyle away without complete bloodshed.

   "Luna, just end them and be-"

   Luna had enough and hissed, "Silence! I am not like you, Monster. I will do this my way."

   She watched the Wing Leader sit Argyle on his knees and strike him on the back of his head, which looked like it hurt a lot.

   "A God of Tartarus? Well, your backside will serve him as a fine temple, once I send you to him."

   Luna recoiled her head in disgust. "Horrid."

   "Hmm, a high ranking Wing Leader would know such things, first hoof."

   Argyle laughed. "First hoof experience?"

   Nightmare chuckled.

   The Wing Leader hit Argyle again and gave his Spellblade a nod. An earth pony held his head back by biting his hair, then a unicorn held her bladed hoof over his neck.

   Luna gasped and cast a spell that sent a black cloud over the area.

   "Luna!?"

   Luna jumped into her dark mist, not wasting a second.

   "Ambush! Warriors of light, rally to my voice!"

   She hit the Wing Leader with a pressure blast and grabbed Argyle.

   Argyle yelled, "Behind you!"

   Luna turned then noticed a figure in the cloud running at her.

   "Think I'm easily fooled, Nag of the Night?!" The Spellblade swiped her hoof blade at her.

   Luna dodged while flashing a bright light at the Spellblade. After blinding her attacker, she kicked the Spellblade in the chin with her foreleg.

   Nightmare gasped. "Nag of the Night?! At least kill that wretch!"

   The Spellblade cursed and tried to attack again with her horn glowing.

   Luna held me and thought of the ruins. She flashported to safety right as the Spellblade launched a wave of fire at her.

   The dark mist cleared. Blossom hit the scorched ground with her foreleg in fury. "Buck!"

   "Nevermind it, assemble, Wing." The other soldiers gathered around Wing Leader Bitterwind.

   Trail Scorcher sighed. "Alright, any ideas? We may yet have a chance at finding them."

   "I have one."

   Highwind sneered at Blossom, "How 'bout we get a competent Spellblade next time?"

   Blossom narrowed her teal eyes on Highwind. "What?"

   That moron, Blossom was in the same unit he was. She knew very well his limits. Insulting her was one of them.

   "Yeah, the heretics would be dead if you didn't suck the hoof!"

   "Oh, really?"

   Blossom grabbed Highwind and dug her horn expertly through his eye socket. Shooting a pressure blast inside his screaming little Pegasus head, it burst like a melon. With his screams turned into a harsh gurgle, she let him fall to the floor. His mutilated body twitched and slowly stiffened still.

   Wing Leader Bitterwind smirked.

   Blossom covered in blood, bits of skull and brain matter, tilted her head looking at her bewildered teammates.

   "Anypony else want to share their ideas?"

   They stood there, silent as the grave.

   "Then, I say we search the old fort Everfree."

   Azure choked out, "Why?"

   Blossom snickered.

   "Because little fool, she will hide where she is comfortable. Everfree was were it all started, how it all began."

   She stared into space, then blinked and raised her head. "She will run there again."

   Wing Leader Bitterwind nodded. "Very well. To the sky Wing!"

   He took off. The other soldiers followed.

   Trail Scorcher looked at his friend. "That Unicorn is bucking crazy!"

   Azure grabbed her friend and took off. "I know, stay close to me when she's around, 'k?"

   He looked up at her. "Why? What would you do?"

   She smiled. "If she ever tries that with you, I'll have an excuse to rip her apart."

   Arriving at the ruined fort, I sat down on a fallen pillar and dressed my bleeding leg with a piece of shirt. "Thanks, Luna. You really saved my skin."

   Luna sneered at me. "I told thou to follow me! Next time I might not be there! Then what will you do? Throw more rocks?!"

   I recoiled a little from her volume.

   She snorted in aggravation.

   A cold feeling chilled me abruptly.

   No, not again.

   I got up. "If they're big enough."

   Luna stomped her hoof down. "This is not a game! You could have died!"

   Have to get away from her.

   I felt the all too familiar chill going up my spine. "Yeah, so what?"

   I got up and started briskly walking away. I had to, before the cold made me do something I would regret.

   A warm force grabbed my neck and squeezed, pulling hard and pinning me to a nearby wall.

   Luna got right up on my face, glaring into my eyes with seething rage.

   I gripped my neck. "No, w-wait-"

   She gritted her teeth. "When did I mentor such a selfish fool?! If thou wants to die so badly, then I can save myself the torment later this moment!"

   You don't understand, Luna!

   Luna was squeezing pretty hard, forcing me to struggle to breathe. The cold inside painfully went from chilling to freezing.

   I started laughing.

   "Go ahead, do it!"

   I smiled while I felt less of me, like I was going to sleep. "You can't can you? Yes, you are false, like your hopes and dreams."

   Luna calmed down, rage melting to worry. She let me go. "Argyle, this feeling I am getting from you, it is very similar."

   Something else made my body pick itself up. A voice alien to me screamed at Luna.

   "Tide to dark, parasite of light!"

   It painfully forced me scream at the world. "Burn in validity!"

   My vision started getting dark to my horror. I felt like I was being trapped inside my own mind, as the cold almost numbed everything.

   Luna looked like she was about to be sick. "Student...."

   She slapped my face hard with her fore hoof.

   I fell back, dazed, head spinning.

   I rolled to my warming hands grunting. I shook and my teeth chattered like I was freezing to death. "W-what was t-that?"

   Luna glared at me worried.

   "What's w-wrong with m-me?"

   I knew the cold was bad, but it never did that to me before. I was losing control. It was horrifying.

   "L-Luna I...I'm s-so s-sorry." Feeling like I was about to die from the lack of body warmth, I curled up into a ball staring into space.

   Something warm enveloped me. I instinctively leaned into it before realizing Luna had wrapped her wings around me.

   The shock made me jerk, almost recoiling away from her.

   "Shhh, tis alright."

   Luna wrapped her wings tighter around me. "We should rest for a spell. Sleep."

   Giving in, I let my head lie on her chest. It amazed me how soft her fur felt, full of life giving warmth.

   It reminded me of the golden fleece in Jason and the Argonauts.

   It took seconds for my figure to unfreeze and burn with life again. Despite the scare, I felt so safe under her wings and so tired suddenly.

   Sleep was weighing down my eyes like a waterfall of bliss. "You're so warm."

   She whispered back, "And you are so cold."

   I closed my eyes. "Luna, I-"

   "It is alright. Tis my turn to be here now."

   Luna let her head lie over mine. "Rest, my friend."

   Her heartbeat was strong and slightly fast. I nodded off in seconds. Faint distant whispers echoed around me as warm darkness took over. She was faintly humming a lullaby.