"Why, James, I do believe you're right. That debt still goes unpaid."

Fasoudra Dartilia casts his eyes around the dungeon, his gaze lingering on each of us in turn. "Very well. Two of you will go free. When you reach civilisation, you will find that your contract on me has been revoked. You will not find me again, that I can guarantee. I would suggest that you do not try, else I will not be so generous again. These are my conditions."

"Fine," replies Azrael - or James, was that his true name? " Drag us out of here in blindfolds and carts if you must. So long as you honour the debt."

Dartilia smiles. "So then, old friend, which two shall go, and which one must die? I think it only fair that you get to choose."

"I die. They go free." The vampire's voice is steady. His eyes burn in the torchlight; that glow is part simple reflection, part conviction, and part defiance. I shout something in protest. Beside me, the elf does the same. Dartilia just raises a hand and gags us both with a silent spell.

"No, I'm afraid that would not do. I owe you my life, so as I see it, you must live. Else, my honour would not be satisfied. No, one of these two must die."

That defiance, that bright spark, it flickers and dies inside him. His face twists and falls. "Fasoudra," he whispers. "You-you can't ask me to condemn one of my friends."

"Either condemn one of them, or condemn them both. That is my offer."

"Fasoudra..." He's begging now. I turn my face away. Dartilia is stroking the edge of his axe with a thumb. His gagging spell fades as his attention is pulled back to Azrael.

"James, this is your one chance. Refuse to answer, and I kill you and your-"

"Me."

The elf speaks over him. "He picks me."

Dartilia turns. The bottom of my stomach falls away.

"You offer your life to me, elf?" Dartilia asks. He stares at the elf, daring him to meet his gaze.

Their eyes meet. Neither blinks.

"I offer it."

"NO!"

I don't know why I do it. I know I can't change a thing. But the wild part of me will not let this go unchallenged. It won't let me leave a packmate to die, not without a fight.

I throw myself against my chains. "Don't you dare! Don't you bloody well dare!" I can't break the iron rings, but I have to try! I have to do something!

Then I feel the back of Dartilia's hand smack against my jaw. The stinging strike silences me. I meet his eyes, sullen, spitting blood. His hand closes around the shaft of his axe.

"The decision has been made, pup."

He draws the axe. "The decision is made..."

It rises high, the gleaming blade catching the torchlight as it lingers at the peak of its stroke. The elf closes his eyes, serene, content even. Ready for death. Welcoming it.

Then death descends.

Death bites deep into my collar.

I feel each shocking jolt of pain as flesh parts and bones shatter. Then nothing. Just the strange sensation of falling without end. I'm vaguely aware of a moment's silence broken by shouts and cries. But it's so far away. Everything is distant. Even the pain. I try to say... Well, something That it isn't that bad, that it doesn't even hurt anymore...why doesn't it hurt? But all I can do is gurgle. My lungs feel full, like I'm drowning, but what am I drowning in...?

The edges of my vision are gone. I see and hear everything as though it's at the end of a long tunnel. I try to pick out Azrael at the end of the tunnel. But he's so far away...everything's so far away...and I...feel...tired...

"Ranger?"

I came back to reality with a start. I wasn't bleeding out in a dungeon in the middle of who knows where. I was sitting at a gilt table, breaking bread with a unicorn and two pony princesses. I knew which idea was more likely, but of the two I had to admit that my current situation was somehow the less surreal.

But that memory was still so raw, so vivid. Not surprising, really. It had, by my reckoning, been two days, maybe a little more or less, since then. Though it felt like so much more.

"Ranger, are you all right?"

I looked down. My left hand was shaking. My left shoulder ached, along the pale line that traced the blade of Dartilia's axe. Two days, and all that was left was a thin, pale scar.

With an effort of will I made my left hand sit still, but rested it under the table all the same.

"I'm fine," I said, not quite sure who had spoken. "I was just... Never mind. I'm fine."

From the looks on their faces, none of the three believed me. I didn't blame them. I didn't believe me, either. "You were asking how I got here?"

Celestia nodded. Her face was lined with concern, but she said nothing.

I shrugged. "You could have asked your sister. I told her about it last night."

"And she told me. But I want to hear about it from you."

"Sister, perhaps we should give him some more time," Luna said, leaning forward. "The memories are surely painful; it was brave enough of him to tell me as much as he already has."

"No." With a little effort, I stilled my shaking hand, and brought it back out from under the table, running a finger along the edge of the eyepatch. "I said I'm fine. And you should hear the story proper." My eyes flicked towards Luna and, thinking of what she'd said, moved to Twilight. "All of you."

I leant back in my chair with a sigh, and began to speak.

"There were three of us. Myself, an elf sword-mage, and a vampire. The vampire, I suppose. The last one left, if the elf was to be believed."

"A 'vampire'?" interrupted Twilight, raising a hoof. "Is that like a vampony?"

"I don't know. Do vamponies drink blood?"

Twilight nodded.

"And are they afraid of daylight?" I asked.

"According to legend. I'm not sure if they're actually real, but... Yes."

"Then yes, I'd say they're pretty similar. As I was saying, the vampire. Less inclined to kill you in your sleep than the monsters of old, but I wouldn't have called him a nice man.

"The three of us were travelling companions, for the better part of a year and a half. There's an old saying, where I come from. 'Fight together, and you are comrades. Drink together, and you are friends. Mourn together, and you are brothers.'" I closed my eyes, feeling the lead weight shift and my throat burn. "We fought, drank, and mourned together.

"We were all mercenaries by trade, but not too long ago we were approached by a man who gave us what he said was the most important job of our lives. We were to kill one man."

"An assassination?" said Celestia with a crooked eyebrow.

"Call it that if you like. But we took the job, because however you want to call it, we knew that it was right. This man, Dartilia? He was a madman. A murder. The sort of man who'd do anything for his own gain. So we went to kill him."

"And you were captured."

"Yes. We hadn't realised just how powerful he was. He beat us all to a bloody pulp, and locked us away in a dungeon in some gods-forsaken corner of the world. Spent the next week trying to find out how much we knew, and who had sent us after him. We didn't talk. In the end, we didn't have to. He found out himself. There was nothing else he needed us for, so he decided to have us killed."

I had to pause there. Recalling those memories deliberately was not a pleasant experience, and I could feel my stomach churn. But as I looked over at her, Luna nodded, encouraging me on with a gentle smile. So I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and continued. I told them how the vampire had known Dartilia from who knows how many years ago. How he bargained for our lives with a life debt. Two life debts. Somehow, somewhere, the vampire had saved that bastard's life twice, and now he was collecting on the debt.

I told them about Dartilia's sadistic glee as he tried to make the vampire choose which of us had to die. I told them about the elf's sacrifice. I told them how it had meant nothing in the end.

All the while, I watched Twilight's face grow steadily more and more horrified.

"And that's it. He killed me, and I woke up in the orchard. There's nothing more to tell. I wish there was, but if there's any clue in there I can't see it."

Silence filled the room. Celestia's eyes were fixed on her empty plate, seemingly lost in thought. Luna sat back, head bowed, digesting the details that I had left out in my earlier telling. And Twilight? She stared at me, ears drooping, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Ranger, I... I'm so sorry..."

"Don't," I snapped. "Don't say that. Don't give me your pity. I don't want it, and I don't need it. So just... don't."

She drew back, hurt replacing the pity in her eyes. I knew in a heartbeat that I'd made a mistake, but despite the burning of the princesses' angry glares on my back, I said nothing to try and mend it. Instead, I just slumped back against my chair again, fiddling with my patch.

"As I said, that's it. I hope it helps. I appreciate the hospitality, but I'd like to get back to my own world. And if I can't get back, I'd like to know sooner rather than later."

Not to my surprise, Luna gave me another pointed look. What did surprise me was the question that came with it.

"Are you sure you wish to return so badly?"

The seconds following that questions stretched out in silence. The very question I'd been asking myself, and I had no answer for either of us. Finally, after my mind had run over every answer I could have thought of, I settled on the only response that made any sense, no matter how hollow it sounded to my own ears. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Luna shared a glance with her sister. "Because whenever you refer to your friends, you talk as if they're long gone. 'We fought, we travelled'. As if you think you'll never see them again."

I had even less of an answer to that.

There were a few uncomfortable moments of silence as our empty dishes were carted away, and slices of cake set in front of us.

The meal and the conversation had left me less than hungry, but I had been on the road too long to turn down food when it was offered. I prodded at the cake with a fork. To my surprise, it collapsed in on itself, springing back into shape when I pulled the fork away.

"Cloud cake," said Celestia. "As the name suggests, it's made with real clouds."

I didn't even bother asking. Equestria was becoming almost predictable in its absurdity. I just nodded absently, cutting a sliver from my slice. It came away easier than I'd expected.

"It's interesting, though," she continued. "You say you come from another world entirely, and I believe that, but you seem to speak perfect Equestrian."

I paused, fork halfway to my mouth. "Ah. Aye, Applejack noticed that yesterday. The thing is, I'm not actually speaking Equestrian. At least, I don't think I am."

Her face invited an explanation, so I gave her the short version, avoiding the demonstration of the Northern tongue. By the time I was finished, all three mares were looking at me with the same expression of barely restrained curiosity.

"So, however you came to be here, something gave you this ability," said Luna. "That suggests intelligence and intent."

"Aye, I suppose so." Did she really entertain the idea that I'd fallen between worlds by accident? "If I had to guess, I'd have said the gods sent me here, but I've no idea why."

"Nonetheless, this gives us a starting point," Celestia commented. She glanced over at Twilight. "I think, Twilight, that you should investigate language spells when you return to Ponyville. If such a spell exists, then we might have a clue as to who brought Ranger here."

Twilight nodded, but she looked less enthused than she had before. I couldn't help but wonder how much damage my outburst had done. Meanwhile, Celestia nodded to her sister and stood. "I'm afraid we have to cut this short. Luna and I both have royal duties to attend to."

We had moved back to the throne room. Luna and Twilight were in one corner, talking about something or other. Even my ears couldn't pick out any words, but I had a feeling they were discussing me.

"Is it all right if we speak alone?"

I glanced over at Celestia, who beckoned me to one side of the throne with a flick of her head.

"What do you want to say?" I replied, following.

She looked down at me, eyes giving away nothing. "How much thought have you given to your friends?"

Not as much as I should have. "Some. I hope they're safe. But I doubt it. Even if Dartilia keeps his promise, I doubt those two could stay safe for more than a day. After all, they fight for a living. It's not a safe life."

There was silence for a moment, save for the murmurs of Luna and Twilight on the other side of the hall.

"Why do you choose a life like that? Money?"

I shrugged. "Some do. If you're good, smart, and don't let your conscience get in the way, you can earn a pretty coin. If you're very good, you might even manage to stay alive long enough to spend it.

"But for most of us, the pay is poor. What little you do earn, you spend on lodgings or camp gear, because you'll be moving around too much to settle properly. No, most of us are men with nowhere else to go. Old armsmen, foreigners, farmers whose farms were burned. Most men do it because they can't do anything else."

"Or because they enjoy it?"

In a move that Twilight might have had my head for, I gave the princess a flat look, as though she had said the stupidest thing I could imagine.

"Your Majesty, I enjoy a brawl as much as the next man. I even like living on the road, when the weather holds. But any man who tells you he enjoys battle is either a liar or a madman. I won't say there aren't a few that I've met, but I know what you're saying, even if you won't actually say it. And I'll give you my reply.

"Every time I stand on the edge of a battle, I feel so scared I could piss myself. When I'm fighting, I don't have time to be scared, or to enjoy myself, because I'm always the next bastard waiting to put a spear through my gut. And after the battle, I feel like throwing up, but I'm so tired I'd rather just lie down and sleep wherever I stand.

"But what else can I do? I don't have the money to buy land. I can mend a few weapons, but I don't have the skill to make a living from it. I don't act and I don't sing.

"You want to know why I chose that life? It's not because I enjoy it. I'm not a madman, or a savage. I chose it because there was no choice."

I glared up, daring her to reply. To my surprise, she smiled.

"I believe you. Though a simple 'no' might have done."

Silence again. I chuckled. She was right. I was making an arse of myself. She asked a simple question, and off I went, as if she'd offered me an open insult. The elf would have told me to think a little before speaking, I bet. The vampire would probably just have shaken his head, muttering to himself about Northern idiots.

I needed them here, if for nothing else than to keep an eye on me. There was a moment of clarity in that thought, as though the answer to a forgotten question was just out of reach. But it was shorter than fleeting, and when I reached, it was gone. All I knew was that I wished I could be standing beside them. Or that they could be standing beside me.

"You worry about your friends?"

The question caught me off guard. Could she see my thoughts, or was my face really that easy to read?

"I wonder about them. But I don't worry. I trust you to get me home sooner or later."

"Ranger, I know this may be hard to hear, but I'm afraid it may be some time before we even know if we can send you home, let alone find a way to get you there."

"I know. But you can't think like that. I will get back. I have to. I have a life to finish. It isn't much, but it's mine, and I care about it."

"For the time being, at least, you might have to make yourself a life here. Do you have somewhere in Ponyville you could stay?"

"Aye, Applejack's offered me work on her farm, and she said I could stay in the barn as long as I'm working there."

"Good. Honest work is one of the best ways to convince a pony that you're not so different from them. Be careful, though, Ranger. I do my best, but some of my subjects can be more than a little difficult around things that they don't know. It might be useful if you carried this."

She produced a scroll from somewhere behind on of her throne's cushions, and held it in front of me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A right to settle. It proclaims that Luna and I give you permission to live, work, and travel within Equestria as you choose. At the very least, it will convince the most fearful ponies that their princesses trust you. And it may help them to do the same."

I reached out to take it, but she pulled it out of reach. "Ranger, I'm placing a lot of trust in you by vouching for you like this, just as my sister did when she vouched for you to me. I ask only one thing in return; don't make me regret granting you this."

"I won't, Your Majesty. I swear as much; I'll do my best to earn this trust."

"That's all I can ask." The scroll floated into my hand, and I tucked it into a pocket inside my cloak.

She glanced over my shoulder, nodding slightly to her sister. "I'll summon Shining Armor. He can escort you back to the balcony. The chariot should be waiting to take you back to Ponyville."

Thinking about the chariot made me shudder, but I pulled my cloak tighter around myself, said nothing, and tried not to think too much about it. Man was not made to fly, but if he had to, he'd do it with a little dignity.

We rejoined Twilight. Her conversation with Luna had left her looking a little happier than she had when we left the dining hall, but she still looked less than pleased with me. I sighed. As much as I hated the bowing and scraping of the courts, I had to admit there were times when it had to be done, if only to please your host.

Before Celestia had a chance to call on Captain Armor, I took the opportunity to drop into a short bow. No bending of knees, just a bend at the waist, but it was enough, I suspected, to make my point.

"Thank you, Your Majesties, for your aid and your hospitality. I am in your debt."

A small gestured, but if I'd guessed right it should've been enough to keep Twilight off of my back for a while. She did look approving, albeit grudgingly. Grudging approval was enough, though, if it meant I could keep on her good side.

But my performance wasn't just for her benefit. "One thing before I leave, though. Might I ask for a favour?"

"You can ask," replied Celestia with a smile, "but in the end, it depends on the favour."

"It's nothing much. I just wondered if I might ask for a calender that showed the phases of the moon."

Luna frowned. "A lunar chart? You can find one almost anywhere in Equestria. What would you need one for?"

"I just need to check some things. Make a few comparisons. I thought it might be best to ask at the source, if you take my meaning."

"I'm sure Twilight Sparkle has a few spare, and they are the equal of any you could find here in Canterlot. I doubt she would mind furnishing you with one."

"Not at all," said Twilight. She gave me a funny look, though. Not annoyed or disappointed, but curious. As if I were a puzzle, and she'd just seen a possible solution or a particularly useful piece.

I had to wonder just what she suspected.

Once the dispossessed man was gone, the trail of his cloak disappearing down the corridor, Princess Luna turned to her sister, an expectant look in her eyes.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Celestia replied.

"What did you think of him?"

Celestia paused to consider her answer. This creature certainly looked intimidating. It was partially due to his garb; a black cloak, an eyepatch, and then that single, burning yellow eye. And he had a less well-defined quality, a vague, threatening feel about him. But it was not the overt threat of a griffon's talons, or a dragon's teeth and fire. Indeed, he had no obvious weapons on him besides his clever-looking hands.

No, his was a threat more like a coiled spring, or a drawn bow. There was the impression that at any moment some hidden tension might be released and he would surge into action.

And then there had been his manner. Completely ignorant of the expected social graces, even those that Celestia happened to find more tolerable than others. In fact, the only custom he seemed willing to engage in was that ridiculous flat-on-the-floor bow the most reverent of her ponies seemed intent on preserving.

But despite that, Celestia wasn't nearly as worried as she perhaps should have been. There was a strange contradiction about him. He seemed both a threat, but not a threat. It would have been confusing, but Celestia had known beings like that before, long ago, both pony and non-pony alike.

"He's different.," she said finally. "Dangerous. Not to mention rude."

"No different than the nobility, then. At least he doesn't hide behind false sincerity."

"True, it's refreshing to be insulted by ignorance than flattered by malice. Besides, he doesn't seem the type to stab you in the back to get what he wants."

"But you do think he's dangerous. Should we keep a closer eye on him?"

"No. I don't think he'll be dangerous to us, not unless we give him a reason to be. And I trust the Element Bearers to keep their own eyes on him. But you seem taken with him. I'm surprised, Luna; I didn't think you were one to look outside your own species for that sort of thing."

"Wha-! Sister, I must protest! Surely you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting!"

Celestia laughed, prodding her sister playfully. "Oh, don't tell me you think I'm being serious! Is La Lune's sense of humour really so withered, that she cannot take a simple jest in stride?" She swept a foreleg around in a grand, over-dramatic gesture, as if she were on stage reciting a Shakespearean verse.

Luna simply rolled her eyes. "If you must know, I find him almost familiar. He reminds me ponies I knew before. Long ago, before the Nightmare. Before this peace."

Great minds, thought Celestia. Or was it strange minds?

"I was thinking the same thing," she admitted, "though it's not quite as comforting for me. I suppose I don't notice the changes between then and now as much as you do, sister."

The reminders of their old strife were becoming a little too much. Silence reigned in the hall. Only the muffled sound of heavy, steel-shod hooves on patrol intruded. Just as Celestia felt it stretch into discomfort, Luna spoke.

"What do we do, then?"

Celestia smiled, draping an ivory wing over her sister's withers.

"What would you have us do?"

Eyes turned to the ceiling, Luna thought for a moment.

"Watch him. He told me he has no wish to fight, and I believe him. He's been looking for a clean slate. Let him have it. But watch him all the same. He has useful skills, skills that have been lost in Equestria for centuries. Though I hope we never do, we may have need of them."

Author's Notes:

The nickname La Lune is from The Celestial Mechanics in Midsummer by TwilightFlopple, which by the way is a fantastic one-shot that you all should read.

I know that there are some ponified alternatives for Shakespeare out there, but for the life of me I just can't remember what they are. And I'm terrible at making pony puns. If anybody's got a good one, let me know and I'll do a little edit.