The three of us had several hours to eliminate before our plan of action could even commence. Eclipse recommended that we use a large slice of it resting for about four hours, which was very reasonable considering the night could be a long one and becoming weary would have been our plan's death card. I anxiously accepted Eclipse's advice considering the possibilities, not one particularly wanting to overload on the factors of chance. Cera, on the other hand, bypassed the opportunity for sleep declaring instead a need to return back to her home before more preying eyes were on watch so she could prepare herself properly for her role. Despite the approaching task, I cannot say I had a troubling time losing consciousness on the couch, but my ease of rest was no where in comparison to Eclipse's. For all he did was enter his room, throw himself onto the bed, and then was rapidly out cold.

Only about three and a half hours had passed when I picked myself off that sofa with the benefits of the moderate-sized nap. It was not as long as Eclipse recommended, but my body was not going to allow anymore rest regardless of my efforts and I did afterall still feel a dozen times better than before. Surrendering to this fact, I folded the blankets once more and began to hunt around the house for Cera, realizing shortly that she had failed to return during my slumber. Trepidation slowly seeped into my heart and mind, penetrating them with the questions of 'what if' in the midst of her lack of return, and I had to force myself not to worry, calming my heart by telling myself that she was a mare of her word and I had simply awoke before she would had anticipated.

I trotted gently into Eclipse's chambers to waken him, but after finding the nearly albino unicorn consumed with contentment in his rest, the early considerations was voided as I felt wrong disturbing him without a real reason besides as an act of selfishness. Unable to do much else, I decided to simply wait it out through reading and galloped my way out of the room and back into Ryan's planning room, pulling a random book with my magic from upon the shelves as I entered. The Lore of Yesterday's Strata the front of the text read and hastily flipping through found that the text was composed mostly as a series of folklore and the mythology of past generations and people, gathered and translated over time from various sources and extents.  Mythology, never being the easiest subject, held very enticing characteristic to me than that of just plain old text because typically there was a significant meaning behind them that made them worth while; not to mention that they offer insights into the cultures of history.

The first passage of the collection was allegorical in nature and featured complex writing designed with simple words and phrases, hinting me to believe that this particular era was marked by literary division based on class status. The composition's moral teachings were designated for the ears of the masses, but would of had to have been read by the literate gentry to those who would of had to dedicate their lives to the land, instead of a thirst for knowledge. The three stallions of the parable were depicted light-heartedly by the author with a few underlying hints of sardonic disdain found within due to their ignorance as the three stallions banded together to averenge their friend's humiliation without a true sense of common purpose. The three when presented with the possibility of wealth, acted on the brutish impulses of greed and followed paths of their dishonorable thoughts. Blinded by desires, the each participated in the taking of their fellow stallions' lives; all three to trickery, the youngest by the blade.

The depiction of a blade reminded me of my own and motioning to the table in which we drew out our plans, I unsheathed the lonely majestic steel from its skin. The shimmer of the light reflecting off placed me once more in a designation for awe and I swung the sword a few times in mock combat becoming enthralled in the perfect sence of balance it provided. The wind generated sang rich melodies to catch my glance, and the runes of the sword's length were too vivacious to ignore. I held the hilt out in my hoof once more and focused on the span of blade, breathing lightly with concentration. I sparked my horn and attempted an enhancement of nature resulting in a sole leaf to unhold outward from the shaft before my channeled aura failed and the sudden creation of heat on the blade caused me to drop it in reactive haste. A light giggle originated behind me and I spun quickly to find the brief end of a rear hoof dodging my gaze.

"You know if your objective is not to be discovered you really should not laugh," I teased her, relieved to know that she finally returned safely.

"And you should know that you are not supposed to drop your weapon in combat. That air you were fighting could have done some serious harm to you." Cera rounded the molding of the door flailing her forehooves in an imitation of sword fighting, mockingly dropping the weapon and dramatically making a show with a slow fall. Instantaneously as she entered, I was speechless, lost between a state of amazement, shock, and surprise. Cera did not dress to impersonate a nurse, impersonation would've been underplaying her disguise, she had completely disposed of her identity and took on a role that transcended past disguise. Her coat's color was altered towards a blue, her mane was lightly styled and temporary dyed to a white-sky combination, and her attire was not fresh pressed and extravagant like the commercial image of a nurse, she resembled an employee of medicine that would of spent decades in the field already and in a way was more convincing in presentation than I would've even considered possible. "You like it?"

"Where do I even start! Are you always this convincing with outfits like you are being right now to me?"

"Well to be honest, this one is very rushed. I usually do a lot better than this and even develop an unique accent to go with it," Cera replied humbly causing my eyes to dilate in disbelief towards her.

"You usually do better? Is that even possible?"

"You would be amazed with what I can pull off when given more than just a few hours to prepare. I have never been discovered and I would not imagine that I ever will unless external forces give it away for me." Cera waved me forward and handed an envelope to me. "You got fanmail by the way," she announced. I unfolded the seal and pulled out a hand-crafted thank you card with an illustration of Begonia, I, and her daughter drawn in crayons. Two green rose petals fell out from inside and Cera trotted over to me now interested. "What do you have here?"

"Looks like something from the filly," I stated unfolding the paper to find a letter of thanks again, surrounded by a heart and a signature of her name in green crayon.

"Begonia was the one who handed that to me, she was awake when I got home and I checked on her, I was assuming that note was from her, but I guess not. She has such a nice daughter, such a great help and a pleasure to have around."

"She seemed very sweet with the little time I spent with her," I stated somewhat somber, turning to Cera "Hey Cera?" My tone of voice struck her and she pivoted to look into my as solemn eyes.

"What is it dear?" She questioned, her face bewildered by my expression.

"I was just wondering," I lowered my head unaware of how to say it. "I was just, well, if you are the same Cera from Fluttershy's ancestry, I was wondering what happened to your daughter?" She was not saddened or taken back by this question, and in response she instead gave me a light, truly-genuine smile.

"Do not worry about that my dear Bladz, remind me to give you this story on a later date, but I assure you she has made me proud." Cera softly pressed her hoof upon my check. "Between you and her, I have yet to find another pony that can even come close to what you guys have accomplished, especially with you Bladz. Even when things get a little out of our hooves, you have stayed loyal to yourself and your promises. Her hoof slide down my neck and was transformed into a long hug. When she retreated, her face was beaming with new light. "Let us go awake the sleeping beauty, he has overslept his own limitations that he set for us all."

Eclipse did not like waking up, I learned quickly. It was not that he was mean or harsh towards the individual that awoke him, or even the actual act of trying to wake him up, it was actually getting him to stay awake that proved problematic. Everytime we successfully awoke him, he fell back asleep within thirty seconds and our efforts would become a lost cause. For about five minutes we consistently kept having to nudge him until Cera, by now frustrated, bucked his matress over causing Eclipse to land back first into the floor. Eclipse slowly raised his head and stared at Cera with burning eyes; Cera just smiled and walked away victorious.

"You better watch where you sleep for that one," Eclipse threatened, pulling himself off the floor and repositioning the mattress.

"With how hard you sleep, I really doubt I would have any problems at night. Even if you were to actually try to carry out that threat, what could you even do? Mess up my mane? Couldn't be any worse than yours right now," Cera countered playfully. Ellipse ran his hooves through his mane, straightening out the erratic hairs. "Come on anyway, we only two hours to spare."

The two passed me as they departed the room and I trailed behind as we motioned to gather around the planning table where my sword still laid unsheathed. Eclipse did not seem to be reactive to this and simply sheathed the blade and handed the sheathed sword over to me. Eclipse was awake, but was still suffering from morning lag and could not manage to get a single words out without overwhelmingly stuttering before he finally gave up and pointed to a hanging clock and Coalstone's file. Cera seemed to know what he was trying to say and nodded in recognition.

"See anyone suspicious or maybe even our friend Ember while you were at it?" Eclipse finally managed to say.

"In all honesty if I saw him, I was not paying attention considering I had to return back here without anypony wondering why there was a nurse walking around the port systems," Cera exclaimed.

"No problem, nice disguise for such a short notice by the way. What is the strap for though?" Eclipse's question of Cera's attire caught me off guard and I instantly looked over at Cera who had a strap going around her that I missed entirely earlier.

"Oh! I am glad you said that Eclipse," Cera informed him pulling the strap off and than wrapping the strap around my torso and clipping the sheath of my sword to it. The strap perfectly blended in with my coat and was molded almost perfectly to my shape. "I meant to give that to you Bladz, that is actually why I returned so much later than I wanted to, I made you that to help you carry that sword and not have to worry about slugging around the sword and keeping track of the sheath."

"Thank you," I started testing the location by pulling the sword out and then back into its sheath several times while walking around with it on, satisfied as the sword stayed in place the entire time. "Very nicely crafted, this is going to be exceptionally advantageous with carrying this thing around."

"Do not mention it, creating things for practical use is what I do," Cera blushed. "Not that what your family creates is impractical or anything." I shrugged, indicating that I took no offence. Eclipse knocked on the table sardonically grabbing our attention after picking up and placing three different-colored generic plastic pony models on the map; one red, one blue, and one green. "What are these for?" Cera inquired pushing one over.

"Found them earlier when I was digging through the drawer, thought they might be helpful as we go over the plan one last time," Eclipse proclaimed. Cera and I nodded to him to show our attention, and he placed the three pieces on the location of Ryan's house on the map, which was almost not even depicted. "Okay, so Bladz will be the blue one considering that blue is his natural mane color unlike Ms. Blueberry over here. Cera, you should logically be represented by this green one, and I guess I will have to be this red one."

"Makes sense considering how red your face was when you woke up from your little knapp," Cera punned.

"And moving on! Cera, you will be apart of the exchange of the staff and you should try to make your way inside the control room. How you are suppose to do that, we are not aware of yet." Cera nodded and Eclipse followed his statement with the movement of the green piece. Bladz and I will enter through a backdoor, if we can figure out a decent one, about six minutes into the shift and we'll start hunting the rooms while staying out of sight." Eclipse now moved our pieces in unison to the center of the clinic on the map. "At about twelve minutes into the hour, you will need to cut the power of the lights, Cera. Hopefully by then we will have Hope and my brother found and ready so we can take advantage of the darkness and make the most of the opportunity."

"Quite a bit of uncertainty we are working with, especially for a rescue mission, but yet again it is not like we have the choice really," I stated light-heartedly adjusting the strap one final time.

"I would not be working with such a risk if I could help it, but the truth of the matter is that one pony can never be fully prepared for what to expect," Eclipse agreed. "We all good with the plan?" No one argued otherwise and Eclipse continued. "Okay then. Cera, do you still have the materials I gave you earlier?" Cera nodded and confirmed by waving the small adjustable wrench. "Looks like we are set. Bladz, you and I will leave for the clinic in thirty. Cera, I recommend you leave for the clinic about fifteen minutes ahead of us considering you need to match the flow of the other workers. Let the odds ever be in our favor, I see potential in our future and it will be the question of if we make the choice to walk through the door or not that is going to make the difference".

The time preceding our departure painfully dragged on, and while Cera expected her disguise for a final time and Eclipse finished reading Ember's file, I just laid patiently and anxiously waiting. Cera made her disappearance two minutes early with her nicely brushed mane and reasonably pressed scrubs, giving me a quickly silent pat on the shoulder before she composed herself and walked out the door. Ten agonizing minutes later Eclipse finally appeared from the room carrying two black top hats, one of which he tossed onto my head. He stared at it briefly, then shrugged. "It works at least," he replied confidently to my resulting gaze of inquiry.

"What is this? And if you were trying to find something that matched my suit, this color is off."

"Well for one, it is a top hat, and two, it is not meant to go with anything, its purpose is to cover up the nice sized bumps we have on our heads." I thought about it for a minute and readjusted the hat, placing it more firmly around my skull. "You ready to go?"

"Ready as I am ever going to be," I informed him getting up and heading for the door.

"That's the spirit!" Eclipse stated sarcastically and took lead as we departed outside. The walk to the clinic was only about a ten minute walk in all honesty, yet because Eclipse wanted to ensure that we stay out of sight in fear that we may lose the element of surprise if we rush it, what should of taken ten minutes expanded to almost thirty. If a pony was to head due north from leaving Ryan's house and then a small scoot left they would of found the clinic, but sadly for me aswell we took a less direct path that curved around the city and at one point intersected a tiny road that brought a pony within very close proximity to the clinic, behind the main entrance. "You think Cera may have found the room by now?"

"I doubt it. I may have not spent much time in medicine, but I can tell you just from how involved we had to get with our customers in Canterdash that it is probably going to take her a little while to make it to where she needs to be."

"Fair enough, I guess we could use some extra minutes anyway," Eclipse stated pulling a back door open and signalling for me to seep through as quietly as possible. The hallway was absent of individuals in direct sight, yet the chatter between working ponies and hoofsteps were abundant in the backgrounds. Eclipse stepped in behind me and very slowly shut the door to prevent a strong release of noise. "So, what now?" Eclipse whispered causing me to turn and give him a disappointed stare. "I never said my plan was perfectly concise, I cannot plan what I cannot predict."

I held my hoof up quickly to stop his chatter as a set of hoof steps began to intensify in volume. "This way and quick," I commanded trotting on light hooves leftwards down the hall. Each room had a distinct, somewhat random-looking number listed above the room's number with a slot that was used to indicate the room's occupants below, two amenities for workers that unfortunately I knew was going to be little help considering they did not know who Hope was, only that she is a pink mare with wings and a horn. I grumpled under my breath briefly due to this new unpleasant and annoying complication; at least they would help tell us where she was not. "If you were keeping Hope somewhere and you did not know her name, what would you label her?" I inquired to Eclipse softly noting a halting in the background steps.

"Can I buy a vowel?"

"What!"

"Okay fine, how about a consonant? Is there a 'C'?"

"I am being serious," I growled at him.

"You are forgetting I do not even have the slightest clue who you are talking about besides for the name. I mean think about it, I have not seen her yet; she could be standing right in front of us and I would be completely unaware," Eclipse reminded me and I did not hide my dismay as I began to read off random names looking for anything that could be remotely even close to making sense. "What about Ember Coalstone?"

"We will deal with him later if need be," I determined. Eclipse tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a name roster that had Ember's name listed. "Or that works too." I giggled a little embarrassed that I missed that door. I pressed my ear against the door and listened for any noise or whispers inside. Hearing nothing I took grasp of the door handle and pressed myself forward.

A thin stream of light entered alongside me from the hallway which I hastily used to conduct a quick survey of what I could make out. Visually the room appeared empty, no pony appeared in the thin momentary beams that lit the right half of the room, and I waved for Eclipse to close the door behind us.The brief light did allowed me though to catch a glimpse of a lamp in the back of the room that I approached. Futile clicks was the lamp's response as I continuously turned the knob getting nothing else but additional frustration.

"Thank you young hero, but your princess is in another castle," a very monotone voice declared from the darkness. I unsheathed my sword using magic and starred viciously in the darkness seeing nothing. "You know there used to be a time when stallions would not walk into places of healing and threaten to stab ponies," the voice stated mockingly and Eclipse broke into laughter unable to take it much more.

"You know you do not have to mess with the poor guy," Eclipse announced tapping my shoulder and then sword. I resheathed it curiously and Eclipse gestured into the darkness. "Come on out from that darkness" A pitch black unicorn appeared from the complete darkness and sat down on a near by bed where the light reflecting from under the door was slightly illuminating him. He was essentially some sort of dark clone of Eclipse with the two almost being identical save for minor muscle curves and the coat color. "How have you been Void?" Eclipse sighed relieved.

"Sorry, but let us hold the family reunions til later. Where is Hope!" I demanded sternly.

"She is not here right now but I assure you not to worry, the staff here is phenomenal. She got her yesterday and they are doing some x-rays of that wing of hers. You should've seen Ember's face yesterday when she got here, somepony could have boiled water on it he was so mad that there was a princess here."

"Mad? Why would that have made him mad? And what do you mean she is safe in this place when this Ember guy is trying to cause mayhem!" I challenged.

"I am taking it that Cera figured everything out about Ember, no offence to either of you two, but I smell her handy work at play. Not to mention that there were hoof steps outside a couple minutes ago when normally no one ever comes down this hall and then you show up here brother."

"She is very good at intelligence, which is no surprise considering the best taught her. " Eclipse made a mock bow to Void.

"I know she is doing well considering I did not even know that she resides in these parts until a day ago. Something must be nagging at her since she is not normally one that I would imagine to use such a fatal fallacy in her situational analysis." I looked at Void with my remaining tolerance for the night, but Eclipse's presence kept me calm. "If the purpose of all this was for vengeance and to cause chaos would there really be a reason to go to such extremes?" Void presented to us and I just waited for his response growing impatient. "I am sorry for shooting random questions at you by the way," Void apologized to me causing my patience to increase but more importantly calmed me oddly. "You must be Ver...Vera..."

"Bladz Angelo" I told him luke-warmly.

"Oh wow I was really off, nice to meet you Mr. Angelo."

"What were you trying to say about Ember?" I directed to the dark stallion.

"Oh yes, let me just get to the point. Ember may be running this operation, as you guys have probably discovered, but in reality he is ignorant of what he is doing. He is not a criminal, he is just a ticked off pegasus who followed a lead that put him in a situation that I am not sure he is aware of yet."

"What you mean brother?" Eclipse posed to stallion upon sitting himself next to him.

"You seen the two black pegasi right? Well I know you have Mr.Angelo, my birds have told me that a young white unicorn was present in the city, but what about you Eclipse?"

"Only very briefly, why you ask?" Eclipse admitted.

"Woah, wait up! Those birds that were staring at me for a while where yours?" I roared. Void chuckled a little bit, and pushed curtains aside and tapped on the window. The two ravens settled down on window sill and Void cracked the window to let them in. They both flew in and settled themselves on his lap happily as Void began to pet their heads.

"I am sorry for that, they are trained to seek out magic users so they would of taken an interest in the aura you give off. Sadly my pets are bestowed with my magic aura and their prolonged stay made the house you were staying at a target for those two pegasi that I mentioned. Those two pegasi belong to the family that has been keeping me hostage for all these years with that link spell their ancestor placed in his genetical material using Sypherous corrupted power."

"Wait, that does not make any sense. How could they have a link spell on you if they were up above yesterday night, while you were down here?" I protested. "The strongest link spells only allow about a hundred meters at the most, and there are very few unicorns that can even pull those off with a group of supporting unicorns to assist with the casting."

"Well the reason for that is simple, I am not bound by that link spell anymore since those two revived Sypherous since it required every bit of dark magic they had at the time; however, they are too stupid to understand that link require a constant flow of power to be maintained."

"So you are telling me that you could have walked away from this mess a while ago and saved us from this mess!" Eclipse growled at his brother.

"I could have but I am not going to."

"Why not?" Eclipse and I inquired in unison.

"Because that would put Ember at risk, you are going to have to trust me brother when I say that that stallion is not a danger to us in himself, it is his alliance with these two idiots that has made him a threat, but it is a necessary evil."

"How is a sector of the Royal Flight Guard being used for purposes of evil deemed necessary?" Eclipse rejected his brother's statement.

"It is necessary because while there is greater chance of the two pegasi's plan working with the addition of all these forces, the two are stabilized and are not going to do anything that could harm the plan. These two pegasi are very hungry for power and will do anything to get this power. They act on impulses and If I was to disappear I fear the worst for Ember who has actually apologize to me on numerous occasions; Ember should not be involved in this mess. The father of those two was a genius in his study of my magic, but he was murdered by the two before he completed his work because they wanted the credit for themselves. Until this plan of theirs is fulfilled, Ember has value to them. If I was to leave"

"Then Ember is likely to met the same fate as those two's father." Eclipse stated trying to finish Void's thought.

"And not only that but if Ember and I are gone there will be nothing that will be restricting those two from trying to retaliate on the citizens here. These pegasi have twisted minds and are cowards, it wouldn't be hard to estimate how many lives they would take before they were finally stopped, but I personally do not want to make that calculation."

I could only stand there silently. My world just a few moments ago focused on saving Hope and getting away to safety, now I was consumed by the horrid truth of fate. I sighed and trotted over to the lamp fumbling for the plug in partial depression. "There is no need for use to sitting around in darkness really," I announced softly and pushed the prongs into the wall. I placed my hoof on the switch and pressed forward. Light engulfed the room, and then it disappeared as soon as it had appeared as the loud clicking of mechanisms in the walls fired and the lights in the hallway in stages began to die one row at a time in rapid succession. "Son of a, this evening cannot get anymore stressful. Come on Eclipse, we have to at least find Hope and get her out of here while we still can."

"No." Eclipse responded flat and strong.

"What! What you mean no!" I declared steaming now.

"I mean no. We came prepared for a fight if we had to defend ourselves, but the rules of the game has changed, we are not dealing with an army anymore that we have to worry about but the safety of Cittàdiali from the threat of these two psychopaths." Eclipse told me and placed his hoof more firmly on my shoulder than anyone had ever done before. "I hope you can understand."

"Eclipse, I am going to be honest with you, when Cera's essence first came up to me in a dream and told me what she did, I honestly thought I was going crazy, but in the recent twelve hours I have learned something. I may not know how you, and Cera, and I guess even now you Void know me, or even why for the love of I don't even know, but I took a title as Royal Knight of Serentia, and while I may not be some old and wise stallion with a refined personality from experience, it is my obligation to look after all of the citizens and our people, and that is what I plan on doing!"

"That is what I like to hear!" Eclipse cheered and Void forged the first smile I saw from him. Eclipse turned to Void and nodded, Void in response trotted over to me beside Eclipse. "I think it is time for you to learn what the keys are that I was talking about."

"I just left one occupation not to long ago, at least I will prefer this one," Void sighed jokingly, placing a hoof on my chest. "Waiting on you."

"Do not doubt yourself Bladz. We can deal with this small bump in the road, I have full faith in you." Eclipse produced the most genuine smile that I had witnessed and placed his hoof on my chest beside Void's. Eclipse cleared his voice as a more serious atmosphere spread throughout the room as Eclipse's voice soften, yet intensified as he spoke with conviction.

In the consideration of the truth of the light,

One stood firm against a horrid blight.

Conducting alone he acted on virgin wish,

To quench the soul's desire to escape anguish.

With the ability to reverse a curse bestowed,

He toiled to provide the undeemed a new abode.

Believing that in time we'd be a worthy exception,

to be saved from promises of false redemption.

To act in the decrees of Saint Thomas,

The sole caster could all but promise.

The stallion's mind was sound and far from heartless,

his destiny was bound to relieve the wholly darkness.

He did what was needed so we could depart,

but with time we all began to grow apart.

Still bonded together we strived  to serve as one,

Lugubriously our essences cried for it to be done.

And thus today I salute return of our eternal knight,

Dead seconds and days no longer hinder our reunite.

We act once again to reward he for what I have been given,

for through him we among the many have been forgiven.

And thus a return to our once glorious flight,

In the consideration of the truth of the light.

Starting from the hooves that laid upon my chest, the respective magic of the two caused their coats to glow their colors brightly, spreading rapidly throughout their entire bodies until they were fully engulfed in their magic lights. Eclipse formulated his smile once more and then their entire bodies shattered into glass-like dust that circled around me and entered into me through the places that their hooves had contacted. Realization of what had happened did not hit me yet, I was too determined to fulfill the mission that I had been given. And thus I opened the door to the hallway and charged my way throughout the the clinic, ready to hurdle my way around any doctors or nurses if needed that would be reacting in distress over the death of the lights. Where I was heading I did not know, but wherever it was, I knew I was going the right way for I did not have to know where I was heading for it to be the correct destination, that was just how unicorn magic works sometimes.

I was ready for any clinician I would have seen, but I did not see any. In fact, even the slightest speck of noise that echoed throughout the clinic was becoming only more distant as I continued and gradually I began to find almost no benefit in being so quick that I was clumsily making ruckus with my thundering hoofsteps and  I transformed my stampede into a controlled, hasty gallop. As I reached the end of the hallway, there was still no indication that the lights were going to be back anytime soon and a new hallway appeared that ran perpendicular to this one in both the right and left directions. Hope I could feel was close, but where exactly I could not decide as I alternated between looking down the two hallways.

I did not make my decision on which way she was when unexpectedly I felt the wall shake a little and a crash radiated from the left side. A door slammed and Ember, unaware of me, charged in full strength past me down the hallway from the left to the right side of me. His right wing was badly scraped and his back foreleg had been injured in someway causing him to have an amusing limp in his dashes. On his back was a pink mare that Ember was holding onto dearly with his remaining left wing, she looked severely dented up and only a few of them looked like they had been there since the crash. A second door slammed moments afterwards and the two dark pegasi soared past, their faces locked in expressions of hatred. They were after Ember; however, they did not continue to pursue the bruised pegasus as they rapidly slowed down upon passing me. Ember was still in sight as they decelerated, but they were no longer after that guard anymore, they had sensed me and it was the magic that I contained that was their real interest.

I frankly do not even know how I was able to do it, but the speed at which I took off back down my hallway defied every ideal I ever had about my level of fitness, although quite honestly I could care less about my new land speed record, the high velocity of a pegasus propelled by their wings was going to be faster than any speed that a pony could be able to manage on hoof. The two took a few seconds to reverse their course of direction, but it was not long before he two pegasi whipped themselves around the corner and darted straight towards me. I had no other choice and before they could reach me, I rolled myself to the right and into a push door and a kitchen-like environment causing the two to overshot the door. I was not going to study the place while two dark pegasi were wanting my head, and I scrambled as I could to make it into another room that was the kitchen room's dining area, now empty of any tables or chairs, but at one time could have been used to fit probably half of the clinic in a single sitting. The clashing of pots told me that they had entered the kitchen area, and it became obvious to me that running was not going to do anything. There was unlikely to be a better chance for me to fight back in the needed space and I was not one for taking chances. I cracked my sword from its sheath and held the hilt in my hoof waiting as with each clash of a pot I anticipated their arrival.

The commotion quickly died down and there was silence as I stood waiting in the middle of the open room. The kitchen-area was not a big room and there was no chance of me of been able to reverse my direction back down the hallway and pursue Ember causing me to become moderately confused at the lack of motion. My grip on the hilt weakened as my state of anticipation reduced and I was about to push the sword back to its original place when the doors leading from the kitchen rocketed open and charging at full speed was the brute of the two, who used his momentum to conduct in a powerful first hit that I braced for with only milliseconds to spare that pushed my entire body to slide back about three inches. Punch after punch after punch the brute continuously swung one right after the other, his full force of hatred was backed in every strike that I blocked or dodged, and ever step was just as clumsy as the last with the brute staggering momentarily after each assault.

"Hold still you damn parasite!" the brute spat throwing an iron jab towards my head. I was barely able to dodge the intended crushing blow by placing the side of my sword in front of me angled, which buffered the hit and with the addition of my efforts being used to push sideways, I took advantage of the swing's intense strength, knocking his forehoof's length out of the way, making him supremely unstable, and permitting me to grab hold on of his chest and I hurl him as hard as I could manage towards the wall. Just as the brute pegasus went flying, the door that lead directly to the hallway burst open and the smaller of the two brother stormed in from this hallway entrance, being greeted with the impact of his flying brother that happened to have been launched straight towards him; the two awkwardly rolled before the brute's back collided with the wall ending their chaotic motion. Both of the two dark pegasi were staggered briefly from the unanticipated collision; however, they did not take long to recover and upon standing back up their anger was tripled in expression, and when they finally turned and looked up to see me, I found myself unable to contain myself from laughing at the two's misfortune that only increased their anger tenfold. "Annoying pest," the brute cursed at me and commanded his brother forwards into the fight. The two of them together took turns attempting to land blows on me, and with each attempt they made I made successful attempts of exploiting their weights against them until it almost started to feel like a game, where I was tossing them around like common fruit flies.

"What's wrong, do you have any idea on how to use a sword correctly! I knew that the light essence would not put up much of a fight, but I was expecting more." The smaller of the two rationed disdainful to me while holding his hoof out to halt his brother's actions. The momentary pleasure fled from me as the weight of the insult carried. I was weirdly struck by the tone of the statement, but the purpose of it was to after all I felt was to anger me into impulsive decisions that would work in their favor. My hesitation to be offensive I had felt caused the brute to underestimated my abilities with my weapon, and the wiser one seemed to have figured this. The extent of my competence he could not tell, but a miscalculated attack by me was all he needed to be victorious in the beginning because they had experience and strength in their numbers compared to lonely me. This plan of action I was aware of because of my studies in psychology and historically had been a common method of the uncivilized assaulter to try to affect their opponent mentally through anger. I knew I had to resist impulsive temptations, yet I also knew that carefully the mechanisms of deception could be thrice as powerful if done correctly and with thorough dedication to the performance.

"And I expected to find you two pegasi to not be so incredibly pathetic," I countered to the stallion and charged forward without definite form at the two with sword drawn diverting my direction to a leftward roll at the last second. I regained proper standing with sword still in hand when a sudden loss of a chunk of my mane appeared in front of me and I looked to find the wiser one had had a knife hidden in his wing and had planned to thrust the knife into my shoulder to disable me, but missed do to the roll. The realization of the danger returned to me as I felt the shortened hairs, converting my acting into a new infuriating reality. I held my sword out with my right forehoof and pushed light magic forward causing the wings of the sword to appear and wrap around my hoof. New to me, a crest of light appeared on the floor underneath from which symbols extended around the room onto the walls, illuminating the darkness with glowing symbols. "If you really want to play this game, let's do this." I spoke decisively to the two and charged with the light-radiating blade. My swing was attempted to be parried by the pegasus' knife, and while it did prevent a successful hit onto either of the pegasi, the knife instantaneously shattered on impact and instinctively I used the yellow magic to catch all the metal shards prior to launching them all vigorously as a bombard of rapidly moving projectiles at their hooves. The storm of shards completely annihilated the small section of flooring; however, quick reaction on their part resulted in only at the most three or four minute cuts on the wiser, who was stunned by the act preventing him from immediately jumping out of the way like the beastial brother. For ever so slightly as the more astute one became aware of the shards, I caught a glimpse of fear his eyes while he evaded the metal blitz storm.

"Bastard, just surrender already! You are only prolonging our plans and dooming yourself to a greater Hell the second you fall into our hooves," the beast-sized one spat and charged at me blinded by anger, the exact way that the slimer one had attempted to cause me to do. His anger had made him fail to rationalize that I did not have to be as close to him to strike and as he drew near I slashed my sword straight at his torso. The large, dark pegasus was too close to dodge, yet too far to land a defensive strike first. As my blade came swishing towards him, he was left with no other choice but to act on impulsive if he was to be able to continue to fight, and thus the stallion threw forward his hoof and caught the blade head on resulting in the sword tearing straight into the hoof, which vibrated as the momentum was absorbed by the bone. Blood gushed down the stallions hoof as he managed to hide the pain, but I felt it and I glanced into his eyes to see a soul full of sorrow and regrets enclosed by a shell of brutality. For once I began to derive pity from his ignorance and understood that the reason for his actions were not entirely his fault. I sparked the sword with nature magic and let go of the hilt as the intense heat of blade cauterized the bleeding and melted the wound shut so he would not bleed to death before I could do what I decided for him.

"Evil has tainted your soul, but these act of savagery are done to your own incomprehension, being instead orders to be followed blinded by a promise for power. The darkness has not consumed you entirely and thus you shall be granted a chance for redemption. The scars of your decisions shall carry into your new state for the acts you have committed will not go so easily without consequence." I levitated my sword quickly back to me, granted it the magic of light, and then stabbed the sword through his heart. Light radiated from the wound as I pulled the sword out without a drop of blood tainting the blade as the elemental enchantment of the weapon disappeared. "Shall your second chance prove benevolent to your spirit!" I intensified the light that radiated from the wound with my final reserves of the golden mana. As the light grew, a strong column of light radiated upwards from the floor, burning intensely around the stallion until he had disappeared into the column and was gone without a trace. The column continued to spun and orbs of light began to centrifuge away from the center, which scattered as they broke away from the column and entered into the symbols on the wall.

A powerful hoof smashed into my jaw knocking me to the floor and causing the sword to fly out of my hooves. I rolled to see the other stallion standing above me enraged to the point of madness. "Where the hell is my brother!" the stallion roared and viciously kicked the side of my head. I had given the brute a new chance to relive his life without the consuming evil of his sins, but in his brother pegasus' eyes I had conducted murdered. The pegasus was consumed with a new level of hatred and denied any opportunity for me to speak through his consistent assault on me. "My brother is gone! My brother has been assassinated by your vile hooves!" he chanted and struck me with his intensest force before turned around satisfied that I would not make a break for it in my condition. I would have been dumb to flee anyway for there was no way for me to outrun him, but the pegasus' retreat did allow me to reach out and regain my sword. "Foul day is today! My brother is of no longer! Wait, he is no longer! Fair day this is to be born of the foul! Now it shall be all mine and I shall have all the power!" the hatred of his voice had dissolved and the pegasus burst into laughter.

"How can one be so cruel as to celebrate the loss of one individual from their life for the potential of power in the end." I cursed with radical disgust and bitterness.

"A tragic occurrence for such a relatively useless partner. My time of mourning shall come when the light bows to the darkness, and the sun cowers from the night in fear of the red seas of tomorrow's forthcoming." The stallions laughter intensified and he cheered to his own works, bathing in self-proclaimed glory. The aura of the pegasus' acrid darkness surged around the room and using the surrounding feel I charged my sword with my first use of the dark art. The blade narrowed and increased in length as it darkened to a sleek, high-gloss black. A steel chain extended from the end of the hilt and wrapped around my forehoof, ending next to my shoulder where a tiny serrated knife hung. I gazed down at my new sword's form with purple irises staring back. The dark winged stallion galloped in front of me and nudged me hard in the head with his hoof. "What's wrong? You finally given up on your stupid little resistance? Maybe I will not make you suffer too much after all. A shame it would be, but with what I am going to that Ember Coalstone for his treasons it will be worth my while. And after I get a hold of that little pink mare who caused my plans to sour, a second-hand broodmare is the best she will be!"

My grip tightened around the hilt of the sword and I performed a quick backflip from my knees, launching the small knife into the bottom of his jaw, and landing on all my hooves with a surprising new ability in acrobatics. I may of even second guessed if I was even conscious or not if it wasn't for the pain I felt from the bruisings the pegasus gave me through the bucking. The knife was lodged still into his chin with the chain still attached to the hilt of my blade. "That mouth of yours voices a whole lot of sinful words that quite frankly is starting to piss me off a little bit. Do me a favor and refrain from using it, or better yet, let me assist you with that," I smirked at him and jerked the chain back. The saw-like fragmentations of the tiny blade refused to let go of the stallion's mouth and ripped his entire jaw off, only flinging off after another whipping of the chain. I held the blade out and sparked the sword with another charge of dark magic causing the purple lightning from before to now dance around the blade and chain without touching or affecting me. I whipped the sword around once more causing the small blade to embed into the stallions hoof from which I transferred the lightning over to along the chain. The stallion attempted to scream, but came out awkward from his torn face. I provided little mercy to the pegasus and used the opportunity to hurl my sword through his other forehoof.  The stallion collapsed in pain and I trotted over to him, pulling his head up from his mane and staring into his fearful eyes, the purple reflected off his corena from my gaze. "This is the results of your sins! You shall endure the wrath for your entire family's sins, a strong majority of which are your own! You shall face the same fate as Sypherous for your wretched deeds, but first you shall see the true form of what you sought! Aeternae damnatum poenam!" I snatched the sword from the wounds throwing it backwards and pressed a hoof into his forehead where the reserves of my dark nature flooded into him, overwhelming him and exposing the truth of darkness to his soul. Plague magic enclosed the pegasus and his eyes painted over to a solid black. He shook violently as the dark magic consumed his body until he began to phase and with a final effort my hoof slammed him into the floor where the portal that Sypherous had once tried to open appeared and engulfed the black pegasus.

I trotted slowly walked over to my sword, which had returned to normal and had magically cleansed itself of any residue of battle. looking into its reflection I saw my own cyan eyes once again and sheathed it with my heart still racing. I pressed into my bruises noting their truth as jolts of pain flooded me once more. I escorted myself from the room in silence and continued down the hallways where the lights had been restored. I encountered several nurses and doctors on my way down the hallway who all commented and tried to assist me, but I waved off the efforts finally reaching the front of the clinic where Cera stood with Hope on her back and Ember beside her with his wings and hooves restrained from rapid movement.

I would have tried to ask her how she caught Ember, but she stopped me holding a hoof up. "He turned himself over to me, I did not have to chase him down." I looked over at Ember who wore an expression of remorseful anguish. "You going to be okay?"

"I think so," I told her.

"Let us return for the night back to Ryan's, you need your rest," she suggested in a motherly soft, yet commanding voice and I nodded taking lead from the place of medicine; Cera followed behind keeping Ember in between us as we walked back. Even though this time I was taking the more direct way home, it took longer for us to get back to the house as we had to cater to the restricted speed of both my beating and Ember's restrictions. The walk, however, was more enjoyable than the previous one as I found myself relishing the light brisk coolness of the atmosphere and had been relieved of the nervous tendencies of before.

As Cera and I became within distance of Ryan's house, I was embarrassed to find that the lights were left on by Eclipse before we departed earlier and light was radiating through the curtains in the windows. I cursed under my breath for being so irresponsible, but Cera told me to not feel bad for it and told me that she would take the blame if it becomes a problem. I attempted to argue that it was more my fault than hers, but she was not going to hear it for she had made up her mind. I gave into the matter and in surrender turned the knob of the front door becoming twice as shameful as the door had been left unlocked as well. This time I did not even care anymore and just dismissed the irresponsibility. I brushed myself off as I entered the home and strolled into the living room where four hooves of a large ground pony dressed in finely polished armor greeted me.