Blaze was still fast asleep when Tricky returned, snoring and drewling all over the place. Tricky didn't want to wake him but when the door opened with an awkwardly loud creak he grunted in his sleep and blinked the sleep out of his eyes.
“Hey... wait who are you again?” Tricky shot him a glare.
“The crazy pony that ran out of the woods?”
“Oh you... Well, good morning to you too darling.” Tricky rolled her eyes. “You don't have any food do you?”
“No, I don't.” She paused, giving him a worried look. “Blaze, what is that?” Blaze stared at her.
“What?”
“That!”
“What that???” Tricky looked at him in disbelief.
“That scar you idiot! On your flank.” Blaze unwillingly put his tail on his scarred flank.
“It's nothing, really. Just an old scar.”
“That is not an old scar. That is a dedecus, it's a mark of humiliation and shame. It's used...” Tricky fell silent, the words failed her. She didn't know what it was used for, but she had a feeling it wasn't anything good. She grabbed Blaze.“Blaze, I need you to tell me who it was.” Blaze looked at her, his face was void of emotion. His eyes were not the same fiery ones she'd admired when she came out of the forest. They were pale, well paleish...
“Blaze. Tell me, who did this. Was it like... aah... a stallion, with goldish coat? Called... uuuhh... Ace, maybe?” Blaze looked up at her, his eyes suddenly burning with an anger that Tricky had never seen before. It scared her, almost more than the Lunatic had. She backed off, her primal instincts kicked in. Blaze rose from the bed.
“How did you know? I thought you said you couldn't remember anything.” It was Blaze's turn to give her a glare. Tricky backed into a corner of the room, her heart was beating faster by the second.
“I remembered, Blaze... Umm... I'll take that as a yes to the question but uuh... never mind. It wasn't important or anything.”
It was like having a staring competition, except that the other competitor had laser-like eyes that pretty much tore your soul apart.
“Blaze! What's wrong?” Blaze was still coming at her, Tricky didn't have a choice. She lifted from the corner and charged. The hit was powerful enough to knock him over, she had the advantage now. Blaze was on the floor, gasping for air. Tricky put a hoof on his throat and a knee in his stomach, immobilizing him.
“Blaze, calm down.” He simply scuffed.
“Get off me, Tricky.” The way he said her name was insulting, but she ignored it.
“Well, sorry to have to tell you this Blaze but you have some serious anger management issues.” Blaze let his head fall to the floor in defeat.
“Okay, fine! Yes I know Ace...”
“Know?” Tricky shot him another one of her glares. Blaze rolled his eyes.
“I have met him. More or less...” An expression passed over him face, it was fear. “Ughh... He... I mean...” Tricky cocked an eyebrow. “He kidnapped my family... and a special friend.” Blaze blinked, his eyes were turning moist. Is he... crying? Tricky took away her hoof from his throat.
“He tortured us for days, weeks, I think it was because of my father. He must've upset him somehow... He was a powerful man in Canterlot.” Blaze swallowed, he wouldn't meet Tricky's eyes.
“They murdered all of them, right in front of me. Even Millie... She hadn't done anything, it was just chance that she was with me when they took me, but they killed her anyway. And they laughed, it was like a sick game for them. They... they just hit her again and again and I-...” Tears of anger and sorrow were flowing down his cheeks, the fire in his eyes was out, he had lost all hope. He was heartbroken.
“They made me watch, and then... They just let me go. Threw me out on the street, along with their bodies.” Blaze looked straight into her eyes. “I didn't move from their sides for days, not until he came again. He only said one thing. One single thing. It's all about business. Nothing else. It was just a game, lives didn't matter to him. Killing Millie didn't matter to him, she was just collateral damage. My fiancée, was just collateral damage. It has been three years, but I will never, ever forget or forgive... Never.” his voice trailed off, the tears had dried in the corners of his eyes.
Tricky couldn't move, her stomach clenching in disgust. She was related to this monster? She couldn't even fathom how somepony could do such a thing. But she couldn't lie to herself, she knew. Ace was a cold blooded son of a horse, and that horse was her grandma. That would be one interesting family reunion...
“Look, Blaze... I'm sorry.” She looked away in shame.cShould I tell him? No! He would hate me, throw me out of the window, not that I would blame him. Being a monsters nephew doesn't make me innocent...
“What for?” Blaze's voice was worried, she had to think fast, to tell or not to tell? She took a deep breath and opened her mouth. But she closed it again, she couldn't do it.
“Umm, just that you had to go through that... It must have been horrible.” She could hear how unconvincing she sounded and tried to hide it by giving him an awkward smile. Blaze looked at her with an expressionless face.
“Tricky...” Oh no... How could he know? “... You're sitting on me, darling.” It took a second for the words to sink in. She couldn't help showing a little relief. Then the awkward situation sank in.
“Oh, right... Sorry.” She stepped off him and the awkward silence that stretched out between them seemed to go on for hours. She looked at him while he just stood there looking down on his hooves, he looked at her when she was looking up into the ceiling.
“Sooo...”
“Food?” Tricky smiled, Blaze chuckled.
“Yeah, food sounds awesome right now.”
As they walked through Hollow Shades the town started waking up, a few ponies walked past them in the streets and one or two even greeted them. Hollow Shades was a typical village, with white picket fences that resembled an old mare's teeth. To Blaze's surprise Tricky was actually quite social, they talked the whole way to the restaurant and it already felt like they had know each other for a long time. Tricky was sweet, in her own, crazy way. It made him feel somewhat sad about the decisions he'd taken in his life, seeing this mare, seemingly oblivious to all evil in the world.
They found a shabby bar with dry sandwiches and the worst apple cider ever, but at least the bartender was friendly and gave them free apples to take with them.
“I've got enough.” he said. “Take as many as you want to.” They walked away, weighed down by crammed bags of delicious apples of all colors. Before they even reached the hotel both of their stomachs felt like they were making somersaults, and that was not a pleasant feeling.
“I ate too many apples...” Blaze burped, Tricky was walking with one hoof on her belly, her expression was one of uttermost pain.
“Don't forget the pie. The delicious pie...” For a moment she remembered the sweetness of that crispy crust and the creamy vanilla cream that it had been soaked in. Then, her stomach made a worrying sound, she grimaced apologetically. Never again.
“Was that me or you?”
Blaze gave her an awkward smile after the question, Tricky returned it tenfold.
“Honestly, I don't want to know. Let's just get back to the hotel... Right now I just want to curl up into a ball and whimper in agony.” Blaze scuffed and they trotted further through the town, laughing and all thoughts of the Lunatic were suppressed into a dark corner of their minds.
Sweet summer plains, fresh afternoon gusts of wind in his hair, the echoing laugh of his loved one. The world around him faded in and out, the images constantly changed in his head. Millie's giggles rang in his dreams, her laugh made his heart ache like before. She was so vivid, real... He could almost touch her again, but every time he tried she vanished only to appear further away from him. When he chased her she ran away from him laughing.
Blaze called after her, his words stopped in his throat. He wanted desperately to feel her touch again, look into her calm eyes and know she'd never leave him again. Up ahead Millie was waiting for him, her back towards him. He was going as fast as he could, his legs were like spaghetti. She was calling out for him, her voice thin and scared, he had to get to her. He was only a couple meters away when she turned around, he could see her eyes... His heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't Millie that stood before him, her eyes were just... wrong. They were dark blue instead of green and terrifyingly familiar. He unwillingly crashed into Millie, she was cold as stone. It felt like running into a wall.
“Well, well...” the sickly-sweet voice mocked. “Look at what the cat dragged in.” Blaze tried breathing, but his lungs were paralyzed by fear.
“What do you want Scar Ace?” he whispered. Millie giggled, Blaze thought his heart would stop.
“Guess again!” Millie, or whatever it was threw its head up into the air and laughed. Blaze could feel the icy claws of terror rip through him, he closed his eyes and...
“WAKE UP!” Blaze jolted up, Tricky was slapping him over and over again. Between the slaps he could see tears running down her face. He raised his own hooves in protection.
“Okay, okay please stop that!”
Tricky looked at him, then she hit him once again.
“HEY, stop that! Seriously, what's wrong with you?” As soon as he said it, he knew he shouldn't have. Tricky was murdering him with a glare so powerful he immediately sank down to his knees.
“Oh, what's wrong with me???” Her voice could have made the bravest stallion flee in fear. “What's wrong with YOU??? I'm not the one who suddenly starts shooting fireballs out of nothing!” Blaze looked at her, dumbfounded.
“Fireballs?”
“Yeah, fireballs. And not the cool ones.” Blaze looked at their room, or what was left of it. Tricky's bed had been scorched, there were burn marks all over the walls and what was left of Tricky's tail was smoking.
I did this? Blaze rose to his feet, unable to take his eyes off the destruction. Tricky stepped out of his way, she was furious but at the same time worried. Blaze clearly had some unresolved issues. She could feel tears running down her face, but didn't wipe them away. There would only be more as the pain was only getting worse by the second. She looked down at her wing, the sight made her sick. She quickly looked away, she couldn't look at it any longer without throwing up first.
Blaze was standing in the middle of the room looking at the chaos he'd caused. Tricky felt bad for him, he was a nice guy but completely out of control. Blaze turned around and looked straight into her eyes.
“Help me...”