//------------------------------//
// Blood 
// Story: Alexandria the Great 
// by chillbook2 
//------------------------------//

Alex

“What do you think the first lesson is going to be?” asked Alexandria, at 6 pm exactly.
“I don’t know, and quite frankly, I don’t care.” I replied. “What could they possibly teach me? I’m already smarter and stronger than all of you.”
“You’re quite sure of yourself, aren’t you?” she said.
“Why wouldn’t I be? I asked, flipping my mane around. “I’m amazing!”
“Well, for one, Mr. Robert pretty much… how should I put this? He pretty much handed your ass to you on a silver platter.”
“Getting reckless here, are we? Never heard you get a potty mouth like this.”
“Don’t tell Mr. Conjure and Mr. Robert.”
“I swear to everything, if you call them ‘Mister’ one more time, I will kill you!” I said angrily.
“Why are you so angry? You should be ecstatic! We’ve been given a chance to be what we’ve always wanted to be.”
“I’m angry because I’m still here, and Lord Sombra is not.” I said, my heart throbbing. 
“Why are you so obsessed with Lord Sombra?” she asked stupidly. 
“Listen to yourself. Lord Sombra is the best thing that ever happened to us. You don’t want to repay him for what he’s done for us?”
“I suppose I would. Maybe I will thank him. Some day.” she said.
“Hello, girls, what’s shaking?” said Conjure, walking into our new room. “I have a plan and permission from Twilight to teach you two how to live separate from each other.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” said Robert. “Conjure will be training Alexandria while I will be teaching Alex.”
“No!” I shouted. “No! I’ll take Conjure, Alexandria can have Robert.”
“Why so jumpy?” asked Robert, crossing his arms. “You scared?”
“No! Why would I be scared of you?”
“I just received second-degree burns and I didn’t so much as put Neosporin on the injury!” he said, shoving his arm in my face. His arm was was scorched red and the skin was peeling off, revealing the red, raw meat of his arm. “I doubt you want to mess with me.”
“We are going to be civil about this.” said Conjure. “No fighting, no violence, nothing. You guys have nothing to worry about. I will be watching over both groups, making sure everything goes over smoothly.”
“Thank Sombra.” I muttered under my breath.
“That being said, I’m going to summon a 2-foot thick, soundproof, concrete wall.” he said, slamming his hands to the ground. A barrier flew up through the ground, dividing the room in two.
“Conjure, you lying sumbitch!” I shouted, rushing to the wall. I pounded the wall with my fist, screaming for him to let me out.
“I haven’t had a chance to truly introduce myself. I am Robert, AKA General War Horse. You are to address me as such. You are to listen to my every command, swiftly and without question. You are to keep a clean tongue when near me, or I will knock your teeth out. Any questions?”
“Yeah. What the hell are you general of?” I asked.
“I am general of Princess Twilight’s Elite Royal Guard. Along with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, we run the military of Equestria.” he said, walking over to me. He swung his fist back and punched me in the mouth. “Remember what I said about knocking your teeth? I wasn’t bluffing.”
“That hurt!” I cried, holding my jaw. “That hurt like a son of a-”
“Watch it! I won’t hold back this time.”
“Gun.” I amended. “Like a son of a gun.”
“Thank you.” he said. “Now that we understand each other, we can begin.” he said, walking over to the divider wall. He punched it hard, causing it to rattle and shake. “That let Isaiah know that we’re ready to begin. You are going to try and create a mental barrier to block Alexandria out of your mind.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” I asked.
“Shit if I know. Just, I dunno, focus on not focusing on her.”
“What?”
“Good luck.” he said. A spike of pain flared in my head. My brain erupted into echoing agony. My brain seemed to melt into a puddle within my skull.
“Sorry about this, Alex. Apparently this is part of the lesson.” shouted Alexandria’s voice in my head.
“Make it stop!” I screamed. 
“Come on, Alex! You can do it!” called somepony. I think it might have been Robert, but my senses were blurring. 
“Robert, please, make it stop!”
“Oh God, you’re not joking?” he asked. He ran over to the divider and smashed into it. A little window opened in the divider, through which Conjure stuck his head through.
“Is she quitting?” he asked.
“Yes! Stop her!” yelled Robert.
“Alexandria! Enough!”
“I’m so, so sorry!” called Alexandria. “Please forgive me!”
“That’s okay!” I gasped, pain fading away slowly. “It’s fine, you only caused me horrible, mind-numbing pain!”
“Are you upset with me?” she asked.
“No. Not like you hurt me in ways I can only begin to describe.” I said sarcastically. “I’m only sitting here, fantasizing on how to repay you 	for what you’ve done. No biggy.”
“Oh, thank heavens!” she said. “Carry on, Conjure, sir.”
“Do your own thing with Alexandria.” said Robert. “I’ll work with Alex separately.”
“Need anything?” asked Conjure.
“My armor, Mjolnir, and a knife.” listed Robert. Conjure snapped his fingers, summoning a full set of golden amor, a large warhammer and a large kitchen knife. Robert grabbed the hammer and knife, letting the armor fall to the floor.
“Anything else?” asked Conjure.
“Nope. Carry on.” said Robert. Conjure snapped his fingers, closing the wall. Robert leaned his hammer against the wall, grabbed the armor off the floor and placed it next to the hammer.
“Are you alright?” he asked stupidly.
“No! I understand if you hate Lord Sombra, and if you hate me, but at least have the courtesy to torture me yourself. Don’t make my other half do it.”
“That’s not how it is.” he said. “I was truly trying to teach you something. If you two have complete access to each other’s minds, you’ll never have a moment of peace. I didn’t know it hurt so bad.”
“It does.” I said. “Do we have to do it again?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Are you up for it?”
“One condition: Don’t let Alexandria know that she’s hurting me.”
“Why do you care?” asked Robert.
“Er… I… She doesn’t need to know that she has the power to hurt me.” I lied, frizzing my mane up with my claws.
“You ready to go again?” asked Robert.
“No. I’m… starving.” I said.
“How about a ruby?”
“No, no, no! I’ve been eating rubies all day and I’m still hungry. I wish you would have let me eat that Platinum bi-. That Platinum Pendant character.”
“Hungry?” he said, tilting the knife. “Let me cut you a deal.”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked. Without answering, he pointed the blade down at his wrist.
“What are you do-” I began, watching as he stabbed the knife into his unburned forearm. He twisted it back and forth twice, then yanked it. Blood squirted from the wound, dripping onto the floor.
“You like the taste of bloody meat, right?” he asked, leaning his leaking arm over me. I opened my mouth wide, letting his blood drip into my mouth. The delicious liquid splashed onto my tongue, bursting with super, amazing, indescribable awesomeness. You’d have to be a dragon to understand.
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked, letting some of his blood drip onto my lips. “Why would you do this for me?”
“If you can successfully block out Alexandria, I’ll cut out a couple hunks of flesh for you.” he said, avoiding my question.
“Doesn’t that hurt?” I asked.
“A little. I’ve been through worse.” he said, clamping his hand down on his wound. “Are you going to give it a  try or what?”



Alexandria

Mr. Conjure- Oops. I promised Alex that I would stop calling him that. Conjure summoned a wall in the middle of the room, splitting it in half. 
“Why did you divide the room?” I asked.
“It’s necessary for our lesson.” he said. “You are going to try to speak to Alex.”
“How? I thought you said this wall was soundproof.”
“It is.”
“Then how am I supposed to- Ooooh!” I said, figuring it out. “Use our telepathic connection!”
“Exactly. We start as soon as Robert gives me the signal.” he said. He snapped his fingers and two chairs appeared out of thin air. He took a seat and offered me the other.
“What’s the signal?” I asked, sitting down. Just then, the divider wall rattled and shook.
“That is the signal. Concentrate on leaving Alex a message.”
“Will it hurt?”
“I don’t know. Based off of what happened last time, I think we can assume that it does give a bit of a headache. It won’t cause any lasting harm though.” he said. “Ready?”
“Yes.” I said, closing my eyes.
“Good luck.” was the last thing I heard before I was inside Alex’s mind. Images of Sombra flew through my head. Pictures of when he helped us, and pictures of things that didn’t happen yet. Pictures of Sombra and Alex sitting on the throne of Canterlot Castle. Pictures of fire and death and destruction. 
“I’m looking through her mind. Some of this is memory, while some of it is pure fantasy.” I said, ignoring the slowly growing spike of pain in my head.
“Alexandria.” said Conjure from far away. “Remember, you’re leaving her a message. You shouldn’t be looking through her mind like that.”
“Sorry about this Alex. Apparently it’s part of the lesson.” I said with my mind. The wall shook and trembled again.
“What is it?” said Conjure, snapping his fingers. A window appeared in the wall. He stuck his head out of it, starting a conversation with Robert. I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“Yes! Stop her!” yelled Robert.
“Alexandria! Enough!” shouted Conjure. I pulled out of Alex’s mind.
“I’m so, so sorry!” I called. “Please forgive me!”
“That’s okay!” she groaned. “It’s fine, you only caused me horrible, mind-numbing pain!”
“Are you upset with me?” I asked.
“No. Not like you hurt me in ways I can only begin to describe.” she said. “I’m only sitting here, fantasizing on how to repay you for what you’ve done. No biggy.”
“Oh, thank heavens!” I said. “Carry on, Conjure, sir.”
“Do your own thing with Alexandria.” said Robert. “I’ll work with Alex separately.”
“Need anything?” asked Conjure.
“My armor, Mjolnir, and a knife.” listed Robert. Conjure snapped his fingers, summoning a full set of golden amor, a large warhammer and a large kitchen knife. Robert grabbed the hammer and knife, letting the armor fall to the floor.
“Anything else?” asked Conjure.
“Nope. Carry on.” said Robert. Conjure snapped his fingers, closing the wall. Turning to me, he said, “What the hell was that, Alexandria?!”
“I’m sorry! I was only doing what you told me to do!” I cried. “I’m sorry if I made you angry!”
“No, I mean how did you look through her mind like that? I thought you could only talk to each other.”
“Well, we haven’t had any practice, so I’m not sure what we’re capable of.” I said. “I went to speak to her, but I was suddenly looking through her memories and daydreams and the like. I was reading her mind.”
“Are you bleeding?” he asked. An odd thing to ask.
“I don’t think so.” As I said this, I noticed the warm liquid dripping faintly from my nose. “I guess I am.”
“Tilt your head back and pinch your nose.” he said.
“It’s fine.” I said, thin blood drip growing thicker and thicker. “It’s just a little nosebleed. No reason to stop the lesson.”
“Yeah, I think it is. You’re looking like a Kool-Aid fountain.” he said.
“What’s Kool-Aid?” I asked, dropping to the ground. My nose wasn’t just bleeding anymore. It was gushing. “Perhaps you’re right. Tilt my head back?”
“That’s not gonna cut it anymore.” said Conjure, rushing to help me up. He snapped his fingers, bathing me in a faint green light. My stream of blood slowed and, eventually, stopped.
“Thank you.” I said weakly. I still felt horrendous, but we had things to do. “I feel much better.”
“No you don’t.” said Conjure. “You lost a lot of blood. I think you might need a transfusion.”
“What makes you think that?”
“A few reasons. Like the fact that you’re sitting in a pool of you’re on blood. Also, the fact that we’ve already had this conversation, twice. You’ve passed out swiftly after each one. I’ve taken some blood, and I just sent it to a lab to check your blood type.”
“What are you talking about.” I said, blinking hard. Now we were in a hospital room.
“What do you mean, ‘What are you talking about?’ I’ve been silent for twenty minutes.”
“You were talking about me passing out.”
“Alexandria, that was well over an hour ago.” he said. “You’ve been drifting in and out of consciousness the entire time. Don’t worry, you’ve gotten the blood you need.”
“Alex donated? Doesn’t sound like her style.”
“Well, that’s because she didn’t. She tried, but it turns out you two have different blood types. You have O-, Alex is AB+. We just had to find somepony with that super rare O-.”
“Who donated?” I asked. In answer, he raised his left arm, which had a little bandage.
“As it would just so happen, I have O- myself.”
“You gave me your blood?” I asked. “That’s the nicest thing anypony has ever done for me. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m sure you’d do the same for me.”
“Where’s Alex?”
“She’s working with Robert. She’s being taught some mental exercises. I’ll go tell them you’re up. Alex would like to see you.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Probably. She wanted you to live, after all.”
“Before you go, I just wanted to know what happened to me.”
“I don’t know for sure, but I do have a theory.”
“Lay it on me.”
“I think that when you entered Alex’s mind, she subconsciously defended against you. She attacked your mind and hot you so hard that it 	caused a physical reaction.”
“Don’t tell her.” I asked.
“Why not?”
“I don’t think she needs the guilt.”
“You know what? I think you’re right.”