Sakura hadn't expected to be in a grassy plain. Of course, she never had full control over her dreams to begin with. She looked around in the dreamscape, simply hoping that Inigo was doing alright.
"He is, by the way."
"Nani?"
"Turn around."
Sakura did so, and her eyes met with a woman with Ivory hair, similar to Corrin. Unlike Corrin, however, the woman had her hair tied into twin tails. She also wore a long, black coat of some kind, and was that armor underneath?
"I'm sorry, but... Who are you?" Sakura asked.
"I am Grima, a creation from Thabes." The woman said.
"Wait, Grima?" Sakura's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "As in, the one who destroyed Inigo's world?!"
Grima sighed, a said look on her face. "Yes, unfortunately... I'm the very same."
"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked with a mixture of anger and fear. "Why are you in my head!?"
"Forgive me for being a bit... Forward, but..." Grima paused, giving another sigh. "You're the only human I've had contact with in, well... Eons..."
"Eons?" Sakura's anger and fear were replaced with shock. "Are you telling the truth?"
"At this point, I've no reason to lie to you." Grima stated. "I've had... Time, to think on the things I've done, and have grown to hate them."
"I see." Sakura brought her hand to her chin. "Why speak with me though, when Inigo is here as well?"
"Naga's spawn is yet to sleep. He's dead set on leaving the Everfree Forest." Grima answered. "He's also carrying you."
"So that's the name of this forest." Sakura then realized what was said right after. "Wait, he's carrying me?"
Grima nodded. "In his arms, to- why are you smiling like that?"
Sakura had a wide smile as she looked up. "He's carrying me... He hasn't done that since we've married." She then gave a drawn out sigh. "Oh, if only I was awake to feel it first hand."
In the waking world, sakura subconsciously wrapped her arms around Inigo's neck, giggled softly in her sleep. Inigo looked down at her to see a bright smile, and he couldn't help but return the favor.
"Glad you're enjoying this, my love."
"You humans are still such an anomaly to me." Grima said, frowning. "I can't tell if your love is some sort of obsession or not."
Sakura only giggled. "Wait, so... You're aren't mad at humanity anymore?"
"Well, I still don't like your kind." Grima stated. "I'm indifferent to you now, although I have missed your kind's company."
"Hmm, I see." Sakura hummed. "I wonder how Inigo would react to this."
"If he's sensible, he'll try to kill me." Grima stated, earning her a look from Sakura. "What?"
"I don't think Inigo is the kind of person to do that." Sakura stated. "I mean, it would make some sens-eeaaaAAAHHHHHAAHHH!!!"
Sakura clutched her head as she collapsed to the floor in pain. "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!"
"Naga's spawn- erh, I mean Inigo!" Grima said frantically. "He's in trouble!! Something's attacking him and he accidentally dropped you!"
"What's attacking him?!" Sakura shouted. "I need to help him! I need to wake up!"
"You can't! You're body is far too exhausted to anything at this point!" Grima shouted back, casting a spell on her hand.
"B-but... How do I... Uh?" Sakura was suddenly very sleepy. "What's.... Happening?"
"A deep sleep." Grima stated as Sakura fell asleep. "You'll wake up faster, and more energized that way." Deactivating the spell, she looked up in worry. "Come on, Inigo, kill that beast."
"Okay, I have SEEN IT ALL!!!" Inigo shouted, dodging another attack. "A lion with wings and a massive scorpion's tail!! 'WhAt CoUlD gO wRoNg?!' the Gods' of this world most likely thought! Naga damn it!" The strange beast thrusted it's massive tail at Inigo, to which he narrowly dodged.
He wasn't expecting for the beast to be able to strike a second time with such speed, however. Inigo was flung back, certain his sword arm was out of commission due to the venom of the tail, as it rapidly began to fell weak.
Thank Naga he was an ambidextrous.
"Thought you had me, huh?" Inigo chided as he stood up, holding Falchion in his left hand. "It'll take more then that to take me out!" Inigo then noticed something, and it struck fear in his heart. The lion wasn't paying attention to him anymore, but instead to the unconscious form of Sakura, who was no longer behind him.
Something shouted at him to do something, so he charged forward at the distracted beast and swing Falchion in a downwards motion, cutting off it's tail.
The beast roared in immense pain, and instinctively tried to bite Inigo, who only dashed back a few feet. The attempted bite left the beast's neck exposed, allowed Inigo to strike.
All Inigo heard was a gargled roar as the beast fell, dead.
Giving himself no time to celebrate such a victory, he removed the glove on his right arm to reveal the horrifying sight of the discoloration of his skin.
'This is going to kill me.' He thought, rushing to Sakura's unconscious form. "Sakura, my love! Please, for Naga's sake get up!"
Sakura's eyes shot open at the call of her name, and looked directly towards Inigo.
"Oh my! What happened to your arm?!"
"Venom." Inigo said weakly. "From that thing."
Sakura gasped at the sight of the dead beast, but quickly threw it from her mind as she lifted herself from the ground and began to roll up Inigo's sleeve, revealing an arm that has lost almost all of its color.
"Can you heal it?" Inigo asked.
"Y-yes." Sakura said as she reached for her Sun Festal, which was thankfully still on her person. "Elise taught me the spell. It gonna hurt a lot, though."
"I can take it." Inigo said, and almost immediately regretted those words as Sakura activated the spell, causing a searing pain throughout his right arm. Sakura concentrated on the spell, using a steady stream of her magic, and soon the color of Inigo's arm began to return. The pain finally left as his arm was back to normal.
Sakura cut off the spell, panting heavily afterwards.
"That's... Quite taxing." Sakura said between breathes. "How does Elise do it?"
"She rarely had to deal with venom's too." Inigo answered. "It was just far simpler to use poisons, anyway."
Sakura could only hum. "How far did we go this time?"
"Quite far, actually." Inigo said. "It's mid-day now, and now I can actually see the sky properly?"
"Mid-day?" Sakura asked. "How long was I asleep?"
"Quite some time." Inigo said with a smile. "With you looking quite cute the entirety of it."
Sakura only giggled.
The sounds of huffsteps drew their attention, and Inigo drew Falchion yet again.
'What's next for this forest, huh? Horses with the head of a dragon?' Inigo thought.
He almost dropped Falchion when a bunch of multi colored ponies came into view.
Twilight was quite horrified to see the corpse of a Manticore in such close proximity to... Whatever these creatures are. She was even more surprised when she saw that unlike the rest of her friends, Applejack seemed completely unaffected.
"A Manticore, eh? How'd you get its tail?" Applejack asked as she aproached the corpse.
The creature that seemed to be male made a face.
"I'm sorry?" It said with a slight accent. "But did you just talk?"
"Uh, yes?" Applejack answered.
"Inigo, dear." The creature that looked to be female spoke. "We know of Kitsune and Wolf-skin. Talking mineture horses wouldn't be to far off."
The male, who seemed to be named Inigo, seemed to have calmed down. "You're right, my love. So I'm not going insane." He then made eye contact with Applejack. "To answer your question, lass, I had the devil's own luck with this one."
"Applejack.... Are you serious?" Twilight asked, to which Applejack only raised a brow. "He just admitted to killing something! Don't you know what that means?!"
"That he knows his way 'round the wild?" Applejack answered. "Are ya sheltered or what?"
"AJ, killing is bad!" Twilight nearly shouted. "He should be sent to the dungeon for that!"
"I'm sorry, but what kind of stupidity did you just spout?" Inigo said. "That thing tried to kill not only me, but my beloved Sakura as well!" He shouted as he pointed towards the girl. "This entire forest has done nothing but try to kill us! Just last night when we arrived there was a whole pack of wood-wolves that tried to kill us too, and we barely survived that!"
"You killed a pack of Timberwolves, too?" Twilight look at him in horror. "H-how could you do that?"
Inigo looked as if he was about to explode with anger, so Applejack decided to take hold of the conversation. "Twi, ah don't know how much you city folk know 'bout the outside world, but it's, for lack of nicer words, a hell hole." Twilight looked at her incredulously. "Jus' the other day my brother came back to the farm late from a delivery because of a chimera attack, and those sorts of encounters almost always end up with one party dead."
"I'm sorry to say this, dear, but..." Rarity chimed in. "She's just sheltered. Even in the city, there are certain streets you just don't go through, and I know from experience."
"Rarity, don't tell me you've..."
"Thankfully, no." Rarity gave a sly smile. "But close relatives were sometimes forced into such situations. I wouldn't even be here if they hadn't made the choice."
"I... I don't believe this." Twilight muttered as she fell on her haunches. "Fluttershy? Help me?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "I'm sorry Twilight, but..." She began. "As against it as I am, they didn't have much of a choice."
"I don't believe this...." Twilight repeated. "How are all of you... Okay with this?"
"You're making it sound like we enjoy killing." Sakura finally spoke.
"Why else would you kill, huh?" Twilight spoke angrily.
"To protect the ones we love? For self preservation? There are plenty of reasons why we have to, unfortunately, take lives. And none of us enjoy it." Sakura began, standing up as she did so. "As a princess, I have to take up arms, as much as I dislike the act of killing, sometimes, it's necessary."
"You're a princess?" Twilight asked, shocked.
Sakura nodded. "Princess Sakura of Hoshido, you might not have heard of it."
"And I'm Prince Inigo of Ylisse." Inigo added. "Believe me when I say that I'm no stranger to war."
"And the two of you are married?" Rarity asked. "Oh you have to tell me how you two met!"
"Some other time, lass." Inigo said. "Right now, we're still being chastised."
"I just want to know why you thought it was necessary to kill that Manticore." Twilight said as she pointed at the corpse.
Inigo sighed. "You know how you're talking with us right now? Well, if I hadn't killed that beast, we would be the corpses."
Twilight tried to protest, to come up with counter arguments, yet she quickly learned that to her counter arguments, there were counters. She finally gave up with a sigh.
"Fine. I see your point, but only this time." Twilight finally said. "Let's start things over. Why not come with us back to Ponyville to get proper rest?"
"No arguments here." Inigo said. "I'd rather not stay in this forsaken forest."
"You and me both, tiger." Applejack said with a smile.
'Well that was quite the argument.'
Sakura almost gasped at that.
'Oh, don't give me that. I'm in your head now, deal with it.' Grima said. ' looks like there's gonna be some conflicts in the long run between those two.'
'It was kind of obvious.' Sakura thought. 'She's as naive as I used to be.'
'Yes. Smart, but naive.' Grima added. 'And sorry for what happened earlier, I need to send you into a deep sleep before you decide to wake up early.'
'Is that why I don't feel tired?' Sakura asked.
'Yes indeed. You're welcome, by the way.' Grima paused. 'Anyway, you should keep up with them, they may know a way to get you two back to Nohr and Hoshido.' Grima suggested.
Sakura didn't respond. She simply started walking with the rest of the group.