Skeletor’s skull decorated the tip of a spear that was suddenly being thrust through the demon’s brain.
A sword quickly tore through his chest from behind, causing rivers of black tar to spill from his fresh wounds. His skull was crushed under the heavy hoofs of crystal guards, his jaw clattered to the ground as a guard bucked it off his face, chains wrapped around his invisible neck to strangle him to death, and a volley of arrows logged themselves into his eye sockets.
Behind each violent scene was not a single stallion, it was an army of guards who were loyal to the crown, to the Empire, and to the ponies who called it home. Cannon Fodder only found hollow joy in his musing thoughts, watching his ideal fantasies play inside his mind as he stared at a barren wall.
Cannon Fodder escaped the confines of his cell within his mind, rising with the guards to defend the new rumored princess and finally remove the monster that threatened them all. He imagined Crumb Catcher trotting away in a set of heavy chains, forced to spend his days in the same dungeon cell that he locked Cannon Fodder away in. Cannon Fodder saw himself standing along his brothers and sisters of the Empire, rising up against the clever tyrant who would inevitably kill them all.
These thoughts grew in intensity as memories began to fight for dominance over his imagination. The black blood of the demon turned silver as his blue skin was hidden by a hide of tan fur that turned into a momentary memory of Princess Amore’s corpse. He buried the memory under more scenes of Skeletor’s demise, adding details and ideas that would buy precious seconds of bliss, moments where his memories faded away and he could look forward.
Unfortunately for the general, memories were a pesky thing, and they often found the most inconvenient of times to come back. Sombra’s reign was etched too deep into Cannon’s mind, causing the physical and mental scars of his enslavement to flare as he searched for refuge from his memories. He thought of his life as a colt, the pride he felt when he passed the entrance exam to be a guard, the love he felt as he rose through the ranks, a warm meal that he shared with his mother on a rare day where he didn’t have to work.
Pleasant and fond memories floated around, torn from their rest as Cannon Fodder struggled to hide the memories of his enslavement and distract himself with something more pleasant. The cell he was locked in gave him too much time to be alone with his thoughts, an ordeal that he used to solve by throwing himself into his work and planning his moves against Skeletor.
Moving away from his idle thoughts, the general rose to his hooves and paced around his cell. Just as Crumb Catcher promised, his new prison was a fair bit nicer than the one he fell asleep in earlier. The new cell he woke up in was furnished similarly to his bedroom, spartan but comfortable and functional. A bed and a chamber pot were all he really needed, but the traitor, Crumb Catcher, had found it necessary to also provide a small hanging mirror, an extra blanket, and a rather large pillow.
The cell was also lit fairly well, allowing Cannon Fodder to see himself perfectly in the hanging mirror. His fur was mattered and unkempt, his mane a flurry of hair that had grown too long, and the most daring thing he saw was his own Cutie mark.
He turned his head to glare at the white flag that adorned his flank, a symbol of weakness that was forced onto the general of the Crystal Guard. Cannon Fodder had done well to keep it hidden, to never part from his armor or allow anypony to see the embarrassing mark that marred his fur.
A white flag, an admission of defeat that stuck to his side like moss growing on stone. The memory of earning his cutie mark had been long forgotten, buried in a sea of plight and self-pity that drove him to follow in his family’s hoof-prints. The end of the path he paved for himself, to honor his family’s legacy, wasn’t bathed in glory and hope but in the blood of his princess and the sins of his failure.
Once more, his new path and ambition had ended, much more abruptly than before, and had condemned him to a possible death. Cannon Fodder refused to bend to Crumb Catcher’s will and align himself to a demon, he would sooner jump into one of Sombra’f foul death pits than ever side with a monster.
Tearing himself away from the mirror, Cannon Fodder descended into his own imagination, a place of refuge from the cruelty of the world around him. However, before he could delve into the depths of his mind, a voice called out to him, beckoning him to turn back to the mirror.
“General~. General, I need you,” the familiar voice called.
With great trepidation, the general turned to greet his reflection, only to gaze into the emerald eyes of his princess, the goddess he failed to serve.
Princess Amore, the alicorn who brought love and life to the frigid northern empire gazed down at him with a warm smile, one that outshone any portrait that hung inside the castle. It held silent promises of forgiveness, of unspoken hope that would wash away the sins of his failures, and of words he only dreamed to hear.
“Princess… Princess!” Cannon Fodder called out as he raced to the mirror and pressed his hooves against the wall.
He looked into the mirror, hoping to find the princess of the Crystal Empire looking back at him.
Only his reflection stared back, looking with desperation and sorrow as his eyes traced the edges on the ornate mirror. He searched for only a moment, casting a hopeful glance at the rest of his cell before he closed his eyes and laid down on the bare floor.
It was nothing more than a delusion, a fantasy of his own mind from the isolation and guilt, disappearing just as quickly as she arrived.
With nothing but his dwindling sanity to accompany him, Cannon Fodder trotted through the lanes of his memories, seeking a blissful escape in his thoughts once more.
Skeletor was impulsive at the worst of times.
They drove him to make rash decisions, both good and bad. His impulses pushed him to pass laws that would legalize gay relationships, a decision that, in hindsight, could have ended very poorly and only worked due to a few well placed lies and no authority to oppose him. His impulses also pushed him to throw away a throne without another thought, lie to hundreds of ponies about the nature of his “medicine”, and leap at the chance to use magic without any hesitation, which in turn led him to another impulsive decision.
Skeletor quickly threw open the door to his new room and laid on his stomach to reach under his bed, brushing past the small chamber pot to retrieve one of several mangled books that he stole from his old room. Like a child hiding their shame underneath their bed, Skeletor kept the proof of his failures stowed away in his cloak when he changed rooms, allowing his criminal acts to go unnoticed.
After learning about the value of paper and books in the Empire, Skeletor hid the mangled tomes to avoid any fallout, especially after Avid confirmed that desecrating books was worthy of a death sentence. Luckily, no one on the council challenged Skeletor’s abrupt repeal of that law, and it had unwittingly worked in his own favor. However, just because it wasn’t worthy of a death sentence, didn’t mean that he could avoid punishment if anyone found out about his deeds.
Once he grabbed a particular book out from his, admirably childish, hiding place, Skeletor leafed through the pages to find his own handwriting. His makeshift journal held small notes about certain spells, warnings of particular spells to never attempt again, and brief glimpses of his recorded past.
“ ‘If Evelyn was here, she’d probably be able to win the crystal ponies over with a smile and a few ear scritches….’” He quoted as his finger trailed across the dried ink. “… That’s it? Where’s the rest, damnit? There has to be more,” Skeletor pleaded as he tore through the pages and searched for even a glimmer of her name.
His eye-sockets traveled across days, glancing at quickly sketched schedules and notes before one page gave him a pause.
“… ‘I told Avid about Trevor and his relationship with Bedar’,” Skeletor read with growing hesitation as his eyes continued to move across the page. “… ’I didn’t… I didn’t go too much into detail about Tuvar, but… But I…’. No… No, no, no, no, no.”
Skeletor flipped ahead several pages, hoping to find some other recordings or brief mentions of his past before finally reaching the last entry of his private journal. His last entry was nearly a week old, a simple note that reminded him about a meeting with Purity Flame, followed by a forgotten promise to write more later.
He circled through his entries once more, stopping at a page of his past as his gaze lingered on two dreadfully unfamiliar names.
“I… I-I miswrote it, I must have,” Skeletor lied as he continued to silently read the passage. “No, no, no, his name is Tuvar. Yeah, Tuvar and Baddrah…. Right?” Skeletor wondered as he continued flipping through the pages.
Despite already knowing how little information his shoddy journal held, Skeletor still desperately searched for some reassurance that he was fine. What started off as a simple search for answers about Evelyn had led to a much darker realization.
His own thoughts were slipping away.
He had wrongly assumed that his fractured thoughts had only affected his memories of his name and face, but it was a fool’s hope. The truth was that whatever had affected his memories before was getting worse.
Skeletor combed his fingers through the wrinkles of his hood as he began to pace around his room. The book lightly bounced in his hand as he tried to call on his memories, searching for any noticeable discrepancies that could have gone unnoticed.
He felt momentarily comforted when he vividly remembered his family and home, but felt a pang of fear when his thoughts went to Evelyn and his friends. He remembered Tuvar and Baddrah as vividly as he remembered his brothers, Stephen and Randor.
Skeletor’s steps faltered at the casual memory of his family. The world around Skeletor grew unnervingly silent as his stomach began to turn on itself. He stared into the reflective walls of crystal with an empty gaze as an unsteady hand brought the book back to his eyes. With nauseating dread, Skeletor combed through the book once more to go over earlier entries.
He couldn’t find a single mention of his younger half-brother; Stephen.
Skeletor could remember his youngest brother better than he could remember his old face, the young red head was so vivid in his memories that Skeletor could swear he heard Stephen just outside his room.
Skeletor released a shaky breath as closed the book, feeling a new weight fall on him as his legs began to tremble. The former lord steadied himself on a crate of gems. A ringing sound grew in intensity as Skeletor felt his strength drain from his body. His vision grew darker as his breathing became faster, growing sharper and quicker with each second that passed.
Tears fell to the floor without any restraint, flowing freely as his body slowly gave into the forces of gravity and crumbled to the floor. He felt his stomach struggle to not crawl up his throat, it was only by a marginal miracle that he didn’t paint the floor in vomit.
Guttural sobs scratched the walls of his throat as laid on the floor, his arms wrapping around himself without a thought as he cried. A wordless scream erupted from his throat when a familiar pain began to flare in his skull.
He didn’t remember trying to think about his face or name, but amidst the chaos of his thoughts, there weren’t many places to hide from those pain-filled memories. He writhed in agony as his cries grew louder, dragging his thoughts away from the rest of his torment to distract him with an onslaught of stabbing pain.
He never noticed the door flying open for a petite thestral to escape the sound of his shrill screams.
While monsters and traitors felt their own thoughts turn against them, an alicorn stewed in her weary misery with a fake smile.
She listened tentatively to her council, once again going over each law and proposal passed by the mysterious demon who held the throne before her. Princess Celestia’s words came back to the forefront of her mind as she thought about Skeletor. While her aunt had told her to seek friends before appointing enemies, she also warned about the deceitful nature of demons.
She wanted to give Skeletor the benefit of the doubt, to find a faithful friend who would bend an ear rather than an enemy who would stab her in the back. However, there was still much that she didn’t know about the bipedal demon, and his seemingly sincere actions didn’t denounce the fact that he was a practitioner of Dark magic.
Cadence had only met one Dark magic caster in her life before Skeletor, back when she ascended to an alicorn nearly three years prior.
The earth pony mare who tormented the small village of Hope Hollow tore apart shards of her soul to spread pain and fear, using an ancient necklace as a conduit for her sinister powers. It was clear to Cadence that the conduit Skeletor chose was his skull tipped staff, and she could only guess where, or who that skull came from.
There was also the fact that Skeletor’s origins were still mostly unknown. His claims to being from another world, one that didn’t possess magic, and that he turned into a fictional character with that being’s abilities, was too hard to believe. She had believed his story enough at first, back when she thought he was a pony that was cursed by a magical costume to turn into a monster, but the additional detail of him being from a magic-less world was something too outlandish to accept without a second thought.
There was still much to learn about the silver-tongued demon, and her unanswered questions only made her unease grow.
“Princess Cadence?” Crumb Catcher’s voice gently prodded, bringing Cadence out of her thoughts to rejoin the meeting fully.
“Yes, Crumb Catcher?”
“I was asking if the proposal for us to send a second expedition force outside the Empire to travel to the Ruva Kingdom for medicine, your eminence.”
“Ah, yes. Well, from my understanding, General Cannon Fodder and his team haven’t returned yet, so I would like to withhold on sending more ponies out there unprepared. I’ve already informed my aunts about our need for medical supplies, and they’ve promised to send aid to us immediately. Is there any way for us to contact the general and ask him to return?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t, your eminence. However, I’m sure that General Cannon Fodder and his company will return to the Empire in due time. Until then, we must remain patient and pray to Faust for their safe return,” the Spy Master stated with a sturdy sense of hope. “Now, does anypony wish to continue with the matter regarding the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom?” He asked, receiving negative head shakes from the other council members.
“Then, before I surrender my time to Avid Value to bring up his thoughts and motions, I would like to address the last motion on my agenda. I believe it is time we all address the crack in the crystal and discuss how we should handle Skeletor,” Crumb Catcher stated to the council, causing the shortest member to become slightly agitated.
“What do you mean by, ‘handle’?” Avid Value asked pointedly.
“A poor choice of words on my part,” Crumb Catcher explained, before quietly muttering an insult at the brown coated Stallion. “Unlicked cub. What I meant was that I believe we should take a moment to think about your end of the agreement to Skeletor, your eminence.
“Your eminence, as you remember, part of the agreement you and Prince Armor signed with Skeletor states that Skeletor shall be, and I quote, ‘given a position of power in recognition of his efforts for the Empire.’ I believe now is the perfect opportunity to define what ‘power’ we can and, more importantly, should offer. Your majesties, during your private meeting with Skeletor, did he indicate any personal preferences for his reward?”
“Well, Skeletor said he simply wished to live peacefully in the Empire. He hasn’t spoken about receiving any rewards since our first meeting, and everything he said appeared as though he didn’t want one,” Cadence told them. “I’ve waited to see if he would try to come forward with a suggestion, but he hasn’t.”
“Then what do you plan to give him?” Crumb Catcher asked, leaning on his hooves as the other council members became noticeably more interested.
“I’m… Open to suggestions.”
The truth of the matter was that she didn’t want to hand any power over to him, but she knew it would be inevitable. Even if Skeletor was honestly content spending his days toiling away with spells and magical studies of the archaic dark arts in the privacy of his room, she knew the crystal ponies likely wouldn’t see it the same way. Her aunt Celestia had given her a few warnings about the demon and the possible motives behind his actions.
If she would take too long to give him a reward or recognize his efforts, word would spread to the ponies of the Empire that she wasn’t making good on her end of the deal. It would likely spell the beginning of a civil war between two factions, putting Cadence in opposition to her mislead subjects.
“Hmmm. Then, I believe it would be best if we give him a noble title, possibly that of a duke, and reward him with a fief. Of course, given the Empire’s current structure, and the fact that every manor and mansion is either demolished or filled with ponies, I believe it would be rather difficult to accommodate him immediately. Though… There is the Thestral Kingdom,” Crumb Catcher mused.
“Are you suggesting that we make him a duke in a kingdom outside the barrier?” Emerald Secret asked in an almost disgusted tone. “Do you honestly think that anypony will be happy with that?”
“It was just an idle thought, nothing more,” Crumb Catcher gently defended with his usually calm voice. “Sending him to the Thestral Kingdom would provide us the opportunity of having Skeletor be removed from sight, allowing the crystal ponies time to rightfully recognize you as their divine leader, your eminence. Though, I know that such a plan is doomed to failure, just as Miss Secret pointed out.”
“We could attempt to rebuild one of the other dukedom’s mansions inside the barrier,” Avid added on. “but, considering the time and bits needed to do it, not to mention building supplies, it wouldn’t be possible to do it immediately. As much as I hate to admit it, we can’t reward him with any of the fiefs yet.”
“Um, why don’t we just give him a holiday?” Colonel Kernel wondered, causing everypony’s attention to land on the guard.
Beneath the usually calm and stoic mask that he wore, Cadence could see that the young colonel was a ball of anxiety waiting to bounce out the nearest window. She hadn’t actually expected the stallion to add much to the conversation, but was happily surprised by his idea.
“A holiday,” Avid quietly parroted. “Yeah, yeah that could work! We’d be able to show Skeletor how much we appreciate him, we’d make the crystal ponies happy, and then we’d be able to promise delivering a fief to him later. Faust’s serenade, why didn’t I think of that?”
“A holiday does seem like a nice idea, and it seems appropriate considering that Skeletor made a holiday to honor Princess Amore as well,” Emerald added.
Cadence quickly recalled the holiday in question, one of the first motions that was passed by the skull headed ruler, and one of the few that didn’t include the council’s input. It would serve to remind the Empire of his deeds and repay him for what he gave the crystal ponies. A holiday for the skull headed creature would also show the citizens that Cadence was, at least outwardly, accepting of the strange demon and willing to acknowledge his contributions. Finally, a grand gesture like throwing a celebration for him would give her more time to wait on giving him a meaningful title. Perhaps, by then, she would be able to learn more about the mysterious demon and see what laid behind his hollow eye sockets.
She looked over to Shinning for his input on the motion, only to see his eyes lock with General Camisole as she signaled him to follow with a discrete flick of her ear. With a nod, Cadence allowed him to help with the guards as she handled the rest of the meeting.
“I think your suggestion could work well in our favor, Colonel Kernel, thank you,” Cadence said appreciatively, causing a hint of a blush to peak through his coat as he fidgeted in place from the praise. “Avid, as the royal treasurer, can I trust—“
“I’ll begin preparing the allotted cost immediately,” Avid Value interrupted, enthusiastically leading the meeting with suggestions and thoughts for how to celebrate the, as of yet to be named, new holiday.
Cadence leaned back a bit more comfortably into her seat as the council member grew more animated, throwing suggestions and proposals around as if it were a game. Skeletor, a literal demon, was able to elicit joy from her subjects without even being in the same room as them. Cadence looked at the emotions flowing through her council, each one nearly bustling with happiness. Even the usually rigid wall of peace that was Crumb Catcher had adopted a more mellow feeling as he silently listened to the others.
Perhaps she would need to be more lenient in her views of Skeletor, least she make a mistake that she couldn’t fix.
“Fix him, fix him, fix him, fix him!”
“I’m trying! He’s not a broken toy you know!” Crux Heart shouted at Star Burst, who had been prancing around him and the prone demon in a panic.
“I can’t believe you killed him,” General Camisole mused with faux graveness as she took a bite out of her granola bar. “I mean, I didn’t even think it was possible to kill him.”
“I didn’t kill him!” Star Burst defended before turning her attention back to the doctor of their group. “He’s not dead, right?”
“He still has a heartbeat, but for all I know, he might have two hearts and one of them exploded. Best I can say is we pray for something good and prepare for the worst.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be a doctor?! Fix him!”
“I know pony biology! The most I know about other species is how to treat an injured griffon wing and minotaurian mating habits! If you need me to fix a broken wing, I can do it. If you need somepony to recite the entire history of why Satsrwirl had such a long beard, I’m your stallion. If you get invited to a quiz competition and you need a partner, I’m there in a heartbeat. But diagnosing a demon’s body? Your guess is as good as mine!”
“There has to be something you can do!”
“The best I can do right now is listen to his heart beat and breathing, in case you haven’t noticed, the Empire isn’t well equipped in the medical field.”
“Fillies, fillies, shut up,” Camisole calmly ordered as she trotted past the pair and lightly tapped Skeletor’s arm with a hoof. “Let’s not lose our heads just because Star Burst may have killed him.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Meh,” the general shrugged before turning back to the two guards. “Star, help Crux carry the big guy back into his bed and then continue monitoring him. I’ll go inform Princess Cadence and Shinning Armor about the situation. Crux, I want you on monitoring duty too.
“Report to me immediately if he wakes up and make sure he’s still breathing. If all goes well, we help Skeletor, look like heroes, and trot back home with another badge or two. Worst case scenario… We’ll sleep in that cloud when we get to it,” she ordered.
“Yes General,” the two guards saluted, earning a nod from their commanding officer as she left the pair to carry the biped back into bed.
Crux Heart and Star Burst lifted the demon onto their backs, stretching out their wings to act as a makeshift stretcher to slide him onto his covers. Once they were finished, the pair of guards hid in the shadows of the room, silently watching the demon rest.
“What exactly happened anyway? You weren’t really clear when you pulled me out of bed,” Crux Heart asked with a hint of bitterness in his words as he suppressed a yawn.
“I was in a panic, alright? He just ran straight to his room after breakfast and was muttering about a violin. Then he dug under his bed and took out a book and started talking about a tuba and a bed being wrong before he started screaming bloody murder.”
“Which book was it?”
“Um… There,” Star Burst pointed out, causing the medic’s gaze to fall on the forgotten tome. After stealing a glance at his still unconscious patient, Crux Heart slipped out of his hiding spot to snatch the book off of the floor. He quickly returned to his little cove behind the crates, giving the patchwork book a long look as he turned it in his hooves.
“I thought you already did a sweep of his room?”
“Well… Who hides things under their bed anyway? It was just so obvious that I didn’t even think about it, okay? Anyway, what does it say?” Star Burst asked pointedly as she leaned over his wither to look at the pages.
Just like the cover, the inside of the book was a mess of pages that were magically fused together, creating a patchwork of paper for the messy words that were scrawled inside. Unlike the neat and cordial writing that littered the pages at odd angels, Skeletor’s writing was bold and large, a single letter taking up three lines worth of space for each entry.
“Hmmm… Seems to be an account of his time in the Empire. There are a few gaps between new entries, and a lot of the beginning is awful, it’s like a foal learning to use a quill for the first time,” Crux Heart groaned as he leafed through the pages. While he silently read to himself, he caught an entry referring to the placebos and began to read aloud.
“ ‘I’ve gotten a bit better at opening the portal to where I want, though I’ve mainly just been using it to sneak into the kitchen and get some jelly to make my, “potions” for the ponies. I nearly went a full night without sleep just mixing jelly and melted snow in a pot to pour it back into a hundred or so jars. I only just realized that they’re giving them out by the spoonful and not the jar like I imagined, so I shouldn’t need to do it again for a while, at least.’ And… It looks like the rest is just about magical theory, though it’s really dumbed down.”
“Huh, so those placebo things were just watered-down jelly?” Star Burst asked as the took the book out of his hooves and began to do her own light reading.
“The prince and the princess will probably want to read this too. I’ll see if you missed anything else in your sweep.”
“Hey, you would have forgotten to check under the bed too,” Star Burst argued.
Crux Heart didn’t pay her comment a retort as he once again fled the safety of the shadows to look under Skeletor’s bed. Just as he predicted, there were a collection of books hidden near the center of his bed, just out of reach for Crux’s hooves. Despite this, the thestral guard laid on his side and outstretched his wing, sliding it under the bed to barley graze the books.
His muscles tensed as he heard Skeletor snort and slowly shift in bed, only giving the medic a few chance seconds to flee to his hiding spot before the demon became fully lucid. Skeletor released a sharp hiss of pain as his hand flew up to his skull, clutching the bare bone tightly as his unique swears passed his teeth.
“Fffffuck! Fuck, fuck fuuuuck…” The demon groaned as he sat up and buried his skull into his palms.
The two ponies hugged the shadows close to their coats as Skeletor grumbled a wealth of expletives. His cold gaze soon searched the room as one hand remained firmly planted on his skull. “Fuck…”
Skeletor’s pain filled gaze melted into one of confusion as he looked down at his bed. After tense minutes of looking at the fabric that covered him, he slowly pried himself away from it to rise. His confused sockets roamed the walls and floor, looking for a physical explanation to whatever question weighed on his mind. Before long, he tore his eye sockets away from his futile search to look at the grotesque scepter that was still standing next to his bed.
A quick hiss of pain caused his hand to fly back to his skull as he willed away the pain. If his two hidden stalkers weren’t thestrals, they would have never caught the seething mumble that escaped his jaws.
“Sombra.”
The guards’ ears perked in worry at his sudden choice of words. Without another word, Skeletor took his staff and went back to the area where he inexplicably collapsed. His Skull contorted in a look of panic and anger as his breathing increased.
Crux Heart’s eyes flew to his fellow guard, landing squarely on the book that she was hugging closely to her barrel. Worry soon buried itself deeper into the medic’s mind as Skeletor began searching under his bed for his missing tome, giving Crux enough time to catch Star Burst’s attention.
“Put it back,” Crux Heart mouthed to her.
Star Burst looked at the book in her hooves. “Shouldn’t we give this to Cami or somepony?” She mouthed back.
“We can do that later, we know where he hides it, just put it back,” the medic ordered.
Star Burst, after taking a moment longer than necessary to think about her options, begrudgingly agreed with a shake of her head. She pressed a hoof firmly on a patch of her jacket, activating the enchantment that would allow her to slip into thin air with ease. Though he couldn’t see his colleague, Crux Heart could still hear her shift out of their position as she went to place the book in a place not too far off from where Skeletor was looking.
In a matter of mere seconds, the book was placed just as Skeletor’s search under his bed ended. The skull headed monster irritably stomped away from his bed, only to stop as his gaze was caught by the familiar tome. He stood silently for several seconds before retrieving the patchwork book, sending the walls a long look as he went to slide the journal back under his bed.
Shortly afterwards, Skeletor gave a cursory glance at the rest of his room, following the shadows from the floor to the ceiling as he left.
“I’ll follow him, you should report back to Cami and tell her what happened,” Star Burst suggested before she raced off to catch up with her target.
Crux gave a firm and unseen nod of approval as Star Burst flew off. Finally alone, the stallion released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. The pounding in his chest that he had been deaf to had made itself known with a sudden strike. His hoof gently pressed against his barrel, feeling his heartbeat gradually grow slower from the sudden spring of excitement and suffocating terror.
His breaths became haggard with each heartbeat, replaying his memories as quick flashes of the demon staring in his direction. He could have sworn that he caught the Goliath’s eye sockets, staring back into the dark abyss that scowled at him, though a more logical part of his mind argued that Skeletor’s gaze swept right over the stallion and remained ignorant of his observers.
Once Crux Heart was finally able to steady the deafening sound of his heart, he ran himself through a small excessive to retrieve his nerves. Repeating a quick mantra under his breath, Crux Heart made his way over to Skeletor’s bed and looked at the demon’s secret collection. Without the worry of disturbing the bipedal beast, Crux moved the frame higher with his hooves as the thumb of his wing latched onto the spine of Skeletor’s journal, eliciting a silent cheer from him as he dragged it out.
The strange and familiar cover of the journal sat before him, promising a sea of knowledge that would aid in the prince and princess’ endeavors. While he would be able to report back to General Camisole immediately, he couldn’t allow an opportunity such as this to slip under his wings.
The medic, only having a few medical supplies on hoof, stole an inkwell and pen from Skeletor’s dresser and unfurled a wrap of bandages from his satchel. He would need to paraphrase some parts, perhaps even dedicate most of the journal to memory in less than an hour, but he would do it. The fate of the princess’ succession, possibly the fate of the Empire’s future, laid before his eyes.
“…’I feel like I’m going insane.’”