//------------------------------//
// 1-3 Through the Dark 
// Story: Renegade 
// by Slendy 
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"Wow, you weren't kiddin' about bringing your work wherever you g - ah!" W remarked, smirking through the pain while admiring the state of the small shop tucked away in Hoofprint. 

It was cozy, the walls shelved with many herbs, potions, and ingredients. A vast selection stored in rectangular slots over the counter on the wall. A small stairway leading up to the left. The counter was supported by two oak beams fixed with a lantern each. The floor was the same, creaking under their feet while the group sat on stools in the middle of the shop, a small table between them with select drinks on display. Astra was happily munching on a sandwich, courtesy of Mir. 

The stallion's dull emeralds never once shifted, pouring the light pink liquid onto W's exposed wound on her forearm. "Hmph, given your most recent transgressions with the Royal Guard left me with little choice - hold still!" He snapped, noting the strained look on W's face, the potion working to clean and clot her wounds with a hiss. For W, she might as well have stuck her arm in a fire.

This seemed apparent given the few boxes yet to be unpacked, that alone caused some slight grief to emerge on W's face, the pony letting go of her arm as she clenched her fists slowly. "I... sorry." Her muttering left an odd silence before Mir sat on his stool, huffing.

"What concerns transpire between me and those under Princess Celestia's command are not your concern - something that is misplaced," Mir added, looking at Astra who finished her sandwich. "I suppose she has improved with this 'Seer' ability of hers?"

W nudged Astra who jumped out of her thoughts to nod quickly. "I-I have, Mr. Mir, W helped me alot," Even that innocent reply made Mir's stone-cold expression lighten momentarily.

"So... is he always this crotchety?" Sora murmured in W's ear while the unicorn was distracted, or so the pair thought until a telekinetic hand swiped the hidden Aasimar's wrist. "Ah!"

"Pfft, little hint - don't ever think you can hide anything from this guy," W smirked, watching as the sharp pupils followed her own. Mir had managed to slip past the Elements and the Royal Guard to get here without a trace, he wasn't just some herbalist, he's a damn monster himself. 

"You've taken on risks before, and now you have more - what a headache," Mir rubbing his temples before sighing, levitating a parchment across from the counter quickly, unfurling what was a map to their eyes. "Idle chatter aside, I suppose your next route would be to Hollow Shades."

"Why there?" W inquired, and Mir stared at her as if she had two more antennas. The Sarkaz threw her hands up. "Do I look like I've had time to research the very history of this world?"

"Irrelevant!" He slapped the table, circling the forest on the map. "There are rumors that come by and while most would drawl on like a speaker with a speech impediment, this unlikely story yields some... merits." Not a single person missed the grating pitch in his tone.

W crossed her arms. "Well, by all means, keep impeding." She joked, seeing him eye her with a flat glare. "Oh please, you walked into that one."

"Pah!" He dusted off her comment and looked around as if he was being watched. "Since you clearly lack the abilities to enact initiative on your own, there is a rumor of something that can answer any and all inquires you may have - again, rumors - so any and all hope of such an existence is to be taken with a logical grain of salt."

"You're talking about The Dealer?" Sora finally spoke up, blinking with a muddled expression, smiling slightly as if it were a joke. "I mean... I've heard of the rumors but... no one's ever found him, or even remotely knows where he is - he might as well be a fairy tale, even I know that."

"Hrm shows what level of insight you have," Mir muttered with dry wit, glaring at the hidden human with a side-glance to the curious girls. "For a Prince, you certainly have lacked development on the idea of what is and isn't reality, even the most farfetched-"

Gears ground to a halt, the very air grew stale and taut around W. Astra seemed slow on the uptake, digesting the words herself. For W, her whole world twisted, all centered around the same Aasimar she's only known for roughly a day. That small window of knowing to W felt like weeks, she did care about Astra, more than most people she's ever known, but Sora was different. He was kind and offered her a moment to finally vent, and not just to a waiting ear, but to someone that understood where her anger originated. She let her guard down.

"Woah-Woah-Woah, wait a minute!" The gears turned, and her face quickly contorted just as sharply. "You-!"

"W-wait, W, I-" It was far too late. By the time he tried to reason with her, hands raised, W flew off her seat, punching him across the left cheek before she slammed her left arm up against his chest, forcing him against the wall as many vials buckled from the force. Held to his throat once more was her knife, only now her eyes were glazed with spite and malice, he swore they glowed. "P-please, wai-"

"Shut you damn mouth!" Her voice snarled, pressing the knife's edge just below his adam's apple. "You're a Prince? Hell, you're that bitch's adopted son, aren't you?" Much as Sora wanted to defend his said mother, he also didn't want to die at the hands of W. She laughed, and it felt so hollow and painful to hear. "I freakin' knew it... hehehe, I really let my guard down once and... and then you..." Her eyes were somehow cold and ablaze all at once. "Too good to be true, tch," Her hand pressed the knife closer, and Sora grunted from the force of her arm against his chest.

"W-W, what's-" The mercenary's tail flicked back to stop Astra from moving.

"Don't, Astra, not now..." Even toward the filly, her voice was strained with hate. "Now tell me, what else am I missing from the picture, Mir?"

The stallion hardly looked phased at all, almost as if he anticipated this outcome, though he did huff at the sight of his unorganized shelves. "Before you rudely interrupted me and nearly broke something - hm, he is the reason I was not as xenophobic as the rest of these ponies," Mir waved his hoof. "He is of similar nature to you, and while it's common knowledge to most ponies in Canterlot, he is, as you put it so bluntly, Princess Celestia's kin."

That brought out a cackle from the woman, her antenna twitched alongside her born fangs. "I was kidding about that! But you seriously are her son!? Hahahaha, what fun!" Her arm pulled him back and smashed his back against the wall, earning a pained grunt from the boy. "So what's the plan now, Prince Sora? Gonna go call your pal Cliffheart to come tag me? Or perhaps ask Sparkle Butt and her merry friends to turn me to stone? Huh, what's it gonna be, you rat!?"

It was all a blur to Sora. He could see it clear as day, her face twisted in rage, her muscles were tense and refused to budge until so much as a twitch emanated from him. But her eyes, both ember irises were shaken, trembling with terror and pain. He refused to reveal this information, not because he didn't trust W, but because he didn't want her to look at him and only see the title he wore. Most of all, her eyes only reminded him of himself That Day in the crystal caverns.


"She made a choice to put others before her own life!" Sora grunted, rolling to avoid a row of crystals that split the earth, grazing his forearm. "So do I, even if they never accept me!"

The necromancer stopped and stared into Sora's determined eyes, then his skeletal face clicked into a sinister smile, sockets' glow curving with glee. "You really think killing me will send you back, don't you?" His words made Sora hesitate, blades forced to a halt.

"W-what?" He shook his head, holding firm. "No, you're just saying that to-"

"-Get into your head? Is that what they told you, you lessen the burden?" The necromancer continued, nodding his head. "Oh yes, I aware you aren't from here - well, your appearance more than speaks volumes, even to me - but, let me offer you some... wisdom, for being such a thorn in my side!" No one could mistake the venom in his tone. "Even if you stop me, by some narrow window, some fading hope this world gives you - beating me... won't send you home."

The next words drove the final nail into Sora's heart, as it split in two. And the undead enemy savored the despair that cascaded from his face, the abomination relished it.

"The ties between yourself and your world are gone."

...

...

...

"You can never go back."


Having closed his eyes, Sora lifted his gaze to meet W eye-to-eye, not once breaking contact with a strong resolve. "I still believe you, even if you don't believe a word I say," He returned, putting his free hand against her wrist, even though it made her grip on the blade tighten further. "Yeah, my Mom is Celestia, and I know Cliffheart - but that pony wasn't him! The Merchant did this, to both of us - you idiot!" Her face flinched slightly. "Because of you... I finally get to find the reason I was sent here, I... can finally know why."

"He's honest," Astra piped up, now standing between Sora and W, her eyes never leaving his ocean orbs. "I thought he was scared of you, but he was scared to tell us anything that might make you angry or scared-"

"That doesn't excuse shit!" W snapped, but she threw him off to the side, running a hand through her hair. "Whatever, just get lost and don't ever come near us again - we're done here." Right now, W just needed to vent before she blew a hole through Mir's shop.

"...I want to hear him out." W's hand froze on the handle, turning around to face Astra who didn't move from beside Sora, himself looking up from his downcast form. Confused, W sighed and turned to face Astra.

"Look, kid-"

"I want to hear him out!" That was the first time Astra ever raised her voice against W. She wasn't angry, in fact, all the emotions simmering around her were beginning to become defined, she could understand it, all of it, both sides and their reasons without a single word. Gaining the same courage she saw in W, the same that inspired her, the little, silver-eyed pony stood her ground. "I know you're trying to protect us, and that you're scared - but you're being... immature!"

That struck W visible, her lips parted without even a breath.

"Just because you're in pain doesn't mean I feel the same way - I am, but I want to know why too, why I'm here, why you and Sora are here," Astra continued, waving her hoof wide, stomping it once with a huff, her eyes matching the same fire that would adorn W's. "We don't have answers but we still made it this far anyway, even if I'm still useless, even though you've been hurt, we've been in bad situations before, but that was fine because we did it our way."

Astra turned to Sora, smiling gently. "And I want to know why Mr. Sora's here too because I trust him." He was also stunned but managed a thankfully smile until Astra turned to look at the dead-silent stare on W's face, and how her eyes looked around, conflicted. "I trust you so much, you saved me, and I want to help you too."

"...what the hell is wrong with me?" Looking down at her hand, W just felt sick. Lost was a good way to describe her feelings, she had bottled up everything and kept herself closed off, even to Astra. What made W listen was exactly what she told Astra before leaving the Everfree, that glow, it was starting to show across the filly, and that made the pain the woman's chest tighter. "...I-"

"Aaaaah!!" 

W instantly flung the door open as she broke onto the streets of Hoofprint. Moments after the scream was heard the three followed after the Sarkaz to investigate. Once out onto the edge of the alleyway. Two ponies ran past them in terror, whatever scared the color out of their coats was gone, only a disturbance of a tile from one of the roofs as any indication someone or something was there. Then, there was complete and utter silence for the party.

"What... just happened?" Sora murmured, scratching his head under the cloak.

"Hrm, the ponies here aren't known to be jumpy unless it is particularly threatening," Mir offered, himself enchanting his horn. "Something is amiss."

W turned, tired both emotionally and physically, "Yeah, but what were they running fro-"

*Bam!*

Suddenly, something large and heavy struck W and Astra to the ground. The mercenary spun around, only to feel something sharp slice against her forearm, rows of crooked teeth sinking against her bare forearm as she was thrashed in the jaws of a monster, thrown across the alleyway in seconds, landing on her face. "Ow..." Looking at her arm, it was already caked in blood, and the smell made her eyes widen. "What the hell wasYaah!"

She kicked up to her feet, only for the creature to body slam her with both legs, teeth sinking around her left leg this time, horsewhipping her into the cold, dusty earth as W was flung into the side of a building, cracking the brickwork, flopping onto her chest with a hoarse groan. Between her locks, her whole body rushed with electricity after sighting the monster, and the unconscious filly in its right arm.

A bipedal human - though 'human' was a vague term. It was still wrapped in old, torn dark barding with a white cloak atop it, bound with black belts across its waist and shoulders, the robe split at the groin, ending around halfway up its thighs. The arms were blackened with Originium crystals jutting from the coarse skin. The hand mutated into large claws, one of which clutched Astra. The left was melded with a crossbow, crystals protruding from the river and around the hand now infused to the weapon.

The most horrifying sight was the hood that barely covered its grotesque face. Crystals grew from the head and through the cloak, the eyes no longer visible through marred skin. The jaw had split wider with a jack o' lantern grin lined with mismatched teeth that parted for a canine snarl, the crystals cracking at the strain on the mutant's bone structure.

Its very aura was drenched in blood, its whole body ravaged by the worst Oripathy could do to the human body, pure Originium crystals infused into its flesh and bone. It stood as the very dead-end of infection. The sight made W's throat dry, and bile almost reached her throat.

"Astra!" Finally, Sora lunged to free the unconscious filly, only for the monster to snap its head toward the Aasimar, holding the pony out, forcing the revealed Prince to hesitate, keeping both his silver swords back, only for the crossbow to rise with a wind-up of unstable, amethyst energy that, had Sora not immediately rolled to evade, would've torn his head off, the corner of the roof above W splintered off into rubble.

"This creature is attempting to use her a shield, clever - although not so much for us," Mir grimaced, stepping forward to produce several vials from his saddlebags. The glowing contents quickly flew through the alleyway, striking the spot the creature previously stood, its arm backhanding two away before lunging for the unicorn. 

Mir huffed and threw a green vial down, creating a small flash that gave him a narrow window to dive away from the crossbow's bolt as it split the pavement with enough force to fling the herbalist backward. As Mir rolled onto his back, W pushed past him, her confident persona all but gone. Her whole expression was twisted with malice, eyes blazing hot while bearing her fangs at the abomination.

"Give. Her. Back!!" She quickly loaded her launcher, raising it toward the mutant without a shred of hesitation. Her whole vision might very well have seeped in blood, her own wounds hardly stung, the woman now riled up with rage. She couldn't hesitate now, the first person she came to trust was right there, in danger, so like hell W would stand by and do nothing! Yet, her efforts were held back as it placed the filly ahead of itself momentarily to keep W from advancing.

The abomination quickly stepped back, tucking the filly against its chest as they all gagged at the sound of bones breaking and crystals fracturing inside its mangled form, with a faint whiff of rotten flesh from its teeth.

"No."

It snarled in a deep, gnarled voice. Its eyeless face lingered on W's recovering form, tempted to follow its other order before clutching the child tightly. Turning away from the three, it leapt for the edge of a building, clawing up with its crossbow's river acting as a hook before wedging itself up onto the rooftop.

"Did... did it just..." Sora was a loss for words, or until W sprinted after it. "Wait, W!"

"Astra!!" W screamed after the filly, landing on the roof and breaking into a mad sprint after the cloaked creature. "No way! No way am I losing anything else to this world!" Even as her pupils dialed to pinpricks, her blood was on fire.

To Be Continued...