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// Chapter 12: The Mare 
// Story: Blood Moon 
// by The_Darker_Fonts 
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Hemorrhage stared at the mare in complete shock, the pounding of his heart the only thing that was moving in his entire body.  He was frozen in place as he gazed at the beautiful mare that was unsurely staring back at him, clutching a child close to her chest.  By the blood of the innocents, she was gorgeous, her deep brown coat giving her a warm, youthful look.  He didn’t have any doubt that she was youthful, either, considering the petite look of a mare enjoying the young years of her life, when beauty struck every male with a warm blow.  
She was absolutely perfect, her face, while thin, rounded nicely to match her shapely appearance, and her eyes, oh her eyes!  They were an extraordinary green that gave her a forest-like appearance, the green and brown making her look like the most beautiful tree in a grove.  His jaw slowly slackened as he continued to stare in mute amazement at the mare, and it was in that moment that he knew exactly who he was.  With the most undeniable fact of this mare being her beauty, there was no other pony in the world that could ever fit as his other half, and in his very soul he knew that he must marry her.
“Hemorrhage,” Ailade’s questioning voice called, pulling him away from the inner recesses of his mind and back to the matter at hoof, he cleared his throat.  
“My apologies, Ailade,” he told her.  Glancing from his best friend, and back to the mare, he smiled as he said, “After the long night I’ve been having, seeing such a beautiful mare must have shocked my poor brain.” 
Instead of blushing or ducking away in embarrassment at the comment, the mare pulled herself upright and tightened her grip on the child in her hoof.  There wasn’t even the hint of a smile on her face from his flattery, and he found that he was the one blushing.  “I’m not some mare to be gawked at, sir,” she told him with the slightest bit of venom in her voice, though she sounded somewhat prideful in herself.  “You should know that there are other ways to woo a mare than to stare, then seduce them with flattery.”
“I’m sorry,” he apologized bashfully.  “I didn’t mean to come across as perverted.”  With an unsure glance to Ailade, who was watching the spectacle fearfully, he slowly questioned, “What brings you to our corner of Equestria?  Business from the Princesses?”
“If you’d let me speak, I’d tell you,” she impatiently snapped.  Hemorrhage opened his mouth to apologize once again, but she interrupted, saying, “Quit apologizing unless you’re gonna mean it!  You’re supposed to be the lord here, right?  Well, you haven’t reprimanded me once this entire time, and I’ve been probably the most uptight mare you’ve met in these parts.  So where is the real lord so I can talk to him.”
“Well, madam, I’m lord simply in name, and not in nature,” he admitted humbly.  “I was named by Celestia as the lord of the Southern Forest Extensions, and as such, anything within a dozen miles of here is technically my land.”
“Huh, so you do talk in formal speak,” she said in slight surprise.
“It isn’t a natural language, I assure you,” he half-heartedly joked, attempting to win the mare over with the quick comedy.  
“Well, that’s a comfort to hear,” she reminisced.  She sat down and laid her child across her legs, to which the young one began to fuss slightly.  She shushed it, and while Hemorrhage was about to suggest that they move to the living room, he figured she would simply decline the formalities, so he sat down as well.  Glancing up from the child at him, she asked, “So, you wanted to know why I’m here?”
“Indeed,” he answered, staring the mares in the eyes, preparing himself for a political discussion of some sort.
“Well, the truth is, I’m a refugee,” the mare solemnly confessed, the admission enough to cause her to glance away.  “I haven’t told your maid yet either, but I’m not a consort or messenger of the crown, though I used to work for them.  I was in their army three years ago, right around the time the war was heating back up and ponies were starting to kill each other.  I was the best archer in the entire army while I was there, and seeing some of my friends be the first to go, I thought I could go and make myself become a hero by killing off that bastard Sombra.
“Well, I did, except I didn’t.  When I shot him right in the heart, he merely laughed it off, called me a fool, and next thing I knew, I was back in the Crystal Empire.  I was his slave there for these past three years, both for his maid staff, and for his more carnal pleasures.  I always planned to escape somehow, but I was never able to make a plan that I could depend on, and then I got pregnant.”  The mare paused as she glanced down at her baby, rubbing its stomach softly with her hoof as she smiled at the little one.  “Best damn thing to happen to me, from the worst damn pony in all of history,” she bitterly added, a small smile still on her face as she lovingly gave her child attention.
Hemorrhage was enraptured by the mare as she told her story, and as she tended to her little child.  He felt his heart flutter as he saw the motherly expression that came over her face as she tenderly took care of her baby, and he wanted nothing more than to walk up to her and pick the little one up, to watch over the child of this beautiful mare as well.  It was as if his entire life, the tragedies and deaths, all didn’t exist in the presence of this amazing mare, and Hemorrhage couldn’t believe that now, after all of his years, after he’d stopped searching, he’d found the one that completed him.
“This little girl was what made me decide that I would escape, that I would ensure she didn’t grow up as the daughter of the Bastard Prince,” the mare continued determinedly.  “I was one of the mares that washed his clothing, and seeing as we had a window to hang his drying laundry out of, I used it as my escape route.  As you can see, I made it out, away from the Crystal Empire.  That all happened a few days ago.  Ever since then, I’ve been floating down the river on a hollowed out log, trying to keep my kid warm.  Your maid was the first Equestrian pony I’ve seen in years.”
“Incredible,” he muttered, his eyes now focused on the carpet before her.  Even if he wanted to do nothing more than stare at this mare for eternity, he still had other things in his life he had to concern himself with, such as if this mare were authentic.  With a sharp stare, he questioned, “How do we know if this story is true exactly?”
The mare surprisingly smiled at the question, stating, “not as dumb as you act then?  Glad to see!”
“Dumb as I act,” he recited with a slightly raised brow.
“Well, you don’t look that bad now,” she quirkily responded.  The mare seemed to realize a compliment had slipped from her mouth as she quickly clammed up, her brown cheek fur gaining the slightest of pink tints.  
“Well, thank you,” he responded to the compliment, standing.  “Now, about that evidence…”
“Your maid found me with a whole bundle of clothing,” the mare answered quickly without making eye contact with the approaching mordigan.  “If you wash it out, I’m sure that you’ll recognize it.”  
Not pressing the point of her briskness, he instead told her, “Ailade is not my maid, despite what she may tell you, and I am not her master.  You’ll find that in our castle, we are neither servant nor served, only servers, here to help each other out.  She may call me master, but it is only because it was I who started this family and adopted everypony into it.  Speaking of which, have you met any of the others?”
“Um, no,” the mare responded, sounding more and more timid as he stood besides her.  “Only… Ailade...
She was rather diminutive, and he had forgotten to return to his pony form, meaning that… he looked like an alicorn.  Deal with that later, he firmly told himself, forcing a smile as he stated, “Well, there are three more of us here.  Leper is our youngest, only about twenty five.  Nightseer and Argon are married, and both in their early thirties.  As for myself, well, my name is Hemorrhage, and I’d rather not disclose my age.  I prefer to relive youth than remain in my elderly livelihood.  And what, may I ask, is your name?”
“And why do you deserve to know it,” the mare counter questioned defensively.  
“Well, madam, it does seem like you are in search of residence, so if you want to stay here for the night, all I ask in payment is your name,” Hemorrhage smoothly responded.  The mare grimaced as she realized that a nice bed and a warm place to stay would be costly elsewhere, and even dangerous to get to, considering the time of night.
“Fine, it’s Joint,” she reluctantly gave, picking her child back up as she stood.  Glancing down at her child, she said, “This is Amethyst Heart, if you should know.”
“A wonderful name for a beautiful baby,” the mordigan complimented, staring at the little wonder in the mare’s hoof.  She was an adorable pink thing, eyes shut as she rejected the harsh light of the candles that lit the castle, patting a rebellious hoof on her mother’s neck.  “Might I,” he asked, gesturing to the baby.  The mare looked taken aback by the question, but slowly, looking down at her child, she gave him the child. 
It had been so long since Hemorrhage had held anything so young, and staring down at the young one, he was caught in its little eyes, which opened at the movement of the transfer.  They were slightly pink, and just glassy enough for him to see his own reflection in them, pink encircling his head.  The little child’s mouth opened up as it stared at him, and he returned the stare with a kind smile, walking beside her mother in a well known path to where Ailade would have put the clothing the mare had discussed.  With a quiet smile, the baby reached up with a hoof and tapped the tip of his nose, almost killing him with the adorableness of the action.
He heard Joint laugh at the sight of the tiny, furry hoof barely reaching the tip of his snout, and he joined in with her.  Looking over, he told her truthfully, “This is the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.  If I might say, you must have a hard time with her when she’s cranky.  It must take the will of a thousand stallions to say no to a face such as her own, but then again, the beauty can only be matched by the creator.”
That one caused the mare to blush.  Sweet Celestia, she was beautiful when she blushed.  She was gorgeous and beautiful and whatever other words could be used to describe her.  And she had the personality of an actual pony, not some uptight noble or some beaten down peasant!  Despite the hardship she’d gone through, despite the torment those years in Sombra’s court, she was still so much of a mare, a strong, powerful, unequivocally beautiful mare, and he was in love.  
Stop gushing over her, he instructed as he looked back down to his hoof, where the tiny filly lay, patting a hoof weakly against his shoulder.  “Why does she do that,” he asked, nodding to the tiny pink hoof that was tapping him.  
Looking up, she frowned and said, “She’s asking for a meal.  I already gave her some, but I haven’t had much to eat, so it most likely isn’t very filling.”
“She doesn’t cry,” he questioned.  
“Oh, she does, but she’s learned that mommy will feed her eventually, and especially if she’s quiet asking.”  With a sigh, she looked sadly at her child and murmured, “She had to learn a lot more than she should have only a month out of the womb.”
“Well, if you’re hungry, dear, we have a great deal of food to provide,” Ailade offered.  “We can stop by the kitchen on the way to your room after we check your evidence.  I have to stop by there anyways to grab something for a rather sick member of our family.”
“Wait, and if I lied,” she inquired.
“Well, I know for a fact that you didn’t,” Hemorrhage told her.  “But if it were, we’d still provide you and your child a place to sleep, along with a good meal, and perhaps send you off with some bits and a good deal cleaner.  Despite being unabashedly beautiful regardless, those clots of dirt and grime in your coat do you no good, my dear.”
The mare seemed equally flattered and annoyed by his flirting, and Hemorrhage found himself looking back down to the child in his hoof to avoid her narrowed glare.  With a slow smile, he realized the baby had begun to drift off, the rocking movement of their traveling providing the perfect way for her to be gently put to sleep.  Tipping his hoof ever so slightly, he allowed for Joint to get a glimpse of her dozing baby.  The mare’s glare instantly melted away at the sight, and giving him an appreciative look, she reached out to take her babe back.  Though he was sad to see the tiny pink filly go, his hoof was getting strained from carrying the little one around, and seeing how he’d never carried a baby for a prolonged amount of time, he wasn’t used to the exercise.  He’d only held Nightseer and Argon’s child for a minute or two at a time, mostly because the young couple were very protective of their firstborn.
They had stopped now, right inside a small, tucked away corner of the castle, in which they did their laundry, which was hardly any seeing as how they tended to bare fur rather than fabric coverings.  With a slow glance over the clothing, all of which were not theirs, she picked out one that looked like a muddied cloak.  Dipping it into a bucket of water besides the stone slab the clothes had been laid on, Ailade violently scrubbed the mud off of the garment, revealing the insignia of the Crystal Empire.  Furthermore, the cloak sported a number of patches, all some sort of reward or medal for bravery and courage.  If it were not Sombra’s, then it was still certainly somepony important in his court from which Joint had stolen it from.
“Well, that certainly confirms it,” Hemorrhage whispered for the sake of the child, giving her an appreciative glance in her mother’s expert hoof.  Nodding in agreement, Ailade left it to sit in the bucket, gesturing for Joint to follow them as they took the short journey to the kitchen.  
“Here, dear,” Ailade instructed, pulling out a wicker basket from one of the cubbies, along with several small, soft white towels.  Lining the basket with the cloth, she took the young filly from Joint and set her in the basket before laying a few more towels on her.  “It’s a temporary solution, but it will do for now,” the kindly older mare assured Joint quietly.  “Now how about I let my master take care of you while I tend to that ill friend of ours.”
“Ailade,” he began as the mare wrapped around behind him to get to the cabinet where the Fraize leaves were kept.  
“Hush,” she instructed.  “Our guest comes before your personal selflessness.”
Rolling his eyes, he walked over to one of the other pantries, Joint standing beside the counter where her sleeping child was, watching as he moved about.  He opened the pantry, taking out a small bag of honey crusted oats that were kept for the occasional visitor from the village.  Oh blood of the innocents, he’d yet to tell the others… Later, he again told himself.  This mare and her child were the immediate concern, so they came first.  Along with the oats, he pulled out a hoof sized bag of dried barley, which he dipped in a square cauldron of water to wet for better eating.  Turning back around, he presented the makeshift meal to the mare, noting Ailade leaving the kitchen.
For a moment, Joint seemed a bit suspicious of the food, but smelling faint scent of honey, she yanked the bags away in her teeth.  From there, she gorged herself on the delicious food, and Hemorrhage could only watch happily as she did, filling up an obviously empty stomach.  After only a minute or so, the meal was finished, with Joint looking content with the meal.  
After several seconds of silence, she quietly spoke up.  “Thank you, sir.”
“There’s no need for that,” he kindly denied the respectful moniker.  “Please, just call me Hemor.  I’ll respond to Rage as well, but for obvious reasons, it's not my… preferred nickname.”
“Alright, Rage,” Joint teasingly corrected herself, smiling quirkily at him.  The smile quickly faded as she continued.  “Thank you for being so kind to me.  I… I’m not incredibly good at taking compliments.  The… the last stallion to call me pretty… also raped me.”  She paused painfully as she took a deep breath, and not knowing exactly how to react, put a hoof comfortingly on her shoulder.  She glanced at it before giving him a tight smile.  “It’s just that… I wasn’t sure if I wanted you to confirm my story or not.  When you told me you weren’t a real noble, I was relieved, because it meant that, maybe, when you learned who I was, and who my daughter is, you wouldn’t throw us out, or arrest us.”
With a sudden flash of anger at the thought of them being put in jail, he told her fiercely, “I would never put you into a cell, nor would I allow such a thing to happen to either of you.”
“But, we’re, well, Sombra’s, in one way or another,” the mare weakly explained, looking defeated.  
“Whatever you think he still has that you don’t obviously isn’t enough to cause harm,” Hemorrhage reassured her, using his hoof to make her face him in the eyes.  “You’ve made it this far out, right?  Well, you haven’t been defeated by him, and you still have your heart, mind, and wit as your own, and with that, a pony can go many places.  It only helps that you are headstrong and independent, and the fact that you were brave enough to get so far on your own, keeping yourself and your daughter alive only proves your physical strength.
“Your child is yours, not Sombra’s.  He may be her biological father, but if that were any measure of a pony, then I’d still be stuck back in a fishing village, and you’d be married off to some whiny farmer.  No, we make our own fates, and yours and hers aren’t to forever be shadowed by Sombra and whatever he’d done to you.  My coven and I can protect you from whatever nightmares he may send after you, that I can assure you, for as long as you stay.”
“Are you asking me to stay, or telling me to stay,” Joint asked pointedly, a deep blush covering her face.
Having his momentum put to a harsh halt, he stammered, “W-well, I would prefer you to stay…”
“Okay, I think I’ll stay a while then,” she informed him, a strange smile overtaking her face.  
As suddenly as it came over her, she leaned into him, pressing lips firmly on his.  Hemorrhage was so surprised by the action that he didn’t quite know how to react, only pressing himself back into her.  After a moment, he closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her lips pressed on his, and craving more than just the flesh on flesh.  
However, before it escalated further, he felt Joint pull away, her breath hot as she gasped.  “I- I would apologize,” she began nervously, her tone becoming much more amused as she beheld his shocked face.  “But you seemed to enjoy that too.”
For a second, Hemorrhage didn’t have a response, but slowly he responded cheekily, “Yes, that I did.”