//------------------------------//
// Return 
// Story: Equestria's Ray of Hope 
// by The_Darker_Fonts 
//------------------------------//

Ray stepped onto the docks with a soft sigh of relief, the feeling of solid wood beneath his feet almost foreign after over a week of travel by sea.  He slung his sack of everything he had packed for personal use over his other shoulder as the rain continued to fall.  Everywhere he looked felt different, though that was most likely the result of being in a new part of Equestria.  The port town they had taken as their harbor for the moment was on the river caused by Canterlot’s waterfalls, and given the proximity to the city, it had proved to be an excellent base of naval operations.  It was also practically a straight shot to the continent overseas to the only possible landing spot, so it provided strong defense as well.  
Fallen shuffled across the port’s plank walks, each holding a sack or case of some sort that stored their few personal belongings, a tent to be shared with three or four others, or equipment of various uses.  The process would be arduous and dull, but wholly necessary seeing as the hundreds of thousands of bits invested into the cause.  One of the upsides of having the public attention on them was having the public support of monetary investments into the army.  Many ponies that specialized in woodwork had come to help build the many ships required to transport the large army over the ocean, working with expert seaponies to build the massive caravels.  
Griffons and ponies alike worked with the dragons to produce hundreds of thousands of individual arrows, almost sixteen thousand replacement spears, and almost ten thousand bows as well.  The entire Equestrian world had come together in the wake of the concerning news to arm their protectors.  It had been a lively four months that had seen the development of the best army in the world from the best nations in existence.  While the public could be a nuisance and distraction, ultimately it was because of them that everything they had done and were going to do was even possible. 
While Ray himself wasn’t quite in touch with all of the defensive preparations headed by Twilight, he did know that the changelings and the diamond dogs- a species he hadn’t even known about- were in collaboration to create giant underground structures that worked like the hives the changelings lived in.  The seaponies had also prepared several underwater structures to hide in if the minotaurs managed to ever touch the Equestrian soil.  Otherwise, however, he didn’t have any clue as to what was occurring across Equestria to defend the peaceful homeland.  All he knew is that he wanted to ensure these preparations were obsolete.
Blinking away several raindrops, Ray took his turn to cross over the dock and towards one of the many spots where the cargo was being carefully piled up and counted before being sent away to a waypoint.  With help from the living unicorns, Skalos had been able to install large waypoints and Sunports near the city and several other locations to allow for quicker travel between the Harkening and wherever the Fallen were needed.  The Fallen had built a much larger one in the Harkening themselves now that the training was finished, one that was large enough to transport all of the army from one place to another, with the help of several dozen unicorns.
Still, personal travel was limited to Ray and Skalos, with only three locations connected to the waypoint in Skalos’ hut: the Canterlot throne room, Ray’s house, and Zecora’s lodge.  All three served only official uses of the utmost urgency, as the waypoint in his hut had been copied and engraved into an intricate bronze contraption that Ray wore around his neck most of the time.  He didn’t have it on him now for fear of getting it damaged in the hustle of the disembarkment, but the item was for the sole purpose of necessary travel, as if it wasn’t also within the bounds of a waypoint or Sunport, it would burn out on use.
The strange device had been given to Ray as a sort of necessary gift, and already had made his life much easier by providing travel from the Harkening to the castle swiftly or to Zecora’s for the various wounds sustained during training and such.  Another break in the flow of smaller Fallen bodies allowed him to turn and head back to the ship, his thoughts moving with him.  It was planned that once they secured a defensible base camp on the other continent, they would make a small waypoint only usable by those who had the amulet.  Hopefully, travel would be limited to simple equipment and salve runs in between successful battles, however, worse come to worse, it would be a point that could be used to evacuate survivors.
Walking back up the plank and onto his ship, he nodded in acknowledgement to Garish, who was casually instructing several different Fallen on the disembarkment.  Stepping around others who were fulfilling menial tasks, Ray entered the captain’s office reserved for Garish and- by proxy- Adant.  The two had apparently been flirting for something like fifty years, and with the coming war, they had decided to seal the deal before it was too late.  Like many weddings that had suddenly occurred among the army, the ceremony was officiated by Skalos and presided over by one the of many friends made by Garish.  Some hundreds had come about with the war nearing, over fifteen hundred individuals marrying, sometimes in mass marriages, to bind them to each other in case of the worst.
It had been an exciting time, and while everyone knew the tragedies that would befall those marriages, the morale boost given by each wedding was undeniable.  Still, Ray kept focus on other tasks, such as resource management, outer cooperation, intelligence gathering, or even personal training, causing him to miss many of the weddings.  He didn’t mind much, as in spite of his time among the Fallen and the casual bond he’d formed with many of the inhabitants of the Harkening, he still stood out, and given his position, often stole the attention away from the subject couples.  
Grunting, Ray lifted a crate that had remained sealed shut the entire trip, straining to lift the heavy box.  Carefully maneuvering his way out of the room and back onto the deck, he let out a short whistle to catch the attention of the Fallen around him and warn them.  The Fallen on-deck parted enough for him to get out quickly, continuing to struggle to hold the large crate.  Crossing back over the plank, he made his way across the dock and onto solid ground.  Pausing briefly to set down the heavy box, he wiped away some of the sweat on his brow, the rain a blessing considering how terrible the work would be in the blazing summer sun.  
A puff of smoke suddenly appeared in the small clearing right in front of him, startling him, Discord appearing from the cloud as Ray spun his kharamh out from behind him.  Recognizing the friendly, mismatched face of the draconequus, the human sighed and dropped his stance, shaking his head as he said, “You can’t sneak up on me like that, Discord!  I nearly impaled you.”
The spirit of chaos simply grinned at the statement, haphazardly shoving the tip away with a claw as he tried sheepishly, “Surprise?”
“Yeah, indeed,” Ray agreed, spinning the weapon expertly to latch it back to his back.  “What’re you doing out here?”
“Why, helping, of course,” Discord cried with a snap of his fingers, the crate by Ray suddenly vanishing.  “I could clear these ships in an instant!
“I really hope you were careful with that,” Ray winced, pointing to where the box had been.  “There was something pretty valuable in there…”
“Relax, chaotic teleportation may be… iffy, but it isn’t destructive,” Discord assured Ray with a wave of his paw.  Pausing considerately, he added, “Most of the time.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now,” Ray mumbled, staring off in the direction of the Sunport he had been heading to.  Turning back to the draconequus with a smile, he asked, “So, what brought you out here?”
“Well, y’know, a little birdy told me that you were going to return today,” Discord replied cheerfully.  “And I thought, might as well drop by and give a fellow biped a hand!”
On cue, Discord’s claw turned into a human hand eerily similar to Ray’s own.  Smiling uneasily at the pun, he remarked, “It has been a good while since I’ve seen you.  Good to catch up, but maybe later.  I’ve still got a whole fleet to disembark and an army to return home.”
“Oh, pish posh,” Discord dismissed, waving the human appendage around.  “Besides, Twilight demands your presence in the castle immediately for a report and for some- hm, how do I put this?- small talk.  She is quite certain she needs the both of us for the evening.”
“Yes, I just received the orders myself,” Skalos agreed, suddenly appearing beside Discord, causing the both of them to jump in surprise.  “Everything is in order for you to leave, when you are ready, though considering Discord’s arrival, I doubt we’ll need to reserve a waypoint for you.” 
“Are you sure you won’t need me,” Ray questioned, looking around at all the work that still needed to be done.  After everything that had happened four nights ago, the encounter with the Spectre, he had thoroughly avoided bringing up anything that wasn’t army-related to his friend.  All in all, it had meant nigh on avoiding the stallion himself, and while it hadn’t been altogether an obvious effort, he knew for sure that Skalos had noticed it.
“Trust me, lordling, that in spite of your size, your efforts will not be needed.  Besides, with all of this rain, the Sunports are down until tomorrow at least.  We can manage until then,” the Fallen general reassured him.  Glancing up at Discord, whose human hand had begun reaching down towards him, he ordered, “Put that away, draconequus.”
Retracting his hand, Discord frowned, the hand returning to its claw form as he muttered audibly, “Buzzkill.”  With a sigh, Discord instructed, “Come along then, human.” 
Checkered black, dirty orange, and deep violet obscured his surroundings, the world leaving momentarily as he was left weightless in the void of chaos.  As suddenly as it had overcome him, the realm dissipated, revealing an awfully familiar room at the center of the Canterlot Castle.  Shaking his head to prevent the nausea of teleportation overwhelm him, Ray swallowed hard.  Solidifying his feet and ensuring he wouldn’t fall over from the dizzy disorientation of travel, he glanced around for Twilight.
Surely enough, the mare was standing right in front of the pair, albeit facing out the large window of the ballroom, and not at them.  Ray cleared his throat to catch her attention, the alicorn letting out a soft squeak of surprise at their sudden arrival, whipping around quickly with a weak smile.
“Ray, there you are,” she hastily piped, causing Ray to raise his eyebrow at her urgency.  “I’m so glad to see that you and the Fallen have returned safely and successfully.  I’m sure I’ll have the full report on your journey by the end of the week.”
“Indeed you will,” Ray replied officiously.  “Though, I doubt a report is what you called me here for.”
“Us,” Discord corrected.  “I’m still here too.”
“You’re just here to provide more of those magic dummies for me to prove myself on, though, aren’t you,” Ray countered.  Discord shrugged his shoulders, genuinely in the dark on what his purpose was.  Confused by the draconequus’ response, he turned to Twilight and asked, “Isn’t he?”
The alicorn bit her lip, looking to the tile floor, away from the both of them, her brow furrowed in a way Ray had never seen.  Concern, fear, determination… something was on her mind, something that required him and the embodiment of chaos to solve or deter.  Silently, the mare gestured for the two to follow her, striding quickly between them and towards the exit of the palace.  The two dutifully did as ordered, giving each other the same glance of concern while she couldn’t see them.  Something was wrong today, something that shouldn’t have been, and the more the silence deepened, the more Ray wondered.
Had Twilight somehow sensed the Spectre’s presence near Ray?  Had she discovered the Spectre was somehow haunting him?  Was there a new development with the ponies?  Had minotaurs been spotted?  The more questions he asked himself, the more Ray steeled himself for the worst, his hand resting on his new dagger securely.  He hardly noticed them leaving the castle entirely, walking around towards the dueling grounds that not too long ago he had faced Redar on.  His eyes glanced around warily, searching for any unnatural movement, the start of the ambush or the charge of an attack. 
As soon as he began searching, he found it, a stream of Discord’s purple mist springing from the ground and forming the familiar figures he had defeated dozens of times.  In an instant, his dagger flew from his hand and lodged itself into the face of the figure, ending it before the fight had even begun.  Reaching behind his back, he withdrew his kharamh from its holding, whirling the weapon with deadly efficiency to cut through another’s knee with the hook.  He barely took note of the fog that enclosed his battle and he rammed the spear through its face.  
Withdrawing, he ducked beneath the swing of a figure that had formed behind him, not even glancing back to jab the sharpened butt of the kharamh into its abdomen.  Having cleared his behind, he backed into it, raising his weapon to block a sharp strike by a sword wielding figure.  The blade remained pressed against the weapon’s body, and realizing that another two figures were approaching quickly, he let the rush of battle overtake him, letting his brain revert to his primal instincts.
Loosening his hold on his left side, he let the figure push the kharamh into a slant, catching it off-guard and allowing him to finish it with a hook through the head.  Dropping low to the ground, he dodged the figure to his left’s attack while dragging the defeated figure’s body with the hook to trip up the other figure that was now behind him.  The move worked, buying him enough time to stand back off and lunge forward, plunging the tip through the figure’s chet.  Turning swiftly, he ripped the spearhead through the figure’s body, allowing him to continue the spin until his tip burst the other figure’s head open with the strike.
Another group of figures had formed, eight in total in a loose formation that cornered him against the fog wall behind him.  Gritting his teeth, he waited for one of the figures to take a step forward before making his move.  As soon as the center figure began to run at him, he dashed sideways, catching one of the figures out of stance, a singular stab through the chest ending it.  He ripped through the figure’s body in order to be able to block the myriad of strikes that followed the attack, four figures instantly upon him in retribution for his aggression.  
He blocked two strikes at once by whirling his kharamh, knocking a blade out of one of the attacker’s grips and providing the opening he needed.  Spinning himself to the ground to dodge a large axe, he severed the disarmed figure’s ankles,  raising himself up and jabbing upwards with his weapon to impale the figure.  The swift action allotted him a small window to continue his offensive and, with the figure still impaled on his kharamh, he lunged into the center figure.  The attack charged right through the weak formation and caught the figure’s shoulder with the strike.  Changing his grip, he jerked the figure sideways and himself backwards, allowing him to face the figures, who were now cornered against the smoke wall.
Smiling at the advantage he had regained, he pulled the spear down, cutting through it until the spearhead shattered its heart.  Having killed the central figure, he ripped his kharamh out of the bodies, discarding them and resetting his stance defensively as the remaining five moved in for the kill.  Within seconds he was once again surrounded, although this time with the luxury of not having a wall to his back.  The solution came quickly as well, as the five charged in simultaneously, wasting their advantage and leading to yet another impaled figure as he dodged a thrust and returned one of his own.  Knowing the one behind him was most certainly the most dangerous, he turned with his kharamh and used the lifeless figure as a shield against swift sword strike.  
Suddenly, one of the figures landed a harsh blow to his weapon, knocking it from his grasp with the unexpected force of the axe blow.  Grunting, he ducked under a follow-up attack, rolling beneath the strike and standing up beside the attacker.  While he wanted to deal with the foe instantly, he was forced to sidestep another swift sword slash from his side and duck under another spear jab.  Narrowing his eyes, he caught a glimpse of his liberation.
Using his much more agile body, he grabbed the figure in front of him’s arm and threw it aside, offsetting another attack and making space for him to leap towards one of his first felled foes.  Not having the space to remain standing as the figures persisted, he went to the ground and reached out, wrenching the knife from the defeated figure’s face.  Rotating on his knee, he used his foot to launch himself off the ground and at the poised axe-wielding figure.  He raised one hand and grasped the figure’s cold wrist, preventing it from bringing the large weapon down on him while the other jammed his dagger into its stomach.  With a grunt, he ripped it across its entire midsection, disemboweling the foe and tossing it aside with his other hand still grasping its wrist.  
Now armed, he stared down the last three figures, who seemed to have realized the odds were now no longer in their favor.  Using their hesitation to his advantage, he attacked one of the swifter sword-wielder, catching it by surprise.  His aggressive moment caused the other two to come to their comrade's defensive, although it was too late as Ray bypassed its sword, severing its hands before slitting its throat with a flick of his wrist.  One of the figures maintained its attack, using its smaller sword to strike quickly at Ray.  Given the size of the weapon he was wielding, he decided it was wisest to avoid challenging the blade, sliding backwards and out of range.
Impatient, the figure lunged forward, inadvertently blocking off its fellow soldier and causing it to come in range of Ray’s dagger.  The human stepped into the attack, letting the strike slide right past him as he instead rammed the knife into the collar of the figure.  It paused, dropping its sword to reach for its punctured throat.  Watching the movement, Ray retracted the knife and instead stabbed it through the figure’s head, ending it and leaving him with one remaining enemy.  Ray eyed the remaining figure, casually twirling the knife between his fingers as he waited for the inevitable.
As predicted, the figure attempted one last desperate spear charge, but having no allies to cover its attempt, Ray easily sidestepped it.  Letting go of his knife with one hand as he stepped aside, he grabbed it with the other and twisted it into the left side of the figure's chest.  Using one hand to stabilize the figure as it died, he brought it to the ground before wrenching his blade from it, shoving it to the ground.  He let out a sigh of relief walking over to one of the older corpses to retrieve his kharamh as he sheathed his dagger.
“Was that all,” he softly asked, eyeing the surrounding mist for any signs of a break.  However, there was no response, only the slow flowing of the mist wall.  Furrowing his brow, Ray narrowed his eyes as he scanned the small space he’d been given for the fight.  Slowly, several figures emerged from the opposite mist wall, followed by even more figures, until a dozen of them had culminated.  Biting his lip as he sized up his enemies, all armed with swords and spears, he muttered, “So that’s how it’s gonna be then, eh?”
Without missing a beat, he launched himself from off the ground and into the fray, his kharamh knocking one of the figures weapons asunder and splitting its face.  He jerked his hook to the left, cutting another figure’s arm off at the elbow while simultaneously slitting the figure now behind him’s throat as he whirled through the enemy.  The group scattered at the whirlwind of death that Ray had become as he lunged forward and impaled the incapacitated foe.  Noticing the positioning of the figure behind his current victim, he continued the thrust, his hand entering the figure’s cold stomach as he rammed his spearhead through the other figure’s chest.  
Not requiring the slightest glance back to know what was transpiring, he pulled his kharamh all the way backwards, letting the bodies drop as he impaled yet another foe that had attempted to take advantage of his back being turned.  He didn’t have time to confirm where he had stabbed the foe, however, as he was forced to tear the butt out of the figure and whip it around to defend from a downward strike from a sword-wielding figure.  Wincing as the impact bounced through his nearby hand, he noted that the movement had caught another figure in the stomach, causing it to buckle.  Still blocking the persistent figure’s downward push, he shifted his grasp and let the power of the figure’s attack fuel his strike, causing the butt of the kharamh to go through the faltering figure’s head. 
Realizing he was swiftly being surrounded by the remnants of the group, he shoved away from the figure, and turned, swiping at one of the figure’s legs, the body of his kharamh solidly breaking its leg.  Ducking under a strike from behind, he glanced back and quickly spun back around to catch the aggressive figure with his hook, the blade sliding between the ribs and into its vitals.  Growling, he ripped it out as he ducked under yet another strike, spinning about and standing up, viciously ramming the hook into the offending figure’s stomach.  It curled into the hit, but Ray didn’t have time for a proper finishing strike, instead simply removing the hook and whirling the body of his kharamh to knock it aside.
Noting that the figure he had temporarily neutralized was attempting to stand, he casually thrust his spear sideways, impaling it through its back.  The figure spasmed as it died, the remaining three figures formed a triangle with two in front and one behind, all keeping their spears pointed at him in a small, but nearly impenetrable formation.  Frowning at the three, knowing he would have to wait for them to strike, he retracted the kharamh from the figure, allowing it to slouch to the ground.  His eyes darted between the three left standing as he shook out his sore hand, knowing there was some sort of fracture in one of the metacarpal bones.  
Finally, the figures began to move, all three maintaining their formation as they began to close in one Ray.  Realizing it wasn’t safe for him to attempt to close the gap and that there was no way to prevent them from closing it themselves, he used the sore hand to suddenly whip out his knife, throwing it haphazardly into the midst.  The dagger missed hitting any of them, but the two figures flinched away from each other enough for him to use the opening.  With a yell, he thrust his kharamh forward and, using the hook, spun the middle figure’s spear out of its hands.  
Panicking, the two armed figures both attempted to spear Ray.  In a split moment, he dodged to the right, his shirt tearing from the spear of the enemy to his left.  Ignoring the close call, he dove forward, the kharamh held horizontally and catching the figure by the neck, sending both to the ground as intended.  Pushing off the body of the kharamh, he crushed the figure's throat as he stood, spinning and using the hook to behead the disarmed figure as it desperately reached for its fallen weapon.  The final figure attempted to back up desperately, but Ray knew well the smell of victory, pursuing the retreating foe and ramming his spearhead through the body of its smoke weapon and into its core.  With a grunt of exertion, he ripped the three pointed head out of it, panting as he watched the torn body stumble to the ground, dead.
As soon as the enemy was felled, however, he heard the rustling of footsteps in the short grass, anger burning in him as he turned to find another dozen enemies emerging from the mist wall to his right as seven more emerged from the left.  Baring his teeth at the new arrivals, he flexed his grip on the kharamh, his fingertips sore from the amount of rubbing they had done on the leather grips and metal body.  Sweat poured from his face, his hair a wet mess and his clothes torn from the various strikes and wear from moving along the ground.  Still, he was in a good enough position to continue, not a scratch on him and more than enough energy to finish off these new arrivals.  
“Time to get a bit crazy,” he muttered to himself between pants of breath.  The figures seemed to have learned patience from their fallen comrades, the dozens of bodies already littering the ground a grim testament to Ray’s advantage over each individual one.  Slowly, the two forces began to merge together, wanting to become one much larger force that would overwhelm him.  Knowing that if all nineteen were able to form one massive unit he would be torn apart, he moved quickly to the left, where only the seven currently were.  
The movement caused the group to turn their attention from combining to defending their current unit, causing confusion among the area where the two groups had begun to converge.  The confusion gave him ample opportunity to face off against only three figures as the next nearest were stuck in an attempt to form a cohesive formation.  With a grunt, he overwhelmed one of them with a few quick stabs, landing one in the shoulder and another in the gut, the figure stumbling helplessly to the ground. The other two both rushed him at the same time, perhaps expecting backup, but their lack of support allowed Ray to duck under one strike and ram his spearhead through one and the butt of the kharamh through the other, the two standing parallel to each other.
Finally, the other group had formed their unit, but it had cost them enough that Ray was able to back up before any group movement could be made.  He retook his defensive stance, glaring down the largest group of figures he’d ever faced, attempting to identify any weakened individuals.  The unit refused to give him a chance, however, moving slowly but sternly towards him, a gentle arc forming to slowly squeeze him into a corner.  Frowning, he could tell that it would only take a matter of a few seconds to be completely enclosed, so he acted rashly.  
His eyes had picked up the slightest glint of metal on the ground in the direct center of the unit, the knife he had practically thrown away earlier.  Licking his lips, he suddenly vaulted forward, knocking aside one spear and sliding against the body of another to prevent it from turning on him.  Whirling his kharamh swiftly, the hook and sharpened butt of the weapon caught both advancing figures with its deadly spin, beheading one and slitting the throat of another.  Having fulfilled the sudden attack, he ducked to the ground, launching his spearhead into another figure through its chest as he rolled across the ground.
When he came up, it was with his dagger in hand, much to the surprise of the fourth figure defending the center of their formation.  Ray stabbed the blade through its leg, reaching up and grabbing its sword arm to pull it down to his level.  He pulled the dagger from the leg and used it to cut through the figure’s throat as he stood, letting go of the figure as it died to grab his kharamh.  Holding the weapon one hand and the dagger in the other, he stared at the now split-in-two unit, six on either side of him.  With a slight shake of his head, he licked his dry lips and went to work on the group to his right.
Straightaway one of the figures was caught off-guard by Ray dual wielding weapons, the hook making way for his dagger to slit its throat.  The second figure was much more prepared, however, he was able to block a counter strike that nearly caught one of his fingers.  Hissing at the close call he stepped back and blocked a strike from an approaching figure to his left, the pressure from both sides closing in on him.  He was forced to drop his knife so he had both hands to defend a top-heavy strike from a figure that had moved in front of him, even as another attempted to circle around to the limited space between him and the mist wall.  Yelling in fury, he whipped his spear around wildly, attempting to make any sort of breathing space for him.  
The unpredictable swinging managed to slice through one of the figures, sending it to the ground without its head, but the space made by the kill was immediately filled. Defending from yet another pounding strike, he kicked the offending figure’s knee in, using the ample time to bring the hook down on the back of its head.  The attack unintentionally opened up an opportunity for another figure to his left to attack, forcing him to back up without his weapon, the kharamh stuck through the figure and into the ground.  Roaring, he grasped the spear before it could be retracted, pulling the figure into a shoulder ram.  
The figure fell backwards without its spear, but once again Ray was penned in by the other figures, unable to find a finishing blow with nine figures all around him.  He spun the misty spear as if it were a kharamh, causing him to lose grip on it and send it flying, though the chaos of it all was enough to allow him to retrieve his weapon from the propped up corpse.  With a feral growl, he fended off another flurry of harsh strikes, until suddenly he saw his only opportunity to escape the savage barrage.  Watching the stance of one of the figures, he saw it widen slightly, just enough that when he fended off a strike from it, he was able to immediately sweep the kharamh down and sever the leg at the knee.  
He pushed past the falling figure, grabbing it by the neck and pulling it with him as a meat shield, protecting him from its nearby comrades.  Realizing the figures didn’t acknowledge the threat, he ran it through from behind, shoving the body at one of the figures now to his left.  The fallen figure had recovered its weapon and seemed to want vengeance, its face ever empty as it recklessly charged him.  The bold attack blocked one of its allies from finishing an attack, providing Ray ample time to dodge the opposite direction of the swift engagement.  
Shouting angrily, sweat flying off his skin, he swung his kharamh wide with a single hand, catching the attacking figure’s arm with his hook.  Pulling the hook towards him, he pulled the figure into his knee, withdrawing the weapon enough to finish it with a quick slash across its throat.  Seven figures remained alive, all thrusting their spears at Ray off-timed and uncoordinated, allowing him to back up into the open center of the mist dome, eyes darting between the figures.  Biting his lip, he tried to weigh his options, but the seven were able to quickly form a spear wall, applying pressure and attempting to force him back into another corner.  
Rolling his sore shoulders, he held up his kharamh parallel to his face, widening his stance defensively as the spear wall approached.  Without a second thought, he lunged forward, probing the integrity of the formation.  His spearhead bypassed several of theirs, but it was still a couple feet from the nearest figure, forcing him to leap back to avoid a counter probe.  Licking his lips again, he glanced around, but there was no respite or clever move to make now.  He was going to be forced to use brute force to escape the interlocked position.  Sighing, he lowered his kharamh, preparing himself for an offensive.
The motion caused several of the figures to thrust their spears out towards him, warding off any possible attack momentarily.  However, as one of the figures attempted to retract its weapon, Ray struck out, lodging the hook in the base of the spear and tearing it out of the figure’s hands.  Having been disarmed, the figure stepped back and allowed another figure to move in to take its place, but before it could, Ray was there, blocking a horizontal thrust by its ally to ram his spearhead through its midsection.  Having broken into the impenetrable formation, he turned his spear to the disarmed figure, cutting through its raised hands to sever its head.  
The rest of the group scattered as they took losses, circling around Ray to try and surround him completely, but his blood was boiling and the advantage was not solidly his, momentum snowballing him into battle.  Roaring hellishly, he charged one of the encircling figures, holding his kharamh along its body, sending the both of them to the ground.  Pinning the figure beneath him, he didn't even bother disarming it, the spear it wielded obsolete in close quarters combat.  He pushed the left side of his weapon, slamming the spear into its collar bone, the blade at such an angle that it pierced downward and into its heart.  
He whirled around to his left, still on the figure as he removed the hook and jabbed the spearhead forward to where another figure had been approaching from.  The surprised figure had no time to react to the sudden movement, instead simply being stabbed through its right midsection.  Standing up, Ray continued to rip the kharamh across the figure's midsection, the serrated hook allowing him to halve the figure.  He pulled the weapon back firmly into a two-hand grasp, charging at the others, all of which unable to form a defensible rank. 
Straining to continue to whip the heavy kharamh around as such, Ray forced one of the figures away from its comrade with several quick strikes, knocking the spear from its hands.  With a growl, he brought the hook down on the figure as if it was an axe, the hook cutting through from the shoulder down to its chest.  The figure collapsed beneath the brutal strike as Ray turned from the spliced body, knowingly blocking away the desperate stab of one of the remaining figures.  The figure attempted to take a swift step back to disengage, but Ray was more tenacious than it could have predicted.  In an instant, he leapt forward, sweeping his kharamh across the ground, severing its feet by the ankle.  
The figure fell backwards onto the ground, its weapon falling out of its hand.  Turning his attention briefly to its last companion, he faked a jab at it, giving him enough time to step backwards over the fallen figure and ram the butt of the spear through its face.  A small smile came across his face as he stared at the final standing figure, knowing exactly how to end this confrontation.  Letting go of his kharamh, he flexed his fingers, and stepped away from the body, his weapon sticking out of its face like some sort of forbidden ocrea.  The final figure underestimated him without his weapon, seeing it as an obvious opportunity to fell him while he was disarmed.  As expected, the figure lunged forward, leading with its spear, but a simple sidestep allowed Ray to grab the weapon's body, using it as leverage to pull the figure towards him.
The figure was caught by surprise by the pull, stumbling forward and giving Ray the chance to reach forward and grasp the figure by the neck with both hands.  Knowing he couldn’t actually choke the creature to death, he lifted it up instead, his muscles straining as he picked up the heavy figure.  With a triumphant smile, he circled around the body on the ground as the figure desperately clawed at his hands, kicking to try and break free from the deathly grip.  Ray held tightly though, and as soon as he was in position, he threw the figure forward, releasing his grasp and letting the figure fall from his hands.  The plunge was deathly, however, as it landed on his kharamh, the spearhead piercing through its back and sticking out of its chest as it slid down the body until it rested on its dead comrade's face, perfectly impaled.
With a wary glance around for any signs of a fourth wave, Ray raised his hands and grunted, tired beyond using words, awaiting another challenge.  Instead, the mist slowly began to dissipate, revealing the sunset on the distant horizon, beyond the castle and mountain.  Raising his hand, he wiped away the sweat on his brow, feeling more replace it as soon as his hand left.  He reached forward, removing his kharamh from the two figures as they too faded out of reality, the dying sunlight warming him ever so slightly as he turned towards where he expected Twilight and Discord to be.
Confused, he couldn’t find them, and looking around at his surroundings, he didn’t find any sign of them.  Frowning, he narrowed his eyes, half expecting this to be another visit from the Spectre, but thankfully he didn’t feel any of the pain that had preceded its visit.  Rubbing his chin, he looked around again, genuinely unsure of what he was supposed to do now.  
Before he could become too concerned, however, Twilight suddenly teleported in a flash of her purple magic.  The alicorn stared at him momentarily, a look of shock and disgust barely hidden behind her worry.  Still, the expressions were present, causing Ray’s brow to furrow.
“What is it,” he asked, concerned.  He glanced around once more for any signs of what could be so disconcerting, but there was nothing, leaving him drawing blanks.  
“Did you even notice it,” Twilight questioned, causing him to look back at her.
“Notice what,” Ray inquired, tilting his head in confusion at the way the mare had asked the question.  “Did I miss something?”
“The blood,” Twilight cried as if it were obvious, looking distressed.  “The blood and guts of those things you were cutting through.  Almost an hour of fighting those things, killing forty-five of them, and you didn’t see a droplet of blood or a glimpse of tendon?”
“Well, I didn’t mind them,” Ray replied evenly, still vexed by the alicorn’s strange attitude.  “There’s blood and guts, broken bones and shattered bodies, the most brutal and terrible of sights in war.  What of it?”
“What of it,” Twilight repeated incredulously, smacking a hoof against her forehead as she stared hollowly at him.  “Ray, those were fake, made up by Discord, but he made sure that there were… innards.  Things inside the things.  We wanted to see your reaction to true brutality but… you didn’t react…”
“Why would I?  I’m supposed to be fighting like this in only a few short weeks.  I’m not going to let minute details like that get to me, not in the heat of battle or afterwards.  It’s part of killing, Twilight.  Destroying the body and releasing the soul, sometimes in ways that disfigure and distort.”  Ray paused, stepping toward her.  “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.”
“Ray, it is a big deal,” Twilight responded, her voice suddenly hard.  Her jaw set as she told him, “I wasn’t able to continue watching after the first few kills, but Discord could and did.  That is, until he saw what you did to finish off the second wave.  He couldn’t even bear to describe how you did it, he just sent in the next wave and waited for it to end.  He left as soon as you finished the last one.  I’m not quite sure what you're doing in there, while you’re fighting, but it isn’t right, even for war.  It’s inhumane.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not on Earth,” Ray replied coldly, crossing his arms over his chest.  “You brought me here because you needed a human to fight and kill for you, to do the things you couldn’t.”
“That doesn’t mean doing everything that you can do,” Twilight countered.  “You can’t forget that you still have more than one part to this battle.  You and the Fallen must fight the minotaurs and keep the peace.”
“By exterminating the minotaurs we destroy any possibility of repercussions or counter attacks out of vengeance,” Ray swiftly stated.  “There is no need to keep the peace if our quarry is with corpses.”
“I never said anything about exterminating the-”
“Stop beating around the bush, Twilight,” he demanded. Practically slamming his kharamh into his back as he returned it to its carrier.  “What are you getting at?”
Twilight paused, collecting her thoughts as her tendency was, slowly shaking her head.  Finally, she waved a hoof for him to follow her, the order less strict and more of a request.  Frowning at the mare, he reluctantly began to follow her around one side of the castle, to where the gardens were.  She led him down a small path between trees and bushes, to a small cement bench that overlooked the lower echelons of the garden.  With a deep sigh, she sat herself on the bench, patting the spot beside her to invite Ray to join her.  Glancing at the mare out of the corner of his eye, he followed suit, resting his tired legs.
“I brought you here because of everything I had seen in my short search, there wasn’t anything quite like humanity,” Twilight suddenly explained.  “When I discovered your species, I was equally disgusted and astounded by you.  Humans are such a diverse, indecisive, and indescribable species that you can never quite identify correctly, because no matter how you attempt to generalize them, they have more of them to prove that wrong.  I knew humans would be the best option for saving us, in spite of their flaws, because I know my world as well, and how healing it is for the mind.  I overestimated that ability severely, and that was my mistake, but I also overestimated how much pressure Skalos would put on you to train you.”
“Is that why he isn’t here,” Ray questioned.  “Because you no longer agree with his teaching methods?”
“What he has taught you is undoubtedly valuable, given the self confidence it has given you and the raw battle prowess you’ve shown, but it’s flawed,” Twilight corrected.  “His views of this world are centuries old and misguided, the concept of life long gone from him.  He’s learning, though.  Zecora has slowly been reminding him of what it means to be a living, loving creature, and her help is probably why he didn’t turn you into a heartless killer like he once thought to.  But regardless of what he’s learned, he is a stubborn stallion and maintains that you should have no other concern than the war.”
“I shouldn’t right now,” Ray responded.  “We fight this war and live in the moment of it, every painful second, so that we can look to the future.”
“But the way you’re living right now eliminates the bright future for you,” Twilight rebutted with a pointed hoof.  “You keep searching for the most brutal way to end a conflict, the blunt exclamation mark to each fight that ends all other possibilities.  It’s how you kill, and the more I’ve paid attention to it, how you kill is how you live.  You’re no longer the Ray that I brought from Earth, and while there are many advantages to that, you also aren’t the Ray you thought you were becoming.  I needed the dark, brutal side of humanity for this war, but you still need the glistening bright side of it that made you choose to help us to come home.
“You’ve grown these past ten months into something that truly could win us the war, a formidable, intelligent force that leads the Fallen as if they were your family,” Twilight complimented him, resting a hoof on his knee.  “But you’ve forgotten your real family in order to achieve that.  We told you you may have to make sacrifices to become the warrior we all said you needed to be, and you did that too perfectly.  The fault is mine and Skalos’ for transforming you this way, and now that I’ve realized our mistake, I need to fix that.  So, as the Princess of Friendship, I’m ordering you to schedule something into your plans while on that side of the world.”
Twilight’s horn suddenly glowed, her magic teleporting something into the air in front of him.  The new item looked vaguely similar, though he didn’t get a good look at it before Twilight grabbed it from the air. 
 “Seeing as your friends and family back in Ponyville will have no way of communicating with you, I’ve decided that there must be a way for you to see them,” Twilight declared, presenting the item.  “It isn’t perfect and can only be used at night with a full moon, but it works much like the waypoint pendant Skalos built for you.  As long as you hold it towards the moon, you can rotate it between the same three positions as the other one.  However, this can be used multiple times a night, so long as the moon is full, which means you can visit Ponyville overnight instead of having to wait several days.  Every night that the moon is full while you are away, you will visit Ponyville, even if it's only for an hour or two.”
Ray carefully took the proffered amulet, carefully rotating one of the intricate metal discs until it clicked into place, looking like a miniature of a waypoint.  There were tiny metal shapes and hieroglyphs that perfectly matched the waypoint in front of Zecora’s house.  “You said it doesn’t need a waypoint base to help it,” he checked, glancing at Twilight to find the mare nodding.  “Thank you.  I… I’m not sure how I can repay you.”
Twilight scoffed at the statement, raising her eyebrow as she pointed out, “You, the general of the Fallen and savior of Equestria, don’t know how you could repay me for providing you a way to visit your friends and family while you fight our war?”
“I’m fighting it of my own volition, just like you gifted this to of your own volition,” Ray corrected her with a pointed glance.  “Really though, thank you.  I don’t think either of us know how much I’m going to need this.”
Twilight smiled sadly at the comment, resting a hoof on his knee.  “It’s my utmost honor to work with you.”
Ray nodded, licking his dry lips and reaching for his waterskin, his hand brushing against his empty dagger sheath.  His mind scattered briefly, three different thoughts at once shooting through his head as he grabbed the waterskin and took a drink of the warm water.  The first was that his dagger was still out in the grass near the dueling grounds, that there was nothing to worry about, he only had but to retrieve it later.  The second, however, panicked as it remembered the Spectre, the scar fresh in his shoulder tingling slightly at the thought as he took a deep breath to dissipate the worry.  The third reminded him that he still needed to bring the topic up to Twilight, and hopefully being the one to cause him the least worry, he decided he would dismiss the other two.
As he opened his mouth to ask, however, Twilight spoke up herself, still staring distantly into the sunset.  “Do you think you’ll ever find love,” she questioned almost absently.  Ray paused, his thoughts scattered once again by the unexpected question.  “I know you were pining for Fluttershy after you first arrived, but you’ve obviously given up on that.”
“I didn’t give up on her,” Ray denied.  “I just…”
“Let it slide away from you and focus yourself on something else to distract you from any emotions relating to her,” Twilight finished knowingly, giving him a questioning stare.  “You’re still trying to hide your true emotions from everypony else.  I’m not one to judge, though.”
“Well what about you,” Ray countered, shifting so he was facing the mare.  “You’re an adult now, why haven’t you hit the scene?  Royalty hit you that hard in your social life?”
“Yeah, the tabloids can be brutal, but that isn’t why,” Twilight agreed.  “No, it’s, uh, why I can’t be one to judge, ‘cause I did the same exact thing that you're doing.  Focusing on something else rather than my special somepony, and then suddenly they're gone and married off and I’m alone in my big fancy castle.”
“Oof, yeah, that’s rough,” he replied with a slight wince.  “My bad for bringing it up.”
“No, not really.  I poked the beehive and got a sting from it,” Twilight reprised.  “Besides, I’m not bitter about it or anything.  Just somepony I lost out on.  I have a long, long time to find a special somepony though, so I’m not too worried about it, and with everything going on right now, I doubt I have time for romance either.”
“Guess we’re in the same boat then,” Ray absently agreed, his mind drifting back to the Spectre’s words.
“Your likeness is that of the grime of mortality… but I can change that. All you need to do is let me in…”
What the hell did that even mean?  He couldn’t begin to know as he failed to hear Twilight’s voice, only hearing the deep rumbling of the Spectre. 
“Comprehension was never yours to grasp.”
Ray grit his teeth at the ceaseless voice in his head, until suddenly he felt the cold chitin on Twilight’s hoof on his bare shoulder.  Looking up from his hands, only then realizing he had pressed his face into them, he failed to hear her words even as he stared at her concerned face.  He knew what she was asking though, the situation evidently out of his control and his brain splintering at the onslaught of memories from only a few days ago.  Breathing in deeply, he pushed himself to focus, opening his eyes wide and staring intensely at Twilight.
The voices suddenly silenced, a single moment of clarity as he opened his mouth and heard himself ask, “Have you ever heard of the Spectre?”