//------------------------------//
// 18: A Comeback and a Bloodbath 
// Story: To Err is Equine 
// by RLYoshi 
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[Perspective: Arrell]

The fight between Bloodbath and I could likely have been heard from Stalliongrad.

Dude was a really good fighter, I have to say. While my voice attack had caught him off-guard and temporarily knocked him away from his axe, that was pretty much all it did. He didn't seem harmed at all, and before I even landed he was back on his hooves and charging at me.

Now, you're probably wondering why I didn't just summon a bunch of giant ice blocks and smash him, or whatever. Well, I tried; I honestly did. But I couldn't summon anything more than a chilly breeze, even with the Fine Rock pumping power into me. That was when I realized...I wasn't a fighter.

My massive burst of power earlier had been from anger and hatred. Windigoes, as you know, feed on hatred, so after having a feast on the anger of the Brigade - without even realizing it - I was able to make my dynamic entry. But then that power ran out, and it took the Fine Rock to just keep me conscious.

And now its power was becoming more and more drained, and soon, I'd be as strong as a regular pony. Nothing but a bug for Bloodbath to crush.

Horseapples.

My brain processed all of this in the span of half a second, but that was half a second too long. Bloodbath retrieved his axe and was heading right for me. Using my flight to my advantage, I soared into the air to get away from him and think something up.

My voice attack was good, but it didn't do much of anything against somepony as bulky as Bloodbath. My shield wouldn't protect me unless he had projectiles. My freezing powers were too weak to do anything now, unless I could find some actual water or ice to manipulate rather than having to outright create it. I was bucked.

And then I remembered the river.

The giant hunk of ice that was once a large body of water was still in Smooth Grove, but during the gigantic fight, I had failed to notice it melting. The chunks of it that had been bucked, broken, or blasted off were all just puddles of water now, but there was still a large icy rock in the middle of town. It wasn't nearly as big as before - hell, it was just barely taller than Bloodbath - but it would have to do.

Flying over to the ice, I landed on it and used my powers to break off large chunks of it. Holding the frozen substance in a magical grip I didn't know Windigoes had, I faced Bloodbath and waited for him to run at me.

He didn't. Instead, he just threw his axe right at my face.

I had to drop the ice chunks and throw up my shield, just barely stopping the deadly blade. It stayed stuck in the wall of the dome until I let the shield down, and it dropped to the ground. I grinned. Now that Bloodbath lacked a weapon, he was open.

Picking up my ice chunks, I went to launch them...but he was gone now. I looked around, confused, until my genre savviness kicked in again and I threw up my shield once more in case of a sneak attack.

Am I ever gonna get to use this ice? I bemoaned in my head as I looked around for my enemy. He seemed to have completely disappeared.

Time ran out, and my shield dropped. Just as it did, I picked up my ice chunks for the third time and looked around carefully. I saw some movement to the left behind a large pile of burning debris, so I threw them both in that direction. One missed completely, but the other struck an exposed leg, and I heard Bloodbath cuss as he attempted to hide said leg.

"I see you," I called in a singsong voice. He didn't come out. "Come and get me~!"

He still didn't leave. Growing impatient, I hopped off the giant chunk of ice and turned to it. Focusing my energy, I ripped the entire thing out of the ground, turned, and launched it up in the air. If my calculations were correct, the ice would land on top of the pile of debris, crushing it and anything behind it.

My calculations were not correct, because instead the ice landed behind me, in the remains of a burning house. The fire licked at the cool substance and began to melt it in seconds. I took time out of the dangerous scenario to facehoof.

"Now we both lack a weapon," a smug voice said. I saw Bloodbath slowly come out from behind his cover, smirking. "I don't have my axe. You don't have your ice. It comes down to close combat."

I looked around. "Where's your axe, anyway?"

"Oh, did I say I didn't have it? My mistake."

Before I turned my head back, he ran up and drove his weapon into one of my front legs, causing me to scream and collapse. My vision blurred slightly as I saw the blood from my right front leg dribble out.

"If you insist on becoming such an annoyance," Bloodbath growled, "then I'll just get rid of you...permanently!" Grabbing me by my neck with his mouth, he threw me into a burning building's remains, grabbing his axe from me along the way. I screamed even more as I felt the fire wash over me, trying to force myself to stand up.

I tried to run away from the searing flames, but I couldn't even budge. The fire hurt me even more now than it did as a human; back then, at least I could move, but here, I felt like I was...melting.

I collapsed and stared at the ground as my vision blurred. All I could see now was the flames as they engulfed my body...and then a voice called to me.

"Arrell!"

I heard a grunt as Bloodbath was hit by something, and then I felt something grab me. The next thing I saw was the air as a gray blur jumped with me out of the deadly fire. Time seemed to pass by slowly as I forced myself once more to stand, the pain all over my body making it next to impossible to do anything. Finally, I looked at the gray blur as my vision came back, giving it a weak smile and a nod.

The gray blur, who turned out to be none other than Nimble, looked down at the stallion he had just toppled. He must have slammed into the guy pretty hard, as he wasn't moving to get up. I could tell he was still alive, though; his chest moved up and down, showing that he continued to breathe.

As I stood up, ignoring the pain in my leg, the young ninja looked at me with worry in his eyes. He motioned with his head for me to follow, and then ran off back into the forest. I watched him go, not yet inclined to follow. I looked down at Bloodbath.

He must have been out cold, since he wasn't getting up. His axe lay right in front of me. Before I knew what I was doing, I had picked the axe up in my mouth. It was heavy, but not so heavy that I couldn't wield it properly. Yet I felt awful just for touching it.

This axe had killed at least a few dozen ponies in its lifetime, judging by the wear and tear on it. It was the weapon of a merciless killer. And now I was carrying it.

It hit me then that Bloodbath was still alive and still dangerous. But now that I had a lethal weapon, I could just kill him before he woke up. Simple, really. But for whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to swing the axe. I imagined the scenario playing out in my head multiple times – I'd swing at his neck, cut his head off as he would have done to me, and he'd be gone. Dead.

It would be easy. And nopony would blame me for it. Bloodbath was evil, heartless, and deadly. Getting rid of him would be a blessing.

So why can't I do it?!





[Perspective: Risk Reward]

The pegasus mare and I heard noises coming from one direction and turned quickly. They turned out to be coming from Nimble, who had apparently long ago gotten rid of the stallion's body. He ran up to us with a proud yet worried expression.

"I brought Arrell," he told us as he stopped to catch his breath. I looked around, but saw no sign of the Windigo.

"Where is he?" I asked. Nimble looked behind himself and saw that Arrell had not followed him. He slowly facehoofed.

"I'm right here."

Out of the darkness, Arrell finally appeared, plodding along slowly. When he reached us, we realized he had something new with him: a large axe, clutched in his mouth.

I did a double take at the weapon. Is that the same axe that...

Arrell spat the weapon onto the ground like it tasted horrible (which it probably did, in fairness). Since Nimble and the pegasus mare were focused on the Windigo himself, they didn't notice what I saw as I watched the axe hit the ground: a small splatter of fresh blood, coming off of the blade and falling onto the dirty ground.

I looked up at Arrell. He wasn't the cheerful and snarky guy that I was used to. Instead, he was quiet and avoiding eye contact. Guilt was practically written all over his face. I wondered what caused this, but decided it wasn't the time.

Later, though...later. I'll ask him later.

While I was lost in thought, the mare had apparently explained the situation to Arrell. He began to talk a bit more, but still did not behave entirely like his old self.

"You need to wake her up and keep her awake," Arrell summed up. "I'm pretty sure I know how I can get her up, but I need you all to promise me that what you see will never be repeated to anypony, anyone, or anything else for the rest of time. And if False does not remember what I did, she will never find out. Because if she found out, I'd be fourteen different types of dead."

I nodded. "Promise."

"Pinkie Pie promise."

Having been in Ponyville for a while, I knew what such a promise was, so I led Nimble and the mare through it and we all swore ourselves to secrecy. Arrell found this satisfactory and nodded.

"Good. Here we go then." Turning to False, he walked up to her, leaned down...

...and shoved his lips onto hers, giving her possibly the biggest kiss I've ever seen.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nimble trying to restrain his laughter.

After finishing up his five-second makeout session, Arrell pulled away and walked a short distance away before proceeding to shove his hoof down his throat in an attempt to induce vomiting. I didn't figure out if it worked or not, because I was too focused on False, who chose that moment to wake up.

"False!" I ran up to her and helped her to her hooves, though they were still weak and had trouble supporting her. The other mare joined in to help keep her up.

"We need to take her back to Smooth Grove," the mare instructed. "It's safer than this forest."

I looked back at our Windigo companion, who was still expelling his guts behind a nearby tree. "I think Arrell's kind of busy right now."

"I will take him back when he is done," Nimble offered. "You two, take Miss Front back to town."

I nodded, and we began the process of essentially dragging False back to town while doing our damnedest to keep her awake.