//------------------------------//
// 24 - Survival And Sacrifice 
// Story: Legends Of Ponyville 
// by mechafone 
//------------------------------//

Orea frowned as Shimmering Oasis slipped into the darkness across the chasm. A faraway look of sadness and regret passed over her eyes. What Shimmering Oasis had seen was a secret that Orea had been keeping from Spark Storm and even Sohl since she'd met the two of them. Out of fear of rejection, perhaps stemming from Spark's own experiences, the young nymph had chosen to keep these secrets away from the two that she trusted the most.

Another thing that had begun to concern Orea was the fact that the changelings, having been abandoned by Shimmering Oasis, were still hovering about in the air. Their gazes were empty and vacant, but who knew how long they would stay like that. They needed to make an escape while they still could. The nymph turned to look back at the others, all of whom except for Chrome were unconscious. The pegasus stared at her, unable to comprehend just what Orea had done.

Before Orea could say anything to him, both of the children turned to look back out into the open air as the changelings were no longer idly hovering about. They had regained their own consciousness, finally free of Shimmering Oasis' control. Their confusion at finding themselves in this place was soon replaced with aggressive stares down at the four figures huddled inside a cage of electrified vines.

It didn't take long for things to escalate into attack attempts. Several changelings charged the barrier, only to be shocked, grabbed and whipped around the chasm walls and finally released to fall into the darkness and out of sight. Without proper leadership, they had no direction. The changelings became angrier, more confused, and finally the cloud of angry creatures dispersed in all directions.

Orea frowned as she surveyed the empty air. Was the assault finally over? Her wings spread, and she began to recall the vines she'd used to protect herself and her friends. She let out a soft groan as the extra mass reattached itself to her, while Chrome watched with somewhat horrified fascination as the little one somehow gained no mass, despite the yards and yards of extended vines retracting into her.

There was something else about Orea that struck Chrome as unusual. He couldn't quite put his hoof on it, but if he stared long enough at her, it was bound to show up. Or...disappear? "Your cutie mark!" he exclaimed, pointing a hoof at the little nymph's bare flank. The long, blue feather surrounded by vines, accented with orange blossoms had in fact disappeared. "What happened to your cu-"

Chrome couldn't finish as he felt Orea's hoof press over his mouth. He, in turn, was pushed back up onto his hind legs as the nymph pushed him against the rocky wall behind him. As forceful as she had been, Orea's touch was very gentle. Her gaze, however, was horrified. "Please! You must keep this a secret! You and Lyra are the only ones who saw it, nopony else must know!"

"Wb, bb-" Chrome paused to free his mouth. "What, but why? I mean, a cutie mark is everything to a pony, it identifies them as an individual and makes them feel special and stuff! I mean, I know you're not actually a pony, but...but then why did you have one in the first place?"

A groan from Lyra gave Orea pause and greater panic. She reached up and placed a pleading hoof on Chrome's shoulder. "Please, please, as Spark Storm's sibling, it is your responsibility to protect his secrets, as well as mine!" When Chrome gave Orea a look that told him she was just making him more lost, she sighed and backed off, allowing the both of them to return to all four legs.

"I promise, if you will allow me to carry my secrets, then I will divulge you in what you want to know - after we return to the surface and all is well. Not before then," she finished, a hard look in her eyes.

As Lyra slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position, Orea gave Chrome a final look before stepping over to the unicorn's side and nuzzled her comfortingly. "Ow, oh ow. Orea, next time I try to challenge an alicorn, please knock some...uh..." Lyra trailed off as she noticed the now-abandoned area where a small army had stood when she was last conscious.

Looking between Chrome and Orea, she frowned and said, "Anypony wanna tell me what happened while I was out?"

When Orea shot Chrome a look, he sighed and helped Lyra to her hooves. "Can we talk about that after we get out of here? Plus, we need to figure out a way to haul that massive bird with us..." Chrome nodded his muzzle at Sohl.

Orea stepped over to Sohl and placed a hoof on her shoulder, gently shaking her. As the harpy began to stir, Orea leaned down and nuzzled Sohl's cheek. It had been a tradition between the two of them, more as a safety measure for the nymph, to nuzzle the harpy's cheek when she was waking to prevent a sudden sudden attack on Sohl's part.

Orea frowned and tensed as she felt the harpy put a hand on the back of her neck, drawing her closer. She stared, mostly in fear as Sohl stared at her through a messy head of hair. "Orea, what happened?"

"U-um...well, you were injured, and then-"

"No!" The harpy interrupted, her grip tightening on the nymph's neck. "I mean what happened between us! I thought when you bit me and made that connection between us, you couldn't hide anything from me! When I was out, I saw everything. And I mean everything, Orea. How could you keep that secret from me?!"

As Orea realized what Sohl was asking of her, she grew angry. This was an emotion that was new to her, new in the sense that she'd never been angry with her friends before. Even Sohl, who felt everything that the nymph felt, drew away from her in shock. An angry rattling noise came from inside Orea, the petals of the flowers decorating her body closing.

"You are one to talk! You've been keeping an awful secret from Spark Storm, and you keep pushing him away! Don't you know how terrible you've made him feel over the last two hours?!"

"How do you think I feel?! Why am I even asking you that, you know how I feel!" the harpy yelled, pulling herself up and away from the nymph into a sitting position. "More than that, you know why I've done the things I've done! You know what happened before we came in here, and you know what I have to do, and you're not making it any easier, you little brat!"

"Hey!" Lyra shouted. Sohl and Orea both turned to glare at the unicorn, but she stepped closer, returning a glare that refused to be intimidated into disappearing. "Look, I don't know what's going on between you two or who's hiding what from Spark Storm, but we've gotta get out of here before we start arguing again! Now the both of you get up and let's move out!"

Sohl shakily stood, planting a hand on the rock wall as she stood tall over Lyra. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to, pipsqueak?"

"I think you need a refreshment course on who you're talking to, Polly." This retort gave Sohl pause, even as Lyra's horn lit up. "I'm the one that kicked your flank earlier this year when you were messing with my marefriend!" Sohl stared at Lyra, even as her body was pulled and held upside down in front of the unicorn. "Now quit acting so tough and start walking so we can get out of here!"

"Yeah," Sohl said dryly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "that was all her idea."

Lyra balked at the harpy before unceremoniously dropped her onto the ground. Could it be true? After all this time, after all the accusations on Bon Bon's side, had the earth pony mare been hiding things from Lyra as well? And she dared accuse Lyra of hiding things?

Even as angry tears began to form in the unicorn's eyes, Chrome, who had been getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute, took off into the air and crossed the chasm to the ledge where Shimmering Oasis had disappeared moments before. "Come on!" he yelled to the girls. "We need to find the others, then come back here. I'm pretty sure there's a way up in this place, the air's kinda fresh in here."

"Ugh. Stop yelling," Sohl hissed just loud enough for Chrome to hear as she got to her feet and flew after him. "The echoes in this place carry a long way, we don't want to attract any unwanted attention."



Anorax's ears twitched and tilted upwards. He stopped in his tracks and followed the sound of a distant yell, his eyes turning towards the great black opening in the tunnel that seemed to go on forever. After a moment, a distressed Madalah came to his side and prodded him. "We can't stop and listen to every other sound, Anorax, we have to keep moving!"

Anorax scowled at the changeling and put some space between them. "Don't look at me like that," she said, frowning with a small degree of hurt. "You felt it as well as I did - the changelings have regained control of themselves, and they're furious and running rampant through the tunnels now that their queen has been deposed."

Anorax continued walking with a slight sneer on his face. "You talk about them like you're not one of them."

Madalah stiffened at this comment. She flew up into the air and landed in front of him, her pony eyes furious. "Is that what you want? You want to be right about us? You want me to be a monster?" Anorax's features lit up as Madalah's changeling fire erupted, swallowing the pegasus form and returning her to her electric blue changeling form. "Let me tell you something, I am a monster! We both are!"

Anorax's ears tilted back with annoyance. She'd been going on like for the last few moments, harping on him and trying to get him to open up. Fine. "No, I didn't want you to be a monster, but you turned out to be one, anyway!"

The halfling's outburst surprised and silenced Madalah. Anorax scowled at her as bright orange fire lit up the tunnel, exposing him as the hard white-shelled halfling he was. "Look at us, Madalah. We are monsters, but some of us try to live normal, changeling queen-free lives. Peaceful and in a way that we're not harming others. My dad proved to me that this was possible.

"I grew up keeping this look a secret from all my pony friends for my whole life, save for a couple I could trust, and I've done just fine keeping myself separate from changelings. Was I lonely? You bet I was. I didn't have a single female that I could give my heart to, not even the ones that knew. And then-"

The halfling paused, glancing away from Madalah's big, glowing blue eyes, watching with rapt attention. He could swear he heard her heart skip. "...and then you happened. You, just this...little, beautiful changeling, the...the most beautiful creature I'd ever laid eyes on. Yeah, I could tell, just by the way you looked at me that there was some kind of natural connection between us. The way you looked at me, the way I felt you inside me when you looked at me."

As Anorax spoke, Madalah tensed, attempting, and not very well, to keep herself from crying. She knew where he was going with this. "I felt the same way about you, Madalah. I've always heard stories about other ponies falling in love, and it almost never happens that way because they work differently than us. It's never like that with us unless it's a sure thing. I was..." Anorax paused to wipe at a stray tear. "I was so sure that it had finally happened to me. That I wouldn't be alone anymore."

"That's what I told you," Madalah whispered, her eyes lowering to the ground.

"Yeah, that's what you told me when you...when you kissed me. Yeah, that was pretty damn awesome. I'd never felt so alive, and for the next five minutes, I was walking through that town, knowing that I had somepony out there, and I knew, for a fact, that I had something to look forward to in the future. And then I found out what you'd really gone to Ponyville to do, and that was to hurt my friends!"

Madalah flinched at the tone of his last words, and of course they were true. She couldn't make an excuse for that, since that's exactly what she and her four comrades had gone to Ponyville to do. Their original target had been Spark Storm, but had gone through Laser Reflex to do it and had ended up kidnapping his friend Russet Hearts.

The changeling finally lifted her head to stare up at Anorax, whose bright orange eyes continued to look down at her with disdain and judgement. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was much more of a monster than he. "You're right," she whispered. "Maybe I don't belong with you. Maybe I deserve to stay here with my kind."

Madalah's new pessimistic approach was beginning to grate on Anorax's nerves. As much as he was loathe to admit, he wanted her to keep pressing, to find that one thing that could get him to change his mind. "Pfft. They'd just tear you to bits down here for turning your back on them," he told her callously.

"Do you want them to?"

"N...no."

This reaction gave Madalah pause. She stared carefully up into Anorax's face, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Anorax, finally out of excuses to make the changeling suffer, sighed and lifted his eyes to look back into hers. The silence between them was very loud, but it was also very telling. After a moment, Madalah began to close the distance between them slowly. As Anorax made no move nor protest, the changeling lowered her head and slid it gently under the halfling's chin and press her body to his.

Anorax let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He relaxed as he felt Madalah's warmth, and wrapped her up in his forelegs, squeezing her to him. A soft, happy little sob escaped from the changeling, and as they stood there together in the darkness, Anorax had a brief fight with his emotions not to follow suit. He soon lost that argument, prompting him to squeeze Madalah tighter to him.

After a good few minutes of this, he knew he had something to say to her before this moment of happiness could continue - he needed to apologize. He took in a deep breath, then felt a hoof on his lips and looked down to see Madalah's smiling face. "It's ok. You don't have to say anything, I understand why you were angry with me. You had every right to be, you were right. I just-"

The two of them tensed. Two - no, three changelings were approaching at high speed. The buzzing of wings could be heard, and soon three familiar changelings dropped down to the tunnel floor in front of them. The sadistic Nuzo, the psychotic Bezzle and the intimidating giant Dozix. Madalah let out a small gasp and almost took a step behind Anorax. Almost.

Nuzo cracked a wicked smile at Madalah's bravery, but his attention was on Anorax. "What have we here? Our first few moments of freedom and we come to find that the hive has been infested with half-breeds and traitors!"

"Pfft. In what world does one halfling and one changeling count as an infestation, genius?" Anorax retorted. Nuzo had been expecting to inflict terror on the two, not to illicit a possible rhetorical question that would set his two lackies into chuckles.

"Just leave us alone," Madalah said bravely, earning scathing stares from her three former comrades. "The queen has been deposed, there is no more order in the caves. Why seek justice for your clan when your clan can't even keep itself together?"

"You forget your place!" Bezzle argued, stepping past Nuzo. "You forget where you come from. We do not hail from this colony, Madalah. While this hive struggles to find it's balance, our hive still flourishes across the great sea, and that still makes you a traitor to your clan!"

Madalah knew Bezzle spoke the truth. She drew in against herself, finally allowing herself to fear some fear as the trio approached menacingly. Anorax stepped in front of her when Madalah suddenly stepped forth again, an idea having formed in her head. "Stop! I invoke the rite of challenge of H'ze!"

Anorax frowned at this unfamiliar term, even as Nuzo snarled with anger. "Heresy! I refuse to acknowledge your ridiculous customs!"

Nuzo quite suddenly found himself in the shadow of the biggest changeling his hive had ever seen. He turned to face Dozix, rearing up on his hind legs and hissing with aggression. Nuzo's show of aggression was as quickly pushed aside as he was, and he found himself pressed into the cave wall by the giant's large hooves, knocking the red helm from Nuzo's head.

Anorax blinked with confusion as the helm skittered loudly onto the cave floor by Anorax's hooves, revealing Nuzo not as the red-headed changeling Anorax thought him to be, but as a normal black-carapaced changeling. He turned and looked to Madalah for the anser to his confusion. "He's not one of you, he's...?"

"From here, yes," Madalah answered in a hushed voice. "He'll have no choice in this matter."

"Your view of our customs is both arbritrary and unnecesary," Dozix told him coldly. "You hail from this hive, which has reached it's peak of power and control, and has lost both. You hold no rank here any longer." As Dozix finished his speech, he released Nuzo, who fell from the slight indent his body had made in the rock and fell to the floor.

Bezzle spat upon the ground near Nuzo, then turned her murderous gaze to Madalah. "I will accept your rite to H'ze. You know the rules, sister. One combatant, and one only. If your comrade enters the fray, he will die as well. Dozix will see to it."

"You're talking like you're gonna win!" Anorax retorted. Bezzle pulled herself up to her full height - just beneath Madalah's chin, and snorted. Madalah blinked in confusion and turned to Anorax.

"You're not going to argue, or tell me I can't?"

"Enough with the mushy talk! We fight!" Bezzle yelled, rushing forward, only to come face to face with a furious Anorax.

"Back off! She didn't agree to your terms, or are you so eager to break the rules of the sacred H'ze?!"

Bezzle skidded to a stop in a panic until she bumped noses with Anorax. His sudden outburst and bravado were surprising, and not altogether unpleasant to the psychotic changeling. Besides, he spoke the truth, although she had not a single idea how he would know of their hive's rules. She grumbled and walked back to Dozix' side to wait for Madalah to agree to the chosen terms.

Madalah leaned in, her eyes wide as she whispered, "How do you know the rules of the H'ze?"

Anorax, a dry look on his face, answered, "I didn't. Lucky guess."

The changeling laughed quietly, a soft, confident sound that, coupled with the stare she was giving Anorax, made him blush. "Will living with you always produce such humorous results?"

Anorax smiled despite the situation, a faint glimmer of his romantic bravado shone in his eyes, and he chanced a nuzzle on Madalah's cheek. "I can only hope so, because I plan to give you the same stuff for the rest of my life."

Madalah's bright eyes actually began to tear up at Anorax's hopeful tone. She wasn't sure how this would turn out, but for now, at this very moment in time, she'd never felt happier. She closed the distance between the two of them, and began their second kiss. It was just as warm and easy and wonderful as their first.

After a moment or two, the pair reluctantly pulled away. It was time. Madalah turned to face her foe and stepped forward, head lowered, wings raised. "I am ready, and I accept your terms. My male shall not interfere. Our brother shall not interfere. Winner takes all."

"Also agreed," Bezzle said as she assumed the same stance. The two females stared at one another, both sizing the other up. Anorax looked between the two, judging the size differences between them. Madalah was taller and had longer reach. Bezzle, while shorter, had a stronger looking frame.

Suddenly, the two began. Not with a frontal attack, but by taking to the air, both changelings moving at an incredibly fast pace within confined walls. Anorax gasped and had to take a few steps back to take in all the speed. The two changelings had taken to ricocheting off the walls, and attempting to attack one another when they met in mid-air.

Anorax couldn't even begin to wonder how they did it without damaging themselves. It took him a moment to locate Madalah. He started tracking her, and soon came to realize that this truly was a battle of speed and accuracy. Madalah had to propel herself from one wall, calculate where her foe would be, then attempt an attack, all while focusing on twisting herself in the air to land with her hooves against the wall for another propelling jump, then start all over again. Each moment inbetween the walls lasted about half a second.

The halfling stared up in wide-eyed wonder as the two combatants zipped back and forth almost faster than he could see. It didn't seem like either of the changelings had gained an upper hand until the flying bodies suddenly connected and he heard Madalah cry out. As much as he wanted to step in, he knew that would be the end of their clean chance at a getaway.

Anorax gasped as he saw Madalah slowing down as she flew up into a backwards arch, just narrowly avoiding another attack. She came down on the ground directly next to Anorax. A single sideways glare from the changeling told Anorax to move - and he did, just narrowly avoiding being stomped on by Bezzle as she pursued the taller changeling. Madalah hopped once as she avoided Bezzle once more, then returned to the ground and twirled her body around and caught Bezzle in the rump, propelling the shorter combatant headfirst into the wall.

Without missing a beat, Madalah shot forward and...bit Bezzle's behind. Bezzle let loose a roar that was a mix of pain and her dignity being knocked down a peg. Madalah let loose a wicked giggle and shot into the air, into the darkness of the open chasm above. As the insulted changeling turned upwards to follow her query, Anorax stepped closer to Dozix, a confused look on his face.

"So, uh...?"

Practically hearing the question in the halfling's voice, Dozix made a soft little chuckle in his throat. "Madalah has always done that. It is a terrible insult to take an injury in the back. Bezzle has never taken care of her defense. Yet, for all the times they've fought, Madalah has never once won. Go figure."

"Oh, heh." Anorax had to let that sink in before he stared up at Dozix in panic. "What, what? Madalah's never once won against Bezzle?!"

Dozix shook his head slowly, then looked down at Anorax menacingly. "Enjoy the truce while it lasts, half-breed, because when Bezzle is done with the traitor, I'm going to grind you into the stone and leave you here to rot." Anorax backed away from the giant, half from fear of him, half in fear from Madalah. He quickly changed back into pegasus form, his wings liberating him into the air.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Dozix bellowed, quickly taking to the air to follow Anorax further upwards into the darkness.

"I'm not going to interfere with this fight, you have my word!" Anorax yelled down at the slower moving changeling. "I just...I want to be with her when it ends!" Geez Madalah, what were you thinking?! Anorax thought, furious and panicking as he flew higher. Eventually he could make out sounds, and then light. He'd caught up with the two, Madalah and Bezzle facing each other on a broad ledge.

Madalah was too focused to notice Anorax on the opposite side, and she was starting to wear down. Bezzle had always been a better, stronger fighter, and they both knew this. Why, then, had Madalah initiated the H'ze? So I could say goodbye, she thought to herself as she faced Bezzle.

The smaller changeling began the attack once more. They attacked like before, but now they had more space. Their attacks would be slower, and would give them more time to attack. Unfortunately, while Madalah's speed slowed just a fraction in the open space, Bezzle's speed actually increased.

On their third fly-by, Bezzle clipped Madalah and sent her careening for the wall. She began to pull away from it when Bezzle grabbed her from behind and sped up, then smashed the bigger changeling headfirst. Stunned, Madalah fell and rolled away from the wall as it turned into a small slope at the bottom. Before she could pull herself to her hooves, Bezzle again came down on top of her harshly.

The two wrestled for a moment, each trying to get the other in a deadly pin. Finally, Madalah freed herself, only to have her hide legs pinned. She fell forward as Bezzle grabbed the back of her neck in her mouth. This was usually a winning position, but Bezzle took her hooves off of Madalah's and stretched out Madalah's wings to either side of her back.

A cruel, sadistic look came over Bezzle's face as she panted, just slightly out of breath. She stretched Madalah's wings tighter, causing the bigger changeling to begin screaming in agony. "Forfeit!" Bezzle announced, letting go of Madalah's neck and pushing down on it with her forehead. "Forfeit, end your pain, and I'll end your suffering forever!"

Anorax trembled with fury as he watched his marefriend stretched and tortured. His hooves dug into the ground he stood on. There had to be something he could do, some kind of support. That was it. He looked to the side at Dozix, who smirked down at him. Only a matter of time, Dozix's eyes told him.

This is it, Madalah told herself inbetween her screams. I've lost, and I've cost Anorax his life. At least I got to say goodbye. Madalah screamed again, her eyes blinded with tears of pain, but she saw something bright come into her line of sight. She focused enough just to see Anorax, who had flown across the chasm to stand before her, a look of bright determination in his eyes.

Even as blinding white pain filled every last section of Madalah's body, something else started to fill her being - purpose, determination, fury. She wasn't going to die - she was going to win, at any cost, and win the right to keep living. With this fierce determination in her, she pulled forward and down, and effectively ripped her wings from her body, the sinew snapping from her wing joints and causing Bezzle to fall backwards.

Bezzle, completely shocked that Madalah would willingly part with her wings, wasn't nearly fast enough for what came next. Madalah ran around behind her and grabbed her, her longer legs locking around the smaller changeling so she couldn't escape, and closed her mouth over Bezzle's throat, stopping her breath, even as she struggled in vain.

Bezzle continue to struggle and gasp for breath as a heavy buzzing of wings approached, followed by an even heavier set of hoofsteps. Anorax watched as Dozix approached the two, and finally looked down at Bezzle, who stared up at him expectantly. "Do you forfeit, Bezzle?" he asked. An incredulous look came over Bezzle's eyes, then a look of panic as she still couldn't breathe.

Finally, after more vain struggling, Bezzle nodded. Madalah immediately released her, leaving the smaller changeling gasping for air. As Madalah and Anorax made their way towards each other, the adrenaline that had allowed her to survive began to wear off. She could feel the stinging pain coming from where her wings used to be. She faltered in her steps and collapsed to the ground. Anorax followed her and took her into his arms while she sobbed and trembled in pain.

"Madalah, I..." Anorax began. "...I'm so proud of you. You were awesome. I didn't think you'd sacrifice your wings like that...for us."

"It was worth it, Anorax, if it means getting out of here alive with you," she whispered, easing a pained smile across her lips as she looked up at her halfling mate.

The two were suddenly thrown from each other as a furious Bezzle rammed into them. Anorax found himself grabbed from behind and smashed into a wall, stunning him thoroughly. As Madalah fell, she felt her heart jump into her throat as she was headed for the chasm. She landed just inches from the ledge, then turned and found Bezzle waiting for her. The smaller changing lashed out and hit her in the face, causing the bigger changeling to falter and fall, just barely catching herself on the ledge with her lower half hanging in the air.

"You got off on a technicality, little sister. I had you by the neck first, I won! You're not even a proper changeling now without your wings! And what do you think our mother will think, you shacking up with a half-breed freak like him? Trust me, I'm doing you a favor..." Bezzle said, raising a hoof over Madalah's eyes.

"What are you doing?" Dozix said as she approached from behind Bezzle, looming over her with a scowl on his face. "Madalah never forfeited the fight. You did. She sacrificed her wings to gain the upper edge. You had her by the neck, yes, but you did not follow through with the rules. You lost this battle, Bezzle, accept your defeat."

Bezzle turned and leered up at Dozix. "Oh, please, brother! Look around, we are not at home, the rules don't apply here!"

Dozix made a face of disgust. "Have you no honor? We bring the rules with us, that's what mother told us when she sent us here!"

Bezzle merely laughed and turned back to Madalah, again raising her hoof, intending to push Madalah down into the abyss. "Well, mother's not here, either!"

Madalah closed her eyes to her impending doom. Instead of feeling a hard hoof on her face, she heard Bezzle grunt sharply and in pain, the sound moving away from her. She opened her eyes again to see Dozix not far away, though she couldn't see Bezzle. She heard the smaller changeling yelling, then Dozix brought his hoof down on the ground, resulting in a loud, sickening crunch. Bezzle didn't make another sound.

Madalah frowned sadly as she began to pull herself up. After a moment of effort, she was safely on the ledge once more. She kept her eyes closed as she walked past Dozix. She didn't want to see her sister's fate. When she came upon Anorax, still knocked clean out, she laid down beside him and very quickly fell asleep, the harsh battle having wiped her out.