//------------------------------//
// 20: Avengers Assemble 
// Story: To Err is Equine 
// by RLYoshi 
//------------------------------//

[Perspective: Asylum]

It was a little past noon when I was finally able to sit down.

By now, all the ponies in the hospital had been patched up to the best of our ability, with the exception of Arrell. Even after waking up and being much calmer, he still refused to be treated, stating that he wanted to be ready to leave as soon as possible and not spend days lying in bed. So instead, he was passing the time by wandering around the remains of Smooth Grove.

Risk hadn't slept yet, so when he passed out on one of the waiting room's chairs, I didn't wake him. False was feeling much better, but we still had to keep her awake for the rest of the day to be sure; my previous experience with deadly recluse suggested that by the time the sun rose again, she'd be able to sleep. Nimble, having woken up recently, was off talking with the elder.

That left me. And I had nothing to do.

The remaining doctors and nurses were able to handle anything the injured ponies needed, so they told me to go relax. The problem was that I couldn't. Whenever I tried to sleep, Arrell's words came back to me.

"I want as few things as possible to remind me of the giant freaking tussle that took place."

"Though I will admit that there are definitely worse outcomes to this situation."

"I don't even know what 'okay' feels like anymore..."

"You wanna come with me?"

The last one particularly kept me awake. Did I want to go with him? There was the promise of adventure, but also danger. I never liked fighting. But on the other hand, it could be interesting. And he seemed pretty nice, along with his friends.

...well, most of his friends.

Risk seemed to like Arrell, and while Nimble didn't have any real feelings, he didn't exactly detest the Windigo either. False, meanwhile, grit her teeth at just the mention of Arrell's name. I thought back to the conversation we had earlier.

"Look, Asylum...you just met us, so obviously you don't get this yet. But Arrell is...well, he's an idiot."

"What do you mean?"

"He never stops talking, he makes jokes about everything, he doesn't think twice...hell, I don't think he even thinks once."

"That doesn't sound like him..."

"Yeah yeah, you respect him because he saved your town, all that crap. But that was pure luck. He's got power, I admit, but it won't be long until he screws up and kills himself. He didn't even know how to fly until just yesterday, and when he first found out, he got stranded on a tree branch and was too scared to fly off! Trust me, Asylum, he's a bucking moron."

Comparing what False told me about Arrell, and what I actually heard straight from the horse's mouth (pardon the pun), it just didn't fit. False knew an Arrell that was stupid, dangerous, and scared. The Arrell I knew...only one of those fit, and it wasn't either of the first two.

I decided that in order to get some closure on this, I needed an unbiased opinion. I could talk to Risk, but given how surprised he was when I told him Arrell was crying, he'd be more inclined to agree with False. Plus, he was asleep. That left one pony.





"Nimble?"

The gray pony looked at me as I called his name. I had found him wandering one of the halls, apparently bored.

"Can I talk to you about something? It's...it's about Arrell."

He tilted his head a bit in confusion, but nodded. We walked outside and sat down with our backs against the building.

"What is it?" he asked politely.

"Arrell...what do you think of him?" I decided to cut straight to the point.

He thought for a bit, staring off into the distance. For a moment I thought he got distracted and hadn't heard me, but then he turned back. "I don't really have any particular feelings about him," he finally replied.

"Exactly." I smiled. "False thinks he's an idiot, but he doesn't seem that way at all."

Nimble blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, first of all, he did save the town."

"...yes, he did." The colt shrugged.

"He stood up to thirty trained killers to protect a town he knew nothing about aside from the name. As soon as he saw that False was poisoned, his first goal was to help her. And when I talked to him earlier today, he seemed cheerful, but it wasn't long before he broke down crying." I sighed, looking away. "Everything that happened...it really got to him. He didn't just pretend it never happened."

Nimble was quiet for a few seconds before speaking. "I have not known Arrell much longer than you...but I can tell you this."

I focused my attention back on the little ninja and waited for him to continue.

"Everypony has a limit to how much they can take. Depending on what you do, how you were raised, and other things, this limit can change. Look at me, for example. I was raised by a royal guard and a criminal. I have been taught how to fight, hide, and even kill. And I am only ten years old." He looked me right in the eye. "My limit is much, much greater than that of, say, Risk Reward. If I were to kill a pony, it would certainly affect me, but I would be able to contain it. After all, it is what I was trained to do. But Risk, if he were to murder, would not be able to take it. From what he has told me, he never witnessed a single death in his life until so recently. Just watching a murder alone would affect him greatly, let alone actually committing it."

"And...what does this have to do with Arrell?"

"Arrell's limit, based on what you have told me, is lower than mine...or even yours." Nimble stood up and began pacing slowly, as though this would work his brain faster. "He was in the middle of that battle, and he killed several ponies. At the time, either he was unaware of it, or he was too focused to care. But after Bloodbath was taken down, he stopped fighting. And then it caught up to him.

"Think of it as like a balloon. You fill it with air, and then it bursts. Arrell's balloon can't take much air. Perhaps this is because of something back on his world. Perhaps this is just because of his personality. Or perhaps he is so used to hiding his fear and sadness that when he was unable to..." Nimble stopped pacing, looking down at a rock in front of him. He closed his eyes and brought his front hoof down onto the rock, shattering it into pieces. "He broke."

There was silence between us for a few minutes. I finally found the courage to speak again, and cleared my throat.

"Well...that all makes sense, but it doesn't really answer my original question," I pointed out.

"You asked me what I thought of Arrell," Nimble responded. "I told you."

I raised an eyebrow. "All you did was tell me about the limits of his sanity."

"Exactly. That is what I think of him: a Windigo who has a lower limit than most. Your opinion of a pony cannot be determined from that of others. No pony has a specific way you should feel about them. You can only take how they act and form your own opinion."

"That's the problem!" I threw my front hooves in the air. "I don't know how Arrell acts because everypony has a different opinion of him! False calls him an idiot. Risk thinks he's a nice guy. You just think he goes crazy easier. None of these even fit!"

"The ponies around you have different opinions because they see Arrell in different ways," he explained. "For example...look at me. Am I young, or am I old?"

My anger was replaced with confusion. "Uh...young?"

"If we were to ask, say, a two-year-old, they would say I am old. It all depends on who you ask." He gestured to the hospital. "Is that building small, or big? To us, it is big, but to a dragon, it is small. What about this whole town? Again, it is big to us, but anypony who has been to Canterlot would think it to be small. Opinions vary from pony to pony, and are never permanent. All you have to do is change the way you look at something a little bit, and your opinion could become entirely different."

The little colt's words made sense. I never thought a ten-year-old would be acting like an elderly mentor to me, but now it was happening, and it made sense.

"So who is Arrell to you, Miss Asylum?" Nimble asked suddenly.

"...I don't know who he is," I admitted. "But I know one thing."

"What?"

I stood up. "I want to find out. I'm going with him."





[Perspective: Arrell]

"AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!"

The ponies surrounding me looked at each other, then at me.

"...of course, you don't get that reference."

Currently, I was standing outside the Smooth Grove hospital as the sun began to set. Bloodbath's axe was beside me, the blade buried in the ground. I had decided to keep it; if not as a weapon, then as a memento.

Risk, False, Nimble, and Asylum stood around me. Nimble had agreed to come along, and Asylum came up to me as soon as I got back from my walk to say she'd be coming as well. Having more ponies in the group was good.

"So...the past while has been hectic," I said with a sheepish grin. Understatement of the century. "Fortunately, it all worked out in the end. Smooth Grove won, and the Brigade fell. The town is being rebuilt, and if we can spread the word of its existence, it won't be practically empty for long."

"Are we leaving already?" Risk asked suddenly, looking a bit confused. "I know it feels like forever, but we've only been here for about a day. And there's still stuff we haven't figured out."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, for one thing, why did the Fine Rock draw these ponies to this spot in the first place?"

I smirked. "We don't have to solve everything, you know. We'll probably figure it out later. It's not like we're leaving the rock behind."

He blinked. "Wait, what?"

Reaching behind myself, I pulled the Fine Rock out of...I don't know where, really. Letting it go, it floated in front of me.

"The elder said we can keep it," I explained. "Besides, it chose me as its next holder. But I don't really need what's basically a unicorn horn." I looked right at Risk. "You, however..."

The Fine Rock floated over to the brown stallion, and with a flash of light, linked itself to his broken horn. The rock stretched slightly, forming the shape of a brand new horn. When the light dimmed, it looked as though Risk's horn had never been broken.

He seemed extremely surprised as he felt it with his hoof, having nothing to say.

"I think you need that more than I do," I chuckled. "Now, getting back to the original question...no. We're not leaving yet."

False raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who wanted to go as soon as possible?"

"Yes, I was. But Stalliongrad can wait. I think we could use a break." I looked around at them. "That okay with all of you?" They nodded. "Then go off and do whatever. I'm gonna relax."

As we separated, I heard somepony follow me. Turning around, I saw False trotting up. Ugh, here we go.

"So according to Risk, you were the one who saved me when I was poisoned," she stated as though it was a crime. I put down the axe in my mouth to speak.

"Yes. I was." He better not have told her how.

"...thanks."

I looked at her in surprise. Did she just thank me?

"Consider that as your first favour to me," she added. "Don't forget you still owe me another one, though." And with that, she walked away.

Of course. I sighed, picked the axe back up, and found a tree to lie under. We had been offered some guest rooms by the citizens of Smooth Grove, but the ones still in good condition were few and far between. False had to stay awake anyway, but that still left me, Risk, Nimble, and Asylum. I saved them the trouble of finding other places by sleeping outside.

My eyes closed and my mind wandered. Despite sleeping earlier that day, I was still tired, and it wasn't long before I fell asleep just as Luna's moon rose into the sky.