//------------------------------//
// XXVI: The Stranger 
// Story: The Stranger and Her Friend 
// by TheUrbanMoose 
//------------------------------//

“Impossible.”

Lucky shook his head and took small steps backwards. When he spoke, it came out in a dry whisper.

“This is impossible.”

The mare took a step forward.

Lucky instantly stopped, drew his shortsword and pointed it straight towards her, extended in his hoof.

“Don’t,” he snarled, his voice wavering with emotion.

His face contorted into a grimace. His eyes widened with fear. The hoof with which he brandished the sword was trembling – the movement was reflected twofold in the sword’s tip, which quivered in small, erratic patterns through the air. Raindrops bounced off the steel as they hit, the flat side of it turned towards the sky.

The mare stopped in her tracks, retracting her hoof that had taken the step. She recoiled away, her head shrinking towards her neck, and drew a quiet gasp as though she were shocked. Her eyes were searching his, and he could see the hurt in them – it made his heart ache.

Eventually, she craned her neck low but kept her gaze locked onto his. Cautiously, she took another step forward, then another, and another.

“I said don’t!” Lucky shouted. His voice echoed off the walls of the courtyard, as if to stress their importance.

She did not stop walking towards him. When she spoke again, it seemed to stop the world.

“Lucky… don’t you remember me…?”

Her voice was a pleasant soprano, kindly and light, carrying just the slightest gravel in its tone that only made it all the more perfect.

Lucky’s head tilted and again shook. His whole body trembled, shivering in the rain. Slowly, the scowl he had held onto melted into something much more miserable. He could feel himself on the verge of tears, his anger perhaps being the only thing that held them back.

She came closer. Slowly, as if against his will, his sword arm lowered.

“It’s me,” she said. “It’s Daylight.”

Lucky’s grip on his weapon slipped, and it fell clattering to the ground. His mind had frozen up. He simply did not know what to think.

All the while, she kept approaching. She raised her head a little higher, looking at the shortsword on the ground.

“Is that Strike’s?” she said, eying the clover emblem on the blade. “I didn’t realize you still had it.”

Lucky reflexively found his words, and, without thinking, tried to voice them between his own heavy breaths. “Found it in Ponyville,” he quietly gasped, his eyes still locked onto her. “One month ago. Reforged it.”

As she got closer, Lucky stepped back, matching her pace and keeping a measured distance away.

She looked back at him and stopped so that he did as well. A shadow of concern passed over her face.

“What’s wrong?” she said softly, leaning in towards him.

Lucky could have drowned in the gold of her eyes. Before he had the chance, he shut his own eyes as tightly as he could.

“This isn’t real,” he muttered between heavy, labored breaths. “This can’t be real. An illusion, a hallucination… a- a trick!” He opened his eyes, and looked directly at her. “You’re gone!”

She regarded him with a slight scowl. “I’m right here, Lucky,” she said, stern but not unkind. “Don’t talk like I can’t hear you.”

Lucky just shook his head, his face scrunched tight, his chest heaving in and out.

“Lucky…”

He reopened his eyes to see she had come even closer – within arm’s length. It would have been so easy for him to reach up and touch her; to stroke the side of her cheek with his hoof, to comb through the purple locks of her mane. Another few steps forward and he could have held her in his arms, could have taken her and never let go. She seemed to be waiting for him to do just that.

Lucky instinctively began to back up and turn around.

“Don’t go!” Daylight suddenly said, taking a step forward. “Please.”

He had not moved very much at all before freezing at the sound of her voice. He was not going anywhere. He could not.

Lucky stared at her for a long time, wrestling with indecision and the storm of his own emotions. Eventually, he asked.

“How?”

Daylight gave him a gentle smile. “You didn’t think I would be gone forever, did you?”

“That’s exactly what I thought!” he growled, his face flashing with anger. “That’s what they said would happen! That’s what everypony thought! That’s what you said would happen! And everypony else thinks you’re dead!”

It was too much. His snarl simmered away and his eyes gathered moisture.

“And now you… you’re here, and… and…” He took a few heaving breaths. “Daylight, what am I supposed to think?”

“Think? Why not try being happy?” she suggested. Idly, she picked up Lucky’s shortsword on the ground and walked towards him, regaining the lost ground. “I’m here, Lucky. The magic couldn’t keep me away. I’m just an earth pony, are you asking me to understand how it works?” She shook her head, her flowing mane following in delay with her movements. “About an hour ago, I just... I woke up. I wandered around, I saw you. I understand that you’re scared. I am too. That’s why I ran. But now…” She shook her head, opened her arms, and smiled. “…I guess I’m here, now.”

“But-”

“But what?” she interrupted. “Did you forget how to be happy? You don’t have to be strong right now. Please, Lucky, you’re hurting me.”

Lucky’s lip quivered. He did not cry, but the tears in his eyes refused to stay put. A single one rolled down his cheek and off the side of his face, followed by another. He looked away. “I didn’t mean to…”

“I know you didn’t,” Daylight whispered. “It’s okay.” She paused, craning her head to try and catch his gaze. “If I come closer, are you going to run away?”

It was a long time before Lucky responded, but Daylight seemed content to wait. Eventually, Lucky shook his head. “No,” he said hoarsely.

He heard a series of soft hoofsteps, ending right in front of him. When he looked up, Daylight was standing right there, his shortsword in her hoof. She smiled, shifted herself partially to one side, and thrust the blade towards him.

“You’re going to want to keep this,” she murmured, sliding the sword into its sheath at his side.

Lucky felt the pressure of it as the hilt hit the end of the sheath.

It was real. His body shifted with the weight of it. As her head passed his own, he could smell the pleasant musk of her fur, and a few stray hairs brushed past his face as she drew back.

She was even closer than before, well within touching distance. Their faces were only inches apart. Lucky stared at her with wide eyes, and she smiled back.

It was truly her.

He rushed forward, and met Daylight in a loving embrace.

“It’s you,” Lucky sobbed, pressing himself into her shoulder, his composure completely shattered. “It’s you, it’s you, it’s really you… Daylight, you’re here…”

She hugged him back just as fully, wrapping her arms around him and holding her head just a little higher that his own. More than a simple embrace, she cradled him like a child.

Lucky felt her nod, her head rested over the top of his neck. “I’m here,” she cooed. “I’m here.”

He cried even harder, until his cheeks glistened with tears. “I missed you… I missed you so much…”

Daylight merely shushed him, and held on tighter.

Lucky wished his armor were gone. As he was, he did not imagine hugging him must have been very comfortable, or clean. Nevertheless, there was nowhere in the world he wanted to be more than here, and he did not dare let go for even a moment.

And there would be time later! He thought about the future, and suddenly, it appeared so much brighter.

He wept with joy, his shoulders heaving as he released a whole tempest of emotion that had brewed within him since the first day she had left him. He would have been loathe to let any of his soldiers see him like this; even Apple Crumble, his finest friend, who knew many of the details of his plight, would have been surprised to see him in such a state. But here, he did not care. He cried for sorrow, for joy, for redemption, for no reason at all, and all the while, Daylight simply let him, patting his back and muttering simple assurances. He cried until he could no longer, and even after then, he refused to let go.

“Just don’t ever leave me,” Lucky finally whispered, nuzzling into her neck. “Not again.”

“I won’t leave,” she softly repeated, running her hoof over his mane from the top of his head down to the nape of his neck. He shuddered at the simple pleasure of it. “We can be together.”

Lucky paused, taking a few dry, tearless gasps. His head shifted upwards. “Together?”

“Mm-hmm.” Daylight nodded. “Away from all this. We’ll go somewhere quiet, somewhere peaceful, and it’ll be just you and me.”

“Just you and me…” Lucky muttered. “And nopony else?”

Daylight lightly kissed the top of his head, just behind his ripped ear. “Just us.”

“Oh…” Lucky lowered his head again. “That would be nice…”

A minute passed, and eventually, Lucky drew away from Daylight. During their embrace, they had fallen to sit on their haunches, and though they were no longer in each other’s arms, their hooves were touching on the ground and their bodies were very close. In the drizzling rain, the heat of her body felt so very comfortable. Lucky had not realized how cold he had been beneath his golden armor.

He frowned, looked away, and shivered.

“What’s wrong?” Daylight asked, tilting her head and frowning.

“Nothing, it’s just…” Lucky trailed off. He took a moment to rub the last of the tears away, and then looked back into her gold eyes. “Daylight, do you love me?”

She let out a soft chuckle that sent pangs of longing through Lucky’s heart.

“I… that’s… uh, pretty direct, don’t you think?” she said, flashing him a goofy smile. It faded as she saw the unchanging, unhappy, expectant frown on his face. She responded with a brief scowl of her own, peering deep into eyes, which were still bloodshot with emotion. Eventually, she put her hoof to his cheek, closing her eyes and drawing their lips closer together.

At the last moment, Lucky gently pulled his head away from her grasp and gazed at the ground beside them, casting an almost guilty expression.

“Hey,” Daylight gently murmured, grasping his shoulders with both hooves. “You don’t even have to ask. Of course I love you, Lucky Break.”

For a while, he was still. Then slowly, he nodded, and without a word, he slipped his arms around her again, pulling her close into another embrace. Daylight hummed with contentment as he did. He held her for a long time before speaking.

“You want to know something?” Lucky quietly said, muttering into her ear.

“What’s that?” Daylight whispered.

Lucky wrapped his arms even tighter, savoring every moment and every sensation as though it were his last. After a long while, they loosened. He brought his lips back to her ear, drawing a shallow breath.

He was not all out of tears, it seemed. One last drop rolled down his cheek, fell away from his jaw, and silently splashed onto the ground below.

“I always wanted to hear you say that.”

For a moment, there was silence.

It was broken with a soft series of metal clicks as gears shifted, levers released, and a swift metal blade came singing out of its mechanical sheath. The subtle song of steel graced the air. Lucky’s whole body seemed to jolt violently forward, and the ring and all its accompanying noises came to an abrupt end.

Daylight’s eyes widened, and she gave a pained gasp. Her arms fell limply away from Lucky’s back, and her body fell partially away from him. He still steadied her in his own embrace. Her head rolled wearily on her shoulders, but she was able to look down, and saw Lucky’s hoof hovering over her chest, a blade protruding from his gauntlet and extending between her ribs.

A few drops of blood trickled away from the wound.

Daylight let out what was halfway between a cough and a gasp, wearing an expression of pure shock. Lucky withdrew the blade from her chest and let it retract into its sheath, simultaneously sliding around Daylight’s body and catching her falling form in his arms, slowly lowering her to the ground. She sputtered and coughed, taking deep, ineffectual breaths as a line of crimson slowly dribbled down her cheek.

“W-why?” she gasped, eyes wide and staring straight at him.

His eyes were still red and swollen from crying, but his face was a hard mask of anguish and genuine hatred.

“Because,” he quietly growled. “This is impossible.”

Daylight took shallow, gasping breaths. Lucky knew she was not long for this world; before she left, however, a sly smirk appeared on her trembling lips.

“Y-you’re pathetic…”

The light left her eyes, and Lucky heard her let out one last throaty chuckle before falling still.

Blood was still pouring from the wound, mixing with the rain and staining her beautiful sunny coat. He did not want to look at it anymore. Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself away from her and to a stand, pausing only to run his hooves over her eyes to close them. Then, he turned and walked away from Daylight’s body, heading towards the center of the courtyard.

Lucky gazed up at the roof of the surrounding buildings, his eyes passing carefully over the whole area. Eventually, he took another few steps forward, spread his arms wide, and shouted.

“Are we having fun yet?”

The reply came faster than he expected. Grotesque laughter filled the air. 

“Ha! Haha! Ahahahaha! This guy gets it!”

He whirled around to see a purple-maned, yellow-coated mare standing on the roof, opposite of the side where he was looking. She had Daylight’s form, but did not speak with her voice – nor act with her soul.

Lucky scowled. This thing was not Daylight.

“Oh brother,” it said, an ill-fitting masculine voice being projected from her mouth. A huge grin was painted on her face, and she was doubled over in chortling laughter, pointing at him with an outstretched hoof.

“You should have seen the look on your face! Price-”

Her sentence was cut off very suddenly as a throwing knife landed firmly in her throat. Her eyes went wide, and she wobbled back and forth in place until eventually she collapsed under her own weight and fell off the roof. With a meaty thud, her body landed on the stone below, close to where Lucky had left the other body. Two perfectly identical corpses now lay dead in the courtyard.

“Okay, now be honest.”

Lucky spun again in the opposite direction. Daylight again stood on the top of the roof, slowly sauntering up to the edge.

“How did you kn-”

“Ghraaah!”

Lucky loosed a furious growl and a second knife, which landed squarely in Daylight’s jaw. She crumpled onto the roof, one hoof dangling limply off the side.

“Honestly?” the voice said, coming yet another side of the roof. “Let’s try and act like grown-ups, shall we? Whoops!” Daylight ducked as a throwing knife passed over her head. She looked at it as it sailed far beyond her.

“You know, you’re eventually going to run out of knives. What then?” She looked back, just in time to see a flash of bright steel headed straight for her eye.

Lucky watched another one of Daylight’s bodies fall to the courtyard. He was red in the face, and breathing heavier than he ever had been.

“Then I’ll throw my swords!” he shouted to the open air. “Then I’ll throw my switchblades! Then I’ll throw my helmet and each piece of my armor, then I’ll kick the whole damned building to pieces!”

An amused, disembodied laugh came from everywhere and nowhere. Lucky spun in all directions, looking for the source.

“You know, I’ve become quite used to the bravado of soldiers by now,” the voice said. “I used to think it was funny, but it eventually just got tiresome. There are only so many things a pony can threaten to do, you know? But you…” There were a few more eerie chuckles. “You put a fun little spin on things, don’t you? Because you can actually follow through. You could kick this building to pieces, given the time!”

“Discord!” Lucky shouted into the sky. “Show yourself!”

The voice was finally given a concrete location. 

“Though I suppose that’s an appropriate threat for the one they call ‘the Breaker’.”

He wheeled around to see Discord casting him a smug grin on the other side of the courtyard, this time on the ground. He was still wearing Daylight’s form. Lucky drew his sword and rushed towards her, wild bloodlust in his eyes.

Without warning, Discord’s expression radically changed. The infuriating smile dissipated in an instant, replaced by an expression of utter horror, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“Lucky stop!”

It was in Daylight’s voice.

He was already mid-swing when she said it, but his reaction was immediate. His arm drastically slowed and readjusted, so that instead of hitting Daylight, the sword clanged against the wall beside her. The force, and sudden change in direction, made Lucky’s grip on the sword slip away, and he was forced to drop it as he recovered.

Daylight’s whole body was cringed, her face drawn into a tight grimace as she prepared for the worst. One arm had been thrown above her head as last minute protection. Slowly, as the reverberating clang faded away, she raised her head and lowered her hoof. Her lip quivered as she gazed fearfully at Lucky, who stared back with a whole conflicting range of emotions.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a quivering voice, sounding exactly like she should have. “Don’t you know me?”

Lucky blinked and scowled. “I-”

He was cut off as an incredible force met his jaw, picking him up off his hooves and throwing him across the courtyard. His vision burst with stars as he landed heavily on the stone, stirring on the ground for a moment before clumsily attempting to get back to his hooves.

“Pow! Right in the kisser! Hope you weren’t biting your tongue, Lucky boy!” The voice was Discord’s again, its tone jovial and celebratory. “Speaking of kisser, how’d ya like my Daylight impression, huh? Pretty good, right?”

Lucky swayed in place, taking steps to the left and right while he regained his balance. “You… monster…”

Discord, in Daylight’s form, simply shrugged. “Eh. Hey, while you’re still staggering around and not trying to kill me, again, I gotta ask – and answer honestly! – how did you know it was fake?”

“Too perfect…” Lucky mumbled in slurred speech. “Was a fantasy. She would have never…”

Discord’s grin grew twice as large. “She would have never… go on?”

Lucky finally steadied himself, and shot him a furious scowl. “She would have never abandoned the war just to be with me! She would have never left her friends!”

“Ahhh, details, details.” Discord bobbed his head back and forth. “I’m surprised that’s what you’re hung up on, old colt. I mean, she did that already anyways, right?”

Lucky bared his teeth, utter hatred seething from his very being. “Shut up!”

“So you knew it was a fantasy!” Discord shouted, ignoring him. “A pity, but I guess I should have expected. You’re a cynic to the end, Lucky ol’ pal. That’s how you wanted her to act, but you knew she never would, eh? So sad. And so touching! Really, that was quite the tear jerker back there.” He motioned to one of Daylight’s corpses. “Or… there. Which one was the first, again?”

“You monster, shut up!”

He shrugged, and continued. “You know some ponies wouldn’t mind a slight divorce from reality every now and again. That’s how possessions happen, or ‘profanities’, as you like to call them. But oh no, not you. You just lo-oooove the bitter truth. So much so, you see through illusions. And for that, I tip my hat to you, sir. Or I would, if I had one. I could moon you, instead?”

“Shut up!”

Lucky charged forward yet again, this time on his full guard, determined to annihilate the mockery of nature before him. Discord, still in Daylight’s form, picked up the sword, looked at it, and grinned. Quickly, he turned towards him, and spoke again.

“Take it easy on me, okay Rummy?” Daylight said.

Lucky immediately misstepped and faltered. It was her voice again.

It was fake, and he knew it, but as he attempted to recover and make the final lunge to attack him with the switchblades, he felt a certain something.

He felt like twisting mid-air, and landing flat on his back.

So he did.

“Oof!” Lucky grunted as he hit the stone, blades still awkwardly deployed on his hooves. He retracted them, and just in time, he rolled his hooves, bringing up his gauntlet to block Daylight’s swift sword strike.  It rang as it bounced off the metal of his gauntlet.

She continued the attack. She was fierce, relentless, and worst of all, she sounded exactly like herself. Her breathing, her grunts, her pants – it was all Daylight. It was as if she was the one attacking him. She was the one attacking him.

“No!” Lucky shouted.

He used an opening to swipe at Daylight with extended switchblades, and caught her across the belly. She screamed in pain – it sounded just like her – and doubled over, clutching at her stomach. A second later, he descended upon her, punching into her throat and ending her misery.

He pushed himself away from the fourth corpse of Daylight to litter the ground, feeling inexplicably horrible on the inside.

All of that, he had done without a single prompting of Tyche. In fact, he had gone against her wishes; everything he had just done was the exact opposite of what he felt like doing.

But it was a lie!

His head twitched to the side, and his eyes briefly fluttered.

“Lucky?” Daylight called, trotting cautiously towards him. “Are you okay?”

Put your weapons down, and surrender.

“Get back!” Lucky cried, swiping both hooves at her. “You, are not, her!” She jumped away from him, snarled, and slowly began circling around. Lucky followed suit.

“I meant it, you know,” Daylight said. “We could have been together.”

“You’re ridiculous!” he shouted. “I am not going to run away with an illusion!”

Discord’s voice again took hold, and he cackled with insane glee. “But it’s true!” he cried. “Granted, you may have had to settle for the chrysalis honeymoon suite, but at least you’d be happy.”

“Happy, trapped in a cocoon?” Lucky spat. “Hardly.”

“You don’t think so?” Discord tilted his head, and grinned. “How do you think I was able to lure you here? To make you believe that this was actually happening?” He smiled, chuckles intermittently escaping through his lips. “Heh, heheh, and don’t pretend you didn’t believe. ‘You’re here, Daylight, you’re here!’”

He put his hooves up and danced in place, putting on a mock voice that sounded nothing like him. “Haha! You were melting like putty!”

Lucky scowled, taking a step forward and brandishing his blade.

He gave a contented sigh. “Point is, magic and hormones work splendidly together. You would feel whatever I wanted you to feel, Lucky Break.” He hissed his words through bared teeth. A slow, serpentine smile formed on his lips. “And I’m sure we would let you out to play every once in a while…”

“…because I love you so much,” finished Daylight.

With a furious battle cry, Lucky dashed forward.

Punch left. Miss.

Lucky punched right, and still missed. Then he punched left, again with no success. His ear twitched.

Stand still. Look directly up.

Out of reflex, he did both of those things. Looking up, he found there was nothing to see but the stormy sky above – and a second later, a huge force connected with his middle. Daylight had turned around and bucked him square in the chest, sending him sprawling off balance to the ground.

Discord spoke again before Lucky had finished crashing. “That’s right, Lucky boy!” he laughed. “Your little talent isn’t as useful as you thought it was! I found the loophole! Or rather…”

“I found the loophole,” Daylight said. “It’s so easy to exploit, too.” She giggled – it sounded so innocent, and so beautiful.

Lucky lay clutching at his side on the ground. Even through his armor, the kick had been enough to knock all the wind out of him. Even if it was a trick, Lucky had to concede: Discord had gotten her strength right.

“C’mon, Lucky, get up!” Daylight said, her tone lilting and playful. She trotted past him while he was still on the ground, deliberately brushing her tail on his face as he passed. “What will the others say if you’re beat by a filly?”

Lucky’s eyes suddenly opened, and he pushed off the ground, twisting on his back and flinging himself to his hooves, diagonally swiping with both switchblades as he landed.

Use too much force. Miss. Be staggered.

Both of the attacks missed – and he had made them miss.

Daylight caught one of his hooves after it had missed her and danced around Lucky, twisting his arm as she positioned herself behind him. Lucky felt a sharp pain in his joint, and he was thrown off balance as Daylight jumped on top of him, pinning his arm painfully behind his back. He wobbled and fell over.

“Say uncle!” Discord said, insanely laughing. “Say uncle!”

Lucky mumbled something unintelligible, his mouth pressed hard against the stone.

“What was that?” Discord said, perking his ear up and leaning in.

He turned his head. “…Basta- arrrggh!”

Lucky felt his arm twist even further back, his armor creaking and groaning as his shoulder bent in a direction it was never meant to.

Discord threw his head up and gleefully cackled at his pain. “Ahahaha! Does that hurt, Commander? Well, you know what they say! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Or crippled!” Discord pushed even harder on Lucky’s arm, leaning in close with his ear perked up to hear his victim’s scream in full volume.

“Ha! I can’t believe I didn’t try this sooner!” Discord shouted with triumph, pressing his own body closer to Lucky’s and knocking away his other hoof as he tried to push himself up. “And it was so simple, too! It’s a good thing you never truly gave up on Daylight, though, or this never would have worked. You and your silly little priorities.”

Suddenly, Lucky gained some leverage on the ground beneath him and pushed off, bucking Discord’s form off his back while simultaneously righting himself to his hooves. Before Discord had even reached the ground, Lucky twisted and punched, catching him midair and slamming him to the ground, a switchblade planted firmly in his stomach.

He gave a few wet, bloody cackles before dying. It was the fifth corpse to be littered on the ground. They all still looked like Daylight.

“Because really, if you think about it,” Discord’s voice said, coming from the entrance of the courtyard, “playing with ponies’ priorities is my number one talent!”

He still looked like her. Lucky shouted, and charged towards him.

“Your number one priority, a priority you assigned yourself, I might add, was to protect this mare, fulfill her wi- hurggh!”

Lucky stabbed him in the throat. He had put up no resistance, and simply fell to the ground as he lost the ability to breathe.

Lucky’s head twitched sideways.

There was a loud thud on the concrete behind him. He whirled around to see yet another puppet of Discord.

“Fulfill her wishes, and make her happy. How loyal. And how romantic! Anything Daylight wished instantly became your new priority – and eventually she didn’t h- haggghh!”

Lucky killed it, too. His whole body jumped in agitation. Another one appeared.

“Eventually, she didn’t even have to say it to you. Somehow, you subconsciously knew what she subconsciously wanted. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard?” Discord put his hooves up to his cheeks and shook his head, cooing at him.

Lucky drew back both his front hooves and lashed forward, swiping in both directions. Daylight’s head landed a few feet away, leaving an arc of blood as it rolled.

“The point is…”

Lucky’s eyes widened. He whirled around to see countless forms emerging into the courtyard, jumping off of the rooftop and walking slowly from the entrance. All of them were Daylight. The one in front of the group spoke for them all, still in Discord’s voice.

“…if she ever wanted to win a duel against you, she would. Always.”

Acting on an unspoken cue, all of the puppets stopped in place, and stared at him.

Lucky was backed up to the inner wall. A whole half of the courtyard was crowded with them, pushing him back until he felt like a cornered rat, standing between him and the only exit. His breath was heavy. His expression was no longer angry, but rather hysteric and horrified. His gaze swiveled back and forth across the small gap they had left him. There were so many! At least fifty, perhaps more. And every single one of them stared at him with those shining golden eyes, framed by that beautiful purple mane. Every single one of them was her.

And he would have to kill them. Every single one.

He slammed his helmet back on, and shut the facemask to hide his trepidation.

“You were always happy to oblige, even if you didn’t mean to.”

Lucky’s panting had grown even heavier, interspersed with light, pitiable whimpers. The Daylight leading them took a step forward, tilted her head, and spoke in her own voice.

“You still love me, don’t you?”

Then, they all rushed forward. Lucky brandished his weapons, and readied himself for them.

Lower your weapons. Cower.

He jumped to meet them, head-on.

His attack was completely out of form, as if the whole of his accumulated skills as a soldier had been suddenly forgotten. In the heat of battle, in the horrors of war, it happened from time to time – but not to soldiers of the Maiden’s Battalion. Not to Lucky.

His first attack connected, and not because of any skill or prompting borne of Luck. Rather, it was actual, simple, everyday luck.

He was subsequently bucked in the head, jaw, stomach, and flank.

Lucky was armored, and they were not. He had weapons, and they did not. Were it not so, he would have been beaten to death in the first few seconds. Bangs and clangs sounded incessantly as his armor was constantly beat with the hooves of Daylight…

He lashed out with one of his hooves. His attack connected with the underside of Daylight’s jawline, and felled her immediately. She attacked him from the other side in retaliation.

“You completely forgot about your soldiers, Lucky!” she said. “You should know better!”

Take off your helmet. Remove your armor.

He punched at Daylight’s ribs, only to be interrupted as she punched him back from the left, right, and behind.

“You forgot about the drop team in the center of the city!” Daylight screamed in accusation.

Withdraw your switchblades. Give them to Daylight.

Lucky found the opportunity to lash out again, clipping Daylight’s ear and lopping the end of it off, just like his own. His victory was not meaningful, nor did it last very long before the favor was returned tenfold.

“You forgot about Celestia! She will die because of you!”

Lucky’s heart skipped a beat. She was right. Celestia was still out there.

Save her.

Just surrender.

Save her!

Give up.

Save her!!

Suddenly, he became a whirlwind of activity.

Dodge right. Block left. Bucking kick. Next.

Dodge right. Let yourself be hit. Stab for the throat. Next.

Throw knife. Miss. Throw knife. Next.

Swing left. Dodge roll. Trip. Get up, dodge. Swing right. Next.

Lucky’s form was a blur of unpredictable, senseless action. The brutality of his method had not been lessened, but its efficiency would leave any onlooker puzzling, the fantastic situation aside. Alongside strokes and movements of masterful poise and lethality came fumbles and blunders so outstanding they almost appeared to be purposeful. Nevertheless, the number of Discord’s puppets were quickly dwindling.

“Stop it, Lucky!”

Save her! Shoulder tackle. Attack while down. Next.

“Why are you doing this?”

Parry. Riposte. Flourish into diagonal swipe. Next, next.

“You’re hurting me!”

Give up. Lose balance. Stumble.

“Stop! Please!”

Fail to block. Remain still, get grabbed. Allow helmet to be ripped off.

“Don’t you lo-”

“I’m sorry!” Lucky cried.

Thrust. Next.

Thrust. Next.

Swipe. Next.

He tried to become a machine. Remain detached, retain control. Emotion had gotten him into this mess, made him lose sight of his priorities.

And yet, as he killed her, over and over and over again, he could feel the horrible reality of his actions – even if he knew it was not the reality. He could not help it. Every time she died was another reminder. Every time she screamed, it was an echo of the past. It sounded just like the screams from Canterbury.

Lucky was not detached in the slightest. He felt the tears streaming down his face as he stumbled and fought and killed his dearest friend.

Thrust right!

He did, catching Daylight in the throat. She looked directly into his eyes, and he into hers, seeing the light of life flee her sight as she dropped dead onto the stone.

Lucky pulled the switchblade from her throat, and attempted to draw it back into its sheath. It went halfway and then became stuck, the internal gears grinding on something. Without hesitation, he ripped the gauntlet off of his hoof and threw it across the courtyard. His other switchblade had done the same thing, now leaving him weaponless.

Not that it mattered. His instinct had fallen quiet. They were all dead.

He looked around. The puppets lay everywhere in the courtyard, lifeless and still bleeding. She lay dead all around him. What had once been a simple, stone courtyard – likely some sort of sports court for the foals – now appeared to be a single mass grave. The rainwater licked at their mortal wounds, washing the blood down the nearest slope, which happened to run out of the entrance, lapping at the base of Lucky’s already bloodied hooves. The red water was probably cleaner than the stallion himself.

Daylight was dead. She was dead so many times over. And it was all his fault.

Lucky heard a set of hoofsteps behind him. He whirled around to see one more approaching, and put himself into a battle stance. He had broken his weapons, but he knew he could win.

She stopped a few yards away from him. Her expression was one of peace, if not depression, or melancholy. Her head was craned low and she carried herself calmly, as if resigned to her fate. Dark circles formed around her eyes, her body seemed to sag with exhaustion, and even the colors of her coat and mane appeared less vibrant.

Lucky drew a sharp breath as she spoke.

“I’m so tired of fighting, Lucky,” she said. Slowly, she raised her head and looked up at him. “Just kill me.”

Lucky just stood there, looking back at her. The last time he had seen her, she had given him that exact same look. So tired, so sad. So ready to sacrifice herself. Ready to… to get it all over with.

He had no weapons, but he did not need them, and his Luck told him only one thing.

Kill her.

Lucky blinked through his tears, and stared for a second more. And then he shouted. It was not aggressive, or ferocious, or violent, or even very intimidating. It was a simple cry of desperation, beginning low and gaining in volume and emotion until it was a bitter plea. The sound implied no specific relief or desire, but it would have been recognizable in even the most beastly of animals. He cried for the pain to stop.

His cry echoed long after he had stopped. After the noise was done bouncing off the walls, he leapt forward with outstretched hooves, catching Daylight by the throat.

She gagged as he locked his arms around her neck, struggling in his grasp as he crushed her windpipe with inescapable brutality. Lucky moved only in the slightest of motions as her hooves flailed on the ground below, eventually only being forced to bring her to her side as she lost the strength to stand.

Her gasps came out less and less frequently. Her hooves writhed about with less strength until her struggle was no more. Finally, she lost consciousness, and a small while after that, she lost her life. Lucky let go of her, and backed away.

Daylight was dead, again.

Lucky heard the ring of a sword sound just behind him. Slowly, lifelessly, he turned around, and saw one last Daylight pointing his own shortsword straight towards his throat. Instead of attacking, she seemed to be waiting for him to act.

He did not move a muscle.

He half expected his Luck to prompt him to defend himself. But it did not, and he did not want it to. His teary gaze was glassed over as he peered emptily at Daylight’s hooves, his mind’s eye replaying the fifty-seven deaths he had witnessed of his dearest friend in the world. Fifty-six of them had happened within the space of a few minutes, here in the stone maze of Manehattan. One of them had happened five months ago, in the town of Trotterdam. Every single one of them been his fault.

Tyche had fallen silent, for Lucky had eschewed all his priorities. Nothing mattered anymore.

Lucky wanted to die.

He fell back onto his haunches, and did nothing more.

Daylight smirked.

“Did you know I profaned Daylight, once?” Discord said lightheartedly, sneering at him.

He waited for Lucky to respond, to even react. If he had heard Discord’s voice at all, he made no indication of it.

“It’s true!” he continued. “And it was incredible! She actually had the strength of will to fight it and expel me. Do you know how many ponies have been able to do that? I can count the number on my claws!” He paused, bringing a hoof up to his eyes. “If I had my claws.”

Lucky’s eyes were half-lidded, and he glanced at the steel held at his throat.

“Of course, before that happened, I had full access to all her dirty little secrets. Which is what gave me this idea, incidentally. She knew she could control you!” He flashed a mischievous grin that stretched from cheek to cheek. “Haha! I’m almost disappointed she never abused that power. That could have led to some interesting situations, don’t you think?”

Lucky made no response, and Discord grinned even wider.

“Did you know she loved you too? I know she never told you. If I were a betting pony… chaos demon… thing, I would say you had no idea.” He chuckled. “And it’s funny… that was her deepest, darkest secret of all.”

Lucky’s eyes slowly wandered up to meet his. He wore a slight, questioning scowl, not quite on the verge of caring, but curious still.

“Awww,” Discord mocked in a sing-song voice. “Look at poor little Lucky. I’ll bet I could profane you right now, too.” He shrugged. “I think you’d be more useful dead.”

In the distance, amidst the cacophony of battle, far over the distant shouts, cannonfire, and thunder, Lucky heard an enormous explosion. Without even looking in the direction of its origin, he saw the light from the blast, whatever its cause; it lit up the mountainous banks of clouds above and the whole city below, setting a burning red glow to everything in sight. A tremor ran through the ground as well, shaking his body with a force the strength of which Lucky had never felt before. Seconds later, a hot wind coming from the east blew past his chilled, soaked fur.

It all faded as quickly as it had come. Discord looked off into the direction it had come from, a slow, crooked smile forming on his lips.

“Disappointing,” he said, though he did not look or sound disappointed at all. “You made me miss the fireworks, Lucky Break.” He laughed at his own joke, his horrible guffaws pleasant as claws on a blackboard.

“Well… heh heh… maybe they’ll have an encore. In any case, my time is spent. Toodles!”

Discord looked back to him and drew back the steel, preparing to plunge it through his neck. Lucky swallowed, closed his eyes, and waited for it. He deserved this.

Bang!

A blinding purple light filled his closed eyes, followed by another series of cracks and pops, like repeated lightning strikes hitting in the exact same spot.

“Oh! How nice of you to join us-”

“Demon! To the abyss with you!”

With one last incredible burst of sound and force, Lucky felt himself being picked up off the ground and thrown to his side, far from his original place. He heard a savage, animalistic growl, the straining grunts of an elderly mare, a whoosh and a pop, and then nothing.

Lucky wondered if, in some strange, unforeseen fashion, he had indeed just died. His ears were buzzing with a high-pitched swan song, and his eyes only saw a blur of washed-out colors. What a strange place the afterlife was.

“Lucky Break!”

He blinked. Somepony had called his name, and he knew who it was. But she could not possibly be here too…

“Get up! Now is no time for dying!”

He felt somepony tugging at his hooves. Gently, he left the ground and was lifted to his hooves, completely independent of his own effort and will. He hovered there, his weight equally distributed throughout the whole surface of his body.

Telekinesis, he realized.

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

“Good, you’re awake,” Clover the Clever said, peering in close to his eyes. “And healthy, too. Excellent.” She released him from telekinesis and looked up to the sky, facing eastward. “We must away. Ponies need our help. Celestia is…”

She trailed off as he caught the corner of her eye. Instead of standing on his hooves, Lucky had merely landed and then sunk into a lying position, his belly pressed against the wet stone. His gaze was planted firmly on a corpse that lay before him, one of the many that were scattered around the courtyard.

“Lucky!” Clover cried, walking towards him as fast as her gait would allow. “Are you blind? Do you not see the-”

“I killed her.”

“-explosions in the…” Clover stopped, and tilted her head. Adopting a scowl, she leaned in and raised her ear. “What?”

“I killed her,” Lucky repeated.

The mage looked all around the courtyard, eyebrow raised. “Killed who?”

“Daylight.”

Clover looked back at him, and frowned. “What are you…?” She trailed off as she saw the expression on his face. He wore a mask of apathy that seemed to be failing by the minute, betraying a horrible despair beneath. In the rain it was hard to tell, but his eyes might have been bloodshot and swollen. A spark seemed to jump between her eyes as a sudden realization dawned on her.

“They learned how to transform.”

Lucky’s eyes hardened, and he looked away. “He was possessing them somehow.”

“Does he know about… about our friend?” Clover hurriedly asked, her tone hushed to a whisper. “Did he learn it from him? Did he say anything about him?”

Lucky shrugged, and shook his head.

“And he transformed into…”

She glanced all around the courtyard, where laid the black and bloodied corpses of dozens of sinisteeds. Before she had arrived, each one of them had appeared to be… and Lucky had been forced to…

Her gaze softened, and she inched closer to him. “Oh, child…”

“Don’t,” he said harshly. “I know it wasn’t real. I thank you for the aid, but I just… I just… I need to be alone right now.”

“Alone?” Clover backed up a small ways. “Commander Break, we don’t have time for that.”

Lucky laid his chin flat on the stone. “I do.”

Clover scowled. “No, you don’t. What about the battle?”

“What about the battle?”

“Ponies continue to fight and die!” Clover said, stomping a hoof. “The Maiden’s Battalion persists! They would have their Commander by their side!”

“Let Crumble do the job.” Lucky’s tone was completely flat. “Or somepony else. I don’t care.”

“What is wrong with you?” Clover asked reproachfully. “Are you this easily broken? Are you willing to throw it all away just because-”

Lucky was suddenly on his hooves, facing the Master-Adept.

“I did not throw it away!” he shouted, his face twisted into a mask of fury. “It was taken from me! My family was massacred! Friends have been murdered, countless times, before my own eyes! And Daylight-!”

He seemed to choke on something. He stopped, swallowed, and continued. “I have spent my whole life fighting, and for what? This?” He spread his arms out wide around him, motioning to the bloody massacre. “This struggle is pointless. It has only brought me pain, and any pleasure I have had the fortune to taste has only ended so much the bitterer. So I’m done.” He walked towards the exit of the courtyard, speaking over his shoulder as he went. “Let the chaos consume me. It has earned its victory.”

Clover’s eyes widened, her whole expression a mask of surprised anger. “Coward!” she yelled. “Come back and finish what you started! Daylight would not approve!”

None of it seemed to phase him. He was almost out of the courtyard, and out of sight.

“What of Celestia?” she called. “She has turned!”

He stopped, and slowly looked back over his shoulder. “She what?”

“It is as we feared,” Clover said. Her horn briefly glowed, and in a quick flash of sparks, she teleported to his side. “She has embraced her nightmare.”

As if on cue, a massive, fire-colored explosion happened in the east, looking and feeling similar to the one he saw before, shaking the ground and casting orange light on the whole city.

“Is that…?”

“Her, yes,” Clover finished.

Lucky looked down. “And you want me to kill her as well.”

“Lucky,” she murmured. “I want you to save her.”

He instantly looked back up at her. Inside his heart, something stirred. Something very much like instinct, like desire. Something very much like the inspiration of a goddess.

Save her.