//------------------------------//
// Chapter 19 
// Story: Temple of the Stars 
// by OrphiusOlyandra 
//------------------------------//

	



My head broke the surface of the water and I gasped in a deep breath of air. I didn’t notice the smell for a few breaths, but the moment I was done sucking air into my lungs, I barely stopped myself from throwing up straight into the water around me. With shuddering breaths, I slowly stroked over to the edge of the pool and pulled myself up onto shore.

The rope tied around my leg went slack, and after a moment I coiled it taut and gave it three tugs, letting Trixie know I made it. After that I just lay on my back and tried to forget the awful smell of shit and who knows what else while I panted for air through my mouth. Not that that helped, instead I now had the taste of this fucking nasty mess on my tongue.

A heard a gasp of air about a minute later as Trixie broke the surface to. Her mane did not look sexy when wet as the fetid shit and piss water dripped from it. I tightened the rope and began to draw Trixie towards the side of the tunnel where she’d have solid ground.

She gagged and vomited after a moment, I patted her back as she cleared her throat of bile.

“Trixie is never, doing that again,” she ordered firmly once she had her composure back.

A weak grin found its way onto my face. “Aww come on, Trix. This is what espionage is all about.”

“Trixie is still never doing this again,” she replied. “Trixie’s filthy!”

“Yeah, that’s what I said my first time too, now look at where I am.” I glanced around the tunnel. “Shit, look at this place.”

“Don’t care,” she replied as she looked around. “This area should be large enough.”

“Large enough for what?” I looked over my shoulder at her.

“For the ritual of course.” Grabbing the ropes she had with her, she pulled out a bag from the water behind us and began pulling out a variety of vials. “The transformation ritual requires Luna’s blood, but the obedience section drawn by Nightmare uses the blood of whomever the beings are tied too. Trixie was hoping she could substitute it with her own blood.”

“So, the ritual we’re casting is for a mind shield, right? To keep the changelings out?” A drip of water from behind me made me glance over my shoulder nervously, but there was nothing there.

“Nope.” She sounded far too cheerful. “It’s a modified ritual designed to help identify locations of changelings, and hopefully to take control of them.”

I frowned at her. “Isn’t that heaps risky? And shouldn’t you have told me that was your plan before we got here?”

“Probably.” Instead of actually listening though, she just began pulling out her notes “But Trixie knew you’d protest. Now give Trixie some of your blood please.”

“Well isn’t that fucking nice. ‘Trixie knows you wouldn’t like it, but whatever, now give her your blood anyway, bitch.’ Nice. Real smooth, Trix.” After a moment I sighed. “Why do you need my blood anyway? I thought we were using yours.”

“Trixie believes that since you’ve already had both rituals done on you, you will have an immunity to any mind reading.”

I just stared at her. “Trix, I know nothing about magic, but even to me that sounds like bullshit.”

“Yeah, well... um...” The unicorn sighed and slumped. “I don’t know alright?”

After another moment of staring I said, “What do you mean you don’t know? You don’t even know why you want my blood?”

“We need blood. The original uses Luna’s blood to bind her to her subjects and to link them together. We don’t have Luna’s blood. This ritual is our best shot at getting rid of all these changelings, and you said it yourself, it’s what Nightmare Moon did back in White Peak. Our best bet is you, but Trixie doesn’t know how the change in materials will impact the overall spell, alright?”

“But, if you’re blood’s in there too, won’t that make you like... bound to me?” I frowned. “I don’t want that. I really fucking don’t want that.”

“Trixie’s blood is meant to... do something. I don’t know!” Her hoof slammed into the wall next to her. “To go any further is suicide.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad. If it comes down to it, I’ll just kill every last mother fucker here one on one.” Even I knew that was bullshit. “Beside, for the ritual to work we need changeling blood. We need to go further in anyway.”

“Fine.” Trixie put everything away again while her horn lit up. “Just hold still so Trixie can throw on the mind block thing.”

I stepped closer to her, and stood stills so she could cast her spell. After a moment I felt... a thing...? Something in my brain. Like this weird itch that I couldn’t scratch. And at the same time it was like there was someone... I don’t know... stroking? Stroking my mind. And there was a strange shuffling... almost like-

“Get the fuck out of my memories Trixie!” I snapped at her and immediately regretted it as I felt the mind magic connection snap. It wasn’t as bad as it was with Nightmare, but I still had to sit down as a dull ringing filled my head.

“What the fuck!” she screamed at me as she swayed dangerously on her hooves. “Trixie barely had the block up!”

“You were in my memories!” I jabbed a claw at her. “What the fuck were you doing in there?”

“Trixie was doing no such thing! She was implanting false ideas in your mind on an infinite loop to cover up your normal thoughts.” Even her glare was tired. “Trixie has no clue how to set up a true mental block, so the best she could do was make illusionary fake thoughts.”

My own glare faded. “Oh... sorry, but it felt like you were in my head. I uh... reacted.”

“Fuck!” I blinked as she swore yet again. “Now this time sit down, shut up, and take it like a stallion!”

“Fuck you too,” I snarled at her. “I’m sorry if I’m a little worried about letting someone in my head after Nightmare Moon tried to possessme! Totally fucking unreasonable right? I mean, shit you’re right, I should just bend over and let you fuck me whenever you’re in the mood!”

“You realize the horn used to be used as a weapon right? Unless you’re into internal injuries, that’s just stupid.”

“I was talking about your magic damn it!” I shouted. “I’m so fucking sick of you throwing that crap around, pinning me down or picking me up or just... argh! I’m sick of it! I fucking hate unicorns!”

“Yeah well, what about you? Is it too much to ask for you to not drink so much or whatever!”

“I haven’t had more than a mouthful in fucking weeks! And sweet bloody Celestia knows I need a drink sometimes.” I jabbed a claw at her. “And last night! I made a fucking mistake! I said something dumb and you threw me out to sleep on a table!”

“You could have just apologized,” she shot back.

“I did!” Maybe I shouldn’t have been shouting with the changeling hive above us, but whatever. I didn’t give a shit. “I said sorry and made you lunch and I don’t even know why I had to apologize; all I did was say something stupid! I didn’t fucking slap you or call you a stuck up arrogant cunt with a retarded inferiority complex!”

“You- You- You- Argh!” The only warning I got was her pulling a dagger out of the bag. Next thing I knew, it was flying towards me, narrowly missing my head.

“You want to fucking fight!” I turned back to her. “Throw your bloody horn around some more? You just need to be the biggest cub on the playground, don’t you? Can’t stand it when someone else points out just how fuc-”

Thrown violently to the side, my head slammed into the wall and my vision blurred. I immediately scrambled back onto all fours, and the entire world spun around me even as blood trickled down my cheek. Fuck that bitch. I’m going to fuck tha-

All anger was lost as I watched Trixie struggle under a gryphon. Twisting her head to the side, the peck just missed her eyes, and just like I taught her, a second knife plunged into his neck. Then with a savage twist, she ripped the blade free, sending green blood all over her face. My eyes immediately moved back down the tunnel and saw the dagger she had thrown embedded in another changeling.

“I fucking hate magic!” I shouted as I threw the changeling off Trixie. “Were we actually fighting, or was that just an illusion?” I asked as I checked her over for wounds.

“Sorry, I missed your face,” she spat at me.

“Well, that answers that.” With one of the vials from Trixie’s saddle bag, I gathered up the changeling blood. After it was full I shoved it back towards her. “Come on, we need to find somewhere more defendable so you can do the goddess damn ritual.”

“You know what, screw the date!” She gathered up her knives, picked up her bag and began trotting down the corridor with her hips swishing at me.

“Fuck that! I got thrown out of the room because I was trying to figure out how to get that to work!” I ran up alongside her. “We’re going on that fucking date whether you want to or not.”

“Oh great, now you’re interested. Well too late,” she snapped at me. “It better be epic and great or you’re in trouble.”

“When wasn’t I interested?” was the reply I growled back. “I’m sorry if I’m a bit occupied with saving my brother’s life.”

We turned the corner and there stood a changeling with its back to us. I simply moved forward and drove my knife through its back before tossing it into the water. We paused at the crossroads while Trixie consulted the map.

“Yeah well, Trixie is sorry if you immediately equated date with money!” The air shimmered around us and three copies of us ran out in three different directions down each of the corridors before us. “Trixie just wants something romantic and normal for once.”

“You think I don’t? A nice night with you and me in a restaurant with music and candles would be completely fucking awesome, but sadly, most of our lives revolve around chasing down one evil wild magic goose after another!” A hiss caught my attention, and soon enough I had another dead changeling as I threw its head over my shoulder. “And I wasn’t just thinking of money, I was thinking of how I could actually make that date happen! Not my fault that we have less bits than a bum.”

“Trixie doesn’t care as long as it’s with you, you idiot.” She moved down the left tunnel and I quickly followed. “And seriously, this is too easy. As soon as we killed one, the rest should have been swarming us.”

“I know, where the fuck are these pricks?” I glared around the room, “I need something to kill.” After a moment I looked back at Trixie. “You don’t get it, do you? I have nothing to give you, so if you’re asking me on a date, the least I can do is give you what I bloody well have.”

“Give me your time and love. Every time we’ve been anywhere near anything remotely resembling romance, it has been initiated by Trixie. All the snuggling, all the flirting, every single damn thing. Just give me your affections!” Once more her illusions went down the tunnels we didn’t use. “Hopefully they will keep them confused for a while.”

“I’m not an affectionate person Trix. I case you haven’t noticed, I don’t like putting myself out there. It’s not that I don’t care about you, it’s that I don’t know how to fucking say it. I have no goddess damn clue how to do romance, and I know if I did you’d just fucking laugh at me!” I paused, before I turned around. “Let’s find another way. I don’t like this tunnel.”

“All Trixie is asking for is the occasional hug and kiss when sad, teary emotions are not involved,” she replied as she consulted her map. “There’s no other way around. Unless you want to go straight up.” Her grin was infectious. “That should be fun.”

“Straight up?” I asked and looked to the roof. “Alright. Up we go then.” I looked back across at Trixie. “Well how am I supposed to know when you want a hug? I’ve been more focused on keeping you alive and dealing with all this shit that keeps getting thrown at us. Do you have any idea how fucking close I was to killing myself at White Peak? I’m fucking terrified of how much I loved that idea, and that’s just one thing that I’m worried about! My head is already filled up with rituals, and shitty brainwashing, and the way my past just keeps biting me in the ass, and goddess awful retarded ancient magic that keeps trying to kill us!”

“Yeah... well!” Trixie seemed to deflate. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I snapped back at her. “Don’t apologize for me being a shitty girlfriend. I know what you want from me, but I can’t give it to you right now. I’m not sure if I ever can. I mean... I’ve told you from the start that I’m damaged goods. That I’m not ever going to be able to give you what you deserve because, emotionally, I’m a fucking mess.”

“Well Trixie isn’t much better.” Both hooves rested on my chest as she leaned in for a kiss. “And you stupid gryphon. If you had died at White Peak you’d have a vengeful Trixie making sure you never got a taste of paradise.”

I kissed her back. It helped me calm down, and my racing heart slowed and the anger stopped clouding my head. When we pulled back I looked her in the eye. “I keep telling you that you should find someone else. Someone that you won’t have to bring back from the dead just to get an ‘I love you’.”

“And Trixie keeps telling you she doesn’t care.” She jabbed me with her horn. “If you dare pull any suicide crap, Trixie will tie you down and torture you for a day straight.”

“I wasn’t going to commit suicide,” I stepped away. “I just went... I dunno... berserk or something. I... don’t know how to describe it. It was like... crap.” A frown creased my beak. “Forget about it. I’m not gonna hang myself.”

Trixie winced at that comment. “Just... don’t pull that crap alright?” We shared another kiss. “Um... we should probably get moving before they find us...”

“Yeah, we should.” We moved forward. “We need to find a place to do the ritual. Where are we going anyway? I’m following you.”

“Trixie doesn’t know. The map is pretty limited, but there is this storage room against the west wall that she thought could be useful. Should be directly above us.”

“Yeah, well unless there’s a ladder leading there, we need to find another way up.” I pointed at the thin pipe hanging from the roof. “We’re not squeezing up there.”

“Trixie was going to blow a hole in the roof.”

“No. Preserve your magic. And you’ll need space to draw the runes. If the floor is missing, then that’ll be a problem. Not to mention all the changelings that would draw in.”

“Where are they anyways?” asked Trixie. “The illusions would have given us some time, but not this much.”

“I have no idea.” I said to her over my shoulder. “Come on, I smell fresh air this way.”

“How could you possibly smell that?” asked Trixie as she followed.

“I don’t know. Bats have good smell, right? Maybe it’s a nightkin thing.”

“Bats have good smell.” She looked at me as though I was an idiot. “Actually, can you scout with the whole shadow magic thing?”

After a moment I paused. “Maybe...” With some effort I tapped into the shadows and started to try and feel them... but no. It didn’t work like that. I couldn’t... feel with them. I was about to give up when I noticed something... the shadows in one direction were... weaker. “This way... I think.” I picked a left-branching tunnel. “At least... I think there’s light down here.”

“See? We make a good team.” The bag on her back shifted as she began walking before me. “Come, we must hurry. This lack of aggression is getting on Trixie’s nerve.”

We made our way through the damp, smelly, shit stained sewers and found ourselves heading upwards. After a moment, we came up to a set of bars blocking our exit. But beyond that I could see Fort Ashguard.

I whistled at the view. “Strongest fortress in the Kingdom .Looks like we’re inside the outer wall. If we come out here we can move through the soldiers’ town and into the inner wall.”

“And we got in how easily?” she asked as disguises came up.

“I know...” I looked through the abandoned streets. “Maybe Luna’s plan worked and most of them are dead.”

“Then where are the bodies?” asked Trixie. “In fact, where is everygryphon?”

“I have no idea... They had guards and patrols and everything at White Peak.” With a shrug I turned to her. “Want to find another way? This has for me feeling pretty suspicious.”

“Trixie thinks that would be best...”

“Alright, let’s find another way in... one with more cover.” After a second I added. “And changelings.”

“Is it wrong that more changelings would be reassuring?” asked Trixie.

“A bit, yeah...” I paused and set out with my shadow magic, trying to find more moonlight. “Nuh, nothing. You got any ideas?” I couldn’t help but notice that Trixie actually looked really hot coated in changeling blood. Was that weird? Whatever. Maybe Nightmare had a point with the whole murder is sexy-

My back arched and I fought the urge to throw up. Oh goddesses, no! Please don’t tell me I just seriously thought that.

“Gilda? You alright?”

I stared at her for a moment before I answered. “I really fucking hope so.” A very slow swallow of air. “I doubt it, but I hope so.”

“Alright... We can talk if you want.” Her eyes twitched as another changeling came into view only for it to receive a knife to the head. “Maybe once we’re somewhere safer.”

“No, shit... Forget it, I’m just being dramatic. Let’s go.” I pulled my knife out of the changeling’s head and cleaned it on its carapace. “Do you have any idea for another way up? Cause I can’t find any more light.”

“Well Trixie could blow a hole in the roof,” she mumbled as she pulled out her map again. “To the left then straight ahead should lead to the... dungeon...? Yes, dungeon. Cell. Prison. Whatever.”

I snorted at the irony. “How many damn dungeons am I gonna wind up in before this mess is over? This’ll be my third just this month.”

“Could be worse, at least we’re not in the dungeon this time,” said Trixie. “And Trixie seriously needs a bath. This muck is disgusting.”

Looking back at her I shrugged and said, “I’ve had worse. I mean, heck, I used to roll in manure just to get out of cooking, right? And you saw me when I came out the other end of White Peak. I was fucking filthy.”

“Well Trixie isn’t you. Trixie prefers not being coated in ichor. And where are all the changelings!” her voice echoed back to us.

“I know, it’s freaking me out. I had to kill like... thirty gryphons at White Peak, and that was before I even got to the lab.” We took the turn Trixie found on her map, and I led the way to a small ladder going up to a hatch. “Up here?” I looked across at her. “With any luck, there'll be a thousand changelings up there.”

“And now that you’ve said that, it will be true,” sighed Trixie. “Can I please blow the door off at least?”

With a roll of my eyes and a gentle smile I poked her on the nose. “Aww... you’re so adorable when you want to blow shit up.” Was I being sarcastic? Why don’t you take a guess. “Look, if you think you can spare the magic, it’s your call.”

“Trixie just wants to blow something up,” she said. “It helps relieve stress.”

“Do you really need to?” I started to climb up the rungs. “I’m telling you Trix, just like swimming through a river of shit, you just have to get past your discomfort and deal with it.”

“Well Trixie was hoping this would be the last time she’d have to do anything like that.”

When I got to the top, I pushed the bottom of the hatch up slightly and peeked through. When I didn't see any changelings I pushed it all the way open and reached down to pick Trixie up. “I’ve actually been thinking about... you know, what we’ll do when all this over.”

She ignored my outstretched claw and climbed out by herself. “And?”

“Well... is life ever gonna get normal for us? I mean... how are wegonna make our bits and... You heard Nightmare, right? I’m like, the first nightkin in a thousand years. Is Luna really just gonna let me walk off? And even if she does, Celestia had all the other nightkin killed, won’t she come after me? At the very least, she’s not gonna let me leave without keeping an eye on things. And then there’s the Wide Eyes. They know who we are now. Can we really just walk away and expect this all to blow over?”

“We can try. There’s no point being scared of every moment you know.” Trixie peered around at the clean prison. “Actually, one of these cells would be perfect to cast the spell in. If they storm us it’ll be messy, but...”

I cracked my neck. “I can deal with a head on charge.” I held the cell door open for her. “Anyway, I’m not saying we shouldn’t try, I’m saying we should... I dunno. Try to come up with some other options?”

“Hm... fake death?” she suggested as she began drawing the runes on the ground.

Pulling the door shut between us, I stepped out into the corridor and looked back and forth for any changelings. “Maybe, but... I dunno. Don’t you think it’ll be a bit hard to do that? We’d need fake corpses and people to witness our deaths... Plus, I’m not sure I want to do that to mum.”

“Well I’m certain Grace will be willing to help with the identification, we’ve got changelings, and Trixie is powerful enough to create a dazzling explosion of the highest magnitude. And, of course, Grace can tell your mother. Done and done.” With a flourish of her brush, the first rune was complete and she immediately began on the one using changeling blood.

“Alright then, say we do fake our deaths, what then? Go back to Equestria and... travel the world as a unicorn and gryphon and... what? No one notices that? I mean... I don’t need to tell you how uncommon gryphon-pony couples are... let alone two stand-outs like us.” My head turned at the sound of dripping water, but there was nothing there so I went back to the conversation. “All I’m saying is... We really need to put some thought into this. I don’t like going in without a plan.”

Trixie snorted, “Could have fooled me.” A bowl suddenly found itself before me, “A bit of blood please.”

I drew my knife to cut myself, but hesitated. “Are you sure this won’t like... make you mine?”

“Trixie has no clue what will happen. All she can give you are estimates and guesses.” She smiled up at me. “And don’t worry, Trixie got a genius moment a couple seconds ago. Modify the spell to locate others with the same... er... ‘taint’ as you, no offense. A scrying spell using your modified blood-slash-magic as the identifying key feature.”

After a moment I frowned at her. “But... my magic isn’t the same as theirs... I mean, their magic is an improved version of what they used to have, my magic is some bastard mix of Luna’s shadow shit and normal gryphon magic. By checking for any similar magic, you’ll only find Luna and any gryphons that are nearby, right?”

“You were both transformed by the same chemicals, therefore there should be some sort of underlying similarities.” Her brush stopped mid stroke. “Trixie knows it’s not perfect, and potentially completely wrong, but it’s the safest option. It’ll allow us to identify where the changelings are and where Luna is.”

I tossed it around in my mind for a minute, before I cut my wrist sideways and held it out for her to get blood from. “Quick, I want to stitch this up real soon.”

After a couple of seconds, she pulled the bowl away and touched her horn to my wrist. A blue glow surrounded the wound, and sure, it didn’t magically heal or anything, but the pain did stop, and a glowing blue band appeared over it as the blood clotted. Magical bandaid, who knew?

“That’ll help with the pain and blood loss, but you better patch it up quickly. There’s a first aid kit in the bag, it should have been magically sealed against water,” said Trixie as she went back to the ritual.

As she scrawled my blood on the floor- Wow. That’s not something I’ll ever say again. Anyway, as she was doing that, I took out the first aid kit and stitched my wrist shut. Good thing I know my blood lines so well, or I might have cut it the wrong way and badly hurt myself.

“That’s enough blood, right?” I asked her as I pulled the last stitch through and drew the wound shut.

“More than enough.” Trixie stepped back. “Grab the large map, Trixie is about to start identifying everything.”

Checking my wrists one last time, I walked towards the saddlebags and grabbed the map. “I can’t stitch for shit. That’s just a mess.” After flattening the map out in front of Trixie I said, “That’s gonna scar.”

“We’ll find someone to do a better job of it,” she replied over her shoulder. “Ready?”

I stepped back out into the hall and looked around again. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Trixie breathed out slowly as her horn charged up. With the bowl in the center of it all, my blood began glowing as she peered into it like a crystal ball or something. Without speaking a word, she dipped her brush into my blood and began drawing crosses on the two maps next to her, all while acting like she was in some sort of a trance.

If my experience in White Peak taught me anything, it was that these things like to swarm when someone’s busy doing magic. With two knives out, I stood ready and waiting for changelings. The constant goddess damn dripping kept me twitching. My eyes roved over any possible entrance, just waiting for those bastards to appear. One of the cell doors creaked open and I dived towards it. As I rolled to my feet for a fight, I noticed no one was there and in a panic dashed back to Trixie’s cell.

No one was there either.

I tapped into my shadow magic, and swiveled my head around. Nothing. I couldn’t see a fucking hint of anything.

Growling in annoyance, I walked from cell to cell, searching and waiting for some violence. Nothing happened. The feathers on the back of my neck rose, and I found myself twitching uncontrollably at every sound.

Hate and Anger reared their heads in my mind, and without thinking about it I pulled the shadows into me to make a tiny spike of solid black. I began throwing them at every noise as I shouted, “Get the fuck out here! Come on mother fuckers, let’s do this!”

Silence screamed back at me, and I responded with a roar of my own. I blinked after a moment as I realized what I was doing.

“Fuck, I am going crazy,” I mumbled as I padded back in front of Trixie’s cell. I tried to calm down and wait... but no. I just couldn’t bring my hackles down, or release my hold on the shadows. Hate and Anger weren’t in control anymore, but they were watching closely, ready to seize control at a moment’s notice.

Crap. I hadn’t let them out. Hate and Anger had just grabbed me on their own, I didn’t need to call them... shit. That wasn’t good.

I pawed the ground in irritation, testily waiting for violence, but none came.

The glow finally disappeared and Trixie leaned against the wall wearily. “Done,” she panted. “Any troubles?”

“I think I’m completely goddess damn insane, but no. No changelings or anything.” I frowned from one door to another. “Where the fuck are they?”

“Not here apparently.” A mage light appeared, letting us get a better look at the map. “Apart from a single dot here, none of them are in the fort.”

“Well, where are they then?” I fidgeted. “I’m so bloody sick of them not being here.”

“They’r- Oh, we’re fucked. They’re in the castle and... at this location by the river?” She turned the map around so I could get a better look. “Is this site important?”

My stomach took that exact moment to fall off a cliff. “That’s the Rind. The Kingdom pumps water from there directly to Aviana... that’s like, half the city’s water supply. Not to mention all the towns and villages between here and there, and the settlements just outside the city itself. Oh, and it draws water from the single largest aquifer in the entire fucking kingdom! That’s like, a tenth of the population at least.”

“Oh. Oh fuck. Fuck!” And then she continued to swear for the next hour straight.

After the novelty wore off I shouted, “Snap out of it!” And shook her, “We need to move now. Calm down, and tell me where Luna is.”

“I don’t know! All the dots look the same and felt the same to me. But, knowing Luna, she probably went after one while Grace went after the other cluster. Luna’s not so stupid to head to the castle so she must be heading to the Rind.” Trixie paused. “Also we need to get outside. Trixie should be able to set off a flare to draw attention here. With any luck it’ll catch more guards’ attention.”

“We need Luna, she can do the ritual and kill the changelings. We’re currently at the bottom of the fortress keep right? We can either go back down through the tunnels and out the original sewer exit we found, or we can go up through the castle and find our way to the river from there. Which do you think will be quicker?”

“We’re not going into the sewer with your wound.”

“Castle then,” I grabbed her hoof and ran up towards the stairs. “Come on, it shouldn’t be too hard to find our way there.”

“Trixie can’t run on three hooves,” she yelled.

Her hoof dropped from my grip and I bolted up the stairs. We emerged into some room I didn’t recognize, and I paused for long enough to think about where the gates were when I saw them from the outside. After a moment, I picked a corridor and led us in that direction. We emerged into the main hall of the fortress, and after a moment’s thought I ran us up past the main hall and towards the inner wall.

Huh, I have really good sense of direction, don’t I?

“I can fly us to the river faster from the wall,” I shouted at Trixie over my shoulder.

“Alright,” she yelled.

We ran through a bunch of rooms, and I led us higher and higher and further outwards. I got lost once, and had to backtrack through a few rooms, but overall I was able to find my way easily enough. We eventually burst into the general’s office, and I found myself stopping in front of a display case.

“Shit... these are the blades of the Thirteenth Legion,” I muttered as I looked at the goop stained front of the case. “Annibal used these. They have bloody dragon bone hilts.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw Trixie glaring at me. “What? I’ll need some swords if we’re going to be fighting a ton of changelings, right?”

“Fine.” With a burst of magic, the glass shattered and she pulled out every single last weapon. “Happy? That’s your birthday gift by the way, so enjoy it.”

I gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You fucking rock, Trix!” I quickly slid two short swords into sheaths I robbed from another pair of blades, and grabbed the wing blades and strapped those on too. With that done, I turned to Trixie. “Anything you want? Seriously, some of these things are priceless and should probably be in a museum. We’re not gonna get another chance to rob shit like this again.”

“Take it all. What we can’t use can be sold,” she said as she pushed me along.

“Fuck yes!” I snatched up a table cloth and wrapped a bunch of rare and valuable stuff in it. I threw the bundle in my saddlebag and threw open the door. “Come on, the wall’s this way. We should be getting close.”

Running through without waiting for an answer, I proved myself right a few doors and rooms later as we burst into the moonlight and onto the wall.

I scanned with my eyes, till I saw the water processing plant. “There!” I pointed at it. “Where are all the changelings? Probably inside, right?”

“Apparently. Maybe Trixie could just blow the place up?”

“Didn’t we have to forget about the explosives because of the swim? What could you blow the place up with?”

“Trixie can improvise. A bit of magic, some fertilizer, some accelerant...” She waved her hoof in the air. “It’s not as hard as it sounds.”

“Where are we gonna get fertilizer in a fortress? This isn’t a farm.”

“Well can we set it on fire at least?”

I rolled my eyes. “What is this to you? Some Hayly Wood action movie? Not everything’s gonna end in a giant explosion. Our best bet is still Luna doing the ritual. I suppose we can light the town on fire for a distraction, but I’ve gotta tell you Trix, I doubt we’ll be blowing shit up.”

“Shame.” Without any warning, she leapt onto my back. “Now fly! Fly my pretty, fly!”

“Trix... the fuck are you doing?”

“We’re flying to the water works right? So fly!” Her hind hooves dug into my sides in a giddy-up motion.

“...get off my back.”

Trixie slowly slid off me. “Fine.”

With a roll of my eyes, I wrapped my claws around her and lifted her in the air. “Come on, you can’t honestly expect to fly on my back can you?”

“It was worth a shot.” Trixie smiled up at me sheepishly.

“Let me put it this way, Trix. Am I ever gonna bother trying to find out whether you’ll let me ride you or not?” I asked her as I angled down to land on a roof in the soldiers’ town, not far from the water plant.

“Trixie will answer that in a second.” Fireworks suddenly illuminated the area above the fort. “That should draw guards to the fort and the dead changelings should hopefully alert them. Now where were we? Oh yes, Trixie would most certainly let you ride her if it wouldn’t end in her back breaking from your weight.”

I landed us in between two log houses that were cast deep in shadow thanks to the light display, and with a little shadow magic from me, we were completely shrouded in darkness.

“That’s not the point, Trix. I mean... I got a bit of dignity don’t I? Would you seriously let me ride you if I weighed... shit I don’t know, thirty kilos less? Crap. How much do I weigh? I haven’t seen a scale in years.”

“A lot,” replied Trixie as her hooves touched soil once more, “A lot.”

“Hey! I’m not fat.” I poked her in the shoulder. “And you didn’t answer my question. Admit it, there’s no way you’d ever let anyone ride on your back.”

“Depends on the context,” she said, “and we really should be focusing on the job at hoof.”

“You’re dodging the question because you don’t want to admit I’m right.” I muttered and shut up after that. Overhead I could see a ton of changelings buzzing towards the flashes of light. Once the number of them cleared up, I poked my head and saw- “Shit... that’s gotta be at least five hundred changelings.” I whispered to Trixie as I pulled back. “And there’ll be more in the plant. Not to mention we haven’t seen a single gryphon from the Thirteenth Legion. Where the fuck are they?”

“Trixie doesn’t know...” For once, she actually seemed to be taking tonight seriously. “And where’s Luna? By all accounts she should be here, so why hasn’t she acted yet?”

“There’s almost two thousand gryphons in the Thirteenth...” I whispered as I looked back at the teeming mass of changelings that was only growing bigger. “We need to move, I don’t think we’re pulling anymore changelings out with those fireworks.”

“Agreed.” The air around us shimmered. “An invisibility spell to keep us hidden. Where would they dump the chemicals in from? Just from the banks, or is there an ideal location?”

I shrugged. “How would I know? I’m a thug not a mechanic. Um... I guess they’d want to mix it in with the drinking water after it’s processed, so... probably inside, mixing water into the pumps leading to Aviana. That makes sense, right?”

“Makes sense. Now, how do we get in?” she asked as we peered over the top of the barrels we were hiding behind. “And where would that room be located?”

“How the heck would I know where it is? We could probably find a map inside somewhere, and we could get in by one of t-”

“Stupid!” Trixie’s hoof slammed into the wall. “We just cut the pipes. Blow them up! Remove them! Whatever. If we do that, then it doesn’t matter how much they dump in, it will not be able to make it into the city.”

After a moment I smiled, “You’re a genius! If the pump to the city is broken, that water isn’t even gonna reach Aviana, and the chemicals will just be diluted in the stream. I take back what I said earlier, explosions are always the best answer.”

“Trixie thought you would come around eventually.” She began slinking off to the right and I immediately followed. “We’ll need to do enough damage to make repairs difficult or lengthy. Multiple, large sections torn out and we need to be able to get out afterwards. Ideas?”

“Shit yeah. This is a military bastion, Trix. There’s a zeb powder stockroom around here somewhere that we could easily blow shit up with. We just need to know where to blow up. Maybe the pumps? Those things are huge and take ages to repair even with a full work crew and unicorn magic. Something that these freaks don’t have.”

“So when Trixie first announced blowing up the area, you act all innocent and ‘with what?’ and now you’re telling Trixie you’ve got zeb powder in there!?” she hissed. “Just how explosive is zeb powder anyways?”

I chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head. “Uh... It slipped my mind?” Worst lie ever. Apparently Trixie thought so too with the glare she was giving me. “Well excuse me if I think giving you high explosives is a bad idea with the way you love throwing the fucking fireworks around.”

“Shut up,” she snapped.

Once more we found ourselves hiding behind some barrels as we gazed into the courtyard. There were easily three or four dozen large changelings in the area. Every single last corner was covered, gryphon archers were spaced out on the walls, and that wasn’t even mentioning the wyverns they had, which would no doubt smell us. There was no fucking way in.

I tapped Trixie on the shoulder, and jerked my head back, signaling her to follow me. Silently we padded deeper into the shadows, and I quietly slipped under one of the cabins. After I heard Trixie crawling along behind me, I led us through the bare soil to the other side. After a few more cabins, there was enough distance between us and the gryphons that I figured I could risk talking again.

“I don’t know how to mix zebra powders so they explode hard, but I can get them really hot. Just a stain of it can burn through steel like candle wax.” I pushed her back around a corner, and kept moving cover to cover, and taking a very winding path so if they try to track us with wyverns they’ll go on a wild goose chase and get bored. “Also, we’ll need ash. Or maybe pure alcohol. Whatever. And something to destroy our sent. With the shit all over us, those wyverns’ll pick us up before we can get near the place, invisible or not.”

“Alcohol won’t help much,” said Trixie. “Think we can explode some over the courtyard? Manure? If we can get the entire place smelling the same, then we’ll be able to get in.”

“That means we’ll have to redirect the flow of sewage somehow. Uh... Hey! Remember that grate we decided not to go out of because there weren’t enough changelings? What if we break that open and block up the tunnel so it floods? The sewage will pour out and flood the camp. Remember that spell you cast back in the castle that put a hole in the roof? Could you cast that again? Or, do you think you could collapse the tunnel with it?”

“We’d have to redirect the flow somehow.”

“Well, they had all those floodgates right? If we shut those we’ll redirect the flow of the water, won’t we?”

“Do we have enough time?” We both glanced at the mass of changelings above Ashguard.

“You’re right... Shit, we don’t have time. How do we get shit from down there up here?”

“Is there anything else we could use? Something pungent and easily found?”

“Well... pure alcohol or enough ash will destroy our sent, or... I dunno... Maybe we could lure the wyverns away?” I glanced back at Trixie. “If I showed you the zeb powders, you could get in there on your own while I lead the wyverns to the fortress door.”

“No deal. You’ll get slaughtered,” said Trixie.

“I dunno, I’ve never hunted wyvern before and I always wanted to try it. I hear the meat tastes like snake.”

“No. Deal.” I found myself drawn into a fierce hug. “We’ll get through this together.”

After a second I hugged her back. “I wasn’t trying to kill myself again Trix, just trying to get at least one of us-” I broke off as I caught a whiff of the changeling blood in her hair. “Oh, gross.” I backed away from her. “Changeling blood smells like honey and corpse. You’ve got it all over you.”

Trixie’s eyes widened and I knew I had the exact same look on my face.

“Changeling blood,” I said after a moment. “We coat ourselves in changeling blood.”

“Trixie is already coated in it. You’re not. We need to find ourselves another dead changeling.”

“Yeah you’ve got a lot on you, but you’ll probably need more. Can’t be too careful. If we crack one open there should be enough guts in it to get both of us nice and gooped up.”

“And if we kill one, they’ll know.” Trixie turned and just stared at the mass of changelings above Ashguard. “We’ll have to go back down, won’t we?”

I sighed and nodded. “Yeah, we will.” After thinking for a second I said, “Can you teleport us back down there?”

“Should be able to, though Trixie will need to find somewhere safe to hide the glow. Teleporting takes all her concentration.”

After signaling for her to follow me, I shattered the window into a cabin and helped her into the room. With the curtains drawn, and mattresses from the beds propped over each of the windows, I tapped into shadow magic and darkened the room further.

“Alright, Trix. Go for it.”

Trixie nodded at me, and lowered her horn. Her blue glow surrounded it, and after a few moments of buildup, there was a flash and a pop as the room vanished from around us. When the world reappeared I fell to the floor and tried to keep the half-digested food inside my stomach. After swallowing my pork for a third time that day I groaned.

“I fucking hate magic. Never gonna get used to that.”

“Sorry...” mumbled Trixie as she rubbed her forehead. “It’s not any easier on me you know.”

“No, I mean, doesn’t matter who casts the spell, or how short the distance is, I always end up eating my lunch a second time.” I stuck out my tongue. “Crap that tastes bad.”

“That is... disgusting. Don’t be expecting any kisses.” She stood up on shaky hooves and looked around. “And there should be a changeling corpse somewhere around here.”

“Didn’t one get pinned to the wall?” I asked her, and looked over my shoulder. “Yeah, see it? Right over there.”

Rising to all fours I walked over to it and pulled the knife out. I pointed that to Trixie. “These cost bits you know. Try to get them back when you throw them.” I slung the bug over my shoulder and walked back to Trixie. It slapped to the ground between us with a buggy crunch. “You ready?”

“No,” she replied with a sigh. “But I suppose we have no choice.”

“Story of my life.” I snorted as I dug a talon under a piece of its exoskeleton. With a grunt I ripped it off, and that nasty fucking smell overpowered the goddess damn sewage that polluted the air. “Oh, fuck. Smell that.” 

With a wet slurp, I tore the bug open further and my eyes watered. 

“You okay, Trix?” I asked her with concern. “You’re looking pretty ‘bugged’. Ba dum, tsh.” I made the sound of a snare drum with my mouth and mimed the motion.

For that I got a face full of goop.

“Worth it,” I muttered as I rubbed my eyes clear. “You ever eaten bug?” I asked her as I took a great big clawful of gunk and slathered it over myself. Oh goddesses the smell! I gagged and covered my mouth. “Ugh... fourth time I’ve tasted that meal.”

“Stop complaining, at least you’re a carnivore,” said Trixie as she slathered herself up in the gunk. 

I hated myself for thinking she looked sexy right then. And I utterly despised myself for half wishing the goop was red rather than a yellow green. Turning away and shivering, I said to her, “Bats eat bugs right? You’d think this wouldn’t be so bad for me.”

“You’re not a bat,” she said.

“I know, I know,” I muttered and looked back towards her. “Just saying, we really don’t know shit about this nightkin crap. When we see Luna, if I don’t kill her, I’m making her talk.”

“You couldn’t kill her anyways.” Trixie looked down at her cape and hat mournfully. “Trixie will never get the smell out of these now.”

I shrugged. “Little sacrifices? You can replace them, right?”

“That she can...” She didn’t sound particularly happy about it though. Looks like I know what I’ll be getting her for Hearts Warming Eve. Or her birthday.The one that came first.

“Well, we better move now. We don’t know how much time we have.” I glanced across at her. “First thing’s first, we need those zeb powders. There’ll probably be a warehouse in the town, and it should be pretty far away from the barracks and cabins.”

“And let me guess, it’ll be heavily guarded and locked.”

I shrugged at her. “I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. Like I said, never been to Ashguard before.”

“Great. Very well, let us crawl our way back out then. Hopefully they’ll keep medical supplies there as well so Trixie can fix up your wound properly.”

With a nod, I led us back up the tunnel to the sewer grate we hadn’t left with the first time. With a little pause for a quick teleport, we were out and I was leading us through the soldiers’ town again.

“Where is everyone?” I asked Trixie over my shoulder. “There’s two thousand gryphons in the legion, and we haven’t even seen more than a hundred.”

“How is Trixie supposed to know?” she asked. “Just count our blessings.”

“I don’t believe in good luck, only bad.” I peeked around a corner, before looking back at Trixie. “If something can go wrong, it will, when it’s gonna fuck you up most.”

“Trixie believes in creating your own luck,” she replied with a smirk. “A bit of sleight of hoof, some misdirection, and anything could happen.”

I smirked back at her. “You say that now, but who are you gonna blame when it turns out the entire legion’s been mutated into one giant blood and bone abomination with a thousand barbed dicks that can only scream ‘cunt, cunt, need cunt,’ and it’s heading straight at you?”

“What.” Trixie stopped walking and just stared at me as though I had grown another head. “What.”

With a shrug of my shoulders, I faced the front again. “Hey, if it happens, then at least I warned you. Now anything we run into won’t seem as bad as that.”

“What. You are insane.”

“Hey, it’s not schizophrenia if the world really is trying to kill you. Just saying, I bet someone guessed Nightmare Moon was gonna come back, and they were told to shut up and stop being crazy.”

“Not helping your case at all,” said Trixie as she rolled her eyes. “And seriously, how did Trixie manage to fall for... this? Must have been drunk at the time. Now, can we please focus on the mission?”

“I’m just saying, expect the worst. I always do.” I looked to the front again and frowned. “Now, if I was a warehouse full of zeb powders and rape monster abominations, where would I be?”

“Somewhere non-descript and where if it does explode, it’ll kill lots of civilians and not important gryphons?” said Trixie.

“That’d be near the outer western wall then. Come on.”

It wasn’t long until we found it, and yeah, it was heavily guarded. 

“Big surprise,” I muttered. “Got that invisibility spell ready? We’re gonna need it to get in.” With one claw I pointed at the gryphon archers on the roof. “These aren’t the sort of guys that’ll miss either.” Crap, I thought I could see some waster cloaks up there. “Crap, I think they have some of the desert rangers with them.”

“Trixie takes it, that’s bad?”

I nodded. “Yeah, they’re the gryphons that range in the Changeling Wastes and Dragon Territory. Uh... Archers and trackers, supposed to be the best in the world. But we’re gryphons so we say that a lot. Still, even if they’re not the best in the world, they have a real reputation, and I doubt they didn’t earn it.”

“Well we could still try to sneak past as long as we stay invisible, silent and not bump into any of them,” said Trixie as she gazed up at the archers. “Though the door is closed...”

“Well, there should be other doors, and if there isn’t we could try a window.” With a sigh I pulled back into cover and Trixie followed me. “Shit, this is gonna be harder than I thought. Alright, so invisibility can get us close, and if we’re fast and quiet we can get to the storage house, and to get inside we’ll just have to improvise.” I nodded at Trixie. “Stay quiet and follow me. You ready?”

“No, but what choice does Trixie have?” she muttered.

“Hey, just think. When all this is over, we have that date to go on.”

Trixie immediately brightened up. “Lead the way fearless leader!”

“Shhh,” I winced and hissed at her. “Fuck, keep it down.” Peaked around the corner, I was glad to see no change in the guards roving. After glancing back at Trixie I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Maybe you should stay behind or something.”

“Trixie thinks not. As soon as you’re alone you’ll do something stupid no doubt,” she replied.

“What happened to ‘fearless leader’?” I muttered back.

“Fearless does not mean smart.”

“Well then, why follow me at all?”

“To make sure you don’t do anything that’s especially stupid,” she said. “Now, are we going or not?”

With a frown I nodded. “Just cast your damn spell. Honestly, the way you act, anyone’d think I never survived on my own since I was twelve.” 

“Trixie’s just... worried...” She looked away, unable to meet my gaze.

I sighed and squeezed her shoulder. “Relax, Trix. I made it out of White Peak, right? That was almost as bad as this.” In White Peak I had my ass saved by a goddess more than once and almost died.  It’s where I got those nice new scars. She must have been thinking the same because she looked down at my chest and drew a hoof along the scar.

“Well none of that matters anyways, since the closer Trixie is to you, the easier it will be for her to maintain the illusion spell.” With her hooves against my chest, she leaned up for a kiss. “So no getting rid of Trixie that easily.”

I kissed her back and pulled away. “Alright, let’s do this.” 

In spite of myself, I couldn’t help but feel a little thrill of adrenaline hit me. I can’t deny it, I was excited to be running into another mess like this. A little part of me hoped our cover would be blown and I’d have to fight my way out, test my skills against soldiers and killers rather than citizens and scientists. I really fucking hope Trixie doesn’t learn how to read minds anytime soon.

I waited for the sound of magic, before I padded out of cover with Trixie in tow. Or at least I think she was. I couldn’t really hear her which was a good thing. As we got closer to the building, I didn’t notice any significant change in the way the guards were acting. One of the archers wearing the dusty grey brown cloaks seemed to be getting edgy, but his eyes didn’t track us and I had no real reason to believe he knew we were there.

When I got around the side, I found an open window and climbed up to it quietly. After peeking through to make sure the coast was clear, I climbed back down and groped around till I felt Trixie. Silently, I pushed under so she was on my back and crossed her hooves over my chest. Then, as quietly as I could with a pony on my back, I climbed up again and slid through the window and climbed down inside.

After letting Trixie off my back, I padded through the building till I came to a storage closet and picked the lock open. I pulled Trixie inside and closed the door behind us.

“You okay Trix?” I asked as I turned around. “Sorry I had to pick you up out there, but I didn’t have time to ask.”

“You groped Trixie,” she replied with a glare, though it was clear her heart wasn’t really in it. “The Great and Powerful Trixie did not give you permission to touch her perfect flank!”

I blinked in confusion. “Oh, I thought that was your face.”

“Suuuuuuure you did.” I couldn’t see her, but I just knew she was huffing.

“You were invisible. I was waving my hand through empty air for like a minute before I finally touched flesh.”

“Yeah, her flank. It was on purpose and you know it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, let’s just grab the powders and go.” I looked at the shelves around the room. “We’re gonna need a way to carry a fair bit of this stuff.”

“Or we could just grab as much as we need, set the place on fire and get out?” asked Trixie hopefully. “A nice distraction as well.”

What was up with Trixie and blowing stuff up anyways?

I paused for a second. “Well, that could work actually.” I looked around at the supply room. “They already know we’re here, and another distraction could be a good idea.”

“Finally. To think Trixie would have been on an adventure, and nothing would have been blown up.” The grin on her face reminded me too much of Nightmare Moon for my liking. “This shall be fun.”

With a roll of my eyes I started grabbing sacks of powder. “Come on, we’re after ones with this symbol, this symbol, and... this one. We’ll need... crap I dunno how big the pipes are so... just grab as many as you can put in your saddlebag.”

“Trixie is far ahead of you,” she replied as she walked down the aisle, her magic grabbing things left right and center. “Like Trixie has always said, anything you can do, Trixie can do better.”

My eyes needed another rolling. So I gave it to them. “So you know your zeb powders then? You can tell the difference between a thirty B and a thirty two B plus?”

“You said you wanted ones with those symbols, so Trixie grabbed the ones with those symbols. Neatly divided also between the three different pouches in her saddlepack. Do you dare doubt the Great and Powerful One?”

“Well I’m just saying, if you don’t know shit about powders and need to follow my instructions, doesn’t that make me... you know, better at this than you?”

“How many bags has Trixie collected? How many have you collected?” Without waiting for a reply, she began marching down the aisle once more. “Trixie thought as much.”

I sighed and started packing my own pouches with as much as I could carry. By the time I was done Trixie was standing behind me and very deliberately examining her hoof with the occasional smug glance in my direction.

“Yes Trixie. You’re better at collecting a lot of shit than I am.” I gave a slow clap. “Congratulations.”

“Silence! How dare you mock Trixie in such a manner!”

“Oh, but I wasn’t joking.” My voice was as dry as I could get it, but I had my pose exaggeratedly innocent with eyelash battering and floppy wristed claw waving. “I was just admitting how much better you are than me at menial repetitive tasks.”

“S-Shut up!” Her tail smacked me in the face. “And if Trixie is better than you, she is still better than you. How does it feel to be beaten by a unicorn?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, it stings. Like... ouch. This was something I really had my heart set on. Like... I’m just disappointed with myself.”

“Oh shut up,” she said. “And hurry up!”

I buttoned up my last pouch and turned to her. “Alright, we’re done here. Cast the spell and let’s go... or could we teleport back to the cabin? Might be quicker and easier.”

“Trixie would prefer that she reserve her magic for more dangerous situations.”

“Fair enough. Invisibility it is.” I wave a claw at her. “Well? Waiting on you.”

Trixie rolled her eyes at me, but the familiar shimmering was back. “And this time, ask before you grope Trixie’s flank.”

“Goddesses damn it. You’re not gonna let that go are you?”

“What do you think?” I could just hear the smirk in her voice. “It’s not Trixie’s fault she is so irresistible.”

“I couldn’t even see you, but no... That doesn’t matter because all I could do was stare at ‘dat flank’.” After checking that the coast was clear I pushed the door all the way open. “Just climb on my back when we get to the window, and I won’t have to touch you any more than that.”

“Exactly. Trixie’s flank is so irresistible, that even while invisible, ponies and gryphons alike are drawn to it. And stop talking, the illusion won’t stop sounds.”

I would have pointed out that that was a convenient excuse for her to get the last word in, but she had a point. When we got to the window, I paused for long enough to let Trixie climb onto my back, before I climbed up and through again. Sneaking back past the guards was nerve wracking, because I could’ve sworn those Desert Rangers have a sixth sense or something. They always seemed to be looking in our general direction, and one of them even followed behind us for a few steps before getting this really annoyed and confused look on his face.

After a few pulse pounding minutes, we were back among the cabins and on our way to the water pumping station.

Now that was an experience I don’t want to go through again. Wyverns are fucking scary. Like, holy shit. When one of them started snuffling the earth just where we’d passed I was battling every fight or flight instinct I had. Its handlers walked behind it with a leash, but... It was a snake-dog-thing the size of a bloody tiger with wings. I mean, shit. How is that crap not scary?

The part that really freaked me out was that the entire time I was thinking about just how much fun it would be to take one on. Those half a foot long fangs, the claws that made mine seem blunt and tiny, and the scary fast way they moved all made me just want to throw myself at it and see if I couldn’t take it.

What the fuck is wrong with me? Since when have I gotten so damn obsessed with stupid crap that’ll get me killed? I mean... was it White Peak, or... I was baiting Luna for a long time before that. Was some part of me trying to get her to come after me? Trying to make her attack me like she did in the basement.

Trixie really needs a better girlfriend than me.

The moment we were inside the water works I let out a huge sigh of relief. “You okay Trix?” I asked her as I peeked down the empty hall.

“Trixie is fine,” she said, sounding very scared.

The corner of my beak turned up. “Yeah, did you see those things? That one with the red stripe looked like it knew we were there for a second.”

“Sh-Shut up. That’s impossible, Trixie’s illusions are flawless.” If anything, her voice was even shakier now.

“Relax, Trix. You gotta remember that animals are way more perceptive than sentients. I mean, those things could probably see problems with your illusion that you or I never could. Fuck, they say animals can smell fear, right?” I put my arm around her shoulder. “I doubt it was anything you did wrong.”

Then I noticed how pale she was looking.

“Hey, don’t worry Trix. I’m here, and we made it.” I said feeling a little guilty. After giving her a reassuring squeeze I continued. “Besides, I could totally take them.”

At my hug, Trixie snuggled into me, and when I tried to let go, she stayed by my side. With her body pressed so close against mine, I could feel her trembling like a leaf. “Yeah... yeah you could.”

Holy crap! She believed that? Who the fuck could take one of those things on?! It was twice my size, twice my weight, and armored. Next to that, I am a bloody pussy cat! There was no fucking way I’d even scratch one of those things if it closed with me.

Thank the goddesses she couldn’t read my mind. “Relax, Trix. I’m here, and all we have in front of us is a horde of mutant changelings and gryphon warriors.” After a second I added. “And a mutant penis monster.”

“You are so mature.” She punched my chest, but didn’t make any move to pull away.

“Hey, it’s out there somewhere.” I chuckled and slowly felt her trembling stop. “Crap, I really shouldn’t have brought you here should I? This place is way too dangerous.”

“Trixie wanted to come along.” Grabbing my claw, she began dragging me through the corridors. “Come on, we have a goal to accomplish, do we not?”

I frowned as I followed along behind her. “Trixie, you don’t have to act tough. If you want to stay behind, you can.”

“Trixie is scared, but... Trixie still wants to come.” The only thing I could hear in her voice was determination.

Personally, I wasn’t sure I wanted her to come. “Alright, if you’re sure...”

“Positive. Let us keep moving, we cannot risk getting caught.” A pulse of magic expanded in all directions and she frowned. “There seems to only be one living being in here.”

“Alright, I’m calling it now: The beast with a thousand dicks.”

Trixie slammed her face into the nearest available surface. “How did Trixie fall for you again?”

“Fuck if I know.” I shrugged. “I certainly never tried to pull you in.”

“Tough. Deal with it.” We came to a fork and Trixie turned to me. “So which way?”

After a moment of looking down each path I tapped into my shadow magic and tried to scope things out.

“Uh... the shadows are strongest on the left and weaker on the right... so there should be light down there.” I pointed down the passage. “But then I guess we’re after the pumps which would be in deeper, right? So... into the dark we go?”

“Or it could just be a light bulb,” said Trixie with a flat look.

I shrugged. “What do you want from me? A few weeks ago, my one magical ability was use gryphon magic, or don’t use gryphon magic.”

“So we have no idea where we’re going.” Out of her saddleback, Trixie drew out a bit and tossed it into the air. Catching it again in her magic, she looked at the coin and began walking down towards the dark. “Heads, so down we go.”

“Greeeaaaat.” I said aloud as I followed her. “Let’s just trust the coin and its wise guidance.”

“Better than trusting you,” she replied.

“What?” I muttered as I followed her. “How can you not trust me? Back in the palace we actually talked about how you trust me and don’t hate me.”

“S-Silence foal!”

“Oh, Trixie.You feeling alright? You’re blushing like a school filly.” I smirked. “Of course, the Great and Powerful Trixie would totally never do that.”

The red around her cheeks intensified. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times as she tried to figure out what to say before she gave up and just huffed in silence.

Yes! Hah! This round of wordplay goes to me. Chalk another one up to the gryphon.

We walked in silence for a while till I spoke again. “Really? There’s only one living thing in here? Why were they protecting it then? I mean, we can’t have seen all the changelings that were here already.”

“Well the spell was designed to identify things with a life-force above a certain amount, and since it’s used in search and rescue, the one Trixie uses is locked to the average pony life-force. Whether gryphons, changelings and ‘brain-deads’ qualify are another matter.”

“So... we could actually be walking towards half a million changelings for all you know.”

“Um... yes...?” Aaaaaaand the fear was back.

I would have slapped myself. “Alright, then. So we know for a fact that there’s one pony in here that’s still alive, that may or may not be brain dead.”

“Luna?” asked Trixie. “Perhaps it’s Luna?”

I sighed. “I knew I couldn’t be lucky enough not to run into her again.” To be honest, I had no fucking clue what I’d do when I saw her. I mean, would I just go berserk and try to kill her, or would I only do that when Nightmare showed up or... “Whatever. If it’s Luna, then we need her to do the ritual she did in White Peak. But if it’s just some pony we can leave them.”

“So we head in the direction of the life-force then.” Once more her horn pulsed. “She’s definitely down, so we’re hopefully in the right direction.”

“...Great,” I mumbled as I followed behind her. “Team Mismatch to the rescue.”

“Team Awesome you mean,” she replied as she picked up the pace and drew her daggers. “We should hurry, there’s no way to know how long we have.”

After that we trotted along in silence. I say trotted because, that’s sort of the pace we were going at, a bit fast than a walk, but not a run. We ran through plenty of empty corridors and came to a few forked roads where Trixie would do that pulse spell thing and take us deeper down. It was actually really boring. No more chatter, and the tension just wasn’t there compared to when we’d been sneaking past those wyverns.

Eventually we got to the point where we were about as deep underground as this place went, and so we were just slowly homing in on the lone pony that was inevitably gonna be the goddess I hate most. After one last pause, and a final pulse Trixie paused in front of a door.

“Alright, it’s just through here.”

I nodded at her. “Great, let’s get this over with.”  I padded up next to her, and slowly pushed the door open with one of my new swords drawn.

The first thing that hit me was the scent of chemical smoke, heavy and acidic that choked me up and made my eyes water. Next were the runes on the ground, the symbols burnt into the stone floor, but no longer smoking. Then came Luna, who stared at me with the eyes of Nightmare Moon while staying absolutely still. It was pretty freaky. For a second I thought it was just a statue or golem or whatever they were called, but then her eyes flicked over to mine and her swords appeared.

For some absolutely retarded reason, I grinned as I drew both my swords. I paused just as I was about to charge her though, Hate and Anger halted for a moment. Really, I wanted her to charge me so I could just fucking fight her. But there was that part of me where I kept my brain telling me that I needed Luna, and I might not even be able to kill her. 

“Luna?” I asked, though my heart wasn’t really in it.

The alicorn didn’t reply. Instead, she advanced cautiously, moving with jerky motions.

“You’ve been possessed haven’t you? Or partially possessed or something.” Fucking sweet! Please tell me this was gonna turn into one of those moments when you have to kill someone even though you really don’t want to. And by really don’t want to, I mean really fucking want to.

Luna suddenly lunged forward, one blade coming in for a thrust while another aimed at my feet in a sweep. Stepping back out of range of the sweep and deflecting the thrust with one sword, I darted forward and went for the throat. With a sudden jerk, one of her swords knocked the blade out of its path and her hoof lashed out at me. I’d seen this before, so I didn’t get caught out like I did the first time in sparring, and countered well enough.

“Gilda, move!” I heard Trixie shout, and I stepped to the side just as a bolt of magic slammed into Luna.

The deity staggered, and I closed with her again. We matched blades, and even with her off jerky movements, she was putting up a good defense. Even then, her edge was gone, and that hard clinical calculation she used in our previous fight was missing. Instead there was this... I dunno. It just wasn’t there. I tried to keep things short and sharp with underhand strikes and force Luna into a fight where reactions were all that mattered, but even with the weird misplaced movements she managed to keep up. And then there was the fact she was only using two of the swords rather than all six.

For a moment there she caught me off guard, as she side stepped and started using her long sword’s reach to put me on the defense. But another bolt from Trixie staggered her, and I was back inside her guard and trying to outpace her. Slipping through, I went for her throat once more and once more she jerked back. This time though, she suddenly stopped short and her blood sprayed all over me. I immediately moved behind her and buried my sword in her neck causing her to collapse in a heap.

“Was that seriously necessary?” asked Trixie as she stared down at Luna. “Trixie knows you're annoyed, but seriously? Severing her spine?”

“Call it a habit.” I shrugged and frowned down at Luna. “Damn right, I’m annoyed. What the fuck was that? She was barely keeping up with me, and at the end there she just stopped and let me tag her.” I kicked the body in disgust. “Talk about a fucking let down.”

“Gilda...” growled Trixie.

Oh. Shit.

“Uh... I mean... Uh...” Think! Think-think-think! “Uh... sandwich?”

Just... damn it, me!

Trixie’s glare deepened and she took a step towards me. I immediately took a step back and held up both claws in a calming gesture that only seemed to piss her off more.

“I mean, um...” Fumbling for an answer, I didn’t find one. “Like, it was just... anticlimactic? Yeah! That’s it. I was expecting something with more spectacle! You like spectacle, right? Showmareship and all that crap.”

“Except showmareship never has the slightest possibility of someone getting killed,” snapped Trixie as she jabbed a hoof at my chest. “You promised to not try and get killed! You promised!”

Guilt hit me like an earth pony’s kick. “Uh... I wasn’t trying to...” The lie died before it even left my beak. “That’s... uh... I mean...” The worst part was that hurt look in her eyes. “Shit, I’m sorry. I’m really fucking sorry, I mean...” I fell to my haunches and would have given anything to be anywhere else right then.

“Well you should ha-”

“We do not mean to interrupt thy whipping of thou gryph-friend, but perhaps We should concentrate on the matter at hoof?” I looked down at Luna in utter shock. “What? Thou missed our vocal chords.”

After a moment I growled and drew my knife. “My mistake, give me a sec and I’ll fix that right up.” I padded closer to her.

“Gilda. Get back here, I’m not done talking to you,” said Trixie.

I froze up. Crap. She was using first person. I’m so fucked.

Luckily, I have a scapegoat. “But you heard Luna.” I grinned desperately over my shoulder at Trixie. “I missed her vocal chords, I just need to fix that up real quick.”

“Gilda...” This time she used that voice. The one mothers used. The one that promised a lot of pain in my future if I kept pushing my luck.

I coughed into my claw. “I mean... uh...” I looked back at Luna. “She’s right!” I perked up. “Luna’s right! We have more important shit to deal with.”

“There are few things more important than keeping thy marefriend happy,” said Luna. “But We fear that, for once, this does override any words thou may wish to have with Gilda.”

I frowned at Luna as I felt Hate and Anger unwind in my mind. All it took was her speaking for me to want to kill her. “Actually, you know what? Fuck that. Go ahead and lecture me, Trix, after I cut myself a new cloak.”

“Gilda?” said Trixie in an all too sweet voice, “Sit down and shut the fuck up.”

I glanced at her, before I tossed my knife into Luna’s gut and sat down. Though I kept casting glares at Luna. For the life of me, I have no idea how I wasn’t going to kill Nightmare if she got out.

“Thank you,” said Luna. “Though We will admit to being surprised at your sudden return.”

“It wasn’t for you.” I spat. “Grace went missing, and we’re here to find him.” I left out the part where I’d really fucking like to just kill her then and there.

“Grace went back to the capital to warn the king while We destroyed the pump.”

“Great, let’s go.” I stood up and turned away.

“Um...” Trixie looked down at Luna.

“Go. We shall join with thee shortly.” Without so much as a blink, Luna pulled my knife out of her stomach and tossed it to me.

I snatched it up. “Or you could just stay here and we’ll never have to see you again.” I shrugged. “That option works best for me.”

“And who shall defeat the army outside? Or the army the changelings have no doubt amassed from the feeble minds of your citizens?” said Luna. “You need us.”

I laughed, because it was hilarious. “I’d rather die than spend another hour anywhere near you.”

“Gilda,” hissed Trixie in my ear. “She is still a ruler of Equestria, so please don’t piss her off.”

“No!” I snapped at her. “Fuck that. She owes us, Trix. I don’t give a fuck who she is after everything we’ve been through because that bitch decided she needed a few mortal dupes... Fuck her. I don’t care anymore. She owes us.”

“It’s not our fault the gryphons decided to conduct tests on changelings,” pouted Luna. “And you’d rather die than seek our assistance? You’d rather Trixie die for yo-”

“Don’t you fucking dare say another word!” I screamed at smashed my fist into her face pointlessly. “Don’t you fucking dare pretend that my problem should be with the Kingdom! You’re the bitch that dragged me out of that dungeon after threatening to convict me for a murder you were willing to commit! I swear to all that I hold fucking scared, that if you ever threaten Trixie, even vaguely, that I’m gonna be wearing that skin cloak.” My claws trembled as I held them over her eyes. I so wanted to pop those disgusting cat slits. “How you can try to justify yourself after what you did to me...”

“You mean saved you?” Thrown against the wall, I found myself pinned with no way of escape as Luna stared me down from where she lay. “Do not confuse us with Nightmare Moon.”

With a growl I broke her magic hold for a second, only for her to just put it back on me again. “Don’t bullshit me Luna. I know you could have stopped her completely. All it would have taken was one second for you to break out and shout to me or Trixie ‘don’t eat that!’ but no. Nightmare had been in control for two days at that point. That was the longest she’d ever been in charge. What fucking reason could there have been for you to not take control back for long enough to stop me eating her blood and a vial of your own poison!”

“Thou know nothing!” The stone underneath her cracked. “If we desired a nightkin, thou wouldst have been the last creature we selected. A flea is more desirable than thee!”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t a nightkin you were after was it? You said Nightmare was the one who knew how to do the ritual, not you. I’d bet blood that that’s what you wanted. You wanted to know how to make your own bat ponies, and who gives a fuck if Nightmare had to brainwash me for you to do it!” 

Silence.

I blinked in surprise. “Holy shit... I’m right, aren’t I?” I thought I was just talking out my ass again. “You fucking whore.”

Luna’s head whipped to the side and a blast of raw magic completely vaporized the wall there. Again her head turned and again this time the pump was blown to bits. Entire body tense, it was obvious she was about to explode as the magic pouring out of her was enough to singe the tips of my feathers. Then, just as suddenly as the outburst began, she vanished in an explosion of light.

I dropped to the ground as her magic disappeared with her. “That... fucking... bitch...” I growled at the space she was in.

“Come on, we have to hurry.” Trixie grabbed my claw and hauled me onto my feet. “The changelings must realize something is wrong and may be coming to investigate.”

I trembled in rage as she dragged me along. I was far from caring about changelings. At this point, Hate and Anger ruled me, and anything that wasn’t Trixie was about to bleed. I blindly stumbled along behind her, until something caught my attention and I found myself looking ahead at changelings and gryphons.

I collapsed to the floor panting with exertion and giggling to myself. Behind me were... so many fucking dead things. Oh, goddesses that felt good. They were soldiers, and I was coated in bruises and cuts and my cloak was patchy in more than a few places, but I didn’t care. The pain felt good damn it. My heart was racing as I pulled myself to my feet and pushed ahead. I stumbled along blindly, looking for Luna. Or a wyvern. Or maybe a few Wide Eyes. It didn’t matter. Anything that’d put a blade through my brain was good.

A sound behind me made me stop, and I glanced over my shoulder at something... blue? No someone. Someone blue. Someone was shouting at me... Trixie was shouting at me.

I blinked and my head slowly cleared as I stared at her. Slowly the sounds came to me, and I heard what she was saying. She was hitting me... sounds were escaping her mouth as she pounded my chest... saying things I couldn’t understand. 

“Trixie?” I asked slowly, feeling confused. I pulled her into a hug despite my aching arms. “Are you okay?”

She looked up at me with tear stained cheeks and red eyes. “You promised! You fucking, goddess damn idiot. You promised!” Another blow on my chest.

I blinked at her in confusion, before I looked over her shoulder at... shit that was a lot of dead things.

“Did I do that?” I mumbled as I stared.

“Not all of it, but yes.” Trixie buried her face in my chest and sobbed even harder.

“...I’m a fucking monster.” I stared at the pools of blood and changeling goop. “I’m a mother fucking monster.”

“No, you’re just an idiot.” To my surprise, she leaned up and kissed me. “And even if you are a monster, you’re my monster.”

I swallowed. “I... was trying to die again, wasn’t I?”

“More than once. Be glad Trixie was around to save your stupid, sexy flank.”

“Please don’t stay with me.”

“Are you telling the Great and Powerful Trixie to do something?” she growled.

“Please... You need to go... I’m not... I’m not... I’m... Goddesses, I know why Nightmare wanted me now... Please Trixie, you have to go. I can-”

Smack!

I could only stare at her even as my cheek stung from the slap.

“Just shut up. Trixie isn’t leaving without you, and that’s final.” Magic wrapped around me and lifted me into the air. “And you’re not a monster, so stop saying that.”

“Don’t you get it?” I asked blankly. “I’m just like Nightmare. I’m her without the power and immortality. I’m just a pile of anger and self-loathing and sadness and... That’s what Nightmare is. She’s the emotional baggage Luna’s refused to deal with, and... That’s me. That’s what I am. Hate and anger, self-loathing and sadness, and nothing else.”

“And loyal and kind and heroic and adorable and generous and funny.”Another tender kiss. “And a whole lot more. There is a reason why Trixie fell for you, you realize.”

I stared at her, for a moment, not really hearing her. “Luna’s right. I am just as broken she is.”

“No more broken than Trixie.”

After a moment I said, “Let me down, Trixie.”

“Nope.”

“Please, Trix. Put me down.”

“No.”

“Why not?” I asked her and felt Anger start to slither out again. I immediately shoved it back into its hole and poured acid down it. No. I was not letting those out on Trixie.

“Because you’re going to be stupid again.”

“You can’t stop me from being stupid. That’sgonna happen with or without your permission.”

“Well Trixie can at least try to stop you from killing yourself,” she snapped.

I paused and added after a moment, “Can you? I never wanted to hang myself, but... If I really did I’d find a way.”

“Not helping your case.”

“That’s not the point, Trix. You can’t save me from me. You need to find someone else who can be with you. That won’t die after going into some retarded berserker mode.”

“Don’t care. Trixie wants you and only you and that’s final.”

“Goddesses damn it, Trix! Don’t you get it?!” I snarled at her. “How don’t you get it?”

When she looked over at me, it was with the weariness of an immortal pony. “I get it. I get it alright? But I don’t give a fuck. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me, and regardless of all your issues, I do love you. So shut up and take it.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, hug her, or punch her right then.

“We’re so messed up,” I choked out a chuckle that felt like a sob. “Oh, goddesses damn it. How the fuck did you ever fall in love with me?”

“You’re loyal, generous, kind, funny, protective...” An impish grin appeared. “Trixie can do this all day.”

“I never thought of myself as kind.” I mumbled. “Or generous. And I’m pretty sure the only times I make anyone laugh is when they laugh at me.”

“Well you are, trust Trixie.” Another light kiss followed by a dozen more feathered all over my face and neck. “And ridiculously handsome.”

“Are you gonna let me down now?” I asked as I submitted to her assault.

“Nope,” replied Trixie as she smashed a window and tossed me out before following.

“Seriously, Trix. I’m about over this.” I frowned at her. “Put me down.”

“Fine,” she sighed and I hit the ground with a thump. “Do something stupid again and Trixie will gag and drag you around. Got that?”

“Where are we going anyway? We’ve saved Luna, so now we just have to take down the pumps, right?”

“To find your brother. Trixie wants to see his face when he finds out we’re dating.” Pause. “Oh, and to save him of course.”

“So... into the fortress then and forget the pumps? That’s Luna’s problem?”

“Luna hit the pumps, remember?” Trixie frowned. “Her stray spell at the end...”

“Oh... I was too pissed off to notice. I was thinking more about killing her than anything. So, we didn’t even need these damn powders anyway.” I rolled my eyes as I padded alongside Trixie. “Fucking typical. I hate that stupid goddess.”

“Please, Trixie plans on blowing something up tonight.” Trixie looked up at me with those big, trembling eyes of hers. “Fly? Can we fly back to Aviana? It’ll be faster...”

“Alright, let’s just get outside, and I’ll see how far I can take you in one night.” I replied as we came back down the path we entered through. “But I’m not sure I’ll be able to fly all the way with-”

A snarling sound down the corridor made us both draw to a halt.

“Trix, get behind me.” That was all I had to say before the door ahead of us exploded open, and a wyvern burst out.

It took one look at us before it snarled and barreled down the corridor straight at us. A hissing mess of teeth and claws that weighed almost a ton. The wyvern was moving at speeds that were just plain ridiculous, and I barely had time to draw my knife before it trampled right over me and charged straight for Trixie.

I didn’t see what happened as I gasped in pain with its claws damn near opening my stomach, though I was lucky and it got caught in my pouches, spilling acrid smelling powder over me. But there was a flash and a discharge of magic and I heard the Wyvern hiss in frustration. Groaning, I pushed myself up and saw Trixie standing alone and trembling in front of the beast as it padded towards her. Her horn was charging up magic, and the cunning critter was waiting for her to make the first move.

There was an explosion of smoke and lights making it impossible to see anything. Just as I scrambled onto my feet, a bolt of magic narrowly missed my head and left a hole in the wall behind me. A high pitched squealing noise filled the air and with an overly dramatic gust of wind, the smoke was cleared away leaving behind a bleeding Trixie standing on top of a very dead wyvern while her horn shot off small sparks of light.

“Trix, you just killed a fucking wyvern!” I shouted in shock as I walked towards her a little unsteadily. “H-how? I mean... what the fuck?”

“Trixie blinded it, and it couldn’t use its sense of smell due to this disgusting goop on Trixie.” A shudder passed through her body. “And, of course, lots of magic,” she winced as her horn continued to splutter, “Maybe a bit too much magic.”

“Hah! We’re skinning that thing, damn it. You just got yourself a new cape and hat. Trophies, Trix. You earned them.”

“Yes, well-” One second I was staring at Trixie, the next I was staring at a scaly angry bundle of murder and hissing. Trixie was pinned beneath it with blood on her arms as it snarled at her face.

Without a second’s hesitation I slammed into the wyvern and barely shifted it off her. It swiped a paw at me, and I blocked it with a sword. It roared in my face and charged me. I barely managed to twist out of its path, but both my new swords were tangled in its claws and pulled out of my grip. It rounded on me again, and I just managed to dig a knife into its palm. It hissed in my face and pulled away before it did another charge. I slashed its face with another knife, and it hissed and stepped back again. 

Then it just tackled me to the ground and I was pinned beneath its weight. Both my arms were trapped under its claws and it reached down with its face to tear out my throat. Without thinking, I maimed its eye with my beak and it roared in rage. Screaming in pain it pulled away from me, clutching its wound and hissing at me in rage. I got to my feet just in time for another tackle, and only just managed to shove my knife through its good eye and into its brain. Like any reptile, the damn thing didn’t die instantly, and twisted and writhed as it fell on top of me. I barely avoided its claws as I struggled to avoid getting maimed. Slowly, it finally died and was just reduced to twitching as its whole weight fell on top of me.

“Holy shit this thing’s heavy,” I groaned as I slowly tried to push it off me. With a final heave I shifted it and climbed out from under it. Panting as I rose, I turned towards Trixie. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah,” she said as she clutched her wounded arm. “Thanks.”

“Fuck the trophy, let’s get the heck out of here before more of those things turn up.” Idly, I licked my blood coated beak and blinked in surprise. “Huh, that’s sort of tasty.”

Cue Trixie throwing up all over my feet.

Honestly though, that was far from the nastiest thing to happen to me today. At this point I barely even cared, though I did step back in annoyance.

After a moment’s thought, I started to chuckle. “Heh-hey, Trix. Those were fucking wyverns. We just killed fucking wyverns, with knives.”

There was a moment where she looked at me as though I was insane before she too started chuckling.

“And I barely got scratched!” I poked my shredded pouches. “Look at this shit! One inch off and that thing would have pulled my guts out!”

That stopped her laughter dead and she just glared at me once more.

It took me a moment to realize why she was angry. “Well, at least I wasn’t doing anything stupid.” I chuckled again, too damn happy from the awesome kill and near death to care.

After a second she sighed and wrapped her hooves around me. “Well since you were being heroic and all, Trixie supposes she can forgive you this one.”

I hugged her back before I turned around and picked up my swords again. Or I would’ve. Instead I picked up two sword hilts with broken handles. I stared at them for a second before I realized that they’d broken.

“Goddesses damn it,” I muttered in disgust. “The piece of shit broke my new swords!” I kicked the dead beast. “Those things were bloody priceless! Those were the Blades of the Thirteenth!”

“Pick up the pieces, and we’ll find some unicorn to repair them good as new,” replied Trixie.

With a sigh I began scraped the fragments into the sheaths. When that was done I put the hilts in as well. “At least it didn’t damage the dragon bone handle.”

“Yes, yes, can we hurry now before more of those things appear?” 

“Alright, but are you sure you don’t want to check your arm?” I pointed at the wound. “That looks pretty deep to me.

“With what? The medical supplies were crushed by the wyvern.” Trixie hobbled along on three legs. “Trixie will be fine.”

After a moment, I stepped in front of her and turned around to face her. “No, not happening. Wyverns aren’t known for their hygiene. That’s gonna get infected, and you walking on it’ll only make things worse.”

“We don’t have time to stop. We can find some medicine cabinet along the way or something.” A pained expression appeared on her face as she took another step forward.

“Nuh uh.” I put my shoulder under her, and before she had a second to protest she was on my back. “You’re not walking on that, and we don’t have time to search for medicine.”

“Trixie supposes arguing is out of the question?”

I just rolled my eyes. “Don’t act like this is horrible for you. If you wanted to get off my back you could. Come on, you were the one that jumped on me earlier anyway.”

“And you didn’t fly,” pouted Trixie. “Trixie commanded you to fly and you didn’t.”

“Well, since when do I take orders? Come on. There was no way you could have thought I would seriously go for ‘fly my pretty’.”

“Giddy up?”

I just gave her a flat look. Like, seriously. I’m proud of just how flat that look was. You could’ve rolled a wheel across that look I gave her. For her part, Trixie put on one damn convincing innocent look. As a foal, she must have killed ponies with that look.

“I never should have taken you for that first flight,” I muttered as I looked forwards again.

“It was fun!” she protested. “Once Trixie gets back to Equestria, she must see if there are some spells to give unicorns wings.”

I shrugged, and I felt Trixie’s weight shift as I did. “In the legends, Slight was an earth pony before she got bat wings.” Then I realized what I’d said. “Not that you’re getting bat wings. You’re not becoming a nightkin.”

“Oh? You’re forbidding Trixie from doing something?” There was that dangerous edge to her voice again.

I considered my next words carefully. “Becoming a nightkin was... the most awful thing that ever happened to me. And you know that basement we were in? I got tied down and beaten for like, three days there. So, yeah, I am telling you that you’re not becoming a nightkin. I have no clue why you’d want to be one anyway.”

“Well the flying is fun and... well... Trixie figured a second nightkin might make you more comfortable. Less singled out and more accepted? Not by society, but for you to accept who you are now. Plus, those eyes look both great and powerful.”

I frowned at her. “Accept who I am? Since when has that been my problem?” After a moment I looked forward again. I found myself thinking of Trixie with cat eyes, and then I thought about the goddess awful bitch Nightmare. I shivered at the idea and any sexual association with it. “Besides, the eyes are freaky.” Goddesses damn it, I don’t think I could ever be okay with Trixie having Nightmare’s eyes. “Fuck those things.”

“They’re unique. Fierce.” She nuzzled me lovingly. “I like them.”

“I fucking hate them,” I muttered and touched the glasses over my eyes. “I’d fucking kill to get rid of them.”

“Well they got you a sweet pair of sunglasses at least.” I knew she was trying to cheer me up, but it just wasn’t working. “Regardless, Trixie finds you as handsome as she always had.”

I snorted. “Yeah, well you’re the exception. Seriously, I bet the first thing you thought when you saw me was, ‘Damn that guy’s hot’, and then I spoke and you were like, ‘Holy shit! That’s a girl?!’ Whatever. I don’t even want to remember how we met. I shouldn’t have you tracked you down...”

“Well Trixie is glad you did, otherwise she wouldn’t have you.” Her hoof thumped me on the shoulder playfully. “And Trixie most certainly did not think that! If you must know the truth, Trixie found your language absolutely vile.”

I laughed at that, but didn’t say anything else. She might not, but I regret meeting her. As great as it has been to know Trixie, it’s not bloody fair that she’s in love with me of all gryphons. I mean, how the heck did that happen? Seriously.

“Gilda?” She touched my cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” I glanced back at her. “Oh, nothing.Just me being all mopey again. Don’t worry about it.”

“Come on, you can talk to Trixie about it.”

“Yeah, and get lectured about-” I cut myself off with a wince. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Gilda...”

We were starting to get close to the outside again.

“I’m just wondering why you fell for me. I mean... why did that have to happen to you? How is that fair on you?” I grit my jaw, and I suddenly felt like punching something. “It’s crap, that’s what it is. I shouldn’t have been the first person to care about you in years. I mean... It’s not fucking fair.”

“Life isn’t fair. It’s never been fair, but Trixie thinks getting you at the end leaves Trixie with the better deal.”

“But you don’t have me.” There was a pause as I tried to figure out what I meant. “Shit, Trixie. These days it barely takes anything to set me off, and when I do, I just forget everything and Hate and Anger take over, and then I just... Goddesses damn it. It feels so fucking good too. The killing, and getting hurt, and... I know I could just keep going and going, give in and keep killing and killing till I die, and... that idea doesn’t even scare me. It sounds so bloody great.”

“Gilda...” Trixie almost sounded sad. I waited. I waited for her to something, anything. Some magical speech that’d make me realize how wrong I was or how much that wasn’t me. But nothing came. All there was, was silence.

After a moment I kept walking. “Whatever. Shit, I sound completely retarded don’t I? Like one of those idiots that dies their mane black and cuts themselves while bitching about how bleak the world is.... Uh... what are they called? Elmos or something.” I snorted in disgust. “Fucking idiots. Whatever.”

“Well you have a reason to bitch about it. Plus, if you go off the deep end, Trixie will just have to drag you back.”

I paused at the door that led outside. “You ready, Trix? Cast the invisibility spell, and I’ll have to fly us out of here. We’re not going back in the sewers with your hoof and my arm.”

Blue magic enveloped us. “Done,” she panted.

“Shit, you’ve been using way too much magic. If I wasn’t such a dumbass I’d have figured out more shadow magic and I’d be able to give you a break now and then. Goddesses damn it.”

“It’s fine. Trixie is fine. Keep going.” I wouldn’t have been surprised if she collapsed right then and there with the way her voice sounded. Shit. There I go mouthing like an idiot when she needs to get out of here.

“Alright, just...” I winced at how heavy she was panting and hated myself for my next sentence. “Try to breathe quietly. There’s wyverns out there.” Goddesses, damn it. What a bitchy thing to say. Please try to be less exhausted because I can’t carry my own freaking weight.

“Trixie is not a foal,” she hissed in my ear.

I just pushed the door open before I could say anything stupid again. After padding quietly for a moment, I paused when I noticed something unusual.

“Where are all the guards?” I asked as I looked around. “And the wyverns, and... where the fuck have they all gone?”

The patrols from earlier, the monsters that had been leashed... all of them were just gone... somewhere. 

“What the heck...” I muttered as I looked around.

“Perhaps they’ve run away?” Hope and doubt mixed in those words.

I looked around nervously. “What would they have to run from? There were at least five hundred changelings here and we still don’t know where the Thirteenth went. I doubt Luna could have scared them off, given they possessed her.”

“Does it matter? We have to hurry to the capital.”

After a moment’s hesitation I spread my wings and started to fly. “I don’t like this. It’s like fucking White Peak all over again.”

“Well we won at White Peak, right?”

“You got stabbed and almost hung yourself. The entire town got wiped out. I almost died, got this nasty scar on my chest, and that was when I lost control the first time. Then Nightmare realized I was yours and she decided to brainwash me.” I would’ve looked back at her, but I was flying. “Hollow victory if you ask me.”

“Bad example?” she asked hesitantly.

“Nah, that’s the thing. I’m starting to think it’s a really good example.”

“What? Why?”

“Because this isn’t gonna end well. I don’t know how I know it, but... Crap. We’re following Luna into another mess where we don’t know bloody shit about anything. How could this possibly go well? We’re like, the two unluckiest sentients ever.”

“At least we’ve got each other,” she whispered in my ear.

For how long? Of course I didn’t say that. Instead I said, “Never knew you were such a romantic, Trix. Got any more corny one liners?”

“Shut up.”