//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Judge and Jury 
// by Tearsintheshadows 
//------------------------------//

	“So populated. I wonder who won the war. I hope we did. This would be awkward if her older sister did.” Blake asked as he looked around the massive and heavily populated city. “It has been awhile since I was here.” He looked around at his home world, and the fact that this place had been nothing but decimation. Now it seemed to be the capital. He walked through the town, glad to be back on his home world, even if everyone else was a pastel colored equine. He checked the clawed glove that replaced his hand and made sure that the systems were still in order. Everything seemed to be in order so he strode to the palace gates and asked to speak to the princess. 
The guards, eyeing the strange visitor in black armor, looked at each other nervously. “Wait here.” One guard said and began trotting as fast as his hooves could carry him. Blake sat down on the dirt and began detaching the claw. The other guard reared back when he pulled it off his arm, revealing no hand underneath it at all. Blake rolled his eyes and muttered to himself about how queasy guards were now. “The princesses will see you now.” Blake stood and shoved the claw back onto his arm, where it made a hissing sound as it reconnected to his arm. 
Blake, thinking he was let in because Luna had been victorious, had a smile on his face. It vanished when he saw Celestia on the throne. Celestia stared for a second before calling for all available guards. Blake looked at the guards, in a thousand years they still wore the same armor and used the same weapons. “Aww,” Blake put his hands over his heart mockingly, “You remember me!” 
“I remember you as well.” A familiar voice spoke and Blake fell to a knee instantly. “Like a big reunion, only slightly more awkward.” Princess Luna walked out with a yawn. “I guess this is what you wanted to show me? I could’ve slept through this.”
“It is an honor to see you well, but what happened? You said diplomacy was impossible.” Blake asked, head still towards the ground.
“That was during a dark point in my life. The war is over, I am reconciled with my sister, and there is no need to attack the guards. Though I am glad you did not tear your way through here. Why did you come back?”
“Remember that angel that had two blades he used to attack?” Blake asked, afraid of the reaction he was about to get. “I took his job.”
“So you are here to decide whether or not our world is destroyed?” Celestia asked and Blake nodded. Celestia grew worried. “And what chance do we have?”
“So far, you may be the only world I judge to survive. It would be better if I could access your minds and catch up on the last 1000 years, but I know you two have probably done a lot of stuff in that time.”
“I was on my moon during that time.”
“You sat for 1000 years?” Blake joked and was rewarded with a personal lesson on how far an alicorn can throw a living creature. “Impressive range.” Blake rose to his feet and lifted his clawed hand. Luna floated a few inches off the ground. “Just lucky this thing absorbs most magic.”
“You finished the claw?” Luna asked.
“I wish,” Blake replied. “I have years to go before I can use this properly. My old teacher just gave me a metallic cover for it and a power source, told me to find the rest myself. What it lacks in power it makes up for with the ability to both block and scan most magic. I could tune it to yours but I trust you remember our oath?”
“I was hoping you would forget about that. I really don’t want to do it.”
“So, where am I staying?” Blake asked. “Is my bunk still open?” Luna blinked. She pointed out that he was supposed to judge the planet, yet he was going to stay in one spot. “Would you prefer I judged first before getting to know everything?” Luna shook her head. Blake tried to hide his smile. For a goddess in equine form, she still managed to be cute in her own way.

That night, Blake lay on the ground in the garden and stared up at the night sky. He had been unable to convince Celestia and Luna to give him a place to sleep indoors, but it did not matter, whoever was in charge of taking care of the garden did a good job.  Besides, he was able to watch the night guards train as he propped himself up against a tree. The night guards did not seem as afraid of him as the day guards did, but it was still obvious that history had made him out to be an uncontrollable killer. One brave, or foolish, night guard mare walked over and gently bowed. “A few friends and I were wondering if you truly are Crimson Caress.”
“Is that the name Celestia gave me?” Blake asked. “I suppose that I am then. Now that you are done wondering, tell me something. Did you draw the short straw?”
“I sent her.” A muscular night guard with cold eyes replied. “If you are Crimson Caress, I would like to spar with you, see what a soldier was like that long ago.”
“I wouldn’t want to hurt you.” Blake playfully smiled. “What’s your name?”
“Sunshine Smiles.” Blake blinked, “I know, are you going to do it?”
“Sure, but what fighting technique do you want to see? I used my fists and a darker form of magic that probably has been banned by now.”
“Let’s start with close range.” Sunshine replied.
On her balcony, Luna watched as Blake fought with Sunshine. She wondered if Blake’s fighting had changed in any way. She hoped he would not use his dark magic; Luna doubted Sunshine would be able to survive it. When Sunshine asked to demonstrate close range, she sighed in relief. She found herself being drawn into the battle as Blake fought with his claw and deflected Sunshine’s own attacks. She knew Blake was holding back because every time Sunshine pushed him back, Blake would push him further. After a few minutes, she saw something that gave back horrible memories. Blake’s other hand began twitching, a warning sign that he was getting too much enjoyment out of the battle.

Blake called the glove a Destroyer and explained that its purpose was not what it appeared. While it definitely was sharp enough to cause major damage, it was more for the sake of stopping Blake from going too far. Blake had built the claw to replace one of the conduits that his inborn magic. Unfortunately, those ‘conduits’ were also called hands.  Blake’s solution to this problem was simple; he raised a sword in his left hand, and brought it down on his right. “Problem…solved.” Blake panted as the claw was placed on the bloody stump. The claw let out a hissing sound as it connected to where his hand had been. He moved his new fingers and smiled. “Albeit painful, I think that was a success.” Blake looked at Luna, who was looking at the severed hand still on the table. Blake gently brushed it into a waste bin. “I was expecting that to hurt more.” As if on cue, a large hissing sound came from where the claw met his arm as the magic in the glove began attaching it as if it were a proper limb. Blake looked at Luna, who was now looking more than a little sick. “If you think that’s bad you should see what the skin looks like now.” Luna did not even have the energy to yell; she crawled over to an array of cushions and decided it was a good place to faint. “Good night, my queen.” Blake spoke gently and looked at his claw. “I just hope this thing works.”

Apparently it did, because when Blake put his claw on his hand, the twitching rapidly stopped. “You alright?” Sunshine asked. “You have demonstrated enough that we definitely need to become stronger.”
“Just a family affliction. Nothing serious, though I will take you up on that offer.” Blake sat down and took off his claw. Sunshine simply looked at the skin; it was horribly scarred, as if someone had just folded the skin over a much more grievous wound. The mare that had asked his name walked over and sat next to him. She seemed curious about the claw and the way it worked. Blake, deciding to have a little bit of fun, cast a small spell to make the claw respond to his thoughts. Once the spell was active, the claw jumped onto the mare and began crawling all over her. Blake told her it was important not to scare it and the mare stood perfectly still. 
“Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!” The mare whined and Blake began laughing, “This isn’t funny!” Blake reached his stump to the claw, which harmlessly jumped back and reattached. “It was under your control the whole time?” She yelled and slapped Blake, who thought about it for a second before nodded. “Couldn’t help myself. What’s your name?”
“Nocturne.” She replied. “Did you really chop off your own hoof and exchange it with that?” Blake nodded and began to detach it again. Once it was off, he showed Nocturne the skin on his arm. “Why would you do that?”
“For the same reason I became a judge, I need the strength.” Blake tapped a nearby tree with bare hand and then tossed the claw at the same tree, the claw stuck deep into the tree and Blake had to have Nocturne help him retrieve. “I am just curious why you aren’t wearing any magic dampening armor.”
“According to legends, you were the only one with magic resistant armor.” Nocturne replied. She looked at the claw and tapped the top of it. “Why is it so hollow?” She asked, gently tapping on it again. The claw jumped and she squeaked before staring at Blake angrily.
“It wasn’t my fault.” He replied. He looked at Nocturne. “Why the interest in this thing anyways? I’m not going to make another one.” Nocturne smiled and put her clawed hoof guards on her front hooves. “Not as deadly as mine though.”
“Are two done over there? Nocturne, stop trying to get out of the drills. Blake, you joining us?” Sunshine added. Blake stood up and smiled, “Top of the mountain. No flying.” Blake pointed to his back. “Force of habit.”

Blake was actually glad that he was not the first one up the mountain. It meant he still had room to improve. When he reached the mountain, he turned around to see a great view of Canterlot, plus a miniscule village in the distance. As of right now, it reminded Blake that he should probably have started his travels by now. Wanting to stay in Canterlot could potentially lead to bias on his part when it came to Judging. “Not a bad time.” Sunshine replied as the rest of the recruits showed up. 
“What the hay are you?” the later recruits asked Blake.
“You should be saying that to the ones that beat me.” Blake pointed to the ponies that had beaten him and were apparently close to passing out. Blake looked at Sunshine, who was lying on the grass enjoying the view. “Why are we up here?” He asked and Sunshine pointed to a cave behind him. “You sleep in here?”
“Bat wings should have been a decent indication.” A soldier said, too tired to be polite. “You can head back down if you want, this was just basic training. If you really feel up to it, check with Meadowlark at the bottom of the mountain. He might have some-’ The soldier stopped as he saw Blake rush down the mountain. “How does he have the energy?”

Meadowlark saw the human come rushing down the mountain and felt happy that he would have a chance to spar with him. He had watched him spar with his brother and was chomping at the bit for a chance to do it himself. He trained Luna’s personal guards, but did not let it go to his head. Maybe he would not need Nocturne’s report after all. Blake stopped at the back of the formation, apologizing for the interruption and asking if he could sit in. “Actually you can do more. About face!” The group of 20 night guards looked at him. “Meet your 21 sparring partners.” Meadowlark smiled and led the charge. 
Blake was shocked to be attacked so suddenly, but he didn’t mind, he came here to help the army and if pummeling them to oblivion was helping, then he would be happy to oblige. As soon as he heard himself thinking of essentially beating every guard to a pulp he tried to stop but they would not lay off him long enough to back down. ‘What the hell is all the movement about?’ A voice echoed in Blake’s mind, ‘Are you getting your butt kicked?’ I’m fine, just go back to sleep, one Dark Howl should take care of this. ‘You have two minutes.’
Blake stopped trying to resist the magic and instead focused it into his chest, where it came out of his mouth with a loud scream that tossed night guards into the air and uprooted trees. He fell to a knee and swore when he just realized, he just sent a bunch of bats into the night sky. ‘And time. Scoot over.’ 
“Guys, you may be in serious trouble.” Blake replied as his arm began to tremble. The guards laughed, thinking it was a taunt but stopped when he drew the claymore and slammed it into the ground. The ground cracked and Blake’s voice was now much darker and echoed off nothing. “If you don’t come down here, I’ll just start throwing things.” He threw the claymore at Meadowlark, who moved to the side just to discover that the blade followed his path. “Did I mention that blade won’t leave anyone alone until it tastes blood?” Meadowlark ordered the guard to attack while he kept the blade occupied. “Not that easy! Fate, return.” The claymore turned and flew back to Blake, Blake drove the blade into the cracks and an explosion sent heated rocks into the air, knocking many guards out of the air.
The guards briefly retreated until the rocks settled and charged Blake again, who began aiming the sword at vital organs. It was obvious that this was what Blake was warning them about. Meadowlark made it back and blindly charged Blake, turning just as Blake slashed at where his wings had been. From behind him, the night guard attacked while Meadowlark led other in a frontal assault. Blake blocked Meadowlark’s assault but took the brunt of the attack from the behind. The night guard surrounded Blake as he rolled over and began to laugh. “You okay?”
“I’ve haven’t been brought down in years. I like this group. I have to repay you for this.”
“Talk to Luna about joining, I would be honored to have you with the Night Guard.”