Mark groaned as he rolled off the bale of hay, he rolled over to far and collapsed onto the floor of the barn.
He crawled over to another bale and slapped his hand on its surface.
"Come-on Elijah, getup.....Elijah? Elijah?"
His hand felt around, not finding the metal the giant wore. Mark finally opened his eyes. Standing up, he scanned the room.
"No Elijah here. Must have gotten up already. Better go find him."
Mark wondered where the giant had gone. It was unlike him to be up so early in the morning. He remembered one time, a Soldier had disturbed his sleep and had to eat paste for a month. He laughed silently to himself.
Elijah, no matter what they had been through, always was there for him, they had known each-other for years.
Watched each-others back for years before they joined the Mercenaries.
He opened the door and immediately tripped on something. He landed on the ground hard, and it knocked the breath out of him. He was in a little pain, but it was so little, he didn't care. It's what he saw that made him hurt.
He saw Elijah.
Elijah was laying there, multiple puncture wounds criss-crossed his back, his leg had a deep gash across it.
Blood soaked the ground and Mark could see where he had dragged himself across the ground.
It looked like had had come over a mile! Mark scurried over to where Elijah laid. Tears threatening him with their arrival. This was his closest friend, his brother even. He placed a hand on Elijah's chest, hoping for a heartbeat.......Nothing, Mark felt nothing.
"No,no,no,no,no!.......Come on man!Get up! Get the fuck up!"
He was openly crying now, he wiped the tears away with a forearm, but he stopped when he felt something. It was so light, he barely felt it. It was so small, but it gave him the greatest hope a man could have.
Ba-dump.
It was a heartbeat. Elijah was still alive...His brother was still alive! He wouldn't be for long. He was Losing blood at a slow rate, but it could still kill him if left untreated. There was only one thing left to do now.
"JOSIAH! GET OUT HERE!"
A few seconds Later Josiah was racing out of the barn, followed by the others. They all gasped when they saw him. They couldn't believe their eyes. Elijah was on the ground, covered in his own blood, and slowly dying.
"Go get AppleJack, tell her to tell Twilight to send the Princess, or anyone down here. Josiah, get to work on stabilizing Elijah. The rest of us will provide security detail, whatever did this to him, could still be around.
Alright people, lets move!"
A few hours later, Elijah was well on his way to the Ponyville hospital. When Princess Celestia arrived, Mark felt no joy, only sadness. These ponies didn't have the technology needed to treat Elijah. How would they treat him? There was only one way to find out.
When they reached the hospital, Elijah was wheeled away into the Emergency Surgery Room. The doctors soon tried to get the armor off of him, but it was to strong, so they operated into the puncture wounds.
Mark sat on a couch, jumping at the sight of the Pony Doctor walking through the double doors.
He quickly rushed over. Celestia did as well, but in a more regal manner.
"How is he?"
"His body is rejecting chemicals with such ferocity that you could swear he was made for it.
The puncture wounds are not all too serious. That armor of his saved his life, stopped the blades before they could reach his vital organs. The Stab wound, however......is worse than we feared, without magic, there is no way he'll live. We also discovered some strange thi-."
"Doc, that is not important right now, and did you say magic?"
"Yes, we unicorns can do magic. I specialize in healing magic and the like."
Mark was about to yell, grab the doctor and punch his face until it was nothing more than a shattered pile of gore.
"And why did you not heal him first?"
"Well, we had to be sure there was no metal, shrapnel, and other things in him, so that when we did heal him, they wouldn't be fleshed over and infect the wound."
Mark stopped, his rage gone: That was actually a very good reason, maybe these ponies could save him.
Elijah was later treated with the Magic, his wounds had closed over, but the pain was still very much there.
Mark knew that Elijah would have questions, and Mark had some himself. They all entered the sterile white room. Looks of glee on their faces. Their friend was going to live,survive, and get back to kicking ass in no Time. Elijah was sitting up in his bed, his armor was still on, not that he ever took it off. Mark knew why, and it was the same reason he never took his off.
"Hey man, how you doing?" Mark asked in a highly sarcastic tone.
"Really, I just got my ass kicked by bunch of Emo ponies, stabbed by a fucking shadow man thing, and you ask me how I'm doing? Great, fine really."
The mention of the Shadow man seemed to intrigue and worry Celestia, her face went from calm, to downright scared.
"Elijah, what do you mean, shadow man?"
"Well, he was strong, his skin looked like a bunch of shadows, his teeth were sharp, and he had the most fucked up eyes I've ever seen."
Celestia sighed, her face still encumbered by worry.
"Then it is as I feared. Sorrow has returned."
Elijah was confused. "Sorrow? Princess.....Do you know something, I don't." He asked, he hated being left in the dark.
"You see, you are not the first of your kind to come here, One of my most trusted Advisors: Starswirl the Bearded, Tried the spell, that brought you back here. The result was very much the same. When he came through, he seemed friendly, but when he learned of magic, he used it to commit horrible atrocities.
He ripped Parents apart in front of their children, making them swear loyalty to him and only him.
A lot of my ponies thought him a god, and sided with him, following his every wish, even if it was for them to kill themselves. He attempted to overthrow Canterlot, my seat of Rule. And use it to spread pain and hatred across the Land. When you came through, I thought you were just like him, this is why I attacked you."
Everyone remained silent, this enemy was able to take down Elijah. Alone, they would all perish.
They would need an Army, but not just any Army...Their Army.
"Princess?" Luke raised his hand. "Do you think you could replicate that spell again?"