//------------------------------// // Failed Communications and Hardened Hearts // Story: Dawn of the Vanguard // by Mystic Song //------------------------------// By the time Twilight and Rainbow Dash made it back to their campsite the pale moon was sitting high in the night sky. The moon's pale light basked the everything in the clearing with it's soft glow, including the agitated farmpony waiting beside a dying campfire. "Do ya girls have any idea what time it is?" Applejack accused as Twilight and Rainbow Dash joined her at the campfire, "You know how dangerous it is at night. Why did ya'll go and do something on your own like that? What if something bad happened?" Rainbow Dash pushed past her fatigue to give Applejack a hard glare, "Like how something bad happened when you decided to ‘take back what is ours’?" Applejack flinched hard looking away from Rainbow Dash's anger, "Ah admit what ah did was wrong..." "It was more than wrong!" Rainbow Dash interjected sharply, "We can't go hurting creatures because we want to! What would Celestia, Luna even Candace would think if they saw how you acted?" "Don't you think I know that Rainbow Dash?" Applejack said shouted a weak desperation lining her voice, "If they could they should take my element away. I wasn't honest with myself, I didn't think and because of me we lost every bit of trust that the human had for us." "That Zachary had for us." Rainbow Dash said angrily before deflating, "Not to mention the trust that we lost between Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie." She paused to look around their campsite. "Wait, where are they?" Applejack's ears fell flat against her head, "They wouldn't come back," She whispered, "Ah tried to tell them staying outside was a bad idea...but Fluttershy said the hu-Zachary was too injured to move and that none of them would leave him." Twilight perked up, "You saw him?" "No," Applejack sighed at the sad looks she was given, "they wouldn't even let me get close enough to see the clearing." Tense silence covered the clearing and choked them as the implications of Applejack's words sunk in. "Twilight what do we do?” Applejack said weakly, “Don't you have a plan for something like this or something that could help us?" Twilight shuffled nervously on her hooves, "I don't know, maybe? Let me check." She quietly trotted into their tents to retrieve her saddlebags, a heartbeat later she was out and was reading her notes beside the waning light of the campfire. "I should have something for..." Twilight trailed off, her eyes slowly growing wide in horror at what she saw. Garbage. It was all garbage. Twilight had never seen the implications of what she was writing, at the time she thought everything she wrote was necessary. But now... Plans to catalog every human, to document every family, to tag every child and deeply study their population growth, to impede into their very homes. And not one plan to increase trust or friendship among them. She began to shake. It was, it was... "Twilight?" Twilight head snapped up to see Rainbow Dash watching her with worry clearly etched on her face, "You better not go for another walk," She said her stubborn voice wavering, "We need you here." Forcefully Twilight calmed herself down. She slowly went through the motions of Candace's breathing excise, and tried to think critically. The plans she had spent the past month on was useless, she was clearheaded enough to know that now. So what does one do with useless information that would only hinder intellectual growth? The campfire blazed hotly with as it hungrily ate the kindling given to it. The flames jumped high in the air with new life as the light they washed the clearing with a brightness that was unnatural for this time of night. Twilight was so entranced with the flames devouring her failures that she almost missed what Rainbow Dash was yelling about. "What the hay Twilight! You worked hard on those notes why did you burn them?" Rainbow Dash shouted, squinting through the almost blinding light from the flames. "I had to get rid of it Rainbow Dash it was all useless." Twilight muttered watching the flames consume months of ill-directed work. "It had no purpose other than to hurt others." "What about the plans you made before we went to the base, those have to have some use, right?" Rainbow Dash asked as the blaze died down, casting ashes into the air. Twilight shook her head resolutely, "I based those notes off of what could happen during a first contact situation where both parties would still be sizing each other up. They're useless now and honestly I should burn those next." "So what do we do next?" Applejack asked as they watched the last of the plans disappear. Twilight turn her back on the fire and held their gazes, "We have to start over, from the beginning or at least as close to the beginning as we can. We no longer have a clean slate to work with, so we're going to have to work extra hard it set this right." "And that means?" Rainbow Dash asked some of them embers escaped the fire and fizzled on the ground. "Apologizing and taking punches." Twilight said standing tall while looking like the very definition of hell with her matted mane, and rash red eyes, "It's the most we will be able to do. If they allow us to." Seeing that the their current mood was dropping again, Applejack quickly went to break it, “Well girls we can't start mending the kind of problems we cause if we're too tired to walk." She yawned pointedly, "We should hit the hay.” Twilight nodded to this realizing how tired she was, “Alright we'll start operation AFZHMROHFSH early tomorrow." She paused at the looks Rainbow Dash and Applejack were giving her. "What?' Twilight said, "Operation 'Apologizing to our friends and Zachary in the Hopes of Mending the Relationship we have with the Only Human we have Found Since we got here' is a good name." Rainbow Dash shook her head before entering the tent to get some much needed shut eye, "Whatever Twilight at least it is step in the right direction." Kim circled around the small port town. She took in the bustling town with all it's citizens happily going through their day and how each and every pony had a smile on his or her face. All of them were so comfortable with their lives and the state of their country. She hated it. After they had deposited the unicorn they had waited for morning to scope the town. Blending in was easy. A size spell mixed with transformation one and they entered the ranks of the other noisy seabirds that littered the port town. Like most transformation spells they only held if what you were transforming into had the same general structure as you. Which left them with mostly with birds. The vantage point that the disguises gave them was worth the painfulness of that first transformation and all in all was okay with her. What wasn't okay with her was what they had found in the port towns. Kim landed on a rooftop as another patrol walked by. If you could even call the group that walked by that. The kitchen accessories they paraded as amour clanked loudly with every step they made. Pots and pans for helmets, cookie tins tied together with wire to protect their barrels, and wooden spoons and ladles as weapons. At first she was pissed because she thought they were taunting them in a 'you’re so weak we don't even need proper amour' sort of way. Then she heard the whispers. "...Militia..." "...Trying to protect us..." "…too much force..." When she had first heard that comment she almost fell out of her tree. The ponies thought the walking kitchen sets were using too much force? The ponies who were stumbling around in amour that was literally falling apart? The ponies who still had bits of foodstuff clinging to what they were wearing? Those guys were using too much force? Confused as ever they had split up into two groups. One to observe the coastal towns and one to go inland to see exactly what they were dealing with. They were supposed to meet in four days’ time before continuing deeper inland. For three days she, Alec and two other teams went from town to town trying to properly gage Equestria's fighting force and each town left them in shock. Sloppy patrols, untrained militants, shoddy equipment, and ponies thinking that this use of force was too much. She hated them. She hated the towns and their smiling ponies, she hated the militia and the stupid untrained looks they wore, and above all she hated what everything they had found implied. Did they jump the gun and throw away Zachary's life in fear of a fighting force which first year academy students could defeat in their sleep? Kim could feel her teeth grinding against each other and she flew higher before someone pointed out the strangely acting bird. It almost shamed her to admit it but she found herself wishing that they had ended up staring down a serious threat. Something that could instantly justify their hair trigger response. Something other than the pathetic attempt at intimidation that laid before her. "Kim." Her head whipped in the direction of her name. A white and grey seagull flew in front of her its bright orange eyes watching her plainly before it flew into a swirling flock. Quickly she flew after it and entered aerial dance with the other spiraling birds. Just another flock high above the unaware smiling ponies heads. "What is it Alec." She said acknowledging the other teams in the flock. "There's activity in the town's center." Alec said dully barely looking back at her. "So?" Kim said not getting the importance of a couple of shopkeepers selling their goods. Alec briefly looked back in her direction, "It's a town meeting held by some actual soldiers." Kim felt her stomach clench, "You mean?" "No pots and pans." Alec said dryly, taking in her expression a small portion of his brow feathers raised, "You haven't been tempting the spirits again have you?" She glared backed at him, pointedly flying past him and calling back, "Don't we have issues to deal with other than your superstitions?" The journey to the town center was short and they took their positions around the crowed area. Kim landed next to Alec on low thatched roof stretching her disguise's wings. To the ponies below them they were nothing but two birds which happened to be resting on one of the best vantage points the center had to offer. The area fell into deathly silence as two armed guards walked onto an elevated stage and up to a podium that bore a picture of the sun and moon. "Since when do ponies come with bat wings?" Kim said as a dark grey pony decked out in dark blue and purple amour stepped back as the pure white pegasus guard beside her took to the podium. "Greetings ponies of White Coast," The golden amour guard said, his gaze twitching over the crowd as he shuffled on his hooves, "we are here to relay orders from our majesties Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." "He's lying, or both his eyes are incredibly lazy." Alec muttered under his breath as he watched the jumpy movements of the guard’s eyes. "Our majesties ask that the ponies in this town's militia disband their forces. Keeping up such an unruly act only brings fear to the populace and distrust among us." The guard said as he struggled not to shift on his hooves. A lull of silence followed the guard’s words as the crowd digested the messaged relayed to them. Just as the silence became uncomfortable a voice from the crowd broke through. "What about the humans?" A militia member with a pasta strainer tie to his head shouted. The sun guard forced himself to hold the pony's gaze, "There are no humans in Equestia." Kim stepped roughly on Alec's foot as he started to whistle. "That's not true!" A mare shouted waving a wooden fork like a sword, "I heard that some nobles in Canterlot were lobbying against Princess Luna about the humans she had in the castle!" The bat pony stepped up to the podium and spoke, "Princess Luna does not have a human in Canterlot Castle." "Yeah she wouldn't have a human in the castle. Humans are dangerous. She would have one in the dungeons." Another pony yelled confident in his own reasoning. "Princess Luna does not have a human in the castle or dungeons or anywhere else in Equestia because there are no humans in Equestia." The golden guard said his voice taking on a harsher desperate air. "You didn't say humans weren't dangerous. Does that mean they are dangerous?" Said one particularly intuitive mare. "We don't know if humans are dangerous or not." The day guard said causing the center to be washed once again in silence. "Does that mean humans do exist?" The gold plated guard stuttered, "Um, well... that is to say..." "We don't know," the bat pony guard stepped forward, "Humans are myths lost to a time before even the princesses themselves. Like all myths we cannot possibly know how they behave because we have nothing to back any theories up. Even if we did know more about them many things can happen in the thousands of years they were gone. We don't even know if they know what Equestria is. However, what we do know is that there are no humans in Equestia." The bat pony finished to the comprehensive silence of the centre. Kim saw the grateful smile the gold plated guard give the bat pony and the smirk she gave back only to watch both of their faces spectacularly fall at the next question. "But wasn't Nightmare Moon a myth?" "Um well yes but..." The bat pony faltered. "Discord was statue in the Canterlot gardens for years before he was released, wasn't he?" Another pony yelled. "True but...” The gold plated guard tried to speak up. "And, and King Sombera! Didn't he enslave the entire Crystal Empire for a thousand years, and wasn't he hiding in Equestria's mountains?" Another voice asked almost hysterical with panic. "Um," The two guards looked helplessly to each other, "Yes?" Kim almost couldn't believe what she saw as the center fell into absolute chaos. "They're in the mountains, the mountains!" "Barricade your houses!" "Won't somepony think about the children?" Kim watched as the madness unfolded and as the two guards tried and failed to get the stampeding mess under control. "I almost feel sorry for them." She said as a large earth pony ran head first into stage toppling it and the two guards on it to the ground. Alec responded by ignoring in favour of carefully preening the feathers of his disguise. "Why are you doing that anyways?" Kim asked watching Alec's attetmpt at cleanliness. "It’s not like you need to keep those feathers clean." "One must always strive to look their best." Alec replied carefully cleaning his form’s talons, before looking up and simply saying, "Jump." Kim lost her footing as heavy object crashed into the base of the building they were perched on. Quickly gaining her bearings she joined Alec in the air with the other 'birds' trying to escape the destruction beneath them. "Can you believe the mess down there?" She wondered out loud as the impromptu riot increase in ferocity. "A bunch of already paranoid ponies going nuts at what vaguely seems like confirmation to all of their worst fears?" Alec deadpanned, falling into formation with the other squads as they flew deeper into Equestria, "Impossible." She snorted, "Okay so it's a very believable mess, but it doesn't tell us anything. Other than this place seems to be falling apart." "Kim my dear it tells us much." Alec paused when he saw the hostile look she was giving him, "Before I continue I must remind you that laying hands on a fellow operative is very much frowned upon." Seeing that she wasn't about to break formation to smack him Alec continued, "One it tells us what is happening in these coastal towns is not an isolated event. From what the griffin has told us, the princesses are very hand on when it comes to problems between them and their citizens. If they are sending guards out as representatives with what sounds like scripted and mass produced speeches this increase in militia is a very far reaching problem." "Or the princesses don't what to waste time on a bunch of stupid paranoid citizens." Kim interjected blandly as the flock landed on a cluster of trees far away from the town. "There is that, but it is not the smartest thing to do. Of course this is assuming that the princesses are smart and not just figure heads." Alec said, "If this was an isolated case it would be smarter to directly deal with the fears of the ponies here before it could spread out to the rest of the country. However, representatives were sent in their stead to quell the discourse here. Which brings me to the second thing and what it tells us." Alec finished with a stiff contemplative look on his face. "Before you tell me is this a good news or a bad news kind of thing?" She said wary of the expressiveness on Alec's normally impassive face. "Truthfully, it's a little bit of both." Alec replied, "Can I assume that you want the good news first?" She nodded noting the sudden observant silence of the disguised operatives around them. "Good news, the representatives are clearly unskilled for this type of crowd control. This means that either the princess have run out skilled soldiers to assigned to each town, or the skilled guards were sent to more populated cities, or to an unknown battle front and the rest were sent to the dregs." Alec said loud enough for those closest to them to hear, "Which is good as it means we won't have to worry about being discovered until we reach the larger cities. Which of course brings us to the bad news. Kim do you remember what I pointed out to you a few days ago?" She remembered. He had expressed how badly some ponies stood out in the crowds. To her those ponies weren't that different from any other militia member except... "...you mean the guys with the actual weapons?" She asked not liking the direction the conversation was going. "The very same.” Alec replied with a short nod that looked absolutely ridiculous coming from a seabird, “At first I thought they were the guards seeing at how they acted and the weapons they held. I now know how wrong I was. Equestria is run by four different Alicorns three of which have their own soldiers who work under them. We have seen the day and night guard and I have yet to see a pony which the griffin told us 'sparkles like a crystal in the sun light'." "So the trained guys we saw mixing in the rest of the ponies are not with any of the princesses?" She asked, "Who the hell are they then?" Alec sighed as if his own discovery annoyed him, "It seems that we have found a third party in this. Us, the princesses and now a new group which could be a threat." "So, now what?" Kim asked thinking about how this could change their plans. "Now we watch the third group. The princesses guards are most likely spread too thin to be an actual threat and calling the militia a threat is a direct insult to ourselves. If the third group is as unthreatening as the other two we will continue our mission to properly map out Equestria. There is no need to fight a unnecessary one sided war." Alec said with a stretch, "And if the third group is as threatening as you make them seem?" She asked him. "Then dearest Kim, things are about to get much more interesting." One week, seven days or one hundred sixty eight hours. All times were equal both in length and for how long it had been since Zachary had opened his eyes. Fluttershy re-entered the same trance she been in when she had first began to bandage him all those days ago. Unwrap cloth. Reapply burn creams and other miscellaneous salves. Rewrap injuries with new clean cloth. Move on to next injury. Repeat. She usually left the head injury for last. It was safer to reapply those injuries with somepony there to prop up his head and keep it from lolling dangerously. However, the possibly of further injury wasn't the only reason she always left the head injury for last. On the first day, that horrible day that was filled with nothing but blood and screaming, to get Zachary's head wound they had to cut off much of his hair. His messy black hair no longer ran down the length of his back and hung over his face. It now cut off in an uneven line at base of his neck and ended sharply at his hair line revealing what was usually hidden by shadows. Fluttershy grimaced. It was so wrong. Zachary's hair wasn't supposed to be that flat. It reminded her of the time one of her younger birds had landed into a dish of cooking oil she had set aside. He looked unnatural, unrecognizable. This wasn't the Zachary she knew. The haircut they gave him took years off of his appearance and left in his place a vulnerable child or at least what she thought a human child would look like. It wasn't right, and it wasn't the only reason why she had so much hesitation when it came to moving him. One week. Seven days. One hundred sixty eight hours. In that large amount of time he had yet to make a movement of any kind. After the first day she had tried to clean him. She was a vet and even though Ponyville was a great town she still had a firsthand experience of what happens when a creature was force to live in its own grime. So she forced away her embarrassment and went to help him. But there was nothing. She had panicked when the second day had pass then Pinkie Pie had pointed out something she hadn't noticed in her worry. He was sweating a lot and every couple of hours or so he would breathe out hard leaving an almost visible mist in the air. At that point she realized Zachary wasn't just in a coma, his body when into a sort of healing process which burned up most of the energy in his body. A process that was so through he couldn't expel more than sweat and little puffs of condensed air. Of course she was worried that whatever was happening would start hurting him, but she didn't know of a way to stop the process or if doing so wouldn't hurt him more. So all she could do was change his bandages, keep his wounds from getting infected and make sure his wings didn't get any more damaged. And keep him safe from anypony who would hurt him. Fluttershy's eyes narrowed as she force herself not to tighten the bandages in anger. Four days ago Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had come to them and asked for forgiveness. Four days ago she had screamed so hard her throat became raw, and her voice was left as a raspy gurgle. They had left them alone after that and vice versa. The only times their paths crossed was when Pinkie Pie went back to camp to get their share of rations. Even though Fluttershy wanted nothing to do with them she wasn't stupid. The Forsaken Islands where dangerous and eating anything they found here would be more than a terrible idea. This of course brought her the biggest problem that they currently had. They were quickly running out of supplies, and in a few days Ashen would come to pick them up. What if Zachary wasn't awake by the time Ashen came for them? Fluttershy tried not to shake as she went to inspect his wings. The patches where his feathers were pulled out had grown back days ago, and no wing bones had be broken during his convulsions. When Zachary was awake he should be able to fly and defend himself against anything the Forsaken Islands had to throw at him. But now? When he couldn't even brush the ant's off his own face? Fluttershy had to tear her gaze away from the softness of Zachary's face. Leaving him like this would be more than criminal, but they didn't know any humans that could take him and having him wake up on a boat to the Griffin Lands would end badly. That is if he woke up. "Fluttershy dear are you okay?" She jump in surprize when she saw Rarity watching her. "Oh it's nothing I'm fine Rarity." Fluttershy replied weakly. "Really, because you have quite the pensive look on your face. Dear don't you know frowning like that will give you wrinkles?" Rarity countered her face softening. "You know you can talk to me about anything. Holding everything in will help nopony." Fluttershy looked away from her hiding her face with pink locks of her hair. She hesitate then asked, "What if...what if Zachary doesn't wake up?" Rarity looked at her in shock, "Fluttershy I know these past couple of days have been hard on all of us, but I wouldn't jump to conclusions like that." "It's not jumping to conclusions Rarity! We have no idea how to help him. He's just too different. His body actually shut down it's like he went into hibernation in the worst way. I never saw anything like this before. I don't even know if I'm hurting him by doing nothing." Fluttershy said before wavering at the end as tears began to roll down her face, "We can't even get him to eat." Rarity quickly gathered Fluttershy in a hug, "Shh, dear it’s going to be okay. We all know how strong Zachary is he should be fine." She said with some hesitation. "What if he isn't?" Rarity bit her lip, "Then we bring him back to Equestria to be treated." "Rarity we can't do that!" Fluttershy said in panic pulling away from her hurt clearly on her face, "What if he wakes up on the boat and panics? What if the ponies try to take him from us? What if..?" "Those are risks we have to be willing to take." Rarity said sharply cutting Fluttershy off, "It's better than trying to wait out his coma and running out of food and water. We can't exactly help him if we ourselves can barely help ourselves." Fluttershy rubbed the tears from her eyes, "I know, but taking him to Equestria without his consent anyway after all of this..." "I know dear," Rarity said reaching to hold Fluttershy's again, "it is the worst form of irony. Though it doesn't have to be like this. We are just assuming if he doesn't wake up before Ashen comes for us. There is still time, and in that time we just have to try our best to keep him alive.” Rarity smiled softly before gesturing to Zachary’s head. "Don't you need help changing the bandages on his head?" Fluttershy nodded breaking Rarity's hold on her, "We need to change them, and flip him on his side. Even though he hasn't shown any signs of bruising I still don't want to risk him getting sores." "Okay," Rarity said moving to the Zachary's still form, "tell me exactly what you want me to do." The darkness around him spread out in all directions. He tried to move, to talk, to do anything but nothing was listening to him making him essentially a prisoner in his own body. He would have panicked if he could only gather his thoughts into the direction of panic. Unable to do anything and annoyed by his helplessness he floated aimlessly in the echoing darkness. The darkness, however, wasn't completely empty. Every so often he heard sounds break though the heaviness of his world. He couldn't begin to comprehend what they were saying but he could feel the emotion behind the words. Not that he wanted to feel them. Sadness. Regret. Guilt. Those emotions carried on mutter sounds penetrated the darkness around him. Truthfully it was starting to annoy him. He spent however how long floating around aimlessly unable to feel anything but the negative emotions forced onto him by whoever was beyond the void. He had his own problems and regrets to deal with he didn't need more. How could he fall victim to such a stupid trap. Why the hell didn't he take in the fact he could be poisoned? How could he not realize how much his defenses had dropped? Sure he was supposed to be captured but being taken down in such as way was just embarrassing. His mind reached for his memory as darkness around him started to disappear. "....Zachary I will tell you who I am and what I want. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, direct protégé of Princess Celestia, and I want to ask you a few questions." His eyes burned in the sudden brightness of the void. He twitch in irritation as the ghost of feeling came back to his limbs and began to spread through his body. He had barely even snapped at Applejack before blinding pain entered him. As the darkness took him all he could think about was how sad his family would be when they found out. Zachary gasped as body convulsed as the feeling reached his chest forcing his heart to speed up. Zachary shot up clawing at the ground and coughing violently as he felt his insides lurched. His eyes blinked rapidly as the evening sun assaulted them. Tired he collapsed onto his back breathing in heavily as he tried to fill his lungs with air. He felt like shit. It almost felt like he was forced to run an grueling obstacle course after be revived. He just wanted to sleep and maybe be woken sometime after the world ended. Something soft poked him in the side. His whole body tensed at the touch and he forced his head up to see what was touching him. Three pairs of watery eyes looked down at him as their respective hosts tethered at the edge of sobbing. His throat was scratching and his head felt light almost hollow, but he forced himself to speak, "So, I guess this means I'm not dead?" Zachary's body tensed further as three very well-meaning but very heavy mares crushed him in a hug. Air escaped harshly from his teeth as they held him tighter. Thankfully Fluttershy quickly heard his pain and told Rarity and Pinkie Pie to let go with a few unintelligible brays. He blinked as Fluttershy assaulted his ears with a line up of the purest definition of noise. "Fluttershy," Zachary said slowly when Fluttershy stopped, "Can you repeat what you just said?" Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked at him in confusion before Fluttershy began speaking to him. Or at least he was pretty sure she was speaking to him. Everything that left her mouth was as incomprehensible as the day they had meet. "Well then it seems like bitch princess blasted me harder than I thought.” Zachary muttered scratching at his head. “How long was I out?" He froze as his hand grasped at the air at the base of his neck. Where was his hair? He quickly looked up at the three now very guilty looking ponies. Stiffly, Rarity reached into a saddle bag and pulled out a mirror. She gave it to him weakly saying one of the only words she knew in Common Tongue. "Sorry." Shakily Zachary took the mirror and began to inspect his face his hand tighten on the handle as he forced himself not to drop it. The stick thin child that looked back at him was not him. He never had bags under his eyes. His hair had never been so desperately cut. His lips were never dry or cracked. His eyes never looked that dull. His face was always clean shaven and never had such an ugly looking beard growing on it. The face in the mirror was many things but it wasn't him. Numbly his hand went to his hair again and paused when it touched cloth. They bandage him while he was out. No, they were able to bandage him while he was out. Zachary knew he wasn't the lightest of sleepers but he also knew that he would have woken if someone had gotten this close to him. How long was he out? "Number...day?" He needed to get back at the bitch princess for literally knocking the language out of him. Those thoughts were quickly chased from his head when Rarity slowly tapped out a number. Seven days. He was out for seven days! Fluttershy gently placed a hoof on his arm, "Sorry." Zachary forced himself to smile kindly at her. It wasn't her fault that bitch princess zapped him into a coma, and he had a pretty good feeling that she was the one who lead the charge in healing him. Seeing that Pinkie Pie was a baker and Rarity a dress maker. Hell, they were probably the only reason he was alive. Which begs to question how he exactly was alive. Well there was only one way to find out. Zachary pointed to Rarity, "Need magic, talk." He forced out, even with weeks of practice pony tongue or Equestrian as they called it was just as hard to say. As Rarity got closer he held out his hand as a weak pulse of dark magic swirled around it. Zachary forced himself not to grimace at the pain flaring up in his hand. Those chains were supposed to divide a human from its magic. That fact he wasn't dead meant that they were turned off before they could achieve their purpose. That fact he wasn't a hyperventilating mess and still didn't know exactly where he was meant the chains didn’t remove the spell placed on him by whoever. However, the effects of the chains were still on him. He should have much more magic at his disposal. This could mean two things one the chains completely ruined the flow of magic in his body and he would never reach his resting level again. Or his magic needed time to build up after being used to internally heal himself for a week. He was really hoping for the latter but only time will reveal the extent of his damages. Gently Zachary placed his hand above the base of Rarity's horn and the both grimace as their worlds went black. The last time he did this he only felt a small bit of discomfort. Now he was gasping for breath as his whole arm burned in irritation. "Please tell me you can understand me now. I really don't think I can do that again anytime soon." Zachary said between gasps. "I can perfectly understand you." Rarity said before making motions toward his arm which he was clutching hard, "...your arm." "Hurts like it has been skinned." He said passed clenched teeth, "But it's nothing I can't handle." Almost unconsciously he began to beat his wings. He felt much of the tension he felt leave him as moving his wings offered little resistance. Although the tension did not fully leave him as be felt a knot of resistance over the area where his secondary wings where. They were dormant when bitch princess wreak havoc on his magic channels. He didn't even want to begin to think about how fucked up they were. Thankfully they will grow back. Not so thankfully he will have to pull them out at the roots without him being high on painkillers for them to do that. "It something you shouldn't have to handle." Fluttershy said grasping for Zachary's arm and checking the now warm bandages. "We shouldn't have let Twilight near you. You were bleeding and are covered in burns! How could she do something like that to such a poor, helpless, innocent creature?" Zachary had to raise an eyebrow at that as Fluttershy continued to fuss over him. He was certainly happy he wasn't the only one looking at Fluttershy strangely. "Fluttershy remember what I said about treating him like one of your animals?" Rarity pointed out. "While I do agree Zachary was innocent in that mess, I wouldn't call him helpless." "I know Rarity, but look at him.” Fluttershy said pointing at him oblivious to the blank look he was giving her, "He died Rarity! If I didn't revive him..." That got his attention, "I died?" He asked wide eyed. "Your heart stop and you weren't breathing and I never saw so much blood since..." Teary eyed Fluttershy looked away from them, "That hydra was in so much pain. I couldn't let it happen again." "Fluttershy what happened to the hydra wasn't your fault. You couldn't possibly have known what was happening to it." Rarity said, "And what happened to Zachary wasn't anyone's fault. Other than those mares." She spat. "Well that's not completely true," Zachary started poking at the soft spot at the back of his head to Fluttershy's protests, "if you really think about it I kinda had a part in it." Zachary winched as the clearing was suddenly filled with the loud protests of Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "How can you say that?" Pinkie Pie said her voice breaking over the noise from Fluttershy and Rarity, "You didn't attack them. You didn't do anything and they attacked you and brought you here. How did they do that anyways?" Zachary looked away from Pinkie Pie's still teary face finding interest in a particularly strange cupcake-looking cloud, "I let my guard down and did something stupid. Really, really stupid." Zachary muttered. "Even if you think what happened was your fault, which it isn't it isn't, what happened shouldn't have happened." Fluttershy said softly before gathering herself and looking Zachary straight in the eyes. Her voice only slightly wavering, "How are your wings?" He blinked slightly taken aback at the sudden change in conversation, "Um, they're fine." "Show me." Fluttershy said firmly. He did more so in confusion than anything else, and hid a grunt as he felt his unused muscles pull as he stretch them to their fullest length. He tried not to flinch as Fluttershy got close and began poking at him a serious look in her face Finally she pulled away from him and nodded stiffly, "Everything looks good." He relaxed as she gathered herself. Fluttershy hesitated and Rarity placed a hoof on her shoulder for comfort. "We have been thinking and, we think it would be better if you left." Zachary saw the sad yet determined look that Fluttershy gave him, and could only asked, "What?" "What Twilight did to you was...it just wasn't right, and now she's trying to get close to you again. You have to leave here and since you can fly you will be able to get away." Fluttershy smiled weakly at him through the tears streaking her face, "Your family and friends are probably worried by now. You should go back to them maybe rest at a village before going out again." She hiccupped and her smile got wider, "Think about it wouldn't it be nice to see them again, and even if we never see each other again we will still be friends." Pinkie Pie and Rarity joined her in smiling at him as he felt his stomach drop, "So let's stay friends, okay?" Zachary smiled back at them, his face a perfect mask of reluctant joy as his eyes shinned with tears at the edges. Through this display that he had perfected over years of what he knew was intense training his mind screamed a well pronounced, 'Shit!' Dimly he heard Pinkie Pie screamed out an enthusiastic 'group hug!' as some of the bounce re-entered her hair, and felt himself be dragged into the hug. Zachary smiled widely as the hug went through its course all the while his mind tried to grasp his new situation. He wasn't supposed to survive the mission. His mission, in layman's terms, was basically give yourself to the alicorn princess in the most unsuspicious way possible. A true dying for the sake of your countrymen kind of moment. Yet he was alive and was given a second chance to live. This was bad. Really bad. Zachary knew no one would be coming for him. The last time, whatever his home was, went it to hiding they went into hiding for one hundred fifty years. He had food but there was no way he could survive the unforgiving wasteland that was the winter. That was assuming if he could survive ground worm season and every man-eating creature season after that up to the first frost. He needed off the island. Which brought him back to his mission which in the most technical of terms was done. The princess did get exactly what she wanted, and seeing how she had almost killed him couldn't believe that humans where threats to Equestria. Bitch princess was here to look for humans and the other princesses knew about it, and from what they had told him, she was expected to bring something back. Even if he told Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie not to tell anyo-pony about him bitch princess will, and if ponies got curious enough... Zachary pictured hundreds of ponies on Standing Refuge cutting down trees and tunneling through mountains to better search for humans to parade around Equestria. He shivered as cold fingers of dread threatened to take him. Human would be prisoners in their own homes never again to see the light of day again without out fear of capture. He had to go to Equestria with them. Just to state their curiosity and give them a living specimen to poke at. His grin took on a darker air. While he was at it why not fill their heads with the dangers of Standing Refuge just to give them some pause before they decide to cross two oceans to face death? It has been said there is more terrifying than the truth. Zachary slowly stood up gaining the attention of Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Smiling kindly at them he spoke, "I should get going, if I'm going to leave I should leave before the start of ground worm season. You should leave soon too. No body survives ground worm season." This got their attention, and they began looking at the ground for shifting mounds. "When exactly does ground worm season start again Zachary?" Fluttershy said with a frightened hitch to her voice as she remembered the horrible leech like worms Zachary had described in great detail weeks ago. "Around Mehefin Hugain," he quickly continued when he saw the looks of absolute confusion on their faces, "or I guess that would be June 21 for you." He replied and counted down. "Zachary, today's June 18." Rarity said slowly. Like flipping a switch his expression changed. "Oh no." Rarity tensed at his expression worried, "What's wrong?" "There's no way I can escape before then." He said with a finality that shocked him with how genuine it sounded. "What do you mean?” Fluttershy said with horror slowing etching itself on her face, "Can you fly over them?" "Normally yes, but as I am I don't think I could fly that high for that long. I'm going to have to land at some point.” Zachary said running a hand through his hair, “If I can't rest..." "..then you'll get tired and...fall from the sky." Pinkie Pie finished. The life was sucked from the campsite as they all pictured him falling into a swarm of the carnivorous creatures, each disturbing thought ending with its on degree of horror. "This is, this is horse apples! Even after everything, you’re still going to, to die. This isn't fair!" Fluttershy shouted on the verge of going into full hysterics. "What are we supposed to do? Isn't there anything we can do?" "There is one thing..." Pinkie Pie said, "I hate it and it makes me feel all sick icky inside, but we have to bring Zachary to Equestria." "How could you say that? Pinkie Pie we did all this to protect Zachary from Twilight and now you want to put him on a boat with her and have her bring him home as, as a trophy?" Pinkie Pie got into Fluttershy's face her own the perfect picture of misplaced anguish lead anger, "When did I say I want to do this? Zachary needs to get off this island and we're going off this island. What is there not to get?" "Stop fighting! We will get nowhere like this." Rarity said pushing herself in-between them, "Not to mention this choice is Zachary's and Zachary's alone. So Zachary the decision is yours, what do you think?" "On one hand I'd rather tear my tongue out the get close to b-princess Twilight again." Zachary said catching himself, "However I rather not die. Especially not by ground worms." "So?" Rarity asked. Zachary hesitate suffer from the worst case of Deja-vu and said, "I'll go. It's not like there is any other option." Fluttershy let out a light sob, "It's not fair..." Zachary nodding in response for once extremely worried about what he might say in response. These ponies didn't know how unfair life could get. "I hate them." Pinkie Pie muttered low under her breath. Again Zachary nodded stiffly in response. "I don't trust them." Rarity said. That he could answer, "Me neither at least that is something we all can agree on." He said smiling weakly before asking, "When does your boat get here?" "Two days from now." Fluttershy said rubbing her at her burning eyes. "It will be cutting it close." Zachary said, "You should go talk to them about all this. All of you. I need go grab some stuff." "Okay...meet back here in an hour?" Pinkie Pie said weakly refusing to fully lift her head. "Okay." Zachary replied as he turned walked into the forest trying hard not to fall as his body went through its final processes of getting himself back into order. With their minds filled with their own shortcomings and personal horrors they parted to prepare for the long trip to Equestria and the pains that it will offer to them.