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// Chapter 4 
// Story: Battle Cry Of The Nadir 
// by WolfTheWyvern 
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	Twilight tried frantically scrubbed at the blood out of her coat, but it seemed like the more she tried, the more it just seemed to smear and spread. She removed her cloak, dead to the risk that she was taking, and used it to try to soak up some of the blood. It worked better than her hooves did; soon, she wasn’t totally clean, but it was better than nothing.
Inside, Twilight felt dead. After her initial purgation of fear and disgust, she felt cold and alone. She couldn’t even begin to fathom how one pony could be driven to kill like that, especially for something so fleeting. What broke Twilight was that the guard couldn’t be bothered to stop him. Twilight had to remind herself that this was not her home, and it never would be. She thanked Celestia that she’d only be here for a few more days. 
After a few more minutes sitting in the filth of the alley, Twilight stood up and grabbed her cloak. She considered leaving the soiled thing there, but she pulled it on with a shudder. It was wet and cold, and she didn’t even want to think about the way it was beginning to smell. Twilight needed to get back to the relative safety of the White Feather’s bunker; she knew generally where she needed to go, so she started out in that direction. 
Twilight found herself being much more cautious now. On guard, Twilight’s eyed the crowded streets for any sign of trouble. If worst came to worst, Twilight knew that she had her magic, and that calmed her nerves a little.
Twilight pushed on, and she soon found herself in a (relatively) open air market. She turned left to make her way around the edge of the market. Suddenly, she found her hooves tangled amongst somepony else’s. Twilight had a shield spell charged before she hit the ground. She jumped up, looking for the attack.
“I’m so sorry,” said a weak but sincere voice. She heard him gasp, “It’s you!” a small spark returned to the stallion’s voice and Twilight turned to see the pony she had tried to help on her first day here laying on the ground. 
Twilight’s adrenaline high brain recognized him, “Steelsmith?” His coat looked pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. In short, he looked like he had just dragged himself out of Tartarus.  Worryingly, the makeshift bandage Twilight had given him three days earlier was still wrapped around his head; she prayed that the faint stench of rot that clung to the air wasn’t him. 
“You… you’re from Upper Canterlot…” His breathing was labored as he struggled to stand up on unsure hooves. “You can help me!” he shouted.
“Steelsmith, I’m sorry, but I-” Twilight started.
“P-please it would be nothing to you,” He grabbed Twilight’s hoof. She could feel the fever burning through his body, and she knew that he was horribly sick. “Only a couple of bits could get us through the week…” he fell onto Twilight, limp. She caught him in her hooves.
“Steelsmith?” She saw his eyes roll back into his head. She found her heart pounding and her hooves sweaty. Steelsmith’s body felt like his body was on fire. She knew that for the second time today, there was a pony dying in her hooves, but this time she wasn’t going to stand by and just let it happen. She knew something about medicine: it was knowledge she thought would be vital living in a town as…vibrant as Ponyville. Right now, she knew that she had to keep Steelsmith awake, and get him someplace safe. “Steelsmith!” she shook the stallion until his eyes focused on her. 
“Hey! It’s you… you can help me…” He started to slip into unconsciousness.
Twilight shook him again, “Yes I can. Steelsmith, we need to get you home,” She looked him in the eyes. “Where’s your home?”
“It’s across from the bakery, close to the mine,” he gestured off in the direction that Twilight came from.
Twilight didn’t have time to drag around a half conscious pony across the city looking for a building she wouldn’t recognize. A spell came to mind, but she hated to use it. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures,’ she thought to herself.
Twilight charged the spell, and touched her horn to what was left of Steelsmith’s horn. Instantly, her head was filled with a throbbing pain from her horn. She could feel the infection that was burning Steelsmith’s body, and the migraine that was the result of magical backup. Twilight pushed his pains aside.  ‘Home,’ she thought. Twilight’s mind was flooded with thoughts and sensations. She got memories of a small, copper colored colt playing in the street; a sparse dinner around a small table, the room full of laughter; Steelsmith molding white hot metal while showing the colt his trade; sharing a kiss with a unicorn mare... ‘Where is home?’ Twilight refocused her thoughts. She got a picture of a small cobblestone building with two floors. Inside, on the bottom floor, was the smith’s workshop; it was complete with a forge, anvil, and all manner of hammers and metalworking tools. On the top floor was the family’s apartment. There was a living room with a small, round table and a wood burning stove; an immaculate little colt’s room; a bathroom; the last room featured a full sized bed and a dresser. Twilight had what she needed, and she broke the spell.
Twilight looked back up, and a crowd had formed around the two of them. She levitated the barely conscious pony over her back and with a spark of her horn, she teleported directly into Steelsmith’s home. Twilight’s mind was racing with what she was preparing to do. She pulled half-remembered passages from books she had read, and she had a tentative idea of what she had to do. ‘I need to cut out the infection, then clean the wound, and find some was to cauterize it.’
She spun when she heard the floor creak behind her. There was a small copper colored colt hiding in the doorframe. She smiled and kept her voice calm, “Hey, are you Copper?” calling the name from borrowed memories, she held out a hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m one of your dad’s friends.”
The colt stepped out of the doorframe but didn’t return her hoofshake. He looked at his father lying on the bed and turned pale. “Is Daddy going to be alright?” Twilight could hear that Copper was on the brink of tears. 
“He will be just fine,” Twilight hoped that she didn’t just lie to the colt, “But he’s really sick, and he needs my help,” She leaned down and got on his level. “Can you be a big colt and help me?” Twilight made a checklist of the things she’d need in her mind. Luckily, a sharp knife was the first thing she needed. Cut out the infection…
Copper nodded. Twilight knew that he was putting on a brave face.
“Good. Do you have any bandages?” she asked as she started a fire in the stove. She began a search of the kitchen for supplies she’d need.
“No,” he shook his head.
“Rags? Any sort of cloth, as long as it’s clean.” Twilight found what she was looking for: an old iron. Cauterize the wound...
“The only clean thing we have is Daddy’s shirt…” Copper looked nervously towards his father’s room.
“Would you get me that shirt?” Twilight asked. Copper bit his lip nervously, unsure. “I know he’ll understand. It’ll be okay.” Copper still didn’t move. “I would ask if I needed it…. Please?”
Copper walked into his father’s room, and came back out with a pristine white dress shirt. Twilight guessed that it hadn’t been worn more than a few times. Twilight nodded to the table, and Copper set it there. Twilight’s hooves were still sweating, but she felt a little calmer. Maybe it was the initial adrenaline rush dying off, or maybe she had rehearsed what she had to do in her head so many times that she had convinced herself that she could do it. Cut out the infection, clean the wound, and cauterize it. 
Twilight stopped the sink and began to let it fill. Clean the wound… 
Checklist completed, Twilight walked over to the colt. “Now Copper, I need you to listen to me,” she lifted his eyes to hers. “I need you to stay brave for me, okay?” 
Copper nodded.
“Keep that fire going, I’m going to need that iron as hot as it can get,” Twilight put a hoof to her chest to try and quiet her hammering heart, took a deep breath and exhaled her stress away; she told herself that she could never thank Cadence enough for showing her that. Her nerves settled, she walked into Steelsmith’s room.
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When it was all over, Twilight was physically tired, and mentally exhausted. She sat in the corner of Steelsmith’s dim room watching the pony’s chest rise and fall steadily. It was bloody, and it took longer than Twilight expected. Twilight threw every spell she could at Steelsmith to dull his pain, but he still screamed. She tried to spare Copper the worst of it, but the whole block probably heard Steelsmith’s cries. In the end, Twilight knew that it was going to be worth it all: Steelsmith was going to make it.
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The nightmare that woke Twilight up hung like a bad aftertaste in her mouth, but she couldn’t remember it. Her cloak, which she’d bunched up behind her head in her sleep, was damp with sweat. She felt hungover; using too much magic will do that. It took her a moment to realize that somepony was watching her.
Twilight opened her eyes, and Copper Penny was staring at her. A mixture of fear and fascination was written on his face. “Good morning,” was all that she could muster right now. She knew that she was out of her costume; she had shed it when working on Steelsmith, but she didn’t care right now. Her body ached as she stood, and nausea hit her in the gut. On top of that she felt disgusting. She was muddy, greasy, and covered with the dried blood from two different ponies; Twilight thanked Celestia that she had nothing left to throw up. Twilight looked over to Steelsmith, who still looked to be sleeping peacefully.
“Has he woken up?” She asked Copper.
Copper nodded. “I gave him some water, just like you said.” there was something in his tone that Twilight decided to overlook until she was clean.
“Can I use you bath?” Twilight asked.
Copper nodded again.
Twilight never knew that a bath in tepid water could feel so good. She had to scrub furiously, but eventually all of the grime, grease, and gore was off of her and down the drain. Twilight dried off, and followed the tantalizing smell that was in the kitchen. She found Copper standing on a chair, stirring some soup.
“What are you cooking?” Twilight asked.
“Boiled cabbage,” Copper replied, focused on stirring the pot with his magic.
“Oh?” Twilight said. ‘I must be hungrier than I thought.’  Her stomach growled in agreement.  “Do you want some help?”
Copper shook his head and jumped down from the chair. Concentration written across his face, he levitated two bowls from the cabinet, filled them, grabbed two spoons and very carefully levitated everything onto the table. 
“You’re very good,” Twilight said as she took her seat. Copper sat across from her. “With your magic, I mean.”
“Thanks,” He said quietly. “Daddy taught me.” He looked down and played with his broth.
“Hey,” Twilight said reassuringly, “Your daddy will be better in no time.”
Copper nodded, and silence saturated the air. Twilight sat and ate her cabbage broth. She could feel Copper’s eyes on her, and as soon as she looked up he stared down at his broth. This continued on for a couple minutes, until Twilight realized that Copper wasn’t eating at all.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. Copper didn’t answer. “You can talk to me, okay?” Twilight leaned across the small table to put a hoof on Copper but he pulled away. Twilight could see that he was tense and… fearful. Was he afraid of her? In truth he had every right to be, Twilight was some stranger that blinked into his house hours ago…and she was an alicorn. she had seen it before. Most ponies she had met adored, or almost worshipped, alicorns; however, there were the few that were scared of her; they were almost threatened by her power. “I don’t eat little colts, you know,” Twilight laughed. For the first time, Copper looked up at her, and she smiled reassuringly at him. She could see a question burning away his fear, at least some of it. “Go ahead,” she tried to coerce the question out of him, “What is it?”
“Are you a Queen?” he asked, betrayed by his own curiosity. 
“I am not, but I am a princess,” Twilight said.
“Like one of the old unicorn families?” Copper said.
“No, not like that at all,” Twilight assumed that these families were like the ones in her Canterlot. “Where I’m from the rulers of the land are called princesses.”
Copper tensed up again, “Like the Queens?”
Twilight struggled with the truth, “No, my princesses are not like them at all.” She said after a moment.
Copper’s curiosity was piqued again, “Really? What are they like?” 
“They rule in friendship and harmony. They try to help anypony that they can. Princess-” She had to stop herself, and Copper looked at her quizzically. Watching her words, she continued, “One of my princesses even runs a school for gifted little unicorns, just like you.”
“I could never get taught by a princess,” Copper said into his broth.
“Of course you could,” A thought popped into Twilight’s mind that made her smile. “I could give you a pointer or two, while I’m here.”
“You would?” Copper asked, grinning from ear to ear.
“I’d love to,” Twilight responded. She had to make sure that Steelsmith’s fever wasn’t going to return, but she didn’t want to worry Copper with it. She heard a gasp behind her. She turned in her chair to see Steelsmith leaning against the doorframe to his bedroom. He eyed Twilight like one would an intruder. Twilight stood up to help Steelsmith, but he backed away from her. Twilight recoiled, confused. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Who are you?” He asked, fear chilling his voice. “What are you doing in my home?”
“I’m Twilight,” she said, worried that his fever had come back, but she remembered that this was the first time that Steelsmith had seen her without the disguise. “Twilight Sparkle, see?” she switched he palette swap spell on for a moment. “Sorry to confuse you,” She reached out to help him to the table, but he pulled back farther, almost losing his balance on the door frame.
“It’s okay Daddy, she’s a good alicorn. She saved you,” Copper rushed to Twilight’s defense. ‘A good alicorn?’ Twilight asked herself.
Steelsmith nodded, but distrust was still hidden in his eyes. Something was still nagging at him.
“Here, let me help you,” Twilight put a wing across Steelsmith’s back and helped him to the table as Copper got him a bowl of cabbage broth.
Twilight watched Steelsmith focus on the spoon for a moment; he then slumped over in his chair, and put a hoof to his forehead. Twilight felt sympathetic, but there was something else  chilled her heart. Steelsmith grabbed the spoon awkwardly with his hoof, and actually smiled, “Well, it can only get easier from here,” He got a spoonful of broth and managed to only spill a little on himself. 
A small knock at the door downstairs made Twilight tense up in fear. Copper jumped up and trotted down the steps. Twilight could hear him answer the door. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but she could tell that the other voice was a filly’s.
“It’s Grace,” Copper yelled up the stairs. “Can I go?”
“Yeah,” Steelsmith yelled down the stairs. “Our guest can look after me.”
“Okay!” Twilight heard the door slam downstairs, and silence filled the room. It didn’t last more than a minute, but it seemed to last forever. She wasn’t looking at him, but she could feel Steelsmith’s eyes burning into her.
“Thanks,” He finally said, but his voice was cold. “You didn’t have to save me the first time, much less the second.”
“It was what anypony would do,” Twilight said, “I’m just happy to see you back onto your hooves.” Steelsmith nodded, and went back to his meal. 
“Why were you disguised?” Steelsmith asked, Twilight could hear the fear in his voice. 
“It’s complicated…” Twilight knew that she had to keep herself a secret. Obviously, Steelsmith didn’t know about this world’s Twilight, and Twilight didn’t want to tell him. No matter how nice he seemed, Twilight knew her head would be enough to buy Steelsmith out of the hole he was in, and she couldn’t risk it: the stakes were too high.
“You aren’t putting Copper in danger, are you?” Steelsmith asked. His words landed on Twilight’s chest like a hot block of iron.
“I…” Twilight didn’t know; she felt naked without her walls of knowledge to hide behind. She struggled with her answer, “You have my word that both you and Copper are in no danger,” She lied.
Steelsmith laughed humorlessly, “I can tell that you have never been in Lower Canterlot, talking like that.” 
Twilight looked away, the trauma of the pegasus dying in her hooves still fresh in her mind. “I know exactly how this city works,” her words hung like fog on a cold morning.
Steelsmith saw that he spoke too early, and silence crept into the air.
Twilight swallowed her feelings. She couldn’t stand the silence right now. “What happened to you?” Twilight asked, and Steelsmith looked up at her. “Before…” Twilight didn’t know how to ask.
“Before the crowns decided to cut my horn off?” Twilight nodded, embarrassed. “Well, believe it or not, I used to be one of the finest smiths in all of Canterlot, upper and lower. With the mines so close, I handled a lot of their specialty orders, but I took other jobs on the side as well. One night, was it a six months ago now?” He paused a moment in thought, “Anyway there was a knock at our back door. It turned out to be a customer wanting arrowheads. As you should know, it’s illegal to own any sort of weapon it Canterlot, like that stops anypony down here,”  Steelsmith sighed. “The bits he offered, however, was far too good to ever pass up. More than I made in ten jobs for the mines. So I took the job, got caught, and my shop was officially blacklisted.” Twilight heard a crack in his voice, “You can probably guess what happens to a family down here with no money coming in. I got desperate, and you know the rest.” Twilight saw him tearing up. “I need to get some rest,” He stood up to go to his room. “Thank you again, Miss Sparkle.” Steelsmith walked into his room, and shut the door.
Alone with her thoughts, Twilight didn’t know what to do next. She thought about leaving and getting back to the White Feather, but she wanted to keep close to Steelsmith in case his infection relapsed. She figured that the White Feather wasn’t losing any sleep over her absence, and she knew that she didn’t need a foalsitter. Plus she had a promise to keep with Copper. Twilight yawned, still pretty spent from the past few days.
However, something Copper said still troubled her: a good alicorn? She shrugged it off as a little colt's fear, and managed to slip into sleep.