“I need you to take me to another place. We have to root out more of those people, quickly.”, War Heart spoke to Trixie as if he were talking to someone who knew what he was talking about.
“Who are these people that you’re talking about? Are you part of the Canterlot guard?”, Trixie asked, hoping her involvement in this affair wouldn’t get her in trouble.
“I’ll explain when I get some more info. For now, take me someplace else.”, War Heart ordered, walking away from the Casino quickly.
“Very well, I shall take you to some other place… But I expect an explanation when we get back!”, Trixie said as she led the way to another casino that was not far away.
They both walked in the doorway, War Heart looking around at the crowd. He searched for traces of the dead magic. He couldn’t see anybody with it from the doorway. He stepped inside and walked among the crowd.
Trixie walked along next to War Heart, looking around the crowd as well. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she tried to find something for him. She turned to see a man looking straight at her and War Heart. He was leaning against a wall and glared at her. His hair was black and he wore a navy blue suit. Trixie quickly looked away from him, pretending she didn’t see him, “Umm… I think we are being watched…”
War Heart looked down at Trixie, “Where are they?”
Trixie nudged her head in the man’s direction, “Leaning against the wall, he’s staring at me…”
War Heart glanced at the man, seeing the unmistakeable glowing of the dead magic in the man’s eyes, “Nice find…”, he whispered as he started to walk towards the man.
Trixie watched him walk towards the man who was obviously shorter than War Heart.
As War Heart drew closer, the man’s expression changed from a glare to shock as he started to run towards the exit. War Heart sped up his pace, running after the man.
Trixie just watched as the two sprinted out the front door, “Oh no…”, she whispered to herself.
War Heart was chasing the tuxedo clad man around to the side of the building. The man ran around a corner. War Heart smirked as he knew he was catching up to him, he approached the corner quickly. Then everything suddenly went black. War Heart could hear whispers in the dark, unintelligible due to being distracted by his throbbing headache. He opened his eyes to see the a white tile floor. He squinted from the bright white light that shone in his face. He felt weakened for some reason. War Heart tried to move but found he was strapped in to a steel chair. He turned his head about to look around, “Where… Am I…?”
“Not among friends, I assure you…”, a woman’s voice spoke in a sultry tone.
“What’s wrong with me…?”
“That is just one of those things we can do… It has been so long since I drained life from anyone… It is surprising to know you are not dead.”
“What do you want with me?”
“Oh, nothing really… However, I did hear you attacked one of my managers, and killed another one of my neonates…”
War Heart chuckled, “So that guy was bait… You people act fast…”
“Indeed…”, the sound of finger’s snapping burst from the darkness. A slim and sleek man in a black suit walked into War Heart’s view. The woman’s voice spoke again, “This is my follower… He used to be a doctor, but used his magic to dabble in things he shouldn’t have… I have given him what he wants, and now he works for me when I need him to. He has very extensive knowledge in nerves and physiology…”, she chuckled slightly, the sound slowly fading as the sound of a door closing silenced it.
The Doctor walked up to War Heart, wheeling over a tray or surgical tools. He grabbed a scalpel and examined it for a moment before gliding his tongue over it. His tongue bled. He smacked his lips and put his hand on War Heart’s forehead, holding him in place.
War Heart’s eyes went wide as he realised he was in the hands of some kind of sick freak. He watched the gleaming scalpel approach him slowly leaving his vision as he felt a warm streak across his left cheek.
The Doctor then took the scalpel in his other hand, using his free hand to hold War Heart’s head in place as he let the blade glide across War Heart’s other cheek, from the corner of his mouth to the back of his jaw. He removed his hand from War Heart and placed the scalpel on the tray, the blade was dripping with blood.
War Heart felt something trickling down the lower half of his cheeks, slowly making its way to his chin.
The Doctor took out a hammer, one of the kinds that would be used to drive nails into planks and a hook to pull them out. He used the scalpel again, this time on War Heart’s right knee. He felt around and located the kneecap, first drawing a line around it, and then cutting the skin around it. There was little pain from the cuts, for reasons unknown to War Heart. The Doctor finished cutting away the skin around War Heart’s knee cap, he took the flap of skin and placed it in a tray next to the tools. The Doctor then grabbed a nail from out of his pocket, showing it to War Heart and then placing the tip against War Heart’s exposed kneecap.
War Heart could only watch as the Doctor readied the hammer. War Heart’s eyes were wide with horror.
The Doctor swung his arm back quickly, then slowly moved the hammer’s head to the nail. He practiced the motion a few times. He looked straight into War Heart’s eyes and smiled. He swiftly swung the hammer into the nail.
The nail pierced the bone in War Heart’s knee, agony itself rocketing through War Heart’s system as he screamed in pain, tearing open the sides of his mouth. He kept screaming as the fires set to his nerves wouldn’t be extinguished.
The Doctor took a jar of some kind of brown liquid labelled ‘Iodine’ and poured it on War Heart’s knee, creating a burning sensation in War Heart’s leg. He looked at War Heart and splashed some in his face.
War Heart couldn’t see after his eyes were burnt by the Iodine. He coughed as his throat was sore from screaming. He breathed heavily as he was still weak for some reason.
The Doctor took another tool that was hidden under the chair. The sound of a small stone grinding against metal could be heard as a low hissing noise indicating a blow torch was made.
War Heart took a deep breath and tried to prepare himself for what might happen next. Nothing could have prepared him for the pain that flashed through his hand as he felt the heat of the flames eat at his left hand. He screamed as he felt the flesh melt off his fingers and the bones cook in the flames. Everything was black and silent for War Heart suddenly, he passed out from shock.
The Doctor stood back and extinguished the blow torch. He placed it on the floor and stepped out of the room.
War Heart drifted in and out of consciousness, they left him alone in the dark.
“Where’s your friends now, War Heart?”, a voice called out to War Heart in the shadows.
“Who is this?”, War Heart asked weakly.
“Not important… You look like you could use some help… You look like shit.”
“How did I fall into this…?”
“You were weak, you were slow.”
“I walked into a trap, they had the jump on me…”
“Bullshit, You are capable of so much more.”
“I’m just… One man…”
“What kind of man can do the things you do? You aren’t a man…”
“Then what am I…?”
The room went silent. The door opened from behind War Heart and then closed. The Doctor walked in front of him and turned on the bright white light again. He placed down a toolbox on the floor. He looked at War Heart and grinned, “Let’s begin…”
Trixie tried to keep up with War Heart as he chased down the man in the tuxedo. Only rounding the corner in time to see War Heart take a hit to the face from a lead pipe as he was running. She hid behind the corner and watched as more men in tuxedos dragged him away. She followed them through side passages leading to a steel door that went down into the ground. She shook her head, “I have to get help…”, she whispered as she snuck away and sprinted to the hotel. She got to the elevator and frantically pressed the button for the top floor. She fidgeted as she slowly went up to the top, knowing every second wasted only put War Heart in further danger. The elevator finally reached the top floor, she immediately shouted to the people in the room, “He’s been captured! We have to help him!”
Scootaloo looked at her in disbelief, “What!? How?”
“It was a trap. They must have been waiting for him, I can show you where they took him.”
Scootaloo whistled sharply, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom entering from the other room.
Apple Bloom looked at Trixie, “Where’s War Heart?”
Scoot turned to Apple Bloom, “He’s been kidnapped, we’re going on a rescue mission.”
“Affirmative.”, Sweetie Belle said in her digital tone before walking into the elevator where Trixie was waiting.
The crusaders all stood in the elevator with Trixie. Slowly descending to the ground. Trixie sprinted out of the elevator, the crusaders close behind. It had taken a few minutes for her to get to the hotel and lead them back to the cellar door that War Heart disappeared into.
Scootaloo looked down at the steel door, “So, they took him down there?”
Trixie nodded shakily.
Scootaloo brought out her knives, “Okay, Crusaders, We’re sweeping this place clean. Nobody gets out alive except for us and War Heart.”
“Extermination Protocols Active. Friend Or Foe Visual Filters Recalibrated.”, Sweetie droned.
Trixie backed away from the Crusaders. She was frightened of Sweetie Belle mostly, seeing her voice itself as intimidating.
Apple Bloom flipped the door open, it leading down into a hallway with white tile floors.
“Mission Initialized.” Sweetie said as she jumped into the hall and sprinted along the hall.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sprinted after her, they all soon came to a section where the halls all split off into three directions. They all looked at each other and nodded, running in different directions to cover more ground.
Apple Bloom ran down the hall, coming across a wooden door in the hall way. She ran up over and kicked it open. There were three men in tuxedos playing cards, they stood up at the surprise of Apple Bloom kicking down the door.
“Who are you?”, one of them asked.
“Somebody who’s friends with someone you should not have messed with…”, she replied as she put on her brass knuckles. She ran at one of them, who retaliated by trying to take a jab at her. She ducked to her right and grabbed his wrist, using her other hand to punch into his elbow and break his arm backwards. He screamed in pain and dropped to the floor. Apple Bloom took out the blade hidden in the toe of her boot and kicked him in the neck, he stopped screaming and started choking on his own blood. She looked at the remaining two and glared at them. One of them flipping the table with their cards out of the way while the other pulled out a knife. The one with the knife lunged at her to hit nothing but air. Apple Bloom grabbed his arm and swept out his leg, bringing him to the floor. She kicked him in the back of the head with her boot knife, killing him instantly. She turned to the last one who just stood in awe of what she had done. She walked up to him and grabbed him by the throat and smirked.
Scootaloo sprinted down the hall way and found her first door, kicking it down to find three men counting money. She took both her knives and threw them, hitting two of them in the chest. She ran up to the last man and punted him between the legs. He bent over in agony. Scoot then grabbed him by the head and started kneeing him in the face. She wrapped her arms around his torso and lifted him up, throwing him flat onto his back to the floor. Scootaloo grabbed one of her knives and jammed it into the man’s chest, piercing between the third and fourth rib into his heart. She grabbed her other knife and left the room.
Sweetie Belle found a room with a wooden door, she opened it to find six men in a room, wearing regular clothes. The room was lined with beds, obviously being the place where they slept. Sweetie Belle walked in and closed the door. All the men in the room looked at her strangely.
“Miss… Are you lost?”
“Initiate Attack Protocol Twenty Eight.”
“Wha-”, the man was interrupted as Sweetie Belle grabbed him by the throat and tore out his larynx. He fell to his knees choking.
Sweetie Belle looked to the rest of them, seeing they were shocked at what they just witnessed. Two of them pulled out knives and charged at her, hoping to avenge their fallen comrade.
“Initiate Defense Protocol Six.”, she said as she grabbed their hands that held the knives. She crushed their hands in her grasp, breaking most of the bones. She released their hands, “Initiate Attack Protocol Sixteen.”, she grabbed them both by the face, hooking her fingers into their eye sockets. She forced their heads to collide with enough force to crack their skulls off each other. They fell to the floor bleeding out of their heads. She looked around at her next three victims, “Initiate Attack Protocol One.”, she said as she sprinted up to the next one and punched him in the chest, breaking his ribs and stopping his heart. She watched them man collapse to the ground and die, “Initiate Attack Protocol Four.”, she ran over to the other two men and smashed their heads into the wall, leaving a blood splatter where they made contact. She scanned over the room, “No life forms detected…”, she declared as she left the room.
The crusaders went through a few rooms, they combined their kill count to be thirty two. They all met up at one last door which was made of steel. They opened it to find it was dark but had a bright white light shining at them. In the light there was a silhouette of a man standing in front of a chair.
“Is this important?”, the Doctor asked.
The crusaders looked at each other and motioned for him to come out into the hall.
The Doctor nodded and walked into the hall, closing the door behind him. He looked to the Crusaders, “What is it that you had to interrupt me f-”, he was interrupted as Apple Bloom punched him across the face. He fell to the floor and looked at them again, “I guess our security has failed us…”
“Make sure he doesn’t move while I check the room.”, Scootaloo told Apple Bloom as she walked into the dark room once more.
Apple Bloom nodded, “If he moves, I’ll make sure he doesn’t walk again…”, she glared at the Doctor.
Scoot looked around and felt the wall next to her, finding a light switch. She flicked it on. Her eyes widened as he saw a large puddle of blood on the floor, “Oh no…”, she whispered as she walked around to the front of the chair. She gasped as she looked upon War Heart.
His lips were gone and his cheeks were split. Only the bones of his left hand were left and they were blackened. His eyelids looked like they were cut away, revealing his bloodshot crimson eyes. He had an iron nail driven into his skinless kneecap on his right leg. His right arm looked as if it were dissected as all the tendons and muscles were sliced apart and hanging apart. Streams of reddened tears flowed from his eyes.
Scootaloo walked out of the room and closed the door again. She breathed heavily as she stood over the Doctor, “You son of a bitch…”, she said as she crouched. There was a second of silence before Scootaloo started thrashing at the Doctor in a blind rage. She brutalised his face with her bare fists. Apple Bloom was surprised at her, knowing it took a lot to set her off like that. Scootaloo proceeded to begin stabbing the Doctor in the face with her knives, far beyond the point of death and well into the idea of mutilating his head.
Sweetie Belle walked inside the room and saw War Heart. She looked him over and placed her hand on his chest, “Pulse detected. Life signs confirmed.”, she announced. She took out the nail from his knee and removed his bindings. She picked him up and walked out of the room, startling Apple Bloom.
“Dear Celestia, What is that!?”
Sweetie turned to Apple Bloom, “Our commander.”, she stated as she walked towards the exit, the other two crusaders following her.
Trixie waited outside nervously for the crusaders. She paced back and forth until she saw them rise out from the door. She took one look at War Heart and turned away, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground. She looked back, “Is… That him?”
Apple Bloom nodded at her.
Trixie looked at the ground, feeling guilty that she is the one who led him there.
Sweetie Belle proceeded to walk along the alley ways towards the hotel, the other three following her.
Trixie walked next to Apple Bloom, “Don’t you think we should take him to a hospital… Or a mortuary…?”
Apple Bloom shook her head, “They would ask questions, questions that we can’t answer. We have the best Doctor in Equestria at our hotel anyway.”
Trixie sighed, then thought of a certain detail, “How are you going to get him to the hotel room without anybody seeing us?”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other, “We don’t know…”
Trixie nodded, “I shall help. I’ll teleport him up there… It’s far and I can only teleport the two of us. You three will have to head up by elevator.”
Scootaloo nodded, “All right.”
They reached the hotel, they were well hidden at the back of the building. Trixie had Sweetie lay War Heart on his back.
Trixie put her hands on War Heart’s chest. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her veins glowed purple as she and War Heart disappeared in a flash of light. They were now on the roof of the hotel. Trixie got up and ran into the hotel room, bursting through the door and into the room. She ran into the kitchen and cleared off the large counter quickly.
Vinyl walked over to her, “What are you doing? Where’s the big guy? Where are the girls?”
Trixie turned to Vinyl quickly, “We need somewhere to lay him down.”
“What? Why?”
“You’ll find out soon.”, Trixie quickly replied as she ran back onto the roof to War Heart. Vinyl followed her and was shocked to see War Heart in his current state.
“You went to go rescue him and brought back his corpse!?”
Trixie looked at her, “He’s still alive…”
Vinyl ran over to help Trixie drag War Heart into the hotel room. Everyone else was sleeping except Vinyl at the time.
The Crusaders entered the room from the elevator. Vinyl and Trixie dragged War Heart to the kitchen, leaving a bloody streak behind them. Sweetie Belle walked over and picked him up, placing him on the large counter in the kitchen.
Trixie just looked at War Heart, “What do we do?”
Vinyl crossed her arms and thought for a moment, “Well, the Doc is asleep and probably still drunk… So we wait until morning.”, she told them as she left to go to sleep.
Trixie sat on a stool next to the counter, feeling responsible for War Heart’s predicament.
The Crusaders all left the room to go sleep. Sweetie Belle decided to sit down on the floor next to the counter, remaining motionless the rest of the night.
Trxie eventually went to sleep on the floor in the kitchen.
It was dawn when Cura awoke to the city lights outside. She smiled and stretched while she yawned, “That was a good night.”, she said to herself. She turned around to see War Heart on the counter, she assumed he was sleeping. She rolled her eyes and walked over to the kitchen to wake him up. As she approached she noticed his left hand was only bones. Her smile turned to an expression of shock. She ran into the kitchen to see War Heart in his mutilated state, “Dear Celestia!”, she screamed as she looked him over, “What happened to you?!”, she put her fingers on the artery in his neck. She felt a faint heartbeat. She sighed in relief and started to close the cuts on his cheeks, “I’ll help you War Heart, don’t worry…”, she whispered as she used her magic to do what she could. She looked at his left hand with a defeated expression, knowing she could not possibly heal that. She moved down to his leg to see his exposed kneecap with a hole in it. She cringed at the sight of the hole in his knee. She moved on to his right arm where all the tendons and muscles were sliced apart. She slowly started to move the tendons and muscles into place, making sure that they are all where they are supposed to be. It took her a few minutes to do so, requiring lots of magic to make sure the tendons would stay in place. She stood back, tired from using so much magic so quickly. She sat on one of the stools in the kitchen.
War Heart gasped and coughed while laying on the counter. It startled Cura, she moved over next to him. He looked over to her, feeling slightly comforted that he was not going to be tortured here.
Cura was nearly in tears, “I’m sorry… I can’t fully heal you…”
War Heart weakly nodded at her.
“I forgive you.”
Cura turned to Riff, “What?”
Riff walked over to them, “He said: I forgive you… And something about a weird guy talking to you… Who do you think he’s talking about?”
Cura looked back to War Heart, “I’m afraid you are going to have to try and heal yourself, War Heart…”
War Heart nodded again. He looked up to the ceiling and held his left hand in front of his face. He stared for a second, his veins glowed green before the flesh began to crawl along the bones and cover them. Skin began to form around his hand and cover it completely, finishing the reformation of his left hand. He sat up. His eyelids were healed back over his eyes. He opened his eyes and stared at his knee, watching the bones of his knee regenerate and the skin slither over and cover the wound. He saw that his right arm was fixed. He looked over to Cura, his lips regenerated before he spoke, “Thank you, Cura…”
Cura was looking at him, not quite sure if she could believe what she just saw. She cleared her throat, “You’re welcome…”, she said in a nervous tone.
War Heart got up off the counter.
“Dude… That was like… gross…”, Riff commented as he walked out of the room.
Cura took a deep breath and sighed, “That was… Unexpected…”
War Heart nodded at Cura, “Well, I showed you what I can do. Any idea on how I can?”
Cura shook her head, “I don’t have a clue… You’re a Winged One, not a Glow. This goes against everything that we know…”
War Heart sighed, “I have no idea how this magic works. I know that the guy I fought called it ‘Dead Magic.’”
Cura crossed her arms, “I’ve never heard of anything like that…”
“I’ve only been able to figure out how to heal myself so far. I saw that guy pull the bones out of those creatures in Manehattan. I think he is the one that rose them from the dead too. They moved on his command.”, War Heart explained to Cura.
“Perhaps you will figure out how to do this with time?”
War Heart nodded, “Maybe…”