//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Abandon // Story: Darkness of Ages - Book 1: Greyhield // by YoungQuillMaster //------------------------------// Blaze walked into the hall that was already crowded with guards and other ponies. The platform that was raised from the rest of the room was still shut off by curtains. The general murmur of conversation filled the room, making Blaze feel like this was just a simple meeting, even though he knew it was far from that. The number of ponies that had died to reptilous the day previous was astonishing to say in the least, and even more concerning with the reptilous leaving the field of battle so suddenly. Blaze was no convinced that it had been a trap, one he knew that if they had taken would have ended in death for him and all of the guards. The sound of horns made Blaze flinch, expecting a horde of reptilous to jump out from the darker corners of the room at the call to battle, only to quickly realize to his great relief that it was just the announcement of Celestia and Luna entering. The curtains opened up, the cords pulled by two earth ponies clad in Royal Guard armor. Blaze watched as the two royal sisters entered, met with the loud applause of the room. Blaze smiled and slammed his fore hooves into the ground as well. “My little ponies,” Celestia began, “Today, a great victory has been had.” The room roared as the applause grew louder. Blaze stopped sliming as his hooves became firmly planted on the ground once again. Something was wrong, today could not be described as a victory entirely, much less a ‘great’ victory. “Today, Canterlot…” She paused as the crowd began a tad more silent, “Has fallen to Greyhield great power!” With that Celestia burst into a green pillar of energy that morphed into a laughing Chrysalis, and several guards and civilian ponies followed suit and became changelings. Blaze looked towards Luna, who simply dissipated into a cloud of smoke that was joined by several smaller clouds that meshed together and formed a mare as black as night that had a star filled mane and a mouth full of razor like teeth. “Nightmare Moon!” A pony in the crowd shouted in horror. Blaze drew out his sword from the sheath attached to his side. “Guards, fight off the changelings and Chrysalis, civilians are advised to run!” Blaze shouted as he charged the nearest changeling and slammed his blade into it, liberating the green fluid of blood from the monster’s body. The rasp of metal against metal echoed through the room as the guards unsheathed their weapons and faced their enemies who also drew their weapons in preparation for the fight. The civilians rushed out the main door of the hall. Blaze slowly backed up, several guards besides him while several other guards still fought inside the main room. “Go on, sir, we’ll hold them off here!” One of the guards inside shouted to him. Blaze nodded, shooting a final fire bolt into the changeling line. Blaze and the other guards near him turned and charged out the hall, and once through the door, Blaze skidded to a halt while turning to face the advancing changeling horde. Blaze shot a triad of flame bolts at the mass. Blaze focused his magic, and with a large amount of mental strain, closed the massive door and levitated several heavy objects against it, locking the ponies and changelings inside. Blaze turned and chased after the ponies before him, but as he grew closer, a small group of reptilous jumped out and sent knives and claws attached to chain into the crowd, killing many. “Guards! Protect the civilians!” Blaze shouted the order out, sending his sword into one of their chests, the beast’s blood spilling out around the steel while Blaze a bolt of flame into another’s snout. Blaze watched as one of the reptilous grabbed one of the spears that had been shot at him and ripped it out of the pony’s magic then planted into the skull of his attacker. Blaze ripped the swords from his dying reptilous’ belt and sent them towards the reptilous, who quickly grabbed one, but received the other squarely in the chest, spitting out a bit of blood with his last breath. “Sir, there are more on the road ahead! They’re blocking the gate!” A guard shouted back to Blaze. Blaze looked down the sloping road and saw the line of reptilous, each holding a lance and sword at the ready. Blaze quickly blocked a swinging sword that had been bound for his head with a grimace. “Take the street to the right, keep the civilians safe!” Blaze shouted back as he sent one of the reptilous’ knives into the bottom of its jaw, a sickly crack piercing the air as the impact broke the jaw bone, sending the beast’s head jolting back. Blaze turned and bucked out one of the reptilous’ leg before slamming his sword into its neck, watching its life drain from its eyes. Blaze lifted several sword at once and began sending them at many of the reptilous around him, some catching the blades with a hand, other with their chest. A cry sounded, causing Blaze to whip his head around to see a small group of mares and foals coming from one of the side street being attacked by some changeling. Blaze shot a fire bolt into one of the creature’s wing, causing it to fall to the ground out of breath. Blaze looked to the last reptilous that stayed with him. Blaze snorted in anger, keeping his Rage Shift barely at bay as he lifted the ten swords he could easily see, and with a rush of power, sent them at the reptilous, who caught or deflected seven, but was pierced quite thoroughly by the remaining three. Blaze charged down the street, four swords in tow as he approached the changelings and they pony prey. Blaze sent a sword straight through one and into the neck of the next. He swiveled around, bucking another in the head, sending it crashing into one of the spear of the reptilous that approached his position. Blaze quickly cut through the parts of the changeling goo that attached the ponies to the ground. “Run, join up with the others!” He shouted to the ponies as the sounds of more cries, crashing of glass, and other sounds of destruction and unimaginable destruction echoed throughout the streets of the once celebrating city. Blaze turned to the reptilous, his swords levitating beside him with a nice mix of floating balls of fire. The leading reptilous let out a mighty roar. At that the other four reptilous charged towards the lone pony, leaving their leader a few steps behind. Blaze send several fire bolts at the legs and chest of the reptilous, causing one to stumble, though it quickly rolled out of it and got back into its stride, only to have a sword shoved into its chest. Blaze took back his sword and the sword and spear from the dying reptilous grasp. Blaze sent his newly acquired spear towards the back of the reptilous, but by some unknown technique, was able to detect it and jump, turning to face it, and smacking it with a sword, sending what would have been his end into the cobble pathway. Blaze shot a flame bolt at another one of them, who simply smacked it like a fly with his sword. The beasts sent their spears towards Blaze like javelins, but Blaze caught them and sent them back, killing another two, leaving two more. The first jumped off the path, and in an almost perfect arcing motion, came down on Blaze, only missing as the pony jumped back. The second leaped above the first and threw a spear, most likely grabbed from one of his fallen comrade’s corpses, towards the pony. Blaze set up a quick shield, which barely blocked the attack, though it did alter the course enough that the shaft only smacked Blaze’s back instead of sending its point into his spine. Blaze shot one of his swords at the reptilous that still was descending on him after his jump, but the blade was caught as if it were just a ball in a game of catch. Blaze rolled to the side, letting the blue scaled reptilous strike the path where he had been a few seconds earlier. The red scaled reptilous vaulted over his comrade and brought his sword screaming down towards Blaze. Blaze hopped to the side, the blade slicing into his shoulder armor, releasing a small red trickle dripping down his armor. The blue reptilous stood up and rushed at the pony, hesitating a second as its appearance changed for a small fraction of a second, Blaze resisting the urge to shift in fear he’d cause more harm than help in his rage. The red reptilous pushed off the path, his blade pointing towards Blaze’s chest, but the pony jumped over it and landed on the beast’s head before jumping off of that, sending the reptilous into the pavement. Blaze sent one of his last three swords into the back of the reptilous, sending a small squirt of blood across the blue reptilous’ snout. The last reptilous roared at Blaze as it crossed the distance between them in a second, its sword shooting out towards him. Blaze rolled to the side, but found the reptilous stopping and turning on a dime and slamming its sword down at Blaze, the blade scrapping Blaze midsection, leaving a patch of exposed fur, the which the reptilous took advantage of as it fell forward and sent its claws into the small opening, causing Blaze to let out a shout of pain. Blaze sent his sword at the hand, cutting it off from the reptilous’ wrist, causing blood to squirt out of the open wound. The reptilous let out a blood curdling cry as it lifted its severed wrist from the pony. Blaze sent his sword around, directly towards the reptilous, but it gathered enough concentration to block the blade as it gritted its teeth in pain. Blaze sent his other blade towards the reptilous, but it kicked out one of its legs, grasping it with its claw and slammed it into the road. Blaze then, with massive concentration and focus, ripped the hand from his side, tears forming at the edge of his eyes, and sent it into the throat of the beast. Blaze worked past the renewed pain as he dragged the appendage down the front of the creature’s chest, leaving three long, bloody slices down its front. The creature fell to its knees with a gurgling growl before it finally fell, its blood pooling around it and running down the small pathways between the stones like tiny, red rivers. Blaze teetered slightly, but quickly shook his head and righted himself, scanning the area for anypony in his immediate area that he could help, but none were nearby by what he could see. “Blaze!” He heard his name being called out by Twilight. He looked up and saw the lavender alicorn descending awkwardly, before stumbling a few steps out of her landing. She trotted back to him quickly, “What’s going on? What’s happening around here?” She asked in a desperate tone. “I’m suspecting the attack from yesterday was just a ploy by Greyhield to distract us from his real target.” Blaze answered quickly, still looking around while swiveling his ears from side to side to find somepony that needed help. “And what exactly might his real target have been or be?” Twilight asked as she stepped in front of Blaze, trying to make sure he was focused on her. Blaze sighed and hung his head. “It appears that he now has Celestia and Luna in his power.” He said a feeling of failure washing over him. He should’ve seen through any deception played by Greyhield, yet he had so easily failed something as simple as having a guard around the princesses or checking in on them after the battle. His only report had been through a letter. “W-what? But how is that possible? How are you sure?” Twilight blurted out in surprise along with several other questions and unbelieving statements which were either too quick to understand or were shortened in such extreme ways that entire paragraph were condensed into a sentence of five or six words. “All I know is that when Celestia and Luna came out to talk about the battle publicly they revealed themselves to be Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon.” Blaze explained, lifting his head slightly. “Nightmare Moon? But that’s impossible; the Elements of Harmony destroyed her!” She exclaimed. Blaze shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on, but really, we can figure it all out later, right now we need to evacuate these ponies to somewhere safer than the middle of a falling city.” Blaze stopped Twilight before she could continue explaining why it was so impossible for Nightmare Moon to be back. “Right. Where do you suggest?” Twilight asked. Blaze opened his mouth to respond, and then looked at her curiously. “Wait, why are you asking me? You’re the princess here; you should be giving order to me.” Blaze said, his confused expression saying everything he didn’t. “Well, I think as the highest acting member of the guards your responsibility is to GUARD ponies and so you should know where the best place is to guard against Greyhield.” Twilight explained, a small smile forming across her features. “Besides, you’re going to need some more in field leadership training if you’re going to do any type of good job leading the guards.” “Uh, once again I’m just the head trainer, not captain of the Royal Guard. I’m not le-…” Blaze began. “A pony of your talents is bound to find himself in a position of prominence sooner or later, and by what I can see, you are already taking those first few steps towards that end.” Twilight interrupted. “Now where do we get the ponies heading towards?” She asked again. Blaze thought quickly, scanning the stones below him as if they held the answer, and then turned his head back up. “We head for Ponyville. Your castle should be a good defensive position for us.” Blaze stated. “Um, I don’t mean to undermine your newly taken authority, but my castle isn’t the best place to defend, mostly because how small it is. It isn’t the most militaristic building in Equestria” Twilight explained with a sheepish smile. “Canterlot was built during hard times and so is a lot easier to defend, but my castle was kind of a Tree of Harmony original, more based on aesthetics than strategic possibility.” She finished, blushing a tad under her lavender coat. “Right, of course, I should’ve thought of that.” Blaze replied before thinking a bit more. “Well, I guess the other place we could take them is another castle that’s a bit better in the defense department.” Blaze stated. He thought for a bit longer, trying to think of someplace, and then it came to him. Blaze looked up towards Twilight, a twinkle of determination in his eye. “We’ll take them to the Everfree castle.” “Well… have you… well, seen how its been lately? It isn’t exactly the most defensible position now like it was a thousand years ago, with walls, ceilings and what not in ruins.” Twilight pointed out. “We can get some ponies fixing them up once we get there, but for now it will do. Besides, it only has one entrance, and unless they bring in a ladder, if we knock out the bridge they can’t get across, and we can take down any bridge they set up rather quickly.” Blaze stated. “So let’s herd these ponies towards Ponyville, take as many citizens from there as can leave in an instant and leave some guards as a small measure of protection against possible dangers.” Blaze finished just as a scream sounded out from the next street over. Twilight nodded to him and took off, her wings working the right way for the first time in a rather long time. Blaze turned towards the source of the sound and charged down an alleyway towards it. “Everypony, make your way out of the gate, try not to push!” Blaze shouted to the ponies as the large mass swarmed through the gateway like a stream flowing through a small gap in the dam. Blaze looked around, by this time several buildings were on fire, whether the reptilous did so intentionally or not, one thing was apparent, and that was that they made no effort to stop the several flame. A reptilous suddenly jumped from a roof and landed on one of the guards, the beast’s blade piercing straight through the ponies armor, his back and out his chest and into the ground, a small stream of red pouring out of the wound. Blaze galloped over and bucked the reptilous in the snout, causing its head to snap back grotesquely. Blaze made sure the job was done with a blade imitating what the reptilous had done to the pony bellow him. Blaze rolled the beast off the dying pony, who still breathed in sharp, quick breathes. “I’m sorry, so sorry.” Blaze whispered into the pony’s ear, a tear rolling down his cheek and onto the dying pony’s body. “M-make sure they… they remember how hard we fought. A-and, remember… me… please. My n-name is…” The pony struggled to state his name, and then finally gave his last breath, his name unspoken as his emerald eyes closed one last time. Blaze hissed, and then gently removed the plate of armor that covered the pony’s flank. He looked down at the collection of four small, smiling muffins arranged in a diamond pattern on the pony’s blonde coat, his black mane whipping in the wind, the ends now stained red by the pony’s own blood. Blaze saluted the fallen soldier before turning and scanning the rooftops around them. A silhouetted form of a reptilous on top of one of the house appeared, readying to jump down on the pony below. Blaze quickly shot a bolt of fire at it, causing the creature to fall backwards and roll of the pointed roof. Blaze’s horn brightened briefly as he teleported over to the alleyway and finished off the beast. Blaze turned back and saw the end of the herd of ponies approaching, followed closely by a horde of reptilous. “Guards, to arms!” He shouted out as he charged out towards the approaching reptilous. The guards around him turned and saw the danger and charged at it as well. “Close the gates when the last of the civilians make it out!” Blaze ordered the gatekeepers, who saluted and took up positions beside the wheel that held the chains that held the gate up. Blaze met one of the reptilous, his blade locking with his opponent’s. The reptilous shoved Blaze’s sword to the side, the blade ripped out of colt’s magic. Blaze shot a fire bolt into the creatures face and drew out one of the creatures own daggers, which he shoved into the beast’s gut. The reptilous grabbed the hilt of the blade and ripped it out, letting a stream of blood flow down his scales as he charged Blaze. Blaze levitated his blade off the ground and shot it towards the beast, the blade of the sword poking out of the reptilous’ chest. Blaze bucked the next reptilous that approached him, sending the warrior a few steps backwards. Blaze then sent his blade out, which was intercepted by another reptilous with a spear. The reptilous Blaze had been aiming at ran to the side of his comrade and straight for Blaze. Blaze shot a bolt of fire which hit the reptilous in the leg, sending it into a dive, which it recovered from quickly by landing on its hands and repelling of the ground with a mighty push. The creature landed behind Blaze and quickly raised its blade and sent it down at Blaze. Blaze rolled to the side, yet still the blade sliced into his right foreleg, causing him to grimace at the pain. He clenched his teeth so that he didn’t yell out so that his fellows wouldn’t stop and get killed for his sake. Blaze opened his eyes through the pain, the thought of shifting really appealing to him, yet he still didn’t want to risk hurting anypony by doing so. Blaze stood up slowly, his leg bleeding slightly, the gash, thankfully, not as deep as it could’ve been. He then retracted his sword and sent it right back into the reptilous who had blocked it before, who now was surprised by the blade leaving and then returning so quickly, making his defenses just low enough that the blade was able to make a nick into the wooden shaft before plunging deep into the beast’s chest and out the other side, the hilt made bloody as well from going straight through. Blaze redirected his blade and aimed it at the other reptilous, which had been more prepared than his fellow, and blocked the blade. Blaze then shot the spear the other reptilous had been using straight for the reptilous, who quickly grabbed it by the shaft when it drew nearer, and then planted it into the path before shoving Blaze’s blade off. The reptilous turned and charged straight for Blaze, who quickly shot his sword back to him and locked blades with the beast. The reptilous let go of the blade with one hand and drew out a dagger and shot it out towards Blaze, who quickly grabbed the hand in a sheath of magic. Blaze levitated the spear out of the path and shot it towards the reptilous, which much like another reptilous Blaze had seen, sensed it inexplicably and turned, grabbing the shaft of the spear with one of its clawed feet. Continuing its pirouette, the beast aimed the spear towards Blaze. Seeing the incoming danger, he smacked it away with his sword, only to feel the cutting edge of the dagger cut into his cheek. He jerked away from it and sent his sword towards the leg the reptilous was standing on, but had his attack blocked by the reptilous’ sword. The reptilous then tossed the spear up and caught it in its dagger hand. Blaze jumped back and hit a wall of a building he had not realized had been there. Blaze pushed his magic against the face of the house in a silvery wall. Blaze felt give in several places as windows gave in and the door flung open. Blaze latched onto the pieces of broken glass and shot them at the reptilous, who let most of them chip off of his thick scales, while a did hit between the scales. The reptilous swung his sword out at Blaze, but he jumped back through the broken door. The reptilous then dived towards Blaze, its spear pointing out towards him, which Blaze replied to by smacking the pole with a quick smack of his sword. The reptilous swung his sword out again, advancing ever closer to Blaze as he did, even as his attack were blocked. Blaze snapped the leg of the table in the corner off and bludgeoned the reptilous in the head three times in quick repetition. The reptilous turned and slammed its spear through it, lodging both of them into the short ceiling. Blaze used the moment to swing his sword at the reptilous’ main sword arm, but the reptilous saw the incoming attack and blocked it with the dagger still in its second hand. Blaze jumped back from the reptilous, levitating the rest of the table and slamming it into the reptilous’ back, but instead of stumbling or falling as Blaze expected, the beast simply let the table hit its back and break around its spines. It obviously didn’t have the room it really preferred to perform its moves at it began less and less of a powerhouse and more and more of a quick blow fighter. Blaze grabbed the flower pot from one end of the room and the small lamp from the other and slammed them into either side of the reptilous’ head in an attempt to blind it, which momentarily actually worked. Blaze watched as the reptilous rubbed the back of its hand against the glass littered area of his eye. Blaze shot his sword out towards the sword arm of the warrior beast. The beast roared in pain as it dropped its sword to the ground. Blaze continued his assault and levitated the blade off the ground and into the leg off the beast, causing it to fall to one knee, using the hand with the dagger still in its grasp as support as it attempted to stand back up. Blaze swung his blade around and sent it into the reptilous’ back, inciting another, and final, roar from the reptilous before it fell completely. Blaze jumped over the corpse as he levitated his sword and the reptilous’ blaze to his side and exited the house, looking for his next opponent. Surprisingly, he couldn’t find a single one that wasn’t already occupied with another pony. Blaze looked towards the gate and saw the ponies above readying their axes to break the chains as the last few ponies exited. Suddenly an arrow flew out of seemingly nowhere and struck one of the ponies in the throat, felling him instantly, followed quickly by the death of his partner as another arrow sliced through his eye socket. Blaze looked towards where the arrows seemed to have been flying from and saw a reptilous squatting on the roof with a bow, taking pot shots at the ponies bellow. Blaze lifted one of the spears that lay on the ground and lobbed it at the archer and watched as it pierced through it at the base of the neck sending it tumbling off the roof and onto the cobblestone alleyway bellow. Blaze turned and charged towards the tower, lifting another spear from the grasp of a dead reptilous. Blaze barged through the tower door and galloped up the spiraling stairs. As he passed an opening in the tower facing the inside on the city, an arrow slammed into the side of his armor, making him fall off the stairs and tumble down the stairs until he finally knocked into the wall beside the door, dizzy and bruised. He shook his head and looked back to the broken shaft of the arrow that stuck out of his armor. Blaze looked up the stairs, now with several patches of red scattered across them, evidently his blood. He soldiered past the pain and began galloping up the stairs again, only to slow to a trot after a few steps up. As he came closer to the same opening, he flattened himself against the stairs and pressed his shoulder against the wall until he got passed it and entered back into a trot, and then sped up to a gallop. As he went higher and higher, several other openings passed, as well as arrows clicking against the wall behind him and clipping against his armor, although none of them hit him as squarely as the first. Blaze eventually reached the top of the stairs and bucked the door in. He poked his head out, only to retract it quickly as a triad of arrows planted themselves into the door beside him. Blaze popped a shield up on the hole, listening as several dull sounds of arrows striking his shield echoed in the chamber and in his mind as he charge across the gap towards the wheel. He kicked one of the axes up and slammed it into the chains along with his swords while his lance hovered at the ready. Finally the chain broke, the counterweight falling down, slamming into the ground as the gate mimicked the action, slamming down onto a reptilous, the spikes of the gate piercing straight through its back. Blaze jumped out the hole that faced the outside as he lowered his shield, diverting his magic so that he lessened his weight, making his landing more pleasant. Blaze looked back to the gates, where three guards ponies were pressed up against the bars as a line of five others fought behind them. Blaze looked on with a tear in his eye, he knew the gate was made of a magic absorbing material as well as they did, which would not only make it harder to lift, but actually absorb all the magic around it, making it impossible to lift, not to mention how physically heavy it was. The three guards saluted Blaze, Blaze smiled at them as he did the same. The three turned, weapons drawn as they faced their final enemies. Blaze lowered his hoof, watching as they locked blades with the reptilous, the sounds of screams still coming from the city. Blaze turned around and galloped to meet up with the herd that had been charging down the mountain. Blaze stood inside the Castle of the Two Sisters, several ponies using planks they had taken from Ponyville to patch up the holes. Blaze looked around as he walked between the groups of ponies. He had been awake since early that morning, and already the silver streams of moonlight were filtering through the cracks left in the ceiling. Blaze made a note to move everypony to the lower level in the morning until the roof was patched up completely. “Blaze,” He heard his name again called by Twilight. He stopped and turned to the last princess that was with the ponies still. “Did you get to that meeting with the doctor yet?” Blaze shook his head as he began to walk again. “Why not? You’re hurt badly; you need somepony to look you over and help you.” Blaze looked back to her with a tired expression. “Because every doctor we have is currently occupied with other ponies who are suffering from injuries that make mine look like paper cuts.” Blaze replied. “Also, how am I supposed to give a good example to the troops who are waiting to be attended to if I’m resting quietly in a corner with bandages wrapped around me while they stand or sit bleeding in the lines. I’m not going until everypony else is through.” He finished, looking back towards where he was going. “Hey, I recognize that ‘heroic’ tone anywhere.” A voice said from one of the groups. Suddenly, very happy Amber was hugging Blaze while Half Pint and Blizzard stood, or flew in Blizzard’s case, nearby with smiles. “Blaze, how’ve you been?” Half Pint asked he came closer, weaving around some of the group between them. “Oh no, you’re bleeding!” Amber gasped in surprise. Blaze chuckled as he shook his head slightly. He looked at his three old friends, realizing how much he had missed them, and how happy he was now that he was back. “Doing well, besides the bleeding part, but it isn’t like nopony else here from Canterlot isn’t hurt in the slightest.” Blaze replied. “Besides, I can live with a bit less blood.” “These three holes here need immediate attention! Stop being a hero and actually keep yourself in good health; nopony needs you sick, especially you!” With that, Blaze found himself being ushered away by Amber towards the group they had gotten up from. “So how’s the guard?” Blizzard asked. Blaze looked up at him in surprise, not remembering telling him about joining the guard. “The armor,” He explained upon seeing Blaze’s confusion, “It’s the same type as what some of the other guards are wearing, not to mention I heard you say something about ‘giving a good example to the troops’ or something like that.” Blizzard continued, imitating Blaze’s tone as best as he could as he quoted him. “It’s… well, it’s interesting enough. The training isn’t anything new at least.” Blaze commented as he began to walk by himself, Amber leading the way. “I’m actually the head trainer because of a certain bet.” “You, the head trainer? Wow that must have been some bet.” Half Pint whistled. “Can’t say I’m really surprised, you seemed to work real hard all the time on some spell or something like that.” Blaze smiled at his friend, and then he heard the voice of Mrs. Cross. “And make sure you only take them when you’re in bad straights, and no more than five a day. You don’t want to know or experience what happens if you pass that number.” She finished with a patient, who nodded at the instructions and walked off with a limp, one of his hind legs in a makeshift cast. “Mom, we got a situation!” Amber said as she galloped up to her mother. The mare turned curiously, and saw Blaze with trails of blood trickling down his armor walking up behind her. “Oh my, we do! Get him over here right now.” She said, causing Amber to return to pushing Blaze from behind in an attempt to get him help faster. “I can walk on my own you know?” He asked Amber as he scooted across the floor and was almost hurled towards the nurse. “Why didn’t you come sooner?” Mrs. Cross asked as she started to take off plates of Blaze’s armor slowly, making sure she wasn’t disturbing any of the already fragile wounds. Blaze sighed as he let the nurse do her work. “I didn’t want any pony with more serious injuries to have to wait on my cuts and bruises.” He stated simply, looking towards the guards who sat in line. He raised an eyebrow at some of their looks. He had been expecting anger or maybe jealousy, but he was seeing things nowhere close to those in the eyes of the guards that sat waiting. Some of them had looks of horror, others looked sick, some look at him in confusion, others in admiration of some sort. Blaze looked back to his injuries, and saw what gave him those looks. On his side were the three gaping holes, still bleeding slightly while partially covered or surrounded by a yellowish substance, presumably his body’s attempts at scabbing the wounds over as best it could. His leg still was bleeding slightly from the shallow cut, on the other side the shaft of the arrow still stuck out, surrounded by dried, brown blood. He now began to realize how much they stung as his adrenaline finally wore off and his brain finally allowed the pain to be received. Mrs. Cross began to cut the yellow away from the wound, apparently knowing something about it that he didn’t. Blaze stood in painful silence, only hissing slightly at the more painful of the moments as he let Amber’s mom do her work. Eventually Blaze was completely bandaged, the arrow removed, his three claw holes completely covered in the already reddening bandages. Blaze took some of Mrs. Cross’s pain pills and began walking around the castle again, this time with his friends at his side, just as he should’ve had it to begin with.