//------------------------------// // First Blood // Story: Equestrian Joe // by HellRyden //------------------------------// Chapter 13: First Blood “Just the little one then?” The griffon in front of me grinned. “This is going to be easy.” Before I could say anything else, he raised a leg and stomped a foot onto the floor, and my eyes nearly bugged out in shocked recognition as an entire wall of rocky spikes abruptly burst forth from the ground around Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, cutting off any chances of escape they might have had before. Both the pegasi yelped out in surprise as the wall spiked upward, though in Fluttershy’s case it was more of a squeak. Within moments, they were both cut off from the rest of the room, and it was just the griffon and I. “Not sure why the royal guard would’ve sent a whelp amongst their elite. I never knew they actually did take on babysitting jobs.” The raider cracked his neck ominously as he stepped forward. “Your presence is so pathetic that even a hatchling has got a stronger aura than you do." Son of a bitch, I was right about the nature of their furycrafting - this guy’s a freakin’ earthbender! I thought frantically to myself as I reflexively drew the short blade I’d brought and raised it in a defensive stance, placing a foot backwards to brace myself. If my guess is right, then he’s probably got the whole package deal going for him as well. Okay, think fast, Joseph, what are the counters that you’ve got for- “What’s the matter whelp, cat got your tongue?” The griffon abruptly cut off my train of thought, and he rushed forward, swinging a massive claw-fist at my head. “Keep your head in the fight!” The blow came at me with more speed than I was braced for, and I bit back a startled yelp as I barely managed to duck under it in time. Reflexes that had been hardened in combat kicked in, and I immediately dashed forward, slashing at the griffon’s exposed midsection as I rushed past him. I spun around the moment I’d recovered from my sweep to readjust my guard, and my eyes widened in shock when I realized that the blade hadn’t even left a mark on his cuirass. Jesus, that was a clean strike - what the hell is his armor made of!? “What, was that it?” The raider laughed, and he picked up the chair next to him. “If that’s the best that you’ve got, then you're mincemeat, kid!" The griffon flung the chair in my direction, and I hastily ducked out of the way, literally feeling it whiz right by my head as it missed me by inches. I was ready to rush forward in a counterattack the moment I’d recovered, but the second I straightened up, I was greeted by the sight of the broad end of Fluttershy’s dining table, seconds away from colliding straight into me. The blade in my hand reflexively slashed upwards, something other jolted through my sword arm, and the blade sliced the table into two halves that went sailing past me on both sides. I didn’t have any time to marvel at how pants-shittingly close I’d come to getting turned into paste against the wall though, because the moment the two halves of the table parted, the griffon was already rushing towards me with a fist raised, immediately following up on his attack. I jerked backwards to avoid the first cross, and ducked underneath the jab that followed before I retaliated by slashing upward at his outstretched arm, hoping to at least cripple it. The griffon reacted faster than I could have possibly anticipated. The blade hadn’t even crossed half the distance to the griffon’s arm when he struck downwards with the same elbow that I was aiming at, and shards of steel went flying. Son of a bitch! I instantly knew that something had gone horribly wrong, and threw myself to the side away from him to open up the distance. Quickly rolling to my feet, I glanced down, and then I stared in mute horror at the sundered shortsword that I now held in my hand, its blade broken in half. “You might as well give up now, whelp.” The griffon laughed as he slowly strode forward, obviously enjoying every second of this. “You’re pretty good at fighting on two legs, I’ll give you that. You might be able to fight off a few of those pathetic schmucks we hired as cannon fodder, but you don’t stand a chance against me.” “Are all griffons this mouthy, or is it just you?” I snapped in annoyance, fighting down the rising uncertainty in my gut as I raised the broken blade, trying to reassure myself that I could still use it just as well as I could a knife or dagger. “You must really get off on toying with your prey, what with how much you’ve been running your mouth off.” “That would imply that you were something I thought was worth hunting.” The griffon let out a harsh bark of laughter. “As of right now, you're not even worth the time it would take to skin your worthless hide. What do you think you’d be able to do with that broken blade anyway, huh?" “Just try me,” I snarled, my grip tightening on the blade’s handle as I pushed a foot back, bracing myself. “You’ll find that I’m full of surprises.” “As are the Jägers, whelp.” The griffon stepped forward. “But this is going to be the last mistake you’ll ever make.”  He took another step, and I raised the blade to prepare to strike, when the griffon abruptly vanished from sight. I only had time to blink before a freight train collided with my chest, and the whole world went white.         ---         Staff Sergeant Brick Wall had been enlisted within the Equestrian Guard, and subsequently the Royal Guard for at least a decade by now. Over his many years of service he had borne witness to all manner of sights, and participated in just as many kinds of fights - from boarding actions over the skies of Griffonia, to extensive ‘bug hunt’ campaigns rooting out rampant Changeling hives, to even the occasional unpleasant spat of having to put down feral, insane dragons. In all his years as a member of the elite corp that was charged with the defense of Canterlot and the Princesses themselves, he had not encountered many opponents that could manage to match his size, or his strength for long. Those few that could were worthy opponents that Brick relished the chance to to fight against, but unfortunately those adversaries were few and far between. The common raider before him now however, was doing more than just match his power blow for blow, and when another hammer blow descended upon his armor, he began to contemplate the possibility that he might have severely underestimated the strength of his opponent. “You’re one hay of an earthcrafter, I’ll give ya that,” The stallion remarked as he shook off the blow and grunted as he blocked another one, shouldering it aside before retaliating with another shoulder charge. “You sure you’re just some run-of-the-mill bandit on the run from the law? Because I’m pretty sure that common criminals usually aren’t this good!” The guard’s powerful rush hurled the griffon to the ground, but even as he crashed to the floor, the ‘raider’, which Brick was becoming more and more convinced by the second that he was actually not, merely grinned and rolled aside to avoid the stallion’s elbow drop, rolling deftly back onto his feet. “Pretty bright for such a big hunk of muscle.” The griffon remarked as he pulled upwards with both of his claws, and in response, several boulders of hardened earth, each the size of a basketball, shot up from the ground. “Too bad we were ordered to leave no witnesses, otherwise you’d be able to get the word out how thoroughly the Jägers trounced the Royal Guard!” The griffon thrust a claw forward in a savage punch, and the earth boulders responded in kind, blasting towards Brick as though fired from a battery of cannons. The royal guard ducked out of the way of what he could, tanking the hits that he couldn’t dodge even as he let a out a pained grunt with each impact. By the time the barrage was over, Brick’s armor was dented in multiple places, and he didn’t even have enough time to recover before the griffon descended upon him again, raining blow after heavy blow down upon the defending stallion. So that’s why he’s so freakishly strong! It dawned upon Brick as he weathered the barrage of punches. Despite the stallion’s massively muscled frame, Brick also possessed a deceptively sharp, cunning mind - all the Royal Guards did. After all, one didn’t join one of the most prestigious military branches in Equestria by being a dense moron. That mind now raced with the implications as he realized who his opponent truly was - the Jägers were the elite commando units of the Hierarchy’s military, a branch consisting entirely of the some of the most powerful furycrafters in the whole of Griffonia… --- … so if she was up against a Jäger, then Starfall had a pretty good idea of who had been funding the raiders and sending them against Equestria the entire time. “You must be pretty confident of beating me here if can disclose your identity just like that,” Starfall remarked as a shimmering barrier of energy sprang up between her and an oncoming torrent of flame, and the unicorn blasted it aside with a burst of power. One of the many tattoos going down the left side of her body glowed a bright, blinding white as she drew upon the power stored inside them, and a spark of her horn sent a lance of energy spearing towards the griffon. Unfortunately, the griffon batted it aside in another wave of conjured fire, and the two combatants continued circling each other, watching each other warily for any openings or signs of weakness. “The Jägers’ honor has been stained enough over the past several centuries when the Hierarchy’s government started selling our military out as sellswords to the highest bidder!” The griffon spat as she hurled another wave of fire at Starfall. “We were warriors born, and we fought for honor, for pride! The Hierarchy’s government today knows nothing of honor! The world may not know that the Jägers beat the Royal Guard today, but my comrades and I will know, and that will be enough!” “Assuming that you’ll be able to beat us here, of course,” The unicorn drawled as she ducked and rolled out of the way of the fire wave, conjuring another barrier to shield herself as the griffon leapt forward, flaming claws intent on eviscerating her. The griffon crashed uselessly against Starfall’s shield, and the unicorn leapt away again, unleashing another blast of energy from her horn as her tattoos glowed briefly. “You do realize that we’re going to kick your tails anyway and bring you in for questioning, right?” “That’s not going to happen.” The griffon smirked, and a click of her talons ignited her entire forelimbs in a conflagration of flame and heat that did not burn her, but quickly set the grass at her feet burning up in embers. “Because you’ll be dead by Jäger claws by then!’ The griffon thrust both her arms forward, yelling in effort, and from her outstretched arms spewed forth a tsunami of fire that dwarfed anything that Starfall had seen from her opponent thus far. The tidal wave of flames washed over where the unicorn stood, engulfing and consuming everything in its path, and when the smoke cleared, the entire field was blackened and charred, with no sign of Starfall whatsoever. “Heh. Didn’t even put up more of a fight than the other bozos who showed up earlier,” The griffon chuckled as she blew off a smoking claw. “The boss must have really overestimated them if he thought they actually posed a threat to the mission.” “You really have no idea who you’re bucking with, do you?” Starfall’s voice came from behind her with a lilting ethereal quality to it, and the griffon’s pupils abruptly shrank as she sensed a rapid buildup of arcane energy behind her. “So how would you like to be done? Original, or extra crispy?” Starfall’s opponent barely even had time to turn around before the unicorn exploded back into reality right behind her, and the griffon was sent flying in a conflagration of fire and smoke. --- The windcrafter griffon landed back on his feet unsteadily, his claws gripping onto his blade with desperation as he brought it up again in a defensive stance, barely parrying aside the next volley of strikes as Flash Sentry descended upon him again. “Impossible! How the hell are you so much faster than before!?” “You got the drop on me once,” Flash panted as he thrust his blade forward at an angle, trapping aside the griffon’s sword, then leapt up before viciously drop-kicking the griffon in the chest with all his strength, quickly righting himself in mid-air with his wings as the supposed raider crashed through a fence and into the cottage’s backyard. “Not gonna happen again.” “Bastard, so you were holding back this entire time!” The griffon snarled, picking himself up. “Don’t you dare insult my honor as a Jäger by going easy on me!” “Fair enough. The kid gloves are off then - come at me, bro.” Flash’s sheer casualness and insouciance elicited a savage snarl from the griffon, and he lunged back at the airborne guard, his blade working in a furious blur. Unfortunately, the pegasus was more than ready for it. Flash smoothly parried aside the blows before shoving an elbow into the griffon’s gut, driving the air out of his lungs. The raider collapsed to the ground on his knees, and he barely brought his blade up in time to stop Flash’s sword from taking his head off. “But… But how-!?” The griffon spluttered. “The intelligence that we were given said that only regular Royal Guards would have been mobilized to respond to the incursion…” “Your intel was faulty,” Flash grunted as he pressed further with the blade, inching it closer to the griffon’s neck. “You might want to tell whoever was giving you your info to get their facts checked.” The blade pressed an inch closer, and a cold sweat broke out over the griffon’s brow. His eyes flicked towards the emblem on the royal guard’s pauldron, getting a clear look at it for the first time since the fight had started, and the griffon’s eyes widened in fear. “Son of a- y-you’re a First Company Veteran!” The raider choked out as he recognized the silver heraldry that denoted the Royal Guard’s deadliest soldiers, and Flash grinned savagely. “Damn right, and you’d better remember just who it was who kicked your tails to the curb when we toss you in the slammer!” The pegasus knocked the griffon’s blade aside, and slammed the flat of his sword into his temple before he could react. The griffon toppled to the ground like a limp sack of bricks, and Flash finally allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. The guard stepped away from the body and sheathed his blade, raising a foreleg to the runestone in his ear as he turned back to the house. “Sentry here, I just managed to wrap things up on my end. Everyone else all right?” “Took you long enough,” Starfall’s voice responded a moment later. “These overblown hunters thought they were hot stuff, but apparently they weren’t expecting to run into us here.” “Just one second, guys,” Brick’s response was a strained grunt, and there was the brief sound of someone struggling against a chokehold that slowly died away before Flash heard a dull ‘thud’, and Brick’s voice came back on. “All right, that takes care of that. Gotta say, he did put up a pretty good fight though! Makes up for all the boring cannon fodder they were throwing at me earlier.” “I’d have bet on that if these guys really are freakin’ Jägers,” Flash muttered in agreement. “No wonder they took out the squads that we sent here first so easily - nothing short of us showing up would’ve even come close to stopping these guys.” “We were just lucky that we got here in time,” Starfall groused. “If Joseph hadn’t pointed out the discrepancy in the raid’s patterns, we wouldn’t have spotted it soon enough.” Flash halted in his tracks, and his breathing came to a horrified stop. “Oh, son of a buzzard. Guys, is Joseph all right?” --- The world reassembled itself through the sound of splintering wood and the sensation of a wall giving way against my back, and I righted myself once more through the haze of pain and disorientation, gritting my teeth as I struggled to stay conscious. Even a brain dead kid would have been able to figure out that the fight was going badly. Since it started I’d done nothing but get smacked around like a rag doll and get thrown against walls and into furniture, breaking and shattering wood wherever I landed. I’d rolled defensively with the blows in attempts to soften them that had worked somewhat, but sooner or later, the injuries I was accumulating were going to take their toll. I could feel blood coming out of the side of my mouth in a thin, warm trickle, and numerous other small cuts and lacerations marked where the splinters had been none too kind against my skin. My entire body was aching with the bruises of several narrow dodges that had turned what would have been direct hits into glancing blows, and I was sure to be feeling those in the morning tomorrow. But worst of all, the right side of my chest was already blazing afire with pain that stabbed at me with renewed intensity each time I moved too quickly or breathed too harshly. The raider had managed to get the drop on me with his first burst of speed, and the direct hit he’d landed had probably broken a rib - that much I suspected from the series of burning knives that buried itself in my chest with every breath I took. My reflexes had seemed to make up for it after that though, because I refused to let myself get caught by surprise again, and I’d managed to react to his movements just quickly enough not to get my ass turned into paste against the wall. What really got my goose however was the fact that I had yet to even touch the fucker. Every blow I’d thrown at him had been effortlessly tanked or deflected, and not a single one of my attacks had had any effect on him whatsoever. There was another flash of heat from outside and the sound of blades clashing, and an absent thought crossed my mind. Great, so everybody else outside gets to re-enact Borderlands, and I get stuck inside here with a Dark Souls boss fight. The moment my senses came back to me, I reacted without thinking, and juked to the left just in time to avoid a hammerforce punch that shattered the wood where my head had been just a second ago. I immediately let off a literally knee-jerk counterattack as I jerked my knee up at the unguarded spot between the griffon’s legs, and bit back a howl of pain as my kneecap nearly broke itself against the Great Wall of China- er, his codpiece. “Got you this time!” The griffon crowed triumphantly as he raised his arms to deliver a final blow, obviously thinking that he’d boxed me in. His interlocked fists came down with enough force behind it to shatter concrete, but I was already braced for it - the moment he committed to the strike, I dove through the tiny opening on his left that he’d been careless enough to leave me. The griffon’s interlinked fists landed on the spot that I’d occupied just a heartbeat before, and I couldn’t help but grin to myself as I rolled to my feet and saw his back wide open to me - a nice, large, inviting target, and the first damned opening I’d seen since this godawful fight had started. Oh yes, it’s all in the timing. I still had the broken shortsword in my hand, but broken or not, it was all I needed. Dashing forward before the griffon could recover, I came up right behind him and stabbed the several inches was left of its blade up through the biggest chink in his armor I could see. The resulting howl of pain sent a jolt of savage joy through my senses, but that joy quickly turned into something more akin to ‘oh crap’ as the griffon didn’t go down, but instead swung around, tearing the sword from my grip. I barely had time to jump to the side and raise both my arms in front of me. The griffon’s arm slammed right into my guard, and I was sure that the enchanted leather armor I was wearing was all that prevented the bones in my forearms from shattering as I was sent flying across the room. Furniture cracked and splintered beneath me when I landed, and I was pretty sure that I’d just broken Fluttershy’s coffee table. I became dimly aware of a furious shout rapidly growing louder, and I reflexively rolled to the side right before a crushing knee drop landed right where my neck would have been. “That hurt, you little asshole!” The griffon growled as I clambered to my feet, and as I watched him rise, I knew I’d effectively hamstrung him. His movements were now pained and slower, and a steady stream of blood was dripping from the shortsword that stuck out of his back. “That was kinda the idea,” I smirked, trying my best to keep a confident mask on while painfully aware of the fact that I was now unarmed. Step One: ‘Handicap Your Opponent’ had been achieved, but now that my hands were empty I’d completely forgotten what Step Two was supposed to be. “You wanna keep dancing? I can do this all day.” “You’re gonna pay for that, you little shit!” The griffon growled, and he lunged forward again, fists swinging. I dodged and weaved as quickly as I could, trying to circle around him to get at the blade sticking out from behind him and kick it in to cause even more damage, but his anger had made his attacking that much more furious, even though it had also gotten as reckless as I had predicted. The backstab I’d pulled off just hadn’t dealt as much damage or slowed him down as I’d hoped. I was too busy avoiding his punches that I couldn’t even exploit the openings he was leaving me, and after several more narrow misses, I realized that sooner or later he was going to get lucky, or I was going to get careless, and the fight was going to come to a very fast, messy end. I had to make a stand now. I leaned backwards to dodge another sweep of his arm, and then dove past him again in a roll. Unfortunately he’d already seen that trick once and had seen it coming, and his fist clipped the side of my leg before I’d completed the roll. When I came to my feet, my right leg, my knee in particular, let out a wordless scream as I put my weight on it, and I nearly collapsed on it. I nearly bit off my tongue cutting off a string of unmentionable words - probably a fracture, adrenaline’s dulling the pain as it is - and my crossbow came up in a flash as I drew it from its holster. The griffon had already halfway turned towards me when I’d lined the sights up with his head, and he was already taking his first step in my direction when my finger began to tighten down on the trigger. Then the griffon made another unstoppable, impossibly fast charge, and I barely registered the moment of pure oh crap that my brain processed before a brawny claw smacked aside the crossbow just as the trigger was pulled, sending the bolt flying harmlessly to the side. My entire left arm blazed with pain - yup, definitely broke a few bones there as well - and before I could even react, the griffon used a foot to sweep my injured leg out from under me. This time, I let out a scream as my wounded knee came down on the floor, eliciting a menacing crack! The griffon pulled a fist back, and I had just enough time to think to myself ‘Yup, I’m definitely screwed,’ before it slammed into my chest, and I felt something inside give way as I was sent flying through another piece of furniture, neatly breaking it in two as I crashed through it. I lay there in a haze of agony, unable to do anything but cough up blood and desperately try to recover my sense of where the hell I was even at, as the raider strode over to where I lay prone. “I’m gonna fuckin’ enjoy this,” The griffon growled as he picked up my right arm in a vice-like grip, twisted me around until my arm was twisted backwards, and he began rotating his grip slowly as I felt the horrifying sensation of my shoulder joint popping out intensify. “First thing I’m gonna do is tear your arms out of your sockets… and then I’m gonna beat you to death with your own fucking limbs while your pathetic little Bearers watch!” “G-Guh! Gagh!” I wordlessly choked through the haze of mounting pain. My shoulder was coming dangerously close to popping free of its socket, and my breath was coming in short, desperate gasps. His tightening grip was a boa constrictor, squeezing the life out of its prey, and unless I did something fast, a disabling dislocation was going to be the least of my problems. I frantically cast my mind about, desperately searching for options, and I came up with absolutely nothing. Starfall and the others were still outside fighting the others, and judging from the flares of fierce heat and intermittent flashes of sparks, it wasn’t likely that they were going to be finished anytime soon. No call for help was going to be answered - I was alone, and on my own. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy staring at me from between the earthen bars of their rocky prison. The hot-headed spitfire was pounding and kicking against the rocks barring her way, looking at me with a mixture of fearful apprehension and desperate encouragement - her face was screaming at me to get up and fight, you crazy fool! Do something! He’s killing you! I blinked at her, struggling to think through the pain. The walls of the cell around me were as dusty as the floor I was being forced down against as the rebel behind me jabbed the barrel of his rifle further into my back, screaming something in Arabic. My squadmates stared helplessly at me, at their lieutenant, their eyes burning with the need to take action despite the fact that they were under the guns of several other rebels as well, watching closely, and when I blinked the terrorists and the AK-47s and the terrified expression of my friends and comrades who were too young to die here all vanished, replaced by the frightened expressions of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy again, but I could still hear their silent screams, their pleas for me to get up, to continue to fight, that I couldn’t let it end here- My heart was pounding against my ribcage like a wild animal, my pulse thundering in my ears. I watched the world through a haze of red as I saw Fluttershy’s expression, one of a fear so sick, so heartwrenching that she was going to watch one of her rescuers die right in front of her eyes, and that she was going to die here as well, and there was nothing that she or Rainbow Dash or anybody could do about it, just like the faces of my squadmates that had died that day. I felt so sick inside I just wanted to vomit - oh gods what the hell am I even doing here, why am I fighting to save these ponies when I could so easily just die here, I should have just gone back home, I couldn’t even protect anyone, we’re all going to die here and it was going to be my fault because I wasn’t strong enough, because I couldn’t do anything- -fighting- -die- -strong enough- -do ANYTHING- Something snapped inside me. Something else reformed back into crystalline ice. I was not going to let this happen again. I couldn’t. By the power of all that was holy and righteous, I hadn’t realized it when I’d first arrived here, but this was a second chance that I was being offered and I was going to fucking take it. “Don’t try to fuck around with me...” The growl that began softly in my throat began to rise in volume, and a cold fury so great and so terrible that it pushed aside the crushing despair that had filled me, that it blotted out all other sensation began to surge through my core. Blood sprayed from my mouth with every word, and I barely felt a thing.“You punk-ass raiders…” I planted my left hand - my broken hand - on the floor solidly, and felt the pain as a distant, far-off distraction. “Just who…” Otherworldly strength, the same otherly sensation that had jolted through my sword arm earlier in the fight, coursed through my entire body, and with that single piece of leverage I still had, I pushed. “... the hell…” I felt the griffon look down, I could feel his gaze upon my back, and I could sense the sheer shock and surprise on his face. “What the-!?” “... DO YOU THINK I AM!!??” A haze of blood curtained over my vision, and everything descended into crystal clear noise. With more strength than I knew I had ever come to possess, I lifted both the combined weights of myself and the griffon off the floor, and with a single, mighty shove of my entire body, I heaved myself back onto a standing position, complete with the griffon’s entire weight on my back, while simultaneously pulling my right arm closer towards my body. A single, powerful twist, a small, decisive shift of leverage, and abruptly I had reversed the griffon’s hold - now he was the one with his arm twisted behind him, and it was with the slightest of grabs and efforts that I could have just taken his arm and wrenched it out of his socket the same way he had threatened to do so to me mere seconds ago. However, I couldn’t make the broken fingers of my left hand grab onto anything worth for nuts despite the distant, inconsequential pain that I felt in it, so I decided to just use the next best thing. I slammed my left elbow directly between his shoulder blades while doing the same thing with my good knee in the small of his back, and drove the bastard beakfirst into the wooden floor. There was a satisfying crunch! and a muffled cry of pain, but I wasn’t done yet. Just for good measure, I maintained my hold, stepped over him in a circular motion, and using the momentum I’d gathered and all of this newfound strength I had, threw him bodily into the air with a furious yell, far further than I should have been able to hurl such a mass, towards the hole in the wall Brick and his opponent had left when they had made their dynamic exit. And that was when Brick, Starfall, and Flash Sentry all leapt yelling through the hole in the wall all at once to intercept the airborne griffon, and all three royal guards descended upon him simultaneously. I gotta tell ya, sometimes, watching an opponent that had been previously curbstomping you be on the receiving end of a three-on-one no-holds-barred beatdown can be exceedingly satisfying. By the time they were done and the griffon was lying in an unconscious heap on the floor, the haze of blood that had descended over my vision had already dissipated like the morning mist, and when Starfall turned towards me, I was already on my knees, giving them a tired grin as the pain returned with a terrible vengeance, doing its best to drive me into unconsciousness. “Praise… the sun…!” Was all I had the strength to pant as I weakly raised my arms in a triumphant outstretched ‘V’, before my brain decided that I’d already suffered enough damage, and it was going to clock me out before I did anything else stupid. I toppled backwards into blissful unconsciousness, and blackness overtook me. *** “Damnit, Legacy!” Starfall rushed forward the second the dark gray pony began to keel over, but his head had already hit the floor with an unfortunate thwack! by the time she got there. She wasn’t worried about the little bump on the head, of course - if he could survive the wounds he looked like he’d sustained in the fight with the griffon, he would live through a little love tap from the floor. What had her concerned for her charge was the probable multiple broken bones that he had, in addition to the numerous bruises and lacerations that covered his body. In the background she could hear Brick striding over to the earthen barriers that were keeping Ladies Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash imprisoned, and a few decisive kicks from him easily shattered the rocky spikes, freeing the two pegasi who quickly ran forward to check on their injured rescuer. “Quick, pulse check.” Flash peered over Starfire’s shoulder as she knelt next to ‘Remnant Legacy’s’ prone form, a hoof pressed gently against his jugular. “How’s he holding up?” The unicorn held her hoof there for a few seconds, before nodding to herself and turning her attention to his chest. The moment she saw it still rising and falling in shallow breaths, she let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief. “He’s not in any danger for now, but we should take him to the town hall so the medics can have a look at him as soon as we can. He definitely suffered a lot of broken bones in that fight.” She stepped back and motioned to Brick, “All yours, Brick.” The heavyweight earth stallion moved to sling Legacy’s body over his back, but he was unexpectedly interrupted as Fluttershy cut in while he knelt down. “Wait! I can—” She quickly hid behind her mane with a small ‘eep’ as the three Guards turned to look at her. “Go on.” Flash shot her a reassuring smile. The yellow pegasus hesitated for a moment before she swallowed and shifted her posture, standing a little taller than before. “I… I can help him. I look after the animals here, and I’ve learned how to, um, cast broken wings and things like that. If I can bind his injuries first and give him some first aid, it’ll make moving him less dangerous while we bring him back.” “I can vouch for that. She’s the best healer this side of Equestria! Isn’t that right, ‘Shy?” Rainbow Dash added on without a second’s hesitation. The timid pegasus blushed and turned away, but smiled regardless, glad for her friend’s intervention. “Well, I wouldn’t say best…” Starfall gave the pegasus an appraising look for several seconds, before the corner of her lips quirked upwards in a wry grin. “Well, as much as I should resent being told how to do my job, m’lady has a point. I don’t see why not,” She mused after a moment, “The sooner we can get him some medical attention, the better. Go get your things, Miss, we’ll be right here.” She glanced at Flash, who nodded, clearly understanding her silent message of ‘make sure she stays safe’. As the two pegasi departed, Rainbow’s gaze kept flicking between the two Guards still keeping watch, and the dark grey stallion lying on the floor. During the fight, she hadn’t been able to help but notice the stallion’s odd fighting style. Equestrian soldiers were trained to wield their melee weapons with their forehooves, while keeping their balance on their hind legs and fighting bipedally. Their gait while doing so was still a little awkward though, because ponykind had been meant to walk on four legs, not two. However, this stallion had moved almost too fluidly on his back legs during the fight - too naturally, too dextrously - almost as if he’d been walking on them his entire life. His throw had been too perfect, his grip unusually strong for a pony... And then there was also that weird prayer and gesture that he’d made before he fell unconscious, because she’d never heard anypony pray to Celestia like that before. It all smelled something fishy to the speedster, and she intended to find out what. “You guys are Royal Guard, right? Well who’s this?” She pointed at Legacy, who almost inaudibly groaned in pain. “I remember you guys from guarding Joseph’s suite, but I don’t remember seeing this stallion around. And why is his uniform all different from yours?” “That’s Agent Legacy, m’lady.” Starfall recited curtly, already used to deflecting queries and familiar with the cover story Joseph had been given. She knew about the Element of Loyalty’s apparent animosity to the human, and figured that things would probably go over much more smoothly if she were none the wiser to his identity. “He’s a member of the Lunar Guard who was attached to the detachment that was sent here. He’s here to investigate the recent terrorist attacks on Equestrian cities to try and find out who’s behind them.” “Right,” Rainbow remarked dryly, glancing at the half-dead stallion lying on the floor, who didn’t seem to be doing much in the way of investigating. “He seems to be doing a terrific job of it so far.” Starfall stiffened slightly, and she immediately bit back what would have been a scathing retort - while she didn’t really trust Joseph as readily as she would any of her fellow guards of the First Company, she still respected him as a fellow soldier, and hearing the sardonic words spill out of Rainbow Dash’s mouth without even the slightest consideration chafed something fierce at the common bond that all soldiers shared. Bearer of Harmony or no, Rainbow Dash was certainly toeing the line here. “To be fair, he did kinda save your tails back there, you know,” Brick spoke up in her place, his voice a chastising rumble. While certainly not as acerbic as Starfall could be most of the time, the big bruiser still never hesitated to speak up whenever he saw something that didn’t sit right with him. Despite his intimidating appearance, Brick had a heart of gold with a size to match his stature, and whenever he was not in battle or in one of his more jovial moods, he could be unexpectedly gentle yet firm with his words. “You could at least appreciate the fact that he nearly broke himself in half trying to make sure that you and Lady Fluttershy were safe.” “Yeah, so he did, but that’s not what I’m-” Rainbow Dash cut herself off, trying to get her thoughts in order. Brick was right, and she knew it, but that wasn’t what felt so off about this. “Look, he’s a member of the Lunar Guard, right? Aren’t they supposed to be, like, super-tough ultra-ninja badasses who can take on entire armies by themselves and win? So why the hay did this ‘Agent Legacy’ have so much trouble taking down one griffon by himself then?” Starfall and Brick looked at each other, their nervous glances each confirming the others’ thoughts - Rainbow Dash’s guess was both way off the mark, and yet scarily close to hitting the nail on the head at the same time. Blame the embellishments of the Lunar Guard’s accomplishments in the history books and their subsequent portrayals in Equestrian popular media, but the cyan speedster had a very skewed idea of what Lunar Guard agents were supposed to be capable of. Yes, they were selected from only the very best of the Royal Guard, which was already a cream-of-the-crop unit in itself, but assuming open conflict, a single Lunar Guard agent would only at best be able to clear out several rooms of enemy grunts on his own before being overwhelmed himself, not entire armies. If one played their cards right and was properly equipped, a single squad might be able to clear an entire enemy fortress on their own, but only if they were sufficiently prepared for it, and they didn’t run into any complications along the way. Going up against fellow elites like the Griffonian Jägers for example, because that turned it into an entirely different manner. In a one-on-one battle against a Jäger, a Lunar Guard agent would still prove superior, but only by a very moderate margin. Winning a two-on-one fight would have been a nearly impossible feat, though Starfall had heard stories of such encounters before, but it didn’t change the fact that a true Lunar Guard agent wouldn’t have gotten his ass so thoroughly kicked by a single Jäger. And Rainbow Dash’s suspicion of the inconsistency was right on the mark - ‘Agent Legacy’ had had way too much trouble in subduing the single Jäger he had been facing. “Who is this guy, really?” Rainbow Dash asked again, and when Starfall and Brick both remained silent, the pegasus’ patience ran out. “You know what, forget this,” She sighed before striding forward. “If you’re not going to tell me who he is, then I’m going to find out for myself.” “M’lady, I have to insist that you don’t-” Starfall tried to intercept her, but Rainbow Dash brushed the unicorn aside, and knelt down next to the groaning stallion, her eyes already set on the strange pendant that she had spotted him wearing. It was the only thing that was out of place on his otherwise completely utilitarian attire, and she figured that if she grabbed it or took if off him, something might happen. It had to be the only reason why the guards’ lips were sealed so tight; that they were nervous that she might find something out. Her hoof hooked under the chain that kept the pendant around his neck, and she brought it up over his head. There was a brief shimmering of light around the stallion’s body, and- “Celestia’s gaskin!” Rainbow Dash stared down at him for only a second before she whirled around to her two guards. “What in the hay is he doing here-!?” The cyan pegasus’ building tirade was suddenly interrupted by a horrified gasp, and all three heads swivelled around to the stairs, where Fluttershy stood staring at them with wide eyes, a first aid bag lying forgotten in her hooves. Flash’s head appeared over her shoulder a second later, a casual expression still on his face. “Hey guys, what’s going o-” The pegasus guard caught sight of Rainbow Dash standing seething over Joseph’s human body, no longer disguised, and quietly muttered, “Oh, boy.” “Lady Fluttershy…” Starfall began, her expression steady. “I know what this looks like, but-” The lieutenant had read the psychological profile on the Bearer of Kindness, and had already known partially what to expect if she had ever found out Legacy’s true identity, but Starfall received the shock of her life anyway, when the cream-colored pegasus didn’t shy away, didn’t recoil, but instead hardened her expression, and immediately stepped forward with even less hesitation than before. “Excuse me,” Fluttershy said with a surprising resolve in her voice as she pushed past Starfall to kneel beside Joseph, immediately retrieving the first aid supplies from her bag with a practiced air, and Rainbow Dash was staring at her childhood friend as though she had grown a second head. “Umm… ‘Shy?” She asked with an eyebrow raised uncertainly. “What are you-” “Hush now, Rainbow,” Fluttershy shushed her friend softly but firmly, not even taking her eyes off of Joseph’s injuries as she very gently poked and prodded at them, eliciting only the softest of groans from the unconscious young man. The pegasus only responded with quiet little shushes, and tiny whispers that nobody else in the room heard, but Rainbow Dash knew what they were anyway. It was exactly the same kind of whispers that Fluttershy would give to soothe the injured animals that she tended to. After a moment of examination, she began to speak, her voice steady and professional - Rainbow Dash knew immediately that Fluttershy had slipped into that state of mind; what the cyan pegasus had dubbed ‘Doctor Mode’, because whenever Fluttershy did, her shy little friend seemed to become an entirely different pony. “His left hand and forearm have been broken in multiple places, and the same goes for his right leg. His right kneecap’s probably riddled with hairline fractures as well, because it feels like it’s about to give way. His ribs…” Fluttershy paused, swallowing. “His ribs have nearly caved in, but somehow they’re still holding together. He has a few broken ones, but nearly all of them have to be cracked at least. He’s in shock, and is also probably bleeding internally quite a bit. I… I don’t know how he’s still alive. We have to move him to the healers as soon as possible. I can bandage his cuts easily enough, but splinting his limbs is going to take a moment.” “Take all the time you need, m’lady.” Starfall nodded, letting out an internal sigh of relief. “We’ll be right here.” If Starfall had been honest, she’d been worried that Fluttershy would freak the moment she’d seen the human that she was reportedly so terrified of - Starfall had heard through the grapevine she shared with Brick and Flash of how she had not been present amongst Twilight Sparkle’s entourage each time the Elements of Harmony had dropped by Joseph’s suite to visit him during his… ‘internment’ in Canterlot Castle. Lady Twilight had made it no secret that both the pegasi of their group had no desire to see the sole human that had made it into Equestria, though for wildly differing reasons - Rainbow Dash simply just didn’t trust him, and Fluttershy… as Twilight had put it, while the group had been in Canterlot, the timid pegasus had simply responded with a fearful shake of her head before shutting herself in her room each time Twilight had offered to let her join them in their trips to the castle to visit Joseph. It didn’t take a genius to figure out just what kind of opinion Lady Fluttershy had of Equestria’s only human, which only made it all the more baffling why she was so resolute and steady in treating his injuries now. A minute or so passed in silence as Fluttershy worked quickly and efficiently, cleaning the cuts before bandaging them, and then moving on to immobilizing and splinting the limbs that had been broken before wrapping cold compresses from the first aid bag around them for good measure. Pained groans came out from Joseph each time Fluttershy’s hooves went around his chest as she began taping his ribs, but otherwise he remained blissfully unconscious. Every now and then Rainbow Dash would glance at Fluttershy with a very confused, discerning look, and Starfall could tell that the Element of Loyalty was just as lost as she was. Fluttershy’s last act was to retrieve a small bottle of liquid that Rainbow Dash recognized as a healing potion that was commonly used to deal with internal injuries, just as how salves were applied to external wounds. The pegasus poured the potion slowly into Joseph’s mouth, and after a few seconds, the young man’s labored breathing began to ease up, and some of the pain in his expression faded. “All right, he should be fine to move for now,” Fluttershy said as she finally stepped back and wiped off her forehead. Her steady expression faded, and her more usual withdrawn demeanour immediately took its place. “Umm… you can uh… go ahead and just… do your thing.” “Right. Brick?” Starfall gestured, and the big stallion immediately stepped forward. With a ginger carefulness that belied his massive frame, Brick slung Joseph’s unconscious body over his shoulder, and Flash Sentry made sure to loop the young man’s illusory amulet back over his neck before they left. The glamor shimmered back into existence over his body, and the three guards stepped outside the cottage with their sole casualty as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash followed them out. As the three guards walked ahead, Rainbow Dash lagged behind slightly to where Fluttershy was trotting after them, and she immediately began to whisper harshly to her friend. “What the hay was all of that about back there, Flutters?” Rainbow Dash asked, thoroughly confused by her friend’s behaviour. “I thought you were terrified of him!” “That… That’s just it, Rainbow,” Fluttershy replied softly, her expression confused and wildly conflicted. “I still am, but… But I couldn’t just leave him like that! I… I know that he’s really not as bad as you think he is, but something inside me just… I…” The cream-colored pegasus let out a distressed sigh. “I really don’t know how to say this…” Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy an odd look, not quite satisfied with her answer but knowing better than to push for one. And it was just as well, because Fluttershy’s thoughts were in complete disarray. It didn’t help the rationality of her case when she found herself overcome by an overwhelming sense of impending doom whenever she found herself in close proximity to Joseph, and her irrational fear was causing her to stay as far away from the human as possible, despite there being no real good reason for her not to trust him. The only reason why she had even been able to treat his injuries just now was because her animal lover instinct had for some reason kicked into overdrive when she’d seen him bleeding and battered on the floor, and she had felt an irresistible compulsion to do whatever she could to make sure that he would make it through the day alive. That instinct had managed to override her crippling irrational fear of him, at least temporarily. But the moment she had finished tending to his injuries, that impending sense of doom had immediately come crashing back down onto her shoulders like the weight of the moon itself, and it had been all she could do not to immediately backpedal away from him screaming. Fluttershy peeked out from behind her mane to peer at the unconscious stallion draped over Brick’s shoulder, and when his eyelids began to twitch, she immediately darted back, not daring to risk even meeting his eyes. Something was definitely very off about him, that much she could say for sure. The animal lover prided herself in her ability to intuitively sense the moods and perceive the ‘auras’ that surrounded most living beings — it mostly manifested as a ‘vibe’ that allowed her to understand any creature or animal’s emotions and state of mind, letting her reach through to them on a level most other ponies weren’t able to. It was this talent that allowed her to be so good at handling animals, though she generally didn’t like using it to observe her fellow ponies. The intensity and complexity of their thoughts usually resulted in overpowering empathetic impressions that overwhelmed her each time she dared to ‘look’ directly at them, and it usually took her quite a while to become familiar and comfortable with even one pony’s presence, let alone entire groups. Animals had a certain beauty of simplicity to their thoughts, and it was why she enjoyed their company so much more. If anything, it certainly explained just why she was so cripplingly shy when it came to dealing with new ponies, and why it took so long for her to warm up to others. But she had never encountered anything like Joseph before. Most ponies’ ‘auras’ may have been overwhelming to her but at least they were somewhat consistent. Joseph’s aura kept changing and fluctuating in the most maddeningly confusing ways, and whenever Fluttershy focused her empathy sense on him, it was like staring into a blinding kaleidoscope of vibes and impressions. If it was an indicator of anything, it was that he was obviously a wildly conflicted individual, but throughout the numerous flashes of moods and emotions that she had observed in him, there had been one consistent vibe she had always been able to pick up on, and it was this vibe that made her so terrified of being around him. The young man stank of death. Fluttershy couldn’t even imagine what Joseph must have gone through to have Death’s stench mark him like that, hanging around him like a floating miasma of doom. If she hadn’t known any better, she would have pegged him as a manifestation of the Grim Reaper itself, for her first memory of him had already been etched irrevocably into her mind, as she had watched him face down a Giant Timber Wolf by himself... and mercilessly gun it down. And that stench of Death, that overpowering sense of Doom that seemed to settle down around her whenever Joseph was near… She had never felt more smothered, more choked by this invisible miasma, than when he had suddenly gone berserk while fighting the griffon. Kindness was a very all-encompassing aspect that Fluttershy was very much capable of taking on, and it also included the principles of trusting in others and giving them the benefit of the doubt even when you had every reason not to. But as she considered just how wrong that sensation had felt when Joseph had surged up from the ground beneath the griffon, possessed of a frightening power unlike anything she had ever sensed before, Fluttershy began to think that perhaps there were things even her kindness didn’t want to have to face.