[Blazing's Entry]
Weeeeeeird!
Apparently, at some point of my path to today I became somewhat desirable to the other sex... possibly, maybe?
So, yeah. Rock Candy is strangely friendly with me. Perhaps I'm just paranoid. I mean, thinking back about my first days in Canterlot with Chokey I can now understand her approach towards me. For Candy, though, I have no idea why she bothers with me.
Don't overthink things all the damn time!
Apparently, Mistake can fight me for control over telekinesis now. Great!
It's just unusual, that's all. I've never been a mare magnet and while becoming an alicorn has to count for something the change can't be that drastic. Apparently, she likes me, at least a little. It's been three days since I met her and she's kept me company whenever I didn't feel like going to bed in the morning. Granted, it also meant Hamilton making me prep the place for morning training but that was a small price to pay to get some nude minotaur 'hugs'.
Well, the way this place reminds me of Canterlot is uncanny and unbelievably relaxing in a way. Do my night job, watch the soldiers practice, get abused a little by the high ranks, and go to sleep while clutching my aching body... it's heaven. Boring, but exactly the place I need to recover my strength.
Funnily enough, nopony really commented on me being an alicorn. Most soldiers keep to themselves around me and I don't exactly have either the time or the interest to grow my circle of friends, I just want to return to the old ones.
Well, still three more weeks to go for that. No reason to rush and be blind to things happening right now.
Yes, yes, I get it.
[End Entry]
Moonlight is coming through the rectangular windows, casting patches of brightness on the dark floor of the Ironclaw fortress. It's long after midnight, my favourite time to do some actual work, and the serenity of the desert is like a balm on my wrecked nerves. Last half a year was too much for a normal soul to handle and if I wasn't surrounded by the few who tried to help me I have no doubt I would have gone crazy even if I somehow survived.
That aside, we are here and this is now.
*Squelch squelch*
Smiling to myself, I wrap my hooves around the mop. Magic is cool but with having no way to recharge I'm not wasting what little amount my body can make.
*Scratch scratch scratch tap tap tap*
Sudden silence.
Somepony was rushing nearby and stopped when they reached the wet surface. A griffon, according to the scratching. The hall layout of the fortress is a huge square with a cross in the middle splitting the floor into four squares of living quarters. There are stairs leading to upper and lower floor in each of the fortress corners. I usually sweep and mop the inner cross first before moving onto the outer square and since the morning must be quite close I'm on the top floor and I'm almost done for tonight. It's probably just a soldier returning early from night watch and hoping his superiors don't notice.
The thing is, I've been in Canterlot long enough to recognize that the best time to sneak somewhere is early in the morning when the night watch is tired and nopony else is around.
Who am I kidding? If I was THAT lucky I wouldn't be here in the first place.
Mistake!
Ready. It came from behind us and stopped. Whoever it was must either still be there or have means of soundless movement if needed.
Probable target?
Your guess is as good as mine. This place is in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps it's really just a lazy soldier.
I grin.
Hardly.
Hardly.
There is no way for me to be sneaky, as a pony, so I don't even try to be. An enemy underestimating me is my best protection. Like a curious janitor would, I slowly walk through the dark hall with only squelching of my hooves on the wet floor as my companion...
A griffon, all in black, right behind the corner. Not a Legion soldier.
...and Mistake's ethereal form scouting ahead of me.
Weapons - a rapier at the ready, a dagger in a sheath on his belt, a crossbow on his back. Oh, and a pistol! Can't see anything else.
Guy's a walking armory. I doubt he's gonna use the gun though unless he wants the entire fortress to wake up. What's his stance?
An image of a griffon slightly taller than me standing with one side against the stone wall, crouched and holding an ashen grey rapier in his left taloned arm, flashes through my head. His entire body is wrapped in black, showing him quite clearly against the grey wall. While black color is surprisingly not good for sneaking around it is definitely stylish which tells me this griffon is used to being seen and looking good. Still, his reaction to me stopping mopping was perfect. Somepony with less experience would either try to run or sneak away while this guy is standing still with glacial patience and is ready to kill.
Unfortunately for me, in contrast to his color choice the shape of his clothes doesn't give me anything to grab him by. His black jacket is tucked into his pants which in turn are-
A griffon wearing boots while sneaking?
That makes zero sense. The paws on their hind legs are much better than most commonly used types of soles.
Perhaps the same reason for the black clothes? Maybe he's somepony good at the technical side of stealth but too used to wearing a uniform? That's not the problem though.
A griffon outgunning a small combat unit is NOT the real problem?
I feel divine power from him. Extremely weak, in comparison to what we've been through, but it's there.
I'm only half listening as I clear the corner and immediately jump backwards, the blade missing my muzzle by a hair and the following arm occupying all my attention-
-the blade suddenly somehow scoring a glancing blow to my chest. Thankfully, more irritating than serious.
What?
Spatial manipulation?
The griffon is in front of me without seemingly moving from behind the corner.
Magic?
Rapier going straight for my face.
Dodge to the left. Easy blow to avoid.
Pain in my chest.
Rapier hilted inside me.
Yes, I just don't know where from!
"INTRU-" I try to yell but a punch silences me.
Vision darkening, the blow must be immediately lethal.
Can't breathe.
Cough blood.
BLAZE!
Can't feel anything.
Blackness.
Blue?
Good. Goodgoodgoodgood. He mucked up. Get up! No? Nothing? Blink at least?
Wha-?
Can you move?
Blue everywhere. It's cold, so cold.
The blue moves, dances, flickers.
"HAH!" I take a deep breath as my chest accepts air once again at the price of utter agony.
The griffon is standing with his back to me, clutching his chest.
"What?" the griffon croaks and turns to me, "How?"
Something is wrong when I blink. Something is off when I move. My head hurts.
Growling, I stand up towards the griffon taking a step backwards with his eyes wide open.
The blue all around takes shape as flames on my body, not burning but just moving. The griffon swings his rapier and more blue fire pours at me from the tip.
Can't handle much more by myself. FOCUS!
Breathing in, the flames penetrate me. It's not fire, it's not magic, it's divine power. Divine power is something I can use, a destructive force, the power of Nightmare.
Take.
Control.
Use.
The flames die out. Something is not right and I operate purely on reflex. Balancing the power of death has always been tricky but this time it's not so bad. Whatever the griffon did was shockingly weak compared to what I had to stand against in the past.
As he moves to a defensive stance with only his hand holding the rapier aimed at me, I jump to punch.
Right foreleg. Hit-
-miss.
Left. Black blur. Easy hit-
-miss.
He groans and coughs after... dodging?
A flurry of blows with my right hoof. This time he jumps back like a normal griffon, not some half-magical not-understood nonsense.
Left again.
He can't move in time and blood splatters the floor. The griffon covers his face with his empty arm to stop the bleeding. The next second he drops his rapier, reaches for his belt, and throws something at me.
Inferno. Air gets sucked from my lungs. Everything burns. Blinding white visible through closed eyelids.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Cold again.
He's gone. Good job! So, what now?
Blaze? You okay?
You there? Hey?
Not even cold anymore.
Nothing.
"Owwwwwwwwwwww!" I sit up.
I'm in a small, triangular space faintly smelling of old socks. The brown bedroll under my plot reveals it's... a tent?
"Oh great..."
It's THE tent.
Against my better judgement and my body screaming in agony, I limp out of my temporary shelter. A blue-maned, black unicorn is sitting by the heartily cracking firepit outside and roasting some marshmellows impaled on a levitating stick.
I am not surprised at all so I just look at the steel-grey sky, ignore the sundered skyscrapers, and join Mistake.
"What... the heck... happened?"
"You know... I've been mulling over it here for hours and I have no idea,"
"Hours? I thought I exploded."
"You did, but a quick-thinking mind can make seconds last for ages. I believe it's been at most three minutes in real time," Mistake stares into the flames and levitates a marshmellow to my mouth.
"Thanks."
He looks at me and smiles back.
"My only explanation is that the griffon was controlling time."
"I meant the blue fire. What about time? Was that how he dodged everything? How do you know?"
"That's too many questions for something I consider just a theory. Let's start with the simple stuff. I can assure you he didn't use any short-term paralysis poison or anything to move without you noticing. At this stage of our... separation that would not work on me. He just was there... and then he was not there while knowing exactly what you would do. The way he moved wasn't reflexive, it was as if your every attack and dodge happened before."
"Future sight? Prediction similar to what I can do?"
"No. You think I couldn't recognize that? As I said, it wasn't a reflex nor experience so it can't be the thing you do. As for future sight... it still involves being able to process the future information as well as the present and I think it would require massive amount of magic to be precise."
"And turning time back wouldn't?"
"Of course. It wouldn't take that much brainpower though. I think the griffon had something on him which allowed him to rewind time and speed it up for himself. That's all a guesswork though. What ISN'T a guess is that whatever he did hurt him somehow as well. He stabbed you but couldn't finish you off instantly because he fell down himself. When he got back up he set you on fire which brings us to the second topic."
"Nightmare's power, right?"
"Yes. It looked as if he tried to burn your body completely to hide his presence from anypony. Fortunately for you, an amount this small was easy to absorb."
"I remember... you healed me?"
"Not really. I just allowed your body to absorb the power and it somehow fulfilled your alicorn... instinct or something? Trying to keep you alive I mean."
"Do you think I was so weak as an alicorn because I had nowhere to steal divine power from?"
"I think you absorbed a lot from Harmony, enough to make you an alicorn at least."
"N-no. That's... wrong. I can't explain it. It felt as if Harmony's power was... not the usable divine power itself but... a tool? A tool to control and balance Discord's and Nightmare's power."
"Oh? OH! Is it THAT simple?"
"My head hurts."
"Sorry. I'll let you out in a second. Any idea WHERE a griffon would get access to divine power and an artefact capable of bending time?"
"Do I look like princess Twilight?"
"Well, speaking of looks," he conjures a mirror same as the one he had in his asylum office, "you weren't able to control even such small amount of Nightmare's power in that state. I had to do most of it for you and... I'm sorry... I have no affinity for it it seems. It gained access to your head through me."
The bronze alicorn looking at me from the mirror looks like a safe full of bad memories, memories I recognize instantly. My horn broken in half is what I lost in the arena, my right eye, white and glazed over, is what I lost to Void during our misunderstood encounter, and my left front leg, black in comparison to the rest of my bronze coat... is a mockery of a griffon arm made of twisted sinews and hard muscle, another loss from the arena which was replaced by a mechanical griffon arm prosthesis and which I regenerated after Nightmare's curse in Golden Sands.
I grasp with the talons of the abomination. Sensitive enough, flexible enough, strong enough...
...crappy looking.
"I can't do anything about it right now. I don't have enough power to change my body. I don't have the knowledge to do so either. Let's return to what we can deal with. Where did the griffon go?"
"I don't know. He ran away down the hall while I was trying to manipulate your power to shield you from the firebomb blowing up next to your nose."
"Alright. Thank you for everything. Sorry if I seemed... snappy. It's just... I'm tired of this. I want to go home. I want to finally have a rest without the need to lock doors and windows. I want some semblance of peace."
"I understand and I promise I will be there as long as it takes. Now, guess what?"
"What?"
I barely hear the voice through deafening ringing in my ears.
"Wake up!" something shakes me as a female voice comes from afar.
"Nghhkch!" I groan.
*Cough cough*
"Arrrrrgh!" and continue. My lungs burn, literally if what Mistake said happened really did. My thrashing around doesn't help.
Two points of force hold me down, pushing gently but relentlessly against my side.
"Calm down! It's fine."
"I kno-hhhhh!" paralyzing pain from my throat stops me so I just focus on breathing very slowly. Eventually I'm able to at least breathe without tears streaking from my eyes.
My eye.
It doesn't really come as a loss anymore. My right eye is gone again and with it also my depth perception, at least temporarily. I've been able to deal with it before and I will do it again. It's not like I have a choice.
When did I become such a fatalist?
You've changed a lot since my awakening.
Through closed eyelids, I see the black world of faint white outlines fading into nothingness. My magic is so weak I can't even keep the tracking spell going.
*Sigh*
*Cough*
"Crap-ghhh!"
Something reaches inside me, pats the inside of my head, touches me under my skin, and its soft dragging over my insides makes me get goosebumps.
My eyes open.
All I can see is a light brown to creamy hand just above my face touching my shattered horn.
"P-please," I whisper, "stop that... or at least... take me out to dinner first."
"Oops, sorry," I recognize Rock Candy's voice and the weird sense of somepony else touching me from within disappears, "Is it a unicorn, I mean alicorn, thing?"
"Unicorn... horns are sensitive."
The ringing subsides to the point where I can hear hoofsteps, clanking of armor, and scratching of talons all around.
"Ugggh."
"Don't move," she pushes me down again as I try to roll over to stand up. I feel a soft breath in my ear followed by a whisper, "Hamilton is coming. When he's done with you come visit me, sir."
Sir?
Heh. I knew there was nopony who would be so nice to me for no reason.
She sounds scared.
Well, at least we got to nuzzle some minotaur boobs before this.
Closing my eyes, I just wait for the inevitable.
"Take him down to the infirmary," orders Hamilton's voice, much more serious than ever before. Gone is the yelling commander act. This is the voice of somepony ready to take care of business, "administer some painkillers, and get him ready for questioning."
"No," a second stern voice contradicts him, one I've only heard on the inside of my head before, "he desperately needs rest. I'll answer everything you need, just let him sleep."
Mistake?
Let me handle this. I'll show you I can do more than just ruin your appearance.
You did all you could.
I need to be able to do more without draining so much of your energy.
"And who are you, mister see-through unicorn specter?" Hamilton's sarcasm returns.
"Somepony who can tell you exactly what happened. To do that, though, I need you to let my... owner rest."
"Alright. Medic! Knock him out and move on with patching up the burns. Rock Candy, morning practice starts soon. You have no place here anyway, this is official business now."
"Yes, commander!"
One particular set of hoofsteps fades into distance, one I can recognize despite all the others running around. Strange, minty smell assaults my nose without anything touching my muzzle and then I shut down completely.
"Nnnngh..."
EVERYTHING ITCHES!
Recalling my new taloned arm, I try to relieve the agony with no result. It seems I'm bound to some soft surface, a bed most likely.
"MMMRNGH! Little help?" I croak, careful not to irritate my burning, and itching at the same time, throat.
*Taptaptaptaptap*
"What's the problem?" asks a griffon dressed in a white cloak.
"Can't move! Can you scratch my chest and face a little, pleeeeeeeease?"
"Sorry, mister, but no. You heal exceptionally fast, alicorn thing I guess, and I don't want to mess anything up. Anyone else with burns of your degree would either be dead or disfigured for life but you seem to be plodding through well enough with just rest. The only thing I can do is either knock you out again or pour a healing salve over your bandages, they're to be changed every two hours anyway."
"And the restraints?"
"Standard precaution for burn victims. I'm sure you realize why now."
"But I reeeeally want to scratch my entire face off," I whine.
Mistake!
"I knoooow but I'm just sooo bad with knots so I can't help you," the griffon chuckles.
Mistake?
MISTAKE?!
"Ah screw it! Knock me out, doc."
He takes a deep breath, opens a bottle, and waves it near my head while struggling not to breathe. I drift off to sleep again.