The Third Commander

by Priceless911

Ch9 The Curse of Resurrection

The two ponies and their zebra companion sat in the living room of the cabin as Spike sat outside the window listening at the awkward silence inside. As the four sat in silence, Gem sighed as she stood up and put her bow away in the closet, “I didn’t even want to see you, and yet here you are… sitting here in my house annoying me with every passing second. And turning this good day, into a pain in the plot.”
Zine shook his head, “Now Ms. Stone… that kinda harsh don’t you think?... I mean, Cirrus is sitting right here.”
Gem gave him an annoyed look as she replied, “I was talking about you… but yea… both of you aren’t necessarily welcomed here.”

Cirrus raised his hoof, “Um… excuse me? I’m sorry if you don’t like me or anything but I think we are missing the point of this whole thing.” He looked at Zine, “Exactly why did you bring me here anyways… What am I supposed to do?”
Zine replied, “Oh I’ve been meaning to ask.” He looked at Gem and asked, “Ms. Stone? You know how to control the Lightning Orb correct?... As the Third Commander it’s Cirrus’s fate to learn how to use it.”
Gem gave Zine an angry look, “Ok first of all, I never used the Lightning Orb so chances of me teaching him are almost zero, and second… in what world would you even assume that I’ve forgiven you for what you did to me?...”
Zine sighed, “Geez for a mare rumored to be the Gem of the Nightmare Legion you sure do hold a grudge. It’s not like I ruined your life or anything.”
“No, you ruined my death! I was perfectly fine with my life. No regrets and a sense of purpose with my demise, then you came along and brought me back into a world that I didn’t want to be a part of.”

Before Zine could reply, Cirrus interrupted, “Wait a second… you’re saying Zine is the reason you’re not dead?”
Zine nodded his head as Gem Stone replied, “Yea… one second I’m peacefully content with eternal bliss… then the next, I’m lying in a dusty dirty wood box with an evil necromancer standing over me smiling as if he solved world hunger or something.”
Zine sighed, “I told you I did solve world hunger… a few years back… I just want to keep that as a bargaining chip for when things get hairy. But that’s beside the point, fact of the matter is. I need somepony from an era of Commander Bolt to assist me in helping the Third Commander.”
Cirrus gave him a confused look, “Then… why didn’t you bring back Commander Bolt himself?”
Gem Stone sighed, “Impossible…”

Cirrus looked at Gem Stone in confusion as Zine explained, “The Curse of Resurrection is not only the second most forbidden spells in existence, but it is chock full of restrictions and penalties. For example, to bring back one who is dead, you must have a corpse or some kind of remnant of the corpse to bring the soul back to, otherwise, there is no telling who you could bring back. Commander Bolt has no body in this plain of existence. So bringing him back wasn’t possible.”
Cirrus started thinking to himself, “So… why not Princess Twilight? Isn’t she buried in Ponyville?”
Gem shook her head, “Also impossible, bringing back somepony who died of old age or other natural causes, would only result in returning a dying pony. Bringing back an elderly pony would basically be returning them to the world just so they can die seconds later. The Curse only works on ponies who die of unnatural causes.”
Cirrus looked at Gem Stone as he replied, “So… you were the only choice then, so what are you mad about?”

Gem Stone sighed, “That’s my business… not yours. The bigger question is how did a civilian like you become the one to use the Lightning Orb? Was it a spell or something?” She looked at Zine, “Did you hex him with something?”
Zine shook his head, “Nope, This was all the work of fate. I’m only paving the way for the Third Commander.”
Cirrus got annoyed as he looked at Zine, “Why do you keep calling me the Third Commander!?! I’m not the Third Commander, Thundaga is!”
Zine shook his head, “Wrong again… Thundaga isn’t the Third Commander.”
Spike spoke from outside, “Wait a second Zine, she is the third pony to use the Lightning Orb. She has to be the Third Commander… isn’t she?”
Zine smiled, “Nope, she isn’t, because she didn’t.”

Gem Stone gave him a curious look, “Didn’t what?... what aren’t you telling us Zine?”
Zine gave her a smug smile as he replied, “The Lightning Orb… she didn’t use it. In fact, if I were to guess. She has never used the Lightning Orb. Not in her entire life.”
Although the party inside couldn’t see it, Spike’s expression became confused as he replied, “What?... but… I saw it myself. She’s used it numerous times since she was a filly.”
Zine smiled, “Yea, and it’s quite impressive, no matter how fake it is.”
Both pegasi and the dragon outside replied at the same time, “What?...”
Zine nodded his head, “Yep… fake. I didn’t believe it at first. But when I saw it at the Thunder Grounds, I knew it. Her Lightning Orb is created using magic. It’s similar to the real thing which is why it’s fooled everypony, but the main difference is that unlike a pegasus, who generates the lightning with his hooves, hers is generated in her horn and travels down her to her hooves. I noticed it because I’ve also seen her use it. And when she did, I felt static in the air. But when Cirrus used it… the static was…”
“Only in the ground...”

Everypony excluding Spike looked at Gem Stone as she continued, “I remember… standing next to Commander Bolt as he used it. It didn’t matter what type of Lightning Orb he used. I could always feel the static in the soil beneath me. But… none in the air, until after he used it.”
Zine nodded his head, “Exactly… I have always wondered, how a species that cannot generate lightning from their hooves could ever use the Lightning Orb… but now I know why. It’s because alicorns are incapable of using such things.”
Cirrus was confused as he asked, “So… She’s just tricking everypony to keep them in control?”
Gem Stone became enraged as she replied, “That sneaky little…”
Zine shook his head and interrupted, “No… she isn’t tricking anypony, that would entail that she knows it’s fake. My only guess is that she’s like me. She didn’t know it was fake because she has never had anything to compare it to. Side by side the difference is obvious. But since she never actually saw her father use it, how could she see that it wasn’t the real thing?”

Spike nodded his head as he replied still from outside, “That’s true… Even when he was alive, Commander Bolt only used it on very rare occasions. I think I’ve only seen it once, and that’s because we asked him to use it. Princess Twilight saw it a few more times than me, but that’s only because I wasn’t with them in Eden. There no telling how many times he used it when fighting the Dark Alicorn.”
Cirrus rolled his eyes, “Yea… no telling…”
Zine gave Cirrus a skeptic look, “Don’t tell me you’re still questioning those stories… when you have a character standing here in the same room as you?”
Cirrus replied, “Who’s to say she really is Captain Gem Stone? For all I know she could be just some mare that you cleverly brainwashed into believing this story she is telling.”

Gem Stone gave Cirrus an annoyed look, “Um… Excuse me?... Who’s to say I even care about what you think? For your information, I didn’t want you to come here… That power that you supposedly have is an insult to those who earned and deserve it. Not a sad little orphan who turns his back on everything his parents fought for-Yea I know about you Cirrus Cloud. You’re the one who abandon yourself out of fear. A coward. Sure, I had it rough too… but you know the difference between you and ? I was willing to stand for something in the end… you… you’re still hiding.”
Cirrus was shocked as he tried to reply, “Me?... What about you? You live on a mountain and have no interaction with anypony! And don’t even think about counting your crazy zebra friend, and his pet dragon!”

Spike spoke up, “Hey…that was uncalled for.”
Zine shrugged his shoulders, “Not for me… I know what I am.”
Gem Stone shifted her angry expression to Zine as she replied, “And you!... You already know my opinion on this whole plan. So thank you for the gracious visit… but you can take your pet pegasus and leave my house! I have a war to plan and I can’t do anything with you filling my thought with egotistical comments. Spike, you can stay if you want.”
Spike smiled as he stood outside and replied, “Thank you Gem Stone. At least I’m not some pet to you.”
Cirrus asked, “War?... Against who?”
Gem Stone gave him a stupid look as she replied sarcastically, “the griffin prime minister… I felt it was time to drop the hammer on a peaceful nation… Thundaga you idiot! Who else?”
Cirrus replied, “You can’t start a war against Thundaga… that’s suicide!”
Gem Stone replied with a disgusted attitude, “Thundaga is maintaining this kingdom through fear and intimidation. And all in Commander Bolt’s name. I will not allow this to continue. But what do you care… you’re not going with me. You’re too much of a coward. So why don’t you just crawl back into your hiding hole and leave me alone.”

Angered by her comment, Cirrus sighed as he stood up and started trotting towards the door, “Fine… I’ve had enough of all the crazy in this room anyway.”
Zine looked at Cirrus as he asked, “And where do you think you’re going?”
Cirrus replied as he reached for the front door to open it, “I’m going back to Canterlot. At least Thundaga will take me in.”
Cirrus gave him a smug look, “Really?... you’re taking her side in this fight then?”
Cirrus stopped as he opened the door only one inch, “I… um… No!... No I’m not on her side.”
Zine replied, “Then you’re in love with her right?”
Cirrus blushed as he looked at Zine and replied with an angry expression, “NO! It’s because lately, she is the only pony that hasn’t tried to kill me.”

Zine smiled as he sat down with a careless smile, “Oh… alright then… if you want to be executed so soon… then feel free to go back. Nopony is stopping you.”
Cirrus gave Zine a confused look, “Executed?... what are you talking about.”
Zine replied with a smug smiled, “Consider this… three guards just tried to kill you. So it’s obvious that the good commander want us both dead right. And to make the matter worse, we just killed those guards. So…”
Zine waited for Cirrus to finish the statement on his own, but when he was met with nothing but a confused stare, Gem Stone sighed as she finished, “so, obviously the commander will execute you himself as soon as you enter the city. And even though Thundaga would defend you. Commander Mist will see you first since he is waiting for his soldiers to return.”
Realizing that returning to Canterlot was a bad idea, Cirrus replied, “Well… I… um… I guess I'll just go see Mr. Toll then wont I? Maybe he can get me a place to stay for the night or something.”

After hearing that statement, Gem Stone gave Cirrus a confused look, “Wait… you don’t know?”
Cirrus was confused, “Know what?...”
Gem Stone looked at Zine as she asked, “You didn’t tell him!”
Cirrus gave Zine a concerned look as Zine shrugged his shoulders, “I was waiting for the right moment…” He looked at Cirrus’s expression as he looked back at Gem Stone and continued, “Now is the right moment.”
Cirrus was confused as he looked at the two and replied, “Tell me what?...”
Zine sighed, “Well… you see, you can’t really go back to Mr. Toll… not anymore.”
Cirrus gave him a concerned look as Gem Stone sighed, “Cirrus… He’s dead. Mr. Toll was a member of the rebellion so, Thundaga had him killed.”

Cirrus gave Gem Stone a confused look as he replied, “What?... h-how do you know?”
Gem Stone replied without concern, “Everypony in Ponyville knows… He was some, general or something so Thundaga had her soldiers kill him.”
Cirrus shook his head, “that can’t be right… I spoke to him about a week ago.”
Spike spoke from outside, “It was less than a week ago that he died.”
Cirrus gave Gem Stone a confused look, then shifted it to Zine who both responded with a serious stare. Seeing this Cirrus started to reply, “This is a joke… right?... it’s got to…”
Before he could finish his sentence, His worry took control as Cirrus quickly opened the front door and dashed out it before taking to the sky as fast as his wings could take him. Seeing this from outside the log cabin, Spike called, “Cirrus wait!”
Ignoring the call, Cirrus continued on his flight path as spike looked through the still opened front door as he spoke, “One of you may need to go after him. I would, but sunset isn’t for another half hour.”

Zine Sighed as he replied, “oh alright, I guess I'll go get him. Kind of irresponsible for him to just run away like that.”
Gem Stone gave him an annoyed look as she replied, “him irresponsible?... how about the zebra who failed to tell him about this a long time ago. You realize this means he is like us now right?”
Not wanting to think about it, Zine waved his hoof in a dismissive way as he replied, “yea, yea, so what do you want me to do when I find him?... send him away?”
Gem Stone turned away from him as she replied, “I guess we have no choice now… Go ahead and catch up to him… I need to put my quiver away, I'll catch up.”
With a careless expression on her face, Gem Stone left the living room and went into a bedroom as Zine smiled as he turned towards, the front door, “You’re the captain… Ms. Stone.”
With that Zine left the cabin as he made his way towards the only place that Cirrus could possibly heading for. The ruins of the destroyed orphanage in Ponyville.

Later in Ponyville, as the sun was setting for the day, Cirrus stood speechless as he looked over the ruins of the place he once called home as he trotted past the pile of flowers placed by Ponyville’s residents. As he approached the ruins of what could only be assumed to be the front door, Cirrus started to tear up as he trotted through the doorway and imagined what it once looked like as he made his way up what used to be the hallway. With the rubble blocking what used to be the entranced to the rooms around the hallway, Cirrus stopped as he sat down and mumbled to himself, “It… it can’t be real. This… this is just another bad dream… isn’t it? Any second now that cloaked stallion will appear and give me another lecture that I don’t understand… won’t he?...”
As he sat surrounded by the ruble, Cirrus started counting the seconds in his head as he waited for the stallion to appear, however with each passing second, he grew more and more afraid that this dream… was a reality. Finally Cirrus leaned against what was once a wall in the hallway and almost the only wall still standing as his tears began rolling down his face. As he sat there, he started mumbling to himself, “He’s gone… he… he really is gone… isn’t he…”
“Hey! This is private property! I would advise you to mo…wait… aren’t you?”
As Cirrus turned he saw a local royal guard patrolling the area as the guard approached him, “You… You’re Cirrus Cloud right?...”

Feeling a little nervous about how to react Cirrus replied, “Um… y-yea I am… why?”
The guard looked around for other ponies in the area as he replied, “This property has been seized by the royal guards… and you just so happen to be here when this is the place that the rebellions former leader fell… so, am I just supposed to assume that to be a coincidence… or will you care to explain, why you’re here?...”
Cirrus replied, “I grew up here… this was my home.”
The guard looked at the ruins as he replied, “This… was the hideout of General Rich. So if this was your home… then you were living with him.”
Cirrus gave the guard a confused look, “Rich?... the pony who owned this property was named Mr. Toll.”
The guard started thinking to himself, “If I recall… that was the alias he used as he secretly raised the orphans of this place to hate Thundaga. And when I think about it, that would mean that he was secretly raising an army… and you… were his accomplice.”

Cirrus rolled his eyes as he replied, “Really?... Mr. Toll wouldn’t even talk about Thundaga, let along train an army to fight her. Many of the orphans here were orphaned because of her. I should know, I was the first of Thundaga’s orphans.”
The guard gave him a suspicious look as a second guard trotted up and replied, “Really… so not only would the orphans have good reason to hate the princess… but you would too. Is that what you’re saying?”
Cirrus felt a little nervous as he replied, “N-no… I got over my parents deaths years ago. They made their choice when they fought against her.”
The second guard spoke again, “Come to think of it, I heard a rumor that you took on Commander Mist in a one on one match. And rumor says… you won. So would a colt who grew up in a normal orphanage be able to do that?”

Cirrus took a step back knowing that he was being led into a corner, “I… I can’t explain what happened during that match… I… I shouldn’t have won that. He… he held the upper hoof for most of the match… but…”
The guard smiled, “and in three moves, you took him down.”
The first guard who had never heard this rumor smiled, “Really… so I guess you really are an accomplice aren’t you.”
Cirrus shook his head, “No… I was an orphan here. I grew up in this place. I swear I’m not…”
The guards weren’t convinced as one replied, “Why so nervous Mr. Cloud… if you’re telling the truth, then you have nothing to worry about… right?”
The second guard then added, “Or… are we getting close. Either way, for the safety of the kingdom… you’re under arrest. The charges… Suspicion of treason.”

As the two guards started to approach, Cirrus started to back away as he tried to defend himself, “no… I’m not…”
All of a sudden, Cirrus started to see a black smog appear behind the guards as it slowly started engulfed the two from behind. Weigh Cirrus’s expression changing due to the smog, the two guards became concerned as they quickly turned around to see what was concerning their suspect. As they turned around the smoke quickly vanished as the two guards turned to see Zine standing a number of feet behind them. Standing in the twilight of duck with his eyes closed, Zine smiled sinisterly as he called, “Don’t you guards have anything better to do? I’m certain I saw a vicious jaywalker just down the street.”
As soon as they saw him, the guards knew who they were looking at as one spoke, “Y-you?... What are you doing here?”
Zine smiled as he opened his eyes to reveal that the white of his eyes were black as he replied, “I just came to watch the show.”

The other guard replied, “Watch the show? What are you talking ab…”
Before the guard could finish his sentence, he froze as he saw a set of glowing red eyes open from a large creature that appeared to be standing behind Zine hidden in the shadows of the twilight. Slowly the eyes rose into the air as the creature hidden in the shadows revealed itself as a large black dragon. As the guard took a step back in disbelief, He spoke silently to his comrade, “Corporal… do you see what I see?”
The vision wasn’t shared as the second guard looked over Zine’s head and replied, “N-no… I don’t see any… wait… what’s that?...”
As the second guard looked over Zine’s head, he too saw an illusion, only his vision was of a distant flock of something flying in their direction. As he looked at the objects in the distance the second guard replied, “What is… are those? Griffin? And they are armed!”
Seeing only the dragon, the first guard replied with a calm but cautious tone, “What are you blind?... it’s obviously a dragon… a dragon… in Equestria.”

Hearing the reply, Cirrus looked over Zine’s head as he expected to see Spike flying in from the distance. However, as he looked Cirrus could only see Gem Stone trotting up. As she approached Zine, Gem stopped beside him as she put the hood of her cloak down to reveal her eyes which were just as black as Zine’s. When Cirrus saw this, he looked back at the guards that stood between his earlier party and himself as they continued looking into the sky, as one spoke, “We can’t take on a dragon alone. We must report this to the princess!”
The other guards replied, “No sir… We have to fight! We must hold this ground! The Princess should be in the process of organizing a quick reaction force. We must hold them back till they arrive.”
Shaking his head in disbelief the higher ranking guard turned to run, “we can’t take a dragon alone! It’s… it’s too much! RETR…”
Trying to flee to safety, the terrified earth pony guard started running as he tripped over some rubble and fell to the ground.

As soon as the guard hit the ground he quickly rolled over as the made-up dragon reached up and pinned the guard to the ground with his massive claw as its talon’s dug into the ground around the guard ensuring that his escape was impossible. Although the dragon was seen by this guard, to Cirrus the guard was merely laying on his back jerking his body in what seemed to be an abnormal action as he looked back at Zine and Gem Stone in confusion. Zine continued watching the sight with an evil smirk on his face, however, Gem Stone’s expression was more disgust than sinister. Unable to see the dragon, the second guard drew his sword as he looked at his fictitious invaders, then back at his superior in confusion, “Sir! What’s happening!?!”
The pinned guard looked at dragons face as it slowly looked down at its pinned victim as he yelled back, “GET THE PRINCESS!!! WE CAN’T FIGHT IT ALONE!!! GO NOW!!!”
With the Imaginary dragon looking down at the superior guard, Gem Stone could only look away as she knew what was about to happen next. With his prey pinned and his head held high, The dragon opened his mouth as fire was blown out and covering the pinned guard as the guard started screaming in a horrifying way as the fictitious burning fuel covered the guard, giving both the illusion and feeling of his body burning with the intensity as if his flesh was burning.

Hearing the blood curtailing screams but not seeing any flames, Cirrus and the second guard stepped back in fear as the screaming guard jerked his body a few more times before becoming silent and ceased his movement. When the guard stopped moving the other guard rushed to his comrade as he felt his pulse and spoke, “He’s unconscious… but how did they? Some kind of spell?”
Confused the guard looked at Cirrus and yelled, “You! If you are really on our side, go warn the rest of Ponyville! Get everypony inside! The Griffin Republic is invading Equestria, hurry an …”
Before the guard could finish, his conjured foe had reached him as he could see and feel a group of griffin soldiers as they tackled him and held him to the ground. Trying to break free, the guard started swinging his sword around as he tried to attack the illusions. However with each swing the griffin managed to dodge his attack as one grabbed his hoof and pinned it to the ground along with the rest of his body.

Confused and afraid as to what was happening, Cirrus looked at Zine who maintained his evil smile, then at Gem Stone who continued looking away with a look of disgust on her face. Cirrus looked back at the guard as the guards started Yelling to his imaginary foe, “You Griffin Traitors! The Republic will pay for your violation of the peace and war act!”
As the guards laid on the ground, a few more griffins surrounded the pinned soldier as they each took a turn stabbing him with their spears as the guard started screaming in pain. With each feeling of the spears piercing his body, the guard jerked in a horrifying way as the guards actual appearance seemed as if he were possessed as he jerked his body and screamed with no visible wounds on him. Finally, like his comrade before him, the determined soldier stopped screaming when his body went limp as he lost consciousness.

Stunned and speechless of what he had just witnessed, Cirrus looked at the two unconscious guards who laid beside each other as he slowly looked at Zine and Gem Stone as the black in both their eyes vanished and their eyes went back to normal. Trying to figure out what was going on, Cirrus did a complete turn and looked in every direction to see what the cause was before looking back at Zine and Gem Stone as he asked, “What in Thundaga’s world just happened?”
Sighing to remove the expression of disgust from her face, Gem Stone replied, “That… was a forbidden spell… and on that note…”
With an angry and unexpected action, Gem Stone turned towards Zine as she used the momentum of her turn to punch him in his face as hard as she could as Zine was thrown through the air before hitting the ground a few feet away. As Zine laid on the ground stunned by the punch, Gem Stone spoke, “If you ever use that spell while I’m around you again… I’ll will bring every ounce of pain I can give without killing you, down from the very grave you pulled me out of… you understand me?”

Rubbing his face Zine picked himself up as he replied, “Yea… sorry about that… I guess I deserved it. But don’t you mean up from the grave?”
Gem Stone gave him an angry look as she replied, “You heard me… so I won’t even dignify that with a response. Just remember.” She grabbed him by the collar of his cloak as she stared into his eyes with anger “You’d be surprised of what won’t kill you… and I will feel nothing but joy in sharing that pain… understand?”
Feeling a little nervous of her expression, Zine nodded his head, “Um… okay… Dually noted…”
Gem smiled as she replied, “Good…” She released Zine’s collar and turned back to Cirrus as she started trotting towards, him, “As you can see… You really have nowhere to go… but… since I do understand that you are in desperate need of protection… I guess I can look past my own opinion and teach you how to defend yourself. If anything it will make me feel better about kicking you out later.”

Cirrus stepped back, “Wait… you still didn’t tell me what happened here.”
Zine continued rubbing his bruised face as he picked himself up, “Well that was an effect of the Nightmare Elixir. The potion, once expelled towards an enemy, digs deep into the victim’s subconscious and make your deepest and darkest fear a reality. For example, one guard was afraid of dragons while the other was afraid of… griffins for some reason.”
Gem Stone shook her head, “he was probably afraid of taking on an invasion.”

Zine gave Gem Stone an intrigued look as he replied, “Really?... well that explains why he didn’t run away like the other tried to do.” He looked back at Cirrus, “Anyways this potion makes your darkest fear a reality and forces you to experience it as it devours you in a horrifying way.”
Cirrus was confused, “so… it was an illusion?... but… how could you two see it?”
Zine replied as he pulled out a veil and showed it, “Well… this potion is a curse. And as a curse the potion has an effect on both the user and the victim. For example, it won’t activate until the user pours the potion in his mouth. Then he must spit it in the victim’s direction so that the potion can understand the user and the target he intends on attacking. And when the potion activates on the victim, it will only maintain its effect if the user watches the event unfold. So in order for the dragon to attack, I had to stand and watch the whole scene as the guard was burned mercilessly to death. I'll admit it was horrifying… although I’ve seen worse. Luckily the true effect is all mental. Nopony has ever actually died from this spell before… unless you count suicide.”

Cirrus continued giving them a confused look as he looked at Gem Stone, “but… how could you see it?”
Gem Stone Replied with a serious expression, “It’s all part of the curse… luckily I didn’t have to watch… but… I still heard everything that the guards went through.”
Cirrus was still confused, “Part of the curse?... So the potion makes two ponies watch?”
Zine shook his head, “No, it’s supposed to effect only the user, however Gem and I… well… We are bound by… complications.”
“Compli-what?”
Gem Stone sighed, “Curses are curses because they have effects on both the user and the one they are effecting… the same goes for the very curse that brought me back to life. Don’t you remember us saying that there are conditions and penalties for bringing some pony back from the grave?”
Cirrus nodded his head, “well yea… but you never mentioned the penalties.”

Zine nodded his head, as he explained, “Alright then, how’s this… Life is a temporary state. But once it ends… it ends, there is no bringing back life once it’s gone… however… There is a way of splitting it.”
Cirrus was confused, “Splitting… you mean… sharing it?”
Gem Stone nodded her head, “Yes… Zine here split his life into two and passed one half to me. So as a part of him. He and I share… qualities.”
Cirrus was curious, “Like?...”
Zine replied, “Oh, memories, illnesses, feelings, on occasion pain, effects of certain potions, sometimes we can even tell how the other is feeling if the emotion is strong enough.”
Gem Stone sighed, “Well… our connection isn’t that in-depth but it’s very close. Although we should probably get out of here. We may be on the edge of town, but more guards could be on the way, so you should just make your peace and let’s go.”

Remembering the reason he was there, Cirrus replied, “Oh… right… okay then.” He turned to the orphanage as he mumbled to himself, “Mr. Toll… or… Rich… or whatever your name was… Thank you for everything… I… I’ll miss you.”
Wiping the tears that were starting to form in his eyes, Cirrus turned to Gem Stone as he spoke, “okay… I’m ready to go.”
Gem Stone nodded her head, “Good…” She turned to Zine, “We’ll fly ahead… as much as it pains me to say it. I'll see you back at the cabin.”
Zine nodded his head, “Sure, I'll see you then.”
With that Zine started running away from the area as Gem Stone and Cirrus took to the sky and started flying back to her cabin on Dragon Mountain. As they flew, Cirrus had a thought on his mind that was bugging him so he had to ask, “Hey Gem… or whatever I’m supposed you call you? Mountain Mare?”
Gem Stone sighed, “Ms. Stone is fine.”
“Yea… Ms. Stone… well… I have to ask. You say that you and Zine share a life, and pain right… so… what about that punch you gave him?...”

Gem Stone replied, “I didn’t feel it if that’s what you’re asking. We only feel pain that can affect certain things such as stamina or blood loss.”
Cirrus nodded his head as he asked what was on his mind, “so… what if something happened that one of you can’t survive?”
Gem Stone replied with a serious expression, “You mean… what if one of us dies right?... it should be kind of self-explanatory… but if something happened that one of us was unable to survive… then… we both won’t survive. So… we will both die.”