Legion's Plague

"I......I haven't taught anything to your child. What is it that you are trying to ask?" Kaleb stuttered, completely dumbstruck by the question.

"Have you even met my kid? Long, dark hair and horns on her forehead? Carries a cross everywhere?" Natalie asked again, now getting irritated.

Kaleb took a moment to think about it, and then exactly who the satyr spoke of registered in his head: Alexis. "I have indeed met her." He replied with a slow nod.

"I was told--quite clearly by Lazarus, in fact--that you offended her. It's why I asked to begin with!" Natalie hissed, clenching her fists in anger.

Kaleb recounted the events that happened so far. Waking up from stasis. Finding a bunch of crazies in a cave. Fighting a zombragon. A pair of insane twin brothers. Being smacked by a woman's hand because....

"I did indeed offend her, but I didn't mean to. I was only trying to help." Kaleb said solemnly, regretting that he had yet to apologize to the offended.

Natalie raised her clenched fist and threw a quick jab--only for Kaleb to catch it. "There is something that she hid from you. Something you should be aware of by now."

"That being...?" Natalie asked, raising a brow.

"Your child....wasn't just beaten up. I am only going by what I have heard of the issue, and pardon me for my uncouth choice of words, but she......was deflowered." Kaleb answered, not even looking anybody in the eye at this point. His face darkened to such a degree that his eyes were bathed entirely in shadow.

"She.......what....?" Natalie asked, ears perked straight up.

"After I got healed and tore the Flim Flam Brothers several new assholes........Alexis came forward." Lance translated, removing his hat and holding it to his chest.

"Say......huh....?" Anna said, slack-jawed.

"....." Something seemed to register in Natalie's mind. She stood there blinking a few times with quivering lips to boot. Her eyes darkened and began radiating a sinister white glow. Heaving and shaking a bit made her look as if she were about to kill someone using a sledgehammer. On their face. Repeatedly. Until she sent them TO THE MOTHERFUCKING *MOOOOOOOON* or some shit like that.

Kaleb raised both eyebrows as he looked into the satyr's glowing eyes.

Anna stomped a hoof onto the metal floor of the tank, causing a dull echo to resonate throughout the mechanical behemoth. She put a pair of earmuffs on the sleeping Moogle before taking in a deep, long breath. What she shouted next summed up exactly what was going through Natalie's head at the moment.

"YOU CANNOT BE FUCKING SERIOUS!!"

"When we get back home, I'll have a long talk with her." Natalie hissed with a single nod.

"Just make sure Mom doesn't hear it. Just because she's sick doesn't mean she can't lose her shit." Lance sighed, putting his hat back on.

"That, I'll keep in mind." Natalie replied before prying her hand from Kaleb's grasp.

Lance walked up to the control panel and began typing in random letters and numbers. "I hope the Mighty Oak can keep up. I really do." The Nazi commented as his fingers seemingly moved with the wind.

Anna grabbed Kaleb by the ear and pulled his head to her eye level with surprising ease. "And just who are you?" She asked, raising a brow.

"I'll explain later." Kaleb replied, gently prying Anna's iron-like gripping hand from his ear before standing straight up again. "I do not wish to anger her further."

"The hell does that have to do with anything?" Anna asked, crossing her arms.

"It is a mixture of who I am and what my profession of choice is.....as well as my offending her child." Kaleb replied, pinching his index finger and thumb together before moving them across the front of his lips. He was, to be blunt, zipping his lips shut.

"Alright, people. Quit fighting." Said a stallion as he stepped forward and pushed the brute and the archer apart.

"Alright, alright." Anna sighed as she backed off.

"We were only having a discussion." Kaleb said, being forced to back off as well.

The wheels of the tank whirred to life and the entire damn thing moved straight towards the castle ahead. The Mighty Oak ran close behind, his footsteps causing the town to shake slightly as he passed houses. This, as always, was dampened by the snow blanket.

The sleeping Moogle slowly awoke with a yawn and removed his newfound earmuffs. It got up from its blanket and walked around saying "Kupo" at everything. Kaleb looked at the fuzzy critter and picked it up. He took a hand and curled his fingers so that the index would be extended more so than the others and stroked the Moogle's cheek.

Lance stopped typing in seemingly pointless commands into the panel just long enough to witness the rather--and surprisingly--adorable sight. It made him smile. Hell, it even made him warm and a little fuzzy inside seeing a big, hulking brute handle a creature so delicate with utmost care--especially considering this Moogle's horrid set of circumstances. He quickly returned to the panel and saw that the Valkyrie was very close to the palace indeed. In fact, it was entering the palace gates.

Kaleb put the Moogle down and pet its head with an index finger before gently nudging him away. The Moogle said "Kupo" as usual and went back to his blanket-bed. The brute eyed Lance as he kept typing in numbers and letters.

Natalie was checking the ponies over for injuries. Each time she saw even one scratch, no matter how severe, her horn bathed in a white aura and glowing orbs would gently wrap the wound in light. When the orbs faded from sight, the wound was closed off as though it were never there to begin with. She would then move to the next pony and repeat the process once she saw a wound and skipped the ones who didn't have any visible scratches. There were a total of exactly two elderly mares and an elderly stallion; five middle-aged stallions and seven mares; thirteen young mares and three young stallions; and four fillies and the three-legged colt who recently got his prosthetic leg.

Anna was cleaning her bow. It had been too long since she last cleaned the damn thing, and the fact that she had noticed specks of dust as she unloaded arrows during her recent fight with the Dark Crystal Golems made it mentally kick herself. She took a slightly damp cloth and gently rubbed the entire surface of the bow down to the last square inch.

The tank came to a sudden screeching halt that happened so fast nearly everyone that was standing up fell over. Kaleb caught himself by swiftly shifting into a kneeling position. Lance, having the support of the control panel, didn't even lean forward an inch. The screen showed a swirling purple-black mass that had eyes with green sclera and blood crimson irises that had slit pupils.

"What the hell is this?" Lance asked, noticing the shadowy mass producing those same, black crystals from its very form. These crystals appeared darker and seemed to be spreading all over the damn place, which caused the exit to be blocked off.

One mare looked at the screen and raised her hooves to her head in panic. "It's King Sombra!" She wailed. The ponies suddenly huddled in the back of the Valkyrie in a frenzy before somehow becoming glued to their seats cowering in fear.

"Yes, my little slaves. I see you've brought me rather....exotic creatures this time around." Hissed the shadowy mass, revealing jagged teeth, a black mane, a scarlet horn whose base was covered in an armor-crown, and a brown-grey muzzle.