Band of Five Attributes (Re-Written)

“S-stay away!” Barked a stallion concealed by shadow who was surrounded by ponies in an alleyway. He was laying on his side kicking at them with one hind leg, the other limp and useless. The ponies who had him backed against a brick wall all had horns glowing with some strange aura and things like broken wine bottles in said aura.

“Or what, ya wimp?” Asked one of the unicorns, smiling wickedly as he let his piece of glass hover over to the neck of his soon-to-be victim.

The stallion raised one of his forelegs, pointing it at the unicorn. There was a strange contraption of some sort strapped to that foreleg.

Then, a gunshot rang out loud and clear, and so too did that of the unicorn screaming in shock as half of his horn flew clean off of his head and rolled to the opposing wall of the alley. The glass shard fell down and broke into many more pieces upon impact with the ground.

The other unicorns looked at their partially-dehorned comrade, then back to the stallion who was now trying to figure out who to shoot next.

“Fuck! We messed with the wrong pony?! Let’s run, boys!” Cried one of the unicorns before making a bolt to the outside area of the alley. The other unicorns quickly followed suit, figuring out it was best to live to fight another day, and preferably with a horn still on their heads.

And then, after a bit of shuffling and a few failed attempts to get up, the stallion soon made his way out of the shadows and into the light, revealing an orange pelt and scarlet hooves. The contraption strapped to one of the forelegs was a rectangle of some sort with two holes in the grey front. The thing was a quarter length of his foreleg, starting at where it bent as it rose and ending almost at ground level. It had a backside lever that was curved, and it was protruding out a bit.

On his head, he wore a blue hat. His disheveled red bangs hung sloppily against the sides of his head, with two between his scarlet eyes. The back portion of his mane reached a little way past his shoulders, though this was largely in part due to it having been tied back at the base with a white ribbon. His tail was the same way, except a good quarter of it was tied stiff in ribbon as well.

He sauntered out of the alley, only to find a bigger alley with streetlights. He looked both ways before taking a slow right, dragging his useless leg pitifully as he approached the end of the large alley. Many more bruises lined his body, making him look weak and pathetic as he pushed onwards.

After a good fifteen minutes or so, he found himself eyeing a vast city and many ponies merrily trotting within its streets, roads, and sidewalks without any care in the world. And here was the wounded stallion, ignored despite his ordeal. Nevertheless, he pushed on, taking another right and into the bustling streets he shambled. Some looked at him as an odd sort, but what was it that made it so?

His leg being dragged behind him, limp and useless as it was? His mane and tail being tied the way they were? The contraption on his leg, which matched his cutie mark? Or the hat on his head? He couldn’t tell, and could not give a flying hoot about it.

He looked determined to find something, but none of the ponies who looked at him could tell what. He shambled onwards before accidentally bumping into a grey unicorn clad in gold armor. Upon impact, he fell onto the ground, and the unicorn jumped.

Said unicorn turned around, revealing that he lacked a front leg. Where it should’ve been was a simple stick tied to the small, otherwise-unnoticeable stump. He looked calm, but only for a moment, before the pony who rebounded off of him scrambled to three of his hooves.

“Sorry for bumping into you, sir. I’m just lost and trying to find help.” Said the red-maned stallion, looking a bit nervous. Sweat started to form on his face, and his ears were flat on his skull.

“It’s quite alright. Ponies bump into me all the time.” Replied the unicorn with a smile, who then noticed that the one who bumped into him had a limp back leg. The smile turned into a frown. “Say, what happened to ya? You look like you were hounded.”

“Hostile...uh, unicorns found me in an alley with my back leg already like this. They tried hurting me, and I had no choice but to defend myself.” Answered the stallion before he sighed.

“Ah. Gangsters. I hate them with a passion, always making ponies suffer for their personal gain.” Hissed the unicorn. He looked over the red-maned stallion again before asking, “How in the hay did you defend yourself like this?”

“I have a thing called a cannon.” Replied the stallion, moving his head in quick jerks in the direction the contraption strapped to his leg was in.

The unicorn took notice of the head-jerking and looked at the foreleg, as well as the contraption strapped to it. It looked clunky, almost as if he had to rise on his hind legs to use it. But how could he do that when one back leg was in its current condition?

“I won’t question you much, kid, but you seem to be pretty darn tough to pull that off, especially considering ya look like you got your ass kicked in three different directions.” Commented the unicorn, eyes widening.

“Look, do you know where I can find help?” Asked the stallion, getting a bit antsy now.

“I suggest that you keep going to the police station, which is about thirty blocks down. After that, just keep going until you reach a hospital, and that’s a few buildings after the station. But I doubt you could get there alone with that leg, so I’m coming with ya, pal.” Said the unicorn, ears twitching. “Oh, I never got your name. I’m Paladin Blade, by the way.”

“Rekka.” Replied the red stallion, smiling. “Hey, uh, I got something to ask.”

“Sure thing.” Blade said, also smiling. “What is it?”

“How...did you lose your front leg?” Rekka asked, eyes widening and pupils shrinking to tiny dots. He was desperately hoping he didn’t offend Blade.

Blade’s smile faded, and he sighed. “I was out training with the other royal guards one day, just doing normal drills. Just a typical day for me, right? Well, I thought wrong.”

“Why say that?” Rekka inquired, brow arching as his curiosity aroused.

Blade was now frowning. “One of my colleagues came up to me after practice and sent me on a mission of sorts: find the leader of the Black Feathers mafia and have him arrested. Thing was, he was near the spot we’re standing at now, a couple of buildings away.”

“Black Feathers mafia? Sounds pretty bad.” Rekka commented, eyes slowly widening.

Blade nodded. “Oh, if only you’d heard about the things they did. Anyway, like the idiot I was, I kinda burst in and found the whole mob meeting. I couldn’t tell what happened next, except I apparently got the whoopin’ of my lifetime. I woke up a few months later, and the doctors told me I had lost a leg in that fight. The ironic thing? The mob boss was in fact the captain of my branch of guards.” He said, the frown more noticeable on his muzzle.

“Wait...so...the mob boss was your boss too?” Rekka asked, now frowning himself.

“Pretty much. I ended up being kicked out of the royal guard on account of trying to attack a captain, but Celestia excused me from a worse fate considering my injury. My fiance then ditched me for some other stallion who turned out to be a complete loon, and I’ve been homeless since. I keep thinking that I’m a useless unicorn.” Blade sighed, his ears flat on his skull.

“You’re not useless. Sure, we have our weaknesses, but can’t we just make the best of it?” Rekka asked before sighing.

“Easier said than done. Only reason I’m still in uniform is so the gangsters leave me alone. Besides, I’m still a laughing stock among many ponies in Equestria. I keep thinking to myself ‘I may as well end it all,’ y’know? I’m almost surprised you’re not already acting like the rest.” Blade said, still frowning..

Rekka was silent. “This guy just wants to die?” He thought as something else hit him.

“Something on your mind?” Blade asked, arching a brow.

A tear slid down the red stallion’s cheek, falling onto the sidewalk on which he stood. “I...I think...I think my friends are here too. But where?” He replied.

“Your friends?” Blade inquired, brow still arched.

“Yeah. Do you know where I could find them?” Rekka inquired, his ears twitching and then flattening on his head.

“Sorry, ain’t got a clue. I don’t even know them.” Blade pointed out quickly, brow lowering as he spoke.

“Dammit!” Rekka thought, another tear sliding down his face. “C-could you help me find them after we get to the hospital?” He asked, sounding as though he were pleading for something more.

“After we get to the hospital? That’s a nope, and I say this because I’m about at the end of my road. I’m old, worn, and can barely use magic now.” Blade answered, his voice as grim as his expression.

“He really doesn’t look that old.” Rekka thought as Blade sighed.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t try, though.” Blade said, turning around and starting to go down the sidewalk. Rekka began to follow, the unicorn’s words beginning to cause worry’s arousal in his mind.

After a while, perhaps thirty minutes on account of missing and/or broken limbs, they stopped because a crowd had gathered before they arrived. Something was roaring, and it was most definitely pissed off. Rekka tried going around the crowd, only to end up being blockaded further.

All it took was one glimpse of what looked like a lightpost rising up with a pony’s forelegs poised to strike something below to tell him that something was very wrong.