The trek back to the crash site was much easier for Spike than the trip to the Griffin camp. One reason was that he was not alone now. Not only did they rescue him and Twilight, but the fact that they had a whole platoon of Royal Guard and Wonderbolts to watch over them was a great relief to him. The other thing which made it much easier was the fact that he was riding with Twilight in the stretcher. Dead and Flash reasoned that, having had no sleep, and walking alone through fifteen miles of enemy territory, the young drake deserved a break. Fortunately, Spike only weighed about as much as a foal, so it was no bother to carry him as well as Twilight.

Spike spent the first part of the trip trying to get Twilight to come out of her shell some more. While no longer in the catatonic state that they had found her in, she was still closed in for the most part, making most of the time conversing with her a one-sided affair. Spike did not give up, though, telling her about his journey to the camp, or talking about some of the adventures the pair of them have been on in the past.

Eventually, Twilight fell into a slumber, so Spike decided he should do the same, figuring that any opportunity for rest should be taken advantage of. He curled up beside her, making sure to be cautious of her injuries.

Behind them, Corporal Dancing Dead bore the back half of the litter carrying the princess and Spike. As one of the ones assigned to watch over Twilight, he was also tasked with helping carry the stretcher. This gave him ample time to talk with Sunny as they walked.

Dancing Dead and Sunny Hearts had known one another for over two years now, and had been a couple for a good eighteen months of that time. During that time, they had been on two deployments together: first to Marelasia, where they both had their first small taste of combat, and then they did a month in Equuidor, fighting smugglers. Between the time spent at home seeing one another during their off duty hours, and the few months where they had to rely on one another for survival, they had grown quite close. She felt she could trust him completely and totally, and he would do anything in the world for her and protect her with his very life.

This was one of those times where he felt the need to protect her. “How you holding up, Sunny?” he asked her as they walked. They had discussed many things while walking back to the chariots, but all of that was to take their minds of the current situation. The simple matter was, neither of them have ever been in a situation like this before. Yes, both had been in fights before, but insurgents and smugglers were nothing like the Griffins in the Empire. Yes, they had taken out a whole camp of elite veteran Griffins, but that was due to the fact that the Griffins were caught completely unaware, had been in a bad tactical position to begin with, and were defeated through use of an excellent plan of attack, using excellent resources and a relentless and brutal barrage of explosives, arrows, and flash-bang spells. Had the situation been any different, then the outcome could have been the complete opposite.

And the Griffins they did end up fighting, they were brutal. But that brutalness had been simply outclassed by sheer force of numbers. The fact that ten Griffins had survived the fight at all was due to them being wounded and knocked unconscious by the claymare mines.

“I’m worried, Dance. Worried and scared. The things I saw today, they scared the crap out of me. This was nothing like we’ve been in before, and I’m worried we might not make it home,” she replied to him forlornly. “I know that there are more Griffins out there. We had to avoid them while flying in, and also while on hoof on the way to the camp. What happens if we run into some of them?”

“Things will be OK, Sunny. I doubt that we’ll run into any, and if we do, then we’ll just have to take them out and hurry home.”

Sunny simply snorted and shook her head as she walked alongside him. “As if it were that simple. I know the score as much as you do. We slipped past numerous patrols last night and earlier today, and with speed being much more important now, it is much more difficult for the scouts to spot trouble ahead of time to avoid it. Also, we’re taking an established trail right now in the name of a quick return. That only increases the odds that we’ll be spotted. Granted, it means less time for them to do so, but still.”

Sunny’s head drooped some as her thoughts turned down a darker path. “I’ve never seen an execution before, Dance. Out of everything, I think that has me bothered the most,” she admitted. “Yes, they did do the exact same thing to the survivors of the attack on the train, but do two wrongs make a right?” Sunny shivered as she remembered the sights and sounds of the execution, having stepped out of the medical tent for a moment when it happened. “I’ve seen ponies die before, but not like that. The worst was their screams, and then that sound the screams turned into after their voice boxes were sawed through. For a bit, I thought I was going to be sick.”

Dead empathized fully with her, having felt a little sickened himself at the sheer cold brutality of the executions. He had no problems with killing in combat against an opponent who was fighting back. Heck, that was what a big part of his job was, going against those who would be enemies of Equestria. But those who they executed earlier today, that was not combat. That was legalized murder. Yes, they had earned it through their own actions, but Dead was just thankful he had not had to have been on the execution squad. Watching it happen was bad enough.

Dead opened his wing to pull Sunny to him, hugging her as they walked. “Trust in our training, Sunny. Trust that we’ll have each other’s back. That is all I can suggest.”

They walked like that down the trail for a little bit, side by side, their hooves stepping in sync with one another. After a short bit, Sunny moved to the side of the stretcher so she could check on the princess and Spike.

Sunny was skilled in many magic spells that focused on how seeing how a pony was doing medically. She could get a pretty accurate measurement of body temperature, infections they might have, and injuries they have suffered. She could even see how well an injury might be healing through the use of her spells. She first used these spells on Twilight, and was quickly able to tell that she was healing well enough, though she did have an elevated temperature, due to still being a bit dehydrated, and also having some mild infections stemming from injuries suffered at the talons of the Griffins. The wing was doing as well as could be expected, as well as her shoulder. Satisfied with what she saw, she turned her spells on Spike. It was harder to get a reading on him, or more accurately, it was harder to understand what she was reading. A dragon was different from a pony, and therefore, would read differently through her spells. Still, she could see nothing to cause her to be worried for her patients, at least medically.

Slowing momentarily to walk beside Dead once again, she sighed and leaned into him as they traveled.

Dead had his own thoughts to ponder. More specifically, a certain question that has been on his mind for the past several weeks. It was time to do this, even though being a hundred miles inside hostile territory with the threat of their enemy catching them made it probably one of the worse times to do this. “Marry me, Sunny. I know that I should be giving you a ring and everything, and this should have been done over a candlelit dinner, but a part of me is worried that if I don’t ask now, I won’t have another chance. Sunny Hearts, will you marry me?”

Sunny was stunned in the very best of ways possible. This was something that she had dreaming of, and to hear him ask the question filled her heart with joy. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you, Dance!” she exclaimed, then stole a quick kiss from him as they continued down the path.

At the front of the litter carrying the princess, Trixie and Flash walked, with the latter carrying his portion of the stretcher attached to a harness across his back. As the other two assigned to watch over Twilight on the journey back to their own base camp at the train attack site, they would be working close to one another, at least until they made it back to Equestria. It was by silent mutual agreement that the two of them should start getting to know one another.

“So, how was it that you seemed to know just how best to help calm the princess, Flash?” asked Trixie. Not many would know Twilight well enough to have been able to help in that manner, but Flash’s assistance had proven to be invaluable.

“Well,” Flash replied a bit sheepishly, “Well, a lot of it was what my own mom would do when I was scared as a foal. Also, while growing up, I had heard about her, and her being Princess Celestia’s personal student. I thought it amazing that a filly so young could do so much. And when she saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon and returned Princess Luna to us, that amazement, which had started so long ago, back when I was a colt, kinda turned into an infatuation.”

“So you stalked her?”

“What? NO! It was nothing like that!” he defensively exclaimed.

Trixie could not hide her amused chuckle. Stallions; so easy to fluster. “Sorry, it was a joke. The opportunity was there, and you know what they say about opportunities,” She told him with a grin. “So, I’m guessing that you found out all you could about her, then?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “Though, I had to be careful about it. Prince Shining Armor is VERY protective of his little sister, and it would not have been good for me to acquire his ire. Pissing off the Captain of the Royal Guard is a good way for a young guard to end up stationed someplace like Yakyakistan or the Badlands.”

Trixie nodded in understanding. Prince Shining Armor was not overly fond of her, considering what she had attempted to do before Twilight had freed her from the Alicorn Amulet, and then befriended her. He had grudgingly accepted her being friends with his sister, but had also personally warned her that if she did anything to hurt his L.S.B.F.F., as he referred to Twilight, he would rain down the fires of Tartarus upon her head personally. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want him after me, either. And he already has his eye on me. I was surprised though when he back Princess Twilight’s recommendation that I be accepted into the Royal Guard. Though Twilight wished to see me go through West Hoof and become an officer, while the prince was adamant that I go in as enlisted instead.” Trixie had to admit, maybe enlisting had been the better choice. She had changed much since then, and it was all for the better.

“Why did you go after the princess, anyways? What was it that made you want to challenge her so badly?” Flash asked, curious about what drove the mare next to him.

Trixie had a moment of hesitation, uncertain how she would respond. That part of her past was a time which haunted her with regret. She had committed a lot of sins in her past, and all of them could only be blamed on herself. She also worried how Flash would react to hearing her story. What would he think of her having attacked the pony he virtually worshipped. She could tell he thought of the princess so fondly, for it was clearly visible in his eyes. She would prefer to make friends with the stallion, but was fearful that if Flash knew the truth, he might turn away from her.

Deciding that the best course would be for her to be honest with him, Trixie told him her story. “I should start from the beginning, I guess. So you will understand just why I did what I had done in Ponyville.

“I too, heard about Twilight becoming Princess Celestia’s personal student when I was a filly. Kinda hard for me not to have, since I was there that day taking the examination tests as well. Even though there was no way I could have possibly have hatched the egg, I passed the exam,” she told him.

“Egg?” he questioned? This was something he would have no clue about, being a Pegasus.

“Trixie just looked over to him and nodded as she continued, “Yes. A Dragon egg specifically. The purpose is to force us to attempt an impossible task, and they would judge how we went about it. They would judge just how strong our magic wellspring is, and also how skilled we were with magic, and our knowledge of it. Lastly, they wanted to see how determined we were. They deemed me up to the standards the school had in place, and I was granted acceptance into Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” Trixie let out a light chuckle. “The egg did get hatched that day, though, and he has not left that Unicorn’s side ever since,” nodding her head back to the two sleeping on the stretcher.

Flash’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “Wait, that incident with the Dragon in Canterlot all those years ago. That was those two?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied with a smile at his surprise. “That is how powerful she was even as a foal. So much magic inside of her, it’s staggering.” Her smile disappeared as she went on. “Honestly, I was kind of jealous, her being so powerful, and the princess taking her as her own personal student. But then, I had little time for such jealousy back then. I had my studies to do, and I wanted to make my mom and dad proud. Sadly, after a few years, mom and dad were not able to keep up with the high tuition the school required, and I was forced to drop out. I went to public school like most other foals for a year, and did quite well, but then my mom and dad had to take their show on the road. Having no relatives to stay with, I ended up being home schooled as they traveled.”

A frown started to form as tone took on a sadder note. “Eventually, my mom started to get sick. I did not realize it at the time, but she was an alcoholic, and her drinking was finally catching up to her. I started taking over her role in the show, performing alongside my dad in the magic show we did. Eventually, I had become a permanent part of the show, and my mother fell into retirement as she grew more sick with her drinking.

“Then one day, while we were performing a show in Vanhoover, my dad collapsed on stage. He was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead when they got there.”

Hearing that brought a stab of pain to his own chest as he thought of his own father, who had died a couple years ago in a construction accident. An acetylene tank blew up near him, and a fragment had lodged into his side, catching the nerve cluster at the base of his wing. It had also torn through one of the straps on his safety harness, so when he fell, it didn’t hold him, and he plummeted thirty stories to his death. “I’m sorry about your father, Trixie. It sounds like he was a good stallion,” he said sincerely.

“Yes, he was. And so was my mom, even with the drinking,” she said, sighing. “Anyways, after that, I basically took over the show, and that is how the Great and Powerful Trixie came to be. I would perform, and mom took care of keeping up the traveling wagon we lived in as best as she could. But Dad’s death hit her hard, and one morning, I woke to discover she had passed on during the night.” She paused to wipe a tear from her eye before she continued with her tale.

“Have you ever played a role so much, you started to believe it? That is what became of me. I made myself look like I was the greatest performer ever. And eventually, I grew into the role to the point where I was living the role, even when I was not performing. Over time, I became haughty, arrogant, and prideful. Ponies started to dislike me as a pony, even as they loved my show. But even their love of my show couldn’t last as I grew more and more into the role I had built for myself. Soon, my performances had started to go downhill. Eventually, my boastfulness and ego caught up with me in the small town of Ponyville.

“Most who came seemed to be enjoying the show for the most part, but there was five who stood out from the crowd, and they challenged my boisterous ways. I’m sad to say, I hurt them. Not physically, mind you, but where it hurts worse. I embarrassed them pretty badly. There was a sixth pony there. A mare they said was way more powerful than me. She refused my challenges, though. Anyways, that night, a couple of the town’s foals, who had taken to idolizing me, somehow lured an Ursa Minor to town. Now, since in my boasting earlier, I has said I had once defeated an Ursa Major, they expected me to defeat it.”

Flash looked to her with an incredulous look to his face. “Seriously, they brought an Ursa into town? Just… wow!”

“Yeah, you can imagine the trouble that caused. I about messed myself in terror, and then the damn thing stomped on my trailer! Of course, they expected me to take the animal on, having heard my bragging earlier. As you imagine, I failed horribly, and it was Twilight who took care of the creature, actually returning it safely to it’s momma.” Trixie’s voice took on a more somber timbre. “After that, I had to leave town in a hurry. I was humiliated, and I no longer had my home. And I laid all the blame on the princess.

“I ended up wandering for a while, and had managed to save up my funds, so I did some research with one end goal in mind. I wanted to beat Twilight in a magic duel. There was just one tiny little problem,” she sheepishly said.

“That she was an Alicorn Princess?” guessed Flash.

“Nah, this was before she had undergone her Ascension. Still, even then, the only beings with magic more powerful than hers were Alicorns, so I was hugely outclassed. So, there seemed to be no way I would ever defeat her in a duel, until I found out about the Alicorn Amulet. With that, I had finally managed to beat her. But at the same time, the amulet took all my negative features, and magnified them. I literally terrorized the town after, and put up a shield so that nopony could get in or out.” Trixie’s head hung in shame as she remembered one of her most dark moments. “Some great and powerful pony I turned out to be. All I ended up doing was becoming an evil dictator over the town.

“After she had finally tricked me into removing the amulet, and freeing me from it’s influence, I was a broken mare. Maybe not physically or mentally, but emotionally, I was at one of the lowest points in my life. And then she offered me something that nopony in ages had offered me. She offered me her friendship. And from there, she even opened the doors for me to earn redemption. It was her idea that I join the Royal Guard, and I thought it was perfect. At first, I was flat out denied, but by this time, Twilight was a princess, and between her letters of recommendation, and her brother backing her decision, I was finally allowed to join.” Trixie could only smile now at the changes her life had seen, and the path she now found her life following. She had started to make friends now, and had found what she had needed. She found not only the opportunity to redeem herself for her past sins, but to further move in a direction where she can become the pony she now desired to be. A good pony that she herself could respect and love.

Flash looked to Trixie in a new light. He had known virtually nothing about the mare when they first started talking, and now, he knew enough to know she was a pony he could respect. Yes, it did bother him some, hearing her talk about the things that she had done But the fact was that she not only wanted to do better, she was actively working towards that goal. She may have done some bad things in her past, but those were outweighed by the good aspects she had demonstrated. “Quite the life you’ve lived so far, Trixie, and I would be willing to wager that you have no intent on slowing down. Maybe someday, you’ll be Captain of the Royal Guard even,” he told her with admiration.

“Honestly,” she replied, “I would settle for just serving a full twenty, and know I did so honorably.” They walked a bit more in silence, then she asked, “So, what are your plans? Thinking of making the Guard a career?”

“Sadly, that may not be possible. A little while ago, I got into a brawl, and got busted down from Sergeant. Having a demotion on record severely hurts your chances of staying in for the long term. This is my second enlistment, but there is a good chance I will be denied re-enlisting again.” There were not many things that Flash felt disappointment about, but the disappointment in his mother’s last letter to him had cut him to the bone. Both his parents had served proudly, and it was an even greater pride to think that their son would go even farther than they did. He loved his mother, and to have disappointed her in such a manner was his biggest regret.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Flash, but there is always a chance you may be able to stay in,” she told him. “If need be, I could even put in a good word with the Captain when we get back.”

Flash smiled as he gave her his thanks. It felt good knowing that he had friends who cared about him.

“So, now that we know that you’ll be rising from the ashes, how about we have drinks somewhere when we get back. I know a nice tavern on Royal Avenue that serves the best hay fries.”

Flash almost dropped the litter when he stumbled, realizing that he had just been asked on a date.

Trixie was unable to hide her smile at that.

A Major, a Captain, a Lieutenant and a First Sergeant were out for a walk through the woods. This would be the basis for a joke, told in some Manehattan pub over beer or cider, but in this instance, there were no drinks, and the situation was far from a joke.

“We’ve been lucky so far, Major. The fact that we’re following an established path is only increasing the chances of us getting caught.” Yes, it was faster, but it was more likely to get the platoon spotted. A quicker but obvious and watched path, or slower travel through cover, but still having Griffins looking for them. “A part of me tells me that we’ll be spotted soon, Sir. Call it a hunch,” the First Sergeant told his Major.

Dusty could only nod in agreement. If there was one clear thing he had learned from Silverwing, it is that a smart warrior stays alive when he listened to his instincts as they spoke. The dumb warriors only ended up dead as punishment for not listening. “About how far are we to the chariots?”

“About two miles out, Sir. We should be there by early evening,” Silver replied.

“As a suggestion, Major, we might want to split the troops up as much as we can on the flight home. With only two wounded, that being the princess and the Dragon, the other two ambulances could carry five ponies each. Also, if we have as many of the Guard Pegasi flying alongside as able, that will allow for a lighter load on the transport chariots, especially if we can leave behind any nonessential gear,” Spitfire offered as a suggestion.

“I agree with her, Dusty. Anything we can do to get us back across the border as quickly as possible would be good. There is too much chance that they’ll discover that we attacked that camp and rescued a high value target,” Soarin added. Even if they lightened the load as much as possible for the transports, it would still be a hard flight. One option they would not consider, though, was leaving behind the bodies of the dead. Equestrian warriors do not leave their dead if they have anything to say about it.

“Can you scout ahead, Soarin, and check if the way is clear? If it is, get the drivers to get working on that,” Dusty ordered the Wonderbolt Lieutenant. “The sooner we can be on the way home, the better off we’ll be. If you see any patrols, assess and report back.”

Soarin nodded and took off flying through the trees at a moderate pace. Fast enough to quickly get to the chariot drivers, but slow enough that he should be able to spot any Griffin patrols before he himself was spotted.

Soarin had only been gone a couple minutes when a commotion was heard behind them. “Sounds like the rear guard, Sir. I think we’ve been spotted,” Silver stated.

“Spitfire, hold the fort here while the Sarge and I check on the situation,” Dusty instructed as he and the First Sergeant headed to the back of the line.

The Guards watching the rear of the column had their first indication that they were under attack when one of them spotted a the Griffins popping up to launch their arrows. It was fortunate that he had been watching behind, otherwise, several ponies would have been killed in the first volley of arrows. His cry of warning caused everypony in the rear to take cover and pull their own bows out. Still, four of them had not been as quick enough to avoid being hit by arrows. Fortunately, their movements had caused the arrows to hit non-vital spots. When the wave of arrows failed to kill, the five Griffins dropped down from their perches and started to quickly close in, using terrain to make it very difficult for the Guard ponies to get a clear shot on them.

The guards managed to score solid hits on two still, and the remaining three decided that it would be best to turn back and report their find. What they did not expect was a sudden flare of light right in front of their eyes. Trixie had galloped quickly back to offer her assistance, reaching the rear of the column in time to see three of the attackers turn tail to retreat. A flash spell in front of their faces caused two to impact blindly with trees. The third managed to pull up and make it above the treetops to fly north to the safety of his own kind.

Dusty and Silverwing quickly reached the rear of the platoon, and assessed the situation. It seemed that the First Sergeant had been correct, just that the attack came from a direction they had not thought of.

“Sir,” a Corporal reported, “They ambushed us from behind. There was a total of five, and they shot at us with their bows. Had it not been for Private Fields shouting a warning, I suspect we would have lost several of us.”

“How many wounded, Corporal,” Dusty asked. He could count himself fortunate that none were killed, but if any of the wounded were hurt badly enough, it would hinder their efforts to get back to the chariots. Hearing the answer of four was a relief, and the worst ones were arrows to the back and a leg. In both instances, nothing vital had been hit, and the guards insisted that once patched up, they would not slow everypony down. A third had been hit in the side, but the armor prevented the arrow from going deep, only about an inch into the pony’s ribs. Hellaciously painful, but he could still fight or run, if need be. The last one wounded was the Corporal himself. The arrow that had been aimed for his head ended up only slicing his ear half off.

“Go get patched up,” he told them. To everypony else, he instructed them to get ready to hurry out as soon as the medics finished.

“Sir, Corporal Lunamoon informed me that one of the attackers managed to get away. Any size bet you want, I’m gonna guess that the Empire will very soon know we’re here. We need to get out ASAP,” the First Sergeant noted.

“I concur. Let's get everypony moving. The sooner we’re all in the air, the sooner we’re back in Equestria.” With that, Dusty headed back to the front of the line.

Once the platoon got moving, it did not take them long to get to the exfil point. They moved as swiftly as ponies could down the trail while carrying a very precious cargo. A half hour later, they finally reach the clearing, where Soarin stood waiting for them. The look on his face told the Major that the news was not good.

“Bad news, Dusty,” his Wonderbolt friend said to him. “Griffins have already been here. They killed the charioteers and damaged the wagons beyond repair. I’ve managed to go through the chariots, and pull out anything that may be of use. A decent supply of arrows, a bunch of claymares, medical supplies, and food and water, though we’ll still have to scrounge for water along the way back.” Soarin looked towards the south, his face etched with worry. “We’re wings deep in the shit now. The Griffins know we’re in their land, and they’ll be looking for us. We have a long march to get home, and we’re facing a considerable foe.”

His words pretty much summed up the situation in Dusty’s mind. They would need every bit of useful supplies they could scrounge up, combined with every ounce of training they all had, with a hefty dose of good luck thrown into the mix. “Okay, first things first. Soarin, talk to the supply ponies, and see exactly what we need, and what we can leave behind, and get it divided up,” turning to Spitfire, he said, “We need to plan a route. Hopefully, the maps were not destroyed when the Griffins wrecked everything. We’re going to rely on you and your Wonderbolts to keep us clear of any Griffin patrols.”

He looked towards the north, where there was a Griffin base filled with an enemy that would be hunting him and his ponies relentlessly. They needed to get their stuff situated and moving in a hurry, and get clear of this very obvious site before all hell converged upon them.

General Firewing went over the various reports that sat on his desk before him. One was a report that contact with Bloodclaw’s base camp had been lost. Another was from a platoon that had been out on a patrol exercise when they had spotted a small lager of Equestrian chariots with drivers parked at the site of the attacked train. The chariots had been destroyed and drivers all killed, according to the report, but as to the unit they had brought in, there was no sign. The last report came from a small patrol flight which had found Major Bloodclaw’s destroyed camp. They reported that there were no survivors, and that ten Griffins had apparently been executed. The patrol had followed a trail back towards the attacked train, guessing correctly that they would find the enemy unit. They did find the ponies who had destroyed the base, but four of the patrol flight had died attacking the rear guard of the unit.

Firewing knew about the prisoner that Bloodclaw had captured after attacking the train. The Equestrian forces must have gone in to rescue the captured Alicorn, and Firewing was willing to bet that they had succeeded.

The Emperor would not be pleased with these turns of events. Losing Major Bloodclaw was something that General Firewing would lose little sleep over. That Griffin was psychotic in his methods, and under different circumstances would have been put to death long ago. But the Emperor liked having effective Griffins to call upon, and there was no arguing about Bloodclaw’s effectiveness at completing any task, no matter how distasteful it might be.

Losing the Equestrian princess was another matter in itself. Emperor Ironbeak’s plan centered on Equestria being unwilling to take any action which would place her beloved former student in harm’s way. If Equestrian troops now had her in their possession, then it would fall on Firewing to get her back. The one bit of good news is that their ride out of Equestria had been ruined, making it so that they would have to try to get across the border on hoof.

Firewing had no intentions of allowing them to do that.

The first order of business would be to order his brother, Colonel Firewing, to get his Griffins moving. The best place to start would be the attacked train. The Equestrians would return to that location, then head south once they realized the situation they were in. It was a simple matter of numbers, really. Get enough units in the area searching, and the Equestrians would be found, and then destroyed.

Firewing picked up his phone to call his brother before placing another call to the Emperor, hoping that his head may not roll so far if he at least took the needed actions, so the Emperor knew he was not just sitting on his tail.

Author's Note

Once again, I would like to thank Dancing Dead and DustyPwny for their work in making this chapter as good as it should be.