Redemption

Annnd I'm bored, nice to have that familiar feeling back. Odd as it may sound, I actually did spend a lot of my time being bored in between bouts of fearing for my life and killing hordes of mutated changelings. I figured it was never too early to start getting back in the groove, so I stayed completely still, hands folded in front of me on the table. The only part of me that moved was my eyes behind my helmet as I watched the doors.

Thankfully the tediousness of our wait is broken by the delivery of lunch, consisting of more salad. Vine digs into hers with a happy abandon as I stolidly consume mine, visions of protein laden substances flowing through my mind.

A couple minutes later, and the meal is finished, once cleaned up, I again sit back to wait.

Shortly thereafter, the doors open, revealing Princess Celestia herself, as well as Twilight who's happily chatting about the various things she'd learned, I would know about that, she likes to have me practice my reading on her 'friendship reports'. I find the concept kind of weird, not sure why, to be honest. But considering how scary she can be when angry, and me without weaponry, I chose to keep that little fact to myself.

Both Vine and I rise to our feet automatically as the Princess enters the room, Vine to her front knees in a bow as I raise a hand to my brow, fingers held straight out in a flat plane, a salute adapted to my physiology.

Princess Celestia nods her head to us both with a smile. Vine rises back to her feet with an answering smile that at any other time would bring tears of joy to my face, but I simply settle for dropping my hand from my brow and continuing to stand at attention, awaiting further direction.

Celestia looks at me and rolls her eyes. "There's time for that later, for now, sit," She states in a motherly voice, I nod my head and take a seat as Vine settles down as well, watching the Princess curiously. Celestia returns her gaze with warm smile. "And how are you, Vine Bloom?" She asks.

Vine nods her head. "I am well, Milady. It's been a bit rough, but with good friends, anything's possible, as I'm sure you were aware when you put me there," She states, head tilted to the side in a questioning way.

Celestia glances back at me, before turning to Vine, in that moment, the shutters in her eyes drop for a moment, and I feel my very being quake at the AGE I feel behind those shutters.

Suddenly, various bits and pieces of emotions and thoughts arrange into complete concepts in my mind, clicking into place like the pieces of a child's puzzle. Celestia KNEW, she knew Vine would be in need of help. But she was prepared, rather than waste time with a trained professional to help us adapt, she sent us to the ELEMENTS of HARMONY. I didn't look at it that way before, I saw the elements of harmony as a weapon, not as a powerful force all its own. She saw the troubles and possibilities from the start, standing in a dark glade. While I was still trying to figure out how I would save Vine's physical body, she was planning how to save Vine's mind.

They continued to idly chat while I sat there frozen, considering everything. Her eyes, they felt... old, yes. But also tired. She'd seen the best and the worst the universe had to offer, but she wasn't dead on the inside. She still stepped forward, one hoof in front of another, year after year, century after century. Looking at the being sitting before me, I can only imagine how the war back on my world would have turned out with two such powerhouses leading our forces.

Shaking my head, I steered myself from my internal deliberations. I knew one thing now, I'd do whatever she asked, because she was worth it. And if I could take even a thousandth of her load off her back, it would be enough. It might one day cost me what little life I may or may not have before me, but I was okay with that. Whatever may come, Vine was safe, she'd said so, and darkness harbor me, I believed her.

A soft chuckle drew my attention. Glancing at the source of the noise. I found Celestia staring at me, or rather, at the front of my helmet, a small smile on her face. "Something wrong, Redemit? Or should I say, Private?" She asks with the same small smile never leaving her face. Obviously more than a simple question about my presumed identity.

I reply. "Whichever you ask, Princess." Causing her smile to grow slightly before she gives an infinitesimal nod. Twilight and Vine are staring between the two of us curiously, Vine with a knowing glint in her eye.

Turning back to Vine, Celestia tilts her head slightly, before opening her mouth again. "And now we're left with what to do with you, Vine Bloom. What do you wish to do with your new-found freedom? Be forewarned, you shall not find a position in the armed components of the Guard. While I shall not interfere if you choose to seek a violent occupation elsewhere, your queen asked that I give you the best chance possible to return to a lifestyle more suited to such a kindhearted individual, while repairable, I shall not be directly party to making your 'situation' any worse," She warns, causing Vine to blink a few times, before turning her gaze to me.

I grimace, obviously she's not quite ready to be far from me just yet, which gives me an idea. "What about a dangerous animals handler?" I ask in a deadpan voice.

Celestia looks at me a second, an awesome face of confusion upon her glorious white muzzle, before she suddenly grins and starts laughing. Vine just facehooves.

"What's so funny? I thought she wasn't going to be put in any more violent situations?" A VERY confused Twilight Sparkle asks plaintatively. I can't help but grin.

"It was her job description when she signed up with me, remember?" I ask, causing Twilight to tilt her head, obviously reviewing our previous discussions, before nodding with a smile of her own.

Celestia just nods a few times. "That idea has merit. But what exactly would it entail, per se?" She asks.

I shrug. "I won't condone putting Vine in the field, but still, she can certainly act as my handler, giving me your orders in the field. Since I assume my active rank of private was more of a way of getting me on the payroll, than actually needing me to ensure a hallway doesn't wander." I state with a smirk, Vine just rolls her eyes. "Or thinking you had somepony that could earn my loyalty, present company excluded," I continue, with a hint of challenge in my voice, causing Vine to facehoof and Twilight to scowl at me.

Celestia just stares at me a second, ears perked forward, looking at me. She then proceeds to shake her head and chuckle. "Oh well played, Redemit, well played. No, Private will not be your acting rank, but that can wait until we finish analyzing your gear, speaking of which, we've hit an impasse of sorts. You see, to move forward, we need operational test data, and for that, we need somepony, or someone, that can actually use the gear. This is where you and Vine come in, while we have enough salvaged equipment to analyze and reproduce it, we can't actually fine tune it without knowing the tolerances needed," She states reasonably, causing both myself and Vine to nod our heads.

"I don't know about Vine's gear, but mine's almost certainly half fried, I'm seriously surprised I didn't blow anything, considering what I used it to do," I state thoughtfully before perking up. "On a side note, I have a request," I state, causing Celestia to nod for me to continue. "I'd like for Twilight here to get some of the technical manuals pertaining to the modification of my optical interface, namely my helmet. I need the surface decal changed so I can stop creeping everypony I meet out." I state reasonably.

Celestia nods a moment. "I'm sure there's several researchers already qualified enough to perform the necessary modifications," She retorts, to which I respond.

"None of whom I trust, I can live without powered armor, but if something happened to my helm, I'd have to adopt a local variant, and considering my identity, it'd have to be a full helm. I'd rather not have to deal with a clunky metal helm obscuring my vision or having to play the idiot human on the battlefield, seriously, that crud gets you killed," My voice conveying my smile towards the end, causing Vine and Twilight to chuckle.

I turn to look at Twilight for a second. "You just found that funny? What happened to the K word making you freeze up?" I ask in an curious voice.

Twilight opens her mouth, then pauses a moment, and shrugs. "I don't know, it just doesn't bother me as much now," She says.

I close my eyes a second and sigh. I'm almost sad to see her mindset corrupted in that way. Then I shrug, and turn back to the conversation at hand. "Either way, I really hope to not have to spend my time in this city, no offense to you city-goers. From what I saw, it's a really nice place, but the number of ponies around . . ." I trail off, not sure how to word the rest, Celestia comes to the rescue by nodding.

"I understand your current situation, and can agree to staging you off-site as much as possible, your idea of building a house near ponyville has a lot of merit to it. The exact points, you will have to discuss with Captain Pahnzer," Celestia states, and I nod my head respectively.

"Understood, Ma'am. When shall I begin?" I ask, and Celestia gives me a small smirk.

"Not until tomorrow, in the meantime, feel free to get settled in. I hear you were interested in visiting the Canterlot Theater, and experiencing some of our fine music. As luck would have it, the Canterlot Orchestra is giving a performance tonight, and my sister will be attending. She thought it would be a good idea to let you both attend as well, give you a less . . . traumatic, introduction to some parts of our society." Celestia states, I just nod my head happily.

"I'm in! What about you Vine?" I ask, practically bouncing in my seat for a moment before I settle back down.

"Of course I am, silly human! I can't let you out of my site for a moment, you might hurt somepony," Vine States, rolling her eyes. Twilight giggles and Celestia gives a small chuckle.

"Alright, I shall leave you to it. I'm afraid I've taken as much time as I can spare visiting with my Protégé here," She says giving Twilight a nuzzle, causing Twilight to blush as she returned it happily. I just dawwed on the inside.

"Yes Ma'am, thank you Ma'am," I state coming to attention again and saluting. She nods in response and moves out the door, her guards following, leaving us standing there.

Turning to Vine, I give her a grin. "I told you you'd like her." She just shakes her head with a smile.

"I'm just looking forward to meeting Princess Luna, she handles the night after all," Vine retorts with a smile, causing me to nod as well.

"Indeed, is it true that our queens name was the same . . . before?" I ask curiously, Vine pauses a moment, an old remembered pain flashing across her face. I feel a moment confusion, we've been sharing and dealing with memories for nearly a month, and I can't remember seeing anything prior to my induction into the armed forces, after my time in the . . . research department . . . bloody animals.

"Yes, yes it was," She finally says in a small voice, I nod my head and drop the subject, turning to Twilight.

"Hey Twilight, how long do we have to prepare?" I ask, tilting my head.

She smiles. "We've got a few hours yet, it's an hour or two after nightfall, so you have plenty of time to get settled in first. Here, let me show you to your quarters!" She states happily, I'm more than happy to nod my head in acceptance, slipping my helmet back on as we go. "Thanks for trusting me, I've been really curious about some of your tech, but Princess Celestia didn't think I should be distracted from my studies. But now, I'll get to learn more about you! If only a little," She states happily at first, then mournfully towards the end.

I just chuckle. "Don't be greedy young mare, your thaumaturgical expertise will eventually be called in I'm sure." I state with a serious face, which is totally wasted considering my helmets still on, oh well.

Twilight looks up at me with a hopeful smile that warms my heart. "You think?" She asks, I shrug.

I think for a moment weighing the various factors I'm aware of before responding. "You're not ready for some of my tools, Ma'am. I'm a cold blooded killer, and my tools reflect that. But yes, some of our creations are beautiful in their design and purpose, I think they'll have a need for your innate understanding at some point," I state. Causing Twilight to fall silent for a moment as she stares up at me with that face... I really dislike pity sometimes.

Kneeling down, I rest a hand on her shoulder. "Don't stare at me like that, please. I may not have had a choice in the beginning, but I've learned to enjoy myself, and while I won't argue whether it's a good thing that I like my job. I do, and I don't kill anything, only what I'm told to. Come on, I want to get changed for that music . . . thing." I state, unsure of what to call the coming event, I turn to Vine. "Concert, right Vine?" I ask, she nods.

Twilight just shakes her head, tears starting to slide down her cheeks, making me wince, I don't like seeing her like this. "You . . . you... argh! You don't even know what a concert is, but you know 6 different ways to kill with a darn butter knife! How can you say your alright?! That entire situation is so . . . so bucked up! You're like a little foal with a penchant for killing, and you don't even know better!" She practically screams at me before she throws herself on me in a hug as she starts sobbing into my chest.

Fighting back the reflex to disengage and throw the attacker off, I slowly bring my arms up and hold her to my chest, patting her head hesitantly. Glancing at Vine for help, I'm met with the sight of her sitting morosely, staring at the ground, tears of her own streaming from her eyes and landing on the floor.

Groaning, I take a moment to wonder how I'm getting out of this. "Come on Twilight, I'm fine, really, I'm getting better, I haven't killed anything in a month. Please stop crying. Come on Vine, everything's alright. Please, Vine, just . . . just stop crying." I start begging, tears of my own streaming down my face as I stand there in a state of confusion. I am who I am, I change as needed, and I don't regret doing what I had to do, why can't they just accept that and move on?

Vine shakes her head. "No Frix, it's not alright, it'll never be alright. The things we did to you . . . we're all monsters. None of us made it off that planet, we all died there, all that's left . . . is a couple of monsters trying to be a semblance of regular ponies." She says in a broken voice. I sigh as several weeks worth of work teeters on the edge of ruin.

"You had. No. Choice. We were losing, and everypony was scared. You couldn't have stopped the experiments if you'd tried, don't think I don't remember the nights you spent sobbing after their . . . tests. They hurt me, you didn't, never think otherwise. I did what I had to, to survive, and to keep you safe. Don't ever doubt I'll do whatever it takes to give you a stable home. I'm a human, violence is part of my life, you . . . you liked to watch plants grow, you liked to coax life from the smallest of seeds and watch it bloom. I . . . I like to build, but life . . . life is beyond me. I can't understand it enough to help create it." I say, resting my head on Twilights as she continues hugging my chest, silent as she listens to us talk. "You were such a kind pony, you hated killing the insects that ate your plants. I remember the first time you killed a swarmling, it would have killed you without a seconds remorse, but you? You broke down, I held your screaming body as your soul cried for that mindless insect. You. Cared. And now? Now we kill, there's no hesitation, because we wanted to live. We sacrificed our best parts to live, and still the universe took everything from us, but it couldn't take us from each other." I cry out with a sob, closing my eyes and reaching up with a hand to tear my helmet off, needing free of the reminder. "And now, we have a chance, just one glorious chance. We have this entire world in front of us. With good friends there for the making." I rub Twilight's head with a tear streaked smile. "We can rebuild ourselves. We don't have to be a couple of monsters, we can be Vine Bloom, the pegasus mare that likes to grow things, and Frix, your friend, your protector. I . . . I don't want to see you reveling in death anymore Vine, I want to see you grow, I want life, not more death." I sob into Twilight's mane.

Feeling Vine come up beside me, I reach out and pull her close, just taking the time to . . . savor the company, the friendship, the love. I give them a few minutes to stabilize, then I reassemble my mental barriers, there's work to be done.

"Alright, that's enough of that, you two need to clean up, and I need to get dressed more appropriately." I say, holding them both firmly for a moment before releasing Vine and setting Twilight down on her hooves.

Twilight looks up at me with a small smile. "Thanks, Redemit. Or is it Frix now?" I blink a few times as I think.

What is my name? It's not something I ever really thought about, but was I right to be thankful for my new name? I will never doubt my Queen did what she had too. But Redemit, a word from an ancient language that meant redeemed in common equestrian . . . such a beautiful concept, was buried in blood, under that name I killed countless creatures. Both swarmling and infested, the reanimated or hijacked bodies of my own adopted people, I can say it was a release from a living nightmare all I like, and it was, but it was still murder. But here, this world . . . it still requires my services I think. Celestia wouldn't have kept me in the armed forces if she didn't think so. But what name would I prefer . . . I don't know. "I don't know Twilight, I just don't know. But for now, if I'm in my armor, call me Redemit, but anytime I'm not, I'd like to be called Frix." I say, feeling truth behind the words as they come out my mouth.

Reaching down, I grab my helmet and put it back on. Resting a hand on Vine's shoulder, I give twilight another nod which she returns before we head out the door. Walking through the hallways, I admire the various paintings along the way. Glancing out windows as we go, I start trying to set up a mental map of the palace in relation to the outside as well as various destinations. "Hey Twilight, where am I being bunked at anyway? I assume it's not the barracks?" I ask.

Twilight nods. "Yeah, not the barracks, that'd hardly keep you a secret." She chuckles. "No, you'll be staying in a guest room near the Magical Research Facility" She states in an eager tone. "It's where most new spells and techniques are developed, and where they keep magical artifacts until they can determine if they're dangerous or not." She then goes on to tell us more about the various projects the MRF does, most of which go way over my head.

"Ummm, hey Twilight, you DO realize you're talking to a pegasus and a human right? I don't know about Vine, but I got the first two sentences, and then the rest you need to dumb down, at least until I'm brought up to speed, huh?" I chuckle.

Twilight grins as well before nodding. "I look forward to it." She says in a tone, I repress a groan.

"I'm as curious about life in general as everypony else Twilight, but don't expect me to have much reason to focus on magical research," I warn, Twilight just giggles.

"I don't mind, I like learning about your job too, a lot of what you do sounds like dancing!" Twilight says with a big grin on her face, probably trying to poke fun at me, but I just shake my head with a smile of my own.

"It is, you have to read your opponent and put yourself several moves ahead mentally before you engage in combat, otherwise you've probably already lost." I respond, Twilight considers my words before nodding.

"Sounds more like chess, honestly," She replies.

"Ah, but chess is strictly mental, combat is also physical, and if you think dance doesn't require a lot of mental to go with the physical, you try doing it some time, just, not around anypony you know," I riposte, Twilight giggles in response before stopping at a door.

"This is it! Your guest room, where you'll be staying for the duration of the experimentation!" Twilight says. "Sadly, I won't be around for any of it," She adds with a small pout, I can't help reaching down and rubbing her on the ear.

"Don't worry Twilight, I'm sure we'll meet again at some point and I'll get to show off some of what I can do," I respond, ruffling her mane before I step up to the door.(Surprisingly well sized) Turning the handle, I step into my new room, glancing around I take it all in. No window, that's nice, less approaches to worry about, less escape routes, but I don't retreat very often. Solid walls, wooden floor I'll have to check for weak points later on. Book case that's currently completely empty but still sparkly clean. BIG bed, seriously, you could stick 2-3 humans on it with room to spare! Yay! Armor rack on the wall, designed for pony armor, but I can make it work. Dresser by the bed, useful. Chest at the base of said bed, key sitting in the lock, probably duplicate, will stop most opportunists, but not professionals.

Nodding my head, I duck back out of my room to see Twilight's hindquarters disappear down a corridor, leaving me and Vine sitting in front of my door. Shrugging, I look down at Vine. "Well, guess you'll be staying with me for the duration then?" I ask, tilting my head at her, she just smiles. "Whatever, come on in. I'm not going in my armor, too much fear factor." I say with a frown as I open my duffel and start pulling various items out as I reenter my room and move to the dresser. Pulling drawers open, I start putting stuff away, setting aside a complete suit of higher quality civilian gear as well as an overcoat to hide my wings, no way in tartarus I'm going through the pain of removing my wings more than I have too.

While I'm setting up, Vine makes her way to the bathroom, closing the door. I hear the water turn on and nod my head. Stripping my gear off, I start inspecting each piece as I go, looking for any signs of wear or strain on the various clasps and straps. After all, when you have rockets strapped to key parts of your body, the last thing you want is for something to let go causing all that extra 'kick' to start tossing you in random directions, and if I was getting my gear back, I wanted to be ready.

Noting several spots that will require some repairs, I make a mental list and set it aside as I start throwing on various pieces of clothing. I still don't have any of my weapons and let me tell you, that is not a good feeling. Add in paranoia, and it's probably a good thing I'll be part of a royal escort, less chance of them getting hurt, weapons or no weapons.

Folding my wings down firmly, I tie several strips of fabric I have for occasions like this across my chest and wings to keep them in place, preferably with as little strain as possible. That finished, I slip on the rather simple jacket. Taking a moment to sort out the hair atop my head while insuring my face still has none, I find myself with nothing to do, so I lay down on the bed, laying on my chest to avoid stressing my now-restrained wings, as I wait.

A few minutes later, a much refreshed Vine Bloom makes her debut from the bathroom, and hops onto the bed with me. Laying down at my side, she cushions her head on my back. We don't bother speaking, we just enjoy the peace after the rather stressful occurrences earlier.

"Looking pretty good there, big guy." She finally say, I just raise my hand idly before I let it fall back onto the bed.

"You're not half bad yourself, I'm sure, Alpha," I reply, she just giggles before laying herself out more fully and tossing a wing over me and the bed on her other side.

"So, any idea how we're getting to this concert?" She asks after a couple minutes.

"Not a clue, I guess we wait, huh?" I ask in return.

"Yeah," She murmurs sleepily. I find myself yawning as well, and with nothing else to do, I let myself drift off to sleep.

I'm in my glade. While not an unpleasant location, it's not somewhere I go most times I fall asleep, most of the time I just dream about the regular things, like flying mushrooms, and murderous spoons(Fear the spoons.). Being here has some significance, like the fact I feel a familiar presence pushing on my mental barriers. Opening my mind, I feel Luna come into being in my dreamscape behind me.

"Hi," I chirp, turning around to face her. She just smiles back at me. "So, not that I mind in the least, but what brings you to my humble little mind this fine whatever-time-it-is?" I ask, tilting my head comically, she chuckles at my antics, success!

"We . . . I was just passing through, I shall be waking up soon, but I saw your mind enter the realm of dreams and thought I would stop by. It's not often I encounter such interesting mental landscapes. Plus, I am rather curious about you, and your past." Luna says, glancing around my world as she speaks.

I nod my head, my earlier antics forgotten. "I will tell you what you wish, but I ask that we wait until after the concert, and if Twilight is available, that she be present for the telling. I think she wants to write a book or something," I state, looking up at the moon, lightly touching the memories I don't want to deal with right now.

Luna stares at me a moment, then nods her head. "I will honor your wishes in this matter, we do not have much time, after all." I nod my head in thanks at her words.

We then both stand there a moment, shuffling in my case, as we awkwardly try to come up with something to discuss. Finally, throwing up my mental hands in defeat, I fall back on a rather cliché question. "So, how's life?" I ask.

Luna takes pity on me with a smile. "I am doing rather well, after the little 'event' you had in South Market, I had my hooves full with some of our guard. Seems a certain two legged monster rather traumatized a couple of them," She said with a smirk upon her muzzle and a glare in her eyes, it was all I could do to not laugh.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but in my defense, I wasn't the most dangerous solo operative where I come from, they just seemed rather . . . half trained? I don't know, but I'm used to city guards being a whole lot tougher, I even overestimated your communications technology when I disassembled one of your gates, sorry about that by the way, I'd expected I would be greeted by more forces when I got out, but then when I got away easily, I had to re-examine my tactics, and I did them entirely wrong. I should have realized that the moment I broke your initial cordon in less than a minute. For that, I am truly sorry," I say, bowing my head. Luna just chuckles.

"Ah, but you didn't kill a single one of our subjects, there were a litany of bruises, scrapes, and at least one damaged tooth, but they were all fit for duty within the day. So I think I will not be amiss in saying that your actions can be forgiven. But remember, you owe us now." She states in a teasing voice.

I raise my eyes to hers. "More than you know, your Highness." I state, continuing to look her in the eyes. She just smiles and shakes her head.

"There will be time for that later . . . okay, is your name Redemit? Or Frix?" She asks after a pause, I smile.

"You can call me what you wish, but I've asked my friends to refer to me as Redemit in my . . . mercenary guise. And Frix in my 'human' guise. My human guise is very limited in what I can do without breaking character, but my armor is rather visually striking, lots of intimidation factor which limits my capabilities as well. In time, I hope to come to a better balance, but I don't see many alternatives at this time," I state with a rueful smile.

Luna tilts her head as she examines me once more. "I . . . see your situation. Will it be okay to bring 'Redemit' out then? Will your human guise be appropriate either? I did not think on that subject, I just assumed you could accompany me to the royal box and observe from there. I did not think about the in between enough, I see." She states ruefully, I find myself blinking at her.

Luna's sister is a master ruler, every action weighed, every though carefully metered before it even comes into existence. The years have used her HARD, but Luna . . . She's . . . younger, less worn. The years have not had their chance to weigh her down. How? They're almost the same age . . . no. Luna's spent a significant portion of her life trapped on the moon.

Almost against my will, I feel my glade darken, my eyes are drawn to the moon. I can only feel pain . . . mental, physical, soul wrenching pain. Mine . . . and Luna's.

Trapped for a thousand years, pain, anger.

Experiments . . . knives . . . pain

Loneliness. Hate.

My blood spraying across my vision as my body convulsed. Magic thrumming through my veins, healing me even as the knives cut through me, hurting me, taking pieces only to come back for more after a few seconds.

Years flowing by in a haze of pain and suffering, the magic in the moon sustaining my life, even as my mind suffered. Thoughts splintering and fragmenting, seeing things and ponies that weren't there just to alleviate the endless cycle of loneliness and pain.

Holding Vine close as she sobbed into my now whole and unblemished chest.

Celestia's tear streaked muzzle as a bright light enveloped my world.

'Scientists', animals in white labcoats. Implements and saws, bars and guards. All looking upon me as if I were the animal. All so afraid, so very afraid.

My subjects . . . who could not even appreciate my glorious night sky. My masterpiece that was borne anew each night. With glorious stars to show endless new constellations and arrangements.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Two voices spoke as one. Two events, different time scales, but the same pain.

"It . . . it wasn't her fault," I cry, tears running down my face. Distantly, I can feel Luna crying as well. Without thinking, I move. The world twists, and then we're side by side. I wrap my arms around Luna's neck and hold her close as she sits there weeping. "It. Wasn't. Her. Fault." I repeat myself, to whom I'm speaking I don't know. Whether to Vine as she cried over me after one of the many 'sessions' as I lay there giving the magic time to work its way out of my system so they could begin again. Or to Luna, after being ripped from her world and imprisoned in a dead ball of rock and dust. Never to see a friendly face again for a thousand years. Only to come back and have part of her very essence torn from her by the elements of harmony . . . at the behest of her own sister.

I felt rage explode across my consciousness. I felt my killing instinct rise to the fore. I drew maps forth from Luna's mind and I knew without a doubt where to go, what to do. A guard here, dead. A maid most likely there, slit the throat, there was a broom closet nearby. Only two guards on the door, they'd be easy, assuming I didn't opt for the balcony instead. Let her come in, and go to sleep, creep forth and thru . . . "NO!" Luna screamed.

We stood there, everything frozen for a sliver of time. Then slowly, my mind started functioning again, my thoughts resumed, my beast curled up until I had need of it again. I stood there, my arms about Luna's imaginary neck in the middle of a dream, and cried. Cried for dreams torn, days lost, for the kinder parts of our souls, forever tarnished and twisted. For friends forever gone through the veil of death. Never to be seen again until reality began anew and put them forth, to live, to love, and in the end, to die.

With my concentration broken, time took on no meaning as we stood there, silent now, just holding one another. Until I realized just WHO I was hugging . . . and crying on . . . and plotting murder for . . . yeah, it's been one heck of a day. Stepping back, I wrenched the world back to the way it should be, changing the glade up, placing several cushions upon the ground and seating myself and Luna on separate cushions. That done, I sat back to wait as she worked her way through her own internal nightmares.

After several minutes, Luna raises her head and opens her eyes. A her eye lock onto me, I feel my body instinctively lowering itself to the ground in a submissive gesture as her eyes start to glow and her power condenses within my mind. "Never. Again." She states in a voice as cold as the sky up where the air is so thin you either have enchanted armor or you black out, assuming you don't freeze first.

I weakly nod my head, fighting the urge to curl into a ball before her. I suppress a whimper as she steps closer, her eyes not glowing any more, but power still thrumming through her essence.

"I did not hear you, human." She states coldly, I can't stop the whimper this time as I abase myself before her.

"Yes, Alpha, this one hears and will obey. Please don't hurt this one, Alpha, this one will be obey . . ." I hear myself begging, part of me feels shame and anger as I surrender so completely, the rest of me just quakes in terror, the urge to please overwhelming.

I freeze up when I feel a soft muzzle brush against the side of my head. "No, it is I who should be sorry. You carry a great many scars, young one, I should have taken that into account, but I did not know about the . . . experiments. Why? Why would they do that?" Luna asks, almost in tears herself.

"This . . . this one was part swarmling, Alpha. This one could hear the swarm singing in his head, this one was part of the swarm, yet not. They were losing, many cities fell within a few weeks, our weapons were ineffective at large scale extermination, so they simply overwhelmed the defenses. For every city that fell, the bodies . . . were used either as fuel for the war machine, or infested and turned on the survivors. The gryphons were the first to fall, we think they were the most dangerous, so the swarm hit them first, the other countries quickly fell as well, only our Queen prevented the complete destruction of the pony nation, but three quarters of our land was desolate or destroyed within the first six months of the war. They needed to know what they faced, and this one was . . . resilient. This one . . . I refused to die, so they . . . did things to me. They took pieces, they poked and prodded, they tried to figure out what the swarm had done to themselves through me." I all but whisper in a quavering voice, eyes downcast as my world rippling with my mental imbalance. I feel myself lifted into a warm embrace, after freezing for a moment, I surrender and snuggle into it, closing my eyes as I try to block out the memories again.

Luna allows this for a time, before shifting her wing to look down at me. "Frix, how old are you?" She finally asks.

I look up at her, still huddled into her warm embrace. "My body is about 12 years old, but I've only been sentient for 3 of those. So they say I'm subjectively about 4 and a half. I had most of my social skills imprinted on me by the infester. Most people overestimate my age because of it and the fact that I'm a soldier. Not the profession you'd expect to find a colt fulfilling, but we had no choice. It was either this or stay a science experiment" I state, closing my eyes again.

Luna stays silent for a long time, before finally sighing. "Okay, any time you accompany me, we shall try to make it your human guise. The least we can do is give you a chance to enjoy life, even from the viewpoint of a domesticated animal, I am truly sorry for what you had to go through," She murmurs, nuzzling the top of my head, I just smile as I snuggle into the furry warmth, causing her to giggle. "Alright, it will be time to move shortly, I shall send an escort to collect you. Wake up now, Frix," She whispers softly into my ear as I feel my world ripple and collapse.