Apple Bloom ducked under the swipe of Nightglade´s staff. It passed her so close that she could feel the staff brushing the mane at the back of her neck. For a brief moment, Apple Bloom felt proud.

And then the old unicorn´s knee came up and rammed into her muzzle.

Apple Bloom fell to the sand with blood dripping from her mouth and nostrils. Nightglade put the end of his staff into the sand and stroked his moustache. His eyes narrowed. “Get up.”

The young mare´s felt her muscles aching and her head swirled but she got and meet his sharp green eyes with a pair of drowsy brown pools.

Nightglade stroked his moustache. “Again.”

Stumbling forward, Apple Bloom tried raise her hoof to strike.

Nightglade made a face like he had just been gravely offended. He made no effort to avoid her attack. Instead he met Apple Bloom, took the young mare´s hoof by the shoulder and swiped her hooves out from under her with his staff.

The sand rushed up to give her a rough kiss. The grains filled up her mouth and eyes. She had to turn her head sideway in order to breath under the pressure from Nightglade´s staff, pushing the back of her head.

Though she couldn´t see it but Nightglade´s mouth had turned into a bitter harsh frown. He put a hoof on her neck and pressed down.
The pressure was enough to make it difficult for Apple Bloom to breath.

Nightglade raised his lip in disgust.

“Pl…” Apple Bloom said. “Please…”

“Please what?” Nightglade said with tone filled with anger.

The young mare shifted her head under the staff. “Lift your hoof.”

“And what would you do if lift my hoof? Are you going to stay pinned under my walking staff?” He slammed his free hoof onto the sand right next to Apple Bloom´s face, spraying a wave of sand over her eyes. “Or are you going to keep fighting?” The old unicorn removed his hoof from the young mare´s neck. “Let´s see which one.” The staff stayed on her head.

Apple Bloom took a rough, dry breath. Sand and sweat filled both her mouth and nostrils. She made one move for the staff pinning her to the ground. To Apple Bloom´s surprise she managed to get it of rolled away from the old unicorn.

Nightglade stared at her with a deep frown.

The young mare got to up on her hooves. She spat out the sand in her mouth and couldn´t help but sneeze out the grains in her nostrils.

The old unicorn laughed and stroked his moustache. “Are you ready?”

The fact that he was asking made Apple Bloom nervous. He almost never asked her before when he was about to come at her.

“Well? Are you?”

Apple Bloom squeezed her shoulder. The skin was burning with warm blood and the muscles ached, just moving her hoof forward produced a cold pain. She positioned herself with one hoof forward. “I`m ready.”

Nightglade spun the staff around and put it under his right hoof. The old unicorn charged forward. It only took him the blink of an eye to reach Apple Bloom.

The young mare knew that there was no point in trying to avoid his attack. Though the staff was blurred by the speed of his movement, Apple Bloom could still see the path it was taking. It was coming right for her head. She raised her hoof to guard and felt a stinging pain coming from where it hit.

Then Nightglade´s hoof slammed into Apple Bloom´s side. The hit caught her by surprise and the young mare blinked.
Nightglade punished her by sweeping the staff against her feet and kicked her into the air before she hit the ground.

She landed on her back. The wave of pain breached out to the tip of her hooves. When she opened her eyes she saw Nightglade leaping forward with his staff ready to slam into the ground. Apple Bloom rolled out of the way and got back to her feet.

The old unicorn followed up his strike by sweeping his staff in front of him.

The staff missed Apple Bloom by the skin of her muzzle. She ran to her left, running for the weapon barracks. The weapon that she managed to get her hooves on was a katana. Apple Bloom just managed to get the blade out of the scabbard before Nightglade was on her again.

The two of them entered into a dance with sword and staff. Nightglade was always on the offence, always attacking and Apple Bloom was doing her best to keep up with the unrelenting pace of the old unicorn.

His attacks were unrelenting and furious. The speed of his movements seemed unnatural, not only for a pony of his age but even by the standards of the quickest Pegasi is in the world he was fast.

For every strike Apple Bloom blocked five hit her and most of them tore her skin open. There was no opportunity for Apple Bloom to fight back, she could only keep on the defensive. Hits came to her face, her side and her hooves and every one of the cracked when the staff landed.

Suddenly the old unicorn´s staff came crashing down for her head and Apple Bloom´s sword managed to push it aside and left the old unicorn open.

The young mare saw her opportunity and took it without hesitation. Apple Bloom swung the blade forward, aiming for Nightglade´s throat.

Nightglade ducked under Apple Bloom´s swing. As he was leaning backwards, he passed the staff behind his back from his right hoof to his left.

Apple Bloom noticed far too late that she had massively over swung her attack, leaving her sword pointing far to her left and her side facing Nightglade.

As the old unicorn was rising back up, he slammed his staff into Apple Bloom´s back and caught her sword hoof in his right hoof. With one swift turn he threw the young mare back into the sand arena.

When she crashed into the ground Apple Bloom lost the sword and felt her left hoof pooping out of its socket. She got up again, but this time slower, she barely had enough energy to stand.

Nightglade tossed his staff back into his right hoof and charged for her again.

Apple Bloom tried to block his attack but her hoof barely moved as she told it to. The staff came swinging into the side of her head and Apple Bloom was flung sideways into the sand. She laid still, trying to catch her breath.

The old unicorn put his hoof on Apple Bloom´s throat.

“Please…”

Nightglade pressed down.

“Please stop.” Apple Bloom´s voice cracked with the pain. “Have mercy.”

“Mercy?” The tone of his voice was thick with contempt. “Did they have any resemblance of mercy for your family?”

That one sentence shocked me. I knew early on that Nightglade was a ruthless, uncompromising, old bitter fool. But I never suspected that he would say something like that. Let alone do what he did next.

Nightglade´s horn started glowing. The light and color in Apple Bloom´s eyes started to disappear. Within a moment they had turned completely black.

“What is happening?!” Apple Bloom cried out.

The old unicorn removed his hoof from her throat and Apple Bloom fumbled around in front of her. Her hooves dug into the sand and she blinked madly, hoping that her vision would return. “What did you do?!”

The old unicorn didn´t answer. He took a few slow steeps around her.

“Where are you?”

Nightglade sat down, folded his legs and placed his staff over his knees.

Apple Bloom swiped the ground in front of her. She still had her stomach to the ground but now she trying to get up.
With legs trembling and lips twitched as Apple Bloom climbed up.

One of Nightglade´s eyebrows raised. His horn started glowing again.

In Apple Bloom´s black world a sudden flash of light blinded her. She was walking around some kind of forest. The trees were small with low hanging branches reaching down to the ground. White flowers with transparent pink veins coming from the base of the peddles. The green leaves danced in the wind.

The young mare reached up and sniffed one of the flowers. She recognized the scent immediately.

“Apples…” She said and a drop of warm blood ran from the center of the flower. The stream ran down her hoof and fell to the ground with a whispering smack.

She dropped the flower to the ground and flower started to changing. It shrank and the color started draining from it. The white peddles turned brown and folded inwards. Soon it was an only a pile of brown flakes being carried off by the wind.

Apple Bloom frowned and pressed her hoof down on the flower. When she lifted her hoof the blood stuck to the underside of her hoof. The stench coming of the blood almost caused her to gag.

A fluid cold smacked on her ear. The young mare looked up and saw black, thick clouds covering the sky. Her head rang like a tower bell. With every beat of her heart she could feel pain growing more and more intense. A sharp ringing sound stung like a nail into her ears. The pain intensified on her forehead.

Eventually the pain reached a climax. With one final wave of pain Apple Bloom felt her skull caving in. Something rammed through the bone, a mixture of red blood and pink brains ran from the wound.

The young mare laid still on the grass. Her hooves spread out over the ground, her eyes were closed.

Apple Bloom pressed her hoof against her forehead. There was no hole or sings of her skull breaking. She opened her eyes and stared into the sky above her.

The black clouds still hung over sky. Only muted sunlight managed to press through the clouds, painting the white apple flowers in grey shades.

A few calm breaths passed Apple Bloom´s muzzle. Her hoof covered her mouth for a moment before it slipped away and feel into a warm puddle. When she looked at her hoof again, blood dripped from it. Apple Bloom turned her head.

Next to her was a corpse of pony whose head had been all but crushed. The face was a dark, crimson cavity of gore. Soft, pink tissue dripped from the edges and a pool of blood formed at the bottom of it.

A cold shock pressed through Apple Bloom´s body. She stumbled backwards and felt a force, like a rough rope, pressing against her throat. The force pushed her upwards and squeezed around her neck. Every breath became hard to take and blood gathered around the point of the force.

Apple Bloom put her hooves around her neck, hoping to remove whatever it was that was trying to strangle her. But there was nothing there, just something pressing against her veins and air pipes.

The force lifted her into the air.

And Apple Bloom twitched and struggled wildly to get lose. Soon she couldn´t breath and the joints on her neck started to separate.
She blinked and found herself back on the ground. Dry, rough grass beneath her hooves and an old leafless tree next to her. She put a hoof on her neck. Underneath her skin she felt a fast, relentless pulse.

“What is happening?!” Apple Bloom shouted.

A pony hanged from one the trees thick limbs. The body hang by a thick rope from the neck.

The young mare could only see a silhouette of the body. She galloped away in panic.

Before her was a field of brown, dry grass.

Behind her a shrieking wind blew and a line of fire rushed forward. The orange flames consumed the grass and rushed for Apple Bloom.

When Apple Bloom smelled the ashes she felt her legs rushing forward even faster. Her throat grew dry and her breaths became rough.

A warm orange line grew on the horizon before her. Black streams of smoke rose from the flickering flames.

Apple Bloom stopped and looked to her sides. She was encircled by warm, orange flames. The young mare stared around her, looking for any kind of opening. With every passing moment the flames came ever closer. Eventually Apple Bloom decided to jump over the line of fire. She galloped towards the edge but when she got close she stopped.

There was no end to the flames. Wherever the flames had been, a blanket of orange flames had covered black soil. The fire cracked and spat a burst of sparks towards her, as if to spite her.

The young mare backed off but felt the warmth of the flames on her back. Apple Bloom was encircled by the sea of flames. Her skin blistered and melted as the fire licked her. Steam rose from her wounds and she felt the fluids behind her eyes boiling. Chinks of fat and flesh fell, steaming from bones. The world went black again.

The world was silent and calm. Apple Bloom could see a sharp red moon shining above her. The ground below her hooves was wet, without color or texture. The young mare looked at the underside of her hoof. The fluid attached to her reflected the red light from the moon above her.

A drop fell on her hoof. The drop spread ripples across the fluid on her hoof. That was all it started with. A single drop. Then it started pouring. A stream ran from under Apple Bloom´s jaw poured over her hoof.

The young mare felt her head growing heavy. Her vision blurred and she feel down. The warm fluid pressed against her face.
The moon above her started to fade.

“What are you doing, Nightglade?!” Apple Bloom shouted when she woke in the new world. This time everything was black. The ground below her was dry. The only sound she could hear was the sound of a heart beating slowly, and calmly.

“What-“ Apple Bloom felt a pain stabbing her in the chest. Every time she felt her heart beat the pain stabbed again. But not in her chest. It came to her side, her back, her barrel, her stomach and her neck.

She tried to scream out in pain but only managed to produce a meager whimper.

Then she was back in the yard with Nightglade. The old unicorn sat with his staff laying above his knees.

The young mare climbed up and looked over her body. Apart from the places where Nightglade had struck her before she had no signs of injuries. “What was that?” She asked, trying her best to hide her anger.

“The mercy they shoved your family.” Nightglade answered. He got to up and walked towards her. “Mercy is not a thing they know or have. Why should I give it you?”

Apple Bloom tried to think of an answer. She sat still on the sand, trying her best to think of something as Nightglade approached.

He hit Apple Bloom with his staff at the side of her head. “If you have an answer, tell me now.” He said with chillingly cold tone.

“I don´t have answer.” Apple Bloom stared into the ground.

“They don´t have mercy. The world doesn´t have mercy. The world doesn´t have an ounce of care for you or your goals. You could die here and now, and the world wouldn´t react. And neither would I.” He put his staff under Apple Bloom´s chin and forced her look into his narrow green eyes. “If I tried to kill you right now, what would you do?”

“I would fight; I would keep on fighting until I die.”

Nightglade gave of a dry chuckle. “Good answer.”

Nineteen years. That´s how many years I spent in that forest with that old unicorn. Every moment I spent there felt like a needle pushing through my skin. The bed I slept in felt cold and hard, the food I ate tasted like ash, the water I drank burned my throat. But I endured it, until now. After what Nightglade subjected me to, a desire grew inside me. It was a feeling I knew well, like a fire it burned inside my chest. I hated Nightglade and I wanted to kill him just as much as the Immortals.

Five years later. Snow drifted calmly down from the sky, painting the world in white.

The hateful mare took her curved sword out of the weapons barrack. The blade shined in the soft moon light as it exited it´s scabbard.
Nightglade stood leaning on his staff. It turned slowly in his hoof as he stared at her with a pair of narrow eyes.

“Are you ready?” Apple Bloom asked.

A smirk flashed over Nightglade´s lips. “Are you?”

Apple Bloom´s eyes narrowed. Despite the cold, her blood boiled under skin. “As I´ll ever be.”

“Then come at me with all you´ve got.”

Apple Bloom took the sword with both her hooves and charged forward. She made a thrust forward with the blade.
Nightglade took a swift steep to the side to avoid her strike.

But Apple Bloom´s attack was just a fake. She turned the blade and used the momentum to make a sweep to her side, right across Nightglade´s throat.

The old unicorn caught her attack with his staff and turned on his hooves. The speed of his movements was enough to make him a blur in Apple Bloom´s eyes.

As if to mock her, Nightglade didn´t attack. He simple stood behind her and stared at her with a smirk as flakes of snow landed on his ears.

Apple Bloom grunted and turned to Nightglade. Her grip on the sword tightened. She charged and struck the air before her.
Nightglade took steep back and pushed the staff into Apple Bloom´s stomach so hard that the air almost went out of her.

The young mare was stunned for a brief moment. She took a short breath and ran forward again. Just as she predicted the old unicorn swung his staff towards her, heading for her side. Apple Bloom caught the staff with her left hoof but when she tried to jerk it from his grip, Nightglade just smirked.

He took one steep to his left, turned his upper body and tossed Apple Bloom on the end of his staff. She flew like a ragdoll through the air and crashed into the yard wall, sending thick patches of snow to the ground. Nightglade stood with his back turned to her, laughing.
Apple Bloom picked up her sword and galloped towards Nightglade, hoping to catch him while he had his back turned.

Without turning or even looking over his shoulder, Nightglade blocked Apple Bloom´s strike by reaching behind him with his staff. He then made some a series of swirls that made the grip on Apple Bloom´s sword feel like it was made of soap. She had to struggle not to lose her grip on it but eventually he moved so fast that the sword seemed jump out of her hooves.

When she was disarmed, Nightglade turned, jumped and kicked Apple Bloom in the head.

The young mare crashed to the cold, stony ground. Her head rang and the white world blurred.

The old unicorn showed her his backside again. This time he didn´t laugh, he adjusted the staff and stroked his moustache.

It took Apple Bloom a solid half minute for her head to stop ringing and her sight to focus. When she could get up without immediately falling down again, she ran for her sword.

Nightglade´s ear perked when he heard the blade being lifted of the ground. A brief smiled flashed across his lips. It disappeared when he turned to face her, replaced by his usual frown.

A streak of blood ran down Apple Bloom´s forehead. Her breath was heavy, slow and marked by steam forming in front of her muzzle. She spat and bit her lip. She charged forward.

He made no effort to avoid her. Nightglade simply stood still and waited for her. When Apple Bloom was in reach he took his staff by both ends and pulled them apart to reveal a set of short, narrow swords. He blocked her attack with one blade, and made a cut across Apple Bloom´s belly with the other. A string of crimson droplets splashed across the white snow.

Apple Bloom dashed back. Her face was visibly pale and she put a hoof on the wound. It wasn´t a deep. Barely enough to cut through the skin and draw blood.

“I didn´t poison them.” Nightglade said.

Even though Nightglade had never lied to Apple Bloom she still found his words hard to believe.

“If there was any poison on these blades you would be dead already.”

That Apple Bloom found a lot easier to believe. She took the sword with both her hooves and raised the blade to guard. “Your turn.”
Nightglade pushed the two halves of his staff back together and stroked his moustache. Slowly so each of the hairs fell of his hoof, one by one while patchy flakes of snow drifted to the ground.

When the final hair fell the old unicorn charged. In comparison to his previous movements his attacks, his movements were slower and far more measured.

Apple Bloom stood her ground and waited for his attack.

Suddenly Nightglade started moving a lot faster. He was about halfway up to her when he took his staff with both hooves and swung it towards Apple Bloom.

She blocked his attack with ease and immediately made a dash to his side where he was vulnerable. The blade made a shallow cut on the old unicorn’s shoulder. Apple Bloom could hardly believe it. She managed to land a strike on him. It was so shocking to her that she failed to see Nightglade´s staff coming up to strike her jaw. The young mare was flung backwards and found herself on the ground.
“Getting excited over a small victory…” Nightglade said with a spiteful tone. “Stupid and foolish.”

The taste of blood filled Apple Bloom´s mouth. She leaned on her sword and got up. When she spat out lump of blood out of her mouth, she feared that she might have bitten of her tongue at the strike. She met Nightglade cold green eyes. “I´m not getting excited over any small victories. I get excited over major defeats.”

Nightglade raised one of his silvery white brows and looked at the steaming wound. He drew his hoof across the gash and tasted the blood. Both his brows jumped to the center of his forehead and the corners of his mouth went up. “Poison. Good trick.” He gave Apple Bloom a slight nod.

Seeing that nod was more shocking to Apple Bloom then the wound she caused him before. It left her speechless.

Nightglade chuckled, it was downright warm and kind this time. “How long have I got?”

“A minute at most.” Apple Bloom replied.

The staff spun in Nightglade´s hoof. He pulled the two halves apart to form to the blades again. “Now let´s see if you can last that long.” He charged.

The first sword met Apple Bloom´s blade. The blades sparked as the second sword ran towards the young mare´s throat.

Apple Bloom just barely managed to avoid it. The tip took a small bit of her neck with it. She jumped back and pressed her hoof against the wound. It was shallow and didn´t bleed too badly.

The old unicorn leaped forward like a cobra. Both his swords held above his head.

Apple Bloom threw herself to the side, summersaulting on the ground and ended up facing the wall.

Nightglade turned to her when he landed. With just a few steps he came up to her, both the swords aiming to pin her to the wall.
She managed to avoid the first sword and countered the second one. Her sword was headed for Nightglade´s face when the old unicorn moved out of her blade and made a cut across Apple Bloom´s shoulder.

He came in for a second strike but Apple Bloom managed to avoid it by taking a swift side steep and catching the blade with her sword.
She was expecting him to make another strike when the old unicorn stopped himself. He grunted and pressed a hoof against the gash on his shoulder but kept his eyes on Apple Bloom.

The young mare didn´t attack. She stood at a distance and observed Nightglade.

The old unicorn took a deep breath and rose. A drop of red blood rolled down out of his eye. The drop ran down his cheek and stained his silvery white moustache.

Apple Bloom didn´t dare to approach. She stayed right where she was and kept the point of the sword pointing towards Nightglade´s forehead.

Nightglade wiped his cheek with the back of his hoof and pushed the swords back too together. He leaned on his staff and walked forward, slowly. The color of his eyes darkened and saliva dripped from his lips.

The moment Nightglade took one step forward, Apple Bloom took two steps back.

The old unicorn was about to take another step when the staff feel out from under him. He crashed to the ground and stayed down. Fast, exhausted breaths passed his muzzle and his barrel jumped up and down. Snow started to gather on his belly. “Come here.” He urged her to come forward with his hoof.

“I`ll come over there when you´re dead.”

“Have I ever lied to you, Apple Bloom?”

“You´ve insulted me. You´ve tortured me. You´ve taken me to my breaking point and forced me keep going. You´ve done things to me I never believed a pony could to other ponies. You´ve given me the worst years of my life.”

Nightglade didn´t answer. He lay still on the ground, staring at the pale moon as streams of blood ran from his eyes. He blinked and a red coating covered his eyes.

Now Apple Bloom walked up to him. She looked down on him, stared deep into his green, bloodshot eyes.

He looked at her. “You´ll have far more years to come.” A sigh passed his lips and his eyes closed.

Author's Note

Phew. Sorry for taking so long. I´ve been rather busy and my proofreader works slower than me.

Hopefully you like these chapters.