Coagulation

Lazuli opened her eyes and watched as a spinning blade sailed towards her. She easily leapt up, not a single hair being grazed by its sharp edge as it harmlessly clanged against the wall behind her.

“Not bad, Laz.” Came Shining Armour’s voice, the unicorn levitating a clipboard in front of him and checking off a few spots. “Three seconds off your last time.”

“I still don’t understand how you can have different records when the blades are being fired at the same time.”

“It’s all about how long it takes each blade to hit the wall.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Pfft.” Shining snickered and bumped the Dracony with his hip.

Lazuli bumped him back, shaking her head. “Can we stop now? We’ve been at it for like…two hours.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want you to be tired, would we?”

“Erm…was…that supposed to imply something, or…?”

Shining whistled casually. “Nothing.”

“You are a terrible liar.”

Shining nibbled his lip and smirked at her. “Weeeelll…it’s not that much of a surprise, but…” He turned around and began to walk away. “Here, follow me.”

“Kay…this better not be some kind of elaborate joke.”

The two ponies of similar colour schemes slowly trotted through the long, empty halls of the barracks. “Where is everyone, anyway?”

“Around~” Shining said slowly, glancing over his shoulder at Laz.

“You’re planning something, and I don’t like it.”

“Well you should!”

“I don’t, though.”

“That’s just because you haven’t seen it.”

“…I mean…yeah?”

Eventually they reached the end of the hall, and Shining pushed open the door. It was pitch black inside. “Yeah, this is sketchy…” Lazuli glanced at him.

“Go on. I promise it’s safe.”

“…I swear if I get water dumped on me…”

Lazuli slowly walked forward, her eyes scanning the area. While she normally did have a limited sort of night-vision, it took a few seconds to adjust…

Not that it needed to. The lights flew on, and suddenly she was met with a few dozen smiling faces, guards both out of armour and in uniform popping up from behind various furniture as confetti showered down. Even before they opened their mouths she knew what they would say.

“SURPRISE!”

The Dracony’s face turned bright red, especially as she noticed the banner hanging over the table in the center of the room. It read, in bright blue lettering, Happy Birthday, Lazuli!

This was nothing uncommon. Usually when a guard had their birthday they would throw a party. But even so…Lazuli found herself tearing up a little. “D-Damnit, you guys…” She smiled warmly, and Shining put a leg around her.

“Hey, it’s okay! Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have made it a surprise…but still, everyone’s here! Even Topaz.”

“Wh- uh…did you say Topaz?”

Shining frowned and looked down at her. “Yeah, of course. Why would he miss your birthday? He’s your brother.”

“…T-…” She started scanning the room. “T-Top…Topaz…?”

“He’s right there.” Shining pointed at an empty space in the middle of the line of guards smiling at her.

“What…wh-what…kind of…”

Then the world collapsed again. Walls fell down on top of her, the floor caved out from under her and she was falling into a world of inky, flowing darkness that engulfed her entire being and smothered her into unconsciousness.

Lazuli’s eyes shot open, a gasp filling her lungs with blissfully warm air. Her first instinct was to stand, but she found that wasn’t an option. Her back was pressed against a wall, her front legs splayed out on either side of her and tied in place. Her hind legs were in a similar position, spread slightly apart and strapped to the wall. Her tail was between them, folded over one of her hind legs and strapped in the same way. She could wiggle her wings, but with her body up against the wall like this, she couldn’t do much with them.

She could move her head, so she quickly glanced around the room she was in. It was surprisingly comfortable looking. Walls that were some sort of wood…mahogany, she believed, and furnishings that looked old but still glamourous.

And then, at the other end of the room, a desk.

A desk with a blonde unicorn sitting in it, resting his head on his hooves and letting his bright green eyes glare at her.

Lazuli frowned, letting her gaze meet his. “Well hi there.” She watched his eyes flash golden as he brought his hooves down, as if trying to read her expression.

“You’re awake.” He replied.

“Yep.” She cleared her throat. It didn’t feel dry…so why was her voice so quiet?

“Nervous?”

“N-…” She paused and cleared her throat again. “N…no.”

“Well I might say the stammering is an instant yes.” The unicorn carried himself a lot lighter than before, and his southern accent was more pronounced. Blind Faith stood up, stretching himself out. He was wearing his beige suit again, adjusting his glasses with his magic.

Lazuli pulled against her bonds, but they were made of what looked to be tough leather, and she had barely any strength anyway. Though, she could feel she had more than before…

“So what do you want?” Lazuli tried to get rid of the shakiness in her voice. Normally, she knew she had the situation under control. But now she wasn’t so sure. No one knew where she was. No one had any idea she was here, even she didn’t know what this place was.

“I just need y’all here for a while...” He waved a hoof dismissively. “I’m still gettin’ my letters to the princesses all set.”

Faith – or as Lazuli liked to think of him as now, Sanctuary – stepped forward until he was right in front of the mare, whose head was at his level. “Ya know, I really do find it funny how you thought I was pretendin’ to be who I said I was. It made the whole thing so much easier…”

Lazuli grimaced a bit as he came closer, the slight tilt that her head gave betraying her nerves. “You know the princesses won’t give in to blackmail. Even if the public knows, they’ll just say I was craftier than they thought and I escaped.”

“I doubt it, but keep yourself hopin’.” Sanctuary chuckled and ran a hoof down her cheek. “It’s a good thought to keep your spirits up. Not that I give a draft horse’s ass how high they are.”

He tapped his chin. “In fact…”

His horn lit up, and Lazuli felt one of her wings enveloped in his magical grip, slowly unfurled from behind her. “W-wait, how are you-“

“Y’all Draconies might be resistant to magic, but the space around you ain’t. All I have to do is use my magic to make a barrier around one of your parts, and…”

CRRRRNCH.

At first, Lazuli didn’t realize what the sound was – and then the pain hit her. Like a wave it rippled through her body, her wing folding over ten times more than it was supposed to. The bones, which had only recently completed the healing process, were reduced to splintered shards as Sanctuary crushed it in his magic, his glasses glinting slightly in his own magical aura and his pure white teeth glistening with his annoyingly cocky grin.

Lazuli winced, but tried not to show how much it hurt. Still, her sharp hiss was more than audible, and Sanctuary’s grin at its emission made her sick to her stomach. “Y-you…fucking asshole…” She wheezed, a yelp escaping her when his magic crunched tighter, reducing her wing to a crumpled ball before releasing and letting it hang limply at her side.

Sanctuary rolled his eyes. “That’s just a bit of fun, come on now.” He chuckled. “I’m sure ya’ve had worse, so turn that scowl rightside up and keep yourself sad, okay? Looks extra convincing that way. Imagine how ponies’ll react when I’m the one who caught ya…”

“F-fuck off…” Lazuli muttered, but her cursing simply earned her another magically-induced squeeze, this time around the spade of her tail. She howled out loud as it was bent 90 degrees sideways, the bone snapping clean in half and earning a screech of agony that made Sanctuary briefly cover his ears.

“Whoo-ie. Sensitive spot, hm? I’ll need to keep that in mind…” He slowly trotted past her, snickering to himself and throwing open the door. As he walked out, he shut it behind her, leaving Lazuli on the wall with tears dripping down her cheeks.

The blizzard was nearing its end. Tempest could feel it. The winds were less harsh, and the snow had lessened to the point she could actually see where she was going. Every step had her hooves trudging through a foot-deep layer of the cold white substance she was so familiar with, her eyes scanning everything in her field of vision at all times. She became bolder as the wind lessened, her occasional recitations of Lazuli’s name echoing through the forest.

She had been walking for at least a day now, and she couldn’t see Ponyville at all. She knew she was on top of a small mountain now, but even when she looked back all she saw was winding forests and train tracks. It occurred to her that, if she were to find Lazuli, she might not even be able to get her back…

No, that’s not an option. Tempest thought to herself. She was going to get her back.

Even if she didn’t have a horn that let her contact anyone if she needed help…

She kept walking.

And walking.

And walking.

Her walking was occasionally broken up by a brisk trot.

Sometimes a call for Lazuli. But there was never a reply.

Ever since she encountered the last stallion in the blizzard, she hadn’t seen anypony at all. She was worried. If they were looking for her too, they wouldn’t have just stopped. She only hoped they hadn’t found her…if they had, she’d never get to where they were, unless they had also been caught in the storm and found a temporary place to stay.

Stop thinking negative. She told herself. You’ll find her. Friendship and all that.

Lazuli was, admittedly, the only mare that Tempest could legitimately call a good friend. The others in Ponyville were nice, and she liked them all, but she could never talk to him the same way she talked to Lazuli. The Dracony knew exactly what to say, and the two of them often spent hours every night just talking about whatever came to mind. In ever sense of the word, Lazuli was Tempest’s friend, and she wasn’t about to let her down.

“Don’t worry, my little reptile.” Sanctuary smirked, staring into the exhausted Dracony’s eyes. Again, Lazuli’s eyes had gone slightly grey, bags forming underneath them and it appeared she couldn’t muster the strength to be angry anymore. “This little place’s only a temporary...accommodation. We’ll be heading for the East soon. I have my real base of operations there.”

“…mhm…” Lazuli nodded tiredly, her muscles not even trying to hold her up anymore. Her body sagged forward a bit, her bonds holding her to the wall.

Sanctuary frowned and put a hoof under her chin, lifting her head up. “Well this is just dull of ya, Lazuli. ‘S been two days, and you’re already like this? Don’t tell me ya’ve given up…”

“Fuck off…”

“You have, haven’t you?” Sanctuary took off his glasses. “What a shame. I was hoping you’d at least have a bit of fight left in you when I took care of this…”

Lazuli was curious to see what he meant, though she had no way of showing it. She managed to keep her head lifted as he opened the door with magic.

Two stallions strode in with someone between them. Both of the ‘guards’ were grey with silver manes. One was a Pegasus, the other a unicorn.

As they turned to face Sanctuary, Lazuli saw who was between them. Something about him looked familiar…his mane was greying at the base, but it was very clearly a mix of orange and light yellow. At one point, they had likely been as fiery as his orange eyes. His fur was white, contrasting his other colours.

Sanctuary smirked and waved for the two stallions to move back. The unicorn stood there in front of the much more pristine and clean Sanctuary, glaring at him with a mixture of anger and pain.

“What’s your name, my fine horned friend?” Sanctuary asked. He stood beside the stallion, putting a hoof around him. The stallion’s front and hind legs were tied, and his horn was covered with a wrap that blocked magic.

“…” The unicorn seemed reluctant to speak, but when he did, Lazuli recognized his voice faster than his name. “…Flare.” He said slowly.

Sanctuary smiled. “What a positively fitting name! Now, Lazuli, this unicorn right here was the one that’d been set to escort you to Ponyville. What a dashing stallion he is, hm?”

“…F-Flare…?” Lazuli said slowly. Her mind struggled to form the connections it needed to, but she could already imagine that young stallion she had met on that hot summer’s day in her home town…

“…wait…” Flare’s eyes lit up and he shuffled forward a bit. “L-Lazuli…?”

“You remember me?” Lazuli’s fatigue seemed to be forgotten, her eyes lighting up in a similar way.

“How couldn’t I? You were the only lively foal in that town…”

Sanctuary raised an eyebrow, then slowly let his lips curl into a smirk. “So you two know each other? Well that’s just peaches!” He clapped his hooves. “This is just a happy little reunion, ain’t it?”

“Let him go.” Lazuli tried to adopt her intimidating voice, but it wasn’t nearly as effective as it normally would be. “He hasn’t done anything.”

“But surely…” Sanctuary’s horn lit up, dragging a sharpened knife off of his desk and pressing it up against Flare’s throat. The older stallion visibly tensed. “You would want a colt like him dead, eh? He was one of the ponies who forced your kind to endure such horrible treatment!”

The Dracony’s head shot up fully. “No!” She said in a voice that betrayed her attachment. “Don’t, he didn’t do anything! He was the only one who didn’t!”

“Well I simply can’t allow such a morally corrupted stallion to live, can I?” Sanctuary frowned and looked Flare in the eyes. “I do hope ya understand. This is just a bit of…business.”

Sanctuary raised one of his hooves and brought it down on Flare’s head. The stallion – who in Lazuli’s eyes was ten times the stallion Sanctuary was – howled as it collided with the base of his horn, a loud SNAP accompanied by several powerful crackles and pulses of magical energy that scorched the ground before the horn, and the wrappings around it, fell to the floor. Flare was soon to follow, wailing and trying desperately to lift his hooves high enough to clutch at the stump of his horn, still crackling bright yellow.

Lazuli was starting to shake now. Her hooves yanked and tugged at her bonds. “N-no! Stop it!” Her voice went from serious to pleading, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “He hasn’t done anything! H-he- he doesn’t deserve this! He’s not a part of this!”

“It’s up to me who’s part of this, Laz.” Sanctuary’s magic gripped Flare’s mane and yanked his head up, exposing his neck. At the same time, Lazuli’s head was locked in place, forced to watch as the stronger unicorn pinned the writhing, sobbing older stallion to the ground and levitated the knife closer.

The Dracony strapped to the wall was crying now. She felt like she was watching the final memory of her foalhood disappear. “S-stop! STOP IT!” She begged, struggling to pull herself loose, but she knew she couldn’t do anything even if she broke free. “P-please, stop! Let him go!”

Sanctuary ignored her entirely. Lazuli was forced to watch, her eyes not even able to close as the blade dragged itself across Flare’s skin. The unicorn tried to scream, the sound bubbling up in his throat but failing to make its exit. Instead blood bubbled out of the cut that Sanctuary made, Flare struggling and trying to grasp at his neck to stop the bleeding.

“NO!” Lazuli cried out, and she watched Sanctuary’s smirk just widen at her exclamation.

“Ssshhhhh…” Sanctuary murmured softly, putting a hoof on the other stallion’s lips.

Lazuli was sobbing full-force now, tears running down her face like miniature rivers. The water splashed down on the floor below, her chest heaving and her teeth grinding together as she attempted to regain enough composure to speak. “Y-you…you…”

“Me?~” Sanctuary chuckled and stood up. The two stallions who had brought Flare in waited until his movements ceased before starting to gather up his body. The unicorn returned his blood-soaked knife to its place on his desk.

“Y-you…b-…b-bastard…” Lazuli wanted to scream, but she couldn’t find her voice. She was so exhausted, both physically and emotionally, that a scream wasn’t possible.

Sanctuary ran a hoof through Lazuli’s mane. “Aww…did the Dracony have a friend in that stallion, still?” His voice was cold and heartless, no longer carrying the same eloquence and charm it did before. “Well too bad. ‘Cause soon, everypony’s going to know that you’re still alive…and they ain’t gonna want it to stay that way.” He pushed her head back with his hoof, slamming it against the wall. Stars swam in front of her vision, slowly following Sanctuary’s flanks as he stepped out of the room again.

She slumped forward, tears still dribbling down her chin. Her eyes gently slid shut, and her body mercifully allowed her to drift off.