Coagulation

Lazuli’s night was dreamless. She didn’t even relapse into her swirling cloud of darkness that she used to dream about – she just didn’t have any dreams. When she woke up, it felt like she had blinked, but things had visibly changed. The light shining in through the curtains was clearly daylight, though admittedly she wasn’t sure if it had been daylight before.

Her eyes might as well have been as grey as the hairs that had been creeping in on Flare’s mane. They held no energy at all, nor did the rest of her. She just hung there, trembling as she brought the memories of the previous night into the forefront of her mind.

Her jaw clenched…or at least it would have, if she could find any strength in her muscles anymore. She hadn’t been fed this entire time, only given a few sips of water, and right now she wasn’t sure if she could eat even if it were offered.

The door to the office was flung open and the lights turned on. “Gooooood morning!” Sanctuary called in a sing-song fashion, smiling brightly and drawing the curtains behind his desk open. The sky was clear, aside from a few clouds. “And good news! The blizzard is over, so that means we’re leaving.”

Lazuli didn’t say a word. She wasn’t sure she could. She just stared at him, unblinking.

“Oh come on now, are you still sad about that old guard? He was gonna die soon, anyway. How old was he…fifty-six? Practically on death’s doorstep!” Sanctuary laughed, but of course his captive didn’t join in.

“…hmph. Alright, fine.” He gripped the Dracony’s bindings with his magic, and let her fall to the ground. Normally-…no, she didn’t need to think about what she normally would have done, because there was no normality for her anymore. She just laid there in a heap, her broken wing painfully bent against her back.

Sanctuary stared down at her with his eyebrow raised. “Really? You can’t walk? Or is this just some kind of ruse that I’m not falling for?” He stared, waiting for a response.

None came besides a weak, pained grunt.

“How far the mighty have fallen…” Sanctuary chuckled and used his magic to drag Lazuli up by her tail, which at some point had been straightened and bandaged. She had no way of knowing if it was still broken, or if he had used his magic to fix it. “Well, let’s go then.” He got her to stand up, but she just toppled forward again.

His eyes fixated on her once again. “Are you serious? This is immature, Lazuli.”

The Dracony offered no reply, so the unicorn simply rolled his eyes and wrapped his magic completely around her. “Fine, then.” He began to carry her out of the room.

Now that the blizzard was over, searches had begun. Not just for Lazuli, of course – every time there was a blizzard, patrols were sent out to search for any ponies who had gotten lost or stuck outside, but there was a special squad of Honour Guards dispatched to look for the Dracony.

At this point, it was less of a personal interest and more of an effort to keep the integrity of the Equestrian monarchy in place. If Lazuli was not found, her existence would be revealed to all of Equestria – and while none would care if they simply saw her face, given that it had been almost half a year since she ‘died’ and most ponies had forgotten about her, the details of her crimes and her past execution would no doubt be included.

Tempest was not with the squad, though. She was out on her own. She hadn’t eaten in a few days now, and she hadn’t slept once. Her muscles were aching, but she wasn’t going to let herself rest until she found Lazuli or she keeled over from exhaustion…whichever came first.

As she trotted along the train tracks, her ears suddenly perked up. Her head shot to attention and she stood completely still, listening.

“Drop it, featherbrains!”

The voice was very faint. She could just barely hear it. Looking in the direction it came from, she saw an old building jutting above the treeline, sitting on a tall hill, about 200 metres into the woods.

“…that’s too conspicuous…” She thought to herself, but continued to listen.

“It’s not my fuckin’ fault she can’t walk!”

“Don’t you DARE talk to me like that.”

Tempest ground her hooves into the snow and began to gallop. At some point her scarf flew off her neck, but she wasn’t going to take the time to grab it again. Her horn crackled angrily as she bounded down the barely noticeable trail, hopping over frozen logs and patches of ice as she galloped in the direction of the voices.

As she got closer, one of the voices yelled something incoherent and the unmistakable sound of magic being discharged rebounded through the forest. With it came a pained cry, one that Tempest swore she knew.

“You dropped her.” Sanctuary growled, his eyes locking with the tall beige Pegasus in front of him.

“I didn’t mean nothin’ by it! She don’t walk straight!”

“You don’t THINK straight!” Sanctuary quipped, pushing the Pegasus back. “Just leave it. I said leave it.”

“Whatever you says, boss…” The Pegasus snorted and flew off to help prepare other supplies for transport.

Sanctuary adjusted his glasses and looked down at Lazuli, who was lying on the ground and wheezing.

“And you.” He snarled down at her, his horn lighting up with an angry golden flare. “Get up.” He zapped her with a bolt of energy to the chest, which made her cry out in pain.

“Shut your mouth and get up!” He wrapped his magical grip around her and began to drag her to her hooves. The Dracony tried her best to obey, but she stumbled and fell forward again.

Sanctuary took a deep breath, closing his eyes as his horn fizzled and cracked. “It has taken us thirty minutes just to get you out of the building. If you don’t pick your disgusting hybrid ass off the ground right now, I’m going to-“

“HEY!”

The unicorn’s head jerked up at the sound of a female voice cutting through the clearing. It probably wasn’t a great idea for him to look in that direction, given that he was immediately hit in the face by a round stone kicked by a very angry mare.

Sanctuary staggered backwards as the rock shattered his glasses and dazed him. He shook his head and fired a beam in the direction it had come from, but Tempest lunged forward and slid underneath it. She wrapped both hind legs around his neck, twisting her whole body around and slamming him into the ground. “Get…the fuck…away from her.” She panted, jumping to her hooves as the stallion lay groaning in the snow.

Lazuli couldn’t muster the energy to react. Her eyes managed to flick upwards and look at Tempest, who looked extremely tired but not nearly as much as her. “F…Fizzle…” She coughed, planting both front hooves on the ground and trying to stand up. Given a bit of time to, she managed to steady herself on all fours, but her hind legs were wobbling.

“Sweet Celestia, what did they do to you…?” Fizzle stepped forward, her metal-clad hooves tapping gently against the clean patches of dirt.

“Need…to…get out…” Lazuli muttered, her eyes fluttering and her body wobbling from side to side, stumbling a few times. “Get…Sanctuary…”

Tempest glanced at the unicorn on the ground, who was trying to stand himself up. “Him? He’s Sanctuary?”

“Don’t…” Lazuli flopped sideways and fell down, a painful cracking noise coming from her wing. Tempest winced and started to help her up.

“Hey, I know it’s hard but I need you to stand up…fuck, is there any food around-“

Tempest’s question was interrupted by a blast of golden magic striking her in the back. She squeaked and flew forward, slamming into a tree but shaking it off as quickly as she could. She spun around to face Sanctuary, barely managing to dodge out of the way as another beam hit the tree behind her.

Sanctuary stood there, panting and letting his broken glasses drop off of his face. “You…how did you find us?!”

“You were talking too loud.” Tempest said blankly, her eyes fixating on his. “Now do yourself a favour and give up before I break bones you didn’t even know you had.”

Sanctuary brushed his mane out of his face and snorted. He glanced up at Tempest’s horn, a slight chuckle escaping him. “Try me. A unicorn with a horn will always win.”

Tempest took his challenge and ran forward, weaving from side to side to avoid any shots he fired at her. His blasts nearly grazed her armour, but none hit. She threw herself at him, her armoured hoof colliding with the side of his face and knocking him flat on his rump.

“I said give up.”

“And I said try me.” Sanctuary grinned and jerked his head to the side, his horn flashing gold again.

Tempest had no time to react, for she had no idea there was anything to react to. The blasts she had just dodged spun themselves around in mid-air and twisted around her. Two of them hit her temples, one struck her in the chest and a final one worked under her stomach to knock the wind out of her and flip her over. Sanctuary locked a ring of energy around her front hoof, swinging her to the side and bashing her head up against another tree.

Tempest fell to the ground, her vision swimming and her head throbbing. Her armour had sustained the damage just fine, but her head had taken three heavy blows that made her feel ready to throw up. “Nngh…” She staggered to her hooves, leaning on the tree for support, but she wouldn’t be able to dodge again.

Lazuli watched all of this happen with wide eyes. She lay there on her side, mouth hanging open and her hooves weakly twitching. Her tail wiggled slightly, like a dying dog who was trying to greet its master. “F-…Fizzle…” She whimpered.

“Fizzle…” Sanctuary repeated, snickering a bit to himself. “That’s right, you got yourself a more fitting name.” He fired another bolt at Tempest, who was knocked back against the tree. She fell with her back facing it, coughing and struggling to stand again. “Though, I really do think Tempest suits you a lot better.” His magical grip took hold of her tail, tossing her across the clearing and letting her skid across the ground to land on her side, panting and still attempting to stand.

Sanctuary advanced towards her. “Your skills are reputable, I’ll say that much. I was actually a bit nervous when you showed up…but it looks like without those little stone balls of yours, you can’t do that much, can you? At least Lazuli here is resistant to this.” He fired another weaker bolt, this one striking Tempest in the chest and knocking her over when she tried to stand up.

“I’m very sorry to say this…” Sanctuary chuckled, his horn crackling and sparking with golden energy. “But it seems your journey was for nothing. I’ll dispose of you and take Lazuli to my home, and you will have died for nothing.” He lowered his head, horn pointed at Tempest.

“I apologize if this hurts. I’m not used to doing things myself.” Sanctuary released the magic he had built up in a thin but powerful beam, aimed straight at the battered unicorn.

Lazuli wasn’t exactly sure what her plan was, but she knew she couldn’t sit there and do nothing. When Sanctuary’s horn began to glow she forced herself to stand, every muscle in her body screaming at her and begging her not to. She staggered forward, unnoticed by the stallion completely unaware of her approach, or if he was aware, he didn’t care about a crippled mare trying to ruin the fun.

As she watched Sanctuary’s head lower, she did the only thing she could. Her tail weakly slid forward along the ground, managing to build up enough energy to flick heavily towards Sanctuary. A rock, kicked up by her tail’s movement, sailed through the air and smacked against the side of the unicorn’s head. It did very little, but it was enough to distract him. He abruptly turned his head and fired the beam at Lazuli.

The Dracony had no way to counter it. She let the blast of golden magic slam into her, sliding her across the dirt and and leaving her buried waist-deep in cold, admittedly soothing snow.

As he turned his head back to face Tempest, he realized she was far closer than she had been. In fact, her vision was obscured by a metallic surface for a millisecond before it slammed into his face, sending him sprawling on his back. Her horn crackled in its multicoloured fashion for a few seconds before she threw her head forward, electricity sparkling from the broken stump and jolting through Sanctuary’s body. The unicorn howled, but his horn quickly flashed and formed a barrier around his body, blocking her energy.

Sanctuary snorted. “A lucky shot. Took a surprise attack to give you an advantage.”

Tempest stayed silent and slowly advanced towards him. Sanctuary shrugged, his horn firing off a few more bolts.

Tempest’s steps were calm and slow, and when one of the bolts was about to hit her, a bright sparkle of electricity arced through the air and collided with it. “I might not be able to control my magic like you can…” Tempest grimaced, one of the bolts hitting her in the chest. “But I’m not about to let some fat, pompous unicorn like you make off with my friend.”

Lazuli weakly lifted her head out of the snow. Her vision was swimming, her muscles felt like they were on fire. “Fizz…” She wheezed, only to drop her head back down in the cool surface.

Tempest glanced at the Dracony in the snow, electrifying another bolt of magic. The closer she got, the more Sanctuary backed up. “I’m not letting you get off easy. Jail’s too good for you. A pony like you can just convince the guards to give you better accommodations or whatever.” She snorted angrily. “Lazuli killed the stallion who ruined her friends and family’s lives. Now I’m going to kill the one who’s trying to ruin mine.”

Sanctuary reared back to fire again, but Tempest wasn’t going to let him. She ran forward as fast as her sore limbs could carry her, ducking her head down and bringing it back up under his chin. Her broken horn pushed up against his jaw and sent waves of shimmering magical energy through the unicorn, who yowled in pain and tried to stagger back. Tempest put one of her front hooves on his chest, throwing him backwards.

Before he could stand up, she slammed one hoof down on his stomach. He tried to light up his horn to teleport or do something to defend himself, but Tempest brought another hoof down on his horn and began to painfully bend it backwards.

“You know something, ‘Sanctuary’?” Tempest smirked softly. “I care about as much about the Canterlot royalty as a bug does. But…” She glanced over at Lazuli, lying limply in the snow. “You messed with the only mare I’ve been able to comfortably call a friend.”

Sanctuary winced and writhed underneath her as his horn bent. The feeling wasn’t too dissimilar from having a bone pressed on…and as he felt a powerful ccrrrrck running through it, he started to panic. Golden energy seeped out of the cracks. “W-wait, stop!” He squeaked, his voice sounding almost feminine.

Tempest slowly increased the pressure. More cracks formed along the base of Sanctuary’s horn, the stallion now frantically kicking and squirming underneath her. An explosion of shimmering energy rippled out as she finally broke it loose, the dull popping noise only accompanied by a wail that echoed through the trees.

Tempest waited until he stopped screaming before fully severing the horn from his head, leaving the stump crackling and fizzling erratically. “You said a unicorn with a horn always wins. Well now neither of us has one.” She said bluntly. “So…”

The purple mare leaned her head down until her eyes were right in front of his, their cold gaze shooting daggers into his sockets. “Good luck now.” She pressed the broken stump of her own horn to his freshly snapped forehead, and another howl echoed through the forest.

To Lazuli, was over.

Not just her involvement with Sanctuary. “It” meant everything to do with her old life. As far as she was concerned, Sanctuary had been the last tie to her past self, and she had no intention of returning to it.

The patrols sent out by the princesses had eventually spotted them all lying in front of the abandoned asylum out in the middle of nowhere. Tempest was the only one awake. Lazuli was passed out next to her, and Sanctuary was…not dead, surprisingly. The unicorn had been shocked, beaten and broken within an inch of his life, but not killed. Tempest knew that was too good for him.

When the patrols reported to the princesses, they had a carriage sent for them. It took an hour to arrive, but when it did, Tempest and Lazuli were carefully loaded into it and Sanctuary was not-so-carefully taken away as well.

That was how Lazuli found herself back in Canterlot, standing in the throne room before the two princesses…again.

Her wing was stuck against her side, cast in plaster to help it heal. Her tail had somehow been healed as well, though if it was on account of Sanctuary or some kind of oddly fast Dracony healing factor wasn’t clear. Her fatigue was easily reduced by a proper sleep in a warm bed and a decent meal, something she hadn’t had in about four days. Her hind legs were back in their braces, but these ones were designed to handle a lot more stress.

Luna was the first one to speak when the throne room door shut. “…so…”

Celestia glanced at her sister, but decided to pick up for her. “We presume you will be happy to know that Blind Faith admitted to his guilt. He won’t be getting out of prison any time soon.”

“That means never, right?” Lazuli had a bandage wrapped around her head, not only on her forehead but covering her left eye. Her voice was abnormally quiet. “And…what about all of the hits he ordered from me? And-…” She choked up slightly, but swallowed to fix it. “And Flare’s death?”

“…yes.” Celestia nodded. “Though…as much as we do apologize for everything you’ve been through…this could have been avoided if you did not choose to leave the Crystal Empire on your own.”

Lazuli sat down. The princesses didn’t mind, knowing that standing was probably not comfortable for long periods of time. “I know.”

“…but?”

“But nothing. I was stupid.” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s my fault this happened. It…” She cleared her throat. “It’s my fault…”

“Not your fault exactly.” Luna chimed in. “It was just a poor decision.”

“A poor decision that nearly ruined the entire Equestrian government.”

“Weelll…”

“Ugh…” Lazuli leaned back, drawing in a breath. “If it wasn’t for Fizzlepop…I would’ve been solely responsible for you two losing power.”

Celestia frowned and glanced at Luna, who closed her eyes for a moment. “Lazuli, you’ve been through enough to last a mare a lifetime.” She opened her eyes again. “You’ve nearly died on multiple occasions in the last few months. You’ve done enough, and you’ve experienced enough.”

“So…?”

“So we want you to make the decision on what you do next. As far as you’ve told us, Sanctuary was your last real…enemy, in Equestria. The public has all but forgotten you as Dusk Rider. You may be able to start anew…for real.”

Lazuli’s expression hardly changed. “I wanted to ask you about something.”

The princesses exchanged worried looks.

“It’s about my brother.”

Luna grimaced a bit. “Right. I had expected this.”

“Where is he?”

Celestia winced in a similar way. “Well…it is a rather long story, Lazuli.” She looked to Luna for support, but she just shrugged.

“I just want to know where he is.”

“…well…after he was discharged from the guard…we actually have no idea.”

“Ah…”

“I do apologize, Lazuli. We were keeping a close eye on him when he was a guard, but…well…he disappeared.”

Lazuli abruptly stood up. “I know what I’m going to do then.”

“And that would be…?” Celestia inquired.

“I’m going back to Ponyville. At least until I’m back to some kind of normal shape…and then I’m going to find him.” She paused and looked at the ground. “Or…try to.”

Luna looked to her sister. The two of them stared for a few seconds, then looked back to Lazuli.

“Very well.” Celestia nodded solemnly. “If that is what you wish. I’m glad you’ve decided to return to Ponyville first, though. Your friends are worried about you.”

The Dracony nodded. “When can I leave?”

“As soon as we get an official statement from you on what happened. Then you’ll be a free mare, truly.”

“…no strings?”

“None.” Luna interjected. “Not a single one.”

“This sounds suspicious.”

“Well, even if we ask for your help…” Luna smiled softly. “You have the option to say no.”

Lazuli smirked back at the princess, then did her best impression of a bow that she could in her current condition. “Thank you.”

Both princesses giggled a bit. “Well, you should get some more rest. You’re still tired, I can tell.”

“Mmhm.” Lazuli nodded and started to walk out of the room, her hind legs clacking and clanking noisily with each movement.

“Oh, and Lazuli?” Luna called.

“Yeah?” The Dracony stopped at the door and glanced back.

“…” Luna sighed. “Try to have pleasant dreams for me to visit, yes?”

Lazuli held her gaze on Luna for a few seconds, then nodded with as much of a smile as she could manage. “I don’t think it’ll be too hard after this.”

She walked out of the throne room, and the doors magically shut behind her.