"What are you doing here!?" Twilight blurted out. "And why is that thing attacking you!?"

The pained expression on Leers faded slightly when he realized who addressed him. "Ah, princess!" he groaned through gritted teeth and squinted eyes. "How are things?" He received a glare that could bore a hole, though it stopped abruptly when the alicorn noticed a few things amiss on him.

"Y—Your foot, and your arm!" Twilight said, pointing a hoof at the aforementioned limbs. Leers raised an eyebrow before checking to see what concerned her.

His left shoulder had been dislocated, leaving the arm slumped more than it should, and his right foot was turned a bit too far to the right. "Oh," he said, now raising both eyebrows. He didn't know how hasn't seen it already, but now that he has, he was now more aware of his body's signals telling him to be more aware. "...Ouch."

Twilight caught herself staring, so she shook her head and returned to glaring at the human. "We'll fix you later, just answer my—"

A violent crackling pulled the alicorn's attention back to the golem and saw its arms generating electricity. Numerous arcs shot out of its icy chunks, discharging into the air, the ground, and the surrounding foliage. When the frequency of its arcs reached a peak, it pointed its palms at the two and unloaded the built-up energy into a single, massive bolt of lightning.

The bolt closed the distance in a near instant, followed by a thunderous kaboom that rattled eardrums and the surrounding trees. The other five elements, still dazed from their previous impacts, could do little besides shouting their friend's name.

Fortunately, Twilight's adrenaline was already pumping the second she saw the human.

Before it could strike, an angled barrier of pink magic materialized in front them. The bolt ricocheted off, shooting up into the atmosphere, where it promptly dissipated.

Leers looked at the sky and then at the alicorn, smiling when he saw her horn glowing. "Still the great pony that you are, I see," he said while nodding. The second her gaze shifted back to him, he allowed her a split-second to see the scowl on his face before turning towards the elemental.

As he picked himself up off the ground, a green glow surrounded the injured appendages.

The human drew a subtle, yet sharp breath as an acute, abrupt pain shot up both limbs. His arm extended straight out to the side, shaking slightly before being pulled back into his shoulder with an audible pop. His foot followed suit, although it trembled a bit more violently, and needed to snap back into position twice after the first jerk stopped just short of being right. Still, both appendages had been righted, and the only evidence of pain Leers showed was a few laborious breaths and a twitch of an eyelid.

The golem roared at the sight of the intruder getting back on his feet and responded by raising its hands and aiming them at him. From its main body, yellow arcs bounced out, jumping to and fro the floating bits of ice that hovered between the larger chunks, towards its hands. Upon reaching the appendage, the arcs made one more bounce into the icicles that were its fingers, being absorbed and coalescing into amorphous shapes appearing in the ice that fluctuated in brightness. When enough energy was collected, each one was then shot off, crackling through the air with short electric tails.

Once more, Twilight created another barrier, this time appearing as a solid, perpendicular square. The barrier was successful in shielding them from the volley; the shards embedding themselves into the wall, just short of hitting Leers. However, when the alicorn thought they were safe, the yellow shapes contained within each shard began trembling.

The energy held in the frost missiles were discharged, sending arcs across the visibly cracking barrier. Twilight grimaced as she could feel the damage done to their only form of defense transfer to her horn, like several needles poking into her head.

When the pain fizzled out, she cast a one-eyed glance to see if they were okay. While her barrier was littered with several holes, it was still holding up, but for how much longer, she wasn't sure. To her relief, Leers was also alright, though the thought of feeling as such annoyed her as well.

Before she could express her desire to do something about the immediate danger, she noticed that the immediate danger had regrown all its lost fingers. Said fingers were also charged, and presumably, about to be sent flying in their direction.

"Drop it," Leers said. Twilight looked up at the human in disbelief.

"What!? N—No!"

The second barrage collided with the barrier, and she flinched. Amidst the fractured webs on the translucent magenta wall, a tiny piece evaporated away, leaving an opening that was eye level with Leers. A single shard flew through the hole, no larger than a pen, but holding just as much destructive energy as any other shard.

The human was prepared, however, as the instant he saw the elemental through the crude peephole, he had put his right hand up a few inches from his face, fingers flared, and his palm exposed.

The shard pierced his flesh like a needle to a cloth, going halfway through his hand before it and the appendage glowed green. The ice missile froze, as if all the momentum it had just vanished, leaving it lodged in. Whatever energy was still in the shard seemed to be stuck too, as a blurry ball of yellow light buzzed and quivered excitedly inside. Droplets of blood began leaking through either side of the wound, yet Leers' blank expression didn't budge.

"Drop. It."

Twilight grit her teeth, wanting to protest against the very dumb and dangerous suggestion. However, whether it was the little fragment of hope telling her to trust him, or the inability to keep her hold on to the barrier any longer, her horn finally dimmed. As the unexploded shards that were stuck the barrier fell and clinked away, Leers put both his forearms up and tucked his head as close to his chest.

The next volley came without pause, pelting the human with an array of white knives. They punctured cloth and skin, cutting through his major muscles, with some even striking bone. Had the green glow not surrounded and stopped those shards too, they would've fried him from the inside out.

Barring his head and neck, nearly every inch of his body was embedded with buzzing shards of ice. He looked like a bloody pincushion, with 'bloody' being the keyword.

Falling on one knee, he failed to stifle a groan that Twilight caught. The alicorn quickly put up another, smaller barrier as her eyes bore into the human's back.

"Why didn't you get out of the way?" said the already frustrated princess.

Leers turned his head as little as he could so as not to move too many shards towards anything important. "You're welcome for taking that for you," he said in between heavy breaths. "And just to ease your little pony heart, this hurts just as much as I expected it too." He barely managed a smile, but Twilight was having none of it.

"Stop not taking this seriously!" she said.

"Oh? But I am, princess." Leers calmly set his gaze on the elemental with Twilight following it as best she could. "If you had only been paying attention..."

Before she could ask, a flock of mixed birds descended from the sky and swirled around the golem. The whirlwind of feathers angrily screeched as they viciously scratched and pecked the chunk of ice that was its head. Although their attacks hardly left any damage, they pestered it enough to drop its assault, using its hands to try and swat them away.

Twilight's magic faded, but the surprise in her face remained. Looking around, she saw that her friends were no longer where they were thrown back to. Instead, they had approached the elemental under the cover of the foliage, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack advancing on the right, and the others on the left.

"Nice job Fluttershy!" Pinkie cheered as she gave the pegasus a rough pat on the back. The yellow mare stumbled forward but managed to catch herself before she fell out of their bush.

"It's quite the distraction," Rarity added. "What ever did you do to make them attack in such a frenzy?"

"I didn't do much," Fluttershy said. "I warned the birds to run away, but they just got upset that something dangerous is so close to their nests."

"Well, you did a good job anyway," Pinkie said. "Now we can signal Applejack AND keep my pie that I was going to throw at it!" She then pulled out a pie from her mane and scarfed it down.

While her cheeks were still full of pastry, the element of laughter popped up from their hiding bush and frantically waved her forelegs in the air. A bush opposite to theirs rustled, and a pair of green eyes beneath a stetson peeked out of from the top and then promptly sank back down.

Applejack looked at her cyan friend hunkered beside her and gave her a nod. She replied with a smirk before they both jumped out of their cover.

Pulling out a lasso from her hat, Applejack spun it above her as she charged the golem. With a flick of her head, the rope was expertly thrown through the air, somehow avoiding the angry flock. It managed to loop itself around the golem's left hand, allowing the apple farmer to skid to a halt and keep her distance.

At the same time, Rarity gracefully leaped out of her bush, horn aglow. She cast her own magical tether, originating from the tip of her pearly focus and snaking its way over to the elemental. Just like her rustic friend, it quickly found its way around the other hand, tying itself into a cute little bow.

Seeing her friends doing work, Rainbow Dash swooped down at the icy monstrosity. Utilizing some tree bark, she pressed the wood against both sides of its head, allowing her to grab onto it without getting shocked. Together, the three of them pulled their respective ice chunks as far away from the main body as they could, leaving it wide open.

Leers drew a sharp breath and forced himself to stand again, causing his wounds to bleed a bit more as his muscles shifted.

"Stop moving," Twilight hissed. "Just lay down while me and the girls handle this." The human ignored her and ripped some cloth from the right sleeve of his polo.

The green glow around the pen sized icicle in his palm intensified. The shard budged half an inch out his palm before completely coming loose, leaving a tiny hole in his hand. Instead of falling to the ground, it flipped back into the nook of his index and thumb. It remained even as he flipped his hand around to wrap the wound up, as if it was stuck there.

"You might be wondering why I wanted to get stabbed by several ice shards," he said, flexing his fingers.

"No, I wasn't—"

"Let me tell you, firsthand..." Leers extended his right hand to the side, palm out. "Chucking branches at it isn't very effective."

The same glow holding the other shards scattered across his body gleamed a little brighter. Just like the icicle in his hand, they were pulled free, but didn't fall to the ground. Once out, they promptly flung themselves to the icicle between his fingers like a magnet. The ice merged together, becoming longer and more solid, ending in sharpened points. The energy trapped within each shard also combined, appearing as a long line of yellow running through it, and glowing much brighter.

When Leers had no more shards to give, he gripped the object in his hand and held it over his shoulder. "Now, this? This should do the trick," he said. He looked back over his shoulder, expecting her to look as annoyed ever, but instead got something much better; shock, and horror.

"Y... You've just opened up all your wounds..." Twilight said, scanning his person. The more she looked, the faster her eyes moved, and the more she realized just how bad of a shape he was. "Sweet Celestia, you're going to bleed out!"

Leers pressed his lips together. He had hoped she wouldn't notice.

Still, whether she did or not didn't matter as he was given a clear shot and was sure as hell not going to give that up.

Eyeing the elemental once more, he brought his left foot forward so that his torso turned a little to the side. He extended his left arm forward, hand facing outward so that he could see the golem's main body between his index and thumb. Lastly, he began leaning back into his right leg, even lifting his left so that all his weight was on one foot.

Then, before Twilight could make another remark, Leers looked back at her one more time. "Not before I do—"

"Graah! How much longer is Twilight going to take?" Rainbow Dash groaned, straining to keep her grip on both the wood and the golem's head. "Did she even notice us?" The elemental tried struggling free once more, which only caused the ponies to double down on their holds.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!" Rarity said. At that point, she had to keep her eyes shut and focus all her effort on keeping the tether intact. If Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy not have chosen to jump out of their bush and grab on to her, she would have easily been thrown around.

"Jush... a li'l... more!" Applejack could barely say through the lasso clenched tightly in her teeth.

After another second of constant pulling and pecking, the golem realized that it has had enough and began collecting the energy from its restrained body parts. A steady stream of yellow arcs jumped out of its head and hands, making their way to the torso through its collection of floating icicles. The more that its power was transferred, the brighter its main body became, and the weaker the other appendages got.

When all five ponies realized that the increased ease of their holds wasn't the cause of their alicorn friend's doing, they were too late. The elemental had released the stored the energy into a shockwave and were now getting a face full of it.

Ponies and birds alike were thrown back, all leaving a small trail of smoke from their singed fur and feathers. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity landed in their bush, their limbs strewn over each other, making them unable to get up. Rainbow Dash, after flailing uncontrollably through the air, fell through the roof of the forest canopy, crashing through several branches until one particularly large arm broke her fall, and maybe a rib. Lastly, Applejack had once again collided into another tree, but not before crashing through the trunk of two other trees, leaving Applejack shaped holes in each one.

While it was unable to reconnect with its now inert hands and was still returning the excess energy to its head, the golem had freed itself from its restraints. It roared another unnatural roar and turned its sights on the human, ready to finally smite the original intruder down.

"—this!"

Leers extended his left leg out, causing his weight to shift and making him fall forward. Just as his left foot touched down, he twisted his other foot straight, which in turn helped pushed his torso in the same direction. The rotation of his body tugged at his right shoulder, cuing him to bring his arm up and over, bending at the elbow prior to reaching the apex of the swing. Right before he would straighten out his arm to fling the overcharged spear and completing the throw, the green glow from his hand faded, and surrounded the rest of his arm instead.

Instantly, much faster than any human muscle could possibly move, the arm snapped forward, and the spear along with it. A miniature sonic boom occurred at his fingertips as the icy missile was launched out of his hands. It shot past any birds still in mid-fall, blowing them and whatever loose foliage away with the tremendous squall behind it. With no way to defend itself in time, the elemental braced itself.

The spear penetrated its hard torso with ease, having enough momentum to continue through and out its back, and only stopping halfway due to the lingering green glow. Once the glow disappeared, so did whatever cohesion the spear's individual shards had, as well as the force keeping their energy contained.

The elemental staggered backwards, now having to manage the massive fluctuations caused by the stored energy being unleashed in itself. It tried transferring the excess energy into its head and the surrounding icicles, but that only managed to overload them as well, causing them to burst, and leaving its torso as the last remaining piece of itself.

Unable to manage it all, large cracks began to form all over its icy body. Yellow light and electric arcs escaped out each crevice, crackling and fizzing away shortly after. When the elemental became nothing but cracks leaking energy, it erupted into a brief, but intense explosion of light and frozen debris.

With a satisfied sigh, Leers straightened up and turned around to face the princess. He brought his left hand up to his forehead and saluted her with two fingers.

Twilight's left eyelid twitched. Finally taking the moment to stand, she glared at the human as her mouth opened, ready to drop the most intense scolding she's ever given.

She didn't, however, because when she lifted a forehoof to help emphasize her point, she saw the damage done on Leer's right arm. The bigger muscles were strewn with bleeding stretch marks, and red silhouettes outlined the blood vessels on his forearm. The skin and underlying tissues of his inner elbow had been torn while the joint itself seemed like it was about to come loose. And the human's only reaction was to give Twilight the same dumb smile that always pestered her.

Leers saw her gasp through his fading vision, and just as she began gesturing to his arm, saying words that he couldn't hear, his balance gave way and the whole world fell to the side.

Author's Note

I think I'm doing something, but I don't know what I'm doing.