"Did he really have to hit me in the shin like that?"

"Hey, you're the one that pissed him off, not me. I told you to calm down but no, you decided that since you had Princess Luna in your court that you were untouchable."

"Hey! I did not think such thing, but having her vouch for me must mean something, especially to all of you."

Emerald shook her head. The two of them were currently walking away from the main tent considering Solaire and her Captain weren't exactly seeing eye to eye at the moment. "You don't get it. Day Guard isn't exactly fond of Luna. They might respect her, but it's only because they're forced to respect her. Buck, most of the damn towns in Equestria only see Celestia as the one true ruler. That in itself almost caused a civil-war to break out, but it was quelled without any media getting wind of it. I'm surprised things have gone this smoothly so far."

Solaire shrugged. He was holding his helmet in his left hand, stopping suddenly with his right hand on his hip. "So you're saying that your Captain has some sort of grudge against Princess Luna? That sounds quite harsh, especially since she's done quite an excellent job in ruling since she's come back. Or so I've heard."

Emerald nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she's done an excellent job. But that doesn't mean that grudges can be let go so easily. When Luna had turned into Nightmare Moon all those years ago, it left an everlasting effect on the entire world. Some ponies aren't so forgiving as others, and my Captain happens to be one of them. Does it bother me? Yes, it does. Especially since I've grown quite fond of Princess Luna over the years."

"Oh? Do tell." Solaire teased.

"Not like that you idiot. I'm a one-of-a-kind pony these days, but according to Luna there were dozens just like me, practicing all sorts of different magic and arts. Most unicorns in the military are able to do fire-spells and stuff like that, but I've got access to certain spells no pony knows how to do, and that's just off of intuition. It's not written anywhere or taught, and it made me feel out of place when I joined the guard and accidentally... blew up a building."

"Wow! I'm surprised they kept you after that."

Emerald nodded, this time looking at the floor. "Yeah well, you can thank Princess Luna for that. She was the one that vouched for me and began talking to me after that. Sharing Lunch was quite common with the Princess, and soon we were actually quite decent friends."

Solaire nodded, bringing his right hand up to his chin, lightly caressing the skin underneath. "Then... what about Celestia? She's seems more like the 'fire' type to me, and that seems like it would line right up with you!"

"That's what I thought too, but she's not exactly a great pony to talk to. She's a great ruler don't get me wrong, but she's always wearing a mask around everypony. She only ever talked to me a hooffull of types because I was different than anypony else. She felt obligated to."

Solaire nodded, sighing. "I know what you mean. My chats with the Solar Princess have been very interesting, and sometimes she seems so sad because our conversations at some point have to end, and she has to go back to ruling an entire kingdom with her mask on. She's spoken to me about it already and it deeply saddens me. Perhaps once we quell this rebellion, you can come back to Canterlot with me and I can introduce you to her. You'll meet Celestia, not Princess Celestia."

Emerald shrugged. "I... Guess I could do that. It's a bit strange for a soldier to already be conversing with one Princess though, and some ponies have already begun to think that that's the only reason I'm still here is because I have favoritism on my side."

Solaire waved a hand dismissively at her. "Bah, don't worry about such fools. They're just jealous that they don't get to talk to the two cute Princess' that order them around. Before we get further off topic however, I remember you saying you have a friend who was touched by the Darkwraith."

Emerald seemed to be snapped into attention and nodded eagerly, walking in the direction of the medical tent. "Yes, my friend Wild. You said there was no cure, right? I still refuse to believe that."

Solaire shrugged. "I don't know, like I said, there might be something here that could reverse the effects. But on my world, it's irreversible. It's a sad fate, and is only cured on my world by a blade. Darkwraiths are cursed creatures that come from the husk of man, and if the right conditions are in place, it will turn them into a Wraith. Eventually, through time, they find themselves becoming Darkwraiths, tormented souls trapped in a forever loop of hurting others and forcing them to succumb to their own fate."

Emerald got a shiver down her spine as he said that. "The more I hear you talk about your world the more happy I feel that I'm in this one and not that one."

Solaire chuckled, keeping up with her pace. "Hah, yes, I understand what you mean! When I arrived unexpectedly here, I was quite confused, but I found myself loving the lush colors and the happy cheery attitude of the world. Unlike my world, you can make a life here! My world isn't filled with such happy endings. In fact, I'm not sure if happy endings to exist in my world."

"Yet you sound so... jolly."

"Because the cooperation of others in my world is something that has always gave me faith in the people there. I felt as if, even though its a wretched dark place, it is filled with the light that is the souls of each being there. Those that are not foul, or Hollow, that is."

The two of them slowed down as they arrived at the front of the tent, Emerald pushing the curtains to the sides with her magic and allowing herself and Solaire inside. The tent was split into many segments. The first segment being at the front, filled with mattress' and other beds laid out on the floor. There wasn't much medical equipment in this segment, and it looked more like a sleeping area.

As the two of them moved forward still, they arrived at the second segment. This was where multiple proper beds laid, there being six in total. Three on the left, three on the right. Beside each bed sat a small drawer filled with medical supplies, though mostly things like bandages and such. Solaire stopped for just a moment to stare at the supplies themselves, finding himself a bit intrigued by some of the strange things.

They arrived at the third section, where Wild currently laid. There were twelve beds, six on each side of the tent, and they were bigger than the others. These beds each were connected to monitors, drawers with medical supplies, metal trays with wheels underneath with surgical supplies on top, and the floor was covered in a sterile tile.

Emerald slowly walked up beside Wild's sleeping body. "This is him."

Solaire hummed as he looked at the poor soul. "I'm a bit confused. Most victims of the Crimson Hand are left screaming until they die or go hollow, their throats usually becoming raw and they eventually spit out blood. Yet, he's not even opening his mouth. Are you sure he is not dead?"

Emerald looked at the monitor to see that it was showing steady heartbeats. "I'm sure of it. I told you we might have something that'll cure it."

At that moment, a pony nurse walked next to Emerald, seemingly checking the vitals of Wild. She was a brown coated pony with a white mane and tail, wearing a mask and a sterilized nurse outfit. "Not cured. Not yet, atleast. He kept screaming and it was waking other sleeping patients, so we had to move them to a separate tent until we got him under control. He's under sleeping meds, and he'll be out for a couple days. We're going to hook a feeding tube to him, but we don't have one. Luckily that supply wagon comes tomorrow and it has just what we need. Tomorrow we're also moving the rest of the patients back in.

"Usually I wouldn't allow visitors in this section, but considering there's nopony else it doesn't matter."

Solaire hummed some more, scratching underneath his chin. "How do his eyes look?"

"His eyes?" The nurse asked.

"Yes, his eyes." Solaire said with a nod.

The nurse shrugged. "They look fine to me, if only a bit more discolored than usual. We chalked it up to it being something to do with that creature that he encountered, but it didn't seem like it was causing any problems at all. Why do you ask?"

Solaire sighed, shaking his head. "Discoloration of the eyes is the beginning of a Husk. First, the eye color goes. Second, the color of your skin, or in this case fur disappears. After that, your body weight begins to diminish until you're nothing but tight skin and bones underneath. That's when you become a Husk."

Emerald gave him a concerned look. "A-Are you sure? And wait- what's the difference from a something becoming a 'Hollow' and a 'Husk'?"

Solaire walked to the other side of Wild's bed. "Well, a Husk is a tormented soul that is still living in pain. It sheds its physical appearance until it turns into a wisp-like form. Sometimes they stay like these and becomes ghosts of some sort. Or they take a darker path and turn into a Darkwraith. Hollows on the other hand are souls that have given up, and lost hope in their hearts. They've let depression, desperation, and loneliness conquer them. These turn into Hollow shells of their former selves, and continue in their physical bodies until they are put down forever."

The nurse simply stared at the two in confusion before turning directly to Solaire. "Well if you know how to cure this, I'd very much appreciate you telling me how."

Solaire shook his head. "I told Emerald earlier you can't cure this. And if you can, I don't know how. Right now this pony is a danger to everyone here and will continue to be as long as it's alive. I'm not saying to execute a fellow soldier, but instead to accept the consequences in case it should happen."

"I see... Well, I'll inform the Captain of this as soon as possible, but at the moment I have other patients to attend to. Don't stay in here for too long, I don't need either of you bringing something foul inside with you." The nurse said with a nod of her head, before she turned around and left the tent.

Emerald sighed. "I know you don't think there's a way to fix this, but I do! He's my friend, and I can't just let him die. Or turn into one of those things you just described. That's a fate worse than death!"

Solaire sighed sadly, looking her straight in the eyes. "Yes, it is a fate worse than death, and I've seen it happen countless times to my friends."

Emerald didn't move her eyes from him. "I'm sorry... That must've been... Well, awful."

"It was." He nodded, turning away from her and breaking eye contact to stare at the furthest wall of the tent. "Yet it's the reality I've had to come to accept in my world. Despite my jolly attitude, I usually am quite pessimistic. I'm constantly thinking of things that can go wrong, and always having to force myself to be outwardly happy. Truth be told, despite being in such a wonderful world as this, I don't think I can ever be happy."

Solaire couldn't see Emerald, but he could feel her still looking at him. "Why is that?"

"I've lost too many people that were close to me. I don't know my father or my mother, or if I was even born. Maybe I just started existing, or maybe I wasn't meant to exist. My poor friend, Siegmeyer, turned into a hollow and was put down by his own daughter for goodness sake! All because he felt he had no more purpose- and I was nearing that edge I must say. Yet I was pulled into this world before I could make any such consequential action."

"His own daughter?" Emerald commented. She audibly shivered.

"Yes, by his own daughter. And here I am, standing her perfectly fine while the rest of the good men and women in my world die to something needless! To something that shouldn't even be- a world with a dying sun and a dying flame, with leaders and gods that don't give a damn to those who suffer! A world in which questions are the only thing that propel you forward and answers are hardly given, in to which you constantly hurt yourself over the fact that there's nothing left in that wretched, cruel place!"

Emerald simply stared at him from behind, her ears splayed down to her head as he yelled. Not in fear, but in sadness.

Solaire sighed, still not turning to her. "If there even was such a thing as a kind lord or god, they would not have forced me to abandon the good souls of my world in favor of this one. Despite my happiness of being here, I do not feel like it is deserved. And I am tainting this world with my presence. The only thing that makes me somewhat happy is that I have found that the Sun is worth fighting for, and that is indeed real. With that I can die happy."

Emerald opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off. "Yet, I can't even die."

"What? What do you mean?" Emerald asked in obvious confusion.

Solaire turned to her. "If I die in this world, I have reason to believe I will arrive back in my old world. That is why I need your help, Emerald. I need your help to create a bonfire, a special tool used by the Undead to fuel their Estus and to bring themselves back in the event of their death."

"Bonfire- Estus- UNDEAD?! What?!"

"Oh, yes, I forgot to mention. I am an Undead."

"L-Like, like... zombie undead?!"

Solaire chuckled. "Oh heavens no! I am an Undead as in, I am unable to die. Unless I go Hollow."

Emerald shook her head. "You get more and more strange every second you go on about yourself or your world..."

Solaire smirked. "I will take that as a compliment."

Emerald shook her head again. "So... You need me to build this bonfire thing, and with that you can come back to life? And refill your Estus? Why do you need me specifically to do that- why don't you ask the Princess' to help you or something?"

Solaire glanced down at Wild once more before keeping his eyes on Emerald. "Because in my world, those bonfires were created by special Pyromancers, and no one else is able to create such a thing. I reasonably thought that it would translate to the same thing in this world, and it might just work. If you do this I will be able to forever help you and your kingdom with the troubles that plague you all. Whether it be rebels, terrible monsters or gigantic dragons, I will be able to fully help you without the consequence of losing myself."

"W-Well, I can't promise anything. Like I said, I don't even know how I'm able to do some of the Pyromancy stuff I'm able to do now. It's just intuition."

"Well, intuition is good. Perhaps it will guide you in the right way that will help me with what I need. Fate has its way, they say!"

Author's Note

Got a good ol' question for y'all.

Do you guys prefer the chapters from before that were quite long in length, that being from 5-9k, or do you prefer the quicker but shorter chapters like this one and the other ones that are 1-3k?

Let me know!