…
Tinkle. Ks-s. Tinkle. Ks-s. Tinkle. Ks-s-s. Throat is in pain, damn it… Tinkle. Ks-s. Tinkle. Ks-s-s. The bent, rusty candelabra, floating in a cloud of my magic, bumped rhythmically against the stone wall, which I stared dumbly into, and slid sideways, scraping against the stones. Tinkle. Ks-s. Where did it even come from? Nah, it doesn’t matter anyway… “N-nightmare…” Here this bastard is. What else do you want from me?! Don’t looking, I tossed the iron thing behind, at sound. Tinkle! Miss. Damn it. “Nightmare, how are you?” Turning around wordlessly and stopping my long gaze at Luna, I turned to the wall again. Pathetic… Couldn’t even kill her. Couldn’t even with emotions, and now it’s a lost cause!.. And instead of getting a grip and… Don’t know… Finding a damn solution — just went into hysteria! Shame, nothing more… I could do nothing. Nothing. “Can I?..” “Get lost!” I turned around with a jerk. Luna’s quiet voice, which was coming closer cautiously, got me angry in a moment. “Do you hear me?! Go away now!!! Leave me a… Alone!” My voice treacherously trembled, and tears began to form in my eyes again, which only made me angrier… but I didn’t have the strength to be angry anymore. I didn’t have the strength for anything… Why?! Why me?! Why it put exactly me here?!.. Why Luna left me?! Why chases and wants to destroy me?.. Why isn’t everyone I could have counted on around here anymore?!… Why I can’t do anything?! I just want to go home… You wish — there’s no home left. There’s nothing left… “Who would I be if I leave you again?” Princess whispered, coming closer instead. I hastened to look away. There’s nowhere lower to fall, but letting her also see my tears… “In the recent day I felt, that my whole life is one big mistake.” Sighing, Luna started to speak quietly. “Worthless Princess, awful sister…V… Vile t-traitor…” Sighing brokenly, she went silenced. Yeah, very good for you. And? I panted a wry smirk through tears. “And… And now…” The blue one worked up the courage. “I decided, that I have to do something right in my life… At least earn your and Tia’s forgiveness for all the evil I have done…” “Want a forgiveness — go back six hundred years! You won’t earn it here!” Finally dashing the liquid from my face, I found the strength to chuckle unfriendly. “But you… You still spared my life, Nightmare. It means… Maybe it’s not a lost cause for me.” “But it is for me!” I answered against my own will for some reason. “I got tail down and didn’t strike! What now? More of your nightmares every night, until I, to your delight, jump under the train? Or wait for you thestrals, which will cut my throat open at night?” However… Does it even matter? I… I don’t know. Why should I keep trying to find a place in the Sun in a world where the Sun is as sham as the local “friendship”? “W…What?!..” Luna twitched behind me, slipping and groaning from pain. “I’m not!.. Oh… But…” She silenced for a moment to freeze nearby with a noisy exhale, almost touching me. Hey… Have been in that body for so long — and didn’t know, that ears turn to the sound. “I didn’t… I didn’t do and didn’t want that, Nightmare!” The blue one broke the hung silence. “The thestrals wouldn’t dare hurt any of the Great Mother’s hypostasis, and I’ve lost my talent for dream-walking… I didn’t think it was even possible, but…” Luna sighed again. “I suppose the Elements of Harmony deemed me unworthy of this gift and… And, as my sister thinks, passed it on… passed it on to you.” Now she’s going to tell me that all these horrors I’ve been dreaming about are also part of the “gift”. And she, of course, had nothing to do with it, yes… “No, I… I haven’t lost my skills.” She admitted. “But… What I could do with a flick of my tail before, I can barely do now… I’ve… I’ve had nightmares lately, too, and I couldn’t even protect myself completely from them…” Good for you. Again. “I saw myself leaving you alone on the Moon… Time after time… And… I couldn’t stop it, no matter how hard I tried…” Luna sighed, and stopped talking sharply. Are you playing with me… Or… Or not?.. However, it doesn’t matter. I’m tired of everything. “I-I… I-I really… I… I’m infinitely sorry, Nightmare… Maybe I…?… Oh, if only I could do something about it!..” Luna stopped short, not being able to hold a sob. “Too late.” I stated gloomily, turning around and getting the alicorn out of the way, coming towards the exit from the destroyed room. There’s not even a bit of the desire to stay here more. There is, blue one, an expression, that ponies will not understand for lack of the right words in the language: “You can’t put the stuffing back through the meat grinder.” “Live, you bastard, since I’m too weak and cowardly to kill a defenseless one. If you really have a shred of conscience left, I hope it will avenge you for me!” Stopping at the doorway, I dropped for the last, not turning around. And if there’s none left — you’ll get rid of me, of Tia… Doesn’t matter. Not for the first time, but Tia… After the hysteria, the bubbling rage wore off, leaving a bitter sadness, resentment, and a kind of indifferent stupefaction. I didn’t want revenge. I didn’t want to fight. I didn’t want anything. I just wanted to say fuck all and be alone… In darkness and chillness… “N-nightmare, wait!..” Shit. “What?!” I don’t know why, but I turned around for some reason. The glaive was floating near Luna. So this is how it is, yeah?.. “You… Here, take it.” She twirled her weapon elegantly, pointing it at the floor, and suddenly handed the glaive to me. “And… I’m thankful for this second chance. I didn’t earn it.” Luna imitated an awkward bow, moaning from the pain for a moment. Giving the blue one a long stare, I took the weapon and, turning around, started to go further. Idiot! How could you forget it!.. But still… I don’t understand. “Why didn’t you attack?” I couldn’t stand it, so I turned back to Luna, staring me after with a wistful gaze of her tear-stained eyes. “For what?” She asked simply in answer. To get rid of the threat! “To fix” “the mistakes” of the past! And then!.. What “then”? If she wanted to get rid of me that badly, she would have hit me. Or she’d just call her sister to watch, and she’d turn me into a pile of ashes the moment I put the blade over Luna. Yeah, Tia, as a matter of fact, can still do this thing… For threatening a Princess and stuff… Shit… However… I don’t give a fuck, honestly. I’ll just tell Scootaloo, that it’s okay with Bulk — I promised after all. Let at least this kiddo have a normal life in this stupid Equestria… “The only normal pony”, heh… I’ll gift her my helmet, as a tribute. And then I can even vaporize — there’s nothing to do left. And Luna… “For what, you ask? Do you even need a reason to stab in the back?” I chuckled gloomily, noting with mischievous pleasure the blue one’s twitching as if she was slapped in the face. I turned and headed down the corridor, glaring at the despondent Alicorn one last time. She does seem to have some remnants of conscience, m?.. Well… If she does, and if I’m not wrong, then her life itself will be the best punishment for her. Not the revenge I was counting for, but… It’s better than nothing, right? With a wry smile on my face, I stepped over the shattered wreckage of the monumental front door and out into the night.…
I walked on the damp ground, inhaling the scents of the forest after the rain — a little stuffy because of the lack of wind, the cool, damp air carrying hints of grass and flowers. However, no matter how hard I tried to put everything — anything — out of my mind and just not think about anything, the thoughts kept creeping into my head. One thought, if to be precise: “Why?” Why couldn’t I kill Luna and why she didn’t take advantage of that? I… I always thought, that revenge is… I don’t know, silly? You get hurt, you hurt back — and who gets the good? No one. I was already through this — and what? And nothing, damn it! “Revenge is a dish, best served cold” — is it? You can serve it cold, hot, even with beer — it still tastes like… Like emptiness and disappointment. I chuckled in a sad tone. Yeah… It’s all good and stuff, but the revenge is not on the first place. For the starters — Luna was going to kill me! This is why… What “why”? I froze mid-step and, lagging for a few seconds, exhaled slowly, finally lowering the risen leg. Could have Luna killed me? Piece of cake, a dozen of different ways! I was going to a dead end, not counting on getting alive from the castle. I was not going to win over Luna! And the conclusion is pretty simple: if she had wanted to — I wouldn’t have left the place. And wouldn’t have even got there. She should have sent a bomb instead of the glaive, so that they had to scrape me off the walls… But she didn’t it. She came where she was told to. Alone. And all this time she was just… Begging for forgiveness?… And I, as it turns out?… Stop, not about it anymore! I shook head evilly, chasing the thoughts away furiously. “I have a problem, by the way! And the magnitude of this problem is greater than expected… Damned downpour!” I looked at the rushing stream, realizing, that with these thoughts in mind, I, somehow, got to the river and made it to the shore without noting that. Yeah… In the afternoon it was about half as long and significantly calmer — I trivially used my telekinesis and tossed my armor and stuff to the opposite side, and then swam over myself. Why did I even bring the bags? Habit, damn it …I had to pick up some scattered coins and look for a shoe, that had flown into the bushes, but that was the end of the problem. Now it’s different… However, after walking along the shore, I considered my first impression somewhat exaggerated: I could probably get my things to the other side, and wings would help me with the dangerous-looking current. There was no wind, and I could fly farther. I’ll do it. I had only one small problem with flying: I somehow happened to know how to land only on water. I was used to just breaking my trajectory when I wanted to interrupt my flight and falling into the lake with a spectacular splash, damn it… I stared thoughtfully at the river, rumbling in front of me. I didn’t want to fall into the turbulent stream with a strong current and an unfamiliar depth at all. I’ll get caught in some trash on the bottom, or get tangled in some algae and drown for fucking good… I would have to land somehow. I mused about it, trying to think of something that would help… so that the next moment I could turn around and raise my weapon, when I heard a sound of erratic footsteps behind me. Luna. Alicorn limped closer, glancing at me, and leaned her shoulder tiredly against a tree, resting her wounded leg. The blue one looked… Exhausted. She had bags under her eyes, her mane was tangled and sticky, “decorated” with branches and other debris, and her left leg was bleeding from shoulder to hoof, and it looked like it wasn’t going to stop. Not an enemy. I think she’ll kick the bucket by herself soon… “What are you doing here?” I asked slowly and grimly, as I lowered the glaive. “Following you.” Luna answered after a moment of hesitation, restoring breath. “I… I don’t remember the way well.” She added shyly after a few seconds and looked away. Slowing, I turned around, waving away in thoughts. She got here — I don’t care… There wasn’t neither strength nor, honestly, will to chase here away. Only a will to get to a dark dusty corner, where no one can touch me, hide there and fall asleep. So… “Nightmare!” I flinched, when a sudden call snapped me out of my thoughts. “I… I know how this is going to sound.” The blue one sighed, uncertain as she continued to capture my attention. “And it’s embarrassing for Us… I mean, it’s embarrassing for me…” The nervous alicorn corrected herself hastily. “Do me a favor: don’t waste my time with these antics!” I spit out evilly and, looking at the shy horse with an angry stare, looked away and moved towards the river. Hearing her words isn’t in… “I need your help!” I stumbled in the next step and, regaining my balance, turned around again with a jerk. What?! He-e-lp?! I… You are!.. How dare you?! Rage inside started to burn, demanding to say something, but I couldn’t even find the words for it. Yes!.. Yes, she!.. “Nightmare, please, listen to me!” Luna blurted out hurriedly, shuddering slightly under my frantic gaze. “I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but… I’m afraid Our health… Mine… I… I can’t cross the river myself. Please, I beg your help — and I dare not ask for more.” She bowed her head. I let the air out slowly and hissed through my teeth, trying to calm myself down. Took a few deep breaths. “I assure you, We… I’ll find something to thank you for!” She interrupted my silence shyly. “Thank me”, huh?.. “For what?” I spit out evilly. “I don’t need anything from you! Especially since these are just words that you will forget as soon as it benefits you to forget them! Benefit — creating some Nightmare Moon for fighting Celestia. Now it’s not — you tossed her away, as… As…” Not finding a comparison, I waved away angrily. “Now it was to your advantage to not show up as one who has strength and to not kill me, so that you could kill Celestia, who had forgotten all about you, and have someone to blame, right?” “Kill?! Blame?!… Nightmare!… But!..” The absolutely confused alicorn looked at me in horror, her ears pressed against her head. “What “but”? You were the meaning of my life!” I pointed my glaive angrily in her direction. “The ultimate truth! You were everything, Luna! You were a whole world!!! And I was nothing for you!… I don’t believe a word you say! And won’t, you hear?! If you get lost — that’s right! Get away from here!” Turning around, I made a few steps towards the river’s way — and, dropping the weapon onto the ground, sat on grass. My eyes were stinging and burning, a nasty lump stuck in the throat, head was under control of a ringing emptiness, with occasional thoughts racing through it. Not everything was said in the castle, not everything… I couldn’t hold it… And spoke as Nightmare Moon again. Do I care, though… I shut eyes limply. Cold, tired, hungry… I wish I could go home now… Home, where end is decided… I’m so sick and tired of everything here… Maybe… maybe just don’t go anywhere, that’s all…? For what? Who needs it? Me? For what? Why would I go back? Wanted to help Scoot… And still didn’t bring the gift to Fluttershy… Pfft. If only there was a reason to… There’s one in a way. A shitty life is still an opportunity to do something and come to something eventually. Learning how to fly, for an example… Death is just the end, after which you can’t achieve anything. And cut it off! That’s all! Stop whining! I shivered angrily and put the naughty exhausted body on feet. Have to go. Why — will know tomorrow. For now I’ll live for a sleep after all this — I don’t want to die sleepy! Chuckling gloomily, I moved towards the river.…
I squinted and looked again at the opposite bank, trying to see and remember the places where my equipment had landed. One shoe fell almost at the edge of the bank — barely made it… But I’m lucky today: nothing has drowned. The wind almost died out, the storm front crawled towards Ponyville and rumbled gloomily somewhere there in the distance. I have a little thing to do — fly across, not die while landing and not lose everything, that I’ve tossed across the river. Now I’ll take off and… I noticed, that I just stall time. All these thoughts were running through my head for a third time, but I just stood there and… and every now and then I casted a glance towards the silhouette, that stood against the moonlit river, nestling near the shore. Luna. I didn’t notice exactly when she stopped swallowing her tears and went that way, and then I forgot all about her, getting ready for the crossing: the blue one no longer tried to draw attention to herself in any way. She didn’t try — I don’t care about it. I shook my head in anger, trying to push the unwanted thoughts away. Why should I care about her? I couldn’t kill the bastard, stupid… And now I probably won’t be able to. And what’s the point? It made me angry, but I couldn’t help thinking about her behavior — and that it was far from what I had imagined, to say the least — I kept catching myself in it over and over again. The blue one, the one before my eyes today, was not the kind of person who would kill Tia and blame it on me, or torture me with nightmares… They didn’t come unarmed or put their necks to the blade. She knew I wouldn’t do it! Heck, where she knew it from?! This body was not created by her, and the mind, as it seems, appeared somehow spontaneously… I may be extremely vague, but I still remember that its emergence did not seem to be a meaningful action. I remember the Luna’s amazement and bewilderment! And the present mind, that dwells in this body, has little in common with the original mind at all. She couldn’t have known anything… And what difference does it make anyway? She’s wounded and won’t last long here anyway! Deserved it! Goodbye, brute. I opened my wings, flapped with them and… Stopped for some reason. Leave her here?.. Tired, unarmed, with a damaged wing and serious blood loss, she’d get herself into someone’s mouth pretty quickly — I think there’d be enough creatures, willing to do that I shook my head again, growling angrily. Do I feel sorry for her?! She has enough: after out meeting, her head is still at the same place, where it has been this morning. I don’t care what she’d do now! She left me to die — let her meet her death just the same! In darkness, silence and loneliness!!! How would I be better than her then, m? Leave her to die — and just walk away… The hoof slammed into the ground with fierce fury. One, two… The tail flicked fiercely at my side. What then? Maybe I should even help her, huh, dummy?! Why should I give a shit what will be of her?! If she gets eaten, I’ll laugh at the news headlines later: “An ancient immortal Princess-alicorn has been eaten by the wolves in the woods”! I don’t owe her anything! I wish this “immortal Princess” to be in a grave!!! I could barely suppress the angry growl in my throat, so I stared at the water, my nostrils flaring angrily, trying to calm myself. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and then looked around, after my emotions had subsided. My gaze was focused again on the silhouette against the Moon’s glow in the water. Luna glowed dimly with an occasional blinking horn — either tired or unable to concentrate — and waved it over her wounded leg, put it down, and, extinguishing the horn, settled down, hunching over. What the fucking shit?!… I shook my head like mad, trying to get rid of the obsession. She dies here — it’s her problems!.. And Celestia?.. I bumped into this thought like into a wall. Even if Luna didn’t lie about asking to not harm me… But… What would Tia feel about losing her sister?… She left me as well! Everyone left me!!! So why… But how it is better than a kill by your own hands? Because it allows you to formally consider yourself innocent? But in fact?.. “Fuck!” Not being able to hold it, I stated with a feeling and, exhaling through teeth slowly, I moved to the traitor. To save her. You weak, gutless idiot, snot-nosed wretch! If only father could see… …he’d be proud of me. Because he would have done the same, I think, and he taught me to do the same. Damn it. Damn it! I stopped, looking daggers into Luna’s back just before a few meters away from me. The right wing hung limply, the blue one, cradling her wounded leg, cried silently, occasionally shuddering and wiping away her tears… “It is scary to helplessly die alone, isn’t, Luna?” I deliberately poked her in the back with my hoof in a harsh way. “Get up. If you’re willing to get out, of course…” I ended, while on the run, turning around and moving towards the planned place of crossing. Damn, what am I doing?… I stopped near the hoof-ridden patch at the water’s edge and glimpsed the alicorn, crawling after me. Fine… In any case, this idiotic and stupid choice was made already there, in the castle, when I backed down and didn’t succeed: the traitor will live. B-bitch… If only we had a fight, if… “It’s not scary to die, Nightmare.” I shivered, when a quiet voice suddenly sounded behind me. “Scary… It’s scary to die as a butcher, not earning the forgiveness for the monstrous and disgust things I’ve done…” Mare sobbed. “It is, but you’ll have to.” I chuckled gloomily. “Even if it is from old age. So.” I cut the annoying conversation, getting to the business. “I wouldn’t be able to drag you to the other shore even if I wanted for some reason. I’ll give you a lift as high as I can, but after that you’re on your own, got it? Fall into the river or break your neck while landing — and I’ll write something funny on your gravestone.” “Rest in pepperoni, scumbag”, as an example. I smirked with the edges of my lips gloomily. “Ready?” “Nightmare…” Shivering, the blue one called me instead of an answer, hiding gaze, when I paid attention to her with a gloomy squint. “We’re thankfu… Thanks. I don’t deserve your help, and you’re still… I’ll definitely find the way to thank you for giving me a second chance despite everything. I… I’m ready.” Instead of ending the sentence, she turned to the river, exhaled sharply and gathered up. Yeah, yeah, you already promised to “thank me”. Yeah. Keep saying. “When you kill Tia during your beloved race to the power — don’t blame me!” I grumbled, taking a more stable pose and enveloping her with telekinesis and tossing upward and forward full blast even before Luna could insist. A-a, damn!.. A flash of pain burned the horn, causing to clench teeth ‘till it scrabbles. Waiting for a few seconds and recovering myself, I didn’t want to waste more time and took a short acceleration, pushing off with a blow of my wings. My stomach habitually fell down, my legs lost their footing. Rear pull back, front — folded to the chest… Working… Below me, shining in the bright Moon light, the water rushed noisily. A swipe, another one… Gaining a little more altitude, I began to glide towards the opposite shore, while trying to look for Luna. I don’t think I heard a spit in the water… Then where?.. There! My eyes barely managed to catch a winged silhouette in the darkness, somehow hesitantly gliding through the air significantly below me, almost on the water. Now she’d catch on and go down to the bottom, like an axe. Good riddance to bad rubbish… Alicorn understood it perfectly as well and started to work with her wings. One, two, three… On the fourth stroke, she suddenly, twitching, pressed the right wing to her body and with a sharp roll collapsed into the water, not reaching the shore three meters. I think there was already a bank before the river flooded… After a moment, I heard a short cry and a splash of water. Well… Okay, stop looking! I still have to land! I hastened to turn my gaze forward. Damn, the altitude I gained is useless… I have to come down, and I don’t need this speed for landing… I carefully directed my flight towards the ground, expecting to land on the edge of the water. There were only bushes and trees after this point… I can see them even on my landing zone from time to time. As usual when landing, the surface, which have just been somewhere far below, came abruptly closer, flickering right under my feet. Speed! Lower with flaps of wings… Not much! Late! Legs! Fucking shi-it!!! The ground mercilessly struck my hind legs, and the inertia rushed forward, making me bite my nose, forcing me to hurriedly move my limbs in an effort to slow down. I barely closed my eyes before bumping into a bush with rustle, scrabbling skin against the harsh branches. Fuck! A-a! Damn!… Oh, fucking hell… This was somewhat scary a little bit… I exhaled slowly, feeling my heart pounding frantically in my chest as I stiffened and finally stopped. Okay… Let’s think I’ve landed. Somehow getting out of the remains of the plant, I moved to the river. My legs ached from the impact, body was sore from the fresh scratches, in addition to the aching horn and the gradually growing headache. I’m tired as hell… And I’ve had enough of magic it seems — Luna, fucking bitch, has one hell of a weight, and I lifted her in such a way… And this way seems good — with a complex mix of emotions I stared at the blue one, which literally crawled from the water and started to cough. “Why don’t you die?” I greeted the damn mare with a sigh when she cleared her throat and found me with a troubled gaze. Shit floats, indeed… “Tha-h-nks for not leaving me there.” She panted, not noting my words, still laying with the tail and hind legs in the water. “You owe me.” I replied plainly and, turning around, moved to find the scattered gear.…
Ah, fuck you! Another furious rush finally had a result: the branch broke with a crunch and hung along the trunk, allowing me, at last, to untangle the straps and pull my invariable bags off it, so “fortunate” to have flown into the tree… Hooking them somehow in their proper place, I put the cold metal of a shoe to my forehead beneath the horn cautiously. Oh, damn… A little bit more of it — I’ll kick the bucket… Head hurts, horn hurts, hind legs whine a little, wanted to sleep, wanted to drink, wanted — not even to eat — to devour. And this is despite the fact, that in Ponyville, where I’m going now for the lack of other options and the banal knowledge of the road only there, the only person who would be glad to see me is Scootaloo, and I don’t even know where her house is… I know where Twi’s is. She wouldn’t be happy to see me for sure, but I think she wouldn’t go against Tia’s task — help and accommodate. Unless, of course, she canceled it, or meets me right there with a battalion of guards, supported by a platoon of battle magicians… Yeah, fuck… I didn’t think a lot about the future… And what’s the fucking point of doing so, when Luna, who’s literally better in any way and who should have buried me into the castle’s ground in a couple of minutes? Yeah… Here she is, by the way. The blue one crawled out of the water completely, but apparently she didn’t have enough to do more: she was lying on the beach, only wiggling her ears sluggishly and looking up at me when I approached. I don’t know how, but I somehow understood, that she’s deathly pale… “Nightmare… I… I love my sister! Why you…” Luna hesitated, trying to find words. “I remember your love towards her. The same one you had before leaving me! Anyway: the rest is over, get up!” Feeling, that I was getting hot again, I slowed myself down and deliberately dryly ordered her. “You’ll rest in the great beyond.” Keep saying that, lovable… You always cared about yourself only! Scumbag… “Y-yes… I… Now…” Slowing, alicorn nodded with an effort and, trying to pick up her legs, straightened up… to immediately roll her eyes and start falling right onto me. “Hey!..” I tried to catch her with telekinesis even faster, than I realized what’s happening. Abyss, she is unconscious!.. “Goddammit stinking damn! Fuck!..” Not being able to hold her and the glaive, that was already on me, I recoiled back reflexively from the senseless body, that fell like a sack. Damned horse!!! Fucking horse meat! Do I have to take you for a ride on the back, too?!… I spit in the grass with a feeling and, dropping the glaive, sat down where I stood, staring at the carcass in front of me with a wistful, doomed anger. “You’re such a burden, Luna… Abyss.” Carry this… this!.. Damn, she’s even bigger than Applejack! And I can barely stand with my weight… On the other hand, it’s not a long way to go now… Maybe just drop her?.. Yeah, then why did I work so hard to get her here? Because unbelievably stupid… And sentimental as hell… But to leave her here to be eaten and just walk away… But Tia? But Fluttershy?.. If they find out… Pfft! It’ll be enough if I come out of the woods and Luna doesn’t. And let’s give this topic a rest. Yeah, I don’t know why I’m doing this, but… but I can’t help it, snot-nosed idiot… If I’m doing it, I’ll try to bring it to a close. Or I just had to leave her there and not worry about it… Just… A-a, let’s end this and let happen whatever would happen. “I’ll regret it.” I mumbled with a sigh, cussing out myself for the last time. “If you don’t know what to do — do what’s good. Even though it’s idiocy…” I pulled the blue one onto my back, and, holding her up with magic, I got up with an effort. Uh, damn! Luna weighs, as expected, a way more than Fluttershy. Shit, she even slides when I walk, damn it! I sniffed angrily, making just a few steps. Fine… I have the glaive, so if it gets in the way too much — I’ll find the thing to cut so it wouldn’t fall off anymore. Raising a leg for another step, I, sighing, put it back. I’ve had enough… I don’t want to go anywhere… Sighing again and overcoming the desire to drop Luna and fall right next to her, I still managed to get myself going. I already thought about it. And — what did I say?.. — I’ll rest in the great beyond.…
“Yes! Go fucking away, stupid mutant!!!” I yelled hoarsely as the mixture of a lion and a bat disappeared behind the trees. “And also farewell to the scorpion.” I chuckled wryly, glancing at the stump of the distinctive tail with the curved sting, that laid on the grass, staining it with blood and still twitching reflexively. “Oh, fuck…” Making a few steps, I collapsed limply against a tree. A nasty cold and numbness was spreading from the point of impact on my left hind leg, head was buzzing, temperature seemed to be rising: my own breathing felt like it was burning. Sticking out the tongue, I started to catch rare raindrops with it. Wow, I almost caught up with the storm front, crawling towards Ponyville in a leisure pace I’m sure there’s a downpour… The brute creature emerged next to me almost out of nowhere, attacking me lightning-fast with its tail. Noted it in the last moment, tried to dodge it — but to no avail: the sting just hit my hip next to the cutie mark instead of neck or side. Couldn’t this fucker hit Luna instead, huh?!.. Counterattack with the glaive left manticore without a good half of its tail, forcing it to retreat, but it didn’t make me feel better. Damned poison!.. Fine. Have to go. It’s not that away. I moved away from the tree, dragging my leg, that was swiftly losing its sensitiveness, and limped to Luna, that has been thrown to the ground at the beginning of the fight, and after giving her a long look, I dragged her onto my back. Where to go after that?.. Yeah, I think it’s there… Let’s go… It’s not a long way… I just have to be awake……
The rain is getting heavier… I can see the light… It’s close… I can’t… Go, come on!.. Fuck, it’s so cold… Head… Hurts… It’s over. Forest is gone. Forest is behind. I see flares… Ponyville… It’s near… Damn it… Almost… Luna, damn you… Lay… Still… Fuck… She fell… Won’t pick up… Don’t give a shit… Have to make it… Light… It’s so close… It’s getting stronger?.. So… Bright… Tia? I came… I think I came… Turn down the light, Tia… It’s over…