Lightning lay down in the-now indented-corner of the prison, his routine now adapted to being in one room all day unless Crosshair let him out to eat, but even then he was watched by the many guardsponies on duty-or at least he thought-while doing so. This night however was going to be one of
those nights where he couldn’t fall asleep, no matter how he slept. Even using his wings as a pillow-painful but comfy until sleep is obtained and the natural pegasus reaction of retracting the wings-wouldn’t help. He kept tossing and turning in the corner, at one point he got up, paced around the small cell and went back, this helped him somewhat and he finally achieved sleep. This was a mistake.
In the moments before sleep, thoughts of the griffon that died just down the hall from him kept coming back. Then Temperance confronting him and ultimately him being shot out of the sky by Crosshair only to be hauled down to this jail cell. As he drifts off to sleep, he can’t help but shake a feeling that someone or something was whispering to him, but he can’t make out quite what it is.
After an indeterminate time, he found himself drifting back to being awake. It sounded like somepony was moving around in the barracks above him, but as best he can tell it’s still the dead of night.
He got up, still half asleep and approached the jail door. “Anypony there?” He says into the darkness. Hearing no reply after a few minutes he began back to where he had been previously been sleeping and lay back down ready to fall asleep again.
There was no response, and he feels fatigue begin to overtake him again. Just as he’s about to drift off to sleep, he hears the scuffing and dragging sounds above him again, followed by the hatch leading down to the jail clattering and creaking open.
He ignores the sound, passing it off as Crosshair switching off with somepony else for the night
~Who’s gets the pleasure of watching me sleep tonight? Prodd,no he’s buggered off somewhere with his love... Yari? No a pony like her would never watch me~ he played with the thought of it being Flamberge, coming to kill him in the night, forgetting any trial and just getting rid of him due to his supposed actions against the town and all that BS.
The hatch finishes groaning open, and something thumped against the top step of the stairs. In the darkness, he can’t make out who it was. They seemed to be moving very slowly.
He couldn’t shake the feeling of dispair
~Its Flamberge, he’s sneaking in... he wants to kill me... I... no it can’t he’s a monster, but honorable... no it’s him~ he looked around his cell, the figure slowly gaining ground towards him. He made a mental note that there was enough room for him to dodge a battle axe swing. He got up and readied himself for a fight, however his sleepy state would leave him much less prepared for a fight then he assumed.
Whoever it was, they continued to all but stumble down the steps. As they get further down the stairs and into better lighting, Lightning can see that it was a pony, but none of the guards. He sees wings hanging lazily at the pony’s sides, and a brown coat. Oddly, the pony appears to be
dragging itself down the steps.
“Oh dear Amug! Are you okay!” He shouted to it. He stared at it, before realizing who this pony was “Sweetie! No! Are you alright... please be alright!” He yelled to the figure, his hooves at the bars of his cell “Please...”
The pony tumbles off of the steps onto the floor. In the brief moment it was in the light, Lightning believed he saw crossbow bolts sticking from the pony. “No...” she gasped. “I’m not...”
Lightning flinched when he saw the protrusions “Who shot you! I want their head I am not having my wife killed by somepony here, I do not give a shit if they are Convalescence they will not hurt my Sweetie!” He banged his hoof on the bars, testing the strength. Not strong enough, yet sturdy... he could take it out with a few consecutive kicks, but it would tire him out to the point of exhaustion... he had to do it, his wife was
dying and he isn’t going to let her die in front of his own two eyes while he stood there. He steadied himself on his front legs and hit the bars once... twice... thrice, the bars had a noticeable dent in them now, his kicks had done nothing but dent the metal. His spirits crushed he looked out again. Hoping to at least see his wife before her death... embrace her.
She dragged herself into the full light, just in front of the jail cell. “It was Max...” she choked out. A bolt was protruding from her neck, spilling profuse amounts of blood. She looked at him with a pained and remorseful expression and coughed, spattering more blood on the floor.
“No... That bastard! I will kill him!” adrenaline filled his veins and he kicked the bars twice more, the dent getting more and more noticeable “When did he do this! Why isn’t he dead! WHY!” His mind raced everywhere, some thoughts spoken others hidden in his mind, many things he ignored trying to get out. As if by a miracle the bars broke, a pony sized hole formed. He let out a smile before jumping through and embracing his lover “Sweetie... I will kill him... he will not live to see another day!” He buried his face into her blood stained mane, tears wetting the blood once more.
She shuddered in pain as he touched her and let out a moan. Blood was running from the corner of her mouth and the wound on her neck. She weakly reached up and put her forelegs around him in an embrace. “It’s okay...” she wheezed, then coughed. “...I don't blame you...”
“I know but.... if I hadn’t helped Max you wouldn’t be like this... this
is my fault... Blame me... There is no alternatives, I was the one who allowed him to do this... I will kill him for you... he will die if that’s what it takes for my guilt to subside” Lightning said, his words getting slower and slower, realizing his words “No He promised... he’s bad... he good.... bad... good... OH AMUG TELL ME!” He raised his hooves to the ceiling, his anger, guilt, sadness among many emotions taking their toll on his sanity.
Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she coughed several times more, spraying flecks of blood onto Lightning Runner. “You... you didn’t know...” She wheezed and convulsed in agony. “...but... sometimes... good intentions... go... wrong...”
“I... Just don’t want to lose you... I’ve spent most of my life in the dirt... you are what brought me out and made me truly happy... I can’t... I
won’t lose you... please... you can’t die” Tears began to puddle on the ground near the two, blood being rewetted by it and contaminating the relatively clean water. He held the embrace as long as he could, regardless of how bad his coat was stained... he wasn't letting his lover die without him nearby... he won’t
She writhed in his grip for a few seconds more, then went limp with a pained sigh. Blood covered every inch of her coat around her face and neck. Oddly, Lightning Runner noticed a second, new bolt sticking from her skull.
He fell silent, and dug his face into the now dead mare’s ,mane and just began to sob, he continued this for about an hour to him... He finally noticed a new bolt. He was filled with anger and sadness and now adding confusion to the boiling pot of emotions. He figured out where the bolt came from and saw a very familiar griffon standing there...holding a crossbow... pointed at his Sweetie’s head. “Fuck... you...” Was all he could say before charging at the griffon, rage empowering him with adrenaline
Max simply smiled and stood his ground. The two collided and tumbled together for a moment, but in the struggle Lightning suddenly found his grasp empty. Max had disappeared altogether, leaving behind nothing but a faint chuckle. The chuckle of a mare. Sweet Potato’s voice.
“Sw-Sweetie?” He ignored the spectacle, his mind only focusing on the current event “Sweetie!”He almost jumped up and down at the miracle “You’re alive, I can’t believe it, Come lets go before Max gets back” He said blissfully unaware of anything around him at the moment
When Lightning scooped his broken wife from the floor, she chuckled again. “I... forgive you... for killing me...” Lightning felt something
grab his hoof, and when he looked down he saw that it was a griffon’s claw. “But
I don’t...” a male voice growls. He was no longer holding Sweet Potato. He was holding a
griffon.
He jumped... or would have if he was able to move an inch from being paralyzed with fear “What do you want from me!” He yelled at the griffon “I’ve already lost my wife! THAT YOU KILLED! YOU MONSTER!” His anger multiplied tenfold “Give me 5 reasons not to kill you when I get free” He said, trying to bluff his way out
The griffon coughed and looked up at him with a grin. The crossbow bolts were protruding from him in the same places they’d pierced Sweet Potato. Blood covered his feathers and coat. But more than that, the griffon looked like he’d been dead for
days. “What’s the matter?” it continued in a raspy voice. “Don’t remember me?” He extended a claw and dragged his broken body forward. “Private Sergi.”
“Pr-Private S-Sergi... The griffon... Oh Amug... I’m sorry... I... Oh Amug...” He said, pacing back and forth again... and again... and again “Please let me help you... I its my fault... all my fault... oh Amug” he said, trying to get the griffon up off of the floor “Come on... I can’t lo- Oh Amug... you look like you’ve been dead for... oh Amug no...”
The griffon sneered at him. “Help me? Do you intend to bring back the
dead?” He dragged himself a pace closer. “It’s too late, Lightning Runner. Far too late.”
“I
will bring the dead back if it can stop the deaths of two things today... I don’t care if I’m late, I am going to help...” A tear rolled off of his face “I have to... its my duty... I will prevent... no I have to... Help ponies....”
Sergi reached out and grabbed him by the foreleg. He tightened his grip and pulled Lightning toward him. “You and all of your kind make me
sick,” he said. “Killing innocents and destroying everything you touch.” His eyes flared red and a scowl formed on his face. “You..
all of you are alike. Stabbing each other in the back to get ahead. How much have you stolen to get this far? How many have suffered at your hooves? How many have you
killed!?”
His face grew pale at this statement. “H-how do you kn-know that... I... I only told that thing because we were talking about our foalhoods and... it slipped. I... agree I stole... but... I... I” Another tear rolled down his face before he collapsed to the ground “I ruined lives... I got families destroyed when I stole... I... I never admitted it.... Amug... forgive me” he said in a monotone voice, as if instructed by an unforeseen force to say it. He continued crying into his hooves “Amug forgive me! Please bring mercy to the souls I stole from!” He begged fruitlessly
“Amug can’t hear you,” he taunted, latching on with another claw. “You’ve ruined many lives, Lightning, but now because of your foolishness you’re going to ruin many more.” The griffon tore the bolt protruding from his neck free and held it up to Lightning’s face. “You killed me when you gave this to Max. And your precious Sweet Potato is next. Then your daughter.” He pressed the bolt’s head against Lightning’s skin. “When they come, this town will have torn itself apart, and there will be nothing to stop them.”
He lost his will to continue arguing “D-Do.... it... I-I’m a terrible pony...” He surrendered his body, letting the bolt pierce his skin. He awoke with a scream, finding himself back inside his cell.
“It’s too late... you can’t run now...” a voice whispered to him. From the corner of his eye, he sees something lying on the floor just outside his cell. Something a bit larger than a pony and covered in feathers.
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” He batted his hooves in the air, hoping to hit whatever was there “Leave me alone!”
His hooves struck the door to his cell and jostling the form, which rolled onto its side to reveal that it was the corpse of Sergi. Still and lifeless, but with the bolts reinserted into the wounds and blood everywhere. The thunderous rapping of galloping hooves sounds from above him.
“Nirmek’s mane!” a stallion shouted. “What happened!?” A unicorn all but galloped down the stairs, skidding once on something unseen. “What in the names of the
gods,” he said, staring at the body outside of Lightning’s cell. “Wh-what?”
Fleeting Quiver circled the body, wide-eyed. “Wh-what? Who... how did this get
here?” He sidestepped the corpse up to Lightning’s cell. “Lightning, who did this?
Why?”
“I don’t know... maybe... maybe” He chuckled to himself “MAYBE THIS IS ALL ONE BIG FUCKING DREAM!” He rolled onto his back, laughing, obviously broken by that night’s events. After regaining his composure, he got into a sitting position “I don’t know... I DON'T KNOW Why doesn’t that sink into you’re damn minds! I don’t know why, I don’t know WHO but I what I do know is this big unforeseen force is coming and they are gonna kill us all because everything wants to kill us... nothing is nice... hehe maybe... we killed the nice things in an attempt to make our lives better... maybe they ran when we tried to make friends and just ki-” He was cut off by Fleeting Quiver
“Lightning! Get a
grip! Tell me what happened! Did you see who dragged this here?”
He calmed down, still a bit off beat but back to sane levels of off beatedness “I... don’t know who dragged Him here.... all I know is... he... they want us dead”
Fleeting Quiver looked back and forth between the pegasus and the griffon corpse. “Hang on... I... I need to go get one of the doctors. We need to get him back...” He spun in a small circle. “Uh... I’ll go get Crosshair. Don’t... don’t go anywhere,” he said, oblivious to the fact that Lightning couldn’t.
