ActFast231

@@slimmyjimjim, Nexus thought about that for a moment. He was probably going to get eviscerated by changelings any moment, and Corkscrew too. He didn't like the idea of a pony getting fed on, but then he got an idea. "You can feed off of me as the one pony. You better hold up your end of the deal or the last thing I do is eat your still beating heart." "Corkscrew, I'm taking this one with me. I can use it to keep the other changelings at bay. You use a spell bring Chyrsalis down to you when she passes by, I'll keep the others off your back." He turned to the changeling. "Lead the way, changeling. Unless you got a better name."

@, Nexus watched her leave the room, never taking his eyes of her. "Y-yeah, Lume. Anytime." He said as she exited down the corridor. Nexus walks towards the door, but ends up at the wall next to it. He turns, looking back at the room, before hitting the wall with his backside, slowly sliding down it, until he is sitting upright, forelegs resting on the ground near his center, hindlegs out. He puts a hoof to his chest, feeling his heartbeat in his chest. Normal right now. His thought begin to wander to the mare that he was just training. He thought about her kindness towards him, even knowing who he is and what he does, her willingness to correct a problem, her can-do spirit. He brings up a mental image of her, and with all these thought floating around together, he feels in his hoof-still on his chest-and within him, his heart rate picking up in speed. He felt his face warm up, and he felt like he was sitting on a cloud. "What the hell...what is this?" The hunter murmured to himself. "Why do I feel like this even at the mere thought of her? Her beautiful mane, her deep green eyes, her...her...Celestia above..." That was when it hit him. He couldn't believe it, and for a few minutes, he didn't. For the longest time, he concluded that he was incapable of such emotions and feelings, ever since...then. He never felt like this about anypony, so he decided it was impossible for him. But you never let anypony this close before, remember? That was another splash of reality for the hunter. Had he been keeping others away? Had he isolated himself? It made sense, seeing as what happened the last time he had that feeling for anypony. But why now? Why let others in now? You've been blocking people out because the part of you that feels it was broken. The changelings broke it. But the Tarot powers-and your own selfless behavior-has been fixing it. And she's been fixing it as well. It has been her kindness that has been helping him. She is fixing what is essentially a broken pony. And he loved her for that. He got up and started making his way to his room, a goofy looking grin on his face. When he got there, he flopped down onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling, the grin showing no signs of departing. For the first time in years-16 years to be exact-Nexus Tersona felt love for another pony. And he loved it. He loved feeling love again. It was life giving, and gave new meaning. He loved it. He loved her.

@@slimmyjimjim, Nexus gave the changeling a very bored expression as it-or she, as he quickly discovered-attached a line to him. He knew was feeding felt like and knew when it was happening. He also could look through her own line to see through the disguise. "Well, you didn't attack me immediately, so I am less inclined to rip your heart out, but you better tell me what the hell you want before I lose my temper." He said, not even paying attention to the occurrences around him. Though he could feel more changelings incoming. And he didn't like it. He could still fight to an extent, but physical fighting while battling mind control was difficult.

"Well, given that your an earth pony and that most weapons would be held in the mouth, I recommend a pair of hoof claws similar to mine." He said, waving his hoof on the general direction of where he left his armor and weapons. "I would demonstrate but all that is charging right now so it will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm sure they have another pair around here somewhere." Nexus finally retrieved the first aid kit, and quickly returned to his companion. He got a wipe and started cleaning off the blood, then began to disinfect it. "This might sting a little." He warned before he began. After that, he double checked to make sure that their was no breaks or bends in the muzzle, and upon seeing that there was none, and that the bleeding has more or less stopped, he put everthing back, and turned to face her. She had a medium bruise on her nose, but otherwise looked unharmed. "Alright, done. Nothing too serious thankfully, just a bruise. Doesn't look like it hurt your looks either." The minute that statement left his mouth, the hunter's mind began a flurry of activity. Why did I just say that? Where did that even come from? Is she going to be offended? Did I just make one of the only friends I have uncomfortable? He tried his best not to show any visible signs of his minds rush, although his face started to dust with pink a bit.

It didn't take long for Nexus to get closer to Lume, a look of worry on his face. "I think I should be asking you that. Let me see." Upon closer examination, it looks like her muzzle wasn't bleeding excessively, but enough to warrant worry. Her nose was the source, but there appeared to be no signs of breakage. Although a bruise was forming. "Here, keep pressure on that while a grab a med kit." He *literally* flew over to some cabinets and began searching for a med kit. "I think we should call it for now. After some rest we can begin weapons training. Any weapon in particular you want to learn how to use? Claws, sword, daggers?" He said as he continued to search for some form a first aid.

@, "I would like that. It seems like a nice place. I remember only briefly passing through Fillydelphia a few years back. The city is generally pro-changeling, meaning that they support changelings that wish to become legal citizens, so there wasn't any work." Nexus chuckled lightly, but humorlessly, to himself. "It's funny, whenever I go into towns, I usually go to the seedy side of it. The ghettos, the underground where there are ponies who need things retrieved or wiped off the map. I rarely go up to the nicer parts of town. Seeing something beautiful would be nice for a change. Course I've seen plenty of beauty today, but beauty of a different nature." Nexus found himself forced back, falling backwards onto his rump, with a look of pleasant surprise on his face. "Well done! Your really getting the hang of this." He beamed. He was impressed at how well she was picking up these combat skills. He got back to his hooves, still with that large grin.

@, "Hobbies? Fun? No, I generally don't have fun. In fact, these talks we have are the closest thing I have gotten to fun in...how long has it been? Years. As for favorite places, I generally enjoy it when I am contracted for expeditions into old ruins and such. Usually a surprising amount of reading material and old relics of Pre-Mist times. And a lot of things that want to kill you, but that's a given. Usually wild creatures, or war bands setup shop in these places, but their easy to deal with if you are smart and pick them off one at a time. You will be quickly overwhelmed if you take on a large group at once." Nexus recalled a few places that he explored. Equestria may be a dangerous place, but it was also one of beauty and intrigue when you look in the right places. "I remember this one time, I was contracted to retrieve a sword from an old Night Commander by the name of Dust Fire from the ruins of an old Guard station. It was on the eastern coastline, a few miles off Baltimare. It was here that a mercenary company was already looting the place. I managed to sneak around them, with a few close calls here and there, but it wasn't until I reached the commanders chambers that I ran into the leader of the mercenaries, a unicorn by the name of Starkiller. He had the sword, and was planning on selling it to the black market. The fight was long and strenuous, but in the end, he tried to jump on me, and with a swift swipe, I took his foreleg off. I granted him a quick death after that, and grabbed the sword just in time for his men to come in to see their fallen commander, and a bat pony flying out into the night." He finished his story and noticed how well Lume was performing. "Excellent work Lume. Let's move onto the apple buck. What you do is spin around so that your facing away from your opponent, get up on your forelegs, and kick back with all your might. Again, speed is critical to this one." He said, holding out the pads for kicking.

Nexus, for his part, was doing well in keeping himself from being consumed. But then he felt something. Something bad. VERY bad. "Corkscrew, we have a problem. That message I sent backfired. Every changeling within a 50 mile radius is honing in on my to rip me apart, including the queen. And they are closing in fast."

"Good. Keep it up." Nexus was impressed at her adaptive response to this exercise. All things considered, he can't recall meeting anypony he has enjoyed the company of before. She was also the kindest pony he has met in his travels. "Everypony fears inadequacy. It is normal to worry if your performance is up to par. I have had my share of worries in that regard, and it usually encourages me not to screw up. Defeat is also a common one, as nopony likes losing. But you learn one thing in victory, and a thousand things in defeat. Death...well that's a given. The world we live in today, death is a common occurrence. So you are not alone in that respect." Nexus would never say it aloud, but he did not fear death, and in some aspects, secretly wished to die. For the target to overpower him. For the mistake of a lifetime to occur. Not that he would lay down and die, but the thoughts were there. But in recent times, such thoughts are slowly dying. "I'm happy to help. I know the feeling of confusion and fear, and what it's like to not have any control over it. It is crippling, and from what you told me, it nearly killed you. I won't let that happen again. You have my word." Nexus decided not to call the earth pony on cutting that sentence short. Nexus had a few ideas of how that ended, and they confused him more than anything. "I have been having...similar symptoms in your presence, Lume. The increased heart rate, the added warmth, the light feeling. And the closer I get to you, the stronger it gets. Oddly enough, even with all my medical expertise, I can't make heads or tails of this. It doesn't match any know physical ailments..." Nexus, again had a theory, but he wasn't sure what to think about it. Luckily he was quickly pulled from his thoughts. Nexus, with one flap of his bat wings, was hovering a foot off the ground. He went over to a nearby shelf, and got some pads. Placing one on each hoof, he held them out in the arena center. "Here, try hitting these."

A talking, sentient, technicolor pony has just approached me, and gave me my first kiss. ActFast231.exe has stopped working.

You don't. That's what the Medic is for Do you own a Mario game?

Because Your friend sends you a link to gratuitous clop: Poison him or Knife him?

@, Nexus allowed a smile to form at her kind words. He was afraid of telling her everything because of the fear of her coming to hate him and who he is. Who he made himself into for the sake of revenge. It was amazing to see her look past his actions like that. The close proximity and physical contact caused another strange reaction in Nexus. His heart rate increased to rapid pace, and he could feel his face warm up. What this meant, he did not know, but he decided that was a mystery for later. It took a second for Nexus to regain his senses, but he quickly turned to the earth pony in the center. "Oh, right. Well, why not try the first punch I showed you? Remember, the forelegs are the only parts that leave the ground, you bring your hoof forward, and bring it down with the force of the fall. You need to be quick, the longer your on all two the more vulnerable you are."

@, "I will do all I can to prepare you for whats to come. And for the record, quite a few of us are just normal everyday ponies." A particular statement ran through his head though, and it may have caused the pain to spark to life. "Believe me, you are nowhere near a failure. I know what failure looks and feels like. I have seen ponies suffer because I wasn't fast enough. The scars that litter my body are a constant reminder of my...biggest failure. One that had a very high cost. So trust me, you are not a failure. And normal ponies can be heroic when they need to be. I...try, but I'm no hero, as cliched as it sounds. The ponies I've killed? I killed a mare that was in love with my target because...because she was in the way. She tried saving it by attacking me and I just ended her. Does that sound like something a hero does? No, at the end of the day I'm a killer for hire. And now I got to teach you what I know for the sake of survival." He mutters the next part to himself. "Because I don't think I could take watching the ponies I care for die again." He spoke up. "Sorry, you shouldn't be shackled with my grief, but I just wanted to ensure you that you are far from a failure, and to help you differentiate a hero from a killer."

@, Once the strange hybrid left the room, Nexus turned to face Lume, who was right behind him, fear evident. This caused a strange mix of emotions, ranging from concern for the mare, and anger towards the mercs, among others. It was a strange melting pot of feelings, but he did his best to focus on the here and now. "Hey, it's OK. He...or they, left. No harm is going to come to you here." He said softly. Though he knew that they would face horrors out in the field, that was probably the most intimidating organic being he has seen all day. But he would not show fear. "I have yet to see anything that intimidating yet, save for a giant robot I destroyed, but you need to be be strong. When ponies are in a scary situation, they enter a 'fight-or-flight' mode. Meaning they either take the fear head on or try to escape from it. You need to use that Tarot power in you and make that fear your strength. I know you can." Nexus looked up to see if anypony was in the room. Nope. He returned his focus to Lume, hoping his words did the trick.

@, The two sides talking at once was definitely going to take some time to get used to it, but again, not the weirdest thing to happen to Nexus. "I learned that the hard way. You are too unbalanced on two legs in a fight. The attack I demonstrated, however, has you up and down in two seconds for the hit. It isn't full proof, as I have encountered enemies fast enough to get under you in that two second gap, but it has served me well over the years."

@, Not sure if that's a word, but like a said, please don't disrupt too much, as it is rather rude to jump in between two people like that.

@, @, Nexus was considered large. Not in weight or girth-though he did have muscle from years of hunting-but in height. He stood above most ponies. This was not one of them. Never has he had to look up at a pony. But he did with this one. This day was full of firsts. He noticed the mix of blue and brown, most noticeably on the face. He saw the scar on the brown side, and frowned. "I'm not sure how a fusion of this level is possible, but weirder stuff has happened here. Sad to say, but I don't think any level of surgery could fix this." He said. He couldn't fix two ponies fused together as it would likely kill one of them. Internally, he was kind of pissed that these two not only screwed up in the most inconceivable way imaginable, but simply came into a room he was pretty sure the Inquisitors were suppose to keep others out of. But he would not show his frustration towards the joined mercs, especially not after hearing his Tarot reading. He didn't realize it, but he ended up standing between Lume and this beast of a pony. He must of subconsciously moved between them. "May I ask, how this happened? Maybe get a better sense of what we're dealing with?" (Keep in mind that the training session is a way to further the character interaction between Nexus and Lume, so don't interfere to much please.)

@, Nexus thought a moment, taking into account her physique and race, before coming to a decision. "Well, I usually use my wings as a way to handle other weapons besides claws, but that isn't an option here, so maybe...why don't we learn some hoof to hoof combat first." Nexus stood back and got into an offensive position. "First thing is that being an earth pony, you should be able to hit harder than others. If you want to go for a high hit you get your forelegs up with a small leap and bring you hoof down with the force of the landing." Nexus demonstrated by getting his upper body up, and with his right hoof, he arched it forward and down with a quick motion. The sound of impact made the force very clear. "The key is to keep your hindlegs firmly planted in the ground, as letting them get into the air will throw you off balance. As long as you don't bring your hooves to far forward you should land solidly. Another thing you could do is to bring it under and up. You take a step forward with one hoof, and bring the other hoof up for the hit." He again, demonstrated by bringing his right hoof forward a pace and swinging his left hoof up, the bottom facing up. "You want to aim for the bottom of the chin with that to maximize damage." He stepped back to the edge of the arena. "Now you try."