MickeyAdaptus

'Thanks and I agree, we might perform even better on that mission soon, speaking of which, after we are done here we should probably both rest up a bit, it hasn't been long since we just returned from those ruins.' Jack thought back with a smile. As they came there Jack quickly spoke up. "Celestia, please be careful tough, near his eye there are still dark energies near it present from the injury." Jack warned her.

"Alright." He said He then looked around a bit, before they landed in the city. "And yes, that might best,i just hope it will end up well. After everything that has happenend today, i just don't know how much pressure i can take." Jack admitted

"She means it well, and to be honest i do actually appreciate it, because it shows she really does care because i know for a fact that once i return to Cyril, i will be fighting to the edge of my life. Which does lead me to a question, are you planning on coming with me? I really understand if you say no, the last thing i want to do is condemn others because of my own problems, but.. i guess i would be forever thankful if you would come along." Jack said as he looked down.

"I guess i forgive him, but i just don't want to be near him for a while, i know he can't really do much about it, but that doesn't change the fact how severe it can end up. But i guess that is not the only bad thing that i have to mention. I have been thinking hard and long, and since we are trying to save Fluttershy, it has been left me thinking... After we save her when you guys go back to Equestria, i will have to part ways with you guys for at least a while until i return... It's about Cyril, I have been talking about it for so many times, planning on going there, but there have been so many instances where it had to be delayed, but the longer this goes on, the worse the situation is becoming, i am not even sure if my older friends are now still alive from all the time i spend defending Equestria. Some might consider this an ill decision, but, with how important it is to save Fluttershy, to me its the same amount of importance to saving my friends, i even started to consider them family back then, but to turn my back on them like they are a bunch of throwaways? Never, i rather die than leave them like that for much longer, i have been trough to much with them that i am going to sit on the sidelines while they could be killed at this very moment." Jack said to them both.

When they were the air, Jack rubbed his head. "Sometimes I just don't understand Woody, On certain occasions, he accuses me of things, but in other moments he ask for my help or advice, but when I give him an answer, he sometimes tends to get angry or just unsatisfied with my answer, when we came to rescue him, I had hoped he would show some gratitude, but instead he was about to leave us all unless I was able to come up with something proper, like he would only be satisfied on my word alone! If anybody wants advice, I am ok in the subject of most things, but when it comes to emotional ones? I should be the last person to be asked for advice or help for that." Jack said with a sigh. "I am sorry if I am talking bad about him Maple, but Woody's behaviour is going out of control whenever i am near him, when we get back i don't want to be near him for a while, i have to worry about enough things and I just don't have room for these never-ending accusations that are being thrown towards me. Call me a coward but i have had enough, its one of the reasons why i have never been in many groups because in the end tension will always rise." "If any of you want to scold me on my talking, just please do it now and get it over with..." he said with a deeper sigh

"Yes, but she would also be proud if you stayed with us and fight along our sides. I have to tell you the truth about the whole *alone* thing, while it would make Fluttershy proud, it will also drasticly change you, the more you are removed from others the more you became self reliant, and eventually stay away from anyone all togheter, its what happens if you would continue that, i have walked this path for quite a while, it went to a degree where i started to became very wary of others, and din't care if i died. I don't want you to turn into the same person that i turned out to be in the beginning, just please..." Jack, he started to feel heavy pain in his head. "Guys.. Perhaps we should go back, i am not starting to feel so good..."

Jack did not know what to say at first, but then he finally said "Don't go, Woody, you are going to end up abandoning Fluttershy with this act, she would never forgive herself is she found out what you did to yourself.." Jack spoke out grogerly. 'That was not smart kid, repercussions are going to follow if you keep this.' The voice told him. "Just... don't go.." Jack said.

'Oh no... I didn't mean...' Jack thought. 'It stands for Vendetta, the path he is walking is full of Vendetta against the golden eyes, do you now see what I mean Jack? You needed to see it with your own eyes to understand the situation that you have been trying to bring forth for so long. But I can tell you one thing, he is gonna get far.' The voice said. Jack shook his head. 'I didn't want this happening to him!' He thought back with despair. 'Perhaps you didn't, but what about him? I think he wanted this path for a very long time, you need to understand that we all make choices, let him be and figure out his feelings, how he truly feels about the situation.' The voice said again. 'Tell me, do you feel comfortable about getting blamed, misunderstood or just deemed unimportant? We are going to fix that soon but for now, i am going to keep you quiet, its for the best, trust me.'

Jack was looking at the situation with sorrow. He wanted to say something but he was again interrupted in his head. 'Don't, you will make the situation worse if you run your mouth again, let the sister handle this and keep quiet.' Said a voice in his head. 'Hold on-' He kept being interrupted like he couldn't think further. 'They are not interested in your opinion, is it that every time you talk everyone shows a sign of constant questioning in what you tell? LIke if it's legitimate? Don't waste your time on that, just keep to yourself for now and let the others handle this, it is for the best. Because you are looking at yourself in a way with this very situation.'

Jack started firing at the last scorpion until they were all dead. "We should just get all out of here now and back to the city because now we still have a fast chance. Best we do it now before more appear." Jack said.

'Because it's not the right thing Woody, back then I was helpless and afraid, I merely mimicked what others taught me to do, not out of free will, I merely-' Jack suddenly got interrupted as he got a splitting headache from to mutter out the last words. 'I merely did what was right, if we don't destroy the golden-eyed creatures, who will? Military command sure as hell won't serve us that luxury.' Those words were spoken through the telepathy that sounded like Jack's voice but was not from Jack's thoughts himself. Jack felt his head, it was throbbing like crazy.

Jack nodded with a smile as he aimed his weapon. When Evelyn froze the scorpion things, Jack started unloading his magazine straight on the frozen enemies, killing most of them. It was then when he heard Woody's message, that his eyes widened. "Evelyn, could you keep the ice going for a bit, I need to tell them something." Jack said to her. 'You are seeing it wrong Woody, we all fear him, but we don't do it in the way of showing our emotion. Had we not feared him, we would have tried to attack him with everything, but we all know that is going not going to work, many fear him by fighting our enemies but avoid him at the same time, because we know there is nothing that can destroy him with our current things. If you don't believe me, that is fine, but you need to realise that the pain you are having right now, i had that long before you, 7 entire years, so i know what you are going through, but you need to snap out it!" Jack said.' via telepathy, but it was still partly thinking in his own mind.

"It appears to be Woody! Maple, you go down and quickly help defend Woody. Evelyn we should attack them from the air, that way we can also spot enemies from afar!" Jack said as he drew his rifle and started firing from Evelyn's back straight onto those creatures below.

It was about 2 and a half hours later that Jack woke up from his sleep. He moved his hand through his face a bit before looking around from above. "It seems we are almost there." And after a while when they were flying now above the ruins, he saw something peculiar. "And would you look at that, that was the same creature who nearly ate me after i was trying to hold back all of its venoms with my magic. And-" He, however, stopped mid-sentence. "And some of those tiny scorpion infected are eating from the carcass..."

"Hey i am going to use the remaining hours to get some sleep, could you guys please wake me up when we are nearly there?" he asked. Jack rested his head a bit on her neck as he slowly fell asleep, the artefact clutched in his hands

While they were flying, Jack was moving a bit in the saddle as he grabbed his artefact and inspected it carefully. 'If only I knew what more secrets Father but in this thing, there must be something more than just storing things? I need to find a breakthrough in this thing.' Jack thought. ---------------------------------------------------------------- As Woody was working, an infected was running wild in the area, it was charging some sort of tiny insects, but when it saw Woody, it charged him at a great speed, all it clearly wanted was to slash Woody apart into pieces.

"Friends always help each other out, William would be first to say so." Jack said with confidence. 'We should fly forward, within I think... 3 hours? In 3 hours you should start to notice ruins of the city, there it should be close.' Jack thought. "I am ready!" He called out.

"I know where it is, it was near the place where we got ambushed by some feral beast. I am willing to go there but i can guarantee there one thing, when they notice we are there, it will be swarming with enemies, infected and their military alike, it was like that when we went past that place the first time." Jack said "So I can safely say it's going to be dangerous, tough i do am familiar with the whole *no man's land* thing, but even being familiar with it never helps against the fact for how dangerous it is in those areas," Jack said.

"I am not sure where he wants, the letter just appeared in my hand, which means he stopped time while he did it, its one of the reasons why we didn't see him leave." Jack said with sadness. "You know him better than i do Maple, perhaps you know where he could be going because I just have no clue where he could be." He admitted.

Jack holding on real tight and was this time able to stay on, he was leaning forward in the saddle to stay on better when going at very high speeds. When they landed, Jack threw the note to Maple. "It's from Woody, he said he felt sorry and was leaving the city for a while, saying he needed some space. But you had better read it yourself, it's urgent." Jack said with worry.

"I don't know where he is, but i do know i have to do something. While i am aware Woody can handle himself good against enemies from what i know about him, but that doesn't mean i can just leave this be, we should go to Maple and give her this note, That seems the most reasonable thing to do since i don't even know where he could be now." Jack said. "We should hurry to Maple fast."

"I worry about him alot, and I don't want to leave him, but what can I do? He specifically told me he wants some space, I really want to do something but... what can I? I am not exactly a good friend to anyone in the first place, having been an outcast for most of the time after all. While i never want to abandon friends, i don't want to disturb his wishes either, if he really wants some time alone and i would just end up following him only to find out he did not want me to come in the first place... I think the only thing i could do is warn the others but can i really go after him? I don't even know where he is in the first place." Jack said with worry.

Jack read the note and did not really know what to say, he was still a bit shaken from the entire situation. 'I don't really know what to do think about it. I guess I forgive him, but I just don't really want to talk to him for a while.' Jack thought with a sigh. He then remembered something. "Hey Evelyn, you remember that thing where Karthspire talked about our minds being linked, want to try that out? I believe it should be constant, meaning it even works for the most furthest distances." Jack said, wanting to distract himself on something else.

"You need to realise what you are doing is not the correct answer, you are clinging your thoughts on an unconfirmed act. That she is captured, we know that, but her being dead? Definitely not, since she is a pony, which means that slave trader would not kill her, she is like a bargaining chip to him, and he would not hurt her because she is one of a kind in his possession right now, he would only hurt her if he had multiple ponies in his collection, but he doesn't. He might be savage when it comes to these things, but he is not a fool, wouldn't hurt his prized possession, which is what works in our favour because if we play it right, we get her out of there unscathed." Karthspire said. "However, that doesn't mean you can go act like this, you blamed a friend of yours for the capture of your own mother, and then you call your own sister having a fake body. You can still fix this, but the first step is that you need to open your eyes and stop drowning yourself further in this current belief of yours. Instead of looking at yourself, take a look at others, Maple had lost her original body yet she returned stronger as ever, and no shred of reduced emotion is there, many of us have lost our families, friends, but even if we show such emotion, we still fight on for what we have left, we are not asking you to go straight into enemy territory and fight all the enemies, we are asking you to step up from this behaviour and stand with your brothers and sisters, that is what matters now." Karthspire said. -------------------------------------------------------------- "Could you please stay with me tough? I would really appreciate that if you did." Jack said with red parts around his eyes from the crying.

Tears started to form in Jack's eyes as he heard what Woody blamed him for, and his face in his hand as he silently started to cry. "You and Jack go somewhere else in the city now, he needs some time away from these discussions." He whispered to Evelyn before he turned to Woody. "*such a lost cause! Face facts, It's all over...* I have been waiting for you to say that line, because it's the indicator for every warrior to say when they realise the truth behind whats going on this war, we might be able to lay waste to most of their armies, but it makes little difference if the source of the problem cannot be removed. We may not be able to bring everything back to the way it used to be, but we can fight for what is left. Many of us don't see the line of reason from *We will win and everything will be alright*, our line is reason stands for *We won't stay away from our inevitable doom, but instead we slaughter as many of our enemies as we can before we face our deaths, but in the end, we laugh at the howler of destruction, because we know we will be the one that cries out freedom when they will be stopped by another rising power.*" Karthspire said with a small smirk. "Let me ask you this when you found that diary in the temple, did you study through its content and pursue where its origins were coming from? Or did you throw it away, thinking it was blattering nonsense because it's all the in the past now? Most say that we shouldn't be clinging in the past, but you know what? That is the reason why we are not standing much of a chance, because how do you deal with an overpowerful being that comes from the past? You figure delve straight into the information of that past and find out WHAT happened because then you can find clue's on perhaps even a weakness, or better yet, a weapon or artefact that can demolish it. Have I ever told you about the fact that Valtrek had already died once? Not at the hands of weapons, no, he died at the hand of Aliah who wielded an artefact, the very same artefact that could destroy Valtrek again. You should really listen more to those who tell you these things because this could potentially save not only us but literally everything. And there is a BUT because nobody knows where the artefact even is, except for one person who is still alive." Karthspire said. "You know Woody, you might see your fight with Valtrek as a terrible mistake, but if you think about it, could you have really prevented it? He would have attacked you regardless of what you did, and you might feel about that eye you have now, but there is one thing you should know before you let your anger explode again, we are all part of this same brotherhood. You might have been aware but Caerson has been a victim of Valtrek's exposure to, but instead of his eye going blind, it was incinerated entirely, and the once optimistic and vengeance full engineer, went into hiding and tried to walk away from everything that had plagued him in the past. but if there is one thing he never lost is his will to help people, and even with all that pain and suffering, he did not take it as a bad thing, he saw it as pride, knowing that he stood with his brothers against the darkness one last time. Perhaps you need to do the same, don't take this pain and nightmares as a problem, but see it more as a lesson that you managed to overcome. Should you keep embracing this as a problem? It will lead to darkness, it is how many individuals had joined Valtrek's cause because their psyche and mind fell to a point where they had no way out, and that can happen to ANYONE, regardless of how much magic you possess, only the acceptance can fix this problem." He said "But now on the more severe topic, Fluttershy had been lost, and the entire group was there with her before, but instead of blaming the entire group, you went straight for Jack, why is that Woody? I am curious because this was rather a straightforward blame." He asked with a raised eyebrow. He then narrowed his eyes a bit. "I am going, to be honest with you, that was a wrong move to make, I can understand your anger, but to straight up blame a single person for a group action, the very person that saved your sister's soul? You should perhaps not go near him if you are going to make such accusations. Words are not going to be enough for him to forgive you that easily, not when you blame that very person for something so big." He said, his expression changing.