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The Hegenomy's planks creaked slowly as the gentle weather sea swells rocked it from side to side. Darmouth's port drew ever closer, its old sea-dog harbormaster surprised and excited at the sight of the trade boat bearing cargo crates on her deck, doubtlessly much more in her holds, and her flags.

"Bless my soul, its been thirty years at least since I've seen the flag of Wradonia!" master Yeltz declared to the guards in the port tower, squinting at her to read the name emblazoned on her bow. "Hegenomy ... I remember that old boat, a fine trade ship - always brought us the finest spices and crafts from Wradonia, and the greatest horses money could buy from Urtonis. I wonder what treats her holds have!" he declared, adding an entry to the ship's logbook. Turning toward one of the young guards beside him, he excitedly rested his hand on the guard's shoulder. "Go into town, tell ol' man Grennen at his trade shop the Hegenomy is docking. He'll want to carry out a ton of gold to have first crack at the Hegenomy's goods, summon help from the guards in town to help escort him!"

"Aye, sir," the guard nodded, opened the floor hatch, and proceeded down its square stairwell to the ground. He opened the tower door, stepped outside, and paused for a moment to gaze at the trade ship as it secured its moorings. Something seemed a bit strange, and it was not merely the fact of the rumors he had heard the Wradonian flag had fallen from some massive revolt from the Urtonians who carried their revenge beyond their own occupied island, into the Wradonian kingdom on the mainland itself, slaughtered and enslaved its population. Something was strange about the boat itself, as though it was hiding more than trade goods in its holds ... but still, the guard was too well trained to delay in his orders, and he turned to head to Grennen's Trade Shop in town.

A loud clap from behind him a few moment's later, however, drew his attention back - a massive length of the Hegenomy's port side hull, butted against the heavy dock, had fallen away from the ship and clouded the area with dust. Some sort of new fast method for unloading cargo perhaps?

A terrible thunder erupted from the boat and streaming from its murky shadows and a cloud of dust were a horde of monsters ... giant armor-clad horses, the lead of which carried a well-armored man on their back. The horses were much larger than any the guard had seen, and he'd seen some mighty big Percherons and Friesians in his time!

The guard leapt into action in unsheathing his sword, donning his strung helmet, and preparing a defensive stance, but feeling a terrible twinge of fear unlike any he'd held before. The horses weren't just big, they were mammoth, and very sharp-looking stone blades jutted out from their leg armor. One unmounted mammoth horse ducked and smashed through the ground port tower's door as though the foot-thick hardwood had been made of parchment while the increasing stream of mammoth horses headed down the gangway into town - with a smattering of dockworkers and the lone guard the only obstacles in their path!

The lead horse charged straight for the guard. A metal band across the horse's muzzle, just below the eyes, bore her name: Fortivirago. The guard barely had time to mouth the name before the beast was upon him. He hiked his sword defensively like a pike with its point angled to pierce into the horse's chest from its charge, but the thick armor of the horse and her massive bulk shoved the sword back so hard, the guard's arm snapped backward hard, shooting terrible pain into his shoulder. This lasted a mere fraction of a second before his body was thrown down and back when slammed squarely by the horse, her hooves kicking inward to trample him as she continued charging through and past him.

His legs, chest and skull crushed beyond the recoverable, the guard had only a few moments of life flat on his back to see every guard and the harbormaster shoved off the top of the tower, virtually simultaneously, by the one that had entered the tower. His corpse mangled further under the brutal stampede of the mounted war horses not even stumbling over it.

Fortivirago pressed on into town, leading the party. Dock workers, tradesmen, an occasional guard - they might as well have been stalks of grass. She blinked oddly amid her gallop as an armor-clad dark-skinned young girl appeared in front of her, seemingly out of thin air. "There is no challenge here!" the girl declared - not shrieked in fear nor seemingly emotionally charged, just a voice of minor complaint. Fortivirago trampled the empty air that the image of the girl had occupied, her hooves finding nothing but air and the wooden dock gangway, shrugging the minor uncertainty that one girl out of the dozens of people she'd already trampled since landing.

Although the mounted war party's element of surprise and impressive speed were more than a match for those they came across, nonetheless a loud horn bellowed calling the town guards into action. By the time the war party reached the stone-paved streets, five guards managed to arm with genuine pikes and formed a defensive line across the street.

"Impressive response ... if wholly inadequate!" jeered Taurus, the war party commander mounted upon Fortivirago. "Dires, CRUSH!" he called out in command, as though the very capable horses did not already know what to do. They formed up five abreast, one for each of the guards, and at the last moment of facing the pikes, they lifted their forequarters and bore down the guards from above, each pike expertly crushed under a hoof whilst the horse's other forehoof stamped into the guard's opposite shoulder. The five guards only had the few moments of intense pain before each horse's hind hooves found their expert and powerfully enforced marks through their faces, bringing each to eternal rest.

Townsfolk screamed and scampered, but they could not outrun the horses, nor did any building or other barricade serve to protect them from the monstrous horses. A few feeling lucky already riding horses dropped whatever they had in tow - carts of cargo or passengers - and tried to flee ahead of the advancing terror, but the war party chased each down and crushed them before they had a chance to escape.

Chaos erupted as none could run fast enough nor to any place to protect them. The horses smashed through the doors of buildings, demolished and crushed those cowering under or behind carts, barrels and crates. By the time those bringing up the rear came through, not a living thing in their wake was left alive. Men, women, children - even every town horse were sliced apart with the war horses' blades or trampled under their hooves. Taurus swung his sword on occasion, but merely to his own pleasure; he relished in the panicked cries and screams of the massacred populace.

The horses held no such sadistic relish; they prided in their mastery of warfare, their skill and unfailing relentlessness. Mastery at their war horse function - encompassing ability, duty and loyalty - was their drive and motivation; anything else was secondary. To become the perfect soldier, invincible on the battlefield and earning the absolute trust of their beloved flag of Urtonis, was their ultimate goal in life.

None had advanced farther in those goals than Fortivirago. She earned legend status for her cool, tactical mind that outshone the men that had tried leading an attack against the land of dragons. Her fellow Dires, certainly, but even men acknowledged and were impressed with the fact she led and acted independently to bring ultimate victory after, under their fearful human riders, the mission seemed to be crashing into disastrous failure. She was the first to earn the honor of being allowed in battle to fight and lead with no human on her back; now such is far more commonplace though still must be earned on an individual basis - but she was the first, and no man nor horse of Urtonis would forget this legend.

The forty-nine other Dire horses in the war party bestowed an awed admiration merely for being in her presence, and even her human rider felt some pride at having the honor of riding this legend. None held the slightest doubt of her supremacy on the battlefield ... none, that is, except herself.

The thought had started to occur to her within the last year that realized she was older than any other active war horse, and every once in awhile she would feel a twinge in fear that her age would enfeeble her and she might falter. She drove herself harder to flex her muscle against harder and harder targets, hoping that when her decline comes, her death will be swift and she would be remembered for her strength. She gravely feared retirement, degraded to becoming a brood mare - the thought terrified her far more than death at the claws of the largest dragon or blades of the greatest warriors she faced on the battlefield.

The image of the girl nagged at her and Fortivirago fought hard, even as her hooves continued smashing through town and chasing down horses trying to carry those away who might warn the rest of the kingdom, against the pestilence in her head. Crystal clarity of thought and diamond-solid resolution had been the one mastery she carried that empowered her war record and legend status. Some Dire horses were bigger and stronger, but her mind was unmatched in its ability to size up battles and situations, see attempts at discrete stealth, calculate weak spots in her own defense as well as the enemy's. She could kick a stone hundreds of yards and have it land within inches of her intended strike, sense the slightest hints of weakness or injury in a comrade or opponent, and had such control over her own body that she could indeed walk through fire or hold her breath underwater for hours without suffering significant harm. True mastery.

Was it slipping from her? She easily hid any outward sign of it, but she greatly feared so. Was the girl a hallucination? She'd never experienced one before, but knew that the mind played tricks when one got older; she had no idea how to fight it.

With the paltry resistance they had encountered so far on this mission, she silently sighed in the realization there was not enough of a challenge here to provide the quick out of an honorable death. Mayhaps the next mission - but, then, all the missions had been getting progressively and pathetically easier. Where they once fought dragons and other war beasts even greater sized and stronger than themselves individually, more and more the opponents they faced had almost no teeth at all to defend themselves with.

Fortivirago whinnied a war-cry and shook her head to clear the infectious self-doubt. Focus on the present! Her eyes rolled back to peer at her rider above her as he patted the side of her armored neck with his glove. Most of the town had been destroyed and they had reached the far side of town; his other hand pointed to a large horse ranch. Fortivirago compliantly galloped toward it, heading toward the ranch house first.

A woman emerged from the stables, toward the house when she shrieked as she saw the destruction of the town behind Fortivirago, and the monstrosity charging toward her home and her family within the home.

"What in tarnation are you screamin' 'bout, woman?" her husband yelled from within the house, storming out of it only to have his attention drawn by the thunder of Fortivirago's hooves. His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide in terrifying shock. "Mother of God!" he uttered as Fortivirago changed her path from the house to him without Taurus having even to suggest it.

Frozen in place by his own fear, Fortivirago ducked slightly to one side of him just before reaching him and leapt so her leg-blades cleanly sliced through - completely through - his neck. His severed head fell backward even as the rest of his body remained standing several moments before finally tumbling over.

The woman screamed even louder, and suddenly dashed for the house as Fortivirago slowed to turn around, looking momentarily between the house the woman disappeared into and the stables where the horses were. Anyone else in the stables would have a better chance of getting away than the woman, as even the non-war horses of this town could run farther and faster than the lazy human civilians, so Fortivirago entered the stables and made for the first stall.

One hoof half-kicked in, half-demolished the stall door, revealing a pony mare and her tiny foal tucked into a far corner.

"Please!" whinnied the pony. "We are no threat to you! Let me and my foal be!" she pleaded.

Hesitation infected and persisted in Fortivirago for the first time in her twelve years as a war horse ... it shocked Taurus on her back and he hesitated several moments as well before slapping the back of her neck. "C'mon, Forti, kill them!" he ushered.

Fortivirago stepped uncertainly into the stall, the pony whinnying frantically. Fortivirago's ears perked at a familiar voice heard clearly even above the shrieking whinnies of the pony mare: "There is no challenge here!"

Fortivirago looked ahead, around the mare, to the sides of herself, and back behind her - but could not see the girl she heard the voice from before back on the dock gangway.

"Fortivirago, I order you to kill!" repeated Taurus in a yell.

Defiantly against a series of slaps to her neck and kicks into her sides, Fortivirago backed out of the stall with her mind in a smoky, confusing but surprisingly serene haze.

Taurus drew his sword from its sheath and tapped it broadside against Fortivirago's neck. "What's wrong with you, horse!?" he called. "Attack!"

Fortivirago complied - but not against the target Taurus intended. She reared suddenly and swiftly, throwing Taurus off her back so hard and fast that he bumped against a ceiling rafter, crumbling to the ground.

Taurus yelled out in surprise and agony, smarting badly from the hard throw, flat on his back much like the first guard had been.

At the sound of resistive conflict, the rumble of several Dire Horses approached the stable from elsewhere in town. Titanus, a stallion who outsized Fortivirago by two full hands, arrived just in time to see the conclusion of Fortivirago's attack - she pulled her left foreleg back to kick alongside Taurus' head, the massive blade just above her hoof tearing into Taurus' helmet 'upward' from his chin. Skull and metal armor alike were torn apart by the single kick, ripping open the head of the now permanently quelled man.

Titanus stared at the scene, neither startled nor shocked by it. He did not have Fortivirago's mastery, but as with any Urtonis-trained Dire horse, neither the gruesome scene nor the unmistakable fact of the legend war mare's turning on her rider - something that had never happened in the slightest degree in the breed history. Some had muddled through their training weakly and fled during intense combat - to be killed later by their former comrades, of course - but none had ever attacked a man of their own flag.

The pony in the stall trembled, but managed to nicker out "Thank you!" as Fortivirago whuffled down examiningly of her deed.

Titanus nickered softly, breaking a few moments of odd silence.

Fortivirago finally turned back out of the stable toward Titanus, cantering slowly toward him as a dozen more Dire horses gathered nearby.

"There is no challenge here," Fortivirago declared, momentarily surprised she had repeated the words of whose origin she had no clue. "There is no war. There is no greatness to be had, no battles to better ourselves with, nothing to learn, no victory to revel over nor anything of value to gain here."

More and more Dires gathered, until every last one - Fortivirago plus the forty-nine - were present, circled around Fortivirago and calmly listening to her. "I am Fortivirago of Urtonis, Alpha of this war party and all Dire Horses ... I declare this mission at an end, and I declare it a defeating waste of ourselves!"

A few of the lesser experienced war horses, having learned of Fortivirago's victories in their own training, bucked slightly in uncertainty, but remained silent.

"I order all manes of this party to return home by the way we came. All ... save one: myself. Titanus!" Fortivirago called out.

Hesitating just a moment, the stallion stepped closer to Fortivirago. "Yes, Alpha?" he nickered.

"I now retire from the service of Urtonis. Remove my flag ... I bestow it upon you as a gift!" she announced.

The stallion flattened his ears for a moment. Could this really be happening? He could not disobey Fortivirago, however, and obediently he stepped to her side. He arched his muzzle over her back, pausing for a moment to whuffle her scent, one he'd lusted for many years - and now it seemed certain he would never have. He lipped at the flag of Urtonis draped over her side and pulled it off. He carefully arched his muzzle back upon himself to rest the flag Fortivirago had carried upon his own back. Titanus then backed up to look his now former Alpha in the eye, the shine of a tear visible to Fortivirago from the light of the lantern hanging from the stable roof behind her through the wire mesh armoring his eyes.

"Fortivirago," the massive stallion nickered lowly, then drew up his left foreleg, bent at the knee, and tucked it under his chest in a slight bow. "I am blessed to carry the spirit of your service to Urtonis for however many days my lungs draw breath. I shall never forget you, nor will the blade of time's inescapable strike tarnish in the slightest the memory all of Urtonis shall hold of you - this I vow with my heart, and should I ever break it, may a blade of honor pierce my armor, skin and bone into my heart!"

Fortivirago's confusion, uncertainty and doubt quelled at the stallion's hearted words. A few moments of awkward silence pass, Fortivirago unable to think any words of gratitude, and instead she performed yet another act she had never before performed on a battlefield - she stepped forward until her chest armor pressed against Titanus', and arched her neck around and behind his in a hearted hug.

Titanus closed his eyes. Never had he been so close - and in his heart, feared never would he again be so close to this model of Dire Horse mastery. His own hardest battle was now fought - under her orders, he must part her company. After having clung to the hug as long as he could, he withdrew from it, looked her once again eye to eye, then turned to face the forty-eight others who would return. "We have our orders from the Alpha of all Dire horses!" he whinnied. "Company, retreat!"

Compliantly, unquestioningly, the Dire horses retreated back to the dock, stepping over and past the destruction they'd wrought upon the town. Corpse after corpse, the streets and buildings red from blood, they cantered back to the boat. Duties of locking down and securing were done, and the sailing crew of the boat acted as they had been ordered to - follow the orders of the troops, which now consisted only of the Dire horses. Homeward it sailed - homeward no longer for Fortivirago.

She looked back again into the stables and Taurus' bloodied corpse, then over at the decapitated man who apparantly owned the stables.

Unable to restrain herself any longer, however endangered she still felt, the woman within the house ran out again to her dead husband's side, weeping terribly. "Why!" she cried to Fortivirago who stood still, unmoving physically nor emotionally. "Why did you kill him! He was no soldier!" she cried. "Only to leave me without him, why!?" she burst into tears, rising, unable to bear the gruesome sight of her husband's corpse and running to the Dire mare, pounding Fortivirago's armor futilely with her fists.

Fortivirago did not react other than to move her leg slightly to avoid the woman cutting herself upon the blades.

The woman collapsed against Fortivirago's side, sobbing endlessly for hour after hour amid otherwise quiet and stillness.

An approaching noise in the distance finally caught Fortivirago's attention - armored men on horses, soldiers. "Over here!" one cried as he spotted Fortivirago, and an entourage shortly surrounded her, the woman still sobbing at her side.

"Out of harm's way, madam, if you please!" the captain of the knights called out to the woman, his gaze avoiding the gruesomely decapitated man's body. He had seen some atrocities in his life, but the grisly mess of the entire town was beyond his worst nightmares. He drew his sword and pointed it at Fortivirago. "You are a mighty beast, but you are surrounded!" he grunted. "Let her go!"

Much to his surprise, Fortivirago answered, "I offer no resistance. I surrender my life to you, and I do not hold this woman whose husband I slayed." Though her ability to speak human tongue was greatly limited by the anatomical reality of the horse's voicebox, she nonetheless spoke clearly enough for the soldier to understand.

"Devil be - a talking horse!?" he declared. The woman finally pulled herself away from Fortivirago and retreated back into the house.

"Captain Aloso!" called a guard who had entered the stable. "Over here!" he called, motioning to Taurus' corpse. "Enemy soldier - dead!"

Aloso turned his attention over to the stables. "He the only one?" he called to the guard.

Fortivirago, however, was the only one to offer a reply. "He was the only man of our war party. Forty-nine other horses such as myself were in the party, but I sent them home after I slayed Taurus," she nickered, motioning with her muzzle back to the slain soldier.

Aloso stared, flabbergasted - along with his contingent of the surviving town guards and kingdom knights - at this beast before him, who now appeared as something far more than a grunt war-beast. The veteran knight recovered, however, and read the name emblazoned into her armor. "Fortivirago?" he asked to confirm the pronounciation of her name.

"At your service, Captain," she answered in return.

"We shall escort you back to our king. I cannot judge you - you took part in an act I never fathomed I could forgive, but if you had not put a stop to it as you had, I do not believe our entire kingdom's assembled guards, soldiers and knights could have stopped fifty of your kind. Your decision to turn on your own countrymen is a great debt we owe - and the sign of a true soldier of honor," he declared. "I never thought I'd say that of a horse."

"I am honored," Fortivirago said, "but I feel it undeserved. I would have no quell and offer no resistance were you to slay me."

At Aloso's signal, three mounted knights took to escort positions - one on each side and one behind, while Aloso himself positioned himself immediately beside Fortivirago.

From the heavens above, Epona shuddered at what mankind had corrupted her beloved grass-grazing, playful children into. How dare they! She wept, sending a rainstorm over the land and sea below. "She must be brought back into my kingdom!" she rumbled to herself, reaching downward along a rainbow arching through the downpour caused by her own tears to the ground, landing in the form of a white mare near one of her young appointed guardians frolicking in a worn-down forest.

"She shall be your last chance ... perhaps you can save each other," Epona nickered to herself as she cantered through the rotting trees. "How could you get so negligent in your duties to me to allow this to happen?" she shuddered, though intentionally not loud enough for the black unicorn colt she now approached to hear. She cast an energy through herself, hiding all traces of her true identity so that Onyx would not recognize her as his goddess. She also imbued upon herself the scent of heat, to provide a trap she knew with disappointing experience of watching over him, that he would not resist.

Finally becoming aware of the strange white mare he had never before seen, the colt nickered to himself, "What a beauty!" She bore no horn, and he could feel not the slightest tingle of magic from her - but still, she was beautiful, and being a lowly mortal horse, she was of course below himself.

A whuffle or two in the air as she neared told him what he wanted to know - she was ready to receive his full 'blessing!' "Well if Epona doesn't bless me with another gorgeous daughter!" he whinnied to her. "Why, I dare say her guiding you to me at this time is one of the greatest blessings she's showered you with!"

Epona would have burst out laughing at the trick she was playing on him, if she didn't fully realize this was how he treated all of her 'daughters' nearing him - or the scorn and humiliation he inflicted upon her sons. She entrusted him with the power to protect her children and to keep their home of the grasslands and forest alive and vigorous, but the chauvenistic colt let them waste away and do nothing but ingratiate himself! She stifled all of this within her inner mind, far out of the reach of even the strongest unicorn magic. "Ooh, a unicorn!" she feined a surprised pleasure. "My, your horn - its so ... shiny!" she nickered, feining a stupid falling-for-him-awed-grin.

Onyx pulled his muscles high and taught, and tossed his head in a practiced fashion so as to gracefully throw off his forelock and show the gleaming, pearly horn. He pranced gracefully in a circle around her, to honor her with the vision of every niche and corner of his undeniably heavenly-handsome endowments while he admired the graceful, sweeping curves of the beautiful if below-him mare.

He finished his circle by facing her from just a pace or two away, gazing into her eyes with his own. He loved this - it never failed; even the most dominant mare who gave their worthless beast-stallions the hardest times knew a unicorn was inherently superior to all others and wouldn't hesitate to throw themselves at his studliness.

Epona indeed played along, daintily stepping forward, playing as though she didn't feel worthy of him, testingly bumping muzzle-to-muzzle with him.

He slyly gazed into her eyes, but made no effort to meet her requested breath-exchange - he wanted her to beg. Epona continued playing along, retreating her muzzle. "I'm sorry," she nickered slowly, "I ... didn't mean to insult you with a touch ... I'm just so ... its just that ..." Whomever said a goddess couldn't put on a good act?

"There, there," he nickered assuringly. "I understand ... to touch a unicorn, after all, is something quite special indeed!" he smiled at her. He finally arched his muzzle forward to lip a teasingly light kiss upon her muzzle, before lifting his muzzle to her ear. "You sure are pretty for a horse," he whispered.

Epona continued the act, betraying no sign of insincerity as only a goddess' power can hide, in shuddering and taking an excited breath. "I'm ... I'm ... pretty? To you???" she stammered and giggled like a lovestruck filly. To add to the act, she flagged her tail.

"My, but you are excitable," he smiled and nickered. He stealthily summoned a bird nearby, to the side, to chirp loudly. "Why, I wonder what that is all about," he commented as though to himself. He turned to the side a to face the direction of the noisy bird, and took a step to strategically position himself with his hindleg nearest to her stretched back a bit, placing his sheath and stallionhood in her full sight, all the while slyly pretending not to notice he had done so. "My days are so filled with duty," he nickered again, then looked back at her as though he'd suddenly remembered she was there. "I am so sorry," he nickered. "Tell me," he nickered as he gently let slip his phallus from his sheath ever so slightly, "is there anything I could ... do for you? I do so wish to help fulfill you with the happiness and joy I feel when I see to my duties as a unicorn stallion."

Epona wondered to herself how far she should let him go before revealing herself. She decided to see it through even further, and feined another awed breath at the unicorn's package before her. "Oh ... oh my ..." she stammered. "Would ... I'm ... could ..." She filled her fake mortal mind with a lustful sense to further the trap for the unicorn.

As she expected, the unicorn surged his horn and read her thoughts. "I see, I would be happy to oblige you with my blessing, as I have no other duties to attend to," he nickered. He circled around to her backside again and nickered, "I sense you've never been blessed by a stallion before, mare - do not fear, I am as gentle as a breeze!" He whuffled under her tail to allow the pheromones Epona imbued with magic upon all her daughters to have its effect on himself. Rear, hindleg-walk, mount - with the experience of many practices, he thrusted in gently and slowly to allow the mare to relish in the flavor of his blessing. Sensing the mare's virgin body shudder in contentment, he arched his muzzle forward along her back to her ear and nickered, "I do like to know whom I am blessing, sweet mare - what is your name?"

Epona feigned shuddering, waiting for the question before suddenly dropping the pretense, showering the area with radiant magic that could only be from a goddess. Shocked from the very unexpected turn of events, the unicorn shriveled, pulled back and dismounted the 'mare' beneath him as she turned to face him, glaring at him as she answered. "You know my name as Epona, Onyx." Onyx shuddered, terrified backwards as a child from its scolding mother caught in a disgusting, revolting act. "Epona! No ... wait ... I ..."

Epona stamped a forehoof and magical bindings tied the unicorn in place. As powerful as his magic was, it didn't hold a feather to his goddess and he could not move. This time, it was Epona's turn to circle around him, only her demeanor wasn't that of a chauvinist attempting to seduce him - but as a mother disciplining a child. "I've been watching you, Onyx, for some time now - and I am beyond disappointed in you. Your parents were proud, strong unicorns who served me well but you revel in their deaths fending the dragons off to protect you and this land as an excuse to forget the discipline and duty they tried instilling with you. You dishonor your parents and you dishonor me in clinging to your horn as a status symbol instead of the duty and responsibility it holds you for!"

Onyx, shivering in fear at the angered goddess, pleadingly whinnied, "Epona, please! Give me another chance!"

Epona finished her circling pace around the trapped unicorn to meet him muzzle to muzzle, the anger and hurt in her eyes as clear a message as her verbal speech to him. "You will tend to your duties and responsibilities as guardian of my children first, honor and respect for myself and all others second, and your own pleasure a far distant third!"

Onyx shrivelled from the boastful stallion he had been moments before into a colt terrified at his mother's wrath. "Errr ... yes, Epona, of course from now on ..."

"There will be no 'from now on' for you! You have more than exhausted my patience! I should cast you down from guardian to an unhorned stallion outcast from my kingdom!" she whinnied angrily.

Any sensible unicorn, or even horse beast, would know better, but Onyx pleaded in defiance, "Epona, no, please! Please no! I'll do anything! Please give me another chance!"

Epona stormed around in another circle. She had, of course, already settled on one very last chance for Onyx before she even took mortal form, but she wanted him to know full well how angry and disappointed she truly was in him - it was a show, but not an act. She faced him again, eye-to-eye, muzzle-to-muzzle. "I give you one chance - but never doubt that this is your last chance, and if you fail me in any way, if you betray your duties, responsibilities, honor or respect for the sake of your own pleasure even slightly, you will lose your horn and you will be forever banished from my kingdom."

Onyx gulped and swallowed, terrified. His parents had scolded and disciplined him, and he'd had a stern talking to from Epona before, but nothing like this - this was the harshest ultimatum he'd faced. Beginning to realize in a very small portion from her anger at him how badly he had become addicted to ingratiating himself, he gravely feared he would not be able to avoid a slight slip-up. Maybe he could just teleport himself away, to where he wouldn't be tempted ... but, no, that would be shying off his duties and responsibilities. Oh, dung heap! However is he to get out of this one?

Epona needed no horn to convey her power and she remained as the white horse that appeared to the unicorn - but with magical energies radiating from her, there could be no doubt she truly was Epona. "This land has had a new arrival ... what you would call a lowly beast-mare named Fortivirago. There is no such thing among my sons or daughters as a lowly beast, and in time you had best learn that, but she is more special even than my beloved children. Men have wrenched my children and perverted them from creatures of peace and joy into wretched, killing war monsters. When men do this, they nab children out of my kingdom and she is in a line of such horses, out of my kingdom."

Onyx listened, knowing he dare not interrupt, but he had no idea why she was spinning him a story until it occurred to him - she was giving him a quest? Epona had made few quests of unicorns or her own children, but what quests there had been were very very difficult to follow. It took most of even a unicorn's very long life to meet one of her quests. He swiveled his ears, trying to listen closely, knowing she would likely not give him many more hints after this lecture on what the situation was and what she expected of him.

"Because she was out of my kingdom, even I cannot fully see what they did to her, but she was made to kill. I don't like humans as a whole, but she was made to slaughter humans who were not even warriors - as well as slaughtering my other children who could offer no resistance to her men-inflated strength and deadliness. Now she suffers because one of the adornments the men who created her breed implanted within them - terrible intelligence - has pushed her into realizing a small taste of sentience. All of her breed are sapient, but she is the first to taste its awakening. As it was with mankind, her sudden emergence into sentience will be terribly difficult. I cannot help her, as she is still outside of my kingdom - but you will help guide her through, and you will bring her back into my kingdom. She has more power and abilities than she realizes nor you will be able to read ... and do not presume you are superior to her, because you are not. I fully expect she will be your equal or even greater than unicornkind when she has a chance to fully realize herself - so if I see you acting even slightly smugly toward her, regardless of how she behaves or fails to see her own power, I will remove your horn!"

Onyx gulped again as he listened carefully, using his magic to burn Epona's words into his own mind so he can never forget them. "Where will I find her?" he asked after several moments, realizing she was waiting for him to speak.

Epona unleashed a brilliant magic flare that shot toward a human castle in the horizon. "You will meet her there shortly, and you will plead with the men for her custody to be entrusted to you." Epona does not wait to listen for any other questions the unicorn had; after finishing telling him this, the mare before him evaporated, her magic spirit returning to the sky.

Onyx focused on the brilliance from the flare he could sense even from here, then waved his head to wand his horn in a pattern in the air. A portal opened before him to carry him to that place, and he stepped through from the overgrown grass into the cobblestone floor of the outer castle bearing the flag of Keldon, the ruling kingdom over Darmouth along with the other towns and palaces on the sizeable land known for its magic, lavish and lurid pleasures, great trade centers, diversity of both man and beast with dragons and unicorns living peacefully with each other as well as the humans.

"Onyx!" a nearby guard called. "You troublesome colt, what are you up to this time!?"

Onyx turned his head to the familiar voice. "I'm on a mission ... a quest ... from Epona, Nels," he nickered to the guard. "She told me there's some big war horse coming."

Nels shook his head and called back with a sneer, "Yeah, just like the bar-maid was 'arranged by Epona?'"

Onyx smirked at the memory of that particular romp. "Well ... no, its for real this time." His ears flicked as he heard the arrival of mounted horses, the king's knights - and with them a much heavier horse. Much, much heavier. "By Epona's grace..." he declared.

Nels, finally distracted from the notorious unicorn colt, stuttered, "huh?" Even his human ears finally picked up the thunder of the heavy war horse - he never heard such a racket of armor and horseshoes. Aloso rode abreast with Fortivirago as they emerged into view, with three more knights escorting to either side and behind them.

"Make way!" Aloso called as curious crowd began to gather, awed by the size of the huddled, moving pile of armor. Little of the giant horse was actually visible, but her bloodied armor and sharp blades made her form even more impressive to those who admired war horses - none of the knights' horses were even close to being as greatly sized, armed nor armored. Fortivirago took great care in avoiding slicing anyone or anything accidentally while making her way through the crowd. As they neared the inner royal courtyard, the three escorting knights broke off and Aloso motioned Fortivirago to stop and wait while he dismounted.

Fortivirago, Aloso and the escorting knights noticed Onyx cantering after them.

Aloso drew his sword toward the unicorn - although he knew it a useless gesture, he made it nonetheless in challenge. "What is your business, troublemaker?"

Onyx motioned to the war mare and answered, "She is. I am ... under orders of my own."

Aloso looked to Fortivirago, who was stunned - a unicorn!? Aloso shrugged, then looked between Fortivirago and the inner doorway, seemingly much too short for her to enter - it was never designed to accommodate horses into the throne room, certainly not one of Fortivirago's size. Noticing his frustration, Fortivirago nickered, "If you wish it, I can enter without damaging the doorway, though I cannot do so shoulder-to-shoulder with you."

Aloso removed his helmet and scratched his head for a moment - if she thought she could, might as well let her try. 'This would certainly be something different to present to His Majesty', thought Aloso as he proceeded ahead, opened the door and held it open while he stood back.

Fortivirago bent her knees and lowered her muzzle, crawling with impressive skill and grace through the doorway at half her normal height, relaxingly regaining her full standing stance in the high-vaulted throne room while Onyx, whose withers could easily slip under Fortivirago's belly when she fully stood, had no problems pulling up the rear.

Aloso led the group to the king, dropped to a knee and bowed; Fortivirago and Onyx followed suit behind the knight. Each bent their left foreleg and raised it while simultaneously drooped their heads in bow.

The king was a bit wide-eyed in surprise at the massive beast brought before him by one of his most trusted knights. "Sir Aloso, rise. What brings you - and this beast and unicorn - to my company?" he asked.

"King N'roh, I bring word of a sneak attack at Darmouth from the harbor. A war party of tremendous strength burst out from the hold of a transport flying the flag of trade - a war party of giant war - nay, warrior horses held up inside its hold. I regret to inform that the vast majority of the town's population was slain." The king's eyes went even wider. "What! Assemble the knights immediately!" Knights began pouring into the throne room at the call.

"Your majesty," the knight pleaded to continue.

Suddenly realizing there was more to the report, the king nodded his permission for Aloso to continue.

"The war party was turned upon and sent home by one of their own ... this mare, Fortivirago, that I present to you now. There were fifty like her raiding the town - knights and guards went down like weeds before them, your Majesty, and with all due respect and on my word of honor, if she had not sent home her war party, not all the assembled knights and guards in the kingdom could have stopped the fifty horses and the one human riding Fortivirago."

The king's face flushed with anger. If it were anyone other than his most trusted knight, the king would call for punishment of Aloso for speaking weakly of his fellow knights - but the trust Aloso had earned, combined with the undeniably powerful presence Fortivirago commanded quelled his fury into bitter acceptance of Aloso's words.

"Sir Aloso, you have served as Captain of my trusted knights for twenty years. Your honor has helped keep my kingdom strong and my spirit wise ... how could you let this happen? If they could not be defeated, then how are you still alive if the people were killed?"

Aloso swallowed his pride at the insult, knowing the full truth, not yet revealed, was even harder to swallow. "I was outside Darmouth when the attack started. When I heard worrisome noise from the town, I assembled as many knights and guards as I could find in my immediate area, and I led them into Darmouth, but most of the town had already been destroyed by the time we rode in. Fortivirago had slain her own human commander, the only human in her war party, and sent the other war horses like herself home before I arrived on scene."

King N'roh scratched his head and tried piecing together a picture of the scene. The very disturbing news of the decimation of the peaceful port town was hard, but the king knew he still did not have a complete picture and the situation felt beyond his comprehension. "If all that happened before you arrived, and there wasn't much remaining of the town to tell you what happened, then how do you know what happened?" he queried.

The answer came not from his trusted knight, but in human words from the war horse. "He knows because I told him what happened, Your Majesty," she spoke as she bowed.

The king, his guards beside him and even Onyx the unicorn found were very flabbergasted. It took all the king's royal composure to regain enough to ask dumbfoundedly of Fortivirago, "You can speak ... human language!?"

Fortivirago bowed again as she replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, I can. I can and am also prepared to answer for the crimes I committed against your citizens. I offer you my blood, if only one of your trusted court would remove my head armor to allow your strike to deliver justice unto me."

Onyx was stunned into silence - he had no idea what Epona had meant by saying she would be at least an equal. No beast-horse could speak human language ... even he could only 'speak' it by telepathically translating for humans using a spell. He was so stunned by ponding that fact, it took him a moment to realize what it was she had just said. "No!" he cried.

Aloso drew his sword again and lifted it to Onyx. "You have not been addressed nor been given permission to speak!" he ranted to the unicorn.

N'roh uncharacteristically rose from his throne and walked down the carpeted steps to the giant horse, looking her in the eye. "You are ... something quite unexpected," he commented, then turned to a guard. "Remove her head armor. Now!" he commanded.

Onyx bucked a bit ... no! He could not lose a quest so fast, when he hadn't done anything wrong! The guard quickly moved into action. He had trouble reaching up to unhook the armor, so the war mare lowered herself into a laying position providing full cooperation. "Unhinge the bolts above and below, and unlatch the connector to my shoulder-armor," Fortivirago spoke to the guard who had trouble finding where the armor could come off. "The head and neck piece are welded as a unit ... you may need another to help lift it, as it is quite heavy," she suggested.

When the guard had obvious difficulty trying to lift the heavy armor that only covered a small part of the horse but could easily cover his own entire body, N'roh nodded to another guard who jumped in to assist.

Slowly, with grunts, the metal came off and revealed a very large horse with a mane and coat blacker than the darkest night or blackest soot. Not the smallest patch of white nor any other color but black, her huge eyes a deep amber color. Fortivirago arched her head to the side, presenting her huge neck pronely to the king to fulfill the offer of her very blood.

"No!" Onyx cried again.

"Silence!" the king shushed the unicorn.

Very upset, Onyx wafted his horn to summon a teleportal.

"Horse, horse ... Fortivirago? Come on, we can escape, I can hold these men!" Onyx whinnied.

Fortivirago stamped a forehoof at the unicorn. "Please, no ... this kingdom deserves my blood however they see fit. I do not wish to escape, I wish to offer some semblance of justice for the human citizens I slaughtered today," she pleaded with the unicorn.

She wanted to die? Onyx looked up and whinnied in equine without translating for the humans, "Epona, I can't save her if she doesn't want to be saved!"

King N'roh clutched the ornate handle of his sheathed sword. Slay her? His kingdom had fought off barbarians and war parties before, not often, but at least a few times during his forty-year reign. Never, in all of that time, had an enemy soldier surrendered for any reason other than being overpowered and trying to save their own neck - and here was a horse, of all things, trying to make right for the crime she had committed by choosing to offer her neck of her own free will! N'roh was so impressed, he ignored the impudence of the unicorn colt. He drew his sword and raised it high. "Fortivirago, rise. I cannot slay one who will not look me in the eye," he commanded.

Fortivirago complied, rising to fully stand. She lowered her head so it was at the king's level, eye to eye with him, and exposed much of her neck to him in the process.

The king looked her in the eye and sliced his sword quickly downward through the air. At the last moment before striking her neck, still looking her in the eye, he twisted the sword so instead of cutting into her neck, the broadside of the sword slapped her.

Fortivirago's eyes had followed the sword, but she had not flinched in the slightest. She had made no move to dodge nor even to close her eyes. No man nor beast the king had ever known would have such resolve to their fate; even the few men he knew who confessed their crimes that demanded execution would close their eyes before the sword or axe would swing.

The king withdrew the sword from her neck and held it in his hand. He then slowly circled the horse, noting both herself and the armor she still bore. A dozen thick ribbons neatly arrayed, apparently tied to her mane and emerging out of her armor through slots, drew his attention. Each of the dozen ribbons bore gold icon stars of differing designs. A few of the topmost stars were solid-filled, especially on the ribbons coming from farther down her back while the rest were outlined; most were ten-point stars while the lower one to three stars on most ribbons had fewer points. The king examined these and sensed they were significant. "What are these ribbons?" he asked.

Fortivirago spoke, "Those are my war ribbons recording my kills starting with my first year nearest my head. The outline stars represent number of kills I rendered per year by the number of points on the stars up to ten per star; the solid-filled five-point stars represent fifty kills and the solid-filled ten-point stars represent one hundred kills. Adding these for each years shows how many I killed in a particular year."

The king shuddered: a dozen ribbons; she had been a war horse for 12 years? He quickly started adding up based on what she'd described ... two her very first year! "How old were you in this first ribbon?" he asked.

"I was a yearling, your Majesty."

A yearling war horse scoring kills on a battlefield? What kind of people would throw a yearling filly into war? Quite obviously, however, not only had the filly survived, but she had been victorious in battle after battle. He spent several minutes adding up the points based on what she described, then asked, "So this tells me you, personally, have slain six hundred seventy-four ... what, men?"

"Men, horses, dragons, unicorns, other enemies ... and yes, Your Majesty, that is what the ribbons show. The stars are bestowed after returning home from battle, Your Majesty, so they do not reflect the eighty-six kills I rendered upon your citizens."

Onyx' ears flattened. Did she say she had killed unicorns? He found himself quickly switching from trying to protect her to wanting to kill her himself. How dared a beast-horse harm a unicorn! What was she, part dragon? The biting rage of his own angry thoughts startled the colt when his own question struck him with a portion of his recording of Epona's lecture - 'Because she was out of my kingdom, even I cannot fully see what they did to her.' Epona might not know what she is made of - what if she truly is not worth saving? And maybe, just maybe, what if they somehow put dragons or other beasts into her? The colt closed his eyes and imagined himself standing in a pond surrounded by a lush forest and grass. A mighty wind, representing his emotions, whipped waves across the pond into a frenzy; the unicorn's powerful magic stilled the wind and quelled his emotions enough to focus. He perceived Fortivirago, but his perception of her was wearing all her armor - even the head armor the guards had removed. Something prevented him from seeing her as she truly was - but what in a mortal horse could block a unicorn's sight?

The king, meanwhile, had circled around the horse and returned to face her, played with the sword for a moment and examined its ornately decorated handle. He resheathed his sword and reached with his hand out to feel the side of her muzzle; he always loved the majesty of horses, and feeling the fleshy warmth of her muzzle told him she was, indeed, still a horse underneath all that cold armor and the ribbons honoring her victories on the battlefield. He stroked the fur of her muzzle and said, "Fortivirago, no human warrior, not even my own, do I trust to willingly offer their head to an enemy commander rather than continue an atrocity that would be so easily done for their skills. I presume you were ordered to do what you did in Darmouth today ... what flag do you serve?"

Fortivirago answered, "I am now a former loyal servant of the flag of Urtonis."

The king gasped. "Urtonis? But ... Urtonis was defeated by Wradonia decades ago!"

Fortivirago bobbed her head. "Urtonis was invaded and our ... their ... armies defeated by the Wradonians. The civilians were slaughtered while the Urtonian King Ulriq fled into the mountainous wilderness with a few royal stablemen and mages - all that remained of his court. The Wradonians were convinced Urtonis was defeated, while Ulriq and his small entourage hid out and tried to figure out a means of driving out the Wradonians when Urtonian soldiers were outnumbered by Wradonians by a hundred to one.

"While the Wradonians were caught up exploiting the civilians as slave laborers and plundering the land for what resources, the stablemen and the mages developed a plan to raise a mighty force quickly - by engineering a new breed of horse with magic and instilling within that breed a very thorough training. Because horses grow faster than men, within a decade they had created two dozen of this new horse breed, Dire Horse, of which I am. They mounted men onto these twenty-four horses and though still outnumbered, with the unmatched abilities put into my breed, Ulriq was able to lead a very surprise and rapid retake of Urtonis. In the decades since that time, Ulriq took the battle to the Wradonian shores where the Dire Horses and their riders transformed conquerer into conquered, and Ulriq took the fight to more and more nations that had sneered at Urtonis as a weak civilization that had been defeated and would never whisper again."

King N'roh was impressed both by the content of the story and that Fortivirago could not only speak but have such knowledge of history. He looked across his throne room, and every present face was impeccably locked on Fortivirago in surprise and fascination - even that meddlesome unicorn standing by his magic portal.

N'roh then remembered the unicorn's impudent pleas to save the surrendered enemy from his own sword. N'roh raised his hand to get the unicorn's attention, and the king's court shifted their attention back to him. "It is true I am loathe to find so many of my beloved citizens - men, women and children - have been slaughtered. It is a terrible deed that should not go unanswered - but I find this horse, nay - this soldier - faultless for having been a slave to the orders placed upon her by her own kingdom. In light of their action that prevented further slaughter of our people, I hereby in royal decree grant full pardon to Fortivirago of Urtonis."

Fortivirago felt confused - she had wanted to die, but her mind slipped into a chaotic confusion, and she said nothing. A man would rule her again, this king N'roh, and she felt comfort in that. Maybe he would put her on a mission, a challenging mission, where she would lose in honorable combat to a worthy foe and her confusion over her own betrayal and the current goings-on would no longer bother her.

Onyx, however, had other ideas. With the immediate danger of her beheading passed, and his finally remembering he had cast it, he closed the portal. "King N'roh, I beg your indulgence," he nickered and translated.

N'roh murmured in irritation - this unicorn did nothing but cause trouble in his kingdom. Why couldn't he just go pester and humiliate some other kingdom's citizens? Or, better yet, grow up? Now what was he up to? N'roh finally managed to summon some semblance of royal diplomacy. "What is it, colt?"

Onyx hated that - 'Mere colt? Hello, there's a horn on his head, unicorn! He's not some lowly beast ... errr, wrong thinking,' Onyx reminded himself; good save before actually speaking aloud. "I would like to take this mare into my custody and..."

N'roh rolled his eyes and interrupted the colt. "You'll do no such thing! You are the last thing this great warrior needs!" he declared.

Onyx felt his irritation boil again. Eyes closed, pond imagined, wind quelled. "Begging your pardon, Your Majesty, that was not what I intended. With no insult intended to the men here, but you did remark she was a slave to her orders that she must obey, correct?"

N'roh was inches from having the royal mages teleport the colt out to a nether realm ... but a hesitant thought in his mind struck him. "Yes, I did so remark, your point...?"

'On my head you stupid, smelly human!' Eyes, pond, wind. "Epona has spoken with me. What men have done with this horse is taken her from the goddess' kingdom, corrupted her into a weapon that has killed and probably knows nothing in her life except killing. She may stand on four legs, she may nicker and she may have a tail - but how much real horse is in her compared with man? I submit to Your Majesty that Fortivirago has been denied any chance to learn what is important to being equine, and if you wish what is best for her, that I take her into my custody and show her how to feel the heart of a horse that's been silenced within her for her entire life."

Aloso smacked his hand on his head. "Ah, so that's what you were trying to do with that bar-maid!"

Several servants and a couple guards in the royal court failed to completely stifle their laughter at the knight's remark.

N'roh gave Fortivirago another full regard and scritched her muzzle before walking over to the colt. "Onyx, you've behaved with reckless abandon in my kingdom. I've been on the verge of asking the other unicorns to banish you from this entire land for your misbehavior, and don't think for a moment they wouldn't do it - even those of your own kind grumble about your misbehavior. You're the scourge of all things equine, why should I trust you with this duty?"

Onyx smiled boastfully - he had at least made some progress. "You do agree with me, that she could gain some benefit of setting free her inner horse, and an equine - especially a unicorn - would be best-suited to do this?"

N'roh fretted a bit, he hadn't intended to let slip any compromise, but when he thought it out, that part did make some sense to him. N'roh had no other idea what to do with the horse - he did not really like the idea of keeping her in her old line of work, even if it was in the service of his kingdom that he felt might benefit greatly from such a strong warrior. The king paced slowly around his throne room, trying to think it out. He did not want to give the colt full custody, that was out of the question - the colt could not be trusted. He did feel in his heart, as an admirer of horses, that the colt was right in that Fortivirago would be well served to allow more of her horse out, to balance out the obviously very well ingrained human warrior mentality. 'But to put her under an irresponsible, self-serving, reckless colt? What to do, what to do ...' His pacing absently brought him back to Fortivirago's front side and he again found himself stroking and scritching the side of her muzzle. Her eyes waited patiently for his command, his decision.

The king pondered for a moment his own knights' horses. 'Very vigorously trained, methodically bred. Still, however, horses ... they would not think for themselves on a battlefield much beyond their training, would not act so independently with intelligence and the sentience Fortivirago seemed to possess. Was the training and breeding they had done nabbing from Epona's kingdom?' N'roh continued softly stroking Fortivirago's muzzle and looking into her eyes, pondering these things. He could not give up his own warhorses, they were bonded units with their knights, and without horses, his knights could not fend of enemy knights and could not so strongly fight for justice within and without his kingdom. Those horses were not sapient, but they also were allowed to be horses undoubtedly more than Fortivirago had been.

And he could not deny that her service among his own knights could likely prove useful. She killed a dragon? A unicorn? She could undoubtedly teach much of what she knew to his own knights and guards. The king pondered this, and looked again into Fortivirago's eyes.

"Fortivirago, I declare you a free citizen of Keldon. You are entitled to all the rights, priveleges and responsibilities that entails - which I realize you are not fully aware of, and you do not have the benefit of having lived here before. I am your king, monarch of this land and what I say overrules what any other says on my land, so long as you are a citizen of Keldon. Do you understand?" he asked.

Fortivirago responded, "Yes, I do, and I hope I do not cause you too much more trouble than I have already."

The king smiled and patted her softly on the muzzle. "Good. Now then, regarding Onyx' proposal ..." he continued, speaking directly to Fortivirago before himself. "As a free citizen, you are free to choose what is the right path for you to follow in your life here once you have met your responsibilities. You are clearly of a mature age for your species, not some child to be remanded to a parent nor some pet to be chained to a master ... you may choose whom you wish to serve. You may need help adjusting to life here, and finding your own path ... or have you thought of what path you would like to follow?"

Fortivirago felt quite overwhelmed by all this ... she had citizenship, equal to a human? A life of her own? She was not to be owned or mastered? "I ... I don't know," was her uncertain answer. Its the first uncertainty she had expressed.

"That is quite alright," the king assured. "And given these circumstances, bizarre and unheard of even for eyes and ears that have seen as much diversity as my own have, its understandable. I do not know what place you could find for yourself within Keldon. Would you like a guide to help you?"

Fortivirago broke her gaze from the king for the first time since he had ordered her to look at him when he had drawn his sword; she looked over at Onyx for a few moments, but then looked over at Sir Aloso. She then looked back at the king. "I ... I would like Sir Aloso to be my guide ... if it were not too much trouble for him ..."

Onyx and Aloso looked at one another with surprise. She wanted a human for a guide?

The king, too, was taken aback. He merely meant to ask her whether she wanted one, not to select one - "Why Aloso?" he asked. Because he was a fellow warrior?

Fortivirago answered, "He is a warrior who knows an honor code, something that I've never had, it was never in our training and we never learned it on the field of battle. I do not know how to consider myself as anything but subservient to men, but before I even try to think of myself as something beyond mere beast, I feel this lacking in my thoughts and abilities of an honor code. I do not know why it occurred to me to break my orders and turn on Sir Taurus of Urtonis, whom I was sworn to serve obediently. A code of honor is something I've believed is the one possession I lack that prevents me from having an equal hoofing with a human warrior, something I could carry with me and provide me with a conscience."

The king paced again slightly, this time in a circle through the steps in front of Fortivirago. "Sir Aloso is indeed a very honorable knight holding to the knight's code - his code of honor that he has faithfully followed throughout his service to Keldon," he said while still pacing. "You could indeed learn that from him, but there is far more, I think, that even he would have to learn from you." He finally returned to his throne and sat upon it, gazing across at Fortivirago. Even sitting in the high throne and several steps, the sheer size of the horse prevented him from being able to look down upon her so long as she stood. He said, "Onyx is hardly a model citizen of Keldon to look up to, but he is correct that you would be well served by learning to become more equine than human. You are a free citizen, and your choices are your choices. I offer you, at royal expense, a stall for both you and Onyx at my own stables."

Looking to Onyx, the king continued, "And you will reside in that stable since you have failed quite miserably to properly look after the wilderness you were entrusted to maintain. Other unicorns will have to take over for you there - and if there are other unicorns who would offer to take Fortivirago under their horn, so to speak, I would gladly put her in their care as any of them would be a better choice than yourself."

Onyx knew Epona wouldn't allow that, so none of the other unicorns would volunteer for the quest - something of a pity, as Onyx finds himself realizing this assignment may be well beyond his own abilities. He could not even figure out how to think of Fortivirago - she must be something beyond mere horse-beast, but she wasn't a unicorn; he would have sensed that. Or could she be an unrealized unicorn? He looked at her - she was hidden under her armor in his spirit-vision of her; that could only have come from some sort of magic. How exactly did those humans 'engineer' her magically?

The king looked back to Fortivirago and said, "However, you will repay this room and board housing with service to the kingdom ... I would like for you to work with our guards, infantry and knights, arranged through Sir Aloso, and serve as a consultant to add to our training, knowledge of tactics and help fortify our kingdom's defenses. I will consider significant contributions not only in lieu of your and Onyx' stable boarding, but also in lieu of the citizen taxes you would otherwise owe. I still suggest you find some way of living as a Keldon citizen by making a living wage, however - but that should be secondary to you to living up to what expectations I do have of you, and learning the true equine way that has been kept from you."

Fortivirago bobbed her head at each of this. "I understand, Your Majesty," she spoke, though she was truthfully afraid of these new things she would have to learn - they were unknowns, unfamiliar.

The king motioned to two guards. "Remove the remainder of her armor and store it at my stables for her should she ever need it again ... provide whatever non-combat dressage or anything else she desires."

The guards moved in; Fortivirago lowered to a four-legged squat hovering on her bent knees to allow the guards easier access, but even with two, some sections of her armor prove quite massive and difficult to remove.

Onyx pondered a response, but found himself very distracted by the removal of Fortivirago's armor. Old scars and bruises marred her coat here and there, but overall she looked quite beautiful. Her muscles were huge and billowing, almost a caricatured exaggeration of the equine form. One of the guards slipped and accidentally cut his arm, through his own armor, on one of her leg-blades, but realizing this as a sign of why she should not walk around with her armor, he bore the pain and did what he could with his other arm to remove every last blade and piece of armor, leaving only the twelve ribbons in her mane.

The unhurt guard looked to the king, motioning to the ribbons.

N'roh looked to Fortivirago and asked, "Would you like your war ribbons recanting your Urtonis war record removed as well? The stablehands may put them back at any time, if you choose."

Fortivirago thought for a moment before bobbing her head. "They do not provide room for what I shall accomplish here," she said. Never in her life had she thought about having them removed, but now she felt uncomfortable wearing them for fear they would serve as a constant reminder that she was an enemy of Keldon.

Onyx stepped closer circling around Fortivirago to admire every last inch of her. She did not appear any smaller with her armor removed - to him, she looked more impressive, more alive and vital.

The king noticed this as well. "I say, how big are you, Fortivirago?"

Fortivirago said, "I measure twenty-four and a half hands at the withers. Unarmored, my weight has been scaled at three thousand fifty-six pounds."

The king shook his head in disbelief. "Steer clear of the circus - they would never let you go if they saw you!" he chuckled. N'roh thought for a moment about the joke, then it occurred to him that news doesn't always travel fast nor accurately - some citizens might not readily accept Fortivirago as another citizen. How to ensure his royal decree is clearly understood? He thought for a few moments and began forming an idea - but it would take time. Meanwhile, why keep this magnificent creature locked in his stuffy throne room? He turned to the injured guard. "See to the healer about your arm, return to duty when he sees fit." To the other guard who had tended to Fortivirago's armor without injury, he commands, "Lead Fortivirago and Onyx to their new home in the stables. See to it the stablehands know they are to extend every courtesy to both, provide anything they need. I will provide Fortivirago in a gift, as soon as I have consulted with my royal craftsmen."

Both guards bowed in acknowledgment, with the injured guard moving off while clutching his arm to try and stave off the bleeding. The other tended to Fortivirago and the unicorn, leading them back out into the inner courtyard and around to the royal stables. The stall doors were left unlocked, allowing either to come or go as they pleased.

After conjuring a few spells over his own stall, Onyx left to tap his hoof at the door to Fortivirago's stall.

Although unaccustomed to having private quarters or being regarded as a sapient being with free will and choice, Fortivirago was aware of the custom of 'knocking' and answered in human language, "Yes?"

The unicorn colt nickered back in pure equine, "It is me ... I'd ... I'd like to get to know you."

A unicorn asking her permission to be with her? Fortivirago was very unaccustomed to this. "You may enter as you wish," she nickered.

Onyx nudged his way into her stall. The stall was well-lit from oil lanterns, and the huge black mare appeared more than a little snug in the stall, but it was not too badly cramped. "In case you hadn't caught it," he nickered, "My name is Onyx."

Fortivirago turned around in her stall, a somewhat ungainly feat given the tight space for her large form, though she managed to somehow accomplish it with a militaristic grace. She raised her left foreleg and lowered her head in a bow. "You honor me with your company, unicorn," she nickered lowly.

Onyx sighed for a moment and stepped toward a wall of the stall, kicking it lightly in frustration. "This is unfamiliar ground for me as well," he nickered, then turned around to face her again.

"How so?" Fortivirago nickered back, staying within the equine tongue as the unicorn seemed to prefer.

"Its ... hard to explain. I haven't always been so ... accepting ... of non-unicorn equines as equals."

Fortivirago bobbed her head. "I hold no such expectation of you ... surely, you are a superior equine. Your kind have an intelligence, a sentience my kind lacks ... even if the king feels otherwise."

"If that is so, why did you kill unicorns? How many did you kill ... and how exactly did you kill one?" Onyx nickered, upset.

Fortivirago, too accustomed to strict obedience to allow her concern for upsetting the unicorn further to keep her from answering his question directly, said, "I killed a unicorn because he shielded a land I was ordered to conquer. I've only managed to slay one myself, and I killed him with the assistance of a human mage who quelled his magic while I attacked."

A human mage could quell the a unicorn's magic? "That's not possible! No human has the power to quell a unicorn's magic!" Onyx snorted in anger. She must be lying!

Fortivirago shrugged her foreshoulders. "I have no significant knowledge of magic ... it is something I cannot use, because I am just a horse," she nickered.

'Damned right,' Onyx nearly verbalized. Eyes, pond, wind. Onyx sighed and shook himself to try and relax. He closed his eyes for a moment to focus. Again, he saw Fortivirago armored - but how could that be? Even if her armor were somehow imbued, it had been removed and could no longer be the source of why he still could not see her in spirit-vision. In his spirit-vision, he focused on her image and looked closer; two pieces of her head armor were slightly askew of one another, offering fleeting glimpses of the tiniest fraction of the dark form within. There must be a way to remove all of it or peek inside, but the colt realized his skills were inadequate - another unicorn's might not be. "You do not use magic?" he asked.

Fortivirago shook her head. "I thought ... I thought you could know I cannot - you can sense magic in others, can't you?"

"Normally, yes, but you are under a spell of some sort, one that prevents me from seeing into your spirit - your nature and magical capabilities. When I see you in a spirit-vision, you still wear your armor even though it has been removed - I thought the armor you were wearing might have an imbued spell of some sort, but you no longer wear a shred of it yet I still cannot see. It takes very powerful magic to be able to stave off a unicorn's magic indeed ... no human mage could match our magic." The unicorn paced in the small area at the stall entrance, trying to figure it out. He then stood muzzle to muzzle with Fortivirago, looking her in the eye. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

Fortivirago was taken aback by it. "I will abide your orders loyally," she answered.

Onyx grunted. "That's not what I asked. I'm sure I could tell you to go impale yourself on a blunt spike and you'd do it to your own death! I asked you if you trusted me - and I require an honest answer."

Fortivirago thought deep within herself for a moment before she answered, "Yes. You are a unicorn. If you had wanted to harm me, you would have done so already." Onyx hoofed at the hay lining the stall floor ... still not quite what he meant. He looked up and nickered, "Epona, I am doing all I can to gain her understanding ... I pray you allow this."

Fortivirago looked at the unicorn oddly. "Who is this ... Epona?" she asked.

Onyx looked at Fortivirago - she couldn't be that badly removed from Epona's kingdom, could she? That she had never even heard of the goddess? "I ... have a long way to go," he sighed for a moment. "Epona is the dam of all equines ... she created us all, unicorn and horse. Every horse in existence, has ever existed or will exist, is her foal. She is above even us unicorns, and when she commands something of us, we must do it - there is no debate nor questioning of it. She nurtures and protects, but horses can be taken from her kingdom when men dominates a horse and breaks its will away from her spirit. You, your entire family - your entire breed - have had this happen; Epona is unable to touch any of you. Nothing on earth, not even a mighty dragon, can match her power - she is a goddess - but even with all that power, she cannot touch you until you return to her kingdom. My kind, the unicorn, are her guardians who help her keep her herd within her kingdom, imbued with sentience, intelligence and very powerful magic, as strong as a dragon's magic but in different areas."

Fortivirago listened intently - a horse goddess? She had not fathomed there was one aside from unicorns. "Aren't unicorns gods?" she nickered, looking into Onyx' eyes.

'Yes, you big beautiful mare, I am your god...' Onyx caught himself thinking when an unpleasant tingling erupted from his horn. 'Dammit!' he thought to himself. He glanced away from Fortivirago, embarrassed. For some reason, she did appear lusciously beautiful to him. 'Its not fair!' The biggest, most powerful mare he had ever seen acknowledging him for the superior begin he was, willing to perform for his every whim - but Epona just had to ruin the opportunity. 'Just one night, please! I bet I could really bless her and she could so use my blessing!' Before Epona had time to punish him, he nickered an answer, "No. Epona made us ... special, above other horses, so we could serve as her guardians or knights, if you will, of horsekind. We are entrusted to help keep the grasses green and the forests lush to feed and shelter our kind." Onyx continued, "Epona appeared to me, and ... asked ... me to watch over you, to help bring you back into her kingdom. She did not tell me much, but did tell me you are at least as sapient and intelligent as any unicorn ... as unexpected and unfamiliar the situation is even to me, I cannot rule over you as unicorns are above beast-horses. You are not a beast-horse."

Fortivirago shook her head confusedly. "I am a war horse, a beast! A war-beast! What else would I be?" she nickered. "I am no unicorn!" She whinnied in frustration on her own.

"This is going to take a lot of time ... I don't know what you are myself, Fortivirago. You are a warrior no longer, though ... I don't want to see you kill anything while I'm around, not unless it is absolutely necessary - as in something threatening your life - okay?" Onyx wondered for a moment if Fortivirago might attack him. Surely, she could not harm him - but how had she killed other unicorns?

Fortivirago sighed, drooped her head and nodded. "As you wish."

'Ugh, she's impossible!' thought the unicorn. 'Why could she not understand she is not under my command here?' He lifted his muzzle again and nickered, "I am trying, Epona."

Fortivirago remained silent, feeling she was failing Onyx somehow - he was not asking her to do a physical task, or figure something out that was tactical, nor anything else she knew how to do.

Onyx reminded himself of what he wanted for the moment, to try and find out more about Fortivirago - more than she could tell him, for it may well be possible she does not know if she is magical or not; but if not, how could she maintain a spell and not be aware of it? The human mages may have imbued her with a spell, but are they still casting it upon her from so far away? It did not seem to add up to the unicorn - 'Surely, if they were aware of where she was and what she had done, they would have teleported her back home.' The thought then occurred - 'They still might.' "Fortivirago, you need to get over yourself. You aren't a servant to Urtonis any more ... N'roh's declared you a citizen here. You're on an equal hoofing with myself in the Keldon - or any human. Why can't you just relax and let go?" he grunted.

Fortivirago scraped a hoof on the dusty stall floor in frustration. "I cannot change who I am, not overnight," she nickered defensively. "I am not comfortable where I am not certain - and I am not certain about this equal-hoofing business. I wish the king would just place me in his army, under a military command - but to throw me into a new life I don't know how to live?"

Onyx stamped a forehoof of his own in response. "You are free, Fortivirago! If you're smart enough to figure out how to defeat a unicorn when you don't have any magical ability, surely you can figure out a way to relax your blades!"

Fortivirago's eyes flared in irritation - which surprised herself. Getting upset with a unicorn of all creatures? She really wouldn't mind being killed by one in battle - but this was grating. "You want me to relax, let down my guard? Fine! I know a way!"

Onyx looked up into her eyes. Finally, something! Anger! As big as the mare was, Onyx felt a bit of fear at her overwhelming bulk and strength before himself, forgetting for a moment that he was a unicorn. 'That's good!' "Whatever it takes, do it!" he snorted. And maybe when her rigid conditioning was broke, he could see through her shell ...

"Let's go outside," she grunted, waiting for Onyx to clear her stall door. "Fine," the colt grunted before backing out.

Fortivirago cantered out and turned to the guard King N'roh had assigned to her. "Do you think the king would object to sparing some spirits?" she asked in human language.

The guard looked at her for a moment. "Spirits ... liquor? For a horse?" He scratched his beard for a moment. "Well, the king did ask me to provide you anything you requested ... errr, do you have a preference?"

Onyx, too, looked a bit surprised - and felt dismayed. Alcohol? Was there anything less equinelike she could like? Nonetheless, he remained silent.

"Spiced apple cider, if you have a lot of it - otherwise, whatever is available in large quantities - on the order of a dozen kegs."

The guard scratched his head. "I think we have a surplus of rum we haven't been able to drink fast enough, I'm sure it could be spared. Cheap stuff, but ... if you're looking for quantity, that'd be it. Where would you want it?"

Fortivirago looked outside of the stables and spotted a very large trough in an abandoned pasture. "There," she said as she motioned with her muzzle.

The guard looked, having to stand on his toes to see over crates blocking his view. "As you wish. I'll go and get the stuff," he said before bowing to the giant horse and turning toward the royal storehouse.

"You want to see me relaxed?" Fortivirago nickered in equine toward Onyx, without so much as looking at him. "Then join me."

"Join you? You don't expect me to foul myself with poison!" Onyx nickered, flabbergasted.

Fortivirago shrugged her foreshoulders before cantering toward the trough. Onyx stood, rolled his eyes back and shook his muzzle in disbelief for several moments before trotting after her, having to double-time to keep up with the larger equine's easy gait.

The trough had an empty feed-bin nearby with a ladder-accessed column above for storing and dispensing a large quantity of grain-feed. The trough itself was full of rainwater. Fortivirago raised first one forehoof and pressed it against the outside of the trough and then the other. A strong but steady push from her hindlegs, and the trough toppled over, hundreds of gallons of rainwater splashing out in a wave. She pulled back to stand, then hiked a foreleg over the side of the now empty trough, pulling it back so it stood upright again. "This'll do fine, if he can bring enough to fill it. It will take a lot for me to relax," she grunted to Onyx who idly watched nearby.

Onyx, for his part, thought about it. It would be interesting, something he'd never tried before - who'd ever heard of a drunk unicorn? It isn't as though he hadn't 'experimented' with things before, why not? He flicked his ears and looked back as the racket of a horse-drawn cart emerged from around the stables. The guard led four mules drawing a cart stacked high with one row of two snugged atop two rows of two snugged atop the bottom layer of three rows abreast of two kegs each for a dozen in all. It took him several minutes to reach the trough, the mules straining hard with the full kegs.

The guard grunted at the prospect of carrying each of the dozen kegs from the cart to empty them into the trough - it would be hard enough just carrying one, and the guard wasn't exactly a weak man.

Noticing the consternated look, Fortivirago spoke to him, "Just leave the cart here, I'll fill the trough. Now, one last request ... make sure no one else wanders near. I'd suggest keeping a distance yourself ... I intend to bust my limit, and if you can do any figuring on what a horse my size can do when out of control..."

The guard stood a bit agape at the thought, then nodded. "I'll see to it no one comes into the danger zone." He turned and smirked a bit at the thought of seeing this great horse drunk as he released the mules, leading them by hand back to the stables whilst leaving the cart.

Fortivirago cantered around to the rear of the cart and, battering her head down to the edge of the cart, butted it against the side of the trough. She then backed up and reared, her massive form walking forward a bit on two hooves and resting one forehoof against the top row of kegs, pushing it forward so both kegs fell into the trough. She then lowered herself a bit to lean against the middle layer of two rows, pushing those four kegs into the trough as well. With the six kegs remaining on the bottom, Fortivirago lowered her forequarters so her head and part of a foreshoulder hunkered underneath the end of the cart; she then lifted the entire cart, flipping it upside down.

The tactic was effective, if a bit sloppy; one of the bottom kegs near her fell onto the ground, but the remaining five made it into a pile.

"You that sloppy on the battlefield?" Onyx quipped, hiding his quiet admiration - certainly, no beast-horse would have been able to figure out how to move those barrels into the large trough without human help. "Now how you gonna open them?"

Fortivirago ignored the query, rearing slightly to hope fore forelegs into the trough. With eleven precise stomps, the kegs were smashed under a hoof each, the strong-smelling liquor filling the trough.

Fortivirago nudged the grounded barrel so it stood upright, testing it with her rum-soaked hooves for stability before raising a forehoof high and smashing the top of the keg square in the center, opening its contents while leaving the rest of the keg intact. "Yours," she nickered to him before walking over to the trough. "It won't kill you, but I wouldn't drink anymore than that keg your first time. In fact," she nickered as she sized the colt up, "I think half of it will more than do the job for you."

Onyx stepped up to the 'opened' upright keg and whuffled at it, his lips curling in disgust. "You actually drink this stuff?" he snorted.

In lieu of a verbal answer, Fortivirago stepped up to the trough and planted her muzzle into the liquid. She ignored the broken keg debris floating within and kept her nostrils just above the surface as she drank heartily, sucking up an impressive flow.

'If she can, I can,' Onyx figured to himself, taking a testing swallow from the upright keg. His head went up immediately in a choking, coughing fit.

Fortivirago finally paused from her drinking to raise her muzzle and chuckle. "C'mon, colt," she incited. "That'll put hair in your mane ... if you're stallion enough."

That did it! Onyx snorted and planted his muzzle. However offensive, he wouldn't stand for being called 'colt' by some horse-mare!

Fortivirago returned to her contentedly hefty drinking.

Onyx struggled against the burning, foul taste, but acclimated. Time passed and he began to wonder - so now what? He lifted his head, having drank perhaps a sixth of the keg. He shook his head. 'I don't feel any different,' he nickered, gazing down at the quantity he'd guzzled, then smirked. 'I'm probably immune ... ha, so much for Fortivirago being superior. I could drink her under the table!' He looked over at her, still guzzling. 'Well, better finish the keg off - just to be sure,' he figured, and returned.

He guzzled down what he thought was an equal amount until he felt his lips touch the bottom of the keg. "Whoah..." he nickered aloud to himself, then tried pullings his head out - but it caught on the fractured remnant of the top end Fortivirago had smashed. "Hey now!" he nickered aloud again, shaking his head a bit to try and loosen it - and that's when he realized it had hit. He felt himself spinning, the ground rolling under him in waves. He fought, blind by the keg he was unable to remove, to regain stability. Before he knew what happened, he suddenly realized he was steady again. "Aha! I can still stand straight!" he nickered aloud again, still feeling a bit dizzy from spinning - a little tipsy, to be sure, but he had it licked. "I drank the whole keg, Fortivirago, and I can still stand straight, no problem!"

He heard nickered laughter from Fortivirago, unseen beyond the blinding wall of the keg his head remained stuck in. "That's great, Onyx - so why don't you, then?"

"Why don't I what?" Onyx nickered back, not having a clue what she was speaking about.

"Stand up straight. Stop lying down!"

"I'm not..." Oh, wait, was that a lump in his side? It was only then Onyx realized - he was laying flat on his side! He heard muffled noises from outside the keg, then a tug as Fortivirago grabbed the keg with her teeth and managed to pull it off.

Onyx struggled to his hooves, and promptly scooted sideways as he tried to adjust for standing on a steep hillside - in the flat pasture. Then the ground tilted the other direction, and the other side Onyx scooted to. "Stop moving the ground!" he stammered.

Fortivirago laughed, then buried her muzzle back into the trough. She'd drunk half the trough already, impressive considering it had eleven times the amount of rum Onyx' keg held. Her tail flicked and she looked a bit more relaxed, but nowhere near as 'relaxed' as Onyx. He hoofed over to her and peered in.

"So you relaxed enough yet?" he nickered.

She lifted her muzzle momentarily to look at him. "Nope, not until I've drunk it dry. You, on the other hoof ... I think you need to walk that off a little bit."

Onyx snorted. "Hey, I got no problems ... I can just heal myself! I am a unicorn, you know!"

Fortivirago lifted her brow. "You don't say," she chuckled.

Onyx grunted and closed his eyes. He tried to envision the pond, the grass and the forest - but instead he envisioned himself at the bottom of that pond, seeing everything very bleary and distorted while feeling himself drown! He gasped for breath and choked as he opened his eyes. "Ohhhh, maybe later!" he nickered. "I like being like this!"

In the seemingly few moments he had tried the spirit-vision, Fortivirago was down to slurping the last bit of rum from the trough. "Urrp," she brayed. "Relaxed think enough now," she giggled as she staggered, finally feeling the effects. "Good stuff."

Onyx somehow managed to swagger out of the way as the giant horse slung sideways, crashing into the grain towner above the feed bin, knocking it down in one loud crash, winding up slumping across its side (now on top). From that moment on, neither Onyx nor Fortivirago remembered a thing.

Fortivirago stirred first amid dawn's light. Her headache confirmed her suspicion - she had not been that drunk in many years, since when she was still earning a tolerance for alcohol. She found herself still slumped over the side of the knocked-down tower, only shifted a small bit from where she last remembered falling over it. She struggled hard to her hooves, a monumental effort especially when the dizziness tsunamis struck. She staggered backward slightly when she tripped over something, her tail end tumbling back with her hind hooves caving down and forward. A panicked whinney told her the thing she had tripped over and fallen upon was, in fact, Onyx who awakened with a start to the crushing weight suddenly upon himself. "Off!" he whinnied in a panick.

Fortivirago mustered all she could of herself to stand again, and the unicorn colt himself rose and got out from behind her.

"My head!" he moan-brayed.

"Try healing yourself again," she nickered lowly as she turned to face him.

Onyx struggled to steady himself as he closed his eyes. He was above the water again, but could feel himself drifting slightly this way and that standing in the water, like a boat in the waves. It took a bit more than usual, but he managed to quell the wind and calm the water before calling down a healing ray upon himself. The headache dissipated as did the distortions in his spirit-vision, and he noticed a decided change in Fortivirago - some of her armor had disappeared, and between amor plates, her mane and tail were visible as well as her eyes and bits of her hide here and there. There was something more, though - a glow to her. A familiar glow. 'Uh oh.'

Onyx opened his eyes and whuffled at Fortivirago in the physical realm. His nose picked it up and his nose confirmed it with the scent - whoah.

Fortivirago eyed him and nickered, "What is it? Looks like you managed to heal your hangover," she grunted. "Don't bother with mine, I earned it - besides, it forces me to relax. And that's what you wanted, right?"

"Oh yeah, I got what I wanted alright - except I don't remember a damned thing." he surprised himself by nickering aloud.

Fortivirago looked at him oddly. "What do you mean by that?" she nickered suspiciously. She arched her neck to whuffle along her own flanks. "No!" she nickered as she picked up his scent. "Is that why you wanted me 'relaxed'!?" she stamped a forehoof, headache be damned. Her eyes flared and filled with rage. "Get out of my sight!" she whinnied, backed up slightly and positioned herself to charge. "How dare you attack me!" she snorted and bolted forward, charging directly at the colt.

Onyx barely had a moment to teleport himself out of her way, just a few yards to the side. Fortivirago continued her gallop, but changed direction to charge toward his new position. "You'd better kill me off before I kill you, you bastard!" the large horse brayed, furious.

"What are you talking about?" Onyx nickered, his horn glowing as he teleported himself out of her path again. "You wanted to drink, you wanted me to drink like a human! I can't even remember what happened last night - you took my control away! And its not so bad anyway - you aren't in heat!"

"You attacked me!" she whinney-screamed. "I am not some brood-mare too weak to fight in battle! I drank to relax myself for you, but not for that!"

"Oh, come on! It was your fault anyway ... not that you didn't enjoy it. That's what you wanted to do when you relaxed ... I couldn't summon the simplest spell to heal myself from being drunk, much less put one on you."

A girl seemed to form out of the thin air, screaming at Onyx, "Let us be!"

Onyx staggered backward - what the...!? "And just who are you supposed to be? You shouldn't be here!" he snorted at the girl.

Fortivirago stomped her hoof in irritation, preparing to charge again. "Didn't you hear me? I said get out of my sight! Who the hell do you think I am?"

Onyx shook his head. Fortivirago couldn't see the girl? "Not you, Forti - hang on a moment, who is this girl?"

Fortivirago snorted. "Girl!?" Had Onyx broken whatever mask she had and seen her hallucination? Fortivirago could see no one else. "Stop digging into my mind!" She charged forward, furious and, worse, humiliated.

The sky above crackled as a brilliant bolt collided with Onyx, snagging him away before he had a chance to teleport himself a few yards away again. A single clap of thunder shook through the land of early light.

Many miles away, Onyx found himself in a familiar lush meadow surrounded by budding trees, sweet-smelling blossoms - a unicorn's forest. Not his own, of course; this was responsibly kept and one he recognized. "Loenken?" the colt nickered.

As though on cue, the old white unicorn teleported in. "What in Epona's name did you do? That woke me up!" he nickered in irritation.

"What ... I ... you brought me here?" he nickered. "I thought you never wanted to see me again."

Loenken trotted lightly around the meadow, whuffling at a low branch full of strongly sweet-scented blossoms to stir himself awake. "I didn't ... I still don't. But even I get overruled once in awhile," he nickered. He grunted, sighed and cantered slowly over to the colt, wrinkling his nose. "What the hell is that?" he nickered before whuffling at the colt. "Booze? Human booze? Great glade above, colt, how low have you sunk!?"

"I ... it wasn't my choice ... Epona gave me a ... project. I'm not touching the stuff again so long as I draw breath, whatever it takes to not do that. I couldn't even heal!" Onyx protested.

"I told you long ago there are no excuses to me, Onyx. I got tired of them rather quickly, I certainly don't want to hear them now."

"You were watching what was going on?" Onyx nickered, looking his former mentor in the eye. What was going on?

"Its not hard to figure out. You should have left, given her time to figure things out. I don't fully understand her nor her reaction, but she definitely needs time and space."

Onyx lowered his ears to near-flat. "I wish I could at least remember last night. You saw ... that, too?"

Loenken looked the colt square in the eye. "No, and I am glad I did not - you should be, too. If I had seen you drunk, I would have given you what-for myself. You are lucky Epona hasn't taken your horn already."

Onyx nickered back, "I didn't ask for this. Fortivirago's way too upstuck for me. What am I supposed to do? She wouldn't loosen up and feel comfortable around me unless she got drunk. I would rather have done something ... anything else."

Loenken rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Then you should have done the one thing you never do - wait patiently. That's the real reason you dropped your lessons, you were and are too impatient. You do everything on impulse, for your own gratification in the here and now instead of planning for the future and taking responsibility. Epona's given you one last chance to learn this, colt."

Onyx stood quietly, fuming but knowing no heated retort would do him any good.