Truly Evil?

Dusk deflected the first blow instead of blocking it, letting the blow harmlessly pass above him. The other he had to dodge to avoid being decapitated. But he just barely managed to do that, and the sword ended up slicing the upper half of his right ear off.

His mind barely registered it though, but it did register the clank of something heavy being dropped and he saw what June had found. He then used his magic to fling the metal leg at the legs of one of the statues. If it didn't break them, he hoped it would at least knock that statue down.

The solid metal leg being slammed into the legs of one of the statues managed to at first only crack the stone. This however spread as the statue took another step, which caused the cracks to spiderweb until the entire statue crumbled into rubble like the other three. This left only one which was now preparing to bring down it's sword in a downward slash.

Ician summoned the last dregs of his energy, backed up by the full power of his strong telekinesis, and picked up the metal leg again and slammed it into the remaining statue as hard as he could.

Dusk's soon realized something wrong, especially since he saw a trail of blood between him and the statue as he jumped away from the coming attack. He even saw the missing part of his ear on the ground. As a quick check, he lifted a hoof to his right ear, and when he brought it back to where he could see it there was blood on it.

I hope I can get that put back on, he thought. He did not want to lose a part of his body for this.

Putting another dent in the chunk of metal, the stone broke upon impact, the rest of the statue following suit soon afterwards until all that remained was a 4th pile of rubble on the ground. With the statues dealt with, nothing else seemed to move in the room afterwards.

Once the last statue crumbled to pieces, Dusk finally let himself relax. Well, he relaxed as much as he could while missing part of his ear, which was now painful as heck. He soon picked up the missing part with his magic and held it in front of him for a bit. He had rough scrapes before, and this was the closest thing that ever came to killing him. Inside, he was scared that he wouldn't make it out of this alive. On the outside he managed to keep a calm expression, despite the pain.

"Anypony have anything to clean this and stitch it back on me?" he asked in calm, but rather unconvicing voice.

June stared at the severed piece of ear for a moment, then nodded, opening her backpack once more.  She pulled out a small metal case embossed with a red cross, and took out a sterile needle and thread.  She dampened a piece of cloth with the disinfectant, and motioned for Dusk to come over.  "You're handling this surprisingly well.  I'm no surgeon, but we'll see what we can do."

The procedure wouldn't prove too difficult, and the abundance of plants in the immediate area would make finding various helpful herbal medications easy. The cut itself was also remarkably clean, which again would make the task easier.

The key from the fountain would catch a reflection from the artificial light though, serving to remind those that were still moving of it's existence.

As soon as Ician threw the leg, he slipped into blissful unconsciousness, succumbing to his fatigue. His eyes fluttered shut.

Dusk noticed Ician collapse. He wanted his ear repaired, but he thought Ician might be in worse shape. After a bit of a battle in his mind as to who June should tend to first, he figured his ear wouldn't wait for very long.

"I don't think he's too badly injured, so he should be fine for now. I don't think my ear will wait for too long," He said to June. He then made his way over to June and sat down on his rump so she'd have easy access to his ear.

"Alright.  This is going to sting, just a fair warning."  June smiled.  "I suppose you should know that by now, of course."  Taking the cloth in hoof, she began cleaning the injury with practiced movements. After enough of the blood had gone, she put the cloth aside and picked up a fresh one, dabbing it with a bit of liquid from a bottle.  She put out a hoof.  "The... ear, please?"

Dusk silently gave June the missing part of his ear, still wincing a bit from the stinging. He was actually fairly surprised with how well she was taking this. He wasn't too sure how much better he'd do once she began stitching it back on, or whatever it was she was going to do. He prepared himself. He knew how to deal with pain. But he was worried this wouldn't be one of his finer moments.

June took the ear, and carefully dabbed the cloth around it.  "This is a healing solution, so the ear will heal pretty quickly, maybe a week or so.  But be very careful not to tear the stitches, once they're in, or we'll have to start all over."  She moved onto cleaning the cut on Dusk's head, and a feeling of heat spread from the injury.  June wished desperately she could use the painkillers in her bag, but they didn't mix well with the healing solution.  But wishing wouldn't change medicine, so she pushed the thoughts aside and picked up the needle and thread.  Right before she began the stitches, something occured to her.  "Would you like something to bite down on?  That can help."

Dusk thought for a moment on whether or not he actually wanted something to bite down on. His pride said no, but the rest of him agreed that having something to bite would be best. "I would," he simply said.

The world slowly swirled back into focus. Ician opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the myriad of terrible bruises in his side. Not because he could see them, but because he could feel them. And they all hurt like hell.

The second thing he noticed was that his armour was dented. Pretty badly, too. Aggravating, since it was pushing onto his bruises. He would need some help getting it off later.

The last thing he noticed was that his little pet snake, having been hidden away in the corner of his armour for the adventure so far, was still safe. And he could tell because it was currently slithering over his bruises.

He groaned. This hurts.

June pulled a small piece of wood from her backpack, and was about to give it to Dusk when she heard Ician groan.  She looked between the armored pony and her current patient, a silent debate ongoing in her mind.  Ician would certainky need help, but she was already working on Dusk.  Might as well finish what she started, she reasoned.  So, she placed the wood in Dusk's mouth, and carefully lined up the severed piece of ear, needle and thread at the ready.  Making sure it was all in place, she pierced through the ear, quickly making the first stitch.

Dusk kept himself stock still as June made the first stitch. Though it didn't hurt quite as much as he expected, it still hurt a lot. It hurt enough that after the first few stitches his eyes were already tearing up, and he had made an nice indent in the wood between his teeth. However, he kept quiet.

The remaining stitches were made quickly, June's practiced hoof making sure they would hold the ear in place to heal.  Once she was satisfied with the number of stitches, she used a small pair of scissors to cut away the excess string.  She gave a weak smile.  "The stitching itself's done, so that's the worst of it over.  But now I'm going to have to tie it off, which might make you a bit uncomfortable.  Not painful, but... well, I'll get on with it."  The tying required more finesse than a hoof could manage, no matter how well trained.  And as June's gifts had not included telekinesis, she had to do it the only way earth ponies could handle such delicate things.  She leaned in to Dusk's ear, and carefully used her mouth to tie the end of the string.

Once he heard June was done with the stitches, Dusk let the piece of wood in his mouth drop. He was very glad that ordeal was over. But as soon as he felt June's breath as she tied the string off, he immediately froze up. Oh, she wasn't kidding when she said this would be uncomfortable. But... it is a little nice, I guess, he thought. It wasn't painful, except for when she pulled the stitches a bit. He actually was fairly comfortable, at least until he realized Ician was awake. This was a comfort he'd much prefer in private, if he had any say in it.

June finished the first knot, and moved onto tying the other end of the thread.  Thankfully, she had been careful to make sure that both ends were on the outside of the ear.  It hadn't been fun tying that stitch, and it was a mistake you made only once.  Finishing the tying, June pulled away from Dusk.  "There.  Now let's bandage it up, and I can make sure Ician's alright."  She grabbed the cloth with the healing solution, dabbed it around the stitches, and started wrapping around with bandages.  Once the ear was secure enough, she taped off the bandage, and moved in front of Dusk.  "Your ear will be fine in a couple weeks, at most.  I know that must have hurt a lot, so thank you for being so great while I was doing that."  She then picked up the medical kit, and moved over to Ician.  The armor was presenting a problem, it couldn't be cut away for treatment.  She moved over to Ician's face, checking for consciousness.  "Ician?  How are you feeling?"

"Half dead." Ician muttered. "Could you help me get this armour off me? There are several latches keeping all the separate plates together. Be careful when you take it off, though. There are a lot of hidden knives liable to fall out from hidden compartments and stab you. Plus, my pet snake is in there, too, so don't make any sudden movements."

Dusk only nodded in acknowledgement before June left. She definitely was kind, and rather skilled too. He liked how she wanted to be of use, like he sometimes felt on those lonely nights. Just having a night to share with somepony would make it the best night in his life.

However, he stopped that train of thought and picked his sword back up with his magic. He then began inspecting it to see how damaged it was. The blow from the statue made him worry it was on the verge of breaking. His inspection was satisfactory though. It still had a lot of use left in it. Using the finest steel in Equestria for it had paid off. He decided to stay where he was for now. The physical exertion from earlier was beginning to catch up with him.

June slowly nodded. "Knives and a snake. Got it." She carefully began removing the armor, having to resort to using her teeth to unfasten some. As she removed the pieces, she sorted them into piles of dented armor and knives. She cut herself only once, wincing as she placed the cut in her mouth. There didn't seem to be any blood, but a small wisp of silver mist came out. Ignoring it, she finished unfastening the chest piece, and encountered a mass of bruising and the snake. She stared at the snake through her mirrored glasses, not moving a muscle. "Hello there." A slight movement to look at Ician's face. "What do I do now? My experience isn't with snakes."

"Theria." Ician groaned. "Theria, get off of me. Sit on my face or something."

Obediently, the snake slithered off his bruises and onto his head, sitting there quietly and flicking its tongue at June.

June nodded, impressed.  "It's a clever snake."  She then finished taking Ician's armor off, piling all of it off to the side.  Now that she had a clearer view, she looked over the stallion's bruising, and used her years of medical experience to come to a quick conclusion:  "That's a lot of bruising.  You... may want to keep that armor off for a good while.  Magical ointments only do so much."  Opening the medical kit, June removed several cold packs, a towel, and a small jar of healing cream.  She went to the jar first, taking some of the ointment onto her hooves and ignoring the odd sensation it left.  She began carefully spreading it over the worst bruises, using minimal pressure.  Everywhere the ointment was put down, a feeling of warmth spread into Ician as the pain receded.