It’s been an hour of me rummaging through the mess that was formerly Dash’s home.  Since I can no longer sense the spiritual force of the invaders, I figured that maybe if I found some physical evidence, I would gain some knowing of Rainbow’s whereabouts.  But if I did find something, what actual good would it do me?  If she’s still in this universe, then she could be anywhere; and I only have limited knowledge of few of the many places in Equestria.  If she was taken to a different realm, most likely Sin Rati, then how I would I traverse to it?  I have no idea of its location amongst the dimensional planes.  I guess…I guess I just wanted some form of hope.

I situated myself on the re-flipped couch and buried my face into my palms; I didn’t care for that jabbing sensation created by my elbows pushing into my legs, I’m to stressed out to care right now.  I just want Rainbow back safe and sound.

A flash of light illuminated the front doorway while the sound of wings flapping overpowered the lingering silence that once filled the room.  It was Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy.

“Inrei, Pinkie said that you abruptly left-By Celestia!  What happened here?”  Twilight began.

“…Rainbow’s been kidnapped……”  My voice was mostly empty by now.

“Oh my…!”  Twilight quickly poked her head out the door and with the glow of her horn, created four more flashes; all four of them had encased Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie.

“What the hay happened here?”  AJ questioned in shock; only to be informed by Twilight of the incident.

“My word; by who?”  Rarity’s voice was just as stunned as Applejack’s.

As all eyes turned to me, all I could say was “The Dragon Army.”

“W-Why would they do that?”  Fluttershy hesitantly asked.

“Because with Rainbow, it puts me at a disadvantage-“Wait a minute; the tactic of taking someone I hold dear as a hostage just to drop my morale and so I won’t use my full strength isn’t something Reiku would do.  It would have to be a certain faction of the Dragon Army; especially one that holds authority.  That would be the Dragos Elementos, but the question is, which one?  And the only one of the five that would go that far would be…No…..I have to find Rainbow fast!

“Twilight, I need a map of the entire planet or a globe immediately!”  I demanded.

“S-Sure Inrei, but why?”  The lavender unicorn asked.

“Because if Rainbow is still here in this dimension, then I would need to know the location as soon as possible!  I have an idea who abducted Rainbow, and if my assumption is correct, then there is no telling what this woman would do!”

“Who’s the person in mind?”  AJ chimed in.

“Her name is Dahlia; out of the entire Dragon Army, she despises me the most.”

“Why is that?”

“…Because I killed her family…It was during the time my need for revenge was at its greatest; they were innocent casualties against my attack against Dahlia.”  I finished without planning on going into further detail.

An uncomfortable silence followed for my friends were speechless.  Sure they know I’ve killed before, but to apprise them this kind of information left the ponies unprepared for any response.

“So then…What are we going to do?”  Applejack said while still comprehending this new found fact.

“If it is Dahlia, than she’s going to be unpredictable with her actions.  Once I find them, then I’ll deal with the situation as best as I can.  Hopefully Rainbow is okay…”

“Here Inrei, I found you a globe.”  Twilight used her magic to levitate the item directly in front of me.

I thanked her for it and quickly surveyed the globe while drawing my finger over it.  As I moved from place to place, I concentrated all of my sensory abilities on that spot of the planet to search for any traces of residual energy that belonged to members of the Dragon Army.

No….Not here….Nothing….Still nothing….

It’s been two and a half hour now and I haven’t found a damn thing.  Out of frustration, I stood up and punched a hole in the nearby wall; startling the others as they cleaned up the mess created by the struggle.

“I have to find her…!  I have to!”  I gritted my teeth.

Twilight came up behind me with eyes beaming with concern.  “I know you do Inrei, but try and calm down.  You’ll accomplish nothing if you can’t be levelheaded right now.”

She’s right; and as best it would be for me to calm down right now, I fucking can’t!  If anything happens to Dash, I don’t know what I’ll do.  And I won’t be able to forgive myself for letting her get hurt.  I don’t want to lose Dash as well…

Out of the blue, I could feel a sudden and minor surge of power close by here.  I immediately exited the building and focused on the general direction it came from.  I know where it is now!  I hurried into the Everfree Forest and found a human shaped entity standing before me.  He had short brown hair and green eyes; he wore navy blue sweat pants and a white tank top; this allowed me to easily see that tattoo like symbol on his right arm; the mark of Reiku.  I felt nothing, but pure chaotic, hatred for this man.

As the man noticed me, his eyes widen in fears as he summoned his spiritual weapon; he is definitely aware of the current situation for that type of reaction.  I immediately responded to this by using brute strength to snap his weapon in half with a single swipe.  Following that, I delivered three direct blows to the man’s chest; causing him to collapse to the ground.  And before he could get back up, I rose up my left hand and concentrated my energy on the man as I telekinetically restrained him in mid air.  But this was no ordinary hold I had this soldier in; I fed my own spiritual energy into the man to stimulate the arteries of his heart to rupture.  As he experiences a heart attack, the same energy is also to ensure his survival, but makes him suffer as it also ruptures the rest of his organs.  The more my hand becomes a fist; the more the pain worsens as the victim eventually dies.

“You can already feel it, can’t you?  Your life in my hands.”  I tightened my grasp, causing this man to grind his teeth in pain.

I could hear the sound of grass rustling from being stepped, and when I furiously turned my gaze to the source, I saw that it was Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie; the moment I had them in my sight, they were slightly paralyzed with fear.  I turned back to the soldier.

“A cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail was kidnapped by members of your army; who was the leading abduction!?”  I gradually tightened my grip.

After a groan of pang and a cough of blood, he spoke in hyperventilated gasps.  “Dahlia…Dahlia organized the whole thing!  She had us capture that pony to get your attention!”

I knew it!

“Where did Dahlia take that pegasus!?”  I rapidly increased the amount of his torture.

“Inrei, lighten up on the guy!”  AJ declared; realizing I was killing the man in a cruel way.

“Applejack is right Inrei; you need to calm down.”  Twilight added.

“Where are they!?”  I demanded with much intensity.

He coughed out more blood with each of his raspy exhales.  As he drew his head back up, I could see the terror in his eyes as tears welled up.  There is probably a decent portion of his intestines destroyed now.

“Inrei, stop it!”  Applejack pleaded.

“Where!?”

“74 degrees North, 122 degrees West!”  The soldier wheezed.

“That location is Marean Woods; that’s all the way on the other side of the planet…”  Twi muttered.

“There!  We have Rainbow’s location; now let the guy go!”  Applejack demanded.

“Please…!  You have the information you want!  Please let me go!”  The man begged in a rushed and panicked voice.

“The instance you decided to partake in this act, you chose your fate!”  I growled.

“MERCY!”  He screamed.

“Inrei, no don’t!”  Twilight screamed, but it was too late; my fist was completely closed now and with a wet sounding splatter, that man no longer wheezed, he no longer scream and groaned in pain, and he no longer moved as blood oozed out of his mouth and past his lifeless eyes as he laid limp on the ground.  Following his death were the horrified gasps of my friends.

I materialized my fog hat gray mask, but before I could put it on, Applejack planted both front hooves into my chest and got into my face.

“Inrei, what’s wrong with you!?  We all want to save Rainbow as much as you do, but that man begged you not to kill him!  That was going too far!”  The mare snapped.

“Have you ever lost anyone you loved!?  Have you had to sit there helpless and watch them die!?  I’m not about to take any chances with Rainbow’s safety and I’m not about to lose someone else I care about!”

“Yeah, but-“She cut herself off with a small gasp.  Aside from feeling the pure anger burning inside of me, I could see it in the reflection of Applejack’s emerald green eyes; a human look was gone in my eyes as they were replaced with my slit pupils due to the infuriated feelings flowing through my body; my former appearance when my time was most violent.  As Applejack backed off, I situated my mask on and triggered its mapping features to pinpoint the longitude and latitude given.  With my destination set, I sped off.

Marean Woods, as Twilight called it, was a slightly dense forest with a coastline and a small mountain overlooking everything.  If the circumstances were less substantial, then maybe I would have observed my surroundings more. Right now Dash needs me, so I shouldn’t dawdle any further.  I can feel the presence of many living things at the base of the mountain.

With each step closer to this natural landmark, I could see and feel the glares of the numerous eyes of this battalion.  I paid them no mind as I approached the foundation of both the mountain and the Dragon Army, I was greeted with the sight of a contempt filled Dahlia and a cautious Ramis and Kronis staring at me.  Passed them was an opening of a cave, and in that cave bound by rope was Rainbow calling to me.

“So you finally came!”  Dahlia began.  “Remove your mask and discard your weapon!”

I complied; I dematerialized the De’la Windbloom Mask and shortly after summoning Apocalypto, tossed it to the side.

“How the mighty have fallen.”  She growled.

I know I can take this group of warriors head on, but as long as they have Rainbow, I’m not going to risk it.  I can’t even try for a sneak attack with that torture technique because I know for a fact that there is a good portion of warriors here that could break free from it; it was probably dumb luck that I found someone weak when I used it.

“There!  You got what you wanted; now let the girl go!  She has nothing to do with this!”  I announced.

“Nothing to do with this!?  What about my family!?  They had nothing to do with this!”

Damn it!  She’s bringing that up?  I had a feeling this wasn’t going to go well.

“They were an accident!  I didn’t mean to kill them!”

“AN ACCIDENT!?  YOU KILLED THEM IN COLD BLOOD!  YOU LOOKED THEM IN THE EYES AND MURDERED THEM!”  Dahlia’s eyes pierced at me like daggers.  “It didn’t matter who they were!  If you viewed them as an obstacle, you killed them!  You saw me as an obstacle and purposely killed them in your assault!  So don’t you fucking dare say it was an accident!”

It’s true; I did see Dahlia as an obstacle.  She had information on Reiku I wanted, so I brutally attacked her.  Dahlia was at her home with her husband and children when I arrived; sensing me, she stepped outside and confronted me.  In my darken state I defeated her, only to have her family rush out to protect her.  In a single merciless attack, I slaughtered Dahlia’s family and left her to grieve over her loss.

“Even if it wasn’t, do you think they’re proud of what you’re doing right now!?”

“The fuck did you just say!?”

“You heard me!  I bet they’re so glad that you’re avenging them by taking an innocent hostage just to gain an advantage!  I thought you were better than that!”

“Belittle me all you want, but don’t you dare talk about my family like you know them, you bastard!”

“Fine then!  Just let Rainbow go and you can do whatever the hell you want with me!”

“No…No, I’m going make you suffer even more!”  Dahlia’s right hand shimmered in a golden aura.  I knew what she was planning on doing now, but I couldn’t react in time.  Dahlia threw the blast at the mountain and collapsed the cave on top of Rainbow.

“NOOOOOOOO!!!”  I pushed my way passed Dahlia and towards the ruble of the former cave.  The instance I arrived at the pile, I clawed my fingers into the boulders and started digging my way through.  With each rock I removed, it seemed more and more blocked my path; almost like it was an infinite wall of stone.

Tears poured down my face as I realized that my attempt was pointless.  I…I can’t even sense Rainbow anymore.

Rainbow no……not you too….NOT YOU TOO!  ANYONE, BUT YOU!

WhywhywhywhywhyWHYWHYWHYWHY!?.....why…..

As my fingers dug their way into the boulder they rested on, I could hear thunder roll in.  My spiritual energy became so dense; it became visible as it burned right off me.  I can no longer feel any part of my body, but at the same time I can; almost like I’m both the puppet and the puppeteer.  My teeth gritted and sharpened into fangs as I felt like a disembodied being now.  Wrath is my blood, anger is my skin, hatred is my sight, and vengeance is my mentality!

I turned and called my sword back into my grip; after that I produced my most unholy roar as animosity consumed my soul entirely.

I WILL KILL THEM ALL!

I launched myself forward toward the growing mass of soldiers, while swinging my blade as my negative spirituality conjured up the darkest and most violent of storms.  Lightning struck multiple places in the earth, rain viciously blanketed the area, thunder claps echoed the land, and swirling funnel clouds of all sizes formed.

With my strength and blade, I easily slashed through the staff and its owner and created a volcanic like explosion of earth gore.  Following that, I pushed my zweihander forward with all my might and could feel some resistance as I started to get sprayed by red liquid.  After the dust cleared, I spun around while swinging Apocalypto as a corpse dangled from it, and struck two more opponents; causing the dead body to slide off and the internal organs to fly out in a single stream.  As the two soldiers were knocked off their feet, I stomped on the head of one while I impaled the other and mixed his entrails with the ground.

As I was surrounded, I threw my head up and unleashed a vicious, dark lavender flame that forced the whole lot back.  I freed my blade from the earth and charged my enemies; wildly flailing at left and right.  The wedge of Apocalypto dragged along the tissue of many and the metal of their weapons; leaving behind me a trail of sparks and crimson liquid.  Next, I conjured my vitality into my free hand and slammed it into the ground; creating a target for lightning to strike, but before it could hit, I stuck my sword in the path and used Apocalypto as the focal point as I twirled my weapon and used it to deliver shots of electricity at the battlers.  Out of the fray of electrified death lunged Dahlia, Kronis, and Ramis with their multicolored scythes.  Our weapons cried out with each passing counter; their speed barely matched mine, but still no injuries were received.  At one point, I used the intensity of my own voice to produce a shout that disorient the three, then I grabbed Kronis by her leg and pulled her off her feet while readying my zweihander.  But before I could complete my strike, Ramis and Dahlia swung their scythes at me; causing me to react and repel their attempt, and gave Kronis a chance to free herself by kicking me in the chest.

As more and more enemies converged on my position, I took my stance and slashed Apocalypto around with my right hand while I used my left to blasts of energy at my foes.  Blades flew at me in all directions, but with my agility, I easily evaded and block each attack upon me.  At one point I stopped firing energy blasts and used my free hand to grab the head of one woman and jerked myself in the opposite direction and used my victim as a club to knock over some of her battle brothers.  Following that, I slammed her down on ground and rammed my sword deep into her chest, and then I forced my weapon upwards; ripping the woman in half in a fire work explosion of red and pale pink.

Next I bent backwards while bringing my zweihander in the direction with me and stabbed a man through the head.  As I brought myself right side up, I used my powers to manipulate this victim’s blood and drew both my sword and liquid vertically down while releasing the blood as a sword wave against more soldiers.  After my attack hit a few enemies, I then took hold of the unnatural darkness and manifested shadow tendrils to strike against the Dragon Army; some warriors were brutally bashed while others were impaled or strangled; one poor fool was unfortunate enough to have tentacles wrap around his gut and neck, then pulled appear; his organs dripped out like a cracked egg.  Amongst the chaos, I charged my way to Dahlia.

I brought the full weight of Apocalypto along using the power from my muscles to hammer down my blade upon Dahlia.  The sheer force brought the woman to her knees, and as I brought my weapon upwards to strike again, Dahlia thrust her left hand forward into my chest and fired off a blue beam; I was unfazed by it.  Soon after that, I heard more energy blasts get unleashed as the spot I stood suddenly got brighter.  But before any of the attacks could hit, I used my telekinetic ability to repel each various colored sphere back at their owners; creating numerous hues of explosions all around me.

I again turned my attention back to Dahlia and lunged at her, but was confronted by two scythes.  I met this opposition with swinging my sword violently at them; the guy was lucky enough to defend against my strike, but the woman had been sliced in the neck by the tip of Apocalypto.  Bringing my blade back, I was met by five other soldiers; I twirled around while cutting one man’s hand in half from the middle finger down, forcing him to turn around in pain and from there, I jammed my weapon straight through his spinal cord.  When I pulled my blade out, I used the movement to jab a woman in the throat using the hilt; with her stunned, I used my left hand and snatched her face into my palm, only to conjure up a fire storm in my grip; the roar from my attack was much louder than her screams.  Next, I slide Apocalypto between the legs of another man and lifted him a couple of feet into the air; before he hit the ground, I embedded my weapon into his upper chest cavity and force him against the dirt; the attack separated his body from the arms and up.  As I was still on the ground, I spun upwards 180 degrees and severed the legs off another woman and as I brought myself around to the person again, I slashed out a wave; I don’t know where her head went after that; all that remained were her removed limbs from the knees down and a body with a burnt top were the neck use to be.  For the fifth battler I used Zin’s signature attack; I focused my energy into a rotating brownish-black ball that I thrust into the gut of my foe; as I pushed forward, the attack drilled against her and tore apart shirt and soon after the skin of her stomach until it eventually made its way into abdomen and ripped her intestines from their place.

As I pulled my hand back, I felt the presence of that one other man that guarded Dahlia appeared behind me.  I felt the sudden sensation of my lower backside tear apart as my tail plunged from me and pierced the man in the stomach and coil around his neck; after that, I used my appendage’s muscle strength to constrict its way out of the soldier’s body.  With a quick flick of my tail, I threw off the entrails and crimson liquid that dribbled off me.  After that, I moved Apocalypto behind me and fused the hilt together with tail; as the handle became a scaly flesh; both my tail and Apocalypto were fully complete.

I went on all fours while I let loose the growl that only a feral beast could produce; I readied myself.  I charged forward like a rapid animal towards my opponents and swiped my slowly deteriorating, claw like hands.  With each movement of mine, skin gradually peeled off and was replaced with my reptilian flesh, but I paid no mind to it.  

My fingers became sharp enough to the point that with every strike against someone that was blocking, one could see the scratch marks left behind.  I used this to my advantage for those who weren’t quick to counter my assaults were left to have their tissue torn apart with each swing of my arms.  With one person, after I knocked him back with a kick, I jumped in the air and rapidly spun myself while extending out my tail and hands; turning me into a deadly gyro force as I ripped my through him and threw out tiny chucks of his inner muscle and skin.  As he dropped to his knees and I landed, I immediately twirled around and caught the back of his head; my fingers dug deep into the back of his head, and with my velocity, it tore open the back of skull and shot out bits of red and grey matter; it reminded me of Pinkie’s party cannon, but a lot more darker.

As others rushed at me, I flicked my tail at a woman’s feet causing her to trip.  As she fell, I turned my grip to her and filled her body with concentrated electricity; causing her body to rapidly convulse.  When a man tried to rescue the corpse, I lashed at with my and quickly decapitated him; as his head flew away, I embedded my blade into that lifeless body and used it to slam down another soldier.  My tail exerted enough power to slice through the one corpse and a quarter way into the warrior.  With that more chanced me at once; to this I responded my charging up the electricity in my hostage and throwing her at that group; turning her into a human sized energy grenade; there was no doubt the woman didn’t survive the explosion when it managed to take down three of the eleven.

While the remainders and the Dragos Elementos struck at me, I took notice of one the tornados that formed; I plan to use it.  I started by repelling the attacking force by materializing a barrier around me, then expanding it to push the warriors away.  Next, I threw my right hand to the side and motioned around the twister until I controlled the gale force winds and dispersed the funnel into turbulent whirlwind sickles that I launched towards the crowd; dust was kicked up and I could see about five arms and three legs fly up pass the cloud.

Once it cleared, I saw Dahlia again and viciously lunged at her.  With the help of the other two Dragos Elementos and six soldiers, all my slashes were blocked, while they also managed to sneak in a few strikes that I in turn defended against.  To stop this, my mouth became the focal point of light as I channeled my vitality and fired off a bluish-green beam at the base of everyone’s feet; the force from the initial explosion was strong enough that it launched them all back while also kicking up so jagged boulders that impaled at least four men and two woman.

When I saw Dahlia crash against the ground, I made an attempt for her, but was stopped when my left arm was yanked backwards; a man managed to snatch hold of me.  Suddenly my limb dislodged itself from my body and faded away into a red mist; leaving no hole where it formerly was and shocking the battler.  I turned and immediately sank my fangs into the throat of the warrior; only to be greeted by the shrieks of agonized screams, the flailing of his restrained body, and the taste of his blood that seeped out of each orifice.  I increased my jaw strength and bit all the through the man’s neck and tore out a gaping hole.  While my mouth still had a slight grip on him, I pushed our heads upwards while sliding the fingers of my remaining hand into the enemy’s warm and moist wound and instantly pulled down; ripping the flesh and muscle halfway off of him.  After that, I exhaled the intensity of a white sun down the injury; the only movement left was the black, charred remains collapsing onto the dirt.  I slowly turned and gazed at the others as they got back on their feet.

I…will end my suffering.

I…will end my pain.

I…will destroy them all.

I…will end them all…end them all….end all…

My movements became zombie like as I began to approach the Dragon Army.  The sensation of my face shifting and more of my skin peeling struck me, while my body jerked and my bones snapped and popped for my spinal spikes and wings emerged from me.

All the hands of the remaining warriors were directed at me as they shimmered in different colored lights.  Within the moment, my foes unleashed a barrage of energy blasts upon my position; to this I took in a deep inhale and shortly after exhaled a mighty roar that disrupted the flight path of the spheres; causing them to collide against each other and the earth.  Once the smoke cleared, I began walking again.

“Don’t stop; all forces continue to attack!”  Dahlia ordered.

By her command, the battalion resumed launching blast after blast at me, to which I remained unfazed and withstood the full blunt of their offensive barrage.  As the assault continued, I pushed forward at high speed towards the mass.  The moment I reached the group, I extended my arm and punched one man square in his heart; the power behind the hit was strong enough to push the soldier back into his companions and knock them over.  After that, I jumped on top of the same man and began pummeling him while I kept his battle brothers at bay by flailing Apocalypto around and using my wings to bat away others.  Then to finish my vicious attack on this soldier, I gave one final blow to the center mass and punch through the chest cavity; only to latch onto my victim’s heart and liberated it from the confines of his body; splattering more blood onto me.

As I soon crushed the organ in my grasp, my vision tilted and my body jerked as warriors started tackling and dog piling on me.  These soldiers managed to bring me down to my knees for a few minutes, but I forced them off by channeling my energy into my wings and unleashed it in a signal fiery flap.  When I became free, I echoed out another roar, but as I unleashed this one, my other arm and my legs ejected off into nothingness while the rest of my human flesh peeled away.  Following that, my skeletal system loudly snapped as bones formed and my body stretched out into a serpentine pattern; my size now was mountainous, but I could sense I was still gradually growing.  As I finished reconstituting myself as the leviathan, the Dragon Army’s response to this was quickly encasing themselves in azure flames until they all emerged in their true forms.  I now faced three anthro dragons that were the same size as me and numerous wyverns that were only a quarter of the size of the Dragos Elementos and I.

We charged each other and clashed our might together.  I sank my fangs into Dahlia’s stomach while Ramis bit my right wing and Kronis crunched down on my body; as the four of us were latched to each other, the lower ranks circled around me and exhaled beams of different hues and fire breaths upon me.  I violently shook off Kronis and Ramis, while Dahlia elbowed me fifteen times in the face until I eventually released her.  Before the three of them could react again, I materialized a cerulean sphere and blasted Dahlia with it while I swung my tail and clipped Kronis in the side of her head and used the remaining momentum to constrict around Ramis, flip around and slam him into the ground; disrupting another one of the tornados.

After that, the wyverns continued to pelt me with their attacks; to this I replied force with force by snapping my jaws forward and snatched one foe and began jerking my head around; causing me to head butt others and tear apart my hostage as my teeth continued to pierce further through its body.  With the final movement of my head, the body split in two while the top half went one way while I threw the bottom the other way.

Dahlia and Kronis tackled me and forced me off their brother, but only for me to brutally beat against them with both of my wings.  Dahlia tried throwing a punch, but I countered by biting into her fist at the moment and forced her strike out of my way as I coiled behind them and unleashed a mixture of a black and navy blue beam against the two dragons.  Next, I thrust my head forward into the back of Kronis, only to be greeted by the grip of Ramis.  I reacted by twisting around him, then immediately spun him into the ground.

The lower ranks gather together and charged all their attacks into a signal blast that they fired at me.  I quickly responded by using my powers to lower the temperature around the ocean to sub zero, then possessing the frozen block to collide with the enemy’s shot; the results created an explosion of energy and ice.  Before the shards fell, I took control of them with my telekinetic ability and launched them at the soldiers; impaling at least twenty of them.  For those that avoided my attack, I slashed Apocalypto through the air and released a wave that impacted against seven more opponents.

As that happened, Dahlia again engaged me at close range combat as she swiped her claws upon me.  With each of her swings, I avoided them till I batted her against the ground with my left wing.  When she crashed, the wyverns again breathed their beams onto me; so I replied to them with my own.  My power out matched theirs, for it obliterated the Dragon Army’s assault; seemingly consuming their attack and them as I dragged my beam across the sky.

The more the battle ensued, the more dangerous this storm became, as lightning appeared every five seconds, and about thirty twisters were in view.  But that doesn’t matter to me; what does is avenging Rainbow!

Both the Dragos Elementos and the lower ranks simultaneously unleashed another barrage of spiritual blasts, but before they could hit their mark, I conjured up a barrier around me and expanded it to repel the oncoming attack and force everyone down on the ground.  Following that, I created 128 spheres that encircled me until I launched them all at my enemy, but before they made contact, I turned my head towards the sky and shot one more blast into the air; that one was the first to blow, but when it did, that attack literally rained down hell as a multitude of orbs rocketed downwards with the rest of the blasts.  The opposing force scurried as much as they could to evade being struck by my furious assault; I could sense two died while thirteen of the remaining twenty-five came out unscathed.

“Everyone combined Black Sun!  It’s our only chance!”  Dahlia announced.  Her companions were hesitant, but they complied and began feeding multicolored energy into Dahlia.

Kazejin: Toat oy’Motto (Emotion: Conflict’s fury) nicknamed Black Sun because of its appearance if I’m correct, is one of the three forbidden Kazejin techniques because of how vastly superior they are to the other Kazejins.  If I retained Reiku’s memories correctly, Black Sun was the very technique that was used to destroy Dragova.

Dahlia clasped both her hands in front together as a black orb that was a quarter of her mass generated.  Once she fully materialized her attack, Dahlia launched the Black Sun; the blast unleashed a devastating wave that uprooted trees and pushed the coast back.  Right as the Kazejin got in range; I lunged forward and latched my fangs upon the pure destructive energy.  Sparks flew out from my mouth as the tremendous force intertwined with my power as I struggled with it; it was a real unstoppable force meets an unmovable object moment, Armageddon style as the negative energy worsen this already dangerous storm.  Eventually, I finally managed to gradually seal my mouth as I began absorbing the Black Sun into my own being.  Once I fully closed my jaws, my own aura intensified as I finished devouring the Dragon Army’s attack.

My entire mass blackened as I began channeling my energy and emotion into my Kazejin.  “Kazejin: Toraid no’Thuun. (Emotion: Sorrow of Death)”

I can feel the last bit of my humanity slipping into the darkness.  I do not care…I do not care what happens to me anymore.  I am the destroyer of hope.  I am the bringer of fear.  All I want is the blood of my enemies…All I want is to see their demise…All I want is death for them all.  I am prepared to do whatever it takes.

…For Rainbow…..

I finished charging my Kazejin, and to signal my final attack, I shouted my infuriated roar to the universe.  I launched myself towards the shocked and cowering group as they waited on the earth in absolute terror.  This is the end.

“INREI, STOOOOOP!”  The familiarity of that voice….The cyan object with rainbow colored mane that shot in between me and my targets….Staring at me with those brilliant rose eyes…..Rainbow!?

I dispersed the energy that I built up and stopped myself midflight by the flap of my wings in rapid succession; the energy I released was soon repelled by the pulse of a bluish-green force field that had encased Dash.  As the force faded away, Rainbow turned to a human figure behind her and gave a quick nod.  The barrier was dropped and Rainbow proceeded her way to me.  There were some bruises and minor cuts on various places on her body.

“Inrei, if you can hear me, then please stop this madness!  You’re not some monster anymore, you’re a human now!  Not the God of Chaos!  Not the Azure Dragon!  And not some mindless beast!  I fully understand you now and I can help you, but first you have to come back to me!  So please Inrei, just come back to me!”  Dash looked like she was on the verge of tears.

…Ra….Rainbow…..

Rainbow then press her face against the tip of mine; after small passage of time, I could feel tiny wet droplets splash on me from where Dash was.  Knowing what she was doing, I acknowledged her by rubbing my face against hers gently and affectionately; Rainbow to notice of my action and proceeded took mimic it.  After that, I directed us to the beach, to where I transformed back into my human self; within my peripheral I could see the remaining members of the battalion do the same.

I stepped closer to Rainbow, but was met with her hoof slapping me across the face…It….It disturbed me.  Out of all the pain I’ve ever experienced, this one hurt the most…only because she was the one who hit me.

“Promise me that you’ll never turn into that monster ever again!”

I….I hurt you bad, didn’t I Rainbow…..I’m sorry…I’m so sorry Rainbow!

“I promise!”  I embraced Rainbow as much as I could and didn’t want to let go.  I heard Dash sniff a few times as she too held me.

“Move!  You don’t understand!”  Dahlia suddenly shouted at the newcomer.

This new person was a young woman that looked somewhere in her early twenties.  She had semi long, blackish-brown hair with a little red beret sitting on top.  Both her button down shirt and skirt were navy blue, while her t-shirt was white and her high heel boots were the same dark green as her eyes.  If I’m not mistaken, this is Kahana Clayfeld; Reiku’s other human apprentice.

“You don’t know how much that man has made me suffer, so move damn it!”  Even though Dahlia exhibited anger, everyone here could clearly see her tears.  She’s hurting badly…She’s just like me…

…I know what must be done.

I released myself from mine and Dash’s hug, and made my way to Dahlia.  When Dahlia took notice of me, she prepared herself for anything offensive.

“Hold on Dahlia; I have something to say and after that you may do as you please.”  Fortunately and oddly enough, she let me have my words as I stood directly in front of her now.  “Dahlia, I have wronged you in the worse possible way.  I have given you grief, suffering, and pain.  I did to you what Reiku did to me…I killed your family, and for that I’m sorry.  I understand that if you don’t wish to forgive, but I just want you to know that I am truly sorry.”

Dahlia’s face widened in astonishment as her mouth dropped into an O from the shock.  After a moment, Dahlia gritted her teeth as more tears pours out.

“You jerk!”  Dahlia started hitting me on my chest; I stood still taking it all; I deserved it.  “After all this time and NOW you say that!?”  After a minute of pounding against me, her aggression died down as Dahlia completely broke down in absolute sorrow on me.  To show I meant my words, I wrapped my arms around her and held Dahlia close.

“…I miss them….I miss them so much…”  Dahlia whimpered.

A good while passed until I let the depressed woman go.  I offered to let everyone stay in Ponyville until Dahlia could finally calm down; for Dahlia’s sake, they agreed.  Upon our return, looks of amazement covered the faces of everypony like masks as they witnessed the group of humans heading to the town library.  My presence with the Dragon Army brought more stupefaction to my friends except for Applejack since she was nowhere to be found.

Twilight allowed Dahlia to have the upper level to herself, so that way she could have the solitude she needed while everyone else made themselves comfortable of the first floor.  Kronis and Rarity ended up exchanging compliments on each other’s appearance, I tended to Rainbow’s injuries, Ramis was skimming through the many literatures of the building, and everyone else kind of looked around with an uneasiness of not knowing what to say or do.

As I finished healing Dash’s wounds, Kahana sat next to me.  Before she opened her mouth, I stole the first words.

“So how come you’ve never tried to challenge me before like everyone else in the Dragon Army?”  It was less about being curious and more for avoiding the elephant in the room.

“Well that is because I’m a pacifist; sometimes the best way to win a fight is to not fight at all.”  Kahana’s voice seemed as gentle as Fluttershy’s; perfect for someone that does not believe in war.

“But doesn’t Reiku give orders for his army to attack?”

“Not really.  The only time Reiku does that is when there is a threat that needs immediate intervention.  Most of the time he lets his citizens live however they please.”

“I see…I see.”

“Inrei, try not to be too mad, but I shown your girlfriend the Azure Dragon incident.”

“I uhh…why?”

“Because with that info, I can assist you better when you need it.”  Rainbow chimed in.  After that, Dash placed one of her hooves on my knee to show her concern.  She’s seen one of my most gruesome sins; hopefully it won’t haunt her like it has me in my past.  Hopefully she can handle herself after witnessing such horrors.

“So…how did you show Dash…?”  I mumbled.

“As a historian, Reiku gave me part of the Book of Life.  I sort of use it as a diary also.”  Kahana gave a small chuckle to help pass that last part as a joke and lighten the mood; as good intentions it was, it didn’t help much.

“Can I ask something?  I’ve deduced that Reiku is the one who can resurrect the dead, so my question is why didn’t he just bring back Dahlia’s family or Aurelia?”  Twilight joined in.  Since I didn’t have an answer, the two of us turned to Kahana.

“Well the reason why is because he couldn’t.  You see there are two forms of death.  The first form is when the body dies, but the soul is strong enough that it can still exist; it is here where the soul can be resurrected.  Now with the other form, when the body dies, the soul becomes damaged and is so severely weakened that it can’t be resurrected; eventually what’s left of the spirit just fades away.  Dahlia’s family, Aurelia, and even Reiku’s wife have all suffered that death.”  Kahana informed.

This kind of knowledge seems to have worsened the gloomy feeling in the air; creating an uncomfortable silence that Twi soon decided to break; her tone was a bit hesitant.

“I uhh…forgot to mention this earlier, but Applejack wants to see you at her farm Inrei.”

I didn’t spare a moment; after what I said to AJ, I should apologize.  I shouldn’t have snapped at her the way I did.

When I arrived at Sweet Apple Arches, it appears Big Macintosh was waiting for me.  I didn’t even have to say anything since the moment we caught each other’s gaze, Big Mac led me to two large apple trees where a somber Applejack laid.  I instantly took a place next to her while AJ’s brother left us be.

Her words were somewhat empty.  “Remember what you said Inrei? Have you ever lost anyone you loved?  Have you had to sit there helpless and watch them die?”

Oh god I know where this is going…..I fucked up big time…

“When I was a really young filly, my mother and father became very sick.  There was no cure at the time, so the only thing I could do was sit there helplessly in tears and watch as the illness took their lives.  I loved them so much….As part of the Apple family tradition, once a member has died they are buried under a new seedling.  These two apple trees you see before you are my parents’ final resting place; ever since I got my cutie mark, I have been ensuring that these two trees grow up strong and healthy.”

“I…I’m so sorry Applejack.”

“It’s okay Inrei; you had no way of knowing.”  Applejack soon pulled her hat down over eyes; in response to that I placed my hand on AJ’s side in an attempt to help console her.  The mare then leaned her head against me with her hat still tilted downwards.

“Just like you, I don’t know what I would have done if we lost Rainbow.  Aside from a friend, I consider her a sister; losing Rainbow would have been like losing my parents again for me.  And I know you love her deeply; if Rainbow died, it would have been a repeat for you all over again.  I can only imagine the pain of having to witness those you care about being murdered…”

“It’s a kind of pain one should never experience…And the feeling it gives you afterwards only makes the sensation worse….You feel so alone…So empty.”

“Just remember Inrei, I’m here for you and so are the others as long as you promise to be there for us when we’re alone.”  Applejack gave one last sniff before turning to face me with her glistening eyes.

I held the forlorn creature in my arms and I gave AJ my word.  Since my coming here to Equestria, my friends have been there for me; there is without a doubt I shall do the same.

It has been a day now, and from what it seems, things have finally settled down.  After breakfast, the members of the Dragon Army had decided to return home to Sin Rati.  

It’s….Strange really.  One moment you are with your enemy and killing each other, and now here you are peacefully coinciding with them.  No insults.  No violence.  Just causally seeing them leave like the whole skirmish yesterday didn’t happen.  It’s certainly how I didn’t expect things; it feels so….appropriate, so ethical.

Dahlia was the last to leave and it seems now she wanted to break her silence.

“Inrei…I’m not sure if I can forgive you yet, but….Thank you for at least apologizing…”  With those words, she was gone.