Prologue

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You know, I never really thought about how things worked. But when you have a Flintlock pointed at your head, you seem to notice every detail.

Oh look, it seems that the weapon about to take my head offs barrel doesn't have a shot in it.

Here I was, a griffon holding a pistol over my head, and a small crown in my hoof.

"Hand over the crown, horse." Said the Griffon.

"Over my dead body, bird." I said, and I heard the hammer click back.

"Fine, I gave you a choice. You chose to die." Said the Griffon, and he pulled the trigger.

The only thing that came out of the gun was a burst of black gunpowder, and I kicked the griffon square in the groin. He fell to his knees, gripping his testes. I stood up, and reared back a punch, landing a shot square into his eye. He fell to the ground, groaning in pain. I picked up the small crown, and brushed the vines and gunpowder off of it. I grabbed my small curved talon knife, and delivered the coup de grace to the griffon. He gurgled in pain as I slit his throat, and sighed.

"One less problem to deal with, I guess." I said, putting the knife back in its sheathe.

Suddenly, a massive blimp came over the canopy of the forest, its steam engines shooting out green water particles from the back. A small rope dropped from the blimp, and I climbed up.

"Got the crown?" asked the pony on the blimp.

"Yeah, got it. What took you so long, Diamond?" I asked, and she scoffed.

Diamond was my sometimes assistant, as well as I was hers. We worked together often, collecting artifacts for Queen Celestia and Princess Luna. She was a pure white Pegasus, with a glowing ruby for her cutie mark. She had a red mane and tail, and was probably the only attractive mare explorer out there, with the exception of Daring Do.

Ooohh... Daring Do. Why the hell did those books get me into this shit?

"I had to deal with Flying Griffons. Blasted them of the air with the steam cannon. Pretty sure their particles are still lingering on the blimp." Said Diamond, and I sniffed the air.

"Yeah, I can smell 'em." I said, with my thick, airy Equine accent.

"Tell me, why are you helping Celestia when your homeland is Equine?" asked Diamond, and I smugly smiled.

"Because she's got her head screwed on straight, not exploiting steam as my countrycolts did." I said, walking over to the water heater.

I shoved a few logs in, and we started back to Canterlot.

"So, how much do you think the crowns worth?" asked Diamond, and I shrugged.

"An easy 10,000. It's kinda crummy lookin', do it could have been worth more." I muttered, looking off at the castle perched on the side of the mountain.

"So we'll split it, like last time." Said Diamond, and I sighed.

"No, I'll kill you at the castle, and take all the money for myself while doing to rain dance." I said sarcastically.

"You know, you could have just said just said 'yes'." Said Diamond, and I sighed.

"It was a stupid question, so it deserved a stupid answer." I said, turning the steering wheel on the blimp.

"You're kinda a jerk." said Diamond, and I just scoffed.

"I didn't get this far on kindness, I had to get people killed just to get out of Equine." I said, looking in the general direction of Equine.

The lowland neighboring country were the ones who created Steam technology, but without any type of limitations at all. The once beautiful country known for its massive marble statues, vineyards, and rolling hills, was now a brass and iron city, basing its economy off of steam production and factories. Black clouds blotted out the sun, and the flames that heated the steam sent off ashes all over the cities. Half of the population was mutated due to all the intake of magically enhanced steam, and they were on the verge of war with Equestria. I still fathom why ponies want to visit the place.

I turned back to Diamond, who was leaning off the edge of the railing. She was looking off into the sunset, the light reflecting off her white coat, her mane and tail flowing in the wind. I turned back to the front of the blimp, and sat back, letting the blimp drive itself all the way to Canterlot.

"So, what are your plans after this job? I mean, you have enough money to actually start a legitimate business without loans, or even be set for life." Said Diamond, still leaning on the edge.

"Keep exploring. To tell you the truth, I don't do it for the money, I do it for the rush." I said, leaning on my hoof.

"I see... I'm probably going to find a nice Stallion, settle down, and have a family." Said Diamond, who moved away from the railing.

"Shouldn't be to hard, expecially with a mare of your looks." I said, doing my sarcastic smile.

"I sensed sarcasm. Was that sarcasm?" asked Diamond, and I tapped my chin.

"Uhhhh... Nope. No sarcasm here." I said, and Diamond just scoffed.

"I'm going into the back. I'll be out when we dock." Said Diamond, walking into the blimps inside.

I sighed, and turned back to the sunset, watching Canterlot grow closer with each passing second. How many times have I seen this view? Hundreds. How many times will I see it again? Well, if fate goes as planned, a hundred more times. I loved this life, and it loved me. Though sometimes I did ponder. When would it end?

What Can Be Found...

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“Oh good, you have the crown?” asked one of the royal guards, as we docked.

I nodded quickly, and the massive double doors bellowed steam as the gears opened it. Diamond and I walked inside, the crown tucked in a solid metal box under Diamonds wing.

The Canterlot castle was not new to me. I had been here as a colt, as an adult, and now as an adventurer. While it had changed over time, I knew the hallways and guards well. Since I had served my mandatory two years guard tour, I even knew a couple on a first name basis. The place moaned with steam, and pistons creaked at every corner. It made me wary, seeing as how I just saw how bad magic steam can go, if you aren’t careful.

I turned into the hallway leading up to Celestia’s chambers, and I walked up to the soldier standing in front of the door.

“I’m here to see Princess Celestia.” I said, and the soldier stood aside.

I walked up to the massive door, and I knocked.

“Come in!” Said a cheery voice.

Diamond stood by my side, and I opened the door. Celestia and Luna were sitting in their chairs talking to a handful of well-dressed ponies, probably nobles.

“Ah, here is Shadow himself!” said Celestia, and all the nobles turned to me.

“You have a dirty commoner such as this to collect artifacts? Why not send a royal squad?” asked one of the nobles.

“Because I can do their job better, for cheaper.” I said, and Celestia smiled.

“That is true, as much as I hate to say.” Said Celestia, and Luna laughed.

“When we were on the moon, thee enjoyed exploring thy caverns. Does thou do such?” asked Luna, and Diamond grimaced.

“Damn, that’s archaic.” Said Diamond, and I nudged her.

“Not anymore, your highness. Hung up the towel on exploring caves, unless for artifacts or other such things,.” I said, and Luna cocked and eyebrow.

“Hung up the towel? A new jargon, we presume.” Said Luna, and I nodded.

“It means to stop, or to quit, your highness.” I said, and Celestia stood up, walking over to me.

“Do you have it?” She asked, and Diamond adjusted her wing so that it stuck out.

Celestia smiled, and levitated it out of under Diamond’s wing. She opened it promptly, and an even wider smile grew on Celestia’s face.

“Sister, we have mother’s crown.” Said Celestia, and Luna sprang from her seat.

“Really? What does thee look like?” asked Luna, as she ran to Celestia’s side.

I waited patiently for the two to finish gazing at the crown, when Diamond nudged me.

“I have another contract I have to do soon. I guess this is where we split paths.” She whispered.

“Well, thanks for the help.” I replied, when Celestia handed the crown to Luna.

“As I promised, you will have a collection of 10,000 pieces each.” Said Celestia, motioning to a couple of guards.
They handed up big brown bags, and I smiled.

“Thank you, princess.” I said, and Diamond nodded gratefully.

“Goodbye, Shadow. Safe travels.” Said Celestia, and Luna waved at me.

I quickly walked out of the door, and over to the blimp landing pad, climbing into my small ship. The blimp took off, and I steered it north, towards my home in the deep mountains separating Griffon lands from Equestria, and Equine.

As soon as I finished adjusting, I went over into my cabin. The enchanted purple fire glowed bright, but I threw in a couple logs just to be sure. I turned to my small pet, a conjured Balefire phoenix, made entirely of enchanted purple fire.

“I’m guessing you’re hungry, aren’t you?” I asked.

The bird nodded, and I pulled out a loaf of bread. I threw it promptly into the birds flame cover, and it went from a light purple, to a solid orange. I went back to the open front of the blimp, and leaned on the steering wheel.

“I wonder what adventures await us next, Dante…” I muttered, talking absently to my phoenix.

“CAWWW!” it screeched, and I smiled.

“I know, you want to go home, but there is so much to do.” I said, and I heard Dante grumble.

I sighed, and pulled out a small map, pushing it down on the desk before the wheel. I looked at all the fables, and realized there were only two left that I hadn’t collected, both of which were in the mystical lands of the Zebras. I ran my hoof over the paper, and tapped it twice.

“Dante, I know where we’re going next.” I said, smiling to myself.

“CAAAW!” screeched Dante, and I turned to him.

“I know, but I need your help. Besides, I’ll feed you extra.” I said, and Dante quieted down.

I turned the blimp towards the south, and pushed down on the throttle. The steam propellers launched me forwards, and I went back to the captain’s chair, slowly sitting down. I sighed, and fell asleep.

“CAAAAAWWWW!” screeched Dante, and I jerked awake, my eyes bulging outwards.

I sighed, and gave an angry look at the bird. It withdrawed, and I stood up, walking over to the balcony. I was over grassy savannahs, and I saw a few small villages in the distance.

“Damn, how long have I been out?” I asked myself quietly.

I returned to the cabin, and put a few logs in the fire. The smell of steam was more apparent now, and I could actually focus. I started to make a pot of hot coffee, and then went over to trying to navigate the savannahs. I was about 20 miles away from my first destination, so I decided to get ready quick.

Taking a quick steam shower, and pulling on a dark trench coat along with the accompanying gas mask, I was ready to go within ten minutes. My coffee was hot, my knife was sharp, and I was about to make another find.

“I’ll be back soon, Dante.” I said, as I dropped the anchor over the side of the blimps balcony.

“Squaw!” the bird replied, and I slid down the rope.

It was damn hot out on the ground. Heat rose from the barren plains where I had landed, and the only source of shade was a small opening into the underground. I could bet 100 pieces that that’s where the artifact was. Hopefully, nopony else was going to try and intervene, like the griffons did.

I walked down to the cavern, my eyes adjusting to the darkness.

Oh what I would do to have a steam gun.

I took a deep breath, and walked into the small cavern. It was dark and damp, water drops the only sound besides my breathing. I slowly walked in, silently walking through the cave. The whole place looked the same on the inside as it had for the past 50 yards, and I was getting weary. I might not be able to find my way back. There was something sucking my strength in these caverns, which I was not surprised to see. I had come across my fair share of Vampirism spells in my time as an explorer, and had learned to deal with them.

I trudged on, each step getting more painful. It wasn’t until I came across a split in the paths, that it became easier to walk. I brushed off the feeling of fatigue, and continued down the path that I chose with my gut. That tunnel continued on until there was another split, this time with 4 paths. I did the same thing I did last path, and continued til there was an 8 split path. By now I was getting worried that there was obviously a trap at the end of one of these, and getting shanked was not on the top of my priorities today.

Finally, after the eightfold path, I came to a chamber full of candles. There was a single zebra sitting in the middle of the altar, obviously doing some type of ritual. I saw a golden looking object embedded with rubies and saphires. Oh, how tempting was it to just waltz right on over and take the totem, but I knew better.

I slowly walked over to the wall, and used the darkness as cover. The zebra sighed loudly, and turned her head to me.

“Just because I cannot hear you, does not mean I cannot ask who.” Said the zebra.
I groaned.

“For Celestia’s sakes, please, stop rhyming? There is no need for such nonsense.” I said, coming out of the shadows.

“It is just like our kind, for words to bind. What brings you here, for you are too near.” Said the Zebra.

“I’m here for that artifact you have in front of you.” I muttered, angry that the zebra had not stopped rhyming.

“You come too late, for it is somepony else’s fate.” Said the Zebra, turning back to her altar.

“I’ve had about enough of your riddle talk.” I said, walking over to the pedestal of which the totem was on.

I was thrown backwards, and the zebra had stood up. Her eyes were glowing green, and a weird outline of magic was where a horn should have been.

“You dare disobey my law?” asked the zebra, her voice sounding as if it was in G-minor.

“Hell yes, I do!” I shouted, and the Zebra grinned.

“Then you shall be cursed. For deliberately defying the queen of those who change!” Shouted the Zebra, and I was thrown against the wall, hard enough that it smashed my gas mask.

I stood up, blood dripping out of my mouth. I was hit in the face with such a force that it probably knocked a tooth or two out. I hit the other wall, and was hit in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. Suddenly, the Zebra had gotten taller, her eyes still glowing green. She put her hoof on my chest, and I felt a burning pain go through my body.

“You shall be trusted with a burden, that will destroy you and torment you until the day you die!” shouted the Zebra, her hoof glowing green.

Pain flashed through my body, and I screamed in agony. I felt my heart pump faster, my blood pounding through my veins. My eyes felt as if they were going to explode, and my chest as if it was going to pop. Suddenly, the pain dispersed all at once, and I stood up. The totem was gone, and all the candles had been blown out. The sound of rumbling made me realize that the tunnel was coming down, and I didn’t have much time. There was an alternate opening at the end of the room I was in, and I ran for it, until I heard a little sound.

“Meep!” was all I heard.
I turned for a moment, to see a brown colored Pegasus filly, crouched underneath a small hole in the wall. Her eyes, which were a color of rose, were filled with fear. She looked at me, longing for me to help her. I wouldn’t have much time if I did, because the cavern was already coming down.

I made the split second to grab her, and I ran towards the opening. It was raining hard outside, and my blimp was being tossed heavily.

“Damn it!” I shouted, realizing that there was no possible way to keep it from crashing
.
Suddenly, a thunderbolt hit the blimp, lighting it up in flames. It ripped from its anchor, and flew straight towards us. I shielded the Pegasus with my body, and she started to scream. Flames licked my backside as the blimp hit the ground, and a massive explosion erupted. Steam was steadily coming off the ground where the blimp had crashed, and the fire was spreading fast.

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna be okay.” I said, and the Pegasus just nodded
.
I looked at the massive blimp carcass, and sighed, seeing Dante’s perch slowly burning in the fire.

Dante…

“Dante! Get these flames extinguished!” I shouted, and suddenly, a mass of purple fire flew out of the fire.

It swished around the flames on the ground, sucking all the oxygen out of the air, making sure that the flames were put out. I sighed loudly, and Dante flew over, his flames dim.

“Oh, Dante…” I said, and he cawed weakly.

I patted him on the head, and he rested on my arm. The small filly Pegasus had stopped crying, and was looking intently at the bird. She reached out to touch it, and Dante pulled away.

“It’s okay Dante, she won’t hurt you.” I said, and Dante leaned slowly over to the pegasus’s grasp.

She looked extremely familiar. Like somepony I knew from a book. Her gray hair, her red eyes. Just like Daring Do.

Oh shit.

I had seen my share of magic, but creating a pony out of thin air? Impossible, and illegal. Something else had to be going on here.

Suddenly, I heard another explosion, and a massive lightning bolt struck the blimp again, this time sending pieces of shrapnel straight at me.

Right into my left eye, as a matter of fact.

Father

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The pain wasn’t terrible, but the fact that my left eye was now worthless was. Small, sharp pieces of metal and wood had torn my eye open, and blood was gushing out. I held my hoof over the wound, gritting my teeth in pain. There was fire all around us again, but the storm had picked up, and was now raging so hard that the flames were put out quickly.

“Fuck… fuck, fuck, fuck fuck FUCK!” I screamed in agony, and I looked at the little filly.

She looked up at me quizzically, and I gave her the best smile I could muster. She looked too young to talk, but old enough to be around 3 to 4 years of age. How was I, a 20 year old explorer going to be able to raise a filly? I would have to tell Celestia when I got out of here. IF I get out of here. The explosion was massive, but I’m not sure if it would get noticed.
I slowly walked over to a piece of destroyed mirror, and wiped the ashes away from it. My eye was terrible damaged, completely torn apart and blood gushing from it. Sooner or later I would have to get it cut out, or else I would have an infection.

I turned back to the filly, and she backed away from me, her face filled with fear.

“Oh, no, I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, tentatively walking towards her.

She squeaked fearfully, and retreated under a small piece of the blimp.

“Oh, hey now, come on out. I won’t hurt you,” I said, but the filly just squeaked.

I grimaced in pain as I blinked, looking around. I saw one of my useless possessions dangling from one of the wings of the blimp. A small pocket watch my friend gave me when we were younger. I remembered that Daring Do always had a pocket watch with her, so the filly would obviously be fixated with it as well.

I quickly walked over, and grabbed it. One of the perks to being a Pegasus or an Earthpony, you can actually grab things, unlike unicorns, who have to levitate it. They don’t have a magical force surrounding their hoof. I went over to where the filly was crouched, and I started to dangle the watch over the opening in which the filly was hiding in.

“C’mon now, you can play with my watch,” I said, and the filly popped her head out of the hiding spot.

She grabbed the pocket watch with her hooves, and started to play with it.

“Do you know what that is? It’s called a watch, it tells you what time of day it is,” I said, as the rain cleared up.

“Watch?” asked Daring Do, and I nodded, surprised how quickly she picked up Equish.

“Good! Now, can you say your name? Repeat after me… ‘Daring Do’,” I said, and the filly looked at me quizzically.

“Dawing Doo?” She asked, and I nodded, pain going through my body with each blink.

“Yeah, that’s your name,” I said, smiling.

“What your name?” she asked, and I smiled, surprised again.

“White Steam. That’s my name,” I said, sitting down next to her in the mud.

“You daddy?” she asked, smiling at me.

My heart skipped a beat at that word. Did she just ask if I was her daddy? Oh goodness, what was I going to say? Yes? No? Maybe so? You’re adopted? Hundreds of thoughts ran through my mind, and I decided to go with my gut.
“Yeah. I’m daddy,” I said, and the little Pegasus beamed.

“Yay!” she practically screamed, and she jumped on me, nuzzling her nose into my chest.

A weird, warm fuzzy feeling bloomed up inside my chest. Was I really feeling fatherly love? It sure felt a whole lot better than the pain I was feeling right now through my torn eye. I would have to get that out of the socket soon, or else I would have a whole new set of problems.

“Hey, hey… calm down now. Daddy’s gotta do something,” I said, and Daring Do got off me.

“What Daddy gonna do?” asked the filly, and my heart jumped.

How was I going to explain to her that I was about to gouge my eye out, so that it wouldn’t become infected? Time to go softy.

“Daddy has to take out his eyeball, so he doesn't get hurt more.” I said, and the filly stuck out her tongue in disgust.

“Blehh,” She muttered, turning back to the pocket watch
.
I sighed, and went to find one of my knives. It would hurt like hell without pain killers, but when you end up putting your life in danger daily, you tend to get hurt. My pain endurance had been hardened when I started working in steam factories. You get a whole lot of burns, especially when you are just starting up the steam tech. Skin grafts, broken bones; even death was common inside factories. I was lucky enough to be drafted into the explorers guild.

That’s it!

If my steam router still worked, I could get some blimps over here for evac in no time. I ran over to the chassis of the blimp, and rummaged through it, finding a small looking chest, with a water bulb on the side. I pulled out a magic enhanced match, and lit it, then shoving it into the side of the bulb. The chest billowed steam, and a face came up in the reflection.

“Explorers Guild, how may I help?” asked the operator.

“I need an immediate evac and medical assistance for two in south western Savannah!” I said, and I saw the operator click a few buttons on his steam writer.

“One in the area, ETA 5 minutes,” Said the operator, and he disconnected.

I ran over to Daring Do, and lifted her onto my back. Dante flew up, and perched on her back. I saw a massive transport blimp billowing steam in the distance, and it quickly made its way over to the Savannah.

“Hold on tight. This may get rough,” I said, and I felt the filly cling tight to my body.

A massive rope dropped from the side of the blimp, as it slowly came over head. I waited until it almost passed me, and I started to sprint after it. It was hard keep up, but I was barely able to grab the rope. I slowly climbed the rope, Daring hanging from my back. I made it up onto the deck, and one of the crew members helped me up. He looked me over, and signaled a medic over to me, who put me in a chair, and wheeled me off. Daring Do was ripped from my grasp, and she started to cry.

“Daddy!” she shouted after me, and I motioned for the doctor to stop.

“I’ll be right back, Little one!” I shouted, and she stopped crying.

I was wheeled into the medical deck, where a mask was attached to my face, and I passed out.

“Wake up, Steam,” Said a light voice, and my eyes opened slowly.

In front of me was Diamond, who was sitting with the little filly on her lap. Daring Do was sleeping soundly, and she Diamond was stroking her mane.

“Welcome back,” Said Diamond softly.

“Morning. How long was I out?” I asked, sitting up, dimly aware that I couldn't see through my left eye.

“Just a couple hours. The guild sent me a notification, and I came as soon as we docked. I’m telling you, these blimps move fast,” Said Diamond, still stroking the Daring’s mane.

I touched the area where my left eye was, and my suspicions were confirmed. My left eye had been cut out, and was replaced by a bandage around my head. I sighed, and my ears tilted downwards.

“Oh, don’t feel too bad about it. You look like a badass. Also, I didn't know you had a Daring Do lookalike daughter,” Said Diamond.

“Heh, me neither. I need to ask Celestia about it. Though I’m sure that some lowly stallion won’t be at the top of her priority list,” I said, and Diamond made an unsure face.

“Perhaps you could talk to Twilight? You know, the Princess’s student?” asked Diamond, and I scoffed.

“Again, why would she want to see a lowly stallion like me?” I asked, and Diamond shrugged.

“We are docked at PonyVille right now. You guys had to make an emergency stop, due to getting flak from when you passed over Equine,” Said Diamond, and I made a confused face.

“Why would they fire at us?” I asked, and Diamond sighed.

“While you were out, Princess Celestia ordered the invasion of Equine. They thought you were a military class vessel.” Said Diamond, and I sighed.

“Well, I guess this means that Princess Celestia will soon become “Queen” Celestia,” I said, standing up.

“Well, I guess. You should take the advantage while your ‘daughter’ is getting some sleep. The doctors won’t mind, since the only wounds you sustained were some burns and the eye thing. You’ll be fine,” Said Diamond, and I nodded.

I walked out of the hospital room, and went to the lobby. There was a large flight of stairs connecting to the blimp, and the ground below it. I was a little wobbly walking down, but hell, after you've suffered scarring burns on your hind and front legs, you would be wobbly too.

I could see that even though war was declared just a day ago, the war effort was in full gear. Many stallions were signing up at a post, where a soldier dressed in a black trench coat with an solar empire band around his arm, was pushing them hurriedly into a blimp. A large red earthpony stallion was selling apples with what looked like his family, when a recruiter went over to him. Probably being drafted.

I turned back to the market place, and saw a bright pink earthpony mare hopping around, handing out free cupcakes. She was making everypony smile, and I even caught myself with a slight grin. I walked further on through the bright and sunny rural town, looking for the purple mare. Since I had never been to this happy-happy joy-joy place, it was damn hard to find a single mare. While I was fairly easy to pick out in a crowd, more so now with my missing eye, multicolored mares are nothing but common.

I looked around, and noticed a large tree in the middle of town. Probably used magic to hollow it out. They used the same method for libraries back in Equine, since much of the magic practices here were carried over there. Knowing how much Twilight loved books (hell, everypony knew that.) she would probably be there.

I walked over, and knocked on the door.

“Coming!” shouted a feminine voice, and I sighed.

The door opened, and A purple unicorn mare stood there, smiling.

“Yes?” asked Twilight.

“Hi, I’m White Steam, an explorer for Celestia. Could we possibly talk?” I asked, and Twilight cocked her head.

“What for?” asked Twilight.

“I know you are extremely close to Princess Celestia. I’ve come upon a… rather astonishing anomaly. I was going to ask if you could get me an audience with her,” I said, and Twilight shook her head.

“I don’t even know you. Besides, couldn’t you get an audience with her anyway? I mean, you are one of her explorers,” Said Twilight, and it was my turn to shake my head.

“She wouldn’t entertain a request for an audience, especially in a time of kick starting a war. She would make time though, for her student,” I said, and Twilight tapped her chin.

“Your anomaly can’t be that important. Is it an artifact or something?” asked Twilight, and I gave her a sheepish grin.

“Of a sort…” I said, and her face went straight.

“I want you to show me,” Said Twilight definitively, and I sighed.

“I can’t bring her here, other ponies might notice,” I said, and Twilight’s ears perked up.

“Her? Did you kidnap somepony or something?!” asked Twilight frantically, and I waved my hoofs in front of me.

“No, No! Just… just follow me,” I said, and Twilight eyed me cautiously.

“This better not be anything funny,” She stated, before turning back to the inside of the library. “Spike! I’m heading out for a while!”

“Okay, whatever!” shouted a teen sounding voice, and Twilight sighed.

“Okay, where are we going?” asked Twilight, and I pointed to the massive blimp near the edge of town.

We walked briskly, not wanting to waste any time. There was much tension between Twilight and I, seeing as how we didn’t even make eye contact of talk during our trip. By the time we had reached, I heard the crying of Daring. Twilight shot a look at me, and I nodded. We increased our pace up the stairs, but I tripped due to my terrible eyesight and burns at the moment.

“Just go to the medical deck… I’ll be there in a moment,” I said, panting.

Twilight nodded, and I sat there for a moment. I saw a huge storm brewing in the distance, and the ember skies of Equine glowing through it. Soon, if Equine didn’t play their cards right, it would be leveled, and we wouldn’t have to deal with that eyesore.

I slowly got to my hoofs, and walked to the medical deck. My door was closed tightly, and I heard the sound of giggling inside. I slowly creaked the door open, gritting my teeth as I rubbed my burned flesh across the hard wooden door. Inside, Twilight, Diamond, and Daring were all giggling, playing with each other. Twilight looked at me, and saw the look on my face
.
“This is your anomaly? Seems just like a regular old foal to me!” laughed Twilight, and I scoffed.

“Wait ‘til you hear how I got her. Then you’ll be surprised,” I said, sitting down on the bed.

So I told them. I told them about the cave, the zebra, the curse, how I got Daring Do, how she is Daring Do, and how I lost my eye. They all took it a little better than expected, especially Twilight.

“So, you’re telling me this Zebra had glowing green eyes and a weird magic ability? Sounds like a changeling to me, but changelings can’t speak in Equish… maybe Chrysalis?” said Twilight to herself.

“Could we possibly ask Celestia about this?” I asked, and Twilight nodded.

“We should definitely tell her about this, though I’m not sure how she will react to it. Do you have a steam portal here?” asked Twilight, and I shook my head.

“Only the Captain of the blimp can use it. How could we possible contact her?” I asked, and Twilight sighed.

“We could use Spike, though we have to walk all the way back over there, and seeing how you fared on the way back to the blimp, I’m not sure if you should be walking. I’ll go and send a letter right away,” Said Twilight, running out the door.

I watched her run out, and the filly looked up at me.

“Is that mommy?” asked Daring Do.

“Heh heh, no, mommy isn’t here right now. She’ll be here soon,” I said, smiling.

The filly gave me a smile that could melt the coldest heart. I felt a pain well up inside of me, and I coughed violently. Blood spattered onto the ground, and I wheezed loudly.

“Is daddy okay?” asked my surrogate daughter.

“Yeah… Daddy’s just tired…” I said, and the doctor came in.

“Mr. Steam! Are you alright? What happened?” asked the doctor, and I got to my feet.

“I dunno… I’ll be fine. Probably just steam poisoning,” I said, standing up wobbly.

“Okay, well, let me take a blood sample. We’re also leaving in a little bit,” Said the doctor, pulling out a syringe.

“Needles… I hate needles,” I said, as the doctor walked towards me.

Daring Do watched as the doctor pierced my arm with the needle, and drew blood from my left foreleg. I grimaced in pain, as a dark red liquid filled the syringe.

“That’s odd… much darker than when you went under surgery. We’ll take it back to the lab to test it with magic.” Said the doctor, walking out of the room.

Diamond, Daring Do, and myself sat there in silence for ten minutes, when Twilight came busting in, panting. She had her saddle bags with her, and had a letter in her levitation grasp. She set it down on my lap, and set her saddle bags down.

“What is this?” I asked, and Twilight motioned for me to open it, too out of breathe to talk.

I opened the scroll, and read Celestia’s handwriting.

Dear Twilight,

I have read over your information, and I give you full observing responsibility to transport this filly and her surrogate father, along with his companion, to Canterlot as soon as possible. While I may not be able to give you an audience at once, due to the war, I have made preparations for you and the other ponies to stay at the castle until I can have full inspection. Leave with them on the Adventurer’s blimp, for it is bound to my castle as soon as it is repaired. After you have read this, please pass this on to your companion.
Deepest Regards, Celestia,

Suddenly, a green flame burned on the bottom of the page, and more words were revealed.

Dear White Steam,

I do not know of your curse, for it is both unheard of, and impossible to create a living being out of nothing. You probably know the basic elements of alchemy, do you not? This is a very grave curse, and it could be extremely dangerous for both you and the filly. I want you to stay away from her, avoid contact, until I can have a good look at her. There may be somepony, or something that is in play, that should not be.

With high hopes, Princess Celestia,

“Well, I guess it’s Bon Voyage to PonyVille. We’ll be taking the long route, I presume.”

Why I Wish We Took The Shortcut

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Since the massive blimp we were on was a Frigate class vessel, it was much too big to fit through the narrow passage of which all blimps had to go through to gain unlimited access to Canterlot. Sure, you could go over the massive wall, but only if you wanted to be obliterated by Thunder Cannons and White Phosphorus launchers. So, we had to take the long way, in which we passed over the dreaded Equine pass. The back gate to Canterlot was much larger, but much more dangerous. Bandits, pirates, and ever military vessels raid unprotected ships, much like the one we were on now. While I had military experience (and a whole lot more experience killing idiots who tried to take my loot.) I would not be able to fend off a whole squadron of fast moving blimps.

To make matters worse, there was a massive Steam storm brewing up. It would make it near impossible to go outside. No means of defense, whatsoever. The ashes blown over from Equine would burn your skin, along with the hazardous air. If we were attacked, we’d be screwed.

We were about 50 miles into our journey (whole trip-without a jump portal, which was used to reach me, but they were already in the savannah- is about 400 miles) when the storm reached us. We were thrashed around on the inside of the medical bay, and I was in desperate need of fresh air. The medical bay wasn’t helping either, with its bright red crosses on every wall, its bright white lights, and the massive gears churning around. The walls we painted a baby blue, and the recycled air was killing my stomach.

Twilight, on the other hand, was having a wonderful time. She was playing with the little filly, and Diamond was simply sipping on a glass of water. I just watched the hot steam form on the window, and form cool water droplets. While I was paranoid beyond belief, I still enjoyed watching stupid little things, like water races down the side of the window.

“For an explorer, your attention is easily captured,” Said Twilight, walking up alongside me.

“True. Mostly I’m just watching for bandits,” I said, tapping on the glass.

“And what happens if there are bandits? There is no way of defending ourselves, you know that, right?” asked Diamond, and I scoffed.
“You should know by now that I would get out there, fully clothed, and take those bastards out of the sky, even if they are my former countrycolts,” I said, and Twilight cocked her head.

“You’re Equinian?” She asked, and my face drooped.

“NO! I’m a griffon horse who wears a shitty bandage eyepatch, and speaks like I’m from a hellhole! Of course I’m Equinian, can’t you tell?” I asked sarcastically, and it was Twilight’s turn to act sarcastic.

“Oh, excuse me, your highness, I didn’t realize you have such high tastes,” muttered Twilight sarcastically.

“Well, you’re pardoned,” I said, and Daring Do giggled.

“Daddy made fun of mommy!” laughed the filly, and Twilight blushed a hot red.

“Oh, I’m not your mommy, Daring,” said Twilight sheepishly, and Daring made a confused face.

“But you would make good mommy wif daddy,” Said Daring, and Twilight became ever more red.

I bellowed out with laughter.

“Oh, little one. Don’t worry, mommy will be here soon,” I said, and Daring smiled.

“Okay! When mommy gonna get here?” asked Daring, walking up to me, smiling graciously.

There was that pain again. My chest felt like it became swollen, and I coughed violently once more. Daring Do became panicked, and started to cry.

“Daddy’s hurt!” She wailed, and Diamond immediately jumped by my side, supporting me.

“Sweet Celestia, I think there may have been more to that curse you were talking about,” Said Twilight, on my other side, helping me back onto the bed.

“I’ll be fine. Just get me a glass of water,” I muttered, swallowing blood back into my stomach.

Diamond poured a glass of warm water, and handed it to me, when I heard a slight buzzing. I took a look outside the glass, and saw my worst fear.

Outside, riding on an attack blimp, was a group of ponies fully covered in Equine combat gear. Behind them were two other attack blimps, and on the front one, was a gunpowder loaded Gatling cannon. Not the best weapon for an attack on a blimp, but it was lethal.

“Get down!” I screamed, and everypony hit the floor, as the Gatling cannon spurred to life, and send a volley of lead balls into our room.

I heard the screams of ponies being massacred by the weapon, and I stood up, brushing off the shards of metal and drywall that had fallen on me.

“I’ll be back…” I said, anger flowing through my veins.

“You better. I ain’t takin’ care of your daughter alone,” Said Diamond, and I just scoffed.

“Don’t worry,” I said, running out of the room.

The medical bay was completely destroyed. Bodies littered the floor, blood pooling around them. I looked around for some protective gear, and sought out a body of a colt whose head had been torn apart. I pulled on his bloodied trench coat, and grabbed his goggles and his boots. Sure, my face would be unprotected from the hot storm outside, but the important stuff that mattered would be okay.

Next thing was to find a weapon, preferably a firearm. If not, a harpoon or knife would do. I ran to the weapons bay, and found a steam rifle, two flintlock pistols, my talon knife, as well as a foreleg long single blade knife. I shoved them in my bloodied jacket, and ran to the front of blimp.

Opening the door was like opening a pot of boiling water with your face right over it. Not painful, but uncomfortable. The outside was a flurry of red and black clouds, along with the constant sound of ammunition cracking against the side of blimp. Most of the deck had been destroyed, the massive .68 caliber balls tearing apart the wood. The only thing left was a cannon.

Cue the pirate music, I finally get to use a cannon.

I ran over to it, and found that it still had balls next to it, along with fuses and gunpowder, even though it was just a decorative object. With the theme to Pirates of the Coltibbean in my head, I loaded the Cannon, and got used to its controls. Just as I got comfortable, an attack blimp flew right into my aiming range.

“There’s a live one! Kill ‘em, for Aftlan’s sake!” shouted the Equine soldier, and the Gatling Cannon spurred up again.

I pulled on the fuse, launching a cannonball at the blimp. It missed them by mere inches, and was enough to break the wood on the side. I loaded another shot, using the thick iron of the cannon as cover, and launched the second round. While I missed the crew, I hit the steam compounder, and sent magic enhanced steam everywhere, scalding the crew alive. The blimp fell out of the air in a mass of green steam.

“One down, a couple to go…” I muttered.

Suddenly, the cannon exploded in a flame of burning steel, and iron shards. I was thrown back, slamming against the deck wall. The wood of the outside was on fire, and the blimp that had attacked me had a phosphorus cannon at the ready.

“Fire!” shouted the gunner with his thick equine accent.

A massive flame shot at me, and I dodged out of the way, narrowly escaping death by burning alive. The blimp was close enough to board now, and I came up with a split second plan. I ran at the attackers, and jumped on board their ship, drawing my steam rifle. I reared on hind legs, using the butt of the rifle as a club, hitting the enemies over the head. When they had all fell down, I lit a magic match, and stuck it into the water bulb. Steam was immediately created inside the bulb, and I shot a pulse of green gas at each of the assailants. The superhot steam burned through each of them, killing them instantly. I dropped the rifle, and jumped off the blimp, my foot accidentally hitting the steering wheel on the way off.
As soon as I hit the burning deck, the attacking ship grinded into the side of the blimp, unbalancing the larger vessel. The final attack blimp rounded the side, and the crew jumped onto the larger vessel, all armed with flintlock pistols or rifles. Being stupid Equines as they are, they all immediately fired at me, and none of them hit me, seeing as how I was hiding behind the crashed blimp.

“Oh come on, at least give me a challenge!” I shouted, and suddenly, I heard the sound of metal wings flapping.

I looked up, to see a Pegasus dive bombing at me. I jumped out of the way, and pulled out my flintlock, and fired one of my pistols into the dive bombing Pegasus. He smashed into the wooden deck, sending splinters everywhere. I turned to the rest of the ponies, who were fumbling over their flintlocks, trying to reload them. I charged the Equine soldiers, using the back of my pistol as a club, smashing the back of their necks. Brutal? Yeah, but hell, it had to be done.

After I had taken care of the first few, I was faced with fully reloaded flintlocks and steam rifles. By now, the smoke from the crashed ship and the flames was suffocating, and the ship was slowly going down.

Move quickly.

I jumped at the soldiers, pulling out my knives. The other ponies did not expect it, and I cut them into sushi in a matter of seconds, slicing their muscles and organs. Their useless bodies rolled off the side of the now falling ship, and I was left with the captain of the attack vessel, who had his cavalry sword out.

“Your move, Captain,” I said, and the captain swung his sword.

I easily parried, kicking him into the flames. I noticed a white phosphorus cannon ball rolling slowly towards the burning captain, who was screaming in pain. I pulled out my remaining Flintlock pistol, and shot the cannon ball, causing a massive flaming explosion.

“Rest in pieces- wait, no, that puns already been used… here… lemme see…” I muttered to myself, standing on the side of the falling ship.

“Wait, wait, I got one! ‘Hey, it’s quite windy out here; I wonder where the captain went! He must have been BLOWN AWAY!’ Aha, get it! Because you know, blown away! Ha-ha!” I realized I was standing on a falling ship, laughing at probably the worst pun in existence.

I looked at the bridge, and saw flames slowly making their way up the side. Not good. Running inside, I made my way up to the bridge, trying to keep it from being destroyed by death by mountain side. While the remaining crew members were finally trying to steady the ship, the captain had been torn to pieces, and due to my knowledge of flying blimps, I was the next candidate. I grabbed the steering wheel and the clutch, and pulled the blimp upwards.

“C’mon, you big piece of crap!” I screamed at the ship, when it did not oblige.

I turned to the controls, and put the hydraulics and fans on full speed. I made the steam boosters go at maximum speed, and almost immediately, I was getting calls from the engine room.

“Captain, the ship can’t withstand this type of pressure!” shouted someone through the microphone.

“Do what you must! Either this ship crashes, or we get it to Canterlot!” I screamed into the microphone, and the crew looked at me with a look of fear.

“Hey, you aren’t the captain!” shouted the man back through the microphone.

“I don’t care! JUST GET THIS THING MOVING!” I screamed in the microphone.

“Sorry, pressure,” I muttered, turning back to the cracked glass that was serving as my windshield.

I kept on pulling up on the altitude adjustment, and the hydraulics. Sure enough, the blimp slowly pulled upwards, going at massive speeds towards the back top of the mountains.

“What are you doing?! They’ll shoot us down!” shouted one of the bridge members, trying to put out a massive flame.

“Well, I’d rather be shot down and land in Canterlot than burn alive in this hellhole!” shouted another bridge officer.

When we crested the mountain, the engine gave out. We were literally about to grind down the mountain side, into the extended plateau of Canterlot. I grabbed the microphone.

“Hold onto something, everypony, it’s about to get rough!” I shouted into the microphone, as we started to grind down the side of the mountain.

Shrapnel flung through the windshield, destroying the inside of the room. Soon, the whole blimp was coming apart, and the fire was not helping. It would be a miracle if we made it to canterlot, not counting if we survived.

After what seemed like an eternity, we broke through the thick clouds, and headed straight for the landing pad in canterlot. Ponies looked up in awe as they watched the massive burning blimp skid down the hill.

Meanwhile…

Princess Celestia stood on her balcony, smelling the sweet, crisp air. Everything was perfect at this one moment. The war was going well (even though they had only been in the state of war for a single day) and her subjects were happy. While she was concerned about Twilight and the explorer, she could just relax for the time being.

Up until she saw the blimp skidding down the hill. She watched in awe as the flaming hunk of metal hit a massive bump, and started to bounce down the side of the mountain. Up, down, up, down, up, down. Finally, the flaming blimp rolled to a stop on the landing pad, in its upright position. Out of the bridge, she saw a gray earthpony slide down the side of the blimp, carefully avoiding flames, and stood in front of the whole public of Canterlot.

“Behold, the amazing landing powers of SHADOW!” shouted the figure.

Celestia facehoofed.

At the crash site.

Sure, not everypony was happy that I had just illegally parked a flaming blimp in the middle of their crown jewel, but did I care? Hell no.

Everypony who had survived the pirate attack had gotten out of the ship unscathed, including my own party of mares.

“That was awesome, Daddy!” shouted Daring Do, running up to me.

“Let’s never do that again…” muttered Diamond, who was gagging.

Canterlot was shining beautiful as always. The massive marble towers protruded from the ground, the fountains squirted fresh, clean water. Marble statues, stuck in dancing position, were spread everywhere, and Pegasi flew across the sky. The sun reflected off of small ponds, and there were a few clouds in the sky to add the finishing touches. You wouldn’t think it’s so majestic when you worked in the underground factories. That was the pits.

Twilight walked up to me, and sighed.

“Because of you, I’m afraid of blimps.” Said Twilight, her face a slight shade of green.

“Glad I could help,” I said sarcastically, as a couple burly looking royal guards approached me.

I knew from their face that I was in big trouble. They all had spears and shackles with them, and as soon as they reached me, they put their chains around my wrists.

“You are under arrest for destruction of government property, breaking the border blimp laws, and disrupting the peace.” Said one of the guards.

“Big whoop. Take me away officers.” I said, when one of the guards yelled in pain.

I turned to see my daughter, Daring Do, punching the living crap out of one of the guards. She was on top of him, jamming her hoofs into his eyes. The guard was bucking wildly, screaming for help. Everypony around him started busting up, including the other guards. Suddenly, another guard appeared this one much larger than the rest. He had a scar over his lip, with different shades of blue for hair. He had a crest similar to Twilight’s cutie mark on his chest plate, and I realized who it was.

“Oh shit,” I muttered to myself.

“Shiny!” shouted Twilight, running up to the massive stallion.

“Hey, Twily! I heard you were heading this way, I just didn’t expect you to come in so… unusually.” Said the Stallion, rubbing Twilight’s head.

Twilight smiled, and nuzzled up to the stallion, who was presumably her brother, Shining Armor.

“So I train you to become one of the best soldiers in the entire world, and you end up getting a job that cost you an eye, and destroying a commercial blimp? I have to say, I’m not surprised,” Said Shining Armor, walking up to me.

“How do you even remember me? You barely noticed me when I was in the academy,” I said, and Shining Armor laughed.

“I never forget a face, cadet,” Said Shining Armor, giving me a solid punch in the shoulder. “At ease, boys. The princess is expecting him, and I’m sure he had perfectly acceptable terms for this emergency landing.”

Daring Do hopped off the guard, who was rubbing his sore face, and followed after our little group. Diamond stayed back with the ship, to give the full report to the guards.

“So how do you know Shining Armor, Steam?” whispered Twilight, nudging me.

“Drill officer. Helped me serve my mandatory four.” I muttered back, when we reached the gates of the castle.

They were iron clad gates, magically enchanted for maximum protection. Two royal guards with flintlock rifles stood outside, staring with a never ending gaze. Beyond it was the marble towers of the castle, and its countless gardens. Inside were the ballroom, and the Princesses chambers.

“Big buiwding!” shouted Daring Do with excitement.

“Yeah, it’s called a castle, Princess Celestia and her sister Luna lives inside it.” I said, putting her on my back.

“Cewestia, and Woona?” asked Daring Do, and I smirked at her attempt at saying the royal sister’s names.

“Pretty close, little one,” I said, and Shining Armor cocked an eyebrow.

“So what’s the story with the blimp?” asked Shining Armor, leading the way through the gates.

“Attacked by Equine bandits. I took action, but it was too late for the blimp. So, using my previous experience with blimps, I flew it over the mountain ledge. Now, I’m here, completely unscathed.” I said, and Shining Armor nodded.

“I take it you killed them?” Asked Shining Armor and I sighed.

“I didn’t have much choice, really,” I muttered, and the stallion nodded once more.

“Well, I’m presuming it isn’t the first time you’ve killed something.” Said Shining Armor, and an awkward silence came over the group.

We continued into the massive castle, wandering past artifacts and gem stones, that I may or may have not collected. We passed the maids bedchambers, and then the chamber of harmony. After that was the ballroom, where a congregation of ponies were. After the grand galloping gala, the ballroom served as a social plaza, even though it was so close to the throne room. Shops were open everywhere. One was selling bronze wings to earth ponies, so they could fly. Another was selling water bulbs, for all your steam needs, while another was selling magic matches. I sighed, and stopped by a clothing store briefly.

“You got any eye-patches?” I asked, and the salesman looked around his stall.

“I got one around here somewhere,” He said, fumbling around with his items. He suddenly pulled out a black eye patch out of his massive piles of crap. “It’ll be 20 pieces.”

I reached for my money pouch, which was absent from my belt. I looked at Twilight, and gave her a sheepish grin. She sighed, and walked over, putting down 20 gold coins on the table. I turned away from the crowd of ponies, and tore off my bloody bandage. I let it drift down to the ground, as I pulled on the eye-patch. I turned back to the group, and Daring smiled.

“You wook good, Daddy!” said Daring, and she ran up to me.

“Thanks, little one,” I said, rubbing her head.

She gave me a heart melting smile, and I held back a painful sensation in my throat. I made a slight coughing noise, and we continued on towards the castle.

Once we entered, I felt relieved. The place was spotless today, almost having a golden glow to it. You know, like how when stallions from the jerhorsey shore get spray tans, and they seem to be glowing an irradiated bronze. I didn’t know who took care of the place, but he did a good damn job. The halls of the inner castle were lined with statues, one of which that kept on showing up. It looked like a regular sized stallion, but he had an odd-shaped cutie mark imprinted on his marble statue, and a smile that made me think he was once a sadistic person. We continued on, and when we got to the chamber doors, we stopped.

“I’ll do in, and see if her majesty is ready to see you.” Said Shining Armor, and he motioned for Twilight to come too.

I sat down, and Daring Doo lay down next to me, curling up to go to sleep. I looked at her, wondering where on earth such a perfect little thing came from. My train of thoughts we interrupted by the door opening, and a royal guard motioning for me to enter.

“Can you watch her for me?” I asked the guard, and he nodded.

I walked inside the room, and I saw 3 ponies on near the throne. Two of which were the royal sisters. At the base of Luna’s chair, a red pony with a black mane in a blue jumpsuit was wiping up a coffee spill, muttering to him. Twilight and Shining Armor where in the middle of the room, looking slightly nauseous. I walked in, and bowed to the royal sisters.

“Hello, White Steam.” Celestia’s voice was grim, layered with sadness.

“Hello, your highness. Is something wrong?” I asked, and she nodded.

“About your “Daughter”… my top scholars looked over your condition… it doesn’t look good. They couldn’t turn anything up, but an old “friend” told me about what may or may not be happening to you,” Celestia said softly, and I had a feeling that something bad is about to happen.

“So…” I started, and Celestia started to speak.

“It’s an age old curse, used by the first master changelings. They would create a being that the victim of the curse could not help to love. The object of which the changeling has created, has a single spell on it, so that when the curse-bearer shows affection and or love towards said object, it drain the love and life-force from the curse-bearer, and then gives it to the changeling. Soon, after a short-to-long period of time, the bearer dies, and the said object disappears from existence.” Said Celestia, and I felt astounded.

“Is there any way to revert it?” I asked, and Celestia shook her head.

“Not that we know of. The best we could do is take away your “daughter” and exterminate her, but you would be against that, wouldn’t you?” asked Celestia.

“There has to be some way!” I shouted, and I heard the red earthpony sigh.

“Look, two options. You die, or your daughter dies, whoever she is,” He said, briefly looking up from the stain he was scrubbing.

“Pillows! Thee shalt not talk to thy subject higher than thee!” Luna said, hitting him on the head.

“No… No it’s quite alright. At least he’s blunt and truthful. How did you get this information anyway?” I asked, and the sisters looked at each other sheepishly.

“Well… ever thought that there was something that was more powerful than us? Much more powerful?” Asked Celestia, and I shook my head.

“Nope. Not that I can remember,” I said, and Celestia sighed.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to show him…” Said Celestia.

Luna looked at her sister doubtfully, but Celestia gave her a reassuring nod. Luna waved off everypony except for me. The room became dark, as the two sisters put their glowing horns together, and launched a purple looking ball at the middle of the room, where it exploded into a figure which looked like a earthpony.

He was a pure white, with the sign of the homunculi as a cutie mark. His eyes were a deep blue, as well as he had blue streaks in his white hair. He had the same sociopathic smirk on his face, and he was staring straight at me.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Steam. I’m the creator, and I’ve been watching you for a very long time.”

Protector

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I was astounded. Sure, I had heard rumors of such a being in the world, but so see him here, now? I thought I was going to faint. He created everything before Celestia and Luna were born to the Royal family, which ironically, he created. From the stories I had collected on digs and fossil runs (usually how I got all my History I and History II academia) I had learned about the creator being a very sly creature. He took sides with the most powerful, and when the tides would turn, he would take the side of his previous foe. Along with that, he had many different forms and shapes. Now he was standing before me, just grinning.

“I know, I know. You’re astounded, amazed, genuinely mind-blown, flabbergasted. The list could go on, and on, and on.” Said The Creator, still smirking.

I bowed down to The Creator, and he just chuckled.

“I’m not in a position of power anymore, my friend. I just cause a LOT of mischief, pain, hatred, and other things. You know, the opposite of Celestia and Luna.” Said The Creator, when the brown colored stallion who was cleaning up a spill popped his head in.

“WRONG! Luna causes me a lot of pain with her coffee spills!” shouted Pillows, whom I presumed was the janitor.

“Well, that is correct. Luna did always have a knack for spilling coffee. Well, nonetheless, I do the polar extremes of what the princesses do,” The Creator stated, waving off Pillows.

The Creator turned back to me, and then looked me over. He then walked up to me, focusing on the neck areas and limbs. After about a minute of inspecting my body parts, he sighed, and shook his head.

“Well, I’m going to give you a diagnosis, as the princesses ask I did when you got here. This is a 20,000 year old curse, about the time when Celestia and Luna’s parents were born. Back then the Changelings were the dominant race, and they used the other sentient beings love to feed them. After the original Alicorns completely overthrew the Changeling hierarchy, nearly destroying the entire race, a few of the high-queens princesses escaped to the far reaches of the earth, taking their curse with them. Sure, they’ve produced new curses which aren’t fatal, but I’m guessing you were cursed by a Queen. If I’m correct, there is only one Queen left on this side of Equis, and that is Chrysalis.” Started the creator, cracking his neck.
“I’m guessing your surrogate daughter is that of which part of the curse. You’ll love her until you die unless we kill her. Otherwise, you’re screwed.” Finished the creator.

“No… No, there has to be some other way.” I said, and The Creator sighed.

“Well, there might be something else, but I don’t think you’ll like it. I’ll have to check.” Said the creator.

He suddenly disappeared in a flurry of blue smoke, and appeared just as suddenly. He had a book levitating in front of him, which seemed odd, as he was an earthpony, as well as black case. He was flipping through the book, when he stopped at a page that had little writing on it.

“Ah, here it is, Book five-hundred-ninety-two of ‘Cures for ails’ Volume 94, page 67,891. ‘Cure for Love Vampirism’ is to cause hatred. To kill, murder, and do things completely morally wrong, to reverse effects of curse.” Said the Creator, and Celestia walked up to him.

“What? He can’t just go around murdering ponies and committing crimes!” shouted Celestia angrily, and The Creator shrugged.

“I realize that, Celestia. I’m not as stupid as you. Your only options are to enlist as one of Celestia’s soldiers in the war, or kill your daughter, if you want to live.” Said The Creator, and I recoiled.

“Well, if I joined the military, Daring would be parentless. And if I killed her… well, you already know.” I said, when Luna piped up.

“We need another Dark Guard, sister. The last one was killed in the first battle.” Said Luna, and Celestia shook her head.

“He hasn’t been trained for that. Is there anything else?” asked Celestia, and The Creator gave Celestia a smug smile.

“Do you remember your father at all, Celestia? He used to have what we call a “Syndicate” as a personal bodyguard. An Earthpony that can use certain types of magic, such as short-range teleportation, necromancy, elemental abilities, and wields weapons with such ability I used to see them take on 6 fully trained guards at a time. I’ve watched Steam here, and he seems to be well suited for the task. He will be sent out onto the field, no? He’ll get his fair share of morally wrong descisions on the field, and he can come back time-to-time to see Daring.” Said The Creator, and Celestia grimaced at him.

“I don’t even have the equipment that the Syndicate’s had,” Said Celestia, and The Creator dropped his black case in front of her.

“I got it right here. Sword, mask, coat, everything a Syndicate needs.” Said The Creator.

Celestia and Luna looked at it for a moment, studying the mask and blade. I stood there silently, when Celestia looked at me.

“Are you willing to do such a thing? Kill for your survival?” She asked, walking up to me.

“I already do, your highness. I’m ready for whatever challenges come with the job.” I stated, and Celestia nodded at The Creator.

“Alrighty then. Let me warn you, it will take you a bit to master the magic, but you will notice that your abilities of reaction skills and speed will have increased greatly with this mark.” Said the Creator, pulling out a brand from seemingly nowhere.

“I’m ready for anything. I just lost my eye a day ago, so I’m ready for anything.” I said, and The Creator shrugged.

“Okay.” He said promptly, jamming the brand into my chest.

It burned like hell. I wanted to scream, I wanted to pull away. But I just stood there, letting the iron burn into my skin. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he pulled the brand out, and what was left was a circle with a line through it. On one side of the line, it had a crescent moon; on the other it had a flaming sun. I felt as if I was something special now, when I knew I really wasn’t.

“Well, now that you have the mark, you shall gain your magic from the sun and the moon. Now all that’s left is to give you the armor and blade of the syndicates. Then, I’ll be on my way, and you can go and do whatever the fuck you mortals do.” Said The Creator bluntly.

He levitated the case in front of me, and pulled out the trench coat first. It was lined with enchanted steel on the inside, and had intricate designs on the outside. The edges were lined with yellow, symbolizing the sun, while the designs on the torso of the coat were sparkling white, symbolizing the sun. There was a sheathe for a long blade on the side, which was probably for the sword The Creator was talking about.

The Mask was very much the same. It was plain white, with only eyeholes, nose holes, and a mouth hole. The edge was lined with sparkling yellow, again, and the main part had intricate sparkling black designs on it. It looked too big, but when I put it on, I could see through both of my eyes again, and it fitted onto my face fine.

I moved onto the blade. It was black as midnight with no moon or stars, and had not designs on it this time. Just black, with a white hilt. The guard consisted of a Quillion, a Ricasso, and an écusson. It resembled a Venetian rapier somewhat. I sheathed the blade, put on the coat, and took off the mask, where it simply hung off the side of the coat.

“Wow, you look just like I remember them. Well, cherrio, I have work to do. And by work, I mean I have to go and antagonize someone.” Said The Creator, exploding into blue smoke.

Celestia walked up to me, and sighed.

“I hope you’re ready for a whole different life, Steam. Because you just gave your whole being to me.” Said Celestia, and I nodded.

“Ready for anything.” I said, and Celestia smiled.

“Glad to see you’re optimistic. I’ll set up a quarters for you and your daughter to stay at, but tonight, you’ll have to be away. I’ll make sure that Luna will take care of her.” Said Celestia, and I cocked an eyebrow.

“Why am I going to be out?” I asked, and Celestia sighed.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with Octavia Philamonica? Well, she is having a large concert tonight in Canterlot, and her father, a very high ranking official in the Equestrian Military is going to be there. So, you’ll be heading there tonight, with my Janitor, Pillows. I think he deserves a night off with his girlfriend, after all the hard work he’s done.” Said Celestia, and I nodded.

“Pillows! Get in here!”

Pillows walked in halfheartedly, looking glum.

“Yes, your highness?” asked Pillows.

“You get the night off. Go ahead and see your girlfriends concert.” Said Celestia, and Pillows blushed.

“You know about me and Octavia?” he asked, and Celestia sighed.

“I’m the protector of the day. I know everything that goes on, Pillows. Also, you don’t mind bringing a friend along, do you?” asked Celestia, slightly gesturing towards me.

“I don’t have anyone to bring. Why?” Asked Pillows.

“Because, my newly appointed bodyguard, White Steam, has to be there tonight. You surely wouldn’t mind, right?” asked Celestia, and Pillows slightly grimaced.

“As long as he doesn’t hit on Tavi, I’m fine.” He said, and I chuckled.

“I’m a stallion of honor. I don’t try to get something that already belongs to somepony else.” I said, and Pillows raised his eyes in surprise.

“He’s not a snob? How on Equis did Celestia find you?” asked Pillows, and I laughed again.

“Long story.” I said.

“So, are you willing to take him?” asked Celestia, and Pillows nodded.

“As long as he doesn’t mind swinging by my apartment first.” He said, and I shrugged.

“Just so long as we can hit the store, first. I’m starving.” I said, and Celestia nodded.

“Then it is decided. You may both leave now, if you wish.” Said Celestia, and we both bowed to her.

“Thank you, your highness.” Said Pillows, before walking out.

Outside, a group of ponies awaited out return. Diamond, Shining Armor, Twilight, Daring Do, and the guard stared at me intently.

“Well, I’m going to survive, but I have to stay here, and be Celestia’s personal bodyguard.” I said, and everyone except the guard sighed with relief.

“Well, I guess this is where we part ways again, Shadow. I’ll be heading to Equine to contract for the military there. I’m guessing you’ll be heading that way soon as well.” Said Diamond, hugging me.

“I’ll see you around, Diamond.” I said, as she planted a kiss on my cheek.

I tensed up, my brain trying to load what just happened. By the time I finally realized what happened, Diamond was already out the door.

“Well, I’m going to head back to Ponyville, By Train, mind you. I guess this is goodbye, then.” Said Twilight, holding out her hoof.

“It was a pleasure traveling with you, Twilight. Hopefully we see each other again, someday.” I said, shaking her hoof.
She hugged her brother, and walked off. All that was left was Shining Armor, the guard, a sleeping Daring Do, and myself.

“Alright, I guess I’ll take Daring up to the Princess Luna’s bedchamber, seeing how Celestia said that she would take over for babysitting.” Said Shining Armor, and I cocked an eyebrow.

“How did you hear that?” I asked, and Shining Armor chuckled.

“The door may be soundproof, but the walls ain’t. I’ll see you around, Steam.” Said Shining, picking Daring up gently.
I turned to Pillows, and he nodded. We started down the hall, wondering where this next adventure would take us.

“I can’t believe you bought all this food for my house. I won’t have to buy food for like… a year!” said Pillows ecstatically.

When we had dropped by the store, I had bought enough food to feed a small army, that or two colts. I had kinda figured that Pillows was short on money, so I decided to pay for his rent too. For a guy who’s only hope was to kill and do morally wrong actions, I was acting like a saint.

“So, you’re in a relationship with Octavia? Lucky guy.” I said, and Pillows laughed.

“It was kinda weird the way we met, actually. Same way how you got this weird curse and now have Daring Do as a daughter. Long story.” Said Pillows, and I laughed.

“I’ll tell ya what, after tonight, I’ll buy ya a beer, and we can tell our stories.” I said, and Pillows laughed.

“I don’t drink, but okay.” Said Pillows, when the door opened.

In walked a grey mare, with a black mane and purple eyes. The treble clef on her flank marked her as the pony everypony knew.

“Hello Pillows. Miss me?” asked Octavia, walking over to him, and giving him a hug.

“Hey, Tavi. Ready for your concert tonight?” asked Pillows, and she smiled.

“As long as you’ll be there. You’re home early, why is that?” asked Octavia, still oblivious to me.

“White Steam over there, or Shadow, has to protect some high ranking official there tonight. Could you possibly get him in?” asked Pillows, and she nodded.

“Glad to see you’re making some friends, Pillows.” She said, turning to meet my gaze. “Nice to meet you, White Steam. What do you do as a profession?”

“Bodyguard. I work for Celestia.” I said.

“Celestia has a bodyguard now? Good idea due to the war.” Said Octavia, looking at the groceries.

“Did you spend all this on Pillows?” asked Octavia, and I nodded.

“I kinda figured he was underpayed, so I just bought him a metric shit ton of food.” I said, and Octavia recoiled at my use of language.

“Sorry, picked it up in adventure school.” I said, and Octavia nodded.

“Alright. I have to shower and get ready for the concert tonight. I just came by to see how you were doing.” Said Octavia, kissing Pillows on the cheek.

“I’ll see you later.” He said, and Octavia smiled, walking out the door.

“As I said before, lucky guy,” I said, and Pillows laughed.

I looked out the window, watching all the blimps in the high tech apartment fly slowly towards their destination. For once, I actually liked being on the ground. The apartment was pretty much picture perfect. Grey, stainless carpet, chrome kitchen, large TV, new age furniture. Everything a guy could need.

“Well, after I finish putting away the groceries, I’m gonna hit the hay for a bit, before it’s time to go.” Said Pillows, and I nodded.

“You don’t mind if I use your couch for a little, do ya?” I asked, and Pillows shook his head.

“Go for it, I ain’t using it.” Said Pillows, putting a gallon of milk in the fridge.

I pulled off my coat, and jumped onto the couch. I fell asleep almost immediately, due to my lack of rest after the blimp attack.

“Yo, Shadow, wake up. We’re almost here.” Said Pillows, slapping my face.

I woke up, shaking my head. We were in a small car, padded with leather. There was chilled champagne in a cooler, and we were pulling into a garage. I scratched my head, and then rubbed my eyes.

“How did you get me into the car?” I asked, and Pillows chuckled.

“For some odd reason, I have a stretcher in my closet. We couldn’t wake you up, because you were out cold, so we just carried you in here.” Said Pillows, and I nodded.

I checked for all my weapons, and then my mask. Everything was there, including a set of throwing stars, which wasn’t there before.

“I added a set of throwing stars to your collection. I get them from all the ninjas I get rid of in the royal basement and bathrooms.” Said Pillows, smiling.

We came to a stop in front of the VIP entrance, and we waltzed in like kings. One of the royal guards notified where Pillows and I were sitting, which was right next to Mr. Philamonica, dressed in a high-ranking officers uniform. The room was amazing, with a massive stage, spotlights, balconies, red felt curtains. The Canterlot Theatre never ceased to amaze me. Almost immediately as we sat down, the orchestral band started to play. It was the most beautiful music I had heard. It somewhat reminded me of my short life with my parents. Happy, wonderful… then dark and solemn. I saw the spotlight focus on a spot on the stage, where a mint colored unicorn and Octavia played beautiful music. I was so moved by the music, that I actually started to have a small tear in my eye. The first song ended, and the orchestral band resumed their music. This continued for another hour or so, when I noticed some movement through the VIP lounge. There was 5 ponies of assorted races, with circular multi-lense glasses walking towards Mr. Philamonica. He didn’t even know I was there when I pushed Octavia’s father down.

“Shoot ‘em!” shouted one of the assassins, his thick Equine voice obvious.

Shots rang out through the massive auditorium, pinging off the lounges walls. Since the lounge was soundproof from the outside, but not from the inside, the only ponies who heard it were on the inside of the room. I pulled my blade from its sheathe, lunging at the reloading assassins. No sooner had they noticed me, that I had shoved my blade through one of their throats.

“Holy mother of Aftlan! That bloody Equestrian killed Max!” shouted one of the assassins.

They pulled their cavalry swords, expecting me to attack almost immediately, head on. But even I wasn’t that stupid. I used my superior speed to flank the Equine assassin in the very back. He turned around, only to get stabbed through the chest. He gargled, and I had disappeared again.

“Holy shit, this guy is fast!” shouted one of the assassins.

By now, the guards outside had busted in, which consisted of two royal guards with Lightning rifles, and 6 soldiers with long-bore gunpowder rifles. They busted in, and the Assassins, being cowards, immediately surrendered. Everypony in the room had been shaken up, especially with how I reacted. As the guards took the assassins away, Mr. Philamonica confronted me.

“Hello, lad. I’d like to thank you for savin’ me life.” Said Mr. Philamonica, holding out his hoof.

“My pleasure, Mr. Philamonica. Princess Celestia appointed me to protect you tonight, if you’re wondering who I am.” I said, and Mr. Philamonica’s eye went wide.

“Celestia? You must be that new bodyguard that she appointed earlier today. She had a big board meeting about it. You must be pretty damn good with that blade if you’re Celestia’s personal guard.” Said Mr. Philamonica, shaking my hoof.

I nodded to him, and I went to the massive window overlooking the crowd. Everypony was being ushered out, as the Concert had ended almost immediately after the attack. I turned to the royal guards who were cleaning up the bodies, and they nodded.

“I need you to notify Celestia about this attack. We need to inspect each of the blimps coming into Canterlot Port more carefully. Colonel Philamonica could have died.” I said, trying not to abuse my newfound power.

“Yes sir!” Said one of the guards, and I gestured Pillows to leave with me.

As we walked out into the brisk air, he breathed out deeply.

“One of those bullets whizzed right past my head. I could have died.” Said Pillows, and I nodded.

“Sorry about that. I should have used the ninja stars.” I said, and Pillows nodded.

“I guess. I’m no expert on murdering people,” Said Pillows.

Suddenly, there was a loud BANG! I turned to see Mr. Philamonica roll out of the way, as a Equestrian soldier dropped to the ground, blood spraying through the air. I watched as a assassin tore off, taking to the rooftops.

“Shit! Go and see if Mr. Philamonica is okay! I’ll be back!” I said, running after the assailant.

I didn’t look back to see if Pillows had done as I asked, because I had put on my mask, and I was sprinting full speed towards the climbing area that the assassin had climbed. Within seconds, I had him within my line of vision. That also meant I was within his. He turned around quickly, pulling a second gun out of his trench coat. It gleamed chrome in the moonlight, and I knew that it was a lightning pistol. That gun would fry your outsides, then your insides. If you were lucky, and the gun misfired, it would just char a small part of you. I wasn’t taking any chances, though. I immediately pulled out a throwing star, and flung it at the assassin, hitting the gun as he fired it. It exploded, sending him sprawling, and I charged him.
He acted with almost the same reaction time as I had. He pulled his sword out, and we locked blades.

“A syndicate, huh? I didn’t think Celestia would have one as well.” Said the other assassin, whose own brand mark on his chest showed as well.

He unlocked blades with me, and did a large swing. It was all I could do to block it, and deliver a swing of my own, which bounced off his superior guard. He took another quick jab at me, and I dodged out of the way, the blade whisking past my stomach. I swung around, spinning my sword in such a way that he would have to duck if he wanted to survive. He dropped to the ground, and then kicked my legs out from under me, so we were both on the floor. I tried to jump to my feet, but instead I was slammed back onto the floor, a blade perched over my throat.

It was all I could do to keep the blade from penetrating my skin, when I realized the ninja star lodged in the gun was laying not a hoof-length away from me. I would be taking a massive risk by doing such a thing, but I wrote a book on bad ideas, so this would be a new one.

I redirected the blade so it would cut into my arm, not my throat, giving me enough time to grab the throwing star. I grabbed it quickly, then jammed it into the Equine assassin’s eye. He gagged a bit, as I pushed it in, but within seconds, he dropped dead. I groaned, pulling the sword in my fore-hoof out, ignoring the screaming pain. Almost immediately, two royal guards came onto the rooftop, their wings flapping.

“Good, you’re alive, I suggest you head back down, so you can tell the colonel that its safe.” Said one of the guards, and I nodded.

“Gotcha,” I replied, heading back down.

It was a mess down in the parking lot. A dead soldier was lying in a pool of his own blood, Octavia was crying into Pillows shoulder, and a bunch of angry troopers were standing around. The colonel was praying over the dead soldiers body, when he saw me.

“It’s safe, sir. You can go home, but I suggest you stay under protection from the royal guard, for the time being.” I said, and Mr. Philamonica nodded.

“Aye, thanks again. I’m in debt to you with my life.” Said Philamonica, and I shook my head.

“Just doing my job, sir.” I said, and he nodded.

“Octavia, I want you to go home with Pillows. You’ll be safer together.” Said Colonel Philamonica, getting into his car.

They drove off, and I confronted Pillows and Octavia.

“Sorry for wrecking your concert, Octavia.” I said, and she shook her head.

“You did it to save my daddy… thank you.” She said, and I smiled.

“You’re welcome. Pillows, do you mind if I crash at your place tonight? It’s already too late to even try and get into the castle.” I said, and Pillows nodded.

“Yeah, I could use the extra security. C’mon, let’s get home.” Said Pillows, when I realized I couldn’t feel the pain in my fore-leg anymore.

I looked over where the wound had been, and both the clothing and the skin had healed, only leaving a small bloody spot on the clothing. I guess that was one of the magic perks of being a syndicate. We got into the car, and went back to Pillows. I needed some sleep, after what had happened, and I felt weirdly drained for some odd reason. I couldn’t focus, but I knew something was wrong. I fell asleep before I could even try to think about it.

Fluffies, Whores, and A Teleporting Earthpony

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“Daddy, you’re home!” shouted Daring Do, as I walked through the door to my manor.

It had been a winding night. I woke up in the car, walked home, had to take care of a few orderly duties, and then returned to my… house. That is, if you choose to call a luxurious flat overlooking the Marediteranean Sea a house. Luna was sleeping on the couch, and Daring Do was playing with her small blocks, easily spelling words. She was obviously born, or made, with an amazing intelligence, because by age five, I was lucky enough to be even thinking straight, but then again, being beat regularly by your parents did some damage to a young pony. I was glad to see my daughter happy, and not distraught by my sudden disappearance last night.

“Hey, how’s my little girl?” I asked, picking her up, and swinging her around.

“Woona and I had fun! We stayed up all night pwaying games, and she even told me a funny bedtime story! I don’t think it was meant to be funny, but her voice made it funny!” exclaimed Daring Do hurriedly, as I swung her.

I put her down, and she tipped over to one side, slightly dizzy. I looked over to Luna, and smiled to myself. Walking over to her, I nudged her slightly, trying to wake her up gently.

“Hmm… What does thy subject desire?” asked Luna groggily, as she raised her head.

“I think the princess should return to her own bed,” I said softly, and Luna’s ears perked up.

“Oh! Goodness, we are dearly sorry about sleeping in thy bed!” exclaimed Luna, blushing deeply.

“It’s nothing, your highness. I can’t thank you enough for watching Daring last night,” I said, as Luna got up.

“It is our pleasure. We hope to see thou in the premises of our castle.” Said Luna, quickly walking out the door.

I turned to Daring, a wide smile on my face.

“So, what do you want to do today, honey?” I asked, and a huge grin appeared on Daring’s face.

A whole month. For one month, I had all the time in the world with my beloved daughter. For a whole month, my sickness grew. It wasn’t harsh enough to hurt me, due to all the degenerate things I had done my first night in Canterlot. Sure, I had to go to board meetings and such, but nothing else. I did mostly essentials, and that was it. For the month I spent with Daring, I signed her up with school, started her into Explorer camp every weekend. Of course, we did fun things together, but when duty came knocking, I answered its call. Now, it was barely a week before the Grand Galloping Gala, and I was helping with the preparations. Daring was in school, and Celestia was in her throne room, sending invitations. Luna was sleeping, so I ended up having to deal with Celestia’s head commanders. I must say, they look formal, but they bicker like children. “I want this!” and “I want that!” for a whole two days. Then, the actual ponies who were supposed to set the Gala arrived, to my happiness. There were 5 ponies, 4 old stallions, and one young mare that hadn’t shown up yet.
“We need you to watch for her, if you could. She’s slightly clutzy, but she demanded to be on the preparation team. I guess being a musician wasn’t paying enough,” One of the old stallions said, walking down the hallway to the ballroom.

“Wait, what does she look like?” I asked after them, and one of the stallions turned around.

“Sea foam looking unicorn. Lyre for a cutie mark, you can’t miss her,” Said the stallion.

I realized it was the pony that I had seen performing with Octavia the first night in Canterlot. I hadn’t got a good look at her from the peanut gallery, but I expected she was very young.

So here I was, standing outside the ballroom, fidgeting with my blade, looking like an idiot who had no idea what I was doing. It wasn’t until 15 minutes later, and countless modifications to my equipment, when the final pony had shown up. I must say, I was breathe taken.

She was a sea-foam green unicorn, with a likewise mane, except she had white streaks in her slightly unkempt mane. Her eyes were the color of the finest gold, and she had a soft look on her face, as if she was the most innocent being on earth. I was lost for words when I saw her.

“Hi! Is this the ballroom?” she asked ecstatically.

“Uhh, yeah. Right this way, madam,” I said, gesturing towards the door.

She walked in, nodding thankfully to me, and I sat outside again, not knowing what to do. For that brief moment, when we made eye-contact, I felt woozy, dizzy; like I was enchanted. I just sat down, looking at the blank wall, trying to decide what to do with the passing time. Suddenly, a figure emerged from one of the walls, a blackish shadow slowly following him.
“Hello, Shadow. Remember me?” asked the figure, and I looked up.

It was The Creator, smiling down upon me. I stood up quickly, jumping to attention.

“Relax, soldier. I’m not in the position of authority anymore, remember? Anyways, have you tried using magic yet?” He asked, and I shook my head.

“Can’t seem to find out how. I haven’t a clue of how Unicorns do it.” I said, and The Creator chuckled.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you a little crash course. Come with me,” He said, touching me on the head.

I felt like I was being torn from my body, as if I was flying through my brain. I closed my eyes for what felt like a millisecond, and then I was in a field. Gunshots rang out, and explosions sounded in the distance. The Creator was right beside me, and he was smiling.

"Welcome to the fields of Stalliongrad. As you may have known, the Equine army has pushed through the border, and is now attacking the Equestrian homeland. So here is your chance to help the Equestrian army, by using some of your magic.”
I noticed a grassy hill in front of me, and the sounds of war were coming from over the hill. I slowly walked up the hill, when I finally crested the grassy knoll.

The carnage below was terrible. Blood covered the ground, and bodies were the most prominent thing on the field, even from the distance I was at. I could hear the screams of the dying, and flames engulfed both sides. It seemed Equine was winning, due to a duo of large figures at their front lines. I tried to look closer, and The Creator walked up next to me.

“Terrible, isn’t it? What steam has done to our kind? Had we not had steam, we wouldn’t have those two Steam-Boys out there, tearing up the Equestrian National Army,” Said The Creator, putting a hoof on my shoulder.

“Why can’t we destroy it? It’s just metal.”

“Because those things are enchanted. They’re the Equal to a tank.”

"Me?"

"NO! The Fluffy Pink Pony who seems to be humping your forleg!" shouted the Creator.

I looked down to see a small, pink pony raping my leg. I couldn't feel a thing, seeing as how my Trench coat was in the way. I picked it up, and threw it down the hill, wiping its bodily fluids off my coat. The Creator watched it roll down the hill at a whopping two miles per hour, and then stop at the bottom. It lay still, obviously dead.

"You were abused as a child, weren't you?" asked the Creator, and I scoffed.

"I grew up in Equine, you're weird if you weren't abused there. Especially if you were in the orphanage like me."
The Creator nodded, and then looked at the battle.

"Okay, I want you to focus hard at the lead battalion of soldiers." He said, and I looked at it.

I stared hard at the group, until my vision became blueish on the outline.

"Now blink."

I blinked, and I felt like I had teleported. I opened my eyes, and looked around. I was surrounded by wide eyed Equine soldiers, and I instinctively drew my sword.

"Use the cannon fodder!" shouted the officer.

Suddenly, I heard hundreds of tiny screams. The battalion split apart, the sharpshooters aiming their muskets at me, and the footponies drawing their swords. A massive swarm of multicolored ponies scuttled towards me, screaming in baby language, and I drooped.

"You guys use Griffon pets as cannon fodder. How lovely."

I took fighting stance, and braced for battle.

The small, fluffy, excuses for ponies swarmed me, hugging me with all their might. To say that I was confused would be an understatement. The only thing that I could think of is how many tiny furry dicks were being pressed up against my legs. I guess that was what the Equine footsoldiers wanted, because they charged at me, their swords aiming for my torso.
I reacted immediately, slicing through the waves of fur, giving me a straight shot out of the hordes of warm and fuzzys. I rolled out of the way, and the fluffy ponies then started to hug their “Daddehs” and started apologizing about how they failed to hug me to death. I started to laugh, when a sharpshooter came up to me, his bayonet heading straight for me throat. I grabbed it, and looked him straight in the eye, my personality changing from light hearted, to dead serious.

“No.” I simply stated, before running him through with my blade.

I grabbed his rifle, and aimed it at the officer, who was desperately trying to get away from the small, fluffy ponies. I fired a single shot, and he was flung to the ground, obviously killed on impact, crushing a few fluffies in the progress. I then used the spent rifle as a spear, using the bayonet to run through any fluffies or soldiers who got close to me, but it was a losing battle. The fluffies were incapacitating me by hugging me and rubbing their tiny little genitals on my coat, and the Steam-Boy was slowly lumbering over to me, his chainsaw slowly spurring to life.

“Shit!” I shouted, as bullets whizzed over my head.

The rounds from the Equestrian army tore through the air, cutting down Equinian forces. I brushed off the last of the fluffies, but it was too late. One of the Steam-Boys was aiming a massive blunderbuss at me, and was slowly pulling the trigger.
Suddenly, time stopped, and The Creator waltzed out of the smoke and haze, smiling.

“Well, I guess I better tell you the second part of your magic training. While you’ll never be able to stop time, you can control elements of time. Here, raise your hoof.”

I raised my hoof up, and another brand appeared on my hoof. It glowed a light blue, and suddenly time resumed. I felt a weird sensation of power in my left hoof, and suddenly the blunderbuss exploded.

The Cannonball flew at me, stopping mere inches in front of me. My hoof was keeping it at bay, as it floated in front of me. I then pushed it forward, propelling it at the Steam-Boy. It tore through the large metal soldier’s head, producing a spray of blood. Another blunderbuss shot was fired at me from the other Steam-Boy, and I deflected it as well, this time tearing the massive suit of armor in half. I turned to see the Equine army running away from the field, obviously demoralized that a masked soldier had just come in and completely ass raped their forward battalion. The fluffies were still scrambling around, trying to find their “Daddehs”. A couple were crying into the dead bodies of the dead or dying sharpshooters, covered in blood and shitting and pissing themselves sensless. Suddenly, the Equestrian army came charging over the hills, and I quickly pick up a smaller fluffy.

I look around, wondering when I’m going to be teleported back, and suddenly, I feel myself being pulled away from reality again. I become detached, and I fell into blackness again.

I woke up surrounded by beautiful looking mares, dressed in lingerie. They were looking at me with hunger in their eyes, and a couple of them were licking their lips.

“Well look at you, big boy. How you got in here, I don’t know, but I could give you a good time, if you wanted,” Said one of the ponies.

“I bet he’s got a big one.”

“Mmm, sugar, I want a taste of you…”

I withdrew in horror, as the mares slowly enclosed on me, and the fluffy in my arms gasped.

“Daddeh gun have speciaw huggehs!” It shouted, and I just looked at it.

It couldn’t have seen it, due to my mask hiding my face, but I was on the verge of slapping that thing on the head. I can’t even remember why I brought that thing with me.

I focused hard on the window beyond me, and my vision went blue. Suddenly, I was thrown at the window, smashing through the thin glass, and then landing on the concrete below. I looked up, and I realized I was in the steam pits. The industrial area of Canterlot, this was crime central. A guy with a fluffy pony and nice clothes, not to mention my sabre, was probably going to have a bad time here. I wasn’t going to stick around long enough to see all the downtown whores, or the mercenaries, because I was getting the hell out of there, now.

I looked upwards, noticing a small shaft from the Canterlot I knew and loved, and I focused once more. I was then propelled up from the shaft, and I landed on the nice paved streets of uptown Canterlot. I ran back to the castle.

A Helping Hand

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“So, you brought us this fluffy pony out of goodwill? This is unbeknownst to thee.” Said Luna, as I handed her the light blue creature.

“Just thought you might want it. Judging from my experience with them, I suggest you keep it below speeds of 2 miles per hour, make sure it eats a whole lot, and if it’s a guy, keep it away from mares.”

Luna smiled at me, and I returned it from behind the mask, before returning back to the ballroom. From the inside, I heard the sounds of grunts, and annoyed sighs.

“We’ll never get this thing up. I told you Lyra wasn’t fit for this job!”

“Hey, she’s helped us a whole lot. Don’t jump to conclusions just yet, Lavender. I know you replaced Felix, since he pulled his groin, but don’t think you can talk back to your elder!”

“Shut the hell up, Dusty! Pillows, give me a hand!”

“Screw you.”

I walked in, and all the ponies in the room looked at me. They were trying to lift a large part of the massive stage which the musicians were supposed to play upon. I just scoffed, and Pillows rolled his eyes.

“Finally, somepony with a strong back comes.” Stated Pillows.

“Oh, look at this guy. Dressed up with his stupid fucking mask. I bet he can’t even use that sword,” Said the one who sounded like Lavender.

He was a purple Pegasus, with bright orange eyes and a lighter purple mane and tail. He had an unbeknownst cutie mark, and he had a challenge in his eyes. I just scoffed, looking at the stage.

“You’re gonna need more than a couple strong backs. I’m no interior designer, but I suggest you get a couple of unicorns of substantial magic skill,” I said, and one of the older designers shrugged.

“Lyra’s tried, but that’s not the problem. The action which lifts up the stage is jammed, and we can’t seem to get it unjammed,” Said the elder, and I looked up at it.

“I’ll take a look,” I said, focusing upon the rafter where the action to lift up the stage was.

Then there it was again. A piercing pain in my chest. Perhaps the affection from my daughter was finally rubbing off. But why? I had just killed well over 10 ponies, so I shouldn’t be too exhausted of bad morality. I teleported up to the rafter, and held my chest in pain. The ponies below were staring at me in awe, but I didn’t care. I looked at the small action, and sure enough, it had been jammed. I quickly slapped it a couple times with the sheathe of my blade, and jumped back down.

“I don’t know how to fix it,” I said, and Lavender whinnied angrily.

“Is anypony in this castle good at doing anything?!” He shouted angrily.

I have to admit, I was getting pretty annoyed. Like how a schoolcolt gets annoyed when another school colt teases him or overreacts, and then the schoolcolt comes back with a “your mom” joke.

“Well, I know one thing I’m good at doing,” I said, smiling behind my mask.

“What’s that? Being worthless?”

“No, your mom.”

I heard pillows hold in a laugh, the old stallions start to snort with amusement, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lyra smirk. I guess it wasn’t out of the corner of my eye, because I never saw Lavender’s punch come out of the blue.
I hit the ground, blood spraying out of my lips. I stood up, to only be hit in the chest with a hammer. I fell to the ground, the breathe knocked out of me.

“What did you say about my mom, you fucking son of a whore?!” Shouted Lavender, bringing the hammer down upon the back of my head.

I felt my skin break, and my mask come sliding off.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” shouted Lavender, repeatedly punching me in the face.

Blood was now seemingly pooling around my head, as everyone was running for the guards now. Lavender let up for a moment, as blood dripped down my face.

“Daddy?”

I turned my blurry vision to the door way, where I saw my daughter. Her eyes were wide with horror and rage, as she looked me over. I opened my mouth, but got a hoof to the throat for my troubles. Lavender then dropped the hammer, and turned his vision to Daring.

“Well, well, well. Your daughter, huh? I guess I’ll rough her up a bit as well,” Said Lavender, walking over to her.

Suddenly, Daring spread her wings, and jumped into the air, delivering a swift kick to Lavender’s face. She floated over him, as blood poured out of his broken snout, and she ran over to me, nudging me.

“Get up, Daddy. You hafta get up! The bad man’s gonna hurt us!” She said, frantically, trying to get me up.
Suddenly, a pair of hooves picked up Daring, and I looked up. Daring was looking Lavender straight in the eyes, and Lavender had a sadistic smile plastered upon his face.

He pulled out a box cutter, showing the blade, and he slowly brought it to Daring’s snout.

“My turn, you br-.” He started, when I delivered a swift blow to his face.

“Don’t touch my daughter, you fucker!” I shouted, as I grabbed him by the throat.

I delivered a volley of punches to him, before I slammed a K.O. blow to his jaw, putting him to sleep like I had slapped a fly out of the air. I grabbed my mask, and quickly put it on, as well as picking up my daughter. She hugged me tightly, as I stroked her mane, comforting her. My wounds were slowly healing up, and the blood on my clothes and fur was slowly absorbed into my skin. The guards barged in, and I pointed towards Lavender. The guards picked him up, and I kept on stroking Daring’s mane.

“Are you okay, darling?” I asked, and Daring nuzzled me.

“No…” She said, sniffling.

Well, at least she’s truthful.

I pull of my mask, and I kiss her affectionately on the head, showing that she’s safe now. She drops down, smiling at me.

“Guess what I learned to do today, Daddy?” She asked, hopping in circles around me. Her speech had become much more articulate, due to a month of spending time in Canterlot, where everypony spoke perfectly.

“What did you do, sweetheart?” I asked intently.

She suddenly jumped into the air, her wings flapping wildly.

“I can fly Daddy! Look, look!” she said, making circles around me.

I smiled, watching her fly around the room. She suddenly bumped into a small lever, causing the stage to rise almost immediately. She flew back down, panting wildly. Her small wings could only carry her so far, but she was doing well for her age. As an earthpony, I couldn’t teach her to fly, unless I got metal wing implants, which were next to worthless.

“Wow honey! That was impressive. I’ll tell you what, after Daddy is done with work, we can go and get some of your favorite ice-cream, okay?” I said, and she smiled, and nodded wildly.

“Can I go see Princess Woona?” she asked. That was her pet name for Luna. Luna loved it, and seeing how she spent a large amount of time with Daring, she was like a mother.

“Sure sweetheart, go on ahead,” I said, and Daring ran off, her book-bag bouncing off her back.

Lyra and the other three old stallions entered the room again, staring at me in awe. They had obviously not foreseen the regeneration powers that the mask held. I gestured at the stage.

“It’s up.”

Lyra just walked up to me, and circled around me.

“Teleportation, regeneration, whats next?” She asked, looking at me mask.

“I really have no idea, Ms. Heartstrings.” I said, and she sighed.

“Just call me Lyra. I always knew that Lavender was a bad apple,” she said, looking at the three stallions.
“Well, I suppose we could get started again,” Said one of the stallions, who then looked at me. “You don’t suppose you could help us, do you?”

I tapped my chin for a second, and nodded. “I don’t have anything to do today, so sure.”

Needless to say, we got a lot done. Stage set up, amplifiers brought in, tables and chairs set up, decorations, invitations, food lists. I only did some heavy lifting, seeing as how I’m not an interior designer. It was 6 o’clock PM by the time we finished, and I was exhausted, as well as the designers were. We all picked up, and started to walk out of the ballroom doors, when Lyra stopped.

“Hey, thank you for the help. We would have been here another day or two if it wasn’t for you.” Said Lyra, holding out her hoof.

I held my own hoof out, shaking hers.

“Any time, Ms. Heartstrings,” I said, and she smiled.

“If you insist on calling me that, it’s Mrs. Heartstrings to you- well, not for long, at least.” She said, and I pulled off my mask.

“You’re married?” I asked, and she nodded.

“To a pony named Octave Hearts. I’m getting a divorce, though,”

I raised an eyebrow, and she shook her head.

“He just doesn’t care about me. He abuses me, takes my earnings, expects me to be with him 100% of the time, and doesn’t even acknowledge my problems.

“He sounds like an asshole. You want to talk about it?”

The only reason I even offered to do such a thing was because she was a beautiful young mare, I was a young (not handsome, seeing as how I was missing an eye) stallion. She was getting divorced, and I was single. I have to admit, I had a small crush on her, and now was a perfect time to get to know her.

“No, no, its okay. I don’t think you want to waste any of your time on me,” She said, giving me a half-hearted smile.

“It’s okay. I’m heading to an ice-cream shop with my daughter anyways; It wouldn’t be a problem if you tagged along.”

Lyra moved her mouth to the side of her face, obviously thinking about it. On the outside, I was calm and collected. But on the inside, I was like a school colt asking his crush out on a date. Well, that’s kinda what I was doing.

“Sure! How old is your daughter?”

“Five, I think.”

“Five? How old are you?”

“25.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow, giving me a slight smirk.

“Busy guy, are you?”

I just laughed, smiling at her acceptance.

“It’s a long story, I guess,”

We walked out of the ballroom, heading towards the princesses quarters.

“Wow… That’s crazy. Your daughter, who happens to be THE Daring Do, was created by a curse, which drains you of your life forces every time you feel love for her… I have to say, that’s pretty unusual.”

Lyra was sitting across from me, licking a mint-chocolate chip ice cream cone, and I had just told her my life story from the past month or so. Daring was sitting behind me, styling my mane into many different styles. I had left my overcoat at home, so I was left with just my eye patch. I didn’t feel comfortable without clothes, as did many ponies in Canterlot, but it was too much of a hassle to get dressed up for ice cream.

“Well, where I’m from, anything can happen,” I said, and Lyra smiled.

“Where are you from, exactly?” She asked, taking another lick of her ice cream.

“Originally grew up on the streets of Crimea, the capital of Equine. I was orphaned there, grew up in an orphanage that beat us just as often as they fed us. I got out of there at the age of 15, using only my hoofs and a bobby pin. Went with the caravans until I was eighteen, then I served my mandatory four in the guard. After that, I joined explorer school, and worked with them until about a month ago,” I said, and Lyra raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t feel any loyalty towards your country?” asked Lyra, and I shook my head.

“No. Not after what I’ve seen them do. I presume you’ve heard of the pits, have you not?”

“Yes, I have. Why?”

“They work children to death in the Pits of Crimea. I’ve seen the guards shoot them once their worthless, and then throw their bodies into the steam pots. No wonder the air is so polluted there,” I said, taking a lick of my own vanilla ice cream.

“Daddy, why are the people in Equine so mean to their children?” asked Daring, and I sighed.

“I’ll never know, sweetheart,” I said, and she just nodded.

“Maybe I’ll find out one day!” She said estatcially.

“I bet you will. You’ve already mastered basic map making. I won’t be surprised if you help colonize some unknown land,” I said, rubbing her mane.

She puffed out her cheeks, nuzzling me, and I just laughed. I looked at the clock in the shop, and my eyes widened in surprise.

“Okay, we have to go home, Daring. It’s almost time for bed,” I said, lifting her up.

Lyra finished her cone, and we walked out of the shop. The castle had its own Ice cream parlor, so we didn’t have to walk far back to my flat. Even though it was barely 4 minutes to the house, Daring fell asleep on my back, and I had to be careful putting her into bed. Needless to say, I wasn’t one for stealth, so I failed miserably, ending with me reading a bedtime story to her. She fell asleep midway through, so I left Daring in her bed, and I walked out of her room, closing the door carefully.

“You’re a good parent,”

I turned, and Lyra was sitting on the couch. I shrugged, and she stood up.

“I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for children,” I said, walking over to the couch.

“Well, I respect you for that. I guess I should be getting home now,” Lyra said, standing up.

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you at the Gala, then. You are coming, right?” I asked, and she nodded happily.

“Of course I’ll be there!” She said, opening the door.

“Oh, and, if you need any help with dealing with your husband, just tell me. I’m sure I can pull a couple strings to help your cause,” I said, and Lyra smiled.

“Thank you, Steam. I’ll see you later,” She said, walking out.

The door slammed shut, and I sat down on the couch. I ran my hoof across my face, sighing with relief. I pulled off my eye patch, and walked up to the mirror, looking at the sealed up hole that had replaced my eye. I hopped onto the couch, and within seconds I had fallen asleep.

End Of Act One...

Act 2: Prologue

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“Perhaps the hate for your friend isn’t so unjust, is it, Pillows? I mean, he did nearly kill the poor boy,” Said the Stallion, sharpening his small exacto blade.

He was tall and lavender colored. His mane was a purple hue, and his eyes were matching. His accent was thick, sounding as if he had his cheek torn out. His left eye was swollen, and the matching side was cut and bruised.

Pillows struggled against the tight binds of the chair, but with each forceful push, the ropes got tighter. The large stallion just scoffed at Pillows attempt at trying to get out, and walked over to him.

“You better hope that White Steam brings his head on a silver platter soon, or there won’t be much left of you to save…” Said the Stallion.

Suddenly, the door burst in, and Shadow stood there, his guardian blade in one hoof, a double barrel pistol in the other. His eye was full of rage behind his mask, and he lifted the pistol, delivering both shots to the captor’s head. The captor flew back, blood splattering all over the wall.

“Well, that is that…” Shadow said, dropping the pistol.

1 Day Earlier...

I sat at the table, Daring Do sleeping beside me. I was cleaning my equipment, and she wanted to help me. As always, I handed her the pocket watch, which she polished until she fell asleep. It was only six days until the Gala, and Daring wanted a date desperately, even though she was only 5. Many of the colts in her class had massive crushes on her, due to her uncanny mimicry of Daring Do, since she was the pony herself. Now, it was all I could do to keep her from stealing kisses from boys as favors. None of the other parents liked me either, due to my looks. I was usually just off duty when I would pick her up, so I never had my mask on, revealing my empty eye socket, and the screwed up main I always had. Along with that, I openly wore my weapons. Kids would always want to play with them. Along with my appearance, it was my age. They thought I had knocked up some poor filly at a young age, and now I had the daughter in custody.
I was a good father, regardless. I loved Daring, and she loved me. That’s really all that mattered to me. We had good friends, such as Luna, Pillows, Octavia, Shining Armor, and Lyra. Everything was perfect.
Until that night.

I had just finished cleaning my equipment, when the doorbell rang to my flat. Daring slightly woke up, but I quickly soothed her back to sleep. I then got up, and opened the door. Outside was Octavia, and two guards. They all looked grim, and I cocked my head.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, and the guards looked at Octavia, their rifles shimmering silver in the white light of the hall.

“Pillows. He… he was taken. I don’t know by who, I just know that they want you as well,” Said Octavia, and I narrowed my eyes.

“What? How?” I asked, and Octavia shook her head.

“I just came from his apartment in downtown. It was ransacked, and all that was left was a note. Really old paper, like one of the older guilds in the city,” She just said.

“Her majesty has put you on leave for the time being, Shadow. She doesn’t want you getting involved,” Said one of the guards.

“What, why?” I asked once more.

“Your life is in danger, and as the royal protector, you cannot put your life in harms way for reasons unrelated to the Princess’s safety. We’re sorry,” Said the guard. “but someone with equal skills is taking over the investigation. As soon as he finds the kidnapper, he’ll let you know. He’s got a certain set of skills that makes him suited for this. I told him to meet me here, though I don’t know why he hasn’t come.”

Royal tower, suite seven...

He was never a good looking unicorn. His mane unkempt. His goggles twisted sideways just enough for the commoner to notice. His clothes messy with blood. Ah, but that is the life of the Royal Weapon maker/Torturer. Only a few knew his real name, but those who didn’t knew him as “Sinner”, for he had probably sinned more than anypony on the planet. 503 tortures, 503 executions, and 503 successful data withdrawals. He was also trained in the art of Khengxi Dagger fighting, a martial art made from the tamed dragons of the far east. Altogether, he had killed about 859 ponies, griffons, dragons, monsters, and more. Yet, he was feeling regret about this certain mission. Sure, it should be an easy one. Find a kidnapper, interrogate him, execute him, report to the royal protector, and then let the bodyguard finish the job. He should have it done by tomorrow evening. But he knew this wasn’t any type of ordinary kidnapping. The criminals wanted the bodyguard to come after them, so they could kill him. So in the end, it most likely be Sinner to take the fall.

“Screw it, it’s just a job,” He muttered, tying the ribbon into his mane.

He put on his hat, straightened his goggles, lifted his scarf, and walked into the warm night of Canterlot. He had denied his meeting with both the bodyguard and the spouse of the victim purely because of the fact that stallions who did work that were too much alike never got along. Soon, someday, perhaps Sinner would have his time facing off with a stallion equal to his ability to fight, and he would finally fall. But at this time, he needed to focus on getting the important shit done. And he knew exactly where to start.

By morning, Sinner had made it to the Black House inn in the pit. Not a very nice place, known for the whores, booze, and crime. Many of the cities more notorious Mercs hung around, due to the cheap whiskey and flank. Sinner did not have a good reputation there, either, for the last time he had visited, he ended up killing most of the patrons and decapitating an easy mare. While the say that alcohol loosens the lips, it usually unsheathes the blade, or in Sinner’s case, his built in bionic claws. He stood outside a moment, taking in the sweet breeze that rarely showed its face in the industrial underground of Canterlot. He pushed the door in, unsheathing his claws.

“Shite! It’s a royal worker!” shouted one of the younger Mercs.

“Is that a problem, child?” Sinner asked, as he waltzed over to the bar.

One of the more experienced Mercs covered the younger Merc’s mouth. Bingo.

“You gentlemen wouldn’t know anything about a missing Janitor, would you?” Asked Sinner, sitting at the bar, ordering some cider.

The younger Merc shifted slightly, and the older one nudged him. “Can’t say we do, mate.”

“Shame. There’s a large award for any information or his return. Celestia might even knight whover gives some information. But its gallows for anyone involved in the plot who doesn’t work with her,” Said Sinner, putting a golden piece on the table as the cider was slid over to him.

A young mare walked over to Sinner, and brushed up against his leg on the stool.

“You wanna play, big boy? You like you could last a good long time in the saddle,” Said the mare, and Sinner politely shook his head.

“No thank you madam,” He said, taking a sip of his Cider.

“You’re missin’ out, but okay,” Said the mare, walking off.

Using that moment to arm himself, Sinner pried back both hammers on his flintlocks, and then charged his Electro pistol. The Mercs looked back at Sinner, and the younger one looked side to side.

“Don’t crack!” whispered the older one urgently, and Sinner just smiled.

“Too late.”

Sinner pulled out both flintlocks, shooting the older one in the head, and a different Merc across the room. He then deliver a kick to the younger ones head, knocking him out cold. The rest of the Mercs went to arms, pulling out their muskets. Again, it was too late. The Electro Pistol, or the “Zapper” was a powerful weapons that took the electricity from the air, and harnessed it so that it could paralyze or turn you to a crisp. Made by sinner himself. He sprayed rounds at the remaining Mercs, and then shot the bartender. He then grabbed the young Merc, and walked out of the bar, leaving it in a pile of bodies and blood.

Canterlot throne Room, 11:32 AM…

I sat there, watching the steam screen as it showed the gory details of the battle. Equine soldiers were pushing into Stalliongrad, tearing the city apart. Blood bathed the streets, but our soldiers were holding their own. We were looking through the eyes of one of the more accomplished soldiers of the special operations unit. His name was Captain Fire Walker, a native from the mild west. He looked like a barrel chested red stallion, with a fiery red mane, and a knack for fighting hand to hand. Even Octavia was there, seeing as how she awaited the word of Pillows return. But all we could do, along with the senior officers of Celestia’s council, was watch as our soldiers fought to keep the jewel of the eastern border of Equestria safe.

Stalliongrad, 11:32 A.M…

Fire Walker jammed his machete into the young soldiers neck, twisting his blade. His eyes focused in on the blood spurting out of the now-dead colts throat, and he sighed.

“Shame to waste their youth like this,” He said, his voice going through his gear mic attached to his wrist.

“We know, Walker. Continue with the mission, and you’ll be back at Canterlot in no time,” Said Colonel Philamonica.

“Aye, sir. Right away,” Said Fire, taking his musket from his back.

The city was in flames, and warships flew above the sky, dropping bombs. It was a hopeless battle, and Ponyville would be next if they didn’t destroy the gunships soon.

Walker turned around, and motioned for the soldiers to move forward. One stopped in front of him, laying down a map.

“Sir, we have confirmation of the gun battery still online. It’s getting hammered though, and all soldiers have abandoned the base. Its under control by Equine Zealots, sir,” Said the soldier, and Walker nodded.

“Take the marksmen up to hill 52, and arm the portable cannon. We have to take down those warships before they pass out of range. I want you to hit them with all you got, until they’re all dead, understand?” asked Walker, and the soldier nodded, running off.

He turned to the rest of the special operations group, and followed them, musket in hand. He ran through the destroyed buildings of burning Stalliongrad, covered in ash and blood from the bombings of earlier in the week. The ran past the town square, and found Equestrian Regulars fighting Equine Zealots, blood flying through the air. One of the special operations soldiers aimed at the town square, but Walked pushed his gun downwards.

“It’s too late for them. We have to continue to the gun battery,” He said promptly, and the soldier nodded.

The special operations soldiers didn’t look like average soldiers. Their blue fatigues were replaced by pure black, and most of them wore balaclavas or ski masks, along with goggles to cover their eyes. Their weapons were top of the line, such as autoloading muskets, that shot highly charged air charges instead of bullets, but producing the same effect. Many soldiers brought along portable cannons, or steam throwers, weapons that could melt others with superhot steam, so hot that they used it to destroy buildings. They looked extremely menacing moving through the shadows of the buildings, until they reached the gun battery.

The dual 70mm was state of the art explosive tech. 20 round clips were loaded into each gun, and they could be used for anti-armor, anti-air, or anti-personnel purposes. It seemed that the Equine Zealots were trained to use it, because they kept on shooting troop transports out of the air like pros. They were in a small plaza inbetween two buildings, which were small enough to let the guns shoot down aircraft.

“Sir, there’s a lot of them. How are we going to do this?” asked one of the soldiers.

Walker sighed. “First, the marksmen are going to bombard them with the portable cannon. Afterwards, we’re going to charge them. By then, there won’t be many left, and we’ll overtake them easily. Understand?” He asked, and the soldier nodded.

Suddenly, a cannon round struck the ground near the battery, causing a huge plume of flame to fly up in the air. More cannon rounds followed, causing flames to emerge, and cracks of lava to form in the ground. The Special operations soldiers charged, firing their muskets. The Zealots turned around, many of them having 3rd degree burns. They pulled their sabers, and charged at the special operations soldiers.

“Line!” Shouted Walker, and all the soldiers immediately formed into a line.

“Aim!”

“Fire!” shouted Walker, and musket rounds tore through the Zealots, leaving few standing.

The two sides clashed, blades hitting muskets. Blood splashed from both sides, and many fell. Walker ran to the gun battery, and reloaded the magazines. He then jumped onto the dual 70s, and started to slam out explosive rounds at the warships. Within seconds, the warships fell out of the sky in a flaming heap, and the sounds of cheers filled the city. The Zealots had been defeated, and Stalliongrad was safe from the bombardment of Warships, for now.

“Walker! You were too late! One of the ships slipped by!” Shouted the Colonel over the mic.

“What? How?” Asked Walker.

“We don’t know, but our air units will take over taking it down. You need to report back here as soon as possible,” Said the Colonel.

“Copy, I’ll be home as soon as possible,” Said Walker, reloading his musket.

Throne Room, 11:45 A.M…

I sat there, the link shutting down. All the leaders nodded in agreement, standing up. I sighed, standing up myself, when a figure busted into the room, covered in blood.

His clothing slightly resembled mine, in a way that looked more menacing. He was a unicorn, with a hood, goggles, and a scarf. He had a mane of deep black, and his coat was a contrasting red. He wore what looked like claw implants, and was carrying around flintlocks and daggers. He walked straight up to me, and pulled off his goggles, revealing milky white eyes.

“Ello lad. Name’s Sinner. I think I got your man,” He said, holding out his hoof, metal claws elongating.

“I’m Shadow. You the guy Celestia hired?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Got a wee lad about the age of 19 down in the interrogation room, caught him conspirin’ with a merc who looked up to no good. As soon as I said a word about Pillows, he cracked. Pretty sure he’s got somethin’ to do with the kidnapping.” He said, and I shook his hoof.

“Well, we better get down there then, shouldn’t we?” I asked.

Interrigation Room, 12:22.

It was a pure white room, sparkling clean. Almost too clean. There was a metal table and two chairs in the room, and a single one way mirror. I was on the other side of the mirror, watching Sinner and his subject. Sinner was going over the regular questions, in which the young merc would not answer. It was quite obvious that Sinner had dealt with such occasions.

“Where is Pillows?”

“Go to hell, you damn royal!”

“Ah, bravery for a lad who just watched all his mates killed by one sickly old stallion. How about I bring in my coworker before I bring out the tools?”

“I won’t crack, you pig!”

“Come on in, Shadow.”

I walked in, letting Sinner out behind me. I simply sat in the chair across from the hoofcuffed colt, and sighed.

“Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?” I simply asked, placing my saber on the table.

“Screw you!” Shouted the colt, and I smiled.

“Hard way it is, then… I’m going to tell you a little story, okay?” I said, pulling off my eyepatch, revealing my eye socket.

“Fine, whatever,” He said.

“I grew up on the streets of Equine. The capital city Aftlan back then was much more forgiving. Orphans weren’t executed just because soldiers had surplus ammo. I was a merc just like you, except I wasn’t a pussy. I didn’t crack, I didn’t cry, and I didn’t have to act like a tough guy when I got caught. But, I’m beyond that. I work for her majesty, but that’s because I got co-operated. Do you know what happens when you don’t co-operate?” I asked, and the colt shook his head.

I silently pushed forward a couple photos I had gotten earlier from the intelligence team in Aftlan had sent us. It was just of Equestrian citizens being executed, except I was using it as bluff.

“We kill them, in front of everypony, just to make an example of you. Now, do you want to deal with that?” I asked, and the colt just scoffed.

“I doubt it,” He said, and I delivered a punch to his face, splattering blood across the room.

“Shut up. I didn’t give you permission to speak,” I said, and the colt scoffed again.

“Am I getting you mad?” He asked, and I grabbed the metal chair out from under him, and slammed it on top of his head.

Sinner walked in, putting his clawed hoof on my shoulder. I dropped the chair on the colt, and I spat on him. I walked out, going behind the mirror, when I realized I wasn’t alone. There stood Captain Fire Walker, complete with his special operations badge and equipment.

“Afternoon, sir. You must be Shadow. I was told to report here after I got back to the castle,” Said Walker, and I held out my hoof.

“No one here has a rank, so no need to call me sir. Welcome to the interrogation room,” I said, as he shook my hoof.

“Thanks. What’s this kid’s story?” He asked, and I turned towards the interrogation room, where Sinner was placing down a box of tools.

“Last night, a dear friend of mine and a castle employee was kidnapped. This kid may know something about it,” I said, and Walker raised an eyebrow.

“I see. So, I’m part of a hostage rescue now?” He asked, and I shrugged.

“Only if you want to be. I can give you leave if you want, so you don’t have to participate,” I said, and Walker shook his head.

“Just a question. So, is this like, our interrogator? He seems good at what he does,” Said Walker, as Sinner levitated a syringe up to his eye.

“Well, his reports on the table. Or, you could watch him. Either way, you’re going to learn something,” I said, my eyes fixated on the syringe, which was being filled with what looked like a poison.

“You leave me no choice, child. Prepare to enter a threshold of pain you have never entered,” Said Sinner, jamming the syringe into the colt’s foreleg.

The colt’s eyes dilated, and he started to sweat on the spot. Walker stood next to me, watching as the colt started to spasm.

“Now, tell me where Pillows is.”

“It hurts! Kill me!”

“Not until you tell me where Pillows is.”

“Go to hell!”

Sinner took out an exacto knife, and stabbed it into the colts foreleg, slowly cutting through bone and muscle. The colt started to spasm more, as blood spilled onto the floor. He started to gurgle in pain, and foam appeared at the side of his mouth. Finally, Sinner slammed the knife so that it tore through the bone and muscle, and jammed into the table. I saw tears appear in the colt’s eyes, as he started to scream in agony.

“How about now?!”

“Kill me!”

“Tell me where he is!”

“Kill me!!!!”

Sinner lengthened his claws, and tore them down the side of the colt’s face, leaving scratch marks. He then grabbed a wet towel, an placed it over his face. Blood trickled down his face, and Sinner grabbed a gallon of water, and started pouring it over the colt’s face. I could hear the colt gagging, and finally, he started to scream again. Sinner tore off the towel, and then looked the teen straight in the eye.

“Now, tell me, where is Pillows?”

“Go…to hell…”

“You’re rather fond of that phrase, aren’t you?”

Sinner finally pulled out a hammer and nails, and put them over each of the mercs hoofs.

*BAM*

The screams of the merc were blood curdling. After all 4 hoofs were pinned to their respected holders, the colt finally cracked.

“He’s at the Cherry Bomb Factory! Lavender took him!” He screamed, and I growled.

“Lavender. I knew the guy was psychotic, but I didn’t think he would go this far,” I said, and Walker lifted a brow.

“You know the guy?”

“Yeah, I got into a scuffle with him a couple days ago,” I said, and Walker nodded.

Suddenly, Sinner pulled out a wooden ball head club, and slammed it into the back of the kids head, and blood sprayed all over the room. He kept slamming It down on the kids head, until all that was left was a massive bloodbath all over the table. Sinner dropped the club, and walked into the mirror room.

“Cherry bomb factory, 5th and Solar. Abandoned for ages. We can either launch an assault with only us, and what forces we can gather, or we can wait a while til Celestia gives us some troops. Your call," Said Sinner, his claws slowly sheathing an unsheathing.

I looked at Walker, and then at Sinner. I sighed, thinking about my choice.

*Viewer Choice Time!: Launch Assault now, with a higher risk rate but faster response time, or launch the assault with more troops, with a lower risk level, but slower response time! Leave a Comment, and the new chapter will be up Saturday!*

Act 2: Made To Kill

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“We attack now. Gather as many soldiers as you can, we attack now,” I said, and Sinner nodded, but Walker objected.

“We risk defeat with only a few soldiers, and with only a few, many may die,” Said Walker, and I sighed.

“We will not fail, Walker. We are trained, and a few mercs will not be a problem. I doubt any of us will fall to the blade of some sword-for-hire. Gather your forces, and meet at the factory tonight, 6:00,” I said, and the 2 of them nodded.

“Understood,”

“Aye. I have a few friends who will be willin’ to help us on such short notice.

I nodded, and the two of them walked off.

Cherry Bomb Factory, The Pit, 6:05…

I sat there, completely alone. None of the allies I had called to arms with had accompanied me, as it was on too much of a short notice. On the horizon I saw a few Equestrian soldiers, and they were being followed by Sinner and his soldiers. They approached, and I took a head count.

“Ten of us. I think we have good odds,” I said, and Walker shook his head.

“I doubt it. I got my rookies, and Sinner was scrapping the bottom of the barrel. We’re the only good soldiers here,” Said Walker, and I nodded.

“Well, lets get to it. I want the men to go in through the back, and we’ll take the front,” I said, unsheathing my black blade.

The factory was covered in ash, and was rundown. Bullet holes were strewn across the sides of the building, and a few strip bar posters were pasted on the side of it. The front door was chained, so I had to improvise. I pulled out a flintlock pistol, and blew off the lock.

“Well, that won’t alert them,” Said Sinner, and I sighed.

“It’s not like we’re trying to be stealthy,” Said Walker, his musket in hoof.

“Whatever,” Said Sinner, opening the door.

Bullets flew through the doorway, pinging off the concrete. I reloaded my flintlock, and then peered in, my vision getting blue on the outline. I blinked, and I teleported inside, appearing beside a merc. I swiftly cut through his throat, and grabbed his body, using it as a shield against the incoming bullets from the mercs. I then picked up the rifle from the dead merc, and shot out a chain connecting the rafter to the ceiling. They fell, when I realized that the ground was replaced by lava.
I took a better look of my surroundings. There was a slim pathway on the ground between pitfalls of lava, and most of the living space seemed to take place on the rafters, supported thoroughly by heavy chains.

“Guys, watch your step when you come in, it’s dangerous!” I shouted, and the two of them walked in.

“Thanks for dealing with them!” Shouted Walker, who started to make his way across the pitfall.

“Yeah, thanks much mate!” Shouted Sinner, who was following Walker.

I started to run across the rafters, jumping from metal pathway to metal pathway, until I reached the inner sanctum of the factory. There was a door with a window connecting, and I looked inside sanctum.

There was an elevator in the middle, large enough to have a small operations base. Surrounding it was what looked to be a large drug trade post. Everypony was gathering what they could as soon as possible, as they had heard the shots. The soldiers busted in, aiming muskets at the smugglers, and they shot immediately. A small war broke out, between mercs and soldiers. I kicked open the door, and my two allies did the same below me. Multiple mercs were firing from the top, and I ran towards them, my blade in hoof. I immediately came upon them, but they were quick. One turned around, and hit me out of the air, as I was about to stab one through the throat. I hit the ground, and they both jabbed at me. I jumped up, countering their move, and then I cut ones stomach open. His stomach fell through the tear and I turned to the other merc, shooting him through the head.

I then jumped down below, jamming my blade into a mercs back as I fell. The battle was almost over, as the soldiers had taken out most of the smugglers. Sure, there may have been only 4 left, but they at least had some training. Sinner walked up to me, smiling behind his goggles.

“Good job! I didn’t realize that we’d have this large of an advantage!” Said Sinner.

Suddenly, the soldiers dropped dead, blood pouring through their open chests, as if a cannon had hit them. At least 10 Equine mercs walked in, dropping blunderbusses on the ground, and pulling out their blades. Walker walked over to us, and he drew his machete.

“Let’s kick some ass,” He said, and I nodded.

We jumped at the Equine mercs, our blades gleaming with blood. I took on three at one time, parrying their attacks one at a time. One came down upon me with his saber, and I dodge out of the way, running him through with my blade. I grabbed his pistol, and I shot the one behind him, leaving only one to contend with. He was quick, but not smart. He jabbed at me, and I quickly pulled out my own reloaded pistol, and smiled.

“Surprise, Mothafucka!” I shouted, shooting him.

He fell backwards, the back of his head missing. I then turned to see Sinner holding his own against 5. His claws were pinging against sabers, and he seemed to rip out his enemies throats when he got the chance. I decided to leave him be.
I turned to Walker, and he was already finishing his final enemy, cutting his head clean off. Blood sprayed over him. He turned to me, and his eyes widened. I turned myself, and I say a merc, a gun at Sinner’s head. Blood was pouring out of an open wound on his forehead, and the merc was smiling. I pulled out my second flintlock, aiming at the merc.

“Your move, Royal!” Shouted the merc.

I then did something heartless.

I shot through Sinner, straight through his chest, and into the mercs chest. Sinner was instantly killed, but so was the merc. They fell down together, and I pulled down the gun, gritting my teeth. I felt super regenerated, and I noticed my fur become fuller. I felt a whole lot better, but I had just killed one of my friends. An ally. Demoralizing act.

“You killed him!” Shouted Walker, and I looked at him angrily.

“You don’t think I already know that!” I shouted, and Walker sighed.

“Well, sadly, he had it coming,” He said, and I walked over to Sinner’s body.

I pulled off his eyes, and closed his eyes, placing his hoofs on his chest. I had ran out of Ball, so I looked around for a new gun. A double barrel pistol was laying on a stall, and I grabbed it, checking it for ammunition. It was full, and I walked over to the elevator, kicking in the door.

There stood Lavender, a blade in his hoof, with Pillows tied to a chair. His face was bruised and bloody, and he was bleeding severely from his leg. I raised my gun, and shot Lavender through the head.

“Well, that is that.”

I ran over to Pillows, untying him. He smiled at me, doubling over.

“About fuckin’ time,” He said, coughing.

“You’re welcome, you ungrateful asshole,” I said, picking him up.

“Thanks…” He said, slightly in a trance.

I walked outside the elevator, and the whole place was stormed with Equestrian soldiers. They ran over to me, helping Pillows over to the medics. Among the soldiers was Shining Armor, kneeling over a dead soldiers body, he turned to me, his eyes filled with rage.

“Explain yourself!” He shouted, and I shrugged.

“Missions come with risk, Captain. They followed Walker into this mess, knowing they may not come out,” I said, and Shining Armor snarled.

“Usually, there is some survivors,” He said, and I narrowed my eyes.

“Are you challenging me?” I asked, and he sighed.

“No, I’m just upset. Celestia’s pissed shit, though. She wants to see you, now. We’ll handle Pillows, and the bodies,” He said, and I nodded.

Royal Castle, Throne Room, 8:03…

“Do you have any idea what you have done! You killed good soldiers, for a single Janitor! We could have waited!” Shouted Celestia, throwing a book at me.

It hit my shoulder, and I stared down. I knew Celestia would be angry, but not disappointed.

“I trusted you! We could have gathered forces, and attacked later! But you killed young stallions! While I’m angry, I’m more disappointed!” Shouted Celestia, sitting down, trying to regain her composure.

“I’m sorry it happened. My judgment was clouded. I wasn’t thinking…” I started, but Celestia waved her hoof at me.

“Do you know what Sinner was like to me? He was like a person who was always there for you, no matter what. And you killed him. You killed him, when we could have just waited a few more days, and adverted this whole mess!” She shouted angrily, and launched another book at me, this time landing in my chest.

“Note taken. It will not happen again,” I said, and she nodded, rubbing her forehead.

“Just… Just go. We shall not speak of this ever again. Just say that the mission was a success, even though there were heavy casualties. I… I’m just thoroughly disappointed,” Said Celestia, and I bowed, leaving the room.

I walked back to my flat, where Luna had already put Daring Do to bed. I walked in, angry with myself, and I opened up a keg of cold ale. I filled up a mug, and I sat down, drinking the whole thing within seconds. It was refreshing, so I decided to have another. Then another. Then another after that. All things in moderation, and moderation is the first to go. By the time I had been home 20 minutes, I was dead drunk, and the keg was empty. I grabbed any type of alcohol I could get my hoofs on, and passed out cold on the floor.

“Come on now, wake up…”

I opened my eyes, and saw Lyra over me, holding a cold rag to my head. Daring stared at me, her head cocked. Lyra smiled, at me, and sighed.

“When I came in, you were dead to the world,” She said, helping me up.

Weirdly enough, I didn’t have a hangover. I groggily walked over the mirror, and saw my eye was bloodshot. My fur was matted down on the side of my face, and my clothes were stained with alcohol. I looked at Lyra, and she sighed.
“If you’re wondering why you don’t have a hangover, its because you’re still drunk,” She said, and I sat on the floor, grabbing my head.

“Damn. Why are you here?” I asked, and Lyra smiled.

“I was in the area, and I decided to pay you a little visit. Only a couple days until the gala!” She said, and I smiled.
Lyra was dressed in a light golden gown that suited her eyes well. She had a flower in her hair, and was carrying a small case. Her mane was styled in such a way that she looked like she was going someplace special.

I walked over to the cabinet, and pulled out a small vial, with a syringe in it. I filled the syringe, and placed it over my eye, dropping a small drop of the pale orange liquid onto my pupil.

“Daddy, what is that?” Asked Daring, and I sighed.

“Something that will make sure Daddy doesn’t get sick because he drank too much last night,” I said, putting the vial away. Lyra smiled, looking around.

“I heard that the Bearers of Harmony are coming today. You should probably go and check with Celestia, see if she needs any help,” Said Lyra, and I scoffed.

“Is that why you came?”

“No, I’m supposed to be the gift bearer for one of the couples coming. Apparently, a renowned Doctor in PonyVille has taken to courting Twilight. I’m just sure that Celestia might need help,” Said Lyra, and I sighed.

“Alright, I’ll change, bring Daring to Luna, and then head over to the palace,” I said, pulling off the regular fatigues I had on yesterday, revealing the multiple scars and muscles on my body.

I changed into my protector uniform, and put on my eyepatch and holstered my sword. I then led Daring Do to Luna’s tower, where Luna was expecting me. Lyra followed me the whole way until I reached Celestia’s throne room. She waited outside, and I walked in.

Celestia had all her power giving Jewelry with her, as well as a small lock box floating in front of her. She turned to me, and smiled. I did a simply bow, and she put the lockbox down.

“I’m glad you came. I have a present for you,” Said Celestia, gesturing towards a large covered object in the middle of the room.

I walked over to it, and uncovered it. It was a glass box, with two bracers inside of it. They were pure black, with a silver marking of the moon on one, and a golden sun on the other. They had blades in them, and I looked at Celestia.

“An explorer came in with these. I immediately recognized the symbols, and brought them straight to you. I hope you like them,” Said Celestia, and I opened the glass box, putting on the bracers.

“Thank you, Princess. I love them,” I said, looking them over.

“I’m glad you do. We have a job to do, because the elements are going to be here in 45 minutes. We need to get down the royal dock, so we can greet them. Much has changed in the city, so they must be aware,” Said Celestia, and I nodded.
“I will arrive there at once, Princess,” I said, bowing as I walked out.

“Also, you better have a date for the royal dinner tonight. I’d hope a handsome stallion like you would find somepony special by now,” She said, and I scoffed.

“Celestia, the left side of my face is scarred and torn, also I’m missing one of my eyes,” I said, and Celestia just waved me off.

Lyra was waiting for me, and I simply nodded to her.

“We need to get down to the royal docks,” I said, and she nodded.

“I expected as much. We must hurry,” She said, and we both walked quickly.

It was mostly silence as we walked. I pondered if I should put on my mask, but I didn’t feel the need. We came upon a long corridor, and suddenly, Lyra put her hoof on my shoulder.

“What is it?” I asked, and she looked my uniform over.

“I just think there is something foul in the air. I can feel it. It’s like… something bad is going to happen,” Said Lyra, and I narrowed my eye.

“I know what you mean.”

“No, I mean like, my husband. Ever since we’ve finally agreed to get a divorce, he’s been acting erratic. Like… he’s planning something. I don’t feel safe with him,” Said Lyra, and I nodded.

“If you ever need any place to stay, you can always come to me,” I said, and Lyra smiled.

“Thanks, Steam. That means a lot to me,” She said, and we kept on walking.

It took us about 5 more minutes to reach the royal docks, and I saw the massive ship floating in the distance. We were looking from the observation deck, used by tourists and soldiers alike. Lyra smiled, and saw Celestia walking out of her small private door.

“You better go and meet her. I’ll still be here, don’t worry,” Said Lyra, and I smiled.

“You better be. You’re my date for the dinner tonight,” I said, and Lyra blushed.

“Wh-What?” She asked, and I just walked off smiling.

I walked next to Celestia, admiring the dock. It was made of sandstone, to reflect the sun’s magnificent rays. There was confetti and strings hanging everywhere, showing banners of the sun, and Celestia nudged me.

“Now, Twilight’s suitor is a bit of a hardhead. I don’t want you challenging him, but if he challenges you, try your best not to kill him,” Said Celestia, and I smiled.

“I’ll try my best, Princess. I’ll be too busy dealing with things that actually matter,” I said, and suddenly my vision went blank.

I was in the middle of the castle, in the massive throne room. I saw a figure sitting upon the throne, but something wasn’t right. The whole room was in black and white, with multiple symbols, including pentagrams and flipped crosses. The figure stood up, and I realized he was a mirror image of me. His eye was blood red, and he was smiling at me, his eye fixated on me.

“So, you think that you can just that easily walk away from a curse like that, huh?” He asked, and I instinctively drew my sword.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked, and he just smiled.

“I’m you, silly. Heed my words, child: You have no easy way out of this. You will either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Said the figure, throwing off his coat.

He drew his sword, and lunged at me. As he was the same skill as I was, It was quite a challenge to fight him. My blade pinged off his, and I went into fighting stance. He lunged at me, and I quickly parried. I swung, and he kicked me, trying to jam his blade through my chest. I rolled out of the way, and slashed at him, cutting off his eye patch. A triangle with an eye in it was glowing red, and he smiled even wider. He started going berserk, slashing at me quickly and powerfully. I blocked every one, and then finally unsheathed the knife in my bracers, jamming it into the mimic’s throat.

The blood was red. It poured out, and he just cackled, which wasn’t possible, as I had just cut out his throat. He looked at me, and I was thrown back into reality.

“Shadow, are you okay? You’ve just been sitting there for 30 minutes,” Said Celestia, and I looked at her.

“Your eye is blood red! What happened?” She asked, and I blinked.

“Oh, it went back to normal. What is wrong?” She asked, and I shook my head.

“Nothing, Princess. Here comes the elements,” I said, as the boat docked.

8 figures walked off the boat, 7 ponies, one dragon. They were all dressed brilliantly, but two stood out. There was a tall, brown, muscular unicorn accompanying Twilight, and he looked about as cocky as a rooster. He held his chin high, and looked around in distaste. I narrowed my eyes, when I saw Lyra push out of the croud, holding her box. I followed her, leading right up next to her.

“What’s your impression?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“He looks like a snob,” She replied.

“More like a dick.”

Lyra smiled, as we approached the group. I bowed, and Lyra curtsied.

“A gift, from the Princess to you,” Said Lyra, levitating the box over to the couple.

Twilight smiled at me, but the other unicorn scoffed.

“I dare say, this is a warming welcome. A young, musically talented mare, and a sloppy looking body guard. Not the best I’ve had, certainly not the worst,” He said.

He’s been here 30 seconds, and I already want to chop his balls off with a rusty blade.

I smirked, as Celestia came down upon us.

“Welcome to Canterlot, ladies and gentlecolts. I hope you find your stay welcoming and happy. Your wellbeing will be undertaken by two of my most trusted employees, Pillows, and Shadow,” Said Celestia, smiling.

“You mean this slob? He’s in charge of our wellbeing?” Asked the Unicorn angrily, and Twilight nudged him. She didn’t need to.

“Watch your tongue. I’m capable of much more than you think,” I said, feeling something twitch in my eye.

From the reflective lenses on the sunglasses one of the soldiers was wearing, I could vagely see that the unicorn had a pistol. He didn’t bother reaching for it though.

“Oh, really? I guess we’ll have to discuss this over dinner then. Take our bags in to our rooms, ‘Shadow’,” He said, as they walked past us.

Twilight didn’t even say hi. I was angered, but Lyra put a hoof on my shoulder.

“Calm down. Let’s just take these bags in, and we’ll go out for lunch, or something,” She said, and I nodded.

“Thank you, you two. I expect to see you at dinner?” Asked Celestia, as the celebrations around us started to go into full swing.

“Of course,” I said, and Lyra nodded as well.

We went for lunch at the ice cream parlor, bringing along Luna and Daring. They kept eachother occupied, leaving Lyra and I to our own.

“So, I’m your ‘date’?” Asked Lyra, and I nodded.

“Why not?” I asked, and Lyra smiled.

“Just asking. This doesn’t mean that we’re-,” She started, and I scoffed.

“It doesn’t mean anything you don’t want it to mean, lets put it that way,” I said, and Lyra blushed.

“O-oh, alright…” She said, and I turned to see Luna balancing a spoon on her nose, while Daring jumped around her.

“They make a good pair, don’t they?” Said Lyra, and I nodded.

“So do we,”

I turned to her, and she was just simply smiling. While we had only known one another for a few days, and occasionally ran into one another, I thought I was the only one with feelings towards the other.

“You think so?” I asked, and Lyra nodded, leaning across the table.

“Absolutely. We have a regenerating, buff, strong Earthpony, and the delicate, beautiful, young unicorn mare. It sounds like one of those cheesy romance novels, doesn’t it?” She asked, and I smiled.

“It does, doesn’t it? The one where the cover is both of them out in the field, the stallion holding the mare?” I asked, leaning in myself.

“Yeah, it does…” Lyra, fading off.

We grew closer, and closer, when suddenly…

“DADDY! Look, Luna has two horns!” Shouted Daring, pointing at Luna.

Both Lyra and I pulled back immediately, our cheeks blood red from blushing. Luna had put her cone on her head, and was laughing.

“Cockblock…” I muttered under my breathe, when I looked at the time.

“We need to get ready for dinner. Meet me back at my place at 5:00, okay?” I asked Lyra, and she smiled.
“Of course, Steam,” She said, standing up.

I turned back to Luna and Daring, watching them happily goof around, and I smiled silently. I silently stood up, and walked out the door, Luna and Daring following me.

Celestia shook her head, her eyes full of fear.

“What do you mean, ‘It’s back’!” She asked, and the unicorn shook his head.

“The remains of Stalliongrad are crawling with the infected. I suggest you test your protector, and see if he can deal with this problem. The Bleeding Heart Virus is not an easy one to conquer, Princess. Many will die, including you if you’re not careful,” Said the unicorn, and Celestia sighed, falling back into her chair.

“May the gods help us…” She said, silently.

A/N: Okay, so, based on your decisions, there will be an RPG element added to the book. The worse your actions, the more Chaos will build up, adding more Chaotic characters to your group, therefor minimizing the amount of order and peace there is in the world around Shadow. Orderly actions will do the same, but vice versa. You will have a group, and depending on the characters you keep, that will affect the outcome of missions or chapters. The more chaotic things you do, the more strength and power Shadow will have, but the less order will be around, and the Bleeding Heart Virus infectees will increase. The more orderly you act, the more peaceful it will be, but Shadow will be weakened down to the point where he has to do something terrible to revive his energy and power. I will keep a list of all these things at the end of each chapter.

Chaos= 1
Order= 1

Group:
~~Sinner~~
Walker
Lyra

Shadows Strength: Maximum

Fun Fact: Had you waited longer, you would have not been able to greet the Elements of Harmony, or add Lyra to your group. Pillows would have been severely wounded, and both Octavia and Colonel Philamonica would have lost trust in you. Also, Sinner would not have died, and you Order would have gone up, but your strength would be only at 75%.

Interval: Blood And Sorrow

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He ran as fast as he could. The poor colt driven out of his own home by ravaging monsters. His mother, slain at his feet. His father, one of the monsters. Just days ago, Stalliongrad had finally been taken back from the Equine army, but now monsters ruled the city. They had no empathy, no pain. They were shells of what they once were. Blood flowing from their eyes, moaning in pain. They would slowly die from the sickness, but before that, their mind would rot, and they would go insane. The colt only knew too well he would follow in the hoofsteps of his parents if he didn’t run swiftly.

He ran and ran, tears falling from his eyes. His once bright yellow coat was splattered with blood, and his golden eyes were bloodshot red. He had been pummeled by the monsters, and he was bleeding severely from his left flank. He ran to a large clearing, surrounded by golden grain. A tree was in the middle, and the colt decided to take refuge there. He ran towards the tree, noting that the monsters were behind him. The moon shined brilliantly as the colt ran through the tall golden grass, to the massive oak tree. The colt looked back, and saw that the monsters were ravenously charging towards him, howling with anger and rage.

The colt turned to run the other way, but monsters were advancing from all sides. They slowed as they came to the tree, and the colt started to bawl.

“I want my momma back!” He cried.

His mother had joined the ranks of the monsters, and the only sound of the night was that of a small colt crying for his mother. For that instant, all hope was lost.

Until he came.

Black as night, his eyes red as blood, he charged up the hill, scythe in hoof. He cut through the monsters, killing them as swiftly as he came. Blood poured over the golden grass, and in an instant, it was all over.

He loomed over the colt, his red eyes glowing with hatred in the dark sky. The colt was too scared to move, knowing what the thing in front of him was. His teeth were sharp as knives, his coat sucked dry of life. He was a Vampony. In all of his glory.

“Child… I know what they have done to you, and I spare you the sadness of looking back on such terrible outcomes. Come with me, and we can destroy the one who did this to you,” Said the Vampony.

“Thank you sir, but who has done this to me?” Asked the colt, and the Vampony smiled.

“The one they call Princess Celestia,” Said the Vampony.

Act 2: A Duel

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A/N: Hey guys! Just wanted to say that there is a sex scene in this one! Don't worry, you can skip it and not be left out on the plot. So, enjoy!

Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest,

White is cold and always yearning burdened by a royal test,

Black the beast descends from shadows,

Yellow beauty burns gold.

I think that’s how it goes. It is a small song about a righteous monster hunter who conquered her darkest fear. It was Pre-Nightmare Moon, so it had some meaning back then. Though I knew there were monsters coming now. I was no blind stallion, and I saw what was happening in Stalliongrad. The Bleeding Heart Virus was mutating the innocent civilians of the now nearly destroyed Stalliongrad. I didn’t care much for that fact, seeing as how Celestia was already sending hazard units to splice the place with some clean steam, but something else was stirring in there. I didn’t have much time to think about it now. At this possible moment, I was too busy putting on my now-clean uniform.

“Daddy, let me help you!” Pouted Daring, and I smiled.

“Fine, you can tie my mane with a bow,” I said.

I hadn’t trimmed my mane in a while, so it had gotten quite long. So, instead of letting it hang back in my eye, I decided to tie it back with a ribbon tonight. Daring was tailing along with me, and I had picked a small dress for her. I wasn’t exactly the deepest pocketed pony in Canterlot, nor was I the one with the best fashion sense, but I think I did pretty well. It was a baby blue colored, with a small pink tiara, complete with rhinestones. It took a huge cut out of my paycheck, but it was worth it.
Daring finished tying the ribbon into my mane, and hopped down, putting on her Tiara.

“Daddy! Do I look pretty?” asked Daring, spinning around.

“Of course you do, my princess,” I said, when there was a knock on the door.

I walked over, and opened it, to see Lyra, dressed in a different dress from before. It was light purple, with a pearl necklace, and a pretty silver band on her right for leg.

“Well, aren’t you dashing tonight?” I said, and Lyra gave me a peck on the cheek.

“Thank you, dearest. I see Daring is coming along then?” Asked Lyra, walking into my flat.

“Yeah. I thought she might as well get used to going to such occasions,” I stated, attaching my blade to my belt buckle.

Lyra smiled, and sat down next to Daring. She had a funny way of sitting, almost like a humanoid way. It was kinda of cute, but in a way, it was also disturbing. Her back sat upright, and her legs dangled below her, instead of supporting her. I shook my head, and I put on my eye patch on.

I looked out the window of my flat, and stared off into the horizon. There was an overcast, and the sun was shooting rays through the thick clouds, painting the amber fields in-between the mountains and the Everfree forest. It was a beautiful moment. But something felt wrong, felt…off. As if something was waiting, watching.

Then I saw it.

A tall, black pony. He was scarred, with eyes red as fire. A small, blue colt with golden eyes stood next to him, staring up at the massive city nestled in the mountains. The black pony looked like he was staring at me, and turned away, his black cape flapping in the wind.

I turned away, wondering where I had seen his face before. I shook my head, and looked at the small grandfather clock in the corner. It read 5:15, and I cracked my neck.

“I suggest we head towards the throne room. Celestia will be expecting us,” I said, putting on my colonial hat.

I lifted Daring on my back, and Lyra stood up next to me, brushing against me. I smiled gently, and we walked out the door. I locked the heavy oak entrance behind us, and walked on.

“Do you think he saw us, master?” Asked Tear Drop.

“Yes… and he will seek us out. I implanted the sickness in his head, and he will definitely come. Then, we will kill him, or we will make him join our cause,” The Vampony said in his multi layered voice.

“I… Why do we have to kill him?” asked Tear Drop, his golden eyes turning back to their red hue, a natural ability of Vamponies.

“He is a formidable foe. If we do not kill him then, he will us. I have seen him fight,” Said the Vampony. “He is more of a monster, then we are,

I walked inside the throne room, where the massive dinner table was set out. All the ponies had already arrived. The six keepers of harmony, not to mention the dumbass that was Twilight’s current love interest. There was also Spike, and a number of aristocrats, picking at the delicacies at the buffet line. I put Daring on the ground, so she could roam around. Lyra took my foreleg, and we trotted over to the Princess, who was conversing with the keepers of Harmony.

“Ah! Speak of the devil, here’s the stallion now!” Said Celestia, gesturing towards me.

I walked over, and bowed, and Lyra curtsied. The keepers of harmony curtsied themselves, and I nodded towards the two princesses, sitting in their respective thrones.

The pre-dinner to the gala was amazing. While the place wasn’t nearly as loud or as fancy as the gala, it was still as extravagant, with beautiful mounds of luscious fruits and vegetables at the table. Towering stacks of dandelion cake, massive bowls of chocolate fondue, mounds of strawberries. It was good living the life that I was currently living, since I was accustomed to simply going and buying the crappy stuff at markets. Now, I had the food of the royals at my hoof tips.

“So, is all those fancy weapons for show, or can you actually use them?” Asked the male unicorn accompanying Twilight.
Twilight nudged him ever so slightly, but he acted as if nothing had ever happened.

“I’m sorry, we haven’t been formally introduced. I’m Shadow,” I said, holding out my hoof. Kill them with kindness, as they say.

“Dr. Moon Dust, at your service,” Said Moon, shaking my hoof.

“To answer your question, yes. I’ve killed many a stallion with this blade. Also, princess, may I inquire about Pillows?” I asked, and Celestia smiled.

“So kind of you to be concerned. He’s fine. He’ll have a slight limp for the rest of his life, and he will have a nasty scar, but he’s the same other wise,” Said Celestia, and Dr. Moon looked at us.

“So I have a cripple and a slob as care takers? How nice,” He said, and I shot a glance towards him.

“Excuse me?” I asked, a slight edge in my voice.

“You heard me. You look sloppy, even when tidied up. And your friend is crippled. He’s useless now,” Said Dr. Moon, and I gritted my teeth.

“You can demoralize me, but don’t you say one word about Pillows. He did nothing to you,” I said, and Dr. Moon scoffed.

“Hey, Dust, stop. Please, we went over this,” Said Twilight, and a butter colored Pegasus came up to me.

“We’re really sorry if we’re making you mad, it’s just that Moon doesn’t really like other ponies,” Said the Pegasus, and I nodded.

“Yeah, I noticed. Lyra, sweetie, why don’t you go and get some food. I’ll be right with you,” I said, and Lyra smiled at me.

“Okay, I’ll keep an eye on Daring, as well,” Said Lyra, walking off.

There was a moment of silence, and Dr. Moon scoffed.

“Very pretty girl you have there, would be a shame if someone were to, I don’t know, perhaps, steal her,” Said Dr. Moon, and I gritted my teeth.

“Please stop, Moon. I’m really sorry, Steam, he’s on his man period,” Said Twilight, and I nodded.

“I’m going to go and get something to eat, I’ll return when I feel the need,” I said, walking off.

I grabbed a plate, and filled it delicately with savory treats, like watermelon, cantaloupe, and Rose cake. I found Lyra, and I walked next to her.

“He really is a dick, isn’t he?” Asked Lyra, and I nodded.

“He’s too prideful for his own good. Somepony is going to have to cut him down, and fast,” I said, taking a bite out of my cake. “By the way, where is Daring?”

Lyra spun around, and frowned. “She was just here a minute ago!”

I looked around the big ball room, looking at the different places she might be. Buffet? No. Kids table? No. Aristocrats table? No. Being man handled Moon Dust? Yes.

Wait, what?

I ran over to the table, watching as Moon lifted her into the air, looking her over. Twilight was angrily shouting at him to put Daring down. He just looked at her, awed.

I ran over, and wrenched her out of the grasp of Moon, who looked at me astounded.

“What was that for?” He asked, looking at me wide eyed.

“Don’t you lay a hoof on my daughter, or I will kill you,” I said, rage in my eyes.

“Oh! And you have a daughter? He doesn’t even know how to put a condom on! And he makes her look like Daring Do!” He shouted, and everypony looked at him funny. “What, is my joke not funny?”

I looked down at Daring, and she had tears in her eyes. Big tears. She huddled next to my leg, silently sobbing.

“I wanna go home, daddy. Please take me home,” She said quietly.

I looked up at Moon, who was laughing. Celestia walked over to see what the commotion was about.

“What’s going on?” She asked sternly.

“Your bodyguard, who already has a daughter at the age of 25, seems to have painted his child to resemble Daring Do!” He boomed, and everypony gasped.

“God damn, Twilight, how the fuck do you stand this dick wad?” I asked, and everypony gasped again.

Celestia was taken aback, and so was everypony else.

“You come to our city on a royal invitation, and act as if you can just trot all over everypony like they’re piles of shit! What, just because you have a royal invitation and you’re the colt-friend of one of the Elements of Harmony makes you better than everypony?” I asked, rage boiling up inside me. “Then you go and make my own child, who IS Daring Do, cry?”

Moon was taken aback, and then he regained his composure.

“Well, I nev-,” He started, but I cut him off.

“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” I said, and everypony seemed to draw away. Many just stared at me with half-smiles.

“Moon, please stop,” Twilight said, but Dust backhoofed her.

The whole room stood still, as Twilight fell to the ground. Celestia’s eyes widened with rage, as did Luna’s. The elements of Harmony became angry as well. I saw Shining Armor run from his position in the room, where I saw Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence, run after him (funnily enough, this was the first time I had seen her my whole stay in Canterlot.)

“Twily!”

“Twilight!”

“Twi!”

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

I punched Dust as hard as I possibly could, and he stood up.

“Fight me,” He said, angrily. “Duel me tomorrow, to the death. It shall be an interesting event.”

“Fine. You better show up. You have embarrassed Twilight, her majesty, and everypony else by your actions,” I angrily barked, and he nodded.

“Fine then.”

He walked out of the room, and I helped Twilight up.

“Are you okay?” I asked, and she nodded.

“I might have to call off the Gala because of this. That was repulsive!” Shouted Celestia after Moon, who just walked on.

“Your Majesty, do I have permission to take his life tomorrow?” I asked, and the Princess nodded. “Twilight, do I have your permission?”

“Ye-Yeah…” She said, hugging her brother. “I’m so sorry, Steam.” She said quietly, as her friends comforted her.

I started to walk off, but then I turned back to the Princess.

“Don’t cancel the gala because of this. It’s not worth it,” I said, then I turned back to the crowd. “Everypony! Go back to eating and drinking!”

I looked at Daring, and she jumped on my back, still sobbing. I patted her on the head, and we walked off. Lyra followed us, and she looked glum.

“I’m so sorry, you two. I should have known he was trouble,” I said, and Lyra sighed.

“It’s not your fault, it’s his,” Lyra said, when she suddenly looked at me. “Are you going to kill him?”

I thought about it for a moment, and then I sighed.

“Maybe. Depending on how I feel in the morning. I don’t want to, but if it comes to it, I will kill him,” I said, and Lyra nodded.

“Hopefully the gala will be better than this,” Lyra sadly muttered, and I nudged up against her.

“It will,” I said, as we made it to my flat.

We walked inside, and I took Daring to bed, still sobbing. She tucked her in, and gave her a little goodnight kiss on the head. Within seconds, she was sound asleep. I smiled softly, and I came out into the living room. Lyra was sitting on the couch, looking out the window, into the now dark sky. I sat next to her, and she turned and looked at me.

“I’m scared, Steam,” She said, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Of what?” I asked, and Lyra sighed deeply.

“Octave Hearts. He’s getting mighty violent, and he almost kept me from coming tonight. I wish our divorce would just get over with, you know?” She asked, and I nodded.

“Look, if you want, you can stay here in the mean time. I don’t mind,” I said, and Lyra gave me a smile.

“Really? You’d do that for me?” She asked, and I nodded.

“Of course. Friends look out for eachother, don’t we?” I said, and Lyra’s smiled melted off her face.

“Friends?” She asked, and I knew I had made a terrible mistake.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Lyra, I…” I started, but she shook her head.

“Whatever, it’s fine,” She said, standing up.

“Lyra, I-,”

I was cut off by a pair of lips connecting to mine. My eye widened, as Lyraclimbed onto me, kissing me. I felt euphoric, like I was flying. She pulled away, giving me a look of lust.

“Steam…” She said, her eyes half closed.

I pushed into another kiss, and she put her hoofs around me. I felt her heart thumping inside her chest. I could feel the heat coming off her body, and we separated lips again. Lyra’s face was blushing redder than a robins chest. I probably was too, but my grey fur, now silvery after the events at the hand of the battle inside the factory, probably made it much more diluted. Lyra crawled off me, and I breathed somewhat heavily. She and I just looked at one another for a bit, and then she finally said it.

“Steam… I… I think I’m in love with you,” She said, giving me a small smile.

“I think I love you too,” I said, moving closer to her.

She unbuttoned the buttons on my uniform, and I pulled it off. She gave me the most sweet eyes you could ever see. She leaned in for a kiss, and I pulled off her dress. The feeling of her soft fur moving across my own was a feeling that nothing other in the world could match. I felt warm inside, and suddenly, I knew what was coming. We pulled away, and I looked into her eyes.

"Please, Steam,"

She was cut off by a moan as I shoved myself into her, pushing as deep as I could. I felt her tense up around me, and then I continued to do the action. She moaned and sighed to the beat of my pushes. I couldn't help but to let out a soft groan as I shoved myself into her. I picked her up, and let her ride on top of me, moving ourselves to the bedroom. I couldn't take it any longer, when I finally released myself in to her, falling on the bed. Lyra groaned in euphoria, as she rolled off me, still panting. I fell asleep almost instantly.

I woke up the next morning with a headache. Lyra was lying next to me, smiling happily. I got up gently, not to wake up Lyra, and I went out to the living room. It was around 9:00, and nopony was up yet. I donned my protector robes, when suddenly, a stallion materialized in the corner.

“You think you can win?” He asked, and I sighed.

“Look, I know I can,” I said, and the stallion scoffed, coming out of the corner. Of course, it was The Creator.

“He’s got magic, and he’ll use it unfairly. How about we teach you a new move?” He asked, and I cocked my head. He sighed loudly. “Your own magic.”

“Ah. Sure,” I said, and The Creator simply smiled.

“Alright, this one is called Adrenaline. I’m sure you’ve heard of a much weaker move used by unicorns called ‘focus’, but that is pussy compared to this. You’ll be able to move at near speed of light,” Said The Creator.

Suddenly, my left foreleg burned, and a small band appeared on it, looking as if it came from pre-nightmare moon, tribal times. It was made up of Crescent moons, and it gave off a small, shimmer of white light.

“Sooo, I get a tattoo everytime I learn a new move?” I asked, and The Creator scoffed.

“Your left forleg will hold the chaotic powers you have. Your right one will hold the powers of Order. Comprendo, muchacho?” He says, and I raise an eyebrow.

“Whatever. Just summon the power, and you’ll be quick as lightning. Test it out on this poor sap today. I’m sure the crowd will love the fact that you just ran a cocky bastard through in ten seconds flat,” He said, his body already dispersing.

“Whatever. I’m sure I would have won anyway,” I said, as he disappeared.

I walked back into my room, where Lyra was laying sleepily. I kissed her on the head, and her eyes opened up. She smiled at me, and I leaned in for a kiss.

“Hey, tiger,” She said, after our lips separated, and I brushed some wild sea foam green hair out of her eyes.

“Morning beautiful,” I said, and she sat up. “I’m off to kill some poor sap.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure Daring doesn’t know,” She said, and I kissed Lyra again.

“When you get home, I’ll be ready for more,” She said, with a sly smile.
“So will I,” I said, before leaving the bedroom. “Oh, by the way, I may be home late tonight, if you could watch of Daring for a little.”

“I don’t mind. Bye sweetie!” She called after me, as I walked out the door.

I walked into the massive plaza, where they had already set up the dueling plaza. Everypony had come to see the fight, including the six keepers of Harmony. Octavia and Pillows sat in the crowd together, happily munching on some popcorn. I saw a Twilight somewhat somber looking, and Shining Armor standing in the middle of the arena, looking at me. He had some traditional robes on, and he was looking somewhat depressed.

I walked up to him, and he smiled, patting me on the back.

“I want you to kill this asshole. Nopony does that to Twily, you hear? He brought a tag team partner, who seems to be a slaver from the east, you know, the Griffin lands? Kill them both,” Said Shining Armor, and I nodded.

“Count on it,” I said, walking forward, but he stopped me.

“They’re using flintlocks, so watch out,” He said, and I nodded.

He walked out of the arena in the plaza, and the Doctor himself emerged from the doors that open up into the outside. He brought along a scrawny looking Pegasus, who had two machetes hanging from his belt, along with a bloody looking wip. His eyes were savage, and his eyes were on me.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts! Today, as a challenge made as of last night , we have a duel to the death between the renowned Doctor Moon Dust, as well as his partner Weeping Eyes, and the Grand Royal Protector, White Steam, or ‘Shadow’! We’ll have a great fight on our hands today, so get seated!” Shouted the announcer, and I drew my sword, jumping to my hind legs.

I pulled mask down, so that nopony could see my face. I heard some music playing in the background, and I saw that the Canterlot Orchestra had started to play some battle music. The two ponies stepped onto the arena stage, and the magical borders surrounded us. I tightened my bracers, showing off the Chaos tattoo on my left hoof. I twirled the blade, as the slaver walked forward, pulling his two machetes.

“You’re going to be gutted like a pig, meat!” Shouted the slaver.

He charged at me, swinging wildly. I blocked his attack smoothly, and bit back with a slash across his eye, letting it roll out of his head in a gush of blood. The crowd gasped, but went back to normal as he jumped at me once more, and I blocked it again.

“Why aren’t you attacking? You scared meat?” He asked, and I scoffed.

“Because I want to entertain them,” I replied, as he delivered a slash to my shoulder.

A bit of blood poured out, but replied to his attack by focusing in hard. Everything went slow-motion but I could still move normally. I delivered a volley of stabs into the slavers body, each one suspending blood in the air as I pulled out. I then stabbed into his upper chest, and pulled down, tearing his stomach open.

I felt like I was using up my magic, so I unfocused, and watched as the slaver’s guts poured out of his stomach, and onto the arena floor. Blood splattered all over me, and I sighed. The doctor recoiled, but stood up to the challenge. He pulled his Calvary blade, and lunged at me. I blocked his attack, and delivered a swift cut to his cheek. Blood spilled out of his wound, when he suddenly pulled out a double barrel flintlock, and fired.

The pain was unbearable. Hot lead tore through my body, and out my back, splattering blood against the magical barrier. The crowd gasped, as I looked up. I saw the faces of Pillows, Octavia, the keepers of Harmony, Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor. The list could go on, but they all looked at me with a face of longing. As if I needed to go on. I felt the muscles in my chest tightening, and the wounds healed shut. I stood up, and the doctor dropped the pistol.

“W-what?” He asked, dumbfounded.

I jammed my sword through his throat, then I jumped into the air, swinging around, cutting upwards through his skull, then falling back on the other side. His skull split in half, and sprayed blood all over the arena. I was doused in the blood of my enemy, as I walked away, sheathing my blade. I heard his body hit the floor with a thump, as the barriers disappeared.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, we have our WINNER!” shouted the announcer, and the crowd went wild, throwing confetti everywhere. Pillows and Octavia ran down to congratulate me.

“Damn man, way to kick some ass! The way you multi stabbed that guy, and then opened him up was bad ass!” Shouted Pillows, hoof bumping me.

“Oh my gosh! You were great out there, Steam!” Shouted Octavia, about to give me a hug, when she saw the blood covering me.

“Yeah, better not. Now, who’s up for some drinks!” I shouted, when Celestia flew down upon us.

“You were amazing, Shadow. I take it the Creator has been training you further?” She asked, and I nodded. “Revel in your victory now, Shadow. You have the rest od the week until the Gala off. Then, it’s off to your next assignment.”

I smiled, as Celestia flew away. The others laughed, and we went back to my flat. Little did I know, that it was all just a test.

“Master… He…”

“Yes, I know my child. One of our own, taken from us so quickly. The slaver was weak, though. He should have a harder time killing us.”

“But he will die soon enough…”

Intermission 1: A Dance With Diamonds

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Fire Walker was leaning on the balcony in one of the Palace's many ball rooms. It was 3 days before the gala, and the military Captain still didn't have a date. He had gone to three different pre-parties, and yet, even though he was good looking and military, he just couldn't attract the attention of any mares. Now, he was at yet another party, drinking himself away. He was on his second glass of whiskey, and his forth dose of self pity, looking out upon the grand night, a full moon shining upon the valley below Canterlot. A small river snaked through he valley, and fireworks exploded above the magnificent marble and gold city. Walker could only watch happily, the sound of explosions bringing him back to Stalliongrad on his last days of deployment. The military captain simply sighed, and took a drink of his whiskey.

"Well, aren't you a strong looking stallion."

Walker turned to see a white unicorn, with purple styled hair, and dashing blue eyes. He almost dropped his drink right then and there.

"Uh..Hello there!" Said Walked, straightening his uniform. The mare giggled, smiling gently. Walker returned the gesture, and the mare leaned on the balcony next to him.

"What brings you to this lonely corner of the party?" Asked Walker, looking at the mare, who was wearing an elegant blue and purple dress. "You must have all the stallions bowing at your hooves."

"That's the problem. They just want me because I'm the prettiest mare out on the dance floor. Not because of how I act, not because of how I actually am, just because of my looks," Said the mare, with a perfectly etiquette accent. "While it's nice, sometimes a girl just likes to be appreciated for other things."

"You're having the opposite problem of me, milady," Said Walker, before holding out his free hoof. "Captain Fire Walker, fifth battalion. You are?"

"Rarity, from PonyVille," Said the mare, shaking Walker's hoof. The stallion's eyes went wide.

"As in the Rarity? I'm honored to be at your presence," Walker said, placing a gentle kiss on Rarity's hoof. She giggled slightly, blushing deep red.

"Handsome and well mannered. Just the type of stallion I'm looking for," Said Rarity, giving Fire a small smile. "Why are you not out with the crowd?"

"Drinking myself away. Can't find a mare to dance with. I guess it's just the fact that there are more guys who actually get an adequate paycheck here, instead of little old me," Walker said, smiling. "Not that I care. At least they don't water down the drinks with tonic or some other stuff."

Rarity stuck out her bottom lip in sympathy, and stared out, off the balcony. Her eyes glowed blue in the moonlight, and Walker found it hard not to stare. Rarity glanced over, and blushed a bit.

"What ever are you looking at?" She asked coyly, biting her bottom lip.

"Your eyes. They glow in the moonlight," Walker said, smiling. "Would you perhaps like to dance?"

Rarity blushed again, then nodded. Walker held out his hoof, letting the white mare take it. He then led her out to the dance floor, which had been opened for some couple dancing. It was a beautiful dance floor, glass stained with Cadance and Shining Armor onto it. Along with that, there were multiple ivory and ebony embroideries, making it have a rich feel to it. Everypony made way for Rarity and Walker, gasping in awe at how much they complimented each other. Rarity was a deliquet, young mare, and Walker was a hardy, strong stallion. They took position on the dance floor, and smoothly started to do the box. While it wasn't much, Walker felt on top of the world. The most beautiful mare he had ever seen, dancing in front of a bunch of jealous stallions. Life was perfect.

"So, do you happen to have a date to the Gala, Miss Rarity?" Asked Walker, and Rarity smiled mischeviously.

"As it happens, I don't. But I don't just take in any old stallion as a date. Impress me."

Walker smiled coyly, as he started stepping faster, going in a hexagonal pattern instead of a box. Then, he started to take a side step, bringing Rarity closer to him. In response, the band started to play faster, more upbeat music. They started of slow, but started to work up faster. Walker and Rarity adapted to the music, moving smoothly into the tango. Walker started to spin Rarity around, holding her up in the air. She spread herself out in the air, as if she was a bird, and Walker took her back down, spinning her around on the ground as well. Everypony had stopped dancing, and instead watched Walker and Rarity, as they stole the spotlight. The music started to reach a climax, and the couple's dance became even faster, until an abrupt stop of music. Walker held up Rarity, leaning over her. She looked winded, but happy. The mare smiled, as the duo stood up, and bowed, walking off the dance floor.

"So, impressed?" Asked Walker, as they walked over to the bar.

"Of course, Darling. I've never danced like that in my life."

"So, do you think you'll want to go to the gala with me?" Asked Walker like a school colt asking a mare to a date.

"Of course, dearest. It's a date! Come and pick me up in tower suite 201 the night of the Gala, and we'll have a marvelous night," Said Rarity, smiling happily.

Walker returned the gesture, his heart pounding happily. What luck he was having.

Act 2: Assassin

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My eye focused down on one pony. He was just standing there, blabbing away at how he was going to strike down Princess Celestia. It was all I could do, not to stab him through his worthless little head. My blade shimmered darkly in the moonlight, as I slowly sulked across the rooftops of the pit. Hot steam exploded around me, dousing my mask in hot, droplets of water. The moonlight reflected perfectly, a massive round circle in the sky. I teleported to the other side of the rooftops, and perched above the group again.

There were six of them. All six of them conspirators with the Equine Spy Master. While Celestia had said that I had the rest of the week off, there were still a few jobs that would usually take less than an hour to complete, and this was no excuse. Quick and clean. Hell, murders happened in the pit all the time, not like this was any type of occasion. Except this time, no one was going to find the bodies of both fighters.

A small, white, Pegasus mare with deep sunken eyes, probably from abusing Rush, walked off, probably to abuse, well, Rush. Rush was the main drug in the pit, and if you didn’t do it, well, you were lucky. Probably half the fuckers in the group were high on it.

I followed her via rooftop, until she stopped at a small dark alley. She pulled out a small inhaler, probably filled with magic, rush filled water, and lit the bottom with a lighter. The took two puffs, and then sighed loudly. I jumped down, silently walking up to her, taking her moment of euphoria to strike her down. With one single slash, she had no longer had a windpipe to breathe through.

One down, 5 to go.

I climbed to the rooftops again, using the darkness to mask my movement. I moved back to where most of the group was, perching on a lower building this time. The courtyard they stood in was a rundown, old marble area between some of the low income straw houses. A small statue of Celestia sat in the middle, its head cut off and replaced by a bloody dragon penis (which looked more like a purple, split tongue, than an actual penis). Graffiti and blood covered the place, and guns sat everywhere. It was a wonder why the military hadn’t busted in and shut this thing down quicker than a fucking light.

As I surveyed the area, I heard a rattling next to me. A small window opened, and out popped the head of a young, grey colt. He looked at me with wide eyes. I probably looked pretty menacing, with my one eyed mask, my blood splattered trench coat and suit. I simple held a hoof to my pursed lips, making the shhh noise, before teleporting away. The colt went back inside carefully, and I smiled. Hopefully, he wouldn’t witness the massacre below in a few moments.

I dropped down, avoiding the bright street lights, and moved closer to the group.

“Hey, where’s Daisy? It doesn’t take that long to burn some Rush,” Said a hulking, brick colored earthpony.

“Lemme go check on her. Maybe I’ll get lucky,” Said a nasally voice, belonging to a skinny looking unicorn, his glasses practically falling off his face.

“I don’t think that will be of need, gentlemen,” I said, in my still strong Equine voice

The group looked me over silently, and then the leader, a fat looking black Pegasus scoffed.

“You part of the spy agency, buddy?” He asked.

Good. They think I’m one of their contacts.

“Yeah, and the boss told me to send you his regards,” I said, before pulling out my flintlock pistol.

I fired a single shot, sending the .68 caliber lead ball tunneling through the skinny unicorn. I dropped the gun, pulling my blade out of its sheathe. My enemies pulled out their flintlocks, and fired at me, but not before I could teleport behind the large earthpony. He turned, delivering a heavy hammer blow to my ribs. I could feel the pressure of the blow, nearly breaking my ribs. I stumbled backwards, realizing that head on combat with this brute would be next to impossible. I may be strong, and I may have powers, but I’m not the greatest fighter ever.

I activated my focus, and dashed through the hulking earthpony, cutting multiple arteries and veins as I slashed furiously at his throat and body. Within seconds he bled out, and I was left with three. One cloaked enemy, and two other rush abusing ponies. I pulled out my throwing stars, and launched them at the two abusers, seeing as how the cloaked pony seemed more dangerous. He, or she, just stood there, its black robes and hood covering its head, watching as one of my throwing stars landed straight into the throat of one of the abusers. The other had reloaded his flintlock by now, and was aiming for me. I quickly teleported behind him, and jammed my blade through his skull.

I turned towards the cloaked pony, who I was sure was a mare. She walked like one, and the curves around her body showed her to either be a mare, or a very feminine and under developed colt. She drew her own blade, and we circled eachother, both of us faceless. I lunged at her, and she parried quickly, delivering a quick jab with her Equinian Zealot blade. It glanced off the metal plates inside my coat, and I delivered a slash. She jumped out of the way, delivering a hard kick to my mask. I could feel a tooth come loose somewhere in my mouth.

I jumped at her once again, slashing her lower leg. Her pauldrons protected it for the most part, but blood gushed out of the miniscule open wound. She recoiled, and breathed in sharply, as the blade left her skin. She jumped back, then savagely delivered a slice across my face. The blade went through the mask, and cut into the skin barely, leaving a small sliver of blood slowly coming out of my mask.

I know that attack…

It was very common in the explorers guild. A savage blow followed by some weak jabs. Since I hardly ever used the more heavy blades, and stuck with knives and bladed rapiers, I never learned it. I personally saw it as worthless, but hell, it could do some damage.

I jumped out of the way of her next attack, and teleported behind her. She turned around, and hesitated out of fear. I simply kicked her back, slamming her into the small pillar inside the courtyard. He hood fell down, and my eyes went wide with surprise.

“Diamond?”

The white mare stood up, spitting blood from her mouth. Her eyes were sunken, and she looked 10 times worse than when I had left her. I sheathed my blade, and ran over to her, pulling out a bandage.

“I’m so sorry, Diamond. If I would ha-.” Diamond cut me off, putting a hoof to my face. She spit up a little blood.

“I should be the one saying sorry. I guess I kinda betrayed ya,” Diamond said, slumping forward. “I think you broke a rib.”

“What the fuck are you doing with these guys?” I asked, and she just grinned.

“I go where work pays the most, Steam. You should know that,” Said Diamond, and I shook my head.

“You’re working for Equine? What the fuck, Diamond!?” I asked angrily. I felt betrayed. Hurt. Like my oldest friend had just gotten together with my girlfriend and banged her brains out.

I helped her out, the clipped her upside the head halfheartedly. She gave me a sad smile, and cringed.

“Yeah, you broke one of my ribs,” She said, and I picked her up.

“Guess we better get you to the castle,” I said silently, as we walked towards the massive, marble towers in the moonlight.

--------

“So, you’re telling me she was contracting for the Equine Spymaster?”

“Yes, your highness. She’s also worked for you on many occasions, before the war started up.”

I sat at the table with our own Spymaster, an icepack over my brow. Turns out Diamond kicks a lot harder than I expected. My brow had been split, and the bridge of my snout had been broken. If it weren’t for my advanced regeneration, I would be having some serious facial issues right about now. But even regeneration couldn’t stop the hammer wound. My ribs pulsed with every breathe, and I was beginning to think that I had broken my ribs as well.

“So, what are you saying we should do, Arden?” Asked Celestia, and the Spymaster looked at me.

“She’s a threat to our nation, she could be a sleeper agent! And plus, from the way Shadow looks,” Arden gestured at my now weaker appearance. It was true, I was slowly getting weaker. I hadn’t done anything too terrible in a while, and I was beginning to feel much weaker. “He could use a evil deed right about now.”

“What are you saying Spymaster? Kill her?” I asked, and he nodded.

“She is a direct threat, Shadow. You should really think on it.”

Do it… survival of the fittest. You won’t be prepared for the oncoming fight if you don’t kill her…

But she’s your friend. Friends look out for one another, no matter what.

So, here I was about to make a decision. Last time, I fucked up royally, costing Sinner his life. Now, I could either kill Diamond, and become stronger, or let her live, and grow ever more weak.

“Well? We’re waiting,” Said Arden.

Act 2: Finale 1/2: Our Darkest Hours...

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I carefully placed my hat on my head, making sure it didn’t interfere with my eyepatch. My coat fit perfectly, and my blade was sharpened. My single medal hung on the right side of my uniform. I was ready.

“Mr. Steam, the executioners table is ready. The crowd is waiting…” Said Arden, and I turned towards him, my single eyes facing him. I could barely see inside the dark, dank room, but I was sure he could see me.

“Open the door. Let’s get this over with,” I said silently, checking my single pistol, my execution weapon.

The massive door in front of me slowly pulled upwards, revealing the execution grounds. Crowds of ponies surrounded the single mare in the middle. The crowd roared as I approached the courtyards center. The massive trees, the green bushes, the serene peacefulness of the scene did not match the courtyards use. Bright aqua flowers that reminded me of Lyra flew in the air, as I grew closer to the mare. I stopped about ten tail-lengths in front of her, and I sighed.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” I muttered, and I raised a single hoof in the air. The crowd stopped chattering, and I lowered my hoof.

“My fellow Equestrians! I greet you today on more solemn terms. Before you, I have a traitor of Equestria, a conspirator with the Equine spy master!” I shouted, turning 360, to let my words pierce everypony’s ears. “We now bring her to justice, just as they would bring us to justice!”

The crowd roared, as I lit the magical water holder on the steam pistol. I looked around one more time. Nopony from the high court was here. The keepers of harmony were spared this event, and neither Lyra or my daughter was here. Just me, a bunch of ponies, and a pistol. I aimed at the mare, who was binded down to the wood planks in front of me. Very slowly, I pulled on the trigger, releasing a small siphon of steam from the back of the gun, notifying me that the weapon had fully charged.

There was nothing more than a single high pitched whistle, as the gun fired, sending a green blast of flesh melting steam into the mare’s cranium, melting right through the bone, killing her instantly. Her boiling blood splattered onto my uniform, as she slumped over limply. Blood boiled out of the clean hole in the back of her head, and poured onto the ground. The guards quickly scooped the body up, and receded back into the dungeon at the other end of the execution grounds. I simply dropped the steam pistol, and walked back to where I had come from, the crowd still screaming.

As I entered the room, and the door was safely closed behind me, I slumped down, and sighed deeply. I felt disgusted with myself. Utterly terrible. I had just killed Diamond. My partner. My friend. My lover at some points. Now, I killed her for the enjoyment for a crowd and for god and country.

“You did good, Shadow. You definitely look better,” Said Arden, walking down to me, his white overcoat contrasting the baby blue of his fur. His eyes, hidden by glasses were an odd shade of purple, and his mane matched.

“Yeah, fuck you,” I simply said, standing up.

“No need to be angry. Tonight is the gala, and we don’t want to be grumpy for that, do we?” Arden stated sharply, adjusting his coat. “Besides, we need to get you to PonyVille to do a little errand for Twilight Sparkle.”

“Rest of the week off my flank, I’ve done more work this week than in the past two months,” I say, and Arden simply scoffs, levitating me a flintlock pistol and ball. “What do I need to do?”

“Apparently, Spike needs a lift and an escort. You’ll be the escort,” Said Arden, as we walked out of the dark room, and into one of the many regal halls of the Castle. Everything looked the same since Pillows had taken leave, and the new Janitor had taken his place. Everything was bland. No bits and bobs. No little parodies of artifacts. No mustaches drawn on statues. Just… Bland.

I continued to walk with Arden, as he babbled on about how I had handled the situation well. I didn’t care much. I just hoped to be home in time for dinner and a dance with my lovely new partner. I could barely stop thinking about her, and when I did, it was usually replaced by Daring Do. We turned the corner into one of the bigger halls, and I noted we were near the armory. As we walked down, I could hear the hum of a Diesel Car, a new innovation by Fluer. Co. Who would ever think a fashionista would create a fast ass car?

We turned the corner once again, and there was the garage. The diesel car was sitting there, its putrid fumes making my nose curl back in disgust. Arden motioned for me to get into the passenger seat, and I hopped into the black car.

“So, are you glad that tonight is the gala?” asked Arden, as he got into the back of the car.

“Doesn’t really matter to me. Just means that if I dance good, I’ll get a sweet little piece of ass tonight,” I said, looking around the car. Multiple cigarette butts, gasmasks, and what looked like a gatling gun sitting next to Arden.

“Well, I wish I had that luxury. Cigarette?” asked Arden, levitating out a Dragon’s Breath cigarette.

“Nah. I don’t smoke,” I simply said, leaning back in my chair.

“Won’t be the cancer that kills you,” muttered the driver, a lean, black stallion with red eyes.

“Excuse me?” I asked, and the driver waved it off, smiling.

“Nothing, sir. Just jesting.”

I snorted, as the car jerked to life, and we sped out of the castle, into the secret tunnel that came out the other side of the mountain the Canterlot rested upon.

“So, you have any plans after… this?” asked Arden, and I shook my head slightly, as we came into the light of the early morning.

“Can’t say I do. Maybe finish the war, then go into contracting?” I said half-heartedly, and Arden nodded.

“I guess, since you weren’t born to do this, you can just switch jobs anytime you want,” Arden said.

We bended the mountain, revealing the mountain below us. We were moving at a huge trot at the moment, so fast that I was getting slightly worried. We crossed onto solid ground, and I let out a slight sigh. As we continued onwards, I heard Arden say something worriedly to the driver. The driver nods, and then takes a sharp turn, heading towards a small pond.

“Stopping for a quick drink, are we?” I asked, and Arden shook his head anxiously.

“Ray, knock him out,” Said the driver, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Who the fuck is Ray?” I asked, when suddenly, Arden brought his hooves around my neck. I felt an amazing amount of strength coming off the slender pony, so much that I almost gave up. Suddenly, the sound of a attack blimp sounded overhead, and then, more diesel cars, these one trucks.

“Cloak! He’s not giving up!” Shouted Arden/Ray, as he slowly strangled me. Cloak, apparently the driver, just angrily drew a pistol, and bailed out of the car. We were heading straight for the pond, when a hail of armor piercing gatling gun rounds tore apart the inside of the car, sending flames and gore splattered everywhere. Ray had literally been demolished, and a round had pierced through my stomach. I spat up blood all over the windshield, as we barreled towards the pond.

“Fuck!” I screamed, bracing for impact. As the car hit the water, I was flung forward, into the windscreen glass. My advanced regeneration was already rebuilding the small stomach and skin around my wound, but I had bigger problems.

The car was sealed tight, but even through the water, and thick steel, I could hear the battle going on outside. I grabbed my pistol, and aimed it at the window, taking a single shot.

Water exploded inside, sending me tumbling towards the back of the diesel car. More gunfire outside, and telltale signs of bodies in the pond started to show, starting off with the thick whisps of purplish blood sinking deeper into the water. I swam upwards into the surface, to be greeted by the flames of multiple destroyed cars, and the sound of a Assault Blimp spinning out of control. I pulled myself out of the water, only to be greeted by a worse sight.

Cloak, and a young looking pony walking slowly over to me, surrounded by smoke. Cloak now had a mask on, and was breathing heavily. The pony beside him walked over to me quickly, and then delivered a hard stomp to my head. The last thing I remember was the feeling of steel coming down upon me.

“Ah… I was wondering when you would awake.” A voice from above me boomed down, as I gained consciousness. In my dizzying state, I couldn’t make out the voice, only that it was muffled and male. “You were out quite a long time, maybe 5 hours.”

I looked up, my eyes blurred by a sticky red liquid, likely blood. I saw that I was hanging over what looked like a blimps turbines, which was pushing up a steady stream of air up into my nether regions. I was entangled in a bunch of chains, which were so deeply embedded into my coat I could feel them crushing my ribs. I looked up, to see the two figures above me. The black pony was wearing a massive gas mask, and an air backpack. The smaller pony ran off, leaving me alone with who I presumed to be Cloak.

“This is the amazing Royal Protector? Easily overtaken by a vampony?” Said Cloak, his booming voice coming down. I could hear the equine accent thick in his voice, as I was slowly pulled to the top with the chains connected to me. As I was pulled, I realized I couldn’t feel my lower legs.

My back was broken.

The vampony pulled me up to his eye level, then flung me across the turbine room, smashing me through more chains and barrels. I groaned painfully, as he flipped me over, his red eyes visible through the gas mask.

“You’re lucky, White Steam. You can’t look me directly in the eye due to my breathing apparatus. Captain Walker got a lucky shot off, and hit my lung.” The black pony walked off, as I lay on the ground immobilized. “In less than 5 hours, Canterlot will be overtaken by our Warships, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Who the fuck are you, anyway?” I asked through gritted teeth, and the black pony turned towards me, his heavy breathing edged with anger.

“I am the one who will deliver you to Aftlan.” The black pony pulled some rope out, and tied it around my forelegs, attaching it to the wall.

“Oh, great. You’re a fucking Equine.”

I got a slap to my face for my troubles, as the ponies breathing got heavier. “You’re a murderer and a weakling. Even your own spymaster turned on your nation!”

“Never trusted that fuck.” I was trying to get him riled up. Hopefully, the Equestrian Military already had an idea that the Equines were on the way.

“The Equestrian Military will suspect nothing, if that is what you’re hoping. We are disguised as a freighter. It will be to late by the time they realize they are under attack. Their precious princesses, the Elements, and your daughter will all be dead.”

The mention of Daring Do caused a flame to be lit inside me. I jerked at him, fast enough to grab his ear in my mouth. I bit down hard, and pulled, tearing the muscle from the head. Blood splattered across me, as the pony pulled away, delivering a swift kick to my face. He tore off my eyepatch, revealing the sunken and scarred patch of furless skin that replaced my socket.

“You’re angry. You should be. Everything you know and love will be dead soon.” The pony touched the knob that was once his ear, and turned away.

"So, tell me Shadow: Why did you kill her?" asked the Vampony, solemnly, pacing around me.

"I was ordered to," I said, trying to form words around my swollen tongue and cheek.

"You weren't ordered to, Shadow: You killed her on your own accord. One of your only friends, dead by your hoof. I think that makes you a monster," The vampony continued, his breathing muffled. "I was wondering what would break first... Your spirit... or your body."

I couldn't deny it: My back was broken to hell. It would take a few hours to regenerate. And this fuckers plan was in full effect. In those few hours it would take to heal, he would have flattened Canterlot and the surrounding cities, all because of me.

"Think, Whitey: Think of all the ponies you could have saved by just dying..." The vampony said emotionlessly, as he kneeled in front of me. "I wonder what your final hours will be like."

"Well, they'll start off simple: By killing you."

“Funny. Last time I checked, I was in contro-.” The pony cut off, as he heard the sound of attack blimps.

“All crewmen, report to your stations, we are under attack by Equestrian Military, this is not a drill!”

The black vampony turned away, and ran out of the engine room, leaving me tied to a chain. I sighed, as I focused all my energy on repairing my wounds. I could feel my back replacing itself as he left.

5 minutes earlier…

Captain Fire Walker sat on the end of his new Attack Blimp. He could see the massive War-Blimp dressed as a freighter, flanked by even more. His cracked gasmask was half covered with blood from his head gash from crashing his previous attack blimp. He knew this was going to happen. Some Equine bastards would ruin the gala for everypony. Now it was up to him and a small ragtag group of his men that didn’t die to stop the blimp.

If it weren’t for their stupidity, they may have actually gotten away. But obviously they didn’t know that The Royal Protector had a massive magic signature that Walker’s unicorns could detect now that they had gotten used to it. All they had to do was put his signature into the steam-tracker, and voila, he knew where they were. Now, it was a matter of stopping them.

“Oi! Walker! Load the gun!” shouted one of the crew men, and Walker stood up, looking at the attack blimp. It was armored with steel plates, with an open canvas and engine room below. The massive wings propelled them at a quick speed, and the cannons mounted on the side fired special phosphorous rounds. But that wasn’t the end of the armaments.

Walked opened up a hatch on the front of the blimp, pulling out a state of the art machine-gun. It fired a 12.7 mm incendiary cartridge at nearly 1000 RPM. The barrel was circular, with a single barrel that had a flare so that it didn’t overheat. The Weapon had 2000 rounds inside of it, and plenty of extra ammo. The weapon, dubbed “The Solar Flare” was practically a Gatling gun that didn’t have any crank mechanism.

“All loaded Ink! Fire up the overdrive!” Shouted Walker, as the Attack Blimp lowered its sails, moving ever quicker. Walker slapped the action on The Solar Flare, and fixed the weapon on the massive blimp.

The attack ship came upon the blimp easily, and Walker pulled the safety out of the massive machine gun. He zeroed in on one of the massive turbines on the wing of the blimp, and unloaded the weapon into the protruding metal part.

Within mere seconds, flames and shrapnel had shrouded the massive wing, tearing it to shreds. The alarm blared loudly, as The Solar Flare’s destruction path moved down to the backside of the engineering loft, which was placed on the very top of the blimp. In nearly 5 seconds, the entire loft was completely destroyed, in its place a massive burning pile of metal and Equine warponies. Flames burned bright as the guns-blazing ship started to spam the freighter with incindeary cannonballs.

“Ink! Where is Shadow!” Shouted Walker from his position, his voice hard to hear over the gun.

“Looks like he’s inside the engine room! Right above the rear turbines!” Ink Spot shouted back, before a spray of blood covered him. The starboard side gunners head exploded like a watermelon, as the massive war blimp returned fire.

“Fuck! Bring us around the bottom! I’ll destroy the turbines, and we can get Shadow!” Shouted Walker, and Ink dipped down, his jet black mane flowing with the wind.

The came underneath the massive airship, giving them a good view of the turbines. The machine gunner aimed up at the spinning blades, and fired, destroying the blades until they were nothing but melting scrap metal. Slowly the ascended over the melting metal, until they reached a massive metal platform.

Chained to the wall was a limp looking figure, surrounded by burning sheet metal. His clothing was torn and bloodied, and the way his body was bent was evidence that his back was broken.

“Shit! Cross, cover me!” Shouted Walker, grabbing a musket and jumping off the attack blimp.

Almost immediately after he jumped off, Equine soldiers flooded out of the entrance to the engine room, and started hailing rounds at both the blimp and Walker. Taking cover behind some slowly melting metal, Walker watched as his crew was torn to shreds by bullets, then as the attack blimp smashed into the wall, sending flames and sparks spraying over the engine room.

“FUCK!” Shouted Walker, fighting back tears as he watched the engine room slowly go up in flames. But that wasn’t the only sound that filled the room.

Distracted by the scream of soldiers, Walker lifted his head over the cover to see a gruesome sight. Shadow had started to go work at the group of Equine soldiers, using their own weapons and idiocy to his advantage. By now, the carnage was coming to an end, and Walker got to watch Shadow execute two soldiers by smashing one’s brain out with the back end of the musket, then using the bayonet to stab the other in the stomach, just to fire a shot that tore the poor soldier’s spine in half.

-----

I finished off the last soldier, and dropped him to the ground, then scanned the area. Apparently, the ship had been totaled by a single assault ship. Flames were going up the sides of the newly destroyed blimp, and the wreckage of the assault ship burned on the opposite side of the engine room.

“Shadow!” Shouted a voice, and I turned to look at a small piece of burning metal. There stood Walker, his half burned military suit covered in blood. He held a single musket, and was grinning like a moron.

“Well, look who decided to try and save my pitiful ass,” I simply stated, as he ran up to me.

“Shits been goin’ to hell man. First they try to kidnap you, then my whole crew goes up in flames. We need to get back to Canterlot. They don’t know they have an attack fleet on their way to take them down,” Walker said, and I raised my eyebrow.

“Fleet? Shit, I thought there was only one!” I said, and Walker shook his head.

“We saw ‘em on the way in. They’re planning on flattenin’ the whole of Canterlot,” Walker continued. “We need to blow up each of the ships.”

“They won’t get near Canterlot on my watch. We need to take out the head honcho is this operation, and I think we can deal with the rest,” I said, and I started running out of the engine room.

Walker followed behind me, as we walked into the destroyed and burning hallways of the blimp. Blood was splattered everywhere, and the sound of dying men filled my ears. Nothing too new to me. We continued on, until we reached the upper deck, which was completely engulfed in flames. Upon it, was a single air bike with a back mounted cannon.

“We’ll use that to escape. But first, lets deal with this blimp,” Walker said, practically reading my mind. Nighttime was slowly approaching, and soon the gala would be up in flames if we didn’t do something.

I ran into the bridge of the blimp, only to be greeted by 5 equine soldiers, their uniforms covered in urine and all of them dead. Blood was leaking out of small wounds in their necks, and the walls were splattered with gore. I ignored the scene, and ran over to the steering wheel, pushing the nose of the blimp down, and pushing it at full speed. According to the map, we were nowhere near a civilian settlement, so the blimp should go down without any harm done to anypony who didn’t need it.

I rushed back outside, and hopped on the back of the bike, the engine already turned on by Walker. We lifted from the deck of the burning ship, and flew onto the next one.

“This thing is loaded with HE bombs. Should be quite a bang if we can hit the wings and the back turbines. Then the bridge,” I said, and I heard Walker mumble with agreement.

The next blimp was a quite bit smaller. It was orange, and was moving in line with three other blimps. The final one- which I presumed was the flag ship,- was a massive tanker, probably a flying fortress. “We’ll hit the smaller ones first, take them out. Then we’ll have a straight shot to the big boy!” I shouted, and Walker started to speed toward the smaller ship.

The first was easy to take down. It took 4 shots, one to each wing, and one to the lower turbine, to deactivate it. The final shot was directed at the bridge, completely destroying it. We swooped in around it, then we were in range of the second blimp. I spammed this one, intent on making short work of it. Within seconds of firing, the blimp was going down in flames. The last one started to return fire, and I used the last of the cannon ball ammo on it, turning it into a flaming metal mess.

“Walker, drop me off on the big one. You need to get back to Canterlot to warn them!” I shouted to Walker, but he shook his head.

“Not this time, Shadow. I’m goin’ into the belly of the beast with you!” Shouted Walker, and I shook my head.

“You’re a crazy son-of-a-bitch, you know that?”

“Hell yeah! If I didn’t, how would I have gotten this job?”

We laughed as we flew towards the massive blimp, ready to face death at any moment.

Act 2 Finale: Final Part

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The air-bike sped towards the deck of the ship, and I poised to eject. Bullets were already being flung towards the bike, and I tapped Walker on the back.

“Swing around! I’ll take it from the deck, you take it from the engine room!” I shouted, and I saw the big red earthpony nod.

“You’ll have to bail!” He shouted back, and I tapped him again to acknowledge him.

We swung by the wooden deck, and I jumped off, slamming into the wood. I activated my focus, and took a bit of a look at my surroundings. There were a few machine gunners, and many riflemen, all firing at us.

“Well, fuck. Now or never,” I said, hunching my hind legs, and dropping off the back of the bike.

I hit the deck of the blimp, smashing through the wooden floor, and slamming into the hard metal floor of the armory. I rolled out of the way of the opening, which was soon filled with gunfire. As I stood up, I looked around the room frantically for a weapon, preferably a blade. Only thing that was shining was the blades and actions of the muskets.

“I guess I’ll have to make due,” I said, longing for my own blade. I would probably never see it, nor my robes again. A ping of sadness twitched at my heart.

I tore off one of the bayonets of the rifles, and I watched as the first soldier jumped through the hole. I dashed at him, burrowing my blade through his stomach. I could hear the sound of multiple organs being destroyed as I ran him through. I immediately turned around, grabbing his own musket, to be greeted by a duo of foot soldiers. The musket in my hooves exploded, shattering one of the skulls of the Equines. I then used the musket like a spear, and flung it at the survivor, hitting him in the chest.

“Holy shit,” I muttered to myself, looking around the room. While it had mostly muskets, one whole side was dedicated to timed TNT.

“A few packages across the ship could make quick work of this damn blimp,” I said to myself, grabbing a package, looking it over. Each pack had 6 sticks of high explosive dynamite, probably magically enhanced. The timer went up to 5 minutes, so I’d have to deal with these quick.

“One in the engine room, one in the bridge, and one in the coal reserves of the water room…” I muttered to myself, taking three packages. I picked up a musket, and a blade, and ran out of the back entrance of the armory.

“I need a way to contact Walker…” I said to myself, just as I reached the door outside of the armory, looking around. “That’s if he didn’t die. The loudspeakers in the bridge should be able to transmit a message, though everypony will hear it.”

I looked up and down the hallway, making sure no pony was around, then sprinted towards the general direction of the bridge. The airship was similar to the one I had crashed into Canterlot, except this one had Gatling guns and cannons. I knew the layout well enough, so it was a quick trip to the bridge.

I was greeted by the site of multiple Equine officers after I reached the bridge, who were obviously more focused on the ship than the door.

“Greetings, bitches! Is it already time to kick your ass?” I shouted, and they all turned around.

As soon as one saw me, he drew his blade, and sprinted at me. I simply threw the musket as if it were a spear, and hit him directly in the eye, leaving me with a single blade and a bunch of dynamite. Another officer started to sprint at me, so I did the only thing I could do.

“Think fast!” I shouted, chucking the bag full of dynamite at him. It landed square in his face, knocking him over, giving me enough time to grab the other officers blade, and get into stance.

The rest of the officers converged on me all at once, 4 out of the 5 remaining slashing wildly at me. Their blades met each other’s more than they met mine, so I had time to get myself situated to fight.

I spun wildly, my blade slicing across one of the officer’s face. While it wasn’t very damaging, it stunned him just long enough to get some of the heat off of me. I then hit the floor, and kicked one of the officers in the genitals. He reared back, and I pushed my blade upwards, so that he would impale himself upon the saber. He fell down, and I felt my blade push through his stomach, releasing a spray of ungodly gore across my bare coat.

“Shiest! He killed Orvich!” Shouted one of the officers, who were now stabbing down upon me.

I rolled out of the way, and jumped up, only to be assaulted by more blades. One pierced through my left hind leg, delivering a painful jolt. I fell back down, and was then hit by a flurry of hooves and blades. I dodged as best I could, but at this point, I knew I was either going to die or get wounded extremely badly.

“Wait! It’s coming straight towards us!” Shouted an officer, and they all stopped, puzzled.

Then the bridge lit up in flames.

Massive incendiary shots tore through the windows and the metal, tearing the officers to shreds. The screams of burning and dying ponies filled the air, as flames licked near my hooves.

“Fuck!” I shouted, jumping to my hooves, and then behind some cover. Bullets pierced through the canopy of the bridge, tearing the place to shreds.

Finally, after a few moments, the sound of an attack blimp was sounding overhead, and then the ring of a fastrope line falling into the canopy. A single, white mare fast roped in, her wings expanded to give her some drag. She turned towards me, and smiled.

“It looks like you’ve seen a ghost, Steam. Surprised to see me?” Asked the Pegasus, and I immediately knew who it was.

“Diamond? But, but…” I stuttered, and Diamond smiled.

“Thought you killed me, eh? I was too busy helping our guys secure Stalliongrad under quarantine at the time.” Diamond tossed me a small knife and musket, and gestured for me to get up. “You’re lucky I heard about that on the radio. We were on our way back when we saw these ships being destroyed. We knew that it was our guys, mostly because there were no freighter ships with guns on our side.”

I got to my hooves, grabbed the bag of TNT, and then pulled one out. I set the timer for 5 minutes, and dropped it on the now flame scorched floor.

“We’ve got five minutes to destroy the rest of the ship. You go to the engine room, and I’ll head towards the steam room. Then we can take this thing down,” I said, tossing Diamond a pack of Dynamite. “We’ll work out our differences later.”

“Yeah. We better. Also, your friend on the airbike. He’s on our blimp, so don’t worry about him.” Diamond simply ran off, and I scoffed.

“How convenient,” I said, as I sprinted off in the other direction.

Most of the Equine ponies were dealing with the attack blimp, so I had a rather clear shot to the steam room. It wasn’t until I got there where I met some type of resistance. Inside the massive brass room, which smelled of magical steam and coal, were dozens of engineers. Not particularly lethal, but still.

“Alright boys, don’t pull some stupid shit, and you won’t die. I suggest you all get to your life blimps, and get out of here while you still can,” I said, as I entered the room.

The multitude of engineers fled, but a few stayed, ready to fight. Since there were no soldiers to defend them, this was their last line of defense. They had wrenches, and hammers. I had an auto-loader musket, and a knife. I think we both knew who was going to come out on top.

They charged at me in unison, then wrenches glinting in the light. I simply raised my auto loader, and started to fire. It only had 3 charges, so my accuracy was going to be key whether I w-

“Stand down!” Shouted a juvenile voice from above me. I looked up to see a dark cloaked pony hanging from the chains in the ceiling, somewhat veiled by the steam. “This one is mine.”

“Now, I’m just going off of the sound value here, but you sound like your nuts haven’t even dropped, kid.” I simply chuckled, as the pony slid down the chains. The engineers scattered like rats, as I realized what the pony was cloaked with.

“Are you wearing my robes? How the fuck are you able to fit that?” I asked, and the colt simply chuckled.

“Being a morpher, I can change my size and shape at will. Now, Shadow, its time to die,” Said the child.

“Right, and how do you pro-,” I was cut off by a blade slashing past my head. I quickly dodged out of the way, only to reveal my remaining eye had nearly been cut out. “What the fu-.”

I was cut off again, this time by a gunshot. A ball whizzed past my head, and hit the steam tank behind me, shooting hot, green gas across the room. I was astounded by this childs speed and maneuverability, it was almost as if he was…

Another gunshot, this one hitting my shoulder. Crimson liquid blossomed out of my shoulder, as I hit the ground, yelling in pain. The colt somehow moved over me, and held my own blade at my throat.

“You see, it will be all very simple. I will take your place, and when I get back to Canterlot, I shall kill the princesses and your family. Then Equine will be unstoppable.”

Let me out….

I felt disconnected, as the pony slowly moved the blade closer to my neck. Like someone was talking to me.

Let me OUT.

I felt my chest tighten. My wound slowly heal up. The blade touch my throat.

LET ME OUT YOU IMBICILE!

“What the…” Said the pony lightly, as I felt a burning sensation on my left arm develop. I looked down, and saw that another tattoo was forming. My vision went red at the outlines, and I exerted a little bit of magic.

“AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!!!” The small pony went flying back, as I tackled him. Strength pulsed through my veins, anger boiling inside my stomach.

I slammed a hoof down upon the ponies face, throwing off my mask. I looked down at him, seeing my own face, slightly modified. A scared eye looked up at me, and I faltered for one moment.

The blade shoved through my torso, spraying blood across the floor. I fell back in pain, as the colt got to his hooves, drawing his own gun. I looked at him, somehow smiling, even through the insane pain that was coursing through my body.

“You don’t have the guts kid. I can see it in your eye. Or shall I say, my eye.” The words were not my own, but of something else. Something more evil.

“I won’t let my master down! I will save Equine!” Shouted the colt, shakily aiming at me.

“C’mon kid, pull the trigger. I know you can.”

“Shut up!” The colt lowered the gun, giving me the opening I needed.

I pulled the blade from my stomach, blood spattering everywhere from the open wound. I stood up and charged at the poor colt, who was still shaking. I slashed at him with an astonishing speed that I didn’t know I had, slicing the gun from his hooves. I then delivered a flurry of speed stabs, which he dodged masterfully. I was slowly moving him towards one of the massive steam tanks, and then I had an idea.

“Hey, kid. Since you’re a ‘morpher’, does that mean you can repair skin damage?” I asked, sneering.

The child faltered for a second, giving me the split second chance to draw my gun, and fire.

The bullet whizzed past his head, and into the steam tank behind him, letting out hot air. The kid smiled with arrogance, and bit back with a dagger, thinking that I had missed him accidentally. I easily parried the dagger, and planted a read hoof into the child’s chest, knocking him back.

“What the…” He muttered, but it was too late. I grabbed him by the collar, turned him around, and slammed him into the opening of the steam tank, exposing him to flesh melting temperatures. The child reacted immediately, screaming with a urgency I had heard only once before.

“How about now?!”

“Kill me!”

“Tell me where he is!”

“Kill me!!!!”

It didn’t stop me. Instead, I pulled the child back, and shoved his face into the vent, causing heat to smother my own arm. The muffled screaming was now so high pitched, it would break glass, as the colt jerked around frantically, trying to free himself from his now lethal fate. I reared his head back once, slamming it into the brass tank, splattering blood and eye tissue all of the shiny metal. The child’s body had gone back to normal, revealing his golden coat and red eyes. I slammed his head into the tank again, crushing his jaw this time. His screaming was slowly dying out, and I saw this as a chance to deliver the coup-de-grace.

I pulled out my pistol, cocked it back, and put it at the back of the colt’s head. I placed the muzzle so he could feel it on his now heat-ravaged skin. Instead of delivering a long monologue, and simply pulled the trigger, delivering a hot charge that ripped right through his skull, through his brain, and out through an eye socket. He simply slumped over, and I dropped the gun, feeling the energy slowly leave my body. I tore my clothes and weapons away from the child’s body, the rush of battle slowly leaving my mind, realizing what I have done.

“Oi! Shadow, arm that shit, and let’s go!” Shouted Diamond, and I nodded, pulling out the last pack of dynamite, and setting it for 1 minute. I dropped it, and ran towards the entrance from which I had entered.

----

“Well, it looks like you’ve been to hell and back,” said Diamond, as we met up in the corridors.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it when we get onto the blimp. In the meantime, let’s get the fuck out of here.” I started sprinting towards the hangar, which would probably be our ticket off the freighter.

Suddenly, an explosion sounded, causing the blimp to creak loudly.

“What was that?” Asked Diamond, as we stopped.

“Probably the bridge TNT. Let’s get our flanks in gear, we don’t have much time.”

I started to run faster towards the hangar, when a second explosion sounded, then a third. The ship had been taken out.

“Shit, we need to go,” I muttered, continuing to run towards the hangar.

The massive halls of the blimp were creaking, bowing, and burning, as I sprinted through the metal pathways, my hooves clinking on the metal floor. My wounds slowly healed up, my stamina steadily increasing. Diamond followed right behind me, as pipes exploded with steam.

“How much longer do you think we have before the ship blows up in a flurry of fire?” Diamond asked, as we pulled the last turn to get to the hangar.

“I really have no idea,” I simply said, still sprinting. I was at full strength right about now, and we had just entered the hangar, when we both stopped.

There he was. Cloak, just standing there, his red eyes penetrating into my soul. He held the head of the colt I had killed, and his breathing was heavy. He tilted his head, seemingly blocking the pathway to the attack blimp, which was hovering outside from the sound of it.

“There is exactly 2 minutes and 20 seconds until this hanger fills with highly toxic gas and heats that extend at least 20,000,000 degrees Celsius greater than the sun, due to highly explosive ordinance that we were to use to destroy Canterlot. Sadly, I have made the mistake of not killing you, and now I have paid the price: My son is dead, I have failed my country, and my ships have been destroyed,” Started Cloak, dropping the head on the ground. “I have nothing more to lose.”

“You shouldn’t have plotted against Equestria,” Diamond said, before Cloak raised his hoof, as if to cut her off.

“This quarrel is not between you and I, woman. It is between Shadow. You are free to go, but I will slay this monster.”

I nudged Diamond, and she looked at me quizzically.

“Just go. I’ll be fine,” I said, nodding knowingly.

She ran past me, out onto the wooden deck of the hangar, then onto the now docked assault blimp. It was just Cloak, and I left, blades ready to cross.

“You killed my son.”

“Like I give fuck.”

“You shall pay with your life, monster.”

“Not before you pay with yours,” I said angrily, bringing my blade to a ready.

Cloak did the same, bringing his blade to the ready. Suddenly, it morphed into a massive scythe, complete with everything a demonic scythe should have; Bones, a skull for a blade holder with glowing red eyes, and even a serrated edge.

He brought it to his side, the black blade glowing in the light shining in from the hangar exit. He was still wearing his gasmask, as he slowly walked towards me, Scythe in his crook.

Then, lightning fast, he lashed at me, cutting my chest open, spraying blood across the floor. I hit the floor immediately, sputtering up blood from my mouth. He brought his scythe back, and golf-clubbed me in the stomach with the back, sending me flying at the wall. I felt my back smash into a pipe, spraying hot steam everywhere. As I unsteadily tried to get up, I was hit in the head by the scythe again, this one splitting my brow open, nearly snapping my neck.

“You are no match for me, monster.” The dark stallion flipped me over so that I could look up at him. He put his scythe to my throat. “Look me in the eyes as you die.”

I quickly activated my teleportation power, and I jumped to the other side of the room, out of his grasp. I heard him grunt in confusion, as I healed up as quickly as possible.

“There’s only a minute left, Shadow. You’re only prolonging your death.” The voice across the room bellowed, or so I thought, as I took cover behind an engine.

Suddenly, I looked forward, only to see Cloak about the jam the staff of his Scythe into me. It shoved straight through my chest, and I gargled up blood, splattering it all over Cloak’s face

“You see monster… this is where it all ends,” Cloak said, looking into my eyes.

Suddenly, there was a flash, and Cloak doubled over, steam pouring out of his backside. Then, another one. And another. And another. Soon, it was like a strobe light, blood splattering everywhere. Then the blade left my chest, and I fell on the floor, looking at Cloak’s cratered body, his eyes lifeless.

“You know, you owe me one.” Said a voice, picking me up.

My vision returned, and I realized I was being carried by Walker, who was sprinting towards the attack blimp. I was sure that Cloak was still alive, but it didn’t matter. The plans were thwarted, Equestria was safe. The battle was over.

We reached the edge of the hangar, and Walker through me onto the ship, before climbing on himself. I felt my chest slowly heal up, as we pulled away, and the crew set up once more.

“Holy shit… Nearly died back there,” I said, and Diamond nodded.

“Lucky Walker took action. We would have lost you, if he-.” Diamond was cut off by a massive explosion that sent the blimp off course.

Flames shot out of the hangar, the bridge, and engine rooms of the massive freighter, and engulfed the massive blimp, sending meteors shooting across the sky. The crew cheered, as we passed through some clouds.

It was over.

It was finally over.

I sat up, the blood slowly running off my body, as the massive burning blimp fell into the ground. The ground shattering explosion sent tremors through the air, as we flew back to the capitol city of Canterlot.

-------------

“So Equine attempted a covert operation to destroy Equestria’s capitol, on the day of the Gala?” Princess Celestia asked, and I nodded.

Almost immediately after landing, we had ran to the throne room, needing to inform Celestia that we had a pretty bad situation on our hoofs. Must have been some sight to see a bunch of dirty, bloody, steam-residue covered ponies sprinting through the halls of the elegant, pre-steam castle. Now, we stood in front of the Princesses, mere minutes before the Gala, to give them one last piece of bad news.

“If it weren’t for these two, Canterlot would have been invaded and destroyed by now, ma’am,” I said curtly, gesturing towards Diamond and Walker.

“So they had replaced Diamond, The Spymaster, and attempted to replace you with these ‘morphers’. We’ll have to be more careful with our soldiers now,” Shining Armor said, looking down in thought. “We could already be compromised. If they could make The Spymaster morph into Diamond, things may be worse than we thought.”

“Sir, permission to speak freely?” Asked Walker. Even though he wasn’t part of the guard, Shining Armor was still acting commander of the Equestrian Armed Forces.

“Granted.”

“That is the stupidest doubt I’ve heard for a while. We’ve dealt with Changeling, these are even worse at their cloaks. Though they are a tad stronger than their insect counterpart,” Walker said, still standing at attention. “Sir.”

Shining Armor looked annoyed, but took his Captain’s word for it. “Ma’am, I’ll tell the guards to put a lockdown on any blimps flying in tonight, and to keep a lookout for out of place individuals.”

Celestia waved Shining Armor away, and he bowed, walked off to whichever room he lived in.

“I suggest you three get tidied up,” Celestia said, gesturing to us. “You all have a Gala to attend to.”

Diamond looked quizzical. “But Princess, I-.” The white pegasi was cut off by Celestia’s knowing smile.

“I’m sure I have an extra female officer’s dress laying around in the store room,” Walker said, and Diamond turned to him.

“Are you sure? I mean, I’m not really apa-.” The pegasi was cut off again, this time by Walker’s knowing smile.

“Don’t worry kid, I got you covered. I’ll get your crew some ceremonial dress and some beds for the night, you came a long way.”

Walker, Diamond, and her crew walked out of the throne room, leaving myself, Celestia, and Luna.

“Shadow,” Celestia started, her voice solemn. “We are losing this war.”

I nodded, and Celestia sighed. “We have taken far too many losses, and the Equines have pushed farther and farther inland. They’re right on PonyVille’s doorstep, and our forces are only holding on because of Luna’s special operations group. The Griffons are suffering too, being the victims of the Equine war-machine’s chemical warfare experiments.”

“What do you suggest we do?” I asked, and Celestia turned towards Luna, who had been quiet for the entire conversation up until now.

“We believe it is best to lead an extermination squad into the Equine homeland. Destroy the homes and towns of Equine Government officials. Tis’ a sinful and terrible mission, but one that we must do,” Luna spoke quietly, as if she was ashamed to say the sentence. “My personal army, the Lunar Bats are meeting up in the Blossoming isles, preparing to invade the coast of Equine. Since the isles are neutral, we’ll have to keep it covert.”

I was taken back. An extermination campaign?

“Ma’am, forgive me to say, but isn’t an extermination campaign exactly what they are doing? That makes us no better than them!”

“Tis a true fact, but war is war, Shadow. Some measures must be taken to prevent the destruction of our own nation,” Luna said, looking down in sadness.

“There is no innocence in war, Shadow. You above all ponies should know that. Get cleaned up, we have a ceremony to perform,” Celestia said, “Don’t be late.”

The white alicorn waved her hoof, and I bowed, walking out of the room.

----------

2 months later…

“Be careful, okay Steam?” Asked Lyra, as she tied my black tie. Her eyes were wet with tears, as were Darings.

“Don’t worry. Walker and Diamond will take care of me.” I gestured to the two other Syndicates standing behind me, in front of the massive Galleon blimp. “I’ll be home soon.”

“Daddy, be careful. Don’t get hurt…” Daring said, nuzzling me.

“Don’t worry sugar, I’ll be home before you know it.”

I patted my foal on the head, and kissed Lyra, who was crying again. She lifted a handkerchief to her eyes, and I sighed heavily.

“I’ll be home in a month, and I’ll make sure we get some time together, alright?” I asked, nuzzling Lyra.

“Mhm.”

“That’s my girl.”

I turned around, donned my mask, and walked towards the two other syndicates. I nodded to them, and they followed me onto the Galleon, as the loading dock lifted. The engines started up, the sound of the heavy guns mounted on the sides of the Galleon spurring to life. I turned back to look at my family, waving us off.

“Don’t worry Shadow. We’ll be home before you know it,” Fire said, putting his gloved hoof on my shoulder.

How wrong he was.

White Shadows

by Mr Foster

Prologue

What Can Be Found...

Father

Why I Wish We Took The Shortcut

Protector

Fluffies, Whores, and A Teleporting Earthpony

A Helping Hand

Act 2: Prologue

Act 2: Made To Kill

Interval: Blood And Sorrow

Act 2: A Duel

Intermission 1: A Dance With Diamonds

Act 2: Assassin

Act 2: Finale 1/2: Our Darkest Hours...

Act 2 Finale: Final Part