A Thief's Tale: The Road to Redemption

by Ringtael

Chapter Fifty-One: Fuck Me (Not In The Nice Way)

The two days Twilight and I had together flew by faster than I would have liked. I still trained with my team, got our morning runs done, and attended Trixie’s wedding, which was a rather small affair. It was pretty nice considering that she chose to get married in front of Town Hall in Ponyville itself, but that would be placing expectations on her and I try not to do that. The wedding ceremony itself was rather nice, though it was a little on the short side, which didn’t bother me much at all. The only thing I want is for Trixie to be happy and if the tears of pure joy I saw her shedding were anything to go by, then Trixie was as happy as she could be, and when the kiss came, their lips lingered a little longer than necessary, but that too was perfectly fine. I was happy to see my surrogate sister happy, and at the reception, I even supplied the booze straight from Canterlot myself. The alcohol was good and the food was good, and I even got to learn that Trixie could dance her fucking arse off like no other. It made me a little scared for my own reception, but it’s not like I had that many dances to go through, I don’t believe.

Enough talk about weddings and all that nicey-nice bullshit. Let’s get on to me shagging your Mum like the cheap floozy she is. Well, I can’t really shag your Mum, Celestia, and I wouldn’t shag your Mum, Twilight, because I don't want to give Night Light another reason to hate me. As for you, Noir, Uror, I don’t know if you two even have mothers to give the sex to, so I’m not even going to try. If you’re not one of those four people, kill yourself before I get my hands on you. Trust me, it’ll be less painful for your family to know that you took your own life instead of having your soul ripped from your body so you can wither away before their very eyes. What’s that you say? You can’t conjure up the nerve to do it? Well I can help you with that, mate. All I need is you to stand still for a little bit and I’ll just tear your will to live straight from your body and we’ll be square. After all, what’s a few intangible concepts between a victim and the tormentor?

Promises of death aside, Twilight and I spent the rest of the night of the reception at her house. We’d spent the day before at mine, so it was only fair that we spend a little time at hers, so when she changed me into Roxy and told me that we were going to go at it until we just couldn’t anymore to make up for the time we were going to lose, I wasn’t exactly complaining. I wasn’t complaining at all. My tongue was tired by the time we were done, but so was Twilight’s. We were both shaky around the leg area and neither of us wanted to sleep and lose what little time we had together, so we laid in her bed and basked in the afterglow for as long as we could, which was a lovely feeling. We traded kisses and pecks throughout the night, often not saying a damned thing between the two of us, just because we knew we didn’t have to. We knew our time together was growing shorter and shorter by the second, so we focused on absorbing as much of each other as we could. The main thing that sucked was that we wouldn’t even be able to visit each other because of the time differences between the places we were supposed to go. It was going to be a fortnight full of suck, but I was willing to let it go if it meant helping out Equestria like it needed.

Hour before we were slated to leave, I had enough time to get this written out as per Twilight’s request, but I just didn’t see how I was supposed to make much of the two days that had already passed. I mean, there just wasn’t that much in the way of interesting things that happened, and even Trixie’s wedding wasn’t an event that needed a full page of things to be written about it. She and I had barely talked throughout it, so I didn’t feel the need to record that much of it, and none of the conversations I had that day really differed enough for me to write them down. How you can answer ‘Are you excited that your sister is getting married today?’ in any way other than ‘Yes’ is a little beyond me, but it’s not really my place to say what is and isn’t proper. Well, these are my journals so I can say whatever the fuck I want, now can’t I?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few hours after my last entry, Twilight and I had to part ways. I would be taking a train past Appaloosa and into Mexicolt and Twilight would be heading north toward Manehattan to use the Teleportation Station to get to Bridleland. She wasn’t looking forward to the trip at all since she knew she was going to be ill in a foreign place, though at the very least Starshine was going to share in her suffering. On my side of things, Crimson wasn’t too happy about going to Mexicolt with me again, but I told him that we were going there as diplomats instead of Operatives and that he could have the honor of wearing the Adstus suit the entire time. He grumbled and moan about having to wear a suit in the Mexicolt heat, but I assured him that we were heading toward one of the cooler regions. Sadly, he corrected me and said that we would be heading toward the middle of Mexicolt, straight into Mexicolt City. Shit was bad since I was going to have to wear a suit as well, but I was prepared to deal with it as needed as long as we didn’t occupy the same underbelly of a carriage while trying to cross the border.

Twilight and I gave each other a few more kisses before we boarded our respective trains in Canterlot and promised to write each other before we fell asleep every night, though Crimson and Starshine just stood and talked to each other for a little bit. Starshine made a quick pit-stop by her sister’s place to go pick up her weapons, but the woman was already packing poisonous mild explosives like she needed to be any more dangerous. I told Starshine that i would ruin her face, anus, and vaginal regions with my fists and the Warbling Blade if she got Twilight poisoned, but Starshine assured me that she was the best toxicologist in Equestria for a reason and left it at that. I don’t know why she did, but I felt a little better knowing that she had antidotes to her poison, just in case she got herself or Twilight fucked up by accident.

My train arrived before Twilight’s did and I gave her one last kiss as I headed into my designated car. It sucked that Mexicolt was so traditionalistic that they didn’t have Teleportation Stations, meaning that Crimson and I were going to be in for a long ride. However, we both had each other for company while we rode, and I’d brought along the spare copy of A Star-Crossed Love for him to read while we were heading out. He made it a few chapters into the book before he took a break, the swaying of the train giving him a headache while he read.

While he was leaning back with his eyes closed, Crimson asked, “So what do you make of this whole thing, Max? I mean, we’re going in the first class car on our way to Mexicolt when the last time we were there, we arrived by the shadiest means possible. How do you feel about it?”

I sighed. “Mate, I’m just hoping you don’t get caught out for being the person that poisoned that cabal of dogs to be straight with you. I don’t want you to get fucked up for tying up loose ends and all, but I’m not sure if I can protect you against the Mexicoltian government if they come after you.”

Crimson took a breath. “If you don’t get us caught, we won’t be. I never used my real name and I doubt anyone in the government knows my face, so we should be relatively safe. I’m asking if you’re just okay with being an ambassador to a country you really don’t know that much about.”

“It’s been on my mind, to be honest with you. I don’t see why Celestia didn’t have me deal with Chrysalis and Elfriede and let Twilight take the Pony countries, but I’m sure she has her reasons.”

Crimson raised a brow. “I’ve heard word around the grapevine that you had to save Princess Cadance’s and Prince Shining’s wedding from Chrysalis. I don’t really think you should be dealing with her either, to be fair.”

I gave him a look. “Who do you think brokered the peace deal between Equestria and the Changeling Empire anyway? I saved Chrysalis’ life, and she might be an ungrateful, sadistic, warped cunt, but I can manage her better than Twilight can. I know why I’m talking to Elfriede, but I seriously don’t understand why I’m not dealing with Chrysalis too. I mean, there was that one time I decked her-”

“Wait, you punched a Queen?” Crimson asked incredulously. “When was this!?”

“It was before I left Equus for those two years, before I became a Prince. Chryssy got me back, however, so don’t think that we’re at odds at the moment. Well… I did kinda insinuate that I would end her entire species if she dared to lay a hand on Twilight, so there’s always that.”

“... Was that back when you still had Dark Magic?”

“Yeah.”

“So it was a very real possibility?”

“Oh no, it was a certainty. If Noir would’ve let me tap into my life force, I could’ve been as powerful as Luna if I didn’t mind dying a few hundred years early, and for Twilight, I wouldn’t have minded at all. Now that I know Twilight and I are both immortal, I’m not as worried about it, but it’s not like I have Dark Magic anymore.”

“You know, with the subject matter we’re currently on, I’m very glad that this is a private car and that we’re alone in here.” Crimson said quietly.

I rolled my eyes. “I could just steal the memories from whoever overheard anyway, so there’s always that. Anyway, so what do you think of Twilight going to go negotiate the terms of Chrysalis’ alliance in The War?”

“... I’d be a little scared for her if I didn’t know that Starshine was going with her to be honest with you. Starshine’s a very capable mare, if I do say so myself, but I can only say that because I’ve worked with her a few times. Twilight’s safe with her, Max, but from what I hear of Chrysalis, she has her work cut out for her.”

I sighed again. “I know, mate, I really do. I’m just worried that I’m going to have to kill Chrysalis for fucking with Twilight, and if that happens, then I’m going to need Adstus and Noir to help me off the rest of the Changelings so they don’t turn on us. I’m sure Celestia has a failsafe for that exact case, but the mind never ceases, you know?”

Crimson opened one eye and looked at me. “I’m sure Celestia’s doing what she thinks is best, and if she has Luna and your mentor backing her decisions, I’m sure that they’ve made the best decision. Have some faith, ‘mate’.”

I cringed. “God, that sounds fucking weird coming from someone that isn’t British or Briddish. I really don’t like that shit.”

He closed his eye. “Like it or not, I’m still going to say it. You’ve started to rub off on me.”

“I don’t think gooey and white goes to well with the color of your coat, but whatever, Licorice Lad.”

Crimson groaned. “Please don’t call me that. It makes me feel like I taste disgusting.”

“You smell like licorice to me, so fucking deal with it.” I replied haughtily.

“You smell like sandalwood to me, so should I call you Sandy?”

“If you want to have your bumhole tickled wtih a knife, go right ahead.”

“That’s what I thought.” Crimson scoffed.

I snorted. “So what about you and Fleur? Are you two just fuck buddies or something, or do you think she might leave Fancy for you?”

Crimson was quiet for a little moment. “I think we’re just buck buddies for the time being, but she really is a fascinating mare, to be honest with you. Someone like her is my ideal mare, and I can’t help but feel an attraction to her, but it just feels wrong to want a married mare you know? That, and I know that she’s slept with you, my direct superior, so I kinda feel like I’m trying to compare myself to you.”

I gave him a look that he didn’t see. “First off, when it comes to her, don’t try to compare yourself to me. Your style is different from mine, so keep that in mind if you start getting weird in your head and know that she’s probably calling you one of the best lovers she’s ever had seeing as how you last past the first shot. Second, she might be married, but she and Fancy don’t love each other in a romantic way, Crimson. They’re friends that live in the same house and keep up the appearance of being married and happily so, but it’s really a fucking sham, and I should know; I consider them both to be close friends of mine. If you like her, go for her. I don’t think Fancy would be upset to let her go and I don’t think she would be upset to leave her former idol for someone who likes her for who she is and what she’s done. If you can get over her past, then I say let there be a feast of fortune in your honor.”

Crimson gave me an odd look. “So what? I’m just supposed to take a married mare from a husband she’s been with for years? I know Fleur and Fancy differ in age a good deal-”

“Not as much as you might think.” I checked my nails.

He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-six, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“I’m pretty sure that Fleur is closer to your age than she is to Fancy’s, but that’s because she’s older than you.”

“What? I thought she was a year younger than me.”

“Nope. I won’t tell you how much older she is, but I will tell you that Fleur is easily one of the most pleasant people I’ve met if you can get her out of gossip mode. She’s a good woman, and honestly, I think you two would do well together with your backgrounds. You’re the debonair playboy and she’s the elegant seductress. If you can both keep yourselves to each other or work out an agreement, I think you’ll do well.” I commented.

Crimson leaned back in his seat. “... So Fleur really is older than me?”

“Yup. She hides her age since she doesn’t want to be seen as past her prime, but then again, she is a retired Operative. I don’t think blokes like us stay in the business too long as far as espionage goes, but if I’m not mistaken, she retired a bit early.”

“She did. She retired a lot early. A lot of Operatives retire in their mid forties since ponies start getting suspicious of older folks asking the right questions, but then again, I know an Operative that came out of retirement when he was seventy just because he knew his face was forgotten and that his enemies had forgotten about him.”

“How’s that fellow doing, by the way?”

“Well, the last time I checked. Still kicking, still taking missions. He mostly works in Ponitaly since his parents were from there and his Ponitalian is pretty fluent, but it’s not like he’s on easy street because of that. He works a lot with the mob and the Dogfathers over there, so he has to be extremely careful unless he wants to get caught. Last I heard, he was working a case on the second biggest cabal on Equus, trying to dig up enough dirt for Celestia to indict the Dogfather.”

“That’s some pretty interesting shit right there. I hope I get to meet that fellow sometime.”

“You probably won’t. He mostly deals with the Princesses because they’re the only ones who can speak the secret language he taught them so he could correspond without being caught. That guy is easily one of the most dangerous and endangered Operatives on the face of the planet.”

“I wouldn’t want to trade places with that guy, to be honest. I don’t think I could deal with that kind of pressure.”

Crimson looked at me like I was stupid. “You’re a Prince.”

“Point taken, counterpoint ensuing. My kind of pressure is different from having to keep my very identity and my true life a secret from all of those people who surround me. Plus, as an older fellow, I’m doubting that he gets around as well as he used to. He has to be that much more careful to not get caught up in dirty business, just in case things go south.”

“It’s the very fact that he’s old that keeps him out of a lot of trouble, Max. Nopony suspects an older stallion of doing anything suspicious at all, and since he’s pretty good at acting, he’s even better at what he does. I’m pretty sure that you might have him matched or a little bit below him, but I can tell good Operatives from poor ones pretty well, bud, and you could’ve been a damn good Operative if you were given the chance.”

“Shit, with the way our missions might be turning out, I’m going to have to be one again, if my theories are correct. I might be able to pull it off, or rather, I can pull off the stealth bit pretty well, but there’s going to be a high price on my head if I ever get caught in the act. I’m starting to get recognizable, and not being able to change my appearance myself is going to be rough.”

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine. After all, you’re one of the quietest ponies I’ve ever met when you need to be. Honestly, I’m surprised that you’re not still a thief. You must’ve been good at it.”

I shrugged. “I was. I could get pretty much anywhere at any time of day, though I really did prefer to work at night. I was a great conman when I needed to be, but stealing really was my specialty.”

Crimson snorted. “With that silver tongue of yours, I’m surprised that you’re not a politician of some kind. Most nobles would kill for your ability to warp the words of others and to work them around so that they stick their hooves in their mouths.”

“It’s an art as much as it is a skill. We could do a little practice, if you want. It’s going to be a long ride and we’ve got precious little to do.”

I heard the door to the car open and some trolley wheels started coming down the aisle. Crimson smirked at me. “Watch this.”

The lady pushing the cart was around my age and seemed to be rather tired, but she gave us a smile nonetheless, and when she saw our faces, a light blush splayed across her cheeks and she perked up a bit. “Hello, gentlecolts. Can I offer you some wine, champagne, snacks, or something else?” She hinted none too subtly.

Crimson tilted his head. “What might the something else be?”

She gave him a pleasant smile. “It could be something you might be looking for. We don’t know until you ask, right?”

He looked at me and I looked at him coolly. She was rather pretty, and she had quite the posterior on her, more than making up for the less than eye catching amount of bust she possessed. Crimson looked back to her. “I think I’ll have a little of something sweet.”

I raised a hand. “Would you happen to have any liquor?”

She continued to smile at Crimson and gave me a slightly more muted one. “We do offer brandy, but little else. I apologize if it’s an inconvenience.”

I shook my head. “As long as it’s not trouble to you, I’ll have the brandy. I don't mind waiting a good thirty minutes to an hour for it either.” I hinted.

Crimson’s knuckles met mine inconspicuously and he smiled at her. “Do you think you could show me around a little bit before you grab the brandy? I’ve been meaning to stretch my legs.”

The trolley lady’s face lit up. “O-Of course! It’s no problem, though it might take a little while.” She looked to me as if checking to make sure that I was okay with it.

I raised a brow at her. “I’m perfectly fine with that. Be sure not to excite him too much, you know how ‘colts’ can be.”

Crimson hit me and I grinned. He rose from his seat and the lady left her trolley next to the seats, so I reclined in mine and started writing the tail end of Midnight Stroll and the Stolen Sword. It was fun wrapping up all the loose ends, and as I tied things together with the help of my little page of notes, I heard Crimson and the nice trolley lady come back. The lady was walking funny and my ‘bodyguard’ had a look on his face that told me he’d just rocked the everloving fuck out of her world.

“I’ll be right back with your brandy, sir.” She said somewhat breathlessly.

I gave her a knowing smile. “Take your time, and if you leave the bottle, I’ll give you a tip better than the one I was planning on giving you.”

Her face straightened up from the pleasant and slightly dreamy look she had been wearing. “Oh no, sir, we’re not allowed to take tips on this line.”

I held up my left hand and flashed her my Signet Ring. “Tell your boss that Maximus has taken a shine to you, and if he doesn't like that, then he can come talk to me himself.”

Her jaw dropped and she seemed a little starstruck. “W-Wait, do you mean…?”

Crimson smirked. “Yes, he’s Prince Maximus. No, don’t bow or kneel, he’s not a fan of that whole deal.”

She curtsied shakily anyway. “It’s an honor to serve you, Your Highness. I’ll be sure to tell my manager that you’re aboard.”

I grimaced. “Please don’t. I’d rather keep this between us, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, Your Highness. My lips are sealed.” She zipped her lips and threw away the key.

I nodded. “Thanks, love.”

She smiled at me pleasantly before bending down to whisper into Crimson’s ear. “I’ll be on this train for three more days.”

Crimson whispered back, “Come back as often as you can and I’ll show you a good time, Rosebud.”

Rosebud gave him a quick peck on the cheek and waved as she pulled the trolley away from us into the service part of the train, so I looked at Crimson and asked, “So? How was she?”

Crimson smirked smugly. “Her flank is every bit as good as you think it would be, but she just doesn't have the control that Fleur does. Still, she’s tight and her voice!” He made a noise. “I could go again, but I can’t keep her from work too long.”

I chuckled. “I’m so telling Fleur that you’ve been sleeping around on her.”

He rolled his eyes. “Buck buddies, Max. We’re not involved or anything quite yet.”

“You never know.” I said in a sing-songy voice.

He rolled his eyes again and picked up his book, so with that, I started getting back to my writing. Once I was finished, I gave my shit a read through for any errors and found that I was pretty consistent throughout the relatively long book. Crimson told me that he was about to finish up with A Star-Crossed Love, so I sent my book back home for the time being and started writing another since I was still feeling the artistic flow. Midnight Stroll and Pickum Pocket would be the last book in this particular series, but I would most likely do a spin-off series that would carry on with Midnight and his new companion. I knew this was going to be the longest book by far since this was going to be based off of the time I met Will when he was still Maxwell, and I was planning on incorporating our first job together at that, so of course this one was going to be a little expansive.

By the time I’d gotten the first two chapters done, Crimson had finished A Star-Crossed Love and he told me that he liked that I’d ended the story in a different way than most romance authors ever would have dared to. We agreed that it was nice to have something different in the pool of books, but Crimson told me that I’d most likely become infamous for doing something of the sort and I knew that eh was right, but infamy was just as good as fame in the writing world. It sparked intrigue into your material, and, if nothing else, it was a brilliant way to get people to be interested in the rest of your works. Hell, a lot of the reviews I received from Stove Pipe said that most readers of my Midnight Stroll series had picked it up because of the success of A Single Breath and wanted to see what else I could do. Apparently I kept a lot of readers since they were just interesting books, but I was mostly concerned about how people felt about both series as a whole.

So far, the reviews I’d received on The Lover’s Days Trilogy were glowing for the first two books, but the last in the series had been simply atrocious by most accounts. I’d received entire letters that were nothing but scorn from many people, but no one had sent me any death threats. However, I’d been offered a thousand bits to rewrite A Star-Crossed Love, and I actually replied to that letter, saying that I would be tempted if I actually needed the money. Sadly, I just didn’t feel the need to make people feel good, so that was a boon on my side.

As far as The Midnight Stroll series went, I pretty much only received fan-mail. There were a few people every now and again that asked if the stories were based on real life experiences, but I noticed that a lot of those letters were mailed from bigger cities and places like that, so I assumed they had seen more tales of thievery than your average small town like Ponyville. The people that asked if my stories were plucked from my life usually followed up their questions by stating that they’d asked because my characters seemed too lifelike to be mere concepts straight from my mind, but that was a whole different thing that I rarely addressed.

Anyway, while I’ve been writing this entry, I’ve been sipping on the brandy that Rosebud brought back for me, though she didn't ask Crimson for another round while she was there. She did, however, tell us what the best snacks were and offered to make sure that no one snooped into the car while we weren’t paying attention, but I told her that I would be able to tell anyway and Crimson backed me up, saying that I could likely hear the heartbeat of whoever was intruding over the sound of the train. Rosebud immediately blushed and excused herself to go to the other cars to see if anyone else wanted snacks, but as she left, I used my True Theft to palm her arse and what a lovely arse it was. She came back and light whacked Crimson, telling him that she would be back soon if he was that eager, which made me grit my teeth to bite back my giggles.

Crimson agreed with her wholeheartedly, but once she was gone, he looked at me. “You know that was dirty, right?”

I gave him my best shit eating grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, mate.”

He rolled his eyes. “Either way, you just got me laid again, so I can’t really complain.”

I shrugged. “Feel free to take a little longer this time. I don’t know how good it was for you, but if you’re hoping to take on Fleur, you might want to see if you can wear Rosebud’s rosebud out before you do.”

He gave me a look "You know a mare can only take so much of that before she can’t walk anymore, right?”

“Ask her when her shift ends and then ask her how deep she wants you to go.” I suggested.

“Oh? Is that a dare?” He asked, grinning.

I raised a brow. “Does it need to be?”

“Not even close. I’d buck that mare until she couldn’t walk for a week if she let me. I’m telling you, that flank is fantastic!”

“Mate, I know. I just copped a feel. You’re a lucky bastard.” I chuckled.

“So you admit it!” He said triumphantly.

“I got you laid, fool. Don’t complain about free, no strings attached sex.”

He tapped my shoulder. “If I can convince Twilight to give you some when she’s not in the mood, then we’re even, right?”

“Tch, good luck. I can do that on my own. Now if you could get Twilight to let Noir give me a titjob, that might be a whole different story.”

Crimson rummaged around in his carry-on bag and brought out a pen, some paper, and an inkwell. “Say the word and I’ll give it a shot.”

I shook my head. “Have at thee, ye knave. I’m sure she’ll tell you to fuck off.”

He shrugged and started writing. a once he sent his note off, he crossed his arms and waited a few minutes before Twilight sent him back a note that basically told him to sleep with Starshine if he wanted me to get anything from Noir. Crimson visibly winced and told me that he wasn’t doing that anytime soon, so I sighed and started writing Twilight a note myself, asking why she was telling Crimson to sleep with Starshine. Twilight told me that she and Starshine had a long talk about Crimson and I and that Starshine had said that she still loved Crimson to an extent and that seeing him flirt with Fleur was a bit like a slap in the face. I told Twilight that Starshine really needed to keep her nose out of Crimson’s business since it was rather clear that he didn’t want to be with her anymore, but Twilight defended her, saying that Starshine deserved a shot just as much as Fleur did. I took the time to explain that Starshine had already had her shot and something had gone down to break Crimson and her apart, though I wasn’t about to go digging into it.

Twilight, however, had no reservations about digging and told me that Starshine had only messed up once, and that was when she swore at Crimson for not being interested in sex one night. I asked Crimson what his side of the story was and he said that Starshine relentlessly asked him for sex on a daily basis and that he felt like she didn’t love him for who he was, but what he did for her. When they were together, he did the cooking, the cleaning, and the shopping while Starshine just fucked off in her lab until nightfall, and on top of being absent and basically using him as a tool for sex and cuddling, she never bothered to thank him for doing the things he did.

I asked Crimson if he minded that I share this information with Twilight so she could properly be informed and he told me that he didn’t care, so I wrote his side out and sent it off to her. It took Twilight an hour to respond, meaning that Crimson was finally taking a nap since we’d been on the train for a full eight hours, but when I got her reply, she said that she’d asked Starshine if all of Crimson’s ‘claims’ were true and Starshine couldn’t deny that they were, so Twilight had let her know that she had no room to be asking anything of Crimson after using him like that. My fiance apologized to me for not getting the whole story and explained that Starshine simply felt terrible that she’d been bugging Crimson for more of what made him leave her in the first place all these years. Twilight and I promised each other that we would communicate before we ever started to resent each other like that.

Twilight asked me if I was bothered at all by the fact that I always ended up cooking for her, but I really wasn’t since I knew she couldn’t cook worth a damn and said as much. She said that we needed to see if my skill with cooking had rubbed off on her at all because of The Covenant, but I rather doubted that it had. Still, I wasn’t going to tell her not to hope and dream because that would be a mean thing to do, but I did ask her to try cooking in one of the Briddish kitchens if she ever got a chance and she promised that she would if she could. With that being said, I asked her how the teleportation had gone and she said that she’d been quite ill afterwards, but once she got some fresh air, she was alright to continue. She asked how my train ride was going and I told her that I was relaxing with a bottle of brandy nearby and that Crimson had fallen asleep before he could lay the trolley lady again.

Speaking of, while I was writing Twilight, I heard someone open one of the doors to the car and shook Crimson awake absently before going back to writing my beloved. Rosebud stopped by and asked my ‘bodyguard’ if he was ready for another ‘tour’ and he agreed quickly, patting my shoulder before he rose to leave. I appreciated the gesture, but when I sent my note off to Twilight, she scolded me for just letting Crimson sleep around with whoever he wanted, but I told her that he was a grown man who could do what he wanted within reason. Twilight still tried to chastise me, but she ended up crossing out a few lines and admitted that I wasn’t really responsible for his actions unless it came to business. She did, however, ask if I’d hooked them up and I couldn’t lie to her, so I told her that I’d instigated their second meeting, but that their first was all them.

I waited for Twilight to reply and she inquired about me possibly trying to live vicariously through Crimson since I couldn’t lay a finger on another woman without her permission, which made me ask her if I could molest her from across a quarter of a continent and an entire ocean. She told me that I didn’t answer her question and that I wasn’t allowed to breath until I did, so I wrote back quickly and told her that I’d literally been holding my breath while writing for something to do. I hadn’t been trying to live through Crimson and I probably wasn’t going to, so I put her mind at ease and she let me know that she would be up for some moderate teasing until further notice.

And so began the molestation from halfway around the world.

I started off by stroking Twilight’s cheek gently, but since my left hand is mostly incorporeal when I use True Theft, she couldn’t really hold my hand, though we could both feel my touch. I continued caressing her cheek and let my hand travel down her neck, feeling her shiver as I stroked the soft fur with the back of my fingertips. I stopped there and felt my way back up to her ears, fondling them for a moment as I felt her relax at my touch. The fine texture on her ears was always nice to feel, so I let my hand linger there for a while, gently rubbing the tender flesh before I moved onto her mane. When I let my fingers run through the thick, luscious locks, I felt myself come to a state of ease, but I was still eager to do some extra things that would be a bit less nice.

My next target was her other ear and I gave that one just as much attention as the other , though I was still ready to go somewhere else, and when Twilight wrote me a note telling me that she was fine with a little more exploration. With her permission given, I let my hand go to the nape of her neck, walking my fingers across her fur until I felt the little bumps of her vertebrae that told me that I was in the right place. I let my finger linger every little protrusion as I made my way down her back, enjoying the feeling of the thicker fur that covered her spine as I let my hand meander further down. I stopped as I felt her hand and altered the position of my hand through some complex thought that took a minute, but it allowed me to disturb her fur as I travelled up her spine the opposite direction.

While I was still focused on her back, I allowed my hand to smooth the fur I’d stroked the wrong way, but when my hand met her tail again, I realized that Twilight was sitting down. With that in mind, I walked my fingers up her back again, making her shiver in either delight or irritation, but when I laid my palm against the small of her back, I felt her breathing pick up slightly. As my hand was currently occupied, I thought of the next region I wanted to explore on Twilight and decided that I would touch her arms next, so I walked my fingers up her back, over her shoulder, and stroked her bicep and tricep with my hand. She flexed a bit while my hand was wandering over her muscles and I was surprised to find that she was actually rather firm there, though I waited until I walked my fingers across her shoulder blades and over to her other arm to make any assumptions.

Twilight tried to brush my hand away from her arms, so I slid my hand up her arms and walked my fingers between her breasts, the intangible nature of my True Theft giving me the oddest sensation as I felt my finger go through the material. Twilight wrote me and told me that she wanted me to start going after her erogenous zones, but I wrote back with my right hand and told her that I was building a mental picture of her with my hand. She replied and said that I could continue as I pleased, though she added in that she was alone and was going to be for the next few hours, so we could spend as much time on foreplay as we wanted.

That being said (Or rather, written), I let my fingers glide down between Twilight’s breasts onto the silky smooth fur of her stomach and pressed my palm against her, rubbing the area in a circular motion. I’d started with small circles and I could practically hear her sigh. I did feel her stomach depress, so I imagined that she did, and as my circles crew wider and wider, I found that they met different resistances. With Twilight’s pleasure in mind, I guided my hand upwards until it met her bra and let myself give each of her breasts a gentle squeeze. I felt her chest go forward and thought that she might have gasped, so I continued my teasing for a few moments before I allowed my hand to phase through her bra to touch her breasts in their warm, soft, silken glory.

Twilight’s chest heaved as I pinched and occasionally pulled at her pert nipples, the feeling of their stiffness arousing me more than I already was. I felt like I was going to need some relief by the end of our session, so when I switched to her other breast, I started writing her a note, asking if she thought we could get away with a quick visit that probably wouldn’t be all that quick. My fiance said that we shouldn’t chance it, but if that I wanted to stop, we could. I denied her immediately with ‘No’ written in large letters on the back of her note and I felt her giggle. I pinched her nipple harder than I’d ever pinched the other one because I could and I felt her hand cover her breath, her chest vibrating due to what was most likely a moan.

I decided to stop massaging her mammaries and brought by hand behind her, smoothing down the fur on her back as I went along. Of course, I simply had to grab a handful of her lovely bottom because it just felt like a prerequisite before we got to the good stuff. Twilight wriggled around for a moment and I squeezed her posterior, though when I did so, she stood up so I could get a better feel, which I considered a kindness that I planned on repaying soon. Through the power of my mind, I maneuvered my hand so I was grabbing her arse as if I was standing in front of her and I felt her tense up, her bottom growing even firmer, though it was still soft enough to make me very happy.

Once I’d had my fill of my personal Princess’ positively perfect posterior, I swept my hands across her hip, taking my time as I felt her around the lower part of her stomach. My fingers met the hem of her knickers , but instead of phasing through them like I had with her bra, I let my hand rest against her mons over them, pressing down softly on the warm flesh there. I felt Twilight shift under the mild pressure, so I moved my hand slightly further down and stroked upwards, just barely touching tip of her clitoris as I worked. I gave her mons a few more light pets, barely disturbing her panties as I did so, but Twilight wrote me a note saying that she would do it herself if I didn’t complete what I’d set out to do.

I rolled my eyes and wrote her a quick note with my right hand, telling her that patience was a virtue and that I would make it good for her if she let me. I tried not to stop working as I wrote, but it was like trying to work a paddle-ball while… Well, writing, so it was a difficult task. Twilight quickly sent me back a note and I felt her legs close around my hand, which meant that I was either going to read the note or ignore it to continue molesting her with her permission. I deigned it worthy to read the note, but all she said was that she was talking to someone at the moment and that I could continue when she let her legs go.

Who am I to go against her wishes? Fucking Maximus, that’s who.

I let the majority of my fingers phase through her thighs and stroked her folds over her panties with my middle finger. I felt Twilight’s legs tighten around my finger further, but I was determined to not lose my place, or let the wetness I was feeling between her lower lips dry before I had a chance to make her see that things could get much better. I kept up the gentle stroking and felt the moist patch grow as I continued, so I pulled my hand from Bridleland and let myself have a taste of her. It wasn’t as pleasant as I’d hoped, so I sent my hand back through space and placed it against Twilight’s stomach, rubbing it for a moment before I trailed downward to her thighs once more, though I didn’t go straight for the gold like I had before. Twilight had crossed her legs in favour of keeping them together, so I had plenty of room to work with her right thigh, the one that was on top.

I caressed her thigh gently at first because there’s a certain quirk to Twilight: She needs to be warmed up properly before you apply pressure, otherwise you turn her off, which is probably too much information, but I swear to whatever you hold dearest in your life that I will eviscerate you if I haven’t given you permission to read this anyway. Twilight responded to my gentle touches by crossing her legs in the other direction to avoid letting me have my way, but I just switched targets and started working on the other one, taking in the softness of her fur and the supple yet firm feeling of her thigh. Twilight uncrossed her legs and crossed them again, so I switched again, but this time, I gave her thigh a mild squeeze and I felt her leg start shaking a bit, one of her tells that let me know she was starting to feel the heat a little more than usual.

Now was the perfect time to drag my fingertips from her knee to her hip, so I completed the gesture as slowly as I could, feeling her thigh tighten and loosen as I continued. I wanted to cup her bottom as I worked, but I thought that it would only serve me, so I waited for her to uncross her legs again so I could reach between them, and when she finally did, she left her legs uncrossed and sent me a note, mildly chastising me for teasing her while she was talking to one of the staff members of Whinny Castle. I wrote back and apologized, but she didn’t believe a word on the paper and told me to hurry up since she just wanted some release at this point. I honestly felt the same way, so I guided my hand to the lovely area that I like to call the Twilight Zone where nothing weird happens.

I toyed with her over the now damp cloth of her knickers, slipping my fingers between her folds and pressing down on her sensitive little button when I felt it… Well, not necessarily become erect, per se, but when I felt it allow its presence to be known. It was a little harder than it was before, and when I gave it a little pressure, I felt Twilight’s legs widen, but then she stood out of nowhere. The next thing I knew, or rather, the next thing I felt was her shift positions and spread her legs again. I figured that she’d laid down, so I slipped my hand underneath her panties and felt her clitoris in all its cute little glory.

After I gently flicked it a few times, rolling it around with the tip of my index finger, I felt Twilight’s hand pass through mine to reach her honeypot. I grabbed it and drew it away so I could continue as I had been. It seemed pertinent to give her what she wanted, so with a little mental effort, I changed the position of my hand so I could enter her with my fingertip, going slowly at first to warm her up. I knew that from the sodden state of her sex she was ready for me to get on with it already, but the best things in life are often worth waiting for, so I carefully allowed my finger to slip inside her creamy, warm folds until I felt my second knuckle become enclosed in her narrow entrance. Lesser be the man who rushes an orgasm, and I consider myself to be pretty damn great, so I worked my index finger into her slowly as if she weren’t already prepared for a second digit.

Knowing full well that I could ease another finger into Twilight with her natural lubrication being plentiful, I hesitated to do so and swapped my index finger for my middle finger so I could reach a bit deeper. I felt the barrier that would stay there until our wedding day and drew my finger back slightly, trying to orient myself so that my palm was facing upward. After a few seconds of trial and error, I felt my favorite little internal bump and stroked it softly once before going again with more intensity. Now that I knew where I was, it was a simple task for me to give Twilight a good experience, and as I carefully, yet firmly stroked her G-spot, I felt Twilight’s walls tighten around me and my wrist felt awfully warm all of a sudden. It was a clear indication that she’d climaxed, but I wasn’t done with her quite yet, and if Twilight’s hastily scribbled, practically illegible note was anything to go by, she didn’t want to end it there either.

With that in my mind and a good feel for what I was doing, I added my ring finger into Twilight gingerly, being sure to give her time to get used to the feeling before I fully penetrated her. It wasn’t a difficult task or a time consuming one since I’d taken the time to lubricate my finger before trying anything. Twilight shivered as I touched her, incensing me to go a little further, to try a little harder to make the next one better for her. I kept that thought close as I tried once more to bring her to her peak, and once I had the second knuckle of my middle finger in her once more, I started moving them in and out of her slowly, shifting in my seat so that I could work with her more easily. Once I could judge the distance between her G-spot and her hymen, I picked up the pace a little, making sure to grind my fingers into the node with consistency. Twilight’s walls were fluctuating with their grip on me every time I pushed a little further in, and after a few more minutes, I had her cumming once more, her juices soaking my fingers.

I thought that I’d done just fine and withdrew my hand from Bridleland since I two was good for the time being. my job and had done it well at that. Once I had my hand back, I licked it clean and Twilight sent me a note, thank me for my favour and offered to return it when we got together next time, but I warned her against fingering me unless I was Roxy. Twilight promised to give me a lovely little blowjob and I thanked her for both the promise of the favour and the flavour of her on my fingertips. We exchanged a few more notes before Twilight asked if I would allow her to sleep and I said that she was welcome to retire whenever she felt like it. After we properly said goodbye, I laid back in my seat and closed my eyes for a moment.

I must have dozed of for a little bit because when I opened them again, Crimson was sitting next to me, taking a nap of his own to recuperate from the raucous lovemaking he’d probably performed, except I doubt he was actually stirring up any love with his dick. With Crimson by my side and some liquid relaxation on the table-thing in front of me (First Class privileges), I leaned forward to pour myself a glass and sat back with it in hand. It really was good brandy: nice and smooth with a good kind of burn that came after it was down. I wasn’t exactly crazy for it, but it was adequate.

I took the time to get this written out because I wasn’t really all that tired, but I figure that if I have myself a few more sips and chill for a bit, I might be perfectly fine for an extended nap. Who knows, maybe Crimson will be awake when I open my eyes again. Eh, hopefully it will just pass some of this unnecessarily long train ride.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Three days later and after a lot of ‘tours’ for Crimson, we finally arrived in Mexicolt and it was fucking hotter than thermite that was lit with magnesium on a summer day in Hell. Fucking Christ, unless you’ve been to Mexicolt in a fucking suit, you don't know the level of suffering. You just don't. However, there was a saving grace that made everything a little less shitty and it was how good the food smelled. Seriously, being from England, I’ve never really had much of a chance to get authentic Mexican food because fucking reasons such as an entire ocean and the majority of a continent being in the way. I’ve always wanted some, but it’s just never been available to me.

Sadly, I wasn’t allowed to taste any of the lovely station fare, though I was allowed a few moments to take in the rather interesting station itself. I assume that the stylings were based off of Spanish architecture with some Equestrian-Modern influences that gave the place a rather grand feel to it. The walls were painted in murals that were strikingly vivid and it was obvious that many different artists had taken their turns on them in the time the place had been around. Much to my displeasure, the posse of official looking fucks that came to collect Crimson and I didn’t give us time to look around, grab some hot food, or even really get a half decent feel for the local vibe. I mean, the people in the station stared blatantly at our group of well-dressed fellows, which made me feel like I was some kind of pariah. Look, I’m the kind of guy who usually goes unnoticed in a crowd, or at least, I was in England. Being singled out, being noticed like that… It made me snap into Prince Mode immediately just to stave off the incoming feeling of being ill all over someone’s shoes. I don’t like being the center of attention. In fact, I fucking hate it, but it’s something that I’m going to have to deal with if I’m ever going to get good at this Prince thing.

Anyway, so the fellow who greeted Crimson and I lead us through the station at a brisk pace, through a few crowds of people, and out into the true heat of Mexicolt. Shit was so brutal that Crimson and I just looked at each other for a moment, both of us already sweating like whores in church. I knew that Mexicolt was going to suck then and there, but I still held a little hope that we would be able to have a chance to get out and about to do something other than die of heat stroke. That hope kept me going, and when I realized that we were going to have to walk to the distance to the palace proper, I held onto it that much tighter.

I tried talking to the Captain fellow who had come to collect us, but the fellow was very tight-lipped and wound up, like he was expecting there to be trouble at any given moment. I didn’t feel any disturbances in the force that would give hints toward malignant activity so I tried to relax a little, but I steadily grew more uncomfortable as we walked through the streets of Mexicolt City, sticking to the main roads. Crimson and I were quiet after a few minutes, and I figured that he was feeling the same general ill breeze that seemed to be blowing the further we came into the city itself.

Now don't get me wrong; Mexicolt City was beautiful in its own way. We passed a few fountains that held children of all ages in their waters that were usually interesting depictions of various Ponies or Dogs holding different sources of water, though I noticed that there were more Ponies in the streets than Dogs. That might have just been because it was the capital or because of the particular areas we were walking through, but either way, I was interested in the demographic, though when I inquired about it, Crimson could only tell me that some cities were more Dog oriented than Pony oriented and that was pretty much it. There seemed to be a pretty good divide between the Dogs and the Ponies since I rarely saw two of them standing together, but again, it’s not like I had much time to observe.

I did, however, have a lot of time to observe the sun-bleached walls of the tall flats that popped up from time to time. A lot of the buildings were built in a way that would make any thief’s dick wobble in excitement, and I say that because the rooftop access was so easily accessible that getting from place to place would be a breeze, even if you weren’t the best with parkour or freerunning in general. It’s not like I expected the people who lived in those flats to have much in the way of valuable possessions, but if I ever wanted a good exercise to test where my skills have fallen through the year or so I’ve been in Equestria, Mexicolt would be a good place to start. That is, if the rooftops could even hold someone’s weight. The flats seemed to be adobe style, so I was guessing that they were made of a white clay or stone, so I wasn’t terribly excited about testing the limits of them any time soon.

In any case, the walk to the other side of the city took hours on hours and it was more tedious than anything I’ve ever fucking done. Like seriously, I fucking hate being stared at, but we didn’t have any Unicorns in our party and Mexicolt was too steeped in tradition to have Teleportation Stations, so we had to hoof it, which I just realized is a hilarious way to say we had to fucking walk. Ponies and their lack of feet. Heh. Still, I was willing to bet that they were faring better than I was, if anything then due to the nature of those blasted hooves. It was interesting to see that the Dogs had no presence in our guard, so I was hoping to meet a friendly one at the castle or whatever it was that we were supposed to be going to.

Crimson told me that the place we were going was actually called El Castillo, which basically just meant the castle, so that was a nice little tidbit of information. Upon arriving at El Castillo, I found the place to be somewhat reminiscent of some Spanish castles that I’d seen in history books throughout my years at school, but I wasn’t all that impressed to say the least. Canterlot Castle was bigger and prettier and I doubted anything would ever top the Crystal Castle so I just took it in as I could and hoped that I would meet Corona Rey, the reigning King, sooner rather than later.

My hopes turned out to be for nothing since Crimson and I were sat in an official looking room that held no interesting art pieces or anything of the like for an hour out of the early morning. Crimson and I chatted about Rosebud for a little bit and we just wondered what she was up to and how she was enjoying being home after being on a train for multiple days. Granted, it was a nice train and all, but it’s not a job for those who get motion sick easily or can’t abide by being in an enclosed space for hours on end. Crimson talked about her enclosed space some more and told me that she’d been growing on him a little, so he was a little sad to see her go, but I assured him that great arses like hers would surely pop up in his future.

Just as we moved off of the topic of arses, one of the ugliest beings I’d ever seen popped into the room to tell me that my presence was being requested in the Salon del Trono, which I assumed meant ‘The Throne Room’, so Crimson and I rose, but the butler told me that Crimson was to stay behind as I went. That was a red flag if I’d ever heard of one, so I used my True Theft to grab Crimson’s sword and passed it off to him, but the butler became irate and said that there were no weapons allowed in El Castillo, which was bullshit because I’d seen multiple people casually carrying around rapier-like swords that had told me otherwise. I may have told the butler that he was welcome to try and take it since he was feeling brave enough to raise his voice at a Prince, and much to my surprise, he actually rushed past me and demanded that Crimson give him his sword. Crimson told him to ‘buck off’, and when the guy tried to snatch it from him, my ‘bodyguard’ held onto it with one hand and stood fast as the older fellow tried to pull it away from him. It just wasn’t happening, so the butler guy ran out of the room and I sat down next to Crimson and we talked for a little bit.

A few minutes later, six guards came into the room with their swords drawn. I grabbed my Kopis from home before Crimson and I rose to greet them as one does with people who look like they’re going to try and stab you. I didn’t draw my blade, however, and Crimson followed my lead, so the two of us squared up against the larger group confidently since we knew that we could fight out way out of there if we had to. Hell, if anyone stood a better shot at it than us, I don’t know who they’d be other than a handful of Alicorns. That, and if we started losing, all I had to do was grab Crimson and get us out, but it was looking like we weren’t going to have to fight.

The same Captain fellow who’d met us in the first place pushed past the group of soldiers and raised his arms. “Where did you get weapons!? Where!?”

I shrugged. “I’m a Prince because I’m smart and magical. Is there a problem with my bodyguard carrying a weapon?”

The Captain guy gave me a look. “Of course not, Principe. Who would give you such an idea?”

I raised a brow at him. “The fellow who ran off and called the guards here.”

The dude whipped around and glared at the closest guard to him. They spoke in rapid Mexicoltian for a moment and I don’t know a lick of the shit, so I couldn’t follow what they were saying, but Crimson gave me a quick rundown as they were talking and said that the butler had actually been someone no one knew. The guards had just come because the fellow had said that there were murderers in the room, so when the Captain turned back around, he looked rather frustrated.

“I am sorry, Principe, but it would seem that a spy for La Canalla has come to call.” He smoothed his hair back and looked at the ground.

I looked to Crimson. “La Canalla?”

“The Mexicoltian mob.” He said with an edge to his voice. If I had telepathy, I would ask about that.

I turned to the Captain guy. “So you’re having some troubles in a troubling time. That’s worrisome to say the least.”

“It is, but we have little time for you to be worried about our issues. Please, if you would follow me to His Highness Corona Rey’s personal reception chamber.” The Captain motioned for the guards to leave.

I stowed my Kopis back to where it had been, gesturing for Crimson to follow close. I snapped my way back into Prince Mode since I’d come out of it to have a conversation with Crimson, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be my best bet since I was still feeling like I was a bit on edge. I mean, I didn’t even realize that the guy in front of me had been a spy, so what does that say about my gut feeling always being right? Sure, I’d felt the red flag pop up and all, but what if I’d been lead into a trap and never even saw it until it was too late? I wasn’t sure exactly how that would go, but I was certain that it could have ended fairly poorly for Crimson if I’d been caught.

With a possible disaster narrowly avoided, Crimson and I travelled a bit further into the castle and as we went, the more opulent things became. There were more pieces of art that weren’t as bright or vivid as the murals wed’ seen in the town proper, but they were still beautiful in their own right, though there were a few pieces that depicted bloody conflicts that made me wonder if war was common in these parts. I wasn’t sure, but if they had a member of the fucking mob in their castle, then it wouldn’t surprise me too terribly to find out that they were fighting a smaller war of their own.

It took a little time, but we got to the King’s quarters with time to spare and a bit of the day left to talk and do whatever. I wasn’t really expecting to see him so soon, but I was more interested in seeing how he felt about having an Equestrian Prince in his castle. Celestia had told me that relations with Mexicolt were generally few and far between, though she’d asked Kind Corona multiple times to help her get a handle on the Manganese Salt trade between Equestria and Mexicolt a few times in the years before he actually took power. He’d promised and delivered up to an extent, but he’d fallen off in the past decade with his promises and that was a part of what I was supposed to be talking to him about. I wasn’t looking forward to that since I didn’t know much about it, but I figured that I could at least come back to Celestia with a few empty promises or some news to share.

Speaking of royal people, Crimson and I walked into King Corona’s room and he wasn’t there, so we had more waiting ahead of us. However, the Captain guy stuck around for a few moments and promised that he would return in a few moments with the King himself instead of allowing someone else to lead us there. I took a quick look around and found the room to be too my tastes. It was a little on the old-fashioned side of the art spectrum, but it was a tasteful study in shades of maroon that made me like the place. Crimson was quick to tell me that maroon symbolized blood and conflict in general, but I thought that it was a suiting color for a king to have draped around his private chambers. It was already hot, but it gave the place a warm feel that seemed more inviting than foreboding, and as I was studying an abstract painting (the only one of its kind in the room), King Corona and his Captain came in to address Crimson and I.

I turned around since I’d heard their footsteps, but Crimson was still looking at a marble sculpture until the door opened. We met in the middle of the room and waited for King Corona to see us to do anything else. The King and I crossed the distance between us and shook hands briefly before he gestured for me to sit down. We’d left our respective guards behind as we met, but now that we’d had a chance to touch each other appropriately, they joined each other at the head of the room while the myself and King Corona took the time to sit at the table in the middle of the room. We sat across from each other (as I expected us to do) and I waited for my host to speak.

He took his time in doing so, studying me closely as we looked at each other. I don’t know what he was looking for, but I know that as I looked at him, I found myself growing a little fond of him already. Corona had strong facial features that didn’t really strike me as making him handsome, rather, it made him look like a hard-working, blue-collar kind of fellow. He didn’t have much of a regal aura about him, though the fancy attire he wore told me that he was comfortable in whatever position he needed to fill, somewhat like myself. Corona’s eyes always seemed to move, taking in every inch of what he could see and looking for more when he processed the information he could. I had a feeling that this was a guy I could respect, at least, I would save that judgement until I heard what he had to say and how he planned on saying it.

King Corona touched one of the buttons that held his cape to his shoulders and looked at me calmly. “You are Principe Maximus, no?”

I nodded. “I am Prince Maximus. You are King Corona, yes?”

He smirked at me. “You would think the thing on my head and the cape around my shoulders would give you ample information, would it not?”

I raised a brow at him. “One does much thinking, but they can never be sure. For all I know, you could be a very well dressed actor with a penchant for messing with people.”

King Corona chuckled. “I see you have a sense of humor. That is good for people in positions such as ours. To have humor shows a certain level of intellect and wisdom. I have met royalty of all stations that have little to no humor within them and I find that they are often the snakes that slither through ground, waiting to bite at the slightest notion of a joke.”

I smirked at him. “I’m sure that you and Luna don’t get along too well in that case. Celestia, however, can have quite the sense of humor when the time calls for it.”

“That she can. I have found myself becoming very fond of Celestia’s sense of humor over the years, like when she jokes with me about controlling La Canalla in the slightest.” King Corona shook his head.

I stopped smiling. “Maybe we should address that first.”

He sighed. “I would much rather that we talk about something else.”

“The thing you avoid is often the most important one. If La Canalla is as big a problem as it seems to be, then why not cut the head off of the snake and burn its body while we’re taking care of it? We can feast on the flesh once we’re done.” I replied.

King Corona stared at me. “... I apologize for possibly misunderstanding, but did you just offer Equestrian assistance with La Canalla?”

I shook my head. “No, I offered my assistance with La Canalla. I was once an Operative of the Crown and so was my bodyguard over there.” I gestured toward Crimson. “Between the two of us, with my sheer might and his experience in the field of subterfuge, I’m sure that we could locate the base of La Canalla and either wipe them from the face of this planet or bolster your forces enough to arrest them all.”

King Corona worked his jaw. “As you may have noticed the vast majority of my people, mi familia, are Portros de Tierra, Earth Ponies. If you have Magic that will allow you to assault the main base of La Canalla, I invite you to do so, but I warn you that the base is an entire town.”

I steepled my fingers and looked at him intently. “I’m prepared to take that town out of the equation for a favour from you. A couple of them, actually.”

He leaned forward and pressed his hands against the table. “Name your favours.”

I nodded. “I want your involvement in The War. I don’t know of your fighting force or how valuable you might be, but I do know that every ounce of strength we have backing up the Equestrian forces is going to matter.”

Corona looked at me and sat back. “You want me to thrust my people back into war like they have been for the last forty years? You ask me to rob the young men of my country of their lives for the sake of some petty Equestrian conflict?” He spat.

“That’s the gist of it, depending on how you feel about Discord ruling the entire planet, not just Equestria.”

King Corona blinked slowly. “Did you just say ‘the entire planet’? You mean all of Equus?”

I nodded carefully. “I don’t know his full intentions, but Discord wants a war to end all wars, so I imagine that he’s going to use it to make a clean sweep of the planet’s fighting forces so he can just take over for himself. What I’m offering you in exchange for your people’s very lives are the continued existence of your country, a chance to rule in peace, and the destruction of a thorn that you can’t dislodge yourself. I’m not speaking lightly here, King Corona. I sense that you’re a man worthy of respect, and I feel as though you’re a mind worth getting to know, so I ask that you think on the prospects of a second Reign of Discord, but this time, without the Elements of Harmony to take him down.”

Corona worked his jaw. “I have little choice, if that is the case.”

I sighed. “Few of us have choices these days, my friend. We do terrible things for the sake of others, and as I’ve learned in my time as a Prince, we do evil things for our people,” I already knew that, but let’s let you think otherwise, “but that just means that we are the ones most suitable for fighting for the peace our world needs to thrive.”

He stared at me for a few moments before rising from his seat. “Hijo de puta! Odio estar atrapado!” He shouted suddenly, pacing back and forth for a few minutes. “Fine! If you will exterminate the bed of filth that is Esteril, then my men will march with those in Equestria’s army and we will fight Discord and his reign together.”

I sat back in my seat and folded my hands in my lap. “You don’t need to answer now, my friend. Think on it for a night-”

“No.” Corona interrupted quickly. “I do not need to think on this. If you can wipe clean Esteril from Mexicolt, then I will accept your terms. However, I must ask you how you plan to exterminate that blasted city before you do so.”

I took a deep breath. “How many innocent people are in there?”

“No one in Esteril is innocent. Those who are there are there by choice, and those who leave for honest work find it hard once they have the marks of Esteril on their coats.”

“Then don’t worry about how I plan on eliminating that problem. Give me a guide to their location and I will take care of it from there.” I said cryptically.

“But how do you plan on taking them down!?” Corona asked, exasperated. “Surely you have the Magic the Equestrians are so proud of, but what can you do with it?”

I shook my head. “Just know that my Magic can kill Celestia and Luna, no matter how strong they are. In a fair fight, I’ll lose every time, but if we involve our Magic, then I’m the victor.”

Corona sat back down. “... I do not know much of Celestia or Luna’s power, I must admit.”

I reached through space and grabbed my Kopis, laying it on the table.  Corona looked at my sword and back to me. “... Did you just do a magic trick, or was that true magic?”

“It was true Magic my friend," And True Magic, "but I do few tricks these days. Parlour tricks are not my specialty, but what I am is the most powerful thing in this room, and possibly one of the top five most powerful being on this planet. I cannot say for certain that I can defeat Discord, but I can say that I can take him down for good, and that I am the only person capable of doing so.”

“... If you can truly ‘take down’,” He threw up some air quotes, “Discord, then why have you not done so?”

“My Magic works on a different scale and that’s all I can say for the time being. We cannot discuss this, but we do need to discuss when I leave for Esteril.” I replied, using his accent to pronounce the word correctly.

He winced visibly. “Do not try to sound like me, amigo. It makes you sound rather… Estupido, I should say.”

I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. “Then when can I expect to be escorted there?”

Corona shrugged. “That depends on where you want to go. Do you want to be lead to the center of the city, or the outskirts?”

I looked away for a moment and thought. “Is there high-ground nearby that I can use to look down on the area? Maybe a mountain path or a particularly high hill?”

He gave me an odd look. “There is, but I do not see why you would need one.”

“No one in or near that city will survive when I am through with my plan. Just know that if you don’t follow through on your part of the bargain and I end thousands of lives for nothing, I will end yours slowly and painfully.” I said softly.

I heard a sword rasp its way out of its scabbard and I put my hand on my Kopis, but instead of drawing it, I put it back where it had been in my house and looked at Corona calmly. His eyes flickered to something behind me, but I wasn’t really giving a damn until the sword appeared next to my neck.

“Do not threaten Corona Rey, Principe.” The Captain guy said, his voice low.

“Crimson?” I called out, my own voice level.

“Your Majesty?” Crimson replied.

“Was I threatening?” I asked.

“No, Your Majesty. You were warning and promising simultaneously.” Crimson snarked.

The blade touched my neck. “Corona Rey, what is your wish?”

King Corona looked at me. “No one threatens me in El Castillo.”

I rolled my eyes and thrust my left hand forwards, activating my True Theft as I did so. I punched the Captain guy’s sword arm away so I wouldn’t get cut and stood up quickly to face him, my countenance probably giving off the vibe of being incredibly bored. The fellow frowned angrily and he drew his arm back to stab me, but I reached through space and grabbed his spine, pulling him backward. He howled in pain since, you know, your spine isn’t really made to be touched directly, but once I had him a decent distance away, grasping at his back with his sword on the floor, I walked over and picked it up by the blade before coming back to the table. Corona Rey was Standing, glaring at me something fierce, so I held the blade by the tip and offered it to him.

“Like I said, Corona; I’m the most powerful being in this room. If I wanted to threaten you, I would. If I wanted you dead, you would be. I want you to be my ally, not my enemy, so be my ally. Let me take care of La Canalla for you and join me so that you’re not my enemy.”

Corona Rey’s lip curled. “You threaten me and and now you’ve assaulted my Capitan de Guardia? We are not allies, Maximus!”

I dropped the sword and looked at him. “So we are enemies, yes?”

Corona fumed. “Discord himself contacted me, you know. He offered to rid me of all of La Canalla, not just Esteril de Tierra like you have.” He spat on the floor. “Equestria will fall, just as it deserves to.”

“And you trust Discord, the ultimate trickster, to keep his word?” I asked, looking at him like he was stupid.

Corona glared. “I am not my son. I have never liked Equestria and its shady politics.”

I raised my brows. “Your successor is pro-Equestria, but you refuse to listen to him?”

“He is young and foolish! Corona Sabio is a young man with no mind for-”

I reached out with my True Theft and crushed his heart.

Corona Rey clutched at it and sank to his knees as the Captain guy rose behind me. I turned around and looked at him before reaching into his mind. I’d never tried pulling a Celestia before, but all I needed to do was remove the last few minutes of my talk with Corona Rey from him, so that’s what I thought of as I committed an unspeakable act. I hid Corona’s body in my closet for a little bit while, and after that, I picked up the one fellows sword. The Captain rapidly blinked his eyes and I walked up to him.

“Captain.” I said softly.

He shook his head. “Principe? Where is Corona Rey? He was just here, was he not?”

I nodded. “He retired to his chambers. Do you not remember? He told you to lead us there shortly before getting us started on the La Canalla problem.” I gave him a look. “Aren’t you supposed to be the Capitan de Guardia?”

He colored and saluted. “My apologies, Principe, I must have been lost in my mind. I will show you to Corona Rey’s chambers now.”

“Are you sure you remember the way?” I said drily.

His jaw jutted forth and he glared. “I assure you, senor, I know the way.”

I nodded. “Lead on.”

I looked to Crimson who seemed to be keeping his face as placid as possible, but I could hear his heart hammering from where I stood. He was either furious beyond belief or he was elated that my gamble had worked, but then again, I rather doubted that it was the latter since I’d known Crimson for more than twenty-four fucking hours. We exchanged a looked and he let his mask melt and I was sure which of those was feeling in a second, and he sure wasn’t fucking happy. I nodded at him and turned to follow the Captain out of the room.

The walk to the King’s chambers wasn’t a long one, but it felt like it had taken forever. I’d just killed another Goddamn King even more callously than I had the first one, and now I knew for a fact that Crimson was going to tear me a fucking new one for altering memories. I wasn’t looking forward to my day, but I let it lie for the time being and when we got to the King’s Chambers, the Captain looked around for the King’s presence. I took the time to drop the body in the corner of the room while he wasn’t looking and propped him up in a chair. Luckily, True Theft negates the weight of whatever I hold as a passive effect, so that was nice. The Captain spotted the King with his head on his shoulder and his arms crossed and I was glad that I’d thought quickly enough to give him a more natural pose, though it sucked that I had to think as such.

“King Corona?” I called softly.

The Captain looked at me and back to where I was watching. “Ah, Corona Rey!” He strode over, but when the King didn’t move at all, he faltered and back away slowly. His head whipped around, his eyes wide. He looked back and forth a few times before reaching for his sword, scouring the room for assailants, I assumed.

“Oi, what’s going on, Captain?” I asked, feigning unease.

Crimson strode forward and drew his sword. “Your Majesty, get your sword!” He said, selling the act well.

I got my Kopis and whipped around. “Hall’s clear, Crimson! I might be a little slow on the uptake, but could someone tell me what’s going on?”

“The King isn’t breathing, Your Majesty.” Crimson said tersely.

“And what are the odds that whoever made that happen is here for me too?” I asked.

“Not sure, keep on high alert.”

“Maldición!” The Captain cursed loudly. “Corona Rey is dead!”

“We just saw him not even ten minutes ago! Who in this scorching Hellhole works that fast!?” I turned to look at him.

He stowed his sword and ran his hands through his hair. “I should have accompanied him here! I should have been watching the entire time, but I was too busy staring off into space, losing myself in my thoughts! Principe Corona Sabio is going to have me killed for letting his father die on my watch!”

I rushed over and took the man by his shoulders. “I won’t let that happen, Captain. We say that King Corona asked to go to his room alone to think on the alliance between Equestria and Mexicolt in private and that means your just following orders. You do not have to lose your life over this one mistake.”

He took a deep breath. “You would be willing to do this for me?”

I nodded. “There has been enough death for now. At the moment, I need you to get the news out and to explain your side of the story. If you need me to, I will accompany you to the Prince’s chambers and we’ll deliver the news together and I’ll back whatever story you go with, but in any case, the King is dead and it needs to stay in El Castillo until the right people know, okay?”

The Captain nodded. “You truly are a leader, Principe Maximus. We will tell Principe- Er, Corona Sabio Rey that his father has passed first and foremost, then we will move onto the more important matters. For now, I must have my guards at high alert. No one must leave El Castillo!”

I nodded. “Hop to it, my friend. Crimson and I will be close behind as your witnesses.”

That was the start of us making rounds about El Castillo. We visited a few important officials and we met the General that was going to assume the role of King before Prince Sabio could be coronated, but we ended up saving him for last since he was actually out of the castle at the moment. Crimson and I followed the Captain dutifully throughout his rounds, chiming in when he needed his story to be legitimized. The General fellow himself was pretty much the only one who found our story to be suspect in the slightest, but when I explained that the Captain, Crimson and I had been in the same room for at least five minutes before we discovered the King and the Captain himself backed me up, there wasn’t much he could say since La Canalla spies had already been spotted in El Castillo earlier in the day.

We gathered every important person that worked for The Crown in one room and went over the story one more time, explaining everything from the time I met Corona Rey himself until we found his body in his room. There were whispers in Spanish that Crimson didn’t translate for me, but I got the gist of what was going on.

A fellow who was wearing a matador suit stood up when the room fell silent and addressed me. “You, Principe Maximus! How does your story defend you in the slightest!?”

I raised my brow at him. “The Capitan de Guardia was in the room with me the entire time while the King himself was not. If you don’t believe my words, then believe that he lives up to his station and is loyal to The Crown.”

The fellow spat on the floor. “And what if you used your Equestrian Magic to tamper with his memories!?”

I had to try not to my eyes. “Just because I have Magic doesn’t mean that I can use it however I like. I am no Unicorn, friend.”

His lip curled. “I am no friend to you! You are the most likely culprit!”

“Why would I kill King Corona Rey if he agreed to help Equestria? The only thing he requested of me was to destroy the city of Esteril, and I still fully intend on doing that, regardless of whether or not the fellow who made the agreement still lives. If you continue to slander my name, I will not stand for it.” I warned.

“And what? You will kill me as you have Corona Rey!?” He demanded.

I leveled a glare at him. “Implicate me in the death of King Corona again. I dare you.”

He pointed a finger at me. “You slayed him! You slayed him yourself!”

I popped my neck and blinked once. “I challenge you to an honor duel. The winner leaves with his life, the loser gets buried. Let’s see where your baseless accusations lead you.”

The dressed up fellow barked out a laugh. “I was Corona Rey’s personal Campion de Concursos for three years! Every challenge levelled against him was directed to me!”

“Do you accept?” I said, cutting straight to the point.

He smirked and raised his right arm quickly, slapping his elbow with his left hand. “I accept, Equestrian pig! Your blood will flow as the King’s has!”

“The King wasn’t bleeding, nor did he show any signs of having bled at all when we found him.” I answered coolly. “Perhaps you know more of the incident than you care to share?”

The pompous prick colored and seethed as murmurs were passed from person to person. “I was nowhere near Corona Rey’s chambers at the time!”

The Captain spoke up. “And who can vouch for you? I can vouch for Principe Maximus. I can stand here and say that they never left the room and that Corona Rey was found alone. Where were you?”

The matador looking fellow spluttered for a few moments. “I-I was-”

One of the two women in the room chimed in. “I saw you near Rey’s quarters not an hour before Capitan Raymundo came and told me about El Rey’s passing! You are a suspect as well!” She declared.

More murmurs started milling about and I shared a looked with Crimson and the Captain. “Alright everyone, give me your attention for a moment.” I politely demanded.

Once I was sure I had it, I continued. “We cannot go around pointing fingers to everyone. The most likely suspect is working with La Canalla, am I wrong?” There were a few murmurs of assent. “Then we start organizing an assault on them, and then we air our suspicions. I know it is not my place to be passing orders around here, but we need to handle this situation correctly.”

There were more voices consenting to my plan, so the Captain took over. “As Principe Maximus has said, we point no more fingers, though I would like to remind everyone that a duelo has been issued. Should anyone find fault with this, let them speak now.”

One of the stuffy looking fucks raised a hand. “Should we really be worried about a deulo right now?”

I shook my head. “I can brutalize my accuser another time. For now, let us settle the matter of what to do about La Canalla. As I was saying to King Corona earlier in the day, I will deal with them in Esteril and I hope that his promise will be upheld by whoever his successor may be.”

The General shook his head. “I do not know what promise Corona Rey has made to you, but we cannot honor such a deal without knowing what it is.”

The Captain coughed. “All non-essential people should excuse themselves from this room. This is top priority only.”

After five of our group of thirteen left (including the matador looking fuck), I took the time to explain what was going on and the General buried his face into his hands shortly before another person walked in. The new man looked to be a bit older than I was and he looked somewhat similar to King Corona, so I assumed that he was Prince Sabio in the flesh. I was already standing along with the Captain and Crimson, so the other five people rose and bowed to Prince Sabio. He gave them a curt nod before making long strides to come and greet Crimson instead of me.

He shook Crimson’s hand. “Prince Maximus? I have heard little about you, but I’m sure that having a meeting so soon after your long train ride has been taxing on you. Please, take care of yourself before taking care of business-” Sabio said, his Equuish more fluent than anyone else’s in the room.

Crimson let go of his hand and backed away, giving Prince Sabio a shallow bow. “Your Highness, I am not Prince Maximus.”

Sabio blinked at him and looked to me, so I extended a hand. “I'm Prince Maximus. It is a pleasure to meet you, though I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances.”

He blinked two more times in rapid succession. “... But… You are not a Pony.”

I raised a brow at him and dropped my hand. “I am aware of this.”

“Why would a non-Pony be a Prince of Equestria?” He asked. You’re losing points rapidly.

“Celestia believed I could do the job and do it well. Is there a problem, soon-to-be King Sabio?”

He raised his hands in a defensive gesture. “No, I meant no offense, Prince Maximus. Please forgive my ignorance.”

I shook my head. “Consider it forgiven and forgotten. As it is, we have more important matters to discuss.”

Sabio looked around. “I see. Where is mi Padre? My father?”

I took a deep breath and let it out. “That is the main reason for this meeting, my friend. Unfortunately, we believe your father was assassinated.”

He didn’t look all that surprised. “That is surprising, but not unexpected. His strict laws on the salt trade have made him many enemies.”

I nodded. “So far, the most likely suspect is La Canalla. One of their spies was spotted earlier in the day and nearly got me killed, so we think that they enacted a previously unknown plan.”

“You yourself were in danger as well!?” Prince Sabio exclaimed. “La Canalla has shown their hand today.” He growled.

I nodded again. “So they have, and it couldn’t be at a worse time. As of now, we have discussed an assault on the city of Esteril, which I personally will be heading as per the request of King Corona, but we still need to discuss the matter of an alliance with Equestria. Now may not be the best time, but it IS the original reason I came here.”

The General guy huffed. “Such matters can wait. For now, we must organize Principe Corona Sabio’s coronation and announce the death of Corona Rey. After this, we shall speak of Mexicolt becoming allies with Equestria.”

“Of course. While you all are organizing the coronation, I can get started on exterminating La Canalla. I only need a guide to get me to the mountains nearby, and as long as I have the place in sight, I can take care of it.”

Sabio looked at me. “If you truly can wipe clean the stain that is Esteril, then it will go a long way into making our once proud nation an ally of Equestria.”

“Then let us get started as soon as possible. There is much to do and little time to do it.” I replied.

And so Crimson and I were escorted to another room to sit around for a little while. I didn’t try talking to Crimson and he didn’t talk to me, so I assumed that we were on a ‘business only’ kind of agreement at the moment. In my defense, I didn’t really want to mess with the Captain’s memories, but I’d had little in the way of choices when I accidentally made an enemy of King Corona. I shouldn’t have said that I would come for him if he didn’t honor his agreement, but I now hope that Celestia can use what I’ve done to her advantage as much as possible. In fact, I actually wrote her a note detailing the events of the day, and when I got her reply, she called me a ‘bucking idiot’, but she said that I’d made the right choice in the end. She’d already known that King Corona had been visited by Discord, which is why she sent me instead of Twilight in the first place. Now that I think about it, Celestia was most likely expecting me to either kill him or to just take care of the Manganese Salt trade, not both at the same time. I should ask her about that some time, but in the moment, she just made it very clear that I’d fucked up. I was doing one Hell of a job in cleaning it up, however, so I had that going for me.

With Prince Sabio in line to take over where his Dad left off, I can’t help but wonder why he wasn’t sad about his father’s passing. I mean, any normal son would be aggrieved with the passing of one of their parents, and it seemed like he was actually taking the news in stride just a little too well. It struck me as odd, but I couldn’t do anything about it at the time, so I sat on my hands and twiddled my thumbs for a little bit until Sabio himself came to collect Crimson and I for another meeting.

The next meeting wasn’t as tense as the first one, and by then, there had been an agreed plan of action. I would be lead out into the Chihuahuan Desert where Esteril de Tierra lay and would climb the mountains there until I got to the proper vantage point. While Crimson and I were travelling, the funeral for King Corona would be held and the Coronation of Sabio would take place a few days after that, so there was a lot to be done in quite the short span of time. The trip across the Chihuahuan Desert was going to take a week at the very least and we were going to have to travel by train to get to the nearest town that wasn’t as dangerous. It could still be a hotbed for crime since it was only about four days worth of travelling by foot away from Esteril, but I was confident that I would manage well enough. Crimson, however, might be another story. Once I returned from Esteril, Sabio and I would be having a talk about whether or not he should aid the Equestrian army in the fight against Discord, and when that was said and done, I could get my visit in Mexicolt over with.

When the meeting was over, Crimson and I were shown to the Dining Hall since I’d mentioned that we hadn’t had a chance to eat on the train since breakfast, so we were allowed some food and were welcomed to tour El Castillo as long as we kept to the unguarded areas. The food was more important to me, so Sabio had someone go fetch a butler and when the fellow arrived, he showed us where we could get some food. Crimson didn’t eat much and neither did I, but I still did my best to get something on my stomach while I could, though I wasn’t fond of having to force myself to eat. For reasons that should be obvious, I wasn’t actually feeling all that hungry, but I knew that it was going to be rough if I didn’t, so I choked some warm food down and asked one of the maids in the Dining Hall to show Crimson and I to a private room so we could talk.

That trip was a long one since we had to go across the castle, but when we got to our destination, all was fine. Crimson and I stood alone in a sparsely decorated room, but he still wasn’t talking to me, so I wandered around a little bit until I found what I wanted to say.

I made a circuit around the room as Crimson followed me with his eyes. When I came all the way around and stood in front of him, I said, “I know it was wrong, Crimson. Most likely evil, but I also know that killing the Captain would make us the most likely suspects.”

He shook his head. “I know why you did it and I get it, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it, Max. What you did was wrong, and you could’ve handled that better, but what’s done is done and you’re not making things any worse so far. Hopefully you learn from this and don’t keep killing people to cover your mistakes, Bud.”

I sighed and rubbed the stubble on my face. “There were worse ways to handle it in my defense, but like you said; what’s done is done. Hopefully I don’t trap myself in a situation where that happens again, but you never know.”

He just shook his head some more. “I’m already tired of this damned war and it hasn’t even started. I know that thousands of lives are going to be lost when it comes, but I really do hope that you keep your body count to a minimum.”

I nodded. “I’ll try, but you heard what Prince Sabio said. There’s going to be at least five thousand people in Esteril.”

Crimson looked at me. “I don’t want to be there when you take care of it. I’ve killed ponies before, Max, but wiping out an entire city is actual genocide. There’s no coming back from that, Bud. You can’t say that you had to defend yourself or that you were in a fight for your life then. All you can say is that you chose to end all of those lives for the sake of reaching your goal, and that’s practically it.”

“That’s not all it is, Crimson. These people aren’t the good guys; they aren’t the people that will join our side. If they’re anything like the Cartel from my world, then they’re people that Equus would be better off without anyway.”

He glared at me. “And what gives you the right to make that decision?”

I shrugged. “You could say that it’s because I have the power to make that decision.”

“That’s an evil way to think.”

“True, but you’re looking at it in a black and white perspective. That’s like saying that killing a murderer leaves you with the same amount of murderers in the world, but that’s not true. If you kill enough of them, then there’s always going to be less because of one person’s actions. Those with the power to act should, Crimson, and those people need to know where their heart lies. My heart lies in making this world a better place, and if I have to kill a few murderers to do it, then so be it.”

“It’s not that cut and dry. If there are people in Esteril that are actually innocent, are you just going to ignore them and kill them all anyway?” He challenged.

“... Yes. I suppose I am.” I said softly, running my hand through my hair.

Crimson shook his head. “Are you really willing to do anything just to get ahead of Discord, Max? Are you really willing to risk it?”

“What are my choices, Crimson? Leave behind a force that might make a difference in The War, or make sure that I get the help we need and solidify our relations?”

He looked at me sadly. “I get it Max, I really do. Just… I don’t know, your hands are tied to your hooves and there isn’t much you can do about it at the moment other than hope that there aren’t too many casualties. There’s little we can do about that.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I hate being stuck, Crimson. I really wish I’d seen a way to ensure that we just got out of Mexicolt quick and clean with them backing us, but there are always so many complicating factors that just seem to make everything so much worse.”

“I know, Bud. Just don’t let it get to you and keep muddling through as best you can. I’m sure that Gryphonia will be easier for you to handle.”

“I really hope so, Crimson. I really do.”

We left it at that for the time being and we were lead to our rooms for the rest of the day. We’d eaten a couple of hours after dinner was served, so there wasn’t much else for us to do other than wait for the next day so that we could prepare for our trip to Esteril. Our crap was already in our rooms, so I didn’t bother unpacking, though I did take a bath and put on some lighter clothes to help deal with the oppressive heat. However, once night fell and the moon rose to its zenith, things got so much colder that I actually had to crawl under my blankets to keep warm. I wasn’t looking forward to the time in the desert since I knew the change in temperature would be much more drastic and far less accommodating, but I tried to avoid thinking about it for as long as I could and wrote Twilight insead. I was too far west for it to be a decent time for her, but I basically just wished her a good day and told her that I loved her.

As of right now, I’m just jotting down my last few thoughts before heading to bed for real this time, but I can’t imagine that I’ll actually get any sleep. I can hope, however, so I’m going to give it a shot. I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of covering how I felt about the day’s events so far, but I really do feel terribly about killing Corona Rey. He seemed like a good guy, but when he threatened to join Discord’s side… Well, that was just a risk I couldn’t afford to take.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day saw Crimson and I receiving our guide and getting aboard another train. It was a cool morning when we left and things seemed to be… Alright. Crimson still wasn’t happy with me, but things were less tense the they had been before. We both knew that mindraping someone like that was unforgivable, but I’ve been trying to forgive Celestia for it for some time now, and I hope Crimson will extend the same courtesy to me. Even if he doesn’t, we still had to go into a fucking desert on the back on an ox for three miserable days, so I needed to know that he was still loyal to me.

The train ride to Solitario (The town closest to Esteril) dragged on. There were a few stops near the beginning of the ride, but when we started getting into the second day of the trip, fewer and fewer people boarded the train and more got off, meaning that Crimson, Taro (our guide) and I all had an entire car to ourselves for the majority of the trip. The few people that were in the other cars all seemed like the rough and tumble time, so I kept my distance, though it wasn’t like I expected them to know Equuish anyway. No, things were already looking sketchy as fuck and we hadn’t even gotten close to our destination, but at least the tracks were clear and we didn’t have to worry about any stops for miles at a time.

Traveling is boring and Taro didn’t speak a lot of Equuish, so I couldn’t talk to him very much. I tried using some Portuguese to speak to him since I’d read an English to Portuguese dictionary once when I’d gotten extremely bored between jobs, but I only knew a few phrases and the sentence composition escaped me since it had been years since I’d even given the thing a thought. Still, some of the words I remembered were enough to help me get my points across to Taro, and between Portuguese and good old fashioned English, we managed to talk about Esteril for a few minutes. Most of what he said were warnings about trying to get too close to the city itself, but when I mentioned that we would likely never even see a soul while we were there, he relaxed a bit and went to go talk to Crimson for awhile.

He and Crimson talked for hours while I tried to see how Twilight was doing at various points during the day, but when I wrote, she was usually busy with in-depth historical tours or actual official business, so there wasn’t much I could do with that. I did, however, hold her hand for a little while since she wasn’t doing much that needed her to have both hands and that was nice. It didn’t stop me from resenting Celestia a little bit for giving me the most challenging detail out of the four, but then again, I wasn’t going to have to deal with Chrysalis or anything, though I would have much preferred to do so. The weight on my shoulders grew heavier the closer we got to Esteril, but I felt like I couldn’t do anything about it now. I didn’t want to think about what I was going to have to do and I don’t want to, but… The mind does what it wants. My thoughts keep travelling back to the lives I was going to snuff out like so many candles in the wind, but that’s what rulers do. It’s what royalty does. They sacrifice lives for the greater good, and if need be, they put their own on the line so their people can live in peace, or at least, that’s how I think a true leader should act. I wouldn’t wish my position on anyone, nor would I ask that someone take my burden. I know damn well that I could pluck my soul from my body, put it in someone else’s, and force a trade like that, but that would be so cowardly, I don’t know if I could live with myself after that.

I don’t want to be a Prince. I don’t want the power or the responsibility that comes with it. I don’t want the True Theft, or the Tele/Psychokinesis. I don’t want the power that I’m still not going  to speak of, but I have no choice. I’ve lived my life in a way that’s dumped all this bullshit on my lap and it’s seeping deeper into me than I care to admit. Hell, I’ve taken to staying in Prince Mode just to keep calm and collected, but I want to do nothing more than curl up and forget, to leave my life behind and just go be happy with Twilight somewhere, but I can’t. If I ever ran from my duties, then I’d be fucking the people who rely on me so hard I doubt that I’d be redeemable.

Being me fucking sucks most of the time.

Whatever. I’m done bitching and lamenting my choices. I can’t change anything right now, so let’s just get on with what happened when we arrived in Solitario, yeah?

Right. So the train stopped at the station and Taro got us moving, but when we got off, there were already a few people waiting for us. Two of them were seedy looking blokes with something that looked like and Oroboros brand under their right eyes, both of them being Dogs. The other two were Ponies that were on the slim side, but still looked rather dangerous in their own right. However, I’ve never been one to be intimidated and I was wearing my Kopis openly since I was fucking allowed to, so they gave Crimson, Taro and I some space. That didn’t mean that they were just going to let us go, and when they tried to follow us, it was fucking obvious to me and Crimson that they weren’t planning on letting us do much without having eyes on us at the very least. It didn’t help that the total of people who’d gotten off of the train had been six and that the other three people gave off the vibe of being natives to the area, so I imagined that word had travelled ahead of us that we were coming. There was a mole in El Castillo, so when I asked Taro to find me a place to write a quick letter, he directed us toward one of the two saloons in town. Taro was the lead, I took the middle, and Crimson wrapped up the rear, often looking around as if he were a tourist of some kind. Taro either didn’t know what was up or didn’t care because he just took us down the main roads to our destination.

When we got inside of the establishment, it was dimly lit with lanterns and stuffier than an attic in the middle of the summer. I had Crimson grab us a few drinks and keep an eye on the bartender while he poured so I could get my note written and sent off to Prince Sabio. Once I had it sent, Crimson handed me my drink and I gave it a sniff before downing half of it in one go. It was hot and disgusting; rotgut at its finest, but it was a liquid nonetheless and I was fucking thirsty. A minute or two after I got my drink, our tails popped into the bar and Taro finally took notice of them. He paled when he saw them walk in and started speaking to Crimson in hushed whispers that I didn’t quite understand, but I did get that he was trying to say that we needed to go as soon as possible. Crimson relayed the information to me and asked how I wanted to handle the situation, so I suggested that we have a talk with our tails and find out what they wanted. Crimson wasn’t exactly against the idea since they were only armed with knives while we were both trained to deal with such situations. Taro, however, didn’t want to get killed, so he suggested that we just leave, so I gave in easily since I wasn’t really trying to add more blood to my hands if I didn’t have to.

I drained the rest of my mug and Crimson just left his on the table, flipping the bartender a ten bit coin like he’d had plenty of practice in doing so. We got gone soon after and Taro started leading us through back alleys so we could lose our tail, but when we were getting close to the inn we were supposed to be staying at for the night, there were some thugs at the end of the passage that didn’t seem like they wanted to have tea. Taro abruptly turned around and started motioning for Crimson and I to head back the way we came, but when we turned around the four goons from before were already blocking our exit. Crimson drew his Tanto instead of his longsword since we didn’t have that much space and I drew The Warbling Blade since some unfortunate, senseless murdering was about to happen.

Taro began speaking to the guys ahead of us in rapid Mexicoltian, but when they kept coming closer and closer, drawing their own knives, I pushed him between Crimson and I so we could handle things the proper way and I started actually using my head. Instead of fighting the people in front of me, I put my knife back in its sheath and activated my True Theft. I grabbed the fellow at the back of the group in front of me and sent him to Gryphonia before doing the same with the rest of them. When I turned around, Crimson was stabbing some guy multiple times with two knives, so I assumed that he’d gotten one of them out of the way and stole his knife. That, or he’d taken the knife from the guy he was stabbing. Either way, I still teleported the last of those fellows into Gryphonia so they could be dealt with by someone else.

Crimson let the guy he’d handled fall to the ground and I stole his body and threw it into the sky, looking up as I did so. I’d sent him awfully high, and when I saw the speck start coming closer and closer, I followed it with my eyes all the way to the middle of the street. It didn’t quite splatter, but it did bounce awfully high with a rather loud crunching sound, and when it hit the ground again, it was a little messier. Crimson came over to see what I was looking at and made a simple noise, looking up to the sky to check for more falling bodies. There weren’t any since I’d only dropped that guy to send a message, and he was probably already dead anyway, so we dragged Taro over to the inn.

The poor guide was a little shaken after nearly having been killed, but Crimson and I assured him that none of the people who’d come after him were ever going to get word out that he was with us, and that while he was in our company, we would protect him. Taro breathed a little easier after that, and after some tequila from the inn’s stores, he started sharing stories with Crimson and I went outside for a breath of fresh air. No one had bothered to move the body, though there were already some rats doing their best to get rid of it. I didn’t like that very much, so I picked the fellow up with my True Theft and phased him into the ground so he would get kinda sorta buried.

Seeing one of our assailants again made me wonder how Godrick, the weapons smuggler from Gryphonia, was doing with his seven new friends. I thought that they’d probably be killed or something, but as long as I didn’t have to deal with them, I didn’t really care. I didn’t want to sully my hands with unnecessary blood if I didn’t have to, but as I was looking up at the clear night sky, I heard some footsteps that lead me to believe that I was going to have to send some more people away.

I was proven correct when a Dog twice the size of fucking Macintosh showed up from the side of the building and made eye contact with me. I gave it a nod and it growled at me, stalking closer. It’s heartbeat was the only one thrumming loudly enough to show any kind of killing intent, so I was sure that the small crowd of passers-by that was gathering were expecting it to kill me in a spectacular fashion. When the Dog stopped a meter or so away from me, it unsheathed a rather large Bowie Knife that was probably the length of my forearm. Again, I’m not one to be intimidated by just anything, so I limbered up a little bit and looked it in the eyes.

“Are you looking for trouble, friend?” I asked poitely.

It snarled some more.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” I shrugged. “I suppose I could just send you away and not deal with you, but you actually seem like a fun fight that I can tell my mentor about. Tell you what; if you manage to scratch me with your little pen knife, I’ll let you kill me. Deal?”

It didn’t give me and answer and just sent a well telegraphed and poorly aimed swipe at my face. All I had to do to dodge it was take a step back, and when it saw that I wasn’t even trying to give a fuck, it growled some more and took a few more swipes at me. I kept my hands in my pockets and just weaved around it since I really wasn’t trying to be bothered, but I could feel my heart slowly hardening, and when I lifted my left hand from my pocket, the Dog stopped and looked at me like I was crazy. I stepped into its guard and it tried to push me away, but I let its paw slide off of me and snapped my fingers in its face.

Primal Mode was fully active and I no longer gave a damn about how much blood I would have on my hands. The Dog tried to make some distance between us so it could use its full range, but I stayed on it like a metaphor in a poem and started throwing jabs into its stomach in an attempt to make it throw up since I wanted it to be vulnerable for a good, pretty finisher. The first few connected well and the Dog winced every time, getting more angry with every hit it took. I wasn’t phased in the slightest and continued working its gut for a few minutes, but when I got a good rhythm going, I started using flowing strikes to its head to disorient it, boxing its ears every now again while mixing in the odd jab to its furry face to make it clear that I was in control.

The Dog dropped its knife and tried to fight me hand to hand, but every one of its punches were worthless in its effort to avoid getting hit on nose again. When it threw its powerful hooks and slow straights, I pounded on its wrists far harder than I had on its face, making it harder for the oversized dumbass to form a fist with every punch. Desperation set in hard for my opponent when I got tired of being nice and used the Warbling blade to stab it right above the bend in its elbow. If you’re not that familiar with anatomy, that’s where quite a few tendons lie in the arm, so once I disabled its right arm, my point was clear and the Dog’s heart beat rapidly in its chest, going straight from ‘fight’ to ‘flight’. I considered letting it go. I considered letting its punishment be just losing one arm. I considered letting one Hell of a lesson be all it needed to learn.

Some evil part of me told Mr. Nice Guy to kill himself.

The Dog tried to run, but I fluidly snatched three of my throwing knives from my boot and sent all three of them into the back of its leg, grounding it. It had only gotten a few meters away from me, so it wasn’t hard for me to get over to it. The massive mother fucker pulled my knives out of its leg and tried to get up so it could hobble away, but I was feeling the Full Metal Alchemist vibe pretty hard in the moment, so I stabbed its thigh with The Warbling Blade and twisted it, making the creature howl in pain. In Primal Mode, pity has no place in my heart, so when I pulled the blade out, I made sure to widen the cut a little more. The Dog fell to the ground once more and I looked around at the crowd. More people had gathered to watch my former assailant’s utter humiliation, but as I was looking around, a sharp pain in my left leg told me that the piece of shit had just bitten me.

I looked down at it and it tried to bite down harder, so I knelt down, collected my throwing knives with Telekinesis, and wedged two of them into the Dog’s jaw, severing the tendons there. It let go and gave a garbled howl, trying to remove the blade with its good arm this time around. I stood up and shook my leg a bit, a few drops of blood joining the Dog’s on the ground. Fighting me had made it forfeit an arm. Running from me cost it its leg. Biting me… Well, when I cut its tail off, everyone knew exactly what was happening up until I started waving it around. The once-imposing fellow was now a sniveling fucking wreck on the dusty ground, and when I stabbed its right hamstring to make sure it wasn’t going to walk without assistance again, it continued crying. The evil in me decided to make sure my point was received, so I grabbed the Dog byits shaggy mane and dragged it over to the crowd of people. They parted when I drew near and the Dog started whimpering words in Mexicoltian to them, most likely begging for help it wasn’t going to receive. I dropped it in the middle of the crowd and back away, but before I could even turn around, people were already spitting on it and cursing it. I assumed then that the Dog had been some kind of thug for La Canalla that had been terrorizing the town, so I felt it prudent to let the townsfolk decide on how they wanted to deal with him.

I made my way back to the inn and met Crimson standing in the doorway. I snapped out of Primal Mode and went into Prince Mode. “Hullo, Crimson.”

“... Why didn’t you just kill him?” He asked.

“I suppose I just didn’t feel like it.” I replied.

“... You’re making it really hard to follow you right now.”

I nodded. “I can understand that. Seeing your boss mutilate someone they could have easily defeated would be pretty disheartening.”

Crimson looked at me for a few more moments before shaking his head. “You’re dangerous.”

“Generally, I am not. However, I have slowly been going insane again.” I said casually.

“Is this what happens when you’re away from Ponyville for too long?”

“No, this is what happens when I’m away from Twilight too long and I have too much time to dwell. Would you like some tequila?”

“I could use a drink while I write Twilight.” Crimson replied.

“Why are you writing Twilight?”

“So she can reel you in. You’re close to crossing a fine line between doing evil for good and doing evil for the sake of it, Max, and I can’t let you do that.”

“Oh, then carry on.” I said, walking past him.

Crimson followed close behind. “You’re not going to object? You’re just going to say I’m right?”

I shrugged. “You are right. What I just did to that massive mutt was pretty damned evil, Crimson. I need to be reeled in after we go to Esteril.”

Crimson stopped and I took a few more steps before turning around. “Max, you’re implying that what we’re about to do is going to mess your mind up, but you’re not looking for another way out.”

“That’s correct. I needed to take care of that business anyway, we’re just getting bonuses on top of it at this point.”

“... Look, I get that salt is getting to be a problem in Equestria,” He said quietly, “but there has to be another way.”

“Have you thought of one?” I asked kindly.

“... No.”

I spread my hands. “Two birds, one stone. If you think of a better way to handle this before we get to Esteril, let me know and we’ll talk it out, and I do mean that. I don’t exactly want to do things like this, but unless you want try taking care of this in a few days, I don’t see how we, two people, are going to be able to accomplish what an entire government hasn’t been able to do in decades.”

Crimson sighed. “Can I get that drink now?”

I nodded. “Don’t drink too much, we have to get up early.”

He gave me a thumbs up and headed toward the table we’d been occupying so he could take a few shots and I headed to bed since there was nothing else I wanted to do. I didn’t even feel like writing in my journal, so I just went to sleep instead of doing anything else, and when I woke up the next morning, I was feeling a little shitty. The recurring nightmares had been fucking with me for a few days now, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t handle them, so I just got up and did what I needed to do before heading downstairs. No one was present when I went there, but it was cooler than it had been up in my room, so that was nice.

Soon enough, Taro and Crimson joined me and we set out towards the edge of town to meet up with the caravan that was supposed to be getting us to the mountain range, and once I was introduced to the leader of the wagon-train, I kinda liked him. He wasn’t a bad sort, just a little bit on the dull side. It was nice that he spoke fluent Equuish, however, so I listened to his boring stories, though I swear if he would have added some intonation to his voice, he wouldn’t have sounded so damn droll.

Still, three days worth of ox riding went by quickly enough that it didn’t suck completely. As I’ve said before, traveling is boring, and having a brick wall of a language barrier between me and the rest of the caravaners meant that I wasn’t really able to talk to many people without Crimson or the head caravan fellow translating for me. In any case, the trip wasn’t that bad, but Crimson started getting a little more distant with me. It’s not like I was surprised or anything, but I hoped that things would eventually even out between us and that he would see that I had to make a judgement call with Corona Rey. The thing with that big Dog was unnecessary to say the least, but… I don’t really have an excuse. It was just a brutal way of dealing with someone and it was completely uncalled for, but the fucker was after my life and he did try to kill me. I didn’t really feel all that guilty since I could have just killed him slowly and left it at that, or sent him into space and let him suffocate. There were a lot of painful ways that I could have killed him, but I didn’t, so he should be happy with having his pride be damaged.

People really need to learn when to pick fights with me.

In any case, the caravan took us by the foot of the mountain range in a few days and thus began our trek up a few hundred meters so we could get a proper look at Esteril. The caravan would only wait two days for us, so we didn’t have much time to dawdle. However, there was plenty of time for us to get up the mountain’s path since we only needed to get so far, and the path was cut into the stone. It was actually going to be the quickest part of the trip so far, and when we started walking up the paths, Taro was able to take us through an old pilgrim’s route that would lead us to the perfect vantage point. It would be perfect since Esteril was only a handful of kilometers away, but I did worry about how my plan was going to work with us being so close. Luckily, the caravan was on the other side of the mountain, so they probably wouldn’t have to worry about the fallout any time soon unless they were stupid enough to go around the other side like I had told them not to.

Getting to the vantage point only took about seven hours of walking without a break, so that was nice. When we sat down and camped for the night, we could see lights in the town below, but there wasn’t much else in the way of illumination as far as I could tell. However, I knew that things would get a lot brighter and hotter the next day, so I enjoyed the darkness and the cool breeze of the night while it lasted. I didn’t do much writing because it was fucking dark, but I did talk to Crimson a little bit more and he said that he was just going to have to deal with the fact that I wasn’t going to have clean hands during The War. I’d thought that it would’ve been obvious since I would be killing people en masse, but you know how it goes.

Anyway, since I’m getting all of this written down, I woke up early the next day and used the light of dawn to get a glance at the town. I could see for kilometers around that it was nothing but badland, infertile soil and salt-flats that would most likely be the source of whatever they used to cut the Manganese Salts with. The town itself was actually a little on the large side, so I decided to try some scouting and teleported myself into the center of it since I could see a bell tower in the middle. No one was up so early when the Sun was just barely on the rise, but I could still see pretty decently. I had a quick walk around the Town Square and didn’t see much, so I grabbed Sombra’s horn from the bags I’d left at our campsite and stole the Black Crystal power from it so I could erect an obelisk in the middle of town: something for me to aim at.

Once a grey, twenty meter tall pillar was sitting next to the bell tower, looming over the Town Square, I took myself back to the campsite and waited for the Sun to rise a bit higher. When I could see it out of the corner of my eye, I was sure to steal Sombra’s power from myself and put it back in his horn before sitting on the edge of the cliff that overlooked Esteril. The town seemed to be waking up from what I could tell, though that was only because I could see a bit of movement going on from my position. I couldn’t see much, but what little there was let me know that the time was coming.

I decided to stop prolonging the inevitable and activated my True Theft. With my left hand onyx black, swirling with white, I reached through time and space to grab a handful of the Sun, skinning the top and just barely taking a pinch of it in my fingers. Once I held the drop of the Sun, I aimed for the center of the town and took one deep breath before just letting it go, not giving myself time to think twice about my actions.

I could feel the heat from the mountain, and the bright flash of light blew up dust from all around the town, but I didn’t stop there. I took another pinch of the Sun and let it go on the edge of town on the west side, and did it again on the east side of town. By the time I was done with the north and south, the town had been blackened and then whitened like it was bleached by the Sun, which it technically had been. The entire place looked like it was made of salt now, which was poetic in a way, but my black pillar still sat high within its walls, marking the evil I’d just committed like it had been my intention all along. I heard Crimson stir behind me and rose from the cliffside to go and greet him.

He was barely awake when I said, “You can go now.”

Crimson looked up at me. “What do you mean?” He looked around in dawn’s early light. “You haven’t had the time to do anything, right?”

“I visited the town and had some time. I want you and Taro to head back down the path.” I said calmly. “Take your time in packing up, but still. I want you two to head down before I do.”

Crimson blinked at me. “So you’re just going to wipe Esteril out without any witnesses.”

I nodded. “You don’t need to witness this, Crimson. You don’t need it on your conscience any more than I do.”

He sighed after a moment. “I know this can’t be easy for you, Max.”

“It’s better when I don’t think about it. If I can’t do it, I’ll let you know.”

He nodded and rose from his bedroll. “In that case, I’ll get Taro up and we’ll head out. Good luck, Max. I really do wish you the best.”

“Thanks.”

I waited for an hour until he and Taro were most likely heading back on the other side of the mountain to give Esteril another look. I couldn’t see any signs of movement, not even with the telescope Fernando (the head caravan guy) lent me. I sat in some sparse shade for two more hours, my mind wandering from time to time as I didn’t move, but my thoughts weren’t really my own. Guilt was nibbling on me pretty well and I knew that what I was about to do was going to make it that much worse, but I felt like I owed it to the people I’d ended to at least look at them. When four hours had passed, I teleported myself back into the center of Esteril and realized that it was warmer there than it had been on the mountain side. The heat from the Sun’s fire had left some time ago, but the glassy look of the sand on the ground… It had been an intense burn, and I briefly thought about how much it would suck for anyone to fall in the town now since the ground seemed like it would rip and tear at your flesh, digging deeper if you tried to wash it out.

There was little for me to see when I first arrived in town besides glass and ashes, but when I started looking around some more, I realized that some of the things I’d originally thought were just impurities within the walls of some of the houses were actually imprints of bodies. I could trace out certain people’s forms against the walls, but what bothered me most was the one I found that was smaller than the others. I’d found dozens at the time, but the small one was the one that caught my eye. It was about a meter high and seemed like it was close to another, and when I looked down at the ground, I saw some blackened sticks that I’d seen before. They were smaller than any other set and were either a dwarf’s bones or belonged to something a little more innocent.

It had never occurred to me that there might be children in Esteril.

I walked around some more, looking for more small imprints, more piles of smaller bones, but I didn’t find any more outside. The insides of the houses were open to me since every door had been burned to cinders, and after three hours of walking around, checking out every cracked, glassy house. I realized that the clay had probably turned into porcelain from the sheer intensity of the heat while I was walking through the places, and every once in awhile, I would find a few more piles of bones to go along with the rest.

I found six more small piles of blackened bones as I travelled the rest of Esteril. I made seven Seals on my right arm that would bring me pain whenever I forgot about them until I remembered. Seven children I’d killed, and seven times I plunged the Warbling Blade into my heart to atone for my sins. It wouldn’t amount to a Goddamn thing for the simple fact that I’d taken their lives, but I couldn’t take my own. I don’t know how long I spent in Esteril, but I felt like it was my duty to stay there, to rebuild the town and to make it whole since I’d destroyed it. I wanted nothing more than to die there, to kill the rest of me where I’d killed a part of myself, but being immortal holds no mercy for those acts you can’t take back. Being immortal is a curse. A curse that never leaves you.

I have to live with the fact that I killed seven children, seven innocent people that had never done a damned thing to me in their entire lives, all for the sake of building power for a war that would most likely claim the lives of thousands more. I had to live with the fact that if I’d done a little more research, if I’d taken the time to look around Esteril some more, I might have been able to save those kids. I could have made sure that no one innocent died, but no. I killed them, and now I have to live with it for the rest of my unnaturally long life.

When I finished my business in Esteril, my hands were bloody from digging graves for the children I’d killed and I was crawling my way out of the city on my knees. The hardened earth that was practically shards of ceramics by now made a complete mess of my knees, but I could barely feel the pain, even as I felt shards of it become lodged in my knees. I couldn’t complain. I didn’t deserve to. It didn’t help that the floor was coated in salt, so that really made things hurt more, like rubbing salt in the wound, but I thought that when I left Esteril, I would just steal the non-organic material from my kneecaps and walk back to the caravan.

I was terribly wrong in my assumption that I would be able to walk after crawling through Esteril. I could barely get to my feet, and when I stood, I was in immense pain that didn’t seem to let up, but that was the point of doing it in the first place. Once I was a decent distance out of town and there was a good trail of blood behind me, I stole myself and landed flat on my arse in front of Crimson who looked down at me in surprise at first. Then in shock. He took in the ragged holes in my shirt and the holes in the knees of my trousers and just stared.

“Max, what the buck happened to you? Why-” He looked at my forearms. “... Who did this to you?” He asked quietly.

“I did.” I said softly.

He tilted his head and looked at me like I was fucking crazy. “Somepony! Get the Prince a medic!”

I looked behind me and saw the majority of the caravan staring at us. Apparently Crimson had been back from a trip to the loo, if the dead bush he’d walked away from was anything to go by.

I waved his worries aside. “No, I’ll let this heal naturally.” I shakily got to my feet and hobbled over to the caravan, picking a spot on a random covered wagon.

Crimson joined me as I was scooping the salt, ceramics, and sand from my knees. “Alright, Max. What the hay is going on? Why did you slice yourself up like you were trying to whittle away at your bones or something? Is this a part of the insanity thing?”

I got the last bit of the mess from my knees. “No, Crimson. I killed seven children.”

“What.”

“Seven. If I would have looked around, if I would’ve done some research, the lives of seven innocent children would have been spared.” I said numbly.

Crimson stared at me blankly. “Max…”

I looked up at him, the tears brimming my eyes but not falling. “I didn’t know, Crimson. I didn’t know until I looked.”

“... You never look, Max. You never look at what you’ve done.” He laid a hand on each my shoulders.

“... I had to, Crimson. I had to see what I did.” I shook my head.

He shook me gently and I looked up at him. “Max, it’s early for me to say this, but I need you to put this behind you. As you are right now, the bucked up state you’re in… You’re not in any position to be making promises or conducting any sort of royal business.”

I painfully snapped my fingers and went into Prince Mode. “I can escape my pain for as long as I need to, Crimson Tide. I assure you, one way or the other, that I am fully capable of doing whatever needs to be done.”

“... It’s terrifying that you can do that.” He said softly.

“I am much more than a mere man now, and so much less. I know what’s wrong, Crimson, and I can conduct my business around it. My atonement is already over, but my crimes will never be forgotten. There is only one person who will help me with them, and that is Twilight herself.”

“Then I’ll get her here, one way or the other-”

“No. We have too much to do, too many responsibilities that push our problems to the side. I will deal with my sins now, but when we meet again, I will confess them to her and we will cry together.”

“... I don’t trust you right now. I really don’t.” Crimson said, completely honest.

“I need you to believe me, Crimson. One way or the other, once we finish our business here in Mexicolt, I will have Twilight come to my side before she talks to Chrysalis and then I will deal with this as I need to. Until then, I have business to attend to.”

I achingly crossed my legs while on the wagon and began to close my eyes. “Oh, and Crimson? Tell Fernando that we can start heading back toward Solitario. We’ve done what we’ve come to do.”

I had my eyes closed, but I could hear that he was walking away, so I tried to meditate and focus on the itching in my chest rather than the aching burn in my legs. It was an odd sensation, feeling the flesh slowly knit itself back together on my arms and legs, but it was a bearable one since I still felt like I earned the discomfort. The wagon began to move and I listened as a few people walked around, but no one bothered me or said much, though I was pretty sure that being covered in blood and stab wounds didn’t do me any favors with their opinions of me. I hoped that they would just think I’d ran into trouble in Esteril or something, but barring that, I can’t imagine what all they might have thought of me.

I’ll skip the trip back to Solitario since it was fucking boring. Little happened, though Crimson did try to coax me out of Prince Mode so I could talk, but I refused and rebuked him gently when he brought it up, stating that I needed to be clear of mind and sound of body by the time we got back to Mexicolt City. He wasn’t terribly pushy with his desire to help me ‘get over it’, but I knew that he would be there when I needed to talk, if I needed to. For the time being, we’re sitting on the train back to Mexicolt City in silence and I’m just writing to pass the time, but I can’t help but feel like there’s more that King Sabio (He’s probably not a Prince anymore) is going to want me to do. If he asks for more, then I don’t know what I’ll do. I suppose I could tell him that I simply don’t want to perform any more tasks for him, but other than that, there isn’t much I can do. We’ll see what happens from there.

For now, it’s time to stop and get my head in the right place. Being able to switch between personalities helps with that, but it isn’t the same as dealing with it. No, I need to get in touch with Twilight sooner rather than later, though she’s already sent me a few letters asking about why I was feeling so depressed and stressed. I told her that we needed to talk, but other than that, I haven’t said much on the matter and she swore that we would talk once she finished up with Chrysalis for the day. Twilight told me that Chrysalis was trying to play hard to get with her negotiations and was trying to squeeze her for every resource that she could, but Twilight was holding firm and had conferred with Celestia to see what she was allowed to put on the table. I was given no such restrictions, but then again, it hadn’t been likely that I would need them. Again, we’ll see what Sabio says and we’ll carry on from there.

As of right now, it’s time for another round of nightmares.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The trip back to Mexicolt took a little longer than I anticipated, but it was fine since it gave me a little more time to heal up. Now my wounds were just scars that would fade in a few more weeks, though the seven Seals on my right arm were there to stay until I forgave myself for taking those lives so carelessly. I doubted that I needed to add anymore, but I knew that I’d scoured the entire town pretty well for anymore little piles of bones and that made me feel pretty assured that I’d found all of the ones that were directly affected.

When we actually arrived in Mexicolt proper, Taro lead us straight to El Castillo and left us when it was in view. Crimson and I walked a little slowly since my legs were still aching, but we made respectable time in getting there seeing as how Mexicolt is such a large city. We got into El Castillo with no problem and I was allowed an audience with Sabio within minutes of arriving. It was nice to know that things could be done so quickly and I hoped that we would be able to get the talks about whether or not Mexicolt would be assisting Equestria out of the way. Whether or not we did was to be ascertained, but still, I was allowed to hope.

Crimson and I were shown to the room I’d killed Corona Rey in after meeting him and we were sat down to wait for King Sabio. A few minutes later, the new King came in and greeted us with a strained smile and shook my hand.

“Prince Maximus. I trust our business in Esteril is taken care of?” He half-asked.

I nodded. “It is. I hope you’ve considered allying yourself with Equestria while I’ve been away.”

Sabio sighed. “I have, and I regret to inform you-”

“No.” I cut him off. “I killed thousands of people to make this deal work. Thousands, Sabio. There is no ‘I regret to inform you’.”

He looked at me with a bit of steel in his eyes. “My advisors have warned me against allying myself with Equestria, and as I was about to tell you, I’ve decided to ignore them. You personally have done Mexicolt a great service in ridding us of the filth that was Esteril de Tierra, and I refuse to let you leave my country without repaying that favour.”

I sighed in relief. “I apologize for interrupting you, King Sabio, but I’ve been under stress as of late. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will say that I am glad that you’ve agreed to make this deal happen.”

He nodded. “Indeed. Hopefully Mexicolt and Equestria will grow closer in the coming years, though we never know what lies in the future.”

“That is all too true. Now, the matter of me dueling the one fellow…?” I asked.

Sabio waved it aside. “If you want to duel a prisoner, then that is up to you. It was found that Ferdinand and a few others of my politicastros were consorting with La Canalla, so I have placed them under arrest and charged them with treason. Should you wish to stay for their executions, you are welcome to do so.”

I shook my head. “If you do not mind, I would like to leave after this conversation. As pleasant as I find your company, my heart is heavy with the events that occurred in Esteril and I franky require a break. I have never done such a thing, and I hoped that I would be able to take my actions in stride, but they’ve worn on me, I’m afraid.”

Sabio nodded. “The deaths of my countrymen do not please me, but they were aware of the poison they were peddling. I was going to ask you to assist me further with the destruction of the drug-chocolate trade, but I fear for your mind if you were to take them on as well. Hopefully the Dogs of my country will continue to abstain, but again, we never know what the future holds.”

“And you are right again. Before I take my leave, King Sabio, I must warn you against trusting the word of Discord. He is quite literally the King of lies and deceipt, and I have no doubts that he will try to worm his way into your mind using any means at his disposal. I wish you luck in dealing with him should he come calling, but until then, be strong, my friend. If there is something else you need, count me as one of your comrades and I’ll be there for you.”

Sabio gave me a smile. “If I may call you a friend, then I would like that we leave our titles out of our discussions. I do not like being a King, nor do I like being reminded that I am one.”

I chuckled. “To tell you the truth, I hate being a Prince myself. There are many things I would trade my title for, but there is no one I would be willing to hand this burden over to.”

Sabio sighed. “I feel the same way, mi amigo. I feel you have it slightly easier than I have, however.”

I nodded. “I do. I have a lover I can share my responsibilities with and Celestia herself handles many of the fine details. Still, being a Prince of Equestria still comes with plenty of negatives that outweigh the boons.”

“And being a King has many of the same consequences. However, I wish you the best of luck in remaining strong with your rule as Prince.”

“And the same to you, Sabio.” I rose from my seat slowly.

He looked at me, concerned. “Are you okay, Maximus? Do your legs bother you?”

“Yes, but it’s pain from my atonement, so I will make it as I need to.” I said evenly.

“Atonement? For what you did in Esteril?”

“Yes.”

“I assure you that there was no need to atone for wiping such a terrible stain on Mexicolt away.” He said comfortingly.

“There were several children in Esteril.” I replied softly.

“... Oh. When did you learn this?”

“Afterwards, when I went to see the destruction I caused.”

“If only I could have told you of that folly! Please, Maximus, rest easily knowing that those hijos are in a far better place than they were. The afterlife is kind to children, did you know?”

“I may have ended their earthly suffering, but it was not my place to do so, Sabio. I could have saved them from my own hand, had I cared enough to spend more time looking into Esteril than I did.”

“Punishing yourself is pointless, mi amigo. Take your time and process what you’ve done, and I will keep in touch to see your progress. If you can forgive yourself, you will be better of for it, I believe. However, I still think you did those children a kindness in giving them peace that they would never have known in their lives.”

I looked at Sabio. “I may not know what the life in Esteril was before I claimed it, but I refuse to believe that killing someone is doing them a favour. I believe we will agree to disagree on this matter.”

Sabio nodded solemnly. “At the very least agree that it is better that they don’t have to live under La Canalla’s iron fist any longer.”

“They could have been brought to an orphanage or we could have brought their parents along with them to Equestria so they could enjoy a colder climate for a spell. Honestly, it’s too hot here for people to live.”

“I know what you are doing and I shall allow it to work. I do not believe I can do anything for you in this state, but know that I am willing to lend you an ear should you need one.”

“Thank you, Sabio, but I just hope that I have not brought you more trouble in burning Esteril.”

His eyes flashed open. “You burned Esteril!?”

“With Sun-fire, yes.”

“... The prophecy came true.” He said softly. “I thought you may have poisoned the water or did something else to achieve your result. Tell me, did it look as though the town was made of white salt?”

“It did.” I answered cautiously.

“Sodoma has come to pass.” Sabio whispered.

“Sodom?” I asked, not sure if I comprehended his words correctly.

“I apologize, Maximus, but I believe you may be the Bringer of Fire that was destined to rid Mexicolt of its modern Sodoma. It has been prophesied for thousands of years that a hero from a distant world would come and rid Mexicolt of Sodoma by burning it away into a town of salt.”

“... Is the place that manufactures the drug-chocolate named Gomorrah?”

Sabio blinked in surprise. “You know of the legends?”

“I know of legends from my world that correlate somewhat with what you’ve told me of Esteril. I’m surprised I didn’t see the similarities myself.”

Sabio shook his head. “You truly come from another world?”

“I do. I come from a place called Earth.”

“As in soil? Tierra?”

I sighed. “Yes, as in dirt. My world and this one are actually similar in its geography and some of the countries that make up the world. I’ll have to start looking into more of the myths and legends here to see if they correlate with the ones from my world.”

“So your world has stories of Sodoma and Gomorrah?”

“It does. They were cities that existed thousands of years ago that were purified by a deity that hated what they were doing within town.”

“Ah… So that would make you the deity of this story, would it not?”

“Please, I don’t need to hear that.”

He held up his hands. “I meant no offense, Maximus.”

I raised a hand. “It’s no issue, I just don’t want to be thought of as more than a man. If I let my power and status go to my head, then bad things happen that I do not want.”

Sabio nodded. “Of course. Though, I must ask, how do you restrain yourself with as much power as you have? I mean, you ended an entire town with Sun-fire, so you must have a considerable amount in your hands.”

“I do, but I deal with it by not thinking of it too much. I try to let my power lie where it is since it will not get any stronger or weaker regardless of my usage of it. I simply try to understand it better and use it as a tool like one would a hammer or a sickle.”

He tilted his head. “So you do not think of how to use your power to your advantage?”

“I do my best not to. It’s the nature of the power to take from others and give to myself, but I know that things will be better for everyone if I stay my hand and let things follow their course. Then again, I can’t say that it’s true all the time since I have to intervene at certain points, but I generally try not to let my strength rule my mind.”

“You are wise beyond our years, Maximus. Perhaps you are the most suited to wield such power because you recognize its corrupting influence?”

“That’s what Celestia said about making me a Prince and I’ve yet to prove her wrong.” I sighed. “However, it’s been a strange journey so far and it will only get stranger. Have you had a chance to meet Queen Elfriede?”

“I’ve met her before at a conference, but her words were for my father, not me. Why do you ask?”

“She is who I am supposed to parlay with once I finish business here. I know her personally, but-”

“If I may interrupt,” Sabio waited for my nod, “how personally do you know her?”

“Well, I met her during one of my missions as a Royal Operative working under Luna, so I know her pretty well.”

“Oh, then your talk should go well.” He said innocently.

“It might not go as I hope. Elfriede’s cabinet is full of Equestria-haters and I do not know whether or not she will decide to side with us.”

Sabio pursed his lips. “I hope she does, otherwise she must side with Discord. I don’t believe there will be much room for neutral parties if The War goes on as I think it will.”

I shook my head. “Expect nothing and prepare for everything, my friend. As it is, I’ve got to go talk to her and see what she’s going to say.”

“Then I will keep you no longer. I trust that you will stay safe in your travels?”

“I will do my best. Stay safe and stay sane, Sabio.”

He extended a hand. “Likewise, Maximus. Again, do not let the deaths in Esteril rule your mind.”

I nodded and shook his hand. “I won’t. Thank you.”

With our discussion out of the way, Crimson and I left the room and I teleported us into Otterwa, the capital of Gryphonia instead of just going straight to Elfriede’s castle. I figured that we could nab a nice room at an inn for the night and I could have a talk with Twilight within my own room. Thus began our search for the nicest inn around, and after asking a few people, it was agreed that the Dragon’s Beard Inn was the best one around, so we headed there, paid for a couple of rooms and a meal, and retired for the night since Otterwa was considerably further ahead with its time than Mexicolt City was. Once I sat down and took a load off, I wrote Twilight and asked her if she was free for a couple hours. A few minutes after I sent the message, Twilight teleported into the spacious room and I rose to greet her.

“Hullo, Cherry.” I gave her a smile.

She looked at me, worried. “What happened, Amour? I know something big had to have occurred for me to feel it while I was still in Bridleland.”

My smile turned sad. “Can we just enjoy each other’s company for a little bit?”

“Can you go back to being normal Max instead of being a Prince? You know I can tell the difference, right?”

“Of course I know, but it has been weeks since we have seen each other and I’d like to spend some time relaxing rather than digging into the new trauma I earned.”

Twilight came over and gave me a hug. “I want you out of Prince Mode, Max. Please?”

I snapped softly and started shaking. “Twilight, this is a mistake-”

“No, it’s not. Max, what happened?” She held me at arm’s length.

I couldn’t look her in the eyes. “I… I killed a lot of people, Twilight. Thousands.”

Her breath caught. “Max…”

I clenched my hands tightly until I felt my nails break skin. “I-I… Twilight, I…”

She hugged me again. “It was for the alliance, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” I said, my voice thick.

She froze. “That’s not the only thing on your mind.”

“Twilight…” I took a deep breath, but the next thing out of my mouth was a sorrowful sob, one that I couldn’t hold back any longer. I felt like I was breaking into seven pieces all over again, and the guilt ate my heart whole.

I trembled in Twilight arms as she held me firmly, my tether in the middle of the maelstrom of horror and guilt and sadness and pain that took me in wave after wave. To know I ended so many lives… To feel what I’d been escaping for the past week… Only a truly sick bastard could rest well knowing that they claimed so many souls, but what really troubled me was the one thing I couldn’t voice. I couldn’t say it again. Not to Twilight. Not to my love. I battled with myself, trying to speak my worst crimes to her, but every time I tried to form the words, they failed me and my heart ached tenfold. I wanted it to end; I wanted my suffering to be over like it was for those children, but I knew that I couldn’t die, despite my best efforts.

Twilight held me for what felt like hours, guiding me through the grief that bombarded me, being my beacon of hope that made me feel… Less unclean. Less evil. Less untouchable. Her touch made me feel like I wasn’t the lowest level of scum, but a part of my heart that was still within the belly of the beast told me that I was the biggest piece of filth that had ever walked Equus. I choked down my tears and made Twilight let go of me for a moment, just long enough to look her in the eye for the first time since she’d arrived.

“T-Twilight… I killed kids… I killed seven fucking children, Twilight. I-I... “ I couldn’t keep it together any longer. It had been hard enough to force those words out.

The look of shock on Twilight’s face hurt until she put her hands on my face and pulled me in for a kiss. She let my face go after a minute and held me once more. “Max, I know you didn’t know. You didn’t know before you did it.”

“If I would have scouted-”

“No, you can’t think like that, Amour. You can’t let this kill you on the inside.” She said angrily, which surprised me a bit. “You can’t let this tear you apart, Max. I felt the pain you put yourself through, I can feel the ache in your heart right now, and I need you to know that monsters don’t feel this. They don’t feel this level of remorse. you are not a monster, okay? You are Max and you made a big mistake, but you are not some heartless creature that thrives on violence. You did what you did to help Equestria, and neither of us are proud of it, but you didn’t know that there would be children involved, you… You acted for the greater good, Amour. You acted blindly, but with the best intentions for Equestria and the world, and you need to accept that before you let yourself become so bogged down in guilt that you can’t move.”

I hugged her tightly. “I can’t breathe, Twilight. I-I… How do I just go on knowing that I’m not going to be punished for this?”

She gripped my arms and glared at me. “I felt you stab yourself in the heart. I felt you crawling on your knees until you were bleeding. I felt you carve those words into your skin. Max, you’ve punished yourself enough and no one can tell me that you haven’t done enough to make up for it.”

“Y-You… I-I didn’t know you knew that...”

Twilight looked at me and blinked back tears. “I’ve been so worried about you for the past week, but I knew that you would reach out when the time was right. I just…” She took a breath. “Feel what you feel, Max. Take some time and let the healing start. We can go back home to Ponyville and we can just put this aside for right now, okay? Chrysalis can wait and Elfriede… Well, we’ll send her a note or something, but I want to get you home, and I want you to stabilize, because right now, I can’t feel you anymore. All I’m feeling from you is pain and guilt, and that’s just not my Max.”

I gave her a pleading look. “Twilight, we have to-”

“We don’t have to do anything, Max. Celestia will understand if we take a break, and even if she doesn’t, I’ll stick my hoof so far down her throat it’ll come out the other side and I’ll use her as a shoe.”

It wasn’t within my reach to conjure up a chuckle. “It’s our responsibility…”

Twilight cleared the tears from my face. “And we’ll handle that responsibility later. For now, we need to get you home. Now, where’s Crimson?”

“Next room over to your right.” I said softly.

Twilight sat me down on the bed and looked me in the eyes. “I’m going to go get him and we’re going back to your house. Just sit here and try not to hurt yourself anymore, okay?”

I nodded, but Twilight didn’t leave. “Say you won’t hurt yourself anymore.”

“I won’t.”

She gave me another kiss. “Good. I’ll be right back.”

Twilight left the room and I heard her talking to Crimson through the walls. They spoke about me and my current mental state, both of them agreeing that I didn’t need to be on any kind of official business at the moment. I continued eavesdropping for a couple more minutes, though it’s not like I had a choice in the matter, but all they talked about was how badly shaken I seemed to be and Crimson started telling her about my ruthless act with Corona Rey. Twilight accepted it readily and said that she would speak to me about it, but when Crimson mentioned that I’d altered the Guard Captain’s, Twilight didn’t respond for a moment. Fear gripped my heart until she told Crimson that she was sure that it was the only way to get away with what I did, and when Crimson confirmed her suspicions, she breathed a sigh of relief and told him to gather his things so we could get back to Ponyville.

Less than thirty seconds later, Twilight and Crimson came into my room, and when I had my bags nearby, she teleported us and our things into my living room. Iron Hoof and Swift were surprised to see us, but I didn’t stop to talk and went straight to my room, leaving Twilight and Crimson to explain what went on while we’d been away. There was nothing I wanted to say for them, though I knew for certain that I wanted a long, cool shower that would hopefully get the feeling of Mexicolt out from under my skin.

I sat down in the shower for a good thirty minutes and just let the water wash over me, feeling my new scars and fingering the Seals on my arm. They hadn't flared up since I’d put them on, so I figured that I was going to remember the day better than pretty much any other. My soul was already soiled before Esteril, but… There are no words to describe what I felt, what I still feel. Being raped made me feel dirty. My first kill made me feel dirty. Using Dark Magic to literally change people’s minds made me feel dirty. Nothing compared to the raw shame, the unadulterated regret coursing through my veins, and I couldn’t tell myself that it was all in my head this time. I myself killed those kids and I have to live with that, with the feeling of their hands grasping at my throat, trying to claim their revenge. That I knew was in my head, but I couldn’t shake the feeling nonetheless.

Twilight came into the bathroom while I was trying not to do any deep thinking and slid the shower door open. She knelt down and got to eye level with me, so I looked at her briefly and returned my gaze to the shower head. Thankfully, she let me adjust to her presence for a little while, but there were words unspoken that we needed to get out in the open and one of us was going to have to breach the subject.

“He was going to side with Discord.” I said softly.

Twilight turned the shower off with Magic. “You mean Corona Rey, right?”

“Yeah.”

“He would have been a bad enemy to have.” Twilight murmured.

“I did it without a second thought, Twilight.”

“You did what you thought was best for Equestria. Having an enemy brushing elbows with us would have been to our detriment in the worst of ways.”

I closed my eyes. “I could have talked things out with him.”

“If he was going to side with Discord, then it’s better that you didn’t. We never could have trusted him knowing that he could be swayed with lies.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.”

“... And altering that one Captain’s memories?”

“... It felt like the only option I had. It simultaneously cleared Crimson and I from suspicion since we had someone in the room with us and it gave us an alibi. I’m not proud of that.”

“Again, you did what you thought was best. In the end, Mexicolt is now an ally of Equestria, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you did your duty. It may have been bloodier than you would have liked, but the deed is done and you can’t take it back without risking a war from the south.”

I sighed. “I want to sleep Twilight.”

“Waking up isn’t something you can choose to do.” She replied gently.

I grit my teeth. “What fixes this, Twilight? What makes this go away?”

“Nothing.”

I felt my lip quiver and my eyes burned, my voice wresting control from me to let out a roar of hatred for myself and my status, for what I’d done and what I’d become. Twilight reached out and touched my arm, a simple act that made me feel less soul-crushingly alone. After another complete breakdown, she gave me enough time to collect myself and helped me out of the shower before drying me off with more Magic. I dressed myself and shambled over to my bed before lying down. Although I was still an emotional wreck, venting some of my frustrations left me feeling less pent up than I had, though the guilt was still overwhelming to say the least until Twilight laid down next to me. My fiance held me tightly for a few more hours, only letting go long enough to write a letter to Celestia explaining things as she knew them, though I filled her in on some of the details whenever she asked.

Twilight insisted that I write in my journal and get some of my pain on paper so it wouldn’t all be stuck inside of me, but that’s not how this works. It really isn’t. Writing it down just means that I had to remember everything I did all over again, and now that I have a chance to think about it, I’m mildly surprised that Noir hasn’t come to me with anything, but then again, I don’t know what she’s doing. She might be busy with her own things, so that would explain why I haven’t received a mental message or anything from her in a while.

As of this moment, I don’t want to write anymore. I just want to go to sleep and face tomorrow sometime in the next few years.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day saw me waking up with Twilight, but that wasn’t until the Sun was already in the sky, looming over Equestria like a black hole. For a few moments, I forgot why I felt so tired and why I felt like utter rubbish, but it came back to me all too soon, though being in Twilight’s arms took the edge off slightly. She didn’t bother to ask me how I was feeling, but she did give me a long kiss that filled my mind with the warm, comforting feeling I got from Twilight whenever our lips met. She let me soak her in for as long as I wanted, but my heart just wasn’t in doing anything other than kissing, so we just stayed in my bed for a few more hours until Twilight asked me if I wanted to shower and shave for the day. There wasn’t a part of me that wanted to do anymore than lie down and wait for the Moon to crash to Equus, but my fiance encouraged me to get up and get moving so that I wasn’t just stuck in bed all day.

Without any reason to deny her simple request, I left my bed and went to go stand under some water for a little bit. It was still nice to have Twilight there with me, but all I wanted was to hold her for a little while, and I was thankful that she allowed me to do so for a few minutes. We actually had to get clean, however, so we took a little time to do that and since Twilight didn’t quite trust me with a knife at the moment, she just cast a hair removal spell on my face to get rid of the scruffy beard I’d grown since we’d been apart. It made me itchy for a little while, but the beard was itchier, so I wasn’t going to be complaining any time soon. Hell, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t just for the simple fact that I didn’t care enough to say anything.

Once we were done with the shower, Twilight guided me downstairs and had me sit on the couch so she could grab me something to eat. Crimson had made stew for the morning and the group was just now coming back from the morning run, though when Twilight came back from the kitchen with Starshine, I found myself a little surprised that I’d forgotten about her being with Twilight in Chrysalis’ queendom. My team and Twilight all took up residence in their usual spots in the living room and Twilight handed me a bowl of Crimson’s stew that I ate slowly. It was probably fine, but it just didn’t taste right to me, and shortly after I finished it, it came right back up, and the only reason I didn’t lose my breakfast all over the floor was because I’d had a feeling that I should go to the restroom shortly after eating it.

When I came back from my trip to the loo, all eyes were on me, but I just joined Twilight on the couch and laid on her lap. She stroked my hair gently and I closed my eyes, searching for a semblance of peace. There were some fairly obvious questions that everyone wanted to ask, but I felt that it was equally obvious that I wasn’t in any shape to be badgered at the moment. Sadly, Swift lacked the tact that the rest of my team had, so he started in with some questions.

“Hey, Max? You okay?” Swift asked kindly.

Twilight answered for me. “No, but he will be. He just needs some time.”

Starshine coughed. “Do you guys need some time alone? I mean, we could all go home for a little bit and just let you have the house to yourselves.”

My fiance continued stroking my hair. “If it’s okay by Max, I think I’ll just bring him to my house for a little while so you all can have free run of the place. Of course it’s up to you if you want to stay or go while Max gets better, but I would appreciate it if you stuck around for a week or two.”

“Why don’t we have Max weigh in on what he wants?” Iron suggested.

“... I’ll go with Twilight. Do what you want.” I said softly.

Twilight rubbed my arm. “We’ll be heading to my place later today then. Crimson, if you guys decide to stay here, then you’re in charge. If you have any questions or concerns, you know how to reach me.”

“I do. Please keep us updated.” Crimson replied.

There was a loaded silence before Starshine said, “I’ve done it too, Max. I know I have.”

I opened my eyes and looked at her. “Did you see it for yourself?”

“I didn’t have to. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I know a similar pain.” She replied tenderly.

I closed my eyes again. “How did you deal with it?”

“I still haven’t.” She whispered.

“Then you need a break as much as Max does.” Crimson said curtly.

Starshine sighed. “I keep myself busy enough that I don’t have to worry about it-”

“And when you’re not busy?” Crimson asked.

“... I do a pretty good job of not thinking about it.” She confessed.

“Don’t let the wound fester.” I muttered.

“What was that?” Swift asked.

Twilight ahemmed. “He said ‘Don’t let the wound fester.’. He means that Starshine should talk to someone and get the weight off of her shoulders.”

“... I guess I could talk to Cici about it. I know she won’t judge me.” Starshine said quietly.

“Then please do it. It won’t help anyone if we have two team members down and out later on.” Crimson sighed heavily.

Twilight accidentally stuck her finger in my ear, but removed it quickly. “I agree. For now, however, I think we need to see what Celestia thinks of Max being incapacitated.”

“She’ll understand. I mean, what is she going to do? Force Max to work after what happened?” Swift scoffed.

“I doubt that will happen, but we just don’t know. Max isn’t really in any shape to deny her, so we’ll have to see one way or the other.” Twilight sighed and curled a lock of my hair.

“Talk to her and I’m sure she’ll listen. I doubt she would have made either of you two royalty if she didn’t respect you at some level.” Crimson reasoned.

“You’re right. I’ll see if I can get Noir to watch over Max for a little bit and we’ll head to Canterlot and see what’s going on sooner rather than later.” Twilight announced.

“Then we have a plan. I think it would be for the best if you got a move on that before Max deteriorates any further.” Crimson said.

Twilight patted my shoulder gently. “Did you hear that, Max? Do you want to go to Canterlot now, or do you want to wait a little while?”

“The choice is yours.” I replied.

“... So we’re going now.” Twilight patted my arm a couple more times and I sat up so she could stand. When she got to her hooves, she offered me a hand to get me to my feet. “Alright, do you need anything before we leave?” She asked.

Iron, Swift, and Starshine shook their heads while Crimson said, “Be safe and take care of him, Twilight.”

“I will. Take care, everyone.” Twilight grabbed my hand.

In a flash, we were standing in her old room in the castle, though now it had been fully converted into Noir’s room, complete with dark blue and black tapestries hanging from the peaked ceiling. Twilight wrote out a quick note and a few minutes later, Noir came in through Twilight’s shadow. After a quick hug, Noir came over to me and held my face to her bosom for a few moments before looking at me sadly.

“Maximus…” She said gently.

I didn’t have anything to say to that.

Noir embraced me again. “Twilight, go have your talk with Celestia. I will happily watch over Maximus for however long you need.”

“Thanks, Noir. I’ll try to make it quick-”

“No, feel free to take your time. I am sure that Max would prefer your company, but perhaps there is something I could offer him that you could not?” You don’t seem too sure about that.

“... I guess you might be right. Still, I think having both of us around would be better than just one of us.”

“Then come to Canterlot for Max’s healing.” Noir suggested. “It may be more helpful if we have more people that know his struggle, and we both know that Celestia and Luna have caring sides. Don’t feel as though you are the only one who is responsible for assisting Max, Twilight. It will not end well if you try to handle this tragedy by yourself.”

Twilight took a breath and let it out. “I don’t need a break, Noir.”

“Not right now, but you may in the coming days. We support both of you, Twilight Sparkle, not just Maximus.”

“Thank you, but I think Max needs more help than I do.” She replied evenly.

“And so we will help him.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, but I did hear her leave the room. Noir lead me over to a sofa on the edge of the room and had me sit down in her lap like I was a child, but I didn’t care about the indignity or the implications of the act. I just knew that Noir’s chest made a great place to lay by head and her warm embrace was only second to Twilight’s in the way it made me feel safe from the storm inside my heart. My mentor started singing a peaceful lullaby in Alicin that made my heart throb a little less painfully, though it didn’t take it all away like I wished it would. However, the pain felt more manageable, though the emptiness settled in soon after. I preffered feeling nothing to what I had been, so I dealt with it as I could and let the time pass as it pleased.

Noir eventually stopped singing and held me a bit tighter. “Maximus?”

I didn’t answer.

“... There was once a time where I invaded a small country south of where the Everfree now lies. They had been threatening my lands for years, but could never assert any form of dominance over our neutral territory, so they could never make their way into my queendom. During the first few raids of their towns, I slashed and burned their crops, laid waste to their livestock, and slaughtered their people indiscriminately. For the first year of the conflict, I never saw so much as a hide or hair of a child in the midst of battle, but every time I went-”

“I don’t want to hear this, Noir.” I said quietly.

She carried on. “There were always charred remains in some of the buildings I burned. Not every building held them, but there were always a few after every battle. Most of the cadavers left behind were indistinguishable from one another since they’d huddled together in their last moments, but I knew that innocent civilians were dying in the war.” Noir sighed. “They always do. However, when I made the final press into the country I was invading, much of their fighting force had been slayed in previous battles, many by my own hand. That final battle, Maximus, was primarily against children and elders.”

I closed my eyes, shutting them as if I could block out her words through sheer effort alone.

Noir sighed again. “It wasn’t even a fight. Their final force was massacred like so many fish to a net, but they wouldn’t surrender, no matter how many of their people paid their lives to the edge of a blade. I slayed many people that hadn't had a chance to see the world, Maximus. I doubted that many of them had ever known a man or a woman, or that they’d experienced love, or had been anywhere other than their tiny towns before the war… It wasn’t a war worth fighting to that extent, but it was one I had to win.”

I curled up a little more and Noir stroked my arm. “Do not let your sins weigh you down, Maximus.” She said kindly.

I didn’t respond.

We sat while Noir hummed an endless tune until Twilight returned, and when she did, she came and sat next to my mentor and laid her head on her shoulder. We didn’t speak for a little while, though I knew Twilight’s talk with Celestia had gone well enough for her to not be worried about pushing me too far. I could sense that Twilight was still worried, but there was little I could do about it at the moment, so I tried to go back to sleep, but Noir picked me up and escorted Twilight and I to her bed. I laid in the middle with Noir on my left and Twilight on my right. My lover laid her head on my chest and Noir rolled onto her side so she could play with my hair for a little while, and while that was happening, I eventually fell asleep again.

When I woke up, the sky was dark and I was still feeling worn out. Noir was gone, though I could hear Twilight’s soft breathing and felt the weight of her head on my arm. Apparently we’d changed positions slightly while I’d been asleep, but all I wanted to do was get up and use the restroom, so that’s what I did. After levitating Twilight off of me and setting her down gently, I made my way over to the loo, took care of business, and went back to bed. Sleep welcomed me within moments of me laying down next to Twilight again, but I woke up in the dreamscape out of nowhere. I didn’t make a habit of visiting it as often as I used to, but I didn’t have much to do anyway, so I sought out Twilight’s dream, but before I could breach the door, I decided against it. I didn’t want to bother her any more than I already had since I thought that dealing with me as I was most likely wasn’t going to be her idea of fun. However, I couldn’t stop myself from peeking in to see what she was doing.

Twilight turned out to be doing extremely complex math problems on a giant black board with a piece of chalk the size of a shoot of bamboo in her hand that seemed to stretch out behind her for meters. Her calculations were actually tidy, which was strange since her normal handwriting is simply atrocious, but I didn’t dwell on it for too long since I figured that she would prefer to be left alone. I can’t say I was surprised when Twilight turned around abruptly and waved me in, but I had been hoping to leave her alone for a little while so she could have a break. It just wasn’t in the cards for me.

I entered Twilight’s dream and tried to put some emotion into my face, but I’m sure that was less calming and more worrying. Still, Twilight put her impossibly long piece of chalk down and climbed down the ladder she’d been using to write her equation to come up and give me a hug. I held her for a few moments and let go, giving her what I hoped was a smile.

Twilight winced. “Was that supposed to be a grin?”

“It was. I’m guessing it’s not working.”

“It really isn’t. Just try curling your lips a little.” Twilight said encouragingly.

I tried a more muted smile and she beamed in return. “There we go! Baby steps, Max.”

I nodded. “So what theorem were you working on?”

“I was playing The Liar’s Guessing Game by myself a few times. I would ask you if you want to play, but…”

My mind flooded with the equation and a decent understanding of it. “... I could give it a shot.” I offered.

Twilight blinked. “I thought math was your least favourite thing to learn about.”

“Well, I like you and you like maths.” I conjured up a ghost of a smile. “That, and I think I know how to do it.”

Twilight beamed and gave me a kiss. “Then let’s give it a shot, yeah?”

“That’s my thing.” I said blankly.

Twilight grinned coquettishly, which came off as more goofy than enticing. They’re one in the same with Twilight most days, to be fair. “Oh? You wouldn’t mind if I borrowed your thing for a little while, would you?”

I tilted my head at her. “I don’t mean to offend, but how could you possibly be in the mood?”

She held my hands. “Well, a little meaningful sex in the dream world is harmless, right? I think it might do you a little good.”

The ridiculousness of the suggestion made me chuckle. “I love you, Twilight.”

She gave me a relieved smile. “That’s all I really wanted. Even if your heart isn’t really behind it, I just wanted to hear you do something other than cry.”

“I’ll try my best to get over this as soon as I can-”

Her hands moved to my chest. “No, I want you to take this slow, seal up all the cracks instead of rushing things. I need you whole, not glued back together just well enough to get you through whatever duties you feel like you have to fulfill.”

I squeezed her hands. “Then we’ll work on it as it comes.”

Twilight kissed me again. “Exactly! Now come on, we have a game to play!”

Needless to say, I regretted my decision quickly enough to be worried about playing any other maths related games with Twilight, but after we finished with The Liar’s Guessing Game, we moved onto chess, and after that, we played a round of billiards since I was pretty adept at bringing things into the dreamscape. Two of those three game were fun and I lost completely at chess and the maths game, but Twilight may or may not have let me win billiards, which I appreciated. Of course I didn’t feel like doing any of those things, but I figured that keeping my hands and mind focused on something else would do me more good than not. My Seals flared up halfway through the game of pool and Twilight made me get rid of them since I’d practically lost the use of my arm while they’d activated, and for a few minutes afterwards, I could barely twitch my fingers. Shit hurt.

Twilight eventually woke up from her sleep which kicked me out of the dreamscape as well since I was in her mind at the time. Noir was nearby when we raised our heads from the bed, though she was changing clothes. Twilight covered my eyes and I let her since I had no reason not to. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen Noir naked before or that I was looking for something to get my jollies, so I relaxed and laid back down, cuddling up next to Twilight. Noir apologized for her state of undress, but she’d assumed that we would be asleep for awhile longer, though Twilight told her that it was fine in any case. My mentor suggested that we prepare for the morning and head down to breakfast, so Twilight dragged me out of bed, which was a little harder than I would have liked it to be. Noir’s bed was pleasantly firm and I was coming close to actually enjoying it, but people like me don’t deserve nice things, so I left without too much prodding and stole some clothes from my closet to wear. I didn’t want to stick myself in a suit, but I was supposed to be a Prince or something.

Thankfully, Twilight and Noir vetoed the suit the second I brought it into the room and asked me to just wear one of my normal button downs or long sleeved shirts. I settled on a button down since I wanted to wear something blue and Twilight teleported a matching outfit into her hands, and thus we were off to Noir’s shower. I washed Twilight’s back dutifully and she washed mine, though her hands wandered to my chest a few times. I didn’t mind, so I let her explore a little bit, though she kept her hands to the easily visible areas.

When we were finished, Noir was gone, so Twilight and I walked down to breakfast and talked about her conversation with Celestia the night before. I wouldn’t have said anything or asked about it since she didn’t offer any information up front, but I knew that a silent walk would be a little awkward, even if we were perfectly attuned to each other. All in all, Celestia had told Twilight that she was shocked that I’d handled Esteril the way I had, but had told her that she was thinking of doing something similar since it was the single largest producer of Manganese Salts that came into Equestria. The only problem was that Corona Rey hadn’t wanted to owe her anything and refused to let Celestia herself do it, so I suppose we lucked out with me killing him. The Solar Diarch also weighed in on Sabio’s taking over of the throne and said that it was a positive. I didn’t doubt that she’d been whispering in his ear ever since he was a child, but then again it could have been paranoia.

Twilight also told me that Celestia was ambivalent about me killing Corona Rey since he’d been dragging his feet with a lot of politics involving Equestria and hoped that Sabio would pick up the slack. In fact, there had already been word from the ambassador in Mexicolt that things were looking up for our relations, so I felt a little less terrible about my second regicide. Only a little.

The walk to the Dining Hall was longer than our conversation, but at least we had talked for a lot of it. I didn’t feel the companionable silence I’d once felt, though I could feel something while I was holding Twilight’s hand. It was nice being next to her, so when we entered the Dining Hall and took our seats at the table, we stayed next to each other and switched sides so we could eat with our dominant hands. Celestia and Luna stayed silent and Noir was eating, so I looked for something that might pique my interest. Nothing looked appetizing, so I just grabbed an apple, sliced it thinly, and ate it like that. My stomach told me to stop when I was halfway through, so I listened to it because I really wasn’t trying to be ill again.

Celestia took notice. “I see you’re not feeling terribly hungry today, Max.”

I shrugged. “Nothing seems to be sitting well with me.”

“I could have some tea made if you like. Something to soothe your stomach.” She offered.

“Yeah, let’s try that.” Not that it’s going to work.

Luna scoffed. “What Max needs isn’t tea. It’s a bottle of something brown and strong.”

“Whiskey does not solve all problems, sister.” Celestia chastised.

Noir bobbed her head from side to side. “It does solve many problems, though I believe that a full bottle would do Max no favours.”

Twilight made a disapproving noise. “If Max drinks when he’s not in a good mood, things get bad quickly. I say we skip that idea.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Why not let the man speak for himself? You act as if you are his mother-”

“Oi.” I said softly.

Luna turned her gaze to me. “Yes?”

“Twilight’s just looking out for me. Lay off.”

She puckered her lips. “As you say.”

Twilight gave me a small smile. “Everyone’s just trying to help, Max. We all have different ideas of what will work best for you.”

I nodded. “Alcohol’s off the table. You were right when you said that things get bad when I start drinking.”

Celestia made a noise with her throat. “Perhaps some of those confections you made for the Equestria Games would help?”

“If I have trouble sleeping, I’ll smoke. So far it hasn’t been a problem.” I replied.

“For the time being, I will do my best to keep your nightmares at bay, though you may end up walking the dreamscape most nights.” Luna said kindly.

“That’s fine. Is there any coffee?” I asked.

Four different kinds of Magic picked up the pot on the table and brought it over to me. “...Thanks?”

“No problem.” Twilight said.

Luna said, “It was a trivial matter.” at the same time.

“It was no issue.” Celestia spoke.

“Think nothing of it.” Noir replied simultaneously.

They all looked at each other and had a chuckle about their eagerness to lend me a hand. It made me smile, which was worth a lot to me. Then again, it could have been the prospect of having caffeine for the first time in weeks. I think it was them, so I’m going to stick with that story until another one pops up that sounds plausible. I poured myself a cup and sipped on the familiar bitterness and felt myself perk up immediately, but it was too hot to enjoy as it was, so I added a little cream and continued onward with my day.

I ended up finishing that apple, thought I did so rather slowly, though the most important part of breakfast was that it had been agreed that I would stay in Canterlot for a few days and would head back to Ponyville once I was feeling like I could manage it. I didn’t feel any particular way about that, but I was glad that I wouldn’t have to deal with anyone that would constantly ask about how I was doing, or what I was going through. Surely Celestia and Luna would leave me alone for the most part unless I needed something from one of them, but I felt like Twilight and Noir had me covered for most of my recovery needs, whatever they may be. To be honest, I didn't’ feel like I deserved to feel anything other than shame or guilt, but… Well, Twilight. I know for a fact that Twilight isn’t going to leave me, no matter what horrendous acts I commit, no matter what trials I go through or put myself through, so it feels like a massive injustice to her and the love she holds for me if I allow myself to rot away. It’s not that I want to heal for me, it’s that Twilight deserves better than me, and the drive to be better for her has yet to give in. It might be buried under the utter disgrace I’ve brought upon myself, but it’s still there, burning as hot as it always has.

I think the Covenant might have something to do with it, but no one has any solid information on it in any way shape or form since it’s such a rarity. Not even Celestia or Luna themselves know much about it since they’ve never experienced it for themselves, and apparently there’s nothing that causes it per se: it’s just a natural connection that brings two people closer together than any other known means. I’ve given it some real thought to be honest, but whenever I delve deeper into how I personally feel about it, the only thing I can think of is my connection to Noir and how one sided, yet similar it was. I do know, however, that I’m closer to Twilight than to Noir since I literally can’t hide anything from her, no matter how much I try. I also love her unconditionally, but I’ve grown to love Noir as well, though it’s obvious to me which outweighs the other.

When I really think about it, the Covenant is probably the only reason I’m not roaringly drunk right now or comatose. Disappointing Twilight any further scares me, though I know she’s not disappointed in me or even terribly. She IS shocked and appalled, but she sees my remorse for what it is and happens to be vibing off of my emotional state, so I really do need to get my arse into gear with recovery before I end up dragging her down with me. It’s not like it’s easy to force myself to try and smile or to get up when I sit or lay down. Hell, I don’t want to do anything other than lay down and let myself freeze in time so I don’t hurt anyone else, but giving up would hurt Twilight, and if I can avoid that, I’ll do so by any means possible.

As it is now, I don’t really want to dwell on feelings anymore. I didn’t end up doing much with the rest of my day other than playing board games with Twilight that were remarkably similar to a few from the human world like ‘Excuse Me’ (Sorry) and ‘King of the Castle’ (Monopoly). Other than that, Twilight made me stay busy and made it so that we didn’t stay inactive for long. I might try to convince her to let me do some woodworking tomorrow since that always clears my mind, but I don’t know if she’ll let me do any whittling since there is now a sharp object rule in play. Having the knowledge that I could break it at any point in time makes the rule more bearable, but then again, Twilight asked me to promise her that I wouldn’t knowingly violate it, and since it was a reasonable request, I did.

Besides writing next to Twilight in the room we were given for our stay in the Castle, Nothing is planned (to my knowledge) and it seems like I’ll just be focusing on getting my head on straight for the time being. Personally, I think I’m already doing better than I could be due to the advent of Twilight’s presence, but I there isn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind that I could be doing better.

Twilight asked me why I just sighed and I explained that I don’t know how anyone expects me to forgive myself. There’s always going to be that niggling reminder in the back of my mind that tells me that I could have saved those children from their fates, that they didn’t have to die that day… It’s hard. It’s a hard thing to live with. I get that there’s no magical cure other than straight up deleting the memories, but if I don’t remember exactly what happened, who will? Who even gives a damn about the lives lost in Esteril besides me?

Fuck, I’m thinking again. It’s time to sleep.