//------------------------------//
// ACT IV 
// Story: Songbird 
// by FluxFeather 
//------------------------------//

In the middle of a thunderstorm, three figures were circling each other. Their laughter was like that of grinding metal. 

“Three times the striped cat cried, four times the hedgehog whined! The harpy cries, tis time, tis time!" They chanted. 

"Roundabout the cauldron go; In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad that under a cold stone. Days and nights have thirty-one. Sweltered venom, sleeping got. Boil thou first I' the charmed pot. Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake. Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog, adder's fork and blind-worm's sting. Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, like a Tartarus-broth, boil, and bubble. Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
The scale of dragon, a tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf of the ravined salt-sea shark, the root of hemlock dug I' the dark, liver of blaspheming Jew, the gall of goat, and slips of yew slivered in the moon's eclipse, a nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, hoof of birth-strangled mare ditch-delivered by a drab, make the gruel thick and slab. Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, for the ingredients of our cauldron. 
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood, then the charm is firm and good." They continued to chant until the great and powerful Trixie appeared.

"Ah, good job, ladies. The cauldron is now ready to sing!" Trixie had announced. 

Then Rainius had come along. "What are you ponies doing?” He shouted into the wind, as the storm was getting stronger. The three mares didn't answer. "Anyways, I came for more prophecies!"

"Would you like to hear it from our mouths or our masters?" One of the sisters asked. 

"Let me hear it from them. Call them," Rainius demanded. 

"Pour in the blood of a female pig, that had eaten
her nine piglets; grease that's oozed from the murderer's gallowed throw into the flame." One of the sisters chanted. Then they all began to chant. "Come, high or low; Thyself and our service deftly show." 

Thunder is heard as the first apparition appears. It is an armed pony head. "Rainius! Beware of Flash Sentry!" It said before it disappeared and the second apparition came in the form of a blood-covered filly. 

"Rainius… no pony born of a mare can harm you," The second apparition had said before it disappeared to reveal the third who was a familiar-looking colt who was dressed like royalty. 

"Beware of trees for they are woody and have splinters," The third apparition said. 

"Okay?" Rainius said. Then a line of seven more colts dressed like royalty appeared, the last one holding a mirror. Standing behind them all was Shining Armor, pointing at them. Rainius was horrified. He leaves as they all disappeared. He laughs, how stupid these things these crazy ladies say, everypony is born through a mare, Flash Sentry is not a problem and trees aren’t scary. 

Then Rarity came up, she came to give Rainius a message, He saw her and waved her over. “Did you see any crazy old ladies just then?” He asked her. Rarity muttered something about her mother being a crazy old lady, but not anyone today.

“I have some news, my King,” Rarity continued “it appears Flash has fled to Yak Yakistan,"

Rainius laughed off the news “Good riddance I say. Better that traitor leave then be around here!” When Rarity left, Rainius had a plan.
"I will go to his wife's castle in Ponyville and leave them a little surprise,"

Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Flash Sentry's wife Twilight was in the sitting room when she heard the news. “What! He left for Yak Yakistan? That idiot, what does he think he is doing?! Here I am raising a family and what do I get?! A husband who flees at the first sign of trouble, he is just, so, so-Argh!!" At this point, she was throwing furniture around. 

"Mom? What is a traitor?" Twilight's son, Nova asked. 

"Well, son. A traitor is someone who lies and swears," She answered. 

"And was daddy a pony who lied and sweared?" Nova asked. Twilight nodded. 

"Mrs. Sentry, calm down," The messenger pony who was also in the room said. "You know, maybe it was smart that he left."

Twilight snorted at the word smart. “Smart? that silly foal has not one piece of smarts! Did you know that when he proposed to me, he forgot my name? He probably thinks that walking off a cliff is a good idea! Smart? Ha! As if!"

"Well, I'm sorry I can't stay, I've got to go," The messenger pony said before he walked off. As he walked off a group of ponies burst into the castle. One of those ponies being Rainius, holding a dagger. Then they attack, killing the family, their blood-curdling screams were heard by the messenger pony who looked back in horror at the sight. Rainius and his group of murderers had already vanished from the scene. 

Luna and Flash Sentry were at a pub in Yak Yakistan talking about the problem with Rainius. Luna stated how the country is going into a pit, and that Rainius is going to pay. Flash Sentry asked for a solution, the answer given was to storm the castle. Then the messenger pony arrived back from Equestria and looked tired and battered.

“Ah, Derpy, how are my children and... What’s her name… Twilight?” Flash asked. 

Derpy looked troubled as she thought for a moment and replied. "Last I saw them, they were fine… Last I heard they, um, weren’t as good.”

Flash Sentry didn’t quite understand, so he asked if Derpy would explain. Luna tried to change the subject but Flash wanted to hear it all. Afterward, Flash was just sitting at the pub with a half-empty cider in his hoof, just staring at the bench. Luna confronted him and told him to take it like a stallion. He finished the rest of his drink before finally saying, "... Rainius took away my family, now I will take away his crown. The reign of King Rainius Songbird is over!!"