//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Talking to the Voices 
// Story: War Machine 
// by DannyJ 
//------------------------------//

Starlight opened his eyes hesitantly that morning. He was still in his bed. The curtains were still drawn, but sunlight peeked through into the room anyway. The unicorn could see falling dust in the light. For a second, he felt the same way he usually felt every school morning, eager to get to whatever the new day had to offer him. This didn't last long before he remembered what he had to do today. He lifted his head off of the sunken pillow and let out something between a yawn and a long sigh.

Rarely if ever did Starlight dread the coming day when he woke up, but he knew that today he would be forced to help advance a certain spirit's shadowy agenda. Normally, Celestia herself could not convince Starlight Kadabra to do something that he did not want to do. He always got his way. Everything in his power would be done to make sure of that, and he had always been successful up until this point. This was the first time he had ever met a force powerful enough to compel him to obey like this.

Aw, cheer up.

And Ambition himself wasn't helping matters.

"Please be quiet," Starlight replied, muttering under his breath.

Starlight literally dropped out of bed, rolling off the side and landing in a heap on the floor. Not his normal way of getting up, but this wasn't a normal morning. As he sat up again and looked to his alarm clock for the time, he was even more discouraged to see that he had slept in by an entire three minutes. This day had already started disastrously, and it could only go downhill from here.

Come on. You wanted to be famous, right? How famous do you think you'll be after you're deemed the hero of Equestria? Even if you won't be along for the full ride, I'll put in a good word for you. It'll be great!

Starlight scowled and started stumbling across the room to begin his morning routine. This state of semi-awareness was another abnormality. Starlight would usually be very enthusiastic and full of energy. Nothing like this. What he was feeling now was still a huge step up from last night, where he would have described himself as 'suicidal' more than anything, but this was still no way to live. He expected that this was what commoners felt like when they awoke, shambling from room to room in a state of living death, bumping into things like blind toddlers. It was so undignified.

"I'll be happy about my rewards when I get them. Until then, I feel like I'm going on a suicide mission at the whim of some radical demon."

I thought we were past name-calling?

"Oh, be quiet. It hasn't even been a full day yet. And you aren't exactly the most pleasant of ponies, if I can even call you that."

Hey, the better we get along, the better we'll be able to pull this off, and the higher chance you'll have to live.

Starlight stumbled through into the cluttered bathroom, switched the light on, and started running the water for a shower.

"Just don't disturb me too much from now on, and we'll be fine."

No, Starlight. I'm talking talking about cooperation. Teamwork. You know, the thing that you majorly suck at? We can't just shut each other off. Besides, I'm bored in here. There's nothing else to do besides watch your lame memories and listen in on some of your lame thoughts.

Starlight frowned and looked up at his own forehead again.

"Fine," he yielded. "Just make sure it's something relevant if you insist on bothering me during my daily activities. I'm going to be enjoying a hot shower for now, so if you've nothing important to tell me, kindly remain silent."

Yeah, yeah.

He went to inspect his image in the mirror next. He had the look of a pony who had gotten little to no sleep the previous night, with bags under his eyes that were themselves reddened and bloodshot. But though he lacked any energy or enthusiasm this morning, he really didn't feel tired at all. If anything, though he hadn't noticed it earlier, he was more awake than ever. That feeling of living death wasn't fatigue. It was emotional in some way. Physically, he felt great. It seemed like he had gotten something out of last night's horror at least.

Starlight took his shower without further interruption from Ambition. The cascade of warm water was just as pleasurable to him as ever, but he was unable to forget that this could well be the last time he experienced it. He could never be happy in the present when his future was so grim. Starlight climbed out later feeling not nearly as relaxed as usual, quickly dried himself off, and got to work on his morning routine.

This regimen included brushing and flossing his teeth, rinsing with mouthwash, and combing his mane for the first stage of basic hygiene. Then he had to take care of the disguise portion, standing in front of the mirror again and vigorously applying makeup to the dark scab things wherever they were visible. It took twelve minutes for all of them, what with some of them being difficult to reach even with magic, but it was worth it to make them blend into the light purple of his coat. It wouldn't hold up to close inspection, but they wouldn't be noticed at a glance this way.

And finally, there was clothing. Except that his one and only cloak had last been seen being taken to the wash by the maid on the day she had been fired, and ever since then even its continued existence was an uncertainty. That mare had never liked him, and he didn't put it beyond her to have burned it on her way out. Or possibly given it away to some street urchin. So no clothing today either, same as every day since she'd gone.

With all that taken care of, he returned to his room to scrounge around in search of his locker key, which he could scarcely be expected to get through a day without. After finding it on the floor, he picked it up and hid it away in his mane just behind his horn; if he had no cloak, he had no pockets.

Ambition interrupted with an observation.

Say, whatever happened to that doctor? Wasn't he supposed to monitor you through the night? I don't see him anywhere around.

"I don't care, Ambition," Starlight replied.

It's just weird. He seemed like he was here on a house call, and I distinctly remember him promising to stay overnight and make sure you didn't choke on your own vomit or something. Where is he?

"I..." Starlight stopped. "I don't know. Does it matter?"

I'd say it's absolutely critical. Anybody could be a Purifier agent out here, and they probably know that I'm gone from their facility by now. I made a very loud exit.

Starlight looked left and right to make sure he was alone, and then stared up at his forehead again.

"Well, what do we do if he is?" he whispered.

Depends on if he already suspects I'm in you or not, and on how important he is. If he already suspects or he's of significant strategic value, I'd probably recommend taking a cleaver to his skull.

The unicorn stood completely still, staring upwards with his mouth slightly open and a single eyebrow raised.

"You have something severely wrong with you. I'm going to forget you said that."

Despite Ambition's protests, Starlight did not begin searching for the missing doctor, instead heading downstairs to prepare himself breakfast as he usually did. He was already behind schedule this morning, and he had no desire to delay further just to satisfy the voice in his head.

Reaching the especially messy kitchen, Starlight utilized his levitation to clear some of the clutter off the table, creating an island in the sea of food scraps, wine glasses, and stained clothes to place a single plate down. Some days he would be elaborate with his morning meal, but this was not one of those days. He lazily emptied some plain alfalfa out from a jar and onto his plate and seated himself to begin eating.

You could say it was peasant food, but it still required the least effort to prepare, and today was not a day for putting effort into things.

What the fuck is that? Ambition mentally shouted as Starlight picked up a load of it.

It's alfalfa. It's a type of edible plant. I don't like it, but it serves its purpose.

How about you have a real breakfast? You can have eggs or bread right? We're not eating grass.

A sly smile appeared on Starlight's face. Acting quickly, the grinning unicorn shoved several bites worth of the plant into his mouth, making sure it's raw flavor got fully detected by his tongue.

I'm really trying hard not to hate you right now.

You made me eat a dead animal. You had this coming.

Okay. Screw you too. All I have to do is disconnect myself from the tongue, so don't feel like you really got me. Your suffering doesn't have to be my suffering. Although you did make me want to throw up for the few seconds I was tasting that cow food.

It was still worth it to make you suffer for just a little bit.

You're pathetic, and nobody will ever love you.

Starlight scarfed down the rest of his hastily-prepared meal and set the plate aside on top of a pile of other plates. It was a depressingly large pile, and he got the sinking feeling that it would keep building up until he personally set aside an afternoon to wash it all up. He could never envision his mother doing it. Damn that maid.

That was all a concern for later. With a shrug, Starlight stood up and made for the front door.

Is that it? Ambition inquired. Aren't you going to look for your mother and say goodbye? Or aren't you even the teensiest bit curious about that doctor?

Starlight opened the door and stepped out into the morning sunlight. He turned back to the door as he closed it.

"Why would I say goodbye? We never say goodbye in the mornings."


***


It was not much later that Starlight arrived at the foot of a familiar pathway. It led up to the top of a hill, where the assorted spires and other stone structures of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns were situated. A black, wrought-iron fence with its metal shaped into elaborate and regal designs surrounded the base of the hill, reminding those on the outside that private land was contained within, and that entering was an exclusive privilege.

The looming buildings cast a long shadow in the morning that would blanket the hill and protect Starlight's eyes from the sun beaming down from the east. Groups, pairs, and lone unicorns of all sorts could be seen making the trip up the hill's narrow gray cobblestone road. It seemed that he had arrived on time (as he always did), in spite of how careless he had been back at home.

Passing through the fence's gates as they magically swung open in anticipation of the students, Starlight began trudging up the steep incline, grumbling at it like he always did until he reached the flattened hilltop.

Now the real activity of the academy could be seen. Professors with their stacks of papers, janitors and other maintenance workers hauling around cumbersome equipment, students with their saddlebags and whatever they couldn't fit in them, a few soldiers of the Royal Guard with their spears, and various other ponies were all buzzing around and flitting between the buildings. Though a few pegasi and earth ponies were among the janitors and guards, most of the crowd were unicorns, and many of them held their objects in the uniquely-colored glow of their magic. The school was awash with color.

Resigning himself to the likelihood of spending another day having no personal space, Starlight made a beeline for a large, unidentified building with a domed roof.

Hey, partner, where are we going?

He almost replied aloud, but Starlight caught himself and remembered to answer with his thoughts.

To the administration building. I need to warn them of my absence so that arrangements can be made.

What absence? I thought this was the last day of term?

I don't know for sure how much of my time you're going to waste on this quest. I need to account for the possibility that I may need to take days off of next term as well.

Aren't you the responsible one? Just make sure to make up a good lie about why you're going to be gone. We don't want any suspicion on us.

I planned on it. I'm not stupid.

The administration building was named as such by a bronze sign on its exterior just next to a pair of glass doors. Shoving his way way past two students standing in front of the door and talking, Starlight entered.

The interior was strangely modern, as opposed to the aged stony masonry outside, suggesting that there had been renovations over the many years the school had been in existence. The floors were a polished white linoleum, the walls were flat and smooth with a baroque wallpaper covering, and the ceiling was dotted with circular electric lights.

The corridor that they were in was lined with several wooden doorways, each with a fancy golden number plaque and a doorknob perfectly proportioned for an earth pony's hoof. The doors all had their own window in the top-middle section that would provide any passersby with a limited view of the slightly varied office rooms. Compared to the outside, the building was sparsely populated and very quiet.

I know you aren't. Now can you just get this day over with? We need to leave Canterlot before they track me down.

What are you being tracked down for? I'm guessing it's not just because you're some idiotic anarchist?

I did some bad things.

Of course Ambition would consider the whereabouts of a missing doctor to be vital, but actually interesting and possibly crucial details, like what he actually was and what he did, seemed to only warrant vague responses like that one. With an audible grumble, Starlight started off down the corridor at a quick pace.

No. No! No! Don't give me some simple cryptic answer that tells me nothing. You seem to love to keep me in the dark. I want to know what happened, and you're going to tell me!

Alright, alright! I didn't know that you cared so much. Here, I'll tell you a little story.

But like that, they had reached the office that Starlight was looking for towards the end of the hallway. It was where any student would go if they needed to enroll, request a class or schedule change, or turn in any other sort of paperwork. The door was open, and inside he could see a bored-looking unicorn mare, who sat at a large desk that divided the whole room. The office as a whole looked almost like a bank.

Well, that would be a start, I suppose. I'd like to hear this story, but hold that for later. I need to talk with the staff right now.

Fine.

Starlight quickly thought of an excuse for the time he would miss, and approached the desk. The mare on duty had a drab, forest-green coat with a maroon mane that was tied up in a bun. As Starlight approached, she looked up at him over a pair of round glasses, set aside the magazine that she had been reading, and gave him a smile.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asked.

Starlight gave a small, fake laugh.

"It's 'may I help you', actually," he responded in his attempt at a friendly tone.

The office worker twitched slightly, but did not stop smiling. Instead she produced a small, fake laugh of her own.

"Actually I was asking if I had the ability to help you, making 'can' acceptable in this situation."

Oh, this will be good...

Starlight didn't bother with the laugh this time.

"Actually you were asking for permission on if you could help me or not, making 'may' the grammatically correct word. And even if you were asking if you had the ability to help me or not, that would be stupid in the first place, because there is no possible way you could know my problem if I've just met you."

The mare dropped the act too, removing her glasses and no longer smiling.

"Actually we are speaking informally, so even if I was asking either of those questions, I would not have made a mistake."

Starlight slammed his larger forehoof on the front desk and leaned in, complete fury etched on his face and a tone of malice in his voice.

"Actually this would be regarded as a formal situation since you are currently at your place of work and are addressing what would more or less be your customer, you incompetent fool. If you really regard your job at one of the top schools in the country as informal, then perhaps I should inform others of that!"

The office worker backed away and attempted to reply in a calmer manner.

"Fine. I made a mistake. Can you please just drop it?"

Starlight leaned in further.

"I don't know. Can I drop it?"

The dark green unicorn rolled her eyes and gave out a sigh.

"May you please drop it?"

Starlight retracted his forehoof from the desk and stood back again. This time though, he tilted his head back and looked down his nose at the mare.

"Good. Learn from your mistakes. Now, let's get off that absurd tangent you started and on to my reason for coming here. I will be absent for possibly the first week or so of the next term, and I need you to make sure that it is excused."

"What's your excuse? That's quite a while," the mare said as she pulled over a blue logbook and opened it to the middle.

Starlight looked down and acted out a solemn demeanor.

"A close relative of mine passed away... Her funeral will be held sometime in those weeks, and it will be some distance from Canterlot. I don't know when I'll be back. Two weeks is the worst case scenario."

The mare gave Starlight a sympathetic look, though he couldn't tell if she was being genuine, or if her sorrow was just as fake as his was. Still, she reached to the side, grabbed a pen and began scribbling something in the book. Leaning over, Starlight could see that it was an absence register, and for a school such as this he was shocked by how many other names were already on there for this week alone.

"Name?"

"Starlight Hocus Kadabra. Student number five-six-eight-four-nine-two."

After adding those details, she closed the book again and looked up at him.

"Your possible two week absence has been noted. If for any reason it may take longer than that, though I should hope it wouldn't, notify us by post, and please do it two or three days in advance if sending by Equestrian Mail." She put the pen and book aside. "Sorry for your loss."

Starlight said nothing and turned to leave, nonchalantly walking out of the office and into the empty hallway again. With the mare now behind him, he gave a satisfied smile and started towards the exit at a brisk pace. In his head, he heard Ambition laughing.

Hahaha! Whew, that was good! I take back everything I said about you. You're hilarious. I just love how much of an ass you are to people!

The unicorn held his head up.

I was simply doing my duty to society by educating her.

Ha! See what I mean? Great stuff. Shame you won't be like this forever.

Starlight dropped his head and widened his eyes.

What?

Oh, relax. I just meant that with your old memories leaking through, you'll start to revert to your old personality. You know? What you were like before they removed all your father's influence? Just trust me; it'll be a big improvement.

Starlight stopped walking altogether. Looking up and down the hallway to make sure that they were alone, he sat down on the floor.

Well... make it stop! I'm perfectly fine with how I am now. I have been raised to be a respectable stallion, and I don't want your weird memory tampering changing that!

That's a no-can-do, buckaroo. This comes as a side effect of getting your memories back. There's no stopping it. But don't be so pouty. You'll still be the same pony. It's just that you'll notice a change in your behaviour. It's like going through puberty! If ponies do that.

Starlight frowned.

I still don't like it.

Of course you don't. You're difficult like that. Now get to class. I'll tell you that story I promised while you're sitting around, doing nothing.

Starlight felt like arguing the importance of his classes to Ambition but decided against it. Today being the last day of term, he probably really would be doing nothing. Besides, he had better things to focus his thoughts on. Without further argument, he stood up again and headed towards the exit.


***


Alchemy was never a particularly enthralling class for Starlight.

The professor charged with teaching it was a withered old unicorn mare who had been a member of the staff at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns for most of her long life. She was shale-gray with a white and wispy mane and tail. Her pale, tattered lab coat could be seen on her at all times, along with her weathered safety goggles. Starlight watched her, alone at his desk, while she moved between the others and watched the experiments.

Many of the students liked her because she wasn't as dry as the professors. She liked to teach hooves-on, had them all in a lab rather than a classroom, and had her students learn through practical experiments with chemistry sets rather than sticking strictly to the books. Starlight never liked her or her teaching style for all the same reasons, criticizing the pointlessness of the experiments when they could learn the outcome from the books much faster.

The lab itself was also something he could find fault in. It looked ancient, and he suspected that it probably was. Unlike the administration building, the walls were a bumpy conglomeration of rounded stones and the floors were made up of rough, mossy stone bricks. A few small, rectangular windows punctuated the wall to his right, allowing beams of sunlight to poke through in tight bundles.

The whole space would have felt like the room of some primitive castle, which was essentially what the science building was, but many things threw that theme off. From the ceiling, bars of fluorescent lights were hung, beaming their artificial glow, and each table currently had its own myriad of chemistry equipment on it. Beakers, droppers, flasks, and of course the chemicals themselves could be seen around in various jars or bottles.

Having never gotten much out of the experiments, which were meant to just be fun for the students, Starlight had long ago stopped having to do them. The teacher's only condition was that he wasn't allowed to be idle. If he didn't want to do the experiments, he had to work out of a textbook instead. Since that was exactly what he wanted to do anyway, this arrangement worked well. Except for the fact that she wasn't one of the ones that let him leave early when he had nothing to do, so this was one of the classes where Starlight had to deliberately slow down his writing pace to avoid catastrophic boredom.

Starlight. Hey, do you want to hear that story or not?

Though today, there looked to be no risk of that. Starlight's eyes continued to move back and forth along the page, but he was no longer reading from it. Instead, he smiled to himself as he gave his answer.

Start off with where you were imprisoned. You've made it fairly obvious that you were.

Alright then. I'll start with the Royal Vault, the shithole I was in for a very very long time.

That statement gave even Starlight pause.

That's impossible. Besides being a repository for possessions of the royal family, not a prison, there have been no recorded break-ins in its entire history.

Ha! I guess there's a first time for everything. And no, it's definitely a prison, but I'll get to that. Let me set the scene for you...


***


In a dark, steel box, the entity known as Ambition dwelled. His dim glow illuminated the cell just enough to make out some of the various complex rune symbols, all pulsating with arcane power. They dotted every inch of the wall, ceiling, and floor, and were the only things to actually look at in the otherwise desolate container.

Ambition would have been awfully bored in such a empty and unchanging place but for his ability to hibernate. He couldn't move, feel, or think in his state of stasis. It was like death. A complete, silent oblivion where he wasn't even aware of his own existence. The centuries passed by in quick bursts, as he would periodically wake from his sleep feeling like no time at all had passed. From his perspective, it was almost like he was leaping forwards in time rather than living through it.

Though, it was not uninterrupted. He could be awoken from his rest by exterior forces if they so willed it. An effect of the runes, he assumed, but if one of the ponies on the outside pressed the little button to communicate with him in his box, he was compelled to wake up and answer them. He had been forced to do so many times before. He hated it.

So it was not in the best of moods that Ambition was roused yet again by the buzzing sound from the communication channel. One particular rune on the back wall glowed a bright purple as the sound pervaded the room. In the middle, the fiery spirit turned around to face the rune, his face still fixed in a permanent grin despite his mood.

"What?" he shouted. "What now?"

This is why he didn't expect it when he then noticed a tiny, shadowy-black cloud of magic in his cell. The magical cloud bopped his forehead and flew over to join the larger mass of dark energy that was busy prying the vault door open. Ambition didn't know what was going on, but he spirit lunged towards the door to assist the swirling mass of magic.

He put every scrap of energy available to him into the push. The door was squeaking and moaning from the force being exerted upon it. Slowly, the runes on the barrier started to fade away. This was something which Ambition could never have hoped to do by himself. Whoever his ally was, they were powerful. The slab of metal soon reached its limit and burst from its hinges.

Ambition flew out of the vault just as fast. He turned his head all around, eager to catch sight of his rescuer, but all that greeted him was an empty hallway. A mortal would have made an expression to properly communicate what they felt at that moment, but Ambition's face was more like a mask, and so it did not. Instead, he could only let out an anguished scream from his unmoving mouth.

An alarm went off with an ear-splitting shriek, accompanied by the red glare of rotating siren lights above. Ambition now wished more than ever that he could crease his brow in the manner that mortals did. Now he would have to escape a Royal Vault on full alert, and he hadn't a single body to work with. Only his voice was capable of expressing the emotions he felt.

"Goddamnit!"

He picked a direction at random and swiftly floated down the reddened corridor.


***


Okay, I just have to interrupt you here. Your story is flawed. I've read that no amount of force can open the safes of the Royal Vault. They were designed by the finest spellcrafters of a generation to be completely impregnable. There is no way you got past them.

Starlight was still looking down to occasionally skim over the neatly printed paragraphs in his textbook. The teacher had since gotten up to the front of the class and began talking again. He didn't know when that happened, but he seemed to notice that the experiments were over for everypony else. He ignored her now, focusing on Ambition while listening to her with one ear in case he heard any important words such as 'quiz', 'exam', or 'project'. Unlikely on today of all days, but there could still be work to do over the holidays.

Weren't you paying attention? It wasn't me that escaped. Someone busted me out. I don't know who, but obviously those vaults aren't as foolproof as your books tell you. Look at me. I'm living proof. Well, I say "living"...

And what possible incentive would anybody have to break you out of prison?

I don't know. Perhaps they wanted something from me, but chickened out at the last moment before actually saying 'hello'? Back in the ancient times, some ponies believed that if I found your ambitions great enough, I would grant your wishes like some kind of genie. Lies, of course. I have no power beyond what my host gives me. I just liked having a cult. Those idiots wasted their lives worshipping me in the hopes that I'd grant them great wealth or whatever other crap they wanted. It was hilarious at the time, though depressing in retrospect.

A bell rang. Starlight head snapped up. He hadn't even been aware that it had been close to the end of the period, but the students were already leaving the room. Ambition's storytelling took longer than he thought.

"Goodbye, everypony! See you next term!" the professor called out.

Starlight ran to the back of the room and shoved the textbook back onto the pile he got it from. He then grabbed the pen from his desk and rushed to the front to drop it on the professor's desk.

"Thank you, miss. I'll see you next term," he said mechanically, before trotting out of the room as fast as he could without it turning into hobbling.

What was that all about?

Break time. I need to get to the water fountain.

Okay...

In seemingly no time at all, Starlight was out of the science building altogether and heading out towards the much larger main building.

Don't stop. Continue with the story as we walk. I still have questions. Like how you just conveniently knew which direction to go.

I didn't know where to go, actually. You'd know this if you held off on questions until after I finished. Instead you're interrupting me and getting me to go off on a tangent. Now can you please stop?

I was digging for crucial information, and I will continue to do so.

No, you were digging for useless details and things that even I don't know the answers to. Now shut your hole if you want to hear the rest, because I could easily decide to withhold this all information if I felt it wasn't worth my time telling you, and you couldn't do a thing about it.

They entered the main building and joined a crowd of other unicorns in a congested corridor inside. Starlight said nothing, either aloud or in his head, as they followed the hallway. Ambition could only guess that this was the way to the water fountain.

I'll take your silence as understanding. But anyways, I had just left my cell...


***


A vast labyrinth of corridors seemed to make up most of the vault. Each one that Ambition had encountered ended with a fork, giving him the option to turn left or right.

Everything about the passageways were identical. The ceilings were always high enough to belong in a castle's throne room, and the space was always narrow enough to be an aisle in a library filing room. There were always the same torches that lined the walls, at the same intervals, being held up by ornate gold holders, all of the same design. The floors and ceilings were a consistently flat, well-maintained stone brick surface, with not a single brick daring to protrude out of place.

The only thing that kept Ambition from thinking he was going in circles were large numbered plaques marking each of the containers that lined the entirety of the walls. He navigated his way with the numbers, following the direction where the numbers got smaller. His reasoning for this was that if he could reach the very first vault, there was a good chance that the exit would be nearby.

He had began at his cell, container 4317, and had rode the numbers freely down to container 1047 in the short while he had been free. He had seen literally no-one, so he encountered no resistance. Without the incessant blaring of the alarms and irritating lights, he would have thought that nobody cared. The incompetence of the Royal Vault's security was astounding.

He wasn't complaining. His current form was in no condition to fight off heavy security, especially after expending so much energy on blasting open that door. If a large group came, he would have to rely on sneaking, which was a problem because he would have nothing to hide behind. The only thing he could do to avoid detection would be to float up to the ceiling and hope that they wouldn't look up, which is exactly what he did when he heard voices coming from around the next corner.

"Come on, Shield. Don't be a wimp about this," a gruff stallion's voice said.

"I'm not being a wimp. I'm just being rationally afraid. Do you know what kind of stuff they keep in this vault?" a second masculine voice responded.

"Yeah, I've heard some stuff."

"Well, then you would know that they don't just keep dusty old museum pieces in these things. Before he got promoted, my CO used to tell horror stories about the things that the higher-ups keep in here. What if one of those got out?"

The voices were getting louder, and the shadows of the two were creeping up the red-lit wall far below. Ambition floated back and partially phased through the wall, hoping to give out less light and be less obvious this way.

The armored figures turned into the hallway. Ambition stopped moving and remained still as the the duo passed under him. He was now able to see who he had eavesdropped on. The two guards were unicorns, ash-grey and both wearing full sets of gleaming, golden armor. Despite their horns, they both used a forehoof to clutch their spears, pointing the tip straight up as they walked. They weren't his targets, but he couldn't pass up an opportunity. This was exactly what he was looking for: a good disguise.

"Then we'll do our duty and stop it from leaving. Personally I've been aching for some action. We almost completely missed that changeling invasion from being stuck down here. I only got to kill three bugs in an entire city-wide siege. That's pathetic. And we wouldn't have even had those if we'd shown up a minute later."

Ambition lowered himself and tailed the guards, waiting for the perfect time to lunge into one and start the takeover.

"You know, Brass, I worry about you sometimes," said Shield. "You're really not supposed to enjoy violence."

"Ah, maybe not. I guess it is a little messed-up of me. Seriously, though, you know how boring it is down here. Am I really so wrong for just wishing something exciting would happen?"

"No, but that's not the same as hoping there's something down here to fight. If you knew what these containers were made of and what spells the eggheads put on them, then you'd know we haven't a chance in Tartarus of beating something that could break out of one."

"We've got reinforcements. And besides, if something really has broken out, then obviously we were able to defeat and imprison it at least once before. I don't think it's the end of the world if one prisoner escapes."

While both of the unicorns were distracted by the conversation, the fiery phantom shot forwards and into the body of the closest guard. He intentionally chose the more frightened one, Shield, as his host. It would be far easier to conquer a scared pony with less willpower. Such victims had a much harder time resisting.

Shield immediately stopped walking as Ambition inhabited him, losing all motor control the very second he entered. Brass kept walking for a few steps more but stopped and turned around as he noticed what had happened. In his mind, Shield was surprised for a moment, but quickly began panicking.

Oh, sweet Celestia, what is going on?

"Hey, what's the hold up, Shield?" Brass asked. "Now's really not the time to take a break."

He gave an uneasy laugh as his partner remained still and staring off into space.

Just relax. I promise it will be over soon enough.

W-what is that voice? Why can't I talk?

"Shield? Hey, Shield?"

Brass! Help me!

Shield's body started undergoing violent spasms of movement. Gurgles of words slipped out of a quivering mouth. Eyes bulged out. It was the death throes of his control over his own body. Ambition reigned it in as quickly as he could, not wanting to risk any possibility of his new host learning how to effectively fight back. Brass looked on with wide eyes, dropping his spear and jumping to his partner's side. He put a hoof on Shield's shoulder and shook him, trying to snap him out of it.

"Shield!" he shouted. "Come on, buddy! What's wrong?"

Why can't I move? What's happening?

My name is Ambition, and I'm borrowing your body for a bit. Now, I would suggest blacking out in total fear. It's really annoying to hear you scream and yell, and you're kind of at my mercy right now.

The shaking stopped, and Shield blinked. Ambition was now in control. He turned his head to look the other guard in the eyes.

Good to see you have some sense.

"Shield? Are you okay now? What was that?" Brass asked in genuine concern.

Ambition tried out his horn. His magic had a teal-blue glow in this body, and he used it to lift the spear out of his hoof. He twirled it around experimentally.

"I'm fine," he answered. "Just a bit of a panic attack I think. Not sure what went wrong there. Do you think I should see a doctor?"

"Whew, that's a relief. I thought you were—"

Ambition thrust the spear forward, stabbing the other guard straight through the eye. Brass began screaming as he bled all over the floor. His wailing was joined by his partner's, as Ambition heard Shield in the back of his mind, crying out in horror. He pulled the spear out and thrust it in again, and again, and again, each time drawing more—


***


Okay, stop!

Starlight pulled his head back from the water fountain and stumbled away from it. A long line of other ponies was gathered behind him, and the ones nearest to the front all gave him a dirty look. They always did that. Starlight had long ago stopped caring about them. If they had such a problem with him taking a long time, they could have gone to one of the other water fountains. He had no sympathy for stupid ponies. 

He paid them no attention. Instead, he trotted away as quickly as he could and walked up the corridor until he reached the stairs to the upper floor. All that was on the upper floor was the library and some classrooms, so nopony was using the stairs. They had already left those classrooms to head to the lunch hall or courtyard, where most students spent their breaks. It was a sufficiently quiet place for Starlight to lean against the wall and take a deep breath.

You did what?

I stabbed him to death with a spear. Didn't you hear me the first time?

That's murder!

Congratulations. You can use a dictionary. What's your point?

Starlight's mouth physically hung open. He sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall, covering his eyes with his hooves.

Ambition… He had to struggle to not yell his mental messages. Just... Why? What reason did you have for killing that innocent guard? That was simply monsterous!

I had a reason. Didn't you hear me say that he was a threat to me?

Yes, but you never explained why he was a threat! You also never explained why you couldn't just ignore him and move on without having to kill anypony in the process!

Starlight pulled his hooves away and looked left and right to make sure nopony else was coming. He stood up again and sighed. He went over to the stairs and began climbing to the upper levels. Ambition didn't know where he was going, so he just answered his question.

I thought it should have been obvious. He was working for the Royal Guard. Don't get me wrong, they're no Purifiers, and I certainly don't hate them as much, but they're all branches of the same tree.

It wasn't his fault that he was sent down to do his job!

Didn't your parents ever tell you that life isn't fair? If not, they should have.

Shut up! What you did wasn't just unfair to him, it was absolutely immoral!

Again with the morals. You really won't get far clinging onto those things.

Starlight reached the upper floor and headed down yet another long corridor. In the back of his head, Ambition grumbled to himself, starting to get very bored with the scenery around here.

Like you would understand morals, you murderous savage!

I do understand them. And that's why I ignore them and don't let them get in the way of my goals.

Well, unlike you, I have a conscience.

And do you think that this makes you better than me? I'm a free man, while you're slaving away in this boring, grey place all year. I'm a centuries-old spirit who has been worshipped for my virtues, while you've done nothing of value in your life other than pass some exams that will permit you to do actual interesting things later. That, and being born when God clearly planned for you to be a miscarriage. I eschew morals, and I get things done because of it. You meanwhile claim superiority because of your morals, while failing to notice that you make everyone's lives objectively worse with your mere presence.

They reached the end of the corridor and turned a corner into another. This one was filled with sets of green lockers on both sides, stretching to the far end. It was almost entirely empty right now, with only one other pony there searching through one of the lockers at the far end. Starlight kept walking.

It makes me better because I am dutifully following a set of rules that keeps civilization from descending into chaos. If everypony behaved such as you do, this world would be devoid of any progress or structure. It would be the reign of Discord all over again.

I don't know about that. I've seen some pretty big countries made up mostly of selfish assholes like me, and they did pretty well for themselves.

And what countries would that be, hmm?

Starlight approached one of the lockers and drew the key that he had hidden in his mane earlier. As he opened his one, he could hear Ambition laughing.

Trust me, you've never heard of them. The names would be meaningless to you.

"Uh-huh."

The locker was completely filled with books. Whether they were textbooks, workbooks, library books, or just stacks of essays that looked like books when bunched together like that. It was almost ready to burst. Starlight used his levitation to pull a pair of books out of the middle of the pile without collapsing the rest of it. They were a textbook and a workbook, both apparently for a history class.

I still think you're a violent thug.

Ambition groaned. Look, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, violence has a time and a place. You'd be amazed by how many problems it can solve.

As Starlight took a pen from the locker as well and began to close it, another pony walked by him, heading back to the stairs. Starlight turned his head just in time to recognized who it was. His yellow coat and bulging muscles made the other unicorn easily identifiable.

"Endurance!" said Starlight, smiling. "Hello again!"

Endurance froze, one of his forehooves still hanging in the air mid-walk. He sighed and lowered it, before turning around to face Starlight and putting on a false smile.

"Hello there... Starlight, isn't it? It's, uh... nice to see you again."

"Likewise."

Starlight felt Ambition scan his recent memories.

...And here's a perfect example of that.

On the outside, Starlight's smile dropped. He looked up at his own horn, and even Endurance seemed to notice something was wrong, as his already fake smile became even more strained.

...What?

Assuming direct control!

Ambition was completely in control again. It happened so fast that Starlight barely had any time to stop him. Before he could even say anything in protest, Ambition had already taken his textbook and magically slammed it into the back of Endurance's head at the speed of a runaway train. The other stallion dropped like a sack of hammers, and Ambition wasted no time in stomping on his horn with Starlight's larger foreleg, putting the pony in immense pain.

What are you doing, you psychopath?!

"Talk behind my back, will you?" Ambition shouted in Starlight's voice.

Endurance groaned as he tried to get up, rubbing his horn. Ambition grabbed the book again and brought it down on his head a second time, knocking him back to the floor.

"Think I didn't hear you as you were leaving the other day? Nopony disrespects me! I am Starlight Hocus Kadabra, you worthless piece of trash, and I will not take such treatment from the likes of you!"

Ambition then began to beat him with the book again, repeatedly.

"Agh! Damn! Ow! Stop it! Stop it! Celestia, please!" Endurance begged, each plea punctuated by another strike.

Stop it, Ambition! You're going to get me into trouble! You're hurting him! This is pointless! What are you even trying to prove?

"Apologize!" Ambition commanded.

"Agh! Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, alright?"

Ambition still held the book over the bruised and beaten stallion, but withheld from hitting him again.

"You're sorry, what?"

Endurance's eyes looked up and down the corridor.

"Sorry... sir?"

"'Sorry, master'!"

This time he hit him directly in the horn again, causing another painful wail to echo through the halls. In his own head, Starlight was whimpering at the thought that somepony else could show up at any moment.

"Sorry, master!" Endurance amended. "I'm sorry!"

"That's better." Ambition leaned in and used magic to haul the other unicorn up onto his hooves again. "Give me your lunch money."

"...What?"

"I said give me your lunch money!" Ambition screamed as he got up in his face.

A bead of sweat ran down the other pony's face, but he reached into the saddlebags he carried on his back and removed a small wallet with his teeth, since he no longer had use of his horn after it had been repeatedly struck. He tried to open it and give Starlight his cash, but Ambition just snatched the whole thing.

"You're my bitch now," Ambition stated plainly. "You do what I say, when I say it, and I don't want to hear a single word of disobedience from you. Step out of line again, and I promise that what I just did to you, I will do a million times again to poindexter and the twins. Clear?"

Endurance nodded quickly. Ambition let him go, and he fell to the ground again.

"I'd also suggest not telling anypony about this. You can go tell the staff that you were mugged by a cripple if you want, but that's the thing..." He leaned in so that his face was near Endurance's again and grinned. "Nopony will ever believe you."

Watching the scene from within his own mind, Starlight remained stunned into silence. In the physical world, Ambition turned away and headed back down the corridor towards the stairs, wearing a satisfied smile and almost skipping along. When they turned the corner again and were out of sight, he tossed Endurance's wallet into the nearest trashcan and started whistling a tune to himself. In his mind, Ambition sung the lyrics to accompany it.

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain!

What, the hell, was that?

Ambition stopped whistling. He stopped walking too, but Starlight quickly realized that it was because he had returned control of the body to him. Picking up where Ambition had left off, he resumed walking, still heading towards the stairs.

That was a demonstration of the power of violence. Now that guy will never give you shit again. You're welcome.

He never did in the first place!

Oh, but he did. You just wilfully ignored it because you wanted to believe that you had a friend in that group. Trust me. I saw yesterday's memories. He and the others hated you as much as everyone else around here hates you. And to be fair to him, you completely deserve it. But we're partners now, so I felt like I'd do you a huge favor and get you some respect. Even if it did come through fear. Again, you're welcome.

But you can't just go around doing things like that to ponies!

Starlight, there is no force on Earth, in Equestria, or in the realms between that could get me to spend another boring day in your crappy unicorn school. After this, the whole rest of our time together will be spent traveling. So you know that I am being completely honest when I promise that I will never beat up one of your fellow students again. Okay?

Ugh. Fine. It was foolish of me to waste my time trying to get you to see sense anyways. At least I doubt that you can do anything worse in the few hours you have left here.

That's the spirit! But we're waaay off-topic now, so can I pick up where I left off?

Yes. By all means, continue with your horror story.

With pleasure.


***


After stabbing the guard multiple times and incinerating the body, Ambition had moved on. Brass wasn't the last guard to get in the way, but the same fate befell the others. Ambition cut through the rest of them using the exact same tactics. He'd impersonate his host, get up close, kill them with something sharp, and then he'd burn them just to be sure.

Now, he was approaching his destination. Ambition trod over another four piles of freshly-made ash that lay on the similarly colored stone floor. His body was quivering, fueled by the familiar rush of adrenaline. His breaths were short and deep. His eyes were wide. His heart beat furiously, blood pumping through his veins. It wasn't that the physical activity was too strenuous for this body. It was just that it was so exciting. He was alive again.

He had disposed of what had to be a dozen guards by now, rampaging down the bright red hallways of the vault. It was easy. All he had to do with a group of guards was say that he had gotten separated from his squad, join up with those he encountered, and cut them all down or blast them from the rear before they had time to react. It was brutally effective, as evidenced by the trail of incinerated bodies behind him.

Meanwhile, the original owner of this body helplessly watched as his own horn and hooves were used to carry out all of these atrocities, unable to do so much as cry for those he had slain.

Hey, this is it, right?

Ambition had arrived at the end of the hallway, but this time there wasn't another connected passage. It ended in a large steel door, looking to be made out of the same material used in the containers, complete with the mess of runes that covered it.

Y-yes, this is the top-secret p-place. T-that means I can I g-go now, right?

Of course not! You've been a big help in the slaughter of all of those pesky guards, so I'm going to let you help me infiltrate the Purifier headquarters. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and let me use your body as a disguise and/or weapon!

T-then can I go?

Sure, I don't see why not.

Oh, thank Celestia.

Hey, don't thank her. Thank me. I'm the one who's helping you here. But nevermind that. How are we going to get past this door? You work here, so you tell me.

Uh, I guess just wait until somepony opens it from the other side.

There was a short wait, but not long after, the metal door swung open. A squad of six ponies, most of them unicorns, marched out of the opening in a line. They each wore a red robe and a painted metal mask. Every mask was unique and represented a certain animal. The one in the front, a light orange unicorn mare, looked to be the squad's leader and was donning an especially intimidating mask that depicted the head of a crimson dragon. The group abruptly stopped when they spotted the lone guard waiting outside the entrance.

The mare in front was the first to speak up.

"Soldier, I need a status report on the situation in this vault," she ordered. "And wipe that smirk off your face. It's unsettling."

"Of course, ma'am. My squad was attacked by the creature just moments ago. I was the only one who got away. The others were all... reduced to ash."

There was no visible reaction from any of them.

"I'm assuming you saw the creature. What are we dealing with?"

Ambition chose his words carefully.

"It was... a ghost, ma'am. A fiery ghost. It was grinning and... I'm not sure how to describe it."

The mare sighed and turned to one of her squad, a Purifier in a jaguar mask.

"Take him to the Director. We need to get as many details as possible."

The Purifier in the jaguar mask saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

The mare turned back to Ambition.

"Under any other circumstances, I would never allow you to enter our headquarters, but this is a dire situation. My lieutenant here is going to take you to be debriefed. Do not separate from him. Unauthorised personnel in the base are usually shot on sight."

In his mind, Ambition grinned. Outwardly, he gulped and gave the mare a nervous smile. She tilted her head in the direction of the door behind her, permitting him to enter. With that, he saluted and galloped off into the dim passage that stretched past the doorway. He couldn't have asked for a better set of circumstances.

The passage was simply a tunnel carved straight out of solid rock, with no installed floors or walls. The only thing separating it from a natural cave were some torches planted along the walls and the occasional cobwebbed support frame. Escorted through by the nameless lieutenant, Ambition waited until he was certain that they were alone and unobserved to leap from his host and into the Purifier in question, taking control immediately.

What the...?

Shut up. Do as I tell you to. Then you get to live.

A quick search of his host's most recent memories turned up the name of the mare who he had encountered, Captain Light. Ambition added the captain to the list of ponies that he had to kill. He noticed his host's unicorn horn during his search. That was good. He was worried for a moment that the Purifier underneath this mask might be one of the rare earth ponies or pegasi in their employ. As he always did when he possessed a new unicorn, he decided to do a quick search for any unique spells that this one might know for him to add to his arsenal.

Inside the Purifier's head, Ambition was given pause as he inspected the memory of the pony's name that he stumbled across. It said he was called Clean Slate and that his cutie mark (a flash of light, supposedly the result of a spell being cast) indicated a talent for memory spells. Yet that was just surface. There was clearly more buried underneath. The spirit mentally smiled as he probed at the memory lock.

Oh, this is priceless.

What are you doing, monster?

Like tearing off a band-aid without regard for the pain, Ambition ripped off the memory lock by force. An entire lifetime of memories flooded out and bludgeoned the already mentally fragile Purifier some more. He was called Burning Bright. He specialized in light magic. His cutie mark was light from his torchlight spell. His best friend and partner had been a private detective. A mare hired them to track down her missing coltfriend, who turned out to be one of the Purifiers' victims. They had somehow missed the mare. Burning Bright and his partner came too close. They found the Purifiers, or rather, the Purifiers found them.

Cue the pony who had spent the last seven years as Clean Slate suffering a horrible identity crisis. Ambition had to tune out the sound of him screaming and crying in his own mind, outwardly showing only a flinch. As he returned to the real world, he looked back over to the Royal Guard pony that he had just left, who was now backing slowly away from Ambition.

"C-can I—"

Ambition wrapped his magic around Shield's head.

"You're still standing here? God, you just have no self-preservation instincts at all, do you?"

He unceremoniously snapped his previous host's neck and tossed the body aside. Burning Bright led out another scream that not even Ambition could ignore, but he quickly reminded his host to be silent again and let out another spell to incinerate the body he had inhabited not a minute ago.


***


Back in the present time, Starlight was now in the middle of his history class. While he had previously sat in place and perused his textbook, the teacher's voice in the background expositing on a few details for those interested, hearing that last part caused him to drop the book on the desk and sigh. He tried his best not to outwardly show anything, but still he stared down at the desk, looking to all the world as if he had suddenly spaced out or was falling asleep.

That... I can't even see how that was necessary.

Are we doing this 'morality' thing again? asked Ambition.

Starlight realized that he had dropped his book and noticed the looks of concern that the pony next to him was giving. He tried to give them a reassuring smile, but it felt instead like he was just showing his teeth, so he quickly picked up the book again and hid behind it.

No. We're not. It's clear to me that trying to reason with you as if you weren't a psychopath is pointless.

Oh, give me a break! "Psychopath"! What, in the sense that I don't have emotions? Well, we both know that's wrong, otherwise I wouldn't get so pissed by how much of a little bitch you are!

Starlight buried his face even further into the book.

Ambition, I don't care. Shut up and continue with your story.

No. I'm putting this to rest right now. I don't think you fully appreciate just how much letting a single witness escape alive would utterly—

I. Don't. Care. You're still a treacherous murderer no matter how many weak justifications you might come up with, and you have no right to lecture me about anything. I accepted your abuse before, but that was when I still thought that you were relatively harmless. A menace, but not a killer. Like Discord. Only now, you've told me that you murdered helpless ponies in cold blood. You've lost all my sympathy, if you ever had any at all, and I have no time for your crap. Finish your story and get this over with, you disgusting creature.

Ambition was quiet. In the silence, Starlight drew himself up again, no longer hiding away in the book. He returned to reading it in earnest, indignant and sneering down at it. The pony at the next desk gave him an odd look but was ignored. When his voice returned, Ambition spoke softer now.

Very well. You've made your position clear, and I can respect that. So, as I was saying...


***


Ambition soon came to a steep set of stairs that rose up into a worn old wooden trap door. After rushing up the stairs, he swung open the shoddy hatch and poked his head out to quickly scan the space above. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all a smooth sheet of solid, dull gray concrete, only interrupted sometimes by a metallic air vent. A single light bulb hung above in the center, leaving any part of the room not near it in gloomy shade. Strewn about the fairly small space were various supply crates and barrels, pointing to it being some sort of storage closet.

Thinking he was alone, he climbed up and found himself in the sights of an impressively stout aquamarine earth pony stallion, who had been somehow hiding well in one of the darker corners of the room. The wolf-mask and signature red robe marked the now alerted guard as a Purifier operative.

"Hold it right there! What are you doing back from patrol already?" the agent barked as he dashed over to put his face in the room's recent visitor.

Ambition just stood still and inspected the hulking earth pony, who apparently didn't grasp the concept of personal space. He wasn't accompanied by a large group, so he was presented the choice of taking his body and using him as a new host, or killing another Purifier.

After a few moments of thought, he decided to go with the second option. The pony did look to be in top shape, and there was always the perk of guards being able to get around the facility better than the agent he was currently using, but this mundane earth pony body wasn't worth the risk. Ambition had a well-controlled and able body. Why would he leave that? Killing the guard would be much less hassle. And much more fun.

But before he proceeded with the murder, he needed to get information. There was more purpose to him coming here than to just escape and wreak havoc. No, he had a plan for what he would do when this day came, and it started with him getting access into the Purifiers' reassignment archives, or at least, the next best thing: the mind of the archive's manager, the Coordinator.

"I am back here on direct orders from Captain Light, sir. She requested that I deliver a report to the Coordinator on the situation in the vault. Is he in today?"

The masked stallion quickly retracted his head and backed away but kept his eyes glued to his visitor.

"Yeah, I guess you check out then. The Coordinator should be in his office right now. You know where that is, right? Room 518 on floor 14B."

Ambition saluted. He really didn't know if he was supposed to but he thought that it looked convincing.

"Thank you, sir."

Right before he opened the door to leave the isolated room, he built up charge for the spell that he had become very accustomed to, and discharged it right into the agent's center of mass, reducing him to a pile of steaming ash. As a slight precaution in case any other agent were to encounter the conspicuous pile, he scattered the ash around the floor. It wasn't perfect, but it would at least stop others from noticing if they were just passing through.

How many more are you going to kill? asked Burning Bright.

Hundreds, if I get my way.

Make it thousands. Kill them all. They deserve it. I see that now.

Exactly. You see my perspective, don't you? I did the whole world a favor by blasting that fucker. I'm just here because I want to do the right thing.


***


Starlight dropped his book again and scoffed. The pony who'd been sitting next to him was still giving that look, but now he was packing away his things into his saddlebags. Starlight was too, as history class was wrapping up. A bell rung in the background as the students filed out of class, some of them stopping to say a quick goodbye to the teacher. Starlight did not, instead trotting straight out at as quick a pace as he could manage and moving past as many other ponies as possible in the corridor. It was clear now, but soon the congestion would begin.

You really told him that? That you were doing the right thing? Starlight asked once they were out of the class.

Yeah, I told him that. What's wrong with it?

Starlight twitched slightly.

I thought you despised morals? You literally slaughtered a dozen guards just on the suspicion that they would later be a nuisance!

The halls were already beginning to fill up. Starlight passed several more classrooms, each with open doors from which poured even more students. Most seemed to be heading in the opposite direction from him.

Oh, I do. Don't get me wrong. It's just that a lot of the times, I put on act to make people like me more. It helps in controlling an unwilling host if they agree with me or support me on some level. Making out like I'm some great hero trying to save Equestria from the evil Purifiers makes it harder to hate me, so they don't fight so much. It makes them doubt themselves. Makes them hesitate. Sometimes, they'll even outright surrender control to me willingly.

You're making it harder and harder to trust you with every word you speak. Whenever you tell me anything about yourself or the Purifiers, how do I know whether you're being honest with me or not?

Starlight, buddy, think about this. How could I be lying about how bad these guys are when you remember them taking your dad away in an uncorrupted memory?

The corridor opened up into a large, open hall where there were dozens of long tables with plastic seats waiting. Already a few of them were completely full. It was a big room but not nearly big enough to have a place for every student at once. That's why there were rotations. Upper years came in and ate first, and the lower years would get their turn later. But everypony was expected to eat quickly and get out as soon as they were done, not wait around for their friends. Having better things to do at lunchtime, no friends, and being in the top year, this arrangement could not have been more perfect for Starlight.

He pushed aside two more ponies in his way and made a beeline for the queue that was lining up on the far side of the hall.

How do I know it hasn't been corrupted by you in a further attempt to trick me? Couldn't you have done exactly what you claim the Purifiers to do?

No. First, my memory work isn't alteration. I lock or unlock existing memories, hence why you can still remember your fatherless life and why you're still such an asshole. Two, memory alteration was hardly even a theory back when I was around to learn about it, so unless you think I studied it while serving my sentence in the Royal Vault, or you're accusing me of inventing the goddamn stuff myself, what you're saying doesn't make sense. And C, if I've been telling you nothing but lies, then you would be worthless to me as a host, what with the hostility, the physical disabilities, and your frankly abhorrent personality. You wouldn't be worth the effort.

Starlight maneuvered around the last table and joined the end of the line.

"Hmph."

And besides, you're missing the most important aspect of this. Namely that if you paid attention to the story, you'd know that manipulating a host to make them easier to control involves endearing myself to them. If I were going to lie to you, I'd tell lies to make you like me. So, are we good now?

Not entirely. I believe you, for now, but you're definitely not some hero like you made yourself out to be, and I certainly don't trust you anymore, if I ever did.

Hey, when did I say I was a hero? I never claimed I was doing this for Equestria, or for freedom, or justice, or any other similarly nebulous concepts that heroes like to prattle on about.

That was obvious enough. So what's driving you? World domination, or something of that sort?

Ah, maybe someday. But right now, I'm honestly just reacting. Playing the hand I'm dealt, you might say. I made some enemies, the Purifiers among them, and they need to go before I can do anything.

The line shuffled forward. Starlight grabbed a tray from a nearby pile.

With all the senseless murder that you've probably committed, I'm not surprised.

Hey, what I did wasn't that bad. I'm the one who's been mistreated here. They were going to keep me locked up forever. Everybody about drowned themselves in tears and regret when Luna was sent away, but no-one so much as batted an eye when I was sentenced to basically the same thing. And my prison sentence didn't even come with a chance of parole!

If you're trying to get me to pity you, it won't work.

Yeah, I guess it wouldn't. I'll just get on with my story then. I think you might find this next part interesting. It relates to your dad.


***


Ambition loudly knocked on a thin metal door with the numbers "518" neatly painted on in yellow. He passed through several maddeningly similar concrete halls and stairways to reach this point, and it'd all be worth it for this. He'd been quietly dispatching as many other Purifiers as he could risk without raising the alarm early, but he had only claimed the lives of three operatives so far. He risked it only when the conditions were perfect. The halls had a low concentration of staff members, but being seen by just one could cause the whole complex to go on red-alert. And no individual target was worth risking getting caught for. Except for one.

The door opened to reveal Ambition's prime target, the Coordinator. The unicorn stallion had a thin silver coat and a gelled-back blond mane. Like all the others seen in the HQ, he was wearing the usual uniform, with a mask depicting a lion.

"Yes, yes, what is it? It had better be important to interrupt my work," the stallion said, running his eyes over the visitor. "I'm assuming it would have to be for somepony of your rank to been sent all the way over here."

Ambition wanted nothing more than to just roll his eyes and reduce him to slag where he stood, but he needed his mind intact, necessitating that he pull off a clean possession job.

"Yes, sir. I was told by Captain Light that I was to deliver a report to you on the creature that escaped from the vault just recently. We're not sure the situation can be contained much longer."

The stallion's expression couldn't be seen behind the mask, but the long sigh made it clear that he understood the gravity of those words.

"Well, hurry in and tell me every detail. I need to make sure we know what we're dealing with. If it's what I think it is, then we've got trouble. We must take steps to properly arm ourselves."

The robed stallion backed away from the doorway, prompting Ambition to enter.

Okay, here's the plan. The second he closes the door, I'll shoot out of you and take over his body. Once I win out, which I should, I'll signal you by stomping my hoof. Really, all you have to do to not screw this up is stand in front of the guy's desk, so this should be easy.

Sure.

And one last thing. If I seem to be taking too long to seize control, I need you to restrain him. It helps a lot. Resist the urge to break his neck, if you can. I kind of need him for the moment. Wish me luck!

They crossed the threshold, and the Coordinator closed the door with his magic. He turned his back to them and trotted over to his desk, which was messy and piled-up with paperwork. While his target was exposed, the true ghostly form of Ambition darted out of his previous host and hurtled into the other unicorn's body, intercepting him mid-walk and seemingly without the stallion noticing. The junior Purifier could only stand between the desk and the door, waiting for his signal.

The Coordinator sat down at and picked up a quill and parchment. He placed a heading at the top of the paper and cleared his throat.

"Go ahead with your report, then. What did the thing look like?"

Ooh, ooh, I know!

The veteran Purifier immediately stopped what he was doing and tried to channel magic towards his head. He recoiled when he found the flow blocked. It was already too late.

Whew, you almost got off a spell there. That sure would have been bad. But now that you can't use any magic to fight back, this should be quick n' easy.

The body started the normal cycle of spasms that possession victims went through, but this time it ended somewhat prematurely. Only moments after it began, words of Ambition's victory were clearly spoken through the now smirking unicorn's body as he tapped a hoof on the table.

"Hey, partner, I did it. The wimp hardly put up a fight. Hold up while I get some information from him."

Burning Bright nodded and continued to wait in place. The Coordinator seemed to zone out, managing to give the impression that he was staring off into space even while his eyes weren't clearly visible. Inside his mind, Ambition raked around for signs of what he wanted, taking no care to avoid potential damage.

Well, it seems that you have me beat. I suspected that a fragment got out. I won't be stupid and hopelessly try to fight back. I couldn't even commit suicide at this point.

Smart move. Now, I can get the information I need from you by you telling me, or by probing your brain. The latter might leave you a vegetable if I choose to not be gentle about it. Which way is it going to be?

I suppose I might as well just tell you. It's pointless either way.

Great, I need to know is where a certain ex-agent named Clairvoyance Cortex is. Worked with Viper.

Yes, I remember him. He was found to be working for the Descendants. I personally wanted to kill the dirty traitor, but more wanted to see him live, so we let him off with reassignment. We wiped and replaced his memories and he was shipped off to Baltimare. He's an old hermit now, and he always has been.

I knew the idiot would get caught. Say, he had a family right? A wife and kid? What happened to them?

They were left alone, but their memories of him were wiped. Clairvoyance was trying to indoctrinate his child, and his wife voiced concerns about him to Agent Viper. We did them a favor and removed his corrupting influence. Scarlet Kadabra is now a perfectly content single mother, and her adopted son, Starlight Kadabra, is by all reports growing into a promising student. Equine Resources are watching him very closely.

Oh, well aren't you guys just the best? That's all I needed to know.

I'm guessing this is when you kill me, then?

Kill you? Oh, no. You can still help. I'm getting a free ride out of here with this body. But I have to take care of something first.

Without any hesitation, Ambition utilized his new body to fire a bolt of raw magic toward his partner. Burning Bright somehow saw this coming, however, and just barely managed to scrape up a weak arcane shield in time. The beam collided directly with the barrier. The Purifier was spared a fiery instant death, but was also shot back into the hard concrete wall at remarkable speeds. He was winded, and a couple of teeth were knocked out of him before he crumpled to the floor.

"W-what are you doing?" the pony shouted between gasps for breath.

Ambition strided over to the helpless body of his victim, and stepped down on his throat. He removed the mask covering the Coordinator's face to show Burning Bright his frown.

"As you can see, I have a new body, meaning there's no real advantage of keeping you alive. I just can't trust that you won't turn against me. Sorry about this, buddy."

"W-wait, s-stop! I promise I won—"

The agent's pleas were silenced by the deafening crackle of magical energy. Ambition sighed and proceeded to collect up the resulting ash pile and hide the evidence in one of the desk's drawers.

You're the lowest form of monster I've ever seen. 

Oh, and why's that?

The only way you seem to be able to accomplish any of your goals is by manipulating others.

Wow. Of everything I just did, that's what you pick up on? You know what they say about glass houses, don't you, Mr. Erase-People's-Memories-So-That-They'll-Do-What-I-Want-Them-To-Do?

Shut up! Don't make such an absurd comparison. Our organization is perfectly justified in everything we do. We benefit the whole of Equestria. You're a monster who seeks only personal gain!

Correction: I am the only honest man in the room.

You are a monster, and you—

I really don't feel like having this argument. It's going to be a lost cause trying to get you to like me. I know that you've been told all about how me and all the other fragments are just evil in every kind of way.

So far, everything I've been told about your depravity was massively understated.

Well, I'm always trying to exceed expectations. Now, let's leave this boring place, maybe kill a few dudes on the way out, and find a place to get some food once we're out on the town. You were really hungry. I guess it's that office dedication.

If spirits could die, you would be damned to a hell deeper than the darkest pits of Tartarus.

That's a good observation! It's great to have you aboard.


***


I have a question.

As Ambition's story was cut off yet again, he noticed that they were already out of the queue, out of the lunch hall, and in an empty, dark classroom at a desk. Starlight was even already pursuing a textbook. Ambition privately resolved to pay attention in future and not get lost in his own storytelling again. Time was flying by today.

Is this one actually important, or are you going to start another argument or ask about some minor pointless detail?

The door opened, and an orange unicorn mare with a two-toned mane and a cutie mark of a blackboard entered the room. She regarded Starlight briefly, nodding at him, before taking her seat at the front desk of the room and opening up a ring binder folder. She picked up a pair of spectacles lying on the desk and started to read through it. She didn't even bother turning on the lights. Starlight ignored her too, returning his attention to the textbook in front of him.

Details are imperative, but no. I would like to know how you just knew that my father had been taken. You wouldn't have gone to the Coordinator if you didn't think he had already been relocated.

It was a hunch. An educated guess. I figured he'd get caught, considering how much of a risk-taker he was, and I was also pretty sure they wouldn't have killed him, given how much he'd done for them and how well-liked he was. Viper especially was very close with him. I'm smarter than you think I am.

And how would you have gathered so much information about him during your time in the Royal Vault?

That's a good question, and I can tell you another good story to answer it, but we're kind of getting behind on our current one due to someone continually nitpicking my every sentence. So I'll give you the abridged version.

Starlight rolled his eyes.

Fine. You've already told me that you met with him at some point during his Purifier career.

The bell rung. The unicorn looked up from her register and used her magic to flip on the lights.

Very good. Me and him had a chat once. Probably the best I had in that jail.

Wait, so are saying that the two of you communicated while you were still inside the Royal Vault? That's absurd.

I know it sounds weird, but the guy came looking for me for some reason. His curiosity brought him to my container, and with a little help from some magic—

What kind of magic? And who in the Purifiers told him about you? Is this just a commonly known thing in the organization, or is the knowledge only available to the higher-ups? Also, how would he just be granted access to roam the vault like that? I know he was a Purifier, but it still se—

Stop, you're doing it again.

Students began pouring into the room and taking their seats. Starlight resolutely ignored them.

Oh, fine. Get on with it then.

As I was saying, we talked. I quickly figured out that he worked for the Purifiers and convinced him to quit.

You really just convinced him to quit such a job with a quick chat?

Shut up, for God's sake! And no. Not just that. I used my brilliant skills of persuasion to convince him that the cause of the Purifiers was wrong. You might be surprised to hear it, but he and I had quite the debate on the subject of morality. I may not believe in it, but I know that he did, so turning him against the Purifiers was a simple matter of explaining to him how most ponies would consider what they did to be morally wrong. And as weird as it was for me to play the part of somebody's conscience, I played the role well enough to make him switch sides.

I planted the seeds of rebellion in him. I got him to find and join up with the Descendants. And, yes, I learned a lot about him and your mother, too. He came back several times through the years for repeat visits, during which I got to know him even more. After you were born, you became a frequent recurring topic. "Is he healthy, though? I worry about him so much." "He's growing up so fast, I don't know what to do!" "Do you think I'm being a good father by getting him involved in all this?" Yada, yada, yada. It all got very samey after a while, but I listened, because it's building that personal relationship with him which is what got ol' Clairvoyance on my side in the first place.

But I wouldn't give me too much credit, because he was already starting to question the Purifiers when he got to me. He wouldn't have broken protocol and paid me a visit if he wasn't. I just tipped him over the edge.

At the front of the class, the teacher put away her ring binder and picked up a piece of chalk. The last few stragglers came through the door and took their seats just as she finished writing up a series of equations. She turned to face the class, and the math lesson officially began. For once, Starlight tuned her out.

I bet you're still proud of yourself.

Yeah… I gotta admit, I was pretty good, but there was one thing I couldn't convince him of. He thought that it was a good idea to be a spy for the Descendants, since he was so cozy with the Purifiers, even when it was inevitable that he would get caught. I couldn't get him to change his mind, so against my better judgement, he went and played double agent. I'd hear back from him sometimes about what he'd done, but eventually I stopped getting visits. I guessed that he'd gotten caught, and I was right.

I assume that's all that happened, then?

Yup. And aren't you proud of your pops for throwing himself in harm's way for the good of justice or something like that?

I don't see why I would be. He made a stupid decision that jeopardized his entire family.

You know, I really like the way you think sometimes. It reminds me of an old friend I used to work with.

"Any questions?"

That was the teacher asking the class. Starlight ignored her.

"Good. Answer the questions up to question eighteen, and we'll leave it at that for now."

Starlight idly realized that he'd missed the page number, and she hadn't noted it on the board. He also didn't have a partner sharing this desk with him, unlike most of the other ponies in the class, so he couldn't even look over to see what page everyone else was turning to. This was Ambition's fault.

Do I dare ask about this old friend?

If we can finish this story that you have done such a fantastic job of slowing down, I'll tell you about it.

I'll try to restrain myself, but I doubt I'll succeed.

Just please try. Now, uh, where was I? I keep on forgetting because of these tangents you get us on.

You were leaving the Coordinator's office, I believe.

Ah, yes. The great escape.


***


Ambition paraded himself around the darkening sidewalks of Canterlot, still inhabiting the Coordinator's body like he was wearing a skin suit. His stolen body was still in full uniform, sporting not just the Coordinator's work clothes, but also his mask. The denizens of Canterlot didn't know what to make of him. The more fashion-conscious were shocked and appalled by his appearance. Kids scurried away from him. All the other ponies just seemed to regard him as a weirdo and crossed the street when they saw him coming, though Ambition gave overtly friendly greetings to everyone he passed. Usually, he'd accompany them with phrases like "Don't mind me, citizen! I'm just off to brainwash some ponies! Purifier business!"

The sun was barely peeking out over the horizon and street lights were already starting to come alive to compensate for its absence. The night sky was creeping up from the east and the swirling reds and pinks of sunset were fading away in the west, a sight that Ambition might have found pleasant if he at all cared. At the moment, he was preoccupied with something else.

When they came to a stretch of road with no other ponies, Ambition reinitiated conversation.

So, you know any good dives around here?

And why would I have anything close to a reason for telling you?

Well, aren't you hungry? Come on, it helps both of us.

I would go for days without eating if it meant putting you in mild discomfort.

You know, I was thinking about keeping you as a long-term host, but I'm not so sure now. You really have an attitude problem going on there.

An attitude problem? Are you taking any of this seriously at all?

Ambition spotted an alley that interested him. In the passage's gloomy shade, a group of three filthy, laughing earth ponies stood around in a circle, some of them leaning against the alley walls. They all had bottles of alcohol, and a few were smoking something that Ambition seriously doubted was tobacco and passing around a tin of something. Some were wobbling about and almost losing their balance.

Of course I am! Maybe you just need some friends. Ooh, how about those guys over there in that alley? They look friendly.

Ambition threw off the Coordinator's mask and took a sharp turn. He began strutting down the alley with his head fixed upwards and his eyes practically closed, trying his hardest to mimic one of the city's many pompous citizens. The three earth ponies glanced at the incoming visitor, but paid it no mind, as they were far too caught up in their own merriment to care.

What are you going on about?

See, they're ignoring us right now, but that won't do. You need to be assertive if you want friendship. I bet they would notice you if they weren't so busy with that drink. I'll get rid of it. For friendship.

Ambition stopped a few feet away from the huddle and gripped all their drinks in his silvery magical glow. Seconds later, several shards of glass lay scattered on the pavement, golden liquid stained the ground, and three huge, drunk, and very angry earth ponies glared down at the perpetrator, demanding an explanation.

Oh, Celestia! Why did you do that? They'll kill us!

I'm just trying to make you some friends.

"Oi, whadja do that for?" the closest one slurred.

Ambition answered in the most authentic stuck-up Canterlot accent he could muster.

"Well, excuuuse me. I simply couldn't stand watching you waste your life drinking. I did you a favor. Honestly, go do something productive."

Please, don't you want my body? If they kill it, you'll have no host, and you'll be vulnerable! Aren't you thinking?

Yes, I was thinking. I'm leaving to find my new body, and I need you dead, a job I faithfully leave in the hands of these noble citizens here. It's great for me because it looks like an accident. Well if you consider an accident getting mauled by three huge earth pony thugs.

An especially tough, leader-looking type who was ridden with scars stepped up, grabbed Ambition by the head with just his hooves, and lifted him up. Their faces were level, with the earth pony snarling and angry, and Ambition in the Coordinator's body just giving a smug smile in response.

"I oughtta strangle the life out of ya!"

Ambition didn't flinch and instead acted appalled.

"Dear, Celestia! The only thing more horrendous than your stench is your manners. I do something for you and this is how you repay me? I demand that you get your fat oaf face away from mine and apologize this instant!"

The hulking pony snorted.

"Oh, I'll give ya somethin! Come on, boys! Lets give this gentlecolt here a proper apology."

The other two goons followed their orders, surrounded their target, and started to close in.

Whose body could possibly be better than mine? I'm a high-ranking Purifier official with a good amount of magical energy to work with!

Canterlot is hardly lacking for magical talent. Besides, you said it yourself. You're a Purifier. I don't want that. I know of a better host, right here in the city. Why would I choose to fight a dragon with one of its own torn-off claws, when I have access to a perfectly good magical sword of dragon-slaying?

Please, I can't die right now! I can tell you everything about the Purifiers! I can tell you where each base is! I can give you names!

Eh, I already looked at what you knew. Nothing new, really. I'm going to go look for my new body, so bye. Oh, and it took a while, but I blocked the magic flow to your horn. Have fun.

Ambition shot down, out of his body, and through the ground to avoid notice. While underground, he moved behind the gang and flew up again. Ascending all the way to rooftops of the buildings above, the Coordinator's pleading screams could still be heard. Ambition took a moment to sit on the edge of the roof and watch the beating in progress. He didn't leave until gang did, fleeing the scene once they all realized that they'd committed a murder in their drunken states.


***


And that's it! It took us over five hours, but I guess we at least got to get some good bonding in.

Starlight was packing up again, having just finished all his mathematical work for the penultimate class of the day. Unsurprisingly, he had finished first, just in time for him to shift his full attention to interrupting Ambition's vivid storytelling with more questions.

I wasn't "bonding" with you. I was gathering valuable information. Don't think that I'll feel closer to you just because you shared with me all about how you murdered several ponies and became a fugitive.

Says you. You haven't been scared of me or calling me a demon. I think that's progress.

I think you're delusional.

Starlight left the room, now enroute to his Advanced Magical Theory class via the congested hallways of the Sunrise Complex. His favorite class awaited him, even if he appeared like he wanted nothing more than to murder everyone clogging up the hallway and yelled at anyone spending more than a second to stop and talk to a friend.

I think you should be nicer if you want to keep learning things from me. I planned on telling you more today if I felt like you deserved it.

While that is legitimately tempting, I am about to attend a very important class and do not need to be distracted by you. Save it for later.

Fine. Have fun being a nerd.

Advanced Magical Theory wasn't far from the mathematics room, so the journey didn't take long. As Starlight stepped through the door to the classroom, he did intend on having fun for once. The day after an exam marked the first day of a new unit, unlike all the other classes which used it as an excuse for a break. This meant that he would now be exposed to brand new information and spells. This didn't happen often enough. The end of a unit was always marked by heavy revision of everything that Starlight already knew. He wasn't even sure that he needed to revise at all for some classes, but he did so anyway, just in case he forgot a single important fact that he might have needed to know at some point. It was just him being thorough.

The eager unicorn trotted across the room and snagged a seat at the very middle front desk, his ideal location. He had arrived early, so he made use of the extra couple of minutes to get out a quill and ink pot, his fat textbook, and his third notebook for the class.

By the time the bell had rung, the classroom was filled with chattering bodies. The talk soon withered away with the arrival of the teacher through the entryway. He was late, an uncommon occurrence, but Starlight was sure he had a good reason behind it. If there was any staff member he respected at the institution, it was Professor Eclipse. He was logical, did everything by the book, and accepted precisely zero interference when he taught. These were all qualities of an effective teacher.

Buckling down in his pillow cushion, and coating his quill tip with a fresh application of ink, he got ready an hour of advancement.

The hour seemed to pass in a flash for Starlight after that. Ambition kept quiet, the professor ran through the basics of the new theory with them, and the whole class dutifully took their notes in preparation for the next term, when it eventually came. Starlight took five pages of notes (more than anypony else) and had plenty of follow-up questions when Eclipse was done talking, as he always did. For the first time that day, things seemed to be going well.

Once it was over, Starlight reviewed the notes he had taken over the period. The bell had rang over a minute ago, and all of the other students had left, but he adamantly stuck to his seat until he was sure he understood every aspect covered in the day's lectures. Once he was thoroughly satisfied with his review, he packed up and left for the doorway. Right as he was going down the center aisle of desk, however, he heard the voice of Professor Eclipse call out for him.

"Starlight, I would like to see you at my desk."

Starlight wondered what he had done. Was it his astounding exam score? Or maybe just his all-around perfect performance in class? He couldn't decide, and instead just hurried over to meet with his teacher.

"I do hope you understood the lesson," the wizened old stallion said with a friendly smile.

Starlight enthusiastically nodded. "Yes sir. I still need practice on those new channeling techniques you discussed, but, other than that, I feel very confident about this new material."

The professor beamed at Starlight.

"Nothing surprising there. Your magical prowess is nothing short of incredible. In fact, your scores place you in the top five percent of all students to ever attend this institution. Did you know that?"

Starlight didn't know that. The news left him with a smile that was possibly even brighter than the professor's.

"I see that you didn't. Well, it's true. And that is why I've come to ask you about joining an organization that is in need of your type of talent. I know you've yet to properly graduate, but that you will, I think, is a foregone conclusion. So rather than waste your time here any longer, we want to take you on right away. It's a government agency. It's not known to most of the public, but the services it provides are vital. Think of it as Equestrian society's clean-up crew. You'd be taking a job that requires extensive magical knowledge, creativity, skill, and ambition."

Starlight could feel his stomach sink.

Okay, gimme the wheel. I'm killing this snake.

No, please just hold on! All I have to do is reject the offer, and he'll go away! There's no need to kill him!

There's every need to kill him. If the Purifiers have less recruiters, they'll get less agents, which means they'll have less power. We made a deal, remember? You help me with the Purifiers, I help you get your dad back. Don't bitch out on me already.

Out in the physical world, the professor kept talking.

"Of course, you'd start out as a junior member, but the pay is good at whatever level you join, and we allow for a certain degree of independence." Eclipse shrugged. "And besides which, if you're any good at the job, you tend to rise through the ranks quickly. The Purifiers, as we're called, reward those who get the job done, and do it best. Age and experience is nice, but we're one of the few organisations who don't snub younger applicants just for being younger. You'll have a hard time climbing any corporate ladders at your age anywhere else, but the Purifiers have no such prejudice."

I said I would help you, yes, but killing him would only hurt us! If we were to just murder him right here, we would attract unwanted attention to ourselves!

I like that you're thinking about that, but killing this guy is worth it. I know him. I had my suspicions already, but it didn't click until he started the propaganda spiel. He's the head honcho of the Purifier recruiting operation. Getting rid of him is a good way to cripple the organization.

"Erm, are you okay there, Starlight?" the elderly unicorn asked with concern. 

Starlight mentally scolded himself. He had been silently glaring up at his head for a little over half a minute.

"Oh, yes sir. I apologize. I was just thinking over the offer."

"Well, perhaps I should provide you with some needed clarification of our purpose. The Purifiers are a righteous force, working to maintain the purity and peace of our nation. The agents are a kind of secret police working to cleanse the land of any evil, making it a better place for all. I know you've always shown an interest in societal progress, and it's for that reason that I think a job in the organization would be ideal for you. Part of cultural advancement is weeding out rogue elements."

Okay, I'm not going to listen to another sentence of this bullshit. Don't worry, this will only take me a few seconds.

Starlight feel a familiar sensation sweep across his body. This time, however, it was stronger. As he gradually lost control, his insides started to burn, like his blood was undergoing a transformation into molten lava. The pain distracted him from fighting back, and before he knew it, he became a spectator in his own body. Ambition took over in a matter of seconds.

"That is an interesting offer, professor," said Ambition with Starlight's mouth, "but I'm afraid I have to decline."

Before Eclipse could react, Ambition magically grabbed the sharpest thing in sight, an ornate letter opener laying the desk, and stuck it directly in his target's neck. Professor Eclipse gasped and let out a squeak, and then he began gurgling. He dropped to the ground, falling sideways off his desk and letting his blood pool beneath him. Much to Starlight's dismay, Ambition strolled around the desk to inspect the still-moving body.

The blade was embedded deeply in the teacher's neck, leaving him desperately flopping around, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. A steady stream of blood flowed forth from the puncture, forming a growing puddle of red on the blank white floor. The dying unicorn all the while tried calling out for help, but could only produce incomprehensible croaking noises. Ambition smiled at him and leaned down to whisper into his ear.

"Rot in Purgatory, Purifier."

Eclipse let out a final gasp, and then went limp. His eyes didn't close, but remained staring up at the ceiling, glassy and dead.

"Well, that's that." Ambition said to himself as if he had just finished up some yardwork.

It was a stark contrast to the way his partner was taking the situation. The mind of Starlight was hollow, a dark void replacing his usual stream of inquisitive thought. The cold reality of death had momentarily frozen him. However, the utter numbness only lasted so long before a tsunami of feelings engulfed him.

He felt powerless and used, like the tool he thought himself to be. Guilt barraded him, insisting that he was responsible. Usually he could just use reasoning to get over any horrible event he read about, whether it be a death in a fictional story, or a real bloody war in a historical text, but in his situation, he found that any attempts at trying to use reason had been mercilessly crushed by the overwhelming sight of the struggling of his beloved teacher. Panic started to join in the mix. What would he do now? What kind of life could a murderer like him lead? How long before the law came to punish him? What would a punishment for such an unforgivable crime be? His thoughts raced faster and faster until Ambition intervened.

Would you stop being such a drama queen and try to be useful? We need to hide the body. Got any ideas?

Starlight didn't respond.

Ah, fine. I'll take care of it.

With a sigh, Ambition charged up his incineration spell with Starlight's horn and used it to reduce the corpse of Professor Eclipse to ashes. A scorch mark was left on the floor, but it was better than a puddle of blood. He checked the other surfaces for blood spatter, but found that he'd gotten lucky and caught it all except for the blood on the letter-opener. He dealt with said letter-opener by cleaning the blood off with a piece of paper, and then incinerating the paper too, adding its ashes to Eclipse's.

Satisfied for the moment, Ambition collected up the ash and dropped it into a plastic wallet that he removed from the back of a ring-binder folder on Eclipse's desk. Then he turned his attention to the scorch mark, erasing it somehow using a spell that Starlight had never seen or heard of (and which felt wholly unfamiliar), but which drained a surprisingly large amount of magic. Once he was done, he picked up the plastic wallet and headed out of the room to find a window, where he dumped it out over a flower garden.

Now with the gruesome sight of the body out his eyes, Starlight began regaining his composure.

Give me control of my body. I have to return home and prepare to leave.

Ambition raised Starlight's eyebrow.

That's strange. I thought you were going to chew me out over this little fiasco. I feel like I should be impressed.

Shut up. I have plenty to say about this, but it can wait. For now, I want to put some distance between us and here, and put this horrific event out of my memory while I recover. Nopony else knows of what happened here, and I would rather it stay that way.

Ha! Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but there's a problem with that. See, disposing of the body only means that he'll be reported as missing instead of murdered. It'll take a little longer for them to figure it out, but the Purifiers will place priority on finding him, and it won't take them long to work out what we did, especially since they probably have you on record. We need to get moving soon.

Panic once again blitzed Starlight's mind. Now the logic was against him. He couldn't win if the Purifiers came for him. They most likely had the resources to track him down within hours and possessed a vast number of elite agents, each one more than a match for the lone, locomotively-challenged mage-in-training that he was. 

He would get captured. In his mind, that was a certainty. But what would they do with him? Would they kill him to make things even? Would they manipulate his memories to make him forget about who he was, and cause him to live some dirty peasant life like they did with his father? Or would they brainwash him to be their agent like Ambition warned him of?

Jesus, just calm down. Listening to you think is like listening to a hundred nails in a blender.

Starlight mentally scoffed.

Yes, because in the face of certain death or severe punishment, I should just naturally be calm! Certain death which is your fault, I remind you!

I'm not going to give you control until I know you won't do something stupid. Going crazy over this won't help either of us.

As much as Starlight hated his partner, he had to agree with him. He usually knew to keep calm in the face of a difficult situation, and here he was, nearly losing it twice. The panic had been so distracting, he was only just then registering that they were out in the hallways rather than in Eclipse's class.

Ugh, fine. I'll stay calm. Now grant me control my body before you murder the population of Canterlot.

That's more like it. I'll switch over control to you now.

Unprepared for the sudden change, Starlight clumsily flopped onto the hard floor. Grunting and getting back to his hooves, he found himself to be in absolute control once more. He looked around the empty halls, glad that nopony else was around to see him acting crazy.

Man, you sure are a clutz.

Starlight narrowed his eyes. He wanted so badly to retort with something angry or sarcastic, but held himself back. At that moment, he wanted nothing more to do with the murdering parasite. But he couldn't get rid of him, so all there was to do was ignore him as hard as possible.


***


As Starlight began to near the black gate that marked the school's exit, his face visibly drooped. He stopped before crossing the threshold, sighing and looking back up at his long-time sanctuary. This could be the last day he ever spent here. Before, he'd thought this adventure with Ambition was nothing but a brief diversion, one day to form a single bizarre chapter in his autobiography. Now, that looked unlikely. Now, it was more probable that Starlight would spend the rest of his life as a fugitive because of what Ambition had wrought here. He tried not to think about it, and to tell himself that they might not get caught, or that he might clear his name, but nothing worked. He knew he was dead.

He turned around and proceeded through the gates, and was pleasantly surprised when he recognised the unicorn trotting up the path towards the gate, reading a book as she walked. Starlight couldn't help but smile at the sight of her, despite the general misery that had characterized the rest of the day.

Twilight Sparkle was the only student that ever earned his respect, both for her academic record and her various achievements outside of education. In fact, she was something of a role model, as she displayed nearly every commendable quality. She was always the top of her class, always on time, always organized, and always reading. Not to mention how she was the personal student of the princess and a semi-famous hero of Equestria. Starlight had only ever had minimal contact with her, as she was a few years above him, but their brief chats (usually about something related to their schoolwork) were always the highlight of a day. In many ways, he considered her his only friend. The school really lost something for Starlight when she left for Ponyville.

"Hey, Twilight!" For some strange reason, Twilight didn't seem to notice him as she passed by. He frowned, and tried shouting louder. "Twilight! Hey! It's me!"

The mare pulled her head up from her book, and looked around for the source of the voice. She smiled as she noticed Starlight hobbling over to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. It's, uh, Starlight, right? We talked a few times."

Starlight returned the smile and nodded.

"Yes, and we ate lunch together sometimes too! I've been hearing so much about what you've been doing since you left! Most of the plebeians in this city don't seem to pay any attention to the news, but I do! Nightmare Moon, Discord, and I know you were involved with stopping the changelings and King Sombra too! We should all be thanking you."

Twilight blushed.

"Oh, don't praise just me. There's no way I could have accomplished any of those things without the help of my friends. And besides, I can't really claim credit for those last two..."

"A valid point," said Starlight with a shrug. "But enough of the past. What brings you back Canterlot this afternoon?"

Twilight briefly pointed to the castle looming high above them. "I have a meeting with the princesses at seven o'clock, and until then I have enough time to visit some ponies. I just came back from my parents' house. I never planned on running into you, though. Um… How have things been your senior year?"

"Oh, it's been just as easy as last year, but I would lying if I said I haven't learned anything."

"That's great. I hate to go so soon, but I really do have to pay my old teachers a visit. They would kill me if they found out I was in Canterlot and didn't check in to see them. I know I haven't seen Professor Eclipse in ages."

Starlight's smile faltered for a moment.

"Oh, well... perhaps we can fully catch up more on another occasion."

"I look forward to it!"

She smiled and waved goodbye before she turned to leave. Before she got too far, Starlight almost found himself shouting for her to stop. A desperate idea popped into his head. She was his friend, right? Friends assisted each other in dire times, right? If he could just tell her about the Purifiers and what they've done, surely she would be against them. An intelligent pony like her would simply have to. There was no way this could be done alone.

He shakily opened his mouth to call out to the departing mare, but before he could get off a word, his jaw involuntarily jerked shut.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no! You are not doing something that stupid! Shut your mouth right now before you actually get us both killed.

Starlight used his larger foreleg to stomp the ground.

But why? he demanded. She would be a valuable asset if we could convince her of our cause! Besides being Celestia's star pupil, she's a national hero! The mare is bound to have some political influence!

You really think you could convince Celestia's most loyal little pony to just up and destroy an organization that Celestia founded and supports? No, you would have just told her of our plans, which she would have passed along to to her very favorite mentor, and then we'd get abducted by some ponies in dark suits and animal masks on a lonely road somewhere. I just saved our asses.

Starlight cocked his head, now simply confused instead of angry.

What? Celestia was responsible for all of this? Now you're talking crazy. She's a princess of Equestria! A paragon of morality! There's no way that she'd let an organization like the Purifiers exist if she knew about them. It's not in her nature! She's being deceived, somehow!

Seriously? You really couldn't pick up what's going on here from the context clues?

What do you mean?

Nothing. I just thought you would have twigged on that a government organization as massive as the Purifiers is not going to escape notice! Come on, I thought you were smart! This isn't some backwater record-keeping office in the sticks we're talking about! It's the fucking Ministry of Love! It has thousands of staff, facilities in the royal palace itself, its actions are sanctioned by Equestrian law, no matter how secret the laws are, and they're funded by millions of bits every year from the tax office's black budget! There is no possible way that most of the entire upper level of government hasn't at least heard of them, and that includes your precious pony princesses, who would have had to personally sign most of the documents allowing their existence!

The realization started to sink in. Now that Ambition had said it, it seemed painfully obvious.

I-I... It's just that... Oh, fine. But she would have to have founded it with good intentions!

Sure, but you should know by now that everyone working for the Purifiers has "good intentions" as well, and you know what kind of stuff they do. I'm sorry that I just proved your religion false, but religion is bullshit anyway, and no, I don't care about how insensitive that makes me sound.

Starlight realized that he'd been standing in place and staring at nothing for several minutes now, and kept trotting back down the path. Twilight was already gone, and it seemed that nopony else was around either. He decided it would be best if he wasn't caught standing around like a zombie, or worse, arguing with his horn. He put his mind back on Ambition's words as he walked.

You didn't disprove my religion, because I am not a sun-worshipper, he said with a harrumph. I do have faith, however, and I'll freely admit that you've definitely shaken it. It seems you're determined to destroy everything good in my life.

By the way, Santa isn't real.

Screw you.

Haha! Now pack up, say any goodbyes necessary, and we'll be heading out. We really need to get out of the city by, at most, the end of the day.

Starlight sighed.

It shouldn't take me but an hour to prepare myself.

Super.


***


A little less than an hour later, Starlight stood across the table from his mother in their home, talking to her as she absently read through a magazine while occasionally muttering assurances that she was listening. The remains of a meal was lifted off the table, and even as he stood talking to her, Starlight was using his magic to dispose of it and throw the plates and cutlery in the sink. Why he was bothering, he couldn't have said. Neither of them were willing to do any actual washing up.

Ambition for his part ignored the conversation just as much as Scarlet, instead focusing on the utensils floating around in the background of the messy kitchen and taking in the sight of how disgusting it was. Yet even he paid attention again when he heard Starlight say those fateful words. So did Scarlet, who suddenly put down her magazine and looked up at her son with a concerned expression.

"Say that again? Did you just say you were going to leave? Tonight?"

"I... I did," Starlight confirmed, seeming unsure of himself.

"Dear, I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me. You don't actually mean to leave, do you? Leave for where? Where are you going? And why at this hour?"

Starlight held his head up high and tried his best to look like a stallion. "I do actually mean to leave. I'm going on a journey away from the city, and I'm not entirely sure when I will return."

The mare shook her head and crossed her forelegs.

"Absolutely not! No proper mother would let her children run about the country unsupervised. You could get ripped apart by some forest monster or mugged by hoodlums! And don't even get me started on how uncultured non-Canterlot ponies are. You want to stay here."

"I'm sorry, mother. Your concern is rational, but I have made up my mind. I'm nearly eighteen years of age. I'm not a colt anymore and do not need to be treated as one. I have full rights to make my own decisions."

Starlight watched his mother sigh in defeat. He knew that she knew arguing with him was useless. He never conceded defeat, as he was always right.

"Oh, fine. I obviously lack the ability to convince you. Just please try and remain safe and return soon."

The stallion nodded.

"I will definitely attempt to do so…"

Starlight paused. The next part of his response was supposed to be a goodbye, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had already said it to his school, and now he was just one goodbye away from leaving his comfortable home life. After one phrase, his old life would be almost entirely erased, or at least very distant. Everything had changed. His memories, his goals, and life were all different and all terrifying. Now here he was about to complete it.

"Goodbye, dear," she said, taking the choice away from him. "Make sure to pack something warm." 

She stuffed her face back into the magazine. Starlight sighed and quickly made his way out of the living room and over to the front door, where his saddlebags were waiting. For a moment, he was left wondering why he cared all that much. Scarlet hadn't even cared enough to demand answers about where he was going or why. She hadn't even offered to help him in any way. In any other mother, the negligence would have been astounding. For her, it was depressingly predictable.

Starlight stood silently in front of the door for a moment, the only sound that could be heard being the straps of his fat saddlebags rubbing over his coat and irritating a scab, and Scarlet turning the pages of her magazine out in the kitchen. Starlight wondered if she'd drown in her own filth here without him, or if she'd stop spending so much and rehire the maid. He pushed the light wooden door open and started on a route that would take him to the nearest train station.

He was scarcely out of his street when Ambition started feeling conversational again.

Okay, so here we are at the beginning. You have a lot of food and water packed, and not books or something stupid like that, right?

Starlight pointedly ignored him.

Ah, hell. Even if you filled both bags with supplies, it still wouldn't be enough. We're going to have to buy more on the way there. This is a couple-weeks trip, not some day-hike. Hope you brought money.

You're obviously terrible with travel. Riding a train to Baltimare and back will take a few days at most. And of course I brought money, moron.

Oh, no. We're hoofing it there.

Starlight stopped in place.

You cannot be serious! That's around three hundred miles!

We're an easy target on a train. It's too regulated. We want to take some sketchy back road where they won't find us. There should be an old road leading out of the eastern part of the city, so that better be where you're headed.

Can we not at least use the main road? You can't possibly expect me to make a trek like this on some rocky dirt trail!

Yes I can. The main roads have all the same problems. Now hurry up and get there.

I'll most likely get injured from such conditions. This is absurd.

Well, it's either that or getting captured by Purifier agents in the first day.

Starlight groaned and changed his course, heading towards the east end of the city rather than downtown. He knew the road Ambition was talking about, although calling it a road was giving it too much credit. The east road was a dreadful winding dirt path that led down the mountain, which could hardly even be called a hiking trail. Needless to say, he was not looking forward to the journey ahead.

This journey was going to kill him.