//------------------------------//
// The Temperamental & The Temperate 
// Story: Diprosopus 
// by WritingSpirit 
//------------------------------//

	"Almost t-there..."

A pint of red spilled from the mouth of Selena Gust, splattering onto the snow.

"Just a little bit more..."

Another spill, this one trailed from her limp hooves.

"Hang on, Selena... unf... ha-hang on..."

Being the small fawn she was, Artemis had never done this in her entire life. One could say this would be the first time that she had ever carried anyone on her back before. It was total anguish for her, to carry somepony over the hills. Her back ached and her legs shivered and trembled weakly. Sometimes, she even collapsed with a grunt, letting the weight of the bleeding Selena smother her in the snow, yet the sight of a long, crooked trail of red behind her was the fuel to keep her up and moving again.
The woods were quiet at night. She figured it was the time of the year again, where creatures hibernate instead of prowl in the dark and where the hunts always ended up in the most unsatisfactory way. She taught herself a lot of skills to be a huntress, ranging from tracking to wrestling with a pack of wolves. There was no denying that the woods were a place to harden one's spirit and physique, sometimes to the point where their emotions are discarded for hunger.

Funny, she thought to herself, how nature had twisted them.

The village of Byafisogsne -- her village -- was far. Agonizingly far. It was a harsh lesson concocted by the fabricated designs of destiny, she surmised, to punish her for her crime. She was a huntress, not a murderess; a hunter who murders is a deer stripped of their bow and arrow. There is no honor in a murderess, only a trip to the dungeons down below. She had sent more than several down to the dungeons herself and she had forgotten about them since. All she remembered about it was that your name would never matter and you will be forever referred to by a number. For your name to be erased away from the thread of existence... she shuddered at the thought.
Trees looked down at her, judging her. The stars in the sky did it ever more so. Even the moon -- the eye of a foreign princess, as she was told -- watched her warily, perhaps powerless to speak her word. Snow had stopped falling in their favor, leaving the cold crisp air to accompany her in her march, sowing blood throughout the hillside. The distant lights of her hometown even seemed to treat her as an exiled marauder. Perhaps she would become one, once she returned the mare into the safe embrace of her companions.

How long can she survive, alone in the wild?

Four hours and twenty-two minutes tops, she thought to herself, chuckling.

"You're a hopeless one, Artemis."

Selena's breathing spurred her on, however ragged and congested it sounded. It was the most pitiful sound that Artemis had ever... made, in some strange malicious way. Slowly, she dragged her hooves forward, taking care not to stumble and fall; why should she waste her time falling and picking herself back up when she can spare more of it saving the mare?

How long can she survive, alone in the wild with a mare on her back?

No more than twenty minutes, she thought to herself.

This one was no laughing matter; she'd much rather preferred dying alone.


"Artemis."


The fawn froze up at that voice, her foggy breaths becoming erratic when she saw, before her, the resplendent figure of Princess Crystallia, the alicorn she had served throughout her childhood. She stepped back, but that didn't come without a fall, which she did so into the embrace of the unconscious Selena, her coat now stained into the color of her eyes. The mare under her coughed a little bit more at the sudden press of weight; the final sands of her hourglass had been tampered with.
"I don't have any more time!" Artemis snapped, stumbling back up.
"She will die if I don't bring her back!"

"You will die if you do."

"I'm already dead the moments my parents were murdered," she rasped, those images flashing through her head again. It was horrible, the mangled mess of her father and the stripped guts of her mother that decorated the house like an art gallery. Her eyes were red when she was born, but that moment truly made it the reddest it had ever been since.
"Now step out of my way."

"Don't you use that harsh tone on me, Artemis."

"I think I'm in a position where I could use that tone whenever I want."

"Need I remind you that your position has been given by yours truly?"

"Need I remind you that I don't care?"

"There are better ways to go around this, my dear Oracle," Princess Crystallia remarked, gaze narrowed down at probably her most beloved subject and somewhat foster daughter. She was never the motherly type, but she tried. Oh, how hard she tried. She always preferred the duties of a princess than that of a mother anyway.
"If you want to be stubborn and follow the road you laid out for yourself, I would let you, but I'll also let you know that Selena would perish before she could reach the town. When she does, I would forget about this encounter and call you a criminal. By next morning, I'll convince her companions to leave by displaying your body hanging from the gallows. Forget your position, Artemis. Forget everything you've ever known. Forget saving her."

"So what, you're trying to help me now?" Artemis rasped, trying to heave Selena back up again.
"And you suppose that calling me insane was a compliment?"

"If I hadn't, Selena wouldn't know."

"If you hadn't, Selena wouldn't be dead!!"

"I'll let that treachery slide for now," the alicorn growled.
"I never could do anything for you ever since the day I took you in, but when I saw Selena... oh, Selena Violetta Gust... that rampage was akin to your own. Still, she had a certain control of it. She may be insane, but there was something more to it than insanity. Do you know what I call it?"

Artemis shook her head.

"Passion, my dear. Sweet, violent passion. It was, in her case, love. For you, it was--"

"Loneliness..." the Oracle cut in, clutching her hooves. She felt her gut knot at that word every time. She felt it hammering her skull, she felt it twisting her joints, she felt it pressing into her jaws... loneliness. The death of her parents, the isolation from her friends and years of being contained in a temple and bestowed upon her the false title of the Oracle... she was furious, yet kept her reticence. It will come out, however, during her solitary communion with the alicorn, where she screamed and screamed until there was nothing she could scream about.

She was passionate-- no, hungry, for company.

So hungry that she wished to be alone.

"What have I done?"

"You've done something no deer should ever have done, yet you had also been through the horrors that no deer should ever be exposed to. You were the best Oracle I could ever ask for, as well as the best psychopath I could ever brought up. At least you listened where the rest didn't."

"The other Oracles..."

"Psychopaths," Princess Crystallia corrected.
"My dear Artemis, do you know what does an oracle do?"

"Uh... the bridge between a god and the subjects?"

"Correct. A portal of divination, like the seers, but they do not rely on the signs. Rather, they only rely on letting said gods possess their body to utter the world's prophecies. They did so, disturbingly, in methods that involve frenzy and hysteria, much different from our communions... or is it? Tell me, is it any different from our communions, Artemis?"

"I... I don't know..."

"Well, I can tell you straight that the answer is no," she said bluntly.
"Your screams at me, telling me how much you bore your hatred to the murderer of your parents or how much you craved the denied attention of your friends, the battle between loneliness and companionship... it showed me something. It showed me one day, the Artemis you are in public and the Artemis you are in private -- the duality -- would merge as one. That one day, the fickle barrier between them would break. That one day, your dark side will strive to murder your light, yet the latter will only rise and fight back and, after the battle of ages, emerge victorious. Tell me, do you feel any better?"

"I... I think so..." Artemis muttered, looking at her blood-stained hooves. Somehow -- she doesn't know how, just somehow -- her heart felt lighter. The worries of the world she lived in fluttered away, as if they were never there in the first place. Those screams inside died like the winter breeze. For once, her head became a tranquil paradise.
"What does this mean?"

"That light was Selena Gust. A fallen star, just like you, ousted from her home to find a bright future before her. You became the darkness and tried to kill her, yet seeing her awakened something else in you. Something you've grown up without yet long to be stuck with."

"That she's... just like me..."

"A companion. The light."

"A... A friend..." Artemis muttered, glancing back at the dying mare with tears in her eyes.
"But... I can't save her. I... I can't save her."

"Which is why I'm here to help you. To finish your journey to the light."
One wave of her horn, both Artemis and Selena were lifted onto Princess Crystallia's back. With a flap of her wings that tossed the blankets of snow about, the alicorn took off the night sky, flashing a smirk back at her elated subject. The town she resided in drew close, the future brighter than the smiling moon hanging above. The trees below her cheered, the stars twinkled in delight. The air drifted around her body, brushing it with a pat for luck. Artemis turned back to Selena, this time clenching the mare's hoof with a new shimmer, a hopeful shimmer, in her eyes.

"Don't give up on me now..." she began, the two words that followed soon after ending in a delicate whisper that echoed in the cold wind:

"My sister..."




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"Alright, now focus onto the center, away from the crack..."

With a small grunt, Twilight Sparkle managed to fire a small beam at the target, leaving the middle a seething black. She turned to smile at Princess Cadance, her current mentor that assigned herself to watch the progess of the lavender mare's fractured horn. Beside her stood Radiance, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Applejack, all of whom cheered her on at the feat she accomplished despite the pain that came with it.
"How..." she gasped.
"How did I do?"

"Better than yesterday," Cadance said with a grin.
"So? How did it feel?"

"It hurt a lot less," Twilight answered, rubbing her horn.
"I might need a little more training. Drawing magic to a certain part of the horn isn't easy."

"Never was. Even I had a very hard time concentrating when Princess Celestia first taught me."

"Seems a horn's just like a hoof," Applejack commented.
"Shucks, when Ah broke mine that one time, it took a long time to get me back to applebuckin' again."

"Same goes for a wing," Rainbow Dash added, with Fluttershy nodding in agreement.

Twilight just smiled. Sure, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies were all different from one another, but they were ponies, after all; the things that made them special were also the things that made them alike, in some way. Rubbing her churning temple, she settled down next to her friends, sighing in relief at the exercise well done.
"Hey, Radiance," she cooed at the young colt.
"How did you think it go?"

"Totally awesome!!" he exclaimed in a bout of amazement, leaving the adults to chuckle.
"One day, I wanna learn a powerful spell like that. Then I could fight all the bad guys away."

"Well, someone's eager," Cadance teased her son, to which the rest of the adults chuckled.
"You still haven't had your bath yet, mister. I suggest you start by doing that first."

"Fine..."

With ears drooped down, the little colt scampered back into the palace, though it was only when he disappeared from view and the conversation between the other mares continued did Cadance let out a small sigh. It was a tap of Twilight's hoof on her shoulder and the look of concern she wore that only hardened the frown further. She knew her sister-in-law could see it, the small glimmer in her eyes; it was all that remained of the bombing, other than the wreck being cleaned up.
"I'm sorry," she said uneasily.
"I... just have a lot of things on my mind."

"Didn't the princesses asked you to get some rest?" Twilight asked.

"They did... it didn't work out that well..."
Cadance suddenly yawned, staring at the ground drearily and forcing out a smile when she glanced back up at them. It wasn't long before she got up as well, glancing up at the afternoon sun. Exhaustion was weighing her down, her nights spent on mulling over the recent attacks. It was already beginning to show in her eyes, as her reflection had told her.
"I'll just try to take a nap," she murmured, heading off the same path that her son took.
"See you later, girls."

"Have a good rest."

One parting grin was all she left behind before the alicorn dragged herself into the palace. It was then that Applejack kicked her hooves back, balancing the chair she was on its back legs with her front hooves crossed to make a headrest as she grumbled underneath her breath:
"It just ain't right..."

"Everything isn't right these days," Rainbow huffed at her statement.
"You can't just go anywhere without a bomb blasting by the corner."

"Oh... it can't be that bad..."

"I have to say, I agree with Rainbow on this one," Twilight professed, glancing at the unsure Fluttershy. She had seen too much happen to ignore that fact. The long, quiet peace of Equestria had been broken; a long, quiet war was starting or, from what the rumors say, had long started. Still, she had kept in mind what she told Spike yesterday. Yes, there will be a war, but it would be the last thing any of them would want to focus on.
Her thoughts wandered back to last night, when the Masque, as promised in his letter, made a small visit. There wasn't anything intense, just some small talk, munching on a few snacks and drinking tea as he recounted his exploits and she her brother's condition and the recent attack on the barracks (she trusted him to keep it all a secret), before finishing it up with a cuddling session that lasted quite a while. That was when she was reminded of something she wanted to ask of her friends, beginning with none other than Rainbow Dash.
"So... how's Soarin'?"

"Why'cha ask?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"You know. Just to get things off our heads?"

"Well, other than being the most amazing dad to the best kids in the entire world..." Rainbow began to boast, already hovering a few inches off the ground. though her expression softened suddenly, floating back down onto the ground with a brief moment of contemplation.
"He's doing good, I guess. He's just being Soarin', that's all."

"And you, Applejack?"

"Kane still has ta do his dragon ambassador stuff," the orange mare said with a dismissive wave.
"Heck, Ah think he's been much busier than before. Heard that somepony's desperate to get the dragons on their side with a bunch of fancy talk and whatnot."

"Probably Princess Celestia," Rainbow scoffed.
"No offense, Twi, but I don't think she's doing a really good job."

"You won't be the first to say that."

"Now hold your horses," Applejack exclaimed, grinning evilly.
"Is the Twilight Sparkle criticizing Princess Celestia herself?"

Rainbow couldn't help but snort with laughter. Even Fluttershy was giggling softly at the side, which of course just made Twilight crease her brows, pouting just a little. Sure, she was Princess Celestia's personal student, but that didn't mean that she was always eagerly fulfilling her whims and fancies. Nevertheless, there was always a time where she would get teased, be it by her friends or even her own family.
"What I meant was," she said, stopping to clear her throat.
"These days, she's just... I don't know, not being herself lately..."

"Oh, she's probably been through a lot," Fluttershy muttered.
"I don't think anypony would expect... um... what happened to your brother and the guard..."

"Fluttershy's probably right," Rainbow added.
"I mean, her whole guard just got blown off their flanks! She's probably afraid or something."

"She wasn't like this when Manehatten blew up..."

"How would ya know?" Applejack questioned.
"If ya ask me, all these bombs and explosions are just there to make the princess a little worked up or somethin'. Think about it, Twi. If Janus had that much power to burn Manehatten down, then why the hay isn't he doin' anythin' right now? He could just come into Canterlot any time, yet Ah don't see a single speck of 'im."

"Yeah! Why wouldn't Princess Celestia just march out with the rest to fight back!" Rainbow retorted.
"Right now, she's just letting him bomb everypony away. I mean, what's up with that?"

"Because marching to battle might be what Janus would want."
Using bombs and casualties as a taunt might seem pretty far-fetched in her opinion, but Twilight knew this wasn't like any other adversary she had fought before. There were just too many chances that he could've took to seize Canterlot, yet all he had done so far was watch from the sidelines and treat them to a plethora of explosions that corresponded with a single wave of his hoof.
"I just..." she began, lowering her voice.
"I feel like this is about something bigger than Equestria itself."

"Now why would ya say that?"

"I don't know," she responded to Applejack's question.
"It just doesn't make sense. I've been looking through the notes that the professor left us before he was murdered and... what it said seemed to have nothing to do with Janus at all."

"Really?" Rainbow asked.
"How come?"

"I don't know... I promised the princesses I'm not supposed to let out any of its details, but it was all about his excavations in Saddle Arabia. Apparently, he was looking for something that concerns something he called... uh... the White Convergence or something..."

Her three friends just stared blankly at her.

"Believe me, I have no idea what he was talking about either," Twilight professed, taking out the book.
"I've been looking through all the books in the library for it, but so far I couldn't find anything about it. Whatever this White Convergence was, it has been said that it traces back to the origin of ponykind."

"Are ya sure the professor didn't drink one more bottle of cider before he wrote that?"

"I hope not," she griped, flipping through the pages.
"If he did, I had been following a false lead the whole time... here it is."

Without further ado, she read aloud:






Of the White Convergence and Prior and/or Post Events Alluded To Its Occurrence


It is with great faith that the world's earliest millenniums juxtaposed with our more recent centuries with the occurrence of the White Convergence, a supposed universal, if not inter-universal event which had been depicted in the works of early civilizations ranging from the Traditional-Eastern cervine scribes, to the Highlander equivalent, the Awenyddion, to the Vahlzervaan of the Draconic Federation and, of course, the ancient scientists of Saddle Arabia, which this proposal had been written in and the following evidence solely based on an archaeological excavation at approximate fifty seven kilometers, twenty three degrees northwest of Riyadh, capital of Saddle Arabia.

According to the writings of the scholars, the White Convergence was described as 'a great white explosion that covered all of land and sea, binding two worlds into one'. The shared interest of this event on impacting the world's scholars at the same time and the meeting of the lords that followed has been dubbed as a major convergence of the ancient civilizations, the first of its kind, leading me to propose its given name. As of the time this note was written, I have yet to conclude what the White Convergence may be, but it marked a significant change in history in the international social affairs. I, however, believed there may be something more.





"You lost me at... just a pose."

"Juxtaposed," Twilight corrected Rainbow.
"Anyways, I wanted to talk to Princess Celestia about it, but she's always in all those meetings with the ambassadors. If what the professor said may be the reason Janus headed the dig at Saddle Arabia..."

"Wait a sec," Applejack halted her, eyes widened.
"You're telling us that..."

A grave nod.
"This... White Convergence... might be some sort of bomb."

The shocked faces of all her friends mirrored her own the first time she had theorized that. She had hoped it was wrong, as it likely would be; since when does any ancient civilization have the technology to create such a powerful weapon? Not even the Draconic Federation could invent such a thing!
"Imagine what might happen if Janus had that bomb..." she muttered, glancing warily about.
"There wouldn't be any of Canterlot left, or maybe even Equestria, if the blast radius is wide enough. It would be perhaps five times the explosion that happened in Pendant Lakes, for all we know. Maybe even ten."

"Oh dear," Fluttershy squeaked, gulping at the thought. Her other two friends kept silent, still shuddering at the thought of their homes completely obliterated with a single weapon. They were afraid of war brought to their town, but a quick, complete destruction of an entire nation was the more frightening nightmare.

"Which is why I wanted to warn the Princesses about this," Twilight continued, ending with a sigh.
"The sooner they know, the better."

"Oh, I'm sure they would be finished soon."

"Which reminds me, Fluttershy," the scholarly mare said, turning to her shy friend.
"How's everything with Big Mac these days?"

"Oh... um..."

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me."

"No! I mean... he's alright."

"Honestly, I have to give it to her," Rainbow spoke up solemnly.
"She's separated from Big Mac and Amber Rose for so long, yet she can still stand it. If it were Soarin' and my daughters, I would've kick the judge's flank to the moon already."

Fluttershy whimpered underneath her breath, obviously discomforted by the day she stood for herself in court, unable to do anything to help herself. It was a moment that all her friends remembered, particularly Rainbow Dash, who had been her foalhood friend for so long, and of course Applejack, her sister-in-law. Twilight herself always viewed Fluttershy as protective of her family, even if it means pushing those who threaten them into harm's way, to put in a nicer context.
"H-He and Amber are doing fine..." she stammered.

"Eeyup," Applejack took over.
"M'ah brother's a good father. Heck, when m'ah parents were gone, he always helped Apple Bloom and Ah out in a jiff when we were young, so you could say he has the experience."

"Heh. You know you're comparing yourself to little Amber, right AJ?"

A small jab to her sides made Rainbow topple over, still snickering at her orange friend alongside Fluttershy and Twilight, the latter mare feeling a warm sensation of relief washing over her. It had been some time since she had a talk like this, her schedule keeping her preoccupied these days with her research was coming like a storm and constant visits to Shining Armor at the hospital. Frustration had been sapping at her energy, yet she would always find a little more just for a small conversation. She quietly sighed, smiling at the earnest chattering of her lifelong friends.

At least, for now, she can enjoy peace.




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When the cats are away, the mice come out to play.

The Sicarius Nox were always a wild bunch, if Caduceus had to say for himself. Assassins born and bred, ready for any of their dirty jobs, yet they were hysterical renegades without a leader. Each one were entitled only to their own personal interests, which sometimes led to feuds between one another and one time even escalated into a killing spree that divided the organization for a few months. All the unfortunate perished from the incarnates of rage and jealousy.

An incarnate of rage and jealousy, he chuckled to himself.

That sounded a little too familiar.

There was little time to reminisce. Quietly, he peeked out from the shards of a shattered window, steadily breathing as he stared into the nothingness outside. Somehow, he had managed to return back to the main square after an endless gallop through the maze of canyons, hunted down by what had been his former friend. He was very sure Sidus Sirenheart had been dead. What good would a doctor be if he can't even tell his best friend was dead?
He had long strayed from Stellar's side when the hunt started and as for Jovern, he could only assume the great dragon had hidden himself as well. Their demonic predators were scattered about, meandering through the ruins in their ravenous quest to sate their hunger. He could hear them, those chitinous chattering coming close towards the building he was hiding in, sometimes stopping to howl several high-pitched croaks into the air, as if notifying the rest of the hunting party. There were so many things he wanted to ask, yet they could all come together into one single word that had obnoxiously jostled into perhaps every mind of the citizens of Pendant Lakes one too many times.

Why?

Why did Harmony betray them to the demons? Why were they being hunted down? Most importantly, why was Sidus Sirenheart, the stallion who had been murdered in his cabin, leading the charge and unleashing his... hounds, as one would inaptly call them. Perhaps there will never be answers for them in this wasteland, but he sure as hell wouldn't give up on finding them.
It had been quiet by the time Caduceus stepped out of his hiding spot, his gun still locked and loaded with the intent to kill. He has no idea how much of these dark remnants still roam around the ruins. It could all be a trap under the false guise of silence and security.

"Sidus, you bloody bastard..." he cursed at the assassin and (perhaps) former friend. To be stubborn in life was bad enough already, yet here he was, refusing to kick the bucket. At least he could've joined their side as he did in life, so why side with the devils? So much for friendship's shore.
He retreated to where they once came, dodging into the darkness housed underneath the roofs. Compared to the rest of the Crux Four, he was never much of an athlete, which was why he picked a more tranquil job than the rest. Stellar had to scurry about running orders for the Palgiot family, which was a job he had been rather devoted to so there's no harm there. Sidus had his assassination duties, which probably involved a lot of roof-hopping and flips and such, if the motion pictures of today depicted it accurately in its most visceral form.

Then there was Persimmon Cryoheart.

An orphanage. Running around, up and down the same set of stairs, caring for children. Cooking for them every day and tucking them to bed every night. If he placed them all in comparison, she would've had the most energy-taxing duty to fulfill. Sure, in her later years, she had moved on to writing and archiving the library of Pendant Lakes when some of the older children took over, yet it does not bode well with age. Not that she minded.
It was after a long trek that he had returned to the decrepit street of Standard & Dale, seeking refuge in Foster Grande Orphanage. Slipping into one of the upstairs bedrooms, Caduceus finally sat down and let out a long, calm sigh, placing his weapons and satchel aside. He craned his neck up, blankly staring at the ceiling with little streams of sweat forming visible paths down his dirt-strewn face.

How long were they down here?

"Celestia give me strength..."

With a brief stretch of his hooves, Caduceus glanced out the window into the street, waiting for Stellar, Jovern, Harmony or even one of the demons to pass by. Occasionally, he stopped to glance out at the hallways as well, having remembered of he and Stellar's terrifying encounter with the now deformed Autumn Palgiot not too long ago. The tingling sense of dread he felt lingered for what felt like almost eternity, his patience threatened to die like a candlelight in the wind.

It was all worth the wait, however, when a small creak resounded through the hallways.

Caduceus Brineheart tensed, his rifle held close to his chest with his gaze stuck fearfully at the doorway. Whatever it was that made the sound was inside the orphanage, probably prowling around in a search for something to feast upon, he was not sure. What he was sure of was that he could hear it coming closer by the minute, which only stiffened his joints as he struggled to steady his rifle, pointing it at the doorway.
"Come on now," he hissed quietly, waiting for his target.
"I've got a present for you."

Another creak.

This one was louder.

Closer.

It was on the landing; the creature had completed its ascent up the stairway.

All the doctor could do was aim. It could be the creature, in which case it would be a score for him. If it was Stellar however, he would have much more trouble explaining himself then. No matter, he told himself. He musn't give the creature a chance to pounce.
"Just a little more..." he mumbled to himself as he heard the faint sound of the boards creaking.
"One last step..."

"Cease, Caduceus."

His hooves relaxed by surprise, his head starting to pound at that familiar voice. Slowly, a figure emerged from the doorway, her appearance striking all the right nerves of nostalgia faster than a pinball machine. All he did was gasp, his rifle dropping to the floor at the sight of a most wonderful mare.

"P-Persimmon...?"

There she was, standing in all her resplendent beauty as she did in life. In fact, if he had spoken, he would say she looked much more beautiful than in life! Angelic, even! Before he could utter those thoughts, however, she suddenly leaped towards him, the stallion hurtling back with the mare now on top of her, his cheeks blushing red.
"Persimmon, what are you--" he began, only to be swiftly cut short by a hoof on his lips.

"Shut it," she hissed, glancing over her shoulder.
"Some of them are coming towards here."

"I have a rifle, if you must know."

"No. Too loud. It will attract the rest of the party."

"Oh really?" he questioned his friend, glaring up at her.
"How would I know that you're not on their side? I've seen that bastard Sidus alongside the demons hunting us down. What's to say you would not do the same?"

In a fit of rage, Persimmon suddenly stamped his hoof down, making him yelp in pain with his grip on his rifle loosened. Immediately, she snatched the weapon up and flipped it about, pointing it down at the stunned doctor with a little smirk on her face and a toss of her mane.
"For starters, I knew you were in here," she stated.
"If I could do this to you now, you would've been dead the moment you stepped into this room."

"So what's stopping you?"

"Common sense," she quipped.
"Really, what in the name of Celestia happened to you? What happened to trust, that one little thing that you believed to put in everypony else?

"Harmony happened..." Caduceus quietly confessed, the pressure on his hoof lessening. Something in his head told him he had a change of heart the moment the hunt started. It wasn't the sight of Sidus releasing his hounds at him and Stellar. No, what bothered him was Harmony: how she just easily fooled them, how she double-crossed them without a second thought even after all the help he and Stellar had given her. Who else could he trust down in these depths?
"She was supposed to lead us to our goal, Persimmon. I thought she did, but... still..."

"She didn't mean to."

"What do you mean she didn't mean to?!" he questioned, as if insulted.
"She practically just... lead us to an open area where she knew we would be slaughtered by those... those things! If she had any second thoughts, she would've helped us escape or even fight, but she just ran off! Like the bloody coward she was..."

"There's more to it than just simple betrayal."

"What do you--"

"Shh!!" Persimmon shushed him suddenly, glancing out the window.
"Get down. Get down now."

Without a second thought, Caduceus did as he was instructed, though he followed her wary gaze out of the window. He soon spotted what seemed to be a large group his hunters prowling about; surely this must be the hunting party all gathered up, marching through the streets like a band in a festival. Sidus was in the center of it all, glancing at every window with a crossbow in hoof, though what caught the doctor's eye was that of the being beside him.
It was a large, hulking beast that bore the chitinous flesh of its demonic compatriots, resembling a muscled hybrid of a black panther with left eye a watchful green and right a glaring red. The claws emerging from all four paws seemed as though they were made from platinum, which the same could be said for its teeth. At first, it looked like one of the mechanical machines that Sidus would be fond to tinker around with, but there was something more than just mere clockwork. The only clockwork that it would have were the ones running on the cogs of pure, organic life.

"What is that?"

"A soul reborn of corruption incarnate," Persimmon replied softly.
"Look at him. All the rage, all the hatred, building up in him. You can't sense it now, Caduceus, but underneath all of that, he's screaming. Screaming for it all to end. For a well-deserved rest."

"How do you know all this?" Caduceus had to ask.

"I almost became them. A restless soul caught amid its wandering to be forced into the dark."

"But you didn't... die here."

"My body may be resting somewhere in a graveyard in Manehatten, but I've always belonged here. I've longed to come back and at least pay the three of you a visit, but Pendant Lakes was doomed to fall. I, as its citizen, was doomed as well to fall along with it. Fortunately, I didn't fall that far."

"I have no idea what you're saying."

"Trust me, it's a complicated matter," Persimmon muttered, glancing back at the gargantuan terror.
"Shame... when he passed, I had always thought he found peace."

"Who is he?" the doctor asked. There was something that ticked in his head the moment he laid his eyes on that beast, just as there was a tick when he encountered the ghoulish spirit of Autumn Palgiot on the stairway.  He learned from the latter experience how far the city had transcended into the embrace of Tartarus, corrupted into the darkest shadow of its brightest days. Everything here was twisted and obscene, morbid even, but still it rings a faint twinkle of nostalgia.
"You know who it was, don't you?"

Persimmon gave an affirmative nod, followed by the answer Caduceus sought for:

"In life, he was known as Summer Palgiot."




O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O




Her sister was dying.

Artemis wasn't related to Selena by blood, only by the fact that they had spilled blood before, not to mention the fact that she also just spilled the mare's. She never meant to do that, even though she initially wanted to during her brief psychotic episode. Never mind that, Selena was dying and this time, she can't escape the court.
To have a sister somehow made her feel special, as if she was loved for once. She didn't know why she had seen her mare as that, but it just struck her like an epiphany, as if she was lawfully her sibling. It felt slightly wrong, to make another living being her own. In fact, it would've been classed under abduction. Selena was her sister... somehow, when the wrongs are ignored, it felt like she would make the perfect sister.

All she hoped was that Selena wouldn't mind.

The townsfolk of Byafisogsne watched her with utter horror at her bloodstained form as she marched down the road alongside Princess Crystallia, her bleeding 'sister' lying limp on her back. There was never a hospital in the village. Sure, they had a police station, a firehouse and even a council hall, a court and a museum, but not a single hospital. All the healing was done by the temple priests, which meant that their destination was none other than her home.

Sighing, she glanced up at the grandiose, Nordic building; a sight that still intimidated her since the first time she was brought towards its doors. It was her home for the past seven years, yet it loomed over her, ridiculing her in her sorry state. Back then, it was of the murder of her parents and her spiraling downfall into the pit of insanity. The investigation didn't end well and in the end, the killer was never found, mostly because she herself took the matter in her own hooves but that was already a completely different story.
She felt her form tremble when she stepped into the maw of the building, the sight of the rest of the crew (with the exception of the minotaur) standing there. There was a glint of anger in some of their eyes, others more of fear, though the first to act was the gryphon -- Ollivander, as he was acknowledged --  who immediately rushed up to Princess Crystallia, tears already forming in his eyes.

"Selena?" he croaked, shocked at her state.
"What happened to her... What happened to her?!!"

"She won't die, gryphon."

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!!" he screeched, almost swinging a talon towards the alicorn and would've done so if it weren't for Velvet pulling him back immediately with his magic. Phoenix strutted over in his place, carefully lowering down the bleeding mare onto the floor. Her breathing was erratically faint, her face pale. She was on the verge of death and there was no time to lose.

"Priestesses!" the alicorn called to the small few in the room.
"Get the medicine and ointments now!"

Quickly obeying her demands, the priestesses quickly scurried off, with Ganger following along to aid them in their unpremeditated search. Ollivander, still choking on his tears, knelt down and held his mate's hoof, his bright and cheerful spirit shattered. Velvet and Dapple's horn lit up, carefully forming a field of magic on the open wounds of her body and making her wince slightly while Pinkie and Phoenix, with Fleetywit on the former's head, looked on, unsure of how to help her any more further.
"I can't watch this..." the pink mare muttered, turning away with her curly locks beginning to droop.

"I'm sorry..."

All eyes in the room turned to Artemis, who stood there with her head down low, resigned to only nothing but covering her eyes and weeping quietly in the room. She could feel them watching her in shock, disgust and rage, cornered by them all with the exception of Princess Crystallia herself. Quietly, she waited, hoping her punishment to come quick and easy.
Suddenly, she felt the sharp talon of Ollivander on her chin, quickly hoisting her up to stare into his watery, bloodshot eyes. She tensed up, waiting for him to slit her throat with a single swipe, though instead, to her surprise, she felt herself fall again, untouched as she was before. The gryphon just turned away, not even wanting to look at her face.
"You do it, V."

A click of a gun whirled her attention to Velvet, perhaps the more stone-hearted of the group, who was holding a rifle aimed at her head, his horn still working on his magic. At least it would be a quicker, less gruesome way to die, the fawn thought to herself.
"What did you do to her?" he questioned.

"I shot her with an arrow and stabbed her with it."

The way she nonchalantly answered almost made Velvet drop his gun. It was terrifying to the caravan, how such a young child could do something so gruesome yet say it as if it never meant anything to her. Artemis felt truly guilty, yes, but when she saw they and their imposing looks... all she could do was scorn.
"Why did you do it?" Velvet continued.

"I didn't mean to..."

"What do you mean you didn't mean to?"

"Artemis was in one of her... passionate sessions," Princess Crystallia defended her.
"What happened to Selena was the results of my wrongdoing. For this, I am to blame."

"And what the hell were you hoping to achieve?" came another question, this time from Dapple.
"Selena could've died! She could've been murdered by your... your favorite psychopath!!"

Artemis could only turned away in shame, though her princess still persisted.
"I never wanted to achieve anything. It was a mistake I have done on my part. My state of mind isn't... as stable as hers. In fact, if one were to say, it had worsened with time."

One can only imagine. To have an insane subject tasked with communicating between the citizens and the princess is one thing; to have the same princess be insane herself is another. All except for Artemis could look in horror at Princess Crystallia, with everything they wanted to say reduced to just small whimpers.
"You have all been fortunate," she muttered, gazing coldly.
"I have seen many dinners that have went... the wrong way, I shall put it, though dinners, I fear, were the least of my worries. For the sake of my subjects, I have been trying to maintain control of it and it's becoming rather out of hoof as of late. Selena succumbed to them indirectly, if I must say, which goes to show why you can't let a psychopath converse with another."

"But... but you're a--"

"Princess. Ruler of a kingdom, yes I know," she finished Pinkie's sentence.
"There are two kinds of insanity in this world. Artemis and Selena is of the active kind, psychosis, where when triggered, she would behave rather hysterically, if I would put. I fall on the passive kind, sociopathy, where I merely, say, evict my emotions, where mercy and remorse is a figment of my imagination. The aggressive and the apathetic. The temperamental and the temperate. Like two peas in a devilish pod."

"You're... you're a princess..." Ollivander griped.
"How can you be a princess? Your kingdom would've been ruined!"

"And yet I rule it so very well."

Leaving all questions unanswered, Princess Crystallia's dark grin faded quickly just as Ganger and the priestesses returned, quickly applying medicine and rolling bandages around Selena's writhing form. A groan came out from her mouth, the delight of the caravan ignited when she opened her eyes a little, mumbling something incoherent underneath her breath.
"Thank the Federation..." Ollivander cried with relief, trembling with a small bout of laughter as he wiped away his tears of joy. Before the mare could even comprehend, she was gently cradled into the gryphon's talons, his smile glowing despite the fur on his cheeks matted by his tears.

"Ollie..." she whispered his name.
"You're.. I love... you..."

Slowly, she dozed off out of fatigue, this time with the dangers of death all cast aside. The caravan all chuckled quietly, their prayers reciprocated with gratitude and their dread washed off in relief. For the first time in the night, Artemis couldn't help but let out a smile, happy to find the caravan united again.
Her happiness will not last long, she knew that. The gaze that Princess Crystallia held on her was one gaze she had seen placed upon those deserving of a punishment. It felt better to resign to it than to protest any further. She was, after all, a young fawn who was taken in by the alicorn after her parents were brutally murdered before her eyes; how ironic would it become if she had killed Selena back there. Her parents' killer fell from her vindictive bow, yet that one had what they deserved. Selena did not, which meant it was time to pay.

"Artemis, we shall speak in private."

The excited chatter of the caravan died down when they heard those harsh orders, solemnly looking on as Princess Crystallia lead the dejected fawn across the room past them and towards the hallways. None dared to voice out their protests, for such a young, healthy fawn to be judged just didn't feel right. Selena had been badly wounded, sure, but they had formalities back in their respective hometowns. In this frozen village, it seemed as though they had none.
"A-Artemis..." Selena muttered in her sleep, as if sensing the fawn's destined downfall. Immediately, the fawn wore a weak smile, turning back at the caravan and to the pegasus in particular. It pained her to leave her side, but her departure was an obligation, not an option. With a feverish sigh before turning away, she whispered one last time with a small tear straining to stay in her eye and a trembling, rueful sigh:

"Farewell, sister."