Derealization

by Wingman Jones

Subpoena

My eyes quickly open and I felt some sweat covering my forehead,

“A dream...just a dream.” I had it again, that same nightmare I've been having for some time now, so much so that I could remember it clearly, I'm running in endless darkness, decomposing corpses are trying their best to kill me, and right near the end when they finally have the chance to do so there is a glowing hand reaching for me. I look around my surroundings and remembered yesterday's events, “That's right, I'm a prince...”

my room was about the size of an indoor dance studio, since I just “returned” I have a lot of empty space, the only things in my room were my bed, a wooden desk beside the large window, a shelf containing a few books, a bathroom, and a large closet near my bed,

“His sister is unbelievable.” I said as I rubbed my jaw, right after the princesses broke the curse I went to meet up with Zecora and Nero commented on my wings stating that they make me “look like a fag” and that's when we started to fight, we ended up getting both of our asses kicked by Violet. I look out the ridiculously large window and see the moon high up in the dark, starry sky, it's the middle of the night, and I know full well I won't be going back to sleep so I get out of bed to walk. I exit out of my room and when I closed the large mahogany door I take a good look at the newly engraved image of my cutiemark, I gritted my teeth when I stared at it,

“I'll get rid of it in the morning.” I despised my cutiemark, too much baggage came with it and knowing that it's permanently tattooed on my flank only pissed me off, after a certain distance I felt something cold suddenly appear around my neck and when I looked down I see it was the amulet, “You won't even let me walk without you?” I grab it and I saw something that wasn't there before.

Near the rim of the yellow jewel was a tiny crack that was only visible upon closer inspection, “Probably from the earlier.” I hide the amulet in my shirt and continue walking. I ended up in a hallway full of stained windows, I walked by the first one I saw and it showed Celestia and her sister in the most regal of poses, the next one had the two of them again but in this one they were fighting some kind of thing composed of different animal parts, the other window showed some unknown alicorn that looked like Celestia's sister but more sinister looking and she was being attacked by Celestia, the next one showed, “Huh?”

I saw Twilight and her friends in this window, they were defeating that same sinister looking mare, the one after this one depicted the same mares turning the same weird animal into stone. My ears picked up a soft scratch coming from further down the hall, I followed it and the source came from an open balcony outside, I heard another scratch and I lean against the wall and slowly walk to the balcony ready to attack what was out there, I peer my head around the frame and I spot Zecora looking over the city while picking at the floor with her hoof,

“*ehem*” I saw her jump a little and she turned around her eye fully healed and brandishing her shadows, “Relax it's only me.” she sighed and her shadows vanished, “Sorry brother, don't you do that again ever.” she warned, I sit down next to her and again my wings moved on their own hitting Zecora in the snout, “Sorry! I'm really beginning to hate being an alicorn.”

“It's fine.” she rubbed her snout.

I looked at the destruction the demons left behind and I see the guards still piling bodies onto carts, “I've seen many forms of crisis, but this is hellish.” the guards began to burn the deformed corpses, “Too many to bury I guess.” soon amber colored lights began to illuminate the city one after another, “So you're now a prince? It's hard for me to be convinced.” she chuckled, I look at my wings and notice how weak and bony they are,

“Yeah, so what's wrong?” she gave me a surprised look. I raise a hoof to stop her from talking, “First I saw you picking at the floor meaning you're upset about something. Second your own shadow is moving on it's own indicating you're frustrated.” she looked down at her now moving shadow, “So talk.” she kept looking down and picked at the floor again, “When I first met you I thought you were pathetic. You were weak, unbearably timid, and an overall waste of space.” she wasn't rhyming this time, she was serious,

“I would always say that you would never amount to anything but a throw rug. Then one day you became attached to me for an unknown reason and would follow me around, I was annoyed, but overtime I was beginning to like you. After two months I thought of you as my friend, after a year you became somepony who I would do anything for, somepony I was willing to protect, somepony who has a place within my heart, in one year you became my brother.” I felt a smile form on my face, “Ever since we left our home we were forced to adapt and survive in this waking nightmare that the world calls reality, fighting ceaselessly and killing mercilessly and nearly dying just to buy a descent meal.” I looked back at all the times we almost died for pocket change.

“We did things we promised we wouldn't do, we took chances that seemed impossible, we suffered traumas that would make any normal folk insane and brought suffering and death to others during our time together.” she paused thinking of what to say next, “Whenever I was alone I would hear dark thoughts, I always thought about opening my throat and lie down on the mire letting my life slip away to silence them, but because of you I kept enduring. You were the one who kept my insanity at bay, you were the one who silenced those thoughts, you are my reason to live.” I wondered why she didn't just stab me with a knife, even that wouldn't compare to what I was feeling as I heard those words come out of her mouth, just thinking that my own sister would consider such a horrific action made my chest fell like it was collapsing,

“When I heard you were a prince I was happy for you, now you have a family and home.” tears cascaded down her cheeks, “I...I was so scared Callidus. Since you are forbidden to leave the Palace I began believing that I would never see you again, and those thoughts came back.” I felt a sharp pain in my chest and a lump burn my throat, “I don't know what to do. I'm afraid of what they'll make me do! I'm scared Callidus, I don't want to be alone!”

I slapped her, she stopped sobbing and looked completely surprised, I now had tears of my own, “You idiot! You are my family! Even if they didn't let me see you again what makes you think I would listen to them!? We've been through way too much just to end things like this! You will always be my sister and I will always be your brother no matter what our situation! Besides you act like if I hadn't considered taking my own life.” new tears formed in her eyes.

“Did you really think that with all the things I done that I was perfectly fine? You think you were the only one who suffered? Remember when I used to be a hired gun? They paid me to kill innocent souls because they either hated them or were afraid of them. No matter how you put it I killed them, even after I vowed to only kill demons I still had to shed mortal blood out of survival, our survival. I don't want to meet the pony who could sleep at night knowing they took a life. From time to time I would look at my gun and fantasize about placing the barrel next to my temple and pulling that trigger.” Zecora had sheer terror written all over her face,

“But I never acted on those feelings because I don't have that right. If I die that wouldn't solve anything. It wouldn't bring back those innocent griffons, it wouldn't bring back those soldiers I killed in Minyochnaed, it wouldn't bring back those guards I killed, and it wouldn't...” I choked on what to say next but she already knew what I was about to say, “I don't deserve the easy way out, that would be too selfish of me, this is my burden to carry.” she looked ashamed and kept picking at the floor.

Suddenly her hoof stopped, “I'm sorry.”

“Zecora look at me.” she looked up from the floor, “I promise that you will never be alone as long as I live.” she dried her tears, “Thank you.” she smiled and hugged me, I hugged her back. I dried my tears and smiled, “You wanna know why I followed you around.” she looked at me curiously, “You were the only one who would actually acknowledge my existence. Dad was almost never there and mom completely ignored me, you would actually talk to me even if all you told me were insults. Back then I thought of you as an overbearing bitch.” she laughed and so did I,

“Callidus, no matter how old you'll be, you will always be that same annoying little prick to me.”

“And you'll always be that overbearing bitch to me.”

“Pardon for my intrusion.” the both of us turned around and faced the midnight blue alicorn, “Zecora was it? Would you please give us a moment of privacy? I wish to speak with Aether.” she nodded and went inside, “I'll see you in the morning.”

I tell her as she walks away. The blue alicorn sat next to me her shadow towering over me, I was confused, with her I didn't feel any fear or any desire to escape unlike when I was with Celestia, “I should formerly introduce myself. I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and princess of the night. I should apologize for my sister's actions from earlier, I should've known she would take it to such extremes.”

“It's fine.”

“But did you really have to accept? Surely there had to be some other way?”

“Nope, I didn't want to be a prince and she gave me an ultimatum, either stay a prince or be a prisoner to another country.”

“Well...”

I put everything together, “She was bluffing wasn't she?”

“Yes she was.” my wings automatically extended and I felt my blood begin to boil, “But it's not how you see it. Yes she lied to you about giving you up to another country but it was only to prevent you from leaving. She told me that you weren't fond about the idea being a prince and that you absolutely wanted nothing to do with my sister, oh I almost forgot.” she struck me with her hoof catching me off guard, “That was for what you coldly said to my sister.” that actually hurt,

“I understand that, so what do you want?”

“Aether, did you have a nightmare recently?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“One of my duties as princess is to watch over the dreams of our subjects and to prevent nightmares from plaguing their minds. I am able to sense when a pony has a nightmare so I enter the Dream Realm and vanquish said nightmares, but then there's you.” she narrowed her eyes at me, “The first time I sensed that you were having one I did my best to enter your mind and relieve you of your horrors but something...unexpected happened. As soon as I was about to enter I was pushed out and cut off from your mind, it was truly baffling for it has never happened before.”

“So something in my head is preventing you from entering?”

“Precisely, and this is not the only astonishing fact. You see alicorns also have telepathic abilities and neither of us could read your mind. Out of everypony in our Equestria, you and my sister are the only ponies Princess Cadance and I cannot read which makes you somewhat of a threat.” I heard that undertone of mistrust.

“You don't like me do you?”

“As a matter of fact I despise you, even if you are my sister's child. She risked everything from our home to the very lives of our subjects just so she could find you and finally have you back safely and the first thing you do is reject her and try to leave. Do you have any idea what kind of toll that took on her? When I returned from my banishment she told me everything about you from the day you were born to the day you disappeared and ever since that day she has blamed herself and cried every night dreaming about you. I had to tend to my sister every night since my return and this is the first night she slept peacefully without tears!” what she said made me feel sort of sympathetic towards Celestia,

“But I am willing to tolerate you for the sake of my beloved sister. On the other hoof I need your help.” I arched an eyebrow, “My help?”

“If what I heard is correct you have a sharp mind. You claimed that when you first encountered our guards they immediately attacked despite my sister clearly stating to bring you back alive. We looked into this and could not believe what we found, somepony was able to tamper with certain documents and approved of your death. We weren't informed of this earlier because nopony ever questioned it.”

“You think you have a traitor within the military.”

“Not just a traitor, but a spy.”

“And what makes you so sure it's a spy?”

“During the invasion the wards protecting Canterlot were broken through as if they were paper and the most powerful ward surrounding the palace was also destroyed with ease. This should have been impossible for my sister and I personally reinforce the wards with different spells daily.”

“So the spy is a lot closer to you than you thought.”

“Indeed, we have checked anypony with a social status in the palace from nobles to our soldiers and all of them were proven innocent. The spy has to be somepony who is within palace grounds in order to forge a warrant for your death and he must be somepony of high status to even get near our wards which are guarded by my very best.” something clicked in my head, “What if the invasion was a diversion?”

“Explain.”

“Yesterday when those guards were killed didn't they say that something was stolen? What was stolen exactly?” she paused trying to remember, “It was two red amulets. We are still looking into how the thief opened the safe.”

“Before the wards were destroyed can any demon get into Canterlot?”

“Not without experiencing excruciating pain.”

“What if the purpose of the invasion was to only destroy the wards and keep you busy while something sneaked it's way inside in order to find those amulets?” she looked a little surprised by my theory, “I see, but how do you know it was a demon's doing?”

“Nothing mortal could do that to a pony. What did you hear about the amulets?”

“I heard very disturbing things, if the stories are true then they have the potential to open the gate to the Demon World.” I thought for a bit trying to piece things together, “The spy should be working for somepony whose sole purpose is to literally open the gates of hell. So the spy should be motivated by two things, either the spy has the same beliefs as it's employer or the spy is gaining something in return for it's services.”

“But who would be bold or insane enough to want accomplish such a horrific scenario?”

I already had something in mind, “Do you know what The Order is?”

“Who?”

“The Order of the Sword. It's a small religious sect who worship a demon named Sparda.”

“I thought Sparda was an old mare's tale.”

“I guess it doesn't matter to them because the followers treat Sparda as a god. The Order is pretty small in numbers but judging by their beliefs they are the only ponies I could think of that would find Hell on Earth paradise. They say that when all of hell breaks loose Sparda will return and bring salvation to his followers.”

“I guess some of them grew impatient. We will have to question all followers of this sect.” the amber lights began to dim and the city air was filled with the smell of singed hair and burnt flesh, “Aether, I heard everything.” I nearly gasp as I looked at her in shock, “No need to fear, I will not inform my sister of your...tendencies. Neither will I inform her of your old life as a mercenary but be warned, eventually you must admit those feelings to her.” it still didn't make things any better, “But you shouldn't be so hard on yourself, everypony has made choices they regret, and that regret means you are worthy of salvation.” she had pain in her eyes as she looked at the moon, “You should rest for tomorrow’s trial, I can't rid you of your nightmares but I can cast a spell to prevent you from dreaming.”

“No.”

“What?”

“I said no, I'll be fine.” she saw right through my lie, “Be that way if you must, I couldn't care less about your condition, I only offered because of what my sister would say if I left you in such a state.” I got up and walked away, “Oh and could you stop calling me Aether?”

“Absolutely not, that is your real name and I will address you as such.” I rolled my eyes and walked to my room.

Three hours of restless sleep later the sun was rising and light slowly filled up my room, I position myself up and rub my eyes and suddenly I heard a knock at my door, “Who is it?” the door opened and came in a familiar looking baby dragon,

“Good morning your highness. Spike the Dragon reporting for duty.” he stood near my bed and saluted me, “What are you doing?” he pulled out an obviously home made business card, “It's part of my Dragon Code, if a dragon's life is saved by somepony else they owe their very life to their savior until the debt is repaid. You saved my life back in Ponyville and now I'm here to be your new assistant. Your wish is my command.” he bowed after saying that, “Okay, I see you with Twilight a lot, are you her assistant?”

“Yeah.”

“Then my first command is for you to go back to working for Twilight.” I get off my bed and walk past him, “W-wait but isn't there something else I can do for you?”

“I already gave you something to do for me.”

“B-but.” I turn around and face him, “Listen I don't need an assistant and I saved your life because you were in danger, I wasn't gonna let them have the satisfaction of taking another life.” he looked down as he walked away, “As you wish.” he says as he walks out the door. After I take a shower I look into the mirror and notice the bags under my eyes, it wasn't noticeable from far away thanks to my black fur but when you pay attention you could tell they were caused by weeks of sleep deprivation, I heard the door to my room open and I heard the sounds of heavy hoofsteps and clanking metal.

I walk out and find two guards waiting in the middle of the floor, “Your highness, it's time.” one of them held out iron cuffs, “Really?”

“The Chancellor of Minyochnaed ordered that you be in cuffs during the trial.” I complied and let them cuff me. As I was being led by them I heard somepony running behind me, “Guards! Stop!” when I turned around I saw that it was Rarity nearly out of breath, “Oh thank goodness I was able to catch up to you. Guards can he come with just for a bit?”

“Sorry but he must be-”

“Please? At most I will only keep him for five minutes.” she batted her eyes at them as she leaned a bit closer, “Five minutes.” the second he undid the cuffs Rarity was already dragging me to where ever it was she wants me to be, “Thank you so very much!”

“So where are you taking me?”

“Callidus today is the day of the trial where you will be seen by many many ponies and I simply refuse to allow this...thing you call clothing to be seen on you.” she referred to my back up shirt that I was currently wearing, it was nothing but a bunch of rags sewn together, “Luckily for you I took the liberty of constructing an entirely new outfit for you to wear! It took me almost all of yesterday and last night but I managed and completed it just as dawn arrived!” we entered her room and she sat me down in front of something covered by a white tarp, “Callidus, I present to you,” her horn glowed and she removed the white tarp, “the Clean Slate!”

What was revealed was a mannequin wearing a snow white dress tunic bearing gold buttons and black trimmings, some charcoal dress pants, a black leather belt and a purple sash across the torso, “Isn't it just marvelous! Both casual and formal, fierce yet soothing, this is the outfit for you!” an light blue aura surrounded the tunic and in a second my shirt was literally torn off and was replaced by the tunic, “Hey what the fuck!?”

“Callidus!” she gave me a disgusted look, “You are royalty and you must act as such. Using such profanity in front of a lady as if you were just some ill mannered scoundrel.” she scolded as she tightened the belt around my waist, “But I never said-”

“Just think of how many ponies will adore your new wardrobe.”

“Rarity would you just-”

“And not just ponies of Canterlot but government officials of Minyochnaed!”

“Rarity!” she stopped moving and just stood there with her back facing me, “Callidus please just let me do this one simple act. That day when we were on that train everypony noticed how weak I was; I was screaming and crying for dear life and I couldn't pull myself together even though my life literally depended on it. But that does not bother me in the slightest, what bothers me is how I couldn't protect my friends even when they needed me most. If it weren't for you and the others my friends would've been just more casualties for the princess to record. So please Callidus just...just let me do this one simple act of gratitude, it's the least I could do.” her voice cracked at the end of her sentence.

I didn't want to waste any more time, “Can you give me the dress pants?” she turned around and beamed, “Splendid darling!” she said as she levitated them. After a couple of minutes I was back in cuffs, I was being led down a set of spiral stairs and on the bottom was Celestia and Luna waiting for me, “Oh I see Rarity made you something for the occasion.” Celestia said as she smiled, “Well even if you're guilty at least you will look handsome.” both of Luna and I gave her shocked looks, “I'm kidding! I have complete confidence that you are innocent.” Celestia's horn glowed and something the size of a pebble shot into my head, “What was that?”

“A spell that will prevent you from lying during the duration of your testimony. Now I want you to name the colors that you see.” she held up a deck of multicolored cards and drew one of them out, “Red.” she pulled out another one, “Yellow.” and another one, “Green.”

“Good, now for the next card I want you to lie about it's color.” she drew out a purple card, I was gonna say pink but my mouth didn't open, it was as if my jaw was bolted shut, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't say pink, “Now name the actual color.”

“Purple.” “Excellent, the spell works. I must warn you to be careful, the Chancellor brought some witnesses claiming to be survivors and they are a bit riled up.” Luna opened the doors behind her and as soon as I came out I saw a cane coming my way.

I ducked just as it was about to hit me, I looked to who threw it and I see a large minotaur amputee being held to the floor by four guards, “You bastard! You may have everypony here fooled but we see you as the murderous monster you are! I swear to God that you will pay even if I have to kill you myself!” he cursed as he struggled to get the guards off him, behind him were three others giving me hateful glares, “Please escort this bull out, I will not tolerate such outburst at the moment.” two armored minotaurs came and carried the crazed bull out of the throne room, “I apologize Princess, I did not think he would cause such a scene.”

Walking towards us is an old minotaur in a large white and red cassock wearing a oval-shaped hat bearing an intricate pyramid insignia being accompanied by five of his guards, “But you must forgive his actions for he has truly seen some indescribable horror.” he peered over Celestia's shoulder to look at me. He has a gentle face which adorned a casual smile but his eyes said different, they were a dull hazel green but they were as cold as ice and as sharp as daggers, in those pupils I saw how painfully he wanted my death to be, “Why go through the trouble of all this? Just give all custody to me and we can both win, tension will decrease between our nations and he will be punished for his crimes.” Celestia looked as if she were about to beat him into a stain, “Chancellor Mobruck for the last time he has claimed self defense and he deserves a fair trial.”

“That may be so but I have my suspicions, considering that he is your...son I have reason to believe that you might be in his favor.”

“I can assure you that fact will play no role in today's trial.”

“Very well, shall we begin?”

“Of course.” the Chancellor returned to his seat next to the jury composed of both ponies and minotaurs and Celestia and Luna walked to their thrones, “This way.” said the guard as he led me to the center of the throne room facing both Celestia and Luna, “Callidus aka Aether, you are charged with mass murder of the Minyochnaen military and arson of Fort Schultz, if guilty the penalty is death.” Celestia almost choked on the last word, “We have already heard statements from the survivors. Now we need to hear your side of the story.” I shifted uncomfortably and took a deep breath,

“Nearly five years ago my sister and I were residing in Minyochnaed in search of employment. But because of strict immigration laws most places didn't allow us to work and we were constantly dodging the government's police and so we were forced to do simple odd jobs for some of the citizens.” I felt the glares on my right side from those minotaurs, “We barely made enough for housing and then we were left with the option of pick-pocketing.” those memories came back and I was telling every detail.

********(Five Years Ago)********

“GET BACK HERE!!!” I dip my head and dodged the big rock that guy threw at me, “This guy is really pissed off!”

“Oh really? I didn't notice!” Zecora responded sarcastically. Chasing us was an obese bull whose eyes were now a shade of red, “I'LL TEAR OFF THAT TINY HEAD OF YOURS YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!” he yelled as he tackled through crowds of minotaurs, “He's fast for a fat guy!” we make a sharp left turn and run straight into some kind of restaurant, “Sorry! Sorry! Excuse us! Running for our lives! Sorry!” we maneuvered through each customer, table and waiter, “OUT OF MY WAY!!!” I look back and he was flipping over tables to make room for himself, “Kitchen, kitchen, kitchen!” we hurdle over the counter and head for the back door, “Hold it you two!” Zecora and I were grabbed by the nape of our necks and were forcibly seated,

“Why on Earth are you running through my kitchen?” the chef that stopped us asked. The silver double doors were kicked off it's hinges and there stood the fat angry bull, “That.” we took the chance and sprinted it for the door, “STOP RUNNING!!!” we were outside in an alleyway and at the end there was a group of minotaurs surrounding some kind of preacher. We crouched and crawled through their legs, “And without discrimination or judgment he saved us all from the evil of the Demon World and brought peace to all in the world.” is what I assumed was a priest said. Zecora and I successfully crawl through the crowd, “WHERE IS HE!!!? WHO SEEN THAT BLACK LITTLE FUCK!!!?” that was enough motivation to get us running again.

We hide at a near by park making sure we weren't visible to other folk, “Okay let's see what we got.” I said excitedly as I reach a hoof in my saddlebag, I pull out eight bits, “Only eight?”

“A joke this better not, please tell me there are more in there you forgot.” I felt a bead of sweat form, “That's it.”

“That's it!?” she struck me on the head and cussed at me in her native tongue for a good two minutes, “Um my Ziranian is a bit rusty so could you translate, like, the whole thing?”

“Chased we were because you were caught! And only eight bits was all you got!”

“It wasn't my fault! That stupid street performer got in our way!”

“Blame the street performer you shouldn't, it was you who idiotically showed the bits.”

“I was in the middle of counting them.”

“That's why you count them after we get away! Now where will we stay?”

“I don't know, we could sleep here again.”

“Never again.” she said in a very low whisper, “Okay last time when those bulls came it was a bit...awkward but maybe tonight will be different.” I reply putting on a sheepish smile, “An orgy in the park is not awkward Callidus! That is just wrong!”

“Okay, okay not the park. Maybe somepony will be kind enough to let us stay with them for the night?” she gave me one of her famous “really” looks, “You have a better idea?”

“A forest not far from here, we can camp there without fear.”

“Then it's settled!” I say happily, we pack our saddlebags and head for the forest. Five hours later we were still walking on the same dirt path nearly void of any life, “Not too far from here, we can sleep there without fear.” I say mocking Zecora, “That's you.”

“Just a little farther, it won't be long brother.” the sun went down hours ago and all we had to guide us was the big bright moon in the sky, “Did you ever wonder how that mare got in the moon in the first place?” I asked as I stared at the figure sculpted into the moon, “An old mare's tale it is, I heard long ago an evil mare was banished there by the princess.” I erupted into laughter, “Yeah sure and I'm A.K Yearling.”

“Fight and kill demons you do, and yet you can't believe this is true?”

“Zecora not even demons can go to the moon, it's just seems too impossible.” suddenly something jumped out of the bushes and we leap back dodging it's bladed arm, “Well speak of the devil, a Tormentor.” the demon in front of us was had a metal helmet surgically attached to his head with leather straps on it's limbs and large, thick blades on it's arms, it's skin was a very pale purple and looked like necrotic flesh, “You or me?”

“You for being an imbecile today.”

“Fine by me.” I changed into a human and took out two obsidian blades curved into sickles, “I'm a little tired so I'll take you down in less than three moves.” I said as I felt my lips curve into a smile.

The Tormentor thrusted both arms at me and I duck under them and stab it square in the gut and felt the blade turns it's insides into mush, “One!” it swung it's arm again but I duck and pivot on my toes and stab it right under it's chin, “Two!” I forcibly rip out the other blade hearing the sound of organs hitting the ground and I cut clean through it's neck, “Three!” blood sprayed out of it's now exposed jugulars like a fountain getting it's blood all over my body, it twitched a bit and fell backwards, “Dammit now I need to bathe.” I wipe the blood away from my eyes, “Stay sharp brother, who knows if there are others.” she warned as I kicked away the severed head,

“Yeah I know.” before I could change back I heard a twig snap behind one of the bushes, immediately I reacted and threw one of the blades at whatever it was and it screamed in pain, “What the fuck!?” out came a minotaur citizen about 18 years old limping away with my sickle stuck in it's thigh. I was stunned for a bit until I saw him gain some distance, “Hey wait!” I yell to him, I ran after him in hopes of explaining myself, “Wait I'm sorry! I didn't know you were-” he pulled out the sickle and swung wildly. One of his swipes nearly cut me and I fall on my ass, “Stay back!” his voice was heavy with fear, “If you would just listen-”

“I said stay back you freak!” he warned when I tried to stand. His eyes grew wider and wider and finally he dropped the weapon and ran back to the city, I turn around and see Zecora with her shadows lashing out at nothing, “Let's go.” I change back, grab my sickle and follow Zecora. Another hour later we were deep within the forest sitting by a fire, “Who was that guy?” Zecora shrugged her shoulders, “But it is rather odd, Following us from the city of Kyod.”

“Should we have captured him up? I feel like I should've at least knocked him out.”

“No good that will do, he goes missing and the government might do a search and rescue.”

“Still why did he follow us?” a freezing gust of wind blew and my body tensed up at the cold, “Shit it's freezing!” I scooted closer to the dwindling fire and pulled out a burlap cloak to cover myself, I hate the cold with all my life, “Do you wanna try and find him tomorrow?”

“How can we? Thousands of minotaurs live in the city.”

“I got a good look at his face so I should be able to recognize him. I'll be back, I'm going to try and find a stream or something before this blood dries.” I leave the warmth of the fire and venture out into the dark woods, by the time I came back my sister was already asleep so I put out the fire and place wards around us and go to sleep.

Morning finally came, I sit up to stretch and when I yawned I felt something with wings force it's way down my throat, “*coughing* Aw gross!” whatever it was it became my breakfast, “Morning brother.” Zecora said as she came out of the woods with saddlebags full of plants, “Where did you go?”

“Wild plants I've been searching, I found many of them good for eating.” she dropped her saddlebags and some of the plants rolled out, one plant in particular caught my eye, “Is that...” in front of me stood a large and ripe Red Cabbage, “I've found them out there growing freely, and to find them here is rather lucky.” she held one up of the delicious ball of leaves and let the sunlight reflect on it's chewable surface, “Oh thank you Zecora!” I dived in for it but she held up a hoof and pushed my face back, “You can have them oh yes, but for only 100 bits no less.” damn,

“100 bits! I don't have that kind of money! Are you really trying to hustle your own brother! C'mon Zecora I'm hungry!” I whined, “100 bits to eat it will cost, for being an idiot or did you forgot?” I faced her with all the anger I can muster, “Aww screw your Red Cabbages! I'll just eat something else.” right when I touched her saddlebag my hoof went numb and soon my limbs gave out, “What!?” I saw the saddlebag glow and showed the invisible writing on it, “You asshole!”

“100 bits for all of this, so what will it be Callidus?” I glared daggers into her very soul, “Fine.”

“92 bits you owe.”

“Shut up and unparalyze me!” “Fine, responsurum.” all the feeling came back to my limbs and automatically I grab a Red Cabbage and begin eating. A little while later I stopped stuffing my face, “That...felt...amazing.” I said between breaths as I let my stomach bulge out, “Do me a huge favor, and go out and get water.” Zecora said while looking inside her empty jug, “I already paid you 100 bits just for food, do it yourself.”

“But you are a better tracker, of finding a good source of water. Last time I did this chore, so now it's your turn brother.”

“No, too lazy.”

“Ugh you can be a tumor inside my head, why don't we both go instead?” I thought it over, “Hmm alright.” I stand up and we head out to find water. The stream I went to wasn't far so we got there in almost five minutes, “Okay let's fill our jugs.” I opened mine with a pop and submerged it, “So where should we go next Zecora?”

“Bylvdir is immigrant friendly so I've heard, maybe we can finally find decent work?”

“Isn't Bylvdir the capital? As in teeming with Government officials and soldiers?”

“Thinking of Brinhinsher you are doing, I say Bylvdir is where we should be going.”

“Well I don't really see any other option in terms of finding work, guess we're going to Bylvdir.” Zecora's ear twitched and she looked at the trees behind us.

I heard a soft woosh followed by something breaking, I saw that it was a dart tipped with something and it missed me by nearly two inches, “Run!” the two of us turned in the opposite direction and jumped over the stream, “They're getting away!” we ran into the forest and separated in an effort to make it harder for them, I climbed onto a tree and sat down on a high branch to make sure whoever was hunting us not see me. Below me I spotted a couple of armored minotaurs armed with assault rifles, judging by the bright yellow trimmings on their helmets they are from the Minyochnaen Immigration Service, “What if it's true what that kid said?”

“Kid? Oh shit I knew I should've tied him up!”

“I doubt any of that is true but the boss ordered that we find them and detain them as fast as possible.”

“But what if the rumors are true? Does he really think we can even take something like that down?”

“Look we killed a few before so I'm sure we can handle him.”

“Last time we lost five soldiers to only one Mephisto! This guy managed to kill eleven of them!”

“In total.”

“And yet he is still alive!”

“Let's say the rumors are true, and let's say there is such a thing that can kill demons with ease,”

“Ease my ass...”

“rumors also say that he has a sidekick so think. If we get to his sidekick we can convince him to surrender.”

“And how will we do that?”

“Simple, we threaten to kill her.” when I heard this my anger took over, “Rumors also say that I'm as stealthy as a shadow!” before they could react I jumped on their necks and knocked them out.

I tie them up with their own belts, get rid of their guns, and place them on the tree I was on, that was not a very easy thing to do, “*gasp* Done!” I say as I slump down on the trunk, “Okay Callidus you need a plan. First find out how many of them there are. Second, find Zecora before they do. Third, escape the city and head for Bylvdir.” I stood on my hooves and run back to where we slept last night. When I reached the stream I jumped into a bush after I saw five MIS squad leaders, “No luck finding him or his sidekick, sir.”

“All of our squads have searched everything within a 25 mile radius.”

“And the saddlebags are untouchable at the moment, one of our bulls touched the strap and he was suddenly paralyzed.” in the center of this group was an elderly looking general who had a green battle ax on his back laughing, “Ziranian magic, how cute.” he said as he took out a cigarette, “Keep searching, I doubt they would leave their things behind since they're enchanted. Here's what you gotta do, open them with a stick or something. If you touch it with your bare hand you will be paralyzed until the spell is lifted.” he ordered, suddenly a cow came running frantically to the general, “Sir! Two bulls in my squad just went missing!” she said as she panted, she looked a bit young to be in the military let alone a squad leader, “Are you sure?”

“Yes sir.”

“When was the last time you seen them?”

“Right after you gave the order to find them.” the general smiled as he breathed out smoke, “This means that he is still out there somewhere.” I lowered myself a little when he said that, “Sir how do you know he won't just run away?”

“Something's telling me that his relationship with his sidekick is more than a professional one. Spread out! I want every squad to be busting their asses today! I want every soldier to be hell bent on finding those two even if it takes until dawn! Not one of them is to escape this country and God help me if I find out they do! Understood!?”

“Yes sir!” all of them dispersed except the general, “Hmm a thing who can blend with the darkness, a being who only speaks through sharpened steel, an entity capable of striking fear into anything even God himself, a monster who only gets stronger with every drop of blood he spills.”

“What the fuck is the Griffon Empire saying about me!?”

“Well then it's about time to back up those rumors, monster.” he threw the cigarette into the water and walked into the dense forest, cackling. I poked my head out making sure nopony was around, “I better find her fast.” I dash out of the bush, jump over the stream and move from tree trunk to tree trunk, “She might be heading back towards the campsite, God I hope she doesn't-” something popped out of a bush and it pulled me inside. It covered my mouth only making me resist more, I calmed down when it turned out to be my sister, “Zecora you okay?” she nodded yes, “MIS has come for us, how did they know where we were Callidus?”

“It was that fucking guy from yesterday.”

“Him?”

“Yeah, I knew I should've captured him. Zecora see how may of them are after us.” her blue eyes became an ink black and her shadow rapidly connected itself to other surrounding shadows, after a minute her eyes became normal, “Nearly 36 soldiers there are, they are searching wide and far.”

“Any of them near the campsite?”

“Only two thankfully, we should incapacitate them and run hastily.” something about that seemed off, “Hey Zecora come here real quick.” she leaned closer and I whispered into her ear. We got there with nopony seeing us, we hide behind some trees and see one of them rummaging through our saddlebags carefully with a stick while the other just laid there unmoving, “Hey check these out.” he held up my sickles, “Hey dumbass, I can't see.”

“Oh yeah.” he walked over to the paralyzed minotaur and showed him my weapons, “What's that weird writing?” he pointed out the inscriptions carved onto the blade, “I don't know. Maybe this is what he uses to kill demons.” I scoot closer to Zecora, “Cover me okay?” I crouch like a tiger and carefully walk towards them, the abled one went back to my saddlebag making things easier for me since both his and the other guy's back is facing me so I silently crawl towards him, right when I was about to grab him I felt something on my hoof snap, “What?” I saw a thin thread broken in two and I heard a loud explosion,

“Shit!” I jump back as hard as my legs could and two metal nets collide with each other nearly trapping me. The soldier turned around and aimed his weapon at me, “Now!” I heard somepony say and in an instant all 36 soldiers jumped out of their hiding places which was built into the ground, “How the-”

“The Sin of Althopier, a weapon that is only exclusive to Zira, but even then only a few have the potential of even controlling such magic. It can have many capabilities depending on how well the user is in tuned with his or her negative emotions such as sadness, anger, jealousy, etc. But even somepony as good as your accomplice could be fooled.” walking towards me with a shit-eating grin was the general.

All of his soldiers never took their sights away from me, “If you're wondering how we did it,” he took out a little white gemstone from his pouch, “this is how. All we had to do was place these around the forest and wait for you to come to us. The only thing I didn't count on was that you would be a kid.” the gem he had was called a Soul Stone, it has the ability to mimic it's users life energy, I smiled at the thought, then I began to laugh making everypony confused, “I'm sorry I couldn't keep a straight face hahahaha! Did you really think I would be stupid enough to come back here knowing there was only two guards?” most of the rifles began to shake, “But you still came back kid. Not to mention that you're surrounded.” my smile grew even bigger,

“Oh no what will I ever do?” I said feigning despair and placing a hoof on my forehead, “I was just bait.” the instant I said that all of them including the general was flung high into the air by exactly 36 shadows. I grab both of our saddlebags and run as fast as I could, “That was way too easy.” the ground in front of me exploded somehow and it knocked me back a few feet, I stop rolling with a hard thud and I look up to where the explosion came from and I see the general in mid air pointing his smoking battle ax at me, “What!?” his ax snapped in half and a bronze shell shot out, he loaded another shell into it and when he landed on top of a tree he took aim.

I made a run for it and when he fired the explosion sent me flying right into a tree. I was a little dazed and my left should went numb for a bit then it felt like it was on fire, all around me soldiers were falling from the sky, some gracefully landed on their hooves while others fell hard, one of them took aim and fire a round at me, “Ahh! Mother fucker!” it hurt like hell, I didn't feel any blood nor did it burn like a bullet wound would, “Rubber bullets.” other soldiers began to follow suit and took aim, “Oh shit!” I pick up the saddlebags and run. I run in a zig-zag motion to dodge their bullets which wasn't easy because I also had to watch for branches and rocks,

“He's getting away!” I turn my head and see some of them catching up to me, “Damn it!” I hear a whooshing sound and when it sounded close I dip my head and see it was a shock collar. Nearly three minutes later I started to get tired, “Gotta keep running.”

“HIYAAAA!!!” it screamed as it tackled me to the ground, I was pinned on my back and on top was the cow who I saw earlier, “Gotcha! Wait you're just a kid?” I struggled to get out from underneath her, “Sorry kid but I'm ordered to take you in.” she said while holding my hooves in place, “Get off me! You're heavy!” she opened her mouth in shock, “What did you say!? Are you calling me fat!?”

“Like an elephant, now get off me lardass!” she screamed in both anger and sadness, “Khiva!” she turned around to see her comrades, “You got him!? How!?” one of them asked, “While the rest of you were too busy chasing after him I went around and ambushed him.” she said smugly, “Excellent work Khiva.” emerging from the forest was the general, “Thank you! Sir why did you resort to using your weapon against a kid like him?”

“Because of the rumors, I wanted to see if they were true. So far I'm getting a bit disappointed, all he did was run like a dog.” he walked closer to me, “What if you had killed him, sir?”

“Then whoops.” was all he said, “How many have we lost?”

“Nearly half of us have been injured only, nopony died.” he looked down at me. This was the first time I had seen the large scar that starts from his forhead all the way down to his neck, “Nopony died huh? That's one mistake you shouldn't have made, kid.” he looked at me with that one clouded eye in amusement, “Cuff him and keep a watchful eye on him, who knows what other tricks he may have.” the one called Khiva positioned me on my haunches, “Sorry kid, I hope you can understand.” she whispered into my ear. After she cuffed me two soldiers were suddenly struck upside their heads, “What was-” he couldn't finish because something long and black smacked him in the face, the other soldiers readied their pistols this time, “Everypony retreat! It's ma-” he was taken into a bush by a black tentacle.

All of them aimed at the bush and shot real bullets, “Zecora!”

“Wait kid!” Khiva grabbed me when I was about to run into the gunfire, “Zecora?” the general repeated, “Well then, Zecora! You are to be detained and deported according to national law! Come and surrender peacefully and nopony gets hurt! Fail to comply,” he walked over to me and leveled his pistol to my head, “and he will be executed!”

“Sir!”

“What will it be!?”

“You bastard!” I spat, “Sir please look at what you are doing! Are you really threatening to kill a child!?”

“Khiva, ready your pistol in case anything happens.”

“But sir-”

“That's an order.” she looked down at me and sighed in defeat, “Yes sir.” she pulled out her pistol and aimed at the bush, “You have till three, one.” he cocked his gun and it made me panic a little, “Two.” my eyes darted around until I saw the silver shine of a key on Khiva's belt, “Stop!” the shadows around the forest became animate and all of them gathered in the center of the soldiers, it took form and it materialized into my sister, “Good choice.” he put down his gun and walked right over to her as she was being cuffed. I took the chance and swiftly take the key without her knowing, “Get ready.” I mouth to Zecora. Once I unlocked the cuffs I grab Khiva by the hair, wrap one hoof around her neck and use her gun to shoot the general in the leg.

The other soldiers took aim but all of them were defeated by a quick flurry of attacks by Zecora, “GRRAAAAHHH!!!” Zecora made wings and she flew in the air to dodge the general's battle ax which cut through her shadow, “How is that possible!?” Zecora said, my reaction was the same, there was no way any regular weapon could pierce through Zecora's shadow like that, “Take a closer look.” I payed attention to his ax, the green color wasn't paint but it was the blade itself, “This ax has slain all kinds of magic users be it mortal or demonic.” he aimed the ax at Zecora and successfully shot off one of her wings, “And the rounds aren't regular either.” she crashed onto the ground and the general ran to her ax ready to chop.

I take out my sickles and rush towards them, when he swung the clunky ax I change to a human and parry his attack. Behind the sparks created by our weapons the general stared at me in disbelief, “That form...” he leaped back, “Zecora, are you okay?” I asked without looking at her, “I'm okay.” the general stood there silently then out of nowhere he started laughing, “Amazing! Just absolutely amazing! Those griffons weren't fucking with me when they said you were a monster! In fact you're more than a monster! A human!” his ax opened and he loaded another shell, “I've never actually seen one but I did hear good things. What's you're name, kid?”

“A bit rude asking for my name when I don't even know yours.” he grinned like a madpony and set his weapon down.

“I am General Ferkith Asmodus Jirrad the Third, but you can just call me Ferkith. I think it's your turn.” I smirked, “I'm used to everypony just calling me Callidus.”

“Well Callidus, in the name of our country you are under arrest.”

“If you win.”

“I already did.” I felt something stab me in the neck and I immediately lose all bodily function, “Who?” as I fell I spotted a lone soldier holding a pea shooter, “Like I said, not killing my bulls was one mistake you shouldn't have made.” the ones who woke up came to me and cuffed me. They positioned me up and I saw that Zecora was tranquilized as well, “Alright Ferkith, you win. Just deports us already, I'm kind of hungry.” Ferkith along with other soldiers chuckled, “Deported? No, no, no, you committed a major crime in a nation that you aren't from. Now we are obligated to take you in and send you to prison.”

“What!? We didn't even do anything!?” if I wasn't paralyzed I would've started struggling to get out of my cuffs, “Oh but you did. Yesterday night an eighteen year old fool decided that it was his duty as a citizen to report any illegals within our country so he followed the two of you out here.” two soldiers came and they were dragging said eighteen year old, he was gagged with a piece of cloth and his hands were tied behind his back and his entire body was covered in cuts, bruises, seamen, and blood,

“What he saw was, in a way, bizarre. He ran back to Kyod with an injured leg screaming help, as soldiers of the Minyochnaen Immigration Service we came to his help and he kindly told everything he witnessed. With this new information we asked our neighboring country of the griffons and their reports match this here fellow's story perfectly.” he walked to where my sickle was and picked it up, “Right after we mobilized our squads you came back for him. You beat him for snitching and raped him for pleasure. We were informed of his disappearance and when we did find him,” he grabbed the bull's hair up and he slashed his throat with my sickle, “No!”

“you killed him right in front of us.” the bull gurgled in an attempt to scream and he began choking until Ferkith let go and he slumped to the ground, “You son of a bitch!” all of them just laughed, it was the most terrifying thing I've ever heard, “All right let's go! Pack up everything!” one of them lifted me onto their shoulder and I was being carried away. I look back to the dying bull, he slowly turned his head and he stared directly at me, tears were falling from his eyes and they had the look of betrayal, he wheezed out one last breath and the color from his eyes vanished, I never even knew his name, and yet I still felt responsible.

********(Present)********

“So if I heard correctly the MIS, when they first encountered you, first used methods that are only required when they know the pony is hostile and their general used full force despite you not behaving in any violent way and when you were finally captured they kill an innocent bull and frame you for murder?” Celestia repeated, “Yes.” she looked to where the Chancellor was sitting and narrowed her eyes, “Interesting, this is brand new information which both the witnesses and the Chancellor somehow failed to mention.” when I looked to where the jury was I noticed the look in all of the minotaurs eyes including the Chancellor's, all of them were scared, “After you were captured by the MIS what did they do next?”

******(Five years ago)******

Zecora and I were stuffed inside a hot and dirty train cart filled with other obvious immigrants, all of them were giving me weird looks since I'm still in my human form, “Brother, change back.” Zecora whispered in my ear, “I can't, I'm still too numb to do anything. I don't know how this is affecting my ability.”

“So what are you?” asked a griffon, “An immigrant dumbass.”

“You know what I mean!”

“Would you two shut up! It's too loud! Too loud! Too loud!” across from us was an elderly pegasus mare who was holding both of her ears, “They said I would go back! They promised I would! Then those loud sounds! Bang! Bang! Bang! It was just too loud!” she began bashing her head against the wall, “Whoa hey! Hey! Calm down!” I yelled, she still kept banging her head. There was a dark red spot where she was hitting her head and finally she stopped and lost consciousness, “Is she dead?”

“No, I can still hear her heart.” the griffon said, “How'd you end up here?” he asked, “Umm, I got tied up, dragged here against my will, and they seated me here.”

“That's not what I meant.” he hissed as his eyes glowed a bit, “Sorry, I'm just a little pissed off.”

“Same here. How did you end up here?” he asked my sister, “I'm with him.” she answered, “Brother, what now.” I gave it hard thought, “I don't know.”

Author's Note:

I'm baaaaaaaaack!!!!!