The Arrival

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Devil May Cry, MLP, or Dante's Inferno

(*********)

Ch.1

We've been walking for three days going God knows where and only stopping to rest. All around us are overgrown, distorted trees so big they actually blot out the sun and wild weeds covering most of the ground with the stench of hot grass and decaying plants attacking my sense of smell with little to no sunlight,

'So this is the terrifying Everfree Forest? Not exactly terrifying but some of these plants could use a pruning.' I thought to myself. To my left side is my older foster sister Zecora looking exhausted from carrying her saddlebag, “Do you wanna take a break?” I asked feeling bad for her,

“A breather would be nice, that spot seems to suffice.” she pointed at an odd looking tree that had clear ground big enough for the both of us. As soon as I made it I took off my saddlebag and immediately plop down next to my sister, my name is Callidus, I’m a black coated stallion with a jet black mane with gray eyes, white hooves and a chipped left ear, I wear an amulet that bore a piece of silver shaped like an open hand with an eye at the center, the eye has a yellow gemstone for a pupil, I have a cutiemark resembling a sword with the tip of the blade pointing down with white wings behind it,

“Callidus.” I turn towards my sister, “Yeah?”

“Are you okay? You look to be in dismay.”

“I'm fine.”

“We don't have to jump into things. Why don't we-"

“I said I'm fine!” I yelled startling her, I took a deep breath and calmed down, “I'm sorry Zecora.” she gave me a sympathetic look,

“To see you like this pains me brother, letting it out makes the pain less severe.”

“Let's keep going.” I stood up and began walking, “Oh Callidus...” I heard Zecora mutter under her breath, I found it odd that she would only speak in rhymes, even when we were just kids she rhymed every time she spoke.

After a few minutes we got up and started walking again,

“So where's the next town?” she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a map of Equestria that had seen better days, “Ponyville.”

“How far till we get there?”

“Not much longer, it's just outside the forest brother.” it didn't take long and we were out of the tree line, I blink my eyes to get used to the sunlight and in the distance I see a village, “Huh, that was quicker than I anticipated.”

“Well what are we waiting for, let us see what they have in store.” Zecora said as she walked ahead of me. It didn't take long for us to walk into town, everywhere I see ponies walking, talking, working, all without a care in the world, “Alright let's find a place to stay.” the town was...colorful to say the least, and it seemed like just a nice little community, seemed.

We saw a green mare with a pinkish-red mane walking in our direction,

“Excuse me miss...” she stopped and looked at the both of us, “Do you know a decent priced hotel the both of us can stay in?”

“Well the two of you can stay at the Horseshoe Inn.” she tried to look under our hoods to see our faces so I move a little to prevent her from looking, “So where's the inn?”

“Oh um it's just around the corner over there, I'm sorry but why are the two of you wearing robes?”

“It's a religious thing.” I lied, “I see, are the two of you new in this town?”

“Arrived we just have, now we need a place to rest on our behalf.” Zecora said, “I have to go, I'll see the two of you later.” she waved at us while she walked away. We started walking to the place the lady told us would be, we turned the corner and see the Horseshoe Inn, it was a one story western looking building with a giant horseshoe on top with the walls painted a dark brown giving it a more aged look with swinging double doors painted black,

“This seems cozy." we walked in and see a blue unicorn stallion wearing an odd getup behind the counter snout deep in a magazine with two hallways on both sides of the building, on the cover of his magazine was a blurred picture of a hooded figure looking as if it was jumping. I cleared my throat to get his attention,

“Howdy partners! Welcome to the Horseshoe Inn!” Zecora and I stifled a laugh when he tried to talk in that horrible accent, “Do you get paid enough to do that?”

“*sigh* Look my boss makes me talk that way, says it's fun for the customers so I have no choice.” he said in his normal speaking voice, “Sucks to be you.”

“So are you gonna buy a room or not?”

“A room with separate beds please.” he went under the counter and took out a key that had a silver horseshoe attached to it, “Hallway to your left, room number 35. It's 20 bits per night and if you need anything just call me.”

“Thanks.” we were about to leave until he spoke up.

“Hey wait!” I turned to look at him, “You look familiar, wait.” he looked at the cover and back to me, “By any chance are you The Killer Cloak!?” he said while looking at me with starry eyes,

“I don't know what you're talking about.” he grabbed the magazine he was reading and nearly shoved it in my face, “You are The Killer Cloak! The mysterious creature that kills hordes of demons then vanishes without a trace? It's always described as wearing a hood of blood and able walk on two legs and has a hooded sidekick!”

“I really don't know what you're talking about”

“You don't have to lie.” I grabbed the magazine, “Look at the picture then compare it to me. It's nearly six feet tall and stands on two legs, I stand on four hooves, and does my robe look like it's made of blood?” he then had a disappointed look,

“You have a point. Sorry it's just that I was reading an article about it and when I saw the two of you, well I guess it's just coincidence.”

“It's fine.”

“Enjoy your stay.” he said as we walked to our room, “That picture of you has spread wildly to the public, now both demons and the Royal Guard know whose heads to put on a stick.”

“Relax Zecora it's not even a good picture.”

“It may have been a poorly shot picture, but there stands out one distinct feature.” I was a little confused by what she said then it came to me, around the creature's neck was a spot, a yellow spot,

“He seemed to not notice it.” I said as I shoved my amulet inside my garment that covers my torso, “He may not have a keen eye, but others might not be so blind.”

“If anything happens we'll do what we do best, make up a plan as we go.”

“So I'm the sidekick?” I smiled in response. I had no doubts that she was right, it's only a matter of time until somepony or something sees it and uses it to find us.

We open our room and a gust of lavender blew in our faces, inside were two queen-sized beds covered in tan blankets that had horseshoe prints on them, the walls were made of mahogany which also has horseshoe prints on them, “Now this is an inn.” I placed my saddlebag on one of the beds and sat down on it,

“Let's not stay in, where should we begin?”

“First we check the news stands for anything unusual, if we can't find anything there we check the local cemetery.”

“Should we bring with us our gear, or leave it here?”

“For right now let's leave it here.”

“Well thought out this seems, but what if we run into enemies?”

“We run, we can't afford to draw attention to ourselves yet.”

“Okay let me place a spell on our belongings, then we can start investigating.” she pulled out a blank leather bound book from her saddlebag, when she opened it the pages were blank until she started to chant incantations. Her eyes glowed yellow and soon black ink writing appeared on the page, then the writing came out of the page and circled around our stuff, the letters attached themselves to the saddlebags and disappeared,

“Alright all set.” we headed out to see if we could find work.

Once the both of us were outside something strange happened,

“OhmygoshIknewthereweretwonewponiesintowncausemypinkiesensewentcrazybecausethere'snotonebuttwonewponies*gasp*thatmeansIneedtomakeapartyfortwoitwillbeamegapartywaithere!” some pink hyper active mare said in which I didn't understand since she talked a mile. She left and came back almost under a second with some kind of machine,

"Welcome welcome welcome, a fine welcome to you. Welcome welcome welcome I say how do you do? Welcome welcome welcome, I say hip hip hurray, welcome welcome welcome to Ponyville today!” she moved out the way and the strange thing shot cookie dough at us covering us from head to hoof and then shot confetti into the air,

“Come to Sugarcube Corner in an hour, wait maybe less if I use my party canon! Bye!” before she left she placed an envelope on my forehead leaving me confused about what just happened and a little mad that she shot uncooked baked goods at us for no reason.We then started to take off the cookie dough,

“What the hell just happened?”

“As strange as that was for you and I,” she picked up the envelope the mare left us and opened it which also shot out confetti, “we've been invited to a party from a Pinkie Pie.”

“Can I see that?” she handed me the envelope and I immediately crumbled it,

“Callidus!”

“Zecora we're not here to party or make friends, c'mon let's find the nearest news stand argh!” my side burned and tingled abruptly, “Why that yell of pain? Is your side aching again?”

“I'm okay, let's go.” I rubbed where it stung and began walking. After a few minutes we spotted one with a yellow earth pony stallion inside, “Can I get today's paper please?”

“That'll be one bit.” I paid him and started to look through the newspaper for anything unusual, disappearings, strange murders, etc, 'That's strange.' there was nothing I can find,

'Not a single thing, almost every town we've been in has some sort of strange activity they make public.'

“There's nothing in the newspaper, something's up.”

“I don't understand Callidus, what makes you so sure something's suspicious?”

“Just a hunch, let's check the cemetery.” I turn to the clerk,

“Hey do you know where the local cemetery is?”

“It's outside of town on the north side, walk two blocks down that road, make a right then once you see Songheart's Musical Emporium walk straight ahead. How come you want to go to the cemetery?” he said while looking at us suspiciously,

“A friend of ours recently lost somepony close to him and we're going to help comfort him.”

“Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry.”

“It's fine.”I began to walk down the road but I looked back and see Zecora asking the clerk something, “What did you ask him?”

“Town hall's directions, for when we're done with our little investigation.” I was a little suspicious but knowing her she won't tell me the real story until later so I left it at that. Almost in no time we saw the emporium and continued walking. The distance to the cemetery was farther then expected, it took us almost half an hour until we saw the rusted gates,

“Finally.” luckily the gate was open and nopony was in sight, “Okay you go and find the mortuary and I'll check the graves. When you find it come get me.” she nodded and we walked our separate ways. I checked each tombstone, specifically at the dates, on the other side I found freshly covered graves,

'Dirt's loose, definitely a recent one.' I saw the date on the tombstone and walked by each one comparing them, 'Most of these graves are recent.' “Callidus!” I look up and see Zecora running to me, “Found the mortuary is, what did you find on the graves?”

“Most of these graves have been recently dug, so where's the mortuary?” she said nothing and began to take me to where the it is. The mortuary had a old Victorian look making it give off an unsettling atmosphere,

“The door locked?” she nodded no, “Alright easier on us.” I opened the door as quietly as I could and took careful steps walking in,

“Stay on your hooves and don't let anypony catch you. Let's split up and find the funeral director's office.” we then walked on opposite sides of each other. It took me a while but I found what looked to be the funeral director’s office,

'Damn it's locked.' I pulled out a paper clip from behind my ear and folded it to the proper shape I needed. I got the door open then locked it when I came in, the fist thing I saw was a wooden desk and I dug through it's contents,

'Nothing here but knickknacks and paper work.' behind me were filing cabinets, I searched the one to my right and found nothing useful, when I checked the one on the left I almost gave up until I saw the last one was locked, 'This better have something useful.' I picked the lock and opened it to find files on the deceased,

'Yes!' I went to the more recent ones, already I found something strange, 'Most of them died from animal attacks, that would make sense if animals attacked almost every week for the past eight months.' just then I heard hoof steps coming from the hallway outside. On instinct I closed the cabinet and hid under the desk and heard the door unlock,

“So many request lately. I really need a vacation I'm practically suffocating from all this extra work.” I heard the mare say as she walked in, “Where did I put the address at again?” I heard her walking to her desk so I stealthily crawl to the opposite side of her desk. She searched through her cabinets then her desk getting frustrated, “Damn it's not here! Oh yeah I left it back in the storage room, I really need a vacation it's starting to mess with my head.” she walked out her door leaving me unnoticed. I waited a minute and quietly walked out looking for Zecora, this was difficult to do since that mare is here. A while of searching later she found me instead,

“Callidus.” she whispered, “Let us leave before she finds us.” we found the front door and left the cemetery as quickly as we could, “So get this, most of the ponies here died from an animal attack yet each death is a week apart.”

“Now we have a valid reason, to believe it to be the work of a demon.” another half hour later we came back into town and as if on cue our stomachs began to growl, “I feel for something sweet, what would you like eat?”

“Honestly I could go for whatever.” we looked around to find a place to eat, few minutes later she spotted a house made sweets, “This place?”

“Obviously it has sweets, come let us eat.” we walked in and, “SURPRISE!!!!” an entire stadium of ponies was inside, everywhere I saw balloons, streamers, party games, pastries, everything needed for a party,

'Should've seen this coming.' the same pink mare from earlier came out of the crowd.

“Hey you made for a second I thought you weren't gonna come but then you did, c'mon let's party!” everypony in the room cheered in excitement, “Zecora you planned to come didn't you?”

“The poor mare went through the trouble of making this for us, don't be so cruel Callidus.” I sighed in defeat. The party was big that's for sure but aside from the food everything kind of sucked, not to be cynical but the music was trash, everypony wanted to do something with me which annoyed me and there was nothing to do but kid crap. I was done eating and I wanted out of this party so I went to find Zecora. I found her playing pin the tail on the pony,

“Zecora!” I yelled over the loud music, after she pinned the tail successfully she looked at me,

“I'm gonna sneak out and find town hall!” she nodded and went back to the party. I had trouble trying to get to the entrance because I kept bumping into ponies, “Sorry. Sorry. Excuse me oof!” that time I hit my head on somepony,

“Ow! Sorry.”

“I-it's okay I was in the way.” she said in a very soft voice, I looked up and saw the most stunning thing I ever saw, she was a yellow pegasus mare with a light pink mane and three pink butterflies for a cutiemark, her eyes were the most beautiful shade of teal and the way her mane flowed down was just magnificent,

“I-I'll get out of the way.” she said while hiding behind her mane, “I...um...uh...eh...” I was a loss for words when I saw her walk away, 'What the hell was that?' I snapped out of my little trance and walked out, something about that mare seemed so, familiar.

I asked a local florist where town hall was and was on my way, when I got there I see a large three story building in what I'm guessing is in the center of town. Inside it was very professional looking, gray walls, seats set up in a line against the wall and it smelled of ink and paper, plus I met a rather rude sounding mare,

“Um can I help you?” she was a red unicorn with a green mane

“I'd like to see the mayor.”

“Sorry, she's not in at the moment.” she said while grooming her hooves ignoring me. I took out a bag full of bits and placed it on top of her desk, “Is she in now?” she opened up the bag and smiled,

“Up the stairs, second floor, last door at the end of the hall.” “Thanks.” I walked up the spiral stairs and found the mayor's door. I came in and see a tan earth pony with a gray mane and a scroll tied in a bow for a cutiemark writing on a scroll, “What is it I'm very busy.”

“I'm here to talk to you.” she looked up a bit surprised, “Who are you?”

“That depends, either I can be the solution to your problem or I can a pain in your ass until you come clean.”

“Who ever said there was a problem?”

“I don't know how come ponies here have been dying from “animal attacks” that occur nearly every week for the past eight months?” her eyes became wide as dinner plates, “How did you know about that?”

“How I know doesn't matter but what does is that you and I know sure as hell animals aren't the cause.” she sighed and stood up.

“I thought we could take care of the problem. How are you my solution?”

“I specialize in the extermination of, well let's just say the out of the ordinary.”

“You're saying that you're some kind of demon slayer?”

“That's right.” she squinted her eyes looking at me for a moment and smiled,

“So you're the famous Killer Cloak, I must say I am a bit surprised considering your size.”

“Did you expect me to stay like that all the time.”

“I suppose not, must be hard to hide with the Royal Guard hunting you down.”

“You'll be surprised at how easy it is.”

“So how come you came to our town mister...”

“Sorry, I can't just give you my real name. I can't risk that, and I just happen to stumble upon your town.”

“I see, are you sure you can get rid of these monstrosities?”

“I can, for a fee.”

“Fee?”

“I don't purely do this from the goodness of my heart, I do need to put food on the table.”

“How much?”

“500,000 bits.”

“A little steep don't you think? I'll pay you 200,000 bits.”

“Too low, 400,000.”

“300,000.”

“350,000, final offer.” she hesitated for a bit until she decided, “If you are able to complete the task I'll see what I can do.”

“Deal. So when and where do these attacks often happen?” she went back to her desk and pulled out a file from her drawer,

“Most of the murders happen in open spaces, sometimes killing three ponies all at once. Unfortunately these attacks are random and happen anytime of the week. I have tried to cover it up but it's been difficult since the body count's been rising, I hope this helps.” she handed me the file and in it had photos of mangled corpses and,

“Police documents?”

“Yes I used to be in the Ponyville police department so I can get my hooves on certain files.”

“Impressive.” I put the file in my robe and began to walk out. Before I could open the door I turned my head back to the mayor,

“One more thing I forgot to ask you. How come you tried to cover it up?” she looked down in regret,

“I did make the murders public at first but that only made the situation much worse. Since the citizens found out they became so afraid they got to the point of distrusting each other having the ridiculous thought in their heads thinking some of the other townsfolk are demons, in the worst of cases some became so terrified they committed suicide. After two months I decided to use a cover up telling the families and press that the ponies were attacked by animals, eventually I decided to not make it public instead.”

“So you chose the lesser of two evils. I'll kill whoever is responsible, you have my word.” I went back to the party looking at the documents in secret and trying to think of a way to lure out the demon or demons, 'They attack only in open spaces, I'll need to check out the grassy plains, maybe if I use Zecora as bait...nah if I do that she'll chop me to pieces and never speak to me again.'

“Why are you by yourself?” my train of thought was interrupted by the pink mare, “Hi I'm Pinkie Pie, I know everypony in Ponyville and for every new pony that comes to town I throw them a party to get to know them!”

“Wow that's pretty nice of you.”

“So how come you're all by yourself mister hooded pony?”

“I'm not exactly the social type.”

“Then let's mingle, you'll like it!”

“Wait-” she grabbed me by the hoof and dragged me to meet other ponies, yay me. She took me into a small group,

“That's Lyra, Bonbon, Mr and Mrs Cake, Derpy Hooves, Cherilee.” she then took me to another small group eating cake, “That's Caramel, Carrot Top, Octavia,” and then to another group. Two hours later my entire arm went numb from it being handled by Pinkie Pie and I had a migraine from both meeting everypony at the party and from having my head being whipped left and right from being dragged everywhere,

“And these are my best friends Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy!” after she let go I rubbed my arm feeling it tingle, 'She's surprisingly strong.' “It's nice to meet all of you.”

“So what's your name mister hooded pony?”

“Look you're very nice but I can't just-” suddenly I heard a blood-curdling scream that sent cold shivers down my spine. I ran outside to find the source of that scream,

'Please be alive, please be alive...' I repeated over and over again in my head. I followed the scream to the edge of the forest, on the ground I see a light blue earth pony mare with a pink mane with a bleeding leg and covered in bruises with her face full of horror, towering over her was a lone Hell Pride slowly raising it's rusted scythe taking it's time to enjoy killing it's prey. I ran faster feeling the wind sting my eyes, I was then engulfed in a white light and transformed into a bipedal creature known as a human. In my human form I wore a burlap shirt with ragged shorts, I kept running and when I was close enough I leaped into the air and it's face connected with my bare foot sending it straight into a tree and exploded into sand on impact. I heard a wooshing sound coming from above, I looked up and see it was the Hell Pride's scythe coming down about to pierce the wounded pony, before it could I quickly grabbed the handle with one hand only mere inches before it could kill her. The injured mare whimpered when she saw me in my human form,

“It's okay I won't hurt you.” I noticed that she wasn't looking at me but what was behind me, I turn around and see more Hell Prides breaking into our dimension, “Callidus!” I heard Zecora yell from behind,

“Zecora take her away from here then run back to the inn and grab my stuff.” I stayed focused on the nearing demons,

“You're gonna need more than four.” two of them ran to me ready to cut me in four, I ducked my head on time and used the scythe I had to cut the both of them swiftly in a single motion and they turned to sand. I grabbed one of the abandoned scythes and charged straight at the remaining two, one of them saw my attack coming and blocked my overhead chop only for it to be cut diagonally, I threw one of the scythes at the last one piercing it's head killing it,

“I said you needed more than four.” my victory was cut short when I saw a Hell Greed spawn in front of me. I ran to kill it but it reacted quickly and used it's coffin to conjure up more demons. The first to spawn nearly cut my head off but I blocked it in time, soon there were Hell Prides, Hell Sloths, and a couple of Hell Lusts,

“Great, now you made my my job harder.” I head-butted the Hell Pride in front of me and dodged two oncoming attacks killing the stunned demon by accident, I took the the advantage and decapitated both of them. Out of nowhere a Hell Sloth teleported in front of me, I dodged but the I felt the tip of it's blade cut from my chest down to my stomach, I clenched my wound trying to ease the bleeding,

“That was too close.” another Hell Sloth appeared to kill me, I moved to my right and struck it's head with my fist so hard I broke it's neck. More Hell Prides came to attack me, I dodged and parried their attacks while killing whichever ones were left wide open. One of them tried to attack from behind but I saw it coming and blocked with the handle, then three more swung their scythes down at me but hitting the handle and soon others saw this and piled scythe after scythe on top of me, I felt them pushing down on me making me stand on one knee. I had difficulty keeping ten Hell Prides at bay, my arms burned trying to push back, soon I heard my sister come on time,

“Callidus!” when she yelled she caught their attention and I knew because I felt the pressure ease, with all my strength I pushed them off making them go airborne, “Catch!”

She said when she threw two L-shaped objects in the air, I ran to get them but ahead of me were even more Hells, two Sloths swiped their blades at me with one going for my head and the other going for my legs, I jumped in between the blades and rolled when I hit the ground. A Hell Pride charged at me but I circled around it forcing it to trip and fall, another one was about to bring it's scythe down so I jumped over it using it's head to launch myself into the air and caught them. I landed on top of a oblivious Hell Sloth and shot it in the head, what Zecora gave me were my most prized possessions Persuasion and Reason, two custom made Jericho 941's made of black steel with their names printed in gold on each side of the extended barrels and under their names is the name of the pony who made them, Gunpowder Smith.

I raised both of them at the growing horde and fired round after round reducing them do nothing, every time I squeezed the trigger a white ring would appear in front of barrels. In my peripheral I saw a blur of red coming at me, I moved back felt it cut my cheek, it stopped moving and I see it was a Hell Lust,

“Son of a bitch, I forget how fast you are sometimes.” it ran at high speeds charging at me, I kept dodging it waiting for the right time,

'Wait...' I saw it charge head on,

'Now!' I jumped up and shot it at the base of it's skull. Another Hell Lust dashed at me but not as fast as the first one, I blocked it's scythe with the finger guards and sweeped it's legs smashed it's head into the ground,

“This was fun,” in the distance I see the Hell Greed behind twelve remaining demons, “but now it's time to end this.”

I gave them a twirl and ran to them. As I ran I shot at anything that was in front of me, I could care less about the other lesser demons my main target right now was the Hell Greed. A Hell Sloth came from below but I blocked the blade with the barrels of my guns, the force of the attack was enough to launch me. Three Hell Prides saw me and took the chance to try and kill me in mid-air,

“Nice try!” I shot them all in an instant. I saw there was a clear enough path to get to the Hell Greed, it looked frustrated and was about to summon even more demons. I was about to shoot but a Hell Sloth appeared again and nearly cut my arm off, I hit it in the head with my gun hearing a sickening crack and shot the Hell Greed square in the forehead. The Hells then circled around me thinking it would intimidate me,

“This is new.” all of them attacked at the same time. I quickly fired rounds onto the charging Hell Prides killing them with not one of them even close to touching me. The only ones that got away were the remaining Hell Sloths that got away by teleporting, “They're hiding...”

I nearly laughed at the fact they would even think about hiding. I took one step and four of them ambushed me, all four stupidly decapitated each other when I ducked, “Only eight left.”

I decided to use a scythe and picked up one of the Hell Sloths, two of them revealed themselves looking angry,

“You ready?” they teleported again to get closer to me. I swung the blade at the first one knocking the scythe out of it's bony hands and sliced it vertically in half. The other one hesitated for a bit and threw it's weapon at me only to backfire when I caught it and threw it back cutting it's head clean off, “Time for a little scavenger hunt.” I heard a scream behind me and saw,

“A baby dragon?” surrounded by three Hell Sloths. The dragon was purple and green and looked like it was about to shit itself, the demons raised their weapons about to kill it but before they could I threw the scythe at the middle one while at the same time I shot the other two beside it. I ran to the dragon to see if it was hurt in any way,

“Hey.” it opened it's teary eyes and looked at me in utter shock and awe, “You okay?” it wiped it's eyes and sniffled a bit, “I-I'm fine.” “Then get the hell out of here!.”

I turned around and was ambushed again, I blocked the scythe in time with the barrels of my guns face to face with the Hell Sloth. Behind me was the same baby dragon frozen with fear,

“Go! Get out of here! I'll hold them off!” it then ran back into town, I stuck one of my guns into it's mouth and blew it's brains out. I patted off any dust on me then the last two Hell Sloths appeared above me and were killed by black spikes while in the air, “Zecora!” behind me was my sister with her book in front of her, “I thought I said you couldn't use that anymore!”

“Listen to you, why should I? You were about to die.” “You and I both know that technique is too dangerous.” I said as I walked to her and changed back to my pony form. Just then I heard a familiar voice,

“That was amazing mister hooded pony!” I stopped dead in my tracks and stood still,

“What was that thing you turned into?”

“How were you able to fight them?”

“What did she used just now?”

“Anypony want a cupcake?” I slowly turned around and see six ponies and behind them were the ponies at the party just coming out of their hiding spots. All of them mumbled looking either amazed or terrified, 'Shit!'

The pink mare quickly ran to me and hugged me tightly enough to hear my back crack and reopening my wound,

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! If you didn't come those mean demons would've ruined the party! Now this means I can throw a “thanks for saving our lives” party!” she squeezed even tighter not letting me breathe, “Pardon me, but could you let him go maybe?”

“Okie dokie lokie!” she stopped and I took in big gulps of air, “Jesus Christ you're strong.”

“Thank you!” she beamed, she looked down on herself and saw some of my blood on her, “Oh my gosh, are you okay? You lightheaded?! Are you cold?!"

“I'm fine.”

“GET HELP HE'S DYING!” she screamed,

"I'm fine!” I yelled, “Sorry.” she said a a bead of sweat dropped from her forehead. The others were about to come until there was a loud explosion with lightning along with a gust of wind coming from within the Everfree Forest,

“What the hell was that!?” the ponies began to panic and scream, I changed back into my human form and ran into the forest.

Tuesday

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I groggily wake up to the sound of my ring tone going off, I sit up and and grab my phone to see it was a private number,

“Hey Morrison.”

“Good you're up, I don't have a lot of time so I'll just get to the point. A guy came in willing to pay top dollar for your services, meet me at the park at 12:00, don't make me wait.” he hung up before I could even say anything,

“Hmph grouchy old bastard.” I look at the time to see it was 9:54 am. I walk to my closet that had mirrors on the doors and took out a black shirt and some dark blue jeans, I pull out an old silver ring out of my drawer and take a shower. When I was done I look into the fogged mirror, I had a muscular frame with white hair brushed down and blue eyes along with the demonic limb that is my right arm,

“A whole year passed and I'm still not used to this thing.” it had black and red scales with a glowing blue hand and had a large bone protruding out of my elbow, I put the ring on my finger and my arm slowly changed into a normal human arm, “That's better.”

As I walked downstairs, the smell of bacon and flour filled the entire living room and in the kitchen was my twin sister Violet. Actually she claims to be my sister, I only met her about two years ago, I wouldn't really know because I suffer from amnesia but I trust her because she saved my life and the fact that she wears my face,

“Morning sleeping beauty.”

“Ha ha hilarious. What are you doing anyway?” she turned around with a plate full of bacon and pancakes, she has long white hair with heterochromatic eyes with one red and one blue all while wearing a plain purple shirt and black pajamas, “Making breakfast.” she said nonchalantly,

“You made pancakes out of scratch?”

“Yup, you want some?”

“Actually I do.”

“Everything you need is still on the counter.” she said as she walked by and took a bite of her bacon in front of me, “Now that's just cold Violet.”

I put away the cooking materials she used and decide to go with cereal instead. In the living room my sister was on the couch watching the news on the large flat screen,

“A family of six was terrorized last night by an unknown assailant who broke into their home, the suspect was described as female, about 5' 6, white hair and considered extremely dangerous. Police are investigating the scene and are questioning everyone in the vicinity. If anyone has any information on who the suspect is must contact local authorities immediately.”

“That's a load of bullshit I didn't break in, I killed the demon that broke in!” she exclaimed, “Is that where you were last night?”

“Yeah I hunted down a squad of them and the last one thought it was a good idea to hide in a garage.”

“And someone saw you?”

“Just some kid trying to hit a home run on his girlfriend in the backseat of his parent's minivan.” that made me laugh, “Seriously? Wow.”

“You think Bob Barbas has a girlfriend?”

“With that haircut, I doubt he ever had one.”

“This is Bob Barbas, just doing God's work.” she grabbed the remote and began to surf through the channels until she found something to watch. I kept staring at my disguised right arm, feeling my fingers sting with pain every time they moved,

“Still not used to the new arm?” she said turning my attention to her, “Nah...how come you don't have any visible demonic parts?”

She just shrugged while taking a bite out of her pancake. After a couple of hours of watching TV and cleaning the house I go up into my room and start preparing for whatever Morrison wants me to take care of,

“Better be a good paying job.” I duck under the bed and pull out a wooden black box with a rose carved on top,

“Time for a tune up.” in the box was my custom-made double barrel revolver coated in silver and engraved with a rose on the side of the barrels that I made with my own hands, I place a large white cloth on top of my bed and took apart Blue Rose placing her delicate parts on the cloth and cleaned each one, after that I went to my closet and walked to the back and opened a secret opening on the wall and pulled out a large armored crate, I opened it to find a bunch of motor parts and a large blade, “Morning baby. We're going on a walk in the park today.”

I pulled out the blade first and connected part after part and assembled my sword, the Red Queen. Red Queen had a large blue blade having a rose stem where the handle and blade meet with a velvet handle that revs the blade. Once I was prepared I almost walked out of my room when I remembered to take my phone, I see it was still on my nightstand and grab it, next to my phone was an amulet with a big red jewel on it with a silver chain, it was around my neck when some couple found me passed out on the street, I asked Violet whose it was but all she said was that it was more valuable that anything so I kept it, for some reason when I looked at it I got a sinking feeling in my chest, I ignored it and headed out. I grab my car keys that were on the glass coffee table in the middle of the living room and headed for the garage,

“Nero.” I freeze with my hand on the door knob, I hated that name, she addresses me by “Nero” because it was my supposed birth name, “Where are you going?”

“Going for a walk in the park.”

“Then take my car, you know that ford P.O.S is a death trap.”

“I've been fixing it in my spare time.”

“With no results, it's better off in the junkyard where it belongs.” she said as she put emphasis on the last word, “Look I got a good feeling that starting today, she'll run like a dream.”

“More like a nightmare. The last time we tried to drive it the brakes gave out and we went out of control, we only managed to stop because the engine died.” I remembered that day, a lot of people wanted our heads, “So it hit a few road blocks,”

“You mean that metaphorically or literally?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath, “The point I'm trying to make is that I'm confident enough that it will start and drive me to the park and back safely.”

“Fine go, just know that I'm not gonna visit you in the hospital if anything happens.”

“And nothing will happen.”

“I warned you.” she said as I walked into the garage. In front of me was a large shape covered by a dirty tarp, I took it off and under it was an old red ford mustang, the car itself was in bad shape, the paint lost it's luster and started chipping off, the chrome turned to rust, and the automatic cover no longer works, luckily the engine had a chance to live, “Alright time for those three months to pay off.”

I said as I opened the garage door. After I stored my weapons in the trunk I sat in the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition and turned it only to hear the engine fail,

“C'mon please?” I turned it again with no luck,

“Dammit c'mon!” I angrily turned the key and the engine started humming,

“Yes!” I yelled victoriously. Soon I was on the road seeing the forest on both sides of the road pass by, our house is in a deep part of the forest away from the city but the place where I'm headed is close so it wouldn't be long until I get there. I felt the wind brush against my face and the familiar smell of pine trees enter my nose putting me in a serene mood, I thought it was a bit quiet so I turned on the radio,

“Damn static.” I turned the knob trying to find a station to listen to,

“Aww screw it no radio then.” I said agitated at the fact that I couldn't find a working station. In no time I was out of the forest and making my way to the park, I glanced down and saw the glove compartment for the first time, I got curious and I decided to open it but once I grabbed it I felt a burning sensation grip me, I immediately retreated and saw a red hand disappear back into the glove compartment, “What the hell? Why does it have a barrier?”

While I was driving I thought about what was inside that was so important it needed that level of security. Almost in no time I was at the park, I walked around a bit and found a man in his late fifties wearing a long trench coat and fedora sitting at a park bench watching kids play, I went over to him and sat down looking forward, “You know parents would take an old guy in a trench coat watching kids play as a red flag.”

“Do you always act like a smart ass? One of these days that mouth of yours will get you into some serious trouble.”

“So what is it?”

“Richard Browning, a hardworking married man with two kids and one on the way.” he gave me a photo of a man, a woman, and two little girls, “Couple days ago he came home from work to find his wife missing and both of his kids in pieces. The police were stumped and the F.B.I decided to call off the investigation. He then decided to turn to you to see if you could help.”

I stood silent taking in the information,

“How do you know it's a demon's doing and not some psycho?”

“There were other recent reports identical to this one saying families were found chopped up and pregnant wives disappearing, plus he found this.” out of his pocket was a curved, wood-like bone about four inches long.

I took it for closer inspection, “Where did he find this?”

“He found it stuck in his kid's skull the day he found them murdered. He hid this from the feds, how he found me I don't know but he knows this isn't the work of a demented human being.” on the surface of the bone it was covered by tiny, vein like lines, when I saw them a suspect came in mind, “What's the wife's name?”

“Eve Browning.”

“Alright I'll start right away, you really should consider retirement.”

“I am retired. Try not to get killed, or maybe that car will kill you before they get the chance.”

“Shut up.” I took out my phone and called my sister, after a few rings she answered, “How bad is it?”

“What?”

“The damage.”

“Violet I'm fine and so is the car, I told you it would run like a dream.”

“You got lucky. So what's up?”

“What do you know about Kitsunes?”

“Other than the fact that they're extremely hard to find not much, why?”

“I think I might be hunting one down.”

“Really? That's rare, how do you know it's a Kitsune?”

“Morrison gave me a claw, on it were little veins. Usually we find those on demonic weapons so they can sufficiently transfer their power to it right?”

“Right.”

“And if I remember correctly there is only one kind of demon that have those on their claws.”

“Very clever detective Nero, but are you 100% sure it's a Kitsune, it's a one in a million chance to find one.”

“No but that's the only thing I can come up with, so enlighten me a bit.”

“I know for a fact that they hunt solo but fight in packs, very territorial, and have a sweet tooth for “tainted” blood.”

“Anything else?”

“Sorry that's all I know. Well I'll see you later, be careful.”

“I will, bye.” I got in the car and drove off. While I was driving I thought about what Morrison told me,

“What does a Kitsune want with a pregnant woman? Maybe the library has some books-wait...” I frantically pat myself down and realized I forgot my wallet which has my library card, “Shit.”

I did a u-turn and started to drive back to my house. I was back inside the forest and my thoughts went back to the glove compartment,

'What the hell's inside it? As soon as I finish this job I'll find a way to open that-'

“Oh shit!” I yelled as I slammed on the brakes and collided with something that looked human. I rubbed my head and see a lot of smoke coming from the engine, I got out of the car to see what I hit, “Oh my God.”

on the road was a man in his thirties with all of his limbs broken in different directions and a pool of blood forming around his head,

“Oh shit I'll call an ambulance!” I took out my phone but then he started to violently convulse, something was forming out of his back and what burst out almost cut my head off with it's claws. After I dodged it's attack I see that it was a demon taking the appearance of a decomposing orange fox standing upright nearly six feet tall with missing patches of fur, yellow eyes locked on me and glowing, bright red claws four inches long on all of it's paws,

“You're a Kitsune, first time I've seen one up close.” it growled,

“Sparda...”

“Great another prideful demon.” without warning it charged at me swiping it's claws at me hitting nothing but air. It tried to bite my head off leaving itself open so I took the chance and uppercutted it making the Kitsune stumble backwards. It was still dazed so I sweeped it's legs and ran back to my car and opened the trunk, I grabbed Red Queen and blocked the Kitsune's claws. I pushed it back and swung my sword only to see it dodge it with a back flip,

“You're good.” it roared out high-pitched sound waves at me causing strong enough to cause the road to split and crack, I dodged but it hit the mustang causing the windows to shatter, “Hey watch the car!”

It charged again with it's claws ready to kill but I parried it's attack and punched it directly on the snout knocking it out,

“That was quicker than I thought.” I went back to the trunk to grab heavy duty chains. I restrained the Kitsune, I looked down and noticed one of it's paws was missing a claw, “You sick bastard.”

I then unkindly stuffed it in the trunk

“This will cost me a fortune.” I said as I painfully looked at the condition of my car, the hood broke off exposing the engine, the entire left and front sides of it were totaled, worst of all the tires popped, “The engine seems fine.”

I got in the car expecting the worst,

“Here goes.” I turned the ignition and it roared back to life, “She lives again! Today's my lucky day almost.”

I drove the car slowly and headed for my house. On the way there I glance at the glove compartment again only to see it open,

“It opened?” immediately I reach inside and took out an envelope, “Really, this was the thing that needed protection? That's great it only cost me the car!”

I said angrily, I inspected the envelope but it had nothing written on it, “It can wait.”

I threw the envelope on the dashboard and parked the car on my driveway. Before I could get out the car Violet came out of the house still in her pj's, “Holy shit what the hell happened!?”

“Um...you think our insurance policy covers being attacked by a demon?”

“You were attacked? By what?”

“The same thing I'm trying to find, guess it found me instead.” I popped the trunk showing her the unconscious Kitsune,

“Wow, that's an actual Kitsune.”

“Yup now help me bring it inside before it starts stinking up the car.” we grabbed the unconscious demon and carried it inside the house. We tied the demon up in a steel chair that was bolted to the floor of our basement and waited for it to wake up, while we were waiting I told Violet everything Morrison told me,

“How old were the kids?” she said in a low voice while looking down, “I don't know and I don't want to know.”

“Just when thought they couldn't get anymore twisted...” she said giving the Kitsune a death glare, “Don't think about it, let's see what we can dish out from it.” I slapped it on the side of it's face waking it up,

“Rise and shine.” it woke up with it's eyes no longer glowing but what surprised me was that it didn't put up a fight, “What's wrong? Usually things like you would try to break free.” it looked down at the floor, “I've been spared, why?”

“Because you decided to kill two kids and kidnap a pregnant wife, so we want answers.” Violet said, “I understand. I will tell you everything you want to know, all I ask for in return is for the two of you to end my life.” that caught both of us off guard, “You...want us...to kill you?” Violet asked, “Yes, I can no longer carry this heavy burden.” it said. I pulled up a chair and sat in front of him,

“Okay I'll bite. So what's going on?”

“Many years ago, when we were once millions, Sparda fought for humanity.”

“We know the story.” Violet interrupted, “Not the whole story...” now I was really confused, “Continue.”

“What the legend does not tell you is who aided Sparda. Our race, even though demon, loved humans.”

“What?” we said in unison, “Humans are fascinating, they are weak in body yet strong in spirit and yet despite knowing their own weaknesses they still find the courage to fight even the most powerful of creatures. Only few demons know of this.”

“So if all Kitsunes love humans why did you decide to kill them now?” Violet asked, “Near the end of the war, our numbers were declining and we were growing desperate. It was then that he did something none of thought Sparda would do, in an effort to defeat Mundus's armies he our bodies and souls to create the tower Temen-Ni-Gru. Only few of us survived and lived in the human world since. After a few years we came out of hiding and began to despise Sparda and went against his beliefs. Soon our Praetor devised a plan to revive our dying race, we would find and choose random families throughout the country and monitor them. Once the female's mate leaves we can assume their male's form and mate with the female.”

“Wait your telling us that you find random families and fuck the wives?!” Violet interrupted, “Yes, we would impregnate them and once they were ready we would take the females and kill any other member of the family to show our hatred for Sparda. I was disgusted at this, I too hate Sparda but I still love humans, unfortunately because of my rank I was not allowed to go against the Praetor's orders.” I shuffled a bit because I was a little uncomfortable by what it's saying,

“Um...earlier you said you wanted us to kill you, why?” then it did the most unbelievable thing, it began to shed tears, “Because I went against everything I believed in. I shed the blood of a human, an innocent human. She was so young, the face she made when I...” it cried even more,

“I cannot forgive myself, though Sparda used us humans must not take his punishment, even if it's his descendants.” I got up from my chair and undid his bindings, “Nero!”

“Let's give him a chance.” it stood up towering over me, “I believe you, for now.”

I turn around and see my sister beckon me to come over,

“This is the most weirdest shit I've ever experienced in my life.” she whispered, “That makes two of us.”

“I didn't even know demons can fucking...well fuck!”

“You learn something new everyday.” I walked back to the demon, “Where are the women being kept at?”

“They are based within the forest 20 miles from here. I will take you there.”

“Hold on a sec...” my sister then pulled out handcuffs and cuffed it, “In case you try anything funny.”

She said with a lot of mistrust in her voice. In the living room the demon and I were sitting on the couch waiting on my sister to finish getting dressed, “Would you hurry the fuck up!”

“Shut up I'm almost done!” Violet yelled from her room. I heard the Kitsune chuckling, “Something funny?”

“I find it amusing when humans behave angrily like this.” I rolled my eyes and propped my feet up on the coffee table, after a few minutes she came downstairs wearing a purple striped long-sleeve shirt, black skinny jeans and boots. On her back was a giant claymore sword dubbed Rebellion, it has a skeleton for a guard and only has two red rubies on one of the skulls, on each of her thighs were two modified 1911's, the silver one was named Ivory and the black one was named Ebony, “Finally you took forever.”

“What can I say? Girls love clothes.”

“Okay let's go.”

“Wait.” we turn to the Kitsune and watched as he shape-shifted into the same person I crashed my car into, he even had the clothes he wore when I hit him. All of us walked out and climbed inside my sister's gray jeep and drove off, “So where to?”

“On a hiker's trail not far from here.”

“I got a question, why start doing this now?” Violet asked, “Actually we just discovered we can procreate with humans. One of our brethren decided to experiment with a young woman but we also discovered that women who never birthed a child will die along with our offspring so we used humans with experience. After I've completed the task I planned to commit suicide, that is why I purposely stood in front of you Nero.”

“Oh yeah how come you attacked me?”

“After you hit me I was in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness, I smelled your scent and believed you were Sparda.”

“You know what's weird?” I turned to Violet,

“I'd never thought I would have a complete conversation with a demon without tearing it to pieces.” she said while chuckling to herself. Few minutes later we arrived at the hiker's trail only to see it being occupied by a black SUV with two guys on the side of it.

“What the hell? Morrison told me the feds couldn't find jack shit how did they know where to look?”

“They are not real law enforcement.”

“What?”

“Come again?”

“They are Custos. They guard the entrance and ward off any human who wants to go through by telling lies of just by pointing their gun at them.” Violet turned off the car and we got out,

“Let's try and persuade them.” we walked toward them and already tensions rose, “Hey! We're in the middle of an investigation, leave now.”

“Hey take it easy buddy, we just want directions to the nearest camp site.” I said as I held my hands up, “There's one about 5 miles from here.”

“Thank you, oh and one more thing,” Violet walked even closer,

“How come there's no police tape anywhere?” they went quiet, “And how come it's just the two of you, usually when the FBI come in they have at least some squad cars.”

“We were just called in.” as quick as lightning she took his gun and aimed at his face, only to hear clicks, “Are you fucking kid-”

the demon kicked her in the stomach sending her nearly 8ft back, I reacted and punched the other one felling it's jaw break,

'I still can't get over how strong the new arm is...' I then kneed it in the rib cage and flipped him over my shoulder slamming him to the ground. I duck in time and punch the last one in the kidney making it yell in pain and connected my knee to it's face breaking his nose and knocking him out. I turn around to see Violet geared up and tossing me my weapons, “Heads up, fight's not over.”

the down demons then ripped out from their disguises and charged at us, all we did was shot both of them in the head. The Kitsune got out of the car and began leading us,

“Your fighting skills are impressive.”

“Thanks.” we said in unison,

“So how many are there?”

“At least 50.”

“Sweet 25 for you, 25 for me.” Violet cheerfully said while she took off the handcuffs he wore. As we walked closer and closer we kept hearing very rough and athletic grunts, “Okay I'll ask what the fuck is that noise?”

“Immediately after the female gives birth we mate with them to conceive another child.”

“So that's why you take them.”

“Yes.”

“And that sound right now is...” we looked and each other and shivered at the thought. We kept walking until it told us to hide in the forest, it told us to hide behind the bushes and from there he showed us demon H.Q., “What...the...fuck...”

We saw demon after demon formed in a circle, in the center there were women being brutally raped by Kitsunes. The first woman was on her stomach looking like she was on the brink of death, her left eye was badly swollen gushing blood while her right eye looked as if it were pushed into her skull. Her arms and legs were covered in bruises and large cuts and all over her back were deep claw marks, behind her was a Kitsune thrusting into her so violently that blood literally poured out of her vagina causing the woman to whimper. The woman next to that one was on her back missing, and I'm not fucking around, she is missing both of her arms. Right below her was another Kitsune fucking her relentlessly stabbing it's claws right into her ass. There was another woman but I didn't wanna puke so I hid back into the bushes,

“...” I had nothing to say about this, “Battle plan, we need a battle plan.” Violet said breaking the awkwardness of it all,

“I say we go in guns blazing but then they might use the women as hostages and grab us by the balls.”

“Wait do they know that you tried committing suicide?” she said looking at our Kitsune, “No none of them do.”

“Perfect. Nero you go in there with...I'm sorry what's your name?”

“I have no name.”

“For now we'll call you Fido. You go in there with Fido pretending that he caught you and is holding you prisoner. Then you two will stall them for as long as you can while I try to get those women out, once that's done we kill the rest. Sound good?”

“No arguments here.”

“Okay then, let's get into character.” I gave my weapons to Violet and she was off.

Fido held my right arm behind my back and he had his arm around my neck, “Easy.”

“My apologies.” he assumed his real form and walked in. The others stopped what they were doing and focused on me, “Traitor.”

“A mutt.”

“Descendant of a traitor.”

“That scent.”

“He smells of a traitor.” they said as the broke away from the circle and walked towards me, Fido hit me on my lower back making me kneel. One of them walked towards us and spoke in an unfamiliar language, even though I didn't know what the hell they were saying I knew that guy was surprised that Fido “caught” me. I noticed something moving through the crowd, what came out was a huge bright red Kitsune over ten feet tall and smells like shit, worse than shit actually, I tried not to puke when he came close to my face,

“Isn't this wonderful, here we were planning to kill you and your sister but instead you came to us. Unfortunately it's just you, where's your sister?”

“In the house at the corner of go fuck yourself street.” all it did was make him along with the other Kitsunes laugh, behind the crowd I saw Violet rescuing the traumatized women as quickly and quietly as she could, “So resistant and bold, just like your grandfather.” he grabbed me by the neck and faced me to him, “Too bad it's useless now.”

He let go enjoying watching me gasp for air,

“Brothers! I know how anxious you are to annihilate this...human, and not just any human but a descendant of Sparda. Believe me I would like nothing but to see him choke on his own blood while crawling away for his life, but that is too light of a punishment. Instead we will treat him like we do our breeders.”

“What!?” I could not believe what I was hearing, “Oh yes, we will abuse, torment, and break him just like we did to the humans kept here. Eventually in the future we will kill him once he is completely and utterly broken. Let us begin!” soon all of them began to draw closer to me,

“Fuck you Morrison!” Fido loosened his grip and I grab the nearest demon by it's face with my right arm, I jerked my body to the left and swung the demon around like a rag doll feeling it's neck snap every time I hit other demons within range. They circled around us thinking they got the upper hand until a hailstorm of bullets began raining down on them, after it ended Violet came out of the smoke left behind from the assault and handed me my weapons,

“About fucking time!” I said as I cut two demons in half,

“Are you mad?”

“Shut up and kill.” I angrily said as I removed the ring that disguised my right arm.

More of them showed up fangs bared and claws ready, when they charged I lifted Red Queen and swung the heavy blade killing three of them in one hit. I move to my right and cut off a demon's arm and shot it, I move to my left barely dodging the attack, I brought down my sword but t caught the blade. I felt the Kitsune feel good about itself for catching my blade so I revved the handle spraying a flammable liquid on the blade causing the demon's claws to burn. It let go and I stabbed it in the gut and impailed it to the ground, I saw eight more running my way giving me a chance to try something, I stood on top of the dying Kitsune and revved the handle which caused me to accelerate,

“Wooo yeah!” before I could even touch one I shot out a giant, spectral hand from my arm and grabbed the nearest demon by the leg and used it like a baseball bat hitting every demon as I zoomed past them. I violently ripped out Red Queen out of the dead demon, the demon I grabbed was still alive so I bent down and stuck the barrels of Blue Rose in it's mouth and painted the ground red and pink. I waited for the dazed demons to stand up, once they did I revved the handle making my body spin and propel forward and sliced through all of them splashing blood everywhere. When I stopped I heard a hissing sound and realized it was Red Queen being cooled by the demon blood. Suddenly there was a very high-pitched noise causing me to cover my ears and get on my knees, I felt something wet on my hands and figured it was blood from my ears, my vision started to get worse making everything seem like if it's shaking and somehow made my muscles convulse uncontrollably. After what felt like hours it stopped abruptly, I look up and see Fido killing off three Kitsunes, I felt something wet come from my eyes, when I wiped them I saw even more blood,

'Holy shit.' I wipe off any blood on me and shot two demons that were overpowering Fido. He was about to say something until I saw claws go through his chest, “No!”

I saw that it was the big Kitsune from earlier, he pulled out his claws and Fido just slumped to the ground, “You son of a bitch!” I yelled as I ran. He flexed his left paw and spawned a wall of fire separating us,

“Interesting, a man that kills things like us for a profession cares for one. Is it because of how unique he was from the rest of us? Or was it because of his usefulness?” he walked through the wall of fire as if it weren't there, “Well it doesn't matter now.”

I started to swing my sword around wildly, my mind clouded by rage, he swiped his claw aiming for my head and missed only scratching my cheek. I saw an opening and grabbed his throat digging my talons into his neck and flung him over my shoulder and into the ground making a crater. I aimed the tip of my sword to his chest about to stab him, he snapped out of his little trance and caught my sword before I could pierce his skin. I almost laughed at the fact that he had to use both his hands to keep my sword at bay while I was barely using one, I was about to kill him until I felt claws dig into my shoulder,

“Argh!” I grabbed whatever attacked me and threw it across the ground, I saw that it was a Kitsune-human hybrid about five years old, “The fuck?”

I felt a hand on my leg and I was thrown straight into a boulder, I was about to get up until I was sandwiched in between a boulder and a big tree not allowing me to move. I see the red Kitsune I was gonna kill place one of his paws on the tree applying pressure to it and cutting off my oxygen, he pointed one of his claws at my face and it slowly glowed dark red,

“Humans truly are amazing, even when facing death you still have the drive to fight.” he raised his claws preparing to cut my head off, as he was about to kill me a long blade went through his chest and he was split in two. Someone pushed him aside and that someone was Violet, “Too bad humans also cover each others asses.”

She got the uprooted tree off of me and helped me up, “Are there any more?”

“No, the ones who survived got away.” I heard groans and ran toward the sound to see they came from Fido. His injuries were severe so he didn't have much time, “My apologies...I wasn't careful enough...”

“It's alright, you did more than what we asked for.” Violet said, “There are more women...behind the small rock formation...” he said weakly, I looked at Violet and she made her way to the small hill behind us, “Nero...” I looked down at him, “Why...were you angered...when I was injured...” I paused for a moment,

“Because you were human.” he looked surprised for a moment then a smile formed on his face, he died the second I said that, I would be lying if I said I wasn't saddened by his death. We found the others in a small cave chained to the walls, while we were freeing the other women I started looking for Eve, I found her cradling something wrapped in a very dirty blanket,

“Are you Eve Browning?” she looked like Hell, her eyes were black and sucked into her skull along with her cheeks, her hail was as brittle as kindling and her skin was white like if she hadn't seen sunlight in weeks, “Yes I am. This is my daughter Daisy, you want to see her?” I nearly jumped when she showed me what was inside the blanket.

It was the corpse of an infant who was clearly a hybrid of human and Kitsune, it looked as if it was in the middle of decomposing and had a huge hole at the center of the forehead,

“Isn't she beautiful?” I stood silent for a minute, “Yeah she's adorable. Your husband's waiting for you, c'mon let's get you home.”

“Yes, Richard should see our beautiful baby.” I walked her out of the cave and into the sunlight. In total there were over 34 women who were kidnapped, Violet called the local police and we were on our way, “Wait!”

I turn to see it was the woman with the missing eye from earlier, “Who are you?” she said while crying, “No one.” I said as I got in Violet's jeep. On the way home I called Morrison, “How'd go?”

“Oh it went great, all that happened was that I saw other kidnapped women being raped horrifically by demons and me almost getting raped by said demons, aside from that it went smoothly.” I said sarcastically, I could tell he was flabbergasted because he was quiet for five minutes, “I'm sorry, I didn't think it would escalate that much. Look I'll transfer the money to your account tomorrow and I'll pay for anything you need for the red mustang.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

“Good, better hold on to your checkbook, you'll need it all day tomorrow.” I hung up and I started rubbing my head to prevent a migraine from happening, “Something else is bothering you.”

“What?”

“When something really bothers you, you start rubbing your forehead and don't tell me it's because you almost got raped because you almost had worse fates than rape so spill.” I took a deep breath and repositioned myself, “...When we were freeing the women I was trying to find Eve, when I did find her she was holding...” I stopped remembering the small corpse, “What happened?”

“She was holding a dead baby, her own daughter.” the atmosphere then grew tense, “Oh my God...” even though she focused on the road she wanted to cry, “Nero, promise me we'll visit the baby's grave.” I placed a hand on her shoulder, “I promise.” she looked at me silently thanking me, “Your bleeding all over my car.”

“Sorry.” I completely forgot about my injury. We made it home without a hitch, we got out and I remembered the envelope from earlier, I didn't care as I did before but I needed something to take my mind off of today, I walked to the mustang and reached inside “Hey Violet, when I was driving I found this inside the glove compartment of the car.” I said as I showed her the envelope. “What's so special about it?”

“The glove compartment had a barrier before it was opened.” she took the envelope from me inspecting it, “Why is it blank?”

“I don't know.”

“Whatever it is let's find out after I patch up that shoulder.” the both of us walked inside our house and made sure no one was outside. After she bandaged my injured shoulder Violet ripped open the seal and took out a folded piece of old paper,

“Parchment? Who still uses parchment?” I took the piece of what seems to be parchment from her, I unfolded it and saw it had instructions, “What the hell?” the first step said to go down to our basement, “It's an instruction sheet, it says we have to go to the basement.”

“Ooh sounds like fun, let's try it.” we walked downstairs and turned on a light and placed our weapons on top of the workbench, “Okay what next?”

“Next it says we need both parts of something called “The Perfect Amulet”.” she then pulled out a red jewel attached to a gold chain from her shirt, “Where's yours?”

“Mine?”

“Your half of the amulet.”

“Is that what it is? I think it's back in my room, I'll get it.” after that little trip I looked at the next step, “Then we need to position them next to each other with both facing the opposite direction of the other.” we placed them at the center of the floor, one pointing up and the other one pointing down, “Then we need to cover the amulets in the blood of Sparda.” she went over to the work bench and grabbed a box cutter, she took out the blade and pressed the sharp edge onto her palm without wincing letting the blood ooze out from her hand and on the amulets, “Okay what else?” she said as she flicked her hand getting rid of excess blood. I flipped it over and read the last step, “Now we chant these words; praeter alia, quae inde a saeculo ad filium redit Sparda Equestria. Wait that made no sense.”

the second I said that the floor began to shake a little and the light bulb started to flicker, then it started to shake violently and the two amulets rose up into the air and started to chase each other around. By combining their power they created a small, red portal some how and sucked in anything in it's range,

“What the fuck is this!?” it got stronger by the second, I knew because it shot out lightning as it got bigger. I grabbed hold of the bolted down chair and Violet grabbed onto a pipe in the wall, the portal got even bigger and it's gravity was so strong it ripped off the bolted chair from the floor, “Oh shit!” I got sucked in and I blacked out. I wake up seeing blurs, my vision got better every time I blinked and the blurs formed into very large and weird looking trees. I slowly stood up feeling a bit weak, I take a look at my surroundings and I see that I'm surrounded by a large circle of burnt grass and blown down trees,

“What...the...” I place a hand on my head and noticed something horrifying, my hand felt hard and I felt no fingers, I look and see my hand replaced by a dark blue hoof, “What the fuck!?” I look down and see that my body somehow transformed into some kind of horse, “AAAAAHHHH!!!!!” I kept staring at what are now my hooves, especially the demonic one, causing me to get a panic attack. I heard something moan, I turned to where the sound came from and see a dark purple horse with white hair and bat wings, I saw some kind of tattoo on it's ass that looked like rebellion entangled by a red rose and a black rose and wearing the same purple striped shirt as my sister,

“Violet?” the horse woke up and tried to stand, “Violet!” I tried to run over to her but I didn't know how to use hooves so I slowly wobble to her. I grabbed her and helped her up,

“...Nero?” I gently let go of her as she stood on her own, “Where are...” she stopped mid-sentence as she looked around, “No way.” she walked around as if she knew how to walk on four legs, “Oh my God. This is the Everfree Forest.” she said with a smile on her face which quickly faded away, “Oh shit this is the Everfree Forest. Nero did our weapons get sucked in too? Oh thank God they did.” she held out a hoof and Rebellion came flying to her hoof, Rebellion was still regular sized but now it was bigger than Violet, “Wait a minute where the hell are we?!” she looked at me shocked,

“Do you seriously not remember what this place is?”

“I don't even remember you!” she walked closer to me placing rebellion on her back, “Nero our dad used to take us here when we were kids, I can't believe I didn't even remember that spell.”

“Violet for God's sake where the fucking hell are we!?” I exclaimed angrily. Suddenly she swung Rebellion in mid-air and I heard a sharp ringing sound that indicated someone shot at us, I look to the direction of where the bullet came from and see a tall hooded figure walking out of the tree line pointing a gun at us, 'Just my lucky fucking day...'

Sweet Nostalgia

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While Nero was yelling at me my nose picked up the scent of someone, or should I say somepony since I'm back here, nearby. Something in the back of my head told me it wasn't friendly, I look to where the scent was coming from and see a gun pointing at us from the forest, on instinct I parried the bullet meant for me and see some tall guy wearing a dirty burlap cloak hiding his face under a hood,

'A human in Equestria?' I thought puzzled. I broke focus when Nero suddenly leaped for something, he took aim and shot at the random stranger, he barely grazed him on the shoulder and the stranger hid back into the forest,

“How the hell am I even holding my gun!?” he yelled as he stared at his hoof holding Blue Rose in confusion,

“I doubt we have time for a biology lecture.” I said as I changed to my human form confusing my brother even more. He was about to say something until I started dodging bullets coming from the forest, I looked back at Nero and see that he still has trouble walking on hooves, 'Goddammit.'

I ran towards him and scooped him up in my arm while deflecting bullets with Rebellion. The firing rate got even faster making things a little more difficult since they were coming from every direction, six bullets were heading towards Nero so I cartwheeled to my left, I whipped my head back dodging another bullet whizzing past my forehead. I gripped the handle of my sword feeling my dark energy pour into the blade,

'Where are you hiding?' more bullets came out to my right, 'There!'

I swung Rebellion sending a shockwave of dark purple energy disintegrating the bullets and destroying 15ft of the Everfree Forest, my attack caused a lot of debris to go everywhere creating a smoke screen allowing me to escape. Once I was a safe distance I hid behind a large tree and placed my brother on the ground,

“Stay here and try not to get yourself killed.”

“I think that guy's already dead.”

“Something tells me he wont go down that easy.”

“Wait how do I become human again! Violet!” Nero yelled while I walked away. I took precaution stepping back to where we were attacked, I felt something under my foot and found one of my guns, “Hey Ebony.” after I picked up my gun I got that guy's scent again, it was faint but at least I could track him.

The trail led me back to the forest, it was getting stronger with every step I took and when I thought he was hiding behind a tree I slashed clean through the trunk, nothing,

“Dammit I was so sure.” I inspected the trunk and found smeared blood on it, his blood, “That's ingenious.” I heard a branch snap behind me and fired a shot completely missing him,

“He's fast...” I chased after him. I lost him once I was back into the clearing, whoever this guy is he's no amateur, this guy was a pro, I knew because my nose was telling me that he was all around me. I'll admit it was a good trick, he made it nearly impossible to pinpoint him, nearly, I focus my hearing to try and hear him, I heard almost everything around me from bugs crawling on the ground to the tiniest sounds of snapping branches miles away. I heard a soft thumping sound indicating a heartbeat coming from far away, then it started to get closer and beat faster, I heard hard breathing coming from behind, I turn around and my vision went black for a second landing on the burnt grass, hard. I saw that it was the guy again aiming his sights at me, I roll to my right escaping a hailstorm of bullets, I stopped and bumped into Ivory, I picked it up and aimed in a flash. Both of us were now stuck in a Mexican Standoff,

“I gotta say, you're pretty good.”

“Interesting, a demon using guns.”

“You knew I was a demon? How?”

“Since when did pegasai been able to change their form?”

“Alright you have a point.” I said as I stood up, I guess that was a no no because he fired as soon as I moved, I dodged and fired my guns. He surprised me when he started to dodge my bullets as if he were playing a game of dodge ball, 'He's even better than I originally thought.'

out of nowhere a big tentacle-like whip came from his right, I back flipped over it and gracefully landed on my feet. The tentacle came from a hooded pony,

“What did I tell you about using that technique.” the hooded figure said as he faced her, “No time for pestering at the moment, now we must fight our opponent.” she rhymed.

I heard very loud snapping sounds and saw a tree flying at them, both dodged from the tree's destructive path in time, “Make that opponents.” I turned and see my brother back to normal dusting off his hands, “You finally figured it out?”

“Eh more or less...” I turn my attention back to the two,

“Take your pick.”

“I'll take on rags, you handle the horse.”

“The proper term is pony douchebag.”

“Watch who you're calling douchebag fuckface.” Nero quickly took aim and shot, he ducked in time and the two begin clashing. Before I could look I was struck across the face by one of her tentacles, I grabbed Rebellion and blocked three of them using the broad side and cut through all three. The severed shadow-like things wriggled on the ground for a bit and crawled back to the hooded pony, she was somehow using her own shadow as a weapon,

“That's new.” her shadow grew bigger looking like some kind of monster from the Twilight Zone, she sent five shadows at me, two in the air and three on the ground, I jumped up and fired rounds at her and her shadow absorbed the bullets and spat them back at me. I blocked them surprised, “I gotta get me one of those.”

The pony then commanded her shadow to throw projectiles at me while I was leaping left and right, I cut one of them directly in half and the two pieces molded back into one piercing my left shoulder. More of her shadows came at me going for the offensive, I parried each blow that came at me and evaded the ones that sprouted from the ground. I noticed black stuff on the ground, a tall black spike erupted from and I backflipped dodging each spike that emerged after the other one vanished in a straight line, I could join the Olympics if I wanted to. It stopped allowing me to notice the little brown balls of homemade explosive surrounding me,

“Shit!” I leaped forward using my arms to cover my face, the explosions launched me into a tree so hard I bent the tree. I pull out the projectile stuck in my shoulder along with whatever shrapnel got stuck in my limbs, “Heal very fast you do, but I'm not through with you.”

She reached a hoof inside her hidden saddlebag and threw a knife at me nailing my hand to the tree. I grunted in pain and pulled out the knife, the pony then used her shadow to reach into her saddlebag to grab more knives to throw at me, I parried some of the raining knives while swiftly evading others at the same time, I cover my self behind a tree, I look at my hand to see it still bleeding,

'I'm not healing, those are some special knives.' the knife was a simple flint knife that gave off an eerie blue glow, 'She's as tough as the other guy.'

I grin thinking about how good of a fight this will be. The knives stopped raining and I leap forward escaping the shadows that would've crushed me if I stayed a second later, I aim Ebony and Ivory directly at her firing round after round hoping that one would reach her while jumping from tree top to tree top avoiding her shadows chasing me like prison dogs. I waited for another shadow to attack, when it did instead of dodging it I jumped on top it running along it's trail back to her, while running I saw three of them about to rip through me and on the last second I cut them down.

When I was close enough to her I lunged at her pointing the sharp end of my sword going for her head, she reacted and created a wall of shadows between us, I cut through them like butter catching her off guard. I thrusted Rebellion straight at her and she turned her head slightly dodging the blade and only got a deep cut and a torn off hood, I took the chance and I pin her to the ground, to my surprise she was actually a zebra, she had weird ink black eyes that seemed to leak onto her face, she snarled and punched me directly on the nose and bucked me in the rib cage fracturing a few bones forcing me off of her. They healed and I stared down at the zebra giving me the most nastiest look her face can muster,

“So are you like some kind of witch or something?” she wiped off the blood from the deep cut I gave her, she was gonna say something until we jumped up narrowly dodging a tree that was thrown at us, I see that it was my brother going apeshit with her partner. Nero revved his sword in an effort to kill him cutting through six trees at once, all that guy did was hop over Nero, my brother wasn't gonna give him any leverage so when he landed he stomped on his bare foot making sure he won't get away and brought down Red Queen on him, sparks flew everywhere and I see that the zebra's partner used the finger guards on his guns to successfully block Nero's attack.

He pulled the trigger and Nero jerked to his left letting the other guy go, he fired his gun and Nero ducked in time getting a face full of knee when he did and then a roundhouse kick to the head sending him flying a couple feet spilling a lot of his own blood everywhere while he was airborne. He kicked him hard, I knew because as soon as he did I heard a crunching sound. Nero was still trying to stand giving the other guy an open opportunity to beat him senseless, fortunately Nero saw him coming and caught his foot right when he was about to be kicked and flung him across the forest like if he were a frisbee. While I was watching Nero chase after him I got knocked up side the head by something hard, I lost my balance for a moment and soon I was pinned to a tree. I look down at myself and watched as my torso was being covered by her shadow thing rendering me immobile,

“I will continue to kill until every demon is gone,” she said as she walked closer to me using one of her shadows to hold Rebellion to my throat, “even if I have to become one.” I started to crack up out of nowhere. She looked at me in confusion,

“Sorry, it's just that I used to say the exact same thing.” a pair of hands grab her from behind and slammed her into a fallen tree, her shadows loosen their grip and I'm free, “But as I got older I stopped saying childish things like that.”

Both my doppleganger and I said in unison, I would be lying if I said I didn't find her reaction to my clone funny. My doppleganger then changed into a thick, black fog and returned to my body, the zebra snapped out of her trance and threw three of her bombs at me, in an instant I grabbed Rebellion and batted away all of them back to her which exploded on impact, I fanned away the smoke and see she disappeared,

“Why am I not surprised?” I sarcastically said. I was a bit too carefree because giant spikes popped out of the ground, luckily though they just phased through my body, “What the fuck?” I pass my hand through the shadows playing around with their intangibility, “I get entertained too easily.”

The spikes evaporated from existence. I heard jagged breathing and see that it was the zebra, she looked like hell, her Mohawk was drooping down, the cut on her head somehow got even deeper, she had one of her eyes closed, probably because of the black sludge that oozed from that eye,

“Yeesh you don't look so hot, wanna take five?” she snarled again throwing more of her knives at me, I caught each one with one hand before they could stab anything, “Guess not.” I said as I tossed them behind me.

She charged right at me, I was about to decapitate her but I guess she anticipated it and glided underneath me and slashed my legs just above my achille's tendons. When I fell I felt two knives pierce the joints that connected my arm and shoulder together making it painful to move, she stomped one of her hooves on my chest and pointed another knife in between my eyes,

“How many of those do you have?” she slowly raised the knife building up the suspense, “One knife to the head, hopefully after this you will be dead.”

She missed her chance to stab me because before she could bring the knife down I electrocuted her with purple lightning, she yelled in pain and got off of me as fast as she could, she slumped to the ground and twitched a little, I used my mouth to take out one of the knives and used my now mobile arm to pull out the other one,

“I think I overdid it a little.” I said having difficulty standing, she stood up on her shaking hooves smiling, “What are you-” I was cut short from the unexpected explosion that came out from my abdomen making me kneel. Blood spilled all over from the grass to the smiling zebra mare who got lucky,

“You bitch...that was a nasty trick...” I used both of my arms to cover the large hole to prevent the warm, soft internal organs from being exposed, “Bloodlust shines through your eyes, I see now that you really wish for me to die.”

She was right, I wanted to kill her where she stood, no, I wanted to destroy her, I wanted to leave no trace of what used to be her behind, I don't know why but it had something to do with her tone. The hole in my stomach closed and I grabbed Rebellion, “Don't get so cocky!”

I sent another shockwave of energy three times larger than the first one destroying more of the forest, she escaped without an additional scratch, I lunged at her and stabbed a tree, with all my strength I pulled the tree out from the ground and swung it around wildly, “RRRAAAAGH!!!!”

I knocked down every tree that stood in the way and created giant holes of where she stood before she moved. After the seventh time I almost killed her the tree split in half, I spotted her a few feet away and fired Ebony and Ivory at her, she jumped to a nearby tree hoping to shield herself so I charge up Ivory until the metal glowed orange and shot out a huge ball of demonic energy, the impact was much larger than I expected, a shitload of the earth blew everywhere and bolts of purple lightning shot out into the sky, after it was over I see the giant crater about four miles long, in the center I see a pile of ashes covered by remains of a burlap cloak, the sight made the anger fade away,

“Talk about overkill.” my instincts then flared practically yelling at me to react, I jumped up and avoided the very same shadows trying to kill me, I landed on top of a branch and see the zebra still breathing, she was missing her saddlebag and cloak so I thought she lost them in the explosion, “You are starting to become a pain in my ass.” she didn't respond and only focused on controlling her shadow. She had a bit of trouble trying to conjure up her weapon of choice, the more her shadow grew the more of that black sludge oozed out from her eye,

“Oh I see. You can't use that shadow thing for very long can you?” I jump off of the branch and walk toward her, smiling as she struggled, “Alright this was fun, but...” I pointed Ivory at her ready to end her here when,

“Violet!” I turn to where my name was called and I narrowly dodge a bullet, I see it was him again still aiming his guns at me, I was gonna return the favor when I felt something wrap around my torso, I didn't get a chance to look at what it was because it lifted me up and slammed me into the ground head first. I picked me up again and repeated the first step a few times alternating between hits, then it rammed me through four trees with thick trunks and threw me all the way back to where my brother and I came in from. I felt like shit, almost all of my ribs broke, my shoulder was dislocated, my left forearm broke in two, my left knee shattered and my right ankle was crushed, I had the most painful headache so I reach a hand to the back of my head. I felt my head literally split in two and felt the two pieces mold back together,

“Eww that's so gross.” all of my injuries healed and I stood up. The zebra came out of the woods ready for round two,

“Before I kill you we should properly introduce ourselves, name's Violet, yours?”

“Our names are not of importance at all, besides it is you who will fall!” her shadows attacked me again this time acting like giant blades as they cut squares out of the ground. She's not cutting me any slack, everytime I land I avoid another shadow making me look like I'm dancing,

“C'mon you can do it!” she got furious and unleashed more shadows to try and chop me to tiny pieces, I used Rebellion to cut some of her shadows and found that they can't grow back this time, I took this chance and cut down all of her shadows, I saw one come up in front of me, I cut it in half but then the two pieces formed together and stabbed right through my chest. She summoned another one and it stabbed through my stomach, the force of the last one was enough to nail me to yet another tree, when I tried to cut myself free they grabbed Rebellion and threw it aside, her shadows slipped out of me and I was stabbed by thorns made from the same material as her shadows, I pulled them out and felt them explode in my hands. The explosion was enough to knock me on my ass, I sat up clenching my hands to my wounded chest hissing in pain as I did,

“Those bombs burn! *Rgh* What other tricks does she have up her sleeve?” I looked at my mangled hands seeing the tiny splotches of black seep into my wounds causing the white hot burns I felt, I brush them off of my hands and all of my wounds healed, I dusted off any dirt on me and called out to Rebellion which flew into my hand. When I got back I expected to see the zebra, instead I see a pulsating blob of that black stuff,

“What the fuck is that!?” the blob unexpectedly attacked me, when I jumped I saw the blob in mid-air with me, I block it's jet black tendrils with my sword and hacked off a good portion of it, I smile hearing it screech in pain and see the missing part grow back. It dug its tentacles into the ground and did it's best to ambush me, I hoped from one side of it to another evading it's deadly spikes. After a few minutes I sent another shockwave and cut the blob in half, inside of it I saw the zebra unconscious,

“That thing is her?” it swallowed her up and returned to it's original form, I run to it and thrust my sword straight to it and the blob divided itself completely dodging my attack. I drove my heel into it and it absorbed the blow and tried to eat my foot, I cut off more of it's shape and freed myself, I take a step back and I thrusted again, as I did energy built up from the tip of my sword and it fully consumed me propelling my body even faster, I hacked and obliterated a large chunk of it and waited for it to regenerate, the blob couldn't for some reason, 'Let's see if this works.'

I point a finger at it and shot out dark purple lightning and it went through it's shapeless body, it screeched some more and shrunk a bit in size, electricity seems to tickle it. I grabbed Rebellion, charged the sword and threw it at the blob, when it got stuck I snapped my fingers and electrocuted it from the inside until it blew up. Chunks and pieces of it went everywhere, all that was left was the unconscious zebra mare. I grab my sword and loomed over the black goop covered pain in my ass. I wanted to kill her, I wanted to end her miserable existence here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, something told me not to, not yet anyway,

“*groan* You're so goddamn lucky today.” in the distance I heard gunshots, metal clashing, and I saw a couple of trees get knocked down, “I'll deal with you later.”

I said each word dripping with venom, it's official, I hate her. I run to the sounds of fighting and see the two of them still going at it. Nero grabbed another tree with his spectral arm and threw it at the other guy, he jumped over the tree and fired two shots at Nero who parried the bullets and the two charged at each other at full speed. When they were at fighting distance the other guy took off his cloak, moved to one side and pulled it over Nero's head, my brother got entangled in the burlap cloak and the guy struck Nero with the butt of his gun and knocked him out. I facepalmed as Nero fell to the ground,

'Stopped by a burlap cloak, idiot.' I turn to get a good look at his face and was shocked beyond belief. Jet black hair, grays eyes, and the one feature that stood out from the rest of him was the chipped left ear, I knew him, he pointed one of his guns at Nero, “Wait stop!” he immediately aimed at me, I walked closer to try and talk to him,

“That's close enough.” he snapped, “Listen as hard as you can, I got a few questions that need answers and if you don't give them to me I'll kill him.” I knew his was serious, he looked at me like a wolf would with prey,

“Okay. Let's just calm down.” I wanted to break down crying right now, how long has it been since I last seen him?

I put Rebellion and my guns down on the ground and kick them to him wanting to earn his trust, “Good you're willing to cooperate. What kind of demon are you?”

“A very hated one.”

“Where did the two of you come from?”

“A far away place.” I walked a few feet closer, “Stop moving.” he aimed for my head, I was heartbroken, “Don't you recognize me?”

“Last warning!”

“I thought you were dead, we thought you were dead!” he was about to pull the trigger until a tear cascaded down my cheek. His expression softened a bit and he lowered his gun, “What are you talking about? I've never met you in my life.” he doesn't remember me, it's like finding Nero all over again, “How much don't you remember?”

“Don't remember wha-” he got punched in the face, the force was enough to make him skid across the forest and he was out cold, Nero grabbed Red Queen with murderous intent in his eyes, “Nero stop!” he ignored me and raised his large sword over his head, before he could bring it down I pried it from his hands,

“Are you fucking deaf!? Do you have shit in your ears?! I told you to stop!” I keeled down to check on him, he was still breathing but blood trickled down his head. I rip off a piece of my sweater and bandage his head, “What the hell is wrong with you? He tries to kill us and you wanna save him?”

“Give me your shirt.”

“Violet-”

“Give me your fucking shirt Nero!” I yelled scaring him a bit.

He muttered curse words under his breath as he took off his shirt revealing the large bruises and cuts all over his body, I folded it into a small square and place it under his head, “Don't tell me you fell head over heels for this guy.”

“He doesn't remember anything about us.” I said with obvious sorrow in my voice, “Us? You know this guy?”

“Nero please try to remember. This place is called Equestria, whenever our dad wasn't busy he took us to this place when we were kids, and we used play with him everytime we came.” I looked down at his now older face reminiscing the golden years of my life, “Okay that kind of clears things up. Wait a minute what explains the whole talking horses thing?”

“They don't like being called that, the term is 'pony' and Equestria is inhabited by them.” he stood there very silent and started laughing like if it was the funniest damn joke he ever heard, “That's a good one!” I gave a stern look ending his fit of laughter,

“Are you serious? Great stuck in a world populated by talking horses, oh excuse me ponies. That's just-oh shit!” he pulled out Blue Rose and aimed for something behind my back, “Get away from him, or I will peel off your skin!” I turn around and see shadows surrounding me, behind them I see my favorite zebra staring at me with one angry blue eye, “I don't want to hurt him.” I said raising my hands in the air slowly.

“Believe you why should I? You'll probably kill us once we turn a blind eye.” I change to my pony form getting a surprised reaction from her, “Because he means as much to me as he does to you.” she stood there, deciding if she should trust me or not, after a few seconds the shadows vanished and she walked next to me,

“Please behave, or I'll put you in a grave.” she sternly said, I still hate her. She took a good look at the wound on his head, “How bad?”

“Fortunately this will not send him to death, he's fine so you can stop holding your breath.” I exhaled feeling relieved that he's going to be okay, I felt something warm on my hoof and see blood, the blood came from his abdomen. I lift up his burlap shirt and see his entire midsection covered in bloody bandages, it was especially bloody on his right side,

“No no no no no no no no!” I repeatedly said. The zebra came to check on this newly found injury, “Damn this old wound is very critical, he will die if I don't get supplies of medical.” hearing this made me have a bit of a panic attack.

I heard hoofsteps behind us, “Over there!”

“Holy shit what is that thing?!”

“Fire!” I see stallions covered in gold plated armor shooting at us with high powered rifles, I grabbed my stuff as fast as I could and deflected all of the bullets shot at us. I charge the sword again sending the shockwave straight at the ground creating a diversion for us to escape,

“Nero grab him!” he lifted him up and carried him on his shoulder. All of us ran in the opposite direction of them, I can still hear shots being fired, “Who the fuck are those guys?!” Nero said as he ran, “The Royal Guard!”

“Who!?” just then I heard a bullet fly past us, “Nevermind just keep running!”

“Zecora.” I turn my head to face her, “What?”

“I am Zecora.” she said, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” we ran a good distance away and stopped to come up with a plan.

“I don't understand why did they start shooting at us?”

“Probably because you are with my brother and I, we have bounties on our heads and the pay is high.”

“Bounty?”

“That guy's your brother?” she nodded answering both our questions, I think she called him her brother, “How come the two of you have bounties?”

“No time for story telling, we must stop his wound from bleeding. A village is beyond this forest, we must get there without trouble from the royal pests.”

“Zecora you and I will take the lead, you leads us to town and I'll keep an eye out for the Royal Guard. Nero you take care of him no matter what, sound good?” all she did was stand and walk away from us, “I'll take that as a yes.” what a bitch.

While we walked I look back at the unconscious form my brother is carrying, I did my best to hold in my tears fighting to be let out, I felt so horrible because I completely forgot about him until today. I caught an unfamiliar scent and told everypony to stop, in the distance I see an entire squad of Royal Guard ponies sweeping out the entire forest, “Nothing here.”

“Are you sure you saw them run this way?”

“Yes I'm sure of it, ask anypony in my squadron.” I heard two stallions say, “Be honest did you really see a monster?”

“I did see one! It looked like a hairless monkey and it was accompanied by two ponies, it looked like they were eating something alive, all I know is all of them were covered in blood.” they were walking in our direction, “Move, move.”

Zecora whispered to us. We got away from them and walked the rest of the way there with no problems, we almost got out of the forest when, “Wait.” she motioned us to see what was in our way, in front of us the local police and the Royal Guard surrounded the forest cutting off our means of escape, they had police tape separating them from the locals and reporters who wanted to get past. All of us got frustrated,

“Now what?” Nero said annoyed, “We need to get past, he's losing blood and fast.” I took a deep breath and thought of something, “Get ready to run.” a cloud of black smoke came out of my body and formed into an exact copy of me, my doppleganger saluted us and ran off, “What are you doing?”

“Just watch.” we watched waiting for something to happen. After a few seconds there was a huge explosion of lightning, nopony got hurt but it did scare the shit out of them, “What in the sam hell was that!?” one of the policestallions said, “Wait I see somepony!”

“That's no pony.”

"All units advance!” all of them ran straight into the forest and all of the locals ran away screaming. We took the chance and ran using the thick cloud of debris and the scared ponies to our advantage, all three of us hid behind a house, “I need to return to the hotel.” she said looking out for any unwanted attention, “How far is it?” suddenly I heard somepony whisper to us, “Psst over here.” it was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane who was calling us,

“C'mon follow me.” we didn't have much of a choice so we follow her. She kept us out of sight as best as she could and led us to a house made out of a hollowed out tree, she opened the door motioning for us to get inside, “In here hurry!” we walked in without anypony seeing us, turns out the tree was actually a library, “Uh Violet...” I turn to Nero and his entire side was covered in blood, “He's starting to get cold.” my eyes widen in panic and I turn to the pegasus, “Is there a bed in here?”

“Upstairs.” all of us went up the stairs and found a small bed covered by a blanket with stars and moons stitched on it. Nero just threw him on the bed,

“Nero!” he rolled his eyes at me pissing me off, “See if you can find a medical kit.” he went to the bathroom behind us crouching the way there. Zecora ripped a piece of his burlap shirt and balled it up, “I need you to remove the bandages.”

“Okay.” slowly I removed the old bandages until I saw the large wound, “Oh my God.” it was a huge cut that went around his hip and looked like it went all the way through. Zecora covered the bleeding wound and pressed down on it to try and stop the bleeding, Nero came in and gave the kit to her on time, “Find me a sewing needle and some dental floss.”

“Floss?”

“Nero just do it!” he ran downstairs and hit his head on the way down. The bed turned red and the room reeked of blood and alcohol, whoever lived here will no doubt break a blood vessel, “Where is he?!” as if on cue he came in and handed Zecora what she needed. She tied the floss to the needle and stitched the wound together, “Is everything okay up there!?” the pegasus yelled downstairs,

“Everything's fine!”

“Good I'll be back!” I heard the door open and close then I look at Zecora, “Everything is fine right?” she cut the floss with her teeth and bandaged him, “Everything is fine, just some rest and he will be walking in no time.” I exhaled and wiped the cold sweat off my forehead. We cleaned up the mess and went back downstairs to tend to our own wounds. After we got cleaned up a bit I tease my brother, “It's not funny?”

“He beat the shit out of you!” I said laughing, my brother had the biggest and blackest black eye I have ever seen and his nose was a bit crooked, “Yeah well I'll admit he's one hell of a fighter.” Zecora on the other hoof made a makeshift eyepatch and covered her closed eye.

“Hey Zecora, what's up with your eye?”

“This is the result of overuse, if I use it too long or too much we begin to fuse.”

“Fuse? Fuse with what?”

“To use what I use requires sacrifice, a part of myself is the price. Made of malice and controlled by hate, if not regulated my body begins to deteriorate. It takes over if I'm gone, then takes form and kills everyone.”

“Is that why you were in that giant blob thing?” I asked remembering my fight with the blob, “A premature form is what you fought, I should thank you but I'd rather not.” it took every fiber of my being not to deck her in the face. Just then the door opened and six mares, including the pegasus, walked into the library. God decided to fuck with me today,

“Bookworm?” I stared at the lavender pony carrying a familiar purple baby dragon, he hopped off and she walked toward me with wide eyes, “Violet?” we hugged each other tightly and I let my tears fall, I felt something wet on my back and figured she was crying too, “Wait if you're here where's...” as soon she saw my brother she ran to him and hugged his legs. Nero sat there with a confused look, “Why is she hugging me?”

“What do you *gasp* your arm!”

“It's a long story Bookworm.” I said as I wiped off my tears, “I haven't been called that in years.”

“Ehem.” we looked at the other mares in the room wearing uncomfortable faces, “Uh you wanna introduce us to your new friends Twi?” an orange mare said with a southern drawl, “Sorry, everypony this is Violet and her twin brother Nero, they're old friends of mine that I've haven't seen in quite a while. Violet, Nero, these are my friends Rarity.” she pointed to a marshmallow white unicorn with an indigo mane, “Good evening.” she said with a nervous smile, 'What's her problem?'

“Applejack.” I looked at the orange mare and she tipped her stetson hat at me, “Rainbow Dash.” she pointed at the cyan pegasus who helped us earlier, “Sup.” was all she said while flying, “Fluttershy.” next was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane, all she did was squeak and hide behind Applejack, 'Her too?'

“And Pinkie Pie.” The last one was a pink earth pony with poofy hair, she vanished and somehow appeared behind me,

“So you knew Twilight when she was just an insty-bitsy-tinsy-weeny-ity-bity filly!?” she got closer to my face with each word. Before I could answer she vanished and appeared next to Nero, “He's your twin brother?” she grabbed his face and squished it, “You know apart from the whole hairless monkey thing you two look exactly alike!”

She pulled out a cupcake and stuffed it in his mouth, she then stuffed one down my throat, it was damn good, “Ooh this gives me a chance to try out my brand new party bomb!” she left a lit pink bomb in the center of the room and it covered everything in party stuff like ballons, streamers, decorated tables full of pastries, a record player, party games, the whole nine yards, she even somehow got a banner that read 'Welcome to Equestria new pony and hairless monkey thing from another dimension!',

“Eh..uh..what?” I though my brain was about to implode. I spot Zecora snickering at me only to have the hyperactive mare stuff a cupcake in her mouth, “Okay this is too much.” Nero said, “I need to sit down.” he grabbed a stool and broke it as soon as he sat on it, everypony looked a little surprised except Rainbow Dash who simply laughed at him, “Nero you should change to your pony form.”

“I turned human by sheer luck I don't even know how.”

“Just think of yourself as a pony.” he closed his eyes and scrunched his nose a bit, soon a blue fire engulfed him and he was back to a pony.

“There happy?” he tried to take one step and he ate shit making the pegasus laugh even harder, for some reason he wasn't standing, “Violet I'm stuck.”

“What do you mean you're stuck?”

“I just am okay!” I groaned in annoyance and yanked his head up. I see a piece of the floor got stuck to his horn and I pull it off, “How did that-” he placed a hoof on his horn inspecting it, “Is that a horn on my head?”

“Yes Nero, you're a unicorn.” his eye twitched, “You know what I give up.” he sat on the floor defeated, “Now that he's done let's party!” the pink mare squealed, “Now's not the time Pinkie.” Twilight said,

“Thank you all for helping me find them but everypony should get home, if anything happens come get me.” soon they all left leaving only the three of us, “Twilight Sparkle, you got older.”

“That happens to ponies after ten years.” we chuckle lightly, “Ten years? You knew her when you were eight?”

“We knew her when we were eight.” I look down and see the baby dragon next to her, “Is that Spike?”

“You know me?”

“I knew you since you were a hatchling.”

“Break up this reunion I hate, but I need to speak with you in private.” I followed her to the kitchen, “What is it.”

“You're not really a demon are you? I've never seen one cry like you do.”

“Well yes and no, my brother and I are a quarter demon.” she seemed unfazed by my answer, like if she knew, “How is it you have that ability, to change shape instantly?”

“I honestly have no idea, I don't even know where my pants go when I do change to a pony.” the air felt a bit tense from the long silence, “So what's his new name?”

“My brother is known as Callidus.”

“Callidus huh? It suits him. You consider him your brother?”

“I don't consider anything!” she suddenly snapped, “He is my brother, my sibling.” what a touchy subject, “Sorry. How did you find him?”

“Washed on a shore we found him, he needed a home so we took him in.”

“You just found him like that, he didn't mention anything about his past life?”

“Family and friends he didn't mention, we already asked him these questions. His past life he does not care for, but he wants to know for a bit of closure.”

“Did anything about him seem odd to you?” she went silent for some reason, “His body showed months of abuse and torture, whoever he was with wanted him to suffer.”

“Torture? Who tortured him!?” I felt my blood boil, she just shrugged. Out in the library I heard a scream from Spike, “Spike what's wrong?!” Twilight asked, “He's dead! There's a dead body on your bed!” I was gonna run up the stairs until, “I'm not dead you idiot.” I heard heavy footsteps come downstairs, “What the fuck happened?” he said as he changed to a pony. Zecora and I walk out of the kitchen, “You opened the old wound, you were almost doomed.”

“Your eye, it happened again didn't it?” he said as he adjusted his sister's eyepatch. He looked around the room and patted himself down, his eyes widened a little, “Zecora where are my guns?”

“You must have lost them back in the forest.”

“Speaking of lost things did you get the amulets Violet?” my heart almost stopped, I forgot both of the amulets back in the forest, “Shit! We left them back in the Everfree forest!”

“That's not good, the Royal Guard is still looking for you.”

“The Royal Guard is here are fucking kidding me right now!?” Callidus exclaimed, “How did they find us?”

“When you went into the forest somepony contacted the police, when they saw the forest get destroyed they contacted the Royal Guard, they got an anonymous tip about where the two of you were staying and raided the hotel, they took everything they found in your room.” Twilight answered, “I'm going back for our stuff then.”

“What! You can't just go back out there! What are you going to do if they see you!?”

“I'll deal with them.” he said bluntly, I run to the door and block his path, “Move.”

“I'm not moving anywhere, Bookworm's right you can't just walk out in the open like that.”

“Move or I will move you.”

“Hey who the fuck do you think you are!?” my brother said angrily. Nero walked a little better and was able to wobble toward Callidus, “You can't just say shit like that to my sister and expect to get away with it.”

“So what? What gives her the right to tell me what I can and can't do.” they walked closer to each other,

“She risked her ass to save yours, the least you can do is be grateful. If it were up to me I would've left you out there for the animals to have something to shit on.” the atmosphere grew more tense with each passing second causing Twilight to take a defensive stance in front of Spike,

“You should be grateful that I didn't kill you while you were unconscious.”

“Yeah I've been meaning to tell you that was a dirty move.”

“Like you punching me when I was oblivious?” Nero changed to his human form and so did Callidus, “You're really starting to piss me off.”

“Then why don't you do something about it?” suddenly an alarm blared outside and the two of them changed back to ponies, “What the hell is that?” Nero said. Callidus looked outside the window,

“The Royal Guard is leaving.” all of us walk outside and see the entire town deserted, “Oh no it's a state of emergency.” Twilight said,

“What?”

“Um Twilight, is it normal for that mountain to be smoking like that?” we look to where Nero was looking, in the distance a city glowed orange and was spewing smoke nonstop,

“That's Canterlot.”

Hell

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I couldn't stop looking at the burning city far off in the distance, if you listen carefully you could hear screams, “Zecora.” she looked at me with determination in her eyes,

“Let's go.”

“Where are you going?” the she-devil from earlier said, “Where else? Those ponies need our help and we're not just gonna stand by and leave them for the slaughter.”

“How are you going to get there? A state of emergency has been declared, any means of transportation are halted until further notice. Besides the two of you are injured you need to rest.”

“Our injuries are fine; I'll find my own way to the city then.”

“I'll go too.” the she-devil said, I was still a bit skeptical but Zecora nodded her head telling me we can trust her, “Alright then.”

“We're going too.” the lavender unicorn stated, “We?”

“My friends and I are going with you to Canterlot.”

“Look I know you mean well but believe me when I say this is way over your head, it's better if you stay behind.”

“Like you said, those ponies need help and we're not just gonna stand by and let them be killed. Canterlot was my home so I say that gives me the right to try and defend the city that I was raised in, not only that this country's monarchy could be in jeopardy meaning the fate of Equestria could be at stake if it gets any worse than it already is. My friends and I may not be as strong as you, Zecora, Violet, or Nero but we will do whatever it takes to protect Equestria, even if it means our lives.”

“Uh c-can I have a s-say in t-this?” the baby dragon said. I was impressed by her determination, or maybe it was stupidity, either way I was impressed. I stayed quiet still thinking if I should let them come,

'Should I really let inexperienced ponies come? If anything she's digging all of their graves...' “*sigh* Where's the train station?”

“Five blocks down that road.”

“Gather all of your friends and meet us there.” she kneeled to let the baby dragon hop on her back and turned to run, before she could take a step I grabbed her shoulder, “If you were serious about what you said, there is a chance most of you will die.” I felt her tense up and heard the dragon gulp as I said it and with that they ran off.

“Nero can you-Nero?” she looked around for the guy with the demon hoof who just disappeared, he came out of the library carrying two massive swords and three guns, “Way ahead of you.” he threw her one of the large swords and two of the guns, “What are we waiting for let's kick some ass.”

“Someone's pumped.”

“Let's just say a certain someone got me all hyped up.” the guy called Nero shot a glare at me which I happily returned. We got to the train station with no problems and thankfully it was empty,

“Keep a lookout while I start up the engine.” I sneak inside the train and checked for anypony inside, I made sure nopony was and I run to the engine room. I looked around seeing the many switches and levers that covered the wall in front of me, “Hope I still remember how to do this.”

I looked for a large bar that was on the right side of the floor, I push it all the way forward and lock it in place. Next I looked for a valve that was directly in front of me and turn it all the way, then I found the engine brakes and disengaged them. I only needed one more step if I remembered correctly, I look out the window to see if she came with her friends yet, not one,

“Maybe she changed her mind, good.” I spoke too soon. I see her and her friends running in the distance, behind them was, “Goddammit the Royal Guard. Everypony inside!” as my sister and our new “friends” ran inside I saw the royal dicks catching up to them, “Shit!” I thought it was too late for them so I reached a hoof for the throttle, I stopped when I noticed the coal next to the furnace, 'Might as well help the.' I grab some coal and look back out the window watching the Royal Guard arrest them.

I took aim and struck one of them with a lump of coal, “What the fu-” he didn't get to finish his sentence for a piece of coal got stuck in his throat. While they were distracted they ran and I threw more coals at them keeping them at bay until all of her friends were inside, I grabbed the throttle and pulled it bringing life to the train,

“Thank God.” I had a bad feeling so I poke my head back out the window and see four of them board the train before it went to full speed, “It's never easy is it?” I run out of the engine room and hide behind the cart door, I peer through the window and see all of them at gun point. I couldn't hear what they were saying but one of them pointed to the cart I was in and a stallion with an assault rifle walked to where I was hiding. I crouch to one side of the door and waited for him, the door opened and he slowly walked inside completely unaware of me, in one motion I grabbed the gun from him and knocked him out with the stock. I was stumped on how to get rid of the guards but then I noticed the unconscious stallion, he was an earth pony like me and has black fur like I do but his mane and tail are a light green,

'The helmet would cover my mane but my tail would give me away. I could try and hide it but it won't be long before they notice meaning I have to take them out before then. It's a long shot but it's my only option.' I remove my clothes and put on his armor. I hide his body and walk to the other cart and see them being hoof-cuffed, one of them turn to me,

“Did you find anything?” I nodded no, “Must've got away somehow.”

'Two unicorns and one pegasus, I gotta take out the unicorns first.'

“You get in the corner, I don't want the mess to get everywhere.” he was talking to who I think was called Nero, “Mess?” he was pushed to the corner of the cart by the pegasus, “Hey what the fuck!?”

“All demons are to be exterminated. Ready.” all of us including me took aim, “Aim.” I was in between the unicorns and with all my strength I smashed their heads together and they slumped to the ground, the pegasus aimed his sights at me and I push the barrel of his gun upward and punched him in the snout disarming him. He got angry and tried to punch me but I side stepped and grabbed a hold of his wings and flung him out the passenger window, I grab the keys from one of the unicorns and toss it to Nero,

“You owe me.” I said as I remove the helmet, “Yeah then I'll blow a giraffe next.” he sarcastically said. All of the mares gave me shocked expressions making me feel uncomfortable, “What?”

“You just fought off four highly trained, battle hardened soldiers who are specifically meant to protect Equestria and it's princesses with their very lives, and you handled them like if they were just some punks in a street fight.” the lavender pony said, I just shrug in response, “I-is he g-gonna be o-okay?” the yellow pegasus said in an almost inaudible whisper, I stayed quiet not sure what to say. Suddenly the rainbow-maned one flew up to me,

“Are you really the Killer Cloak?” I cringe at the sound of that horrible alias given to me by society, “Don't call me that.” I swear her eyes grew five times their normal size, “That...is...awesome!” she said while weirdly squishing her face together, I'm starting to regret letting her and her friends come.

After they freed themselves one of them decided to start something, “Wait just an apple bucking minute, are you a-”

“Demon?” Nero said nonchalantly earning him gasps and horrified looks from the other mares, “You just found out? Seriously? I was walking around with a demonic hoof for God's sake.” the cyan pegasus charged at him unexpectedly and pushed him against the wall,

“Who sent you?! Are you behind all this?! Why are you trying to take over Equestria!?” the she-devil grabbed her by the throat and shoved her to the ground, “We can explain.” the cyan mare stood up ready to strike her but the lavender pony teleported herself between them before she could land a punch, “Stop! Rainbow Dash sit on the other side of the cart.” she said with an assertive tone, the pegasus snorted and flew to the other side,

“Yes both Nero and Violet are demons but their not like the other monsters we hear about.” I heard groans coming from a unicorn about to wake up, before he could I knocked him out, “I know it's a little hard to believe-”

“Hard to believe? Don't you remember how many of our friends and family those monsters took away from us?!” the orange mare wearing a stetson hat countered, “I know but they're nothing like them! Their only a quarter demon which allows them to still retain their pony selves.”

“Besides we actually hunt down demons where we come from.” the she-devil named Violet said. All of them still seemed a bit doubtful but decided not to dwell into it any further and take their seats, I almost forgot about the guards and stuff them with the other guy.

Some time had passed and it was quieter now, not even the loud-mouthed pink mare spoke, maybe they still weren't over the fact that Violet and Nero are demons. The only ponies that are talking is Violet, Nero and the lavender unicorn sitting three seats in front of my sister and I, I knew they were talking about me because Violet and the unicorn would at times look at me then continue their conversation,

“Why do you still wear that armor?” Zecora asked “This could help for what we might be up against, plus you know I feel awkward without having something on.”

“Sometimes you're a lot of work, you and your quirks.”

“Mind if we sit here?” Violet said startling me a bit, “Go ahead.” Zecora moved to my side and they took her seat, “Callidus right?” the unicorn said, “Yeah.”

“I saw you at Pinkie's party but she didn't let me introduce myself properly. I'm Twilight Sparkle, I'm the librarian at Golden Oaks Library and a pupil of Princess Celestia.”

“Okay nice to meet you.” the two of them looked at each other with saddened expressions like if they were expecting me to react, “I have one important question to ask you, by any chance do you have a silver amulet with a yellow gemstone?” shock couldn't even begin to describe what I was feeling, I pull out my amulet out from the armor, “No doubt about it, it's him.”

“Spike, take a letter!” she got up from her seat and ran to the baby dragon, “I'm surprised you kept it Callidus.”

“It's not like I had a choice.”

“What do you mean?” I open the window and toss the amulet out, “Callidus!”

“Wait.” I get up and walk to the other cart behind this one.

When I walked in I see the amulet on the floor and pick it up, I walk back to my seat and show her the intact amulet, “See?”

“Huh, I didn't know it could do that.” she look straight at me, “How much of your past life don't you remember?” I had to think about it for a bit, “Everything's blank past age ten.”

“*sigh* What do you want to know?” my mind soon became clouded with questions, so many of them that I had trouble picking one, “Do you know who my parents are?”

“I do but...it's better if you see her yourself.”

“Her? What about my father?” she averted her eyes from mine with a pained look on her face, “I'm sorry.” I didn't say or feel anything, “How come my left ear is like this?”

“Ten years ago all three of us were playing war with each other, you and my brother were were sword fighting with sticks and the two of you decided to get ballsy and climb on top of a stone statue. When you did you lost your balance and fell, your ear got stuck to one part of the statue and it ripped off. I was so freaked out when I saw you holding a piece of your ear.” she laughed, I was surprised that at some point in my life I actually got along with him, “Was my father able to, you know, change?”

“Yeah, both of ours did, neither of them didn't know how or why.” I had another question but I hesitated to ask, “So am I...a demon?” Zecora looked at me in disbelief and then waited for Violet to answer. When she was about to the mares gasped, they were staring at a pile of ashes burning in green flames,

“It just...burned...it just...” Twilight kept repeating the same thing over and over, “Can't this thing go any faster!” the cyan pegasus yelled at me, “It's as fast as it can go.”

“What now Twi?” Violet and Nero then perked up, “Everyone grab a weapon!” Nero instructed holding his custom .357 magnum.

“Why?”

“Them that's why.” Violet said coldly and I grab one of the rifles. Twilight's horn glowed and a wave of magic spread throughout the train, “What did you do?”

“I put up a magic barrier, it incinerates anything that touches it so it should keep them out.”

“Don't be so sure.” I grab the pistol I got from the black stallion and hand it to her, “Why do I need that?”

“Sometimes magic isn't enough.”

“But-”

“Twilight I'm not gonna argue with you!” she flinched and she hesitantly levitated the gun with her magic. I grab the other three remaining rifles, “Anypony here have any experience with a machine gun?” the first one to walk up was the orange mare, “I shot a few of them in my day.”

“How did you manage that? Guns are illegal for citizens.” the white unicorn explained, “If you meet the right ponies they can get you anything.” she said as she inspected the rifle,

“Anypony else?” they went quiet. I walk up to the cyan pegasus, “Here um...”

“Name's Rainbow Dash, best flier in all of Eques-”

“I don't care just take it.” she did with a huff. Next I go to the pink mare, “Pinkie Pie right?”

“Yup yup yupper!”

“It's like a camera, point and shoot.” she took it with glee, “Oooh what does this button do?”

she pulled the trigger and lost control of the gun shooting in every direction making us duck until I take it away from her, “On second thought Zecora you should take it.”

“They're getting closer.” Nero warned, I grab the other pistols from the guards and give one of them to Pinkie Pie, “Shoot at the enemy.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” I give the last pistol to the white unicorn, “I can't use such a savage device as this! I'd much rather use my magic.” great, one of those prim and proper ponies, “What's your name?”

“Rarity.”

“Like I told Twilight sometimes magic isn't enough, besides I don't think your yellow friend is up for the task.” both of us looked at the yellow mare hiding behind her seat crying her eyes out, I felt a little sting in my chest seeing her like that.

“See?” she sighed in defeat and took the gun, “How is it that this world has guns?” Nero asked, “Guns are a recent invention. They were mass produced less than twenty years ago.” I answer, claws then appeared on the roof of the cart and cut across it with little effort, I aimed my sights and fired at it hearing screeches of pain, I heard a loud bang and blood dripped from the bullet holes, “How is that even possible!?” Twilight exclaimed,

“This is bad.”

“Why Cally?” Pinkie asked, “These kind of demons hunt in packs.” two Assaults then broke through Twilight's barrier via the windows and were decapitated on the spot by Violet's large sword,

“Shit I can't use my sword at this range.” she said as she pulled it out from the now crimson wall, “We're gonna have to rely on bullets then. Everypony get away from the windows.” another one broke through and Nero shot it square in the forehead. The mares huddled together in fear, “When you see one of those oversized iguanas don't hesitate to fill it with lead.” I tell them.

One of them sprouted from the ground and lunged at me, I struggled as I used the rifle to keep it from biting my head off, somepony shot off it's helmet getting it's attention and gave me time to paint the wall with it's brain, I look to see who shot and it was the orange mare, “Thanks um...”

“Applejack.” another one broke through and both of us shot it dead. Three more broke through one of the cart doors and Zecora shot them, they didn't die so Violet had to give the finishing blows, “Get to the other cart we're sitting ducks like this!” all ran while I stood guard. A lone one was hanging over a window and pointed it's claws at me, I dive dodging the projectile-turned claws in time and shot it down, “Fuck I'm out.” another Assault lunged at me and I shove the gun in it's mouth and run. Once I was in the other cart I pull off one of the vertical gold bars on the seats, “This will do for now.”

“Callidus!” one breaks through the window I was nearest to and I pierce through it's head with the jagged end. Two more broke in and Violet killed both of them without looking and accidentally sprayed demon blood on some of the mares, Rarity panicked the most, “AAAAAAHHH! It's so warm and icky!” she cried out, “Stop whining and shoot!” Violet angrily said as she squished a demon's head with her hoof causing Rarity to puke. I got rammed into the wall by one of them and I felt the air leave my lungs, the demon was about to pounce on me until it took three bullets to the face,

“You okay?” Twilight asked me, “Yeah, thanks.”

“We have to keep moving!” Zecora said as she used the last of her bullets to kill one by the window. I opened the door and made sure everypony went inside, the yellow pegasus tripped and was targeted by an Assault, I reacted and leaped over her and felt it's sharp claws rip my shoulder and a shower of blood rained over us, luckily we were saved by Rainbow Dash who shot it, “C'mon move!” I said through clenched teeth. She helped me up and we went inside, “Callidus!” Zecora saw the wound I received,

“Don't worry about it.” I said as I stabbed another Assault with the gold bar, I saw it's partner but the bar got stuck, it swiped it's large bony claws at me forcing me back, it thrusted at me and I jerk to my right and punched it, it only got angry and shot it's claws at me, I dodged them all but it was smart and used the chance to pin me down. Bullets then flew past us and I look to see they were coming from Rarity who was shooting wildly with her eyes closed, I punched it off of me and held him directly in the path of her bullets.

I let the body flop to the floor and I walk to Rarity who didn't notice she was out of bullets and snatch the gun away, “Shoot with your eyes open.” I said every word seething with rage. Three more jumped in and both Twilight and Violet shot them down, neither of them noticed the one behind Twilight, “Behind you!” the baby dragon yelled, the demon almost killed her if it weren't for Rainbow Dash and Applejack shooting it in time, “I think that's all of them.” Nero said,

“Whoohooo yeah! Did you see me I was all bang bang bang and they were all like *screech*.”

“Good thing too I'm on empty.” Applejack said, Zecora took off her eyepatch and used it to bandage my shoulder, “This will do for now, you're lucky you survived somehow.”

“Thank you.” I saw that it was the yellow pegasus I saved looking at me with teary eyes, “Don't mention it.”

“Wow, we survived that.” Twilight stated, “Don't celebrate yet, something's coming.” Violet said,

“*sigh* Never easy.” all of us were waiting for whatever it was to come. Two minutes later nothing happened, “Are you-” the train stopped abruptly, the inertia was strong enough for everpony to fall, the cart then started to roll and I realized the train derailed, I hit my head and I blacked out.

I didn't know how much time passed but when I woke up the train was dark and it was upside down, the only light there was was from the moon but it was enough to see that everypony was still breathing, “What happened?” Rainbow Dash asked as she got up, she was bleeding from her head, “Rainbow Dash help me get them out.” I stood up and helped Pinkie Pie walk to the window, “You okay?” Violet asked me, “I'm still in one piece.”

“Callidus.” Zecora called to me as she was being held by Applejack, “I'm fine worry about yourself.” I said as I led both of them out, in the corner I saw a yellow lump slowly rising and falling, “No.” I ran to her and lift her up, “Wake up, we're not out of this yet.” she mumbles something and falls back to sleep, “Dammit.” I put her on my back, I don't know why but she looks so familiar.

“Spike? Spike!?” Twilight screamed, “I'm up here.” Spike was on top where the seats are, “Don't move I'll get you down.” her horn glowed and he was covered in a purple aura, she levitated him onto her back, “Are you hurt?”

“Aside from the headache I'm pretty much hunky-dory.” suddenly the entire floor shook, then it shook again, I know those monstrous footsteps from anywhere,

“Out now!” the remaining group ran for the window, before the mare and I could escape the train was suddenly lifted up from the ground and I fell. The cart was positioned vertically and I grabbed a hold of one of the seats with one hoof while carrying the mare's dead weight with the other, the train slammed into something and I lost my grip of the seat and I hold the mare close to my body, I fall to the next cart and land back first to the bottom. I was winded once more and the train slammed into something again this time positioning the train to it's side, I was in such intense pain from the fall and because of it I had trouble just trying to crawl, I check the wound on my hip seeing that it only opened up a bit, I slowly lifted myself up and it felt like fire and shrapnel flowed through my veins, every muscle in my body locked in place from the pain and I was feeling light-headed.

I fought off the drowsiness and placed the mare on my back only increasing the pain, “*groan*” behind me was one of the unicorn guards and next to him was the mauled remains of one of his comrades, “Fuck my life.” I walk to him and help him up, “Argh!” he screamed in agony, I look down and see that his left hind leg was nothing but a lump of flesh with exposed bone in the center, it looked as if it were chewed off, I rip one of the leather straps from the armor and tie it around his missing leg, “Just grab onto me I'll help you.”

He wraps a hoof around my neck and we walk, “You're...helping...me?” he said in a weak, raspy voice, “Just keep walking.” I heard those footsteps again but they sounded farther than before, “I'm gonna lift you up to the window on three.” I told him as I placed the mare on the ground, “One, two, three!” I lift him up and my forelegs flared in pain, it felt like my arms were being crushed by a ten ton boulder, he grabbed the edge and he climbed up, “Grab her.”

I pick her up and he pulls her up with a bit of difficulty, “Give me your hoof.” he tells me as he holds his out, I grab his hoof and he pulls me out and we jump off the train. I was hearing the footsteps again, it sounded like it was coming our way, “Can you walk?”

“Kind of...”

“Well you're gonna need to run.” it was coming even closer, “Get her to the tunnel.” I put the mare on his back, “What about you?”

“Go!” I made sure the two of them were at a safe distance and I changed to my human form, the footsteps were closer than ever and the beast emerged from the other side of the mountain, “An Asterian Beast, how long was it since I last killed one?” it heard me and the armored demon on top of it ordered it to charge at me, “Damn.”

The beast rammed through the train and I waited for the right opportunity to strike. Just mere feet from killing me it just stopped and let out an ear piercing roar, I covered my ears until it stopped, it turned around revealing the large motorized sword stuck in it's back,

“I'd focus on me if I were you.” I heard Nero taunt on the other side. It roared at him and threw a train cart at him, Nero somehow jumped over both the train and the giant demon, he grabbed his sword and slid down the demon's back as he revved the handle. The demon roared in pain and fell to it's knees, I'm not surprised considering that it's spine was cut clean in two and it's internal organs were flowing out along with the gallons of blood, it's leg was grabbed by Nero's spectral arm and the demon was thrown off from the mountain, “Oh it was you he was after?” he said shocked, “I would've just let it eat you if I knew that. I guess this makes us even.”

“You better find that giraffe you said you were gonna blow.”

“You guys okay?!” behind him was everypony else, “Where's Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked,

“Who?” I heard somepony scream behind me and I felt something grab on to my legs, I look down and see it was the mare hiding behind me. Before I could ask what was wrong I saw the giant, gelatinous form of a Glutton coming out of the dark tunnel, in it's mouth was the pony with the missing leg, half of his face was eaten away exposing teeth and the pulsating small muscles in his face,

“H-h-elp...m-me...” the Glutton used it's extra jaws and bit down on him, wet crunches filled the air and his internal organs fell to the ground getting screams from Rarity who then fainted. After it swallowed it slowly ran towards us, Nero gripped his sword and leaped into the air,

“Eat this you fat fuck!” he shoved the large blade down it's throat, even so the demon still tried to eat him and his sword, Nero noticed his extra mouths and ripped through it's stomach and jumped off, the demon fell to the ground and ate his organs until it died.

Nero swung his sword ridding it of excess blood and other fluids, “Can we walk the rest of the way?” he asked, “We can, Canterlot is just through this tunnel.”

“Isn't there another way? That thing was in there who knows what else could be waiting for us.” Violet pointed out, “Unless you have wings or climbing gear there isn't.”

“We have no other option so might as well brave through it.” I stated. Twilight's horn glowed again and shot a small ball of magic in the tunnel and it illuminated the darkness, “This spell will light the whole way.”

“Cool.” Nero complimented, “Okay all of you stick together, if you have any bullets left use them for emergencies only. Violet, Nero, you take the lead and Zecora and I will take the rear.”

“Would a 'please' kill you?” Violet and I glared at Nero. The inside of the tunnel looked like a portal to hell, all around us were the defeated soldiers of this country laying dead on the ground, splattered on the walls, some partially devoured, some partially regurgitated, others that can't even be recognized as ponies, cut to bits, burned or beaten to death and the stench only made it much worse, the only one that doesn't seem too affected by this was the hopping pink mare,

“I love tunnels! Not this tunnel cause it has too many dead ponies but I love every other tunnel because there's always a pony at the end that mimics me watch! I'm Pinkie Pie!” she yelled and the tunnel echoed back, “No I'm Pinkie Pie!” she angrily yelled at the tunnel, once again it echoed, “No! I'm! Pinkie! Pie!”

“Would you shut the fuck up!?” she got on my last nerve, the tunnel then echoed, “See now there's two ponies who copy us!”

“Pinkie be quiet. Do you want more of them to come?” Twilight asked and Pinkie literally zipped her mouth shut, “Don't ask.” Twilight told me. There was a loud explosion and the entire tunnel vibrated, all of us ran until we were out of the tunnel, I wish we didn't.

What stood in front of us was not Canterlot but what remains of it, the city walls were broken down and the buildings were burning nonstop, everywhere there were both civilian and military dead bodies, each of them having their own horrified expressions and others were buried under rubble,

“Oh God...” Twilight cried as she witnessed the hell that was brought here. Something flew down in front of us and attacked Violet, she backflipped in time, “What the...”

The thing that attacked her was some kind of white armored being standing upright on two legs pointing his golden sword at us,

“Is that thing a demon?” Nero questioned, it revved it's sword and nearly chopped her in two if she didn't dodge, Nero shot it three times in the head but it still kept moving, I ran to it and dropkicked it using both of my feet only making it stumble, I grabbed his arm and broke it where the elbow was and stole his sword, I aimed for his head but it reacted quickly and used it's metal wings as a shield. I kept on swinging the sword forcing it back,

'I need an opening.' I faked an overhead chop and when it raised it's shield over it's head I aimed for it's waist and cut it in half. The armored being then evaporated into light, “A demon possessed a suit of armor?” I stared at the lights that flew into the night sky, there was another loud explosion coming from the weird looking palace,

“We need to get the palace now!” Twilight said, I heard metal clanking and motors coming from above, at the last second I roll away from another living suit of armor, this one was a bit different because it was blue and used a lance, above it was an entire platoon of them flying in the sky, “Oh fuck me. All of you go ahead, I'll stay here.”

“You're not seriously thinking about fighting all of-Nero!” Violet nearly shot him as he was walking away, “He said to go without him.”

“Congrats you get the honor of staying behind with him.”

“What!?” Nero and I said in unison, “Violet it's one thing to get transported into another dimension and it's another to find out that it's inhabited by ponies, but there is no fucking way in heaven or hell or any plane of existence that I will be willing to fight alongside him.”

“Either that or I shoot you in the kneecap.”

“So?”

“And I sell the mustang.” he went quiet and clenched his teeth, “Fine.”

“I'll stay as well.” Zecora said, “No, you go with them to the palace.”

“Surely you are not suggesting, that she and me should work together fighting?”

“I'm willing to hold back my hatred for the sake of everypony and so should you.” she growled and ran with the rest of them to the palace. Nero readied his sword and shot down one of the flying armored demons and I cut it down the middle while in mid air, two more came at us and Nero shot through their shields stopping them and I cut off their helmets in one swing. Another one flew straight down at me, I jumped up and stood on it's lance shoving the sword in it's chest. Three of them flew towards Nero, he grabbed the closest one and stabbed it with it's own lance using his spectral arm and launched the demon into the other three killing them, a demon came behind him and he used his sword to cut it down diagonally,

“Just know that I don't like you.” he said as killed another one without looking at it,

“Feeling's mutual.” I knocked the lance out of the demon's hand and stabbed it, I felt vibrations and around the corner came two Asterian Beasts, 'I'm not going to live am I?'

****************************

Six minutes, barely six minutes and I was already killing demons, we were being chased by a pack of weird demon dogs with fiery skulls,

“Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!” it was difficult since I was shooting at them and their skulls that they can shoot back, four of them were overhead and were sliced to pieces by Zecora's shadows, “We need to lose them!”

“Zecora see if you could grab their attention!” she used her shadow to create wings for herself and took flight, “How is she capable of flight!?” Twilight asked very confused,

“Don't know and right now don't care. All of you hide in one of the buildings!” they hid in what I think used to be a department store. I turned back for Zecora and see that she was having a bit of trouble flying, one of the dogs jumped for her throat and I shot it before it could take a chunk out of her, “Shape up and put your head back in the game!”

I shot five more of them and the others came running for me, “That's right come here.” I said as I made kissy noises at them, I grabbed my sword and cut two of them in mid air, I saw some fire balls come at me and I shot them all with ease, before they could reach me black spikes sprouted and killed all of them, “Time is not on our side, put your foolishness aside.”

“Says the one who almost got eaten.” we shot glares at each other hoping we could vaporize one another. They came out of hiding and we went back on track, “Hehe that rhymed Violet!”

“Wait Pinkie how the fuck did you...nevermind.” I ignore what happened and kept on running.

We ran into a park and decided to use it as a shortcut, the park was devastated, the trees were uprooted and others were burning, the jungle gyms were destroyed and they were covered in blood, “Eyes forward Violet.” I whisper to myself. The inside of my head began to tingle, “Stop!” I looked around and found nothing,

'Where are they?' not far from us were two upright lines moving, they got closer and turns out they were swords, “Get back!” they ran behind Zecora and I, those swords somehow swam through the hard earth as if it were water, one of them jumped out and I parried it's sword fused to it's back, “What kind of demons are these?”

I felt the presence of two more behind me, I reach back and block both of them while Zecora dealt the finishing blow. More of them showed up and circled around us, “There's about seventeen here.”

“I will handle this.” Zecora then summoned exactly seventeen shadows and they connected with each demon, before she could gloat three of the demons possessed suits of armor flew down, the middle one was white with gold accents wielding a feathered sword and the other two standing beside it were white with blue accents wielding lances, the gold one pointed it's sword at us and the other two attacked us, I stopped it with the broad side of Rebellion and Zecora used her shadows to wrap around it's lance. The armored thing twisted the handle of the lance and the two of us flew into a burning tree and knocked it down, the burning part fell on me though,

“Violet!” all of them screamed, I push the burning bush off me and put out the little flames on my already ruined top, “I'm fine!” I say with a smile, I felt a sneeze come on and as soon as I did I unintentionally dodge an attack from the armored thing. I grab it by it's lance and throat and toss it to it's buddy who Zecora was fighting, she almost killed them but the gold one lifted it's sword again and in a blink of an eye the two blue one were flying right above him.

All of them pointed their weapons to the space between them and formed a giant, black ball of demonic energy and shot it straight at me, I move to my right casually and the demon ball destroyed nearly three to four blocks of Canterlot,

“*whistles* That's some move.” I chuck Rebellion into the chest of the gold one and all three of them blew up in an explosion of purple lightning, “But mine's better.” Rebellion flew back to my hand,

“Violet, choose.” I turn to Zecora and she was staring at two gold plated demons, one an Arch Demon and the other a Throne Demon, “Can you still fly” her shadow automatically morphed into wings, “Guess I'll take on the Throne.” she bolted to the sky and the Arch Demon followed her. The demon in front of me powered it's ax and ran to me, I swing Rebellion straight at the ax and lodged it in it's weapon, the demon pushed me back and I stand firmly to the ground, the demon roared and a gust of rotting flesh, sewage plant, pennies, and onions all rolled into one hit me right in the face,

“*coughs* Oh God I taste it!” my eyes watered and I push it back, the both of us swung our weapons at the same time and I break through his ax and I decapitate it, even though I cut off his head he was still able to fight.

The headless demon summoned another ax and attacked, I kept evading every one of it's swings and I tripped it, “I'm not even trying.” it stood back on it's goat legs and charged, I jump over it and place my sword in the direction of where it's running and it cut itself in half. I wipe off the blood on it's hide, “You're ancient but somehow still no fighting experience, paradox.”

Suddenly I saw teeth tower over me and I felt them bite down, I prevented them from eating me in time and I jam Rebellion in the roof of it's mouth and it roared in pain. Whatever tried to eat me let go, “How does that thing sneak up on me!?” it was yet another Asterian Beast holding it's injured mouth, I called Rebellion back and it sliced through it's muzzle, I almost felt bad for it cause it's in so much pain, almost, the demon on it's head commanded it to eat me and I waited for it to come until black spikes pierced it's legs and stopped it dead in it's tracks.

The spikes dug into it's legs and it roared even more, I heard muscles tearing and bones breaking inside it's giant body and it unexpectedly was torn to pieces from the inside. The black spikes disappeared and they retreated to Zecora who was standing next to the mares smiling in victory, “What's with the smile?”

“Losing your edge are we? Almost eaten by that beast I see.”

“You are so damn lucky you're Callidus's sister or I would beat the living shit out of you.”

“Can we please get going already!” Rainbow Dash yelled at us,

“Where to Twilight?”

“Not too far, we just need to walk a few more blocks and it should lead us to the bridge of the palace.” there was another loud explosion coming from where Twilight said the palace would be.

We ran to the palace, on the way there my head tingled again but it was starting to become more of a migraine, “Hold on, something's not right.” I jump up to one of the crumbling roofs that I deemed stable enough to stand on, I take one look at the palace and see the entire front gate was covered by a legion of demons desperately trying to break through the magical wards that kept them from reducing the palace to nothing, behind the wards was the Royal Guard doing their best to kill them using steel, lead, magic and explosives, “Explains the random explosions.”

I jump back down to them, “Good news?” Twilight asked, “Bad, very bad. The only entrance to the palace is blocked by hundreds of those fuckers and the only thing stopping them from destroying it is the magic ward but I don't think it will last, point is we need to find another way in.”

“Twilight can't you teleport us inside?” Rarity asked, “The magic ward prevents me from using magic.”

“You think we could fly in?” Rainbow Dash asked, “That's also futile, unless it breaks-” I heard that familiar sound of a seal breaking, behind me the ward that protected the palace was cracking,

“Like that?” Applejack said dumbfounded. The ward finally shattered and the Royal Guard started to scream in agony, I gritted my teeth and pulled out Ebony and Ivory, “Twilight teleport everypony inside.” my tone turned dark and cold, she didn't say a word and they disappeared in a purple light, I ran to the sounds of battle and readied my sights, as soon as I saw a demon I let out a hailstorm of bullets.

Blood, guts, sinew, brains, bones, metal, weapons, anything and everything that made up a demon was being splattered everywhere, nothing in my line of fire survived not even the gigantic Asterians, I had no idea how long I've been shooting but when I stopped the barrels of my guns glowed orange. I holster them and I look at what remained of the Royal Guard, some survived but most of them were K.I.A,

“Those still breathing should get inside.” they looked at me in awe but when the other demons started to gather they turned tail and ran, I walked to the front gate of the palace and drew out Rebellion, “No way in hell am I gonna let any of you inside.” the first ones to step up were two suits of armor.

They revved their lances and I cut both of them down in one motion, an Assault sprouted from the ground and I use the heel of my boot to crush it's windpipe, I lean back and dodge an Arch Demon's blade and I disemboweled it with ease. I leap out of the way of the Asterian's giant hand, I throw Rebellion at it's head and I cut off his upper jaw, the Beast Tamer fell off and I shot it before it could hit the ground, the weird earth-swimming demons from earlier showed up and I grab two of them by the blade and pull them out, I spun around and killed the other ones that jumped at me like idiots, after I dealt with them I threw the both of them at six Assaults in mid air and shredded them, I lean to my left an bit and I dodge an overhead chop from a Throne Demon behind me and I stab it right in the sternum with my elbow.

I grab it's lower jaw and flipped it over my shoulder and impaled it with Rebellion, “You can't even hit me from behind? That's just sad.” I shot three of the demon dogs down without looking. There were five more but they were crushed by another Asterian Beast, “I'm getting real sick of you big pieces of shit.”

I ran to it and I jumped to it's chest, I was engulfed by purple light and I tore through it like paper and I was swallowed whole by the other one behind it. I felt myself get lodged in it's throat and it swallowed even harder and I went down to the bottom of it's stomach, I fell in what I guessed was stomach acid because my hand began to tingle in the strange liquid, “Like Han Solo said, I thought they smelled bad on the outside.” it fucking reeked inside. I create a ball of lightning in my hand and illuminate the dark organ, inside with me were decomposing ponies, buildings, and carriages,

“Weird.” I call back Rebellion and I cut a straight line across it's stomach lining. I jumped out and the Asterian held it's stomach wailing in pain and I chop off it's head, the Beast Tamer went for my throat but my sword was faster and it fell in two pieces, I felt a strong force sweep me off my feet and straight into the palace gate destroying it, after I stopped skidding across the ground my entire left side burned, I checked myself and my top got even more destroyed showing off my black bra,

“EEP!” I felt my face burn up and I lift up my shirt trying to cover it up. Around me was the Royal Guard looking at me with clueless expressions and I look down at the ground full of embarrassment, “And in public too...” I tie up the shirt and my bra was hidden, the demons responsible were three suits of armor that was leading the other demons inside the palace, “You two better get here on time.”

**************************************

“Shall we dance?” I bowed to the four lance wielding suits of armor, all of them came at me all at once and I grab two of them by their lances and threw them to the other two behind me and I throw the lances at all four of them, I look to where he is, “You need help there pal?” I said as he was cutting down three suits and two Assaults, if I was gonna be stuck with him might as well fuck with him a little,

“First I'm not your pal. Second I don't need your help.” I knew he didn't want to admit it but he was worn down, his right shoulder was still bleeding, he got a few broken ribs and the right side of his burlap shorts was turning red, “Sure seems like it.” I guess I hit a nerve, “Don't you even think about going all egotistical on me.”

“Whoa I was just stating the obvious.” I put my hands up only pissing him off further, “You really wanna hit me. I can tell because your pupils get smaller, you know what hit me. Give it your best shot.” his pupils got even smaller but then they grew back to normal, “After we finish things here.”

I smirk making him steaming mad. We walk to the weird castle thing, “So let me get this straight this country is ruled by a monarchy?”

“Yes.” he bluntly said while walking, “And who rules this country?”

“Can you please shut up? I'm not in the mood for twenty questions.” we kept on walking, after a while things seemed a bit odd and he picked up on it, “Something's definitely not right.” he said,

“It's starting to get quiet out here.” I focus my hearing and I heard gunfire and metal clashing coming from the palace, “They got inside.”

“Oh shit, we better hurry.” he started running and I followed him.

He stopped and ran to a demolished carriage, “What the hell are you doing?” he rummaged through every box, bag and body until he held up something rectangular, “What's that?” he opened it revealing a crate full of hand grenades,

“Grenades, this carriage was how they transported weapons and rations to the front lines.” he shoved the box to my chest and he went back for more stuff, he came back out with two M9 Berretas and an AR 15 attached with a scope, “They made those in twenty years?” he pointed to the box in my hand,

“Don't bother pulling the pins just throw them to where I tell you, I'll do the rest.” he walked away leaving me confused about his plan, “Any chance you're gonna tell me what you're planning?”

“Nope just do what I tell you.” fucking asshole. The palace was literally around the next corner and he walks inside the building closest to it, “Get ready.” he set up the rifle on a table near the window, “I heard about vetoes but this is beyond overreaction.” I quipped as I saw the hordes of demons enter the palace, along with them was Violet killing them off, “Throw one to the far left side.”

I pulled one out of the box and chucked it to a large portion of the horde, he shot the grenade once it hit the ground and anything in it's range was turned to mince meat, “One to your right.” another grenade landed to the right and it exploded, the ones who didn't blow up gathered at the center of the palace gate, “Now throw two at the crowd.” two of them flew directly at them, one of the living suits of armor caught one while the other hit his foot and in an instant the entire group was disintegrated, “Why don't you just pull the pins?”

“Sometimes there will be that one demon smart enough to throw a live grenade back at the pony who threw it, plus this is a little more accurate than letting it roll on the ground for a little before it could detonate. Another one to your left.” I hate to admit it but that was actually kind of smart.

The demons were now less in numbers, “Now we have a good chance of fighting them head on.” he gave me the rifle and he jumped out the window, I laughed and went to the palace. On the way there I killed three Assaults in one swing, a demon dog jumped to bite me but was killed by a bullet from Callidus, behind him was an Arch Demon about to behead him until I shot it in the head,

“I'm out.” I said as I emptied the shells from Blue Rose, instinct told me to move back and a lance nearly stabbed me and I kill the suit but inside of it was a demon dog who leaped for my head but I grabbed his head with my demonic hand and squished it. I turn and use the demon's body to bat away the weird fish demons in to a wall, I saw a black ball come at me and at the last second I dodged it but it hit Callidus instead and he was hurled into the palace.

I grab the middle one with the spectral hand and crush it in my palm, the other two flew to me at top speed ready to kill and I simply turn my body and both of them pierced the ground, I stab the left one in the torso and I threw the other one at a group of those possessed suits. Inside the palace grounds Violet was helping Callidus stand, “You're still alive?” he was covered in soot and burn marks, I could smell his skin which was still burning, he pointed an M9 to my head and shot the Throne behind me, “Nopony kills you but me.”

“Okay the whole 'pony' suffix is getting annoying.” he walked past me and shot at six Assaults.

I saw an Asterian scaling the outer wall, “I don't think so jackass!” I reached for his face with my spectral arm and launched myself to it and kicked it off the wall. As it was falling I saw a suit of armor flying in my direction, I jump off the beast and onto the back of the demon armor, I held on to the nape of the neck and fling it through the mouth of the Asterian killing both instantly. I was falling and I reach for an Arch Demon about to take flight, I propel through the air and the heels of my boots crush both his rib cage and skull so hard I made it's internal organs external,

“I had worse landings.” I saw a fireball in my peripheral and I lean back in time to dodge, “I hate dogs.” I glared at the pack of demon dogs ready to pounce, two of them lunge at me and Red Queen cut them in halves, another one attacked and I grab it by the neck, “I wonder...” I place the demon on my shoulder and took aim at the other mutts, I pull the nape and it shot a fireball at one which killed four when it made impact, I smile and shot at the remaining demon turning them to ash. The demon on my back nearly took a bite of my face and I grip both of it's jaws and tear it halfway to the stomach, an Assault jumped out from the ground surprising me and it's claws slashed my abdomen, I take a few steps back from the Assault screeching at me and hold the wound I received,

“Is that all you got?” it shot it's claws at me and I raised Red Queen to my head and block them, I take the chance to attack and it raises it shield, before I brought it down I rev the handle and cut through it's defense. It screamed as it bled out, “Sweet dreams.” I rev the handle again and I felt the blade slash through both muscle and metal, turns out it was two suits of armor and a Glutton, I killed all but the Glutton because my sword only cut half of it's stomach releasing the acidic bile onto the floor, “You needed to lose the extra weight.” it growled and used it's jaws to bite down on Red Queen. It pulled me closer and used it's third mouth to eat my head, I let go of my sword and it tries to eat it,

“Hey that metal ain't cheap fatass!” I grab a discarded sword buried in the ground and cut the other half that I couldn't reach exposing it's intestines, 'Shit, still not deep enough.' the only thing keeping it together was the single chunk of meat on his left, it tossed my sword aside and chased me, I slide under it and it trips,

“C'mon you gotta work for your meal.” it used it's elbows to crawl to me. I pick up Red Queen and I place a foot on it's head, “Sorry pal, kitchen is closed.” I cut off it's head and watch it roll away. It was then stomped on by a Beast Tamer, “What? You want an apology for killing your pet demon?” it snarled and swiped it's claws at me erratically, I kneed it right where the diaphragm should be and it wheezed loudly, “That had to hurt.”

I uppercutted it with the demon arm and it's head snapped back hard enough to break it's neck. A Throne Demon came in to bite me and instead bit down on my arm, “What's wrong? Tough to chew?” I jam Red Queen into it's chest and felt it's jaw loosen it's grip. Above me were eight suits of armor, seven blue and one gold, “I'm right here!” the gold one motioned them to attack and three of them aimed their lances, “C'mon!”

I say as I beckon them to come, they flew down to me and I punch one down using the space between my arm to dodge, the other two thrust their lances at me and I stand on one hand making them unwittingly kill each other. The demon I punched used it's metal wings to hit me directly in the face breaking my nose even further, it lunged at me with the lance and I catch it with my spectral arm only mere inches from my heart,

“That was close.” I fling it over my head and smash it into hard ground hard enough for it to dismantle. I grip the lance and launch it at the gold one but two of the blue ones used their wings to deflect it, “Well that was a bust.” the two blue ones that protected it were now beginning to turn bright red, the gold one flicked it's wrist and they threw themselves at me in unbelievable speeds, the force of the impact was enough to send me flying back a few feet and land on my back, I felt a shooting pain right in my abdomen and it was a piece of metal, 'Leave it.' I left it alone fearing that if I pulled it out I wouldn't stop bleeding. I focus back to the other demons and the remaining four was conjuring up that same black ball of demonic energy.

I was ready to dodge but suddenly one of them got assaulted by bullets, once it evaporated into light the others were destroyed by their own power, “I'm out.”

Behind me was Callidus who looked like hammered shit, he tossed the empty guns aside and picked up a lance, “Guess I'll just tear them apart the old fashioned way.” the horde began to grow in numbers, saying that we were outnumbered would be an understatement,

“The fun is just getting started.” I heard Violet comment as she walked next to us looking like a white trash 16 year old, “Why are you wearing it like that?” Callidus asked very confused, “Shut up!” she snapped while getting a shade of red. The horde was now fully assembled, we stood our ground ready to wipe them out like cliché movie characters when the first wave of demons suddenly were blasted by a beam of yellow magic,

“What the fuck!?” then a dark blue blur streaked past the second wave and all of them literally fell to pieces. The third row was then attacked by a white blur and they suffered the same fate, “Holy shit!” I was amazed by how they quickly dispatched them, killing them like flies, the surviving wave then turned around and ran away from the palace,

“Wait why are they running?” my train of thought was broken when two ponies landed in front of me. One was white and tall wearing golden armor that gave off it's own light and the other was slightly shorter that the white pony but she was a dark blue wearing indigo armor that looked as if it were made out space itself, behind us the other ponies cried out in victory and praised them, “Looks like we won.” as soon as I said that Callidus fell to the ground finally succumbing to his injuries.

*****************************************************

A black limousine sped through the lonely, barren streets of the city, it was occupied by a man in his late forties looking out the passenger window as he combed his dirty blonde hair, “How was your evening sir?” the chauffeur asked the, “And who gave you permission to speak?” he said in a very sophisticated like manner, “My apologies sir.”

“Next time you do that, oh wait it won't happen next time now will it?” his tone changed to a very menacing one, “No sir.”

“Excellent, inform me once we arrive.” he pushed a small button and it rolled up the driver window, “Incompetent, foolish, idiotic, there is not one negative word in the English language that does not describe them.” he said as he fixed the blue tie around his neck. After hours of driving the chauffeur rolled down his window, “We arrived sir.”

“Finally something you can do right.” the limousine drove up to a security booth, “What brings you here at this hour?”

“Mr. Manudey is here to inspect his new warehouse.” the security guard went pale and stiff, “Of course.”

The gate opened and the chauffeur drove inside. Once he was parked he got out the vehicle and opened the door for the well groomed man, “Wait in the car and if you see any outsiders or an old Russian man, don't hesitate to run them over.” he said with a smile as he patted the chauffeur on the shoulder.

He opened the door to the large warehouse, inside were two large men standing between an old man in his early sixties being held up by spears that were punctured into his arms, his face was black and swollen and looked as if it would pop it you stuck a needle in his face,

“Mister Vladimir Putin! So good to see you again old friend!” the two men step aside and let him through, “My, my, my time has treated you so well. Did you enjoy your flight to the United States?”

Vladimir spat blood in his face and he simply laughed as he wiped the blood off, “Ah Vladimir, always a barrel of laughs right boys?” he laughed and so did they. Vladimir began to curse at him in Russian until he was silenced by him, “Oh how I hate Russian. It's so gruff and barbaric, it makes even it's native speakers sound as though they have some sort of mental disability. So I will only say this once and if I am forced to repeat myself I will rip out your kneecaps with my bare hands, so please in English.” he released his grip on Vladimir's mouth,

“You fucking monster! Do you really believe you will get away with this!? This is an act of war! Once the world knows about you, you will die a fiery, painful death!” he simply continued to laugh, “I don't like many people but you. You! I like you very much.”

“How can such an evil man like you exist!? I've been nothing but loyal to you and your empire yet you-” he closed his hand to mimic a closed mouth and Vladimir went silent, “But we are not here to discuss how much I like you.” He snapped his fingers and a chair rose up from the concrete floor and he sat down,

“You see we are here to discuss what happened in the Ukraine.” he opened his hand and Vladimir could speak again, “That was not our fault we had to take action!”

“Oh really, then who was it that decided to allow Russian troops to enter Ukraine?” Vladimir went silent, “Exactly. Now what I would like to know is why, and without my consent?”

“Like I said-” he stood up from the chair in anger, “You almost caused a civil war! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was to find out that I had absolutely no control over this situation!? You say you and all of Russia will forever be loyal to me but yet once I allow you to run things for a while you decide to become an asinine, pathetic excuse for a leader!” he struck Vladimir so hard the spears broke from the force and his body hurled into a wall and made a dent. He walked to him and kicked him making another dent on the wall, he grabbed his arm and snapped it with one hand causing Vladimir to scream in agony, “Do you have any idea how annoying it is to micro manage?” he pulled him up and sat him on the wall,

“Here's a question, if you answer it right I will put you in my private jet and take you home, you have three chances. What makes the world go around?” Vladimir was confused by his question but decided to try, “Money?”

“No, that answer is amazingly common. Two chances left.” he began to panic, “Love?”

“BWAHAHAHA! No, one chance left, remember this is your ticket home.” his heartbeat was pounding in his chest and his breath became shaky and rapid. After a minute he got an answer, “Time?”

“Ooh that was a very good answer but sadly it's not he right answer.” Vladimir was now on the verge of a heart attack, “The correct answer is me. I make this small world of yours revolve around the sun everyday, I grace your weak species with my mercy and kindness. You see I decided to rule over this...civilization simply because you are too much of savages to take care of yourselves. If there is one thing I hate in this life more than anything is chaos, and your kind is so full of disorder and mayhem that I could not just sit by and let you destroy yourselves with war, famine, and disease. So I came to this world and restored it's long lost harmony with my rules.”

“My rules are what keeps you from self destruction. Now there will be some of those renegades that try to defy me and go against my rules, and you know what I do to them? I exterminate them, crush them, eat their very souls. To prevent more I had to take a few drastic measures to keep your kind loyal only to me, now that I achieved that I gain responsibilities like running the economy, controlling countries, making sure the world has food and clean water. But those luxuries come at a price, and that price is for you and the other figureheads around the world to simply do what I say and when I say it, no matter how heinous it may be, this is how I maintain order in this world. Point is nothing gets me more furious or frustrated such as having unruly humans go against my wishes and not because they decided to be rebellious but because these soft, weak, gullible, insane fucking pieces of shit think they are special in some way that they decide to cause even more chaos. All it takes is one drop and the ripples will cover the entire pond, meaning if one small group decides to not bow others will follow suit. You almost caused that ripple to spread even further, and if you humans decide to rise up against me I will be forced to destroy this world. Because I would rather have a world filled with the ashes of what it used to be rather than a world full of disobedient dogs that do not heed their master's command!”

Vladimir was beyond fear, he was frightened to the point that he stopped breathing, he didn't even move. He stood up and began to walk away, “Oh I almost forgot.” he flexed his fingers and Vladimir was cut to slices, “I want this place spotless by tomorrow.”

“Yes Mr. Manudey.” the two men began to clean as he walked out of the building. The chauffeur opened the door for him and they drove away.

The Bet

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I was running from something, what I was running from I didn't know but I knew if I stopped I would die. My breathing was rapid and jagged, my legs were on fire from the constant running and my lungs burned from overuse,

“Monster...” an incorporeal voice spoke, I couldn't see where I was running because everything was black, not dark but black, it didn't matter what direction I was running in but I just needed to run, “Monster...”

that voice was even louder. A figure then appeared out of thin air, it looked like a stallion but I couldn't make out his face, it terrified me to be looking at him,

“Don't be afraid of me.” his voice, I knew whose voice that belonged to, “Besides it was you who did this to me.” he placed his hooves onto his chest and he opened it, it was empty, no heart, no lungs, nothing, just empty. I froze in place, I didn't even want to scream, there was a light next to me and it showed that stallion being ripped open by a monster who looked like a bird. It was in ecstasy hearing him wail in pain, it grabbed every organ he could reach and tossed them away like trash,

“You left me to die at the claws of that monster. After everything I did for you.” the stallion said while being gutted, “I-I'm sorry, I-I would’ve helped b-but...” my voice was that of a small, frightened colt, I backed away in fear. I bumped into something cold, before I could turn it wrapped a vine around my neck and choked me, my eyes were watering and I felt lightheaded.

“I told him to leave you there, I told him to just keep walking. Now we all paid the price.” I did my best to look at the mare who was strangling me but to no avail, “Because of you he's dead! Because of you my daughter is an outcast!” she pulled on the vine even tighter, “And because of you I am now among the dead!” she leveled her face to mine and showed me the gaping hole in her right eye. Another light spawned this time showing how she died, she had a bullet go in under her chin and out her eye,

“I never loved you, I've always despised your with all my being! Whoever were your birth parents should have their genitals ripped out and burned!” she cursed. The vine vanished and I was able to breathe only to have the air leave my lungs as I got a kick to the gut, “How shameful. To think that we were killed by the likes of you.”

I looked up and see a headless minotaur speaking in a raspy voice, he moved his neck and his head jumped back into place, it was hanging on by a piece of flesh, “All we wanted was money, I'll admit our method of a quick bit was heinous but you could've just beat the living hell out of us and left, instead you decided to slaughter us.” behind him were more mutilated minotaurs looking at me in disgust.

“Now look at you. It's funny how you're trying so hard to repress everything that you've done.” they began to laugh at me. I ran away from them until I could no longer hear their laughter, then I just kept running. I heard sobbing coming from the vast blackness, “Why couldn't you just stay?” a mare appeared next to me, “That was all you had to do. I told to just stay here, instead you packed your things. You just love the taste of blood don't you?” she continued to sob.

I felt something stab into my back and felt the weight of somepony on me, “At least you're happy right!” she yelled angrily, there was another light and it showed how she died, she had a bullet to the head, “Not only did I die but the entire town had to go with me!” behind me were unrecognizable ponies wielding spears, “Remember Callidus, you get what you give and you give what you get!” all of them started stabbing me with spears. As they were stabbing me mercilessly a speck of white shined out in the distance, it started to grow bigger and it shined more furiously,

“Endure with me...” the voice sounded familiar but the ponies stabbing me didn't let me think straight. The light then reached a hand out to me, “Reach...” I extend a free hoof to try and grab the white hand.

I felt something warm on my face, I open my eyes and was blinded by the morning sun,

“He's waking up!” I heard a mare gasp out, my eyes adjusted to the bright room and standing in front of me were two nurses, “Inform the guards.” one of them scurried out the door. I tried to get out of bed but the mare placed a hoof on my now bandaged chest, “You shouldn't move at the moment. Right now we aren't sure if you are able to do anything strenuous.”

“I feel fine.” I tried to take her hoof away but my hand was cuffed to the bed, “And you are to be restrained until further notice.” I take a good look at the cuffs that bound me and I slump back to bed. The mare came back in but very cautiously, “They're on their way.” she glared at me throughout the whole sentence, “No need to be scared Springwood, I can assure you he won't be of any harm. Right Mr. Callidus?” she said as she looked at me with a smile,

“Right, what happened?”

“Well you came in with large lacerations on your right shoulder, a few broken ribs, a concussion, an extremely large wound on the pelvic region and appeared to have been poisoned.”

“Poisoned?”

“We found traces of it in your blood system, we think it may have came from the wound on your shoulder. But what surprised all of us was the wound on your hip, something that deep should have killed you. It's a miracle you survived something so fatal” I thought back to what happened the night before, “Is my sister okay!?”

“Sister?”

“Yes she's a zebra.” I said as I sat up a bit, “Oh yes Zecora. She is fine.” I relaxed knowing she was still alive, “Are you going to kill us or are you waiting for the right moment?”

“Springwood!” she glared at the other mare who simply looked at me, “We must be going now, Princess Celestia wishes to speak with you.” she said as she pushed the mare out.

The room was silent now, all I could hear was the commotion outside, “How can you say such a thing!?” the nurse yelled from outside, “You know we can't trust him for shit! Do I have to remind you why he is a wanted criminal?! Back in Minyochnaed he destroyed an entire military base and killed everypony with a pulse! They even went as far as putting a price on his head and asking Princess Celestia to help hunt him down and when she did give them help he killed those soldiers.”

“Even if it were true he risked his life to save all of Canterlot! Not only us but he saved many other cities from certain doom before!”

“It's probably just a ruse to buy his way out of the death sentence. Plus rumor has it that he had something to do with the Dodge Junction Incident.”

“Those are just rumors Springwood, he may have done some unspeakable things in the past but he was willing to save those who were lucky enough to survive, all I am is grateful.”

“I don't care what he did, he's a monster plain and simple, it's only a matter of time before he starts his massacre.” I heard them walking away finally leaving me alone with my thoughts,

'I was actually planning to get our stuff back from the Royal Guard somehow and if possible loot some houses then leave just as soon as they started another search for me. I didn't plan on getting captured though.' I look back at the cuffs examining the key hole, 'I'm pretty sure I can pick it, I should do it before the princess comes.' I shake my head and felt the paper clip behind my ear move, 'One more should do it.' I shook my head again and it fell on my pillow. I grab it with my mouth and carefully aimed at my hand and spat it out to my palm, once I got a hold of it I bent it into an abstract shape and stuck it into the keyhole. Nearly seven minutes later I finally felt the cuff unlock and went on to pick the other one,

'First find Zecora, second kidnap one of the guards and interrogate him, third-' I heard the door open and a golden aura surrounded the paper clip and it flew out of my hand. At the door stood a tall, slender white mare, “Shit.” I never actually seen the princess but it didn't take a genius to know it was her, she had this presence that just screamed “the highest authority” and the air around me was commanding me to bow to her, even though she just stood there I could tell how over 1,000 years of her life have helped her hone her magical abilities and how powerful she can really be, while I was looking at her my muscles tensed up and my breathing slowed as a cold sweat rolled down my forehead, it was strange, for some reason I was fearing her.

Two guards came inside ready to shoot me down, “Is everything fine princess?” one of them asked, “Yes everything is fine, now if you would please unbind him.” her voice was gentle and motherly, something in my mind told me not to fall for it, “As you wish princess.” the other one unlocked the cuffs and I was able to get out of bed. I rubbed my wrist and the stallion aimed his rifle at me, “Stand on your hooves.” I looked at him and thought about subduing him and try my best to escape using him as a hostage, 'Don't, you won't get very far, just play along and find an opportunity for escape.' I relaxed and changed to my pony form.

He lowered his gun and stood next to the princess, “Thank you, carry on with your duties, I want to speak with him in private.”

“But princess-”

“That's an order.” she said sternly, they bowed and they walked out of the room. It was just the two of us and it was silent, it was getting a little awkward so I pushed aside the unknown fear and spoke up, “So how many years am I getting? Or am I just gonna be executed?”

I stared daggers into those magenta eyes, her eyes widened a bit at my response and suddenly she broke down into tears. Saying I was surprised would be an understatement, never in my entire life would I expect the princess, the very same princess who spent the last five years trying to capture me, to just bawl in front of me, 'Why is she crying?' “Uh...eh...” I had no idea on what to say to her, this was the most awkward position I've ever been in, “It's my fault *sob* it's all my fault...”

she kept repeating that phrase over and over. I had enough of her wailing and looked around for something she could use, I look at the nightstand next to my bed and on it conveniently lies a box of tissues, “Stop your crying.” I said with irritation clear in my tone as I nearly shove the box in her face, her horn glowed and she took a few, “Thank you.”

“Whatever, so why did you want to talk to me in private?”

“Nopony has told you yet, good, I want to tell you myself.”

“Tell me what?” I was about ready to jump out the window, “Callidus was it? Do you know the real reason why I was willing to side with Minyochnaed despite the both of us being at the edge of going to war with each other?” she said as she dried her eyes, “Because I committed some major crimes and since you have a strong sense of justice you thought it was only right to bring me down?” I gave her a deadpan look and she nodded no, 'Wait no?'

“I wanted to bring you home.” she started crying again, “Home?”

“Callidus, I am your mother.” the silence came back and I was flabbergasted, 'Princess Celestia? My mother?' I felt a sickening emptiness in my stomach, my hooves felt light, and I'm pretty sure my coat went a few shades lighter, I was feeling horrified at what she just told me for an unknown reason, “This is insane, you're insane, there is no possible fucking way that you are my biological mother. I don't have neither wings or a horn and not only that some of your soldiers that you sent tried to kill me on more than one occasion.”

“I never ordered them to kill you! I merely wanted them to find you and transport you back to Canterlot.”

“Tell that to your lapdogs.”

“That would explain a lot. Look at how tall you've gotten, you grew into a handsome young stallion.” she smiled at me about to cry again, “So what's gonna happen?”

“Are you skill skeptical about me being your real mother?”

“Very.”

“We do have a lot of time to spare, why don't we start by catching up?”

“What about Minyochnaed? Won't they be pissed once they find out you have me in custody?”

“They can wait, why don't we go to the palace gardens?”

“Why not?” 'Damn, she not giving me any chances for escape, just go with it a bit longer.' the two of us walked out of the room and in the hallway were hundreds of patients in the midst of dying or being treated. As we passed by most of them bowed before Princess Celestia and others glared at me, as we were walking instinct told me to get as far away from her as possible and I kept ignoring them, suddenly I felt something grab my hoof and when I looked down it was a unicorn filly, she had one of her eyes covered by bandages and her left forehoof was in a cast, “Thank you for saving us mister.”

“Frost get away from him!” she was pulled aside by her mother who gave me the most evilest look and I kept walking. We were outside and waiting for us was a carriage being hauled by two pegasai guards, “Princess are you sure it's safe for him to be unchained?” the pegasus readied his pistol, “I'm sure Razorwind, he will not be of any trouble for me.” he opened the carriage for us and we sat down. I felt the carriage take flight and nearly fell face first to the floor, “Not the most stable method of transportation.” I said as I did my best to keep myself seated,

“It takes a lot of practice before you even begin to sit properly.” she snickered as I used both of my hooves to keep myself from falling, I was able to look out the window and below I see the Royal Guard piling bodies onto a large cart and most of Canterlot's buildings have been reduced to nothing, “They did a lot of damage.”

“It's baffling, they just broke through our defenses, not one demon should be able to even get within an inch of the wards.” I started remembering what happened last night, right before I passed out I saw the demons retreating.

“Last night I saw the remaining hordes retreat. That never happens to any demon in general, they stay and fight to the end.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Right now it's only a theory but I think somepony was leading them. Have demons broke through your wards before?”

“Not in years, this is the first invasion in over a decade.” I felt us land and one of the pegasai opened the door, “We've arrived princess.” the two of us got off and we were met by two rows of soldiers who saluted us “What's this?” Celestia asked, “We apologize princess but we just wanted to show our thanks.” front and center was that same hotel clerk from The Horseshoe Inn wearing armor, “I know you!”

“Nice to see you're in one piece Callidus.” he said as he removed his helmet, “My name's Ironsight.” he held out his hoof for me to shake, “So you were the one who gave that anonymous tip to the Royal Guard?” as soon as I said that his hoof snapped back, “Um well...yeah sorry about that, you see I'm in an undercover unit in charge of capturing you. I was stationed at Ponyville in hopes of finding you.”

“An undercover unit huh?” I glare at Celestia who averts her gaze, “We wanted to thank you for what you did, if you hadn't come along who knows what could've happened.” behind him I see his comrades giving me smiles, “Don't mention it.”

“That's kind of you all but I'm afraid we must be going.” all of them bowed and walked away, 'Ironsight, now I know who to talk to about getting my stuff back.'

“Did I not mention the spies I sent after you?” I glared at her as she sheepishly smiled.

We finally entered the garden and it was even more massive that I thought it would be, the grass was a beautiful shade of emerald and everywhere I saw well sculpted statues placed where there were lush, exotic plants and right at the center of everything was a very large maze, “Do you like it?”

“It's a nice garden.” I plainly state, “You and Nero used to play here all the time when you were just colts.” it still amazes me how I used to actually tolerate that asshole. She led me into the maze and she shot a magic blast at a nearby wall of vegetation and revealed a pond with a table and four chairs just sitting near the rim of it, “This is my little sanctuary, nopony except my sister and I know about this place.” the two of us sat down and she spawned a teapot and two cups with her magic, “Now, what do you want to ask me? Oh before I forget.” her horn glowed and she spawned Persuasion and Reason, “I believe these belong to you.”

She levitated them to my hooves, “How did you know?”

“Zecora told me after I returned her things, I thanked her for looking after you.” I kept looking at my guns feeling relieved that I got them back, 'Now all I gotta do is escape.'

“Callidus?” I snap back to reality, “Sorry what?”

“I asked who is Gunpowder Smith?” I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and I stopped breathing, I felt nauseous and my body felt weak, I felt my mind forcing me to remember who he was and I quickly force those memories back, “No pony, just a pony who was willing to make them for me.” I said very quickly and I started to take deep breaths.

She looked at me very suspiciously but ignored it and took a sip from her cup, “Who was my father?” she sighed, “Your father was Saleel Beydoun, the first alicorn prince ever recorded in history.” I noticed that pang in her eyes, “What happened to him?” she began to cry, again, “Ten years ago, there was an attack, but it was caused by only one thing. It merely walked right through the wards and killed everypony in sight and in just seconds it turned Canterlot into a war zone. You were so young at the time, he wanted me to stay with you until it was over and I did what he told me. I was so worried about your father I went to see what has happened, I found him...he was just...lying there, there was so much blood *sob* when I got there it was already too late...” she cried even more and had difficulty just remembering that experience,

“The monster who attacked was nowhere to be found but when I returned to you...you were gone, no trace of any kind you just vanished, I've never felt so broken, so alone, so defeated in my entire life.” she stopped crying and smiled, “But now you returned, and I could never be more happy than I am now.” I couldn't look at her anymore, I was having a hard time believing her, “How come I can't remember any of this? How come I can't remember you or Violet or anypony I've ever met as a kid?” she projected two pictures of MRI photos, “The one to your left is the brain of a standard pony, and the one to your right is yours.” I compared the two and my brain had more dark spots, “You see the difference?”

“What do the dark spots mean?”

“Those dark spots represent what's missing. Your brain literally has holes in it, this spot here is where the other half of your hippocampus should be, it is responsible for memory storage, somehow somepony was able to remove it and tamper with your memory. Not just the hippocampus but some parts of the frontal lobe are missing as well, it's should be impossible for you to even be breathing!” I kept staring at the photos in disbelief. I remembered what I was about to ask Violet before they came and tried to kill us,

“Am I a demon?” she went quiet, the very same silence from the hospital came back to us and the only thing that could be heard was the gentle breeze, “Well, forgive me but this is a little hard to explain, I don't know what you are.” I raised both my eyebrows and gave her a very stupid look, “Come again.”

“It's the truth, I never really knew what you or your father were. Your father always seemed so, angelic, as if he were some ethereal being who flew down to earth, at first sight you would think he was an angel, but his power. Something of that magnitude would surpass even the most eldest of demons, it was so dark and malicious but at the same time gentle and benevolent while a demon's was just pure agony and hatred, I asked him what he was exactly but either he dodged the question or just never answered. But it's strange, with you I don't sense it, I don't sense any of it at all.” I thanked God I wasn't a demon at least, “Callidus, that name really suits you well. Would you like to know your real name?” she had a weird glint in her eye that I recognized all to well, she had hope in her eyes,

“Stop right there. I will admit when I was a colt I did have questions about myself like who were my real parents, why did they abandon me, and why was I able to do things other normal beings couldn't. It did kind of hurt that I had no idea who I was until today and I am grateful that you were willing to answer some questions, but never once did I dream to become a family with my real parents, I never dreamed of how different life would be if I lived with you or did I dream of you coming back for me one day. I never even bothered looking for you, the only thing you were to me was a general question, so before you get any ideas about how you and I will be this one big happy family I want to tell you right now that I don't want anything to do with you.” as cold as that sounded, and as dumb as it was considering she's the princess, it was the truth, I absolutely wanted nothing to do with her. That glint vanished in a second and she had this solemn expression,

“I see.” was all she said, she got up from her seat and started walking away, “Come with me.” she said in an serious tone. I followed her back into the palace, “Swiftstrike.” she nearly yelled, “Yes princess!” he saluted in fear,

“Take Callidus to the armory and equip him with whatever he wants, when he is ready take him to the training grounds.” “As you wish princess.” she walked away and I followed the unicorn, “She seems upset, what did you do to her?” he said angrily, he looked as if he were about to kill me, “All I did was tell her the truth.” he snorted and kept quiet the rest of the way.

He led me under the palace and when we got to the bottom of the steps I saw rows upon rows of swords, axes, shields, spears, bows and arrows, at the end of the hall there was a large armored door, “What's behind that door?”

“Heavy weaponry; guns, explosives, forbidden magic.” he answered. I change to my human form catching the guard by surprise and grab two swords, “So why am I getting prepared to fight?”

“It's what the princess wants.” I grabbed a few daggers and shove them in my shorts, “Any chance you know who I'll be fighting?” he nodded no, finally I grab a spear and shield and we walk back up to the palace. When I made it to the training grounds and I see a crowd of ponies, I get past and there waiting was Celestia, “Are you ready Callidus?”

“Cut the shit, who will I be fighting and why?” I felt my blood boil as I said it. She walked a few feet closer to me, “Your opponent will be Canterlot's reigning champion.”

“And that would be?” I looked at each of the crowd's faces, “Me.” she summoned her armor and spawned a glowing claymore sword earning her gasps from the crowd, “I would like to make a wager with you Callidus. As you should know you are in custody of the Pony Monarchy and I am more than willing to hand you over to Minyochnaed if you do not comply.” she smirked making me even more furious, “And what's the wager?”

“If you best me you will be set free and you will never be pursued by the Royal Guard ever again. If I win however, you are to remain here in Canterlot as a prince and only address me as “mother”. Do you accept?” I grab the spear and point it in her direction, “Fight me with everything you have.”

Unexpected Outcome

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This sucks, here I am stuck in a pony hospital wearing nothing but bandages and I'm getting yelled at by Morrison, “Where the hell are you!?” somehow my phone is able to get full reception in this dimension, “Sorry Morrison but Violet and I are out of the country at the moment.”

“Well you should scurry your asses home because your house burned down.”

“What!? How!?”

“Yeah, I came by to your house to check on you and instead I found a gigantic ball of fire. The Fire Department isn't sure what was the cause but they said it started in the basement. The fire was put out but everything in the house was destroyed.”

“Everything? Even...”

“The red mustang, yeah.”

“Could you hold?” I felt my eye twitch uncontrollably and I put the phone on my bed in a very calm manner, “RRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!” with all my strength I punched the entire wall off of the building with my demonic hoof. A guardpony came in, “Is everything all-”

“GET THE FUCK OUT!” he had the most terrified look on his face and he scrammed out the door, I grab my phone and speak through gritted teeth, “So what did you want?”

“Besides to tell you that you're homeless I wanted to assign you another job.”

“Find someone else!” I hung up the phone and I felt a migraine coming, “I hate my life.” I heard the door open and then a yelp of surprise, “Nero what the fuck happened!?” Violet said looking at where the wall used to be, “Violet sit down.” she sat on her haunches in front of me, “Morrison just called me.”

“We have reception here?”

“Not important! Morrison just told me that our house burned.”

“What!? How!?”

“Apparently the fire started in the basement.” she went eerily quiet, “Can you give me your pillow?” I hand her the pillow and she screamed into it. After a few minutes of chopping up my room she calmed down, “Great not only is my current outfit ruined but now all of my outfits are burned to a crisp.” she said as she placed Rebellion on her back “Fuck your clothes I spent three straight months doing absolutely nothing but fix that car and now it's just gone!”

“It's a good thing if you ask me.” I growled at her and she simply shrugged, “Maybe aunt Trish would let us stay with her until we can find another place.”

“If we manage to reach her, woman's hard to find.” I stood up allowing my muscles to wake up, “You wanna walk around? I'm still not used to walking on hooves.”

“Wait do you still have the ring?”

“Nope, I think I left it back...home.” I felt a bead of sweat form on my forehead, “Shit, you should bandage the hoof, you know so it won't freak out the other folks here.” she tossed me a roll of fresh bandages. We were out of the depressing hospital and decided to walk to the palace, “So you're telling me that this Princess Celestia is our aunt?”

“Yes Nero.”

“Our uncle was a horsefucker?” she punched me in the shoulder nearly dislocating it, “Our uncle was the best uncle in the universe, don't demote him with such a disgusting word.” she used her rare seriousness against me making me keep my mouth shut, “So where's your friend?”

“Bookworm and her friends went out to do volunteer work. I still feel bad for putting her through that hell.”

“It was her choice Violet what the hell could we possibly tell her? No?”

“I should have at least done something instead of going along for the ride. Last night I noticed something about her, the way she handled herself.”

“I'd say she was capable of holding out.”

“No like, she had done this kind of thing before.”

“Fight?”

“Kill.” she suddenly went into deep thought. Behind us I was hearing what sounded like a stampede, “Violet! Nero!” I heard a familiar voice and when the both of us turned I see Twilight, Zecora, and the other mares running towards us, “What the hell?” before they could crash into us they skidded to a stop, “BadbadreallybadCallidusandPrincessCelestiaarefightingwitheachotherandIdon'tknowwhybutthisisreallybadbecausetheprincessneverlosttoanyponyandCalliduscouldendupworsethanhewasbeforesowegottagorightnow!”

I didn't understand anything from what Pinkie said, “Callidus is fighting Princess Celestia!” Twilight yelled out, “I heard that they were talking for a bit then he said something that really pissed her off so she called him out to a fight! I gotta see this!”

“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded, “I don't know the details but we gotta stop them.” she grabbed Violet by the hoof and dragged her away and I chased after them, “Who cares if they're fighting?”

“In all honesty I don't care either, he can't kill her and she won't kill him. But if Twilight finds this wrong then I'll help her.” Violet turned around and expected me to just go with it, “Fine.” 'Damn I wanted to kick his ass.'

************(several minutes earlier)************

“Fight me with everything you have.”

“I don't plan to hold back.” I charged straight at her trying to fool her with a head on attack, right when she was about to side step I used the spear to poll vault myself over her and used one of the daggers to strike her in the head. She was quick and used her glowing claymore to block the blade, as soon as my feet touched the ground I lunged the spear forward and she nearly ran into it, before I could follow up I saw her sword coming and I twist myself around and felt her sword hit the shield on my back, I lunge forward again but she anticipated it and cut off the spear head.

I discard the spear and throw a dagger at her, she used her magic to stop it mid air giving me enough time to get close to her and attack, I swing one of the swords and she dodged it but then I grab the other sword and nearly stabbed her if she did use her wings to fly backwards. I charge at her again and our swords collided creating sparks, “I can see why you're so formidable.” I knock her sword away and started swinging, she kept dodging my swings but she was unknowingly backing herself into the crowd, she finally left an opening and kicked her right in the snout knocking off her helmet, “Princess!” one of the guards shouted, she skidded a few feet away and her nose was bleeding, I grab another dagger and throw it in her direction but I aimed between her forehooves, “Can I go now?”

“Not yet.” her horn glowed and I heard metal scraping the ground, I duck in time to dodged her sword, “I thank you for the warm up.” in a split second she closed the gap between us and I barley blocked her claymore sword in time. She was now attacking me with a barrage of attacks in such rapid motion that I was having trouble keeping up with her speed. I was now the one who was getting backed into the crowd which was helping me time her attacks, I timed when she was about to swing and I fall on my back and connected my foot to her chin.

'That move should have been obvious to anypony with her skill, what if...' I run to her keeping my self low and I slash upwards, she blocks every one of my strikes but I leg sweep her and she falls face first to the ground while I jump back to gain some distance, 'Like I thought, she can't defend herself when somepony fights low.' as soon as she stood up I change to a pony to shorten my height and I aim the swords high. She was having a bit of trouble, everytime she would block she would stumble a little, I swung the blade at her throat and she arched back but I used the other one to cut her font leg and she fell on her side, I drive the blade to her head but at the last second she vaporized into a cloud of magic and materialized behind me.

“Barely three minutes and you already figured out that I have trouble with low attacks.” I get into a bit of a shock when I notice the wound I inflicted was gone, “Since you have figured out my disadvantage I should try and figure out yours.” in lightning speed she thrusted her sword and I roll out of the way, before I could stop she was already inches in front of me and I backflip away from her blade which made a cut going from my cheek to my chin. I looked up and a ball of magic hit me in the throat, it felt like cold flames burning my neck, it was powerful enough to send me five feet away from her.

The crowd erupted into cheers and insults, I rub my neck as I stood and Celestia walked slowly towards me, “Aah so both your agility and reaction time decrease while in your pony form. I'm guessing this is the result from mainly using your human form to fight?” I ready the swords, “You're right.”

“But I too prefer if you fought me with everything you have.” I change back to a human, “Excellent.” I heard wings flapping and in a powerful stomp a midnight blue alicorn landed right between us, “ENOUGH!!!” she spoke in a very loud voice making my eardrums throb in pain since I was so close, “HOW DARE YOU ASSAULT THE ROYAL CROWN, AND THY OWN MOTHER NO LESS YOU GORMLESS, BARMY, SCANDALOUS BERK!!!” her eyes were glowing white with power and seething with fury, but the most it did was annoy me, “WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON YOUR BEHALF?!!!”

“Stand down sister.” Celestia said to the other alicorn, “Celestia why on Earth are allowing your own child to treat you with such disrespect and aggression? He's lucky he is your son for I would obliterate him if he were some commoner.”

“Luna I told him to fight me.”

"What!?” she looked at the both of us wide-eyed, “Sister why would you fight your own son?”

“I made a wager with him that requires the two of us to duel and he accepted, just like a true warrior.” she had so much pride in her eyes as she said that, “There has to be some other way to-”

“There is no other way!” the blue alicorn backed away in fear, “Stand aside sister, I will not lose him again.” the alicorn looked like she was in pain and flew away.

Determination was written all over her face and she readied her sword, 'How many daggers do I have left?' I only had three left and I remembered Persuasion and Reason, 'I can't use them yet since there are soldiers surrounding us. If I can get her out of this crowd I might just have a chance at defeating her.' I grab a dagger and threw it at her and she cut it in half.

She charged at me and I dodged it and ran straight into the crowd and they moved out of the way in fear. When I was far enough from the crowd Celestia flew to where I was and casted a spell creating a magic bubble around her, “You made that too obvious.” right when she said that I drew out Persuasion and shot one round next to her head and the bullet pierced through her magic bubble. Before she could be shocked I drew out Reason and continuously fired at her until the bubble was shredded to pieces, “How-”

“These are not regular guns Celestia.” I fired two more shots at her and she used her sword to deflect them but the bullets shattered her claymore. She turned into a cloud of magic again and slithered her way towards me but I shot one of the edges, I heard a shriek of pain and she materialized back into an alicorn, “Enchanted bullets.” I holster Reason and wield a sword instead. Her sword magically restored itself and I blocked her attack with the finger guard and before I could pull the trigger I felt a blast of telekinesis push seven feet away from her, it was strong enough to break another rib. I quickly jump on my feet and shot at her but every bullet I fired missed because she was successfully evading all of them, she was within striking distance and we swing our blades at the same time.

I saw the blade just scratch her collarbone and hers would've cut my head clean off if I didn't duck a little lower, I saw an opening and used the butt of Persuasion to hit her right on her temple. She backed away from me and wobbled as she did, I took the chance and assaulted her with a barrage of attacks that she was having a hard time parrying, she telegraphed an overhead chop and I punch her in the snout again. She walked backwards and was drifting in and out of consciousness, I readied myself to attack but her horn glowed and the blade of my sword broke,

“What the fuck?” her horn was still glowing and she shot a thick stream of magic at me which I dodged easily and it destroyed the entire wall behind me, “I apologize for that, I didn't mean for it to be so powerful but it's hard for me to control my magic when I get angry.” her eyes were as sharp as daggers when she looked at me, I aimed Persuasion at her and with her supernatural speed she knocked it out of my hand and tackled me to the ground, she held my arms down with her magic which felt like vices and started punching me in the face with her armored-covered hooves, 'For royalty she's not afraid to get physical.' the more she punched the more pissed off I was getting, after a few more hits she stopped, “Do you surrender?” she got off of me allowing my legs to move, “I'd rather say clench your jaw.”

“Wha-” I one swift motion I use both of my legs to kick her under her chin and caused her to release me. I jump to my feet and use the shield on my back to beat her, she swung her sword but I blocked it and hit her even harder making her head snap violently to her right, 'Keep her busy, don't give her a chance to use her magic.' I brought down the shield on her head creating a large gash and she kneeled to the floor, “Callidus stop!” I stopped hitting her and I look to where my name was called and I see everypony from last night looking at me terrified except for Zecora and Violet who just watched undeterred.

At that moment I felt something cut into both of my thighs and a beam of magic went through my stomach, it didn't disintegrate anything but it was excruciating, my stomach felt as if it were collapsing in on itself and my spine felt as if it were trying to gnaw it's way out of my body. The beam disappeared and I couldn't move my legs, she vanished and in a fraction of a second my entire left arm was covered in cuts, 'She's even faster now than she was last night.' in an instant my right arm was covered in cuts rendering me immobile. My legs finally gave out and I fall to the ground, I see her tower over me and she raises her claymore, “Princess Celestia wait!” she brought it down and she buried it next to my head, I tried my best to move my arms and legs but they didn't move an inch, I lost, “Your real name is Aether.” the other ponies began to cheer for Celestia, “Hold still.” a bright light engulfed the both of us and all of our injuries were healed, “What were you thinking!” I see everypony walk towards me, my focus stays on Twilight because she was the only one who looked as if she were ready to kill me, “Twilight please calm down, I was the one who told him to fight.”

“But Princess Celestia did you have to?”

“Yes, he didn't want to stay here so I made a bet with him.”

“Sister!” above us I saw the same alicorn from earlier flying towards us, “She has arrived.”

“Oh and just in time too! Aether come with us, there is somepony I would like you to meet.”

“Don't call me that.”

“Okay then Callidus come with us.”

“Fine.”

“Fine what?” she smirked at me, she was really milking it, “Fine...mother.” I thought I was gonna have an aneurism, “What!?” everypony except Twilight, Violet and Nero exclaimed. I was inside the palace following my “mother” and her sister to where ever I was being led to, “Callidus, I need to know a few things. Why did you kill all of those soldiers in Minyochnaed?” I stopped walking and the both of them waited for my answer, “They didn't give us a choice, at the time it was either be docile and suffer whatever scenario they had in mind or fight and live.” they looked at me then at each other, “Alright.”

“Alright? That's all you have to say?”

“You said it yourself that you had no choice, we've been faced with those choices before so we know what it's like, and for that we believe you. You can explain everything tomorrow when the prime minister comes.” they looked at me with such sympathy, I only had that given to me by two ponies in my life, “But did you have to burn down the military base?” the blue alicorn asked, “Where I come from we don't believe in burials, we think that's disrespectful to the dead since they decompose and become food for the maggots so we cremate them instead.”

“Earlier you told me that some of my guards tried to kill you, do you have any proof?” I raised my head and showed them the scar I have on my neck making them gasp, “A few years ago one of them saw me and immediately fired, the bullet got my jugular. I thought for sure I was gonna die but eventually the bleeding stopped and I miraculously survived.”

“One last thing, are you involved with the Dodge Junction Incident?” my brain exploded into memories of corpses, gunfire, and screams. I felt my hoof slightly pick itself up an inch trying to reach for my gun and cram a bullet into my skull just to stop myself from remembering those horrific images, I lowered my hoof and forced myself to stop remembering, “No.” Celestia narrowed her eyes a little indicating she knew I was lying, “I believe you.” she said and we resumed walking. At the end of a corridor we were walking in were two large wooden doors engraved with Celestia's cutiemark, “Prepare yourself.”

She opened the door and a light pink blur tackled me and pulled me into a hug, “Aether! I missed you soooo much! Look at how tall you got!” she squeezed even tighter and I heard my back crack, loudly, “Let...me...go...” I wheezed out as I tried to wriggle my way out of her death grip, “Oh.” she let go and I take in large gulps of air, “Why the fuck did you hug me?” she looked embarrassed, “Sorry I forgot that you have amnesia. I'm Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but everypony just calls me Cadance, I'm your cousin.” she was a light pink alicorn with beautifully multicolored wings but she was different, I wasn't afraid of her at all unlike Celestia, “So when do we start?”

“Start what?”

“Last night when you were in the hospital I did a thorough check on you to see if there was anything magically wrong since you are missing both your horn and wings. What I found was a curse, and a powerful one, it is repressing all of your alicorn blood and it's originating from that amulet.” she referred to the amulet I was still wearing, “You think this is the problem?” 'Then again it magically comes back to me whenever I lose it...'

“Where did you get that?”

“I don't know, it was with me when I was found.”

“Whatever this device is it is beyond one alicorn's abilities. That is why we brought Cadance here to help us break the curse.” the blue alicorn explained, “*sigh* What do I have to do?” Celestia just positioned me at the center of the room, “Just stay still.” all of them surrounded me and each of their horns glowed. I was hearing a low humming sound coming from their horns and I felt an overwhelming sense of relaxation, soon their eyes were glowing green with a purple and black haze smoking out of the corner of their eyes and their magic auras were merging with one another.

After making a perfect circle made of black magic a snake-like thing came from each of them and started to envelop me beginning with my hooves, at first I tried to get them off me but then they became oddly soothing, 'What is this?' I was slowly being swallowed by something made from the very essence of madness, I could feel the hatred in myself being mixed with the typhoon of sadism that is the black magic making my body lose all sense of touch, it was pure bliss. The black magic was now up to my neck only increasing the pleasure, 'Am I...enjoying this...' once it reached my ears I was sent into such an intense feeling of euphoria that I lost myself in it and forgot where I was.

I was now fully covered by this weird thing and when I opened my eyes I saw and exact copy of myself just a few feet away from me, instead of panicking I just stared in amazement, “Not this way.” he smiled, “*crack*” I looked down and my amulet glowed furiously blinding me. My eyes were now truly open and I saw all of the magic from their horns come to me, 'A rebound!?' the magic shot back at them in a giant explosion strong enough to launch them to the walls and shatter the windows in the room, “Holy shit.” when I sat on my haunches I felt an extra set of appendages on my back move on their own.

When I turn around I see a pair of wings tipped with white and gold feathers, “No.” I reach a hoof to my forehead and found something smooth and hard instead, “Do you believe me now?” I turn to Celestia who was smiling at me, “Yeah, I do...” in all honesty this was a bit too much to take in, I mean shapeshifting was fine by me but to find out I'm an alicorn was...I can't even describe it, “That spell required a lot more than I thought it would.” the blue alicorn said, I took a good look at Celestia and her sister and noticed their manes stopped flowing, they became lifeless and dull,

“This is intriguing, whoever put that curse on you knew a lot more than us.” Celestia said. The now unhinged door was being examined by Ironsight who was standing at the doorframe, “Princess is everything-Callidus?” he stared at my now visible wings and I felt a sense of dread, “Everything is fine Ironsight, you may return to your duties.”

“But Princess there is something you need to know. During shift change I found two of our guards murdered outside of the Canterlot Safe.” Celestia's eyes narrowed, “Do you know who the culprit is?”

“No but the Canterlot Safe was opened somehow and we have confirmed the suspect took something of unknown value.”

“What was stolen?”

“Two blood red amulets.”

**********************

A smokey black bird flew to a nearby cliff which has a clear view of all of Canterlot, on top was a hooded pony just standing and watching the busy city below, “Oh Canterlot, how many years has it been since I last seen your illustrious beauty?” the bird landed on the pony's shoulder and held out two amulets embedded with rubies in it's mouth, “Excellent work Diosus. Would you please clean yourself up you have blood all over myself.” the bird only screeched in response, “Be patient, we have only just begun. Besides we need to wait for the right moment, the prince did just return.” the bird screeched again.

“Don't underestimate him, since I have no knowledge on him he will be considered a threat to us until proven useless.” the pony grabbed the amulets and attached them together. He held both of the amulets above his head to let Celestia's sun reflect on them, “How extraordinary! To think that these insignificant jewels have so much potential, these Diosus are the keys to open the realm of God! Once he is freed he will purge this universe into oblivion and reconstruct an entirely new utopia! But before then there is work that must be done.” the pony walked away from the city.

“So did you dispose of the bodies?” the bird screeched, “Of course you didn't, why should I expect you to clean after yourself. Well it'll be a nice surprise for Celestia now won't it? Didn't I tell you my informant was a trustworthy fellow? And how nice it was of him to just let us learn about her new and more potent wards. Now if he would just do what I had instructed him to do I would allow him to join our ranks, if he did it would make things much easier.” a blue portal appeared in front of him and he vanished with the wind.

Subpoena

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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.”

Freedom Requires Sacrifice

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It was hot, no scratch that, it was unbearably hot, so hot that two of the immigrants in our cart already died,

“Water...please...water...” I slur on the verge of passing out. We've been in the cart for a good three days, during the day we cook in the blazing sun until my ass is covered in blisters and at night it gets so cold that I feel ice form on my seat. We would've escaped sooner but somehow Zecora can't use any shadows to pick the locks,

“Callidus...where are...” slowly I turn to face where I thought Zecora would be, “Water...just gimme some water...” I say to her as dehydration took over. At some point I fell asleep and when I woke up I was freezing, “Around the corner then three blocks down...around the corner then three blocks down...around the corner then three blocks down...”the voice was aged and sounded feminine, “What?” my throat was too parched so it was barely audible, “The corner store, where the nice bull lives, he always gives me candy and walks me home every time I visit my friend.” it was that pegasus mare who nearly bashed her head in who finally spoke up, “Who lives where?”

“My friend Mr. Blank, he would sit me down in front of him and do funny things to me like put sticks in my hooves or he would put a cold circle on my chest. I call him Mr. Blank because he always wears white, he so nice to me.” she said as her voice gets even raspier from lack of water, “They would always drop me off and at his home and I always had to walk my house. So when this funny looking carriage stops I will go around the corner and find my other friend.” she giggled like a school filly and I prayed the train would stop soon and I fell asleep.

One of the dark walls suddenly flew wide open letting the bright sun illuminate the cart startling me awake, two figures came in and the sprayed something cold at me and at everypony inside,

“Cooled off?” my eyes adjusted to the light and I see three armored minotaurs, two of them were holding hoses and the middle one just stood there with a rifle, “Alright get them to the Farm.” more of them came and they picked each and every one of us up, “All of you, move.” we obliged and we were walking out. The poison I was injected with was wearing off and I was able to move my stiff muscles to some degree, I look around and see nothing but pure, dry desert that seems to stretch on for miles and miles,

“Brother...I can't...” I heard dead weight drop behind me, “Zecora!” my throat burned when I screamed. When I shuffled to her one of the soldiers pushed me back, “Hey just stay there, we can probably help her.”

“No you can't.” I turn and see Ferkith coming out of the train, “She's as good as dead, I mean look at the others just up and walking while she's just laying there. Pile her with the other two dead weights.”

“No for God's sake help her!” they unshackle her and aim at her head, “No!” adrenaline was released into my system and with it I used it to break one of the minotaur's legs with a single kick and use my cuffs to choke him into submission.

The other one came at me with the stock of his gun but I move back and he accidentally hits his partner instead. He drops to the ground and I grab the other soldier's rifle, with full force I headbutt him and he stumbles to the ground and I aim the rifle at him, “Now he's getting fired up! I love it!” Ferkith said gleefully as more soldiers come out of the train, “Now what was your name again? Callidus? Did you like the poison I made? I designed it to specifically last three days because that is exactly how long it takes to get here. But the one thing I'm most proud of is it's ability to cut off any magic a criminal may have, thus eliminating any chance of escape.” he said as he walked closer to Zecora,

“Ferkith! Either you help her or I blow this guy's head clean off!” I bluffed as my finger tensed,

“Well that is certainly a complete change of tune. Here's what I can offer, I give her medical attention and in exchange you will have to be...” he rubbed his chin and smiled like a mental patient, “I know! How about you become my pet.” that set me off but before I could pull the trigger there was a gunshot but it wasn't from me, on top of the train cart I was in was a minotaur covered in a sand colored shroud.

He shot me right in the upper part of my arm and I was again defenseless, “New offer, either you agree to the terms of the first offer or I kill both you and her.” the cocking of many assault rifles confirmed that he wasn't fucking around. I was furious, I let myself get a bit too cocky and I ended up at the mercy of the MIS, I was ready to be defiant again until I looked at my sister, she was on the verge of death and if I didn't do something this will be the last place she ever saw so I swallow my pride and I calm down, “You win Ferkith.” he smiled in delight as I saw Zecora being taken away, every ounce of rebellion I had was now ground to dust, “Now what to call you?” I didn't notice Ferkith towering over me like a vulture scouting for food,

“How about I call you...Footstool.”

“Footstool?” a hoof connected with my face and I was knocked back, I felt something hard and round press against my face and above me was Ferkith, “Yeah because you can be too easy to step on. Now listen, if you ever try to escape I will not hesitate to get Zecora and slowly mutilate her with my bare hands in front of you and then kill you. Understand?” he applied more pressure to his hoof, “Yes.”

“I'm sorry what was that? You have to call me “master” every time you talk to me. So do you understand?” I had the most strongest urge to rip out his throat, “Yes...master.” he took his hoof off and he unshackled me, “Take the others to the Farm!”

“No! No no no no!” yelled the now manic pegasus mare, “This isn't the corner store! What did you do to it!? What did you do to my friend!?” she kept bucking every soldier who came close.

She bucked one hard enough to the ground and she pounced on him, she removed the helmet and used her hooves to grab hold of his mouth and pulled them apart, “AAAAAAAGGHHH!!!” he screamed, she kept pulling and slowly his cheeks were ripping apart, “Kill her.” a soldier took aim and shot her in the head, “She was a lot stronger than she looked.” Ferkith laughed as he looked down at the injured soldier who muffled his cries, “This goes for all of you! Anypony gets even the slightest thought of defiance will result in execution!” I kept staring at the dead mare,

“You heard him, any sign defiance and Zecora and I will end up dead.” I felt cold metal clasp around my wrists and unknown hands hauled me away from the rest, “C'mon Footstool, time for you to see your new home!” Ferkith along with the two carrying me laughed at his joke. We stop right in front of a 50 ft wall of sandstone, “Open up! I got a new pet and I don't want to stuff him with the rest of the livestock!” the sound of large, mechanical gears grinding against each other invaded my ears and the wall formed into two doors. What was revealed was a large military base, it was crowded with soldiers and everywhere there were soldiers who came in and out of hand-made buildings painted brown with either files or guns. In the center of it all was a sturdy looking mansion with a coat of blue paint and yellow accents, the roof was dome shaped and on top were three flags; one was red and white with a intricate gold pyramid encased in a black circle at the center which can only be the flag of Minyochnaed, one was a pure yellow with a silver shield which was the MIS, and the last one was green with a purple trimming and it had a picture of a hand gripping a snake which I did not recognize.

I looked at the walls surrounding this small city and figure that they carved a mountain from the inside to make this, “Impressed Footstool?” he said as he noticed how I gaped at this base,

“This is the greatest fort ever to be made in the history of the world. This fort was built nearly 500 years ago, it fought in over 286 battles and it has never once fallen. Welcome to Fort Schultz.” one of them nudged me to walk, “Alright enough sightseeing, get moving.”

“Hey asshole, I'm bleeding.” I deadpanned when I mentioned the bullet wound, “Ah we'll fix it when we get there.” they led me to the mansion which was heavily guarded out front. The mansion was even bigger than I thought, we were walking on spiral stairs made of ivory that seemed to go on forever, when I tried to take another step dehydration took over again and the last thing I remember was falling down the stairs and blacking out. I don't know how long I was out but I woke up when something cold splashed over me, I sit up in a panic and gasp for air,

“You okay Footstool?” across from me sitting in a chair with an empty bucket was Ferkith, “What the hell you-” I felt something around my neck, I looked down and see a collar with a six foot chain attached to the wall behind me, “The fuck is this!? *groan*” pain shot up my shoulder when I moved my arm. The bullet wound from earlier was still there, it healed a little faster but it was still fresh, “I thought you said you were going to fix this.”

“Did I say that?” he pulled a bag of some sort from behind his seat and set it on his lap.

“You're a pet now, do what the other animals do when they're injured and tend to it yourself.” I look at him with the most serious face I could ever make, “You're kidding right?”

“If you do it maybe I'll give you a little something for the pain.” he patted the bag on his lap, “Go to Hell.” I spat with hate. His face grew a scowl, he nearly leaps out of his seat and punched me to the ground, my nose went numb for a second then it became moist and painful, he broke my nose, “Huh? It seems that it already started to heal.” he plunged his finger straight into the wound and I wailed as the bullet was pushed in deeper,

“Barely half an hour and you already broke two rules, you were again rebellious and you did not call me master.” he pushed even deeper until he was a knuckle in and he tore even more of my muscle making my arm feel like it's being electrocuted,

“*groan* Sorry, but it's hard for me to obey somepony who framed me and threatened to kill my sisterAAAARGH!!!” the bullet was near bone and blood literally poured out like an open faucet, no doubt if he pushed any further I would lose the arm, “I will let that little stunt slide only once, but if you give me shit like that again I will cut out that tongue. Understood?” I stared at him hoping that he would burst into flames with my glare, “Yes, master.” I struggle to say through gritted teeth.

He quickly pulled out his finger along with the bullet and walked back to his seat, I hold my shoulder to try and stop the bleeding, “Well?” he said as he stared me down, “Lick your wound, pet.” my arm was shaking uncontrollably, dark red streaks covered the length of it and dripped onto the carpet, I remove my hand and see the now bigger bullet wound. An almond scent radiated from it and I gag, that's a clear sign of gangrene, I move closer to the wound and hesitantly stick out my tongue,

“Just a few licks...” finally I taste the metallic blood, “Good boy.” he said clearly enjoying watching me, I accidentally dig into it and the muscles contracted, for a second my tongue was stuck in the wound and I tasted the tender and ragged tissue until I pull it out with a loud suction sound which almost made me lose whatever I had left in my stomach. Ferkith pulled out a medical box and a smaller black box and threw them next to me,

“I'll be back, I have a meeting to attend to, oh before I forget.” he grips my nose and pulls it creating a sickening cracking sound, it still hurts but it was easier to breathe. As he walks out of the room the first thing I grab is the black box , I opened it and inside was a syringe and a bottle of penicillin.

Many stitches later the pain on my shoulder was reduced to a dull throb, I grab the medical box and stared at the red cross on it until I threw it across the room and knocked over a globe. Never in my life did I ever feel so powerless, so abused, right now Zecora's life is in the palm of that psychopath and I can't do anything else at the moment except obey his every command proving that I am nothing but his pet and knowing that only pisses me off further. The door opened and at the frame I see the cow who tackled me, she was wearing regular clothing instead of her armor and her chestnut hair was tied into a ponytail,

“Umm...hi.” she says as she slowly walks in, “What the hell do you want?” she freezes when she makes eye contact, “Sorry, I came by to tell you that your zebra friend is making a full recovery.” I relaxed a little,

“Thank you.” she walks even closer and she lowers herself a little, “You're an actual human. Do you know any other humans?”

“If I did I probably wouldn't be in this country in the first place.” I snap, “Right, do you know you're the first human to be sighted in almost 20 years?”

“No I didn't and I don't give a rat's ass.” she sat down in front of me, “You're pissed, it's normal to feel that way since you are a prisoner. How do you do that thing?”

“What thing?”

“That thing when you transform.”

“I just think about it.”

“Really? Can you change into other things?”

“No, I tried.”

“Well do you have any other powers? I read that humans can be as powerful as an alicorn!”

“That is complete bullshit.” her smile faded and she looked disappointed, “Is it really?”

“Yeah, in this form I'm as powerful as you are right now.”

“Oh, I see. No wonder you didn't escape earlier.”

It went quiet and she looked uncomfortable by the silence, “Are you really an assassin?” I was taken aback by that question since it was random and serious, “I was, but I'm trying to stay away from that sort of shit.”

“How come? From what I heard you are really blood thirsty.”

“Okay let me clear some things up. I was an assassin, but it wasn't my first option. I was actually goaded into being an assassin, some griffons saw my talent and they told me to work for them as their personal hit-pony, they said that it would be for justice, for the good of the world and the things that live in it. Being as young as I was I believed them and immediately went to work. After many jobs I grew suspicious of their motives so I looked into it, they were actually getting me to kill anypony they thought would be a threat to them or their fortune, so on my last job I let my target live. They soon caught up with me and reported me to the Griffon Empire, before we could be arrested we fled”

“But why here? Couldn't you have gone to Equestria where it's more “immigrant friendly”?”

“When you're on the run conventional means of travel are out of the question and when you do travel, it can get expensive. Since Minyochnaed was the farthest we could travel to until we ran out of money we stayed here.”

“You know you're pretty open. I thought somepony like you would barley say anything.”

“Yup.”

“I'm Khiva by the way.” she held out her hand, “Callidus.” I reply as I shook her hand, “Nice to meet you Callidus.”

“Khiva, tell me, what happens to the other prisoners here?” once again her smile vanished, “They get deported back to their country, but if they committed a major crime then by law they must serve time here.” my hands turned to fists, “Then tell me how many supposed murderers here are actually guilty!” I yell which caused her to fall on her back.

I scared her, I could tell from her watering eyes, “I-I...Callidus...”

“Why did Ferkith want me as a prisoner!? It's sure as hell not because I'm an immigrant because he went through a lot of trouble to make sure I wouldn't leave the country!” I stood up and I loomed over her, “If I tell you I want you to promise something.” her tone went flat and she kept staring at the floor, “You don't mention any of this to General Jirrad.” I sat back down and she regained composure and looked at me, “I'm not sure if you know this but poverty is common in some of the country's provinces, more common near shorelines. Income is so low in those parts that minotaurs sometimes leave their homes to find jobs somewhere else.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I'm telling you everything so you could understand better. I come from one of those provinces, both of my parents were unemployed and the soil in my hometown was poor for farming so we were reduced to scavenging and stealing food. Eventually I heard about positions available in the military, I told my parents about it and they got angry. I begged them to let me go because we needed the money and the military gave soldiers many benefits, but they forbade it and told me to forget about it. When the recruiters came I took the chance and signed up.”

“How did you manage that? Don't you have to be 18?”

“I just lied to them and when they asked for my parents I said that I was an orphan. A month later it was time for me to go to bootcamp, I lied to my parents telling them that somepony hired me to be their maid in the capital.” I look out the large, paneled window and I see the sun begin to set.

“Can you please get to the point?”

“I'm getting to it. After training I joined the MIS since it was the only branch accepting rookies, when I got my first check I noticed that it was smaller than what they promised so a few of us asked the first officer we found for an explanation. Turns out that we were growing in numbers and they were running out of room meaning smaller and smaller paychecks for the rest of us excluding the higher ups. I was sad when I found out but then they announced an open position for the rank of captain, so I aimed for it. I knew that the others would go for captain too so I had to push myself harder than I ever did in my life. I broke my knuckles from constant punching of concrete, I passed out every time I went out for a jog, and I suffered a lot of migraines from studying battle tactics to weaponry nonstop just so I could be the best of the best. When I felt that I was ready they turned me down just because I was young and inexperienced in battle. I was about to quit until he spoke up.” I lean against the wall out of fatigue,

“General Jirrad pleaded with the others to give me a chance until they finally did. I asked him why he did what he did and he said that he noticed how hard I trained and saw my potential. I accompanied him to take down a building full of criminals who intended to distribute weapons into the country illegally, he ordered me to handle the situation.”

“And let me guess, you took them down?”

“With no casualties. Thanks to that I was granted the rank and my paychecks tripled. I enjoyed it, I liked how I was above every other soldier in this base, I liked how I was able to train rookies myself, and how I would actually form battle strategies instead of listening to them, I was so focused on myself that I was too ignorant to notice what was happening in the background.” she shifted uncomfortably in her spot.

“You see one of my duties as captain is to watch over the Farm here and there.”

“What is the “Farm”?”

“It's the name of the prison where the immigrants are placed.”

“Continue.”

“When I do roll call sometimes I would find one or two inmates missing and I would figure that they were just deported. But one day when I did roll call I had an entire page of names that were marked as missing, when I confronted General Jirrad about it he said that most of them were deported and some died from beatings. I grew suspicious so I looked into it, I dug through some of the older files and I found hundreds of names listed as missing and when I look at the dates they indicated that it started when Jirrad became general. I brought the files to him and I demanded that he explain why so many inmates were vanishing, and he did.” she tensed up,

“He told me that Fort Schultz was at risk of becoming one of the poor provinces so he and the other commanding officers got together to think of a solution to the problem, and that was when he showed his true colors.” her voice started to get a little shaky, “He took me to a secret section just recently built within the Farm. What I saw beyond that door was too unreal...” she brought her knees up to her chest and she hid her face, “Beyond that door was General Jirrad's “solution”, he and the rest of them agreed to turn criminal and use the inmates as a way to make profit.”

“What do you mean profit?”

“The secret section was actually an auction house, General Jirrad's “solution” was to sell the inmates to the highest bidder, but that was not the worst part.” she balled up a little more tighter.

“The inmates were sold off to be whatever the buyer wanted them to be. General Jirrad built sound proof rooms for those who wanted them for sex, he built a dungeon full of devices and mechanisms he called “toys” for whoever wanted to torture them for fun, and he built a small restaurant for those who bought them to be livestock.”

“Livestock?”

“Some of the buyers were actually eating the prisoners.” I felt my stomach bubble and something in it clawed at the walls of my throat, when I opened my mouth I puked, “Callidus!” I have seen some very very disturbing things in my life and it's rare that I puke, but cannibalism? That shit is just downright wrong, “Sorry...”

“No I'm sorry, I'll just leave.” I grab hold of her wrist before she could leave, “I'm fine, remember that you said you were going to tell me everything? So please, continue.” she stared at the door but she sat back down into her original position, “When I first entered I saw many military officials and politicians that I know very well. General Jirrad told me to sit with him and his friends, I sat there listening to their stories, General Jirrad told me the times he broke hardened stallions by turning them into sex slaves, he told me how he loved to hear griffons scream as he slowly broke every individual bone in their body, he even admitted to preparing and eating a minotaur.” I sat there unmoving and silent, everything that she was saying was so horrifying and twisted that I couldn't believe it, it would be more believable if she said they were demons,

“That's just sick!” I exclaim, “Doesn't anypony else know?”

“Only the higher ups including myself and a few of the soldiers here.” “Why are you just letting them get away with this!? Don't you find any of this wrong!?” “Of course I find this wrong! I was auctioned off once!”

I cut myself off, there was an awkward silence which was broken by sobs coming from Khiva, “General Jirrad came to me and said that he was low on inventory and that he needed my help to fix the problem, he even convinced a few others to “help”. When we came I was the first one to be up for auction, nopony was placing any bids. When he saw some of them leaving he came on stage with me and he told me to strip in front of them, and they loved it. Almost everypony was cheering me on as I got naked, in the end I was sold off to a politician who eyed me the entire time I was there, before I could get away General Jirrad grabbed me and took me to one of the sound proof rooms. I begged him that I didn't want to do this, but he looked at me and said 'that's an order Khiva', I wanted to refuse...but I couldn't go against orders so I...I...” she broke down crying in front of me, I can't say that I know how she feels but what I can say is that I know what pain is so I scooted closer to her and hugged her. She was surprised at first but she then just accepted it and cried into my shoulder, after a few minutes all I was hearing were sniffles,

“Why don't you just leave? Why let them keep doing this?”

“The day I became captain I returned home to see my parents, I thought that they would be proud of how I became captain at such an early age. The first thing they said to me was that I was a fool!” she cried even harder, “They told me that I was a fool for joining the military, they said that it would've been better if I said I was a whore! They threw all of the money I sent them in my face and said I was dead to them!” she cried out as her grip on me tightens.

“When my parents disowned me this was all I had left. That's why I let that politician take me, that's why I never said a word about any of this. If I did then I would lose everything, I would no longer exist.” she calmed down and sat upright, “Sorry...I got too emotional.”

“No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up.”

“You didn't know, so it's fine. Stories about you traveled here and when General Jirrad heard about you he became obsessed, he thought that you would be worth more than all of the inmates here combined.”

“So he framed me to make sure I wouldn't leave the country.” she nodded her head. What she told me made me hate Ferkith even more, this bastard is selling off living beings to corrupted minotaurs, forcing his own soldiers to be sold off, and he killed an innocent bystander just to get to me and make some profit, this is the first time in months that I felt the urge to kill, “Wait Khiva, how come you're telling me all of this?”

“Because you're going to disappear.” my eyes automatically went wide and I felt a cold chill run up and down my spine, “When General Jirrad finally caught you I knew that you would be sold off to be a sex slave, or maybe a living pin cushion, or maybe just to be somepony's dinner, and you would never be heard from again. You must understand that keeping all of this in is too much to handle and I had nopony to talk to about it because they could report this. So I thought that you would be perfect, once you disappear Fort Schultz's secret will disappear with you.” she said with an innocent smile.

Instinctively I lunge at her but she jumped back far enough for the chain to hold me, “You bitch.”

“Like I said, this is all I have left so your life has no importance to me.” she walked towards the door, “I'll tell your zebra friend that you tried to escape and you ended up getting shot. Goodbye Callidus.” she said as she closed the door. My entire body was shaking from pure anger, she didn't see me as a pony but as some kind of toss away diary she could use to clear her conscience and continue living in her delusion, “So you're a captain?” but all that anger turned into self-satisfaction, “They were right, you are inexperienced.” in my hand was a key that I spotted in Khiva's pocket when I hugged her, at first I felt bad for doing it but after what she said I felt good. The first thing I tried was the lock on my collar, “Shit.” didn't work. I look back outside and I see the sun just barely setting on the horizon, “I'm running out of time.” I paced around my little area, I took a closer look at the key,

“Pretty thin key...” I walk to the end of my chain and I inspect all four of the screws that were drilled in the wall, I place the bottom of the key into the slit of the screw, “Perfect fit.” slowly I undo each screw until I was finally free. The sun set completely, “Just in time.” everything outside turned darker and opaque making things harder to see. A weak light was rising from the horizon and slowly it was getting brighter and brighter, after a few seconds the moon was halfway up and shone down on everything beneath it, “Three...two...one...” on cue I heard a very loud crashing sound coming from the the south side of this place along with soldiers babbling in confusion then an alarmed went off and the entire base went wild.

*******(Two Days Earlier)*******

“So guy.” I call out to the griffon next to me, “How many times were you caught and sent back here?”

“How did you know I was an escapee?”

“I overheard some of the soldiers saying you were back and I noticed that they placed your cuffs on tighter along with the pre-clipped wings.” I cock my head to his wings, “About four times.” he was hesitant, “Then you should know how the prison system works and the prison's layout right?.”

“Sure do.”

“Good, so how does the prison look like?”

“That's a little hard to explain, right now we're headed to a military base and the prison only takes up ¼ of it.”

“Military base?”

“Yeah, the entire base is separated into four quadrants: The housing area, the training facility, the command center, and finally the prison. The prison is smack dab in the middle of the other quadrants.” as he talked I tried to form a plan, “If the prison is the center then through which quadrant do you enter in?”

“Usually we have to go through the housing area.”

“Hmm...does the housing area have some kind of medical unit?”

“Almost all of them do.”

“Perfect. Zecora, as soon as we get out of this cart I want you to pretend that you're ill so they can take you to the medical unit. When you think it's safe I want you to find a detailed map of the base with evacuation routes, they should have some. Whatever you do, don't come looking for me I'll come to you.”

“A simple task I can do, but what will you do?” I turn back to the griffon who was even more suspicious of me than before, “What are you thinking?”

“What's your name?”

“Rithro.”

“You want to make your fifth attempt your last?” his face softened a bit but immediately turned into a scowl.

“Hold on are you seriously telling me that you plan to escape?”

“Huh, I thought I made that clear.”

“No not ugh! Are you listening to yourself? Barely an hour on this train and you already think of escaping? And besides, you look young so why should I listen to a kid when even I couldn't escape?” I rolled my eyes in annoyance and Zecora spoke up, “He may seem naive, but we've escaped from far worse you must believe.” suddenly he gave us an incredibly hard stare, after a few seconds we got creeped out,

“Umm...Rithro?” he blinked a few times, “Okay I'll trust you.”

“What were you doing?”

“I was cold reading, I wanted to see how sure you were about escaping. But if this fails in any way I will tear out your ribcage.” my heart sank when his eyes glowed making his threat all the more terrifying, you never hear good things about ponies getting attacked by an enraged griffon, “Fair enough. When do they begin roll call?”

“Right when night falls.”

“And how many inmates inside the prison hate you?”

“Too many to count.”

“Even better, while they call out prisoners you and I will instigate a riot.”

“A riot? Are you sure that's a good idea because things can get real ugly and fast.”

“It's the only way to direct their attention away from us. As it's happening we will escape the prison somehow and meet up with Zecora and use the quickest route possible, once we're free we can go our separate ways, everypony got that?”

“Yes.”

“Since we're doing this are you gonna tell me why you're here?” I looked straight at him with anger, “I was framed alright.”

“Framed huh? Sucks to be you.”

“Shut up!”

*******(Now)*******

I dug through one of of the drawers on the antique oak table, “Shit nothing here.” two drawers later I find one, “Yes!” I yell victoriously. I knock everything off of the table and unroll the map on top of it, unfortunately though the language was written in Minyochnaen but it had symbols to help me, “Rithro said the prison was at the center.” the map showed a large circle in the middle of it and three other half circles surrounding it. I look at the moon and back at the map, “If the moon is east then I should be...” I trace my finger along the parchment, “Here.” I stopped at a quadrant with a picture of a star, I compared it to the other two which was a house and a sword, “I must be in the command center. That means Zecora should be in the housing area.” I looked at the house picture,

“If I'm right it's just north from here.” with that in mind I wrap the chain around me and made my way outside. Carefully I opened the front door, I take a peek and see nopony outside not even the guards I saw earlier, I heard a crowd screaming out in the distance, “Damn Rithro, he must have made a huge one if the guards aren't here.” I whisper as I change into a pony.

A few feet away I look into a window from one of the many buildings here and see minotaurs writing letters, carrying large stacks of scrolls, and I see angry military officers yelling out orders and obscenities, suddenly the door flew open and out came a lanky minotaur and an armed soldier and I jump into a bush, “Don't make me do this! Please! I-I'm just a new recruit!”

“We know you are but the others are too busy trying to contain this. Just get this message to Riot Control and leave asap. We even promised a good deal for that cow you've been eyeing yesterday.” my ears perked up, “A good deal?”

I move a branch in order to see them, “B-but what if she doesn't like me? Or worse!”

“Hey buddy it doesn't matter if she likes you or not.” he wrapped an arm around him, “Because as soon as you buy her she's yours and yours alone.” they began walking north so I followed them as discreetly as I could. What these two were saying made me grow leery,

“Were you nervous when it was your first time?”

“Are you telling me that you're a virgin?”

“No! Well yeah but No! I mean...you know...buying a whole minotaur?”

“Oh that? Don't worry about it, almost half of the bulls here were nervous too. What you do have to worry about is the competition, especially with somepony as savory as that.” he gave the scrawny one a wry smile, “No doubt everypony inside would clean out their savings for her.” they stopped in front of another wall, “Gihoc! Trafo! How's the situation!?”

“So far we're able to contain it!” somepony from the top of the wall yelled, “Great! Now open the door we got a message for Riot Control!” gears inside the mountain came to life and the wall in front of them was being lifted up from the ground, when it was fully opened I walked even closer, “Keep this gate secure!” as they walked in the gate slowly closed and I ran inside. When it sealed I was greeted by shocked expressions, “Who the fuck?” on instinct I unwrap the chain and hit the bigger bull on the head, he fell and that's when I bucked him right in the nose and he knocked out, the other guy had his gun out but he was shaking uncontrollably and the barrel wasn't even pointed at me, for extra fun I change to my human form and he screamed at the top of his lungs.

He ran for it and I chased him, it didn't take long because he was already out of breath, “Dude c'mon, I'm literally walking.” I said as I walked next to him as he “ran”, “Please...don't...hur*wheeze*” he stopped moving and put his hands on his knees. I pushed him and he toppled over, “Is this the way to the housing area?” he stuttered and mumbled so I knelt down to his level, “Want me to slow down? Is. This. The. Way. To. The. Housing. Area?” he started shaking his head rapidly, “Good, now get up and walk.”

“What!? Why!? I already told you this was the way!”

“Yeah well now you're my hostage. Now start walking before he wakes up.” I hold out a hand to him and lift him up. I was now inside a tunnel and it seemed to stretch on for miles, “How far till we get there?” I asked annoyed, “Just another three miles.”

“Ugh!” I let my arms droop and my head hang, “So far!” I stopped walking when I felt a slight rumble on the ground, then it shook violently and there was a large explosion followed by something heavy falling, I focused my hearing and I was hearing a soft buzzing noise. It grew louder until I realized those were screams, “Run!”

“What!” at the end of the tunnel emerged hundreds and hundreds of prisoners running after us, “Run!” I gunned it and he struggled to keep up, I grab him by the collar of his uniform and literally drag him on his ass, the mob was catching up and dragging this guy wasn't helping, “At this rate we're gonna die.” up ahead I see a set of bars in the ground.

I gripped him tighter and ran even faster, “Help me open this!” the door was heavy and I was barely lifting it, he came and we opened it together, “Get in!” I yell when I saw the mob just 14 ft away. I hop in and I drop 20 ft into water, I emerged and gasped for air while I hear the inmates run over us, “What the hell?” I sniffed the air and I gag, “Ah what the fuck!?” I swim to the other side of this place and get out of the water, “Guy?”

“I'm right here.” I look down and see him camouflaged in the wall, “What is this place?”

“I-it's the sewers.”

“Eww ah shit! Literally! What the fuck!” I said as I flailed everywhere and shook off excess shit, “The housing area is that way, please just let me go I'm tired and injured. I just wanna go home.”

“Hey fuck you! You think swimming in shit is bad? Try riding a fucking train with no ventilation of any kind and without a single drop of water for three days straight! And all because some psycho motherfucker decided to make even more than what he's already getting! So no you don't get to go home, as of matter of fact you are indebted to me and until I don't need you anymore you aren't going anywhere!” there was a trickling sound coming from his pants, “Are you fucking kidding me!? Did you just really piss yourself!?”

“I-Im sorry it's just that I-I'm very s-scared a-and-”

“What's your name?”

“Binko.”

“Get your ass moving Binko!” he scrambled to his hooves, “Okay! Okay, geez, you were so much calmer earlier.”

“That was when I wasn't covered in shit and dealing with you!” we headed north, this is going to be my longest walk ever.

Twenty minutes of smelling shit later we arrived at a ladder, “This should lead us outside.”

“Get up there and check it out.”

“Why me!?”

“Because I said so.”

“But what if there are still prisoners?”

“Right now it's me you have to worry about now get up there!” he flinched and he climbed the ladder, how did this guy get into the military? He came back down unscathed, “It's pretty clear but I can still hear gunshots.”

“Move aside.” he did and I climbed up. I open the lid slightly and looked around to make sure he didn't make a mistake, when I was sure I opened the lid and the first things I see are the deceased both military and inmate, “Where's the medical unit Binko?”

“It's on the west wing.”

“Take me there.” shots were fired and they sounded extremely close, “Get in one of the cabins.” we ran to the closest one and peered outside the window. Three prisoners, one griffon and two ponies, were running from five soldiers, without hesitation they took aim and shot all of them down, “What!?” two of them died instantly but the mare was crawling away,

“We got a live one.”

“Ooh she looks pricey.” one of them walked towards her and pressed a hoof on her back, “Number?”

“55678.” she managed to say, “What's your sentence?”

“Six years, armed robbery.” all of them laughed, “Then it looks like we don't need to pay for this one.” he struck her with the butt of his gun and she fell, “Fix her up, no good if she's dead.” they laughed, “Alright enough we need to get this situation back under our control, if they manage to escape the base then we might as well kill ourselves now.” as they walked I kept staring at the now dead inmates,

“What the hell was that!? I thought Riot Control only used rubber bullets!?”

“You don't understand this is the first riot that has happened in over fifty years.”

“So because of that they kill them! It's standard rule that Riot Control keep situations like this under control without killing ponies!”

“I didn't know! We're a bit unprepared, nopony thought we'd have a riot!”

“And I didn't think anypony would die!” I lean against the wall and slide to the floor. I place a hand on my forehead and try to rub the headache away, “Auction houses, insane generals, and killer soldiers. Just how messed up is this place? Thank God I told Zecora to stay in the medical unit. But what about Rithro? Is he even out here?” I heard a gun cock and when I looked up I see Binko unsteadily aiming at me, “You and I both know this will not end well.”

“Look all I wanna do is go home, okay? That's all I want to do.”

“If I have to take that gun away from you I will break one of your legs.” fear struck him and he walked backwards. I stood up and walked closer, “I'll shoot.” I grabbed his wrist and rammed my elbow into his face, he dropped the gun and he fell on his ass while holding his nose,

“And finally.” I step on his left knee and violently pull up his leg completely snapping it in half. He screamed very loudly, “That's what you get. Before I leave I want to ask you a question, what did that guy mean by a “good deal”?”

“I-I don't know what you're talking about.”

“I already know about the auction house.” he stared at me wide eyed and terrified, “Were you planning on buying a living being?” he started whimpering, “Yes.”

“You sick fuck.” behind me were rows of bunk beds, I break off two large pieces of wood and rip up a few blankets and tossed them to him, “What's this?”

“You can make a splint for your leg. The medical unit is in the west wing right?” he nodded, “Thanks, try not to die.” I walk outside and change back to a pony.

The riot did a lot more damage than I thought it would, everywhere cabins are set on fire with bodies burning inside, bodies of prisoners and soldiers littered the entire area, and the air was beginning to smell like blood, “Focus damn it.” I kept going from cabin to cabin making sure I was out of sight. It took me a while but I managed to reach the medical ward, or at least what used to be a medical ward, I cautiously open the door and find it empty, “Maybe I can find out where she is at the front desk.” I run to the it and picked up the first clipboard I found,

“Wrong list.” I rummaged through almost every file cabinet and drawer until I found it on the floor, “*face-hoof*” according to the list Zecora should be in the ICU. Being inside an empty hospital was creepy to say the least, “Which room was it?” something fell in one of the rooms and instinctively I change into a human, I silently walk to the room while wrapping the chain around my hand, I was now near the door frame and I accidentally break a pen causing whoever was inside to start shooting at me. I duck down without being shot, I heard footsteps coming my way and when I saw the gun I grab his arm and slam him into the wall, before I could land a punch I realized that it was Rithro, “It's me! It's me!” he exclaimed while putting his claws up,

“Jesus Rithro! You scared the shit out of me.”

“Yeah well you slammed the shit out of me.” he said while rubbing his now bruised back, “Callidus?” that was Zecora's voice, I looked around but I couldn't find her until she popped out of the ceiling, “Oh thank God.” I change back and when she jumped down we hugged, “By a bullet were you hit? *gag* And why do you smell of shit?”

“Long story, are you okay?”

“Prisoners dragged out every soul and killed them all, luckily I chose to hide within these walls.”

“Did you manage to find a map?”

She had a shadow reach up into the ceiling and pulled out a map, “Fire routes we can take, to make things easier for escape.” I looked at it and it was covered in highlighter marks, “We'll take this route, it's the closest one to us and the quickest way outside.” I heard the hospital's front doors open and laughter,

“Hide.” Zecora said and all of us scattered, I run to the nearest room and I am given two options: the bed or the locker, I picked the bed since the locker was a bit small. Out in the hallway I hear stuff being thrown and rooms being raided, “You saw him run in here?” somepony asked, “No but I know he came here, he asked me where it was.” that voice belonged to Binko, “Did you ever get his name?”

“No but I-no wait!” a gunshot sounded and somepony fell to the floor followed by a shriek, “You hear that mister monster? If you don't want that to be you then give yourself up, like a good little pet of the general.” he had a very strange accent, I wondered how he knew who I was, “If it's the hard way you want then we'll be happy to oblige.”

“Hey what about her?”

“Pick a room.” a feminine voice screamed out in horror and I heard ponies struggling, “Just keep it down so that we can find this bastard. Everypony else check the rooms, he's our ticket out of here.” I see three pairs of legs walk in the room, two ponies and one minotaur, the minotaur was screaming and wriggling in the the stallion's firm hold, “Toss her on the bed.” after he said that I felt the weight hit me on the head. They closed the door and climbed on top of the bed,

“Stop! Get away no!” the bed shook furiously and I heard a loud smack, “Shut up! I don't think you remember me but I certainly remember you. You were one of the new recruits who got the tour, when you locked eyes with me I almost came. After you left I jacked off to you so many times to you my dick got sore. Now that you're here I can finally get to taste the real thing.” her screams got muffled and the bed rhythmically shook up and down followed by gruff grunts.

Across from me was an empty glass bottle, I grab it and I slowly crawl out from underneath, “God she's tight.” I look over the bed and see things that should not be seen, in one quick motion I slam the head of the closest stallion into the wall as hard as I can and throw the bottle directly at the other one's face, the first stallion was still conscious so I rammed him into the wall a few times until half of his face was swollen and bruised. His partner held his face while screaming silently and I rainbow kick his head into the medical cabinet, I stood up and face the broken and whimpering cow and I put a hoof to my mouth telling her to be quiet, then somepony knocked on the door,

“Hey I said shut the fuck up!” he walked away and I loosened up. I climb up the medical cabinet and crawl inside the ceiling, “And yet that is not the most awkward thing I've seen.” even in my pony form it was still difficult to move around, “Psst, Callidus.” it was a little dark but I found Zecora in front of me,

“Where's Rithro?”

“Escape he has managed, now we must escape this carnage.” Zecora gestured me to follow her. It didn't take long for us to get outside and we met up with Rithro, “I got bad news, General Jirrad is here and he's looking for you.”

“He's here!?” the hospital behind us then exploded, “What the fuck is it with these explosions!?” I go around and in front of the hospital stood Ferkith and behind him was an entire squadron,

“Search every inch of the entire area! His zebra partner was in this quadrant so he must be somewhere around here! I want all of you to turn every cabin upside down until you find him! Eliminate any livestock working with him!”

“Yes sir!” all of them said.

All three of us hid in a nearby cabin and turned out any lights inside, “How is Ferkith here? He couldn't have already dealt with the riot.”

“Callidus what now?”

“I'm thinking.” something them tackled me and used it's limbs to start pounding me, I raise my hooves to defend myself until he suddenly just stopped, when I opened my eyes I see three vertical slashes on the green coated stallion's throat. I push him off and behind me was Rithro cleaning his claws on the now dead stallion, “Holy shit, you killed him.”

“Of course I did, he was attacking you. I didn't want to use the gun or else we would be found.”

“But he...was a living being...”

“Does it even matter?” I looked at him shocked while he had no expression at all, “Of course it does! Just because he was attacking me doesn't mean you should kill him!”

“Oh for the love of God grow up! He tried to kill you and that should be more than enough motivation to try and kill him. Sorry Callidus but this is what has to be done sometimes in order to live and see tomorrow morning. If you don't like it then you can just walk out there and let them do God knows what to you like the coward you are.” I was about to deck him when something broke into one of the windows and released tear gas,

“They found us!” I remain a pony and did my best to guide my way out of the gas, “Brother!” the gas stung my eyes but I could see Zecora struggling out of the living room so I grab her hoof and we exit out the back. We ran a good seven miles and we hid behind yet another cabin, “Where did he go?” she just shrugged.

I stood on my hooves and stretched a bit, “You still got the map?” she nodded, “Alright then let's get moving.” the wall behind her suddenly had a hoof break through it and hit Zecora behind the head. I turn human and see her unconscious, a familiar green ax then cut through the wall and out came Ferkith,

“You're a slick one, but you weren't slick enough.” behind him were six soldiers ready to shoot, “I sent the rest of them after your other friend. Shouldn't be too long, I brought my top soldiers just for you and your little gang.” Zecora moaned and Ferkith pressed his hoof directly on her head,

“Remember what I said Footstool? Defiance will result in execution. It doesn't take a genius to know that you planned this whole thing, which is very impressive for a colt your age. Using a riot to keep us busy was a smart move I'll admit, but unfortunately for you my soldiers managed to contain it. It's too bad we had to kill a majority of them but some of them were smart enough to surrender. For your act of rebellion I hereby sentence all of you to death.” he pulled out his pistol and took aim at her. When I saw the pistol my body reacted on it's own, one of the soldiers fired his rifle but I somehow dodged those bullets and drove my heel to his jaw which made him stumble, I took the chance to grab Zecora and ran as fast as I could,

“She's a lot heavier than I remember.” I looked back and see the soldiers chasing me and I forced my legs to run even faster. A shot was fired and the bullet whizzed past me, “That bullet was too close.” I make a sharp left turn and they followed without difficulty, all of them fired and I swerved left and right doing my best to not get either of us shot, “C-Callidus?”

“Keep your head down!” I jerk right and a bullet almost hit us. Suddenly Zecora hopped off my back, “Zecora!” her eyes turned ink black and three very thick shadows emerged and dug into the ground.

With brute force she ripped the ground off from the earth and all of the soldiers were launched a good distance away from us, “Good to know you're at full strength.” I felt something climb up my shirt but when I look down I see her shadows unlocking the collar around my neck, “Thanks.” her ears perked up and she tackled me down and built a wall behind her, the wall then disintegrated and the two of us were sent flying. I was dazed, everything kept changing from blurry to clear, there was a beeping noise in my head, and when I looked down I saw something embedded into my hand, I looked at it very confused because I didn't feel anything so I grip the object and pull it out. I look back at it and see bone, when I moved my fingers the tendons on it would move as well and the flesh around it was caked in dirt, I started to feel my hand again but the pain made it worse so I rip a piece of my shirt and bandage my hand,

“Zecora!” my voice sounded low and muffled. There was too much debris around so I couldn't find her, when I tried to stand I got a massive head rush and I felt as though I was floating underwater, “Zecora!” I yelled out again with no results. The debris cleared and my vision was restored, “Damn, you survived.” I turn my head and see Ferkith alone, “Let me change that.” he aimed his ax and I drop back to the ground right when he pulled the trigger, “It's a shame that I have to kill you Footstool. You have to understand if I let the mastermind of this whole ordeal live then they would dishonorably discharge me and I'd be out of a job.”

“You're deranged. You deserve worse than being discharged! I know about the auctions Ferkith. What you are doing to them is inexcusable! These prisoners had lives beyond these walls. Families, friends, everything that used to mean the world to them was taken away by you as soon as they entered that building. Hell most of these prisoners might not even be guilty of the crime they're charged with! You even used your own soldiers when you were “running low” and you think I'm just gonna stand by and let you do the same thing to others?” I regained my senses because of the massive amounts of adrenaline I got.

“I swear on my life I will make sure you will pay for what you have done.” Ferkith stared at me, then his lips slowly curled into the most shit-eating grin I've ever seen and he laughed, “Me deranged? Compared to you I seem normal! Sure I did those things but did you forget the lives you took back in the Griffon Empire? I sure as hell didn't. If I remember right the first one you killed was a wealthy and elderly gentlecolt, he had a wife who was literally next to him when he died and had two successful sons who were devastated at their loss, you killed him by cutting one of his arteries using a serrated knife.” I held my breath, I remember them saying he killed his cousins for money,

“And what about that one mare you mutilated? She was supposedly an aspiring actress who had jobs lined up for her, and everypony knew her because of the unique color of her eyes that you ripped out.” they told me about her rich connections, they said she used them to get what she wanted no matter how they did it, they wanted me to retrieve her eyes as proof, “Oh and what about that teenage filly?”

“Shut up!!!” I screamed at the top of my voice, “You see how I find it funny? Here you are pointing out my crimes with a sense of misplaced self-righteousness and anger when you yourself aren't a saint. It's like a blade of grass telling a tree it's a plant. Look around you.” he motioned his arm around the area, “All of this is your doing and in the process you allowed almost all of the inmates to die. You took a lot more lives than I did and you did it mercilessly, you are just as deranged as I am. So don't you think you deserve punishment?” I was silent, he was right, I killed a lot of griffons and the worse part was that I didn't question it. At the time I was so focused on my job that I forget the faces of my victims, I would always just kill and move on, but because of him I can now remember all of them,

“Callidus!” I snap out of it and I see Zecora, “Don't fall for his silver tongue, you were easy to manipulate because you were young!” she walked towards us with a fierce look.

“You were only ten, used your innocence and skill to benefit them. All they have done was tell you lies, using us to take lives.” she stopped in front of me, “But only one pony deserves the blame, I am the one who deserves pain.” she made me confused with what she said, “Guided you right I should have done from the start, but I failed as a sister for I did not go with my heart. Suspicious I was when they were around me, but I chose to not see. You suffer guilt now because of my decision, so Ferkith, I ask that my brother is set free while I stay in prison.” she flat out asked, “Zecora what are you saying!?” in the corner of my eye I saw the edge of an ax, on time I tilt back and the green ax missed my cheek and hit the ground.

Ferkith tried to hit me with his right arm but I was quicker and I dropped to the ground and kicked him on the chin using both of my legs and jumped up from the ground, he recovered rather quickly, “Take that as a no Zecora. I can't let either of you live, both of you are now liabilities and Fort Schultz can't afford that, especially since inventory is at an all time low.” Zecora readied her shadows and I took a stance,

“I hereby sentence you to death.” he took aim and shot between us. The two of us jumped away from the blast and I ran head on to Ferkith, while he was reloading I grab a handful of dirt and when he aimed I threw it at his eyes, he grunted in pain and I kick him on the side of the ribcage forcing him to stand on a knee. I grab his horns and repeatedly kept kneeing him in the face, after the fourth time he grabbed my leg and he threw me to the side and I bounced on my back a few times after he threw me. When I stopped I tried to stand but then I got a hoof to the face knocking me back down, he stomped on my chest and he grabbed me by the throat and he threw me over his shoulder and he slammed me straight into the ground, before I could finally breathe he grabbed my throat and my leg and he lifted me up and he threw me into a window of a cabin.

I slowly stood up and brushed away the glass, “Fuck me.” my entire back was burning and probably bleeding, my throat felt like it was stretched and my lungs still felt empty even when I breathed in, I looked out the window and I dip my head when I saw the ax come at me. The ax got stuck in the wall and when I turned around I saw Ferkith climbing in, I was gonna kick him out but then shadows wrapped around his body and he was flung out the window and into a burning cabin,

“Are you okay?” Zecora asked, “I feel like a punching bag but other than that I'm fine.” I said as I climbed out. We looked at where Ferkith was and he busted through the door with sheer strength and he ran to us with his legs literally on fire, Zecora summoned three shadows and they charged at Ferkith who weaved past them and he raised a fist at her, I see him and using my entire weight I run to him and tackle him down. When he was down I headbutt him and roll off of him, Zecora grabbed him by the legs and she smashed him in the ground,

“That was for trying to kill us.” she pick him up and used a shadow with a very thick body and a round head to hit him right in the stomach, he chocked out his scream and he flew almost 20 ft, “And that was for guilt-tripping Callidus.” Ferkith was stubborn, he got up on all fours and took his time to stand on a knee,

“That really hurt...my insides...feel like...they are rearranging...*coughs* you...little bitches...will be served on a silver platter.” that was the first time I was genuinely scared of him. He stood on his legs and ran to us with blood red eyes, “Number 43.” he said as he closed the gap between us in a matter of seconds, “Cannon Fire!” he started throwing punches in an unbelievable speed and every time he hit the ground he'd leave a hole, “I can't keep up.” I thought as I felt my body begin to reach my limit.

I tried to look for an opening but with the way he's attacking I couldn't, I made a mistake and I was in the path of one of his punches, “Shit!” suddenly shadows grabbed his fist and he was an inch away from punching me. Ferkith stared at the shadows and he forcefully pulled while I ran away from him, “Number 72” he knelt down and he sprang up high into the air with the shadows still attached to him, “High board!” he launched himself down and used the shadows to guide him to Zecora, she looked at him in shock and when he landed they disappeared in the debris. I fanned away the visible dirt and ran to Zecora, on my way there I saw moving lights and heard hoofsteps, “Damn it.” I sneak past them and found Zecora limping away, “You okay? Anything broken?”

“My leg split in two, but our concern should be him for he is not through.”

“He's not the only one we should worry about, his soldiers came here.”

“The soldiers are manageable, are you willing to fight the general?”

“I can try.” she said nothing and went after the soldiers. I looked around for Ferkith but he found me instead, “AAAAARRGGHH!!!” he yelled as he swung his ax, I dodged it by arching my back but he elbowed me in the gut and I fell, “Stay still!” I roll off my back and narrowly dodge his ax, he saw me standing and immediately started swinging his ax around in hopes of hitting me,

“32 years I kept this fort standing! 32 years!” he accidentally got his ax stuck and I punched him twice making him let go and I punched him again in his gut but he grabbed my arm and he punched me this time making me dazed. I heard a ringing and when I looked at him my vision went black for a second and the ringing intensified, my vision started getting blurry and I felt myself get lower, “This place never once fell to the enemy!” my vision went black again and I found myself back on the ground, “This place once had an entire nation attack it and we won without a scratch!” he kicked me in the face and I rolled on my back.

My vision got better but only enough to see Ferkith standing over me, he grabs me by the throat, picks me up and he wraps his arm around my neck, “And then an orphaned pony freak and a rhyming zebra bitch comes along and in a single night you two made us look like idiots!” he squeezed my neck and my airway closes. I claw at his arm but he only squeezed tighter, “Stay still and I'll break your neck after wards.” all the blood went to my eyes and my face felt hot, I clawed at his arm even more but he jerk left and I felt weaker, “Keep fighting.” he lifted me up and my feet dangled, I tried to hit him with my elbow but he just kept squeezing. I was on the verge of unconsciousness so in desperation I reach a hand between his legs and I squeezed as hard as I could,

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” he threw me to the ground and he held his groin, I took in giant gulps of air and coughed whenever I breathed out, “You dirty bastard!” he charged again but I roll out of the way and I make him trip, “This is a fight Ferkith.” I jump on top of him and use his horns to bash his head in, “Rules don't apply in a fight!” on the last one I pick his head up a bit and bring it down hard enough to make blood splatter,

“Calm yet?” he was unresponsive, “Okay then.” suddenly he uses his elbow to knock me off and he ran straight for his ax. I stood my ground and I waited for an opening, “I'll cut you in two!” he held the ax over his head and he swung it down, I lunge to his side and his ax got stuck again so I grab it and pulled the trigger on it and the ground beneath us exploded sending the both of us flying.

I recovered fast but Ferkith was already standing, he looked at his weapon to find it half it's original size, “I had this custom made, it was really expensive.” he said as he tossed it aside, “I'll just tear you apart and bring you to your sister in pieces!” he jumped into the air and aimed at me, “Number 13, Meteor Shower!” as he descended he threw multiple punches, he fell quickly and I had no choice but to absorb his punches.

I kept my arms up and my muscles tensed as he attacked but he was already wearing me down, “So heavy.” his punches hurt like hell and he didn't look like he was slowing down, “Don't think you'll survive this one.” he said menacingly, when I looked up he reared his right arm back and drove his fist deep into my chest. His punch wash the most strongest punch I ever took, I felt six of my ribs break, all of the air in my lungs escaped with some blood, my limbs went dead, and I was knocked back another 20 ft,“Crap, I can't stand.” I looked up into the night sky and tried to move but only managed to make my fingers twitch, “Just my fingers, fantastic.” Ferkith then stomped on my chest but I didn't make a sound since I was already in this agonizing state, “Wow, after taking that punch you still have the will to fight? I am impressed Footstool.” he said as his eyes became normal,

“They were half right about your kind. You don't have any magical attributes but you are a very dangerous species. What's even better is that what you lack in strength, you make up for with ingenuity. I mean it was humans that gave us the guns that we have today, they even helped give us a fighting chance against demons!” I kept staring at him with malice, “Ooh I like the look you're giving me, would've been perfect for all the soldiers here.” his hoof was near me and I grab it with whatever strength I had left. He simply pulled his hoof away and kicked me,

“I haven't felt like that in years!” he loomed over me and he pulled out a knife from his back, “Thank you for that, here's your reward.” he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pointed the knife at my neck. I had absolutely nothing left and the kick he gave me was enough for drowsiness to win, “I can't go to sleep! I can't!” the more I fought, the more my vision darkened, “Zecora...I'm sorry...” I went limp, my body decided to quit and I allow the darkness to take over, I thought nothing else mattered and I was more relaxed in that moment than I ever was.

Then I felt a powerful surge of energy, powerful enough to wake me up, I saw Ferkith about to stab me and my hands grabbed his wrist and broke it, he screamed in pain and I grabbed his knife and in one swift motion I bring him to his knees and slash his throat. I felt a warm shower of blood, I had an odd but familiar feeling in my left hand, and I still felt the adrenaline being pumped into my system, I just killed somepony, “What?” I saw Ferkith's neck being ripped off by gravity until finally his neck was exposed, his head was hanging by a single piece of flesh. He fell over and blood poured on the ground,

“I...I just killed him...but how?” I stared at my bloody hands, all of the excess blood dripped onto the ground and they were shaking uncontrollably, I was shocked, not just because I killed Ferkith but because I didn't do it on my own accord, my body just reacted, “I killed him...I killed him...” I repeated over and over, I promised to never shed the blood of another living being years ago when I was in the Griffon Empire, and here I am covered in it. I felt something nudging me and when I looked down I saw Zecora also covered in blood, “Callidus!”

“Huh?” my knees felt weak and I fall to the ground, “Callidus!” I was unresponsive so she kept shaking me, “I killed him.” I pointed to Ferkith's corpse, “That does not matter, besides I killed too brother.” I stared at her, I processed what she said and I didn't believe it, “Why?”

“I was outnumbered so I tried to escape, but they captured me and they tried to perform rape. Ripping and tearing my clothes as they were on me, then it took control and went on a killing spree.” she explained as she wiped some blood away from her guilt-filled eyes.

“Zecora, I killed him...I killed him without thinking about it...” I said, she hugged me and she rubbed my head, “It's okay brother.” soon I was calming down and when I was calm enough I was able to think clearly, “Would've been perfect for all the soldiers here!” I remember what Ferkith said when I was down, “All? What did he mean all?” then I remembered that he said that he managed to kill all the prisoners,

“Zecora, how many other prisoners did you see out here?” I snapped out of my shock and focused on my curiosity, “Aside from Rithro none.”

“Ferkith is using them as a way to make money, and he said that he managed to kill almost all of them. Why would Ferkith destroy his large source of income for this base? And why would he risk getting caught?”

“Maybe because it wasn't Ferkith's idea to begin with.” before I could turn around something kicked me in the face. I looked up from the ground and standing in front of me I see, “Khiva!?”

“In the flesh!” she cheerily said, Zecora summoned more of her shadows and all of them attacked her but Khiva was dodging and leaping out of their way, it was almost as if she was dancing, “C'mon you can catch me!” she ran straight towards Zecora and she grabbed her by the neck and at an incredible speed she ran to the nearest cabin and she slammed Zecora into the wall and she was knocked out, “Aww I took her out in one blow.” she said as she let Zecora slide to the ground,

“Maybe you'll be more of a challenge!” she came sprinting at me and held me up with one arm, “Khiva! What the hell!?”

“You must be really confused aren't you? But I am surprised that you already figured out half of it so that means I can just tell you the rest!”

“The rest?” she used both of her arms to slam me into the ground, hard, “Remember when I said I was from the poor provinces? Well I lied! I'm actually the fourth oldest daughter from the most wealthiest families of Minyochnaed! See this patch?” on her left shoulder was a green patch with purple trimmings and a fist holding a snake, it's the flag I saw earlier, “This is the family crest. My family actually gave the funding to build this fort and we've owned it ever since.” she gave me the most sadistic grin I ever saw.

“Let me tell you a little about my real self. I was born and raised into a rich home with an absent father and a bitch of a mother along with six different brats. father would always be away working here while my mother remained at the home and forced me to kneel in raw rice for hours as part of my training to “become a true member”. Which really confused me since my other siblings would never get this training. The only one I actually cared about was our maid, at least she would take some time out of her day to sneak into my room and touch me in places I knew shouldn't be touched. When I was bored I would always run outside to our luxurious garden and hunt down animals, birds, rabbits, dogs, it didn't matter. Then I would take them upstairs to my room and hug them, hard, with my hands around their neck.” she sat down on my stomach,

“All of them fought so hard to breathe and it would only excite me and I would squeeze harder. One time I sneaked out to the neighbor's yard to grab the dog of this one girl I didn't like and I brought him upstairs, I had so much fun with him! I wanted to take my time so I tie a belt around his neck and I hang him in my closet, then I grab one of my father's golf clubs and I would beat him senseless! Hahaha he yelled and whimpered and kicked and clawed and I would stand there just hitting him like a pinata!” she moved her hips back and forth on my stomach, “When I was done I brought him down and I laid him on the floor. I sneak into the kitchen and grab the largest cleaver I could find and when I locked my door I drag him into the bathroom and I started chopping away at his neck! Hahaha!” she continued to laugh, it was scarier than Ferkith's.

“Then the next morning I ordered the maid to deliver it to the neighbor's and they had the biggest surprise of their lives! Let me fast forward, I'm 16 now, a fully developed woman to the eyes of my country. A lot has changed, father comes home a little more frequently now and mother came up for new lessons plans for my training, the maid stopped her nightly visits so I had to go to other sources for what I needed. Do you know how easy it is to convince a guy to sleep with you? Very, so easy in fact I had four different guys on me. I got bored and thought I should have fun with them even more, I told one of them that one of my other guys had tried to rape me and so he called him out to a fight and in a fit of pure hormones and rage he savagely beat him to death. When they arrested him he tried to tell them what I had said and guess who believed him? Nopony! The look he had when he realized he had killed not only my guys but one of his closest friends, it was so irresistible.” she moved her hips a little more roughly and I kept staring at her,

“Then comes my little sister, ever since she was born the entire estate would praise her and compare her to the rest of us. I still remember how small I felt when somepony told me to stand down to make a path for her. Anyway, while I had to walk on broken glass to fix my posture, mother kept running her mouth about her and how pathetic I was, she did this for hours on end until I snapped. She did not like that, as punishment she forced me to eat small pieces of glass off from the floor. I went to my room and destroy nearly everything, photos, toys, clothing, etc. When I had nothing else left to destroy I thought I should take it out on her. I sneak into her room and I see her playing with a doll similar to mine's when I was her age, she asks me if I wanted to play so I said we could play in my room. She was so excited she rushed past me and headed straight for my room, I tried not to laugh because of how easy it was. As soon as I come in she finds it a mess and before she could say a word I break a jewelery box over her head. I tie a belt around her neck, hang her in the closet, I take out my secret toys and I slowly cut strips of flesh from her body.” she smiled even more wickedly and the spot between her legs got moist.

“She kept screaming and screaming, begging me to stop and asking why would I do this, red blood and blue fur went everywhere, it was complete bliss, until my father barged in. Oh what a sad day it was for mother and father, sister died from blood loss that day and I was locked in my room for two days without food or water. When I was out they had came up with a “proper punishment”, I would be sent to the military to be disciplined and that way we won't tarnish our good name. What I said about the whole training like I never did thing was actually true, but it was as punishment not for captain. Then I got tired of father, he was such a weak bull that he wouldn't even kill a child molester that threatened to kill him, so I grab the secret ingredient to my very special coffee and serve it to him, half an hour later he's swimming in a pool of his own vomit hahahahahaha! Nopony in the military ever suspected me so I got away with it, the only ones who knew I did it was my entire family. One day mother, while drunk, started beating me with a baseball bat yelling cuss words and insults as she struck me. But thanks to father I was able to take it away from her and give her a good whack, then another, and another, and another. This went on for an entire night, I knew because I saw the sunrise. Eventually one of my brothers came in and found mother missing her head, he had a lot of leverage over me but I guess I scared him so much he didn't say a word. Investigators came in and found nothing, no weapon, no signs of a break in, nothing but a cold trail. All of us had to go to the hearing of their will, fortunately I had the hindsight to destroy their original will and rewriting it to benefit me, the will stated that I alone will inherit the military base along with the family fortune while the others get nothing.” she leaned in a little closer while I tried to move back as far as possible,

“You see how well that worked out?” she then arched back and cackled into the air.

“Thanks to my inability to manage things here I was forced to let others do the ground work while I had to come up with a solution to our financial troubles. That was how the auction house came into light, I knew sure as shit they weren't gonna approve so I had my soldiers and General Ferkith “vote”. Throw a bit of cash, say a few nice sounding words and any idiot would follow you into Hell. Thanks to the revolt I was able to build the auction house and because everypony here participates our debt just vanished like that! A year later, stories about you traveled in my base and I ordered the soldiers to look for you specifically but since we had no actual description of you besides the rumors we had trouble. Then while we were vacationing in Kyod a boy came to us scared out of his mind telling us of a monster who just killed a demon, we interrogate him to make sure he wasn't making shit up and we headed out. Before we started the hunt I told Ferkith to pretend he was the one looking for you while I played the part of innocent child, when I first spotted you I immediately fell in love.” her legs squeezed tighter and she leaned even closer,

“Your steel eyes, the tiny well-sculpted muzzle, your little white hooves, even that chip on your ear, I tried so hard not to fuck you when I tackled you down. At first I wanted to sell you for a good price but then I figured that you were too valuable to be sold off to some perverted soldier so I claimed you as my new toy, on the way here I thought about the many things I wanted to do to you. It was hard to choose, I wanted to open you up but at the same time I wanted to violate you in every way possible or even cut off a piece of you and see how you would taste.” she leaned into my face and licked my cheek making my body tense, I was scared of what she was gonna do next, “Mmm that was only a trial run, I can't wait to try it well-done.” alright that did it, I did my best to move from under her but she forced my arms down.

“Save the desperation for later.” I stared at her wide-eyed and she started blushing, “Don't look at me like that! I'll lose control if you keep looking at me like that! You're just the little tease aren't you Callidus?” she positioned her hips to mine, “You want to know why I lied to you? Simple really, I absolutely love to see ponies in pain, either physically or emotionally. I wanted you to feel sympathy towards me and then I wanted to turn it into fear, I did it with all of my personal toys and all of them had the same look of shock. You on the other hand gave me just a glimpse until it turned to anger, but this new look that you have on now is just irresistible beyond belief!” she pulled out a gun and aimed at my neck,

“Months of cutting ponies up gives you more knowledge about anatomy, if I shoot you here you will be paralyzed from the neck down.” she then pulled out a knife and traced the tip along my chest, “Don't worry, it's just a big prick!” she reared back and I prepared for it. Just then shadows consumed her hand, “Look who's back!” Zecora looked like she was pushing herself, Khiva pointed the gun at her and fired. Zecora leaped right to avoid the bullets and pulled Khiva towards her, “Bad move!” she sprinted towards her and Zecora anticipated it, when she was close enough Zecora summoned hundreds of black spikes from the ground. Khiva was quick and jumped over the spikes,

“I take it back.” she aimed the gun at her and Zecora ran from her spot. I got up and tried to move, “Damn, I won't last much longer.” Khiva ran out of ammo and attacked her head on, Zecora used her shadows to defend the powerful blows, “Is this really all you have!?” Khiva was fighting them off and Zecora was losing focus, “Surprise!” Zecora left an opening and got kicked, Khiva then took the chance and started pummeling her.

“But I need to last long enough to back her up.” I took a deep breath and ran towards them, she was oblivious and I give her a roundhouse kick to the head, “What?” she said as she toppled over. I pick up Zecora and place her behind me, Khiva popped up and gave me a toothy grin, “That really hurt, and that was only a kick. I want more!” she sprinted fast enough to leave a dust trail and I raise my arms up to block her devastating kick, it was strong enough to push me back five ft. When I lowered them she was already above me, she brought down her hoof and I barely blocked it, the force of it made my knee hit the ground,

“Can I win?” Khiva then landed and drove her shin into my side, I ignored the pain and I grab hold of her leg and I swing her into a lamp post headfirst. She held her head but she turned around and attacked, I was able to dodge the punch but her other hand grabbed my head and she threw me to the ground, then she grabbed my shirt and started to run, dragging me behind her. I felt rocks and other sharp things cut into my back , I hold her arm and jumped up to wrap my legs around her neck and bring her down. I had her in a choking position and I squeezed, “Choking, how kinky.” she said creeping me out, she held my legs in place and she carried me on her shoulders, “But enough foreplay.” she gripped my torso and she pulled me off of her and threw me on the ground, “Let's start the main coarse!” I saw her hoof coming and I roll away from her stomp, I jumped up from the ground before she could kick me and then a black whip strikes her across the face,

“What the fuck!?” she yelled as she held her face. Zecora had six more ready to attack, “Burns doesn't it?” she said smugly, Khiva removed her hands and she had a visible black slash on her cheek, “Sorry but I'm not into threesomes!” she immediately charged at her and Zecora sent her shadows after her, Khiva only got hit about once or twice until she reached Zecora, “You're done for!” when she punched Zecora tilted her head to the side, grabbed her by the arm and stomach and flipped her over.

While she was down Zecora stomped on her throat, Khiva coughed hard and Zecora used her shadows to grip her neck and throw her to where I was, Khiva was recovering so I run to her and grab her by the head and flip her on her back and punch her repeatedly. I got tired and walked away from her sleeping form, “Let's get the hell out of here.” just then she jumps on my back and starts gnawing on my neck, she bit hard enough to draw blood and I spun around frantically trying to get her off. I tried to elbow her off but she was clinging on to me tightly,

“Get off you crazy bitch!” I ram her onto the side of a cabin but she was still hanging on, “Hang on.” Zecora sent a shadow to help me but Khiva jumped off and her shadow whipped my back, “Ah fuck!” I fell on my knees and rolled over on my burning back, “What the hell!?”

“Sorry.” she sheepishly said. Khiva jumped up and landed right on my stomach, “Stay here please.” my body sunk deeper into the ground and I choked on my vomit, “I hate my life.” I sit up which felt as if my stomach was torn in two, right when I was about to stand upright my stomach convulsed and I threw up on all fours, “Damn it.” my injuries got the better of me, I was beginning to feel my broken ribs, I had the most hugest headache, blood clogged my nose and throat, every muscle I have screamed at me to lie down and I think my lungs are failing, I hear hooves clashing and I see Zecora struggling to fight off Khiva, “Get up.” I tried again but ended up with the same results. I kept trying and trying but I still couldn't stand, Zecora was now down an eye and was taking more hits than Khiva.

Seeing her losing forced me to start crawling to them, every time I saw Zecora take a punch I would get even more angry and I'd crawl faster, “C'mon!” Zecora was so stunned she couldn't even summon a proper shadow, it annoyed me to watch her like that. Wait, did I say that it annoyed me? Then I felt another surge of energy, I hopped onto my feet and ran faster than I ever could before, Khiva only had time to turn around and see me kick her in the face. She rolled a bit until she stopped herself and I got closer to kick her again, she got wise and blocked my kick, “Second wind?”

“Something like that.” I pivot on my right foot and kick her behind the head, she was down so I kicked her in the gut three times before I helped her on her hooves and attacked her with a flurry of rapid punches. She stumbles back and I leap up and knee her hard enough to make her gush blood, she falls on her back and she holds her face, “Weird.” just a second ago I was having a hard time trying to crawl and now I am beating down Khiva, I noticed that after the surge my agility improved along with my speed and strength not to mention that the pain from my injuries just vanished, this was not regular adrenaline, this was something...better.

Khiva hopped on her hooves, “You just keep on surprising me.” she threw a punch and I countered it swiftly, she tried to sweep my legs but I jumped up and kicked her in the face. She runs to me and jumps up on my shoulders using her hands and balances on me, then she drops down and knees me in my stomach and flips me over, she raises her leg and I stand up to avoid her kick, “So are you a screamer or a muffler?”

“What?” she nearly punched me but I didn't see her other hand. She grabs hold of one of my unbroken ribs and yanks it out of place, “AARGH!!!”

“You're a bit of both. I usually prefer screamers but maybe I can change that.” she pulls even harder but I only moaned.

She stares at me with so much malevolence I found myself standing still, “Since you're making me work for it I'll cut you a deal. You stay here and I let your zebra friend go, that sound fair? Say yes.” she pulled again and I stifle a yelp, “I think being sold sounds better than another three minutes with you!” I headbutt her and she let's go. She sprints again but this time a shadow wraps itself around her leg and she fell face first,

“You again!” Zecora then shot black spikes at her and Khiva dodged them with perfect ease, I slowly pop back my rib in place and I attack her. Fighting was hard on both ends, Zecora is trying her best to not hit me while I have to dodge both her and Khiva's attacks, “See this is why I don't like threesomes. No coordination of any kind, movement is so erratic and rugged it forces us to do our own work.” she said as she dodged my punches and Zecora's shadows, “One-on-one on the other hand,” she digs a hoof into the dirt and throws it at Zecora blinding her, the shadows disappeared and Khiva focused her attacks on me, “it allows each partner to read and connect with the other's movement, both rhythmically dancing to each others tune without thought.” she drives her fist forward and I block it but she grabs my waist and pulls me closer,

“And thus makes things a lot more intimate.” I get kneed in the stomach again and again in the face. It only took a second for her to break one of my arms, “Sorry if you're left-handed.” she kicks one of my legs forcing me to stand on a knee and she pulls my arm further behind my back breaking it even more, “Ahh stop!” she pulled again and shoved me to the ground, “That's right, I finally got you to squeal. Do it again.” my arm was completely broken now and I groaned through gritted teeth, “Callidus please just give up. Even if you somehow beat me you would only face my soldiers and they won't hesitate to kill the two of you. Please? For me?” she said as she petted my hair.

When I moved she grabbed my hair and smashed my head onto the ground, “I'm going to break your legs now.” she let my arm go and grabbed my legs, she almost broke one of my legs but Zecora knocked her off using a large wooden plank. I immediately get up and used the good arm to come up to her and knock her back down, I was gonna punch her again but she caught it and punched me in the throat, “As much as I love you, I despise that thing.” she pulls out another knife, “I'm going to kill the zebra first.” she dashes to Zecora but I pull her arm away right when she was about to stab her, she swings the knife and makes a diagonal cut on my torso,

“Any deeper and you would've bled to death.” she lunges at me but I ram my elbow into her face, she swings again but Zecora managed to summon a shadow to stop the knife and I upper-cut her forcing her to discard the knife. Zecora drops it and I pick it up, “What are you gonna do sweetie? Stab me?” Khiva mocked as she cracks her neck loudly, “That's the point.”

“Hahahaha! Don't lie to me, I remember you saying that you're trying not to kill.”

“Who said I was lying?” I hold the knife by the blade and throw it at her. She was so stunned that she didn't scream when the knife pierced her collarbone, Zecora summoned another black spike and it shot into Khiva's lung, “Wow, you weren't bluffing...” she was still standing so we take the chance and attack her with everything we have. Even in her current state she was still able to fight back, I punch her and her head jerks to the right, Zecora whips her across the face and she jerks left, I kick her in the ribs but she doesn't let go and tries to break it.

With the other leg I kick her and she let's go, Zecora gets another plank and breaks it over her head, “This is nothing! I want more!” she yells as blood covered half of her head. She backs up into a cabin which was being consumed by fire, I felt something next to my feet and I see a ten inch piece of sharp glass, I heard Khiva grunt in pain and I see her pull out the knife, “See, nothing!” I pick up the piece of glass and point it at her, “I'm a little tired, so I'll take you down in less than three moves.”

“Hahaha! I would love to see that!” I sprint head on and she swings her knife and I duck and jab the shard under her arm and she screams, “One.” when I pulled out I sprayed blood everywhere, she lunges at me but I counter it and stab her deep in the stomach, “Two.” she drops the knife and walks backwards, looking at the shard now embedded into her body. She gets close to a window and I forcefully kick her into the fire, “Three.” the fire consumed her and she starts screaming her lungs out, but when I walked next to my sister I heard laughing coming from the cabin,

“Amazing Callidus! Absolutely amazing! I haven't felt like this since childhood! Who would've thought a kid like you would be this ruthless!? Hahahaha I love you Callidus!” the ceiling collapsed and she continued to laugh. Second time I killed somepony, but this time I chose to do it, I kept staring at the fire until Zecora spoke up, “We have guns pointed at us, what do we do now Callidus?” I turned around and sure enough I see soldiers ready to shoot, “They won't let us leave alive and we don't want to die. Guess that only leaves us with one option.” she would've protested but when she looked at me she stayed silent.

The moon set hours ago and the sun was still rising, we went back to the medical unit and fixed our wounds and to rest since we've been fighting for hours and we were extremely exhausted, in front of me were two things: barrels and barrels of flammable liquid and a mountain of dead soldiers, “Anypony left Zecora?” Zecora had bandages over her eye, she was almost consumed by the thing,

“None left brother, we should start the fire.” she hands me a box of matches and I light one and drop it into the pile of soldiers, “Brother, can I ask you something?” I change to a pony and sit on my haunches, “What?”

“Now you decide to kill, why and of your own will?” I took a deep breath because I knew it was going to be hard to explain, “Before I killed Ferkith I was about to die. I was unconscious and he had a knife to my neck so I should have died, but something strange happened. I was somehow able to break free and take his knife and kill him, all without thinking about it. Who does that? How is that even possible? I asked myself these questions all night and came up with only one logical answer, I was born to kill. No matter what I do and no matter how much I deny it it's the truth. Even if I keep suppressing it there's no guarantee if my body would stay under my control, it has happened before and now it's happened again, the only difference is that now I know why. Don't get me wrong of course I feel guilty about it, but what's the point in hiding it if I can't contain it? So I just accepted it and decided that if we wanted to leave, we have to shed blood.” Zecora scooted a bit closer and places an arm around me,

“We've been through hell tonight, all we did was put up a fight. But if you feel like a monster, then so should your sister. My decisions were hard to make, give or take life and I chose take.” oddly what she said made sense, we were in a hopeless situation where we faced numerous murderers, it was vacuous and childish of me to think I could escape without killing.

“Zecora, were you serious about what you asked Ferkith?”

“I was already ready to see it through, I did it because I love you.”

“Can you not say that? I'm still a little creeped out by you know who.”

“Sorry. As I said before, you're like this because my choices were poor.”

“Zecora I was able to kill a guy in my sleep, I'm pretty sure you have nothing to do with it.” she chuckled, “Good to know you can still make me smile, oh and I have something for you while we travel.” she reaches into her brand new saddlebags and pulls out, “A cloak?”

“It's a little big but on you it will hold, the fabric is thick so you won't be cold.” I recognized this cloak, this was the same one that sniper had on when he shot me, “Thanks Zecora.” I look back at the burning bodies, “From now on, we only kill if it means our lives.”

“Like what Rithro said?”

“Yeah, speaking of which did you ever find him?” she nodded no, “Damn it, probably dead.” I said as I put on the cloak, “How does it look?”

“Big like I said, it would look nice if it didn't have red.” I was confused until I saw hoofprints of blood on it, “God damn it! Oh well, where to now? Bylvdir?”

“Here we cannot stay, maybe this time we should go Equestria's way.”

“Equestria? That's gonna be expensive.”

“Loot around here we probably can, how to travel will be a different plan.”

“Okay then, let's play treasure hunt.” when I took my first step my entire body just shut down and I fall, my injuries have gotten worse, “Callidus!?”

“I can't move.”

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

“After wards Zecora and I used the train to leave the base.” when I first started talking the entire room was silent, after I was done the ponies in here kept whispering to each other, “Pardon me but did you say that you burned the bodies only?” Luna asked, “Yes that's all we did, it's in our religion to burn the deceased.”

“But how did you manage to destroy the entire base?”

“When I heard that I assumed the fire spread out to the other quadrants.”

“Callidus the base wasn't destroyed by the fire, it was demolished with incendiary explosives.” Celestia explained and everypony including me was shocked at this, I never touched the armory. When I look at the chancellor he was being questioned by his peers, “Thank you Callidus. We will have a recess and when we start again we will hear the testimony of Zecora.” Celestia said, the guards unlocked the cuffs and guided me out of the throne room, “Is there anything you need?” one of them asked, “Now that you mention it can you have somepony remove my cutiemark from my bedroom door?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I snap and they bowed and walked away, “So Khiva huh?” I turn around and I see a stoic Violet and a snickering Nero, “It's sad that your first girlfriend was a total psycho.” I growled at Nero as he laughed until Violet jabbed him in his ribs, “How did it go?” Violet asked,

“Fine I suppose. What's gonna happen now?”

“I don't know, they have to hear Zecora's side of the story. If they check out you have a good chance.” I nodded my head and walked past them, “Where are you going?”

“To sleep, I'm exhausted.” I climb up the long flight of stairs, pass a couple of hallways until finally I reach my room. As soon as I got inside I take my new clothes off and I flop onto bed, “I really hate my life.”

Eyes and Ears

View Online

In a small, well lit room was a brown earth pony sitting at a desk cluttered with broken quills, crumpled up parchment and empty ink bottles,

“D-d-d-damn it! So much t-t-t-time wasted in 32 hours! Only u-u-u-u-unearth even more complications and with s-s-s-s-so many I cannot progress further!” he brought down his hoof and the six-inch thick table broke in two and all of the parchment flew into the air. He simply sat there with his head in his hooves, completely unaware of the smokey creature behind him until it screeched, “What is it now!?” he yelled unamused by the bird's attempt at a small prank, it flew to his side and screeched again,

“Because D-d-d-d-Diosus! What use do I have for a t-t-t-t-thing that should have the m-m-m-m-means of using even the most simplest forms of m-m-m-m-magic but only to n-n-n-n-not have any capabilities at all! We need to search for a solution to our problem immediately!” he said as he fixed any hairs out of place. The bird responded once again but it only made the pony think deeply,

“Hmm, it's a possibility but if you calculate every factor,” he grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment and scribbled down his thoughts, “not only would it be a major waste of resources but it would be a 0.00001% chance on his own, but maybe if I add a bit of incentive...” he wrote even more and slowly grew a smile,

“Splendid! The chances, if what I wrote is accurate, improve by up to 30%! It's far better than if I had simply left it the way it was. Now all we need is an opportunity, excellent work now inform our informant and see if he can give us anything that would provide said opportunity oh also tell him to see if they're prepared as well.” the bird disappeared and the stallion was alone, “So many pawns at my disposal, it is a crying shame to know most of them will not live to see my hard work bear fruit.”

*******(Canterlot)*******

I was drenched in sweat and covered in dirt, behind me was a large wagon attached to my waist and filled with rubble weighing almost a ton,

“Just a...few more...blocks...” it's been almost two days since the trial and not only was I found not guilty but the Minyochnaen government is now under investigation which includes the chancellor himself. I was going to have another trial with the Griffon Empire but thanks to both Celestia and Luna they settled on a compromise, 70 years of hard labor,

“70 years, probably should have tried escaping...” I mutter as I reach my destination, a scrap yard at the edge of Canterlot. I take off the harness and dump out all of the rubble onto the ground, “Okay you're done for today.” said my boss Mr. Elbowgrease, he is a chubby unicorn with a white mane and indigo coat, he was assigned to watch over me and make sure I get my jobs done, “Thank you Mr. Elbowgrease.”

“Hehe you know it still amazes me that I'm a prince's boss, you have a good night.” when I first met him I thought he was going to be a prick, but turns out he was a very honest and goodhearted stallion. I began the long walk back to the palace and despite it almost being late the street I was walking on was filled with ponies conversing, selling items, or just out for a walk, every time I would pass by they would either glare at me or they smile and whisper into their friend's ear,

“Maybe I should eat before I get back.” I thought as my stomach rumbled. I spot a small cafe with little to no ponies and figured this was the perfect spot to eat, right when I sat down somepony came to me, “Good evening sir, may I ta-” she nearly drops her notepad when she gets a good look at me.

“I-I'm so sorry your highness!” she says as she bows and I roll my eyes, “You don't have to do that.” she stands and smiles nervously, “Of course! So what will it be?”

“A simple salad with extra red cabbage and a glass of water, no dressing.” I said quickly without looking up from the menu, she walks away and finally I'm alone,

“Mind if I sit here?” at the other end of the table was a unicorn mare who I've never seen before, “Usually I don't sit with ponies I don't know.”

“All the more reason for me to sit.” she pulls out a chair and sits down completely disregarding what I said, “My name is Fleur Dis Lee, it's an honor to finally meet you.”

“What do you want?” she gives me a surprised look, “Well that wasn't rude at all.” she says sarcastically,

“You're one of those elite ponies, I can tell because I've already met hundreds of them who tried to use me for personal gain. So I'll just tell you what I told them, I can't help you, fuck off.” she stares at me and then laughs,

“You are a hard ass! Just like the rumors said.” now it was my turn to be surprised, “I already know that you have absolutely no political power and so does the rest of the elite. Besides if I wanted something I would've just went to my reliable sources.” I relaxed and sat upright, “That's a first.”

“Since you're being so straightforward so will I. I want to offer you a proposal.”

“Proposal?”

“Yes, lately more and more demons are appearing all over the country and the most recent incident is just behind this cafe. You are aware of the few demons that managed to come into Canterlot when the wards were down, correct?”

“Yes, we hunted down a couple but there are still others.”

“Then you are well aware that the Royal Guard and the princesses could only do so much and they can't keep track of every incident that happens even within the capital, but I can.” she leaned in a little closer.

“Because of their lagging, for lack of a better term, I developed a very sophisticated system of eyes and ears throughout the country. It is a very reliable system, usually when a soldier reports a demon attack it can take about one or two weeks before it can reach Celestia's or Luna's monstrous pile of other issues they have to tend to. I on the other hoof am able to receive them much quicker, the most it takes is two days depending on how far it is.”

“But.”

“This is where the military and the princesses have the upper hoof, I do not have the means to handle these types of situations and when I tried to recruit ponies they were either too greedy or afraid. I came to you because-”

“It's Fleur Dis Lee!” she was interrupted by three teenage unicorns who came running and screaming and chasing them were two very large stallions in suits, outside the cafe I see two more stallions in suits trying to hold back a crowd of ponies. All of them were snapping pictures and chanting the mysterious mare's name, the stallions held the three mares back and were soon dragging them away, “It's fine, they can come.” the stallion let them go and they nearly flip the table over,

“Miss Lee can I have a picture?”

“*gasp* Is that the prince!?”

“Are you two going out!?”

“Oh my God they are!” they squealed. After forcing her to sign a few pictures they were escorted out, “Let's go to a more private table.” one of the stallions pulls out her chair and I follow her to a different table farther from the windows, “Who are you exactly?”

“Nopony special, just a very successful supermodel.”

“A supermodel? And yet you want to get involved with demons? Now I know you're in way over your head because you're trekking into a very dangerous and deceitful world.”

“I am fully aware of the dangers and I am more than ready to face them.” her eyes went dull and she stopped smiling.

“As I was saying I came to you because you are my last option, even though you are more than capable of eradicating them I wasn't sure if you would be willing to cooperate with us. All I am asking is that you and your friends join us in our mission to protect Equestria and destroy the monsters that we've been fighting ever since the crown was bestowed on Celestia's head, if you agree all of you will be paid in full and upfront for your services and if you need certain equipment you can't normally acquire I can give them to you.” I stared at the two burly stallions sitting next to her,

“Tell them to leave.” both of them stood up and walked away, “Never mind.”

“Something you want to say in private?”

“Yeah, about your proposal, why does it seem so familiar?” her ears flickered as she heard my gun cock underneath the table, “I've been given that same crap and I ended up doing their dirty work. How do I know I can trust you?” her expression did not change, not even a wince,

“Paranoia is persistent, but knowing what you've been through I can understand. I assure you that we will only deal with demonic affairs, pony affairs I will leave to the police and Royal Guard, but if you want I can show you how we operate, or if you don't trust me at all you can just shoot me here and now.” she looked at me dead in the eyes as she spoke.

The waitress came with my food and we never looked away, when I looked a bit deeper I found something in her eyes that is very rare in modern society, dedication. I give her a small smile and I holster my gun, “There is just one thing that is in your way.”

“And that would be?”

“Celestia, if she were to find out, and she will, about your complex system of intelligence gathering which is apparently far more efficient than the princesses and the entire military combined and not to mention the fact that you tried to recruit soldiers making you paramilitary which I don't think Celestia will approve of. They will then proclaim the whole thing as dangerous if used in the wrong hooves and your entire operation would be shut down before it could begin. So here's what I'll do.” she a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“I will ask the others first and if they agree with your proposal I will do my best to convince Celestia to allow your project to begin.”

“So you agree?”

“Not exactly, my decision will depend on theirs.” I said as I began eating, “Why don't you just use magic?”

“I can't, I'm handicapped.”

“I see, why suddenly trust me? Just a second ago you were holding me at gunpoint.”

“Because I admire your resolve. Why are you so invested in demon eradication?”

“*sigh* As my mother used to say, truth builds trust. A long time ago I was married, this was surprising because I never wanted to marry and I was never interested in him, but his stubbornness got the better of me and I fell in love. Months go by, then years and finally he proposed and we get married, I knew he was the only one for me because there was nopony else that would spend so much time and energy on me like he would and I would do the same in return. Then we went on vacation and he thought it would be a great idea if he bought me a puppy, turns out the desk clerk was more than a mare.” I felt her rage radiate from her body and her breathing got a little shallow,

“I still remember the two guards that came to our suite, both of them looking as if they just seen Nightmare Moon, I still remember the darkened animal shelter surrounded by yellow tape and the tarp covered bodies behind them, and I still remember what they found left of him.” she was extremely angry even though she was very calm, that little spark of dedication turned into a raging inferno of obsession, she really wanted all of them to die.

“To say I was devastated would be an understatement. I was completely crushed, I had to see psychologist after psychologist for a couple months and I nearly beat somepony to death when I had this delusion that made me think she was responsible. I was filled with so much rage I had no idea what to do with it, then stories about you began circulating and I decided to dedicate myself to kill every last demon that wants to roam around this earth.”

“You and I are a lot more alike then I thought.”

“How so?”

“I've had ponies that I loved die too, I even had to witness them die and I ended up hating them myself, but our intentions are completely opposite of each other.” I felt my mind trying to conjure up even more memories but I pushed them back, I didn't want another episode, “What is your reason for killing them then?”

“Sorry, that's a little too personal.”

“Then when will you tell me?”

“Once I no longer have a reason.” she stared at me trying to decipher what I had just told her, “Very well, I'll be expecting an answer by tomorrow afternoon at this very same cafe.”

“Well you're very demanding.”

“Well I'm taking very huge risks already and to top it off I just put my own life on the line, don't be surprised if there are some hard feelings.” she walked away with her bodyguards and she was swarmed by paparazzi and fans when she exited the cafe, “Anything else you would like?” the waitress asked me,

“No that will be all.” I stared back at Fleur Dis Lee, “That mare is something else entirely.”

************************************

Bookworm and I were headed towards the train station, “Do you really have to go today?”

“Sorry Violet but Spike and I have to get back to Ponyville, the library doesn't run itself.” we share a light chuckle, we spent the entire day together trying to catch up with each other. Apparently she became a local librarian in Ponyville, I wasn't surprised, “How come Nero didn't come with you?”

“He's examining the weapons those demons used during the invasion, I was supposed to help with the investigation of the Order of the Sword but I begged Celestia to let me hang with you and she did.”

“Oh I've been meaning to ask you something, when I saw Nero how come he didn't recognize me?”

“Well...he didn't recognize you because he has a bit of amnesia.” she stopped walking, “Really? Then how does he know you are his sister?”

“I found him two years ago in a police station. All he had to do was look at my face.” she started to think deeply on the fact, “Violet can you tell him to come to Ponyville tomorrow and meet me as soon as possible?”

“What for?”

“I just want to ask him a few questions and perform a few experiments.”

“Experiments!?”

“Don't worry Violet your brother is in good hooves with Twilight, even though some of the stuff she uses are a bit creepy.” he reassured as Bookworm glared at him, “Okay I'll tell him. Oh, we're here.” we were at the train station without realizing it, “It's been nice catching up Bookworm.”

“Same here, come visit sometime.”

“Of course I will.” we waved bye to each other and I headed home.

The walk was a lot more lonely than I expected, the whole street was deserted and silent, “Is it that late already? Just how far did we walk?” I heard a can get knocked over in an alleyway followed by rapid hoof steps, as if somepony saw me coming and fled, “Was somepony spying on me just now?” I went into the alley and at the end I saw somepony turn a corner and I followed it. I jumped on top of the roofs and stealthily followed her, below I saw that it was a cream colored mare and she was running with some kind of scroll in her magical grasp,

“Now I'm interested.” she turned another corner and met up with some kind of hooded clergyman looking stallion,

“Did she see you?” the stallion asked as she handed him the scroll, “I don't think so, I made sure of it.” I sat at the edge of the roof, “Good, the Royal Guard is already asking questions and the last thing we need is another problem.” he was wearing snow white robes with gold accents and he sounded slightly older than me,

“Did they find anything?”

“No, we only sent those who are not accepted to the Royal Guard to avoid suspicion. Have you made certain that she is prepared?”

“Yes, even at a distance I could tell that her power rivals Celestia's. To think that a mere child could be at that level.”

“And what about the brother?”

“He is strong but not as strong as her. But shouldn't your main concern be the prince?” “Callidus?”

“We are already finding a solution to the problem.”

“When shall I be accepted? I've already done more than enough dangerous tasks for you and the Order and I believe I should at least be reimbursed in some way.”

“Silence!” he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her up against the wall, I tried not to intervene because I wanted to see if I could get a bit more info.

“You should be grateful to even be considered to join our ranks! Do you know how long you must devote yourself to the Order and what you must do for opportunities like the one you have now!? Those “followers” that you see in our churches every single day, the ones that defile our way of life and our beliefs are nothing more than the buffer. They serve as the naive shields to protect us from the unwanted eyes of the pathetic monarchy you so called ponies live under. We refuse to be ruled over by imposters using cheap parlor tricks when the only true powerful one controls more than just balls of fire or hunks of rock. If you are a true believer then you would never question your orders and simply follow them, just like I have and if you ever think that you deserve a reward for menial labor again then I will not hesitate to see how they want me to take care of an insect like you!”

he let's go and the mare goes into a coughing fit, “Now stay away from the ponies with power like the Royal Guard and await for further instructions.” he teleports out of there and the mare starts to walk away, “Now's my chance.” I hop down from the roof and startle her,

“Care to explain, or do you wanna run?” her horn glowed and a stone pillar sent be back up on the roof, “What was that?” I felt like a huge cramp when I stood up. The mare was now sprinting away and I jumped back down to chase after her,

“Don't make me chase you! It's late and I'm tired!” she only ran faster, “Ahh fuck this!” the demon blood went straight into my wings and I flew in supersonic speed, the distance between us got shorter and shorter and I scooped her up like an eagle,

“AAAAAAHHHHH!” she screamed as she saw the ground moved away from her. She kept on wriggling in my grasp but when I held her upside down with one hoof she froze, “Are you mad!?”

“In the sense that I'm pissed, yes.” I let her go for a second and I caught her.

I flew up to almost 1,200 ft because of lack of control and I could almost see all of Equestria, “Next time I won't catch you so start singing mockingbird.”

“Never! I was sworn to secrecy so your threats are nothing but words! I suggest that you kill me now before something terrible happens!” I let her go and she starts free falling. She kept screaming as she descended, she was going to hit a roof but I caught her, “I was right, nothing but empty threats!”

“No I'm going to let you go again, I just caught you so I can make sure I have the right height.”

“What?” we flew down to three stories and I let her hit the ground. When she landed I heard some of her joints pop out of place, “Get up.” I grabbed her by the mane and flew back up,

“Ready to spill?” she was going to retort but I dropped her again and this time one of her legs hits a trash can. She was crawling away when I flew next to her and I deliberately step on her broken hind leg making her wail, “Let's go.”

“No! No wait!” I stared into those tearing eyes full of fear, she was ready to talk, “Just to be sure.” I grabbed her and flew back up, “Was the Order of the Sword behind the invasion?”

“Yes! Not the ponies who attend church but the ones who built them! How they weakened the defenses I don't know but I know they created those armored demons and summoned the others!”

“Wait created? Are you telling me that ponies made them? They're not from the Demon World?”

“Not just the armored demons, there are more.”

“More? And what are they planning to do with them?”

“I don't know! I'm just a grunt! They won't tell me anything unless I'm accepted!”

“Then tell me what do you want with Callidus.”

“I don't know! All they told me was that they needed to fix him!”

“And what about my brother and me. What do you want with us?”

“They told me to observe you and Nero to see just how far your power reaches! What they want with the two of you I don't know I swear!” she was dry heaving and about to have a heart attack.

“Then tell me who was the hooded pony you were talking to.” before she could say a thin beam of magic shot into her forehead, “AAAARRRGGAAAAAHHHH!!!” she was convulsing and her skin was melting in my hooves, I drop her in shock and she literally went splat leaving nothing behind but a mess.

I looked down to where it came from and I see the hooded pony, I pull out Ivory and fire shots at him but he was quick and blocked them using a magic sphere. I descended at an impossible speed and I broke through his sphere and hit the ground turning it into rubble,

“What?” he was behind me and he somehow broke off an entire wall from a four story building with magic and dropped it on me. I broke out of the pile of bricks and the hooded pony was nowhere to be found, “Where the hell did he go?” I dusted myself off and I found no trace of him. Whoever that guy is I should be careful around him, it's not very easy to summon a demon let alone tame one and somehow he and his friends were able to create an army of them, ponies like that are extremely dangerous and shouldn't be laughed at,

“I better tell Celestia.” I soared into the sky and flew to the palace, “They're planning something huge if it requires an army. That guy did just talk shit about my aunts, maybe they want to dethrone them? No, if they did they would've killed them by now, getting near those wards is just as impossible as setting hoof in their bedchambers. And somehow all three of us are involved so what are they planning?I should hurry.” in just one wing beat I was already at the palace gates.

********************************

“Multi-chambered engine fueled by oxy-acetylene. Three titanium alloy fans below the hand guard. Ambidextrous accelerator built with pivoting ball-bearings and six different speeds. Emergency brake right below the accelerator. Yeah this is definitely not something from Hell.” I prop up my feet up on the table full of metallic parts and lean back on the chair, currently I was in a lower part of the palace where they keep certain things away from the public, it was a very long hallway with heavily armored doors covered in strange symbols on each side and each one having their own guard.

Celestia and I went into one of these rooms to check out the armored demons and their weapons, “You know what these strange mechanisms are?” Celestia asked as she examined all of the dismantled parts, “Yeah, Red Queen has some of these things. These kinds of weapons aren't as sophisticated as Red Queen but you do need a bit of brains to use them right.”

“Are you absolutely sure these demons are not from the Demon World? How can that be?”

“Lower class demons can't make things this complex, they only focus on the killing, and the metal is an alloy, not a pure element like most demon weapons. How that's possible I don't know.”

“Celestia!” barging in out of nowhere was none other than Violet, “Whoa take it easy, what happened?”

“The Order of the Sword was behind the whole thing.” I was slightly unaffected but Celestia looked more than shocked, “How can that be? We've already questioned everypony within the churches.”

“They had a contingency plan for that. I just caught somepony spying on me on the way here, I chased her and I found her talking to somepony about us. I managed to make her talk but before she could tell me who the hooded pony was he killed her.”

“What exactly were you able to find out?”

“The armored demons aren't really demons, they made them.” turns out I was right, “And apparently they created other types. Also, Callidus is somehow involved along with Nero and I.”

Celestia had a stern look and I felt her breath quiver, “Where is he now?”

“He just came back not that long ago. The mare said that they needed to “fix” Callidus, I'm not sure what that means but it doesn't sound all that pleasant.”

“Guards!” two guards appeared at the door and bowed, “Find my sister, my son and Zecora and bring them to my bedchambers immediately.”

“Yes your highness.”

“The two of you come with me.” I went pony and followed Violet and Celestia, “What do you mean that you and I are involved?”

“We can discuss this matter once we are all gathered.” Celestia said. All of us were inside Celestia's room and she spawned a round table for us making this seem more like a business meeting, I sat next to Violet, Callidus sat next to Zecora and Luna sat beside Celestia, “Sister what's so urgent that you had to call me when I am currently meeting with the King of Saddle-Arabia?” Luna asked but Celestia directed her attention on Violet, “Start from the beginning.” Violet cleared her throat first,

“Okay, today when I was walking to the palace I found out that somepony was watching me from an alleyway. I was able to chase her without her knowing and she met up with this hooded stallion. These ponies are directly connected to the Order of the Sword and they were talking about how they were able to avoid detection from the two of you by sending in ponies who have no idea that their sect was responsible for the invasion.” I tried my best to listen intently, these bastards cost me my way back home and for that I'm going to slaughter them,

“Then she said that I was “prepared” and that Nero wasn't as strong as I am. Also the hooded stallion said that they were already finding a solution to the problem concerning Callidus.” I glanced at Callidus and he raised an eyebrow.

“Shortly after I managed to make her talk and she said they created the armored demons and are planning to create other types like them. I tried to to get her to tell me who the hooded pony was but he came back and killed her, I tried to capture him but he got away.”

“Violet just how exactly did you manage to get this information from this mare?” Luna asked while staring at her suspiciously, Violet was looking uncomfortable and started blushing a little, “I...sort of...dropped her from a height of three stories.” she mumbled the last part but Celestia and Luna heard it clearly,

“Violet!”

“That's terrible!”

“Well what was I suppose to do!? I couldn't just point my gun to her head then she would've never talked!”

“Violet.” all of us looked at Callidus who was quiet the entire time, “What did they mean that you were “prepared”, can you clarify?”

“She said that she was ordered to observe how far our power reaches.”

“I see.” he went into deep thought, “Nero.”

“Huh?”

“How is Violet stronger than you?” now it was my turn to feel embarrassed, “Um, well I'm still kind of lacking. We may share the same demon blood but my blood is still dormant.”

“I see, I thought it was strange for the Order of the Sword to not make a move.” all of us were a bit confused, “And what's so strange about it?” Celestia asked,

“I did a bit of research on the amulets and what I found out is that the only way for the amulets to be used to their fullest potential is to have the blood of Sparda. Their goal is to open the door to the Demon World in order for their prophecy to be fulfilled and they have the perfect opportunity right now.” all of us only got more confused which annoyed him.

“Let me explain, let's say that I am their leader or something, I have exactly what I need in order to open the gates of Hell and all I need is the blood of Sparda. Since they are his descendents what I would do is target Nero since I now know he is the weaker of the two, kill him for his blood and there mission accomplished. But they're not going to do any of that, not yet anyway.”

“And what makes you so sure that they won't do anything you just said?” Luna interjected, “Because I am involved in their agendas. I'm guessing when they said that they wanted to “fix” me, they meant to somehow fix my magic handicap. Which is confusing, why am I involved? Why am I important?” he explained,

“Even more confusing, they are creating an army of demons not from the Demon World. For what exactly I don't know, probably for another invasion, but my concern is on why they are so focused on all three of us. Why is it important for them to know how powerful we are? And what are they waiting for?” this got all of us stumped, he had very good points. The Order already has everything they need to bring Hell on earth what else could they want? Celestia thought for a bit before speaking,

“Thank you for the insight Callidus. After hearing this new information we must come up with a strategy in case they decide to become active again. I think it is safe to say there are more ponies like him scattered across Equestria and we need a way to capture them when they are discovered.” I heard a small chuckle from Callidus,

“Funny, just today a mare came to me and proposed something perfectly suitable for this situation.”

“And what did this mare propose?”

“Her name is Fleur Dis Lee, she claims to have created a system of “eyes and ears” that's planted all over the country which transfers information very quickly. She proposed that all four of us join her and help kill demons that appear where ever they are in the country.”

“I approve.”

“Well that was quick...”

“You approve?”

“Considering how dangerous and dire the situation is I can use something like that at our disposal. When you meet her tell her that we accept her offer under the conditions that she must carry out whatever orders I have for her or any of you, we can discuss any further details tomorrow. Besides this can count as hard labor for you Callidus.” she said with a warm smile, “Okay then, I'll tell her tomorrow.”

“But as of right now I am assigning all three of you bodyguards.”

“Bodyguards!?” all three of us exclaimed in unison, “They want something from all three of you and since they are ruthless I want to make sure all of you are protected at all costs.”

“Celestia we understand your reason but all three of us can watch out for ourselves, we don't need bodyguards.” Violet said,

“I know all of you are capable of defending yourselves but we don't what the Order of the Sword is capable of so until this crisis is resolved completely all of you will have bodyguards.” Violet and I groaned while Callidus closed his eyes and looked as if he were about to pop a blood vessel, “It's starting to get late, all of you should get to bed.” all of us stood up and walked to our rooms,

“They're waiting huh? I wonder what's gonna happen when they decide to stop waiting...”

The Help

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The train ride home was very noisy, the cart was nearly full and since their wasn't anymore seats available ponies had to stand,

“Oh my, the train schedule must be very busy today...” there were three other ponies sitting where I was but I didn't know any of them so I just sat there quietly and watched as the tan desert turned slightly green, “I still have a long way to go, but at least I'll get there soon.”

I was coming back from Dodge Junction, now that I think about it most of these ponies are, today was the anniversary of the Dodge Junction Incident where everypony in the city just vanished without a trace, the Royal Guard did everything they could to try and explain what happened but couldn't find anything. My father and sister were some of the ponies who disappeared, I came to visit their graves and to pay my respects to the other ponies who disappeared,

“Daddy, Silver Harvest...I miss you both so much...” I looked down at the pendant that used to belong to my sister, the pendant was the insignia for the Order of the Sword, it was a strange insignia, it looked like a sword with a wing and horns at the handle,

“Why didn't you ever tell me? Did you thought that I would be ashamed?” I never knew my sister was a follower, I found out the day it happened, strangely I found it hanging on a tree in her personal sanctuary, nopony knew where it was except for us.

The train stopped and I was in Ponyville, “I'm home.” even the way out was crowded, “Sorry...excuse me...sorry...oh you can pass...sorry...” I kept bumping into everypony as they entered or exited the train. It took me about ten minutes to get out,

“At least everypony got to their train on time.” I thought about who I wanted to visit first, “Maybe I should try Rarity first.” today I wanted to learn how to talk to...stallions and I am hoping my friends would help overcome my fear, hoping. When I made it to Carousel Boutique I was glad to see that she was till open,

“Hello? Rarity” when I walked in I was greeted by something soft and fluffy rubbing against my leg, “Hello Opal.”

“Fluttershy is that you dear? Come in, come in! You came at the most perfect time, I am in the kitchen making some tea, would you like some?”

“Yes that sounds lovely Rarity.” I followed her voice into the kitchen and the smell of Earl Grey was in the air, “Sit darling, you look a bit exhausted.”

“Yes I am, I just boarded off the train.”

“Really? Where did you go?”

“Dodge Junction.” suddenly she went quiet and so did I,

“I'm sorry Fluttershy, I-I forgot that today-”

“It's okay Rarity, really.” she sipped her tea with a worried look on her face,

“Let's change the subject shall we?”

“Sure, I actually came here to talk to you about something.”

“Oh? And what would that be?” I felt my cheeks get hot and I found myself slumping in my chair,

“Um...well...I...I...”

“Well come on then darling, you know you can tell me anything.” she said with caring but curious eyes, they only made me feel more embarrassed,

“I-I...want to...know...*whispers* how to talk to stallions...”

“Could you say that last part a little louder for me please?”

“I want to know how to talk to stallions.” I said it very quickly but Rarity and I have been friends for some time and she can understand me when I speak fast.

“Why Fluttershy, that's wonderful! I am a bit surprised but I'm glad that you've decided to find yourself a good coltfriend.”

“Does that mean that you'll help?”

“But of course! Before I do though, might I ask who exactly are you interested in?” she gave a mischievous smile, “Um, I wouldn't say interested but more like-”

“A crush?”

“Yeah.”

“Then who is this pony that you have a crush on?” I didn't intend on her wanting to know, I just wanted her to give me some pointers or tips without knowing who he was,

“Uhh, I met him a few days ago.”

“Where?”

“I met him at the train station, he lives in Canterlot and-”

“Wait a minute.” she had this strange look of shock, “You don't mean him do you?” my cheeks were now burning and I slumped all the way down,

“You like him? Forgive me for saying this but that is the most bizarre thing I have ever heard.”

“Why?”

“Must I paint a picture? You're a timid, kind, caring, animal-loving pegasus while he is a reckless, calculating, gun-toting, cold-blooded killer. I have met him once and that was enough to know that he's not exactly the kind that is interested in courting a mare.”

“Maybe but-”

“And why do you like him? Don't tell me it's because he saved your life.”

“No, at least that's not the only reason why.”

“Then why do you like him?”

“When we first met I thought that he was going to harm us because of the stories I heard, but then when he took that wound in the shoulder for me I felt...something.” Rarity cocked her head a little,

“It was like a little peek into his past, I felt a lot of, pain, and sadness. I even felt a lot of fear, not for himself but for me, I even felt hatred and anger from him. Then I felt something that I thought was comforting, something warm, like deep down he cares about protecting us despite how he acts on the outside, and I want to be apart of that warmth for some reason I don't even know.” Rarity leaned a bit on the table.

“I don't know how I was able to feel those emotions, in fact I only experienced this with him, but when did I knew those stories weren't true. He's not cold-blooded like most ponies say he is, he's just walled himself away from others. Which is understandable, he's been through a lot in his life and I think that would make anypony seem uncaring. What I want to do is reach out to him and show him that not everypony is mean, he needs somepony to understand his pain and all I want to do is take that all away and see what kind of pony he really is, and hopefully he can let everypony feel that same warmth I felt.” she nodded as to show she understood,

“I still think that it's bizarre, but if you believe you can do what you said then I will do my best to help you win his heart.”

“Really?” she nodded yes, “Oh thank you Rarity!” I reached over and hugged her without knowing. When I let go I blushed even more,

“Come along darling, first you need to learn the basics.” she grabbed my hoof and dragged me out of the kitchen. We were in her room, she had me standing in front of a mirror, “We need to improve your posture. When conversing, you must always make eye contact with the pony, it shows that you have their full, undivided attention and that you are listening to what they're saying.” she said as she raised my head up,

“Next, you must stand upright like a proper lady, you must show poise and balance, it shows how confident you are in yourself and like mares, stallions like ponies with self-confidence.” she pushed my front legs a little more together to make myself look a little taller, “Perfect, now-” she dragged me and sat me in front of a mannequin, “I need to know what you need help with. Pretend this mannequin is Callidus and try to strike up a conversation with him.”

“You want me to talk to a mannequin?”

“Just pretend Fluttershy.” she urged, I looked at the mannequin and I found no problem with it,

“Hello Call-” then I started imagining the mannequin as him and I froze. He was standing there with the most cruel and judgmental stare, looking down at me as he got taller and taller and the world around us got dark, “*whimper*”

I backed away from him and I sank to the floor and closed my eyes, “Fluttershy!” when I looked up I saw Rarity, she helped me up and dusted me off, “What happened dear? You were doing so well just a second ago.”

“I-I'm sorry, i-it's just that...maybe I should go home...”

“Don't give up so easily, relationships are tricky and they require hard work, and that's what makes them so worth it in the end. Didn't you say you wanted to see what he really is like?” she gave me a caring smile and I returned it with my own,

“I do.”

“Then let's get to work.” she placed me in front of the mannequin again, “Now, try again. Take your time if you need to.” when I looked at it I imagined Callidus again, I closed my eyes when he started looking scary for the second time,

“Don't freak out, don't remember the pain and anger. Remember that warm feeling.” when I opened my eyes Callidus was looking normal, “I remember his eyes pretty well...” the eyes this Callidus had were dull and lifeless, exactly how the real Callidus has them, “You can do this.”

“*inhales* Hello Callidus, is everything okay?”

“Perfect! Now try asking him out.” that one was going to be a little more harder, I felt my hooves get weak when I stared into his imaginary eyes,

“Uhh...I-I was w-wondering...i-i-if you're n-not too busy-”

“Stop right there.”

I was relieved when she told me to stop, “First off you need to speak more clearly, don't stammer through your words or else it would ruin your chances, if you need take the time to collect yourself. Secondly, you need to be a little more firm than that darling. Don't say “if you're not too busy” because it will make you seem a little desperate, just ask outright.” she gestured to the mannequin and I took a deep breath,

“Okay, make eye contact, poise and balance, relax, speak clearly and be firm.” “Callidus, I-I was wondering i-i-if you...would like...to come to my house s-sometime.”

“Well done Fluttershy, you stilled stammered but at least you said it loudly. Just some practice and you're on your way. But for the future, maybe you should suggest something else other than going to your house.” I nodded,

“Are you ready for your next lesson?”

“Yes, I think.”

“Are you sure?” she arched an eyebrow and looked at me curiously,

“Um, so what's the next lesson?”

“Flirting.” my eyelids open wide and I felt my limbs lock in place, “It's not so bad, flirting is a very helpful tool that many ponies use, but if you feel if you're not ready then I understand.”

“No, I said that I was ready and I am, sort of...”

“My, my, my, this must be some crush.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because you're here wanting to know how to court a stallion. A few weeks ago you would've ran for the hills at just the suggestion of meeting stallions.” I gave her a sheepish smile.

“When flirting, it must be clean and positive. It should be dropped as subtle hints to the pony you are flirting with or else you seem a bit...let's just say unladylike. It can be anything from how they dress, their personality, or their looks. And most importantly, keep it casual. Would you like an example?” I nodded my head yes,

“Pay close attention.” she stood in front of the mannequin,

“Good evening darling, how has you're day been going so far? Oh my what muscles you have, clearly you take very good care of yourself.” she turns to me, “Like that deary, and if he flirts in return then it means that he has taken interest in you and would very much like to spend more time with you.” I nodded my head yes. I tried to remember everything that she is teaching me, even if some of it is embarrassing,

“Would you like to try dear.” and even though she is helping me through every step of the way, I still have a long way to go.

*********(Fillydelphia)**********

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, that's all I've been doing ever since my unit has been disbanded,

“This is so boring. Why did I get stuck with being a desk jockey?” I was in a recruiting center for the Royal Guard in Fillydelphia, I was in a tiny office to push applications through, which I can say is bullshit, “I was one of the top five in my class! I scored near perfect scores in marksmanship and took advanced hoof-to-hoof combat.”

“Ironsight!” I looked up from my desk and I spot my C.O. and I spring up from my seat and salute her, “Yes Lieutenant Blaze Front!”

“You got a Royal Summons to meet Princess Celestia. Pack your things, the carriage will be here at 1800.” she tossed me a scroll branded with the Royal Symbol,

“A Royal Summons?” I opened it and it read,

Dear Ironsight,

How are you? Is the office treating you okay? I deeply apologize for assigning you there

but since every other position was filled in the military I was forced to put you in recruitment.

Fortunately for you a position opened up that requires a pony of your skills, recently we have

unearthed new information regarding the Order of the Sword which revealed them to be responsible for the invasion not too long ago. As you also know two amulets have been stolen during the invasion, the reason they stole them is because they want to use them for very a

nefarious purpose, these amulets are very powerful and since they have them they are also very

dangerous. Now they want something else and they are targeting three ponies very close to me

to get it, what it is they want we don't know but because of this I am assigning you and two other ponies to be their bodyguards. I know, this sounds something not fit for you but this organization is a very ruthless one and I only picked the very best of ponies that I know I can entrust my life to. To simply put it, I trust you three the most out of everypony in my Royal Guard and that is my reason for choosing you. A carriage will be there shortly to transport you to Canterlot, once you arrive we will discuss about who you will be protecting and any further details I couldn't write down for sake of security.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

“This is some pretty heavy stuff...” I felt a bead of sweat form of my head along with the unrelenting sense of dread, “She even said she trusts me with her life...crap. I've been under heavy fire before but this is on a completely different scale.”

“Ironsight!”

“WUAAAAAAHHH!!!” the Lieutenant scared me and I fell off my chair and everything on my desk was flying in the air. Before I could even get up she was already inside looking like she was about to explode, “Ironsight...” she hissed through clenched teeth,

“Uh, yes ma'am?”

“CLEAN UP THIS GODDAMN MESS AND GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BUILDING OR SO HELP ME I WILL REPLACE YOUR CUTIEMARK WITH MY HORSESHOE PRINTS ONCE I'M DONE KICKING YOUR ASS!!!” she walked out and slammed the door, I couldn't hear right because of the loud ringing in my ears,

“Yes...ma'am.” well, at least I wouldn't have to deal with her anymore.

The ride to Canterlot was less than favorable, the ponies who were steering the carriage happened to be the very same ponies I hated during my time at the Academy for the Royal Guard, they kept making sharp turns just to make me fall, they pretended to be unconscious and let the entire carriage fall and they kept purposely spitting in the air because it would hit me. I would've taken them out but considering my circumstances I just held it in,

“Stupid Gilded Wing and Razorwind with their stupid wings.” then they did a rough landing causing me to fall out of the carriage, “You stupid assholes! I could've broken my neck you dumb mother-”

“Ahem.” when I turned around I saw both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing behind me and then I heard them fly off snickering as they did, “Wuah! Your Highnesses! My deepest apologies!” I bowed while sweating bullets,

“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!”

“It's alright Ironsight, we saw what they did and believe me they will be punished.” I exhaled a breath of relief and I followed them inside the palace. We entered the throne room and in the center I saw two other guards, one a pegasus mare and the other an earth pony stallion, I remember them from my days in the academy. I stood next to them and the princesses started the briefing,

“As all of you know, you are here because you are to be assigned as bodyguards. By doing so means that you will now report to me about anything from now on, this also means that you are not allowed to reveal anything from this job to anypony else. If so then you will be severely punished.” I tried to swallow the lump that formed in my throat.

The mare, Cuddle Springs, raised her hoof, “This must be serious, do you really think this organization is that dangerous?”

“These ponies were able to infiltrate our palace, destroy our wards, begin a full scale war and steal from the Canterlot Safe which is impenetrable and accomplished them in a span of one night. We cannot take this lightly.” Luna answered,

“What do they want to do?”

“Open the door to the Demon World.” I’ve known these guys for years, hell I even drink with them from time to time, and I've never seen them this terrified in my life and we had to fight a Hydra once and they fought it off like nothing,

“We are doing everything we can to cease their plans, this is where all of you come in.” Celestia said,

“So who are we protecting anyway?” asked Haymaker, the earth pony, “You can come in now.” the doors opened and my mind almost exploded into pieces. Walking through those doors were the very same ponies who save the city from certain destruction,

“We know this may seem strange Ironsight but since they were able to do everything what my sister said, I had to think about their safety.”

“Wait, so the Order of the Sword wants something from them?” I asked still staring at them,

“As I said before, you are not allowed to reveal anything about this to anypony else. This includes who you're protecting, where they live, where you live, what they do and what happens to them.” Celestia explained,

“And from now on you will have to follow them everywhere as they go, which includes whatever jobs they may be performing.”

“Maybe that's going a little far, don't you think?” the pony with the bandaged hoof said, “I mean do these guys even have experience in demon hunting?”

“Did he say demon hunting?”

“These three have some experience but all of you can teach them on the job, right?” all of them did their own little shrug,

“I almost forgot to mention, we are starting a new branch within the military. This particular branch's main focus is primarily on demon eradication, since it's just starting out I only have four members at the moment.”

“So these ponies are your members?” Cuddle Springs asked.

“Yup.” the mare with bat wings said,

“But there's only three of you.”

“The fourth is currently on her way to Los Pegasus, she won't be back until tomorrow.” Celestia explained,

“Hold on, how come only these three need protection?”

“The Order of the Sword won't waste their time on her, so far all we know is they are focusing only on us. Even if they do try something I will know.” Callidus said with eyes as sharp as knives,

“He can sure be...scary.”

“Since you are going to be working alongside them, you will have to help them.”

“So we're demon hunters now?” I felt a chill along my spine when Haymaker made that realization,

“Yes. The batpony is Violet.” she waved at us with a friendly smile,

“The unicorn is her twin brother Nero.” the dark blue unicorn just bluntly said, “Hey.” I kept staring at his bandaged hoof, if I remember correctly he has a magical limb,

“And all of you already know Prince Aether, or just Callidus.” he stood there expressionless,

“These will be your bodyguards, Cuddle Springs.” she did a small wave,

“Haymaker.” all he did was raise his head a little more,

“And Ironsight.” all three looked at me, “Hi.”

“Now that we are done with formalities, Cuddle Springs you will be Violet's bodyguard. Haymaker, you will be Nero's. And Ironsight, you will be Callidus's since you've met before.”

“Wait, Callidus!” suddenly a scroll appeared in front of the princess and she read it,

“Hmm what odd timing, Miss Lee has reported to have found the last demon within Canterlot, and she says it's a crafty one. I'm guessing all three of you will go?”

“Count me out, I'm headed to Ponyville to meet Twilight, something about asking me questions.”

“So just the two of you then.”

“Just tell us where to go and we'll take care of it.” Violet said a bit enthusiastically,

“The address is in the scroll, if you need assistance don't hesitate to run back here.”

“Relax, we won't need it.”

“As for you two, help them as much as you can.”

“Can we at least retreat?”

“Good luck.” the princesses left to their royal duties and Callidus walked up to me,

“How experienced are you?” I started sweating again, “Uh, I killed a Marionette before, but I was in a team that day.”

“Try not to die.” he warned,

“You know what the recruitment center sounds pretty good right now.”

Workplace Accidents

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“Ahh nothing like the city life. Polluted air, traffic jams, sketchy street meat, yup it couldn't be better.” I said as I was standing on the ledge of the roof I was on and looking over at the sun setting on the city skyline,

“Why am I even standing on the ledge? What if there's an earthquake and I just fall?” I looked down and saw that I was ten stories away from the sidewalk, “Yeah better back up.” I take off my backpack and pull out a blueprint,

“What's the layout of this school again?” the blueprint I have was of a local high school, thankfully after weeks of unemployment I finally got hired to snuff out some Arachnes that have been spotted inside an old building. My employer told me that these things have been hanging around the same spot for a few weeks now and they just snatch up anyone who happens to be wandering around an abandoned building like idiots,

“Then again when I was in high school we always had some sort of spot where the burnouts would play.” which would make sense because my employer also told me that a lot of teenagers were going missing. The blueprint says that the best vantage point would be on top of the cafeteria, there I would have the whole view of the building and be far enough from the freaks so they won't notice me,

“Cafeteria it is!” I pull out my phone and dial 'Unknown', “Hey, I'll be at the cafeteria so get that radio ready Chum-bucket.”

“Stop calling me that! How many times do I have to tell you!?”

“Listen, as long as you play the role of bait you will be called Chum-bucket so get to it.”

“How fucking dare you!? I only “play the role of bait” is because you're not letting me get in at any of the action! If I were the one in charge-”

“But you're not in charge are you? I am the one who got hired and you are still the bum who lives in my apartment, free of charge I might add since you have no job.”

“And you call this a job!?”

“Oh look at the time it's-” I hung up the phone and texted her to get ready.

I had to break into the cafeteria and knock out a couple of security guards but aside from that I made it to the rooftop. I pull out an on-ear walkie-talkie and turn it on,

“Fisherman to Chum-bucket, come in Chum-bucket, this is Fisherman, over.”

“I'm at the corner.”

“No you're doing it wrong.”

“W-what? What am I doing wrong?”

“You have to use your codename and you have to say over when you're done talking Chum-bucket, over.”

“I'm not doing this.”

“You have to Chum-bucket, or else, over.”

“Or else what? Lock me out of the apartment again?”

“Yes, wait again? Over.”

“You did that last night, I had to sleep at the bus stop remember?”

“Oh yeah, you ate my bacon cheeseburger I was saving. Then I'll just kick you out, over.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?”

“Aside from what is already wrong? Over.”

“Are really gonna kick me out just because I don't want to use that stupid codename and play along with your little game?”

“Yes, over.” she was quiet for about a minute, “This is...Chum-bucket, I'm at the corner...over.”

“Yay you're actually doing it! Okay Chum-bucket just stay still, over.” there was an air conditioner that reached my chest, “Perfect, now what to choose? Maybe the AI AS50?” I placed my hands on the surface, with a flash of green light the very same sniper rifle appeared,

“Or maybe the APR308?” in another flash of green light the sniper was replaced by the one I mentioned, “Ooh why not the PSG1 like in Kill Bill!” another flash and I got the gun I wanted,

“Nice!” I looked into the scope and I found my partner in crime standing at the corner, “Bang! You're dead Chum-bucket hahahaha, over.”

“Ugh, why do I have to wear this? Over.” she was currently wearing some skinny jeans, a light pink sweater with matching leg warmers and she had her bangs cut, which I was happy to help with, “So you could look like a normal teenager, over.”

“I don't even think normal teenagers would wear this! Over.”

“Get over it, over.”

“What if they manage to get a hold of me Fisherman? Over.”

“Don't worry about it, you have the 100% guaranteed satisfactory seal of approval by me, I won't let them hurt a single hair on your head, over.”

“You better.” she still sounded unsure.

She started walking across the building, “Now release the pheromones, over.” she did a little motion with her left hand, “Now sit at the bus stop.” she sat down and inside the building I saw a shit load of glowing red eyes, all of them glued on her, “Chum-bucket, no matter what don't scream, over.”

“Why? Over.”

“Quiet, over.” three of them crawled along the walls of the building while one stayed on the ground and slowly stalked her, “Come a little closer Mandibles.” it arched up and raised one of it's arms. Chum-bucket froze up as blood drenched her,

“Run Forest! Run! Over.” she got up and booked it, in the process she dropped the on-ear walkie-talkie, “Wait! Wait come back! Those were like 40 bucks each! Over!” she was long gone and the Arachnes picked up what she dropped,

“She was a trap!”

“We were fooled by a human!”

“But who?” I was hearing everything they were saying. I couldn't tell if it was either sheer bad luck or I somehow pissed off God at some point, whatever it was it made the wind blow behind me,

“I smell a human nearby.”

“As do I.” I looked into the scope and saw all of them staring back at me, “There is a human over there.” I took aim and shot the one holding the earpiece dead,

“And then there were two!” they looked pissed off and began their hunt,

“I better start running hahaha!” the gun vanished and I ran. I rushed down onto the front of the school and did a few stretches, “Hhhnnggg my lower back is killing me.” I spotted the two of them on the roof,

“Hey guys! Just doing some stretching. But maybe I should stop since it's just you two.” one of them then did a series of screeches and what do you know almost fifty of those fuckers show up and surround me, “Oh, I see. Well then back to stretching.”

Before I could do a lunge one of them pounced and would've turned me into confetti if I didn't move, “Nevermind, warm-up's over.” a pistol appeared in my hand and gave that guy a new hole in the head,

“Safety first.” I wave my hand over my face and a metal mask appeared with a painted on smile showing sharp teeth, “Now come at me, all at once!” and they did. All of them leaped towards me brandishing their fangs and claws and hissing at me like cats, I clasp my hands together and did a 360 spin while throwing live grenades at them. All of them exploded beautifully, on time and directly in their faces,

“Wait I only counted 23 explosions, what happened to number 24?” I found it next to my foot,

“Shit!” I kicked it and it exploded in mid air, “How the hell did it not explode? Hey a pen!” I bent down to pick it up and I saw one try to hit me but missed. I kick it right in the face to give myself room and I jabbed it in one of it's eyes with the pen,

“Aww does that hurt? I know how to fix that!” I jumped into the air and I landed on it's face, forcing the pen in deeper, “Can't feel the pain when you're dead right?” it fell with a thud and I faced another ten more a few yards away from me,

“Left or right?” I asked placing my hands behind me, “Die human!” one charged head on, “Right it is!” in my right I was holding a lever-action shotgun and with one squeeze his head turned into a Gallagher joke, “Now for the left.” in my left I was holding a detonator. They were confused until they noticed the bombs they were standing on, I planted them while I did my stretches, “Bye-bye!” a second later almost all of them died a fiery death,

“Oh goodie we still have some contestants!” hey I said almost all of them, the ones who survived wrapped themselves in their silk. Luckily they were down to five, but I knew more would come, I'm not that stupid.

“Can one of be so kind as to call out your queen?” I asked with both hands under my chin and big puppy eyes,

“He wants the queen!”

“He's after the queen!”

“Protect the queen!”

“With our lives we will protect the queen!” slowly but surely they walked towards me with a lot of malice,

“Okay fine, I'll just do it the way I used to.” the shotgun and detonator were replaced with twin hand-held machine guns, “Uzis bitches!” I took aim and let them rip. All of them didn't even get to move from their spots when I shot them, I made sure that one of them didn't die,

“Courtesy of the Israeli Military!” they vanished and I walked over the the still breathing one, “Hey buddy, can you still talk or did I accidentally shoot your throat? If I did I'm sorry, I was aiming for your lung.” he responded by knocking me back with it's giant claw and I felt my stomach in my throat when my ass hit the ground,

“Okay then.” I got up and patted away the dirt. The last Arachne looked like shit but was still able to fight, “Just you huh? Perfect.” I flexed my fingers and out came two silver bayonets with gold brass-knuckles as guards,

“Just got them this morning, aren't they pretty?” we ran straight at each other and I made the first cut on the thorax, it didn't like that, “That's nothing, this one though...” I underhanded one of them and stabbed it on it's back and cut it in half,

“Will hurt like a bitch.” it tried to hit me but I ducked in time and cut off it's arm. It stumbled back and cried out in pain, “Think fast!” I threw a bayonet at it's shoulder and while it was distracted I kicked it upward and severed it's entire arm off,

“Now open wide and say ahh.” I stick the brass-knuckles vertically in it's mouth and with a hop I brought my knee up and broke his fangs. The bayonet I kicked was coming back down and I caught it, but then it slipped out of my hand and hit my head, “Ow! Goddammit I thought I had it.” when I was done I stepped on the demon's ass.

“Here's how it's gonna go down, I am going to prod you with this fancy lightning stick!” in my hand appeared a stun stick and I pressed the button to let it hear the crackling sound, “And I'll keep doing it until that queen comes out.” I was about to poke it until,

“Fisherman!” I looked up and I saw Chum-bucket, wrapped up in silk, being held by the nasty blue queen bitch,

“First off, what the hell Chum-bucket!? How did you even get caught!?”

“Shut up! You're the one who told me to run in the first place! They are able to track you know!”

“That's why we cover our tracks you moron! Second, so you want a trade off or something?”

“No.” oh crap,

“I came to make sure that you see her suffer in the most painful process possible, by eating her.”

“Huh, well then.” the taser was replaced with a gun and I killed the demon, “Chum-bucket, initiate Protocol 5.”

“Finally!” she started glowing bright orange and she slashed her way out of the cocoon. The queen was surprised at first but soon looked steaming mad when she saw her next to me,

“You looked pretty revved up.”

“Are you kidding? I've been cooped up in that form for weeks!” Chum-bucket's appearance changed, she now had fox ears, a bright orange tail, glowing hazel eyes with matching claws that are a foot long, “I go high and you go low, right?” she asked while her knuckles cracked,

“As usual, now play.” she smiled and dashed towards the queen in blinding speed. I put both hands on the floor and in a burst of green fire my third favorite machine gun came, “Browning m1919, making people shit their pants since World War II.” I cocked it and fired. The queen was surprisingly resilient against my bullets but Chum-bucket was cutting her up like paper,

“Poke!” she jabbed two of her claws into the queen's eyes and ripped off half of her face.

She leaped out of my way and I aimed directly at her exposed gray matter, “Damn her and her thick skull!” which turned out to be futile because the bullets kept bouncing off. The gun ran empty soon after,

“Blessed .30 caliber rounds straight to the face and they didn't do jack shit!” I knocked it to the side and called Chum-bucket over,

“What are you thinking?” she asked sounding a bit scared,

“Oh relax, nothing wrong with a bit of overkill.” I said trying my best not to sound psychotic. I kneel to the ground and place both palms on the ground, “Try to take this!” between us sprouted missile launchers,

“When and where the hell did you get those?”

“Don't ask!” I pointed two fingers at the demon and they launched. When they hit all I saw was a big ass explosion and the two of us were soaring through the air, next I remember landing super hard on concrete and then I looked up to see smoke around me, “That was awesome! Chum-bucket did you fucking see that!? Chum-bucket?”

I got on my feet and couldn't find her anywhere, “Chum-bucket!” then I felt something hard like rock hit me behind the head,

“Do you have psychosis or something!? That was going way too far! I thought we were doing the whole stealth thing!” I was back on the ground the whole time she yelled,

“Owww! That hurt you know!”

“And what's gonna happen when he finds out!? I'm pretty sure he's going to use our money to cover the damages!”

“It's not even that bad! You know my aim is impeccable and not to mention I killed the demon.”

“With missiles! Who the fuck would use missiles!? Thanks to you the entire city probably knows we're here!”

“Not if we leave befo-” suddenly something green covered my eyes, “WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” we screamed in unison, what was on my face was a baby Arachne,

“Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!” I rolled on the ground trying to shake it off.

“No way you get it off!” I headbutted the ground and it died,

“Why didn't you help me!?”

“Screw you! If anything you deser-” then one jumped on her face, “AAAAAAAHHHH!!! Get it off!!!”

“'Screw you! If anything you deserve it.'” I said mocking her voice,

“Eww!!! Please help me!!!” she begged on the verge of crying. I held her still and took the little turd off her,

“There, it's gone.”

“Uhh, we better run.”

“Why?” that's when I felt things crawl up my pants, “Oh fuck!” I patted them off and I saw a swarm coming our way, “Run, run now!” and we hightailed it out of there. They started jumping on us which slowed us down, “Goddammit! Some Raid would be helpful right now!”

“Can't you just summon one you walking storage unit!?”

“Not helping!” I kept brushing and kicking them off, I would've used some sort of gun but these things kept on jumping onto me so I couldn't summon a weapon, “Get them off!” she yelled as she randomly swiped at the air. She stepped on one and she slipped,

“Chum!” I grabbed her claw but she took me down with her, then the most weirdest shit happened. The both of us fell onto a statue of a horse striking a pose and somehow, and I shit you not, we phased through it like if it was water and we were traveling in some kind of fucked up kaleidoscope like tunnel while at the same time being stretched and twisted, “WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!!!???” I screamed.

Eventually we got out of the LSD fueled hell and shot into something that wrapped around us as we rolled into various sorts of fragile stuff,

“Ahh darkness! I can't see!” I flailed around and noticed something off, “Oh my God I can't feel my fingers!” I then kicked something,

“Ow you butt-face that hurt!”

“Oh thank God it's you! Now get us out of here!” then she ripped what turned out to be cloth into bits, “Whew! Oxygen, how I missed you.”

“Uhh...eh.....” that's when I noticed I turned into a horse,

“Whoa, hey your a horse too!” Chum-bucket, or should I say Alice, was now a very light orange horse with red hair while still having her Kitsune traits and her clothes changed to fit her, what's strange is that her pants are now gone,

“*Whimper*” she going full on panic attack,

“Hey, pfft I said hay.”

“Now is not the time for puns!”

“C'mon I was just horsing around *stifles laugh*.”

“Are you serious right now!? How are you not freaked out about this!?”

“Maybe I'm more stable than you are *stifles laugh*.”

“Gideon!” my name's Gideon by the way,

“Alright I'll stop, but this is weird though.”

“That's all you have to say!?”

“Alice we live in a world where demons can take physical form and can apparently reproduce with humans, I'm inclined to believe anything is possible at that point.” I looked at myself, I was now this dark green horse with grayish hair and a horse-sized leather jacket, “Even the mask changed shape.”

“Hey Gid, check this out.” she was motioning to this huge mirror that was sparkling,

“Is this where we came from?” I touched the mirror and my hand, I mean hoof, went inside it, “Freaky. Why do I have a tattoo on my ass?” I looked in the mirror and saw three bullets on said ass,

“I have one too.” Alice had a dog collar on hers.

“Where are we anyway?” we looked around to see a bunch of stuff broken,

“Who cares, let's go-” I saw a door across the room get kicked open and these armored horses rushed in and are somehow pointing guns at us, how they even have guns I don't know, “Freeze!” one of them barked,

“Holy shit! They're shiny!” the horses were shining and see through, “They're also unicorns!” they kept their sights on me despite how uncomfortable they looked,

“Hey dingus, focus why don't you.”

“Dude! They're unicorns! We're not leaving without one!”

“What the hell do you need a unicorn for?”

“Hello! If we come back with a unicorn we'll be rich as shit! Just think about how much money we'll get with just charging for pictures! We might even pay off any damages we did.”

“But then people will ask where did we get it from.”

“It can talk so it'll just tell them where it came from.”

“Hooves in the air! The both of you!” he said and we did, “What's wrong with her?” they asked because they saw her claws,

“Uhh...bad genes?”

“Sir, I think she's a demon.”

“Okay, so they know what demons are. That's good, I think...”

“Tie up the both of them, get a firing squad ready.”

“Firing squad!?” we said. They place charmed chains on Alice while I had good ol' cuffs, “Can I ask where are we?”

“Be quiet.” we were surrounded by six horses, three on me and three on her. We were being taken outside to meet our maker,

“Can I suggest a few things?”

“Quiet.”

“You really should use things that keep my hooves in place, not these things or else.” I smacked one into a wall, the other aimed but I disarmed him and wrapped the cuffs around his neck. The others took aim, terrified,

“Let him go!”

“Fuck you, you let her go.” I squeezed tighter and he started gagging, “Sounds like your friend is having breathing issues.”

“Let him go now!” they were so stubborn,

“Fine.” I spawned a pistol, “Either let the red-haired one go or Clops here is gonna take a nap, permanently.” I aimed the empty gun at his head, I don't plan to kill this guy because we're in deep shit already.

All of them were thinking about it, “Take off the chains.”

“But sir-”

“Now!” he fumbled with the keys and unlocked the chains, “There now let him go.”

“Sure, after we get out of here.”

“But you said-”

“I know what I said, but I never said I would let him go immediately after she got loose, am I right or am I right?” I called her over and we awkwardly shuffled outside,

“Now what you fucking idiot?”

“We improvise my long-faced friend.”

“Long-faced!?” I kick our hostage towards our new friends and I give them a complementary smoke grenade, “Alice, cuffs!” she cut them and we booked. We were out on a field full of even more of those fucking horses,

“Nice one genius!”

“I don't see you coming up with anything!”

“Stop them!” a horse said and we saw everyone on the field come running to us, I panic and start throwing smoke grenades like crazy,

“What are you doing now!”

“Quiet! I'm panicking!”

“What do you mean you're panicking! When do you ever panic in situations like this!”

“When do I ever get chased by armed horses!” a spear came between us which made me fart a little. We ran in zig-zag patterns trying to not get stabbed by spears, then I heard gunshots,

“Gid!” she pointed at an oncoming wall, I spawn a grenade launcher and fired off some rounds until there was a hole,

“In the hole!” we went in and I blew the top of the wall so that it would block them from us,

“Crap, they're getting away!”

“Gather your squads and branch out!”

“You heard him move!” we heard them yell on the other side,

“Run?”

“Run.” we sprinted away from this ridiculous place and headed to God knows where,

“Hey Gid.”

“Yeah?”

“How fucked are we?”

“Yes.”

********(Canterlot-The Next Day)********

“As for Manehatten, the new suspension bridge is ahead of schedule, it will be completed in about two and a half weeks. Now all that is left is what color to paint the bridge, may I suggest an Aegean coat as to-”

“Really, what color should the bridge be? Just paint it.” “Ah that sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“Is he still talking!? Does he really think I care what the color of a bridge should be!? Just. Paint. It.”

“In irrelevant news, corn production is beginning to decline, though miniscule it could be problematic in the near future-”

“Isn't that why we created spells that can make seeds resistant to extreme heat or cold? We even have spells that create more corn! I'm not even a farmer and I know this!” “And do you have a solution to the corn problem?”

“Yes, we were thinking about raising the price of corn from six bits to 13.”

“Note to self, fire the pony who hires these kinds of ponies.” “Why don't we just fix whatever it is that is causing the decline?”

“We did think of that but we were hoping that you would approve raising the corn prices since they would boost up our economy.”

“Liar, I know about your corn investments, you are just hoping for more bits in your pocket.” “I think we should just resolve this decline problem.”

“As you wish, your majesty.” the pony sitting in front of me is currently calling me a 'stupid, sun-assed bitch' in his mind, yet he's the one trying to benefit from corn, no doubt somepony's paycheck is going to be cut in half. Today, like most days, is so incredibly boring that I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep while he rambled about bridges and corn, sometimes I dreamed about just abandoning the crown to live my own life, but I care for my little ponies too much to just give in to my selfishness,

“Your majesty.”

“Yes High Ground?”

“The Chancellor of Minyochnaed has issued a full written apology for the lack of discipline and integrity of his soldiers from Fort Schultz, he even sent a fruit basket.”

“'Lack of discipline and integrity', is that his excuse for barbarism? This moron threatens me with war, openly tells me to turn over my own son, allows his witnesses to testify against him just to escape conviction, and allowed this savagery to happen in his military and he thinks it will all go away with a sorry note and fruit?” “Well isn't that nice, tell him I said thank you for the fruit basket.” “Mobruck you are indeed a lucky minotaur for if I weren't royalty you would be nothing but a carpet stain. But I suppose conviction will do for now.” he gave me the letter and left me alone with the fruit basket.

The fruit basket looked expensive but the fruit was less than favorable, I was just about to ask a guard to throw them out when my sister came in,

“Sister, I wish to discuss a private matter with you.” seeing that there was nothing else to do, in terms of royal duties, I instructed the guards to leave,

“What is it that you want to discuss?”

“It's about Aether.”

“What about him?”

“Sister you already know what the question is, it's the same one you've been avoiding ever since we almost lifted that curse.” I dreaded that this is what she wanted to talk about this, “It's about his transcendence to alicorn status.” I knew it was only a matter of time,

“By all means sister.”

“Why is he even an alicorn? From the stories you've told me he didn't exactly do great things as a child.” I remember that day clearly, when he stepped out of his father's sanctuary with a horn and wings I couldn't decide whether to be ecstatic or worried. Ecstatic because my own son had done something great and at such a young age and not to mention that he earned his cutiemark, or worried because when his father stepped out he had just finished crying. I asked what had he done and I regretted asking ever since,

“I don't know, it happened in secret, the only ponies who know are Callidus and my husband. Whatever it was it will always be between him and his father.” I prayed my beloved sister believed that lie, I love her too much to drag her into this hell that I had dragged myself in,

“And your husband never discussed the process of how he transcended with you?”

“Never, when I would press on he would get angry.”

“I see. Then do you know how he got that curse placed on him?” that question got me, I didn't know how I was going to lie out of this one, “Also, how did you know that he had to die?” that question forced me to hold my breath.

“Did you really believe that I would stay oblivious? I was Nightmare Moon, it is difficult to forget all of those unholy dark magic spells.” she walked closer to me with anger burning in her eyes, “Sister I am fine with you using dark magic when it is required but to use that spell? If that curse wasn't so powerful then Aether would be dead right now.” that felt like a hot knife to my heart,

“After seeing him without his horn or wings I couldn't help but think the medallion he wears has something to do with it, my suspicions grew after hearing that the medallion is somehow magically linked to him. It seems whenever he loses or misplaces this strange relic it would come back to him. I figured his father was somehow involved because the medallion looks a lot like the Hamsa.”

“The what?”

“In my husband's world, he believed in a religion known as 'Islam'. He would tell me that the Hamsa was a religious symbol, used as protection from something known as the 'Evil Eye'.”

“You believe his father placed that curse? Why would he want his son to forget who he really was?”

“I don't know, but I'm glad he did it. I don't want him remembering the condition I found his father in the day he died.” it was starting to get overwhelming, the horror I felt as I remembered the look forever etched on my husband”s face, the guilt of what I had done to my own son, the hatred I held against myself for surrendering, if only he stayed dead, “After making this assumption I remembered my husband telling me the time he died for the first time.”

“Your husband has died twice? Please elaborate.”

“When he was much younger he somehow gained immortality in his world but to achieve such a thing, he had to first experience death first hand. At least that's what he said, I don't know how that works myself but he said that was how he gained his true form. After doing a bit of research in his sanctuary I only gained small bits of information about the medallion, some of his books say that it's a lock of some kind, others say that it acts more like a conduit for hexes or curses alike, but everything pointed to one thing, the experience of death.”

“But sister, we didn't lift the curse completely.”

“I know, in fact I'm still pondering over how the rebound was even possible. The most I can say is that it's a very ancient curse.” Luna didn't press on, all she did was look at the stained windows depicting the most crucial points in Equestrian history,

“We have been through so much haven't we sister?” I stared at them as well, mostly at the one where it shows us together,

“Yes, we have.”

“Tell me, which fate is much worse; trying to live with the faults you've made in life, or trying to forget them with all your being?” I thought she was referring to the time she turned into Nightmare Moon but when I met her eyes they turned steely. The guards came in just in time for her to turn away,

“It's almost time to raise the moon your highness.” Luna almost immediately stood up and walked away from me,

“Aren't you coming?”

“Yes, of course.” the guards escorted us to our designated balcony,

“Shall we?”

“Let us begin.” I felt my magic lasso around the sun and I brought it down as my sister slowly rose up her moon, “I wonder how long I have before everything catches up to me? No matter, I have my sister and my son, after the many years of loneliness and pain I finally have them back. Even if our time together is growing shorter it only makes everything all the more precious.” “Did you know in two days it's Callidus's birthday?”

“Is it now. How old will he be?”

“20.”

“Hmph, still so young and he's been through so much.”

“And there is still a long road ahead of him.” I looked up at the moon, seeing how pure and white it is compared to my sun, “A long road indeed.” my thoughts were interrupted when Fleur Dis Lee stepped in,

“Your Highnesses.” she bowed in our presence,

“I take it there's another crisis?”

“Actually it's much more complex than that.” she stood up and gave me a scroll, “There's been an incident at the Crystal Empire, and I need you to shed light on a few things.”

**********************************

“The destruction brought upon the world was almost unimaginable. Ponies were starving, homeless, fighting one another and driven mad. The lands fared no better, mountains walked around and stomped everything beneath them, dirt roads were turned into slippery soap that has taken the lives of many, rain was turned to hard rocks the size of melons and destroyed whatever homes were intact. Ponies were forced to grow and serve food to him nonstop, they built impossible structures he designed, most of these pones worked themselves to death and out of their corpses he turned them into walking abominations.”

“Hmm, this Discord guy must be pretty powerful.” I was sitting outside my room reading a book titled A Brief History of the Discordian Era, I was sparring with Celestia in her sanctuary and afterward I noticed this strange statue that was made up of different limbs, she said that this was Discord, a very powerful being known as a draconequus, I was interested so I looked into it. Suddenly there was angry shouting coming from inside my room,

“Another failure.” I said closing the book, “Hold this for me.” I gave the book to Ironsight,

“Yes sir.”

“Again, no formalities.”

“Right, sorry.” I walked into the room and I found broken glass and scattered notes everywhere, “I'm guessing the same effect happened.” she turned around and removed her goggles to give me a glare,

“Smartassness I'm not in the mood for, just making the base is a real chore.”

“Well what did you expect from working with unknown magic?”

“But it's yours.”

“And you think I know how it works? Not even Violet can explain how it works and she has more experience than I do.” she sat on her haunches and breathed deeply,

“Trial and error there is much, before I can make something as such.”

What Zecora is trying to accomplish is a way to extract the magic Violet, Nero and I have and turn it into a stone through alchemy, Celestia hoof-picked a few scientists including Zecora and ordered them to synthesize our magic into a ready to use spell believing that it would improve our bodyguards overall performance if they were able to turn human too, and whoever creates the most efficient one will get paid very well,

“You'll get there eventually, but for right now you should stop, you've been at it since yesterday. Did you even get any sleep?”

“Sleep I can continue without, I know the formula is correct without doubt.” she grabbed a few herbs and I took them away from her,

“Okay this has gone long enough. Get sleep, now.” she is a very skilled alchemist and potions master, but she always pushes it, whether it's because of her passion or the challenge of her work I will never know,

“Right you are maybe, the fumes have begun to get to me.” I sniffed the air and smelled Allspice, Balm of Gilead, Poison Joke, all sorts of herbs,

“Even with an open window this room is very poorly ventilated.” I said trying to fan out the fumes. Somepony knocked on the door frame and saw Fleur Dis Lee,

“Hope I'm not intruding.” she came in looking around, “For a prince you sure are filthy.”

“What do you want Fleur?”

“Staff meeting.” I groaned at the mention of that phrase, these 'staff meetings' were just very long briefings about our job, how well we're doing, what changes need to happen and what we might need, “Yes I know you're not fond of them but trust me, this will be a very interesting one.”

“Whatever, it's not like I have a choice.” Zecora and I followed Fleur out. The meetings were always held in this dome-like room recently built at the highest point of the palace, they dubbed it the 'Room of the Astral Knights', the name was ridiculous. The room itself had a ten foot circular marble table with exactly seven seats, one for each of us, the dome ceiling was painted with celestial bodies and armed soldiers with a chandelier hanging down and all around there were paintings of ancient battles and heirlooms consisting of either weapons or accessories.

We took our seats and waited for the others to come, “So how's the little project going?” she asked Zecora,

“Progress is slow, but with time my work will show.”

“You better hope so, I've heard Emsee is making good progress with his version of...what do you call it?”

“We don't have a name for it.” I answer,

“Well that won't do, it's tedious saying 'spell to turn human', how about 'Humanizer'?”

“Humanizer?” we said,

“I don't see why not, the purpose of it is for it to change a pony into a human right?” the guards outside opened the entrance and all of them walked in,

“So what now? Marionettes in Las Pegasus? Assaults in Appleloosa? Or is this just another update on how good we're doing?” Nero complained,

“Nothing of the sort.” Luna said as she took her seat,

“Hours ago I received word that a very peculiar incident happened in the Crystal Empire.”

“Crystal Empire? Was anypony hurt?” Violet asked concerned,

“Thankfully no, now who caused the incident is what caught my attention, all of the guards said that it was by two ponies; one mysterious masked stallion able to materialize weapons on command and a young teenage filly accused of being a demon.” she explained, “Here's how it supposedly happened. The guards were doing their nightly routine when they heard crashing inside an off-limits room, they rushed in and found the two there surrounded by the destroyed remains of priceless antiques. They apprehended them but were soon over powered by the stallion who threatened to kill one of them if they didn't let his partner go. They fled as soon as she was freed.” she gave each of us the description of the two.

“Now here's the interesting part. How did two ponies enter a windowless room that is not open to the public and surrounded by guards and once inside they broke everything of value? I mulled over this until I remembered the report mentioning an item that was not destroyed, a full-body mirror.” she turned to Celestia, “I'll leave the rest to you, your Highness.”

“Very well, many years ago I was acquainted with a very skilled unicorn, his name was Star Swirl the Bearded. We would work together to create all sorts of things from spells to charms, then he made a discovery claiming there is more than one world. In light of this we created magical mirrors, hundreds of them that led to other worlds, we were astonished at this discovery and wanted to know more about the other worlds so we crossed over. We recorded everything we saw and every world we visited, but eventually Star Swirl noticed that I was visiting one world numerous times. He said my frequent visits could inevitably put two kingdoms at risks, so he closed off the portals.”

“Aunt Tia that's interesting and all but what do magic mirrors have to do with our targets?” Violet questioned,

“Right after Star Swirl sealed them off he instructed me to scatter them across the country.”

“Why?”

“Some of the worlds we visited have advanced far more than our own from culture to technology, and what we witnessed was amazing but terrifying. If our enemies were to find out, no doubt would they abuse their technology to bring about our demise. That is why their locations are to be kept secret.” I was curious about what sorts of technology these worlds have, “Now one of these worlds include your home world.”

“What!” Nero almost shouted, “You mean there's another way home?”

“Yes Nero but there is a small catch to this. Though sealed in this world, the portals still remain open on the other side so if somepony were to come across it then it would reopen. Star Swirl foresaw this and came up with a contingency plan, if opened again then it would close within an hour, but since his magic is fading the time now varies.”

“And why are you so concerned with going home?” Violet asked suspiciously, “Nero even if there was a way home there is no way I'm letting you go. We still have a job to do and that is to prevent the end of this world, which we unwittingly helped set in motion. Unless you forgot?” Nero looked pissed, but his expression eased and he sat down.

“The mirror that leads to the human world is located in the Crystal Empire. We suspect that these two are from there since it's the only explanation as to how they got in. Your mission is to bring them in for questioning, if they use violence then do what you have to in order to bring them here, just make sure they're still able to speak.”

“The Crystal Empire?” “Um Celes-”

“I'm sorry, what was that?” she said with a sly smile, I hate it when she pushes it,

“...Mother, how long ago was it when you two created these mirrors?”

“Hmm, I'd say about 200 years ago. Why?”

“The Crystal Empire disappeared for 1,000 years. How were able to transport a mirror to a place that wasn't even there?” there was a spark of worry in her eyes,

“The mirror was kept here for the time being, but when the Empire returned I sent it there instead.”

“She's good at making alibis.”

“Oh by the way if you do capture the masked stallion, try to see how his magic works. Summoning weapons at will can prove useful to the Royal Guard.” Fleur ordered,

“Now on an unrelated note, we need to discuss the current budget of your organization. Since three of my very best are working for you I want to see how much we can cut so they can get better pay.”

“Can we also talk about getting new uniforms? The ones we have are so drab and clunky, absolutely no style.” Violet was referring to the typical guard armor she and Nero have been wearing,

“I can talk to Rarity about that. Oh and Callidus, we need a serious discussion about your fighting prowess, though good I fear that you have gotten weaker. Like your power jabs, accurate but lacking, I can help with that along with the other issues you have.” and like that I shun out the whole world.

********(Unknown Laboratory)********

“Cell merging procedures were a success, cellular mitosis has been accelerated, muscle and skin tissue have been reinforced and fasciculi have doubled in size. The other half was a bit more...complicated.” the minotaur said while lightly writing into his clipboard,

“Complicated how?” even behind the surgical mask the doctor was able to gasp in fear,

“Well, the difficult part about your request is the ability to have the shroud under your command which I can't say will be a guarantee.”

“I don't need guarantees doctor, I need possible! So I will ask, is it possible?” the doctor fumbled through the pages of his clipboard,

“Yes it's possible but the chances are so slim that you have a better chance at making gold from a base metal! We're talking about using a demon's weapon, one that has probably been used by that demon for hundreds if not thousands of years! Accomplishing such a task is fair to say is insurmountable!” a loud bang reverberated throughout the dry walls, the clipboard hit the ground and the doctor was taking shallow and rapid pants for the bullet grazed his head,

“Give me the shroud you pathetic pediatrician.” the hammer cocked back and he ran off to his closet in search of something. He came back with this oddly large syringe filled with a smokey black substance,

“I should warn you, this will kill you if you don't overcome it's influence.”

“I paid you to equip me, not run your mouth so get on with it!” the doctor then injected this substance into his patient's IV needle. The substance rushed through the tubing and forced itself into the patient's arm. Almost immediately there were complications, the patient began twitching from head to toe as if being possessed, the patient fell with a hard thud and one by one each of her joints defied biology and bent the other way.

To the doctor the sound of ligaments being ripped joints being snapped was enough to use the syringe filled with poison on the patient,

“No!” the doctor stood back, “You lied to me doctor, this thing is more like a naughty puppy than a demon's weapon,” the patient's fingers snapped forward and used them to get up from the ground, “it needs to learn who the dominate one is.” soon the patient's joints were back in place and was able to stand on two hooves,

“I can see why it can kill anypony, it's so dark I feel as if my mind is being grabbed onto by a dead hand. I can feel it trying to tear through my skin with it's talons and fangs, like a caged animal.” the doctor was out of words to say or think, he was seeing black smoke form a layer around the patient's body, “It's starting to panic, I know because I feel my organs being squished together.” the patient gave an insane giggle, then it turned into cackling, objects in the room were thrown by an invisible force and the candles were flickering on their own,

“Aah this brings back so many memories. But just so you know, I'm the dominate one,” the patient stood up straight and smoke envelope the whole room, “and your the submissive one.” the smoke cleared and the doctor witnessed the smoke transform into a smokey shroud,

“My God! Are you even mortal!”

“Oh doctor, at this age you should already know monsters take all kinds of forms. How many times a day do I have to take my serum?”

“About once a day, maybe more if you take tremendous damage.”

“Good, hmm...” the patient took notice of a old plague doctor's mask behind a glass box, “I want this.”

“I'm sorry but that has been in my family-” the glass was broken and the patient put the mask on,

“I wasn't asking. I'll be back for the rest.” the patient walked away and disappeared into smoke, leaving the doctor terrified.

Formal Greetings

View Online

1,063 feet, that is the exact height of the massive stone monolith standing underground, the monolith was colored gray with numerous carvings on all sides, “The final gate is complete, progress is slower than I imagined but things are falling into place perfectly.” he walked onto the railing in front of him and viewed his creation, “What world did I visit again? I believe it was the one hidden deep withing the San Palomino Desert. Such sophisticated technology, but it was well worth the 30 years I have spent learning everything I could.” Diosus flew next to him and perched himself on the railings and screeched loudly,

“Diosus, my dear friend. I know how you absolutely despise the present form you are stuck in and how anxious you are of returning to the physical world. But you must never forget who was responsible for saving you from the Sin of Althopier.” Diosus turned his head away, “You should be w-w-w-wise next time, for you are in no position to q-q-q-q-question me.” hoof-steps were creeping up behind the two and the brown stallion smiled, “Your soldiers have been working very hard ever since we made the deal.” the hoof-steps stopped and he turned his head to look at her,

“We are just motivated is all, Agnus.” the way she spoke had an edge to it, as it her words can cut deep, and her voice vibrated and rang with an undertone of confidence and evil, “I must say, your species has an intriguing physiology. How the cells are linked with your magic is almost a cause for envy.”

“You flatter me, but flattery does not get us to our goal any faster.” she glared at him with malice, “Oh please not you too. How hard is it to understand that we need to be patient.”

“I have been patient long enough Agnus! All you have been doing is stalking these pathetic children and playing with your inventions! When will you actually show results! I did not agree to help you just so you can fool around while we risk getting caught by the very same ponies we're trying to destroy!” two swords with glowing lines along the sides swoop down and positioned themselves at her neck, she stood there undeterred and angry,

“Chrysalis, my dear. I cannot relate as to how you felt about the day you were defeated by Cadance and Shining Armor but I can relate to that drive of revenge we so commonly share. How it consumes us and reshapes us in a way almost nopony can begin to fathom, the only difference between us,” the swords inched closer to her neck, “is the length of time we have held on to it. With you it has only been one measly year. I on the other hoof have been carrying this d-d-destructive feeling for f-f-far longer than you have. Don't you think that I grow i-i-impatient to destroy them, to finally rid them from existence and usher in a new world born from blood and ash? I suggest you learn to be p-p-p-patient before you, how does that saying go again? Oh yes, l-l-l-l-lose your head.” the swords flew away and Chrysalis grew even angrier,

“Is the Ceremony even close to being finished.”

“Yes, but we still need a few things that are not quite ready themselves.”

“And what about the broken blade?” the stallion named Agnus laughed at the mention of this broken blade, “Do you still really expect to use that sword? You'll be lucky to even touch the hilt. Even if you could wield the sword it's beyond repair, even I couldn't accomplish such a task.”

“I will wield that dark blade! How dare you even question my power, I was able to beat Celestia!”

“With the help of Shining Armor's love, don't delude yourself. Without love all you are is a shapeshifting bug.” those words set the queen off, “A bug!?” her horn glowed and made a circle of green fire around Agnus, “Give me just one reason as to why I shouldn't kill you now!”

“Because I am the only one with the power to rid you of that flaw.” the flames died down a bit,

“How?”

“This was part of our deal. In exchange for your resources and assistance I will give you a kingdom and power, and believe me when I say this power will transcend love. Once you go through the Ceremony you will no longer be shackled to dependence, but instead you will be fueled by your own soul.” Chrysalis seemed enticed by the promise of power, her horned dimmed and the flames were gone. Agnus then struck Chrysalis, it was enough for her to kneel,

“Th-th-th-this is the last ch-ch-chance you get. I may h-h-h-have made a d-d-deal with you but I will have no r-r-r-regrets in tearing you apart and f-f-f-find a new queen for y-y-y-your kind.” his tone was dark and unfeeling, his left eye gave off an eerie red glow. Chrysalis stood up and cleaned off the white blood on her chin, “After we've killed them, I will wage war on you.”

“I'll leave the front gates of the facility open for you and your soldiers.” she snarled and walked away, “Diosus.” the bird landed on his shoulder, “Remind me to kill her after the Dark Knight has returned.” the bird flew away and Agnus smiled viciously from the thoughts that sprang into his insane mind.

********(Ponyville)********

“So. Much. Hunger.” It's been 24 hours since we left that death trap filled with small horses and Alice and I are fucking starving, “I blame you for this.” Alice said,

“I'm not the one who fell face first into a magical fucking portal now am I?”

“You're the one who caught me super fucking late Mr. Best-reflexes-in-the-world!”

“You know damn well this thing only works when I'm in a fight you demonic anus!” right now we were on some dirt path, a few hours ago we sneaked onto a train headed for wherever the hell it took us and once again we were lost, “Why is everything horse related in this world?” she asked,

“I don't know but at least the names are more easier to remember than in our world.” after we left the um...Crystal Empire, we took off all of our clothing and Alice turned back to normal, well normal-ish. On the way here we asked a horse where we were and my God it took us hours to learn everything. We are in a place called Equestria, another horse related thing, the country is filled with pastel colored ponies and they are ruled by princesses that are not only immortal but can control the sun and moon and all that crazy shit. Right now they are on the brink of war with another country called Minyochnaed. I forgot how many years ago it was so I'll just say along time ago these two were good buddies, then the princess's guards got into it with a couple of minotaurs and what do you know someone ends up dead.

They didn't like that so they made laws to keep every non-minyochean out of the country out of paranoia and hate, kind of stupid. Then a domino effect happens blah blah blah now they are close to war. On a different note Equestria has a law known as the Chronilus Doctrine, any demon spotted is to be killed on sight and anyone caught working with demons is considered a traitor and will be put to death, and that's not the crazy part; rumor has it the princess has two demons working for her, but that's only rumor though, a lot of them said they were just very skilled knights, then I saw something pop out of the ground, “What world?” we flipped our shit when we saw this pink poofy haired pony dig out from the ground,

“Holy sweet mother of fuck where the hell did you come from!?”

“Gee mister you sure do have a potty mouth.” she shook her head and removed the dirt stuck in her hair.

“Ihaven'theardthatmuchcursingsinceMr. Cakeburned32dozensofcinnamonbuns! Ohandthattimewhen NeroandCalliduswerefighting!Whydoyoucurseanyway?Isitfun?IwannatryIwannatry!” she took a huge breath but I covered her mouth, “I'll ask again. Where did you come from?”

“Well duh! Today I was really curious about worms so I found one and asked what did it do all day so I followed it and followed it and turns out they just dig! I'm Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you!” we stared at her blankly,

“Hold on just a second! Who are you?” my heart sank to my ass, I needed to lie and quick, “Uh, we are new to this town! We just moved out of our parents home and now we're looking for a place to stay.” I smiled very cheesy like, “You dumbass, she'll never fall for that!.”

“That must be so cool! I still remember when I first moved out! My parents were crying and I was crying too but my sisters were all 'we'll miss you' and at first it was scary but then I got used to it and now I love it! Wait so you're saying the both of you are new to Ponyville?” after thinking how retarded she must be I said yes. Suddenly she started shaking uncontrollably and made this weird wriggling smile, her hair and tail were twitching and she was bouncing slightly, “Are you ok-”

“YIIIIIIPPPPEEEEEE!!!!!!!” she ran circles around us in a speed that made me think she was on meth, “OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!!!TWONEWPONIESNOTONEBUTTWO!!!!SOMUCHTODOANDIHAVEALLNIGHTTOPLANAHUGEPARTY!!!!!BUTFIRST!!!” she vanished into dust and returned with all kind of instruments strapped to her, what happened next blew my mind,

“Welcome welcome welcome, a fine welcome to you, welcome welcome welcome, I say how do you do? Welcome welcome welcome, I say hip hip hurray, welcome welcome welcome to Ponyville today!” she then brought this gold plated...thing and said thing shot cookie dough at us and blew out confetti, we wiped some off our eyes,

“What the hell was that-”

“Yeah! Fuck logic!” I don't why but covering me in unbaked cookies won me over, “I'm glad you liked it mister! Usually ponies get mad or grossed out! You're the first to like it! Since you two need a place to stay you can come over to Mr and Mrs Cakes!”

“Fine, but can we get some food? I'm hungry.” Alice whined.

When we arrived I told myself to get mental help because this house, restaurant thing was made entirely of pastries, “If she tries to eat us, remember to push her in the oven.”

“Duly noted.” we whispered to each other, inside the store was occupied by two other horses, “Mr and Mrs. Cake! I brought over some new friends, they just came to Ponyville!” one was cleaning some pans while the other was inside an oven,

“Well hello,Carrot dear! We have guests!” what followed was a thud and a groan,

“Ow! That smarts! Nice to meet you two, this is my wife Cup Cake and I'm Carrot Cake.” I remembered that the names are also a bit weird, “Hi, I'm...Howdy Doody and this is Sparkly Stuff.” I bring her in a hug because I knew she was gonna talk shit, “We just moved out of our parents home so now we are looking for a place to stay.”

“Wow, this must be a big step for the two of you.”

“Huge.”

“So what made you move out here with your big brother?” Carrot asked, “Mom and dad weren't exactly the supportive type, so I moved out here with him to encourage him to pursue his dream of becoming a male model for mare's shoes.” she smiled sweetly, “You dick.”

“Oh...then why is your cutiemark of three bullets?”

“I...am actually really good at making bullets. I used to work in a metal shop but I still felt a bit off, one thing led to another and here I am.” “What the fuck am I saying? You're gonna pay for this.”

“Well that is...very kind of you to support your brother to find his real self.” Cup Cake said uncomfortably, “We're off to bed, help yourselves to whatever you like and the bathroom is down the hall. You two can share Pinkie's room.”

“Yay! A sleepover!” she ran up the stairs and the two followed suit finally leaving us alone, “A male model for mare's shoes are fucking kidding me!? Really!?”

“You're the one who called me 'Sparkly Stuff', you made me sound like a stripper!”

“Cup Cake sounds like a stripper name too and you don't see her complaining.” I walked behind the counter and went to the kitchen,

“Besides why do we even need aliases? It's not like they know who we are.”

“But our names sound a bit more unique, unique enough for them to find us since probably not many ponies are named 'Gideon' or 'Alice'.” I find the fridge and take out some cheesecake and a gallon of milk , “Great, now I have to go by Sparkly Stuff.”

“Hey thanks to you now I have to pretend I'm a male model.” I give one slice to her and pour her a glass, “Finally something edible.” then Pinkie ran back to us, “And we are ready for some sleep! Ooh cheesecake!” she pushed Alice aside and ate the whole damn cake like a pill,

“You gonna eat that?” she asked Alice who gave her a glare and moved her cheesecake closer, “It's been a while since we've eaten.”

“So Howdy Doody, since you want to be a model I know somepony who can help.”

“Do you now.”

“Yup, her name's Rarity and she owns a boutique, she knows a lot of ponies that can help you! I'll have her over so you can meet her!”

“That sounds great.”

“See big bro, you're on your way!” she is really enjoying it, well two can play at this game, “By any chance do you have diapers?”

“Tons! Mr and Mrs Cake have two adorable babies!”

“Good, Sparkly needs a diaper before bed.” Alice almost choked on her cheesecake, “Really? Why?”

“She has a very weak bladder, especially before bed, if she doesn't have a diaper on the whole bakery will smell like asparagus tomorrow. Oh and she has this back condition so she has to sleep on the floor so it won't hurt her.” Alice's look makes me want to bust out laughing,

“Aww it's okay Sparkly, you're just a late bloomer.” Pinkie hugged her and I saw her eyes glow for a bit, this shit was too funny. After we've eaten we get set up for bed, and Alice is in a diaper,

“I wish I didn't left my phone, this is priceless!” she walks up to me and whispers, “If word gets out, I will break every bone in your body until they poke out of your skin.” she says as she climbs under her little part of the floor while I climb into my comfortable blow up mattress, “G'night everypony!”

“Good night Pinkie.”

“Night.” was all she said as she balled herself up,

“Let's see what tomorrow brings.”

*******(The Next Day)*******

“Are you almost done?”

“How dare you! After suffering such a tragedy you should be lucky she is still in one piece. A mare of her taste requires time, so you must bear with it.”

“What she said!” was Violet's response, we are in Rarity's boutique for some new clothes, what was just a quick drop in turned into a shopping spree. Remembering how all of her clothes burned and because of how she hated the uniforms we're forced to wear Rarity offered to replace her entire wardrobe,

“I love this outfit! How does it look? Don't answer, I know I look good.” she said wearing yet another outfit,

“And look good you do! It's wonderful that you love my work, but isn't it time I take your measurements for your new uniform?” Violet stopped mid-pose, “Oh yeah! Nero you wanna go first?”

“Nope.” my legs felt a bit numb so I took the chance to walk out, “Find me when you're done.” I walked out the door before she could cuss at me. Outside waiting were our bodyguards Cuddle Springs and Haymaker, both asleep sitting up on the walls, “Have a nice nap.” it was still morning and all I had to eat was one lousy muffin and black coffee,

“I need a meal, I miss bacon.” I wasn't exactly hungry but I wish I had something better. A shadow blocks the sun for a second and I look up, “Is that...” it was a gold carriage like ours and I saw it head for that forest we came from ans soon other carriages stuffed with full grown trees followed, “Oh yeah, it's him.” my guess was Callidus was on his way to replant the trees we destroyed, knowing Violet I had some time to finally get the message straight.

When I made it I saw how barren it looked from the last time I saw it, “Not even grass.” I hide behind a tree and see Callidus talking to some fat guy, “Be careful out here, there are a lot of wild things out here you don't want to meet.”

“I'll be fine Mr. Elbowgrease.”

“I'll come get you when it's lunch, I'll be at the mayor's office if you need anything.” he walked away and the soldiers manning the carriages flew away. He started digging holes and I came out,

“No babysitter for the day?” he turned around and already he frowned, “What the fuck do you want?”

“I was expecting a 'hell' out of that sentence. How's 70 years of hard labor working out?”

“Leave me alone.” he went back to digging, “Got a lot of trees here. Maybe you should run away while you still have the chance, you know before anything bad happens.” I put a lot of emphasis on the word 'bad'. He staked the shovel to the ground and walked towards me, “What is your problem?”

“My problem,” I went in his face, “is how much of an ungrateful, emotionless piece of shit you are.” he swung but I ducked and flung him over, “Truth hurts don't it?” he stood up fast,

“I should have killed you when you were unconscious.”

“Oh and that's just the start. Violet, my sister, even after you tried to kill her she still thought of you as family and saved your life. It's not the fact that you didn't say thank you afterward but the fact that you even tried to hurt her and have the balls to not even look at her because she has a little demon in her, that doesn't sit right with me.”

“That's surprising, you actually care for her.”

“Don't get smart on me fuckface. I may not have known her for that long but she's my only family and I would give anything to make sure she's safe, which brings me to my next point. After how many years? 10? After almost a decade you finally meet your own mom and what do you do? Reject her like poison.” he was getting mad quick, his nose twitched, “She spends the last five years trying to bring you home and from what I heard she took your little disappearing act very hard. Since you came back she's fed you, housed you, hell she even protected you from extradition for some serious shit and you walked away with only 70 years of hard labor. I know about the punishments those two countries give to murderers and she just gave you a slap on the wrist. After all that you still don't even think of her as a friend let alone a mother.” his pupils were the size of pinpoints.

“You're lucky to even have a mother, I never even knew mine beside her name and to this day I wish I've met that woman, and to see you taking Celestia for granted just pisses me off.” he got me right on the nose. The force was enough to make me bleed,

“You're not exactly a saint yourself you ignorant fuck.” he changed and gives me a strong kick to the chest, “Don't pretend you have a heart just because you have a sister because you and I both know you don't. With the whole Order of The Sword ordeal going on you couldn't give less a shit about what happens to this world no matter who it affects be it Celestia or those citizens down in Ponyville. Sure I don't consider Celestia my mother and I don't care about those ponies I just mentioned but I will not let them go through literal hell. You know what those things are like and you would still let them experience that!?” I was still trying to breathe, “You have no grounds to be talking down to me like that, especially since you're only looking after yourself.” that got me mad. I turn human and catch my breath,

“I'm done talking.”

“So am I.” right before I can land a punch a loud crack rang out,

“I've had it with this crap.” it was Violet in her human form and wearing her new clothes, it was a half jacket with purple trimmings and a black vest complete with black pants and knee high boots, “Ever since we got here you two have been trying to slit each others throats. Obviously you two will never get along again so the two of you decide right now when to settle this!” she yelled.

We looked at each other with anger, “How about tonight, right here. No one to interrupt us and no one to hold us back.”

“Fine by me.”

“Good, after this is settled I don't want anymore shit from either of you, understand!” Callidus walked off without another word, “See you tonight asshole.” she grabs me by the hair and drags me away. We change to ponies and we were headed back to Rarity's, “Nero we need to talk.”

“What is it?”

“Do you really care for me?”

“You heard that?”

“Answer the question.”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why are you acting like such an ass?” again she uses her rare seriousness, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Callidus has a point, you are a selfish asshole.”

“Hey woah who put a stick up your ass?”

“Nero I'm not fucking kidding, ever since we came here all you thought about was going home, but that doesn't bug me. What bugs me is how I am trying so hard to fix the remnants of our family and you just get in the way. I've been catching up with Aunt Celestia I've been spending time with Luna, I finally get along with Zecora and now I'm trying to get Callidus to trust us so he can open up and you put me back in square one by always picking a fight with him! The more you mess with him the more he drives the rest of us away. Can't you even a least pretend to make an effort? I can't believe you're still that same punk I found at the police station.”

“That's not true.”

“Really? Then why do you care so little about our family? Why are you still thinking about your needs? Why are you willing to let this world die?” I was stunned right there, “Remember the stories you told me? About the city you were living in and how the people didn't help you, not even their police? Looks like they rubbed off on you.”

“Hold on Violet-”

“Shut it, I know you lost your memories so you have no emotional ties with this place but I do and I want to save it. If you don't want to save this world for me then I guess you really don't care about me at all, Jason. I'll ask Celestia if the portal home is open.” she flew away, she called me by my old name, “Goddamn it, I really fucked up this time.”

I was on my way to rarity's when Fleur's carriage landed in front of me, “What is it now?”

“Oh good you're still you. Where's Violet?” she asked while getting out, “She's gone.”

“Shame I heard she was getting a new outfit and I wanted to see it. Anyway while I was at a photo-shoot something new appeared.” she ordered the guards to take something out of the carriage, “We found these not far from the Crystal Empire.” they were clothes, human clothes, I can tell because that jacket was real leather not that fake leather ponies use, “We didn't think much of it, that is until it made a strange noise.” she dug into it's pocket and pulls out a phone,

“Well shit they are from the human world.” she handed me the phone, “Whoever this guy is he has a shit carrier.” Virgin Mobile, he's either desperate or broke. I pushed the button and I saw a selfie of the guy as his wallpaper and a pin passcode, “What is that thing anyway?” she asked, “It's a device that allows you to talk to people from far away distances. You only found one phone?”

“That's the only one.” she says. I change to my normal self because I needed my fingers for this, I did this little trick for breaking into phones and in just seconds I was in, “Unlocked it, let's see who this guy is.” I open his gallery and see his selfies, each one has a dead demon in them, “Okay let's see wha-oh my God!” the next picture was a dick pic, it made me drop the phone,

“What did you see?” Fleur was about to pick up the phone, “Don't pick it up!” I yell causing her to look confused, I pick it up without looking and push home, “Let's look at his contacts.” I scroll through his very small list and found one that's very surprising, complete with picture, “Morrison!? No way he knows this guy? I'm calling him.”

“Calling who?” I shush Fleur when it started ringing. Soon someone picked up, “Did things go smoothly?”

“Surprise Morrison.”

“What the- Nero!? How...What...how did you get his phone!?”

“Morrison who is this guy?” he let out this huge sigh, “What did he do this time?”

“Let's just say he and his partner are in deep.”

“Alice too! Goddamn it those two!”

“Calm down Morrison. So was this the 'find someone else' guy?”

“Yeah, what do you want with him?”

“Violet and I just wanna talk.”

“You mean beat the shit out of him then leave him to die.”

“More or less, who the hell are they?”

“The man actually goes by many aliases, but he mainly uses 'Gideon'. He was a U.S. Marine a good some years back, mobile infantry.”

“Ah this guy was at the frontlines.”

“And he used to be a Staff Sergeant.”

“So what happened?”

“Well the reports say his whole base was ambushed by Al Qaeda, but he says different. He was the only survivor of the attack and he claims they were attacked by monsters. That messed him up good, it even turned his hair gray.”

“Monsters?”

“Cut the crap you already know it was demons. After his testimony they figured he was mentally unstable so they discharged him and slapped him with one count desertion. Just to add insult to injury they sent him to an insane asylum, he spent six years there. He came out worse than before.”

“That could explain some things.”

“Later on he escaped and made a name for himself, well names. During his time he studied all he could about hell, demons, and black magic. Trust me when I say he's an expert on the occult, he knows things I don't. Mix these with military training and you have one hell of a devil hunter.”

“He's that good since you're praising him so?”

“Oh how much I've missed that sarcasm. Nero don't underestimate this guy, he's a little off but far from amateur. He goes by a lot of nick names, and I mean a lot. The Enforcer, Cutthroat Mike, The Hell Hound, 6,000 Man Army, The Beast from the East, The Idle Hand, God's Mistake, The Grin, and his most famous one, Pontius Pilate.”

“The guy who put Jesus on the cross?”

“I'm not so sure why either, nicknames aside he has skill. I've seen this man in action and he is one quick son of a bitch.” he said, “That's one what about the girl?”

“There's not much about Alice, but you should know she's a Kitsune Hybrid.”

“Really?”

“That's right and she's a special one too. Her generation is immune to all forms of magic.”

“Immune to magic huh.”

“But that's all I have on her, I don't know much else. She just kinda came with Gideon. She's no push over either, she's small but fierce.”

“So you don't have any more useful info I could use?”

“Gideon loves movies.”

“How does that help?”

“You might find him in a movie theater. Where the hell are you guys anyway?”

“Gotta go.” he yelled but I hung up, “I'm still trying to figure out how the hell we even have reception from another dimension.”

“Who were you talking to just now?” Fleur asks, “Our other boss, like you but less rich and more male.” she rolls her eyes at me,

“Now that you have this thing does it make finding them easier?”

“Definitely, I'll spot them a mile away.”

“Good to hear, I must go I still need to finish my photo-shoot.” she hops in the carriage and flies off, “Bye.” I say sarcastically. When I walked in Rarity asked me to turn human to take measurements, “Hold still please, I must get everything right.”

“Whatever.” after a minute she finishes and runs off, “Why the bored face Nero?” Pinkie says startling me, “This is a habit with you isn't it?”

“That and this!” she sticks this pink envelope on my nose, “I wish I could stay and chat but I still have 226 invitations to give, bye!” she then nose dives straight into a flower vase. I dump the flowers and look inside,

“How the fuck can she even do that!?” I open the envelope and it turns into a smiley face with it's tongue rolled out, on the tongue was writing, “You are invited to a 'Welcome to Ponyville Party' to celebrate our new friends Howdy Doody and Sparkly Stuff. Sparkly Stuff? Sounds like a stripper name.” I thought about the names and noticed how strange they were even for Equines, “Looks like I'm going to that party.”

********************

Morning came and Alice and I thought it would be a good idea to try and find a job, “Where can we work at anyways?”

“We can't work at the bakery, at least not with her always on our asses.” we were hiding out in Pinkie's room, she left this morning for something I already forgot, “Maybe we can work on a farm? From what I'm hearing our kind specializes in farming.”

“Our 'kind'?”

“You know, earth ponies.”

“What?”

“We're the things without horns or wings okay.”

“I don't wanna work at a farm, too dirty and too much of a hassle.”

“Dude you rip open demons and get constantly covered in their guts.”

“But I like doing that, and farm work is just gross and repetitive.”

“My God you're so complicated.”

“Can't we work at a spa? Or go to one?”

“We are not going to a spa.”

“Why!? My back hurts because of you!” she whined,

“It's not my fault, cross me and you'll trip.”

“That doesn't even make any sense.”

“Point is fuck with me and I fuck with you.”

“Ugh, you're such a loser.”

“And you're a brat.”

“Old timer.”

“Baby.”

“Ass face.”

“Fuck-tard.”

“Dick head!”

“Cunt brain!” we then heard knocking, “Is everything okay?” it was Mrs. Cake,

“It's cool, we just found a spider and tried to kill it.” I say, “Oh...okay, if you need anything just give us a shout.” she walked away and we stare at each other, “Nice going dingus, we were almost caught.”

“If it weren't for my wits we would be.”

“What wits?” I growled and held my head, “*inhale* I'm going to look for a job.”

“I'm coming too.”

“What about your back?”

“That's why we're going to the spa.” I face hoof and walk out.

We cut through a local flea market, “I'm starting to like this place. No pollution, no loud city noises, just simple talking and haggling.”

“I hate it, it's too colorful.”

“At least give this place a chance.” thanks to me not paying attention someone bumped into me and he fell, “My bad buddy, you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm okay.” it was one of those armored ponies, I think they were called the Royal Guard or something. This guy was a blue unicorn with a a yellow and red mane, even though he's a horse he's kinda cute, “Need help with those?” he was picking up all these scrolls on the ground, “No I got it.”

“Do you know where the nearest spa is?”

“Dude really?”

“There's one a few blocks from here.”

“Really?”

“We're not going to a spa, end of discussion! Sorry we just moved here and she had a rough night, by any chance do you know who's hiring?”

“Sorry, I'm not from around here either. I would tell you to join the Royal Guard but you look like the kind who hates military.” smart too, “Where are you from?”

“Canterlot, and it's hectic. Sorry but I gotta go.” I step in his way, “What's the rush?”

“Let's just say my boss needs me.”

“What's your name?”

“Ironsight.”

“Nice to meet you. I'm Howdy Doody and this is Sparkly Stuff.”

“I'd leave now if I were you.” dammit, she caught on, “Excuse me?”

“She's just worried we'll get your fired or something.” I glance at her and give her a mean ass stare, “Sure whatever.”

“Anyway have you been here before?”

“Yeah, I was stationed here not too long ago.”

“Good, since we don't know the area why don't you show us around?”

“I don't think-”

“C'mon you can show us on the way to your boss.” he thought about it, “I don't see why not.” I give him my best smile and we head off.

“So what does Ironsight do?” my eyes accidentally land on his ass, a little lacking but still good, “I don't do much, just regular paperwork and the occasional training of troops.”

“And?” I pressured, “Sometimes I kill some demons.”

“Any good?” Alice pipes up, “Somewhat, I still have a long way to go though.” Alice scoffs,

“Don't mind her. Hey since you're in the Royal Guard I was wondering if you could answer some questions.”

“I can try.”

“Are the princesses really immortal?”

“Yeah, why would you even question that?”

“Just a question, I've never met them in person before.”

“Of course they are.”

“Okay then how about this, is it true she has demons working for her.” his eyes went big for a second but then gives me this skeptical look, “Of course not, all demons are to be killed on sight. You must be referring to the elite knights, they're not demons but they can fight like them, and they don't work for her they're her family and they only work if they are really needed which is rare.”

“Cool.”

“Are they really that good?”

“The best.”

“Hmm.” Alice has this complex, if she hears someone is better than her at something she wants to beat them then show off how amazing she is, “What about that one guy, Prince Aether right? Does he do stuff like that?”

“It's Prince Callidus and no he doesn't, not anymore. The new prince does not waste his time with dangerous matters like demon hunting.”

“Not from what I heard.” he turns to me, “Oh yeah I also heard he can actually take on a whole horde, and I heard he doesn’t just off demons. I heard he's a killer, and a good one, wanted by two countries for murder, destroyed an entire prison along with exposing some corruption within the military, and he even took some of your guys out didn't he?” he looks ahead this time,

“That was just a misunderstanding, he was protecting himself and nothing else. Now he's just a stay at home prince” “Sure, you ever meet him?” “No, but I would like to.” he's good at lying.

“You want to meet a murderer?”

“He's not a murderer, he's a hero with no one on his side.”

“Hero?”

“I know he's done some bad things, unforgivable even. Killing members of the Royal Guard? Who wouldn't hate him? But he was just thinking about survival, those guys he killed were trying to kill him too, he shouldn't be blamed for that.”

“But he's killed griffons and minotaurs too. That makes him a hero?” Alice asks, “His story is a long and complicated one. I don't think he's a hero because of that, it's because of the many lives he's saved. Before he was found he was known as the Killer Cloak, a mysterious creature who killed demons then disappears. Whenever a city or village was under attack by demons he would show up and save it. It's amazing how ponies forget that and it's sad how little ponies appreciate it, especially since we've tried to kill him every time he shows, he did all that without even asking for a thank you.” he starts showing glints I his eyes, “When I heard of him I admired him, nopony would do what he did. He's brave, cunning, and selfless, he's everything I want to be.” I was losing him,

“So you're like a big fan of his?”

“Huge!” he didn't even hesitate, “I have every photo of his sightings and I have a collection of bullet shells from his gun.” he realized what he said and blushed, “Please don't tell anypony.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Weirdo.” I glare at Alice, “I also heard something...odd.”

“Like what?”

“I heard he could turn into a human.” he hesitated for a moment, I want to know if there are any humans here, “Evidence says he can.”

“Are there more like him?”

“No, he's the only one.” now I wanted to meet this prince dude.

He stops in front of this creepy looking forest, “It was nice talking to you but this is where I leave.”

“Hold on, don't tell me you're actually going in that fucker? That's how most stories end with 'and he was never heard from again'.” seriously that forest looked like it had all kinds of scary stuff,

“Trust me, I'll be fine.” he was beginning to walk into it, “L-let us at least accompany you.”

“Sorry, too dangerous for citizens.”

“C'mon.”

“I'm sorry to do this to you but if you follow me I will have to arrest you.” I sit down, “Fine.”

“Maybe I'll see you around.” he waves bye and walks into the forest, “You're following him aren't you?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Ugh you're so disgusting. He's not even the same species.”

“Actually we technically are.”

“He's a horse you freak! How do you find a horse attractive?”

“Like this.” I walk into it, “What am I suppose to do!?”

“Go to that spa you wanted!”

“I don't know where it is!”

“Figure it out!” she cusses at me nonstop and I keep walking until she fades out. In just minutes I found him and stalk him slowly, “Now where are you going?” ahead I see this huge clearing with some dude digging holes,

“Who's that?” Ironsight walks toward him and I walk closer to take a look, “Oh hello!” Ironsight was talking to this black coated guy and holy crap was he hot, “I got what you asked for.”

“Were you under suspicion?”

“Not at all.”

“What about Celestia?”

“She wasn't around.”

“Wait is he...the prince?”

“Wandering eyes can be deadly, especially while standing idly.” before I can scream she has something covering my face, “You should pay attention brother, we have a watcher.” as soon as she said that the black stallion rushed over,

“Howdy Doody!?” Ironsight shouted, “You know him?”

“I just met him today.”

“And you told him I was here?”

“No! I swear!” I muffled through whatever is covering my mouth, “Let him talk.”

“*gasp* He's your biggest fan.” Ironsight had this look of betrayal, “I thought it would ease the tension.” suddenly my head is forcefully turned to face him, “Who are you?”

“Hi my name is Howdy Doody and I just moved here yesterday.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I didn't, Ironsight and I were just having small talk until he mentioned he needed to be somewhere so I followed him and here I am!” I raised my arms in the air and made them uncomfortable.

“So how much did you hear?” I knew they were up to something but I wanted to be on their good side, especially his, “Hear what?” the prince took a deep sigh,

“You're free to go.” the mare behind me steps aside and reveals herself to be a zebra, “For what I did I apologize, we must be kept away from public eyes.” she rhymed,

“Do you always rhyme?” she nodded yes, “Leave.” the prince said,

“Damn who put a stick up your ass?”

“You should do what he says.” Ironsight warns, “Oh and thanks for telling him my secret.” he glares at me,

“Oh c'mon he doesn't even care.”

“Let's escort you back.”

“Does that mean you're done for today?”

“No, we still have things to discuss.”

“Aw man, fine take me back.” he led me out of the forest until, “There you are mister last stop!” it was Pinkie, she just appeared out of nowhere and stuck a envelope on his face,

“What's this?”

“An invitation silly! For a party! And not just any party, a party for two new ponies! And one is standing right next to you!” she pulled me by my head and faced me towards Ironsight, “Aren't you going to give Zecora and Callidus one?”

“I already did! Now that the invitations have been sent now I can get everything together!” she pulls out some huge clock, “And I only have eight hours to spare! See ya!” she then sped off,

“Wait, where's Sparkly Stuff?”

“Good question, and I have an idea where. Wanna come with?”

“Sorry, gotta go.” he did a 180 and walked away, “Still cute.” I headed for the one place she's been bitching about since this morning.

I asked random ponies where one was and when I got inside I find her covered in some kind of mud, “Oh hey Howdy, back from 'spelunking'?” she asked as she lifted up one of her cucumbers, “Not today Sparkly.”

“Serves you right, you just left me alone for some ass.” she said it in a really laid back tone, probably because of the massage she was getting, “Well you were supposed to be my wingman so we're both at fault.”

“So you leave me all alone out there and in a village I'm not familiar with? What if I was kidnapped or something?” that made me laugh so hard I snorted which earned me a lot of mean looks from the spa people, “C'mon Sparkly, you found your way to the spa didn't you?”

“With the help from strangers who might have been pedophiles, by the way I need you to pay these ponies.” suddenly I felt two ponies behind me, “That' will be 85 bits.” I turned around slowly,

“Funny thing we just moved here and, we don't have any money.” soon the two of us were thrown out, “And don't come back without any bits!” she slammed the door and we were spitting dirt out of our mouths, “Why did you come without any bites or whatever? That's the whole point of a job!”

“I knew I was gonna get kicked out, I just wanted to see how far I would get before I was caught.” she got up and stretched, “*moan* That massage did the trick.”

“Good now you can work.”

“*groan* Fine, I got what I wanted anyway.” I placed a hoof under my chin and went into deep thought, “Where can we work?”

“Hey Gid.” she grabbed my shoulder and pointed at a nearby store, “It has a help wanted sign.”

“Awesome, let's get ourselves a job!” I say with raised hooves yet again,

“Yay.” she says with no emotion, “I like your enthusiasm!”

********(Several Hours Later)********

When it got dark the forest somehow looked more menacing and even darker than the night sky, “Callidus what are you still doing out here? It's getting late.”

“Don't worry I've only got a few more trees left.”

“You planted all the trees already? If you weren't a prince I'd hire you on the spot.”

“Thank you.”

“Listen since you've only got a few left I'll help you.”

“That won't be necessary.”

“It's fine, besides you've been a hard worker ever since I assigned you your first job.” he grabbed my shovel and dug the hole for me, “Now help me with that tree.” he grabbed one side of the tree while I grabbed the other and we moved it into the hole, “Hey Callidus can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” he sat down and looked me dead in the eye, “Do you still hunt demons?” Celestia told all of us including Twilight and her friends to keep the demon hunting a secret, in case we ran into more of their spies,

“Not anymore.” he scoffed, “That's just a damn shame.” I gave him a confused look,

“I will admit, when I first heard of you I hated your guts. What you did to those poor souls is unforgivable, no amount of hard labor will ever change that. But eventually I've heard of your good side and quite frankly, it's pretty damn heroic, I mean the monsters you've face would've demolished whole cities and you took them out like if it was a pest infestation. It didn't change my opinion of you until the day of your trial. After reading about what you've been through, that changed my tune. If I went through that I would've lost my mind.” I looked away at the last word.

“So, and this is a shot in the dark, I thought why would a pony who has been through the most horrible of situations be willing to saves lives instead of turning out evil? Is it a death wish? Revenge? Then I figured it out, hope.” I looked at him through the corners of my eyes, “You still had hope, not for yourself but for the ponies around you. You hoped one day, everypony can breathe easily without having to look over their shoulder, to be free from the fear that we've been living in for who knows how long. These demons have more influence than we think, they can shape a pony's mind with just a word which is probably what happened in that prison, and you don't want anypony else to experience what you have been through. At least that's why I thought you killed those bastards.” five years ago he would've been spot on, too bad that's not it anymore, “But when I look at you now, I see no hope. Is that why you stopped? You lost hope? Let me tell you, don't let those demons take what is yours, sure that dream seems impossible but with you, I know it can happen.” I smiled,

“You surprise me Mr. Elbowgrease, I never took you for a wise pony.”

“Blame my father, he was a psychologist.” we share a small laugh. Suddenly I felt uneasy, as if something bad is about to happen, “Run.”

“What's wrong.”

“Leave now!” I shout and he runs. I change form and ready my guns, I stay quiet until I hear hoof-steps coming from the forest, “Show yourself! You're caught you don't have the element of surprise anymore!”

“Oh I highly doubt that dear.” that voice, it made my blood freeze and my legs lock in place, “It can't be.” a branch snapped and I aimed my guns at a smokey figure,

“My, my you've grown to be a handsome stallion. How long has it been? Five years, oh where did the time go?” the smoke materialized and I gripped my guns tighter,

“Khiva.”

Old Flame

View Online

“Hurry up Twilight! We're going to be late for the party!”

“Calm down Spike I'm almost done.” I grabbed the last of my notes and neatly put them in my saddlebag, “All done.” I put it on and head downstairs to meet Spike,

“What took you so long?”

“Sorry Spike, I was getting all of my notes from when Nero came.”

“Why? We're going to a party not a science convention.”

“I know but my research isn't complete and I could use some help, besides Violet needs to know. I've been wanting to tell her but she's been so busy lately I never have the chance, I'm hoping she will be here tonight that's why I'm bringing my notes.”

“Why can't you just tell her?”

“She might not believe me, I can hardly believe it. I'm bringing them just in case.”

“If you say so.” Spike held the door open for me and we headed to Sugarcube Corner with Spike on my back. When we got there it was jam packed with ponies and even though we were only a few meters away we could hear the music coming from inside, “Looks like Pinkie threw a huge one!”

“You're right, she outdid herself this time.”

“So who are the ponies again?” my horned glowed and Pinkie's invitation appeared, I liked how she made them look, “Howdy Doody and Sparkly Stuff.”

“Weird names, you think they're gonna be weird?”

“Don't judge yet Spike, I'm pretty sure they'll be nice and interesting ponies.” Spike jumped off to open the door, when he opened it I saw bright flashing colors that might be causing me to go into an epileptic seizure and music so loud it hurt my ears and I felt the wubs push against my face. After a few seconds I got used to the atmosphere and I see Spike run into the crowd of dancing ponies, “Twilight!” I look up and see the party mare herself on top of the mirror ball, “What took you so long! And why the saddlebags!?” the music was so loud we had to shout, “I needed to collect some notes of mine! Have you seen Violet!? I need to talk to her!” she jumped down gracefully.

“Yeah, she should be by the food table! But I don't think she's in the mood to talk!”

“Why!?”

“She's not having any fun at my party, plus she and her brother are mad at each other! Ooh Twister!” she ran off to her party games and I made my way to Violet. It took some maneuvering and a dash of violence to make to the other side of the dance floor, “Where is she?” I see her right next to the punch bowl and she beckons me to come over, “Bookworm!” we hugged, “I'm so sorry about not visiting you! It's been a really long week and I just couldn't find the time!”

“It's okay Violet I understand! Listen I need to talk to you!”

“About what?!”

“It's too loud! We should talk outside!” she grabs me by the hoof and acts as my guide. We went out through the back door and made sure there weren't any eavesdroppers, “What did you wanna talk about?”

“I wanted to ask you for a favor. Why isn't Nero with you?”

“Ugh don't even mention him.” her eyes averted mine and she puts on this aggressive demeanor, “What happened between the two of you?”

“Just him being a total piece of shit. Look I don't wanna talk about our issues right now, why is he even important?”

“The day I asked him to come by my home I did a few experiments. I needed to know if Nero and Callidus are somehow connected, didn't you find it strange how both of them lost their memories?”

“To be honest I didn't really care, I was just glad he was alive. I didn't think too much on the whole amnesia thing.”

“Well now you have to care because I have proof that the two of them having amnesia was no coincidence.” I showed her two MRI scans of both Nero and Callidus, I had to ask Princess Celestia for a copy, “The one to your left is Nero's” with lightning speed she took the photo from my magic and compared it to Callidus's, “Nero's missing parts of his brain too? How is that even possible?”

“He's not just missing parts, he's missing the exact same parts as Callidus.”

“But how? Nero hasn't been in Equestria in over ten years how can he and Callidus be missing gray matter? Both of them were in different dimensions for God's sake.”

“I know but that's not all, there were traces of magic within Nero's brain.” her expression looked as if I told her I cut Nero's head open, “I didn't actually had to preform surgery, I discovered it with a basic spell nurses use to find anything out of the ordinary. I asked Princess Celestia for Callidus's medical chart and it stated they also discovered traces of magic but they ruled it out as a side effect from his amulet. I want to make sure if it really is just a side effect because if it isn't then it means they have some form of magical ailment.”

“I'm guessing this is the part where you ask me the favor.”

“Violet I need you to convince Callidus to let me examine him.”

“Why not ask Zecora, he's not exactly used to me yet.” her expression changed again and this time it was a very depressed look, “I did and she's on board, but I need you in case he needs more convincing. Please Violet I could be on the verge of discovering something unheard of, I might even be able to reverse whatever it is they have.” I noticed her eyes glimmer a bit,

“Can you really?”

“I might but I need more data.”

“I'll do whatever I can.”

“Perfect, just tell him to come by the library.”

“Hey Bookworm, let me ask you something.”

“What is it?”

She looked uncomfortable, she was fidgeting and her eyes kept moving from side to side,

“Did you ever kill somepony before?” my heart raced and the synapses in my brain froze to a stop until, “Whoa! Where did that question come from!?” I screamed, “Sorry but it's been bugging me. When we were on that train I saw how well you and some of the others handled yourselves, a little too well. It was almost as if-”

“I've done it before?” I cut her off, “No I didn't kill somepony before, but I was taught how to use a gun at a young age. My brother taught me how when he was in the academy. You already know about the economic collapse from ten years ago right?”

“Yeah, Celestia told me about it. It happened right after the attack.”

“During that period crime in Equestria soared so my brother thought it would be a good idea to teach my parents and I how to defend ourselves. I never needed to use those lessons until the day of the invasion.”

“Then what explains the others like Applejack and Rainbow Dash?”

“I don't know but I think it's better left unknown.” there was a bit of an awkward silence after that, “Say Bookworm, you have any plans tomorrow?”

“Aside from cleaning and reorganizing the library I don't have anything planned.”

“Awesome, I have the next day off so how about we try and do something fun tomorrow?” naturally I smiled with glee, I get to spend some time with my long time friend, “That's sounds wonderful Violet.”

“Tomorrow it is, until then wanna see if we can get into a dance battle?”

“Would I! I don't mean to brag but I'm a pretty good dancer.” I said with all of my pride, “Hmm maybe you can show me some moves?”

“Why don't I show you on the dance floor?” I say with a wry smile, “Oh you want to get into a dance battle with me? Then let's dance!” she grabs me by the hoof and we run inside laughing.

******(The Everfree Forest)******

I was still processing how she was still alive, “By the way I just love the new look. White looks good on you and not to mention that you're an alicorn! That took me by surprise. I'll admit it's a little weird but what can you do about genes?”

“How are you even alive!” she fully materialized, she was wearing this strange billowy cloak that almost resembles smoke and on her head she wore this strange bird-like mask with a strange hat, strange because the rim of it moves on it's own,

“After you left me to burn I still had some fight left, it was hard to breathe and my skin peeled, it was a good day. So do you like it? I just got this hat from a Faustus demon not too long ago.”

“So it was you who destroyed the base.”

“Oh yeah that was me, I wanted to cut my losses so it had to go. I was going to rebuild it but somepony had to take away my gold.” she referred to me, “That's not why I'm here though, besides funds are the least of my worries. I'm just here to take something back.”

“If it's me then I'm going to blow your head off.”

“Of course it's you! Why else would I have the best doctors and scientists in the world modify my body to bond with this.” she motioned to her cloak, “With this thing along with my newly enhanced body it's fair to say I'm unstoppable.” I fire off a shot but she leaned her head and I missed,

“What the hell?”

“Like I said, newly enhanced body. This is how it's gonna go down, I'm going to take you back whether you like it or not and we can do this either the easy way or the hard way. You know what I'll choose for you.” suddenly her cloak came to life and it made this 12' ft barrier around us, I was trapped, “This is so nopony would interrupt us.” I fired even more rounds but she dissipated, “This is the first time I've seen you use guns, they make you look sexy.” I heard her behind me.

When I turned around she struck me in the gut, the punch itself threw me across the field and into the other end of the barrier. When I touched it I felt it tear at my back, “AAAAGGH!!!!” when I fell I looked over and my entire back was bare and bleeding, then I violently cough up blood,

“Wanna see my guns?” when I drew my gun she fired a bullet into my side, “I was always a fan of the revolver, sure it only holds six rounds but they do have a lot of power.” she grazed me deeply so along with the pain in my abdomen it was going to be painful to move. I try to shoot at her again but this time she just stood there as the bullets went through her,

“C'mon Callidus, you've already tried that.” she disappeared and in that same second she grabbed my throat and lifted me up, “Is it just me or did you get softer since the last time we met?” my feet couldn't find the ground, “Is this really the same pony who beat me and escaped the strongest fortress in the world?” I wrapped my legs around her arm and snap it. She lets go and I took the chance to shoot her in the head,

“You were never smart with your money.” she stood still for a few seconds then she fell over. When I got up the pain in my stomach forced me to hunch over, “Shit she got me good.” but then I heard something gurgle,

“*gurgle* HahahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I was in shock, the top part of her skull is completely destroyed and here she is, laughing, “I actually made a good investment.” she levitated herself, then right before my eyes I saw her head regenerate and her arm snap in place, “Is that fear in your eyes?” I forced myself out of my trance,

“I don't care what you did to yourself, I will kill you and make sure you stay dead.”

“Aww how sweet. Here's the secret” she reaches behind her and shows me a vial with odd, white liquid inside. She tosses it to me, I examine it but then my vision goes black and I feel myself get knocked off my feet. I hit the ground with my torn back and I hold my face with both of my hands,

“These are some nice guns, custom ones too.” when I let go my nose was broken, the glass vial turned into shards that cut into my skin and I spat out some teeth, “What are these weird markings? They're all over the magazine and the inside of the barrel. ” I see her taking apart my guns, “Wait are these Ziranian symbols? Sorry it's just that I don't know that much about Zira. You should tell me all about that place on the way back to Minyochnaed.” she then crushed them in her hands and threw them aside, “What a waste of a perfectly good mask, at least the hat is okay.” she said as she took off her mask and donned the hat. Her face was horrifically scarred, her teeth were bare, she had strands of thin hair and all there was were muscles, no fur whatsoever,

“Alright let's get to it.” she jumped up and aimed at me with her hoof, I rolled out of the way but she grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and stood me up, “Where's the passion!? That fire I saw in that prison!? Fight back!” I grab her head and give her a sharp knee to the gut,

“My stomach is holding me back, I need to end this quickly.” I then grab her arm and I roll over her back and I felt her arm break and dislocate. Next I forcefully twist her neck and jam my thumbs into her eyes,

“Argh! Hahahaha now there's the Callidus I know.” with her head backwards and her vision gone I grab one of her revolvers and empty the gun into her, three in the chest and three in the head. Only 2/3 of her head remained but she was still moving so I tackle her and resort to my paperclip as a weapon,

“Pierce only the muscle.” I jammed it straight at her neck and repeated the action over and over, keeping both my mouth and eyes closed because of all the blood.

When it was enough I used my bare hands to rip her neck apart, I didn't like what I was doing but it was either this or suffer whatever scenario she has in her head. It was taking a long time to get to the spine because she was regenerating faster than I could rip her apart, after a while I finally I got to the twisted spine. I grab the bumpy object firmly and break it, I grab her severed head and threw it as hard as I could, which wasn't far.

Her body stopped moving and it was surrounded by dark red blood and large pieces of muscle tissue, my hands trembled even more, this was the most savage thing I have ever done in my life and I did very horrible acts of violence,

“Did it do it?” the barrier was dissolving. I got up and wiped off some blood and muscle and limped away, “Zecora will not believe this.” then out of nowhere the barrier reappeared and it cut off half of my left foot,

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!RRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!” I held my foot and screamed so loud my ears were ringing. When I tried to stand something pierced the corner of my eye, “AAARRRGH GODDAMMIT!!!” I realize it was my paperclip, it made moving my eye a torture method. When I looked up I saw the headless form of Khiva reach for her head and place it back on,

“So rough. I love it rough.” her head was fully regenerated and she smiled at me maliciously, “Oh the wonders of science!” she walked towards me and I try to stand so I can at least fight, but she was faster and stomped on my forearm, breaking it,

“Aww you got something stuck in your eye? Let me help you.” she turned me on my back and got on top of me, holding down my left arm with her leg, she held my head still and got a firm grip on my right eye.

****(Outside of the Everfree Forest)****

“I can't believe I'm doing this.” I was getting a headache just thinking it, it began after Rarity said it would take a while for my clothes to get done, which was weird because she finished Violet's in the same hour she measured her. I was on my way to see Callidus, not to fight like we planned but...to try and patch things up with him. When I was going to the party I kept thinking about the fight I just had with Violet, I tried to stay focused on just finding those two people but all I could think about was the last thing she said,

“If you don't want to save this world for me then I guess you really don't care about me at all, Jason.” it's amazing how it took just one word to get me to apologize to that emo douche and that pisses me off. Just because I am trying to make things right doesn't mean I'm starting to come around. I don't belong in this world and there is nothing in this doomed world worth sticking around for, but because Violet genuinely loves everything and everyone here and is obviously willing to die for it that makes me obligated to keep her happy by staying, even if it means putting up with Callidus, horse puns and extremely friendly ponies and absolutely no meat of any kind,

“There you are.” I turned around and see Haymaker, he was having trouble carrying this big metallic case, well it was more like dragging, “Why do you have Red Queen?”

“Miss Lee *pant* requested that I *pant* deliver your weapons.” I took the case away from him with only a hoof,

“Why did she tell you to give me my stuff?”

“She thought you might have a misunderstanding with the fugitives. I thought you would be at the party but I saw you come here and did my best to catch up.”

“I doubt I will need them but thanks anyway.” I open the case and place Red Queen on my back, “How can you lift it with such ease? It must weigh almost 500lbs.”

“Demon blood helps.” then we heard screaming.

The scream was loud and chilling, as if someone was being attacked, “Looks like I will need them.” I change human and ran towards the scream. In short time I made it to this weird barrier made of smoke, “What the hell is that?” Haymaker caught up and was just as surprised,

“What is that thing?” then I heard even more screaming,

“Wait, Callidus!?”

“The prince is in there!?” the scream sounded male and when I looked around I saw the newly planted trees, “Haymaker, go back to Ponyville and tell Violet to come to the Forest.”

“What are you going to do?” I unwrap my right arm,

“To see what's behind door number one.” the giant spectral hand appeared and I slam the palm down onto the barrier, “Today Haymaker!” he was standing there amazed at my hand so I had to snap him out of it. The barrier was strong so I had to use a lot of force just to see inside,

“And who the hell are you?” I saw this weird shadow thing with a fucked up face right on top of Callidus who looked like mangled shit, I gave my arm one last push and it was enough for me to jump through. Once inside I took a swing at the thing but it dodged me,

“I'm the guy who is taking over for that guy.” I noticed the thing rolling something in it's hand, that something was an eye. When I turned back I saw Callidus missing half a foot and an eye, “What happened here?”

“We were having a grand time catching up until you showed up, barely a minute and already I don't like you. Nice arm though, maybe I'll take it once he and me are done.”

“Nero just run, if you fight her you'll lose!” he was attempting to stand with his one good arm but he just dropped back down on his knee,

“Can't do that.”

“Nero you fucking idiot just run and tell them what happened!”

“Hey I'm trying to save you dumbass, the least you could do is just sit there and shut up.” he snarled and I look back at the thing,

“You think you can beat me? Please if he couldn't handle me what chance do you have?” I stake Red Queen by my side and flex the claws on my demon hand, “I was able to go through your barrier, something he obviously couldn't do. Now imagine what I can do to you?”

******(Ponyville)******

“Hey you dance better than half of these chumps.” I said trying to make Bookworm feel better after getting booed at for her dancing,

“It's nice of you to say that, but it's obvious I'm a terrible dancer.” I laugh and wrap her in a hug, “If you want I can teach you how to dance.”

“That would be nice.” the music and lights suddenly stopped and everypony was looking in the same direction,

“Miss Violet, Miss Violet!” I recognized that voice and ran to it, “Haymaker chill out I'm right here.”

“Miss Violet you need to get to the Everfree Forest immediately.”

“What, why?”

“I'm afraid something has happened to the prince. I don't know his condition, Nero ordered me to run here before I could see if he was okay.”

“What's going on?” Cuddle Springs came with a party hat still on her head. I needed a second to process everything he said,

“Bookworm.” she snapped to attention, “Write a letter to Celestia, tell her about the situation and tell everypony to go home.” without hesitation she ran off, “Haymaker, what's Ironsight's condition?”

“I didn't see him there.”

“What do you-nevermind, Haymaker you find Ironsight and Cuddle Springs you find Zecora. When you find them get to the forest asap!” I sprinted out of the now dying party,

“Wait! What about your sword!” Cuddle Springs yells out, “No time!” I ran faster, “What happened to Callidus? And why is Nero there? Probably because of that stupid fight. But then why did he tell Haymaker to get help? Fuck I need to get there.” I flew over the tree line and spotted something weird.

******(The Everfree Forest)******

Ten minutes passed and I was having a hard time trying to cut this psychotic bitch, “Just stay fucking still!” I was about to cut her in half but she just separates her torso from her legs,

“Happy?” she throws a punch but with my right hand I catch it and spin her over me, “Now I am!” I heard her arm make popping sounds and with the spectral hand I bring her down hard,

“Now you have to stay still,” she tried to jump up but my giant fist punched her back down, “or it's gonna really hurt.” I hammered her another two times until she turned to smoke and kicked the shit out of me. I fall hard and I roll out of the way of her bullets and stop when her guns click,

“Oops, forgot to reload.” she said. I rub my chin to relieve some soreness,

“Too bad for you.” I rev Red Queen and launch myself like a missile, she barely had time to turn to smoke and she got a large searing cut on her chest,

“I'm surprised you lasted longer than him.”

“That's because I'm not him.” I rev her again but she dodges it and uppercuts my throat. I drop Red Queen and cough like crazy, “Oh honey, just because you last longer doesn't mean you're better than my Callidus.” she says lovingly,

“You are really crazy.” I wheeze. She was running to me and I prepared my self for another attack but then I saw Violet swoop down and kick this monstrous bitch like a soccer ball.

She rolled and skidded until she hit her own barrier, “Oh my God Callidus!” she immediately ran to him when she saw him, “Don't move. Just lay on your side.” she voice cracked slightly, “What happened your eye?”

“Thanks to you it's now all over my elbow.” we look towards her, she was scraping off what's left of Callidus's eye off her elbow, it kinda made me cringe, “Great, now I can't make the necklace I wanted.” the air around Violet distorted from pure rage, “You owe me a new ey-” I didn't even see it. In what I guess is a millisecond Violet drove her arm straight through her,

“You bitch!” she then pulls out her arm by tearing off half of the minotaur's torso. She then threw her up into the air and sent four shockwaves of energy from her fingers and cut the minotaur into pieces, it rained red for a few seconds and the remains fell with a splat,

“Nero, protect Callidus.”

“Violet I think she's dead enough.”

“No she's not.” she reaches out and shoots lighting at the severed remains, “Her heart is still beating.” she keeps on frying up the chunks but then the barrier somehow grabs her and holds her down, “Violet!” I tried to cut her free but the barrier soon holds me down too. We looked over at the pieces to see them get put back together, “What the fuck is she!?” I yell while trying to break free. She is somewhat regenerated because she still has a lot of open wounds, Violet breaks free and takes aim,

“I like your style,” she says as she cracks her neck in place, “but I'm not that into mares, not anymore at least.” without looking Violet shoots the barrier off of me, “Ugh I hate threesomes.” she says annoyingly, “But I did come all this way so maybe just this once.” she then takes out two tiny glass tubes.

“I'm curious as to what would happen if I overdosed.” that's when I saw needle points at those tube's ends and she stabs them into her neck. The whitish liquid consciously injects itself into her and she starts to convulse, “Maybe I should have quadrupled the dosage, cause I feel amazing!” both her cloak and the barrier surged with power and all of her wounds were gone in a second, “I noticed I didn't introduce myself. My name is Khiva.”

“Wait, that crazy soldier from Callidus's testimony?” I pointed out,

“So he told you guys about me? I'm touched.” she cracks her neck again along with her knuckles, “Let me show you two real power.” I won't lie, she's a tough one,

“Hmph, last guy who said that ended up eating my boot for dinner.” I taunt. Before Khiva could attack someone yelled something out,

“Catena Confractus!” and just like that the barrier was destroyed in a flash of yellow light,

“What the fuck!?” Khiva sounded legitimately pissed. Turns out it was Zecora with all three bodyguards, all ready to kill,

“I'm not happy to see, Khiva standing before me.” Zecora was holding that weird book with one of those shadows,

“Long time no see! I was just ready to skin these two! But now that you and those guys are here I'm afraid I have to go. Waste of perfectly good medicine. Don't worry though, I'll come back some time, until then.” she turns into smoke and attacks Violet and me. We block them but it was just so she could get to Callidus, she picks him up by the nape of his neck forcing the rest of us to stand still,

“I need some assurance to know he won't run away from me,” she then stabs his back with her bare hand and Callidus screams his head off, “ever again.” I didn't need to look back to know they had shocked looks on their faces. She drops him and she disappears into the forest, laughing. All of them run towards him and did their best to stop the bleeding, Zecora and Violet were the first to try,

“That's way too much blood.”

******(Several hours later)******

I don't know how long all of us were in the waiting room but it felt like an eternity, “Violet I know how hard this is but the most we can do is hope he's okay.” Violet's face was stained with dried tears, she stopped crying an hour ago,

“I know but he was so pale when we got here. And when he tried to move...just to see him so weak like that.” she looked down,

“Tonight he will not perish, because he is my brother Callidus.” Zecora said trying her best to keep composure. Everypony was here, Nero, Violet, Zecora, the soldiers, even all of my friends came to support both Violet and Zecora,

“So he's messed up that bad?” Rainbow Dash whispered, “Seems so. Just look at those two, they're devastated.” I hated seeing her like this, just hours ago we were having the time of our lives, and things just took a turn for the worst so suddenly,

“Who did it?”

“I don't know, but whoever did this to Callidus is extremely dangerous. It scares me.”

“I bet, he'll be fine right? I mean from the stories we've heard this should be nothing to him, he'll bounce back in no time.” her positive attitude made a small smile on Violet. The doors flung open and both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked in,

“Where is he?” she said rapidly,

“He's still undergoing surgery.” Violet answers,

“What happened to him?”

“He was attacked while he was replanting trees in the forest.” Nero says,

“By who?” I sank a little in my seat, this was the first time I've heard Celestia use anger in her voice, it sounded terrifying compared to her usual gentle tone,

“Khiva.” Zecora finishes. The both of them almost gasped but the rest of us did,

“But Callidus said she perished back in Minyochnaed.” Luna mentioned,

“She survived the fire, and now she's stronger than ever.” Zecora said. My friends and I were having a hard time believing what she said, if Khiva really is in Equestria then we are in serious danger.

“And where were you when this happened?” she look towards who I believe is Ironsight,

“I-I-I...” she walked closer to him, her pupils retracted in size when she looked at him,

“The Blame should be on both of us, he was ordered to help me with my alchemy by Callidus. If I knew she were here, she would go through pain very severe.” Zecora looked at her in the eye. Celestia calmed down a bit but still seemed angry,

“Even so, Ironsight you have failed to fulfill your duties as Callidus's protector. I specifically told you to follow him at all times, even if he did tell you to go someplace else it was expected of you to watch over him. You leave me no choice, you are suspended from your duties.”

“What!?”

“Your highness please be reasonable.”

“You're right princess.” both of the guards were shocked at what he said. Ironsight looked crushed, “If I was there like I was suppose to this whole thing could have been prevented. I'm so sorry I let this happen.” he removed his helmet and proceeded to walk out with his head hung low. Soon after the doctor came out fresh from surgery,

“Oh you're here, I was just about to contact you your highness.”

“How is he?” Violet was the first to ask and all of us waited for an answer,

“His condition isn't like anything we've ever encountered before, surviving so many injuries at once is a miracle in it itself. The most critical injury was the most difficult, his spine. The wound was deep and we did our best to stop the bleeding, we were successful but we discovered something in his blood system.” I had this deep sense of dread, I was scared of what he was going to say next and prayed it wouldn't be what I had in mind,

“It is of magical origin but this magic is unlike anything we've seen before, it's conscious. It is spreading all over his body and is eating away at his bone and muscle tissue. It is also destroying his immune system thus eliminating any chance of fighting off this strange affliction. We used everything we know and nothing has worked and his condition has only gotten worse in the past few hours. I'm sorry your highness but I'm afraid his time is short.” I felt the weight of that last sentence, I could only imagine what they're feeling.

“He's currently being treated with the best doctors and medicine to make his time all the more comfortable. I will check if you can see him.” the doctor left and we fell silent, not one word was spoken,

“He's...dying?” Pinkie wasn't used to that word, just hearing her say it out loud seemed foreign,

“Oh my God.” Violet said quietly as new tears formed,

“No, no that can't be...” Zecora's demeanor shattered and she began to cry. The doctor came back,

“You can see him now.” the first pony to walk was Princess Celestia, she didn't say one word and she hid her eyes, the rest of us followed in silence. When we got to Callidus's room the doctor urged us inside but Celestia hesitated, her shoulders trembled and her head hung lower than before. Luna places a hoof on her shoulder and they look at each other without saying a word. After a minute the doctor opens the door and we see Callidus on his bed covered in bloody bandages and hooked up to a lot of the hospital's machinery,

“So many...machines.” Celestia said clearly horrified,

“Those machines help filter his blood. The strange magic decomposes blood cells at an alarming rate so this is what we had to do in order to reduce the pain.” all of these machines and the most they could do was reduce the pain, it was heartbreaking, “I'll give you some privacy.” the doctor left and we turned our attention towards Callidus,

“Is he awake?” Celestia asked,

“I...am.” Callidus said it so weakly. Zecora, Violet, and Celestia walked towards his side, “Where's..Zecora?”

“I'm right here.” Zecora holds his hand as he tries to turn his head, she was picking at the floor for an unknown reason, “I'll be here until the end.” more tears flowed from her eyes,

“Callidus.” Violet walks to the other side of the bed, “Even though you're not the same Callidus from before, I'm happy I was able to see you again.” Violet holds his other hand and cries even more, tears were beginning to form in my eyes, “I just wish I got here sooner.”

“It's fine.” his response threw us off, “It couldn't be helped.” at that moment I saw something in Violet snap, her eyes filled with panic,

“I can't do this! Not again! Zecora for God's sake can't you do anything to save him!?” she pleaded with Zecora,

“I-I don't believe so, I have never heard of anything like this.” Zecora said without rhyming,

“What about that book? It has to have some kind of spell to cure him, right?”

“That book was made for war not medicine. If it did wouldn't you think I would've preformed it by now.” she countered, her tone worried me, it sounded like she was breaking down,

“The Elements.” Violet said, “What if we used the Elements of Harmony!” she ran up to me, “They could cure him, right? They worked on Nightmare Moon so they should work on whatever is killing him.” Violet is one of the most bravest ponies I know, seeing her so desperate was out of character,

“She's right.” Celestia finally said something, “The Elements of Harmony can banish everything evil and impure. If we use them now they will save him. Twilight, I am asking you not as your princess or your mentor but as a mother, please save him.” she said with tears I've never seen before. I felt someone's hoof on me, when I turned around it was Rainbow Dash, her and the other were giving me reassuring looks,

“We got this princess.” Rainbow said,

“Okay girls, let's go!” we were ready to gather the Elements until,

“Stop!” we froze. The one who spoke was Callidus, “Just stop.” he looks at us with his only sharp eye, “I don't want to be saved.” it stunned all of us silent,

“W-what are you saying?” Violet looked pale,

“Brother don't please, not like this!” Zecora begged,

“Zecora what is he saying.”

“I'm saying I want to die.” everypony in the room was shocked, Celestia's lower jaw trembled.

Callidus somehow found the strength to sit up and face everypony, “I've been wanting to die for a while now. I didn't do it myself because that would be too easy for somepony like me, if anything dying this way is more than fitting. Even if I had any shred of will to live look at me, I can barely move my own fingers.”

“I don't care if you're just a head in a fucking pickle jar, we're not letting you die!” Violet exclaimed, “So you've been through some rough patches, everypony goes through them. Callidus for God's sake think about what you're saying. You're asking for way too much, this is your life.”

“Exactly, it's my life. I fought for it numerous times so I get to decide whether or not I want to continue living it and I'm deciding I've had enough. I just want everything to stop.”

“Callidus, look at me.” Zecora didn't seemed as surprised like the rest of us, “Remember the promise you made? You said you'll never leave me alone as long as you lived. Brother I know you're dying but...but...please don't.” she chips her hoof on the floor, “I don't care about your reason for dying, we can get through this just like before.”

“'Before' is the reason.” Zecora couldn't find anything else to say,

“Callidus.” Celestia grabbed his attention, “I know you don't see me as anything other than the monarch of a country, in fact I think you still see me as an enemy. But when I see you I don't see the murderer or the Killer Cloak. All I see is my son, the very same son I gave life to.” she gritted her teeth, “I have raised you, tutored you, played with you, scolded you, tucked you into bed and read you stories and comforted you whenever you had a nightmare. For the past five years I cherished those memories, they were all I had left of you. When you came back I was so excited to create new memories for us, it didn't turn out like I wanted but they are pleasant either way, however...”

Celestia tried to control her sobbing, “I don't want this to be my last memory of you, especially when we have the means to save you! Callidus please just reconsider, whatever it is that's causing you to feel this way I can help, but I can't if you won't let me. I'm begging you, live. I want to know the new you, I want us to create new memories that we can both cherish and...and...I want to be your mother again.” I saw a slight glow in Callidus's eye.

He was hesitant but he reaches out his right hand to try and grab her hoof but before she could grab his hand he suddenly grabs onto the railings of his bed and coughs up murky red blood. Applejack ran out the room to find a doctor since she was closest to the door. He lets go of the railing and let's his head roll to one side, his eye closes and we hear the flat tone,

“Callidus? Callidus!?” Violet grabs onto his body and shakes him. She goes hysterical and tries to give him CPR but Nero holds back the screaming devil hunter, “Let go of me! He still has a chance! I said let go dammit!” Nero holds her until she breaks down and cries into his shoulder. Zecora rests her forehead on his hand and cries. Princess Celestia didn't move at all, she just stood there in a stupor looking at what used to be Callidus, even with Luna trying to snap her out she still didn't move, not even blink, she just stared at him with a dark face. Applejack came with the doctor,

“How is he?” she asked, I felt my own tears fall and I gestured no, she removes her hat and bows her head. I looked at the others and see them crying for them as well, even Rainbow Dash. I go towards Violet to try and comfort her, but she ignores me and continues to cry on Nero's shoulder.

I take one last look at him and I confirmed it was true, Callidus was dead.

*****************

There it goes again, that feeling of pure bliss. Everything was dark but I was feeling so good I didn't care, “I was in the hospital right?” the madness, the euphoria, and the hatred were once again mingling inside but instead of solid ground I felt as if I was floating,

“Why was I in the hospital?” I opened my eyes and I saw black smoke eating my limbs, “Where did these come from? Wait, I got them from a fight didn't I? Who did I fight? Did I win?” the smoke soon ate my torso and is now eating my head,

“But why can't I remember the fight? Or where I was before? Who...am I?” before it could finish this bright light scares off the smoke and I get my body back,

“Endure with me...” the white light takes the form of a hand and reaches for me,

“It's so pretty.” I felt my mind gradually slipping as I stared at the light. I try and grab it but the smoke violently grabs hold of my arm, I screamed in pain and the hand quickly holds my other arm,

“Endure with me.” both of them pull at me hard and I feel like I'm about to be ripped,

“Enough!” suddenly this blue light destroys the smoke and forces the hand to let go and then I felt myself fall. I hit ground but when I looked up I saw this blue specter holding a staff, “Listen carefully for my time is short. Death must not meet with you in this early road of yours. We were never to meet until you have achieved your full potential but seeing as how you were I was forced to intervene this once. If you allow recklessness to cloud your judgment it will only bring about more woe than you could ever imagine. And remember this warning for if you ever encounter it I will have no means of stopping you, resist the temptations of the flaming ash, for it will only hasten your fate into oblivion.” he then taps my forehead and I vanish.

In that same instance I quickly sit up and remove the blanket covering me. I screamed in pain scaring off the nurses in my room. Out of shock I roll off my bed and hit the floor, I take out the needles and I crawl away until I felt the need to throw up. I opened my mouth and out came this black and red slime, the smell was foul and it had the consistency of jelly.

After a few minutes I puked out this 7” tall pile of sludge, it moved for five second before dying completely. I wanted to move away from it but my legs wouldn't move so I relied on my arms and bed to get away, I sat upright on one of the machines and I felt myself begin to drift back into sleep.

The last things I saw were doctors and nurses rushing inside only to have half of them run out because of the slime. I closed my eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Derealization

by Wingman Jones

The Arrival

Tuesday

Sweet Nostalgia

Hell

The Bet

Unexpected Outcome

Subpoena

Freedom Requires Sacrifice

Eyes and Ears

The Help

Workplace Accidents

Formal Greetings

Old Flame