Blake walked out of the room and headed for his own. He entered his room and grabbed a rolled up towel on the nightstand. He left his room and walked down the expansive hallway towards the dungeons. The guards only nodded their heads as they passed each other. He kept a stoic expression as he entered the dungeons. The dungeons were barely lit with torches, but he was down there enough during the week that he knew where to go.

After walking down the cold, dark hallway, he finally reached the cell that he was looking for. After the incident with Wrath and Drak, the princesses had him locked up in the deepest part of their dungeons. Blake looked at the door for a few seconds before entering the room. Once inside he noticed that the stallion was still asleep in the chair he was chained to.

He calmly walked over to one of the metal trays and placed the towel on it. He unrolled the towel and looked through his many tools. As he went through his inspection he could hear the stallion stir behind him. The stallion would be screaming if it wasn’t for the gag that was placed in his mouth. Grabbing a scalpel, he walked behind the stallion and removed the gag.

The stallion said nothing as he fixed his jaw. The human allowed him the chance to get the muscles in his mouth to relax before they got started. For the entire week that the stallion had been in the dungeon, he made sure to visit and get information from him. The stallion had been very stubborn about who his client was. If the stallion was to walk out into the sunlight he wouldn’t look exactly the same.

He had been using various torture techniques to get him to talk. He had avoided using the more extreme methods for fear that the princesses would find out what he was doing. Getting tired of beating around the bush and his constant attitude, he decided to go ahead with the extreme. He kept his back turned to the stallion as he went back to the towel to grab pliers and a miniature bone saw.

“This can be so much easier if you tell me who hired you,” Blake said as he walked towards the stallion.

“Go ahead and do your worse. I will never give the name of my client,” Wrath taunted.

“I would enjoy going the slow route with your torture, but since I have some obligations to take care of, I will make this quick and painful,” Blake said as he inspected the sharpness of the scalpel.

“Go ahead and try. I’ve been through worse,” Wrath said as he smirked at him.

The human grabbed his pliers and opened the stallion’s mouth. The unicorn fought against him, but since he was chained to the chair he couldn’t last long. He was able to put the pliers on one of his teeth and gave a sharp pull. The stallion grunted in pain as the whole tooth was ripped from his mouth. With the tooth removed, he went ahead and crushed it in the pliers. He watched as the blood fell from his mouth and onto the floor.

“Who has it out for us?” Blake questioned.

The stallion only shot him a glare and he gave a sigh at him. He grabbed his scalpel and slammed it down on his hand. The unicorn grunted as the scalpel pierced all the way through his hand. He was able to fight back the tears that were going to fall. With the scalpel in place, the human walked over to the towel and grabbed some salt. He removed the scalpel, making sure to cause more damage to the hand.

With the scalpel removed, he poured the salt over his wound. The black unicorn winced in pain as the salt fell into his wound, causing an intense burning sensation. While he was distracted with the wound, the human went and ripped off one of his fingernails. The stallion couldn’t keep himself quiet as he screamed in pain. The human couldn’t help but smile that he was able to get something out of the stallion other than a grunt.

“Why did you attack one of our friends?” Blake continued to ask.

Wrath looked at him before spitting blood on him. He wiped the blood off of his face and walked over to the towel. He grabbed a hammer and returned to the stallion. He grabbed his muzzle and lined the hammer up. The unicorn stared angrily at him as he waited. Blake took a few seconds to line up his swing. He lifted the hammer above his head and brought it down fast and hard. He heard the bone in his muzzle break from the impact.

The stallion shook in the chair as he held in his screams of pain. The human didn’t give him the chance to push some of the pain aside and stabbed his other hand. The unicorn jerked back hard, causing the chair to fall backwards. He allowed the stallion to lay there as he grabbed the miniature bone saw. He walked to the stallion and placed the blade to his horn. He held the saw there as he got close to his face.

“Who wants us dead?” Blake asked, his voice telling that he was done messing around.

“Who wouldn’t want you monsters dead?” Wrath asked as he started chuckling to himself.

The human immediately went sawing off his horn. The stallion screamed as he felt the saw cut through his bone and nerve endings. The human was able to get several cuts across before hearing a beeping sound. Cursing to himself, he pulled the saw away and began packing up. With everything wrapped in the towel, he walked over to the stallion and lifted him off the ground. He placed the gag in his mouth and went about cleaning himself up.

“You’re an extremely lucky person, you know that, right?” Blake said.

The only answer that he got in response were muffled sounds. He was certain that he was cursing him and his friends and he couldn’t help but laugh. With his hands cleaned of blood and his shirt changed, he left the dungeon. Before he closed the door though, he walked over to Wrath and punched him in the eye. Happy with his anger release, he left the stallion alone.

He walked through the hallways trying to reach the throne room. He soon reached the large double doors and was allowed entrance. Most of the guards have grown accustomed to him being around the castle and never questioned his motives for visiting parts of the castle. The only time they would stop him is if the princesses were busy with a meeting. He understood when they were busy and wouldn’t argue with the guards.

He entered the throne room with a smile as he saw Celestia running around, making sure everything was in place. He kept quiet as she worked and sat at one of the many tables. After several minutes, the white alicorn finally noticed the human and flashed him a smile. She lowered the things that she was carrying and walked over to him. He got out of his seat and walked over to her.

The two of them wrapped each other in a warm embrace and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. After that failed date from last week, Blake, Luna, and Celestia decided to just talk things out with each other. He was surprised to see the white alicorn so willing to try and give him a chance. Not wanting to disappoint them, he went at it with as much determination he could muster.

During the hug he could feel his oxygen being lost as he was smothered in her bosom. He tapped her on the shoulder and she blushed slightly as she released him. He couldn’t help but laugh as her blush intensified. The two of them took a seat on a nearby bench. The alicorn laid her head on his shoulder and he ran his fingers through her ethereal mane. She sighed happily but soon removed herself from the embrace, giving him a serious look.

“How much longer are you going to keep going to the dungeons?” Celestia asked, her gaze not faltering.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Blake answered calmly, hoping that she wouldn’t press further.

“Blake, I can tell when you’re lying to me, so just tell me,” Celestia said as she stood over him.

“I’ll stop going when he decides to give me the information that I need,” Blake answered.

“You know that I can’t condone such actions, even if he is a criminal,” Celestia stated.

“I know, but there is someone out there wanting us dead. Whoever this person is doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as the deed is done,” Blake replied, getting up from his seat.

“What will you get out of it when you get the information that you need?” Celestia asked, her tone carrying a bit of worry.

“I get the name of the person that is trying to get rid of us and I can rid that person before they try again. Besides, you should be a little happier that I’m the one torturing him. If anything, Andrew or Brandon could be the one torturing him and that could get ugly,” Blake said trying to calm the princess down.

“What makes you so sure that this pony would try again to kill any of you? You took down a high ranking assassin, so if anything, they wouldn’t even try again,” Celestia said as a few tears fell down her face.

The human wiped away a few tears as he spoke to her in a calming tone. “That’s the thing, my love. That the person was already hiring someone so high ranked means that they want us gone. They won’t stop until we kill them or we are dead.”

“Isn’t there any other way that we can deal with this?”

“There is one option, but I don’t think that you would like it,” Blake answered as he gave a slight frown.

“What could it be?” Celestia asked, hoping to find an alternate resolution.

“You can have us banished to some other part of Equestria, but I don’t think that you want to separate us from the others. You wouldn’t be able to handle the heartbreak that would come from all the mares and it especially won’t do Marcus any good. He has been the happiest that any of us have ever seen him and if you say that he is banished he would hunt down this person and kill him himself and anyone that gets in his way,” Blake replied solemnly.

Celestia kept quiet, unsure of what to say. He could see that she was hurt and did something to help calm her down. He grabbed her head gently and held her close to his chest. She sighed contently as she listened to his beating heart. There were many unanswered questions at the moment, but she was happy to be held in his embrace. The moment was soon lost when a guard came running in.

“My princess, we have a problem,” the guard said.

“What seems to be the problem?” Celestia asked as she adopted her regal appearance.

“Alex and Captain Armor have gotten in a huge fight and are both in the medical wing,” the guard replied.

Blake let out a heavy sigh at the situation. Not even waiting for the alicorn to say anything, he left the throne room and went towards the medical wing. Celestia couldn’t help but shake her head as she joined him on his walk. They were barely four hours into the preparation and they were already causing trouble. She couldn’t help but slightly chuckle that when the friends were together, they would make the castle a little livelier.

Alex

Alex was running through the halls trying to find Twilight. He stopped in front of every maid and guard that he came across to see if they had seen her. The last guard that he talked to mentioned that she was at the courtyard. After running for several minutes he finally reached the courtyard. He was relieved to see the unciorn standing in the middle. He casually walked up to her and gave her a surprise hug.

The lavender mare gave a startled yelp when she felt the arms wrapped around her. When she turned around to see who was touching her, she smiled to see the human smiling back at her. The two kissed as they held each other close. They were soon separated when they heard a gruff grunt. The human looked around and found the source of the sound.

He was staring at a sharply dressed unicorn stallion with a pin showing that he was the rank of Captain. His mane and tail were both blue with lighter blue streaks going through them. His eyes were cerulean and his coat was white. His cutie mark that was shown on his uniform was a shield with a six pointed star in the middle with three stars above it.

“BBBFF!” Twilight exclaimed as she gave the stallion a hug.

The stallion seemed happy to return the gesture, but his cold gaze never left the human. Alex waited patiently as the two hugged, taking in the gaze that was being thrown his way. After a few seconds, the mare released the hug and walked over back to the human. She took his hand in her own and smiled towards the stallion.

“So who is this, Twily?” The stallion asked.

“This is my coltfriend Alex, Shiny,” Twilight replied.

“Wait a minute, this is your brother Shining Armor?” Alex asked. Twilight nodded her head as she continued to smile. “So what does BBBFF mean?” Alex asked.

“It stands for Big Brother Best Friends Forever,” Twilight happily answered.

“So you’re one of the creatures that I’ve been hearing so much about?” Shining said.

“Well, that depends on what you’ve heard,” Alex replied.

“The most that I’ve heard is that you killed one of our guards, caused a scene at the Gala, and even gained the ire of the harpies,” Shining stated as he got closer to him.

“Well, that was more about one of our other friends, but we all take responsibility for that,” Alex said.

“Is that friend of yours here today?” Shining asked.

“He would have been if it wasn’t for your wife asking to keep his presence away,” Alex answered.

“Which reminds me, Shiny, who exactly is this Mi Amore Cadenza?” Twilight asked, a little annoyed at the thought of some mare getting married to her brother.

“I thought that you would remember her, Twily. Mi Amore Cadenza is your old foal sitter Cadance,” Shining answered.

As if on cue, a pink alicorn walked towards them. Her mane and tail were a combination of gold, violet, and rose. Her eyes were a light purple and her cutie mark was a crystal heart with golden vines at the bottom. When she reached the group, Twilight immediately ran up to her and Alex saw the funniest thing ever.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hands, and do a little shake,” At the end, Twilight shook her butt a little and Alex couldn’t help but chuckle.

The lavender mare’s face burned with embarrassment from having the human see that. Cadance on the other hand seemed undisturbed by the actions and even a little confused. Alex wasn’t certain but he was sure that he saw an evil glint in her eyes. Putting the thought aside to it just being a princess, he went back to the mare’s side.

“So what exactly did you want with one of my friends?” Alex asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

“I just wanted to thank him for getting rid of that corrupt guard. I was about ready to go and arrest him when I heard that he was killed. After that I went back to my duties with one less thing to worry about,” Shining replied.

“So what is your wife’s special talent?” Alex asked.

“Well, she is the Princess of Love. She helps those that are having trouble finding love or those that are in trouble,” Shining replied.

“Then you better keep her away from Marcus,” Alex said.

“Why is that?” Shining asked.

“He would find that an invasion of privacy and doesn’t like people messing with anything that he loves. I would say that there would even be a chance that he would give her a good thrashing if she tried such a thing,” Alex answered.

“Well, your friend better not lay a hand on her or so help me I will crush him into the ground,” Shining threatened. Twilight could feel the atmosphere getting tense, but before she could calm them, Alex spoke back.

“If you want to hurt him, then you will have to go through me and the others,” Alex shot back.

Shining and Alex took a few steps closer to each other and were now staring eye to eye. Each one held a gaze just saying that they should try something. The lavender unicorn was about to intervene, but her brother beat her to it.

“Want to take this to the training grounds?” Shining asked as he sized up the human.

“Lead the way,” Alex answered.

Twilight knew that anything that she had to say would fall on deaf ears since they were going to fight. She just pinched the bridge of her muzzle as she followed the two of them to the training grounds. Cadance on the other hand was grinning internally. She was excited to see what one of these humans was capable of, especially if it helps to put the plan into further motion.

The walk to the grounds were silent, but Alex and Shining kept their stares on each other. Once they reached the fenced in area, Shining opened the gate and walked in. The human ignored the gate and jumped the fence. The unicorn stallion grabbed two sticks and placed them in the ground about five feet apart. The human didn’t need to be told what they were doing since he saw what this was like before.

He walked in front of the closest stick and placed his left foot on it. The unicorn did the same and brought his fists up. The human popped his shoulders and back, preparing for the long beating that they were going to give each other.

“So I will assume that you know how this works?” Shining asked as he removed his jacket.

“Usually done with knives, but I don’t think either of us has to die today, so that is why we are using sticks,” Alex said.

The stallion nodded his head as they both got ready. They could hear the wind whistle as it went by. The two held their ground as they were watched by the only other spectators. Twilight stood at the ready in case she needed to break up the fight. Cadance kept a stone face as she watched the two of them get ready.

Several more seconds of silence went by before a loud chime could be heard. No words needed to be exchanged as they threw out their fists. Neither of them went at it slow and instead followed up their punches one after the other. Only the sound of flesh hitting flesh and the occasional grunt could be heard from the two. Twilight cringed every time she saw Alex and Shining get hit.

Cadance was wrapped up in the fight that she slowly fed off the love that Twilight was giving off for both her brother and boyfriend. As she fed, she made sure to watch the human and see what his emotions were. She could barely feel it, but it was one of pride that he gave off. The same was being given off the stallion as the blows continued. Blood slowly coated their knuckles and faces as the continued.

They went at it for ten minutes and neither of them were giving an inch. Their breathing became heavy and labored, but they continued their fights. The fight slowly got the attention of other guards that were off duty and came to see what the commotion was. They said nothing as they gathered around, interested to see who was standing up to their Captain. They were surprised to see one of the humans going even with their Captain.

After another ten minutes went by, both parties were panting heavily and could barely see out of their eyes. Deciding that they had enough, they both prepared their final punch. They put every last inch of strength that they had into those punches. Their fists shot out and connected to each other. They stood their ground for a few seconds before being launched back. Both were sent back several inches and hit the ground with an audible thud.

Twilight quickly hopped the fence and ran over to Alex. She ran a purple beam over his body to see if he sustained any serious injuries. Luckily he doesn’t have anything too severe and can be easily treated at the medical wing. Cadance casually walked over to Shining and checked to make sure that he was okay. She also wanted to make sure that her mind control spell was still working.

The pink alicorn found everything to still be in working order with the Captain and helped him to his feet. Twilight and Cadance walked the two men to the medical wing. During their walk, the lavender mare asked one of the guards to inform the princess of what happened. The guard quickly ran off towards the throne room and this helped to relax her a bit. The princess and lavender unicorn reached the medical wing and placed the guys on the beds.

Marcus

Marcus was working in the kitchen with Bon-Bon, trying to make some of the treats for the young fillies and colts. With nothing to really do, he offered his help and she was more than happy to accept. They went about making different candies and ice cream for the foals. The foals didn’t just come to get sweet treats, but also wanted to see the human up close. They had seen him walking around town, but they never had the chance to be around him for long.

He couldn’t help but smile back at all the beaming faces that watched him intently. He had been working the past hour with Bon-Bon and this seemed to interest Blood Rain as well. She tried her best to help make the candies, but she made more of a mess than anything else. The human easily took over cooking while she went and delivered the treats. With the addition of the pegasus, the foals were even more inclined to stay.

Bon-Bon didn’t mind the foals hanging around her shop since she enjoyed being around them. The main reason that she made this candy shop was for the foals themselves. It always brought a smile to her face when the foals would smile and happily eat their treats. The foals came often enough that they even gave the mare a little nickname. They called her the sugar fairy and she couldn’t help but smile at the name.

The foals started to leave one by one as they went on back to school for the day. Bon-Bon waved goodbye to them all and wished them a lovely morning. Marcus and Blood Rain cleaned up the dirty dishes while Bon-Bon counted up her earnings. She offered to pay the human for his help, but he respectfully declined. She did the same with the pegasus, but being in the guard meant that she couldn’t accept the offer.

He was halfway finished drying the dishes when he noticed something near the window. He caught the glimpse of a pink mist floating outside and he didn’t like it. Putting away the cloth and the dish that he was drying, he headed off.

“Blood Rain, do you mind finishing up for me? I need to run a quick errand,” Marcus asked, trying to remain calm.

“I can, but is it that important that you need to go now?” She asked.

“Yes, because it’s a promise that I made to a friend and if I don’t do it now I might forget,” Marcus replied.

The pegasus didn’t push any further and gestured for him to be on his way. Without even thinking, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked out of the building. The pegasus could feel her face burn as a blush started to form. She quickly shook her head and went to the chores that she was left with. As she worked though she couldn’t help but let her mind wander to what just happened.

The human was out the door before realization dawned on him. He cursed himself slightly for what he just did, but at the same time he didn’t feel too bad about it. Pushing that thought to the side for the moment, he went to do his other thing. He walked around the building and saw the pink mist floating there. The mist seemed to have noticed him and took off flying to who knew where.

Not letting this chance get by, he quickly gave chase. He chased the mist through town and he was greeted by many of the residents. Some of them had gotten used to seeing him, but they were still a little wary of him. He really couldn’t blame them and made a note to try and make it up to them. The mist took a sharp right, down an alleyway and he nearly lost his balance. He quickly climbed to the roof of a building and chased from there.

As he continued to give chase to the mist, he began questioning what it was doing. It flew around town with no actual sense of direction. It was like the mist was playing with him and wanted to see how long he would keep chasing it. Wanting to test that theory, he jumped down into an alleyway and peered around the corner. He saw that the mist had stopped moving and it looked like it was looking for him.

Going through the other end of the alley, he snuck up behind the mist. The mist hadn’t noticed his presence and he jumped it. He wasn’t sure if he could catch it since it was mist, but it seemed that he was able to grab it. There was a quick flash and he could feel something soft and squishy in his hand. He gave a few hesitant squeezes and realized that he was grabbing someone by their breasts.

“Well, somepony is a little forward,” the mystery pony said in a teasing tone.
Marcus quickly let go and fell to the ground. He looked up to see who was talking to him and could feel his nervousness rise.

“Celestia, what the fuck are you doing here?” Marcus asked as he got to his feet.

“I’m not Celestia,” the alicorn mare said.

Now that he was on his feet, he was able to get a better look at the alicorn. He could see that she was telling the truth. Her mane and tail were ethereal, but instead of having yellow, green, and pink streaks going through them, they were entirely pink. Her coat was a darker shade of white and her breasts were slightly bigger. The dress was also tighter around her form, but she seemed to like it that way. Her smile was motherly, but there also seemed to be some mischief behind it.

“So if you’re not Celestia, then who the hell are you?” Marcus asked, preparing for a fight.

“My name is Molestia, but if you want you may also call me Molly,” She answered happily.

“So are you here to cause problems for me and my friends, or are you here for something else?” Marcus asked.

“Well, I was hoping to get to know your friend that lives with the hyper active pink mare,” she said.

“Why do you want to know one of my friends?”

“Well, I’m interested in his personality and he holds my interest very well.”

“Not sure if you know this, but he’s already in a relationship with Pinkie. You can try to talk to him, but I don’t think that either of them would be interested in having you join that.”

“But that is where the adventure becomes interesting. I was able to see that they love each other and I could also help Pinkie with her other personality.”

“How do I know that you aren’t lying to me? The last few ponies that I have talked with have tried to either kill me or my friends,” Marcus was now glaring at the alicorn.

“There isn’t really much I can do to prove myself to you. You are now just meeting me for the second time since your stay here.”

“Wait, my second time, when was the first time?”

“During the Grand Galloping Gala. You were the first to realize that Celestia wasn’t herself when you saw me.”

“That actually makes perfect sense. Celestia was way too different than what I have seen. So I guess I can give you some leeway, but I don’t entirely trust you still.”

“That is fair, but I must ask you a favor. Please hear me out for it,” Molestia pleaded.

“Let’s hear what you have to say,” Marcus humored the alicorn.

“I need your help in showing my sister that she isn’t entirely hated,” Molestia said as she landed on the ground.

“If you’re talking about Luna, then Blake has that already covered.”

“I’m not talking about Luna.”

“Then who could you possibly be talking about?” Marcus asked, a little annoyed with how long she was taking.

“I’m talking about my other sister Nightmare Moon,” Molestia said.

“You have got to be shitting me. I may have not been there during her fight with Celestia, but I’m pretty sure that everything was justified. So with that joke out of the way, let’s move on to the real favor.”

The two stood their ground as he waited for her to continue. Silence soon settled between them and it was starting to become unsettling. He looked in her eyes to see that she wasn’t joking with her favor. Taking a calming breath, he walked back a few steps before going back to his original position.

“Are you insane?!” Marcus yelled at the alicorn.

“I might be a little insane, but I’m very serious about this.”

“Yeah, and the last time I checked that crazy alicorn kidnapped Celestia and tried to rule Equestria in eternal darkness,” Marcus explained.

“I know this, but she was still a child back then and she still is now. I know that you already talked with her once in your dreams and that nothing has happened to you shows that you might be able to help her.”

“Maybe or she’s just waiting for me to lower my guard and stab me in the back.”

“If she truly wanted to kill you, then she would have done so already.”

“Okay, how about we make a deal?” Marcus proposed.

“I’m listening.”

“If you turn out to be right, then I will help Nightmare be a better person. If you’re wrong, then you will leave me and my friends alone.”

“Those seem like fair terms, but how about we add a little extra to it.”

“Humor me.”

“If I turn out to be right then not only will you help Nightmare, but you will confront your feelings toward the other mares and other possible ones that you may run into and if my sister so chooses, you will give her a chance at love. If you’re right, I will leave all of you alone and turn myself in to my other half and even ask to be banished to the sun.”

Molestia stuck out her hand and Marcus happily shook it. With the deal made, he walked back towards Bon-Bon’s house. He turned around to see that Molly was following him. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to confront the mare.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m following you back to your house.”

“Oh hell no, if anything that your name suggests and that slight seductive tone that you use shows that you won’t make this easy on me.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t make it so easy to get yourself flustered. Which by the way, I’m surprised that you got the Element of Loyalty to send you a nude pick of her.”

Molestia then handed him the phone. He quickly took back his phone and gave her a cold stare. She just grinned at him as a blush came across his face. He gave a final sigh as he gestured for the alicorn to follow him. The alicorn happily hummed to herself as she followed him. He could only sigh at the problems that she would cause him when they got back to the house.