Orion stood there with a huge grin on his face, content with how the Sun's rays warmed him through his clothes. It really as a nice day today...

He looked at the crowd of guards around him. There had to be hundreds upon hundreds of them, all waiting for the order to kill. All of them wanted to end Orion and everything he was. The pegasi hovered above, ready to rain death down upon him. The unicorns had their horns lit up and ready to cast deadly combat spells. And the earth ponies, strong as ever, all had either spears or swords, with the odd ax or club mixed in as well.

Orion smiled wider, his grin straightening slightly. Yes, this was a good day.

"Orion the Human, you are hereby under arrest for the murder of Prince Talon!" a voice from the back of the crowd called to him. "You have the right to remain silent! You have the right to a fair court hearing! You have the right to an Arbiter! You have-"

A great whooshing sound was heard from above them all. "He has no rights!" a deep, masculine voice roared.

Orion turned around to see a massive griffon land on the road behind him, shaking the ground. He had deep brown, almost black fur with wicked talons and claws. His feathers a dull gray with a streak of blood red going down the back of his head and touches of black around his eyes. His beak was long and curved, with a large crack along the right side of it.

He opened his beak and yelled at Orion loud enough to make his robes flutter. "You murdered my son while on a peaceful envoy! You attacked his mate! You're a criminal of the highest tier and will be executed by my sword in the Griffon Kingdoms! I am King Grey Down, Ruler of the Griffon Kingdoms and Slayer of the great dragon Hazze! I sentence you to death for the murder of my son, Prince Talon, Heir to the Royal Throne and only son of the King!"

Orion smiled at him and stuck out his hand. "Hi! I'm God!" he introduced happily.

The griffon took on a look of rage and disgust at this.

"Orion!" a voice, Celestia, yelled from behind him.

He turned around and smiled at her. "Yeah?" he asked with a smile in his voice.

She approached him with her sister while his friends stayed back, hands on their weapons. "Orion, this is serious!" she whispered. "You need to focus for once and evoke a trial. Even though it is my lands, I cannot stop him from convicting you for the murder of royalty of his country," she informed him.

Orion spun around and pointed his finger in the Griffon king's face, jabbing him in the eye.

Everybody present nearly fainted.

Orion screamed out. "I challenge you to a trial by combat! Winner takes all!"

"NO!!!" screamed Celestia and Luna at the same time.

The Griffon Kind swatted away Orion's finger and smiled evilly at him. "Trial granted."

***

Mavis was rubbing her face with her hand, trying- unsuccessfully- to relieve the building pressure in her skull. She had no idea why, but Orion gave her a headache. Even in a book he was dangerous to the living world. "I'll need some serious therapy after this," she said tiredly.

She turned the page and kept reading...

***

... Luna was pacing back and forth in front of Orion while Celestia was trying to take as many calming breaths as she could before the planet ran out of oxygen.

Orion was watching her pace. Every time she turned, he was awarded a nice view of her flanks. He smiled even stupider than normal.

"Art thou insane?!" Luna yelled, shaking the area around them.

Orion smiled into her face. "You have a nice ass," he said smoothly.

Her mouth opened. Then it closed. Her face went a deep purple color as she looked away. "Th- thank you," she mumbled, smiling bashfully.

Orion's smiled straightened out and his eyes took on a soft glow. "If you want to, I can make it feel real good," he said in a slimy voice that made Luna shiver.

Luna wanted to say no. To tell him not to distract her. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind to hear him out...

"Enough of these games, Orion," Celestia said sternly. "You cannot defeat Grey Down. It isn't possible for anypony to best him in combat. I can have a carriage ready to take you to Ponyville in less than an hour. So I sugg-"

Orion made a clicking noise with his tongue, interrupting her. "Did you know that ponies and cinnamon go really well together?" he asked her in a wondering voice.

Celestia blinked once. "You need to focus, damn it!" she screamed.

Everybody in the room leaned back and stared at her. She never lost her cool. Never yelled. And she most certainly never, ever swore.

Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Orion... I don't want you to die. If you fight him, you will. There was no evidence of foul play at the scene, but Grey Down took his son's mate's word. She had said that you made advances on her and when Talon tried to stop you, you killed him. Even though I told the King of this, he refuses to listen to reason." She opened her eyes and and saw a rare sight. Orion was completely serious. "I know you are innocent, so I want to help you escape before he does anything rash," she said pleadingly. "Please, get away from the city. After a few weeks he'll calm down, and you can return."

"Orion, you can' throw your life away," a voice, Twilight, said from behind him.

He turned to see the six friends looking at him with worried faces.

"I don't really know you, but you seem cool enough for me to tell you not to get yourself killed," Rainbow Dash said.

"Ah don't want ya to die, sugercube," Applejack said.

"Darling, if you died, then I would feel simply awful!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Orion you ca't die because we're friends and friends can't die because their friends will be super duper sad and since I'm your friend I don't want to be sad for you so I don't want you to die because it'll be really, really, really sad!" Pinkie said all in one breath.

"I don't, um, want you to get hurt Orion. Please don't fight him, well, if you don't mind, that is," Fluttershy told him.

Orion looked at them all and smiled crookedly. "Okay," he said cheerily.

Everybody blinked.

"You'll... leave?" Luna asked him.

Orion nodded happily. "Yep! But first I gotta tell Feather Face that the fight's off," he told them. Then he jumped out of a nearby window, shattering the priceless artwork of stained glass to pieces.

***

Mavis facepalmed.

***

King Grey Down was sharpening his favorite sword down to a deadly point.

This thing! This... creature! It murdered his son. Now... Now, he was going to make it pay... Oh yes, he was going to make this creature scream. He'll beg for his life while on his knees before the great and mighty King Grey Down! And then... Then... He'll suffer...

The Griffon King smiled darkly as he ran a piece of cloth over his sword and saw it split in two without even the slightest pressure.

He reached over to a table that held his other weapons and took a sheath from it. Putting away his sword, he picked up a small dagger, starting to sharpen that as well.

First, its big mouth. Yes, those teeth would make a nice decoration on his mantle. And after that? Hmm... The hands. Yes, the hands will be next. He'll hang those from a thread at his side as a reminder to those who would oppose him of how deadly he was. Hmm... What next...? Maybe his-

"My King!" a griffon soldier shouted as he burst in through the door.

The King scowled at him. "What is it?!" he growled.

The soldier pointed out the door. "The creature! It's here!"

The King let a smile slowly creep across his beak. It was time... "Excellent. Is there a crowd?" he asked.

The soldier nodded. "Yes, my King. The ponies of Canterlot as well as your griffons."

The King rose and strapped on his weapons and armor. A red platemail chest piece with leg guards and a half-helm. He had two short swords, a long sword, multiple daggers and even a whip with barbs along its length. He was ready for war.

He just wasn't ready for Orion.

***

As the two princesses flew overhead, the six friends and the crewmates all ran along the streets- save for Rainbow Dash who was flying above them- looking for Orion. They had no idea where to start looking, so they simply looked everywhere. After all, if they looked everywhere, they would see everything.

"I don't see him!" Rainbow yelled.

"Just keep looking!" Twilight yelled back.

Rainbow Dash saluted and flew over a set of buildings, disappearing from sight.

As they ran along the cobbled roads of Canterlot city, they couldn't help but notice that they were getting some very strange looks from the townsfolk. The ponies had never seen anything like them before, but that still didn't make it any less rude to stare.

"I think I see something!" Luna called to them. She swooped down low and glided along side them. She looked to Twilight. "In two streets turn left and go a few more blocks!" she instructed. She then flew off in the direction of what she had seen.

"D'ya think it's him?" breathed Applejack.

Twilight turned and looked at her farm pony friend. "I hope so. Or Equestria might get involved in a war."

A rainbow blur sped at them, stopping just before collision. "Did you find him?" Rainbow Dash asked them all.

"Yeah, turn here!" Roland said.

They all filed into the side street and saw that, at the end, there was a huge crowd of ponies and griffons carrying weapons.

The princesses were already there, but they could only watch as the crowd grew larger and rowdier.

***

Orion stood in the huge circle of spectators calmly with a goofy grin on his face. Yes... Today was a good day...

The Griffon King came out of the large inn and glared at Orion. He was armed to the teeth and had some serious armor on. He looked very imposing.

Orion kept on smiling.

As the King strode into the circle of jeering griffons and ponies, he spoke. "So, you wish to die already? Well, it'll be a pleasure granting that wish," he said sadistically.

Orion shook his head. "No, I don't think I'll be dying today, Queen Fancy Feather Face. But thanks for caring about what I want."

The crowd grew silent as the King's glare grew so cold a glacier would shiver.

"What did you call me?" he asked in a dangerous tone of voice.

Orion cocked his head to the side. "Queen Fancy Feather Face. Why, are you going deaf with old age, Queeny? You should see a doctor about that. But then again, you're probably too inbred and stupid to realize the obvious. So you can thank me later for my advice." Orion was beaming at the King.

"Orion, shut up!" a voice from the crowd said.

He turned to see all of his friends: Celestia, Luna, the six ponies and his crewmates standing in the crowd.

It was Rainbow Dash who had spoken. She was hovering above the crowd with a horrified expression on her face at what he had said.

He waved at her. "Hey guys! Thanks for talking me into doing this! I'm feeling more confident already!" he yelled to them.

Every eye in the crowd turned to the group.

"But anyways..." Orion said, turning back to the King. "Those are some nice weapons you got there. Compensating for something?" he laughed.

The King growled and drew his longsword.

Orion laughed harder and pointed a finger at him. "Wow, you look scary man! Like an angry little girl who was just told no by her parents!"

The King shot up into the air, aiming his sword at Orion's chest.

"Really though. If you have a sword that big, it must mean you have a really, really tiny dick!" Orion said as he roared with laughter.

The King charged Orion. He roared with rage as he came closer to him.

***

Celestia shielded her eyes for what was about to come. As she turned her head, she saw the alien crew all passing around small pieces of metal.

"I got twenty on decapitation," Megan said.

Lily handed Roland a small pouch. "Fifty credits that he crushes him in less than a minute," she said with a small smile.

Celestia's eyes grew huge. "You're betting on your own friend's life?!" she scolded.

The crew all looked at her. Then at each other. They all burst out laughing.

"No," Roland said with some difficulty. "We're betting on how Orion'll kill this idiot."

Larry nodded and spoke. "I think he's gonna singe him to death," he told her.

Celestia looked back at the fight and saw that Grey Down was almost upon Orion. She watched lividly with new interest.

***

Orion stood here laughing, slapping his knees and holding his sides. That is, until the King's sword went straight through him.

... Along with the King...

King Grey Down tumbled to the ground, smacking his head on the cobbled street. He was thankful that he was wearing a helmet.

He shot to his... paws? Talons? ... Both?

He shot to his both and was about to strike Orion again. But he wasn't there. The King swung his head around in a search for his prey, but for the life of him, he couldn't find him.

Then he received an almighty kick to the ass.

He stumbled forward a few steps before falling flat on his face. He growled as he stood back up and turned around. Then he froze.

There, standing before him, smiling stupidly, were ten copies of Orion, all looking directly at him.

He lashed out at the nearest one, expecting it to simply explode into a puff of air.

Orion caught his eagle-like arm in a crushing grip.

The King's eyes widened.

Orion's smile straightened. He pulled hard and ripped the Kings arm out of its socket. Orion then pushed him hard and forced him to fall over.

Then all hell broke loose as the all of the Orions started kicking and stomping on him as he fell to the ground. The whole time they all screeched and howled with laughter, taking nothing but joy out of punishing the Griffon King.

He yelled. "ENOUGH!!!" as he swept his wings out in a large circle, pushing back all of the Orions. He got back up and rotated his arm. A loud crack was heard as it popped back into place.

All of the ponies and griffons present grimaced at the sound it made.

"You want to play dirty?" the King growled at Orion. "Fine. We can play dirty," he said as he drew his two short swords. He launched into the air and dove at the Orions.

They all simply blinked out of existence, leaving everybody confused.

The King stopped his assault, hovering in the air. "Where are you, coward?! Show yourself!" he yelled.

"Okay."

The King turned around and saw Orion's stupid smile.

Orion jumped straight into him with the help of his Force powers, rocketing himself into the King hard enough to knock him out of the air. As the King fell, Orion stuck out his hand and caught him with his Force. He slammed him brutally into the ground, creating a small crater. Then he did it again. And again. And again... and again and again and again. By the time Orion was finished, there was a good-sized crater in the ground, with a damaged King in the bottom of it.

"I'm... going... to... kill you," the King moaned as he crawled out of the hole made just for him.

Orion's eyes took on a bright glow as he smiled wider. "You're not dead yet? Cool! We can play some more!"

The King shambled up to him with a scowl. "Do you think this is a game boy?! You murdered my son! And now I'm going to kill you!" He lashed out with his claws.

Orion's hand came up and caught his talon with the Force.

The King swung his other claw.

Orion took control of his other talon.

"Let go of me you fiend! I'm the King!"

Orion came up close to him, smiling dangerously. "I want to fuck your brain," he said creepily.

The King had nothing to respond with. It was just too crazy.

Orion took one of his hands and grabbed the King's head.

Everybody instantly felt like the air around them got fifty pounds heavier. There was the sound of a heartbeat, like a deep drum beating over and ever again in their ears. None of them knew what was going on, but they were all afraid. Completely, horribly afraid. Even the princesses.

The King's eyes rolled up into his head. "Brill? Is that you?" he asked in a haunted voice. "H- how are you here? I- I thought you died!"

Orion smiled sweetly. "No, my love," he said softly. "I'm not dead. But now that I'm looking at you again, I wish I was."

The King looked confused. "W- what? What do you mean? What are you talking about?" he demanded of "Brill".

Orion stroked one hand along his beak. "I never loved you, Downy, not really. I only married you because I wanted your money, your power. Even Talon isn't yours. He belongs to one of your guards. I'm not sure which, there were so many I slept with when you weren't looking," "Brill" said.

The King started to cry. "W- w- wh- what...?" he said pitifully.

Orion scratched the King's chin with a finger. "I never even wanted to be with you. But my father wouldn't listen."

The King fell to his knees, weeping at Orion's feet. "P- pl- please, Brill! Please tell me this is a joke! I- I- I nearly d- died when you disappeared! I- I looked for you! For years! For years I searched for you!" he begged Orion desperately.

Orion removed his hands from the King's head and took a few steps back, smiling brightly.

King Grey Down fell to the ground, weeping. He laid there for almost a full minute before looking up. His eyes were back to normal. "Brill, I-" But all he saw was a beaming Orion. It took a second for him to realize what had happened, and when he did, he shot like a bullet towards him.

Orion held his hand out.

Everybody watching felt a fear unlike any other as they watched the cloaked man. He was going to hurt them. He was going to kill them. He was going to kill them! Oh, no! They were all going to die! They were dying! They were going to die!

The King stopped when he saw his hand rise. The air was crushing him. He fell to the ground from the weight that was pushing down on him. It felt like a dragon was sitting on him. He tried to stand up, but he couldn't move. He couldn't move. He can't move. He can't move! He's trapped! This thing killed his son and now he's going to kill him! He's going to die! He's going to be killed! He's going to die!

Orion took a step closer, smiling serenely at King Grey Down.

The King found the strength to crawl away from him. He didn't want to die! Oh, by the ancestors, he didn't want to die!

Orion took another step forward, his eyes glowing like a pair of stars.

The King tried to crawl away again, but the dread withing him was weighing him down like huge metal blocks chained to his limbs. He whimpered pitifully.

Orion took another step forward. He was standing only a foot from the King.

"P- Please..." he whimpered.

"Please?" Orion asked. "Please kill you in a horrifically painful way? Okay!" he cheered happily.

"No!" the King screeched. But it was too late. His beak was forced open hard enough to break his jaws. Then his beak was ripped completely off. In the hole that was left, his back legs were lifted up and forced into his mouth. He couldn't breathe, but Orion didn't care. His legs went so far down his throat that his hips were touching his face. His front legs were twisted around and around until they broke in so many places that they were completely limp. His tail was shoved violently into his left eye socket, destroying the eyeball. It was then pulled through his skull, and yanked back out of his right eye socket. At this point he was mostly dead. But he could still feel the pain. He couldn't taste his legs, he couldn't hear his bones breaking further, he couldn't smell the blood, he couldn't see his twisted form, he could only feel the pain. The horrible, horrible, horrific pain.

Orion grabbed his entire form in his Force. He closed his hand into a fist.

The King's body was crushed down into the size of a soccer ball, the bones all either sticking out of the bloodied skin or popping out of his corpse completely. The blood spattered everywhere in a ten foot radius, soaking almost everybody in the crowd, but somehow leaving Orion untouched.

Orion stretched and groaned as a few joints popped. He then turned around and walked out of the crowd. "I wonder where I can get some ice cream..." he said before turning a corner and disappearing into the city.

***

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Larry, Jake, Megan, Lily, Faiz, Seth Sharpe, and Roland stared at the mangled corpse of what was once the King of the Griffons.

Rarity shot her head to the side and puked up everything in her stomach.

Seeing this, all of her friends save for Applejack and Rainbow Dash did the same.

Every single griffon present shot into the sky, speeding away.

Celestia turned to Roland and Sharpe. "So, who had that bet?" she asked quietly.

Roland shook his head and rubbed his face with his hand.

"That's... never happened before," Sharpe said slowly. "I'm... I don't even know what that was, but I think that we should probably go stop Orion."

Celestia turned to the recovering Twilight Sparkle. "Twilight, take your friends and our guests back to the castle. Once we find Orion, we'll meet you all in the dining hall," she said carefully.

Twilight nodded slowly, not wanting to upset her stomach further.

Luna gave her sister a worried look. "What if he resists us?" she asked.

Celestia sighed and hung her head as she slowly trotted off in the direction Orion headed off in. "I can only hope that he'll be in a cooperative mood," she said with worry in her voice.

***

The young filly was running for her life. She ducked under a beam of wood as she sped through the old abandoned house. She had no idea what the thing chasing her was, but it was fast!

She looked over her shoulder to see if he was still behind her. She didn't see him, so she slowed her pace somewhat. She turned a corner of the deserted manor and hit something. Or someone.

"Clover!" a second young filly cried out.

Clover looked in front of her and saw a shockingly light blue unicorn filly with a lighter blue mane and tail with silver eyes and a Cutie mark of five snowflakes in a gust of wind. It was her sister, Ice Storm. "Icy!" Clover yelled and threw her little hooves around her sister tightly. "I thought that he got you!"

Icy returned the hug and shook her head. "No, but he almost did. He's crazy! He went straight through a beam and made the whole room cave in on him!" she exclaimed.

Clover pulled away from her sister. "Is he-"

"Right here?~"

Both of them turned with wide eyes and saw the huge black robed figure of Orion looming over them. His eyes were glowing in the darkness of the room and his smile seemed to be gleaming.

They screamed as he lunged forward.

Clover jumped out of the way of him, but he got Icy! "No! Icy!" Cover cried.

"Go on without me!" she screamed.

Clover's eyes teared up as she turned and ran away from her sister and the maniac chasing them. She was a little earth pony filly with a creamy yellow coat and a gentle shade of green for a mane and tail with dark blue eyes and a Cutie mark of two small clovers.

"I'm gonna getcha!" he jeered after her.

How was he so fast?!

She slid around a corner and came face-to-face with a wall. She fell back on her rump and rubbed her muzzle, groaning in pain.

There was a step behind her.

She turned with wide eyes and saw him. He had her trapped. She was doomed. "No... You can't do this!" she yelled.

He reached down quickly and grabbed her, bringing her close to his maniacal smile.

Her eyes widened with fear. "No..."

He nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off of her. "Yes..." He opened his mouth wide.

"Nooooooooooo!!!" she screamed.

He put his mouth on her belly and blew air out of his mouth, making an unsavory noise on her stomach and tickling her horribly. "OMNOMNOMNOM!!!!" he growled while doing this.

She giggled wildly as she pounded her tiny hooves into his head to get him to stop. "No! P- ple- plea-he-he-hease! Stop it! S- stop it!" she laughed out.

Ice Storm poked her little head out of his shirt, seeing the scene before her eyes. "Noooo!! He got you too!" she wailed. "You monster! How could you?!" she accused him.

He laughed as he pulled his head away from the laughing Clover. "I'm evil, that's how dare I!" he said, stuffing Clover into his shirt next to her sister.

"Hey!" she complained, squirming around to get her head out.

He laughed as his normal goofy smiled returned and he used his Force to make a hole in the old mansion. He stepped out and started walking down the road, the two of them riding along comfortably in his shirt.

The mansion creaked loudly. Then it crumbled to the ground behind them as they turned a corner.

"So," said Icy, "Where are we going?"

Orion smiled a little wider. "I saw an ice cream shop around here someplace. I want some Cookies & Cream!" he said.

Both of them cheered. "Yay! Ice cream!"

Clover looked up at him. "How did you find us anyway?" she asked him curiously.

He looked down at her with a smile. "I can feel your life force," he said in a spooky voice.

They both giggled and tucked themselves deeper into his shirt.

"Ice cream store, a'hoy!" Orion screamed as they giggled at him. He sprinted forwards, jostling them around as he went.

"H- h- e- e- y- y! S- t- t- o- o- p!" They tried as he went.

He either didn't hear them or didn't care. He arrived at the shop and opened the door, the two fillies shaking their heads to clear the stars. He walked up to the counter and rang the bell.

"Ooh, ooh! I wanna ring it too!" Clover yelled.

"Me too!" Icy added.

Orion chuckled and leaned forward so they could mangle the bell, creating less of a ringing sound and more of a dying sound.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked.

Orion straightened himself and looked over the counter to see a stallion eyeing him oddly. "I vant all ze ice cream!" he yelled with a ridiculous accent.

The two fillies laughed at him again.

The stallion only kept eyeing him.

Orion grumbled and waved his hand in front of his face. "You want to give me all of your ice cream. Oh, and your bananas and cherries too," he said calmly.

The stallion twitched a little bit, but nodded slowly and trotted into the back of the shop. A minute later he came back out with three huge tubes of ice cream. Caramel, Pistachio, and Cookies & Cream.

"Whoa, Caramel is my favorite flavor!" Icy exclaimed.

"Pistachio is my favorite!" Clover added.

"Mmm... Cookies & Cream..." moaned Orion eloquently.

He levitated all three tubs and a smaller tub of fruit out of the shop and onto a patio table.

The two fillies jumped out of his shirt and literally dove into the tubs of ice cream.

Orion dunked his head into his tub.

And everything was delicious.

***

There were three empty tubs of ice cream, one empty tub of fruit, and three happy, smiling friends laying on the ground.

"That was sooooo good..." moaned Icy. She then burped.

"Uh huh," agreed Clover. She then burped even louder.

"I like ice cream," Orion said. He then burped loud enough to make the ponies across the street stop and stare in disgust at the three of them.

They all laughed at this.

"Well, I'm getting cold laying here. Though it could be the ice cream..." Orion muttered as he stood up.

The two fillies forced themselves up and reached out their hooves expectantly towards him.

He sighed and picked them both up and stuffed them back into his shirt. They seemed to be a pound or two heavier.

They sighed happily and snuggled against his chest, savoring the warmth his body was creating.

Orion walked around the city, window shopping- and occasionally Force shopping- with his two new best friends safely tucked into him as he went.

They would cry out in wonder and awe sometimes when they saw things they never had seen before, never having been allowed to roam this far from home. They were truly amazed when they saw a fire juggler in the street, throwing around and catching half a dozen lit torches.

Orion smiled as he nudged one of the torches a little, causing him to miss and set his hat on fire. He and the two girls laughed hysterically at that and went on their way, checking out more of Canterlot.

Winter was setting in in the mountains, and a light snow powdered the ground. It was actually extremely peaceful. Just walking around with the two of them. Almost like they were a family doing some holiday shopping. Almost like they were his daughters, and he their happy father. Looking after them, making them smile, always happy as long as his precious little girls were smiling...

Orion fell to the ground on his bottom, leaning against a building for support. The tears came faster than ever before, creating hot trails on his face as he wept.

The two in his shirt turned to face him.

"What's wrong?" asked Icy with worry.

Orion looked at them for a long time. He then pulled them out of his shirt and nearly crushed them in a tight hug, his tears dropping into their manes. "I love you girls so much," he whispered to them. "Please, promise me that you'll never leave me."

The two of them didn't know why he was crying, but it made them sad to see him sad. They both wrapped their hooves around his neck tightly, hugging him back. They didn't know why, but this made them cry as well.

Orion wrapped them up in his arms and rocked back-and-forth, weeping over his precious little girls. His happy, smiling, beautiful little girls. The little girls that will never be his.

They couldn't even hear the approaching steps over his sobbing.

***

The two princesses as well as Roland and Sharpe made their way through the snowy streets of Canterlot in silence. They didn't want to talk. If they did, they would be forced to talk about what Orion might be doing right now. And that worried all of them more than anything else.

Where was he?

What is he doing?

Has he killed anyone yet?

Is he killing someone right now?

Is he eating ice cream?

There were too many questions to be asked and not enough answers for those questions. Hence, them walking in silence.

They turned a corner and Roland groaned.

Where a grand manor once stood, only rubble remained, scattered around the street and even in some nearby buildings.

"Three guesses what happened here," Sharpe hissed sarcastically.

Luna looked at him. "An earthquake?" she asked hopefully.

Sharpe looked at her like she was stupid.

She smiled weakly. "A large earthquake...?" she tried again.

Sharpe hissed slightly as his tongue flicked out towards her.

She sighed heavily. "Orion?" she asked in defeat.

Sharpe flashed her a horribly toothy grin and patted her on the head. "There's a smart pony," he congratulated her.

She scowled at him.

He only grinned wider as he started walking again, following Orion's scent.

Once his back was turned, Luna rubbed the spot where he had patted her and smiled warmly. She continued following Sharpe through the silent, snowy streets of Canterlot.

They walked down the street and, after a short time, reached a small ice cream shop. There were three large, empty containers as well as a smaller container that was also empty.

Sharpe sniffed the air. "Cookies & Cream..." he mused.

Celestia looked at him. "Is that relevant?" she asked questioningly.

He deadpanned at her. "We're looking for Orion and we find a bunch of empty ice cream containers. One of which is is favorite. What do you think?" he asked harshly.

Celestia blushed slightly. "Oh."

As they continued, Luna walked past her, giggling quietly. They followed the boot prints in the snow for a few minutes longer until they heard a worrying sound: crying.

They hurried around the corner and... Well, they weren't quite sure what they were looking at.

Orion was clinging tightly on to two small fillies while all three of them cried on each other. Orion was sitting in the snow while the two of them where set on his chest. He was sobbing quite loudly as he rocked them back-and-forth slowly in his arms like a parent would a scared child.

"Well..." Roland said. "This is new..."

Celestia looked at him worriedly. "Has this ever happened before?" she asked in worry.

Roland shook his head at her. "Not like this. Usually it's a few tears here and there, but never outright sobbing," he told her.

She looked back to Orion. "Well, what do you usually do to help him?" she asked.

Roland coughed. "Well... we usually ignore him until he's done, actually. It's never lasted longer than a minute or two..." he confessed.

Celestia looked back at him with a disappointed expression and shook her head at him. "I can't believe you two," she scolded while she walked towards the weeping Orion.

Sharpe rolled his reptilian eyes and hissed at her, flicking his tongue out in annoyance.

Roland hung his head slightly and shuffled his feet in the snow.

Wow, she really knew how to make them feel horrible about themselves.

***

Orion had calmed down somewhat in his sobbing. He still held on tightly to the fillies, like he thought that if he faltered they would disappear away from him. He rocked them back-and-forth slowly, humming a soft tune into their ears as he did so.

He finished the last note and took in a shaky breath.

"That was beautiful," said a voice from in front of him.

He didn't look up. He knew who it was.

"May I sit?" Celestia asked quietly.

He didn't respond.

There was a soft thump and a ruffling of feathers as Celestia sat next to him. Close enough to feel his body heat, but not close enough to touch him.

The two fillies looked over at her with wide eyes.

"What are your names, young ones?" Celestia asked gently.

"I- I'm Icy," Icy told her as she gripped Orion tighter. He didn't mind.

"I'm Clover," Clover said, also gripping onto Orion tighter. And again, he didn't mind in the slightest.

"Hello. As you probably know, I am Celestia. I can see you've met my friend, Orion," she said.

The both nodded at her.

Orion felt a cold spike of hatred enter his heart and it only grew the longer she sat there.

"Orion, may I speak to you?" she asked.

He only continued to rock his two little girls.

Celestia spoke carefully. "I know you have your problems. More than your fair share, really. But they don't belong to you; they are somepony else's children. You can't hold on to them the entire night," she informed him quietly.

New tears leaked from his eyes as he sat there.

Celestia saw this and didn't know what to say. She was truly at a loss. Sure he could like children, who didn't? They were cute. They were nice. But they weren't his. Surely he understood what it might feel like if your children didn't come home... A thought struck Celestia. A certain word used back when they were talking... As she came to the realization, she could feel her heart seize up and tears of her own threatened to fall. "You said 'all'. But there were only two of them. Why would you say 'all' if there weren't more than two lives lost?"

Orion shut his eyes tightly at her words.

Celestia's mouth opened in shock. "Were they... with child...?" she asked. She hoped against hope that she was wrong.

Orion's face contorted into the very image of pain and sorrow and he held his little girls tighter, sobbing loudly into the evening air.

She quickly wrapped her wings around him tightly and puled him into a comforting hug with her forehooves, hugging him around his back with her hooves draping over his shoulders. She rubbed and patted his back, shedding a few hot tears of her own as he let out a haunting wail, causing anybody nearby who didn't know what was going on to shudder from the pain the sound carried with it.

Celestia put her head next to his and made soothing noises for him. She knew from firsthand experience just how much this can hurt someone. She had over a thousand years to deal with it, and it still caused her pain. But everything else piled on top of this? All of this had happened to him in in less than five years of his short lifetime. She was honestly amazed that he hasn't gone completely mad yet.