A few more years had passed since four of the six kings were killed. King Falchion and King Thuun, who began to call themselves the Big Two, ruled over the kingdom with iron hooves. The power of the keys were used by the kings to fight the Draconequus in multiple places. While we still couldn't invade their territory, we did destroy them at the border.

Of course, several factions still loyal to the slain kings rose up in rebellion, claiming that the direction the kingdom was heading in was not what the former kings wanted. Suffice to say, these rebellions were squashed quickly and quietly. And I was the one who had to do it. None of the other guards knew about it, but I was sent to go on private "missions" in order to keep order...any my life.

The kings had me right where they wanted me. If I were to speak out, I would quickly fall prey to the supporters of the Big Two, even though I was captain of the Royal Guard. They...they made me kill other Sleipnir in cold blood. Silence the rebels. Kill innocent mares and fillies in order to "maintain order". Not once did I enjoy it, and I would always cry after the deed was done. It was against what I wanted when I desired to join the guard. Killing our enemies was necessary, but killing mares and fillies is not.

Multiple times, the Big Two attempted to invade surrounding lands, beginning with the Griffon Empire to the far east of us. They didn't even see it coming as the stones activated to create a meteor shower, taking out a good portion of their civilization. Even though we could have won, the kings decided to back away as the land was not suitable for Sleipnir. They just killed as many as they could and left...The remaining griffons have been hostile to us ever since. If they are still around when you are reading this, you'll probably understand why they don't like our kind. As creations of the Sleipnir, I'm sure they will be hostile towards you too.

The biggest and most terrifying thing, though, was the pony creation experiments that King Falchion continued. The first "finished" pony, made with the power of all six stones, was a weird one. It had a horn like the previous one, but it had a pair of wings as well. I could feel the magic flowing in the creature; it was much more than the previous one. King Falchion then gobbled it up, growing satisfied from the magic rush that it would give him.

When Falchion made the announcement that these ponies existed, there was such a big reaction. Falchion trademarked them as a source of labor, as well as food and magic. Everypony who wanted one would have one for a price...these Sleipnir were starving and suffering, but the king still tried to make a profit by "helping" them out.

For a while, he would mass-produce ponies in this way. Thousands and thousands would be created, to be given to the public as livestock or free labor. During the creation, things might happen that cause some of the ponies to not grow wings, or horns, or neither. Only the ponies with horns contained magical power, with the "rejects" either thrown away by King Falchion, or given to the public to do as they please. A majority of the Sleipnir simply used them as slaves or pets. It was very hard at first for the Sleipnir to eat the horned ponies, but many grew used to it. It would be just like eating sheep, or cows, or pigs. Sleipnir did eat meat, but not as much as they did after ponies were created.

The royal guards were given ponies to consume as well, whenever we would request them (As gruesome as all of this was, King Falchion never actually forced anypony to eat the ponies. The Sleipnir were just too attracted to the magic to resist the temptation. Besides, he was much more interested in gaining magical power for himself). When Rana heard about these ponies, she immediately began to care for them as precious little fillies, as if they were one of us. She was appalled at the thought of eating them, instead playing games or talking to them. As a "present" for everything I've done, King Falchion even gave me a little filly.

"Here is your treat." He said.

This filly was one of those winged and horned ponies. It was a half-purple, half-white pony, with a light blue and pale yellow mane. There was a marking on its flank that had both the sun and moon on it. King Falchion later told me that these markings worked similarly to the Sleipnir's powers, although only ponies with horns had magic.

"I won't eat it."

"Then give it to somepony else. Keep it as a pet. Tear its little legs off to see what happens. I don't really care what happens to it now; I can just make more." He said coldly. I left the throne room with the filly, who looked around at everything with big-eyes.

I returned to my room and gently placed the pony on the table. She stared at me, tilting her head. I could smell the magic emanating from her, causing the power within me to surge. This smell gave me a familiar feeling - since I was close enough to one to figure it out, I finally realized it: this was the same feeling I felt when I did battle. The adrenaline rush, the craving for fighting, was the same as the craving I have for the pony's magic. If I devoured this pony here and now, I would gain a large rush of magic, causing my creation and strength powers to increase tremendously. I figured that if I did it, I could gain enough power to overthrow the king. I did have a key in my possession, after all.

That was when I decided: I was going to eat the pony. She stumbled around on the table, laughing and making noises that I thought were similar to the noise other animals make. I placed a hoof on her back, pushing her down onto the table like a knife being dug into a cake...or a piece of meat. She let out a gasp as she dropped and looked up at me. Tears came from her eyes as she stared right at me. I had her pinned forcibly in between my hoof and the table. I knew I was hurting her, and she knew it too.

Seeing the look in her eyes, something came over me. Immediately, I released my grip and saw her relax a little. Soon after, she jumped off of the table, trying to fly away.

"Wait, don't go!"

Her wings fluttered, but she couldn't maintain flight. She fell to the floor with a cry before retreating to a far corner of the room. There, she huddled and whimpered.

I slowly crept up to the pony, who cried and whimpered even more as I got closer. I will tell you now: I have never eaten a pony in my life, and I hopefully never will. However, I did come very close with this one. "I won't hurt you anymore." I said softly to her. She didn't understand me, instead trying to wipe her tears away. I heard her stomach rumble. I turned to find some food to give her, and found an apple. I held the fruit out for the pony and said nothing.

She looked up at me, cautiously taking the apple in her mouth. She chewed a bit and swallowed as a smile grew on her face.

"I think I'll name you...Nova." At hearing that, her ears pricked up. The terror in her didn't go away, but she did relax a little more. I couldn't help but notice how regal this one looked. The colors on her matched the colors of day and night. "And you look like royalty...like a princess. That's it! Princess Nova."

"Nova! Princess Nova!" She giggled, repeating her name over and over again. At least she understood me that time...wait, she understood me? Afterwards, she began making more noise, except now I realized that it must have been some kind of language. I was amazed; I didn't know these ponies were capable of speech, even though it's not a language I know. It made me wonder how much power went into creating these things. King Falchion had said that in order to maximize the magical power, he had to make it as sophisticated as possible.

I began to speak to her in my own language, trying to point at objects and say their names. I wanted to try something out and see how she would respond.

She began talking in her language again, saying what I assumed to be the name of those objects in her own language. I spoke again.

"Apple. This is an apple." I said as I held out what remained of the apple.

"A..po. Appo?"

"Close enough." I began to laugh. She laughed as well.

These were intelligent beings that King Falchion made. And he wanted to eat them. To eat sophisticated beings, capable of speech, capable of laughing and crying.

Whenever I would bring that up to him, he would always say that since he created them, they can never achieve the level of sophistication that Sleipnir have. And somehow, that justified killing and eating them.

That's when I knew I had to save them. Save them from being simple pets or an afternoon meal. King Falchion had to be stopped. As long as Sleipnir walked the Earth, there would never be true peace. Not anymore. These ponies were brought into the world. They deserve to live in it as well. That won't be possible if the Sleipnir continue to seek more and more power. The Sleipnir had to be stopped. The Big Two had to be stopped.

I was the only one who could stop them. This is what the High King would have wanted.

Somepony knocked on my door, causing Nova to jump. "It's me!" Rana's voice called out. I went to open the door.

She trotted right in, holding another pony. It was a colt, with only a pair of wings. "Oh, you got one too!" Rana said as she looked at Nova. Noticing the horn, she looked at me again. "You don't plan to..."

"Never." I interjected. "Rana, we need to talk." I closed the door and sat down.

"What's the matter?"

"Are you satisfied with how things are now? How the world is? What they are doing to these ponies?"

"Why do you ask? King Falchion is just trying to make life easier for us, especially after-"

"Rana, Falchion was the one who killed the kings."

"What? That's crazy King Rowan was-"

"You know I was there with them." I stood up. Rana's flying pony was talking to Nova in their own language. I went over to the window. "They blackmailed me into doing what they want. You remember the rebels that were sprouting up ever since that day?"

"Yeah. Their campaigns didn't work out in the end, right?"

"No...I was forced...to deal with them."

Rana gasped. "You...killed them?"

"I didn't want to!" I quickly turned around. "If I disobey them, I die. If I die, this world will surely end. It's my fault that everything is what it is now: the experiments, the ponies, the increased seek for power...You've noticed it too, right?"

I explained to Rana how the Sleipnir in general have began to lust for more power. The ones who have eaten the ponies, the ones who gained that magical rush, now crave it. The Kings have been able to do whatever they want thanks to the power of the keys. If things continued the way they are, our kingdom would fall apart and the world would lose all of its balance.

"Then, what do we do?" Rana said quietly. I looked at the ponies.

"We have to defeat the Big Two. We need to defeat the power-crazed Sleipnir. We need to free these ponies who are being used as pets - no, slaves. They are living beings, just like we are. They were made, and now they live in the same world we do. But, the Sleipnir crave that magical power. I can feel it now, as much as I am trying to hold myself back."

"Well, can't we just get rid of the ponies and return to normal?"

"King Falchion would never allow that. They all want that magical power, something only ponies can provide. It's too late now. Either things continue as they are, or we do something about it."

"And that would be?" Nova looked up at the both of us, giving us a big smile. That was the final straw.

"We need to get rid of the Big Two."

"That's impossible! They are much too strong!" Rana said.

I looked down at the two ponies. These two beings were created by the keys. Nothing is impossible.

"We have something that can help. The Keys to Order. We can use them to create a place to seal the Big Two away. To kill them if we need to. We can restore balance slowly if they are gone."

"Roddel, that sounds a little...extreme. How can you even use their power, anyway?"

"Something else I haven't told you...I control the High King's key."

Silence.

"What else have you not told me?" Rana said in a serious tone.

"What?"

"We are friends, Roddel! We told each other everything, no mater how awful it was! You...you killed innocent Sleipnir, you control part of the power that is killing the Draconequus...I know we haven't talked much since you became Captain, but..."

"Rana." I placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner. We could have found a way to avoid this."

"...So, we take the other stones and seal the kings away. Then what? Many Sleipnir are still attracted to the pony magic."

"Worst case would be...seal all of the Sleipnir away. Look at the ponies." The two of them were laughing and smiling. Nova flapped her wings as Rana's colt laughed.

"There seems to be no malice in them. They have a chance to make their own world - a peaceful one. It may be too late for us."

"You would die to give them a chance to live?"

"Yes."

"You've changed, Roddel."

I looked at her. "How so?"

"You would never have said this before...you would have been all for keeping the Sleipnir alive and proud."

"Sealing us all away doesn't mean we would die...for all we know, we could be placed in a new world."

"How do we know this won't happen again?"

The ponies were looking up at us, trying to figure out what we were saying. Even if we went to a new world, what would stop Falchion from simply making more? The ultimate goal might be to kill him, after all...

"It won't."