I walked through the cold streets of Transylmania with a few foals in a strange backpack, headed towards House Av Crag. I could feel two ponies watching over me, one sticking to alleyways and another looming high above. A pair of bright red heads, two unbelievably loyal guards, two of my new family members vowed to protect me. A mare and a stallion that refused to leave my side.

But in a bout of paranoia and an abundance of weapons from Foxglove's near war I'd found a pistol and a holster. The beautiful black weapon was smooth, a clean lethal weapon, but nothing I was going to snap out and take over the town with, granted no one would stop me unless I started threatening people, and even then I'd get mauled. "Daddy...you look sad." One of the foals in my back cooed, laying across my shoulder.

I huffed and reached my hand back to pet the foal across her bright orange mane. "I'm fine honey, just...gotta talk to someone." I continued to toy with the filly's head, the foals still rather sleepy. The sun was still hanging low, not yet giving way to the night we thrived in. "Go on get some sleep, I'll wake you up when we get there."

The foal purred softly, eventually settling back in my pack and causing the others to stir slightly. I made sure to walk as carefully as possible, the six foals stuffed into my pack were nestled safe and sound but snapping awake in the middle of the street would be a jolt for anyone.

The walk was mostly quiet, the sound of hooves filling the air and my subjects muttering about me. My return had been met with a tepid response, my ideas not exactly sinking in quite yet. But soon enough I'd be hosting the first parliament and see how things worked out. But, even if things fell apart House Light was back and trading massive amounts of crafts and supplies, pumping money into the economy. House Dusk was effectively still a whore house, but they had been taking to guiding tourists around and running smaller shops. House Av Iron was running the new guard and running metal works. House Av Crag were scouting out areas to expand, nearby mountains that could be either carved into, settled on and hunting for places to grow food or get back to Transylmania's herding roots.

House Bian was still learning, teaching, running the schools established and enforcing literary standards. And my house, my new family, they did what they were called to do. They kept the keep, they formed the guard, they mixed potions and made medicines, they were alchemists and servants. They were loyal, as were those I'd proved myself to before my short death. I had the nobles, but the common folk would take time.

But right now I had to sort myself out. I had to ask a man I'd admired even in my chemical haze. A dour soul that might be the single best person to ask about this. I had to contemplate destroying the thing that brought me here to begin with, I had to question my marriage, my reasoning, who and what I was and what I wanted to do with my life. And a one eye'd bat pony was the one I knew I could confide in.

I stopped as I reached the limits of the freshly reconstructed urban center of Transylmania. The vast valley below me stretched far into the bowl of the mountains, huge rolling plains of dank green spanned the gap, with a small forest of pine on the far end, all with the train coming straight up to actual town and slicing the valley in half, rural and urban.

On cue a grey and red pony slammed down next to me, "Sera...you need something?"

I turned down to my guard with a soft sigh. "Can you go on ahead, tell Pyrrhic I'm on my way?"

My guard bowed quickly and flew off. A second drifting over and walking along side me as I made my way towards a far off compound, House Av Crag was a large main hall surrounded by a large number of sparse smaller homes and a large flat area used as common ground. "Sir, might I ask why you are visiting them?"

I shook my head, feeling the mass of foals shift in my pack. "Just visiting." My boots crunched softly on the few bits of snow that had drifted onto the farmland. "While I'm there, you think you can watch the foals? Give them some time to look around?"

The guard coughed roughly. "I'm not--"

"Too bad you have to do what I say...." I stopped half way there, setting my bag down and pulling a foal from the backpack, Castor, the beautiful white filly sat sleepily in a tight ball, her bright blonde mane silky smooth. "Here, Castor, she's six now."

My guard sputtered and hissed as I forced Castor against his chest, making sure he had a good grip before letting go. "Sir...this is- I'm not good with children!" He cried, hobbling after me with Castor clutched to his chest. "You have a place for her, don't make me--"

I made sure the rest of the foals were safe and ducked down to the guard. "Here, she'll sit on your back...." I placed Castor onto my guard's back and carefully wrapped the filly's hooves around the guard's neck. "There, now come on." I started off towards the oak and stone L that was House Av Crag. I pressed on through the grassy plains, the guard grumbling angrily behind me.

"Sir...how did you end up with all these children? I- you're not even a pony so...these are all adopted, did you live in a mansion?!" my guard yelped, walking up along side me.

I shook my head, "No, just...circumstance. I tried to do something good, take care of a foal, my son, and ended up surrogate to all of these."

The guard grimaced, his face tight and truly agitated. "Then why not leave them? They are orphans, let them remains as such and let you live calmly!"

I grew a hardy frown. "No...no. These kids, House Wesk, that's the joke people are making? These kids are mine, I cared for them all, it was my life, it's still my life. I mean, I'm only Count to give them a place to look forward to, to give them a place to live free and happy. If I can't make this town a good place for them...well then I failed."

My guard let out a soft growl. "Well- I.... I've lived here my entire life...it seems like things are finally getting solved, if only due to money."

I shrugged, stepping past the property lines of House Av Crag. "Money solves things. I mean...if I can- If I can convince Celestia to donate some funds I might see about expanding Transylmaina, turning from a count to a duke...expanding, building... there are places we could tunnel to, new towns we could found...."

The guard stopped in the middle of the common area in front of the main hall. "Wait...the other peaks? You're actually going to found other towns?"

I shrugged. "It's a county...one town is kinda crappy for a county. I think we could do it, we could make more of these little counties, make a dukedom, I mean...things I've- uh...." I stopped myself before I spilled what I knew about the genocide. "Don't get me wrong...one town is okay, but a whole state in Equestria, like the crystal empire, would be better."

The guard sighed, gently laying down and setting Castor on the ground. "Well no one thought you would make it past the first month...so, fulfilled ambitions and all that." I ducked down and carefully put the foals down around the guard. "Wait, what are you doing!?"

I buried the guard under all but one foal, Wayne found his usual place in my arms as the guard struggled to move under the five foals searching for warmth and snuggling against his side. "Aw, that's cute."

The guard grew more and more flustered, his coat now host to a small huddle of sleepy foals. "Sir, why!?"

I started chuckling, turning to the actual building. "Because you need to chill out, and stop calling me sir!" I started off towards the main hall, spotting my other guard gliding to the foal laden stallion. But beyond that stood two souls, a woman with a bright red streak in her otherwise brown hair, and Pyrrhic. "Oh no way...." I hurried up to the pair, smiling wide as Pyrrhic stepped forward. "Pyrrhic, what's going on?"

Pyrrhic maintained his usual dour frown. "Please, Jamie doesn't speak Thestrali." He turned his head towards the human girl. "...Oh...and this is Jamie."

The girl bowed softly. "Afternoon," she spoke in an extremely even tone, no real accent, just clean English. I felt completely overwhelmed by the sudden bout of easy understanding.

"Uh... Ben Wesk, I don't know if you know me." I stuck my hand out, giving her a single limp shake.

The woman nodded, "I'm aware, now...sorry to say I gotta go take care of something." She slowly wandered back towards the house, leaving me and Pyrrhic standing with the sound of waking foals and my guards getting mauled.

I turned to the one eye'd stallion. "Are you two--"

Pyrrhic nodded, "Yes...and...don't teach her Thestrali. I like being able to talk without her realizing what I'm saying." He turned to me, looking up at my arms, "Is that your son?"

I scratched my collarbone, bouncing the colt in my arms. "One of them...the one I wanted to raise in the first place. Anyways I- man. Are you two married?"

Pyrrhic lowered his head, letting out a grumbly growl. "She's pregnant...with a girl."

I jolted upright. "Oh.... Uh...congratulations?"

He took a deep breath, letting it out as a hiss. "The second chance I never wanted. But, I suppose is good to move on, try again...be more...understanding, kind even."

"Hmph- that's good man." I grunted, nodding gently. "She seems nice."

Pyrrhic groaned loudly, leading me towards the front door of the huge stone house. "She is...but she keeps hugging everything. But I imagine you came for a reason, perhaps we can skip the formalities."

I followed the grey stallion into a large square entry, stairs and doors leading each and every possible way. "But formalities are so fun. So how'd you meet her?"

Pyrrhic mumbled softly and hurried down a set of stairs and into a giant room with a huge pit in the middle. "A range.... You call, a shooting range." He stepped into the huge room and walked over towards the railing that surrounded the pit. "I'd really rather not--"

I joined him, looking into the pit and looking over the arena sunken into the basement of House Av Crag. "Indulge me!" I chirped, trying not to let on the rather sorrowful topic I had come to talk about. "I mean...you met her in Canterlot right?"

Pyrrhic fell to his haunches. "You sent quite a few of us to Canterlot. Told us...learn, collect, come back stronger than ever. Then you died...your wife saw your plan through. I spent two months, learned about your guns, your bullets, I still prefer the crossbow but I did as you asked, tended the armory. And then there was those we bright back with us...." He rolled his head to me, looking rather tired, "I don't have the exact numbers...but...estimates. I brought a human...Feros brought a human- brought several...but brought a single as a mate."

"Oh...the blue mare? I'm glad...I remember liking her." I scratched my head, joining Pyrrhic on the flood and letting Wayne wander around in his half awake state, making sure he wouldn't wander too far and fall or hit something. "I saw a few humans...how many ended up coming back?"

Pyrrhic scratched his head with his hoof, "House Light would have the census...or the greens. I mean...one-hundred humans.... Perhaps seventy earth bound ponies, thirty feathered ones and...quite a few horned ones...two hundred?"

I felt my eyes pop. "Oh, damn. How many ponies are there in this place?"

"Three thousand? As I said, I do not take the census." He scratched at the side of his head. "Count...I have an odd request--"

"I got it." I could tell he was having an issue with his eyepatch. I slid my fingers between the leather straps and readjusted it. "Good?"

Pyrrhic turned to me with an exasperated gaze. "I was going to ask you to keep this quick...as shameful as it may sound I was going to spend the morning with my wife." He looked around nervously, making sure no others were around. "Our family is about to double...and soon enough the strength of my loins is going to be annihilated."

I sputtered a little, Wayne letting out a loud yawn and stretching his legs as I tried not to laugh. "Uh, you know you can just tell me you were going to have sex. ...So your family's growing?"

Pyrrhic rubbed his face, trying to clear his blush. "Canterlot Thestrals...ponies, humans...and my niece found a griffon.... So, we're about to go from thirty to about sixty in a short time, as will the other houses I fear.... Like a biological arms race. Sadly I think the whore house will win this."

I stared at him, grabbing Wayne before he could fall in the pit. I plopped him down in my lap, making sure he wouldn't hurt himself. "It's not an arms race. We're all working towards the same thing now. Did I tell you about the--"

"The plan to expand to the other mountains? It's ambitious...and I fear I will not live to see it, so until I can be sure it is a race."

I shrugged, toying with my son's ears. "Uh...speaking of families. I- I just need to ask you something."

Pyrrhic cocked his head. "Is it about my eye? Because it's still there...it's just dead."

"No! What? Why would I ask about your eye?" I looked down at Wayne. "I mean I assumed you wouldn't want to talk about it."

Pyrrhic shrugged. "It's a bit noticeable. I lost it in a fight with a drake...."

"You can't just- you can't say that so nonchalantly! That's like-- Anyways! I was- I.... Should I stay?" I asked, leaning my head forward and pressing my forehead against the railing. "I mean...should I stay in Transylmania?"

Pyrrhic looked me up and down, eventually setting his eyes on Wayne. "...That is not the question you wanted to ask...is it?"

I deflated, unable to conjure up a proper defense. "...I've been back two weeks...and I just- I don't know what I saw in her. Foxglove, she's so.... She's always been a good person, really kind to the foals, but I don't think I can stay with her.... I just...I don't know why I said yes. She dropped down on me, basically raped me, Stockholmed me, and.... I see her smile when I'm around, she's beautiful...but I just don't see what my drugged up self saw. Kindness I guess, but it's all locked up in that- that mare...and after what she lead me down, I just don't know."

Pyrrhic let out a sharp huff. "I knew her a long time ago, back when her father was alive. She was sweet, but her father was mad, ambitious, but he lacked the forethought to make his dreams a reality. And for all the hardship that came with living here, all the violence and poverty, living in Canterlot comes with its own traumas. Luna treats us as her subjects, not as independent people, the commoners fear us, and to force someone so sweet, so innocent such as that mare was...things will change. But she loves you, she weeped for you over the three months you've been gone. You where with her over her first time home in twenty years and you have brought her to be your mate."

"I know!" I snapped, carefully standing up. "But I just.... It's hard to love her, it's hard to pretend it's okay--"

Pyrrhic jumped upright, standing on two hooves to match my height. "Benjamin, find a reason. Look into the mare that you helped find peace, the mare you lead to clean life amongst the people she was meant to be with, look past the events of the past and you will find a reason." He took a deep breath. "What do you see when you look at me?" He asked, falling back down to four legs. "I have killed so many, I have killed a son with neglect, I have shot many ponies, I have assassinated, murdered, raped.... My youth was wasted as a thug in Canterlot, and when I came home, when I heard I was to lead...I had no idea what to do." He turned around, swinging his head back with his eye patch lifted, a horrid bite scar across the left side of his face. "This was the point where I chose to change, you...you've had yours as well."

I licked my lips, "Renaissance, I suppose--"

Pyrrhic let out a rough cough, turning his head and speaking perfect french. "Prance was beautiful...I killed a noble in a hotel." he snapped back to me with an extremely grim stare. "She begged me to stop when I touched her.... If you can see past what I've done, look at me as a friend instead of a monster, you can look to your wife with a kind eye."

I stared at him, sputtering and utterly devoid of wit or intelligence to talk back. "I mean- fuck. You have an amazing way of making me feel like shit and making me feel like kicking ass."

Pyrrhic flipped his patch down. "It's a skill...now can I please go sex my wife?"

I stared in awe of his amazing switch from stern to pleading. "Uh...."

"She's quite attractive and I was hoping to...indulge base perversions of the feminine and the masculine...equine and hominid."

"You gonna fuck her up the ass?"

"Ass, mouth, hips, I'll probably do just about everything to her, lick her body. She's...quite attractive."

I tilted my head slightly. "Tits are nice, huh?"

"Truly."