We slept well and soundly that night. After our little heart-to-heart, Jacqueline was now comfortable enough with me that she agreed to share the bed. Didn't stop her from making a cute little barrier down the middle made entirely of pillows to separate our halves. No sooner did we lay down that the previous days' events came back to bite us full force in our sweet asses and we went out almost immediately.

I was the first to wake, well after midday. Consciousness returned slowly, my body still very much groggy even after a full night's sleep. The feathery comforter had more than done its job and despite the snowy weather outside, my body remained enveloped in a lovely cocoon of warmth.

As the haze of sleep gradually lifted from me, I became aware of a very telling sensation that ran through my midsection. I opened my eyes to the sight of two slender arms wrapped around me and a mop of messy black hair.

"Jackie?" I muttered and lightly shook her frame. Girl slept like a rock. Sometime during the night her little pillow barrier had been scattered in all directions and where she set out with the intention of putting some distance between us, now her body was pressed snugly against mine, each of us separated only through a light layer of clothing and our legs had somehow become tangled that were it not for our very contrasting skin tones, I wouldn't be able to tell us apart.

Eh, what the hell. I contented myself by laying back down and simply enjoying the moment. Faint flickers of light trailed from the thick curtains, scattering throughout the large chamber and the contrast of the slightly chilled air and the luxurious warmth beneath the sheets proved mighty tempting to close my eyes and drift off again.

Still, as nice as that would be, first things first. I called upon my mana reserves, pleased to confirm they were almost completely recharged. I now had more than enough juice to 'port us back and forth dozens of times before I started to feel some strain on my reserves.

And yet, I couldn't help but wonder what the next step for us would be. Jackie seemed interested enough in visiting my pad and yes, I kinda just assumed we'd go there, chill for a bit, have a jolly old time and all, but what then? Girl didn't seem to miss or like her old universe very much so... would she stay with me? I... kinda liked the idea. Had to admit I've grown somewhat fond of her. Okay, maybe more than a little but I couldn't help but wonder if I would end up kinda pressuring her to stay with me. Ugh, we'd have to get this sorted out at some point or another.

Well, there's time still. The minutes ticked on and Jacqueline eased her hold on me a little. The spot where our bodies met was still fiery warm. Felt a chill once she pulled away. I made to get up and take a nice long shower and was just wondering if I should wake Jackie up to join me when she started muttering in her sleep, her lips making soft, lazy trails as she muttered a number of unintelligible babble. Aww, she was kinda cu...

"Death to the proletariat..." Aaand she ruined the moment. Yeah, just great, Jackie.

Leaving the little anarchist lie, I slipped into the bathroom for my morning shower. Lots of muscle-soothing, hot water could also help me coming to a decision in my little dilemma regarding Jackie´s stay here.

Heh, I could really see this scene playing out, with me holding tight to Jackie, standing in front of Gnarl and asking him 'She followed me home, can I keep her? Huh? Huh? Can I?'.

Then again, if anything she had told me about her Verse was not extremely excessive, squirt would not take kindly to my special brand of humor.

With a sigh, I undressed and slipped into the shower.

[...]

After I finished my little water orgy (not my water and we paid grand so Wayne), I wrapped myself into a lot of pony sized towels and went back to see if little J was already up and running.

To my delight, Jackie was back into her unintentional cute mode as she seemed to just had set up on the bed, her bedhead looking like she had just jammed a fork into a plug socket, stretching while simultaneously jawing wide. Hell, she even had her tongue poking just the tinniest bit out of her open mouth, making her almost look like a kitten.

A violence prone, slightly nihilistic-anarchistic kitten full to the brim with pony hate and really freaky chaos juju.

Still made me smile like a nerd on a steam games for free day.

"Morning sleepy head." I said cheerfully, leaning against the doors frame.

Jackie grunted, a mouth instantly morphing into a slight frown which seemed to be her default as she extracted herself from the bed. "Morning..." Her eyes where partially hidden behind her mob but I still saw them roaming ever so slightly over my person, followed by averting them and a slight blush.

Geez girl, how did you ever got through the communal showers after sport classes without dying from your head exploding? Maybe they had single person cabins in Amiland?

"Up and at 'em, kiddo. It's a bright new day and we have some things to check out of our list. So get showered, scrub up and maybe I'll fix us up some breaky. My French Toasts are to die for or so I have been told."

She stretched again and the very audible cracking of joints cut the sleepy air like a knife. A very gross knife.

"How are you? Magic wise?"

"Near full to the brim, girl. Now come on, get cleaned up and whatever it is you do on mornings. After that we're gonna swing by my tower."

The prospect seemed to perk her up and despite some groggy, zombie-like shambling on her part, she made her way to the bathroom while I set about cooking us up something to eat. I was no master chef by any means, but living alone you learn quickly to adapt or live out of insta meals for the rest of your life. And breaky wasn't a complicated affair anyway. Eggs, milk, honey, sugar... hell I even spied some sausages way at the back of the fridge, obviously for griffons and the like. Hot dog!

A short time later and Jackie stepped out, fresh and scrubbed while I'd just finished putting the finishing touches on our meal. Scrambled eggs, sausage and yummilicious French Toast, powdered with fine sugar, a nice little bowl of whipped cream provided by the awesome housekeeping ponies (gotta make sure to leave them a big tip), OJ and milk to complete the spread and when she laid eyes on the spread, her stomach was quick to voice its protests as to why the food was still there and not traveling down her gullet.

So we feasted with minimal talking. I too had been particularly hungry and so we set about to more or less stuffing our faces. Man, what would Mom or someone like Rarity have said if they saw us... hell, we even made a bit of a contest of it, seeing who could shove more food in their mouths. I won, obviously, for... reasons that should become apparent.

When that was done and the plates cleared away, it was time to address the issue of my new pal's hairdo. Surprise, surprise, she all but admitted to basically running her fingers through her mop each morning as part of a 'combing', without even bothering to look in a mirror. So after some cajoling and a little bit of bribing, I managed to sit her in front of a vanity and, with a trusty brush in hand, set about to correcting the rat's nest nestled atop her head. Hell, even I'm a bit of a tomboy and never paid as much attention to my hair as most other women, but this was ridiculous. First brush practically tore as I fruitlessly tried to untangle her knots but after several minutes of continuous strokes, her wild hair slightly tamed so that it could be called, messily organized, if such a thing existed.

"Holy stoned Jesus rocking at Woodstock girl! I have brushed honest to goddess horses whose manes and tails where practically silky smooth compared to the thing on your head." Another brush stroke, another tangle and I felt my argument cemented. "Seriously, Jackie, just a few strokes with a proper brush each morning and this would never had come to be."

"Well, sorry Mom that not everyone had the obvious luxury that others seemed to be gifted with after getting dumbed into this sucrose nightmare." Little miss grumpypants shot back between wincing and squirming on her chair.

"Ah ah ah, none of that sass now!" If she went as far as calling me 'Mom', then I could full well answer in kind. "This is all on your head, literally." Another set of quite brusque strokes and I set the brush down on the vanity. "See, there we go," I told the squirt in a warm tone as she glared into the mirror in a way that could probably sent a hungry Cockatrice running.

Brushing my fingers through her hair, a malicious smile graced my lips. "Now, what can we do with this? Braids maybe?" I held a length of now visibly less wild hair out, giving it a first few turns before letting it go. "Or maybe we can do something with the bangs? You have such nice eyes Jackie, that is when you not try to ignite people with your glare."

Then my eyes fell onto the small but obviously high quality assortment of make-up stuffs sitting on the vanity. Now, I never used more than some eyeliner, blush or even the odd bit of lipstick back in my day but I still had my fair share of experience with my female friends.

Taking a hold of a small golden tube containing some sort of lipstick (Appelosa Sunrise if the label was something to go by) and screwed it out a bit. "Hmm, nice color. Maybe a decent amount of blush and something of this... hm, I wonder if there is some eye liner or eyeshadow?" I idly commented while I leaned over Jackie´s shoulder. "Why dear, I think you would positively ravishing. Sure to turn the head of every male and female on the streets."

Oh I would have paid a million cash for just one peek in little Jaqueline's noggin then and there. Her eyes went wide and her mouth froze in that disbelieving expression as I brought the lipstick playfully towards her lips as first, all the color drained from her face only for Jackie to explode bright red.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?"

"Why nothing, my dear, Jackie. Just gonna see if we can make you more pretty, slash, cuddleable than you already are." I brought the lipstick close until a hand shot out to stop me.

"Yeah, no. Thanks but no thanks."

"C'mon, girl. It won't bite or anything. In fact, you may find you actually like it."

"If you like it so much, do it on yourself." Quick as a viper, her remaining arm stretched, a lipstick with a frilly, pink color in her grip, making its way to my precious mug. With a strangled noise, I barely managed to avoid it. Scratch that, I did not manage to avoid it and now a smear of pink stretched from my lip almost all the way to my ear in a twisted, half-assed Joker smile.

"Looks good on you. Brings out the color of your skin." Jackie said.

"Oh, for... come here, you." I lunged forward, intending to repay her for her little stunt but the damn brat was slippery as an eel. She bounded out of the way and no sooner did I ponder the wisdom of summoning forth an army of Minions to hold her down so I could proceed to inflict cosmetic vengeance upon her that her hand shot out and made a grasping motion. I felt the pulse of magic and braced for what would happen to me next.

The sound of something whistling through the air and my back was struck by a soft, fluffy something. "What the...?" A pillow, and that was not the only one. Dozens more sailed through the air, making a beeline for me. With an undignified squeal, I jumped and danced clumsily in a piss poor attempt to avoid getting hit with the fluffy projectiles. No such luck.
One after one, my body was riddled by the soft, cushiony blows as I staggered backwards, eventually tripping on a lone pillow and fell flat on my ass. But the brat was not yet done and mercilessly buried me under a pile of the things and when I flailed around, breaking my face free, I saw Jackie straddling me, a smug smile as she laid atop the pillows covering my body.

"Me one, you zero," she said, making a zero with her fingers.

"Challenge accepted!" I smiled my best shark smile and with the practiced ease that one only could achieve by being an older sibling for years, my hands shot up to grip Jackie at her hips before our bodies turned into a flurry of movement, ending with our positions reversed and me smiling down on a thoroughly bamboozled Jackie.

"You might have come to the realization that straddling me was a grave mistake my dear Jackie-Bear because now," I told her in a chit-chat tone "You are in tickle monster territory!"

Girl had no the time to bring out a 'Are you shiting me' before I dug my fingers into her sides and mercilessly began to extract my revenge. Jackie exploded in laughter, managing to sprinkle in protests and even the odd death treat while I left her gasping for air.

Even the few more or less half assed punches she threw at me did not bother me at all, if anything, this was the most normal I had seen Jackie until now.

"Do you yield?" I asked while attacking a tickle spot under Jackie´s ribs.

"FuahAHahaHA... fuAhahack yuhuu~!"

"Maybe later." I continued my torture, managing to get a hold of Jackie´s feet. Turned out she seemed to be partially ticklish on her soles.

"Say uncle!"

"Nehehehvar!" A pillow impacted with my head.

"Say it!"

Jackie shook and squirmed under my merciless attention but eventually, she relented and finally said the word which was not 'Bird'.

Fun though horseplaying (heh, heh... geddit?) with her was, we still had the rest of the day ahead of ourselves. When Jackie regained her breath and muttered some more of her oh-so-lovely pet names to me, we gathered our clothes, possessions, and double checked to make sure we didn't leave anything behind aside of a tip for the housekeepers on my insistence and when I was sure we had everything we needed, I called upon my Mana reserves to open a one way, non-permanent portal in the living room of our quarters.

"This one's safe, right?" Jackie asked, somewhat hesitant to step through. "I don't wanna end up crashing through a mountain again. Or end up in the middle of an ocean."

"It's safe as can be, girl," I reassured her. "What happened then was a freak accident or something because Multiverse travel and shit, but don't fear. Nothing but good ol' solid ground on the other side of this. You have my word."

She reached out with a hand, disappearing inside the portal and waved it around, as if testing for something. When she was satisfied, she took slow, steady steps and sure enough, her frame was swallowed by the portal. I followed suit and sure enough, we stood at the entrance of my tower.

Why the hell we came out here, went above my head since I aimed for my throne room but oh well.

"Welcome to my humble abode Jackie. Towah de Umbra" I waved my hand at the entrance of my tower that looked like the entrance to Barad Dur if Tolkien had used a Minion theme instead of these Gargoyle thingies. A massive drop gate made of black wrought iron was pulled up, accompanied by a fitting cacophony of massive chains, gears and hardworking Minions.

After the gate opened enough, I led my newest guest into my casá or better, into the entrance hall since the entrance gate was more or less set into directly into the mountain and the rest of the tower protruded from the solid rock after a few stories.

Inhaling deeply, I took comfort in the smell of Minions (not that bad once one got used to it), the smell of hot iron and roaring fires that wafted up from the smithy and the weird, slightly sweet odor that came from the bioluminescent fungi that grew in small groups or alone at the base of the pillars which held the ceiling.

A group of Guard Minions scampered towards us, displaying this unnerving strain of discipline that only they had. I swear, seeing a handful of Browns move and act with an actual semblance of military drill send more shivers down my spine than a full grown dragon could probably ever hope to.

I waved at them as they came to a full stop, halberds held ready just in case. "Hey guys, be at ease. This is Jaqueline or Jackie for shorts. She is a guest and a friend, so behave."

One of the Minions gibbered at me, slightly cocking his head.

"No Splatter, not even a bit. Besides, she would lay down the beating of your lifetimes on you. Girl´s stronger than she looks."

Another Minion, Scruffle, made himself known.

"I said no and that is final. Or do you want to end up in Lyra´s workforce for the next month?"

Just calling the mint-colored devil by her name was enough to made the Minion shut up. Kinda sad actually, that a technicolor Unicorn could inspire more dread in my own Minions than I, but well.

"How the blazes can you understand what they say?" Jackie inquired, slapping the weapon of one of my Minions away from her face with the flat of her hand, sending the little bugger spinning around as he held onto his polearm.

"Some part intuition, some more parts guessing and the rest is plain luck." I admitted, shrugging and lead Jackie to the stairs going up. The entrance hall was after all nothing grand, just a forest of pillars, glowing 'shrooms and the odd scampering Minion hunting a rat.

Putting an arm around her shoulders and a big grin on my mug, I said, "So, Jackie, let me give you a tour of my humble abode, yes?"

She offered her own little smile. "Let's."

First off we toured the ground floors, some living spaces with plushy couches and suits of armor, Minion banners, a few kobolds engaging in a strange game of pin the dagger on the sheepie and then the kitchens, where Wiener was busy at work cooking up a pot of foul smelling grey sludge for my munchkins' dinner. The odd bone and body parts of whole rats poked out of the ominously bubbling surface.

"Hey, Wiener. How's it hanging?" I said pleasantly while Jackie gagged over the smell.

The chef minion gibbered something excitedly, waving his arms around, the big spoon in his hand splattering the grey goop in all directions.

"Lyra? What about her?"

Some more Minionese later...

"What is it?" Asked Jackie.

"Apparently, Lyra has been raiding my private pantry and made off with my favorite quatro choco cookies. All the while I was away."

Inhaling deeply, I yelled in my enhanced Overlord voice. "Heartstrings, get your furry, klepto butt down here!" A few pots rattled satisfyingly in their racks.

Minty Horse arrived literally a few seconds later, bursting in through a door, eyes wide, slightly out of breath and her eyes bugged out when she caught sight of me.

"Mhssturr!" she said, her mouth still full, crumbs and chocolate smears scattered all over her muzzle. Swallowing hard, Lyra was the proverbial picture of the deer in the headlights. "I-I mean, Master. What brings you here?"

I ran a finger through her muzzle. "Well now, what do we have here?" I asked rhetorically, inspecting the chocolaty contents.

"O-oh, that," she said, failing miserably at sounding casual. "Well, you see Master, one of your Minions was trying to steal your favorite quatro choco cookies, so I said 'Hey, you leave those alone! Those cookies belong to Master!' and he was all like 'Master's not here' And I was like 'Give them back!' But he was all 'Nuh uh!' And then he ran and I chased after him and then I slipped and fell on the cookies, so..."

I held up a hand, stalling her pathetic babbles. "Lyra, this is Jackie. Jackie, this is Lyra, my most faithful," I said sarcastically. "Servant."

Lyra's eyes snapped to the girl beside me. "Another human? Who is she, Master?"

"Not another human. A human. Do I need to explain to you that I am a demon again? Also, Jackie is a fellow Displaced who will be staying here in my tower for a good while. But that's not important. What is important is me coming up with a suitable punishment for you. You do know stealing the Overlady's cookies is a crime punishable by, well, maybe not death, but being drawn and quartered at least. Which is death if I think about it, but you get what I mean."

Seeing Lyra´s ears fall flat and her tail vanish between her legs filled me with a good bit of satisfaction. Her big eyes began to water and I think out of the corner of my eye, I already saw Wiener go through his massive cookbook, opening a page for something called 'Unicorn Roast', complete with a rather comical picture of a roasted Unicorn with an apple in its mouth and several more on its horn.

After enjoying the moment a bit longer, I rubbed my chin as in thought as I looked down in the quivering Lyra. "Ah, but you know, since I am in one of my rare benevolent moods, I am willing to change your sentence to doing the dishes for Wiener today instead. With only your tongue as a cleaning implement."

"T-the dishes?" Lyra spluttered in disbelief. "But today is Rat-Bog stew day!"

"Tomorrow will be roasted pony day. Pick your poison."

A fierce internal battle raged on in Minty Horse's already unhinged little mind. Really, I couldn't tell you which option was worse, but after several seconds' frantic thinking, Lyra slumped and uttered a small, "I'll do the dishes." before Wiener grinned victoriously and jabbered away in rapid fire Minionese, pointing to the dish room (because Wiener was A, a lazy ass that pushed doing the dishes as long as he could and B, cooking for my legion of Minions produced unholy amounts of dirty dishes) and, with a large grin on his face, tossed Lyra a filthy apron that by the looks of it had never been washed.

Wiener went back to stirring the pot with a jaunty tune, ignoring the stricken unicorn. Eyes downcast, Lyra shot me with a look that almost melted my little black heart and marched forward like a convict facing the guillotine.

"That pony's weird," Jackie stated as we took the stairs down, Lyra's faint moans of misery and exclamations of disgust trailing in our wake. "How did you come by her?"

"I didn't, actually. If anything, she came by me. There I was, enjoying a morning shower and when I stepped out, there was Lyra, sitting in the middle of my bedroom and geeking out about finding the world's first human." I chuckled, shaking my head at the memory.

"And she became your servant. Just like that?"

"Well," I began uncertainly. "Not exactly. See, I kinda wanted to send her on her way with a promise that she'd never tell anybody about me. But the mare's stubborn, wouldn't take no for an answer. We yelled a little, tempers flared and... well, I kinda pulled a Palpatine on her and bombarded her with a Corruption Burst, turning her into a willing servant by overriding her free will."

"What?" Yeah, that caught her by surprise.

"There's this spell that I can do. I call it Corruption." I demonstrated by letting arcs of lightning trace my palm. "I can power it with enough mana until my victim is either entirely dissolved into nothingness... or use it to break down their minds and make them absolutely loyal to me."

"Wow," she breathed. "You know, I didn't think you had it in you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You basically made her your slave, you know that right?"

"What?! No, that's not..." Uh... did I? Fuck. I did, more or less.

"Hey, someone's gotta show them ponies who's boss around here, huh? They screw us enough already." She patted me on the back and walked on, leaving me sputtering.

Deciding it wiser to just drop it, I continued our tour. I led Jackie down to the Minion Burrows. She seemed fascinated with the place and took great interest inspecting the Brown and Red hives. A number of my little kobolds, both Browns and Reds, came over to say hi, surrounding Jackie like so many murderous little elves.

The upper levels of my tower followed. We swung by the library, containing tomes and grimoires hundreds of, even millennia old, their contents surely lost to the ages, preserved for my own perusing (really should give them a read sometime) then to my chambers, proudly showing off my acquisitions and finally...

"And here we are, my little friend. The crown jewel of my tower in all the literal sense. I present to you," I paused for dramatic effect. "The treasure room." As if by magic, well, more like me sending a mental command to a couple of my munchkins to open the doors from the opposite side, the double doors opened with a ponderous groan and the resplendent light of my hoarded riches hit us in the face full force. Girl's eyes were positively sparkling (then again, that might just have been the sparkles of all my precious shinies reflected in her eyes) as she appraised my riches.

"Goddamn, this is yours?" she breathed in wonderment.

"Eeyup," I said smugly. "All mine. Go on take something."

"Really?"

"Sure. Go ahead and take a shiny. Keep it as a memento or spend it or whatever."

With my go ahead, Jackie approached a rather massive pile of gems, easily tall as a house. Her little hand made to reach for an emerald the size of her fist and no sooner did she lay her fingers on top of it that several things happened in quick succession.

A black claw shot out of the pile and grappled a very startled Jackie's arm before roughly pulling her in, the girl disappearing in its depths. No sooner did I start to freak out, thinking Onyx had eaten her that the gem pile exploded, scattering shinies in all directions, the two present Minions chasing after them with greed in their eyes.

"You little freak! Let go of my gems!" Onyx growled, pinning down Jackie with her strong arms. Jackie's eyes bugged, clearly not expecting an eight-foot dragoness to suddenly pop out.

"Onyx!" I shouted and moved to intervene. "Stop that this..." But Jackie did not seem to like being held down like a prized hog. The squirt clamped her mouth shut on one of Onyx's talons and the dragon let out an earsplitting screech of pain, hopping off the girl and nursing her wounded talon.

"Hey, hey stop it, you two!" I yelled, getting in between them.

"That little thief tried stealing my gems!" Onyx accused, pointing an accusing claw at Jackie.

"No, Onyx. They're my gems. Get that through your thick head already! And I said she could take one." I then looked to Jackie, noting with some nervousness a thin trickle of blood in the corner of her mouth.

"You alright, girl?" She nodded.

"I am. She's not," she said with a sneer and true enough, a larger trickle flowed down Onyx's talons. Sweet Jiminy Cricket, just how strong is her bite force? Dragon scales are seriously tough.

Onyx roared. "Why you little..." She unfurled her wings and with a massive leap, cleared the distance between her and Jackie, looming over the smaller girl in an attempt at intimidation. "Say that again!" Onyx challenged.

Jackie, in a particularly stupid course of action, grabbed ahold of Onyx's horns and pulled her down, meeting her snout with her stubborn hard head. Onyx cried out and I couldn't help but wince at the very telling crack that came after. I swear, one day I'm gonna bend that brat over my knees and...

"Gott verdammt! [Goddamn it!]" Yes, apparently I was so pissed I now reverted back to my native tongue. "Hört auf euch zu zanken wie ein ein Haufen Kleinkinder! [Stop bickering like a bunch of rugrats!]" I marched up to them, grabbed Jackie by the collar of her shirt and Onyx by one of her horns. "Ernsthaft, selbst die Schergen benehmen sich reifer als ihr beide grade und das will schon was heißen! [Seriously, even the Minions are behaving more mature than the both of you right now and that's saying something!]"

Giving Jackie´s collar a tug, I addressed her, masterfully ignoring her confused expression. "Junge Dame, du must nicht jedem sofort die Nase brechen, sowas kann man machen wenn man Schwarzenegger heißt und in einem Testosteron strotzenden Barbaren Film mitspielt, nicht wenn man sich vor jemandem erschreckt! [Young lady, you don´t need to break someone's nose, you can do something like this when your name´s Schwarzenegger and you play a role in a barbarian movie brimming with testosterone, not because you got a little jumpscare!] Turning to Onyx, I continued. "Und du! Krieg das endlich in deinen Dickschädel das all diese Schätze MIR gehören und ICH dir lediglich erlaube drauf zu pennen also komm mal drei Stufen runter klar? Wenns mir passt verschenke ich das alles an den nächsten Penner, klar? [And you! Get it into that thick skull of yours already that all this treasure belongs to ME and that I merely allow you to sleep on it, so take a chill pill or three, kay? If I want to, I'll give away all of it to the next hobo, kay?]"

I awaited her response, but the brat kept on staring me oddly. She shared an uncertain look with Onyx before they turned back to me simultaneously.

"Uh... what?" she asked, confused.

A series of strangled grunting noises and gurgles were my only response.

"Yeah," Onyx muttered, considerably less hostile than before. "We don't speak... whatever it is you just said. Sounded a bit like this screeching Griffins do, just less birdy."

Defeated, I slumped to my hands and knees. "Jackie, I love you like my own sister but I swear you're gonna give me a hernia one of these days." I moaned.

"I... uh..." She muttered uncertainly, and I could see her feet fidgeting. "She... started it." she said lamely.

"You stole my…" Onyx gulped, looking down at me. She sighed. "Fine, you stole Umbra's treasure that she so graciously shares with me." she said dully.

"And with that out of the way," I proclaimed and got back to my feet. "Onyx, this is Jackie. Jackie, Onyx. Now the both of you shake hands, slash, talons and make nice. You're gonna be sharing this tower for the foreseeable future and I do not need the two of you going at each other's throats."

Onyx bared her teeth and growled, small wisps of flame escaping between her chompers. "I'll apologize if she goes first."she said boldly.

I sighed. And here I was hoping she´d be the more mature of the two. "Jackie?"

Girl grumbled something under her breath. "I'm sorry," she said venomously. "That I didn't get to turn you into an entire line of fashion products." One of these days, girl. One of these days...

Onyx blinked perplexedly but did not seem offended by the statement. More confused than anything.

"Onyx?"

"Fine," the irascible dragoness said, crossing her arms. "Sorry for almost painting this whole room with your blood."

Well, I suppose that's as good as I'm gonna get from either of them."Right. Well, let's go ahead and continue, shall we, squirt?" I grabbed Jackie's shoulders and steered her towards the exit. "Before I lose it and murder you both." I muttered lowly.

I left a somewhat confused Onyx and two kobolds trying to scoop up the fallen loot.

To my mild displeasure, Gnarl was already waiting for us in the throne room. Well, more like we caught him by surprise, since the old walnut was lounging on MY throne as if it was the most natural thing in the world, looking pleased like a cat that just got the cream, the canary, burned down the house AND managed to successfully blame it on the dog. When he saw us approach, his eyes bugged out and with more speed and agility than one would expect of his wrinkly old arse, he scuttled off and to his rightful place beside the throne.

"M-my Lady," he said, way too quickly and with false cheer on his oily tones. "What a delight to see you up and alive. We feared and mourned for you since your disappearance these past few days, but I... I said to the rest of the Minions that our Ladyship was well and alive, biding her time until she came back to honor us with her presence." Yeah, reaaaally piling it on, ain'tcha, walnut?

His gaze then drifted to my companion, peering at Jackie and you could practically see her shivering erupting in goosebumps.

"Who is this, my Lady? Another one of your pets?" He gave Jackie another once over, his lips twisting in a horrid, gruesome pervert smile. "My, my. I had no idea your Ladyship liked them so young. Oh, yes..." He cackled sinisterly.

Oh gods above, I felt all my sins crawling on my back from that! DO NOT WANT!

"What? No, ew ew eeee~eew! Shut up, you mangy old walnut, or I'll have your mouth sewn shut for you."

Thank you Jackie.

"I swear it, Gnarl. One of these days, you are seriously gonna outlive your usefulness. I've half a mind to command my Minions to drop your wrinkly old ass in my forge. Maybe put your soul into a toilet plunger or something of the like."

"Now that you mention it, my Lady," he said hastily. "There's something I... planned to talk to you about if you were still alive."

"Make it quick, you disgusting lecher."

"Yes, well," he cleared his throat. "While Your Ladyship was missing, one of our Minion scouts reported finding an object of interest far in the north. The Arcanium smelter, my Lady."

This gave me pause. The Arcanium smelter was by far the best forge in the Overlord games, capable of churning out sweet armor and weapons that were on par with legendary stuff like Excalibur, Glamdring or Havel´s Armor. With that sweet puppy in my possession, nothing short of a fully charged Alicorn-Laser could even hope to even put a scratch on me.

Well, Discord maybe because Chaos but if what Lyra had told me was true, the old chap was still stoned like Woodstock. Still I made a mental note to check the truth of that statement in the near future. Heh, maybe I could even get the chance to troll Blueblood.

"Hey, you are drooling."

Eh? What? At Jackie´s bland statement, I brought my hand up to my mouth and really, I was leaking like a waterfall. Okay, maybe not really, but still a good bit.

Clearing my throat and straightening my posture for good measure, I addressed Gnarl again. "Well, looks like you just managed to get out of the frying pan." I noticed that a good deal of tension left Gnarl and I could not have that. "But that just means your ass is now hovering of the roaring cooking fire." The expression on Gnarl's mug was priceless and told me that, at least for now, I was again the undisputed queen in my castle. "Okay, now tell me where they found the smelter!"

"As I understand it, my Lady, it was Gabber who found it. He said it was on a cave far, far north, where the land is nothing but cold and snow. But that is not all my Lady. There is something else that should interest you greatly."

"You see, Your ladyship, Gabber and his companion Wart were ambushed by a sect of... well, cultists or something of the like. They got to Wart quickly enough but Gabber managed to escape, and while he was running for his life to the nearest ley line, he reported seeing something that belonged to Your Ladyship."

"And what is this 'thing' that belonged to me?"

A shrewd expression entered the walnut's wrinkly visage. "Tell me, my Lady, where exactly is your Beast?"

Okay, that took me back. "That's... I... why does it matter to you anyway?" I snapped irritably. Last thing I needed was the treacherous little gremlin giving me grief over losing it.

"Because Gabber just so happened to spy Your Ladyship's favorite weapon as he was making his escape."

Wait, what? Hmm. That's... that's great! Best news I've heard in a while. Okay, okay, I gotta go and get ready, marshal my Minion forces and plan for a raid on this so-called sect of ponies. One mission, two items I so desperately need. A better two-fer there never has been.

"Gnarl!" I barked. "Get my best Minions ready and armored. We'll mount an expedition to find, liberate and maybe pillage a little bit. I want them ready to go in the next ten minutes." When the Walnut remained, muttering words of praise and admiration, I very nearly lost it. "Move it!" I roared and he scrambled out of the way. Serves him right.

"Uh, what was all that about?"

Huh. Oh, shit. I didn't even register Jackie was still here.

"Yeah... sorry, squirt, but I think I'll have to put our tour on hold for right now. Got some Overlord business to take care of. You know how it is."

"No, I don't. Never played the game."

You shitting me right now, brat? "Well, still. Look, I'll have the Minions bring you to a room or whatever. Maybe get Wiener to bring you something to munch on. Just stay here and wait. I shouldn't be too long."

I... don't think she liked that idea.

"Or, you know, I could just come with you. I don't wanna stay alone in a place full of these freaky looking goblin things."

"Minions, girl, Minions. And no, you can't come. There's most likely gonna be violence, swearing and more than just a little bloodshed."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?"

"Wut?"

"What do you think I've been doing in my version of Ponyworld? Sitting around, twiddling my thumbs and engaging in friendship adventures with the little beasts where each time I grow closer to them and learn the value of friends? I've done my fair share of bloodshed. Hell, I could find a job at a slaughterhouse if I ever get away from here."

"Point taken." Holy Christ, at this point I was seriously considering if a healthy dosage of Orbital Rainbow Laser could do Jackie more good than harm. Seriously, that girl had a grim way of looking at the world.

No, bad Umbra! You don't want that for yourself, so do not wish it upon others.

With a defeated sigh, my shoulders slumped a little. "No way to talk you out of this hn?"

A brusque nod was all I got.

"Well then, if you gonna tag along, I want you outfitted for it. You may have freaky strength, you can use the Force and whatever I have not seen you do yet but that does not mean that a stray blade or arrow can not end your life faster than you can say 'Only two more weeks until my retirement!' so we will make a little detour to the smithy. Maybe Welder has something in stock that could fit you."

She nodded, satisfied and a smug little smile on her mug. Reluctantly, I led her into our forge where Welder lounged lazily, sleeping against one of the rocky walls, the glow of his belly brightening and dimming with his snores. A miniature Corruption Burst, barely more than a glorified static shock, jerked him awake.

"Welder, Jackie. Jackie, Welder. Get her some armor and weapons or something so she doesn’t go and die on me as soon as the first blows are thrown."

Welder lifted his goggles and peered at Jackie through narrowed eyes, as if appraising her and led us to the armory, replete with weapons of all kinds.

"Not bad." Jackie murmured, eyes wide as she stared in awe at the assortment of weaponry. In my free time, I'd taken up to smithing or more precisely, I had forced Welder into making all the weapons and sometimes armor pieces I came up with in my free time, which was a lot. So it was no wonder that the wall racks where filled to the brim with all sorts of swords, axes, maces, chestplates, bracers, shin guards and even the odd helmet to spare. There was even a lonely bow, just because!

"Now let's see here..." I reached in and drew a rapier, slender and sharp. "I think this would be good for someone your size, eh?"

She took the weapon, corner of her lip curled up in doubt and inspected it. "I feel like I'm gonna break this damn thing. And what am I gonna do with it, poke little holes in stuff? It's more suited to be a shish-kebab. Next!" she said, shoving the thing back in my grasp.

"O-kay. Um... ah, how about this?" I pointed at the bow.

"You're kidding, right?"

"What? It's not so bad. Go on, give it a try."

She took the bow and arrows and experimentally nocked an arrow, pulling back on the string.

"See, you're already a natural," I said with all the false cheer of an instructor that does her job only for closing time and cash. "Try to hit that plaque over there." I pointed to said wooden plaque that hung over the entrance of the armory, a hammer and anvil. Still, she drew and aimed at the target, her grip clearly shaking and unsteady and after several seconds of amateurish aiming, she let loose. The arrow flew through the air and to mine and Jackie's surprise, actually hit its mark with a loud twang of metal.

The arrow hit and rebounded wildly, arcing through the spiral stairs and plunged past the eye socket of a wandering Minion. The kobold's body jerked and spasmed and tumbled down like a marionette through the steps, dissolving into nothingness before he hit the ground floor.

"Yeah, pass." I was inclined to agree.

I growled in mild frustration. "That's fine, that's fine. There's gotta be something here more appropriate for you. Maybe a..."

"How about this?" In her grip, the aspiring Minion slayer hefted a war axe, a monstrous thing, almost as tall as she was, with a double bladed head that looked capable of cleaving rocks with minimal effort.

I honestly did not know what possessed me when I had Welder make this thing. Hell, even with my enhanced strength I could barely lift this thing with both hands! And Jackie, scrawny little Jackie, lifted the frikkin´ thing with one hand like it were nothing more than a whiffle bat! I did the only appropriate thing and stared slack jawed while uttering a disbelieving "Whaaaa~?" As if to further mock me, the squirt gave the thing a few experimental swings, effortlessly arcing it through the air.

"Yep, it's a keeper," she said. "I'm taking this."

"That's... what... where are you even gonna put that? It's as tall as you, for Darkness' sakes and don´t you dare to say Hammer space because I am the only one here allowed to make crappy Pop Culture jokes!"

"I'll lug it around, no big deal. Besides, I'm not like classically trained in weapons or anything, so something that you can swing around and cut things in half is more my speed."

"I still say it's too big for you. Give it here. Maybe we can find you a nice little sword that won't accidentally disembowel me or something." I moved forward to reach for it.

"Quit fretting already, I'll be careful." Jackie said, stepping back and swung the axe behind her and out my reach. What neither of us expected was the sound of that monster cutting through flesh and bone and when we looked there was poor Welder, cut in half and uttering a death rattle before dissolving appropriately.

"Goddamn it, Jacqueline..." I facepalmed "Well, looks like we need to make a short stop at Norbert before we set out, so he can pull Welder out of the Styx. Again!"

[...]

"Aaaand we are back to ice and snow again. Peachy." I growled as I stepped out of the portal. To be fair, it was not the same white desert like the one around Yule since you could still make out large patches of grey rock far and wide between, but still. From the look of it, this lovely little garbage dump was at the base of a mountain. Grumbling under my breath, I pulled the thick cloak tighter around my shoulders that covered most of my body while the other tightened around the handle of the longsword I chose for myself for this endeavor. The fact that the blade was imbued with Red essence and therefore permanently wreathed in a coat of flickering hellfire, giving me a bit of extra warmth plus the intimidation factor against whoever had my smelter had driven me to take this particular weapon.

"Okay, we´re here. Now what?" Came the ever so enthusiastic voice of Jackie from behind me as she stepped out of the portal herself. At my insistence, she too wore winterwear against the weather since her summery attire was worth jackshit against even a stiff breeze. Girl looked oddly comical, bundled up in layers, hood pulled up and wearing thick mittens. Looked more appropriate for her to be one of Santa's helpers. The massive war axe did overcome whatever cute factor she possessed though, and gave her more a Discworld-ish flair. Just one look at that thing would be enough to stop any would-be attackers in their tracks.

"Now we look for my Beast, girl. If what Gnarl said is correct, it's closest to us and the smelter lies somewhere deep in the cave. Probably behind dozens of cookie cutter enemies like, dunno, Slimes or some kind of Undead. Or maybe some sort of bandits. Most likely with a big Zampano as the final encounter once we have made our bloody path all the way to the my belongings. You know, just the usual."

"Yeah, yeah. So... which way?"

I pointed to some mountains in the distance. "Gnarl said the entrance should be right over there. Now less chatting, more walking. We need to waste as little energy as we can in the cold like this."

So our little trek began. Ideally, I would have 'ported to the entrance of the cave, but my attempts had proven fruitless. Something was blocking my magic, an even more powerful source that prevented us from 'porting anywhere near it. Fucking cultists. So I had to take us all the way out here in this unforgiving wasteland and hope we wouldn't get frostbite or get attacked by a yeti or something. Actually, that'd be a nice enough distraction. I've never killed a yeti before. Hey, maybe I could even make a makeshift clothing out of its pelt and wear it as a trophy, with its desiccated yeti head serving as a headgear.

Agh, no. Bad Umbra. Not good to get distracted, not out here. I briefly considered opening up a Minion portal and have the kobolds carry us there, but there were no ley lines sight. Well shit.

After several minutes, freezing cold and biting winds, the entrance of the cave now stood before us. Jackie and I huddled close, hidden behind a rocky outcropping and scoping out the situation. There in the entrance stood two sentries, unicorns wearing some sort of shawls which looked more decorative than anything. A magical field enveloped them, keeping out the snow and a flickering fire could be seen within.

"What are we waiting for? We can take them," Jackie said impatiently. I half glanced at her. I still wasn't too crazy about her coming with me. True, I had slaughtered my fair share of cronies and lackeys and disposable canon fodder but still something nagged at me. Jackie almost seemed eager to confront them and for a second I considered the possibility of maybe trying to talk/intimidate the ponies instead of up and offing them. Actually...

"Easy, girl. Hold your horses, I'm thinking."

"Better be some good thinking 'cause it's freezing cold out here."

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna sneak up on those jokers and take them by surprise."

"Got it."

"Alive."

"What?"

"Think about it. We're about to head into enemy territory. Who knows what'll be waiting for us down there. We sneak up on them, subdue them and make them talk. Reveal info and all, you know? For all you know it's a maze in the cave and we could spend the rest of our lives trying to find the exit, eating rats and worms as sustenance. Is that what you want?"

"You're ridiculous," she sighed. "Fine, no killing. Alive and all. Let's go already, I literally can't feel my nose."

We split up and went to opposite sides of the little campfire, the ponies within oblivious to our presence and when I gave the signal, we moved. We closed the distance and in my free hand I pooled my Mana, arcing bolts of electricity sparked and crackled, congealing into a sphere. I slammed the Corruption Burst into the magical field. It rippled violently as the spell hit, thick, lethal bolts firing off in all directions with the intensity of thunder and the field vanished. Heh, I think I gonna name that move 'Shield Buster'.

The ponies clearly hadn't been expecting us as their mugs clearly told me they were very much startled, eyes wide and looking around wildly, but when they saw us, it was too late. One of them lit his horn, no doubt intending to send some magic juju my way, but I was faster. I slammed the pommel of my sword right at the base of his horn and the burgeoning spell fizzled out, but not before he let out a splitting shriek of pain. Gotta be a sensitive spot or something. Props where it was due. The unicorn recovered fairly quick and even attempted to get back up and fight. That's cute. Renewed howls of pain tore the air as I hit him with a full-fledged Corruption Burst, the little equine writhing in agony as the lightning bolts ravaged his flesh and corroded his will.

I looked around for Jackie and saw her straddling the body of a struggling unicorn. To my relief, she had refrained from actually killing him and yes, she was in fact trying to subdue him. The unicorn flailed, his oddly flexible, marshmallowy pony hooves preventing Jackie from getting a good grip. Quickly growing frustrated, the girl instead put him in a chokehold, seized his horn and with a single motion, tore it off his noggin! With the sound he made, you'd think he was a little filly or something. Couldn't blame him, it did look painful. Blood and sparks sizzled from the stump where his horn used to be and Jackie stood, curiously examining the broken appendage in her hand.

Jeez...

"Oh for fucks sake Jackie, I said no killing right now!"

Jackie gave me a annoyed glare. "What? Is it my fault that these beasts are as tough as soggy marshmallows? Besides, it is still alive."

"Yeah, but it now he or she has a gaping hole in his or her skull!"

"So stick a hot poker in it or something. You know, medieval style."

"Right, ram a white hot spear right into the brain, that is sure to help. You know that lobotomy is out of practice since I don´t know how long?"

"Hey, at least I try to be productive. Not like someone else I could name, with her stupid 'No casualties because Horses have feelings too' policy."

"Actually, we have a medkit with a few potions right over there..." The mutilated Ex-Unicorn piped up shakily, pointing one hoof in the mentioned direction.

"No one asked you!" Both Jackie and I yelled at the same time, causing the wounded equine to whimper even more and almost crawl into the ground.

"Now, where were we?"

"Uhm, something about you being a soft bellied horse lover?" Jackie pointed the bloodied horn at me.

"Well, excuse me for not being a Genocide runner!"

"Ehrm... maybe... about these potions? I just could get them myself. I actually feel a bit lightheaded, I think it is the blood loss and the adrenaline..." The pony under Jackie piped up feebly.

"Ergh, shut up will you? Higher life forms are talking." Jackie snapped and bonked her victim over the head with his own horn. Now, that's just insulting!

"Just get it already. The poor sod will bleed out." I pushed past her and retrieved the kit. Inside were some bandages, ointments and potions which I had no idea what they did but sure enough, one of them had a big red heart with a white cross in it on the label. If that was not a healing potion, video games had lied to me my whole life!

"Eh... right. You do it." I tossed the bag at the pony who, with shaky hooves, proceeded to stem the blood flow from his stub.

After he was done, both Jackie and I towered over the wounded equine like doom made flesh for effect before I growled, "Now talk!"

The little pony's eyes, I shit you not, rolled to the back of his head before he promptly collapsed unconscious in sheer terror. Well, I assume the blood loss had something to do with it too.

"Typical. Just my luck," I muttered. "Jackie, I like your enthusiasm and all but you should really take a good, long look at the meaning of the word restraint."

Said girl snootily turned her head away. "There's still that guy." She pointed to the remaining stallion who just started regaining his bearings.

Seeing how arguing with her would be pointless, I instead turned my attention to my newest thrall. I allowed the pony to fully regain consciousness. The Unicorn had a navy blue coat and black mane and like Lyra, he now stared at me with devoting eyes. Creepy...

"Mistress." he intoned and bowed low. Jackie watched with amusement.

"Rise already," I said impatiently. "Now tell me your name."

"Starburst, your Grace."

"What were you and that guy," I pointed to the felled pony. "Doing here, Starburst?"

"Guarding the entrance, your Grace," the stallion said, bowing again and I rolled my eyes.

"Obviously you were guarding it, I figured that much out by myself. C'mon, Starburst, spill the beans. What is this place? Why were you guarding it? And why in the hell is there an outpost here in the ass end of nowhere?"

Starburst's horn glowed and just as I wondered whether my trusty Corruption had failed to do its job, Starburst enveloped a small area around us in a protective shield.

"Apologies, your Grace, but I thought this'd be best done out of the snow." He cleared his throat. "This place is a research outpost and a temple, built and commissioned by our previous leader and champion of the night."

"Who the hell is the champion of the night?" I asked, not liking where this was going. I´ve read far too much crappy fanfiction to not have at least an inkling where this was going.

"Champion of the night is the traditional title of our leader," Starburst explained dutifully. "For we are a following of the true lunar sister. Myself excluded of course, since my life now belongs to you my liege..."

"Yes, yes, quit the brown nosing. You wanted to tell us why the hell you are guarding this little piece of frozen hell and why we are freezing our asses of here." Jackie interrupted, stepping from one foot to the other in an attempt to warm herself up.

Though Starburst clearly now belonged to me, the same could not be said for Jackie and he regarded the girl with a disdainful sneer, eyeing her in the same way one might look an unsightly stain at the sole of one's shoe. Nevertheless, he answered.

"My group's purpose was to use this outpost as a place where we could research in peace and divine a way to return the glorious Nightmare Moon back to this plane of existence, that her reign might be long and glorious as she dethrones her traitorous sister and wrests control of fair Equestria from her hooves."

"Oh, great," Jackie sighed. "Cultists. We've run into freaking cultists of all things."

"It could be worse." I said.

"Worse than a bunch of ponies who'll probably gladly die for this pony moon?"

"You... have a point. Well, maybe Discord worshippers?" I admitted grudgingly and turned back to Starburst. "So you freaky cult guys wanna bring back Nightmare Moon. How?"

"It doesn't matter how," Jackie cut in impatiently. "Just make him tell us how to get the smelter and your Beast. It's freaking cold out here." True enough, I could see her shivering under her layers of clothing and truth be told, I was about to follow.

"Starburst, are there any other surprises waiting for us inside?" I gestured to the opening of the cave.

"A few runes meant to ward off trespassers and if need be, kill them with a powerful magic pulse. But I should be able to disable them so you Grace and her scrawny pet," he looked at Jackie, who promptly flipped him the bird. "May pass unhindered."

With a gesture on my part, he led us in, motioning for us to wait at the entrance of the cave as he went on and sure enough, his horn pulsed with magic and in turn, the floor and walls ahead of him glowed a soft blue, the carved symbols igniting in tandem with his magic. Tentatively, I used my Ley-Sight to try and get a better understanding of what he was trying to do.

By glancing at the runes, it seemed they were first designed to ward off curious onlookers harmlessly by making them turn away, but there was an underlying second layer that held back a massive charge of magical energy, just barely. That was probably the kill charge my newest servant told us about. Yikes, that looked like the equivalent of a magical landmine, if anything.

Starburst carefully manipulated the arcane matrices within the runes in an attempt to harmlessly deactivate them. Hell, he actually seemed to be doing a good job. But naturally, seeing as how things were going my way for once, the dynamic duo of Fate and Murphy chose that moment to render my hopes moot, for a slight spark, nearly unnoticeable, emerged from Starburst's horn. Then I remembered with a pit of dread, I conked him well and good at the base of his horn not a few minutes ago.

Unicorn horns were curious things. Composed of a similar material that made up bone, yet able to dispel powerful blasts of magic with enough training. At the same time, despite their sturdy build they were also remarkably sensitive. Lyra explained to me that Unicorns in combat learn to guard their precious horns for while it is a potent tool, it can also spell a pony's downfall. Several nerve clusters are contained inside the thing, more than a pony has in his entire body but at the same time, are protected by the horn's hard, outer casing. The nerves that run from the horn and the base of the skull... those are not offered the same protection and thus are sensitive to outward stimuli like, say, a massive blow from yours truly that could very well disrupt the flow of magic needed to carefully disable a lethal set of wards.

Starburst clearly noticed this as well, for he drew a sharp intake of breath and, if his breathing was any indication, panicked as the lapse in his controlled magic manipulation faltered. The poor stallion did what he could to regain control, but the damage was done. The wards, clearly designed to counter such an attempted scheme, ignited in a brilliant flash that in my Ley-Sight left me temporarily blind. But I got off easy, all things considered. Couldn't say the same for Starburst as the magical surge from the wards immediately traveled through his magical connection and into his body. The massive discharge of conflicting energies succeeded in literally bursting the stallion apart like a balloon in a showy explosion of gore, pulpy bits of meat and an admittedly impressive display of wildfire mana.

"Gah, fuck!" I yelped as I was showered in the red slush. I spat and hastily cleaned my face all the while my sight returned to me. True enough, the wards where gone now, having done their duty and having done it good. All that was left from Starburst was blood and chunks of flesh dripping from the surrounding walls and a Rorschach-like, slightly steaming red splatter on the floor.

A series of amused chuckles could be heard. "That is one way to do it," Jackie piped up from behind, having used me as a blast shield against the Unicorn's demise. The girl inspected the gory spectacle with an appreciative eye and stepped forward, tilting her head as she examined Starburst's scattered pieces. "Well, rest in pieces I guess."

"…" I just stared at her silently.

"Hey, come on. I thought if one could appreciate that crappy line, it was you huh? Anyways, way´s clear now or is there anything else?"

"Way's free, yes." I answered, feeling a slight mental exhaustion creep into me.

"Great, time to get out of this freezer!" Jackie exclaimed, wasting no time in march forward, stomping over the gory pony remains without a care and leaving dark red shoe prints behind.

Deciding that all the potential emotional baggage would be future-me´s problem, I just followed Jackie although I avoided to step into Starburst´s bloody starburst. "I need a blunt after this," I murmured. "The mother of all blunts!"

[...]

The cultist had been true to his word. Almost.

The crazed pony leader and his minions had definitely put a lot of man... er, ponypower and effort into making this an appropriately evil cultist lair. Like the now deceased Starburst said, right at the back of the cavern's entrance there was a sizable rock that sealed the temple-ish maze hidden beneath.

"Tell me again, why is this mace and smelter of yours worth going through all this trouble?" Jackie asked as we peered into the lair's depths. "Can't you, I dunno, have a whole new one made instead?"

"Maybe," I said as I led the way in. "But my Beast has quite a bit of sentimental value. Plus, I don't have the ingredients to make another one. For that I'd need the Arcanium smelter and I can't make an Arcanium smelter because, well, I've no freaking idea how. The things have just kind sorta been around as far as I know."

"And when we run into more of these cultist freaks?"

"We knock them out cold and show them who's boss. Easy peasy."

"Say," I suddenly thought of something. "I don't suppose you know who this Nightmare Moon the cultists worship is, do you?"

"I assume it's an angsty, emo pony mare obsessed with the night and darkness."

"Kinda," I admitted. "But you know of Celestia and Luna, right?"

"Yeah."

I gave her a fairly thorough explanation of what happened during the whole attempted coup fiasco, Moonbutt's banishment and eventual restoration to her old self.

"So, what, these guys want to turn her back into Darth Luna or make another one from scratch?"

I paused. "You know, I hadn't considered that. Either way, whatever it is they're doing here we need to put a stop to it. "

"I... thought we came here to get your stuff back, not interfere with whatever it is these ponies get up to."

"So we multitask." I said airily.

Jackie sighed. "Alright, let me put it this way. Why do we need to get involved in all this mess?"

"Because, squirt, bringing back Nightmare Moon will accomplish many things, none of them good. Think about it. Crazed mare would plunge Equestria in an eternal night. The land would freeze, plants and crops would die and under her tyrannical reign, I think it's likely more than not hundreds if not thousands of ponies would die a suffering death."

Girl stopped in her tracks, eyeing me with a strange expression. "And... we don't want that?"

"Wha... no! What kind of question is that? Because Eternal Night means that one half of the planet freezes to death while the other half turns into molten slag. Kinda bad for everything that lives, really. That would include you and me too." I snarked with a deadpan.

She held up her hands placatingly. "Fine, fine. Just saying, you could eke out a good existence in your tower, invent some kind of cold weather crops and ride the whole thing over until pony society finally implodes under the weight of its own idiocy or something and you could be there to pick up the pieces."

"Jackie, Alicorns, corrupted or not have eternal life. Even with my dark magic and Respawn ability, I highly doubt I could sit that one out. Nice idea though."

"Emo, remember? Hey, maybe she'd be a cutter if you're lucky. One day decides life's not worth living and offs herself in the bathtub."

"That is... a pretty funny thought to be honest, in a dark way but still. Would still leave the sun and moon motionless. Hmm, maybe we could robe Discord into getting them to move naturally? Dead ponies are no fun after all."

"So you go find the sweet spot between night and day, where it's twilight all the time."

"It is a scientific fact that this twilight zone would be constantly plagued by storms with wind speeds making the biggest, baddest hurricane the U.S. ever saw look like a decrepit pugs fart."

She sighed. "Ugh, fine. Let's help out the ponies. Let's just get it over with quickly."

"I agree. I want back to my tower and just laze around for days with you, this whole shit is defs enough to fill my quota for looong time." As we moved on, a passage came into view. A more or less narrow corridor with several doors at either end. Now we're getting somewhere.

"Eenie, meenie, minie..." I trusted the time proven way to decide on the right door, pointing in turn at the doors. "Mo!" With that, I stomped over to the unlucky winner and kicked the door clean off its hinges. Turning to Jackie, who looked at me with a just slightly gobsmacked expression I grinned widely. "I´ve got a good feeling with this one."

Jackie in turn gave a huff and followed me in. It was another tunnel but this one was lined with a lot more lamps which in my book could only mean that this tunnel was more important than others and would subsequently lead us to our quarry.

After a while of walking the smell of miniature horse, old hay and something sweet became more notable in the air.

"Kay Jackie, I think we are close." I whispered, checking for any Ley Lines but nada. "Darn, no Minions for now but hey, I think we can get those horsey cultist by ourselves, hn? Just try to not kill them on purpose, ya?"

"What about mangling, mutilating and mentally scarring?" Jackie not as much whispered back, with a big grin of her own and playfully wagging her massive axe. Once again did I debate the merits of letting her come along. That monster on her shoulder was not designed for light, non-lethal combat and with her freaky strength... well, I don't imagine the no-kill rule will be of much use here.

After a short moment, I shrugged. "Meh, as long as you don´t go overboard with it. We are no Nazis after all Jacqueline."

"Hey come o... wait, seriously?" Heh, that look on her face.

"Jepp. I mean, come on, we are facing the probably deranged members of a Doomsday cult and I highly doubt they would do us the same courtesy. So feel free to let them swallow a few teeth." I sighed at the mental image. "Wow, this is almost like the turf wars back in the day."

After some more unproductive minutes of wandering around, Jackie noticed a particular door. Wooden and somewhat crudely made and from the sizable crack in the bottom, light flickered through and moving shapes could be seen.

"Okay, showtime," I whispered as Jackie and I flanked either side of the room. "Let's come up with a plan. I don't want the cultists getting the drop on us."

"We don't need a plan. We got the drop on them."

"I still say we need…"

"Less talky. More smashy!" the brat interrupted. Mimicking my earlier action, Jackie took a step back and kicked the door off its hinges. Well, more like completely splintered it and, axe held high, the girl crowed out a, "Surprise, assholes!" Before disappearing inside.

I stood dumbfounded for a moment as my brain struggled to register what just happened. "Goddamit Jackie!" I groaned in disbelief and hastily followed inside with my sword held ready, where the sounds of fighting and painful screaming were already underway.

I hefted my flaming sword and joined the fray. Already I spotted an earth pony in the ground, writhing in agony and flailing his stumps where his hooves used to be, the things laying down unceremoniously before him. I saw a Pegasus dashing for Jackie, but the monster axe arced through the air, intercepting the poor sod with the flat side of the blade like an oversized flyswatter. A sickening crunch of bones could be heard even amongst the fighting and the unnamed Pegasus crashed against a stone wall, where he slumped to the floor. He didn't move again.

Well, I had no time to stand there and gawk so I joined the fray. Right in time too since another Earth Pony charged at me, obviously in the delusion that between the axe swinging squirt and I, that little old me was the lesser of two evils despite my massive armor and glowing eyes.

The pony attacked me with a classic tackle head-on and I wasted no time to show him the error of his ways. I sidestepped my attacker, stepped behind him as he was hitting the brakes to slow his charge and with quite an amount of nostalgia, kicked the guy right in the balls.

A shrill, haunting shriek later, the pony was reduced to a pitiful mess on the floor but I had no time to smug because something stung my shoulder from behind, heating the protective armor plates up to quite the painful level. Turning around, I spied a Unicorn mare, her horn still aglow as she charged another spell. Weird runes covered her whole face, a moon sickle the most prominent and reoccurring.

"Bow before the Night!" The mare yelled and an impressively large bolt of black lightning left her horn, intending on turning me to a smoking heap.

"Nope!" I countered and dove down and towards the little witch, her lightning sailed over me and struck an unfortunate cultist behind me. The smell of charred meat quickly followed. Before she could do anything else, I rammed the little equine with my shoulder, putting all my mass behind the tackle and bowling her over effortlessly.

"Rargh! Get of me you heathen!" The mare winced, in obvious pain.

Instead of giving her the dignity of an answer, I simply socked her square in the face so hard, her head impacted with the stone ground which in turn knocked her out cold.

My triumph sadly was short lived as in quick succession, three more ponies piled themselves atop me and promptly started to wail away at me with their blunt hoofsies. Marshmallowy though they may look, they sure pack a mean punch especially since these ponies seemed to wear horseshoes and boy, were these three dishing out an amount of punches. My armor succeeded in deflecting the first round of blows but sure enough, even the durable metal cracked and dented ever so slightly and I could feel the things hit me with near full force.

Croaks and even small whimpers of agony escaped my mouth as I fought to fend them off. Even calling on my mana reserves proved difficult, the incessant pounding not giving me a moment to concentrate and call forth a spell.

"C'mere, you." I heard Jackie's faint voice and one of the ponies beating on me immediately went bye-bye. A snap of bone later was followed by renewed screams. This gave my attackers pause and the moment I so desperately needed. Fury welled within me and I used it to gratuitously power forth my favorite spell. The air cracked and the room bathed in a strong luminous glow as the massive Corruption Burst exploded from my palm with such power that the unfortunate ponies atop me were violently flung into the air from the force of the blast, crashing on the ceiling where they fell down unceremoniously in an unmoving heap.

Shooting back up, I let out a pissed off roar, searching for the next victim to vent my fury. Unluckily for me and luckily for them, there were no more conscious cultists. Only a satisfied looking Jackie, leaning on her axe surrounded by her victims. To her credit, most of them seemed to be still breathing, however shallowly. Girl sure didn’t shy away from breaking bone or inflicting crippling injuries.

"Nice lion roar," she commented dryly. "That another Overlord perk?"

"What do you think, brat?!" I snapped irritably, the pain and humiliation at being bested by colorful horsies made my words considerably sharper than I intended to. Thankfully, Jackie didn't seem to mind.

"Hey, you smell something cooking?" She wandered off to one of the small fires lined around the room where a small pot hung over the flames. Now that I got a good look, this chamber was pretty bare bones as they went. A few lit torched were scattered throughout the room and save for some benches and assorted camping equipment, there wasn't really anything of note.

"Ugh, brussel sprouts?" Jackie groaned as she got a full whiff of a pot's contents after lifting the lid.

I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, check it out," she said, pointing to the wall behind me.

Care had been taken to carve it into a makeshift mural, replete with unintelligible runes, symbols, what could only possibly be a strange language and pictograms depicting the various stages of the moon.

"What in the..." I reached out with a hand to touch the dark red paint, the tips of my gauntlets peeling off the substance. It almost looked, and smelled, like...

"Well, we're not gonna find anything here. Let's move on," Jackie said. I agreed, not wanting to spend a moment longer in this damned cave.

[…]

Forty minutes, twelve rooms, and dozens of cultists later, an increasingly frustrated Jackie and I tried our hand at yet another door. Damned cultists. Would it kill them to make a little map or something? Maybe some arrows in the walls, something along the lines of 'Center of the evil Lair, this way' or something? How is anybody supposed to traverse the lengths of this complex without getting lost?

Jackie opened it, neither of us caring for plans or subtlety at this moment as the cultists had proven to be a suitable form of stress relief. Beakers, flasks and test tubes abounded greatly and fumes of various colors emanating from substances over a fire. We warily entered the laboratory.

"Don't touch anything, girl," I warned. "God only knows what's inside these bottles." She made a noise of agreement and we both went around, searching for whatever there may have been of interest. The room was quite larger than I initially thought but right near the back we found a few desks, the remains of several burned out candles and a messy assortment of notes, journals and papers written in some egghead jargon. Hmm, maybe I could find a health potion recipe or something?

While I leafed through the mess, I heard Jackie opening up a creaky armoire behind me.

"Gah! What the...?"

I spun around to see the girl recoiling from what she found. I couldn't exactly blame her.

"Motherfucker!" I hissed as I made my way to her, seeing what it was that startled her so.

There, resting in heavy shelves were four massive jars, filled with some sort of thick, murky fluid that glowed a faint, sickly green under the light. Inside them were darkened shapes, small and rigid. Foals embalmed and left to gather dust.

"What do you think happened here?" asked Jackie, transfixed at the sight before her.

I didn't answer. My feet dragged me closer to the departed foals in morbid fascination, taking in their features. I gasped, a hand covering my mouth as the nature of the unfortunate foals was made apparent. In each of them, a small, stubby horn atop their heads and on their backs featherless appendages, small and twisted.

"Who... what could have done this?" I whispered in mute horror.

"I think I found something," Jackie said, ruffling through the papers. "Check it out." She handed me a worn and battered journal. I knew right then and there I wouldn't like what I found and though simply leaving it be would be the safest course, I found myself reaching out for it. Dated entries. I opened at a random page right near the beginning and read.

1st day of the 12th month, 999 AB

Progress is slow. Steady but slow. Just this past week I managed to find three potential candidates. Those who would enlighten themselves recognizing our true princess, Nightmare Moon. Mares are important, mothers even more so. I carefully picked those with the weakest will. Kitchen wenches, destined to die alone and unhappy, fathering foals born out of wedlock. Brides whose husbands were lost to the distant wars and conflicts in the next continent.
I approached them as a friend, taking the time to know them and the details of their miserable little lives. But that's fine. I'm patient if nothing else. As my base of power grows and more servants to the true lady of the night found, things will progress much quicker. It's only a matter of time.

21st day of the 2nd month, 1000 AB

Time passes and my followers continue to grow. I've located a suitable base for our group. A secluded cave deep in the north, far away from prying eyes. I led a small team the other day to better appraise it. It will take time and effort, but I believe we can make it habitable during the next six months.

6th day of the 7th month, 1000 AB

We've encountered a problem. Deep within the bowels of the earth, it seems we've accidentally awakened a great beast from its long sleep. Four members of our sect were taken, falling prey to its ravenous hunger before our best spellcasters drove it deep within the earth. I must now go and devise a way to keep the creature at bay. Far too much time and resources have been invested in this endeavor to turn back now or start somewhere else. I must go now. Time grows short but with it, the return of our lady steadily approaches.

13th day of the 9th month, 1000 AB

Success! After much planning and research, my most trusted advisors and I have divined away to keep the wretched worm away from us. Now our work can finally resume.

As of this moment I have succeeded in converting eight mothers to my cause. Now approaches what may be the most difficult step. Wind Runner is a faithful servant to our cause and I believe it is from her that I will see the best result. Sacrificing one's foal plays no small burden in one's conscience after all, but I believe she will consent. Let's see if I'm right.

15th day of the 9th month, 1000 AB

Wind Runner consented, much to my relief. Truly she will make a devout, faithful servant to our lady upon her return. It is through her that I was able to convince the others to relinquish their foals for a higher cause.

If our lady is to return, she will need a suitable body. The wretched Luna would be a folly to use, of course. In the all but impossible event that we manage to subdue and foalnap her, there is still one glaring problem. Though our lady initially managed to overcome her lesser half's mind, the Elements of Harmony ripped her from her host's body. If they did it once, they could surely do so again.

No, in order for this to work, our lady will need a suitable body, but what pony could possibly be worthy of being her thrall? None. That is why we must create an entirely new body for her. That comes with its own set of problems. No such feat has been attempted after all.

This is why the foals are necessary for our efforts. By dissecting them can we see what goes into making a body. The muscle structure, the ligaments, the nervous system, so many things come into play in order to create each and every one of all living things. If we are to create a suitable vessel for our lady, we will need all the information we can get.

10th day of the 2nd month, 1001 AB

The remnants of the last foal have run their usefulness. He was buried under the snow with the rest and now our work can truly begin. Our Lady's vessel will be made of only the best parts available, but even the creation of a suitable body is quite a ways away. First we must work on the prototypes.

Even in death the foals have played their part well. Their mothers are honored they played such an important role in our lady's return, but they served another purpose entirely. We took apart their bodies however we deemed it best. From some we took their bones, others their organs and others still their muscles and we used these spare parts, transforming and transmuting them appropriately to create the perfect pony.

The first experiment was a failure. Though we did indeed manage to craft a passable body, we were never able to breathe life into it. I considered disposing of the remains, but decided to keep them, to better learn from my failures.

30th day of the 5th month, 1001 AB

The second experiment was met with more success. We succeeded in attaining a heartbeat and even minor functions of the body, but it expired hours after. Progress is slow but steady.

26th day of the 8th month, 1001 AB

The third experiment was the most successful by far. The vessel actually woke, breathing like a normal pony would. We tried to communicate or at least restrain it for study, but during its brief span of consciousness, it continually kept screaming in agony until a massive stroke took its life.

I slammed the book shut, not wanting to read just one more word. My body trembled with rage, hands clasped so tight I tore the flimsy bindings of the book. In my stomach, a blazing fury roared to life as at the same time, tears ran down my cheeks in streams.

What kind of monster could do all this? Use desperate mothers, lure them in with the promise of support and friendship, then brainwash them to give up the most precious of things a female could ever hope to bring forth into the world?

Destroy the innocence, debase the souls of unborn children in the mad attempt of artificially creating a genocidal goddess?

Without a second to spare, flames erupted from my palm, immolating the unholy tome in my grasp near instantly.

The ashes still spilling from my hand, I spun around and lashed out with my blade at the nearest table, the flaming blade effortlessly tearing through the beakers and vials. A wordless scream accompanied the next strike that sliced the massive table in half, setting it ablaze.

Then my gaze found the armoire again. The bestial fruits of unknown amounts of time found themselves on the receiving end of a white hot fireball that utterly obliterated the furniture in a rain of smoldering splinters and clouds of grey ashes that not a moment before had been papers.

"Are you done yet?"

Faster than she could react, I took a hold of Jackie's collar and pulled her close, looming over her like Doom given form.

"I will not have any of that right now Jaqueline! Are we clear?" I seethed at her, my eyes pouring the boiling, all consuming hatred churning inside my mind all over her. "Do you have any idea what was inside that wretched book?"

"Uh, no. You torched it, remember? You could at least let me have a look."

I screamed and before I knew it, I slapped the brat with all the strength I had and unlike the cave, I noted with satisfaction she actually seemed to feel this one.

"What was that for?!" she demanded angrily, hand over her reddening cheek.

"I am not in the mood, brat. I am SERIOUSLY not in the mood," I said, my voice thick with rage. "This... this place is an abomination. Fuck the cultists, fuck their leader, fuck Nightmare Moon. Everybody here is going to die today in a bloody, gory blaze of AGONY!"

My fist lashed out, gouging a hole in the wall. Jackie eyed me warily and with more than a little bafflement, but I didn't pay her any mind and stalked outside, vengeance screaming in my blood.

[...]

I don't recall how long it took in my hazed state of mind but somehow, I found myself staring at the massive double doors of what could only the inner sanctum of this hellhole, consisting of a silvery metal and a black, glassy material. Any other time, I would have probably found the time to appreciate the fine craftsmanship but at this moment, all that occupied my mind was a thick, red fog and one hundred and one ideas of how making the last moments of all those behind these doors the most excruciating since the started record of time!

I barely noticed Jacqueline stepping in behind me, keeping her distance.

Laying both hands on the large doors, I pushed until the massive wings slowly began to move and a sliver of light fell through the crack, together with muted chanting. For such a massive thing, it hardly made a sound.

Within were dozens of ponies surrounding a circular stone platform, itself elevated a good seven feet off the ground. The ponies were on their knees (or whatever they're called) prostrated as they chanted whatever eldritch chant they chanted. My eyes darted to a small form in the middle of the platform where a small Pegasus filly struggled against her bonds.

Presiding over her was a unicorn stallion clad in intricate, silver armor in a vaguely reminiscent style of Nightmare Moon. He was an impressive specimen. Didn't hold a candle to Moustachio, certainly, but he could give Shining Armor a run for his money. And even from at a distance I could see that like some of the Unicorns I ran into before, his face and visible patches of fur were carved, thick and fully healed scars in the shape of strange runes and symbols.

His coat was midnight blue and mane a silvery grey and he stared with cool authority over the ponies, slowly pacing the stone platform.

"Brothers and sisters. We gather here today to accept this brave soul's sacrifice, that she may serve our rightful lady of the night. For almost two years now we have toiled in secret and while our lady's return is still over the horizon, we grow closer to her return with every day."

His cronies groveled and chanted, paying no heed to the tearful filly, pleading with them to release her.

"Mama," the filly croaked, her eyes trying in vain to catch the gaze of a nearby mare. "I'm scared, mama. Please... let me go. I'll be good, I promise!" the filly said between choked sobs. But the raving mare had completely given herself to her cause and paid no attention to her daughter. Like the ponies around her, she groveled and prostrated, chanting, her gaze never leaving the cold ground. The asshole leader then reached behind him and approached the terrified foal, dragging along a very familiar sight. My blood boiled in fury at the sight of this... this abomination even daring to soil my Beast with his foul touch.

Magic enveloped the Beast, looming like a specter over the wide-eyed filly.

"With this foal's death may we retrieve her soul and use it to bring to life a suitable vessel for our rightful Lady. So mote it be."

"So mote it be!" chanted the cultists.

The unicorn hefted the Beast higher, preparing to strike. I broke out of my stupor and decided to act.

"Drop it!" I growled with such a hate filled voice, so unlike my own.

All heads in the room snapped to me. Jackie followed soon, flanking me and axe at the ready.

"What is this?" the leader demanded in fury. "How dare you besmirch sacred ground with your presence? Who do you think you are?!"

"Your executioner!" I stated with the finality of Death herself.

The unicorn snarled. "Stop them! These heathens mean to halt our lady's rightful return!"

His cronies mobilized at once, swarming like a tidal wave at us both. Reaching out with every ounce of my willpower, I forced open a Minion portal, calling forth my own army. Sixty Browns flooded into the cavern, ready to tear, mutilate and kill at my behest.

Pointing the tip of my burning blade at the approaching kettle I roared my orders.

"Let them suffer!"

My warriors smashed into the cultists like a battering ram, sending splashes of blood and severed appendages into the air, but the insane ponies answered in kind, smashing Minions under their hooves or dousing them in lethal magic.

I followed close, my blade held in both hands. Driven by the fury that this whole place filled me with, I plowed myself a way through the mass of bodies, slashing and stabbing at every pony that came within range. All this time, my thoughts were solely focused on the leader and how to deliver him from this plane of existence only to drag his soul back to torture him for all eternity.

To my immense satisfaction, he looked horrified. A number of Browns scrambled up to finish him, but he recovered quickly. With a sneer, he swung MY Beast and felled my little munchkins, who dissolved into nothingness after their bodies broke under the massive blows.

From the corner of my eye I saw Jackie charging at a unicorn who fired off a flurry of spell at her. I almost lost it when she didn't bother to dodge and she was struck by the deadly magic. Her bulky sweater tore and split, scattering its stuffing in all directions, but the girl seemed unfazed. She swung down the axe at the panicking mare, completely cleaving her in two.

I focused again on my opponents, gratuitously throwing Fireballs and Corruption Bursts every which way, every cry of pain and agony music to my ears, each stroke of my blade as it ended a life slightly quelling the toxic rage that burned within me.

The cultists put up a fight, but the outcome proved inevitable. The combined might of my overwhelming kobold forces, Jackie swinging that monster axe of hers like nobody's business and my destructive spells whittled them down entirely. Minions overcame the weakened fighters, in some instances literally tearing them apart while on others they abandoned weapons entirely, felling the ponies with nothing but their claws, brute strength and needle-sharp teeth; the bloodlust that filled me so emboldening them as well.

With a victorious cry, I drove my sword into the gut of a felled pony, breathing in satisfaction as the blade sank deep beneath the ground and he expired soon after. The chamber had almost gone silent at this point, with only a few scattered groans of the ponies that my Minions quickly silenced.

My gaze then drifted towards the platform where to my immense displeasure, the raving maniac of a leader remained standing, trickles of blood flowing from beneath the armor.

"Heathens... imbeciles. You ruined it all!" He hissed through gritted teeth, my Beast still firmly in his magical grasp. My eyes wandered down and to my vast relief, there was the filly, alive and somehow unharmed despite the pandemonium that filled the room not long before.

"You meddling beasts have set me back years. Years! But no matter," he rambled, swaying slightly under the loss of blood. "I... I will get away. I will start again and work without rest. Not until our lady of the night is restored to her former glory."

"Give it up, freak," I growled. "Step away from the pony and I will make your death swift."

He scowled in fury. "I may fall here today, monster, but somehow, someway, somepony will take up my noble cause and work to bring our lady back to this plane of existence."

"Noble? Noble?!" I screeched. "You brainwashed ponies, used innocent foals for your foul experiments, mutilated their bodies and plotted to plunge Equestria into an eternal night and sentence every living being on it to a slow death! How is anything that you did even remotely noble? Not even the demons of Hell are so cruel!"

He sneered. "I wouldn't expect an unenlightened heathen such as you to understand. My reasons transcend the morals of mortal ponies. So long as our lady is brought back to us, there is no price too high to pay." He stared at me in defiance and before I could even stop it, he brought the Beast down. The filly barely had time to scream before her head was completely annihilated under the force of the blow, bloody pulp spraying everywhere, dousing the defiant cult leader.

Deep inside me, I felt something break.

I closed the distance to the leader with two steps and thrust my blade into his left foreleg's knee, nailing it to the floor. Before he could even scream, I let go of my sword and grabbed ahold of his horn with one hand and his skull with the other. With one savage motion, I ripped the appendage out of the cult leader's skull.

While a primal scream of pain ripped from the throat of the pony, I changed my hold to his throat and effortlessly lifted the mutilated stallion, splitting his left leg from the knee downwards as my blade cut through meat and bone without any resistance.

As he reached my eye level, I unceremoniously plunged his own horn into his left eye to the point of nearly jamming it into his brain.

Following that, I freed my blade from the ground and set the tip onto my victim's stomach. With a fluid motion, the blade sank into the soft flesh of the exposed belly before I sliced upwards all the way to his sternum, blood and guts gushing out of the gaping wound, pooling at my feet.

Drilling my own burning glare into the intact eye of the cult leader, I focused every last bit of my burning hatred, every last shred of the primordial inferno raging in my very being's core as I clenched my hand around his throat, pulverizing his windpipe.

Straining the muscles in my arm, I whispered one word to the living carcass before me.

"Burn!"

Then, I drove the head of the stallion into the ground with enough force to drive the horn still lodged in his eye socket all the way through the leader's brain to the point where it punctured the skull and stabbed into my own palm as the whole head turned into jelly under the raw force of my execution.

I breathed ravenously, heavily, as if I'd just run a marathon, barely registering the stabbing pain in my hand. I looked over to the unfortunate remains of that innocent filly, blood still leaking from the hole where her head used to be and in that moment, I felt the events of the day come crashing down on me.

I didn't even notice as I lunged off the platform, heaving and emptying my stomach's contents as painful, wracking sobs shook my body. Two small hands steadied my shoulders, Jackie giving me a few awkward pats on the back, not knowing what to say at a time like this. I shook her off. I desperately wanted to crawl into a hole and drown myself in alcohol more than anything.

As my fits seceded and I was able to breathe, I saw Jackie making her way up the platform. She bent down, grasping something and when she stood again, there she held the mutilated body of the filly in between her fingers.

"Gross." I heard her mutter before she unceremoniously dropped the corpse and bent down again to pick up my Beast.

"Is this what you were looking for?" She asked, presenting it to me, the Beast still drenched with the blood of the innocent foal, as if hoping the sight would cheer me up a little. "It's, um... it's pretty cool. Definitely feels like there's some power behind it." she said lamely.

I shoved the thing away. The mere sight of it made me nauseous. Stiffly, reluctantly, I made my way up the platform again. Jackie followed suit.

"We... we shouldn't leave her. Not like this," I croaked, staring at the filly's remains. "Not here. Not in this cursed place. We were too late to save her but..." I closed my eyes, hoping that ache in my chest would go away. "The least we can do is give her a proper burial."

I removed the cult leader's cape from him, carefully bundling the remains of the filly. "Let's get out of this place." I said firmly and opened a portal. Jackie hefted the Beast and followed suit.

The funeral, if it could be called that, was brief and without ceremony. Norbert graciously had offered a small patch of land near his hut as soon as he had laid eyes on the bloodsoaked bundle in my arms. Even then, my heart still ached over the innocent foal’s life. So much so that I couldn't even muster the strength to dig her a proper grave. Jackie took the shovel from me, offering to do it herself and I let her.

She worked methodically and diligently, on her face nary a trace of pity, remorse or any sort of indication the filly’s death affected her in any way. I suppose she did it for my sake more than anything.

Lyra and Onyx were the only ones to join us.

Onyx remained stoic, out of a sense of respect for me, I suppose. Aside from a sense of sympathy, I don't imagine the filly’s gruesome fate engendered much of anything from her.

Lyra seemed the most affected of the trio, her eyes downcast, pitying the poof foal and a steady flow of tears dripping down her snout. She'd probably forget about it in a couple of days. In that point, I envied her unconditionally.

Despite being surrounded by my friends, I felt strangely alone.

“Thanks, Jackie.” I croaked as the girl finally laid the bundled body in the grave. She made a grunt of acknowledgement and stepped back.

“We…” I licked my lips. “We should say something. A few words.” My eyes found Jackie's again. “Do you want to…?”

“No.”

"Alright," I murmured. Fighting down a sob, I willed my voice to sound as steady as possible as I looked down into the little grave. "Sleep now, sweet child and dream of endless days of joy in sun flooded meadows and peaceful nights under the moons gentle light. Until the wheel of time itself stops, the last star in the sky fades into nothing and all souls meet again in a new world of bliss and light."

Author's Notes:

Well, that happened...