The moon was set ominously in the night sky, illuminating this pitch black forest ever so slightly, however, visibility is still less than adequate. It would be quite contrary to my convenience, should there be an inconveniently positioned pebble in the middle of the pathway that might cause me to stagger over it.

The trail that directed to my fortress, that was surprisingly furnished, considering that the ones responsible for the furniture were a band of pirates, the majority of aforementioned pirates were usually intoxicated throughout the entirety of the day.

My army of knife-wielding lamp-holders are following, or more accurately, trudging along close behind me.

The light that their lamps were radiating was sufficiently luminous, but the eerie, bitter cold darkness still overwhelmed my vision. During nighttime this damn forest was quite unfavorable.

Courtesy of the chronic amounts of sleep-deprivation, I'm seeing shadowy entities in the distance, this would alarm me exceptionally, but I simply lack the necessary even an ounce of vitality to do so.

Despite how realistic they appear to be, I am aware that it's just my restless mind attempting to delude me. Still, they are overwhelmingly disturbing.

However, the "presence" of these shadowy figures concerns me; this probably signifies the degeneracy of my mental fortitude. Further sleepless nights will probably result in very catastrophic outcomes, which I would rather avoid.

As I walked, I noticed that the chilling breeze of the forest increased in strength and the dreary, shadowy trees swayed in increased intensity, as if this entire forest just began to deliberately harbor hostility towards my presence.

And of course, I feel as if I am being frozen to death thanks to these frostbite-inflicting winds . Low temperatures aren't exactly my forte.

Furthermore, the winds howled an eerie, low-pitched cry. I am not certain if this is the result from the intensity of the breeze, or it's just my duplicitous mind playing tricks on me.

It could possibly a combination of both, actually.

Shrugging off the bitter cold, or at the very least, attempt to, I trudged along the pathway further, my tonberry army following behind me silently, aforementioned army's footsteps were quite rhythmic, actually, as they followed me, this was somewhat amusing, although, that did not alter the fact that they still are remorseless, hardened murderers.

Silent. That is one word that describes the tonberries accurately. Their silence causes them to permeate a vague, disquieting ambiance within their vicinity. An ambiance that is extremely frightening.

Hm, I thought that tonberries were capable of speech? Well, I suppose that there is a possibility that these tonberries are from a Final Fantasy universe where they are unable to practice the application of language, or alternatively, they simply do not favor talking.

Regardless, they are sinisterly unsettling. It must be due to their eyes. Additionally, contrary to my current stupor, they seem to not be bothered from the cold.

Lucky bastards.

I groaned in irritation. The pathway leading to my damn fortified structure is taking a substantial amount of time to traverse, in regards to myself, anyway.

I'm quite certain that teleportation would be incredibly beneficial to my endeavors here. Hm, but do I possibly know anyone here that is capable of such a method of traveling?

Ah, of course, Queen Cheese-legs, also referred to as Chrysalis. Unfortunately, I would rather not walk all the way back to her little hideout and request her to teleport me back to my fort, such a thing is trivial.

Gah, why can't I have an alternative to walking? Besides running, and-slash-or sprinting, of course. Hmph, with the convenience of magic, it would take relative ease for me to arrive in my fortress.

I wonder if there is a method of gaining such power? Then again, I already have this book, so I don't really have the right to complain. After all, this book can rend entire civilizations to ashes and dusts in a matter of seconds.

Alright, mere seconds might be too hyperbolic. Perhaps the span of several hours seem much more sensible? Although, it ultimately depends on the active minion's skill, and or prowess for the amount of time required to demolish whole towns.

As I walked further, relief overwhelmed me as I finally saw something in the horizon, I could catch a glimpse of something, something very familiar. As I drew closer, it finally came to view, my sanctuary from this relentless cold; my castle.

A spark of (insanity) hope kindled withing me, I could finally have sanctuary from this exceedingly low-degree temperature. With commendable determination, I hurried my way to the castle, my tonberries hastened up their running-momentum as well.

Finally, I scurried to the much warmer interior of my little fort. If you had to endure the ordeal I had to brave through, you would relate to how much relief I felt when I entered the castle halls.

I would have been extremely ecstatic if the fireplace had been harboring flames, but much to my bitter indignation, there was no fire lighting the said fireplace. I would have ignited a fire, but the fireplace was lacking sufficient kindling, which agitates me even further.

I sighed, "All of you, feel free to keep a keen observation on this place, I do not want anyone attempting to infiltrate this location, and if need be, all of you are more than welcome to rest in the many rooms of this structure," I stated to my army, to which they replied with silence.

I swear, their blank glares are extremely unnerving. I feel as if I'd go insane by just simply being stared at these things for a long period of time.

"Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm off to go take much-needed slumber," I said as I scaled up the castle's staircase. Really, I wish I can just simply materialize within a random bedroom within this place.

Ah yes, if my memory serves me correctly, there was that particularly spacious bedroom, which will be more than sufficient. Now then, I simply need to locate it... once more.

I wandered through the shady, impeccably monotonous corridors of the castle, attempting to find that specific bedchambers, collisions with the randomly placed furniture was frequent for me due to the extremely poor lighting.

I didn't notice until I allocated several minutes in aimless wander of my time, that there were ceiling-lights installed within the corridors throughout the uninspiring halls of the castle.

With my disgruntled stupor, I decided to search for the switch that is supposed to activate these lights. Thankfully, my nightvision already adapted to the extremely dim lighting of this castle.

There, on the wall, was an inconspicuous, subtle switch. The switch was notably small, I could barely see it, albeit, I am within a dimly lit environment.

I glared at the switch, if I had to guess, this switch is connected to a majority of these ceiling-lighrts. I approached it, and promptly flicked the switch.

... Nothing notable occurred.

Well isn't that astonishing, nothing occurred! The lights did not activate, much to my dismay. The generators must not be running... of course they're not running, I didn't even hear them operating! Curse my sleep-deprivation.

Then I noticed something placed on one of the tables, it was an unassuming box of matches, subsequently, I realized something else, lamps were present on most, if not all, of the tables located throughout the corridors.

Conveniently enough, there was a tonberry passing by. With the remnants of my integrity, I spoke to the tonberry once it trudged near me.

"You there, light all of these lamps. I do not wish for a would-be assassin to infiltrate here with absolutely no effort due to the lack of visibility." I commanded.

The tonberry nodded in response, something that slightly surprised me, I was half-expecting him to just continue on staring at me disconcertingly.

The tonberry began lighting the lamps effortlessly, lighting the dimly lit corridors. The lighting the lamps were emanating possessed a very ominous appeal. I have not a single word within my range of vocabulary to accurately describe it, but I am somewhat fond of it. It bestows this place a very mysterious allure.

I continued walking, or more precisely, shambling through the hallways in an attempt to find the bedroom. I nearly collided with a table with a lit lamp on it in my stupor. Should I have knocked the lamp off the table, it would have resulted in a very unfavorable incident.

Ultimately, however, I would have been just moderately disgruntled.

Yes, simply disgruntled, nothing more. I am basically at the zenith of sleep-deprivation; I could care less, should my one, and only, home-slash-fortress get burnt down to cinders. I just desperately want to curb my state of absolute sleep deprivation!

My mind couldn't even conjure coherent thoughts any longer, but regardless of that, I attempted to recall where that damned bedchamber is located. You can't conceal yourself from me for an eternity, you damned door.

Of course, my currently non-functional mind didn't even bother giving me information, although, I do recall one thing; the bedroom was behind a notably large door.

With a groan of deep-seethed annoyance, I continued on wandering through this labyrinth of a castle. Of course, the outcome of my wanderings did not result in any fruition, yet, of course.

Finally, I encountered a familiar, remarkably large door, if I still had an ounce of vigor remaining within me, I would have at least gawked at the door's size before rushing into it. Was this door this large since my previous stay here?

But, courtesy of my restless demeanor, I simply did the latter only; I scurried into the chamber with an immeasurable degree of solace, sighing in relief as I opened the door.

Upon my rather brash entry of the room, I scanned the room for the bed, and lo and behold, there it was; a massive bed that was appropriate for royals, set in the middle of the room.

I eyed as if I was a ravenous cannibal that hadn't eaten in days that was stuck in the Himalayas that his eyes set on a fresh, unsuspecting prey. Some might say that I appeared rather deranged, but I could simply care less at this point.

"Finally, I found you, you bastard of a bed," I muttered before preparing to retire for the night.

I was experiencing one of the most amazing rests I had in my entire life, please note the "was" in my sentence. I was abruptly woken up by the sound of someone knocking on my door.

Considering that I depleted almost all of my stamina in locating this room, not to mention the excruciatingly lengthy amount of time spent walking all the way here, so I did what most people would do, I ignored it. But it simply persisted, irritating me even further.

"I'm quite certain that you're in there, open this damned door before I demolish it! I have some very alarming news to tell you, you loathsome mutant."

A voice shouted through the door bitterly, that particular voice was familiar, oh so familiar; it was Chrysalis', "Oh, Chrysalis!" I shouted, with a cheery tone, "Go screw yourself." I ended, my voice laced with contempt, much contrary to my previous tone.

And for a moment, there was nothing except silence, leading me to the assumption that she departed from the vicinity. Hell, it's a confounding conundrum on how she managed to bypass the several tonberry sentries scattered throughout this castle-

My train of thought was completely derailed as the door promptly disintegrated in a blast of green flames, which I assumed was Chrysalis' doing. Hmph, I supposed I should have taken her threat slightly more seriously...

Of course, I thrashed around in my bed, the sound that the blast emitted startled me somewhat. Okay, I have to admit, my previous sentence may be a mere understatement.

I fell onto the cold, stone floor as a result from my frantic state, I rose from the cold floor to confront my assailing colleague, and preferably demand her to depart from the vicinity.

I glared at her as I recuperated from my fall, but before I could even begin

"Listen, you mongrel, I've received some information from my spies stationed in Canterlot, Celestia has recovered from that trauma you inflicted upon her." she stated.

I blinked, I was uncertain on how I should react to her statement, and then I blinked once more. Celestia recovered? Huh, I was anticipating her to be in a comatose state for a much longer period of time.

Wait a minute, if she's awake, she's most likely beyond enraged by me, which I will say in defense was accidental, placing her in a coma, and I already have that Lunatic, and that other alicorn, seeking my head to be displayed on a plate.

"Um, pardon me? Celestia, as in the same Celestia that I may have accidentally rendered unconscious for a few days?" I asked, albeit, it was a trivial inquiry.

"Well, who else could it possibly be?" Chrysalis replied, "I suggest that you should practice being more cautious, I doubt with two alicorns you can last for too long," Chrysalis scoffed.

"I doubt you are aware of this, but, when was the last time I am able to relax subsequent to my arrival here?" I questioned before sighing, "Ah screw it, I assume that I have to conjure more elaborate methods of avoiding death now that the other alicorn is awake," I muttered audibly.

"Anything else that I should be aware of?" I asked.

"Oh, well, there is a remarkably sizable army of what appears to be the mercenaries you've previously fought approaching from over there," she points her hoof to the west, "You can thank my scouts for detecting them before they actually arrived here," she added.

Well isn't that excellent, this is just what I needed to make this day even better. Ugh, apparently, it is impossible for me to obtain a moment of relaxation from this madness.

Author's Notes:

...

The doinking will begin after a favorable amount of time has passed.

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I apologize if it this chapter was slightly delayed, I had to go under the process of discovering additional pre-readers due to my two

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The individuals that are responsible for the adequate degree of quality for this chapter are the following:

Mimic Kairatta (Give him a cookie for pre-reading my chapters for such a lengthy amount of time, and of course, for his panache in pre-reading.)

FTDLulz (New guy number one, he displays much promise, considering the fact that this chapter went through a somewhat-heavy revision transition before being released; he detected more than a handful of my idiotic mistakes, and of course, subsequently, I remedied aforementioned mistakes. You can thank him for the slightly-more-pristine-than-usual quality of this chapter!)

Spectro (New guy number two. I am unable to conjure a descriptive synopsis for him, unfortunately. Sorry man. :/ )

AdmiralPopeye (New guy number three. Oh, I got one! Wait, uh, never mind, I retract my previous statement. Forgive me. D: )