The listlessness of the uncountable amount of corridors in the changeling tunnel network was agonizing. Completely silent, not a single sound would be made. It was painfully quiet... had it not been for my guards.

The haunting darkness' tendency of inflicting a cold depression of this was effectively counteracted by the confounding exchange of words my escorts were partaking in.

"And that's how I woke up in a bathtub with a box over my head, and a bunch of bags of potato chips." The Bulldozer said to his companions, all three of them snickering as that particular story came to a conclusion.

Sincerely, I don't know what would be more identical to unethical torment, the considerable scarcity of sound that was sufficient enough to induce sedatephobia. Or, the trivial colloquy these "professionally trained" elites are partaking in.

"It would be a complete relief to the both of us, if something happened to those fools." Chrysalis stated just audible enough for me to hear. "Something that was related to incineration." She added as my defenders continued their unproductive conversation.

I responded to her addendum with a grimace, although I am aware that my facial expression was less than visible right now. "Relax. I recommend conserving your fury for the enemy, not your allies. That would be counter-productive."

"I am ashamed to consider these degenerates as 'allies.' " Chrysalis retorted after a brief sigh.

"Well, I suppose you'll just have to somehow handle with the circumstance." I replied.

With nothing better to say, Chrysalis opted not to say anything further. I rolled my eyes, albeit nobody could see me doing that, as I walked.

Without the slightest anticipation, a sudden peculiar feeling kindled within my mind. It was extremely obscure and random. I am more than inclined to explain the details of it, but I simply cannot. It is... indescribable.

"Are you faring well?" Chrysalis suddenly asked, "Your species' anatomy is foreign to me, but your eye's glow flickered from red to purple for a short moment. That seems alarming."

Wait, Chrysalis is actually concerned about me? Inconceivable, and very suspicious. Nevertheless, I had to reply, "Huh? Well, I did feel some sort of feeling within my head. It was probably nothing." I answered with an uncertain shrug, "And the shift in my eye's radiance is probably just your mind jesting with you."

She did not reply, she is probably pondering about something. Seeing the lack of a reply, I asked for the sake of continuing the conversation, "Now then, when will we ever reach the entrance?"

"I don't know, I do not usually walk all the way out of here." Chrysalis stated, "And yes, I normally do teleport out of here, but considering that your army of petty deviants are there guarding the entrance, potentially mistaking us as enemies as soon as we materialize, I'd rather not teleport for the time being."

"Huh, odd." I said, "I was about to ask why you aren't going to teleport us out of here."

"Well, I suppose that answers-" Chrysalis was interrupted as the familiar sound of gunfire reverberated just a good measure of distance from here.

The current discussion my escorts were having completely died out, and for a moment, silence grew pervasive once more within these spine-chilling caves. All of us did not react for a tense second, or two. We simply simply stood, completely motionless.

"Please don't tell me that they decided to attack us now," I said to myself audibly. "I suggest that we hasten!" I exclaimed as I started bolting for the entrance.

I rallied as much of my energy as I can, and sprinted as fast as my legs would allow me to. Shortly enough, I could discern something in the distance; the entrance.

As I stepped out of the labyrinth of a cave, my eyes were accosted by the jarring light of the sun's rays. I grimaced as I hissed out a curse, "Damn big ball of misery." That particular insult being directed at the sun, obviously.

The sudden shift of the lighting dazed me slightly, but as soon as I regained my ability of seeing, I could see... four unarmed ponies, who were presumably guards due to the armor they boasted, subdued onto the ground.

And surrounding them a good distance away were the other Deathwish officers. Unsurprisingly, they did not display the slightest of concern at the current situation.

Just above the ponies who were forced into submission, stood a cloaker, a firearm primed and directed at their heads.

"Oh hey boss!" The Cloaker cheered, "You've got people wanting to see ya." He said, waving his free arm at me.

I paused to regain some of my lost vitality. Taking a semi-raspy breath, I slowly made my way to the four prisoners. Looking at them with a stoic mien, I asked with a calm, but demanding voice.

"Why are you here?"

All four of them looked upwards to see my hooded face, they must've been intimidated due to my overall menacing appearance, judging by how much they shifted uncomfortably. Fortunately, I do not usually wear the hood, I prefer the breeze grazing my hair. Otherwise, however, I would've probably looked more intimidating as a hooded figure.

Finally, one of them answered, "Pri- Princess Celestia sent us, demon." I display a slight distaste for the word being used to address me as I slowly grabbed the adjacent cloaker's firearm.

I felt a cascade of something indescribable wash around my mind. It was the same fee. It was similar to anger, but it did not cloud my judgment? Ugh, I can't find a way to describe it.

And at that moment, unknowingly to the Summoner, his Summoning Grimoire, the book he uses for the purpose of summoning, shone a constant dim, deep-purple color. Without his notice, the usual scarlet glow of his right eye also shifted into this same color.

The book itself permeated a notably warm aura, but the Summoner dismissed this as something trivial. He could always deal with it after some time has passed.

"I am no demon, but I'd kill you with a demonic grin." I replied, a sly smirk forming on my face. I then proceeded to crouch down, brandishing the weapon in front of his downed face. "I do believe you were given a demonstration of this specific tool?"

"N- no?" The pony stammered. That was obviously a lie, the Summoner heard the gun unload one of its projectiles, thus, this pony must've seen the capabilities of this weapon.

"Perhaps I should give you a demonstration?" Without warning, nor my consciousness, I aimed at the pony's face in a split second and pulled the trigger.

As expected, the gun discharged its devastating projectile into the pony's face, the poor equine didn't even had the chance of reacting to the sudden blast the gun emitted. Blood gushed out as the bullet caved into the pony's skull, and ultimately piercing into his frontal cranium.

The three remaining ponies gasped at the sudden slaughter of their comrade, and I was certain that one of them began sobbing. Or two of them, it was difficult to discern.

Pathetic. I mentally noted at the lack of a scream the pony made. It would've been much more entertaining, had he screamed.

I then proceeded to stand up with complete indifference to what I just did, wiping off the stains of blood coating some of the surfaces of the gun. A sickeningly twisted grin slowly forming on my face. Then I noticed something, the same cloaker from before glanced at me questioningly.

"What is it." I said, in a low growl-like voice.

"Uh boss? Not only did you just outright murder that thing, your..." He paused, much to my ire. Hesitation grasped him, this was apparent as he fumbled around with his hands, attempting his best to make words.

"Speak. I've not the time for this." I demanded.

"Your eye." He said, gesturing at the gun.

Taking that as a prompt to glance at the gun, I did just that. The glossy surface of the gun reflected my appearance, and much to my surprise I had a purple eye-glow color. Slowly, the color of the glow of my eye reverted back to its normal red color.

Suddenly, whatever that just consumed the entire decision-making department of my mind just suddenly vanished as the familiar red radiance covered my right eye once more.

And I find myself looking down at a corpse of a pony that I didn't even want to kill.

What... just happened? I asked myself mentally. Have I finally lost it- or something? Wait, I felt the book radiating heat for the entire duration of my maddened state. Perhaps this was related to the book?

Frantically attempting to retrieve the book from my robes, I flipped it open to confirm my suspicions. And sure enough, a new page was present within the book.

Should this page appear, I suggest that you refrain from excessively un-summoning and summoning. You risk letting the magical feedback cloud your mind. I suggest that you obtain a method that deters, or preferably, negates such repercussions. The page read.

I blinked in disbelief.

To say that this was a delayed warning is a major, major understatement.

Shrugging, I looked down at the now broken mess that were my prisoners. "Oh- oh crap. It was not my intentions to kill your friend-" I stammered as I accidentally let my grasp around the gun loosen, letting the firearm fall to the ground.

"As if you expect us to believe such deceit, you repulsive thing?!" One of them snapped.

I genuinely felt incredibly awful now. "While... it may be incomprehensible, I really did not intend on killing one of you." I spoke, my already broken composure breaking further, "Please, just tell me why you're here, and I'll let you go free."

"No, you lying bastard. You're just going to kill us all, even if we tell you!" The same one lashed out, tears streaming from his eyes due to the tragic loss of his ally.

I did not react, I just simply stood there. Finally, I issued an order to my troops, "We're done here!" I shouted just loud enough for the surrounding forces to hear me, "We're leaving this place and we are going to proceed to regroup at the fort."

They were going to live, that wasn't even recompense for the death of their fellow guard. It was basically obligatory for me to let them go.

Sighing, I turned around. Much to my shock, my colleague was there, along with my escorts. "You- you didn't see any of that, did you?" I asked.

"We've seen all of it." Chrysalis said, approaching me. "And I must say, since when did you became so sadistic that you just simply murder anypony that aggravates you by the slightest?" She asked, actual curiosity hinted behind her voice.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded, "I just murdered a living, sapient being, for no justifiable reason, and you just ask that? Like, you're not going to question my sanity, or something?"

She nodded, fueling my bewilderment further.

"Ugh. That wasn't even me! That was the book possessing me, or whatever." Opening my book once more, I flipped to the page that detailed the side-effects of over-usage of the Grimoire. "Look!" I exclaimed as I placed the page into the changeling queen's view.

She rolled her eyes, as if that this was just simply a ruse of some sort. Silently, she began to read, as indicated by the shifting movements of her eyes.

"Huh, so the book really is possessing you, er, or at least the magical feedback caused by the book," She said with a somewhat concerned facial expression. "This is problematic."

"I am aware of that, I can't let this book- er, the magic feedback consume my thoughts-"

Chrysalis rudely interrupted, "What? No. Possessed you is quite admirable, he is very cold to his enemies," She said with a chuckle. "What is problematic is the fact that those ponies that you freed will probably report the death of their brother to Celestia. Which will make you skyrocket your ranking in her to-kill-list."

Does she even have a list of unwanted people? I asked myself mentally.

Before I could reply, a changeling, apparently one of Chrysalis' due to its green color-scheme, appeared out of the foliage. With a frantic and anxious look, he rushed to its queen's presence.

"My queen!" He exclaimed, "The ponies..." The changeling paused for a quick breath, "they en massed the entire nations of Equestria together! They're planning to make a huge assault targeted at the Everfree in the intentions of eradicating us!" It exclaimed before pausing once more to take a breath.

As he ended his sentence, my eyes widened. "Things... cannot possibly grow more worse, can they?" I asked myself inaudibly.

"And... they hired the red queen to assure our deaths." He finally finished.

That answers that...

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, I was trying to learn the violin.

So far, no progress.

Oh, I was also busy working on other projects as well.

Pre-readers for this chapter (Yay, it's back):

Ruby Rose (The current leader of LoHAV is my pre-reader...)

TSLSmokey

Storming5532

(Hopefully, I haven't forgotten anyone...)