Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey: Flash might have never heard of this drink before in his entire life (as far as he knew, Stalliongrad didn’t make whiskey), but it was the liquor that he was drinking while he, Shining, and Ares kept themselves holed up in this giant wine cellar hiding from the monster/demon/whatever it was that was running around the castle. And dear sweet Celestia was it bucking delicious.

To be honest, everything in this room was awesome. The chairs were comfortable, the table was sturdy and wooden and thick, and the smell of pine and oak and alcohol all came together to put the private a little more at ease with the pickle that he had found himself in. But honestly that just might have been the whisky talking. In fact it probably was the whiskey that was talking. The amazing, amazing whisky that he had drunk way too much of and was probably going to get fired for drinking in the first place. It had the overwhelming taste of cinnamon with just a hint of vanilla; an odd mixture but it tickled his taste buds and warmed him up every time he took a sip. This whiskey was something that the private would have liked to have a glass of when he was wrapped up in a warm blanket by a fire while it snowed.

…Though it looked like he was going to have to drink his amazing, and obviously expensive, alcohol by candlelight in one of the most tense and awkward situations of his life.

Ares, who was sitting at his right, appeared to be chugging some kind of brandy straight out of the bottle, his face flushed and his eyes closed. Shining had picked out a small bottle of “Moonshine” (whatever the hay that was) and was calmly taking shot after shot out of a crystal shot glass. Both of the males looked like they’d rather be anywhere else than here right now, because of Shining and his big mouth, but Flash could see resolution in Shining’s eyes and he was sure that Ares would have the same look the moment he stopped trying to drown himself in booze. Though the two had also been drinking themselves silly for Celestia knows how long, so they might not be as resolute or ready as he thought they were.

For practical reasons, and to make sure that Shining and Ares didn’t go into a drunken rage and try to kill each other, the private made sure to drink only about half as much of what Shining was so that he’d have a clear head to step in if things got out of hand. But even then he was starting to get more than a little tipsy. Just like Ares, Shining was already on his second or third bottle and didn’t look like he was about to stop anytime soon. He had been considering trying to get the two to slow down a bit but decided to let them have this. And he was sure that it’d be a heck of a lot easier to make sure nothing bad happened if these two were too drunk to stand.

Sighing, Shining swallowed another mouthful of his ‘Shine’ and put down his shot glass. “Well… I think I’ve had enough to drink to start this off,” he said with a slight slur, eyeing Ares for a second and shaking his head, before turning to Flash. “Flash, I want to talk to you about my sister.”

The private, who had been taking a drink of his whiskey, froze. Why the buck do I have to get dragged into this?! Flash thought as he looked back at Shining.

Swallowing and putting down his glass, Flash smiled nervously. “A-Alright, so w-what do you—“

“I love my sister more than anything in this world,” Shining interrupted, rubbing his hoof over the top of his shot glass. “When she was little I helped her study for her magic tests, from the moment she could walk I was chasing her around the house and playing with her and doing everything in my power to keep her safe.”

Flash had to resist the urge to move away as Shining continued to stare at him, his face an expressionless mask.

“Twilight has never had a coltfriend, Private, and as her older brother I want her to do all that she can to find the best stallion in the world, not find some jerk of a stallion that’ll break her heart the second he gets bored of her.” In the blink of an eye Shining’s expression turned ugly. Very ugly. “Now I want to hear why you’re the best stallion in the world for my little sister, and I want to know what the buck your intentions are with her. Now.”

Reaching over, Flash picked up a bottle of Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey and took a nip straight from the bottle. To his disappointment it did not make Shining look any less angrier or him any less scared.

“W-Well, you s-see…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

I…

I didn’t know what had happened and—

No, that wasn’t right; I knew what happened, I remembered what had happened between me and Mrs. Higher and Skulltaker and all of the other clan leaders. I just didn’t know how I could do that to somepony.

I was a mare that almost never got angry, and if I did it I never did more than yell at somepony and huff and puff for a little bit. But the hate, the RAGE that I felt when I found out that these ponies had decided to take my Ares from me…

I couldn’t think of anything other than hurting them; hurting them and their family and everyone that they loved. That rage had twisted my stomach and made every bit of my body feel like it had been on fire and charged with electricity at the same time. The hate made me powerful; powerful and untouchable and unstoppable. And that scared me.

Like really scared me.

I don’t remember walking out of that room, and I don’t remember my aunt laying a wing over me, but by the time that I came to I was looking at a terrified Captain Echo and too tired to do anything more than keep my eyes open and shake. And it wasn’t the good kind of tired either; where you just kind of fall over and close your eyes and go to sleep. I felt like I had ran a marathon while studying for the hardest test that I’ve ever taken in my life. My head hurt, the world was spinning, I was having a hard time breathing, and my heart felt like it was going to burst in my chest.

“Captain, please go and get the doctor while I take Cadence back to her room,” Luna said, using her magic to keep me from just keeling over under my own weight. “And be sure to tell her that Princess Cadence will need her as soon as she is finished with the ones in that room.”

Echo, still shaking, saluted. “Y-Yes ma’am!” she cried, taking off into the air and down the hall.
Luna leaned down and nuzzled my face. “We ask thou to keep thine eyes open, Niece, we will be at thy room momentarily.”

I couldn’t even nod as Luna picked me up and trotted down the hall.

I…

I had hurt somepony…

I had hurt somepony very, very badly...

I honestly couldn’t wrap that around my head, no matter how many times I thought about it or how many times the scene played over my head. Being upset was one thing; I had every right to just send some guards to their homes and have them imprisoned for what they had done but picking a pony up and slamming him against the wall until his bones broke… And if Luna hadn’t been there to stop me I might have gone farther than that, I might have even ended up...

I could have killed somepony…

Like Luna had said: what would Ares think if he would have seen me like that? What would Auntie Celestia think? What would my subjects think?! I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about it and I did it!

“Be warned, Cadence, thy actions might be known all over the castle by now,” Luna told me as she carried me into my room and closed the door behind her. “Dark magic can be felt by all no matter if they know the ways of magic or not.”

I swear to you that my eyes almost popped out of my head. “I USED DARK MAGIC?!?”

My aunt shushed me as she laid me down on the bed. “Keep your voice down, filly!” she snapped, her glare making me flinch. “Yes thou called upon the dark arts, but that does not mean that thou should go around announcing it to the heavens willy-nilly!”

I wilted under Luna’s gaze, a whimper escaping my throat. I knew what I did was wrong on so many different levels but black magic?!. “I’m sorry I didn’—I just—I couldn’t—“ With a shaky sigh I laid my head down miserably. “…Is that why I feel so bad right now?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing head with a hoof.

Now that I was lying in my bed and all of that adrenaline had worn off I was feeling a hundred times more awful than I had a minute ago. Like so awful that it was a wonder that I was still able to move anything. There was this deep ache all over my body that made it hurt to breath, there was this loud buzzing sound in my ears that was making it hard to think straight, and my head, sweet Faust my head. It felt like somepony had held me down and poured lava down my throat while hitting me with a baseball bat that was covered in rusty nails. I was a shaky, whimpering mess and I felt powerless to help myself or make anything better, and I think that alone was what hurt worse than any ache or pain or headache that I had right now.

Luna nodded, throwing a blanket over me and pulling a chair up beside my bed. “That is thy body reacting to the dark magic’s corruption,” she told me, her eyes thoroughly scanning my face almost as if she was looking for something. “If we hadn’t talked sense into thee as soon as we did there is a chance that thou would not be as whole as thou appear to be now.”

I tried to keep eye contact with her but just… couldn’t. I was too ashamed about what I had done. “Those ponies coltnapped Ares,” I murmured, keeping my gaze on my bed. “If you hadn’t gone and saved them when you did—“

“Whatever they did, Cadence, there is still no excuse for using that foul magic.” I could hear the disappointment in Luna’s voice, and it made me want to hide under my covers and cry my eyes out. “We alicorns cannot tamper with dark magic for the sake of all.”

“I didn’t mean to!” I told her, pulling the covers tighter around myself. “I don’t even know how the buck I managed to do it! That! Whatever the buck I did in that room!” I closed my eyes tightly when the world started to spin and the ringing in my ears grew louder. “I...I-I--”

Luna placed a hoof under my chin and forced me to look back up at her. “Thou must tell us if thou know of the dark arts in any way, Niece.” Luna’s gaze was harsh, penetrating. “Did our sister show thee any black magic? Did thou read of it in a book? Maybe see it happen without knowing what it was? Anything?”

I shook my head furiously. “NO! I swear!”

And I was telling the truth too. Celestia had warned me about dark magic the second that I was old enough to start spell casting and I had heard the stories, the horrible horrible stories, about what it did to ponies. Just like with most spell casters I wanted nothing to do with the dark arts and I hadn’t planned on seeing, doing, or learning about it in any other way than to defend against it…. Until now I guess...

Luna studied me for a few moments longer before she nodded, her gaze softening. “We… believe thee, Mi Amore.” The tip of her horn glowed as she leaned down and tapped it against mine.’

I gasped as a surge of magic rushed through me, negating that horrible, nauseated feeling and putting strength back into my limbs. I could feel the air rushing back to my lungs and the blood rush back to my face. It almost felt like I had been missing… something and whatever Luna had just done had made me whole again. Though I still felt pretty awful (both physically and mentally) I couldn’t help but smile in relief.

“While We would usually let thee suffer for using black magic, just like our master did when she caught both Us and our sister using it when we were little, We see no real need to do so. If what thou is saying is correct then thou used the magic without meaning to and We cannot punish thee for that.” Nodding again, Luna got out of her chair and walked over to a table where I had a stack of papers and some quills. “Our spell should have cleansed most of the corruption from thy person, so get up, Cadence, we still have much work to do.”

Though I didn’t want to get out of my bed (it was the only place that I felt safe right now), I forced myself to get up and walk over to my aunt, who picked up a quill, opened a pot of ink, and started to write on one of the pieces of paper.

“The castle staff is sure to be panicking, and if the Captain’s reaction is of any indication the guard is either mobilizing or hiding under their beds, so we must go and put everypony at ease as best as we can.”

I nodded, looking over my aunt’s shoulder to try to see what she was writing. “And after that?” I dared to ask.

Signing her signature to the bottom of the letter, Luna rolled it up and teleported it away with a quick spell. “What just happened is not something that we should take likely, Niece,” my aunt said, looking at me sternly. “Thou were casting dark magic that the world has not seen for a thousand years. It twisted thy body, twisted the world around thee, and it came dangerously close to twisting thy mind.”

Luna took a step toward me and wrapped a wing around my shoulder and tried her best to smile, though it looked far too forced to make me feel any better. “I have heard that thou had had a rough day before we dropped in to surprise thee, and the Captain had said something about thou being poisoned by a magical flower, so what happened might have been simply by chance or…”

“But it might have happened because of something else…” I said, suddenly feeling sick again.

Luna gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “We do not think that the nightmare is in thee, Cadence,” she quietly said before I pushed her wing away. “And We do not wish thee to make assum--”

“I didn’t feel like I was in control of myself when I was slamming SkullTaker into the wall like that,” I said, my voice cracking. “I could see it happening, I could hear him slamming against the wall, but I couldn’t stop myself…”

Luna fully wrapped a wing around me and pulled me against her side as I sobbed. “And I don’t know if I would have if I could’ve… “

“Shhh, it’s alright, Cadence. It’s alright.” She nuzzled the top of my head as I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my face as another sob wracked my body. “We are here now.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“—And your sister makes me feel like happy and alive but also sick and nervous and scared at the same time and—“

Ares took another gulp of his brandy, his eyes watering as the liquor burned his throat going down. Jesus is Flash laying it on thick, he thought wiping his mouth with his shirt. It’s adorable, but he might need to dial it back just a bit if he wants ol’ Shining here to take him seriously.

For the past hour and a half, Ares had been doing his best to get ready for his “little” talk with Shining, and in that hour and a half he learned something very important about himself and something that he also thought should apply to all people in general: No one should try to chug a whole bottle of brandy by themselves, especially if they’re not a very heavy drinker. No one wants to spend an hour puking their guts out because they decided to be an idiot for ten minutes.

I still drank that entire bottle though, Ares thought with a smile, reaching for his bottle. I bet you I chugged that thing in like two minutes flat and--

Clang!!

The bottle clanged against the tip of his fingers loudly, knocking it over and spilling its contents all over the the table. Ares tried to grab for the bottle but it always seemed a little to the left or right whenever he reached for it so after a minute of trying he simply rolled the bottle off the table with a drunken giggle.

It looks like the booze is finally kicking in, he thought, looking around for a not spilled bottle of alcohol that he could get trashed with. This took another minute because everything he looked at seemed to be moving on its own and there were doubles and triples of the same thing but he did eventually find a bottle to his left.

“There you arrrrrrre,” he murmured, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he very carefully reached over for the bottle. Though he very nearly fell out of his chair in the attempt, Ares managed to grab the neck of the bottle and bring it toward him on this first time. Pulling out the cork (or maybe it was a cap; he honestly couldn’t tell at this point) he was about to reward himself with another drink when he saw Shining, swaying in his seat and glaring at Flash, out of the corner of his eye.

…Why did Shining have to go and bring Flash into this? Ares sourly thought, putting the bottle down and putting his head down on the table. And why the hell didn’t he just want to get in a fist fight with me like I wanted in the first place?! That would have been a hell of a lot easier than the three of us hiding in some goddamn basement while some evil monster is running around…

“…I hope Cadencesh is alriiiiight…” He slurred, closing his eyes.

“Did you say something, Ares?” Flash asked, looking over the human.

Without raising his head, Ares said, “I ssssaid that I hoooope Cadence is alriiiiiight.”

Thought it felt far more challenging than it should have, Ares lifted his head up from the table to look at both Shining and Flash.

“Dosh you guysh think that Cadence is allllllllllllllllright?”

“Cadencccce is with Luna, and the two of them are powerful maaaagic users,” Shining said, throwing back another shot. “And the last time we sssaw them they were shurrounded by guardsh.” When Ares tried to reach for the bottle he pulled it away with his magic. “I’m sure they’re fiiine.”

“Heeeey, give that back!”

Shining just shook his head and tried to levitate it toward one of the wine racks. He managed to get it about three feet before his magic dissipated and the bottle fell to the ground with a thud. Though Flash flinched at the noise both Ares and Shining acted like they hadn’t heard it.

“I’m not watchin’ you make yourselfsh sick again,” he said, returning Ares’ glare with the coolest and most collected look that his drunken self could muster at the moment. “Sosh be quiet and letsh Fllllash finish what he wass gon’ to say.”

“You’re as drunk as meee!”

Shining snorted, crossing his hooves. “Am not! Now shuttit!”

Ares guffawed. “Why the hell are you bussin’ his balls anyways, Shining? Jussht look at Flash! He’s adorableh, furry, he has a great assss, and you know that he’s not goin’ to do anything bad with Twiiiiilight!”

Flash blinked. “Wait, what did you say about my as—“

Shining shook his head, almost falling out of his seat. “Don’t you tell me how tah look after my shhister,” he growled, his gaze suddenly hardening. “I want what’s bessht for her, and if I have to—“

“Have to what?” Ares interrupted, his head bobbing as he struggled to keep himself still. “Flash and Twilight can barely look at each other without ffffucking blushing, and you think that the two of them are going t’just up and ffffuck if you don’t give him the whole bigbrotherbullshit speech?!”

Shining snorted. “Shut up you dumb monkey,” he stated, carefully enunciating each word.

Ares gasped as if Shining had just slapped his mother in front of him. “NO! You shuddap you dumb horssh!”

The two glared at each other from across the table, neither one of them moving or even blinking. Flash, now nervous at the sudden and extreme tension that now laid over the room like a fog, stood up.

“Now hang on a second, guys,” he said, lifting up his hooves and making what he hoped were calming gestures. “Now why don’t we just take a minute to calm down. We can’t let the alcohol do the thinking for us and--”

In a flash Ares and Shining were up out of their seats, both picking up their chairs and throwing them in the general vicinity of each other (not close enough to actually hit the other but Flash was forced to duck under the table with a yelp), both growling.

“I HAVE TO SHEE IF ISH CAN TRUSSH HIM TO TAKE CARE OF MY TWILY!”

“YOU’VE FUCKING KNOWN HIM FOR YEARSH! CAN’T YOU JUST FUCKING TRUSST—“

In a flash Shining was over the table and in Ares’s face, his lips drawn back in a snarl and his eyes blazing.

“TRUST? TRUST?! THE LAST TIME I BUCKING TRUSTED SOMEPONY YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!”

Flash flinched as Ares’s eyes widened in shock. Sure, he expected that this might get a little… tense the longer that they sat here but he never expected the two of them to go and just blow up over something so silly!

“Come on guys! There’s no need to let a little—“

The moment that Flash poked his head up from underneath the table a bottle whizzed by his head, once again forcing him under the table.

“SHUT UP!!” Both Ares and Shining snarled before the two stood and charged each other, bodies colliding with a solid thunk sound. The two staggered about, limbs flailing, before drawing back, each regarding each other with bared teeth.

“You shut your mouth!” Ares snapped, balling his hand up into a fist and cocking it back.

“Buck you!” Shining snapped back, readying a punch of his own.

The fist and hoof flew through the air with a surprising amount of force, and if either punch had connected Shining or Ares might actually have gotten hurt. Luckily for them the two were so drunk that they were aiming for the second Shining/Ares to the right of the real one. Ares stumbled when his punch was met with open air, and though he did his best to keep his feet he ended up losing his balance and smacking painfully against the edge of the table before falling to the ground with a thud. Shining, who had been just a hair slower than the human, got to watch as he fell to the ground before he also lost his balance and fell off the table with a drunken yelp.

The two lay there on the ground just staring at each other in shock before Shining scrambled to his hooves, his teeth bared and his horn glowing. Ares was quick to join him, growling as he balled up his hands and held them in front of him.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW HORRIBLE IT’S BEEN HAVING TO WATCH YOU RUN AROUND WITH CADENCCCEE WHILE I GUARD THE TWO OF YOU?!” Shining demanded. “I HAVE TO WATCHTH’ TWO OF YOU BE HAPPPPY AND KISSSH LIKE A BUCKING HAPPY COUPLE WHILE I TRY TO SHUCK IT UP AND ACTH LIKE NOTHING’SH WRONG!”

With another growl Shining let loose a magical bolt that could have spilt the human in half if it would have made contact but once again Shining’s aim was horribly off, the bolt passing over the human’s right shoulder and shattering a cask of wine behind him into a spray of fermented grape juice and splinters. Ares, too drunk to notice that he had just come pretty close to dying, lurched forward with murder in his eyes and before Shining could move the pony got a knee to the chin.

“WHEN WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?! YOU COULD’VE GONE ANYWHERE ELSE!” Ares snarled as Shining scrambled backwards. The stallion tried to regain his footing but once again Ares was right there shoving him back as hard as he could.

“BUT NO! YOU COME UPP HERE AN’ TRY TO PLAY FUCKIN’ SHOLDIER!” He tried to push him again but ended up tripping and falling to his knees. “AND DON’T YOU FFFUCKIN’ DARE THINK THAT YOU BEIN’ HERE ISN’T FUCKIN’ ME AND CADENSH UP YOU SELFISH FUCKIN’ PRICK!”

Shining lunged forward as Ares tried to get to his feet, knocking the human onto the ground. “DON’T YOU BUCKING THINK I KNOW THAT?!” he snapped, standing over Ares. “DON’T YOU BUCKING THINK I KNOW THAT WHAT I’M DOING IS HURTING THE TWO OF YOU?!”

Ares was about to start screaming right back at him when he noticed that there were tears in Shining’s eyes.

“I wanna be happy again, Aresss,” the unicorn said, the anger just draining out of him. “I want to wake up and sssmile and hop out of bed to kick the hay out’f the day.”

Ares found himself wrapping his arms around the stallion as he sniffled, his ears pinned against his head.

“But why comes here to do this?” the human almost whispered.

Shining looked down at him, his blue eyes filled with tears and realization. “…I …I don’t know…” With another sob Shining’s strength just seemed to leave him as he collapsed on top of Ares and buried his muzzle into his shoulder, Ares holding him tightly with tears also in his eyes.

Flash watched with a mixture of concern, confusion, and relief as he poked his head back up from under the table and watched the two just lay on the ground crying their eyes out like drunken ninnies. Without turning his head he grabbed his bottle of Stalliongrad No.3 Fine-Brewed Fire Whiskey and took a swig straight from the bottle.

Well… this escalated a bit too quickly for my liking… He grimaced, eyes watering as he took a particularly big gulp. Why the buck do my friends always have to be CRAZY?

“F-Flash, get over here! And bring our bottles while you’re at it! Th’ three of us have feelings we need to drink through!”

Like really, REALLY crazy!

~_~_~_~_~_~_~__~

Dear Sister,

We have some joyous news and… news that we feel is a cause for concern. At this moment we write this to you from the Crystal Empire, so it appeared our spell worked! So that means that we will be able, with a bit more tweaking, to travel extreme distances to anywhere we want. This could help our little ponies in ways that we could not even begin to imagine! (And thou didn’t believe in us!)

But there has been an incident that needs your immediate attention; yours and the Elements preferably.

You see, something had happened to Ares when we teleported to the Empire. The colt, by our guess, had either been harassed or worse by a group of nobles and might have been forced against his will to meet with them. Though nopony will tell us what had happened, (possibly because they were concerned for the nobles’ health) so we don’t know exactly what happened, but our niece must have known what had happened and went to confront the villains and punish them for their crimes.

And when she went to see them it appeared that our niece… snapped.

We do not know the cause, or how or why it happened, but we believe that Cadence had come close to being overcome by the nightmare as we once had. We had seen a twisted and harsher version of Cadence, sensed the dark magic that had spilled out of her like a fountain, witnessed as she spat hatred and violence at the ones that threatened her lover, and We will be honest with thee sister in saying that we were afraid.

Very afraid

But fear not sister, we somehow managed to talk her down… though we do not know how long it will last.

Please, come quickly,

Luna

Before Celestia had managed to read the last bit of the letter she was out of her room with a quick teleportation spell, popping into the hallway and racing toward the barracks as fast as her legs could carry her.

“My lady, is everything alright?” A guard called as she sprinted past him. concern in his voice.

“Call all of the guard and have them meet me in the barracks immediately! That’s an order!” she yelled, her eyes wide and her heart racing. Though the Princess of the Sun thought she was a calm pony, there was no way in Tartarus that she could be anything other than panicked at the moment. She had seen what the nightmare had done to her sister, she had seen what it had turned her into and what the monster that her sister had become had done to their kingdom. She had faced that vile, evil thing twice in her reign, and twice it had been beaten before her eyes, but the pain of seeing “Nightmare Moon” still hurt just as badly as when she had first seen her baby sister fall to the darkness.

She had prayed that she would never have to fight her family because of that… thing again, but it looked like fate had different plans.

As she raced toward the barrack doors she simply lowered her shoulder and charged right through it. Using magic to open the door would have taken too long, and time was something that they might not have on their side.

CRASH!

The doors crumpled like tin foil as the big mare smashed into them, Celestia not slowing down as she ran to a collection of very confused guards. “My little ponies, we have a code black,” she said, cutting off any that tried to speak. “I need a few of you to race down to Ponyville to retrieve the elements. Tell them what’s happening, explain the situation; drag them from their homes if you have to, just bring them here within the hour!”

Taking a deep, shaky breath, she continued. “The rest of you need to equip yourselves, we need to go to the Empire as quickly as possible!”

The Canterlot Royal Guard looked at each other before saluting. Years of training and discipline had taught them to never question their Highness, especially for something as serious as a code black. It was a contingency that many had prayed they would never live to see, and it was something that they could never train for.

An alicorn had either gone mad or had fallen.

And if the look that Celestia was giving them meant anything this was in no way one of her famous pranks.

Celestia watched as officers started screaming commands to their soldiers and grunts rushed to and fro, racing to pull on armor and check their weapons, the horrible, terrible thought of her niece, a mare that she had tucked into bed at night, driven to darkness. There was no way to keep up the façade of calm and collected in the face of that, there was no way she could look her soldiers in the eyes and tell them that everything was going to be alright. Even if, even if what Luna said was true and she had somehow managed to calm down Cadence something could still be inside her. Something that wanted to hurt and destroy and corrupt, something that she was going to stop no matter what, even if she had to move the heavens themselves.

She wasn’t going to let some demon take another pony that she loved. Not again.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Like Luna had said, my… actions caught the attention of many of the castle staff, and many of them had responded by panicking and hiding. Not that I could blame them, who wouldn’t be scared when there’s black magic in the air and soldiers running around like their tails were on fire?

With every pony that Luna and I found, I felt worse and worse. I had caused this; it was my fault that I had to hold a mare or stallion and tell them that everything was alright while they were shaking so badly that they could barely stand. It was my fault that the soldiers, who had already looked exhausted from earlier today, were looking into the shadows like something was ready to jump out and grab them. It was my fault that some of the clan leaders were now seriously injured. All of it, everything bad that was happening right now was because me me. Me.

Dark magic, real black magic, was something that caused fear in all that witnessed it. It took all of your happiness and glee and replaced it with hopelessness and fear and dirtied whatever it touched. It was not something that could be taken away cleanly; no matter what you did there would always be traces of it wherever it was used. I could smell my failure in the air, could see it in the eyes of the ponies that I was forced to lie to when they asked me what that voice had been, and each time I did it it was like somepony was driving a knife in my heart.

Luna had insisted that I tell my staff that the voice had just been a spell gone wrong, said that if my little ponies knew the truth about what had happened, the truth about what I had become in a moment of frustration and weakness, there might have been riots in the streets. So, even though it left a bad taste in my mouth, I lied and lied and lied, doing my best to smile and reassure and ignore the haunted look that Captain Echo was giving me whenever she thought I wasn’t looking. It took hours to find everypony and “explain” what had happened to them, and it left me and Luna (who was far more tired than I was but still managed to chug along) so tired that we could barely stand. But our work was not done, we still needed to find one last person in this big castle; a person that I was not going to look in the eye and lie to about what happened.

Ares deserved to know what happened, what I had done, and even if it killed me on the inside I was going to tell him that his fillyfriend had become a monster. I knew that telling him might make him afraid of me (sweet Faust right now I was afraid of me) but he had a right to know. Though that didn’t make me any less scared about telling him.

“Art thou sure that Ares will be down here?” Luna asked as I led her down to the wine cellar. “Surely it would have been better for Ares to hide in the barracks or away from the castle.”

“This is one of the most secure rooms in the entire castle,” I said, poking at the wall. “If Shining brought Ares anywhere it’d be here.”

It took a minute to remember where the hay the secret pressure point was,but when I finally poked it Luna and I were there through the door, Luna, eager to see if Ares was alright, and me… standing by the door trying to work up the courage to walk into the room.

Come on, you can do this! Ares has a right to know what happened! I thought, lifting a hoof up to take a step forward only to put it right back down. He’ll love you no matter what you say… he’ll love you no matter what…”

With a shaky sigh, I took a step forward, then another, then another, until I was through the door and in the great big wine room that had empty bottles every—

…Wait, what?

“Cadence? Thou might want to see this,” I heard Luna call, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Following the voice I weaved through the wine racks, stepping over bottles and even a barrel or two until I saw my aunt standing over Flash, Ares, and Shining.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene before me as I trotted up next to my aunt. “…Aw.”

Shining , Ares, and Flash, with bottles all around them and reeking of alcohol, were sleeping in a little cuddle pile. Ares was propped up against a wine barrel with Flash and Shining cuddled up on either side of him, their muzzles buried in his chest and neck while Ares had an arm around the two of them, holding them close.

Even with all of the bucked up stuff that had happened, and even though I would have been furious any other day if I had found out that these three had just drunk a lot of really expensive spirits, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the smiles on each of their faces.

“It appears that these three have had an… interesting evening,” Luna said, her smile mirroring mine as she kicked one of the empty bottles.

The bottle rolled and hit Ares in the thigh, Ares snorting loudly before cracking open an eye. “Who whatzthat?”

His blood shot, unfocused eyes scanned the room before landing on me. “Cadencesh!” He slurred, a drunken smile coming to his face as he tried to sit up, only to realize that he was pinned down. “Cadencesh, you’re alright!”

His arms reached out to touch me even though I was about ten feet away from him. “I wasss worried andsh…stuff!”

I smiled, trotting over and putting my head into his hands. “Yeah… I’m alright honey…” I took another step closer as his fingers traced my face and my Ares continued to look into my eyes.
“Did you, Flash and Shining enjoy yourself down here?”

Ares frowned, drunkenly forcing me closer to him. “Are you shhhure yoush alright?” he asked, sounding concerned as someone that looked so drunk off his flank that he probably didn’t know where he even was.

I nuzzled his hands, doing my best not to step on Flash and Shining as Ares forced me closer and closer. “…Yeah, I’m alright honey.”

“Thennn why are’y crying?” he asked, his thumbs wiping the sudden wetness on my cheeks. My smile wavered and I finally let Ares pull me on top of him in between Flash and Shining, who were grumbling at all of the sudden movement. “I love you; youshhouldn’t be crying. If y’r crying that meansh you’re sad and I don’t want you to be sssad!”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “So pleasss be happy.”

“I-I was just thinking about how much I loved you, honey,” I sniffled, laying my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes as tears streamed down my face. I felt Flash and Shining wiggle themselves against me and I could swear, even though I couldn’t see it, that Flash wrapped a wing around my back.

I wrapped my hooves around Ares, my silly, drunk little human who was doing his best to make me feel better and smile and be happy even though he probably wouldn’t be able to stand on his own, a sob escaping my throat. “I l-love you s-so much, Ares.”

I sobbed again as Shining wiggled himself around until he was able to wrap a hoof around me in an almost protective manner. And, sandwiched between two sleeping, smelly stallions and my coltfriend who was either trying to run his fingers through my mane in an attempt to calm me down or trying to rip all of my hair out I felt safer and happier than I had all day…

“Ish your butt getting bigger? ‘Cause it looks really, really, really niiiiicce right now.”

Happier and I was laughing my flank off.