I’m not sure for how long we stood there, myself just trying to come to terms with what I had done. Eventually though I managed to stop muttering to myself, pushing out of Night’s arms. “Fuck… what am I supposed to do now?”

Night looked around for a moment before speaking. “Perhaps we can try asking the princesses for forgiveness?”

I toyed with the idea for just a second before remembering just how badly they wanted to stick me in the ground, alive or otherwise. “No, no, no, no, NO.” I shook my head, stepping away from Night. “We can’t do that. I can’t stand being sealed away again if they decide to do that. I don’t think what little I have left holding together my mind can take it! I just can’t-”

Night cut in. “Don. It’s alright. I understand you are afraid.” Those words calmed me down from my bout of hysteria. “Perhaps you can just head back to Ponyville and be with your friends? Pretend this never happened.”

Though it was a tempting idea, I shook my head again before sitting back against a dead tree, my face buried in my hands. “I don’t think I could just pretend. Not when I see Applejack or Fluttershy almost every day and know that I’m the one who did that to them. Plus it’s still possible Jason is out there, planning to return here to kill me. Eventually either he will return to kill me or the princesses will figure out what I actually am, and as it stands right now, either way I am dead or as good as. I can’t even just hide in the fortress, as I have no doubt Gnarl will pick out that I am not exactly myself after long.”

Night sighed before walking over and sitting next to me. Silence fell between as I simply looked at my lap, trying to figure out just what to do. Every option I can see has too high of a chance that I’ll end up dead or worse.

“You’ve gone too far.” I jolted up as I heard the whispering snake voice again, Night taking notice of my sudden movement with a worried expression.

“Don?” I turned to her before shaking my head and going back to staring at my lap. I have gone too far. I don’t have the option to just forgive and forget and this point. I don’t deserve it. I would say that I should just accept my fate and let it happen but… I wrapped my arms around my legs, tightly holding them against my chest. I’m too afraid. I’m not some hero in a story that can sacrifice himself for the greater good. Nor am I villain who can carelessly murder as I have been. I’m just… me.

“We can’t go back.” I said, the first stern words I had spoken ever since my revelation. “I’ve stepped too far into darkness. My only options now are either to continue and survive or don’t and die.”

Night seemed to look me up and down, as if she was seeing me for the first time, before leaning on my shoulder. “If that is what you wish, we can continue, but… I don’t know if I can stand more killing.”

I shook my head. “I can’t either. If we must fight, we do so mercifully and with speed. Quick and painless. At least we can give them that much.”

Night nodded before the two of us stood up, walking over to the pool. I looked around the garden once more before looking into the water. It no longer showed me any image but what my body saw. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve seen this place before.”

Night nodded. “One’s mind tends to take the form of someplace that is dear to them. Those with more experience can change the setting, but I believe in your case it would be best to leave it as is.”

“Wish I could remember what this place was then.” I sighed before looking deeper into the pool, feeling it draw me in before my eyes snapped open and I was back in my body.

I looked over my body, feeling out of place in my own skin after everything that had occurred. The weight of everything I’d done made my limbs feel heavy. I took a glance at the cloak and felt the pain in my stomach return, it reminding me of those I have betrayed. I can’t stand this. I need to move. As I got up, I noticed that the three guards I had remaining were nearby, all standing ready despite their wounds.

Just as mindlessly loyal as ever… nothing should live like that. Night...

“Of course.” In a moment the shadows came to life and quickly pierced their hearts, killing them quickly. Despite the merciful death, I still could barely stand to watch. Better for them to be dead than for them to have to continue suffering.

“Indeed.” I called upon my power, finding that I still had my Overlord magic and immolating the corpses. The fire burned my hand as is shot out, causing me to flinch back. “Don, what’s wrong?”

I… I’m scared.

“Scared?”

I don’t know what this magic could be doing to me. I’m afraid it might turn me back into… that.

“I don’t think you need to worry Don.”

“Well that’s what I thought before!” I shouted. “But then I found out that all my motivation to do what I was doing was a lie!” I grabbed my head, a splitting headache forming as I shook. “Just how far did I fall into my other half’s habits. Is it possible that since I arrived I hadn’t been myself? Just who am I really?!”

“Don! Calm down!” I felt a cooling wave go through my body at Night’s words. “Don, you have to be careful. Your heart and mind can’t take this stress.”

“I… I’m sorry.” I panted. “Just… how am I supposed to know who I am?”

“We figure it out. One step at a time.” As she said this, she took control of one of my legs and took a step forward in the same way we would when we trained to work together mentally. The gesture calmed me down, allowing me to take a breath before we stepped out into the hive. The place was rather active oddly enough. Drones flew through the air, some carrying things while others just buzzing about. The amount of activity going on didn’t help my nerves and I soon found myself needing to get out.

“I can’t handle this.” I growled under my breath. “I need some air.” As I moved through the hive at a near running pace, Nightmare spoke her concerns.

“Are you sure that you should be going outside? What if someone followed Bastion? You are in no state to fight.”

“Bastion’s crazy though. No one’s going to enter the Badlands right after the changeling’s invaded.” A few more moments and I was exposed to the arid air of the Badlands. The air wasn’t exactly any easier to breathe but the quiet helped calm my nerves. I pulled my hood up and stepped away from the entrance before sighing.

Peace and quiet.

“Nǐ hǎo ma!? Qǐng dòng nǐ dà pìgu!”

I have no idea what that meant, but at the moment I was so on edge it didn’t matter. I quickly turned in the direction of the sound, Nightmare calling for a sword and dagger for me to wield out of shadows as I faced the new foe.

The foe turned out to be a stereotypically looking asian man pulling a rickshaw. Just before he reached me, his rickshaw pulled out in front of him in a perfectly circular arc. As the dust settled, the rickshaw exploded into a small hut with a large, colorful sign above the door, with strange symbols drawn onto it.

I didn’t move, still ready for something to attack me. This was all too strange for my nerves and I could feel my heart slamming in my chest. As I stood there, the strange man walked out from behind the hut, striking an odd pose before spinning around in what looked like martial arts, ending with him drawing a sign from nowhere and slamming it into the ground. I gave this sign a quick glance to find it was in english.

“Yo! Welcome to Aaron Heibai’s Emporium of Everything and Anything Your Mind Can or Can’t Imagine! Good evening valued customer, how are you today?” As I finished reading it, a strange harp like sound played out. It would have been rather soothing had I not been ready to fight.

“Is this for real?” Night questioned.

Oh good. So I’m not seeing things in my fractured state of mind.

“My name is Aaron Heibai, what’s yours?” A kindly grin stretched out Aaron’s face, one far wider and creepier than it had any right to be. His braid that went down to his feet flowed in a wind that did not exist, reminding me all too much of a certain princess.

“Don, just tell him your name.” Night spoke.

What?! Why should I? He could be an assassin sent by the princesses!

“The princesses don’t know of any other humans but you.”

Well… it could be Jason!

“Maybe, but I doubt an assassin would have landed in front of you with such a strange display.” I was about to argue further when she cut me off. “There’s no harm in telling him your name if he is an assassin. After all, he’d already know who you are.” I finally conceded to her logic and spoke.

“Don.”

“Mhmm. Thank you sir.” Aaron suddenly pulled out a long scroll from nowhere, quickly writing something with a flourish before it disappeared once again. I swear if he has some power that uses my name against me- “Would you like to step inside my little shop of horrors?”

The door creaked open ominously, exposing an interior full of shadows. Aaron’s grin only seemed to get wider as my caution heightened.

“Do you take me for some kind of- ack!” A quick jab of pain, much like if someone elbowed you, went through my head.

“Don’t anger him without good reason.” Night chided before taking control, her voice overlapping my own as she did. “I suppose, but I will be wary.”

“Oh ho~ I see you’ve got a headmate! Come come, the both of you! Let’s see what Uncle Aaron can find for you, yes?” Before I could retake control and tell him to fuck off, he got behind us and lightly shoved until we were inside.

What was a tiny hut on the outside though turned out to be massive on the inside. It looked even bigger than my fortress, and the entire space seemed just dedicated to being a store. Holy shit, you can fit everything in the world in here!

“Well, what do you think?” Aaron had disappeared from behind us, now sitting at a counter that had not been in front of me two seconds ago.

As I regained control of my body from Night, I shook my head, causing my hood to fall off. “It’s… big? Look, what do you want? I’m in no mood to deal with some hero from the multiverse attacking me because I’m darkness incarnate or whatever bullshit they pull out of their asses at this point.”

“Me? I just want you to buy something. I’m no hero, kiddo. Just a madman in a really well disguised shop.” Aaron chuckled, “Well, not just a madman, actually, but that’s semantics. You’ll find a directory to your left, the elevators are directly behind it, make sure you follow the navigational devices, blah blah blah. Have fun~”

For a moment I toyed with the idea of just what I could get in this place when a realization made me deadpan. “I’m broke.”

“Not a problem! Just use whatever has any sort of value to you. You even get First Timer Discounts and the Flat Broke Discount!” More creepy grinning. Yeesh, has he stopped grinning since he showed up?

“Pretty sure the only thing I actually value at this point is what little sanity I still have.” I muttered before pondering my options. Lets see. I have a set of armor and weapons but they’re back in the fortress and I definitely don’t want to go there with Gnarl around. The changelings don’t have anything to give in the state they are in. Hell, the only thing I’m really overflowing in is minions. I blinked for a moment. Wait a minute…

“They are rather advanced magical constructs.” Night confirmed my thinking. “Perhaps they are some worth to this man?”

I nodded. “I have these… creatures I can spawn with magic, and a lot of them. Can I trade them?”

Aaron tapped his chin, “Do they have souls? I trade in souls, but not really all that often. I mean, usually when I mention the soul thing, people try to chase me out of town with Bibles and Crucifixes. Well, that, or they start sacrificing goats….” He looked a bit disturbed at the sacrificing goats part.

Didn’t think that would unnerve him. I rose an eyebrow at this behavior before shaking my head. “Oooookay? You can probably guess by now that I’m not exactly the holiest of knights. And yes, they have souls. They aren’t very bright though.”

“Intelligence doesn’t exactly have anything to do with soul quality. Mind if I take a look at one of these creatures?”

I reached my hand out to summon a few minions before stopping, my heart beating in my ears as I just stared at my hand.

“Don!” My eyes shot open as the beating subsided somewhat. “Relax. I promise you, even if using this power starts to turn you again, I will bring you back.” For some reason, knowing Night was my lifeline helped calm my nerves and I charged my hand full of magic, opening a portal. A brown, red, and green minion fell out of it in a pile, grunting and growling at each other. Aaron appeared next to them in an instant, examining all three minions with a magnifying glass he got from who knows where.

“Hmm… Well, judging by the quality of their souls, I’d say each one is worth…. one single Equestrian bit. Not bad, really. I’ve seen souls only worth a single shard of iron pyrite, so these are definitely good.”

“Those things are worth that much?” Nightmare questioned. “I’m actually surprised.”

“So... “ I looked around, suddenly realizing I had no clue what I could actually get to help me in my current situation. “I really have no idea what I could need here. My problems aren’t something you can put an ointment on.”

Aaron snickered, “Oh please, some of the ointments I have can melt through gods… besides, ointments aren’t even half of what I’ve got in this shop. I have armor, weapons, power up items, slaves (Not recommended unless you’re a sick fucker), sex slaves (Totally different, also usually only if you’re a sick (though slightly less… maybe) fucker), magical weapons, spell tomes, magical weapons, toys, collectibles, cookware, novelty items, perfume, clothing, magical clothing, Void items, tokens, Displaced catalogues, personalized reincarnations, standardized reincarnation packages, adult items, really fucked up adult items, books, magazines, comics, magical, prefabricated magical spells… etc etc.”

I thought about it for a moment and decided it was best to see if there was something to deal with my physical problems, i.e. those who want to destroy me. “Um… got something that can help me defeat two alicorns and a guy with a shapeshifting watch?”

“Hmmm… try…. well, I got demonic weaponry on the fifth floor if that’s your style. That usually works against Celly. Nuclear tech is on the eighth floor, but make sure to wear the radiation suits if you ever want to live past your next morning. Laser weapons are seventeenth floor, but make sure not to aim at the mirrors. Or the prisms. If you’re fighting Jason, try the heat weapons on the fourth floor and the anti-Nordic weapons on the eightieth floor. If it’s Ben, try the ninetieth floor with the Anti-Reality Warper tech and the seven hundredth floor with the Instant Hostage tech… actually, I don’t think Ben’d like that. Don’t try the seven hundredth floor.”

“There’s a second guy with that watch?” I groaned before facepalming. One of those fuckers is bad enough! “And you know Jason?”

“Of course I do. Sold him a Power Morpher and some other stuff. Good kid, sorta an asshole, but I think that of everyone I meet, usually.” Aaron shrugged, “Hey, I’m just a neutral party, man. I don’t give a damn if you try to kill Jason or not, I just care that I have enough business to make it through the fiscal quarter, y’know?”

I decided for my crumbling sanity that I should just ignore the implications of some sort of multiversal market and just walked off, glancing over the shelves.

Holy shit, I could get lost in here.

“Indeed.” Night confirmed. “This is place is beyond massive. Though I have to ask why we are even bothering. I doubt there is something in here that can just make all of our problems go away… and if there is something like that, I have to question the ethics of a shop like this.”

It’s less I need something to fix our physical problems and more I’m looking for something to help with the mental ones.

“I don’t quite understand.”

Right now I’m having a hard time drawing the line between myself and the Overlord. It’s why I’m so worried using his power will corrupt me, cause I’m still not sure where I end and he begins. Plus if I keep hesitating whenever I use magic I will get killed.

“So… you’re looking for your own power to use?”

Basically. I just… need something to differentiate me from the Overlord. Something that is mine and mine alone. I can rely on my own martial skills but that will only get me so far in this world of magic. Just as I finished saying this to Night, I turned and found something strange sitting on the shelf. It was a purple, glowing ring, though it seems to have been broken. Wonder if the damage will mean it costs less? I joked as I picked it up and turned it in my hand.

“What in hell is this thing? It feels… weird.”

Aaron’s voice rang out, causing me to jump as I turned to see a speaker hanging on the wall. “Ah, I see you’ve found the Broken Halo of Lucifer. Would you like to read the item stats?”

So it’s literally from hell. Ironic. I couldn’t help but smirk a bit before turning to the speaker. “Sure, but I’d rather not talk to you over a machine. I never truly lived on Earth you know.”

“If that’s truly what you prefer, the customer is always right, I suppose.” I jumped as his voice was once again behind me. I reacted, fire shooting from my hand and burning my fingers at my shaky control. The fireball went sailing toward Aaron before quickly turning around and being absorbed into the halo I was still holding in my other hand.

I took a few calming breaths, letting my racing heart slow down to a more reasonable pace as I felt Night begin to work on the burns that now covered my fingers. “Okay… well that just saved you third degree burns.”

“Heh, as if third degree burns are the worst thing I’ve faced. So, is that your choice? I mean, you can have more, but it doesn’t look like you’ve picked up anything else… so…”

“Well… what does this thing do?” Suddenly a holographic screen appeared above the item, listing out its abilities like so.

Aaron waved his hand at it, saying “It does that,” as if the screen had always been there. I took a moment to go over the list before reaching the bottom.

“Hold on. Wings? This thing lets me fly?”

“‘Bout as well as most of the things in here, I suppose. Better than a jetpack, that’s for sure.” Aaron was now hovering upside down and playing with a yoyo… also upside down.

What the hell is he… you know what, at this point I’m just going to accept he is beyond strange. Focus on the halo. This thing can make me fly!

“You do seem to enjoy the experience.” Night chuckled as I rolled my eyes at her comment.

“How much?”

Aaron pointed to a price tag off the side of the halo, again, one that hadn’t been there before.

“This guy’s worse than you are with his references to Earth media.” Nightmare groaned, this time my turn to laugh a bit.

“I’ll take it.” I held out my hand, hesitant once more before drawing the amount of minion souls from the netherworld into it. “Six hundred and sixty six souls.” I confirmed more for myself than Aaron as he grasped my hand and shook, the souls quickly being sucked away from me.

A receipt slid out of Aaron’s now shadowy face, coming from a glowing white slot just below his eyespots. “Danke Schon, my good man. Would you like your receipt?”

The insanity never ends. “Uh… no. I’m good.”

“Alright then.” The receipt burst into flames and disappeared. After which his entire body turned to shadows. Suddenly I hear a door slam behind me, and when I turned I was back in the badlands. Okay, the random crap behind me thing is getting kind of old.

Aaron appeared from behind the hut just as before, picking up the whole thing and folding it up as if it was made of cardboard. With a flick of his shoulder he then took the bundled up hut and tossed it onto a suddenly appearing rickshaw. He was also back to looking stereotypically asian instead of the eerie shadow form he had taken before.

“Satisfied?” He grinned some more, though this one was less intense. Still pretty creepy though.

"I... guess?" Did that all just really happen? I glanced down at my hand, the halo still there as I did my best not to let myself think too hard about what happened.

“Then my job here is done. Farewell, Don, I must go. My people need me! AWAAAAAAAAAAY!” Aaron darted away with the rickshaw, entering a portal and then disappearing. The only thing left after he was gone was a scorch mark on the sand and some strange smell of incense.

I wriggled my nose at the smell before fanning the halo in front of my face. “Alright, I just want to confirm one last time. That did all just happen, right?” Night gave me a mental nod. “Good, than you’re my witness if we ever have to explain what happened here today. I don’t think anyone would believe me alone if I tried to tell them all that.”

“I wouldn’t believe you either if I didn’t see it for myself. Now, what are we going to do with this?” She pointed my eyes at the halo.

“Uh… not sure. I’m not sure how to activate it. In hindsight, we should have asked for instructions.” I turned it around a few times, looking along the halo for a button or something. When that didn’t help I held it above my head, wondering if the sun would reveal anything.

As I did this though, the halo began to glow brighter before it seemed to start falling apart into strands of glowing magic. These strands then worked their way to my arm, running down it all the way past my shoulder. They felt like they were made of liquid fire, burning my arm without actually damaging it. When it was finally done, I gasped for air. The lines were now embedded into my arm, still glowing with power. A quick check under my shirt showed that they stopped just before reaching my neck, and only barely reached the center of my chest and back.

“Guess that looks pretty cool.” I shrugged. “Weird glowing tattoos are cool, right?”

“Sure they are Don.” Night said sarcastically. I just rolled my eyes.

“Well who cares if it hurt or if it looks weird. Let’s see if this works.” I thought about summoning the supposed wings that this came with and it turned out be easier than expected. Suddenly I had two large white feathered wings sticking out of my back, though said feathers looked covered in ash and the tips were glowing like fire. I gave them an experimental flap and found them more than capable of lifting me off the ground.

“Alright, this is great!” I flew into the air, just enjoying the feeling as I could feel Night watching with a smile. I guess with everything that was going on, she was content to give me this brief moment of happiness. Soaring across the badlands though made me quickly realize something.

“Hang on.” I pulled back, hovering in mid-air. “We’re still gonna need the last nest to have the power to beat Celestia and Luna.”

“Yes?” Night questioned.

“But we have no idea where it is, we can’t just go back to the fortress cause Gnarl will figure out something is up, and we can’t just go searching for it cause the only human on this world suddenly reappearing after disappearing from the changeling invasion is going to look fishy as fuck.”

Night hummed. “You have a point.” The two of us continued to discuss this as we headed back to hive. We made sure to stop flying far outside of it’s line of sight so as to not arouse suspicion of where I got these new abilities. When we reached the nest though, we were met by Snowflake Bastion. She looked only slightly different from before I… let’s not get into that. Her hair had a new streak of color in it and her eyes, though they had the determination of before, also seemed to have a strange killing intent. It was overall rather unnerving to look at her.

“Master, there you are. It has been days since you showed me the truth. Where have you been?”

Days? It’s been days?

“Yes, the mental battle we had with your other half took much more time than it may have appeared to. Thankfully the spot you choose to rest your body was not discovered.”

I sighed before doing my best to put on a stern face. “I’ve been busy. Is there a reason you were looking for me?”

“Ah, yes. I wanted to tell you that my former allies, the Evermore, have your blue nest. They had discovered it and were beginning preparations to move it to a more secure location just before they sent me on that fool’s errand to hunt you.”

“I see… and where is this secure location?”

“Likely the main Evermore base. It is located near the mountains to the north. If you like I can show you to it and we can both revel in the bloodshed.” The grin she gave when she said that sent a shiver down my spine.

“No.” I spat out before I could properly think. Thankfully Night was there to help me and quickly took over. “I will deal with it myself. Give me a map and instructions detailing the location and tell Zecora to make her way there. By the time she arrives, I will have the nest.”

Bastion seemed disappointed by this but bowed. “As you wish Master.” She pulled out a piece of paper and quill and began working. Meanwhile Night and I had a chat.

“What are we going to do when we get there?”

I could feel my hands shaking at the thought of what might happen, a bead of sweat running down my brow. We try to find a way to take it without killing.

“And if that’s impossible?”

Then we tell them to run.

“I highly doubt any of them will run just because we tell them to.”

I gritted my teeth, my frustration at the situation clear. I don’t want to kill anymore than you do, but we need that nest or we are toast. Celestia and Luna will figure us out eventually. And if not them, Jason will come back. It’s them, or us.

Night was just as hesitant as I was, not speaking until Bastion was done writing out her map. “Very well, but we give them every opportunity to flee.”

We will give them every chance to keep their lives. These are religious zealots though. Many will be willing to die for the cause they see as just.

“Does that mean you see what we are doing as right?”

I looked over the map before stowing it and walking toward the north. No. I’m not a hero. I’m just a man who wants to live. Circumstances have just forced me to take drastic actions to achieve that. I closed my eyes, a brief flash of all the death and pain I’ve caused running before my eyes. Heroes are not often haunted by those they kill in the name of good, nor are villains so easily shaken by the evils they commit. Those in the middle though can see every drop of blood that stains their hands. I glanced back to see Bastion was back inside the changeling hive, so I took that as my cue to start flying once more. We can only hope to not add to what is already there.

Author's Notes:

So... hi there.

It's been awhile since I've made some kind of post, or really any sort of update on this story. And considering what these past two chapters did, I imagine a few people might be rather miffed. After all, this story appeared to be a normal, blood thirsty villain story and there's nothing wrong with wanting that.

I just wanted to say that the choice to take Don's character in the direction it is going was not something I pulled out of my hat cause I was bored with the story or something. It was a conscious decision I had made since the start to not have this just be another psychotic villain story (which there is nothing wrong with, I just felt like there were a lot of those kinds of villain displaced and felt like challenging myself to do something a bit different). Nor will this be a villain redemption story though, that much I will say.

So ya, sorry about the inactivity. I've sort of found my golden goose with writing in the form of "keep far far away from the computer that has all my games on it and use my shitty laptop" so hopefully we should be seeing all three of my stories start back up.

P.S. Nearly forgot to mention. This was a crossover with the lovely Jsyrin who is a fun guy to write with and is also responsible for the cover art for this story so go shower him in love.

P.S.S. It's the broken halo from Saints Row: Gat out of Hell.