The halls of the castle were brightly lit with the sun's light cascading in from the east. Through the beams of light, small speckles of dust and hairs could be seen in the air. That seemed to be the only thing that resembled life within the brightly illuminated, yet fairly quiet rotunda housing the chamber of the parliament. My eyes remained placed between the reactions of some of the seated politicians and the pony being examined at the stand.

Single File continued to answer some of the questions that came from the inquiring member of the parliament, who seemed more intent on questioning him about his dealings as opposed to what Count had done directly. The questions from them were supposed to be impartial, non-biased in any way due to political affiliation. Since the entire room was under oath, any lie could be a damage to their status. And that was especially true since there was a few members of the press attending to make note of what was said.

Of course, the politician who asked questions still tried to feign some mode of impartiality. "And you say that the deceased pony has paid for these 'explicit services'?"

"Yes sir." Single File replied.

The stallion glanced at me for my reaction before carrying on. "And you admit your having witnessed these 'transactions' to occur?"

Much to the chagrin of the questioner, the young stallion summoned a scroll with a yellow ribbon tied around the center, unfurling the item to read it's contents. "Yes sir. He made a withdrawal from his joint account for that purpose to the amount of approximately 7,300 bits for the month of January of last year. He has also made a number of withdrawals for the following months. February a withdrawal of 6,150 bits, March a withdrawal of 6,780 bits, April a withdrawal of 7,110 bits, May a withdrawal of 4,320 bits, June 2,325 bits, July 1,830 bits, August 3,200 bits, September 8,390 bits, and then the October transaction which was a total withdrawal of 261,200 bits."

"Is there a reason why the numbers have dropped so low in the summer months?" His questions aligned with the case, but it still didn't delve deep enough into what all Count had done.

"Well sir, it is because estrus runs so rampant among mares that he would simply accommodate their requests. There's little need to make purchase for something that's so readily available and openly offered." Single closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I absolutely apologize for my crudeness in the answer I've provided."

"Carry on." Celestia ordered.

The senator who held the floor continued his line of questioning. "So can you explain that October transaction? Why the sudden jump to such an amount? If there were a graph presented to us to note the expenditures, that month would simply peak off of it."

"That would be the assassin he hired for the captain's life." At last, he was brought to answer an actual point of criticality.

"And why so much?" The politician asked.

"Because he factored in the distance and what he ultimately had to contend with."

"And what would that be?"

"That would be the arimaspi he had to navigate around." He explained.

He appeared disappointed with the fact that what he was getting was some uninspiring truth. "So this assassin, what was his name and what do you know of him?"

"His name was Gaston, a griffon from Griffonstone."

While the majority of the members had understood the weight of that response, the politician holding the floor tried not to delve into the account of the deceased party, but rather the pony who still lived to tell the tale. "You do realize that these circumstances are quite sensitive in their nature, as the griffon who was hired was a citizen of a foreign state."

"With all due respect, sir, but the griffons are incapable of carrying through a siege, we'd win any potential war with a single battle, especially with a human in our midst." The entire room was pretty shocked to hear that the once-proud isolationist city-state had devolved into such a quagmire. I could tell that even the princesses had some questions about it, especially dealing with the fact that the griffon nation hadn't really been heard from for some centuries due to their strict isolationist stance. However, Single File didn't let that topic linger for long, diverging back to the subject at hand. "But in all truth, Count knew that it could've been looked at by the international community at large and still elected to ignore it. I tried warning him of it, but he went forward anyway."

It appeared that the stallion throwing the questions at him seemed upset that Single File had absolved himself of any responsibilities on that subject. "So you accompanied him throughout these transactions. Have you participated in any of them?"

"No sir. I had a special somepony to go home to at the time."

"At the time?" The stallion rubbed his chin, at last finding the metaphorical lever to derail the topic of inquiry. "So are you implying that the two of you have distanced yourselves or separated in any way?"

Single appeared a bit uncomfortable talking about his private exchanges. "We have severed all ties of communication, yes."

"Why is that?" He pressed further.

"Sir, that question is not pertinent to the investigation." Single replied.

"I need to know if she knows of your dealings and have assisted you in any way─"

I quickly interrupted the proceedings by calling out to the princess. "Objection! Grounds of irrelevance, your highness."

Celestia wasted no time. "Sustained. Questioning of the witness' martial and/or personal relations shall be struck from the record." As that was said, I could hear the flipping of some pages in the notes of the journalists present, followed by the scribbling of some quills to omit the line of questioning from their notes.

Displeased, the politician looked at me and went about his line of questioning. "So with your having witnessed these events, what had programmed the late senator to make that decision to call a hit on the plaintiff?"

"The captain had lived through his assignment when it was perceived that he would not survive." Single's answer was one that widely opened the floodgates of opportunity to be pressed into further.

"So are you insinuating that the intention of this assignment was not to regain the riches of the kingdom, but rather a crude means of removing a political rival from the picture?" He asked, appearing surprised.

Single was having none of it. "You tell me, sir. Most of you voted to sustain the writ of quorum suspension to send the captain there."

The politician quickly got on the defensive. "It was a means to carry out our duty. We had no other choice but to suspend the quorum. He let an enemy of the kingdom loose, and his negligence further hindered the safety of the guards that died during her escape last month."

"Order!" Celestia interjected, banging her gavel. "The gentlecolt will only ask questions to the witness pertaining to the current case."

"Your highness, I am merely discussing the motive." He tried to explain, but even I knew that this was just a waste of time considering the massive openings he had provided for him to impartially pry into.

Seeing that truth, Celestia promptly dismissed him from the floor. "The defense shall now rest. The plaintiff shall now ask questions to the witness."

Finally, it was my turn.

As I walked towards the floor, I held in my hand a number of photos, files, folders, and documents to back my claims. I wasted no further time and went after the hard evidence I had in my hand. "Single File, do you recognize these documents?"

As soon as I put the items on the desk, he immediately confirmed on the items. "They are the list of recommended for the assignment draft."

"You say recommendations, but he also added those who would be considered inexperienced and ignored protections against those who had family die in the previous excursions. Is this true?"

"Yes." While this case was admittedly tilted into my favor from the start, I pressed on like I was prosecuting an actual criminal.

"Did he draft the list himself?"

"Yes."

"On what day did he draft the list?" I asked.

"He drafted it the morning after you were sentenced." He replied.

"The morning after. So you admit that he incentivized a bribe to include those names?" I questioned.

"Yes. The bribe was a sum of 3,500 bits from a business account of his."

Another door of opportunity opened, I vowed to pursue it to the fullest extent. "This other account, how much was remaining at the end of this transaction?"

"Approximately 302,719 bits."

"Was this account ever used after that?"

Single File held nothing back, spilling all the information on his former employer, spreading out the trail of breadcrumbs to the overarching conclusion of Count's corruption. Then again, it's actually him who was directing the entire case. "It was frozen shortly after the leak of that list, when his dealings were placed under royal audit and he himself was under legislative review."

And both Blue and I were assigned as the players to the game. I looked to the young mare, who seemed stable. I contiued to act out my role. "So he had no future access to those accounts after this particular transaction?"

"No sir. He did not touch the account. Most often times these accounts are only used for political fundraising purposes, campaign finance, and fine payments in regards to disciplinary actions. No personal interaction are to occur with these accounts under Title XII of the Parliamentary Purity Protection Act."

The quills of the journalist started to kindle smoke at the rate they started to take notes. And for the sake of the world at large, I proceeded to pursue it as Single had instructed me. "Would you consider that transaction personal in any way?"

"Indeed it was personal. He sent the list so that if you failed, your name would be heavily scrutinized. And with an element bearer's name on the list, there would be only more scrutiny if you had failed and come back without the element bearer being one of the survivors."

"Endangering Equestria?" I concluded?

"Yes."

If those quills weren't scraping the parchment, they were at least being etched into the hardbacks of those journals. The world was finally about to know who exactly was holding the decisive power in these halls. "Those are some pretty serious accounts." I replied, pressuring the primary issue further. "Back to these transactions using the joint account. Do you maintain that those transactions were in standing with any traditional values, without any bribery.

"No sir, these transactions were mostly pay-for-play."

I glanced over to Blue, who seemed mildly uncomfortable but prepared to hear the response. Concluding that she was mentally fortified to handle the results, I dug into the workings of the issue. "Describe this pay-for-play thing for me."

The senator from earlier called out to the princess. "Objection, your excellency. These actions have no merit of the incident at large."

While Celestia was rooting for me in private, she had no intention of letting that personal bias show in this instance. I still had to plead with her as if I wasn't associated with her in any way. "Your highness, these transactions indicate a disturbing trend of abuse and corruption. These items are pertinent to the motive and cause."

Being the fair judge, she allowed me to continue. "Carry on."

Single answered my question shortly after her call. "He would enter into the usual venues, pay a few prostitutes for some playtime. I would usually be left on the outside to listen in..." The young stallion appeared more uncomfortable as time progressed. "He would... he would assert himself forcefully. It's what he truly liked."

While I knew Blue would've been uncomfortable with the topic, I had to press her like I was actively trying to defeat her in a legitimate court case. "And these habits of abuse, can you describe them so that the court may hear?"

"A number of times he would role play as an educator or administrator. Often times, he would have the escort portray a young teenage filly or schoolmare. He would use a paddle or rod, strike at them for the purpose of disciplinary correction. I never personally seen these interactions, only hearing them through the door. Paddles are thin but offers more wind resistance when swung, but the impacts are more prominent. Rods are the exact opposite, their approach whistling but their impacts less notable. He would repeatedly utilize these methods for his escorts."

As we rehearsed, I would stop my line of questioning when the matter started to illustrate in graphic detail the ordeals he had to clean up after. I was vying to change the subject for Blue's sake...

But another senator cleared his throat and spoke out loudly to the princess while raising a hoof. "Your highness, I would like to request the floor to ask a few questions." Enter Damper Trot himself.

Celestia seemed wary of his prior connections to Count and spoke out a stiff warning. "The plaintiff has the floor."

Damper smirked as he stood. "Your highness, my questions will align with that of the plaintiff, not the defendant."

Blue appeared puzzled over what was going on. Even Single File was perplexed over the situation. Celestia didn't exactly trust the circumstances herself, turning to me for verification. "Plaintiff, what say you?"

I gave it some consideration, wanting to know what he would try to say in Count's defense. Perhaps he had some way he wanted to detract from the case. All I knew is if that was the case, he would be dismissed effective immediately. I wouldn't lose in a situation like that. "Your highness, if there is one question that deviates from the platform, I will ask that it be stricken from the record and the gentleman remain seated for the duration of this session."

"Very well then." She confirmed, pointing the senator to the floor to take my place.

While I was pretty confident that anything stupid he would try would only land himself in hot water. I had confidence this trial was still in my favor. "Damper Trot, you have the floor." I called out. stepping aside to let the senator carry on with the questioning.

He walked slowly past the stand and paid the young stallion no mind in his passage. "So, Single File, you say you were there to listen to these actions. Now, have you ever borne witness to the victims after these sessions?"

While this went against my plans, I didn't really stop it because it still presented itself in line with the questions I had asked, as well as the answers he provided. Still, Single wasn't comfortable about it. "...Yes."

Damper pressed further. "Can you describe to the court what condition he would leave these mares, with accuracy if you would?"

"...Bloodied. Barely walking at times. Some needed immediate medical attention."

Blue appeared infuriated, rightfully so, at the revelations being made. Single felt a stare of scorn coming from the mare as Damper continued. "Immediate medical attention. Sounds pretty serious for some mundane schoolgirl fantasy. Perhaps these abuses trend from some various experience or previous employment. But I digress, tell me of the one... two incidents that sticks out to you so far, can you recount those stories?"

The young stallion, who had planned out much of how this trial was going to go, was left without any roadmap on how to deal with the heat that was put on him. He raised his hoof to the princess. "Your highness, I would like to descend from the stand."

Damper made a strong point to keep him there. "The whole truth, Single File. Please oblige the oath you took for the stand."

I watched as the stallion turned his head away from the front, trying his best not to face the mare that stood at a stand across from him. He lowered his head to avoid any eye contact. From that I knew what story he was going to tell. "There were two incidents... The first was a young mare he met up with some years ago, a college graduate. She invited him to tea at a restaurant downtown. He was pretty quiet throughout the meeting, he never complained at the conversation, just... observing of the mare. She and he went elsewhere, I was immediately dismissed from that moment on. I returned to the office and did my usual tasks. He wouldn't return until later that evening. But when he did... he was the happiest he could've ever been, he smiled so brightly, even sharing drinks with me."

I opted to jump in, trying to regain some control over the direction of this trial. "Your highness, I would like to assume the floor."

"I'm not done, sir." Damper called out, rapidly returning his attention to Single. "Now, can you identify the mare he left with by pointing to her in this room?"

Single File hesitated for a while, trying not to acquiesce the oath of truth he was being held under. I tried to jump in to retain the face of our plan. "Objection! This has no merit on the current case."

The senator then pleaded with the princess. "Your highness, I am merely exposing the truth of the motive for the trend of abuses. Please allow me to expose the corruption that took place in these halls."

Celestia shut her eyes for a moment, taking a heavy breath before speaking. "...Carry on."

Though she was being as impartial as what her job outlined, I was still shocked that she didn't have any protest to what was taking place. Damper Trot continued to pressure Single File. "Please identify the mare he walked away with on that fateful day."

The young stallion quietly answered, not even trying to look ahead at Blue. "...A mare of familial relation." Most of the room already connected the dots as the answer left his lips, looking down to the blue mare sitting across from him.

Damper applied more pressure to not just Single File, but also Blue. "Now, what do you assume happened to that mare when you parted from your former boss?"

"I believe they had an encounter." He replied silently.

"You say they had an encounter. What kind?" Damper loudly asked. "Please speak it loudly so that the court may hear."

"...Sexual." The room gasped and glanced down at the mare below, who was quietly fielding every emotion pertaining to grief and panic.

"Did he ever speak of it?" Pressured the senator.

He glanced up, seeing the mare across from him in visual distress. At that moment, he crumbled under the weight of his own guilt. "...I... don't recall─"

"Might I remind you that you're under oath." While I wanted to stop him, I knew that my doing so would look too suspicious to be considered as anything but collusion. I wanted to interject, but I could see the young stallion eyeing me as if he didn't want me to. I suppose he was undergoing the same thoughts I had.

He swallowed his guilt for a moment, letting the truth regurgitate in it's stead. "...He said... she was sublime... That he had never felt anything so... vibrant and young... And he felt like he won. He kept saying that he won."

Even Blue let out a sigh of disgust, but mainly to forward herself for what came next. Damper saw this and continued to apply the pressure. "And why do you think he said that?"

"...I don't know. I truly don't." Single File appeared defeated, but he did exactly what he set himself out to do. The only problem was that he didn't want to upset Blue too much in the process, and that end could no longer be avoided.

But then... he pressed even harder. "So you were not made aware of his past, how his wife committed suicide to legally relinquish the burden of the foals from his responsibility, the heirs to her wealth?"

"No sir." Single appeared as if he had stumbled into new territory, as did I.

And so he pressed... "And perhaps you were not made aware of his past influence as an educator?"

"No sir."

The senator eyed the princess and then the young heiress to her family fortune representing her father. "Perhaps you were not made aware of his public criminal record, the one he had swept under the rug for all these years. It's common knowledge to many of us in the parliament that he had been accused of performing memory spells on young foals during his teaching tenure prior to his name change."

Each one of us had a physical contortion of some sort, especially Blue. But no one had been so visibly unnerved like Single File was in that moment. "No sir. I was not made aware."

Damper smiled as he walked away from the stand, eyeing the young mare representing her own father. "Well that explanation will be for another day. However, his abuses have been more in line with his educator past. It's is the reason for his sexual habits. And I will point out that his action towards that particular mare coincided with his penchant for vastly younger... and much more vulnerable mares." Blue rolled her eyes and collapsed on the spot, unable to process exactly what kind of a stallion her father was, the conflicting truth of her being the heir to that same monster. Meanwhile, Damper was satisfied with the reaction he had gotten out of her and nodded at me. "I yield back my time."

While some nearby politicians checked in on the distraught daughter, I called out to the princess a request. "The plaintiff recommends a recess." I couldn't even process what was revealed to me. I knew nothing of his past other than the facts that he had a bad marriage built on appeasement, then ended in a plot to separate the kids from him. But with that bit of information added to context, my mind could flash back to the mask of Blue's mother. The pain on her face... was caused by a potential pedophile. "Holy fucking shit!" I just crouched down and shouted that into my hands.

I was not ready for today.

Celestia didn't appear as distraught as she announced to the court her decision. "This matter shall adjourn for the day, we shall reconvene on this matter Thursday."

The gavel banged and the room started to murmur out of order. Single trotted away from the stand as he remained utterly puzzled by the revelations. "This is royally fucked." He said with a sigh.

"No kidding. How the hell did you not know about THAT!?" I questioned him.

"I'm sorry!" He said genuinely, trying to account to his own innocence in the matter. "I don't know his past secrets, I only know his transaction history from the time we worked together!"

While I heard speakings of water and air from the corner she collapsed at, I realized her mental heath was basically shot. There was no chance of a recovery from anything. "Blue's a mess over there. She can't go on like this."

"What now?" Single asked, appearing dismayed for the mare.

"Well I hate to say it, but that bastard might have won us the fucking case." While I could admit that, I wasn't anywhere near enthusiastic, especially knowing how both Blue and Alabaster will take the information that was dispensed today. "But I think it came at the cost of Blue's sanity. If she looks into that shit her dad did, I think we might officially be in the role of suicide prevention."

"Why do you say that?" Single asked.

The first thing my mind went back to was the sight of her pulling those bottles of pills out of her cabinet. "...So, let's talk about what happened last Tuesday in the VIP Lounge."

"How bad is it?" He asked.

I simply explained it in a way where he would understand how that could be implied. "Well... daddy and mommy paid her a visit."

I held my hand out, summoning a death mask of Count himself. The young stallion flinched backwards. "Fuck's sake."

"You think that's bad, you should see the mom."

After a moment of explanation, I had issued a brief meeting for some guests to the human world. Instead of meeting up someplace where we could easily be eavesdropped, I requested that we'd meet up in Mel's apartment. Not only is it a good place to meet for the day, it's an even better place to get distracted outside of the world they've grown accustomed to.

Both Hermes and I were already waiting on the couch. Normally, the TV would be on because he'd be trying to learn more about global politics and pop culture in general. But this time, the TV was muted as we waited for our two new guests to walk through the portal.

Eventually, they did just that. "Oh wow... This place is a bit... tall."

"So this is the human world..."

I called out to the bedroom from where I sat. "Hey guys, we're in here!"

The sound of hooves clopping against the linoleum floor grew closer until the two guests had appeared from within the hallway. Alabaster and Blue both seemed amazed by what they were walking into. "What is this place?"

"A movie projector?" Blue questioned.

"You could say that. But in reality the projector is actually built in." Hermes explained.

The two ponies looked oddly at Hermes as he spoke. "Oh yeah, introductions are in order. Hermes, this is Blue Royal and Alabaster Charm. Alabaster, Blue, this is Hermes. You might know him as the pony formerly known as Single File."

"So... you were my father's assistant?" Alabaster said, looking up at the ginger-haired man.

"So... you're my former boss' son. I hear of you, just never met you." Hermes replied.

"I'm sorry to be crass, but I considered that fact an honor up to this point." Alabaster said before extending a hoof. "As for now, we work together."

"It's better to be working with you guys as opposed to my former options." Hermes leaned down and reciprocated the handshake. "Today showed me that much."

"You look better than you did on Friday." I said, noting how he wasn't getting around with the help of his sister today.

The stallion replied with a light voice. "You look better in general. I see you've started a morning routine on your facial. I love the brightness that's on your face."

"Everybody was saying I was looking pretty dead, so I perked up a little. My grandfather always told me to look the part of what I want to be, not what I'm going through." I replied.

"That's some good advice." He agreed.

My attention then turned to Blue. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine soon enough. I've finished taking those damned pills after my episode. I was wondering when they were actually going to do something, but I see your world is an even better distraction. I can genuinely say I'm quite mystified over the results."

"You just be careful of how many of those you take. I looked at the side effects and those things can put you out if you're not careful." I warned.

"I know what I'm doing." She argued before noticing what was taking place on the TV screen. "I never seen a movie based around a drink."

"It's an advertisement, just like you'd hear on the radio." Hermes explained.

I sat myself down and immediately went to the channel of politics and unmuted the TV. "Members of French law enforcement are continuing in their search to find more information pertaining to the terrorist attack earlier this month at a Paris-centralized magazine publisher Charlie Hebdo, taking the lives of twelve. French president Francois Holland stating that 'France is in shock.' President Obama had this to say─" I immediately put it back on mute. "Holy shit, what the hell did I miss?"

"Mass shooting in Paris around two weeks ago. They say the assailants were devout Islamists, saying that the depiction of the Prophet Mohamed was derogatory and a chief insult to their religion." Hermes added.

"Okay, that's a different monster I don't even care to get into." I replied. "We got our own demon of the day."

"What demon?" He asked.

"The one we don't like to talk about. The one you used to work for." I answered.

"Oh yeah... that."

Blue raised a hoof and added. "I did a lookup before we left."

The both of us looked to one another. "And?" Hermes questioned.

"...It's all true. I now understand in full why our mother did what she did."

I turned off the TV, removing the distraction from the room so we could talk. "What happened?"

"That monster I happen to be biologically kin to was messing with fillies during his tenure." She answered.

"Mom walked in on him doing it but he didn't even notice her. She saw him through a cracked door." Alabaster added, taking a deep breath. "For years I wondered why she went from being so kind and nurturing in that moment, to being so cautious and protective. But as time came to a head, I realized it was when she saw the monster for what he was."

I looked to Alabaster. "So how about you? How are you handling it?"

"I've known it for years. I was with her at that moment, but I never understood until later why her face changed up so much. It wasn't until I saw him years later when every last one of my instincts confirmed who and what he was."

"You've known! And you didn't tell me!?" Blue asked her brother, appearing very much upset.

"I wanted to, but you were so eager to see him that you didn't care about what could've happened. I thought you would've seen it for yourself, but I was wrong.... Even up to now, I can't deal mentally with what I let happen to you... twice."

I then jumped in. "Well whatever happened, the two of you aren't to blame for any of it. Your mom tried saving you from it, she did it the only way she knew how. And if you ever did come back, she would've wanted you to see that truth for yourselves."

"Mom's suicide wasn't because of her finding out what happened. It was because she felt guilty about it." Alabaster rose from his seat. "I mean think about it, she and him were forcibly married. He was at least a good eight years younger than she was. And then she offered to placate to his every desire. Hell, the mansion I live in is a standing testimony of how far my mother went to try and appease him and his various lusts for mares. She actually helped guide him in that direction."

"Especially after mom had me." Blue said, closing her eyes. "I was the unsigned agreement between my mother and a maid to use my father's afterthoughts for a chance of bearing another foal."

"I remember the maids disappearing after that moment he found out." The young stallion recalled. "I remember the day he loudly kicked one out. The hour after that, they all left. The house was so eerily quiet from that point on."

"That's a pretty harrowing memory to recall." I said, understanding how it might have affected his opinion of his father at an early age. "But it's still nobody's fault but his own. He had every bit of control over himself, he elected to do what he did on his own free will. The fact that he changed his name out of disgrace should tell you that he was more than aware of what the hell he did. Fuck that guy, your mom's blameless for him disregarding his own self-control."

Blue opened her eyes, their becoming mistier by the second. "I can't help but to wonder what mom was thinking in her last moments. Her face was so..."

"Can we all agree that Damper Trot did that shit earlier to fuck with her exclusively?" Hermes questioned.

Alabaster sat silent for a while, the room humming from the heating unit kicking in. "I hate that things are the way that they are. But we'll try to make it work for ourselves." The cream-colored stallion spoke.

I turned to his younger sister, seeing that she was quietly crying. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed some paper towels for her to wipe her tears with. I then offered it to her. "Blue, you going to be okay?"

The mare cleared her throat, staving off more tears. "I don't have a choice, I have to be."

Later that Evening...

Throughout our time at the apartment, we spent some time to help cheer up Blue with some human activities, namely showing her what my home town looks like via pictures. Even them gazing out the window was pretty awe-inspiring. Blue gradually became more enthused with how advanced our society was, even clamoring for more information about what all was going on locally. I couldn't promise her much in terms of showing her and her brother around, but I could at least explain it to her.

In spite of what was revealed today, she felt a lot better and became more optimistic.

We stayed there for the remainder of daylight hours, ordering in some Chinese food and enjoying a few movies. Once that was done, Hermes went about his own way, the two siblings did the same themselves, and I was brought back to the fold of my room to check on any security developments. After another two hours of speeding through footage, nothing of suspicion had occurred. So I elected to clear my mind of one more lingering topic.

A journey through the darkened halls of the castle later and I was brought to the large gold-encrusted doors of the high princess. I knocked, unafraid of being seen.

From within, she called back. "Who is it?"

"Your highness, it's me." I answered.

Immediately recognizing my voice, she had no hesitation towards opening the doors. "Enter." Walking into the room, I could tell from the atmosphere of the place that she was anticipating a serious discussion. It wasn't that any part of the room had been changed or altered to make it seem that way, but rather she was not as eager to greet me. She was stationary, quiet, forward.

I closed the doors behind me and then questioned her. "How's the day been?"

Again, she was very short with her answer. "It's been a work of sorts. How are you?"

Since she was at least anticipating what I was wanting to discuss, I simply started on the topic. "I'm still working through what happened earlier today. So do you wanna talk about what was discussed during the trial?"

"Do you mean of Count's past?" She questioned, showing no surprise.

"Last I checked, he was an educator at your school, correct?"

"That he was." She confessed, summoning an almanac pertaining to the institution of her namesake. She levitated the book directly to the table beside her.

Walking to the table to open the book to it's table of contents, I pressed her on the issue. "I just want to know if you made any attempts to sweep this shit under the rug. I'm not trying to beat around it, I just want a forward answer."

She then replied. "Honestly, the reality of that circumstance is much harder to fathom─"

I interrupted her, demanding a simple answer. "Yes... or no."

"No." She quickly replied.

I urged her for an explanation. "Then why has no one heard anything about it? You would think a dangerous predator like that would be rotting behind a jail cell, instead of making the laws that ponies ultimately get arrested and sentenced over."

She looked to me and flipped the pages to the profile of one Count DuMoneé, or Count Penance as he was known at the time. In it sat a picture of the educator with a distinguished profile, a raised brow, and a firm lip. "I'm not going to hide anything from you if you ask me for it."

While I was trying not to boil off at her, I still felt upset about my need for having to discuss this topic. I pointed at the profile picture. "So explain what happened."

The profile began to move, illustrating in great detail his quirkiness and mannerisms. It appeared that he looked to the camera after capturing his profile, he then rolled his eyes and gave the camera a smirk. Some part of me grew disgusted at the picture as she told her side of the story. "It all began when there was a report made by a concerned parent, saying that their foal had completely forgotten the lesson plan for the previous three days. And of course, I had a complete system that highly encouraged organization and the remembrance of the lectures that were given on those days. But when she looked at her agenda, she couldn't remember anything that she had written down herself. She suffered a bad grade because of it, and the parents were very strict about her grades."

"Okay, what does this have to do with Count?" I asked.

"Count was her mentor, taking her to tutoring sessions after school."

"And you allowed this to happen?" I pressed further.

The illustration moved a little more, showing the stallion snickering before breaking out into a playful laugh before resetting to it's initial pose. "I wasn't aware of his intentions. I was only aware that he had a fairly good track record of enhancing students who were considered as remedial casters, ponies who couldn't use magic properly in the way they should by their age. A week or month with him yielded optimal results. His method was never revealed to me at any point, which I should've pressured him on that topic more. I regret that I tried to display a ground of trust with the one professor who had offered such promise."

I looked at my hand, watching it start to glow it's white sparkling aura and levitated a nearby quill into my possession. "You know, most of my magic is a pick-up from his methods. I can tell you from all the books that were literally thrown at me that I didn't have too much fun with it."

"Somepony threw books at you?" She asked, appearing quite unnerved.

"Alabaster, his son. He gave me some magic lessons to get me past the basics and launch me into the beginning stages of the intermediates of spells. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be able to transform myself so readily and consistently." I glanced down to the portrait, it appeared to have looped that one segment of him on repeat. "Still, I thought that these lesson plans were for teenagers looking to have a Mr. Miyagi teach them how to use magic better. I didn't think this was for some actual kids. Sick bastard."

Celestia closed her eyes and sighed in defeat. "This is worse than I imagined. He forced stress on their young minds knowing that too much stress on a young caster could cause disastrous results." She cited. I couldn't disagree with her as I had ran into the warning signs of overexertion myself.

Even then, I still learned how to operate to a point where I could moderate how much magic I could use, and that was with Count's training regiment. I admitted my own successes with it, while still being sympathetic. "It couldn't have been too disastrous if it worked for me. But still, I don't like the idea of having books and shit thrown my way to catch. And I'm sure those kids didn't like it either."

Celestia provided her own perspective once more. "But the problem is that I saw how he interacted with those foals back then. He was kind and passionate about helping them. I didn't think that he was actually being that cruel to them."

"Celestia, he had a daughter at home he disowned repeatedly to her face. He had a son he tried to leverage away from his mom, but couldn't. He had a wife he absolutely hated being around. Those are the guys who put up the best facades in public. When shit goes south at home, they look up north to everybody else." I looked down at the picture and once more took in the reference of his past visage. "I know you probably didn't have the context to his history, and it was hard for you to see that at the time. Hindsight is a bitch. But there couldn't be any more signs of something going bad when he doesn't talk about his own family much."

"That's the thing!" She said as she flipped to a page where he was speaking with some of the other staff members in a room. "He gloated on and on about how his son looked to be a promising magic user with a mind for business. Everywhere he went, he would gloat about his son, how he would grow up to be a brilliant business pony and raise a family with a beautiful wife. He outlined that vision every day we spoke on it."

That picture moved as well, showing how he was discussing his work with some of the other instructors. "Well I guess his vision had all sorts of holes in it. His son turned out to be rebellious, and probably to the worst of his fears a closeted homosexual. The only thing he could probably hold on to was the fact that his daughter was a competent business pony with a strong potential for magic. It's a cruel irony that she became everything he wanted in his son, just in the form of a young, impressionable mare."

As I finished my rant, the last bit of words started to echo in my mind. As they did, I could recall what Damper had said to Blue earlier, calling her a young and vulnerable mare. All the things his wife did for him, the enthusiasm she was said to have when reuniting with him that first day. I started to see the parallels, the patterns of abuse and mistreatment. It dawned on me what his intentions were, why he was so jubilant after reuniting with Single File. A prettier face, a tinier waist, and a lot of assets in his face. Cheerful and bright, a foal of his own pride and ambitions, a foal afforded with all the freedoms he couldn't access at a young age, one he mentally disconnected with from the start.

He saw opportunity. "...No fucking way."

I rose from my seat, beginning to pace back and forth. "What?" Celestia questioned, concerned for why I had suddenly jumped up.

I started mumbling to myself at that point. "That's why he said he won. He saw that his daughter was so open to being around him that he felt he could manipulate her into doing whatever he wanted. Business deals, property acquisition, an unlimited purse of funding, a goddamn sex toy all built in one. The asshole actually dumbed his own flesh and blood down to... to a fleshlight wallet."

"Pardon me?" She asked, very much confused.

"Don't worry about that right now. I'm just floored over Single File's testimony today." I bit down on my own thumb "...I'm so fucking glad I got the chance to crisp your goddamn corpse, you sick motherfucker."

"Nondis?"

My teeth chomped down even harder, clasping even tighter with the seconds of my flash of indignation. "If I had every fucking chance to peel your goddamn skin while you were alive, I'd make sure you'd be awake for every second! I would've TURNED YOU INTO A FUCKING WALLET─"

My thumb was freed from my teeth, bleeding from the impact of my teeth breaking deep into the skin. The princess shouted my name as she stopped me where I paced. "Nondis!"

As the blood flowed freely and the pain started to set in, I realized the foolish mistake of my own injury. "Sorry."

The princess grew upset with me, pointing to the side of her bed. "Sit down." She said angrily. I did as she instructed, clasping at my injured thumb. She summoned a tiny white phial filled with some sort of fluid. She held my hand open and further instructed me. "Deep breaths. In. Out."

"I don't need breathing exercises, I need answers." I replied before she dropped a dollop of the fluid on my wound, which brought about an intense stinging sensation throughout my entire hand. I grimaced, stomping my foot at the pain.

"You will get them, when you relax." She replied firmly, holding my hand to watch over the wound. Gradually the stinging started to subside, and she took a piece of gauze to wrap my thumb.

While there was a faint painful throbbing in my thumb, I felt my thumb slowly recover. "Okay. I'm sorry." I apologized, taking deep breaths as she ordered. I took a minute to settle back down.

From there, she continued her story. "The mother had her daughter examined shortly after that incident, to make sure that there was no wrongdoing. I even paid for the examination myself because I felt if anything came from this, I would be responsible." She flipped to the page of the pictures of all the students. Each of their own pictures moved, each of them emoting differently from the other. The mare she pointed to had shyly glanced around before looking at the camera before adjusting her mane and smiling innocently. "I was so dismayed by the results, almost losing faith in what growth society had undergone since the years of my reign. Not only did they find a number of her memories altered through a deep mental study, but they also found a very small sample of spermatozoa in her cheeks."

Just the thought of that poor innocent girl being taken advantage of like that had reawakened some of the anger I tried to stave off. "Well that's not even a red flag, that a black one. You should've had his ass locked up." I stressed to her.

"I offered the family an apology, even so much as offering what assistance I could in seeing justice done on their behalf. But the parents were so enamored and delusional by my stature, saying that they couldn't afford to bring disgrace to me and my school." This time, it was Celestia who started to show her own anger, bits of her mane had started turning yellow as she spoke. "It wasn't even about that at all. Their whole reputation was based on their wealth and standing. They couldn't dare allow news of their precious daughter being used in such a manner, they'd be the talk of the town. So they pushed a settlement on a non-disclosure agreement, pleading the board to opt for the financial compensation. It was asinine! They didn't give a damn about what she went through, they just wanted the money and keep their social standing intact!"

"Did that really happen?" I questioned, feeling quite skeptical of the conclusion.

"If you don't believe me, then you are free to make the attempt at my life if you feel I've contributed with no further contest! I know it should be a black mark to my name, that I should be ridiculed and raked in the press! Hell, I deserve it!... But it never happens." She said sadly, feeling contempt for herself. "That same scenario happens more than I would like, and that still goes on to this day. I went from being called a blood-thirsty tyrant shortly after the civil conflict, to being seen as no higher than Faust herself. They even rewrote Equestria's history to make me appear more favorable, all while knowing the truth. Every bad thing that occurred to me or has happened to anyone knowing that my name is attached to it, it's just hearsay to the masses. It's done on purpose."

I shook my head, completely at disbelief. "Ponies here are not that stupid."

"They're purposefully misinformed, and willingly silent. I had been knocked down before by Queen Chrysalis the day she tried to marry Shining Armor, in front of a sitting audience. Do you know how many outlets reported on that? Zero. How many outlets have even written criticism of me? Very few, and they were awfully light. Had this happened under any other school, Count would have never seen the light of day. But since it was my school, the board elected to pay the family restitution, then they had him resign quietly to deal with the passing of his departed wife."

"I don't understand why they would even do something like that, knowing what happened." I replied, my thoughts still centered on the foal. "It's their own daughter, for fuck's sake."

"They don't care, it's prestige, Nondis!" She snapped in a loud manner. "If somepony lives in a high society, there are things they do at great length to keep their standing as illustrious as possible! You've seen it yourself, dealing with Count! If there is any incident that comes to light, they do what they can to ensure that it's swept under the rug to keep others from bringing attention to it. Because once they're found out, it can instantly demote them to a much lesser status. And for some, they won't suffer that indignity because of their own ego and pride! They are willing to go so far as to commit to atrocities, even look the other way when abuses like these occur! And it's all for the sake of public standing, they'll do whatever to keep these matters 'behind closed doors' just to make sure that it's all business as usual!" The princess held herself as she looked down to her wings. "But what they do in private is inconceivable, the bargains they've made, the things they won't tell the public, the great lengths they'll go to keep their name clean, how often hope and innocence becomes an afterthought when it should be the forefront of consequence... I will never forget those abuses, nor will I ever forgive them. So I say to you, Nondis, I am tired of this 'prestige', the systematic abuse of influence. That is why I'm so..." Her voice softened as her ears slumped. "Nondis, please... Honor me with a simple favor."

"What's that?" I asked.

Her head raised up, she walked to me and stared up at me with outright resolve. "I want you to be one of my harshest critics, even in the public eye if need be. Just like you'll be there for the better of me, be there to correct and chastise me for the worse as well. I need to be able to face the music from someone, I feel like you'll know how to hold me accountable without the illusion of my status clouding your judgement."

"What makes you think that?" I questioned.

"I do remember a pretty heated feud drawing up between you and Cadance. If you have to, do that for me."

I sighed quietly, pursing my lips with uncertainty. "Just as long as you don't send me into the sun in a fit of rage, I can more than oblige."

She didn't smile, but she sat herself before me with some modicum of content. "Thank you."

"Eh, whatever." I replied dismissively, not really wanting to get into a shouting match with her of all ponies. I looked down to the book at the table, still looking at the young filly highlighted in the picture. "I can't believe this shit happened."

She used her magic to grab at my hand, undoing the gauze that wrapped my thumb. Upon releasing my hand, I noticed that the wound had completely disappeared, not a scar to be seen. She looked at my thumb also, speaking of my fit of anger in the heat of the moment. "So... it's been a while since I've seen your close to your snapping point. Do you need anything from me?"

I shook my head and pointed to her. "I'm gonna need you to do better on stuff like this, Celeste. All bullshit aside, no more excuses. Get it done and make sure it doesn't happen again. Change laws if you have to, tell the truth on yourself if need be. We can't have another fucking Count DuMoneé walking around, and the masses can't sit here and think that you're perfect while ponies in the underground despise you because of that image." I knelt before her and pointed at her chest. "You have to be the ruler who can put her hoof down to all of this. I can't do that for you, and I damn-well won't lift a fucking finger until you decide to do that for yourself. And I'm not planning my future with anyone who's makes excuses for when shit goes wrong. You've got to be firm, stop letting others decide who and what you are when you know you need to make a change yourself. You say you're the child of a queen, act like you're wearing that big ass crown from this moment on. Equestria needs you to be stronger, in your mind, not just your body. Because if you want me to be your immovable object, you have to be my unstoppable force. I'll anchor you wherever you go, but you gotta tell me where the fuck we're going. Got it?"

The princess sagely nodded. "I can respect that, and more than agree."

"Good." I slammed the book shut. "Let this be the only time we have this discussion, your highness."

"You have my word, captain."

Our train ride to Canterlot was unusually quiet. There was no real way of saying how difficult it must have been for the girls to anticipate the things that we were going to see at the place we often swore ourselves never to go. But even then, this wasn't the first time where we had to venture out into uncharted territory and dangerous lands, it's just the first time that also happened to be at a city where we frequented.

We started to put on our disguises along the ride. I especially had a train conductor commissioned for this assignment. Starlight was given the rundown of where she would be going, the other girls were just waiting anxiously for the time to come while assembling their respective disguises and aliases.

As the hour came, we walked off the train, Starlight and I walked our separate ways, the girls and I waited at our designated spot for intercept. Each of them started to display their nervousness as we watched some unsavory characters file into a dark alleyway.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." Fluttershy said timidly.

"Ah know Ah ain't feelin' right myself." Applejack murmured, looking around.

"C'mon, can't be all that bad." Rainbow briefly brushed off her own concerns before seeing the dark alleyway we were about to walk into. She gulped. "Right?"

"I know that these awful disguises are downright itchy. Why couldn't we have gotten something a little higher in quality, this sweater is reacting to the dye and it's making me break out all over!" Rarity said, scratching herself intensely.

"This is one party I'm not too thrilled to be attending." Pinkie announced.

I took each of their concerns to heart, knowing that they were going into this figuratively blind. But I had to encourage them. "I know how all of you feel. But if we want to be able to help Nondis later, we have to get acclimated to what we're going to be seeing now. I have a good feeling that it'll only get worse from here, so it only makes sense to get our minds ready for what's ahead."

"Well it can't get any worse than it already is with this sweater." Rarity replied, scratching her neck.

"I can assure you, it will get much worse if you're not careful." A voice called from behind us. Each of us dreaded the voice as we all knew who it was that greeted us. Blueblood appeared from a dark corner, donning a red suit with a slicked back mane as opposed to his free-flowing locks. He extended his hoof to the uncomfortable fashionista. "Miss Rarity Andalusia Belle."

"Ugh, it got worse." She growled with absolute disdain for the stallion.

"Blueblood, you're not even disguised!" I pointed out, trying not to yell.

He pulled out a red and black masquerade mask and placed it upon his face. "Are you kidding? I have a pony tail and a mask. What more do you want?"

"Would that even work here? I don't think the ponies here are that dumb to fall for a crummy ballroom mask." I questioned critically.

"It's part of the vibe here, especially when you're a rich fellow. It will work for me, especially for the role I'm assuming for the night." He said as he hung his forelegs around both me and Rarity.

"Please don't let it be distasteful. Please don't let it be distasteful." Rarity chanted to herself.

Blueblood smiled. "Spoiler alert: You're all my concubines."

All six of us sharply protested the idea. "Wwwwhat?"

He went on to tease me by the moniker he usually gave me. "Oh you'll be used to it, little miss Princess Troublemaker. I promise that you'll find it quite beneficial."

"In what way, my being able to finally knock some sense into your cranium?" I replied as my magic started to spark into my horn.

Applejack stretched her legs as she popped her neck. "Huh, guess my hindlegs are itchin' fer a buckin' after all."

Pinkie replied to the farmer with her own thinly-veiled threat. "Did you know that my party cannon is considered a Class I ballistics device according to the Equestrian Weapons Bureau?"

"And I'm not without a weapon of my own use either, miss Pinkamena." Blueblood replied as he summoned an M-16, the barrel being supplemented with a bayonet blade. "I prefer spears, but a bayonet on one of these human contraptions can be as effective. Close-quarter capability, midrange lethality, long-range threat. This will do splendidly against the typical ruffian."

Pinkie didn't show any sign of laughing, rather displaying her disdain for the prince. "And you pulled it out on me when I mentioned my cannon?"

He quickly dismissed the weapon, but walked towards the pink mare with a smirk. "No, I'm merely showing off. Though I could have a cannon of my own for you, specially made of course for... cake batter."

Pinkie took no interest in his sexual humor. "If you're threatening me with a literal weapon, I'm all ears. Otherwise, don't even try."

Blueblood laughed as he tried to inch towards her. "You're saying that my party isn't worth the invitation?"

"I'm saying you're not even worth conception." She replied, slapping the prince with the end of her tail as a sign of disrespect.

"Yeouch!" The prince trolled, walking to the side of Fluttershy to fraternize with her instead. "The pink one is awfully feisty. Though I guess you can see that for yourself, right miss Fluttersh─"

"Touch me and Discord hunts you down." She warned without a hint of hesitation or timidity in her voice.

Blueblood stopped short of embracing the mare, performing a stiff about-face to realign himself with Rarity. "I think I'll keep to some more familiar company then."

"We are not familiar." Rarity stressed.

"It's not often that I get covered in cake during an elite social gathering." He mused.

"You used me as a shield!" Rarity angrily recalled.

The prince joked in turn. "Well I wanted to know how much you weighed also, so that little maneuver did help me in that endeavor."

Rarity's jaw fell agape, stunned by his statement. She promptly adjusted herself and redirected her attention to me. "...So are we ready to go?" She asked softly.

"Ya look pretty anxious to get a move on." Applejack said to the enraged seamstress.

"Now tell me why is that, my dear Andalusia?" Blueblood said with a smirk, whispering past her ear.

"Oh, I'm just trying to find a vendor to sell a decapitated head to." She screeched, knocking her horn against his as a sign of confrontation.

"Ah, now that's my speed." He replied with a smug expression before walking off towards the direction of the alleyway, leading the way into the Corrotto District. "Let's not waste time, ladies. It's quite precious, like your bountiful rumps."

Rarity shrieked with annoyance. "How is he married!?"

"Wanna ask that another six times?" Pinkie cosigned.

"How is he even a prince?" Rainbow questioned.

I shook my head as I started to follow in his direction. "The better thing to ask is how Celestia even trusts him."

As the dimly lit streets leading up to the sanctuary began to lessen in number, Starlight craned her head towards various locations. An uneasiness had started to send shivers down her back as she walked. Stray cats would roam the lonesome avenue, digging through the occasional bastion of daily refuse. Only a sole pony stood down the way, perfectly motionless as if they were petrified. Starlight swallowed her increasing sense of paranoia and marched onward.

When she reached the end of the road, she shyly squeaked to the cloaked figure. "Um... Hello?"

The hooded figure turned to her and pointed her towards the gate. "This way."

"Great... so the gates are locked, how do we go about getting─" Just as the young mare was about to start, the iron-wrought gate swung open at the stallion's gentlest push. "...Inside... I guess we're going inside now."

While she walked forward, the stallion closed the gate behind them and finally took the lead. Guiding the mare along the way, they came up to a young stallion coming from the side of the building with a shovel. "Ugh... Another day, another hole in the ground." Starlight's uneasiness grew as the dirtied figure approached them. "Were any of you followed?"

"Not a soul." The cloaked stallion replied.

"Well I didn't hear anypony trailing me. So that's a no from me." She replied. "Who are you, by the way?"

The stallion cleared his face, shook himself free of the dirt, and opened the front door. "Perhaps some introductions are in order, especially since I believe I am unacquainted with your face. I'm the midnight guide for tonight through the morgue. I trust you both are here for one reason."

"Well we shouldn't waste our time on introductions any longer. Time is very limited." The cloaked pony at last revealed his face, removing his hood as they entered the front lobby.

"I agree. Let's get a move on." The young attendant said rather calmly.

While the trio walked the empty and quiet halls of the mortuary, Crescent offered the nervous Starlight some conversation to break the tension. "So you must be my daughter's new student."

"Starlight Glimmer." She said, introducing herself. "I'm just trying to reshape my life is all."

"Well I'm-just-trying-to-reshape-my-life-is-all, I'm dad."

The lavender mare laughed half-heartedly. "Heh heh... dad jokes... fun."

"What, you don't like purposefully bad humor?" He replied with a jubilant smile.

"My dad's an ever bigger fan than I am. It's not fun." She replied.

"Well I'm not your dad. At least you got that going." Crescent stated with a wink.

"Great, we're already off to a solid start." The young mare replied, feeling more confident with her company.

The young attendant then chimed in. "So miss Starlight Glimmer, are you or were you also a student at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

The mare chuckled before appearing crestfallen. "Well... no. I wanted to, but my dad told me that magic was never strong enough for something like that. I honestly think my dad wanted me to attend the same school he and mom did in Sire's Hollow. But I did have a childhood friend who went to school there. His name is Sunburst, he knows practically everything there is about magic when I last saw him then, so he's got to be a pretty huge and promising name around here. Have you heard of him?

"Hmm... Not sure of the name. What did he look like? I deal with a lot of faces, so I do remember that better."

"Uh... Orange pony with white socks, white patch running down the middle of his face and on his nose, blue eyes. I don't know what he sounds like now, but I'd like to think he's pretty tall and powerful."

"Orange, pretty tall, and powerful. I think I left that one in storage A-2351. Pneumonia's a quiet killer if you're not careful." Starlight's eyes started to immediately well up with tears. The stallion looked back to see how distraught the mare had become and corrected himself quickly. "Now hold on, there's wasn't any markings on his body like the ones you described. So maybe he's out there somewhere. I just haven't heard of the guy."

"I think I heard a name to that nature." Crescent added. "Wasn't he the younger brother of that one girl who went AWOL on Princess Celestia?"

"He had a sister. Sunset Shimmer was her name, I think. Their family was big on sun names."

"Oh yeah, I heard a lot about her but not much on him. I don't even think my daughter even seen a character resembling that, or as much as mention him."

"Oh..." Starlight shrank at the thought of her friend not being as widely known as she figured he would be.

Crescent looked around the halls once more. "So Mr. Guiding Light, where are we going? Preferably not the path we took last time."

The young mortician shook his head as he pointed further down the hall. "Oh no, we're going the usual route this time. I've been left to close shop."

"You're the only one here?" Starlight questioned.

"Not everypony wants to be around the deceased all day. I just so happen to mind it less than the others." He replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Creepy." Starlight muttered out the side of her mouth.

It didn't take long for the trio to return to the cold storage room. Around the place was an assortment of tools used to transport bodies from the operating tables to their assigned cabinets. Starlight looked around the room, nervously twirling her mane as the mortician opened up a nearby storage closet to arrange everything he needed to gain access to the secret room. Upon closing the door and reopening it, the harrowing scene was reintroduced to him and Crescent, but utterly new to that of Starlight. She clasped her hoof over her muzzle so that she couldn't scream. "Well, here we are again." The young mortician said as he walked in first.

"What the hell is this nightmare." Asked a frightened Starlight.

"I suggest you don't look upward." Crescent warned.

"Why not?" She asked, simultaneously doing the very thing he warned her of not doing. As her eyes met with one of the glossy-eyed corpses gazing down with a very twisted expression indicating pain, she whinnied and walked back into Crescent. "Oh, not sleeping tonight."

The stallion pushed her forward, moving the dangling corpses out of the way with his magic. "I warned you."

Starlight's ears was almost pinned to the top of her head as she looked down to the ground as best as she could, trying not to bump into anything. However, upon clearing one of the corpses, their body swayed to tap their hindlegs and tail against Starlight's side. The mare squeaked as she immediately cast a bubble of proximity around herself to avoid contact with any others. "Hey... is there any way we can, you know, not bump into ponies' loved ones along the way?"

"They're not minding you much, just keep moving." Crescent urged, doing the same as she did.

"I don't know how you do this, sir." Starlight sped up her pace, trying to reach ahead to the young mortician guiding the trio.

"If they don't say anything, don't make a conversation of it." Crescent replied, speeding up his own pace to not lose track of the mare.

As the spell grew more taxing to hold up, Starlight broke her spell and instead pushed against the bodies around her with her magic. Yet another corpse brushed against her flank, startling her to looking back and seeing a corpse leering towards her direction. "Really trying the not-looking-up thing. It's pretty hard when they're all staring back at you."

Guiding Light stopped for a moment and summoned a sack, glancing up to make some adjustments prior to moving forward. "They're not staring at you, per se. You just cross their line of vision. And it's not like they can actually see you."

The black cloth bag was brought over the face of the pony, breaking the eye contact between Starlight and the corpse. "I know. I know what a dead body looks like having officiated a few funerals myself. I have had mayoral experience to do that kind of stuff. I'm just not involved with the whole processing thing."

"Well this is what happens when there's an overflow." He replied as he turned back around, clearing one last row of bodies before they came to the metal door at the end of the room. "Here we are."

"Alright, let's just pop that bad boy open so that I don't have to be in here anymore." Starlight urged as she cleared the final row herself.

"Agreed." Chimed Crescent, who still held his spell steady after clearing the final row of bodies.

The young mortician nodded and turned to the door, using his magic to twist at the knob. "...It's unlocked."

"Okay, let's get a move on already." The lavender mare urged, prompting the young stallion to open the door and shield his eyes from the blinding white light coming in from the other side.

When his eyes adjusted, he began to question what he was seeing. "Uh..."

"What?" Crescent asked.

"This... this isn't right." He replied.

Crescent took lead and stepped inside, seeing a bright white hallway with florescent white lights lining either side of the hall for the entire length of it. A little further down were windows reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Beside them were large glass sliding doors with various symbols on them. "Is this the other side of the morgue?"

"No. This isn't anywhere in the building." Guiding answered as he walked forward.

"Um, so we can safely say we stumbled on to something?" Starlight questioned anxiously.

"Yeah... and it's clean. Sterile." Guiding stated.

"It's so bright." Starlight observed.

"And quiet." Crescent added, hearing nothing but the sounds of the three of them walking around to make observations. "It almost looks like a lab."

"So... are we going ahead or are we turning back? I vote for the about face." Starlight suggested as she looked back to the room filled with corpses. "Uh.... m-maybe a teleport is in order?"

"I'm not too thrilled on continuing myself." Guiding cosigned with Starlight, growing more nervous of what he would run into himself.

Meanwhile, Crescent closed the door leading from the room and urged the group onward. "The only way we find anything is if we move ahead. Let's go."

As the other two appeared reluctant to move on, they did so out of the fear of being left behind. Starlight tried to shake off some of her nervousness by speaking with the young mortician. "So... you scared too?"

The stallion, while used to death and the many troubling manners of coming about it, was walking slowly out of caution. "Mildly thrown off. You?"

Starlight, meanwhile, was a lot more honest with her own feelings. "Well... terrified."

Crescent grumbled as he walked. "Ain't nothing more terrifying than the room we just left from."

Meanwhile at the VIP Lounge...

As the time for the visitation of the raffle winners began with it's first visitation to the lounge, many of the other VIP members opted to leave early on due to seclude their dealings away from those they deemed as unworthy. It left a lot of space for the evening, with many maids and servers to treat themselves. However, there wasn't a total absence of members because some still saw this night as an opportunity to have multiplied access to their vices without having to compete for time. One patron in particular embraced the situation with fervor, taking a young maid to please himself as she was embedded in the wall for all to witness.

The new guest had entered and saw this, growing more and more inspired to make his chance with Kalimba as memorable as possible. The only problems were that he was socially awkward, spoke with a nasally voice, a good amount of overweight, and none of that was desirable in a stallion past thirty-five. He was thirty eight.

Kalimba sat at the bar, not at all enthused about what she was tabbed to do. She wanted to be out there on the arena floor to help her owner fight. She was anxious for him, on edge thinking that something would happen to him as she was stuck in this room.

The pudgy stallion called out to the zebracorn. "Diva Kalimba! It's so amazing to meet you in person!"

Just by the sound of his voice, she knew she would very much dislike the hour she had assigned with him. Still, she tried her best to accommodate any complements. "Your praises are appreciated." An uncomfortable silence developed, it was mainly him just staring at her for almost forty-five seconds. Kalimba pursed her lips and gave a single nod, turning herself away. "Okay." She murmured to herself, not realizing that much of her interaction with this guy would be like this for most of the night.

Suddenly, the stallion yanked at her tail to get her to turn around. She almost snapped at him until she saw the camera levitated in his powder blue aura. "Ooh! Can I get a photo!? I've been really wanting to show off to my friends that I actually got to meet you!"

Inwardly speaking, Kalimba had all but vomited at the idea of being so close to the stallion who looked like he barely took the time to bathe today. Again, she tried to accommodate his wishes as per the instructions given to her. "One picture cannot hurt." She said with a grimace.

The stallion squished himself next to her as he held the camera up to face the two of them. An unpleasantly sour smell emanated from him as she tried to tilt her head away from him. After they took the picture, she quickly separated herself from him. She went right back to nursing her beverage. The stallion sat right next to her, gazing at her with a star-struck expression for a total of ten minutes. "Wow, you're so beautiful."

"Thank you." Kalimba grew more and more uncomfortable with every action the stallion took to get closer to her.

Another two minutes later He scooted his stool even closer to her, trying to start up a conversation over a drink. "So whatcha drinking?"

"Water." She bluntly answered.

"I understand. Gotta stay in fighting shape." Again, there was a gap in dialog for a minute or two. "You don't have any challenges tonight, do you?"

"I don't recall dere being one." She said, vehemently wishing that there was.

Another five minutes of silence brewed a lot of discomfort. For Kalimba, she preferred if the guy had gone on about any topic, maybe the growing card collection of his, maybe some mundane topic about the stamps he collected, or even some relatively geeky subject that he could ramble on about, comics, role-playing games, or even how his day went. But instead, it was silence with the soft whistling noise that came with every inhale. The stallion leaned in closer, breathing heavier as the distance grew short between them. "Your accent is so beautiful."

"Yes." While she was used to dealing with uncomfortably clingy clients in the past, this one had ticked off all the boxes of her unwanted list. She turned herself away, her back facing the stallion who vied to get closer.

Another five minutes, no discussion, nothing to drown out any other sustained sound aside from him breathing. Her eyes popped open as she started to feel the heat of his breath brushing up against the back of her neck. "I know it's sudden and we first met just like half an hour ago, but I really think I'd give the world for you if I could have you."

"Dat is nice." The zebracorn clenched her eyes, not wanting to establish any kind of contact with this stallion.

But as his breath grew warmer against her neck, her patience grew all that much thinner. Another minute elapsed with him drawing closer. He began to nuzzle himself into her neck as he whispered to her. "You're so beautiful."

For Kalimba, that was the final straw. She pushed him away and screamed. "Abeg! If you do not give me some space, I will give you a space six feet underground."

Hearing the sharpness in her voice, the threat cut through to him soundly. He jumped back and curled up amongst himself. "Sorry!"

In hearing the sudden outburst, Umbra walked in from one of the box seats. "Kalimba! How's the guest treating you?"

The mare rubbed against the back of her neck to massage the sensation of his breath tickling at her neck. "I would like to discuss our current agreement."

Umbra didn't seem to care much about any of her discomfort. "Oh come on. Our guests paid a pretty bolly to spend some time with you. Maybe you should reciprocate their affections a little." The eccentric stallion suggested.

"I am not for sale." Kalimba muttered to herself.

Umbra smiled as he leaned in to the mare. "But you are here because I allow it."

"Den I could simply leave." She mumbled even quieter.

Umbra quirked a brow in curiosity, walking around to lift the mare's chin. "My, are you becoming rebellious?"

"It's not dat I am rebelling against you. I am saying dat I do not offer myself to whomeva calls at deir leisure." She gently replied.

The stallion summoned his cane as he smiled in the mare's face. "Perhaps you're not understanding, my dear. You are not a VIP member, you are a champion of a VIP member. Your rights to the bar and everything else is only tied to the privilege of the guy who calls you in. This means that since your handler is not present at the moment, I have authoritative say over what's offered to you and what you can or cannot do." The cane slammed to the ground, producing a solid bang throughout the room, causing even the young zebra mare to flinch. "Having that said, you know what you must do." He concluded with a smirk.

She looked elsewhere, trying not to eye him directly while noting her disproval. "Dis is not what we agreed on."

"Well the deal's been changed, my dear Kalimba. But don't think for one second that I won't change it any further. Now be a dear and give this stallion some VIP service. It should be second nature to you." He ordered, pointing his cane to the stallion sitting at the bar.

Begrudgingly, she complied with his orders and seated herself back down next to the stallion. He quickly whimpered at the mare. "Oh, hi there. I'm just giving you some space, just like you asked." He replied nervously.

The bartender broke his silence and spoke with the zebra. "What do you want to drink─" Crème heard the sound of Umbra's cane slamming down to the ground, indicating disapproval of his conduct. The bartender quickly rescinded his offer. "Oh boy. Um, apparently the boss has temporarily revoked your privileges."

The guest sat silently for another minute before speaking out. "Hey, I can get her a drink, right? So can I get a shot of tequila to give to her?"

The flamboyant bartender glanced up at his boss, who showed no disagreement as he walked away. "Sure thing, hun." He replied, grabbing a bottle of the drink to pour a shot glass full.

He placed it out for Kalimba, who quickly snagged the drink and gulped it down. She compressed any emotion as the burning in her throat took place. The stallion grew amazed how quickly she had taken in the potent beverage. "Wow you downed that pretty fast."

The mare requested another shot, given one, and downed that one as quickly as the first before hopping off of her chair. She pointed the guest towards the box seats. "Could we go someplace else?"

The stallion stammered, showing his excitement. "Y-y-you mean... someplace... quiet?"

Crowds of ponies passed through the halls as the many patrons had made their wages, that or were in the midst of having them done. A lot had the night situated at five rounds, some really angry ponies had him down for just two before Nondis went down. But there were also some others who gave the captain the benefit of a doubt and booked him in for ten rounds, even fewer at the eleven to twelve round mark.

In the meantime, the seven of us had entered into the hall where they displayed the perks of being one of the VIP members in the nearby lounge. But most of us weren't focusing on any of that. We had pretty much walked by a scene where a young stallion was getting brutally flogged for not being able to pay something on time. And since he was especially poor, the assailant decided to take it out on his body. Other than that, we didn't see much that caused us any grief or discomfort.

Thank Celestia that I didn't have to run into another murder scene.

As we came close to the arena, we had taken mental note of all of what we passed along our way here. "Okay, I think we've gotten through the worst of it now." Blueblood replied, seemingly unmoved by what all we passed by.

Meanwhile, the other girls were pretty unnerved by everything. "Why does this place even exist?" Rainbow questioned.

"Do you want the long answer or the short one?" Blueblood asked in retort.

"Short. I don't want to hear you talking for very long." Rarity butted in.

The blond prince brushed off the seamstress' animosity. "Well my dear fashionista, it's tourism. It's predicated on the hardcore curiosities and fantasies of many ponies both foreign and domestic. But special legislation protects many of the activities from being investigated by the authorities. You have to have a signature and sigil of the pony in charge of the district just to file the warrant."

"And because of that this place gets to be a sleaze pool?" Rainbow questioned further.

"How deep do you want to swim?" Blueblood asked in response.

"I much rather not." Rainbow cringed.

A sharp yelp grabbed almost everyone's attention in the entire hallway. Some had even started walking towards the source of the sound. Only a few steps down from where they were, there was a mare plugged into the wall. She appeared very much lost in lust as she was taken from behind the wall. She smiled and moaned with complete disregard for her own dignity. Everyone in the group looked on, growing more uncomfortable as she continued her sexcapade in the hallway. "Ugh. How depraved." Rarity groaned.

"Oh dear. She is... um..." Fluttershy's ears almost turned crimson at the sight, growing almost dead quiet as she hid her face away for a moment.

"Wow... she must be getting it pretty good." Rainbow commented.

"Or she's faking it for the guy behind her." Pinkie added nonchalantly.

The mare stopped moaning suddenly. The hole next to the mare in the wall shifted, finally giving way to a stallion instead. He giggled for a moment before he yelped out a very feminine moan. He intended to sell his performance for the stallion behind him, prompting the others to jump back in surprise. "What in tarnation!" Applejack shouted, not being used to seeing anything like was was taking place before them.

The maid beside the servant snickered as she watched the effeminate stallion being rammed repeatedly. "Oh, you love getting ravaged in front of everypony, don't you?" She teased.

The stallion appeared more lust-drunk than the mare beside him, going so far as to back himself up to meet his beneficiary halfway. "Hnnyes daddy! Fuck this cuck! Give me that cock! It's mine!"

Most of the group had become incredibly uncomfortable watching was was transpiring before their very eyes. But noe was more uncomfortable than the very stallion who had clenched his eyes to the display. "...Let's get moving." Blueblood said with a quiet fury.

While he marched onward, the group grew confused as to what had caused him to become so angry all of a sudden. Rarity was the only one who made a verbal note of the situation. "Wow, no shitty remarks of any sort?"

"Let's keep moving, girls." I suggested.

We walked on to reach the seating bowl of the arena. The seats weren't as full as they were on my last visit, but they were pretty filled to at least seventy-percent capacity by the looks of it. And it didn't appear that there would be any other events taking place aside from this one. Still, the draw was there.

"Wow, this place is pretty packed out." Rainbow noted.

"You should see it on Fridays." I promptly replied.

Blueblood began to regale on the topic I brought up. "Ah yes, the weekly primetime event. You ever wonder why the local shows don't do as well as they should at the town theater, this place is why."

"But why here?" Applejack questioned, still not understanding what was the draw for a place like this.

Blueblood continued to explain. "Because in theater, an actor's character can die on set but come back for the final bow. Even in Wonderbolt shows, everything is scripted, preplanned, and rehearsed before the performance. For many here, that's too formulaic. But a place like this, this is where the action becomes real, the drama becomes uncut and uncensored, and you can say that very little is restricted by legal guidelines. It's seeing the formalities of life, as well as answering the curious questions of the varied spontaneous endings of that. Or maybe your thing isn't death and destruction, it's more of drugs, sex, changing one's own orientation to make your wildest dreams come true." The blond prince pointed to the hole in the ceiling above. "Whatever Canterlot won't provide for you, whatever society deems as unnatural, this is the place you can answer those questions for yourself."

Pinkie's head swiveled around for a moment, she called out to the group. "Hey... we're missing somepony."

We looked among ourselves and counted out how many of us were present. However, the only problem was that the one we could've easily assumed had come with us was nowhere to be seen. Rarity stifled a shriek as Rainbow Dash called out her name. "Fluttershy."

Worry caused all of us to become on edge over what happened. I couldn't help but to ask myself one question, playing that same one on repeat for some time as both Blueblood and I galloped out of the arena seats.

"Where is she?"

Just like every other viewer in the hallway, Fluttershy found herself captivated by the scene unfolding before her. Instead of moving ahead like all her friends did, she remained entranced by the stallion receiving his request in bulk. Her tail flicked lightly, her posterior subconsciously rocked back and forth to anticipate the movements he was receiving. Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, deep down inside she knew she was jealous of him.

"Ah! Yes! Harder, master!"

The more he moaned, the more she started to bite her lips at his reactions. Though what had really flipped the switch for her was the moment when the mare beside him leaned over to nuzzle him. He felt her against his neck and leaned in to kiss her. Their exchange was far from formal, their tongues licking at one another before they separated. The stallion was in paradise.

"Does it feel good?" The mare asked seductively.

The stallion cried out. "Yes mommy, daddy feels good! I love his cock!"

"You wanna cum for him?" She asked once more. "In front of everypony?"

"Yes! YES! YES!" The stallion began thrashing back, experiencing the orgasm of his life while the mare beside him panted in anticipation for her next turn. Many stallions who were curious had watched with with silent gulps of repressed sexual tension, many trying to hide their growing erections from passerby's. One had essentially dealt with enough and started tending to himself on the spot.

Fluttershy sat herself down at the increasingly chaotic display of sexual fervor. She began to pant, feeling herself throb in ways she couldn't imagine. She held a hoof to her muzzle, suppressing any noise aside from her breathing. Her hindquarters began to rock against the ground. Upon reaching her forward limit, she lifted herself slightly on her way back to simulate what she would do to that poor stallion caught trying to relieve himself in the public eye. At that point, what her intentions were became single-minded and selfish. She wanted to exhibit the kindness she was capable of, helping him relieve that pent-up stress, but at the cost of her own satisfaction. Her eyes closed for a moment to imagine how she would extend her wings, teasing his length at his request, stroking him until her very feathers were coated in his seed. Her mouth opened, her tongue lolled, her hoof continued to hide the verbal whimpers she wanted to unleash.

"Enjoying the show?"

Fluttershy jumped, stopping in dead heat. She quickly turned around to see an older stallion smiling at her with a gaze filled with intent. The mare compressed herself with shame, seeing that she was not only called out, but directly approached by the one in the same. She whimpered at him. "Oh... well..."

The stallion walked forward, trying to break the ice between him and the startled mare. "So you must be new around here. This must not be your typical scene. I can tell by the way you move."

"..." She said nothing, but walked backwards.

The stallion continued to walked her down, backing her into a wall. "And you seem pretty timid. Quiet."

"..." Her silence had gone from shame to that of fear. She increased her pace, only to find herself slamming against a wall. Her tail curled up beside her and she held it to herself.

The stallion planted a hoof beside her to cut her off. She looked at the stallion's foreleg, shivering as he leaned closer to her ear. "Maybe you'd like to give the inside of that VIP lounge a look."

"..." She tried not to look at the stallion who leaned in to her.

The stallion applied his magic to her chin, forcing her head to him. His free hoof glossed down her body, highlighting her concealed curves as he leaned into the nape of her neck. "A cute little thing like you could definitely use some relaxation. You're so uptight, just shaking with anticipation."

"...!" Fluttershy's eyes expanded, looking in every direction for help.

"Is that what you want, my little dandelion? You want some of what he's getting, don't you?"

"Hnnnhnhnhnnn!"

Fluttershy's sheepish cry for help had gone completely unheard. And the assertive stallion wanted to take advantage of her earlier performance by offering her an opportunity to relieve that tension. "I'll give you what you want, if you'll come with me─"

Suddenly, a voice called out from further down the hall, a voice that was vaguely familiar. "There you are!" Swooping in to grab her in his magic, the disguised Blueblood drew up the stallion's forelegs and forcibly escorted her away from him. "Blasted girl, how many times do I have to tell you to stay in your place!? Get a move on!"

The stallion, not wanting to let the opportunity to pass, called out to the disguised Blueblood. "Excuse me. I couldn't help but notice your friend had gotten caught in a daze."

"She's one of my herd, thank you." He replied with gusto, seeing exactly who it was that was trying to abscond with the poor shy mare. His tone grew the more vicious throughout their exchange.

"Perhaps, sir, I could reimburse you for the inconvenience of your temporary separation this evening." The assertive stallion said, summoning a small sack of gems.

"Buzz off!" Blueblood commanded, pulling the mare along with him by her foreleg.

While Fluttershy was greatly uncomfortable with the prince touching her, she found his presence more convenient than that of the other stallion. Meanwhile, the aforementioned VIP member pleaded with him to claim his bounty. "I could very much make it worth your while, and hers."

Blueblood had immediately turned off any mode of negotiation, using his magic to form a dagger with his aura. "I could easily take your head, that's reimbursement enough for me."

Seeing how the stallion had grown confrontational, the security nearby rushed to the scene to defend the VIP member. But the stallion signaled them off as he admitted defeat. "Alright then. Your loss." He opened the sack to reveal a slew of tiny red rubies that were high in value. He tipped the security one of those rubies a piece. "Shame. I would've tried to make it worth your while. But I guess some thugs can't be negotiated with."

As soon as the stallion disappeared into the VIP Lounge, Blueblood quenched his magic and immediately began to chew out the timid mare. "What in blazes are you doing lingering around here?"

"..." Fluttershy knew she didn't have a good answer, her silence was her only response to him.

The prince continued his tirade as both Pinkie and I walked up from a pair of nearby columns. "You could've gotten yourself caught up in this mess, knowing we wouldn't see you until noon tomorrow, possibly made a prostitute by the hour's end! You cannot, and will not separate from the group! Have I made myself clear!?"

I quickly bumped in between Blueblood and Fluttershy, giving the prince an icy look before tending to my friend. "Are you alright?"

Fluttershy found her voice as her dear friend came by to her assurance. "I'm so sorry."

Rainbow Dash flew in from the arena and quickly announced to the three. "Hey! He's up on the floor now!"

Blueblood didn't spare any time for how I glanced at him, only offering a stern warning to Fluttershy before walking back to our seats. "We will discuss this later. Stay focused and DO. NOT. WANDER."

While he stormed off, I went over to hug my friend. Fluttershy was still trembling, realizing the trouble she could've easily got into, and also being a victim of Blueblood's rage. I couldn't help but to show my disdain for the prince first. "I hate that guy, I really do."

Fluttershy meekly replied. "It's not his fault. It's mine. I just got caught up with watching everything that I forgot where I was or what I was doing. I shouldn't have let myself get caught up like that. I'm sorry."

"He should've been more considerate, knowing how you are." I said, still fuming over how harshly he treated Fluttershy. However, I understood why he was so upset. I probably would have gone about it better than he did with her, but I did have to admit credit to how he staved off that stallion from touching her. I still chided her, but I toned down the aggression of the message. "I can understand that a lot of what we're seeing tonight can be a mountain of stuff to process, but I still want you to stay close to us, try not to get distracted."

"Okay." Fluttershy replied, taking a deep breath to recover herself. "I'm ready when you are."

A second later, roars erupted from the arena, indicating that the first match was starting. "Alright. Let's get back to it."

Meanwhile at the Unknown Lab...

Starlight took to the rear, allowing the two stallions to guide her way. Her heart was already beating at an accelerated rate from the anxiety she was experiencing being in a place so bright and quiet. One of them already stated that this place had looked like a lab, and as time progressed, they discovered that it was exactly what they perceived it to be.

Opening one of the sliding doors, there was the unmistakable stench of decay. Starlight clasped her hooves over her muzzle to stave off the smell. Meanwhile the two stallions had strove through it. "This place... it isn't normal." Guiding Light murmured. "There's a... sadness."

"And a pretty bad stench." Starlight pointed out. "Let's just hurry and get out of here."

Crescent's ears flicked, his head sharply turned to the direction of further down the hall. "Wait." He urged the other two, causing them both to even hold their breath. As soon as the faint sounds of hooves clopping against the tile started to grow louder, he pointed to a nearby operating table still hosting a body. "Get down and hide."

In doing so, they watched as an unknown figure walked through the hall, pushing a cart with a sheet covering what appeared to be a body. Upon a closer look, the pony they saw wasn't actually a pony at all. It was a cream-white wooden figure shaped as a pony and given life. Where it's eyes would be were hollowed hulls, it's muzzle absent of a nose and mouth, where one could consider a horn to be was a yellowish-green jewel that gave off a smoky aura. That same aura looked to be applied to it's entire body, the limbs and joints appearing to be conjoined by wisps of energy. Since the moving object had no eyes, it could not see Starlight's tail poking from the side of the table.

As the creature passed through the room to collect an item, it's smoky neon-green aura levitated a beaker from a nearby table and placed it on the cart outside. The three ponies, still hiding behind the concealed corpse on the operating table, began to very quietly whisper to one another. "What is that?" Guiding asked.

"It looks like a doll." Starlight answered as the creature walked back out the room.

"I've seen one of those before." Crescent noted, his mind going back to what happened on Friday night. The only difference was that the creature before him was white without a face, the other one having been brown but wearing Prod's face instead. The creature walked along, leaving the trio behind. "What in Equestria is this place?"

"Some lab with walking puppets?" Starlight answered, equally as confused. "I don't see any strings."

Guiding continued to linger over what it was they were moving. "It looks like they're transporting something, maybe someone."

Crescent's ears flicked yet again. "Heads down."

In doing as they were told, they avoided a narrow encounter with a puppet with a similar goal. Only this time, the cart they moved had a smaller figure on it. "That's a pony's body?" Starlight questioned quietly.

"A foal. It's far too young to be used for anything research wise. All laws prohibit the use of the bodies of minors for posthumous research outside of autopsy." Guiding explained. "And this place doesn't exactly look like they do autopsies here."

Crescent grew curious, hiding his horn behind the operating table. As his magic glowed, he sent the tray of the tools used for an operation onto the ground. The creature didn't even flinch or was aware that something had dropped right in front of it. Crescent mumbled to himself. "Not only can they not see, they can't hear either." He announced, the volume of his voice increasing ever so slightly as to not eclipse the volume of the tools that was knocked over. The creature carried on, with it's tasks and walked away. While it left the trio behind, they walked back into the hallway to see the other puppet disappear around the corner. "What madness is this?"

Guiding looked into another nearby room. "This looks like another operation room, maybe there could be some clues as to what they do here." But as soon as he opened the door, his eyes expanded greatly and he shut the door without a second thought. "Sweet Faust!" He shouted into his hooves as to not cause too much attention.

Starlight questioned as she walked up to the door to investigate. "What?"

"Hold up, you." Crescent warned, politely pushing her away from the door. As the sliding door was cracked open, Crescent poked an eye through to see a most grisly sight. "Yeah, that's not for you to see." He said, slowly closing the door with reverence.

Starlight tried to make an attempt to peek through the door. "Is it that bad─"

The stallion placed his hoof at the mare's chest, giving her a very stern advisory. "I swear if you look in there for anything, I will blind you for the rest of the night."

Starlight then replied with some anger. "With all due respect, I have to be your daughter's eyes and ears. Those were her words exactly."

"And I gave birth to that girl, while serving time in the guard. So heed mine with as much consideration." Crescent replied firmly.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get the opportunity to become her mentor's eyes directly, she made very little fuss over the circumstance, accepting that whatever was in there would already deprive her of more sleep. "Okay, well if you can tell me what you saw, that's fine."

The stallion quietly looked back to the door and gravely answered her request. "They hung a ponies entrails up like party streamers."

The young mortician walked ahead to another room, cracking the door to see what he could make out. "This room, they've cut the neck open, the trachea looks to be extracted."

Starlight was quick to realize that his threat to blind her was probably in her best interest. Meanwhile, the retired guard moved to yet another door. "Ugh." He said shortly before closing the door with a similar reverence. "They've removed the bones of this pony."

"Such disrespect for the dead. To what purpose?" Guiding said with a solemn tone.

Starlight was more in awe of the two stallions. "You two look awfully used to things like this."

The young mortician pointed back to the direction where they first came from. "Um, where do you think I work?"

Crescent then stated. "You think that guards just stand around a hall and look pretty in our shiny golden armor? Sometimes getting posted in a dark hallway for six hours is enough time to let your inner-demons permeate the forefront of your mind. Try having the mental discipline to not move when you feel that nothingness lurking over your shoulder, whispering in your ear. You can't run from the demon when you can't walk."

"That's a pretty deep thought." Starlight responded.

As the trio walked onward through the winding halls, Crescent continued to speak. "I think I'd prefer a dark hallway in comparison to this place."

"Why?" The young mare questioned.

"Because the cruelest things imaginable can't be seen in the dark. Often times the stuff of our nightmares happens in the broad of day. It's not what you don't see that eats at you in the dark, it's what you see in the light that changes your perspective."

Starlight shuddered at his answer. "Okay. That's a pretty grim way of putting it."

Several minute progressed as the the three ponies wandered the halls of the unknown laboratory. They then came across a large room filled with an overwhelming odor. Starlight almost vomited upon smelling it the first time. What made it even worse for the trio was that this was ironically the darkest room in the lab. When they entered, Starlight steeled her resolve and used her horn to illuminate the area around them. Crescent went a step further and produced a light so potent that it illuminated the room. Guiding used his magic as a flashlight to highlight specific items that gained his attention.

So far, the entire room was an attention-grabber. "Looks like a staging area... for what?" Guiding asked.

Starlight soon followed Guiding Light's example to use her magic to illuminate items of interest. Namely, her eyes was gathered to a large looming shadow in the distance. Her magic trailed to see a monstrously-sized body strapped to the wall. "Guys... what is that?"

Guiding pointed his light to Starlight's point of interest, highlighting the features of the body. "That is a headless beast. And I'm not sure what it is exactly." Crescent concluded.

"It's not anything I've worked on." Guiding added.

As Starlight got closer, she realized that the decapitated creature was the source of the unbearable smell. "It reeks."

"It's dead. That's to be expected." The young mortician deadpanned.

"Creatures like these aren't usually skinless." Crescent asked as he got closer, giving much more light to the overall body fo the creature. Looking up, he could see a massive crane with bloodied hooks hovering above it. "What the hell is going on here?"

While the three were observing the body of the headless creature, a doll walked into the room and screeched in what sounded to be a very distorted voice. "T R E S P A S S E R !"

Suddenly, the entire place had gotten immensely loud with the sound of a dissonant tone ringing on endlessly. The alarm prompted the color of the jewel at the front of the doll's head to change from neon green to that of a red-orange. The wooden doll marched towards the three, only to be quickly subdued by a powerful blast to the face. The doll shuffled on the floor for a while until it laid dormant. Soon after, the smoky glow over it's body had completely dissipated. "Wow, nice blast. Genuinely impressive, miss." Crescent complemented the young mare.

"Thanks." Starlight replied with a confident smirk.

But as they went about speaking to one another, another five of the same dolls showed up, their own jewels glowing a similar glow of red-orange. "Guys, I don't think we have time for complements." Guiding announced nervously.

"Yeah, looks like we've got a welcoming committee, I wonder why they didn't bother greeting us earlier." Crescent said, priming his horn for combat. He kept his eyes ahead as he questioned the gifted magic user. "Got another one of those blasts in you?"

Starlight scowled ahead to the growing number of dolls. "Several. Ask your daughter how much trouble I can really be."

While the match was taking place down in the arena below, there was another contest taking place in the VIP box seats. As the halls outside of the room brimmed with giggling maids and servants, inside the darkened room was a stallion leaning back in his seat. His eyes gazed from the ceiling down to the mare bobbing her head up and down in his lap. He held his hooves to her head while praising her for her performance.

"Oh, you're so amazing!"

Kalimba paid the heavyset stallion no mind as she strictly went about her means of concluding her time with him, as per the instruction of Umbra himself. While the stallion's size was nothing much to consider, especially considering many clients she was forced to deal with, she treated him like a paying customer nonetheless. Her eyes not once glanced up to the stallion for anything, not for his reaction to her work, not for seeing if he was anywhere close to his climax, she couldn't care less for him. She wanted to be out of his crotch as quickly as she had to be.

But that didn't stop him from enjoying her ministrations. He wasn't as awkwardly silent in receiving her mouth around him. He was ecstatic, beside himself while the pressure built in his loins. "I'm almost done, maybe we can slow it down just a bit." While it was the first time he had actualized a command to her, she disregarded it long before he spoke it into existence. His request to slow her tempo was all she needed to hear to tell her how little she had to do to get him there. Her magic glowed and embraced his entire length. "Hey! Not like that!"

Kalimba didn't take the time to bask in the sight of his increased squirming. She was focused on the finish line. The stallion whimpered, crying out to the ceiling as he felt his hips drive into her muzzle. That second his seed was unleashed within her maw, she withdrew and walked away without a second thought to the stallion's halfway-met climax.

"You're so amazing." He whimpered as he still spurted seed from his loins.

She spat back out to the floor what he initially offered into her mouth with disgust. "I hope you are satisfied now. Let us go back." She walked out of the room, leaving the stallion very little time to recover.

"Hey, wait." He cried out before the door was closed on him. He primed himself free of any lingering semen and walked out into the hallway, calling out to her again. "Miss Diva Kalimba!"

She sat herself at the bar, very much annoyed with how the the night went already. The stallion walked to the bar, himself still softening for all to see. She plainly replied to him. "I do not have to pamper you any longer. Your time is up now."

From the other side of the bar, Umbra swabbed some of the stallion's semen off of her face and left it to run on his hoof. "Ah, Kalimba." He cooed, tracing that same hoof against her lips to wear his seed as a sort of lip balm. "I see you're back in your usual form."

The zebracorn wanted to give Umbra the earful he deserved and then some, but advised herself against it. Instead, opting to wash it down with his drink instead. "I did what was asked of me. His time should be up by now."

The stallion quirked a brow at the zebra who gulped down his beverage. He shrugged it off and went back to his smiling, careless self. "Indeed it is. Ready to meet your next fan?"

The eccentric stallion clopped his hooves and security came rushing by to grab the stallion. As he was being carried off, he shouted to the zebracorn. "KALIMBA! KALIMBA WAIT!"

Umbra tilted his head. "Ooh, sorry kid. Time's expired. Gotta take the bit elsewhere."

As he fought back, trying to reestablish proximity to her, he held his hooves to the doorframe to keep him latched for some time. "Kalimba, I'll promise to come back for you each night! I'll pay whatever price to see you again! I love you!"

"Aw. That's so cute." Umbra cooed childishly. "Alright, back outside with ya." He followed up with a wave of his hoof to dismiss the stallion.

Upon getting carried off via magic, he cried out loudly through the hall. "You're my Diva Kalimba forever!"

Kalimba groaned as she sank her head into the counter, not paying a cent of attention to the female raffle winner who walked into the lounge. She appeared to be from a family of fair influence, her face as bright and bubbly as any girl who was the center of attention in high school. The only difference was that she was around twenty-six with no aspirations to do anything but what she felt like doing in the moment. "Oh my gosh, it's really you-uh!"

Kalimba considered her attitude to be even more of a trigger than the last client. Umbra raised her chin, grinning at the mare. "Remember, positive energy, big smiles."

The mare walked up to the bar and asked Umbra himself a question. "Excuse me, I get all the privileges of a VIP member for the next hour, correct?"

He then replied. "Yes ma'am. Whatever you wish, she'll follow."

"Great! I'm going to get me a little drinky-drink, and we're gonna fucking tear this lounge apart!" The mare sat herself next to the zebra and grinned at her. "Miss Diva Kalimba in the flesh-uh! I can't believe you're here, like in front of me, like literally living and breathing!"

"Well I did a lot to keep doing dat." She replied flatly.

"No kidding, babe. This fucking world is full of assholes who don't know how to chill and vibe. Like who the hell isn't about a party every night!? You're only in your twenties ten times in your life. And when you're dead, you're done anyways. Fuck responsibility, We're all about the good life!" The mare started to dance in her seat before pointing at the zebra. "Can I get you a drink, babe? Your vibes aren't near the shit I was seeing on Friday night."

Kalimba was already done with the night, she figured that it wouldn't get any worse after the first client she had to endure. "After de last idjiot, I would appreciate an inebriating distraction."

"Okay! Now we're talking!" She cheered before questioning the barkeep. "Can I get something spicy?"

"Spicy?" Crème questioned.

"You know, with a mellow but salty kick to it. Rich in flavor. Something rum based, babe."

The bartender returned her energy with interest. "A discerning tongue. I got you, honey bun."

The mare then returned her attention to Kalimba. "So you fought with that human on Friday. How did you feel having to carry his lazy ass so damn much?"

The zebra felt herself become extremely defensive, eager to argue for the sake of her friend. "I do not think I had to do any carrying. If you want, you could see for yourself what he's made of."

The mare dismissed her testimony. "Ah come on-uh, he can't be that good of a fighter. He can barely even run."

"Do not let your mind be deceived." Kalimba replied quietly as her drink was slid before her.

The mare smirked, looking the zebra up and down. "Well if that's the case, then I want to see it for myself."

"My owner has a press booth down de hall. We can view de fight from up dere." She replied, once more eager to show the mare in what ways she was wrong.

"Awesome-uh!" She cheered. "Got the drinks, now we can move on over."

Kalimba sighed as she realized that very little could possibly change the mare's mind. The reality was that she wanted to get acquainted with her in ways that were to be forgotten about the next morning. It was yet another reminder of her life before meeting the captain. She accepted that this was her life once before, but she started to grow some reservations against it.

Still, it didn't help that Umbra was encouraging that part of her to remain tethered. "Remember, bright smiles."

Meanwhile at the Arena...

The crowd was a mix of cheers and boos, some that lost their money after the initial four rounds had already started talking up ideas of jumping into the arena and getting their money's worth of satisfaction. But as the night went on to prove, the human was hard to put down.

Fatigue started to show a bit in his stance, and the bruises began their toll. Several marks on his body had been deeply red for a while. But he still stood tall with every grunt he fought laying out cold for the world to see.

"WOW, FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!" Scotch hollered out to the audience.

"HE'S A LEGITIMATE FIGHTING MACHINE!" Botch announced loudly.

"HOW MUCH MORE CAN HE GO AGAINST!? HOW MUCH LONGER CAN HE LAST!?"

"WELL WE'RE GONNA BRING YOU ONE OF OUR SPONSORS BEFORE WE BRING OUT THE NEXT GROUP!"

The duo waited as Scotch pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He read off the paper for a moment. "TONIGHT'S SPONSOR WILL BE NONE OTHER THAN─COMING FROM THE BLACK GATE IS OUR NEXT GROUP OF CHALLENGERS!" Hearing his fake-out of a sponsored announcement, the crowd cheered the bypassing of any advertising for the action to get back up to speed.

However, there was one group that didn't like how the announcers and promoters were running the show. "How awful! They're not even giving him a chance to rest!" Rarity shouted angrily.

Blueblood replied to the seamstress. "I see the ringleader's looking at a battle of attrition tonight. He's probably gauging how long he can last under physical duress."

Applejack then offered her own commentary. "Not everypony can just hop up and buck' another orchard after a rough round of harvesting the first. It ain't doin' any good fer ya. Ya ain't gon be strong enough to kick the next tree, much less a whole 'nother orchard!"

Blueblood leaned back in his seat as he watched the fight take place. "Well if worst comes to it, something will be done."

"You mean we'll do something?" I corrected him.

"No, we won't. We sit back and let the powers that be decide what happens next." Blueblood stressed.

I rebutted his refusal with my own declaration. "If you think for one second that we're going to let anything happen to Nondis, you've got another thing coming."

"And if you think you'll get out of this unscathed after intervening in you-know-who's affairs, then I've got a bridge in Manehattan to sell you. Now sit down and observe." The prince firmly ordered. "He's not as weak as you think he may be, and his life is not in any danger yet. So again, sit back and let the powers that be decide what happens next."

"I don't see how you're married." Rarity complained.

"Hang around me and you'll find out." The prince replied to the stylish mare.

"Much rather hang myself, thank you." Rarity cheerfully announced.

Pinkie, who had been on the edge of her seat the entire night, closed her eyes and prayed for the success of her friend. She whispered to herself. "You got this, Non-Non. Pull it through."

"CUT THAT FUCKING MONKEY'S HEAD OFF!" A shout came from immediately behind them, causing the group to become increasingly anxious.

Pinkie clutched and prayed harder. "Non-non, please pull it through. We're here if anything goes wrong."

Meanwhile at the Unknown Lab...

"THIS TOTALLY WENT WRONG!" Starlight shouted as she blasted another doll into submission.

Crescent had summoned a spear and started using it to conserve his magic for specific purposes. But as the time went along, the fight had brought much fatigue to his body. "Ugh... a mighty fine mess, this is!" He panted.

Three more dolls appeared to stop the trio's advance to their initial entrance. While not being physically or magically gifted, Guiding Light used a number of chemicals to splash on the dolls to wilt some of their functionality. However, since they were lacking the capability to feel pain, nothing deterred them from getting back up after an otherwise crucial blow. In total, they totally neutralized nine puppets, while at least another thirty pursued them from behind, as damaged as they were.

Guiding Light thought quickly and spilled the remaining chemical to the floor, watching as the bulk of the others tripped over the fluid, then clumsily tripping over one another. "Look, I might have gotten us here. If you can do me a favor and get us back out, that would be swell!"

"I'm supposed to be asking you that!" Starlight replied as she sent another blast at a doll, sending it into a wall. After that particular blast, she started to feel the magic slowly wilt from her horn. She was losing energy, and fast. "I like the idea of getting out too, so much I was recommending it since we got here. But as much magic as I can do when I'm full of energy, I'm not a very physical pony when I run out."

Crescent rain towards the three with his spear running parallel to the floor. Knocking over the three puppets in one fell swoop, he tiredly called back to the mare. "Stick around my little girl, you'll be in top shape."

"You don't look all that good either." Starlight pointed out as they began to run.

"I haven't moved around this much in some years. I'm in retirement for a reason." He rebutted.

"You don't look very 'retired' to me." Guiding said, praising the former guard. "You look very active."

Before they could reach their destination, the lights powered out in the halls. The endlessly dissonant alarm came to an abrupt end. The trio all lit their horns to help themselves guide the hall. "Why'd the light's go out?" Guiding questioned worriedly.

The three looked back to see that the puppets had gathered themselves and stood in a straight line. Their crystals had went from a mix of red and orange to crimson. All of them parted ways into various rooms, leaving the hallway wide open. In their silence, as the darkness lied further within, there was nothing... then suddenly...

Crescent had no intention of fighting whatever had roared in the distance, urging the group to move quickly. "Yeah. It's time to go."

"Couldn't say it better." Starlight agreed as the three broke into a gallop for the exit.

They quickly traced their way back through the halls with Crescent taking the lead. Starlight's horn started to flicker as her magic soon grew too weak to sustain. As her magic was quenched, she pointed ahead. "There's the door!"

"Thank Faust." Crescent sighed tiredly. "Let's get out of here."

The young mortician opened the door, to reveal a janitorial closet. "You've got to be SHITTING ME!" Starlight screamed.

The roar was growing closer, even Crescent was growing impatient. "Do your magic before that thing comes our way!"

"Okay, don't pressure me so much!" Guiding pleaded as he conducted the same method to prompt an enchantment to change the location of where the door opened to.

He opened the door and quickly came to see the dangling hooves from above. "We're out─"

The three didn't look ahead as they kept their eyes on what was coming from the darkness. After closing the door, they felt a little more secure... that was until they turned their heads to see what was in front of them.

Each corpse that had dangled from the ceiling was made to face them. Not a single one was with a mask to cover their faces, each of their dead eyes gazing down to the trio. The lights in the room had changed from the normal florescent blue to a much darker red. The emergency lights were activated instead of the normal ones, giving the room a complete appearance of hellish dread. Starlight caught herself before she could scream, hyperventilating instead. "Oh...not sleeping this week."

Crescent wasn't in any less of a panic. "Oh fuck this!" A bang could be heard from the door behind them, the three vied in their minds to make the uncanny decision to do only one thing. "Run!"

Without a care in the world, Crescent dove in head first into the row of bodies, not caring for whoever's loved ones he bumped into. Starlight held back tears as she did the same, clenching her eyes closed while doing so. Guiding Light still had ample amounts of magic to work his way through carefully. "This was not in my job description!" But another bang at the door caused him to completely disregard that practice.

As Crescent was the first to break past the exit on the other side, he shouted loudly to indicate where he was should the others gotten themselves lost in the forest of bodies. "KEEP THAT ASS MOVING!"

To his gratification, the other two leapt through the doorway. Starlight was freeing the tears in her eyes as she cried out in horror. "Close it! Closeit, closeit, closeit, closeit, closeit!"

Guiding Light slammed the door shut as he closed the way behind him. He opened it back up to make sure that the room had changed back into the supply closet. Seeing that all there was at the middle was a mop, he threw everything out of place and slammed the door shut. With a sigh of relief, he slid down and closed his eyes, his chest rapidly rising and falling. "Door's closed."

Starlight whimpered terribly, shaking immensely as she tried to cope with the horror of running through all of the bodies of those deceased ponies. Crescent quickly got up to comfort her. "Okay, baby girl. I got you. You did what you had to do to survive, you did what you had to do to not be the one hanging up in there. You did great."

"I don't wanna be here anymore." Starlight whimpered.

Guiding stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "You and me both."

A voice started to sing close to them.

Crescent stood with his spear out, looking around to source where the voice was coming from. "Oh I don't like this."

"Who's singing in a morgue?" Starlight asked, completely terrified.

Guiding felt a desperate chill run down his back as he looked behind him. "That's a foal's voice."

Guiding jumped as soon as he realized the voice was being sung almost over his shoulder. Crescent grabbed the nearest tables, trays, lights, trolleys, whatever his magic could reach to hold at the closet door. "Barricade that door with whatever you got!"

"We need to run!" Guiding shouted.

"Running's fine as long as whatever the fuck that is can't chase us!" Crescent stressed greatly, plugging his spear into the ground to prop the door closed, blade facing the door. As he was finishing that, the little girl's voice continued to sing.

The filly's voice erupted into an unholy guttural roar as the door was being violently banged against. Crescent screamed to the top of his lungs. "RUN!"

Starlight, who was already fatigued, had mustered the last bit of strength she had to run out of that room. The three looked back to see what it was that was pursuing them. The only thing they could see was the sight of the closet door being ejected from the room with the spear head lodged inside of it. Whatever it was, it was approaching far faster than they anticipated. The three ponies ran through the dimly lit halls of the morgue, past the walls of the mausoleum storage, and into the the chapel feeding into the main hall. "Front door!" Guiding Light pointed at the exit, desperately urging himself to lock the door as soon as they cleared the chapel.

The party cleared the chapel, shutting the reinforced doors behind them. Guiding frantically locked the door and ran along side the two visitors, showing appreciation for their skill and quick-thinking.

"That was a close one." He sighed. "What the hell was that I'll never kno─"

His words were cut short as a tendril of corrupted flesh broke through the door and pierced him through his neck. His eyes widened from the shock of being internally decapitated. Much of his body went limp as his spinal cord was broken apart by the entering wound.

The two looked back to see what had been done. "NO!" Starlight unleashed a bloodcurdling scream as the young mortician's eyes wandered helplessly around the lobby. And in reply to Starlight's voice, the monster screamed back at her.

Crescent grabbed the mare quickly, his horn burning with magic. "HANG ON TO ME!" He cried out. As he used his teleportation spell, the fraction of a second he came face to face with an unspeakable terror that could not be discerned into words.

He knew that hell had come for them, with it's tendrils outstretched.

Upon landing outside of the cemetery, the two galloped on for as long as Starlight could keep herself from falling. But as she struggled to breathe, she collapsed to the ground. Crescent was more than tired himself, joining with her. Pure terror was what lingered in his eyes. "Holy fuck!" He tiredly cried out.

Starlight, in a frantic climb, tried to run back to where they came from. "Guiding Light! We have to go back for him!"

"That thing took him!" He cried back, grabbing a hold of her so that she couldn't return to where they came from. "Look at me! We don't get a second chance, not against... that!"

"But if we don't get him, he'll die!" She cried out. "We can still do something!"

As the mare grew more frantic, he started to hold her closely, petting her head to comfort her. "Starlight, look at me. Look at me, alright." Her eyes was overflowing with tears while he too shed tears of his own. "You can't save everyone, baby girl. You save what you can."

Starlight croaked for a while, finally finding the moment to unleash all the pain of losing a pony she had barely gotten to know. The mare shook violently, weeping loudly in the city street. Crescent held the mare as if she was his own daughter, even seeing the colors of her mane as similar to hers. A piece of him broke down and he couldn't help but to clutch on to her, halfway thanking the stars that his daughter wasn't the one who had to endure this night, but also regretting the fact that she was in a position where she had to endure all the terror on her own.

This night would forever imprint on him, and he knew that there would be no sleep tonight.

His horn flickered with the last bit of magic he knew would make things better for her. He cleared his voice, trying to stabilize himself. "Tonight was terrible for us. And there is no way of coping with the evils we had to endure. But I know a way we can get through this, but you're going to have to trust me."

"How?" She whinnied. "How do we forget this!? We watched a pony die today! I can't do this, I can't deal with this!"

He hugged her tightly, bringing his voice down to a calm. "Come here. Come here. It's going to be alright. Just trust me." His horn glowed with a bright magic before he tapped his horn to her forehead. Immediately, the mare fell limp. With some of the last bit of strength in his body, he hoisted the mare onto his back and looked ahead to the long walk back. As the mare drifted off into unconsciousness, he cited to her what all will happen to her from that point on. "By tomorrow, morning you'll forget everything you just saw. It'll all be a dream for you, some parts of that will only remain there. But when you wake up, you'll live a normal life of a magic student. Save all of the madness for somepony who's dealt with it all his life."

Walking on, Crescent heard the mare on his back whimper out a name in her dream. "Nngh... Sunburst."

The retired guard clenched his eyes shut, trying to stay strong for her. "Girls this young should never have to see horrors like that."

"I concur." A second voice chimed in from a nearby alleyway. The stallion immediately recognized the voice and saluted out of habit. As she approached, Celestia looked to the figure resting soundly on his back. "So this is Twilight's new student. A shame that this is how I see her for the first time."

"Your highness." Crescent took a deep breath. "I'm sorry to have met you under such duress."

"And here I thought retirement suited you, Night Light." She replied. "Your daughter has been telling me of your recent adjustments."

"I haven't heard that name in years." The stallion looked back to the young mare he carried and scowled towards himself. "Permission to speak freely, your majesty."

"Go ahead." She answered.

"Why my daughter? Why did you assign something so cruel to my daughter? Was my son not enough of a mental case for you?" He questioned angrily, finding Starlight's appearance far too similar to his own child. "She sent her student for this, what could she be doing that's so important? I know what Nondis is doing, but how is this of any help to anypony!?"

"I will answer your question, but first..." Seeing the trauma in his eyes, the princess calmly lit her horn. "Night Light, show me what you know, what you have seen on this night."

He lowered his head in kind. "I... I have seen the face of hell. And it smiled."

'Business as usual.'

Those were the three words that echoed throughout Kalimba's mind for the majority of the night. Instead of living the life of a normal pony, she was brought back into the fold of her prior escapades. Earlier, she complied with the order of satisfying her clients, and this client was no different in how she treated the previous.

Kalimba never had much of an interest in mares, it's just that she had to perform with them at the behest of a stallion or two. She wasn't just going to stop at surface level pleasures like groping, holding, and kissing. She knew her way around mares just as easily. And her client showed great appreciation for her skillset.

The top of the hour started with a few drinks, something to coax the zebra into a more participatory mood. The exchange began fairly innocently, but then the mare took some ecstacy and shared it with her through a kiss. Kalimba tried to avert it, but the mare coaxed her into swallowing it by wrestling her tongue during the exchange. The mid-hour was a lot more of where the foreplay took place. Touching her in places that no stallion would pay attention to otherwise, moving down the checklist she had established for herself and applying it to her client, gauging what worked and what didn't, then finally moving on to the quarter remaining.

The night of ambience and psychedelic passions came to a head for the client. However, Kalimba was trying her best to focus on the match taking place on the arena floor. Normally, taking ecstacy would cause a pony to become highly alert and energetic. This time, it was the exact opposite. "Ugh. My head." She said, blinking as she tried to regain her focus on the captain below.

The client, still riding her high, questioned the zebra. "You alright?"

"It feels like I cannot concentrate on de match below." She confessed, still trying to put forth her best effort to remain vigilant.

Although the mare wasn't exactly without motives, she was concerned for the zebra. "Do you need something to drink, like maybe some water or something?"

"Water is fine." She replied.

The client poked her head out and sent the request for some water. In less than a minute, her request was fulfilled. SHe walked back to the zebra with her beverage in tow. "Here you go, babe."

"Thank you." Kalimba responded weakly, finding it hard to use her magic to levitate the cup to her lips.

With very little strength to find within herself, she leaned against the wall lazily and slid down, spilling her water all over herself. "You okay?" The mare asked once more.

"I am fine." Kalimba was losing track of what was going on in front of her, but she still waved the mare off. She felt in her mind that she would come to grips with herself, but that was failing.

Umbra knocked on the door and then opened it to speak with the pair. "Hello ladies, I'm here with the next winner."

"Aw shit, did I go over my time!?" The female client questioned worriedly.

Umbra saw the condition the zebracorn was in and pursed his lips with growing curiosity. "Unfortunately. But... maybe I can bring you around sometime later. Don't worry about her, I'll take care of her while you're gone."

The mare apologized as security came to escort her away. "Aw, sorry, babe. I have to go."

"Dat's fine." Kalimba weakly replied.

As the mare was escorted away, Umbra began questioning her state of mind. "Oh, you look a little out of sorts, babe. What's wrecking ya?"

"I do not feel like myself." She replied, vainly attempting to keep her head lucid.

"Ugh, it's that dreaded disease again, isn't it?" He questioned mockingly.

"No." Finally, she collapsed and lost herself. Her fight to stay lucid had ended in failure. But Umbra didn't seem to mind the situation at all. In reality, he was pretty enthusiastic about it. Much of the night was everything going his way exclusively. But this one instance had made his night.

The third guest, a young teenager by the age of nineteen, walked in and greeted the ringleader. "Hey, uh. Is this the room?"

"Why yes. Welcome." Umbra announced cheerfully.

He looked around, seeing the mare lying lazily on the floor. She droned on, unable to produce any kind of coherent thought. "Wow, there she is... Is she okay?" The stallion questioned.

Umbra shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the stallion to reassure him. "Well I don't know about you, but I think she's down for whatever. She's pretty promiscuous whenever she's like this."

"Oh... um..."

While the client was uncertain of what was going to happen for the night, Umbra began to feed his mind with lecherous and immoral ideas. "And you look like you could be the lucky winner of the night."

"Lucky?" The stallion parroted.

"I mean, she isn't going to mind you doing what you want to do. She loves this kind of stuff, her master slips her all kinds of concoctions before letting her have a night out on the town. She's very sober, but she likes roleplaying as a drunken girl to be taken advantage of. It's a kink of hers."

"I... I mean..." The stallion was becoming more and more convinced to go along for the ride.

And Umbra was there to cheer him on every step of the way. He lifted her tail for him to see her exposed nethers. "Go on. Give me a good show."

The stallion gulped back his hesitation, his erection growing with every perverted thought that came to his mind, he could have her at his own convenience. "I mean... if she likes it─"

"Wait!" Umbra paused for a moment, a Cheshire grin forming on his lips. "I have a much better idea..."

Corrotto Underground Arena
Thirty Minutes Later...

"OOH! IT LOOKS LIKE HE'S ON HIS LAST LEGS, FOLKS!"

"THE COCKY BASTARD TOOK NINE ROUNDS STRAIGHT AND HE'S STILL PUNCHING CLOCK!"

"I GIVE HIM UNTIL THE START OF THE NEXT MATCH!"

"I GIVE HIM BEFORE THE END OF THIS ONE!"

With the fight slugging along, the captain stumbled to keep himself upright. Much of his arms were completely battered and bruised. Red welts and marks on his torso and neck indicated the blows he took. Needless to say as he grasped at his legs, that they were doing the most damage to him there. He did what he could to protect his knees, and punished anyone who dared to hit him anywhere near those areas. The very tiny reprieves between the rounds where they changed out teams and collected the knocked-out combatants were his only source of rest.

By then, much of the crowd had already acknowledged that they lost their money betting against him early on. Those who wagered him to fall much later on were the only ones who were truly invested in the match. Some cheered him at first, and then rooted for his downfall at their convenience. Others who were curious of his endurance remained and watched with excitement. They didn't care about his health too much, they just wanted to see how long he could go.

One such viewer had his wager placed into the eleventh round. "Two more rounds till I'm rich! Come on, ya stupid monkey, make me rich!"

As he cheered, the group of mares in the row below him had nothing to cheer for. They were very upset with how the night went for their friend on the floor. Rarity closed her eyes to the carnage. "I can't watch this, not anymore."

Applejack's anger boiled over as she hollered out to the announcers sitting on the sidelines. "Landsakes! Give him a break, ya leechin' varmints!

"Hell no! Let him get another round!" The viewer behind them shouted.

Another stallion chimed in. "Yeah! We want our money's worth!"

The young fellow behind the group who eagerly cheered the captain on, patted Pinkie on her shoulder as he encouraged the group. "Keep cheering him on ladies, maybe he'll give me another two rounds and I can cash this bad boy out! Go on, make him work!"

Pinkie stood from her initial spot and relocated herself to the other end of the group so she could not be touched again. I grimaced and tapped my hoof against the ground impatiently. "This cannot keep going."

Much to my dismay, Nondis finished off the last pony of the current group and sat himself to the ground tiredly. The announcers carried on with their usual banter. "AND DOWN GOES THE REMAINING MEMBERS OF GROUP NINE!" Scotch called out.

"THERE'S NO QUIT IN THIS BASTARD!" Botched proclaimed loudly to the remaining viewers.

As the medical staff pulled off the fighters who could no longer continue, the gate opened to reveal yet another squad of ponies armed with blunt weapons, snickering at their downtrodden opponent. "HE'S A SCRAPPY ONE, I'LL GIVE HIM THAT!"

"BUT WE AIN'T STOPPING UNTIL HE'S DOWN AND OUT!"

Nondis looked at the gate with exhaustion, resigned to the idea that he might have to force himself to lose out before they stopped sending more angry parishioners to try their hooves at bringing him more pain. This time, he stood up and manifested his magic into his hands to ready himself for the fight.

"Round ten! Let's go! Make this one and sell that next one for me!" The stallion called out behind the disguised group.

Rainbow looked around the arena nervously. "They seriously can't expect him to keep this up all night."

Watching the crowd cheer the initial clash, I closed my eyes to the barbaric scene taking place on the floor. I knew that he wasn't trying to kill anypony here, but somewhere inside of me knew that this all could be much quicker if he had used more of his own weapons instead of keeping himself honest. Perhaps it was some undisclosed deal, maybe even some instance of possible blackmail, I still couldn't see why he wouldn't give himself a better chance to get out of this unscathed.

Flashes of the fight reminded me all to much of the spar he had with my brother. With my eyes closed, I could see him still giving my brother a hard time. But what really stood out for me about that day was what he said to win my heart on that day. I could remember his words clearly in response to my brother's criticism of how much of a load I had to carry, and how he would contribute.

Those words play back in my head with all the reverb I heard in that hall back then, drowning out the sounds of the chaos taking place around me. My heart throbbed with a distant pain, remembering how elated I was to see how far he would go for me. But then I opened my eyes to the reality of him no longer doing that for me. It was the same look of determination, but this time with a lot more than my heart on the line. Instead, it was Celestia who he was fighting for.

The immense sadness that welled within my heart, I couldn't shake that feeling, not for a moment. It was the jealousy that came to a head, the pain of knowing that he tried fighting for me and I gave up on him too early, not because I wanted to but because I thought it would be for the best, so that he wouldn't have to do this again. But instead of him living a peaceful life, it was me watching a one-for-one recreation of that moment playing out, that instance where he held himself and fought through the pain.

And when my eyes shut to the brawl out there, I could still see the fight play out back then.

That's when I knew for certain, there was no way I could watch this anymore. "I can't." Rising out of my seat, I stormed out of the arena and into the concourse, thinking of a plan to bring a stop to this needless conflict.

Both Blueblood and Rarity called out to me as they watched me leave without an explanation or warning. "Hey, where are you going?" The disguised prince questioned.

Rarity rose up and quickly trailed behind me. When I had gotten further down the hall, she galloped to intercept me. "Darling, you alright."

I pushed past her, citing my own internal conflict. "I can't stand it. It's like no matter what happens, someone's out to have him suffer! And for what, who he loves!? Why does he have to do this, why does he have to keep fighting!?"

Rarity closed her eyes and scraped her hoof to the ground in a show of her own frustration. "Believe me, dear. I'm trying not to leap into that ring and make a scene myself."

I stressed to the mare another source of my frustration, whispering to her what I also felt was unfair. "What's worse is that Blueblood is making this take even longer. All he has to do is intervene like he did for Fluttershy and we'll be on our way out of this."

The disguised prince walked in from his seat and trailed the two with as much furor as he had when Fluttershy separated from the group. "What are you two doing here?"

"Unlike you, I can't stand to see my friends suffer." I seethed.

"I know it may seem like there's a lot that can be done here, but remember that this isn't our usual stomping grounds. Even now you have to be cautious with your words and how you speak." He replied, looking around before seeing a notable gathering further down the way. "There's a crowd growing, and we don't need to be out here making a scene for yet another to develop around us."

Rarity spoke up, taking my stance on the matter. "So are you waiting for the crowd to thin out there so we can make a strategic move or something?"

"No. And I'm sorry to say, it won't be unless I know for certain that his life is truly in imminent danger." Blueblood replied. "I know you think I could care less about the human, but the truth is that he's essential to us."

"Do you honestly think that Slade won't give a second thought to killing him out there tonight?" Rarity questioned.

Blueblood scoffed at her thought. "Have you noticed that there's a distinct lack of death occurring tonight? It seems to me that these rounds aren't anywhere near the standing of a deathmatch. Nondis is fighting to keep himself upright, not fighting to keep himself alive. If so, those rounds would be a lot shorter, wouldn't you think?"

Rarity continued her argument. "Do you think that those ponies he's facing out there care about any of that? They're aiming to kill him. The bruises on his body can tell you that."

As Blueblood was about to reply to the fashionista, a stallion yelled from further down the hall. "Holy shit, it's actually her!"

The blond prince rolled his eyes at the growing crowd as it magnetized more viewers to the area near the VIP Lounge. "What are these ruffians gathering around there for anyways?"

As one stallion galloped past the group to the arena, Rarity made one more comment at the prince. "A bunch of thugs looking for a mare to objectify. Seems like your kind of crowd, doesn't it?"

The stallion that galloped past cheered two more of his friends to join him. "She's right over here, boys!"

"Diva Kalimba in the flesh!?" The second stallion questioned with disbelief.

"Wow... the VIP's really got it made!" Commented the third.

Both Rarity and I looked to one another while Blueblood seemed to wince with confusion. "Diva Kalimba?"

I snapped at the prince once I realized that gaining an audience with her could easily cause her to spring right into action. If anything, she'd probably jump down there and give those other guys a good rear-ending. "Well that settles it. If you won't be of any help, then I know somepony who will." I said triumphantly, marching off to the growing crowd.

"What are you doing?" Blueblood questioned as both he and Rarity were trying to keep up with my pace.

"Getting help from a real friend of the one's who's giving his all on that floor." I replied.

Reaching the area where the crowd had gathered, I pushed my way past every onlooker who stood in my way. One guy had took offense to me shoving him aside, threatening to retaliate against me. But Blueblood easily shoved him down to the ground and drawing a dagger from his aura. A parting grew in the throng of viewers, and we were given access to the front of the crowd. I called out loudly to her, hoping to grab her immediate attention.

"Kalimba! Kalimba, we need your he─"

But as quickly as I had gained hope for some good to occur, more bad was shown to me in the second I saw her.

The zebracorn, who had grown brighter with each passing day, had found herself in a dark place. Her eyes were wandering around without reason or purpose. Her body was shoved forward continuously. She blabbled incessently, showing no capability of coherent thought. It seemed like the world was swirling around her and she couldn't keep her head above water. Even worse was the obvious stains on her face, the running mascara and tears down her cheeks, how her head wouldn't raise up to her own name being called out. She wouldn't even blink.

"Heavens!" Rarity gasped, covering her mouth.

Blueblood tilted his head at an angle. "Well, she's getting it pretty good."

I felt myself coming to a complete stop for a second. It took everything within me to not clobber my hoof into the idiot blond prince's face. So I took more of that energy and applied it to where I needed to direct it the most. "We have to help her." I stressed to Rarity.

While Blueblood wasn't showing that he was enjoying the display, I felt like he was in some way. "Do you know this girl?" He asked, turning his head with mild revulsion.

"She's my friend." I replied, trying to get close enough to help her.

A sharply loud stallion hollered out to both Rarity and I. "Hey! No touching the merchandise! VIP only!"

Blueblood rolled his eyes and walked closer, still adhering to the warning, leaned down to assess the mare's current state. He shook his head. "She's drugged. Badly."

I felt all hope was lost, I felt I needed to find someplace where I could take the time to process what was going on. Rarity stayed by the zebracorn's side, keeping a keen eye for any of the stallions who dared to find satisfaction in what was being done. I looked around, trying to find an answer for anything, everything, something that I could do aside from being helpless by circumstance. "No. This is not how it's supposed to be." I said to myself.

As if the night couldn't get any worse for me, I had to hear another stallion run in from the direction of the arena. "Hey, the human's in the eleventh round! He's collapsed at the opening bell! This looks like it could be it!"

"No way!" Some of the crowd dissipated at the news, wanting to see the moment when the human went down fighting. The numbers grew thinner and thinner until there were but a dozen of us standing around the drugged mare. I felt myself torn between trying to help her and trying to keep an eye over Nondis.

Rarity stood firm where she was. "I'll keep an eye out on her. You go and see about Nondis."

Blueblood then chimed in. "Miss Troublemaker, can I trust you to be an independent overlook? Somepony's got to stay behind and make sure your more vulnerable friends are cared for."

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"Get back to the arena and see this thing through. After that ends, we should still be here, your friend will be looked after. She will not be objectified any more than she already is, I'll make certain of it."

I nodded as I quickly turned around and attempted to make my way back, only to bump into somepony as soon as I was about to start running. The stallion politely and cheerfully spoke. "Oh, 'scuse me dear."

I shook myself to focus, all while apologizing to who I bumped into. "Sorry, I─"

My apology was cut short once I realized who it was that I had rammed into. Much of my entire body ran cold like ice as soon as I saw his face looking back at me with a fairly gentle smile.

He blinked brightly and asked in a feminine manner. "Is there something the matter?"

While I wanted to say something, namely a lot of curse words and violent magic incantations directed to his head, Blueblood stepped in and saved me from blowing my lid. "None at all. My concubine is quite curious as to what those markings are on your face. She thinks they're quite pretty."

"Aw, you're so sweet." The stallion said as he turned himself around to dismiss himself. "I would explain it, but I have a few things I need to lord over─" A random masked stallion came barreling down the hall, wearing a black cloak. He whispered a few words into his ear and I could see the drastic formations of his face gradually change from cheerful and carefree, to neutral curiosity, and finally into a tranquil rage. A dark shadow seemed to grow over his face as his head lowered. The tone of his voice changed from that of a light falsetto to a heavy whisper. "Pardon me, I have pertinent business matters to look into."

The moment he stopped speaking, he completely disappeared without a single bit of magic used, fading from the hall without a trace. The hooded stallion ran back from the way he came, disappearing in a similar fashion. Rarity gawked at the method of his disappearance, but she too knew who's face we looked into. "Was that...?" Blueblood questioned.

"I think he might be." Rarity said gravely.

I clenched my teeth tightly, knowing damn well who I ran into. "No. He's exactly who he is."

After I got back to the arena, my mind still fresh with that sadistic stallion's face, I watched as Nondis finally took more blows to his legs, finally getting through to his knees. The moment he buckled, one pony knocked him at his back with a bat to send him reeling to the floor. One more swing to his head was all it took for the announcers to claim the group of thugs the victors. The interesting thing is that they got more fanfare than Nondis did when he won every round, fighting through every wound, coming back from the brink of overexertion to give his opponents exactly what they deserved.

The announcers went about their way of bashing him as he squirmed and then crawled off the floor. But as that bit of bad came to a halt for the night, we still had the other instance in the hallway. I informed the others what had happened and they rushed from the seats to the hall where she was positioned. When we had gotten back, Blueblood and Rarity seemed to have gotten at odds with the security. While they promised not to draw contact with Kalimba in any manner, they were cited to be too disrupting to the other viewers. So instead of being able to do any good, they were forced to watch.

The zebracorn was still unable to discern the world around her. Rarity stared with sympathy towards the mare. "Poor thing."

Pinkie's ears fell as she pitied the mare for being where she was. "There's nothing we can do at all?"

Suddenly, that familiar stallion who was rooting for his eleven rounds showed up with a large sack full of his nightly winnings. "Aw sweet! Diva Kalimba in the wall herself!? I know what I'm spending my winnings on, a VIP membership!" He ran up to the mare and shouted loudly and enthusiastically. "Wait right there, I'll be right back!"

As Rarity was about to growl with disgust at the stallion, Blueblood murmured under his breath. "So uncivilized." The seamstress blankly looked at the stallion, ridiculing the irony of his words.

Applejack immediately started stretching her hind legs, cracking her neck. "So... who's head I'm bucking in fer this?"

Before any of us could answer her, an extremely loud shout roared from further up the hall. "WHAT THE FUCK!"

The entire group jumped at the sound of the explicative being unleased with such rage. "Oop, somepony sounds angry." Rarity squeaked.

A cream colored stallion with a crimson mane ran in from the top of the hall. He immediately ran up to the mare. "Kali! Kali, answer me!" The stallion lifted her chin, not even minding the mess that was all over her face. He did so with his hooves, trying to see if her eyes could track anything that moved in front of her. She dropped her head as soon as it was released, she groaned very weakly.

Rarity looked to the guard, surprised that security wasn't telling this particular stallion to not get involved. Pinkie tapped at Rainbow's shoulder. "Hey, don't his voice sounds reeeeally familiar." She whispered to the disguised pegasus.

Kalimba huffed moderately, and then her body began to shift back and forth. Her groans became grunts as she was repeatedly pushed forward.

"Nah, fuck that!" The stallion walked right past the two security guards and turned the corner into the VIP Lounge.

"His approach is familiar." Rainbow pointed out to Pinkie.

There was an abrupt scream from inside. "Ah! What the hell, dude!"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" The stallion vehemently yelled.

While all of us could hear the inside from Kalimba's port. Since she was slumped over and loosely secured, a lot of what was said could be heard out in the hall. "I was told she was cool with it, dude! Chill out!"

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANTED! IF YOU DON'T TAKE YOUR DICK, AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE IN THE NEXT FIVE SECONDS, I WILL CUT THAT SHIT OFF, FUCK YOU WITH IT, AND FEED IT TO YOU THROUGH A COCKTAIL STRAW!"

"The language is very familiar." Fluttershy pointed out.

"Hey man! You ain't gotta be like that! Look, I got twenty minutes left─"

"OH, YOU THINK I'M PLAYING WITH YOU! YOU'RE GONNA FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT TONIGHT!"

"Okay! Shit, ain't gotta be a hardass about it."

While the exchange came to a pause, Kalimba's body started to shift, a white glow appeared around her body as she was slipped out from the hole inside. "And there she goes. Bless that crude but saintly stallion." Rarity said, praising the angry VIP member.

Blueblood tapped the mare's shoulder and urged everyone to gather in closer. "That stallion is the captain himself." He simply explained.

Pinkie became cross-eyed at the revelation. "I'm sorry what?"

"Seriously? How the hell is that Nondis?" Rainbow questioned.

"I SAID GET FUCKING GONE!"

While everyone in the hall ducked their head down, that or flinched at the sound of the firearm going off in the next room, Rainbow nodded rapidly at the sound. "Okay, that's definitely him."

The first one to run from the VIP room was a college-aged stallion who was the fourth client of the night. He ran out into the halls, his shriveling erection still partially flopping around as he ran away. "Fucking asshole!"

Without even missing a single step, Nondis barged out of the room with the disoriented zebra on his back. He continued to speak with her, all while cursing at everyone who was in the hall. "Kali, I'm gonna get you back home tonight. EVERYBODY OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!"

Seeing that our night here at the arena was pretty much done, I elected to follow after him to hopefully administer some form of assistance, especially now that we were able to. "Come on, girls." I said, leading the charge out of the venue.
When we reached the front lobby, I could see him readjusting Kalimba so that she wouldn't fall. But as he tried to ensure her security, some other ponies started to gather and reached out for her.

"MOVE THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY!" He screamed, causing many to back off. A few others took offense to his refusal to keep her around and tried to get in his way. He summoned a sword and dug it underneath one pony's chin. "I don't have patience, you will move out of my way or some coroners will be moving you in the morning! Pick which way you wanna go!"

A yellow bolt of magic flashed past me and knocked away the stallion in front of Nondis. He looked back to see the pony responsible, standing in a braced position. Nondis didn't recognize him and immediately readied himself to return fire. I quickly ran to him to stop him, calling out in my true voice. "Sniper!"

His eyes went from showing a combative glint to a softened realization of who it was that was running to him. So instead of using his magic to send back a bolt of magic, he used it to sweep me up and plant me at the bottom of the outside steps. "You! What are you doing here!?"

"We just came to make sure nothing bad happened to you!" I replied. "We saw you fighting and then we saw Kalimba like this later on. We were trying to help."

"Well I'm sure felt like I had a ton of help tonight." He snapped back, rubbing the side of his neck. The others trotted up to reunite with us. He looked at the disguised group with cynicism. "Who the fuck are all of you?"

"Nonnie, it's us." Pinkie answered.

"Shit." He groaned angrily. "Why are all of you here?"

Rarity stepped out to answer him. "We wanted to help you, darling. But that bumbling idiot over there has us pretending to be his herd. He told us not to get involved." She said, pointing back to the masked prince.

Nondis quickly acknowledged that the stallion she pointed to was the same who sent a blast of magic his way. "And who is he?"

"Your residential glamor prince." He snobbishly replied.

Nondis rolled his eyes with disdain. "I'm not even going to ask why your dad's not here instead of this asshole."

Blueblood walked up to him, offering a friendly hoof-bump. "I admit, you did a hell of a job fighting out there."

"Oh yeah, sure, thanks a million. I'm sure the words of encouragement helps heal my aching body from all the sticks, clubs, and crowbars I took." He replied, still rubbing at the back of his neck. "If it wasn't for my changing to this form, I'd be in a lot more anatomically-specific pain. I'm gonna have to stay this way for tonight."

"Nondis, if you give us Kalimba, we can make sure she gets back to Ponyville tonight." I suggested.

"That's a plan I'm down for. I'm coming with." He announced, not wanting to be separated from the zebracorn for any longer tonight.

The disguised prince called some opposition to the captain's intent. "Um, what about your shift in the morning, then your psychologist appointment?"

"I can make a run through my world and be back here in five minutes. I'm going to see Kalimba through tonight, like I've been doing every night so far... So far except today."

Blueblood understood his position, refusing to bring up any further argument. "Alright, I'll inform Celestia of what happened here. Just don't be surprised when the usual hate-brigade try to find a way to sanction you for your attendance."

"They can kiss my ass, I don't care." He replied with earnest. The prince teleported away, leaving only us to find our way out. Rarity summoned a saddlebag filled with her makeup and cosmetics, beginning her attempt of cleaning up Kalimba. Nondis continued to carry her on his back despite our concerns for his health. Instead, he was more focused on trying to get out of the city. "Okay, how the hell do you call in a train at this hour?"

"Princess privileges." I answered as we walked into the alleyway leading out of the district. "You let me do the talking."

Twilight's Castle
The Next Morning...
***Point of Perspective: Equus Nondis***

Following our departure from the district, we headed straight to the train station. Awaiting us there was Twilight's father, toting Starlight on his back as I did Kalimba. We both exchanged a look acknowledging the long night we endured. Twilight questioned him as to what happened to her, he simply explained that she had tired herself out and he had to sedate her to prevent her from overexerting. A middle-aged mare approached us to tell us that we had already missed the last train of the evening, but when Twilight put her status to work, the lady quickly gathered a crew and got an engine steaming for us to make it back.

All throughout the train ride, I was watching as Rarity continued to clean off Kalimba's face, making her look much better than the hell she had went through. I thought about transforming back along the way, but I was honestly put off of being a human for tonight. A whole evening of being assaulted and battered for the simple fact of my being different had made me want to hide out as a pony for the rest of the night. It was mainly that, and the pain I was trying not to face when I turned back, all of it convinced me to just stick it out for a while longer.

When we arrived, Applejack and I took the task of moving the pair of comatose ponies to Twilight's Castle. We got them both cleaned up, I had nothing to do with that part. But once they were done, I helped move both of them to Twilight's bed, namely my old queen-size mattress since that had plenty of room for the both of them and Twilight. However, Twilight couldn't sleep for anything.

And neither did I.

I stayed up for the entire night, looking and watching for anything in Kali's condition that could either change for the better or worse. I was unusually caring, walking back and forth with the weight of knowing I could've sold the fight off sooner if none of it mattered, which I started to realize once I finished that ninth round. All they wanted to do was run me down and plant their flag in my back, for two and a half hours. If it wasn't for Shining's abusive training months ago, I'd definitely be worse off, and much sooner.

My eyelids became heavier and heavier when the sun came up, there wasn't any place or time for me to be able to get a wink in, my mind wouldn't let me up to that point. But when the sun started peaking over the horizon, I knew that the nightmare of a night was certifiably over.

From there, I dozed in and out, watching segments of minutes taper away. I continued to nod off until I saw the first signs of Kali finally coming through to surface. The first thing she saw was the unusual sight of the crystal décor hanging from the ceiling above. She turned her head to the left, seeing Starlight laying beside her.

"Morning, sleepy head. Took you a while to come back down to earth." I muttered tiredly.

The mare tiredly stretched her hooves. "Now dat is a much better start. Where am I?"

"You're in Ponyville. More specifically in the master bedroom of Twilight's Castle."

She yawned and stretched once more. "Ah, I went under before I could see you finish your fight. What happened to you?"

"I took eleven rounds of a beating." I grumbled tiredly.

Right then, she went back to her usual cadence. "Eleven? Abeg, why so many? You were supposed to do only six and sell. You stupid boy." She placed a hoof on my cheek, trying to seek out any bruises. "You look like a tired mess, did you sleep?"

"No." I confessed.

"Idjiot! You cannot just go fighting and den don't rest. What is wrong with you? You get yourself killed being dat stupid! You need to rest, now!"

I shook my head. While I appreciated that her first concern was me, I had no other choice but to explain to her why I chose not to sleep. "Fuck that, what all happened to you last night? Can you remember?"

Kalimba started her attempt to recollect on any of her activities. "If I can recall, I was doing de visits with de winners of de raffle. I knew later dat I had gotten caught with something. But when de third one came, it started getting worse. I remember bits and pieces after dat. A crowd. A wall... His face..."

I sat myself by her, levitating her hooves into mine as I broke the news to her. "Kali... I'm gonna fill you in on the parts I walked in on. I was walking up from the arena floor when I saw a crowd had gathered around you. You were in the wall where they... did the maids and shit. One guy was... in you. It was one of those raffle winners. After he popped out of you, I just went to grab you and booked. You were pretty drugged up, and I tried to look after you. I ran into Twilight and the others, who also saw you like that. Rarity went and got you looking right, Twilight got a train to Ponyville overnight, the other girls bathed you and Starlight. I told Twilight she needed rest, I stuck around for guard duty, really couldn't sleep knowing what all happened to you when I was away. And here's where we are now."

Kalimba sighed quietly. "Figures..." She said with a frustrated slam of her hoof against the bed. "I knew somewhere down de line dat it would happen again. I should've known from de moment He told me to appease to dat smelly bastard I would be right back where I was! Ah, I have no one else to blame. I feared him more den I should have."

The second she implicated Slade, I felt myself immediately waking back up, fueled more by hatred than anything else. "I'm sorry, Kali. I should've fucking forfeited the shit the moment I got done with the first round."

"You are not responsible. You are, if anything, my savior." She replied, bringing my head into her lap. "Without you, dat night would only be another in my life. But you give me hope dat days like dat are soon to end."

"But aren't you sad? Angry over what happened to you?" I asked.

"Come here and rest." She suggested, petting the back of my head. "Of course I am deeply saddened, but it is a wound I am used to getting. You let me deal with dat. You need rest now."

"That asshole's gonna get what's coming." I grumbled back.

"Stupid boy." Kalimba rolled her eyes at me before glancing over to the mare to the other side of her. "So what is she doing here?"

"Sorry, there was only one bed the both of you could fit together in. It would've kept you in the same room, I could keep my eyes on both of you. It's Twilight's bed, but she's got my old mattress on it, the one I used to sleep on before I first came to this world. As for Starlight, she got shipped in with us after Twilight's dad came to the station. He didn't really say what all happened, but she was raising hell and he had to put her down a bit."

Just as I ended my explanation to Kali, the aforementioned mare stirred from her sleep, finding herself in a similar situation as her eyes opened. "Ugh... where am I?"

While I tried to explain things, Kalimba kept my head in her lap. "Well I guess I'll have to start that whole beginning line again. You're in Ponyville. More specifically in the master bedroom in Twilight's Castle."

Starlight glanced down to see how far her hind legs were from touching the bottom of the bed. "Why is her bed so freakishly big?"

"It's my mattress." I deadpanned.

"Your mattress? You mean the two of you shared it when you and her were an item?" She asked.

"For the record, she stole it." I explained, changing back to the topic at hand. "Long story short, ladies. We had a long fucking night. Not sure what happened on your end, though."

The lavender unicorn tapped her chin, trying to put together what all she could from last night. "I know I met up with Twilight's dad at the morgue. But I don't remember anything after that."

I raised my head in outright curiosity. "The morgue, what the hell possessed you to go to a morgue in the middle of the night?"

Starlight stammered for a second, glancing around the room like she had said something wrong. "Uh, I-I was... It was for research, for reading and obtaining the memories of deceased ponies for the sake of an investigation. It's just a theory I had, he was supposed to help me with that subject. I just walked in with him and some other guy... don't really remember the rest."

"Probably saw a dead body and freaked." I concluded, seeing it as the only reason why she would've tried to overexert herself in that scenario. "Now I don't know what Mr. Sparkle has to do with the morgue, but if you don't remember anything, then maybe it's not a good idea trying to remember it right now. You mind can block off some pretty traumatic experiences that could damage you over time, maybe it's for the best."

"You think so?" Starlight questioned.

"Well I'd like to block out some pretty disturbing memories of my own, but they stick a little longer with me. Deep seeded psychological trauma, probably runs in the family. At least you're safe."

Starlight held herself, looked down at her forelegs. "Still... I can't shake the feeling of dread, maybe some guilt somewhere. All I can remember is the word 'Play' running over and over again in my head."

Um... going into a morgue, going wild, the word 'play' coming up in her brain... Okay then. "Well, that's disturbing."

The door opened suddenly, introducing a familiar farm pony who greeted us with a kind and caring smile. "Mornin' to all of ya's."

"Morning, Applejack." I called back to the mare as she walked into the room.

She initially focused her attention to the recovering zebra. "Kalimba, you okay?"

"Slight hangover. A bit sore in places. A familiar feeling, but I will continue on." She said, trying her best to appear optimistic.

Applejack, however, saw through her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "We're here for ya, sugarcube. Whenever ya wanna reach out, you can talk to us. Ya ain't gotta hold nothin' out on me, just know that we ain't gonna let that happen to ya again." The zebra nodded before she choked back a sniffle, looking away as she wiped her eyes. I shook my head at the young zebra while she started to cry. Shortly after inducing tears from the recovering zebra, Applejack directed her concerns to me. "How about you, partner? You were getting the works and hardly any breaks. Eleven rounds of a mugging ain't all good, especially the way that last round ended."

I shrugged at the mare, trying my best to not let my own pain show. "Eh, magic heals most wounds apparently. I'll come to manage. But for now, I'm in a lot better shape as a pony than I am a human. Once I go back, it's pain city."

Applejack gave me a brief lookdown. "Yeah... kinda funny seein' ya as a pony."

"You do what you can to keep a low profile." I replied.

Applejack then went from me to the other occupant of Twilight's bed. "Starlight, you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed"

The lavender unicorn rubbed her eyes of the sleep still crusting in her eyes. "Ugh, I had the weirdest dream, I was running down a hallway with an old friend of mine and he got snatched up by some really scary tentacle monster."

"Well Ah'm sure ya ain't got nothin' ta worry about. Yer home and safe." Applejack announced before looking at each of us. "All of ya are."

Kalimba was so adamant in forcing herself not to be sad that she slapped her hooves against her cheeks and perked herself up to talk to me. "So what now? I know dat He will be looking for us after you grabbed me last night."

"I guess I gotta fight on Friday too. I'm reigning champ, he'll probably throw a bitch fit if I don't show up." I stated, already not looking forward to the weekend.

"Ah don't think that's a good idea." The farm mare chimed in.

"Applejack, if I don't do this, he goes for my brothers. Possibly my whole family. He's already looking for my friends. I can't risk it." I informed her.

"Ain't no way he can do that, especially considerin' all them fancy gizmos and trinkets y'all humans got." Applejack argued. "How does he go about do that?"

For a moment, I thought back to where he changed bodies on me, giving me a face full of Count. "I know I don't want to find out."

Kalimba then added. "And when dere is a will, he will make a way."

***Point of Perspective: Equus Melanie***

The sound of his voice...

It took everything within me to not sob as I heard him speaking for the first time in weeks. I didn't even understand why I was so emotional in hearing him, all I knew that I was relieved to hear him interacting with everyone. It felt like a distant memory being realized in front of me.

God knows how much I wanted to run in and say 'hi', but I knew that he probably didn't want to see me out of fear of my identity being discovered. Perhaps I didn't care about that anymore, I just wanted to talk with him, to know how he's doing, if he needed anything. I just wanted to be there for him, to be his cheerleader for this go around.

I'm sure the boys felt a similar way.

Cliff, Rickey, and I were coming by to wish Kalimba well after Applejack told us what happened to her on last night. But she didn't anticipate Nondis staying around this morning, and neither did we. So we were pretty much left waiting outside of the room, hoping for Applejack to give us the 'all-clear' to give her some much-needed encouragement, pampering, fellowship, and emotional security.

But as we sat here, all we could do was fixate on what he said, the grim reminder of how deep in it he really was. "Yo... I didn't even know he was here." Cliff whispered.

"Holy shit, that sick motherfucker's got Nondis' whole family in the cut now?" Rickey questioned silently. "I didn't even know it was that bad."

I sat silently, unsure of what we could even do at this point. If anything, we were probably just as sought after if Umbra wanted to go after people he knew. "You good?" Cliff asked to gain my attention.

But still, there was at least something we could do in our current state. "...We have to warn them."

"And they come in guns blazing?" Rickey concluded.

"That's the only answer." I replied, going into my saddlebags. I reached inside and pulled out my phone, turning it on for the first time in two weeks and some change. "I just wish my phone was hooves compatible."

The other two crowded around me as we all watched the iPhone logo pop up on the screen. "Don't we all?" Rickey responded with a nostalgic sigh for being able to use our phones.

I peeked inside of the room, seeing pony Nondis passed out on Kalimba's lap. She petted his head as Applejack spoke with her and Starlight. She appeared very sullen looking at the stallion in her lap. "Poor Kali looks like she went through hell."

Cliff then brought up an interesting point,. "My only question is this, why did all of them leave to Canterlot last night? What the hell made everyone except Spike dip?"

"Probably had a party or something." Rickey guessed.

"Applejack was talking earlier on how Nondis took a beating. Has to be something to that degree." Cliff pointed out.

"Nondis stay getting hurt." Rickey replied, appearing fatigued with the subject.

"Nondis needs to not stay here anymore. But who in our world could even help him? The best damn doctors in the country could probably do it, but it'll cost millions of dollars with probably decades of therapy. And don't even get me started to drugs for mental health." I said, already thinking of how they'll try to take advantage of Nondis being an uninsured patient.

"His family ain't got that kind of money." Rickey mulled. "Dammit, there's gotta be something we can do."

"Giving his folks the heads-up is the only way." Cliff said as he pointed one of his wings up to raise a few prominent feathers.

I stopped for a second and realized the shape he had his wing, in some weird way it resembled that of a hand. I looked over to Rickey and nudged his wing out. "Hey... can I borrow a feather real quick?"

"Why?" He asked before I bit down on one of his smaller feathers and plucked it. "OW! Mel, what the fuck."

I held the soft end of his feather in my mouth while I pointed the still-warm quill to the screen. I flicked at one of the apps, seeing if the screen would respond. As soon as the app pulled up, I almost cheered with glee. "Oh my god... Your feather's a stylus."

"Solid. So can you please not do that again? Shit stings." Rickey said as he flexed the wing I briefly violated.

I went back to the home screen and went up to the phone app to give Stanton a call. We walked down the hall and waited while the phone was on speaker. It took around four rings before he picked up on the other end. "Yo Melanie, the whole damn world's been looking for you guys."

"You know we've been in Ponyville the entire time." I answered back.

"Yeah, you right. So how's it been living the life of a four-legged furry for the past two weeks?" He joked.

"Far from glamorous but we've been living pretty good." I stated before jumping right into the warning. "So yeah, heads up. Nondis' in deep shit, and that Ummie guy is looking to make you and Alex his next targets."

"Shit... well that's not good." Of course I could hear the worry in his voice.

"What's the plan?" I asked him. "What do you think Alex could have in mind?"

"That's a good question, I can't do shit from College Station. My transfer work hasn't finished and the NCAA is finalizing my paperwork to move."

"Where to?" I asked.

"Austin."

Both of the boys immediately crowded around the phone. "Wait, you're going to UT?" Cliff questioned somewhat excited.

"When it's all said and done. Love my Aggie brothers, but bitches out here are craaaaazy crazy."

"Wait what?" Cliff appeared confused by Stanton's testimony.

"Yeah, it's a long story that ended with a false rape accusation. How is it I raped you and you were the one who put the video on PornHub? I literally sat there and watched her pull out her phone and give it to me for backshots. Her supposedly-conservative dad finds the video, calls her up to ask what's up. Then she tells them I blackmailed her into it, then they watched the video, and yeah... So my dick is out there for the world to see right now, and my coach ain't too happy about that. So I got suspended from the team, I'm filing a transfer, and I'll be a Longhorn by the end of the spring semester."

"Damn, that tough." Cliff said in a state between bewilderment and amazement.

I quickly got us back on topic. "Hey, get Alex on the line if you can."

"Okay, hold up a minute." He said before his end went silent. As seconds went by, we all kinda looked at each other like we were still processing what the hell he just told us, and then what the hell happened with Nondis. Apparently their family has a lot going on. Eventually, he came back on the line. "Okay is everyone here?"

"Yeah." Alex called out from his end.

"Hey, Alex." I chimed over to him.

"Melanie, your parents have been pretty spooked lately." He replied playfully, knowing where I was.

"I know, still bunkered here in pony world." I answered before jumping into the main topic. "Look, bad news. That Ummie guy is going after you and Stanton next. Seems that we've been hiding too well for his liking and he's going after you guys next."

"Nondis ain't been kissing that guy, has he?" He asked with some concern.

I then explained. "Not that I think of, we know Nondis doesn't really swing that way. But that guy's been torturing the shit out of him. Also a bit of an update, that Ummie guy, he can use dead bodies to get around."

"Whoa, wait what?" Alex stammered.

Stanton reacted the same way. "Hold up, how does that work?"

I briefly summarized what I knew. "He literally takes over the body as his own... Which means he's walking corpses everywhere he goes."

Alex didn't even want any part of that. "Um, the fuck we supposed to do against that? I didn't know we were in the new season of The Walking Dead."

"Well, I know that we have a situation last night where Nondis supposedly got mugged."

"Oh gosh, how does he stay getting hurt?" Alex asked exhaustedly.

"I mean he doesn't look too bad." I pointed out. "If anything, he's just dogshit tired right now."

"Ugh... I'm gonna give him a call and see if we can meet up sometime today and talk about this. I'm only in town to look for a house with my wife, she's already trying to talk me into kids, and she's anticipating a house with some ample workspace should we decide to work from home."

"So everybody's moving to Austin now?" Rickey asked.

"Yeah man, it may not look like it, but the market is pretty much on the turn-up for the foreseeable future there. I just don't wanna be latched around mom and dad, but I still wanna be able to see them. Plus me being here would allow me to at least help with Nondis more consistently without having the scrutiny of missing work days."

"That. That, so much." Stanton interjected. "I just wanna make sure he doesn't get himself killed. So where is he now?"

"He's knocked out in the other room." Cliff answered.

Snapping our heads to the direction of where his voice came from, we heard a mad scramble of hooves clattering to the hallway. The three of us hid out of sight as we waited for Nondis to pass by.

"Fuck, I am NOT trying to hear any shit for my being late for work!"

Watching him gallop by, we all shook our collective heads. As he disappeared down the hall, I heard Stanton on the line. "So he sounds alright for a guy who got mugged."

"I should still call him." Alex stated.

'I should talk to him' was what I wanted to say... Instead, I vowed to make good on that.

I left my phone behind for both Cliff and Rickey to talk with Alex and Stanton. I decided to follow behind Nondis as he made his way out through the portal room. Since I couldn't catch him before he walked back through to our world, I followed him instead. Once I stepped through, I made sure that I was quiet so that I couldn't get his attention where he would end up looking at me. So I tipped through the bathroom until I could risk a more consistent step against the carpet of his bedroom. I heard a series of pained groans coming from down the hallway, so I peeked my head out to investigate.

What I saw had made me feel even more upset, and sad. He leaned against the wall, brushing his hands over various bruises all over his shoulders, arms, neck and chest. His shirt was laying on the ground beneath him, he leaned his head back to reveal another bruise on his outside thigh as he strained to put on a pair of pants. All the while, he cursed at the world until he could bring his pants up to his waist. I leaned back out and covered my mouth to prevent myself from expressing any grief over seeing him in the pain he was in. At least now I knew what kind of condition he was actually in.

The man slowly went for his shirt before I called out to him, peeking in and out of view. "Hello?"

A panicked tone came over him as he snapped his head back to the direction of the room. "Who the hell are you!?"

"Nondis, it's me. Melaine." I replied, feeling my heart going out for him and his state. "I was just checking in to see how you were doing. Haven't talked to you in a while."

He called back out to me. "Oh. Yeah, I guess it's been a while."

"Yeah, I'm just hiding in your room because I know that you can't let yourself see me for whatever reason. But, I hardly ever hear much about you nowadays. I'm worried."

"I'm fine." He replied as best as he could through his pain.

"I heard last night was pretty rough for you."

"Oh yeah. Just a little rough-around for a good two hours."

"I can tell. You're bruised to hell and back." I answered. "It looks like you got smacked with a baseball bat."

"That, a few crowbars, some clubs, two-by-four's─" He stopped and started walking towards my direction. "Wait, how did you know?"

"DON'T COME BACK HERE!" I shouted, trying to urge him not to come to the room. "Yeah. I'm not exactly standing on my own two feet."

"Oh." He replied, stepping away from the door and turning around. "Yeah, that. Can't let me see you as you are now."

"Yeah."

"Hey, Mel. I gotta go to work, I'm already running late." He said pretty sadly.

"You know, you should take the day off, let yourself heal up a bit." I suggested.

"Nah." He answered. "It's like you said, rehab is all about working through the pain to get back to where it doesn't hurt anymore."

"No. I told you to work through the pain so that you can get back to your full range of motion, not to where it doesn't register a pain response. You can't keep pushing past pain, eventually your body is going to tell you to fuck off and you won't be able to do shit anymore." I stressed further. "Nondis, we're worried you might end up killing yourself. And I'm sure you know by now that what you're up against won't let you rest after you die."

I could hear him slowly turn back to the door, his grunts of pain made that more apparent. "How do you know that?"

"We've been told of what he does." I confessed. "And I'm sure you've been told that we had a run-in with him too."

He sighed in defeat. "Then you probably know why I can't stop fighting now."

I took a second to think of the best way I could get through to him, as telling him to do just that would only make him want to withdraw from me. So I closed my eyes and rephrased my answer. "...I'm not telling you to stop fighting. I'm telling you to stop fighting by yourself, especially now. We're here. We're all changing up our lives to make sure you're all good. And if we have to fight him together, then let's do that. I know he got some fucked up shit he's doing, but you can't keep fighting that alone. Let us help you. Please."

"Mel... If anything happens to me, just know that you guys will be taken care of. I'm not fighting on my own. I got friends behind me, allies beside me, and God looking out for what's ahead." He closed the door to allow himself to lean against it. "Ugh... it hurts to slide down."

"Please be careful." I chided.

"Can't do that anymore, right?" He said with a chuckle. "I mean, my whole family's at risk now. I can't even shoot the bastard without him coming back from the grave. I had to personally burn Count's ashes last week. I fought a huge-ass timberwolf. I killed the guy who put the knife in my guts. I held my own shit for two hours against 143 motherfuckers in a ring where the crowd threw rotten food and shit at me. Everything fucking hurts. But I'm gonna be alright because I know I am not alone. If it was otherwise, I would've put a bullet in my head the moment Twilight broke up with me in that hospital bed. And that's real."

"Well thank you for not doing that." I said quietly.

"Thank you for being there when I felt I had nothing."

I giggled a little before I started to hold back tears. "You did the same for me, for however long. I just don't want to lose the friend I love is all."

"Now you see why I fight so damn hard, cause I love you so much. Can't have it in my head if something bad happens to you."

I wanted to bawl my eyes out, but I kept breathing to keep myself stable. "So... I have a question."

"I might have an answer." He said, getting up off the ground.

"...So. I know that throughout the years I had a bad habit of getting with guys over you, knowing you were still trying to get it in with me. And I know that even though that you knew that I knew that I was doing that to you, you still found the time for me. Like even after our fight, you still called me back. I know I ignored the calls on purpose, I just... Like... How do I apologize for the years I took from you? How do I say that I'm sorry for getting you into this, for damaging you where you couldn't─"

"Melanie..." He interrupted. "...You taught me how to be me, and not everyone else. You made me stop pretending over what I wasn't and got me to be the best me I could try to be."

I stifled any moments where I felt like bawling in front of him. "Oh there you go, trying to be Mr. Ideal."

"The tissue's are in the bathroom! I know what you sound like when you cry!" He called out to me from down the hall.

"Oh fuck off!" I shouted back to him. "I know what you look like on the inside!"

"Call it even!" He said as he closed the door, leaving off to the portal for Canterlot.

The Unknown Lab...

A set of sliding doors opened as a stallion walked through in a stellar white lab coat. He walked forward, humming to himself as he approached the latest subject to greet him at his doorstep. He hummed with glee until the face of his newest
project greeted him. He stopped humming, and then started smiling. He placed his hoof on the subject's face, guiding it down to the neck to observe the ghastly wound he could see his wall through. He turned the operating light on to the face of his newest project. "Well... well, well. Guiding Light. Such a poor, misguided kitten."

Another pony appeared from the doorway behind him. They sported a black cloak with a white sigil bearing the inverted emblem of the Faustian faith. He walked in with a clip board, bowing to the enamored scientist. "Sir, our source from within the castle is saying that there are potential deployment orders being put in place for the mortuary." He informed with a haughty drawl.

"Oh, let them come by and get a tour. It's not like we have much to hide." The scientist replied with a smile.

He then gave the clipboard to the lab-coat donning stallion. "Sir, here's our progress on the creature."

The robed figure watched as the lab stallion breezed through the notes. "Most interesting results, promising even. How long did it hold before degradation process took place?"

"Four hours, sir."

The smile from the scientist's face had all but disappeared. "Ah, still needs improvement. What's the progress on the transfer?"

"The transfer will take another three days, sir."

The brilliantly robed stallion rolled his eyes. "Damn, so I can't have it by Friday? Most disappointing." He simply dropped the clipboard to the ground before going back to his topic of interest, the formerly-impaled corpse sitting in front of him.

"It'll be ready for next Friday, sir."

"Ah, well patience is a virtue. Can't say that this hasn't been centuries in the making. Have to rush it a bit now that things have been found out. A relocation's in order, I suppose." Said the scientist.

"To the usual place, sir?"

"Ah, ye old stomping grounds." The scientist smiled once more.

"Very good sir."

The stallion levitated the clipboard and smacked the reporting stallion on the top of his head with it. "Don't 'very good' me, I'm the fucking best!"

"You are indeed the finest, sir." The messenger replied to correct himself. "Also, reports from last night's damage assessment indicate we have lost nine dolls in the breach."

The scientist dismissively replied to his informant. "Ah phooey, who gives a shit about dolls!? I have many more interesting pursuits to consider other than some piles of wood operating on borrowed magic."

A second hooded figure walked into the lab, bowing at the door this time. "Sir. We've acquired the subject you requested for next week." He announced with a burly voice.

"Hooray!" He exclaimed, tossing his clipboard into the air and inadvertently hitting the head of the corpse behind him. "Now I can really get into the meat of what I want done. Soon, I'll have to plan for bigger ambitions, to conquer a realm unknown to equine eyes... after my soon-to-be conquest of Equestria, of course!" He giggled with glee and clopped his hooves together. "A new world of possibilities, a new standard of living, a new horizon of dominance, it all begins with just the tiniest draw of blood."

"We'll have it stored away, sir." The second informant announced.

"Alrighty then! I'll get to him once I've finished with this one. Clear my schedule of the others until I'm done with my newest project. Even this one's pretty uninspiring to me now, I'm just going to rush this one through and I'll get with them─oh, male or female?"

"Sounds to be a young male, sir." The second informant replied.

"Oh, more of the goodness. He'll be perfect practice for what's next." He said as he sat before his current subject. "Run along, something-something interruption, something-something work, you get the gist." The two rose from their positions and left the room, closing the glass sliding door behind them. Upon the end of that exchange, his horn lit with an orange glow. "Well Guiding Light, they were true when they said that curiosity killed the cat. But I assume you were satisfied with what you saw. I mean obviously, you're still here."

He summoned a black cane with a crimson jewel affixed to the top. He twirled it for a second before slamming it into the ground, producing a loud ringing noise as the jewel came to life with a corrupted glow, sparking with black lightening and purple blobs surrounding the green glow. The color of his magic changed as he snickered at the corpse. He held the jewel up to Guiding's face and waited until the head snapped back up. The wound that was gaping in his neck had closed, and the corpse rattled violently at the call of the jewel. Meanwhile the scientist looked on with green eyes, black smoke emanating from his glance. Umbra looked at the dead stallion with an amorous gaze.

"So how about you come right on back to me, mister kitty cat? There's work to be done."

Okay, well this isn't a month or two late or anything. But I hope everyone is having a relatively good life considering the circumstances. With the delta variant popping up all over the place, my gigs have went from numerous in July to virtually nonexistent in August and September. And as a result, I'm struggling financially to the fault of not being able to pay the bills on time. Plus there's taxes I need to have done also...

I wish this country didn't penalize insufficient finances so harshly.

I'm still chugging along, hopefully getting through the year without going insane from the lack of people looking to destroy my livelihood by not following simple instructions. But other than that, I'll hopefully see you guys later this month.