Canterlot Castle...
***Point of Perspective: Twilight Sparkle***

Following my departure from Ponyville, Spike had given me an emergency summons issued by Princess Celestia herself. I made very little provisions to arrive there, instead flying to the castle myself. Once I arrived, both Princess Celestia and my dad waited for me in the throne room. Standing beside her was one of her guards, who stood firmly by her side. The princess nodded at me in her greeting.

"Twilight Sparkle, you are as prompt as you always have been."

"Princess, I came as soon as I got your message." I said before acknowledging my dad. "Hey dad."

"Hey, sugar plum." He replied fairly weakly.

"You don't sound too good, is everything alright?" I asked him.

"I didn't get much sleep, that's all."

The high princess motioned me to walk beside her. "My former student, there is much we need to discuss."

The four of us walked towards the throne slowly, speaking softly. "So what's going on, your highness?"

"Your father has come across a bleak discovery. I've done some diving into his memories... they are not good." She replied gravely.

"That bad?" I asked my dad.

"Violet, I can understand that you have to save Equestria no matter the cost, but please consider what you are getting into." He urged. "I can't say that what I saw was anything less than a horror beyond words."

While I wanted to get into the thick of the discussion, I still had one question that lingered at the forefront of my mind. "If I may ask, what happened to Starlight last night?"

"I'll get into that, but first I want to know if you are really willing to do something like this." He warned. "I'm sure you remember what we saw on Friday.""

"I can't possibly forget it. I had to use a sleeping spell to get by." I replied.

"Well... it's much worse than we anticipated." He said with a sigh.

Celestia turned to her guard. "Solemn Oath, I need you to assume the captain's role today.

"What for, your highness?" She asked.

"Because the captain is in recovery. I'm leaving him the day off to his world. He needs to be able to find the time to recover his strength."

"Wait, what about his therapist appointment?" I questioned.

The princess then replied. "He's undergoing that now. Once he's finished, he will be dismissed for the day and left to regather. I will not risk him to discover what it is that we will do next." She turned to her guard and spoke. "So I will need you to run an investigation based on the lead we have with the missing bodies. However, I will wish for you to remain at a distance."

"Well that's bringing up more questions of how this operation will be conducted." I replied. "Say she's given a squad or platoon to execute the search warrant. Do we use our guide on the inside of the morgue to help?" Dad lowered his head, taking a deep breath. "What, what's wrong?"

"Violet..." He began slowly. "...Guiding Light is dead."

The atmosphere of room suddenly grew tense as I had to grapple the weight of his words. "Wait... how?"

Dad's eyes grew steely as he stared off into the distance, not particularly focusing on anything. But I saw how his body trembled. "There was a creature in the lurk. It emerged from the darkness, with great strength. I could not get a good look at what it was made of... but for the glimpse I did see, it looked as if there were... eyes... teeth... exposed flesh and bones... and a filly's voice." He looked towards me. "During our escape, the three of us had managed to trap the creature in the room full of corpses... or so we thought. We even broke down the door to make sure that we were not led back to that room... but still it came. We ran, we ran as we were trying to fight against our bodies' desire to rest. And when we were given a reprieve, that creature... that spawn of hell, it sent it's tendrils into him... We watched as that poor boy was ripped apart in front of us and carried off into the void of the mass." Dad closed his eyes, trying to take deep breaths to calm himself back down. "Starlight could not process any of that last night. So I had to block off her memories of that, and gave her the rest she deserved. I had no other choice, she wanted to go back after that thing for him. I did it to save her. That's all."

I walked over to my dad, rubbing his back. "This creature, what did it look like?"

He shook his head and clenched his jaw shut. Celestia answered in his place. "It's a creature of corruption, Twilight. And I will not allow the one responsible for this to disrupt the harmony of our citizens with any moment of it's conception. Because last I checked, anything that hideous will be used against many innocent lives."

I looked towards the glass window depicting the moment my friends and I had turned Discord back to stone. "So it's certain that this is a threat?"

"Of the highest priority for the time being." She answered firmly. "You and your friends are cleared to engage."

Solemn saluted the princess as she spoke out. "Your highness, tell me what you want out of this warrant and when you would like for me to execute."

"Execute at approximately 0500 hours, I want your guards in that building at no later hour, minute, or second."

"Your word is law, your highness." The guardsmare confirmed before leaving the room.

"You're going to need somepony who can put in the pass code." I added, looking to dad. "Without Guiding Light, I'm sure it will be difficult to get where you guys were last night."

"Are you volunteering yourself?" My dad questioned. "If so, then I'll have you know that I already informed her majesty of the proper input sequences. You don't need to go there personally."

I stopped to think about the young stallion that I met only once, who actively assisted us when he could've denied us from the moment we walked into the front lobby. "...Guiding died for our sake, Starlight suffered mainly because I had to put everything together so quickly. No more short-sightedness. It's only right that I confirm with my own eyes what I'm getting my friends into." I walked to my dad, giving him a hug. "I'll be alright dad, I promise."

"I never wanted this life for you, Violet." He said, nuzzling me back.

"Dad, you know I'm crazy in my own way. I fought off a lot worse threats, and witnessed a lot worse fates than I would have ever imagined in my lifetime. If I have to stop these things from happening, I will do it. It's what I was born to do." We separated and looked at one another. "Your little sugar plum is a grown princess, I can handle it from here."

"You let me know if you need anything." He said with a kind conviction. "Call for me, I'll come running."

Cold Stone Creamery
Austin, Texas
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

After hours of aching and bemoaning the sensations akin to walking into flying baseballs, I carefully picked out my clothes to avoid any attention from onlookers. Instead of going out in the bold, I went looking like the recluse this world already perceived me to be. And I thought of no better place of trying to find something to enjoy other than partaking in some ice cream after a traumatizing event.

Coffee and peanut butter was always my go-to comfort combination.

I sat at one of the tables, watching as others made their respective orders. Many of the patrons came with their kids, so it appeared to them that some young adult dressed up in a thick coat and sweatpants wearing sunglasses indoors had some nefarious intentions. I, however, didn't give two fucks of what they thought of me, I just wanted some ice cream. I shot Alex a text about half an hour before I arrived to tell him where we could meet. When he arrived, he looked the part of some professional businessman on his way to a presentation to talk about 'synergy' or some other corporate bullshit. But the suit and tie didn't quite match his approach to our table. "Yo." He called out, sitting himself at the table like he had readied himself to reach out across the table.

"Hey bro. What's good?" I replied, still eating on my ice cream.

"Man, I heard you got your ass handed to you last night. What happened?"

I tried to trivialize my situation as best as I could to not worry him. "Underground fighting arena, had to beat up a bunch of thugs before they finally got the better of me. See, I thought it was going to be a few groups looking to prove a point, I'd beat their asses, and then I'd get the fuck out shortly after. But yeah, it wasn't quite like what I had in mind."

Alex reached across to pull my shades off, revealing the pretty pathetic state of my face from both the beating and the lack of sleep. "Damn dude, you gotta get out of this mess."

"I can't." I replied.

"What? Why?" He questioned.

"I just can't. It's more like I'm trying to prevent what I don't want to happen at this point." I answered, still not wanting him to know the extent of danger he and Stanton were now in.

"You mean like how ol' dude is putting the target on our backs now?" My head pulled back, surprised of how he managed to find that out. For a second I wondered if he could read my mind, but then reality hit me with the possibility of Melanie or Twilight probably calling him to tell them what happened. But then he named his actual source. "I spoke to Rickey and Cliff, they already gave me and Stanton the rundown."

At that point, I couldn't even hide my concerns anymore than I could hide the bruises on my arms and legs. "Alex, I can't let anything happen to anyone."

"And we can't let bad shit keep happening to you." He replied, taking out his wallet. "I get it, you taking care of some really grown-up mafia shit, but you forget we ain't about to leave our family on the chopping block. Like when was the last time me and Stanton didn't come to bat for you?"

I smiled at his enthusiasm, but also shook my head knowing what all I've seen and experienced. "I know about that. I'm just worried that this one might not be the fight you want."

Alex leaned in as he whispered to me. "Dude, we heard everything. That Ummie guy can change bodies, he can't be killed because of it, and he's going after us."

"Yeah, I'm happy you know about that." I said sarcastically in return. "But I have a feeling that this might not even be the half of it. Something on last Friday really threw me for a loop, he's got some weird wooden puppets that can wear the faces of our dead enemies, possibly our family members if he's feeling particularly evil. All of this seems like he's got something more up his sleeve, and it's definitely not good."

"So I wanna ask you a question. Do you feel like you're prepared to fight against whatever he throws your way by yourself?"

"I'm not by myself." I answered, knowing that I do have friends who would be able to help in some way. Even Rarity noted that the elements would get involved if it was bad enough.

"Okay. Say that you got your magic and that does some good. But what about the things that magic ain't gonna be quick enough to deal with? Don't you think you need some help with that?" Alex questioned.

I already knew that what he was going for. I answered him with the intent of him understanding that if it was ever that simple, I would be in contact with him. "If I ever do need help with something like that again, I'll let you know."

"Just do what you can to stay healthy, man. I might not know what all happened to you and what you're running into, but you gotta start somewhere. The last place I want it to start is either with you in a hospital bed again, or worse, in a morgue."

"Yeah." I said chuckling to myself before a grim thought came to mind. "I probably won't be in a morgue for long."

"Why you say that?" He inquired.

"Well they already tried to donate my body to science the last time. I'm sure I know the real reason why they wanted that to happen."

"And what's that?" He asked with a quirked brow.

"How about you let me worry about that, and I'll try to keep you from finding out first hand."

Ponyville Inn
***Point of Perspective: Equus Melanie***

I spent about a whole two hours just hunched over my phone, seeing what all I had missed out on in the past two weeks. I wanted to catch up on some of the latest news, a bit of local politics, some issues both local and national, and then diving into some of my favorite anime on KissAnime. The winter season was set to get the ball rolling on some of it's good shows and I was completely prepared to enjoy my experience the best I could in pony form.

But before I could even make my first selection, a knock came at the door. "Who's is it?" I called out.

"Strapping." Rick answered.

"Oh yeah, come in. Door's unlocked."

He walked in to see me unmoved from the bed, my eyes locked to the screen. "Damn, you're just making up for lost time on your phone aren't you?"

"Get real, you know we haven't been around our phones for two weeks now!" I argued, not even lifting my eyes from the screen. As I held his feather in my mouth, I still hovered above the screen, indecisive about what I would watch first.

"You'd think that you'd start to grow to the point where you don't miss all the bullshit going on in the world. Maybe it's better to just keep off of them..." He started to slide his wing under my phone with the intent to take it away from me, I instead responded with a not-so-friendly look. "Or not be on them as much." Rightfully so, he left my phone well-enough alone.

For the brief second, our eyes finally met. "Coming from a guy who didn't want to miss an episode of Aldnoah.Zero."

"Hello!? Did you see how that first season ended!?" He called out with his tail almost wagging. I started to giggle at his bodily reaction to the news. He quickly realized what I was snickering about and sat himself down to curtail himself. "Okay, I might get to catch a few episodes, but still."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Just face it, you like the fact that you can use your wings to dial up whatever the fuck you want at any time."

"I know that Cliff's more than happy because he can call in Sunset for some more late night visits." He joked.

"Ugh, I can imagine the two of them going at it now. I'm going to be hearing that shit across the hall."

Rick snickered as he replied. "Nah, he's said they're taking it slow."

"For Cliff, slow is one week of talking, another week of breaking her back. There's no way they didn't fuck already."

"You got to remember that now they're both ponies here." He pointed out. "I'm sure he's just trying to get used to it all."

"We fucked on day one! It didn't take us five minutes to put the pieces together on what to do and how to do it. Sure we were clumsy, but we still broke it in." I crudely fingered out.

My remarks prompted an awkward chuckle from the stallion. "Yeah we did."

"Exactly, so how is it that we can get each other off on that note, but then they can't when they're both the same species for two weeks?"

The stallion rubbed the side of his neck bashfully. "I mean... yeah."

Even in my fit of crudeness, I was still somewhat embarrassed that we allowed that to happen so quickly. I wasn't even emotionally prepared for that choice, but my body was already trying to cash checks on an account that wasn't even open yet. "...I still can't believe we did that the first day."

"I mean, I guess I can understand what it was that Nondis went through that first time he transformed. Holy hell was I horny as fuck. I just didn't care what I saw, I wanted to ram it..." He quietly confessed before giving me a quick look. "...I know you're tired of me apologizing─"

"Rick." I stopped him before he could start his rant. I then put my phone under the pillow and gave him my undivided attention, looking straight at him and nowhere else. I took a deep breath, knowing what time it was for me. "Let's talk."

He took a breath of his own, almost with complaint. "Let me guess, is it about Nondis?"

"I mean he is my best friend, and I love the guy while he loves me. How can I not think about him?"

He quickly jumped to a conclusion over what I had said. "Wait, so he loves you? While he's in a relationship with the queen bee?"

"Maybe I should explain things before you get ideas." I said, planting my hoof against his muzzle. Admittedly, I found the way his nose scrunched up when that happened to be pretty cute. "Nondis loves me in the way of wanting to protect his friends and making sure that I don't get hurt in any way. He's a dick for leaving me out to pasture, but I understand it because I did the same to him for some years. And I'm not going to omit the fact that I blatantly ignored his calls the weeks before he disappeared into the gulf, cause he did call me a lot."

Rick then added. "Yeah, he tried calling you right after the probate. He wanted to spend time with you and apologize, he told us that much. He kept reaching out, and then after so long he fell into this really weird and deep depression. Like I never seen him down so bad."

I started rubbing my forelegs together, trying to get to my point as best as I could, but also trying to explain the context of my thoughts. "I knew how mentally vulnerable he was, but I wanted him to learn a lesson about what he did. Turns out he learned that lesson, all this time of being here and he started molding into the guy we see today. And I don't mean that in any kind of petty-bullshit way, I mean he really did learn how to love without being attached physically to someone."

"Um, wasn't he fucking both Rarity and Twilight at the same time?" He critically observed.

"That's another topic, but besides the point. Nondis was always the one who tried to live a life of pleasing others─"

"Which he's still doing." He quickly shot down my previous point.

"And he tried his best to ultimately find where he can fit in─"

"Which he still does." He did it again.

"And he tried to protect whoever he can, despite the fact it puts him at a disadvantage... Which he's still doing." This time, I beat him to the punch before he could.

Rickey seemed all the more unconvinced. "Sounds to me like he hasn't changed much."

I shook my head and went further to explain what I meant. "It's the way he changed. He used to be more secretive with the way he did things. And by secretive, I mean he'd tell one girl one thing and tell another the same thing, of course hoping that either one of them will give him the play he wanted to get out of it. Now he's more upfront with the fact that it might not evolve into anything past friendship, maybe even a fling for business reasons, who knows how that man goes through with his deals."

"Seems like he's getting what he's wanted all along." He said with a brief chuckle.

"You think that, but if he was really like that, then he would've gotten what he wanted out of me and left me alone. I mean I even offered it to him, climbed on top of him and everything. I was ready to make things happen for the slight possibility of him changing his mind about staying. And even if he said no, I was still curious about how he worked now that there was some experience."

"Experience with ponies, you mean."

My cheeks ran a bit red and my ears grew ticklish for a second. "His pelvis went to work on something, it counts." I quickly grabbed another pillow from the nearby recliner, clutching it to get rid of some of the nervousness in my system. I'm sure he's not too thrilled to hear that I had tried to sleep with him. "But yeah, I gave him a shot to get what he was chasing out of me for all these years, and he still said no... more than once. So you can imagine how I felt when I saw him locking lips with Big Momma Celly, as a human. His attraction to human features was there, but it wasn't there for me."

He then nonchalantly threw one hell of a bucket of water on me with his statement. "I'm gonna be honest, he was thinking about dicking her down since Thanksgiving. But hey, whatever you believe in."

Now all I could think of was how stacked she was and how relatively plain-looking I am in contrast. I tried to put that thought aside, but some part of it did linger. "Either way, he's improved since I've gotten to know him. Maybe you don't see it since you've been around him for only a year and some change, but I was there since he was in high school. Yeah, he's changed a lot."

"Okay." He was still unconvinced.

Finally, I decided to reach the main point of our conversation, of course still politely beating the mess out of my poor little pillow. "And... I think I'm ready to change in my own way."

"How so?" He asked, appearing like he was already wanting the conversation to come to an end.

Still, I refused to lose him completely. "Well... he and I had a talk earlier today. I didn't let him see me, but we talked. I saw a glimpse of him, and he's got some nasty bruises all over his body from last night. But we did some talking, and I think I'm more at ease about him since he told me what he told me." Of course I'm even more nervous ever since I threw my confession out there a second ago.

"And what was that?"

My mind started screaming at me to drastically bounce the subject to what I wanted to tell him instead of lingering on the man I was putting aside. But I found it more and more difficult with each question he asked. "That he loved me. That he's fighting for protecting everyone. But the most important thing is that he knows that he can't fight it alone. He's getting help, and I think that's a huge step up compared to when he did the Arimaspi Mountain assignment."

"Yeah, you were taking about changing yourself, but all I hear is shit about him." He said while feeling rightfully frustrated.

But instinctively as his tone of voice raised over me, I felt like I had to be louder than him to make my point known. Finally, I just blurted it out. "I know you're jealous, but he's the reason why I'm even giving you a chance, Ricardo!"

"So─" He was preemptively prepared to make any argument for himself. But just as it processed for him he hesitated and then sighed out of disbelief. He slammed his hooves into my bed. "Why couldn't you just start with that?"

"Because I feel like I need to explain these things in detail so that you'd understand where I'm coming from. I know a lot of what I talked on is about him, but I made my decision because of my conversation with him today." I felt myself trying to eat at the nervousness in my stomach while making sure that this was the right decision for me. But somewhere I felt like it was the right decision. "Ricardo, I know it feels like I'm so head-over-heels in love, I am. But sometimes I need that insurance, that verification of whether my concerns were warranted or not. I felt like I was worried about what he was going to do to himself, not so much of what he was going through, which I know is a lot. And when he told me that I was already there for that moment, I realized that I was pushing something that was already moving forward. Today was that confirmation that I could let him walk, that I didn't have to keep putting my own happiness aside for concern of what he was getting himself into. I don't have to keep holding on anymore."

He sat himself on the bed next to me, still giving me a little more space than what he would've wanted at a time like this. "Let me guess, because of that one time you let him go in the past, you felt like he wasn't ready this time?"

"Now you finally get it." I answered excitedly. "My mind kept playing that moment back, over and over, the last night his name popped up on my phone. Every time, I played out all the possible ways it would've ended had I answered that call. Then came the days when I realized Nondis was gone. That day, the moment you called me to tell me who showed up at the frat house, I fucking screamed. I was doing twenty-five past the speed limit because I wanted it to be true. I wanted the second chance to prove that I can hold on for as long as I needed to. This morning had showed me that I was holding on to something that was moving even faster than me. So, I'm letting go and I'm moving my own way now."

I rubbed my hooves against my haunches, clearing my throat as he asked a question. "So where do I fit in this?"

I pattered my hooves with content, happy that there was some weight lifted off of my mind... a lot of weight. "Well, that's it. I'm perfectly fine to find myself worrying over him." I scooted in closer to him and grabbed his hoof. "But I want to make a new focus. I want to give my attention to something I had holding on to me for a change."

He looked at me with a deadpanned expression. "Okay. Melanie, we've had this conversation about going around the world with your explanations."

"I couldn't be anymore direct with you." I said as I hugged him. "So... It's you and me now."

"For real this time?" He asked as he pulled away, looking me in my eyes.

The butterflies in my stomach started to flutter wildly again. I wasn't even really sure why since we had already touched on every conceivable base in terms of our physicality. I suppose it was really my heart trying it's best to commit to the other man who's been there whenever it got ugly for me. What had really sold it was the moment when I escaped Jasper and came to the frat house. He was the first face I saw, he was the first one who asked me if I needed anything, he was the first one who wanted to go to war over me. Nondis was there too, but Rickey was first.

It's time I stop playing runaround with my emotions and accept what I already have next to me. It's not complacency, but rather a realization. I can't go chasing after the past. I said I would look forward, now it's time I do that and mean it. I smiled and leaned into his chest. "For real. Us. I want to try and make this right."

"Abeg! About time you make a right move with your life!"

My eyes popped open and the two of us were immediately startled. We looked towards the door to see that it was actually cracked open. "Uh... Wait? Who's out there?" Rickey questioned while being on his guard.

The door opened wide to reveal two other ponies sitting in the doorway. Both Pinkie and Kalimba stared back at us with proud smirks on their faces. "Don't mind us, we were just listening in." The pink pony said.

Remember those butterflies, well now they had almost turned into a form of nausea. "Kali! Wh-wha-w-wha-why are you here!?"

The zebra mare stopped leaning on the doorway and took a step back. "Because I could not stand to see idjiots in love not get what dey deserve."

"Or a friend not get the happy ending they deserve!" Pinkie said while she turned to the hall to reach out for something. "S'cuse me while I whipped this out!" She snickered and snorted playfully as she pulled out a blue cannon into our doorway, tugging the string and launching an unreasonable amount of whipped cream into my room. While it scored a direct hit on the both of us, the bed and floor suffered collateral damages.

Thankfully we were shielding our faces as soon as the cannon came into view, so we avoided having any in our eyes. Rickey licked his lips and wiped a massive dollop of the stuff off of his forehead. "Whipped cream... I see what you did there."

"I see too much of it!" I answered, looking down to see most of my body covered in it.

"How long were both of you here?" He questioned the pranking duo.

"Something about 'how the first season ended'." Pinkie replied. "And if it's anything like those boring radio dramas my Granny Pie likes listening to, then maybe it's time for season two to hit the airwaves."

"You know, you could've done a little better than spreading whipped cream everywhere in my room." I chided the pair.

"Oh I know, silly. But now it just leaves you two with a lot more to do together." She said cheerfully.

"Perhaps de whipped cream would be a good way to clean up a mess between the two of you." Kalimba also added.

"Whipped cream baths are the best!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"And how's that?" I asked, unamused by the mess.

Pinkie narrowed her eyes at us with a devilish grin. "Because you get to taste the topping before the snack."

It took me a second to get what she was talking about. But then I remembered the instance where I, along with Twilight's parents, had walked in on her and Cheese having quite the romp in Twilight's kitchen, I remembered how awkward I felt when I saw how Mrs. Sparkle grabbed a can of whipped cream and sprayed it on Pinkie's─oh you clever bitch! "PINKIE!"

The pink mare winked at me with her tongue out. "Happy honeymoon!"

Pinkie giggled and galloped off. "And let dere be many more." Kalimba just as happily joined her down the hall.

While I wanted to barrel after the two pranksters, I couldn't help but to excuse the smile on the zebra's face. She had already went through enough last night as it is. I think it's fair if she had a moment to smile and cheer up. "I see Kali's in good spirits." I pointed out before seeing Rickey snickering next to me. "What's so funny?"

He leaned into my ear and whispered. "They literally set me up to eat you out."

"Ricardo!" I said a bit annoyed, also admittedly welcoming that possibility for the moment.

He also made it significantly worse when he pulled me in closer to him. "Silencio, por favor..." He followed up his aggressive maneuver by kissing me in my neck, just below my chin and licking the cream clean off of me down to my chest. He started to whisper into my neck while nibbling at me. "Que bonita y delicioso, mi corazón."

My eyes closed for a second to enjoy the sensations I haven't felt in well over some months. I had started to instinctually moan while his teeth had dug into me. He leaned me back, almost causing me to lose my balance. I started to feel a surging warmth in my body, only to be replaced by a longing ache that I could easily recall from the first day I got here. He opened his wing to lightly trail down my back, tickling me to where I wanted to melt right into him. My eyes opened to see him, but also the open door through my peripheral. Snapping out of my mood for a second, I got around to closing and locking the door.

As he brushed himself up against me from behind, I felt the warmth of his breath against my neck. I felt every part of my being instinctively welcome him as he started to hop on top of me. He guided my chin towards him, our lips meeting briefly while our bodies melded in the moment. I looked back to see that he was as ready as I wanted him to be.

"I know we should be cleaning up the mess right now." He whispered in my ear.

I backed myself into him, prompting him to meet me halfway. "We'll clean up this mess after a quick one."

Canterlot Castle Cafeteria
Later that Evening...

The sun had gone down over the capital city. As the moon was being raised by Princess Luna, Solemn trotted her way through the halls and eventually found her way into the cafeteria. When she arrived, she immediately sought a table to have to herself. Once she identified one that wasn't used, she got in line for her food and came back to it. While the multitude of ponies in the room had continued chatting it up with one another over their respective days, she held a lot of the morning's briefing with the two princesses at the front of her mind.

She was unsure of what she was getting herself into, and she was worried that something would happen that she wouldn't particularly like. The last thing she really wanted was to see some dead bodies in a morgue, much less any in bad condition or even smelling a hint them. She was always squeamish when it came to ponies dying, and her new assignment was going to be a test of her constitutions. Everything about it made her nervous, she wished she could at least talk to the captain about it being that he was the one who made the startling discovery. Maybe he could be of help.

"Hey there, girl!" A familiar voice called out to her.

Her eyes lifted for a second to see that all of her friends had gathered around her and started seating themselves at her table. Dress Right, the one who called her out, sat right next to her. Cobalt Blue sat directly in front of her. Gleaming Brass had parked herself diagonal to the quiet guardsmare. "Any more of having to play nice with the captain?" Gleaming questioned.

"Uh, not today." She answered sheepishly.

"Oh really? I thought if he had some special secret assignment he wanted you on, he would keep tabs on you a lot more often." Cobalt noted. "Does he even speak with you on the daily about your findings?"

She knew the answer to that, but the complexity of the situation had earned the respect of her silence. She opted to play it off. "I just don't want to talk about it."

"Ugh, of course. Always keeping a good mare down, this system needs to stop being so antiquated and shift to cater to the actual backbone of the guard core." Cobalt griped.

"Organization of schedule, transfer of sensitive documents, even the highest position of royalty is held by a mare!" Dress Right then added.

"This has to change." Gleaming Brass complained.

Cobalt tapped her hoof on the table to get Solemn's attention. "Hey, get this. Apparently the captain had did some digging around Canterrot last night and got beat up by a group of thugs. Bruises everywhere. They say he's trying to hide out for a few days until he recovers."

Hearing about the captain's condition had drawn some concern from the unicorn guardsmare. She poked through her food as she continued to wrestle with her thoughts. "Really."

"Oh yeah, he was getting messed all over in that illegal fighting arena they have." Cobalt confirmed. "Of course you wouldn't let nothing like that happen to you. Right?"

Solemn reverted back to her usual self for a moment to answer that question. "Of course not. I would've almost killed anyone who tried."

Random call-outs throughout the cafeteria, followed by the continually-issued words of 'at ease' grabbed the groups attention. Gleaming Brass pointed out that one of the officers had entered into the cafeteria, and certainly appeared to me making his way over. "Uh oh, officer on deck."

The middle-aged stallion stopped at the table to greet the group, more specifically the mare of his interest. "Ah, Solemn Oath. I hear that the princess has made you a fill-in for that incompetent captain we have. How's your day been?"

"It's been fine, sir." She answered, appearing as casual as she would.

"Any news on the front lately?" He questioned her.

"Well..." She stalled for a moment, but looked to the faces of her friends. They all appeared to encourage her, especially the mare who sat across from her. "It might be a rumor, but I think the captain may have had some participation in the illegal fighting arena last night. As for today, I was asked to fill his place."

The officer nodded with approval. "Is that so? Then perhaps he might have found himself injured over the course of the night and elected to resign for the day. It's awfully odd that he might have taken his request straight to the princess herself as opposed to discussing this with his fellow officers."

"Perhaps he feels that she would be more accommodating to his requests?" Solemn guessed, making up a motive he could feed on, while also knowing that it could be true.

"That may be." He replied before summoning up a report file. "I also received this report saying that he paid an unsolicited visit to her chambers on Monday evening. Perhaps this pause was requested then. This could only mean that he's actively participating and using those days after to get time off." The stallion looked down to his inferior and smiled. "Good job, Sergeant Major Solemn Oath, you'd be an officer again in no time.

While she wanted her position back, she couldn't help but to feel uncomfortable with what she was doing. It started to feel like this was some development that would hinder the princess' own agenda. Still, she went about playing the role she was told to fulfill. "I'm just glad to be of help, sir."

"Oh, you're of enormous help, Sergeant Major Solemn Oath. You're actually helping to undermine the incompetence that we have festering our system. All these reports of intruders and assailants, and he can't handle any of it. I've noticed that he's been so afraid the past few weeks that he hardly ever leaves his quarters in the day."

"Perhaps he has something planned." She mumbled.

He summoned a scroll and then laid it out to the table in front of her. "I think it's customary to issue a warrant for his chambers, wouldn't you agree?"

"Sir, that would require the princess' authorization, wouldn't it?" She pointed out.

"Yes, a warrant that I already have signed by Princess Luna herself. We will execute at 0900 tomorrow." He unfurled the document, revealing Princess Luna's name signed on the bottom line.

The guardsmare took a long glance at the document, verifying for herself that this was indeed a document citing probable cause for his arrest. But some of the details had raised some concerns for her. Her first instinct was to delay his search. "But who's to say that he won't be present? He could be, and I can imagine that it would complicate matters."

"You know what, you're right. We need to execute while he's away." He said to her dismay, her ears falling as her attempt to stall failed in spectacular fashion. "Noon tomorrow."

"Noon?" She was already loathing the idea of conducting a second raid throughout the day, much less one on someone who was working so closely with the princess.

"Of course, he will be at his trial, we will be in his quarters searching for whatever plans he may be hosting in secret. From there, we strike."

She immediately pointed at the document at the bottom. "Sir, are you certain that the warrant is made out with Princess Luna's signed name on it?"

He looked at the bottom and pointed back to her the name. "Is this not her signature?"

"It looks like it." She said with some skepticism.

He rolled up the document back into scroll form and walked away from the table. "Then we move as her authority. See you then, Sergeant Major."

The mare appeared crestfallen while her friends were more excited for her. "Uh oh, captain smartass is in it now." Cobalt said while rubbing her hooves together.

Solemn then pointed out her concerns to the other three. "Something about this isn't right."

Each of them exchanged a puzzled look with the mare. "What do you mean, Solemn?" Gleaming asked.

"Princess Luna wouldn't sign a warrant for the next day unless it's an emergency or high priority." Solemn briefly explained.

"Oh come on, that thing had the princess' sigil and her signature." Dress then added.

Solemn knew in her mind what all was missing, especially since she was issued a royal warrant to execute just earlier in the morning. "I know what a royal search warrant looks like. It would have the signature of the leader of the district in question, the princess in authorization of the search, and the sigil."

"Okay, so what do you think is missing?" Dress Right asked.

"I took a good look at that warrant he laid out. I don't think that's Princess Luna's signature. And Princess Celestia would be head of the castle, so that makes her the one who has the district signature, I didn't see her name anywhere."

"So you're telling me that he issued an illegal warrant? That's his entire career wiped out in an instant if that was true." Dress Right replied.

"I find it hard to believe that he would even try to do something like that." Gleaming also stated.

Cobalt then argued in favor of the warrant. "I mean he's exposing the captain for his illegal activities. How is it that the captain could get away with using our training for underground fighting while earning a paycheck from the guard? That's not fair to any of us!"

"It is dishonorable." Dress right cosigned.

"It is pretty disgraceful." Gleaming warned.

"And it's going to be exposed tomorrow." Cobalt emphasized to her friend. "Solemn, look at it this way. You're either going to help expose the truth, or you're going to help the wrong guy. The captain is literally having you cover for him. Either you're covering him, or you're doing what's right."

"If you help the wrong guy, your career is tanked." Dress Right added.

"You can't let that happen." Gleaming said, almost pleading with the mare to do the right thing.

The three guards looked to their friend, all awaiting her verbal confirmation. Instead of giving them what they wanted immediately, Solemn looked at her plate and realized that she had not real desire to eat any of the food infront of her. She left her tray on the table for her friends to go through while she stood up to dismiss herself. "I have to go girls. I've got early morning detail at the dawn hour."

"Solemn, please consider your career and everything you worked so hard to get." Cobalt urged as she reached to her friend.

The guardsmare looked back to her tray and instead of leaving everything, she took an apple and walked away. "I'm going to expose the truth, that's all I want to do. I'll see you girls later." As she left the table, she could hear each of her friends call out to her.

"You go girl." Gleaming Brass encouraged.

"Make us proud." Dress Right cheered.

"Stay strong." Cobalt Blue murmured.

The mare walked out of the cafeteria, finally left to her lonesome. When she turned down the hall, she noticed Princess Celestia walking out of the royal dining hall. She walked behind her and trailed the princess until the royal looked back to see her approaching. She paused and waited for the guardsmare to join her along her route. While most would walk along with the princess with a stone face, Solemn's was more saddened. When the princess entered her quarters, Solemn wished her well on her evening and departed to the barracks.

She then echoed to herself. "My loyalty is to the princess, not the captain, not even the guard. She is my priority."

Solemn's alarm clocked rang loudly as the mare stirred from her sleep. She lightly illuminated her horn to check the time, seeing that it was 2:45 in the morning. She quickly took her shower, snagged an apple from off of her dining room table, and darted out the door to report to the castle. When she arrived at the barracks, she was given her file containing the details and protocols for her deployment. Once she verified the information, she immediately left for the rendezvous point not far from the mortuary. She looked at the clock at the town square, waiting for the rest of her unit to arrive.

It was 3:40 when she arrived to the location, while I didn't arrive until 4:30.

Most of the other guards in the vicinity were barely able to keep their eyes open, leaning into their spears and nodding off whenever they weren't called out over it. But Solemn was by far the only one who was lucid and alert aside from myself. I took notice of her discipline and devoted attention to the alert guardsmare. "Solemn Oath. Good morning."

"Good morning, Princess Twilight." She replied with a salute.

We had walked together, tapping and alerting the other guards that it was close for their time to move in. Immediately, some either took their heads and dumped them in the cold water of some drain-off barrels near some buildings, or they simply slapped themselves awake. After that went on for a fair twenty minutes, the unit seemed ready to move in. I then questioned the former officer. "Have you read up on the briefing I had set aside for you?"

"Yes, your highness." She replied sharply, albeit somewhat nervous about the situation. "To be candid, I'm not too excited to be raiding a morgue. Those places creep me out like something fierce"

"It's not going to be pretty, I know that." I replied.

Solemn's next question had her trying to not shiver at the thought of being around so many dead ponies. "So what do we do about the bodies we find?"

"If there is evidence of foul play, which I strongly believe there is, then they are to be confiscated and processed immediately."

"Immediately, does that mean we burn them?" She asked.

"Princess Celestia's orders." I answered bluntly.

The mare looked around nervously, she seemed as if she was forcing herself to go along with today's assignment. "I know I was suppose to hang back on today, but if I can make a request, I would like to be alongside you this morning."

It was strange to see her actively go beyond Princess Celestia's orders, especially given her reputation to following the princess' instructions to a T. "For my protection, I presume?"

She shook a little as she answered back. "No, your highness. I just need to see the truth for myself."

I looked to her and saw how increasingly jumpy she had become. I didn't think she would've been able to handle something on this magnitude. I understood why Celestia ordered her to stay behind. So I gave her a warning predicated solely from my own experience. "The truth is ugly. It won't come with peace of mind. What you'll see will disturb you for quite some time. Are you sure this is what you want?"

The mare was shaky, but still certain of her choice. "It is my duty, your highness. For the princesses sake."

I knew she was going to have a hard time processing whatever we encountered, especially the room that contained the hidden access. I could only respect her wishes, but only to an extent. "Okay. Let's do it then."

All of our unit had gathered at the gates of the cemetery, staring down the stone brick path leading to the mortuary. Solemn confirmed the positions of every guard present. "Your highness, we're all in position to move."

I gave my orders to the group. "Absolute silence, move in swiftly, and detain any staff members present for questioning. Once cleared, we will continue to conduct operations of this establishment with extreme care. Remember, these are some ponies' loved ones, possibly some of yours. Treat them with that kind of courtesy and respect." I looked down across the street to the clock, noting the time was approximately 4:58. It was time to move. "Let's go."

Trekking across the cemetery grounds, cautiously avoiding any plot of land with as much as a single plaque, we realized our objective of reaching the front door. I was the one who gave the opening knock. The other guards hid while Solemn and I took the more forward approach. An assistant was quick to greet us at the main entrance. "Good morning, your highness. How may we help you?"

"I'm looking for a pony by the name of Guiding Light, have you seen him?"

The stallion who answered appeared to glance elsewhere as he replied to my question. "I'm not sure who you're addressing, ma'am. That's not a name I've heard of before."

I tilted my head and pointed ahead to the front desk in the lobby. "If you don't mind, I would like for you to step in front of the counter for me and check your logs. Sign in's, whoever was on roll for the past week, who all was interred, all of it."

"Sure thing, your highness." While I knew he was lying, the stallion seemed to be a willing participant.

As soon as we approached the counter, he immediately brought up a number of log books. They were a lot thinner than what I had surmised for a funeral home dealing with a city's worth of backlog. I flipped through the pages to see that any information pertaining to anything before yesterday morning had disappeared. Already, I knew this was going to require some further pressure. I summoned a picture of the deceased stallion who guided me and my dad through. "This stallion, does any of your corpses look anything like this guy here? We're here to conduct an autopsy."

"I'll see what we have in the back." The stallion walked away, trotting off to one of the back rooms.

Solemn looked at me nervously. "An autopsy?"

"If he's dead, then he's got no other choice but to be here. Might as well be thorough." I replied.

"You don't think they could've transferred him to someplace else?" She also brought up.

"If his condition was what was described to me, then he would be on the book to be cremated. And there's a backlog, from what I was told." I explained.

"What happens if he's not here?" She inquired.

"Then we execute the warrant." I concluded.

The stallion walked out from the back room, he appeared just as innocent as any other receptionist. He was putting on a good front. "Excuse me, ma'am. But we might seem to have a young stallion resembling the one you described. He's on the wait for processing."

"May I see him?" I pressured.

"I'm so sorry, not only are we not in our usual business hours, we don't allow visitation of the deceased unless you are an immediate family member. Protocol."

"But I do remember stating that I was here for an autopsy." I stringently pointed out.

As per any usual situation where the family would request to know the cause of death, he provided documentation to support his findings. "Ma'am, we've assed that the stallion in question has perished under a workplace incident."

I looked on the document to see if there would be any discrepancies between the document and his worded answer. "Describe this incident to me."

"It was an incident involving a runaway dolly, he was working late Monday night and was struck by a speeding dolly he failed to secure further down the hall. We discovered him on Tuesday morning, brain hemorrhage from the impact was the deciding factor."

"Was there any foul play?" Solemn questioned.

"We don't have any reason to believe that there's been any foul play."

The guardsmare looked to me. "Your highness?"

"He's buying time." I murmured as I looked at the clock, well past 5:10 now. I continued to press the issue further within the limits of my right to discernment. "I wish to see him, we are investigating his condition, as per the wishes of the family."

If I know anything from what my brother had explained in any given situation, any and all autopsies can be and should be done in the presence of a royally sanctioned coroner, and if not that then an observer. And should an instance like this were to occur, it's within our right to investigate the body to verify the claims. "Ma'am, he is deceased because of his own mistake. This is a place of reverence, I would ask that you respect that." And so far, he's breaking the clause of transparency between royal and municipal oversight.

Which only meant one thing to me, it was time to press his head into the wall. "Solemn."

"Yes, your majesty." Being the obedient guard she was, she and I walked right past the receptionist and signaled the others to come on in.

"Hey, that area's restricted!!" He called out before noticing two guards putting the shackles on him. "Hey, let me go!" The other two guards marched him along with us.

While the guards behind him explained the reason he was being detained, Solemn confirmed on what I was thinking at the time. "Your highness, I'm detecting foul play."

"All mortuaries are ordained to have a monthly catalog of names that are to renew at the beginning of every month. That catalog started only yesterday morning." I pointed out to her. "Since there is foul play at hoof, then it's time we investigate."

We finally walked into the room with a one operation taking place. They appeared to be cleaning up a pony, getting them ready for their interment. The worker glanced up to see the two of us entering the room by ourselves. He called out to us. "Hey! You can't be in here!" While Solemn had finally caught glimpse of a pony body, she froze for a moment before she snapped out of it and went about using her magic to restrain the mortician. While she was doing that, I walked towards the closet that I knew was the access point. "What are you doing? What's going on? Why am I being restrained?" He asked in rapid fire sequence.

While I opened the closet door, I started the input sequence I saw Guiding Light do for us exactly as he did it. "Cleaning the closet, cleaning out the closet, make it spick and span for all to see."

As soon as I said those words, his eyes shot open and he reached out to me in desperation. "Wait!"

I closed the door, anticipating the change of access. "Alright, now let's see if the nightmare is still hiding off in here." But what I was greeted with when I opened the door was nothing more than a storage closet. "What?" I redid the input sequence, closed the door, waited a bit, and then opened it back up to be greeted by the same thing again.

Solemn noticed the distress on my face. "Your highness, is there something wrong?"

I closed the door, thinking to myself if I had done anything out of place, moved anything out of sequence. I was certain I did it correctly. "That's not right, I did as the song instructed."

The restrained mortician further stressed his question. "Your highness, what are you doing in here?"

Seeing that our situation had changed drastically, I opted to continue on as if this place was to be held and investigated for negligence and various code violations. "I'm looking for the body of a young stallion, Guiding Light is his name." I answered.

"I'm sorry, but there is no pony named Guiding Light in this establishment." He argued.

"Then we have no other choice." I said as I took over the reigns of keeping the worker retained. "Solemn, the cabinets, search them."

The mare appeared mortified that I had issued that order to her. But she strove onward to do as I instructed. She went to her first cabinet, looking at the body within. She still held her own constitution, but she was shaking at the sight of a pony at eternal rest. She opened the cabinet further and saw a covering over the pony's head. "Um, what do I do about the towels over the faces?"

"Verify cutie marks." I suggested so that she wouldn't have to go about the business of lifting towels and possibly viewing some uncanny final expressions.

"I don't know what the cutie mark looks like of this Guiding Light." She then pointed out.

I summoned a picture of the stallion, along with it was another picture with just the cutie mark he had on file. I gave her the picture and explained it to her once more. "A candelabrum with lit five candles."

Since the one she opened failed to match even the coat color of the description, she closed that cabinet and went to the one next to it. She slowly pulled it open. "Wait, not that one!" The mortician shouted, but it was too late.

By the time she pulled it out halfway, she noticed that there wasn't a pony there... until further up. It was just the torso upwards that remained of the poor inhabitant. Solemn shrieked and quickly slammed the cabinet shut. She hunched over a nearby counter, shaking and trying not to vomit. Eventually, she couldn't withhold herself and ejected her breakfast. The mare was completely shocked. At least she didn't have to see the same nightmare I did, but it was still unfortunate. I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself to do most of the searching myself.

As I started my multitasking, I opened that same drawer, verifying the coat color and even the face. The pony appeared to have experienced excruciating pain before their untimely death. I closed the cabinet and went through the next. Coat color didn't match. Same thing for the next. And the next... And the next.

I mumbled to myself. "This is going to be a long morning."

Thirty Minutes Later...

I had completed a search throughout all 547 bodies within this room alone. None of them matched the description. I sent more guards to investigate the bodies in the other chambers like this one, providing details of who to look for along their observation of the corpses. But they too had come up empty. Out of the 1600 plus bodies in this place, none of them matched the description of Guiding Light.

So I had to continue my investigation as if I was searching for a pony of interest as opposed to a corpse. "So I ask again, sir. Where is the stallion I am requesting to see?"

The worker Solemn and I retained had continued to deny any claims of his existence. "I keep telling you, there's absolutely nopony I've worked with or on that bears any resemblance to that stallion." He replied as Solemn kept him in place.

"The one thing about him that I know is that he always had a pretty dark sense of humor." I added.

"I'm sure." He appeared unchanged on his claims.

But what he also didn't realize was when he yelled earlier at Solemn over which cabinets she could and couldn't open, I began to recognize his voice from last Friday during my previous visit. "I do know that you would call out to him whenever you had to deal with some unsavory conditions. Decaying, bulging, maggots in the throat." Solemn's face almost turned green with revulsion as I elaborated on that bit of detail.

"Ma'am, that's just our job." He replied, firmly holding his position.

"I know that cleaning out these compartments are also part of your job. After all, it's unsanitary to place a new client on an unclean bed. Plus I do believe there is some instance of sludge that needs to be addressed." I started to go through the potential categories of tasks that I felt he would have relegated to Guiding instead of undertaking himself. "These fridges are flushed into the walls, how do you maintenance them, is there no access to the inside aside from the front, no drainage lines, no ventilation ducts to ensure that the bulk of the smell is flushed out by fresh air?"

"Your highness, I do admit that you are well-educated. But I don't see how any of that is pertinent to the question of where this stallion is."

"I'm just asking questions. The forefront of knowledge always begin with the essentials; who, what, when, where, why, if, and how." I said as another guard walked into the room to give us a report on their status.

"Your highness. The cremation chambers are ready to go." The guard informed me politely.

"That didn't seem to take long." I said, somewhat pleased that we were able to start our cleanup work so soon. "Search that front desk and any offices for a list of those ready to be processed and organize yourselves to that exact list. Start with the first name on their roll sheet. Work your way down. From there we'll notify the families of the change and present them the remains at their immediate request."

"Yes, your highness." He replied with a bow of respect.

I also gave him one more set of instructions before he left. "And if you do see the name Guiding Light, be sure to report that and the body to me."

"Yes, your highness." He said before trotting out of the room.

The mortician groaned at me over my persistence. "Your highness, I have to ask. Is the body so important to you?"

"It is to eliminate the grounds of foul play." I replied.

"You're not finding any foul play here, your highness." He said with confidence.

I was getting nowhere. All of my usual methods to obtain any information had all fallen flat of achieving any result. I paced back and forth for a few seconds, seeing how I could reach through to him. But then I realized that even Guiding Light operated the same way. I remembered how he talked to me and my dad on Friday, how he continued to feign ignorance before my father cracked him as easily as an egg. I also remembered what he had said to me shortly after that.

So I took from his example, and started off with the name that no pony wanted to hear spoken. "I wonder... I once met a stallion with a fairly distinctive name. But I can't quite put my lips on it."

He didn't seem that interested in my threat at first. "I suppose you're talking about another body to look for?"

I walked closer to him, pacing behind him in my effort to break in some bit of fear. Not my usual method, but if it worked... "Hmm, I think I remember what it was. It was Unling? Umbrella? Ugly, no..." I leaned into his ear with one more guess, this one being the correct one. "Umbra."

I watched as the stallion's ears flicked at the mention of that name. While he wouldn't show me his face, I could tell that he was disturbed by my sudden name-drop. "I don't know anypony by that name."

I leaned in to his other ear. "So you don't know an Umbra?"

The mortician turned his head, trying not to crack under the newfound pressure. "I don't know that name."

I started to whisper my guesses of his surname into his ear, watching as the sweat started forming over his brow. "Sanction... Saint... Sanctimonies... Sanctu─"

He jumped forward, clearing his ear away from my lips. "DON'T SAY IT!" He hollered, pinning his ears closed with his magic.

I licked the frog of my hoof and quenched his magic, replacing his with mine to lift his ear. "What, Sanctum?"

"STOP IT!" He cried out loudly, shaking his head violently. "Anypony who hears that name in Canterlot is ushered into oblivion! You know the legend!"

"I'm sorry, I've been away from Canterlot for some time. So I wouldn't really remember it too well." I knew that he wasn't going to participate unless I had every intention to push him to the point where he would openly volunteer his time, all for the sake of my not speaking his name. It's as my dad said. If ponies know not to say that name out in public, then there's weight to the name. Use it as a tool. But I'm willing to say that a description could go even further. "But I do remember a face... A green stallion, with yellow swirls on his face, copper-colored eyes─"

"I don't know anypony with that description!" He quickly yelped out.

"Seems to me that you do." I said in a menacing tone. "So I can either ask you one of two things. You can either tell me about Guiding Light, free of any scrutiny and protected by our finest forces. Or I would start talking about Him, and let you leave on that note. Because I'm quite sure the fear is fresh, knowing that the one you depended on to take your dirty jobs was found dead yesterday morning."

While I pointed out the details to him, even going so far as to mention who he would have to answer to and his physical description, he found himself more than willing to capitulate to my demands. "If I talk, you'll protect me, right?"

"I mean you'll be in the castle dungeons, so you'll be more than protected." I replied.

He looked around, instinctually checking every corner for anything that could pop up on us. "We were told to pretend that Guiding never existed. Those were the words from the top. I don't know what happened to him, whether if he's alive or processed at this point."

"He's dead, died at the hooves of some horrendous creature on Tuesday night." I verified to the worker. "And of course, that closet doesn't do what it normally does anymore, now does it?"

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"That was the access to the maintenance of those fridges. But inside that access was a much colder room, a much larger freezer. Bodies, strung up from above, as far as the eye can see."

While Solemn shuddered at the visual I provided, the stallion knew exactly what I was speaking of. He glanced around the room in a frantic manner. "Please, ma'am, just send me to solitary, maximum security, whatever. I don't want to say anymore, I don't want to be here anymore!"

It was fair for him to be afraid. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to work in a place where your benefactor can just pop up out of a cabinet anytime he wanted to, assuming his usual form by taking advantage of one of the many corpses available. "Guards!" I called out to the hallway, causing two to walk inside and salute me. "Take him." I ordered.

They did as I instructed and escorted the worker out of the room. Solemn looked over to the closet I had tried to enter earlier. "Your highness, about those bodies hanging from above, is all of that true?"

"Very much so. I've seen it with my own eyes Friday evening. Guiding Light was the one who showed me what was there." I confirmed.

A shudder ran down her legs as she glanced to the door. "So the stolen bodies the captain mentioned..."

"They were all likely to be in there." I concluded.

"HALT!"

While a cry from just outside of the room sounded, Solemn perked up to ready herself for whatever issue started to brew. "Your highness, I recommend we check that out."

"No disagreement from me."

The two of us galloped out of the room to see the worker we had escorted out standing with his back against a wall. He held a scalpel out to a quartet of armored guards. He fanned and waved the blade frantically, shouting to the group in front of him. We moved two guards out of the way and approached him slowly. "Stop right there!"

"Hey, easy there! We're not going to hurt you." I tried to assure him, but he was too panicked to listen to me.

"YOU! I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU SAID HIS NAME! YOU DOOMED US ALL!" He screamed towards me.

Solemn placed a hoof out to indicate to me that she would take the lead on this situation. She very slowly approached the stallion, taking very small steps and almost muttering as she approached. "No pony is going to hurt you." She looked to the other guards and issued a quiet order. "Everypony, please put down your weapons. We're not going to bring harm to him in any way." Slowly, every spear that was raised had been retracted. As he was starting to calm down, Solemn extended a hoof to him, slowly trying to negotiate with the stallion. "Please, let us help you. Don't do this. We only want to see you unharmed. We will take care of you and get you the security you desire. No one will get to you. I can promise you that."

The stallion started to calm down, breathing at a slower pace than he was seconds ago. He started to lower the scalpel and agree to being taken in. But as his magic subsided from the blade, an orange glow soon replaced it. The stallion's eyes widened with horror as the blade swung once at his throat, cutting his jugular and trachea in a violent manner.

"NO!" Solemn cried out as the stallion slummed against the wall, grabbing his own neck in desperation to save his own life.

I turned around to see which magic user was responsible for what was happening. But before I could sight out who could be the culprit, one of the guards darted off in the opposite direction. The guard looked back to see if anyone was chasing them, their horn glowing a similar color as the scalpel did. "You! Stop right there!" I called out.

Solemn saw me run in the direction of the rouge guard, she issued for the others nearby to give the stallion some medical attention. "Do what you can to save him! His testimony is crucial to us!"

Solemn sprinted on to catch up with me as I remained in hot pursuit of the criminal responsible. As we ran, I devised a plan to cut them off. "I'll run around the front to limit any possible routes of escape!"

"Maintaining pursuit!" Solemn called out as she sprinted ahead at full speed.

We split off into two different hallways. Running along the way, Solemn matched their every turn and drift down the halls, eventually leading to a large section of the establishment. She chased the rogue guard into the gift shop and shot a bolt at one of the counters in an attempt to slow their advance. But the rogue moved quickly past her and knocked a shelf over to impede her progress. From there they galloped back into the hallway. Solemn dislodged herself from the pile of souvenirs and regained her pursuit.

As for me, I thought of the only way that I could quickly traverse the morgue as quickly as possible. I looked for the door leading to the sludge storage, took a deep breath, opened the door and ran through. It took everything within me to not try and gain any kind of air, as none of it had any bit of freshness to it. Once I reached the other side, I slammed the door behind me and coughed from the lingering smell. But to my advantage, it turned into the hall where the rogue guard had made his own right turn into. I stood in his way, casting a large shield to block the entire hall and impede his progress.

The guard looked at me with a smirk, staring at me with the copper colored eyes I remembered seeing on Tuesday night. I charged my horn to cast a bolt directly at the stallion, a blow that sent him flying back several feet. The stallion slid into the wall at the end of the hall, allowing for Solemn to catch on. "Halt!" She shouted from further down the hall. As she got closer, she tried to slow down and regain her breath. "There's nowhere to run!"

I undid my spell to block the hall, anxious to get my hooves on that stallion. If the eyes were an indication, then it had to be none other than Umbra Sanctus himself. My horn flared once more with a more powerful charge, all as I walked to him with the intent to put an end to his operations. "You should've known this would be the outcome."

But in the moment, his coat started to change colors. Even behind the armor, I could tell that the color had started to fade into something else. Solemn angrily snatched the disguised stallion up to yell at him. "You! You violated an order of compliance! You will be court marshalled for your insubordination!" She lifted the helmet to reveal not the face of the pony I had stopped, but rather an unresponsive young stallion with glossy eyes and a large gaping hole in his neck. Solemn quickly dropped the body, shrieking as she did so. "Uuuuuhhhhh..." She whinnied in terror.

I walked over to the body and immediately identified the face. "Guiding Light... So you were here under our noses the whole time."

The guardsmare turned to me, bringing up the subject of the massive hole in his neck that almost separated his head from the rest of his body. "Your highness, I don't remember you casting a bolt that powerful."

"I didn't." I pointed out, observing the deceased mortician for myself. "But this verifies some of my suspicions."

"Of what?" She questioned. "That this guy can take over bodies at will? This is beyond terrifying! Now I really don't want to be here!"

"Hence why this is a top-secret matter." I stated to her, urging her to keep her voice down. "But that's old news for us. My suspicion for the moment is that the one responsible probably moved his operation elsewhere."

The panicked Solemn Oath tried to take a moment to calm herself down, but finding it harder to do with the possibility of the dead stallion in front of her reanimating. "S-s-so now what?" She inquired.

I summoned a body bag from the room we were in earlier and started to move the stallion carefully into the bag for cremation. Since his body was used by Umbra, it only made sense to bump him up in the order of who was to be processed. Our day near the fire would have to start with him.

I written everything I saw and experienced on a scroll, detailing everything that happened up to this point. Once I had finished, I sealed the scroll and gave it to Solemn so that the princess could be quickly informed while I oversaw Guiding's cremation.

"Give my report to the princess. Tell her we're back to square one."

The guardsmare walked towards the large wooden doors leading to the podium of the princess. A guard extended his hoof to her and stopped her where she stood. "Ma'am. The princess is presiding in parliament today. Under no circumstances is she to be disturbed."

The guardsmare whipped out a scroll with a purple and magenta seal emblazoned upon it. "Then give this to her majesty. This report is for her eyes only, and is not to be read by anyone other than her majesty. It's top secret, so declassifying it's contents will result in strict disciplinary action."

The guard quickly took the scroll. "Yes ma'am."

The mare watched as the stallion walked into the chamber, closing the door behind him. After he left her to her lonesome, she took a deep breath and slouched against the wall, overwhelmed by what all she had experienced throughout the day. And much to her misfortune, it wasn't even noon yet. The day for many had just gotten started and there was much more that could be done.

But the day had given her some perspective of exactly what the captain had been dealing with in the shadows. She started to sympathize his situation, fighting for the princess' sake, dedicating his work to her, advancing security measures within the castle to a level that would never be realized with any other pony, fighting off dozens of ponies looking to have his head for a trophy, and then fight off any instance of death that could be knocking at his door as soon as tomorrow. It was a lot to think on, so she considered looking into the matter of taking the rest of the day off. No more shift changes, no more walking around, no more secret deployments.

The moment her secondary deployment came to mind, she was already thinking about blowing it off. None of it appeared to be legal in any way. There wasn't a real need to dive into unfounded motives and try to usurp the captain for any reason other than him being in Canterrot twice a week. And even if she was forced to participate, she'd limit herself to the role of a third-party witness should things go wrong.

To add to her misfortune, she walked right past the hall where her friends had been waiting for their instructions. They noticed the mare walking past and greeted her. "Hey, Solemn!" Gleaming Brass called out.

Cobalt ran to her, excited for opportunity to see her friend getting her position back by the day's end. "You're just in time."

"We're gonna bust the captain on his little operation." Dress Right briefly stated as she polished her armor.

Solemn questioned the three of her friends as to why they were all donning full combat armor and spears. "Why are you all here dressed like this? If this is about the captain, then shouldn't this be low-level work?"

Cobalt replied to her friend. "He wanted a squad that knew each other well in combat, so if there's a confrontation, we can resolve it as quickly and seamlessly as possible. After all a squad that knows one another protects one another."

"We're on your side." Gleaming added, wrapping a hoof around the mentally-fatigued mare.

Solemn shook her head, ducking herself out of both Cobalt's and Gleaming's forelegs. "I just got back from a pretty rough outing, girls. Is there any way I can just pass up on this one?"

"Ah, Sergeant Major Solemn Oath. As timely as ever."

The three other mares snapped to their salutes, quickly acknowledging the officer who approached them. Solemn saluted as well, but did not do so without comment. "Sir, with all due respect, I have some concerns."

"What is it?" He kindly asked.

"Well, I'm really questioning if the captain is actually doing anything wrong here." She said, starting to voice her concerns a bit more actively.

Officer Iron Hoof quirked a brow in mild disappointment. "Solemn Oath, I don't understand. You passed me all of the information yourself. I find it hard to believe that none of your findings would raise any alarms to you."

The mare quickly feigned her enthusiasm. "They do! It's just that I feel like we need more time to think this one through." Thought she found it much harder to keep up with her façade today. "If we going to do this, then we need more significant evidence than hearsay. We need photographic proof, eye witnesses, paper trail."

Iron Hoof pursed his lips, looking to her friends who appeared nervous of the developing disagreement. "Solemn Oath, I understand your concern. But think about it, this is your chance to get your life back. Was it not the captain's seat you sought for many years of your life?"

"It is." She replied, closing her eyes. For the moment she looked within herself, she knew that everything about this was wrong. It went against every principle she believed in, and it hurt her to know that she was a part of this. At last, she offered to put her hoof down to the officer. "But not this way."

Cobalt jumped in front of her, grabbing her hoof and pleading with her. "Solemn, what are you doing? You're so close to your life's dream, don't mess this up for yourself."

"I'm not!" She stressed to her friend. "I'm only doing what I feel is right. If the captain is going down to Canterrot, then there's got to be a reason for why he's doing it."

Iron Hoof nodded once as he summoned a folder with the word 'Confidential' written across the cover in red stencil. He gave her the folder. "Solemn Oath, I can understand that you may think that there's no evidence to your findings, but I want you to look at this."

The guardsmare grabbed the file and started looking through the details of the documents inside. Her eyes slowly grew as she realized that these documents weren't just some random made-up documents. She found herself looking through his bank statements, how on one day he was a guard with only thirty-thousand bits in his account, to suddenly rising to north of a million in the next day. She watched the numbers slowly decrease from there until it appeared on Saturday morning when his account balance skyrocketed to almost thirty million bits. "No way." She said absolutely flabbergasted.

Iron Hoof stood himself next to her, pointing out the massive numbers that came in. "That's right. Millions stashed away in the account where he established his direct deposit. This means he's actively fighting. For. Money."

Solemn went through the banking statements like a mare possessed, in disbelief that the captain had accumulated so much wealth the day following his trip to Canterrot. "There's like thirty million in his account! We don't even earn three-hundred thousand in a year as an officer, much less a first year officer." She pointed out.

"Much less a recruit." The officer said in a low voice. "This is why we need to bring him down."

Cobalt stood by her friend, still pleading with her to make what she believed was the right decision. "Now do you understand?"

Solemn closed the file, disheartened that the captain had taken in such a profit after the night he went to fight. Much of herself wanted to know what was real and what wasn't. If the royals were backing him, he had to be doing some good. Or maybe the royal family was paying him under the table, still a questionable offense. Perhaps it could've been a coincidence that the money found it's way into his account at a time like that, but it still seemed too likely to simply dismiss as a coincidental occurrence.

"I want to see the truth for myself." She announced, wanting to find some way to speak with the captain of how his finances came to be so inflated in such a short amount of time. "I'm coming with you."

"Very well then. Our operation time is 1200 hours. We move in position at 11:50. Take the time to get yourself ready." Iron Hoof took the file and walked down the hall.

Her friends had gathered around her, relieved that her opportunity wasn't squandered by her own decision making. "You know, you could've totally busted your chance of that promotion." Gleaming said with a nervous tone.

Solemn, however, was angry. Thoughts of his words talking about loyalty to the princess had all come into question. Was he really in it to protect the princess, or was him retaining his position was a mistake that could've costed her the apex of her career. Was his working with the princess nothing but a financial opportunity for him, or was he in on this body-snatching operation. All possible avenues came to her mind at once, infuriating her all the more.

She gritted her teeth and moved on her anger. "All I want to know is the truth."

"All rise!"

The voice of Blueblood boomed throughout the room, ordering all within the chamber to stand to their hooves. The multitude waited for the resolution of our case against the Count DuMoneé estate, and in turn some of the legislation that was drafted and signed with his name at the footnote. Celestia entered the room with an unusually profound scowl on her face as she entered the room. I could only assume that something had either gotten on her nerves or she had received some bad news. Either way, I would have to ask her about it later.

"You may be seated." She said as she approached her podium. She called out to Blueblood to read the results. "Has the parliament body reached the verdict in regards to the actions taken by the Estate of Count DuMoneé?"

Blueblood, already knowing the result, had announced with a proud smirk on his face. "Your highness, we have reached the tallying totals of each account. One-hundred ninety-seven votes guilty. One-hundred seventy-four votes not guilty." He placed the papers containing the tally and the countersuit measures onto the desk with satisfaction. "Your highness, the vote speaks on majority voting in favor of a guilty verdict. Thus the estate will be charged with the revoking of all funds remaining in any business accounts. Furthermore, all finances and assets pertaining to the notated accounts will be frozen and thoroughly audited. All funds remaining after the audit will be designated to the city treasury."

Celestia also added with firmness in her tone. "Also let the record show that any bills with his name in the draft shall be rescinded and reviewed to maintain standing with findings of this verdict. Any clauses and proposals with any nefarious intent shall be expunged from any and all future legislation."

Blueblood looked to the defending party, none other than Blue Royal standing in place of her father. "Would the defense have anything to say in light of the verdict reached?"

She cleared her throat and replied to the blond prince as humbly as one could. "Your highness. While I am most disappointed with the verdict pertaining to my client's status, I will not seek to appeal the verdict in any court.

"Then the verdict shall be ruled with prejudice." Celestia banged her gavel with a profound intent, it's sound reverberating throughout the room as if thunder had struck. The faces of many on one side of the room express content in the ruling. The faces on the other reflected a spectrum of disappointment ranging from resigned indifference, mild disappointment, upset glares towards Damper Trot, and vehement growling performances that would do Count proud.

I grabbed all of my documents and headed out the door on a cheerful note, knowing that at least one disturbing part about that recent spending measure had gone to the wolves. Piece by piece, Count's legacy was being disassembled before my eyes. And I was quietly living for all of it.

When I stepped out of the room, I walked towards the doors Blue would leave from. As she was walking out, I could see the slightest hint of a smile on her face.

I called out to her. "I'm not too sure of what she meant by 'ruled with prejudice', can you explain that one to me?"

She cleared a lock of her mane from over her eyes as she answered my question. "It means that it won't be brought before a court again, even if there is to be an appeal made in the future."

I gave the mare a shaky thumbs up. "Well it's not quite the justice you sought after, it's the one you deserve. Kudos, I guess."

She rolled her eyes as she tossed her paperwork into the air as if she graduated from high school. "There's no justice in any of this shit."

"What makes you say that?" I said as I started to collect on the mess she made. "I mean, other than the obvious reasons."

"I mean, the obvious reasons all speak for themselves. I'm just tired of even thinking of my father's name right now." She said tiredly. "And to think when I came back here, I was so excited to see him. I was all for reconnecting with my father in hopes that he would at least come around to having a daughter. Guess we all know how that ended. It's noon and I couldn't need a drink anymore than I do now."

"I don't blame you." I chuckled.

The mare adjusted my sleeve on my shirt, briefly pulling it back to see a large purple welt on my forearm. "You're a mess, there's bruises all over you."

"They've been healing up pretty fast though. I think they'll be gone in the next two days." I said, adjusting my sleeve back to where it was originally.

"Aren't you in the lineup for tomorrow?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah... I'm thinking of not bringing Kalimba this time."

"That sounds like a bad idea." She said with hesitation between her words.

"Not after what happened on Tuesday night." I quickly stated back.

"My brother and I didn't show up, we just decided it was in our best interest to lay low for a while. Give us some time to psychologically recover."

"Smart answer. I wish I'd thought of it sooner." I joked.

The mare tilted her head at me. "I'm curious though. What all happened on Tuesday, aside from the obvious?"

"I got hammered into for eleven rounds, that's the obvious part. The trauma of the night, Kalimba was drugged and sexually abused while we were separated."

While she could consider herself as in competition with the zebracorn, she still felt upset for what happened. "My empathies to her, is she alright?"

"She's taking it rather well for all the trauma that could've caused." I stated. "But she's been doing fine, as I've been told."

The mare exhaled as she closed her eyes. "You know, the more you suffer though trauma after trauma, the more apathetic you become to the world. Eventually, you may lose the ability to even see the good in anything. And if not that, you go mad."

I took her statement into thought, rewinding in my mind to the day Kali and I met. Much of her personality was very dismissive of what all had happened to her, what all she endured, even down to the way she lived her life. None of it was anything short of abysmal, but she looked at it all like it was just another day to wake up to. "She's not to that point yet, though she was when I first met her. It wasn't until she had the chance to put Prod in his place when she decided to live for her own self instead of resigning herself to death and an existence of being perpetually subjugated to sexual slavery."

"That's good then. She's in a place where she can learn to heal emotionally." Blue said as she opened her eyes to give me a glance. "But she's very vulnerable, be sure not to reciprocate any emotions that could be seen as you being amorously attached, unless that's your intent."

"Why you say that?" I asked.

"Because she won't know how to process it. She'll think you're the only thing that matters in her life, she'll be prone to think anything that could take you away from her will be a threat. She'll love you hard as hell, but she'll love you into your grave."

I snickered at her words of warning. "I don't think Kali's that bad."

Blue groaned at me for laughing at her. "I'm telling you as a mare who can only trust two stallions in her life. I'm scared to see my brother leave me because that's been my support for years. You've been my hero for a good number of situations, and I can already feel myself being latched onto you because of them."

"Oh, I see." I said dismissively.

She stepped in front of me grabbing my hand. "Yeah. Can you even think about it, me and you? I'd practically murder any bitch thinking of coming close to you and taking you away from me."

Now that statement was the one that really grabbed my attention, so much that I stopped laughing altogether. "Oh...kay."

"Sorry, but it's true. Plus I get to not feel guilty when you stick your dick inside me."

I quickly glanced around to see if anyone was around to pay attention to her statement. "Pretty weird conversation to carry on with."

"Yeah it is." She said, making sure that she had my absolute attention. "But it doesn't change the attachment. Maybe it's the fact that you still took the time to help me when I needed it most, you stood in for my brother when he couldn't be there, and then you went the extra mile to save him also. Realistically speaking, I could give you everything I own and it won't be enough for the peace of mind you've given me."

I gave her head a quick pat as I knelt down and replied. "All I wanted to do was make sure you guys were good to go. That's why I changed up the venue when we last met."

"Question. Do you think I'll ever get to be in the human world again, to really see it this time?" She used her magic to grab my hand, excitedly popping the question.

I thought about it for a second and didn't really see any reason to do that, especially since it was really a one-time thing. "I don't think it's likely."

The mare's ears folded down in disappointment. "Bummer."

"Yeah, I know. I only did that to cheer you up after the last court session." I confessed.

Her ears flopped back up as he looked at me with gladness. "And I felt better after it. It was different, I liked the fact that you gave us an escape, even if it was for just a few hours of the day."

"It was an escape for me too, don't forget." I fingered out to her.

"Yeah, but it's home for you. I don't get that luxury." She said with a shrug.

After our brief conversation, we took into account what time it was. I pulled out my phone to see that it was past 12:30. It was time for lunch. "Got any plans for today?"

"Plans... no not really. I'm just gonna go home and have a moment of closure." She replied with an owlish smile.

"Okay, okay." I said respectfully. "Good job on the trial."

"Great job on the win." She said in return.

I stretched my arms, thinking of how everything went over the past few weeks. "Something throws me off still. Why did Damper Trot decided to give us the win like that?"

"I don't know. He knew my father pretty well, especially in the Inner Circle. I guess he had some resentment to how my father looked at him while Alabaster was doing... Alabaster things."

I tried not to think of the night he offered me service... much less how good he actually was in that regard. "I can imagine."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you next time." The mare gave me a brief hug before trotting away. "I'm going to go back to my little townhouse, take my meds, talk to mom for a bit, have a few drinks and pass out."

"Careful on the drinks now. Those meds don't really give you a lot of breathing room for that anymore."

"I know."

Soon after my lunch in the cafeteria, I headed back to my room with a lot of positivity taken away from today's accomplishment. I was happy to know that Shining and Cadance's foal didn't have to subject themselves to a number of unreasonable protocols and questionable practices. It offered me hope that things were soon to be on the turn-around. I know I didn't ask her how the lobbying efforts go on her end, but as far as today's vote is concerned, it could be favorable. I could propose the changes as soon as next week, or maybe the week after.

Then again, I could be rushing into it a bit. Who's to say that those guys were just simply embarrassed to hear of Count's past and voted against keeping their names tied to him by means of a few laws and spending bills. The Approval Process could be overturned, but who's to say that everyone who voted in our favor this go around won't shut down that attempt in cold blood? And with Damper still an active wild card, I can't see him forking that win over to me like he did this one.

My win of the day was a boon for my efforts, now all I had to do was keep my eyes on footage and we can call it a day.

That was my original intent. But that all came to a halt when I came up to the hall where my room was. There were two guards standing outside of my room in full armor, the door wide open as voices came from within. I jogged over to see what
was going on. When I came to the doorway, I saw both Solemn and another armored guard, along with one of the other officers rummaging through my papers like they were searching for drugs and weapons. "Hey!" I called out angrily.

The officer turned around and acted as if his nose was the furthest thing from the ground he walked on. "Ah, captain. I knew you would come around."

Seeing my stuff in a disorganized mess was more than enough to spoil my mood for the day. I snarled at the stallion. "What the fuck is going on here!"

The stallion turned away from me as if my appearance was too lowly for his eyes. "I'm just conducting a mass search on all of your assets. You don't think I would let you get away with doing whatever you wanted on the E.U.P's time."

I snapped my attention to the guardsmare instead, realizing that this guy wasn't going to give me the time of day or the opportunity to even plead a case. "Solemn, what is this?"

Solemn walked in front of me, telekinetically placing papers on my chest to read. "Good question. What is this?"

I grabbed at the papers and read what was on them. It didn't take me long to see my name somewhere on the pages. And it took even less time for me to figure what it was that I was looking at. It was my bank statements, obtained without my consent and thrown right back in my face as evidence. Even I could agree that it was worth some looking into, but I only figured something like this would come from Colonel Crackdown himself instead of Lieutenant Colonel Iron Hoof.

"Okay, there's a long story behind this." I offered the mare an explanation.

"And your reason for it?" Iron Hoof inquired, butting in rudely.

"Classified." I responded firmly.

The stallion paced right past me like he had caught me in the midst of a crime. "Classified to who? Yourself? You're using our training for your own financial benefit! That warrants not only an arrest, but also a dishonorable discharge of an officer of your caliber!"

I gave him a slow nod. "Oh, I see what this is now."

I pulled out my phone and started to send Celestia a message so that she would know if I had come up missing for dinner, they had tried to throw me in the dungeon. I also typed out that they were doing it at this moment. Just as I hit send on the second message, the two guards from outside stepped into the room and pointed their spears at me. "Sorry, captain. You'll have to come with us." Said the armored guard who was already in front of me.

As I could feel the pointed tips lightly glaze the back of my shirt, I started to feel myself becoming irrationally angry. "See, what we're not gonna do is act like I'm doing something wrong when I have clear and concise instruction to carry out my assignments. I'm on your side, and meaning that I don't disclose my dealings doesn't mean that I'm doing them unsanctioned."

Iron Hoof quickly brought more accusations against me. "Then explain the changes in security detail, why the night shift is so scarcely filled? Is it so you can run into less resistance at the checkpoints, so that no one sees when you sneak out to make your extra bit of coin?"

"You know what, okay. Say I am doing something illegal without anyone's say so. Would I intentionally sabotage the late-night security shift to allow more assailants into the castle AFTER I WAS ATTACKED IN SAID CASTLE!?" I questioned, enraged to the point where they started to aim the spears into the back of my neck.

"Wait." Solemn stepped up and halted the other three from closing in on me even further. "Let me speak with him, just us two, I'm sure there's an explanation."

"You can do that when he's retained." Iron Hoof replied haughtily.

"You mean if I'm retained." I replied back to him, visibly ready to let all hell loose at him.

The spears came back down, the three guards around me ignored Solemn's plea for negotiation and closed in, each of their weapons finding a spot to dig into. "Don't do this, captain." One mare called from behind.

"We won't hesitate to use force." The other said as she started to embed the blade into my spine.

"Magic, especially." The other in front of me warned while pointing hers into my throat. "We know what you're capable of, captain."

"Girls, please." Solemn's cries became more and more anguished, while she appeared to very much be a part of this situation, it was obvious she was trying to be the in-between. She knew what I was doing and what I stood for, I'm sure that paperwork came to her attention without a single shred of context. But none of that mattered to the Iron Hoof. He seemed more hell-bent in trying to keep me locked up for any infraction he could find.

As the pressure from the spears started to increase, I elected to slowly put my phone back in my pocket and raise my hands to the back of my head. The three mares looked at me with confusion, but the officer only took my careful movements as a means of submission, and treated it as such. "Captain Nondis P. Haines, I hereby place you under arrest. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You are entitled to representation, be it yourself, next of kin, or a lawyer on your behalf."

Celestia, you beautiful mare and your immaculate timing.

The high princess made no effort to hide her irritation. But the officer was making every effort to bring up every charge he could've thrown at me. "Your highness, the captain has been participating in illegal activities. Underground gambling, fight clubs, prostitution, even so much as changing the schedule of the security detail to make his escape that much easier."

She bought none of it. "If I recall, I do remember seeing his request to change the security detail, but it was not to alleviate the numbers of the guards present in the halls and on certain checkpoints. If anything, he made several complaints about there being too few guards posted in the halls at that time. So I'm sure that accusation in particular holds no merit."

The spears eased off of me as the officer tried to justify his claims. "Your highness, he may have showed you one change, but he goes back in and changes it again."

"Is that so? Do you have any evidence to support that?"

"Yes, your highness." He outright lied.

Solemn Oath walked herself from in between me and Iron Hoof to standing beside Celestia, visually making herself known to the officer where her loyalties were. "Then you must have a warrant then, if you're doing all of this. Allow me to see it for myself."

The officer's chin stiffened, indicating he was clenching his jaw at her request. He knew that what he would've provided to her could be audited, opening an investigation on him. But as the princess tapped her hoof impatiently, he was left with no other choice but to provide what he had to her. After all, he couldn't get access to my information without it. He continued his front, upholding his lie with yet another. "My warrant came signed from Princess Luna, you'll have to take it up with her if you wish to see it."

"Well this is just amusing." Celestia smirked as she held back her temper. She turned her head to the doorway from where she entered. "Sister, do you recall any warrant made out for Captain Nondis reaching your desk?"

Luna walked into the room, just as irate as her older sibling. "I'm sorry, I don't remember seeing a warrant for that."

Caught in his lie, he tried to offer pleasantries to the princess of the night. "Your highness, what a pleasant surprise!"

The other three guards seemed to stare in confusion over what was going on. "Sir?" Cobalt called out as she removed her helmet. The other two quickly followed suit. "You showed us the warrant yesterday."

Luna sternly corrected the three mares. "If I cannot produce a warrant I remember signing, then I simply did not give authorization to execute."

Celestia quickly jumped in. "Neither did I receive anything to sign on anypony's behalf."

On that note, the princess of the sun walked towards the cabinet where I closed of my workstation. The stallion, already neck-deep in trouble, tried to politely change the subject. "Princess, where are you going?"

Celestia moved the mouse to wake the computer from it's sleep. The first thing that popped up was the password screen. "Nondis, what's the code you put into this contraption?"

"I got it." I replied, walking over to put in the password. The screen popped up with one application running in the taskbar. She clicked at the red icon to pull up the camera feed of every room in the castle.

Luna soon joined us as she provided her own input. "Blueblood pointed out something to me the other day. Something I find rather unusual."

The stallion who was then horn-deep in shit, had grown confrontational about what was taking place in front of him. "What is this!?"

"A video monitoring system. The whole castle's rigged to keep an eye out for any changes to security and potential trespassers. If I had my room set to away while I was gone, you would've been caught from the moment you walked in." I answered as I pulled out my phone.

"You didn't have it set, did you?" Luna asked.

"Not today. I was going to go to the trial, come back, monitor the grounds, and see if anything interesting came up. So far, it's pretty boring stuff to look at other than a few romps between some maids and guards thinking that no one can see them sneak into the janitor's closet." I explained.

Luna pointed out some footage from one of the hallways leading into the main corridor. And just like that, the footage showed the officer hiding behind a pillar, patiently waiting for me to leave before he approached her. "Lieutenant Colonel Iron Hoof, it appears that you have been meeting with Solemn Oath in the shadows." Celestia observed.

The officer was quick to explain himself. "Yes, your highness. We were discussing some assignments we could do to have her return to her usual status since it appeared unlikely that the captain would be of any aid to that purpose."

"And now here we are." I snarked at the stallion. "Mazel tov."

Celestia wasn't afraid to impose herself, grilling the officer for his conduct shown in the video. "Iron Hoof, you seem to have hid behind a pillar and waited until the captain passed you by this instance. You seem awfully suspicious to be giving out assignments."

"Because I was investigating the captain's dealings. I am within my right to conduct an investigation into whatever matters seem out of place for the guard."

"Meanwhile, you did not notify me of your suspicions. Why is that?" Celestia appeared unamused.

"Because I thought you wouldn't want to be bothered by such trivial matters." He replied.

Again, Celestia was not amused or accepting of his excuses. "It's unusual to think that the one I chose to head my security detail would be involved in illicit or illegal activities and I weren't notified of it personally. Do you honestly think that would be unworthy of my full attention?"

Iron Hoof continued to play to his given excuse. "Your highness, I understood that your plate was full─"

"Excuses." I rebutted vehemently.

"Captain. Allow me." She stood before him and extended a hoof to him. "Now you, show me your findings and present your evidence."

He grabbed the paperwork that Solemn had given to me and presented it to her. "Your highness, here is his savings. I'm sure the numbers should be of alarm to you."

She reviewed the information, raising a brow at the final number remaining. The princess slowly looked to me. "That's an awfully big number."

Iron Hoof took that moment as an instance where he could throw it back in my face like I was legitimately in the wrong. "He's been sighted in Canterrot, participating in illegal fighting rings."

"Is that so?" Celestia asked in deadpan. In the flash of an instant, the papers that were in her possession had suddenly combusted, leaving nothing but ashes. The officer and his accomplices looked on slack-jawed as the princess narrowed her eyes to him. "And you didn't think that I wouldn't be aware of it already with his current physical condition?"

Realizing that he was in over his head, he found himself trying to surface the septic cesspool of a situation he dived into. "Err... Your highness, I don't think─"

And the princess refused to offer as much as a life-saver. "These matters are not any of your business. They are, however, already mine to know of. So when my captain tells you that the details of his doings are classified top-secret, I expect you to respect that and adhere to the warning that was implied by that detail!"

While the princess occupied herself in watching the stallion drown in his mess, Solemn offered her own words of responsibility to the princess. "Your highness, I'm sorry. I should've stopped this sooner, but I saw the papers, the accounts, I just... I wanted to find an answer for what was going on."

I almost expected Celestia to partways go in on the mare, but I also remembered that I did give her the order to keep moving as if she had resentment for me. The princess praised her for her ability to sell herself as a readily available pawn for any possible conspiracy. "Solemn Oath, your role here has been most valuable."

I too offered praise for the mare, despite the fact that my room was now a mess. "Way to keep up with appearances. Turns out you're not that bad of an actor."

Meanwhile her friends were not so enthusiastic to hear that her assignment brought her against them for the time being. "Solemn, are you serious!?" Cobalt shouted incredulously.

The former officer appeared remorseful towards her friends. "Sorry girls, I said I wanted to find the truth. This is my best path forward."

"How does that make any sense!?" Cobalt combated zealously.

Though Solemn was remorseful at the circumstances, she soon found the ability to critically challenge her friend. "I think the better question to ask is this, Cobalt. How is it that you knew exactly what to tell me just moments before Iron Hoof came up to me. How did you know the captain had been in Canterrot on both Friday and Tuesday night?"

Cobalt's eyes expanded, seeing the leering countenance of judgement from both of the princesses. "I..." She watched as I folded my arms, waiting for an answer. She found it difficult to look into the eyes of her friend. "Okay, he told me what to tell you."

Iron Hoof grimaced as the two princesses turned to him, his septic pool now growing into a fairly deep lake. "That means you were in on it." Solemn called out her friend with dismay.

"That may be, but I was told that I would be helping you get your position back!" Cobalt stated, earning more and more derision for the entrenched officer.

Solemn glanced to all her friends, softly explaining to them what could've happened. "If he told you everything, then doesn't that mean that I would've contributed nothing? What does that do for me, other than make me an accessory to an illegal search and seizure of a commanding officer? You wanna talk about restoring my rank, that's how you get me discharged, especially after my last infraction! I would be disgraced, I would be forced to go back home to my parents and sit there as they tell me that my service in the guard was pointless, that I should've settled down and found a stallion to marry, to have kids and settle down! That's throwing about twenty years of my service, of my dedication to the princess, that's all gone! I would've wasted my life away with nothing to show for it! We all have been together for all this time, why would you all ruin that!?"

The eyes of the others fell to the ground in shame. Cobalt tried to plead with Solemn. "You said it yourself, you were tired of getting played by the system. This was the one time the system fell in your favor. I couldn't let you pass on that, not if it meant my job, not if it meant my seeing you suffer that indignity otherwise! We may have been lied to, but we wanted to give you a shot, a chance to climb to the position you deserve."

"But you knew I wouldn't accept anything like this."

Dress Right walked beside Cobalt, lowering her head in defeat. "Solemn, it was for you."

As Gleaming Brass walked to the side of the other two, Solemn felt a tinge of pain in her heart. "So the rest of you in on it, huh?"

"Sorry. We really wanted you to be an officer again." Gleaming confessed with a bow of apology.

"We saw how upset you were the day you lost your rank. You were crying! We did what we could to try and get you back up, so that we didn't have to see you like that again." Dress Right clarified. "We're sorry if this was a lie, we were only doing what we were told."

"Girls... you idiots." Solemn walked over to her friends hugging each of them, showing them forgiveness for their attempt to give her what she wanted. "I know my actions that day were inexcusable. I started a fight with a superior officer because I was too caught up in my own funk. Now I know what he's been up against, what he's been fighting against. And truth be told, I actually admire that he doesn't take flack for it, that he stays quiet and march on." The guardsmare looked to me with embarrassment. "Ugh. Even now I'm trying not to throw up in my mouth for admitting it, you're doing Equestria a service."

Iron Hoof took a quick glance at the princesses before he started to make a move for the door. Instead of him being able to run off, I snagged one of his hind legs with my magic. "Ah, cut that shit off right now." I said with an authoritative tone. "You tried to arrest me with a shitty warrant. You're in a no-fly zone and you still had the balls to float that out there. So let's tally the count real quick. Compromising the livelihoods of not just Solemn, but your other subordinates, that's insubordination and sabotage. You looked up my private information without my consent using fake documents to access that info, that's fraud. You also conspired against a top secret investigation, falsified documents, forged a princess' signature, breaking and entering, and then lying to your overlord for the sake of salvaging your own personal effort to put me away. That's about eight things I can count on my free hand, and I only have five fingers to count with."

"That's a lot of charges for one warrant." Luna added.

"You. Are done." Celestia growled menacingly. "I won't even offer the option of resignation for you, Iron Hoof. You will face your discharge, you will face your court date, and you will most certainly face your consequences. Disgraceful, I'll see to it that you'll never serve another day at my side."

Pure desolation, that was what I saw in his eyes. It didn't appear for much of the time that he was standing here, but her words seemed hurt him terribly. His head dropped appearing lost for the seconds of time before I would address him once more. "Okay, sir. Let's get you into your new digs down below. By the way, you're under arrest for conspiracy."

The stallion's horn glowed with a bright light. He shot a bolt at me to knock me over. Since I had little choice, I had to let him go and counter his incoming blow to defend myself. He tackled into my legs and clutched around me tightly as he screamed. "PRINCESS CELESTIA IS MUCH BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU MONKEYS CORRUPTING HER PRESENCE!"

"Get off of me!" I said, trying to pull him off. But as he tightened his grasp, I started to batter at his head. He slowly climbed up my chest, using his magic to ward off some of my blows.

When he found himself unable to reach up any higher, he looked at me with a deranged smile. "YOUR HIGHNESS, ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU MY LOYALTY TO EQUESTRIA!!!" His horn started to spark violently, a high-pitched whirring sounded from atop his head. "I'LL RID YOU OF THIS ABOMINATION! I ALONE CAN SHOW YOU MY ADMIRATION, MY HEART, MY BEING FOR YOU!"

I grasped as his horn to quench his magic, but my skin was burned on contact. "Agh! Fuck!" I screamed as my hand sizzled from the heat.

"How many nights have you slithered to her majesty's boudoir, far too many! I'll rid the cancer from her life, she deserves it! She deserved me! But if I can't be hers, I won't let you the chance!" His smile grew more manic, his eyes filled with an irrational exuberance while his horn glowed so hot that it started to burn the shirt off of my chest. "I'll forever love you, my queen! I offer this moment, my life to you!" He whispered as his magic reached it's breaking point.

And then it stopped.

Not of his own decision, but rather because his head had started to slide off and roll over to the side of me. His eyes blinked wildly for a moment until the princess stepped behind him and drove the pointed end of her halberd into the top of his skull. Feeling the headless body completely give away all resistance was a bit unsettling, but I was more relieved that he didn't blow me into another state of matter. "Absolute disgrace!" She called out to the severed head.

As the blood started to pool around where his head should've been, I took inventory of my own self. While my face was partially covered in his blood, I looked to the princess with total admiration. "How many times does that make it, lady?"

"I don't blame you for something like that. You wouldn't have stopped it anyhow." Celestia said plainly, staring at the headless body with discontent. "It's just another thing I find myself dealing with from time to time. Always the ever-insistent, the so-called loyal, the truly selfish and depraved. Doesn't matter the generation it's always the same."

"What the hell was he about to do anyway?" I questioned.

"An overcast." Luna started to explain. "When a powerful unicorn overexert themselves into putting all of their magic into a
confined defensive maneuver taking up such a small space, they exert a magical reaction that's often fatal to the caster. And all of that stored energy is released all at once within that spontaneous confinement. The results are usually... explosive."

"This guy tried to suicide-bomb me?" I asked, a bit freaked out. "The fuck?"

"It's a last resort spell, often used by high ranking officers and spies." Celestia expounded. "Needless to say that he wanted you out of the way, and sought every means to make that happen."

I looked at the head and asked. "The hell did I ever do to you?"

The sun princess, removing the head from off of her weapon, had turned her gaze to the three trembling unicorn mares. "Now, let's get back to the matters of those of the living." She cruelly announced to the trio. "While it's admirable that you would think of your friend's career over your own, it's just as reckless to partake in an illegal warrant, especially when many red flags are raised."

Luna then supplanted her sister's statement. "If I sign something, I come directly to the participants with it. It's so that they know what will be done as I'm briefing them."

"And let the record show that I would see to the captain's misconduct personally, not just allocate it to somepony else to deal with while I go off to do whatever." Celestia notified the three sternly. "I am most disappointed in all of you. You can report to us tomorrow for your conduct hearing. As of today, Dress Right, Gleaming Brass, and especially you Cobalt Blue, you are dismissed."

While the three slinked off into the hall, already dreading their pending consequences, Solemn started to follow after them. "Solemn Oath, you remain here." I ordered before going back to Celestia. "I know it's all good and whatnot, but can we deal with the severed head and headless body growing a scenic lake on my floor. I feel like that's a thing we need to address."

Celestia levitated the head of the fallen disgraced officer, summoning a nearby vase to place it in for the time being. "Of course."

I grimaced as I questioned her method. "Uh, did you really put his head in a random vase?"

"What? Personally, I find it as a great way to discourage anyone from breaking my vases." She joked.

Both Solemn and I nodded nervously. "Noted."

As word got out of what happened, some guards started questioning what was going on in the midst of the upper ranks. Some saw it as an opportunity to get their resumes in order for the vacated positions to come, others simply speculated of what had occurred to cause Celestia to give Iron Hoof his black slip. Murmurings of an impromptu execution for treason started to circulate faster than the other officers could control.

As far as the clean-up was concerned, Celestia had ordered the coroners to collect his remains. The blood had already started to clot, so the cleaning was not as difficult as one would've expected, but it was still disgusting to see crimson blobs being dumped into collection units and toted away. They also collected the jar Celestia used to house the decapitated officer. The floor was sanitized, my clothes were collected for cleaning, and I was set to re-inhabit my room.

Luna took off to oversee the process of handling Iron Hoof's final rites, as well as his post-mortem processing. Celestia stayed behind to oversee the condition of my room. And when all had left us alone, the princess expressed her fatigue. "Ugh... Today's a rough day, and it's not even over yet."

While I sat on my bed shirtless, I looked at the healing scar on my hand. What had started off so well had ended up turning sour so quickly. It felt like a repeating pattern for my week. "You have no idea."

"I'd like to think I do." She said with frustration. "How's your hand?"

"That ointment you gave me last time is doing wonders. You got more of that stuff?" I asked.

"I used it as a pain reliever for my wings, you know, before you removed the old shrapnel." She answered. "I just ended my prescription for it. But I don't intend for you to rely on it, you'll just get yourself thrown into more danger all willy-nilly. Can't let you do that, now can I?"

"Of course not." I replied, laying in my bed thinking bout my experience just earlier. "I find it pretty interesting that this guy had it out for me that bad." I looked to the daylight princess. "I wonder with the way he acted, did he know about us?"

"I do remember you putting it out there as an attempt to dispel the rumor." She recalled accurately. "But I thought that you had disproved that with your interaction with Rarity."

"I thought I did too. I had the receipts to prove it and everything." I stopped short of my next statement to ponder on what was said to me by the disgraced officer. "He made mention of my night visits. I do remember getting called out by him for being too frequent with you. In hindsight I guess we could've paid more attention to that."

Celestia sighed as she stared at the place where she took the officer's life. "I know your room will be a hard place to sleep in for a while now."

I chuckled at her. "After all the shit I've seen, that was pretty easy-going for me. I just hope I don't see him again."

"His will not be of the missing bodies." Celestia assured adamantly. "The morgue is under new management as of this morning, so I'm sure his family will find that his process will be a lot quicker than expected. I'll be sure to bump him in the order so that they can get the closure they deserve."

I groaned as I still felt the stinging in my hand. "I hate that I'll have to write that letter to his folks."

"He won't be receiving that honor, or any honors for that matter. You leave that matter to me." Celestia said. "With both Luna and I as witnesses, there will be no procession worth nothing more than a private family memorial service."

I shook my head as I imagined how his career would actually have nothing to show for it other than the stories from those who knew him. "Hard to imagine a decorated officer not getting any kind of military honors."

"It'll be easy when we finish the conduct hearings tomorrow." Celestia replied.

I pulled out my phone and went through some security footage around the castle, more notably the laundry room to wait impatiently for my shirt to finish. "Question. Do you think that we'll stop experiencing the changeup in all of my patrol assignments?"

Celestia levitated the phone away from me, indicating that I should take some time to relax and process the day. "That will be answered in time. If so, then we'll know who was the one responsible. If not, then our search continues."

"All of this for some petty obsession he never found the stones to admit until the last minute. You'd think with his stature, he'd full-send his feelings to you, he had the pedigree and most of the requirements already. But I guess he didn't want to deal with the marriage law, can't say I blame him for it. But I can't even imagine myself being so obsessed that I'd keep my feelings tucked away in the back of some random closet like a crazed stalker, intentionally sabotaging the night shift for the petty intent of finding more time to spend with the princess, that or doing it to make some random guy look bad at his job." I lightly laughed at the circumstance, mainly in disbelief. "This is getting way too much."

"You'd be surprised to see how deep the rabbit hole really goes after a thousand years of Faust knows what." She replied.

"At this point, should I even be surprised?"

A solemn frown grew on her lips. "Let's just say it's much better to be prepared."

Canterlot Cathedral of Faust
Later that evening...

The chapel was filled with the sounds of choral singing as an elderly and visually-impaired organist in the wayward rafters attempted to play the music transcribed before him. They sang a song pertaining to the period of judgement foretold by the followers of the Faustian faith.

Damper Trot walked through the sanctuary to the side set of doors leading to a secluded area containing the confessional booth. As he entered into the booth, he tapped his horn against the incense and sparked it to ignition. Clopping his hooves twice, he lowered his head to the symbol of the Faustian faith on the wall. "Forgive me, Mother Faust, for I am a irredeemable sinner."

A veiled slot opened to allow a priest to speak with the pony confessing their sin. "My son, she forgives all who confesses their sins. Pray with me, what has consumed you?"

"I can't shake the idea of the heavenly mother not being a mother... but rather being a father." Damper quietly replied.

"Those words are indeed blasphemous. What has drawn you to that conclusion, my son?"

Damper smirked as he gave his answer. "The miracles I have seen in the halls of your lounge."

The priest began to snicker. "Ah, so did the trial go as planned, Damper?"

"It did, sir."

The priest adjusted himself across the wall. "Very good. Can't let old memories drag down progress, now can we?"

"You know, that would've given us more leverage to take over everything in the next decade or two." Damper stated.

The priest giggled at the politician. "Look at yourself and ask, do you really have two more decades?"

"I mean I might not." He answered.

"Then why put off something for later when you could have it in a matter of months, possibly sooner?"

"I understand." The senator conceded. "Do you think that your plan will be of any success, sir?"

The priest sounded as if he had reclined himself against the wall. "It seems to be already rolling into play. Curious parties have made their move, and a relocation was made to order."

Damper chuckled sensibly. "Back on the stomping grounds, I see."

"Ah, it always began here." Umbra replied. "Well... it began at a different location before it was torn down due to a nasty bout some centuries ago, but I earnestly renovated that old place into the church of my own free will."

"More like the church of Friday night carnage." Damper replied.

"My own free will." Umbra corrected.

The organist in the rafters had started to make a number of mistakes as his glasses fell to the pedal board beneath him. He leaned down to feel his way for them, only to realize that his hindleg had kicked them between two keys, causing one to stick down. The choir tried their best to sing through the dissonance, eventually accompanying that same chaotic sound. The senator leaned back in his cubicle and took out his pocket watch. "I know you like talking of your projects. How about the big one you pride yourself over?"

Umbra brimmed with pride as he went about his update. "It's held together nicely on Tuesday night. I just didn't like the fact that my surprise had gotten spoiled. All that hard work and care for something that they're already anticipating a fight against, that's no fun to watch. It's much easier when you plan for every eventuality while they only plan to face a grunt-sized opponent. Shame really."

"How do you plan to bypass the elements?" Damper questioned.

"Ah I love that sound, so hauntingly dark." The stallion tapped his hoof along with the dissonance in the background. "The bearers may have a bit of a healing factor because of their unique magical properties of being bearers, but they aren't immortal. And once their magic becomes mine to use and alter, well that'll be all I need to drive that final nail in that hypothetical coffin."

"And the human?" Damper questioned.

"Which one?" Umbra asked.

"The captain." The senator clarified.

"Oh yeah, him. Well I hope that I will be using him as a special little token to advance my ambitions."

"Do you think he'll go willingly?"

Umbra hummed, trying to match the pitch of the choir, sliding his voice up and down until he found himself matching to an extent. "Not the slightest, he's rebellious. But as I already told him, it's not what he does for others, it's what he's going to do for me."

"Sad that he didn't die off like he was initially supposed to. That would've accelerated your plans." Said the senator.

"Oh no, it's quite the opposite. Even if his body was donated to science, we wouldn't get to know the wonderful capabilities we now see the human possessing." Umbra observed. "In a way, Count's curse of failure was our real blessing. It's just too bad that it took me taking over his body to find myself as closet to him as I wanted to be. But then again, his son proved to be a more-willing volunteer."

"At least until recently." Damper replied.

"Yes, recently." As Umbra thought more of the effiminate stallion, the organist above regained his spectacles and placed them back on his head to continue playing the hymn correctly.

"So. What of him?" The senator inquired.

Umbra's eyes narrowed as he reflected on the stallion. "I think Blue is a bit too secure with his presence. It might be high time for that to change."

"How much of a change do you want?"

The eccentric stallion gave a haunting impression of a Cheshire cat. "I think I want her to keep along this wild ride. Last Tuesday was a great showing of her vulnerability. I loved that look on her face. You should've seen her the following day when she walked in to see the masks everywhere. Hilarious."

"What of the princesses?" Damper questioned.

"Ah... the royal decorations." He replied bitterly. "We could always put out there that the human was giving them sexual favors, but that's too easy and boring. Besides, I rather quash the hope she has in her six-foot furless fun-bag first. And if I'm hitting the captain where it hurts next, I'd much rather go with the more dramatic angle."

"Is that what you have in store for tomorrow, sir?"

The ringleader assumed his usual smile. "Either way, I'm experimenting on a human corpse by the end of the night." He cackled at the thought of him bringing the captain to his knees for the first time in a while. "Isn't God good?"

The senator bowed his head with a sinister smile of compliance. He tapped his forehead and his chest twice each at the religious effigy on the wall. "And now in power, may she rest, rule, and abide. In her eyes, may her children say, yullah."

"Or rather the human connotation in this instance. Let the church say... amen."

Howdy there peoples, I hope things are going well for you. The next month seems to be a little wild for me considering a few dates on schedule. It does not affect my release schedule all that much, however. I still release two chapters next month to catch up to where I should be in the year. This is only the chapter for August, so that means this month's and next month's allocated chapters will be released next month. So no Christmas bomb this year, I don't think.

I will see you guys next time.