As the morning sun came into view of the pristine church that houses many parishioners and believers on the daily, a priest walked out of the confessional booth and made his way down the halls. He walked peacefully by the other staff and their young assistants. A group of young choir colts had passed by, he smiled and waved at the young ensemble before taking a walk to a nearby private office. Once inside, he looked to his coat rack and snagged a robe to wear. After dressing himself in the room, he took one more peek into the hall to see that no one was anywhere near the room. He closed the door and locked himself inside, going over to his desk to pull a quill from within it's ink well. He drew on a blank parchment a circle with runes of old ponish. Upon his completion, he held it to a nearby storage closet and planted his hoof at the center.

He waited as the runes started to glow a fiery orange color, keeping his hoof in place until the runes had turned blue. He then opened the closet to reveal a white hallway. The stallion took donned his hood and proceeded down the hall. Along the way, he passed a number of offices where the dolls had worked on their various tasks, taking in data and moving bodies around. There was no talking, not a single line of chatter as they worked. The halls were only filled with the noise of several dolls making their way to their chores.

The cloaked priest marched on until he came to a room with a red sign at the top, notating the labmaster's desire to remain undisturbed. He ignored the sign and walked into the room, seeing Umbra as he levitated a number of tissue samples from the corpse at his disposal. "Sir." The priest called out with a drawl and a bow.

Umbra was displeased in being disturbed while he was working. "Oh what is it now? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"

"One of our informants at the castle has been compromised." The priest notified.

"What sector?" The annoyed stallion questioned.

"The E.U.P. sir."

Umbra rolled his eyes at the news. "Ugh, I guess that makes my job just a micron more difficult."

"I apologize, sir." The priest said with a humble bow.

"Well, what name and position?" Questioned Umbra.

"Lieutenant Colonel Iron Hoof, sir. Reports claim that he tried to detonate himself while attached to the captain, but Princess Celestia beheaded him before he could finish his spell."

The stallion put aside his samples and grabbed a scalpel with the intent of removing something else from the corpse on his table. "A fool. He knew that if he brought harm to the captain that he would answer to me. I swear, you tell one guy the truth to quietly sway his favor, he goes off on his own to make a war of it. Shame. " Before he started cutting into the innards of the pony before him, he asked the priest another question. "Where's the body?"

"Being sent to the city mortuary, but that's been taken over by the guards."

"I know that, I was there yesterday." He announced while he moved his scalpel with precision to remove an organ from the cadaver's chest. "We still have the underground access, they can't trace out which plots we've already dug under. But I do know that we'll be going through box after box. I'll send the puppets in for that."

The priest glanced back at the hallway, seeing a puppet cart down the hall another cadaver. "Do you think they're capable of something like that, sir? I would assume that would be a little something over their ability."

"They're enchanted for that purpose, all they see is the dead and those who move without a crest." He explained before returning to the topic of the fallen officer. "Are they planning a burial?"

"Cremation, sir. All of the bodies in queue are to be cremated."

The stallion stopped making his incisions and clopped his hoof against the ground, summoning a puppet to the room. "I'll admit that makes this more difficult than I would like it to be." He turned to the puppet and started barking his orders. "You, work." He walked away from the table and sat himself in a nearby chair. "Give me a moment to focus." He said to the priest.

"Shall I dismiss myself for today?"

"Hush now." Umbra demanded. "I need a moment to concentrate."

The eccentric stallion closed his eyes and too three deep breaths before...

Canterlot's Home of Final Rest Mortuary...

...His eyes opened to find himself sitting in a cabinet. He used his magic to slowly guide the cabinet open in a quiet manner. When he finished, he dusted himself off and walked to the door leading to the outside hallway. He planted his ear against the door, waiting for some unsuspecting guard to walk in front of.

One such stallion had came through griping about his shift. "Ugh, I swear this is not how I had my Friday morning lined up. Can't wait to get off."

He walked out with his horn faintly glowing before a bright flash appeared around the guard's body. As soon as the light subsided, the stallion collapsed to the ground, unable to move or speak. Umbra dragged the guard by his tail into the room, laying him out on the tray he found himself spawning in from. "I swear you guards are a dime a dozen nowadays. Is steady livable income really such a hard find?" He said to the paralyzed stallion as he stripped him of his armor and weapons. His victim could only look upwards to see what was happening to him. "Don't answer that. I know the princess is absolutely useless against the parliament. It's pathetic that she's even anything more than a road model for jewelry at this point. Then again, that's been the case for centuries." He gave his victim a slap on his flank and a deep kiss to probe for information. Once he was finished, he ran his hoof along the back of his victim's haunches. "A grunt so young, so vibrant, so submissive, you'll do fine for later. I'll see you then... Oh. And don't mind the smell while you're in there. The dead can be quite sensitive about these kinds of things."

The victim's eyes expanded as the cabinet was shut with him on it. Umbra left the room after leaving the unfortunate stallion paralyzed in the dark fridge for another eighteen hours, only to be graced with the harrowingly quiet company of the surrounding corpses.

Going off his newfound intel, Umbra walked the halls towards the direction of the back patio. There he saw two guards, one giving their update. "Sir, we've completed the cremation of the first ten bodies for today."

The director, also a well-established enlisted, complained about the pace of the work being done. "A full cremation is so time exhausting. It's anywhere between an hour and a half to three hours before we're finished with one body. I guess we'll be at this one for a whole three weeks, and that's just to clear the current inventory."

"Well there's still the other deaths that they bring in." The other guard added.

The director grimaced at his workload. "Damn this place and it's backlog of corpses. It's almost as if we'll have to improvise." He started to think of how to alleviate the labor of the task before him and the other guards he had at his employ. "I suppose we could have a pyre for every thirty bodies at the patio behind the mausoleum. They usually rent that place out for repast anyways. Ten chambers in here, ten pyres out there, cremating in a pyre could take up to six hours to process in a similar fashion to what goes on inside. That brings up the body disposal rate up to a hundred per day. We do this for eighteen hours a day, do it for seven days a week in shifts, we can knock it out in a little over two weeks."

Umbra cleared his throat and marched in as any other low-level guard would. "Good day to you, sir."

"Hey, what you got going on, rookie?" The other guard questioned.

"Just passing through on patrol, sir." Umbra replied with a salute.

The director turned to him and jokingly questioned. "Hey kid, wanna see a dead body?"

"Actually, I am a dead body." Umbra replied in kind. While the other two was surprised that he had taken the joke a bit further, they weren't too amused by the response. Umbra, meanwhile, laughed. "Oh don't mind me, just a little humor to tie me over on this shift, sir."

The stallion blinked before issuing his orders. "Well since you're in such a good mood, do me a solid and start grabbing the bodies out the fridges and move them out to behind the mausoleum."

"How do I do that?" He asked in true rookie fashion.

The director seemed as if he didn't want to explain the entire process, so he simplified it to the seemingly amateur guard. "Look, I know you're new, so I'm only gonna tell you once. You fuck up, I'm coming for your ass, so listen up. You open the fridge, grab one of those lifts, secure the body, put it on a dolly, wheel it out there, repeat that same process about ten times. And I'll be sure not to drive my hoof so far up your ass that you'll be at a booth entertaining little fillies and colts. Make sure you get the names also, greenie."

"I'll do what's required sir." Umbra replied.

"We'll get the pyres ready while we wait, so take your time but don't take too long." The other guard also added.

"Yes sir."

Umbra walked away from the pair and marched back into the storage room. He grabbed a nearby ball-point pen and a sheet of paper. He drew a circle with runes and placed it on the maintenance door, immediately the runes glowed blue. Snagging the paper down, he found himself right back to having direct access to his lab, but only for a short amount of time until he had to close the door again. He clopped his hooves for two more dolls to start searching the cabinets for the body he desired. It did not take them long to identify which cabinet contained the decapitated stallion. They picked up both the head and body and walked back into the lab. Umbra quietly locked the doors and placed a spell to distort the space of the room where if others appeared, they would enter a separate space similar to the one they owned. The stallion then laughed at his flawless success.

"Ah, while the captain's much more thorough, his guards are that much more incompetent. Bless the fools."

Meanwhile at Canterlot Castle...

"I can understand you all wanting to assist your friend in trying to get her back her rank, but everything you three did to establish that had been completely out of line with protocol. Not only have you disregarded the many regulations in place, but you were also compliant in every one of his requests."

The conduct hearing was well underway, many officers had a profound silence for what was taking place. Along side the princess sat two empty chairs, one reserved for Shining Armor, the other for the late Iron Hoof who met his end yesterday afternoon. But unlike Shining, there was no tab or nameplate to signify his place.

The three mares, Solemn's friends, were all standing in the face of their impending punishment while the aforementioned mare had looked at the three with sadness. None of them would dare to attempt to defend themselves. "Your highness, we recognize that there is no excuse for what we did." Gleaming Brass answered on their behalf, Cobalt Blue had remained quiet for the entirety of the hearing.

Celestia was the exact opposite, having a lot to say. "I am vastly disappointed in all of you and the way you conducted yourselves in this matter. Had you considered more carefully Solemn Oath's myriad of warnings, I would be more lenient towards each of you. But given what you have done, I'm going to give you exactly what you deserve. Each of you are just as accountable, if not more based on the rank you all have, so I will have no choice but to make an example of you all. Each of you will be demoted to your previous rank, you may appeal for your rank in twelve months, by which you will be given the option to reapply. Your punishment will last two weeks, mandatory courses on ethics, mandatory conduct training both day and night, and by regulation, you are allotted a minimum of four hours of sleep and two meals per day. Your meals will be provided supplementary nutritional units, your mess hall dining privileges revoked." The princess then brought her attention to the main contributor of the three. "Cobalt Blue, since you were the primary purveyor of this situation, I will also be demoting you from First Sergeant to Sergeant. You may appeal for your rank in twenty-four months, but you may only reapply to the rank of Staff Sergeant. Now have you anything to say in response to your punishment?"

"Your highness, I have no response." Cobalt answered quietly, very much defeated by the punishment bestowed to her.

"Good. Then all of you will report to the barracks to begin your two-week regiment effective immediately." The princess ruled.

As the three started to walk off in a dirge for their careers, I peeped over to Solemn. I wanted to gauge her reaction, considering she had also been here a few weeks back. She was deeply saddened for the three, especially for Cobalt. I myself understood that they only meant well for her, not so much for me. It wasn't a personal issue that I had with them anyhow, it was them doing what they were told the best option. While I agreed with the bulk of the punishments presented, I had many reservations about Cobalt taking such a steep drop in paygrade.

"Before we dismiss, I have something to say." I stated, wanting to make an amendment to Cobalt's punishment. Though I wasn't doing it for her, I was doing it for Solemn, because she helped me at times, even when she didn't know it. If Iron Hoof was the guy responsible for the security lapses, then I could say I did the right thing. If not, then I could use the favorable outlook for other purposes in the long-run. "Your highness, might I suggest a secondary alternative for Cobalt's punishment?"

The princess raised a brow with curiosity towards me. "What do you propose?"

"I understand that she's the cheer captain of the squad and they broke into my room, when all they had to do was ask me for permission to enter for investigative purposes, I would've complied. I do have to say that Cobalt's demotion might be a tad bit rough. Might I make the recommendation that she'd be demoted one grade as opposed to three? Going from a G8 to a G5 is quite a drop in my eyes, in both pay and prestige. Also considering their established regiment for the next two weeks, I think it's fair to say that three ranks may be a tad rough on an older body."

The aforementioned mare squeaked in protest. "Older, sir?"

"You're thirty-six, right?" I asked.

"I'm thirty-four." She replied timidly.

"Older body." I continued. "Undergoing such a strict regiment would be taxing on the mind, much less being ranked so far low at her age. I still consider the years of service she took. Now I'm not saying she shouldn't be punished, all I asked is that her rank be dropped by one grade like the others. The appeal process can take place in the same period of time, all the other stuff remain the same."

The princess looked to the group of mares. "The captain has chosen benevolence. Though I would be entitled to persecute all of you to a more severe degree considering Iron Hoof's intentions on yesterday, especially with his attempt at the captain's life. Who's to say that all of your intentions didn't hold a similar perspective?" She pointed out as a rebuttal to my argument. "But the captain has spoken in your defense. And since he's the violated party in this ordeal, I will allow it this once." While this would normally be the time where she would open her wings to make a decree, she simply turned her head towards me. "Captain, since you are the one who proposed the change, you administer the final ruling."

"Cobalt Blue, you are hereby demoted from the rank of G8 to G7, you may appeal in two years. The rest of you along with her will have the following: Two week mandatory training courses, ethics, conduct, both day and night. Your meals will be provided MRE's, and by regulations you will be afforded a mandatory four hours of sleep. Though I'm sure you understand by now that those four hours are not concurrent with one another. Nineteen hours of training and physical courses, one for meals, four of rest. Eat up, rest up, and enjoy your weekend in the barracks."

The princess appeared pleased with my delivery. She stomped her hoof as a show of finalization. "With all that being said, hearing is adjourned."

While the three started their way towards their two-week hell-on-earth experience, the princess departed, the other officers said nothing in their leave, while Solemn Oath approached me over my judgement. "You didn't have to do that."

"It's a bit better than having to look at retirement with a significantly lower pay grade. I mean what's the difference, a few thousand per year?" I replied.

The mare was not pleased with my response. "Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Spit."

"You're an asshole." She said quite firmly.

"Thank you, may I have another?" I joked.

"Okay." She replied. "You're a prick who can't ever seem to let pains be pains, you rub salt in the wound and then tell them it's going to be okay when it's all said and done, but you don't even take into consideration the hit you gave to their pride. That's where you really drive the point home."

'Yeah." I answered, though not exactly understanding how Cobalt's mind works while Solemn did. But it didn't change my outlook. "What if I told you that was the point? My pride gets hurt all the time when I go to another one of these things when my name's in the file. All this does is make me look disagreeable amongst my fellow officers, not a one of them spoke to me today because of what all happened. Don't you think I'm hurt in some way too?"

After I tossed my own perspective to her, she then offered hers. "That may be, but Cobalt's not going to let herself feel good about what you just did."

"And had I let her get demoted that far, she'd put in her retirement papers." I rebutted.

"Yeah, she would've resigned, but still."

"If she's gonna retire because of this, let her at least go out an non-commanding officer with a decent paygrade." I suggested. "That's sixteen years of service and only a G5? Not really a good thing to have on your retirement package.

Solemn rolled her eyes at me, but smiled as she looked away. "Those three are going to make me pay for it in two weeks."

"Over drinks?" I asked.

"Of course."

I shrugged as I offered to help her on the tab. "Okay, first drinks are on me when you get ready to do that."

The guardsmare turned back around and snarled at me. "Oh no, you don't get to butt into my friendships and try to make good. This is my responsibility."

"Suit yourself." I said, raising my hands.

I was about to walk away before she yanked at my shirt. "Another thing since we're alone. I didn't get to ask you this yesterday, a lot was going on on your end, and there was some things I was tussling with on mine. So where did all the money come from?"

Since we were alone, I opened up about what all happened and how my bank account managed to inflate to an absurd degree over the short period of time. "Well, last Tuesday was an incident involving a rich billionaire heiress who had to wrestle her dad's corpse off of her─also one of the bodies that went missing. Then there was last Friday when I fought all those rounds in the arena to free her older brother from captivity. I found the money in my account on Saturday morning, both of them paid me fifteen million each for all of what I did. It wasn't a cash prize for winning, I traded that in for his freedom. It was their way of saying thanks for a personal favor, though I really don't understand why they gave me way more than what I'm comfortable with. A cool million's all I need."

"And I can't do anything but take your word for it?" She said.

"If you want me to introduce you to her, I will." I answered.

"So Tuesday, you were supposed to be pretty bruised up." She brought up.

"Oh I still am. See?" I said, pulling my sleeve back and lifting my stomach to reveal some greenish-purple marks.

As I spun around and modeled the bruises all over my back and legs, she started to inch forward with curiosity over my appearance. "Sheesh! What happened to you?"

"Eleven rounds, a hundred-forty-plus stallions, some armed with crowbars, bats, and sticks."

"Ow." She mumbled.

"I'm still alive and kicking, so I'll take it." I replied, regathering my appearance for the day.

"What about tonight?" She questioned.

"As far as I was told, I fight whatever they got against me in the main round, and I'm done."

She looked over to the hand that was still wrapped in bandages from yesterday. "How's your hand?"

"Still a little crispy." I joked. "But in all seriousness, the stinging is annoying and it can be a distraction at times."

"How are you gonna fight?" She inquired.

"Well my magic is well-known in Rotty. Guess I'll be doing that." I answered.

"The zebra that usually trails you, what about her?"

"She stays home today." I informed the guardsmare. "Speaking of which, I gotta send her a text."

She gave me a nod and a smirk of approval. "Thanks for covering for Cobalt. You didn't have to do it, but I'm sure it means the world to her that she didn't have to get dropped down to babysit a bunch of recruits in training camp."

"We all make mistakes in trying to do for our friends. I'm not gonna let her hang for that one. I just did what you wanted to do." I replied. "You're a good friend, and you tried to get them out of trouble. There's not many friends who would try to be the mediator between right and wrong."

Solemn looked away from me, appearing to place some doubt on herself. "Your praise is unwarranted. I should get on patrol. Best of luck on tonight." She quickly trotted off, not saying a thing else. Meanwhile I thought about tonight's potential matchup.

'Luck', that's so random. I think I might need something a little more consistent, like a hard drink and a prayer.

Corrotto Colosseum
Later that evening...

The streets of the Corrotto District had come to life as the night's matchup was proposed to be a mirror match of sorts. Many curious patrons would start filing the corridors and alleys to get their chance at a good seat. The only thing they cared for what exactly the ringmaster had in store for the night. And as the crowd grew and gathered at the outside pavilion, the vendors started making as much coin as they could by promoting their products and operations to the event taking place.

Umbra walked the streets as four of his puppets were cloaked and silent, carting behind him a large iron cage covered in a thick tarp. As he approached the back entrance of the arena, he smirked back at the screams of profanity coming from behind him and his dolls. Damper awaited him at the entrance, just as eager to see the results of tonight's match. "You've really made an event of tonight, didn't you?"

"Come on now, you know how this goes." The eccentric stallion replied looking to his caged possession. "Tonight's the big night. I'll finally get to see what results my newest little temp project will get me."

"A temp project?" He asked.

"I know you already know, but you haven't seen this particular specimen. If I am correct in my assumptions, we'll be seeing a lot that we could learn from."

The inside of the cage rattled and banged as the occupant bashed against the iron bars, pleading for his release. "LET ME GO!"

Both Umbra and Damper looked at the cage, one with smug satisfaction, the other with vested interest. Damper watched as Umbra raised the tarp to allow the interested senator to see what was within. "And here we are."

Damper's jaw fell as the captured creature appeared before his eyes. The bipedal figure, standing at five feet, ten inches, looked down to the pair of ponies with unbridled rage. "GET ME OUT OF HERE! WHERE THE FUCK AM I!?"

Damper covered his mouth as he started to fill with childish excitement. "A human? You actually snagged one!?"

Umbra was brimming with pride as he spoke. "This one I caught snooping around the other side of the portal. Possibly of close association to the captain since he was walking around the apartment so freely, meandering through various items in search for something. Weapons maybe, perhaps some instance of their technology, either way he appeared to be there unannounced."

The man battered his hands against the cage, threatening the pair of stallions. "OH YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! I'M GONNA SKIN YOUR SORRY ASSES ALIVE ONCE I GET OUT OF HERE!"

"So much animosity, it's almost like all those humans are the same." Damper said in observation of the human's violent disposition.

"If the captain's words ring true, then we are looking at the species who's been at war with one another for well over thirty-thousand years." Umbra added.

The human who could do nothing but watch the two converse, shouted his retort. "I'M NOT FIGHTING ANY FUCKING WARS!"

"No. But I do get to see how you fare when held under pressure." Umbra said as he walked closer to the cage. "And don't worry. Weapons will be temporarily provided."

While the bars were too narrow to get his arm out past his elbow, he did reach out for the smirking ringmaster. "GOOD! CAUSE I'M GONNA PUMP YOUR ASS FULL OF SO MANY BULLETS, YOU'LL BE A FUCKING LEAD-LINED CASKET WHEN I'M DONE!"

Umbra puckered his lips at the raging human, holding his arm with his magic. He gave the human a kiss on the back of his hand before walking away to let the dolls move the cart inside. The arena staff met with the puppets outside, just as slack-jawed as Damper was while they assisted in the human's transport. "Alright boys, be sensitive with him. He's not used to us Equestrians." Umbra said before turning to Damper. "So, little-known fact, humans know absolutely no magic, but also know absolutely nothing about us."

Damper, who still saw the effects of human weaponry first-hoof was not too impressed with Umbra's insinuation. "Well considering their weaponry, I think it's a hard sell to say that we'd come out with any strategic victory."

"Oh there's a victory somewhere." Umbra cheesed. "And tonight, we may get to see it."

Meanwhile...
***Point of Perspective: Equus Nondis***

My day at the castle had gone about as quietly as most others would, if not even more so with the rumors swirling around what happened between me and Iron Hoof. Once that was all done, I made my way out of the castle and changed myself to make my entrance as unassuming as possible. Admittedly, the anonymity has been a godsend for me thus far. Today was nothing short of blissful considering the circumstances. Most of the watchful eyes that were all over me today were nowhere to be seen.

I wandered around the square, blending in with the crowd for a moment. I walked as if I was no one important, no one to be watched, no one to be paid attention to. Even with the mass influx of a crowd for tonight's event, I was still comfortable enough to meld with the chaos... just like old times.

Unfortunately, my peace of mind wouldn't last for long as a powerful magic aura yanked at my tail, dragging me further down the street into a dark alley. When I came to a stop, I found a pair of legs adorned in golden bracelets standing over me. The stripes and the periwinkle coat color had given away who it was that dragged me over.

Kalimba wasn't too pleased with me being here by myself. "IDJIOT BABBOON!" She shouted at me.

Honestly, if it weren't for the fur on my body, I would've had a serious case of rug burn on my stomach. "Kalimba, what the hell are you doing here?"

She continued to curse me out like I was her younger sibling. "You are a stupid boy if you think you are going in dere all by yourself, ah! I should tell you to go home and drink water! Who do you think you are, ah! Idjiot! Ninahitaji kukupiga kofi! (I should slap you!)"

As she seethed with anger and frustration, I argued back to her. "Look, you shouldn't be here."

"Do I look like I care!?" She questioned sarcastically before snapping back into her angry tone. "You are de only thing I have to look forward to every week dat I could find myself smiling over! What is wrong with you, ah!? Do you not care for what I think, I think of you every time we come here!"

I started to stand on my own power. "I'm not gonna let you get hurt again."

She promptly tipped me over to where I couldn't even get a chance to be on all fours. She repeatedly kept me on the ground while she chided me. "Shut up about my hurt, you stupid modefucka! I am not trying to give you a tour of de place, I am trying to make sure you live!" She planted her muzzle against mine, our noses scrunching up against one another as I saw the fire in her eyes. "Dere are others who care, and I promised dem your life. Do not. Take dat. Away from us."

"I told you to stay home." I said in deadpan.

The mare did not seem to acknowledge anything I said with compliance. She yanked me up by my tail and yelled in my face. "I do not care about what I go through, you know dat. Now you go and march forward while I walk behind you like some dumb filly following her faddah. You lead me into dat hell, I lead you back out, we go in a hotel, we go to sleep together, and we go back home in da morning, dat is our routine. I do not want to stay up thinking about what could happen to you should I not be here to help! I want to go to sleep tonight, dreaming of you and what will never be, and wake up to de sight of you being alive. Dis is what you had set aside for me when we started, dat is what we shall do until it ends!" She then planted me back to the ground, allowing me to walk. "Now you go lead us into danger so dat I may lead you back out. Idjiot."

I shook my head at the mare who physically pushed me forward by pressing her magic into my flanks. "You better not get into trouble."

"You better not get yourself killed tonight." She replied, guiding me towards the arena.

When we arrived at the venue, I was more or less angry with Kali for showing up when I explicitly instructed her not to. Meanwhile, she was more made at me for trying to go at it alone. It still didn't stop her from being close by me the entire time, she was adamant in making sure that every step I took was because of her propelling me forward. I suppose she wanted to make sure that every bit of me was secure, that or it was her way of saying she was in a mood.

Knowing her tendencies, she was probably in the mood for some angry copulation.

When we arrived in the lounge, almost every member was present for the night. All of the frequent players had started making their bets with one another, the occasionally present members had done the same. Blue and Alabaster were looking around, seeing what would come next.

And of course... He had walked in from one of the back rooms. "Ah, well if it isn't my favorite dodger in disguise!" I paid him no mind, very much angry with how he had left Kalimba to be drugged and abused while I had to fight. He called out to me again, trying to get my attention. "Hello my little prized fighter." I walked over to the bar without saying a word to the psycho. He did not take it well, he growled to the bartender I was about to give my order to. "Shut it all down."

Crème looked to me with an apologetic frown as the insane bastard walked up to me and turned my chair around to make me face him.

"I do believe our night starts off with 'hello'." He said getting closer to me.

I started to ignite my horn at him in return. "You let my champion get raped."

The stallion feigned innocence as he raised his hooves to me. "I did no such thing! Kalimba was in pure agreement with what was going on. She took the drugs, she offered herself to every client like the whore she was, and she did not once say no to either of them when they did what they did."

"A noncommittal response does not imply consent." I answered with an icy glare.

The stallion smirked as he sweetly replied in a mocking tone. "Oh come on now, you forget where we are, sweetie."

I snatched the stallion by the collar of his coat, using my bare hooves as I gave him a very deadly warning. "I'm playing by your stupid fucking rules because I made the decision to agree to that. In no place within our agreement is her name thrown in there. So whatever the fuck you got against her, you can fuck off with that before I personally pump you full of so much hot metal that they'll have to melt you down for forks!"

While everyone in the room stared back at us, observing the tension building in the room, they waited quietly for something to occur, any distraction, diffusion, or even waiting for who would be the first to start the altercation. The stallion joked back to the others in attendance. "He's already in fighting form." The others chuckled for a short while but quickly fell back to silence as the ringleader telekinetically freed himself. "You humans and your threats of violence. I swear."

"Don't fuck with me. It's bad enough you didn't tell me I could've sold that sixth round and be done with the night." I snarled at him.

"Are you still mad about that?" In that question along, he regained his usual carefree demeanor. "Nondis, baby, my aggressive little service top, I never told you that because I wanted to see how far you could push yourself. No fun in trying to play the crowd when you could play the house and show those stupid regulars who's boss. After all, weren't you tired of them throwing shit at you?"

Kalimba pulled at my foreleg, urging me to stop confronting the stallion. And despite my wanting to make good on my earlier threat, I decided to follow her request. But I was firm on showing him where I drew the line between us. "You keep her out of whatever fucking vendetta you got. She's not a sex slave, I don't use her like that."

"Aw, did you grow some attachment to her? I knew from the moment you two played around with one another in front of the lounge, there was some chemistry." Teased the sadist stallion. "Ah, it almost gives me ideas about what's going to happen later tonight."

"The only chemistry that should be on your mind is your fucking brain in a jar of formaldehyde." I snarled back at him.

"That's not quite how I had it planned later on, but you're close." He said with some enthusiasm. "Tonight, since you're the defending champ, I'm going to let you enjoy the better pleasures of our lounge, every maid and servant will be dancing around you, doing as you please, satisfying your wildest fantasies, even going so far as to love you beyond the highest nirvana."

"You dropping dead is a good way to get me off." I grumbled.

"Careful what you wish for." He replied to me, licking his lips. "I'll be going to my box seats, the matchups running into the title round will be something to watch. Now of course you won't be watching anything, but you can stay in here if you'd like." He smiled at me with an unusual brightness, almost as if he has something in store he knows I'm not going to like. "Who knows, maybe I'll finally get my time with you tonight."

As he wandered off to his private press box, I watched as Crème reopened the bar. I took a moment to breathe and collect myself, but not before verbalizing my disdain for the stallion. "If I could have a goddamn nuke without it destroying half the countryside."

As I was trembling with every conceivable revenge fantasy against that stallion, I had failed to realize that there was a young mare standing beside me, nervously rubbing her forelegs together. "Sir."

I looked to her and quickly adjusted my tone. "What is it?"

The maid shyly approached my stool, bowing before my hooves. "I-i-if you're feeling t-tense, I cou-I could... umm..." Her ears had reddened and her eyes darted from side to side.

Kalimba had other plans. She levitated me off of my chair and toted me off along with her. "Come with me." She urged, giving me very few choices but to accommodate her request.

As we were leaving the room, the maid had finished her question, but with a disappointed tone. "Massage you?"

Kalimba carted me off to our press box, shutting the door behind her and tossing me in a chair. "I know dat you have every right to be angry, but you must control yourself, ah."

"I don't have to control myself to appease a fucking psychopath." I argued.

"Den do it to put me at ease." She responded. "De worse you do him, de worse he makes it for me when you are gone."

As much as I wanted to argue that, I knew deep down that I couldn't. I wouldn't put it past him to smile in my face and make life a series of inconveniences for me, then just make life an unlivable hell for her. Tuesday was a shining example of that being the case. I looked at the zebracorn, minding the warning she gave. "I'm sorry, Kali."

Kalimba didn't stay on the subject for long, she appeared focused and engaged on what was planned out for us tonight in the arena. "Let us just go about our strategy, den get ready for later."

A roar of awe came from the audience below. But the only thing that prevented us from seeing what was going on was the fact that our windows were supposed to be under repair, as per the note on the plywood. Our press box was completely boarded up. We could only hear of what was going on outside, and a lot of it we had to speculate on what was out there fighting the gauntlet. "What do you suppose we're going out there to fight tonight?"

"Something dat is fast or smart." She replied. "We will need to slow down de opponent and come up with many ways to approach."

I shrugged at the mare. "Okay, I'm all ears, captain."

"But since we are given time to prepare, we must condition ourselves. Sharpen de mind, but relax de body." She said as she summoned a tub of massage oil. "Now. We must get you ready. Lay down and I will do what I must to make you loose."

I became skeptical of her suggestion, seeing it only as an opportunity to get physical with me. "It doesn't even feel right getting a massage right now, not when we're about to go out there and fight in a bit."

"You must learn to accept it before a fight. You will be a lot looser, move quicker, your muscles will be ready for any encounter. You will be strong, and you will be less nervous." She explained as she pointed to the ground before her. "Now come here.

"Hold up, I don't think your plan works like that." I started to explain. "I'm a pony. What I feel aside from my sex drive and some migraines doesn't exactly translate over to human form very well. Likewise the other way around."

She still patted the ground before her, giving me her trademark stony expression. "Den change into what you will be."

The human combatant tiredly panted as he stood victorious. He looked over to see the group of ponies he was made to fight, each of them bloodied, bruised, and scampering for their lives. They cowered away as the announcers started to hype up the crowd over the victorious challenger.

"WOW, LADIES AND GENTS, IT'S ALMOST A REPEAT FROM LAST WEEK BUT EVEN BETTER!" Scotch commented.

"OUR CHALLENGER HAS BEEN ONE HELL OF A FIGHTER! LOOK AT HIM WRESTLE DOWN EVERY OPPONENT HE HAD TO TUSSLE WITH!" Botch described in an exaggerated manner.

"IT SEEMS THAT SOME OF THEIR ILK PERFORM BETTER THAN OTHERS!"

"OH LADIES, HE MIGHT BE SINGLE!"

"BUT LET'S HEAR IT FOR OUR NEW CHALLENGER FOR BEAST OF THE WEEK! GIVE IT UP FOR HIM!"

Two other stallions, unicorns tamers specifically, ushered the man into the tunnel of the black gate where he was brought in from. While the human looked towards some other tunnels for an escape, the enchanted collar on his neck threatened to send shocks to him should he leave the company of his tamers. They ordered him to a seedy locker room that smelled of stale air, mold, and old decay. "Wait in there, human! You'll get called back out in a bit." One tamer ordered.

"And don't think of running either, or we're gonna make sure you piss yourself before your next match." The other warned.

For the moments he was sent to the locker room, he stared at a crude metal mirror across from him. He could see a dim reflection of himself looking back from the scratched-up surface. The man groaned as he looked at a fresh bruise on his arm from the earlier fight. A knocked came to the door as the man walked to a corner of the room and seat himself on the ground. The knock came to his door another time, he refused to answer. After the third time, the handlers sent a shock to his collar for disobedience. "Fuck this shit!" Feeling the pain, he cried out to his reflection, throwing a nearby chair at the door.

The shock was intensified for a moment, sending the disgruntled man to the ground. While he recovered on his hands and knees, the door was opened and a light blue burlesque unicorn mare with a blonde mane walked in wearing red stockings and garters, she smoked a cigarette from a long holder. "Hey there, sweetie buns." She greeted with a raspy, yet alluring voice

The man still struggled with the lingering shock from the collar at his neck. "Leave me alone."

The mare took a hit of her cigarette and blew the smoke from the side of her mouth as she lifted the man's chin to see her face. "Aw, babe, I just wanted to give you a moment of my time. See, I'm with the Canterlot Coalition for Rare Creatures, we're gonna take you on over to the special prep room, instead of leaving you in this here dingy box."

The man quickly stood up, pushing her hoof away. "Please don't touch me. I don't like you talking animals." He said before another shock sent him shrieking to the floor again, once more reducing him to all fours.

The mare seemed briefly unamused. "Babe, it's just a quick walk the other way. You can either take it with all the accommodations we have to offer, including drinks, or you can keep on keepin-on with that crappy cage you-know-who's got you shipped in and out of."

While he had to bear the brunt of the shocking, he grew curious of what she had to offer. But his first intention was to get himself out of the collar on his neck. "If I go with you, I'm gonna get shocked anyways."

"Honey, they're gonna do that because they like seein' ya down, doesn't matter the species." She informed the man. "The tamers here are a bunch of sadist with a real knack for zoophilia. You might as well come around my way."

He took her words into advisement, looking at his current options pertaining to his freedom or maybe gaining more of that for the night. "You get me out of this collar, and we're good."

"Honey, I ain't gettin' you out of nothin unless we make a contract. That's what I came here for." She said, summoning a quill with a sharpened tip. "All you need to do is lemmie sign you on over, and you're mine for the night on forward. Now gimmie that arm of yours."

"I don't even know who you are." He said as she levitated his arm to her, he found himself unable to pull himself out of her green aura. She jabbed the frog of her hoof and drew blood from herself, signing her name on his arm. The letters started to glow red as her blood quickly evaporated with each new letter made. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked as her name flashed once before disappearing into his skin.

"I'm marking you as my new territory, hun." She said with a smirk. "My name is Stellar Breed, but you can call me Stella. I'm a VIP here at this arena, but I'm also in charge of a nearby facility. You and me could work together, we could make some pretty huge bank." She tilted her head with curiosity. "Also, I didn't quite get a name for you. Do I give you one or─"

"Jasper. My name is that and nothing else." The man said, finally introducing himself to the mare. "Why do I feel like this is all a mistake?"

"Hun, ain't nothin' a mistake if it happens. It's just fate and favor." She cheerfully announced, signaling the tamers to take off their collar. Once the collar came off of his neck, his arm started to have a dull ache setting within it. The mare smiled. "There, no more collar. You're all mine now."

Jasper looked at his arm, seeing the area where she had signed her name, but not seeing anything but his own skin. "So I go from one slave master to another. Great. I wonder what I'll be doing now before I find some way to kill myself."

"Oh it ain't that bad, babe. You make it through the champ tonight, and you're gonna be living the rest of your life on easy street. So easy that you'll be the envy of every stallion in this city and the next." She proclaimed.

The human rubbed his arm. "No more experiments?"

The mare walked up to him with her brows jumping with intent. "The only experiment will be the question of how long you last in bed."

Jasper cringed as he turned himself around to avoid looking at the mare. "Nnnnneoh. No. Not interested."

The mare cackled while she held his arm in place, forcing him to turn around. "C'mon, aren't you tired of being treated like some caged zoo exhibit?"

"So you're telling me I'm either a circus animal to be used like a lab rat, or a circus animal to be used like a dildo?"

The mare forcefully knelt him down as she gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I don't know what a dildo is, but at least that second option sounds a lot better than what you were getting twelve hours ago." The mare slowly slid her hoof from under his chin as she held him in place. "Least of all, the crowd's already treating you better than the other human around here."

After being in a state of disgust with his current position, Jasper stared at the mare with disbelief. "There's another human here?"

"Oh yeah, about six of them. They come and go into their world as they please. Only one of them lives here." The mare explained.

While Jasper found himself trying to resist her, he continued to ask questions as a means to hopefully distract her. "What do you know about the other six?"

"Well I know that all of them are tall, each of them taller than Princess Celestia." She glanced back at the man, seeing the visible confusion on his face. "Oh, you don't know her, she's the so-called ruler of these lands. But back to the topic of humans, there are usually five of them who just leave and show up on the random. One of them has an unusually dark complexion compared to the rest. Another one of them seems to have a much larger chest, I think that one's a female."

"A female human?" Jasper's asked with curiosity. "What's her name?"

"Hell if I know." The mare replied. "You humans almost look the same to me."

"For some coalition of rare creatures, you guys sure don't know shit." Criticized the man. "Can you at least tell me about the one that lives here?"

"The one who lives here will be the one you'll be going against tonight." She plainly summarized.

"Okay, so what about him, what does he do to keep a living around here, is he a lab rat too?"

She sat herself in front of him as she spoke. "The princess made him a captain of her guard. Rumors have it that he and one of the other princesses had a tryst."

"And she a horse like you? Ew, literal horse fucker." Jasper said with revulsion.

"Oh trust me, you'll be just like him before the week's over, even if I have to break you in myself." The mare said with a smirk. "The princess who did sleep with him, she broke up with him also. But after that one performance in the VIP Lounge, I can safely say he's a monster in bed. He's the tallest one of the six though, Princess Celestia uses him as her right hoof. He's the only human so far with magic."

"Magic, so that's what you call all of this? That's serious a thing around here?" He asked, regarding the green aura around his arm.

The mare chuckled as she took a hit of her cigarette. "Oh yeah, I forgot that you humans don't usually have magic."

"The only magic spell I can tell you all about is the magic of my foot going up the ass of that creepy motherfucker who dragged me to this place."

The mare hummed. "So who was it exactly that dragged you here, hun?"

"Some ugly green motherfucker, they won't even say his name." He replied. "He has a bunch of weird white wooden dolls walking around the place."

"Oh... Him." She said, feigning surprise.

Jasper rolled his eyes and kissed his teeth. "See? No one wants to say his name for some fucking reason."

The mare chuckled as she took another puff of her cigarette, blowing the smoke in his face. "Hun, you come with me, we'll have a lot to discuss about the way things work here." She began. "The more you learn, the better off you'll be in the long-run."

Jasper then replied. "Sure. I don't mind finding out more about where the hell I am. Sure ain't Austin anymore."

VIP Lounge
One Hour Later...
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

While I was mildly perturbed by the announcers' praise of the current challenger, I flexed my arms and chest to feel the newfound looseness in my body. She made mention that her intent wasn't to give me the same level of service as last time, only doing some light work instead of the deeper and vastly better effort she gave last Friday night. Her reason was to get me to calm down and be ready to face what was to come.

And it worked.

My blood pressure wasn't through the roof anymore, I didn't have a certain someone triggering me into wanting to fight in a blind rage. I didn't want to throw anything at the wall, I wasn't going to summon a gun and go to town, I wasn't in a mind to wish for this entire district to get nuked, none of it. I was focused, loose, and more calculating.

In the midst of my flexing, Kalimba looked towards the boarded windows and expressed her skepticism. "You know, it is awfully strange how dey close off our windows to stop us from seeing what it is we are going against."

"No doubt his doing. Probably don't want us trying to plan ahead and figure out what we're fighting and how we can counter it." I said, standing up on my own two legs.

While I was relaxed in the body, I still couldn't help but to feel at odds with myself. Some part of me was nagging, telling me that I was in for some trouble or worse. Kalimba took notice. "You are nervous?"

"How can I not be? I don't know what hell I'm going to be suffering from when I close my eyes tonight, much less what I'm facing in the next hour."

"Do you think it will be anything big?" She questioned.

"Could be." I replied.

"Well, you are pretty big as it is. It took me a whole half hour to even give you a light massage."

I started to amuse myself with a few thoughts of our opponent. "Could be something you-sized. A griffon is about your height and that's what I squared off against last time."

"But you made quick work of him." She replied.

"Yeah, that's the going rate. So I shouldn't be surprised if he decides to up the ante with something bigger. The crowd would probably love me going against another huge timberwolf, maybe an arimaspi to see if I was bullshitting on my assignment." I said, imagining myself fighting yet another one of those huge hulking beasts.

"You have a good brain. It would have to be something you have never faced before." She pointed out.

"Something that can outsmart me?" I guessed.

"I doubt dat." She scoffed, looking at me with a subtle smile. "If it wasn't for you last week, we would be timberwolf feed."

"You can say that again." I said, pulling out my phone to check the clock. "It's almost time. Got about an hour of sanity left before it gets messy."

She walked to my side, looking up at me with determination in her eyes. "I am ready when you are."

We nodded at one another and walked out of the room to see none other than the village madman leaning up against a wall, both Blue and Alabaster standing right behind him. "Well if it isn't my favorite underground couple." He said as he approached. I looked over to Blue, who appeared genuinely mortified over something she saw. Alabaster had practically stared at me like I was in some sort of danger. The psycho stallion glared back at the two siblings, who lowered their eyes to the ground. "Hmph. You better know your place." The ringleader scolded the two before bringing his attention to me. "And you're already in uniform, not quite how I would've wanted you to exit the lounge."

As I followed Kalimba's suggestion from earlier, I elected to be neutral and acknowledge his presence. "Just get us to the arena so we can get it over with." Of course, my version of neutral was far less accommodating than what would normally be seen.

The stallion laughed haughtily as he leaned on his cane. "Us? Only one of you is going down there. It's the main event of the week."

Seeing that our situation had changed from how we initially planned it, Kalimba started to clutch onto me. I immediately read her body language, her discomfort in being left alone for another night. So I calmly negotiated my terms without raising my voice. "I'm not going anywhere without Kalimba by my side. Either she walks with me to the arena, or I don't fight."

The stallion walked up to me with a smirk of disbelief on his face. "And you're certain of which choice I'm more than likely to accept?"

"I could easily leave whenever I so choose." I replied.

The stallion seemed giddy at my calm rebellious demeanor, almost as if he was ready to make an example of it. "Do you think that's even a remote realm of possibility of you doing that alive here?"

While Kali was trying to urge me to accept what he had laid out for me, I remained firm in keeping her next to me until my fight began. "I have terms and conditions of my own. Either you accept mine, or I reject yours. Your audience walks away disappointed that they don't have a show this week. You're the one who set this up. It's on you whether or not it moves forward."

The stallion pursed his lips, grumbling at the idea that he could lose a profit for the night. It was probably one of the very few times I actually seen him bend for anyone. "Okay, I guess it's a fair game, I'll give you that. You're the star of the show, and I can't have a show without my stars shining. But I'll be sure to give you a bit of a spoiler warning. You're not just dealing with any opponent, you're dealing with an equal in terms of both skill and intelligence. This will be a match to the death. So if you lose, you know what happens next."

He walked away, leaving me alone with Kalimba. Both Blue and Alabaster looked on to me with horror. As I was about to speak to them, they turned themselves around and walked away, following behind the deranged stallion. The way they looked at me had amplified that nagging voice in my head.

And it was telling me to look for the worst to come. I leaned down, pulled out my phone to record my voice, and whispered to the zebracorn my final wishes. "Kali, if the worst comes to it, you take my body and you get the fuck out. Don't pause for anyone, don't look back, make sure I'm cremated." I then gave her my phone to hold on to. "You take this, my passcode is the month and day of my birthday, in that order exactly. Tell the princess to disperse my wealth to my family and friends."

Kalimba understood the gravity of my thoughts, but she was still in some disbelief herself. "Why do you plan for de worst, as if you are going to die?"

"Because I have no fucking idea on what I'm fighting. And judging from the looks I got... I might not make it out alive."

The Arena Floor
Thirty Minutes Later...

A number of ponies lied motionless and bloodied on the ground, some with their bodies slumped against one another. The ground of the arena was covered in substantial amounts of blood. The human walked away with an AR-15 in tow, but with no rounds in the weapon remaining. The weapon was taken from him and then they escorted him off the floor while the audience cheered wildly for him. As he walked his way back through the black gate, the lustfully dressed mare clopped her hooves at his performance. Some of the medical staff ran past the two as she guided him towards the dressing room she had prepared for him.

"Now that's what I call quick work!" She smiled as she walked closely next to him. "In the eyes of the crowd, you're burning up, babe."

Jasper scoffed at the mare, still trying to inch himself away from her. "It's pretty easy when they give you a gun to start off with."

His arm started to glow and his body started drifting back towards her as she spoke. "The captain uses those same weapons too. I think it's the reason why the princess gave him his position, he uses those things the most."

"Anybody can try and pick up a gun and do something with it. But it's all about how you use it. I'm willing to bet that the motherfucker doesn't do anything but point it around and play cops and robbers with it." As he spoke. she opened the door to his changing room, revealing a group of five mares waiting within with lustful eyes and curious intentions. Each of them giggled playfully as the man came into the room. Some walked up to him, levitating a number of items before him like drinks, grapes, cheeses, and even cigars. Two mares in an opposing corner had gotten impatient and began to entertain one another, making out as they groped each other slowly. Jasper's jaw dropped as he saw what was going on. "Oh... wow... I think I'm in the wrong room."

"Hun, you're in the right room. This is my little VIP room next to the arena. I pull a lucky stallion or two to give me a good show. If they can make it past my girls, they get the honor of giving me what I want." She explained. "Now of course, I don't believe in being cheap and pulling a stallion at random. He had to have a really good night out on that floor for me to drag him in here. But there are times when I don't get a stallion, sometimes it's a mare."

"Oh, 'kay. I'm gonna assume that you dragged me in here because you wanted me to be that 'lucky' guy." He questioned, backing into the doorway, only to find the door was already closed.

"Honey bun, you ain't just lucky. I want first dibs, that means you've hit jackpot."

"Great..." Jasper mouthed out the side of his mouth, trying to reach behind to feel for a knob to turn, but the bindings she had placed on him forced him to walk towards the center of the room. "Okay, what the hell is dragging me forward?"

"Aw sugar, don't be like that. It's just that little tattoo I gave you earlier." She said, illuminating her horn to reveal her name etched into his arm. "Ain't as cruel as the shock collars, but at least you're a little more willin' to make a little ol' mare like me feel special."

"Uh, you don't act like you're from some coalition for rare creatures."

"Of course I am, darlin'. I own a brothel down the street known for having some of the most exotic mares and breeds you'll ever sink your teeth into. That's where all these girls hail from. It's much easier than helpin' my family run some damn saloon out in the sticks. I snag a few belles for the low, make em' learn the trade of bein' a broodmare, and sell em' off to the highest bidder." She answered the man with a smirk before thinking back to another situation where she felt herself coming short. "Though I can't help but wonder about that one I sold for a low, she was notorious for bein' sick all the damn time. She'd probably fetch a seven-figure fortune if I could cut a deal with the Doctor. Maybe tonight would work all of that out for me."

"What does any of that have to do with me and this shit you signed in my arm?" Jasper asked.

"It means you're gonna be of help, babe." She replied with a smirk. "You're gonna win your match tonight, giving me back that girl I broke off to some merc asshole, then you're gonna be my champion in the VIP Lounge. I'll split the profits of my sale eighty-twenty, you make a cool thousand a night just for showin' up, two-thousand for fighting, a good five for service at my brothel every day you stick around, you're be a set little monkey 'round here."

"I didn't agree to being a slave!" Jasper called out.

"You ain't a slave, hun. You're just a servant livin' a good life." She replied as she clopped her hooves, gathering two mares to escort him to a chair to rest. As he was sat down, a mare stood behind him and fed him grapes while the other started to rub his legs. "Now you see, it ain't all that bad. Bein' my champion means you get the better of this almost every day you come here with me. Now to be frank, you're gonna have a few fights, but with those weapons you humans use, that'll be quick work each time."

While he wanted to make more complaints about his freedoms and liberties, he found himself enjoying the massage he was getting. He also took into consideration his life and how this could be an escape from the trouble he was in back home. It grew more and more appealing to him with each grape fed to him. "I ain't gonna be no sex slave, am I?" He asked.

"Some nights you will be. But you won't be on the market for long. I might have you working a day out of the month, except for July, you'll be on for a business week then. Other than that, you'll be in service to only yours truly."

Jasper mumbled to himself over the possibilities of his perks, but to him it seemed a far-cry better than being housed in a lab, or rotting in a Texas jail cell. "Okay... I'm forced to fuck horses instead of getting fucked by life. Sure, I guess I can't lose any harder than that."

"I'm glad you see it that way, hun," She said as she got a knock on the door. She sent one of her girls to answer it, finding a messenger informing them of the impending matchup. The mare sat herself next to the man. "You think you'll win the next match, babe? You go against him next."

"I don't know who the fuck they got me running into." The man said lazily, opening his mouth for another grape.

The burlesque mare levitated a piece of cheese to his lips, dragging it down to tease him with it. "So how did you get here, hun? Usually there's some way for you humans to run in and out of Equestria, but nopony knows how you do it."

"Hell, I don't even know. I was just sneaking around my ex's apartment, hoping I could talk her into getting some of my charges dismissed."

"Charges?" The mare inquired with giggling interest. "So you're a bad boy, huh?"

"You're not scared of that?" He asked to the mare.

"Honey, we have dead bodies in the town square almost daily, what's there to be scared of?" She replied.

"So let's get it all straight here. You don't know how the humans who come here get here, I don't know how the fuck I even got here, and there are only six humans who come here, one of them a female. So it looks like my case ain't much of an issue here." The man took some thought into what he had just done on the arena floor, the world he was in. If there's a princess out there hiring a human to do her dirty work, then how is it that he could get away with killing ponies. He began to wonder about the potential consequences. "But say I could kill a man in the next thirty minutes, you're telling me I won't even get charged for anything?"

"Not a damn thing babe. There's special jurisdiction protecting this district of town, not even the princess can send a warrant for your arrest here. You'd be free as a bird." She answered.

Jasper started to laugh to himself. "That's wild. That's so fucking backwards and wild."

"But you'd at least live a life full of doing whatever the hell you wanna do. And it's not like they can pin a face on you, the guard wouldn't even know who they'd be hunting down. You're just some other human who's on a visit. Most ponies would still be trying to see what you're all about and ask you a bunch of questions about your world. Who gives a hoot on what you do here?" She explained. "Let me tell you something else, hun. There's about ten thousand ponies out there, and not one of them are a witness of any crime."

He sat up to look at the mare. "So I'll be putting another man's life to an end in front of a viewing audience, just for sport?"

"And they'll be cheering you on to kill the Captain of the Royal Guard. They won't even be able to find out who did what because they can't investigate the district. You'd be killing the only guy holding the damn paper willing to conduct a search. So you off that guy, you get off for life." She further explained.

"And all I have to do is kill the Captain of the Royal Guard." He asked.

"Captain Nondis. The one and the same."

"Captain Nondis, right, that guy." He asked himself as he laid his head back down on the chair, the mare behind him proceeded to feed him more grapes.

He closed his eyes and went about enjoying the luxury of the moment. But while his eyes closed to the world, a memory popped up in his head. He remembered going through his ex's phone, seeing a bunch of texts directed to a guy with the same name... the guy who punched him into the hospital, the same guy who opened an assault case against him, leading to the avalanche of charges he ran from.

Before the final grape could fall in his mouth, he ended up headbutting the small berry, launching up to acknowledge who he was going against. "WAIT, THAT MOTHERFUCKER MY EX KEPT BITCHING ABOUT!? THAT'S HIS NAME!?"

Almost every mare in the room was startled, including Stellar herself. "Oh, so you know him!?" She asked in a puzzled manner.

"Know him? That motherfucker ruined my entire fucking life! He's the reason why I have to go to court next month! All he had to do was mind his own fucking business and I'd be kicking it with my ex still, I'd be on my way to being a cop, and I'd be on my way to having a good life. Fuck that guy!"

He quickly jumped out of his chair, pacing around the room like an enraged bull. Stellar blinked, but found herself being enticed by the man's fury. "Okay, so it looks like you're good and ready to go."

"Oh I'm ready, alright!" Jasper jumped up with excitement and energy, eager to get his hands on the man's neck. "I'll put a fucking bullet right between his eyes."

The mare licked her lips as she started to see how motivated he was, how passionate he showed himself to be about the match. All she could think of was the possibility of her getting everything she wanted out of him when he came back. "I guess it takes a human to kill a human. Best of luck, hun. I'll see you in the winner's circle." She called out to Jasper paced his way out the room, jogging to the gate to wait for his opponent.

"Ooh, I get to murder that fucker in cold blood. Oh, I'm so ready."

Thirty Minutes Later...

Our walk to the red gate had been a mostly quiet affair. Thoughts of what's to come and what could be my final hour had started to simmer in my brain for the umpteenth time. I wasn't really certain of what they had in store for me, but if the blood-splattered halls had any indication of what was coming my way, I had a good idea that it was very deadly.

When we reached the gate, both Kalimba and I wagered a peek through the crack of the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of my opponent. But it seemed from our end that they had something in the way. "Why is it dat dere's a curtain blocking de other side?"

I shook my head at her question. "Who knows, this place is always so fucking extra with what they do."

The announcers once more addressed the crowd. "FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS! NOW'S THE TIME YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!" Scotch began.

"YOU WANTED THIS EVER SINCE YOU SAW THE FACE OF OUR CHALLENGER!" Botch supplemented.

"AND NOW YOU GET WHAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN BEGGING─"

"ASKING─"

"CLAMORING─"

"BITCHING FOR!"

"WE PROMISED YOU CARNAGE OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE! AND WE ARE GOING TO GIVE YOU WHAT WE ADVERTISED!"

"AN EVENT SO UNPRECIDENTED─"

"SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCLUSIVE─"

"THAT WE HAD TO PUT THIS BIG ASS CURTAIN HERE TO MAKE IT A SURPRISE TO OUR OWN FIGHTERS!" Well that at least explains my first roadblock of the hour.

"TONIGHT IS NOT A MERE QUESTION OF WHAT WILL BE OUR BEAST OF THE WEEK... BUT WHO!"

"WILL IT BE OUR BUMBLING, IDIOT, SHITFACE OF A CHAMPION, OR WILL IT BE OUR NO-NONSENSE CHALLENGER!?"

Kalimba kissed her teeth out of disagreement. "I see dat dey do not care for what you've done earlier dis week."

"They never did." I mumbled as the doors started to creak and moan open. The bright lights of the arena flooded into the hallway.

"ON BOTCH'S SIDE OF THE ARENA, YOU ALL KNOW HIM AS THE CHEAPLY ESTEEMED CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, THE PLAYBOY OF THE PRINCESSES, A LOYAL DOG TO THE CROWN, GIVE IT UP FOR YOUR CURRENT CHAMPION!"

Without question, the audience started booing me as the doors came to a halt, letting me onto the floor. Ahead of me was the massive curtain they had made mention of, covering almost half of the entire arena. "I will shield you while you run." Kalimba's horn glowed to summon a thin shield of her magic above me.

While it didn't look as effective as what she intended it to be, it was still a commendable effort. "Thanks a bunch." I showed the mare gratitude before jogging into the fray. "Here's goes nothing."

While her spell held strong, a voice crept up behind her ears, causing her magic to weaken. "How sweet of you to be doing that for him."

The zebracorn knew who it was harassing her yet again. She tried her best to keep her shield up for the captain. "Why are you here?"

"Surely you didn't ask me why I am in a specific place at the venue I've built and personally own."

The mare tried to keep her eyes on the captain's back, silently wishing for his safety. "Shouldn't you be up top? Dat is where de better seats are." She muttered to herself.

The grinning stallion licked the frog of his hoof and applied it to her horn, quenching her spell completely and leaving the captain vulnerable to whatever came his way from the crowd. "My dear Kalimba, ain't no better seat than ringside. That's what sells."

He walked beside her, placing his foreleg around her. The mare grew discomfortable as he leaned into her. "You never come dis close to a fight. Why now?"

"Because I know what I'll be getting at the end of the night, regardless of the conclusion." The stallion answered before he started to lean into her ears once more. "I'm wondering if you've accepted the possibility that this could be his last night, that your parting words could be his final interaction with a friend. You could at least beat the princess in saying that you were there in his final hour."

The zebra turned her head away. "Dis will not be his final fight."

But Umbra turned her head back towards him, leaning into her with the threatening distance of a kiss. "Kalimba, this is so much of a wildcard, that I don't even know how it's going to end. Usually I script these to fair favorably to the champion I want to win. I can't even say I scripted this one unfairly... well, other than one tiny exception."

"You speak as if you have claimed his life already." She said, trying in vain to avoid looking at the stallion.

"Shh..." He placed a hoof to her lips to quiet her. "But should it happen, I know you'll be ready to live your life as you have all these years. You'll be reunited with an old friend, and you'll be given the true role you'll play in society. Surely you've known this to be inevitable. The captain, one way or another, will not remain by your side. And when that time comes, what will there be for you? Nothing. You know that once he goes his own way, you'll be forgotten, you'll be replaced. Those nights of being at his side will no longer be, the dreams you have of him being your savior will be broken. You'll be alone, never to have a life of normalcy or closure. When that happens, you'll fall right back into habits. I can already see your face in the failing attempts to fill the hole in your heart, whilst others are left filling the holes beneath your tail. And in the end, you'll be what you will be; Disposable."

The stallion continued holding her. She attempted to turn her body away, but he held strong to her. Her eyes tried once more to find the back of the captain, only to find Umbra in front of her.

"Tell that little filly inside you the truth. You are lost. You can never go home."

Along my run, the shield above my head had disappeared, leaving me open for some incoming trash. But that didn't last for long as I came right to where I had to be. But along my run, I didn't ignore the many more pools of blood soaked into the dirt, some of it clotting before it could be absorbed. And upon my final step, I felt something under my foot. I lifted my shoe to find a metal casing rolling free, specifically that belonging to a .338 Spectre round. Whatever I was facing had access to human weaponry. It's not the first time that's happened, but that doesn't make it any less deadly.

One wrong move and my body will be missing a soul.

"IN SCOTCH'S SIDE OF THE RING, YOU'VE ALL WITNESSED WHAT HE WAS CAPABLE OF, HOW STRONG HE CAN BE, AND HOW DECISIVELY HE CAN ALTER THE RESULT OF A BOUT IN A MATTER OF A SECOND! HE'S THE CHAMPION OF THE VIEWING AUDIENCE, LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR CHALLENGER FOR BEAST OF THE WEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!"

The audience reception of my opponent was far warmer than any I had received. Even the way they announced them was more bombastic than the entrance they gave me as a challenger coming in. I addressed the hot-blooded announcer over the change. "Pretty funny how that guy got a more enthusiastic entrance than I ever did."

"Aw, quit with the bitching and find a kitchen to work in." He snarled back at me.

"Okay. I got you." I said, already anticipating the chance of me getting my hands on a firearm. "Oh I got you."

The two announcers continued their commentary. "AND NOW THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!"

"OUR CHAMPION AND OUR CHALLENGER WILL FINALLY COME FACE TO FACE!"

"LET'S COUNT IT DOWN!" They prompted to the crowd, who joined in with them.

"DROP THAT CURTAIN!"

The curtain fell to the ground with a gracious glide downward. In the second it took for the massive piece of cloth to fall to the ground, I started to identify what was standing in front of me... and who.

The man stared back at me with concentrated determination, his arms folded with marks and bruises on them. He smiled back at me with a cold intent. He stood on his side of the fallen curtain with a suggestively-dressed mare watching from his gate, she cheered for his victory while I couldn't believe who was here, much less why. "What... The actual... fuck."

"Oh, so you are here for real." Jasper began, wagging his finger at me.

The announcers stood separate as the curtain was removed from the ground between us. "TONIGHT'S MATCH WILL BE A SPECIAL MATCH!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, LADIES AND GENTS, YOU AREN'T DRUNK! YOU AREN'T SEEING DOUBLE OF SHIT! A MIRROR MATCH!"

"HUMAN VS HUMAN!"

"STILTS TO STILTS!"

"HAND TO HAND!"

"THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!"

"A BATTLE─"

"TO THE DEATH!"

I quickly snatched the mic away from the hot-blooded announcer, hoping I could talk him into some understanding. "Jasper, I don't know how you got here, but we're not going to kill each other!" I tried to reassure him.

He followed my example, snagging a mic from the other announcer, causing the audience to cheer at the sound of his voice. "That's fine! You can keep on with that!" The audience had gone into a frenzy, causing the man to gaze around the venue and take in the praise he received. "I don't feel the same way, personally!"

While I could understand him getting caught up in some theatrics, I tried to offer reason to my fellow man. "Jasper, I know a lot about this place confuses you! Let me get you out of here, and we can talk!"

"Not gonna happen, bitch!" The crowd cheered at his snarky response. He almost treated the noise like he was on an episode of WWE Smackdown. He waited for the crowd to lower the volume before continuing. "You heard those guys, there can only be one of us!"

"Jasper, you don't know what's gonna happen to you if you die here! This isn't a joke, this isn't some stupid wrestling match, this is fucking life!" The audience immediately booed me.

He continued to feed off the theatrics, pacing back and forth, wafting his hands to his ear as he enjoyed the boos sent my way. "And I could give two shits about what happens to you!"

The crowd had almost replicated the volume of Mt. Krakatoa, erupting in their seats as they foamed at the mouths, waiting for us to fight. "Jasper, don't make me take your life. Don't make me take the life of another human, here of all places." I pleaded, attempting to get my voice over the sound of the crowd.

"You should've thought about that before you ruined my life!" He replied.

I got annoyed at the crowd for trying to scream my voice under, I responded by screaming into the mic myself. "YOU RUINED YOUR OWN LIFE, JASPER! I DIDN'T RAPE ANYONE, YOU DID! I DIDN'T ABUSE MELANIE, YOU DID! I DIDN'T THROW THE FIRST PUNCH, YOU DID!"

He replied in similar fashion. "AND YOU WILL BE TOTED OFF IN A NICE WOODEN BOX, NOT ME!"

Umbra hummed with satisfaction as the crowd ate up what was shown in front of him. He looked on as a proud business owner watching his stock rapidly inflate in the global marketplace. Other opportunities that could replicate this level of success had started to fill his mind with ideas aplenty. But as he observed the ongoing verbal slinging, Kalimba was more than mortified of what was taking place. "What madness is dis!?"

"My dear Kalimba, what we're about to see is a match on even footing. A showdown of sapiens, a fair bout where luck has no bearing." As the two humans had the mics taken from them by the announcers, he continued to speak to the zebracorn. "Not quite my magnum opus, but we could be looking at nothing short of greatness play out tonight."

As she looked at the two humans standing at the center of the floor, she could also see a mare cheering them on at the gate adjacent from her. For a moment, the mare's eyes met with her own. The flauntingly-dressed mare waved to the zebra. "What is she doing here?" Kalimba questioned with an unusually silent fury.

"Well my dear Kalimba, it appears that she's coming to collect on some lost profits." He replied with a smirk. "Perhaps it could be your newfound ability for combat that has drawn her attention, as well as several others who would like to see you back on the marketplace."

The mare looked back to her captain, angrily chanting under her breath. "Ijdiot. You better not lose here."

"Well, I suppose you find yourself interested in a little wager?" The stallion said.

"I will not barter with de likes of you." She replied somewhat firmly.

"I'm sorry, but did you refuse my offer?" The stallion questioned the mare.

"I don't have anything to offer you." She answered a little more quietly.

"You know what, you do." He responded as he pointed to the mare at the opposite gate. "You have your body to consider. Should you win your wager, you get to keep being the captain's loyal fetching dog. But should you lose... I'm sure you know what happens next."

"I am sure I do not. I have not accepted any wager."

"Well that's tough, babe." He said with a smile. "Because not only the wager is on you, it's on whether or not your captain lives. And do let me be the one to tell you, a win for me is a win for you. We're on the same side, you and I. She wants you, and I want him."

"And if you win, what den?" She asked.

"I walk away with something I want, you walk away with your captain to soon abandon you. I guess you can call that a win?"

"And if you lose?" She also asked.

"Well let's just say it's for me to know and for you to find out."

Both Jasper and I stared at each other with hardly an obstruction between us. While I was mentally preparing myself to take a life of my own kind, Jasper was more than willing to bypass his moral compass, not that he had much to begin with. The announcers unified once more as they left the center of the arena open for the two of us. They would commentate our fight from the sideline.

"OUR COMBATANTS LOOK READY TO GO AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS!"

"BUT WE WON'T BE STARTING OFF WITH THE USUAL BULLSHIT!"

"THAT'S RIGHT! WE'RE GOING TO MAKE THIS ONE INTERSTING!" Scotch said as he levitated a combat knife to the center of the ring.

My jaw tightened at what we were being made to do, Jasper flexed his fingers with impatience. "YOU SEE THAT KNIFE THERE, BOYS!?" Botch commented.

"FIRST ONE TO GRAB IT WILL HAVE THE UPPER HOOF IN THIS FIGHT!"

"AND THE ONE WHO'S LEFT BREATHING WILL BE DECLARED THE WINNER! NO HOLDS BARRED, NO RESTRICTIONS MADE─"

"EXCEPT ONE!" Scotch added as he and his fellow commentator horns glowed to reveal a yellow circle with enchantment runes circling the area where Jasper and I stood. The magic on the ground hissed and crackled, I looked to my hands as they started to tingle.

The duo continued their commentary. "THIS CIRCLE AROUND THE RING IS A RUNE OF DISPEL!"

"MEANING THAT NO MAGIC CAN OR WILL BE USED WITHIN IT!"

"AND DON'T THINK THAT FOR ONE SECOND THAT SECONDARY ENCHANTMENT WON'T ACTIVATE THE MOMENT THEY GO NEAR IT, FOLKS!"

"THAT SECOND RUNE IS A BOUNDARY THAT STUNS THOSE WHO TRIES TO EXIT THE AREA! SO NO, CAPTAIN, THERE WILL BE NO FREE RIDES!"

"You hear that motherfucker!? Even footing!" He hollered out like it was still a wrestling match.

"Jasper..." I called out to him one last time, trying to at least console myself on the idea that I had at least tried to seek other alternatives. "...This is a world of redemption, but your first step is right here in this arena. If you make that first one at me, I can't promise you that you'll live. So please don't make me do this."

He completely ignored me, inching closer for the knife. "Get this shit started, man! I wanna GO!" He called out to Botch.

"YOU HEARD HIM RIGHT, FOLKS! HE'S READY TO GO!"

"AND ON THAT NOTE, WE HAVE OUR COMPETITORS, WE HAVE OUR CONDITIONS!"

"AND SO FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS... Scotch, do the honors."

Jasper lunged for the knife laying on the ground between us. On instinct I raised my hand to use my magic, only to remember what they had announced about the seal surrounding us. Jasper grabbed at the knife, but tripped in the scramble. I ran to him and knocked the weapon from his hands. He regained his balance and pushed me towards the ground. I tried to regain my own posture, but he found me before I could get set.

Jasper took his advantage by grappling me down, but also sweeping one of my legs. I felt to my knee, trying to maintain the grapple. He kicked me a few more times, frustrated that he couldn't just punch me like he wanted to. My grapple started to give way with every kick to my body. But I took the moment of weakness and turned it into a counter during one of his kicks by lunging back into him. The two of us were on the ground, wrestling each other to find an opening for submission. The crowd around us screaming and cheering while our bout took place.

However, this situation didn't favor me as much as it did Jasper.

While I was trained on how to throw a punch and how to wrestle off creatures half my size, I wasn't as adept to wrestling off another human. Jasper on the other hand had law enforcement training under his belt. They may not have a set martial arts style to learn from, but they do take elements from them in order to detain them without resorting to lethal force. Which meant as long as his legs were wrapped around me, keeping me latched to him, I was in trouble.

I tried punching through his guard, my fists impacting his forearms instead of my intended target. He waited me out in between blows, knowing that I could pace myself out. But he did one better by unlocking his legs, giving me a swift knee to my kidneys and following up with an elbow to my neck. Hitting those pressure points had made me relent, giving him a window to snag my right arm.

He took his position as an advantage, using his left leg to anchor his movement up my body. Once he locked his leg around my upper body, his foot planting into my left shoulder, he proceeded to pull, causing me great distress. I tried to find whichever way I could to get myself free, but his grasp was too strong for me to counter in every way we turned. He continued to apply pressure, pushing his shoulder against my entrapped arm. He grunted as I screamed from the pain he put me through, that was until my body couldn't take the pressure anymore.

I cried out as Jasper let me go, walking off to grab the knife. The announcer commented on the grizzly pop that could be heard from just across the way. "LADIES AND GENTS! THAT SOUNDED PRETTY SIGNIFICANT!"

I grasped at my shoulder, finding that my arm was certainly out of place. "HE'S GRABBING HIS SHOULDER, IT APPEARS TO INDEED BE SIGNIFICANT!" Scotch added.

"AND OUR CHALLENGER'S GOT THE KNIFE! THIS COULD SPELL THE END!"

I looked up to see Jasper coming at me with the knife, trying to slice at me. I jumped back, trying to utilize what I could with my limited range of motion. But with all the handicaps in place, I couldn't do much to defend myself anymore. All I could do was hope he could tire himself out.

While that was where our advantages shifted, it wasn't as profound with my current state. I could last much longer in a fight because I've had to go through several weeks of endurance training, and that was coupled with various survival experiences I have. But still, when one guy has the knife and the other a dislocated shoulder, it's almost textbook as to what happens next. He started to stab at me, but he found himself trying to appease the crowd more than he already did. He took the opportunity to lunge the knife into my left forearm, trying to push the blade into my neck. One more pop sounded near my wrist, just at the place where he stabbed into.

He started laughing manically, mouthing the words. "I'm gonna kill you. Oh, I'm gonna kill you."

My brain immediately went into overdrive looking for ways to change my fortunes, before my misfortune became my fate. I didn't feel so much of the pain in my left arm as the adrenaline started pushing through my system. To me, everything worked with the exception of my right arm. I still had a moveable left arm with the knife lodged in it. I could play a risk and push back, possibly divert the direction of the knife and follow up with an unexpected blow from somewhere. I needed my legs to keep my posture.

So I decided to divert the knife.

Since much of the blade was still lodged in my arm, I easily pushed back into him and gave him a headbutt to disorient him a bit. Once I gained the moment of resistance, I had let my arm fall away with the knife still in it. Jasper foolishly let go of the knife and started holding his nose. I grabbed at his shirt, almost ripping it off of his chest to drag him into yet another headbutt. He wasn't used to that aspect of combat, so it didn't resonate with him that he could take a step back and let me lunge into exposing myself. Instead, I had knocked my head into his with every intention to inflict damage to his broken nose, making it harder for him to breathe and process the pain.

With the very limited motion I had in my right arm, I still had my hand to use. I grabbed at the knife in my arm and tugged my left arm away to free myself from the blade. I then gave the knife to my left hand and drove the knife into his chest.

Instead of crying out in pain like I expected him to do, he gasped and coughed. While my hand was flush with his chest, the blade was much further within. His eyes gazed down with realization of what was happening. That's when the horror set in for him, as my hand started to bleed with his blood. I withdrew the knife and quickly went back in, hoping to bring a quick end to this conflict. I drive it into his chest once more.

The resistance his body gave had subsided gradually, he started grasping at the wounds in his chest, the knife slid out as he crawled away for a moment, reaching his hand out to plea to me. "Please... don't kill me..."

That's when the knife fell from my hands. The adrenaline stopped flowing as much, the pain began to reside within my body. But most importantly, I saw and processed in full what I had done.

He started to shudder from the drop of his temperature, attributed by the loss of blood. He held at his chest, laboring to breathe while he laid in a fetal position. But as the seconds went by, his breathing had slowed, and slowed to a standstill. His hand went from grasping at his chest to resting on it. From there, he lied on the ground, looking slack-jawed to the crowd as his life faded away.

I did it. I killed a man. And it was the worst feeling of guilt I had ever suffered.

Medical staff emerged from the tunnel of the black gate. I couldn't bear the brunt of seeing the damage I had done, I had no intention to kill him, I didn't want this. I didn't want to see him dead, I didn't even want to have to explain to the others that I had to kill a man tonight. In the eyes of many here, I had graduated to a murderer.

Chrysalis' words began to ring in my head. I couldn't bear it.

One of the medical staff approached Jasper. "Check him." Another one of the staffers appeared confused as to how they could go about doing that. So the head of the medical staff turned to me and asked. "How do we check him?"

I began to feel sick, deeply sick. "Carotid artery, under the chin, side of the neck."

As he relayed the information to his fellow crew, one of them called back out after fifteen seconds. "I don't feel anything."

I clenched my eyes and felt every last ounce of me become washed in sadness. I stood from where I was and tried not to show my face as I slowly trudged away.

The announcers broke the deafening silence of the crowd, making me feel even worse. "FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS, THE MATCH HAS BEEN DECIDED!"

"OUR REIGNING BEAST OF THE WEEK IS NOW A CHAMPION FOR THE SECOND WEEK IN A ROW!" Botch ran over to me with the microphone. "YOUR VICTORY HERE IS A SIGNIFICANT ONE! HOW ARE YOU FEELING RIGHT NOW?"

I shook my head without saying anything. I looked up to the crowd, each of them gazing back at me with judging eyes and a silence that spoke legions. In my mind, all I could think of was the fact that I had no strength to carry him back home. He was going to stay here, or even worse, become of use... to haunt me not just spiritually, but physically. I ran away, unable to hide myself crying at what I had done.

"TEARS OF JOY!" Botch continued.

"THAT WAS A HELL OF A BOUT!"

"A BRUTAL AND MERCILESS BATTLE OF TWO EQUALS!"

"CULMINATING IN THE FINALIZATION OF OUR DEARLY DEPARTED CHALLENGER!"

As I came to the red gate, Kalimba ran towards me, looking to offer me praise. "You did it! You won─" But she stopped as she saw the pain and misery on my face. I started weeping as I walked, wanting to get back home as quickly as I could so I could be alone with my thoughts.

The usual party of one applauded my performance. "My, you are a mess. But that was a fight! I haven't seen anything like that in ages, hell, I haven't seen anything like that before! You're going places, my dear captain! Places I can't even begin to fathom. So tell me about it, how does it feel to take on one of your own and win a life-or-death bout?" I gave no answer, I just wanted to go home. "Hello, still talking here." I gave no answer. He tapped his cane into the dirt and appeared in front of me, pointing his cane into my face. "That's far enough. You haven't given me any kind of response─"

Kalimba ran from behind me and knocked the cane out of my way, she stood in his way screaming into his face. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU IDJIOT!?"

"Are you talking to me?" He replied, thoroughly offended by the zebra's actions and tone.

"Can you not see he is not in any mood!? At least see dat he does not want to be bothered anymore! He is in pain! He is suffering! Let him mourn!"

The stallion still took issue with the mare who shouted defiantly to him. "I don't remember allowing you to take a tone with me, miss Mavembe."

The zebra's horn began to spark fiercely. "Yeah, I take a tone! I take a tone with you! You leave him alone! He is done for tonight! He goes home now!"

His horn began to spark in response. "I didn't say he was done."

Kalimba summoned a crude knife of her magic against his throat. "Well I don't give you a choice." She whispered in a violent hiss.

The stallion's eyes narrowed with indignation before he spoke at her. "Stupid girl." He turned around and quenched his magic as he stormed off to the center of the ring. "I guess I'll be tending to my new toy with quite a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm sure it will sweeten after a while."

Kalimba made sure to grab my left arm, seeing how my right shoulder was out of place. "Let's get you home."

The mare who hedged her bets on the human she signed her name to had stood next to a bloodied mare whom she had struck out of frustration. The other she had brought in had lined themselves up next to her, waiting nervously as the mare shouted obscenities.

"Son of a bitch! Scum-sucking piece of shit!"

As Umbra approached the human body at the center of the arena, he nodded to the medical staff and called in his dolls. As they collected their bounty, Umbra began to walk towards one of his VIP members. "Ah, don't think I didn't hear you from over yonder."

"Sir." She replied. "I was talking about that other motherfucker who killed my human!"

"Excuse me, but who's human again?" He questioned the mare.

"Yours, sir." She corrected herself.

He tried to smile through his frustration from his encounter with the zebra she sought after. "Your little zebra friend gave me some choice words, complete and total disrespect."

The burlesque mare looked to her employees and pointed them towards the stallion. "My girls will be more than willing to spend the night to make you feel better. Use them for what you will."

"Oh no, I'm not interested in mares today." He replied. "I was more interested in results."

"Well you got what you wanted." She pointed out.

He glared at the mare and leaned closer to her. "Did I? Did I really get what I wanted?"

The mare quickly bowed her head towards Umbra. "I'm sorry sir. I meant no disrespect to you."

The stallion sucked the air between his teeth, displaying his frustration before looking to one of her maids, namely the one who was struck earlier. "On second thought, I could use a distraction."

"She's free of charge, whatever you want." Stellar replied, earning a look of horror from the mare.

Umbra started to smirk. "Well... It seems I've found my sweetener a little earlier than I anticipated."

+++Point of Perspective: Kalimba Mavembe+++

Shortly after we the arena, many onlookers of the district had witnessed us walking together. He whimpered and cried along our way to the castle. At some point, he tried to address the issue of his shoulder being out of place, but he found it too difficult and painful to perform on his own.

It hurt me to see him in such a way. Even as he walked, everything about him was in pain. And for the brief moment I had expressed my enthusiasm for my future not being sold off, I was brought to the truth of his pain. All throughout his affair, he tried to save his fellow human. But in the end, all he could do was save himself.

A decision I've grown to know all too well.

When we arrived at the castle checkpoint, I hollered out to the security patrolling the gate from further up the street. "Abeg! Please, let him through!"

Two guards clad in armor marched up to see the state of one of their officers. "Captain!" As he arrived, he knelt down and tried to breathe through the pain. Their attention was brought to me immediately. "Alright lady, what the hell did you do?"

"He is hurt! Please help him!" I begged, ripping his shirt to reveal the extent of his injuries.

"Eugh, why does his shoulder look like that?" The first guard questioned.

"Is it broken?" The second asked to the other.

The first tried to put his arm in a sling, only to bring him more of the terrible pain he endured up to this point. He screamed, grabbing the attention of the entire security detail in the area. The guard pointed at me while the second tried to escort him in. "We'll take him in, but you stay out here."

As much as they insisted that I remove myself from the grounds, I couldn't help but to desire being by his side. I wanted to at least know any updates that would come his way. I wasn't going to leave him alone, only I could explain from a witness standpoint of what happened, especially if he is to be put under for an operation. "Please tell de princess I am his assistant! She will know of me!" I pleaded to the guards.

"Sure she does, lady." The guard said just as a guard in light armor approached with the princess by her side.

Princess Celestia's jaw fell, she gawked at the man who labored to even walk forward. She was quick to his aid. "Captain, take it easy."

The other guardsmare, seemingly one I remembered from the train station, covered her mouth. "Oh no, what happened?"

He himself tried to answer, but all he would do is slowly fall to the ground and pass out from the pain. "Captain!" The princess called out as he became unresponsive. She turned to her other guards. "Sitrep! NOW!"

The first guard was quick to point at me. "She showed up with him! We don't know anything!"

I then made my plea to the princess herself, seeing how her guards would understandably want me away from the grounds. "Your highness, please help him! I will explain to you what has happened once we are inside!"

The princess wasn't one to hear excuses from her guards. She desired the truth, and assumed that I could offer that to her. "Let her through." She ordered.

"At once, your highness." The two guards bowed before her and parted themselves from my path.

"This way." The princess summoned a gurney for her to use on him. She laid him out and pointed me beside her, along with her accompaniment. "Solemn, with me."

"At once." She replied quickly.

Nondis squirmed, showing that he had came back to for a brief period of time. But the pain soon found him, making it harder for him to breathe. "Stay with us captain, we'll get you the care you need."

He started to mouth his confession as we ran to the nearest medical center. "I... I killed..."

"Who did you kill?" Questioned the princess.

The captain still expressed his sadness through the laborious pain he suffered. "I killed him... I killed him and he asked me not to..."

The princess then brought her inquiries to me. "What did you see?"

I briskly answered her question. "De one we all know, we cannot say his name. He brought a human for him to fight."

"A human!?" While the princess tried to hide her concern, she looked down to the injured captain.

"A human did this to you?" The one named Solemn asked to the human, taking notice of his misshaped appearance. "What happened to his arm?"

"His opponent put him in a hold. He seemed to have dislocated it." I stated.

"There's blood everywhere!" She pointed out.

"He was stabbed in his arm during de fight. But as far as de rest of de blood, dat is not his own." I added as we came to a medical office.

"So he was forced to kill another human is what you're saying?" The princess asked.

"He tried his best to convince him otherwise. De other human did not listen. It seemed dat dey had a bitter encounter before." I explained.

The captain stirred once more. "Call... call Melanie. I gotta tell her."

As he was toted off by some of the doctors she had on staff, I made another plea to the high princess. "Your highness, I request to stay here for de night, I need to look after him."

The princess looked to her guard and nodded. "Make preparations for her stay. Send an envoy for Twilight's Castle immediately, inform her that this is an emergency pertaining to the captain's health. She will know what to do next."

"As the wind, your highness." She replied before galloping off to do her tasks. The princess then looked to me.

"I'm going to need you to fill out an incident report while you're here. I'll be back shortly."

One Hour Later...

While I was filling out my incident report, Princess Twilight walked into the room with three other humans, one of them being a different one than what I had ever seen. Thought I didn't identify her through looks, I immediately realized who she was by her voice. And as soon as she got word of Nondis' condition, she tied up her hair and went right to work. Princess Twilight followed after her with the intent to assist her in her work. But another two humans came by as well, these two I was completely unfamiliar with. I didn't know who they were, or if they had any positive connection with Nondis. I had to keep my guard up for his sake.

They introduced themselves to Solemn and I as his brothers. The both of them each had voice a number of concerns with what had happened. The others came and gathered around the human, he slowly regaled on the encounter he had on tonight.

Every human in the room had grown sullen, unable to understand what had happened, how, or even why.

"Damn, dude. That shit crazy." Cliff said, rubbing his chin.

Princess Twilight turn to the woman next to her, who continued her work on the injured captain. "So let's get this straight, this Jasper guy is someone you knew?"

"My ex." She stated. "He abused me when I was with him, it got even worse when I started seeing Nondis more often."

"So you two were on unfavorable terms?" Princess Celestia questioned the captain.

"It's not that we weren't on good terms... I took another mans life while he begged me not to. I knew that he was suffering, I didn't want him to. I know I didn't have a choice, but I still can't shake that feeling. I killed a man."

Alex, being the more upfront of anyone, presented his argument in a very forward way. "Nondis, you did what you had to do. He was trying to kill you and you came out of it. I know it was a hard decision, but you made the right one for yourself."

The woman took out a picture and held it up to a light board. The young princess questioned her as she placed the images up for all of us to see. "What does it look like?"

"Dislocated shoulder, that's his right side. Deep perforation of the arm, a complete puncture of entrance and exit, hairline fracture of the ulna near his wrist, that's his left arm. Contusions on the left and medial sides of his skull, concussions are likely." Melanie elaborated, pointing to the injuries she called out.

"Concussions? Did he get punched that hard?" Stanton asked.

"He used his own head to batter at his opponent." I responded. "It was his only way to fight."

"Yikes, it was a real fight to the death then." The younger brother said to himself.

"How did he dislocate his shoulder?" The older brother questioned me.

"I know dat he was getting his arm pulled in some weird position. I cannot explain it because of my lack of knowledge in human anatomy."

The woman sighed at the image of the captain's injuries. "I don't know how Jasper got here, but I don't doubt we'll be seeing him again."

"I don't know anything about this Jasper guy. But he's dead now, so I doubt it." Solemn said very liberally.

Melanie immediately corrected her. "That's the point. Jasper is dead, Ummie has a human body at his disposal."

"What do you think he can do with a human body?" Stanton questioned.

"I don't wanna find out." Alex answered. "I'm just imagining if it had gone wrong tonight, then we'd be in the dark about it until sometime later. And I know that's something we don't want to visualize."

Melanie had readied some slings for her to use as she continued her prep work, offering words of her own perspective. "Nondis, I know you had every intention to let him live. But I do want to say that I'm okay with the decision you've made."

"I'm pretty sure society back home would be okay with the decision he made." Rickey mumbled.

Princess Celestia glanced to the human. "Why do you say that?"

Cliff then went into detail of what took place on their end. "He has a record, raped a girl on another campus. The college probably paid off his parents to transfer him. Meanwhile they keep their reputation clean, all's well for both the college and him, and to a very tiny extent the victim."

"How is that any good for the victim?" Solemn questioned.

"I said 'very tiny' for a reason. The only reason is that he's nowhere near the victim. Other than that, it's a whole ass miscarriage of justice." Cliff responded.

I rolled my eyes at the thought of a human rapist going free in our world. "Dis is all a mess."

Alex sighed and folded his arms, addressing the princess as he did so. "Your highness, I know it sounds counterproductive to what he's trying to put an end to, but Nondis cannot keep doing this."

"I know. Of all the times I have concerned myself with how things have gone already." She said as she looked to the oldest human in the room.

Stanton flexed his hands, angry with his brother's condition. "So what do we do now?"

The princess still tried to hide most of her emotions from those within the room. But for a single instance she took a moment to relay her relief in the captain's return. "Kalimba Mavembe, you escorted my captain through Canterrot at your own peril, knowing not only the state he was in but also the weaknesses that entailed. You placed yourself in a vulnerable position to be able to bring him back here." She wouldn't look at me to acknowledge it, but she showed her gratitude. "Thank you."

I knew that she had some resentment towards me for not being able to protect him as much as she would've liked, but she understood the reason why. However, all I could do was grow upset at her not showing any sign of warmth to him. I understood the reason, but I could not bear to see her not comfort him in the slightest.

I swallowed my own feelings in turn, trying not to disrespect her. "I only brought him back to where he belongs. Dere is no need for a thank-you."

Solemn, who was once hostile towards me, had grown neutral in her tone. "Ms. Mavembe, I'm curious if you have ever considered what your future would be beyond all of this?"

She intended to ask me about joining the guard. I politely declined. "I am working on a farm now."

As I guessed, she insisted the offer. "Then perhaps your skill would be better off in a place where it can truly thrive. I know the guard has a bad reputation at times, but there's so much good that comes from serving, even if it's not always a good for your own self."

"Forgive me, but I do not think I would be much interested." I reiterated, looking to the injured human. "Given who I have been around, I can say dat my option to decline is warranted."

Princess Celestia continued to ask questions in a blunt manner. "How long will it be before he can recover?"

Melanie answered her question in a fair detail. "Bruises are a few days, a concussion usually around the same time frame, he'll be fine on that end. A broken arm is from six to nine weeks, normally speaking. A dislocated shoulder is about fourteen weeks on average. Stab wounds are healed in ten days."

"We might not have that kind of time. We all know what will come next if he does not show for too long." Princess Celestia responded almost coldly.

"Let him fucking wait!" Melanie responded sharply before adjusting her tone. "I'm sorry, but if Umbra can just start dragging people across the portal like there's no tomorrow, then I say he can wait until he victimizes someone else! The sooner he's back over there, the quicker he pulls another fucking stunt like this again." As she spoke, the captain grimaced and held at his head with his less-injured arm. Melanie offered him a leather strap. "Okay Nondis, bite down on this."

"What are you doing?" Solemn Oath questioned.

"Relocating his shoulder, and it's gonna hurt like a bitch." She started to place her hand on both his arm and chest. "Okay Nondis, keep your body as straight as you can. Stanton, you're the strongest of us, so you'll need to help hold him still and guide him through the pain."

As soon as she lifted his forearm, the human squealed in pain. "I could sure use that healing spell again."

"I'd rather make sure everything's in place to heal. Insurance and reassurance is better than response." Princess Twilight answered to his dismay.

"Nondis, look the other way to your brother. He's gonna help you feel better." She said as she took a deep breath and readied his arm.

Once she started, the captain started screaming past his strap, his face contorting and his jaw straining to bite down further on the leather strap. "Okay, just try to stay still. I know it hurts like a motherfucker, but you gotta hurt to heal, alright?" Stanton said to his sibling, who could only nod.

"AAAGGGHHH FUCK!" The captain shouted, his legs shaking from the ordeal.

"I know, I know. Just bear with it a little longer. You walked all the way here, you can wait for me to make sure it's set in right." Melanie felt around his shoulder and assessed that her work had been successful. "Okay, you did good."

Nondis, far from relieved, threw his head back and winced through the pain. "I didn't think it would hurt that bad! Holy fuck that was unbearable!"

"Our shoulders move as we walk, you know." She pointed out. "You're lucky your body didn't start running on automatic too quickly, or else your right arm would be pretty fucked for the rest of your life."

"Oh, so he had to be hurting all throughout that walk back." Solemn added. "Ow, that's a rough going."

"Okay, let me take care of this now." Princess Twilight finally stepped up to do what she did best. Her horn glowed as she used her magic on his shoulder, watching the human squirm in his discomfort. "I know, I know, I know. Just be patient, it'll all be over soon."

The captain closed his eyes and plead to whatever higher power would listen. "Oh God, I promise if the pain stops, I'll read Psalms 23 everyday. Please let it stop!"

Stanton then replied. "Oh trust me, she's probably the next best thing."

The Next Morning...

Throughout the night, I stayed by the captain's side as he had done for me previously. Though with the environment we were in, I found it hard to resist dozing off. There wasn't a need to be on my guard as much, there was no threat of danger, it was just him sitting in the bed and myself sitting at his side. It wasn't the comfort I was used to, but it was the bare minimum for me to find my sense of easement.

I think there was a period where I had convinced myself to rest my eyes for three hours, waking up to see him staring at the wall ahead. He struggled with a lot of his thoughts, many of which revolved around every possibility, what he could change to make it different. What if he dropped the weapon? What if he had offered his life instead? What if he had somehow planned their escape and forced themselves out? I'm sure there were many instances of guilt and bereavement alternating the thought patterns in his head to not allow him sleep. I'm sure the feeling of his foe's blood was fresh on his mind as they were on his hands.

To him, the world would never be normal again.

The hours of the dawn came, the world began to awaken to a Saturday morning filled with cold air and pegasi at work to bring in the snow. Melanie had entered the room, holding a tray of food for the human to consume. The woman smiled at her long-time friend. "Morning, sleepy head."

"I didn't sleep." The captain sullenly replied.

"Why not?" She questioned blindly, it became more obvious to me that she was not entirely understanding of what was taking place in his mind.

"I still hear his voice." Nondis answered in a soft voice. "At this point, all I'm waiting for is him walking through that door any second to give back what I gave him. I'm sure I feel like I deserve it in some way."

The woman sighed as she placed his tray next to him. She urged me to scoot over so that she could be at his side also. "Nondis, can we talk about that day you fought him the first time?"

He didn't answer her, only reminiscing on last night. "I could've tried something. Anything. It's like it keeps playing out in my head."

She turned his head to look at her. "Nondis, if you hadn't stepped in on that day, it wouldn't be him who would have a trial in the next month. It would've been me. I would've been booked for murder."

"Mel, you're sounding ridiculous." He argued quietly.

"No, really. Why do you think I was so calm when you spoke to me? It wasn't because I was on some drugs to make me feel better about it. It was because I was already putting in my head every possible motive I had in defending myself. And if it happened to turn lethal, I was prepared to make that decision to save myself." She picked up his hands and held them in hers. "What you did was no different. You did what you could to save yourself."

The captain offered his own emotional rebuttal. "It's so much different taking a human life. Ponies and whatnot were already an adjustment, but this was different. Halfway through the fight, I stopped caring. I was more focused on surviving than I was on trying to find an alternative. But I took his life regardless. And now, he'll never go home, not even his body will be at rest."

The woman offered her own argument. "Look at yourself, Nondis. Do you think he gave a damn about how you would've felt, how you would've begged for your life, about what was on the line for you? Hell no, he didn't. The moment he found out it was you, the first thing on his mind was some measure of get-back. I'm sure someone told him this was a different world, that what he did here didn't have any consequence in the other." She patted her friend on his almost fully-healed shoulder. "Nondis, you did what you needed to do, no matter how hard of a decision it was. Do you know how many people aren't prepared to make that choice when that time comes, much less living through the encounter?"

"...Not many." He answered.

"It's a heavy thing to weigh when it's all said and done. But consider the other side of the scale sometime."

Nondis started to reach out for his plate, noticing how his fingers trembled, he started to mold his hands around a phantom knife. "My hands are still trembling from it. I can't shake it off."

"Don't." She said, laying her hands on his. "Didn't your grandfather have some lesson on stuff like this?"

"When we were hunting, but that's different." He replied.

"What did he say?"

The captain closed his eyes briefly to recount on the words of his grandfather. "When you decide to pull the trigger, your intent is not to kill for sport, nor is it to kill because it's exciting. It's to make the final choice between your life or theirs. There's always going to be a mourning family on the other side, but what's important to you in that moment is your life. Because when you die, there is no coming back."

Melanie slowly took a breath at the quote he unveiled. "Wow, your grandfather was prophetic."

"He spoke from his experience in the Vietnam War. But I think that he was quietly trying to preach to himself the same lesson he taught us."

"Well I think he taught your right. You chose you. And I'm happy you did. We all are." The woman finally stood back up, ushering his breakfast by his side. "I'm gonna go sign some papers and see if we can get you out of here. Sit tight, shouldn't even take me half an hour."

She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. The captain glanced at his plate, seeing the pancakes sitting before him. He pushed them away as he didn't have the stomach to eat much. I did notice that he had been moving his shoulder a little more freely. "I trust you are better?"

He rotated his arm while holding his shoulder. "Thanks in part to you for getting me here. Didn't enjoy the walk back too much, but I'm happy to be well on the mend."

"I am glad you are back talking." I replied as I offered him his water to drink. "Last night you did not do much of it after de match."

"I was probably in a state of shock. A lot of what was on my mind had ended up being what I was forced to do, and what was going to be the end result." He said before drinking the water through his frustration. "I feel terrible that I had to watch him die. Everyone watched me killed him, they were cheering for him. But when they announced that I had won, it was like the silence was louder than any jeering and booing they had for me at the start. And then there was the pain on my body, so there's that too.... I was just overwhelmed with a lot."

I scooted myself back to my initial spot and leaned in closer to his bedside. "Can I tell you a story about de night we met?"

"Okay." He said, taking another sip.

I took myself back to that night when Prod was pressing himself into me for the last time, the nervousness and fear I felt over what I was about to do, and also the process I had to wrestle with in my going through with it. "I was scared when I realized what I had done. You gave me a weapon, and I made a choice of my own. I was scared for my life holding dat thing. I said to myself 'What if I miss him? What if I hit myself? What if my magic does not hold and I drop it? What do I do if I fail?' But I tried my best to concentrate on what I needed to do. And when I did it, I was scared because of what I knew was to come next. I thought of every possible way dat dey could come for me. And den I have to add dat I had never taken a life on my own."

"You didn't seem to hesitate much when you killed him." He pointed out.

"Let me finish, ah?" I said to the captain. "I had watched ponies die, many of whom I had performed with. One died from a client who was too aggressive with an oral session, she was sixteen. Another went in a similar way. He choked her until he got off, but by de time he was done, her life finished before he did. She was thirteen. Another was beaten to death, and she was one of de prettier ones from de brothel. She was twenty. At fifteen, I myself had come close do dat same fate, Prod was de one who gave me dat experience. So you would think I was excited when he died on top of me, right?"

"That's what I assumed at the time." He replied.

I lightly chuckled to myself, thinking back on my initial reaction. "I was scared more den anything. I went mad, I wanted to make sure he couldn't come back to hurt me, so I tried firing de weapon again. It did not go off, you gave me a rusty spoon, and de rest you already know."

"I walked out for some of it, to be fair."

"Well de part you walked out on was me operating in madness. But you missed de part with me staring at a mess of de pony who used to abuse me. I could not fully process what I had done, nor could I begin to put together what my plan was for de future. I just thought dat when de night ended, when you woke up in de morning, you would leave me to fend for myself. I did not know who you were, my opinion of you to dat night was only some unusual creature trying to fit in. But you came around and promised me what I thought was some filly dream." I stood up and hugged the human, showing my appreciation for him and what he did for me. "I did not know dat I could have dat promise after what I had done. But den you showed me I could. You showed me dat I could face de world and not be afraid. You showed me dat I could be more den your slave, some form of your sexual release, some decoy to be tossed away and used as a rag later. And for dat, I grew to admire all dat you are, even longing for de chance to prove myself a mate to you."

"Kali." He said softly.

I leaned into his chest, personally and selfishly relieved that I could hear his heartbeat for yet another morning. The rhythmic waltz soothed me as I held to him. "You know, de only reason why I accepted dat name was because your friends gave it to me not long after you tried to do de same. Dey made me feel like I had some closeness, friends. I rediscovered what it meant to have a second chance after making a decision like de one you made. I am still finding who I am, but I have found more because of you." I looked up to the man, smiling for the security he brought me as well as the ambitions he renewed within me. "Meaning dat you tower over me, meaning you are a different species does not change what I feel and how I feel for you."

I raised myself, leaning in closer to the man. Even though I knew he was not as willing, I still wanted to comfort him in the ways I knew how to do. I started to climb in the bed, more than willing to offer myself to him. My heart began to race once more, anticipating the rush of happiness that I would feel as he found himself within me once more.

"Am I interrupting something?"

I froze in place at the sound of Princess Celestia's voice behind me. He, however, was quick to move me off of him. "Your highness."

As he manually picked me up and placed me back on the ground, the princess quirked a brow at the human. "Captain, I see you are doing much better."

"I'm improving." He answered with a nervous and awkward laugh before clearing his throat.

"Any form of that is a good thing." She said, walking towards the captain with a not-so-friendly frown. Her face changed once she looked to me, however. "Kalimba, thank you for escorting the captain here. Your service should be commended." She said with a warm smile.

"To give back what was given to me is my only reward." I answered, turning away from her out of embarrassment.

"A most humble reply." She spoke kindly to me before readdressing the captain. "Are you good to go?"

"Waiting until Mel gets back with the paperwork. Then I should be walking out of here." He said as he walked over to the X-rays on the wall. "Sheesh, so that's what my shoulder looked like?"

"Do you need the time off in your world?" The princess questioned flatly.

The human paused to think of his answer. While he would've probably said yes to the offer, he appeared hesitant on the idea. "Nah. I feel like that's gonna open some pretty fresh wounds in my mind. I'd rather stick it out here for the time being."

"Okay." She said as she continued to be blunt with him. "You know, you should check your phone every so often, captain. You never know what messages you'll miss."

"Right." He confirmed.

Melanie walked back into the room, noting the human on his own two legs, she brought in a change of clothes for him to wear. "Out of bed and walking around, good to see." She said, giving him his clothes. "Alrighty then. Your bloodwork came out just fine, no lingering poisons, your shoulders and arms have healed up nicely thanks to the magic. You should be good to go, but I'm gonna recommend you take it easy."

"You're the doc." He acknowledged.

Melanie sighed one last time before departing. "I know I'm not gonna be able to stop you from doing anything, so I'm only going to say this. When you're ready to go back in, give that motherfucker hell for me."

"I'll do my best." He answered.

When Melanie walked out of the room, Nondis started to unfurl his clothes and take off his shirt. I found myself looking on curiously at the bare-chested human. The princess was quick to call me out on my visual dedication to his physique. "Miss Kalimba, perhaps we should give him the space to dress himself."

I knew that it would've been the respectful thing to do, I knew that she had some ulterior motive for wanting me out of the room. So I feigned an excuse to remain in the room. "I do not think it would be wise to leave him alone."

The princess seemed to catch on to what I was brewing, and quickly countered it with her own retort. "You know, I think you're right. We should stay here and ensure that his security is most certainly promised."

"I agree." I answered, not intending to back down in any way.

The captain looked back to us and saw the both of us eyeing him just as he was about to take off his pants. "Um... ladies?"

"Yes?" The both of us replied, not ever blinking at his voice.

"I'm trying to put on my boxers. Can I get a minute?"

I quickly replied in my usual manner. "I am only making sure dat nothing happens to you."

The princess gave me a brief glance as she worded her answer differently, her intent being the same as mine. "Captain, as if I can take my eyes off of you for one second. You keep getting hurt and I keep having to bring you here."

Knowing that the room we were in had no means of an alternative, he climbed back into the bed and pulled the sheets over himself as best as he could to cover his torso and waist. His feet hung from off the foot of the bed. "Nevermind, I'll just put these on under the sheets."

The both of us tilted our heads as the captain pulled in one leg to free himself of his undergarments. Though the princess was often cold with her approach to the captain, she started to let her jealousy show in all of it's sun-kissed glory. "Please don't stare, miss."

"I believe we should both avert our eyes den." I suggested back to her.

"I'm watching for security purposes." She replied, tilting her head again as the worn boxers had shifted down his leg.

"As am I." I said, doing the same as I tried to catch a glimpse of what he looked like in his human form.

The captain, becoming a bit flustered came from under the covers and wrapped himself while he got out of the bed. He then used his magic to lift me into the air, all while physically pushing the princess out of the room. He moved me next to her as he walked back inside. "Ladies, privacy. Please?"

The door closed as we both were left unsatisfied with the situation. The princess turned to me, I then said to her. "You realize dis is your fault."

"Me?" She asked incredulously. "I'm only looking out for his best interests." She said, looking up to the ceiling as her ears grew pinker than usual.

"Well I know what else you were looking out for." I sparked back

The captain's voice erupted from the room. "Don't make me come out there!"

Later That Day...
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

After a day of really taking the time to process the past day and all that happened, I had finally grown to a little more at ease with myself. Of course I still had the weight of a human life on my shoulders, God knows I can't wash the blood off of my hands. But I looked back at what happened with the added leverage of what would have happened should I had died instead.

Granted, I wouldn't know anything past the world fading through my eyes, I'd probably be towed off to you-know-who and dissected for years on end. Maybe he'd find an interest in using my corpse for some odd reason, but I don't see him using a human body for what he's doing now. Maybe he uses my remains to torment my friends, or hang me high in the town square for Celestia to see as a message. Either way, it's a bad ending for me.

I'm sure Jasper would've lived his life free of any charges. They wouldn't have pinned anything on him, not if there's a simple knife involved. It would've been a random human wandering Canterlot, possibly to make friends in places where I could not. But I could safely concluded that if he had known about Melanie being here, he'd probably wait for the moment when she was alone somewhere and make his move. A good end for him, but a bad end for her.

My friends and family would've lost someone they cared for, that's just another path of tragedy. My parents would probably raise hell to Celestia and demand that my body be returned home to be buried. Maybe I do get recovered, but they cremate me just to make sure. My riches would be given to them and they'd be back home to live their lives without me in the picture, just like they had readied themselves to do for some time. After all, that's what I ordered from Kalimba.

Oh yeah, her end would've been a lot worse out of anybody. With a comfortable wealth in her name, she would be reduced to only a bartering piece, maybe indoctrinated as a sex slave again with a higher price tag. It would be a repeat of Tuesday night every night. I'm sure her dad would try to barter for her release, but I couldn't see him staying alive past that first night. I'm sure it wouldn't make her very happy to hear her dad dying in an attempt to free her. It would be unbearable.

For Shining and Cadance, it would be a costly win. While their foal don't get put out to be a pervert's wet dream every year until she's of legal age, they live with the guilt of having their small win at the cost of a friend's life. For Twilight and the others, I'm sure it'll hurt for a while, but they'll move on. Celestia would probably lose hope in finding love, but in fighting the against the approval process law. I'm sure Blue and Alabaster would help her at every turn to make it happen, especially since a good portion of the background work was already done. In the end, they'd win regardless. Royally speaking, my goals would have been met. Overall, it only ends in emotional despair for everyone except Jasper.

But time marches on for me, and the bell tolls for him. We made our choices, he didn't heed my warnings, and now he paid the price. I wish it was as easy as me saying that, but it's not. I'll always consider that moment a black mark on my name, a scarlet letter to my legacy. I can only hope that I don't have to take the life of another human, much less watch another die here.

My guilt throughout the day deprived me of many an opportunity to put some food in my system. And my body was just now letting me know that it didn't take too kindly to that exception. I just stayed in my room for a while until I heard a knock on my door.

I got up to answer, seeing Lemon Hearts wearing her chef attire. "You ready to eat, champ?"

I'm sure she didn't know it, but that word did sour my appetite a little. Champ... "Yeah. I have to put something in my stomach. I'm already down two feet of intestine, can't afford to miss meals as often."

"You know, Princess Celestia made you breakfast but you didn't eat any of it." She pointed out.

"A lot was on my mind." I briefly summarized.

"Well there should be a lot more in your stomach to help you think. No food is just as bad as too much food." She warned.

"You're right on that."

Her horn glowed for a moment, guiding me out of the room and into the hallway. She quietly spoke to me, looking around to see if there were any eavesdroppers. "The princess couldn't stop thinking about you during breakfast this morning. She was really depressed."

"Over me? Nah." I replied to the young mare.

"More than you think. She said you never responded to her messages this morning. She was worried that you were at war with yourself. I don't know what all happened, but I know you forgot to check your little device."

I pulled out my phone to see a number of messages, at least one from everyone I knew. My mom and dad dropped me a few, Alex, Rickey, Stanton, Cliff had all offered their words of encouragement. Mel had already spoke with me in person so she didn't send me one. Twilight and Rarity both sent me entire paragraphs telling me how happy they were that I was still around, telling me to don't give up. And then, of course, there was the one Instagram notification.

"So how you taking it today?" The mare questioned while I took the moment to send replies to everyone.

"I'm just still processing it all." I responded. "I mean, it's a lot to consider."

As we showed up to the dining hall, she went on to inform me of my menu. "Well, dinner is going to be a healthy meal for you. A nice clean choice of veggies, no meat today, as per the princess' request."

"I'm fine with that. I don't think I need that right now." I said finally opening the Instagram message that was sent to me earlier in the morning.

Positive words of reinforcement. Seeing the messages on my screen had made me feel unexpectedly warm inside. Just earlier, I was thinking about what could all happen if I died before all of what I sought out to do had come to completion. But everyone's messages, they were the words I needed to see. I knew my life had a weight on everyone around me, but seeing and hearing someone say it to you at a time like this gives it much more worth.

While in the eyes of many, I was a murderer of my own kind. But in the eyes of those closest to me, I am a man who was forced to make a choice between life or death. And they were supportive of my decision, grateful even. Hell, I'm grateful to still be among the living right now. I have an opportunity to make good on my promises, to do right by those who placed their trust in me.

The yellow unicorn called for my attention. "So are you coming or what?"

"Yeah, I'm coming." I said as I sent a thumbs-up to Celestia's message.

The mare held the door open, waiting for me to get inside. But as I came to the doorway, I was caught off-guard by who all I saw. It was almost every royal in the family, even some family members of the royals. Twilight and her family had stopped by, Shining and Cadance had come in from the Crystal Empire, Blueblood had brought all seven of his wives, Luna had found the time to be present this evening, and Celestia sat at the head of the table with her hoof extended to an open seat next to hers. "Captain, so glad you could join us."

Cadance quickly ran up to me and grabbed my arm, dragging me to the open seat. "Well don't just sit there like a ugly wart, come on.

"Princess Cadance, I didn't think you'd be here." I said to the amorous princess.

"We came in as soon as we heard what happened. Also heard a little extra bit of good news on your end." Shining added. "Congrats on the huge court win."

As I was seated, the princess didn't immediately look at me, but she did acquaint her aura all over my hands, the warmth gracing me with a gentleness I did not know magic was ever capable of. Celestia then replied. "Yeah, that really unsettling addition to Law Processu Approbatio was shut down. No more prepubescent inspections. Thank all the heavens above."

"That's a hell of a win in my book. Now our daughter's going to be safe to be born in a world without that added pressure on her life." Shining added, to some chagrin of his wife. He realized what he had said out loud and shrugged off her reaction anyways. "Oh yeah, it's a girl. Don't know why she wanted to hide it for so long."

"Congratulations. Another little Sparkle to bless the lineage." Mrs. Velvet replied before looking at her daughter. "Your turn, dear."

"Mom!" The purple princess groaned.

While everyone chuckled at the purple mare getting teased by her mother, Crescent deviated from the mood to inquire about me. "How you holding up?"

I looked down to the glow on my hands, distracting me from the shape my hand had started to take subconsciously. "It's not easy on me, but it's easier to know that I have a support network who doesn't call me a murderer every five seconds like I was doing to myself in my own mind."

"You gotta do what you can to stay alive. That's priority number one." Shining added as his wife kissed him on the cheek.

I chuckled at the stallion who was held onto by his expecting wife. "Except when the princess' life is in danger. I'm sure that's the fine print of our job."

"In all reality, she'll be the one taking the damage for me." Shining replied as he started to feel himself being surrounded by his loving wife. "Look, I'm gonna tell you something about marrying into royalty that they don't tell you. You're not the security for them, you just have to learn how to fight for yourself when they aren't there. But when they are, be ready to watch the sparks fly because alicorn magic is a beast of a force."

"I suppose." I replied to the young prince.

"But if you're appointed royalty, you'd have at least a few large battles under your belt." Blueblood also added his own two cents on the matter. "I know what it's like to look death in the eye as it claims the one you chose for him to take. It's not easy to beat the rush of adrenaline when that moment hits you. It's pretty paralyzing when you weigh that in. But if you see that certain abuses or misfortunes no longer falls on others, the weight of your actions will start to see balance. I'm not saying it's something you should get used to, but it's something to be ready for. Keep that in mind."

Luna walked up to me from behind my chair, leaning over my shoulder and earning the ire of her older sister. "So, thinking of getting any sleep tonight?"

"If my mind will let me." I replied, seeing the elder sibling intensifying her magic over my hands.

Luna snickered at her sister's reaction. "Then perhaps you are overdue for a sleeping spell or two to keep you rested. Of course, nightmare-free."

"I think I'll take that offer." I said to the princess of the night.

Celestia, growing more and more jealous of her sister being so hooves-on with me, broke her magic and moved her younger sibling out of the way. "A most promising proposal, you do need the rest since you did not partake in that last night. But you should not skip out on essentials such as meals and rest, you need your energy. Now, let's get some food in you so you can rest easy for later." The princess' voice also spoke in my head. "You should probably spend the night in my room. I really don't want to put you in a position where Luna feels entitled to some of her little-sister antics again." My eyes widened at the princess who held her head up high, glinting at me with one eye.

Blueblood clopped his hooves as one of the chefs walked out with a bowl of soup for his appetizer. He nudged his princely counterpart. "Honestly, I could go for those ribs again."

"Who are you telling?" Shining said enthusiastically. "Hey Nondis, I did some looking up of that place you took us to. They say they do take-out. Wanna snag some of those tomorrow when you're feeling better?"

Seeing the smiles around me put me in a perspective of understanding. Realistically, everyone in this room is, has, or will be accountable for the life of at least one pony. And in the midst of it all, they've learned to process it and live with what they did, even if it was painful. While life wasn't going to be the same for me, I could still try my best to make things work. It feels weird, I can say that I'll feel like I don't deserve it at times, but in all honestly I've already altered the lives of every human around me, every pony, every dragon, every creature.

Yeah, the weight of a human life is much heavier here, but how many lives have I already taken along with that one, watched being taken, been made responsible for? Again, it takes time, but I will learn how to move forward like I did with everything and everyone else.

That's the only way to do it. "How about this, if I'm feeling up for it, we'll pay that place a visit tomorrow since Alex is in town this weekend. We could divide the load and see who all wants to come."

Celestia looked to me with some visible confusion. "Captain, I thought you didn't want to spend time in the human world with of what happened."

"I think I changed my mind." I replied somberly. "Besides, there's someone I haven't seen in a while I need to talk with."

Meanwhile at the Unknown Lab...

Umbra sat in his chair as he stared at the body before him. As one of his puppets carted off the body of a young mare with bruises on her face and various incisions all over her body, he gleefully moved his scalpel down the large body that laid dangled on his table, it's limbs dangling off the sides. While he worked, he had some piano music playing on a vinyl record at a reduced speed of what was to be played normally. He hummed as he tried to match the pitches of the instrument, but being too invested in his work to care, sometimes even rushing ahead of the melody after having listened to it for an extended period of time.

One of his cloaked servants entered his work space and bowed. "Sir."

"What is it now?" He addressed tiredly.

"The creature's latest test results have come back." The servant issued to Umbra a clipboard with the relevant data.

"Alright, let's see what we have." He ran through the numbers on the page and gave a single nod. "Ah, most promising. Six hours, you say?"

"We are seeking further methods of improvement. But we're ready to implement the body of the beast, sir."

The stallion hummed in reply. "Okay, have the puppets make preparations and set the advancements in motion, thank you, get out of my face."

Before he would, the servant also issued him an envelope with a simple wax seal. "There is also a letter from Damper Trot, sir."

"Give it." Fatigued of any diversion from his work, he rudely snatched the letter and ripped it open without care. "Hmm, seems that some of his colleagues have been bought over on the idea of exposing the truth of the royal marriage restrictions. How tragic."

"It appears that he is requesting your aid, sir."

"My aid? On such petty matters?" He tossed the letter into the nearby disposal bin, joining the many biohazardous materials within. "It's funny he thinks I give a damn about any of that at this point. All of them come to me expecting me to make miracles work for them and their political ambitions, how stodgy. My goals are far more ambitious, far more illustrious. I couldn't care less of him and his friends' crusade against the royals. All that does is show me how much he'll get in my way if he doesn't get what he wants. And of course I can't have that. It's bad enough I have too much of that going on as it is, and my setting an example only went over as well as the early years of my life."

"So what will you do, sir?" The servant asked.

"The work is already done. He sabotaged his own effort all to appease my request, now his only option is to appeal to me and mine. He's a fool believing in revolution and reformation, that only empowers him and his colleagues. And what does it do for me, nothing." The stallion levitated the scalpel towards the head of the operating table, preparing to make his first incisions. "The thing about power is that if you're given too much of it, you tend to forget where you come from, who you pay homage to. His proposed system, or rather the half-assed explanation the captain provided to him, would only give him power. But once he has that, who's to stop him from enacting it against me? I'd much rather keep what I have and string him along for his loyalty."

"Should I tell him that you would reciprocate his request, sir?"

"Of course. I'll play nice until I get what I want. Then he'll get what I feel he deserves. I don't think I'll need him, but I'll use him for what comes next." As he finished, he glared at the servant with mounting impatience. "Now get out of my sight, I have work to do."

"Yes, my lord." The servant rose and dismissed himself.

Umbra glanced down at the body he was set to make his incisions on. Satisfied with the fair and smooth skin of his subject, he lightly glossed the surface of his forehead with care before taking the scalpel. "Highness is such an overused word to describe higher power, wouldn't you agree?" He stared at the human cadaver as if he waited for an answer. The stallion giggled at the nonresponse. "Oh, don't give me sass, I know what you mean. Personally, I'd rather the term lord or savior or even... Christ. Can you imagine if I were to appear in your world with the graven image your lot portrays this character to be, with the powers I possess? I would be seen as the son of God. Then when I am finished with your world, I will return to this world with weapons far more powerful than the elements themselves. And perhaps after a show of that power, they will see me as the rightful god, not some pitiful excuse of descendants like Celestia and Luna. But first, we need to address the narrative. So, let's probe that mind of yours and discuss this 'Rapture' you lot go on about."

He summoned a book next to the table, the title reading in bold print at the cover 'The Bible KJV'. He opened to the Book of Revelation, starting on the sixth chapter. He tapped onto the first verse.

"And let's see if we can find another way into your world to make that happen."

Intents revealed, motives to be unconcealed, a human still seeking to be healed, and a new chapter soon to be unsealed. I can say that the next chapter will be among my favorites along with chapter 86.

Now let's discuss this chapter. I had to do a bit of research on topics such as bereavement and guilt dealing with death, so yeah, that was a bit of a damper on the mood. I know that it seemed casual for the other humans to say "hey you did what you could, you had no other choice" without really understanding the weight of feeling the responsibility of taking the life of another human being. And in most instances nowadays, it's done at distance with guns and whatnot, but given the extremely personal and intimate circumstances of close-quarter combat, it tends to weigh on you in a different way if you're not used to it.

Nondis is more used to dealing with changelings and ponies in personal combat situations, it's what he was trained to deal with. But with humans, he's still partial to that responsibility since he knows not only what's at stake, but also acknowledging that role of responsibility. I had to give him some time to properly process the guilt in a rationalized manner. And being around those who had also been directly affiliated with death or some form of responsibility regarding the safety of others, it offers a space to grow and cope with the varied experiences.

STORY SPOILER: ...Also I've been trying not to say it, as I wanted to write it in to be as natural as I could possibly get it, this is the FINAL arc of the story, hence why it is so abysmally dark. So yeah, that's why it's been seeming like it's been going for a while. I am challenging myself to respond and react in the mind of every character as they would in life if they were afforded the resources that are available in the story. It's why I've thanked people for hanging around for so long, because I have been drafting this arc for the better part of two years. I had many endings planned, some I hinted towards, others I've completely omitted, but since I finalized the plotline thus far in my head, I can easily say that we are less than a year off of concluding. There will be epilogues and the like, but I can't tell you exactly which month that will come to an end as I am trying to close everything off.

But yeah, seven years is a hell of a run. For those who stayed throughout the years, my hat comes off to you. For those who read up to now, I commend you for staying with me for so long.

With this chapter release, I am now back on track for the year. I could double down next month, have that month's chapter posted by mid-late next month and have half of November's written.

On that note, I guess I'll see you guys next time.