Ever since the day Kalimba first found out about her father still being alive, I could tell that there was some part of her who wanted to reconnect. And I knew that she had some attachments to him as we spent our nights together. Those nights, she wanted me to offer her the comfort her father couldn't provide to her for a decade. That last scarlet thread tied to her childhood that seemed almost unbreakable, the link of her past being the only thing to comfort her in times of distress. Even at the graveyard, standing before her mother's headstone, she expressed sadness and a longing for closure between her and her father.

But as she sought to bring closure to herself, she found herself becoming enraged at what all had taken place in her life. The things that came as a result of her being pawned off by her father for his own weakness, it drove her to hate him as equally as she loved him. And it showed in how she treated him every time his name came up. She would show disdain for his name being brought up, angry that he's even trying to reach out to her, and then keep a watchful eye on him as she leaves. I suppose her reasoning for not wanting to interject herself into his family structure was because he had found some strength to move on. She wanted to show that she could do the same, but she really didn't know how to. Finding out that he was still alive and shadowing him through market was nothing more than a shining example of that. And seeing that he had reverence for her thinking the worst had come to his daughter, she stepped in to remind him that she was still here. I guess that was her dissonant way of announcing that she wanted to hear him out.

Tragically, that had ended without resolution, that final scarlet thread so brutally sundered.

She knew she had a younger sister, she didn't want to be introduced like this, not to a little girl who couldn't even see what her older sister looked like. She had a grandmother, but I'm sure that not even Somber Spiral wanted her to be introduced to her from the way he spoke yesterday. I'm sure an initial sighting by his wife would've been a disaster of misunderstanding, and I wouldn't know how she would even treat that situation after she had gained context. I'm sure their meeting would be a lot better, the two sisters who varied so differently in age, had they been introduced under better conditions.

But instead... "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" …It couldn't be anymore tragic.

Kalimba wept as she held her younger sister, the little filly combatively calling out the zebra as she expressed her deepest resentment. There wasn't much that we could say to rectify it, this was done because a certain psychopath had a control issue, and Kalimba had grown resilient to the lifestyle he sought to keep her in. He was targeted to send a message, one that rang loud and clear to the both of us.

"IF YOU HAD NEVER EXISTED, DADDY WOULD STILL BE HERE! MOMMY WOULD STILL BE HERE! GRANDMA WOULD STILL BE HERE! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST DISAPPEAR!?"

The words that were so uncompromising had been issued to the mare who could only blame herself for everything that had gone wrong in the current avenues of her life. And hearing the terms spoken from the young filly had been nothing but a desolate reminder of her initial outlook: Be used and die.

But that didn't stop Kalimba. If life had taught her anything, it was that she had to push forward when times had gotten unreasonably desolate. She survived far worse than the crippling insults of a foal expressing her grief. If anything, she was a foal who had to survive that grief, thrown into an uncaring world, experienced their innocence being stripped from them, being forced to live by any means necessary, and finding a way out when opportunity revealed itself. In a way, she felt the mentorship she could offer was the only way she could be in Gala's life. The young foal was made into her responsibility, and she had the means to do so.

Without question, Kalimba took the filly and brought her back to her room, where she and Celestia had spoken with her and offered to make her feel better. While I could only try, my heart couldn't take looking at how that sick bastard had robbed her of her eyes.

...One day left.

As new of Somber's death took to the city streets in official capacity, there was no good way to go about my day with as much as it had dragged on. The halls were a quiet reminder of the hope that was doused with his death. Gathering some information from the guards and a few of his assistants, I was informed of how well he had canvased the protestors to make a bill with every last one of their demands within it. I'm sure that the protestors from yesterday would be upset in discovering that the one who actioned their voices to potentially see the floor to a vote was gone.

And in usual standard, there will be a number of senators who will look at the draft and make changes to bastardize what was originally an organic piece of potential legislation. I'm sure some will look at it and seek to change what will be given out, what's to be regulated, how it would be regulated. It'll go from a rich piece of legislature chock-full of the wishes of aspiring lovers, to a watered down façade of crowd-pleasing bold-print headlines with sinister fine-print loopholes as wide as black holes. It'll be relegated to a bunch of lip service, watered down further in debate, then issued a final draft that has less than half of the provisions on it. And since the majority is mainly hard-stuck traditionalists, it will either be negotiated to it's weakest form or it won't ever see a final vote.

And if it does, it will be made where Law Processu Approbatio will persist through it's guidelines, leading us nowhere.

It was upsetting on both fronts. It made me angry that he was killed by the bastard who wanted to make a point to Kalimba and I. It victimized innocent lives in the process, from taking away the possible aspirations of an innocent foal to removing all instances of Kalimba to get the closure she deserved to have. And it dashed my efforts to put a bill on the floor, giving us the freedoms we want, the freedoms Twilight, Luna, and Celestia deserve. But not just them, it would put a dead halt to all the guards that would have their lives endangered for being assigned under an inexperienced suitor, placed on a task that weighed far too heavily in lethality.

I guess with that also in mind, it hurts for three different fronts.

On that somber note, I had wandered into the royal library, hoping to find something that could help me find my way out if it all went bad on tomorrow evening. I mainly started to look for books that were specific to the practice of teleportation. But even with my guard credentials, I wasn't allowed access to level seven magic tomes, something about them not allowing just any random pony being able to access higher levels of magic spells. And given the initial rumors of my seeking magic tomes, they might be a little on-guard about me asking for such things. And they won't even let me take it out in Celestia's place, a personal assistant of hers must be the one to request it. So it was back to square one.

While I did ask Alabaster and Blue if they could check out the book in my place, their access was limited as well. It appeared that their magic privileges are capped at level five as citizens, and what all they do know is essentially a violation of those guidelines. But as far as them teaching me to teleport, only Blue could do it. And even then, she strongly advised against me learning it at my current level. Again, back to square one.

I knew that there were some ponies in Twilight's network that could easily grab the information I needed. Lemon Hearts is a good local source, especially since she was also a student at Celestia's school. By pedigree alone they are given access to level eight spells. But that didn't pan out well, as her occupation had her access restricted to level three outside of emergency situations. She even told me that having an ordinary role imposes stiffer restrictions as any student's magic at the age of preteens tends to be much stronger than the basic adult average. Moondancer would be the best option outside of Twilight herself, but she was even harder to get a hold of, at least from what I was told.

Of course, I was thinking too hard on a matter with a simple solution.

I just pulled up Instagram and messaged the princess if she could get me some material that would help me in learning how to teleport. She replied that it would put too much mental strain on me and that it would result in not being able to use magic for a while, coupled with severe migraines if I tried to do it, with the potential side effect of some possible burns to first-time users. Clothes only amplify that risk, I found that out when Mrs. Twilight Velvet tried to port me away with her.

Twilight and Starlight makes it seem so easy. Rarity doesn't do it that often, but she's well-practiced anyhow. Luna's probably too tired after her night shift. Discord refuses to teach me. And Celestia's against it as well. Blueblood is about as laissez-faire on me and magic study. Shining is off with Cadance.

So again... back to square one.

For a time, I just resigned myself to learning more offense-based spells to help me achieve what I needed to pull off the fight. Though as I was deep in the throws of some self-levitation to warm up, I had gotten a call from Alex. I levitated the phone to me and put it on speaker as I tried to concentrate. "Hello?"

"Yo, mister magic man." My brother jokingly called out.

I couldn't help but to chuckle over the irony and timing of his comment. "Hey. What's going on?"

"Nothing on our end, dude. We're all good. How about you?"

I shook my head. "Well, the day could be better."

"Why, what's wrong? Something got you feeling down?"

I started to lose my balance, immediately stumbling back to my feet as I began to explain what was going on. "One of my subordinates ran into a scene today. A senator was murdered at his home last night."

"Yeesh, that's rough." Alex seemed somewhat surprised but very much detached from the news.

"Yeah, but it gets even worse. The whole family except the daughter was killed, the little filly had her eyes gouged out."

"Ugh, that's... that's pretty hardcore." He replied with some audible form of disgust.

"Yeah. And the kicker, the little girl is Kalimba's little sister."

"Oh God! What the hell!" Finally understanding the proximity of the situation, his tone perked up significantly.

"Yeah, I was there to be emotional support as she went to confirm the body and meet with her younger sister. It was bad. The senator's body, they had the word 'obey' written into his underbelly. So yeah, that was a hell of a way for Kali to find out how her father died."

The man on the other line grew sympathetic towards the aforementioned zebra. "Damn. That's fucked up, man. How's she doing?"

"She's not good. She was upset at him for what he did, that's understandable. But at the same time, she just wanted to get that closure between him and her. And it also sucks that her only family left is blaming her for being the cause of all of this." I explained.

"I don't think that's particularly fair for the little girl to do that. Did anyone explain to her what's going on?"

"Alex, she's six. She's only blaming her because that's who was mentioned." I added.

"Six!? That kid is six and getting done over this bad!?" Alex questioned, harboring some sympathetic anger in his tone. "And who was Kalimba mentioned by? Did the murderer say her name or something?"

"You already know who the murderer is." I said with a exasperated groan.

Alex did the same. "So what are you going to do?"

"Do like I did before the Arimaspi Mountain assignment, prepare." I answered as I tried to regather some of my concentration to go back into self-levitation practice.

"You think you can take that thing on?" Alex asked, his mind going back to what Discord had described to us on Tuesday night.

I couldn't gather enough concentration to get started again, mainly with that same nightmarish description floating throughout my head. I opened my eyes to at least distract my mind from the potential hell I was set to face. I started to think more of what I still had going for me. "Well... I got magic and weapons. I might even go all in with it tomorrow. Explosives, high-caliber ammunition, lots of midrange options, I probably might knock off the scope of that sniper rifle you like so much and go at it. Maybe read a few magic books to keep myself on my toes if it ever gets dicey, if I can even get a hold of some."

Alex sighed on the other end. "You just be careful, man. I don't want nothing bad happening to you and you end up like Jasper."

That image started to permeate the back of my eyelids as well. It made me uncomfortable to even so much as blink and look back down on my hands. I'm sure they were clean, but I still remembered then being covered in his blood. It was gut-wrenching. "I know a lot of shit's been going on, but this ends tomorrow for me. And if Discord was on his shit about what he said, I think the girls will run it from there."

"If it gets bad, you find a way to get out of there, no matter what you got, no matter what you ain't got. You get your shit and move." My brother warned.

"No need to say it twice." I replied.

"I love you, bro."

"Love you too." I hung up the phone, not really in a mood to meditate and self-levitate anymore. Instead, I went to the barracks for weapon inventory. I had a lot of options rummaging through my head, but I needed to know what it was I could use within my being able to be mobile.

I still didn't know how fast that thing was or even how it fights. And that deeply concerns me.

Some time later, I had went into the weapon inventory and started assessing my options for weapons. A lot of my choices were predicated on doing as much impact, essentially finding whatever weapons had the stopping power to send any living creature a quick and outright ticket to the afterlife. And since I was potentially dealing with some already in that state, I could only further narrow my options down to those that could do enough damage to render a body unusable and or unrecognizable. There was no time to negotiate with the smell, get all uppity about whatever foul liquids and slimes that splashed on me as a result, just find anything that can saw a body in half in a few shots.

Too bad I didn't have any kind of artillery that I could use for that.

But in lieu of that disadvantage, I did have some grenades to use. Frag grenades are always a dangerous option on an enclosed field with very little cover to use, so I had to improvise. I turned some sticks of C4 into molded balls the size of my hand, each with a good yield of explosive power capable to turn a few bodies into pink mist. I had grenade launchers loaded to the underside of my rifles. I looked into using some shotguns with pellets and a large magazine size so if that thing ever got close, I would have several chances to give myself some space. Last but not least, I did away with the long-range scope of my sniper rifle and replaced it with a holographic sight. Since most of the ammo for this beast could be considered as 'anti-matter', more than a few bodies would be assured as such.

I continued to weigh my options and rummage through the shelves for more alterations that could possibly give me even more of a damage output. But as I did so, a scroll of parchment floated by my head. I looked and saw the golden aura that surrounded it. I grabbed at it and looked to the princess who entered into the room, quietly closing the door behind her. "What's this?" I inquired about the scroll.

"A simplified formula. One-time use." She said quietly as she approached me.

"What for?" I asked.

"You put this beneath you and step on it. You will teleport to safety." She stated.

While I was surprised that she actually had the time to make something like this, I was even more grateful that she did. "How far does it go?"

I opened the scroll to see if there was anything of significance to pick up from it. Instead, it was just a bunch of old Ponish and some complex looking runes around a circle. While I was pretty underwhelmed by the size of the parchment it was on, I'm sure that it was bound to be a pretty flashy exit. "It will bring you to the checkpoint of the castle. Step on it and you're there."

I smirked at the high princess. "Guess you weren't playing with me getting back to you after the night is done."

She stood before me with a serious expression, looking up at me as she spoke. "You said you'll be without Kalimba on tomorrow night. It's only fair to make accommodations for every possible avenue."

I rolled up the scroll and started going through my weapons again. "I don't know what he's got next. He might pull off some crazy shit today to try and change up the terms on tomorrow."

Before I could pick up anything else, she grabbed at my hands and held them still. "Then you let me worry about that."

As her grip loosened, I gave the princess a peck on the forehead to show my appreciation. "Thank you for all that you've done for me, your highness."

She retaliated by yanking me into her, our faces just inches away from one another. "Come back home when you're done. I mean that, captain."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, already thinking of the worst. I at least had the opportunity to finalize my affairs in Equestria to the highest being in the land. It was only right to tell her what I wanted done if all would be short of a favorable end. "If I don't ever come back, Blue and Alabaster will help you get your freedom. Reallocate half of my wealth to my family, the other half to Kalimba and her sister. And let everyone know that I love them. And if I'm ever walking around a zombie or some shit, just burn me on the spot."

She placed a hoof to my lips, silencing me. "You have a whole day to make your affairs right, Nondis. I suggest you spend it making the others around you happy instead of sulking on negative possibilities." I guess that was her way of saying that she didn't want to hear me have this conversation.

"I thought I already did that first part." I replied, wanting this day to be focused on preparation instead of it being a day where all I have is time to think of the encroaching hours before I get thrown in hell again.

"It's never too late to try again." She whispered as she levitated all of my weapons back on the shelf. "I've given you the rest of today and tomorrow off on paid leave, Saturday and Sunday will be your usual weekend. So get out of this room and start going out there to meet with your friends again."

As much as I wanted to continue prepping, I did see her point. If this was my second-to-last day breathing, I should make my personal affairs in Equestria more complete. It's sad to think about, especially when you've thought about it a number of times over and over. But I have been procrastinating on some of my promises. Maybe I should carry through with them instead. At least I knew where I could possibly start. "What about you?"

The princess sadly looked away. "I have work to do. Someone's got to pick up after you finish."

I called out to her, placing a hand on her shoulder to try and cheer her up some. "Cella─"

"I believed you promised a certain little filly some ice cream to make her feel better." She said, lifting my hand from off of her, she refused to look at me. "Small moments, they grow into warm tender memories. Offer as many as you can, so that if you don't come back, you'll have a fond legacy to leave behind."

I walked over to hold her from behind, jokingly whispering in her ear. "We said we'd do foals."

In a slight fit of frustration, she broke my arms away from her and walked forward. "I am not mothering the foals of a man who won't be there for them. That's too cruel." She still refused to look at me, probably wrestling with her own emotions while trying to prepare herself for the possibility of yet another lover being lost to the cruel grips of fate. "We will talk more on it when you get back tomorrow night." She said, lifting her chin.

I understood why she was scared. She explained it a number of times. Each one of her fond farewells ended up being a loss for her. If I gave her a tender farewell moment, it could trigger some flag and lead me down the golden road of destiny. I held up her scroll as I tried to reassure her of my intentions. "If it gets too crazy, I will find a way to leave mid-fight."

"You won't be seen as a coward for doing so, not by me." The princess opened her eyes, only looking forward as she spoke. "Sometimes discernment is the better part of valor. When you are outmatched, outnumbered, and outmaneuvered, you must learn to protect yourself by persevering. Only a fool blindly charges in without a plan, a coward can look at the trouble and run, but they can just as easily accept what fate may bring them when they find that their efforts are pointless." At last, she gave me a stern glance and warned me before leaving the room. "Don't ever resign yourself, fight against it, run from it. find a way. Choosing to live will be the bravest decision you'll ever make."

As she disappeared, walking out into the hallway, I looked at the scroll and took a mental note of my exit strategy. Once I was comfortable with what I was doing, there was no other way to go but onward. The rest of my day was wide open, tomorrow was more of it. I had a long weekend ahead, maybe even a short one.

I had promises to keep. I suppose I should start with the easiest one. "I guess I have some ice cream to go buy."

Sometime later, I had dipped over to my world to buy a few things of ice cream, different flavors, different combinations, all kinds of stuff I know a kid would enjoy. The junkier, the better. I also bought a mini-fridge to help keep everything cool while we weren't eating on it. When I finished that outing, I made my way over to Kalimba's room, where she and her sister had stewed for the day. The little girl had still wore the bandages over her eyes, her hooves clumsily bumping into everything that was around her. When she reached out to watch her step, Kalimba was right beside her to help. But while the initial stages of that were volatile, she still accepted the assistance on the part of her newfound blindness.

When I walked in, I had made my presence known and presented some spoons for the three of us to use. When all was said and done, I had watched as Kali started her growth on being an older sibling. It wasn't easy for her either, she had a lot of crying spells where she had to stop for a moment and breathe. The little filly was then introduced to rocky road ice cream and waited impatiently for someone to spoonfeed her. I gave her that first spoon, and it was like she had started a brief journey of escape. It wasn't until she had asked me to describe to her what the ice cream had looked like when I had to leave the room for a moment.

I paced the entire hall, just filled with hatred.

I wanted to make Him suffer. I wanted to find some part of my constitution that had reservations against acts like disembowelment and cast that shit to the side. I wanted to be able to pull a fucking line of his intestines and wrap it around his neck, make a noose of it, and watch him asphyxiate slowly as the pain of being torn from the inside out had overwhelmed him. I wanted to burn his body, every single body he has, just to watch him squirm when he finds out there's nowhere else to go. Fucking sadistic asshole thinking he can just destroy lives and walk away like there's nothing wrong with the crimes he's committed.

All I wanted for him to do was suffer slowly, not even die. Death's too fucking good right now, it's too easy to just put a bullet in someone's brain and watch them seize from the moment of impact and slowly relax as all the muscles in their body are brought to understand that there will be no further signals for movement. There's too much peace in that, there's so much fucking silence in that moment, so much tranquility that Umbra doesn't fucking deserve!

...My brain hurts.

The familiar sensation of a fork excavating the left hemisphere of my brain had started to take place. I knelt down and massaged my head to try and rub it away. I did what I had to in distracting myself, like thinking of the little girl in the room I had to go back in and check on.

A soft pitter patter on the floor was what made me open my eyes. I saw that a tiny puddle of blood had rested before my feet. I wiped my face, only to find out I had a nosebleed for the first time in a while. I quickly summoned some tissue to blow my nose, wipe the floor and regathered my thoughts to walk back into the room.

When I entered, I had found myself hearing of one of Kalimba's stories about her father.

"And den he and mama showed me to my first Sun Solstice Celebration. Baba had told me dat he always wanted me to raise right up with the sun. Mama wanted to take pictures of de moment. So dey waited until de princess came out, and when she raised de sun, baba put me on his shoulders and raised me into de sky."

"Daddy did that with me too." The young filly replied. "He said I was his sunshine."

"And he never once dropped me either."

"He dropped me the first two times." The filly replied. "The first time, he was hurt. The second time a pony bumped into him, causing him to lose his balance. Grandma made him take me out for ice cream after each time because he dropped me."

Kalimba looked to me and noticed the bloodied napkins and took immediate concern for me. "What has happened to you?"

"Just a little nosebleed, nothing I haven't had before." I replied, finally joining back in on the circle.

The zebracorn took my refuse and threw it into the bin across the room. "I have never known you to have a nose bleed."

"Oh it was pretty bad when I was still getting adjusted five-to-six months in. I just never told anyone." I stated as I turned my attention to the young filly. "So, how's the ice cream?"

"It's got a bunch of stuff in it. Chocolate chips, peanut butter cups. I really like it, I wish I could see what it was I was eating." She answered.

I leaned over to look at the tub she ate from. "Well your flavor is called 'peanut butter cup'. So yeah, that's what you got."

"I like this one. Where did you get it from?" She asked.

"Well I got it from my world. It would've taken me longer to get some from downtown, and plus a lot can happen to the ice cream while I'm out walking. So I left over to my world and grabbed a few from a local store, came back, and here we are."

"This came from your world." The filly questioned.

"Yup. It's human-made ice cream."

"That's so amazing! What other human stuff do you guys have!?"

A lump grew in my throat as I tried to carry over this increasingly uncomfortable conversation. "Well, we have things that help us talk to one another. We have really tall buildings that can touch the sky, we have cities way bigger than Manehattan. In fact, we have these things you can ride in and we can go from Canterlot to Ponyville in around forty-five minutes."

"Is it a special train?" She questioned curiously.

"Well not quite. It's like a carriage, but you don't need a pony to draw it in or anything. You just turn it on and it goes wherever you want it to go. You can even play music in it."

"You humans listen to music too?"

"Yup. Would you like to hear some?"

"Yeah!" While it was strangely easy to get her mind off of her losing her father at such an early age, the discomfort of watching her try and feel her way around was still eating at me. But if it could make her happy, best believe I was in the business of making that happen, even if it was for a day. "So, what kind of music do you like, Gala?"

"I want the music that makes me feel like a princess!"

"Is that what your majesty requests?" I asked.

"It is what her majesty demands!" She replied, almost as bright-spirited as ever.

"Your wish is my command!" I replied, going to YouTube to search up some classical music. I went with very first selection that pulled up.

As it came up, the little filly's demeanor became more and more carefree. Immediately she started barking out orders. "Captain, oh captain! I feel that I should have a pretty tiara on my head."

"At once, your highness." I called out, looking around the room for something I could use to at least mimic the demand she had set out for us. I quickly grabbed a nearby sheet of parchment and crumpled it into a makeshift hair bonnet and placed it upon her head. "A crown most fitting for a queen."

She poked out her lips, standing firm. I don't feel like a queen just yet! Where is my royal cloak!?"

I yanked the sheets from off of the bed and tied them around her neck. "Of course, mustn't have you look the part of peasantry, your highness!"

"Where am I now?" She asked.

"You're still on the floor, quite a filthy sight if I do say so myself! A princess should not be groveling on the floor!" I playfully acted out as a snobbish character.

"Then raise me above it all!"

At this point, I was more acting out as a distraction to myself. It felt nice to pretend this was how it really was for a moment, to be in a fantasy land of kings and queens and evil dragons to be slain. It started to become that her escape was that of my own. So I knelt down and hoisted her up onto my shoulders. Holding her tight, I walked the room in a circle, parading the young filly. "All hail the fair lady of the land of Nottingham. Come, let us see the great young squire Robin Hood and his merry band of men!"

"Take me on a grand adventure!" She called out.

"A grand adventure to the land of Nottingham! From there we shall hear from the locals of how beautiful you truly are!" I ran to the door, entering the hall with the young filly on my shoulders. As I walked, I called out to the hall in a playful tone to the many maids and guards around. "Make way for the queen of Nottingham, fairest in all the land!"

Kalimba walked behind us, making sure that there wasn't any issues of me losing my balance or her losing her grip. On the way to the cafeteria, I heard the young filly giggling over my shoulders. The many guards and maids who watched me parade with the girl had mostly watched quietly as I marched down the down the hall proudly with her laugh leading the parade. Walking along, I did run into some I could convince to play along. They too filled in after me and joined the display. Since most of them were maids, they were more than accommodating to the little filly, making comments about everything about the 'young queen'.

"Oh, how beautiful she is!"

"Just look at her mane!"

"She so regal and brave!"

"Make way for her majesty!"

Along the way, even some guards that previously served under me broke their post to join the parade. As they did so, they also made calls to clear the hall of our impromptu parade. As I continued to play the music on my phone, I held the filly tightly against me and increased my pace to a more jubilant skip. "Do you hear that, your highness? That's the sounds of your beloved citizens who truly wish nothing but the best for you."

"There's a lot of ponies here!"

"Of course, all of the citizens of Nottingham deeply care for you, and will protect you at all times!" I triumphantly called out before we came up to some stairs. "Now hold on tight, we're going down the mountain to the grand hall of Nottingham!"

Walking down the stairs, Kalimba took great care as to make sure that her younger sister would not be in any danger. I carefully walked down the stairs and started parading her around the current floor. The jubilant display had promptly grabbed the attention of a few lawmakers in their offices, prompting some to come outside and watch. As we passed by, some would point to the foal and whisper to one of their associates. Others merely stood quiet as their aides applauded while the parade took place.

"We're in the city now!" I called out. "Can you hear the applause of your beloved citizens as we go by them?"

The filly was grinning and giggling all the while. "Yes! I can hear them, they sound so nice!"

But of course, not all was well with the parade taking place. A group of politicians emerged from the chamber, along with Princess Celestia to see what was going on. One politician stormed up to us and started barking his own set of orders. "Captain Nondis! Have you no decency or respect!?"

The young filly was surprised by the angry voice down below her. "Mr. Captain, what happened?"

I quickly threw together a scenario and pointed at the senator as though he was a villain we had run into. "Oh no! It's the evil toll keeper! He's gonna make us pay to get into the city!"

"How dare he make us pay!" She pouted. "I'm the queen! And the queen doesn't pay to get into the city!"

"That's right!" I replied before calling out in a playful tone. "So make way, evildoer!"

The senator, in a foul mood, called out angrily towards me. "You are so immature and stupid! What part of 'Day of Reverence' do you not understand? You went from allowing a bunch of angry rioters to take over our halls to hosting a parade on a day that's supposed to be one filled with solemn respect for the deceased! You bring shame to Equestria with your brazen disregard for the memory of those who serve in our parliament!" He then turned his attention to the crowd behind us. "And all of you, shame on you for going along with it! You're not some bunch of kids walking around and getting a grand tour of Equestria! You're adults, act like it!"

Kalimba held no quarter for the stallion, stepping forward to speak in our defense. "De better question is dat what do you do to observe de memory of de ones who have passed away? What do you do in deir name?"

The stallion scoffed dismissively. "Oh this is so rich. I'm being lectured by a pony who can't even speak properly. The gaud of this one. Maybe you should learn your place, and that should obviously be back in a remedial school somewhere."

Kalimba took great offense to the issue of the senator making fun of her tongue, walking towards the stallion in a confrontational manner. "I trust you should be more den adult to know dat what you say has consequences."

Seeing a few guards in the crowd, he called them forth and issued a firm command to them. "Guards! Come get this foreign assailant immediately!"

Celestia then stepped in. "Guards, stand down."

The politician shot a look of bewilderment to the princess. "Your highness, will you not step in to stop this madness!?"

"The mare before you is none other than the eldest daughter to Somber Spiral." She pointed out. The senator appeared somewhat disgusted and confused by what was told to him. The mare smiled mockingly before resuming her scowl. Celestia then pointed out to him. "The little one on the captain's shoulders is none other than his youngest daughter."

The senator grew mum as he was told who the filly was, and tried to speak as though he was mistaken. "Wait, so that little filly is the girl they found at the scene?" He returned his attention to me and went back on his tirade. "Well in either case, captain, you know better than to cause a scene here in the hall. I'm sure you must know that we are observing Senator Somber Spiral's death in the right way."

"Den you really don't know a damn thing about my fadda." Kalimba rebutted. "Dis is how baba would want it, to parade his pride and joy around de halls like some sort of party. He would want what makes her happy, not what some old, incontinent case of flatulence depicts him to be."

Celestia looked up to the young filly and smiled at her. "For some of you, I'm sure you have nothing but respect for the life of Senator Somber Spiral. But for others, namely the ones who truly know him, this is a celebration of life, a reenactment of who he was. You don't have a right to dictate to others how they should live their lives or how they should go about mourning those they've lost. What's the right way isn't just to lay some flowers at a wreath, it's to do the deeds that he would wish to have done, to make those around him truly feel a moment of joy in their sorrow and grief as they reflect." She then eyed the senator one last time. "So Mr. Tollkeeper, you don't get to rain on anyone's parade. If the queen of... Nottingham, was it?"

"Nottingham." I confirmed.

"Right, Nottingham. So if the queen of Nottingham wants to go into her city and make her decree, then by Faust allow her to do so." Celestia walked alongside me and spoke up to the filly on my shoulders. "And if she wishes to discuss terms with the princess of Equestria for Nottingham's behalf, then nothing must stand in her way."

Seeing that his arguments had been shut down soundly, he backed away and allowed us to pass on through. The princess watched as the young girl started to glow as I propped her on forward and pointed ahead. "Well you heard the dignitary, we have an alliance to make! Come my queen! We march on through the streets of Nottingham to the great hall of your throne! ONWARD!"

The filly started giggling as though the weighted conversation had never had taken place. Meanwhile Kalimba walked by with the one of the fiercest scowls I had ever seen her give to anyone not in Canterrot. The princess marched along with us as the parade of many maids and guards grew and grew.

Eventually, our parade came to it's climax within the very throne room of the castle. The princess held a mock ceremony to announce Equestria's allegiance to the allies of Nottingham. In doing so, she even signed a fake treaty and held a very real dinner with the young queen in the dining hall. She was given the experience of royalty while Kalimba and I watched carefully over her throughout the day.

I'm sure if it wasn't for the tragedy looming over all of this, it would be the best day in her life.

The Next Day...

After a runabout day of helping a little one feel a lot better about herself, I went to my room feeling good about myself instead of moping on what I could've done differently yesterday to make things much better than they were. But maybe fate had it penned differently if he had stayed here. Perhaps if he had never went home, he'd only have one daughter to his name, he'd lose everything around him and Kalimba would probably be a little more willing to reconnect to him in-person. If he never went home, he'd probably hear of the murder of his family upon waking up in the morning.

But life is full of tragedies and hindsight.

Kalimba also found my room, giving me a knock as she came by to visit me. When I opened the door, she levitated a couple of pints of ice cream along with the mini-fridge I had left in the room. When she walked in, I knew that I had to devote some time to her especially.

We spent a good hour talking about the times she had when she was a foal and how much fun she had when her father had been around. She had a few moments of anger where she ended up lashing out at her father's name, but she soon gave way to grieving.

I can never fault her for being as confused as she was. Much of her life was pretty much her being thrusted into adulthood at a younger age than she could even get her cutie mark. There was the unrealized potential, the painful remainder of what she once had, the tender memories she shared were all but fragments of nostalgia. There was no rite of passage or some adolescent guidance taking place, there's no memories between that resemble her living her life the way she should had. And of course, when she has the chance to ask why, the answer is ripped away from her before she can even get a response.

I'm really going for a second helping of ice cream with an overgrown filly.

She and I went to bed together, not really having much done outside of me holding her the way she always guided me to do. But instead of taking warmth in the contact, she whimpered and cried for the father she could not gain closure with. And she was just as wounded as her younger sister in spirit, but without the vastly shorter attention span of a young child. No, everything stuck a lot harder with her.

In closing my eyes, I had a wandering dream where I felt like I was in command of an overarching force that could decimate entire armies, only to be quelled by the doings of a single nightmarish beast of unholy creation. And as the time progressed, the dream became a spiraling nightmare where every wall I tried to hide behind was a cornucopia of bodies all reaching out to me with their hooves, some face within reminding me of that day I went into the Everfree Forest to rescue some ponies from the changeling commander. Every possible nightmare came bashing at me all at once.

So instead of commanding great armies, I was being chased by an army of bodies all looking to have me join with their gruesome form. And it became so after a number of times trying to hide behind a myriad of objects, that thing would still find me until it's face came into view. And so I started running, just in any given direction, a straight line even. My phone was vibrating in my pocket, I had a phone call telling me that I had to get out of there as fast as I could. But before I could ask why, a tornado started forming right beside me in the distance.

I then found myself driving somehow. None of it really made sense of how it all flowed together, it was a mess of a disaster dream with the chorus of a monstrous scream heard in the distance behind me. Body parts started falling down from the sky like rain, and the tornadoes kept popping up. Vortices warped down from the black and orange sky above, I kept driving to avoid every single one until I took cover in a large house out in the country. I locked myself inside, only to find out that reports of an EF5 tornado had spawned in the back yard, already ripping apart the beams and walls that held the house together.

Everything came crashing down on me, everything was covered and promptly swept away in a black windy abyss. The chaos was brought to a momentary peace as I surveyed the damage I somehow lived through. I looked down to see that my body was a mess, wooden splinters and broken glass all in my chest, my right arm was completely gone. There was barely a wall left in the house to build from, I was standing on the concrete foundations, and saw only the destruction taking place in the distance.

The wind kicked up again, I looked behind me, seeing yet another massive twister sweeping closer as more body parts rained from the sky. In the blackness that started to swallow me I was left deafened by the shearing winds and blinded by the dust. And a haunting image of a pony's face turned to me and grinned with a demonic smile. The image froze for a split second and ran red.

My eyes shot open to void the nightmare. I woke out of it and started to send the signals to my right arm to push myself up. But I realized that I couldn't feel that portion of my body respond the way I needed it to. I was scared for a moment until I had realized it was Kalimba sleeping beside me, hunching up against her pillow with a saddened expression on her face. My arm was serving as a pillow for her side.

I gently levitated the mare from off of my arm and placed a pillow in place of where it was. And in a second, the blood started to recirculate through my arm, allowing the nerve endings to reactivate and register the absence of blood flow. For a moment, all my arm could feel was pins and needles prodding through it, for the first five seconds, I couldn't even move my hand. And once the pins and needles started running through my hand, I gained access to my thumb, index, and middle finger. My ring and pinkie fingers took a bit longer to reactivate.

Once my hand was back in working order, I got out of the bed and went to the bathroom and relieved myself. And when I walked out, I looked at the clock next to my bed. It was approximately 4:48 in the morning.

Even if it was early, it was still Friday.

...Judgement day.

Hours. Minutes. Seconds.

I'm sure for many who had a death sentence, it's the wait before the moment that's the most terrifying at times. Some may even feel resigned to just get it over with, others may plead for a way out. But in the mind of someone who's sent out to fight on the sands of Normandy during the war, there's a lot of anxiety. What happens next? Have I been good in life? What if I can't get back home? Does God smile at what I've done or will I face eternal retribution? What's gonna happen to me when those gates open up? There's gonna be a lot of people dying, am I one of them?

And then there's the mindset of those who have already seen the hells of conflict. You made it through one day, you could possibly make it through another, maybe even the day after that, just take it a day at a time. If you don't smoke, try it and see how it feels. If you're too young to drink, bend the rules and drown the pain away. Crack a joke or two, get a laugh going, have a good time and make the best of it. But I'm sure that many in that position have one or two phrases that sticks with them in dealing with the unknown.

Not many people know it, but there's an unusual warmth in despair. There's the tiny light at the far distance that allows many to see a glimpse of future success. But it comes at a cost of self, something you know that can't be redeemed or even compensated. Being at the edge, looking into the event horizon, there are one of two ways to see it. You can see it as a point of finality or maybe a way to break through. Many who hasn't put themselves this close can only see the perspective of your impending demise. But only you can know what your fate entails past that point.

What really matters now is if you got your affairs in order. If not, then it doesn't matter anyhow. It's all about how you leave others around you, but one can also exercise the right to be selfish and leave it up to them to figure it out for you. You can't complain anyways, you're dead to the world, you're dead to the universe, you're dead to yourself.

And yet still, there's life.

I've come close to death enough times already to know what to expect when it's all done. As to why I'm really harping on the concept, I'm just fortifying my mind for the night. There's going to be a lot of un-life dancing about and I just want to feel comfortable enough in acknowledging it's natural presence before I'm brought before the unnatural being created from said presence. I'm fighting to live, no doubt about it. But one wrong move or calculation and it's to the morgue for me, possibly not even that far. I'll just get scooped up and thrown in the back of the wagon for Slade to have his fun with.

God, if you are who you are and you exist, burn this motherfucker the moment he touches me.

My entire day, I spent it having some discussion with others in terms of what I had planned on doing in either scenario. And I did manage to finish up my prep work from yesterday. I checked in with the little blind queen sitting peacefully with Princess Luna. Apparently she had spent the night working with the young filly and have devised some ways to have the young mare have some glimpses of sight. It was a spell utilizing some of Luna's ability to create dreamscapes. But instead of weaving worlds of chocolate mountains and candy-coated raindrops, she recreated reality, giving her a glimpse of what was around her. It was through this how she found out what Kalimba and I looked like.

But just as easily as it helped her to be able to see around her, it also made it easy for her to use her imagination to remold the face of her assailant. While Luna had no clue as to who she saw in that space, she offered us a similar glimpse of what took place during that time.

Of course it was him, and he acted alone.

...The night couldn't come soon enough.

Later that evening...

It's time.

All was set to go, my weapons were already loaded, my ammunition stores all in a place I could summon from, and with my mind hardened to face the impending peril, I was meditating on the idea of what I would do once I saw Him for the first time. I know I can't kill him, he showed me that much. But there was going to be a lot of hostility swimming through my mind. I had to find some way to work past it.

And if all went to hell, I might as well die well-dressed.

I shaved myself to a clean cut, giving myself a neatness unseen since Count's funeral. I wore the uniform that was issued to me, custom made by Rarity of course. And I wasn't really worried about transforming this time, I was going to go into the deep of it, and everyone was going to see me do it. At least they will know where I went before it was all said and done. It was my last time anyways, Kalimba wasn't with me this time, Alabaster and Blue stayed behind at the castle. There's no point in hiding who I was since they all know I am there to fight. And they were going to get Captain Nondis for the final time, whether I lived or died. At least the citizens will know where I was last seen.

My walk through the streets of Canterlot was a quiet affair. Ponies saw me walk by and shared comments of where I was headed. Many just looked and kept moving about their own way. A few did greet me and I replied with smiles and short interactions. And the further out south I went, the more the citizens stared and watched me. Those that wanted to speak grew fewer and fewer, almost as if they wanted nothing to do with me.

With the castle in the far distance, I finally reached the main alley leading into the Corrotto District. And the ponies who were around started to make themselves sparse to my appearance, at least until they saw me walk in by my lonesome. My journey through the alley had been pronounced by a few ponies looking at me with distaste, others waiting quietly for me to pass by before continuing their business. They all treated me like I was going to arrest them for whatever I saw, when all I wanted to do was get this last fight over with.

A quiet crowd grew behind me, each pony having judgmental glares pointed my way. I reached the arena and the ponies within the lines started to part like the Red Sea. But my journey into the halls wouldn't go unimpeded. Some of the security wondered why I was headed towards the VIP Lounge so liberally, and started to blockade the hall leading to that area.

That was until... "Captain Nondis! Baby! Honey! My loveable pet! You finally arrive like the swan you are!" Of course, he walked right out of the room and stood behind the barricade of security. "So you ready for your big dance tonight?"

"I'm ready to go home." I replied quietly, trying not to let my anger show in both my face and voice.

"Aw, don't be so cruel to me. I've been wanting to see you since our last little gathering on Tuesday." As he spoke, he noticed that I had not only walked the streets as who I was, but sans my champion. "Hmm, where's my dear little Kalimba? She's usually with you."

"She's grieving the loss of her father." I replied, again trying not to find some way to lay out the security detail and choke the smile right off of his face. "She won't be coming tonight."

The corners of the stallion's mouth tilted with some frustration and disappointment. "Ugh, why of all days does she decide not to even come by? Did she not get the memo?"

"She got the memo just fine. I decided that she would be too emotionally irrational to attend. So your blame should be directed to me." I firmly replied.

The stallion rolled his eyes. "Why do you ruin my fun?"

"Why'd you do it?" I replied in turn.

"Why did I do what?" The stallion questioned.

"The little girl who's eyes you took. Why did you do it?" I questioned calmly, keeping my cool.

He snickered and carelessly brushed his actions off as if they were a casual occurrence. "Well it's pretty simple, can't have eye witnesses. Can't trust a little filly who's blind and absolutely traumatized for information until some time has passed. After all, things like that tend to be blocked off by the time they get older until a certain point."

"And by then, you'll be long gone? Is that how you think it works?" I asked.

"She's young, she'll recover." He answered dismissively. "The worst that will happen is recurring nightmares, especially those she won't be able to open her eyes from. But in time, she'll adjust mentally and develop a sense of humor to cope with the circumstances. Her hearing and sense of touch will increase, she'll learn to smile and appreciate life. If anything, I did a service to her developmental habits."

I could tell he was trying to get a rise out of me, he knew that dismissive talking points would trigger me to snapping off at him. But even I had to meditate on how I would keep my composure if that were to happen. Still, it was difficult to not instinctively pull out a Glock and air out his lungs. "If you don't mind me asking, how is any of that a service?"

"Those who undergo tragedy will only grow stronger from it." He replied as he parted his security detail and walked over to guide me into the lounge. "I know how it goes, it starts with the act happening before their very eyes, then a personal tragedy happens to them that alters their perception of life. Once that happens, their minds are due to change according to the environment they become accustomed to. She was a spoiled little brat who only thought about herself, strongly influenced by a grandmother who's racism was so pronounced that it effectively synthesized that little filly into her existence. Who's to say that her continued familial dynamic wouldn't breed an entitled narcist only capable of putting others down for not being as visually appealing as her?"

"You know damn well that wasn't why you did what you did." I pointed out.

"Then you don't really know me all that well, now do you?" He retorted as we walked into the lounge, closing the door behind us. "I can understand that my actions towards that little girl were a tiny bit excessive, but it's only relative to what occurs next."

"You really treat everyone like this is some sort of research study, don't you?" I asked, starting to lose my ability to maintain my calm composure.

"I'm the Doctor. It's what I do." He answered with a smug smile. "Now to be realistic, I did contribute to almost every modern medical practice there is to know in Equestria. Equine behavior was even a life-time study of mine. I've become well versed in a myriad of fields. Economics, literature, world studies, cultures both domestic and international, the fine arts, the beautiful works of science, especially medical science, anatomy, physiology, biology, psychology, and even my starting field thanatology."

"We get it, you have so many x-ology's that you forget what's it's like to have emotional attachment." I grumbled back. "Maybe you even forgot how to respect such things."

The stallion walked closer to me and tilted his head. "Funny. It's interesting that you find so much distaste in all of these traits of mine. Especially with who I am as a pony."

"You make it quite easy to hate you." I bluntly replied.

"And yet you're infatuated with the very being I've modeled myself after. How's that relationship going?" He asked with a sneer.

I turned away from his disgusting face. "Last I checked, I don't recall her being anything like you."

"She puts on a good front, doesn't she?" He questioned. "To think that you would hate all of my qualities, when in truth they exist all the same in the one you find interest in. By the logic you insinuate, you should be just as infatuated with me as you are with her."

"What the fuck are you, a jealous high school girl?" I grimaced.

"I could be anything you like." He replied. "I can be the strong tower to which you lean on for support, I could be the mare you breed to create new life, I could be the young taboo whom you manipulate and groom into your perfect image, I can be black, I can be blue, I could be a violet sky! I could be the sun to rise and light your world, or the moon to calm your oceans. I could be all of that for you, Nondis."

"I don't swing that way." I warned him once more.

The stallion trotted up to me, holding his hoof in between my legs as to cradle my loins as he spoke once more. "You know, you give me what I want right now, I'll tell you everything you want to know. It's been a month since you've tantalized me with your presence, teased me with your coarse rejections, displayed your sexual prowess and tender touch. I almost hate Kalimba for how easy she has access to you, but then again I love her the same."

"And disappoint your audience outside? They came here to see me fight, I'm here to do just that for the last and final time."

"Final?" He mewled as he nuzzled his muzzle between my legs.

I shoved him away as I confirmed my answer. "FINAL. I'm done being here. I played your little game, I lived for a month, I went through all the hell you gave me and everyone else. I. Want. Out."

With a feminine manner, he rolled his eyes and expressed his displeasure of my choice. "Are you serious? You really think it's that easy for you to just up and leave me like this, in MY world?"

"If I have to leave Equestria to make my point, then so be it."

The stallion scoffed. "You're bluffing! You'd leave even your so-called princess behind to struggle cleaning up after you? You'd leave Kalimba to be as vulnerable as she is? You'd really leave me to run wild instead of doing your job and taking me to task? You'd abandon Equestria, that's so laughable that I fail to find any valuable humor in it."

"The aristocrats." I replied with a sarcastic smile.

The stallion looked as if I had said something to disgust him. "I see... so instead of giving me a good time and walking out of here with everything you want, you decide it would be better to face death and lose out on everything you hold dear. Or walk out of here like nothing matters, losing out on everything you hold dear in this land. Of the three choices you've made, you tossed what was the easiest one that could've gotten you your prize."

"If I know a psychopath, just once isn't enough, just playing the line isn't good enough for you. I'm not interested."

The sadistic ringleader squinted his eyes at me. "You realize that you could very much die tonight, right?"

"I don't have any intentions of dying." I replied.

The stallion pursed his lips and nodded. "...Okay. I do agree that my audience deserves a show. But let's have a little wager while we're at it. If you win... SOMEHOW... I will tell you the other half of everything you want to know."

"And if I lose?" I asked.

"Well... that's for me to know and you to find out." He replied with a shrug.

I shook my head at his offer. "No deal then. I go out there, I fight, and I live. That'll be the end of it."

The stallion seemed displeased with my terms. "What about your information? Surely you'd want something for the month you've spent here."

"Yeah. But you can send that in the mail." I replied before I tried to walk away.

However, my legs froze in place, my feet locked to the ground by an orange glow. The disgruntled stallion walked in front of me and yanked me down in his magic. I could tell with the mounted frustration he wanted to say something fierce, but the corners of his mouth turned upwards as he smiled. "You. You really don't understand much of anything, do you? This isn't your world where you can up and leave whenever you like it. It's my world, I know how it's run, and it's not ran in favor of either of us. It's ran in favor of them."

While I struggled to break free, I questioned the stallion. "Them? Who's them?"

"Why the powers that be, of course." He answer. "Do you ever wonder why Equestria is the way it is now, why love is such a conditional topic, why marriages are so conditional, why certain practices are so frowned upon? There's a historical context to everything you know, and to this day it reeks of stigma. The source of that stigma, none other than that princess you love to kiss up to so much."

"How do I know anything that comes out of your mouth is true?" I asked.

"Because I was there to see it." He replied as he floated me to his eye-level. "I was there for it all. I saw the war that killed off many stallions, I even helped bury them. They were literally rotting in the streets of Canterlot, it was so bad that this very district, where young nobles after battle had hoisted the bodies of dead revolutionaries─who once were assigned under their banners─high into the ramparts. And the streets of the city would reek of death, hence the name Canterrot came to be. Of course, not many of those revolutionaries lived to see the end of the conflict. Most of the battles turned into an affair of two juggernauts taking on an entire battalion. Those two would win every fight, but their armies would lose every battle. And as time progresses, so would many young stallions lose their lives fighting a battle of attrition against those same two units, a princess and her loyal lapdog."

"And let me guess, this is why you are the way you are?" I questioned. "That's a pretty shitty way to see the world."

"Or maybe you haven't seen enough of it to know." He replied before continuing. "Imagine a post-war world where mares and young fillies are robbed of their siblings because many of them had went out to fight the war, lost their fathers and uncles in the name of defending Equestria from it's bloodied tyrant. Legions could have come home, but insensibly slain for those favoring a cause. Celestia murdered thousands, tens of thousands, HUNDREDS of thousands with her stooge. Do you want to know what was left?"

"Oh let me guess, angry mares right? I've been told this story before." I said, still trying to free myself.

"But not like this!" He emphatically called out. "See, you know one side of it, the side of the tyrant. You never knew the true losing side of it all. So let me summarize it for you. Shortly after the war, there was an astounding difference in mares and stallions. Each ten mares had access to only one stallion per group. And since those stallions were often old or far too young, they weren't seen as suitable candidates to repopulate Equestria. So you know what they did, the nobles and aristocrats passed legislation to enforce mandatory breeding. And if the only ones they deemed suitable in their eyes happened to be them and their sons, guess what happens next?"

He stared at me, twirling this cane pointing at me to prompt the question. "What?"

"So glad you're eager to learn, Nondis. They passed more laws, protecting them from financial responsibility of whatever foal they sired if they chose not to claim them as their own. Mares were expected to raise entire families without a father-head in the home. Many of whom were too poor to feed their families as it is. You were expected to be pregnant if you were a mare. And if you weren't, you were made to be by the lord of your land. And then they spiked taxes for those who were the families of the revolutionaries, the ones who's bodies were put on display. The young mares of that family were greatly punished by being made as concubines for the young lords, all the work of such but with none of the perks of being a member of the harem. However those they saw as beautiful enough to have their foals, they would keep in a separate harem, one they used for their own enjoyment as the others were ravaged, impregnated, and shortly forgotten."

The stallion pinned me against the ground, laying me flat on my stomach as he went on.

"Can you imagine it? A world where the ruling class has access to your sisters, your mother, your daughters at will. It was a limitless brothel for those in that power. And the ponies who were treated as such in these groups, they were replaced upon pregnancy with another who wasn't. So some mares got desperate and researched forbidden spells to grant them temporary male genitalia to avoid being bred. A few even figured out how to impregnate others with that method. That was found out very quickly, and they passed laws to ban it." The stallion then chuckled. "Not that it would've mattered anyhow. You can't impregnate a mare with false genitalia with the hopes of it being a male, the chromosomes would still result in a female pairing. And it wouldn't do any good to have mares impregnating each other to get out of being selected for breeding."

The stallion knelt down and tapped me on my nose with his hoof.

"And then came the secret relations of mares with one another. Mares who were seen in intimate relations with another mare were forcibly separated and bred. Mares who were caught trying to use those transformation spells were seen as a danger to Equestria's future for having knowledge of the spell, thus they were quickly executed. And stallions who were seen as lovers to their own were branded as traitors, and were tortured until they were made to breed their first five mares. Shortly after the confirmed pregnancy, they were executed for their actions. This is why there's such a stigma on same-sex relationships today, why there are so many who say that they shouldn't exist. The dark age of Equestria, it's what many historians who have record of those times have called it. Others will simply call it The Redacted Century. All of these things that plague Equestrian society today, all overseen by Princess Celestia herself. Want to know what she did during those times, as all of these crimes were being done, as these laws were being thrown out there for the protection of the noble class?"

"...Nothing." I concluded, grimacing in defeat.

The stallion cheerfully spun himself around as he praised me. "You are truly a smart man, Nondis! I never thought you would see it out of your blinding affections for what's really not there, but here we are. The terms of her surrender─yes, surrender─was that her hooves were to remain off of all efforts to repopulate Equestria for a hundred years. Now were those efforts made by the ruling class cruel, yes. But did they work, absolutely. Was there an economic shortfall for many citizens, definitely. But as you can tell by today's results, they have been essential to the recovery from the war. Of course there's still a disparity, three mares to one stallion, but Equestria is still on the rise. And those laws still persist today because of their effectiveness. The results spoke for themselves, it is why the princess hadn't put out anything to change it, because she knew it worked."

He relinquished his magic, allowing me to stand back up on my own two feet.

"So, my dear Nondis, now do you understand why many here have grown distasteful of the princess? It isn't because she's doing a bad job running the country, it's because of her running it for so long. And in all the years she's held power, she's allowed the same oppressive systems to maintain hold, despite advocating the change to happen only on the end that affects her. That is why your cause is truly flawed."

I looked around the room, seeing the many maids and stallions who worked their clients, each of them actively participating in the usual debauchery, some while listening in to our conversation. While I had understood the difficulties of living a double-life, I still couldn't excuse what actually took place here. "I found the irony of what you've preached on today as opposed to what you've practiced earlier this week."

"And what's that?" The stallion asked.

"The stallion you killed had drafted a bill to negate all of this." I pointed out. "You just murdered the one who was the only one willing to put their neck out in favor of getting that freedom out there. Did he happen to be Kalimba's father, yes. Did he contribute to the fucked-up system that's in place, no doubt by the account of his own flesh and blood. But did he try to change it, yes. He was willing to go to prison for his daughter, but you apparently saw this as a two-way street. The guy gets what he deserve for what he did to Kalimba, and you send a painful message to Kalimba in the process. None of what you do is justified. You wear a vigilante's mask while holding a murder weapon. Tell me how that makes any fucking sense."

"The system is predicated on all of what your princess has allowed."

"On what she allowed?" I questioned back to challenge his viewpoint. "What part of Canterrot has she allowed to take place freely? This place is protected by jurisdictions all drafted by politicians who come here for their sick fix! Do you think that any of this would exist if she had the power to change it? I want to know, please tell me if she would let this place exist. The only reason this place exists is to fulfill those social taboos and to satiate the bloodlust-driven fantasies of some other psychopaths. I can name a handful of good that can come from this place, but I can't ignore the mountain of bad towering over the palm of my hand. This place may be an opportunity and an escape for some, but it's not what they need."

"And so you believe that the change can come from you, a mere solitary soul?"

"I can tell you that I can get shit done a different way other than resorting to this." I said as I pointed to the entirety of the room. "How does this help society in any way? You just throw a bunch of shiny shit at people to get them their temporary happiness, never really teaching them how to obtain their joy in life. This entire district appeals to more than some oppressed ponies looking to love who they want. It's a safe haven for murderers, rapists, child molesters, and druggies! This isn't the world that many on the outside wants. This place may be your grand social experiment, but it isn't what the society at large is." I said as I lastly pointed to the stallion before me. "You can live for hundreds of years, but life isn't a game for you to manipulate whenever you get bored. You are not God, you don't have the authority to dictate that. It's not your jurisdiction to alter the natural fabric of existence, you don't have that power. So stop playing like you do."

The stallion walked over to me as he spoke in a low voice. "You want me to stop playing like I can be the judge, jury, and executioner? Well tell me where I am not entitled to dream for my aspirations when there's one who does just that by simply being able to RAISE THE SUN."

"You have to have power in order to abuse it. The truth is that you don't have nearly as much as you think you do." I said as I leaned down to whisper my final comment. "Trust me, I know."

I walked away, going to my press box to order my amenities for the night. Meanwhile, the annoyed ringleader stood in place as my words started to reveal the cracks in his demeanor. He continued to smile through his anger, but his eye twitched as he nodded his head repeatedly. He confirmed the thoughts in his head as though he had every other point to prove.

"It's not what you do for others..."

Meanwhile At the Everfree Ruins...
***Point of Perspective: Twilight Sparkle***

The sun was long gone as my horn illuminated the paths of the Everfree Forest. Though I am aware of the dangers of being in the forest at night, I was nowhere near threatened. With my repeated visits, I've learned how to navigate the forest and protect myself from it's various forms of wildlife. And if not that, then Fluttershy made sure that we made as many beastly allies hiding under the canopy. Most manticores actually greet us and walk about their way nowadays. Cragodiles are usually dormant in the nocturne hours. Timberwolves are the only point of concern, but even they have been relatively sparse as of recent weeks.

Along my walk, I had contemplated the things that had been told to me by Discord on yesterday evening. And if his information was accurate, then my discovery at the morgue alongside dad was nothing short of a prelude to what's to come for the future. I can only imagine what Nondis will do once that horror is revealed to him, probably the usual human destruction thing he does and come back out with a win. But Umbra had to be stopped regardless, and he doesn't have that power right now.

It's up to us now.

The girls all followed behind me, Spike riding my back as he faced backwards to talk to Rarity. She voiced her displeasure of the situation, her horn also illuminating the space around us. "Ugh, as much as I don't mind the trek through the forest nowadays, I still don't like the possibility of me stepping in various piles of potential refuse."

"Not my idea of comfort, Ah tell ya what." Applejack agreed. "But if Ah can get me a hoof-full of that stuff and shove it in that no-good Umbra's muzzle, it'd be worth the trip."

"Darling, it's much more efficient to send him packing into the ether." Rarity replied. "I don't need him threatening my life and Sweetie Belle's as we sleep."

"He said that Scootaloo was no more than a disposable filly. That's a quick way to get your face kicked in." Rainbow vehemently added.

"The worst thing is that we don't know for certain how he gets around." Fluttershy chimed in. "He could be following us even now."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned their heads to see the darkness of the forest behind them. Pinkie scoffed as she pounced along. "Pfft. You really think a guy like that would be following what could be arguably the most powerful ponies in Equestria as we walk together in a group? And that's me humble-bragging about what we really are."

"Pinkie does have a point." Spike pointed out. "I mean think about it. Outside of Queen Chrysalis's invasion of Canterlot during Shining and Cadance's wedding, we've been the resolution to a lot of issues that Equestria ran into for the past three-going-on-four years. Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, Discord, Lord Tirek, even Starlight Glimmer."

"I'm sure Twilight solo'd Starlight. And you where the main catalyst to saving the Crystal Empire." Rarity argued.

"That may be true, but even I was a bit of a villain at times." Spike quietly admitted.

"Spike, I was a villain... Twice." Rarity blushed with embarrassment at her own confession. "Granted, both instances were some mode of corruption taking place. But they fed on the worst side of me, they manifested from that greed I had deep down, the aspiration for greatness as my strong suit in business became a driving force behind the strength of my corruption. And each time, you helped me out of it. I am truly grateful for what you've contributed."

"Grateful enough for you to see me as something more?" Spike replied with a grin.

While I rolled my eyes at his question, Rarity merely giggled. "Spike. I love you with the love of an adoring godmother. Meaning that I am grateful to you doesn't change how I feel for you. You're always my little Spikey-wikey, just not in the romantic way. Love you much too much, darling. But there are certain boundaries that cannot be crossed. And it's even more of a wrong for me to wait you out."

Spike groaned in defeat. "So... not happening?"

"No, dearie. You're just much too young for me. And when you get old enough, I'll be all old and hurty to do anything with, possibly too busy for that matter. Next lifetime, I'm afraid." Rarity replied with a smile, all while giving the young dragon a kiss on the cheek. "I do wish you'd understand that."

The dragon sighed. "I don't know if I'll ever find anyone like you."

"She's out there. You just have to be patient. For now, enjoy being the age you're at. Don't try to grow up too soon or you'll miss out on what makes the life around you, Spike." She replied.

"Worst case of being forced to grow up is Kalimba in this case." Applejack added with a quiet murmur. "I hope she's doing okay with all of what's going on."

"Kalimba's in the castle with Princess Celestia. She's perfectly fine." I answered. "I'm more worried about us and Nondis. He's in the thick of it, and we're just as collateral as anypony. Worse off, I have family in the throws of it like most of us do. We have to do this and stop him, hopefully tonight."

"The sooner, the better." Pinkie said to herself.

As we walked down to the chasms beneath the old castle ruins, we made our way towards the cave of the Great Tree of Harmony. It stood with a great white aura causing the cave to glow with brilliance. It's orb-shaped flowers bulged as they hung from the vines. All appeared well with the tree as it continued to cleanse the Everfree Forest of any residual plunder seeds Discord may have laid over a millennium ago.

The others walked onward as I instinctively looked behind me, even with Fluttershy's comment still giving me a sense of unease. Once I confirmed that there was no one following us, I breathed a sigh of relief and started to issue my orders. "Okay girls. While I believe our power can be enough to put down Umbra, having the elements will make it where it will be more than enough. So let's take the elements and try to have them back sometime tomorrow morning."

But no pony moved, they stared at the tree with jaws agape.

"Girls?" I called out.

Applejack was the first to turn around. "Uh Princess... we have a problem." I galloped closer and saw what it was that had everyone gawking.

The elements were all gone.

"They're gone!" Fluttershy pointed out.

"B-but how?" I questioned in shock. "Only we know where the elements are! How is it that they just disappear?"

Rainbow flew up to where hers would normally be and looked to Fluttershy. "We're not the only ones who know where the elements are. And we sure aren't the only ones who would try to move them somewhere else."

Fluttershy's heart sank as she called out the name their draconequus suspect. "Discord!"

Almost instantly, the creature popped up in front of them wearing a baseball jersey and holding a flag with some unusual runes on them. He then spoke quickly. "I came as soon as you called, Fluttershy. Oh, let me tell you, you have to with me to this place I'm at now. I was actually at a baseball game in Hiroshima, quite an amazing comeback story from it's tragic happenings."

We weren't so interested in what he was doing, but rather what he could've done. "Discord, the elements are missing." I informed him.

The draconequus appeared confused and turned around to see the empty vessels that were housing the elements. "Huh, that's unusual to say the least."

"Discord. We know you like to do stuff like this whenever you play your stupid games." Rainbow argued. "So just tell us where the elements are and we won't punish you for it."

The creature wore an unamused expression as he pointed to the tree. "Okay, now I know it looks bad. But I want you to understand something before I tell you the unfortunate truth about this." He said before walking over to the tree, extending a claw to it to reach for one of the places where the elements would have been. Instead of being able to touch the tree, a white magical tendril lashed out and slapped his claw away. Discord fanned his hand as he grimaced. "Oh, that smarts. But yes, as you have seen, I can't even so much as breathe near the tree without it affecting me in a negative way. I suppose it doesn't take to chaos magic too kindly. So yes, I'm sorry to tell you, but it looks bad. And it is very bad because I have no idea what is going on with this thing."

"Then who?" I questioned with growing panic. "Who could have taken the elements!?"

Meanwhile at College Station, Texas...

Stanton walked into this dorm room and started to go through his phone's contact list. He saw a number of texts from his coach wishing him well at his new school he's set out to transfer to. Other messages came from members of the team wishing him well on his next year of athletic success. As the transfer seemed all but completed, the only thing he had to do was turn in his dorm key in the morning after he loaded up his car and took off back home to Austin.

The investigation into him had turned out with no supporting evidence in favor of his accuser, in fact with most evidence pointing to the contrary that his encounter was truly consensual. Though with his reputation at the school damaged from the accusation, he finalized his transfer earlier in the day. Starting Monday, he would attend the school his brothers attended before him. The day went by for him fairly quickly and he had grown exhausted from it.

He sat down on his bed one last time to reminisce on the times he had in the school.

But as he sat down, he jumped up from discomfort as something jabbed his right thigh. "Ow, what the fuck!" He reached down to the area, finding something unusually hard at his side. He reached down to see an orange gem situated at an angle where it dug into his pants. He picked up the small gem, holding it with his thumb and two of his fingers. "What the hell is this thing?" He asked, looking at the orange and green apple-shaped jewel. "Is it a pendant or something? Looks like an orange." He placed it on the workdesk and thought nothing of it. "Well it ain't mine anyways, so..."

As he laid back in his bed, looking to the ceiling, he went through more of his messages and opened some of his DM's on his socials. Going through them, he proceeded to look at every instagram model that sent him a message and promptly block the many that seemed to have too much of an affluent lifestyle.

"She's digging... She's digging... She's digging... She's shamelessly digging... She's cute, but she's digging... This bitch here just got ran through by fucking CJ Mosley, negative." He grumbled out of frustration and went to his settings. "You know what, all y'all digging bitches can politely kiss my ass. If you don't know me, you don't message me. If I don't follow you, you don't message me."

The man continued to go through his socials, but found himself distracted by the sound of something hitting the ground near him. He looked down over the side of his bed, seeing the jewel that he found sitting below him. He looked over to the desk he placed it on across the room. He once again looked at the gem.

"...Okay?" He picked up the gem and placed it back on the desk. He walked back to his bed and looked at the gem for a moment before going back to his phone. "Okay, so what does coach Charlie Strong got to say about this transfer?" The sound of the gem impacting near his bed had caused him to put his phone aside and look to the unusual item. "Now I know damn well I put you on the desk across the room."

He got up and placed the gem inside of a dresser drawer at the work desk and walked back to his bed. He pulled his phone back up to his face, making sure that the gem didn't somehow crawl back out and greet him again. He repeatedly shifted his attention between the desk and his phone before he concluded that it would stay in the drawer. The man went back to his messages before a clatter sounded once more, by his foot this time.

He looked down to see the gem sitting just beside his foot. "Oh nah, this thing be cursed!" He said as he chucked it out of his 5th story window. "Yeet!" He sounded out as he full-armed the item and watched as it fell to the ground below. The jewel landed on the concrete below. The man walked away with the satisfaction of knowing the item he cast away would trouble him no longer... at least until he found himself stepping on it on the way back to his bed. He stared at the jewel with his mouth agape. "Okay, so what do you want?"

He picked up the jewel and started conversing with it.

"...So you're not gonna summon some weird monster to eat me, are you?" The jewel remained silent. "...So you don't have some blood-curse on you or anything, do you?" Again, no response. "...Okay. Well I don't know why you are here. But I want you to know that I'm not interested in what you're selling. So, please, leave me alone."

He placed it on the desk again and walked over to his bed and sat down.

And again, it poked him, but from his buttocks instead. He lashed out and threw his arm at the jewel that he accidentally sat on. "MOTHERFUCKER!" He hollered out to the jewel as he slammed his fist down into the air.

But in doing so, the bed itself broke in half, collapsing to the center as his fist came down. He jumped up and saw the sudden impact at the center of the bed, leaving a large impact in the mattress and snapping the entire frame. With the shock of seeing what happened, he covered his mouth and saw the jewel standing unharmed at the center of the crater in his bed.

"Nah. Oh nah." He put his hands on his head and flicked his hand away to try and dismiss his thoughts. "This shit gotta stop."

Without warning, the workstation behind him slid some feet away from where it originally sat, squeaking as it slid. He turned around to see what had happened. He looked over to his phone to see it floating a few inches above the mattress he destroyed. Both of his hands found his mouth, covering it as he tried to suppress his horror. He looked around and saw a few other light items floating in his room.

"...Ohhhoh I need to call Nondis! Oh, I need to call Nondis. I need to call that motherfucker right now."

He reached out to the phone that levitated just slightly above his bed. Upon picking it up, he noticed that Alex's name popped up on the caller ID. He answered the call, trying to sound as normal as he could. "Hey, bro. What's up?"

"Stat, so um... I wanna talk to you about something weird."

"Like a random jewel popping up in your room and suddenly you got freakish superpowers weird?" The young athlete answered back in almost a rapid-fire manner.

"Well... Not quite like a superpower." Alex replied. "But the jewel thing popped up just the same. I got up this morning, I put on my suit, found a really pointy thing in my pocket, left it on my nightstand thinking it belonged to my wife. I go to work and I find it sitting on my suit like a broach. I went out to lunch break, and every woman was hitting on me like I was in high school again. So I think to myself that there was some weird shit going on. I didn't really connect it with the jewel then, but then some gay couple walked in and asked me if I was interested in having a threesome."

"The fuck?" Stanton questioned his brother's bizarre experience.

"Yeah. But it doesn't end there. I walked back to my office, my boss calls me in, and tries to talk me into an under-the-table kind of deal."

"Well that sounds tame." Stanton mused.

"Bro. Vanessa's dad is my boss, my father-in-law. He was literally asking me if I would suck him off in the board room."

"AYO! WHAT?"

"I left. I went home. And I find my wife is cooking me dinner. She's about two months into pregnancy, but she's pushing for kid number two, and she was pushing hard. We had sex for like two hours, none-stop. We never had it like that till today. And I've locked myself in the bathroom to get the fuck away from her. I'm stark ass naked right now, and guess what's sitting beside me?"

"The jewel?" Stanton replied.

"The motherfucking jewel, Stat!" Alex confirmed. "What is this shit, I have no idea."

"You're telling me, bro. I chucked this damn thing out of a fifth-story window. I watched that son of a bitch hit concrete. I walked to my bed, I STEP ON THE DAMN THING. I put it in my drawer, I somehow find myself sitting on it. I get mad and punch the air, now my bed's broken and everything lightweight in my room is floating."

"Yo. Yours sound pretty wild as it is." Alex replied before he stammered in the midst of his conversation. "Hey, this is Melanie. I'm gonna merge the call."

"Good idea." Stanton replied as he sat himself at the end of the bed that wasn't completely in shambles.

He watched as a pen came floating by him and tapped it as it moved onward like it was stuck in zero gravity. A few seconds later, Alex came back on the line. "So is everyone here?"

"Yeah." Stanton replied.

"So yeah. Uh, Rick just broke his fingers trying to stop a fall." Melanie said on her line.

"I tried picking her up." Rickey corrected on the other end before continuing. "What she wants to tell you is that while she was trying to snap my fingers back in place, my hand started glowing. If you saw what my hand looked like in injury, it looked like my middle finger was doing backbends and my ring finger was reaching past my pinkie. So I'm in pain for most of this shit, but as soon as my hand starts glowing, The bones started cracking and popping, the pain throbbed away, and my fingers were back in place as if nothing had even happened. Not a damn thing."

"So you too then?" Alex questioned. "Okay, so did you find any weird gems laying around?"

"I found this pretty pink butterfly-shaped one. I have it as like a cute little clip for my hair. I kinda like it." Melanie confirmed.

"Rickey, did you or Cliff find anything unusual other than that?" Stanton inquired.

"I might have a newfound desire to try new sexual positions, and I was oddly calm about my fingers getting broken. But I don't think that I was affected other than what Melanie did. As far as a gem is concerned, I found one on my belt buckle. It's okay, I guess."

"Any word from Cliff?" Alex asked the couple.

"I'll give him a call and see." Melanie replied. It took her a few seconds before she got him on the phone. "Okay, we're all here?" She asked.

"Yeah. What's up?" Cliff questioned.

"So real quick question, did you find some weird gems lying around your place when you woke up this morning, or maybe even later throughout the day?"

"Actually, I found a pretty decent looking chain, but it ain't all that special. I mean, I like blue, but this shit look like a damn balloon. Like why a balloon in particular?"

"Mine's a pink butterfly." Melanie added.

"Mine's looks like a red thunderbolt." Rickey summarized.

"Mine looks like a purple diamond." Alex replied.

"I got a fucking orange." Stanton concluded. "And that orange has me levitating shit like I'm Nondis."

"Mine has me getting chased by my wife. She's been trying to break my dick off for the past two hours. I'm all for rowdy sex with my wife, but it's getting to snu-snu levels of concerning. It's almost like she forgot she's pregnant." Alex briefly explained.

Rickey chimed in with his response. "Melanie has her shit where she can magically heal broken fingers. I guess we're all special today."

"So should we call Nondis about this? Like he's gotta know something." Stanton proposed.

Alex sighed as he agreed. "Only one way to find out."

Meanwhile at the VIP Lounge...
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

It wasn't any surprise that they were rolling out the red carpet for my undisguised appearance to the lounge. It was almost like the asshole in charge wanted me to nix the getup and be myself for a change. The servants and maids here were thrilled to finally answer to my every whim while I was in my true form. And it went without saying that Crème was eager to serve.

At that point, I don't think I cared much.

I just closed my eyes and let what would be to simply be. All I had to imagine was something like Twilight giving me her best attempt. Though it would feel like she took great measure to improve her skillset. And it would be comparable to Rarity in some ways. Kalimba would be far too slow and menacing, but only to tease me and maintain my arousal instead of pushing for a climax. If anything, it would be better to compare this situation to one I never thought I would ever bring up.

It finally hit me, he was trying to target Alabaster.

The only moment of my life where I was truly ashamed of the pleasure that moment brought me. I don't think I had such an experience where I enjoyed the lips of a pony so much... other than the teasing ministrations of another party of royal distinction. But hers came from the buildup of knowing what we want and cannot do in the moment. It's the thrill of knowing that our careers could be in jeopardy, that if we were to be discovered, it would truly bring an end to me. Her touch, her taste, her smell is so damn ruinous that it could collapse entire countries, and I'm sure her lips would be succulent.

All she had to do was remove the sheets between us, and it would be just us. She knows how I feel, her magic has gripped my bare form at least twice now. I can imagine the look of her face as I unleash a torrent of semen onto her lips as she kissed it. I can imagine the collar I'd have her wear as I surged onto her face, the residual drops that would climb from off of her, the sound of her pants, the lust-drunk gaze in her eyes as her hips rocked into her own hoof. I could imagine the touch of her mane flowing through my fingers as she smiled with my first load serving as her makeup for the occasion.

Goddammit, she sends me.

But instead of opening my eyes to her face, it was Crème who was keeping himself down on me. He wasn't satisfied with leaving a mess, so he kept himself on me, swirling his tongue to clean every last drop I spilled with Celestia in mind. His eyes watched for my reactions, which ended up being very partial due to the disappointment I inherently displayed.

The moment was ruined, and he withdrew as if he felt like it was something he did. "So... not really your thing, I take it?"

I shook my head to confirm with him my feelings. "I mean... It's not you."

He wiped his mouth and stood up. "Well I'm not discouraged by it. I know that some of our clients aren't into the same-sex thing like some of us are. And for someone who isn't too interested, I guess something did the job for you."

"Yeah... sorry." I said as I didn't have the heart to tell him what it was that really came to my mind.

The stallion sighed in disappointment. "Oh I know the deal. You imagine a pretty face to get you through the moment. Then when it's all said and done, you wake up to reality and see that it's not quite your fantasy. But you know, you don't have to force yourself to enjoy it. If you don't like it, then stop me and I'll get you somepony who might be a little more of your usual preference. It's okay to play it safe here."

I sat up a little more, finding myself still pushing out a residual bit of seed. "Thanks for being honest with me."

"I'm serious." He said as he leaned over and cleaned me off one final time, by his usual method of course. "I know the boss likes to force a bunch of ponies to be a certain way to him and obey his every whim, I don't mind you doing what actually makes you feel comfortable. Never force yourself to engage in something and you don't have the mind to enjoy it. It causes a lot of damage."

After hearing his kind words, I looked to the stallion as he cleaned his lips. "Hey... not my kind of thing to do here after this, but what is it that keeps you here?"

"Well, it pays well." He replied with a humble tone. "I can see my two younger brothers off to college in Manehattan this way. My parents weren't really ponies of means, but they tried their best."

"Tried?" I questioned.

"My parents died in the changeling invasion. They were in a building that collapsed, took workers about four days to get to them, but it was already too late. I've been our family's only source of income since then. And of course, ponies in Corrotto don't get a fair shake because of where we live. We're situated just out of the town square, namely Polimento Avenue. A humble little shack, but we make the best of it. I'm just happy to make enough to fund their escape from here."

"Damn." I replied quietly. "I never knew you were struggling that bad."

"It's the smile, isn't it?" He asked. "I do it to my brothers all the time. I can never not do it for them, in spite of what I've seen. I just try not to let my work show when I'm at home."

"Have you ever thought of being anything other than this?" I asked.

"I told you already. Corrotto ponies don't get a fair shake. We're seen as leeches to Canterlot, we get a bad rep for being thieves, crooks, and druggies. I mean, it is what we know, and for some it's an escape."

"Yeah, but don't you have a plan to get yourself out?" I inquired.

The stallion looked to the side with resignation. "...Well, the funny thing is that with me working here, there really isn't one. I mean I could try and talk to the boss for a retirement... But we all know how that works out for the rest of us." His face grew serious as he looked to me. "Meaning that he likes you doesn't mean he'll treat you any different from the rest of us. To him, you're like an employee. You put butts in seats and he makes his coin. What you said out there really pissed him off. And trust me, the last time I saw the boss pissed off is when Discord paid the lounge a visit on Tuesday. So he's gonna try to make an example out of you wanting to leave."

"FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!"

"YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE, AND WE ARE HERE WITH THE ONE WHO PAYS THE BILLS!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, FOLKS! WE HAVE A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE HEAD PONY HIMSELF!"

"SO LET'S PUT THOSE HOOVES TO THE GROUND AND GIVE A STAMPEDE OF A RECEPTION TO OUR ESTEEMED MANAGER IN CHARGE!"

As the crowd cheered, both Crème and I walked over to the window to watch the announcement take place on the arena floor. The ringleader approached the microphone and started to speak with a boisterous and flamboyant tone. "MY DEAR BABIES! HOW ARE ALL OF YOU ON TONIGHT!?" The crowd roared with appreciation for the one who spoke into the mic. "Well I know that many of you are here in anticipation of tonight's event! And I can tell you that you'll be in for a very unique experience on this night!... However, I do have a bit of an unfortunate caveat to discuss with you."

Crème frowned as he spoke to me. "Yeah, and here comes the case in my mentioned point."

"As some of you are aware, the Captain has made it in tonight for the match. However, he has expressed strongly that he wishes for this to be his last and final time contending for the title of Beast of the Week." Boos began to rain down to the floor as the flamboyant psychopath bowed in apology to the crowd. "I know, I know, it's unfortunate to have our champion to resign instead of seeing a new one crowned without pomp and circumstance. But it is what he wished. He says he's tired of fighting in fear of his life, he wants to go out and be a family guy... with Princess Celestia no less, but you didn't hear that from me."

My head sank as he just simply outed my damn relationship to the crowd, meanwhile they gasped and hollered out to the stallion on the floor over the revealed bit of news. Crème shook his head. "Again, case in point."

"I mean can we blame him? He gets the privilege of laying the princess down, spreading her haunches, and punch his tongue deep into her nethers. So sorry ladies, your prince is in another castle." The stallion paused for the various reactionary responses. "But... we don't want to see him walk out of here with a happy ending of getting right back to living his life as a secret suitor to the highest princess in all the land. Not without a fight. So on tonight, I've issued to him a challenge against my own beast of creation."

He turned his head to my press box and smiled.

So his beast of a monster has a name appropriate to the hell he intends to reveal to me. I was already having a bad feeling about tonight, but that name already told me that I was not winning any match tonight. I would have to have that scroll ready for my escape at a moment's notice.

He turned back to the crowd and addressed them instead. "Imagine, if you all will, a beast so haunting that the mere sight of it will give you nightmares for a night or two. Surely Princess Luna would be kept busy in keeping you all sane. A creature with such strength that it reaches through the door and your chest without a slight hint of hesitation. Imagine a voice so chilling that it permeates the inner recesses of your mind when you walk in the dark. And it will be so much of a challenge that it would take a legendary effort to slay by conventional means. Or I should put it in a way the humans could say it: No weapon formed against it shall prosper."

He brought his attention back to me.

"So to my dearest captain. Ye though you walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, will you not fear this evil? The princess is not with you. No rod or staff will comfort you. The table is set, it is prepared before you, and Celestia will be made present in seeing the feast I have made for you. Your head will be anointed with terror, your blood runneth over. Surely there will be no goodness or mercy to follow you in the coming hour. And you will dwell in my house... this house... forever. So make good with the spot I've made for you here on this floor. You will know it for many an age to come. Now let the church say, Amen."

A most chilling aura jolted down my spine as he turned back to the crowd to interact with them again.

"Amen on three everyone! One. Two. Three!"

"AMEN!"

"And so it shall be. Have a great night everyone!" He concluded as he walked away.

The crowd erupted into a frenzy. Many were eager for what was in store. Crème and I stood in the booth, nervous of what was to come for the both of us. Though his case was for the distant future, mine was much more immediate. While anything that could be said around here can be considered as hearsay in the eyes of many, I know that it will start to spread to much more influential circles who would be seen as reputable.

Even then, I was more worried about the hell I was going to see. "Hey Crème, what do you think are my odds of coming out of this?"

"That's a question you have to ask yourself, hun." He replied as he walked out of the room. "I look at my own chances... and they aren't good as it is. Your best bet is to run, but he's only going to find you and make more of an example out of those closest to you before doing you in." He shook his head. "Without divine intervention, I don't think there's a way you go home tonight, hun. I just hope that last memory you had when I was working on you was good enough for the ride." The effeminate stallion's head dropped. "And if not, I'm sorry for being another source of discomfort."

"You're fine." I replied, at least trying to raise his spirits instead. "I think our conversation after is what really made me more comfortable. Like us talking now, it works for me."

The stallion's ears folded back as he looked at me with a kind smile. "I know it's not exactly cordial with what just happened between us but... I wish for Faust to grant you blessings on tonight. And if all goes awry, I pray she accepts you with open hooves."

"Thanks for the inspriation."

The stallion nodded. "If you ever need anything from the staff, we're wide open to come around, hun."

"I'll get around soon enough. I just need some time." I replied.

"Take it all, hun." He said as he walked out.

As soon as the door closed I closed my eyes and imagined myself sitting in the room with Celestia. By now, we would've cuddled and started talking to one another about what our future plans would be. But even those thoughts were corrupted by the sound of the roaring crowd outside. I saw as the arena workers started getting everything ready for the big matchup in a bit. I was starting to become sick to my stomach.

Divine intervention? Maybe some other time. This time seemed pretty certain that it was life or death.

My phone began to vibrate. I pulled out my phone to find that it was Mel calling me. I quickly answered the call. "Hello?"

"Nondis, you there?"

"Yeah. Straights seem pretty dire at the moment. What's going on?" I vented for a moment.

"Well, we wanna talk to you about something. I'm gonna put you in conference with the others."

"Sure." I replied, feeling pretty caught off-guard with the urgency in her voice. She soon returned to the call, but with the others on as well. "Okay, are we all here?"

"Nondis! Dude! Shit's getting weird like real fucking fast!" Stanton called out frantically.

"Wait, what's going─"

Without warning, my phone was yanked away from me. I looked back to see him standing behind me with a smirk on his face. He looked down to my phone and listened as Stanton called out for me. "Nondis, yo! You're breaking up!"

Using his magic to seal my lips shut, he cleared his throat and did a perfect imitation of my voice. "Sorry man. I was just a little busy with something. I got some free time before my match. What's going on?"

Thinking on my toes I screamed through my nose and ran towards the phone. The others heard me and quickly questioned what was going on. "Nondis!? What's wrong!?"

I continued to scream through my nose, even grabbing the phone away from him to hang up the call and lock the phone. The grinning stallion snagged the phone back from me, only to find a screen that shook as he put his face to the phone. "Well, it seems that you were going to get some information of some sort. Too bad, I could've relayed that information to you." He flicked his horn and my phone disappeared altogether. "And besides, I can't have you lugging that thing around, not while Discord is lurking through it like a virus."

My lips loosened and I was able to speak once more. "You son of a bitch! Don't you ever take my fucking voice from me or I will cut your fucking tongue out of your mouth!"

The stallion giggled and replied in my voice. "You mean this tongue?" He questioned before sticking his tongue out in a teasing manner. His voice quickly went back to normal. "You know, you're always such a spoil sport. You could let me have my fun, do whatever to you, make my day a little. But you insist on being hard to please. I mean, I can never satisfy you."

"When I am through with tonight, I don't want anything to do with you."

The stallion chuckled once more. "Well... we can all dream the impossible."

I summoned a gun and pointed it to his head, and promptly pulled the trigger. I watched as the body slumped down to the ground, this one being a relatively young mare with another hole in her forehead next to the one I made. I growled angrily and walked out of the room. I walked right past everyone in the VIP Lounge, walking out of the room, through the concourse and into the dressing room with an angry scowl on my face. I stared at myself in the mirror to see myself angrily looking back.

I tried to summon my phone, but I couldn't think of where it would be. So I was completely left without a means to communicate with anyone. Angry with the situation, I drove my fist into the mirror. But instead of punching the mirror, my fist came into contact with something sharp and pointy. I pulled my fist back and nursed my newfound injury. I looked up to see what the hell I had punched.

It was a small purple jewel, pointed and sharp as it jutted from within the mirror's surface. I was initially curious as to what it was, but I had an injured hand I needed to treat before the next fight. But upon looking back down to my hand, it was already starting to heal. I actually watched as the wound sealed itself up and the skin rejoined seamlessly.

I knew I had a healing factor now, but it was nowhere near that fast.

I flexed my knuckles, feeling nothing from the sharp intrusion of earlier. I looked back at the jewel and reengaged my curiosity. I pulled at the item and it fell right on out into my hand. It was a purple star-shaped jewel. I held it up to the light, looking through it to inspect the gem's quality. But as I looked at it longer, I began to realize it resembled something I knew I saw before. But as I took the gem away from the light, it actually produced it's own glow. I cusped the item into my hand and looked at it in the dark.

Indeed, it had a glow about it. There was a brilliance that was unparalleled by any other gem I traded or used for currency. It seemed far more valuable than any other. But as I looked into the gem, I started to see faint traces of images.

A rainbow shine glistened from end to end of the brilliant gem, flashing against my eyes. The image I started to see within it was the image of a gray unicorn standing firm and strong, his horn glowing with a bright white light as he casted the magic on to a tree. The tree then fed it's light into two entities, a sun and a moon. But the moon's image was corrupted by a fell darkness that was dwarfed by the sun. I saw the vision of Celestia hosting a number of other similar jewels around her as she tearfully banished her sister to the moon. But as time progressed, the jewel's glow waxed cold and dull, even shattering beneath the hooves of Nightmare Moon.

But instead of remaining broken like most other gems would, it was reassembled around a figure who stood proudly in place of Princess Celestia. Her eyes glowed with a powerful aura as her horn began to glow magenta. And soon an image came to manifest, an elegant tiara to which it sat atop of, worn by a young princess... Princess Twilight Sparkle, she stood with five other distinctive silhouettes, each bearing a jewel of equal power.

The Elements of Harmony.

I pulled my face from out of my hands, realizing that this was the same gem that was adorned in Twilight's crown in the pictures in the castle. I quickly put the gem down, realizing it's worth. "Oh. You don't belong here. You should be where Twilight is."

The gem continued to give off a faint glow. I looked around for a moment, seeing if anyone was watching me as I pocketed the gem with the hopes of being able to get it back to Twilight somehow.

"And what have you got there?"

My head snapped around to see that he reappeared behind me with a smirk on his face. I backed away, but he quickly used his magic to hold me in place. I struggled to move again thanks to this increasingly annoying spell he keeps using. He reached into my pocket with his hoof to try and dig out whatever I had snuck inside. But a powerful flash singed his hoof as it attempted to enter my pocket. He pulled his hoof back, showing pain all over his face from being stung.

He glared at me, nursing his injury. "I see you have tricks and charms of your own." He looked to my pocket and grimaced, his hoof still shaking unsteadily while he recovered from the pain. "You know what, you'll tell me what that is before you're done tonight. Mark my words." He stepped on his injured hoof, hobbling for a moment before fading from within the room. Meanwhile I was left alone, regaining my mobility, and patting the six-pointed jewel sitting in my pocket.

"...Divine intervention it is."

We were in trouble.

The elements were nowhere to be found. Not only did we have no clue as to where they could've gone, but who could've taken them. And with Discord being unable to get too close to the tree to take the elements, that left me with limited options. As a result of our findings, I had Spike pen a letter to Celestia informing her of their disappearance. I even penned a letter to Shining to inform him of the issue, requesting that he'd rally some members of the guard to be on standby.

The entire future of Equestria was in great peril, and there was no way to save it without them.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo also joined us. Starlight was summoned to the throne room. Zecora was sent for and she promptly made her appearance. And we all questioned if anyone had saw what was took place prior to the elements' disappearance.

"For the last time, Rarity! We didn't take them for anything!" Sweetie Belle adamantly defended.

"We don't even know how to use them! And we know how important that stuff is to you guys!" Scootaloo argued to add to their defense.

"And it ain't like we can sell 'em fer anythin'! Everypony knows what they look like an' everythin'! If we were runnin' around with 'em on, wouldn't somepony make a note to ya before we wander off with untold powers of destruction!?" Apple Bloom added, earning the other two fillies glare of disdain. "What? As if we ain't tried to look for 'em to help us get our cutie marks way back when we were blank flanks, let's be real y'all."

"Oh yeah... Cutie Mark Crusaders: Element Bearers." Scootaloo recalled in deadpan. "Yay."

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "I always said it was a bad idea. And it didn't work anyways."

"But it was your idea, Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom pointed out. "You drew up the plan and even had to sneak off with Rarity's element just to see if it could help you use magic."

The young white filly looked to her older sister nervously. "Girls, ixnay on the aketay."

"So you have tried to make use of the elements before?" Starlight questioned the young trio.

"Again, nothing happened." Scootaloo explained. "Sweetie Belle didn't have crazy magic powers. I still can't fly. And Apple Bloom didn't get crazy strong like Applejack."

Zecora finally came to their defense. "And if it were true that they took them and ran, they pass by my hut and I would stop them as soon as I can. But with all paths lead to a cold trail, their innocence is simply a story I can tell."

"So do you know anything, or have you seen anything?" I questioned the zebra shaman.

"I know that the paths further in the woods have gone undisturbed. So it would be unlikely a pony took the elements and fled off like birds."

"It wouldn't be possible for pegasi to fly over the forest, the weather's too unpredictable and spotty. One bad lightening strike and it's over." Rainbow Dash added.

"The animals would've told me if something had went inside of the chasm to take anything. There are several birds and nest that overlook the area." Fluttershy also supplemented.

"It seems to me that the elements could've have been sealed off or something." Starlight suggested.

Discord popped up and gave us an update of what he tried to find here in Equestria. "So far nothing on any front that says element acquisition. I've checked all of Equestria, even stopping by and having a chat with Queen Chrysalis along the way. Apparently she was lurking someplace far away from home, looking for something."

"YOU TOLD HER ABOUT THE ELEMENTS!?" I hollered at the draconequus.

"It's not as if she doesn't know. Obviously she knew as she stopped you from reaching them during her first invasion. But she has no idea that the elements have disappeared. However, it might imply that she may try to hatch a plan to do something else grand like her last invasion."

I started to rub my head as I began to get a massive headache from all of what was taking place. "Ugh, I can't believe this is happening all at once. Everything about this is just giving me a massive migraine all for no discernable reason pertaining to logic! And I can't think with all the stupid ringing!"

Spike tapped my side and slid my phone on the table. "Actually, that's just your phone ringing."

I sighed heavily as I assumed it was my brother on the line. I looked at the screen to see it was actually Alex who was calling me instead. "Great. I know they want an update on Nondis, but I can't even certify that right now!" With frustration, I answered the call. "Alex, how are you?"

"Hey there. I'm just gonna pipe you over to conference real quick. Give me a sec." He stated before quickly coming back on the line. "So you still there, princess?"

"Yes I am." I replied. "What conference am I in right now?"

"Yo princess! You gotta help me! Shit's floating all over my room!" Stanton called out on the other end.

I gave an exasperated sigh of frustration. "Why now!? Why is everything going wrong at this current point in time!? First the Elements go missing, Chrysalis is roaming about at large, and now things are floating in your room. Lovely!"

"Girl, I know it's been a weird day for you. But it's been just as weird for all of us." Melanie responded. "I think you guys casting that magic on us has some side effects that are popping up pretty bad right now."

"Yeah, and then there's these random-ass jewels that we can't get rid of for some odd reason." Stanton also pointed out.

"Jewels?" I questioned to think for a moment before an idea came to my mind. I quickly put the call on speaker and placed it at the center of the table. "Okay, so what are some of these characteristics you've started to develop, Stanton?"

"Well, everything in my room was floating, still is. I think it's gotten worse because my work desk is floating a few inches off the ground. And I broke my bed without even touching it. Like I know that this thing is made of some hard-ass wood, I shouldn't be able to look at something and it simply break after I've been lying on top of it for a whole semester. That's just the real."

Starlight made a poignant observation. "I don't think Nondis' levitation was ever that strong."

I turned my attention back to the phone. "Tell me about the jewel you found."

"That's the thing. All of us found one." Alex explained. "And we can't get rid of them. Stanton tried chucking his across campus, but it popped right back up. I left mine on the nightstand thinking it belonged to my wife, I find myself wearing it. I think these things are either cursed or overtly enchanted."

"Enchanted jewels?" Rarity questioned.

"Metaphysical developments?" I also quetioned.

Rainbow hopped on the table and spoke into the phone. "Quick question for curiosity sake. Any one of you seen a red lightening bolt ruby sitting around?"

Rickey's voice popped up on the other line. "Yeah, I got a belt buckle like that."

Rainbow's jaw dropped as quickly as all of ours did. The coincidence was far too uncanny, changes in human abilities so drastic that it breaks every conventional mold of logic, jewels that they consider as 'overtly enchanted', there was no question. Those had to be the elements. Fluttershy quickly moved Rainbow out of the way and asked about hers. "Pink butterfly?"

"Yeah, I have one as a cute little hair clip... oh I see where this is going now." Melanie confirmed.

"I got an orange that I sat on and it keeps coming back to me!" Stanton called out.

"That's actually an apple, sugarcube!" Applejack responded. "Probably explains the sudden super strength."

"I got a pretty blue balloon on a chain, but why a balloon?" Cliff questioned.

"They're all made into the shape of our cutie marks!" Pinkie clarified.

"And I got a pretty purple diamond that causes potential marriage failures. Any takers?" Alex called out.

"Well that explains a lot." Rarity said with a pout.

Spike counted on his claws how many confirmations we have. "So that's five, but who has Twilight's element?"

Both parties came to a deafening silence as we quickly realized the answer to Spike's question. Discord perked up and started to move. "I'll go check in with Nondis. Perhaps he can confirm that he has the last one."

"Dude, Umbra! He's got Nondis!" Stanton pointed out. "I remember hearing Nondis' voice on the phone, then it cut out, and then I heard him talk again, but then I hear Nondis screaming in the background. That was the last we heard from him before he ended the call."

"Probably to stop us from saying anything." Melanie added. "...Oh God. He's in the arena... with that thing."

I quickly turned my head to my number one dragon assistant. "Spike, take a letter."

"Princess Celestia?" He asked.

"With haste."

Still feeling a little bit gimpy from the earlier encounter with the human, Umbra walked on to an undisclosed area of the arena. He could tell he was getting closer to his location as the rancid smell of decay had gotten significantly stronger. When he arrived, he opened the door to see a small crew of dolls along with one of his cloaked assistants going down a checklist of details. Also sitting in a fairly dormant state was a little filly, who's face was turned towards the wall.

Umbra approached the group and questioned the cloaked figure. "So is everything ready?"

"Optimal and obedient." The assistant notified him. "Subject is docile and awaiting interaction."

"That smart?" Umbra questioned.

"Perhaps you would be interested in seeing the results for yourself, master." The assistant replied haughtily.

The stallion walked over to the young filly, seeing the myriad of scars and staples on it's body from the many operations he's performed. He tested the creature by asking it a simple question. "So my dear little subject. How do you feel right now?"

"I'm bored!" The juvenile filly said as she turned around, her eyes as cold and glossy as they would be in death, her skin as pale as snow, and her coat as dull as an eggshell. "I wanna go out and play."

"You kept the mind and vocal chords." Umbra observed. "I thought I had them swapped for something a little more mature in the age bracket."

"Sir, we had to stay young. All other control groups of an older age showed resistance and disobedience, even signs of anarchy. The brain of a foal at a young age showed more capability of being subservient."

Umbra laughed and shook his head. "Well, that was pretty much what I estimated would happen. It only makes sense that a kid would be more willing to listen to their elders as opposed to a more mentally-independent adolescent. And it was a risk to use an adult brain as a means to operate the collective."

The filly tapped on Umbra's leg, causing the unicorn to look down to the filly's pale face. "Did I do good, daddy?"

The stallion smirked. "Of course, my little meatwad. You've done wonderfully today." He knelt down to speak with the filly. "Now, I have a special request for you on tonight. The guy you're gonna see out there is the one with two legs walking, he's going to be in a shiny new uniform. And I do believe he's going to be your playdate for tonight."

"I get a playdate!?" She asked with youthful wonder.

"That's right, little one. He's gonna be a special member of our family soon enough." He answered with a kind smile before tapping the little filly on her chest. "But not in the way that we usually want him to be, okay? Your objective is to play with him, but don't hurt him. Do you understand? It's okay to make the red stuff come out, but not too much. You can hold him, but don't hug him. You can play hide and go seek, but don't tag him. If you do good, daddy will give you some playtime with the doll another day. I'll even give you some freetime out in the mountain. Okay?"

"I wanna go hide in the mountain again!" The filly replied with glee.

"I know. But do this right first, and you'll get everything you want and then some." He stood back up and lightly petted the little filly on the top of her head. "Okay. Now remember, play nice."

"Okay daddy!" The filly replied before trotting off happily across the room, it's shadow casting an immense large shape of various hooves and heads. Umbra was pleased with what he saw in the filly and escorted her to the gate.

"Okay. Now let's go out there... and play."

***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

The gates to the arena floor opened and I was greeted with the sounds of boos and jeers. As I walked out, I took the liberty of making a quick jog to the middle of the floor. I didn't really want to endure the parade of negativity from the crowd just by simply walking to the middle of the floor. And it gave me more energy just by not having to deal with getting pelted with trash for the first forty seconds.

"FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!" Scotch began announcing to the crowd.

"THE HOUR HAS ARRIVED!" Botch commented along side his cohost.

"AND SO HAS OUR REIGNING CHAMP TWO WEEKS STRONG─"

"TWO WEEKS LUCKY!"

"WE GAVE EVERY ONLOOKER A SHOT TO TELL HIM HOW CORROTTO FEELS ABOUT HIM, AND OUR ANSWER CAME AFTER ELEVEN GRUELING ROUNDS!"

"WE THREW OUR BEST GUY AFTER HIM, HE PLAYED DIRTY! WE THREW ONE OF HIS OWN, HE GOT PERSONAL!"

"ALREADY RUMORED TO SLAY OVER A HUNDRED ARIMASPI, THIS HUMAN HAS MATCHED EVERY LAST THING THIS ARENA HAD THROWN HIS WAY─"

"OF COURSE, WE KNOW WHY HE EVEN GOT TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND THE FIRST TIME ANYHOW!"

"BUT WITH THE BOSS' OWN HAT THROWN IN THE RING─"

"THERE ISN'T A FUCKING CHANCE HE MAKES IT OUT OF HERE ALIVE TONIGHT!"

"YOU WANT BLOOD!?"

"WELL TONIGHT YOU'LL GET IT!"

"BUT FIRST... AS OUR ESTEEMED MANAGER HAS ALREADY ANNOUNCED TO US, OUR CHAMP IS LOOKING TO BECOME A... STANDING FIGURE OF SOCIETY AGAIN!" The crowd began to boo again.

The two announcers walked closer to me, mocking me as they approached with their microphones. "EARLY RETIREMENT!? HOW FUCKING LAME!" Botch said as he handed me a mic to speak into.

"QUICKLY, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR LAST AND FINAL MATCHUP HERE IN THE CORROTTO COLISSEUM?" Scotch asked as they conducted a quick interview. "BUT PLEASE, HOLD IT TO THIRTY SECONDS!"

I took the mic and addressed the crowd with a bow. "Ladies and gentlemen, fillies and gentlecolts of the crowd. I can understand that I've been your favorite villain to root against. And of course given my occupation, it's pretty much a given. I know that I've done a lot to some of your friends by incarcerating them, but you should be thrilled. I won't ever have to show my face here ever again. And I will take my leave from here on tonight, one way or another. So for those who did place their bets on me, I hope you continue to make good on your newfound riches. Those that didn't, I wish nothing but the best for you. But those of you that threw shit at me me can─"

"TIME'S UP!" Botch shouted as he snatched the microphone from me. "SORRY CHAMP, BUT YOUR TIME IS UP! NO TIME FOR BORING SPEECHES! YOU GOTTA LEARN HOW TO PLAY THE CROWD BETTER! HERE, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW TO DO IT!" He then brought his attention to the crowd. "HOW MANY OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS WANNA SEE OUR NEW CHALLENGER!?"

Although I felt like giving him a piece of my mind for disrespecting me like he did, I instead just started getting my stuff ready for the match. I summoned up a bulletproof vest and put it on before summoning the sniper rifle. Scotch took notice of my sudden change of inventory. "IT APPEARS THAT THE CAPTAIN HAS PULLED OUT HIS HEAVIER ARTILLERY!"

"BUT HOW USEFUL WILL IT BE?" I immediately recognized the third voice over the intercom. The doors tot he challenger's gate opened to reveal the crazed ringleader walking out with a microphone of his own. The crowd erupted with praise for their apparent savior as he approached the center of the floor. "THAT'S A DIFFERENT WEAPON, CAPTAIN! PERHAPS YOUR LITTLE TRINKET WON'T BE ENOUGH TO GET YOU OUT OF THE HELL YOU'RE SET TO FACE! YOU MIGHT AS WELL ADMIT THAT YOU'RE DONE HERE, YOU WON'T BE GOING BACK TO APPEASE THAT PALE-COATED BITCH OF A PRINCESS WHO'S ASS YOU ATE!"

I quickly took aim for him first to stop him from getting any closer. But without my knowing a shadow crept up and knocked my aim completely off, causing me to almost lose my grip on the weapon. I looked to the shadow, which appeared as a tendril, coming from the darkness of the gate behind him. It quickly retreated to the darkness of the gate and the annoying stallion smirked at me.

"AS YOU CAN TELL, MY BABY GIRL ISN'T TOO FOND OF MEAN PONIES WANTING TO HURT POOR OLD DAD! MAYBE YOU'LL DO WELL TO REMEMBER THAT, BECAUSE I DID TELL HER TO PLAY NICE! SO PLEASE BE NICE TO ME, OR SHE WILL BE MEAN TO YOU! AND YOU DON'T WANT HER TO BE MEAN, EVERYTHING WILL START TO HURT IF YOU BE MEAN!"

I reached my arm out and levitated one of the announcers over to me, namely Botch. I grabbed his microphone and hollered back at him. "JUST SEND THAT FUCKING THING OUT HERE ALREADY SO I CAN GO THE FUCK HOME, YOU SHITTLY LITTLE ARISTOCRAT!"

The stallion's smile was wiped completely from his face. The lights flushed completely out throughout the entire arena one by one. He spoke into the microphone with a much different voice than usual, showing just how displeased he was with my insult. "Dearie... playtime."

A disturbingly young voice began to sing, her voice reverberating around the entire arena.

A single spotlight started to softly glow on the tunnel's entrance. A young foal stumbled out of the gate slowly.

I whispered to myself a quick prayer, holding my weapon to point at the figure who walked slowly towards me.

The filly stood motionless as the lights came on. A large black mass was circled around her, stretching out to as far as twenty feet in every direction. It appeared that she stood in the middle of a pitch-black shadow, her face was hidden by much of her bangs, her coat appeared dull and her body slender and bony. The crowd stared in silence as they all collectively wondered what this was all about.

Meanwhile, I was very much clued in on what this this really was.

The ghastly figure walked towards me, not saying or singing as she approached. And with every step she took, the shadow followed in extension. I took a step back to keep my distance, but she sank into the ground and formed herself at the forward-most point of her shadow. In turn, the shadow whisked itself around her as if it was a fluid-like entity, returning to the circular shape it once had. The shadow was only a mere few feet away from me, I sped up my backpedaling until she rematerialized at where her shadow extended out the furthest towards me. And then the shadow had engulfed every last inch of ground where I stood. I tried to get out of the darkness before I was overwhelmed with the smell of decaying flesh. looking down to see a pair of rotten hooves latching on to my feet. I took aim at the entity above ground, only to find that it was no longer standing in front of me.

"Hey there, mister."

I turned around, holding my weapon close to prevent it from getting knocked away. The little filly was standing just a few inches away from me, looking up at me with her glossy eyes. It didn't take much to point out the obvious. "You're dead, aren't you?"

The filly smiled, extending her hooves up to me. "I wanna play! Can we play together? Pleeease?"

I aimed the gun for her head, shaking mine. "The dead don't speak, nor do they play."

She disappeared in an instant, showing up right next to me. I turned to catch her, she giggled beside me. I faced in the direction where she giggled, she instead spoke behind me. "Oh, I know! Let's play hide-n-seek!" I turned to one side and caught a glimpse of her walking by, I immediately turned and fired at the first shadow I saw raise from the ground. Instead of her, it was a young stallion who's entire top half I blew away. The corpse plopped to the ground before a multitude of hooves reached from within the black abyss to reclaim the corpse into the dark collective. "I'll give you to the count of zero to find me! Catch me if you can! A hundred!... Ninety-nine!... Ninety-eight!..."

Seeing so many hooves reach up and swamp the body was enough to put my heart into overdrive. I had to stop for a moment and collect myself before firing off all my ammo in a fear-induced panic. "Oh shit. Oh God I hope you make it any easier to find you." All around me, all I could hear was the sound of her giggling. in varying directions.

The pure filth I smelled as she whispered into my ear was beyond enough to make me lose my composure. I gagged and turned to where she whispered from. Again, she was gone.

"Eighty-three!... Eighty-two!... Eighty-one!..."

Five bodies materialized before me, I quickly took aim and show down two of them before they disappeared once more. While initially having her face, the two I shot down had turned back to their original forms before being reabsorbed into the collective. Trying to think on my feet, I summoned a C4 grenade, and lobbed it at the extreme of the shadow's reach. It landed on the ground for a moment before exploding, sending a massive collection of rotten body parts flying into the air around the arena.

My eyes expanded, my chest started to pound as I realized the horrifying truth that I was actually standing on top of the beast itself. My entire spine registered a flight response and I swapped my weapon for something I could use for immediate results. I cocked my shotgun and fired it into the ground, hitting something that seemed to screech out upon my hitting it. I ran ahead, only to get tripped by a pair of hooves holding up an arch shape to tactically catch my foot. My shotgun accidentally discharged into a nearby wall. I reached out and levitated the weapon over to behind me and shot at the ground immediately behind me. The pair of hooves that clutched on to me immediately let me go and I gained some distance to where I was close to being outside of the circular shadow. I continued firing into the ground until I was clear of shadow and standing on solid dirt again.

But that's where the horror began.

A tendril of the shadow extended to the furthest reaches of the arena floor itself, traveling up a wall before coming out as a hideous mass of flesh and hooves to reach back across and shove me back into the bounds of the shadow. It all happened so much faster than I could react to what was going on. The mass that pushed me began to morph into the filly's head, just her head alone as she spoke in a distorted voice. "̴Y̵o̵u̷'̵r̴e̷ ̷n̸o̵t̷ ̵v̵e̴r̵y̵ ̷g̷o̸o̷d̷ ̵a̸t̴ ̷b̶e̶i̶n̵g̸ ̵'̶i̷t̴'̵,̵ ̶a̵r̷e̸ ̵y̸o̸u̸?̶"̶

No further hesitation, I grabbed my weapon and shot at her face, blowing a massive hole into the lump of flesh. Her voice spoke out to tease me yet again.

"̶♪̸M̷i̴s̶s̶ ̶m̸e̶!̵ ̴M̵i̵s̶s̶ ̸m̷e̷!̴ ̷N̷o̵w̷ ̷y̴o̴u̵ ̷g̵o̷t̴t̵a̷ ̸k̷i̵s̶s̸ ̸m̸e̶!̷♪̸"̷

All rational processes in my brain had come to a complete stop. All of it was now fear, my mind was programmed under the mentality of 'everything goes'. Whatever I had, shoot all of it, shoot everything, shoot until it stops moving. That was the only plan I had up to this point. So I summoned every shotgun I had loaded commenced to issuing a firing squad to the floor. Hellish screeching and ghoulish screaming, each of varying voices and ages filled my ears. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to ignore them, coming to grips that I was hearing nothing but dead bodies making various sounds, which only made it ten-times worse.

Before long, all I heard were varying clicks, signifying that my weapons all needed a reload. And seeing the various dismembered body parts strewn around the floor gave me confidence that I had worn down the mass enough where I could escape with less resistance. For good measure, I threw another C4 grenade behind me and let the damage rain in as I reloaded every gun I used.

Strangely enough, my magic was never as strong as it was in that moment. The total weight of weaponry and ammunition I carried with my reloading process was shy of five-hundred pounds. And as I stood a free man from the shade she threw around herself, I started looking into a way to cover my escape. I tossed out a number of smoke bombs to cover my advance, and a few others I used to draw attention away from myself. I event threw a few into the stands to mock up my direction of ascent. I did however scale the wall and cleared the floor before rolling a measure or more into the stands to widen my escape.

The guns disappeared from above the arena as soon as I made it into the concourse. I continued bombing for my escape, giving myself every possible route to leave the arena. I even transformed to give myself some added speed, because four hooves ran much faster than two legs. I ran, gasping for air as I broke out into a full retreat. No one could identify who I was in this form except for Umbra himself. All I had to do was play it cool for most of my way out of the district. But it was hard to do with the distorted scream coming from the arena.

I took a deep breath and broke into a gallop for the nearest alley leading out into the city streets. I didn't dare look behind me out of fear of seeing a rampaging mass of flesh in hot pursuit. The only thing I could do was make my way to the castle where I knew I would be safe. I couldn't stop for anything, much less putting a scroll to the floor and hoping that whatever the unholy hell that thing is doesn't see me and stop me.

Once I cleared the district, I took the most direct path to the castle that I could. I wasn't going to pretend that I had a solid plan other than run for my life. I didn't care about anything else than to clear my way of that thing. And I wasn't interested in seeing if I was being pursued. I was in the home-stretch, and I was going to get there one way or another. I turned to another main road, seeing the castle checkpoint in plain sight. I was almost home.

And then I tripped. I looked back to see what it was that had stopped me.

...Another pair of hooves, decaying and foul, protruding from the ground as if to note it's triumph. I looked up in the sky to see a number of dead bodies flung through the air. Each of them glared at me as they passed overhead. I shrank with horror and ignited my horn with magic, summoning a weapon for me to use in my escape. I used my magic to clear the hooves that tried to grasp on to me and started running again. I ran into the check point, bypassing the guards who cried for me to halt my advance. Instead I transformed on the spot.

"EVERYBODY, IN THE FUCKING CASTLE! MOVE! NOW!"

I pushed open the doors to the castle foyer, lunging for freedom. The initial wave of optimism I felt in seeing the lights of the halls had filled me with the hope that I had found my way back home. I saw that everyone had greeted me, I was perfectly fine to make my way back into Celestia's hooves. But even that vision was tarnished with a single face...

Senator Somber Spiral, a pony we confirmed dead just yesterday, stood between me and my advance into the castle. He opened his mouth and a massive tendril leaped from his tongue to hit me in my chest, shoving me back out into the darkness of outside. I was then hauled into the air by yet another tendril that dangled me haphazardly. The filly's face formed before me and spoke in a greatly distorted voice.

In a whipping motion, I was pulled from the air and brought back down to almost ground level before being dragged through various alleys and passageways. I cried out as I was nearly pulled into various carts and lamps lining the streets. The monster's voice spoke to me yet again.

In a quick, uncontrollable ride, I was pulled right through the alleyways of Corrotto and yanked up each stair into the arena. The observing crowd made way for the tendril to pull me in through the hole at the center of the lobby opening straight to the arena floor. I looked down to see a hulking mass of bodies swirling up into an eldritch horror the size of the entire arena floor. It was then that the climax of my nightmare was truly realized.

There stood The Congregant, the face of Satan himself.

Before I could even breathe to scream, I was yanked to the ground and hauled by the collective as the hellish thing spoke to me.

One of the tendrils raised high into the air and came barreling down into my chest. The world faded to black for moments at a time. I couldn't breathe. Everything was spinning. Instead of fighting to escape, I was now fighting for my life. Instead of putting several bullets into this thing, I had to find the strength to be able to breathe again. It started off slow, short collections of the foul air, to having a full chest of the putrid odor. Did I care what the air smell like, not in the slightest.

I regained my awareness, at least enough to summon one weapon at a time. I pulled out my sniper rifle and unloaded at the collective, blasting bodies apart that were so easily replaced by others. Eventually, I ran out of ammo. I went through every shotgun I had in queue, blasting at whatever tendril came my way. Ammo ran short, and soon out. I had no more bombs, I had no more ways to escape, maybe just one. I summoned the scroll and stamped the parchment to my foot right where the circle was. Blue flames erupted from the parchment, I swore that freedom was mine at last. But an orange aura snatched the parchment away and it was slammed to a passing body of the collective. That body disappeared, while I had remained.

I looked around to see Umbra standing in my press box, smiling as his horn quenched itself of the same orange aura that took my freedom away. He gave me a single nod as if to say 'well-played' before laughing to mouth the words 'but your time is up'. I reached within my pocket, going for the only instance of hope I had left in my heart. But as I pulled out the jewel I figured would be my salvation, it ended up being as cold and lifeless as the bodies that made up this nightmare.

Divine intervention?... I guess life said I had enough chances.

I was slammed to the ground one final time, and the world went black.

I opened my eyes, not to see the lights of the arena. I did not see the faces of the collective that delivered the knockout blow. I didn't hear the sounds of a roaring crowd, nor did I ever hear the announcement of my defeat. Instead, I was in a dark, quiet room. My eyes opened slowly, seeing a darkened ceiling. I motioned to move my arms, but I did not feel them. I could not feel my legs. My eyes were open. I could not speak, I couldn't move my jaw to do so.

Maybe... this is death.

Or rather, I'd simply wished for it. "Ah... so you're awake at last." Much like a sleep paralysis demon, Umbra entered into the room with a most calm and terrifying smile on his face. He wore a white lab coat, slowly waltzing his way over to me. "Well... don't you look so handsome." He ran a hoof down my face as he inched closer. "So tender and vulnerable, sleeping so peacefully on one of my tables."

Every part of me wanted to scream, to fight, to escape. But my chest wouldn't rise high enough, my mouth couldn't open wide enough, my limbs couldn't even hope to move that much. Everything was so numb. Maybe he drugged me before I woke up.

The stallion nuzzled into my neck and giggled, smelling the odor of my sweat and the various stenches of decayed flesh. It didn't bother him, more enticed him than anything. "Oh, you beautiful creature of such soft skin. I've longed for this moment, so much. But I know that your body cannot reciprocate what I wish for just yet. The medicine is strong on you, it has to be, you suffered nine broken ribs, two broken arms, a broken leg, a broken hip, and a cracked skull. It would hurt to exist the way you are now. Gotta let that healing factor of yours kick in all the way and do it's job."

He smiled as he levitated something from off the table next to me. He held it up to his face, holding it in a plastic bag with a sample number written down on the top right corner of it. In that back was the the jewel I found.

"Though it shouldn't take too terribly long now... Apparently, you're an element bearer. That's an interesting development. I knew I recognized this tiny little gem from somewhere. So you've been chosen by the entity of Harmony itself to bring balance. I suppose I did good in capturing you when I did and keeping you alive. I'm essentially seen as public enemy number one by these things if you're the one it chose to cling on to. And if you were to die, it's common sense that the elements would return to it's former set of wielders. That wouldn't be a very good thing to have happen for me."

He put the element aside as he brought his attention back to me.

"Though this gives me the experience I never thought I would have. To be the cock-sleeve of an element bearer, kinky. I'm almost itching at the array of meds to induce that thing of yours to stay up a good two-to-three hours. Maybe a few enhancements to engorge your size a bit." He said before having himself a giggle. "I have all kinds of tricks, from endurance, to load volume increases, even so much as endorphin and dopamine amplifications. It took me four days to grow accustomed to the human physiology and develop ways how I can make these things happen. And you will be my first living subject to test it on." He leaned over me and gave me a lengthy peck on my lips as he straddled me for just a moment. "I'll make you never want to leave me. I'll break your mind and make you the obedient pet you deserve to be. You'll forget about Celestia, make no mind of Twilight, discard all thoughts of Rarity, dispose of the memory of Kalimba, toss all recollection of Blue Royal... and usher you to a world that Alabaster whishes he can do on talent alone."

He removed himself from off of me, licking his lips in doing so.

"And when I'm finished with having my fun, I'll probe that brain of yours to find a new way to your world. All of the great things I see in our future together. You should be proud. You'll bring me more humans that I can then experiment with! Of course, I'll keep you as a control, you know, my little special base of information. You and I will be brilliant together. That is what you will do for me."

He walked to the exit with the most giddy smile on his face as he danced around and pointed to himself.

"It's as I always told you. It's not what you do for others.... Me. Was, is, and forever will be for me.... Tootles."

Fair warning: There will be some gay stuff in the next chapter. And it won't really be too pretty.
See you in a bit...