The Castle Courtyard...

Umbra smiled confidently as he walked through the ranks of guild members, anticipating a reunion with the guild leader in charge. Meanwhile, he had conducted a group of earth ponies and mules to batter down the doors leading into the castle. In and out, they rammed their crudely-made battering ram into the large red wooden doors. Each impact sounded as thunder, but not nearly as loud as the shattering of the barrier that once protected the castle itself.

"C'mon! Put your backs into it!"

"HO!" The dozen of ponies called out as they pushed the battering ram into the door once more. "HEAVE!" They called out with their recovery away. "HO!" They shouted with another drive to the door.

Umbra located the guild leader and sat beside him, pulling out a jewel-encrusted phone. "So, it seems that they are fortifying their positions around the castle." He said as he swiped the screen with his magic, going to various feeds. "I'm sure you don't want to go in the direction of the south wing once you lot break in."

"I don't see why not." The guild leader replied.

Umbra picked out a feed that showed the image of Blueblood issuing orders to protect that position as a number of civilians filed that way. But also sitting in the center of the hall was an armored guardsmare holding her position with a machine gun mounted behind a series of wooden desks to better protect the mare's position. "Well if you lot want to have some courteous volunteers for my little experiment to thrive, I'm sure she would appreciate it if you went that way."

"That thing killed six of our guys!" The guild leader argued. "I thought that thing was supposed to be on our side!"

Umbra chuckled as he dismissively replied to the leader. "I know you have a lot to say about that little happenstance. But I would be remiss to inform you that she doesn't take too kindly to having ponies not dying quick enough. Think of it as a saving grace, a sort of euthanasia if you will. They weren't going to be saved by conventional means anyhow, and if they were, you saw where they were going."

"That's why we tried to save them on our own! But that thing prevented us from doing that!"

Umbra rolled his eyes. "Look, it's either you live in bondage or die free. Those four that they managed to nab, they'll be ratting you lot out if they ever get healthy. And even if they were to resist, they would only be executed anyhow. She didn't just do you a service, she actively followed your code."

The leader once again confronted the stallion. "I understand what our code is, sir! I'm just saying─"

"Then why are you still talking?" He asked with a smile, accompanied by a deathly glare.

The guild leader stopped for a moment, seeing nothing but his own body slowly rotate in his eyes. He looked down and away from his cold and calculating boss. "I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean no─"

"You're still talking?" He cutoff, still wearing his trademark smile.

The guild leader looked to the ground, not daring to spend another second giving the doctor any eye contact. But instead of averting his eyes, he was forced to stare back at the stallion.

"So I take it you finally got the gist?" He said before continuing with his statement. "Now, if it's without consequence, I would like for you to do what you can up front here. But also I would like for you to send an intercept squadron out to the back of the castle." He changed the security camera feed to that of another room filled with golden chariots and pegasi. "I'm not mistaken in believing that they are mobilizing a task force to send for reinforcements. If I am correct, they will probably rely on their aerial division in Cloudsdale. Once that happens, they will have the sky, and we will have assured defeat. And I should also warn you of the barracks, that's the place with a secret cache of human weapons, courtesy of the captain of course. The hangar is to be taken in two minutes. The barracks must be secured in the next forty-five seconds."

The stallion nodded.

Umbra reiterated his directions. "Well now's not the time to be nodding like a foal in trouble, do you hear me or not?"

"Yes sir." The guild leader replied nervously.

The doctor walked away from the guild leader with another pony in his eye. "You need work before you can work with me again." As he walked over to a batpony mare, he looked at the ponies who moved along the evacuation route, seeing Kalimba and her younger sister taking their leave. He promptly addressed the mare. "You, I need you to do me a favor."

"Sir." She saluted.

"I need that evacuation route pinched off before they can make it to the fifth level of the prison. There's an access nearby here. You are to go to the alleyway we just left from, take thirteen steps in, whisper to the wall 'I am the mare who arranges the blocks' and enter into the royal's secret gathering place. Once there, you will turn right into a hallway and enter a portal at the end of the hall to your left, it will lead you into the exit at the third level of the dungeon. Intercept that convoy before they reach the fifth level... and do bring me the head of every guard you find there, be they enlisted, officer, or retired of the two."

"Yes sir!" She replied before calling out to a small segment of guild members. "Hey! I need twenty of our best magic users with me!"

Umbra watched as the mare quickly organized her sortie, nodding with approval. "Now that one, she has a bright future." He then turned his attention to the guild leader, who was still trying to gather forces to allocate to his assignments. "He doesn't do well under this kind of pressure. Good for general organization of the status quo, but not in mid conflict. I suppose it's only fair being that he's really more of a work desk personality."

Umbra pulled up the security feed of the evacuation route and watched as Kalimba and her younger sister disappeared from the view.

"Oh Kalimba, you'll learn just as your little sister have."

The South Hall...

With all the forces they could afford for the evacuation efforts, they continued to file many ponies inside. Blueblood watched carefully as he continued to instruct Solemn Oath and her friends in holding down the position. Cobalt was still shaken up over what happened, but she was back to being active when it came to seeing civilian faces moving and questioning why they had to leave. Gleaming Brass was more than relieved to be involved in fetching for civilians throughout the castle, the running around kept her mind preoccupied off of the grisly images of seeing some of her coworkers being victims. Dress Right held the position with Solemn, thinking more of how she was saving lives from the Congregant instead of those who fell victim to it.

"Now, this thing is going to fire at a high rate. You will need to be very careful in aiming it at only the insurgents." The blond prince instructed. "This mechanism here is your safety, it ensures that you don't just accidentally fire into the evacuees."

"The closest I've ever touched any human weaponry is a strange-looking crossbow the captain let me use. Is it similar to that?" Solemn questioned.

"In terms of pulling the trigger, yes. Operation and aiming, no." He replied. "This thing is going to fire for as long as you have ammunition feeding into it, and for as long as you hold down that trigger. And when it does fire, there will be the recoil of each bullet. I have you mounted on this desk to reduce that as much as possible, but that can still change the direction of where you're aiming if you're not used to it."

"Then why have me operate it?" She asked.

"Because you and your squad are the only defense we have between them and our citizens. And if they outnumber us two to one, then this will allow us to change those odds dramatically." Blueblood replied. "This weapon is our only shot at holding the line against the coming horde. Best to do what we can to play to that advantage."

Solemn Oath looked nervously to the machine gun. "I never used this kind of weapon before."

"Well tonight you do." He replied as he was about to teleport off. "I am going back to the foyer, our forces there will need some leadership."

As he disappeared in a bright flash, Dress Right spoke to her friend. "Well, there's no blaming the captain for not being here when it matters."

"That was always the case." Solemn said as she walked over to the unusual weapon. "Not only was he working, he was behind enemy lines doing all of what he does. Now, it's just all the more obvious."

"How does that thing work?" Dress Right questioned.

Solemn looked around the weapon, trying to identify the safety mechanism. "From what I gathered, you look where the 'scope' is, then you pull the trigger like you would on a crossbow. The difference is that it's going to be really loud and it loads itself pretty much on it's own for a while." Once she found it, she started to memorize to herself on how it worked. "Okay, so it has two modes apparently. It says 'S' and 'F'. I guess one means safe and the other means fire."

"So what happens when it runs out?" Dress Right inquired.

"Well you saw him teaching me how to reload it. I'm just more curious as to what happens when that moment comes."

"I don't think we'll have enough time to reload that." She said.

As they were still having their discussion, both Cobalt and Gleaming ran up with another two senators, who appeared panicked over the sudden evacuation order. "Okay, that's the last of the civilians in the castle!" Gleaming replied.

"Good job! Now we need to hold this position." Solemn informed the pair before giving her attention to Cobalt. "How are you holding up?"

"I see why the captain offered an immediate vacation package." She murmured. "I always wondered why the hell we needed some mandatory counseling for six months after this, but now we know."

Gleaming's attention was more on the weapon that was issued to her. "Hey, what's that thing?"

"Human weaponry." Dress Right answered. "Apparently Prince Blueblood gave her clearance to use this thing. It's supposed to be strong enough to hold down our position."

"Okay, who's holding the position?" Gleaming questioned.

"Just all of us." Solemn answered. "We're all we got."

"Jeez, we're down that bad, huh?" Cobalt questioned.

"We're some of the only ones with the experience to do this. The others were pretty much still in training, they're escorting the evacuees with former Captain Night Light."

"Wow, guess we really are on our own." Gleaming said in a dispirited tone.

Solemn took a deep breath, looking at the weapon she was tasked with. "I hope this thing works."

The Canterlot Royal Hangar...

An enormous room filled with a number of golden chariots and a large passenger-class blimp was filled with the sounds of various commands being issued throughout. Some guards were loading a number of ballista situated at the top and bottom of the hangar. Larger ballista were left mainly unused due to the threat that they were facing. But the smaller ones built for defense against equine sized threats were being loaded left and right, moved to optimal positions with the intent to defend their position.

As the young pegasi crew tasked to give their enclosed orders to pass to the reserves in Cloudsdale, they walked down the hall and entered the hangar where the princess' parade chariots were stored. With all the staff saluting them to wish them a safe trip, two princess also emerged from behind them.

"Princesses on deck! Attention!"

Even the flight envoy had started to freeze in place and salute the two princess who entered after them. Princess Luna spoke to the assembly at large. "As you were!"

Leading the envoy, Humbreeze saluted the princesses. "Your highness, do you need an escort?"

"Where we are going will not require one." Luna replied. "What is your status?"

"Ready for long-flight to Cloudsdale. Package is secure." He said, tapping the side of this saddlebags. "We are ready to deploy, awaiting clearance."

"You're still awaiting clearance?" Cadance questioned. "You shouldn't even be standing here, you should be moving like yesterday!"

"Well they haven't flagged us for takeoff yet." The young stallion replied.

"What is going on?" The pink princess questioned before storming over to the flag unit.

As they saw the princess approaching, the leader of the unit saluted her. "Your highness, I am sorry, but we cannot allow for flights at this time."

"Why is that?" She asked sternly.

"Insurgent forces have been sighted outside of the castle, opening the hangar doors will pose as a breaching risk."

"Override it." Cadance briefly replied.

"But your highness─" He started to say before Cadance interrupted him.

"We have far too much at stake! We need this envoy to get to Cloudsdale as expeditiously as possible for our reinforcements! Our captain is in dire need of our assistance against that thing out there! So clear us all for flight so that we can get our reinforcements and our element bearer inbound!"

Luna walked beside the younger princess and nodded. "As high princess, I hereby issue the order of protocol override. I also hereby assume full responsibility of any and all breaches should the occur."

"Your highness, I must ask if you are certain that this is what you wish to do."

Luna confirmed her orders. "By royal decree, open those doors."

"At once." The flag unit leader appeared nervous as he acknowledged her order. He sent two squads to tend to the cranks that held the large doors of the hangar open. He turned to the princess and gave her another warning. "We may be fighting our way out here."

"Secure a route, and then get us moving." Luna commanded.

The flag unit leader confirmed her order and issued another of his own. "ALL HOOVES, BATTLESTATIONS! REPORT TO HANGAR DOORS! MAKE WAY!"

As the forces of the castle began to mass in the hangar, some taking up positions up high to eliminate any threats on both the ground and the sky, they amassed a force of a hundred guards all ready to defend their position. Cadance then hollered out. "No matter what comes through that gate, you will stand your ground!"

Humbreeze readied himself for a speedy takeoff, anchoring his forelegs into the ground. "Envoy ready for takeoff, awaiting clearance!"

Luna and Cadance also readied themselves in a similar manner, standing on either side of the escort formation. In doing so, the flag unit leader shouted to the ponies within the hangar. "HER MAJESTY RIDES!"

As the room boomed with the sound of all the guards shouting out in unison, the flag unit leader shouted to the crews over the doors. "OPEN THE GATES!"

Squads of ten on each side cranked the massive metal doors to open slowly. As they opened, what started to reveal itself was the sight of a number of flying creatures all with weapons in tow. A smaller force than what was waiting outside the main gate had massed there, however they still outnumbered the forces in the hangar by two-to-one.

In the face of the opposition, all the other guards showed some trepidation. However, the young stallion at the head of the envoy showed more resilience, remaining stoic in spite of the adversity they faced. The sounds of crossbows and ballista being cocked sounded from the upper levels of the hangar.

The flag unit leader waited until the doors were fully open to give his order to the opposing forces. "YOU ARE IN A RESTRICTED AREA! VACATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS YOUR LAST AND FINAL WARNING! LETHAL FORCE WILL BE AUTHORIZED!"

The company of guild members all started to laugh in response to the warning.

"Guess they're volunteering." Cadance stated quietly.

"Any that die here will be considered a gain for them and that beast. We must not tarry here for too long." Luna noted back to her royal peer.

As some started to charge their magic on the outside, the flag unit leader gave his order. "VOLLEY! FIRE!"

The sound of plunking and snapping of crossbows and ballista echoed throughout the hangar, their loads whistling through the air. While some had made contact with their intended targets, most of the opposing forces dodged out of the way, leaving a wide gap in their formation.

Humbreeze saw the opening and jumped at the opportunity. "NOW!"

The five ponies jettisoned themselves out of the hangar as fast as their wings could take them. The five had almost cleared the opposing forces, but some in the backline rose to the task of intercepting them. "We'll buy you some time! Keep going!" Cadance called out to the three pegasi, as she and Luna lagged behind for the sole purpose of beaming down anyone who dared to come close. However, beams soon fired back at the two, prompting them to dance and dodge the incoming bolts. While Cadance was more or less weighed down by her unborn foal, Luna was much more agile and aggressive.

Luna's mane and coat began to darken, her pupils narrowed and her teeth became jagged and sharp. Before their very eyes, the princess reassumed the image of Nightmare Moon. And in doing so, she flaunted her magical presence by changing the weather of the sky immediately around her, summoning thunderbolts to strike around her. Some guild members braved the strikes, a few becoming fatally electrocuted in the process. But the ones that broke through the storm were stopped by a jagged shelf of multicolored crystals staving them away. For the ones that were unfortunate enough to get within reaching distance of the midnight terror, they were impaled and left there to slowly perish.

Nightmare Moon looked up to the pregnant princess, who's horn glowed the same color as the ground she stood on. The elder royal leapt back into the air and they started their trek to the mountain. In doing so, they looked to the direction of the envoy led by Humbreeze, watching them disappear into the distance. A few others, namely bat ponies, began their fevered pursuit of the three ponies. Others who drew more interest in the two princesses pursued them instead.

Weaving past the towers of the town, Nightmare Moon and Cadance swept by and dodged as many buildings and clotheslines as they could. They purposefully lead them into places where their pursuers could be snagged or entrapped in the varying buildings. In a bid for separation, Cadance ignited her magic once more and shelved off their rear as they flew between two towers, sealing the gap between the buildings with crystals.

Nightmare Moon caught glimpse of two that flew in from another direction in hopes to intercept their flight path. But instead of allowing them to get close, she casted thunder to send them smoking out of the sky. As the two left the walls of the city, they began to fly upwards into the sky, reaching for the peak of the mountain. And given their alicorn bodies allowed them to endure higher altitudes without suffering the consequences of the atmospheric changes, they evaded their pursuers and flew into a large sinkhole near the peak of Mount Canter.

As they fluttered down into the bottom, they took notice of the immense mess that had been left before them. The place reeked of the dead, and there were a number of large crystals that were broken from the ceiling above. As it showed, the creature they vowed to pursue had made their way through there already.

Upon landing, Luna reverted back to her normal self as Cadance spoke on the situation. "They've been here, or at least one of them came through this way. And I don't think we need to imagine which one it was."

"Then we don't have a moment to lose. Let us hurry."

Meanwhile in the Mt. Canter Gem Mines...

Though I have been here before, my mind can never truly digest how wonderous this place is. Just the outline of where my foot touches is pretty much the equivalent of a millionaire's yearly pay, and that's if I go a foot down from where I step. While the lights were dim, I could still appreciate the beauty that was here, the endless supply of wealth that only rivaled the GDP of the entire United States, China, and Russia combined... for like five years if you convert it over.

But my admiration of this place was short-lived, allocated to a mere three seconds.

The sounds of distant giggling drew me back into the present. All I could think of then was how I was going to find a way to escape the mines I somehow navigated into. I couldn't just stop and note where I was or where I went like in Arimaspi Mountain. I couldn't just pull out a shotgun and one-tap a fifteen-to-twenty-foot tall monstrosity. There's no such thing as killing the dead when they're already dead.

This will be my third time running into her again. The first two times were close calls. The first instance of my nearly getting caught was as I nearly slipped into a twenty-foot deep chasm. I had to grip those crystals for dear life, in spite of the one that was still lodged in my hand. But during our breakfast, Alex managed to pass on some useful information with a story recounting about their entrance into the lab.

Apparently as they were in Blue's spatial disruption spell, she could still sense them but not as succinctly. If she can't see anything, then she won't perceive any living being to be there, mistaking them for indentures of the ground. Breathing and flexing any muscles will alert her if I'm within her shadow, now that I know from experience. But remaining statuesque could get you out of trouble. And with no light to go by, she will not perceive you as being there.

As such, she turned away and moved on.

The second time we came close was not as dire of a stretch. In fact, it was easy. I just hid behind a crystal and let her run right past me as though I was as decorative as the walls. I held my breath for as long as I could, and if she left far enough, I would open my mouth and nasal passages to breathe as quietly as possible. The putrid taste of decay in the air wasn't an acquired delicacy in the slightest, but it wasn't a choice of convenience either. And as an added bonus, keeping me submerged in her shadow had taught me how to hold my breath for a decent amount of time. Then again, I could chalk that up to the experiments Umbra performed on me to try and turn me into the human version of her.

But this time was different. I was in a large room with absolutely no standing cover large enough to hide me. The only thing I could do was quietly pick up a crystal and quietly fling it back in the direction of her voice. What it would do is allow me a chance to feel against the walls, touching and grasping for every possible opening I would be able to find an opportunity to escape or hide. And with my first throw, she seized in the distance, looking behind her for what had dropped on her.

It was a truly terrifying experience. Not for the usual reason either, but more of a gruesome purpose. If she got frustrated about the dark, she would summon at least a dozen heads to move out and search that location. She always chose unicorns heads because of the horns, she could send her will into them, and they would cast her magic as if it were their own. So while there's this sickly green aura glowing in the distance, she would still be facing the opposite way to try and look for anything that moved. The silhouette of her standing in front of the fading light source was the stuff of nightmares.

So instead of making a dash for an escape, I had to tip toe away while launching another crystal towards her.

That time grabbed her personal attention, sending tendrils to grab at the crystal thrown into her shadow. She picked up the crystal and chucked it away from her using one of those tendrils. While she continued to show her frustration, I quietly changed my position up until I could smell the faintest odor. I froze in place and waited, watching only the pitch-black darkness.

"T̶h̵i̷r̴d̴ ̵t̴i̵m̶e̸'̸s̸ ̴t̴h̴e̸ ̸c̵h̶a̶r̷m̴,̷ ̶b̸i̸g̷ ̴b̶r̶o̶t̶h̸e̸r̷.̵"

Something tapped against my leg, and I knew then that our game was over. Almost in a horrific confirmation, the various heads she had rise from within her shadow served almost as candlelight, her own horn glowing along with the others as she stood in front of me, tapping my leg her own.

"Tag, you're it! That means I win!" She said so innocently, in spite of all the eldritch horror she produced.

I pursed my lips and quietly replied. "Yup. That means you won this round. Silly me, right?"

I could feel some of the tendrils rise up my leg as she threatened to take me under. "Big brother, are you going to give me my prize now?"

I answered her nervously, trying not to alert her into making any sudden movements. "Well, that might be a little hard."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I don't know my way out of here." I truthfully responded. "Some places I slid down, others I fell into, and there's a lot of caves here. So I wouldn't know what's from my left or my right. Plus it's so dark here."

The filly smiled brightly as she replied. "I know where we are!"

I looked to her flabbergasted. "Wait, you do?"

"Mmhmm!" She confirmed as she used all of her heads to brightly light the room around us. "These are the crystal caves daddy would walk me around! He always took me here whenever he felt I needed some time away from home. He would tell me all kinds of stories when I was here!"

The tendril that crept up my leg and started to worm up my spine and wrap up to my neck. "Really? What stories did he tell you?"

The filly looked around the room, pointing her hoof to one of the crystal walls. "He'd tell me of a pretty place filled with bright lights and tall buildings! He showed me pictures of your world!"

"Did he?" I questioned, growing more and more uncomfortable with the tendril coiling around my neck.

"Yeah! There's these really tall towers made of glass and they touch the sky! Plus when at night, they shimmer like the stars, and the top of them glow with pretty colors every night!" She turned away from the wall and looked to me. "Big brother, can you take me there. to your world?"

I knew that giving her an answer she didn't like would immediately cause her to have a tantrum, and I couldn't afford it with the rotten tentacle wrapped around my neck. So I thought of a way to organically change the subject. "Wow... you really like that place, huh?"

"There's no place in Equestria like it! Oh, you have to take me there! Pretty pleeeease!?" She said, clasping her hooves together in a begging motion. Almost in instant unison, several pairs of hooves rose from the shadows to repeat the same motion.

I couldn't look at her anymore. It was already one thing that she was tethered to something so hideous, so cruel in it's creation. But seeing the youthful exuberance reminded me that she was still technically a living child. I mean yeah there's the massive heap of rotten flesh composed of many deceased ponies and their inherent sins crawling up my back, but she was still a misguided child.

I hated it. "You're... you're a fucking child."

The filly gasped and quickly chided me over my language. "Big brother! No bad words!"

"Sorry. I was just thinking aloud." I mumbled.

She used a few bodies of her collective to meet me at eye level, tilting her head to get a better look at my face. "Big brother, what's wrong?"

I shook my head at the filly. "Have you ever looked in a mirror sometimes, and hated what you see?" I asked her quietly. "Like I do sometimes. Earlier today, I broke a mirror when I looked into it."

The filly laughed hysterically. "That's so silly, big brother! You're not that ugly!"

Again, I had to remind myself that this was a child, she probably thought it as silly as a cartoon character having some messed up teeth looking into a mirror and watching as it suddenly shattered. "No, not to you. But have you ever gotten used to seeing yourself looking... brighter?"

She looked back at the crystal wall, seeing the image of herself standing at the top of a pillar composed of several other hooves, wings, and faces. She didn't seem too phased by her image. "...Daddy says I'm beautiful."

"And I'm sure he's being nice, to make you feel better about what you are." I pointed out. "I mean, you show this to anyone else, and they're gonna get scared out of their minds."

She looked back at me and gently smiled. "I used to be scared of this too. It took me months to get over all the nightmares because daddy would always put me in the cold room with all the bodies."

I began to feel a tinge of anger, but tried my best to not emote that anger to her. "He did that to you?" I questioned.

She nodded slowly. "It was when we got started, after he gave me my new legs." She dismounted her collective, sending the pillar that supported her back into the shadow. As she stepped onto the ground, she shifted her coat to reveal the scars underneath. "A long time ago, like two years ago, daddy adopted five of us from the orphanage. And he'd keep us separated at all times. For the longest time, he was super nice to me, like really nice! He did everything for me! He gave me my favorite food, my favorite books, even let me play with my building blocks without the others to bully me around. Then one day, he said that he could give me legs. I was so happy, he told me I was going to be able to walk!"

"Yeah, I guess the idea of suddenly being able to walk is kinda fun." I said, looking down to my legs. "I had to relearn how to walk myself, and that was hard work."

"I was so excited. He took me to this one room with bright lights, put a silly elephant mask on me, and I went to sleep. When I woke up, I could feel my legs! I could kick, buck, prance, trot, I could be normal! And I hugged daddy and told him thank you!... and then he told me that I could see all the ponies who made it possible."

I groaned as I realized where her story was headed. "Your other adopted siblings hoofed the bill... no pun intended."

The filly appeared quiet as she spoke this time. "They didn't blink at me, they didn't speak, they didn't even move or breathe. Daddy just left me in a room with them. It was really cold. But then I looked up... and saw all the others looking back down at me."

I remember my first time being thrown into that room, how cold it was. And then having to look up and see the countless corpses just hanging from the ceiling like they were all ready to be shipped off to the local slaughterhouse. Just the memory of it makes me sick to think about, much less the smell of it.

And she was made to endure it at such a young age. Jesus Christ. "...Were you scared then?"

The filly sheepishly looked to me as she told me the truth of her experience. "I wet myself. It smelled really bad. I went over to tell daddy about it, and he told me that they weren't anything to be scared of, that they couldn't hurt me or anything. They were just dolls."

"So that's why you call them that?" I asked.

"Yup." She answered in a simplified and undisturbed manner. "Daddy said they were dolls, so I kept calling them dolls too. But they felt like they were real."

I looked down to the ground and saw the many heads still illuminating her magic. "So... why did you decide to become... this?"

"Daddy told me to." She answered. "And he said if I ever didn't do what he said, he would take my legs away."

Figures. "So, you did all of this so you didn't have to go under the knife and lose what made you happy?"

She shook her head as a frown developed on her face. "I did something daddy didn't want me to do. I got in big trouble over it. He took me to the cold room, and then told me if I ever did it again, my legs would be up there with the other dollies. When he said it, he pulled my legs really really hard. It hurt so much, big brother."

"Okay." I responded, very slowly reaching for the tendril wrapped around the back of my neck. "So... let's try to do something different. Let's do what makes you happy, but not what daddy tells you. Okay?"

The filly shook her head. "But daddy made me happy! He might be scary when he's mad, but he really makes me happy too! I want to make daddy happy! And I want you to be happy with us, big brother." Already, I started to feel the bottom of my feet sinking down into the shadow below me. "So please, let's be a family together, and go to the place with the pretty lights and the tall glass towers!"

"I'm sorry, I don't think I can make that happen." I pleaded with her.

"Big brother!" She said in a pouting tone. "You said you would give me ice cream cake from your world! You could take me there and give it to me there! We could have some together as we look at the pretty towers! Please, big brother!"

The hooves that rose from the ground all clasped tighter in their pleading motion. I quickly unrwapped the tendril at my neck, but another coiled around my leg to drag me down even quicker. "Just listen to me! You can't go there like this! You'll scare everyone!"

"I don't care! I wanna go there!"

As I tried to hold myself against a nearby crystal, two more tendrils coiled around my arms to try and peel them off of the crystal I clung onto. I reached my hand out to the filly and shouted firmly. "I said NO!" A blast of magic shot from my hand, impacting only a figure that the little filly used to defend herself.

"You heard what he said." A voice called out, followed by a second blast of magic made of lightning. The filly screamed out in pain as the second impact had scorched one of her forelegs. I looked at an incoming light source, seeing a familiar draconequus walking in from one of the tunnels. He then spoke sternly to the filly. "Now get lost!" Another blast of his chaos magic impacted the filly's monstrous form and she cried out one last time before hopping into her shadow and slithering off.

As the shadow receded, I was brought back to the surface and quickly ran over to thank the draconequus. "Holy shit, dude! You are like the MVP right now!"

The creature replied. "As if your plight doesn't deserve my personal attention after what you did for Fluttershy. I'm merely paying back a debt."

A distorted scream sounded from the distance of the very cave the creature took. I looked back down to the ground, no longer seeing the many heads and hooves rising from the ground. I took a deep breath and look to Discord. "I know what I have to do at this point. I'm just afraid that I might not have the strength to do it."

"Life is always full of hard choices." The serpentine creature stated. "And sometimes those choices can mean life or death for others. But I think the better question to ask yourself is do you think she knows what she's doing?"

"I feel that she has the general idea of it all." I responded as I dusted myself off. "She told me her story."

"So I've heard." Discord muttered before snarling at the thought of what he heard. "I think the worst kind of influence is the ones that leave them thinking that there is no other choice but to keep doing the terrible things that they do. It's only a shame that she was preyed on by somepony so vile."

"We all want a hero to believe in." I answered. "Especially at that age."

"Yes, but in this case, there isn't much of a choice because of what she is."

"I know."

The draconequus glanced over to me, wondering why I was rubbing at my neck. "So what's your plan?"

"Okay... let's if I can do a thing since they tried to make me into a thing." I said as I cleared my throat.

I walked towards the cave and stood in place, anchoring myself down before taking a deep inhale. My lungs filled with air and my chest rose a great amount before I finally called out into the darkness.

Everything in my throat rattled and tickled throughout my neck, straining my vocal cords and causing me to cough a significant amount. I immediately fell over and cleared my throat several more times to get the raspiness out of it. After a few seconds, I turned to Discord with both disbelief and hesitency.

"Okay... *cough* I am not doing that again."

"Noted." He replied.

As I recovered from my attempt to use the distorted voice, I questioned the creature. "Hey, you got a loud speaker?"

"I might, why do you ask?" He inquired.

"I'm just gonna let her know that I'm 'it'. After all, we're still playing hide-go-seek."

As he whipped out a megaphone for me to use, he went on to state the obvious. "You know, you won't be able to beat that thing."

"No, not by myself." I agreed. "But if you'll help me out this one time, we might be able to keep her on the run. With our efforts combined, this might be our best shot at keeping her away from Canterlot."

Discord shrugged nonchalantly. "I usually don't meddle in the conflicts of the living unless I happen to be the conflict in question. However, given that we are dealing with something that is not of the natural order, you have my full assistance."

I reached out to shake the creature's claw. "I truly appreciate you, sir."

"Likewise." He answered as he met me halfway. "I think it's time for you to make your announcement now."

"Save your breath."

Both he and I turned to the side, caught off guard as we both readied our magic for self-defense. But to our surprise, it was both Luna and Cadance that walked up to us. Cadance marched up to me and glanced me up and down. "Already you're a mess."

"Sorry, I was just dragging an eldritch abomination away from the castle walls." I replied to the pink princess, who lit up the room with her magic. "Meantime, don't you have to be somewhere near your husband?"

"Equestrian priority lies in you, Mr. Element-Bearer." She answered with a leaning smirk.

"We are here to help you in your pursuit." Luna called out.

"Good. The more, the merrier." I answered before I raised the megaphone to my lips.

Luna quickly used her magic to drag the item down from my lips. "Save your voice for the real fight." Cadance said before calling out to the darkness. "This one will be done before you even know it."

"CONGREGANT! YOUR TIME OF PURSUIT IS OVER! IT IS NOW WE WHO WILL PURSUE YOU! SO HIDE IN YOUR SHADOWS, CONJURE UP YOUR COLLECTIVE, AND PREPARE YOURSELF! YOUR TIME IS NIGH!"

As she effortlessly made the caves rattle with her voice, she turned her head to me and replied. "Now that's how you make a statement."

While I was still impressed with her ability to do what she did, I also knew that's what she's been doing for the better part of a thousand years. However, the rattling of the caves still didn't make me feel anymore comfortable in the moment. Instead of lingering on that, we continued our trek. "So, we go after her?"

"We go a different way." Cadance announced as she took lead. "Follow me."

Cloudsdale...

As the fatigue began to set in, Humbreeze and his escort tiredly flew into the city. Zipping past the cloudy pillars and over the vast pantheons that soared thousands of feet in the air, the trio rigorously made their way through the city to an office that sat at the center of town. Guards on station had slinked off from boredom, not minding too much the pegasi flying through their checkpoint. But one of the escorts did manage to stop and try to get them back to proper form before rejoining the other two.

Working as a team, they carried out the emergency protocols to sound the alarm throughout the city. And with the attack especially being targeted to the princess herself, they ensured that all in the city heard the alert. Humbreeze took to the loudspeaker and gave out the order.

"GUARDS OF CLOUDSDALE, GUARDS OF CLOUDSDALE, THE CASTLE OF CANTERLOT IS UNDER ATTACK AND IS IN DIRE NEED OF REINFORCEMENTS! ALL WINGS TO FORM RANKS! I REPEAT: ALL WINGS TO FORM RANKS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A DRILL! CODE FOXTROT-UNICORN-CHARLIE-KILO!"

The sound of an air raid siren went off throughout the city, waking all the citizens who slept peacefully in their beds. Those who identified the sound quickly hopped out of their beds and took to the sky. From there they massed in platoons and awaited further orders.

Spitfire and Soarin hopped out of their own beds and immediately dressed themselves in uniform. Soarin then flew to various platoons and commanded them in an orderly fashion to report to the Wonderbolts Training Grounds for uniform and weapons check.

Spitfire took the opposite route and headed towards the town center to check on the ponies issuing the alarm. "Alright you three, situation brief!"

Humbreeze left from the loudspeaker and saluted the mare. "Captain, orders from the crown." He said as he pulled out a wax-sealed scroll from his saddlebags.

Spitfire quickly opened the scroll and observed the simple message on the paper. She snapped her attention back to the young guard and his escorts. "Alright boys! Get some water, recover, and be ready to sortie at 0430 hours!"

"Sir!"

She placed a wing on Humbreeze's back to prevent him from flying off as the others did. She quietly questioned the young guard. "Alright, so what's the deal with Captain Nondis, why can't he get his shit in order this time?"

"It's harder for me to explain than it is to show you." He replied. "There's an insurgency taking place, they're all from Canterrot. He was forced to withdraw from the city."

"So let me get this straight, he went missing on Friday, somehow showed back up when?"

"Sunday." He answered for her.

"Sunday. And here it is on an early Tuesday morning, and he's withdrawn from the city while the castle's under siege?"

"He did it to lure a terrible creature away from the castle grounds. He's in the mountain as we speak with Princess Luna and Princess Cadance, they are also assisting him in the creature's defeat."

"That some serious firepower to be bringing down any kind of creature." She noted. "What are the traits of this creature you speak of?"

"Enormous. Fear-inducing. Terrible-smelling. A class-x threat capable of using dead bodies to add to it's collective, which explains the number of corpses we recovered throughout the city."

Spitfire looked to the young guard with disbelief. "I'm sorry, you said 'collective'. Please elaborate."

Humbreeze appeared pale as he delivered the news. "That thing, it can use dead ponies to grow bigger."

Staring back to the stallion in unbelief and horror, she questioned him once more. "Is that thing what we're going up against!? I'm not losing any of my high fliers for some fucked-up science experiment! Shouldn't this be a element bearer situation!?"

The stallion hesitated. "Um... another situation update. The captain is also an element bearer now."

Spitfire nearly choked on the very air she breathed. "WHAT!?"

"Yeah, I don't really get how that happened either. But the humans are all element bearers now."

The mare shook her head and hopped into the air. "Okay, there's a lot going that I need answers to. And I'm sure the princess should be willing to provide that to the rest of us officers in the E.U.P. Chain of Command. Who's currently overseeing the forces at the castle!?"

The stallion sheepishly answered her question. "Uh... Prince Blueblood?"

Her jaw fell immediately, stunned as she flapped her wings in the air. "...E.T.A.: Fifty minutes."

"But Canterlot's a whole hour and a half─"

"FIFTY MINUTES!" She said as she snagged the stallion and darted off, leaving behind a sonic boom.

With the absolute silence around the halls, especially with many of the guards on post downstairs, Shining walked into the residential wing of the castle, identifying the tall sun-crested doors. He knocked softly to ensure that the princess was sleep in any way.

"Enter."

Shining slightly hesitated from hearing the high princess' voice answer him. He did as she ordered and walked inside to see her sitting at the center of her room, staring at a fireplace. The young prince addressed his superior. "I figured you would've been sleep by now."

"Do you really take me for a fool, Shining Armor?" She asked in a serious tone. "We are under attack by some group of insurgents, a foul creature breaks the barrier you set up, and now they are pinching us in from all directions. Even worse, my balcony is a breaching point. Do you honestly expect me to stay asleep when Equestria's future is at risk?"

"I just didn't think you'd be up and at it this late." He replied as he looked over to her grandfather clock against the wall. "It's going on 3:36."

"I have fought many blood-stained campaigns in the midnight hours before, Shining. This is no different from the others, the only discrepancy is the size. It is small."

"It might be small, but it's filled with ponies and other creatures who know how to fight." Shining rebutted.

The princess tilted her head back to the prince, looking at him with nonchalance. "A small force looking to take a heavily fortified position deep in the heart of enemy territory. Had it been a more covert operation, this would be a rousing success for them." As the young prince started to walk forward, Celestia quietly warned him. "Watch where you step. I don't want blood all over my rugs."

Shining looked down to see a puddle of blood he was standing in. His eyes grew as he started to illuminate the room. Before his eyes, he saw two griffons who tried their luck against the princess lying in state, their bodies nearly cloven in two. "So... this is why Blueblood warned me to make sure no one wakes you up."

The princess glanced to her velvet and gold rugs, moving them out of the way of the growing pool of blood. "You know that my having body guards is merely a formality."

"I remember." The young prince replied. "The second changeling invasion of Canterlot showed me that."

"Well it's a good thing that I was already awake." She said as she slowly walked towards the balcony. "Had I been asleep, my furnishings would be in a dire state. Meaning that I have the funds to replace what I lose does not eliminate the sentimental value that these items may hold."

"Nondis drove that thing away." Shining informed her.

The princess grew quiet before she walked to her bed. Placing a hoof against it, she quietly reminisced on the moments they shared, then a deep-seeded fury took root. "Where is he now?"

"He supposedly went into the mountain, possibly to lose it in the mines."

Celestia leered to the wall by her balcony access, igniting her horn and levitating a heavy golden halberd next to her. "Is he alone?"

"Twily sent me a text, apparently both Cadie and Luna went after him. Discord should also be near him."

"Is that so?" The princess questioned as she calmly replaced the halberd back to where she had it. "It's unfortunate that he would be forced to fight that thing a second time, knowing that he couldn't win the first time."

"At least he has help." Shining replied. The mare sighed longingly, prompting the young prince to question her thoughts. "You okay?"

"I am annoyed." She answered. "I am annoyed because this was supposed to be simple. He gets done, he comes home, he lays in my bed, I play with his hair and I tell him how I feel about him being here." Celestia then chuckled to herself. "I'm starting to know how Cadance felt about you and your outings."

"That's the life of a guard." He said.

"I am aware." She groaned as she calmly looked to the figures flying out in the distance. "I wish I could leave this room and make a difference where I need to, but my energy is required elsewhere."

"Another round of cremations, I take it?"

"The last time caught me off guard. I was already doing too much throughout the day. It only serves to show how much energy I don't have when the night falls. And putting out more in that only allows me to work myself to near death."

"I suppose having to deal with press releases all day have been tiresome too." Shining added.

"Who said I had to deal with press releases all day?" She argued. "I used a changeling prisoner to alleviate the work for me, you know, the one that you and Blueblood hid from me?"

The prince winced at the thought of being reprimanded for keeping a secret like that from the princess. "I take it he told you about it?"

"Luna did." She corrected. "You forget that she's in charge of all the dungeon records."

"Ah, should've seen that one coming." Shining groaned in his deadpan realization.

"I'm not too upset with it. In fact, this was quite useful in keeping me from having to expend too much energy."

Shining sat himself before the balcony. "Well in that case, you should let me take care of this and you get your rest."

"I spent the entire day sleeping." She notified him, sitting beside him. "I don't need sleep anymore. I need patience."

"To be able to use your power when the sun is out?" Shining clarified.

"Precisely." She confirmed. "My power is at it's greatest during the day. Luna's is at it's most potent in the night. It is why we run shifts, to compensate for each other's weaknesses."

Shining's eyes wandered back to the two fresh griffon corpses lined up besides one another. "So, what are you going to do with them?"

"I'm guarding them until morning. So when I raise the sun, I'll have more than enough heat to feed off of. That will mean that I will be very busy after I move the sun into place."

"Can't let Umbra have more bodies to use." The prince cosigned.

"So we'll incinerate the ones we collect, that is until the elements are used."

Shining looked back out to the darkened city beyond the distance. "I guess our hope now lies with six humans, one of them out there in the darkness."

"I pray the others are doing well."

Canterlot Castle Barracks...
***Point of Perspective: Melanie Brewer***

We were teleported inside of a noisy hallway. Already to start off, Blue had our spell rolling and we were trying our best to keep things moving in spite of the chaos taking place. Along our journey, there were a few ponies with bat wings walking around, laughing as they held various helmets and spears taken from the armory. With the swiftness of thieves, they absconded the arms and left with a lot of the guard's ordinance for defense. We managed to show up as they were already done raiding the place, leaving behind a skeleton crew to hold down the place. They seemed to have three on lookout, four for patrol, and one for oversight.

Walking through the halls, we saw that there were a series of offices completely destroyed by the invading brutes. And going through the armory was nothing short of the same thing we've seen everywhere else. But one door in particular they had struggled with had gotten a lot of attention from those that remained.

"HEAVE! HO!" A quintet of creatures ranging from changelings to griffons chanted as they rammed a heavy bronze bust of an old captain into the door.

After a few more attempts, the group took a break and sat down, detailing their exhaustion. "Ugh! That damn door is tough!"

"I wonder why this one is so hard to get into compared to the others."

"I knew we should've had some of those unicorns come with us. These runes aren't gonna break themselves."

"Seriously! Why do they have this one locked up like a vault!?"

A strong earth pony stallion laughed heartily as he held the now damaged bust. "Well if these enchantments are anything to go by, this must be the captain's stash."

"You think that's what it is?" One of the bat-featured ponies questioned.

"The way that thing's locked up, it's got to be!" The third replied. "You can't let weapons like the ones we saw at the front gate get in our hooves. We'll probably turn half of the guard into the boss' new projects."

"Well it's better them than us." The burly stallion pointed out. "That thing already took a few of us with it."

The first to voice a complaint then came up with an idea. "Hey, quick question. Those weapons in there kill real quick-like, right?"

"Have you seen how bad that thing got done over before it came back to form?" The second replied. "It's entire upper torso was done for."

"I think it was another body that got picked off. Then that thing came up in another one, much like the how boss would come back every time someone tried to ax him." The third explained. "But then again, they're probably the least fortunate if they dare to try."

"Yeah, but lets get back to the real conversation." The first said, getting to his point. "So we take these things in here, we go to the princesses, and we give them a bit of that in there, and boom, we collect our heads, we walk up to the boss and be like 'Hey, we got your heads like you ordered them'. And we get instant VIP status in the arena."

"Sounds like a plan to me." The burly stallion said. "I've been meaning to bury a tool in those pretty little worksheds they got in the walls, if you know what I mean."

"VIP, drinks on the Doc, bitches and broods everywhere. That's be the life I live right there. Give me that for a year and I'll die a satisfied bastard." The second said as he thought aloud. "You think we can break in that purple princess before she gets all cold and clammy?"

Twilight gasped slowly, processing the direction the conversation had taken. Her friends had gathered around her instinctively as the burly stallion replied. "Ah yeah, I heard she wasn't too popular with the boys before becoming a princess. She might be as pure as a cherry."

Twilight and her friends winced as they grew more protective of her. Applejack in particular appeared the most confrontational about it, wanting to kick their skulls in as they were speaking. But Twilight held her friend back as they continued to speak. "Now that you mention it, that pink one probably got a little bit of mileage, but I doubt her limp-dick hubby's been doin much with her. Rumor has it he's a bit of a glass cannon."

"Princess pussy is princess pussy." The second one stated. "We get these weapons, we'll be the ones to say that we've done the deed with the royals before taking our souvenirs. We'll be legends in the guild!"

"I can already imagine how we'll take turns with Princess Celestia." The first hummed with glee. "That flank so round and big, I just wanna sink my meat in it."

"NOW YOU GOT ME ENCOURAGED!" The burly stallion called out loudly, as he stood in front of the door, he started to show his arousal at the thought of being able to violate the princess to his leisure. The others lined up in a similar state. "ALRIGHT BOYS! LET'S GO GET SOME ALICORN ACTION!" Empowered by their bloodlust and sexual deviancy, they picked up the bust and went back to work. "I TELL YOU TO GIVE IT TO HER, YOU TELL HER HOW YOU'RE GONNA GIVE IT, BOYS!"

"RIGHT!" They all chanted as the bashed the bust into the door.

"HOW YA GONNA GIVE IT!?" The burly stallion called out as they pulled the bust back out.

"DEEP!" They all called out as they rammed the bust into the door yet again.

"TELL ME HOW SHE LIKES IT!"

"DEEP!"

"WHERE'S SHE GONNA GET IT!?"

"DEEP!"

"WATCHA GONNA GIVE HER!?"

"MEAT!"

As they started getting into a rhythm, I wasn't too thrilled in watching them chant about how they were going to rape Twilight and the others when they got a hold of the weapons. I turned to Blue and questioned her. "Okay, so when are we dropping this spell?"

"No need. Blue, you know what to do." Alabaster said as he walked forward.

"Already on it." Blue replied as she shifted the field of her spell slightly to allow the five stallions inside.

He summoned what seemed to be a dagger composed of his own magic and inched closer to each of the five stallions who drove the bust into the door. One of their ears twitched, causing the one in the back to turn around, seeing Alabaster diving right at him. He tried to step out of the way to dodge, but it was too late. In effortless fashion, he jabbed the first stallion in the neck, sweeping into the jugular of the second, jabbing the third in his skull from behind, and injecting the blade into the fourth's spine. As the weight shifted behind him, indicating that he was the only one holding the bust, the burly stallion looked back before having his head yanked back. Alabaster repeatedly drove the dagger into the burly stallion's throat, holding and shanking as he guided the stallion to the ground. All five were brought down in the matter of seconds.

As the others bled out, he cursed them for their commentary. "Ugh, if there's anything I hate about Canterrot, it's the fucking rape culture. They got exactly what they deserve."

Blue walked over the dying stallions, muttering a mock of their chant. "Tell me how you got it."

"Deep." Both Cliff and Rickey called out.

"Tell me how you liked it." Twilight said as she walked over them.

"Deep." Stanton and Alex both chanted.

"Tell me where you got it." I said as I walked past them.

"Deep." Blue and Rainbow chanted.

"Tell me what you won't have soon." Alabaster said as he still toted his dagger.

"Now let's not go that far again." Cliff requested.

Upon approaching the door, we took notice of the bust that laid on the ground. I read out to myself the name at the bottom of the bust. "Prince Fair Charity. What's the history on this guy?"

"I don't know, but they fucked his whole shit up bashing him into that door." Cliff noted.

"I'm surprised it didn't break." Twilight said as she observed the dents in the door. "There's no enchantments on this thing whatsoever."

"Nah, I think N told us that he had installed a new door to this room here because he didn't trust the security." Cliff said before knocking on the door, producing a solid thud. "So yeah, ol' dude was gonna get his shit bent regardless."

Alex walked over to the coded knob, entering Nondis' birth year into the panel. As soon as the door unlocked, we walked into the room and started getting to work on collecting what we could. Alabaster, Blue, Twilight, and Rarity assisted us in moving the items into the bins from where they were once stored. With careful work, we managed to quickly clear the numerous shelves of weapons. Upon securing them into the bins, we looked to one another and nodded. "Okay, so we got our shit. What now?"

"Did we grab what we'll need?" I asked. "We might want a little more ammo just in case things really turn south."

"It's one thing to pack like we're fighting the world, it's another to pack like we're only running security. I think the reason Nondis has us packing light is because he doesn't want us to get bogged down." Alex explained. "Our ammo capacity should only cater towards our own personal defense, not holding down a position for some hours in the middle of a fire-fight."

"Well we'll be in the same room of weapons, so will it really matter?" Rickey questioned.

Stanton looked at the six bins of weapons and ordinances and began to think aloud. "You know, I'm starting to think keeping these here with us is a bad idea."

"Why you say that?" Cliff inquired.

"Think about the one asshole who we all know can probably use a gun despite our not giving out any instructions." He argued.

"I do see his point." Alex cosigned with his brother. "Remember Queen Chrysalis? She almost smoked our dad while posing as Nondis, and she had limited access to his memories. Now let's look at our current situation. All Umbra has to do is show up and he'll already know how to use what."

"That's not good." Pinkie said under her breath.

"Not good is right." Stanton replied. "So we'll need to move these somewhere else where there's the possibility of a failsafe."

"My apartment." I suggested.

"Wait, hold on." Rickey said as he questioned me. "Are you sure you wanna do something like that?"

"Is it any worse than having a rotting corpse sitting in your living room area?" I asked in return.

Rickey briefly debated with himself before conceding to my logic. "Yeah, you have a point."

"So, we got the goods. Tell us where we're porting off to." Blue suggested.

"Back to our initial rendezvous point." Twilight responded. "We have what we came for, we teleport out to where we were before coming here. The castle doors haven't breached yet, so we can just carry this stuff to the portal room and send it across the way."

"And if anything happens to where we end up with any sudden surprises, we cut off the portals and keep our stash safe from bad company." Rickey concluded.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Applejack said optimistically. "Let's get a move-on before we put anymore strain on Blue."

"Compared to the lab, this is nothing." She replied as she passed the torch of the spell to her brother, all while readying the mass-teleport spell that she and Twilight conjured up.

In the matter of a few seconds, we all disappeared from the armory and moved to our next area.

Canterlot Castle Main Foyer...

With the seemingly endless barrage at the front doors. The ponies in the foyer experienced their first breach. The doors broke at last, allowing a flood of guild members to gallop inside. Happy that they finally broke through with their recently acquired arms from the barracks, they had their armored units at the forefront of the charge. The sound of guild members hollering, weapons clashing, screams of pain, and howling of orders filled the lobby.

The many newer recruits were trying their best to hold their formations. But much of the guild's tactics were far too unorthodox for the young ponies to defend against. As such, many started to break off and rotate further back. Blueblood continued to call out to the group. "Stand firm! We will hold them here!"

One guild member came close to chucking a spear at the blond prince, but instead of landing a direct hit, the mule watched as the prince ducked clear of his throw. After, Blueblood used his magic to grab the spear and leapt high into the air into the front line. Before landing, he surrounded himself with a bubble of his defensive magic, allowing him the space to maneuver. In a effortless thrust, he impaled two guild members in their necks, pulled out and defended himself from an incoming sword.

With the firmness of a tortoise, the prince parried many more blows that came his way. He kept firm, his motions as minimal as they needed to be. And in turn, he exploited the openings he saw with religious prosecution. The slightest telegraphed swing was severely punished with a spear's head in some varying joint to disable his opponents. Those that were too eager to land a killing blow to the prince were met with an unequal force yielding the exact result they sought to accomplish.

Blueblood more than showed his proficiency with the spear he used, he repeated the accuracy on every opponent that he faced. Those that especially wore the stolen armor were countered by his ruthless efficiency. He knew very well where the weak points were, and exploited the ignorance of those who wore it.

There was no sign of relent in any of his strikes, he didn't care if they were stallion or mare. The only thing that mattered to him was that they had invaded the foyer with the intent to cause harm to his guards and self. And those that found themselves trying to take advantage of his occupied attention soon discovered that he had other ways of amending for that weakness. The barrier he summoned had initially protected him, but overtime it grew in size and changed in it's function. To compensate for the barrier's brief effectiveness, he altered the spell to make the barrier one of extrasensory perception. And those who walked into it, they soon found themselves in immediate danger of meeting with the prince's spearhead.

However, his physical defense was not as sharp as it was in the past. One briefly fortunate griffon broke the head from off of the spear he used, rendering it bladeless. But as quick as his fortunes came in that moment, they sooner ran out as Blueblood impaled him with the splintered wooden staff remaining. And while he was temporarily disarmed, Blueblood had no problems resorting to hoof-to-hoof combat.

His proficiency was unseen by many in the guard, much less to the newer ranks that filled the lobby. He put a lot more effort into his strikes this time, punching into his opponents and kicking off two that threatened to close distance. One unicorn ran into him with a dagger formed of his own magic, but the prince countered it as though it was a simple magic beam, grabbed the stallion and slammed him into the ground. As the stallion tried to get up, Blueblood wasted no time in stamping his horn to break it off. But the assault didn't end until the prince came down with a second blow, this one aimed to the skull of the stallion. The impact was so great that it fractured the side of the unicorn's skull inward, causing him to convulse before falling dormant.

The guild members watched in silence, the guards of the lobby stood in awe, and Blueblood waited patiently for his next opponent. "I haven't cut loose like this in nearly five hundred years!" He said as he kicked the dying stallion away from him, his hooves still red from the blood. "So which one of you are going to help me finish my warm-up exercises? Volunteers will not just be asked, they will be chosen."

Through the side of his eye, he noticed a fully-armored guard standing behind the entirety of his formation. With his observation skills, he immediately pointed the stallion out.

"You, I don't remember seeing your face for the past two hours. Give me your name and rank."

Instead of the pony in question answering him, another voice chimed in from the middle of the pack of guild members. He called out the prince in a low, gravely voice. "Hey!" Blueblood slowly looked to the direction of the voice, trying to keep a close eye on the guard he questioned. "HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" The voice called out even louder, this time throwing a spear the prince's way. As Blueblood dodged the weapon, it instead hit a young mare in the chest. Blueblood glanced back to see the young mare fall over, straining quietly as the spear was lodged into her chest. Seeing the panicked expression on her face deeply angered the prince. He snarled back to the stallion who stood proudly in front of him. "I'll have you know that I don't take too kindly to anyone dogging out my guild members."

Instead of giving the stallion his undivided attention, he ran over to the injured guard instead. When he got to her, he helped another guard tend to her. However, her pupils began to dilate and her breathing slowed to a complete stop. Blueblood bowed his head in both regret for having dodged the blow, but also out of respect for the fallen guard. He closed her eyes and turned to the stallion leading the pack. "I take it you have a name." He said quietly.

"And I take it you have a head I want to collect." The stallion replied.

It was at that moment when Blueblood actively turned himself around and glared to the stallion responsible. "The young mare you killed just now, her name was Cinder Glow, age of nineteen years, she finished basic about a month ago, she held the rank of private." Blueblood then carefully removed the spear from her chest and held it up. "And this was her price."

"And? You killed one of my guys... actually you killed about nine of them. I have about eight more to go to reach your tally. Maybe I should play catch-up."

Blueblood clicked his tongue against his molars. "What's your name, boy?"

"You callin' me a boy!?" The stallion questioned vehemently.

"Well boy, I don't seem to have a name for you. So I'll call you whatever I feel that you are."

"My name is Hot Spot." He said angrily, pointing up to his head. "And I've had it up to here with the disrespect."

The prince lightly nodded as he spoke in a snobbish manner at the guild leader. "Well hot spot, I'll have your spear returned to you, that is if you're willing to come here and take it."

Hot Spot cracked his neck and stood as though he was ready to stretch his limbs for a fight. "Well, looks like the pretty-boy prince wants to have a tussle with the biggest and baddest gui─"

Within the flash of an instant, the stallion glanced down to see the spear jammed past his teeth being lightly lodged into the back of his throat. The weapon was slowly swabbed against his tongue. The prince quietly asked him in a deep voice. "Do you taste that?" He said as he slowly rotated the spear in the stallion's mouth. "That's the taste of a life you've taken, it's her taste. This is the life of Private Cinder Glow that now graces your unworthy tongue. It is also the taste of accountability for the things you've stolen, for the years that will never be. This is the cost of honorable service, a taste you are deeply unworthy of. Remember that name."

The stallion tried to back away, only to find himself impaled before he could send the signals to his legs to move. In that instant, his body collapsed from under him as his spinal column was ran completely through. Blueblood stepped in closer, taking the spear with his own hooves and shoving the weapon through his neck and jammed it through his torso and stomach. He leaned in and whispered into his ear.

"Let that name be the last thing you remember before you go out." With a disrespectful shove, he removed the impaled stallion from in front of him, watching as the coiled figure slowly bleed out and blink at the world around him.

The guild members were stunned silent as their biggest guy had been humiliated almost as quickly as he introduced himself. And though their forces had outnumbered the prince's present defenses two-to-one, they were in shock that a royal prince known for being haughty and clean would so cruelly decimate their leader with the same effortless efficiency he spent on their lessers and equals.

A horn sounded in the air from outside, then another, and then a number of them sounded as though they were getting closer. Members of the guild looked back to the outside, seeing a cloud of pegasi sweeping in from the west, twisting and turning in their formation to the castle's approach. Blueblood sat himself calmly as he spoke out. "Oh yes, that would be the sound of our reinforcements from Cloudsdale. As you now know, we've bought ourselves some time to be able to apprehend every last one of you. Cause while your forces outnumbered us before, I can visually count out that your current situation puts you against the odds of six-to-one. And to count the rest of the enlisted throughout the city, that will drop you to a now ten-to-one disadvantage... Surrender is an option, a wise one."

In a panic, the guild members who were closer to the south hall had began to wildly scream and charge at the prince's right flank. With all of their forces concentrated on trying to break through the lines for escape, Blueblood noticed that their killing efficiency surged and they began to cleave through the guards that stood between them and their possible escape. Out of fear of losing too many lives, the prince called back his right flank and allowed them to run wildly through the hall.

As Spitfire landed into the lobby, she immediately started barking out orders. "Alpha Company, secure the perimeter! Bravo Company, drop back and secure that checkpoint! Charlie Company, secure the evacuation routes! Delta Company, get the wounded ponies to medical. Echo Company, Foxtrot Company, you are to divide into platoons and pursue all insurgents throughout the castle! Platoon one, you're with me!"

Blueblood sighed with a small amount of relief, greeting the Wonderbolt captain. "Ah, it's a good thing you came along sooner rather than later."

"We obviously came too late." Spitfire announced as she looked at the damage to the front doors, as well as the number of bodies strewn around the lobby. She took notice of a number of dead guards leading down to the south hall. "Way too late."

Blueblood turned to the group of young guards he ordered. "We need all guards to search the halls of the castle, every room and office with the exception of the following: The portal room, the royal residence hall, and the south hall leading to the dungeons."

Spitfire instantly jumped in. "No! Every single room, no exceptions!"

Blueblood quietly confronted the mare. "With all due respect, captain, I am in standing authority here. You do not know how I have those positions fortified. If you press the south hall, your forces will be slaughtered."

"And if we don't, we risk endangering any evacuees! They'll be pinched in from both sides, that's a slaughter waiting to happen!"

Blueblood looked around and felt himself having a suspicious chill. He became increasingly frustrated with the pegasus before he made a hasty decision. "Look, I'll relinquish the authority I have here to you. I need to get up those stairs and reach the portal room before hell breaks loose."

"Not until I get some questions answered, sir prince." Spitfire replied.

"We don't have time for bickering, captain!" Blueblood shouted. "Heed my warnings, take our forces, and move!"

Blueblood quickly galloped away, trying to get to the portal room quickly before anything happened. All while Spitfire called out to him repeatedly. The blond prince ignored her calls, keeping his eyes ahead on where he needed to be.

Meanwhile, hiding behind one of the pillars the prince galloped by, an armored figure waited quietly for the prince to turn the corner. A smile crept to his face as he removed himself from his hiding position and walked casually down the hall as though he was on a patrol, humming his favorite tune.

"♪Da da da da daaa, dada...♪ Oh what fun we'll soon have."

Level 3 Hall
Canterlot Castle Dungeons...

The struggle between both the forces protecting the evacuees and the intercept had come to a brief stalemate. Unicorns on both sides took opportunities to blast magic at one another, hiding behind cover as they engaged. A slew of violent colors filled the halls, each blast running the risk of stunning or disabling whoever was hit.

But in the midst of the chaos, some civilians were inevitably caught in the cross fire. Crescent quickly jumped into action, shielding himself before finding whoever called out for help. Once he hopped in to recover them, the guards present would drastically apply pressure to the forces that kept them bunkered in place. While he was a prominent example of that bravery, there were a few others in the civilian crowd who also braved the danger of being shot to recover their fellow civilians.

One such civilian was blasted in the midst of a heated exchange and had to be moved out of the way. Crescent swooped in and grabbed them before running off to join the others. As his back was turned, Velvet carefully shielded her husband from any danger until they reunited further down the hall.

Crescent groaned as he also joined the exchange. "We're going to be overrun if we stay here!" He called out to the younger guards after firing off another blast. "Let's reposition back to the second level!"

"Sir!" The nine other unicorns called out as they tried to strategically withdraw from their positions.

The stallion continued to give out his orders. "Covering fire! Keep them back while we move!"

One of the young unicorns tried to issue a blast to the opposing forces, only to find that they had little magic left to cast. He quickly ran for cover and promptly notified the former captain. "We can't keep going on like this! Our magic is depleting faster than we can replenish it!"

Injured, but still moving, Kalimba took his place and fired blasts back at the guild members. "Go now! I shall keep dem busy!"

While the mare took her cover, she also brandished the revolver she kept with her in case of an emergency. She checked for ammo, seeing that she only had six shots to use. Crescent ran over to her and grabbed her to take her with him. "Save it for later when it matters! We need to go now!"

The two ran together, Velvet shielding her husband as she watched the young mare try to defend herself. But in trying to make a turn, she awkwardly landed on her forelegs, aggravating her wounds from the lab. She staggered in place, moaning in pain before a blast knocked her over to her side. Wincing in pain, she became angry with herself. "DAMMIT, I HATE DIS PAIN!" Acting out of rage, she charged her horn full of magic and painfully adjusted herself to face the guild members that came after them. Her horn produced a magic so potent that the entire hallway started to glow red. She propped herself up with a foreleg and took aim.

"Kalimba, stop it!" Crescent warned.

"GO!" She screamed as her magic started to whir and whine. She finally screamed, unleashing a catastrophic beam that engulfed the entire hallway in front of her with heat and magic. Those that took cover were singed by the heat she gave off in her blow, the unfortunate ones who were caught in the blast itself had the brutal displeasure of having their skin initially cooked off before being turned to ash.

The zebracorn rolled her eyes as she fell back to the ground, succumbing her energy to exhaustion. She panted tiredly as a voice called in from across the hall to her. "Holy shit! That was pretty damn good! You can't be a guard pulling a stupid maneuver like that!" Coming from behind a pillar was a batpony mare, smirking as she walked closer. "I mean yeah, it gets the job done in the matter of seconds, but you won't have any kind of magic for at least an hour!" The mare walked closer and stood over the injured zebracorn. "Oh, go figure! You're Prod's little project, I didn't even think you were here! You must've gotten locked up and let out somehow."

"I am here of my own accord." Kalimba replied as she tried to stand up, only to fall back down from the pain she still recovered from.

The mare shook her head. "Damn. Diva Kalimba in the flesh. I liked you in your prime." The mare said before flexing her wings, revealing a shimmering blade at the bottom of her webbing. "I guess your owner will be needing a new champ after this. So why don't you tell me what you wanna tell him."

"How about you tell me instead." Crescent quickly stepped up to defend the injured zebra, his eyes carefully observing the batpony mare. "Sorry to leave you high and dry on our Tuesday night date way back when."

The nocturnal mare appeared initially confused, looking at the stallion before her. "Soooo who are you again?"

"You remember me." He said before shifting his accent to sound like Prod. "Can't say my company's been much of thrilling these days."

The mare turned her head and expressed some false dismay. "Awwww, it's you! You're that one sweetheart who came looking for Prod. Damn, now I gotta kill you! Can't we just talk this over a good face-sitting and I get rid of all of these other schmucks so we can get some steamy alone time?"

"Sorry, but my marriage has been pretty stable these days." He replied. "But I suppose we can take our conversation to one of these cells here."

"Sorry, babe. I ain't no jailbird. I'm a free flyer." She announced before running into the stallion with her blades out to attack him. Crescent summoned a sword and quickly defend himself, parrying off a blow from the mare. While the mare's unusual attack patterns had initially caught him off guard, he started to find ways to adapt.

One of the guild members ran in from behind them, galloping in to give the news of what was taking place on the surface above. "Hey! Time's up! The reinforcements are here, and Hot Spot's been shish-kabobbed! We gotta split!"

"What!?" Asked the bewildered batpony.

"They're all fliers! They really mean business! We're outnumbered six-to-one, and they got more coming in!" He informed them, causing the others to back off and run away.

Seeing her squad fall away, she flashed some pepper dust before her and hopped away. The former captain coughed and gagged as the dust hindered his breathing as well as his ability to see. She bowed before the two remaining ponies. "I hate to be the kind of bitch to hit and run, but you know how it is. Free birds don't like getting caged in. We'll get up some other time, maybe."

As the mare retreated down the hall, Crescent cleared his throat as best as he could while recovering. He still had the strength to help Kalimba up. All while coughing, he chided the mare. "This is the SEK-cond time... aghk... you ran in! Do you have a death-wish?"

The mare painfully moaned before replying. "At least dey are gone now. Our way should be clear."

"Our best bet is to wait this out until one of ours come from over that way." Crescent sniffled. "That way we don't run into a trap."

Velvet ran in from where she hid, approaching her husband to help him. "I'm so glad you're okay, hun."

The stallion chuckled despite the pepper dust still in his throat. "I'm more surprised that you haven't decided to choke me out when she offered me what she offered."

"Now you know I'm not a jealous mare. And you already know why."

The stallion rolled his eyes. "Anything they can do, you can do better."

The gray mare pulled her husband in for a kiss before aiding Kalimba in her walk. "And don't you ever forget it."

Meanwhile in the South Hall
Canterlot Castle...

The hall was mostly quiet without any disturbance for the better part of the hours that the four mares spent at their post. The mares were initially anxious about their situation, but as the hours went, they grew from being timid, to being partially attentive, to being outright bored.

That soon changed with the sound of rumbling taking place further down the hall. All four of their ears perked up in hearing the stampeded taking place. "What's that noise?" Dress Right questioned.

Cobalt, who was still a bit on edge from earlier, had stood up quickly. "That sounds like trouble."

They waited for a moment, hearing the noise grow louder. Voices started to sound in the distance, putting all four of the mares on high alert. As soon as the first few dozen turned the corner while wearing some crudely fashioned protection, they all hopped up and got to their positions. "That's trouble alright!" Gleaming Brass shouted.

Cobalt quickly ran over to Solemn Oath, looking to help her load the new weapon they had. But the mare who was in charge of operating it had looked down at the weapon in a panic, she began to look around the weapon trying to identify what was wrong. "Solemn, how do you use this thing!?"

"Dammit!" She called out as she tried to pull the trigger with all her magical might. "It won't fire!" She called out scarily.

"Why not!?" Cobalt shouted.

"I don't know! I'm pulling the trigger, but it's not pulling back!" Solemn screamed hurriedly, going over the weapon yet again to see what had gone wrong.

The four mares started to hyperventilate as Cobalt Blue began to chant to herself. "Aw! I don't wanna die, I don't wanna get eaten by that thing and made a display case! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" She screamed, banging her hooves into the wooden table.

"SOLEMN!" Gleaming Brass shouted as she started to use her magic to send a few blast with hopes to deter the incoming horde of guild members. "WEAREGONNADIESOLEMNHURRYUP!"

Solemn quickly glanced down to the weapon's trigger, noticing a switch that was swapped to the S position. She gritted her teeth as she squeaked to herself. "Oh, right. Safety." She flipped the switch and fired a few test rounds into the oncoming crowd. As soon as the barrel flashed and the first of the crowd fell, she called out to her friends. "Okay, works now! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" She screamed as she sprayed into the small army, her voice being drowned out by the reports of the many bullets she sent forth.

As the bullets whizzed forward, they had great effect on whatever they hit. Pillars that stood proud had been dented into, chipped away at, and damaged beyond belief. Various vases shattered as easily as they were touched by the incoming fire. And the ponies that were unfortunate enough to be greeted with bullets had dropped to the ground as instantly as they had been hit. Solemn stopped firing momentarily to get her bearings for a bit, unable to firmly control the recoil. However, due to the mount she fired from, it prevented her from aiming at her friends.

Rows of guild members had collapsed to the ground as wheat had fallen from being swept by a scythe. Howls of pain and agony filled the halls, some calling for help, blood-curdling screams begging for a medic, and even some that wore the stolen armor soon found out that it's effectiveness was as potent as paper. The front of their formation had turned into a fray of red mist, bits of flesh, fragmented ceramic, quartz, and bone. And in spite of the madness, the bullets kept flying in.

One of the surviving guild members called out to the others who were fortunate enough to not get hit. "IT'S A HUMAN WEAPON!"

"CLEAR OUT OF THE WAY!" Another screamed.

"WE CAN'T STAY HERE!" Yet another called out to their allies. Some watching as more of them caught some ricochet blows and falling over.

Spitfire led a unit to try and capture the fleeing army had started to turn the corner. "Halt!" She called out before a bullet whistled by her ear. "Holy shit!" She quickly realized that being in the air was the worst place to be at the time. She called to the others who had threatened to walk past. "GET BACK! STAY DOWN!"

Though the army outnumbered the squad holding their position, they could not continue their advance while being pinned down. They could not retreat back the way they came with the army on their tails. They simply conceded for the sake of their brethren. A brave few stepped out into the line of fire, raising their hooves up to signal their surrender. "WE YIELD!!! WE YIELD!!! FAUST SAKE FOR ALL THINGS HOLY WE YIELD!!!"

"SOLEMN, THEY'RE SURRENDERING!" Cobalt called out to her friend, who had finally let go of the trigger.

The mare breathed heavily as she observed the carnage she had performed. Her eyes grew wide with horror of the weapon's ability to reap the lives of the ponies it fired upon. She slinked from her position, but inadvertently pulled the trigger once more, emptying out the last four rounds in the belt. "SHIT!" She screamed out as the loud reports were sent into the ceiling. She collapsed where she stood and held a hoof to her chest, peeking back to the ponies that cried out before her. "Mother in heaven."

One of the guild members tearfully cried out. "We're alive! Thank Faust we're alive!"

In juxtaposition to that solitary cry of celebration, there was a mix of mourning groans. Each of them calling for help. As that was taking place, Cobalt looked at her friend and hugged her closely, quietly thanking her for what she did. "Thank you. Thank you so much. You saved us."

Dress Right checked in on the pair, mainly Solemn who's hooves were shaking from having to hold the weapon in place. "So how do you feel?"

"Oh... I don't feel good." She confessed, "I broke so many vases... Celestia's gonna kill me."

Spitfire and her company approached, collecting the hundreds who held their hooves in the air to show their willingness to surrender. The captain herself flew over to Solemn's squad and angrily confronted the four mares. "What in the wide world of Equestria was that!? Don't you know you could've killed us!?"

"Sorry! We thought Prince Blueblood ordered for no guards to enter this hall!" Gleaming Brass answered.

Realizing the fact that the prince had sternly warned her of what halls she was prohibited from entering, she brought a hoof to her own face, silently acknowledging the fact that she had put her own guards in mortal danger. "Yeah he said that..." She turned to the groaning mass of ponies, seeing some dressed in the armor stolen from the barracks. Looking down at the various ponies lying dead with the armor on, she only grew more upset with herself. "Now I see why."

Gleaming Brass lied on her back, relieved that she was on the other side of the weapon Solemn Oath used. Cobalt Blue continued to hug her friend. Solemn stood up and looked to the machine gun and muttered to herself.

"A war with human weaponry... not even once."

The Portal Room...

It never dawned on me just how tiring a siege really is before today. It was absolutely exhausting to think about the impending threat of danger trying to break in your door and do the worst to you. There's always that moment of anticipation before the chaos starts. And then when you get to a point where you have to hole yourself up someplace else within the place being attacked, you're spent waiting for hours and hours for something that's definitely going to come your way. And then there's the boredom of waiting, only to be countered by the anxiety of knowing that the threat is coming for everything you know and love.

Had anyone knew about how being in one was so damn tense, they'd never volunteer. Even watching the movies of great heroes trying to hold the castle walls, the bad guys break down the door, and all hell breaks loose because you have to move to somewhere else for protection, they never really portray the mental toll it takes to endure. There's always the drama, the epic fighting, the great clash, the final encounter that turns the tides. and then there's the briefly-covered aftermath.

Living through this shit, it sucks ass. And this is just the first day.

We're all tired, some of us started to doze off. I'm still fighting to stay awake because I know what's at stake. But damn is it hard to defend the world when you can't even get an hour's worth of that peace of mind. And of course, you'd hate for anything interesting to happen because that only means that the thing you're gonna fight against is just behind that event. It never fails.

The doors to the portal room swung wide open, Blueblood rushing inside and quickly closing the door behind him. While my eyes were initially low and inattentive, but it only took a glance at the blood on his legs to realize that this shit was still going on, and it was very real. "Oh fuck! What happened to you?" I asked tiredly.

"I was holding the line. Not much else other than coming to check in on you lot." He replied as he took a gander at our current demeanor. "And judging from your torpidity, you lot must be very close to discovering the realm of dreams during this time of madness. I envy having the blissful ignorance you lot have."

Twilight shook herself awake. "Blueblood, what does it look like out there?"

"Our reinforcements have arrived." The prince announced. "We've turned the tide and the battle should be won."

"Oh, thank God!" Alex called out in the midst of a yawn. "Any word on Nondis?"

"Luna and Cadance hasn't returned yet. So we can still assume that their bout with that thing is ongoing." He explained.

My head dropped as I was reminded that our fight was not completely over, just the siege part of it. "Great. So where's our asshole of the day?"

"I was going by my gut. I though he should be in here by now." The prince said calmly.

Rickey stretched his arms as he answered the prince. "Well, we're all sleepy-eyed waiting for him. So he hasn't come by here yet."

"Well that's a relief." Blueblood said as the door started to open behind him. A guard walked in behind him, giving him a firm salute.

"Sir! We've confirmed that the insurgents have been apprehended!" The mare reported.

"Very good." Blueblood said as he looked back to the guard who gave the update. "Have our forces─" Blueblood stopped his sentence dead as he saw the mare before him. I didn't quite understand what had him so silent all of a sudden. But it alerted all of us in the room. The blond prince squinted his eyes to better see the mare's face past her helmet. "...I watched you die."

The mare then replied. "Sir prince, I don't understand what you're talking about." Blueblood quickly summoned a spear and tossed it at the mare, who stood emotionless as she was impaled.

The initial shock of the moment rang high for us, telling us to be alert and quick. The blond prince stared angrily as the mare looked to her wound and giggled. "Wow. You really do know how to treat a lady, don't you? You just run me through and don't even take me out to dinner first."

Alabaster assumed a defensive stance, his horn glowing as he shouted to the room. "We know it's you, Umbra! Stop it!"

The mare took off her helmet and smiled gently at the stallion. "Do I look like someone you know?"

"Your humor is just as tasteless!" Blue said as she stood behind her brother.

"I watched that mare die tonight at the hooves of some unworthy brute!"

The mare smiled as she looked to the ceiling, tapping her hoof against her chin innocently. "My, that sounds familiar." She said as she suddenly changed not just her height, but also size and gender. Within seconds, the mare morphed into a bulky stallion with a proud grin. "Maybe you might be mistaken."

Twilight shot a blast to the unicorn, causing him to revert to his original form and counter the blast with just a turn of his head.

He looked back to the young princess and ridiculed her shot. "Seriously, an alicorn princess and bearer of the Element of Magic, you couldn't give me a better shot? I'm almost offended." He said before touting his nose into the air, taking a few sniffs before a deep breath with his eyes closed. As they opened, he smiled widely. "Ah, can you smell it? Can you taste it? Ah yes, the taste of not yet cold, certifiably fresh, life still swimming in the blood. So firm, so fertile, so tender, so sensitive, so young, so damn new! I love these moments, you get to experience life all over again."

Twilight sent another blast his way, with him easily countering it. "You are abhorrent, putrid, low, irredeemable, selfish, and evil! You will pay for your crimes here and now, Umbra Sanctus!"

"Hey now, take it easy on the name. It's pretty big, you know." He said in a pompous manner, summoning a cane and spinning it around as much as he danced in a circle. "Who knows, maybe one day you'll find yourself being like me. It'll be those moments when you'll realize how tough it is to be as big as me and you'll want to keep your name out of everyone's mouth, just so that you don't have to keep hearing it at every turn."

"I will never be like you!" Twilight snarled back.

"Never say never." He teased as he tossed his cane into the air to catch. "After all, you're already following my example to the letter. You do everything you can to increase your sphere of influence. You develop studious habits after being in a place of enlightenment. You experience a number of dramatically life-changing events that alters the course of your fate. You are made vastly different than you once were because of said events. And you adore Princess Celestia."

"We are NOT the same because of that." She stressed angrily.

"Well I find it interesting how you'll don't align the stars when they're obviously shining so bright." He replied, teasing the young princess. "Allow me to elaborate. Have you not once been in a situation where you've been young, and you saw how beautiful the princess was when she walked up to the stage. And of course, she's high up, so that's the main thing you see. And then she does something that leaves you absolutely speechless! You see the crowd and how they adore her so much in that moment, you think to yourself about how you could aspire to be like her, to have the same kind of praise just like her, to be that same influence to others. Just. Like. Her."

Twilight disrespectfully scoffed at his comparison. "Well not everyone thinks about controlling dead bodies when they see her raise the sun!" The stallion stopped spinning his cane, slamming it into the ground to produce a loud ringing sound that alerted everyone in the room. The doors closed behind him and he started to look towards the portals. Twilight teleported herself in front of them and charged her magic. "Another step, and I will erase you from existence!"

The stallion smirked at the young royal. "So much like her, resort to violence when you're met with a difference of opinion. It's the irony of it all." He began to walk away from her, levitating his cane to the center of the room. "So allow me to ask you something, do you honestly believe my life-changing experience came from the fact that she just simply raised the sun? Oh no, she raised a lot more than that. And much like how she became an uplifting influence for your family, she was the same to mine."

"We are nothing alike!" Twilight raged towards the stallion. "So stop trying to find ways to relate to me! I don't want anything to do with you!"

"You know, little miss princess, in some ways you are right. But in others you couldn't be anymore incorrect." He said as he sat his cane down to the ground watching as the entire room began to glow as red as the jewel that adorned it. "So allow me to show you something you probably haven't seen yet. Allow me to show you the truth."

As the room ran red, silhouettes of ponies gathered around a large stage. The way they moved appeared almost as if they were shadow puppets, bouncing up and down as they moved forward. But as there were a collection of shadows, we began to notice that there were some ponies who didn't appear as shadows at all, they appeared as beings of white light. A group of them assembled closely near the stage. As the seconds passed, the stage began to set itself as an executioner's gallows. There was a single noose raised into the air and a trapdoor underneath. From the side of the stage where there were stairs, a gray shadow covered in blood was marched up the stairs. The figure appeared smaller than the shadows that escorted it to the gallows.

The faint sounds of voices hollering and screaming filled the room in an odd manner, almost as if they were drowned out in some sort of space. Umbra walked in the midst of the figures who were made white. "It was a cold and gloomy day. The clouds were overcast and the ground was still wet with rain. I could still feel the dampness in the frog of my hooves. As you can tell, something is scheduled to take place here, an execution. The crime: The slaughter of a pony who had done no wrong in my eyes. The criminal responsible being guided up to the stairs was obviously set to meet his end on this clouded day in the Town Square of Corrotto, the village within the township of Canterlot owned by this group of nobles here."

"I figured there was a catch to the biased glow." Rarity replied.

As the figures continued to illustrate the story, the noose fell to the ground and landed on the stage, being cut by a golden halberd. While I had assumed it was the executioner's blade, it was instead the silhouette of a golden pony walking up the stage. "But as the time drew nigh, the execution was interrupted by a figure of great power. We all know by the stature, don't we?"

"What are you showing us?" Twilight questioned vehemently, beginning to lose her patience.

"The truth, young Twilight Sparkle." He said as he pointed his hoof to one of the glowing figures standing on the stage, trying to move the halberd while the gray figure sat helplessly waiting. "But as you can tell, the figure gave a different proposal to the lord of the village. 'Move this axe, and I shall let you claim your vengeance for your slain son's sake.' And so the stallion attempted to move the axe, but to no avail. The figure showed her strength in moving the weapon, but she also showed him the blade itself. But as it soon was revealed, the gallows were not set for the one who was condemned that day. Instead..." In a sudden twist to the puppet show we were being showed, the cartoonish veil was lifted and we saw the once-glowing figure stand headless on the stage, the head being raised for the audience to see. Blood splattered on the towering mare as she stood before the audience. Her hoof pointed outwards to the family of white figures, who appeared to be in shock. In seconds chaos ensued around the family, engulfing them in the shadows that brought in axes and pikes from elsewhere. But there was one pony who slipped out from the chaos, appearing injured and whisked away by a group of the shadows. As the pony was separated, the heads of that family were raised to the air. "I was made to witness the greatest act of injustice in Equestrian history."

Twilight denied what it was that she saw. "No. That's not true at all! There not one historical record, one historical account of this event taking place! You're just doing this to somehow justify your actions, a make-up story of lies repeated told to yourself to make you feel better about what you've done!"

The stallion walked from the same direction of where the final white figure was taken to. "I beg to differ, young princess. Whether you believe it or not, this is the truth. This is the reality of what Equestria is under her influence."

With enthusiastic speed, Twilight and her friends came to the defense of the princess. "The princess wouldn't do nothin' like this!" Applejack exclaimed.

"What a poverty of an account." Rarity said, dismissing the stallion's illusion.

"She couldn't be so cruel!" Fluttershy argued. "It's not like her!"

"Weak story! Try again!" Rainbow called out.

"If this is some sort of joke, it's not funny." Pinkie stated.

"You all love to see it that way, don't you?" Umbra questioned back at the six mare, readdressing Twilight in particular. "Though you say there's no historical account of this happening, all you'd have to do is look around yourself and ask. The answers are so painfully close to you that all you'd have to is simply ask the question. Did. You. Do it. Four word... and you'll be surprised by what you'll discover."

Twilight turned her head away from the brutal display. "We know you're full of lies, Umbra. There's no changing that truth!"

"Disrupting the natural order isn't tilting the scales, it's breaking them!" Twilight rebutted.

"You can try to change whatever whatever you want, it all ends the same way!" Rainbow argued.

"Your brand of justice is nothing shy of evil!" Rarity replied.

"Justice isn't taking the bodies of the dead to play God!" I added.

"I'm not listening to a single word you have to say, Umbra!" Twilight said, looking away from the stallion.

The jewel began to reveal the cruel colors of the scene taking place, removing the shadows and lights of many of the ponies in attendance, as well as those who were killed. "Celestia wouldn't dare to do something this cruel to anypony!" Fluttershy called out in disgust.

"You're just casting out illusions at this point! You're just full of excuses!" Alex shouted.

"All of this is a fake, none of this ever happened in reality! There's no record!" Twilight argued once again.

"Let me guess, it's the princess you're trying to vilify for your own sanity?" Rarity questioned, mocking the stallion until the golden silhouette revealed itself to be Celestia smiling with blood splattered all over her face.

Admittedly the shock of the image had caused us to think about how she could enjoy anything that barbaric. "Celestia would never stoop herself to something like this." Twilight adamantly stated.

"No, none of this is real. Celestia isn't like this in any way!" She denied yet again.

Looking at her face, I could see a madness that consumed her entirely. I began to ponder the idea of her somehow being led to do something like this, yet it was still unbelievable. "Celestia, you couldn't be this cruel, could you?"

The gray figure stood on the gallows was revealed, a preteen stallion with a shocked expression on his face. A ghostly noose was fixed to his neck. But a second noose stretched from the entirety of the room, hanging on the neck of another pony standing in the room. It coiled around the neck of the pony with the blood on his hooves, who's head was turned downward and away. Twilight felt the air escape her body as she whispered in fright. "Prince Blueblood?"

The noose disappeared from his neck, he turned himself away from the sight, closing his eyes in thought as Twilight galloped to his side, pleading with the prince. "Blueblood, please tell me none of what he says is real."

The room was silent as we watched the prince grow hesitant to say anything to Twilight. "He's not lying... is he?" Alex questioned.

The prince turned around and opened his eyes to the scene portrayed in front of all of us. "It's all true." He confessed quietly. "The gallows, the weather, the sounds of the crowd, it's all true. The moment Celestia took the head of Count Hallow Bastion, the immediate scream of his wife, the sound of Celestia's laugh piercing the silence, how she pointed out the family tied to the death of Prince Fair Charity, how the crowd raised their heads on pikes while she sang of change... revolution... justice... all of it is true." He recounted before giving the stallion a firm glare. "I killed your cousin in cold blood, just like he wronged me the hour before. Make no mistake about that."

Twilight, distraught in finding out what her mentor had done, what she had allowed to happen, sat herself down and stared off into the space of her mind. The stallion teased her over her newfound melancholy. "Disillusioned? Your idol being the figure you never penned her to be in your mind? The beauty you've grown so accustomed to now wearing it's ugly and very real face." The mare stared back to the stallion as he shrugged. "First time?"

I immediately called him out, knowing that he might have aid what he said to throw us all off. "The Celestia I know, the one we know, is different."

The stallion rolled his eyes. "Oh please spare me. If I offered to reform myself in the next sixty seconds, you'd still have a sword anchored in my neck."

"Yeah, you'd be getting exactly what you'd deserve!" Alex shouted to him. "There's no reforming someone like you! Not with what all you've done! You don't get to flaunt someone else's sins as your excuse and then go on to violate people who have jack shit to do with it!"

Umbra chuckled back at the man. "Oh, so because it's her she gets a pass, but I get rainbow magic lasers blown up in my face? What an interesting set of standards you have!"

"We know her character! And she wouldn't do anything like this for no reason at all!" Fluttershy replied, still coming to the princess' defense.

"I've never seen someone who'd run into a brick wall and argue to someone that bricks are just a state of mind." Umbra said, becoming more and more frustrated. "I guess that's what I get in trying to talk to a bunch of well-groomed lapdogs. You don't want to understand anything, do you?"

"Oh we understand alright." Twilight replied, finally breaking her silence. "We know what the aristocrats did to her, how they treated us royals. If they were killed because of the mob, then it was something they did to them that made them do what they did! There's always context, I know there is."

The stallion nodded as he danced closer to the young purple alicorn. "Then I have a question. Why is it that she could've taken any suitor to have for herself, and yet she chose to take the one you fell in love with? Why the one you cherish and adore still? Why the one you call on in your midnight flights? Why take what is yours and make it her own?"

Realizing that Umbra was gaming on the thought of creating some separation between her and Celestia, Twilight began to harden herself against his statements. However, they still cut into her deeply. "That's their decision."

"Oh, always the deflect when the hard questions get asked, eh?" He teased her.

"What they do is not my business." Twilight reiterated.

"Well frankly his tongue shouldn't be in hers, but she let it happen all the same. She got hers, and boy did she enjoy it, so much so that her legs quaked as she laid in his bed." He continued to mock her.

"Shut up." She demanded, holding her hooves over her ears.

"I mean I can understand why you're so upset. She punished you for getting intimate with him while you had a title, and that was when you and he were legally engaged. But now it's illegal for him to even speak to her of romances, much less engaging in some sultry foreplay. How is it that she has the highest title in all the land while grinding her hips on his penis and get nothing in return?" He questioned, pulling her ears back open for her to listen to him. "Remember, anyone I kiss, I know what all they know and experience. And I've had a whole weekend to know what all you've done with him. You're all tease and talk, but in reality you don't have a clue as to how to make him beg for it as much as you beg him. And I know how he compares the two of you, how vastly inferior you feel in comparison to your breed-happy mentor, how inexperienced you are in contrast to your friends, how sexually gifted your protégé is, how the slow ministrations of Kalimba makes him beg for his finish, how the tips and tricks from Blue aids him in his endurance and taste, how cataclysmically inferior your throat feels to even Alabaster's work." He leaned in closer as her magic began to hiss around her horn. "Oh don't be sad. If it makes you feel any better, he started dreaming of her while you were visiting his family, so your relationship was already being poached on from that point. Honestly, I could argue that she started her work on him even earlier than that, possibly the time when he took on that first recovery mission to the Everfree Ruins.... But that would've actually been while you two were together, the scandal!"

"Shut. Up." She warned as her horn gave off fiery sparks in addition to her magic building with the intensity of a railgun.

He whispered into her face, holding up her chin. "♪I now inquire what's your desire, what's your justice?♪"

A scalding barrier erupted from the young princess, causing Umbra to back away. He leapt back as the princess he antagonized sent shot after shot in his direction. The princess screamed at the top of lungs to the stallion who provided just a little more effort to dodge her attacks. "ENOUGH FROM YOU!"

The mad doctor smiled, absolutely overjoyed in seeing her reaction, the tears running down her face as she growled in hatred towards him. "Ah, so you are the jealous type? I guess Nondis' thoughts weren't too far off." Unable to control her emotions initially, Twilight teleported behind him to faint him into turning around. He did not fall for her efforts as he turned to the right and and teleported behind her instead. She teleported away to give herself distance, but found herself bumping into him, kissing her on the cheek. "Still waiting for that phone call back? Not while they're still messaging about how many foals they want together."

"SUFFER AND DIE!" Twilight screamed once more, launching a powerful beam the width of her body.

The stallion stood in place, allowing for the mare's blast to hit him. But as her blast came into contact with him, he swapped places with the stallion in the guild, allowing his body to become vaporized instead. In a quick teleport, he assumed the body and voice of the young guardsmare whom he took. "Those are not words becoming of the Princess of Friendship, your highness." The voice jumped back to his, still speaking through her body. "Or are you more like your mentor than you know? If anything, that was a very Celestia thing to say."

The purple alicorn appeared lost in her rage, making a lot of moves that drained a lot of power from her. Rainbow then called out to her friend, trying to coax her to come back to rationality. "Twilight, he's just trying to get you to come out of yourself!"

Fluttershy also spoke out to the hurting mare. "He may know what's on Nondis' mind, but you know what's in his heart! Think of your times together, you don't think he enjoyed and cherished every moment as hard as he worked for you! Can you imagine what all he risked in being with you? Don't give in to what he says! You're better than that!"

"Deep down, you know the truth." Umbra countered. "You feel used, taken advantage of, and tossed away! You know she robbed you of that happiness, you experience it at the end of the day! When you close your eyes and you smell the mattress you sleep on, you're reminded of what she stole from you! What justice is there in her winning in the end!?"

Realizing that her emotions had her resorting to energy-expensive tactics, she teleported herself next to the blond prince and directed her frustration to him. "You!" She said as she tried to emotionally recover. "You call me Princess Troublemaker with every breath you take! And you're the one who hides behind your own name when that title belongs to you above all else! I didn't cause this, so why is it that you don't step up and fight him instead of me!?"

"Because he knows that he can't kill me." Umbra replied after teleporting by the pair. "Think about it, if I die here, where do I go next? Who's body do I assume? Do I find some time to head over to the medical ward and find a few more candidates who are fresh from the mortal coil? I hear that the south hall is quite the morgue these days."

In a flash of his magic, Blueblood brought forth two spears for him to use. He lunged for the stallion, who willingly took a spear in the chest and reanimated in another body from seemingly nowhere. The mad doctor then took up his cane and began to parry the blows the prince issued to him. The deranged stallion laughed for a moment before allowing his magic to manifest around the entirety of the cane's length, transforming it into the spine of a double-edged broadsword made of his own aura. The next blow that Blueblood tried to issue had been severed by the metaphysical blade he used.

Not too enthusiastic about losing a spear, the prince tossed his severed weapon and summoned yet another to use. "You say you wrote the book of life, well now I'm curious as to how long you actually stay alive without your hubris getting in the way."

Umbra posed with a hoof to his ear. "Well that's a good question. Care to ask that in a language that we both can understand?"

The prince gladly accepted his challenge. the tip of his spear began to glow a similar aura to his golden magic. Umbra went to slice at the spear's body, only to clash against it this time. Blueblood countered by going for a straight thrust into an opening, which Umbra ducked and used the broadside of his sword to skid away from. With the opportunity of an even better opening, he charged his horn to fire a magic blast at the prince. In an unexpected maneuver, Blueblood lowered his head and batted his horn away using his own, sending the blast into the ceiling.

The deranged doctor still giggled in the midst of the fight, talking casually as he and the prince locked horns. "Princess Troublemaker, I like the name you've given her. She has been some trouble to you lot. Though in all honestly I'm surprised she's still a princess to begin with. Shouldn't she have her wings sawed off by now?" Blueblood pushed back and thrusted his spear, only to find his weapon lunging into thin air. Instead, Umbra popped back up beside the mentally-recovering alicorn, looking down at her. "Tell you what, I'll give you an express service on that."

"No you won't!" Rarity intervened, bringing out a sword for her to use. She quickly divided his attention towards not trying to get hit by her blows.

As she thrusted repeatedly at him, he continued to strafe her attacks. "A lady as beautiful as you, such form and grace. Too bad there still the talk of all that cum on your face." He insulted, trying to get into her head as well.

The sudden sound of wings flapping around him made his ears flicker, he instinctually leapt away from the fashionista, also dodging a diving kick from Rainbow Dash. "Back off!"

"Such the high flyer, I wonder if you'll still have your dreams when I break your wings." He said as he motioned for his sword to take aim for the pegasus' wings. But he found his world coming to a sudden tumble as he was kicked aside. He looked back to see Fluttershy landing in the opposite direction. She appeared distressed and nervous that she actually landed a blow. The mad doctor's expression soured. "Correction, I'll break yours first." He said as he directed his undivided attention towards the timid mare.

And yet again his world was sent tumbling, but much faster until he landed into a wall across the room. He rose up from the place of his impact to see Applejack pivoting off from her forelegs, her hindlegs landing onto the ground before she made a gait for the stallion. "You ain't breakin' nothin!" She hollered.

Umbra got out of the way quick enough to avoid his chest getting smashed in by the mare's hindlegs. She sent a number of punches, trying to land yet another blow to any part of his body. But after so many dodges, Umbra grew bored of her and raised her up into the air by one of her hindlegs. "So unrefined, simplistic, and sloppy. What a boring approach." He said as he held her body in place using a separate aura to wrap around her waist. "Fun fact: Did you know if I twist your leg this way, what will happen is─"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Yelled as loud as the sound of her leg breaking in his magic. Applejack writhed and reached up to stop the magic from twisting any further.

"APPLEJACK!" Pinkie called out as she galloped ahead to try and help her.

"Years of apple bucking, such a waste. And here I thought you had the bright and promising future of being a farmer!" He mocked before yanking her by her broken leg and slinging her into Pinkie Pie. "Here, cousin! Catch!"

Pinkie stopped running to catch her extended family member, being as careful as she could be in trying not to let her fall to the ground on her injured leg.

Stanton ran in head-on, trying to hit the stallion a number of haymakers. The stallion appeared just as bored with him, that was until one punch of Stanton's had magic covering it. And while the stallion had every intention to avoid it, he soon realized that the magic punch wasn't to make an impact, but to sweep him from his hooves and drag him into the air. He held the stallion up like a punching bag, and went to work.

In an absolute fury, Stanton proceeded to direct his fists against the doctor's face and skull, bashing and mashing without restraint. His eyes remained locked on the doctor's head as he started to infuse his magic into his attacks. The force of his punches grew exponentially, until portions of his face had caved in. Once he was satisfied in seeing that, he used his magic to slam his head into the ground another five times for good measure before flinging him into the wall where he previously had his illustration.

"Oh, now we're talking dirty! I like it!" Umbra replied as his face and head quickly healed back into place, causing the man to tiredly look on in disbelief that his most brutal assault netted almost no effect. However, the stallion offered a retort by summoning a submachine gun. "But since I'm dealing with you, I'd much rather do this in your style."

"Shit!" Stanton called out as he quickly ran the other way, trying not to run in a straight line.

We all had to hide behind the massive pillars as the sounds of bullets went flying. We hid ourselves compact around the pillars that offered us a sizeable amount of protection. But instead of hitting us in general, his shots veered upwards in a rapid fashion. "Sorry about that! I still have to get used to all the recoil!" He said as he went on to fire more bullets, but found himself running out as quickly as he held the trigger to pray that he had hit something. As they stopped coming, he looked at the emptied weapon and tossed it aside before sending more blasts of magic into the pillars where we hid. He started to laugh wildly as he took a number of guess of who was hiding where. "Really hiding behind those pillars now, aren't you!? It reminds me of that one time Shining and Nondis had that sparing match!" He said, directing his comment towards the young princess.

Blue suddenly popped up beside him, surprising him with a blast to his forelegs. "Try fighting your battles like a real stallion instead!"

In the midst of her trying to apply some pressure to him, Umbra took amusement in the mare's ability to fight. "How cute, you think you can hold serve." He said before taking one step forward to make a feignt to throw her off. She fell for it, allowing him to use his magic to sweep her legs and kicked her jaw, knocking her totally off-balance. "Still lacking in the physical department." He commented.

Leaping in from above was Alabaster, who came down with his daggers, looking to deal a ghastly blow to the stallion. They landed directly into his spine, causing the stallion to lose the ability to move the rear portion of his body. "Try me!" He demanded.

Realizing that his wound wouldn't heal as quickly as he would've liked, he dropped the body he used and swapped to another. Getting his range of motion back he kicked the stallion away from him. "I never really understood why you hated your father so greatly. You act so much like him." He replied, shaking his hindleg.

"Fuck off!"

Umbra's cane and Alabaster's weapons began to clash repeatedly. The young stallion trying his best to remain on the offensive while his opponent nonchalantly parried all of his attacks. "Alabaster, why do you betray me?"

The young stallion panted back. "Why shouldn't I? You tortured me and my sister for all the time we came here! You don't deserve my loyalty!"

"No. I demand your service." He sternly answered as he whacked away the daggers Alabaster used, watching as they disappeared into the nothingness. He stood proudly before the stallion he disarmed. "Care to give me a mind-blowing experience one final time?" He mocked.

But as he was going to use his magic another time, a purple wing raked against his face, causing the stallion to scream. Numerous cuts appeared on the stallion's face as Twilight looked back at him. "So what was that about my wings!?"

Encouraged by the princess who finally recovered, all of her friends with the exception of Applejack ran in to try and attack him all at once. "Everypony! Together!" Rainbow called out, also prompting both Stanton and Alabaster to join in the omnidirectional charge.

Umbra pursed his lips and closed his eyes. "Okay, I'm getting a little annoyed. Let's put these new bodies to good use."

As everyone began to close in on the stallion, his eyes popped open to reveal black scleras and his usual gold irises. He let out a yell that shook the room. A dark shadow grew from around him, reaching out to about five feet in either direction, from the outer edges of the shadow jettisoned seven ponies to defend himself. Each corpse had been met with a corresponding attack. Those who lunged in were left astounded over the sudden appearance of corpses, and having to watch them being horrifically twisted into tendrils made many stop their attacks altogether. The crackling and popping of bones and joints, the rapid compression of air through their throats as they were constricted made all who watched nauseous.

The tendrils whipped back at the attackers, smacking each of them back some feet before they sunk back into the ground. Twilight looked as the shadow slowly receded. "Wait! I thought that thing was gone!"

"Yeah, we watched Nondis drag that thing away!" Rainbow shouted.

"Oh, so that's what you thought? That's cute, actually." Umbra replied as the shadow completely receded into his own shape. "So let me be frank with all of you, my dear Congregant is just the second of my work. Nondis was set to be my third. Now science shows that one cannot commit to a practice without first applying some method of theory, a theory that took a total of 502 years of living to confirm over and over again, 485 years of researching bodies, and countless tomes of forbidden magic to master. Care to ask which one's the first?"

Blueblood grimaced as he too understood the advantages of living almost just as long. "You."

The stallion smirked back to the prince. "Of course. But there's a difference between my congregant and I. She can't control her form as fluidly because of her ever-changing emotional state, you know how fickle kids are these days. But me... I̵ ̸c̷a̵n̶ ̷c̶o̴n̶t̵r̵o̴l̶ ̸m̶i̶n̸e̵ ̷a̸ ̵l̵o̴t̷ ̷b̵e̵t̵t̶e̵r̵.̷"

As quick as Umbra's voice changed and distorted, I felt my hands trembling on the gun in my hands. "Okay, we're in trouble."

"M̸y̶ ̶e̴m̷o̷t̸i̶o̴n̴s̶ ̷a̴r̶e̵ ̴s̷t̴a̶b̴l̷e̸,̸ ̶m̷y̶ ̷i̵n̵t̸e̵n̵t̸ ̵i̵s̴ ̶c̷l̶e̵a̷r̶,̵ ̵I̶ ̷c̴a̷n̴ ̵s̶h̵i̶f̵t̷ ̵m̷y̷ ̸s̶h̶a̵d̷o̴w̵ ̸i̴n̸ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̷ ̸t̷i̸m̵e̴ ̴t̶o̵ ̷w̵h̶a̴t̵ ̷i̸t̵ ̶w̶o̸u̶l̸d̶ ̸n̴o̴r̷m̵a̷l̶l̴y̷ ̵b̷e̸ ̷w̷i̴t̵h̶ ̵a̵n̷y̵ ̶g̵i̷v̵e̸n̵ ̸l̴i̸g̷h̴t̸ ̴s̴o̷u̸r̶c̴e̸.̷ ̶I̴ ̴c̸a̷n̴ ̴e̶v̴e̸n̷ ̶b̷e̵ ̵w̸h̵e̶r̶e̵ ̸I̶ ̷w̴a̴n̵t̸ ̴t̵o̶ ̴b̶e̶,̶ ̸w̴h̵e̵n̴ ̸I̸ ̸w̶a̸n̴t̶ ̵t̵o̴ ̴b̸e̶ ̴t̵h̵e̶r̷e̶.̵ ̸I̵ ̵a̸m̷ ̸o̸m̴n̵i̵p̶r̸e̶s̸e̷n̶t̶,̴ ̷I̶ ̴k̸n̸o̶w̵ ̸a̸l̷l̸ ̶t̸h̴i̴n̸g̴s̷.̷ ̵I̴ ̴a̸m̸ ̵t̴h̴e̵ ̴S̵e̴r̶a̵p̸h̷ ̷w̵h̶o̷ ̴s̴i̵n̸g̶s̷ ̵t̶h̵e̷ ̸m̴e̴l̵o̴d̵i̴e̷s̵ ̷o̵f̸ ̶l̸i̵f̴e̴ ̶a̶n̶d̸ ̸d̶e̷a̵t̷h̷.̴ ̵I̶ ̷a̶m̵ ̴a̸ ̸h̸i̶g̶h̸e̴r̶ ̵b̷e̷i̴n̵g̶!̴" His voice came back down and he spoke normally once more. He looked to me and whispered with a sadistic smile. "But you humans will soon learn to call me Christ."

"Like hell we will!" Alex shouted, shooting a few rounds into the stallion's body. He merely took on the bullets and shrugged off the impacts that would've normally killed any other pony instantly.

The bullets that entered his body were simply spat back out of the wounds they entered into. He then spoke his words to us humans. "Have you not witnessed the miracles I am capable of? Everything I do is quite literally textbook to your holy doctrine. I can heal the sick, give sight to the blind, let the mute speak, let the deaf hear, let the untouchable feel, raise the dead." He said before turning his attention to the ponies. He started growing a set of mismatched wings, one belonging to that of a pegasus, the other belonging to that of a batpony. "For you flightless birds tethered to the earth, I give you wings. For you groveling worms of the dirt, I give you horns. For the abused, I teach them power. For the privileged, I take it away. For the pauper, I give them crowns. For the royals up high, I give them the poverty they deserve." He turned his head back over to us as we stood between him and the portals back to our home. "And for humans, I give you the prophecy you desire, the long-overdue judgement your species has deserved for over thousands of years! So make way, for they must see God."

I wasn't going to shy away from the truth, I was terrified of what was taking place. I wanted to run, save myself as quick as I could. After witnessing what I just did, there was no way we could win with the way things are right now. We wouldn't be able to stop him if we tried, we'd be slaughtered, probably set to join that thing he's made of himself. But on the other hand, if we let him go without resisting, there would be nothing to stop him from destroying everything we know and love back home.

So in spite of our being very scared for what we were facing, the five of us humans stood together and made a declaration to the abominable doctor. "You're not gonna even set one hoof into our world!" Alex called out.

The deranged stallion tilted his head. "And which one of you will stop me?"

I felt my hand getting gripped, I looked down to see it was Rickey holding on to me for support. "All of us, every single one." He replied.

Umbra rolled his eyes as he started to walk closer, looking to the panels on the side of the mirrors that stood. "If I recall correctly, the portals are off right now. Well I can still turn them back on. It's not like I don't know how to reactivate them."

Stanton was the quickest of us to respond to his threat. Using his magic, he lifted the mirrors into the air and slammed them down to the ground, sending shards of glass and wooden fragments around the room. Umbra gawked as the young man folded his arms before him in defiance. "Motherfucker, I want you to try."

Twilight and the others were surprised to see that Stanton willingly and effectively destroyed our way back home. Umbra initially wore a scowl but tried to hide his expressions by smiling. "A shame. You would spite your way home to postpone the inevitable?"

"It took us six and a half months to make a portal to their world." Twilight called out. "Well now if you want a way through, you can learn from scratch."

"How disappointing." He said before looking back to the door he walked in from. "I had thought that this would be a lot more fun, tease and taunt a little, have a little scrum, joke and prod at all of your personalities while making you see that your efforts are pointless. But then you had to all gang up on me like some bullies in an abbey, and of course I had to draw the line with that. But now you've given me one choice, and that's to take my leave for the only portal available, and I haven't made any setups in Ponyville today. Well, I guess I'll be hoofing it then... but not before punishing the peons who dare get in my way."

His shadow grew once more, tentacles and more bodies sprouting up to take their shapes. Umbra rose slowly into the air, being supported by a throne of bones and contorted bodies. He lifted his head to the ceiling as more and more tendrils were created around his throne, both to defend him and do his bidding.

Canterlot Gem Mines...
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

Our game of hide-go-seek had taken a complete turnaround. Ever since Discord showed his face, the filly has been operating as stealthily as possible. But with Luna's extreme clairvoyance, we were able to sniff out what were the shadows of the crystals and stalagmites, and what were her shadows instead.

And to add to our mounting number of advantages, Cadance had an ability to manipulate crystals and generate them from wherever her magic landed. So if a piece of her shadow was ever spotted, Cadance would jut out some large crystals rapidly to not just disturb the ground her shadows were on, but drastically raise a portion of that collective to surface. And from there, she would freeze the bodies that touched her crystals, making the Congregant follow through with a critical choice. Either she would keep the bodies and risk more of them to be frozen off at once, or let them go to be frozen while the rest of her collective runs free along with her.

It was a formidable combination, one in hindsight I was fortunate enough to not discover sooner.

It went without saying that the filly didn't like this very much. She relented in attacking us, hoping that Cadance was nowhere around when she was caught. But with the pink princess already having extensive knowledge of the caves, there was no position she didn't exploit. A trio of large colorful crystals jutted out of the ground, severing almost thirty bodies away from the filly's collective. "S̷t̷o̶p̸ ̵s̷t̶e̴a̵l̴i̵n̵g̵ ̸m̶y̴ ̵d̸o̴l̶l̸i̵e̸s̸!̵" She called out in a panic, scrambling into her shadow to avoid being cut off completely.

Cadance continued to seal the bodies in a large crystal coffer. "They aren't yours to begin with."

The filly called out to me as Luna continued to point her out. "B̷i̸g̵ ̷b̷r̴o̵t̸h̶e̵r̶,̸ ̷I̶ ̵d̴o̵n̵'̵t̶ ̵w̸a̷n̵n̷a̸ ̷p̵l̶a̴y̴ ̸t̴h̶i̵s̵ ̵g̸a̷m̸e̴ ̵a̴n̷y̴m̸o̴r̵e̷!̸ ̷I̷t̷'̸s̴ ̸t̷o̸o̶ ̶s̵c̸a̵r̴y̴!̷"

Discord replied to her. "Scary!? My dear, have you looked in a mirror lately!?" With supervision from Cadance, he collapsed portions of the caves to cut off her retreat. Since her issue was surfaces, she couldn't seep through the cracks of the collapsed gems and crystals Discord had thrown in the way.

"D̴a̸d̶d̶y̴ ̴s̴a̶y̷s̸ ̶I̶'̶m̷ ̸p̴r̴e̵t̶t̷y̸!̸" She called out to the draconnequus.

"Yeah! Pretty hideous!" Cadance answered as she started to erect a number of crystals to quickly dice off some parts of her collective.

The filly tried to shoot tendrils towards the princess, but was met with a crystal wall raised before her of Discord's influence. Before she could retract the tendril, I ran forward to thrust my spear into the twisted pillar of flesh, trying to hold it down against the ground long enough for Cadance to do her work. The filly began to lose a significant number of bodies in our cornering of her. She screamed out loudly and used several of her tendrils to bash against the barricade Discord made for her. She summoned a great number of tendrils, including one of great girth to potentially drill herself out of the manufactured dead-end.

Cadance continued to cut away at the collective, Luna beamed her magic to the shadows, forcefully dragging out what she could to help Cadance not do as much work. Her efforts were by no means a light contribution, while Cadance would sever off dozens, Luna began to raise up bodies by the hundred to stop her. But even with the great progress we made, the Congregant still broke her way through the barricade and wormed herself into the ground. Cadance and Discord combined their powers to raise a solid wall, severing almost a quarter of her shadow away from her in one critical attempt to retain her.

Instead of getting snagged by the rapidly freezing portions of her collective, she continued to cut bait and flee down the dark caverns. "D̶a̵d̵d̸y̸!̸ ̶H̶e̸l̸p̵ ̶m̸e̶!̸" Her distorted voice echoed through the halls as she fled crying.

Cadance continued to seal off all the bodies she took off. Luna looked to me and said. "It's as you said, she's still a child."

"Yes, but one who has made a number of decisions that cannot be ignored." Discord replied.

After she finished her tiresome work of sealing the corpses in crystal, Cadance rubbed her horn lightly. "I hate having to do this, but we cannot let her get out of here in one piece."

"I think that's all of our sentiments right now." I agreed as we proceeded to go back into our pursuit.

As we ran along a winding and craggy route, we came into contact with a large gaping hole that had an old rope-guided lift system at the mouth of it. The system appeared to go higher into the mountain, but it moreso went lower into a deep dark abyss.

"She went to the extraction bay down below." Cadance pointed out.

"Extraction bay?" I questioned.

"That's where they send the gems to the surface. It's one giant sinkhole leading to the tunnels connecting to one of the abandoned rail lines up above. It's where they would send you in to work, and namely where the gems come out."

As I looked into the void down below, my mind recounted the stories Celestia told me of citizens who were sent here after being unable to pay their unrelenting taxes. All I could imagine was the sounds of some families crying for their loved ones as they were lowered into the caves below. "So we're pretty much going down to where a number of ponies have died in the past?"

"Some of the tunnels down there are unstable. There's a number hazardous gasses and mineral deposits that can destroy your lungs if you're not careful." Cadance explained further.

"Meaning we don't have long to be down there." I safely concluded.

Discord held out a respiratory mask, seemingly grabbed from my world. "I figured you would need this eventually to deal with the smell of the bodies, but I see you've grown accustomed to that."

"Thanks." I said while accepting the creature's offering. "I'm not exactly alicorn-built here."

Luna was quick to correct me. "Our bodies can expel all of what we take in, but that doesn't mean we don't suffer the consequences sometime after. All it means is that we suffer for less time."

As her voice echoed from the darkness below, I turned to Cadance and inquired about her chances of evasion. "Is there any way she can escape?"

"Chances are small, there may be some areas that have been caved in but not to the severity of others. She might be able to slip through. All I know is that this is the one place Twilight and I didn't stay in for very long. She was just a unicorn at that time."

I nodded in acknowledgement. "Ah, short-term health risk to you, long-term for her."

"Exactly." She confirmed as she looked up to the rope. She flew upwards into the hole above. While the three of us didn't wait for long, she slowly descended on a rickety platform, the soft squeaking and rocking of the lift was the only thing that filled the cave with sound. As she came to a stop, I noticed how it seemed to be put together. There were large knots anchoring the lift on all four corners. Those ropes were fixed to a square cast iron frame, which was then held by a series of six ropes. But the main thing that I noticed was that there was no protective railing whatsoever. She clopped her hoof against the wooden planks of the make-shift elevator. "This lift should be able to get us down there safely."

"I don't know what's your definition of safe, but that ain't it." I murmured as I nervously stepped on the wooden surface. The lift swayed slightly, causing me to slowly creep towards the center of the lift. I looked around nervously as I continued to voice my concerns. "Just how old is this thing? Do we even know if this damn thing still holds together? What if the rope snaps and we just go careening to the floor of the extraction bay?"

"Three of us can fly, we can levitate you too if it gets a little too rocky." Cadance answered.

"Just hope that it doesn't come to that. Our magic is running rather low, and I have been out of the moonlight for some time." Luna said as she walked onto the platform.

Cadance pulled a lever at the middle of the lift. A clicking noise sounded and we slowly descended down the hole into the abyss. Along our ride down, we were silent as we passed a number of abandoned shafts. As we sank lower into the mountain, I turned to Luna and asked her curiously. "I know that you and Celestia derive your energy from the celestial bodies you control, even being able to speak to them in some cases. Is it really that much of a symbiotic relationship?"

"More than you know." She answered as we came into a large empty room, seemingly built for torchlight accommodations. The room was ominously huge for it's operation purpose. I shined my magic to risk a little more light, seeing just how vast the place really was. There were a number of suspended trusses holding broken rail lines that once connected to various tunnels, a number of suspended catwalks that were crumbled and broken away, and several scaffolds running the height of the walls. On the ground were a number of rusted chains and cuffs, presumably used to forcefully retain the workers.

I could imagine the sounds of ponies working to their abysmal fates.

The lift came to a stop, landing against the ground and kicking up some dust. I looked back up to where we had come from and nodded in approval. "I'm surprised this thing held together the way it did."

"Seems someone's been using it with the way it's been maintained." Luna added.

As Cadance took a few steps forward, her teeth chattered and her lips tightened. Her feathers brushed against her back to soothe her. "It's cold down here."

"Well we are in a cave with no source of warmth for miles." I pointed out.

"No... it's a different kind of cold." Discord pointed out.

Cadance took a deep breath, even sniffing the air of the mines. "The air is purer than I last remembered."

"Do we follow the good air, or do we take our chances in some of these other tunnels." I questioned.

The pink princess turned to Luna. "What do you think, can you find any trace of where she might have went?"

The night princess followed her own nose, trying to trace out the slightest stench of death. She continued to walk forward, quietly confirming our route, that was until we came to a cave that looked more devastated by something of a larger size. And while the smell was more muted due to the cold, it still smelled horrendous.

"I think we found our candidate now." Discord commented.

"She might have surfaced her collective here." Cadance observed. "These walls look like they've been disturbed."

A crackling sound came from above us. I quickly looked up to see a loose piece of crystal about to come down on Cadance. "WOAH, LOOK OUT!" I said as I used my magic to push her out of the way. She was quickly knocked over, but spared the impact of the large loose crystal crushing her entirely. She looked back at me with quiet gratitude as I looked back up to where the crystal fell from. "Now I see how ponies die down here." I said to myself.

Discord gently helped the mare back to her hooves. "Thanks, guys. I'd probably would've lost my daughter with that one."

"Would've?" I stressed.

She winked at me and smiled. "I know, right? Even with a foal on the way, I'm still for the thrill of a close call." She looked directly to me and lowered her head. "Thank you so much."

I rolled my eyes back at her. "Don't worry, I won't tell Shining what happened."

"Now I owe you twice!" She said before looking to the direction of the carnage that was created. "This cave wasn't nearly as big or wide as it was in the past. This just some recent work on the Congregant's part."

"You think it could've been widened?" I asked. "But why?"

"The only way we find out is if we follow." Luna answered as she took lead.

Walking through the cave, there were a number of things that we ran across. For starters, the place had gradually become illuminated with a number of specialized crystals growing more frequent along the walls. Some were knocked to the floor, still glowing and lighting the winding path ahead. The air only got colder from where we started. What felt like a slight breeze had started to feel like we were in something artificially ventilated. The smell of death was still present, but growing more muted as we approached the brighter areas.

At last we came to a large room, but this one with much neater cuts and steel reinforcements along the walls. It appeared very modern in contrast to the rest of the caves we came through. Cadance even seemed confused as to where we were, which only indicated that we had come across some new territory for her. "What is this place?"

Instinctively, I looked around the place and saw how big and wide it was. There were also a number of steel-grated catwalks running the length of the walls. I immediately started thinking about some games I've played in the past with this same setup, and it only indicated one thing to me: A boss fight was set to trigger. "It looks like a staging area. She might be hiding out around here."

"I see no trace of her shadows." Luna stated. "She must be elsewhere."

Cadance also took note of a humming sound in the distance. "I hear fans running. They sound huge."

"Staging Zone 3." Discord called out, pointing to a large set of letters. As he pointed to the letters above, he also noted the large steel doors that were forcibly peeled open. "Those doors were broken into."

"Then let's see what's inside." I said as we pushed further into the strange compound.

Upon stepping into the gigantic room, the four of us noticed how unbelievably frigid it was. We walked into a large chamber where there were fans running on every wall. There were a number of items like glasses of water and apples set on a counter to indicate the temperature. I picked up the apple and slammed it to the ground, watching as it just hit the ground and roll away without so much as a dent.

Cadance had shuddered as she complained about the sudden drop in temperature. "It is cold in here, below freezing even."

"You're the princess of the Crystal Empire, I would've taken it that you can endure a little ice." I lightly jabbed, shivering myself.

Her teeth chattered as she rubbed against herself. "Frozen ice is fine, the empire is sat in the midst of a tundra after all. But the thing about tundra air is that it's often dry. This is a lot more humid, perfect for flash freezing, which can be extremely dangerous to the body."

As she called out in a faint voice, Discord commented on how she sounded. "She's weak now."

"Not so much. Just tired." I replied as we started to pick up our pace, trying not to be in the room for much longer. We brisked through the room quickly, hearing her as she spoke out yet again.

"Staging Zone 2." Discord pointed out to the large lettering on the wall we ran towards. At the top of the chamber was a rail system that fed into a nearby room. "Though it's far from literal, we're getting warmer on where we are."

The doors this time were a lot more sturdy, vault-like if anything. There was no sign of damage, but they were left ajar. When we ran up to them, we were relieved to see that we didn't have to do too much work to get past them. "One more set of doors." I chattered.

"These doors are huge." Cadance pointed out.

"And they're open." Luna added. "Let's get inside so that we don't have to deal with this cold."

As we ran into the room, we made sure to get out of the way of any incoming draft from that frozen chamber. I rubbed my arms as the others shook off the frozen ice particles that started to form on our skin. "The air is still cold, just definitely not as cold as before."

"Still feels like a tropical paradise in contrast to the room we left." Discord muttered as he looked around.

I started looking around the room, noticing the same rail system that was in the room prior, but this one was a lot darker in contrast to the brightness of the freezer we left from. But upon looking upward, it was then revealed to me why the rails were built as such. "Oh... Now I know why it's cold down here."

"What, what do you see?" Luna questioned.

I pointed up to the ceiling. "Look up."

The princess' eyes glanced up to see a vast number of hooks suspended from the ceiling, and her eyes trailed until she had caught glimpse of a body hanging in the rafters. "Oh... that's..... distressing" She said quietly.

I nodded as I walked forward, barely recognizing the room with the obvious lack of bodies hanging from the ceiling. "Oh yeah, it's gonna be cold in here, can't let the fridge do all the work."

As we walked further, the bodies were still sparse, but they were slightly growing in number. However, it appeared that the ones who were left were mostly very elderly, that or very very young. Cadance shuddered as she took in the sight. "It's like a morgue in here."

"What do you think this is?" I asked her.

Discord look to the wall where we had walked in from, reading the bold print out loud. "Staging Zone 1." He went back to looking at the few bodies hanging from the rails above. "This is not a pretty sight."

Meanwhile, I had found myself stepping on uneven ground. I looked down to see a darkened stain on the ground, sitting underneath a pair of leather straps. I picked them up, observing the items as the trauma of my weekend started to creep back up my spine. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're back."

"What are those?" Cadance questioned.

"These are magic inhibitors." I answered, holding up the items for her to see.

Luna tried to levitate them over to her, but they sucked in her magic as though they were still active. "They're pretty big for a horn her size." She said in relation to the filly.

"They weren't for a horn." I answered, pulling back my sleeve to reveal the scars around my wrist. I held up one for comparison. "They were for me, and they were grafted into my skin."

While the princesses had gasped over the sight of both the scar and the items, only one thing came to Cadance's mind. "So wait... doesn't this mean that this is..."

I nodded in confirmation. "Yup. Hell sweet hell."

While her voice was weaker than other times, there was no mistake that she was still in the room. I placed the magic inhibitors in my pocket, thinking of a way to use them for another purpose. I emitted a light from my hand, revealing the condition of the filly's collective. There was no shadow to hide anything, everything that was attached to her was in full view, revealing the great length to how many bodies she had absorbed. There were still a few hundred attached to her, but they weren't in the best condition to be used. It appeared that much of the healing factor that she normally had subsided completely, leaving only broken limbs and twisted corpses around her. She herself had stood at the top of the pile, trying her best to get the reinforced steel doors open to the rest of the lab.

I took a step on one of the bodies she used, announcing to her loudly. "Tag!" She turned around quickly, tears in her eyes as she looked to the four of us with genuine fear. "You're it." I said as I pointed to her.

She screamed as loud as she could, banging her hooves into the door, begging and pleading for them to open. "N̵O̷!̸ ̵I̷T̸'̶S̶ ̸N̸O̶T̶ ̷F̶A̴I̶R̴!̷ ̶I̵ ̸M̵A̷D̶E̴ ̵I̸T̷ ̷H̸O̴M̷E̸ ̴S̷A̶F̵E̸!̴ ̷D̷A̶D̶D̴Y̵!̴"

Finally cornered, I backed away from the collective and grabbed my spear, pointing at the hellish creature before us. "Everything you got! Let's go!"

The filly raised more bodies to defend herself, though they were much more sluggish than usual. And Cadance was that much quicker to trim off and isolate the ones she had at her extremities. "Just as I said, none of this belongs to you!"

"THIS NIGHTMARE ENDS HERE!" Luna shouted as she transformed into her Nightmare Moon form, using her powers to cast lighting bolts into the creature. Each of the bodies had screamed along with the young filly, who felt the pain of it's impact surge throughout her body.

As a result, something unexpected began to take place.

A few of the bodies that were at her extremities had seized up and fallen off of the collective. My eyes widened at the revelation and turned to Discord, who pointed out what was happening. "She's beginning to destabilize! Keep it going!"

I immediately looked up to the hooks in the ceiling, taking note of the the pipes that ran from above the door above her to the freezer we walked in from. An idea sprouted wings in my brain and took flight. "Luna!" I called out to the transformed princess. "Electric signals can disrupt the neurotransmitters in the body, causing the muscles to contract."

She initially appeared confused as to what I explained, but she was still quick to realize what I had in mind. "What do you advise?"

"I need you and Cadance to buy us some time!" I said as I started to find whatever hooks and chains I could drag down with my magic and drive them into many parts of her unstable collective.

Cadance quickly got to work sealing off the released bodies. "If that's what you need, we'll do what we can!" She answered.

I turned to the draconequus and gave him my instructions. "Discord, I need for you to find the control console for this room! Decrease the temperature and increase humidity, make it just like Staging Zone 2! We're gonna see if this fridge can do some real work."

The filly still yelled out to the doors, banging her hooves against them as I started my work on dragging more and more chains down to attach to the nightmarish creature. "Y̷O̵U̶'̸R̷E̸ ̵S̵U̵P̴P̴O̸S̷E̶D̵ ̵T̸O̸ ̶B̴E̵ ̶H̴E̷R̷E̸,̷ ̸D̵A̷D̴D̵Y̶!̷ ̸P̶L̷E̶A̷S̷E̶ ̴D̶O̴N̵'̷T̷ ̵L̷E̶T̸ ̵T̷H̸E̸ ̶M̷E̷A̸N̶ ̴P̴O̷N̵I̶E̴S̷ ̸D̴O̵ ̶T̷H̴I̸S̵ ̴T̷O̸ ̸M̵E̸!̷ D̵A̷D̴D̵Y̶!̷"

As the seconds went by, the room drastically got colder and the air grew moist. Cadance quickly called out what was going on. "It's getting cold, and fast!"

While she and Luna continued to do their work, I grimaced as I took one last hook in my hands. I looked to the top fo the collective, where the filly stood, firmed my resolve, and took the number of steps up the number of bodies she claimed. I climbed up, trying not to look into the faces of those long deceased victims, finally getting to the point where I could reach her and wrap the chain around the filly's body before hooking it into the very first body she stood on. "B̴I̸G̸ ̸B̵R̵O̷T̶H̷E̶R̶,̴ ̶W̸H̷A̶T̷ ̵A̴R̷E̸ ̶Y̴O̶U̷ ̸D̵O̶I̶N̷G̴!̴?̸" She questioned as I ran off of her collective.

As I was clearing the creature, I looked up to see what it was that was sitting above us. As soon as I saw the stencil wording on the side of the pipe, I called out to the pink princess. "Cadance, burst those pipes up there!" I said, pointing to the pipes leading into the freezer.

"What are they!?" She asked.

"Something good and refreshing." I said as she took aim. Once I cleared the creature's damaged form, Cadance made a crystal shoot from the ceiling, severing a heated water main leading into the freezer room.

"Water?" She said curiously. "But won't that freeze?"

"Not quick enough." I replied as I pointed to the transformed princess. "Luna! Zap it!"

She summoned a thundercloud high into the rafters, producing a number of lightening bolts to strike at the filly and her collective. She unleashed a very loud scream that rattled the very foundations of the room we stood in.

After a few seconds of undergoing some thousands of volts through her collective, the entirety of the monster's form unraveled, sending every single thing that was attached to her tumbling to the floor. She too rolled free of the bodies she once had possession over. Cadance took note of what was taking place. "The bodies.. they just... fell off."

I quickly levitated the filly away from the collective. As our action came to a standstill, so did the fans within both rooms, shorting out from the vast amounts of electricity that ran through the railings. The air came to a standstill, and there was a peaceful quiet.

"Cadance, can you seal off the rest?" I urged as I placed the filly down and wrapped one of the magic inhibitors around her tiny horn.

"On it." She called out as I continued my work. While she began to crystalize over the bodies she collected, I finished up apprehending the young filly.

Just as Cadance concluded her work, the little filly came back to consciousness. She looked around, seeing that she couldn't feel anything but her own self. She tried to stamp her hooves into the ground, hoping that something would sprout up, but the only thing she could see was her own shadow. We all stood before her, watching as she tried in vain to do what she could to defend herself. At last she tried to use her magic, but to no avail with the inhibitor I placed on her.

By then, she had started to realize that her game was very much over. "Please don't be mean anymore! I promise to be good! I promise!" She begged loudly.

The princess and the draconequus were less than willing to hear her out. Cadance was the first to voice her displeasure. "There's no amount of pleading you can do for this to become forgivable in any way!" The Princess of Love stated, her words filled with emotion.

"You know what all you've done, the pain you've caused! Stop pretending you're innocent in all of this!" Luna stated firmly, her tone promoting accountability.

"You cannot break the natural order and be allowed to roam free!" Discord said strongly, his words ringing loudly with judgement.

Just as the three stepped forward, the young filly stretched out her hooves, tears running freely down her cheeks. "Here's my legs!" She sniffled in pleading. "Take them! They don't belong to me anyways! Just please don't make me go to sleep forever! I'll be good, I'll be really really good! I do whatever you want! I'll give you ice cream, candy, just please don't hurt me! I don't wanna die!"

As she pleaded, the others grew quiet in watching the young filly beg for her life. While they wished to bring a conclusion to matters, they too couldn't shake the obvious of this situation. At the end of everything she had done, she was still a child begging for the adults around her not to kill her. For Discord, it was his personal mantra to not be the one to decide the fate of the living. For Luna, it was the inherent desire to protect the young and underdeveloped minds from harm. And for Cadance, it was the sound of her future, the very same that grew within her womb. All three knew what they had to do, but their own beliefs and inner-thoughts that had them hesitant to act.

I won't lie and say that I had no reservation of my own. For me, it was the fear of living the same spiritual torture my grandfather had to endure. Throughout his life, he was offered the choice of dying or pulling the trigger to blow a fourteen year old's life away. While I wondered what had went through his mind as he pulled the trigger, I too had to wrestle with those thoughts.

And just like his decision, it wouldn't have to take long.

While his was induced with the physical gun being aimed at his head, mine was the morally and spiritually crafted weapon. I wasn't forced by threats of my life ending, but rather how many more lives would have to suffer if she were to continue living. There was no promise that she'd be any better than she'd be now, or if she had the mind to turn into Umbra after all was said and done. There were too many open ends, too many ways this could go wrong.

Grandpa's thoughts were along the line of two things; if he spared that boy's life, would he had come back to avenge his family, hurting others in his unit? And if he refused, would his life be so brashly taken by his own commander? He knew the answer to those questions, so he acted to make the difficult choice.

And here, I had to do the same. "Hey guys, let me take care of this."

Every step forward was a terror waking up in my spirit, the realization that I had took a similar path that he took, and now it was me putting the loaded weapon to a child's head. Discord certainly knew this and stopped me from taking another step forward. "Are you sure?"

I took a deep breath, moved his claw, and kept moving forward.

I knelt down in front of the young filly, whispering to her calmly as I could, as gently as I could. I didn't want to instill fear in her and simply fast-track her exit from the world of the living. I'd much rather have the conversation with her to put the both of us at ease. That's all I could do. "Hey." I placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling her cold body trembling against my grasp.

"Big brother... I'm scared! I don't wanna be one of the dollies! I don't wanna make daddy upset! Please help me!"

I started to speak to her by giving her the unforgiving reality that we were currently in, not to sugarcoat anything, just give her the honest and ugly truth. "Look up." I said softly, lifting her chin gently to see the few bodies dangling from the ceiling. "Do you see anyone who wants to be here right now?"

She quickly shook her head, wrestling away from me while I tried to hold her closer to me. "Please don't put me up there, big brother! I don't wanna be up there!"

"I know, I know." I whispered as I began to stroke the back of her head. "But just look up there and tell me what you see."

"They're all dead! I know!" She screamed.

"Yeah, they are. And they don't know that they're here. But they wouldn't want to be here, just like how you don't want to be here right now, just like how we don't want to be here."

The filly hugged me back, screaming and nuzzling into my chest as she pleaded her life. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

As much as I wanted to forgive her in the moments she cried, I had to remember what it was that I was preventing, what I was bringing a halt to. "Saying it doesn't change what you've done. Their families are hurt by what you did, hurt. You took them away from their homes, and you threw them around, danced with them, turned them into your playthings, and now you've made it to where they can't go home anymore. Do you think that's nice of you to do that to them? That's really mean."

"But I did what daddy said!" She replied.

"We know what he said, but it's not about that anymore. It's about what you've done. I know it's not fair that you have to suffer because of what he did to you and your friends, but you know what's wrong and what's right. Deep down you knew, you told me you knew from the moment he showed you the ponies who gave you your legs. Don't you think that they too had a life they wanted to live?"

"I'm sorry." She pleaded once more.

"I know. But when we do bad things, we get punished. It never feels good, but that's just the way things are. You can't just do bad to others and then do good to yourself, that's not playing fair." I pointed my thumb to an elderly looking stallion hanging from up above and quietly weaved together a perspective. "Look at this guy. He's old, he had a long life, a good family, and he took his final breath believing that his family would be okay in knowing that he wasn't going to hurt anymore. You took that away from not just him, but the family he has left in this world." I then pointed to one of the guild members that Cadance had sealed away. "Now look at this one. He might've done bad in his life, but ending up the way that he did, that's the cost of living a bad life most of the time. But at the end of it all, he still deserves to be left alone, I'm sure he would've liked that more than anything else in this world." My eyes lifted to see a young little filly hanging just above us. "Now look at her, she's around your age. As frail as she looks, it seems like something really ate away at her. She lived a life plagued with bad health and discomfort, just like you do. But she didn't make a deal with daddy to keep herself alive, she made the choice to fight her problems to the bitter end. She lost, but she's happy with what she's done."

The filly's jaw trembled as I hugged her even tighter. "I-I'm scared."

"I know. That's why I'm here. I'm your big brother, right? That means that I have to tell you what's right and what's wrong." I said, petting her as gently as I could. "We're all scared of what happens in life to make it to the end. But it doesn't matter how, or where, or when... we all end up the same way. I'll be there one day. Some of us sooner than others. I just want you to understand what's going to happen. And I want you to know that I'm sorry that it has to be this way."

The young filly looked to the sparse bodies hanging in the wings. "Big brother, will I be like them?"

A part of me wanted to throw up, but I knew what needed to be done. "...Yes, yes you will."

She wiggled in my arms, still pleading with me to not do what I had to. "But I said I'm sorry! I said I'll do good!"

"I know..." I said, holding her head against my chest, rocking her off to sleep. "Just hold on to me, don't let go, I'll be right here with you until the end, okay?"

As I was at war with myself, I started to shed tears of my own sadness. I felt a growing lump in my throat that hindered me from speaking clearly. I especially broke with her final words. "I don't wanna die." My voice trembled as I quietly pulled the firearm from my waistband. I began to pray for forgiveness, putting the weapon against the side of her head.

I said as I squinted. "...I know."

We were getting our asses kicked.

Everything we tried was completely useless. Magic attacks were only shot into tentacles with each attempt for the brain himself. And when he felt amused to descend from his throne, he would continue the cruel trickery of having us fight us in one moment, only to realize that we punched a dead body soon after. Any weapons we had were useless without magic to back it up. Applejack was still out of commission with her broken leg, and that made her a frequent target for Umbra to take advantage of. But he didn't just attack with the intention to hurt her, he knew one of us would intervene to save her. And that's where his damage really racked up.

Applejack grew dispirited, having to watch Pinkie Pie constantly take hits for her. Twilight continued her own attacks, but even her trickery was no match for his. Blue blasted at him, trying to be a distraction so that Twilight could take advantage of those moments. But with him controlling up to some sixty bodies, it meant that he could be virtually anywhere at any time, whether it's to escape or to counterattack. In the instance of Blue and Twilight's maneuvers, it was a counterattack on them both. Both the magic users were sent across the room as Umbra took great pride in his strength.

"A̷r̸e̶ ̴y̸o̵u̴ ̶a̴l̴l̵ ̵s̷t̵i̶l̴l̴ ̸t̵r̴y̷i̴n̸g̸ ̸t̸o̶ ̴s̵t̸o̵p̷ ̴m̴e̷?̴" He asked as he loomed over all of us in the room.

In all honesty, the only truly effective figures we've had in our fight was Twilight, Rarity, Blueblood, Alabaster, and Stanton. They were the only ones who could even come close to doing some damage. But even those five couldn't land a hit once he transformed. That still didn't discourage them as much as Umbra figured it would. "We'll do whatever it takes!" Alabaster replied strongly as he raised a shield to defend us against an incoming tendril, though it shattered after one hit. Blueblood summoned a similar barrier as Rarity moved us out of the way.

Umbra laughed as he looked to take advantage of yet another weakened target. "I̶t̸'̸s̴ ̴u̷s̶e̴l̵e̶s̸s̴.̵ ̵G̵i̷v̶e̴ ̷i̸t̶ ̶u̶p̵,̶ ̶I̸'̴l̷l̶ ̶w̸i̴n̸ ̷i̵n̵ ̶t̴h̸e̷ ̶e̵n̷d̸.̵"

Twilight still recovered from the attack she suffered, as it knocked the wind from her lungs. Another tendril rose from the ground and she regained her focus for long enough to teleport out of harm's way. It took a second for her to get back up to her hooves, only to notice in enough time that another tendril rose to crush the mare who coordinated her efforts with her. "Blue!" Twilight called out, getting herself ready to teleport in to retrieve the mare. But instead, Alabaster himself teleported in and grabbed his sister teleported out.

Though it didn't come without consequence.

Once Alabaster had cleared his sister from harm's way, he had a terrible headache from the rapid succession to which he teleported himself. So he didn't even notice how quick Umbra had showed up beside him, looking down to him with his magic charging in his horn. Blue noticed shortly after her rescue who was standing beside them with a gentle smile on his face.

Alabaster heard those words and turned his head to his right. And that's all he saw, Umbra smiling as he sent a thin beam of magic into the stallion.

"Alabaster, look out!" Blue launched a bigger beam at the crazed doctor, watching him turn to yet another corpse he absorbed. The attacks stopped for a moment, granting reprieve for our party. Blue stood up and held her brother up as she rose. "Alright, let's get moving!" She said to her brother, who didn't respond... or rise with her. "Alabaster?" She called out to him, but his weight dragged her down immensely. The young stallion remained slumped. "Alabaster, get up!" She urged, trying to bring him to his senses.

Umbra placed a hoof on her shoulder, whispering into her left ear. "My dear... it's too late."

Her expressions sank on her face, fearing the words that were uttered to her. She began to shake her brother awake. "Get up. Get up. Please get up! I can't fight him alone, I NEED YOU!"

As we all watched helplessly, Umbra circled his hoof once in gesture to the distraught mare. "Have you ever tried, oh I don't know, turning him around?"

Blue quickly did as she was told and beheld her brother's face. "No."

The shock continued to wear on her, limiting her responses, her reactions. Lying on the ground was her brother, a single incineration wound below his horn with the look of horrible realization on his face. Blood poured from his forehead, his pupils had expanded, his eyes lost to the nothing he had become.

"Yes. Very much so." Umbra quietly confirmed, raising a tendril beneath the stallion.

Blue panicked, snatching her brother's body clean from the murderer's grasp. She shielded herself and him, holding him tightly against her as she called out mournfully. "NO! YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM FROM ME! PLEASE! PLEASE! DON'T TAKE HIM, NO!"

Despair filled the room. Each of us looked on with both sadness and shock. We couldn't believe it ourselves, before our very eyes he was killed. The horrible pain of watching Blue mourn and plead for her brother's dignity, not even his life anymore, it was heartbreaking to see.

But Umbra did not care for any of it. "My dear Blue, it's only natural. As time progresses, so too will the inevitable separation you both will endure. You understand that he's gone. There's no more breath for him to breathe. Just let him go, I'll take good care of him."

I couldn't watch it anymore, my arms trembled with rage and I ran in to offer that son of a bitch a piece of my mind and then some. "You motherfucker!" I screamed as I proceeded to empty my magazine into his head.

But he turned to me as though nothing had mattered to him, he sent a tendril from his collective to trip me and drag me up into the air. From that moment, he pulled me in closer to his evil grin while he spoke. "You're not a pony, but I guess I'll try to assimilate you where I can─"

Without warning, his entire body, every bit of his collective seized up, as if a jolt of energy had shot through his body. It caused him to loosen his grip on my ankles, dropping me from out of the air. My arms broke the fall, sparing my head any injuries as Rickey ran over to check on me. "Melaine!" I'm sure that my arms weren't in the best shape since I fell a fair distance, up to six feet from the air. But the adrenaline made it to where I didn't feel much.

Meanwhile, Umbra began to murmur to himself. "No..." His collective sank into the ground, a shadow cast itself from underneath him, reaching out to the door as he started to scream out in disbelief for some reason. "No! N̷O̴!̷ Ñ̶͓͊Ọ̶̧͛!̶̛̖̥ N̶̳̯̰̐̈́͝O̵̲̟͋͒͛̏!̷͙̏̿͒"

He sank into the shadow of his creature and the black figure wormed it's way out of the room through the crack under the door. "Watch out!" Alex called out, trying to make sure that none of us were in it's way as he suddenly left.

Rarity tried to thrust her weapon into the last bit of the shadow's retreating form, but she ended up breaking her blade against the marble floors. "Where the fuck did he run off to?" She asked angrily.

"I don't know..." Twilight answered before we all brought our attention to our fellow party member, as well as her fallen sibling. "Blue?"

Alex ran up, only to see the mare still shielding herself while holding her brother's body. She shook violently, hyperventilating, looking around and heaving for help. "Aw fucking hell." He muttered as he crouched down, processing what had happened.

The mare let out a burdened shriek, resting her brother's head onto her chest. Her spell faltered and she cried out terribly to the world. "No way." Rainbow Dash said, fluttering out of the air and landing on her hooves. Fluttershy shook quietly, realizing that her life could have ended the same way, she ended up crying for both recounting her experience, and seeing the current loss happen before her. Pinkie tended to Applejack, quietly holding her as the farm mare trembled with remorse. Blueblood looked away, unable to bear the thought of losing another pony under his watch.

I walked over to her and quickly grabbed the mare, hugging her as she wept. "Blue, c'mere."

†Alabaster Charm: Requiescant in Pace†

Abandoned Entrance
The Mt. Canter Crystal Caverns
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

The ride back up to the surface was quiet. I'm sure the reason why no one spoke was because they all watched for what I would say, what I would do, how I would act. They were carefully trying to figure out what it was I would do next. And I couldn't really blame them for being concerned, especially after what I had to do.

I cried for most of my walk back, not openly weeping like I felt I would've, but just trying to stay strong for what was next. I couldn't falter anymore, despite the fact that we did win a significant victory without having to use the elements. But after that sadness wore off, that fact still remained at the forefront of my mind. The element was still lodged in my palm, it still pulsed. And that only meant that our work wasn't done.

Once we reached the top of the lift, we saw a curved line of rails ran along some crudely fashioned wood beams. There were no signs of any recent usage of the rails themselves, sitting on the ground as brown and rusty as unused tools in the elements. And after a short winding distance, we were greeted with the sight of the night sky. The rails led themselves out to a splitter that appeared to be intentionally broken at the hilt. The junction itself fed directly into a rail line that was more frequently used by the trains.

As we came out into the open air, I started to put my hand out and imagine the motorcycle I had left behind nearby and summoned it. I was more surprised that after so much, I was still able to use my magic to the extent that I could. I had only assumed that I was out of it because of my being out of practice for some days. And with all of this, I had managed to get back up to speed.

Luna didn't take the time to bask in her moon's glow to get back her energy, instead opting to lower it. I pulled out Stanton's phone to check the time, reading out 5:08. "I don't think it's time to lower the moon just yet." I said to her.

"I know. But I am tired, too tired to do much other than lower the moon. If my sister raises the sun now, she'll have more than enough power to carry out her end of business."

"What about you?" I questioned her.

As her magic quenched, the moon was gone from the sky, only the twilight glow before the rising of the sun remained in the sky. "I have done my part. My magic is drained. Now I need rest."

The lunar princess sat with her head low, her eyes showing their fatigue. I looked over to the only creature I knew who could get her back home in the matter of seconds. "Discord, can you get her back to the castle?"

He accepted my request without a word said. All he did was pull a string from the ground and an elevator showed up next to him. He loaded himself and the princess into the elevator and looked back at me as I started to sit myself on my bike. He called out one last time to me. "You done well, Nondis." I looked to him as his words grabbed my attention. "...And you've chosen well. Not everypony can make that decision, but you did what what was right. Thank you."

"I should be thanking you instead." I replied.

The elevator doors closed and they sank into the ground, disappearing from the mountainside. I turned to the only remaining princess here and offered my praise. "Cadance, you really saved our ass with your navigation and quick thinking."

"You were the one who were thinking on the run." She replied enthusiastically. "Color me impressed, Nondis. That head of yours might actually have a brain in there." She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

I gave her a slight smile. "I sure hope so."

She looked to the direction of the rails going up the mountain. "How are you getting back to the castle?"

"Same way I got here. I might have enough gas for the ride back before I'm really pushing the fumes. Either way, I think I need the ride back to clear my head."

"Just make sure you get there safe." She said. "I'll see you there."

I shook my head and pointed back at her. "You don't have to tell me twice. You be safe yourself, don't wanna put yourself in anymore danger."

The princess scoffed as she stepped closer to the ledge, seemingly about to dive off. "Danger? You forget that I live on the stuff."

After her response, she took a swan dive off the side of the mountain and banked back up to enjoy her flight through the morning air. As she flew off into the distance, I revved my engine and kicked myself into gear, thinking aloud of how I felt about the amorous princess. "That's one crazy-ass princess."

While I carefully navigated the way up the mountain, riding next to the rails as best as I could before finding the pedestrian path again, my mind stewed on the night I had. I was emotionally drained, physically tired, mentally exhausted, and there was still more to do. I began to wonder if the castle defenses held up while I was gone, did they breach, were there any reinforcements to help, did Celestia dust herself off and join the fight, or did they fail and this was all for naught? It was a lot that consumed my mind, but as the castle came into view, I started to put most of those fears aside and thought of what I had to do next. I had to put it all under me, much like the dark cloud I had run under.... wait.

I slammed on the breaks, looking back to the sky above, noticing how clear it was. I looked back to see the black figure slither away. There was no way... "What the fuck was that?"

I kicked it into high gear, and rode for the castle. Next Chapter: Chapter CXVI (Shining Armor) Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 39 Minutes