The party wrapped up without fanfare or dance. Decorations were torn down and the gifts I had received were stashed away while many of the guests found their way home. Zecora was escorted back to the hospital, Mayor Mare had her memory wiped of what she had heard and saw, Big Mac and Granny Smith took both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom home. Blueblood's wives had all taken their leave on the next train with Nondis. Both mom and dad remained to speak with Shining and Cadance. Celestia and Luna remained observant of the guards that remained.

I couldn't be anything more than depressed. Even with my friends beside me, it wasn't enough to help me see the brighter perspective of tonight. Flash tried to offer me a few words of encouragement, but they went from one ear to the other at the moment. For my nineteenth birthday, I was given the gift of a harsh reality. And Nondis was going to suffer because of it.

"THIS IS BULLSHIT!"

Alex and the others still remained in our world, making it evident that they weren't going to go back until Nondis returned with any news of his assignment.

"This son of a bitch just fucking condemned our brother to a death sentence and we're just sitting here twiddling our fucking thumbs like there's nothing left for us to do!"

Rickey tried to offer a different perspective. "Dude, I'm just as mad as you are, but even I know that we can't just come in here expecting some semblance of human rights to be set in place. There are no humans here!"

"That's a bunch of ass! They had Nondis for ten months, that gives them plenty of time to make up some damn rules about the ONE FUCKING THING THAT ISN'T NATURAL TO THE GODDAMN EARTH! HASN'T ANYONE AROUND HERE HEARD OF A CONTINGENCY PLAN!?"

"It's pretty hard to come up with one to a species that doesn't belong to you natively." Rickey argued.

"Seriously? I doubt it takes ten goddamn months to come up with one measly little passage."

Cliff looked at him with pursed lips, the right corner of his mouth tilted upwards. "...Bruh."

Alex rolled his eyes as he quickly answered him. "What?"

"Have you ever heard of a little thing called the Emancipation Proclamation?"

Those words paired together appeared to be a rhyme of some sort, but as far as what the importance of it was, I had no clue. Obviously it must be something important to the humans. "What is that exactly?" I asked.

The five humans looked to one another as Cliff shook his head and stood. "Well since we now know that this world is just as corrupt as ours, I guess we ain't got no issues sharing this-here skeleton in that-there closet."

Every one of them shrugged, Stanton being the one to speak next. "Might as well, ain't no point in hiding it now."

"Hiding what?" I asked.

Cliff continued to speak. "To give a little history on the subject. There was this thing called the Atlantic Slave Trade, where they took human beings from a place called Africa to various places of the world, Spain, Britain, France, and the American Colonies. They were captured, by some opposing tribes, others by traders and merchants, chained up, thrown onto ships, stacked on top of one another like merchandise, and shipped some eighty-eight hundred miles over the period of eight months."

My stomach felt a slight churn at the thought of having ponies being placed in a similar situation. "That sounds unsafe. What about medical conditions─"

"None of that mattered." Melanie said as she cut my words short. "They were considered as property. And some were even thrown overboard to collect on insurance money."

Stanton groaned as he came to the realization of something. "Fuck, I remember Nondis saying something the day we rescued Cheese. He said something about ponies being stacked..." He then raised his head as his eyes expanded with shock. "Stacked up."

Rickey added in. "And when that wagon passed by, we could smell some really awful shit."

Flash gave a somber response. "Some of them were already dead."

Now I was sick to my stomach. Melanie hunched over as she covered her mouth. Alex's jaw dropped as everything was added together.

"Yeah, just like that." Cliff carried on. "Keeping the history lesson short, we're gonna pan over two-hundred years and head into our country's little dispute, known as the Civil War. There was an executive order issued from the highest authority over the land, known as the Emancipation Proclamation. Basically, it stated that those slaves were then freed and were to be recognized as citizens of the United States of America, the future name of the North American Colonies. Though signed into law, it took two years to become indoctrinated throughout the country because of the war."

"Hence my reason for saying that Nondis won't be getting any special treatment anytime soon." Rickey concluded. "We're considered a protected species because we're designated as visitors. In his case, being that he's a member of your nation's military, he's no better than a second-class citizen in the eyes of your politicians."

"Which pisses ME off to no end." Cliff stated strongly.

Flash rubbed a hoof on his chin. "Which reminds me, why were you so angry about the senator calling him a monkey? Nondis usually takes very little mind to him."

Alex walked over to Cliff and picked up his arm. "Because back in those days, the days of slavery, they were trading and buying guys of this skin color. And when they were freed, they didn't get much preferential treatment."

Cliff removed his arm from Alex's grasp as he spoke. "They would call me all sorts of things if I was born in those times. Ape, darkie, negro, jigaboo, blackie, tar baby, spade, blue-gum, pickaninny, nigger... Even today there are a few that would call me these things, thug, sambo, those people, monkey."

I started to see why they all looked so angry when Senator Count called them that. Melanie continued. "Meaning that Nondis is willing to take those blows to the chest because he's being blackmailed, doesn't mean that we're going to take too kindly to being referred to as such."

"I see." More of an incentive to have the senator watch his words from here on. "Now I can understand why you all were so angry."

"With all due respect, princess. There are just some things that we have to take caution to. For him to openly call us that as a label to our being, makes it so much more severe than applying it to one race of people." Stanton said as he spoke with a serious tone. "At this point, we're questioning just how many ponies may see us in a similar light. Of course it's not that many, but it is still a subject that needs to be discussed."

"And being that my friend is treated with such a disgusting demeanor by someone who sees our existence as problematic, I would say that it's best to err on the side of caution. But believe me when I say it... When, not if, Nondis snaps, he'll be letting that motherfucker know where he's placed in his eyes."

Alex grimaced in response. "And believe me, neither that senator, nor you, would like that answer."

It's always a given that I would say that I don't enjoy a train ride to Canterlot, or to anywhere for the time being. So you can already summarize how I felt being on this particular train, on this particular night, given the current circumstances. My only issue... Hell, all my issues are stemming from the fact that I am officially in blackmail hell, and that I can't do jack shit for myself that doesn't place Twilight in a compromising situation. But that's not the only thing that's gotten me in a tizzy.

While I sat in my seat, I could see Count DuMonee quietly sitting at the front of the cart. Every once in a while, he would peel back the newspaper he was reading and glance over to me. When I look back at him, he glance back at his paper with a cheerful smile. I was sat at the middle. And his assistant seemed to be silently staring out of the window, looking at the scenery outside. Both he and Spike were seated towards the back of the cart.

And don't even get me started on the little fucker, especially now that it's been revealed that he was the one who tried to kill me in my sleep. The levels of how angry I am at him go beyond revenge. I wanted him to suffer, just like all the suffering he caused us back at the castle. Even if he wanted to change things in the later parts of the party, it would've been better if he hadn't even showed up at all. If it was really his intention to make amends and try to rekindle friendships, then he would've came alone like he did the last time.

Of course, he didn't do that.

So while the train glided and bounced along the tracks, I stared to feel even more enraged with each moment, growing closer to the city that only proved to be the shining beacon of my misfortune and despair. Canterlot, the crown jewel of all of Equestria.

More like the crown jewels being shoved up my ass.

Silence wasn't going to make me feel any better about the situation, I needed some ambiance aside from the clatter of the train against the tracks. I suppose since that one pony is here, he's more of a not-so neutral party. He looks a little green to the whole corrupt politician scheme, so I guess it's worth a little something to get him speaking.

"Yo! Pony in the back!" He didn't seem to respond. So I just continued on. "What school you're coming out of?"

The pony looked around and pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yeah. You look a bit young to be running the desks of legislature. So why not talk a bit. We're around the same age, pretty sure we got some similarities."

"Single File..." Senator Count called from the front of the cart. "Please do fetch me a cup of tea. I feel that my throat is a bit parched from the party. Also that cake was a tad dry."

The young stallion rose out of his seat and walked from the back towards the front, slowing down slightly as he strolled past me. He didn't look at me, but he did acknowledge my presence.

"Hurry up! I want my voice to be in prime condition when I am to speak in a bit." He sped up his pace, trotting to the service carriage to the front of us. When he stepped through the doors to the other cart, Senator Count looked at me once before flapping his newspaper and reading again. "Mmmm Hmph!" He hummed victoriously.

By that point, I started to feel myself split at the seams. "Like seriously, dude. What's your problem?"

He continued to read his news paper, not even budging as my voice reached out to him.

It didn't take the young stallion long to accomplish his task, he returned from the carriage with a steaming cup of tea. The senator then called him back as the young colt was about to return to his seat. "One more thing. Please hold my paper for me, I do grow weary of using my magic for this. If I lay down, the the paper will cover my face."

The intern rolled his eyes and followed the senator's orders. As he sat beside his superior, he held the pages with his magic. The older stallion then gave me a quick glance before turning back to his articles.

"Single File, there is a story that my uncle told me whenever I gotten in trouble. Would you like to serve as an audience?"

"I suppose." He responded.

As he finished, he was looking directly at me. I could only growl back at him as he smiled. "Lovely little psalm, isn't it?"

Single File didn't say anything as he assumed that his question was directed at me. I didn't want to say anything because I know that I would have quite a few words to say. But it didn't take him long to goad something from either of us.

"Well somepony give me an answer, I believe my question wasn't a rhetorical one."

You know what, fine, I'll give you a goddamn answer. "I think it's pretty─"

He then disrupted me as he turned back to his subordinate. "Single File, would you kindly inform that monkey over there that I have no interest in his opinions. Obviously I said everypony, not everything."

...Inhale.

...Exhale.

...Fuck this. I'm tired of composing myself.

I stood out of my seat and marched right up to the smug-faced cunt and pushed that File guy out of the way, tore the newspaper out of his face and stood high above his smart ass. "Well I'll tell you this, this is the one thing that you don't wanna fuck with. So if you got something you wanna say, we can do it like men. I don't have to fucking respect you, nor do I have to get out of your face. The moment you threw personal shit out in the air was the moment where you removed all privilege of your personal space being maintained. So effective as of now, I'm in your shit."

He turned away, trying to look as calm and collected as he talked out of the side of his mouth. "Single File, it's talking to me again."

"So you're deaf now? Got something for that." I yanked that cup right out of his lap and doused his face in his tea and backwash. My nails dug into my palms as I balled my fist up as tightly as I could. My right arm twitched as it swung loose, ready to make contact with the side of his face. He slowly wiped his face and looked back down to his lap. My forehead butted against his as I was ready to take my first swing. "I bet you heard that. Fuck you, pussy-ass bitch. Fuck your goddamn tea. Fuck your newspaper. Fuck your friends. If you don't wanna be a man, then don't say shit! C'mon, man up!"

"Ugh... Just leave it alone, Nondis."

...I believe I heard that voice come from the back.

I left that shitty senator in his seat as I made my way towards the back of the cart. I sat down next to the dragon, earning myself a groan of displeasure. He looked away as I stared holes into him. I clapped my hands once as I took a mighty deep breath. "Tell me you're not this stupid."

Spike refused to speak as I continued to look at him.

"I'm begging you, tell me that you don't lack the fucking brain capacity to process action and consequence. Cause I know when I did some stupid shit when I was a kid, I got my ass tanned with belts, switches, and extension cords. You need to tell me whether or not you've got it. Please tell me you do, because I know you're of age."

He glanced back to me, his jaw slightly ajar.

"Yeah. From the very moment I heard you tell Mel that you were rubbing your meat off, I knew that it was that time. When I heard that you watched Rarity in the privacy of her own room, I knew that it was definitely time for a man-to-man. The moment you had it in mind to put your grubby little hand on your dick to visualize yourself in between Rarity's legs, it was finalized that you were damn-well aware of what the fuck you were doing. You had a fucking agenda, you wanted to play a grown man's game. Well, game fucking over."

Spike turned away as he mumbled. "Please just leave me alone."

"Hell no! You had it in your mind, or at least let someone put it in your brain, that you didn't have to leave me alone, and come into my room in the middle of the night to slit my throat. I'M FUCKING AMAZED, that you didn't have the wherewithal to think about Twilight or anyone else's feelings towards any of that shit. Yet you can think about your dick getting wet, something that takes two to do? You have to have a pretty developed mind to express these things. You're not a fucking child anymore!"

He covered his ears at that point, to which I climbed even closer to him to get my words through.

"It wasn't a child that tried to make a move on Rarity in the hallway earlier. Yeah, I saw that shit too, had my door fucking cracked watching you getting a club-chub while sniffing her hair and shit like you were fucking Roman Polanski. Fell flat on your face after she flashed your ass for acting like a sex-crazed moron. And you had the balls to put on a little size to say that you could rank up to me."

"I didn't say that." He finally responded.

"The hell you didn't. You insinuated that shit. You whispered it to her. You fucking made it a goddamn headline that you were willing to prove to her that you were the alpha dog. You, motherfucker, you said and meant that shit."

"Go away."

"So tell me, Spike. Now that you've practically drove an arrow through every one of your friends' hearts, gave Twilight a good stab in the chest, and metaphorically slit my throat after failing to do so in real life, do you honestly think that I am going to just let it go? My fucking experience here has been nothing short of being authored by fucking George R.R. Martin. So tell me, Spike. How am I supposed to act? I'm gonna let you answer this one for me. Go on, shoot for the stars."

Spike shoved me away as he murmured. "It's not my fault."

I think I just felt a peace unlike any other wash all throughout my body. It was as if my very existence was ascended from the mortal plane to the realm beyond consciousness. All of my limbs seemed so loose, so easy. I could easily rest knowing that he's not to blame. I am totally at peace with that. And it's strange because you would think that I would react so violently to an answer that throws away all sense of accountability. Seriously, I can't think of anything else to say. If it's not his fault, then clearly it is the response of a juvenile who knows nothing of his actions or the fact that they have consequence. Again, I can understand.

I couldn't even count seconds due to how fast my arm slung around to drive my fist into that little bastard's face. As he started to reel back from the pain, I placed my left hand on his neck while I continued to connect with my right. While he squirmed, waving his hands to ward off any blows, I simply threw him into the center aisle and stood from my seat. He started to crawl away before I reared my right foot up and power-stomped his tail. With a cry, he hopped back up and tried to swipe his claws at me.

I pulled back to avoid his blows, following up with a quick left jab that sent his head bouncing off of my fist and onto the carriage floor. I flipped him face down and placed my knee into his back as I hunched over and grabbed both sides of his head and mash it down into the floor. For a while he squirmed until I stopped for a moment to send another series of blows to the back of his head.

"Sir, he's gone mad! We've gotta stop him!" Single File cried out as he and his superior galloped to try and break us apart. I used just my right hand to send him stumbling back ten feet before I clamped my fists together and gave the dragon one more blow before DuMonee's magic placed my arms in restraint.

Spike was slow to stand as he felt his face. Everything was still attached, but the trail of crimson that poured out of his nose was more than an indication that my point had gotten through to him. He then snarled at me with heated breath. He flexed his claws and then hissed a thick stream of smoke.

"Oh, now you wanna man up? You're a month late, motherfucker!" I wasn't going to hold anything back. I know this is slimy as hell, but I wanted my words to hurt just as much as the physical pain he's in. "While you were playing secretary to Count Castratti over there, I had to help Rarity get through a few errands myself. And it was... well worth the reward."

"SHUT UP!" He screamed loudly.

"And I have to admit, Rarity has this thing she does with her tongue that makes kissing so much fun." I said with a light chuckle. "Sorry you missed out."

By then, Spike too reached his snapping point. With a menacing grimace, his body proceeded to increase in size as he flexed his claws. "Spike... KILL YOU!" He said with a much deeper voice.

"GO AHEAD!" I hollered back to him. "At least I'll die knowing she sat in my lap! Have fun sitting on his!"

The dragon's chest expanded as his teeth began to show more and more. His lips parted to make way for his breath while he grabbed onto the nearest seat to anchor himself down. But before he could finish his intake, Single File sealed off his head with a magic bubble while trying to urge the dragon to not lose his temper anymore than he already did.

Meanwhile the senator continued to stoke my flames with his only insult. "Enough from you, you stupid monkey!"

Now my attention was drawn to the stallion who continued to mock me. I had every intention to unload on him as well. "Oh I'm pretty sure your daughter would love to mount for some hot monkey dick. Why don't you get us to meet up real quick, I can blow my saving grace all over her ass."

"I have a son." He stated sternly, thinking it would still chance my way of thinking.

"Well I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind bottoming out. All these daddy issues he's got, it's guaranteed he's blown his uncle a few times back when he was young. His cousins, his teachers, the curious colts in the locker room, he's bound to have a thing for getting his prostate punished."

Using his magic, he yanked my arms down to pull me closer to him. With a low voice, he growled at me. "You're dealing with the wrong one."

"You're dealing with the wrong species." I snared back before jumping up and jamming his left ear in my teeth. Using my canines, I bit through and pulled back to give him a notch. He screamed as he felt the pain of his ear being partially split. His magic completely abandoned my hands and arms, freeing me from his grasp. He promptly started tending to his newly-wounded ear. But before he could start mending himself, I clamped my hand around his horn and shook his head as I shouted to the heavens above. "I WILL FUCKING EAT YOU! SHOOT YOU DEAD AND FUCKING PAN YOUR SHIT TILL IT'S BROOOWN AAAAAND GREASYYYYYY!"

My throat started to experience a bit of discomfort after that statement. But it was one that placed the three of them in dead silence. Single File stared in terror, covering his mouth as he saw his superior being towered over and handled like dog on a stick. The senator remained wide-eyed as his intern whimpered.

"You haven't─"

"PLENTY!" I screamed quickly, scaring him and knocking his magic out of focus. "NOT SINCE I'VE CAME HERE... but you might be the first."

Senator Count tried to rebuild his calm demeanor, failing to do so as his legs shook violently. "You are angry. That is the only reason why you seem to act so irrational."

I lifted him by his horn, causing his hooves to dangle as I stared into his eyes with an icy cold glare. "In my world, we ride beasts like you. We farm using you as our engine. We capture and tame you. We own you as pets. We slave you as dogs. We breed you so that there will be more of you to serve us. And when we are done with you, you either become the glue that holds our shoes together or the food on our plate."

"I─"

I wouldn't let him finish, branching my fingers around his neck to compress his windpipe. My thumb mashed strongly against his trachea as I spoke. "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'. Genesis: Chapter 1; Verse 26. That is the scripture we live by, and it is the very scripture we hold to even in death. This is your world, but it is MY decision to keep it or purge it. Cause once mankind knows of this land, we will scourge it... Test me too much, and I WILL saw my knife into your neck, while your family is sold to the highest fucking bidder."

Just as he started to lose consciousness, I let go, allowing him to breathe once more. The senator coughed and wheezed as I slowly turned to his assistant.

"And if you need proof, you can ask every changeling you found just outside of Ponyville yesterday. I'm sure that they can speak on some sort of account, despite the fact that they're dead."

As I walked back towards my seat, I felt a clump of fur against my teeth and the distinctive taste of iron. I cleared the object from my mouth and spat out a small chunk of fur, slightly bloodied. I raked my fingernails against my tongue to remove the remnants of his fur from my mouth. Count remained silent as his assistant voiced his disgust. "You are a monster!"

I looked at him with a sarcastic smirk as I responded. "You have no idea, do you? You raised me to be a soldier, I became that. You called me to be your captain, I am that. You corner me and prod me into becoming a monster, I will be just that."

While the young stallion continued to look to me with horror and disgust, the once confident senator grew hesitant in his tone as he questioned his assistant.

"Single File, would you help me dress my ear?"

Upon arriving to Canterlot, the senator and his assistant remained quiet until the doors opened to allow for two guards to enter. As they boarded, they looked to both the senator and Spike, noticing their injuries. One guard questioned Single File, but Senator Count spoke out to say that it was because of their rambling around in a ventilation shaft. With considerable haste, he took Spike with him and ran towards the castle. Single File and I walked together towards the castle, but at a much slower pace. He seemed to be dragging time along so that I could be at a distance from the two. All the while, he looked at me with the fear of a being who has watched someone commit a barbaric act.

Looking back at myself, I could definitely see the concern. Not once in all of my life have I been that angry. The closest I've ever been was when Chrysalis tried to take over my mind. And the distant third was when Shining was dumping water on me and having me do push-ups in mud. But even in those circumstances, I had some measure of self-control.

This time... restraint became a foreign concept.

I stirred on how I lost every last ounce of my composure as we made our way to the castle. Though it took some time to relocate, I did manage to salvage enough to where I could walk into the parliament chamber without grabbing someone's weapon and impaling every last smirk and grimace in the hall.

This entire night had me up to my jaw, and the day started so well.

When I entered, I noticed that there was a vast amount of empty space in the seats. On the left side of the room, there seemed to be nothing but unclaimed seats. On the right side of the room was the usual ruckus. About fifty-five percent of the room was filled with politicians and lawmakers, which immediately told me that this was going to be a kangaroo court case.

"TRAITOR!"

"YOU LET HER LIVE!"

"SHE TAKES OVER THREE HUNDRED OF OUR CITIZENS AND YOU LET HER WALK FREE!?"

"YOU ALLOWED HER TO TAKE YOU!?"

"CIVILIANS DIED BECAUSE OF YOUR INCOMPETENCE!"

"YOU ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT TO OUR NATION!"

"RESIGN YOUR POSITION!"

All the jeers that reached my ears as I took to the podium at the center of the floor started to have me drop whatever little patience I had left. The sound of wood creaking as a door opened only served to be a pleasant distraction. But to my dissatisfaction, it was none other than Senator Count taking the seat where Celestia would often sit. He, and his bandaged ear, stared at me from above as he pounded the gavel against the stand. "Order! Establish order!"

Eventually, the jeers and complaints started to fade into silence. The senator started to make his statements as I turned to him and tried to inform him of his violation. "That's not your seat, sir."

He ignored me as he continued on with the proceedings. "Summons have been called into order. Placed charges are of as followed, conspiring with an enemy of the kingdom─"

Again, I tried to address him. "Sir... That is not your seat."

Once more, he ignored me. "Harboring an enemy of the kingdom with suspicious intent, failure to maintain security, negligence to which caused the death of a civilian─"

At this point, I shed off some of my patience and walked towards a nearby guard holding onto a spear. Quietly, I asked to borrow it from him. Without question, he surrendered his weapon and I walked towards the podium at the center of the room. I looked back up to the stallion in Celestia's seat and saw that he was still rambling on. So I heaved the spear above my head and slammed the pole into the podium, acting as an extremely-loud gavel. The loud smack of wood against wood caused the entire room to jump with surprise. Even Senator Count stopped reading to look at me as I finally grabbed his attention.

"Sir... That's not your seat."

The startled senator proceeded to explain himself. "This seat does not belong to one pony in particular, it belongs to whoever presides. And since there are no royals present or accounted for, it would be placed upon the parliament to elect one who is most fitted to the task of presiding."

I looked back at the empty pews on the left side of the room and then back towards the right. "I only see half a room with seats filled."

"They are empty because they protested the decision of our vote." One of the other senators called out. "No point in being abysmal in defeat."

A few chuckles sounded throughout the room as Senator Count continued to explain himself. "Furthermore, if a royal isn't present, do you expect us to sit idly by and allow for our nation and it's proceedings to go unattended? Why, it is because of the possibility of a royal performing an act of treason or being unavailable that we establish a protocol where we may continue to perform our duties to this nation. If your commander were to fall in battle, would you stand by and await orders?"

...Okay, he has a point there. Taking a deep breath, I nodded and regained my composure. "Very well then. I do not like the fact that there is no royal present, and only half of the room who seems to agree with your political philosophies is here to bear witness, I acknowledge when I am wrong."

Senator Count then gave me a sarcastic smile. "Yes... It would be best for you to hold your tongue from here onward. Accept your charges and your consequence, remain silent, and go about your way."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever, just tell me what I gotta do on this 'Arimaspi Mountain' bullshit mission, so I can pack my shit, kick some ass, and be back in time for dinner."

As I finished my statement, I started to grow a tad confused over the response of the everyone within the room. Murmurs and whispers sounded throughout the room ad nausem. One of the representatives looked back at me broad-eyed, seeming perplexed and astounded at my words. "...You've made your choice already? Without even hearing the terms?"

Okay... I might have jumped into something I didn't quite know all the details to. "Wait, I have options?"

Another representative facehoofed as he spoke. "Ugh, Faust help us. Presiding Senator Count, did he even read his summons report?"

"Unfortunately, Shining Armor read it and threw it away before he could. Then he started rambling on about Arimaspi Mountain as soon as he read the words. At the moment, he's triggered. Could be all night with it... again."

"Yeah..." Didn't even know that was in their vocabulary, oh well. "Well either way, I wanna hear my options since I was scurried out of the place before I could get a chance to. Now what am I dealing with?"

Senator Count cleared his throat as he went through my options. "Of course you know of your first choice. The issue you'd deal with is more in the terms of fighting off barbaric creatures who will seek to eviscerate your unit with every swipe of their claws. Your task is to retrieve a lost tribute and to return the wealth to Canterlot soil. Failure would result in severe reprimands, the stripping of your position, and possibly a dishonorable discharge. Your allotted time will be fourteen days, as to minimize casualties. Thirty guards will be your escort."

So that sounds like there's going to be a lot of dying going on. More funerals I'd have to attend, more letters to write, more grieving families beating on my legs about how I didn't do enough to save them. And it's a guaranteed set-up to have me fired. Pass. "Okay, next option."

Another senator stood from the middle-towards-right area of the room. "Another task would be to send you and one hundred guards to the Frozen North. There will be an outpost where you will be stationed. It's quite far from the Crystal Empire leaning just ten meters away from the border of Yakyakistan, so I'd advise you not to make treks to the city unless you were willing to exhaust supplies and freeze to death. Your opposition would be the usual of the northern rift-raft. Yetis, bugbears, Yakistani spies, smugglers, Sombra supremacists, the dark magic cult called the Order of Umbra, and a few windigos. The deployment period is to last for eight months."

Eight months in deep freeze, ugh. I don't think I can last with my lack of fur. And even if I'm properly equipped, there's too many variables that would go wrong at any given moment, threatening the lives of me and my guards. Hell, it's not even guaranteed that I'll make it past six months if I live on equine rations the entire time. That's guaranteed death. Pass. "Next option."

Another senator from the far right of the room stood up as he spoke. "Your final option will be to colonize the outtermost reaches of the Undiscovered West. There, you will maintain your position and establish a new town in the area. You will be provided four hundred guards, we will try to distribute an even number amongst the sexes so that colonization carries on with minimal incident. During your deployment, you are denied visitation from royals or delegates. It is only after the allotted time frame you've been assigned your post will you be able to accept visitation. Princess Celestia will come and survey your progress. From there on, you will have the choice to remain there and become it's founder, or return to Canterlot. Your only condition for a premature return would be the failure of said task and/or the losses incurred to where your forces stand less than twenty-five percent."

Well that one sounds long as it is. I can already guess that this would probably be at least a year before I'm done. And the element of surprise is evident in the word 'undiscovered', meaning I could be running into a myriad of things that could kill us. Of course, there's a master catch to it all, especially considering that this could be either the easiest assignment, or the most difficult. "Okay... What's the deployment length?"

"No less than twenty-four months."

...Okay, now that's a keep-away if I ever saw it. Eight months is somewhat reasonable, but it's in deep freeze. And they've got me going two years into a redzone for the other option. If anything both of those choices are practically pointing big-ass neon light arrows at the first choice, and that's the one that seems to be oddly easy in comparison. Kill some beasts, grab some gold, and return to base.

"Oh... and another thing." Count DuMonee added. "I've done a little bit of research off of your last three endeavors. And I can't help but to draw a bit of concern over your... human friends."

Oh great, he's showing 'concern'. This is probably some other brick of bullshit he's throwing my way. "What?"

"Well it's just that the past three situations you've encountered the changelings all involved non-members of the E.U.P. Guard. Shining Armor and Flash Sentry are glaring exemptions, but even those two's affairs on the front line should be limited. Shining Armor is a prince and a brigadier general, whose place should be behind the battle lines as opposed to the front lines. Flash's position is much like yours, but his specialty is in the private sector of security. He has affiliation with the Crystal Empire, a small yet marginally separate nation. They're only involved in our affairs because they are under a pact that would allow them to remain a satellite nation. And in return, they give us trade and allows for our northern boarders to become their jurisdiction."

Really, now they're saying that Cadance and Shining are DIGNITARIES!? "So the Crystal Empire has no affiliation with the Equestria?"

Another representative spoke out. "Their true borders are circled by Equestrian land. They depend on us to offer them further protection until they fully establish hierarchy, economy, longevity, and stability. Till then, they are a developing nation with their own hired security. So Flash Sentry is a hired hoof, a branch of special forces separate from the E.U.P. Guard."

Okay, now I know they're just making shit up. "Then how is it that Shining's position in the E.U.P. valid if he's a prince to a developing nation?"

"Because he was our captain first. And he signed paperwork to allow him to remain involved in our nation's security... A move we're currently regretting. If you're as incompetent as he was during his own wedding, then there's no point in keeping you around. You're here to prove that YOU can do YOUR job, not have a merry band of your species prancing about danger alongside you."

"They volunteered!" I tried to argue, but was shut down by Count.

"Yes, but you are the captain of the royal guard, a member of the E.U.P.. You swore your life to protect us from dangers foreign and domestic, and that vow stripped you of your protections. They are a protected species and that label will remain until they are what you are. So to keep your confusion to a minimum, you are strictly prohibited from allowing them to become involved in this assignment, no matter the choice you make."

And there's the coup de grace. "So... if I refuse all three of these assignments?"

"You will be stripped of your rank and title. Of course it goes without saying that your approval process would be nullified effective immediately. And once nullified, you are barred from reapplication with either royal. No dishonored shall take the hoof of a royal in marriage, so that they may become a disgraced prince to our nation. You've already embarrassed our country more than once with the changelings. This is your final chance to prove yourself. You either get down, or lay down."

He then hopped off of the stand above to jump down to where I stood. After he stopped a few inches away from me, he muttered to me quietly.

"And I'm sure you'd be willing to get down as opposed to laying down. Because laying down would also have a certain pony we both know lying on an operating table. I don't mind taking those wings away from her... I'd prefer it."

...Shit. Now I remember exactly why I lost all of my composure. I was beaten in so many ways, I couldn't defend myself no matter what route I took. I was at his mercy for the time being. And it would take me a while to find a way out. "If I simply fail?"

"You lose your rank and status. You'd lose your right to marry in. That's as far as it would go."

This is coming from the guy who just said he'd prefer if Twilight lose her wings. "I don't trust you."

"Well if you don't trust me, then work for me... Dance, little monkey."

"We've had this discussion already."

"And we're having another... in a public forum, no less."

I glanced around to see the politicians whispering to one another as they waited for me to make my decision. I turned back to him and whispered into his injured ear. "It only takes one time for me and you to be alone, not even that. Just give me you and five-hundred yards of space."

"And one operating table with little Violet's name on it... Your call on whether or not you want to play selfish."

That cocky fucking smile he's wearing tells me that he's got more moves than I can counter. And it's obviously telling me that he's hardly even budged from my earlier outbursts. Even playing that card has gotten me nowhere. I threatened to sell his family to the highest bidder and he's still smiling like he's got the world and a half in his hoof. All of his compatriots are sitting around waiting for an answer that would cause me to get killed, take a fall, or go away for an extended stay. And if I leave for a long time, it would only make it harder for me to assert an agenda to have Processu Approbati removed.

He rigged the deck to where I'm pulling a low count on every suit. No matter what my hand looks like, he's got a flush to drop when I throw my chips in. I can't move, not as long as Twilight's name is on the table. And I've been dealt a shitty hand with no chance of a win. I've lost this round. But I'll be damned if I don't shuffle for the next draw.

I'll fold for now. "I'm gonna plaster your face on every creature I turn into a cadaver.... I'll bring you back something nice."

It felt like a long ride back to Ponyville. Everything that happened for the past five hours either made me explode, had me agitated, or become physically aggressive. And I was more than upset that I was forced to make a choice that many would probably see as a bad one. And I know that I would have to serve my apologies to the families and soldiers long before we set off.

But taking the circumstances into mind and what I could probably get out of it, I feel I made the best choice for anyone involved. I can't just let my guards die recklessly or without proper reasoning. I've watched so many ponies die, each one starting to hurt more and more as time carries on. The more losses I take, the less likely I'm gonna be able to function. The more I get cornered, the more hostile I become. The more they write me off, the more I feel like showing up with an assault rifle and blowing their brains out...

Deep breaths, Nondis.

I suppose there's nothing much for me to do other than to do my job and figure out something later. I know he'll think I'll just do anything from this moment on, but I'll be trying to dig up every grain of dirt on his ass. I swear he'll fucking regret looking down on me.

Moments later, I arrived back in Ponyville station. After noticing that it was around two in the morning, I made a long trudge to Twilight's castle across town. When I walked through the door, I could already see a guard, supposedly on watch, posted against the wall with his spear supporting much of his upper body as he dozed off. I walked up to him and snapped my fingers, causing him to jump back into attention. He apologized for his exhaustion and proceeded to watch the door.

After that, I made my way up towards the dining hall. When I poked my head inside, I could see an empty room with a few chairs and tables sat to the side. All the decorations were gone. The presents were already removed, no cake, no signs of life. I wearily shrugged and made my way towards one of the guest rooms.

Doing so required me to make my way through the throne room. As time progressed, I could hear a painful wail coming from deep on the other side of the doors leading into the throne room. The voice appeared to be a male moan, which initially caused me to pull back with a bit of uncertainty. But my brain was telling me to just roll past it and make my way towards a bed. I wasn't going to argue that logic, some sleep would be fucking nice.

I walked into the throne room, only to see three alicorn princesses, six other ponies, and five humans. Each of them stopped whatever they were doing to look at me as I entered. I just stared back at them. "So what, we having another sleepover?"

Twilight wasted no time in teleporting from her seat to my side, yanking my arm down and hugging it again. As she did, another wail came from further down the halls. It was followed by another voice.

"Shining, I'm here sweetie. Just relax."

Just those words sent flashbacks to me about my grandparents. On occasion when me and my brothers stayed the night over on his ranch, we'd hear him moaning and grunting. Sometimes he'd just bust out hollering. And whenever that happened, my grandma would whisper to him that he was safe at home.

Obviously, my brothers were showing a similar display of discomfort. Twilight closed her eyes, seemingly trying to shut out the miserable noises coming from her brother. She pulled even harder on my arm as she gritted her teeth. Melanie, Rickey, and Cliff seemed a bit disturbed, but not on the levels where my brothers were.

Pinkie, however, didn't waste any time. "So? How did it go?" Twilight started to breathe heavily as she clench onto my arm even more. I looked back at the pink pony and answered her question.

"...I ship out Monday morning on the first train smoking."

"Where?" Melanie asked.

"Well... Apparently they're shipping me off to Arimaspi Mountain."

"NO!" Twilight screamed to the top of her lungs as she broke down in hysterics. On her way down to the ground she scraped a small layer of skin off of my arm. Seeing her like that caused me to give immediate response towards her disposition.

"Twilight, what's wrong!?" I asked with a bit of panic.

She reached up to my arm again, smacking and battering against it with all of her might. "Not you too. Please, don't do this. I can't take another night of you screaming! Not again!"

"Wait what? WHAT DID WE MISS?" Alex questioned as he tried to make sense of Twilight's statement.

Rainbow Dash was the bravest one to answer. "...Nondis was kinda... packed away next to a corpse while Chrysalis was about to ship him out the other day. He was paralyzed throughout his body while all of this happened. So I guess he kinda had a bit of an episode Wednesday night."

Stanton covered his face with both of his hands as he groaned with frustration. "Dammit, we just had a conversation about this."

Alex, on the other hand, seemed significantly calmer. "Has he had the episode since?"

"Y'all were here with him. We wouldn't know it but you five would." Applejack said as she took off her hat. "But in the meanwhile, Arimaspi Mountain is said to be a pretty nasty place. Hardly nopony who even goes there even comes back alive."

The farm pony was bumped in the side by Rarity, who quickly corrected her. "Darling, I do believe that given the current circumstances that the words you spoke were of ill-timing." She then pointed to Twilight who continued to bat away at my arm.

I tried to be a bit optimistic about my decision, considering that it was only for a short while. "Well it won't be a long deployment. It's just two weeks. I've done two-week work in less than ten days, admittedly with some help."

Princess Celestia then spoke. "But I do not think you are truly weighing the gravity of your choice. You are responsible for thirty other lives who will accompany you. Arimaspi Territory is a dangerous place to tread. So getting to the mountain is in itself a feat worthy of acknowledgement."

Luna then tagged onto her sister's comment. "Getting to the cave of the mountain is merely reaching a point of no return. We've lost dozens of guards who were on assignment in that area. You would be better off serving another deployment."

"One choice is in deep freeze for eight months. The other is heading out west for two years to colonize. Two weeks to kill some shit and grab some gold is pretty tame in comparison."

Melanie started to speak. "Well we can he─"

But Celestia cut her off by raising a wing to stop her. The alabaster princess looked at me with pity as she spoke. "You are indeed very tired. I see that your judgement is only clouded by your fatigue."

Luna looked towards her sister and saw a dark expression on her face. The younger sibling immediately caught on to what the elder was planning to do. "I agree. To see you so confused is quite disheartening. Perhaps we should escort you to your room and allow you to rest. I will personally send you to your dreams, and watch over you as you sleep."

"I will guard." Celestia stated as she ignited her horn, causing a golden ring of magic to cuff around my left wrist. She hurriedly pulled me along, even as I showed minimal protest. Luna then pushed me along as the three of us quickly left the room. The others were left to silence as Twilight shook. Her friends started to show concern over her, while the humans were more focused on my manner of exit.

"You know... there's a bit of scariness to this whole situation." Rickey mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Melanie inquired.

"To quote something from Shakespeare, 'Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest'."

All of the humans in the room looked at him with shock and disbelief. Cliff promptly shook his head. "Rickey... No."

Twilight was quick to pick up on the vibes that were just introduced to the room. She immediately grew uncomfortable just based on their expressions alone. "Wha... What does that mean?"

Cliff groaned as he closed his eyes and cursed himself for what he was about to say. "It's a old saying in our world. Angels singing you to your rest usually pertains to... well... afterlife."

Every pony in the room felt an icy chill run through their bodies as they watched Celestia and Luna leave with me in tow. Twilight shook even more as the next sound was that of her brother moaning in his post-traumatic state. She hunched over and tried to cover her ears as her brother groaned a little more before Cadance calmed him down.

Applejack hid her face in her hat as she whispered to herself. "Sheesh. And Ah thought my timing was bad."

While I was pushed into one of the guest bedrooms, I tried to emphasize that my actual bed was in Twilight's room. Ignoring my complaints, they shoved me in the room and slammed the door behind us. Luna locked the door behind herself as Celestia then used her magic to lift me off the ground and place me in bed. While I tried to fight my way out of it, she slammed her hooves beside me to cut off my escape routes.

"Luna, the spell."

The younger sister obeyed her sister command without question or hesitation. Meanwhile I was forcibly tucked in the sheets. My attempts to kick the sheets off of my body were foiled by the older sister's magic. I screamed at the two alicorns. "What the hell are you doing!?"

Celestia didn't bother addressing me as much as she hounded on Luna. "Sister, what is taking you so long?"

"I'm trying to consolidate the dreamscape! If you truly knew my line of work, then you would understand that it takes some time to prepare!"

"Does it take all of that!?"

"Yes!"

And again, I'm being ignored. "CAN SOMEONE FUCKING EXPLAIN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"

Celestia turned back to me and sighed. She placed her hoof on my chest as she drastically cut her volume down to a whisper. "Relax."

"I'm not relaxing until─"

Her magic then traveled to her hoof, pushing out a warm glow throughout my chest. I could recognize the spell's effect, it was the same one she used when they had informed me that the portal was ready. But it effect was slow as opposed to being an instant knockout. The princess' hoof slowly rubbed against my chest. "We are not trying to intimidate you. We only wish to explain."

"What is this?" I asked.

"I am placing you into sleep. The dream you will have will explain everything that we fear for you. It's not to intimidate you, but to inform you and enlighten you."

After she said that, I could hear Shining groan further down the hall. The sound of his pain was accompanied by his wife comforting him. Celestia looked back and her face softened, seeming sad and empathetic. I questioned her. "What are you trying to show me?"

Celestia closed her eyes as her horn suddenly transformed from a bright gold light to a heavy magenta glow, similar to both Twilight's and Shining's. Even the soft hum that usually came with it was made deeper as the colors transitioned. "The reason for his mourning."

Luna walked up to the other side of the bed as she continued. "Even he does not want to remember all of the details of what happened, the reason for it was because something of his doing that he ultimately regretted. Yet despite my sister and Cadance counseling, they couldn't remove many of the haunting images... or the regret that came along with it."

"And using a memory spell would be dangerous, as it would leave a sense of emptiness where the loss occurred. Add that with the fact that many who knew the fallen would constantly remind him of his failure. It would truly make him unstable." Celestia explained. "And I could not take away the nightmares that followed him, as I have no power in the realm of dreams."

"Neither could I." Luna added. "These nightmares stem from a personal experience, as opposed to what could've possibly happened like in yours. I could wipe his memories, but my sister has already explained why that is not the most sound decision. And to add to the dilemma, I was still in banishment when all of this occurred."

As they continued to talk on and on, I felt my eyelids becoming significantly heavier. It was like weights pulled on them, forcing me to close my eyes. The soothing feeling of Celestia's hoof petting my chest became the one thing that shattered my willpower to stay awake. That compiled with my fatigue from the day made me complacent, comfortable with the circumstance. While their words started to fade, I allowed myself to surrender to sleep.

Not that I had much of a choice.

My eyes opened to find myself standing inside of a candlelit tent. The sounds of crickets and frogs singing in the night made me realize that I was the furthest thing from home. At least it used to be a little more quiet as opposed to all this damn racket. I suppose I could get used to it while I'm out here...

"Captain?" A voice called from behind me.

Turning around, I was greeted by an off-white pegasus pony dressed in full armor. The pony took off it's helmet to reveal that it was actually a she. She had bright green eyes and light gray freckles all over her face. Her hair was a little frizzy, mainly from our hike. She had a manecut that covered one of her ears and spilled down towards her chest. Her cheeks were a bright red as she walked into the tent. Before I could say anything, she gasped and turned around to quickly close the tent. After tying off the entrance, she trotted towards me.

"I came as you requested."

I turned away from her, feeling a bit of excitement for what was going to happen. I looked towards a photo I had hanging on the tent and saw six familiar faces. The tallest being Princess Celestia who stood in the back, the ones standing just in front of her were─

And finally, dead center on the front was little Twilight and a kneeling Princess Cadance.

Suddenly, I felt a tinge of regret as I looked more into the photo. Staring at the front row was the source of my guilt. I knew that she'd probably have strong reservations about me doing this. But even my father told me that I had needs and that I should seek to quell them before they became an issue. But hey, it's not like I married... not yet.

But at this point, was it really worth it?

With a clenched jaw, I turned the photo around. The photograph pinned to the wooden pole was simply levitated and flipped.

"Captain Armor?" The mare called out from behind me.

Once again, I contemplated on whether or not this eventual marriage was worth any of all the trouble I had to go through. After all, I'm only using my saving grace clause because Princess Celestia got Cadance under lock-and-key. And even when I tried in Canterlot, Cadance would always find a way to keep me from getting an easy out.

If anything, this whole process, the reason for my deployment, all of it, I was mad. I actually hated the fact that I was in a relationship with Cadance sometimes. Even when I know she's probably rooting me on to do what I can to come back to her, it's like I'm being made to suffer for almost no reason. And I'm honestly to the point where her just smiling at me makes me angry because I can't love her without some fabricated consequence. I almost question why the hell she even chose me to begin with. For two years, I've been to hell and back, teased to death by Cadance, and dragged through the mud by every rightist in the parliament.

But then I remember the times she's with Twily, how little Twilight just beams whenever she visits. I see how mom and dad are so open with her, almost as if she was a mere neighbor from next door as opposed to a royal. They had so much hope that I'd be with her. They pressured me into giving it a shot. Cadance made her case on why she had to have me. And I thought she was the cute babysitter that would drop on by every once and a while.

If only Twily told us exactly who she was before I agreed.

If only they all knew what would happen to me when Princess Celestia gave her stamp of approval. If only they knew how hard I'd get it, for dad to suddenly realize that his son would be a guard against his wishes. For my mother to constantly hold Twily close while she explains to her that her big bro may never come back. All because some old bastard wrote on a piece of paper, dictating how someone's status should be carefully guarded. Bullshit.

I didn't deserve this.

I turned around to look at the mare standing behind me. Only this time, I wasn't so focused on hiding the picture pinned to the main support post of my tent. She smiled nervously as she looked down at the ground. Playing with her hooves, she whispered to me. "You know, I didn't think we'd be able to do this."

I didn't know what to say to her. I mean, I knew her since basic training but she's been pretty distant for me to just have casual conversation with, much less pillow-talk. "Yeah... um..."

While a silence grew between the two of us, she started to become panicky. She eagerly jumped up and started rambling on about anything and everything to fill the void of empty space. "Well I mean I understand how you feel! Plus the fact that this assignment is really stressful, plus the fact that we just got started on a three month deployment. And then there's the matter of the rations, of course we have to distribute carefully because we don't know what's in this forest that's edible. So I'm honestly just as nervous as you. But hey, if there's anypony who could get us through this, it's you!"

Honestly, I'd wish she just stop talking and get this over with. "Corporal Songbell─"

"Our morale will still be pretty high. We've only been here for a total of three days. We didn't lose anypony. I think you've done a fantastic job as our captain. If anything, you'll probably be a hero like─"

"Corporal..." I felt like she was talking for the both of us at this rate. So I raised a hoof to put her on wait so that I could get a few of my own words in. "Can we just... talk about outside of why we're here?"

"Well... I guess we could talk about a few funny rumors I've heard running around Canterlot. Though being who you are, I'm pretty sure that you've probably heard them all. Like one time, there was this maid who tended for Princess Ca─"

Growing a little more impatient, I had to stop her. "Let's talk... about right now. Let's talk about the moment we're currently in." I felt my throat drying out as I spoke. So I swallowed and continued to get my words out. "Let's just talk... you and me."

She shifted her hooves again as she started to giggle. "Well... what do you have in mind?"

I couldn't really think of any words to say, I was just extremely... excited to say the least. If I could equate my feelings into anything, it would've been the fact that I had tapped my hoof against the bottom of her chin, tilting her up slightly as she started breathing a little heavier.

"Sir, this is really─"

Instead of being interrupted by a hoof, it was her lips that silenced me. She wanted to pull back a little, but I pressed myself into her even more. I stumbled forwards and felt myself becoming unsheathed. She watched as I pulled away and made no attempt to cover myself. Her expression changed completely, her eyes shimmered when she saw that I was willing to go further. She backed away a bit and covered her mouth with shock.

"Oh... Am I moving too fast?" I questioned.

She remained stoic as she shook her head. Her face turned red, her ears flushed with pink while I used my magic to undo her armor. She didn't say much of anything as I stripped her of the unnecessary wardrobe. All while I did it, she avoided looking me in the eye. When I finally unlatched the belt that protected her flanks, I was so enraptured by her shape that I immediately dove in to cover the bell-shaped cutie mark with kisses. Her tail flicked from the surprising sensation of my lips adorning her voluptuous curvature, a small gasp left her lips.

Taking notice of her, I gave her tender hide a slight nibble. Her head quickly lifted while she tried to turn towards me. The flank I once worshiped was turned away from me, in it's place was a pair of soft lips. And with their greeting came another guest, one that took me by surprise. Her tongue slid past my lips quickly introducing itself to mine. While at first when I pushed against her, she succumbed to her own greed.

When we broke apart, she quickly turned around and flicked her tail to the side, inviting me to take her. I was greeted by a pair of moistened lips. She breathed heavily as she took a step backwards. "Shining?"

In seeing her bare herself the way she did, I felt myself throbbing at the thought of parting the glistening entrance. Her forelegs buckled slightly as she lowered herself a few inches. A tap against my stomach, caused by my own sex, gave me notice that I was in need of release. I trotted up towards her and hopped up to mount her. A light moan sounded from her throat as my magic encircled my shaft, trying to aim directly for the one thing I've longed to feel for many months.

When my tip met with her lips, I felt something open up slightly to me. And in the fraction of a second, it closed around me, slightly clamping me as I slipped back out. She moaned lustfully as she took another step back into me. Before I knew it, a portion of me was inside of her, causing me to groan in agonizing pleasure. My hips acted within their own accord, driving into her flanks and sending me deep within her. She arched her back at the power of my thrust. She called my name under her breath while I felt her clench and massage all of me.

As I pulled out, I felt a positively strong throbbing sensation travel throughout my length. My eyes shot open as I started to realize what was going on. I tried to pull myself out of her slowly, to minimize the wonderful sensation she gave me. And I didn't want to take my ascension too soon.

Without fail, I pulled myself from within and kept just the top of my flare inside. Growing impatient, she drove her hips back into mine, causing my entire length to become engulfed by her gluttonous desire. Another powerful throb sent shivers up my spine, telling me that a release would soon be imminent.

"Slow down." I whispered to her, trying to get her to give me a chance to reassert myself.

"Faster, please." She begged, this time gyrating her hips.

The sensations of her moving in a circular motion, especially with her taking me all the way to the base, it caused me to freeze. I backed away, she stepped back into me. When she looked back and gazed at me with the flames of her desire set in her eyes, she gritted her teeth and pulled herself forward and shoving her hips into mine.

"More!" She demanded, trying to do whatever she could to find herself a means to satiate her aching.

Meanwhile I had realized that my defeat was assured. Whether I resisted or not, the result would be the same. I finally acknowledged my shortcoming and willed myself to indulge her in whatever way I could. I pulled my hips back and pounded into her one strong time before a final throb caused me to grunt loudly. I pushed her back forward, causing her to fall on her face while her flank remained suspended by the combination of her hind legs and my magic.

My flare expanded, her walls accommodating for my sudden growth. She turned back in disbelief while softer throbs indicated that I had initiated my climax. I continued to pound into her as hard as I could, causing me an immense amount of pleasure that I was so excited to experience once more. Spurt after spurt of my seed filled her, my hips started to lose rhythm. By the time I was on my way down, my body spasmodically jolted, sending a few light thrusts as I emptied everything that I had stored for the past several months.

While my hindlegs wobbled from the immense pleasure, hers remained completely stationary. I collapsed onto her, sending all of my weight onto her. Still, she retained the strength to hold both of us. I was left in a pant while she seemed unfazed... or rather unsatisfied. She let out a long sigh, indicating that she had much more she wanted to do.

I regained enough of my composure to where I had pulled myself off of her, uncorking her nethers and letting my seed spill out in abundance. She raised herself off of the ground and slowly started to gather her belongings. While she refastened her armor and grieves, I watched as her tail slowly crept between her legs. When she crouched down to refasten her flank armor, she turned away from me. Her shortened tail covered up whatever it could while I could still see my seed dripping out of her and onto the ground.

At long last, the regret came pouring in.

I started cleaning myself up. Looking back to her, I saw her grabbing a nearby cloth to sit on. After she drained herself for a minute, she wiped herself and stood. For the longest time while I was cleaning myself, she stood quietly at attention. I started to really feel the pain of my decision while she quietly stood ahead. But it was written all over her face, she was depressed.

I didn't want to leave her without talking. "Hey... you okay?"

She responded in a soft, yet broken voice. "Yes sir."

I wanted to just walk up to her and hug her, but I didn't know if she'd accept it or not. Gauging her expression, I'd say she'd probably want to run away. "Is your armor straight? I could help if you need─"

"No sir. I got it, sir."

I didn't want to let her sit there anymore. I walked over to give her a hug, she inched away, indicating that she'd be unwilling to touch me for the time being. "...You... you were... you were great."

Quietly, she whimpered to me. "Thank you, sir."

By now, I was just desperate to see her do something other than cry. "S-s-Songbell please, j-just tell me whatever you want. I'll give it to you. T-this experience, I... I don't want it to define us. I swear... just..."

"Thank you for conditioning my mind and strengthening my body... sir." Slowly, she started to unravel before my very eyes. The one instance of confidence and passion she carried herself at that one moment we shared was shattered, leaving behind what could only be described as a young mare with a broken heart. I felt a strong sickness overtake me as the mist in her eyes started to form a visible dam of tears. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked at me for a second. "Permission to dismiss."

I had made such a huge mistake. I slowly wrapped my hooves around her, bringing her close to me in a hug. While she leaned against my chest, she started shaking and leaned against me. I gently used my magic to pet her head, causing her to look at me with those beautiful emerald eyes. "You are worth more than this. I'm sorry."

"Permission to dismiss, captain." She requested once more, still rejecting my display of remorse.

At that point, I realized that I couldn't say anything to change her mind. My only hope was to let things settle down between the two of us and make an apology tomorrow. I'll just have to be hurting until then. "Permission to leave granted. Dismissed."

She wasted no time in leaving me, she untied the entrance and left me to wallow in my regret. As she exited, I could see a brown stallion clad in armor holding the flap as she exited. He looked at me with an icy glare before he 'slammed' the entrance shut. "Hmph!" He growled with a snort.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that I had just done something stupid. Walking back to the post where the photo was pinned, I contemplated on turning it back with the image facing outward. But after what I had just done and how I was feeling, I believed it was not within my right to look at that picture.

Nobody deserved this.

For the entire day, I continued to order around my guards to perform various tasks to keep ourselves out of danger. Many of which consisted of numerous scouting assignments, just to keep our position from being compromised. The last thing we need is some arimaspi to come barging into camp and bashing our lights out.

But the main thing that started to become a concern was the fact that my first lieutenant was hardly in any mood to take orders from me. Ever since last night, he's been growling and snarling every time I gave an order to somepony. It's been a problem, especially considering that he's been jabbing at me when my back's turned. It only took me once today to walk in on him yapping about how I should be the first to fight the arimaspi, only for me to get my guts ripped out of my body.

When I confronted him on it, he denied the authenticity of the statement and called it a mere show of frustration as opposed to a genuine threat. I promptly warned him that any other instance that I should hear of it, he would be reprimanded and deranked for noncompliance and insubordination.

Though who am I to even call someone out for doing wrong? He saw Songbell coming out of the tent. He held the tent open for her to leave. I wouldn't be surprised if he felt angry about me. He knows that she's been crushing on me since we started basic training together.

Hence the reason why I felt so much regret, because I knew how she felt about me. Rumors get around Canterlot easily, and it wasn't much of one when it went around. She even dropped me a confession in my supply locker just after graduation. The only reason I asked because at the time I was just really frustrated and I let my dick get the better of me. I literally looked at her as soon as I saw her come off of the train and had thoughts to relieve myself. And like an ass, I totally dropped my douche card and invited her in my tent once we got settled.

From there on, it's pretty obvious why I had it ingrained in my being that I had to apologize to her.

Around sunset, I did everything I could to keep my guards' morale high, their senses sharp, and their spears clean of blood. I also kept a closer eye on each unit that was closely affiliated with First Lieutenant Caramel. I didn't need him stirring up any trouble that would cause division within the ranks.

Especially since I've already done it at the officer level.

The night finally came, and without incident. There might've been a rumor or two that got around about what happened last night, but it wasn't anything that the guards were too disturbed about. In fact, it was pretty often that members of the guard would sleep around with each other if the opportunity presented itself. Things would become a hot-button topic if it turned out to be a rape cover-up, or if one of the parties were married, or if the reason behind it was to climb ranks. Even when a few officers got with some of the enlisted, it was pretty much though of as a moderately controversial issue.

With me, especially being engaged to a princess, many just shrug and keep moving. It's not that they don't care, but it's because it's written within our laws that we applicants are allowed to shed seed. But if this group knew all of the circumstances pertaining to Songbell, I'd might find myself on the receiving end of a mutiny. There was almost one started when I visited the tent barracks that Songbell was assigned to.

"Corporal Songbell, report!" I called out.

Many of the guards inside of the tent looked to one another before shrugging.

"Corporal Songbell!" I hollered out once more.

From behind me came my first lieutenant. "Corporal Songbell was sent out to scout the area ahead. She is no longer on base."

Funny, I don't remember her name being thrown out to scout the area. "Who gave her the assignment?"

He stuck out his chest as he proudly answered. "I did, sir."

"And did you come to me with this request, Caramel?"

"No sir." He answered, causing many of the others to cover their muzzles and whisper to one another. Even a soft childish 'ooh' came from one of them as I marched up to meet him face to face.

"And who's final decision would it be to send our guards out into danger?"

He seemed to have lost that confidence he walked in with as he had to answer me. "...You, sir."

"So... Let me ask you this. Who in Equestria gave you the power to initiate any type of assignment that would cause risk of body, or life?"

He grimaced, gnashing his teeth together as he looked away. "Nopon─"

"YOU ARE IN THE POSITION OF ATTENTION! YOU ARE A FUCKING OFFICER! I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO REMIND YOU OF SUCH BASIC INSTRUCTIONS!!! NOW WHO ARE YOU!?"

His eyes shifted directly forward as he begrudgingly gave me an answer. "First Lieutenant Caramel... sir."

"AND WHO AM I?"

"Captain Shining... Francine Armor, sir."

...He called me by my middle name... Yes, I'm livid. "GOOD... AND SINCE YOU HAPPEN TO FORGET WHAT RANK YOU REALLY ARE, PERHAPS I SHOULD REMIND YOU! STAFF SARGENT CARAMEL!" His face quickly sharpened to intense anger as he heard of his new rank. "I'M REDUCING YOUR RANK FOR THE CONDUCT UNBECOMING OF AN OFFICER AND INSUBORDINATION! YOU ARE TO RESUME YOUR DUTIES UPON BEING DISMISSED! SONGBELL IS TO REPORT DIRECTLY TO ME AFTER SHE RETURNS FROM HER SCOUTING ASSIGNMENT! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"

"Sir... yes sir." He hissed angrily.

I pointed him in the direction of the tent's exit, seething with anger as I had to wait another hour or so before she even gets back. "Now get the hell out of my face, enlisted!"

The tent quietly watched as Caramel stormed off elsewhere. All of the guards who watched were deathly quiet. I turned to them and spoke.

"No one is to give executive orders on this assignment without my express knowledge or say-so. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes sir." They all responded.

"Good form." I gave them a nod before leaving the tent, making my way towards my own. "As you were."

An hour and a half passed by, causing me to grow a bit anxious. I know that she's very well trained and can hold her own in a fight with any creature that comes barging on by. But given our predicament, I couldn't help but to let the guilt start tearing me apart. It was like everything in my tent all whispered how much of a shame I was.

Even the photo pinned on my tent post remained flipped since last night, seeming as if they had faced away from my shame.

While I was thinking to myself, the entrance to the tent flapped loudly. I turned around to see two ponies standing in the doorway. Both marched forward to the center of the room. The first that I laid eyes on was the one I called for, who repeatedly violated her position of attention as a means to avoid looking at me. The other was Caramel, who's fiery gaze made the attempt to bore through me. His presence made me upset.

"Staff Sargent Caramel, what are you doing here?"

Songbell seemed surprised as she heard of his new rank. He, however, remained determined as he placed a hoof in front of her and stood before me, face to face. "Well captain, I have to ensure that my fellow guards are safe and taken into account. Also I am here to ensure that she carries out the correct procedure to giving you the scouting report."

"I didn't order you here. And furthermore, she can speak for herself." I argued while our heads butted. "You can go scout the camp for something else to do!"

Finally, it got personal between the two of us. He pushed back as he tried to assert his physical dominance. "Well I am protecting my subordinate. And if I see something malicious that stands in the way of my accomplishing that objective, then you can take it up with both of our superiors. I'm sure your demotion would be coming as soon as we get back to Canterlot. You're gonna get yours... Francine."

Again with this. I must have not put him in place yet, I really haven't. Since he wants to protect his subordinate so damn much, I'll let him. "...Warrant Officer Songbell, please give me your status report."

He pulled back and looked at the mare beside him with shock. She seemed entirely bewildered while she looked back to him. He turned back to me and growled. "You─"

"Promoted her, I know." I responded with a stern frown. "She's your superior as of this moment forward. Your subordinates are outside in the other tents throughout the encampment. I'm sure you can protect them. Now fall back, Caramel."

The brown stallion roared as he lunged for me. Acting out of instinct, I quickly summoned a spear to my side and prepared to defend myself. But before things could get started between the both of us, Songbell stepped in between us and turned directly to me with a strong glare. Her eyes seemed eerily sharp as she stood between Caramel and I. After a few seconds, she finally spoke. "Caramel, you are dismissed."

The stallion snorted before he spoke. "Your playing corrupt will catch up with you Shining. It's only a matter of time." Grinding his teeth, he begrudgingly acknowledged her order. Without any further disruption he left the tent and screamed angrily into the night. Her attention was still focused on me. While I still held my spear in my magic, she used one of her hooves to tap against my horn. The spear fell to the ground with a clunk.

I rubbed my head just as I felt a headache coming along. She stood in silence as I tried all I could to relieve myself of the pain. "Dammit, why the hell was he even assigned to my squad?"

My new warrant officer gave a response. "I would like to say that our objective comes before our personal gripes."

"Too bad he doesn't see it that way." I complained.

"Permission to speak freely, captain?" She requested.

"Sure, why not." I gave her a nod, giving her consent to do so.

"I don't think there's much room for you to speak."

When she said that, the only thing I could imagine was everything that happened the night before. The look of disappointment, the sight of her welling with tears. The whole entire day, I spent it trying to make sure last night wasn't so much of a issue that I started letting my private matters get in the way of my work... again. In essence, she was right. "I can't really argue you. The only thing I kept thinking about was how I wanted to speak to you─"

"I have a scouting report, sir." She interrupted me, trying to get business out of the way before anything else.

"...Sit rep?" Again, I stood by as she spoke.

"There's a cave to the west of here. From what we gathered from the wind patterns and obvious signs of erosion, we've determined that it is a pathway directly into the mountain, and that the mountain has multiple tunnels which also connect to the cave we just discovered. There's a slight breeze coming from within, so it could be possible to find our objective somewhere within the tunnel network inside of the mountain."

That's more than good news. This means we can start the next leg of our journey. "Well done. I suppose we'll be out of here within a month if we can get our hooves on the lost tribute."

"We can start our excursion in the morning if you wish, sir."

Great, the sooner we get this done, the better. Only one question to ask. "What does it look like in terms of hostile presence?"

"Minimal. We went into the caves and saw nothing that threatened us. If we move quietly, we should be able to infiltrate the mountain and grab what we came for."

"A job well done, you're practically fitting into your new rank." I was about to pet her on the head, but she backed away before my hoof could get close. Of course she's still in business mode. I cleared my throat and continued speaking. "We'll gather our regiment and move in tomorrow."

She gave me a salute, seeming as if she was ready to be dismissed. "Very well then, I will see to it that our guards are ready to move at dawn. If it may be to preserve time, permission to be dismissed?"

"Wait." I said, quickly preventing her from leaving the tent. Her eyes still remained locked on me as I approached her. I sat before her and extended a hoof. "...Can we talk?"

"I've disclosed all of the information I've had, sir." She retorted. "There is nothing─"

Of course, she's using protocol to bypass what I want to say to her. There's only one way to snap her out of it. "Guard, attention." She snapped herself into the position of attention, eyes forward, hooves straight, head level. "Parade rest." She rested her haunches onto the ground, she remained silent as she awaited her next order. "At ease."

Finally, she spoke her mind. "Why do you want me here? Is it because you want me to service you again?"

I shook my head. "You're not here for that. I called you here so that we could talk about last night."

She turned away with a saddened frown. "With all due respect, I don't want to talk about that."

"I'm sorry." I responded, trying to hurriedly speak my mind before she decides to close me out. "What happened last night should've never happened. I was just acting out of my pent-up frustration when I asked you for that. And on top of it, I took advantage of how you felt about me and went after you because I felt that you would've been─"

"EASY!?" She screamed at me. "I knew what I was getting into, and I showed up because I felt like maybe we could connect somehow before just running into it! You didn't even consider a chance to talk to me before you had gotten me so hot and bothered! You didn't even ask me anything about how I felt about any of this! You just went straight into it, you got yourself off, and you went back to pining for your fiancee! Real easy to take advantage of me, right!?"

"No..." I calmly answered, trying to establish a tone. "I didn't see you as easy─"

"That's a damn lie!" She called out. "You knew I liked you, you knew that I was willing to go along with something like that! And I went along with it because I was desperate! So you can only imagine the pain I felt when you said the words 'You're worth more than this'. I cried to sleep knowing that you had said those words to me, just after using me so easily. I was expecting you to be so much more than selfish, but apparently I made myself believe in something that wasn't really there."

While she clenched her eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears that had already started to streak down her face, I realized that any sweetening of my words would only result in making things worse between the two of us. The only way I could make things right is if I told her the truth. At last, I confessed.

"You're right... I did see you as an easy out. And I did take advantage of your feelings. And I have no right to tell you that you're worth something more after I had just made your value to me seem so little. That is all my fault, and I can't find the words to tell you how sorry I am. And while it would be gluttonous to ask you for your forgiveness, I only wish that you would somehow allow for it to become a possibility."

I started helping her wipe her tears away when she slapped one of my hooves off of her. "Don't touch me."

She was starting to shut me out. I began to panic and fumble my words as a result. "And really, I couldn't look at anything resembling Cadance because I knew that when I called you in here, I violated both her trust and yours. I gotta face that when I get home. But if I could atone for just one of you right now, let me take the one that I know is hurting this instant. I am not that stallion you saw last night, not completely... I don't want us to be defined by that one moment."

"Just stop it." She whimpered.

I opened my forelegs and wrapped her as I quietly expressed my guilt. "I won't ever see you as something like that. You're beautiful, you're smart, you're selfish, you're a strong leader, you're honest, you're completely incredible, you're more than what I'll ever be. So please..."

She initially made an attempt to shove me off, but after one or two pushes, she buried her head into my chest and sobbed softly. I tightened my grip, causing her to return the hug to me. She would occasionally beat on my chest and muzzle, but she'd still hug me. After a while she finally pushed herself off of me, wiping her eyes as she avoided me. "You're the worst stallion I've ever met. And I don't want anything to do with you after we're done here."

My heart fell while she said those words. A cold drop formed within my chest, digging into my stomach as I answered her. "I understand."

She sniffled as her voice stabilized. "You don't get it. I can't forgive you right now. I will never be able to just instantly forgive you for something like this. And there may be a possibility that I won't ever forgive you at all. Meaning that I would be willing to try doesn't mean I would be capable. Only time can tell if we're able to move on."

"Songbell─"

"So the answer right now is no. And I hope you understand that. And I hope that someday, I will be able to revisit this and say yes."

As much as I was a bit hurt from the decision she's made, I was content with the fact that she called out the possibility of our being able to move past this. As she said, only time will tell. And I'd much rather look at it that way than seeing the immediate answer. If it takes years for her to say yes, then I can accept that. "Thank you."

Immediately following her emotional outpouring, she stood back at attention. "Permission to be dismissed."

"Granted." I got the answer I wanted, just not at this moment.

She gave me a salute and promptly exited the tent. As she departed, I could see Caramel holding the tent open for her to leave. As she walked past him, he carefully observed her before staring back at me. "Evening... Captain." He spat to me foully. After that, he disappeared into the encampment, trailing Songbell closely behind.

Meanwhile, I looked back towards the photo on the post. I thought about turning it around and looking at the faces on it without any regret. But after some pondering, I decided against it. I decided that it would be best to save it for when I completed my mission. If I focus on what I have back at home, I'd lose focus on the now. And the now was a trek into the mountain tomorrow.

...Yet somehow Songbell was still embedded on the front of my mind.

I won't ever make another mistake like that again.

Dawn came. The sound of birds chirping in the distance, the creatures that all greeted one another as the sun climbed above the horizon, it produced a soothing sound of a peaceful day. Clouds were apparent, but limited to an appearance here-or-there. The wind seemed calm and welcoming for anyone with a set of wings to fly above.

Unfortunately, we were not able to enjoy the peace as the forest natives have. We were on the march, and our hooves were battering the ground as we sped through the forest. Our objective could be spotted high above the forest canopy.

Ahead, we saw a mountain that broke the clouds above, an immensely large one-eyed skull adorning the peak served as a warning to all within it's view. It stated to many, especially to us, that these were their lands, and they would be free to roam it. If we were to set hoof on it, then our fates would be of their choosing.

That memo came loud and clear when we woke up to the scene of an arimaspi tossing everything within the mess hall tent out into the other tents. Apparently it was seeing if we had carried something of significant value, gold and such. Screams and cries could be heard as we all jumped out of our beds and armed up. Thankfully, it was just one of them, so about forty of us fighting one arimaspi was not too difficult.

The hard part came in seconds before we dealt the finishing blow. Before Caramel could dispatch the creature, it roared for it's friends. By the time it drew it's final breath, many of us had started gathering our gear and dismantling our tents. A few of us had sustained some injuries. Two had sustained broken legs, one with a broken wing, another displayed concussions symptoms, and a few others were just cuts and bruises.

We didn't have the time to properly tend to them, as we were trying to establish a new position due to our encampment being compromised. But once we stopped just at the foot of the mountain, we determined whether or not we were followed. Once we confirmed that we had lost our pursuers, we initiated an inventory check. After that, we finally tended to the wounded and got everyone patched up. Two of our own had to be carried because of their injuries. The one that suffered a concussion was walking, a bit disoriented but he'll fight through it. Everyone else was set to march onward.

A loud roar came from deep within the forest, indicating that our time spent on the wounded had bought them enough of a grace period to catch up to us. Some of the guards started to panic, shaking as they held their spears. Songbell then pointed us towards the position of the cave she found last night. No one had any objections to her suggestion, so we all ran up the mountain to make our way into that cave. If we could just hide out there, we could avoid confrontation. From there, we could make our way within the mountain.

Unfortunately, the mountain was our safest option considering that the arimaspi were out and about. Fighting them in a forest was going to be hard to do because they took the trees as an advantage. If we were going to fight them, we would have to do so in a place where they had restricted movement. Fighting in a cave, where they're funneled in will allow us to take on up to four. And gathering from the sounds that followed us, there only seemed to be that many. Again, we assessed our options, and hid within the cave.

We approached the cavern, seeing that we weren't so much in a tactical advantage. The mouth was wide and the space inside seemed gargantuan. And to add to our issues, it was dark. The only way we would be able to see was if some of us used our horns to illuminate the cave. But that would only put us at risk for the time being, compromising our position to the creatures. One was hard enough to take down, but taking on four at once would definitely cause fatalities.

We needed our numbers for transport, so we couldn't risk a situation─

"Captain..." One of the guards whispered from behind us.

All of us turned around to see the darkness of the cave, and a large silhouette standing in front of us. One of it's limbs raised, showing the form of a unicorn being raised. His horn lit up as it revealed his horrified face, as well as the face of another arimaspi that lied patiently in wait. Slowly the creature turned one of our own to face us. He breathed heavily and sniveled as he whispered one last time.

"We need to─"

Without warning, the creature yanked the unicorn into the air and callously slammed the guard into the ground, causing the light of his magic to spark out in a single flick. The soft ethereal hum that normally came with it produced a high-pitched snap as it was snuffed out. The gruesome sound of his armor being caved to fuse with his bones, a haunting yelp, and the indescribable horror that was his voice being pressed into silence became the article that allowed us to depart with our constitutions. An icy chill ran down our spines as our spears too bore witness of the terrible murder of one of our own.

I opted to illuminate the room, but found that the room was illuminated for me. And as the torches began to come to light, so were the many faces of several arimaspi clad in golden horn dresses, with claws that resembled the blades of scythes. Their eyes all tilted downward to us, looking past their noses as we were insects. A growl sounded from outside of the cave's entrance. I turned around to see another three blocking our exit.

A total of about twenty-five of them all bore their teeth as a show of their eagerness. The sight of the one that killed our own scraping it's palm clean of our late comrade filled us with desolation, and provided us with the distinguishable image of our impending demise. Casualties were inevitable, and escape seemed highly improbable. There was no avoiding this, we were going to have to bore through the three that followed us so we could escape.

Otherwise... We are due to the barracks above. "...Songbell?"

"They weren't here yesterday." She said as she shook. "They weren't here last night. We didn't see any of them!"

Another guard spoke as he backed into one of the others. "I can attest to her statement, we didn't see shit."

Caramel grimaced with horror. "Our patrols were frequent. How in Tartarus did this happen!?"

Only four words came out of my mouth in response to theirs. "Push... Your... Way... Out..." I whispered.

All of the guards gave a nod in fearful compliance. Our entire unit performed an about-face and galloped directly for the legs of all three of the arimaspi that blocked our path. The rear line became our front as I tried to gallop through the formation. But in a matter of seconds, I was selfishly counting my blessings that I wasn't one of the first guards to meet with their palms. Six of our comrades were sent into the air. One of them, being a pegasus, halted themselves in the midst of their spin-out and flew high into the ceiling. One of the unicorns caught themselves causing two others to fly over his head and land against the wall. Another brave unicorn made the attempt to soften the blow of one other earth pony guard, only for her to be violently batted away towards the back of the formation.

As I glanced behind us, I could see the entire horde engage in a bandit charge for our platoon. One such arimaspi leapt into the air, grabbing the airborne unicorn guard and placed him under his rear hoof seconds before landing. Upon impact, blood puddled beneath it's cloven hoof. Afterwards, it scraped it's leg against the ground, removing whatever remnants was left on it's hoof. I quickly turned my head from the disturbing sight, planting my eyes on the one arimaspi that made the strike. As it recovered from it's swing, I let loose a loud yell as my spear was sent barreling to it's neck. Though I landed a direct hit, it only landed directly for it's trachea, rendering it voiceless. And I was warded off from dealing a finishing blow as another arimaspi came to the defense of it's wounded companion.

My sword became my newest instrument to survival. As I drew, Songbell took to the air and zigzagged around the third that blocked our retreat. As she avoided every swat the creature tried to make, the guardsmare made a sharp bank and dive-kicked the spear I had planted into the first, knocking it into a hard left to rip through several muscles and finally into it's jugular. As that one fell, Caramel and four other guards charged towards another one of the beasts. While one was snatched up mid-charge, Caramel drew his spear and dug into it's leg. The stallion then used the weapon to spring himself upwards towards the shoulder and drive his sword into it's shoulder. The beast cried out in pain while two others tried desperately to free their ensnared ally.

Caramel yanked his sword out of the creature's shoulder and made a lung for it's neck next. Unlike my aim, his was significantly more precise. As soon as his sword plunged into it's target, blood gushed and streamed from the creature's neck. In response to it's new wound, the arimaspi released the guard and grasped for it's neck to hold the blood in. Caramel jumped off and landed on his hooves as the creature stumbled over and fell backwards. While two of the creatures lied on the ground flailing around, three pegasi joined with Songbell to make a run for the third. Songbell and her squad swiped and clipped at the creature, their swords slashing away chunks of flesh.

While the creature was distracted, I aimed my sword for it's legs. As it reached high into the air, I used my magic to cast a jumping spell on myself, giving me the ability to leap for the sky and slice at the tendons that connected to it's hocks. Afterwards, the creature screeched as it collapsed to the ground. The creature then turned onto it's belly and used it's claws to support itself, rendering it mostly defenseless. I could already see the light outside, unobstructed by any being that once stood in our way. We made a break for the opening, free to flee for our lives, to live and fight for yet another day.

But even that vision seemed to be clouded by shadow, or rather my seeing the sun being blocked by a huge claw curling from above my head. Sharpened claws smashed into the rock just a few feet in front of me. Just a couple of feet above my head, I could see the palm of an arimaspi caging me in. Quickly acting before it could crush me, I charged my horn with my most powerful magic and blasted a large hole in it's palm. That claw quickly rose back off of me, being reeled in by it's already-crippled owner.

One other stallion with a wounded guard on his back tried to break for the exit, urging the dying pony to live on. "We're gonna get you home! We're gonna get you home! Just stay with us!" Even thought those words seemed filled with dire hope, they became something of a mantra to convince me to keep pushing forward. But in a single instant, even that was taken from me.

Another few arimaspi bulldozed through our formation, breaking our ranks and leaping over our lines. One creature even encountered the pair and swept it's legs from underneath him. The newly amputee screamed in horror while another drove a fist flat into the guard he carried. Repeatedly, it's fist rose and fell, bashing the equine into a pink smear with bent shreds of armor being hammered flat into the rock. The pony made a desperate scramble for his own legs, but stopped as the creature stood in front of him with a toothy smile on it's face. It's claws flexed one more time before they were sent to the guard, slicing him down and snuffing any hope that his words may have shown me.

Up above, pegasi tried to play as a distraction to the arimaspi so that the others below could fight their way through. But another one of the creatures jumped from the ground and raked it's claws through the air, impaling one pegasi mare on it's claw before dragging it out of the sky. "FAIR WEATHER!" Songbell screamed in horror as she watched one of the pegasi who fought beside her struggle to remove herself from the rugged nail embedded through it's body. With another swipe, the pony was flung into a wall, putting the mare to rest once and for all.

Caramel looked left and right with horror as two of his brothers in arms lied lifelessly on the ground after being trampled on. Turning back quickly to the rear, he could see nothing but several of his fellow guards fighting tooth and hoof for their own survival. Some were already broken to the point where they swung at anything that moved towards them. A few others were merely crawling for the exit while being battered into the ground. A few were holding their fallen brethren in their hooves, whispering that peace would come soon. One unicorn guard simply screamed hysterically as she built a shield over herself and waited for her attackers to grow weary from chipping away at the green dome. Even one pegasi was suddenly surprised by a guard spear being lunged from an arimaspi below and into it's neck.

While the stallion fell from the ceiling, another guard laughed while trying to take his own life. He feared being torn apart and flung about like the others, so he resigned to easing his own state of mind by bringing death to himself. However, his attempt was quickly discovered by the beasts and he was yanked up and carried by the tail. And swing after swing, they bashed him left and right against the cave floor. After a few times of this, the creature then threw him to the others to play with. Next came a volley of stones and rocks, pelting at the pegasi in the air. Caramel screamed in anger, brandishing his sword as he charged back inside to avenge the fallen and rescue the living.

I was left a trembling mess as the carnage fell upon my eyes. Three arimaspi came running to me with every intention to tear me apart. Two of them still had the very solid remnants of my unit still embedded in their claws or palms. Jumping and leaping from side to side, I was doing what I could to get to the exit. However, the sight of my guards being slaughtered stayed my hooves from seeking their own salvation. Using my magic, I sent several beams to the creatures. But they continued to move towards me undeterred.

I teleported myself out of the fray, only to find myself being pulled from behind by a wounded guard. "Captain." He called out rather weakly, holding me with one hoof, his entrails in another. My eyes had never seen such a sight. The sight of a pony still alive after losing half of it's body sent a definite jolt of fear into my system, causing me to shriek loudly. I teleported away from him out of the fear of seeing his dismal state. Even the unicorn who once held her magical shield over her body lost her ability to cast and fell victim to another creature, who toyed with her until they merely pressed into her.

Without warning, I felt my world being bashed into a blur. For a while, my body spun against the bloodied ground until I slid to a halt. I tried to stand, only to have my tail pulled into the air. The next thing I could see was a huge eye staring back at me as I hung from his claws. Just as the creature looked at me, I saw images of my life. Each memory I had with each individual, good or bad, they all came crashing into me at once. It was way faster than what I could process. And the mere sight of being so close to my demise finally sent a message I couldn't ignore.

I had to get out. I had to avoid dying. I didn't want to be here let this be my end. There were too many questions left unanswered. I have too many regrets, too many open ends, too many things to experience, too many apologies I had to make. I didn't want my little sister crying over me. I didn't want have my mother weeping over my body. I don't want this to take me away from them.

"Not like this." That was all I could whisper to myself.

The next thing I felt was myself falling to the ground. Looking upwards, I could see Songbell, splattered in blood, guiding me back down to the ground safely. She sat down and shook me back into focus. "Shining! Shining, snap out of it!"

After what seemed like an eternity of holding my breath, I unwound and proceeded to breathe again. The world seemed to come back to me with a sharper focus. Glancing back up to the arimaspi that picked me up, I could see the creature reaching back for us. I quickly summoned a shielding spell to protect us from the first blow and teleported the two of us out of harm's way.

As we ended up in a secluded corner towards the entrance of the cave, I rubbed my head and realized that my magic was taxed out. Looking back, it seemed that the one that attacked us was left in confusion while the others seemed distracted. I shook from the close encounter, trying my best to calm down. "That was cutting it close." I muttered to myself.

"Hope you don't mind showing off, I had to shave your tail." She answered while looking around.

I stood by, looking around as I surveyed the damage. While many of the creatures seemed to be distracted by their new 'toys', I was desperately trying to find a way for the both of us to escape. "We gotta get out of here."

"Steelshoe and Windfall managed to get out. Caramel should be on his way."

"You're next." I answered, still breathing heavily. "We're leaving together."

She silently looked at the exit, and finally to me with an unusually calm smile. "Shining... you need to get out of here."

As I looked behind her, I could see one large peering eye turn towards us. The creature started to march towards us while I made an instinctive move to protect her. She responded by tapping my horn and whispering to me.

"Shining, I can't walk." She looked back to her wings, which had already started to become coated in blood. As I looked down, I could see a small pool of blood running down her flanks and around her body. "I got nicked by a sharpened rock when I was up above. Part of my spine is severed. I can't stay on my wings either. You can't worry about me or we'll both die."

Now that I realized it, I should've seen it as soon as she sat down in the midst of a battle. She seemed defenseless when her back was turned. I charged my horn and tried to ready another teleportation spell, but my magic indicated that I was still taxed from earlier. I tried to argue with her. "No. I'm not leaving you here. You can't leave me─"

She closed her eyes and chuckled a bit before she whispered. "Caramel, please save our captain."

I looked behind me to find a brown stallion covered in blood rearing a hoof back. "Yes ma'am."

The next thing I felt was my body going limp and being packed on Caramel's back. She quietly whispered as she turned around to face her demise. I desperately called out to her as my view of her gradually grew distant. "SONGBELL! SONGBELL PLEASE! DON'T GO LIKE THIS! COME WITH US!"

"You can still run. I can't even do that anymore."

"SONGBELL! YOU KNOW I CAN'T LET YOU GO LIKE THIS! PLEASE!"

"Just go home, Shining! You have much more than what I've got!" She screamed back, not even looking my way.

"DAMMIT! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Already I felt my vision blurring and my eyes burning. A deep sadness caused me to shut my eyes and scream out to her one final time.

"SONGBELL, I'M SORRY!"

As I disappeared from view, once more exposed to the sun above. Songbell finally turned her face towards the cave entrance. She finally showed the tears streaming down her face as she heard the beast approaching her from behind. She sniffled as she took deep breaths and spoke with herself.

"Shining Armor... How can I be something so dear to you when you already have something worth so much more? Why are you apologizing to me? The feeling of holding you just once like you were mine, Though I don't really like the reason for it coming up, I can be content in knowing that I lived for that. Now you've gotta live for yours. I got what I wanted from you. I left my place in your heart..."

The one-eyed creature lingered above her, raising a paw above her. She closed her eyes as the thoughts carried on in her mind.

"Strange, I got mad at you for taking advantage of me. Yet I'm leaving you with more questions than answers. Throughout your life, you'll wonder about if I ever forgave you. And I'll never give you an answer. If anyone's sorry, it's me. You're being left with so much pain... the seeds of regret that I've planted in you. And it will follow you throughout your life."

A final roar could be heard as the paw was brought down. Her final thoughts sounded loudly before she felt the immense pain that followed the blow.

Four days later, I was omitted into the hospital ward, placed into intensive care for my having several broken ribs, all obtained from the arimaspi that slammed me across the cave. I collapsed from the pain as Caramel carried me to the nearest train station. Caramel was treated for cuts and bruises. The others were considered to be mentally unstable.

Of course, I soon joined that list as well.

On that morning, the newspaper read a headline of a crimson Appleloosian morning. Just outside of the town, several bodies of guards were placed on display as a warning to those who dared ventured into Arimaspi Territory. On the headline was an image of guards clad in armor, being hung on sticks, crucified corpses that only appeared to be halfway present. Second from the left of dead center was the familiar face that left me screaming into my pillow throughout the morning.

There she was raised, her entrails swung in place of her non-existent lower body.

"AAAH!"

I jumped IMMEDIATELY out of my bed and felt myself. My arms resembled that of human arms, my legs were my own. I didn't have a horn sticking out of the top of my forehead, and I didn't seem to have hooves. But I could still feel the chill going down my spine, my fingers shook as I turned them over. I wiped my face, making sure that I was who I was. For a brief second when I closed my eyes, I could see a large claw covering my face right where my hand was. When I opened up my eyes, I quickly pulled my own hand out of my face. My heart slowed it's pace while my mind was still in the rush of things.

More importantly, that's a thing I signed up for. Holy shit, absolutely fucking not.

"I see you are awake."

I turned back around to see Luna staring directly at me from across the room. I could see that the sun was soaring high into the sky from the angle of the light hitting the walls. I shook my head once to get myself reestablished with my current self. "Okay... no more of that. Little too heavy for my taste."

"Unfortunately, this is the reality of what you are going to deal with when you go out there to fight."

...I gotta fight those... THOSE things... Oh no. "So... just to ask, how many went on that little excursion?"

"There were around forty that left Canterlot, from what I've read in records. And they only yielded a return of four from that entire skirmish. Two of them committed suicide, one was disavowed, and the final one was─"

"Shining and Caramel served together." That's another thing I had to process. All of this just had me left with so many questions. I'm terrified of what I'll have to face and how I'll have to face it. And those things, evidently, are no fucking joke.

"Unfortunately, my sister made the decision to show you what the consequence of your choice would possibly be in choosing that assignment. But considering your options, it is apparent that they would make this one seem to be the easiest of the three."

I had to pace around the room for a while, mainly to get myself used to walking on my own two feet. Which brings up the main thing on my mind. "I don't understand. It all felt so real. Everything."

Luna stood as she answered me. "My dreams can make one feel as if they are actually playing a role in them. Once I had you fully assimilated into the dreamscape, it was all a matter of keeping you asleep. My sister fed me the memories, thus in turn allowing me to recreate the sequence of events."

"That's crazy."

"It is what you perceive it to be. But I trust it made quite an impression?"

Like hell it didn't. "You have no idea."

"I do." She answered as she summoned a wicker basket from seemingly nowhere. "Now if you don't mind, I must attend to the bedding."

I was left scratching my head for a little bit. "Um... why?"

"With realistic dreams, comes very realistic sensations, to which results in wholefully realistic bodily responses. It goes without saying that there was one particular part of the dream that might have left Celestia with a... warmer complexion."

A warmer complexion. I don't recall anything that could've left me with... oh... OH.... OOOOOOHHHHH... "Right."

Princess Luna chuckled as I made an instinctive reach for my crotch. "Don't be embarrassed, those responses are quite normal. In fact, I take pride in seeing that one aspect of my duties will leave dreamers with a sense of relief, even should they not feel fully relieved in the conscious state."

I glanced at the moon princess with uncertainty. "You're a bit of a pervert, aren't you?"

"If you were confined to a space devoid of inspiration and sentient presence for the better part of a millennia, I would guarantee that your fancies of the newer generation and their openness to the subject would excite you as well."

"So that's a yes then?"

She grabbed the sheets off of the bed and stuffed them into the hamper while smiling coyly at me. "Tease me, child. You might taste something you can't tame."

Wow, she's surprisingly open to that. "I'm not a child."

"You are one until you can stop wetting the bed."

Okay, she got me on that one. I never took her as an expert in banter. "Well played. Clever girl."

"Now while I go tend to these, I believe there is somepony whom you should speak with. Make a left when you leave the room, third door to the right."

As she walked out into the hall, I felt myself again to make sure that I was indeed human. After a final check up of every aspect... EVERY ASPECT, I walked down the hall and knocked on the door. For a while there didn't seem to be an answer, but as I was about to knock a second time...

"Nondis..."

Shining Armor answered the door. He was obviously fatigued and very tired. His eyes seemed red and puffy, almost as if he was crying for the night. His mane was a mess as he seemed... uncharacteristically weak. But as of the previous night and what was shown to me, I've come to understand what he's gone through and how his mistakes ended up making him who he is now. The only issue is that I can't just bring it up to him because that would shut him out or probably make him more aggressive towards me.

However, he's probably also one to understand that we all can fall victim to our mistakes or past transgressions. I know that I do owe him an apology, and that I want to understand him as well as have him understand that I would be willing to help him in any way. But there's one question that highlights all of this.

Where do I even start?

Well... this was hell. I'm sorry for the wait and even more sorry that there's so much to plow through. But then again, I should take after one particular ghostie.

Songbell Highwind, poor little thing.

Now, onto the art. There's this one dude that I'm trying to promote because he's really in need of some follows and commission bucks. He's pretty reasonable with pricing and whatnot. Even gave him the honor of being my first commission, a thing I've heavily considered up till now. Again, the artist is CreepysCurse. So if you happen to have a few bucks, shove em towards this amazing guy because he really does try. He also does lewds. So please feel free to send him some patronage.

As far as the next chapter and what to expect, it will be a lot more forward-moving. I can say that it will go over two days of time and will pretty much set up the operation. As far as the flashback is concerned, I wanted to give a different perspective, especially since nobody can quite tell it like the one who's been through it all. Ultimately, it's to draw the few parallels between Nondis' lashing out and Shining's. It's also a red flag to the MC that if he lets his emotions run him, he might lead others down a path they can't come back from.

So expect the next chapter or so to be I guess... 15k or bigger (I'm really trying to sneak away from this 20k marathons as I'm getting more of my time back).

So either way, I hope it was enjoyable... and a bit cathartic... and that it offered a different perspective. Be patient with me, I'll try to get you guys the next chapter asap.

Also, good artist is good.