Artex slowly returned to the conscious world. He was lying on one of the two beds in the room that he, Razor Wit, and Oriana shared. Each of his two mares was lying on her stomach next to him under the blankets, and each had her head resting on one of his shoulders with their bodies lying just under his armpits. Razor Wit was on his right side and Oriana was on his left. He cracked open his eyes and looked down at each of the two mares and smiled. They were warm against his skin and, since he slept in the nude, some rather naughty thoughts began percolating in his sleepy mind. With an arm already around each mare, he slowly began scratching each one on the back of her neck. Razor shifted in her sleep, edging closer to his body while Oriana huffed quietly and angled herself so that her neck was away from the intruding fingers. Artex smiled at the subtle differences in the personalities of the two mares, manifested even while they were asleep.

Feeling more than a little mischievous, Artex leaned his head over and gave Razor a chaste kiss on her lips. The Unicorn mare's eyes slowly fluttered open and she gazed up at Artex with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Her minor grin was replaced with a jaw cracking yawn a few seconds later. Feeling happy and wanting to show equal affection to both mares, Artex turned his head and planted a light kiss on Oriana's lips as well.

Once more displaying the differences in the personalities of the mares, Oriana subtly leaned away from the kiss. Artex was surprised, but not wanting to be too pushy, he allowed Oriana to break the kiss and laid his head back down on the pillow. Razor Wit giggled quietly and let slip a happy and content hum as she laid her head back down on Artex' shoulder and ran her muzzle against his skin. Oriana sighed quietly and gradually opened her eyes as she blinked several times and shook out her mane. She yawned and raised her head, "Mmmm, good morning everybody." She arched her back and stretched as she yawned again, "Ooh," she shook out her mane and smacked her lips several times, "Artex, in the future could you not do that please? If we're sharing a kiss I would like to be awake enough to enjoy it." She then leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his lips, "Come on, let's get breakfast and go make some announcements." The Zebra mare rolled out of the bed and onto the floor, landing on her hooves. She stretched again and trotted into the bathroom to begin her morning ritual.

Neither Artex nor Razor moved an inch, and though neither one knew it, both were thinking similar things. Artex suddenly turned onto his right side and pulled the tan Unicorn mare into his arms. Razor Wit was caught off guard and squeaked as she was held against Artex' chest, the top of her head nestled just beneath his chin. She closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into the embrace, reveling in the warmth, safety, and intimacy of the man she cared for. She let out a contented sigh and in that moment she could not be happier.

Artex raised his head and looked down at the top of Razor's head. Her mane was ruffled and sticking up oddly in several places. Nevertheless he lowered his head and planted a kiss on her forehead, just below her horn. Razor smiled sleepily and raised her head to stare up at her love. Artex' eyes met her own and for a time, the two were lost in each other's gaze.

Razor's eyes slowly drifted closed and she raised her muzzle toward Artex. It was not difficult for the man to figure out what she wanted. He smiled down at her warmly then lowered his head. Their lips brushed once with feather like tenderness before Artex slowly leaned into the kiss, pressing gently against Razor's mouth. Razor pressed back ever so slightly, the feeling of his lips against hers was making her light headed and giddy. Artex pulled back slightly and tenderly caressed his lips around Razor's mouth, eliciting a quiet whimper from his love. Feeling emboldened by the positive reaction, he slipped his tongue against Razor's muzzle and without thinking, lost as she was in the moment, Razor opened her mouth slightly.

The foreign feeling of his tongue gently ticking just behind her lips caused a thrill of excitement to shoot through Razor's body. Her skin felt as if it were tingling and a massive herd of butterflies thundered in her stomach. Her head swam with new sensations and she began losing herself as the kiss intensified. She felt the same dizzy sensation she remembered from before when they had kissed. She liked it and she wanted to experience more of it. A tense tingling feeling in her haunches and under her tail made her shift her hind legs restlessly. She felt Artex pull her closer against his chest and his tongue slipped deeper into her mouth, touching her own tongue. She met his searching tongue with hers and pressed even deeper into the kiss. Her head swam with a delirious yet savory intense warmth. She felt as if she were floating; dizzy and delighting in her love.

Razor moaned in her throat and shifted herself against Artex. Her lover, realizing just how heated he was feeling, slowly backed off the kiss and seconds later their lips parted. Razor pulled her head away from Artex' face, panting lightly and trying to slow her heart.

She opened her eyes and snuggled hes muzzle into Artex' chest, "I'm glad you stopped. It was starting to get a little... um..."

"Intense?" Artex ventured.

Razor nodded and cleared her throat as a slight smile graced her face, "We both need to brush our teeth. Morning breath is not so good for kissing."

Artex closed his eyes and nodded, "Uh yeah, sorry about that."

Razor shook her head and nudged his chest with her muzzle, "Don't apologize you big goof, I don't regret it."

* * *

New Humansville was a swarm of activity that morning. For the first time the C.W.G. holding cells were completely full and even beyond that. The doctors and nurses in the hospital had been awake all night again tending to injuries which ranged between serious and horrifying. Blood soaked every one of the attending medical personnel and the hospital had already used up every available space in the morgue.

Midnight Haze was in the Intensive Care Unit in a medically induced coma. She had required nearly six hundred stitches and nobody questioned that would need extensive reconstructive surgery. The cheek bones on the right side of her face had felt like a bean bag to the doctors and her lower jaw had been broken in five places. She was missing fourteen teeth and the bones on the tip of her muzzle were all but mush. Both of her eyes were swollen shut and she had sustained so serious an injury to her right eye that the doctors were not entirely certain they could save it even with magic. Breathing and feeding tubes ran from her nostrils and mouth and her entire head was in a bandage. Once word had spread that she had been the Bloodmage who orchestrated the killings and abductions, many refused to treat her. Bobby eventually had to step forward, after engaging in some rather strong words with the Kavim doctors about the rules in his hospital. The older man had treated Midnight Haze himself.

The C.W.G. suspect holding cells, which were only originally designed to hold fifty individual suspects at any given time, suddenly housed more than eighty Bloodmage non-combatants, not counting the numerous crying foals. The prisoners were crammed into the small cells with barely any room to lay down. The angry, fearful, or sad voices of mares, stallions, and foals echoed through the C.W.G. Headquarters.

The officers themselves had their hands full with the prisoners. The Bloodmages yelled and cursed and hollered and spat, calling the officers 'oppressors', 'murderers' and other unsavory names. The officers walked the hallway between the cells constantly. They had standing orders that if they spotted any of the prisoners performing anything that looked like it could have anything to do with Blood magic, the prisoners in the cell were to be bound and gagged and taken to isolation rooms re-purposed from interrogation rooms.

Princess Celestia had arrived early in the morning and was already busy in Town Hall cataloging the names, cutie marks, and coloration of the Unicorns who had been rescued the night before. She was comparing them to any known cases of missing Ponies and was coming up with many cases that would be closed before too long. Many of the Unicorns bore no cutie marks at all and the decrepit states of their bodies was evidence that those without cutie marks had either been taken as foals or were born into such a terrible life. Celestia was forced to hold her temper in check like she had not done in more than seven hundred years. The disgust which boiled inside of her toward the Bloodmages left her feeling ill.

Almost as bad was the number of foals who had been left as orphans the previous night. The total number of dead Bloodmages was staggering. She had anticipated a number of deaths to be associated with the rescue of the kidnapped Humans, but nothing had prepared her for the bloodbath of the night. The Strike Team had refused to bury the dead Bloodmages and were set on using magic to preserve the entire cavern as a testament and memorial to the events of the night and to study the methods and habits of the Bloodmages.

The solar Alicorn set down her quill and closed her eyes trying to find an emotional balance within herself. There were two hundred twenty-eight dead and one hundred and seventy-three wounded. Worse yet, the number of dead was still slowly rising. Celestia shuddered at the thought of the scene within the cavern and wondered what to do with the foals who were with their parents in the cells. She shook her head and looked down, 'This was a calamity. I have to consult with Luna, Twilight, and Cadence in order to decide on this.' She sighed and rubbed her eyes with her right forehoof, "If the Bloodmages claim no citizenship of Equestria and deny our rule the law states that..."

Her self speech was brought to a halt as a swirl of green smoke flew in through a nearby open window and materialized into a scroll with a black ribbon in front of her. Curious about the scroll, Celestia levitated it up and unrolled it. The message was written in red ink,

"Dear Princess Celestia,
A large group of self proclaimed Bloodmages have come forward and surrendered themselves to the Minotaur government. They claim they wish to help the world and they have also stated that they can prove that Blood magic is not evil and is just as valid a practice as Unicorn magic. The E.U.P. Guard brought this to my attention as you were out of reach. I await your response,
Twilight Sparkle"

"Princess I need to speak with you." Captain Joyner said walking into the room, "I broke the law twice while we were out working to get our people back."

Celestia groaned and flopped her head down on the desk.

* * *

Starburst was unhappy, frightened, and confused. He had been housed under guard in the Captain's own home. After he awoken he had been taken to the Captain, who was busy organizing everything from the night before. Captain Joyner had untied the young Pegasus stallion and asked for two volunteers to act as an escort and guide since Starburst had been willing to help the Humans. The Captain had also ordered that one of the Humans paint a bright red teardrop just beneath Starburst's left eye as a sign of him being a Bloodmage. The one who volunteered to act as his escort and guide had confused him even more, but Alana had been nothing but polite to him, if somewhat distant. The one who had volunteered to act as Starburst's guard had been even more confusing as Rifin had been a frightening thing to behold in the dark and was even more imposing in the daylight.

The Captain had ordered the Changeling and Pegasus stallion to wait for him on the third floor of Town Hall while he spoke with Princess Celestia. Rifin obviously had to wait in the courtyard outside the building as his massive size and weight would have collapsed the stone structure... well that, and he could not fit through the doors. Starburst thought it no coincidence that Princess Celestia was busy working on the same floor where he was asked to wait. He had seen her only briefly but what he saw of her had shaken him deeply. His sister had described her as a cruel, uncaring fiend. However the soft spoken and ridiculously tall Alicorn had never said a single negative thing to him either before or after the Captain had gone to speak with her.

Shortly thereafter some Human that everybody referred to as 'Crash Course' arrived with a Unicorn and a Zebra. The trio seemed to be waiting for their own chance to speak with Celestia. Despite the disfigurement of the Human man, Starburst's eyes were drawn to the tan Unicorn mare standing beside him. He had seen her the previous night and had been worried about her using her magic to control his mind. He had also been watching to see how she acted toward everybody else. His observations had not been what he had expected. Instead of talking down to everybody else, the mare seemed to act like and treat everybody as an equal.

"Hey," a tired sounding mare's voice spoke from the stairs, "Glad to see you made it Starburst. Captain did say he'd vouch for you. Guess that's why you're here. Thanks for the help last night by the way."

Starburst turned his head following the voice to its source. A heavily muscled mint green Earth Pony mare with a short cropped golden mane and tail stepped off the stairs and onto the floor. She had bruises all over her body and a slightly swollen nose but for the life of him, Starburst could not remember where he had previously met her. Her voice sounded familiar though, "You're probably right. It would make sense since he's in there talking to an Alicorn right now." Starburst said gesturing to the doorway through which he could see the Captain's back.

The mare's expression fell slightly, "Princess Celestia you mean? Well once the Captain tells her about how you were willing to help us and that you were willing to see a different perspective she'll probably make sure there are no charges filed against you. That's my guess anyway."

Starburst suddenly remembered where he had met the mare, "Wait, you're the one who was wearing all that armor last night right?" Starburst nodded to himself, "I uh... I hope you didn't kill anypony I know. What's your name by the way?"

"I'm Rose Thorn and no, I didn't kill anybody except when I had to. I managed to take down and arrest the head of the night patrol down where you used to stay." Rose said.

Starburst could not help but to notice that Artex and the two mares next to him were listening closely to the conversation, but he did not care right then, "That was Smooth Talker." Starburst said, "He's anything but smooth in real life. He's always trying too hard to talk to mares and he has a thing for Earth Ponies, anyway. I'm glad he made it." Starburst's expression fell, "A lot of us didn't. I'm just glad my sister survived... even though I heard she got pretty beat up."

Rose shook her head, "I'm sorry that we had to do what we did but..." she trailed off sadly.

Starburst shook his head, lowering his face toward the floor, "I'm still confused about a lot of things but... when the Captain showed me the Humans that my own sister helped to kidnap..." he shook his head again, "... You're right. Nobody deserves that. I didn't know..." he bit his lower lip, closing his eyes, "I honestly didn't know..."

Rose trotted up to the distraught stallion and gave him a hug, "It wasn't your fault Starburst... you were lied to but you were willing to see past it. I can't speak for everyone but I can tell you that at least I don't blame you." She reached down and tipped up his muzzle so that he was looking her in the eyes, "What you did took a lot of courage young sir..."

"I'm a traitor." Starburst interrupted her.

Rose took a steady slow breath, "Yes. You are. You also kept to your morals and I won't fault anypony for that. The other Bloodmages though... they made their choices. They chose hatred and tribalism over peace and harmony."

"Some of them didn't know any better." Starburst said quietly.

Rose cocked her head to the side in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that most of them were born into being Bloodmages. My sister and I weren't, even though I was too young to remember any of it. We were born in Equestria, but the vast majority of the Ponies and even some of the Diamond Dogs who were down there are the descendants of the families of those who were killed by Unicorn royalty. The Grand Magus was born among Bloodmages, just like Smooth Talker."

"Where was the Grand Magus though? He wasn't down there when we attacked." Rose asked.

Starburst sighed, "He went to one of the other safe havens we have. Apparently they were having trouble with Zebras getting close to finding them. He went to help them relocate."

"How many safe havens are there?" Rose asked.

"I'm not certain. A couple dozen at least. We lost one recently too. A large group from one in the Minotaur kingdom said they wanted to come out and attempt to explain that Blood magic was not evil. The Grand Magus told us about it and said he would watch and see how long it took before they were all executed. He said it was a death sentence." Starburst explained, "I hope they succeed." he finished quietly.

A matronly voice from behind him sent a shiver down his spine, "I just received word that they came forward openly. You're still helping us even after the attack last night?"

Starburst turned his head slowly and gazed up at the white Alicorn who was looking down at him. He swallowed hard and licked his lips, "Y-yes. If... if I can help this to stop... I will."

Rose stepped in between Starburst and Celestia, standing protectively in front of the younger stallion, "Excuse me Princess, but Starburst here just explained that most of the Bloodmages were born into their lifestyle. If that is in fact the case we may have a much more difficult time trying to get them to see reason."

Captain Joyner stepped out from behind Celestia, "You're right. If they've been brainwashed with hate their entire lives they may be beyond hope."

Celestia furrowed her eyebrows, "May I speak with Starburst?"

Rose stepped out of the way and Celestia looked down at the trembling Pegasus, "Tell me Starburst, what happened to the Unicorn foals who were born to Bloodmage parents?"

"As far as I know it never happened. Or if it did, it was never spoken of." A very disturbing thought occurred to the stallion suddenly. It was brought on by Celestia's question, 'What if the parents... no. No, nopony could ever be that heartless... could they?' The doubts crept into his mind.

"Many of the Unicorns that Bloodmages were keeping sedated and holding hostage do not have cutie marks." Celestia's statement was met with gasps from Rose Thorn, Oriana, and Razor Wit. Celestia raised her head from Starburst, "That can only mean that they had been imprisoned before they were old enough to find their talents. They had to have been foals when they were taken."

Starburst stepped back away from Celestia, eyes wide, "No," he whispered, "No that... that can't be right, it can't! Nopony would... would..." he closed his eyes and shook his head, "No... no... no it can't be... it can't be true!" Starburst backed away from Celestia shaking his head, "No! We didn't do that!" His eyes flew open, glaring around the chamber angrily, "You're lying! You're LYING!"

Celestia's expression was utterly neutral, "They were willing to do the exact same thing to the Human baby they kidnapped, why would they treat their own foals any differently?"

Starburst exhaled sharply then swallowed as tears gathered in his eyes. He shook his head back and forth, "How could they!?" He cried, "How could SHE!? How... how..." he trailed off as he clenched his jaw to stop himself from speaking, 'How could anypony do that to a foal!? My own sister was going to do that! It was all a lie...' his memory flashed back to when his sister had introduced him to the Grand Magus. He remembered the old stallion looking down at him and saying what a bright future he had. '... it was all a lie...' he remembered his tenth birthday party and how his one birthday wish had been to see their parents. He didn't care that the Grand Magus and Midnight Haze both said they were traitors. '... it was all a lie... my own sister...' he remembered when he had received his cutie mark because he had discovered a new Noun to utilize in Unicorn blood. His sister and the Grand Magus had been so proud of him. The celebration had lasted for entire days. '... my own sister...' he grit his teeth as the phrase echoed inside his head, '... my own sister...' he gasped as the tears blurred his vision, '... my own sister...' his breaths came in short gasps as his chest hitched, '... my own sister... my own sister...' he clenched his jaw as deep, profound hurt and anger bubbled up within his chest, '... my own sister...' the anger grew, '... my own sister...' and grew, '... my own sister...' and grew, '... my own sister...' the anger morphed into rage, '... my own sister... my own sister... MY OWN SISTER!'

A golden aura surrounded Starburst and held him in place inside a confining bubble as his rage exploded, "... rrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" His wings snapped oped and he launched himself against the golden bubble screaming, "They made me one of them! I believed them! I BELIEVED THEM! HOW DARE THEY!" He struck his hooves against the bubble in a frenzy of wrath, berserk with rage, "Let me go! I'll kill her! I'LL KILL HER! I'LL KILL THEM ALL! I'LL KILL THEM ALL!"

Celestia's face shown with deep sorrow, "You would kill your own sister?" she asked calmly.

Starburst planted all four of his hooves on the bottom of the bubble and lowered his head and eyes dangerously, panting as if he had run a marathon, "She is NOT my sister!" he growled, "Kill her." he looked to Captain Joyner and drew a shaky breath as tears cascaded down his face. His voice was deep and shaking as he sobbed and gasped and spoke through gritted teeth, "You kill her or I will."

And here is an instance of when YOU, the reader, gets to determine the outcome.
1. What should be done with the Bloodmage adults?
2. What should happen to the foals who have parents who are among the imprisoned Bloodmages?
3. What should happen to the foals who were orphaned during the raid?
4. What should be done with the dead bodies and the cavern?

I have created a blog about this topic. Please submit your ides there. The idea with the most Likes will be the one I use. If you do not post an idea or a vote do not be upset with the outcome.

The blog can be found HERE