Twilight sat on Kaiser's throne, bloody, almost defeated; it took every ounce of energy to resist Gek's power. Gek tried to worm inside her mind, take the knowledge he needed to open the cube that contained the Stone of Mind. She couldn't allow that, no matter how much it pained her, no matter how much it hurt to tense her body– the wounds Kaiser had inflicted had healed over, but the fur that was once there was replaced by discoloured scars and dried-up blood. He mane was a tattered mess, and it covered her bruised face like a shawl. As Gek burrowed deeper, Twilight tensed again to resist, but no matter how hard she tried, Gek seemed to inch just a little closer to his goal every time. Twilight had ceased crying at this point; pain had become normalcy to her, and she preferred Kaiser's beatings over Gek's incessant probing and mindless, maddening chatter.

Gek massaged Twilight's shoulder, feeling the strain in her body. However, he knew she wouldn't fight back; she was far too busy trying to fight his influence. "You seem tense, darling." Twilight didn't respond. "Oh, don't tell me I've rendered you speechless! C'mon! Let's talk-! Oh, but what should we talk about-... ah! I know! Let's talk about cute colts! Isn't that what you twentysomething's talk about?"

Twilight let out an anguished cry as she clenched her fists, feeling Gek's power shoot up her spine again. "Arraagghh!"

"That's the spirit! I knew you had something left in you!" Gek chuckled for a moment, then paused; an idea popped into his head. "Oh, I know something that'll lighten the mood! Let's play twenty questions! Do you wanna guess?" Again, Twilight said nothing. "Alright, fine! I'll guess! Okay, so... is it an animal?"

Twilight whimpered, holding back her tears as she clenched her hands on the ends of the throne's armrests. Gek shook his head and sighed to himself; it appeared as if Gek did not actually recognize the pain he caused. That was reality for him; pain, suffering, anguish. Gek was lost in a delusion. But, for some reason, he was aware of that delusion, yet he did nothing. He simply sat and stewed inside his realm, waiting for something new, something unusual. It took Twilight to realize that 'that something' was her. Her own personality deviated from his chaos in every way. Gek was trying to prove something; he was trying to prove– in his own sick way –that anypony can fall from grace and into madness. Was it a warning? Twilight couldn't tell. Perhaps this was the scholar Gekken talking through the cracks in a wall, trying to relay a message to her. Then again, it could've been some sick joke again.

"Hmm... that's not really a good clue, but I think I can piece it together. Give me a minute..." Gek sat down on one of the throne's armrests and thought to himself, tapping his hoof on the floor. "Oh, I got it! Your animal is... Celestia!" Twilight broke down; she didn't cry or whine, she simply grit her teeth with her head bowed. "Well, I think I'll take that as a yes! Chalk one up on the board for this sorcerer!"

****

Liazo awoke in a cold sweat as he clutched the two circular marks on his chest. "Gah!"

"Lee, what's the matter?" The sweet mare next to him asked as she placed a hand on his cheek to calm him. It didn't take before his breathing slowed to a normal pace. "Was it that dream again?"

Liazo turned his head to Maria and nodded as he got up, grabbing the glass of water on his nightstand as he tried to recall the nightmare. "Yeah."

Liazo often found himself lost in Maria's emerald eyes whenever she looked at him. Her perfect smile, her wavy ginger hair, her white as snow complexion. His fear seemed to melt away as soon as she looked at her as if it was nothing. However, Liazo wasn't the kind of stallion who was willing to shake off doubt and fear so easily, as he had been on the run most of his life from almost everypony. He was reluctant to let Maria steal his dismay because he feared for her safety more than anything. And if he lost his edge, even for a second, he could lose her. He couldn't let that happen.

"The dream about drowning in that glass chamber again, during the war?" Maria inquired, trying to get his attention; he would often try to look away every time she tried to help him with his constant nightmares.

Liazo was silent for a minute or so, then piped up as he looked at the clock on his nightstand; 3:00 am. "Maria... you know who I am, what I do... why do you put up with it? Why have you stayed with me all this time? You could get killed if Fonzi-."

"Fonzi won't find out, I promise." Maria insisted as she wrapped her arm around Liazo, which he grabbed with his hand. "We need each other, Lee..."

"How could somepony ever love some test-tube hybrid freak like me?" Liazo shook his head as he looked down at his shirtless self, at the sutures that covered his body. "Am I even a real-?"

"Don't say that, Lee..." Maria said as she gave him a peck on the lips, placing her hand on his heart. "You're real, Liazo. You're the most real stallion I've ever met. And I fell in love in love with that stallion. Doesn't that give you enough proof?"

Liazo grinned as he hugged Maria tightly. "How did I get so lucky?"

Liazo's phone rang on his nightstand. It was Fonzi again– calling him in for some job he needed to be done. Maria sighed and grabbed Liazo's hand before he could leave. "Can't you stay...? Just a little longer, Lee..."

Liazo's hand hovered over the phone as he looked back at Maria, who stared at him with those big emerald eyes of hers. He let out an exasperated breath as he retracted his hand and fell into Maria's embrace. "Alright... I'll stay for a little longer, okay?"

"Okay..." Maria said as she planted her lips on his. "Liazo... I love you."

"I love you too..."

*

"Liazo...? Is something the matter?" Gin looked over to Liazo as he paused for a moment, standing in front of the double doors in silence.

"Nah, just remembered something is all..." Liazo laughed under his breath as he opened the doors. "It was nothing really..."

Liazo and Gin stepped through the double doors and entered the fancy lounge. There were two levels of the establishment; the visible, detached second floor were rafters– almost like the storage level on a barn. They were on either side, but they acted more as theater boxes for the gang members to watch, as there was nopony on the ground level. The lower level was, of course, the largest of the two. There was a wide and empty carpet floor, tables and chairs had been shoved to the side, and at the end of the expansive room was a stage where ponies would often perform for the gang long ago. Long, purple velvet curtains concealed the backstage, and a spotlight was cast down upon the center of the wood-paneled stage floor, where a stallion was standing, grinning mischievously.

"Ladies and gentlecolts, ponies of the great Catelli Family! I present to you... Liazo Catelli! The star of our little production! And it looks like he's got a friend as well! Give em' a hand, folks!" The stallion stepped down a staircase onto the empty floor, the spotlight still on him as he slowly approached Liazo with his hands behind his back.

The stallion appeared to be very charismatic and slippery. He was taller than Liazo, but only by an inch or two, and his slicked-back, black mane and crimson red fur shone under the glimmer of the spotlight above. He also wore a very fancy white suit that went well with his mane and complexion, and there was a magenta hydrangea tucked into the pocket of his suit, accenting his brown eyes. Liazo scowled in disgust at the mob-boss Fonzi, dark memories flooding back to him as he saw that perfect white smile of his. Fonzi only stepped so far– making himself comfortable in the center of the lower level where all could adore him, all except Liazo and Gin. They prepared themselves, knowing full-well that this was all a trap.

Before they knew it, two muscular thugs stepped in front of the door they entered, and they shoved them forward so they could get a closer look to Fonzi. Fonzi then chuckled to himself, motioning to the spotlight operator to shine the light on Liazo and Gin. As the beam hit them, the applause grew louder, some even whistled. They walked towards Fonzi, who patiently awaited them.

"Well, well... I'm glad you brought some company, Liazo." Fonzi gestured to Gin as he got up close and personal to Liazo, whose scowl grew teeming with malice as the mob boss turned to Gin and went down on one knee, placing a kiss on Gin's hand. "She is quite something... is she yours?"

"She's a friend," Liazo grunted, tempted to kick Fonzi in the teeth.

"I ain't his, ya slimy rat!" Gin recoiled as she wiped the back of her hand, afraid such a vile creature carried some kind of foul pestilence.

"Oh! She's quite the spitfire, isn't she fellas?!" Fonzi asked the crowd who watched from above, and they replied with a roar of approval. Fonzi then reached into his pocket and grabbed a switch-comb, brushing his mane back to keep it neat and tidy.

"Quit stalling, Fonzi and fight us already, will you?" Liazo insisted as the spotlight faded to black, rendering the room pitch black. Fonzi then clapped his hands, and chandeliers hanging above lit up, illuminating the entire room.

"Very well, Liazo! I think it's time we settled this, once and for all, don't you think?" Fonzi smirked as he jumped back up on the stage, removing his blazer and tie, and undoing the top few buttons of his baby-blue dress shirt. He raised his hands, and as he did so, blue webs made of a fibrous material shot out of his sleeves, sparking and crackling like electrified whips. He closed his eyes, and as they opened they changed to the eyes of a gola– red with yellow irises. "Let's dance, foals!"

Fonzi whistled, calling upon the rest of his gang to join the fight. They jumped off of the second level with their Tommy guns drawn, ready to bag the two. But Liazo was ready, and his eyes changed to that of a gola's as well, silver tendrils of mercury escaping his arms and back– four in total. Gin grabbed her arcane-powered blunderbuss, loading it with an incendiary shell.

"Alright, let's see what Scotch can do!" Gin grinned as she prepared her flak-gun and opened up her jacket, revealing her arsenal of bombs and flintlocks. "I'll take these bastards, Liazo. You deal with the charmer over here."

"Be careful," Liazo warned her as he ran towards Fonzi with his butterfly knives drawn. "Okay, Fonzi! Let's do this!"

"Bring it, punk!" Fonzi growled as Liazo jumped up onto the stage.

Liazo began his assault by spinning his body, letting his tendrils act as helicopter blades to cleave his foe, but Fonzi dodged with his enhanced speed. The mob-boss then jumped over Liazo and slashed him across the back with whips made of crackling neurons. Liazo staggered for a brief second, then sheathed his butterfly knives, reaching into his vest to grab multiple throwing knives. He tossed them at Fonzi with pinpoint accuracy, managing to plunge two into Fonzi's legs. Fonzi grimaced as he manipulated his own tendrils to rip the knives out of each thigh, but he knew Liazo wouldn't wait for him, so he created a wall of thick nervous tissue to protect himself from Liazo's speedy and sharp tentacles.

"You're still an annoying fuck, Liazo..." Fonzi grunted as his wounds healed over.

"Good to know!" Liazo yelled back at him as he sliced Fonzi's barrier in half with one of his mercury whips. However, Fonzi wasn't where he expected him to be. "Huh?"

Fonzi had slithered his way behind Liazo's guard, and he pierced his back with a pinpointed spear of nerves, impaling Liazo. The half-changeling spat outs pint of his mercury blood. "You aren't the only one with speed, pal. Granted, I did miss your heart, so that's a shame..."

"Liazo!" Gin shouted to him as she ducked behind a pile of old wooden tables, shielding herself from the gang's gunfire.

"I'm... fine, Gin..." Liazo choked as the hole in his back healed over. "Worry about yourself."

Gin lit the fuse of one of her bombs with a match and waited, counting the seconds. She tossed it into the crowd of thugs, and they scattered as soon as the bomb went off. The fragments tore apart a few of them, but there was still over a dozen left. Gin got out of her cover and fired her blunderbuss into the chest of a mobster who got too close. The shot blew apart his torso, sending flaming, fleshy debris flying across the room. Gin holstered her blunderbuss and brought out a pair of flintlocks– two of over a dozen –and she fired her first shot. That shot managed to hit one of the thugs in the eye, killing him. However, her second shot grazed the head of another gangster. She ducked behind cover again once the thugs started to open fire with their machine guns again. This time, they grabbed tables on the other side of the room and used them as cover.

"Bloody hell..." Gin sighed as she counted her bombs– she had seven left, hopefully, enough.

While Liazo's attack started well, it did not finish the same way. Fonzi's gola powers were far more advanced than his, and his speed was enough to outmanoeuvre even attacks from his tendrils. It was clear to Liazo that Fonzi was no longer holding back like he did at the start of the fight. He was going all-out. One of Fonzi's tendrils slammed him into the stage floor, smashing a Liazo-sized imprint into the wood floor. Liazo recovered, and grabbed his throwing knives again, but before he could throw them Fonzi's elaborate web of neurons entangled him. Some of the nerves even wrapped around his own knives and stabbed him as the fabric-like cables began to constrict tightly around his body. Fonzi was trying to squeeze the juice out of him like a melon.

"You thought you could take me on?! Me?! That's rich, Liazo!" Fonzi grinned maniacally as he began slamming Liazo into the upper floor of the lounge, destroying some of the support pillars on the opposite side of the room to Gin. "I'm gonna enjoy this, Lee. I'll finally get you outta my hair for good!"

Gin killed two more gangsters with another pair of flintlocks, blowing their heads apart. She then lit another bomb, tossing it behind the cover of another four thugs, killing them in a fiery explosion. Another gangster stepped out of his cover and fired. Gin, however, was not quick enough with her own aim, and two bullets struck her in the left leg; one hit her shin, and the other hit her thigh. She growled in pain as she ducked back behind cover, loading her blunderbuss with an electrically charged shell. She poked her head out and fired at the same thug. The blast staggered and wounded him, but the after effect of the electricity in the shot then began to take effect , and he fell to the ground soon after, convulsing and seizing until he died of shock. Gin tossed another bomb over the pile of tables, and it landed fairly short to her reduced throwing capabilities. It only killed two.

"You're little bitch, Maria... I gutted her and tossed her body into the river after you betrayed the family. You were my brother, Liazo! I trusted you with my life, and then you stabbed me in the back by shaggin' that damn O'Neil girl! The enemy!" Fonzi shouted as he continued to beat Liazo silly with his whips.

"Cut it out with the 'us and them' bullshit!" Liazo used his tendrils and sliced through Fonzi's snare, setting himself free. "Contrary to what you may believe by spendin' time with me, blood is the same color, dammit! It ain't green and pink or white and silver! It's fuckin' red!" Liazo's heart raced, and his tendrils whipped about furiously. "I wasn't your damn brother, Fonzi! I was an investment!"

Fonzi howled like a rabid beast as he flung himself forward at Liazo with his own fibrous appendages, and he stabbed Liazo in the shoulder and hip with shaped spears of nervous tissue. Liazo quickly reacted to this and used Fonzi's attack as a quick way to close the distance between them. Liazo tried ramming a knife into his throat, but Fonzi dislodged the tendrils embedded in the halfling and stepped back, avoiding the knife.

"Is that all you got, Liazo? Huh?!" Fonzi snarled as he slashed Liazo across the chest, splattering his silvery blood across his face. "You ain't shit, asshole!"

Gin grabbed her bomb and tossed it into the face of an approaching thug, and it exploded violently, the blast knocking Gin back into a wall. She quickly recovered, but her injured leg reduced her speed greatly. She grabbed her last two flintlocks and killed one gangster, then another, leaving only five left. Gin ducked behind another pile of tables and fired at two machinegun-wielding tuffs, blowing off their heads before they could even fire their guns. A gangster then jumped out of cover nearby and sprang into action with two daggers in his hands. Gin reacted, and smashed the gangster's face in with a bottle of rum she kept strapped to her belt, then she blew his head apart with her last shell. The bottle broke, but Gin salvaged the last drops of rum for herself, letting it drip into her mouth and replenish her vigour for the final two mobsters. Gin sighed, then grabbed a loaded Tommy gun off of the one dead gangster nearby.

"Damn... do I just-. Yeah, I think that's how it works." Gin scratched her head at the unfamiliar contraption in her hands. It wasn't like any gun she was used to.

Gin tossed the remains of her rum bottle across the room, and it shattered into tiny pieces. The noise fooled the two thugs, and they began firing at the table closest to them, believing that's where their foe was hiding. Gin capitalized on this and rolled on her side, shouldering the gun as she began to open fire. The gun was a lot more accurate than she thought, and it mowed down the last two tuffs, reducing the upper parts of their bodies to a bloody mush.

"Fuckin' hell that smarts!" Gin cringed as she felt the wounds on her leg burning. She couldn't stand, but she could crawl, and she soon saw Liazo getting pummelled by Fonzi as she raised her head to get a look at the stage. "Liazo!"

Liazo had been badly bruised and beaten, his metal blood poured out of his mouth and head. And as Fonzi began to beat him harder and harder, the blood flung across the stage, some of it even got on Fonzi's coat. Fonzi chuckled as he started to punch Liazo in the face over and over, getting more of his blood on him. Gin knew Liazo would surely be killed if she didn't intervene, and she grabbed another mobsters gun and fired wildly at Fonzi. The bullets struck Fonzi in the jaw and neck, but this only seemed to be a mild irritant to him, as these wounds healed over rapidly.

"Fuck off, ya bitch!" Fonzi tried reaching out with his tendril to impale her, but Liazo stopped it with his own tentacle before he could get close. "You're still as resilient as ever, I see! You just don't know when to quit, do you?!"

Liazo was punched back into a wall, but as he got up, he smiled, chuckling under his breath. "I should say the same thing to you, Fonzi. You've gotten dumb, haven't you?"

"What the fuck are you-?! Oh, fuck..." Fonzi looked down at himself; he was covered in mercury.

"Tell me... what happens when mercury gets on your skin?" Liazo grinned as he got up, his wounds healing slowly as he approached Fonzi, who began having troubles seeing straight. "I wanted to ignore you, Fonzi. I knew that Maria's death was partially my fault, so I kept away from you. I let you have your fun as the head of the Catelli Mob. I shouldn't have. I never thought you'd stoop this low, resorting to crazed terrorists to fill your fat wallet. They killed foals in those bombings, Fonzi. They killed innocent little foals, and you didn't even flinch!" Liazo began slice Fonzi with his mercury tentacles, cutting off his tendrils and his arms. "That's why I came back to kick your ass! You've changed, Fonzi! And it all started when your father died! When you took over and killed Maria!" Liazo pierced his heart, draining him of his blood. "This isn't just for her, this is for every innocent pony you killed! You had me thinking when I was working for you that the Catelli Family only killed murders and rats, but what does that make us, huh?! We were no better than them! You were no better than them!"

Liazo ceased his attack, and his tendrils recoiled back into his body, along with the rest of his blood that had been spilled. He stumbled back, then fell off of the stage in exhaustion. Gin ignored her wounded leg and ran to his aid. Luckily, most of his wounds were healing over. The deeper gashes, however, did not. His body had been exerted too much, and his regeneration was slowed to a crawl.

"Liazo, are you okay?!" Gin shouted as she checked his pulse. Thankfully there was a heartbeat.

"Yeah, I'm okay..." Liazo wheezed as he raised his body, but Gin stopped him, insisting that he should rest . "Alright, alright..."

"What now...?" Gin wondered as she looked around the room at the destruction.

"We wait here. We're too injured to walk back by ourselves..." Liazo informed Gin as he laid down on his back. "Did you get that, Masami?"

"Yeah, Lee... I hear you loud and clear. Athena is gonna send a squad to get you guys outta there soon, so sit tight." Masami replied through his communicator.

"Good..." Liazo closed his eyes and grinned, images of Maria's face flashing before his eyes. "Good..."

****

"Edgar, what the bloody hell is going on?!" Draven screamed at the giant, who had simply stood in place, taking Natascha's punishment for hours. Draven and Spike were the only ones attacking her, and they didn't seem to put a dent in the rampaging mare. "Edgar, can you even hear me?! Quit lollygagging and kick her ass with us! Isn't that what you said, that we had to kill her quickly?!"

Edgar was lost in his own mind, flooded with thoughts of Natascha. Natascha's attacks didn't hurt him physically, but what they did do was tear away at his soul, shred his being on the inside. With every blow that hit his body, he was reminded of her before all of this, before the experiment that turned them all into monsters. Edgar thought that he could run from what happened to them, that he could just forget about the past, but he knew such a thing was impossible. Avoiding him was impossible. He knew that what happened so long ago would haunt him until he finally faced his fears head-on. But he couldn't do it. His comrades were being pummelled by Natascha, but he didn't have the heart to hit his own wife. He just couldn't.

"Please, Edgar, help us!" Spike begged Edgar as the titanic pony continued to daydream. "You're the only one who can stop her!"

Spike was right. Edgar knew what had to be done. He had a country to protect. He had a new family to keep safe. Edgar had to set aside his own feelings and look at the big picture, no matter how hard it was. Edgar leapt into action, slamming his fist into Natascha's face. Images of her flashed before his eyes; it was his life before the war, before the chaos and the violence. When it was only the two of them. He thought to himself as he whimpered.

"From the very first moment, I looked at you..." Edgar punched Natascha again, and it shattered the armor that covered her body. "I fell in love..." Edgar hit her again, shattering her pelvis. "I remember dancing with you at the ball in Canterlot for the first time..." Tears began to form in Edgar's eyes as he continued the battery of his beloved wife. "When we cut our wedding cake together..." Edgar wept as he imagined the face of their late daughter. "I remember Mabel... our little angel... she was so young..." Edgar began to wail in anguish as he tore off the tubes that dug into Natascha's neck. "I walked you home from the hospital... you were crying... the doctors told us there wasn't anything we could've done..." Edgar sobbed as he hit her over and over. "I remember the long chats we'd have in the park..." Edgar wailed as he tore off the rest of her armor. "We got ice cream... I would get butterscotch... and you'd get vanilla..." Edgar ripped another piece of armor off of her, then continued to brutally smack her about. "We'd just talk... about the weather... about your dreams of becoming a violinist and mine of becoming a writer... I loved our talks..." Edgar's rampage began to calm down, leaving Natascha time to register the sheer trauma Edgar's attack caused. "Please... forgive me... and know that..."

"Edgar..." Spike watched as tears ran down Edgar's face.

*

"I love you, Archie!"

*

"I love you..." Edgar whispered to Natascha as he grabbed her by the head.

Edgar screamed in agony as he twisted Natascha, snapping her neck, and killing her instantly. There was a moment of silence as Natascha fell into his arms, limp and lifeless. Edgar cradled her, gently closing her eyes with his fingertips. He grit his teeth as he looked down at Natascha. She was so calm and peaceful; the way he remembered her. Then quietly, Edgar began to sob, the tears that had collected on his face finally falling off of his cheeks, landing on hers. He hummed to himself a lullaby, the same one that had lulled their daughter Mabel to sleep so long ago.

Draven removed his hat as he saw the wedding ring on Natascha's finger, and the ring that Edgar grabbed out of his pocket. It took Draven only a moment to realize what had just happened. "Oh, by the stars... what have we done...?"

Edgar's expression then shifted to one of unstoppable anger and untold spite. His eyes darkened, his face became pale. A groan escaped his mouth, one that shook the very earth beneath his hooves. He bowed his head and looked down at Natascha again, tears still streaming down his face. He was going to kill him for what he did. He was going to kill Kaiser, for her. He raised his head and bellowed at the top of his lungs. The ground trembled. It was a cry that could strike fear into the heart of a god.

"RICHARD!"

Author's Notes:

This chapter was hard. Sure, it was long, but I had a rough time with the conclusion to Edgar's fight with Natascha. I often am very affected by the emotions of my characters, and this really, really got to me. I had to take a break today to calm down because I actually broke down crying for a very long time. So yeah, I hope this didn't affect you as much as it did for me. I'm a crybaby after all.

Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed! Thank you for being so patient! Arc Two will come to an end very soon! See you in the next chapter!