Author's Notes:

So morality swings heavily. The world will soon be a better place for what has been done, so is it really all that bad?

Welcome to questions I like to ask myself from time to time. Debates on morality and the like are fun.

As Always, Stay ‘Evil’

Stay Cool, Kids.

Sleep didn’t come much easier to me after I realized what I had to do, but it felt good knowing that I could actually do something about it. When I got it through my thick head that I was on Earth, in England, to protect my brother, things were so much clearer. With my mission in mind, ringing through my ears, I knew I had to start cracking as soon as I possibly could. I folded the blanket Will had given me a few hours ago and found some stationary to write him a note with. I shared my revelation in shorthand with him and headed out the door, knowing exactly where to go for information and who I needed to find to get it. I took the hooded jumper he’d let me borrow earlier so I could keep my face hidden, though it was a little past midnight at this point anyway. I looked up to the full Moon and felt rather… I don’t know. Distant, I suppose. The Moon near Equus just seemed so much closer, but I pushed my random thoughts aside and exited the flats, heading toward the local pub I’d spent so much time in.

The Rubber Dutchman was a strange enough little place that served awfully shady clientele, but it was always a hotbed for information. Finding the right person was always just a matter of knowing who to talk to and who to avoid, and Sketchy Sam was the oddest combination of both. The old bat had her hands in just about everything that went on in Wiltshire before I disappeared and I’d taken multiple morally ambiguous jobs from her in the past. When I arrived at the Rubber Dutchman, Markus, the barkeep, stopped me on my way in.

“Oi! You, skinny! Shouldn’t you be at home right now, it’s past your bedtime!” He guffawed.

A few of the patrons at the bar gave him a few half hearted chuckles for his words, so I pulled my hood back and looked him in the eye. Recognition dawned on his face after a moment, so I held a finger to my lips.

“I’ll have a pint of something decent, if you’ve got something decent. I paid up my tab last time I was in, yeah?” I asked.

Markus just stared at me. “Kid, where the bloody fuck have you been?”

“Out and about. Don’t worry about it too hard. Is Sam in?”

“She’s always in. You working again?”

I shrugged. “Might be. You never know.”

He nodded and got me my drink. I sipped the bitter brew, grabbed a coin from my pouch and flicked it at him quickly enough to avoid having it be seen. Markus was used to having shit thrown at him, so he caught it and gave it a glance before tucking it into a pocket, most likely thinking it to be a random thing that seemed alright. After paying for my drink, I went to go have that word with Sam so I could hurry up and get started on finding Slick. Hopefully I could convince him one way or another to leave Will alone, should the mobster ever return to Wiltshire, or maybe just give him impetus to just never return in the first place. Barring either of those, I was planning on just killing him to protect my brother, though I didn’t really want to, if anything than just to avoid adding another soul to my conscience.

The beer was pretty decent all things said, and as I headed toward Sam’s usual corner, I felt a few pairs of eyes on me as I moved toward her booth. I ignored them and kept my wits about me just in case someone wanted to slip me a knife in the ribs for being unfamiliar. When I got to Sam’s booth, the fifty-plus year-old woman looked exactly the same as she did when I left: A little chubby and a lot more shifty than someone old enough to be a grandmother probably should be. Sliding into the seat without a word to her, I looked out into the bar and turned my gaze to Sam.

“Hullo there, you crazy old bat.” I said casually.

Sam slammed a shot back and started pouring herself another. “Who the fuck are you, shithead?”

I let the hood fall and stared her in the eyes. “Call me Revenant or Rev. I stopped going by Kaid when I disappeared.” I replaced my hood.

Sam stared at me. “Sonny, you’re dead. Graham had you killed.”

“Revenants don’t stay dead for long. I’ll give him his due when I have the time. Right now, I need to call in two of the three favours you owe me.”

Sam stared at me. “You callin’ in the marker?”

“No, I’m saving that one. You never know when you might need info on someone untouchable.”

“Sonny, Graham is untouchable-”

“That’s not who I need to speak to you about. I know exactly where I can find him, and I will find him.” I growled. “No, I need to find Slick. He and I need to parlay.”

Sketchy Sam tapped her fingers on the table and cast a few glances around us before leaning in, gesturing for me to do the same. “Look sonny, Slick don’t deal with people like you anymore. He’s moved on up.”

“You say that like I don’t know that. I’ve got something he wants, and he still owes me one favour.” I said quietly.

“No, you don’t understand, Kaid. The last person to ask him for a favour disappeared. Gone. Ghost. She-”

“Sam, I’m a ghost. I guarantee you I’m a lot more dangerous than Slick could ever be solo, so point me in the right direction and I’ll keep your name out of it. No doubts on that, okay?”

“Not happening, kid.”

Well shit. That left me with two options, so I went for the mostly harmless one. Channeling my Dark Magic into my voice, I spoke. “Tell me where to find Slick Sagiano.”

Sam gave me a funny look before her eyes glazed over. “Slick is in Shepard’s Ford.”

“Where specifically?”

“His main hideout is a building on Poplar street. You’ll know what it is by the look of it. IT’s tall, red brick, and sticks out like a sore thumb.”

Sounds a bit like Godrick’s place back in Gryphonia. “How much security should I be expecting?”

“Slick’s been busier than ever trying to build his own empire off of his brother’s name. Savage has been letting him get a foothold-”

“So I need to talk to Savage as well. Is Savage still in Gollum?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I passed my beer over to Sam. “Forget you ever told me any of this when I snap my fingers.”

“Will do.”

I went to leave, but sat back down before I could forget about my ‘little side quest’. “Before I go, is Chief Graham in the same place he used to be?”

“Yeah, he is.” Sam answered blankly.

“Thanks love.” I snapped my fingers and she lost the glassy look. “If you’re not going to give me info, then I need cash.”

Sam shook her head and nodded. “Yeah, I can do that, sonny. How much you need?”

“Two fifty per favor sound fair to you?” I offered. A favor was actually a three hundred quid kinda deal, but I didn’t need that much.

She nodded and rose from her seat. “There a reason you’re letting me off easy?”

I joined her in standing and followed her, sticking close as we headed out of the pub. Once we were outside, I told her, “I’ve killed a lot of people, Sammy. I owe some people a little mercy.”

She stopped dead in her tracks. “Graham’s had you pulling hits, hasn’t he?”

I shrugged. “Even if I could say anything about that, I wouldn’t. Loose lips get cut off.”

“Shit. After Max passed, you got a lot more brutal, didn’t you?”

“He kept me tamed and fed. Without him around, there’s no point.” I said softly.

“...You’re not about to roll me, yeah?”

“Telling it straight, you’re too valuable. No one has your contacts, love. That and you’ve done me good since I got decent at stealing shit, so you’re off my list.” I said honestly.

Sam sighed. “You could be lying.”

“You’d be fucked if I was. Trust me, Sam, if I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”

“I guess I’ve gotta learn to trust you all over again.” She chuckled.

“You cheeky twat, you never trust anyone!” I replied playfully.

Sammy hit my arm with the back of her hand. “I had to trust you, kiddo. I was the first of to give you a real mark, yeah?”

“Damn straight. Not like I could’ve sold you out at any point though. Shit would’ve gotten me wrecked one way or another.”

She laughed. “You’re too honest for your own good sometimes. You know my gang runs too deep for you to pull anything, even if you did go stone cold.”

I shook my head. “Oi, I’m not stone cold yet, love. I’ve got the stones for my new line of work, but I ain’t cold.”

“That’s what you say now, but I bet you will be if you manage to live past finding Slick. I wish you luck on that, sonny, but I want you to come back safe and sound.”

“No such thing as safe in our line of work, Sammy. We-” Sammy and I turned a corner and nearly ran into three shifty looking blokes smoking fags in a back alley.

Sam took point. “Evening, gents.”

The tallest of the three stepped forward. As I’d thought, it was the Grisham boys, probably up to no good as usual. Jimmy was the one who stepped forward and his brothers, Dirk and Alex stayed on standby.

“Sketchy Sammy! If it ain’t everyone’s favourite old lady!” Jimmy jibed.

“Shut your trap, you giant fuckwad!” Sammy cackled. “Always thought you were hot shit because you’re tall.”

He shrugged. “Ain’t nothin’ like that, sis. I just so happen to be the smart one, the pretty one, and the tough one.” His brothers scoffed. Jimmy was the smart one, but Dirk was tough and Alex was the pretty boy of the three.

“Right. Me and my buddy just need to pass through, if you fellas don’t mind blowing your smoke a little higher.” Sam said.

Jimmy chuckled and stood in the middle of the alley. “So who’s your new friend?” He turned to me. “Don’t you know it’s rude to keep your face covered, bruv?”

I pulled my hood back and looked at the dark shape of his face. “If I wanted to be seen by just anyone, I would be. How’s it hangin’, tall, dark, and dickish?”

Jimmy puffed on his cigarette and I could see his brows furrowed. “You look familiar. We met before?”

“It’s been awhile, but yeah mate. We met when I went by a different name. Call me Rev.” I walked forward and offered him my hand.

He shook it. “What name did I know you by?”

“I would have said it if it was important.” I replied cheekily. “The guy I was is dead, so don’t think about it too much.”

“Whatever you say, bruv. Don’t get your cock caught in Sam’s snatch, alright? Shit’s so dry-”

Sam stepped forward and hit him with a powerful hook to the liver. “Shut yer yap ya pillock!”

Jimmy rubbed his side and patted her shoulder. “Shit still hurts, but you’re losin’ your edge, old gal. Take it easy you two.”

“Same to you, Jimmy.” I replied, waiting for Sammy to take point so I could follow her.

We ended up stopping by a loose flagstone and she peeled some bricks away to show me the old safe she had installed back before I was born. Sammy’s been in the business for a hot minute, and I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one she ever showed this safe to. As it was, you needed a key, the safe code, and her thumbprint to open the damned thing, but I knew for a fact that she never kept more than a thousand pounds in there at any given time. This was one of her drop boxes so she could keep her main stash in a legitimate bank. She actually had a job, but I never did learn what kind of work would allow her to work such weird hours and get away with stashing thousands in her real account. I figured she was just laundering her money until I realized that she was one of Slick’s contacts. She had to be, and if Slick was working like his brother, Savage Sagiano, then things might be getting rough in Wiltshire.

I’m not proud of it, but I ordered her to ignore Will if she ever saw him using some Dark Magic and told her to keep any whispers of him being back in town to an absolute minimum. Hopefully Sammy’s word was still gold in Wiltshire, so if she said that Will wasn’t Maxwell, it would stick. I actually thought twice and told her to squash rumors that Will was Mawell on top of that, just to keep things in perspective for her. She gave me the same glassy look she’d given me in the pub and I knew my brother would be in the clear for a while longer. Still, I didn’t know why he’d come back to Wiltshire if he knew there was a hit on him. Fucking foolish, but I couldn’t blame him for wanting to come back to his original home.

Once I was done with Sammy, we parted ways and I went back to Will’s so I could catch a nap and see the morning in a few hours. It was about four in the morning when I got back, so I picked the locked door and let myself in, but I never realized that Will would keep an electronic lock on his door. When he came rocketing out of his room with a hunting knife, I was closing the door. I gave him a wave.

“Wotcher mate. I figured out what I need to do.” I said.

“Max, what the fuck? Do you know what time it is?” He asked, exasperated.

I checked my pocket watch. It wasn’t working, so I looked at a clock. “It’s four-thirteen. I had to go see Sammy to go pick up some info, but I didn’t want to leave the door unlocked. That’s how people get robbed.”

Will rubbed his head. “Man, you’re lucky Bea didn’t wake up, or your arse would be six feet deep right now.”

I nodded. “Gotcha. I’ve gotta leave town tomorrow, so I won’t be in your hair much longer-”

“No, you’re coming to church with us. If you went to see Sammy, then who or whatever you’re looking for can wait until you know she’s not ratting you out.”

“Mate, she doesn’t even remember having the conversation, and speaking of, I did you a favor while I was out. You’re officially just some guy who looks like Maxwell to Sammy.”

“The fuck did you manage that?” Will asked.

“Dark Magic. I also learned where Slick is, and I’m going to go have a chat with Savage when I finish with him.”

“...Max, are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“No, I’m here to make sure that you don’t get killed. You coming to Wiltshire and me being here within the same week isn’t a coincidence, Will. This is why I’m here.”

He shook his head. “I can’t let you get involved with my business. I knew the risks of coming back-”

“No you don’t. You’re putting Bea’s life and safety in danger by being here, and you know that, but something’s telling you that you need to be here, right?” He just looked at me. “If Slick finds out you’re in Wiltshire, he’s going to come for you, and not just you. If he’s going down Savage’s path, then he’s going to get Bea for being with you, and even if he doesn’t, she’s still going to be torn apart that you got offed. I’ll go to church with you in the morning, but let me help you out, mate. Things don’t have to unfold the way it’s looking like they will.”

“Max, you’ve always been too fucking paranoid for your own good-”

“And it saved our arsed how many times?” I challenged.

“...Alright. Alright, I see where you’re going with this. Just don’t… I dunno, don’t get yourself into something you can’t get out of, okay?”

“I’m too hardcore for that shit these days. I’m built too tough for these fuckboys to get one over on me.” I smirked at him.

He just shook his head. “You know your limits better than I do. If you kill Slick, you know his brother’s going to come down on you, right?”

I shrugged. “I’ve killed a king for the good of a nation before. Killing a few mobsters for the good of my brother is a little less noble, but I’ll live with it if it comes to that.”

Will just shook his head and went back to bed, so I laid down and went to visit Noir again. She was glad that I’d found out why I’d been sent back to Earth, and she was glad that I wasn’t planning on killing Slick. However, she didn’t want me to allow Savage to live because he was just too damn brutal to be left alone. I couldn’t blame her for thinking like that, so I told her that I would take care of business as it needed to be. She maintained that I needed to slay him, one way or another and I told her that I really just didn’t want to kill the guy since he’d done me a favor once and had only asked me to steal a ring from one of his competitors in return.

Noir didn’t like that I was willing to be ‘loyal’ to someone I knew had done terrible things like peddle life destroying drugs, employ rapists, and kill people for not being able to pay him. I still didn’t want to kill someone who’d showed me mercy and Noir respected that, but she still wanted me to end his life. I told her that I would turn him crazy and send him off to a psych ward or something and she said that I was being too merciful. I blamed her for telling me to dial it down when it came to the violence and she conceded to my point, but REALLY wanted me to hurt Savage like no other.

Once I was done with Noir, I filled my journal out to this point and am now taking my arse to sleep. Being able to write in my journal so often is a bit strange, but then again, seeing Noir multiple times in one day was a little weird in itself. Still, I hope that you see that I can be more than the bastard I usually am, Twilight. I really hope that you do.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Church was lame. I didn’t know any of the hymns, I actually knew God personally, and he wasn’t exactly Mr. Benevolent in any case. Sure, He’d given me some dope ass powers and whatnot, but he was still fucking with me in the weirdest of ways, so I didn’t really feel like praising him at the moment. I did get to meet Bea’s parents, however, and the first thing they commented on was how thin I was. I told them it was because I’d spent some time as a vegetarian and the lack of fats and sweets in my diet had thinned me out more than I already was. They also mentioned that my dichromatic eyes were unsettling, but I just shrugged and told them that there was nothing I could do about them, barring getting colored contacts that I really didn’t want. They were shocked to find that these were my real, ‘unaltered’ eyes and I told them that it was a disease that would spread over time and take over my other eye if I didn’t keep my medication on a regular schedule. I don’t take medication, but you know what words I say sometimes. Lies are easier than telling people that I’ve died multiple times.

After church, we ate brunch with Bea’s parents and that was nice. They were a little weirded out that I could easily eat as much as Will with no problem, but I explained that away with me just being an active kinda guy. They asked how old I was and they were shocked to find that I was out of my teenage years since I guess I felt rather young. It was a little odd that people actually had to ask how old I was again, and since it had come up in conversation, I wondered how old Will was now. He’d been three years older than me when we met, so he was probably twenty-four, but I didn’t want to ask to confirm, just in case that came off as weird.

After going back to Will and Bea’s once we were done with brunch, I told them that I was going to head to Shepard’s Ford later in the day, but Bea convinced me to wait until the week to start my mission. I told them that every day I spent in England was weeks in Equestria, but Will just wanted to spend some more time with me, even if it meant that I wasn’t out there protecting him like I wanted to be. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to spend time with them, so I gave in easily and spent the day regaling them with more tales of my adventures in Equestria. I skipped over the days where I did little more than have sex and cuddle. The day where I introduced weed to Ponyville had to be included, so I gave them the full events of the time I got Twilight incredibly high and started tickling the girls, but that made Bea ask me if I had any male friends.

I told her that, in my particular neck of the woods, the gender ration was so skewed that I couldn’t really have all that many, even if I wanted them. I kept the few I had near and dear, but there just weren’t that many men in town. Will asked how many male friends I had and I was pretty sure that I only had like, five, and that one of them had died. Beyond Macintosh, Spike, Fancy, Onyx and Crimson, there just weren’t that many dudes around for me to chill with. When Bea asked me to list off my female friends, I had to include a lot of ladies in that, and when I passed ten, she told me to stop and asked if the gender ratio really was that far off. I told her that it was indeed and she chuckled, stating that it sounded like a lesbian’s paradise. Unfortunately, it’s not like all Ponies are as attractive as the ones I keep around, and I told her as much, stating that some of the ponies were just butt ugly. Like humans, you had a few gems and a lot of average looking people: I just happened to attract attractive women.

They both called me a fucking liar. My feelings were a little hurt, but I realized that the ‘mares’ I kept around me truly were all above average in their looks. It wasn’t something I’d ever paid attention to, but now that I actually thought about it, I recognized that even Pinkie and Rainbow, the friends I found least attractive, were still pretty good looking all things considered. They weren’t my type in personality or in figure, but they were still cute in their own ways. Now that I thought about it, I was lucky as hell to have so many beautiful women on my dick, and that made me grin like a fool. Will asked what the fuck I was looking so goofy about and I told him that I’d only now realized that I practically kept a harem of sexy women that I could go and see whenever I felt like it. Bea hit me for saying that, but it was worth it.

I told them about the time when I had gotten lost in the Everfree and had to explain what half of the creatures I’d come across were since neither of them were mythology buffs like I was. They were surprised to find that I hadn't already known how to use my powers when I got them, instead having to train and work with them until they got better. It made sense to me since getting new powers in and of itself was a bit ludicrous and that having automatic knowledge and full use of them would have been ridiculous anyways.

When we got to the part about me assassinating Adolf, they were fucking floored when I told them that I’d actually been caught with blood on my hands and had been allowed to live due to some quick thinking and false patriotism, which reminded me that I needed to get back and nail Elfriede sometime. I had to explain that Elfriede was Adolf’s wife and that she had been the one to catch me, shocking them further that I would sleep with a woman that I had widowed with my own hand. I shrugged it off and told them it was just taboo and kinky as fuck. They just had to ask what Gryphon dicks looked like, but I didn’t have and answer for them since I’d never actually seen one, though Elfriede had told me that they were supposed to be smaller than a Pony’s. I didn’t know what a real Pony dick looked like either, though I did talk about my ‘Toy Closet’ for a few minutes, telling them about all the weird things I’d picked up.

Bea made me shut up about that quickly enough, though Will was laughing his fucking arse off the entire time, especially when I mentioned that I’d been press-ganged into using a wireless vibrator on a loli. He thought that was hilarious, and doubled over when I gagged because of the memories. It was a little silly, but I thought that it was well warranted since I’d actually been a bit sickened by what I’d done. After the little aside, the next thing I told them about was the source of my Dark Magic, namely Noir. I explained that she’d been the one to teach me how to use it in the first place and that she was bonded to my soul since she didn’t actually have a physical form. They were shocked to find that, when I meditated, she was the one I was going to go find. That started a discussion about what all I could do in my mindscape and I told them about as much as I possibly could, like the fact that I’d accidentally recreated Wiltshire by thinking of a few places, and that I could play videogames while in my head. Max asked if I had to have beaten the game to do much with it and I told him that I could do a few new things with them as long as I didn’t go overboard. Dark Souls and Borderlands 2 were the things I spent most of my time playing since Noir and I liked them and we could each play in turn. They asked if I’d slept with Noir yet and I told them that I’d only done so once and that it had been recently, despite the amount of time we’d spent together. Bea just gave me a look, but Will was more surprised that I’d let her be the one to initiate it instead of asking for myself.

We stopped and got more food around seven or so, but since we were banned from the buffet (at least I was) we had to find another place to eat. I ordered a family meal at KFC because I could, though Will and Bea just got normal one person meals because they don’t like pretending to be Galactus and imagining that each piece of fried chicken is another planet to inhale. I don't actually do that. I’m not that weird. Or am I? Bitch, I might be. Don’t fucking judge me.

Marvelous things aside, the chicken was good, the sides were tasty, and the gravy was as good as it always is, so that was nice. I was actually a little full by the time I moved onto the mashed potatoes, which surprised me quite a bit until I realized that the scones were actually quite filling. I’d never though to include a fuck ton of bread into my diet as filler, so I made a mental note to do that from now on. Bea asked why I’d lied to her parents about my diet and I told her that I hadn't lied at all: I really did live on fruits and vegetables for the most part while I was in Equestria, though I did supplement my diet with some of the meat Nashoba brought me. They asked who Nashoba was since I’d been calling her Lupa the entire time I’d been talking and I explained that they were one in the same. They were confused as to why I called the same person by two different names until I told them that Lupa had ascended into Nashoba as a part of some ancient lineage thing, which was cool as fuck.

Once I explained that, I delved into the time I got turned into a woman, when I met Noir, and the Royal Wedding. I’d already explained what being a woman felt like to me and that I’d pretty much been fulfilling stereotypes on my own. They were interested in Noir, so I described her to them and they were surprised to find that she was one of the few Ponies that was actually taller than me by a decent margin. I stated that her horn didn’t help, but then I remembered that her horn was broken in half and didn’t add much more height than your average Unicorn’s proportionally. The Royal Wedding got a few laughs from Will once I told him that I’d called out a faker as soon as I saw her, though Bea didn’t understand how I’d known, even after I’d explained it to her. Beatrix stated that women might be the nicest you’d ever meet until you start messing with their wedding, but I maintained that Cadance wasn’t that kind of woman and that meeting her before had shown me little more than the kindness in her heart. In short, Cadance just didn’t have much of a mean bone in her body.

By the time I’d finished up with telling my tales, it was too late for me to find any sort of transportation to Shepard’s Ford, which I imagined was about half the point of having me talk so much. Again, I hate wasting so much time, but I did enjoy talking to my brother and his woman, as little as I really wanted to before I started. Bea had mixed in a few of her own stories while I’d been taking breaks to breathe and eat, though most of them were about legal business or silly clients thinking they had a case when they didn’t. She didn’t go into the terribly legally ambiguous ones because she knew whose side I’d be on, but she did keep things easy to understand.

Will didn’t have much to say about much of anything, so once I was finished up with my storytelling, I was allowed to rest as I pleased. The shower I’d used earlier beckoned me once more, but I’d only brought so many changes of clothes, though I was more focused on getting back home before I started wearing things for the second or third time over. I didn’t like the fact that I was dependant on Will and Bea’s hospitality for the time being, but I was willing to deal with it for awhile longer. Although I’m tempted to just Shadow Dive my way over to Shepard’s Ford, I know Will would be upset if I ignored his direct request that I stay put until Monday comes, so here I stay for the time being. It’s frustrating to be restrained over and over again, but I see the wisdom in his words, I guess. Hopefully the threat to his life isn’t that severe.

I’m going to visit with Noir before I head to bed. Here’s hoping she’ll give me some good advice before I do something stupid.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Noir ended up giving me good advice in the form of telling me the cool my heels and do a whole lot of nothing essentially until Will and Bea went to work. I told them each to have a good morning, got showered and changed, shaved with the Warbling Blade, and headed toward the bus station so I could buy a ticket to Shepard’s Ford. There weren’t many people heading in my direction, though there were still plenty of people on the bus when we departed. It had only been about an hours wait, and with the phone Will had urged me to buy while we were out getting chicken, I had something to keep my mind busy while I was doing fuck all.

The ride only took about forty-five minutes or so, but it felt like it was a lot longer. I’d only downloaded a few of the older games from the app store onto my phone since they were the ones I actually knew how to play, but there was this one that had me hooked. It wasn’t new by any means, but the 2048 puzzle kept my mind and hands occupied long enough for me to get to my destination without any hair tearing or punch throwing. I wasn’t exactly in that kind of mood anyway, however, you just never know sometimes. I might pull a throwing knife out of my boot and chuck it at a wall if I feel particularly dumb one day.

As it was, since I rarely enough did business in Shepard’s Ford while I living on Earth, I didn’t bother wearing Will’s oversized jumper. Instead, I just wore my charcoal grey coat over my navy shirt and went about my business that way. On my way to Poplar Street, I got lost and had to ask for directions, but most people I stopped told me that if I was looking for a good time, I should just go to a massage parlour or something. The problem was that I wasn’t looking for a good time, and when I said that, they usually fucked off pretty quickly. I tried a new tactic with the next person I asked, this time a man that seemed to be one of my people, but a bit older than most.

“Excuse me, bruv, can you tell me how to get to Poplar street from here?” I asked.

He gave me a funny look. “Kid, if you want a good time, just head over to Mary’s.”

“I’m looking for a real good time.” I said cryptically.

He raised a brow. “You’re not going to find it on Poplar. That’s where kids like you get disappeared.”

“I need to parlay with someone there. Parlay, not chat, mate.” I said slowly. IF you don’t get it by now, then there’s a difference between parlaying and chatting.

The stranger looked around and took me off to the side of the road, leaning against the wall of a random building. He pulled out a couple of fags and offered me one, so I accepted it, despite not being a smoker. I figured he was just making some impromptu cover, so we lit up and got ourselves comfortable.

“Who do you need to parlay with?” He asked softly.

“Slick himself. I know he doesn’t want to see me, but I need him to fulfill a marker.”

The guy let out a low whistle. “You gotta be sure about that one. Slick ain’t the type to let the rabble in to ask favours.”

“I ain’t the rabble. I used to pull jobs for him when he was still coming up, and now I need him to repay something.” It’s best not to say he owes me. That’s how rumors get spread.

“So what? You from Gollum or Wiltshire?”

“Wiltshire.” I said honestly, mixing in a bit of truth.

“Nothing big happened in Wiltshire since those old folk died.”

“I know, and I can’t say much on that. I just need to parlay with Slick.”

The older guy nodded and gave me some directions, tossing his cigarette the same time I did mine. I’d barely puffed on the poison while he was down to the filter already, so I kind of just wasted some good ol’ tobacco. I was quite proud. With that being said and done, I let the guy walk off first and started following the directions he’d given me, though I took the opposite turns he’d told me. It was an old trick that usually warded off the worst of the dumbasses who didn’t know about it in the underground, so when I got to Poplar Street, I started looking for a big, red, overly ostentatious building. I took my time meandering down the street and glared at people who stared at me, doing my best to ward off any trouble with my Dark Magic.

It worked well enough, because I was able to get to the front door of the only red brick building without being accosted. I turned the seal on my hand off so I would be pushed around or get hurt, just in case I needed it, and approached the fellows sitting on the stoop. They were drinking forty ounces that I’d only ever seen dumbasses drink, so I wasn’t that surprised when they stood and blocked my entrance. There were five of them, just relaxing and trying to look intimidating enough to get any passers by to avoid looking at the place.

“Oi! You, short, skinny and dim! Fuck off!” The meanest of the five said after chugging the rest of his booze. Dark Magic or show of strength?

I shrugged. “I don't want to. Tell Slick he’s got a Revenant knocking on his door.” Show of strength it is.

The stocky fucker came down the stairs and got in my face. “You want a fuckin’ problem, kid?”

I raised a brow. “I’m not trying to start anything. Slick said he’d repay a favour before he left Wilshire and I need him to do that. It’s nothing that’ll take more than five minutes.”

Fuckwad tried jamming a finger into my chest, but hurt himself on my sheer density. He decided to try again, so I gently grabbed his finger and broke it without even trying. When he cried out, I grabbed his wrist and added a bit of pressure, grinding the bones together.

“Stop! Stop!” He begged.

“Let me in to see Slick.” I asked kindly. To his boys who were pulling knives, I said, “You fellas might wanna stop before I break his wrist.” I leaned down and took the stocky fucker’s switchblade from him and tossed it over my shoulder when he slammed his left hand into my face. It tingled, but he cried out again.

“We can’t let you in! He’ll start cuttin’ shit off! Slick went savage when he left Wiltshire!” He hissed.

I let his hand go and backhanded him lazily, knocking him out cold. His boys didn’t like that at all, so one of them ran down the stairs and tried to stick me with his knife, but he seemed so much slower than a Pony that it wasn’t even a challenge to sidestep him. As he was passing me, I punched the side of his head and he fell on his buddy, so I turned my attention back to the fellows on the stairs and caught one that was leaping at me. I literally caught him, mind you, so I chucked him on the ground and heard something break. The last two fellows seemed hesitant, so they looked at each other and ran inside, leaving me to follow them through the doors.

The inside of the building was just an apartment complex, so I was wondering why they’d run inside when I saw junkies, crackheads, fiends, mobsters, and whatever the fuck else kind of lowlife you could imagine start coming out of the woodwork. The broken down walls exposed the fact that there were at least forty people in the building with me, and more were coming down the staircase on the far side of the hall. I didn’t want to fight my way through all of these motherfuckers, so I hatched a much simpler plan.

I channelled my magic into my throat and gave my orders. “All of you, return to where you were and go to sleep.”

The few I could see in front of me got the same glassy look to their eyes and fucked off to where they had been before. Within a minute or two, everyone who could hear me had gone away, and all I had to do was repeat my orders as I went along. I went up four fucking flights of stairs like that, though I nearly got stabbed by some skinny junkie who I assumed was deaf. I accidentally broke his face when I panicked, my sixth sense alerting me to the danger before he could get his knife into my ribs. I couldn’t control my strength, so I’m pretty sure he would be feeling that in the morning and for a few months afterwards if he lived through it. I’d felt his jaw break when I hit him, and I rather doubted that he would have the money to get it fixed, if the track marks on his arms were anything to go by.

I felt a little guilty about that, but not terribly so. The guy had just tried to shank me, after all, and he was one of Slick’s boys anyway, so he wasn’t exactly on my friends list. I kept things moving since stopping would probably be bad, though I had to wake someone up and ask them where Slick was. Dark Magic was so handy that they told me he only stopped by soon after noon once a day, and with the time I’d made, I had plenty to get up to the room he’d had redecorated and refurbished. His office thing was actually pretty nice if you were into Italian nationalism, though it was a little out of place since Slick himself had told me that he’d only ever lived in England. Still, I sat in his high-backed leather chair and turned around, playing more of the 2048 puzzle on his phone to pass the time. I kept the slaw who’d shown me how to get here around since she was useful and had her run to the store and grab me a few snacks since I was hungry. Of course I provided the money for my own snacks , but when I sent her off, I realized that I might have just doomed the entire building to sleeping without ever waking up, so I gave all of them a twenty-four hour time limit on my walkthrough and went back to Slick’s office.

I was watching some Youtube videos, looking for good pranks to pull when my little errand girl came back with my snacks. I was polite enough to throw all of my trash away once I’d finished with the food inside, but I didn’t tip the woman for the simple fact that I knew her money wouldn’t go to anything good. In fact, when that thought crossed my mind, I asked her what she’d use any money I gave her for and she told me that she would try and save it for a place of her own since she had a bank account, but would ultimately give it to her boyfriend. That boyfriend was fond of beating her, so I asked her if he was in the building, and when she told me that he was, I told her to lead me to him. She did as I asked and I woke him up from his slumber to tell him to love her as she deserved to be loved and to get off of the junk he was on so they could live a happy life.

A thought crossed my mind. I started on each floor, giving my address to every person I could find, telling them all that they were strong enough to get off of crack, heroin, or meth: that no substance would ever hold them against their will and that they would all do their best to find jobs and make their family proud, but not base their own happiness on that. I told the people that withdrawals were nothing and that they should live as friends to one another, and even if their differences got in the way sometimes, that they could still share a drink and get over it with a little time. My edicts were fair and just in my mind, and when I finished with them, I let everyone free of the sleep I’d imposed on them and started asking a few of them how they felt without the influence of Dark Magic. I got a lot of people saying that they felt good for the time being, but that they wanted another fix, so I gave another address and told them that they would never want for another fix, even if their bodies did. I told those of them who were addicted to go to the hospital and seek help, though I knew that this was just the beginning.

Something told me that I’d just knocked years off of my sentence in Hell. It felt so good.

I told each of the people in the building to make amends with each other and save the place as a spot for those who needed somewhere to stay. I also told them to keep it clean and to get rid of any tools that might be used for drugs or whatever narcotics they might have, so I had about eighty people hauling rubbish and various drugs outside, tossing the drugs into a trash can and the rest of the rubbish into the back alley so that it was at least out of the place. I gave three people fifty quid apiece to go and get some cleaning supplies and brooms to get the rest of the nastiness out of the place. There was still electricity in the building, so I had someone go and grab a vacuum cleaner so we could get started on the carpets. I retired to Slick’s office once I saw that my people were following my orders and waited for the man himself to show up, but when he did, he was being dragged in by some of the folk I’d directed around for a couple hours. His goons were tossed into the room soon after and they all seemed to have been roughed up pretty well, but I told my people to leave them alone once they were all inside. The goons groaned and tried to get to their feet, bruised and a little bloodied. I gave them the same orders I’d given to the rest of my people and told them to go to the hospital if they thought anything was broken. They were fine, other than being a bit battered, so I told them to protect the newly dubbed ‘Safe in Arms Flats’ while the people that were taking care of it still lived there. After telling them to find jobs if they could, I turned my attention to Slick who was finally waking up after having his arse handed to him.

He woke up groggily and rubbed his head. When he looked around in his own office, he muttered, “How the fuck did I get up here?”

I coughed to get his attention. “I had you brought up here.”

Slick scurried to his feet. “Who the fuck are you!?”

I looked at him coolly. “I was once called Kaid. My people call me the Reverend Revenant.”

He stared at me. “Klepto Kaid? You mean the fucking geckpo?”

“That’s who I was a while ago. I’ve moved up in the world. I’d offer you a seat, but I like your chair quite a bit.”

Slick looked around, wheeling about on his heels. “How the fuck did you get up here!?”

“I walked. Your people are my people now, Slick, and I want you to lead them when I’m gone.”

He stared at me. “You fucking what?”

I channeled my magic into my throat. “You will lead my people into a new dawn. With our new force, you will join forces with Salvatore, your brother, and your empire of gangsters will become an empire of peace keepers. You will mediate fairly, leave behind your old evil ways and become a compassionate man. You don’t have to repent for your sins, but you will have to admit that they existed, and in cover, you’ll use your government contacts to find those who would do harm. We will be known as the SIAC, the Safe in Arms Coalition, and together we will spread peace through England. All walks of life will be welcomed and will adhere to the strict code that I have set for our people. There will be no lying, cheating, or stealing. There will be no more peddling of drugs people do not need to ease pain or to live healthily, or hits to be taken out on those who do not harm others. If you know of any people who kill others, then you will kill them in turn, ending them, but you will be careful to never be caught. You will be the leader of this chapter, and once you leave with my mark, the people of our coalition will know my final words. Gather your your people, the ones who aren’t here, and tell them to meet us at Savage’s place in Gollum so we can spread our word.”

Slick stared at me blankly, so I asked, “Do you understand?”

“I understand. When do you want me to do all of this?”

“Get your men to Gollum first. From there, we have work to do.” I grinned and rapped my knuckles on his desk.

Slick nodded and came over, so I slid his chair across the floor so he could pull another one over and get started on doing what he needed to do. He gave me updates and asked if he should pull every man he had and I told him yes, so we got shit done pretty quickly. It was going to take three days to get all of his boys into Gollum, but it would be so worth it to do so. Once he was done and had warned his brother that he was having his people go to Gollum so they could combine their forces for an attack on another gang boss that wasn’t even as strong as Slick, I told him to add in that I was now his right hand man. Once he had that typed, I had him say that I’d done something pretty beneficial for him and had Slick, now known as Stefano, ask if he remembered me.

Salvatore said that he did remember me and asked how I was doing, so I told Stefano to talk to his brother as he usually would and to keep the facade that they were still doing dirty business. While he was doing that, I called Will.

“Wotcher, what’s up?” He asked when he picked up the phone.

“Wotcher mate. I cleared the hit on you.” I said brightly.

“...You fucking what.”

“I talked to Slick. He’s one of my followers now.” I answered, checking my nails.

“...Max, what are you talking about? What followers?”

“Well, I decided to take the good guy route and used some M. A.G. I. C. to sway the people to my favor. They’re going to be living wholesome lives helping each other and others now.”

“...You stole free will from how many people?”

“Just shy of a hundred. When I got to talk to Savage’s people, that number’s going to increase tenfold.” I grinned to myself.

“Mate, you’re using magic to steal people’s choices from them? What the fuck kind of monster does that!?”

“The kind of monster that’s going to make this world a better place. Yesu had his ways, I have mine.”

“You can't be serious.” Will whispered.

“Dead serious, mate. I just got a hundred junkies off of drugs and told them to look out for each other. How could that possibly be wrong?”

“You know damn well how evil that is-”

“I guess that means I’m the benevolent Anti-Christ then. Seriously, are you telling me that a coalition of people that want nothing more than to help each other is- Hold on. I just figured out how to spread the word.”

“Kaid, I swear to God-”

“Sorry, bruv, I’ve gotta go make the world a better place. Take it easy and tell Bea I said hi when you get home.”

I hung up and went back to talk to Stefano. “Hey mate, can you get me into a video recording studio? Youtube or professional, either one.”

“Sure thing, Rev.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Four days later, the video I’d posted online had already gotten over three million views and was steadily climbing every time I looked at the view counter. At the end of the video, I added that people should share the word, but not force someone to watch it if they didn't show any interest in viewing it since that would piss me off. Basically, the video told people not to kill, steal, or do drugs unless their lives were in danger, to help each other if they could, and to generally try to be the best person they could be. It was masked as an inspirational video, but the name Reverend Revenant was already picking up steam on the internet if Google Trends was anything to go by. Millions of people knew me by my fake name already, and I was willing to bet that even more would be following soon after.

I knew that what I was doing was pretty fucking evil depending on how you look at it. On one hand, I was forcing people into no longer doing evil shit themselves, but I didn’t care about what people wanted. I knew that they would be happier if I did things my way, and if I could get more people to be good and just instead of wicked and vengeful, then I would. On the first day after the video, I was tempted to make another, but it seemed like I just didn’t need to. I felt that telling people not to retaliate would never end well and that my words would probably be found to be magical at some point, but my main concern was that Will refused to answer my calls anymore. He’d texted me, saying that one of his co-workers had asked him if they could show him the video. The warning I’d told people to give still held firm and Will told me that the guy seemed to be pretty normal all things told, but that the fellow was usually the first or second person to offer to help people now but that he wasn’t a doormat anymore. I’d changed him for the better, but Will hated that I’d interfered with someone’s mind in a way that made them change. I didn’t turn the guy into a different person, but I’d still changed him all the same.

I texted back that I was sorry and told him to warn Bea against watching the video if he felt the need to, but I still maintained that I was doing the right thing in one of the worst ways. It made me a little sick to know that in trying to better the world, I’d alienated my one and only brother (besides Spike), but I felt like I was doing good for the sake of making the world a better place. The account I made on Youtube got even more hits as I was on my way to Gollum with Stefano. I watched the numbers tick over three million and sighed until one of my account managers told me that PewDiePie, Alan Carr, and Ellen Degeneres all retweeted my video, though they still kept the disclaimer I’d asked them to put on it. Hell, they put like, five apiece on their posts and my Twitter and Facebook fucking exploded within minutes. The views were climbing and kept getting higher and higher.

During the hour and a half drive to Gollum, Stefano told me that he’d shared the video with his brother, but that he’d declined to watch it since it sounded like inspirational shit that he didn’t need to hear. I shrugged it off and told him that I wasn’t exactly offended, so he shouldn’t be upset about not being able to spread the words of the SIAC to those who didn’t want to hear them. He was still a little upset when we got to Gollum, but I eased his worries by telling him that I was about to persuade his brother and all of the evil doers he’d once employed in person. That made Stefano perk up.

I stuck next to Stefano and his guards, Jacob and Caleb. They were twins, which isn’t important, but I felt like mentioning it because I found it rather interesting. We walked to the warehouse that held hundreds of dudes, though I was checking my phone most of the time. Alan Carr and Ellen had both sent me invitations to be on their shows, so I was tempted to go and do exactly that. I kept talking to Ellen’s director on my way to see Salvatore until some fucker snatched my phone from my hand and looked at it.

“The fuck are you doing, wandering about on your fucking phone!?” He snarled.

I calmly placed my hand on his shoulder. “Please give that back. I’m talking to someone at the moment.”

He looked at it. “Who the fuck is Ellen Degeneres?”

“An American lesbian with a show on T.V. Phone please?”

Stefano stepped in. “Oi! You one of my boys or one of Savage’s?”

“Savage’s. The fuck are you?” The grunt grunted.

“I’m his brother and this is my boss.” Stefano snapped back.

The guy handed my phone back to me. “No problems here, bruv. I didn’t mean nothin’ just givin’ ya a hard time for shits and giggles, you know?” He tried sheepishly.

Stefano still looked pissed, so I held the back of my hand against his chest. “Don’t take it so hard, Stefano. He sees his mistake.”

He snorted. “You never said I couldn’t pummel someone.”

“Yeah, but I did tell you that starting shit is pointless. Chill and be chilled, it’s not worth the trouble.”

“Whatever you say, Rev.”

I nodded and kept doing what I’d been doing. I asked if she’d mind coming to England to do something and she said that she’d be willing to conduct an interview in a fucking motel room if I asked her to. She felt like a better person just after watching my video and she wanted other people to hear my words. I considered consulting Noir before using more Dark Magic, but I hadn't seen her since I’d started my crusade. I just didn’t want her to call me evil, honestly. It hurt when Max had called me evil and I didn’t know if I could handle the person who knew me best in either of my worlds naming me as such too. I thought about that as we went to Salvatore’s office, and when we got there, Stefano knocked and waited for someone to open the door before we entered. Jacob and Caleb waited outside and we were greeted by Salvatore himself when we came inside.

“Fratello, Kaid-” Salvatore started.

“I hate to interrupt, Salvatore, but Kaid goes by Rev these days.” Stefano told him.

Salvatore glared at him. “Since when do you have the palle to interrupt me?”

Stefano coughed a couple of times, so I took over, filling my mouth with magic. “Be calmed, friend. Your brother means no offense.”

Salvatore shook his head to clear it before nodding. “Yeah, I hear you. Have a seat, Stefano. Rev, you’re not important enough to be seated.

Stefano bristled and looked at me, but I just shook my head, gesturing for him to sit. I stood next to him and addressed the room. “Everyone except Stefano listen close.” Salvatore looked pissed, so I kept talking. “Be calm and listen. Renounce your lives of crime. Speak to any member of the Safe in Arms Coalition and receive your orders, but in the meantime, don’t do anything you know to be wrong. No drugs, no harming other people in any form other than in retaliation, no killing which should already be covered, and just try to be more pleasant to other people.”

There were no questions, so I turned my magic off and asked, “Is there an intercom system here?”

Salvatore nodded. “Yeah, I had one installed. Are you trying to use it?”

“If it’s no issue.” I said courteously.

He nodded again and gestured for me to come over. I saw the little walkie-talkie looking thing and picked it up, pressing the button, channelling my magic all over again. “To those of you listening: Go to the Safe in Arms Coalition website and read the edict. Live by that edict.” I said simply.

I left Stefano and Salvatore in the office to go and look out over the hundreds of men who’d just heard me. I saw all of their faces illuminated by their phone’s screens, and if they weren’t looking at their own phones, they were sharing with someone else and that made me happy. I returned to the office to find Salvatore and his guards doing the same thing, so I waited around until the man formerly known as Savage finished up with his reading.

“So? What do you think?” I asked with a brilliant smile.

“I… It makes sense. This is how I should have been living all along.” He said softly.

“Exactly. I want you to buy some servers to keep that site up and running for as long as you can. If you have any boys out in the field, I want you to show them the video Stefano sent to you, but I want you to force them to watch it.”

Stefano laid a hand on my arm. “Isn’t that against what you told me to do, Reverend?”

“Call me Revenant, and yes, it is. People like Salvatore’s need to be shown the proper way to live, one way or another. I hate to say it, but your brother was pretty evil before this, so I just need you to swallow your disgust-”

“Rev, I could never be disgusted with you.” Stefano said softly.

I nodded. “It’s your right to be, Stefano. As I was saying, however, I need people like your brother to see the video. It’s for the best.”

“I believe you wholeheartedly, Rev. You wouldn’t steer us wrong.”

“Thank you, Stefano.” I turned to Salvatore. “You understand what I want you to do?”

He nodded. “Yes signore. I’ll spread the word as much as I can.”

“Fucking lovely.” I smiled. “I want you in particular to start using your fortune to fund orphanages and mental health hospitals. Leave yourself enough to live comfortably with what you have left over, and if your wife or kids ask why you’re downsizing, tell them to watch my video. If they don’t get it after that, explain that I, personally, asked you to change your ways.”

Salvatore gave me a toothy grin. “My wife has been asking me to leave this life, this stile de vita behind for years. She’ll be happy to hear that your words have reached me.”

I focused some magic into my hand and patted his shoulder. “That’s all I can ask of you, friend. Thank you for showing me mercy all those years ago.”

He shook his head. “I knew you would become great, I just didn’t know in which way. I’m glad I didn’t cut your hand off, by the way.”

“Just think: I went from stealing your lunch meat to giving you orders.”

We had a chuckle about that and I asked Stefano if he wanted to have a word with his brother in private. He did, so I decided to come and talk to my new followers and see what they had to say about my message. When I got down the stairs from the office overlooking the mass of people, I started by talking to the fellows closest to me and asked if they thought my message was a good one. The general consensus was as I expected: It was a good way to live one’s life, but not good as in ‘adequate’. It was an altruistic methodology that was really how most people would have imagined a good person to live, and now that they saw ‘my light’, or ‘my way’, they were prepared to give their hearts into the matter. A few people tried to pledge their loyalty to me, but I told them that all I’d ever wanted was for them to be happy and to share happiness with others, and that’s truly all I wanted out of this whole thing. I wasn’t trying to build a cult or anything, and though I call them my followers, I say that because it’s the best way to describe them. I wasn’t sure if they could break my spell or even how long it would last, but if I could get evil doers to take the path I was trying to lay for myself, then I’d be content with a temporary peace.

I had to wait for Stefano to finish up with his brother, and when he came down from the office with Jacob and Caleb, he told me that they were just figuring out how to set up their employees with my message and how to get the Safe in Arms Coalition off the ground. Salvatore was planning on using some of his government connections to get it going and Stefano was going to find worthy administrators among my followers in England to help keep it running for years to come. I asked if he had any contacts in Italy that could help along with expansion and he told me that there were a few, but that he wanted me to come with him to China to meet with some Triads that he’d been talking to while in the guise of trying to help them gain a foothold in England. I told him that we had to clear our homeland of evil before we started going anywhere else and he asked me to make another video, one specifically for the crime bosses and corrupt government officials. I told him that I would happily get it put together with some help.

I asked Stefano if we could stop by Wiltshire if we had the time and he told me that my schedule was the schedule. Where I wanted to go, that’s where we were headed, so I told him that I wanted to swing by my brother’s place and he just gave me the nod. It was going to be a little late by the time we got there, but Stefano assured me that he would get us there as quickly as possible. I told him not to break any laws while doing it, so he only went so far over the speed limit, though he did take some less congested back roads that Google Maps told us would be a bit faster than sitting through traffic on the main roads.

We got to Wiltshire at ten twenty-two, and I was pretty sure that Will and Bea would be heading to bed at any moment, so I hurried up to their flat and left Stefano and the twins to watch the car. When I knocked on their door, I made sure I was in view of the peephole and the security camera Will had installed, waving at it when I heard his heartbeat behind the door.

“I know you’re there. I’m not here to magic you, I just want to talk.” I said truthfully.

Beatrix opened the door and looked at me sadly. “Max…”

My shoulders slumped at her tone. “I know, love.”

She stepped out and closed the door behind her. “Will isn’t exactly your best friend right now, and I can’t say I agree with you either. Three of my coworkers tried to show me that video you made.”

“They didn’t press you to watch it, did they?”

Bea shook her head. “No, but they offered to link it to me if I was ever interested.” She shook her head again, looking at me with glistening eyes. “Max, how could you?”

“Bea, this is me trying to pay for my mistakes. I can’t take back what I’ve done, but if I can prevent other people from being as…” I searched for a word. “Careless… Heartless. If I can stop people from being like me and better myself at the same time, then why shouldn’t I? Yesu did the same thing with the powers he was given, but he didn’t have my powers. Beatrix, I can feel my years in Hell melting away! I came here to protect my brother, but now I can help make the entire world a better place! People are still going to fuck up and have accidents. They’re still going to hurt each other, but I’ve wiped rape, murder, and theft off the board! The greatest sins of humanity are being taken out because I’m willing to bear this massive one on my shoulders!”

She bit her lips and spoke shakily. “Who died and made this decision yours, Kaid? Who told you that you could make this call, steal free will from people? Humans are evil and heartless and careless and flawed, but that’s what makes them humans! It’s overcoming the evil inside that makes us good people, not being forced into doing it! Do you really think that by committing one of the absolute worst crimes against Humanity itself you’re going to make the world a better place?”

“God made this decision mine, Beatrix. When He sent me to Equus and let nature take its course, He decided that I had to come back. He orchestrated this as its basest level and me doing what I’m doing is going to make the world a better world, for you and Will. For you and your kids down the road. For people all over the fucking world, Bea. When I’m done, you can sleep with your door unlocked and never worry about someone sneaking into your house and putting a knife in your back, or having some pumped up prick in Parliament ruin the country for his own personal gain. What you need to understand is that I’m not doing this because I have some bullshit savior complex; I’m doing this because I’ve seen a better way to live, and I want that for everyone.”

Beatrix shed her tears and covered her mouth. When she collected herself, she said, “I wish you weren’t what you are.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that, so I just nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry for wasting so much of your time.”

As I turned to leave, she grabbed my arm and spun me around, giving me one good smack across the gob. “Will would have punched you.”

I rubbed my face. “In fairness, I would have done the same thing before my first kill.”

She scrunched her face up and turned away from me. “I... I’ll tell him you wished him well.”

“Thank you…” I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I left.

When I came outside, Stefano opened the car door for me, so I thanked him and stepped inside, leaning my head against the window when he closed the door before I could. I didn’t like how things had turned out, and if I wasn’t so emotionally numbed at the moment, I probably would have cried from seeing so much pain in Beatrix’s eyes. She wanted to agree with me, but she still believed in what the Bible had told her, that man was born with free will to do as he pleased, and I just wasn’t sold on that being a fact. The God I knew was enough of a bastard to just enjoy watching people run into each other and scream and curse over the littlest things, but at the same time, he just put off an aura of such true peace that I didn’t know what to really make of him.

I knew damn well that it shouldn’t have been my decision to make, but… I don’t know… I really don’t. I do know that the world will be a better place when I’m done with what I have to do, and as I sit in Stefano’s actual house writing this, I can’t help but feel like the biggest piece of shit on the planet, even over serial rapists and murderers. Granted, I’ve only been taking absolute evil off of the table for people, but still, I’ve been stealing the choice to perform such heinous acts from people, violating them from the very deepest core. Yes, life will be nicer when I’m done, but would it really be worth taking some free will out of the equation? I rationalize it to myself as only making people do as they would have others do unto them as multiple religions tell people to do, and Hell, I was probably saving a lot of people time in Hell by doing them this one massive favor, but at the same time, you could call it the greatest evil man has ever committed. It’s not like I’m telling people not to quarrel over stupid things, or to not have their own personalities, but I know that I’m… Well, fuck. I’m doing exactly what Celestia was trying to do, just in a more direct way. I called her fucking evil to her face, and I’m not saying that I’m not evil. I acknowledge it, at the very least.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After writing that down and with it in mind, I had to wake Stefano up, take him from his bed so we wouldn’t wake his wife, and ask him what he felt when I told him that he had to change his ways. He said that it was like someone had finally talked some sense into him, like he’d woken up from a hazy dream and realized that he was wrong. When I tried to dive a bit deeper, he just couldn’t explain to me what it was exactly that he had felt and was feeling. He still had the odd impulse to whack someone for saying something stupid, but now he just told them that it wasn’t the correct or smartest thing to say and then they would argue, but never come to blows. It was an odd occurrence, but he said that he felt better knowing that he could speak his mind and only walk away from an argument upset instead of bleeding. With that being said, I let him go and went back to the guest room he was loaning me. Even though he’d offered to put me up in the nicest hotel in town, I knew that letting people treat me as more than a normal person would corrupt me in ways that I just couldn’t allow myself to be, although I’m sure that my soul is just as dark, if not darker, than Celestia’s by now.

I stepped into the rather nice room and assumed the usual position on the bed, nearly losing my nerve as I struggled to get my breathing right. Honestly? I was terrified, but I knew that I’d already gone too long without seeing Noir and that prolonging the suffering wouldn’t get anything done besides making her lonely. Still, if she could turn an hour into a minute, then I’d only been gone for fuck math and all that, but still. I’d told her that I would be a better friend and I’ve been shirking the fuck out of my duties as that friend. I took three shaky breaths and found myself exactly where I’d been before. I tried again, but waited until my breathing evened out a bit to open my eyes, but when I did, I found myself in Celestia’s room in Canterlot.

Noir was nowhere to be seen, and when I tried teleporting to her side, I found that my access was blocked. I wandered around the room and tried every door, but everything was locked, so I kept moving about until I realized that something just wasn’t right. I patted my chest and felt some tiddies, so I looked down and saw that they were white and furry.

Fucking what?

I raced over to Celestia’s vanity mirror thing and gaped as I saw that I was Celestia, true to form. I was stark naked, but I didn't feel like playing with myself, so I tried turning myself back into the person I knew myself to be. I couldn’t manage it with my eyes open, so I closed them and tried again, freaking out a little when I realized that I wasn’t changing back. I tried leaving the mindscape by closing my eyes and focusing, but when I opened them, I was still fucking Celestia. With nothing else I could do, I tried magicking some clothes onto myself so I could at least not be naked and found that I’d automatically gone to Celestia’s usual outfit. I started shaking when I tried to change and ended up in the dominatrix gear, so I went back to her normal clothes and tried going into her wardrobes to find something a bit more my speed. Her closet things were empty, but one held a few outfits that I couldn’t touch for some odd reason.

“Noir! I get the point, okay!?” I cried out. I cringed when I heard my voice: It didn’t sound quite like Celestia’s, so I imagined that this was how she heard herself.

There was a knock at the door and I fucking sprinted over to it, hoping that Noir would be there to tell me that she was done fucking with me, but I fell because fuck hooves. When I finally got the door open, I was staring at a rank and file Night Guard.

“Your Highness? I heard shouting. Are you okay?” He asked respectfully.

“No, I’m not. Noir, really, I get the point.”

The fellow gave me an odd look. “My name isn’t Noir, Your Highness.”

“...Fetch Luna for me, will you?” I asked, playing her Goddamn game.

He nodded sharply. “Yes, Your Highness. Right away.”

I watched as he cantered off and spotted the other guards sneaking peeks at me until I caught them looking at me. When their heads snapped back into the forward facing positions, I started shaking, fearing that I might have actually become Celestia. That wasn’t the person I wanted to be, and it wasn’t because she was evil. No, if I had to take over Celestia’s job, Equestria would fall in fucking weeks, and Noir knew that I couldn’t handle that kind of stress, which was why I’d freaked out so badly over being named a prince.

The guard wasn’t hurrying fast enough, so I closed my eyes and tried focusing on Luna instead of Noir, but when I opened them, I was looking the Lunar Diarch in the eyes in Night Court. She was just exiting and I was now in her way.

“Alright, I’m freaking the fuck out. Noir, can we please stop this? I honestly get the point-”

“Sister,” Luna interrupted. “I am not Noir, nor will I ever be.”

“And I’m not fucking Celestia! I’m Max!”

She gave me a worried look. “You’re having another episode, Celly. Trust me when I say that you will be fine after you go back to bed-”

I gripped handfuls of my hair. “I get it already! I’m evil like Celestia, okay? I’m committing sins like she does, but at least I see that! This isn’t even your world, so why do you even care!?”

Luna gave me a sad look before pulling me in for a hug. “All will be okay. I know you’ve been taking the loss of Maximus harder than anyone, even Twilight. I’m listening, sister. Speak and I will hear you, but you need to rest. It’s the middle of the night and you don’t need to be wearing yourself out this early in the morning-”

I shoved her away from me. “Fuck you! Fuck you, Noir! You think punishing me is going to get you fucking anywhere, then you can fucking rot for all I care!” I turned and stormed out of the Court Hall.

Luna came after me. “Sister! Please, return to your chambers and rest! It does not bode well for our subjects to see you unhinged.” She begged.

I stopped and turned on my hooves, making myself fall over since I was too used to having toes. “Fuck this shitty Pony body! Fuck you for forcing me into Celestia, and fuck this noise!” I closed my eyes, tears of frustration and panic falling, despite me trying to blink them away.

I heard a soft pop and opened my eyes, looking around. Luna had teleported us back into Celestia’s room. “Celly, go to sleep. I promise that you will be fine when you wake up, okay?” Luna’s eyes filled with tears of her own, but she was just a construct: Her feelings didn’t matter to me.

I didn’t have anything to say to that, so I just got off the ground and sat on the bed, trying not to have a full blown fucking panic attack. Luna came and sat beside me, rubbing my back and whispering that everything would be okay in the morning, just like it always was when I had an episode like this. I hoped to high heaven that I would actually be able to go to sleep, to wake up from this disturbing dream Noir was putting me through. I really did understand why she was forcing me into being Celestia, truly I did, but I felt as though it was so severely unnecessary. Luna urged me to lay down and get some rest, so I complied, hoping that playing along would get me out of my head sooner rather than later.

I closed my eyes for a little while, but my thoughts kept racing, preventing me from getting much, if any sleep at all. I knew that Noir had more control over my mind and that she would keep fucking with me until she thought I’d learned my lesson, so when I ‘woke up’ and saw the Sun on the horizon, I sighed and got out of bed, making my clothes presentable with magic since I had it apparently. To check and see if I really was crazy, I tried forming my seal, but when it appeared above my palm, my fucking blood ran cold. Instead of my Star of David, it was Celestia’s Sun. I was immediately sick all over the floor and cleaned it up with magic when I heard someone knock on the door.

I went over and opened it, hoping that it was Noir come to tell me that she was done screwing with my head. Instead, it was a smiling Luna. “Good morning sister.”

I sighed hard. “Fuck.”

Her face fell. “...You’re not better.”

I gave her a look. “Evidently not. Fucking Christ.” I ran a hand through my hair, but jolted when I felt my ears.

Luna came in and shut the door behind her. “Celestia, I can take over Day Court while you recover. You look like you didn’t take my advice at all. Perhaps I could cast a sleeping spell on you-”

“Yes! Please!” I cried.

She shook her head and gestured toward the bed, so I quickly walked over, didn’t bother with the covers, and watched her as she joined me at my side. “I suppose any words I have for you can wait until you’re well again. Sweet dreams, sister.”

“Good day, Luna.” I closed my eyes and felt her press a finger to my forehead, but when I opened my eyes a few seconds later, I knew for a fact that I hadn't slept a wink.

I was starting to feel mentally exhausted, so I tried browsing Celestia’s shelves of books, but they were all scribblings and nonsense to me. Every book was written in the same spidery scrawl that I couldn’t figure out, no matter how hard I tried, so I opened a window and jumped, trying to see if death would allow me to leave my mind like it had in the past, but against my will, my wings spread and I realized that I hadn't even paid that much attention to having them in the first place. It was still midday outside, so I scared the shit out of some guards with my sudden descent.

I didn’t bother apologizing for scaring people, instead preferring to head toward the armory so I could try the more direct routes. The Quartermaster guy knelt when I walked in, but I didn’t pay him any mind and when I grabbed a random knife from the racks, he started telling me about it before I tried plunging it into my heart. Nothing stopped it, but it halted all the same and the Quartermaster quickly ripped the thing from my hands with magic, teleporting the thing from me. I teleported back to Celestia’s room before anything else could happen and paced, doing my best to wear a hole into the floor.

A few minutes later, Luna popped into my room and slapped the piss out of me, tears streaming down her face. “Celestia, how could you!?”

I grabbed her by the shoulders. “I’m not Celestia!”

She swatted my hands aside and hit me again. “Yes you are! You are not Max, and you will never be Max! He’s not coming back, okay!? Cease your nonsense before I lock you up for your own good!”

“Then fucking do it! I can’t take Celestia’s burden, Goddammit! I’m not a fucking ruler and I never have been!”

Luna sobbed and fell to her knees, making me feel awful about trying to off myself. Maybe I really was Celestia? Maybe I really was just having an episode, a bout of confusion or dementia brought on by the sudden loss of a loved one. It didn’t make any sense when I thought about it, so I ignored Luna to the best of my abilities and did more thinking. It just didn’t make any sense for me to be Celestia, so I knelt down in front of Luna and started asking questions.

“Alright love, let’s take it from the top.” Luna looked at me like I was crazy. “When’s the last time we saw Max? It was when we sent him off to Bridleland, right?”

I could see the hope in her eyes. “Y-Yes. Yes! That’s the last time we saw him! There was a force that compelled us to send him away that wouldn’t let us teleport to him!”

“Alright, so if I’m not Max, then why do I have memories of walking through the divide between our worlds? Why do I remember things about England that aren’t from Bridleland, like cars that are automated carriages, and trains, and cell phones? Why do I know about things like television that I know for a fact ‘Max’ only ever explained to Twilight?”

Luna’s hope faded. “Twilight told you in her letters.”

“Then let’s go see Twilight, yeah? I remember things about her that she would never tell anyone else, and if I can prove that to you, then maybe Noir will let me get back to Earth so I can hurry up and- Wait.” I looked up. “Noir, do you just want me to stop doing what I’m doing?”

Luna stared at me. “It is about time you realized that.”

I couldn’t do anything but look at her. “How long were you going to let this go on?”

“Until you understood. You are going down a dangerous path, Maximus. One I refuse to see you travel.”

I jammed a finger into her sternum, thought better of it, and threw a punch at her that she lazily dodged. “It’s my choice to go down whatever path I choose, and pulling shit like this makes me want to fucking sprint down it just to spite you. I thought you might understand after all-”

Noir turned back into herself and allowed me to regain my usual form. “I do understand. I just worry that you’re not thinking far enough ahead.”

“Like how far? The next generation? What do you want me to do, stop here and see how it works?”

“I’m talking about for you personally, Max. If continue with this, you may not want to leave Earth. You may choose to become the Celestia-”

I slapped her. “Shut. The fuck. Up. If you think for a moment that I’m giving up on Twilight, on the life I’ve built in Equestria, then you don’t fucking know me at all! I want to make my homeland better so my brother can live safely, and you fucking know that! This isn’t about power!”

Noir rubbed her cheek and looked at me. “You have never had a taste of real power. Who is to say that you will not like it?”

“I had the opportunity already and I shoved it out the fucking door! Noir, are you even thinking right now!?”

“...I suppose I was more worried about the fact you chose not to visit me for days on end.”

“And you know the reason why. This was all so fucking unnecessary, you- You… Actually, I’m so pissed I can’t think straight. You pissed me off enough to break the code I’m trying to fucking live by already, but that’s what fucking happens when someone you trust fucks with your head!”

She looked at me coolly. “Is that any worse than when a stranger does it?”

“Yes. Being stabbed in the back is always worse when it’s someone you love. Fuck off, Noir. Have fun being lonely.” I said bitterly.

I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, I hadn't gone anywhere. Noir just looked at me, more disappointed than angry. “You would really avoid me for so long?”

“Knife. Right between the shoulder blades. How the fuck would I want to be anywhere near you right now?”

“...Please do not leave me, Maximus.” She pleaded softly.

My lip curled and I was prepared to say something more hateful, but I reminded myself that I was trying to be a better person. “...Do you even regret forcing me into someone else’s body? Do you feel bad for ignoring who I am and thinking that I’m some power hungry megalomaniac?”

She looked me in the eyes. “I do not feel bad for putting you in Celestia’s body since it drove my point home, but I do regret overlooking your inner thoughts on the cult following you are gathering. I recognize that you are trying to make your world a better place, but I do not feel that your way is a righteous one. You are running down Celestia’s path-”

“Up until I go home.” I interrupted.

Noir looked away. “... I apologize.”

I thought about how long I should punish her for. “... You can live without me until I return to Equus. I’ll visit you before I leave Earth, but I want you to know that this hurt, Noir.”

“I understand. I will not attempt such trickery again.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

I closed my eyes again and felt my body shift until I was sitting on something soft. I looked at the digital clock on the nightstand and saw that about six hours had passed, wiping out most of my night, so I decided to forego sleeping since I could do without it. I spent the time writing in my journal and being pissed with Noir, but it’s not like I was going to go without seeing her for much longer. I didn’t want to spend that much more time on Earth, and after I got the video for the worst of the worst, I’d be on my way back to Equus.

As I write, I can’t help but feel like Noir still had my best interests at heart, but she just went about trying to show me how she felt in the wrong way. If she was worried about me becoming power-hungry, she could have just said so, or she could have just fucking paid attention to me as a person. At the very least she’d admitted that I didn’t have a complex or anything or the sort, but I’m still quite offended. More than a bit salty. Seriously, who even traps someone in their own mind just to get their point across? That’s seriously fucked up to no end. Why not just fucking talk to me? I know I didn’t visit for a few days because I was scared of her words, but at the very least I’d still shown up and faced the music. Maybe Noir just got lonely and wanted to keep me around a bit longer, but I just can’t abide by her means of keeping me around. I guess there’s no point in dwelling on it. I really should get some sleep, but I just don’t feel like I need it at the moment.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two more days passed without sleep and I got the next video done. This one told the people who saw it to turn themselves in or to give their ill begotten gains away to charities such as the Safe in Arms Coalition so we could do some more good in the world. It had the same commands as the original video and was paired with a message about drug use and the selling of drugs, people, stolen goods, and embezzlement, so when we got it made, I had Stefano help me put it on the Safe in Arms website and lock it behind a specific link so people wouldn’t be able to view it without that link. We started off by sending it to every member of Parliament , and from there, we worked our way outward. Shit got done pretty quickly, all things said, and by the time it really started getting circulated around England, Stefano and Salvatore had already sent it through most of the contacts they had in the Mafia, the Yakuza, the Triads, and even the American Bloods and Crips, if that tells you anything about how deep and weird their connections ran. The video itself was made so that people were forced to share it with people in similar lines of work, and that made things a lot easier for it to be spread around. Within five days of the video being circulated, there were tales of entire factions of gangs just collapsing because they couldn’t keep enough members to keep going. The Cartel in Central and Northern America wasn’t as affected like the Mafia in Italy, Mafiya in Russia, or the Yakuza in Japan, but our sources still said that there were effects to be seen across the world.

I ended up doing a show with Alan Carr and that turned out to be really annoying. I’d never liked the guy’s voice in the first place, and it wasn’t because he sounded like a stereotypical twink. He was just annoying. Still, it helped me spread the word about the Safe in Arms Coalition, though I’d had to answer some tough questions about why my words seemed to reach the worst of the worst more so than the nicer people. I explained that it was just the nature of the way I spoke and that people just tended to listen to me, regardless of whether or not I wanted them to. Alan also asked if I was building a cult and I straight up told him that the people who followed me weren’t cultists. I didn’t have a memo other than being a better person, and there wasn’t anything I’d actually said or done to make people think otherwise, but the question had kept popping up. A lot of people asked me if I was trying to raise a cult, but I told them all that I just wanted people to suck less in general. I ended up telling Alan about my childhood and my status as an orphan on television and explained that my suffering shouldn’t have to be anyone else’s, which is why I’d started with junkies and drug dealers: if I could sway the worst of the worst, then I could already start making the world a better place. On the show, I encouraged people with drug problems and those who wanted to be better people, not just for themselves, to watch my original video.

I also ended up doing a show with Good Morning Britain and The Morning as well as some American talk shows, but I don’t really feel like getting into those. The Ellen show was the interesting one since she asked tougher questions than anyone else. After I’d exposed my past, she asked about it and wanted to know if I could prove any of my claims. I told her that, besides the scars on my psyche, I really couldn’t offer much, and even then the scars were healing as I devoted my time into becoming a better person myself. She mentioned that she’d watched my video multiple times, looking for any real reason why it was so compelling and I told her that I had a theory about my ‘message voice’ and it being hypnotic to some degree. I’d tried to ‘hypnotize’ myself multiple times with suggestions to think twice about my actions, but it just wouldn’t do. Ellen told me that my video had over fifty million views already and I was actually fucking staggered. I’d stopped keeping up with it after it hit ten million, but the more views it got, the faster it grew. A month passed quickly before I even realized it and the video was getting close to five hundred million views after my appearances on the talk shows.

Ellen asked me if I was planning on making any more videos and I told her that I was just looking forward to going home to see my friends, and when she tried to delve into that, I walled her off pretty hard and just told her that they were in England and that I was going to have to go back soon enough. Once the show was over, I figured that she was my last stop, so I flew back to England and realized that I’d already been on Earth for a month. I’d gotten paid for my appearances on the shows I’d done, so I just gave all the money except for a few pounds to the SIAC. I kept enough to get me back to Wiltshire and rent a hotel room for awhile, but other than that, I just didn’t want much of the money I’d accrued. I checked in with Stefano to see how things were going with the SIAC every few days and he told me that we’d gotten our charity thing up and running with a little help from some people we swayed in Parliament. He also told me that we were getting a chapter set up in the United States and that our Italy branch was getting getting on its feet sooner than we thought it would, so that was nice.

I’m sitting in my hotel room now, finishing up with my journals since I’ve just been too busy to write in them, but after this, I’m going to have to get all of my music downloaded to my various MP3 players so I can get them to Equestria with me when I decide to leave. I had to get a laptop so I could do some technological wizardry and get my shit copied over. I’m sure Celestia could find a way to power them magically, otherwise, I’m just going to have a bunch of Earth things that can’t really be used at all. I plan on taking them and my phone to Equestria along with the pens I grabbed back when I was still staying with Will and Bea, but I really just wanted to bring some Earth music with me. I also bought a few speakers to go in my new bag of crap, but so far, I don’t think I’ll have to charge any of them. If I channel my magic into my hands while holding a piece of Earthly technology, it seems to charge pretty fucking quickly, but I don’t know why that is.

After downloading just about every kind of instructional video I could think of, I think I’ll head to bed and finally get some restful sleep. I haven’t slept terribly well since I talked to Bea the night I went to Gollum, but I get enough to not look like absolute shit all of the time. Maybe I’ll visit Noir once I’m done here… I plan on leaving tomorrow, but I want to see her again anyways. I’ve wanted to see her for a week now since my anger faded, but I told her that she could deal with not having me around until I left. I’ll still visit her before I actually leave, although I want to see her sooner rather than later. It’ll be nice to see my mentor again.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alright, so I got my music and videos downloaded, and once I did, I visited Noir as I said I would. She told me that she’d cheated and sped up time so she wouldn’t have to go so long without seeing me, but it’s not like I’m upset with her for it. I gave her a hug and told her that I’d forgiven her for her bullshit a couple weeks ago and she said that she’d missed me and hoped that life would return to normal once I got back to Equestria. We spent a few minutes hugging until Noir told me that I was the worst kind of evil, so I let her go.

“Is now really the best time to bring that up?” I asked.

“You did it to Celestia.” Noir remarked.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it to me. You really have no tact sometimes.”

She shrugged. “For what it is worth, I still love you.”

“That’s nice.” I replied drily. “So what of my new status as an evil fuck? Do you think I should tell Twilight-”

“No. No, never tell Twilight what you have done.” Noir interrupted. “Tell her that you started a charity. Tell her that you convinced drug addled people to give up their vices. Tell her that you saved your brother’s life, but never tell her that you used Dark Magic to make people do your will.”

“...Can I tell Celestia?”

She nodded curtly. “Of course. She may slap you, but I have faith that you can dodge it.”

“...Right. I’m telling her that you tried forcing me into her body.”

“Do as you please. It is not like she can come into your mind and chastise me for it.”

“I’ll let her in just so she can do exactly that.” I threatened playfully.

“You would not do that. Allowing her complete access to your mind before doing so for Twilight would be very insulting to your lover.”

I crossed my arms. “I totally let Twilight in already. Multiple times.”

“Oh. Yes, I remember now. It feels like it happened so long ago…” Noir trailed off.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t just live on a daily cycle? Once we get back to Equestria, I think you should stop altering time in here-”

“Not happening.” Noir interrupted. “I have tried living day to day. It is tedious and awful.”

I pursed my lips. “I think it’s making you forgetful.”

“I choose to be forgetful. If I remembered everything, then I would be too… Too much like my sister. My knowledge would become overbearing and I would hate to make you feel like I know you from the inside out. You tolerate what we have because I forget things, Max.”

“It just helps remind me that you’re not perfect.” I said quietly.

“No one is. I will try and keep my forgetfulness in check from now on, barring remembering your mistakes, that is.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” I gave her a smile.

Noir gave me another hug, so I pulled her down to my level and licked her cheek because I could. After that, we just chased each other around, licking faces until we decided to head to an English beach and soak up so ‘Sun’ from the overcast skies. I’d visited a beach while in Burbank with Ellen, so I took us there instead and remembered all of the great arses I’d seen. Noir hit me for looking at other women, but she was spending time looking at guys herself, so I pinched her in retaliation. She told me that I was supposed to be some peace advocate and I told her that she’d caused more pain than I did with her blunt mitts than with my nimble fingers and she hit me again, but it was worth it.

We spent some time in the Sun, playing in the water with water guns and something originally American: Super Soakers. They’re the coolest water guns I’ve ever handled, and blasting Noir was awesome. We decided to have a wet T-Shirt contest with them when we got on dry land, but we never really figured out who won. I thought I won because I landed more water on her shirt, but she said she won because because of that exact reason. Either way, I got to see some big ol’ breasts and that made me smile. Noir got stuck with my pasty arse in a semi-wet shirt, so I let her blast me to get the full effects and she actually smiled. My new diet on Earth had made me fill out a bit more, adding some fat and a lot more muscle to my physique. She mentioned offhandedly that I looked better with some meat on my bones and I told her that I’d try and eat more protein while I was back in Equestria. She mentioned that I just needed to stop cutting the fat off of the meat I did eat and maybe look into some weight gain supplements while I was still on Earth. I told her that I’d get some before I left and she gave me the thumbs up.

Once we were done with our fun in the Sun, Noir set up a battlefield and we had ourselves a nice little skirmish with our side being heavily outnumbered. It was a good way to get stuff started, but Noir wanted to show me how to fight as a part of a team which ended up getting me booted out of the mindscape like, four times before I just ignored her and went balls to the wall. I lasted a lot longer when I went solo, scything my way through our opponents on my own and cutting down more fools than I could have done with the turtle formation Noir had us use. I was no good with anything bigger than a buckler, after all, and using a gladius just wasn’t my thing since I was more of a slashing kind of guy.

Noir eventually broke ranks with her phalanx and conjured her claymore so she could join me in the fray, and when we met on the battlefield, we clashed hard, mistaking each other for enemies at first glance. Once we drew back to swing again, we took care of the enemies closest to us and managed to clear a circle around us. Noir shouted at me to take point and that she would follow as my sweeper, so I did just that and picked a direction, ripping into the forces around us that were being rapidly demoralized. I noticed that these constructs acted more like people, like that some hesitated when they swung or were nearly as fast as I was. They just seemed so much more Human, and I felt a little guilty killing them, despite knowing that they were just constructs with borrowed personalities.

As they acted more like people, they were also more opportunistic like Humans, so that got me cut a few times and nearly hit with a fucking morningstar when some motherfucking knight came in on a goddamn ox. Noir cleaved through one of the ox’s legs and sent the knight tumbling to the ground, but I focused on keeping our new combat buddies back and out of the way so Noir could have her fun, but while I was pressuring the enemy forces, the knight came up behind me and I only got out of the way because I felt something tingle between my shoulder blades, the area he would have hit. He still clipped me pretty hard, so I dashed into the bit of open space we had and started looking for chinks in his armor. I had the speed advantage in spades and I already knew from lessons with Noir that stabbing him in the joints was going to be my best bet, so I sprinted over to him and slid on the blood-slicked grass, grabbing one one of his legs and rising quickly toppling the fellow.

Unlike in movies where knights just get back up, full plate armor is actually heavy as fuck, so he wasn’t getting up anytime soon, though I didn’t really have time to laugh at him. I had to get back into the fray, and when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I knew it was Noir backing me up, so I set the pace again and we got back to work, hacking and slashing away at our opposition until another boss construct came to fuck the day up. It was a fucking Dragon that looked exactly like the big green fucker who’d torn my heart out. I raised a hand to cease the combat and looked at Noir.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked with a smile.

“...It is disturbing when you do that.”

“Sound angry and smile?”

“Yes.”

“Torn between emotions, blackberry. I’m looking forward to the fight, but I’m a little pissed that you conjured up someone I already killed.”

“I have killed all of those we have fought so far.” She pointed out.

“Fair enough. Let’s go again!” My manic smile remained.

And so we did. Noir wanted a crack at the Dragon since I’d been the one to take it down in the first place. That, and she likes fighting Dragons more than any other race, so I was happy to sit back and watch where she was hitting him. Unlike most fights, Noir tends to take Dragon fights at the joints, like she was fighting a knight, though I couldn’t pay that much attention since I could hear some commotion coming from behind me. I figured that was our reinforcements, so I kept up the circle we’d formed again by singling out those of the enemy that were foolish enough to try and take Noir from her blind spots. One nearly got through my guard, but I broke down and used my telekinesis to kill him since it was fucking war anyways.

Once I broke the unspoken ‘No Magic’ rule, fucking fireballs of various sizes flew for five minutes straight. Noir dodged them easily and I dodged them with a bit of difficulty, occasionally getting a bit sooty by them passing, but never quite getting hit. They just moved too slowly for me, though their sheer volume was incredible. The Dragon had little enough to fear from the magic, but the soldiers decimated each other with poorly aimed magic and scorched a lot of their own allies, but that just made things easier for Noir and myself. When we were sure that the magic had stopped, I cleared out a wide swath of soldiers with my telekinesis, bisecting most of them and making the rest that were standing back up. I wondered for a second if this really was a simulation or if this was an alternate universe Noir had the ability to take me to and I just didn’t like that thought at all, so I stopped using my powers and went back to handing business the old fashioned way.

You put the stabby bit into the other guy and hope he doesn’t impale you in return, and that’s pretty much what I was doing, skillfully and luckily dodging a lot of blows from swords, thrusts from spears, and the occasional battleaxe that came out of fucking nowhere. It seemed like there were only a few of them among the ranks, but when they swung, I usually had to duck the horizontal blows, but when they started coming lower and lower, I decided that it was time to take out the axe guys first since I had the least amount of experience with them. I located one and let loose a barbaric yawp that grabbed her attention and pointed my shortsword at her, a direct challenge. She charged forth and swung hard and fast once she was in range, throwing a mighty diagonal blow that she chained into swing of various types.

If I’d had my dagger, I would have just rushed in and ducked her blows, but with my buckler, I was waiting for a chance to pull off a move that I’d been theorizing about in my head for sometime. On her next diagonal swing, I leapt into the air and smacked her axe with my buckler, making her lose power in the swing and as I was in the air, I rammed my knee into her chest and her knocked off balance. The mid-air parry had gone off pretty well and I was sure that I could have finished her before I touched the ground, but I needed to find someone else to practice on now. With that in mind, I charged, leading with my shield, but when I got within range, she threw me a cheeky grin and swung the haft of her axe at me, so I took the blow on my shield and spun low, taking one of her legs as I brought myself to a crouch. The axe-woman cried out and grabbed at her missing limb, so I put her out of her misery, guilt making me feel a little warm, but not in the good way. I felt embarrassed for effectively toying with her instead of taking her seriously as an opponent, which really just made me feel like an arsehole like no other. I looked around and saw that there weren’t really all that many people still willing to fight.

“Lay down your arms if you’re not prepared to die!” I shouted over the clamor of battle.

A lot of them just looked at each other until one stepped forward and laid his sword down. It was odd to see that he immediately disappeared, and among the ranks of those who still stood, more winked out of existence until roughly a third of their number stood. I hefted my sword, flipping it and catching it easily before flicking the leftover blood from the blade.

“Alright. You’ve made your choices.” I said more to myself than to the remaining combatants.

I picked someone to look at and charged, sidestepping his spear thrust like it was child’s play and beheading him handily with a practiced ease that only comes from lopping off limbs in combat. Still, those swings aren’t something that just any person can make and the fact that I was lasting this long in a battle with little to no help after Noir went off to do her own thing was good in my books. After finishing opponent after opponent in a few swings or just one, I broke out of the fray and into some empty space on the field that wasn’t as bloody. Turning around, I saw that the soldiers I’d cuth a path through were falling to their wound and that there just weren’t that many of them. Their red painted, thick cloth armors didn’t hide any of the blues from my side, so I assumed that I was going to have to thin the herd a little more, but when more soldiers started turning around to face me, more started tossing their weapons on the ground and disappearing. Twenty more men and women blinked out of existence and since this wasn’t much more than a skirmish, that meant that the attacking forces were halved. I walked through the bloodied grass towards the ring of soldiers that were still standing around Noir and saw that she was taking on two boss mobs at once.

A Nimble Gryphon was giving her a lot of trouble and a less nimble Naga was tanking blows while still throwing out some dangerous swings that Noir had to dodge perfectly to avoid. I decided to cut my way through the ring of soldiers and walked into the center, sheathing my sword before I threw my shield at the Gryphon. It was a well placed throw and hit it in the back of the head, stunning it long enough for Noir to get some distance. Once the Gryphon was ready to go again, I drew the Warbling Blade since I always kept it on my hip and conjured Nacht, pointing it at my new opponent. He glared at me and let loose and ear shattering screech that made my blood curdle in my veins, but I still bunkered down, waiting for his wing-assisted charge. When it came, I jumped and drop kicked him in the face since he was coming at me head first without a weapon. I received a good gash on the leg as payment, but it was better than being picked up and dropped from a staggering height.

We broke contact, but neither of us gave the other time to recuperate, getting right back into our one-on-one as fast as possible. The Gryphon outright had me on speed and dexterity, but that’s where my real strength shone. One never appreciates creativity and ingenuity in battle until they have to use it and once it’s there, execution is key. The Gryphon threw swipe after swipe at me, but I met his armored claws with Nacht and when he got to close, I swung back with the Warbling Blade, keeping the knife in a reversed grip so I had variety in my combos. It was a closely fought battle between speedsters, but I knew that I was going to lose if I didn’t let the creative juices flow through the fog of battle, so during his next volley of swipes, I threw the Warbling Blade into his side at close range, giving me just enough time to get what I needed to get done in my mind. He took another swipe at me and I dodged into his guard, grabbing his left claw and grimacing as his claws dug into my shoulder muscles, but all I needed to do was bring Nacht into his stomach. My plan worked until he impaled my left bicep with his right claws, preventing me from going any further as we both cried out in pain, which is where I got creative. He tried to peck me and I jumped, grabbing Nacht with my feet and shoving the rest of the blade into his stomach up to the hilt. The Gryphon let me go and pulled the Warbling Blade from his side, clumsily throwing it at me, but I rolled away and picked it up my rapidly numbing hands. We squared off one final time, glaring daggers at each other as he stumbled forth. We both knew that he was going to be done first, so I charged him, leaping into the air, stepping off of Nacht to bring my knee into his beak one last time.

The Gryphon fell, but he wasn’t getting back up any time soon, so I sheathed the Warbling Blade with my psychic tentacle and did the same with Nacht. My arms were fucking ruined, but I could still move the right one well enough to be a threat and hopefully my healing factor would kick in soon enough to stop the bleeding. Once I gave myself a chance to have a good look around, I saw that the rest of the soldiers were gone, but that there were a few of our own soldiers still standing. There were only a handful of them, but as I locked eyes with Noir, she just gave me a nod.

“That was well fought, Maximus. I have always been curious about how you would fair against that particular Gryphon.” She commented while walking over to me.

“If he wasn’t using claws, he would’ve got me.” I puffed, a little short of breath.

Noir shrugged. “They were his preferred weapons. He could have easily done away with our forces himself if we were not in a Phalanx. He was a good opponent for you.”

“What about that Naga? Did I stand a chance against him?” I asked, a little curious.

“As you might say in your earlier years, he would have ‘Rekt ur arse like Mandingo’.”

“That bad? Damn. I guess I got lucky.”

“Do not discredit yourself so easily. You made the right decision based on who I was focusing. You would have had to wrest his attention away from me anyway, and that Gryphon sized gnat was getting annoying.”

I rolled my eyes and healed my arms. “It’s nice to know that an opponent you find as terrifying as a gnat almost killed me.”

She placed a hand on my arm and I noticed that while her clothes were a bit torn, she wasn’t bleeding. “You often choose not to remember that I have had thousands of years to do nothing other than practice with a blade, bow, and various other handicraft.”

“Fair enough. Still, I’m willing to bet that you’re the most lethal thing with a blade in your hand.”

“I could very well be. Luna would not be able to stand against a full on assault from me and my magic was far more powerful than hers when I was in my prime. Celestia is simply not the warrior type, and there are precious few other Immortals that I know of who prefer a blade over magic. I, on the other hand, was born with barely more than an average amount of Unicorn Magic.”

I gave her a funny look. “So when did you get Dark Magic?”

She looked at me just as funnily until she snapped. “Ahh, I forgot that you did not even know that Alicorns were once a race in and of themselves. You see, some Alicorns are born with special kinds of magic. Celestia was born with more True Magic than Unicorn with little Dark, Luna with an equal balance of True and Unicorn, but with more Dark Magic than Celestia, and if I’m reading her correctly, Cadance has Love Magic instead of Dark and True Magic, and plenty of Unicorn Magic. I was born with more Dark and True Magic than Unicorn and my sister was my twin in both appearance and magical capacity. You, Max, are odd. Of course you have Dark Magic since it was my primary type, but you have True Magic as well. After you died at Fluttershy’s, a small amount was put inside of you and continues to grow. With time, you will also be able to do reality warping things, though I do not know where your abilities will lie, and frankly, I’m eager to see what you will receive.”

I was thoroughly confused. “Wait, so let me get this straight: True Magic has different forms, yeah?”

Noir nodded. “It does. Celestia and Luna share Celestial True Magic and Cadance has Love Magic.”

“Okay, that makes sense, I guess. So what was your True Magic based on?”

“Mine was Time itself. In reality, I could move time forwards or backwards in five minute bursts, which is a part of the reason I was such a capable general. Five minutes can make a world of difference on the battlefield.” Noir said proudly.

“And here you can speed things up or slow things down?”

“Yes. It is a direct consequence of my True Magic.”

“So I’m guessing your sister’s True Magic was Space.”

She nodded. “We were halves of a whole. When I gave up my physical being to allow the Alicorns to live on, my sister was able to pluck my soul from the Ether and bind it to hers by using her True Magic to rip a hole between the dimensions. She actually bound me by using Dark Magic since her True Magic had nothing to do with actual souls.”

“Which was all well and good, but Nightmare Moon was straight up evil.”

She nodded, sighing. “That she was. She did not save me because I was her sister, but for my magical power. She has always been slightly more powerful than me in magic, but with my power added to hers, she was nearly unstoppable until Discord took our- Her, throne.”

“How’d he do that? If Nightmare was as powerful as you say and was able to take Celestia AND Luna, then how did Discord get her?”

“Discord’s True Magic is pure Chaos. There is no way known other than the Elements of Harmony that can defeat him, and even then they do not last forever. Discord has been free for some time now, but Celestia fears that she cannot do anything against him. If he really desired it to be so, anyone who desired him gone would already be dead.” She shivered. “Can we speak on you own True Magic? I do not wish to speak that foul creature’s name anymore.”

I put a hand on her arm. “He can’t hurt you anymore, Noir. We’re on Earth right now. Talking about Discord here won’t bring him in through my window or anything, so if there’s ever a safe place to discuss him, it’s here.”

Noir looked from side to side, though I doubted that she meant to. “... I will tell you that he is the most wicked trickster there has ever been. When I traded my body for the lives of millions of Alicorns, he said that he would leave my people be. He honored his word, but he did not at the same time. He picked a young girl barely out of her pubescent period and a toddler to carry on the Alicorn name and from there, he wiped my people out. Nox was justified in trying to slay him, but I wish that she’d just left him alone…”

“Wait, is Nox Nightmare’s real name?” I asked.

“Yes. Nox was a male and changed herself into a female because she preferred the form.”

“So your sister is transexual. That’s… Well, it’s just odd. I know people on Earth switch genders, but I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone on Equus doing it. Well, not permanently.”

Noir raised a brow. “You do not understand how someone could bear changing their body for more than a few days.”

“I really don’t. I used to wonder what being a woman felt like, but I don’t think I could ever wrap my mind around being one for the rest of my life.”

Noir shrugged. “I loved Nox in whatever form she chose. When she asked to be called Nightmare, some people thought it was silly since ‘nightmare’ literally meant ‘mare of the night’. When Nox became evil and started spreading bad dreams, only then was the phrase coined.”

“I don’t know why the term was coined in my world, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because of a literal horse of any kind.”

She shrugged again. “Look it up. You have the Google now.”

I thought about that. “Give me like, five seconds in here time.”

I closed my eyes, looked it up, and came back. “Alright, so it comes from the words ‘night’ and an Old English word called ‘Maere’ that means ‘incubus’, which is an evil spirit. Etymology is fun.”

Noir gave me a look that said ‘You fucking nerd’. “As you might say; ‘You fucking nerd’.”

“I knew you were going to say that.”

“That is why I said it. It fit the situation quite well.”

“Alright, if we’re done with this tangent, can we get back to the whole Discord thing?”

She shook her head. “We are moving on to your True Magic. What do you think it might be?”

I gave her a look but acquiesced. “I don’t know. I guess it might be time based since yours is-”

“It will not be. I know the way Time Magic develops since I myself had it, and yours is unique. I believe it will have something to do with the Heavens.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“Here, we are allowed to speak of God freely, yes?” We looked around and I patted my chest.

“I guess we are as long as we’re on Earth.” I replied.

“Then I think that it is prudent for me to tell you that I believe you really did meet Him. If you are one of his chosen few, then I believe He may allow you some taste of His power.”

“Yeah, no. I don’t think He’s the type to share that with just anyone.”

Noir grinned. “And yet He allowed you to come back to Earth with powers that have only been seen in literature and movies. You could say that He has already given you a taste of His power.”

I shook my head. “If that’s the case, then you had a lot more of it then I ever will.”

“That’s not the case. True Magic only matures in Alicorns over the age of one hundred years. Your True Magic will be ready sometime soon, if it keeps developing at the same pace.”

“Seriously? I’m about to get more powerful? Why haven’t you told me about this!?” I asked, freaking out a little.

“I could not speak of it on Equus.” Noir said simply.

I ran my hands through my hair. It was probably the wrong time to realize that it was past my shoulders again and that it seemed to be growing faster and faster, but that’s not the important bit. “Fucking shite, woman! I just abused the everloving Christ out of the power I already have! What am I going to do with more of it!?”

Noir leaned down and tilted my chin towards her before placing her lips on mine. “Be calm, Maximus. You abused your power for a good cause. One that I do not agree or disagree with in particular, but still, a good cause. Your world will be better for it and you are quite conflicted over it now that you are actually thinking about it-”

I turned away from her and sighed. “That’s why I try not to think about it. If I could undo all of this… I don’t know. I wouldn’t because that would mean I endorse the most evil shit, but not reversing the damage I’ve caused mean people can’t fuck up big time anymore. It’s-”

“It is not even a contest. Would you truly allow people like Graham to run amok?”

I looked at her and beckoned her to come back down to my level for another kiss. “Thanks, Noir. I needed to hear that.”

“It’s rude to not answer questions.” She pointed out with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t. I’m getting Graham tomorrow, one way or another.”

“And I will be watching to see how you do it. I have been blocking anything regarding Graham from entering my mind since you pledged that you would claim your revenge.” She gave me a dark smile.

I returned it with an evil smirk. “I’m going to enjoy every second. I’m not even going to kill him.”

Noir covered her eyes. “Lalalala! Not listening!”

I poked her sides and she just gave me a look, so I tried to guess where her navel was and poked at it. I got it in two tries and Noir kicked me out of my mind so I could get some real rest, though I’d gone without sleeping for a week at this point. When I formed the Safe in Arms Coalition, I’d already known that I was going to be using my Soothsaying to get Graham, and I already knew exactly what I was going to do. It was going to add some years onto my sentence in Hell, but I was willing to suffer for my revenge.

I chuckled myself to sleep.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When I woke up the next morning, I sent Will and Bea both a text and an email, just in case they had my number blocked. The email had the whole story of what Chief Graham had done to me and what I was going to do to him in turn, though I used an alternate email address so it couldn’t be traced back to me. With that said and done, I performed my morning ritual, said hello and goodbye to the maid staff, and made my way into town. It was a pleasant walk and I had a bounce to my step anyway.

By this time, everyone in town knew my face, and even if they didn’t, they’d probably heard of the cult leader with different colored eyes. I attracted quite a few stares as I practically skipped my way past my old corner store and the smoke shop I’d bought my first bong in. I wondered if Sinbad was still somewhere around, but it’s not like I remembered where I stashed him, so it was pointless to look. It was too late to consider visiting Will and Bea, so I walked past their flat with a little less bounce to my step, but once I cleared it, I was back to my sprightly self and wore a little smile as I passed some familiar faces. The Grisham Boys were posted up on a corner, so I decided to stop by and say hello.

“Mornin’ gents. How goes it?” I asked with a smile.

They looked at each other in turn. Dirk was actually the first one to speak which surprised the fuck out of me since he was the quietest one. “So you don’t go by Kaid no more at all, do ya?”

“They call me Rev most of the time.” I replied.

Dirk shook his head. “You ain’t the same guy we used to know.”

“Get raped and tortured and we’ll see how much of the person you used to be is left, mate. Graham fucked me up real good when he made me disappear.” I let my smile fade, but I was still in a great mood.

Jimmy stared at me. “Graham, the Chief, made you disappear for months?”

“Damn straight, mate. Took what he wanted, doled out his punishment, left me to die. That’s why I started this whole Safe in Arms thing, fellas. People like him need to hear that they can’t just do that to people.”

They all shut up and I shrugged before getting back to my walk. I started whistling for the fuck of it and enjoyed the hazy morning. It was a fitting day for a fitting punishment, all things said, and as I passed the Rubber Dutchman, I decided to stop in for a shot or two and a pint. Markus was wearily wiping down the counter when I came in. He looked up and some of the morning drinkers turned to give me a glance, and before I’d made my way over to the bar itself, I was being stared at by an awful lot of people.

I already had Markus’ attention, so I just spoke. “Can I get two shots of absinthe and a pint of Guinness?”

It took him a sec to register that I’d said something. “Kid, what the fuck?”

I looked at him blankly. “Is it too early for absinthe?”

He gave me an ‘Are you serious?’ kinda look. “Kid, half of my clientele came here for the extra service. Your little ‘message’ is costing me!”

“It’s not like you’re under Stefano’s thumb anymore, so chill, yeah? You’ll still have plenty of business for alcohol, so don’t stress about it. I don’t see why you would anyways. You used to tell me all the time that you wanted to get out of the under-the-table kinda shit anyway.”

He just shook his head and poured me a pint of Guinness from the tap. “Get your drink and get out. That bit of silver you gave me the other day’ll cover it.”

I grabbed the glass and cleared the froth before downing a quarter of it. “Will do, Markus. Good luck on whatever else you want to do.”

“Whatever, kid.” He went back to wiping down the bar like a stereotype of some sort and I sipped on my stout for a few minutes before downing the last quarter and leaving.

I liked that I could drink again, though I didn’t know whether or not it was a good thing. I realized that it had been a good thing that I hadn't gotten the absinthe I’d wanted, but I knew he didn’t keep any in stock anyway. Why ask in the first place? Well, a man can hope, can’t he? If he’s not allowed to hope, then what is he allowed to do? I played with that thought for a little while, but I was quickly coming to my destination and I was glad that I’d finally be able to get off of Earth and back to my real home in Ponyville. As the Constabulary came into view, I had to wipe the manic smile off of my face and control my breathing so I wouldn’t give anyone a reason to be suspicious.

When I walked into the place, I knew exactly where to go, but I had to follow the due process and be nice. The receptionist piggy recognized me immediately, however.

“Kaid Gadai? What are you doing here?” She asked. “You’re not here to turn yourself in or something, are you?”

I shook my head and chuckled. “No, love. I’m here to see Graham. You know me by Reverend Revenant, yeah?”

She glared at me. “Don’t call me love.”

I channelled some Dark Magic into my throat. “You’ll let me call you whatever I want, and you’re going to lead me through the station to Graham without passing through the metal detector. I have metal pins in me, so that’s why it would go off, yes?”

“Yes, Kaid.” She said blankly.

“Call me Revenant.”

“Yes, Revenant.”

I gave her a thousand watt smile. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” I hopped over the desk and she started leading the way.

I waved at every one of the rozzers I saw, though most of them didn’t bother waving back. It didn’t bother me one bit since I knew things were about to get real unpleasant for one man in particular real quick, so I kept up the cheer and let my head bob to an unheard tune, simply thrilled that my revenge was only meters away now. My hands trembled in glee and I swear I was starting to sweat out of sheer excitement, but it was only getting better. When the receptionist dropped me off at the door I’d gone through so long ago, I told her to wait a few minutes and walked in with my magic ready to go.

The moment was here. The tormentor locked eyes with the tormented and the roles were about to be reversed. Graham looked like he’d seen a fucking ghost and I looked like I was about to rip his fucking soul out. I can’t explain how sweet the moment was. No words can describe the sheer joy I felt from the fear and confusion on his face, but I knew that this was just the beginning. This was just the build-up. The climax was coming soon, but first I had to get my words out.

“You…” I said with my magically enhanced voice. “You will not scream. You will not beg for help. You will not leave this room until I leave, and even then, you will be mute. Am I understood?”

“I understand.” Graham replied blankly.

I cut off my magic. “It’s so good to see you, Alexander Graham. How have you been?”

Graham started shaking in his seat. “You’re dead.” He whispered.

“No, I’m not. I should be, granted, but the fellow with that needle… His serum worked. I can’t die, Alexander. Where is he?” I asked with Dark Magic.

“He’s dead. I killed him when his experiment failed two more times after your own.” He replied with a glassy look.

I cut the magic again. “Aww, too bad you’re not going to be joining him any time soon.” I couldn’t stop the smile. It hurt my cheeks, but it was frozen on my face.

“Y-You’re not here to kill me?” He asked, gaining some confidence.

“Nope. I could and there isn’t a single thing you could do about it, but that’s not why I’m here. No, what I’m about to do to you is so much worse.” I chuckled happily.

Graham was bolted to his seat, but I knew he was reaching for his gun, so I said, “You may not harm me. You may not make noise other than to answer my questions. Whenever someone talks to you other than me, you will answer with the sins you committed against me in full for the duration of your punishment.” I let the magic go.

“What are you?” He whispered.

“I’m the evil dead, Graham. I’ve come to claim you, but I can’t take your soul. No, I’m going to make sure that you get yours. Do you have anything to say to me before I give you your sentence?”

“Go to Hell, you bastard!” He said loudly, just shy of shouting.

I shook my head, the smile finally easing up a little. Once I was ready and had what I wanted to say in my head, I spoke thusly, “Alexander Graham: From the time I finish this edict, you will have ten years of nothing but absolute pain. No medicine will be able to ease your pain, and it will feel as if every bone in your body has been shattered, ground together, and set on fire. This feeling will radiate from every cell in your body, every molecule of your being, and when you go to cry out in pain, you will be denied that simple luxury. Your voice will only be heard when someone speaks to you, and then you must tell them everything you did to me and everything you did that even resembles what you did to me. You will repeat it five times before you are allowed to be silent again, and you will mention the names of all the people you have raped or killed. You will be allowed a single second of relief from your pain when you finish the list before it returns tenfold, and that pain never lessen, but it will compound over time. You are allowed eight hours of sleep a day, but you will see yourself being tortured in every way you know when you do sleep. You will eat food that will help you stay alive, but it will taste like hot charcoal in your mouth and burn as though it was hot coals as it travels through your system. You are not allowed to kill yourself. You are not allowed to ask someone else to do it for you. When someone touches you, the pain will increase twentyfold, but you will not be allowed to give any indication that it hurts more. For ten years from the end of this edict, you will suffer for your sins, and you will know that it was your own evil that brought you this pain. When your ten years are up, you must live for another ten and remember the pain you went through.”

While he was gaping, I remembered to address something he said. “Oh, and before I forget: I really have been to Hell Alexander. It gave me a few good ideas on what to do to you.”

I shut my mouth and smirked at him as his body went completely rigid, his mouth opening in a silent scream that made me laugh. Well, it was more of a cackle, but still, laughing all the same. I could have had an orgasm from the sheer relief, happiness, pleasure, and justification I was feeling, so I shut myself up as much as I could and went over to touch his face with the back of my hand, knowing that his Hell only grew hotter when I did so. He immediately spouted out my name and all the things he did to me, staring at me with eyes that felt like they went on forever, staring beyond what the Human mind could perceive. I sat there, giggling and poking him, making him restart the list over and over again until I left before I could be horrified about what magnitude of evil I’d just committed. I had to ask Celestia if she’d ever thought to do something on this scale to another person. Well, I could always keep this little tidbit to myself so no one thinks I’m a complete monster… Heh heh heh. Just writing this down makes me smile a mile wide.

After leaving the Chief’s office, I left the Constabulary right through the metal detectors, setting them off. Someone tried to stop me, but I just used Dark Magic to make them leave alone after a quick pat-down. With that, my work on Earth was done, so I decided to head back to the old Church and visit Noir to see what she thought of my punishment. The walk was quick enough since it only took about forty-five minutes, and when I got there, I sat in a pew and waited for Will to come see me since I had a feeling that he’d be there shortly after my arrival. I was wrong, so I went into my mind to see Noir.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a padded room. Noir was sitting on the floor, watching me. I strode on over and sat in front of her. “So? What do you think?”

“...That was pitch, jet, onyx, oil, empty vacuum of space, purest black evil, Max.” She said softly.

“Did he deserve any less?” I asked with a small smile.

She smirked at me. “If you can, do that to Discord.”

I gave her a toothy grin. “Only for you, babycakes. How corrupt is my soul because of that?”

“Oh, you’re evil now. Doing that to a person is worse than anything I could ever think of, and I used to torture people because it was practically my job.”

I sighed. “I figured. If you’re going to go one way or another, it’s best to go all the way, yeah?”

She shook her head. “Not really. Once you get back to Equestria, be sure to go back to your usual grey nature before someone puts you down or locks you away until they can.”

“That’s the plan, blackberry. I guess Earth just brings out the worst in a person.” I chuckled.

Noir teleported herself next to me. “I hope you stop your evil streak here.”

I laid my head on my shoulder. “I promise to you that I’ll only do something that evil to those who are deserving of it. Otherwise it’s back to being loveable, grey Max.”

She kissed my cheek. “I will lock you in your mind again if you start going fully evil. I promise you that.”

I reached out for her hand and she grasped mine. “I’ll hold you to it. Keep me until I’m back to grey, okay?”

“I will do my best to keep you happy until your heart and mind are ready to return to the world. I think you have done what you’ve come to do. Are you ready to return to Equus?”

“Ready as I was the day I got here.” I closed my eyes and rose from the pew.

Before I left, I set down the note I’d written for Will, though I addressed him as Max throughout it. I felt like I needed my brother to know one last thing before I left. I grabbed my bags, and once I was out of the church, my legs carried me through the forest and I swear I could hear multiple voices laughing as hard as I had been when I’d given my punishment to Graham. Their laughter was infectious and I found myself chuckling right along with them which made the voices guffaw like I was telling a raunchy joke of some kind. This went on for sometime until I felt my eyes close and a sudden shift in the breeze. It felt as though I was walking on a hard surface, but it had give to it, like I was walking on hard air or something, so I was tripping a little before I reopened my eyes and found that I was somewhere rather familiar on a path in a forest that was mine. My legs stopped moving for me and I came to a stop, but I just wanted to get to where I was going as soon as possible.

I looked up to the canopy of the Everfree and inhaled through my nose, taking in the smell of decay and fresh foliage, flowers and poisons, poo and scent markers. To the trees, I said, “I’m home.”