Sephiroth and I were in my office, talking and trying to decide on a few things when we both heard Lance say, “Max, Seph, if either one of you can hear me, I need your help. I found a Displaced who was hurt and torn apart by the events of the past and was a victim like Seph. If you can hear me, please. Help Shalltear.”

“And we were just about to start actually doing something...” I said, disappointment evident in my voice.

“Am I interrupting anything important?” Lance mentally asked out of curiosity.

“Nah, not really. We were just sitting down to plan out a huge annual party. We’ll be there in a minute.”

“Wanna take a break and help a Vampire that reminds me of you and Seph calm herself down? She’s tempted to go on a massacre after almost becoming a rape victim after being asleep for over 1000 years.” He asked.

Floating Rainbow and Lucky over to me, I opened my portal, but paused to look back at Sephiroth. “Could you please get Golden and Light to Sol and Mun? I know you want to help, too, but they need to be supervised.”

Sephiroth was already on her feet and nodded, a determined look on her face. “I’ll follow you as soon as I can.”

I nodded and jumped through, setting Lucky and Rainbow down as soon as I landed. “Da fluff d’you say?!” I said as I set down Lucky and Rainbow.

“Who the fu-”

“Did you seriously have to bring the kids!?” Lance Retorted.

I turned to give ‘Shalltear’ a reprimanding look and said, “Keep your language clean around my foals, please.” I turned back to Lance. “Yes, I did. Sol and Mun are keeping watch over Golden and Light.”

“Well, guess I need to improvise. Lumen, get Lucky and Rainbow to cover. Keep them safe.” Lance told her, the Breezie saluting as she had the two of them follow her, trying to help them walk on two hooves. “Now, Shalltear, please calm down. I’m only trying to help you.”

“The only time when I will calm down is when I kill Blueblood, and the rest of his family. I will not be denied my vengeance, and no one is going to stop me! Wolves, rip him apart!”

The wolves bounded forward, only to freeze mid-leap when I raised my hand.

“W-What the?”

I turned to give Shalltear another reprimanding look. “Hush. You’re being a petulant, spoiled brat. We are not your enemy, nor do we want to be.”

“Then get out of my way and let me have my vengeance dammit! [Maximize Magic, Brilliant Radiance!]” Shalltear said as a column of holy light from under Max engulfing her. “Now stay out of my-.”

Max giggled as the magic seemingly tickled her, passing through without doing harm. “Ah, I watched part of the anime you’re from and read the wiki on your powers.” She smiled and walked past the still frozen wolves. “That power purifies the unholy; destroys those that harbour ill-will for others. Me? I just want to protect my family from those who mean them harm.”

“Then take your family and get out of my way! [Maximize Magic, Vermillion Nova!]”

Max’s hand flashed white briefly before a thick shield of the same color sprang to life in front of her, leading her as she continued to walk straight towards the panicking girl. Lance used the moment to try and help Lucky and Rainbow get out of the way. He knew that with Max here, she got this in the bag.

“N-No, h-how can you be this powerful?” The countess asked while backing away in fear. “S-Stay back, I’m w-warning you.”

Max shook her head, teleporting to behind the girl and wrapped her in a hug. “Please, we’re here to help you.”

“LIES! YOU’RE LYING JUST LIKE CELESTIA DID, JUST LIKE ALL THOSE PONIES THAT TRIED TO HELP BUT DIDN’T! I WON’T BE TRICKED BY ANYONE EVER AGAIN! [Greater Teleportation!]”

Just as she was saying her latest spell Max placed a bracelet around her right wrist, preventing the girl from disappearing. “Please, calm down. We aren’t going to hurt you. Celestia hurt me as well by imprisoning me in stone in my universe. I was awake for the thousand and twenty-four years I was immobile.”

“Let me go or else I’ll implode you just like I did with Atlas star!” Shalltear yelled while trying to struggle her way out of Max’s hug.

“Shh... It’s okay, no one can hurt you while I’m here. I won’t let anyone try,” Max whispered, still holding the struggling girl close as she brushed her fingers through Shalltear’s hair.

Rainbow, getting away from Lance and Lumen, flew quickly over and wrapped her arms around the girl and started nuzzling her cheek, cooing and nickering in an attempt of her own to calm the girl.

“.......Why…..why does everyone want to stop me?”

“Because, if you rush in now, you’ll only kill yourself. If you let your emotions free it will help to make you see more clearly.”

“Showing off your emotions is for idiots, those who see your emotions will take advantage of it.”

“Not if they’re truly your friends and family.” I paused as the girl’s struggling receded. “Lance and I are the truest family you’ll ever find.”

Shalltear gritted her teeth in annoyance as blood started to drool from the side of her mouth. “Let me go.”

“Please, You’re only hurting yourself by bottling all this up.”

“Like you would know! You’ve never been raped, drugged, humiliated, or used as a test subject for someone’s sick pleasure!” Tears of blood started to run down Shalltear’s face. “You didn’t have to go through that for the past few years of your life have you?!”

“No, but Rainbow was brutally beaten and raped by her parents. I was the one who found her tied to a stalagmite in a cave with both of her hind legs broken and her wings plucked of every single feather. Do you know how hard it is to see a six month old filly like that?”

“..........”

“It was hard to keep from breaking down and force myself to carry her to the medical wi-ng.” My eyes slowly filled with tears as I continued, “I can’t imagine what you went though, m-my heart breaks when I try t-to....”

Shalltear slightly turn her head to see me tearing up. Upon looking at my face, the crimson aura that was surrounding her vanished along with her anger. “Please…..let me go.”

I shook my head and buried my face into the girl’s shoulder. “You’ve been through so much and haven’t been able to fully absorb everything that’s happened. I-I...” I shook my head again before continuing in a whisper, "I can't help but picture Rainbow in your place..."

“N-no, please, just…..I just don’t want any kids like her near me….please.”

I nudged Rainbow to get her attention and motioned for her to go back to Lance. The filly nodded and said, “Okay, mama.” Before turning and floating towards the Adept.

“Thank you.”

I nodded again and whispered "You don't need to hold anything back now, I'll still be here." I placed a shield around us as I took the bracelet off the girl and placed it into my bag.

Once the bracelet was off, Shalltear turned around and placed her face onto my chest while hugging me tightly. “It’s not f-fair! What did I ever do to deserve this?! All I ever wanted was to be accepted by someone, yet all I get is rejection! It’s not fair!”

“Then you should look elsewhere for acceptance. There’s an entire multiverse out there, and yet you look to only one universe,” I said, stroking her hair as I pulled part of the ground up behind me with my magic to form a chair of sorts. I picked the girl up in my magic and placed her on my lap as I scooted back to lean against the earth I had disturbed.

“W-What do you mean?”

“I mean there are other Displaced out there you can call your friends. Medulla, Zinnia, Gilgamesh, Amaterasu....” I hesitated before adding, “And Lance and I would be glad to be your family.”

“How do I know they won’t betray me?”

“Because their hearts are too pure. ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ I haven’t met every Displaced out there, but the ones I named are just like me and will accept you if you give them the chance.”

“......Fine, I’ll do this friendship crap. Just as long as I don’t have to anything stupid like a weird dance or something.”

I giggled a bit at that thought. “No, you just need to hold their Token and call for them, my daughter.” My eyes widened as I thought, Shit.

“What did you just call me?”

I sighed and closed my eyes. “Yes, I-I... I see you as a daughter.”

“.....How old are you?”

“Not counting my time in stone, twenty-five as of last month.”

“Dammit, fine you can call me your daughter. But if you do I better not be forced to go clothes shopping in a place full of royal snobs.”

I smiled and hugged her a bit tighter. “Then it’s a good thing I’m the only ‘royal snob’ in my Equestria. Besides, I wasn’t into shopping for clothes before I got my gender switched.”

“Wait you’re a guy?!”

I broke the hug and gave her a reassuring smile. “Not since a few years into my imprisonment. I had been a guy before I met Nono and bought my camera from her back on earth.”

“.......Eh beggars can’t be choosers. At least you’re okay in my book, unlike two certain ponies that I hate the most.”

I nodded, my smile fading. “Celestia and Blueballs.” Sighing, I pulled out a picture of me and Celestia on our first date, smiling sadly at it. “Celestia and I actually forgave each other and got together in my universe.”

“It might take me a while to forgive my Celestia, which is why I’m pretty much keeping my distance from her. Mostly because if I am near her I will punch her face in…..a lot.”

“I won’t stop you. Some Celestias need a good punch or two to set them straight. But I’d suggest trying to write to her first; tell her your side fully and ask for her reasons for hurting you. There’s a chance this just a misunderstanding and talking could help to solve this problem.”

“She put me to sleep just because I killed Atlas Star and…..part of Equestria’s government members.”

“Seems to me they needed killing then. But it would’ve helped your case if you had gathered evidence against them first.” I shook my head, giving her a concerned look. “You aren’t the ultimate power here so you have to play by the laws. Otherwise you’ll be seen as nothing but a murderer, or worse.”

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t have control over my rage and anger for past few years of being experimented on. Not everyone can fight the effect of drugs at the age of 15 mind you.”

I gave her an apologetic smile. “I didn’t mean it like that.” I let a bit of curiosity seep onto my face as I bit my lip.

“And for the record I did show her the proof of what he did to me, yet she gave him a slap on the wrist and community service.”

My eyes hardened at that, enough that Shalltear flinched. I chastised myself and willed myself to calm before I said, “Then those deaths are on her hooves. She failed to fully understand and sympathize with you.” I hesitated for a moment, trying to gauge whether or not she would let me. “I do have a spell that could allow me to copy part of your memory, if you’d approve of me doing so.”

“I’ll allow it, but you can’t share with Lance. I’m still pissed that he was able to intrude on my thoughts.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes, “What did my fiance do?”

“I don’t know how he knew I got raped, but I do not like it when someone intrude on my thoughts and everything else. That is by far my third thing on the list of things I do not like.”

“He saw you about to-” I stopped and became deathly still, the air around us growing both hot and cold. In an almost emotionless voice I whispered, “You thought he was talking about your past, not what he saw when he first came here. I can assure you, he hadn’t known of your past and he can’t read minds unless he is touching someone. And even then it’s limited to surface thoughts and recent memories.”

“Still, he’s annoying and I don’t want him to know about it.”

I shook myself and forced my rage away, promising myself that I would be the one to kill Blueblood. “I can’t keep secrets from my lovers, not something as big as this that’s about our daughter.”

“Ugh, dammit fine. But I get a free punch to his face for pissing me off.”

I nodded before lighting my hand. As my hand neared her temple I stopped and looked into her eyes. “Are you sure I can copy some of those memories into a crystal?”

“Yes…..Just be careful when you do look through my memories. I went insane when I was placed in the coffin.”

I nodded again and pressed my fingers to her head, instantly being transported into her mind. I had expected it to be dimly lit with black or greys being the main color to her mind scape, which made it even more of a surprise when I stood before the gates of a candy-covered castle with stuffed animals lining the parapets and somehow marching along the tops of the walls. I turned around to try to see what they were protecting it from only to see a blood red ocean with a full - and red - moon peeking out from behind wispy clouds.

I bent down and scooped some of the water. I expected it to be coppery, but was pleasantly surprised when it tasted like fruit punch. “Huh, didn’t see this coming,” I said as I turned back to the castle and noticed a sign hanging on the gates that had a chibi version of Shalltear on it.

Before I could take a step forward on the sugar-sand beach, the image leaped from the sign and landed in front of me.

“Welcome to my happy place,” she said, snapping her fingers. The gates opened slowly as marshmallow elephants pulled on bars of chocolate.

“.... You do realize I’m not going to be able to take you seriously from now on, right?”

“Look this is only part of my mind that is still stable, and kept me somewhat sane for the past couple of years. So don’t judge me on how this place looks, do you want to see the hellish part of my mind then?”

“No, I guess I should’ve thought this wasn’t the full extent of your mind. But if this is your happy place, then the memories I’m looking to copy are in another castle.”

“.....The bad memories are inside the castle, just deep down in the chamber of remembrance.”

“Ah, then just show me the way. There is no reason to make you dig them up and destroy your castle.”

“It’s downstairs to the left. You’ll see the door that has the sign that says ‘Chamber of Remembrance’ on it.”

I nodded and started down the stairs. On the way I had to clear out black licorice soldiers - some making me think of different Heartless enemies from Kingdom Hearts - that were trying to escape from the depths beneath the castle. I made it through without taking a scratch to a circular room with thirteen windows along the wall, each displaying a different scene.

“Welcome to the chamber of remembrance.”

“You didn’t have to accompany me down here,” I said, turning back to watch chibi Shalltear walk up next to me.

“I’m the part of her that she created to help her cope with the living hell she went through.”

I smiled and knelt down to be at her eye level, putting my hand on her shoulder. “Then your job might get easier. I want to help her accept that this happened and try to start healing her mind.”

“That might be hard to do seeing how her mind has been…..warped. Personally if I had the ability I would erase everything and start out new for her.”

“It would be easier. But what would that mean giving up? She wouldn’t know anything about her past and would start asking questions, trying to figure out the mystery of her unusual birth. I wouldn’t keep anything from her and then she would come to resent me for my part in destroying who she was.”

“That may be true, but when you see her past you’ll begin to understand how her mind is now.”

I stood and turned towards the nearest window. “I’ll try my hardest to hold out hope that she can be healed from this.” As my hand neared the window I realized that I was about to jump into a memory with almost as much physical pain as Sephiroth’s without protection, and hesitated.

“We shall see.”

I steeled myself and touched the barrier.

Terror. Pain. I could barely see or hear, but I knew exactly who had chained me to his wall. Atlas.

Day after day, he came and beat me until I passed out and then beat me some more. I don’t know how long I was-

I gasped and fell to the floor, clutching at my heart. “F-fuck...” I pushed myself up onto my knees, trying to calm myself.

“After Celestia gave Atlas custody over Shalltear, everything went to hell for her. What you are seeing now is her being beat upon by the prick.”

“S-she....” I felt my anger flare again, actually wanting to hurt my former lover. I forced my feelings down as I stood. “I don’t care about seeing the rest, I’m going to copy them all and shove them down her throat.” I lit my hand and split the window in front of me in half, copying it in its entirety before moving to the next and doing the same, not glancing at the memory itself as the window had everything I needed to know already displayed. “THIS is the pony Celestia trusted with a fifteen year old girl?” I hissed. “She’ll know how much suffering she put my daughter through!”

“The more you look into the memories, the more things will get…...gruesome and awful as the months go by. What you saw was her getting beat up for the first month.”

My hands clenched and I fixed the chibi with a death glare. “Don’t. You’re just making this worse for her. She’s lucky I’m only going to force these memories upon her.” I stepped over to the next and repeated the process. The rest went by with her not saying anything and once I was finished I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. Damn, I used almost twice what I set my limit at. I shook my head to clear it and cancelled the spell holding me in her mind.

“So…..I take it you saw my past?”

“Enough of it. Your little protector led me to the memories and told me what Celestia had done.” I lifted the thirteen materia from my lap and set them in an orbit around me. “I’m going to shove these up her ass so she knows what she put you through,” I said with a growl.

“You might want to show Princess Luna, that and along with Twilight and her friends.”

“They can pull them from Celestia’s broken mind for all I care! No one should be treated like that.”

“I want you to show them it first before you show them to Celestia. I want her to know what it’s like to lose someone’s trust and seeing how I can’t kill her, this is the closest thing to revenge I can get.”

I snarled, but turned to pace, slowly getting my rage under control. “Fine! But I won’t be able to copy any more of the memories, I’ve gone past my limit for today.”

“You do know you could’ve asked Princess Luna to do that right?”

I slowed to a stop, knowing she was right and hating it. “I know. I would’ve had to teach her the correct spell, though.” I took a deep breath and sighed, breaking down my shield. “Let’s go find her then.”

Sephiroth facepalmed hard enough to cause a shockwave, that sounded with a loud slapping noise. “Great. First Max tells me that I’m part Succubus and now I learn that you both forgot to mention one of your children?”

“It did feel like we were forgetting something last day,” I said as she led Shalltear over, thirteen materias floating around me.

“Wait, you’re part wha-?” Lance’s comment though was interrupted when a powerful punch from Shalltear smashed into his face and sent him into the wall.

“Well I feel a little bit better after doing that.”

The silver haired woman, holding Rainbow in her arms, still, nodded towards Shalltear in appreciation. “Thanks, I think I needed that, too.”

“You’re welcome. No offense Lance, but you were kinda annoying me to some degree earlier.”

“Yeah… my apologies.” The Adept groaned, stumbling out of the wall. “So, what do we do now?”

My expression darkened and I said, “We show Celestia exactly how she hurt our newest daughter.”

“Still finding weird that I’m being called your daughter, even though we're not blood related.”

Lance sighed, clicking a button on his communicator. “What about adopted daughter?”

“That’s what I meant,” I snapped. “I’m still going to call you my daughter regardless.”

“Fine, but don’t expect me to call you two mom or dad.”

“I wasn’t expecting that at all, Lady Bloodfallen.” Lance complied.

Sephiroth just shrugged. “Well, I won’t do it if you don’t want to. I just got four children yesterday and learned of a fifth right before you punched him.” She gestured in Lance’s direction. “So I’m a little overwhelmed right now.”

“Hey I don’t need to be looked after you know? I can take care of myself, hell I even got my own house over there,” Shalltear said.

“And Max is royalty.”

“Already told her that,” I said before pointing to Lance’s communicator, which was vibrating. “Looks like Aurora wants to say something.” Lance smiled, letting Aurora come out to say hello to everyone.

“Who won?” She asked, “If Lance is dead I don’t wanna stay here.”

“No one is dead, Aurora.” Lance deadpanned.

“Not yet, anyways,” I added, spotting a white figure in one of the castle’s windows. I teleported over to just outside the window and drew a circle on the glass.

The window shattered except for inside the circle I had drawn, which fell and broke anyways as I pulled Princess Celestia out and threw her towards the group.

A completely black wing erupted from Sephiroth's back and with one flap she brought herself into the path of the flying alicorn, totally halting her movement with a single hand to her throat, while still holding onto Rainbow and not budging one inch.

“What in the name of Faust is going on here!?” Celestia asked as she fell to the ground.

“We just need to talk to the princess, however, business hours are closed.” Lance sighed. “Princess, we need to talk to you about something important-.”

“This isn’t about that measly worm, Blueblood,” I said, pulling one of the materias from its orbit around me. “This is about Atlas.”

“The guy from Astro? Why? He wasn’t that fun of a villain…” Aurora commented randomly.

“Wrong Atlas…”

“Bioshock’s Atlas?”

“No. It’s a Pony named Atlas Star.” Lance deadpanned. “Anyways…”

“It’s payback time jerkface!” Shalltear said looking at Celestia with a smug look on her face.

“You!” That was all Celestia could get out before I pushed the crystal into her head, forcing her to take in the memories. “W-What was that? What did you just do to me?” She asked with a mix of shock and surprise on her face.

“I believe Shalltear can answer that.” Lance sighed, crossing his arms. Aurora hovered behind him and copied his crossed arms look mockingly and nodded once.

“One down, twelve to go,” I said in an almost emotionless voice, pulling the rest all at once and pressed them into the mare’s horn.

“Like I told you before, Celestia, this is the stuff that jerk you gave me away to did to me for the past 13 months. I even had physical proof of what he did all over my body, but you still gave him a less if not harsher punishment than what I got.”

“If it weren’t for me or anyone else here, your nephew might have forced her to relive those same pains,” Lance added on. “They don’t see her for a living being. Unlike us, they only see Shalltear as property.”

I fixed Celestia with a glare, “I didn’t see more than a fourth of that first slab of memories I gave you. I couldn’t stand more than that. If you can watch all of that and still not give that entire line a death sentence, then you aren’t fit to wear that crown at all.”

Celestia shook her head as she tried to regain her composure. Seconds later she pulled herself up from the ground while whipping some of the dirt off herself. “Be that as it may, what Shalltear did was against the law. Not on-.”

“She acted because you did nothing!” I shouted, slapping her into the lake. Celestia skipped several times before finally sinking into the water near the opposite shore. Instantly regretting it as I felt my back cramp a bit.

“Wow… I heard of the phrase knocking some sense into her, but that is beyond me.” Lance sighed. “Remind me never to tick you off.”

“Duly noted,” Aurora said. “She seems a bit of a… Moronic, is the best way I can describe it.”

“Which one?”

“The one currently drowning,” I said, stretching my back. “Dammit...”

“Easy there Max,” Lance said, standing by her side. “You should take a rest. Don’t overdo yourself.”

Sighing, the one winged woman snapped her fingers, making a room-full of water appear with Celestia in it. “Oh… woops.” She snapped again and the water vanished, leaving the Alicorn behind.

“I can’t help it. I just-...” I sighed and shook my head. “It was just my hormones taking over there.”

“Just try not to wreck the place please? I still have a home here, and I prefer not to have it get destroyed.” Shalltear said while petting one of her shadow wolves for comfort. “Plus I don’t think Princess Luna would like that you killed her sister like that.”

“Speaking of Luna, where is she?” Lance asked, curious to find out the answer.

“Over here.” Luna said while watching from the sidelines. “Not to interrupt or anything, but why are you beating the living daylights out of my sister?”

“Take a look at Shalltear’s memories I gave her,” I growled, giving Celestia another glare.

“Oh... right…”

“Wait you knew about what happened to me?” Shalltear asked focusing her attention at the moon princess. “When did you do that?”

“During your stay at Canterlot when Nightshade told me that you were having a nightmare.”

“So, you can walk into others dreams…” Lance summarized. “That sounds very handy… at times.”

“So you knew of this and you did nothing?” I snapped. “Why didn’t you share that with your dear sister?”

“It’s kinda hard to talk with your sister when she’s too stubborn and hard-headed to listen.”

“I could knock some more sense into her if you want.” I raised a fist and half-turned back to Celestia.

Sephiroth chose this moment to firmly place a hand on my shoulder, holding her in place. “Max. I can understand that you are furious, but do you really want to get any more violent in front of your children?”

I growled once more but lowered my fist, visibly forcing herself to calm some. “Go look at some of the memories. It’s far worse than what was done to you.”

“I’m not doubting that, not for a single second. But this won’t help for real in the long run. None of them.” She exerted a little pressure on my shoulder. “Celestia is to blame for a lot of what happened, but she wasn’t the one hurting Shalltear. If she has to answer for that, then it should be to the victim, not to you.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming a bit more. “Here I thought you would be the one at her throat for letting a fifteen year old girl get raped who knows how many times.”

“You know me, Max. I’m struggling not to draw my sword. But I won’t ever deny a victim his or her compensation for pain and suffering. Also I think that we should not outright kill a princess in another universe, at least not before checking for other options.”

“I wasn’t going to kill her. I actually thought she’d at least faint from seeing what Shalltear went through.”

Lance watched as the two of them continue to talk. Then, when the two of them were taking a breath, he then spoke. “I know that what happened was over 1000 years ago, but Celestia should be held responsible for not dealing with the situation properly. Rape is a serious crime and it isn’t something that you just give someone community service for. However, we are only outsiders and therefore, should not bother with this world’s affairs. I believe Luna would be the best candidate to deal with the situation.”

“That is true, but I think Shalltear should be the one that decides on a suitable punishment for my sister. Wouldn’t you agree?” Luna said.

“Like I said before, I think it’s up to Shalltear. So yeah, I agree.” Turning her head to face the girl in question, Sephiroth nodded.

“My only concern with that is that Shalltear would want to punish them by killing them because of how angry she is on the matter,” The Adept brought up to the three of them. “What if the two of you came to a compromise?”

“I’d rather have Blueblood’s head on a platter,” I said, giving Celestia a dirty look.

The one winged woman looked into Shalltear’s eyes for a moment, before closing hers. “If she wants to kill them, then it should be this way. I trust in her judgement, because she is more than capable of handling her own situations and considering the consequences of her decisions. She won’t condemn a pony to death on a whim, or if they don’t truly deserve it.”

Shalltear appeared right in front of Celestia with her spear pointed at her throat. “Every fiber in my being wants me to kill you for what you did to me.” She said as she lowered her lance. “But seeing how I’m friends with Luna, I’ll let you live for the time being. Blueblood on the other hand dies along with his bloodline, unless there are decent ponies in his family tree that aren’t jerks then they will serve me until the end of time.”

“Hmm… Luna, do you have a scroll on the bloodline of Blueblood? So Shalltear can look through it when she has the time?”

“They’re in the Canterlot archives, I’ll get them tomorrow seeing that it’s nighttime and I have to deal with my former nephew,” Luna said.

“I guess that settles that then.” Lance sighed, looking back at Shalltear, who was with his two fiance’s. “Max, Seph. Make sure to help Shalltear with getting her token ready and give her yours too. Aurora, Lumen and I are going to have to depart. We have some work to do back where we are from.”

“Who’s ‘Seth’?” Asked Aurora.

“She’s mine and Lance’s fiance,” I said, gesturing to the woman beside me. “And her nickname is Seph, not Seth.”

“Right. Aurora, you ready to go back to Scootaloo?”

Aurora floated there for a moment, then, “You two have a weirder love life than Aunt Rarity’s fantasy’s.”

“Just be lucky that she didn’t hear you say that.” He sighed, waving goodbye. “Max, Seph, I’ll see you back in your world later, okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

Lance, before he left, hugged his children and kissed both me and Seph before he looked at Shalltear. “I hope to see you again soon. Just make sure to behave yourself.”

“I make no promises, but I’ll try not to cause that much trouble.”

Lance smiled, messing with her hair a little. “I mean with your new brothers and sisters.”

“Oh... great.”

Sephiroth fixed Lance with a stare. “I need to talk to you before you leave. Preferably alone.”

“Oh? You want to talk someplace private?” He offered to Seph.

“Yes.” Her tone was dead serious and she handed Rainbow over to me before walking towards Lance. The two of them began to walk, but then, Lance realized something. “Hey, Aurora. Lumen. Seph wanted this as a private talk. No exceptions.”

“Aww… Okay.” The Breezie said, before floating over to Dash’s nose.

“Request received.” Aurora droned, then shook her head, “I- I mean, sure thing!”

“So…...what did he mean by helping me make a token?” Shalltear asked.

“A token is something you send out to allow others to call on you for help or to just talk with another human,” I explained, gesturing for the group to head towards the castle. “It has to be something unique or personal. Something that will remind the one summoning you of you alone. Take mine for example, it’s nothing more than a picture of me, but that’s enough for others to summon me.”

“So I just need some kind of object and then other displaced humans can summon me?”

“Not if you just have the object, no. You have to give it a phrase of sorts saying who you are and how someone can summon you. It would be a good idea to limit who all can summon you, as well.”

“Okay.” Shalltear snapped her fingers as a bat plushie appeared in front of her. “I am The Bloody Valkyrie, Shalltear Bloodfallen. If you need any assistance depending on what it is, then let me know and I’ll help…..just don’t piss me off or summon me when I’m asleep.” The countess said as she turned her attention at Max. “Like that?”

“Yeah. Now you just need to get it into the Void.”

“And where do we find one? Incase you haven’t notice I can’t just summon one up seeing how the elements of harmony locked away most of my magic.”

“That’s easy, the one that Displaced you will open a portal to the Void for it if you toss your token away,” I said, opening a door into the palace and holding it.

“O-Okay, but can you do it for me then?” Shalltear asked as she began to stagger a bit. “I-I’m starting to get really tired from all today and I just want to go home and sleep it off until tomorrow.”

I smiled and lit my hand, picking the girl up and placing her in my arms. “Alright. Let’s get you to bed, then.”

“T-Thanks.” The countess said as she fell asleep in my arms.

“I believe I will take my leave seeing how you seem to have the situation under control.” Said Luna as she begun to fly off into night heading off back to Canterlot. Celestia said nothing but glared at Shalltear before she too flew off to Canterlot, but not before saying something to the human.

“Sooner or later that vampire will hit her breaking point in whatever sanity she has left. And when she does, I will have no problem killing her if she goes on a massacre throughout Equestria again.”

I glared after her but soon looked down at Shalltear, a sympathetic expression slowly making its way onto my face. “You’ve been through too much for someone of your age,” I whispered, pulling a chunk off a cloud and shadows from the dark corners of the hallway. Even though I was using more magic, I had to do this for her.

I slowly molded the cloud into the same shape as the plushie she held close to her chest and wrapped it in the shadows, solidifying it just enough to give it the same texture and give as the toy. As I replaced the toy with my copy I said, “If ever you are lonely or feel your sanity start slipping, please hold this close to your heart and I shall come, my daughter.”

I opened a small portal and dropped her token in as I walked through the castle, eventually finding her room and setting her in her bed. I tucked the blanket under her chin and gave her forehead a kiss. “Sweet dreams, Shalltear.”

Author's Notes:

This is a crossover with ElementBrigade's story The Blood Countess