“Let me educate you on the goddesses, ya heathen.” A swift back hoof wiped my cheek, sending pain through my jaw and to my skull and neck. Shamrock was being anything but gentle, but I’d come to expect that. “Well over a thousand years ago, one thousand two hundred and ten to be exact, Celestia and Luna saved pony kind from themselves.” She looked me in the eyes, hers bleeding, and the strange dark magic came from it. Yet this time when I looked at it, the hallucinations did not come, just an overwhelming feeling of oppression. “For pony kind was flawed, and summoned evil to themselves do to their bickering. Why? For sin was in their nature. To lie, to betray, to plot against each other.”

I had long stopped struggling, the layers of duct tape kept me tied to this chair like an annoyingly itchy second skin. The three pirates had me made long before I had regrouped with them,and though they had no idea what my plan was, they knew I had one. And now I was bound to a chair, enduring a beating, as they lectured me on their stupid religion.

I struggled to keep my mind focused. It wasn’t that their hits hurt for long, but I was just so celestia damned hungry. I really should have abandoned them to their fate, but no, I had to keep my promise. As soon as we’d gotten to the center of the residential district of the stable, they turned on me. The ghouls closed in, but they didn’t care, they beat me with the butt of their guns until I was unconscious.

I had awakened a little bit later, bound to a chair in the overmare’s office. Shamrock ranting and hitting me wasn’t the most pleasant way to come to, and she definitely didn’t care if I was awake or not. I don’t know how long she kept on betting me, all I could think was how I was glad Harp did not have to go through this.

Spitting blood on the floor, I looked back up at Shamrock. “Can you shut up? Your superstitious idiocracy is giving me a headache.”

I swear I saw a blood vessel bulge on her head, though it could easily been one in my eye.

“That's it, exactly it.” She grabbed my head in her fenlocks, and pulled herself face to face with me. “That's the arrogance that brought pony kind to its doom. not once, not twice, but for all eternity until we all learn from the goddesses great example. And that's why we must free Luna, so that our kind can be united once more.” Her hooves shook like a drug addict going into withdraw. Her eyes were intense, enhanced by the green color of them, surrounded by blood shot red. If madness was enough explain how Shamrock looked, I would not have been as worried as i was.

Frankly, I was simply glad that I didn't piss myself, as that gaze frightened me more than anything I’d ever seen in my life.

Shamrock let me go, and scurried away over to a thick book. “Yes,Thorn saw as much. How bathed in sin we are. How we were responsible for the goddesses deaths, and how we must cleanse ourselves.” She flipped through the pages like a mad mare, her bloody tears falling onto the open book. “The false profits, so eager to find a simple solution, to reject faith itself. Ponykind turned to six false profets for answers, and it lead them to their destruction.” Shamrock looked up at me, a overly wide grin on her face. “It’s only through pain and suffering that we learn the truth. And you? You have not felt enough pain and suffering to know the true glory of the light of the goddesses.”

I was not liking were this was going. Doing my best to look around with my swollen eyes, I saw Blackspot looking out the overmare’s window, and Couteau sitting in the overmars chair. The room itself looked like it had not been cleaned in around two hundred years, which made sense. Dust coated absolutely everything in the room, and there were plenty of boxes filled with random junk. Through my blurry vision, I saw one box had something glowing red inside, and it almost made me think a sparkle-lurker had gotten inside.

After slapping me again, Shamrock continued. “Pay attention heathen, or must I start from the beginning… wait… I might as well.” She opened up the large book, flipping through pages. “Here it is, the founding of Equestria. You see, long ago we were all divided, fighting among each other. Our disharmony summoned demons to us, the windigos, who fed on our flesh, knowing we could not fight them when divided as we were. Then Celestia and Luna, the goddesses, descended from the havens. Knowing that to survive we needed their guidance, they used their righteous power to banish the windigos, and in doing so, showed ponykind the error of their ways. Under their banner, they founded Equestria. And under their guidance, we had a thousand years of peace, with all the other nations of the world too weak to do anything but covet the glory of the goddesses.”

“That's not how I remember the hearth's warming eve story” I told her.

“Of course you haven’t, Heathen.” Shamrock rolled her blood shot eyes. “You’ve been fed the lies of the false profets in order to obscure the light of truth. Those who hid it from you are the very ponies who destroyed equestria. They want you do deny the divinity of the goddesses, to see then as simply mortal ponies that had flaws, and sinned just like any other pony.” Another sharp slap hit my face, knocking me over. “Lies, all of it. The goddesses were perfect, flawless to the point of being above the understanding of mere simple ponies. They did their best to guide us, and we betrayed then. We took comfort in the words of false profets, and forsook the blessed light in favor of reveling in our own sins.”

I felt Shamrock lift me up with her magic, placing me back upright. All of this was bad. The pain, the captivity, but worse of all, don’t think Shamrock’s ranting was enough evidence to give to Red.

She continued. “Six false profits, trying to stray ponies from the path of pain and power. Making ponies soft, letting us forget the true reason why equestria was formed.”

I took a deep breath and smiled. “You profit is a whore.”

Magic gripped around me, and I flew through the air and smashing against the wall. I hit the floor, still unfortunately bound to the now bent chair. At least I knew the chair was made of metal now, though that fact didn’t help me right now.

“You hold your tongue, heathen!” Shamrock sounded absolutely livid, her magic pressing down evenly across my body as she tried to crush me.

I would have laughed if it didn't hurt to do so.

“Enough!” Blackspot shouted, and Shamrock stopped trying to use her magic to flatten me. The sound of a bottle of cola being opened made me annoyed. The asshole was drinking the sparkle-cola I had found. “We can't have her falling unconscious, not until she tells us what she’s planning.”

“Sorry, Blackspot” Shamrock stepped back, her head low. “I mistakenly let my faith in the goddesses to get the better of me.”

I looked up, my eyes having a hard time focusing, but I could see that Blackspot was looking at me. Slowly, he trotted over, still holding the bottle of cola. I could tell he was looking down at me, grinning.

The sensation of water hitting my face surprised me, the fizzling sound near my ears told me it was the cola hitting me.

“From the moment I laid my eyes on you, I knew you were going to be difficult. Not the first I’ve had to break, as the fleet produces a lot of difficult mares. It’s more of a bother than a pleasure, I assure you of that. The soft mares of heathen lands however, are so much more fun to break. A little torture here, a rape there, and maybe gut a pony they know in front of them just to really drive the point home.” The sound of glass cola bottle braking made me finch, and the feeling of a sharp object on my throat made me freeze. “But the truly difficult mares? You have to grind them down and don’t stop when they give in. That’s a trap. You have to utterly destroy who they are, kill the mare they were, and rebuild them into what they need to be. After that, destroy them again, and rebuild them from there.”

I twisted my body until I could look Blackspot in the eyes, the broken bottle cutting into my neck. “You do know you’re fucked up right?”

He smiled. “It’s part of being strong, Victoria taught me that.” He eased the pressure on my neck. “It also helps with the evil eye. It’s hard to make a pony fear you when you don’t know fear yourself. I mean, waching a pony be torchered to near death is one thing. It makes one uneasy, but you can only care so much about others before you become numb to their pain. But feeling it for yourself, actually sharing what it’s like to suffer like that?” He looked back at me, his bleeding eyes meeting my own. “That's how you truly learn fear.”

A sensation of fire slowly crept through my body, like something was crawling through my skin. I couldn't move to see what was happening to me, but I could feel it. The longer it went on, more of them I could feel under my skin. Blackspot pulled out a scalpel, waving it in front of me before waking out of view. Pain in my gut was all I needed to feel to know what was happening to me, the pain only getting worse as he slowly cut my belly open.

“Well that's no good.” Theremin said, sounding disappointed. Her face popes in view, blood splatter on her face. “Looks like you caught a bug.” she pulled into view what looked like a ponies lower intestines, on it were wiggling wires, borrowing into the flesh like hungry worms. It was then a wire wiggled out from under my eye, then another, and another.

“Stop!” I shouted as it all became too much to bear

It all faded away, and Black stop tapped me with the broken bottle. “Good, now tell me where the stupid princess ran off too, and what are you planning.”

I spat in his face and laughed as my body was again wracked with pain.

Blackspot frowned. “If you want to do it the hard way, then we can do it that way. Your turn Couteau, I need time to ready my mind.”

Couteau spun the seat around as she clapped her hooves together giddily. “Can I break her face?”

“I don’t want to waste the healing potions on fixing it.” Blackspot responded flatly.

She hopped over the desk, and landered her hooves near my face. “A shame! And here I wanted to add another scar to that face of yours, the one on your lip could use the company.”

“Sorry, can you speak up?” I wondered if I could make her actually hit me, to see if I could get Blackspot angry at her. “It’s so hard to hear you with that small cock in your mouth.”

Couteau didn’t move, just looked down at me and smiled. “Not very witty, not at all.” She then looked away, almost blushing. “I hate how he looks at you, more than I hate how you don’t look at me. After the moment of lust we shared, I thought we had a spark.”

Wait, what? What the fuck was she talking about?

Two hooves clamped down on my throat, pressing down hard and restricting my ability to breath. I gasped for air, only for Couteau to kiss me, further restricting my ability to breath. My body was still too tightly bound to resist, and so the kiss continued. It lasted second, a minute, I had a hard time counting as I started to black out.

Before I faded completely, the pressure was released, and my mouth became unblocked they the tongue of crazy. Coughing, I gasped for air, taking as much in as possible. Fucking crazy bitch.

“Get… some… therapy.” I was starting to honestly think all the fucking pirates were bat shit insane.

“How about a deal?” Couteau lifted her dress a little, showing more leg to me like she was some show mare trying to get a rise out of some repressed pony. “Make me feel good, and I’ll make you feel good. A little give and take before Blackspot has his way with you. Interested, No?”

“No.” I responded. “I got enough crazy in my life as it is.”

“Fine then, be a bitch!” She punched me in the gut. I must have already puked up the food from before, as the hit made me start dry heaving. Bile coated my throat, and assaulted my tongue, all of it burned slightly. Couteau grabbed my head and looked into my eyes. The bloody tears dripped from her eyes onto mine. “Feel it!”

Chains bust from the floor, and wrapped around me, tightening around my neck, waist, and legs. They pulled me in different directions, as the floor became a mass of pony legs, reaching out to me, pulling at the chains. I felt something else, something rubbing on my backside.

“I think some bloodied corpse is going to rape you.” Theremin pushed through the floor of legs, her lower torso still nothing but cables and wires. “Doesn't that sound fun?”

“Not fucking at all!” I growled back.

“Then then why are you letting it happen?” Heremin tilted her head. “It’s not like this is the worst thing you’ve felt. Why don’t I remind you?”

Everything began to slow down, the feeling at my backside stopped, and the legs pushing through the floor began to melt. Everything began to melt, and turned to… water. Below me was a body of water, and below that were corpses, so many corpses, a sea of corpses. The dead mirage ponies were beckoning me to join them, waving their hooves like nothing was wrong. It was all wrong, bloated dead flesh in that unknown below, reaching out for me to give in.

I fell. I fell into the water, and all I could do was look up, and try to swim. But my legs were gone, and I could feel the ponies below. They grabbed at me, dragging me down, further and futher under. Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama…

“Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama.” Couteau repeated the words as she curled herself up into a tight ball. Shamrock stood over her, trying to shake her out of it. I blinked as the visions dissipated and left me back in the real world. I didn’t understand what had just happened, but I was just glad that my mental hellscape was gone.

“Ya miserable cunt!” Shamrock threw her book at me, and it slammed into my head. “What have you done to Couteau. I should skin ya for that, turn your pelt into a rug.”

“That's enough.” Blackspot said calmly, trotting over to me. “It's obvious that pain and threats will not do the trick. Like I said, mares like her need to be ground down.” He grabbed my cheeks, playful rubbing them. “And if we just had the time, I would do just, that. So, I’ll just have to use another trick I have up my sleeve.” Once again, he forced me to look at him in the eyes. The green in his eyes brightened and flickered, almost looking like a flame of pure malice.

Everything began to twist, melt, and dim, like the world was becoming undone. It all blended together, becoming a mass of darkness that swallowed me whole. Again, I was drag down away from the light, and pulled into a deep dark abyss.

Everything became silent, still, calm. Whatever Blackspot had done, I was going to endure it.

The sound of a door opening caught me off guard. It was the strained creek of hinges, not the loud hiss of hydraulics. “Oh, who’s this now. Let me turn on the light.” It was the voice of a mare, and not of any pony I recognized.

With a click, a light turned on, reveling me to be in an empty wooden room. The mare was dressed similar to the other pirate's, though much cleaner. Her coat was a grayish blue, her mane was a strait platinum blond, and she had three hair clips keeping it in place. Her cutie-mark was visible as well, and seemed similar to the symbol of the pirate’s fleet, though with sinister differences. The vine of thorns formed a noose, and inside the noose was all red with a green orb at the center, very much like the bleeding eyes of the Corps Brigaders. Just seeing the cutie-mark clued me into that I was dealing with somepony dangerous,

“Who are you, and what did Blackspot do?” I asked.

“I see.” The mare looked at me and shook her head with a disappointed sigh. “That fool’s come crying to me once again. What is it this time? Need me to get Carving Doll to not beat him halfway to death? Too bad, he needs to take his punishment.” Looking down at me, she reached out a hoof, and helped me up. “Names Victoria Rosary, and you are?”

“Vibrap…” Victoria’s hoof slammed into my face like it was made of iron. I rolled along the floor, hitting the wall. Everything hurt, and I was sure she broke my nose.

“I don't actually care.” Victoria stretched, popping a few bones. “For that runt of an apprentice to mindscape call me, and then to send some random mare… oh, that clever sneaky fucker.”

I pushed myself up, wiping the blood off my nose. “That name, you’re the corps brigade’s boss, aren’t you?” I tried to focus on her, but I was seeing double. “How is this possible?”

“Guilty.” She answered as she bowed. “As for how, it's a little trick called the a mindscape call, basically like long range telepathy, but giving the ponies a way to see each other.” My vision finally focused, only to see a wide smile on her face. “But, there's one problem.”

“And that is?” I didn't feel well, and I had a strong feeling I was about to find out why.

“Not any pony can do it. It takes a lot of training and conditioning.” Victoria pointed to her head. “Otherwise it overloads your brain.”

Shit, that's not good. “What does Blackspot seek to accomplish with...”

It was in a blink of an eye, but Victoria had closed the distance, uppercutting my chest. The blow was enough to lift me off my hooves, and when I landed, all I could do was collapse to the ground.

“My guess, he wants to induce a little brain damage. Don’t worry, if you've been given my gift, you’ll recover. But for a few days you will be like a zombie, compliant to every command.”

Taking a deep breath, I rolled away, and pushed myself back up. Taking a fighting posture, I wasn't going to get caught off guard again. “Not going to happen, how do I break this spell.”

The mare laughed. “That's cute.” She lunged, and I took a step back, and countered with my own hoof strike. Victoria slightly adjusted her body, and our hooves collided. For a split second I thought I at least matched her, then my leg exploded to pieces, metal flying everywhere. “Just accept your fate, and trust in the goddesses grand plan.”

I looked at what was left of the power hoof cyber leg. It was nothing more than scattered bits of metal across the room, now truly nothing more than scrap. There was no way a mare could be this strong, no way. I took a deep breath and looked at her, and it finally clicked. Of course there was no way this was possible, it wasn’t real, nor was the pain. “The goddesses plan? You mean the plan your fake prophet had made.”

Another hoof strike came at me, only stopping a hair's breadth from my nose. “Dangerous words for a heathen to speak. Maybe after Blackspot is done with you, I’ll present your head to the bishop, she's always looking for new skulls of blasphemers to decorate her temple with.”

“How can you’ve all have become so messed up?” The level of psychotic dysfunctionality each of these pirates had was hitting comic book villain levels. I really was starting feel like I was going crazy by proxy. Harp and I needed to get away from the fleet sooner than later.

“It’s not an outrageous question to ask.” Victoria sighed. “There's an actual answer to that, not that I feel like telling you it.” She smiled, and pulled back her hoof behind her head. “Now I need to decompress, so be a good punching bag, and stay still.”

“Thorn Roseland!” The voice of Slowtrot caught me off guard. No just me, but Victoria too, she had frozen for a moment, before turning to look at the purple stallion. “Of course you're still around.” Slowtrot lowered his gaze at Victoria. “At least that means you can still pay for the crimes you've committed.”

I watched as Victoria sized up Slowtrot, her eyes scanning him, then stopping, focusing. Following her gaze, it was his pipbuck, the one Snowbird said belonged to Thorn. “Where did you get that?” Victoria pointed at the oversized pipbuck.

Slowtrot didn't break his gaze. “You already know the answer, you're the one who put it up for auction in the first place.”

Victoria’s eyes refocused on Slowtrot, becoming a murderous glare. “I’m. not. Thorn.” she growled.

“You could have fooled me.” Slowtrot responded.

Victoria roared, her voice hurting my ears. “Die cur!” She lunged at Slowtrot, sending a heavy hoof strike at his head. Slowtrot didn’t move, didn't even defend himself. When her hoof made contact, it and the rest of Victoria passed right through him. She tumbled to the ground and slammed into the wall just behind the stallion.

Slowtrot then laughed, and trotted over me. “Sadly for you and me, Thorn, I'm a ghost. And last I'd heard, you can't punch a ghost.”

Victoria got up, still glaring. “Who, and how?”

Turning around he placed a hoof on his chest. “My name's Slowtrot.” then lifted his oversized pipbuck. “And you would be surprised what crazy things this ministry hardware can do.”

“Alright Slowtrot, I’ll remember that name, but remember mine, is Victoria Rosary.” She folded her legs, taking a more relaxed position. “I take it that Blackspot is about to be subdued.”

“Victoria Rosary.” He repeated before nodding.

Victoria sighed. “Again a disappointment.” She clapped her hooves together and smiled. “You know what, I like you. I don't know what it is, but I get the feeling that you’re trouble. The fun kind of trouble at least. If we ever were to meet up, I'd buy you a drink.”

“I doubt it will happen, being a ghost and all.” Slowtrot paused for a moment, and shrugged. “Also, I get the strong feeling you would just shoot me in the back. But in case you keep missing it, being a ghost means I can’t be hurt.”

She smiled, as though admitting that she did plan on shooting him the back. “Then it's settled. I'll find you, buy you a drink, and dig you a grave.”

“Don't bother with that last part, already got myself a grave… I probably should fill that back in.” Slowtrot turned back around, offering me a hoof. “Ready to go, miss Vibraphone?”

I was done with this weirdness, and took Slowtrot’s hoof. The world swirled, everything mixing together, and a sensation of falling overtook me.

Pain. I could feel pain in all four of my mechanical legs. My body was bound like before, so I knew I was back in the overmare’s office. Opening my eyes, I had the distinct dread that I was blind in my right eye, but I could still see clearly enough through the left.

Blackspot was on the floor, his heavy religious tome on his bleeding head. His mouth oozed blood, and a peace of his tongue layed on the floor in front of him. Standing above Blackspot was Slowtrot, the ghost looking a bit exhausted.

Slowtrot smiled, and trotted over to me, pulling out a knife. “Sorry, one of those crazy mares gave me some trouble. If it was not for Ironbuck here, I’d be a dead pony.” He cut me free, and as soon as I got on all four legs, I tipped over. After everything, my balance was more than just a bit off.

“What are you doing here? You need to protect Harp.” I took the time to slowly get back up, my balance even slower to normalize.

“Well she woke up and started yelling at me. Somehow she nearly caused Ironbuck here to overload.” He pointed at his oversized pipbuck. “Oddest thing, my memory is a lot less foggy now, and I feel like she’s the one I should thank for that.”

I looked around the room, seeing Couteau still curled up into into a ball. Shamrock laid as a lump next to the overmare’s window. The window itself, though it still held its shape, had been shattered, a bloody spot being a clear sign where Shamrocks head must have smashed into it. All my stuff was thrown into into a corner, to which I trotted over to pick them up.

Though I still felt unsteady, to my credit, I only nearly fell over once.

“Nice!” Slowtrot picked up a tool case that had the stable-tec logo boldly printed on it. “It's a full pipbuck maintenance set.” He threw it onto his back. “Back in Applewood this would sell for a bundle!”

I shrugged and gathered all my stuff. There were only two bottles of sparkle-cola left. I didn't really care, but it still annoyed me that the three asshole took them.

And then it hit me. All three were incapacitated, and their bleeding eyes crap must be enough evidence for Red. Pulling out Lunar Eclipse, and Solar Eclipse, I got myself ready for what must be done. First was the ringleader, I trotted up to Blackspot, kicking off the book.

“Miss Vibraphone.” Slowtrot stood at the door, a look of concern on his face.

“Don’t try to stop me, we need to remove this problem.” I had Lunar Eclipse press down on Blackspots head.

“Vibraphone!” Slowtrot shouted, but I was not going to be dissuaded.

“Minerva, fire.” The revolver went off, making my ears ring. Blackspot… remained unharmed, the point blank shot missed.

“She's on your back, Vibraphone.” Slowtrot informed me.

The vision over my right eye cleared as a black hoof lifted from it. Now with both eyes, I could see that I was aiming at the ground, and not at Blackspot. “Don't you hate that, your pipbuck gives you a ninety nine percent chance to hit, and you still miss.” Phobetor whispered softly into my ear.

I bucked, trying to get her off me, but the nightmare didn't budge. “Get off you spectral bitch.”

Phobetor laughed. “Why do you keep struggling, just give up, give yourself to me.”

I felt hooves grab me, and I was thrown out of the room. Slowtrot dove out of the room after me, like he was getting away from a grenade.

A hiss came from Phobetor. “You can't win.” Looking back inside the office, she was now hovering over the overmares desk, her golden eyes glaring at us. “Trust me on that, I will be free.” With a wave of her hoof, the door closed with force, faster and harder then I’d ever seen a hydraulic door close.

I pushed myself against the wall, and took a deep breath. “I forgot about her.” I breathed.

“Same here.” Slowtrot got up onto all fours. “Sorry for tossing you like that, It was all I could think to do. I figured she had power in places connected to her.”

I looked at Slowtrot, and got a feeling of shame on his face. “Why do you think that?”

“Just a guess.” He shrugged. “I think something bad happened in there. Something involving Phobetor and myself.”

“Let's just go.” I was curious to what he meant, but far more concerned with Harps safety. “I got what I came here for.”

Slowtrot nodded. “Were going to take the long way around, as the ghouls are blocking the path to the stairs.”

The hallways gave off an uncanny feeling dread. They felt seemingly longer than they should be, and looked like they bent in a very un-Stable-Tec way. A few doors remained open, revealing pitch black darkness on the inside. Like in the warehouse, it made me think that something was watching us from within.

“This way. We can get through via the atrium.” Slowtrot trotted into a large and dimly light room. It was a mess, garbage was everywhere, and black graffiti desecrated the walls. It was like a mad pony once lived down here and scrawled down every scrambled thought they had across the walls.

“Such a shame, last time I was here this was a bright and warm place.” Slowtrot remarked as he glanced at some of the graffiti. “Now, it just feels cold.”

“And creepy.” I added. Looking at the graffiti, all of it was incoherent rambling. Nothing of it made much sense to me, and some of it didn’t even seem to be in equestrian at all. Though, there were a few patches I could read, though, I regretted doing so almost instantly. “The eyes are the window to the soul, and that’s why they have none.” I read one sentence. “It hungers, for it has no stomach, for it is nothing.” Reading another.

“Drink deep the void. Let it fill you with nothing, become as it.” Slowtrot read one of the sentences as he pointed ahead of us.

Looking to where he was pointing, I saw the smashed window of the overmars office, and a bit below it, two black spots painted on the wall. They were like two swirling vortexes, and the more I looked at them, the more they seem to move, more they seem to look at me like two eyes.

“Vibraphone!” Slowtrot shook me.

A sudden bright light enveloped the room, hurting my eyes...

The atrium was now well lit and clean, but most shocking was that I was surrounded by stable ponies. They were going about their business, chatting with each other, playing at an arcade, or on a dance floor. It was like an old stable-tec promotional poster. Everypony busy happily smiling, even when everything was horrible.

“Snap out of it, we need to keep moving miss Vibraphone.” Slowtrot urged me. I looked at him, the stallion looking like he belonged in here, except… his eyes were missing. Where they should have been on his face, now nothing but black voids sat.

I stepped back away from him, seeing him now for what he truly was.The smell of food and candy filled my nose, music filled my ears, and the sound of ponies laughing uneased me.

“What's… what’s going on?” I asked more to myself than anything.

“Hey sis, they serve daiquiris here!” I turned my head, seeing Rototom sitting at a table. In her hoof sat a glass of sparkle rum, her favorite drink. “They even have pistachios, and not the over two hundred year old kind!”

“You’re dead.” My lip trembled, tears welled up, and my blood boiled. “That's not fair, that's just not fair to do this Phobetor!”

“Unfair!” I looked up to see Graceful Gust look down at me from the railing, battered and bruised. “I've been imprisoned for over a thousand years. And why? Because you ponies can't stop sticking your snouts where they don't belong.”

“Thieving briggins.” Turnip Soup stepped out from the arcade, his fins now burnt black nubs. “Your kind stole the secrets of magic, secrets not meant for mortals. Then you had the hubris to claim Olympus as your own.”

“And yet, I must bare the brunt of your kinds rightful punishment.” Sorrow stood in the doorway of the dance floor, part of her disintegrating into bubbles. “Casting your kind from Olympus was too kind. A slap on the hoof to the torture I’ve endured.” Now all the ponies were looking at me, their eyes a bright glistening gold. It only made me angry.

“I have no clue to what your talking about, but you can take it, and shove it.” I snapped at all of them.

“That's it! That's it!” Stratus Dancer hovered above me, stretching her hoof down at me in a accusing manner. “That arrogance, that hubris, all tied together by ignorance. You ponies never deserved the knowledge of magic. What was stolen must be taken back.”

“And how do you plan to do that? Ponies are not going to let you hit them with the stupid stick!” I shouted back.

“I beg to differ.” Phobetor sat at the table next to my sister, Rototom now missing her head, her body covered in her blood. “I can feel it, and you do too. The great war and the devastation it left behind to this very day. So many ponies now want to go back to, simpler times. Those equalists, they just need to understand that it's their knowledge that breeds inequality, fueled by magic.” Phobetor took a sip of a martini, “Then there's the Chosen, so desperately wanting Celestia and Luna back. With a little effort, it wouldn't be hard to convince them all that I’m one of their goddesses. And i’ll guide them back to those simpler times, the rest will follow, kicking and screaming if need be.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, a hatred burning in me. “You will fail.”

Phobetor chuckled, waving her hoof. In an instant the lights darkened, the ponies became nothing but shadows, and the mad ramblings returned to the walls.

“Miss Vibraphone, our time is almost up.” Slowtrot had his eyes back, but he still gave off a similar feeling as the twitchers. He was pointing again, this time in the other direction.

Twitchers, they were coming our way, like a slow moving wall of ponies. Something stranger yet was coming from the same direction. Yelling, banging, and the sound of horns the filled me again with dread. We had waisted too much time, Berenices was on the hunt again.

“Sorry, let's go.” I turned around, letting Slowtrot take the lead. My eyes glanced at the two black spots painted on the wall. They still seemed to move, looking down at me as we trotted off.

“Eyes forward, miss Vibraphone!” Slowtrot got my attention back on him before breaking into a gallop, and I followed.

Footnote:

Companion Bonus Perk: A slow trot into darkness. (Your companion is immune to the psychic attacks, and can be used to recover from mental debilitation.)