Full Spectrum paced back and forth inside the tent she shared with Catalyst and Starburst. Starburst was still hard at work trying to ferret out any information he could from the strange blood pool, and Catalyst had gone with him. Full Spectrum had been escorted to the tent by two obviously unhappy E.U.P. Guards. They had left her there and she did not bother to see whether or not they were guarding the tent. She had plenty on her mind already, 'What the FUCK!' She mentally yelled, 'I mean, SERIOUSLY!? Why did I go off like that?' She scuffed her feet on the fabric floor of the tent. 'I mean, I was upset that she was willing to use magic for the Balzac when she wouldn't for us, but I was also happy that she seemed to have learned her lesson.'

She continued her pacing while pulling on her dreadlocks, a habit she had developed as a child. 'I never meant to hit her...' she pulled hard on her hair, 'Not now, anyway. Why did I lose control?' Her thoughts turned to the E.U.P. Guard and she swallowed hard, 'I hope they don't decide to do anything.' The thoughts of the Guards were brief though, 'It still doesn't make sense! I learned to deal with my problems, not go off like some petulant child throwing a tantrum!' Another thought suddenly came to the forefront of her mind, 'And why didn't Princess Celestia or anybody else call me out, or stop me? Nothing good came out of that, there was nothing to be gained...' her thoughts were circular as she continued pacing, cursing herself for what she had done, and not understanding why she had done it.

* * *

Scrax hummed and nodded along as Luna told him of the eradication of his whole species thousands of years ago. He sat and listened with a neutral expression, shedding only a single tear as she spoke of the complete destruction and the emotional backlash on the Gryphons by the Natural Magic. She also explained the Eternal Penance of the Gryphons and the change of their entire society into the stalwart protectors they were in present times. After she finished, Scrax stayed quiet, sitting on the floor with a contemplative look on his face.

He stayed there for a while before he looked up at Luna, "First of all, I must sincerely apologize for my earlier outbursts. They were most impolite of me. I was emotionally overcome and I seem to have slipped for a moment before I could control myself. Again, I do apologize. This has been a very emotional time for me and I fear I may have other outbursts later, as well before I manage to regain my calm, as is proper."

Luna cocked her right eyebrow at Scrax, "What outbursts are you referring to?"

Scrax adopted an embarrassed look and shifted his eyes away, "I-I uh... I cried." He said, averting his eyes, "I apologize for that outburst... and my facial contortions, as well. It was all very expressive of me, and I am duly embarrassed." He bobbed his head like a bird, as if to emphasize the point.

Luna was puzzled, "Why would you be embarrassed by your expressions? I was expecting you to be inconsolable when I told you what happened."

Scrax cocked his head, "Ah, I seem to have so easily forgotten... you are not familiar with us." His expression stayed utterly neutral as he explained, "We are a very passionate species. Our passions are numerous and varied; most are rather intense. It took a great deal of time for us to organize laws and cooperate. We can be overcome with powerful emotions and passions very easily. Many of our passions lead us to do things which are not helpful to society..." he turned his head away, "Warlord Jerec is... was a profound example of that."

Luna felt she was beginning to understand, "So you keep your emotions to yourself." She ventured.

Scrax nodded, "It is one of our most important tenets. Hiding our emotions forces us to be honest and expressive with one another using our words. We greatly value communication without debasing ourselves to our lesser instincts and crude physical outbursts of expression. Animals wear their emotions openly. They demonstrate their thoughts and feelings through actions that are easy to see and understand. We strive to rise above such things, to distance and distinguish ourselves from the animals. Thus we shun the show of emotions and facial expressions in favor of descriptive words, save for when we are engaged in the throws of passion with one another."

Luna could only blink in response.

* * *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYafEG5_nI&list=PLCYkHFNihRTqtuJHx8o5edADYdciIvDvZ&index=11

Full Spectrum threw back the flap of her tent. To her surprise, there were no Guards positioned at the entrance. She stepped out and the tent flap fell closed quietly. She cast her eyes around, looking for any E.U.P. Guards. There were Peacemaker Officers everywhere. All species wearing the arm and leg bands bearing the symbol of the various Peacemaker Corps.

The symbol was a circle cut in thirds with a tear-drop shape being each third of the circle. It looked as if each teardrop were chasing the others in a perpetual circle. For each band, the color on display signified the position and responsibilities of the wearer. One curved teardrop was blue, one was red, and one was yellow. If one teardrop was red, and the others were white, the wearer was a member of the Combatant Corps. If the color was blue, the wearer was a member of the Medical Corps. If the color was yellow, the wearer was a member of the Acclimation Corps. The Acclimation Corps was the newest branch of the Peacemakers. They were to help ensure that captured Bloodmages were not mistreated, and aided with their acclimation to normal society.

Full Spectrum strode purposefully into the more busy portion of the camp. The air was tense. Captured Bloodmages, mostly Ponies, huddled around campfires, staring hatefully at all who passed by. Dozens of Peacemakers wearing the yellow teardrop hustled around the densely packed tents, carrying food and personal possessions to the Bloodmages.

Full Spectrum watched as a Gryphon Molly wearing the yellow band brought a carved wooden doll to a quietly weeping colt being cradled in the arms of a Minotaur bull. She shuddered at the likely reason the colt was not being held by a Pony. Still she pressed on, not only feeling bad for her earlier outburst, but constantly bearing witness to the pain and suffering brought on by the campaign against the Bloodmages.

Not only were there heartbreaking sights, there were worse noises which accompanied those sights. The rare bit of quiet talking was fine, but the much more frequent sounds of sobbing, crying, or wailing cut into Full Spectrum's heart. Remembering her Sorcerer friends who had been murdered when the Bloodmages attacked, her heart and mind were torn. One portion of her wanted to take pleasure in seeing the Bloodmages get a taste of their own medicine. A much larger portion of her wanted to reach out and ease any of the pain she saw on display.

She was torn. She knew she had wronged Celestia, even though it felt right and justified. She knew that the Alicorns had put forth an effort which was beyond significant. The Princesses had given them a great deal and even removed their influence over the parcel of land upon which New Humansville was built. The Princesses had paid for EVERYTHING the Humans had and it galled Full Spectrum that she had cruelly used the guilt they still felt over the massacre, to physically abuse one of them. Celestia had even kept her Guards from taking action, such was her contrition.

Full Spectrum felt sick over her actions. Her thoughts pounded against her mind, ricocheting off every other thought and building in intensity. She suddenly felt dizzy, as if she had been spun around like a top. She clasped both of her hands against her head. She heard, no felt an ocean of voices swirling around in her ears. Every syllable reverberated against her skull, the various volumes pounding against her tormented mind. She stumbled and fell to her knees as the cacophony of voices continued their assault. The voices were of all races, all sexes, and all ages. She FELT the words and thoughts of every sapient being in the world.

She felt moisture on her lashes and wiped her right arm across her eyes. Her vision blurred even more as she smeared the blood from her eyes, across her face. She began coughing harshly, choking on the blood which scattered about from her violent exhales. She FELT the emotions of all beings capable of such. The extremes tore at her psyche, laughing one second and screaming in agonized sorrow the next. Her entire body spammed as sensation flooded her senses.

She felt shivers of icy cold and burning heat. She felt the gentle caresses of lovers and the pain of injuries and birth.

Her nose filled with every scent imaginable. Everything from wildflowers to the stench of decomposing flesh assailed her sense of smell.

She gagged as her tongue tasted everything. The subtle flavors of delicacies and the startling tidal wave of taste from the mouth or other sensual places of others flowed over her taste buds. She was overwhelmed to her core. She coughed, spitting more blood as she experienced the sensations of orgasm and death at the same time.

It was too much. Her screams pierced the night as all of her senses were stimulated to levels of pain that most mortals never dream about. She screamed and laughed and cried all at the same time. Her awareness blurred and she wandered out of all thought and sensation until time seemed to stop in an abyss of nothingness.

* * *

Within the chamber which held the pool of blood, Princess Luna's head suddenly snapped up in intense attention.

* * *

Within her own tent, struggling to sort through the hate-riddled memories of the Grand Magus, Princess Celestia's attention was violently jerked toward the center of the camp.

* * *

Alana and Vaiawa both looked up sharply, looking off toward the East.

* * *

Twilight awoke from her slumber, which had been peaceful until that moment. She leaped from her bed and flapped toward her East-facing window in alarm.

* * *

Princess Cadence, sweating from exertion with her husband, suddenly bolted out of his intimate embrace, while he slipped out of her body's embrace with a wet pop. The Alicorn of love skidded to a halt, looking off into the distance with a concerned look on her flushed face.

* * *

Far away, Changeling Queen Cynecia awoke from her sleep and narrowed her eyes in concern.

* * *

Discord steepled his fingers and claws, tapping them together, "Ooh," he leaned over the horizon and smirked, "How interesting."

* * *

"GENERAL!" The Chinese soldier yelled as he burst through the door to the General's office, "Sir! It's The Event! It's changed!"

General Mitsoku Hiriboshi quickly rose from his chair and followed the nearly panicked soldier. The soldier led the General to the closest viewing area and gestured frantically, "Look sir!"

General Hiriboshi's eyes widened as he leaned against the guardrail and peered out through the thick glass. The swirling vortex of The Event was still raging just as much as it had always been. The difference was the pinpoint chromatic of light from deep within the massive storm. It almost looked like somebody had thrown a disco ball into the center of The Event. Hundreds of shafts of light pierced through the tornado-like walls of wind and debris, like a fully automatic laser. The shafts of light at first seemed to be random, but the General noticed what seemed like a pattern, 'Every beam of light is on a parallel line with this facility.' Even as the thought manifested, a beam of light streaked out from within The Event and shone directly into the eyes of the soldier standing right next to him. The soldier seemed to freeze for the few seconds that the light met his eyes before it faded.

General Mitsoku Hiriboshi stepped back from the window just a second before a beam of light met his eyes. His whole body froze as sensations filled him. It felt like waves of water were washing against somewhere in his body. The current of invisible water was gentle but the power behind it would not be denied. General Hiriboshi felt something within him give way to the torrent of metaphysical water. Icy warmth filled him to the core and for the briefest moment, he would swear he felt his soul. The light receded just as swiftly as it emerged and the chromatic ball of light vanished back into oblivion.

General Mitsoku Hiriboshi shook off his stupor a moment later and ran back to his office. Picking up his phone, he dialed the facility intercom. The beep from every speaker in the facility drew all attention as the General's voice sounded out, "Lockdown Protocol Alpha in effect immediately! Repeat, Lockdown Protocol Alpha in effect immediately! All personnel proceed to work stations and await orders." He set the phone back down in its cradle and whispered to himself, "No way that was an accident." He wiped sweat off his face, "Something intelligent was behind that incident." He bit his lower lip, "Love or hate the weak, I'm not letting some alien or demon get a handhold here." He picked up the phone and dialed a number, 'I think I'm going to need bigger guns.'

Author's Notes:

Whoo! New chapter up guys. Let me know if you spot any typos.