“Are you okay? You can sit this one out if you need to,” I offered.

“No. I can’t stand aside while my ponies are in danger,” Luna declared shakily.

“Alright, let’s get you brought up to speed. Abaddon sent your guards to evacuate the other towns, so Ponyville should be their only target. To that end, Jeff’s set up three defensive lines along the front. They’ll hit the Gammas first, then have to cross the short wall the Romeos have built, then have to survive whatever Jeff throws at them to get at any of the townsponies. The Romeos under his command are on range duty, while we can move to wherever we want,” I explained.

“What about Abby, where will he fit in?” Luna asked, finding her resolve as the tone of the conversation shifted.

“Abaddon and the rest of the enforcers are on standby, they’ll engage if the current defenses are overwhelmed,” I replied.

“But Ponyville hasn’t been evacuated? You’re using them as bait?” Luna pressed.

“I am,” I admitted, “But Jeff can pull them into himself if he has to, they’ll be fine. Besides, the whole town is a deathtrap for them, they won’t get two steps beyond the wall.”

“As much as I don’t like it, we will need to pull them to us. Okay, where do you want me?” Luna asked.

“Up to you, burn them from the wall with the Romeos or stomp the shit out of them next to some Gammas. I’ll have to stay here for the first act, I need to watch their movements. Once their reinforcement lines are clear, I’ll be following them back. It’ll be up to you and Jeff to hold the line until I can destroy their nest,” I continued.

“Cat?”

“I’m your stopgap, put me wherever the defenses need a break and I’ll torch whatever gets too close,” Catrix replied, removing and folding her dress in preparation.

“I understand, when do we start?” Luna asked, looking around for her armor and finding it peeled open on the floor behind her.

“When you swap the sun and moon. As far as we can tell, they don’t handle the dark very well,” Lily explained.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Luna declared, lighting her horn. As the sun slowly rose past the horizon, it cast a baleful red light across the land. A fitting sight, as far as dawns go.

“Get ready, it won’t be long,” I warned. Luna nodded before stepping into her armor, which only reached her ankles in its peeled state, and allowing it to wrap around her barrel, though the helmet remained retracted.

“They’re awake,” Catrix noted, having moved to the edge of the deck to watch the trees.

“It reminds me of bees, all angry over their hive getting shaken,” Lily commented.

“If Discord’s theory is correct, that’s exactly what’s going on. He hinted that Abaddon walking around is what woke them up,” I responded, joining them on the edge while Luna took a moment to get readjusted to wearing her armor.

“Too bad for them, they don’t stand a chance,” Catrix commented.

“The locals don’t know that, they must be terrified,” Lily rebutted, bringing up a good point.

“I’ll keep them calm and defended,” Luna offered as she stomped over to the rest of us.

“We all know what we need to do, let’s get to it,” I stated, prompting Luna to teleport herself and Catrix onto the field while Tzu, Lily, and I remained on Abaddon.

“Lily, I changed my mind, I want you down there with the locals. You being here limits Abaddon’s movements too much,” I ordered.

“There goes my good view,” Lily complained before teleporting away as well.

“Sir, now that we’re alone…” Tzu began nervously.

“Report,” I ordered.

“A chemical imbalance has been ruled out,” Tzu replied, instantly reverting to his usual personality.

“And?” I prompted.

“I was wondering if I would be required to…” Tzu attempted before trailing off, unable to figure out how to phrase his question.

“You want to make it a permanent thing?” I asked, assuming that was where he was going.

“If necessary, sir,” Tzu replied, causing me to sigh.

“Tzu you’re an adult, you don’t need to ask for my permission over every little thing. If you and Cat both want to continue your affair, then go ahead,” I allowed, silencing the enforcer and letting me focus on the shadows in the trees that were edging into visual range.

“So will it be necessary?” Tzu pressed, shattering my concentration.

“Holy shit, figure it out for yourself,” I snapped, attempting to relocate the shapes I had been watching.

“Visual confirmation on the spiders,” Abaddon relayed.

“Not yet,” I said to myself.

“They will enter the field in six seconds on my mark...mark,” Abaddon continued.

“Just a little longer...NOW!” I hissed quietly as the Romeos assigned to Jeffrey began pouring spines into the edge of the forest. Twenty-four thousand cannons firing three spines a second swept across the spiders’ front ranks, resulting in several thousand enemy casualties with the opening volley alone, “They don’t go down from a single hit, they’re tougher than I expected.”

“Easy enough in close combat,” Tzu noted.

“And the Gammas are just waiting for them to get in range,” I replied, watching the line of charging spiders move towards the wall even as they were torn apart by the amount of firepower crashing into them.

“The line is shrinking, they’re not attacking near the edges. It’s a push!” Tzu realized with a shout. Sure enough, a veritable wave of spiders charged in to assist their fellows in assaulting the wall, only to run into the Gammas first.

“They made it to the wall, color me impressed,” I noted, watching a spider attempt to scale the wall only to be pulled back down and dismembered by a nearby Gamma. More of them were making it to the wall however, and the Romeos shifted their fire to thinning out their reinforcements.

“Sir?” Abaddon asked, fidgeting slightly in anticipation.

“Wait,” I ordered as a spider reached the top of the wall and met it’s end at the claws of the Romeo between it and the town.

“My cannons are loaded, my tendrils stand ready, my aim is true, my legs are strong, I am a weapon of war, I yearn to take my place in this battle, and I will not fail,” Abaddon promised. A few seconds later a spider managed to slip past the Gammas and Romeos to reach the town side of the wall, only to be speared and crushed by one of Jeffrey’s tendrils before it could touch the ground,

”That’s our cue, fire everything,” I ordered, my voice conversational in tone and volume. Abaddon, on the other hand, attempted to out-roar his cannons as he joined the fight, expending his magazines of Gammas in less than a minute and moving them out of the way for him to charge into their ranks. The deck earned it’s name, twisting and listing dangerously as Abaddon kicked, bit, stomped, and slashed at everything around him while the other enforcer divisions hemorrhaged from under his scales and through the open floored staging area.

“Shall I go as well?” Tzu asked from my side while we watched the growing chaos.

“No, you just keep looking for any indication of where they’re coming from,” I ordered.

I was never meant for this, I was meant to warm beds and comfort the fleeting souls of this world. But the line between pleasure and pain is a thin one, and I was far from helpless.

“Leave him alone!” I hissed as I tackled a spider off one of the enforcers and slashed its abdomen open with my claws.

“I’m fine, focus on the big groups,” the enforcer shouted as he was buried in spiders.

“Are you sure?” I asked, my voice in a near shout as I clawed furiously at the spiders attacking the enforcer.

“Leave me,” The enforcer managed haltingly, having to reform his neck several times as the spiders bit and tore at him.

“Don’t you die on me,” I ordered, backing away from the scene and finding a group to charge. These spiders were awful, they smelled, my claws ached from hacking them apart, and they didn’t even have the decency to be distracted by me. Didn’t they have any idea what was running around in front of them? Even Jekyll looked twice the first time. Dumb drones, not having any reproductive urges.

“You know, that gives me an idea,” I thought out loud as a swarm noticed my attacks. Remembering the suicidal tendencies of moths, I lit myself on fire. Most people think that it’s difficult or requires some kind of training, but to me it was no different than twitching my finger. As I had hoped, spiders began charging into my flames and melting where they died. Unfortunately this left me in a cage of melted corpses very quickly, ending my effectiveness until an enforcer could break me out.

“Fuck,” I swore, sitting down to bide my time until I could rejoin the battle, “Stupid spiders. Even if you weren’t crispy, you don’t have anything for me to play with while I wait.”

“Don’t worry little ones, everything is under control,” I said uselessly. Most of the fillies in the schoolhouse were still cowering while the colts and remaining fillies had forgotten their fears to fawn over my armor.

“Hey Princess, do ya think ya could beat my big brother in a hoof wrestle in this thing?” the yellow filly, who I had come to know as Applebloom, asked.

“For sure, but it would be more fair if I wasn’t wearing it,” I replied patiently.

“But where are your wings?” An orange filly, Scootaloo, continued.

“Trapped inside, though not uncomfortably,” I answered, hoping to keep them distracted from what was happening outside until their parents arrived.

“Then you can’t fly?” Scootaloo pressed.

“Not right now, no. But the next version of this armor will have wings,” I explained. Things continued like this for the next hour; the children would ask me all sorts of odd questions and I would answer them as well as I could, our only interruptions being the occasional set of parents that would rush in to save their child from certain death and make a daring getaway to the safety of their homes. Eventually it was just Scootaloo and I, “Why haven’t your parents come for you?”

“Probably because they don’t care. Haven’t seen them in years anyway, not like they’re going to show up now,” the filly spat, her mood souring instantly.

“This is no time for anypony to be alone, you shall reside with me during this crisis,” I declared, lying down to allow the small pegasus to climb onto my back. Memories of my nightmare resurfaced briefly before I suppressed them, it was only a dream.

“I can look after myself,” Scootaloo argued indignantly.

“I do not doubt that, but this is a very real threat and I must ensure the safety of all the ponies in this town. Climb on my back so we can make sure nopony is in trouble,” I insisted. Scootaloo grumbled but did as I asked, allowing me to leave the schoolhouse and start working on getting everypony somewhere more defensible.

“Why are you sending everypony to the town hall?” Scootaloo asked after the second house.

“Because it has the thickest walls and doors, as well as a shelter on the lower floors,” I lied, though I suspected Jeffrey would make it a fact.

“What’ll happen when we’re all inside,” Scootaloo continued.

“I shall wait by the door and destroy anything that threatens to hurt you or your friends,” I stated, my voice finding a determination I didn’t feel.

“About fucking time, I’ve been here for-oh,” I attempted before noticing that it was a spider tearing open my cage. With a slash at its thin neck, it was dead and I was free.

“Miss Catrix! Fall back!” An enforcer shouted from the wall. The enforcers were all around, funneling the spiders right though the area were I was stranding.

“Fuck,” I swore again as I was thrown to the ground. When I regained consciousness, I was lying on an all too familiar silk bedspread in an all too familiar room with all too familiar obsidian walls, “Double fuck.”

“Hey Cat.”

“Hey Harry.”

“Catrix went down pretty hard, think she survived?” Tzu asked idly, his attention more focused on tracing the path of the spiders.

“She’s gone, the one that knocked her down took a chunk out of her neck too,” I replied, having had a better angle at the time. I had taken to pacing as I watched the fight, constantly searching for any sign of where they were coming from.

“Another twenty minutes at most before we have a small enough force to start following back. On a related note, we’re starting to gain ground,” Tzu noted.

“Agreed, but I’d don’t want to drag this out. We’ve already had almost a dozen Gammas disappear under their swarms and not get back up,” I countered.

“To be fair, the ground elevation has risen roughly ten feet since the start of the conflict. The spiders are piled at least five deep everywhere, they may be feasting on the bodies to rebuild their strength,” Tzu proposed.

“Or in pieces, desperately trying to put themselves back together. Or torn apart and eaten, that’s a possibility too,” I pointed out.

“You believe these creatures could kill one of us?” Tzu asked in disbelief.

“Not by themselves, but you said yourself that there’s ten feet of corpses between the next wave and the ground. I don’t want to count how many spiders we’ve gone through already, much less try to fight them by myself,” I responded.

“But we eat their dead, we can heal whatever wounds they inflict,” Tzu argued.

“Only if you can keep up with how many are munching on you. Just as we would fight a large enemy by wearing it down to nothing, so can they take us out if we’re separated from the others,” I advised.

“Isn’t that your plan? Charge in and destroy the nest by yourself?” Tzu asked.

“I won’t be alone for long, I’ve got Cataclysm to bring in some reinforcements,” I replied, patting the sword that rested on my left hip.

“I still don’t like it,” Tzu complained.

“That’s why you’re going to find a way to back me up without disobeying my orders,” I prophesied.

“Are you going to tell me not to?” Tzu asked.

“I’m counting on it, I just want to see how you do it,” I replied, punching the enforcer’s shoulder lightly to accentuate my point.

“Will you also be resummoning Miss Catrix?” Tzu continued, his tone becoming more conversational.

“Discord said something last night, he mentioned that he might have restored my ability to love. He may have been pulling my leg for a laugh, but I’m starting to doubt that more and more. Are you developing feelings for Cat?” I posed.

“I’m not sure. I’ve found something I consider fun, and she is a prime candidate for the activity. Does that mean I love her?” Tzu asked.

“No. Damn, I thought I was onto something. I’ll resummon Cat in a second. Abaddon, I need a wall,” I stated, trying to cover as much as possible so I could continue monitoring the battle. Once Abaddon had formed the wall and leveled out, I opened a portal into Catrix’s room and allowed her to jump through before closing it.

“So, I lost,” Catrix explained pointlessly.

“I saw, but you fought well,” I praised, turning my attention back to the battle lines.

“Jay, they don’t handle fire very well,” Catrix advised.

“You heard her Abaddon, let’s turn up the heat. Load up some fire shots and standby for a target,” I ordered, gesturing for Tzu to find me a target.

“Best estimate is at two-five-zero, range zero-point-seven-five miles,” Tzu replied, guessing at a possible location for the nest. Abaddon’s first shot was a little south, but cleared enough of the forest for us to see the spiders’ movements.

“Keep firing, follow them back,” I ordered, causing Abaddon to reposition out of the enemy’s path and operate as an artillery platform.

“I have reached the limit of my firing range, I cannot raise my cannons high enough to lob the worms any further,” Abaddon declared a few minutes later, however he had accomplished the intended effect. The path to the nest was clearly visible from above, even if the nest itself wasn’t.

“Look out!” Catrix shouted as I prepared to take off, and the deck lurched violently less than a second later as Abaddon crashed into the ground.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked as I climbed back to my feet.

“My apologies sir, The enemy has managed to bind two of my legs together and pulled them out from under me. They set a trap, they’re smarter than they appear,” Abaddon apologized.

“How?” I pressed as a scuttling sound wade its way through the trees around where we had landed.

“The silk, I saw the silk,” Catrix gasped from where she hung on a tree branch going through her chest.

“Shit, twice in one day? Maybe I should’ve sent you with Luna,” I commented.

“Shut up and kill me already, I’d do it myself but I can’t feel my arms,” Catrix demanded, smiling as I severed her head with a tendril.

“Where’s Tzu?” I asked, expecting the enforcer to reply.

“I think I landed on him,” Abaddon replied.

“So get up,” I ordered.

“I’m sorry sir, too many of my legs are bound. The enemy is attempting to chew through my armor as we speak,” Abaddon explained.

“Damn you Murphy, Okay, pull Tzu through your hide while I start clearing off the spiders, send him my way when he’s free,” I amended, jumping over the leviathan to see how many I’d be dealing with. Abaddon’s underside was covered in spiders, all attempting to tear off his scales or chew through the large plates that covered his feet.

“Well shit, this is going to take a while,” I complained as I formed my claws and blades. I met the first rank in an explosion of viscera and severed limbs, and the second didn’t fare any better. Unlike my enforcers, I didn’t focus on any of my opponents for longer than the millisecond necessary to see that they existed, the result of lifetimes of training and dozens of battles. I spun as I charged group after group, swarm after swarm, killing everything around me in a tornado of razor sharp blades while also managing to deliver a fair number of cuts to the webbing that held Abaddon down.

Tzu joined me almost a minute later but was soon forced to take to the air as the spiders began to overwhelm him, opting to fire spines into them as he circled.

“Tzu! You’re fucking useless here, get the others to push this way!” I ordered, shouting over the sound of breaking carapaces.

“Yes sir,” Tzu acknowledged before flying away at high speed. I turned my attention back to the spiders around me and noted the growing number of pieces caught in the webbing around Abaddon’s legs.

“Sir, I can see the path they are taking. You have a clear line to the nest,” Abaddon observed.

“Great, I won’t have far to go once you’re free,” I replied.

“I am expendable, go on without me,” Abaddon ordered.

“Did you hit your head? I’m the one who gives the orders around here,” I mocked as I consumed a line of, still living, spiders for the easy calories, they hadn’t managed to touch me yet.

“Sir, you can make another leviathan, you don’t need me,” Abaddon insisted.

“Are you afraid they’ll beat me?” I accused, “Don’t you know who I am?”

“You’re-” Abaddon began.

“Shut up and tear this webbing,” I snapped, gesturing dramatically with one of my blades and allowing the spider impaled on it to slide off as I paused.

“Sir!” Tzu called in the distance, letting me know he was on his way. Expanding my lungs out of my back; I roared my response, killing all of the spiders around me from the pressure alone and disorientating the rest for a few seconds. I had all the time in the world to cut Abaddon free in that time, though he only lifted his legs out of the way and fired both of his cannons into the swarm.

“I don’t like spiders anymore,” Abaddon announced, adjusting his aim and firing again.

“Sir, where do you need us?” Tzu asked as he arrived with the rest of my army.

“How’s the town?” I countered.

“Jeff’s enforcers are still guarding it, but we’ve pushed the enemy to this point. It seems that they’ve shifted their attack onto you,” Tzu explained as several squads of Gammas moved up and engaged the next wave. Tzu was right, they were definitely targeting me.

“Good, that makes this easier,” I replied as Abaddon finally returned to his feet and scanned the area. Fires were burning everywhere, long craters pockmarked the ground where Abaddon had fired his cannons into the spiders, and the ground was soaked in green blood, the the Everfree Forest had become a warzone and it wasn’t even noon yet.

“Get some!” Abaddon roared as he furiously fired into the area where the spiders had been coming from, advancing as he went to blast a path back to their nest.

“He’s pissed,” Tzu noted.

“Thanks, I really didn’t realize that,” I replied sarcastically as I set off after my leviathan.

“Uh oh,” Abaddon said as his cannons stopped firing, their magazines spent.

“Abaddon?” I asked as his head turned to face me, he looked scared.

“I need time to grow more worms,” Abaddon replied as a spider crawled onto his face, “I’m sorry.”

He was gone, pulled into some crevice or cave the rest of us couldn’t see through the trees, ”Get moving, he must’ve been near the nest.”

“Yes sir,” the enforcers chorused as they charged towards where Abaddon had been standing, shouldering aside trees and tearing apart spiders with no loss of speed.

“Sir, you should see this,” one of the enforcers near the front called as the rest moved into a defensive position.

“What do you see?” I asked as I walked towards the enforcer with Tzu by my side.

“Abaddon wasn’t near the nest, he was on top of it,” the enforcer corrected, waving towards the massive hole in the ground in front of him where a still fighting Abaddon could still be seen.

“Gammas and Romeos, surround this hole and fuck up anything that crawls out. The rest of you latch onto Abaddon and pull his dumb ass out of there before he gets himself eaten,” I ordered loudly so all of the enforcers could hear.

“You aren’t going in there, are you?” Tzu asked, looking at the writhing mass of spiders in the hole.

“Nah, there must be millions or billions of them in there. I’ll just grab a big ass rock and cause an incursion, way easier,” I replied, finding a decent sized boulder nearby that would work perfectly.

“You are the apex?” a voice hissed.

“Sounds like me,” I replied noncommittally, looking around for the source as I walked toward my chosen block of sandstone.

“You are the one that kills my children. You are the one that seeks to kill me,” the voice accused.

“Do you have a point to make or are you just trying to annoy me?” I countered as I started carving away the surface of the boulder to flatten it enough to open a portal.

“Why?” the voice asked.

“For threatening my town, for killing my friend twice, for being spiders, take your pick,” I replied.

“We must eat or we will die. Your kind disturbed us, woke us from the long sleep. Now you kill us, are all of you so cruel?” the voice continued.

“We didn’t know that Abaddon walking around would wake you up, the rest is just a reaction. It’s nothing personal,” I explained, drawing my sword to open the portal.

“We were not awoken by simple walking, our crypt was violated by prying claws of black and red,” the voice argued, causing me to pause.

“You’re lying, he couldn’t know where you were. You’ve been forgotten by the world,” I countered.

“And yet we were found, we were awoken,” the voice shot back.

“Let’s say I believe you, why shouldn’t I kill you anyway?” I asked, receiving no answer, “That’s what I thought.”

“Wait! We will leave, we will build a new nest, we will build a new crypt, we will never see you again,” the voice offered.

“Said the spider to the fly,” I replied mockingly. Abaddon shot me an apologetic look as he was carried away by the enforcers, spiders still clinging to the stumps of his severed legs as a set of Bravos engaged them.

“You have your giant, you have your prey, let us go, you lose nothing,” the voice pleaded.

“I guess I wasn’t clear enough, I don’t believe a word you say,” I clarified.

“Then we will die, but you will join us, a true kavik death, the voice threatened.

“Ah hell,” I swore as the entire mass of spiders surged towards me, “Fall back!”

“You have made us an enemy, apex. Running will not save you, I claim your death, I come for you myself,” the voice hissed.

“Retreat to the town, get back to the wall,” I ordered, cursing myself for bothering to talk to the spiders at all. I’d missed my chance, now we were all in danger again.

“Sir, what happened?” Tzu asked as he rushed back to my side among the other retreating enforcers.

“I fucked up,” I admitted as we ran from the billions of spiders clamoring over each other for a chance at us.

“What’s the plan?” Tzu continued.

“Lift the dart, we’ve got a lost puppy,” I replied, speaking in code to keep the spiders from figuring out my intention.

“Ten-four,” Tzu said, peeling off and ‘accidentally’ bumping into another enforcer as they ran.

“Are you sure we’ll be safe in here Princess?”

“Miss Roseluck, is there a reason my answer would have changed in the last twenty seconds?” I countered, fighting to keep my frustration out of my voice.

“Yeah, just look at this awesome armor and try to tell me you don’t feel safe,” Scootaloo added from her seat on my back.

“It makes me nervous, actually,” Roseluck replied, causing me to sigh.

“Rose-can I call you Rose?- Rose, please go sit with Miss Fluttershy. I’m sure she has some advice for staying calm during times like these,” I requested.

“B-But there’s a monster over there,” Roseluck argued fearfully.

“The manticore? She calls it ‘Manny,’ I’m sure you’ll get along fine,” I insisted, levitating the terrified mare away from me.

“Next on the list of complaints is...Diamond Tiara wanting a turn to ride on your back,” Scootaloo read from a list she had compiled while I was dealing with Roseluck.

“Denied. Next?”

“Her father repeating the same thing twenty-six times,” Scootaloo replied.

“Denied twenty-seven times. Next?” I continued. Diamond Tiara could sit on her father’s back for all I cared.

“Seventy-two counts of ‘I’m hungry,’” Scootaloo listed.

“That one should be easy. Jeff, we need food if we’re going to be here for much longer,” I told the empty air in front of me, receiving a feast in the center of the room in response.

“Plants are easy to get ahold of,” Jeffrey said from the wall before disappearing.

“Next?” I continued.

“Silver Spoon wants to ride on your back,” Scootaloo replied. I sighed loudly in response, “Denied, got it. We had a few ‘tired’s’ but they fell asleep already, so that just leaves the six accusations of he or she is touching me.”

“You are grown mares and stallions! If you can’t keep your hooves to yourselves, you are more than welcome to wait outside with the spiders!” I threatened, my composure breaking over that last set of complaints.

“We’ll be good,” sompony replied meekly.

“Grand, any other complaints?” I asked the room, “I’ll take that as a ‘no.’”

“Nice,” Scootaloo praised.

“Please tell me that’s the end of the list,” I groaned.

“Just one unofficial note from me, can I be your real secretary?” Scootaloo asked.

“I already have several, I never needed them before today though,” I replied.

“Oh, okay then,” Scootaloo said sadly.

“However you have done an excellent job, I’ll see if I can find some place to fit you in my entourage,” I added quickly.

“What’s an ant-your-age?” Scootaloo asked.

“Entourage, they’re the ponies that help me organize things and keep everything moving smoothly,” I explained.

“Would that mean I’d have to leave my friends? I wouldn’t want to do that,” Scootaloo asked.

“Not if you were in charge of the Ponyville area, then you could stay with your friends and hang out with me whenever I was in town,” I countered, silently thanking Jekyll for helping me modernize my verbage.

“How’s the pay? I gotta make rent, you know,” Scootaloo continued.

“I think a modest sum can be arranged, along with a deal with your landlord,” I proposed.

“Any other perks?” Scootaloo pressed.

“I have access to an impressive investigative team, if you’re looking for your parents,” I offered.

“No. Deal’s off, I hate them,” Scootaloo declared, jumping off my back and storming away.

“Jeff, what happened to them?” I whispered once I was close enough to the wall to talk privately.

“They left, first the father, then the mother. They walked away from their lives rather than push through the hard times, I hate them too,” Jeffrey replied angrily.

“And Jay has been charging a filly her age rent?” I continued.

“I handle the day to day for Ponyville, she’s been paying one bit per month. She thinks she has to, even though Lord Jekyll wouldn’t evict her,” Jeffrey explained.

“This is shocking, I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” I commented.

“It’s uncommon, but not unheard of. The usual response that I’ve seen is pity for the little one and small favors to make her life a little easier,” Jeffrey replied.

“Unacceptable!” I exclaimed, putting a hole in the floor from my angry stomp and garnering the attention of the entire town.

“I agree, but I lack the capability to do anything about it,” Jeffrey responded apologetically.

“I do have the capability and the responsibility to fix this, I may be one conversation with-Jay?” I stumbled as the doors flew open and Jekyll rushed in.

“Apocalypse!” Jekyll shouted at Jeffrey while several enforcers tried to hold the door shut. Still, a single spider managed to get through and jumped at the townsponies.

“I think not,” I declared as I caught the creature in my telekinesis and crushed it against the wall.

“Apocalypse?” Jeffrey confirmed.

“Do it!” Jekyll ordered. Suddenly the floor began to rumble and I felt like I was being lowered.

“Citizenry secured,” Jeffrey stated robotically.

“Okay, now we can fight on my terms,” Jekyll declared excitedly, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“What is that supposed to mean? You barely have a dozen enforcers here, where are the others?” Luna hissed quietly, pulling me away from the townsponies.

“The others are scattered, they’re either fighting, hiding, or already dead,” I replied.

“Then why are you so happy?” Luna pressed.

“Because the utility divisions are repairing and rearming Abaddon and the queen is right outside,” I explained.

“So we’re stuck here until Abby rescues us? Jay, this isn’t good news,” Luna exclaimed, visibly fighting her rising panic.

“Relax, we’ll be fine in here now that Jeff’s gone apocalyptic,” I reassured her.

“Which might be helpful if I knew what that meant,” Luna pointed out.

“You felt us sink right? That’s to maximize the angle of deflection. This building entire is now covered in a six foot thick hardened shell designed to survive weapons you’ve never even heard of. At Abaddon’s signal, I’ll lead the charge to take out the queen,” I explained.

“What happened to the rippers?” Luna continued.

“Too many, just way too many spiders. You should’ve seen what they did to Abaddon,” I responded grimly.

“Is Cat still trapped out there? I saw her burn a bunch of them into a dome.”

“Dead, resummoned, dead again.”

“So it’s just us left, this isn’t looking good,” Luna noted.

“Not on the surface,” I teased, feeling a slight shudder through the floor. Abaddon was walking again.

“Jay, since we might die today, I want a filly,” Luna confessed, catching me off guard.

“Uh, even if I’d already done the gene manipulation to be remotely capable of that, there’s still an eleven month wait and a fifty-fifty chance of ending up with a colt. But as far as last requests go, I’ve heard worse,” I replied.

“A specific one, to adopt, young Scootaloo is all alone and it breaks my heart. She’s lived knowing her parents abandoned her, she shouldn’t die like that too,” Luna clarified.

“Scoots? You want to bring that hellion into our lives, with all the shit we go through all the time? Do you have any idea the kind of fallout that would have on the community and Equestria in general? Wait, scratch that last one. It’d be worth it just to hear Tiara have to call her Princess Scootaloo,” I reasoned.

“You assume we’ll survive,” Luna pointed out.

“Of course we will. Abaddon figured out all the flaws in his original design, he’s getting an upgrade to be immune to the spiders and a dedicated crew to keep him fighting,” I countered.

“I wish I had your confidence, I wish I had a lot of things right now,” Luna replied sadly, causing me to sigh and look around for eavesdroppers.

“Tell you what, it’s your decision. If you really think bringing a filly into the life we live is a good idea, then I’ll support you,” I relented, seeing Luna’s face light up.

“I’ll be right back,” Luna promised before trotting into the crowd. I adjusted my hearing to pick up their conversation as I moved back to the door to wait.

“Scootaloo, could we talk?” Luna requested.

“Going to give me some lecture about forgiveness? I’ve heard them all,” Scootaloo spat.

“No, I wanted to offer you something,” Luna replied, her voice reflecting her growing nervousness.

“Let me guess, you want to adopt me. Thanks but no thanks. I’m better off without parents, they only let you down,” Scootaloo responded, I could almost hear Luna’s hopes shattering from where I stood.

“If you change your mind, I… You’d pass up the chance to make Diamond Tiara call you a princess?” Luna tempted, remembering my own reasoning.

“Ponyfeathers, that’s a good point. Let me think about it for a while, I’m pretty used to taking care of myself,” Scootaloo requested.

“Of course, it’s a big decision,” Luna agreed, “You want to help me keep the peace?”

“Hay yeah!” Scootaloo replied eagerly.

“That was entertaining,” I commented quietly, receiving a slight nod from the enforcer next to me.

“I have a visual on-wow, I like what they did with Abaddon,” Jeff noted after several minutes.

“Get ready,” I ordered, readying myself for a hard fight as we waited.

“Is it time?” Luna asked as she hurried over, I noticed Scootaloo sitting comfortably in a small chair built into the back of Luna’s armor.

“Any second now,” I warned.

“Scootaloo, I need you to stay here,” Luna stated, levitating the small filly off her back.

“Are you gonna go kick some flank?” the filly asked excitedly.

“A great deal of flank,” Luna confirmed as her helmet moved into place and her voice reverberated from the excessive power it brought with it. The sound of thunder marked our time to attack and we tore through the door with a flurry of hooves and claws.

The world outside of the town hall no longer looked like Equestria, Abaddon’s cannons thundered as he charged in the distance and Jeffrey’s tendrils thrashed around us as we met the first rank of the spiders. Blood flowed freely from thousands of spiders as more enforcers joined the fight, tearing through all enemies that got too close.

“What are we looking for?” Luna shouted over the crunching squelch of the spider she was stomping on.

“A bigger one probably, anything that looks different from the rest of them,” I called back, slightly distracted by the spider being crushed in my claws.

“I will have your life” the same voice from earlier promised.

“Was that psychic communication?” Luna wondered loudly, not stopping her rampage as she sent a lance of fire through a line of spiders.

“Don’t know, don’t care. It’s her, she’s here,” I replied simply, focusing more on thinning the number of spiders blocking our path.

“I shall be buried alive at this rate,” Luna complained as the piled corpses around her started to interfere with her movement.

“Walk on top of them,” I advised as I caught one that was going for the back of Luna’s neck and tore it in half.

“You know nothing but death, I shall end your reign of terror myself, you will have no more of my children,” the voice declared. At once, the spiders retreated for the first time, leaving us in a clearing of their dead.

“I’m waiting,” I taunted as a cloud briefly passed overhead and drifted to a stop, a glance around confirmed that Abaddon had disappeared.

“You will not kill my children,” a chittering voice insisted as the largest spider I’d never wanted to see climbed out of the swarm and advanced, dragging an egg sack along behind it as it walked. Each of this creature’s legs was wider than two of my enforcers and its body was easily half the size of Abaddon.

“Tartarus hath no fury…” Luna trailed off as the queen spider rose to its full height, it’s black carapace gleaming in the sunlight.

“Stand by for titanfall,” I announced cryptically.

“What?” Luna and the spider queen asked at the same time. I just smiled a fang filled smile as Abaddon dropped out of the cloud and landed on the giant spider.

“ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT, BITCH” Abaddon roared as enforcers of all types appeared on his sides, firing wildly into the swarm as he stomped and slashed through the majority of the remaining spiders in the immediate area.

“You liar, you have no honor, you hide behind monsters,” the dying spider accused as it attempted to find its crushed egg sack.

“You’re just disappointed your own little monsters lost,” I countered, pushing the remains of the queen onto its side.

“No honor, child murderer,” the queen repeated as I searched for somewhere flat enough to open a portal, finding a single flattened section of carapace on the underside of the queen’s abdomen.

“And for all your honor, you were trying to eat civilians,” I rebuked as I drew Cataclysm and set the blade ablaze.

“Prey,” the queen insisted, oblivious to what I was doing.

“Just as you are my prey, how’s that for your logic? You wanna know the funny part? There’s a portal to Tartarus on you, you’re going to supply the demons that’ll end your entire hive,” I taunted before turning my attention to the rippers on the other side of the portal, “Wrath demons of Tartarus, your king commands you. Hear my orders and obey, the spiders are challenging my authority and must be made to pay for their crimes. Rip and tear.”

“NOOOOO!” the queen screeched as rippers flooded through the portal and collided with the swarm Abaddon was herding their way, trapping them between the claws of the rippers and his cannonfire.

“Did you want to watch? Hold on,” I offered, moving to turn the giant spider before Luna blocked my path.

“That’s enough Jay, she doesn’t need to suffer,” Luna declared, gripping the queen’s head in her telekinesis and crushing it to make her point.

“Were your places reversed, you wouldn’t have received that kindness,” I pointed out.

“I’m not a monster, even if they are. We have to be better than them,” Luna insisted.

“You keep telling yourself that, meanwhile I’ll be over here getting shit done,” I shot back, sending a tendril to bisect a fleeing spider as it passed.

“Does that require torturing them as they die!” Luna argued.

“Only when we’re being watched,” I countered.

“By who? The townsponies? Foals? I’ve known you to be many things but I never suspected I’d have to add cruel to the list!” Luna responded as she kicked another spider to pieces, her voice rising to a shout by the end.

“Dopple woke them up, the queen said as much when I found the hive,” I revealed quietly.

“How is that supposed to justify forcing a mother to watch her children die?” Luna raged.

“For the love of-FEAR. It’s to cause as much fear as possible to make future enemies cower instead of fighting. It saves lives Luna, even if it’s horrible at the time,” I reasoned.

“That’s why they called you the Horror,” Luna accused, making me wince, “Not for your abilities, for the cruelty you display on the battlefield. I never want to see this again. You can have this armor recycled, I won’t be wearing it again.”

“Lu,” I pleaded as Luna shed her armor and walked back to the town hall.

“Clean up this mess, I’ll find somewhere else to sleep tonight,” Luna ordered without looking back.

“You think that was too far?” I asked a nearby Gamma, who shrugged, “So fucking helpful.”

“Your highness, should the ponies be punished as well?” a ripped asked as it bounded up to me and kneeled.

“No, kill the spiders and go home,” I ordered.

“But that blue one just disrespected you, she must be destroyed before she can undermine you further,” the ripper insisted.

“That’s your queen, she gets a pass,” I replied.

“A pony queen? As you say, your highness,” the ripper acknowledged before rejoining the fight.

“Jeff, find Tzu and have him meet me here,” I ordered.

“He’s already on his way,” Jeff replied, sprouting from the ground and pointing at a growing shape the was heading my way.

“He knows me too well,” I mused.

“Sir, between Abaddon and the rippers, the last of the spiders will be destroyed in just a few more minutes,” Tzu reported once he landed, looking over the ruined town and paying extra attention to where I had created the portal.

“Any risk of him being tripped up again?”

“No, sir. We’ve added sharp angles around his feet and blades to hack through any webbing they attempt to use.”

“Excellent. Let’s get going, I want a better view of this shit show,” I said tiredly, spreading my wings as I spoke.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Mistress Luna?” Tzu asked.

“She’s not coming,” I responded as I took off. From the air it was much easier to get some scale for the devastation on the ground. The area around the town, once so vibrant and alive, was now a mottled mix of black and sickly green, Ponyville itself laid in ruins. The only building still standing was the town hall, and even that sat at an odd angle from Jeffrey’s rush to let us out. Abaddon’s legs gave some depth to the scene, as he sank to the tops of his foot mounted armor plates into the bodies as he walked.

“Sir?” Tzu asked as we landed, sensing my mood.

“Get the Bravos to work, I want this biomatter collected as soon as possible. Use it to replenish our ranks and make some more leviathans like Abaddon, they’ll protect our guys while they finish walling in the cities,” I ordered.

“I’ll relay the order, but I think we should talk about what’s going on with Mistress Luna,” Tzu insisted.

“Of course Luna, but I’ll have to figure out somewhere else for Fluttershy to spend the night,” Twilight replied.

“Wait, I’ll find somewhere else,” I responded, wondering who else I could ask.

“Doesn’t look too good, having to couch surf right after offering your home to me. Makes me wonder what kind of home you have,” Scootaloo said teasingly from between my forehooves.

“When did you get there?” I asked, surprised by the filly appearing so suddenly.

“A few seconds ago while you were staring off into space,” Scootaloo replied, snickering at some unheard joke.

“What’s so funny?”

“Space, moon, night sky,” the filly prompted, elbowing my leg gently.

“I fairly weak joke,” I deadpanned.

“It’s a pun, they’re always that bad. I have a spare room if you want it,” Scootaloo offered.

“You do?” I confirmed.

“Well, yeah, it was theirs. I’ve only been in there a couple times,” Scootaloo replied easily, “It’s probably a little dusty.”

“Thank you, would you mind showing me where you live?” I requested, suppressing my feelings of embarrassment.

“Sure it’s this way,” Scootaloo replied, leading me towards the doors of the town hall, “It’s no castle, but it’s home.”

“I haven’t lived in the castle for some time, never liked it really,” I replied.

“You don’t? But then where do you live?” Scootaloo asked, confused.

“There,” I answered, pointing at Abaddon with a wing.

“Uh Princess, that’s a monster, not a house,” Scootaloo pointed out fearlessly.

“Abby’s not a monster, he’s just big. There’s a whole building in there, and Abby acts sort of like a butler for everypony,” I argued in defense of my friend. ‘Is Abaddon my friend?’

“A butler? What, does it turn itself inside out to fetch you some water?” Scootaloo pressed.

“Only if you ask nicely,” I joked.

“So you live in a giant scary monster, that’s actually pretty cool. I mean, it’s not Rainbow Dash levels of cool, but it’s not too far behind,” Scootaloo praised.

“Thank you?” I replied, unsure how to take the complement.

“So what do princesses do when they live in giant monsters?” Scootaloo continued, more to make conversation as we walked through the remains of the town.

“I mostly spend my time with my friends, they’re good people,” I replied, wondering whether I was lying or not.

“People?”

“There’s only one other pony that lives there, and she’s only there temporarily. The rest are Jay-Jekyll, his army, and a demon named Cat,” I clarified, “Oh, and Discord, but I rarely see him.”

“You get into a fight with your friend?” Scootaloo guessed, “I got into an argument with Bloom a while back, I called her by her full name too.”

“Yes, Jekyll and I had a disagreement over his treatment of the spider queen,” I confessed, stopping as I questioned why I was telling a filly this.

“That?” Scootaloo asked, pointing at the crushed remains.

“Yes, he didn’t need to humiliate it as it died. It was cruel,” I explained.

“Enough to justify losing him as a friend?” Scootaloo asked sagely.

“Are you sure you’re a filly?” I posed.

“Yeah, I’ve just been taking care of myself for years, you grow up quick when you have to,” Scootaloo replied.

“I suppose. The answer is no, it’s not worth losing a friend. I’m not sure I can anyway, too much of my life revolves around that creature these days,” I mused.

“Then why are you following me home?” Scootaloo pressed.

“It seemed right at the time and I don’t want to go crawling back,” I confessed.

“Hmm, too bad, you’re standing where my bed used to be,” Scootaloo rebutted, drawing my attention to the splintered remains of a wooden floor and bed frame that I was standing on.

“Come along Scootaloo, I’ll see if I can find you a bed for the night,” I sighed, realizing her questions had been leading towards asking to reverse our situation. I suspected I’d need to talk to Jekyll about housing the entire town until it was repaired.

“Okay,” Scootaloo agreed, hopping onto a broken beam and rebounding onto my back.

“You seem to be taking this rather well,” I noted as I teleported us onto Abaddon’s deck.

“It’s not the first time I’ve lost everything. I’m more crushed than my house, but crying won’t help me pick up the pieces,” Scootaloo replied, sounding dead.

“I have a friend I think you should speak to, but first we need to find Jekyll,” I declared.

“Currently attached to your tail, that was closer than I’d like,” Jekyll said from behind us. My attempts to spin around revealed that I had teleported in so close to him that my tail was fused with his leg.

“Ouch, how do you fix something like this?” Scootaloo asked sympathetically.

“You cut it off,” I whimpered. I wouldn’t have minded if it was just hair, but there was skin and bones involved.

“Just hold still,” Jekyll ordered, causing me to yelp as he grabbed my tail. Slowly, it began to come free of its prison and we were separated in just over a minute.

“Thanks. Uh, could I ask a favor?” I requested.

“Only if you let me apologize first. You were right, I didn’t need to treat the spider like that. I’m not that person anymore, the world doesn’t need the Horror. I promise not to be like that anymore,” Jekyll apologized.

“And I’ll do my best to keep you on track,” I promised, “But we have a problem, a town full of recently homeless ponies.”

“Jeff’s ready to start repairs as soon as the bodies are cleaned up, and the Bravos are replenishing the ranks as we speak. It shouldn’t take more than a couple days, a week at the most,” Jekyll responded, looking around at the destruction as he spoke.

“But where will they sleep? Can Abby house them all?” I proposed.

“Abaddon, do a headcount and figure up the space requirements,” Jekyll ordered.

“Four to a room, minus the ones already reserved,” Abaddon replied.

“Boom, problem solved,” Jekyll declared.

“This thing does whatever you say? That’s so cool,” Scootaloo gushed.

“I try to be helpful to everyone, whether they are my lord or his guests,” Abaddon replied, fully forming a secondary head and torso to converse with the filly.

“So that’s how you do butler stuff,” Scootaloo reasoned, “Does the cool factor ever wear off?”

“Not on your life,” Jekyll bragged.

“Jay, could you get Cat? Dressed, preferably,” I requested.

“Sure I’ll pull your demonic therapist out of Tartarus again, for the second time. Today,” Jekyll agreed, complaints notwithstanding, “I’ll be back.”

“Where’s he going?” Scootaloo asked.

“Summoning a demon is dangerous, he won’t do it in front of us to keep us safe,” I explained.

“Dangerous, right. ‘Cause Harry was sooo mean,” Scootaloo mocked.

“What? How do you know that name?” I demanded, moving the filly in front of me with my telekinesis.

“Okay, okay. Sweetie found this old book in her parents’ basement and we thought we could get our cutie marks in summoning, well, Sweetie did anyway. I was promised something awesome. What we got was a portal to Harry, the most boring demon ever. He wouldn’t even get up from his desk, he just yelled at us for being irresponsible and made us close the portal,” Scootaloo explained.

“I think I should speak to him at some point, he seems surprisingly reasonable,” I commented.

“Rippers always are,” Jekyll stated as he returned to the deck, “They don’t have the concepts of greed or guile, they’re incapable of lying or taking more than their share.”

“That’s why they make such good soldiers, you can point them towards your enemy and not have to worry about them attacking your soldiers too,” Catrix added as she followed Jekyll onto the deck.

“But you said they’d destroy a town if summoned on accident,” I pointed out.

“When Belial was king, sure. But they wouldn’t go any further, they’d take what they were promised by their king and go home,” Catrix explained. An enforcer walked up to Jekyll and quietly said something that drew him into a conversation with a crowd of Bavos.

“Fascinating. Scootaloo, this is my friend Cat, I think you should talk to her,” I suggested.

“You think I’m crazy? I don’t need a head doctor,” Scootaloo argued.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not one, I’m just easy to talk to and I know a thing or two about people,” Catrix countered with an easy smile as she sat in front of Scootaloo.

“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” Scootaloo asked dejectedly.

“It’s not a punishment, I’m really a fun person. Come on, I think they got the pool finished,” Catrix suggested, gesturing towards the door.

“Cat,” Jekyll stated casually before returning to his conversation, showing that he was still listening.

“I’m still a professional,” Catrix responded to his unspoken statement.

“Hold up, there’s a pool? You have a pool, like, a swimming pool? Here?” Scootaloo asked, looking conflicted.

“What’s the matter?” Catrix asked, leaning in slightly.

“You guys might be as cool as Rainbow,” Scootaloo replied, seeming surprised by her own admission.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far, she must be pretty awesome to have a fan as cool as you,” Catrix rebutted.

“Trying to get my guard down?” Scootaloo accused before smiling, “It worked, let’s go.”

“Have fun,” I called as Catrix raced the filly through the doorway, “Have I just made a horrible mistake?”

“Nah, she’ll behave. Wanna help me badger Tzu into making his own decisions?” Jekyll suggested.

“He can’t?” I asked in confusion, Tzu had always seemed capable to me.

“More like he won’t. He’s got a thing for Cat’s attitude but won’t pursue a relationship unless I tell him to,” Jekyll corrected, only increasing my confusion.

“And you won’t do that,” Luna reasoned after a moment.

“Right, which leaves us with teaching him how to do things on his own or getting Cat to tease him into insanity,” I finished.

“I suppose the former option would be the responsible decision. But what do you mean by her attitude? I didn’t think he cared about our personalities,” Luna asked.

“Well, you remember how I tossed him at Cat to bring her to her senses, and how I sent him on a mission to figure out how to have fun, that whole mess from yesterday?” I began.

“Yes, I recall,” Luna answered hesitantly.

“Yeah,” I concluded, nodding.

“Oh,” Luna commented, “Does he have feelings for her?”

“As much as he can, I think, though he’s very logical about it all,” I replied.

“Poor thing, finding the love of his life, his very soul mate, only to have her torn away before his very eyes on the same day,” Luna cried dramatically, giving up and laughing at the situation.

“That’s the spirit,” I encouraged before a sight in Ponyville ruined my mood, “Shit.”

“What now? Has a hydra decided to attack? No wait, that’s far to tame for today. The moon has fallen and is rolling towards us. Or maybe Dopple’s here with a hundred rogue leviathans, that would fit perfectly with how well today has gone,” Luna raved, refusing to look.

“They’re leaving the town hall,” I explained.

“Abby, could you take us a little closer and prepare their rooms?” Luna requested with a sigh.

“Have some Mikes ready in the staging area to escort them,” I added, sending Abaddon into motion.

“I’ll go inform them of their new living arrangements,” Luna groaned, rubbing tiredly at her eyes as she spoke.

“I’ll probably be checking on some things when you get back if you want to just go to the room,” I offered.

“Thank you, I suspect a nap would do me wonders. Do you intend to join me?” Luna asked.

“I don’t have any business there if you don’t want me around,” I responded, not wanting to push her in any way.

“Don’t take too long, I think you owe me a back massage and some company,” Luna ordered with a smirk before she teleported away.

“I take it this means I won’t be receiving any lessons on how to make choices?” Tzu inquired, having been ignored by the rest of us while he stood there the entire time.

“You made one when you chose to ask that stupid question, now apply that thinking to other shit. Lesson concluded,” I stated.

“But how do I-” Tzu attempted before Abaddon slapped him across the face with a tendril.

“Stop overthinking it. The rest of us know that we can do whatever we want, as long as it doesn’t disobey any orders. Have you been ordered not to see Miss Catrix?” Abaddon snapped.

“Well no, but-” Tzu attempted again, receiving another slap.

“Then why won’t you talk to her without being ordered to?” Abaddon asked, moving his secondary head into striking range of Tzu.

“Because I-” Tzu baited, catching the tendril and severing it before continuing, “I can make my own decisions, that’s not the fucking problem! I know her title and position, along with their meaning. Were my actions last night not under orders from Lord Jekyll, they would be considered treason by the other demons of Tartarus.”

“Did you look up Tartarus laws regarding concubines?” I asked, having only the vaguest idea what he was talking about.

“Yes sir, I familiarized myself with all laws when I became your proxy. The royal concubines belong solely to the royal family of Tartarus and exist only for their pleasure, the penalty for touching them without express permission is punishable by imprisonment for no less than six thousand years in Ugroek the foul’s chambers,” Tzu quoted.

“It actually threatens them with Ugroek? That’s fuckin’ funny,” I commented, recalling the wide path my team had taken around the greater demon’s keep. We had to deal with more demons, but none of us were willing to brave the smell. Ugroek wasn’t a name, it was the sound you made if you got too close.

“Yes sir, I’d require permission to even fetch Miss Catrix a glass of water, in case her hand bumped mine,” Tzu continued.

“Did I ever tell you what happened to your father?” I wheezed.

“I’m aware of my lineage,” Tzu replied, ruining my joke.

“Then you know that as my offspring, you’re a prince of Tartarus and thus part of the royal family,” I pointed out.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Tzu confessed, dumbstruck by my simplistic argument.

“Just make sure you put your work first,” I warned.

“Of course. On that note, the Bravos are eager to hear your opinions on Abaddon’s new armament,” Tzu prompted, gesturing towards the two new top facing cannons that were still growing out of Abaddon’s back.

“Long range artillery, it’s something I should’ve thought of earlier. Projected range?” I asked.

“Beyond the horizon, if the Bravos are correct,” Abaddon replied, sounding excited by the idea.

"I like it, what’s next?” I continued, sparking a full rundown of the minor adjustments Abaddon was currently receiving before Tzu moved on to the latest breakthrough by the Sierras in how to make our weapons shoot faster before ending with a written complaint by Discord over not being warned about Abaddon’s aggressive movements earlier. By the time we finished, the locals were all loaded onboard and either trying to settle in or were wandering around curiously.

“Look daddy, there’s one growing out of the ground over there!” a colt cried, interrupting our conversation.

“I’m sorry sir, I’ll keep him quieter,” a stallion I didn’t recognize said fearfully as I looked over at their small group.

“No worries, we were just finishing up anyway. Feel free to make yourselves at home until we can get the town repaired,” I replied.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you helping us so much?” the stallion asked.

“Princess Luna is a personal friend of mine and I’ve loaned her my services in the defense of your fine nation, though none of us were expecting this,” I answered.

“I guess that makes some sense, but where does Jeff fit in?” the stallion continued, his interest having been peaked.

“Jay, I’m calling in that massage,” Luna whined as she walked onto the deck.

“Sorry, we’ll have to continue this later,” I apologized before following Luna back to our room.

“Why does everything go horribly around me?” Luna complained as she flopped onto the bed, resting her head on the blister that served as a pillow. I climbed in as well once she had situated herself comfortably, straddling her back but keeping my weight off of her.

“‘Cause we both have shitty luck,” I replied, gently working my fingers into her neck.

“Is that what you’d call it, bad luck?” Luna asked, flicking her ear in annoyance.

“Just until I have a face to blame it on, then I usually remove that face,” I answered, moving to unknot her shoulders.

“And eat it,” Luna added.

“That too,” I agreed as I shifted to work my way down her spine.

“Oooh, right there, that’s the spot,” Luna cooed.

“We should’ve done this a long time ago, your spine is a mess,” I declared, feeling more than a few vertebrae that were well on their way to herniating the cartilage between them.

“Too much touching, too intimate,” Luna reasoned, even as her legs went limp and sprawled across the bed.

“I assume Cat blackmailed you into this then?” I guessed.

“No, but I could barely move,” Luna explained.

“You decided to get me to massage you without any prompting or coercion? I’m proud of you, this is some real progress,” I praised, continuing my path down her back but avoiding the bases of her wings.

“You missed a spot,” Luna pointed out.

“You have a lot of feeling there, it can come off the wrong way,” I replied.

“Social implications or not, they’re cramped from being trapped in that armor all day,” Luna argued, slapping at me weakly with the tops of her wings.

“Say the word and I’ll stop,” I advised, gently laying my hands on the neglected area to gauge her reaction. Luna bit her lip but remained silent as I gently worked on the powerful muscles just under her skin. She let out a muffled cry when I stopped working on both sides evenly and shifted my attention to her right wing, ”You okay?”

“This might be too much,” Luna admitted, sounding flustered.

“It’s okay, I know enough about pegasi to know how sensitive their wings are,” I replied, returning to working on her back. Luna’s wings audibly snapped back to her sides the instant my fingers left them.

“It didn’t hurt, it just didn’t feel right. Am I making sense?” Luna elaborated.

“I understand, I’ll stick to your back,” I compromised.

“Cat would tell me to embrace it, wouldn’t she?” Luna asked, sounding conflicted.

“Yeah, she would. But she’s not here and this is one of the things I disagree with her about,” I replied.

“I shouldn’t be getting this stressed over a stupid massage,” Luna complained.

“Then don’t, just relax and let me realign your spine before you start rebuilding all those knots I’ve been working out,” I instructed.

“Which is what I’d do if I wasn’t grounded by wing cramps. I wasn’t exaggerating, I’ve been walking and teleporting so much that the armor you made me has rendered my wings useless. Do you see my problem?” Luna continued, exasperated.

“Can you move them?” I asked, trying to gauge the seriousness of Luna’s claim. Luna’s right wing shakily extended in response, “Did that hurt?”

“Nothing worth complaining about, but yes,” Luna answered.

“You know my capabilities, I leave the choice to you,” I offered.

“Fix them and then guard the door,” Luna instructed after a long moment.

“We’ll set some rules when I get to them, but I’m doing them last. Roll over,” I ordered, getting a confused look, “Legs.”

“Right, that would make sense,” Luna mumbled, shuffling to lay on her back.

“Ma’am, Miss Shy and Miss Sparkle are requesting an audience with you. They have four others with them as well,” Abaddon stated right as I started on Luna’s left foreleg.

“I’ve hit the point where I no longer care how they see me, send them in,” Luna replied, shooting me a glare when I attempted to remove my hands from her sore muscles.

“Hi Prin-You’re high-Lun-I give up, I’ve had a long day,” Twilight attempted as she led her friends into our room.

“I agree, though that should be rather obvious at this point,” Luna jibed, gesturing to the leg in my hands.

“Ah don’t mean ta assume, but were y’all in the middle of somethin’?” Applejack asked, keeping her eyes on the floor respectfully.

“If the rest of you would like massages as well, I’m sure it can be arranged,” Luna offered, putting up no resistance as I moved my attention to her other foreleg.

“Thank you darling, that would-” Rarity began.

“Hey, we didn’t come here to talk about dumb frilly stuff. Can I go home?” Rainbow interrupted.

“Did it blow away? No? Then yes, you can go home whenever you want,” I replied gruffly, more out of habit than anything else.

“Whatever, thanks I guess. See you later Best,” Rainbow said before catching herself, “Shoot, sorry Mister Jekyll.”

“No worries kid, take care of yourself,” I replied, completing our typical farewells.

“You making fun of me, huh? Let’s pick on the dumb pegasus who was friends with a traitor, it’ll be fun,” Rainbow accused angrily.

“Dash, just relax a second. He’s-” Applejack attempted.

“He’s a bully, that’s what he is,” Rainbow snapped, crouching aggressively.

“Dash, is it? The one you know as Best Defense is not a traitor to Equestria, the one we are looking for simply shares the same appearance,” Luna explained before the situation could escalate.

“Lu, you might want to stay out of this one, Dash can get violent pretty quickly,” I warned.

“What the hay is going on? How do you know that? Why do you talk like Best? Why do you sound like him?” Rainbow asked desperately.

“They’re the same person,” Fluttershy replied, though her statement was only heard by Rainbow, who she was standing next to, and myself.

“You? No. Nope. I didn’t hear that. Because that would mean that one of my best friends has been lying to my face for ten years and then decided to disappear and brand himself a traitor. But that’s not how friends treat each other, so it’s just impossible,” Rainbow reasoned.

“In my defense, I was living as Best since before your grandparents were born. The rest of it wasn’t intentional and I’m trying to fix it,” I placated.

“Not good enough,” Rainbow hissed.

“I had an assistant, he’d take my place whenever I had to go anywhere, and he’s the one we’re hunting. I’m sorry, but there’s a lot more going on right now and I haven’t had time to clear this up,” I continued.

“So you left me hanging,” Rainbow concluded, “You just ran off and abandoned us without even saying goodbye.”

“Sorry Twi, Ah’m with Rainbow on this one. Y’all didn’t know Best like we did,” Applejack responded at Twilight’s pleading look. Meanwhile, I had finished with Luna’s forelegs and had shuffled to the side to continue with my work.

“Your anger is justified, I should’ve at least let Shy tell you what was going on,” I admitted.

“Whatever, I don’t know if I can forgive this. I just wanna be alone right now, goodbye Jekyll,” Rainbow declared as she stomped out of the room.

“Could ya drop me off at the farm, it looks fine from here and I gotta get back ta work,” Applejack requested.

“Harvest season?” I guessed.

“Yep, a little early this year. Ah’d take the day off, but Mac’s sick and them apples ain’t gonna harvest themselves,” Applejack replied.

“Abaddon?”

“Understood,” Abaddon answered, gently lurching into motion as he turned towards the farm.

“Ah liked ya more as Best, none of this monster nonsense,” Applejack complained.

“You know, I did too. It was peaceful, if nothing else,” I agreed, shifting sides to finish this portion of Luna’s massage. Luna herself seemed content to stay out of our arguments.

“Where’m Ah gettin offa this thing?” Applejack asked.

“The same place you entered, an enforcer outside will lead you there,” I replied.

“Thanks. Yer turn Twi,” Applejack said as she departed.

“I was just wondering if my lessons were going to continue while I’m here,” Twilight stated.

“Yes, right here,” Luna replied, wincing as my fingers found a particularly sore spot near her hoof.

“Can my animal friends-” Fluttershy attempted.

“Yep, that’s why you got a room to yourself,” I interrupted.

“But I didn’t,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“You do now,” I corrected.

“Okay,” Fluttershy replied meekly.

“Rarity?” I asked.

“I’m just here for moral support darling,” Rarity replied.

“Pinkie?” I continued.

“Did Suzy ever find something fun?” Pinkie asked nervously.

“Don’t worry, he made another friend. One with looser morals,” I replied.

“Did he smile?”

“I have neither that information nor any desire to find out,” I responded.

“He did,” Catrix said, ducking her head in to speak before returning to the hallway.

“Abaddon, I thought you said the hallway was clear?” I asked.

“It was, but I allowed travel when the situation became more acceptable,” Abaddon replied.

“That seems fair,” Luna commented, stifling my retort.

“Luna, would you mind if we talked for a while? I have a lot of questions about what happened today,” Twilight requested, causing a few of Luna’s feathers to ruffle in irritation.

“You two go ahead, there’s a little post-battle ritual I’ve been putting off and should get to,” I suggested.

“Alright, but most of the answers will be that we don’t know yet. Not even Discord new much about these creatures,” Luna replied as I finished with her last leg and climbed off the bed.

“Have fun,” I said as I walked out of the room and made my way towards the deck.

“Hey Jay,” Lilly greeted as I walked onto the deck.

“Hey Lily...and Discord, I wasn’t expecting you two to get along,” I replied.

“We both like foals, so we’ve been working together to keep all the young ponies from panicking too much,” Lilly responded.

“Makes sense. Hey Discord, got a question for you. What’s kavik mean?” I asked.

“Where did you hear that?” Discord countered, surprised.

“The spider queen bitch said that if I tried to kill her, we’d die together. Called it a kavik death,” I elaborated.

“That’s-That was-my people’s name for ourselves. She must have been ancient to know about that,” Discord mused.

“Details?” I requested.

“Sorry, draconequui die in pairs. That’s why I’m still around, no one to die with. The two of you dying together would mirror us in a way,” Discord explained.

“Thanks for the info, and sorry if I brought up any painful memories,” I replied, walking past my friends to look out over the ruins.

“Going for a walk?” Lily guessed.

“Yeah. I’m going to take a look around, see if there’s anything worth eating,” I declared, walking right over the side and doing a front flip for style points before performing a solid two point landing.

“Sir, initial reports suggest that-” an enforcer attempted as it hurried over to where I was standing.

“Don’t care right now. I’ll come back in a few minutes, fill me in then,” I ordered.

“Yes, sir,” the enforcer replied, returning to its work.

As I walked through the streets, I occasionally paused to inspect the various piles of debris and corpses. I watched as Luna set the sun and raised the moon, noting the way the last rays of sunlight reflected off the dead carapaces in the street. As I wandered past the trampled remains of the library, a particular scent caught my attention and caused me to reach for my pistol. Finding its pouch empty, I was struck with an image of the small weapon lying forgotten in Canterlot Castle during the only time in living memory that I could forget anything. Between the loss of my newest weapon and the lack of backup, I decided to make an attempt at conversation while I gauged the situation.

“Hello Dopple.”

Author's Notes:

So this chapter was nearly done before we got chapter 15 posted. Not really anything else to say, this is another chapter that got done during spring break. It just took some time to finish and edit, mostly finish.

Eric's Editor's Note:
Huzzah! I am free from the editing basement!
whispering from off screen
What do you mean I have to go back?!
more whispering
Alright. But I want a gallon of Cheetos.
Confused whispers
I know they don't come in gallons. You'll have to figure it out yourself.