I awoke to splitting pain and a world of darkness, along with the feeling of something or someone poking around the top of my head.

“What happened?” I rasped, finding my throat dry and scratchy.

“You passed out. More importantly, your eyes fell out and your skull shattered while you were asleep,” Jay explained.

“My skull broke? Why did my skull break?” I managed as the pain spiked and I grit my teeth.

“Because there’s usually a bioform holding it together, it’s stronger that way and allows us to link,” Jay replied.

“Can you at least dull the pain until you finish up?” I requested, feeling another spike. I briefly wondered how many more of these I could take before my mind shut down.

“One second, here,” Jay allowed before I felt a sting on my neck that was barely noticeable compared to the throbbing pain centered just above it. I felt the sensation in my head fade shortly before it spread to the rest of my body. My mind began to feel fuzzy and thick as the chemicals took root there as well, “All done, you can open your eyes now.”

“Muah?” I mumbled around my uncooperative tongue.

“You’re adorable when you’re drugged up,” Jay chuckled as he rolled me into a more comfortable position and tucked my tongue back into my mouth for me, “You’ve been under for about an hour, so you should only be a little loopy for another two at most. Just try not to say anything weird when Chelly checks on you.”

Tia was here? Fuck Tia, evil bitch always playing with my emotions.

“Luna, you’ve got an angry face,” Jay noted. Duh.

“Bish, Nighmm Nigh,” I explained as best I could.

“I’ll ask her about that, don’t worry. You just focus on not drooling on yourself...actually, I’m just gonna make a little trench here for it,” Jay replied. I was supposed to be mad about something, but I was having a hard time remembering why.

“Bwaaaah,” I wailed in frustration. Why couldn’t I think?

“Oh fine, be a spoilsport,” Jay snapped as he laid a hand on my head. In seconds, my faculties returned and I remembered exactly why I was angry.

“You could’ve done that from the start?” I asked accusingly, finding my body was still uncooperative from the neck down.

“Anesthesia is fun for everyone, it wasn’t anything like that,” Jay responded defensively, placing several memories of both ponies and members of his species acting silly into my mind. Despite myself, I couldn’t help smiling at the amusing scenes.

“Okay that is funny, but there’s a difference when you turn me into a blithering idiot and keep me like that even though you could fix it,” I pointed out.

“There are tens of billions of things I could do to keep you from experiencing the slightest inconvenience by my hand or otherwise, I think you’d find that life incredibly boring. It’s the little things in life that make it worth living, and sometimes that means drooling and ranting about imaginary cats so you can laugh at it later on,” Jay argued.

“It’s the manipulation that’s pissing me off you dolt!” I snapped.

“Everyone else has to deal with the aftereffects of anesthesia. What you’re asking for is special treatment,” Jay clarified, making me reevaluate my point for a second.

“You win, are you happy now?” I demanded.

“Nope, not until we figure out why you’re actually mad and solve that problem,” Jay responded seriously. I felt tendrils slither through my recently repaired skull and the connection establish before all of my thoughts and feelings over the past day came rushing back through my mind in a flash of tangled emotions, “Ah, I get it now.”

I couldn’t find the words to express my anger, grief, or joy at that statement, I could only cry and find some part of him my horn could reach.

“Damnit Luna, now you’ve got blood in your fur,” Jay chastised as he removed his speared arm from the end of my horn.

“Humph,” I grunted as I returned my head to the pillow.

“I’m not your mother or your sister, I’ve even been fighting to change that last one while you were asleep. I know I can be an ass sometimes, but I’m legitimately trying to do the right thing. So I stumble now and again, who doesn’t? Look, I’m doing it again right now. What I’m really trying to say is that I’m sorry for tying you to a chair and then making excuses about it,” Jay apologized sincerely, making my anger start to melt away.

A slow, rhythmic clapping of shod hooves interrupted our moment however, as Tia announced her presence in the doorway I had to crane my neck to see.

“Quite beautiful, I can see now why you like him Luna,” Tia snarked.

“Chelly, we talked about this,” Jay warned, making my eternally headstrong sister flinch.

“We did, but I don’t recall reaching any conclusion on that point,” Tia argued weakly.

“I can quote you, if you like,” Jay threatened.

“Alright, I’ll give your way a try,” Tia sighed before irritably adding, “I liked it better when I didn’t have to listen to your nonsense.”

“I liked it better when I cut out your tongue and left you mute,” Jay shot back, “But here we are, so play nice.”

“I am right here,” I pointed out, irked by the way they were excluding me from their conversation.

“Luna, I...I’m sorry,” Tia began, surprising me even more when she didn’t teleport to some secluded area right after saying that, “I’m sorry for ignoring you, not just now but all of the times. I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me. I’m sorry for pushing you away all those years ago. And I’m truly sorry about your friend, I-I didn’t know how much she meant to you.”

Moon and stars above, Celestia was actually crying.

“I’m sorry I was so horrible to you when we were young. I’m sorry for mocking you and hurting you. I’m sorry for hiding you away when we grew up. I’m so sorry…” Tia continued, her emotions breaking free from whatever vault she had locked them in and pouring forth.

“Jay, I need my legs to work. Methinks this sister of mine needs a hug,” I requested, smiling to let the others know my formal speech was in jest.

“It’s fine, you need your rest. I can come to you,” Tia replied as she stepped forward and placed a gentle hoof on my cheek. I knew her hugs, they were the same as father’s hugs. The both of them would start at the cheek to show their loving smile before wrapping the leg around and pulling the recipient into the proper embrace.

That was not how this hug went.

Tia started screaming in agony the instant her hoof touched my fur, the red spot of blood that had transferred over to her began eating away at her flesh and growing pustules as it spread up her leg. Thick red veins pushed against the inside of my sister’s skin as her fur was pulled in and consumed with the rest. Redlight, I remembered Jay mentioning the virus in his blood; blood that was currently covering my head, neck, and legs. Celestia was dead and it was my fault.

Quick as lightning, a dark blur lanced through Tia’s knee. The only indication of what had happened was the blood on Jay’s outstretched claw as he surveyed the scene and the infected leg dropping to the floor.

From my half paralyzed position, I could still see the severed leg as it continued writing and growing ever more grotesque. Hundreds of small boils now graced the surface of the skin, each connected by thick ropes of flesh that were raised above the skin altogether. It didn’t even look like a leg anymore, the only indication that it had once been attached to my sister was the gilded shoe still attached to the end. It astounded me that all of this had happened before a single drop of blood had escaped Tia’s veins.

Tia was still screaming as Jay wrapped tendrils around her and slapped a wad of biomass onto her open wound, an obvious attempt to stem the bleeding before it could even begin. To my horror, that infected leg wasn’t dead. While Jay was distracted and I was frozen in terror, its flesh bulged and broke as eight chitinous legs burst from the larger boils and lifted the monster. My scream added to Tia’s when it looked at me with its mismatched black eyes, though that seemed to spook the creature and caused it to scurry away from the noise.

It barely made it a full length of its body before teeth emerged from the floor and snapped shut around the leg monster, Abaddon finishing the job Jay had started.

“Luna, teleport, floor, now!” Jay shouted as he lifted Tia to throw her onto the spot I was currently occupying. Now that my panic had broken, I did as instructed and vacated the bed just as I was about to be crushed under my sister’s bulk.

I miscalculated and ended up falling a couple feet to rest on the floor, knocking the wind out of me. Abaddon was kind enough to roll me over and help me stand when I struggled to see what was happening to Tia despite my lack of oxygen.

Tia’s scream ended abruptly when Jay threw a sharp punch into her jaw, knocking her out and allowing him to bend our bed around her without having to deal with her panicked thrashing at the same time. Once Tia was safely cocooned and the threat was eliminated, Jay slumped against the wall and sighed in exasperation.

“One fucking day, that’s all I want,” he breathed.

“What the fuck just happened?” I demanded, feeling required to ask even though I thought I knew.

“I’m a fucking moron, that’s what happened,” Jay snapped as he punched himself in the side of the head, “I’ve gotten so damn lax, never bothering to think about the virus in my blood. You’ve gotten my blood on you before, I should’ve noticed it then. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!”

“Noticed what?” I pressed, looking at my own hooves in fear now that I had seen what the blood had done to Tia.

“It’s not possible, it shouldn’t be fucking possible. How in the hell are you immune to something that eats everything?” Jay demanded. He had to know I wouldn’t have any answers, but he was staring at me like I had been keeping this from him intentionally.

“I-I don’t know!” I pleaded, my fear just as intense as his confusion and anger.

“Fuck fuck fuck, I should’ve seen this months ago. What is wrong with me?” Jay continued, hitting himself one more time before letting his arm drop to the floor.

“But...how?” I wondered, catching some of Jay’s confusion. By my understanding of the virus the made up Jay’s body and the other variant contained within his blood, there was no logical way I should’ve survived stabbing his hand when I was still the Nightmare. My time on the moon maybe? Some outside force? Discord? Fate? The Elements of Harmony?

“Discord was sealed, the Elements wouldn’t do something like that, Redlight ignores radiation…” Jay listed as he reached the same conclusions, “Fate... Our only other lead is something that calls itself Fate. Dopple said it wanted a show, maybe it protected you to facilitate that show.”

I paused as I considered that hypothesis and found no way to refute or support it without more information, “I don’t have anything else to go on either, but this Fate is beginning to really scare me.”

“Me too,” Jay confessed.

They shipped us. In a box. Please someone start trouble so I could wet my claws and release my rage at this indignity. My place was in the conference room gathering information or slitting the throat of a target while in the guise of my last victim, not in a moldy fucking box with eleven smelly minotaurs to keep me agitated. Were it not for my orders and control genes I would have slaughtered these plebeians and reaped my vengeance long ago.

A jolt unseated several of my companions as the box abruptly halted. What little chatter there was died when the front of the box dropped and a grim faced sergeant started shouting at us, “Alright you whelps, atten-SHUN! You are now in the permanent command center for the Allied Strategic Command, AEC or Stratcom for short, it’s location has been deemed a state secret by each of the Allied Nations and they have made arrangements to keep it that way. You will have no communication with the outside world while you are here, you will have no vacation time, you will have no rights. You are the property of Stratcom while inside this structure and you are not permitted to leave.”

This would be problematic, a sealed bunker made it hard to move without being noticed.

“You have all been kept in the dark for this reason and this reason alone: to prevent enemy spies from infiltrating our military command and sowing chaos. Many of you may recall the incident where not one but two of those monsters attacked our diplomats, our mission here is to keep that from happening again. Am I understood?”

“YES SIR!” the boxload of soldiers around me shouted in unison.

“Good. I know the post is a rough one, but it’ll keep you off the front line and get easier as time goes by. Once we’re sure we can trust each other not to eat us in our sleep, I’d wager life will get a lot better,” the sergeant continued.

“Do they really do that? How do we tell?” one trooper asked nervously.

“Each one of you will be exposed to a new substance that is toxic to the monsters, it won’t hurt you at all but they can’t stand it. That’s how we’ll know,” the sergeant replied. Shit, they were growing brains for a change.

“How do you know we won’t be hurt by this substance too?” I baited, mimicking the apprehension of the previous soldier.

“I myself have already gone through the test, I can say with certainty that it is no more painful than dipping your hand in a bowl of water,” the sergeant reassured, telling me everything I needed to know. He had already been cleared, therefore I needed his face.

With no more questions to be asked, the sergeant ordered us into formation and marched us down a disgusting hallway layered in years worth of lichen and mold. This place wasn’t new, that much was obvious, but it was solid. Beyond the growths of plantlife bleeding from cracks in the walls, I could see the concrete and iron construction was still in good condition. The oil lamps affixed to chains hanging from the domed ceiling burned cleanly as though they had been replaced recently, a sign that this hidden bunker was already in the very early stages of a renovation.

I was perplexed by this place, it didn’t match anything I had ever heard of before. It felt more like...no, it couldn’t be. It felt more like a bunker from Earth than anything on this world.

A steel door loomed before our formation, a pair of occupied shooting slits to either side of it. That was definitely not a design I had ever encountered on Equis before.

“Careful private, a suspicious type might think you’re looking for weaknesses,” the sergeant warned, having appeared at my side while I was distracted.

“No Sir, just slightly confused. I’ve never seen this type of structure before, but it has to be fairly old. Where did it come from?” I asked, hoping to deflect the suspicion and sate my curiosity at the same time.

“So you’re an expert in bunkers now? I think you and me are gonna have a little chat in my office, complete with plenty of that monster melting goop. You might get to rejoin your fireteam after I’m convinced you aren’t one of them,” the sergeant growled as he grabbed the front of my uniform and hauled me out of formation. I made sure to keep my weight from giving me away too quickly as I was dragged off for interrogation.

In his eagerness to incite fear into the other soldiers the sergeant made a lethal error, he brought me into his office and slammed the door before he gathered a sample of the cure. I was on him the second the latch caught, cutting and slashing with wild abandon as I killed the minotaur. That had been my intent at least.

“India Twenty-Three Dash Two, damn it’s good to see another one of us,” the sergeant greeted as his destroyed face and neck repaired themselves instantly.

“You got the sergeant? Guess we really are growing predictable,” I chuckled as I rolled off my disguised brother.

“I came in with the first group as an aid, snatched up this meathead to dodge the test. I’m guessing you had the same idea?” Two asked.

“How’d you guess?” I countered sarcastically.

“Well there’s the question about it hurting, that was an easy giveaway. And then ogling the bunker because it’s obviously Earth tech,” Two listed, counting off my transgressions on his fingers.

“Ha ha, I was just scoping out a way to sneak in. What about you? Have you figured out where we are?” I asked.

“Badlands would be my guess, all I could see the one time I managed to sneak outside was sand as far as the horizon. I’m actually more curious about how we can get the location to the others,” Two replied, giving me an idea.

“Do you have any of the cure?” I asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“A spray gun and three spare jars in my desk, just in case any monsters try to get me,” Two answered with a smirk.

“Good, you’re going to use it to kill me,” I instructed.

“Glancing hits until the room is filthy with your droppings?” Two guessed, figuring out my plan.

“Exactly,” I agreed.

“I’ll probably get a promotion for killing you,” Two joked as he got up and retrieved the weapon. It looked like a child’s toy, using the pressure from the shooter’s finger to spray its contents a maximum of three feet or so. The only discernible difference was that this one was metal instead of plastic.

“That’s their trump card? A squirt gun?” I deadpanned.

“It’s a prototype, they’re working on a crank based system to allow for sustained fire and longer range,” Two replied, seeming equally nonplussed by the thing I now refused to call a weapon.

“Do they know we can shoot spikes much farther than a liquid can travel?” I wondered aloud, barely resisting the urge to facepalm.

“These are the equivalent of a shotgun or other close combat weapon, they use treated bullets and arrows at range,” Two explained, correcting a mistake that could’ve proven disastrous if it had made it into my report.

“Anything else I need to know before I fake my death and escape?” I asked, just to be sure.

“Might as well take my full report with you, save some time,” Two countered as he offered me his unoccupied hand. Taking it with my own, I assimilated his memories and added the pertinent bits to my collection. Once I had them, all that was left to do was mock the other enforcer for the indignities he’d been forced to endure.

“A gryphon, really?” I ribbed.

“Pre-existing relationship,” Two countered expertly.

“You know she’s cheating on you,” I pressed.

“You know I don’t care,” Two shot back, just a little too loudly.

“I think you do,” I teased.

“I’ve been here for months and I have the memories of years with that hen, there’s a little bleedover. I’m fine,” Two insisted.

“When we take this bunker, and you know we will, I’ll do my best to keep her alive for you,” I promised, turning somber as I remembered the dozens of lovers I’d lost over the years. It was hard being an infiltrator, taking the memories of loving husbands or wives, boyfriends or girlfriends of all species, and having to maintain their marriages and relationships. I alone had killed hundreds of close friends and partners, I knew the pain well.

“I wouldn’t be able to do that anyway, just...just don’t let me watch,” Two requested, stumbling on his words.

“Lord Jekyll is changing, we’re all changing. A growing number of our brothers and sisters have taken up full time relationships, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to as well,” I pressed, genuinely wanting to see my brother’s mind at ease.

“She is the enemy, and a zealot besides, she must die for our cause. To do otherwise would be to enslave her as nothing more than a plaything, you know how our people feel about that,” Two warned.

“You know her better than I, she will perish with the rest unless you can convince her to defect,” I conceded, admitting defeat in this. So close, I was so close to seeing one wrong prevented in this war. Such was the life of an India.

“Are you ready?” Two asked, his mood just as ruined as my own.

“Yes, I’d like to put this place behind me as soon as possible,” I agreed, creating raw pustules on my extremities to make the mess that much worse.

“Good luck,” Two bid as he depressed the trigger of his cure sprayer.

“Chelly. Chelly. Chelly. Chelly. Chelly. Chelly. Celestia. Celestia. Hey. Hey. Wake up. Wake up,” I repeated as I poked and shook the comatose diarch. She was still in shock, but it was fading rapidly as what little blood she had lost was returned. Luna had been worried until I’d checked on her sister’s vitals and reported the all clear, and had since gone to get lunch in town. I was alone with Celestia, and I wanted her out of bed so I could judge her physical state more accurately.

“Uhhhh, what time is it?” Celestia groaned after several minutes of repetitive calling and prodding.

“Oh good, I really wasn’t looking forward to resorting to the methods I’ve had to use to get Luna out of bed,” I sighed.

“Huh? Oh, it’s you,” Celestia droned as her eyes focused, her contempt thick enough to cut and spread over a slice of bread.

“Yeah, me. It’s mid afternoon and about time you got up so I can see how fucked up you are,” I instructed.

“What are you talking about?” Celestia challenged, “I feel fine, now go away!”

“You’re the one in my room bitch. If you think you’re so damn healthy, then punch me in the face,” I ordered irritably. Celestia didn’t hesitate to flail her stump in an attempt to hit me, only for her eyes to shoot open when they beheld the damage, “You’re damn lucky that’s all you lost, you’d be dead or worse if I’d hesitated.”

“How? What? I’m doomed,” Celestia wailed as the memory came back, “How could this possibly be explained to the court? How will I ever walk again?”

“Simmer down stumpy, prosthetic legs have come a long way and I’ll just have your double get buried in construction materials or something,” I placated.

“Nopony would buy that rubbish, especially not Crimson or his masters,” Celestia argued.

“What about an assassin? Would they believe that?” I offered, an idea springing to mind.

“They might, actually. But not from you, their opinion of you is beginning to turn,” Celestia allowed.

“Abaddon-”

“I’ve already summoned her,” Abaddon interrupted.

“Excellent,” I replied with a sinister edge to my voice.

It didn’t take long for Gilda to appear at my door, “You called for me elder?”

“Yes, I think I’ve found a way to solve your honor issue and restore your status in the isles,” I began, getting the young gryphon’s attention.

“What do you need me to do?” Gilda asked eagerly, though she maintained her professionalism.

“You’re going to make an attempt on Celestia’s life,” I replied, getting a confused look from the gryphon as she looked past me at the disabled alicorn on my bed for a moment before she blankly drew a long knife, “Not this one, her double. We need to make the copy match the real one so the real Celestia can show her face again.”

“Oh, that makes more sense. Alright, I’m game,” Gilda responded as she stowed her blade.

“Method and execution are up to you, so long as you take the right leg and get spotted by someone,” I allowed.

“Time to dust off my sword,” Gilda replied, giving me her answer.

“I don’t remember a sword,” I noted.

“You really didn’t look through my stuff, did you? It was in my sock drawer,” Gilda teased.

“You don’t wear socks. Why would you have a sock drawer if you didn’t wear any socks?” I countered.

“The same reason I have an underwear drawer, to keep out anyone looking for my kit,” Gilda laughed as she walked out, a noticeable spring in her step now that she had a way home.

“You have weird friends,” Celestia commented, still stunned at the casual way Gilda had prepared to kill her.

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way, normal people are boring,” I replied.

“I’m going to need therapy after this,” Celestia continued, talking more to herself at this point.

“I happen to have a therapist on call,” I offered, thanking my biology for allowing me to keep from smiling.

“That’s convenient,” Celestia droned absently, clearly unaware of what she had gotten herself into now. I decided then that I liked Celestia when she was crippled like this, it made her so much easier to get my revenge on.

Celestia didn’t seem to notice me walking to the side door and knocking, nor did she react to my calls for Catrix to put on some damn clothes and come inside. Celestia remained dead to the world as Catrix sauntered into the room and sat down next to the diarch, only looking up at the demon when she scratched the alicorn’s ears.

“Hey there, I’m Cat,” Catrix greeted, having seen the troubled princess and approached without any prompting from me.

“Hello,” Celestia responded numbly before turning back to the wall she had been staring at. I changed my mind, this wasn’t fun. This was depressing as hell.

“Hey, look at me. I’m here, let me help you through this,” Catrix instructed, guiding Celestia’s head as it turned to regard the demon once more.

“I lost my leg, it’s gone,” Celestia explained emotionlessly. She hadn’t been stunned before, she was drained. Her mind was failing to cope with her injury and she was shutting down in response.

“I see that, can you tell me what happened?” Catrix prompted gently.

“I touched Luna, I didn’t know she was dangerous. Jekyll cut off my leg before it could kill me, why did he do that?” Celestia asked, regaining some of her old self for a moment.

“Legs are the worst things to lose, I’ve lost mine a few times too. Jay saved you because he doesn’t want you to die. He needs your help, even if he won’t admit it,” Catrix continued, seeming to restore even more recognition in Celestia’s eyes.

“I need his too, for more than I’ve said,” Celestia confessed, giving me the impression that she had forgotten I was there.

“Like what?” Cat asked, shooting me a quick glance that told me to stay quiet.

“He’s the only one that can defeat him, the one running those things, the one pushing me around. He can kill anything, he has to kill Fate,” Celestia revealed. That name again, interesting.

“What else?” Catrix pressed in the guise of keeping Celestia talking.

“He hurts me, he’s the only one that hurts me,” Celestia mumbled, her eyes drooping. Catrix looked my way in panic, obviously thinking Celestia was dying of shock, before pulling up her dress and shoving Celestia’s head clear up to her chest. I facepalmed at the instinctive reaction but remained silent. Celestia did not, “You have nice skin.”

“Thank you,” Catrix replied, seeming both confused and amused by the odd compliment.

“I have good skin too, even if I don’t deserve it,” Celestia continued, somehow managing to stay depressed even while pressed into a succubus’s bosom.

“Why would you say that?” Catrix pressed, stroking the diarch’s mane comfortingly in her efforts to calm her.

“Because I’m a bad pony,” Celestia replied, ending her declaration with a hiccup as she started sobbing.

“I don’t-” Catrix began before going silent as Celestia started talking again.

“I drove my-hic-only sister insane and then persecuted the first new thing I saw. Hic-I attacked and attacked and attacked to feed my own wan-hic-wants, I’m a bad pony because I keep ge-hehe-tiing them all killed. I deserve this,” Celestia continued before pausing to lift her stump, “I deserve all of it and more.”

I was right then, Celestia had been using me to punish herself all along. The weight of her mistakes dragging her down and making her need the pain to feel like she had atoned for some of it.

“That sounds like a vicious cycle, you’ve been causing harm to atone for past harm. Maybe you could ask for help next time? Luna’s back and Jay’s your political equal at least, you’d be among peers,” Catrix suggested gently.

“Maybe,” Celestia whimpered pathetically. This was disgusting. In all of our fights and all of our screaming matches, Celestia had never shed a single tear. But now, with her mind overtaxed by recent trauma, she spills her guts and cries a river?

This was no way for me to see my enemy, I might actually sympathize with her if I stuck around much longer. I couldn’t leave through either door without breaking Catrix’s illusion that they were alone, so I had Abaddon ferry me through the floor and out into the hallway before stalking away.

I hadn’t been this angry in a long time. I had passed the point of violence and entered into the quietly burning hate that had killed whole species. Last time, most of the greater demons had suffered my wrath. Before them, the changelings.

“Sir, India Five has reported their success,” Tzu announced as soon as I wandered onto the deck, “The package had been delivered to...him.”

Fucking fantastic, that one had my prize now. I kept Fang around because we were close once and he still maintained a level of usefulness, as much as a pack of rabid wolves could be useful. But that one, that enforcer was just psychotic.

A fate worse than death or Tartarus awaited those few that ended in that dark place, at least in Tartarus you got the luxury of dying eventually. Master, as he insisted on being called by his charges, was the warden of my private prison, where he kept those poor souls alive for as long as they had the slightest chance of giving me an advantage. Or until he got tired of hearing their screams, whichever came later. He hasn’t gotten tired of any of them yet.

“Priority message, the ribbon is not to be cut. That package is mine, not his. He can keep it under the tree, but he’ll have to wait like everyone else,” I replied quickly, speaking in code in case there were wayward ears nearby.

“Would you like it brought home sir?” Tzu asked, surprised by my insistence.

“No, I’ll go to him. It’s been a while since I got to see Fillydelphia anyway,” I responded, using this as an excuse to put more distance between me and that pathetic creature inside my leviathan.

“Mistress Luna will not be pleased,” Tzu warned as I spread my wings and prepared to launch.

“Tell her I had to handle something delicate involving...I don’t know, make something up,” I instructed, waiting for Tzu’s nod that he had a plan before flinging myself into the air and gaining purchase on an updraft.

It would be a long flight to the port city and the repurposed hive beneath it.

“How on Equis did you survive this mess?” the general asked in bewilderment as he gawked at the remains covering my office. He was a old gryphon, weighted down with too many deserts and in desperate need of a preening. His bleach white feathers were so unruly that they covered his name tag and left me with only his rank to refer to him by.

“Strict adherence to my training, SIR,” I replied, locked in the position of attention and the image of a perfect sergeant.

“Training? You must’ve taken those close combat lessons more seriously than I did, I can’t imagine doing half as much damage to one of them by myself; much less killing the thing and surviving to tell the tale,” the general continued, showering me with unearned but useful praise.

“Yes sir, it is my belief that all training should be considered a life or death experience and repeated regularly to maintain skill level, SIR,” I boasted, not even having to lie.

“Well, the results seem to testify to that. Heh, I wish we had at least one officer like you, maybe then I’d be able to sleep at night,” the general hinted.

“Thank you SIR,” I responded.

“Cornell, weren’t you pestering me yesterday about some leftenant that had gone AWOL rather than accept this post?” the general asked, speaking to a smaller gryphon that appeared to live in the commander’s shadow if his appearance was anything to go by. The aid, Cornell, the general had named him, looked more like a rat than a bird, with much of his feathers falling out due to poor nourishment and beady eyes from going too long without sunlight. I had made a mistake: Cornell wasn’t an aid, he was a serf. An orphan cub enslaved by the military in exchange for table scraps and a roof.

“Yes General Harnd sir, they said we’d need to rek-rekwe-” the serf attempted before the general’s hand knocked him away.

“Requisition, the word is requisition. Useless fool. Anyway, as I was saying, we do have a position available, if you’re interested,” Harnd tempted.

“What would my duties be sir? I’m not eager to trust some nosebleed with my troops,” I asked, dropping some of the formalities now that the general had made his proposal. Playing the part of the dedicated leader didn’t hurt either.

“Formally, I’m in command of all soldiers posted at Stratcom. But like every good commander, I leave all of that nonsense to my captains and leftenants. You would be working directly under me, functionally in command of all the defensive troops,” Harnd explained. This couldn’t have turned out any better, now I’d own the security and could weaken it at my leisure.

“I would be honored to accept, SIR” I agreed, snapping a sharp salute.

“Excellent, I’ll have Cornell make the arrangements to have your belongings moved to your new quarters. Any requests? Is there a little minotaur you’re sweet on?” Harnd asked.

“Gryphon actually, one of Advisor Sand’s aids,” I allowed, knowing that it would put my re...my disguise’s relationship in jeopardy if I left her out.

“Good for you, a proud gryphon a heart even if you are a dirty cow on the outside. I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Harnd replied jovially before walking out without so much as a word of goodbye.

“Man, fuck that guy,” I commented to myself once I was sure no one was in earshot.

This was my favorite city. It couldn’t hold a candle to Ponyville, that was my town, but no one cared that I was different. Even during the height of Celestia’s crusade, not one of these ponies would notice my existence. I basked in the absolute lack of attention as I made my way towards the hidden entrance to the undercity, the network of maintenance tunnels and sewers that would take me to the old hive and the slightly less old prison there.

No one so much as looked in my direction when I ducked into an alley, nor when I pulled open a sewer grate and dropped into it. No amount of noise made a difference to these organic robots. I sighed in contentment and disabled my sense of smell as I waded casually through the literal river of shit that dissuaded anyone from venturing too close to the hive, it was free lunch as far as I cared.

“Such a good place for a lair,” I commented, equally happy to be back and dreading the necessity to talk to the enforcer in charge. Master fought with me on every detail, which is what actually led to his semi imprisonment here as well. His own little kingdom to rule however he wanted as long as he delivered the information I wanted. Fucking asshole.

“Glad you like it,” a voice hissed in the darkness.

“You gone rogue? Nevermind, I don’t care. Where’s the warden?” I asked the unnecessarily creepy sentry.

“With the fresh meat, getting him all trussed up for your visit. How long has it been lord? Ten years? A hundred? Do you even remember how to flay them properly?” the sentry mocked.

“Five, thanks, and I never forget anything. You’d do well to remember whose subconscious you come from,” I warned as I walked past and shoulder checked the sentry into the wall, “Don’t fuck with me.”

“Never, but one has to make sure. These catacombes aren’t for the weak or the sane, hehehehe,” the sentry chuckled behind me as he faded back into the darkness.

“Ah, Lord Jekyll, we weren’t expecting you for another hour,” another guard greeted, a twisted smile on his face as he ushered a line of empty eyed captives into their holes. These poor sods weren’t really alive anymore, just soulless husks that weren’t allowed to die. Most of them didn’t even have skin, just thin wires wrapped around their organs and bones to hold them together.

“Keep up the good work you sick bastard,” I replied as I passed, getting a toothy grin in return. Now that I had entered the proper hive, I could see the layers of torture implements Master had collected and built over the years. No two were remotely similar, each one was unique in the way it delivered pain and each one was spotless. A stark contrast to the grimy appearance of the rest of the facility and its occupants.

Another thing that caught my eye was just how many of these devices there were. Each of the concentric rings of walkways that layered the walls of the cavernous hive had implements along the walls, and a platform had been constructed in the center when they ran out of space. Since then, the platform had been expanded to cover the entire floor of the hive and even more layers had been added. Platform sat atop platform atop platform, each spanning the width and breadth of the cavern. There were twelve layers of this torment in addition to the walkways and whatever else was hidden in the outer rooms.

At the very top of the platform tower of pain stood a large cage, as though it was an observation point for some guiding hand. Knowing the warden, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was his playground, where he would take the newest prisoners to force them through things no living being should have to endure. And he would make them watch as the others were treated to their fates as well, just so they would have the barest hint of what their future held. That cage is where I would find my general.

The only way to get around was to fly, and so I skipped as much despair as possible and flew directly to the cage. I had been correct. General Feder, the rising star in the gryphon army, was chained to the side of the cage by massive hooks that had been forced through the meat of his wings, a precursor to their inevitable removal.

“General Feder, you were remarkably easy to capture,” I greeted as I stared the defiant gryphon in the eyes from outside the cage.

“He won’t talk, he isn’t broken yet,” a raspy voice informed me, the voice of the warden.

“Romeo Seventy-Eight Dash One,” I replied in greeting, using the enforcer’s real name as a show of dominance.

“Oh pshaw, I’m not in the mood. I’d rather be cutting into my newest toy than fighting you o’ lordly one,” the warden wheezed. There was nothing wrong with his voice, he just liked it that way.

“I played way too much Silent Hill,” I commented under my breath.

“Breaking the rules already? You should know reading my guards just ruins the fun,” the warden rasped. I had no idea what he was talking about.

“I was referring to the wires and cages, they’re new,” I corrected.

“Ah, then you’ll enjoy the surprise I’ve cooked up for this little tart,” the warden laughed. It was a laugh so cold it sent the prisoners shivering and cowering in their pens, a cruel, barking thing.

“Not until I’ve gotten a look at him,” I ordered, making the enforcer grumble his dissatisfaction, “Feder, this will go a lot easier if you tell me what your people are planning and where. Trust me, you’ll talk eventually. It’s better to get it out now and save yourself the pain.”

“Buck you monster, I will never betray the country I love or the gryphons I swore to protect,” Feder spat.

“You’re literally talking about nine hours, that’s the longest it’s taken to break a new prisoner in the last hundred and fifty years,” I warned. I was exaggerating, but in that it had never taken that long.

“I like your face, and you seem to like it too. That’s why I’ve made you a special bit of protective gear to keep these bumbling idiots from damaging it on accident,” Master breathed, letting the air escape through his broken teeth in a way that hissed threats.

Without warning, Feder’s chains went slack and the gryphon dropped to the floor of the cage. I heard bones break as he landed on one of his wings, but not a single cry of pain. I was impressed by the general’s strength, but knew it wouldn’t last.

“Feder, Hans, let me help you. Just give me the information I want and I’ll let you go,” I promised.

“Do it boy, give him what he wants,” Master encouraged.

“Go to Tartarus, I’ll never betray them,” Feder repeated adamantly.

“I tried my way, let’s see this new thing you’ve made,” I allowed, getting an ugly, crooked smile from the warden.

“Put it on him,” Master growled, prompting two guards to emerge from some hidden compartment and seize Feder. The gryphon howled his contempt as he struggled to break out of their iron grips, only getting louder and more desperate as they slammed him on a table and strapped him down.

Once their subject had been secured, a third guard emerged with a rusted iron box and presented it to the first two. One of them removed a blackened metal cube from within the box and slowly approached Feder, making sure the gryphon watched his progress. This was more mental than physical, and it was about to get very physical if those spikes on the outside were what I thought they were.

“GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!” Feder screamed, showing that even he was starting to crack.

“Happily, as soon as you tell us what you know,” I replied.

“NEVER!” Feder spat as the box looking helmet was forced onto his head. I heard his beak crack when the box forcibly occupied the space where his beak was supposed to be. Feder couldn’t help groaning in pain as the dark steel trapped him in the claustrophobic helmet.

“I’m proud of this one Lord, it reduces mobility and movement range without sacrificing the subject’s eyesight. Well, it doesn’t remove it entirely anyway,” Master bragged.

“How so?” I asked, more for Feder’s benefit than any actual curiosity.

“There’s a door on the front, it can be opened for feeding and will allow the subject to see,” Master claritied.

“Side hinge?” I guessed.

“On both sides, can’t have them getting comfortable now can we?” Master laughed.

The devious helmet was now completely enveloping Feder’s head, but a raised hand from me kept the guards from driving the spikes dotting the outside into the former general’s skull and neck.

“What is the meaning of this? You come in here all supportive and then stop me right before the best part?” Master demanded, turning angry.

“I need that helmet removable, I need the world to see his face and hear his words,” I stated firmly.

“You might be worse than me, I can respect that desire,” Master conceded with a wave at the guards. At his command, the spikes destined for Feder’s skull were removed from the device. That didn’t spare the gryphon much however, as the ones ringing his neck were quickly pounded into place by his torturers. At my glance, Master gave ma a shrug and a, “Those ones come back out easily enough.”

Feder allowed himself a long keening wail as he was released from his bonds and pushed onto the floor, his confinement now affixed to his body. Now it was my turn to step in. Walking right through the bars of the cage and up to the gryphon, I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and pulled one of the pins to allow him to see.

“Hey buddy, are you ready to talk now?” I asked gently, as though talking to a friend.

“Eat shit and die,” Feder managed, impressive considering the limited room he had to move his jaw.

“I’m going to be honest with you, we already know everything. All of your aids and advisors are dead, we ate them and their memories. I don’t care if you tell me everything you know, I already know it all. This isn’t actually for the battle plans, it’s for you. I’m going to break you, kill off every last hint of defiance or pride, and then I’m going to use you to break the spirit of every gryphon at their landing zone. I’m going to turn you into one of those wretches down there, and soon you’ll forget ever being anything more than flesh and pain,” I informed the once proud gryphon, telling him the truth for the first time.

“I’ll die before I let that happen,” Feder responded seriously.

“They didn’t tell you? You aren’t permitted to die. Some of those dregs below us have been here for over a century. You will be the thing that breaks your nation’s army, I can promise you that, and then I will allow you to die,” I promised darkly before picking Feder up by his helmet and slamming him against the bars of the cage, his body flailing limply as it followed his head. Taking two of the chains hanging idly nearby, I hooked them onto the helmet to keep Feder just off the ground as I worked.

With any hope of escape dashed by the heavy box on his head and no way to fight back, all that was left was to instill the hopelessness that had consumed the souls of those below. I started with his fingers, taking them apart one piece at a time with surgical precision. First the skin was peeled back and removed, then the tendon, then the pad, and finally the bone and ligament. Each joint was a separate endeavor, each bone delineating where my focus and efforts were concentrated. Razor edged claws had no place here, Feder’s flesh was to be torn. There was no pattern to what I would remove next, patterns gave a measure of comfort. There was no way of knowing what I would be working on at any given moment, I might take one finger off completely or switch to another after a knuckle. I might switch to another finger or the other hand. I might stop and switch before the one I was taking apart was finished.

“There we go, now you don’t need to worry about getting those hinges open,” I cooed as though I had done the gryphon a service.

Feder didn’t reply, there were too many bones and scraps of his flesh in the boxy helmet for him to speak without accidentally getting them in his mouth.

“Not hungry? You’ll change your mind about that soon enough, you’ll be thrilled to have the privilege of getting fresh meat,” I predicted, making the general take a bloody gulp. All these wounds were going to add up soon, the bloody stumps of his hands and the holes in his neck would have him passing out if I wasn’t careful.

Sliding tendrils into the holes, I restructured the flesh around the spikes to act more like that around a cosmetic piercing. Soon only bloodless cavities remained, though I left them tight enough to be uncomfortable.

“How you feeling wretch?” I baited, testing my victim.

“My name...is Hans Feder, I am a general in the Isles Parliamentary Army and I will be addressed as such,” Feder groaned, surprising me.

“That’s too bad, giving in makes it easier,” I sighed as I flipped him over to disassemble his wings the same way as I had done to his hands. That made him scream.

“Leave his genitals alone, we have a new policy for those,” Master advised from the sidelines.

“Having his balls in a vice doesn’t fit my purposes,” I countered, silencing the warden. But that did have the unintended effect of getting Feder talking.

“Please, I have children. I want to see them again one last time...please...master,” Feder begged, showing the first signs of breaking. Pleas of mercy and family were common but in conjunction with his submissive tone and the title he had used, it showed the true state of his mind,

“I thought you’d say that, so I had your wife and kids gathered too. I’m a heartless bastard, but everyone should get to say goodbye,” I allowed soberly as I stepped back. At my signal, four dirty gryphons were roughly shoved into the cage, half male and half female. They were scared but unharmed, and Feder’s eyes lit up as he recognized his wife as the first to pick herself up.

“Hans? Oh feathers, what did they do to you?” the largest of the new arrivals asked fearfully as she sprinted over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him, “Your wings! Oh no, please gods, not your wings!”

The female sobbed openly as Feder tried his best to calm her, saying that it didn’t matter as long as they were safe. The younger gryphons sat frozen at the sight of their father, locked in expressions of terror and disgust.

“Please, just let him go. You can take me in his stead,” Feder’s wife pleaded, “I’m pregnant, you’ll get two of us. Just...please...let him go.”

“You’re pregnant?” Feder asked in shock, clearly hearing this for the first time.

“I found out a couple days ago, I was waiting for the right time to tell you,” the wife confessed through her tears.

“Then you have to leave this place, for our children. They need you more than they need me, especially the newest addition to our family,” Feder insisted, regaining some of his mental control. Time to take that away again.

Without warning, I threw the female to the ground and brought my foot down on her belly. Feder screamed his anguish and rage as I ground her dying form into the floor, his keening only getting louder when I impaled each of his children on a tendril and brought them into my grip to be crushed into bone fragments and viscera. I made sure to be in his line of sight for all of it. Once they were dead, I reached down and pulled the lifeless head off his wife’s corpse.

“Please, no more,” Feder begged. Heedless of his pleas, I forced his mouth open and pressed his wife’s severed head into the helmet. I held him there for several minutes, plenty of time to develop serious mental issues. No one should be forced to kiss their partner like that.

“Alright, you got your goodbye. Did you enjoy your last request?” I asked coldly as I pulled the severed head away.

“I sure as fuck didn’t, this one seemed deader than me,” the severed head complained, making Feder start.

Cruel laughter echoed through the cavern as the bloody piles that had once been Feder’s children got up and made faces at the prisoner before walking back out of the cage. Feder looked more disturbed by the second, a sign he wouldn’t last much longer. He definitely wouldn’t once the head in my grasp revealed its true purpose.

“Can I go now? I’m almost late for my group’s feeding time,” the headless body behind me requested.

“Yes, get going,” Master snapped, his eyes glued to my work and my artful use of his preparations.

“You monster,” Feder whispered, his strength leaving him.

“I get that a lot, and it isn’t as if I can’t understand why. I know what I’m doing here, but I also know that life is something to be fostered. Not destroyed like your people intend to do, but shaped and occasionally pushed in the right direction. I’m trying to repel an invasion without ending a single life, isn’t that something worth a little sacrifice?” I pressed. I knew how hypocritical I sounded, but it was just another part of the game.

“We’ll never back down, we’ll kill you and all your pitiful spawn,” Feder insisted, though his heart wasn’t in it anymore. He was fading, all he had left was the chance that his people would win and rescue him eventually.

“I’ve seen your weapons, your cure guns, and I am far from impressed. I actually tested one on myself and do you know what I discovered? It would take well over a dozen hits to even slow me down, how do you intend to do that with three shots a minute?” I demanded, tilting the helmet so I could stare the gryphon down.

“We’re building better ones, you’ll-” Feder attempted.

“In Gryphondale, I know. Your production facility is scheduled to burn down tomorrow,” I interjected, making the gryphon wince. I grinned, sure all it would take was one last push, “Does that surprise you? That I would know your little secret? You have no idea the amount of information flowing through my networks of spies. Before you ever caught my eye, before the thought crossed my mind to have you abducted, I had six hundred pages worth of reports on your bowel movements. How are your soldiers supposed to fight an enemy that knows each and every one of their names and where they live? We’re in your command structure, your offices, your home towns, and your beds. We. Are. Everywhere. We cannot be killed, we cannot be fought, and your existence as a species is weighed only against our mercy.”

That did it, Feder fell limp and sobbed openly as his last hope was trampled. A proud gryphon leader, a respected military commander, reduced to a shell of himself after a single session. This world wasn’t cruel, its people didn’t have that level of malice. But I remembered one that was, the stories of old places run by the most evil of people and recounted by those few survivors or the remains of those who never got the chance.

“Warden, he’s yours now. You know my intent for him, make it so,” I ordered.

“Consider it done, Lord. Are you certain you hate this? You are quite skilled,” the warden replied.

“It’s a necessary evil, nothing more,” I answered.

“Perhaps for you, we call it life down here,” the enforcer countered.

“And then you wonder why I hate you,” I sighed, dropping the severed head and walking back out of the cavern.

I told myself that this had been necessary, that I had needed to set the limits and scale of what Feder would endure, but it was a losing battle. This entire facility was based on the idea that one life couldn’t be worth more than an army, that the sight of a broken leader would shatter their morale and make them easier to rout, that I could spare their lives by ruining just one.

“To save a million,” I repeated again and again as I stalked away. One hundred and twenty times I said those words. Once for every vacant eyed wretch that had once been a pillar of their community. Once for every broken body that would never hold its children again. Once for every sundered soul that had once burned with the drive to make a better world for their people. Once for every stone in the road of my damnation. I paused, then added one more for Hans Feder. Prisoner One-Two-One.

My wings felt heavy and slow as I flew back to my impossibly safe home, I would be warm and surrounded by friends and family while those unlucky few languished in the dank cold of the underground. Guilt was what flooded my mind and darkened my mood, guilt for using them as I did and sacrificing them and their families for my purposes. I didn’t hate them, I didn’t really hate torturing them, it was myself that I hated.

I couldn’t fly like this, I was too distracted to maintain either course or altitude. I landed in a forest grove and dropped to my knees, sending a prayer to any gods listening that Feder was strong enough to outlast the war. I prayed that I would have the chance to send him home, give him the hero’s return he deserved. I prayed...for the impossible. Feder would wither and break just like all who had come before, and I had to let that happen. My hands were tied, my course set by those in power and all but unchangeable.

That last thought added me some small measure of comfort, I was simply reacting to the stimuli of the brewing war. While hardly blameless myself, I had others to push my guilt onto. They would feel Hans Feder’s revenge before I was finished, my debt to him would be paid in full. And I would either kill him or set him free at that time, whichever was more merciful.

I had a plan, a feasible plan, and that was all I needed to set my mind at ease. I didn’t understand why this one got under my skin, but that was a question for later. I simply needed to get home before Celestia caused too much trouble.

With lighter, though still sluggish, wings, I set back to the skies and flew the rest of the way to Abaddon without fanfare. My mind was still trying to justify my actions to itself, but it was far too late to do anything other than commit to this plan.

Abaddon and the others seemed to sense my dark mood and didn’t approach me as I passed. It wasn’t until I walked into Luna’s and my room that anyone reacted to my presence.

Luna jumped as the door opened, her legs flailing in an attempt to conceal whatever item she had been holding, “Hey Jay, how was your day?”

“Damn awful, yours?” I replied as I dropped onto the bed next to Luna. I could see the signs of her embarrassment, but didn’t feel like I deserved the amusement.

“Somewhat dull. Tia has refused to part company with Cat and all but moved in next door, Abaddon and Tzu have refocused on the city defense project, and I’m left with naught to do but read,” Luna sighed, her blush starting to recede. It was still past her neck and into her chest, but it was beginning to creep backwards at least.

“Fun,” I commented with exactly as much enthusiasm as Luna had shown, “So what’cha readin’?”

“Nothing of import. What’s been eating at you?” Luna asked, cutting through my efforts to not talk about my day with a deflection of her own.

I sighed and sat down next to Luna’s hooves as I prepared myself for what was about to come, “You know how I work behind the scenes to make the wars I’m involved in easier?”

“Your terror strategy? It would be difficult for me to miss, even if I didn’t know about your excessive number of spies,” Luna replied, though not harshly.

“Well... one of the things that strategy calls for is the destruction of an idol, the complete ruination of their best symbol of martial prowess. That’s what I spent today doing,” I explained.

“Did you know the person?” Luna asked.

“As much as any of my enemies,” I responded, not understanding the question.

“Then why does it upset you? Monuments rise and fall, they’re easy to replace. If it makes you feel better, you could always put it back up when the war is over,” Luna pointed out, revealing her misconception and the root of my confusion.

“Luna...organic symbol of martial prowess,” I clarified, getting furrowed eyebrows for a moment before realization hit her and her eyes widened in surprise.

“You didn’t,” Luna accused.

“I had to set the tone, the sadistic bastard that runs my prison will handle it from here. I hate having to do that and I hate myself even more for doing it, but it works and lives are spared. It’s almost impossible to justify, but letting hundreds of thousands die actually is impossible to justify,” I confirmed, averting my gaze.

“Why?” Luna asked neutrally.

“I don’t understand the question. I just told you why I had to do it,” I responded.

“Why are you telling me this? Are you so depressed that you don’t think yourself worthy of being around me? Are you trying to push me away?” Luna demanded, her look becoming a sharp glare.

“I don’t-” I attempted, though Luna apparently wasn’t done.

“Because it’s not going to be that easy mister, you promised me companionship all those months ago and I have every intention of holding you to it. Don’t you realize how one sided our relationship is? I hardly contribute anything, yet you assume I’ll turn tail the moment I have the opportunity to support you. I say nay, I will not be the type of mare that walks out when she is needed most. Come hither,” Luna admonished sternly, beconning me towards her chest with a hoof. I could see the barely contained tears in her eyes as I relented and crept closer.

Once I was within reach, Luna pulled me the rest of the way into her embrace and simply held me by my neck and shoulder. I had to help her with the position, lest she be pulled to my position instead. But that didn’t matter, I found my mind at ease anyway.

“I wasn’t trying to push you away, I just needed to vent,” I confessed quietly after a minute or so.

“Shhhh, I know. Just relax and let me help, we can figure the rest out later,” Luna cooed, “What puts you at ease? We could do that tomorrow, take your mind off that dreadfulness.”

“I don’t know anymore, I’ve spent so long working towards different goals that I’ve learned to make my fun while doing those things,” I admitted, “Spending time with you is nice, as long as you’re there then I don’t care what we do.”

“If Discord heard that, I’d expect a full wheel of cheese to appear in your mouth,” Luna teased.

“I was being honest. Things happen around you, you make friends and get me to be nicer around everyone. Your growing confidence inspires me to be a better person and open up to others. Without you I’d still be wearing the skin of that that lonely gryphon, always watching the edge of the forest for threats I knew weren’t there,” I praised.

“And without Fate’s intervention, I would’ve died and you’d be there anyway,” Luna added sourly.

“That got me thinking actually. If we’re right and your immunity isn’t natural, that means Fate is on the level of a god. He can’t be from this universe, at the least,” I noted.

“Does that widen our suspect list or narrow it?” Luna asked.

“It went from impossibly large to literally infinite,” I replied.

“Shit,” Luna sighed, “Oh well, that’s a problem for another day. Tonight we’re going to cuddle and tomorrow we’ll spend the day doing nothing.”

“I think I’ll like that, thank you,” I responded gratefully as I laid the both of us down and returned Luna’s hug, using her body as an anchor against the tide of possible problems running through my head. Luna didn’t complain when I gripped a little too tight and felt a trickle of blood run between my fingers, she didn’t react at all despite the pain she no doubt felt.

“Do you go through every report your enforcers bring in? All those stacks of paper? I imagine that must create a lot of stress,” Luna guessed as she stroked the tendrils that sat in place of my hair.

“That’s a tenth of the real number of reports, just the easy ones. The rest require a lot of nuance and prior knowledge about that specific mission,” I revealed.

“I’m sure, why don’t you just let Tzu handle it?” Luna asked gently.

“He does, as much as he can anyway. But he can’t go through them all without dedicating all of his time and mass to processing data, so I take the rest. I need to review his decisions and critique them anyway, so it doesn’t reduce it that much,” I explained, finding that I was afraid to let go of the mare in my arms. It felt as though Luna would evaporate as soon as my grip slackened at all, like a handful of sand.

“Is it like that all the time?” Luna continued.

“No, it’s that damned war that’s been stirring everything up. So much to do and so much to learn about so many enemies, it’s too much. I could do it before, but things are more complicated now,” I replied.

“What changed? Why is it more difficult now? You fought wars before and made them sound like simple affairs,” Luna asked.

“I didn’t tell you, I didn’t tell anyone, but the Bravos have been making more enforcers. Not just loss recuperation, they’re building up my forces. We’re just over a million strong now, with twenty-five thousand India squads sending reports every damn day. I can’t keep up,” I confessed, feeling like I had failed at my only job.

“Well obviously,” Luna laughed, “That’s an impossible task no matter what you are, you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I shouldn’t be selfish either, what did you want to do tomorrow?” I shrugged, finding that being on the receiving end of emotional support didn’t sit right with me.

“I was planning on waiting for you to go do something and tag along, anything to get out of here,” Luna replied, making a face in the direction of Catrix’s door.

“Family problems?” I guessed.

“She cries every hour or so, it’s passed the point of concern and entered the realm of being annoying,” Luna confirmed, “We can work on your ability to open up later, it’s not important now.”

So she had noticed, that was fine. Two could play at that game, “But it wasn’t annoying enough to keep you from reading? That must’ve been some book.”

“It’s not something I’d be caught dead with, but after my initial revulsion it did become rather fascinating. Spike clearly didn’t know what he was loaning me, only that Twilight had a copy hidden in her room,” Luna replied with an embarrassed chuckle, “It’s absolute trash in print; no plot development or meaningful characters, just short transitions between sex scenes. I assume you’ve heard of ‘Trials’?”

“Right. That. Would you believe me if I told you you’d be hard pressed to find a mare that didn’t own a copy? It’s become a weird counterculture in recent years,” I responded, agreeing with Luna’s opinions on the tome.

“It’s so strange, the mare wouldn’t want anything to do with the stallion if he wasn’t a noble. I’d almost call it rape at some points. Why would anyone enjoy this?” Luna continued, falling deeper into her confusion.

“Because most mares don’t have the power you do, they can fantasize about a powerful male sweeping in and dominating them because they feel like it would make them more than they are now,” I replied.

“I take issue with that, I’d like to think most mares want someone who would treat them right,” Luna argued.

“Remember Tuesday of last week? What did you say to me?” I demanded, a victorious smile crossing my features.

“I-That was different!” Luna protested.

“Was it?” I asked simply.

“Yes! We are in a healthy, if completely lopsided and atypical, relationship, neither of us are calling on the other for crazy sex fantasies. We’re married, for stars sake,” Luna argued.

“And yet…” I began with no intention of finishing my sentence.

“And yet establishing power roles can be fun, and I may have said some embarrassing things at the time,” Luna conceded, “I guess I can understand the fantasy even though I don’t feel the intended empathy towards the character.”

“Why did I do that?” a loud voice cried from next door, heavy with emotion. One could almost hear the tears from where I was lying.

“Right on schedule,” Luna sighed.

“Yeah, that’s going to get old fast. Let’s go to hell so we don’t have to hear it,” I suggested as I cut open a portal to Tartarus and rolled us through.

“Your impulsiveness is surprisingly appreciated this time,” Luna commented as she picked herself up.

“I’m not impulsive, I just don’t let on that I’m thinking,” I countered as I rose to my full height as well.

“Ah, dropping by for another visit already? I hope you find the palace to your liking your majesties,” one of the maids, Timid, greeted.

“Have the sheets been washed? We may be staying in our chambers for tonight, if not the rest of the week,” Luna asked.

“Washed? Those rags have been burned and replaced with quality materials from only the finest craftsdemons, we’ve made every effort to ensure you both get the best sleep possible. In fact, I should let the kitchens know you’ve arrived so they can start preparing your breakfast,” Timid replied happily before bounding off, a noticeable spring in her step.

“I think she likes you,” I pointed out.

“Much better than being feared, I’m glad they’re happy. But shouldn’t she have said ‘kitchen’? Singular?” Luna queried.

“There are eight, all of which will be contributing to our meals,” I replied, “Hope you’re hungry.”

“Oh dear, will they be offended if I can’t eat it all?” Luna asked worriedly.

“Not as long as you tell them at the start and sample all of them before digging into your favorites, that way you’ll just fuel their rivalries,” I informed her as I pushed open the heavy doors separating our bedchambers from the rest of the royal apartment.

“Competition does breed progress,” Luna allowed. I noticed a pitch black armor case with three red slashes running diagonally across the face sitting upright against the wall, but ignored it for the moment.

“You should know that these guys have been perfecting their cooking since before recorded history, the hardest part is going to be keeping yourself from eating too much and getting sick,” I cautioned.

“I’ll be careful,” Luna promised. If her queasy look was anything to go by, she was remembering her introduction to hayburgers and the resulting mess.

I could only smile and guess at the chaos that would greet us in the morning as I helped Luna into bed and crawled in after her, only then noticing the note pinned to the side of the armor case. I retrieved the note with a tendril and read it over while Luna got comfortable and settled in against my side.

Your Highness,

A million apologies for taking so long to finish your order, but it has taken me many attempts to make something that fit your tastes and style. On a positive note, I have constructed no less than thirty other suits of varying protection levels and weights should they fit your purposes better in different occasions. They are contained in “the room.”

It pains me to hold my tongue, but I cannot be certain no untoward cretins might happen across this missive; as such, you’ll find another note inside the case detailing all of the features of your new armor and how they work in tandem. As always, I am but a call away should you have any questions or desire an alteration.

Your humble servant,
Jragden

I consumed the letter immediately and made a mental note to have a talk with Jragden about even mentioning that room. Belial’s war room, long forgotten by even the cleaning staff, was hardly known by any even during his rule, even less so now. It contained a single map etched into a massive table, a map magically linked to the surface. By opening a portal on the map, one could unleash the hordes of Tartarus anywhere in the world. It was how he accomplished the apocalyptic events most called the Awakenings.

“What was that?” Luna asked.

“Danny letting me know that my armor was ready and that his fuckups would work for other stuff if I wanted,” I replied.

“You should try it on tomorrow, maybe even wear it to breakfast,” Luna suggested.

“Looking for your Prince Ironclad, are you?” I teased, referencing the infamous book Luna had been reading.

Luna was silent for a nearly a minute before a hoof slid across my chest and started drawing circles on my chitin. Luna’s breathy voice appeared at my ear, her embarrassment and arousal clear as day, “Maybe I’ve already found him. Maybe you should put that armor on right now and make me your Moonstone.”

I felt one of Luna’s hind legs wrap around my legs and her body press hotly against my own. Her mouth, now freed from its duty to speak, was laying sloppy kisses down my neck as Luna made her desires known.

“Safe word is ‘sea cucumber’,” I relented as I pulled myself out of Luna’s full body embrace and approached the armor case. She pouted at the separation, but I saw her smile as I flowed through the small hole in the side of the case.

It felt shameful to defile my new armor so soon, but indulging Luna would give me a good opportunity to judge the platemail and decide on whether or not I liked it. Luna’s opinion changed drastically the instant I opened the latch on the inside of the case and stepped into the low light.

“Nope, nevermind, I’d like to keep from ending up like Tia if I can help it,” Luna declared as she scooted a few inches further away. I looked down at myself and understood her point right away, every edge was bladed and every surface that was usually smooth sported either ornate engravings or some form of integrated melee weapon.

“Yeah, I second that,” I agreed before flowing back out of the armor and hanging it up.

“Much better, now perhaps we should just get some rest,” Luna suggested. I raised my eyebrows at that, suspecting a ruse.

I was right. Luna waited until I was lying down and beginning to doubt my hypothesis before she pulled herself on top of me and sat up, letting the blanket hang from her shoulders as she stared into my eyes.

“I don’t need an Ironclad, I have a Jay, and my Jay knows exactly what I need right now,” Luna purred. I knew what she wanted, she knew I wouldn’t deny her. With no other distractions, I made peace with my fate: I was in for a long night.

Author's Notes:

Well, there's a look into the darker side of preparing for war. Spies, assassins, and kidnappings abound in the shadowy corners. These alone cannot win the battles, only sway the results. But as Sun Tzu teaches us, the first thing you must do is know your enemy.

Eric's Editor's Note:

Looks like not all is happy in this neck of the woods, at least, not for everyone. Seems like Jay will be getting a good ending though.

Militia's Editor's Note:

History is written by the victors, but what's more likely: Jay's enemies labeling him the monster in the history books, or himself?