"Angelfeather wasn't happy about staying behind," Twilight commented as she lay naked on top of me in the private royal train car. Her melancholy look on her face showed that she wasn't happy about going either.

"Neither did the rest of the girls," I told her as the somber look on her face tugged at my heartstrings. Her head was raised and she was looking down at me over her crossed arms that rested on my chest. The breeze that blew through the train car blew through her hair making it wave slightly due to the open windows letting the wind blow through. "Philomena and the rest of the girls certainly weren't happy about staying," that look had my hands wanting to comfort her and wipe that somber look off her face. I had hopes that massaging her side, back, between her wings, and even her butt would help. But even massaging between her wings did little help in wiping that hopeless, defeated, and sad look on her face. I knew why it was there too.

Twilight smirked a little at that, shaking her head slightly in amusement at the memory. "She was never good at words since her transformation. This time she didn't need to say anything to show her displeasure at staying behind."

"Yeah," I agreed with a slight shiver of fear. "She just glared at me while turning the nearby tree into ash in seconds." I looked out the window at the passing scenery while thinking about Fluttershy. "But if Fluttershy and our daughter was staying, for they certainly weren't going, then I wanted all of them there to protect them. Just in case."

She used a hand to turn my head back to her, then leaned in kissing me lightly. "I know, Fred. Just in case my brother, or perhaps other Equestrian citizens, come after her or any of us." I didn't respond because I didn't know what to say. She did. "I also know that you'll do whatever you can to persuade my brother from his coming actions against Cadance and the Crystal Empire. And you'll do everything in your power to avoid killing my brother or anypony else."

"I promise," I told her with a firm nod of resolve. "But if push comes to shove..."

It was her turn to nod now. "I know. You do what you must. I think I finally understand how your mother must have felt when she used the Elements of Harmony to banish Luna to the moon." The slow rocking motion of the car with the soft click-clacking of the train usually was always calming to anypony or anyone riding trains. But right now, they were anything but. Instead seemed to be the sounds of judgment. "When Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, she had no choice. She had to do something or else Nightmare Moon would have plunged Equestria into everlasting darkness. That would have, in essence, destroyed Equestria. Without daylight, crops would wither and die." There was a deep sadness in her eyes when she looked down at me again from looking out the window. "It's the same way with my brother. If he simply refuses to stand down, then..." Her voice shook a little as a couple of tears fell upon my chest. "Then he must be stopped in order to prevent more death." She wiped away her tears with a hand before laying her head down upon her arms.

With one hand gently rubbing her back, I used the other to rub her head and hair. "I'll try my best, Twilight."

She moved her arms around my neck and put her head on my shoulder, "I know you will, Fred. I just hope that what's happening in the Crystal Empire doesn't happen anywhere else."

"I do too, Twilight," I continued rubbing her head while gazing out the window to see that the trees were gone. We were nearing the Crystal Border. "It's just one of the reasons that I came over to Equestria. To try and prevent any civil war. When Discord revealed that it was his fault for bringing humans here and also responsible for the humans attacking in the first place, it was key in securing the end of slavery. But I'm also hoping that the same information will also help prevent anything other conflicts with those wanting to keep slavery. That's why I've ordered the newspapers all across Equestria to push that slant on the story. It also happens to be the truth that I don't want skewed." We fell into silence as my mind went over the what-ifs of what was about to happen. Even though Twilight said that she understood, it would be devastating to her if her brother was killed. And I didn't want to see the hurt in her eyes, not to mention her parent's eyes, if that ever happened. Her breath tickled my neck when she sighed and snuggled against me. My eyes were looking outside at the clear blue sky as the soft click-clack of the train tracks was still trying to soothe me. Though it wasn't working.

A sudden jerk of the train accompanied by the screech of locked train wheels and the blast of the air horn brought me out of my thoughts and startled Twilight. "We aren't there already are we?" Twilight asked, raising her head from my shoulder.

My gut feeling told me that something just wasn't right. And we certainly weren't at the Crystal Empire train station either. There was too much flat scenery outside. And when I heard shouting outside, I encouraged Twilight to get up. "Twilight? Get dressed. Now."

She was up in a flash, using her magic to quickly dress herself. "You think it's Shining's forces?" she asked while I stood up on the sofa slash pull-out bed and leaned my head out the window.

I narrowed my eyes with a sigh when spotting a row of soldiers. There appeared to be around ten or so in all with every one of them carrying shields and swords. A few earth ponies in front, a few pegasi hovering over them, and unicorns quite a few paces behind them all with their horns glowing. "Yeah, it's his forces alright." Sticking my head back in, it was my turn to quickly get dressed because Twilight was finished at this point. Naturally, it took me only a few seconds to get dressed. Because all guys get dressed quicker than girls.

"Is Shining there?" she asked and now that she was dressed, she got up onto the sofa slash pull-out bed and stuck her head out the open window.

"Not that I readily saw, no." After putting on my shoes and shorts, I turned toward the front car door to step outside and confront them. Considering the royal car we were in was right behind the engine car, and because I had wings now, it was easy to stand up on the top of the engine after one flap of my wings. With a hard look toward the soldiers, I put up my shield just in case. The engineer was shouting at them to get out of the way, but the soldiers did nothing but stood there silently. Then one by one, each soldier looked up at me and held my gaze. Tension was in the air as Twilight joined me on the roof of the engine seconds later.

"I don't see him, or sense his presence," she said quietly because of the tension in the air as the gentle wind blew against her dress. "Just what do they want?"

"I think it's obvious at this point," I said with a somber tone in my voice, "stay here and be prepared to protect the train and the ponies and people in it." I heard her softly agree as I flapped my wings again to jump down from the train and landing in front of it. Then spread my wings in royal fashion, which surprised most of them, before addressing them with my own version of Mother's voice amplification. "I am Fred Justice, Son of the Sun and Nephew of the Moon. I have no wish to harm you, but will if you try and harm the ponies, and people, within this train. I have no wish to kill you." Narrowing my eyes at them, I concentrated my look on each of them individually to make sure they got the point. "But will, if you push me to it." I paused and waited for their response. Before, I didn't sense any hesitation from them. Either in their eyes or body language, they appeared so sure of themselves. Not so much now. Some were looking between themselves with hesitation and uncertainty in their eyes. A couple of them even lowered their swords and shields. "Slavery of any sentient being, whether it is human, pony, griffon, minotaur, whatever, is evil and wrong. Shining Armor tried to kill, Fluttershy, an Element of Harmony, and my daughter. I'll say this only once. You. Are. On. The. Wrong. Side." After finishing my short monologue, emphasizing each word distinctly, I glared at each of them individually once again. And waited once more. I caught one of the earth ponies whisper to one of the unicorns beside him.

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea. I've got a family. And Shining didn't say anything about this guy having pony wings."

The unicorn he spoke to, which could be the squad leader, turned his head and glared at him. And he didn't sound too happy about it either. "You're wanting to leave? Are you that much of a coward? We can't let them win soldier. We can't let them corrupt pony purity with such filth." His voice was filled with hate and malice. It was sad, but this pony appeared to be beyond help. But not some of the others.

The earth pony the unicorn was glaring at looked between his squad leader and me. "No, I'm no coward!" he growled back, but also lowered his sword and shield. "But I have a family to take care of. And just look at that guy," he paused to point his sword at me. Others seemed to be following the conversation because they too appeared to pause and look over at me as if taking a good look. "He's got pony wings! If he was just a mere animal human, then how come he has pony wings?" A soft murmur of doubt started to circulate among them.

I wanted to help prove his point, so to that end, I lifted a hand and ignited it. "I'm sure that you noticed that Shining Armor has a broken horn." Pausing for dramatic effect, giving them a slight smirk. "I broke it off with my bare hands because I wanted to stop him without killing him. He can't use his magic to hurt anypony or anyone. But that doesn't mean he's not dangerous to others. His message of hate can do more damage than any sword or spear." I put out my hand and lowered it again. There was nothing, but silence and the sound of the wind blowing as each of them looked over at me. Shock and awe were in their eyes as if it was hard to believe.

"Fine!" the unicorn yelled out, throwing up his hands as if in defeat. But it was only in defeat of the argument. That was obvious when, he turned toward me, used his magic to put up a shield, then charged at me with a long battle cry. Of course, it was a meager shield next to Shining Armor. And because he was the only one running at me, as the others looked hesitant, I'd figure a little shock and awe might convince them to surrender.

"ITTOU SHURA!" An explosion of magical energy and fire swirled around me startling the charging unicorn. Unfortunately, not enough to stop him. As I focused the energy back into my body to enhance it, the fire also disappeared. I didn't want to kill him, just incapacitate him. My body shimmered for a second before completely disappearing with the ground cracking underneath being the only indication that I charged at him. In reality, I just used my magic to enhance strength, speed, and increased cognitive abilities, so my mind could handle the extra speed. So, it just appeared as if I disappeared. The next thing any of them saw was when my fist hit his magic shield which shattered instantly. He didn't even have time to look surprised as my fist hit his physical shield. I appeared once more, standing where I hit him looking as calm as ever while his body dug a nice trench in the ground. The others looked surprised, to say the least when they saw him slide to a stop just in front of them. He was out like a light and laid in the shallow trench that he made with his sword and shield laying on the ground beside him. After dropping my magic back down to normal, I simply looked at them with a calm "Well?" look. And waited.

I didn't have to wait long. It took the rest of them only seconds to decide on their fate. One by one they laid down their swords and shields. As their hands went up, Twilight landed beside me. "I see they're surrendering," she commented with relief in her voice.

"Yes, thankfully," I gave her a nod. "I don't suppose you have any sort of handcuffs do you?"

^_^

About a dozen surrendered to us, including the unicorn I knocked out. And while she didn't have any handcuffs to use, there was some rope available to us which we used to bind their hands and wings. Concerned about the unicorns, I asked for suppressor rings, but there weren't any available. However, one of the unicorns spoke up to say that the unicorns in the group wouldn't do anything. They saw what was left of Shining Armor's horn and after my little show, they believed me. So, I let it go after promising to break their horns if they used any magic, which they agreed that they wouldn't. There also wasn't any other car to hold them other than the royal car. At least I could keep an eye on them. And we were only minutes from the Crystal Empire train station anyway.

There were less than a handful of guards to meet us at the train station. Which got a little bit of a shock when our prisoners came out with us. All in all the unicorn prisoners kept their word and didn't cause any trouble for us as the guards retrieved some magic suppressors and took them away. And with that taken care of, our next stop was Cadence.

"Twilight!" Cadence called out to us when she spotted us walking in the throne room. I kept a little bit of distance as Twilight rushed up to greet her in their usual manner. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybug's awake. Clap your hands and do a little shake." I liked that last part of the greeting when they turned around and shook their butts at each other. And believe me, I was looking.

"What?" Twilight stopped giggling when she spotted me looking at them. That caused Cadence to stop giggling to look back at me as well. But they didn't straighten up but kept leaning over which made their butts stand out more.

I couldn't help myself either while pretending to have a camera in my hand to take pictures. "Hold that pose," I said making camera-clicking sounds. I caught the narrowed eyes of Twilight's glare right before she bopped me on the head with something, "The camera loves you two. Especially those plump-OW."

Twilight rolled her eyes with that soft tsk and click of her tongue that all females everywhere are known for. "Please ignore him, he's an idiot." While Twilight turned her head back around, I heard Cadence giggle at my antics, so I just gave her a quick wink before walking up and rubbing my head. However, Twilight's next question ruined the atmospheric mood instantly. "Did my brother order the attack on our train?"

Cadence's smile vanished and replaced by a sad and somber look. Cadence, the mare, being sad at losing her husband to hate. Cadence, the leader, had the hard look of one who was making hard choices. Choices that she didn't want to make but knew she had to. "Not directly, no. Based on the actions of other groups that surround the city, he wants to keep anyone or anypony from entering or leaving."

"You're under siege."

Cadence nodded at me. "Yes," she answered me.

"Why would my brother do that if he promised to attack the city?" Twilight asked, to which I didn't have a ready answer.

I just shrugged when Cadence looked over at me. Cadence then looked over at Twilight with a little shrug of her own, "That I don't know. So far, he's just ordered his forces to surround the city and siege it."

"Do you know if the groups around the city can communicate with each other?" I asked while thinking up at least something of an idea.

"Yes," Cadence confirmed, "it's with the communication orbs. I have one in my room but I've already tried talking them down."

"Good, but this time. You didn't have the benefit of having one of their groups in custody either," I said smirking. "We heard them talking about Shining lying about how his horn got broken. And they didn't believe me when I said that I was the one that broke it, nor did they expect me to have wings." I opened them for her giving them a good flap.

"I was surprised when I first saw them," Cadence said with an understanding smile. "So, I can easily imagine their reaction to seeing a human with wings. You want to try and talk to them?"

"Yes, because now we have some of his soldiers to testify on our behalf. I just hope it helps."

^_^

She did finally snap out of her stupor and went to get the communication orb necessary for communication with Shining's troops surrounding the city. The group we captured were down below in special crystal prison cells. All the way down there, Cadence was sneaking glances at me. I'll have to admit to liking the attention. But there was a certain look in her eyes that hinted of something more. If that was the case I had mixed feelings about it. There were multiple prison cells down in the crystal caverns beneath the city. Matter of fact, the caverns beneath the Crystal Empire were very similar to those beneath Canterlot. That had me wondering. We had captured twelve prisoners and there were two per cell with each cell being about six by eleven feet. One bed on each side of the room, a toilet slash water faucet sink combo next to the door, and a small desk with one chair opposite from the door. Immediately after walking up to the cells, the unicorn that I knocked out spotted me, stood up and growled at me.

"What do you want?"

Not responding to him, I looked over at Twilight while moving to stand in front of the cells. Out of reach of the prisoners, of course. "Twilight? Would you hold the orb and get a wide shot please?" As Twilight acknowledged that, I motioned for Cadence to stand beside me. "Cadence? If you would?"

"Alright, we're on," Twilight said while Cadence was getting into position beside me. Of course, from this distance, the picture that was inside the communication orb was small even though the orb itself was about half the size of a basketball. When the image came through the orb, there appeared to be one of Shining's soldiers holding theirs with the mountains in the background.

"Beta group. Who is this?" the stallion asked. Then he obviously noticed Cadence because his next words were, "Cadence! I've told you that we won't retreat."

"But it would be a good idea," I said to him, forcing his attention onto me. I lowered my wings and stepped aside just enough for him to see the soldiers behind me. "For as you can see, we've captured one whole group. The group that was guarding the train tracks. They surrendered after I knocked out one of your soldiers in a one-on-one. Then they believed me when I said that it was I that broke Shining Armor's horn. If you don't believe me, then let them tell you."

"Report!" the pony demanded from the orb.

"He's telling the truth, sir," one of the prisoners behind me said. "Those wings of his are real and his power is real. I believe him when he said that he broke Shining Armor's horn."

"Nonsense, soldier!"

"You didn't see what I saw him do, sir!" the soldier behind me shot back. "He powered himself up then disappeared. The earth itself cracked! I've never seen a human with wings, have you? Have you, sir, seen a human with that much power? I may be in this cell along with the others, but at least I'm still alive. At least I still have the opportunity to see my wife and foal again. Maybe. There won't be a chance for anypony that fights this human." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this pony point at me. "If this human can defeat Shining Armor, and this squad's most powerful unicorn with a shield up with nothing but his fists, then it's guaranteed that we'll lose and die. And I don't know about you, sir but I want to have the slim chance to see my family again." When the pony in the orb didn't say anything, the soldier behind me said one last thing. "Get a good look, sir. We all, all but one, willingly surrendered after he knocked out our squad captain. And as you know, he may not be as strong as Shining Armor is, but he's no slouch. This powerful human with wings knocked him out with one single punch that he didn't see coming. We all know that Cadence would never order for any of her troops to kill any of ours. But I saw the look in this human's eyes. Make no mistake, sir. He. Will. Kill." Then he fell silent.

I squared myself to the orb and raised my wing again. "He's right. I don't want to kill, but will if you force me to. And if you make me go out there and face you, then these ponies behind me will be the only survivors."

There was a pause as Twilight looked at me in mild shock. The soldier's voice in the orb told me the same thing, that he was a little shocked as well. But there was also a firm resolve in his voice as well when he said, "I'm a soldier."

I nodded slightly, "But hopefully not dumb or stupid." Walking up to the orb, I gently took it from Twilight in order to get eye to eye, so to speak, with the pony holding the other one. "Right now, I want to end this peacefully. However, if one pony, and or human, is hurt, then all bets are off." I didn't let him respond because I disconnected from him and turned it off. Then walked over to Cadence and handed her the orb. "Now it's their move."

She took the orb with a soft, "Would you really do that?"

"Yep. I meant what I said. Hopefully, I won't have to."

"Fred? Could I speak to you privately? Please?" she asked me. I couldn't refuse. Not with that pleading look in her eyes.

"Alright." As we left the prison cells and headed upstairs, Twilight asked for the orb so she could try and convince her brother to stop this. After Twilight got the orb again, she went off somewhere, so Cadence led me up to her room.

She didn't even speak at first, just asked me to sit down at a small round table under the window at the far side of the room. After doing that, I watched her grab some wine and two crystal wine glasses. Then sat down after pouring one for me. While sipping my own red wine, I watched as she shifted her pink dress when she crossed her legs to get more comfortable. Then sighed slightly before taking a long sip of wine. I wondered if she was using the wine as liquid courage or to soften me up for something. Or both perhaps? Either way, I waited while taking another small sip of wine.

"I want to have a foal with you."

That statement had me, quite literally, choking on the wine because the shock sent the wine down the wrong tube. After some hacking and coughing to get breathing properly again, I was able to wheeze out, "Did I hear you right?"

She calmly sat her glass down and put her hands in her lap before answering, "Yes, you did hear me correctly, Fred. I want to have a foal. Shining Armor is out of the question with what he's done and our marriage now in divorce." My mouth hung open as if a trap ready to catch flies, as she went through her reasoning. Reasoning that sounded rehearsed. "I can't have a foal with just anypony or anyone. There are many reasons. First and foremost is the pony, or person, has to have the right qualities. Another reason is simply being a princess. There's a certain quality that a pony or person is expected to meet. After what Shining did, he no longer had the right qualities, nor would the public accept him based on what he did alone. You not only have the right qualities but you are also Princess Celestia's son. It is your character that I see almost exclusively. You want peace for everypony and everyone. You fought Tirek, which is no easy feat, giving the Elements time to use their magic. You are a man of character in letting Shining Armor live, Tirek live, and the soldiers you and Twilight captured live. You know me well enough that I don't care much about social rank. I would consider you even if you weren't Celestia's son. Another factor is that all of the Elements of Harmony are in your herd as well as Philomena, Princess Angelfeather, and a pegasus from Canterlot."

Even though I was deeply flattered, I also didn't know what to say. So, I stayed quiet while still looking at her with a surprised look on my face.

"Besides, your black wings make you extremely attractive," she added almost as an afterthought. After that, she picked up her glass, took a sip, and remained silent.

While she remained silent, my mind was working over what she had just said to me. The glass was halfway between my mouth and the table with no indication that my hand would move in either direction. That was because my mind was too busy trying to process what I just heard. And even after a minute or two of constant grinding the only thing that came out of my mouth was a soft, "Uh..." After another minute or so, I cleared my throat, put the glass down, and finally said, "Alright, let's talk about it. You know I'm not one to father a foal and leave it to the mare to raise alone. I'm not that kind of a guy. And with my herd, which is still odd to say that I even have one, is in Ponyville, most of my time will be there raising my foals. My concern is that with me being in Ponyville all the time, I won't have the time I need to raise ours. Thus my first concern is with you raising our child here in that he and or she won't receive the fatherly attention that he and or she needs and deserves. There are other concerns but that is the one we need to work through first."

Her smile told me she understood. "I was almost sure that you would say something like that. It's the kind of guy you are. I've seen how you look at Lilly, your new daughter. I want that same look in the eyes of the father of my foal." She looked away for a second with a slight sigh, as if in thought. "I am glad that you would want to raise the foal and I'm thankful for that. And I can understand your concern." The look she gave me next tugged at my heart. Her words even more so, "I don't know if I can get away from the Empire. I say that because the obvious answer is for me to leave the Crystal Empire and move to Ponyville."

"Have the Empire run itself through a committee of ponies that are voted upon by the general public," I suggested to her. And while I took a good drink of the wine, there was a big part of me that almost couldn't believe we were having this conversation.

"I could try," she said thoughtfully with hope in her eyes when she looked at me. "I don't know how the public would feel about that. I don't even know how your mother or Aunt Luna would feel about it. They were the ones that said it was my destiny to rule the Crystal Empire. However, the only thing I can do is try."

A minute later, during the companionable silence, there was a knock at the door before a guard entered. "Your highness," he saluted sharply, "Twilight, and her parents, have made contact with Shining Armor."

Cadence stood up and faced the guard, "And what did he say?"

"Twilight and her parents are trying to talk him out of it." That didn't sound good to me and I had a feeling of what he would say next. "But he said that he will attack the city in one hour if we don't hand over any and all humans."

It was my turn to stand up at that. "Including me?" I asked him, moving to stand beside Cadence.

"Yes, sir. Including you."

"Well...I guess there's only one thing left to do."

^_^

"You want to WHAT?!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Cadence smirked while looking over at a steaming, and very upset, Twilight, "but I think Twilight is upset with you."

"Upset?! Upset?!" Twilight nearly slammed down the communication orb she was holding onto the table in front of the throne. Then stomped her way around it with a glare on her face with her hooves pounding on the stone floor as she did so. And right up to me with figurative fire in her eyes. "My brother is out there threatening to attack this city with all of his forces if we don't hand over every single human," she paused to emphasize her next point by poking at my bare chest with her finger, "which includes you." She narrowed her eyes up at me and almost growled out, "And you want to go out there, by yourself I might add, and take them all on by pretending to surrender? What in the hell is wrong with you?" She paused just long enough to slap me upside the head. "You know how stupid of an idea that is?" I was about to say something but stopped when Twilight shushed me loud enough and quick enough for it to echo in the throne room. "And we both know that Philomena would be downright pissed at you for doing it. And I'm not going to protect you from her when she finds out that you wanted to do something this stupid. More so if you actually go through with it."

When she was finally done, I looked down at her while gently taking her hands in mine. "And what would you have me do, Twilight? Hand over all the humans here to save the rest of the city? Including me? We both know that you wouldn't do that. So, what's left? Our army against there's? How many lives lost? With my strength, power level, and ability I'll be able to stop them without anyone, or anypony, from the Empire being hurt." Many emotions were swirling around her eyes as I looked into them. Fear was one of them. And not only for me. "You know I'll try to talk him out of it, just like you all were doing."

"Yes, we've tried," Velvet said quietly as she walked up putting her arms around her daughter. She had dried tears under her eyes as she did. "We've tried and tried to tell...him..."

Night Light walked up and put a hand on Velvet's shoulder, then looked over at me with a deeply sad, and somber look. "He won't listen to us and set on this path of destruction." Deep sadness, sorrow, hurt, and loss was in his eyes. And the understanding that Shining needed to be stopped. With so many mixed emotions in his eyes, he told me such with a simple nod of his head and a single tear from an eye.

"I don't want you to go." Twilight's voice took on a fearful tone and it was in her eyes as she looked up at me. She pleaded with me with her eyes.

"I know," I told her.

"But you know that Shining, and his forces, must be stopped," Velvet had tears in her eyes when she said it. It was plain that her own words cut her own heart deeply.

I felt Twilight's hands grip mine with tears starting to fall. "Then I can't go with you, Fred. I can't...I..." Twilight turned around and hugged her mother.

"It's alright dear," Velvet comforted her, "I feel exactly the same way."

As mother and daughter comforted each other, Night Light told me everything he was thinking with one slow nod of his head. And a single tear.

^_^

At least with my wings, it didn't take long to arrive at Shining's forces just outside of the city to the north. My own heart and mind were gripped with anxiety. It's not like I was eager to kill them all as I was really hoping to discourage them from trying to fight me. I had a plan in mind that would hopefully make them see their folly. If not, then it would be quick and clean.

I saw the forces just up ahead as I passed the edge of the city. And forces were too strong a word for the few ponies that were there. Two dozen, maybe, were standing there. Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies alike stood there in full armor with swords and shields for each. While starting my landing, I had my suspicions that most of his forces had left him and those that remained were the only ones willing to die for the evil that is slavery. And the lie it perpetuated.

Some laughed at me when I landed in front of them. Some didn't and even looked at me with uncertainty at least and fear at worst. Shining Armor was glaring at me. And I thought he hated me before. That was nothing compared to the hateful look he was sporting now.

"One human?" one of the soldiers laughed and even pointed at me.

"Idiot! One human with wings," another shot back with fear in his eyes. "And we know they're real because he was flying at the time and none of our unicorns were making him fly. I'm beginning to believe that it really was him that broke Shining's horn. And that he meant what he said about killing us."

Normally, I would try and talk them out of fighting, but apparently, this guy is doing a good job at it so far. So, I simply stood there with my wings out and a slight smirk on my face.

"I'm thinking you're right," another one said. "I may hate humans, but if he can easily kill us, then this is nothing but suicide. And I've got a wife and son." As he turned around and began walking away, so did a few others. Murmurs of "I don't want to die" and "it's not worth it" were heard as they left.

"There the smart ones, Shining Armor," I told him while he silently sneered at me with a roll of his lips. "Any of you who are remain and chooses to fight will die within the next few minutes. I have no wish to kill you, but I won't allow you to harm anyone or anypony in the Crystal Empire. Just as easily as I took Shining's horn, I can take your life." At least there were only about seven left, but of those seven they didn't look like they were leaving.

"Surround him!" Shining barked the order, holding his sword and shield ready. The others immediately obeyed, their armor, shield, and swords clinking as each one took up positions around me.

"There's still time to stop this, Shining," I pleaded with him with the others were within spear length of me.

"Is this how a human pleads for his life?" one of them asked, even going so far as poking me with his spear.

"I'm not pleading for my life. I'm pleading for yours." I looked him in his eyes with the most pleading look I could. Unfortunately, they laughed and chuckled at me. "Don't make me do it, Shining. I don't want to see the look on Twilight's face, or your parents when I'm the only one that returns." I knew what course he would take, and the others with him through the look in his eyes. They thought that they had me dead to rights. That wasn't the case. I had them right where I wanted them. And it wasn't something, I was looking forward to.

"Any last words?" Shining growled at me, putting the tip of his spear close to my face.

With a nod, I started. This time, I didn't yell it for dramatic effect. Just closed my eyes whispered, "Ittou Shura." They were shocked, to say the least when magic and fire instantly swirled around me pushing them away. Next thing I did was put up a shield around us, so they couldn't escape. Shining wasn't knocked off his feet as the rest were. And while they were standing up, I looked over at Shining's face with a sorrowful one of my own. As I said my last words to him, his face shifted from anger to pure shock and horror. "I tried." Then I used my fire ability to completely fill the area within the shield with fire. Their shocked and terrified screams hit my ears as I backed away toward the edge of the shield. I've never killed before now and each of their screams seemed to cut more than any sword. By the time they figured out to try and attack me to stop the fire, it was already too late for them. I could hear their fists pounding against the shield that kept them there. And said a soft apology as I raised my hand and turned up the heat. Shortly after the fire grew white-hot, their screams ceased. Shortly after that, I dropped the shield and released the flames harmlessly into the sky. Leaving the charred remains behind, forever captured in poses of horror and pain.

^_^

I didn't have to say anything to any of them after walking back inside the throne room. One sad look from me and Twilight, Velvet, and Night Light all burst into tears. As Twilight held onto her parents and wept together with them, I slowly walked over to Cadence. There was sorrow in her eyes as well, a single tear falling but otherwise held the look of a leader with the safety of the public on her pretty shoulders. "There was only about two dozen there when I arrived," I whispered to her. "After my arrival, some were convinced to retreat. Only seven remained. What's left of them is still outside the city waiting for burial." She didn't say anything, probably couldn't without crying. So, she simply nodded in response. Then after one look over to Twilight and her parents, I whispered again, "Can you teleport me to the hot springs down below? I think I want to be alone for a bit." She seemed to agree because one flash of her magic later and I was down below in the hot springs beneath the city. I didn't waste time in disrobing and stepping into the soothing hot mineral water. The hot water that now surrounded me up to my stomach might have been soothing, but the memories of what I had to do were not. And I fear that their screams might forever haunt me.

I don't know how long I sat there in the water with my mind going every which way it pleased. But I dimly heard a soft pop of magic, a rustling of clothes, and chose to ignore it. However, I couldn't ignore the obvious female that had taken up residence on my lap. With a soft sniff, she curled up onto my lap, put her head on my chest, and wrapped her arms around my neck. I felt her plump breasts against my chest which did the job of waking me up giving her my complete attention. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I tried up until the very last minute," I said softly to her, wrapping my arms around her.

"I know and so does Twilight." That voice took me by surprise as I first thought that it was Twilight that had joined me. Apparently not. Because when I opened my eyes, Cadence was in my arms and it was her bare breasts that were now pressed against my chest. She didn't look up at me as she spoke. "She just needs time with her family. And I need time with you. I also know that you are shocked to see me, but I'm asking you to please not push me away. I need this right now."

With a patient sigh, I started rubbing her back between her wings. "Alright, but when Twilight and the other girls find out, it wasn't my idea." That got a slight giggle at her with a slight nod of her head in agreement.

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