The land of Equestria, the once beautiful home of my friends and I, gone. The dead grass, the putrid rivers, and the smell of death now all that remains. It’s a mockery, a slap in the face, to the peace loving ponies who once called this land home. This place, this world of evil incarnate, is now my home. I thank Celestia everyday, not for my waking, but for my friends not having to see this. Hmph I must be pathetic, being grateful that my friends are no longer here, but still...the ponies they once were...the pony I once was...oh Celestia how we’ve fallen. Everyday I wake, I am reminded of my weakness, of my blind rage. The very thing that drives me, my loyalty, completely thrown away...because I rushed in. Would it have made a difference if I would have held back, if I would have stayed on the front, could Luna have beaten Chrysalis?

These thoughts, these regrets...my only companion. Day in, and day out, a war rages within myself. I am nothing more than a helpless bystander, watching my heart, clinging desperately to what was. Is any of this really worth it, I mean I can’t bring my friends back, right? Even so, I can’t let their memories fade, I can’t let the horrors Chrysalis has committed go unpunished.

Oh how I wish I could return to Ponyville, my home, but it is no more. Chrysalis began a propaganda campaign shortly after our defeat at Canterlot, using slander and lies, to try and convert citizens to her cause. Many cities fell, either believing Chrysalis’s lies, or simply wishing to avoid destruction...those poor fools. Celestia ruled through lies, her enemies silenced before their voices could cause decent, how could anypony believe that? Ponyville however, well they stood firm in their faith in our princess, in their ways of harmony.

Chrysalis decided to make an example of Ponyville, so she sent in the one foe we never expected, the one enemy we couldn’t even see...until it was too late...Diamond Dogs. My friends, the ponyies I loved, and those I considered family...fought til the very end...the Apple family being the last to fall. Big Mac, I can still hear your voice calling out to everypony, telling them not to believe in Chrysalis’s lies. How you said that the elements of harmony, how your sister would not abandon the town, and how we’d return. I can even remember how you stood there, in quiet defiance, as the Diamond Dogs tortured you. When they left you there, bleeding to death, from the gashes they carved into your body...I’m sorry big guy.

I watched the horrors unfold in Ponyville, I watched as it’s people suffered, but they all kept smiling...They just kept smiling, even as hunger,sickness, and Diamond Dogs took them one by one. I wanted to help, I wished nothing but to help, but I couldn’t. Call it fear, call it cowardice...call it whatever the hell you want, but I did nothing. The injuries I suffered from Canterlot still plagued me, and I knew trying to fight, would only mean death.

I fled into the Everfree Forest, I took shelter among it’s wild, untamed canopy of trees. There I rested, I recovered, and slowly felt my old self wither. My mind became enraged with thoughts of death, hate, and a lust for revenge. The days brought me sleep, while the nights, brought me time to prepare myself. I learned to live off the land, learned to hunt...to kill. I know poor Fluttershy wouldn’t approve, but she was no more, and I had to live. There in that forest of darkness, the very place we’d been taught from fillies to avoid, was now my only place of refuge. I called it home, and in time I learned to love it, and it was there...that I spilled the blood of my enemies first, and found purpose.

The air was surprisingly crisp, full of the scents I’d come to know, then again by that time I’d lived there for nearly six years. However I noticed something...off that morning as I drifted in and out of sleep, an invader. I peered down from my bed among the branches, and sighted the source of the odor, a pair of mangy Diamond Dogs. I stayed silent as I watched them, those...things, and listened as they bantered on...when I heard them say something I’d feared.

“So what did you do with that little orange Pegasus you caught?”

“You liked last night’s stew didn’t you?”

I couldn’t stop myself, I couldn’t even rationalize what they said, all I knew was they took something precious from me. “I’ll kill you, you dirty bastards!” I jumped from my perch, folding my wings against my back, as I slammed down into one of them. “You ate Scoots!” I was furious...looking back...I still am. I had the advantage of surprise, and speed, as the two gawked at me in disbelief. I didn’t waste anytime, as I bucked the dog I’d knocked to the ground square in the chest, causing all the air in his lungs to escape. The second lunged at me, and I stepped back, as he fell off balance. I leaned in, grabbing the hilt of the sword at his waist, and jerked it back...

The shrill scream that escaped that burly dogs filthy maw startled me, as I gouged his side with the rusted blade, creating a jagged gash. The smell of blood rushed to my nostrils, as I inhaled it deeply, and found myself enjoying his pain. He staggered back, leaning against a tree just behind him, staring at me with fear. I turned quickly, sword still tightly grasped between my teeth, as I heard the mongrel behind me stir. I hadn’t intended to bring the blade across his throat, but as I felt the blade pass through his skin, and slice through the sinew...I felt something.

The strained gurgle that emitted from his wound, shot blood out, spraying my face. The disgusting smell of his blood was enough to turn my stomach, which only angered me further, as I drove the blade into his chest...before kicking his limp body from the instrument of his death.

“Who, who are you?” The injured Diamond Dog asked, his breath ragged. I wouldn’t find out until later, that I had actually punctured his lung.

“Who am I!? Who am I!?" I shouted, through the hilt I still held onto, my temper flaring as I charged forward. I ran him through, pinning him to the tree, and gazed into his eyes. “I am the only family that little Pegasus had.” I said in a calm voice, unnerving even myself, as I watched blood pool at his feet.

“Really then where were you when she screamed? I even heard her scream your name, Rainbow Dash, as I gutted her alive.”

That was it, the very thing that pushed me over the edge, that was all I needed to hear. “You son of a bitch!” His eyes, his cold gaze, even now they haunt me. I jerked the sword from his body, and went crazy, slashing and hacking wildly. Blood splattered from his body, it covered my face and wings, and at first...he screamed...then he stopped. I...I didn’t stop however, I kept hacking, and eventually...there was nothing but a lump of flesh and blood. I stood there in silence, the sword dropping to the ground, as I inhaled deeply.

Looking back now, it was sloppy...but hey you gotta start somewhere. Never the less as I stood there blood dripping from my hair, staining my coat, I broke down into tears. How brutal could they be, they tortured and ate Scoots, and they spoke of it with no remorse...as if they had no soul. I sank down to my haunch, my tears cutting a path through the blood that covered me, as I thought about poor Scootaloo.

Had I caused this, couldn’t I have saved her, couldn’t I have at least been there for her? No I had no room for doubts, no room for second guessing, no room for emotion. I collected my thoughts, and soon I found myself returning to reality, and to the heap of meat and blood that lay before me.

My stomach turned, and wrenched, as I felt the burn of its acidic contents build in my throat. I couldn't hold it in any longer, as I expelled the contents of my breakfast on the forest floor, my eyes burning from tears. I had tasted battle before, I knew the rush of defeating another, but never had I killed with such unadulterated hate. My forelegs shook from my weight, as I strained to hold myself up, all while trying to calm my stomach...and my thoughts. I just sat there, staring at the eviscerated corpse before me, as I finally realized...this was my doing.

My thoughts were incoherent, and riddled with grief, as I accepted I had ended two lives. I didn't feel remorse for their deaths, but instead wept through the night wondering how disappointed my friends would be. Scootaloo, did their deaths please you, did their pain make amends for the tortures you were subjected to?

As I saw the first small trickle of light flood in through the thick branches above, I had come to terms with my actions, and I came upon my answers. I left the bodies of those things, as maggots crawled across their bloated bodies, and took up the sword tightly between my jaws. I was headed to Ponyville, I would cleanse my home of those abominations called Diamond Dogs, and I would send Chrysalis a message...even if there was nopony left.

The journey was not a long one, as I made it a point not to venture too deeply into Everfree Forest, and by afternoon I stood at the outskirts of Ponyville. Even from the shroud of the treeline I could see those disgusting creatures, even through the dried blood caked around my muzzle, I could smell their filth.

They wandered through the streets, ravaging the corpses of the fallen, using their mutilated and mangled carcasses as nutrition. I was disgusted beyond belief, and nearly to the point of vomiting once again, as I saw the disemboweled remains of Big Mac still tied to a post in the town square.

How dare they disregard decency, and common morals, as they violated the dead. I couldn't take anymore, yet I couldn't rush in, I was outnumbered twenty to one. With a swiftness I'd only further developed within the forest, I made my way along my floral cover, silently moving towards a stray dog near the trees...I took my opportunity to strike as he stretched. In one rapid succession of movements I grabbed him, and ran the sword I carried through his back until I saw it protrude from his stomach, my hoof tightly clamped against his mouth to stifle his screams of pain. He fought at first swinging his arms behind him wildly, tearing a shallow gash across my right flank, and through my cutie mark. Then...silence, his struggling replaced by the random twitches of his nervous system, as I threw his body to the ground.

I took a moment to collect myself, before pulling the blade from his body, and sighing. I wasn't filled with overpowering hate, or soul swallowing remorse...I was calm. The raw emotions that filled me only hours ago, even as I stared down at yet another death I caused...I only felt purpose. That is when I realized I wouldn't simply be satisfied with the death of Chrysalis, or Discord, but with the deaths of all those who sided with her.

I moved from the trees, slinking through the streets, my movements fluid as water itself. I pressed myself against the wall of a hollowed out building, I can still remember the ponies that lived there, my friends Lyra and Bon Bon. That's when I heard the labored pants of a pair of those mongrels, both of them engorged on the flesh, and muscle of my former friends. I tried to hold back, I tried to maintain my cover...but the fury...it overtook me. I swung out from my cover, sword held firm in my jaws as they clenched, and I'm confronted the bastards.

“Who in the hell are you!?” One of them shouted, as he moved to stand, from a small crate he sat on. “Your executioner.” I said through the hilt in between my teeth. That was all that was said, as my wings flared open, and I dashed forward. One cut, that was all I needed, that was all he needed. I took a step back, as I watched what started as a small cut across his stomach, stretch until it contents of pony fur and flesh spill onto the ground before him and he fell. The second, he was smart...he tried to run. I leapt into the air, catching a small updraft that propelled me forward, as I soared right by him. Dust rose from the dry soil beneath my hooves, as I landed, and turned to look at the now motionless Diamond Dog. His face...his expression of fear, it was frozen across his face...even after his head fell from his shoulders to the ground. Blood rained down, as the pressure of his still beating heart pumped it through his veins, and out the gaping wound.

What happened after that, what happened after was simply...blood lust. I threw caution to the wind, completely disregarded all rational thinking, and charged head first. The center of town was the gathering point, they crowded around Big Mac’s carcass as if it were art, and conversed with laughter. I can’t really say what happened next...I blacked out...overwhelmed by rage. I can remember the feeling though, the urge to kill growing, as my thoughts became centered around all I’d lost. My blade passed through Diamond Dog after Diamond Dog, each kill bringing me an almost euphoric feeling, each kill causing me to question...is this vengeance...is this retribution...or is this simply my own twisted desire.

When I was able to think clearly, and regained control of myself, I stood amidst a pool of blood and organs. The mutilated, and disfigured bodies that surrounded me, no longer looked like Diamond Dogs...But like chunks of meat loosely held together by sinew, and patches of skin, and fur. My body, my face, even my mane were dyed crimson as blood dripped from my body. I felt free, liberated even, as I stood in the carnage I created. That’s when I heard the final strained breathes of one still clinging to life, and decided that I had a question for him, and he’d better answer.

I made my way towards the sound of death, sifting through the bodies, until I came upon the sorry sight of that dog clinging to life. “You, tell me, where is Chrysalis?”

“I’ll not tell you a damn thing, you foolish pony, Queen Chrysalis will destroy you soon enough!”

“Fine, then enjoy the last few moments of you deplorable life.” I turned from him, throwing a swift kick to his nose, and I smiled as I heard the bones break and crack.

I left Ponyville that day, after cutting down Big Mac, and burying him...along with the other pony’s I could find. Once I’d finished... the sun had just begun to set, buzzards circling up high, as I carried my sword carefully tucked under a wing. I haven’t been back since, but I hope that final Diamond Dog suffered...until the very end.