For thirty-six days and nights I hung from a stone wall in the deepest dungeons of Canterlot, my only visitors were the occasional unicorn interrogation units that Celestia sent down when she needed to extract or verify some specific detail or other from my memories. After being forced into reliving that first memory I'd been placed on lockdown and thrown into the most secure cell ever created in the history of ponydom, a cell made for a very specific pony before her exile, a cell crafted to hold a goddess. The memory still played itself over in my mind, especially the final parts, the feeling of violating all of those souls at once was at once a vile abomination that made me re-experience my last two meals more than a few times, and a euphoric rush the likes of which I'd never known. Twilight hadn't been down to see me since, I'd only gotten a brief glimpse of her as I woke from that horrible nightmare memory to see the stricken look on her face as she was escorted away.

It seemed like every night I dreamed of blood-stained corpses pulling themselves out of shallow graves to drag the living back down with them, or of malicious and heterochromatic eyes staring at me with an alien light burning behind them.

Comparatively, tonight's dream was relatively pleasant, if a bit lonely and cold. I stood in the ruins of a once great castle, all around me I could see the markings royalty when they weren't overrun by vines, tree roots, or occasionally just fully grown tree's. Clearly it was a place that hadn't seen habitation for many generations though, an bright full moon shone down on me, illuminating the entirety of the former audience chamber I stood in.

No corpses.

No blood for once either.

So I waited patiently for the other horseshoe to drop which thankfully took no time at all.

A small and almost dainty cough interrupted my train of thought from behind me. I turned, half expecting a nightmare version of Doctor Twist (not that he needed much help) and was instead rewarded by the thoroughly unwelcome sight of the Night Princess.

“Luna, that's perfect,” I remarked dryly, drawing a raised eyebrow form the Princess at the tone I was taking, her reaction failed to faze me. “And here I was just thinking to myself, 'Jasper old boy, you're not getting interrogated enough during the day, wouldn't it be nice if they extended them into my very dreams?'”

“Thou art less respectful than I recall, Captain Shale,” Luna noted as she approached me, I didn't bother bowing.

“Well, after spending over a month pissing and shitting into a bucket while chained to a wall and being interrogated every other day with intrusive memory probes, one does tend to lose respect for the crown.” My voice practically dripped with sarcasm and not a tiny amount of the bile I'd been building up over the many weeks of my incarceration.

Luna actually flinched and a part of me kicked myself for my callousness, after all as far as I knew Luna herself had nothing to do with my imprisonment.

“Yes... we are... that is to say, I am very sorry for your treatment, my sister of late has been... irritable,” I would've used a much different word to describe the state of her elder sister but I doubted it was appropriate for royal company so I remained silent. “We... I only learned recently of the nature of thy imprisonment and have argued endlessly with my sister for thy release, or at least better treatment, since then.”

“Somehow I gather you're not here to inform me that I've been upgraded to the penthouse suite?” I asked rhetorically and Luna's ears flattened against her head.

“Not... as such, no.”

“Well, I suppose I could do with the company at least,” I sighed plainly as I began wandering about the dream-castle. “So where are we?”

Luna brightened as she looked around nostalgically, “this was my home, in the days when Equestria was young and bright with promise. It was from this bastion that we fought Discord's armies of chaos, defied the demonic King Sombra, and held the light of a unified pony civilization up for all to see.” The pride was evident in her voice as she swept her hoof across the ruined court. “Alas, it is also home to many painful memories for my sister, banishing me to the moon for a millennium was the hardest ordeal she has ever suffered and... I fear the memories of our brighter times here were too much for her.”

“I think can relate, a little, to that,” I remarked as I wandered about the room, taking a closer look at the many examples of classical architecture before me. “I'm guessing she wasn't the only one who wanted a new beginning though.”

“No, thou art correct, the ponies of Equestria were greatly shaken by our... my betrayal,” she twisted her muzzle as though the word tasted bitter in her mouth. “Our sister moved away from this place to found Canterlot and a create seat of power that would endure for the whole of my imprisonment. She did so as much for the sake of her and her subjects as she did for me.”

“For you? How so?” I asked, curiosity piqued at her choice of words.

“Celestia knew that would need to find the Element bearers who would eventually save me from my own inner darkness, to do so she needed a stable kingdom from which to observe her subjects.”

“I see, clever girl then, she really does have a long view of things doesn't she?” I could almost admire her.

Luna nodded though, continuing unabated, “indeed, as it is her, and our, way. She is the sun, constant and eternal thus she see's further but is prone to ignore what is close at hoof.”

“And that would make you her opposing number,” I guessed.

A thoughtful look crossed the Night Princess's face before answering, “yes and no, I am not her opposite, merely the other side to her coin. I am the moon, I wax and wane, and so as I change each night it is as though I am born anew with each passing cycle.”

“I'm surprised it was your sister the public latched on to then,” I noted, meeting her eyes sincerely for the first time that night, “I feel like you're more relatable to be honest, Princess Luna.”

She actually blushed softly at that which surprised me at first, to have such a mortal reaction, but it fell in line with her description of herself. I also highly doubted that, considering her past, she received that compliment very often.

“Thank you, thou art kind Sir Jasper, and I see we are back to 'Princess Luna' now, is that right?” her tone turned wry and I returned the smile.

“I suppose so since, as you said, it wasn't your fault I'm here, it would be kind of unfair to take out my frustrations on you, especially considering that you're taking the time to come visit me.”

“About that, I'm not exactly here to visit, per se,” her face took on a much more serious cast as she moved towards the ruin of her former throne. “I have brought thy mind hither because it is the one place which my sister's mind is least likely to venture, a place where we may speak freely.”

“And... what would you like to speak about?” my suspicion was rising to uncomfortable levels.

Princess Luna sighed, there was a weight on her that only grew as she spoke. “Treason,” she said simply, I backed away, worrying for a moment that I was about to witness yet another rise of the infamous Nightmare Moon. Luna seemed to catch my gaze though, “not for my sake but for thine,for thy escape. Even now thine friends, the Elements of Harmony, are working their way through the castle to free thee, I am supporting them as best I am able.”

Helping me... escape? “That's insane, tell them to get out, to abort, this operation would nuts even for me! I'm in the most secure place in the castle!”

Luna gave me a tired grin, “why dost thou think I needs must enter your dreams to inform thee of this? Even I cannot break thee out without drawing the ire of my sister.”

“Wait, so how...?” Luna silenced me with a hoof.

“I have been inside thine memories, I have seen much of what thou hast, so please forgive me but I called in a couple of favors on thy behalf.” That enigmatic smile again, my cutie mark was itching like crazy.

“Why?”

Luna grimaced and swept her gaze away from me and over the ruins. “Because I fear my sister is losing herself as I once did.” I won't lie, the idea of a Celestia flavored Nightmare Moon chilled me to the bone. “She is becoming obsessed with capturing Twist, 'Tia feels he is connected to a very old foe of ours, one whom we thought defeated long ago, one whose name was seared from the annals of history, so great was his threat.”

“Then... shouldn't you be on her side? No offense but it seems like it's something you two would agree on,” I pointed out.

The Princess of the Night shook her graceful head, “I am different from my sister, I have had a thousand years of solitude to come to terms with my past and our old enemies, and a thousand years to learn patience while my sister has spent her time building a kingdom from the ground up. That is not all though, I feel that, by moving with this kind of single-minded aggression, we are playing right into his hooves, if indeed the threat is as my sister believes which, as the saying goes, 'I am not sold on'.”

I nodded, “I assume you brought that up? I guess it didn't go well.”

Luna grimaced again, “thou art correct, when I pointed out that it might very well be in her mind and that perhaps some patience should be exercised she grew... quite angry.”

“I detect a hint of understatement.”

Luna gave a tired smile, “the Princess of the Sun, when angered, is quite fearsome.”

“And yet here you are, courting her rage on a whole new level, Princess Luna,” I spoke plainly as I settled down onto the cold stone, the ability to just 'sit' having been denied to me for over a month. “And since I notice you've been dodging my question I have to ask once again, why?”

Another weary grin, but Princess Luna nodded appreciatively at my tone, “because I believe that, whoever Twist truly is, he is counting on Celestia to keep you locked up, the Elements locked down, and me locked away, in an attempt to deny him targets.”

“And thou, ugh, now I'm doing it, and you believe otherwise?” I hated to admit it but it seemed like a sound strategy.

The Princess nodded though, “yes, because whatever 'Tia believes, I truly think that the Elements of Harmony grievously wounded Twist at the graveyard and I believe that he is using her paranoia and fear against her to give himself time to recover.”

I hadn't considered that, I'd seen him shrug off a two ton block of concrete to the noggin though, still, I could count the things I knew about how the Elements worked on one hoof, so maybe Luna had a point.

“Ok, that still doesn't address the manticore in the room.” Luna raised a single perfect eyebrow, “where exactly to you expect me to go? I don't know if you noticed but Celestia is pretty popular, so if she calls me a fugitive then I'll be on the run from every pony from here to Gryfa.”

Damn that mysterious smile of hers, it was beginning to get annoying. “That, my little pony, has been taken care of, you see I've spoken with my niece and she happens to agree with me and has offered to give thee sanctuary.”

“You niece... wait, Cadence? As in the 'wife of Celestia's Captain of the Guard' Cadence?” Luna shrugged and nodded. “You can't be serious, how am I supposed to get to the Crystal Empire anyway?”

“That has been arranged, once every month the train makes a night run up to the Empire to receive a shipment of rare crystal moonflowers, they're a powerful component to many spells and only bloom during the full moon...” With a conspiratorial grin she turned her head up to view the sky. “Which just so happens to be tonight.”

I grinned, “So I'm going to be rescued by a bunch of amateurs from the most secure cell in Canterlot with help from a traitor... no make that two traitor Princesses, all under a time limit to reach a midnight train departure to gain sanctuary at the capitol of Equestria's closest ally.” Luna took a thoughtful expression before nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah, you're all insane. Oh well, I guess if I'm gonna go out then I might as well go out crazy.”

“I'm glad you agree,” Luna replied without a hint of sarcasm.

“One last question,” the Princess nodded for me to continue, “why the Crystal Empire? I mean, it's not that I don't appreciate the offer of asylum but don't you think that kind of political tension is, well, dangerous right now? I could always just hide in the wastelands south of Dodge or something.”

“The reasons are two-fold, for one there is no place in Equestria where my sister cannot find you, the rays of the sun itself are her eyes. The second is... complicated; Twist employs a form of magic that traps the soul in a state of limbo, not dead but not truly alive with free will either, an undying state in other words, does that sound similar to any recent events you've heard of Captain Shale?”

Not being a particularly smart pony it took my brain a moment to catch what she was getting at, but the glowglobe clicked on eventually. “King Sombra...” I muttered, remembering the articles concerning the immortal king of the Crystal Empire and how the efforts of the Elements of Harmony defeated him once and for all.

Luna nodded, “indeed, I pointed it out to my sister but she is of the opinion that his magic was his own and unconnected, since none of the searches of the Empire's many libraries have turned up even a hint of the magical theory used by Twist. Also because the Crystal Empire didn't even technically exist until well after the war ended. And it cannot be said, of course, that Sombra was not a unicorn of singular magical genius, this we know, but I believe that such like soul magic cannot be a coincidence. It is my belief that the late King Sombra possessed some kind of secret knowledge, to contain one's soul to the mortal realm without a physical vessel speaks of a degree of mastery most terrible. If Twist somehow came into possession of such proscribed knowledge then it would explain his unnatural mastery of the loathsome arts.”

“And you think your sister's search teams in the Crystal Empire missed something?” I ventured to which the Princess nodded, “and you want me, or us, to find it.”

“I hope that if we can find a clue as to how King Sombra maintained his power then we might have an idea as to how to finally end the threat of Silver Twist once and for all.”

It was crazy, no doubt, but behind the insanity a real seed of an actual plan was present, if we could pull this off... “Well, count me in then, let the jailbreak commence!”

Luna grinned in that infuriatingly mysterious manner she was prone to as I felt the dream world around me slip away into the ether.

“...ell? is he awake? We don't have much time left, the window between patrols that Luna gave us is closing.” Twilight's voice, full of concern and a hint of panic.

“Don't worry your pretty purple flank, Sparkles, we're what you might call experts at extracting the captain from sticky situations.” That voice, no way, it was impossible.

My eyes snapped open and were filled with three surprised but familiar mares, Twilight stood behind the first two looked worried and casting furtive glances back at the open cell doorway. The other two, both unicorns, one with a well kept chartreuse green coat and the other a curious off-white that made her seem a little ghostly in the half-light of the cell, grinned at me.

“Treasure, Charmer, what the hay are you...” I was interrupted by a loud click as I dropped from the wall to the floor, my limbs aching horrendously. Starlight shoved an open healing potion into my mouth as Gentle Treasure drew back her torque and pins she'd used to unlatch me and stowed them in a saddlebag.

“Drink up, Captain, we're gonna need you walking if we're gonna get out of this place,” I gulped back the ruby-colored liquid and felt the pain in my body recede to acceptable levels, meaning I could at least stand without my limbs dislocating themselves.

Without another word I pulled the two mares into a crushing hug that left both blushing and shocked as I pulled away, Treasure had gone red as a beet and Charmer had gone rigid with surprise. I laughed, a good, healthy sound, as my friends, my comrades, mastered themselves.

“Hot damn it is good to see you girls again, Treasure, Charmer,” I briefly saluted both as I said their names, provoking a reflexive return salute from them. “Nopony would tell me what happened to the rest of my soldiers after I was locked up, I was afraid that...”

Still slightly flushed, Gentle Treasure smirked, speaking in her softly proper accent, “no sir, not us, Charmer and I were given psych evals and judged fit for discharge, we've been living in Trottingham near my parents since the war.”

I blinked, a little surprised, “wait, so you two were just fine? No psychotic breaks or...” the two shook their heads sadly. “Well, that's good, much better than me I guess, so... living together huh?” I grinned in mock lechery.

“S-Sir! That's completely out of line!” Starlight hissed, drawing laughter from both of us.

“Oh shut it Charmer, I knew you two were sneaking off to make googly-eyes at each other between missions for years,” I said, drawing startled squeaks from both of them, they were wearing looks like I'd caught them in bed together. I waved a hoof dismissively, “fraternization is against regulations but I figured you two deserved some happiness, somepony sure as hell did, so I kept quiet, even covered for you a few times. Dasher was the only other one who figured it out, we still have a bet going for who's on top.” They both sputtered wordlessly, I'd missed these girls more than I'd known.

“O-oh... well...” Starlight stammered before being interrupted by a loud 'harrumph' from the corner.

“As much as I'd love to hear about the 'good old days' Jasper, we are in the middle of jailbreak,” Twilight pointed out a touch frantically, “and we're about to lose our window, the patrol will be coming through in two minutes and twenty-two seconds... twenty-one, twenty-”

“Right, sorry about that, so what's the plan?”

Twilight grinned mischievously, “simple, we go up.”

We were barely out of the dungeon, about three minutes after I was freed from my shackles, when the alarm sounded, Twilight was a little impressed, she apparently had thought that her illusion of me being in place wouldn't fool them even for a second. It gave us thirty extra seconds of running as Treasure kept us under a sight veil and Charmer worked in concert with her muffling the sound of our running hoofsteps.

“There! That staircase leads to the upper quarters, mostly empty since they're only for visiting dignitaries and showing off to schoolcolts and fillies.” Twilight pointed at an otherwise innocuous looking door extruding slightly from the hallway wall. I would've run right by it making me glad once again for Luna's forethought in placing Twilight in this operation, she really did know Canterlot Castle like the back of her hoof. Quietly snapping the door open Twilight went first, stepping into a tight spiral staircase that angled sharply upwards. “This one is mostly used by servants, it's not really fit for nobles and, well, you know nobility, the best help is neither seen nor heard.” She spoke in a low whisper, the smaller the sound the easier it was for Starlight to muffle it into obscurity, as we ascended to the upper levels.

“So, we're actually doing this,” I said softly, still not really getting my head around the plan. “Pinkie has a hot air balloon waiting for us?”

“Sort of, it's right around the other side of the mountain on a ledge, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack are helping her keep it in place.”

“That still doesn't excuse the fact that we're trying to escape in a hot air balloon.”

“It was the one thing we figured they'd never expect ok?” she hissed as we reached the end of the staircase and were faced by another doorway, this one was locked from the other side so Treasure scooted past to ply her trade. “While they're busy searching the lower levels and castle grounds we'll have a short window of freedom before they think to look up.”

“And what about the skyguard? Y'know, since they fly too,” I pointed out dryly as a small muffled click told me Treasure had successfully popped yet another lock.

Gentle Treasure answered for Twilight, “simple, we turn the balloon invisible.”

I sat back on my flanks so I could stick both forehooves into my ears and thoroughly clean them out. “I'm sorry,” I deadpanned, “I must have had a piece of bat-shit stuck in my ear, what was that you said?”

“It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, Jasper,” Twilight explained as we edged around another corner, it seemed that Twilight had been correct when she said that this area was more empty than most wings. “A hot air balloon like Pinkie's doesn't have much in the way of moving parts, it flies by exploiting a loop hole in the laws of thermodynamics. So with that in mind, it's really no more complex than turning us invisible right now, except it's a lot bigger and takes a lot more power, which I can easily provide.”

When she explained it like that it didn't seem so strange, I only got about half of what Twilight had actually said but I'd grasped the gist of it.

“What about the engine? Isn't there a heater to control the air temperature in the balloon?” I asked, at this point I assumed Twilight had thought of that since she'd clearly thought of everything else. I was actually starting to seriously think that this plan would actually work.

“Of course we had to remove it,” Twilight answered as she peeked down another hallway, “but Rarity can produce a pocket of hot air in the balloon with her magic, heating up air is pretty trivial. She won't be able to keep it up for long but we just need her to hold it long enough to drop near the train station, then we stow away on board.”

I had to admit, I actually felt a little bad thinking about Twilight and her friends as amateurs, sure they didn't have all the combat op experience I did but they weren't stupid, they knew how much of a risk they were taking. Twilight, and presumably Princess Luna, had addressed everything I could pick out as being an issue, sure it still had its risks but they were well within what I would have though of as acceptable parameters back in my captaincy with the 109th.

“This might actually happen,” I chuckled softly as Twilight pointed out yet another small staircase. Another servants passage which was locked as usual but it was barely even an obstacle to Treasure who made the lock sing for her in a matter of seconds.

“Of course it will, I wouldn't be doing this unless I knew it would work,” Twilight answered a little smugly, of course at this point I figured she had the right. “Now hush, we're almost there and I don't know if the skyguard left any of their number on the high towers.”

We slunk up the last stairwell as quietly as we could, Charmer's muffling spell combining to make us entirely silent. Once we were at the doorway leading out to the towers I held up a hoof, immediately provoking a reflexive 'stop' action for my two former squadmates, Twilight on the other hoof almost ran head-first into Treasure's rump. I made a few hoof signals to Charmer who nodded, our squad's old battle-cant for when speaking was too risky. In short I'd told her to cease her current spell to run a scan, fortunately Twilight was smart enough to keep quiet, clearly seeing that there was something happening that required absolute silence.

There was a dull hum of static as Charmer's muffling spell fell away, with the concentration on that spell no longer taken up it she closed her eyes and I felt a soft and familiar whisper of power form her as she extended her senses into a short range scan.

After a minute of silence and meditation she came back to us, another hum of static shivered through the air as her silence spell resumed.

“Any returns?” I asked quietly, she shook her head.

“We're clear, Captain.”

“Then move out,” I said evenly, moving aside to allow Treasure room to manipulate the lock on the door. I glanced back and caught Twilight looking at me with the strangest expression on her face, as soon as our eyes locked though she made a small 'eep' sound and looked away, her face coloring slightly.

“Something wrong Twi'?” I moved back beside her so my whispers wouldn't exceed Charmer's silence threshold.

“No it's just... I felt like I was saw you like you were during the war for a second there and, I don't know, I just suddenly felt like an outsider.” She looked a little uncomfortable, absent-mindedly scuffing the floor with her hoof as she spoke.

I tousled her mane softly, understanding her expression now, “look, Twi', us three?” I gestured to myself, Charmer, and Treasure who was swearing under her breath at the troublesome lock, “along with Dasher, Boulder, and Honey; we've walked into more life and death situations than I care to recall. They trust me with their lives and I trust them with mine because if we didn't we'd all have been dead years ago.”

“I know that, I mean intellectually I know that,” she scrunched her face in frustration, “but it just... feels like there's a part of you I'll never know.”

“Trust me half-pint, that's not really a bad thing,” I said dryly, remembering the last moments of that memory I'd spent the last month reliving in my nightmares.

A soft click and a small sound of triumph from Treasure told me she'd finally triumphed over her latest mechanical foe. “Ready to go ladies?” she snarked as she popped the door open.

“What about the gentlecolts?” I asked wryly as I approached the door.

She smirked, “well if I see any I'll be sure to address them.”

“Stop flirting with my marefriend and let's get you out of here, Captain,” Charmer said, her straight face doing nothing to conceal the humor in her voice. “We're almost home free.”

We stepped out onto the tower balcony and for a moment I just breathed the fresh air, savoring my first taste of freedom in over a month. It's strange, the little things that we take for granted, things like being able to breathe freely, or being able to move around and stretch our legs. Even in the loony bin I'd been given time to take walks once I'd become more or less lucid, albeit under supervision.

“How long til our ride is here?” I whispered to Twilight, she answered by pulling a small pocket-watch from her saddlebag and examining the little device.

“We've got a few minutes, if everything is on schedule they should already be on their way.”

“Excellent, since I have something of a bone to pick.”

A cold and hatefully familiar voice spoke from the shadows, I turned just in time to see Charmer and Treasure, their eyes terribly blank, fire stunning arcs of energy at Twilight and I from their horns, dropping us to the ground twitching as our muscles spasmed numbly.

Twist stepped out of the veil he'd been under, he'd been waiting here for us, he'd known all along where we'd end up.

“D-damn... you bastard...” I growled, forcing my mouth to work around my twitching jaw muscles. “W-when did you... to them...” I looked up at my squadmates who just stared dumbly ahead like automatons.

“Oh them? Since the war my dear boy, of course,” he answered, his tone infernally paternal as he approached where I lay prone on the ground.

“But... the interrogators...”

“I'm no amateur, my boy,” Twist said softly, “my work is near undetectable, the only reason you were discovered was because, simply put, even I can't implant a hundred and fifty years worth of proscribed magical theory and advanced spell mnemonics into a mind without leaving some marks.” He gestured back to Treasure and Charmer, “these two however, I simply implanted a number of very subtle conditioning spells into their minds and motor functions. They're nothing more than sleep-walking foals until I say otherwise.” Damn him he looked almost proud.

Actually, now that I looked at him, he seemed lesser than before, wan and pale. Well, paler than usual anyway. The last time I'd seen Silver Twist he'd been full-bodied and, while not really muscular, lean and healthy. Now he looked like he was afflicted with some kind of disease, his coat was slightly patchy, and there were bags beneath his eyes that he hadn't had before.

Luna had been right, the Elements really had taken something out of him.

Not that it mattered one single ounce, I was still reeling from the shock spell I'd been hit with, my body twitching and spasming helplessly to the point that I couldn't do more than shift my hoof an inch or two.

“Oh my boy, you should know how this pains me. You're like a son to me, a wayward son true but I know you will make me proud again,” Twist brushed an errant hair from my eyes. “Of course, this necessitates removing a number of... obstacles, such as this meddlesome Element,” Twist turned a positively wither glare to where I presumed Twilight laid equally out of sorts. “Good-bye, Miss Sparkle...”

My eyes widened, realizing what he was about to do.

“...give my regards to the rocks below.”

No no no no no no no no no.

Gentle Treasure moved out of my sight and I heard the muffled cry of Twilight's feeble protests as she was dragged slowly to the balcony's edge.

This can't happen, my mind screamed, I cannot let this happen. Not again, I won't lose another one, NOT ANOTHER ONE!

I reached for the well of power within me, my muscles wouldn't obey, my central nervous system was haywire with errant electrical discharges.

None of that matter to me. Not here and not now. I knew what to do, after all, after all I was practically an expert. I'd relived the experience enough times to remember exactly how it felt to seize control of atrophied bodies and skeletal forms, forcing animation and movement to them by force of will alone.

If I could do it to the dead, why not the living?

Time seemed to slow as my body burned with power, I touched that faintly luminescent core of sickly energy in my mind and look inwards. I saw it, flowing through every inch of my skin, muscle, and bone. The power of a star caged in living flesh.

The soul... no, MY soul.

Now move, I commanded, and I felt a small palpitation move through my body followed by searing pain, forget the pain and MOVE! And my soul moved giving my flesh absolutely no choice but to move with it, it was like I'd filled every inch of my body with fish-hooks and was dragging it along.

Too bucking bad, I seized the fishing line and heaved on it.

I very nearly blacked out from the howling wall of lightning and fire that passed through my flesh, I wondered if this was what I'd forced all of those hundreds of Ponies, Griffons, and Dogs to feel when I'd gripped their dead bodies and chained them to my control, forcing them to kill. If so then this pain was no less than I deserved.

A scream tore from my throat as gripped my soul in my own magical field, and pulled myself to my hooves like a self-manipulating marionette, “TWIST!” The psychotic doctor spun around at the sound and the look of absolute shock on his usually self-assured features was worth every pin and needle of agony piercing my body at that moment. “GET OFF MY MARE!” I dipped deep into the well of my soul and drew out a coiled lance of green light, unleashing it like stroke of noiseless thunder that nonetheless had a physical presence to it straight into Twist's chest.

A hole the size of my head bored through his chest and out of his shoulder nearly decapitating him, the force carried him through the balcony railing and several hooves beyond before he could order his little puppets to strike me down. Treasure and Charmer went slack simultaneously and dropped to the ground in boneless heaps. I dragged on the fishing line again and threw myself to the balcony edge just as Treasure's grip on Twilight went slack. My hooves curled around hers and, with a twitch of power and a barb of agony, I locked them in place. Her eyes were full of panic and fear, I could feel blood pouring from my nose, even my eyes were tinging red, it felt like my body was trying to tear itself apart.

It didn't matter, I only had to live long enough to save her. Just a few more seconds, I prayed, just a few... more... I dragged the line again, gasping a the fresh wave of torment, and pulled her up to the balcony.

There... she's safe... that's...

I could see Treasure and Charmer stirring, their movements natural and organic, they were free of Twist's insane control, at least for now. Good, they can keep them... keep her... safe...

I let the spell go and my body went slack as well, I could see a pool of blood slowly expanding out from my body over the balcony out of cracks in my skin. I couldn't move, but it didn't matter.

I saw Twilight starting to shift around shakily, as weak as a foal but alive and well, she was saying something, maybe shouting, but I couldn't hear it, my vision had gone gray and my hearing had deserted me completely. As blackness closed around me I wondered idly just where an abomination like me would go when I died.