Twilight's journey home wasn't quite as clear as usual.  While she could normally look into her memory and tell you exactly how many birds were flying just above the sign that told her what cross streets she was on at any given second without any kind of hesitation, this walk would be somewhat of a blur.  As she trotted back toward the library Twilight's vision began to narrow down, almost as if her world was being squeezed shut from the outside in.  Her breathing stayed at about the same speed and intensity, but oddly became more apparent to her; she could hear every single breath she took clear as wind rustling through leaves.  Her hoofsteps were the same, and eventually her heartbeat even followed into the equation.  Twilight was aware of her body; her perfect, beautiful, terrifying body, as it walked through town and came into contact with a few unlucky ponies.

One was a mare, not the most wholesome kind but otherwise not a vicious criminal.  She had robbed for food before, even beaten a stallion half to death when he refused to give up his pocketwatch so that she could pawn it off for a quick fix, so she certainly wasn't innocent, but she wasn't a murderer.  None of this factored into Twilight's view of her as she passed along on the road, however, and this mare wound up being brutally introduced to the unicorn's temper.  Twilight's perception was so bizarrely altered during the interaction that she almost felt like a spectator, but she absolutely was participating in the horrible murder of this bystander; it was her ideas of how to kill her that played out after all.

When all was said and done the blue mare with a yellow mane that Twilight had come into unfortunate contact with on the way home wound up sliced from her groin to her chin, splitting her body lengthwise and leaving her head in tact; eyes open and mouth agape.  The building that Twilight was nearest suffered the most gruesome bits of this scene, however, since she nailed all four legs of the body to the largest blank face she could find.  The mare had been butterflied like a steak, all before she had a chance to say a word, and was stuck on a wall adjacent a major crossroad for all to see as the sun came up.  It took her a little under 45 seconds to die of blood loss, and she was conscious for about half that.

That said, the memory of Twilight killing this mare came to her only in fragments, as if it were a dream, which was further implied by the fact that she had indeed woken up from what felt like a full night of restful sleep.  Twilight sat up and looked down, letting the blanket fall from her shoulders and heap up by her legs: she was back to the same shade of darkened purple that she had been just before the transformation into her alter ego, "Umbra".  Her body was still sleek and slim, but her mane was about the same length as it had been grown to when she changed over.

Iago?  Twilight called out into her own mind, hoping to ask just how real the last night actually was.

Yes, Twilight?  Did you enjoy your rest?  Iago was definitely faking sincerity; Twilight had done that enough times to recognize the subtleties within the voice.  Even though it was still only a voice in her head, it rung with a kind of quality that made it more real than anything else.

I'm not honestly sure...  I didn't think I ever went to sleep last night.

Oh no you certainly did, though not without your own share of...  shall we say, high profile antics.

How exactly do you mean?

Bodies have been found, Twilight, and while they can't be connected to you they certainly can be identified as all from the same killer.

What's identifying about them?  We've got several burned alive and a few of them cut up...  I even left the weapon stuck in one of their skulls.

Those aren't the ones I'm talking about, of course.

Those are the only ones I killed.  Twilight was starting to get a little impatient, but that was stemming mostly from the fact that she hadn't been confused by missing information for quite some time and it was, frankly, a foreign and disliked feeling.

The night was still very young when you did those.  Your mind was starting to fade in and out a little bit, however, so I tried to keep you awake as best I could.

Who else did I kill?

Just some more commoners...  Honestly most of them deserved it anyhow, even if you didn't know it at the time.  Killers, rogues, liars, cheats...  Really the only victims were those that made lives more difficult to tolerate, a filth that had needed cleaning for a long time.

So what was the most identifying thing about them?  That they were all scum?

No, I'm afraid not, though that was certainly present.  You made a nasty habit of carving things into them, or spelling things out in their blood.  While some use their bodies as a canvas to tattoo a life story onto themselves, you used the bodies of your victims as your paint and the world as your canvas, though your artwork isn't quite as accepted in society.

Quit beating around the bush, Iago.  What did I do?

Well...  Go down into your basement and find out.

Twilight's amnesia coupled with Iago's obviously purposeful evasiveness of her questions stirred a very unwelcome feeling of concern in her.  She rose out of her bed and levitated toward the stairs, setting herself down without stopping her gentle motion forward and simply translating the movement into a slow walk down into her living room.  Spike, who had been asleep at the foot of Twilight's bed the whole night, wasn't immediately roused by her silent movement toward the stairs.

The basement door creaked open slowly but surely, revealing the pitch black darkness behind.  Twilight tried to light her candles but saw only sparks go off as bare wood tried to ignite.  With a sigh, she moved into the black, shutting the door behind her and allowing her eyes to adjust to the dark.

Twilight spotted one of her candles broken off of the wall and laying flat on her stairs, so she quickly swept it up and lit it, burning the flame a little brighter than usual to try and illuminate the entire basement.  She'd regret that decision, having not quite been prepared for the grisly scene before her.  Two dead ponies sat propped against Twilight's wall.  Well, two in total; each was cut in half at the hindquarters and was sitting along the corner just in front of Trixie's little space.  To Twilight's chagrin, that too was propped open, though not nearly enough to allow a pony enough space for an escape.

The floor was absolutely coated with a film of coagulated blood from the two bodies, in which was traced out thousands of little symbols in a circular pattern, following the basement's curvature and separated by smaller concentric circles.  No magical aura surrounded it, but the entire glyph was clearly meant to represent something.  Twilight could only vaguely even remember this entire event; having snippets of memory flash into focus every few minutes, each one punctuated by the memory of a blood curdling scream from one of the stallions.  

Both of the two ponies had been wearing clothing, so Twilight moved in to inspect it.  Navy blue coat, leather belt over the shoulder and around the waist and sure enough, a badge.  Police officers, with their hooves cuffed behind their backs and their lower halves at least 2 feet away from where they should be.  Their eyes had been cut off from the world by a barbed, earthen blindfold and their mouths nailed shut by a similar earthen spike.  What a way to go.

How come I'm having so much trouble remembering all this?  Twilight asked Iago, hoping to keep his attention fixed.

I'm not sure, Twilight.  Perhaps all that alcohol you drank somehow did manage to affect you even in your exalted form...  Iago was still just as evasive, though she could tell it wasn't evasiveness born of fear, it was moreso along the lines of amusement.

I'm not buyin' it, Iago.  You'd know it if that were true, so I'm not going to ask you again.  Why can't I remember?

You were...  A little enraged at that point, Twilight.  Suffice to say your body was lighting things and ponies' hair on fire by the end of the night...  and I don't mean that little oil lamp adventure you had, I rather enjoyed that.

So... what, I just went berserk and now I can't remember anything?

The more berserk you went the more blatant you were in your displays of power.  Things started out private and then started to spill out into the streets, so I worried that it would only be a matter of time before you flattened the entire town.  That berserk rage you fell into wasn't what cut your memory off, though, it was me suppressing... well... you.

You did what?

Oh please, don't even start with that.  The energy you were exuding was enough to start crumbling architecture, I just stopped it before you did too much damage.

But not before killing a couple of police officers...

To be perfectly frank I was amused during every second of that...  You sliced them in half nearly a quarter mile from here and dragged them back by their spinal columns.  They didn't die until about two hours ago since you cauterized their arteries.  Either way... they tried to stop you to ask if you wanted a walk home being that you were coming out of the nastier side of town and looked like a delicate little flower...  You were very clear with them that getting in your way was a poor decision on their part.

When exactly did you stop me?

At around the time you nearly dragged the bodies up to your good friend Rarity's back porch.

Why would I ever do that?

I'm not sure...  None of my students have ever survived through a rage state like that before, so I've never gotten a chance to ask.  Seems you don't know either.  Could be that she was just fresh in your mind, or it could be that you've got some kind of deep seated hatred for her, or it could have been a gift...  Perhaps you're like a cat in that you think dropping rodent corpses into someone's slippers is a happy gesture.  Either way, I kept your cover just enough to prevent Rarity from witnessing your brutality.

If you stopped me there how come these cops' entrails are all...  organized about my workspace?

Just a little something I like to do from time to time to remind me of home...  You've inspired me to start 'painting' again.

Twilight glanced around the room with a better look at the floor.  The various sigils and glyphs within concentric circles certainly were interesting, it was just a shame that they smelled of death and tripe.  If you don't mind I'd like to keep the visceral artwork to a minimum in my living space, please...

Suit yourself, but frankly it's the only place where it won't likely be seen by the public, and you left a bit of a wild swathe of gore in your wake last night.  Just be grateful I stopped you at all.

So when you suppressed me...  Where exactly did I go?  Twilight stepped down and hovered herself just inches off the ground, keeping the slowly coagulating crimson and brown tapestry away from her hooves.

Do you want the short answer or the correct answer?

Start with short, we'll see how unsatisfied I am.

You went to sleep when I suppressed you.

But...?  Twilight used her hoof to adjust the jaw of one of the police officers, taking a look at him down her nose.

But what?

But my body was still moving around, that's what.

That's obviously because I took brief control.  Admittedly I've gotten a bit rusty at that whole... walking thing.  It's been a while.

You took over my body?  Twilight dropped the corpse and let its chin flop back down to his chest, leaving a muffled, leathery slap resonating in the nearly empty basement.

Technically yes...  Really I just moved it around while its consciousness was sitting in something of a padded room.  I couldn't leave you there with dead authority figures in the middle of the road...  You'd have had to kill your way out of a prison and then all hell would have broken loose much sooner than we want.

How come I can't remember the 'padded room' then?  If that's where my consciousness went.

Did you often remember your dreams back when you slept?  Bear in mind you dreampt every night since you were a month old.

When you put it that way, no...  Not often.

That's because your mind is translating the images and ideas in the dream much more differently than it is while you're awake.  Your 'padded room' was really just a dream where you could vent all of your passions in one single blow.  You don't remember it because the concept of a single object receiving all of your love, hate, happiness, sadness, inspiration, disgust, fear and interest at the same time baffles you.  Nonetheless that's what you did.

That sounds like quite the catharsis...  I take it it worked?

Well try and think about how docile you are right now.  Do you think it worked?

Twilight was about to answer but had her thoughts interrupted by a kind of frightened whimper from behind the bookcase.  Twilight looked into the open crack and cocked her head, taking just a few steps forward and shining a magical light inside.  Trixie immediately scampered away from the opening and into her favorite corner, sniveling at Twilight's presence.  The lavender unicorn pried the door open just enough for her to step inside, imposing her power onto Trixie once more.

"Good morning, Trixie."  Twilight softly said with a wicked smile to top off her sentence.  

"P-please...  I didn't see anything, I swear!"  Trixie's eyes started to mist up in fear and sadness; she was afraid that Twilight might do the same to her.

"I didn't ask you if you saw anything, Trixie.  What's gotten into you?"  Twilight took a few steps forward, shrinking Trixie's world down to just the hard stone walls that she was surrounded by.

"D-d-don't hurt me!  I do-on't wanna di-ie!"  Trixie broke down into full sobbing, curling up into the fetal position and burying her nose in her tail.  The fur on her face had already been matted down from her constant sobbing all night.  She had to sit in her room and listen to the moans of the dying police officers as they slowly approached the sweet embrace of death, so Trixie's rationale had shriveled up to that of a small child's.

"Why are you so scared of me, Trixie?"

The blue unicorn didn't respond, only half-opened her eye to look Twilight in the face as if the question were some kind of trick.

"Answer me.  Why are you so scared?"  Twilight sat down, keeping her imposing position over Trixie just as firm but making herself a little more comfortable.

"B-because you ki-illed them..."

"Fair enough.  But what do I care that you saw a couple of pigs die?  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you're scared of me...  You certainly should be."  Twilight grinned and leaned toward Trixie, reveling in her terror as she shrunk away into the stone.  Being cooped up into something akin to sensory deprivation for several days, along with limited food and water and the constant fear of torture of death had broken every last fiber of arrogance out of Trixie.  All that was left was a crying little child at Twilight's mercy.

"Ple-ease don't hu-urt me."  Trixie's eyes were bright red from hours upon hours of crying, the terror of the moment had only served to restart the tears.

"Now why would I do such a thing?"

"I sa-aw what you did."  Trixie shrunk away once more as she said this, still hiding her face in such a childish attempt at making the 'monster' go away.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to hurt you, Trixie.  Do you want to know what it does mean?"

Trixie didn't answer, but she did pull her foreleg away from her face.  She looked at Twilight's neck, avoiding eye contact but still feigning like she was looking directly at her.

"It means that you need to learn a lesson."  Twilight stated happily, hoping for Trixie to fall into the same kind of implicit trust as she had once coaxed before.  "I don't care about laws, Trixie, I don't fear punishment, nor do I fear the government around me.  I do whatever I want to whomever I want, and that includes you."  Twilight prodded Trixie's chest with her hoof as she said this, raising herself up off of the ground and standing over her once more.  "I'm far more powerful than the laws that those cops enforced, and I'm more powerful than the government that paid them.  Do you understand?"

Trixie nodded, not wanting to say another word for fear of bringing a display of Twilight's power.

"Good girl, so if I ask you to jump, what are you gonna do?"

"J-jump..."

"Correct, and if I want you to kill somepony, what are you going to do?"

"I..."  Trixie's mind couldn't really wrap itself around the concept of being forced to kill, but she knew that she needed to answer Twilight correctly. "I'll kill them..."

"Good.  And if it should so happen that I want you to die?"

"I...  I-I-I..."  Trixie had started to cry again.  Her slowly progressing state of dehydration had left her tears feeling almost acidic to her eyes to the point that she couldn't even see.  Everything was just a blur of discomfort and fear.  "I don't want to die!"

"That's the wrong answer, Trixie..."  Twilight's voice dropped from the false jubilance that she had been speaking in to a very serious tone.

Trixie curled up again, quickly contracting herself into a pathetic little dirty blue ball.  She made a kind of squeak before whimpering out gibbering apologies.  She shook in absolute terror, fearing another series of painful blows.  Her memory of the captured period was only pain and misery, though each time she woke up from a near-death beating to be perfectly fine, so her grasp on reality was even starting to degrade.

"Stop it, Trixie.  I'm not going to hurt you."  Twilight growled a little as she spoke, fighting the urge to just wring her neck where she lay.  "Just understand your place; at my hooves.  You're a thing at most, so if you want any better treatment you'd better start behaving the way I want you to.  My demands aren't difficult, just do exactly as I say without hesitation or question, and things can only get better for you.  Do you understand?"

"Y-yes...  Yes I understand, Twilight...  Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Trixie, just be good.  Would you like some water?"

"Yes!  Please!  I need some!"  Trixie uncurled herself from her little ball at the promise of water, leaning forward and almost shivering from the weak and neglected state of her body.  Twilight looked down to the ground and telekinetically pressed a hemisphere into the dirt, magically coaxing water to pool into it until nearly a half-pint was sitting in the ground.  It was filthy, nearly undrinkable water, but Trixie was absolutely desperate.  Desperate enough to throw herself to the ground and sink her muzzle into the dirty pool, gulping down as much of the muddy fluid as she could before pulling back up to take a breath.  Twilight didn't stick around to watch Trixie drink, instead choosing to leave and clean up the mess she had made in her basement.  The instant she stepped out into the gory mess of a room, she closed up Trixie's bookcase to lock her back inside.  The next time it opened, Twilight decided, she'd kill her.

With that in mind, Twilight looked around her room, levitating herself out to the middle of it and hovering a few feet off the ground.  With a single motion, she set the whole place on fire, preserving the wooden walls and floor by keeping direct control of every single inch of flame and only burning away the gore and tripe.  She left the bodies for the time being, though didn't stop them from catching fire on their own with the building heat and flames.  What was there quickly turned to ash and cast a horrid stench into the air, but Twilight kept hovering and looking around, making sure not to miss anything as she burned away the filthy blood of such lesser beings.  About halfway through the immolation, however, the door to her basement opened.

Twilight whipped her head up and stopped the fire, dropping down onto the floor with a crunch and looking up to see Spike paused in the doorway.  If it were physically possible for his scales to turn white, they would have.  He saw, for the first time in his young life, two dead bodies; unfortunately for him they were mutilated and brutally killed to boot.  The vision of a pair of semi-charred corpses propped against the wall, both cut in half with viscera spilling out onto the floor would forever be carved into his mind, not to mention the smell of burnt blood, clothing, hair and flesh.  He seemed almost nauseous enough to fall to his knees and throw up, but Twilight quickly attempted to get him out of the basement.  She activated some of her old unicorn magic that she hadn't touched in ages, using it to teleport herself right in front of Spike and push him out of her space.

"Spike, why didn't you knock?"  Her voice inflection was angry and low, but Spike wasn't really able to comment on much at the moment.

"W-wh-what was wrong with them?"

"Nothing,"  Twilight said, forgetting to try and divert his thoughts.  She truly wasn't sure what to do about this problem.

"B-but they looked hurt..."  Spike kept staring into the basement doorway as Twilight shoved him out, slamming the door behind her.  His eyes stayed trained on the spot even though his line of sight was broken.

"Spike.  Listen to me.  You didn't see what you thought you saw.  I need you to go back upstairs right now."

Spike looked up to Twilight, fear and trauma in his young, innocent little eyes as every single gentle thought of Twilight came shattering down inside his head.  He looked into Twilight's eyes as she stared down at him, noticing the interlacing of gold that didn't quite get pushed out of them after her transformation back.  He couldn't help himself from instinctively asking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Twilight, Spike.  How could you even ask me that?"  Twilight started to worry that Spike was on to her.  She materialized a blade just a few inches from his neck, ready to kill him the instant he said anything out of line.

"Just...  Nevermind.  I, uhm...  D-do you need me to get you anything?"  Spike looked away from his mentor, glancing along the floor and trying to collect himself.  His usual routine drove him to only worry about Twilight's state of mind rather than his own.

"No, Spike...  You look a little sick, why don't you get to bed?"  Twilight moved the blade away from him, letting the little dragon take a few steps back to realize his nausea.  He may not have been sure what he saw, but the physiological effects were definitely present.  

"Yeah, I don't really feel good...  You sure you'll be okay if I take a little time off?"

"Get to sleep, Spike.  I appreciate you wanting to help but there's really nothing you can do.  And, y'know...  I don't wanna overwork you if you're sick."  Twilight faked a smile, trying to be as sincere as she could.  Luckily for the little dragon, she let the blade dissolve back into nothingness.  "I don't need your help today, thank you, just make sure you feel better in case I do need you tomorrow."

"T-thanks, Twilight...  I'll just... I'll just get to bed now."  Spike stumbled toward the stairs, feeling like he was going to throw up all the while.  He desperately wanted to believe that Twilight was still his harmless, intelligent mentor who would never hurt a fly, but the images of the two stallions cut in half and partially charred was still fresh in his mind.  

You should have killed him.  Iago said to Twilight just as Spike left her view up the stairs.

That would have been pointless...  He's very helpful most of the time.  Twilight turned and opened her basement door, this time locking it from the inside

That little bastard has a tongue, doesn't he?  What's to stop him from wagging it?

I'll take care of it, Iago.  Just leave Spike out of this.  I watched him grow up and have been sharing secrets with him since he was small.  He'll trust my judgment no matter what.

Hrmh...  If you insist, but I still think you should slit his throat in his sleep.

I said I'll handle it, Iago.

Don't take that tone.  I've more experience than ten of your lifetimes.  I know what I'm talking about, you insolent little shit.

Yeah?  Well I get the feeling you've never worked with anyone else that entire ten lifetimes.  I can handle it, and I know you don't like it that I still have some kind of independence, but you've just gotta fucking deal with that.

Twilight quickly felt a surging pain in her chest, followed quickly by Iago's voice letting out a frustrated growl.  How dare you speak to me like that!

Instead of dropping to her knees, however, Twilight kept a weak stance and held her ground.  I'll talk to you however I want.  If you think I'm just going to roll over and let you drive me around like a used wagon you can think again.  I know you need me for something so I know you're not going to kill me, and I swear if you think you can hurt me bad enough to bend to you you've got another thing coming.

You're not the only talented unicorn in this world, Twilight.  If I killed you I could easily find another.

Heh...  Not another one as close to Celestia as I am...  Twilight mouthed along to her thought, giving a wicked grin to the floor as she started to crumble.  Her body bent forward in agony, but she managed to keep standing out of sheer stubborn will.

Iago paused.  Twilight could almost hear his teeth grinding in her mind, even though they weren't real.

That's what I thought.  You've got something you need to say to her and you need me to say it.  So why don't you let go of my heart and get back in your little corner.  I'll call you when I care to hear your opinion.

The instant you stop being relevant, Twilight Sparkle, I swear I'll break you.

Twilight shivered and stood up, letting her body get back to normal as the pain went away.  She cracked her neck and smiled wide, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before speaking back to Iago.  Everything can be killed, Iago, even you.

Do you presume to threaten me?

That's not a threat, you son of a bitch, just an observation.  As soon as I find your neck I'll hold a blade to it, you can count on that.  Twilight's eyes were darting around the room the whole time she was having her 'conversation' with Iago.  She was just zoning out, but continually running her view over the ground was giving her a nice distraction from her bodily pain.  That, however, ended in full as soon as she finished her statement.

I almost respect you more for saying that, Twilight Sparkle.

Is that so?

Keep in mind that what we have is mutual.  I don't want to kill you, but if you give me ultimatums like I'm something to be bargained with, I will.  I'd truly like to see you live out your life and watch what you could create and destroy, so don't give me a reason to end it so soon.

If you're so powerful then I take it you wouldn't mind fighting me face to face?  Instead of cowering around inside my head like some kind of a parasite.

If it comes to that, Twilight, I'll very much enjoy eating whatever's left of you.

And I'll enjoy ripping you limb from limb, whatever the fuck you are.

Iago gave a little chuckle, acknowledging Twilight's statements with what was mentally akin to a gentle nod.  Then we have an agreement.  If all goes well the terms will never be met.

I can't say I'm sure which one I'm hoping for just yet.

I think you and I both hope for a happy, harmonious, cooperative decapitation of this government with you as the blade and me as the arm.

Just make sure to take care of your swords, Iago.  They tend to cut both ways and it'd be a shame if the edge you pointed at your enemies grew dull.

You wouldn't dare, Twilight.  Your life depends on how keen you can be.