The princesses both felt the life of one of their subjects fade from existence and a burst of pure anger and hatred pulse from the same location mere seconds after the ending of their subject's life. Celestia could feel a wave of tears trying to force itself from her, but with practiced control she managed to hold them back, Luna on the other hoof, was actually crying. Celestia felt a pang of regret, knowing that her sister had never had to deal with problems like this before, she wanted to comfort her sister but Luna flinched when Celestia offered her wing. Luna continued to cry for what felt like an eternity to her, she had even flinched when she hadn't realized that she was afraid of being touched, after waiting another minute Celestia gingerly draped her wing over her sister in an attempt to calm her. Luna's sobs slowly began to subside as Celestia let her own body heat warm her sister, when Luna was finally done crying she spoke.

"Tia... What was that?!" She looked like she was going to break into tears but before Celestia could answer her sister's question she continued, "I felt like every happy emotion had suddenly been violently ripped from my chest... the only emotion left was sadness... and... and..." Celestia quickly pulled her sister closer before she began to sob again.

"I don't truly know what that was dear sister... but I certainly plan to find out, I will have the guards ready a chariot for us so that we can reach Ponyville as soon as possible." Luna noticed the slightly darker tone her sister had as her head shot up, and several thoughts blurred their way into her mind, the most prominent being.

"Oh no... Did Renko... Kill?" Her heart was hammering in her chest as she boarded a sky chariot, in her panic she had almost forgot to raise the moon but she and her sister did their respective duties on the way to Ponyville. It was dark by the time they got to the town and both noticed the large, almost transparent, yellow bubble encasing the town. They quickly identified it as an anti-teleportation spell as they landed on the outskirts of the barracks set at the edge of town. All of the guards were noticably on-edge when they touched down. A large earth pony that had royal armor covering his maroon coat bowed to the princesses before explaining that they were needed immediately in the command room, and that the Elements of Harmony were already there to be debriefed on the situation.

There was no doubt that Renko was surprised when he opened the command tent's flap, he was only expecting an impatient Twilight sparkle, he was actually faced with all of the Elements of Harmony and BOTH of the Princesses. He quickly closed the flap and one of the higher officers cast a spell to keep anyone outside the tent from hearing them. Thus, the questions began...

"What happened?"

"Earlier today there was an attack outside of the Bucking Mare Tavern, when Corporal Moon Shimmer and I arrived on the scene of the attack a pegasus mare was lying dead in the street with her friend crying over the body." Renko answered, remembering the horrid scene that had played out in front of him.

Fluttershy visibly cringed at the thought of a dead pony lying in the street.

"We still have yet to identify the body..." Renko continued as he shot an irritated glance to one of the officers in the tent, "...but after the initial inquiry as to what happened the creature attacked from where it was hiding..." Renko knew that very few of the ponies that were in present company would believe the answer to the question he knew they would ask, Luna proceeded to ask the question.

"Where had it been hiding?" The look in her face made Renko regret ever trying to think of the answer.

"It was hiding out-of-phase with our time, I've had experience fighting creatures like it and hoped that the Anti-teleportation spell you see around the town would keep more from trying to attack." The officers gave a suspicious glance to Renko, but he couldn't tell the emotions on Celestia's face, he was actually afraid... afraid that he had failed in his duty to protect... failed to stop what he had come to stop. The question she asked next took him a little off guard but he had quickly formulated the answer.

"What creature was it?" Celestia's tone was more expectant than angry, which is what actually took Renko off-guard.

"It was a revert... more specifically a Zek, this specific kind has the ability to 'blink' almost at will by shifting out-of-phase with the time it is in. When the creature is phased out it becomes temporarily invincible unless some force were to bring it back into phase." Celestia nodded with an expression that showed she was thinking about his explanation, then she decided to ask for a bit more information.

"What are Reverts?" All the eyes in the room that hadn't already been on Renko were now turned to him and he felt the combined intensity of their curious gazes.

"They... They are mutants... They are humans mutated into monsters by E99 radiation." Everypony in the room had a look of shock on their face, except fluttershy... she had a look that was a mix of fear and pity, as if she had no idea which emotion she wanted to feel. As the shock of what Renko had said sank in, it was Twilight who asked the next question.

"Why did you kill it? we could've captured it and learned more about them." The look that she got from Renko made her wish that she had never asked the question, his eyes narrowed dangerously as he directed his full attention to her.

"...These things kill... These monsters devour the flesh of the living and do not stop moving until you kill them. Zeks are some of the most dangerous reverts because no mere shackles can restrain them, even my ability to age creatures only slows their movements temporarily, these monsters have no conscience... only the hunger for warm blood and fresh meat that drives them to kill anything that moves." All the ponies in the room except for celestia visibly recoiled at the anger now radiating from Renko once more, his gaze had returned to the merciless killer's gaze that he had stared down the corpse of the Zek with, but Celestia clearing her throat brought him back to his senses and it showed as he worked to bring his emotions under control. He took a deep breath before continuing.

"...Those monsters should have been dead far before your time, the fact that these monsters are in this world only bears a bad omen for anyone who lives in this world. Since I've only been in Canterlot and Ponyville I have no idea if other parts of the world have been affected like this, but I can say without a doubt that if they are, I may be the only thing that can get rid of them." looks of disbelief were exchanged between each of the guards in the room until Rainbow Dash got in Renko's face, she prepared to take him up on his challenge.

"From what I heard you killed that creature without trying, I bet I could beat them easier! These things picked the wrong town to mess with, and I'm gonna make sure about that!" She had expected him to sigh and try to give the usual rebuttals to her challenges that everypony else did, she was surprised when he started laughing, but his laugh was much darker and even though she didn't want to admit it... It scared her...

"Well... if you think you can take on these things go right ahead. You had better not make a mistake when fighting them though... and you had better be prepared to kill them... because I can tell you exactly how they would kill you." He paused for a second as what he was saying sank in and the cyan mare backed off a little, he kept going... she started this verbal chess game and he was going to win.

"First; they will tear your wings off at the joints making several deep bleeding cuts in the area around your wings, Then they will proceed to rip you limb from limb... enjoying every dying scream you make as they rip the still-bleeding muscle from your limbs that they tore off, and as you finally think that you will slip into unconsciousness they begin to tear the rest of your body to shreds... bringing you a pain that you could never have imagined possible as you spent your final breath wishing that this nightmare never started." His words had brought a stab of fear to all in attendance, even Celestia had faltered in her attempt at keeping a straight face.

"You are not the first to hear, or feel, of what reverts do to their victims. I lost many soldiers, and even my own life many times over to these creatures... I know everything about them now, they do not show mercy to their prey... And I will not show mercy to them. Now, unless anyone has any further questions, I will retire to my tent with the Princess' approval." He turned to Celestia and Luna and gave a respectful bow as he waited for them to dismiss him. He couldn't shake the feeling... but somehow, he had actually enjoyed the reactions he had gotten out of them, he couldn't understand why he enjoyed it at all...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The shadow construct that called itself The Darkness stood outside of the anti-teleportation spell that surrounded Ponyville. He chuckled to himself as his senses had picked up on the fear that was now radiating from the entire town, he could only imagine the fun that he was going to have with these ponies now that they were trying to find out more about the monster that he had released into their town.

"Nothing they can do will stop them... they follow my orders, and move when and where I tell them to. I will finally be able to crush anything that I want." He felt a strange cold sensation, as if he were feeling regret... like he had told someone about some horror waiting to happen.

The feeling was gone almost as soon as it had come though, and he stood in confusion as to why he had felt such a feeling like regret. His form began to waver and become a cloud of slithering darkness once more as it flew through the night towards the ruins of the old castle.