I continued hugging her tight, and she had done nothing back. There was no return of the embrace, I was just hugging a person who was blinded by forces that shouldn't have intervened. I felt wetness come to my eyes and tears slowly began rolling down my cheeks as I held her, my armor maybe causing her some discomfort, but that soon faded away and my illusion set in once again, my body covered in my heavy, regal black robe, gemstones dim from the atmosphere around us that soon left and went back to normal, the room bright colors again, but now in ruins.

And I stood, in utter silence, weeping, dampening her shoulder for a good while before a blast of holy energy pushed me off her that punched me right in my stomach. I went stumbling back, tears still freely flowing. The ponies could now see these tears and they were all astonished, except for Cadence, who knew all too well what was taking place.

I felt the pain burn on my front side. I began to call upon my dark energy once more, but I barely could. I couldn't strip her of her holy powers temporarily, I was only able to heal myself and numb the pain physically. I looked to the audience and scanned each of their faces. Celestia looked on in disbelief and confusion, Luna held some of the same emotion in her face, but her eyes shown sympathy, Rainbow Dash was only looking on in awe, Shining Armor stood mouth closed, but in his eyes lay confusion. I looked back to her, Violet, and she still held a piercing gaze, but it looked a bit softer. I once more looked to the ponies, scanning again. Pinkie Pie was crying silently with me even though my own tears were slowly coming to a halt. Rarity had sympathy and a tad bit of anger on her muzzle. Applejack just kept her eyes on my wife in disbelief of the event that was happening. Fluttershy was crying, her face hidden behind her mane and her head pointed to the ground. Twilight was looking on in interest and had too many emotions burning inside her to describe what she was feeling. A cold wind passed through the now open building, it was only then that I took in my surroundings once more and found it was night. I also found Cadence absent now...odd considering she was here just a moment ago.

I caught her eyes once more as I began to felt the repercussions of using so much energy and not getting a big enough supplement of darkness. My arms grew tired and weak, my stance began to get sloppy, my vision struggled, but I wouldn't pass out now, no, I made sure I was going to continue, through my driving will.

"You've changed so much....I don't think you even remember all the time we spent...together." I spoke weakly.

"I do, but my eyes are open now, monster." Her words stung, that much was true.

"You don't remember any of the emotions....they closed them, they blinded you from your more mortal life and stole what we had from us." I slowly began walking towards her once more, the blade pointed out at me again. I began to walk around her, somehow managing.

"You will not manipulate me anymore."

At this point, I was hoping this was all a dream as was about to wake up from a recovery period after a great battle, but the exhaustion, the pain, the scene was all too real for it to be a dream. It was much worse, it was reality.

I slowly entered the portal and the guards looked at me, rushing to my side and helping me stand, "We must withdraw and bring the seven royals, I'll be back to destroy this place soon, for now, I want guards to be positioned at the portal." I spoke easier as some gave me their energy, "I need the seven royals with me, Maximillian, Sophia, Mitsurugi, Vincent, Edward, Frederick, and Bardiche. Begin cleaning this place up and heading home, but guard the portal well and leave it open. Do not let Celestia come near it, the higher ranks will explain to those of you who do not yet know." At the call of my word, there were the seven royals, weapons on their back and ready to serve faithfully. Maximillian with his superior defending skills of his spear and giant shield, ensured my forces would live through sieges on a fortress. Frederick, the master of shadows, didn't really ever use his many daggers at all and was my only swift answer for a hard to get problem. Bardiche was truly my bravest guard, always ready with that spiraling one edged poleaxe of his to defend the people during any attack.

I turned back around and exited the portal, my wife still present and the royals were now feeding me energy and helping me stand. I stared at her once more, her beauty was hidden away be the ideas of those that sought to destroy me and everything I worked for. I walked towards her once more and she stepped back, intimidated by the presence of the royals. I used the energy they were feeding me and encapsulated her in a orb of darkness and crafted a dark energy core above it to prevent her from escaping or using holy powers to bust out of it, she was as if she never became godly.

"To the Equestrian castle....I'll have to sort this out." I spoke, the ponies had only watched what went on,"Pray to him that our Queen returns to us unharmed." The royals gathered more energy up and quickly dismissed us in dark mist, leaving nothing behind except for all the destroyed stone of the castle, the sign that we were there. Guards were already at the portal, keeping an eye on it.

We appeared in my room and I quickly began to walk, slowly with the help of the seven to grow the size of the prison, making it fit the walls of my room and added a better dark energy core, one that could function for decades without upkeep. I walked out freely with my wife now stuck inside the room alone, but with all the comforts she needed.

"You may all go now....leave me be here so I can rest." I spoke with a struggle and they were hesitant because of the oaths they took, but nonetheless left to go back to their duties and help the guards clean up from the battle, they either helped around or spent their time training in the Underworld. The energy quickly left me and I had immense struggles to stay awake.

"You can't keep me here, I will get out." Violet spoke from behind the dark barrier, the door to my room open, she was staring down at me as I rested against the wall in the doorway, just beyond the barrier.

"I'm going to get the real you back." I retorted, smiling up to her before the peace of sleep took me and I found myself falling out into the hall, laying on my side.

"You'll neve-." I heard part of her sentence before I collapsed.

~~~~~

'You're attempting to make the impossible happen.' I was now sucked into what was most indefinitely, His domain of where he talked to me. The original God of Darkness that shares my name.

'We've done that since the day I was born.' I had mentally replied. I was stuck here talking to him until he was done and he knew that.

'I may not even be able to do this, and my power stretches far. I can manipulate her, but I know you don't want her back forcefully.' He replied in his dark, echoing tone.

'I'll do it myself as long as I have you to keep her from harming any of our people.'

'Fine...and I would really enjoy more souls to come my way.' He finished and then flooded away from my sight, the black flame skull now gone.

I was once again in complete blackness of my deep sleep.

~~~~~

I awoke with a jolt, a servant jumping and barely holding onto the food and wine she had brought up, no doubt for her, she always did enjoy the foods that our kitchens produced. The chefs must also be on board with wanting their Queen back, and the entire Underworld must be yearning for her voices in our war conferences as they know what she represents.

The voice of the people practically died when she was taken and now I plan to revive that voice to once again make an input in what we decide as we plan our battle strategies.

The servant abruptly bowed and quietly entered the room, passing through the barrier with my help. She set the food down on the bedside nightstand and quickly ran out, scared for her life. A gloriously cooked and seasoned chop of venison with a parmesan dusted salad with a note sitting beside it and a perfectly measured glass of wine for an accompaniment sat, waiting to be eaten.

I knew I was no where near the amount of power I was supposed to be at for battle, especially with a holy force, but I stood and entered the room anyways. I immediately noticed she was standing at the far end of the room, looking out the balcony, the curtains pulled aside and the barrier preventing her from exiting. She was still dressed in the same heavenly garb she had adorned when I found her, she stared out, her blade in hand, watching the guards do their training in the courtyard.

"You have food." I spoke in a complete monotone voice. I was surely dead of emotion if not empty of most of it.

"I won't accept anything from you." She spoke with a sting in her words that left a pang in my heart.

"It's not drugged or anything, I promise. There is no dark energies being expended right now except for the ore that keeps the barrier up." I replied and was met with a long silence.

"Why do you still stand here?" She spoke and turned to face me, a hate burning in her eyes.

"Maybe because I'm stupid. Maybe because I'm foolish for even trying to bring the Violet I knew back. Perhaps I'm a bit delusional or desperate. I know one thing for sure, I'm not the only one who wants you back. The people want to be heard more in the war room so they are taken into account more and can speak for themselves easier. Even the servants and the chefs in the kitchens want you back, otherwise they would not send you the food on your nightstand." I told her truth, and all of it. I finally willed my body to exit and began my trip to the courtyard, where the guards were training.

Upon my arrival, they quickly began to beef up whatever activity they were doing. They all wanted to gain my eye and be specialized in something as I have done in the past. Nothing mattered at this time, nothing mattered but returning the only person who really mattered in my existence to their proper place. I was supposed to be seeing about the trials for the new dragonrider crownings for tonight, but I wouldn't even judge those. There were most likely, numerous problems building up on my desk, but I didn't care anymore.

I walked the courtyard until I sent the guards to train in front of the castle, at the path leading up to it, just over the newly built bridge that replaced the inefficient wooden swaying one. I always preferred stone more. I called a servant to fetch the somewhat rusted with blood steel blade I had trained with as a child and they did so quickly. I began to run through simple swipes and swings, flowing my attacks on the air together fluidly. I continued to get more and more advanced, but I wasn't able to push my body too far, and in spite of that simple fact I still kept training, staying at a level of expertise I usually pass. Even simple training wasn't clearing my mind, so harvesting more souls would do nothing for me at all.

After a few hours, the sun hanged directly overhead and I had the same servant replace my steel childhood back from where it came in my room. I let the guards return to the courtyard and heard that I soon had a visitor in my study. I was already guessing it was Cadence and that I would receive a talking to about what I was doing from her and probably the six elements and maybe even the princesses. I began the walk into the castle and up the staircases to my study, kept next to my bedroom.

I found the room empty, stacks and stacks of papers were piling up on my deck and around it, a path for me to reach my chair and drawers of my desk. I scanned my study at least three times before walking forward and shutting the door, heading to look out the window. There I viewed the guards in the courtyard and they were training as hard as ever. After a few moments of looking, I felt hooves wrap around me from behind and I had shoved whatever it was on me away and used what little dark energy that I had built up to form a shadow blade and pointed it at the perpetrator. I quickly let the energy flow back into me upon seeing who I was threatening.

"Cadence. Why are you here at such a time? I thought the princesses would be here to try and stop my plans once more." I spoke in a dead deep voice.

"I convinced them and the Elements to not come. I wanted to talk with you myself. I'm not here to lecture you." She spoke.

"Then leave. I have much to do between repairing what they did and taking care of my kingdom." I turned back around to view the window, "Must I show you-".

"You must be busy since you're just watching your guards train. I know you won't take on the duties of your kingdom." She had cut me off.

"Our business is still concluded."

"You may be used to have such an overwhelming force for you to control, but there is no one in here but us and you aren't back to a power close enough to stop me." She retorted and a long silence followed.

"Fine, I'll listen to whatever you have to say."

"I know your heart is damaged badly. Your own wife rejecting you and attempting to hurt you. She wants to kill you and end the Underworld's long thriving era. I know you want the real Violet back and I want to help you, but the others do not want to. They see this is wrong, as keeping a prisoner." She spoke.

"Lies. All of it are lies, you work with them. If you dare try to free or harm her, I'll wage war on all of Equestria and we will not stop until all your lives have ended and you become our new mounts for battle." I turned to her, "I may be weak, but Celestia and Luna have both seen the power of my forces. Whenever we clean an area, we only take supplies and what belongs to us, the dead bodies stay and so does the damage."

"I won't harm her, you have my word." She apparently promised.

"I guess you'll have to prove that. And how would you help me, your love magic is beyond the power of gods."

"Because it is in her mind and I know tricks to getting her to remember. I once brought an old couple back together after one of the spouses had dementia. My magic can't cure such a thing."

I grunted and turned back around,"What is it then?"

"You have to bring back who she is through memories. Show her pictures, have her read documents. Let your people talk to her."

"She still holds that blade....that's my first problem to solve." I walked out of the room, slightly tugging her tail to urge her to come.

She followed me to my room and I opened the door, she lay on the bed, the food finished and the plate still on the nightstand. She immediately looked over with a burning hatred. Every time I saw that glare, there was a pang of pain in my heart and it hurt more than anything else.

"I'll watch over her, you go and order things I suggested and get your duties underway, your kingdom needs you." Cadence said and walked in, Violet hadn't changed her glare to me at all.

I exited the room and left the door open. I went about the castle, telling servants to take turns and check the sheet to see whom had visited so they'd know who they had to tell to visit. This sheet, with other pieces of paper near it, was left next to the door on the wall. Servants were already lining up to go in and talk to her. I had sent guards to also collect some physical forms of memories of the time we had spent together and to give them to Cadence. I had walked all the way back to my study after and began on the papers at my desk.

There were many legal requests for buildings and asking for authorizations to do an action that interfered with the land a lot. I eventually had to accept the request to make a new large marble wall outside and make another zone for people to live and businesses to grow in the new residential areas. Few of the papers out of the hundreds, proportionally speaking, were disputes and it fitted the almost perfect paradise of the Underworld. I had sat at my desk for the entire day, opting to jsut sleep at it when I was finished, working through a third of the papers for only more to arrive in the morning.

Author's Note

No matter what, I am going to finish this story, it is finally up to the point where I can't stop.

I hope you all enjoyed that chapter.