“Honey, you have to get up, its the first day of your new job at Holy Cross University.”

Ah the voice of my drop dead gorgeous wife. It kills me just to think of how lucky I am to be with her.

“Come on get your lazy ass up, that class on Psychology won’t teach itself.”

“Yeah yeah, im up…” I groan slightly, trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes.

So much was going right for me. I had just gotten a job at a local college, Holy Cross. I had done years of study in Philosophy and Psychology, even before I ‘officially’ studied it, top of the class. Apparently I had impressed them.

I hop up out of bed and tidy my unruly white mane. My coat is a little ruff, but nothing a brush won’t fix. I pick up the brush with my unicorn magic, a faint maroon glow surrounding it, and run it down my coat, making it just the slightest bit straighter. Better than nothing.

“Babe I made breakfast! It’s your favorite!” My wife calls from the kitchen.

“Be there in a second.” I reply, my stomach noisily agreeing with me.

Mmmm bacon and eggs, it had to be that, that was my favorite breakfast. I trot down the stairs and my suspicions are confirmed, a plate was piled high with bacon and eggs in the middle of the table.

I see my darling children, Starling Seeker with her unusual green filly hair. And my other child, the stallion of the house, (or so he thinks) Sir Prize. An unusual name, but then again my wife, Hopeful Skies, was an unusual person. I sit down in between my children and look across at my beautiful wife, and begin to dig into an amazing breakfast.

“Daddy guess what I start today!” Starling Seeker says to me with a mouthful of food and childish glee.

“Gee sweetheart, I dunno, what do you start today?” I reply.

“Come on dad, you know I start fourth grade today!” She says to me, giving me a jab to the arm.

“I know sweetie, I was just messing with you.” I say ruffling her yellow mane.

“Guess what daddy starts today, hun.” Hopeful Skies says to her.

“His job!” She yells with as much enthusiasm as Rainbow Dash beating her time in under ten seconds flat.

“Thats ri-” she begins, but is interrupted by the stallion who suddenly burst through my door. He was a brown stallion, about...thirties. He had this look in his eyes, wild, feral, gleaming red.

“Can I help you?” I say to him.

“Give me any money you have right now!” he says holding up a gun.

“Okay, okay, calm down, we’ll give you whatever you want.” I say to him

“Give me some FUCKING MONEY NOW!” He yells at you “Or ill blow the kids brains out!” He says grabbing Starling Seeker.

“Don’t hurt her please, she hasn’t done anything to you!” Hopeful Skies pleads

“Then get me some money NOW!” He replies, forcing the gun further into Starling Seekers little head.

“Daddy, please don’t let him hurt me…” She cries out

“Look I’ll go get you all the money I have in my wallet, but its in my room.” I say to him.

“Fine, but nobody else moves.” He says

I head up the stairs to grab my wallet, all sorts of plans running through my mind. How would I get this stallion out of my house? How am I going to stop him from harming my family? None of it matters now, I just need to just grab something to hit him with and get my family to safety.

I grab a nice heavy award from when I won the high school soccer championship for the team with the final goal pulling us out of a tie game, It was simple, but solid and hopefully strong enough to do some damage. And I also grabbed my wallet in case things didn’t go as planned and I actually have to give the stallion money.

I head down the stairs slowly so he does not see me. The stallion has shifted his position so now his back is to the stairs, rookie move.I sneak down the stairs and appear behind the man. Then I swing with all my might. Unfortunately, I miss and land next to the man. Falling hard on my chest, the wind is knocked out of me.

The stallion looks left and simply cackles at me. He hits me in the eye with the butt of his gun, blinding me and causing a sharp pain to run all throughout my head. I hear screaming, crying and three gunshots, immediately I fear the worst. As I look out through my good eye, the right one, my greatest fear is realized. My wife…my kids…all lying in a pool of blood. I crawl over to my wife and cup her head in my hooves, hot tears streaming out of both of our eyes.

“I will always love you, you will be the only one in my life...I’m sorry...” I say to her. Her eyes slowly close, death grasping her in its cold embrace, as the devil shrouds my vision.---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“--And that’s what happened. It keeps repeating over and over everytime I sleep...every night they haunt my dreams...the gun....and his face… his eyes...they follow me...judging me...drowning me in blood.” I say, finishing my recount to the stallion in front of me.

“Don’t worry Mr.Erlöser, it’s been only a month since the incident. It’s not uncommon for things like this to happen. Though I’d have to say you’ve had too much time to think about this.” He said, writing something down on a clipboard. “Here, “ he says, handing me a piece of paper. “I have a friend who owns a farm, bring this note to him, he might be able to help you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I listened to my therapist and went to his friend, a nice stallion, didn’t even ask to see the note. He was at least in his mid-forties, but looked only 20. He spoke with a mild country accent, fitting I suppose. He was the head of a family of six Earths; him, his wife, his daughter and his two sons, and his mother...who looked like she could take on the goddesses themselves and come out on top. It was a happy family...something I would never be able to have again, I could never trust myself.

His name was Steel Sickle, he sported a tan coat with a dirty blonde mane, he was larger than any other pony I’ve met, his cutie-mark was that of a sickle and scythe. His wife’s name was Miz Fortune, she was a lighter tan with brown mane; only 3 years younger than Steel, she also looked very young, her cutie-mark was a stack of cards, the ace of spades leaning against the deck.. Their sons were Fooz and Gould, later I learned that they had a nickname of “Fools Gold”; they were inseparable caramel colored identical twins of 16 years and loved pranks, most of them involving on how similar they looked, their cutie-marks were even the same; a gold rock that looked as though it were laughing. Finally was his daughter of 10 years, Willow Whisper, sharing her parents tan coat and her father’s dirty blonde mane, her cutie mark was a tree with a music note coming out of it, a quaver to be exact. She always had this slight smile on her face, exposing a missing tooth.

“Ya must be the new guy huh?” Steel Sickle said to me.

“Thats right sir, my therapist sent me here.” I respond.

“Ya look like you’re able to lift, ah think you’ll be helpful, not like the last guy we had.” He responds with a chuckle

“Well good, I’m hoping this will help.” I say to him

“According to most people this helps a lot, gotta get yer mind occupied. Seeing how it’s your first day here I’ll let ya settle in, but come daybreak tomorrow ya’ll be workin’ the wheat field. I'll tell ya what to do when you meet me in the field. But seeing how it’s nearly 6 o'clock I say we have us a good old fashun’ family meal.” He explains to me.

“All right!” exclaim the twins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wake up and look out of my window to the right side of my small room at the house. The sun is just starting to come up. I walk over to the mirror, staring into it, I see my mismatched eyes. I bring a hoof up and out-line them slowly. My normal green right eye, duller than I remember. Then the left, grey with a gold ring...the eye he gave to me, my eternal reminder. When he hit me in the eye with his gun it was severely damaged, they had used a vast amount of magic and some ‘unethical and untested’ procedures to repair it...though I knew deep down inside that it, just like my family, was gone. They did a good job on it though, considering the ‘untested’ part; something having to do with eyes being the gateway to the soul and having to reconnect that. Anyway I’m slowly getting used to it...though the way I see out of it is slightly different than conventional. Don’t get me wrong, it’s ‘my’ eye, grown from my flesh; though looking through it was odd. I even overheard some of the doctors discuss it; they looked over their ‘research’ and found it was flawed, though the results came out fine, perfect. Something that was never supposed to happen, but did. Sometimes when I use it, it seems as though I’m not seeing those in front of me, but their souls. It looks normal, but with a...surreal feeling.

“Better get down and see Steel Sickle” I mutter to myself, withdrawing my hoof.

I head down the stairs and noticed Miz Fortune making a small breakfast; eggs and bacon. I feel a pain in my forehead, and a flash...no…It comes rushing back to me in blinks, that day, that damned day...

“You alright hun?” The mother asks.

“Yeah…yeah I’m fine.” I reply with a gasp, shaking my head to clear my mind. I can’t be dwelling on these things, too painful.

I force myself to take a few bites of bacon and head out of the door, galloping to meet Silver Sickle. As I arrive he is there waiting for me, holding a piece of wheat in his mouth in the stereotypical redneck fashion. The end of it was lit, giving off trace amounts of smoke. It had a very calm look all in all.

“Ya ready to learn some new things they don’t teach ya in the city?” He asked me.

“Sure, why not” I reply curiously.

He shows me a sickle and begins to explain to me what to do.

“All ya gotta do is take the sickle high up in the air and swing it down to cut through. Make sure you get low on the stalk though, otherwise it’ll be no good to us.” He said while showing me how to at the same time.
“Alright go ahead and give it a try.” He says, handing me the sickle.

As I take it in my hooves I feel the cold, hard wood. It is a hefty object, the sickle, most would think it’s pretty light due to its size, but it is actually quite heavy for the appearance, I mean I’m not the strongest stallion there was, but I’m not weak in the slightest, I assume the weight is due to it’s steel blade, though the wooden body was surprisingly comfortable in my grasp. I admire its curved blade, made specially for cutting in one swift strike. I swing the sickle as he showed me and was surprised by how easily it cut through the stalks of wheat, almost like cutting through a pool of water, until it eventually went all the way through and nearly hit me.

“Hooo weee! we got ourselves a natural here. Don’t worry about almost hittin’ yerself there, everyone does it their first time, fact I almost took out mah leg when I first took hand at one of them...as well as mah pa’s! Well, I feel like I can trust ya enough to finish this job, whenever it gets to be too much for ya to carry, simply throw it in the wagon over there and continue on. I’ll come and get ya when it’s time for lunch.” He says to you as he walks away he heaves a large scythe on his back...damn, if the weight of the sickle surprised me, how heavy does that beast weigh?

He leaves me to my work as I continue, each time my swing gliding through the stalks of wheat the same as before. I have no idea how many times I had to take that wagon back to the house, funny thing, individually wheat is so light. But when you fill up a wagon with it, it’s damn heavy. Eventually my arm grew tired and I took a short break. I heard a rustling behind me and stood up to see who it was. It was Willow

“Papa told me to come and tell ya lunch is ready.” She tells me.

“Thanks, I’m pretty hungry right now.” I reply.

We both head back to house chatting on the way.

“So what do you do around here on the farm?” I ask her.

“Oh… well I take care of the animals. Y’know feed em and whatnot.” She tells me.

“Thats nice of you. So you’re like Fluttershy then?” I ask her.

“Who’s that?.” She responds defiantly.

“She’s an...acquaintance of mine.” I answer.

“A what?”

“Right, ten years old...umm...she’s a...I guess you could call her my ‘friend’ for lack of a better term.” I finally say, “Funny mare that one is, scared of her own shadow I’d say. She takes care of animals too.”

“I guess I’m a bit like her...but I ain’t a wuss.” she says

“I bet not, you seem like a brave girl.” I say to her.

“I am, I ain’t scared of nuthin’” She says to me.

I chuckle and realize just how similar her and my daughter are…or would’ve been, if not for that bastard.

We both see the house and out of the blue Willow Whisper takes of running shouting “Race ya to the house!” over her shoulder.

I take off in a steady trot and realize she’s much faster than her size lets on. I barely even begin catching up to her by the time she is nearly at the house.

“Beat ya!” She says, with a massive smile on her face, exposing that missing tooth of hers.

“You sure did. Lets go get some lunch.” I say to her, heading in the house.

Lunch consisted of bread; homemade from the looks, and taste, of it; various fruits, and some corn...the meal meant for energy. Sickle, Fortune, and I had water, while the kids had milk. The Twins were fooling around, and somehow built a catapult with their food… My God those kids are geniuses. I swear if I brought them to the city and gave them fifteen minutes tops they would be able to raze it to the ground with a mixture of contraptions...I mean you could lock the two of them in a room with a plastic spork and a cup of Jello and they would somehow find a way to make it into a device...probably an explosive.

After we finish lunch I start to head out to do more work when Steel stops me. He asks me if I would teach Fooz and Gould, as they lived quite a way from the nearest school and so they couldn’t go, instead of working the fields. At first I was going to refuse, but thought about it for a second. My parents never approved of me pursuing a career as a teacher, they wanted me to
get into politics or law. However Hopeful Skies always supported my decision, she wanted me to teach, she said it made me happy from the looks of it. In the end, I accepted and said I would give them lessons, along with Willow...it was what Skies would want...“Pursue your dream and I’ll follow you, no matter what!”, she would always say...I missed her. I missed the kids. I missed my life…I needed to move on from my previous life, but I wasn’t ready...I wanted to see them again.

As I began teaching the three I felt something come over me. It was pleasing, a mix of content and fulfillment. They were silent and eager. The Twins were...much easier to teach then I expected...then again I expected them to bouncing around like crazies, so there’s that...Willow was wide-eyed half the time. It felt normal. Natural...I silently thank the goddesses that I don’t teach chemistry. That would involve way more explosions than a Michael Bay movie...hell, in fact the amount of explosions in one minute would set the record for fastest orgasm.

Eventually the sun began to set, so I finished up my lesson, surprisingly to their disappointment. I looked forward to staying with my new-found friends, hell, I’d even call them family. Dinner was a simple cookout of some ham from the pig used for this mornings bacon. It was quite possibly some of the best cooking my taste buds had ever experienced, my God i’d even say it was better than Skies cooking. Of course the twins were at it as well, using their forks and some bones to make small figures that looked much more realistic than they should have. Along with the ham there was a great helping of mashed potatoes, and some corn, all picked right here on the farm of course. That meal was one of many great, and very interesting dinners I had with that family. Who knows how many times Miz Fortune had run out of the ingredient she would normally use, and had to improvise, but in the end the result was always an amazing dinner.

~~~

And so time went by. During the early day I worked the fields, then later after lunch I taught the kids. It was a simple life, but it was a good one, better than it had been in a long time. Eventually of course the time came when I had to leave the farm. On the day I left Silver Sickle and his family ‘inducted’ me and gave me his most prized possession, a hand crafted sickle that his family had for generations, telling me that if I ever needed a family that they would be there for me. The sickle was beautiful, it had a graceful metal blade, he told me it was made of tungsten, the body was made of yew and had obviously been polished and sanded until it was soft, but also nearly unbreakable. I could tell that there was also a durability spell on it, unicorn thing, hell that magic was so strong it wouldn’t have to be sharpened or repaired for another 200 years! How they did that was beyond me. The sheath was made of hard leather, with a small picture of the farm on it, stitched in.

“That Sickle was made when I was only a little filly, I have no idea how many a night my father and grandfather spent working on that, it felt only right that we give it to you for all you’ve done to help this family...though you didn’t have to teach Fooz and Gould about...magic...that bunch are tryin’ to make a contraption to let them use it...HA! Imagine that, mah kids using magic… Celestia help us all if they manage to do it.” he says with a chuckle and a hug.

I was going to miss them a lot, I had grown quite attached to the family. Sickle was like an uncle to me, Fortune was like an older sister to me, the kids helped a lot too. It was as if they were mine; sometimes when the three were playing around together I saw my children. When the twins were studying I’d see an older Sir Prize with a friend. When Willow was tending animals I’d see Starling Seeker. I’ll miss them. In my heart, they will always be family, blood or not. As a parting gift I gave the Twins some textbooks of mine they kept asking to read, a sum of bits, a flute to Willow, and a promise. One that I would keep...not even death would stop me.

With that, I was let out of Sickles bone-shattering hug.

“Daddy does Cassius have to go? Why can’t he stay?” Willow pleads to her father.

“Well honey Cassius can’t stay with us forever, he has to go back to his home and live his life how he wants to. I’m sure he’ll visit us real soon now, won't ya Cassius?” Sickle explains to his daughter

“Oh don’t worry, I have to come back to make sure those little rascals over there don’t find a way to use magic, if they do I have to put a stop to it instantly, or else they’d blow up the entire universe!” I say pointing at Fooz and Gould. When the Twins heard that they frowned, in unison. “I’m just kidding, in all honesty I can say that one day or another you two will change the world.” I tell them, patting them on their heads. I look towards Willow, her eyes tearing up a bit, “There, there dear, I’ll come back. One year tops! I want to ask you a favor though. I want you to learn to play that flute, and when I come back...I want to hear your music.” I say with a smile, hugging her.

I turn to the family,“With all my heart, thank you. You helped me in a way that I...I can’t even explain. I wish I could do more for you, but for now all I can do is this; I won’t forget my promise, nothing will stop me!” I yell, waving good-bye.

~~~

“...So thanks doc, it really helped.” I say to my therapist, who was smiling.

“Actually, I have to thank you. You see, Sickle and I grew up together; and around just under a month before you began your time there, his father was murdered. In an alleyway on his way home he got jumped and mugged. A bystander saw it happen and called for an ambulance but when they got to him they saw he had a bullet in his stomach and forehead. You were as much help to them as they were to you. Your cases were more alike than my other clients, so I sent you there.” With that he handed me an envelope.

Reaching out to grab it I asked what it was.

“As I’ve said, you’ve done the thing I wasn’t able to do, and you helped a bond-brother of mine. I can’t charge you for your sessions.” he answered, shoving it into my hooves. “I can’t begin to thank you for what you did, he was a father to both of us...caught up in my own grief I buried myself under my work. I should’ve gone to the farm myself to help them...if you ever need an extra ear, come back here. It’s the least I could do.” he said.

I thanked him again, and began to leave...before a thought crossed my mind. He said just under a month before I started sessions, right?

I turned back and asked him, “Wait, a month before I arrived?”

He looked at me with sad eyes, “Yes, it wasn’t a planned murder. They stole everything from him...including his life.”

“Did anypony see the killer?” I inquired.

“Not clearly, the bystander said that he caught a glimpse of the killer before he escaped. Why do you want to know? What exactly are you getting at?” he asked.

“Nothing really, just a hunch. What did the bystander say the killer looked like?”

“A hunch? Well he said it was definitely a male, he said he saw a horn so I’m betting a unicorn. What else...Ah, he said the killer had a dark coat, had to be some sort of blue, black or brown...or purple. The last thing he saw was the guys mane, an orange...” My therapist finished.

So close, so damned close!

“What about his eyes?”

“His eyes?”

“Yes, the color, did the bystander see the killer’s eyes!” I said, feeling a sweat coming on.

“Hmmm...the eyes...let me think...eyes, eyes...Ah ha! Yes, he did mention eyes. I don’t know why I didn’t think abou that. He said that the eyes were a deep crimson, though at first he thought it was blood...why are you so concerned with the killers eyes?” He asks. I couldn’t avoid the question this time.

“Remember the session where you sent me to the farm? Oh, of course you do! No, do you remember when I told you about my nightmares?” I say to him.

“Yes, you said that...” he said, slowing down as he realized what I was thinking,”His eyes haunted you...drowning in...blood. You can’t possibly mean--”

“I do...and it pisses me off! What is the guard doing! They need to get off their lazy, incompetent asses and stop this scumbag!” I roar in anger.

“Yes, but the guard can’t do everything, and I don’t think they even care either; so long as nopony does nothing the killer will go on his streak.” My therapist replied, trying to calm me down, failing.

“They did nothing to try and find the killer other than a quick search of my house, and put up posters with my description of him.” I reply, my anger now turning into a boiling hot rage I could feel all over my body.

“Its not like were able to search for his hoofprints in some giant database of hoofprints! That would be outrageous, and will never happen!” He replies, sarcastically. For unicorn criminal are usually tracked by their unique magical signal.

“Ok doc, but mark my words, I'm going to find this bastard and I’ll kill him.” I say to him as I walk out of his office.

“While I agree with you, don’t do something like that! You’ll regret it the rest of your life! You’ll only be like him...don’t lower yourself.” He said. I knew he was right.

“Doc...If I don’t...who will? The guard won’t, the average man won’t, the goddesses won’t!” I yell, my voice progressively growing louder.

“Look, Cass....I’m not going to stop you...but remember this, the path you are about to take is dark, cold and unforgiving...be careful....and come back...” he said, handing me another envelope.

That day I rented a hotel, The house was sold with whatever I didn’t want. The only things I kept were some clothes and my computer, I couldn’t bear to keep anything else. They all brought back too many memories. Fortunately I got a good price for the house. I booted up my computer and began my research. I look up the death of Steel Sickle’s father, and search for anything that may help me find that monster. Turns out the guard did convict someone, but he got off due to the guard not reading him his miranda rights. Incompetent bloody fools, if it wasn’t for them, my wife and kids may still be alive. The man's real name was unknown, only his alias was, Bloody Dusty.

I called up a few people I know from when I lived in the not so great part of town (yes Ponyville has a bad side of town). Turns out Bloody Dusty is a dealer in just about anything and that he is also called Shadow, one of my childhood friends gave me his number, so I shot him a text.

“Hey, is this Shadow?”

Almost instantly he responded with “Yeah, you a snitch?

“No, just looking for something to ease the pain.” I reply back

“Well man, I gots all sortsa stuff, what chu want?” he sent to me

“You don’t happen to sell pot do you?” I ask

“Normally yes, but im fresh out dawg, i'll tell you wat, I got dis new stuff that aint even on the market yet, this stuff will make you forget you ever had any problems in the first place. You want in?” He replied.

“Sounds good, when can we do this?” I ask him.

“Shit man, where u at? I can do this right now if you want.” He sent back to me.

“That would be sweet, I'll meet you over on cherry picker avenue in 5” I send to him.

“Alright man i’ll see you there, by the way this stuff is 30 a pop, hope you got yourself some cash.” He tells me.

“Don't worry, cash won't be a problem” I send to him. “At least not for you anymore.” I say to myself.

“Cool man, c ya soon.” He sends back.

I head over to our predetermined meeting place, the shot I have to sedate him; a unique mix of my own which I was going to show in one of my classes as an anesthetic, looks like it’ll have a different use today; resting in my saddle bag. I look to my left and see him, the man who ruined my life, walking towards me.

“Yo man, you the guy?” He asks me.

“I sure am, you ready to do this?” I say.

“Yeah, you got the money?” He asks.

“Sure do, I want two pills.” I reply.

“Aight man, thats sixty.” He says to me handing me the pills.

I hand him the money and we both nod heads. He holds out his hoof for a hoof bump and that’s when I get him. With the needle already in hand from when I grabbed the money out of my bag I lunge in sticking the needle directly into his neck and injecting every last bit sedative into him. It doesn’t take long for his body to go limp and I have to drag him away. On the way I throw the pills into some bushes, and grab the money I gave to him. I drag his body over to the warehouse I bought some years back when I wanted to start my own company and it didn’t take off. Ever since I had been trying to sell it, but while I had it I figured this would be the best place.

I had it all setup, I strapped him in to a machine, quite a simple machine really. It consisted of a few leather straps in case he tries to escape. Above his head was a machine with a piston that would start as soon as I pushed a button attached to a remote that I held. On Dusty’s head was what looked like a pair of goofy sunglasses, but they were in no way goofy. On the inside, two needles were pointed straight at his eyes. Of course if Dusty decides to cooperate with me he will live, as he will have seen the error of his ways...nah, fuck that...he’s gone and caused too much suffering...this took too much time to set up...only...will it be slow? or fast?

I waited until he woke up.

“Uh… he… hello?” He says sleepily

“Ah you have awoken, how are you feeling?” I ask him in almost a sing song voice.

“Hey man what the fuck is going on here?” He asked me, trying to hide the panic in his voice, but it was all too obvious.

“Well shadow I’m going to put it in simple terms, I have you here because I intend to kill you. However, if you pass you will go free, and hopefully see the errors of your previous life. Now I am going to ask you some questions, if I get the slightest suspicion that you are lying to me, I will push this button here, and the needles you may or may not be able to see will pierce both eyes, and if I feel so inclined they will eventually go all the way through your skull, killing you in a very painful way. Do you understand?” I say to him

“Yeah man I understand, but why are you doing this?” He asks me

“You'll know that soon enough. Now my first question, How many people have you killed?” I ask him.

“I never killed anyone man!” He says.

I push the button and hear the mechanism begins to push the needles down further towards his eyes.

“Alright man, I don’t know, too many to count! Just stop this thing!” He pleads, I take my hoof off, and it stops.

“Now you’re getting the hang of things; do you know any of the names of the people you killed?”

“Only one, his name was Golden Rule.” Dusty says.

“Tell me the story of how and why you killed him.” I say to him

“Well I was low on cash so I decided to rob this farm guy who looked like he wasn’t used to the city, the plan was to knock him out and kill him, then take anything he had.” He explained to me.

“How was it?”

“It went smoothly, I think a guy saw me, but I made off with what I expected.” he said...I could see his breathing increased more and more over time.

“Ok, and when was the last time you killed someone?” I ask him.

“It was similar to the first time I killed someone. I tried to rob a house this time, this couple and their two kids were there. The mother tried to hit me so I would let go of her daugher, who I was using as leverage. So I shot both kids and the mother, the dad tried to hit me but missed so I hit him hard, I think I may have killed him, but I don’t know.” He tells me.

“What did you feel when you killed the family?” I ask him

“Nothing, I just needed a way to get cash. They were my means to an end.” He says. I feel a rage that I have never felt before expose itself. I push the button...

“OH GODS NO!” I hear him shout.

The needles continue creeping towards his eyes. Just before they reach his eyes I release the button. This man has killed so many to the point where even he doesn’t know how many, he has wasted his life and ruined countless others...he doesn’t deserve a quick death...I’ll allow him a swan song though.

I push another button that releases him and walk towards a door, grabbing my sickle and mask, fitting it over my head. It was a plague doctor mask I had made a long time ago, and was one of the things I had kept...I didn’t know why I kept it back then....but now it seems like a good idea.

I walk over to him, still strapped in. I pull the machine from him, allowing him to see me. I undo the straps one by one, freeing him. As he stood up I grabbed onto his jacket by the collar, lifted him up and slammed him into a wall. He gave a yelp of pain before he began to struggle.

“We can’t have that can we?” I say aloud.

I reach over, grabbing a piece of sharpened rebar, and shoved it through his right shoulder, pinning him to the wall. I was rewarded by a shriek and spazztic twitches. I smiled behind my mask before I grabbed another pole and pierced his left shoulder, completely immobilizing him. I step back and look at him, holding out my hooves in front of me as though I was a director.

“There...perfect!” I say. Walking up to him I put my face in front of him. “Do you know who I am?” I ask.

“Y-You’re a sick bastard!” he spits out.

I laugh, “You’re one to talk...” I say, leaning closer, “Now… answer the question, pleeeeease.” I say with a little of what sounded like insanity

“I never met you before, you insane fuck!” He yelled back.

I smile again, as I remove the mask, “Remember now?” I ask, staring into his eyes.

“B-but you died! I took out your eye, you should’ve bled out!” He stammered.

“You broke my eye alright, but you didn’t finish the job!” I say, landing a solid blow to his head.

It felt good, so very good! Again and again I beat him, soon the wall which he was pinned to was decorated by his fluid. Deciding he had enough after what must’ve been an hour, I reached for my sickle. Raising it high, I swung down with force. I felt it enter and crack his skull. With a heave, I rend it out. Looking at my sickle I saw it dripping with our first blood.

I watch as the blood slowly drips out of his skull and onto the dusty grey floor. Using the sickle I cut off his horn and carve a cross into his neck, right where the trachea is. I then dump his body into a dumpster outside of a restaurant, I had wrapped him up real nice, better than he deserved. I make sure to wipe any blood that got on me off, and I head back to the hotel. I collapse into my bed and I am greeted by a comforting sleep without nightmares, the first in nearly a year.

The following morning was not nearly as comforting. As I awake a splitting pain surges through my skull. Stumbling to my bathroom, I retch into the sink. Looking up into the mirror I see myself; I looked like shit. Again my sight wandered to my eyes. My right eye finally regaining the shine it had before I met the man. My left however, made me pause; the golden ring now had hints of red in it, speckled here and there. The pain momentarily forgotten, I raise a hoof to the eye. A minute later the red dissolved into the gold, disappeared along with the pain. With a sigh I turn around and start a shower. The warm water stuck to me, clearing my head. I took the time to search my mind, reflecting on what I had done; I found...discontent. I wasn’t satisfied with what I was feeling. Then again, what was I expecting? Nothing would bring my family back...though I may have prevented further harm...though there was still a...a gnawing on my insides. Hadn’t I done something right, he could cause no further harm...but he didn’t learn the error of his ways...could it be that? No, it’s not that. But why do I have this feeling that something isn’t right? I hop out of the shower and dry myself with a good shake and some unicorn magic. I flick on the t.v and change to the news channel and I realize what I did wrong. The title read “Body found outside local restaurant.”

“Oh Goddesses above no…” I murmur to myself. There is a Guard official being interviewed by reporters so I turn up the volume

“We found the body early this morning, the skull is split open by some kind of bladed object and we can see piercings in the shoulders from what we think is another bladed object. As of now that’s all we know, but we can assu-”

He is cut off by me switching off the t.v. What if they find something that leads back to me? What am I going to do? No, I don’t have to worry, for once the incompetence of the guard is a good thing. And then it dawns on me. With the guards incompetence, and me being careful, I can show everyone their errors...I can prevent the pain from befalling other. But I would have to do it right. I can't let my emotions get in the way. If they survive and learn the errors of their way I must let them go; for they, just like me, will have been through enough. But again I will still have to be careful, incompetent they may be, a lack of caution could easily land me in front of Celestia. But yes, I can do it, and I will do it...but first I have to make a housecall.

Author's Note

This is a first attempt of a co-author story by fluttershy1700 and Connor Tempest, any feedback is greatly accepted. If anyone would like to serve as someone who proofreads our stuff that would again be greatly appreciated as you can never have too many people checking.