“Hey, Hey Captain!” A faint male voice whispered in my mind. Spinning my head, I found myself in my dungeons, though the location was that of the Dungeon when I first showed up. “Hey Captain Mercer!” the voice called out again, teasingly.

I poked my head out the door to my cell, finding myself dressed in the white slacks i’d showed up in and the ragged stained white t-shirt hanging off my frail body.

“Who’s there!” I demanded, looking down the dimly lit hallway, first towards the solid oak door, then down into the depths and beyond.

“You know what they say, Captain Soren Mercer? Stare into the depths of the abyss…”

“And the Abyss stares back.” I replied, now exiting my cell completely to slowly trudge through the mud of the floor.

“Good, I thought you’d forgotten.” the voice replied dripping with malice. “You want to know what’s funny?”

“I presume you’ll just tell me instead of have me guess for a millennia?” I replied, coming up to the first cell next to mine, completely devoid of light but it sounded like the voice was also originating from here.

“Everyone you love will die!” the voice announced, a spotlight shining on a mutilated Princess Luna hanging from the walls like Jafar was; her internal organs hanging free of her body with her fur in a bloody pile nearby and her meat in slabs on the cart next to her.

“Very funny.” I mumbled, turning away from the image as the light dulled into a low glow behind me and I stepped up to the next cell. Looking back the way I came, it appeared like I’d crossed almost four hundred meters in only three steps.

“Oh, then you’ll love this next one…” the voice chirped back sadistically. The light opened up in the cell before me, showing Eben’s head on a pike and the rest of his body roasting over a vat of magma.

“Uh huh. That’s a new one, I’ll have to remember that for the next round of torture.” I muttered, turning away and to the next cell.

“Alright, how about this one?” the voice asked, now slowly becoming agitated at my lack or regular responses. The cell lit up to have Weiss hanging from the rafters by her arms, her throat slit and blood actively dripping down her belly.

“H… Help… Me…” Weiss requested, stretching her left foot out in gesture. A quick look in the rest of the cell had Weiss’s tail and back spines sitting in a bloody bowl, detached from her body while she was alive. This time I had to turn away and hold a hand to my mouth to calm my stomach.

“Oh good, progress! I was getting worried that my next one wouldn’t faze a heartless bastard like you.” the voice grinned in my mind as I approached the final set of bars. “Welcome to the end of the world Mercer!” the voice’s body announced, making my eyes go wide in shock and fear as the Corporal from Afghanistan stood behind Sunset Shimmer with a .357 magnum pressed to her head.

“You! Let her go!” I demanded, gripping the bars in fury.

“Nah, this is more fun.” the Corporal replied with a toothy grin. Sunset looked up at me with tears flowing down her face before she faced me completely and opened her mouth.

“Soren, I lov-” her voice was cut off prematurely by a gunshot and the front of her face exploding outwards as her body slumped forwards.

“No!” I screamed, gripping the bars with just too little force to crush the metal into paste and end the man myself.

“Aww, and here she was about to tell you she’s-”

~~~

“Captain!”

“Captain!”

“Fucking wake up!” Weiss little voice demanded as a claw was raked across my face following the bitch-slap that she was getting quite good at.

Bolting upright screaming and eyes wide, the gunshot still ringing in my ears I pressed my hands to the side of my head and squeezed.

“Captain, calm down. You’re safe now!” Sunset requested from my left, her voice muffled by my meaty palms.

“Sun- Sunset?” I asked weakly, looking up at the firmly attached face of Sunset Shimmer.

“I’m here, don’t worry love, I’m here!” Sunset announced, throwing herself at me in explosive crying. “I’m here…” she dribbled out through sobs.

“Thank my stars you’re alright!” Luna’s voice beckoned my attention to the right where I found her and Weiss sitting in a large hospital looking chair.

“What… What happened?” I asked with a dry throat, forcing me to cough and try to salivate. “Why’s my throat so dry?”

“You were poisoned!” Sunset explained face down in my lap. “Over four days ago!”

“What?” I demanded, my voice denying a shout. “By who?”

“After testing the meat you took and ate from Jafar, it turns out that his body had been laced with poison that if ingested would activate with the stomach acid and would slowly kill you from the inside out.” Celestia explained from the door of the room. Next to her was a doctor pony in a white lab-coat and a clipboard hanging off his neck. “Had the poison more time to work without anypony around, you would be dead right now.”

“So how’d I get saved?” I asked, slowly calming both myself and Sunset Shimmer in my lap.

“Ginger tea.” Luna smirked at the incredibility of the phrase. “The ginger settled the stomach acid and prevented the poison from being able to work properly. Don’t get us wrong, you still have suffered quite a bit of damage but not as much as what could have happened.”

“Ginger tea as a defense against poison.” I mumbled back, trying to wrap my head around it. “I hope Jafar is still alive?”

“He is. We’d decided that upon your recovery you’d want words with him, perhaps some revenge. Had you…” Weiss drifted off, looking at Sunset. “Had you not survived, we would’ve used Jafar as the anchor point to officially declare war on the Griffons.” Sunset sucked in a sob at Weiss’s suggestion that I may not have survived before climbing up into bed with me and curled up into my body.

“Don’t get us wrong, we still plan to declare war on them. They’d injured a few guards in their original mission to kidnap me for you, and now that they’ve poisoned and nearly killed a best friend to the Royalty…” Luna glared at empty space for a couple seconds.

“But as of yet nothing is official? There’s no active war between Equestria and Griphonia?” I raised an eyebrow as I wrapped my weakened arms around Sunset’s steadily heaving body.

“No. We wanted to wait for news of your recovery before then.” Celestia shook her head as she sat down at the foot of my bed while the doctor pony silently took my vitals.

“So if i’d died i’d have been made a martyr?” I asked sternly.

“Absolutely not! You would have been given a royal burial and the first enemy officer killed would’ve been under your name!” Luna announced defensively.

“So I would’ve been used to advance the war effort? A martyr?” I concluded sullenly. Luna sat back, slightly put off but remained silent for lack of further defense.

Scratching at my chest, I found that I was now raking my skin with talons protruding from some sort of retractable gauntleted weapon. With a thought, the three talons flipped back against my wrist, out of the way of potential harm.

“What’re these?” I asked, holding up both arms to view the weapons.

“Griffon gauntlets.” Weiss shrugged back casually. “I found the talons in your pocket when you were changed and got inventive. It has a tiny magically enchanted crystal that monitors your mental activity to let you activate them with a thought.” Weiss explained, hopping up onto the bed to examine the metal framework and surprisingly ingenious engineering.

“Damn, i’ve not only got a carpenter, but an engineer for a daughter.” I smirked as Weiss dropped the gauntlet back onto my lap and stared at me in shock.

“A what?” she squeaked; her mouth forming a tiny, quivering smile.

“I hope it’s not too presumptuous to call you a daughter?” I asked, wondering if i’d insulted the dragonling or something.

“Daddy!” Weiss shrieked, throwing herself to my chest in a wide armed hug as the women and doctor in the room all laughed in response.

“That answers that, I suppose.” I chuckled.

“I’m not calling you dad.” Eben’s voice announced from next to Celestia, having entered in silence. “We’re still not familiar enough for such things.”

“I’m fine with that.” I replied calmly as Weiss cuddled into my chest further as Sunset seemed to have fallen asleep from the crying.

“Still, good to hear that we haven’t lost another caretaker.” Eben offered, sweeping his claws over his head spines with a sigh. “Can’t take another two years of Weiss’s crying over the loss.”

“Thank you, Eben. I appreciate the vague sentiment.” I grinned, as did the Princesses in the room. The doctor whispered something to Celestia before taking his leave.

“Yeah, well without you’d i’d be out of a job.” Eben replied, crossing his arms defiantly.

“Not necessarily. Since I don’t personally meet clients, Weiss can just do it all and send them to you herself. She’s got the skill and engineering abilities i’m sure nopony would know the difference if I disappeared.” I shrugged back, making everyone in the room gasp and argue my point explicitly. Even Sunset woke and began arguing the point.

“Okay, okay, easy!” I held my hands up in defense. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t what I meant!”

“Don’t even joke about that you asshole!” Sunset demanded, smacking me on the arm furiously. “I almost lost you once, I’m not doing it again!” she added as in my mind I saw the Corporal hold the gun to the back of Sunset’s head with the sadist’s grin.

“I love you, Sunset.” I announced sternly, stunning everyone into silence. “I love you and you’re the most beautiful, most gorgeous woman i’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with.” I added, staring into space past my hands in my lap.

“What… Where is this coming from? You sound like you’re leaving!” Sunset demanded anxiously.

“Nope, we’re going to war.” I announced, looking directly up at Celestia who nodded. “And i’d like to do the announcement.”

“Absolutely. As soon as you’ve rested up.” Luna ordered, pushing me back down with a wing before picking Weiss off my body and Celestia lead Sunset off me and out of the room.

“I love you too!” Sunset’s head reappeared through the doorway before disappearing again.

“She seems nice.”

Author's Note

Heh, so things are going to start heating up now... What do you think?

As ever, I appreciate the support you all have shown me and continue to show me. Mebbe one day we can make it into the featured Lists? *hint hint, nudge nudge*

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