As soon as Hiriboshi returned to his family's apartment, Meying approached him, "Something is wrong with Razor Wit, the Unicorn. She spoke to me before and now she is not saying anything. Do you know why?" Razor had spoken to Meying through a mental link and told her what the General had done. Meying did not believe it and chose to approach the topic in her own way.

Hiriboshi drew himself up as he responded, "There is no future for those creatures and there is no reason to interact with them."

"That does not answer my question." Meying said quietly.

"I used the power I was given to silence it." He said softly, "They are going to be exterminated. They have not used their time to advance their society and use their resources to the fullest. They do not deserve their world if they are not going to use it."

"What gives you the right to murder them?" Mehing asked.

"History does, Meying. History shows that those who do not use their full potential, lose. It is a competitive world. When two cultures meet they vie for dominance. One will win and one will lose and to the winner go the spoils. Historically if one allows the other to survive it only causes problems. There will be only one when the dust settles. I am not going to pass problems down to our daughter." Hiriboshi explained.

"So genocide is the answer, because it's easier? You have the right to murder people because they don't live up to your standards?" Meying asked.

"They are inferior, Meying."

"How much do you actually know about them, husband?" Meying asked, "How many of them have you spoken to? What do you know about their society? How can you judge them if you don't know them?" Meying asked pointedly.

"I know enough. They have squandered their time and resources." Hiriboshi replied firmly.

"You don't know that and you don't know them." Meying replied with equal firmness.

Hiriboshi was upset, "Meying, listen to me-"

"No! You listen to me! You don't have the right to just go murder anyone you want! If the person is doing things which are bad for society, then do what you must and I will support you to the end! If you need to overthrow a regime and leave some bodies behind then do it! But this is different! This is a world that doesn't belong to us! These are people you don't know anything about! You aren't making this world better! You are stealing a world from people you don't know the first thing about!" Meying turned and stormed off back to the kitchen where she was beginning to make dinner.

The General was left standing in place, stunned by the sudden ferocity of his, normally meek, wife's words. His eyebrows narrowed and he felt his anger rising. He turned toward their shared bedroom and headed off to change his clothes, 'The creature has poisoned my own wife against me! It will learn how much of a mistake that is.'

**********

Artex sipped his beer as he tried to relax, 'Darryl was pretty insistent. I should try to enjoy myself, even if I don't feel like it.' he took another swig and then another soon after, trying his hardest to relax. It was exceedingly difficult with thoughts of Tip and the rest of his herd constantly on his mind, 'I swear, it's like my mind is trying to keep me focused on the pain. Shit. I guess I need this more than I thought.'

Darryl, Kolo, Alex, and Mike had dragged him out to The Melting Pot where Alex opened up the top floor just for them to chill, drink, and relax. Despite his initial protests, Artex found himself enjoying the time and distraction of his woes. Seven beers in and he was feeling the buzz. He did not drink too often, but when he did he tended to get a bit into his cups.

"Well, a Scotsman dressed all in his kilt,
Left the bar one evening fair,
You could tell from the way he walked,
That he'd drunk more than his share,
He wandered 'round until he could no longer keep his feet,
Then he stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street,

Now about this time too young and lovely girls were passing by,
One said to the other with a twinkle in her eye,
See yon sleeping Scotsman, so strong and handsome built,
I wonder if it's true that he wears nothing 'neath his kilt,
They crept up to the Scotsman quiet as could be,
And lifted up his kilt about an inch so they could see,
Lo and behold, for them to view, beneath his Scottish skirt,
Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth,

They marveled for a minute then they said we must be gone,
Let's leave him a souvenir before we travel on,
As a gift they left a blue silk ribbon tied into a bow,
Around the bonny star the Scotsman's kilt did lift and show,
The Scotsman rose to Nature's call and he headed for the trees,
He lifted up his kilt and he gawks at what he sees,
And in a drunken voice he says to what's before his eyes,
'Oh lad, I don't know where you'vs been, but I see that you won first prize',

The Scotsman drops his kilt and then continues down the street,
He hadn't gone ten yards or more, when a girl he chanced to meet,
She said, 'I've heard what's under there, tell me is it so?',
He said, 'Just stick your hand up, miss, if you'd really like to know',

She slipped her hand right his kilt and much to her surprise,
The Scotsman smiled and then a strange look came into his eyes,
'Why sir,' she cried, 'That's gruesome!' and then she heard him roar,
'If you put your hand back once again, you'll find it's grew some more!"

The gathered guys were all in proverbial stitches. Kolo had his head thrown back while Mike was pounding on the table and shaking his head. Alex and Darryl were laughing in a slightly more controlled manner. Artex, for his part, was smiling widely, happy that he could make his friends laugh, 'I've missed this.'

The guys settled down after a minute or two, though there were a few residual chuckles still floating around. Artex finished off his beer and cracked open something that caught his eye, hard cider. Strongbow hard cider had been his favorite back on Earth and he was pleased as he tasted the mildly sweetened fermented apple flavor. He sighed contentedly and closed his eyes briefly as he let some of his worries go.

Darryl saw that Artex was relaxed and decided it was time to broach the topic he was dreading, "Hey Dan," he waited until the disfigured man was looking at him before he continued, "This is going to sound pretty random, but do you remember what happened to Luna and why she was trapped in the Moon for a thousand years?"

Artex stopped with the bottle of hard cider tilted to his lips and slowly lowered it, "Darryl... are you intentionally being Captain Buzzkill right now?"

"I suppose so, but trust me when I say I have a good reason to ask." Darryl defended.

Artex rolled his eyes and sighed, "She was bitter that the Ponies shunned her and the night and she was jealous of Celestia. Her negative feelings manifested through an entity that called itself Nightmare Moon and refused to lower the Moon. She and Celestia fought and Celly used the Elements Of Harmony to banish Nightmare to the Moon. Then a thousand years later Twilight and the girls turned Nightmare into smoking shreds and left a very weakened Luna behind. It messed Luna up for a long time."

Darryl nodded along as Artex spoke and once he was done, the Marine took a sip and blurted out, "Yep. And you've got one growing in your heart and mind right now."

All sounds around the table stopped cold as Darryl leaned back and took another sip, "I was worried about you already, but when Backlash and I went to visit you, she saw it and told me." Darryl set down his beer and look Artex square in the eye, "I get that you're pissed. I would be too, but you need to keep your shit together. It's not too late, and don't worry, we aren't even considering trying to stop you from joining the rescue of Razor. You need to watch yourself though. If you find yourself focusing too much on what you want to do to the General and others who were involved, then force yourself to think about something else. If you feed this thing it'll grow, if you starve it, it'll die. Don't feed it with anger and hate. Focus on the women you have now and when its time to rescue Razor, we kick ass and take names. But we keep it civilized," Darryl finished off his beer and set it down, "Shit, as much as any form of legalized killing can ever be fuckin' civil." He opened another beer and took a sip, noticing that he had Artex' complete attention, "Battle is about as uncivilized as it gets, take it from me. Even without anything festering in my head I've almost lost myself to it before. Nothing can prepare you for it. I'm gonna be hard on you about this. Don't slip."

" I won't-"

"No! You CAN'T!" Darryl interrupted Artex, "If you go nutso and lose control I'm gonna stop you even if I have to take off an arm or a leg! I'm not losing you to violent insanity! If you lose yourself completely, if you become an animal... Rorschach said it best: men get arrested, dogs get put down." Darryl's posture was relaxed, but everyone at the table was focused on his eyes, which were as hard and sharp as flint, "Don't make me go there, Dan. Okay?"

Artex nodded soberly, the chugged his cider to remedy his sobriety.

**********

A firm knock on his workshop door disturbed a creative Italian man. Chris groaned as he sat up straighter from his work bench, "Enter." he ordered.

A Night Guard pushed the door open, "My King, you have a petitioner. She is waiting outside."

Chris' eyebrows knit together in puzzlement. He spun around on his stool and leaned his right arm against the top of his work bench, "I thought I made it very clear that I renounced any authority I gained in marrying Luna."

The Guard nodded, "You did sir. Nevertheless she is insisting."

Chris groaned, "Fine. Send her in."

The Guard bowed and turned to his side, "He will see you."

Chris' eyebrows nearly came off his head as Morning Mist stepped into his workshop. She held her head high, but her expression was mired with trepidation. She executed a deep bow, "Stop!" Chris ordered, "You... I don't deserve that kind of respect, especially after what I did to you." He dragged his open palm down his face, "What do you need, Morning Mist? If it is reasonable and within my very limited power, I will see it done."

Morning Mist stood back up, "I know. That is why I came to you. I will only ask this one favor and I will never bother you again... i-it's big... really big. And you're not going to like it, but I think it can help a lot of Ponies. The problem is the risk... it's not legal."

"Okay, talking in riddles about some mysterious idea is not giving me the warm fuzzies. Please be more specific." Chris asked.

" O-okay..." Morning Mist laid out her theory in exacting detail. As she spoke Chris' eyes bulged and the Guard, still posted outside felt sick.

**********

Celestia blinked as she raised her head from her lunch in the Palace gardens, "I wonder when Luna taught Chris to use the Royal Canterlot Voice?"

**********

Chris rubbed his hand over his mouth as he laid his head back, eyes wide, "Do you have any idea how poorly that idea is going to be received? Do you have any idea how illegal it would be to even experiment with? King or no, Luna might execute me if I let you do this, after she divorced AND castrated me! Maybe, MAYBE I could get away with just being drawn and quartered, but that would be asking a lot. I mean, holy fuck-nuggets, even Celestia and Luna COMBINED couldn't make this happen easily, if at all." He sighed, and shook his head, "No, no I gave you my word that I would try, and I will. However what you're suggesting is beyond risky. If even a single thing goes awry the results could be disastrous." He stood up and stretched, "Well I better go visit Blood Magister Starburst. He'll have to clear the idea before we can move forward with it-"

"He'll say no." Morning Mist said quickly, "And his reasoning won't go beyond spiting me. That will be all the reason he needs. He hates me. I know it's my fault, but my theory could really work! Just imaging how many lives could be spared! The implications are positively enormous! This could fix almost every one of the mistakes and crimes that Bloodmages have perpetrated since their founding!"

"And if it fails the results would be beyond horrific, or worse, if it only partially worked." Chris rubbed the back of his neck, "Look I already said I have limited authority and little power. Starburst respects my position and title and he knows I don't have any real power, plus he kind of admires me for beating you up, which is not healthy and I have told him so several times in the past. Anyway he is likely to listen to me. All I can do is give it a shot."

**********

Starburst slammed his forehooves against his desk as his wings and nostrils flared, "I don't care! She is pure evil and there is NOTHING good she can do except die and remove her filthy taint from existence!"

Chris held up his hands, "Okay, I get that you're upset, but as much as it disturbs me, she has a decent idea. There must be some way of testing it."

"For somepony else, I might consider it, but not for her!" Starburst yelled, "She will never be finished paying for her crimes! She is evil through and through! There is no point that is too far, there is no torment that is enough for what she did! No torture will ever be enough, no pain will ever be too severe for the likes of her! Not only did she cost me my entire foalhood, she literally murdered countless others! How can you even consider an idea from her?! You know what she's like!"

"What she USED to be like, Starburst. You haven't even heard what the idea is yet. Just liste-"

"NO! Never!" Starburst leaned over his desk, his voice almost a whisper, "I will never listen to anything she has to say or any ideas that come from her. There is no redemption for her. She is evil. End of story. Now I have paperwork to do, so please get out of my office."

Chris sighed and turned to leave, but stopped as his hand was on the door, "A wise person once said that hatred is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. Your soul is poisoned, Starburst." Chris left and closed the door behind himself.

As Chris was heading toward the exit of the School of Magical Studies, he heard his name called from down the hall, "Chris, wait up!"

Chris turned his head and saw Catalyst trotting up, "Were you looking for someone?"

Chris shook his head, "Naw. I just got done getting yelled at by Starburst. I tried to pass a Blood Magic theory off to him, but he won't listen because the idea came from Morning Mist."

Catalyst's ears flattened, "I wish I could say I was surprised. He's so nice to everyone else, but mention her and he just explodes. She hurt him so badly, but I don't think it's what she did so much as the betrayal of his trust. I don't know if there's any way he can forgive her."

"Wait a second, you know Blood Magic. You probably know just as much as he does." Chris said gesturing toward the black Unicorn mare.

Catalyst shook her head, "He knows much more regarding practice and application. I mostly know theory."

"Just listen to this idea then tell me if you think it's possible, okay?" Chris said, clearly becoming exasperated.

Catalyst sighed, "Alright, but Starburst is the Blood Magister. Any experimentation HAS to be cleared by him."

So Chris told her.

**********

Students and teachers peered out of their classroom doorways and down the hall at Arch Magister Catalyst as she covered her mouth with both hooves and dragged King Chris off to her office.

**********

Catalyst slammed her office door closed and turned to Chris, "I'll admit there IS some precedent for her idea, but..." Her mouth opened and closed several times with no sound coming out, "This is a lot. Give me a couple of days to let Starburst calm down and I'll present the idea without mentioning the source. Maybe he'll be receptive then."

**********

Leo was sadly walking down to the morgue to begin procedures for laying Earth Pony Officer Dusty to rest. As he neared the door he heard coughing from within. He opened the door and his jaw dropped. Dusty was lying on the floor covered in blood and coughing to beat the band. Just behind the Earth Pony was a mess of organs, skin, and a circle of bones with odd runes carved into them and blood in the center. Lying on the floor just behind the circle with her eyes closed was Morning Mist.

**********

Dr. Bobby Jewel chuckled as he stared at his scuffing feet, "I'm getting real tired of all this magic-coming-back-from-the-dead bullshit." He exhaled heavily, "And I'm REALLY getting tired of using the phrase, 'If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes'."

Captain Joyner stood in the open doorway of Dusty's room, his arms crossed, "Sooo... Dusty is okay?"

Bobby threw up his arms, "Fuck-it! Yeah, she's as good as gold despite having her head blown off by a damn shotgun a week ago!"

For her part, Dusty laid her ears back, "It was that bad?"

Bobby sighed, "Yeah, it was. You were a mess. The shotgun pellets hit your neck from the side and almost severed your head. I would show you your own body, morbid as that is, but the damn Blood Mage done diced your body up like a fucking sushi chef!" Bobby turned to Mike, "So what are you going to do with Morning Mist?"

Mike frowned and pursed his lips briefly in thought, "She performed an unsanctioned Blood Magic Ritual without precautions or permission of Blood Magister Starburst, which unfortunately means she has to answer directly to him for the violation."

"You know he's going to do his best to have her executed. Celestia and Luna won't allow it, thankfully, but he is going to push for the most he can do." Bobby said.

Mike nodded, "He will and unfortunately I can't blame him. Not for how much he hates her, but because this was a really serious infraction. Punishments for unsanctioned Blood Magic Rituals haven't been established so this is going to be a benchmark case." His gaze drifter to Dusty, "Even so... imagine how useful it would be to be able to bring murder victims back to life and have them identify their killers. It would make those kinds of investigations a cake-walk. There are so many families deprived of loved ones who could have their family members back."

Bobby shook his head, "Honestly, I'm not with ya, Mike. The ritual needs to be studied exhaustively in detail, but its potential applications are..." He threw up his hands, "Shit, almost endless. Even so, we're talking about using magic to stop the unstoppable and that may be a very bad thing. What if it's used to torture someone by killing them over and over? What if it brings back patients who died of a disease and they come back still having the disease? Hell it's the same concern with birth defects! And the elderly! We might end up making someone suffer even more! I'm not allowing this in my hospital until its been tested."

Mike nodded, "It's your hospital, Bobby. But I would't mind if someone brought back the Officers who were killed... Or Rose, or Tip... or Mike Spearman."

"We can't go messing with death to that extent, Mike! A defibrillator is one thing, this is in a whole nother zip code!" Bobby said in exasperation, "Anyway Dusty, you are free to return to your family."

Dusty's face split in a colossal grin. She hopped off the bed and trotted out the door with Captain Joyner calling after her, "I hope to see you back at work once you're cleared by your psychiatrist." Mike called after her, "We'd love to have you back... Sergeant."

Dusty called back, "I'll be there, Captain!"

Mike turned his head back inside the room and wiped his eyes, "Now THAT is some dedication. Well Bobby if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to training our volunteers."

Bobby looked at the floor briefly then back to Mike, "You know a lot of 'em are going to die, Mike."

The Captain nodded, "Some will, certainly, but I've spoken with Chris about his battle strategy and we've seen what is on the other side. This Hiriboshi won't know what to expect and we're going to use that as much as possible."

"Raiding the Bloodmages was one thing, but you're talking about going up against the best soldiers from around the world with what equates to a militia."

Mike nodded, "Yes, but a militia whose capabilities are relatively unknown to the enemy. Plus Prince Consort Shining Armor is going to be telling Chris where to deploy troops on the battlefield, and we have a secret weapon. I can't say what it is, but let's just say it is the ultimate disruptor for any battlefield. I can tell you one thing it will do: utterly destroy the mind control Hiriboshi has on those people." Mike smiled then turned and walked away.

Author's Note

Been a while. Hopefully settled fully on Colorado now. Could not get in touch with any of my editors, so I posted this as is. I hope it is more or less coherent.