Prisoner's Keys to Insanity

Sunlight brightened the peaceful kingdom, as always, with a gentle breeze of morning. The sun rose above the clouds slowly as the moon disappeared behind the horizon. The castle of the two sisters lay in ruin, left by the defeat of Nightmare Moon over 1,000 years ago. Celestia ordered a new castle be built in the center of Equestria, so it would be close to all of its surrounding cities across the nation. Eloquently named  Canterlought, this new city would be the Capitol of the land. The return of Nightmare Moon brought back some of the evil magic that was left with her, leaving it scattered throughout the Everfree forest. Hell wouldn't begin to describe what was in this forest and its shadows. The magical torture one would go through just entering would be too traumatizing to speak about. It seemed the ideal place to put the old castle, but for Celestia it was a constant reminder of the loss of her sister to imprisonment.

Celestia arose from her chambers early in the morn, not wanting to let her duties go unattended. The royal guards greeted her as always, charming with a touch of joy. Their staffs held high when she past, only for protection. Her pace was slow, walking through the halls with her natural elegance. Luna was waiting in the throne room for her sister, almost falling out her throne with her usual lackadaisical position. She sat upright as she saw her sister coming, and smiled at her when she entered.

Usual day, filling out documents. Some for the gala and some for businesses in Canterlought. Celestia felt slightly saddened that there were no reports from the P.O.I., but she felt that it was for the best. No reports meant everything was fine in her kingdom, and she was always, by any means, pleased by that. She did, however, love the excitement and thrill of the attacks, but understood they were no good on the finances of the kingdom by any doubt. The budget wouldn't allow for another attack this year, and if there was one, then Celestia would just take what she needed, allowing the royal court to be in debt. *

Ponyville was a small town in southeastern Equestria, and the main base of the Patients of Insanity. The town was mostly quiet, unless Pinkie Pie was throwing down a shindig. Her parties made the whole town party. Today was not a day for partying, as there were deadly creatures coming out of the forest. Dark Creatures from the deep caves, ones never ventures by equestrians. Selskire worked alone in his office unless needed by his cohorts. Shuffling through the pages he had missed through his week in prison. Though he was a free man and better of than when he entered prison, he kept his number as his name. A symbol to show that even with the most straightforward  task in mind, the high order can still make mistakes. He wore his prisoner ID badge with pride. His numbers were 1-4-7.

Nothing in the papers was of worry to him, mostly they were just successful patrol statements, but one entry caught his attention. It read,"Shadows seen moving in and out of the town, yet they are not of equestrian decent. All creatures of the night were searched for, but not were found. Search has been closed and further sightings have seemed to diminish claims about the shadowy creatures.". Shadowy creatures, he thought to himself. Never had he had a report like this, here and then gone. Poof. That's it, shows over. Something was amiss about these creatures, and he intended to find it out.*

The dark evils of her highness's old form crawl out of their caves and burrows, waiting patiently to attack their new prey. This dark enchantment is of foreign origin and of foreign powers. These powers are from none other than Discord, the master of Chaos. Newly "reformed" he has had his ways to keep away from longer imprisonment. His instincts are what makes him go over the borderline occasionally. *

Selskire exited his home and headquarters for the street. Gathering his closest soldiers; Applejack and two of his redcoats. He didn't bother to learn the names of all his men, he was not good with memory. Their first stop would be Zecora's, a zebra whom lives about a quarter mile into the forest, near a safer side of Hell. Before leaving he grabbed his Colt Revolver from his desk and put it in a holder within his jacket. Though he could use his magic, he preferred a bullet to a spell, and even though danger was not certain, he felt it necessary to bring it. Applejack brought her AA12 (automatic shotgun) and the redcoats brought P99 pistols.

The path was filled with deadly plants which weren't really difficult to avoid, but they were a bother to keep seeing. Th journey to Zecora's was safe, but when they arrived her house was in shambles. Beneath the wreckage they found Zecora, cut open from the inside. Applejack laid her gun down and buried her hands into her face, sobbing loudly. She wanted to ask Zecora if she was going to be okay, but she knew there would be no response. Zecora's mutilated body laid there, and whatever had done this left no part of her inside unscathed. Her eyes shot open and looked at Applejack, her only known friend around her.

She tried to sit up, but fell when trying. Instead she reached out to Applejack and said,"Run, for the dark magic has arrived, and soon you will be killed from the inside!".

With this Applejack picked up her gun and pointed it at Zecora. She mouthed "I'm sorry" and as Zecora nodded her head, it was blown to bits as well as covering the wall behind her. Applejack looked at what she had done and remembered that Zecora said they would be next if they didn't leave. She quickly turned to face the others, motioning them to leave with her. They had seen enough carnage for one morning.

All except Selskire, whom saw carnage and bloodshed both day and night for part of his career. This was the path he had chosen, and he was happy about it. Without him, Zecora would still be suffering from the fatal wounds she had suffered. And so they fled from the small tree house, running as fast as their legs would take them. One of the Redcoats ,however, didn't make it out, and he didn't even try. He held his gun to his heart, feeling the barrel touch his thumping chest. His heart was racing faster than those who ran the running of the leaves. Her pulled the trigger slowly, not wanting to deal with the future he saw. It was full of the darkness overthrowing Equestria, turning the land into complete ruin.

The sound of the bullet rang throughout the forest, drawing out the worst of the evils.

Applejack turned to see the redcoats body fall in its tracks in the distance. The colt dropped his pistol to the ground, fresh with the newly darkening blood of its previous owner, never to be retrieved. She lost her muster as she witnessed the feat and started to run slower. Selskire turned back and grabbed her, forcing her to focus on the objective at hand. She nodded, tears filling her eyes, and they continued out of the forest,  unscathed. *

On their return to Ponyville, everything was as they left it. The charming little town was still in a peaceful harmony, as it usually was. Applejack walked slowly, her steps heavy. Her intent was to go to Twilight's and assemble the group to inform them of what happened. The only problem was that Twilight was in Canterlought, burdened by her royal duties. And so she decided it best to go to the castle of friendship, as it was close by and the most peace filled place she could think of.

Selskire went back to his quarters at the barracks, to document what he had just witnessed.  A mare of full grown farm elegance would understand that letting the animal die slowly was cruel, more than a city pony at least. But nevertheless, why was she so willing to end the life of one of her closest friends? One of whom helped her and her country out countless times, both documented and not. She was obviously heartbroken about the tragedy, but Selskire couldn't wrap his mind around it. Then she seemed to lose all hope when the redcoat...well, did what he did. Such a strong willed pony, giving up when it seems to matter the most because of what she has lost and she decides what she is willing to protect. One thing of this was certain though, the dark shadows were real, and they were coming for Equestria, and most likely their princesses.

Upon this, he wrote a letter, to inform Celestia and Luna of the incident. Applejack would surely tell Twilight and she would tell Cadence. His mind wandered to what he should write. What do you write at a time like this? Dear Celestia, Zecora the zebra was shot dead by applejack to save her from an impending disaster that wasn't the fault of Zecora. Nope, that wouldn't suffice. He decided to just write out the situation as if it was for the journal entry he kept of the days assignments.

"Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,

Please rad the following report as it is extremely important (P.S. Set Canterlought to DEFCON 3 as we are in a shadow battle with the Everfree Forest.

TODAY WE PATROLLED THE EVERFREE FOREST DUE TO A PREVIOUS REPORT MADE ABOUT DARK SHADOWS ENTERING THE TOWN. WE DECIDED TO MEET WITH THE NATIVE, ZECORA THE ZEBRA. WHEN WE ARRIVED AT HER HOME, HOWEVER, SHE WAS BLEEDING OUT FROM THE GAPING HOLE CUT OUT FROM THE INSIDES OF HER CHEST. UPON INSPECTION OF HER AND HER DAMAGED HOME, SHE BEGAN TO SPEAK WITH HER CLOSEST FRIEND THERE, APPLEJACK. APPLEJACK PULLED HER GUN OUT AND POINTED IT AT ZECORA'S HEAD, WANTING TO END HER SUFFERING QUICKLY. WE HURRIED BACK TO PONYVILLE TO ESCAPE THE DARKNESS ZECORA HAD WARNED US ABOUT, BUT BEFORE WE COULD ESCAPE ONE OF OUR OWN COMMITTED SUICIDE, MOST LIKELY UNWILLING TO TAKE PART IN ANY CAUSE OF WHICH THREATENED HIS LIFE OR THE LIFE OF HIS FRIENDS. ALL OTHERS, INCLUDING MYSELF, APPLEJACK, AND ROSELUCK MADE IT BACK SAFELY. PATROLS WILL BE STARTED IMMINENTLY TO PREVENT AN INVASION FROM THE FOREST. THE CREATURE AGAINST US IS STILL UNKNOWN."

That was it, sent to the capitol in just an hour. Now to wait for a response, hopefully a rather quick one. This was not a situation to be taken lightly, nor was it one worth putting off. Celestia would know that. She was close with Zecora since Twilight and her friends decided to confront her and ask her purposes of being in Ponyville. Celestia usually responded quickly to any message she acquired from her closest of friends, students, family, or allies. He had hoped he was at least the latter and the former.*

Celestia slumped in  her throne, bored of the day's tedious activities. However, she did not foresee the coming of evil, or the letter sent by her beloved protector. A royal guard, out of breath, burst through the throne room's doors, quickly bringing the princess to her senses. She arose, taking the letter he then held out to her, and he spoke,"This letter is from Selskire of Ponyville, he says its urgent and reports of an impending disaster.".

Her eyes widened with worry, and as she read the scroll before her, she was amazed. Applejack killed Zecora? She couldn't have done that. To murder in cold blood, but under the circumstances it seemed the only plausible action. Her thoughts drifted to the redcoat, whom felt it was necessary to inflict a fatal wound on himself, not wanting another to do it for him. She snapped back to the rest of her subjects and how to protect them from the shadow creatures.  To kill them off with light was a reasonable way to do it, she presumed, yet she had her doubts about it working. A dark evil such as described could not be easily burned by sunshine, she though heavily. She felt that she could stop the darkness if she didn't lower the sun, but then there would be no night, no rest time for the ponies of her lands. Although, what is sleep compared to safety? She sent the guard away, requesting time to think on the subject.*