There are people all around. Shadows without faces. I'm adrift in a sea of the unknown.

Except for one. A woman. Her hair and eyes were a pale green, and she was naked. She didn't seem... solid. I felt as if I tried to touch her, my hand would pass right through her. Despite this, her presence was powerful and significant.

She frowned and beckoned, as if she didn't have all day. I followed her.

She led me to a clearing in the shadows. A little girl slept there, no older than four or five. She looked so small and helpless. I knelt beside her and shook her awake.

The little girl sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her hair was long, almost to her knees, and was reddish-black, like blood under a full moon. Her skin was pale, almost pure white, and when she opened her little eyes, they were a bright, bloody crimson. All of this would have been unsettling, if she hadn't been the most adorable little girl I had ever seen.

Her face remained placid as she stood and wrapped her tiny arms around me, and pressed her soft little lips to mine, slipped that tiny tongue in between them.

I hugged her close. She was even more alone than I was.

I held the little girl in my arms and turned to the woman with the green hair. She brought her hand to my cheek tenderly, although her face was still a frown.

Come. Find us.

"I will."

"I'm sorry, sir, you will what?" My eyes shot open. The ticket guy stood before me, looking a little scared.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I was talking in my sleep. Thanks for waking me up."

. . .

"Twilight, You wrote in your letter that you were planning to research this Human. May I see what you've unearthed so far?"

Twilight was taken aback, she'd expected the princess to leave immediately after John. "Oh! Of course, Princess."

They retreated to the library, where Twilight began digging through the organized chaos to find everything she had on the Human. She brought out the notebook, which Celestia began to absently flip through, stopping on certain pages to raise her eyebrow.

When Twilight brought out the jar of mysterious black liquid, however, she glanced at it for but a moment before shouting, "Twilight, get away from that!"

Twilight quickly did exactly that. "What's wrong?"

"Liquid Shadow. Darkness Incarnate. Mendaciis et non inferamus crimen ánimam meam." Celestia had backed as far away from the jarred substance as physically possible without actually leaving the room. "Where did you get this terrible thing, Twilight?"

"From John, he, um... spit it up."

Celestia pondered this a moment. "My student, by associating yourself with this Human, you have taken a massive risk. His kind have a tendency to cause great change, and often not for the better. Because of my history with them, I cannot trust my own judgement. I must rely on you to keep me in check, can you do this?"

"But, Princess, there's so much I don't understand-"

"Then perhaps, it would be best If I explained from the beginning. Sit down, my student, for it is a very long story."

. . .

Èbène Ivoire growled and adjusted her big hat. Brazil's sun was doing murder on her pale skin, and when the modified seductress said she liked it hot, she definitely didn't mean this hot.

The sooner she found Vex and brought him back, the better. Speak of the devil...

The Scotsman's bright red hair stood out among the natives. Èbène cut around the beach and hid in the crowd. Vex had surrounded himself with civilians, though likely not on purpose.

She would wait until he was alone, then she would strike. Although waiting would require her watching him make out with his Brazilian boyfriend even longer.

The Siren found it hopelessly ironic that the one man she wanted, was the one man she could not have.

It was not even that he was gay, she's seduced gay men before, and straight women. Something about Donovan made him invulnerable to her natural, or perhaps artificial, charms.

She sang softly under her breath as she stalked her prey. Handsome, tender, soft, why do you look right through me, thinking... No, I can't deny my feelings, growing strong, I try to keep believing, dreaming on.

And every time I see you, I cry, 'More!' I wanna pull you closer, closer, closer, but you leave me feeling frozen.

She tracked them back to their condo.

"I had a lot of fun today, Donovan." Romero, Vex's new boyfriend, was young and naive. Just the way they both liked them.

"Me too. In fact, I was kind of hoping we could... have a little more fun. If you're interested." Donovan raised an eyebrow.

Romero tore his gaze away from the beautiful view out the windows, and turned to the beautiful man in front of him. "I thought you'd never ask."

They met in a passionate kiss that would have made any straight couple jealous. Donovan slipped his hands into Romero's swim trunks and grabbed hold of the treasure within. The Brazilian gasped at his touch.

"You're already hard. Do I turn you on that much?"

Romero swallowed. "More than you know."

Donovan gently led him by his penis through the doors to the bedroom.

They both slipped out of their swimwear. Romero resisted the urge to cover himself; it was his first time naked in front of a lover.

"Relax, Romero, I'll be gentle. Would I ever hurt you?" Donovan knelt in front of him and looked up at him, those bizarre yellow eyes full of... so many emotions.

"I'm sorry, I... Ah!" The young man gasped as he felt himself enveloped in something hot and wet. A muscular tongue moved up and down and around and...

He didn't last very long. He was a virgin, after all.

Donovan swallowed and licked his lips. He smiled up at Romero and opened his mouth to speak.

"As much as I'd like to see more, I'm afraid zat I must borrow Mr. Vex for ze moment."

Both men turned to the gorgeous woman who had just entered. Even though he just came, and was thoroughly homosexual, Romero's dick was instantly hard again. Like, literally instantly. If you were seeing this rather than reading it and picturing it in your mind, the action would have been so sudden it would have been accompanied by a comical sound effect, such as the clatter of a diving board, or a sword unsheathing.

Èbène, being a lady, ignored this. "Donovan. Sebastian sent me to retrieve you."

Donovan stood up. "Èbène, I left that life behind. I've moved on, as you can see. Not even Sebastian can pull me away from it." He gazed at Romero. "Away from him."

"Sebastian suspected you would say zat. He also told me to say, 'Lead us not into temptation.'"

Donovan's eyes widened at this. Then he frowned and recited the final line. "But deliver us from evil."

"Gimme a moment to pack my stuff." Donovan picked up his trunks from the floor and began to grumble to himself. "Why did it have to happen now, of all the times..."

"Donovan?"

Donovan stopped packing for a moment and embraced his lover. "Oh, Romero... I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry for? What's going on?"

"Something very important. Something that could decide the fate of the world as we know it."

Romero's fear quickly became anger. "I'm not a child, Donovan, you can tell me what's happening!"

"No, I can't, Romero. Ever since Lucy..." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I promised myself that I wouldn't put anyone I love in danger ever again because of what I do. What I did."

Romero thought about what to say next. "I love you, too." was all he could come up with.

It seemed to be enough, as Donovan wrapped him in a tight hug and kissed him, long and hard. He then slipped on a T-shirt and scooped up his backpack before breezing out the door.

"Come on, Èbène." He looked back only once. "Before I change my mind."

. . .

I stretched widely, my back cracking and my arms tensing. I'd woken up rather early this morning.

Well, at least for me.

My stomach gurgled, but I ignored it for now. There were more pressing matters. I stepped off the train, and a contingent of guards immediately surrounded me. I smiled benignly and put my hands on my hips.

"Aww, did you guys miss me?"

A guy with blue hair approached. "I've been ordered to detain you until the Princess can speak with you."

"Celestia? I already talked to her."

The Unicorn smiled and shook his head. "No, the other Princess."

"What other-"

"WHERE IS HE!? WE SHALL TEAR HIM APART!"

"Aw, fuck."

. . .

The Human would die. The Human would taste bitter death as surely as the moon would rise tonight.

It was all he, nay, all any of his kind deserved.

He had obviously worked some sort of magic to convince her sister to allow him to travel alone and unguarded, and now the monster stood alone in her courtyard, waiting to be slain.

The monster that killed her parents.

. . .

"I'm going to hide in the train now." I said matter-of-factly, before doing exactly that.

About two seconds after closing the door, I needed to grab on to something, as the train picked that moment to learn the art of interpretative dance.

After a full ten seconds of extremely loud noise and the birth of several dozen bruises, the several-ton train rolled to a stop. Then the wall of wood and metal froze into solid ice before cracking and shattering, revealing what I assumed to be the other princess. A cold gust of wind blew into the cabin, causing me to shiver.

She had a horn and wings, like Celestia. Unlike Celestia, she was a deep blue in color, and seemed to be smaller, and also unlike Celestia, she didn't seem to be aware I was a friend.

And she didn't look afraid, either.

"Hey, uh-"

"Clausæ usque in irrumabo. There will be no talking, no spells from you, Human. You will die."

I only hesitated to roll my eyes before spinning and planting my foot onto the other side of the cabin. I laid my back on the floor and kicked hard, sending me quickly sliding across it and closing the distance between us. I swung my legs up and grabbed her by the head, flipping over her and using my superior weight to drag her with me. Arcing upward, I wrapped an arm around all four of her legs and placed my knee under her chin.

Four hundred pounds of pure man drove the princess's horn into the ground like a roofing nail.

"I kicked your sister's ass less than an hour ago. What's stopping me from kicking yours?" I growled at her. She growled back at me. The ground began to softly rumble. I pondered this.

"Aw, fuck."

The dirt underneath my feet exploded, sending me soaring twenty feet in the air and sending the princess flying away from me. I smashed into a statue, knocking the wind out of me, before falling into the pond below it.

I resurfaced and calmly shucked off my jacket. It was soaked, and therefore heavy. "Is it okay if I call a time-out?"

I was forced to duck as a spell blew up the statue over my head. "I guess not."

I leapt over the wall of the pond and picked up the still-intact head of the statue. Spinning to build momentum, I hurled it at her. She knocked the several-hundred-pound chunk of marble aside as if she were swatting a fly.

"I'd make the obligatory joke about giving you head, but you probably wouldn't get it."

"Consumat tua priapo, te monstrum deformis!"

"Case in point."

A snake of water leaped out of the pond and became a undulating ball over my head. I plucked at my soaking T-shirt and deadpanned. "Oh, no, God forbid you get me wet. That crap only works on witches, honey."

The ball fell on my head and stayed there, suspended in her magic. She used her magic to freeze it nearly solid, except for a few inches around my head where my null-magic kept it liquid. I wedged my fingers under where it met my neck and tore it apart.

"I'd make the obligatory 'brain freeze' joke, but that'd be a little childish."

"True humor can only be found in irony." She picked up another glob of water and it shaped itself into a sword before freezing solid. "A Human weapon to kill the last Human."

She hurled it at me, impaling just below my shoulder. She gave a cry of exultation as I spun in the air from the force of the blow.

I stood up and yanked the sword out and began stalking toward her. I'd let her hit me. "Yah, real clever, sweetie. Do you even realize how much ass I've had to kick to survive a day and a half here? How much ass I kicked even before I got here? I single-handedly took down a thousands-strong cult of murderous zealots. I've been shot, stabbed, scarred, burned, and beaten. All I ever asked for in life was to be loved, WAS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?"

. . .

Luna couldn't believe her ears. The Human had just used the Royal Canterlot Voice. Only those with Royal blood can command the pure authority of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

A sparkle on the Human's face drew the Princess's attention to his eyes. He was crying, and the cold blue fury that burned behind his irises only meant one thing: This man did not fear her.

This man feared nothing

Instead, Luna felt a spark of fear ignite in her own chest.

. . .

It felt good to let myself go. Ever since I got here, I'd been holding in my emotions, keeping myself in check.

This Princess had made a big mistake by pissing me off.

. . .

Luna conjured the Bloodforged Hammer from her personal armory. "Stop!"

"AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!" The world shuddered when it heard the Human's pained war cry. He raised the Icicle Blade above his head as he charged his immortal foe. He knocked the ancient hammer from her magical grip with a single blow, then booted her in the face, flinging her backward.

She sprawled to the ground. She felt the Human's foot plant itself on her neck, his hot breath in her nose. She didn't dare open her eyes as he whispered, "You think that killing me will make all the pain go away? Well it didn't for me, and it won't for you. Vengeance isn't a cure for grief."

She waited for the killing blow that never came. Instead, he stabbed the frozen sword into the dirt beside her head, scooped up his jacket, and walked away.

The princess of the night curled into a pathetic ball and began to sob.

There she lay, for many long minutes, until Celestia and Peppermint arrived.

"Sister! What happened!?"

"Your Highness! Are you all right?"

Celestia had finally arrived. Her story had taken longer to tell than she'd expected. She'd seen the carnage, and assumed the worst. They'd found Luna curled into a ball and sobbing.

"Peppermint! Tend to her!" She ordered. But he was already there. His leg had healed minutes after it was broken, though his pride had not.

Luna waved him off. "I'm fine, Peppermint. I'm just..."

"Shaken." The butler supplied. He'd been teaching her to talk like a modern pony. He sometimes had trouble, himself. "What happened?"

"I... I tried to kill him, but... he was too strong."

"I understand. He fights like a demon, and feels no pain." Peppermint wrapped her in a soft hug. Ever since her real brothers died, he'd been a poor substitute, but he did his best to support her.

"Why did you try to kill John, Sister? Did you not receive my letter?"

"I thought he'd brainwashed you, or forged the letter. I simply couldn't imagine you, of all ponies, making peace with a Human. I thought it would be better to kill the Human and end this mess before it started." She shook her head.

"Oh, Luna, how can you both underestimate and overestimate him at the same time? He does not have the ability to brainwash a pony, and even if he did, and did it to me, how could you stand a chance? No offense meant, of course."

"I know, and when you say it out loud like that... it does sound a little silly." She sat back on her haunches and sniffled a little. "How have you fought them, Sister? Peppermint? They are so powerful, to kill even one would be nigh-impossible."

"You were very young when they arrived, Luna, too young to fight them. You don't know what they were like. I can tell you this much: John is far from an ordinary Human. All Humans were strong, but he did things that should have been impossible, and I did things to him that would have killed the Humans of old."

Luna's eyes shot open as she remembered something. "He used the Voice."

Celestia and Peppermint looked at each other, horror painted on their faces. "Peppermint! Find him and bring him here, I don't care what you have to do or say!" she ordered.

"Yes, Highness!" Peppermint barely stopped to bow before galloping away at speeds too great for a normal pony.

"Luna, if what you say is true... if John is a Royal..." The tired, immortal ruler shook her head low. "Gods help us all."

"Perhaps we have nothing to fear, Sister? If what you said is true and his intents are pure, perhaps he can be convinced to fight with us, rather than against?"

Celestia gasped as it clicked, it was all coming true! She whispered Twilight's poem to herself;

"Flesh of the King still remains, blood of the King runs in his veins,

Once an evil thought destroyed, soon becomes an evil employed."

John Salem was not their enemy. But if he was not, who was?

. . .

Humans had killed someone dear to Celestia and her sister. I had no doubt about that. Suppressing the history of mankind in Equestria, deneuralyzing of their subjects, all of it was an attempt to suppress their own memories.

I looked into Celestia's eyes and I saw what I am now, a creature who soaked itself in the blood of it's enemies, only to realize it did nothing to ease the pain of loss. I'd looked into that Luna's eyes and saw what I used to be, an animal, consumed by a need for its own idea of justice.

I need to be alone. I need to think. But most of all, I need a drink.

Hey, that rhymed! Ugh...

I was in a bit of a daze, to be honest, barely paying attention to what I was doing. I stole a cup of what appeared to be some sort of soft drink from somewhere, and searched for somewhere to consume it in peace.

I found myself on a tall rooftop. I let the wind blow through my hair and felt the sun on my face. It felt the same, but it was not. This was Celestia's sun, Celestia's wind.

I can't ignore it anymore, I can't keep pushing it away. I walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down, down on all those people and I felt jealous of them. No matter their petty troubles, their silly mundane worries, at least they knew where they were going, what they were doing. At least they belong here.

I need help.

"Dad?" I shook my head. I can't believe I'm doing this. "I hate to bother you, you deserve your rest, but... I'm lost, Dad. If you can hear me all the way out here... I could really use a hand."

The wind swept through my hair. The sun warmed my now-stubbled cheeks.

I could really use a hand.

I looked at my hands. My left palm was bare, pristine, perfect. But my right was stained by a yellow birthmark in the center. The lines were so clearly defined that it almost looked like a tattoo, but I'd had it since I was a baby, and you can't tattoo your palms. It was a golden, five-pronged crown.

Daddy?

Yeah, Junior?

Your hand is like mine.

Oh... Here, sit down, little buddy. You know those hero stories you like to read?

Yes, Daddy.

Well, this mark means that we're like the heroes in those stories. We're special. We have a destiny.

Daddy, what's a destiny?

It means that there's something very important we have to do.

Daddy, what's my destiny?

Well, that's the thing about destiny, son: You don't know what it is until it's already happened.

"Is that it, Dad? Am I supposed to be here to be here?" I bit back tears and clenched my fist over that mark, that damn mark that always marked me as different. What did it mean? Am I less human because of it? How could Dad know so much, but yet so little? So much fear and pain over that little bit of pigment in my palm.

Except it was so much more than that.

I picked up a chunk of stone from the roofing beside me. I clenched my fist again.

The stone became gravel. I clenched a third time. The gravel became sand.

What am I, Daddy? Why am I like this? Why do bullets not shatter my bones, blades not pierce my skin? Why do have the strength of ten people my size? Why was I born a monster shaped like a man?

Why?

Why?

Why?

These emotions opened a little door in my soul, a little door that shouldn't have existed, and something got out.

Something beautiful.

"There once was a man who was taken away,

By a woman of mystery too sure he would lay.

He awoke to the sounds of a young woman's cries,

Until he rolled over and saw a pair of blue eyes.

The Human was dumbstruck and so he did flee,

By doorway and staricase, 'twas not meant to be.

Enter, Nurse of Redheart!

Enter, Light of Twi!

Enter, John the Human, trying not to die!

At the Nurse's romances, the Human did frown,

She cried her damn eyes out when he turned her down.

He melted his sadness with song and with dance,

If only these mares would get out of his pants!

All girls have urges to be grabbed and touched,

To have some nice sleep is asking too much.

Enter, Mint of Pepper!

Enter, Queen of Pones!

Enter, John the Human, please don't break his bones!

This world was too dainty, too soft and too nice,

If it kept him here, it would soon pay the price.

Only fools would keep John in a cage,

Only fools would not fear his rage.

As surely and certain as night took the day,

He'll find those bastards and he'll make them pay!

Enter, John the Killer!

Enter, John the Cad!

Enter, John the Human, just don't make him mad!

The Human reflects on his thoughts and his fears,

The lives that he's taken throughout all his years.

He thinks of his father, his mother, his brother,

Reasons he breathes, he can think of no other.

John may be clueless and answers he lacks,

But he swore to his brother he'd always come back."

I slapped a hand to my mouth. Was I just singing? What was that song? I'd never heard it before, but it came as easily to me as if it had been my favorite childhood tune.

"How interesting. I've never seen a Human do that." I started and turned toward the sound of a voice. None other than Peppermint the Butler stood on the roof near me. He didn't approach me, though. I guess he learned his lesson. "I'd have thought it impossible, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. You truly are an interesting specimen."

"I wasn't singing. I mean, I didn't mean to do that." I sat back down.

"Precisely, however, we won't dwell on it. Your spontaneous burst into song is none of my business."

"Fine. Why are you here, then? You gonna try to kill me again?" I swilled the drink in my bottle before taking a swig.

"Not at the moment, no. I'm simply here to talk." With just a hint of distaste, he sat down beside me. I raised an eyebrow.

"And what could you and me possibly talk about?"

"I understand the emotions you're going through. I've gone through them myself."

"You don't know me." I turned away from him. What was he talking about?

"I know you're not a normal Human. And I'm not a normal pony. That's something we have in common." I looked back at him. He smiled, showing gleaming, white, and extremely sharp teeth. He blinked with a transparent eyelid that slid sideways across his suddenly slit-pupiled eyes.

"I was created to be the perfect pony killer. I can look like them, I can talk like them, I can walk like them, right up until the moment I needed to strike. But, with a little convincing, I decided to rebel against my masters, to fight for Harmony instead of Chaos. I refused to let what I was define me, and I learned that even a monster can have the heart of a stallion, or a man, as it were. And now, I couldn't be happier."

"Cool story, bro. What does it have to do with me?"

"My point being, John, no matter how helpless you feel you are, there is always a choice." I nodded thoughtfully before offering him my soda as a peace offering. He slammed the last of it down, then bit the bottle in half.

"The silica is good for my hooves," He explained. "Now come. I'm sure the Princesses are growing impatient."

"What makes you think I'll come along?"

"Where else would you go?"

I shrugged. He had a point.

Author's Note

Rewrite

Does it please you, Mistress?!? Does it please you when I dance?!?