Red and Black 2

Shining busted down a barrier surrounding the roofless house laced with intricate runes, using little more than a spell of his own to do the job. "Now, when did they start getting into advanced magics?" he pondered aloud as the barrier faded away entirely, allowing him entry to a house whose orifices were bricked up. He trotted to the bricked-in door and started scanning it with a critical eye, looking for the slightest chink so he could force his way in.

"Get away, cis patriarch! Nopony likes you!" a shrill, haughty voice yelled from within.

"Then how did I get married to Cadence?" Shining snarked inwardly with a roll of his eyes as he kept scrutinizing the doorframe in the hopes he could find a fault in the construction. He took a closer look at the mortar, and smiled as he realized it was still wet. Still fresh. He lifted a hoof up and pushed a brick on the bottom in, though that did little by itself. So, seemingly at random, he set about pushing more bricks with a slow and calculated grace.

A minute later, the construct fell once he'd probed it enough, and shortly thereafter he strode in to find a dilapidated living room filled with used pizza boxes and cupcake wrappers. Standing on an old couch on the far side was the fat mare, who was wielding a bent baseball bat in a faltering magical grip. "Get out, straight scum! Your toxic masculinity is poisonous in these parts!" the mare warned, but her remark fell on deaf ears.

"Poisonous?" Shining asked, taking no more than three steps forward. He threw up a barrier as the mare threw the bat at him, making it snap in two from the sheer impact alone. "Did my ears deceive me?"

"Leave, at once!" the mare hissed, stomping a hoof on the couch and pulling it in a manner reminiscent of pushing dirt to the side.

Shining dropped his barrier and took another step forward. "I am a Prince of Equestria, Captain of the Royal Guard, and Emperor of the Crystal Empire. I take orders only from Celestia, Luna, and Cadence," he seethed, eyes narrowing slightly as the mare made the shoving-dirt-aside gesture again. "And you dare threaten me?" Instantly, his magic seized her and pinned her to the couch. "Would you like to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

From another room, Shining could hear a furious, unearthly screeching as a skinny, short stallion with the smallest penis he'd ever seen bumbled into the room. The erection did not even go past the pathetically small sheath; if anything, it looked as if his body had absorbed all but the first centimeter of the head. His scrotum fared no better. Despite seemingly being nigh malnourished, the stallion sported a bushy beard and thick rimmed glasses.

“Don’t you dare touch my queeeeeen!” the stallion angrily shouted in the worst impression of a falsetto Shining could've sworn he'd ever heard. He then turned to the mare. “I-I’m sorry, I slipped out of my chastity cage, please forgive me,” he uttered. "I… I heard you s-screaming…"

Shining merely grabbed the stallion in his magic and forced him to sit on the couch next to the mare. "I will treat you two as equals. Bearing that in mind, let us begin…" He turned to the mare first. "Who taught you that barrier spell?"

“My proud, strong, feminist, independent mother taught me that spell!” the mare huffed, donning a cocky grin.

Shining raised a brow. "May I ask who your mother was? Or is, if she is still alive?" he queried.

“Princess Luna,” she smugly replied.

Shining's brow dropped and leveled so evenly somepony could have balanced a pin on it and he wouldn't have noticed. Silence held for a few seconds.

“It’s true, though!” She became visibly offended, if her wince and rapidly-scowling face were any indication. “It’s because I’m fat, isn’t it!?” she shouted accusingly.

"Not that," Shining began slowly, taking in the mare's unseemly appearance. He tried to ignore her pea soup green coat and mold-colored mane before shaking his head. "It is that you do not bear an iota of resemblance to Princess Luna."

“I was adopted!” she pulled out of thin air; her pet cuck was still silent, eyeing Shining up and down with a scowl on his face.

Shining's brow rose yet again. "Then why have I not heard of a new Princess or Prince after Luna returned from her banishment?" he asked in a cool, level voice that gave way to a palpable silence. "Not once have I heard of Luna adopting anypony as repugnant as you. The closest equivalent I can think of would be her personal student, but even said student is much more dignified than you two will ever be."

He leaned in close, until he was eye to eye with both of his makeshift captives. "Now, tell me the truth. Who taught you that spell?" he repeated in a chilling murmur that made the cuck and the fat mare quake in their seats.

“B-but it’s the truth! I swear it!” the mare tried not to pout as the cuck attempted to cuddle and console her, but she pushed him away. “Fucking cis scum, don’t rape me!”

Shining mentally facehooved. Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere with his current approach, he decided to be a little more blunt. His magic flared and twin bubbles appeared around the heads of the mare and stallion, no bigger than fish bowls. "I will ask just one more time. Who. Taught. You. That. Spell?"

“G… G…” the stallion tried to speak, but he was hyperventilating. “Get out of here… racist...” He stopped as the sound of flapping wings echoed into the area, rapidly getting louder as the seconds ticked by.

"Kagayaku Yoroi!" a pair of keening voices, one male and one female, cried in unison. The utterance made Shining turn to the door, only to find Nagare and Yuuki carrying Trigger and Distrance barreling towards him, both unicorns were bloodsoaked. A simple barrier spell made the group halt in their tracks, but did no more than that.

"What is it?" Shining asked, turning to Distrance and Trigger before blinking as he found a pair of wide-eyed, pale faces.

"R-R-Rekka found a mare in critical condition, and she's not like the red and black freaks around here!" Trigger stammered, his utterance making Shining's pupils shrink. "Yuuki and Nagare took me and Distrance to see her, and… and she's…"

"WHAT?!" Shining cried before turning to Distrance for an explanation.

Distrance's horn glowed, and a brown magic aura embraced Shining's head for a split second. When it faded, a vivid image of Patchouli flooded Shining's mind, along with Patient and Rekka fussing over her as they gave her a blanket to keep warm in. Then the image faded, and Shining returned to staring at Distrance again.

“Rekka found her in some sex dungeon. The ones who did this to her were pedophiles, and they had killed off all but one of their victims. That mare… Rekka suspects they kept her around so she could teach them advanced magic,” Distrance spoke gravely. Shining turned to Yuuki and Nagare, only to find them nodding glumly.

"Where's Tenmei?" Shining asked.

"He went to fetch Ember after Yuuki and Nagare hauled us here," Trigger answered.

Shining nodded, and used his magic to poke a hole in the dual fishbowls to let his captives breathe. "Report to Rekka, immediately. I'll be a bit longer." Yuuki and Nagare nodded before they flew back out of the house through the open hole where a roof should have been with Trigger and Distrance in tow. One they left, he turned to the mare and stallion on the couch, and a fierce scowl formed on his face.

“How dare you do that to me! What you did perpetuated rape culture! Raaape! RAAAAPE!” the fat mare began to scream for anyone who would listen, but her only response was Shining's scowl deepening. His magic seized their heads and, for a moment, the image of Patchouli flashed through their minds.

"You accuse me of perpetuating rape… but why did you turn your fat ass on that mare who needed genuine help?" Shining hissed, his tone ominously low.

“B-but pedophilia is just another s-sexual orientation!” the cuck stammered, hoping with all his might that Shining would relent.

"If that were the case… then jail and Tartarus are just another set of rooms," Shining replied darkly before using his magic to forcefully wrench their necks, twisting their heads a full 360 with a series of sickening snaps before he let go. The duo slumped on the couch, completely still, eyes glazing over as death took them away. With that, he trotted out of the house and made for the station.

*********

As the sun set, Tenmei and Ember at last returned to the station. The latter was wobbling, and using her tentacles to steady herself, while the former just shook his head with a sigh. The train had stopped in at the station one last time as the group got on. Rekka busied himself with putting Patchouli to a warm bed as Patient monitored her health. Trigger sat next to Distrance and lit up a cigarette, without being told not to by the hostess and Shining had sat down next to the bedridden mare.

"I'm betting ten bits she's gonna get breakfast in bed until she can trot by herself," Ember murmured, eyeing Patchouli with her third eye. "Maybe a bedpan, too."

“She ain’t the lucky one, unfortunately. I think she deserves it.” Patient gave a small, meaningful smile to Patchouli, who weakly smirked in return. Her horn gave a soft purple glow that made everyone turn to her, their curiosity piqued. The glow rapidly built up, and runes began forming and swirling around her glowing horn until it shined like a miniature sun, and then the aura turned white before it promptly vanished with its runes, oddly enough.

"What the…" The train violently rocked as a deafening explosion pierced the air and shook the ground. Ember scrambled to the nearest window and peered out before gaping as she found purple flames roiling across the ghetto of Asgard. Amidst it all was the violet-white ball, expanding in size to engulf the ruined buildings. Runes danced about, encircling the whole thing with arcane, raw power. "Sweet baby Godcat, you guys might wanna see this!" she exclaimed. Everyone else, save Patchouli, rushed to the windows and peered out before pailing in unison.

Then everyone turned to Patchouli, whose smirk widened slightly. She opened her mouth, gave a lengthy yawn, closed her eyes and collapsed into the pillow. Patient trotted to her and lifted a hoof to check for a pulse, and sighed as she did feel a very weak, but very fast pulse. "Remind me not to get on her bad side," Patient murmured with a frown.

"So, Shining, where are we going?" Ember piped up, immediately garnering Shining's attention.

"To Canterlot. There's somepony there I'd like you to meet, and it would also be a very great place to drop our new friend off," Shining replied, his gaze averting briefly to Patchouli.

"Who?" Patient asked, a brow raised.

At that moment, Rekka chortled. "Tsuki no Kitsune," he replied cryptically.