Canterlot Castle, the day after the discovery of the bodies of Twilight Sparkle and Knight Radiant -

Celestia looked up from her book, and glanced with a slightly furrowed brow at the other, empty, end of the long dining table she and her sister shared breakfast at. Luna was uncharacteristically late, and Celestia had become quite hungry, but she wasn't so ill-mannered that she would start eating without her sister, so she sat reading. Alone in the large marble room, occasionally glancing out of the large arched windows to her right, as her food got colder and colder. Finally, after what seemed like minutes after their carefully arranged time, she heard the footfalls of her sister running down the corridor that led to the room.

Suddenly Luna burst in, her eyes wide and her face streaked with tears. She dashed over to her older sibling and wrapped her in a crushing embrace, sobbing, "Oh, sister, I'm so sorry!"

Celestia was baffled by the behavior and said soothingly, "It's alright Luna, heaven knows I've been late to more important meals than this one."

Luna looked up at her sister in shock, and it was then that Celestia noticed a ball of parchment crumpled in Luna's hand, and asked, "What's that? The answer to the Gryphon Envoy request? I didn't expect it to come so soon." And before Luna could even speak, Celestia had already snatched the letter from her grasping fingers, and begun reading.

Celestia's eyes scanned the page once, twice, three times, each pass merely adding to her confusion as she read over the words, We regret to inform you that Princess Twilight Sparkle has passed on. Passed on from what? It couldn't-

And then she saw Luna's eyes, full of confusion and grief, pain and sorrow, and she knew it to be true.

"In my mother's name..." Celestia whispered, the truth of what she had just read now registering to her shocked mind, and for the first time in perhaps thousands of years, Celestia fainted.

Streets of Canterlot, two weeks after the first riots -

"End the Nightmare's tyranny! Don't let yourself be suckered in for a second time! For the good of all ponykind, rise up, and do not believe her lies!" A white pegasus stood on a marble plinth in the middle of one of Canterlot's larger thoroughfares right against the main gate to the castle, surrounded by a swarming mob of pony citizens. The pegasus, Loud Speaker, carried with her the same megaphone that was emblazoned on her thigh, and yelled these, and other such slogans, into it, broadcasting the message to the roaring crowd. Guards desperately attempted to maintain order, as they were assaulted, mostly verbally, and sometimes physically.

"Why do you protect the Tyrant?!"

"She murdered the Princess of Friendship!"

"You dare call yourselves soldiers while your ruler is locked up in that castle?!"

Loud Speaker nodded approvingly at the enraged ponies around her. She was doing good today, she was a shoe-in for that bonus.

Speaker once again raised her megaphone to her lips and yelled, "She imprisons our beloved ruler and has the gall to lie to us about what really happened! Nightmare Moon thinks we're all fools, like those faceless guards that protect her! Are you fools Canterlot?!"

"NO! DOWN WITH THE TYRANT! DOWN WITH NIGHTMARE MOON!" roared the crowed, surging forward aggressively towards the castle gate, only to be warded off by the brandished spears of the nervous, and some would say wavering, guards. Speaker glanced up as the sun started its lurching, horrible, jagged movements in the sky down towards the horizon, as the Princess of Night sought shelter in her domain. Speaker grimaced at the slight earliness of sundown, only the truly fanatic stayed at the castle after dark as most weren't crazy enough to insult Luna at night.

Loud Speaker quickly hurled a few more practiced inflammatory statements into her megaphone, before hopping off of her plinth and wrapping a mottled grey hoodie around herself, stowing her trusty device in an equally bland book bag, which she slung over her shoulder. She made her way inconspicuously through the crowed and over the ancient cobbled road until she reached the back, and made her way to a small bank that was located some ways down the crowded street. The bank was nothing special, in fact it was dwarfed by the other large banking buildings of Canterlot, and held none of their regal grace. This building was a squat brown brick, with white blinds drawn down over the two solemn windows, and a paper thin front door that looked as if it had been recently, and hastily, patched. Loud Speaker entered the bank, and saw that the inside was no less bleak. No lights were turned on anywhere accept over one of the five tellers' desks, where a brown Earth Pony stallion, whom Loud had never seen, lounged lazily in his chair.

Loud quickly crossed the stained marble flooring, approaching the sole open window, and knocking on the glass.

The teller turned an eye slowly towards Loud and asked , "Can I help you?" in a way that made it sound like she was in the wrong by coming up to his desk.

His tone worried Loud Speaker not, though, as she reverently pulled out her sole source of an enormous income over the last few weeks, a playing card. The King of Diamonds specifically, and she slid it over to the stallion.

Immediately his bearing shifted, and he stood up sharply, taking the card and inserting it into a slot on the far wall behind him. After a few seconds of waiting, he opened the steel hatch next to the slot, and removed an enormous bag of bits, the playing card, and a small purple silk bag. Loud Speaker's eyes widened as she saw the purple bag, and not the huge sack of money, because the purple bag was the bonus that she wore her vocal chords out every day trying to earn.

The brown stallion shoved over to her the sack of coin and the playing card, both of which she hastily shoved into her backpack, but withheld the purple silk packet, looking it over.

"Hey," Loud Speaker whimpered, an accent of greed creeping into her voice, "that's mine, I earned it fair and square! Give it!"

The brown stallion opened the bag, and his eyes went huge as he saw what was inside, "Holy shit! You get this much Dust for one day of work? Not bad, toots."

Loud Speaker was trembling slightly as her prize which she craved so desperately was being withheld from her, "Just hand it over already!"

The brown Stallion closed the bag and smirked at her, saying, "And if I don't? What are you gonna' do about it?"

"I... I..." Speaker, ironically, was at a loss for words. She couldn't imagine what she would do everyday if this stallion just took her Dust from her. That small bag in his hand alone was worth three times what she had earned today, and that's if you didn't immediately get mugged for it when you exited the dealer's place. She knew, she'd been there. This job was supposed to fix that, she wasn't supposed to ever worry about Dust again, but if this punk just took it from her...

"You know the kind of people I'm working for. I'm important, and if I complain, who do you think they're gonna' replace? A girl with a loud mouth, or a guy who knows what's goin' on around here?" He said triumphantly, smiling and showing her his too-white teeth. She had them too, everybody who used Dust did. Even if you only used it once. And nopony had ever used it once.

"What... what do you want me to do?" She asked timidly. Speaker wasn't an idiot, she knew blackmail when she saw it. And right now, there wasn't a whole lot she wouldn't do to get that small purple bag.

The stallion obviously knew this, and nearly tripped over himself in his haste to exit the teller's booth. He brought out with him the bag, which Speaker eyed hungrily, and a small silver spoon. He dipped the spoon into the bag, and held aloft the crystal contents. Small gemstones, the size of sugar and redder than a ruby, sitting in a glorious pile on top of that dented little spoon.

"On your knees," The stallion said, his voice cracking slightly with anticipation, and Speaker sunk to her knees slowly, eyes locked on the spoon.

"Open wide," He whispered, and Speaker complied, opening her mouth as wide as she could, and sticking her tongue out. The stallion gradually poured the contents of the spoon onto Speaker's waiting tongue, and she groaned as the ache in her bones slowly dissipated, and a wonderful sweetness flowed over her taste buds. As soon as she was sure no more was coming, She snapped her mouth shut around the heavenly drug, and spit flooded her mouth, soaking up the crystals which bubbled and fizzed, releasing waves of heat and euphoria into Speaker's mind. She groaned again with her mouth closed as she attempted to extract all the flavor she could from the Dust, and she flopped backwards, immediately dug her fingers into her jeans, immediately digging four fingers as far as they would go into herself as they could go. When she first started this job, she would spend days in her apartment in a Dust-high, masturbating furiously, cumming every few minutes until she passed out, and then hungrily lapping up any spare particles of heaven she could find. Her body now burned with the familiar heat, and her pants had already soaked completely through with evidence of her complete desire as she shoved two more fingers into her engorged sopping pussy.

The brown stallion had not been idle, he quickly grew rock hard as the once-reluctant mare in front of him melted as the Dust claimed her mind, and he desperately shoved his own pants off, almost dropping the bag of precious gemstones onto the floor. His cock was a measly four inches, pathetic for a stallion in his prime, but with Dust flowing through the mare's system she'd cum like a two bit whorse no matter what you shoved in her. The stallion's hand shook as he carefully maneuvered another spoonful of the precious substance to his own lips, and ladled the contents onto his tongue with an almost audible sigh of relief. His jaw clamped shut as the sweet taste he knew so well filled his body to the brim. His cock became painfully hard, and expanded another two inches, bringing it to just below average length for a stallion. Lust and instant euphoria consumed the weak stallion's mind, as he went down on the unknown mare without any additional rational thought or reasoning.

Loud Speaker involuntarily swallowed and moaned as the stallion roughly ripped her pants away from her sweat and arousal soaked thighs, and forced his cock into her snatch with her fingers still inside. He thrashed about wildly inside her as if he was possessed, howling in pleasure at the top of his lungs. Loud Speaker did the same, grinding as hard as she could into the meager stallion, and within five strokes she came, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as her hot breath steamed the air. She reached further drug-induced heights as the stallion refused to slow down, pumping away rabidly as her walls clenched tight around him. After coming down from the orgasm she only had time to wrap her slender legs around his back and pull him tighter against her before she came again, squealing with delight. Loud Speaker dug her nails into the back of the stallions head, and pulled him down on top of her into a lip lock, where both of their hungry tongues explored the other's lips and mouth for any traces of Dust left. Moans and sharp squeaks of pleasure often accompanied their successes, and Speaker clung tightly to the stallion who went at a vicious pace, slapping in and out of her like a dog who'd smelled a bitch in heat. After two more crashing orgasms from Speaker, the brown stallion finally blew his shockingly average load into the clenching walls of his partner's pussy.

Only then did their lips part, and Speaker said with a slight slur, "O-Okay, I let you do what you wanted, now-" her voice cut off into a lusty moan as another spoonful of Dust was expertly shoved into her open orifice by the grinning stallion inside of her. After a few seconds, the pleading look melted away, and she began humping and squeezing desperately on the stallions limp dick, before he himself took another spoon, and fucked her gushing snatch with entirely renewed vigor.

Outside Rolling Stone's Foundry in Canterlot, the day after -

Grey Shade's cutie mark was that of a foggy cloud, sometimes lighter, sometimes darker than the skin on which it sat. He'd received it when he was very young, after snapping the arm of a bully who'd been abusing a young filly friend of his. He found that he had a knack for operating in morally grey situations, they were his element. Which was why he felt no qualms about carting away the earth pony, Rolling Stone's, entire livelihood right before his eyes.

You see, to Grey, all of this stuff was going to defeat Nightmare Moon, which was a plus, but he was stealing from someone to accomplish that goal. He didn't actually ponder the question of whether this was right or wrong, he simply felt comfortable knowing that he was in the middle of a moral quandary. That was enough for him.

The sky was overcast today, nearly matching the bleak worn cobblestones of the dingy backstreet Grey Shade waited in. He watched as his crew of five carried hefty blocks of rock, he couldn't tell you which, he wasn't no Pie, and loaded them all into a shoddy cart that already looked like it was about to topple over from the immense weight it now supported. It started to drizzle, only a light mist, and Grey pulled his wide-brimmed hat a little lower over his face. Rolling Stone was an overweight and moderately unsuccessful buisnesspony in Canterlot, with a curdled milk colored skin, and balding light yellow mane. He desperately rushed back and forth, trying to plead with the hardened criminals of Grey's crew to stop, they paid him no heed except to occasionally curse him or shove him away.

Grey moved his eyes to the rotting wooden door frame to the back of Rolling Stone's Foundry, where Stones' wife, Precious Stone, stood watching with a mixture of horror and disappointment. It had always been a mystery as to how Rolling had snagged precious before any other stallion. The mare had grown well, with full hips and a huge bust that threatened to spill out of even a modest work apron. Her auburn mane was pulled back into a bun, not a strand of it out of place, as she watched her husband ineffectually flail about.

Grey's eyes rolled back over to watch the other direction, down the dreary back alley in which he operated. A few ponies had come out of their homes to watch the pitiful scene unfold, some merely looked on from windows, a bored expression on their faces. All that changed as two guards turned the corner into the alleyway.

Had it been any other era of history, Grey would have crapped his pants and legged it, leaving his crew to do what they did best, and disappear. But this time, Grey just kept leaning nonchalantly against the wall, even pulling out a smoking pipe and popping it in his mouth. The guards rushed down the alleyway to see where the imploring cries came from, barreling past the ponies standing around and watching.

"Sir, what's going on?" The taller one asked to the comically enraged Stone.

"What does it look like? They're stealing my merchandise!" He screeched in the guard's face, looking as if he were about to have a heart attack.

The guards pulled out spears, and the leader said imperiously, "Halt, in the name of Princess Cele- er, Luna, you are all under arrest!"

The ponies loading the cart barely slowed their pace, only pausing to look at the guards as if they were out of their minds, before continuing with their work.

Tall stepped forward, with his spear raised only to be stopped by Grey's chillingly calm voice,

"I don't think you want to do that boy."

The guard turned to Grey, giving him a quick once over, and asked, "You there. You lead these men?"

"Maybe I do, but that's not your concern right now boy. Your concern is how much shit you're willin' to get beat out of you before you decide that this aint worth your time."

It seemed then that the guard noticed what Grey had been watching, the crowd. Fists had been balled, teeth were gritted, and hateful stares were thrown like daggers straight at the two guards, and not the armed robbers. The poor guardstallion floundered slightly, looking for a single ounce of support from a crowd of good honest ponies to stop a robbery, and found none. All he received for his efforts were some curses, and even a snarl.

The ghost of a grin flickered across Grey's muzzle as he continued, "Now you two run along, your kind aint welcome here. We don't want an... accident, as well as a robbery, now do we?"

The two guards looked at each other, and then at the malevolent congregation before them. At least twenty ponies had gathered, and some were brandishing rolling pins, pans, even kitchen knives. They were outnumbered ten to one. With a look of shame and defeat, the taller one stuttered a mumbled an apology to Rolling Stone, and began to shuffle off, leaving the smaller one standing there with a betrayed look on its face, before it too scuffed into line behind the other. The crowd allowed the guards to pass, but not without more curses, a few "traitors", and some spitting on the ground as they walked by. Thunder rumbled in the distance as the guards turned the corner of the alley again, heads hung in defeat.

I can't believe it, Grey thought incredulously, Blood was actually right. What has this world come to?

Where was she?

Twilight was dead.

Where was she?

Twilight was dead.

Where was she?

Twilight was dead.

A door opened, then closed. Shifting footsteps, soft ones.

Where was she?

Twilight was dead.

"Sister, are you there?"

A voice, her sister's.

Where was she?

"I'm so sorry my sister. I have failed you, I have failed this kingdom. I... I... I don't know what to do. Please. I know I'm asking for a miracle, but please give me some advice..."

Her sister needed her.

Where was she?

"I'm thinking..."

A different voice, her own.

Where was she?

Twilight was dead.

"So you always say Sister. But only to me. Why do you not talk to your staff, your guards? Is it only me who brings a spark of life to your mind?"

Where was she?

"I'm thinking..."

"They have all turned against me. They think I did it, that I'm behind some sort of grand scheme, but I'm not! For once in my cursed life I am not! I don't want this power, I don't want to rule! I have never wanted it since renouncing my former self..."

Her sister needed her.

Twilight was dead.

Where was she?

"Please Sister, for the love of all ponykind please... return to us. I fear I will shatter under this weight. How could you leave me like this? I feel grief for her too, yet I am no wreck! How dare you let yourself become this!"

Luna was angry.

Where was she?

Twilight was dead.

"I... I apologize Sister, I should not have yelled. I am just so... powerless. Everypony hates me, three quarters of the guards have deserted, my own maids tremble at my passing as though I were already the monster I spent so hard trying to overcome. I feel it... difficult to maintain faith in them. How could they turn on me so quickly, in a matter of days! Twilight was my link to them, and they think I murdered that link."

Luna was wavering.

Twilight was dead.

Where was she?

"I am going now Sister. Please get better, mend your broken heart, think whatever thoughts occupy you so. I love you. Now and forever."

Luna was gone.

Twilight was dead.

Where was she?

Lost.

Royal Court of Canterlot, minutes after Luna's conversation with Celestia -

Luna sighed as she walked dejectedly down the magnificent corridors of Canterlot Castle to the Night Court. She had woken up unbearably early (it was only six in the afternoon!) to appease some of the nobles who complained that merely changing all the times on the schedule of the day from a.m. to p.m. would not be acceptable.

As Luna walked down the corridor, she passed a large arched window that looked out over the city of Canterlot and had to choke back a sob as the enormous burden of her situation threatened to drown her. In a way, it both helped and hurt to vent to Celestia. To see the pony she admired most in all the world be struck down so wholly, it boggled her mind and made her heart quail in fear. For if Celestia had fallen, then who was she to stand?

Luna took a shuddering breath and shook these thoughts from her head. No matter what, the upper echelon of Canterlot could not know that she harbored such doubts about herself, or they would inevitably pounce and devour her alive.

As Luna strode with a facade of confidence towards the Night Court, she stopped as she recognized the new captain of the guard. The old one had quit just yesterday, unable to bear the intense pressures that the lower classes now forced on them like steam in a blocked pipe. Guards assaulted in broad daylight, complete disregard for public order, and blatant slandering of Princess Luna at every street corner, these were but a few of the problems that faced this poor young guard captain, but one thing Luna loved about him was that he never seemed to be down about it.

The young captain greeted her with a brilliantly white smile, he must have excellent dental hygiene, and said cheerfully, "Good afternoon Princess Luna! Up early I see?"

She smiled at him in turn, admiring his earnestness, and replied, "Yes, I am. It seems that many of the nobles would rather not have to spend their partying time waiting for me to arrive at my court, so I make sacrifices for them." She grimaced and added, "I only hope they appreciate it."

The young stallion gave her another grin and a rather cute laugh as he said, "I'm sure they won't, they'll only say that you should have been doing this from the beginning."

Luna chuckled lightly at his remark and found herself looking him over more thoroughly. He was certainly handsome, especially in his gleaming golden armor that covered him neck-to-toe, and his eyes held a delicious look of devotion.

Luna smiled to herself as she thought, Well, if there's one thing I'm in need of it's stress relief. Perhaps I'll reward this little foal for being such a good boy these last few days.

"Ahem, Princess?"

Luna blinked back from her fantasies, not blushing even a tad, and said, "I didn't quite catch that, what did you say?"

The young captain gave her a somewhat apologetic look (he was just too adorable!) and repeated, "I said I'm sorry to bother you but there's been another spot of bother with the schedules. Apparently ten more men decided to er, take extended unpaid vacations as it were ma'am."

Luna sighed and nodded, replying, "Very well, schedule more patrols to be taken over by the night shift guards if need be. At least none of the thestrals have decided to turn tail. Now, and I really am sorry to say this, but I must get to court immediately."

The captain snapped to attention and answered, "Of course Princess, I'll have the changes made before the day is out."

Waving good by to the attractive young stallion, Luna took one last deep breath, and then stepped through the star-patterned double doors to the Night Court.

As soon as she entered the room, dozens of conversations ceased, and hundreds of eyes turned to her. She fixed a smile to her face, and walked up to speak with Filthy Rich, one of her loudest antagonists who had been complaining that merely her being put into power had decreased his profits per quarter by well over half a percent. Luna didn't actually have a solution for him, she just thought he deserved some teasing. All she had to do was walk up and talk to him, spending time with Luna, willingly or not, was social suicide nowadays, and even in her current state of pariah, she could still bring down her enemies one way or another.

As she approached she heard the last piece of his spoken conversation, "... Diamond will not be- hurk!" before he pulled up short and watched, bug-eyed as she veritably stalked toward him.

Oh yes, thought Luna, this'll be fun.

But she was stopped by a light tap on the shoulder. Luna turned, at first surprised, and then with an inner groan as she recognized Prince Blueblood. The most hated noble in Canterlot besides her. And he was a very close second.

Still, somepony was actually willing to speak with her, how could she refuse? "Yes, Prince Blueblood, how may I help you?"

Blueblood locked eyes with her, with a seriousness she had scarcely seen before from him, and said gravely, "Someone moves against you."

Luna forced herself not to roll her eyes incredibly hard, and replied, "Yes, Blueblood, try all of Equestria. That's who's against me."

Blueblood either missed her sarcasm, or simply ignored it, Luna didn't know which, and whispered, "No, this is too perfect, too planned. These events came too quickly. Your foe is smart, and indeed a great danger to you. There is a face behind this fear, the first pebble of this avalanche. Someone moves against you, and rest assured, I will do my best to find out who."

And with that Blueblood swiftly departed, immediately complaining loudly about the sorry state of the spotless chandeliers, leaving a baffled Luna in his wake. Blueblood had never been known to prank anypony, and he had sounded completely sincere. Somepony- no, someone he had said, moved against her. But who could it be?

Village of Hopping Springs, the next day -

Steel Heart wiped his sweating bow with the back of his forearm, and blew out a long sigh. In front of him his forge roared hungrily, consuming the latest batch of silver he had fed into it. To his right lay a pile of silver swords, all of them slightly darker shades than the one beneath them. Failures, from the last three days of making this darn prince's blade. He couldn't just order a normal iron sword, oh no, not for "Prince Blood Diamond", it had to be silver, and it had to be enchanted.

The aforementioned Prince stood behind Steel Heart as he kept his eye on the bubbling metal. Blood Diamond was tall, even for an alicorn, and had the breadth to match. Though his frame looked slender, you could see that his muscles were like steel cables underneath the dark grey skin, wiry, yet strong. His eyes and mane were both blood red, and the feathers of his wings, when lain together, formed the pattern of swirling smoke out of different shades and tints.

At first, Steel heart had been delighted to serve somepony as esteemed as an alicorn, and after being shown the diagram of the sword, which the Prince had drawn up himself, he had agreed to let the stallion work with him to complete the enchantment aspect of the smithing. That was three days ago. Now, hot, tired, and nary a single break for food or water later, they were on the seventh model of sword. Every single one so far had failed to meet the Prince's frankly unascertainable standards. He hadn't even hit anything with a single one of them before sighing and tossing it into the heap of swords that had built up in the corner. Steel Heart was going to keep all of them of course, these so called "failures" were some of the best swords he had made in years, and they were all at least semi-enchanted.

When Steel Heart had asked why the Prince never tried any of them, he only responded, "Because it's not the right one."

They'd talked a lot over the past three days being stuck in a room together, working metal 24/7, and Steel Heart had learned quite a bit about the young alicorn. Not that Steel Heart was old or anything, it's just that the Prince had a certain... abundance of energy that you rarely found in the elder ones. Steel Heart had actually been quite surprised to meet an alicorn he'd never heard about, but the Prince had explained that there were actually many more alicorns than was commonly believed, somewhere in the midst of one every hundred million ponies. So, not a huge number, but still, more than four.

Steal Heart's wife had come by many times throughout the three days, well the first two anyway, he had a feeling she'd given up on being accommodating after the man she was serving had practically robbed her of a husband. But for some reason, Steel Heart felt that it was almost over. He checked the bubbling silver again, it looked the same as always, and then looked to the Prince, who leaned on a wall behind him. it was a good thing the ceiling in here was so tall, otherwise the stallion would have had to crouch just to fit. On the Prince's face was a look of intense concentration, as he kept his eyes locked on the forge, and his horn glowed with a deep red light. Steel Heart jumped a little as the Prince moved forward quickly towards the forge, staring directly down into the bubbling liquid metal.

"Ah... there you are, old friend," the Prince murmured as a smile crept over his face.

Steel Heart blinked and thought to himself, Did... did he just talk to the forge?

"Uh, sir, you sure you don't want to take a break now, you appear to be... hallucinating," Steel Heart said uncomfortably. He'd asked this question many times before, sans the talking to inanimate objects bit, and the Prince had always turned him down, saying they needed to stay and finish the job.

"No no! Don't you see? We are closer now than we have ever been!" the Prince exclaimed, slowly reaching his hand toward the blazing forge.

"No sir! Stop, you'll-" Steel Heart's voice cut off as the alicorn moved his hand into the flames, and the fire bent itself around him, as if making way.

"Yes, old friend, you know me. You remember me. You may be fuzzy, I was too at first. Don't worry my friend, I am here. Let me wield you as I once did..." and with that, Prince Blood Diamond slowly submerged his hand in molten silver, seemingly grasping for something.

Steel Heart flinched as he expected a hiss of steam and the smell of burned flesh, but neither came. Instead, the Prince drew his hand out of the fire, a rod of white-hot rod of metal in his hand. As he pulled further back, the liquid silver leapt from the forge, molding itself in mid-air into the shape of a wickedly sharp blade. Steel Heart's eyes widened as the blade continued to grow, starting thin, then widening, then thinning, then widening, before thinning a third time into a razor point. Within seconds, the white heat of the blade had cooled, and the silver color darkened, and darkened, and darkened, until it was the color of pitch. Small white lines ran through the sword, moving in low slow arcs before crashing into the edge of the sword, or the top of the wide hilt, like waves in a tempestuous sea. And the hilt, it was one of the most beautiful works of art Steel Heart had ever seen. Six hydra heads adorned it, three on each side of the blade, all twelve eyes filled with pure onyx gemstones, their thick necks curved downward and intertwined to form the grip, upon which some form of shimmering cloth was already wrapped. The sword itself was massive, almost as tall as Blood Diamond himself, easily seven feet long from the tip to the handle. Steel Heart had thought he'd made broadswords before, he now stood corrected. With effortless ease, the Prince grasped the hilt with both hands and pulled, the blade separated like water, flowing into and forming two new, shorter swords, each adorned with three hydra heads apiece. The Prince slammed them back together and they molded seamlessly back into the gargantuan broadsword, which the Prince held easily, as if he had already known this weapon through many battles.

"Now just two more tests," the Prince said, and shoved the sword at the nearest wall.

Steel Heart screamed in horror, expecting the magnificent blade to shatter or bend, but instead it sunk up to the hilt into the stone, looking as if the solid two feet of brick and mortar had barely slowed its progress at all. The Prince pulled the blade away from the wall, and revealed a razor thin cut clean through the stone, and not even a scratch on the sword itself.

"You know Steel, I always wondered why my mother didn't make my powers to work the same on stallions as they do on mares. It has forever been a mystery to me. I tried my hand at it once, and found it a complete wast of good magic, I couldn't extract a single drop. I suspect it had something to do with the fact that I was bred to take down her sister, and she didn't want me tilling the other field if you know what I mean. But one day, I went to war, and found that after every battle I was exhausted, and you know, there isn't a whole lot of time for some good one-on-one when you're spending weeks bogged down in the corpses of your enemies. So I came up with this beauty."

With a blur of light, the Prince towered before Steel Heart, and his throat went dry. There was something horribly wrong-

And then he was stabbed.

Pain. Pure, unadulterated agony radiated from his chest, his arms, legs, and head crumpled inward towards the point where a seven foot sword stood lodged in his chest. Steel Heart's throat burned, his eyes were dry, his fingers and toes were numb. His hair fell off in waves, and he felt his body shrivel as not just the moisture in his body, but everything about him was pulled into the sword. He lost memories, color vision, his fear of what was happening even. But the pain never stopped.

"Neat isn't it?" Blood Diamond continued to his rather captive audience, "To bad it's a one shot deal, but it absorbs all the magic from a pony's body. Suddenly, the longer the fight went on, the more I killed with this blade, the faster I became, the stronger, the more ferocious. I could fight for weeks without rest and be better off than I was when I started."

At this point, almost nothing of Steel Heart remained. A shriveled husk, desiccated and lifeless. He would die if Blood Diamond pulled the sword from him immediately, but that did not mean that he had given all there was to give. With a final flash of power, Steel Heart's very soul was assimilated into the sword, and flowed up into Blood Diamond's arms as pure magical power.

"Ahhhhh. That was refreshing. Now let's see how the rest are getting on."

The village of Hopping Springs burned around Kaiscillius as he strode out from the blacksmith's house, his oldest, and shiniest, friend New Moon strapped to his back. Every house around him was either burning or already burnt out, dozens of civilians lay slaughtered in the streets, stallions, mares, and foals alike. One of his ten golems awaited him out front. Each one was made entirely of red crystal, and bore the shape of a pony covered head to toe in armor, and they had no face. All of them were incredibly complex arcane constructs that moved silently, struck with absolute accuracy, and moved with unholy speed and grace. The only reason one would prefer a normal pony over one of these, is that they didn't improvise well. They would always carry out the mission assigned to them, regardless of the damage done to themselves, but they would only do so in the specified manner, sometimes requiring lawyer speak in order to make sure they got the job done right. Over the last two weeks, Kaiscillius had made use of them as bandits, assassins, and enforcers to keep his lesser thralls in line. The Dust manufacturing was another brilliant idea he had come up with as a means of controlling the populace of any city in which he released it for sale, as he was the only one that could produce it. Every single member of his organisation was an avid Dust-user, he had made sure it was so, they would never betray him if he was their only means of securing a fix.

The golem approached its master mechanically, making no noise as it somehow communicated to him, "No civilians left alive. None have escaped. Shrines of Nightmare Moon made of transmuted stone being placed as we speak. Celestia remains in catatonia. Guard Captain Lance has increased the number of thestral patrols during the day time. Guards are being assaulted in the streets of Canterlot. Luna made no new shocking announcements at court. One of the criers was raped by the Fine and Son's Bank clerk."

"What was that last one?" Kaiscillius asked as he continued his way through the grim husk of the once lively, and now quite dead, village. He had ordered the golems to give him status updates in order from most to least important information, apparently it did not consider a potential disruption to one of his key operations that important.

"Loud Speaker, Dust user, town crier, lives at 34 Lanebank Avenue, was drugged and raped by Fine Son, Dust user, clerk, expendable, two days ago. They have since entered an arrangement wherein Fine is given sexual intercourse for the allotted amount of Dust Loud Speaker receives as her bonus. This behavior is incorrect, should I rectify it?"

"Yes, please do after we have finished here," Kaiscillius mumbled, "Loud Speaker is one of the better ones if I recall, she deserves at least some comfort. In fact... send her to me after you have punished, punished mind you, not killed, Fine Son. I will... console her myself."

"Of course, Master." The automaton bowed and began walking eastward, leaving Kaiscillius alone in the middle of the street, up to his knees in corpses, as the ash from the fires began to rain down from the sky.

Not a bad day, all in all, he thought, as he strolled from the town whistling a jaunty tune.

Author's Note

This chapter was a more shotgun based approach to storytelling that fills you in on the various things Kaiscillius has been doing all at once. A slightly shorter chapter, yes, but I feel it serves the purpose I wished. Next chapter will, again, be of narrower scope, and of greater detail. But, I'm not gonna lie, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Maybe I'm evil. Also I don't know if I encapsulated how horrible Dust is. Imagine heroin, plus the world's strongest Viagra, plus those pills that say they'll make your penis bigger, except Dust actually works. We're talking that kind of addictive quality people. With a few added... side effects, that we'll get to later.

So, Kaiscillius has already begun playing a game his enemies have no idea they are a part of, Celestia is incapacitated, Luna is alone, the city of Canterlot is in turmoil, time for a... hero.