Chapter 1: One Grim Night.

"Do you know what day is today?" A feminine voice asked.

"It's hard not to know with all the mourning and the festivities going around." A deep, baritone male voice said. "Mmmm... two years already have passed. It feels like it was only a few days ago I was under the spell of the caribou."

"Is something on your mind, Doctor?" The female voice asked noting the heavy tone of the male's voice.

"Not a brainwashing dark spell, thankfully." He sighed followed by a throaty hum. "By any chance, do you know about my work regarding those most heavily afflicted by the caribou's taint?"

"Of course, Doctor Shine. I myself use your methods and have found them quite... enlightening, to say the least." The female said.

"Thanks to my degree and being a Corrupted, the caribou tossed me into a laboratory to run several experiments, mostly on the Rape Vines and the Harvesters, to increase their productivity and such. Shows how stupid they truly were, huh? They sent a psychiatric to do the job of a biologist. But I was spared from suffering and inflicting most of the vast horrors they hammered into Equestria, so I can count myself as being extremely lucky. Humm, Equestria, my home. Strange for a Diamond Dog to call Equestria his home and have a proper education, job, and career, am I right?" Shine laughed for a moment before humming again.

"Not that it really brings solace to my heart in the end. So many...," he shook his head. "It doesn't really matter now. What matters is to help those that have to struggle to survive. Each waking moment a living nightmare for them."

"Can you tell me more?" The female said in a softer tone. "Are there any that you remember more than others?"

"Hundreds. Each one of them unique in their suffering, but all of them coming from the same source. As it stands, everything is relative and we, as rational beings, tend to judge things in accordance to what we remember experiencing: cold, warm, pain, hunger, love, you name it. It's not the same to have knowledge of things than to actually experience them. And all of my patients since the Rise started now have more experience than I care to understand. For their safety, not mine. It's horrible that in my field of work I can't allow myself to get emotionally attached to anyone, yet my heart goes to everyone that had to endure the regime of the caribou."

A few seconds of silence fell between the two before Shine hummed again.

"I had the pleasure to evaluate several prominent figures during the first months after the caribou were brought down in their homeland. Can you believe that my very first patient was none other than Spike Solaris himself? I can still feel his green eyes piercing my soul every second he watched me. He... didn't allow me a chance to question him about his fillings of thoughts on specific points, and when I did he dodged the question with cold nonchalant humor. He didn't give much to work with during our first and only appointment, but despite that everything he did tell me the truth: emotionally, he was a walking corpse." Shine hummed.

"On the other side of the specter, we have Commander Soarin. He was an emotional time bomb, having to resort to special zebra drugs to remain stable most of the time. He was filled with hate and anger, the fact that the caribou had been driven to near extinction didn't seem enough for him. Worst of all, his intense guilt and volatile self-hate had turn him into a completely different stallion from what he was in the past before the Fall. Understandable. At one point I asked him if he had ever thought of suicide. To this day his answer still sends shivers down my spine."

"What was his answer?"

" 'Death is too good for me.'" Shine replied.

"Divine Creators..." The female whispered.

"Indeed. Many of the then called Blood Hunters were incredibly similar, maybe that explains why they work so well together. But Soarin? He's in another league altogether, if I may be so bold." Shine hummed once more before chuckling. "Although... there is this special case, one that almost made me retire from my services." Shine fell silent for a few seconds. "There's this mare by the name of Grim Night. Completely crazy beyond help but still, well, I'd say rational but I think the word 'obsessed' would be better. Crazy but obsessed enough to not be a danger to anyone but herself, the caribou, and anyone stupid enough to incite her rage."

"What do you mean by that, Doctor?"

"For what I was able to gather, Grim Night was the sweetest, most caring, most devoted mare to children anyone had ever known. Before the Fall she ran a private orphanage where she took care of any children fortunate enough to arrive there. She funded it via public donations and by performing in public as a dancer and singer. No, not that kind. She had the talent and fame to be as great as Sapphire Shores or even Coloratura, but her real love belonged to the children. She cared for them, loved them, educated them, guided them, encouraged them just like a good mother should." Shine went silent, humming occasionally. "Some called her a living Saint, others called her deluded. Her children called her mother."

"Doctor Shine..."

"But then... The caribou came. She was forced to watch how her daughters were raped in front of her eyes by the caribou and even by her turned sons. She was raped for weeks on end and in such brutality that left her barren. She was tortured, beaten, and re-educated to an almost daily basis because she was a black collar and she refused to bow down to the caribou and their bastard of a king. That is... until a caribou, her master at the time, decided to teach her a lesson by ripping away her left eye and doing something I rather not say to both the eye and the socket."

The female made a gurgling noise.

"After that, her will and fortitude shattered completely. The motherly and pure pegasus mare was no more, her children forgotten. She became cold, methodical, maniacal, bloodthirsty, and completely unpredictable. She was exchanged and moved all over Equestria as some sort of exotic, dangerous pet, but eventually, she was sent to a dirt farm to be blanked for being uncontrollable, the same day the barrier fell. According to the Saddle Arabian forces that arrived in Mexicolt, Grim Night had killed with her bare hands more than two hundred caribou, several dozens of completely turned stallions, and many male children already corrupted by the caribou's taint. All of them had their eyes removed while she played with them with glee."

The female vomited.

"The saddest part is that she's far outside any kind of help I or anyone else can possibly offer. That loving mare is no more thanks to the caribou. And just like Grim Night, hundreds of thousands will never be the same again, despite our efforts. All we can do is understand them... and hope that at least some solace comes to them." Shine hummed. "I believe that's all for the day?" Shine asked getting up. "Same time next year, Doctor Jasmine?" The Diamond Dog asked to the Saddle Arabian mare as he made his way to the door.

"W-wait," Jasmine said half-recovered. "Doctor Shine, are you certain there's nothing we can do to help them."

Shine shrugged. "Maybe in the future, but now? No, child. Wounds are still too fresh and open. The scars they shall leave will be deep, ugly, and permanent... if they ever close up. Pray, child, that they do."

End.

Author's Note

Special thanks to anyone that read this!

Special thanks to Author of MADness for helping me filter down ideas and for being a total bro.

Now that I have a little bit of free time on my hands I shall be updating and focusing on Resurrection, so new chapter soon!