Madness Overlord

Opening his eyes, Suzaku was greeted by a dark, unfamiliar sight. He knew that wasn't the ceiling of his room. Realizing to lying down, he gets up and examined his surrounding to understand what is going on. The place in which he was in was a very darkened hallway with fractured pillars lining in his way, with a feeble light in the end.

"I don't remember being sent in this place," Suzaku said. "And I don't even think is Balamos' fault for once. He would had warned me first."

He looked behind to see if there was a exit, but instead he found was a pitch-black passage filled with a seemingly endless dark. That alone gave him the impression of being trapped into some mad house. Returning his attention to the light, Suzaku couldn't tell if that was just a entrance into some room or some nasty trap. He hesitated to do go, but a very sinister curiosity was compelling him to uncover it's nature.

"Tsk. I had encountered so many creepy and absurd things until now. Why I should stop now?"

He headed toward the end of the corridor, wanting to know where he is. The only thing that he can take for sure is that the place in which is not Canterlot Castle or any part of Equestria. The more Suzaku approached the light, the weaker it became.
And when he reached it, the light stopped it's fading process, revealing it to be a entrance. Without any hesitation, he entered inside. Stepping inside, he witnessed a very absurd scenario.

What was in front of him was a stone, dreary throne room, made with a bizarre architecture but still resembling a ancient one. There are no windows, no adornments and no walls. Only passages leading toward the absolute void seized their places. And Sitting on the throne wasn't a alicorn or a Mindeater.

That was a seemingly, faceless humanoid creature made of shadows, whose appearance resembled that of a dark warrior who seemed to had came out from some dark fantasy. His body was covered by a cape made of titanium plates, a scarf made of chains, iron gauntlets resembling serpent's jaws, leggings armed with blades, swords protruding from his shoulders and a broken steel armor; partially revealing it's shapeless torso. He remained immobile, seemingly not acknowledging Suzaku's existence.

Suzaku could assume that he was the one who brought him there. He was obviously angry at him, but as he observed him, he felt suddenly intimidated. But that was not just because he was little compared to that man, due to him being in pony form. What really scared Suzaku was his anger being drained away by the man's oppressive presence. He could feel that happening without the shapeless man doing anything, as he leaved his own existence spoke for him, speaking the mute language of omnipresence and awe.

"What kind of sick feeling is this?" Suzaku said quietly, disturbed by that.

He stepped forward reluctantly, wanting to know something about his captor. As Suzaku reached the center of the room, the man's eyes opened, making their existence known on his face , causing him to stop, startled. The armored individual's eyes were fully colored in blue, accompanied by platinum irises. These are completely devoid of feelings or emotions.

Suzaku was paralyzed by fear and confusion, almost trembling. But then he forced it to stop it and motivated himself to not back down. Suzaku has not forgot the fact that he had to survive this madness in which Balamos putted into, so remain stuck there or even die are things that he won't accept. He had no intention to retreat. Armed with his own will and knowing that he must be cautious with him, Suzaku stood up on his hind legs and draw out his claws.

"Good thing you are awake," Suzaku said. "Because I don't like being captured by some Berserk reject like you."

The dark warrior doesn't respond. He continued to stare at Suzaku, who started to lose his patience.

"The silent treatment doesn't work on me." Suzaku said irritated. "I'm not gonna take it from you, so you better let me go."

Despite Suzaku's insistence, the man still didn't respond. Keeping his eyes locked on Suzaku, the dark warrior rose slowly from the throne and walked toward him, with his eyes emanating a menacing halo, accompanied by the sounds of his moving chain made scarf, the plates of his cape and that of his leggings making their contact with the floor. Knowing what that means, Suzaku summoned his huge black sword and grabbed it with his clawed hoof, determined to deal with him.

"Alright. No more games, dude. Enough is enough!" Suzaku shouted aggressively before dissipating in black-green flames and reappearing in front of the man to swiftly cut him down with the sword, only for the armored menace to effortlessly blocking it with one hand. "What!?"

The dark warrior pressed his hand on the blade. Cracking sound were making their voices known, and before Suzaku could even realize, the man shatters the sword into pieces. Suzaku had frozen in place wide-eyed upon seeing his weapon being destroyed in few seconds. Fear was seizing his mind, invigorated by the man's oppressive presences, but his own promise to not succumb to no one induced him to quickly react by charging his other clawed hoof with dark-violet energy to use his own Shadow Shotgun on his enemy.

Suzaku pointed his charged hoof at the dark warrior's head, but he was immediately blocked by the latter grabbing his head with the right hand and lifting upward. Suzaku tried to shot at the man's head, but the charged energy quickly dissipated and died off shortly. He felt his powers and unnatural strength being completely drained away from him. The dark warrior pressed his finger on his head with the merciless intent to crush him, slowly. His pained screams increased in volume, marking the oppressive pressure of the man's hand pressing even more harder on his skull.

However, as the pain was about to became unbearable to the point to give Suzaku the feeling of his death lurking in his mind, the dark warrior stopped his crushing pressure on Suzaku's head. The man's hand halted his supposed execution, but didn't let him go. Dazed by both the pain and the migraine post pressure, Suzaku looked in the man's cold, platinum eyes.

"What the hell are you?" Suzaku said, feeling his confidence being drained.

The dark warrior didn't respond and didn't even react, at first. Then, after a moment, his eyes shrunken. Then his shadow mass that composed his body began to expanding out of his armor, deforming most of his humanoid form until he became a huge mantle. That fierce foe rendered Suzaku outright powerless as his already twisted appearance lit up in multiple waves of blue flames.

As he felt the scorching the heat of the incoming azure inferno, Suzaku let out a terrified scream but was immediately silenced by the mercilessly, voracious flames eating him alive in few seconds. Only a little echo of his voice rang across the room one moment before being replaced by the roar of the burning execution. Suzaku saw his sight being devoured by a flaming mouth and swallowed into the oblivion.

Darkness was the last thing that he saw but all of sudden, Suzaku found himself gasping and breathing heavily, staring on the wall in front of him. Confusion entered his mind through his veins. He frantically looked around and putted his hoof on his chest to verify to his own heartbeats. Suzaku barely sighed in relief, but his confusion was, at least in part, present. Some seconds ago he was a that throne room. He was actual in his bedroom in Gol Nazam's Palace. His green coat was stained with sweat, just like his bed. A light wave of dizziness washed over him as he groaned.

"It was all a fucking dream," Suzaku murmured, grumpily. "Thought that I can't say the same thing for my involvement in this insanity. I'm still a pony after all."

The nightmarish fight and that cursed outcome were still freshly planted in his memory, and he had no idea of how much time it takes for it to dissipate. That dream was so livid that Suzaku really believed to die for real. Not wanting to thinking about that any further, he tried to shrug off that experience, but he couldn't do nothing with that lingering residual feeling of uneasiness.

Groggy and partially disoriented, Suzaku slowly got out of the bed and walked toward the window. Looking on the outside, saw the identical darkened landscape. No matter how many hours passed. The sky was still pitch-black, which complicates his partially screwed his perception of time. Unable to tell if is morning, evening or night again, Suzaku turned his attention to the desktop, looking for something that wasn't there.

"Oh, I forgot," Suzaku muttered quietly. "I don't have any clock alarm. Thanks for your courtesy, Balamos."

Realizing to be still soaked in his own sweat, he walked into the bedroom and took his own shower. Normally, but not so normally, Suzaku felt always weird to do so while being a pony, but for this time it didn't mattered to him. A few unanswered questions regarding the demonic voice who spoke in his head never stopped to occupy his mind. He didn't even know who he is. One phrase in particular rang in his mind.

"We will meet very soon, but you won't like my hospitality."

"What do you want from me?" Suzaku whispered on that though.

He paused, taking his time to adjust his own thoughts and connection as the water continued to rain down on him. After thirteen minutes of reflection, he let out a heavy sigh induced by his own inability to find some plausible responses or possibilities.

"I guess I have to find that out by myself."

Suzaku closed the faucet and dried himself with the towel. After that, he returned in his bedroom and took a look in his closet. He putted on his violet vest and black jacket, and lay on the bed with the intent to get some extra rest to digest the fatigue caused by the nightmare. As Suzaku stared at the ceiling, his mind wandered in a mnemonic recap of he what had gone through so far. From his encounter with Sugar Bell's cult to his search for Whaust.

Among his thoughts, he remembered Whaust mentioning that he may have to build a portal. His visage was marked with incredulity, having realized a contradiction that he never noticed. His memory clicked.

"I must be a idiot for not having asked that to him before," Suzaku said, getting up. "Why does Balamos need a Inter-dimensional portal?"

His own attempt visualize and examine that point was then interrupted by someone knocking at his door. Suzaku get out of his bed and headed toward the door.

"Now who's knocking?" Suzaku asked to himself, still half sleepy. "I hope is not Starcider."

As he was in front of it, Suzaku was about to open, but then frozen as he felt a familiar, creepy aura lurking behind it. He reluctantly grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door. He became merely startled, having already guessed that was Whaust being the one in front of him four legged, still covering his head with his eye-holed paper bag and still towering on him in height. Despite this, Suzaku managed to remain almost calm, this time.

"Do you need something?" Suzaku said, not expecting anything in particular from him.

"You didn't looked surprised to see me." Whaust replied.

"I could feel your ominous aura going through the door." Suzaku said, almost grumpily.

"I'm afraid I can't do anything about that." Whaust said calmly.

"Nevermind. You came here just in time." Suzaku assured. "There is something that I need to ask."

"Ask what?" Whaust asked, perplexed.

"You said that Balamos may need you to create a portal to reach the Freak World, right?" Suzaku inquired.

Whaust almost froze up, seemingly processing what he heard from him. He know what Suzaku meant to say but couldn't guess the reason behind his question.

"I don't know what are you implying." Whaust replied, confused.

"Couldn't Balamos just teleport us there?" Suzaku demanded. "I mean, he can open dimensional portals. What was the point to build a portal if he-"

"I had already asked that to him," Whaust interrupted, anticipating his answer. "But then he said that he cannot do so... because his presence can't reach the Freak World."

"What do you mean with that?" Suzaku asked, confused.

"According to him," Whaust explained. "What he can do with the Freak World is observe it and it's timeline, but cannot interact with it or even use his powers inside of it because of a interference. The only thing that can allow anypony to access that world is a physical portal, such as the magical mirror. But unfortunately the interference has tendency to redirect you into another dimension. The probability of access through the mirror is thirty percent. "

Suzaku remained speechless as his brain was processing the whole thing. Though that he didn't know most of that metaphysical stuff that Whaust putted together, he reach the obvious conclusion. Getting into the Freak World was going to be more difficult of than he thought.

"You cannot be serious." Suzaku said incredulous.

"Dimensional travel is no joke," Whaust replied bluntly. "That is another reason why Celestia sequestered my replica of the mirror. I could tell that since I studied dimensional travels before I built my own dimensional portal in the first place."

As Whaust finished his explanation, Suzaku took some moments to ponder about what he heard and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. But there are things that didn't convinced him this much.

"So this is why Balamos needed a physical portal in the first place, huh. I guess that even him has his own limits. But I'm not entirely convinced of that. He may had lied, but since I don't know how this dimensional stuff is working in live, I will just play ball. Still... that doesn't resolve the other problem."

"But there's one problem with that," Suzaku remarked. "We don't have all the material to build it when I had retrieved you, remember?"

"Ironically Balamos, if this is your boss name, took care of that situation on his own" Whaust said, slightly optimistic.

"How?" Suzaku asked

"Probably each room of both the wings of this palace was specifically designed to suit the incoming recruits," Whaust informed. "In my case, my own room is a hybrid in between a laboratory, like my own old one and a bedroom. That room surprisingly contains most of the stuff that I needed for my experiments... Except the stuff that I need to build the portal."

"Then it's not so great as a good news," Suzaku complained. "What do you need?"

"What we need are just the same kind of materials that I had used, plus magical artifacts," Whaust replied."But don't worry. He said that he would send me for that job."

"Good for me," Suzaku said. "Because going around turning ponies into freaks and recruiting them is difficult enough."

Suzaku went out of his room and was about to walk away, but then and turned toward Whaust, looking at him as he remembered a small detail.

"You said magical artifacts." Suzaku said with Whaust nodding at it. "Since by then you were interested in magic?"

"What is your point?" Whaust inquired.

"Oh cmo'n, doctor. You are the kind of pony who say that science is the real magic." Suzaku remarked. "What convinced you change your mind?"

"Well... Neither I wasn't this erudite about that matter and I wasn't very fond of magic," Whaust admitted. "This until I had that enlightenment in which you were responsible of."

"What kind of enlightenment?" Suzaku asked, puzzled.

"For how I see that," Whaust began. "There are limits in my own knowledge that I never thought they existed. But after you putted that spirit inside of me, however, I found my own intellectual horizon being expanded. Despite the two side having a different nature, I came to understand that science and magic can do benefit in any single form if they were used correctly. After all, both of them are parts of the same coin called with it's own name: Knowledge."

"That... Is literally profound of you." Suzaku admitted, impressed by his explanation. "But what are you implying?"

"You see, young boy," Whaust explained. "The memories related to the Elements of Insanity weren't the only things that flowed inside my brain. There is also a that monster's knowledge."

Suzaku's memory clicked, this time on a different matter. "Knowledge you said?"

"Yes, but don't know how to describe it," Whaust said. "My mind is fragmented and prone to the madness and yet is strangely still clear. It's terrifying... and plausible at the same time. I never felt so mentally focused for about decades."

Suzaku was struck by that answer that lurked in the shadow of his mind but that he never bothered to take a look at during the retrieval of Whaust. He couldn't help but grin a little, tasting the hidden details behind his boss' choices of minions.

The Dr. Hooves was a brilliant inventor and scientist, but was also a ditzy one due to him having problems staying focused on the task at hand and gettiing caught up in the wrong details. After having his mind being altered after being possessed by the spirit of Faust, however, he became more focused than usual. But that wasn't the only thing that Suzaku noticed.

"So this is why Whaust embraced magic and what he knows about it;" Suzaku whispered quierly while looking away from Whaust. "That shouldn't surprise me. After all, Faust comes directly from a world in which magic replaced technology and yet it managed to conserve a piece of the former. No wonder Balamos wanted him. I hate to admit but that spectral eye's choice of recruits is probably more coherent of what I though."

"Why you look so enthusiast?" Whaust demanded with a slightly worried tone.

"Nothing in particular," Suzaku said as his grin dissipated immediately. "Anything else?"

Whaust pulled out three small metal orbs with a red-glassed eyes from his jacket and gave them to Suzaku. "He asked me to give you those things."

Suzaku looked perplexed for a moment but then he recognized the object, having saw a similar thing in a comic book. "Are these inter-dimensional probes?"

"Precisely. These are things that Balamos specifically asked me to build." Whaust responded. "These are actually Quantum Probes. Their function is to track down any dimension by following any source of energy and vitality, including magic. If we can track down that of Twilight and her friends, then we will find even the world in which they are now. They are also designed to disrupt the interference, which allow him to open his portals."

"Good to know... I guess." Suzaku said, almost impressed. "But how I am supposed to use those things?"

"They must be tossed inside the portal," Whaust said. "From there on, they will wander aimlessly through the multiverse, so I had to pilot them through a machine that I had developed in my own new laboratory."

"Well, at least I don't have to infiltrate Canterlot Castle to find the magic mirror since we can do it with your version." Suzaku said.

"Actually, that is not a real portal. Is small that I will use for tests. And Is not immediate," Whaust informed. "It will take me twenty nine days before it's finished."

"T-twenty nine days?" Suzaku said, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry for that," Whaust said with a almost grim tone. "But is not easy to make this minimized version of the replica of the mirror. I had also to be careful with quantum notions. Keep in mind that I managed to build my replica of the mirror in two years."

Suzaku groaned frustrated, putting his hoof on his forehead. He was about to complain but he didn't blame the doctor for that. Trying to calm down, he went out of the room.

"Nevermind. I will find a way on my own," Suzaku half assured.

"Is there something wrong, young boy?" Whaust asked with a perplexed tone, inducing Suzaku to stop.

"No, I just need to get some fresh air." Suzaku said as he turned toward Whaust. "Thanks for the help anyway."

"You don't look very lucid in this moment, mister Zaidel."

"Blame that demented black clouded sky. It's screwing with my perception of time and my biorhythm as well."

"I know that. This environment is not a very ideal one for your health." Whaust said, pulling out a watch just to show him the hour. "Time is also a important factor. As you can see, it's morning. Don't you have any clock at all?"

"I don't even have a clock alarm to begin with, courtesy of Balamos." Suzaku said slightly grumpily as he was walking away, but then he stopped on his tracks, having remembered something. "Hey, doctor, I almost forgot to asking this to you."

"Asking me what?" Whaust inquired.

"Did he told you anything about his own motivation behind this whole mission?" Suzaku asked.

"Glad that you had noticed that since that is the real reason of my visit. He was... very vague about that," Whaust replied, mistrustful about him. "What I got from him was that the Elements of Insanity and their corruption are a threat, but he didn't told me anything else about it."

"Don't tell me." Suzaku said before narrowing his eyes, slightly taken aback by that but not surprised. "Is that so?"

"Now if you excuse me, I have to go. But remember, I'm doing this just for Derpy, not for your boss' cause." Whaust said as he went in his room and closed the door politely.

With these new information, Suzaku had more reason to confront his boss, but for now he just wanted to rest his mind and clear up his ideas. Leaving the west wing, he went downstairs and headed outside the palace.

Suzaku wandered aimlessly in the meadow, accompanied by the pitch-black clouded sky above him. After walking for some miles, he stopped and looked forward. He remained to enjoy the wind blowing on him just for a few moments. Although that didn't managed to mitigate his uneasiness of being in pony freak form and having to deal with what he had encountered in this insane adventure and what he had to face yet.

He was still lured by the idea of beating the hell out of the corrupted Elements of Harmony who are now representing madness and chaos, but that wasn't so stupid to not questions himself about the dangers that he had gone through and other ones that seemed to come.

He lift his hoof and draw out his claws as he glanced at it with narrowed eyes, having in his mind something to reflect and even complain about. Something about his powers still doesn't add up. Suzaku clenched his claws to barely emulate a fist while he kept thinking about it.

"There's something wrong with my powers. No wonder how I look at it. I'm currently possessed by Yuki Terumi, although I can still control myself, but my powers didn't look like his own. I don't remember him being able to create energy shields or even using a huge black sword as his weapon. And that voice... That just made the things even more confusing"

Before he could consider other possibilities, Suzaku suddenly perceived a horrible aura. He could tell that Balamos was there. Feeling his presence looming above him, Suzaku looked upwards with a glare and waited for him to appear. But there's no visible or auditive sign of him.

"I know that you a there, big eye!" Suzaku exclaimed. "I need to talk with you! So stop looming above me and come out already!"

There's no response. A handful of seconds passed without no word or sign, much to Suzaku's annoyance.

"Cmo'n, Balamos. I don't have the whole day." Suzaku said, impatiently.

"Oh, Suzaku. More sardonic and arrogant as ever," Balamos said mockingly, appearing from above him. "You should know what is your place at this point since I hold you in the palm of my own invisible hand. Your should have learned your lesson in your past fights-""

"I get it. There's no laptop screen that would shield me this time." Suzaku cut him off. "This is why I decided to come here, jackass."

"What?"

"You see, I have more reason to act like that right now," Suzaku said. "In the past two days that I had to corrupt and recruit the ponies that will act as part of your army, I had faced very unpleasant things, fought a giant flaming dragon and three golem-like loathsome turtles, almost lost of my sanity and risked to die. All of that for your stupid mission. So of course I deserve at least on question."

"........ And what could possibly be, twat?" Balamos asked with a very annoyed tone.

"You said that there is culprit behind the corruption of the Mane Six into the Elements of Insanity." Suzaku paused. "I may understand if he would use them against Celestia, but Why you are so interested in the story? And why 'recruit' me?"

Balamos' eye shrunk for a moment and looked left and right. But more than looking elsewhere, he looked like he was instinctively emulating a dot of a computer while is processing something for a few seconds before looking back at Suzaku.

"You really want to go straight to the Hard Mode so badly, aren't you?"

"God or not, you are going to answer me." Suzaku replied bluntly.

"Very well... Then you will get your wish. It's your luck day. I have a clear idea of what the the culprit behind their corruption could be because I had recalled one thing," The iris of his eyed form shrunk. I have met that bastard before the rise of the Elements of Insanity."

Suzaku flinched in surprise. "You had?"

"Is a earth mare named Vaga. Is a demented pony from another dimension, obsessed with Death and Nihilism and possesses powers that had nothing to do with the Equestrian conventional magic, including the ability to travel through any dimensions, mind alteration, time traveling and hide her presence with her magical stealth. Vaga came once here with the intent to usurp my power."

"I can Imagine that she got her ass kicked by you," Suzaku guessed.

"Don't even think that was a stroll from me. Vaga put one hell of a fight and she was so close to win. I could even eliminate her for good, she fled in the Freak World and at some point, her existence simply vanished from both my perception and the timeline of every dimension as well. Which means that she veiled her existence to plot her next move."

That explanation gave Suzaku another reason to cautious about the ordeal in which he was involved. He had the impression that he would had fought the culprit after having purified the Elements of Insanity, but he didn't expected her to be this powerful. Suzaku briefly pondered about that nervously.

"If this mare was able to keep up with Balamos, then I'm going to have a real nightmare of a fight with her, especially since I have that problem with that stupid power abuse thing. It putted me in danger in the most crucial moments. Still... That reveal also reinforces my theory that he's hiding far more things than just Sunset Shimmer being turned into a freak."

"But that doesn't explain the reason she had for luring the Twilight and her gang into the Freak World to being possessed by those ghost of those TF2 Freaks," Suzaku said bluntly. "Is she someone who has a personal vendetta against Celestia?"

"Vaga has no reason in particular, except causing chaos, reveling in the bloodshed of the others and enjoy the destruction of worlds and every force that doesn't represent her ideals. Especially the one the Mane Six represent most. For Vaga, Harmony is just a facade, which disgusted her to end. She wanted nothing more than seeing the harmony of every dimension burn, one piece at time. This mare managed to destroy her own world, along with other twos."

"Whoa!" Suzaku exclaimed disturbed. "Now that is major league level of psychopathy. How powerful she can possibly be?"

"Is not always a matter of power. Her machinations and powers are insignificant if not used properly and her schemes carefully executed. In her case, Vaga can be usually both organized and chaotic in the execution of her plan, with only rare exception of using brute strength. However, with the Elements of Insanity... She acted way too organized."

"What do you mean with that?" Suzaku asked.

"Vaga usually commit her atrocities according to her whims, eager to taste the destruction of a world. But this time, she took her time to adjust the setting of her plans and involving more that just one dimension into something very massive, a theory proven by the Mindeaters' appearance. In other words, Vaga is working for someone else."

"Wait." Suzaku said, gesturing him to stop. "Are you telling me that she's just someone's puppet?"

"Vaga has different idea about that, but you are correct. The one behind web created by him is the real spider. A monster with a unfathomable trail of horrors in his background, who is far more dreadful than her. A entity known with one name: the Mad Void."

"The Mad Void?" Suzaku said confused.

"He's a embodiment of bloodshed and madness, born by the insanity and foolishness of three alchemists who died to create it. The moment the Mad Void raised, his own world was turned into a living hell. His influence twisted the minds and appearance of any living being into his own, which is very handy for him since he feast on their insanity in order to grow his power. If left unchecked, every dimension will be thrown in a eternal mad nightmare shaped at his own image."

Suzaku was awe-struck for what heard about it. Normally, that would sounds like the plot of a movie, but considering the whole madness that he had witnessed so far, he could hardly do that anymore. Even with the boost of confidence that the spirit that is possessing him is giving, he was having a hard time to remain calm.

"As dealing with the Elements of Insanity and this Vaga weren't enough" Suzaku with a fed up tone. "Are you telling me that I have to fight this Lovecraftian Horror as well!?"

"That is not the case. Before The Mad Void is currently sealed into a desolate dimension called the Frontier. Said dimension was supposed to cut off his existence off from every dimension's reality, preventing him to leave and weakening his powers... But there was a flaw with that."

"Huh?"

"The Frontier is partially connected to three dimensions through quantum gaps: Equestria, the Freak World and a unidentified third one. Although The Mad Void couldn't leave, he could still manifest his form in one of these threes and feast on the insanity of the living being that filtered from those three worlds to slowly regain his powers. The only thing that he needed was a pawn who would gladly act for him. And, as you can guess, Vaga was the perfect candidate."

"And she is into his junk." Suzaku anticipated him.

"Very perceptive. When Vaga arrived in the Freak World after being defeated by me, she was the first to discover his manifestation. Judging by how the story goes, she became probably infatuated with him and thinks it is her mission to release him. Discovering that forsaken graveyard nearby Mann Manor, Vaga came up with the idea to create the Elements of Insanity. These six possessed ponies are both victims and unwitting instruments of the Mad One's return."

Having guessed in part where that part is going, Suzaku mentally visualized the logical structure behind Balamos' words. At that point, part of the initial question that he asked to Balamos came in his mind like a flash. And due to it's nature, he didn't like it at all.

"In other words," Suzaku began. "Vaga is using The Elements of Insanity as both as constant insanity fuel to release some crazy, terrifying entity that will come here and destroy everything!?"

"Correct. After Twilight and her friends got possessed, Vaga already began to pul the strings for a while in order for him to feast on their corrupted energy, their insanity and the influence of the Mindeaters being spawned by their corruption, for they are the new source of the Mad Void's power. But that wasn't enough and the process was still slow."

"Oh well. That should give us a lot of time, putting aside Brutalight's attempt to build that portal of her." Suzaku said, still nervous.

"Do you seriously think that Vaga would had sit her ass and being content with just that? She would had found a plan to speed up the process. Initially she intended to send local mercenaries, RED and BLUE alike against them to feed the Mad Void even further, but even that wasn't enough. Vaga was still on the starting point... Until that night."

"What happened? She suddenly decided to sent Gray Mann's robots or something?" Suzaku asked.

"Is far worse. Vaga was in that forsaken graveyard than she saw a entity luring a small creature from Equestria and turning it into a pony freak, who had then gone to face Twilight, now being Brutalight. Ironically the fight didn't last that much and disappeared empty handed. That, however, gave Vaga the inspiration to make their... Nemesis."

"A nemesis?" Suzaku looked almost confused.

"Which is where Sunset Shimmer comes into play. After having returned to the present, Vaga had probably lured her into Equestria, wiped her memories to restore her hateful self and leaded her to the Freak World. Thus resulting her getting possessed and turning into the demonic alicorn that is Painset Shimmercakes. Thus, giving her what boosted up both the Mad Void's chance to return and the spread of the aura of madness: A Freak War.

Suzaku's widened in shock. "A war?... You mean a piloted war!?"

"It happened in very desolated area of the Freak World. The Elements of Insanity and Painset eventually clashed each other, exuding even more corrupted energy. Painset was defeated in the most horrible way possible, but is not dead."

"I know, right? Painset appeared in front of Sugar Bell, killed a dozen of innocent ponies and make her found a cult that worshiped her."

"Painset be the last of your problem, because if we lose, not our side or that of Brutalight will survive. There won't be winners except Vaga, much to her joyful nihilism. Seeing madness twisting Harmony into something vile and psychotic and Equestria falling apart is also what she want, not even caring about the destruction that her action will bring in other dimensions."

".... That is the most twisted aftermath I ever heard," Suzaku announced disgusted. "Both of our sides being both killed as her own meat puppets in her own show if we make some mistake."

"That is nothing compared to being assimilated by him. Did you had grasp the facts? That is the new horrifying reality that we are going to be part of unless we don't purify the Elements of Insanity and stop Vaga's madness."

"..... Give me a break, please." Suzaku said, shaken by that.

"Do whatever you want. But that is what you gain for asking me these question too early. For your morale being preserved, you shouldn't have asked that in the first place."

Ignoring the spectral eye's remark, Suzaku looked away from him and tried to regain his mental composure but was very difficult for him to doing so. He couldn't still believe at the gravity of the situation in which he was in. When Balamos kidnapped him and turned him into his agent, Suzaku expected this adventure to be less traumatic and dire but wasn't expecting the stakes to be this higher. His mind raced like mad until one worry called fourth his attention.

"My world!" Suzaku shouted instinctively as he returned his attention to Balamos. "My dimension will be danger because of that!"

"Not entirely. You see, the human world is shielded with a dimensional barrier that prevents him to enter inside. But seriously, is not like I wouldn't had involved you into this,"

Suzaku slowly became visibly irritated. "What did y-"

"But just to clarify," Balamos interrupted him. "Even if your world isn't In danger at all, that doesn't change the situation in which you are now. Yes, I have dragged you in this madness, but I have also saved your life from these three brony extremist back in your home, which means that you are in debt with me."

Anger boiled inside Suzaku as he clenched his teeth. "You son of-"

"You don't have pretty much choice if die by being assimilated by the Mad Void, shredded by Brutalight and her friend or even being destroyed if you try to betray me. Don't even forget your place. You life depends on your actions." Balamos' pupil shrunk to give attention to his menacing proclamation. "YOU DECIDE!"

Balamos' last words had frozen Suzaku's temper, along with his blood. His anger wanted to burst, but he was too shaken and intimidated by that to even be angry about that. His body trembled and his face was contorted with frustration. He could do nothing but calming down and remain silent for a moment.

"We have still a deal, remember? What you had-"

"I know it," Suzaku interrupted, fed up with his attitude. "The deal is still the same: I defeat the Elements of Insanity, purify them and then take down Vaga. And you will bring me back to my world!"

"Take you time to recover."

"Go to hell..." Suzaku said with a hateful tone as he turned around.

He walked away from the eye, not minding his presence. His anger is still raging inside. As Suzaku was heading toward his palace, Balamos spoke again.

"Oh, I forgot. Before you return in your room to rest before going for the third recruit, you had to tell me one thing. After all, is now your turn to give me some answer."

Suzaku reluctantly turned around to face the spectral eyes and glared at him. "About what?"

"What is your reason for being thrilled about beat the shit out of the Elements of Insanity?"

"What?"

"You had to tell me that."

"That was your question?"

"So?"

"Alright," Suzaku began. "Counting that I'm finding myself almost treating the ponies as actual people... I have nothing against the now corrupted Mane Six. I just hate their guts and overrated preaches regarding friendship. Further more hypocritical due to some of their own actions that time ended up contradicting what they had said to have learned so far. Another reason for that is because I had my bronies classmates who tried to impose those teachings on me."

"Whoa... You are indeed that kind of a asshole. I just hope that you don't hurt these six mare so much."

"Hey, keep in mind that, in their conditions, they would even kill me." Suzaku remarked. "Besides, after having defeated them, I will just purify them. I'm a troll, but I'm not a murderer."

"And yet you don't had any problem to beat them up. You are a very convoluted individual."

"Spare me your mockery." Suzaku retorted. "I know who I am, and I don't need any lesson from you."

"It's incredible how your arrogance and morale recovered very fast from our conversation. Well, you better get ready for your next part. Don't disappoint me."

That being said, Balamos closed his eyed form and disappeared, along with his presence. Suzaku was left alone, in the middle of the meadow, with the pitch-black sky looming above him. In a first moment he remained immobile. Then he lifted his hoof, draw out his claws from it and closed them into a fist before punching the ground. He let out a furious scream during that act.

"So I have no choice at this point. I'm going to be dead if I'm not careful." Suzaku said almost calmly before looking upward. "I have to succeed in this ordeal even if my own world is not in peril isn't it?"

His mind was once again concentrated on his world. But more importantly on his life and his days when he was still in front of a laptop or when he was studying in his classroom. There isn't so much that he would care since these days were put as hobbies and routing. That was his own interpretation of his current thoughts when a sudden memory flashed in front of his eyes. Two classmates, a few days... And lost friendships.

Upon seeing that, Suzaku flinched uncomfortably and facehoofed so hard, putting himself back to reality. His demeanor wasn't so calm and unperturbed. He felt perturbed indeed and know why, and yet abstained to answer to himself about that. Only one question was made.

"Suzaku... What the hell are you thinking?" Suzaku asked to himself.

In another part of his dimension far away from Gol Nazam, Balamos reappeared above a ruined granite shrine. Accordant to the weird nature of that world, humanoid statues resembling winged zealot where scattered on the floor. Each one wielding a different object, like a spear, a scale or, oddly enough, a notebook. His eye form glanced on a four legged silhouette obscured the shadow by the shadow of a ruined pillar. Probably a pony.

"I don't need to remind you that owe me a favor, right?" Balamos asked.

The pony silently nodded.

"Well. Is there anything... That you want to say at this point?" Balamos asked.

The pony slowly shook his head. Balamos' iris suddenly shrunk as he was surprised, shocked, or just already know the answer behind the pony behavior.

"We have nothing else to say. You can go." Balamos said as his eye form closed and disappeared as the pony was taking his leave.