Choices

Alla watched as Savage broke his final word. The one promise he had given her. She had never asked Jack or Savage to be faithful, that was something she could work through. But the blood soaked streets of Ponyvile and the echoing laugh of Savage as he complemented each of his minions was something she could not overlook. Then on top of all that, to reveal that he knew he had been under observation the entire time, proved that Savage was making a show of it. The stallion she loved was gone. Only this maddened thing remained. He would come, of that she had no doubt, but what would she say to him? What could he say to justify the atrocities that she had just witnessed.

"He broke his word."

Alla jumped at the sound of her own voice, the cold and angry sound echoing within the silent warehouse.

"There is nothing he can say to justify this." Again her voice echoed out unbidden.

"I only asked him not to kill anymore, to restrict himself, control himself." Her voice sounded like the northern wind, but then another voice, timed and small, whispered into the world.

"He is protecting us." It was a quiet voice, desperate to believe that the Stallion she loved still existed.

The cold voice once more called forth. "He protects us by taking the easy way, the cowards way. I could forgive the creation of Toy, she did try and kill him. I could forgive the fact that he bucked her, that was a demonstration of power and control. I could even forgive the other brutal acts, he is merely making good his warning, setting up a precedent. But I asked one thing of him. I asked him never to kill again. To only use violence as a last resort. But here he is slaughtering all that stand before him, laughing as he does so. He is enjoying himself. He makes no effort to find a better way."

"Those where his minions, not him. He never killed anyone." The small voice whispered, the last defence of Savage Grimm against his prosecutor.

Alla was quite a moment longer, then the cold hurt voice made it closing arguments. "Argent Dagger, Back Alley Trades, Brutal Beatdown, Pretty Vile, those were his victims. Dead as soon as they became his minions. Yet, I could have forgiven those. But Savage ordered them to slaughter and murder. Not just those that stood in his way but all those that hindered the slaughtering. You know as well as I do, those 'minions' are merely advanced drones. They are creative at following his orders, but exist as extensions of his will. They are weapons, nothing more, nothing less. He sharpened them into blades, he is the one plunged them into another's body to RIP and tear. He ordered the butchery to commence. They did the killing but the blood remains on his hands. I can't forgive this."

Alla's tears fell. "He did this, all of this to protect me, that was never any doubt. But he could have believed in me, instead he believed in himself. He loves me and I him, but I can not be with a stallion that imposes his will in such a way over the world. He made no effort to hold back. He used my kidnapping and all the events afterwards for his coming out party. He did so with no remorse, he enjoyed it all. Everything else are his justifications. Reasons to never rise above, reasons to laugh within his despair."

The voices fell silent as Alla Rounds sobbed in the Empty warehouse, cold and alone. The open box still filled to the brim, exactly as the dying stallion had left it. Waiting for the one strong enough to retrieve the tools inside.

Savage watched as the Child of Winter's Night moved off, her task fulfilled. Looking down upon the ground the smiling terror for a moment was quiet, his perpetual smile momentarily falling. With sadness in his voice he cursed his cowardly weakness.

"It is done, the last bond is broken. Now I must play this game to the end."

Lifting his head, Savage Grimm once more put a skip in his step, a smile on his face and a tune on his lips as he danced off towards Alla Rounds, joyful in the blood and terror he had sown throughout Ponyville.

In the Crystal Empire, within the secret room, the backs of two chairs glowed, a symbol of eight arrows, one green, one blue, one red, one black, one white, one green, one purple, and one Yellow. They radiated outward equidistant from a central point and were constrained by a grey circle. At the center was a single grey dot. A black Ice Lily clinging to an icicle appeared on the other. The room gave a happy hum. Not only has one of its old masters arisen and coming home but it could now welcome a daughter into her father's place. What a happy time to live, all must be perfect when they arrive, all must be prepared. Crystal formed and shifted within the room as accomodations for the ones that were coming were prepared. The room continued its hum, it was happy once more to be useful.

Within the throne room of the Crystal Empire sat the ones that had most wronged and been wronged by Savage Grimm.

"Our Old Friend is on his way." Cadence shivered despite the warmth of the Crystal Heart.

Shining Armor sighed. "All that remains is to prepare a welcome for him and hope that he does not come in vengeance."

"Will he hurt my Ladybug?"

"Our Old Friend would do nothing to hurt Twilight. After all you may have been her favorite, but for a while he was her other brother. The brother that had two faces. Before Our Old Friend heads here, he will remind her. He will undo the wrong the was done to her. Our Old Friend will heal Twi. We are the ones that hurt her. I just hope Twi forgives us."

The couple then looked to the south, yearning to see that which is occurring so far away.