You're certain you want do this, child? He's not likely to be in a talking kind of mood.

Well that's too bad. Because I want some answers and I want them now.

She kept walking, using her magic to pull the black bone dagger from the ground where it was imbedded. A lifeless tail from one of the beasts lay next to it, inches away from where Rainbow Dash had been. The wanderer had likely thrown it when he first arrived on the scene, severing it from the rest of the creature's body to keep it from harming the pegasus any further.

Twilight strode forward, attracting the attention of the dark being that had been so preoccupied with tormenting the soulflayers. It turned to face her, folding its wings behind it and rearing up to its full height, leaving it about a foot taller than the man approaching from behind it. It gazed down at her through pitch black eyes; two seamless ebony orbs peering toward her, her own reflection visible in their pupilless depths. Its face was skeletal in appearance, with a thin layer of grey-black skin stretched across its bony features. Two pairs of horns jutted from the monster's skull, one set extending skyward while the other hooked down past its jaw like tusks.

It moved toward her, its steps shaking the ground as if some massive weight was buried just below its leathery skin. While sufficiently gaunt in appearance, with no girth or true muscle mass to speak of, its every step broke the surface of the ground and sent little fissures running off the footprints it left behind. Already the area was riddled with clawed-shaped holes from where the creature had moved about.

"Please, do not come any closer! Its not safe, you must stay back!" Torrent called out to her in urgency, yet made no move to stop her; keeping a safe distance from the creature despite the fact that his sword was already drawn. "You need to leave, I cannot ensure your safety here!"

"Well that's obvious! What happened here? Why weren't you with Rainbow Dash? She could have been killed you know! If we hadn't gotten here when we had, she might have... she could.... What is this thing anyway?!" The creature had come to a complete stop, turning its head back and forth to follow their conversation. It had clearly lost interest in Twilight being and was now thoroughly distracted by what she and the sorcerer had to say.

"We were separated, she flew ahead to chase after one of the soulflayers, the little beasts we went in after. I wasn't fast enough to stop them from attacking her, but I did my best to keep them off her once she blacked out."

"And am I to assume that that's when this... thing showed up? Did it just happened to come crawling out of the forest to intervene, or did you summon it here in order to help?"

The man hesitated. "Neither... Both? I... I don't.... I can't remember. I was running through the woods and the next thing I knew this abyssal was here assisting me. There wasn't time to question how it got here. I-"

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Twilight was slowly putting the pieces together. He's slipping, if I can just push a bit harder I can get the truth out of him. "You were running through the woods? Don't you mean flying over it? Applejack and I both saw you shift your cloak into a pair of wings and follow Dash off into the sky..... But... You wouldn't know about that would you? You weren't there for that part..." Her eyes drifted to the demon standing between them. Just standing there, complacent and unmoving, making no attempt to attack or even threaten either of them. She had grown used to seeing bizarre creatures whenever Torrent had taken her back into the Void to train, they were drawn to those who still possessed their sanity. Yet for all the hundreds of monstrosities they had encountered during their little ventures, none had ever waited so patiently for a conversation to finish before making its move. The pieces were starting to fit together.

"Twilight, I don't understand what yo-"

"Quiet, I'm not here to talk to you..." She turned her attention to the abyssal. "...am I, Torrent?"

A terrible grinding sound emitted from the creature's mouth as it gnashed its teeth into a ghastly grin. "Aeoh fidlho rsugh somewhere, fudhb kri... Unfortunately, he can't suheu kdshot ei eh lehuse. Kehehehehe..." Its laughter was more terrible than the grinding of its teeth, but Twilight bore it, if for no other reason than to see what it would do next.

"Twilight what are you doing, I'm right here! You know me, I'm no monster. Don't you trust me?!"

There was no need to answer, the illusion was meaningless to her. She had seen this charade play out before, though it had been initiated to protect her that first time. Her thoughts returned to the masses of souls she had seen the creature absorbing as it laid waste to the soulflayers only a few moments earlier. "Rarity was right wasn't she? WASN'T SHE?! This whole time you've been some sort of horrible, soul-sucking monster... and I stood up for you! I protected you! How could you... HOW COULD YOU LIE TO ME LIKE THAT?!?!" Her horn surged with magic, but the aura around it was black instead of violet this time. Chains erupted from the ground around her target, wrapping him in their tenebrous grip and holding him in place. The demon she had called her teacher made no attempt to escape from them.

"Twilight this is madness! I am right here, why will you not listen to-"

"Enough!" His arm shot upward from his side with two fingers outstretched, leveling off as it centered on its target, completely unhindered by the heavy chains Twilight had bound around it. A dart of black energy erupted from between his hingers and struck the clone in the chest, blasting out the back of its body in an explosion far bigger than it had made on impact. The hole it left behind could have fit a tree limb through it; florescent green liquid poured from the wound as the "illusion" stumbled forward. "She is not blind, you fool... Begone from this world, your usefulness has run its course..."

The clone staggered to its knees, its voice becoming distorted and distant as the green fluid drained from its chest. "No... no please! I... You promised.... I'm not... ready......... More time... Please!" The second bolt struck its outstretched arm, severing it at the shoulder. A fountain of glowing green blood gushed forth, coating the forest floor in front of the broken body. The being's face displayed no signs of pain, perhaps it was simply was a complex enough construct to feel such things. Just an illusion, like he said he saved me... The thought made the whole scene no less grizzly to behold.

"No one can delay their judgement forever; it is time for you to face yours." Another bolt formed between his fingers. Twilight three all of her concentration into summoning another set of chains, these ones directed entirely at the her teacher's arm in a vein attempt to force it downward. She succeeded in lowering it a few inches, only to have the bindings wrenched from her control as he lifted back to its original position, the effort of it not even being enough to break his focus. The arrow of black energy rocketed forward, smashing into the left side of the dying illusion's face and tearing it clean off. Inside, under what the blast revealed to be an incredibly thin layer of flesh, more green fluid roiled and leaked as a small blue light emerged. An azure orb of glowing energy, the little soul fell from its spot within the disintegrating body and hit the ground with a light, echoing thrum. A moment later, however, it was in the air and moving with lightning speed toward Twilight.

She hesitated, no longer certain of what was happening and suddenly feeling very weak in the shadow of the monster who had been training her. The soul bolted forward, faster than the projectiles that had broken its host body only moments before. Words and curses in a foreign tongue reverberated through the air around it as it flew, painting terrifying images in Twilight's mind as she slowly registered what it was the spirit intended to do with her. She slammed her eyes shut, too horrified of the immanent agony that was about to envelope her body and soul to actually bear witness the collision itself...

...A moment passed, then another. No torturous pain came up to greet her, no searing agony as her body was taken over by a foreign spirit. Just the same cool autumn breeze they had been feeling all night. Yes, the soul's screams of protest were still echoing through the woods, their source only a few feet away, but it was stationary now, no longer speeding toward her in its blind fury. She allow herself to open an eye, still certain that the spirit would be right on top of her the moment she did. It was not.

Several feet from her own location stood her teacher, no longer burdened by his chains, with the renegade soul grasped in one massive claw. While that bestial claw remained, the rest of his body was quickly reverting back to its human form. His horns were retracting back into his skull, his wings folding back into a frayed cloak, and his skin shifting back to its normal chestnut complexion. Last came his eyes, their empty jet-black expanses slowly shrinking as dark shades of red began to fade in from the edges followed by a flood of white. The blackness continued to shrink until it filled nothing but his pupils, leaving his face in a far less fearsome state. So he stood there, devoid of all the demonic features he had displayed only moments prior, aside from the single clawed hand which restrained the enraged soul.

"Such a malicious little thing, aren't you..." The ball of light squirmed and struggled to break free of his grip, but to no avail. Instead it was lifted upward and brought face-to-face with its captor. "...Be grateful that my student was here to keep me in check... otherwise you'd already be well on your way to whatever hell it is that awaits creatures like you..." And with that he brought the spirit to his mouth and devoured it, making short work of the soul as it disappeared behind a row of slightly yellowed teeth. He looked back to find Twilight staring at him, both of her eyes open now and widening in horror at what she just witnessed

"You..." Twilight had to take a moment to catch her breath, trying desperately to regain her composure. "You're going to give me some answers! Right here, right now!"

"Twilight I assure you, I never meant for you to find out like this. I was going to tell you eventually, to show you, but the time wasn't right. You must understa-"

A bolt of violet energy shot forth from her horn, singeing the ground an inch in front of him and bringing an immediate halt to his advance. Twilight wasn't certain that her magic would even be able to effect him after her binding spell had proven so useless, but she had to do something. "You're one of them... one of those monsters from the Void. You pretended you were rescuing me from them, saving me from the darkness like some heroic knight. But this whole time, you were just another one of the abominations you talked so much about fighting..." The bone dagger still floated by her side, suspended by her usual telekinetic powers; but now she moved it in front of her, putting between the two of them like a drawn sword. "You're just another one of those soul-eating monstrosities... and I'm not about to let you just walk out of these woods so you can just roam around the town unchecked."

She was on her back before she even knew what was happening. A shadow had moved on her left, another on her right as she turned to look at the first. Something had wrapped itself about her legs, twisting her in the air and slamming her to the ground. When the world stopped spinning she quickly realized that she was no longer holding the dagger. She felt the ground slide away beneath her as she was dragged forward and brought into the air, the frayed streamers of Torrent's cloak wrapped themselves about her as they brought her up to eye level with the sorcerer. He leaned toward her, his eyes pulsing as their pupils expanded and shrank with rage. "Twilight, you are still my student, and as such I would never wish any harm to come to you... But if you ever, EVER, compare me to one of those beasts again, I do not know that I will be able to contain my anger long enough to find something else to direct it toward..."

The fabric tendrils lowered her to the ground, gently placing her on her own four hooves once more. As she looked up at the being she had been so eager to accept as her new teacher, she could not help but notice a solemn look of sadness wash over his face, however briefly it may have been there. "T-Torrent, I... I didn't mean to insult you like that,nits just that... just, I... you..." Come on Twilight, pull yourself together, you're apologizing to him when you should be demanding some answers. How'd you let him turn this around on you like that?! "You just ATE that spirit, right in front of me. You can't honestly expect me to believe I didn't just see that."

"I did... And I have eaten many before that one as well. But unlike when they are devoured by one of the monsters that stalk the Void, within me they are still themselves; completely conscious, completely uncorrupted, completely free to speak their mind and choose when they are want to be freed." The great emerald sword suddenly materialized next to him, its blade stabbed into the ground so that it stood like a small pillar beside its wielder. "You described me as being like one of the abominations and in many ways I can certainly see where you would draw such parallels... In reality, however, I am little different than this sword; this sword, Applejack and Rainbow Dash's swords, even your manacle. I have become a vessel to carry the souls of others who no longer have bodies of their own.

"Such vessels capture wayward souls that they come across, but they can also free them at any point should they desire it. Once free, so long as we are outside of the Abyss, the spirits will travel on to their final judgement, something that many strive for once their tasks amongst the living are complete. Yet there are some who, perhaps due to their actions in life or simply a fear of what lies beyond, would do anything to put off that judgement. It is souls like that which I devour, giving them an escape from the afterlife that awaits them, at least until such time that they feel they have sufficiently made up for whatever sins they have accumulated during their lives... a task which, I fear, many of them will never truly be able to accomplish."

Its true. I was able to keep myself alive for over four hundred years by constantly eating children and making ritual sacrifices out of any innocents that happened to come across... That sort of thing isn't exactly easy to make up for, no matter how many good deeds and selfless acts of heroism you help accomplish; kehehehehe... The voice emanating from the manacle had troubled Twilight only slightly because of how unfamiliar the sensation of having another presence in her mind had been. That latest bit of information, however, made Twilight truly question whether or not she should beg her teacher to remove the "gift" from her leg.

"That soul, that miserable spirit who attempted to overtake you just now, is one such desperate creature. His sins in life were numerous and continue to haunt him even in his incorporeal form... He has no hope for redemption, I'm afraid. So naturally, when I foolishly threatened him with meeting his final judgement just now, he panicked and made a break for the only salvation he could think of: overshadowing a mortal being."

Twilight shuddered at the thought, the images that the spirit's screams caused her mind to form were still far too clear for her liking. "Yeah, that much I assumed, or at least something like it. But why was he here to begin with? Why did he look like you? And how could you have let those creatures hurt Rainbow Dash like that?!" You monster!

"I..." He hesitated, though Twilight could not tell if it was so he could find the right words or simply to stall until he could formulate a believable lie. "...we were separated. I can fly if the situation demands it, but it was never something I was meant to do. Dash was much more coordinated in the air and, after we landed, sped off after the first soulflayer that we spotted."

"And you just let her go after it? You should have known something like this would happen! You should have told her to wait, she would have listened even if it meant losing the target. You know how much she looks up to you! You could have stopped her!"

"But I didn't... And before you say it, you are right, I am to blame for what befell her. No amount of arguing is going to change that fact. I could have stopped her and I failed to. I realized that a moment after she was already gone... So, I went after her. That's why the other soul was present, I sent it after the second soulflayer in a copy of myself while I went after Rainbow Dash. I arrived first, but when I saw what had happened I... I just.... I lost control. A different side of me took over, its one of the dangers of having so many different souls within one body; it can lead to what's essentially an extreme multiple personality disorder... And I'm afraid some of those other personalities are far less concerned with restraining themselves than I am..." He motioned toward the eviscerated flayer.

Something still bothered Twilight about the whole series of events, though she was glad that she was finally getting answers to some of the things that had been bothering her the most. Alright, so... he is a monster. But, at least he's not evil.... Small miracles, I guess. Suddenly, she remembered what was really troubling her. "That other you said that you told him you needed one of those creatures alive." She looked at the tormented beast impaled on the handle of Rainbow Dash's sword, its legs twitching helplessly as it slowly gave up on its attempts at escaping. "Why? Why do you need it alive? What are you planning on doing with it?"

Torrent stepped toward the ruined creature, examining it from above as he slowly drew the sword from the ground. The soulflayer remained sandwiched between his hand and the cross-guard, fully given up on the prospect of fighting back. "Because there is an army waiting on the other side of that mirror." He raised the sword up, bringing the beast to eye level, speaking as much to it as he was to Twilight. "An army that believes this to be a pure, innocent, and wholly-defenseless world, ripe for the taking...." He turned the sword, inspecting it from every angle as the little monstrosity clung to consciousness. "....We are going to reassure them that that is most certainly not the case. And this little devil is going to be the vessel by which that message is delivered. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to need you to carry those chunks of shell back to the library for me; my hands are a bit full at the moment and I've got something special I'm working on that those will work perfectly with. "

So many more questions nagged at Twilight's mind, but in the end none of them seemed important enough to further delay their return to Ponyville. Besides, she had gotten the answers she needed. Yes, Torrent was soul-sucking monster from another plane of existence; one who was very likely restraining a darker half that would love nothing more to bring an all out war right into Equestria... But at least now she was certain he was on their side. He's a monster... But at least he's our monster...

Her other questions, however, seemed to fade into utter triviality the moment they emerged from the edge of the forest. There, waiting for them as the broke free of the trees and underbrush, was a vast contingent of the Royal Guard. Over thirty pegasi in brilliant blue and gold armor encircled them, several dropping down from above the trees behind them to ensure that they could not retreat back into the woods. A dozen pale unicorns in white hooded cloaks joined the circle, clearly there to combat any unwanted magic that may present itself. And striding toward the group, with all the colors of the rainbow billowing through her ethereal mane, came Princess Celestia herself; her face an emotionless mask as she slowly crossed the field separating Everfree and Ponyville. But racing before her came two other figures, a pair of white unicorns whom the line of guards immediately started moving to make room for.

"Twilee! Get away from that thing right now!" The stallion kept the guards rather than waiting for the wall of pegasi to part. He galloped toward the pair at full speed, skidding to a stop between Twilight and Torrent; his head lowered, horn pointed at the man, never once did he take his eyes off of the wizard during the entire ordeal. An orb of light surrounded the siblings, a magical barrier which cut Twilight off from her teacher as her brother glowered at him in distrust.

The second unicorn waited for the guards to step aside before entering the circle, but upon doing so proved to be no less vindictive. Where Shining Armor had charged in to protect Twilight, this one was clearly here for Torrent and left no mystery as to her intentions upon reaching him. She galloped headlong toward the wanderer, two of the guards racing up from behind to restrain her as it became clear she that wasn't about to stop. Had they been any slower on the uptake she may very well have impaled him on her horn just as easily as he had the creature on Rainbow Dash's sword. As the two full-grown pegasi struggled to hold back the little mare, a scream escaped her mouth. "WHERE IS HE?! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIM, YOU MONSTER?! WHERE IS MY SPIKE?!?!"

Author's Note

Merry Christmas one and all, sorry this one went up so late but the technical difficulties are all straightened out and will (hopefully) never be an issue again. Enjoy!