In a village where things are not right

There really seemed to be a fixed herachie in the village.
The unicorns hadthe control, everyone else was trapped inside the barrier and enslaved.
Most of the non-unicorns wore collars, a few, mostly pretty mares, had less noticeable bracelets in noble materials, but they clearly indicated that they belonged to someone, similar to handcuffs, only without the chain in between.
And Nocturnal really had to try not to just draw his sword and attack the unicorns.
Anger boiled in him
And the edge of his field of vision was slightly red.
Since Sombra had told him what the red rage was he could feel it more clearly.
A curse ... a damn curse.
it also seemed as if the red rage was also feeding on the feelings that had now germinated again in him.
No matter what he had missed in his rage, it seemed to have cured him of the condition Hellria had imposed on him.
Something good, after all
But he wouldn't mind mixing up some of the unicorns.
The thought alone was so tempting, how he simply slashed these snobs and the blood filled the gutters of the streets.,,
Nocturnal shook his head clear again. These thoughts were strange and yet they seemed to be part of him.

"Is everything ok?"

Kallaxia, as Midnight, looked at him worried. she could feel something was wrong with him.
He couldn't hide his feelings from her.
Even if he tried, she would taste what was going on inside him.

"I am feeling a little upset, that is all. thou will see once we get rid of these ... monsters ... I will be better."

Your lead unicorn nodded enthusiastically, and turned around, giving a polite bow.

"That would be very welcome. Those vamponies and wereponies are a real nuisance."

The two followed and had everything shown. However, both noticed the looks they were drawing to themselves. Interested look as if one were ...
like examining the goods at an auction.
The two were demonstrated and offered!
No one would touch Kallaxia, Nocturnal swore that by the moon!
Anyone who dared ...
A comforting hoof rested on his shoulder.

"Is everything really all right? You seem unusually angry."

Nocturnal closed his eye and took a deep breath. No, something was absolutely wrong.
He wanted murder.
Don't fight, murder.
That was against his order. If you fought because you had or had a goal, never for fun.
He looked at her and shook his head in rejection .

"I think I will have to retire later for meditation. Clear my mind. I haven not done this for far too long."

"Oh, I didn't even know that Batponies did that! It's fascinating!"

Nocturnal glanced at the unicorn that had interrupted him.

"Not all do, but I learned under a unicorn. Besides the sword art he taught me, he also taught me the importance of keeping mind and body in harmony. Something I have had problems with lately, to be honest be."

"oh you once served under a unicorn?"

"We were brothers in arms, but that was a thousand years ago now..."

The unicorn laughed.
It laughed at him.
how dare he!

"A thousand years? I didn't even know that I was dealing with a princess here."

Nocturnal was dabai to draw his sword, but kallaxia stood close to him so that he couldn't.

"Didn't you know that we Batponies can get that old? We are children of the night, and receive a part of Nightmare Moon's power. We are absolutely loyal and determined. And we are long-lived. All thanks to Nightmare Moon."

This lie was an exaggeration. but it seemed to be effective.
The unicorn now looked at the two with curiosity.

"I thought you were fighting for money."

"We do that too. But our loyalty belongs to our order. As in any other profession, money is only the payment of work."

Damn Kallaxia was good.
Noctunral admired her all the more.

"I See. What would one have to do to win your services?"

"Everyone has to find out for themselves, otherwise there's no fun, right?"

Kallaxia grinned with a grin that fit both faces, Mindnights and Kallaxias.
A hunter's smile

In the evening

In the evening, Nocturnal and Midnight noticed the first attempt by these unicorns to outsmart them.
Instead of letting them face the shield to fight the supposed monsters, they were kept inside.
As it turned out, the barrier was almost always closed, unless one of the unicorns left the village.
And what you could see on the outside was clearly everything, just not what it should be.
Nocturnal took the opportunity to sit down relaxed and close his eyes.
For him there was nothing but breathing in the moment while Midnight kept watch.

Noctunral could feel her nervousness. He was sure that she felt uncomfortable.
He also felt uncomfortable being trapped in the middle of the enemy camp.
Enemy camp?
That described the situation quite well.
The two of them couldn't really do anything against magic.
And the non-unicorns probably wouldn't be able to help. too intimidated, or too weak to resist.
Somehow you have to kindle the fire of resistance.
Yes, that would be the best.
And then blood could flow freely.
Nocturnal hit his head to get that thought out of his head.
Whatever the black magic of Sombra was supposed to do, it was really good at it.
Hopefully he wouldn't lose control.

At night.

It was only a small noise but it was enough to wake Nocturnal.
a suppressed gurgle or something like that.
What he saw first made the blood freeze in his veins, then it boiled.
Full of anger, he jumped up and in the direction of two unicorns who were trying to push something over Kallaxia's snout.
As fast as a shadow he jumped against the two attackers, caught one on the shoulder and the other in the face.
Kallaxia was on the floor looking dazed but otherwise okay.
Just as he was about to check on her, she lifted her hoof and with the help of her changeling thelekinesis she threw the sword to Nocturnal, who turned with it, beheaded one unicorn, and staked the other almost completely.

A small growl was heard from nocturnal as the blood flowed down the sword between his teeth.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on not losing control.

"How are you? are you okay?"

The kallaxia asked him that showed how bad things were for him.
Gently he let the impaled body slide to the floor so as not to make any more noise.
The house remained silent.
And outside it was also quiet.
these two must have thought that they would have had an easy time of it.

"No, I am not okay. Because ofwhat happaning with Sombra, I feel the red rage more and more clearly and more strongly ..."

"I see that and it scares me. I don't want to lose you."

"If it gets worse, promise me that thou will kill me. I do not want to become a puppet. And especially not if that means attacking ponies out of my mind."

Kallaxia hesitated, then nodded.

"I will still try to get you out of your condition first. Only when it is absolutely necessary ... I will kill you."

Nocturnal gave a small smile and sat down, almost falling down.
He sighed deeply and took a few deep breaths to get his anger under control.

"I'll hide the bodies. You stay here and clean up."

That was a very good idea from Kallaxia, and he saluted her in a mock way.
Then he began to wipe up the blood that was scattered on the floor.

the next morning. heavy snowfall

The village was in an uproar.
The two bodies were found relatively quickly, but there was no trace of what exactly had happened or who was responsable.

"Is that your work?"

A group of angry unicorns stood in front of the two batponies.
they looked at each other unsuspectingly, whereupon Kallaxia stepped forward to answer.

"No, we were in our accommodation all night. Perhaps a vampony or werepony made it into the barrier?"

They had made up this excuse beforehand.
Use ther own lie against them and play dumb.
it seemed to be working.

"It would be possible ..."

The sound said it all. This mayor, or whatever he was, thought that one of his other unicorn subordinates might have killed them.
It would surely fit in nicely with this corrupt slavervillage.
Oh how much Nocturnal now wished to be able to strike them all down.
But there were too many.
well over 30 unicorns.
But it looked like there were at least twice as many of the other tribes.
Maybe that would be enough to start a revolution.
Or maybe more of the unicorns had to die first.
Nocturnal liked the idea.

Back in the accommodation.

"Hurry, we don't have much time."

It was the earth pony mare behind the counter.

"you are in danger! the unicorns here want to enslave you. my master is dead now, that means I will probably be sold to the next soon. I need to warn you! Find a way out as soon as possible!"

"We will not leave the village without liberating everypony."

"You are crazy! They will enslave you too and ..."

The mare broke off and looked quickly at the counter when two unicorns entered.
It was the leader of the village and a thug guy.

"Well, well, you shouldn't reveal the surprise! Now we have to get the batponies ..."

Kallaxia interrupted him

"How much for this mare? I like her fur and her mane. Certainly will serve my Stallion and me well."

The mare whimpered and quickly ducked away.
The unicorn looked astonished at Kallaxia, but then laughed.

"you are not unicorns, you cannot have possessions! you are inferior to us!"

"This may be..."

Kallaxia went to the unicorn and made him beautiful eyes, sounded seductive and came so close to him that Nocturnal was almost jealous.

"... but we are hunters. We could bring in far more slaves if we are free. And we don't want a large payment either. This mare and this inn, a few supplies. As we noticed, it was the owners who died anyway."

The unicorn was clearly too distracted from kallaxia. Only after blinking a few times did he register what she was suggesting.

"you want to move out and bring us more, for a mare you like? and this shabby inn?

"Yes. We enjoy the hunt. We live from it. And there is no bad place here. We could even take on the role of the vamponies. And the little one there becomes the face of the Inn while we hunt ponies in the woods night after night. who got lost and are driving them here. "

Nocturnal had no idea where this was going, but let her do it.
Kallaxia knew how to lie, that much was clear.
The unicorn thought about it.
It was a strange offer.

"Deal. But for your freedom you have to get a monthly quota, is that clear?"

"As you wish, boss. And we see the cute mare as a deposit"

"It's a bargain!"

both hit their hooves, and that the deal was sealed.
Both talked briefly about a few details, while Nocturnal sat at the bar and looked at the mare with his good eye.
She was trembling and scared.
Understandable.

After the leader of this village had finally left, Kallaxia also sat down at the counter.

"Say, mare, can you dance?"

The mare dropped a glass in shock, which broke on the floor.

"I'm so sorry Mistress! I didn't mean to...!"

Kallaxia put her hoof on the mare's lips, looked at her seriously.

"I was just kidding. You are now under our protection and are free to move around in here. We keep the illusion alive. Don't worry, Nocturnal here is an excellent swordscolt and I'm better."

"We will talk about that again."

They both laughed briefly, then took the mare's chains off the bar. She looked down in disbelief, then pointed to the collar.

"can that go away too?"

"not yet but soon."

The mare nodded in understanding.
One free, only what? Sixty left?
At least they now had a chance to get out and a safe base of operations.
Nocturnal looked at Kallaxia in admiration.
Yes she was a liar, but damnd, she was good. Until she had said it, that she had only faked the whole thing, he had believed her.

"At some point thou have to show me how to lie as well as thou can."

"Oh, I didn't lie. The moment I said that, I meant that too. That's not lying, it's acting. In my family that's the alpha and omega."

"I understand. When you said up front you want this mare for us there you have ..."

"I imagined how exciting that would be, yes."

He said it over and over and still did it just as often. he had to stop underestimating Kallaxia.
Instead, he began to smile and kiss her tenderly.
He felt how she nourished herself on his love, but that was welcome to him.
It calmed him down, made him cool, and all his anger was gone.
For the moment at least.
Hopefully he could control himself long enough
He would see.

Author's Note

This time no art. I am Running out on them and i cant occupie AlexDTi all the time. ^^