Simplified

Canterlot Castle...

The clock strikes one for the city of Canterlot, the sun beaming down warmly and brightly upon all life. Many are drawn to their radios for what is scheduled to be an important announcement. Press have gathered in the throne room, awaiting a scheduled conference with the princess. Microphones from varying stations are already warm at the podium, the standalone channel for Equestrian television have their camera dialed in for the princess.

Meanwhile, she goes over her carefully prepared speech, hoping for some sort of miracle to manifest between now and the next twenty-four hours. The primary thing on her mind remains her number-one assistant. But even her confidence is shaken after her conversation with the young element bearers. She's sure that they're probably just as anxious to hear more on Spike, just as much as she.

Raven Inkwell, the dual-tenured royal secretary, walks into the room to see a princess reviewing her speech one last time. She speaks out to the anxious alicorn. "Princess?"

"Yes."

"The paperwork has been filed. The vacancy is now been notarized. We officially undergo the vetting process for your next in line after the conference."

"Very good." The princess answers as she turns around. Inkwell takes note of the princess' appearance, how her eyes appear puffy and red. It seems that much of the day has been an emotional rollercoaster for her.

However, they both know that even personal conflicts have no place before the business of the citizens. So the secretary merely offers words, a statement of advice. "Your announcement has been carefully prepared, the royal publicist states that we should try to stick to the provided statement. Also, there should be no questions taken until all is confirmed."

Twilight falters in a moment of weakness, asking herself out of mired frustration. "All of this... and for what?"

"Your majesty?" Inkwell continues to advise.

The high princess takes a few breathing exercises to calm herself. But in spite of that, she still wrests with the internal struggle of her thoughts, speaking them to her secretary. "The citizens are looking to me for answers, and all I'm allowed to do is offer words from a script. Is this really how rulers keep peace in the kingdom?"

The mare, albeit smaller than the princess' stature, walks beside her and places a comforting hoof on her side. "I don't know entirely. Perhaps that's a question better suited for your mentor."

Solemn Oath appears from behind the curtain where the press are waiting for the announcement. "Your majesty, they are ready."

Twilight offers herself one more rally for courage, daring to push onward. "Well, time to face the music─"

A second guard comes from another room, panting a bit as he gives news. "Your highness, the former captain hails you from a transmission sphere, he says it's important. Should we tell him you're busy?"

"Of all the times." Inkwell mutters as she looks to the time on the wall. "The conference is supposed to start... now."

Twilight, usually a firm believer in maintaining a schedule, fails to think twice on taking the call, also delaying the conference by a few minutes. "Send him through."

"At once, your majesty." The mare bows with respect before running back to the hall outside.

Twilight starts to breathe heavily, growing even more anxious for what's to come. As soon as the orb appears with the stallion's face on it, she tries her best to keep calm. "Nondis, I'm about to make a public statement. Now's a pretty bad time."

"Well imagine me getting a call before making dinner." He replies.

"Nondis, can we not do this right now?" She gripes back at the orb.

"Yeah, we're doing it right now. You have me going halfway across the world for a dead dragon." He says with a blank expression.

Both Inkwell and Solemn's heads lift rapidly, reacting in tandem with the princess' rapidly deteriorating stability. "...Spike's... dead?" Her breaths are gravely deep, almost as though she's about to scream.

"You tell me what I saw." He answers flatly before the view on the orb is rapidly tilted, it's perspective being altered by a golden glow.

"Oh for fucks sake─Give me that!" Celestia's face now comes into view. "Poor girl's probably suffered enough. Twilight you there? I know Nondis is being a real jackass at the moment, but I need you to hold all that in. I promise there's going to be no box or urn Spike is coming back in, because he's right here." She promptly flips the perspective to me with a firm command. "Speak."

I roll my eyes, my prank unraveling at the behest of the former ruler. "My one chance of getting my get-back."

The Sea of Shadows...

"SPIKE!" Twilight screams at the orb, almost on the verge of hugging it. "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"Yeah, barely... I'm scheduling a therapist appointment when I get back."

Meanwhile, she's still celebrating the fact that I'm able to talk to her. "You're alive! You're..."

"Can we please limit the Twilighting for a minute?" Nondis calls out. "I don't think anyone wants to see you snotting into the view."

She doesn't even care about him and his quips, all she seems to be honed in on is me. "You, questions, answer them! Where are you now!?"

"To be frank, no clue. We're just out in the water."

"I see you're still wearing that stupid collar." She points out. "Are you okay, you feel any different?"

"Different is an understatement. Grief and trauma counseling highly recommended." I reply.

While she is excited to see me, I can tell that a few other thoughts come about as she sees my face. Usually her ears are a dead giveaway. "Did that other princess help you out in any way?" I suppose she means Zenobia.

"Up to a certain point. Instead, I got help from two other unlikely sources."

Amor, who's sitting quietly with Hestia, finally speaks out. "Now come on, Spike. I wouldn't call us unlikely."

Immediately, disdain is written all over her face. "Spike, is that Prince Amor's voice I'm hearing?"

And her comes the part where I'm going to get nagged at. "Yyyyes it is, he's with us."

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO DROP HIM OFF AND LEAVE HIM THERE!" She shrieks out, causing the young prince to appear disappointed over her reaction.

I outright come to his defense. "Yeah, you did! You wouldn't believe the shit I went through! Then let's talk about the fact that he's the main reason why Mrs. Kalimba and I got out of there! Now I can't get over the fact that I'm actively being pursued by a religious zealot with a newfound dragon domination fetish. Or get this, the fact that I had to sit at a fucking parade, watching as a blood-thirsty prince with a hunting kink present me with a pretty fucked image of seven dragons sans their bodies. Then imagine me trying to bury that grief and trauma by constantly getting my face shoved under the tail of said religious zealot. And wouldn't you get this, we talked with the guy. You know, the guy, the one they call the Doctor."

A glass shatters on impact as the room falls silent. Everything on the yacht creaks as the waters bring everything to a tilt. Both Mrs. Kalimba and Celestia stands statuesque. The room appears darker for a moment as the stallion slowly tilts his head toward me. "I'm sorry, run that by me one good time." His voice is almost a whisper.

"So you actually saw the doctor, like talked with him?" Hestia asks with a quiet shock.

I answer back. "Yeah. Apparently he knows Ms. Kalimba for some reason─"

Before I can finish, we hear the entire ship moan and crackle as though a great deal of stress is applied to the very innards of the vessel. Celestia looks to her husband, who looks to the air for a moment before the creaking and moaning comes to a halt. He gives the air a sniff, cracks his neck to the discomfort of his wife, and nods. "I need a moment, got a pretty nasty headache brewing."

He walks out of the room, his wife and Mrs. Kalimba specifically watching as he disappears from view. Twilight calls to me through the orb. "Spike, I'm going to need you clarify exactly what and who you saw."

"That is why I was being pursued." The zebracorn explains to Celestia.

Amor to the mare who's lead us to this point. "Up till recent, I didn't know you had ties to the doctor himself."

"I'm not the only one." She replies, glancing to Celestia. "And I don't think I have the proper clearance to discuss matters any further."

Twilight hails to me once more. "Spike, I'm going to need you to confirm if you've seen him for yourself."

"I talked to him, not really seen him other than some wandering whisp coming out of a scroll." I summarize for her. "I couldn't make out his voice, it's whispery. As for the whisp aspect, his colors would change according to the mood he's in."

"When did you two run into each other?" Celestia asks.

"Almost a week ago. It was because of that interaction that our trade negotiations broke down completely. We had a contract, it was ready to go, we get there after that, they slash the damned thing and flip script on us. Next thing we know, Amor comes charging in with some guards following him and they keep the Emperor and his purebloods busy. Sir Fencer led that little insurgency to buy us time, it's likely we lost him in the scrum."

"Knowing Xerxes, I wouldn't put it past him." Amor confirms softly.

"That's not the only thing we lost." I answer as I look off to Mrs. Kalimba, who summons the necklace of dog tags. She floats them over to me to show to her. "Everyone else is gone. They burned the airship, and stacked the bodies out there..." I take a second to reflect, remembering everything that went through my mind as soon as I saw that, the leg I stepped on, the burned faces, the crackle of fire, and the despair I had in the moment. I try not to show my emotions, but they break through regardless. "...It's all my fault."

"No it is not!" Mrs. Kalimba replies firmly.

Celestia steps in, offering comfort to me as she also offers advice to her successor in power. "Twilight, I understand now this situation is quite serious. But to offer an alternative aside from war, there are other ways of making your grievances known to the international community. It may be inflammatory to many that this comes without warning, but I believe economic sanctions are in order. It'll punish the country for their actions without resorting to violence as a means."

"You're wrong!" Hestia loudly dissents. The young princess vehemently defends her country, even with her lesser status. "I know that what happened was wrong, and there's justice to be done for it! But I can't let you punish a bunch of good citizens for the actions of my cruel brother! You punish him, not the ones who already live with less than what's optimal! It's not fair that good citizens should be made to suffer, they don't deserve the harm that outcome will bring!"

"May I recall the response your 'good citizens' had to your brother's antics?" Mrs. Kalimba rebuts.

Hestia continues to remain at-bat for her country. "Okay, I'll admit that they aren't quite used to having a dragon around! But that doesn't change anything! Each of them are hard-working, the few that you see topside are the ones with means to stay there! Your sanctions don't hurt them, you hurt the ones below!" She quickly jumps in the way of the transmission, pleading with Twilight. "Your highness, my brother Xerxes is irresponsible and cruel, and for that I apologize! But please don't go this route! More ponies will suffer, and it won't be the ones on top!"

Meanwhile, Twilight's even more confused as to the mare currently pleading to her. But before she can get the chance to ask about her, the stallion marches back into the room with a stern ultimatum. "Twilight, I'm still on this side of the globe and you got what you were looking for. Now you got twenty-four hours to make a decision before I do something rash. Let me know what you wanna do, other than that, you know how to contact me." In his march towards the sphere, he levitates the orb along with him. He walks onto the deck, flicks the orb into the abyss of the darkness, and walks back inside with a cold frown.

Hestia attempts to make her grievances known. "Hey! I wasn't done─"

In the matter of a blink, he teleports without any magic prompt, no spell, no flash or anything. He stands beside Amor, pointing out the imperial pair. "You, you, I want my spurs or you can get the fuck off my ship at the next stop. I suggest you pony that shit up before I feel the incentive to give you motherfuckers up to the wolves." He turns around and walks out of the room once more. "Or you know what, I may just pull a page out of your brother's book, and cook your sorry asses too."

Amor shudders as the stallion departs from the conversation, a chill running up his spine from the quick manner of how he appeared beside him without any warning. "...Is that guy usually this scary?"

Mrs. Kalimba scoffs in reply. "If that what scares you, then you'd hate to hear about his diet."

Canterlot Castle...

Twilight's relief is a lot more subdued with the more troubling news that was just uttered. At the cost of her friendship advisor making it out alive, the lives of forty others were extinguished. And now there's some mare pleading with her to not issue sanctions to the country for their actions. The mare is left at a crossroads.

Solemn Oath taps the princess. "Your highness?"

Realizing that the orb is no longer of use, she gives it to her captain with a depressing update. "Spike and Kali are fine. The others are killed in action."

Inkwell sighs heavily over the losses, Solemn passionately lets her thoughts known. "Your majesty... forty of our guards, specialists, engineers... on a peace mission!? That's more than a provocation, that's an act of war!"

"I know." She answers. "But we can't afford a war, not with them."

"Well what other alternatives do we have!? All you have to do is say the word, I'm more than willing to do my part, us guards would be more than proud to do the same!"

"We will wait. Patiently." Twilight hesitates for a moment, trying to assess what's at risk. "Killing does not bring back who we've lost, it only takes form those who already have. We can't wage war against a country we're supposed to be in negotiations with. That just puts our rescue in even more danger."

"Your highness, negotiations are past the point of repair. These losses need to be addressed!"

Twilight firmly stands against the captain's call for immediate retaliation. "I understand your anger, Solemn. But we need to wait until they reach our shores before we even think of changing the temperature. Reason must prevail above all else." Twilight turns to Inkwell, informing her of the current directive. "For now, we can prepare administrative actions against the Empire of Ponyland, preferably economic sanctions to tighten the pressure for a short time. We cannot allow this to escalate to the next level of violence, an eye for an eye blinds everyone involved."

The captain shows dissent, but understanding. "I must say that I don't agree with your decision, your highness. What's done is done. But if it's peace you seek, in spite of harm being done to us, then so be it." The mare salutes before dismissing herself. "Just be careful of command when you remove their input from this decision. They would want nothing but accountability."

"Trust me, no one's happy about this." Replies the high princess. "And also, I don't think Spike would be coming home without that blood debt being repaid."

"Do you mean that the former captain would take it upon himself to do that, risk war for the sake of vengeance?" Inkwell asks.

Twilight looks to her secretary. "When we are done, I'll have you go out to the northern courtyard of the castle grounds. From there, just take a look at the wall, you'll notice that the repairs there have been minimum at best. It serves as a reminder of what the humans have done with one of their own being injured in a combative affair. We're still apologizing to the changeling hive for having made some repairs to that wall, because they want us to remember what's been done there." The princess walks towards the curtains to undergo her long-delayed press conference. "So would he risk war? I know he's waged a war for a lot less. That's one of the reasons Celestia's kept him caged in for most of his tenure. Any length of leash is too long for the monster he is."

As Twilight takes her leave to start the press conference, Inkwell stays behind to await the princess' next set of instructions. In her time apart, she mutters a comment to herself.

"Perhaps a monster of his caliber can only be quelled by a more powerful fiend."

Dawntime in the Sea of Shadows...

The waters of the sea continue to shift the passengers about in their sea-fairing vessel. The day after a few long nights of cross country travel heralds a moment of comfort for the two imperials. While it may have been a close call, the are paid to the stallion requesting the toll. He doesn't say much outside of what he'll use it for at our next stop, but I don't blame him for his reclusive attitude towards the pair. I mean if I got news of my worst enemy trying to manifest themselves in the realm of the living after being the one to see their end, I'd be just as upset.

After all, it's been seven years.

Speaking of which, Mrs. Kalimba takes the opportunity to explain her story, how she was involved in the necroterrorist incident. It's far from a pretty story, and even further from an exciting climax from her perspective, but at least it has a storybook ending from what we can clearly see. In fact, it's her storytelling that's distracting her from her ongoing motion sickness. And that's saying something, the thoughts and the motions of her past are so effective that they drown out her physical present.

Amor lowers his head, feeling physically sick from the story. "It was worse than I thought."

Hestia is emotionally distraught, trying to reason with herself over what's been told to her. "That's way too cruel!"

Mrs. Kalimba is stone-faced, so hardened from her account that she doesn't even react to her recount of her father's horrendous end. "Sadly, that's just how it is."

The princess still wrestles with her own beliefs. "Your sister, your father, your friends... I didn't know that such a cost could be levied. And our doctor is the one responsible?"

"Goes against everything you believe, doesn't it?" I ask her.

"A loss for words is probably a monumental understatement." Amor says as he gently places a hoof to the teary-eyed pegasus. "I was like that too."

Hestia looks to her brother. "The documents you saw, what all did they tell you?"

He shakes his head. "Bits and pieces, not everything was in plain view."

"If that's true, then the world needs to know what all happened! But why wouldn't they make it all available!?" She asks.

"Because of who's involved. To protect the identities, sometimes the dignity of the ones victimized." I answer. "I have a high clearance, but I can't view the records beyond their redacted versions. Even Twilight's not allowed to reveal anything. Any and all decisions to declassify the material has been made by the prior royal administration." I look to the former princess sitting behind the kitchen counter. "And that's you."

Celestia walks from behind the counter, holding plates of food for us to eat. "Unfortunately, I don't even have that authorization. Not only am I not a standing ruler, but I delegated that to exclusive privilege. Only one has the right to devolve that information, as well as the sensitive documentation that comes along with it."

"To go so far as to protect the victims, when there could be a potential for more? Why?" Hestia pleads.

"Because some things are difficult to remember without falling into madness." Mrs. Kalimba answers. "There is only one that guards that secret, and it's likely they'll take it to their grave."

The stallion who continues to sail the ship, walks into the room and greets his wife in silence. He walks up to her, grabs a plate, and promptly looks to dismiss himself. Amor calls to him. "Excuse me, sir." He pauses for a moment, offering an ear to the young prince. "I couldn't help but notice that you're upset. If there's anything we can do to make good on ends, please tell us. We'd wish to thank you properly for your kindness."

He grits his teeth and replies. "No disrespect, but I can't trust you any further than I can trust your doctor, being that you're some of his devoted followers."

"What if we renounce ourselves!?" The prince pleads before the stallion walks out of the room. "I've obviously have made that decision before coming back to Ponyland, I was shown the truth. And I'm sure Hestia can do the same here and now."

He scoffs. "I don't see it."

The princess offers her own pleas. "At least I'm willing to forego everything I have been taught throughout my life." She responds. "I can look at you and tell, you've suffered something too─"

"You aren't at any liberty to tell me what the hell I went through." He lashes back at her. "So if you would, princess, keep your sanctimonious bullshit to yourself. I don't buy from a fucking cult..." He marches out of the room. "Much less the cult of a dead sadist with a god complex. Sick fucks."

The young mare shrinks in the wake of the stallion's admonishment of her beliefs. Such harsh rebuke with hardly any reason given, it's enough to confuse almost anyone, much less the ones trying to sympathize. But Celestia pats her on the back for trying. "I'll admit, this is the most that man has opened himself up in seven years. Color me surprised."

The young mare looks to her brother with a quirked brow. "What's a 'man'?"

"Dunno, beats me." He shrugs.

Mrs. Kalimba tries to stomach a little of her food as she converses with the former princess. "If there's anything, he didn't really discuss much of himself back then either."

"You know, it took me talking with his mom to get a real grasp on his childhood, I never really heard him talk too much about it." Celestia comments.

The zebracorn stifles a chuckle. "Makes you wonder how much damage or lack thereof he's managed to endure."

"Probably the lack thereof because he hears our stories and automatically relegates himself to having a normal experience." Celestia drinks a glass of orange juice before cutting into her pancake, the pair exchanging in complete casual conversation rivaling the chemistry of Cadance and Twilight. "Like seriously, we want to hear about the small, embarrassing, funny stuff too. It took him years to get him to remotely mention a little bit of it, maybe a story or two, prompted by his brothers of course."

"Always holding in details, I guess that's just his motion these days."

Amor points that out also, seeing how close they seem to exchange with one another. "You two seem pretty familiar with that stallion."

Celestia smiles as she answers back. "Why wouldn't I be, I married him."

Both the imperials jaws drop at the news. Hestia being the main one to shout about it. "Oh my doc─I mean..." Of course, she realizes her euphemism is probably a bad one to use and tries to correct herself. "Okay, this is gonna be weird."

Amor jolts himself from the shock of the revelation, trying to question her about their relationship. "Madam not-princess, I guess that does sound a little offensive─"

"Hardly! Happy to not be wearing a tiara these days. The shoes are nice, but that chest plate was a pain in the neck to wear." Celestia shows great pride in her lack of title.

"Didn't you wear it everyday?" I bluntly question.

"Hence the pain." She deadpans.

Hestia quickly jumps back to the topic of their marriage. "Alright, back to this world of a bombshell. When did you two get married, you and him?"

"A little under a year ago. We married during the Summer Sun Celebration."

Hestia continues to harp on the topic. "Oh and with the citizens loving you for everything you've been to them, your long tenured service, your storied legacy, I bet the wedding you had was a whole other level of beautiful."

Mrs. Kalimba rises from her seat, quickly dismissing herself. "I'm going to go out to the deck, I think I need a bit of air. Not feeling too good."

Celestia watches in silence as the zebracorn dismisses herself, but Amor jumps back into the current topic. "So you said you two got married, how did you two meet and what drove you to marry a stallion like him?"

Hestia goes on to imagine what all could've led to the pair finding their interests in one another. "Was it his mysterious past where you felt like you had to try something to crack his tough exterior? Or was it the rough stoic personality that really drove home the idea of you trying to change him for the better? Was he ever rebellious, like did he have a bad-streak?"

"Judging from his response from earlier, he must have some really harrowing experiences. I bet he probably had an encounter with the Doctor, and that's also taking a toll on him." Amor surmises.

Celestia reminisces on the past they both share, also the times when he first was introduced to her. "Sniper... was different then. A lot more carefree and open. He had so much light in his eyes that it could blind me with how radiant he could be at times. He'd give rousing speeches to the masses, stirring the public and angering politicians all in the same breath. He galvanized great change in Equestria, blazing trails where there were none made for him prior. It was amusing to see him operate in the way he did, but sometimes it scared us because he'd just dive head-first into danger, and it was all to make sure that his brothers in arms were walking into a place where they wouldn't be immediately harmed."

"Huh. I don't see that out of his archetype." Hestia comments. "The way you were talking, I pinned him for something like a politician as opposed to something like a century or knight. Was he really that chivalrous?"

The alicorn smiles as a phantom vision of the past forms in her mind, maintaining her former position, laying in her bed as she sits with a thermometer in her mouth. He looks down to her, offering to take the item from her lips, but scalding himself in the process. His comment, unintended as a compliment to her looks, but ending up being his daily praise of her with every waking morning. She remembers the moment with a warm countenance and a fond heart. "He was... my captain. My Captain of the Royal Guard."

"Ooh, prestige." She says before erupting into a loud gasp. "Wait, your CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD... Scandal!" Amor looks at his sister with annoyance over her enthusiastic interest in their romantic development.

"I can assure you, there was no scandal to be had." She states before pausing for a moment to rethink that answer. "Well... maybe a little. I won't deny that our relation did come at a cost of the joy of another party."

"Really?" Amor asks, being a lot more tame than his sister in that respect. "I mean I'm pretty sure he didn't miss out on much, considering he's got you." I immediately facepalm over his response. "What? I say something off color?"

I turn to him and quietly tell him the reason for my reaction. "Amor... Sniper is... Twilight's ex."

His face eventually sinks into a state between sadness and piqued interest. "Oh my."

"SCANDAL!" Hestia screams, she almost flies over to the alicorn, holding her hoof while demanding details. "Oh, tell me more about it! What happened that caused the two to break!? Like what did he do, did he cheat!? Did passion and interest fall far into conflict and disengagement!? ...Did she cheat?"

"More like... outside influences putting a deepening strain on their relationship and the mounting political pressure that caused them to separate. The were very public with their engagement and affections." She answers.

The young prince nods in agreement. "I suppose that can be a problem when it comes to being a special somepony to royalty."

I further emphasize their previous status. "Amor, the key word here is 'engagement'. They were set to marry."

"Oh..." Poor guy almost has a defeated look on him, but his optimism soon takes over and he starts to look at ways to change his outlook. "I guess I should study his habits and conversational approach, maybe I'll be able to gain a little more favor with her if I probe his mind a bit."

Celestia flinches back with bewilderment. "Excuse me?"

I bluntly explain his intent. "He's crushing hard for Twilight."

"Oh dear." She uses her magic to tilt his chin, gaining his undivided attention. She tries to gently reason with him. "Amor, is it? Okay, so... I don't think Twilight is quite in her recovery phase, perhaps it would be a good idea to let her discover if she can withstand her own demons."

I groan with frustration, especially having dealt with her for so long. "Seriously, it's been seven years, she needs to grow out of it."

"Spike, you can't say that, it was a little less than five hundred for me." She argues. "The heart takes time to heal, it doesn't always set itself right after a lifetime or two."

I bring up another instance of her romantic history. "What about King Sombra, the good one from that one alternate universe? There was that. That situation wasn't five hundred years ago."

"A thousand year-old flame, doused by a millennium of trauma and the loss of the only souvenir of that relationship, for twelve seconds of nostalgic bliss followed by his surrender to dark magic corruption in a successful bid to save our dimensions, followed by a bittersweet farewell where he screams at me and runs away? ABSOLUTELY NOT!" She emphatically shakes her head in denial. "Destiny, I felt, had truly designed for me to stay alone... until he came along."

"And then you whisked away the current princess' former intended." Hestia crudely summarizes.

She turns her head, at least not arguing against it. "Well I can't deny the optics. But I will say the attraction was mutual. To think it started so small between us, then I grew to cheer for every small victory he had, to propping him along every obstacle, to keeping his head above the waters of despair, to being the rock he built his home upon." She closes her eyes, remembering the moment where they exchange their vows, the passionate exchanges they've had, the moments of their weakness and overcoming them as a pair. She holds a hoof to her chest. "I truly love that man."

"There's that word again." Hestia mutters.

The silence of the room is broken by the rapid entry of Mrs. Kalimba. She appears moderately distressed. "Madam representative?" Amor checks in on her. "Did the waves get to you, are you okay?"

She points back to the window, showing us what appears to be an airship coming over the horizon. "We have company."

***Midnight Castle...***

A boisterous fanfare sounds from the rafters of the room, all cheer loudly as pink rose petals fall from the ceiling much like confetti in a festival. A multitude of centuries line the aisle, creating space between the procession taking place and the adoring crowd. A guard calls from nearby the throne.

"Presenting her imperial majesty!"

The doors to the throne room open, revealing Princess Zenobia and her dragon standing by her. She marches forward slowly, taking the cheers, the cries, the hails of good fortune from the many that welcome them. Her eyes gracefully dress to either side, her hoof waving at the clamoring masses.

"My goodness, such beauty!"

"I can imagine the suitors who would look to slay that dragon for her."

"Your majesty, you truly are a sight to behold!"

"Empress! Oh here! Empress!" A foal cries out to her, she quick to it's attention and gives a smiling wave towards them. The filly shouts with excitement. "She looked at me! She looked at me!"

The faceless masses continue to praise her without end, her dragon takes in the cries and whispers to her. "It seems that the citizens love you."

"They really do love me, don't they?" She says with a content smile.

"I know I do." The dragon answers.

The princess' smile ascends to another level as her cheeks brim with warm joy. "Oh look how you go on about stealing my heart."

"It's worthy to be stolen." He replies.

As she reaches the throne, she passes a front line consisting of all her alicorn siblings. They proudly applaud her while quipping to one another. "Well I guess she isn't so useless after all." Eros says with a chuckle.

"Who'd have thought?" Agamemnon says with an equal response.

Beside her father is the specter of a whisp-like flame. The formless presence glows with a warm light upon speaking. "Well done, my most diligent servant."

The mare bows her head with reverence towards the figure. "Thank you, my lord."

Her father then greets her, stoic as he often is. "I see you have really put one on, haven't you, Zenobia?"

"I've only done what I needed to, father."

"You've done enough." He says as he moves aside, revealing his empty throne. "Come, sit."

The mare looks to her father with a bit of confusion. "But this is your seat."

"Not anymore." He says as he lifts the laurels from his head to hers. A smile breaks upon his lips as he gives her a gracious bow in return. "Your majesty."

Her jaw trembles as she stares at her father, then to the seat he abdicates for her. She short of tears before looking to assume her seat, but the dragon taps her and gives her a final gift. "Oh yeah, I got you this." He holds a blue wooden box adorned with pearls and gold trim.

Her magic lifts the lid, to reveal her gift. "A... candy rock necklace?" Confusion initially sets in.

"It might not be the real thing, but I figured I'd make up for something you've long since missed out on."

"And what's that?" She asks.

The dragon kisses her on her forehead, smiling down to her. "What you've long deserved." The answer goes unexplained for many, but for her, it finally breaks the sluices holding back her emotions. Instead, they spill freely from her face. She trembles with appreciation as he bows her head to her. "Your highness!"

"Your highness!" The crowd cheers repeatedly, going on and on, giving her praise for her accomplishments, her work, her beauty, her prestige, and her love. All is right as she proudly adorns the pink candy necklace around her neck.

"They really do love me? They... really..."

Reality...

"Your highness!" Her maid continues to call to her, trying to get the sleeping princess' attention. But to no immediate avail. She calls again for her. "Your highness!"

The princess sleeps with tears streaking into her pillow, clinging onto the fantasy weaved into her mind, receiving the love from the imaginary crowd. "They... do love me..."

The maid places a hoof on her, shaking her gently to wake. The princess opens her eyes to a dim sight of her maid waking her. "Your highness, wake up."

She's slow to focus, but her mind still loosely clings to the dream that's touched her so deeply. "...Dammit." A tinge of melancholy peppers her perspective, reintroducing her back to the present world. For a moment, she is bitter towards her maid for disrupting her happiness. "What the fuck do you want?"

The monotoned maid informs her of an update. "The yacht that was seen leaving the port in Hayfling is almost in boarding distance. Cannons are loaded and ready to take aim."

Realizing that the moment her dream leads to is at hoof, she groans in an involuntary bid to stretch her limbs of the sleep she very much enjoyed. "Fine. I'll be up and about."

"Did you dream again?" The maid asks the princess.

Zenobia casts her eyes down towards herself, not wanting to explain what it is she experienced in the dreaming world. She gives a muted response. "Just... a bitter nightmare."

"You've cried in your sleep for many years, your highness." The maid cites with concern. "Perhaps this nightmare is too oft reoccurring."

"I've cried in my sleep for naught." She says as she stands to her legs. "Get the centuries ready for boarding. I'll lead the search myself."

The maid bows before her. "Yes, your highness."

The airship pursuing us is in plain view now. I can already see that they're getting ready to make some attempt to board and search the yacht. I'm not exactly certain of who this is chasing us, but I can be sure that with only one airship on the pursuit that this must be a widespread effort to comb the seas. It increases our chances, but I know that those weapons still aren't anything to sneeze at. If they fire at us, we might as well start looking at who's gonna carry who. The water's too cold to swim in without severe hypothermia setting in, so we're probably looking at three of us flying with passengers, and I have a feeling that they'll be shooting us out of the air. As much as I don't want to admit it, we're in trouble.

"They are not slowing down." Hestia mutters, looking through the window to see the shadow of the airship closing in around us.

Mrs. Kalimba holds at her stomach. "Hell of a time to feel sick again."

Amor immediately looks at me like I have some sort of plan thrown together already. "What do you think we should do."

"Shut up and listen." The disgruntled stallion answers, quickly pointing to the imperial siblings. "You, you, go with these two." He points now to me and Mrs. Kalimba. "You, you, take those two behind the counter and keep your heads low, lock all access points and cover the windows." Finally, he turns to his wife. "You, steer the ship."

"Negative." She replies without hesitation.

Hearing his wife's refusal, he lets out a sigh of frustration. "You know now's not the t─"

"I don't care." She replies adamantly, pointing her hoof back to her husband. "Now you listen to me."

"Tia─"

"Shush." She firmly plants her hoof over his lips, silencing him. "Now you listen. You go out there and do what you do, but you come back home to me. Do you understand?"

She removes her hoof for him to give his reply. "Yeah I understand."

He turns away with every intent to make his move towards the deck, but her magic yanks back at his tail. "Aht! Come on back here! You know I don't let you go without you paying the toll!"

He rolls his eyes before quickly leaning in to give her a peck on the lips. "Sail my ship, babe. Love you."

"Now that's the way you ask me." She replies while returning a quick peck of her own. "I love you too, don't get too wild out there."

"Yes ma'am." He says before trotting off.

As we all go to assume our positions, the stallion takes his stroll to the outside deck. As soon as he steps out, the shadow of the airship looms greatly over us with a few ropes dangling from the railings up above. A group of twelve descend upon our ship with none other than Zenobia leading the charge. She simply glides down to land softly before the stallion, who greets the party of Ponyland centuries with a casual clearing of the throat and an exaggerated accent.

"Well howdy there, partner. Didn't anticipate a cute patootie with a little alicorn booty coming aboard my ship and throwin' me a party."

The level of revulsion on Zenobia's face proves as a severe reprimand to the stallion's vernacular. "Ugh, what an undignified method of speech."

"Well you call it undignified, I call it simple. Now I would be remiss to not say nothin' to ya, especially after that there comment, but mama ain't raised one for ignorance." He gives a simple nod. "The name's Sniper, Sniper Shot. Some call me Hot Shot, some call me Hot Stuff, some call me daddy, but I'll leave it up to you on what you'll call me. What can I do you for?"

"Far from my type." She grumbles before jumping to the main reason for her appearance. "Sir, I am High Princess Rosa Zenobia, first born of Emperor Basileus Apollo of the Great Ponyland Empire. Might I request that you halt the engines of your vessel?"

He tilts his head, appearing dumbfounded. "For what purpose, ma'am?"

"We are seeking a collection of individuals, a party of a scoundrel insurgent, a holy mother, and a dragon. They were sighted on last night leaving the town of Hayfling on board this vessel. We wish to conduct search and seizure by order of the Holy Emperor and the Church of the Healing Hoof."

He purses his lips, appearing as though he's frying brain cells thinking about what all she's said. "A holy mother, huh? Probably the first time I've ever heard of one of those."

"If you would allow for my company to search your vessel, we would be mindful for the condition in which we've arrived on it, that also includes inspection of all your living spaces, lavatories, storage compartments, and bulkhead accesses where possible." She takes another look around the deck, seeing some of the amenities offered. "And I'm sure you would take appreciation of that consideration. It does seem to be a fairly impressive vessel. Complete with a swimming pool on the deck... and a hot tub?"

"Sometimes you like the simple things in life. So you make do." He says while giving her a wink. "And also, I hear ladies like yourself love turning up on a ride like this. Maybe I'd be willin' to show you around personally, maybe even a trip to the room with my king-size bed. And might I generously add, everything about me is just as big as you need it to be."

A century walks over to her, whispering something into her ear. Her brows raise for a moment before she turns her attention back to the stallion on deck. "I have been informed that the ensign of this ship is that of an Equestrian vessel, the 'E.S.S Sunshine."

"Well ma'am, if it's of no urgent matter, I just bought the boat there. I'm not from those lands in particular." He advertises.

She scoffs back at him. "Then what lands do you hail from?"

"Austin, Texas." I'm equally as dumbfounded as I am terrified that he just outright told her his place of origin.

Thankfully, she's none the wiser to it. "The fuck's a Texas?"

He proudly steps closer towards the princess with a biting lip. "Well since we're opening our dialog a bit to be a little more comfortable, it's a place you don't fuck with."

Two centuries intercede and draw their swords to guard their princess. They step between him and her as she narrows her eyes towards the stallion. "Is that a hint of a threat in your tone?"

"Hardly, it's just a fact of life where I'm from. The only places that seems to fuck with Texas on the regular is California and Oklahoma... Goddamn hate Oklahoma." That bit of revulsion appears to be quite real.

"Riiiiiight... That's not on any map I'm aware of."

He simply shrugs back at her. "Maybe you need to look at a different map, ma'am."

"Alright, enough funny shit." She seems to finally lose patience. To her credit, she lasted a lot longer than I had anticipated with her short temper for a lot of things. She issues her orders to her subordinates. "Centuries, search the vessel!"

"Now hold on a minute." He says, standing in the way of the door leading into where we're in. "I don't recall my consent being given for the commencement of a sausage party. I much rather just us two go on about this search for a holy mother, maybe find out if you'd like to be one yourself."

She raises a hoof to signal the others, they draw their weapons and aim their sights towards the stallion. He raises his hooves in a motion to show his haplessness. Zenobia, however, is just about ready to leave a mess of her own preference. "I am not for these games you're playing. Remove yourself immediately."

"Well I'll be damned, y'all have muskets?" I think that's another moment that he's genuinely asking that question out of concern. He looks up to the airships, seeing the ordinance aiming down at the yacht. "And cannons too? Oh y'all ain't playin', I'm impressed, genuinely impressed! Not bad, ponies!"

"You must be from some backwater Equestrian town, half of your babbling jargon makes absolutely no sense." She comments.

While he's chuckling over the arsenal they've brought to the forefront, I can tell his dumb playful façade is starting to lift. "What makes no sense is why you all looked to board my ship uninvited. I clearly made my offer to just one of you, the fairer of the options."

"You don't have a place to fucking disobey my orders. I'm the princess of this damned realm. You'll do as I say, or face much more than a scuff to your pretty little ship."

Just as she turns up the temperature of the exchange, he matches suit. "Ma'am, I highly suggest you don't go as far as to wreck my literal home on the water."

The mocks him for his response. "What, no insurance outside of Equestrian boarders?"

"No ma'am. I'm saying that not all your guys might have their affairs in order before you send them overboard." He turns his head to each of them, making sure that he gets his point across. "Would be a mighty shame to accidentally sneeze in one direction and cause half of y'all careening over the side there."

"You do realize ships don't work that way." Zenobia smiles falsely at him.

"You'd be surprised what my ship can do." He takes a step forward, causing the others to raise their arms for his head, he's not one bit intimidated. "And quite honestly, I don't think you wanna find out."

She motions them to lower their weapons for a moment, looking to playfully entertain the stallion's advances. "Alright, let's say I humor you, even if you talk far too big for your own good." The princess snickers. "I bet you're too easy to break."

He's all to ready to drop his ruse, doing so in the crudest of fashion. He gives her a look up and down, and speaks. "On second thought, I just remembered something. I've stuck my dick in alicorns far prettier than you."

"Really now?" Her horn sparks to life as she drags him to the ground effortlessly, scrubbing his face along the deck's surface as she clears the way for the others to walk inside. "Tear this ship apart!"

He whispers under his breath, his face still pressed against the hardwood. "Darlin' daddy's wastin' away."

The ship rattles as he looks back towards the princess. She quickly hops to the air, trying to keep herself stable while her subordinates struggle to keep their balance. A puddle of what appears to be a black shade engulfs the stallion whole, his body submerging under the wood's surface.

A trio of screams erupt, the party of imperials stare as three blackened tendrils rise from the ship's deck and fling the three ensnared victims far beyond the horizon. The princess watches as the eldritch horror tries to make a swipe for her as the shadow manifests back in front of the door leading to the dining area. From the center of that darkened puddle rises the stallion with an indifferent attitude.

"So... let's do some math. Forty corpses, minus three of your guys I've sent to meet with God. Guess that leaves me with thirty-seven more bodies to stack. Keep em' coming."

The princess screams to the airship above. "All cannons! Target this vessel─"

Before she can complete her orders, another four fly by her, this time with mangled bodies twisted and broken as though they were wrung like towels. The horrified expressions worn on their faces startle her as they fly by, meeting their final resting place among the railings of her airship. "Thirty-three now." One larger tendril rises from the ships deck, making a swipe for the airship, knocking away a few of it's crew and cannons into the waters of the sea. The stallion continues to keep his count. "And there goes five of your cannons, which are so 1776."

The princess curses at the figure as more smaller tendrils rise around him. "What the hell is that!?"

"I told you already, princess! I'm from a land called Texas! And back home, we have something called Castle Doctrine! It means anyone who shows uninvited onto my property with the intent to bring hurt or harm to me and mine gets the prestigious award of 'find out' for fucking around." He summons yet another large tendril to clean the airship of it's lethal inventory. Seven more cannons fall to the waters, along with many of the ones who stood by to arm them. Around the yacht could be heard the screams of many centuries looking to climb from out of the chilling waters of the sea. "This may be your country, but this here vessel is my castle! And your laws don't apply to me as long as we're in my castle! So before you outright lose about thirty-three more of your guys, I suggest you motherfuckers zip right back up to that Goodyear blimp of yours and keep on fucking off in any general direction not named 'here'!"

Looking to make a stand for her now frightened forces, many of them simply leaping over the side to the safety of the sea, she dives into the stallion with a spear drawn. Her strike lands true to his chest, impaling him completely through the lower back of his neck. "How dare you─"

His magic draws her spear even further into him, leaving but inches between their faces. He smiles with almost a murderous grin. "As I said." She leaps back, but his hoof quickly transforms separate from his body, forming an arm and five fingers to firmly grasp at her neck. He laughs maniacally as the mismatched appearance draws fear from her. A flash of his magic completes his transformation into his true self. Now her hind legs dangle underneath her as he stands on two legs, his eyes a cruel glare towards her while he speaks. "I've dealt with prettier alicorns than you, baby girl. And obviously, I'm bigger." He takes his free hand, pumping the spear in and out of his chest. "And I hurt a lot less than you think I do. That would be thanks to your 'Doctor', he fixed me up real good." Finally, he breaks the spear and removes the wooden shaft from his chest using his magic. "And I mean..." He instantly debuffs his appearance, removing all the spells that hide the scars all over his body, namely the surgical scar revealing his decapitation. "Damn. Good."

The mare whimpers with a struggling breath as his fingers pinch against her windpipe. "What... the fuck... are you?"

"What am I? I'm the last thing he fucked with, the last thing he ever made!" He screams as though insanity has clearly overridden all sense of rationality. Several more tendrils rise from around him as he lifts a few of the struggling centuries from the water, as many as another twenty. As they struggle, he creeps closer to her as each tendril finds their necks. "So if you're looking for some 'holy mothers', I'm wholly the motherfucker you want!" With a flick of his wrist, the loud crunching sound of the collected necks he's ensnared crack and each of the captured victims are faced towards her. He presses his face among them, front and center to the princess before whispering at her a single word. "Boo."

His hand snaps open, releasing not only the princess from his hand but also the others back into the ocean to find their place amongst the marine life. Zenobia scrambles away, her wings initially flapping out of sync from the terror before gaining a common rhythm, allowing her to dart back to the safety of her airship. In doing so, she knocks a cannon off from the railing above and sends one careening into the deck of the yacht.

Another tendril rises as the many others sink back into his shadow. He catches the heavy iron piece of artillery before it makes a damaging impact onto his hardwood floor. "Hmm... cannons, huh? Guess I'll keep this as a souvenir. Cool."

After all of the carnage, he walks back into the ship with his new toy being sunk into his shadow with the final tendril. The black puddle proceeds to reassume it's form into his body given shade against the sun. He pops his own neck with an audible crack and rubs it. Mrs. Kalimba immediately grabs at his wrist to stop him from running his fingers along the length of his scar.

Both Amor and Hestia stare in horror over what they've been made to witness. The young prince shudders as he questions the man. "What are you?"

The man looks over to see himself staring down at the pair as opposed to staring straight at them. He realizes that he's still in his human form and knocks himself against the head. "I guess I won that 'found out' prize myself, didn't I?" He casually strolls back over to a chair, seating himself down at the table and summoning a bottle of brandy to pour himself. "So... Apologies you had to see all of that. Allow me to reintroduce myself. Some call me by my Equestrian codename, Sniper Shot. As you can tell, I'm not from here." He takes another chair and reclines himself at his table. "My name is Nondis P. Haines, genus species Homo Sapien, shortened to the common tag 'human', shortened even further to 'man'. And I am the former Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard."

He uses his magic, the sparkling silver aura sourced from his very fingers, offers glasses to everyone from the cabinet. He politely pours a shot per glass and opens the floor for questions.

"And before y'all get started... don't ask about the scars."