Upon my return home, chaos seems to be the working order of things. The only reprieve of the matter seems to be that I do have witnesses available to assist me in trying to maintain order in this otherwise destructive arrangement. And it seems that both volatile parties are more than eager to show their dominance and prove a point, all for the purpose of claiming dibs on me. But even that's a marginal chance considering that there are now three others who will look to have their time with me in turn.

After a long explanation of how we've gotten ourselves here, Ocellus tries to sum up what's going to take place for the time being. "So let me get this straight. All four of them are staying here for the week?"

"It's just a week. I promise it's just a week. We'll just have a little extra company and then we'll make do with better accommodations for them."

"But isn't that the job for the ones up in Canterlot?" Smolder brings up.

"Well it would've been, but conflicts seem to be the issue."

"I mean we see that, but in what way exactly?" Gabby inquires.

Just on cue, Ember's voice shouts throughout the house. "Hey Spike, I heard there's a bunch of sapphires on your clothes, I'm gonna snack on those for a bit!"

"PLEASE DON'T!" I urge, probably in vain for the fact that she's inclined to just go by her primitive mind and snack away at the shiny accessories.

Zenobia's voice hollers from upstairs. "Pet! The fuck are you doing down there!? I'm all bored and sitting around this place and there's no servants! I've had to suffer a ship ride of six days, shitty burns, and two weeks with no dick! Can you please get off your ass and make me scream for an hour or two!?"

Hestia screams with disgust. "CAN YOU NOT!?"

Poor Amor is resigned to embarrassment. "Eugh, my family's an international embarrassment."

And once more, the two warring parties go back at it. "I KNOW THAT BITCH DIDN'T JUST CALL YOU HER PET AGAIN!"

"OH WOE IS YOU, YOU CRUSTY, SCALY CUNT!"

"NO!" I leap into action, looking to stop them from getting too confrontational, but also address the three that have been worried sick for me over the past couple of weeks.. "Sorry guys, I need to jump in before this gets ugly again." I bring my attention back to the main issue at hand. "Ember, Zenobia, can we please not turn my house into a firing range!?"

The others stay behind, questioning the status of the other two imperials for their reason of stay. "As for you two, what the hell's your issue?"

Hestia doesn't hesitate to designate blame. " Me personally, I don't even know, I was dragged here. Probably because of not only Zenobia's unwillingness to play nice, but also Amor's stupid crush on the princess."

The young prince growls with annoyance. "Oh woe is you for me having romantic preferences."

"Yeah, with the high princess of Equestria. I don't think I need to point out that your pedigree doesn't match the qualifications of the class you're trying to enroll into. We're lesser bloods, remember?"

"Last I checked, I abdicated my position much like you've elected to do the same."

"Exactly, you're unqualified! Thank you so much for proving my point!"

Seeing the pair siblings go at it, Ocellus smiles as she finds resonance in the pair. "I see these two must be the normal ones."

"So, what are your names again?" Smolder asks.

"Hestia Aphrodite." The princess replies.

"Amor Ambrosia." The prince answers.

"Amor Ambrosia, that's a pretty spicy name." Ocellus coos with interest. "You get into any escapades, fraternize with any of the locals, maybe get into some debauchery with the daughters of city leaders, or do you just break the hearts of unsuspecting princesses by indulging in their wares before dumping them off at the next town?"

Once more, Hestia dumps on her brother. "Don't let the name fool you, he's romantically compromised. Absolutely hopeless."

"Compromised, hopeless? I have one interest and I intend to remain true to that. And another thing, you forget that I was once engaged." He argues in his own defense.

"Yeah, you were engaged... to an off-branch cousin. You didn't even mourn her death after she was assassinated!"

"I NEVER MET HER MORE THAN TWICE! HOW CAN I BE EMOTIONALLY ATTATCHED TO AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE WHEN WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD A BASIC CONVERSATION!?"

"That's a 'you' problem. Should've done more."

"You know why I couldn't do more."

Hestia looks to counter with another statement before freezing with thought of what's led up to the assassination. "Okay, I'll give you that one. That was wrong, and we both know it. But I still should point out the fact that you have none of the swagger Adelphos had, and you hung out with him the most of anyone!"

"Yet we mention another victim of the imperial ass-pain in the family! Can we not for once!?"

Seeing how easily the two bicker back and forth, Ocellus stifles a chuckle. "I'm starting to see why you two were cast off to us."

As the three residents giggle about, Ember joins in with a tuxedo in her grasp, biting down into the accessories that once adorned the pockets and collars. "So, what are we talking about?"

Gabby is the first to notice what exactly she's carrying. "Uh Ember, isn't that Spike's tux?"

She shamelessly answers with confidence. "Yeah, I guess. I had a craving for sapphires, but emeralds have like a sweet and sour taste. So I'll take what I can get." She offers the tux to Smolder. "There are some left over here, you can have a bite."

Smolder shows every bit of hesitation as Gabby cites the importance of the now defiled article of clothing. "That was the tux he wore for our first date!"

"Well you two shouldn't have been dating anyhow." She callously answers as she goes for another bite.

The griffon takes great offense to the dragoness. "What!?"

Smolder immediately confronts the careless ruler. "Hey, not cool!"

"You know what's not cool, Smolder? You trying to go for a clutch with the designated mate of the dragon lord. You know that you weren't supposed to have the mind to even approach him, much less mate with him. And yet you did. I should have the right to duel you to the death for your transgressions, you know the dragon code better than anyone else here. You know if I select a mate, he's off limits until I get through with him or lose interest. And you ignored that."

"MY TUX!" I shout from the hall, seeing my cufflinks with teeth marks dug into the metal that once held the fairly nice emeralds accents.

While I run to grab my clothes, Ember points over and tries to get me to cosign with whatever point she's making. "There you are. Spike, can you tell Smolder that I'm supposed to be your assigned mate already?"

I try not to explode on her, knowing that any volatility from me would not end well considering the circumstances. "Ember, my clothes are not a napkin, nor are my accents a snack. How many times have we had this discussion?"

"You're always on about the stupid shit. Why can't we ever talk about what's really the issue?"

"Rarity's clothes are not stupid!" I strongly chastise her.

In hearing the name of the brand, Hestia sparks a bit of confidence and confronts the dragoness also. "Okay, now I might have a problem with you, missy!"

"You what!?" Ember snarls back, a bit of her magenta flames swirling from the sides of her mouth.

Immediately, the pegasus mare shows a more passive change in her approach. "Excuse me. I may have a few concerns I would like to discuss in a nonviolent and civilized manner."

"Okay, everybody freeze." Ocellus intervenes. "You, I understand that the jewels on Spike's clothes are tasty looking, but I'm sure Rarity wouldn't take too kindly to you damaging her work."

The dragon lord rolls her eyes with dismissiveness. "Yeah... I'll apologize to her later."

Entering into the conversation is an already instigative princess Zenobia. "Ha! A changeling talking sense to a dragon, how the mighty have fallen!"

The changeling immediately draws her attention to the imperial noble blood. "And you, you need to get over yourself. You may want to place your claim on him, but you need to remember that I'm literally girlfriend numero uno. Everyone in this house will tell you."

Gabby raises a talon to protest quietly. "Well, more like numero dos."

Ocellus continues to push back against the notion. "That's debatable─"

"How long has he had that tux? Was it before or after you got to him?"

As the griffon cheeses back at her, she points out our period of severance as an excuse to invalidate her claim. "How long did you two stay broken up until recently?"

"Still, I had him first." Gabby proudly calls out.

"Still, I slept with him first." Ocellus claims openly.

"Still, I broke his dragon lust." Smolder chimes in.

"And just like that, you're already on the outside looking in." The changeling points back at Zenobia. "Now I understand we all adore our hunk of a dragon, but please understand that if there was anything that grabbed your attention during sex, just know that this changeling princess did turn him out to be able to do all that kinky shit. Your enjoyment of him was because of my personal instruction. Got that?"

"You, a changeling princess? Why I'd laugh at the idea." The imperial alicorn scoffs.

I tap her on the shoulder and whisper over to her. "Um... she's not lying. Her mom is Queen Chrysalis."

"I beg your pardon." I nod with pursed lips as she turns back to the changeling mare with disbelief. "THE changeling queen, the one responsible for─"

"Yeah yeah, feeding off the love of millions for the sole purpose of gaining power. It wasn't all for the hive, you know. That's why we're under new management. My brother is the changeling king, King Thorax, might have heard of him?"

"Dragon lords, changeling princesses, imperial royalty, you're almost as bad as father, I swear!" She aims a hoof towards the other two of my herd. "So who are you both supposed to be?"

"Gabriella Griffonda, my friends call me Gabby. Just a regular run of the mill griffon."

"Smolder's the name, blowing smoke is my game. Nothing special on my end either, well... other than me being an element bearer but I don't really count that because Ocellus is one too."

The changeling yanks the orange dragoness for a smothering hug. "And she's my scaly but adorable cinnamon swirl."

Her cheeks run pink with embarrassment. "Stop it, Olla."

Hestia grows confused over the pair's interaction. "Um... are you two... close?"

Smolder shows about as much hesitation as Zenobia shows subtlety. "Uh yeah, we've been dating each other for years before we got up with Spike."

The imperial alicorn shows disgust over the arrangement. "Female changeling infatuated with a female dragon, what the hell is this fresh abyss?"

And Ocellus shows as much pride as Hestia shows discomfort in the topic. "Yeah, we love each other. And don't get it twisted, changelings are all about sharing the love, no matter the species, gender, or sex. If I think you're palatable enough, you can get it."

"And it won't take much convincing either." Gabby adds to her own account.

The imperial princess gives a contemptuous reply. "That I find hard to believe."

Gabby smugly addresses Ocellus, knowing that her point can easily be proven. "Hey, do you wanna do that thing you did with me that one time?"

The changeling is more than willing to demonstrate. "Sure." She walks around the mare, giving me directions in doing so. "Hey Spike, get behind her real quick." I do as she instructs, her hoof issuing signals for her next command. "Now hold her down, and hold her close."

The mare glances up to me with confusion. "Uh, what are you doing?"

A purple claw grasps at her chin, bringing her focus to the replica of me. "Whatever do you mean, princess?"

The sight of there being two of me causes the princess to stammer and shudder with thoughts, as well as fear. "P-pet, wh-wh-what the fuck is going on─"

Ocellus plays every bit of the role of me at my most aggressive. She takes a thumb into the slightly ajar maw of the awe-stricken mare, leaning in close with a low growl. "I bet you would love for me to fuck your throat, won't you?"

While I don't mind her portraying me, I'm not one to be outdone for my own self. So I grab her by her neck from behind, knowing this is yet another one of her sexual triggers. I growl into her ear from her right side. "Yank your tail and take you from both ends? I'd bet you'd look pretty as the Manehattan bridge, sturdy but barely holding on by a thread, taking our heavy loads up and down your spine. You said it yourself, rules are meant to be broken, so I guess your back should be violated next."

"Whoa..." Even Ocellus is slightly thrown off by my performance. She clears her throat and ups the ante. "I bet you don't mind the two-way traffic, do you? Just another avenue for our amusement, until you finally crumble and break under our weight."

"And I know how easily you can be broken with just one of me." I tighten my grasp on her neck, causing her to coo with longing. "Now imagine two."

"Mercies above." She rolls her eyes, instinctively bringing herself on the edge of her own tolerance. She begs for our threats to become action. "Show me none."

The faux version of me grasps her by her horn, adding yet another level to the already intense tease. "Convinced yet?" Ocellus finally drops the disguise, her body shuddering and falling to the ground as she leans forward with the cruel disappointment of us both abandoning her so abruptly. "Yeah, thought so."

Poor thing's almost humping the ground from the void left with our duetted absence. "H-how d-dare you, how fucking dare you fool me with such... such─"

"Need a towel?" Gabby smirks.

Realizing her easy defeat, she coils her forelegs deep into herself, not wanting to admit her state of arousal. "A shower would be nice right about now. It's been a long travel, perhaps I need to cleanse the day away. Now if you would excuse me." She hesitates in standing, knowing that she's dripping with wait and want. The shame of her defeat is not only apparent in her attitude, but also my hardwood floor. She inevitably rises and gallops away to the stairs, leaving a puddle of her own guilt and a few trailing droplets behind.

"She's trailing! Ew, ew, ew!" Hestia gags with extreme revulsion.

Smolder thumbs back to the pegasus, slightly offput by her level of disgust. "What's her deal?"

Amor reveals his sister's weakness. "Hestia doesn't like sex. Any remote discussion on the topic is like a huge peeve for her."

Smolder raises a brow as she asks the pegasus of her preferences, or lack thereof. "How do you not like sex?"

"Quite frankly, there's a lot of disgusting things about it. And also, that is our eldest sister... at least from what we're aware of. I shouldn't be in any way pleased over her disgusting habits, much less her constantly doing that kind of stuff around the castle."

"Oh, I see." Ocellus nods with understanding.

"Also, some questions for future reference, is this sexual thing going to be an everyday occurrence?" She asks the changeling.

Smolder steps forth to answer the mare's inquiry. "Well yeah, we do have days designated for each of us. I get Friday and Monday, today's Monday. Olla get's Saturday and Tuesday. And Gabby gets Sunday and Wednesday."

"Oh no." The young mare cringes.

"I promise the rooms are soundproof." I reassure.

"Can I get my own room?" She demands. "I don't need to be anywhere near Amor when he's having his romantic thoughts of the princess─"

"I keep telling you that it's merely incidental!" Her brother cries angrily. "Pop-ups happen, I can't control it! And it's not like I actually indulge in those moments! I try to do my best to keep true to the wait!"

"Yikes, I'd hate to wash your linens after you sleep. That impending accident is going to be legendary." I comment comments before addressing Hestia. "Well, we only have four bedrooms aside from the master bedroom, so that might be difficult to arrange."

"What's there to arrange?" Smolder rebuts. "You, Olla, Gabby, and I can share your bed. It's not like we don't do that when you're here. Those other rooms just go unused anyways if we're not setting up for game night."

Zenobia counts the four of us and shows contempt for her exclusion. "Wait, you all somehow share a bed?"

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Ember chimes, looking to interject herself into the topic and showing equal disapproval. "You all share a bed and I have to sleep separately from my mate!?"

"And here we go." I mumble, already seeing how this is going to evolve into yet another set of problems.

The dragon lord directs her demand to Smolder. "And you know what, since you have a schedule with two days on it, I think you should be fair enough to give me my one day to assert my right as Dragon Lord to engage with my designated mate. So I'll take your Monday."

"But that's today." Smolder argues.

"Exactly. So I'll be sleeping with Spike tonight. The rest of you can go sleep elsewhere." She answers dismissively, waving her claws at the others to shoo them away.

"Ember, my bed is big. I can at least fit another two to three creatures on it." I inform her.

The dragoness raises her voice with argument. "That's absurd! You shouldn't even have a bed that size! There's no bed that big!"

I look to my ceiling and purse my lips. "Well... actually..."

Ember gawks at the massive square situated in the middle of my room, offering all angles of access. She seems genuinely offended that I hid this method of comfort from her. "You have a bed that size!?"

Amor is more amazed at the gross surplus of it's size. "What do you do with it all?"

Zenobia seems to be the only one who's genuinely excited from the accommodations I have for myself, probably because she's looking to partake in the matter as soon as possible. "Fucks sake, pet, I didn't think you were that indulgent. I'm impressed!"

Seeing the satisfaction worn on Zenobia's face, Ember looks to assume her declaration of the day. "Perfect! This is the perfect size for the dragon lord and her mate!" She turns to the others and bid them departure. "You guys can go away now! We have dragon business to discuss!"

"With pleasure." Hestia grumbles as she makes for a quick exit.

Ocellus refuses to do so, while also providing me with a bit of an update. "Now I will say, Ms. Blue came over a few days ago, she said something about updating the mattresses in the guest rooms to have similar quality of the one in here."

"Oh really? She didn't have to go that far."

"She said it was her way of thanks for 'Keeping an eye on Kali', whoever that is."

The imperial princess harps more on my accumulated gifts. "Exclusive outfits from a fashion mogul, new beds, a private bodyguard, and an emergency escort led by the former Princess Celestia, you sure you aren't still holding on to that forty-five-second title of yours?"

"Far from." I answer flatly.

"Don't forget a home made with the amenities of the human world." Gabby adds.

Zenobia gasps with shock. "I'm sorry, what─"

"The FUCK!?" Ember screeches at me!

I grimace at the once-classified news of my home's construction being unwittingly disclosed. "That was supposed to be a topic of non-discussion, as per the architect and realtor."

"Oh that was? You didn't tell me that I wasn't supposed to say that. Sorry" Gabby apologizes.

The imperial alicorn looks back at the massive bed. "Well no fucking wonder the bed is so hug, not to mention everything else around here."

"Well if this is anything like the tunnel making machines we were provided, this should be good." Ember comments.

"I don't think that's a good comparison." I say to her as she flops into my bed face-first.

For moments, she remains motionless, completely statuesque against the mattress. She doesn't even seem to move for air as she addresses me. "Spike, what is this?"

"It's a mattress." I bluntly answer.

She still won't move. "No shit it's a mattress. Wanna explain why this shit feels so enchanted?"

Zenobia dives in to the other side, her eyes widening with surprise. "Oh good doctor's name. You've gone from this to our beds?"

"Just try not to lay there too long." I warn the pair.

"I am imperial royalty, of noble blood no less. I have clearly been robbed." Zenobia complains.

"Is it really that comfortable?" Amor asks before sitting on the bed for himself. He lets his back sink into the mattress as he shows his genuine reaction of comfort. "Oh wow, what is this?"

"Memory foam. All the beds here have it apparently." I answer.

"Your guest beds are made of this shit?" The imperial princess runs purely out of spite, a driving force that leads her from the comfort of the mattress to looking elsewhere throughout my room. "What does your bathroom look like?"

"Well it's nothing─"

"Out of my way!" She yells as she opens the door, leading into my bathroom, only to yell some more at the size of my private restroom. "THE FUCK AM I, A PEASANT!?"

Amor looks around for himself, slowly turning his head at the high ceiling. "This is beyond big for equines."

The mystified princess walks over to a wide spout protruding from the wall. "What is this, some sort of watering corner?"

"That's the shower." I correct her.

"Well I'm bathing in this shit right now." She answers, pulling the lever towards the far end. I don't even get a word of warning before the scalding hot water cascades down the mare, who screams with discomfort. "AH, SHIT! The water comes out this hot!?"

"Does it not do that in Ponyland?" Ocellus asks.

"They do if the line is attached to a hot spring, which mine is! By the time it reaches my shower, it tends to be a lot more palatable than this. I bet it's because of how close we are to the ground."

"We just have a water heater in the basement. All homes have that here." I explain.

The mare stares at me with frustration for her prior living circumstances. While it seems that their technology has been pushed towards weapons development, it seems that they lack the modern infrastructure we have. Odd to think about when they have guns.

As I turn the knob towards the center, I highlight to her the warning of not going all the way to my preferred setting. "I like my water to be as close to a ultra high temp for sanitation reasons, those in-between spots in our scales can get really oily and carry a lot of grime that congeals and cakes. But for you, I recommend you try it right about there instead."

She steps in, letting the water batter against her back as a smooth waterfall gliding onto her body. She sits for a moment, serenely accepting the warm current form like a blanket around her. "Oh no, oh fucking hell no, I'm not leaving here. This is my residency now."

"So is that an abdication of power I sense?" Amor asks with a growing smirk of approval.

She shows no hesitation in her answer. "Oh Ponyland will continue to thrive while I'm away. Those fucks can deal with matters now, I consider this a long-term vacation for the foreseeable future. Between the bed and this, I don't know what the fuck I'm going for. I could fall asleep here, this will do it."

"Well while you're doing that, I'm going to go take a nap myself." I inform her.

The mare warmly sits in place as the water continues to run down her back. "You do that, very much deserved."

One Hour Later...

Unwittingly, Zenobia's time in the shower causes her to doze off from the comfort. Her eyes awaken to realize that the now-lukewarm water is but a precursor of her running the hot water supply to it's last. She shakes herself awake, darting out of the shower with the intent to catch yet another creature who's made his disclaimer to her before walking out of the bathroom. Her eyes latch to the form of a sleeping purple dragon.

She steps into the mattress of the hulking bed, climbing under the covers with the intent to surprise the snoring drake. She successfully sneaks up to his face undetected. Her smile beams warmly towards the creature as she playfully tickles his nose. His snout wiggles with an itch and his eyes slowly stir open. "Hello, my sleeping little pet." She greets him. "I know it's not cordial to wake you in your sleep for something such as this, but you know how long I've been made to wait for you to see me again." The dragon turns over, bringing the princess' lustfully aggressive tendencies to manifest. Her horn stirs with magic, only to show no effect whatsoever. She looks down to see his neck with the collar, but the device is barren of her influence. "The fuck, what's wrong with this thing now?" She whispers to herself.

The creature groans in return. "Wow, you are that desperate."

"I only have you to blame with the way you've treated me in our time together." She says as she climbs over the body of the dragon.

As her legs complete the straddle, teal flames engulf the creature in a brief flash, revealing Ocellus looking back at her with a mocking smirk. "Complete desperado."

The princess grunts with displeasure. "It's you. What joy." She says as her mood is soured by the changeling's appearance. "If you're laying about here, then where is my beloved pet?"

"Spike had to go back off to Canterlot, he wasn't done with his debrief, so he said. The guards that were sent for him knocked on our door, demanded he show up, and then took his tired ass up that way. When we asked, they said the debrief would be done before a committee, where they'd be getting his testimony of the trip for the parliament."

"What do they need to do all of that that for?" Zenobia asks.

"For starters, you guys killed forty of our guards." The changeling replies.

"Well forgive me if it sounds a bit crude, but what my brother did pales in contrast to the losses we've incurred during our time at sea. We've lost probably five thousand in the hour."

"That I find that hard to believe." Ocellus counters.

"I mean it's not that hard when your forces are fighting against a literal shadow demon on two legs and a sun-struck demigod posing as a married couple."

Ocellus double takes at the description of the fated encounter. "Wait a minute. You fought both that human creep, and Princess Celestia, and somehow survived?"

"To be fair, I was badly burned by the latter, and just mentally scarred by the former. But my brother was the fool who fought against them both with numbers."

"That human, I bet he made quick work of everyone, didn't he?" Ocellus questions.

"Frighteningly so." Zenobia confirms.

"Yeah, well if he scares you that much, feel free to join the club. It's standing room only." She sarcastically replies. "He's killed hundreds of changelings, probably south of a hundred arimaspi, he's even killed one of his own kind. There ain't no telling who or what else he's killed throughout the years."

"He didn't seem to have that much under his belt at first glance. But then again, he was posing as a pony at the time."

"Well appearances can be deceiving. I would know, duh." The changeling points to herself as a means of emphasis.

Zenobia sighs as she lays back in the bed, accepting the disappointment of her desired dragon being nowhere near her spell's reach. "Well horrors of the unknown aside, how long do you think he'll be in Canterlot for?"

"Depends. Might be a few more hours, or maybe a few days. Those guards were pretty strict when it came to the time management of all of this, so I'll assume he'll be back long after dinner."

"So he doesn't get to cook me food either!?" The imperial princess moans with protest. "Well that's just absolute piss! He's such a good cook, I was looking forward to what he was going to surprise us with!"

"I don't think Spike will be in much of a cooking mood after today. Let's try to keep things simple for the time being." Ocellus pulls out her phone, looking up a number of local options for food delivery. "You okay with take-out?"

Zenobia folds her forelegs with a pout. "...Nothing too greasy. Heartburn isn't fun to sleep on."

I figured they wouldn't let me take it easy, even after the extracurricular interactions that took place just earlier in the day. The way they greeted us was nothing short of preparation for top secret conversations to take place. And with a high-profile contact stashed away elsewhere, Twilight's taken the prime opportunity to move the debrief back to the front burner. Of course, there's a solid reason.

"There... there's no way."

Poor Ms. Blue, her face is sickly pale in hearing my account of what's taken place, and namely who has reared his voice to the world for the first time in seven years. "I know the news is probably disappointing to hear, but... that's what happened."

"This is a serious development." Upon hearing my confirmation of the subject, Captain Solemn Oath sighs with heavy resignment. "Sir Spike, I hate to admit it, but it seems that our case against the necroterrorist is now far from a shut one."

Twilight looks towards the zebracorn standing next to me, seeing her stout expression. "Are you okay, Kalimba?"

"I am fine. You should save your concern for the one who needs it most." She tries to appear calm and composed, but even I know that there's a storm brewing in her mind over all of this. It only makes sense that she's trying to put on a brave face for the one who appears the most disturbed.

"I thank you for your empathy, but I don't need any concerns shard over me right now. There's bigger things." Chides Ms. Blue, who points her next question towards me. "What else do you know about this church?"

"They share sermons of obedience, there's some strange quotes, but as you can tell my mind isn't quite in shape to recall it all with what happened immediately after." I can only remember one quote in general that stuck, but everything else is a reach considering that I was drugged and fucked into a stupor.

Lieutenant Humbreeze taps his hoof against the table, impatiently and anxiously recounting his own experiences with this situation. "So it's really true. Only he would dare to disrupt the peace of the living from beyond the grave. It's so on-brand for him."

"And now both Nondis and Celestia knows of it. I'm sure they won't be enjoying retirement for too much longer if this continues at the rate it's going." Stanton adds.

Shining and Blueblood, while not present physically, use communication spheres to make their attendance. The northern emperor raises a point of inquiry. "Do you have a motive for them wanting Kalimba to go with them?"

"Other than the false notion that her son is the blood heir of his lineage." I answer.

Blueblood also adds in his own comment. "We all know that's not the truth. However, there's no way of telling how others may perceive this seed of misinformation. It could very much start a hysterical wave of madness."

"Not to mention the numerous cultists looking to revive the ways of old Corrotto." Shining concludes before glancing to Ms. Blue. "I'm sure there are some who would roll over in their graves if things were to relapse back to the olden days."

"My brother will rest peacefully, no matter what they may try. But I sure as hell won't." She responds. "And I know there are many others who will reawaken to pain if they are to know what we know now."

"Should we inform the current element bearers of what's to come?" Asks Tempest, who's more of an observer of the meeting than a witness to the issue. "It might be wise to have them privy to the circumstances before things escalate beyond a measure of disrepair."

"You might have to go through with that one." Stanton cosigns. "I'm just saying, qualifications might be a bit rough for us to pull a repeat of seven years back. When we all put that bastard down, those elements fell right out of our hands. And those were physical elements, they no longer exist. And even when they did, we couldn't use their powers for anything other than putting the big baddie away, and giving them back to where they came from. And with everyone going about their separate ways, it might be hard to get them together and reaffirm the bonds we once had in that moment. Plus we have to remember, we were saving not only this world, but mainly ours."

"A rough sell." I agree. "I can even bet it's probably just as hard for Twilight and her friends to use the elements because they've been so out of touch on a day-to-day basis. And relationships change as time moves on, how we see each other and what we think on a personal level is subject to shifts on a tectonic level."

"Case in point." The disguised human leans back in his chair. "Shining, Blueblood, what do you advise, what do you got drawn up?"

The blond prince rubs the bridge of his nose, conjuring a thought. "Alas for my old demons can never be laid to rest. In the hundreds of years I've lived, I never anticipated retaking the burden of this matter after it's resolution. The death of Law Processu Approbati has been a boon for our lives, but even that law was held and championed by none other than the dead bastard."

"Not to mention the sinister purpose that may be in taking Nafasi for themselves. If Umbra is the one leading their ploy, I guarantee they'll be looking to use him in the same manner of that filly my wife helped put to a permanent bedrest." Shining comments, causing the first passionate stir from the mentioned foal's mother.

"Not my son they won't! They would have to take my corpse first!"

"Knowing the circumstances, that's exactly what they would do first." Ms. Blue groans with disgust.

Twilight spreads her wings with a decree. "Then the solution is simple, Kalimba never leaves Canterlot. She stays under our protection until the situation is stabilized in a manner that assures no further risk. Bottom line."

"I'm sure that's what they'll be counting on." I comment.

"How are you so certain of that?" Stanton asks.

"They chased us to the ocean. And if they have ardent followers of their doctrine here, which they obviously do in the cultists, they will be looking to keep tabs just for them. No doubt that their goons will be more than interested in reaping the rewards of their imperial contributors. And we have three of their royal family members. It wouldn't be above them to have them silenced on the way out. Furthermore, Prince Amor stuck his neck out for us in the end, both he and Sir Fencer led an insurgency of their fellow guards, loyalists to his late brother, to combat their forces and raise weapons against the emperor himself. While we got out just fine, Sir Fencer stayed behind and fought them to buy us time, as you can see he's not here. We lucked out and had Zenobia on our trail for most of our journey. Had it been Xerxes from the offset, I'm sure we would've seen Sir Fencer's face again." I look to Twilight with a somber expression. "And you know exactly what I mean by that."

"So you brought over someone who pursued you, and for what reason would you do that?" Tempest questions.

"The same reason you've been allowed to be where you are, Specialist Tempest. Or do you prefer that we call you Specialist Fizzlepop Berrytwist?"

"Either way, she's here now. So what's on your mind, Spike? What do you have planned?" Stanton asks.

"Well for starters, she could be useful. Princess Zenobia is also an abbess, a religious figurehead in the organization of their church. Bit of irony considering what's all taken place, but maybe I could talk with her, negotiate, possibly even convert her to our standard of thought."

"A principled member of their church is in our boarders!? You didn't think to tell us this sooner!?" Solemn Oath complains openly.

"How much sooner can it be, didn't we just get here today!?" I loudly rebut to the mare.

"Okay, let's taper down." Blueblood calls out, trying to bring calm to the conversation. "This is actually to our advantage. The reason for it is that we now have the one who is a principled member of the church, right?"

"I don't think she's just principled, since my leaving she made a comment to Nondis that I didn't quite understand at the time. I still don't get it now." I explain.

Shining quirks a curious brow at my statement. "What exactly did she say?"

"She asked him the question that was passed from the notable party to her, to be delivered to him. And I paraphrase this, 'What's the difference between shit and me?'" I shake my head, still finding no means of connecting why that question yielded the show of volatility. "Apparently after that was said, Nondis turned into a whole other monster. Like his shadow looked as if it could break all of hell open."

"Oh great, it's even worse than we feared." Ms. Blue mutters.

Shining's eyes buck wide open as he holds a hoof over his mouth. "Oh! That's..."

"What is it, Emperor Shining Armor?" Humbreeze questions.

"The riddle, the answer to it. Shit comes out, fill in the blank."

Stanton verbalizes the answer with disgust. "Shit comes out... I come... AUGH! Yeah, that's definitely him."

"So this Zenobia character, she's in direct communication with Umbra then?" Blueblood asks me directly.

"Hell, I've talked to him. She introduced us. He may be nothing more than a whisp of light that occasionally changes colors that speaks in whispers, but there's no doubt in my mind. Zenobia made a comment saying who all had joined me, and as soon as she mentioned a zebracorn, Kalimba's name spewed right out of him."

"Oh god." Ms. Blue shudders. "And how much did he say to you?"

"Just how he knew Kalimba, how he enjoyed their night together."

The aforementioned mare shows her disdain. "Even in death he is an unredeemable, sadistic bastard."

"And that lady knows that Kalimba stays here in the city." Twilight adds. "We're going to have to nix our plans for something else."

"But Kali just got back home! What about her and Nafasi, what about Gala?" Ms. Blue raises a point, along with raising her own anxiety. "If they're all discovered, who knows what all they'll do!"

"I'm afraid to admit it, but they can't completely identify Gala and Nafasi if I am away for long enough." The zebracorn declares, dropping her head in resignation. "I will need to stay busy, which means I will need to stay away."

The billionaire heiress offers her empathy for the mare. "Oh Kali... Look, I can arrange a few properties around the nation, have you shuffle a few cities. It may be a while before you get back home, but I'll arrange a family unit for each─"

"No." Kalimba denies. "It must be me alone. They know this face, they don't know Gala's or Nafasi's. I do well to keep my family private. And I intend for it to stay that way." The mare grits her teeth, appearing as though she's trying to hold back her emotions. "If I'm going to do this, I need to be out of the city, even out of this country."

"You won't leave without an escort of some sort!" Blue interjects. "Your highness please, you must send me!"

Twilight quickly denies the mare's request. "I can't allow you to do that. You're our only mode of consistent negotiation with the human world."

She points to Stanton as a means to make her point. "You have another one right there! His brother runs the operations on their side! Just send me, I'll go!"

"Blue, you've done so much for me already." Kalimba quietly answers, gaining a sad and painful scowl from her best friend. "I can handle my own. Protect my family, that is all I wish from you."

The mare clenches her eyes, slamming her hoof into the desk in front of her. "Fucking Umbra!"

Watching the pair, already having gone through their own troubles with this already. It feels like I'm watching as the pair are forced to pry apart their scabs and start the bleeding again. "I'm so sorry, to everyone."

Ms. Blue, however, glares at me without allocating any blame to me. "Spike, whatever the hell you need, you tell me. If you need anything, any spell, any ways of getting that mare to talk to you, you tell me and I will be there."

"That won't be necessary." Twilight responds before addressing me. "Just let us know your findings. We'll work from there."

Humbreeze shakes his head with disbelief. "Jeez, kid. I was trying to avoid throwing you into this mess."

"Kinda hard to do when the one who briefed me is Nondis himself."

"When and where did he do that?" Solemn asks.

"San Antonio. He briefed me there, and he also did the same with Smolder as a security precaution. I'm sure we would say that there's no place for him to be involved, but I and the other element bearers have been briefed to an extent on the matter long before my trip to Ponyland. It's just that he went a little more in depth with me and Smolder since we were with him at the time."

"His world. Of course he'd brief you there." Twilight grumbles. "How much did he brief you on?"

"I saw the picture of his operation... His and the other Jasper. I at least know halfway what the Doctor looks like. The mask was a huge deterrent to seeing all of his face, but those copper eyes sure do cut like something ugly. I'd wish that was the most ominous thing about that picture, but seeing Nondis without a body still clears."

Kalimba wears a distressed face as she asks me. "He showed you THAT!?"

"Oh for fuck's sake." Twilight whispers under her breath, pursing her lips as she quietly summons my folder containing all of my classification clearances. As soon as she pops it open, I can see the regret settling in on her face. "Your security access is being raised from Top Secret Level 1 to SCI Level 2. Most of the information you'll research will be unredacted. I'm sure you understand the stipulations of obtaining this information."

"Full and well."

Twilight stamps the page in my folder, shuts it and floats it over to me to view. "I didn't want you to be a part of this, not you too. You deserved better than this. But now that we're here, I can only give you one piece of sound advice."

"Try not to look at everything all at once." Blue warns as she walks over to me, tapping her horn on my head. A silver glint appears in my eye, causing the world to appear glossy white before settling back to normal. "This spell will let you see a majority of the redactions. Anything you seek, questions you ask, they will be answered. Just make sure you know who's around before you ask them."

"Spike." Twilight takes the folder from me after I give it a quick glance, seeing a light gray square surrounding a red seal by my photo. "Be careful."

"I will." I answer.

Stanton shrugs with haplessness. "Well if that's all there is, you're good, bud. Go with God, be safe out there."

"I'll do my best." I respond as I leave the room. On my way out, I hear the sound of someone collapsing. I turn back to see Kalimba rush over to Ms. Blue, who starts to hyperventilate violently. The zebracorn hugs her tightly as the mare continues to have her panic attack. I pause to consider assisting, but even I know that too many in her space would only serve to make matters worse. I think I should at least shoot her a message later and check in, but for now I should be going.

I shuffle into the hall, my mind already starting to have some second thoughts on checking after the distressed pair. And just as soon as the doors close behind me, I reach for the knob to enter again. "Kali's got it." A voice softly assures me. I turn around, seeing Nondis posted on one of the marble pillars across the hall. "A blast from the past, I'm sure they're not doing too hot. But they've seen each other through worse. They'll be fine."

"I thought you had other things to do." I say to the man, who walks over with hardly any rush.

"Yeah... but I had some things to do while I was in town, a few favors to call in from some contacts back in the old days of the old ways. Figured I'd at least open a few doors for you."

"I'm sure your wife wouldn't be too happy with all of this interrupting your retirement."

"Meh, I was bored anyways. Wild sex with the wife and being on crosswalk duty can only do you so much. Half the time I still miss being a captain, as crazy as that sounds. I guess it's because of the fact that I could've done so much more, I kinda regret not as active after that stint in Rotty. I pushed for Tia to give me more work, but you pretty much know how that turned out."

"You're pretty calm considering what's all taking place and being discussed." I point out.

"Eh, new game plus." I tilt my head with some confusion over his terminology. He sees my visible confusion. "Oh yeah, I should run that by you. So imagine you're playing an JRPG, you finish the long journey, beat the bad guy, save the world, jump right back in on the save file with the star next to it, do a few side quests and boost up your gear, going for that coveted achievement that comes with a hundred percent completion of all the things to do in the game. I'm stuck on that last two percent, but I got everything else."

"I'm not sure how any of that equates to this." I inform him.

"Then let me translate that to Oggs and Oubs. You finish a campaign with friends, beat the big bad evil guy, and the dungeon master leaves the world wide open for you to do more things, get better gear, learn more spells, fight harder bosses, play out your 'happily ever after'... or your 'tragically ever after' if things didn't shake too well along the way of the main quest. Then the dungeon master tells you that you can go against your big bad evil guy with all that shiny new gear you got. You get to replay the final boss, but with a different loadout. Big bad still has his stats from the start of your last fight, you got everything you need and then some. How do you think that fight's gonna go?"

"One-sided curbstomp?" I answer.

He nods as he places his hand on my forehead. "Yeah, hold still for me." He reaches his hand back, but promptly delivers a painful smack to my forehead. I wince in discomfort of everything from my head down to my neck feels a painful jolt of electricity.

"OW!" I yelp. "The hell was that for!?"

He doesn't answer me immediately, holding up a red book to some page. "Read this. Tell me what you see."

I'm still wincing from the pain of his blow, but I at least have some constitution to read the contents of the page. "A bunch of surgical information?"

"This entire book counts as part of the one percent you weren't supposed to see. I'm not gonna tell you what this information makes, you'll just have to find that out on your own." The man winces for a period before snickering with a thought. "Well damn, this dimensional distortion spell is really hard to hold. I don't see how Blue could use this shit as consistently as she can."

While he's on a tangent about how impressive Ms. Blue is, I'm still inquiring bout his random bout of assault. "Seriously, was there any good reason on why you slapped me?"

"You seriously didn't feel that? That painful jolt wasn't for nothing." He explains. "I just borked the classification spell on you. You were apparently upgraded from Top Secret 1 clearances to SCI 2. I just nudged you up to max, SCI 1. Now if you need to know anything important, as to possible motives, methods, and changes in the cue for your local morgue, you'll know what's up. Whatever you'll want to see, whatever truth you pursue, you'll find it. But let me be the first to warn you, just don't go looking for the wrong reasons and find yourself mad with a thirst for power."

I nod with acknowledgement, but also internalizing a few thoughts that soon come to the form of my lips. "So... I get to see everything now. But how do you know if you can trust me with all of this? What if I mess this up?"

"Consider the alternative." He answers. "You in your position can do a lot more than I ever could a while back. Your influence is international, you can cultivate the narrative easily. Just shake some hooves, kiss some babies, keep your eyes and ears open to the politics. And if it goes bad, aggressively negotiate. Friendship is a suggestion, not your only option. So don't be afraid to roast a motherfucker just because of your title. Simply put, you can't possibly fuck up more than I did."

"But what if I do go mad?"

He shrugs as he gives his answer. "I wouldn't worry about that too much. Just know that there's a heat that even dragons can't stand. My wife is very good about reaching that temperature too."

Guess that's as good as a warning I'll ever get. "Say less."

Author's Note

Hey there peoples! It's been a while and I know things have been sparse since February, but things have been a bit difficult IRL. Usually I'd keep details in spoilers, but it's just financial grinding I had to do to keep home afloat. It was to the point where I had to balance a lot of things going on and I didn't have time to properly draft chapters up till like maybe half a month ago. So I apologize for that and the long wait.

We'll be back to at least two a month, three if I'm really feeling the grind, four if I'm on a hot-streak. I do hope that you're enjoying the story so far. If not, please let me know where I can improve.