I woke up early in the morning, while Sundance was still sleeping soundly. I got out of the bed and brushed my hair, and then went to go check on Ember. She too was sleeping. I quietly walked up to her and felt her forehead, and it was unfortunately still hot. So hot, in fact, that she was sweating a little. Poor girl, I thought. I left her room and went to go find my book on herbal remedies. After a bit of digging, I found it on the bookshelf in my room. Just as I was about to leave, I heard some mumbling behind me. It was Sundance. A rush of adrenaline surged through me, only to realize that she was talking in her sleep. Overcome by curiosity, I decided to stay for a little bit to see what she had to say. I sat at her bedside, quietly laughing to myself after every sentence or so.

"But I wanted to go to the drinking contest! All my friends were in the tomato when I got there, and now I have to go find all the BANANAS to free them." I soon thought it would be best to leave before I woke her with a fit of laughter.
I sat down at the mixing table in the kitchen and floated my book over to my side. I flipped through the pages, trying to find anything that might help Ember. After a bit of flipping, I didn't find anything to cure her illness completely, which was surprising considering it was just a fever, but I did find a mixture to help take away most of her symptoms. The recipe called for a hoof full of clover leaves, one-tenth cup of tree sap and seven ground up apple seeds. I doubt she'll take this willingly, I thought, probably gonna have to force feed her. I gathered the ingredients from the various cupboards around the kitchen. Once I was done putting everything into a bowl and mixing them together, I placed the bowl of liquefied gooeyness on the table.
Feeling accomplished, I decided to go outside to relax a bit. Fresh morning dew dripped off blades of the grass, a slight fog wavered through the air, and the wind was calm. The sun was still rising, and it had a beautiful yellow orange hue. I just sat in the grass, thinking about my conversation yesterday with Sundance. I wish I hadn't brought them out here in the forest with me, I thought, they shouldn't suffer for me being a dumbass and gambling more than I could pay. I used to be one of the richest ponies in all of Equestria, even more than that annoying snob Prince Blueblood. They use to call me the Tyrant. Then I lost it all in a bet against Fancy Pants. He's not as nice as everypony believes he is. I was hungry on power; I believed that nothing bad could happen to me, but boy was I wrong. I haven't told Sundance out of fear that she might leave me, so instead I told her that other ponies didn’t easily accept me, which was complete bullshit, but she believed me. Sometimes I think she knows what really is going on, but it's hard to tell with her. Me on the other hoof, I can be read like an open book.

"Boo!"
I jumped so high with fright that I was upside down, clinging onto a branch of a tree. I looked down to see a giggling Ember rolling on the ground. I laughed a little, my heart still beating rapidly. I stupidly let go of the branch, falling onto my back, and hitting my head hard on the ground.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head and trying to play it cool.

"Awhile."
I'm going to get her back, I thought with a playful grin.

"I got a surprise for you inside." I started walking towards the door. Ember hopped up on my back, and I winced a little because she didn't land lightly.

"Yay, I love surprises!" I levitated the bowl of gooeyness in front of her. She sniffed it and reeled at the smell. Nonetheless, she lifted the bowl to her mouth and drank a little bit of it.

"Mmm, this is delicious!"
Wait, what?

"May I try a little?" I really wanted to see what it tasted like, now that she said she liked it.

"Sure!" she said, trying to hold in a laugh for reasons only she would know. I levitated the bowl over to me and took a sip. I turned a sickly green and spat out the mixture

"Blech! That was disgusting!" Ember was again rolling on the floor laughing, and then I understood that she had pranked me again. "You tricky little filly." I lightly tackled her and started to tickle her.

"St-stop I can't bre-Breathe!" I stopped tickling her and started to hug the laughing filly.

"What's going on out here?" I looked up to see Sundance tiredly rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, sorry sweetie, I was just tickling this tricky little filly."

"Tricky?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

"Yeah, she got me to drink some of her medicine that I made for her, which she still has to finish." I smirked

"Aww, do I have to?" Ember pouted.

"Yes, yes you do," Sundance responded, ignoring the power of her pout. Good thing, too, cause I'm a total sucker when it comes to pouting.

"Ugh, fine…" Ember moaned, but did as she was told.

"What are you doing up so early?" Sundance asked still in her sleepy voice, which I found adorable.

"I couldn't sleep, so I got up and made some medicine for Ember." I could feel her glaring at me, but continued. "Then I sat outside, thinking about our conversation last night." We walked over to the kitchen table to sit with Ember who, after much complaining, finally finished her gooey mess of medicine.

"Oh? And just what were you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking that you and Ember shouldn't suffer for my mistake-" Shit! I didn't mean to say that!

"What mistake?" Crap, I might as well tell them the truth now. They were bound to find out sooner or later, anyway.

"Well..." I was hesitant, worried what they’d think of me, “Do you remember that pony that was called the Tyrant?"

"Yeah, the one who lost all his money in a bet against Fancy Pants, right?"

"Correct, and you know how he went missing after he lost that bet?"

"Yup, I remember that," she replied with a suspicious tone.

"Well... I'm... uh… the so-called Tyrant." I sat there expecting a hoof to crack against my head, but instead she just sat there stunned, her mouth gapping open.

"You- you're him?!" I winced at her abrupt tone.

"Y-yes, I am. I'm sorry for not telling you for all these years. I was worried what you might think of me, a power hungry fool who lost it all in a stupid bet." Now she did smack me, but she hugged me right after. "You're going to end up giving me some sort of head trauma if you keep hittin' me like that." I grinned

"So you mean to tell me we could have lived in an actual town instead of this forest?" I could hear the anger in her voice, but I knew she was trying to hold it back.

"There's more to it than that. Fancy Pants wants my head for not being able to fulfill the bet."

"What do you mean?"

"I bet more than I had... a lot more," I answered grimly.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" The anger was slowly disappearing.

"I didn't want to burden you with my troubles." Tears began to well up in my eyes. Sundance pushed away from me.

"I need some time alone." This broke my heart, but I tried to remain strong.

"Of course, I'll be outside if you want to yell at me or something," I said with a slight chuckle, trying to lighten the mood at least a little bit. I shamefully walked out the door and lay down in the grass. I'm kinda glad I told her, I thought, but man did it hurt to say it.

"Boo?" I heard a small voice on my left. I hadn't noticed that I was crying and that Ember followed me outside. "Are you and mommy fighting?" she asked sadly.

"I don't think so, it's just I've kept a dark secret from and never told her. She might be a little upset, but I don't know."

"Oh," Ember replied simply, respecting her parents’ privacy and not looking for answers. She climbed up on top of my back and curled up into a little ball. "Your back is so comfy, Daddy." We were there in the grass for a while, quietly enjoying the company of each other. Ember broke the silence to ask a question.

"Do you think you could show me around the forest one day?"

"Maybe, I doubt your mother would agree.”

"Pweeease?" She hopped off my back and gave me her best pout.

"Ok! Ok! Just stop the pouting, I can't handle the cuteness!" I said, rustling her mane.

"Promise?" Ugh, I'm going to regret this.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." This sent Ember into a fit of giggles, which then made me to start laughing along with her. I suddenly heard the door open and close, I looked back to see Sundance trotting over to Ember and me. She snuggled herself beside me I could feel her body heat radiating off of her, and everything felt calm.

"I don't think I'll be able to forgive you right away." At least she's giving me another chance, I think...

"I don't blame you." I said, wrapping my forehoof around her and pulling her close. "We can try to move back into civilization, if you want."

"Isn't Fancy Pants after you though?"

"It's been years since I went into hiding, he probably dropped the search."

"But what if he didn't?" She sounded worried

"Then that'll be my problem. We could live in that town near this forest, what was it called again?"

"Ponyville?"

"Yeah, that's the one," I said cheerfully, "We could build another house, I would be able to work, you and Ember could make some friends…"

"If you think it'll be ok." Sundance nuzzled my cheek, and I nuzzled her back.

"Hey, Ember!" I yelled, trying to find the little filly, "Where'd you go?"

"I'm inside, gettin' an apple!" She came bouncing out of the house with an apple in her mouth. Even though Ember was a unicorn, she still couldn't do simple spells without using up all of her energy. Either Sundance or I would give her lessons every so often. These seemed to help, but it will take some time for her to get used to using magic.

"How would you like to live in a town filled with other ponies?" She didn't even respond, not with words anyway. Instead she excitedly bounced around Sundance and me for around five minutes before finally calming down.

"It's settled then, we're moving to Ponyville!"

~~*~~

It'd been about a week since the decision to move. We'd been packing up most of our belongings, and planning out what we're going to do once we get to Ponyville. I thought I might open an herbal remedy stand in town, and Sundance was going to take Ember to the local school. Then Sundance said she might help out with the stand. While Ember and Sundance were packing, I planned out the safest route for us to take. Once I finished, I stocked up on herbs and food. I also picked up my sword and the Wandering Angel flower, but I made sure not to touch it. Pfft mares, I thought, why must it take them so long to get ready?

“Well, Ember and I are ready," Sundance called from the next room over. Perfect timing.
Ember hopped up onto my back, but I didn't mind It was going to be a long walk. We gathered up our saddlebags and headed out into the forest. I guess now was probably going to be the only time I got to show Ember the forest, so we made occasional stops so I could show the gleeful filly some flowers or an animal. We didn't run into any trouble so far, but the sooner we got out of this forsaken place the better. Ember was complaining that she was hungry, so we stopped for a snack break.

"How much longer?" Ember whined.

"Not that long," I reassure her, floating over an apple to her.

"Not much longer indeed," a mysterious voice said from the mist. I jumped up, getting my sword ready. I looked around as I tried to locate the source of the voice, but I couldn't find it. Before I could react, three hooded ponies ambushed us. They landed on each of us and pinned us to the ground. I couldn't see their faces, but I could see that they each wore a scarlet robe with three golden crowns where their cutie-marks would be. Each of the hooded ponies had a strange tube that appeared to be hollowed out. Ember and Sundance were struggling to get free. The two ponies that were on top of Sundance and Ember shot them in the neck with a dart from the tube, they fell asleep shortly after the dart pierced their skin.

"Don't you dare hurt them!" I shouted furiously. I lifted the pony on top of me with my magic and threw him into a tree with a sickening crunch. My assailant’s hood fell. It was a zebra! The zebra was a female, from the looks of her face. Blood trickled down her mouth and nostrils, and she wasn't breathing. Her body was limp and lifeless, but I didn't care. All I cared about was saving my family. One of the others, I could only assume was also a zebra, was saying something to me.

"You shouldn't have done that." This voice was feminine, sweet like a harp’s song. That didn't stop me from unsheathing my sword and charging at the cloaked zebra, however, but before I could reach her I was shot with a dart. Everything was spinning and my vision became blurry, just before I fell asleep I said to our captors,

"I will kill you if you so much as touch a hair on-" I blacked out before I could finish, my head thudding against the ground.

~~*~~

I woke up with a throbbing headache. I noticed that I was sitting in a chair. I tried to get up, but my forehooves were tied up behind me. I tried to use my magic to untie the ropes, but I was suddenly harshly electrocuted right as the over glow on my horn appeared. My back arched in pain, and I was clenching my teeth as hard as I could. Once the torture ended I gasped for air. I was beginning to sweat. I looked around to observe my situation; I was in a roughly fifteen by ten by seven room. Buzzing lights lighted it. The walls appeared to have once been white, but now were rusted. There was a door that was also rusted and an odd desk in the center of the room. The desk had no place here though; it was brand new and well maintained, unlike the rest of this. The air smelled like... blood?
I looked at the walls again, and my eyes grew wide when I realized that what I previously took as rust was actually dried blood. I tried to remain calm, but all I could think of was Ember and Sundance. Somepony knocked on the door. That's odd, why would they need to knock?

"Uhh, come in?" I was confused and still a bit dazed. I just let my head hang.

"Well well, what do we have here? Seems I've finally found you." I looked up from the ground to see Fancy Pants looking at me condescendingly. He was wearing an unbuttoned black suit with a white and gold vest underneath. His turquoise mane was styled nicely and his coat looked freshly groomed. It seemed quite ironic for such a nicely styled pony to be in a grungy room such as this one.

"Look, Fancy Pants, I don't know what you're into, but I'm not one for bondage," I said with a grin as I struggled against the ropes. He chuckled a little bit.

"Charming. Do you know why you're here?" He started pacing.

"Is it because you just couldn't stand being away from me anymore?" I said jokingly, still struggling against the ropes.

"Amusing..." He seemed very unmoved by my response. He stopped pacing and stared at me harshly with his blue-gray eyes. "You still have a debt you owe me."

"I don't recall that. Now then, if you would be so kind as to untie me and tell me what you've done with my wife and daughter, I'll just forget any of this has ever happened." I continued to glare at him.

"Your family is safe, for now, so long as you are cooperative."

"You better not touch a single hair on their head or so help me I'll-"

"Or you'll what?!" He slammed his hoof onto the table. "As you can see, I'm the one in control. Now, then I have a proposition for you," he continued with a sly grin, "A client of mine has been having trouble with a dragon," I don't like where this is going. "I need you to... resolve this problem."

"And how am I supposed to 'resolve' this problem? I don't know anything about this dragon."

"The dragon is an adult male that goes by the name of Xorthaul Yinarri. You should be able to find him in the Badlands."

"What? The Badlands?! I barely survived a mile in the Everfree Forest. How the hell am I supposed to get to the middle of the Badlands unarmed?!"

"Don't worry, I'll return you your sword and a saddle bag full of supplies."

"And if I refuse?"

"Let’s just say your daughter will end up having a new sibling," he said maniacally.

"You wouldn't dare!" If glares could set ponies on fire, he would have been burnt to a crisp.

"Oh, I won't be the one to do that, but I do know a pony that is itching to get better... acquainted with your wife." I turned a shade of angry red. I could just imagine myself tearing out his spine through his throat and smashing his skull into a bloody pulp. I didn't want to risk my family's safety.

"Fine," I said, seething with rage, "I'll do it, IF you let them go."

"Agreed, I will even give them a home in Ponyville."

"Thanks, I guess. May I see them before I go?"

"You'll have time for that after you remove Xorthaul"

"What makes you think I, a mere pony, can take down an adult dragon?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Mr. Bowtie. I know what you're capable of. I was the one who saved you from that horrid fight pit when you were still a little colt, remember?" I winced at that memory. Both my parents had been killed when I was four. It was a senseless killing. He stabbed both of them in the throat right in front of me. I would have ran if I wasn’t traumatized by the event.
My parent’s killer took me as a slave to a place called 'The Pit'. It was a foul, disease ridden tunnel system beneath the city of Canterlot. The reason it was called The Pit was because in the center of the tunnel system there was a large arena-like room where two ponies went in and only one came out. It was an event for ponies to bet on whom they thought would win. Names of all the "Contestants" were put into a bag and then two names were drawn. The winner was given rations and a nice place to sleep for two days, but after those two days were up, back to the pit with you. I was stuck in that horrific slaughter house for years, I think I was sixteen when Fancy Pants saved me, but before then I recorded who I killed and paid my respects to them every day. I wrote their names on my cell wall; there were so many names I had to write over other names.
I began to cry. I could still remember one of my fights. I was fourteen at the time and my name had been drawn. My opponent’s name was Firebloom. She was just a filly no older than Ember. I went by the motto of "Kill or be Killed." I had no clue who she was until I stepped into the pit. I could see that she was crying. Her tears were soaking her amber coat, her mane was emerald green and greasy. I can't fight her, I thought, she's only a filly. I knew I had to, because if nothing happened, we would both be boiled alive by oil they had stored above the arena. Right as the fight started, I charged at her, planning on pinning her and giving her a quick death, but she jumped high in the air. I ran into the wall with a thud. I tried to get up before she could attack, but I looked back to see she was a pegasus. She dropped down and landed on my back, and then bit my neck hard. I could feel blood spurting out of my skin. Before she could do any more damage, I used my magic to choke her. She fell off my back, trying to breathe. I let go of my magic, standing over her.

"Please... don't" she gasped, but I had already made up my mind

"I'm sorry." It's all I could say before my hooves connected with her head, crushing it into a bloody mess of brain matter, blood, and shattered pieces of bone. I tried my best to forget that part of my life, but it always found a way to crawl its way back into my memories.

"I try not to," I said to Fancy Pants, but I was still crying. While I was recalling that dark memory, Fancy Pants let the two cloaked zebras in. One of them was holding a black sack in their mouth.

"Would you two be so kind as to show Mr. Bowtie his way out?" Fancy Pants asked the cloaked zebras. "Oh and try not to be to gentle now..." he added with a sly grin.

"It'd be our pleasure,” the female zebra responded. I was lifted out of my chair. The zebra with the sack draped it over my head and both of them dragged me outside. I was dragged for approximately ten minutes before I was thrown onto the ground and brutally bucked in the stomach.

"That's for Talia. Because of you, she's dead. How do you think her husband feels? Or what about her filly and colt?" I was sobbing. I hadn't meant to kill her.

"I'm sorry." My voice was shaky.

"You will be. Keita, knock this bastard out." Wait? Keita? Could it be the same zebra I had met in the forest? I heard hoof steps coming closer to me. Keita's hoof smashed against my right cheek, making me cough up blood. I didn't get knocked out with the first hit, so he hit me once more, even harder than the last. I felt something snap. I couldn't understand. I saved his life. My head was spinning and things began to go dark.

"Keita Iijima? Is that yo-" The pain from his hoof striked, finally making me faint.

Author's Note

Edited by FlanChan.