A Fallen Angel

Paen sat watching as this colt who'd just been brought in was now killing another pony.

And the pony in question only had to laugh.

Paen felt a warm feeling inside himself as he saw the age old expression creep into the kids eyes.

Pleasure.

This kid was killing somepony, and he enjoyed every second of it.

Soon there was blood pooling around the body.

Criss just kept pounding away.

Slowly Nightmare Moon walked up beside him.

She whispered very cautiously. "What did that poor pony do?"

"Laughed." Paen chuckled out. "I like this kid."

Nightmare Moon's eyes flicked between the grin on Paen's face, and the suppressed but ever yet evident pleasure in the child's eyes.

And smiled to herself.

This is working perfectly.

Eventually the child began to slow, and Paen knew the kid would start regretting it as soon as he realised what he'd done.

Good, I need to pound that regret out of him.

"Your majesty, I request you'll leave. You'll only make it harder if you stay here."

"As you wish, General Killer."

As she disappeared, the child stopped punching completely. Then, as if waking from a daze, noticed where he was.

However, he did something Paen hadn't been expecting.

He started trying to wake the pony he'd just beaten the life out of.

Fuck, this is gonna be hard.

Not that he felt bad. It's just if the kid didn't know what death looked like, he'd take it even harder.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing?"

"H-he won't wake up." Criss started to cry.

Gotta cut that shit. "Yeah, you fucking pounded the life out of him."

Criss turned to Paen, completely oblivious of the blood dripping off his muzzle. His eyes widened as he realised what Paen had said. "What?"

"You killed that pony, kid." Paen braced for what came next.

Criss started crying. Harder than he had in his life. He'd turned down Princess Celestia, just so he'd break the one and only promise he made to his mother, and become a murderer.

"Nonononononononono... He's just asleep." Criss started shaking the pony under him "C'mon, wake up!" Criss's shakings slowed as the truth got through. "Please wake up." he whispered.

"Oh, for fucks sakes.... Kid, you killed him. He's not waking up. Now, how're you going to deal with his death?"

"I broke my promise to my mother." Criss choked out inbetween sobs.

Paen hauled the kid to his feet. "Shut the fuck up." Criss looked down at his hooves. Paen pulled back, slamming his hoof across Criss's jaw.

Looks like the old fashioned way wins out.

Criss stopped crying. Thank Nightmare Moon.

"I broke my only promise-" *SMACK*

That was a good one. Paen could see his hoof imprinted on the side of this kids face.

"Stop crying. Now." He raised his hoof again as Criss started to choke, but Criss swallowed it. His depression was soon replaced with rage. Who the hell does he think he is? He has to have a lot of guts to hit a murderer.

"I asked you a question. How. Are. You. Going. To. Deal. With. It?" He punctuated each word by jabbing Criss in the chest with his hoof.

"I-I don't know..." Paen cut him off with a harsh slap across the face. "Wrong answer!"

"How am I supposed to-" Lossing his patience, Paen started punching Criss. "That's what I asked you."

"You're a bast-" Criss was cut off by a fist to his muzzle. "What was that? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

Fifteen minutes later, Criss's right eye was swollen shut, and he was missing his front teeth. Again.

"...Fuck you." Criss spat.

"Oh-ho! Grown some guts, then, have you?"

"I don't have to put up with this." He started to turn, and walked towards the door.

"You go out there, I will personally bring you back. And there's no gaurantee whether or not you'll come back alive." To Paen's immense satisfaction, Criss stopped.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He heard Criss whimper.

Paen rolled his eyes. "Because I've been ordered to." He figured now was as good a time as any to sever his connection to the Princess. Maybe the Corporal, too, if he could twist his words just right.

"Who, in Equestria, would order somepony to beat a child?"

Paen already knew what had happened at the castle, thanks to Nightmare Moon's updates.

"Celestia did. She wants me to punish you for turning down her offer. She said I could do anything short of death."

Criss couldn't believe his ears.

Celestia had done this to him?

It makes sense. His fear-filled brain told him. Luna wouldn't do this to you, you didn't do anything to her.

"B-but... why... Why didn't Double tell me?"

Paen laughed. Out loud. Too. Easy.

Finally he straightened, trying to make his laughter seem pointed at the child instead of generalized.

"Isn't it obvious? He knew. I mean, first, he's Celestia's right-hoof man. Second, he can read the future. Of course he knew Celestia set this up. What-" Paen grinned maliciously "-You didn't think they really cared, did you?"

Criss's chest hurt. A lot. He wasn't sure why.

He fell over and grasped his chest, moaning in pain.

He couldn't believe what he just heard.

Paen grinned harder.

Just one more step.

"You'd be lucky if you ever got either of the Princesses forgiveness."

Now that the seed is planted, let it grow.

...At any rate. "Somepony get this kid to the medical wing; he's having a heart attack."

Medics came rushing out, none wanting to get on Paen's bad side. Not that he had a good one. Just a "Not-so-bad" one. He grabbed one of the green garbed ponies. "Listen, Don't treat his face. Or you'll ALL get a visit from me."

He turned to find himself looking at a very pissed off Nightmare Moon.

"I WANTED YOU TO BREAK HIM, NOT KILL HIM!"

Instantly, Paen silenced the princess with a raised hoof. "Shh..." He chided.

Nightmare Moon was confused. But she complied.

He gestured to his office. Once they had gotten inside, he set about explaining himself. "Listen. Don't talk. I've severed his ties. To everypony. His family would never forgive him for murdering anypony. Celestia seems to hate him now. He doesn't trust Double Time. That leaves you. When he wakes, you have to be by his side. You have to forgive him. It'll help if you say your sister wouldn't come to forgive him, and neither did Double Time."

He stopped to sigh. "Then, because I didn't let them fix his face, your going to work some of your magic. If he's looking at his face in a mirror, that'll be better. You're going to heal him. Including that scar on the side of his head." He grinned. "Then, when he gets out, I'll feed him some bullshit line like you told me to ease up on him. Than he'll know your the one and only pony he can look up to. After that, then you can go resurrect my wife, and go back to the castle. I have to get him to like me." That'll be the hardest part. Paen thought. "Then, I'll call you when he's ready to be wiped."

Nightmare Moon nodded. "One word of warning, though, Paen Killer."

Paen flinched at the venom in her voice. There was only one pony he feared at all times. He was sitting across from her. "Yes, your Majesty?"

"Don't you dare give me an order."

"Yes. Absolutely, your Majesty."

Criss woke up to see princess Luna on his bed.

He instantly started crying.

"Oh, Luna, I'm so, so sorry. I killed somepony" He whispered into the bed sheets.

Nightmare Moon mentally congratulated Paen. He'd done a great job.

"There, there, Cristopher." She forced the name out. "Whatever do you mean?"

Criss set a new record in words per minute. "Well, I came in the lab, like you said, and I was looking around, and this pony came up and started shouting at me. I was getting really mad, and then he called me a 'Mother-Fucker', and I was reminded of my father, and he used to call me that, and then somepony laughed at me, so I jumped on him and I started hitting him, and.."

His mouth kept moving, but no noise came out. "I'm so, so, so sorry. I broke the only promise I made to my mom, my father hates me, my friends would never forgive me..." Criss sniffed as he turned away. "And now you hate me, too."

Paen is good. "Criss, I could never, ever hate you. I'm sure that if you hurt a pony, you'd have a very good reason to do it." Criss looked at her, a faint smile on his face, and she saw the damage left by Paen. She tried to act surprised. She gasped. "Who did that to your face?"

"Why, what's wrong?" He lifted a shaky hoof to his face, and felt the bloated patches on his lip and over his eye. Gasping, he looked around for a mirror. He saw one lying by the bed, a purple hoof mirror. Lifting it so he could see himself, and seeing how disfigured he looked, he started crying.

"I-I guess that p-pony did." Criss said in between sobs. Then he remembered what the pony had said. "But Celestia ordered it done to me." Criss turned towards her as she gasped again. "You didn't know?"

"No, however would I know? I can not believe my sister could do that to you. Do you know why?" Luna looked at him, concern etched all over his face.

"The pony said that it was because I disagreed to stay with her."

"She punished you for your courage?" Luna looked furious. "How could she?" That's a good question. Criss thought. "Criss, I am so sorry. I had no idea."

Nightmare Moon was having a little bit of fun. Just a bit. Criss looked at her. "Where is she anyway?"

Nightmare Moon almost bit her lip; this was her chance. "I asked her if she would come to see you, but at the time she seemed angry at the very mention of you. Then I asked Double Time, and all he said was, 'He deserved what he got.'"

Criss looked smashed. Utterly defeated. Luna leaned down. "There, there, Criss. I assure you, if I had known this was going to happen, I would have done something to stop it."

Criss sniffed. "I know you would've, Luna. You're my friend. That's what friends do."

Nightmare Moon almost giggled. Let's add a little something to the mix, shall we?

"I also tried asking your friends."

Criss's ears perked up hopefully. "Yeah?"

Oh, this was going to be sweet.

"Marshall said you weren't his problem anymore." Nightmare Moon bit back a smile as Criss physically flinched. Oh, that got him good. "Krystal couldn't even remember who you were." There. Right there. Oh, that's a sweet-spot. Gotta tell Paen.

Criss choked. He couldn't believe it. My friends. My only friends. They turned their backs on me. Criss tried to cry, but no more tears would come. Then a single thought fired back from his brain. Not your only friends. You've still got Luna.

Criss looked up at the midnight princess. "Luna, you're my friend, right?"

Nightmare Moon was worried he'd seen through her guise. "Of course I am, Criss."

"Good." The short response was filled with so much hatred for countless others, Nightmare Moon had to smirk. Luckily, Criss mistook it as a smile for their new friendship. So he smiled, too.

Nightmare Moon let out a sigh. "Criss, I refuse to lie. You don't look like you with your face so warped. Come here." Luna said.

Criss leaned forward, and Luna put her horn on his head. In the corner of his eye, he could see a faint blue glow. Slowly, vision returned to his injured eye, and he blinked a few times as it adjusted to the light. As the last of the tightness across his face dulled, he grabbed the hand mirror and launched it to right infront of his face.

All cured.

Luna cured me.

Criss cried again.

Nightmare Moon had to deal with a pony who flung himself around her neck. She hated hugs. But she put up with it. For her plan's sake.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"It's what friends do." Nightmare Moon whispered back, with a large grin on her face. No way was this pony's loyalty going to shift.

"Now tell me of what this horrible pony that beat you looks like, and I'll go deal with him."