. -- Trigger warning: This chapter contains mentions of torture in a flashback, multiple kidnapping incidents, gore, mentions of abuse and assault.---

Shining Armor hardly had time to himself. He had been on three trips exploring the land around with royal guard ponies scoping out the area for shards of Sombra’s horn. Stories and whispers still carried. The Crystal Ponies had watched him-resentfully likely- as he left the borders of the empire. Cadance watched him every time he left. The one time they had an argument- about how to deal with the dissenting ponies and their talking- and it was the longest and most agonizing wait. She never thought an afternoon could feel like a week.

Lately she couldn’t explain her sudden moodiness. Or why suddenly she would cry for no reason at all. She hadn’t told Shining about the nightmares she had started having. She started seeing horrible things in her dreams. Cadance was the Princess of Love, and she had always been according to her Earth pony parents (before she became an alicorn) an affectionate filly who seemed to love everypony. She was never bright like Twilight and nothing special when it came to flying but she had her optimism.

Now though it seemed like that was failing her. She liked to believe that most ponies were good, but the things she had seen ponies do in her dreams were shaking that. She wasn’t perfect and could understand dislike, but hate enough to plan to kill someone and to watch them die so coldly? It was something she couldn’t understand. But she had felt it as she watched through the eyes of a heartless unicorn as a client they had been working with died. All because he no longer wanted to work with her…and she just couldn’t let that happen. Her entire self felt dirty after that dream and she tried to use the pillow to muffle her sobs. She told Shining she had a dream about her parents’ deaths.

She was running out of lies and explanations. She felt bad because sometimes she snapped at somepony. It made her wonder what kind of pony she was becoming.

“Shining!” She threw a leg around him as he came in and buried her face into him.

“Hey….” Shining said, “What’s wrong?””

“I’m fine “ she managed a shaky smile at him. “I missed you….couldn’t stop thinking about our last words.”

“Hey …don’t worry about that. I was being too hasty. I love you.” She nuzzled him and they broke apart. They shared dinner privately and Cadance told him about everything that happened. She started to list all the things she still had to do when Shining stopped her. “Hey, I’ll take care of it why don’t you get some rest.” She nodded and exchanged a kiss. She went to bed hoping tonight wouldn’t be another nightmare.

She should have known she wouldn’t be so lucky.

Her dreams took her to the Crystal Empire of old, more than a thousand years ago. She could have almost felt her heart sink as she saw a certain grey unicorn in the Royal study. Could it be… The dream followed the young unicorn Lord’s son, Steelshoe watching the affairs of the palace. It was flooded with corrupt nobles who only seemed to care about themselves. The old Emporer and his wife weren’t bad per say, well intentioned but terrible leaders. He had a few run ins with the Emporer’s daughter a sassy and sharp tongued young mare, who for whatever reason Steelshoe saw good in, an alicorn who hadn’t reached her coming of age yet. Cadance had to admit that could have chemistry if given time and if the mare defrosted a bit.

But it was never to be. The young mare put her trust in the wrong person. She was close to a noble who she believed respected her. But the other mare’s ‘respect’ was out of ambition alone. The moment things looked good she turned on the Emperor’s daughter and aired her secrets to a questionable source and wooed her betrothed. Cadance could almost feel the sting of heartbreak listening to the tears her fellow princess (of sorts) cried. She had lost love and her reputation all in one move. It made her cold, and she slowly locked out all her friends until she found the culprit.

One night the Emperor’s daughter awoke and slipped out. She went to a party and cornered the traitor-who denied the accusations and turned back accusations in spiteful insults back. Cadance gasped as the royal mare took out a dagger and with her magic sent it flying for the noble’s heart.

She barely had time to realize what she had done before a painful transformation seized her. She screamed as a green slimy shell surrounded her. A few other Crystal Pony nobles collapsed as well and were surrounded by green shells. When the shell cracked a fearsome and familiar figure stood in the middle of the room.

Chrysalis, the Queen of the changelings.

Other guests were grotesquely changed into changelings as well. Everyone who had seen the act. When other guests found them they were threatened out of the palace and Chrysalis was thrown in the dungeon. She tearfully pleaded with her father at the trial. She was banished. Even Steelshoe wouldn’t meet her eye.

He had a fit of rage after the trial and thus began his downward spiral. He started studying dark magic. He was preparing himself and his body to be able to kill without becoming a changeling himself. Chrysalis had showed him the price that a pony paid for such a heinous act. He got deeper and deeper, not noticing that such evil magic was twisting him. Eventually it twisted him into a monster that Cadance knew all too well. Sombra.

He took power by poisoning the Emperor and his wife. His father had already died of old age leaving him one of the closest people to the throne. Ponies that tried to stop him were killed horribly. One had the skin flayed from his bones. The nobles were the first to be punished under his regime. The country soon went from being an empire to a totalitarian dictatorship.

Ponies that tried to oppose him met cruel fates. Being publicly killed, tortured, or silenced with threats to their foals. He was taken over by the same lust for power that consumed the nobles he so hated. Soon some courageous ponies got together and knocked him off his throne. They put a more stable ruler in place. Sombra was exiled, but he would soon return to take back his kingdom.

When he retook his thrown the rebels were punished along with their families. The “imposter” who took his place got the cruelest treatment. The stallion was publicly tortured and killed. No one was allowed to speak his name unless cursing it. The lower class and the class above it were made slaves. It got bad enough the Celestia and Luna tried to intervene. Sombra was weakened, but as his last act he closed off the Crystal Empire from the world. It destroyed his physical body, but left his spirit…..lingering. It would take a thousand years for the curse to weaken.

Cadance was left sobbing and shaking. It was a few minutes before she could feel Shining Armor stroking her, and more before she saw him standing over her with worried tears in his own eyes.

******

Dai Toyaka had been watching his targets ever since he got to this sorry little inbred hick town that Stryke’s bastard kids lived in. The Toyaka family was one of the oldest and proudest pure Psi families and the Stryke family had poked a dragon when they got themselves on Dmitri Akahata’s list. What was it that started it? Their head of household’s son supposedly killing Dmitri’s daughter in the 1650s? Oh it was before that as legend goes. Mason Stryke was dead the moment he said no to Dmitri’s favorite daughter.

His aunt had that terribly annoying habit of being hell bent on getting exactly what she wanted, whether it was some man, the position of head of family, or the family business. At first Dai found it admirable but as time went on, and the things Kagami wanted became bad for the family, it got annoying. She wanted a Stryke and was set on getting exactly the right ones. For reasons completely foreign to him she wanted the children of her ex husband. It made no sense to Dai, she had killed the man for leaving her, and now she wanted possession of the kids he had by the other woman.

The Strykes in Dai’s opinion-which might as well be declared proven fact anyway- were full of lowlifes. The type of people who tried so hard and thought themselves quality people but in the end were only spineless self righteous hypocrites. He didn’t want them to grovel, he didn’t want them to serve him.

He wanted them all dead.

But Kagami, as the head of family and in her deluded old mind the sole voice of the Toyaka family’s good, kept them alive. She event took in one of their brats as her own! Dai could do nothing to oppose her as he, a telepath was considered lower than most. That was the Stryke’s fault too, if their ‘traditions’ hadn’t declared him a pariah, his father wouldn’t have turned his back the moment he knew what he was. As if the voices flooding his head made him weak.

He could hardly raise his voice against her. Even his own family looked upon him as the sort who made the family look bad. Dai had spent his afternoons simmering. The annoying warnings of the matriarch’s son to control himself frayed his temper. Dai’s skin had grown tough from all the times he struck a flame. He had been so graciously allowed to take seizure of the Stryke patriarch’s home last fall. Knock him and his woman off and bathe the place in flames.

He would have gotten farther were it not for the little redhead turning on the emergency sprinklers.

So

damn

close!

Dai read his books to calm himself sometimes. But it only made him angry that he couldn’t try any of the spells. He was forbidden to touch the Stryke boys. Well, he could probably get away with offing their cousin Felix. But that wasn’t satisfying enough. What he wanted was the forbidden fruit that hung right in front of him.

The more Dai thought on it he had to admit that the Strykes being knocked off were what was best for the family. The longer Kagami tried to keep them alive, the longer she was allowing their enemies a shot. A shot to rob them of everything they had.

He fumed on this until after many drunken nights he came to a crazy decision.

He had to defy Kagami for the good of the family.

He knew that she had something over the entire family; he suspected a magical failsafe over all of them that made it difficult to defy her. Another example of how she had crossed lines over all of them to save her own skin. Something to make it so it would be difficult-maddeningly so –to betray her.

Seems like the old hag was getting paranoid with age.

People in their family tended to go mad when they opened their mouths. Dai could honestly say he was mad as all fuck but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take precautions. He studied his magic texts and writing out his plans. If he was going to do this for more reasons than just Kagami, he had to think about avoiding getting caught. His hopes were answered when he found an interesting if challenging spell. The Banishment Curse.

It would banish the unfortunate victims to another realm on the other side of the gateway.

Sciencey questions about other realms and gateways aside, it was perfect. If he couldn’t kill the Strykes who distracted Kagami he could banish them to another world. Strykes didn’t really belong in this world anyway. As he made these plans, a horrible anxiety crept up on him. He started thinking like a coward, what if he was caught, what if it didn’t work.

No.

This was for the good of the family. He repeated it to himself over and over like a mantra. It was what kept him sane.

So now here he was watching the targets, forming ideas of their daily routines. As he watched he mused on whether it would be a better idea to strike during the weekend or the week. School could pose a challenge.

But on the other hand it could be an advantage. After all it was the only time to get the annoyingly overprotective older brother away from the red headed little one. He watched as little Timmy Stryke lingered outside his old home. The home, from what he figured was where Elliot Sr. and his wife were killed. His childhood home. The boy lingered outside his dead parents’ home working up their courage to go in. It was pathetic but worked out well.

Dai returned ‘home’-that is some piece of rot apartment- with a six pack of beer and plans in his head. As he drowned himself in booze he wrote down his plans.

He needed to order out how he was going to do this.

Kagami’s little foundling Katsuya

(Seriously, who with a brain honestly still believed that the brat was her kid? Kagami may be a flirt but she gave it up to a select pool of people.)

Elliott Stryke Jr

(After the stunt he pulled at New Capula’s office he had to go. He got too close. Not to mention Kagami’s obsession with him was sickening. She had sent her niece and nephew cross country to stalk him for fuck’s sake.)

Timothy Stryke

(You didn’t screw around with him without getting hurt…and that little zap he gave himself didn’t cut it.)

That was it for now. It was best to play it safe and leave Felix as a meal for another day. Three targets were enough to aim for. Katsuya would be first since he was easiest. The brat was at the beck and call of everyone in the family and so desperately wanted to prove himself as one of them. But he never would.

Small town that it was, it didn’t take too long to get to the local hardware store to get some supplies. Rope would be needed, and knives, and maybe a small pipe to knock out his prey. He was unsure how hard it would be to get his hands on chloroform and he didn’t want to risk getting Dex’s awareness.

Dex, being Elliot Sr.’s oldest son could be a potential target, but he was lucky enough to be related to someone powerful. But rest assured if the smartass kept nagging him he would find himself on a list very soon. Or with a snapped neck-Kagami be damned.

As he stood in the checkout line he watched everyone with a wary eye. Every time someone looked his way he couldn’t help feeling that they were watching him. He slammed the cash in front of the cashier.

“House repair?”

“Huntin’ “Dai snorted, “got a pest problem around the house. “

“I see.” The cashier took the money and quickly handed him money. If Dai didn’t feel so eager to get out he would have yanked the harried man’s chain a little. But he was on a schedule and he wanted to get away from so many prying eyes. That night he drank himself to sleep.

“For the good of the family….for the good of the family”

Dai decided to start his plan as soon as possible for the sake of his own sanity. In the time spent waiting he had written his mantra on the walls repeatedly. He went hunting for a location to do the deed, since he couldn’t very well be seen dragging bodies to his apartment building. He found-in the outskirts of town- a rundown old place, half burnt that no one used anymore. Not a place he would make his permanent home – but surely a place fitting for what was technically a magical murder. Once he set up the place he made the call to little Katsuya.

It wasn’t hard to convince the brat to show up, telling him he had a special project for him. It brought the fly right to the spider web.

Katsuya met him by street sign down the road. He wasn’t exactly tall for an eleven year old but Kagami and Dex claimed that was an advantage. Kagami had tried to use her magic to make Katsuya appear to be one of them, but the glamour was fast fading. His once pitch black hair had become a dark auburn. Once he went full ginger again, the whole family would know where he came from, and whose twin brother he was. The freckles were coming back as well. Dai had to suppress a snort at what he was wearing. An oversized jacket with triple rolled cuffs, jeans, and two left shoes. Intent on mothering as she was, Kagami might have done well to allow Katsuya to dress himself when he got old enough to.

“You put yer shoes on yourself today, did ya?” he smirked. The brat met him with a steely gaze.

“You said you had a job for me.” Katsuya’s idolization of Dex showed. He spoke with the same formal sounding upper class accent the head of the family’s son had.

“That’s right. Come with me I’ll tell ya about it when we get there.” Katsuya’s discomfort as Dai put a hand around his shoulders did not go unnoticed. Normally the rotten little brat threw an absolute tantrum at being touched by someone that wasn’t his teacher or his mother, but he knew not to pull that shit with him. As he walked Dai lit himself a cigarette and watched his target squirming slightly in discomfort as he walked to the burnt old house hidden by woods.

“Why-“

“It’ll all make sense soon” Dai said, “very glad ya showed up, I got somethin’ important fer ya” It was funny how his eyes lit up excitedly even as he was being led to such an obviously dangerous place. He was desperate for their acceptance.

Bloody hell, kids were stupid. Even one so loaded up with book smarts and touted as a little prodigy.

He made sure to lock the door behind him as Kat looked around the house trying to figure out what he would have in mind. Dai let him wonder and question while he slowly unsheathed his weapon. The moment when his back was turned-

WHACK

The sound of the boy hitting the ground was glorious. The blow was enough to stun him so he could tie him up. Dai used his foot to roll the body over to one side of the room. He took a spare rag and placed it under the kid’s head. He couldn’t afford a conviction after the Aarons bastard in 2002. All that was left was to take the phone and destroy it.

One down.

Now for the next one, the little Stryke empath. Dai had a pretty good idea of how to reel in the twin. Based on what he had heard and saw ,Timothy Stryke didn’t even know he had a twin, they hadn’t seen fit to tell him after Gilbert Stryke’s case went cold in ’98.

Over the next few days Dai slipped into the old “murder house” and settled in the den. He went rooting around gathering well hidden evidence of little Gil’s existence. An article, some photos. The Strykes hadn’t had the heart to completely destroy evidence of their lost son. He had to work quickly before the boy came by again. He left a light on in one room when he was ready. He had a feeling that the kid would come in eventually. Timmy proved he had more guts than anyone gave him credit for last November. And he had to do this, to prove to himself that he could deal with it maybe. Giving him a little signal might be the push he needed. Not to mention something like a single light on would be hard to ignore, if he took after his twin as far as obsessive-compulsive ordering went.

The gamble worked and after a frustratingly long hesitation, the boy entered the house. The discomfort was obvious as he walked through the house. Did the knowledge that his parents died here make him squirm? Obviously so. Yet he still kept going. The living room gave him the most difficulty; he started to leave when he noticed the distant glow in the den – the lamp Dai turned on.

The boy was a perfect portrait of what Katsuya would have looked like if he grew up here. Small and skinny, wavy unkempt ginger hair and freckles spattered everywhere. Both were underweight, but by no fault of their guardians. Electrokinetics burned so many calories so quickly that one would have to barely move and eat almost all waking hours to achieve even minor obesity. His eyes were light brown and like Katsuya never made proper eye contact if they could help it. The only major difference was that Timmy knew how to pick his own clothes.

He hesitated by the door way but was soon pulled in. Dai watched in the shadows as the boy walked over to the table, where he had arranged all the articles, photos, and proofs of the twin he never knew. He was shaking and breathing hard as he looked at the pictures and read the article about how his brother was snatched by a stranger and never found. Declared dead after a year of searching because the authorities assumed that according to their profile the child would be dead within the first twenty four hours.

“It’s cruel ain’t it?” Dai slapped down the most current picture. A dark haired young boy who had just gotten a trophy in the London Annual Mathematics Bee. Timmy gasped and looked up.

“You-!“

“Told ya this wasn’t the end of it” He smirked. He circled the young boy who was now frozen in place by a bad case of the nerves. “Your brother never told ya did he….a shame….what a person will do if they think it will protect a loved one.” Timmy turned back to examining the picture of his twin. Dai took that moment to pull out the pipe in his sleeve and knocked the boy out.

Two down.

He took a certain relish in making this one’s capture a little nastier. Consider it his revenge for the boy’s defiance. He took care to wrap this one up in a rubber tarp to suppress any sparks. He had picked up a truck found in a junkyard and hotwired it to work. One man’s trash was another man’s treasure. He drove the second victim to his little hide out and dropped him off, right next to his twin.

Reunited at last.

Now the older brother would be expecting him soon. Dai recycled the articles to make an old fashioned ransom note, which he tacked on the door of the old Stryke house. He had an advantage due to small town politics, the police chief was as redneck as they come, a small minded hick with secret ideas about white supremacy, who had his job purely on muscle and power. His son and Skye Stryke had a messy history, and Dai could count on the ignorant moron not to do his job fully, and on the Stryke boy not to trust him. He had left a little note in his ransom letter not to involve police. This was a matter that ought to be settled between Psi.

Dai waited outside the house for a little while because he didn’t want anyone getting in the way. But of course, as luck can’t last forever someone did. A few passerby. Dai got rid of them by making rustling sounds and imitating the sound of a mountain lion growling.

They hurried their asses out of there on the double. He moved the note to a place where nosy eyes wouldn’t be able to peek- folded and taped on the inside of the window. The next person to come snooping was dear cousin Shiro.

Shiro was the spawn of his good-for-nothing uncle, Toshiro. The man wasn’t as bad as his father but still a pitiful waste of good oxygen. Shiro’s mother was Elliott Sr’s estranged sister who thought she could leave her family behind by joining the enemy. Their wedding, like Kagami’s marriage to Stryke was a mistake. Dai had plenty of history with Shiro. The boy still resented Dai’s punishment for getting to close to a mundane and sharing secrets. But he never made the same mistake again. Dai couldn’t scare Shiro away with a simple rustling and growling, you couldn’t easily fool one who could speak to the animals. He also couldn’t risk Shiro running to Dex and tattling on him.

It was a hasty decision; Shiro had to go as well. He was half Stryke after all. He could justify this one as pruning the family tree’s diseased branches. With careful movements Dai snuck up behind the kid and swung the pipe at the back of his head.

Shiro slumped forward to the ground and Dai started looting his body of any communication devices. Earpeice, cellphone, and what the hell, iPod too. He threw the earpiece at a rock and set the phone on fire, and then pocketed the iPod. Maybe he could use the thing. As he picked Shiro’s body up to load in the truck he noticed the kid’s glasses on the ground.

He wouldn’t need them where he was going.
Crunch.

This meant he would have to work quicker.

He drove the newest body back to his hiding place where he sat waiting. Every now and then he would kick one of his captives to weaken them. It shouldn’t take long. Tomorrow at the latest. He didn’t drink for fear of going to sleep. He kept himself up by writing his mantra on the walls and drawing magic runes. He didn’t even have to warn them to shut up. The brats were naturally scared shitless and Shiro had always been a coward. He could hear the teenager muttering obscenities sometimes.

“Keep it up……you’ll be barfin yer brains” That kept him quiet.

After a whole night of being awake Dai found himself far jitterier and just a bit paranoid. He would peek out the door multiple times. In an anxious fit he stomped on Shiro’s nose multiple times for talking.

Then with a strange calmness he scooped up some of the blood and rubbed it in between his fingers. He was acting for the good of the family. He was doing the right thing. Dawn broke and he waited.

“He’ll come…don’t worry yer big brother will be with ya soon boys.”

“Dex….”

“No, idiot” Dai leaned over and painted a rune on Kat’s cheek, using the blood Shiro had so kindly given him. In a few moments Kat’s hair looked a lot lighter and his freckles faded into view. “Meet your brother, Gilbert” The two boys gaped at each other. Katsuya started shaking and then made a lame attempt at a kick.

“STOP LOOKING AT ME!” He rolled over and curled up a bit, trying to cope with what he had just learned. Dai chuckled to himself and went back to writing his runes. He had advanced to writing his mantra in ancient runes.

It was late morning by the time Skye arrived. He burst in the room kicking open the door. Behind him were the two mundane tagalongs Dex had mentioned. Dex had tried to warn them, but it looks like they were all too damned thick.

Oh well….Muns were nothing to him. They could go too. Dai grinned and lit his hand on fire before lowering it near the ground where they stood.

“Come to join the party?”

“I have the ransom” Skye shoved a bunch of wadded up hundred dollar bills in his direction. Dai reached forward and burnt them to ashes.

“The ransom is you” He touched the ground by Skye’s feet starting a flame. “I’m fuckin’ rich, ya lousy hick. What do I need money fer?” he lit another fire that cut off their exit.

The only one who could get through that was a pyrokinetic and Dai was the only pyrokinetic for miles. He unsheathed a knife and a pipe and went toward them. He knocked them all forward in the direction away from the fire and then stomped it out. He twirled the pipe in his hands as he advanced on them.

“Now ….you can choose to be awake durin’ this but it will hurt more…a lot easier if I just put yeh to sleep.”

*****

Anamaria Toyaka had a long night last night. She had been tracking down the American Toyakas, most of which who were refugees and runaways who escaped Kagami’s abuse, or were immigrants from the Japanese branch. The American Toyaka family was small as far as Psi families go, and not recognized as separate. Most of the Psi community regarded them as family-abandoners.

She had been working with a few of them in hopes to work together to destabilize the European branch. But most of them considered it a suicide mission. She finally accepted and started looking for a different route. When she returned to her and her half brother’s temporary home at long last, she planned on sleeping all day.

That is…until she realized Shiro never came home. She tried calling him, assuming he was spending the night with a girlfriend or some hook up but then he didn’t answer his phone the next morning.

Shiro never left his phone off that long.

She got right into action after the third attempt, calling Dex and telling him everything.

“I know…. He was out looking at something for me-“

“WHAT?” She rarely raised her voice, as it would shatter the useful façade of the fragile docile little girl the family thought she was. She could imagine the way Dex was probably wincing at the moment.

“I noticed something weird and told him to go check it out. While you were away Timothy Stryke went to his childhood home and never came out. “Dex said. Ana took a few breathes calming herself down. “I haven’t seen Kat all yesterday afternoon. And Elliott and his friends went somewhere and never came back.”

“Where?” Ana demanded.

“I can only assume they stopped at the Stryke’s former home. The aunt is at the police department chewing the chief out, so they’re out of the way, and Felix has been job searching outside the town with Caleb. The last time they were in town was last Saturday.” Dex said, “The area is clear, I’ll meet you there.”

“If someone is targeting us then you should tell the others to hang back. “

“I have already.”

She called up a taxi to drive her into Banquo County and then went off like a guided missile towards the Stryke family house. She wondered why it hadn’t been torn down by now. Everyone in town knew what happened in that house and nobody would buy it anytime soon. Shiro’s car, sure enough, was still sitting near the front of the neighborhood. Dex was waiting nearby for her.

“If they just snatched him they might have traveled on foot. “

“Or they were lurking by the house. There’s a clearing behind the house. “Dex led the way to it.

“Do you have any suspicions?” Anamaria asked. “The Psi police?” She had been able to restrain herself before but she found herself being more panicked. There was a part of her that liked it in a twisted way, it was proof that she wasn’t as detached as she had always felt. Being so distant from others, hiding behind masks were good for protecting her from suspicion and from hurt growing up with a woman who didn’t want her, and a father who didn’t want any of them. She had learned to shut off the part of her that was wounded by silly things like insults. One of her teachers , her best ,was the one who saw through her sniffling and fake tears , who had diagnosed her as a cold young woman. But after awhile, being so detached made her feel not quite human.

The fact that she was scared meant that she really did love Shiro. At least she loved somebody.

“I don’t think so.” Dex shook his head. “It’s quick and hasty. The Psi Police are far too experienced for such sloppy rush jobs. Whoever did this is scared.”

“They should be.” They found the house, doors open, and basement window open. A search through the house only turned up one disturbing thing . A strange display-somewhat reminiscent of a shrine to Dex’s student Katsuya-or who he had been, Gilbert Stryke.

“…..Maybe the person who kidnapped the child originally…” Ana scanned an article with pieces cut out.

“That’s impossible” Dex said softly. “….Mother is all the way in London.” Anamaria turned staring at him in horror as he leaned to pick up a photograph. He showed it to her.

“Does this look familiar?”

“Kat…..”

“Yes. I lived here when it happened. She had been preparing some sort of revenge for my father.” Anamaria opened her mouth but hardly any sound came out.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I was horrible. Now let’s go…I might have an idea.” She quickly got up and followed, wondering what Dex made of this. As she followed she noticed his messily fastened ponytail which stuck out from his normally neat appearance. He was far more worried that he was acknowledging or letting on. Outside near the back of the house was a letter on the ground. It was done in classic ransom style with pieces from the very article in the display.

Dex took it and looked over it. In a few moments he crumpled it and threw it to the ground in a sudden fit of rage. He was breathing loudly now.

“….what?”

“It’s an inside job!” It took a few moments for her to comprehend what that meant.

“Someone in our family did this!” He barked at her, “Now damn it let’s go already.”

She had to work to catch up with him. He ran back to the car and hastily got in scrambling to get it started. She got in quickly. She wasn’t frightened of Dex when he was in such a state but rather for what he might do. In the past his temper had caused serious damage. Her brother’s eye injury, and more recently, the wound in Skye’s shoulder had both been caused by Dex’s uncontrollable temper. Finally she found her voice to tell him to slow down before he got them both killed.

They drove to outside the borders of the town. A sleek black Aston Martin Vanquish seemed jarringly out of place in the woodsy West Virginia boondocks.

“He’d want to stay out of sight. His house would be too obvious.”

“He? You sure?”

“It’s Dai.” Dex spat his name. “He’s gone too far….I should have known that he was up to something. He should have never left the Institution.” She found herself shaking and, betraying more emotion that she had ever shown since she was a young girl. They stopped outside a woods area. “Come on, I smell smoke.” The closer they got, the stronger the smell of smoke was. Smoke and a sickeningly sweet metallic smell.

It surrounded a house that was partially burnt and had burn marks around the front entrance. The windows were boarded up. Dex approached the door and kicked it down.

The sight before them was one that would haunt them for as long as they lived.

There was a magic circle drawn on the floor in dark red and several figures laid together in the middle of the floor. Dai stood above them with blood soaked hands. Anamaria heard herself screaming before all went to black.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dex yelled.

“Just trimming the family tree” Dai said. He took out his pipe and lunged toward Dex. The struggle only took a few moments before the Toyaka head’s son and Shiro’s half sister were lying among the victims. Dai took the pistol off Dex’s body and tossed it out the door.

If anyone was near the woods they would see a dim light and hear a singular crack of thunder that seemed to come from nowhere.

*******

Celestia and Luna waited to hear from Cadance about anything strange after a letter from Shining Armor about dissent among the Crystal Ponies. Cadance sent a letter asking how to deal with it. Luna was extremely restless. She was unable to enter Cadance’s dreams, and wished to find a way to contact her. Not by letters that could end up in the wrong hands as evidence that the Princess was going mad.

She tried many times to enter Cadance’s dreams, not being one to give up easily. But it was no avail. She was thrown out repeatedly. She decided then to send a message to Shining Armor.

He saw himself being put on trial and decried as a tyrant by the Crystal ponies. Her heart bled for him, she too understood the feeling that people were turning on her. She approached him in the middle of the courtroom and the surroundings all bled away.

Normally she didn’t do this, for she had learned through experience that she had to let ponies face their own fears. Her intrusions had in the past left a few too many fillies and colts to learn about facing fears the hard way. But in this case she had an urgent message to send.

“P-princess” Shining Armor still shook in her presence.

‘Do not be afraid. We come to thee with no judgement.” She said, “I wish to send along a warning to your wife. I am unable to enter her dreams.”

“Cadance?” Shining Armor asked.

“Your wife is going through something that will be difficult for her to endure. As an Alicorn she is coming of age.” He looked worried and puzzled.

“Coming of age…but she’s twenty-“

“As an Alicorn. She has achieved so many years in her life as an Alicorn that it is time for her to shoulder the burden that all of us share-“

“But why? “ She looked at him, calmly with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“Because it is something all of us must go through. I went through it and ill prepared as I was, I made many mistakes. I wish to spare her the pain I went through. Please tell her that she can turn to us for advice and help when she needs it.” Shining looked to her now as worried as she was.

“..But what is she going through?” Luna bowed her head.

“It is something I cannot fully tell you. But I will say this; she is no longer a child and will gain a knowledge that is great and terrible.” She turned to leave when she thought of something. “….and Shining Armor. Do not doubt yourself. You are not a tyrant; you are a most noble leader. You proved that, years ago as the Captain of the Guard” With those words she left him. She did not bother with the Royal Speech beyond her greeting. It was imperative that Shining Armor fully understand her message for Cadance’s sake.

She returned to her home with just enough power to lower the moon for the night. After that she found her bed and collapsed. She fell quickly into sleep and into dreaming.

It was the night before the wedding and Luna and Celestia were celebrating Cadance’s getting married. It was reassuring to see Cady happy and in such good spirits. But out of nowhere a familiar dark mane swept by and grabbed her, cackling wickedly. Nightmare Moon flew into the sky holding Cadance up.

“You will pay for your betrayal, you foal” she sneered to Luna. She and Celestia both fired their magic at Nightmare Moon who moved out of the way laughing. “There is no escape from me.” The words echoed until Luna woke up in a cold sweat.

“CELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY!!”

Author's Note

This is the chapter I have been waiting and looking so forward to.

It does have disturbing themes and a rather grotesque scene

This story was started as something of a deconstruction of the usual Human In Equestria stories I read. It always bothered me when I saw stories where going to Equestria was treated as the best thing that could happen to someone, with no regrets of leaving friends and family. I purposefully avoided a Brony-in-Equestria plot because that is very hard to pull off without having that element of pure Wish Fufillment fantasy to it. I developed the idea of a dissonance between worlds, with Equestria being very seemingly pure while our world is grim and cynical.