It was too many revelations at once.

The truth of his identity stripped away, in part by his own undoing and delivered a final blow with the words Evaline spoke. There were twins – two children – and he’d had protection over Talya all this time, but what was the fate of the other? Kasabian was dead. Psychedelic was going to join him soon if he didn’t pull his conscience forward and come back into his body.

All at once the world spun back upright. Survival instinct kicked in, severely overpowering rage. A piece of him, a piece driven mad with anger, wanted to break fully as it had on occasion and send him on an abusive rampage. He wanted his flat teeth to clench hair; he wanted his worn hooves to beat against the hides of the three before him; he wanted to hear the wretched screams of war thick and almost too-loud in his ears.

Shamwari approached – thick in build, with a deep red coat caught aglow. The first enemy. Psychedelic’s ears laced against his skull, the light in his eyes one of true madness. His pupils were pinpoints, focused. His muscles were clenched, coiled tight. Energy practically rippled and tore through the entirety of his body.

His head jerked up, neck pulling into his shoulders. No words spilled past his mouth… only a cry of insanity interwoven with putrid, black rage. His body weight rocked back, he pulled himself upward, clearly meaning to throw his legs out and attempt to strike Shamwari once he came near enough. The clash would be so satisfying. The sound of bodies striking into bodies and the pain to come from wherever Shamwari struck him would only further please this urge burning in the pit of his belly.

And then… a flash.

“NO!” She cried.

Talya bolted between them, her thin legs scrambling beneath her weight, head turned and eyes rolling as the whites flashed at her older half-brother she’d never met. They’d collide or Shamwari’s attack meant for Psychedelic would smack into his daughter – either way, it’d be a disaster. Psychedelic’s pupils snapped, focusing on her, on Talya above all else.

“TALYA!” He bellowed, but it was too late. Whether Shamwari caught his weight in time was difficult for Psychedelic to say, given his focus was pinpointed on his cream and white daughter, the swell of her belly speaking to a child unborn. She tumbled down with a cry and CRACK… she lay still.

In the few seconds which followed Talya’s fall, the survival instinct which had kept Psychedelic alive so far overpowered even his concern for his daughter, who’d sacrificed herself to save him. Among chaos was a break in attention and Psychedelic pulled his hooves backward in quick, stumbling steps, turning to bolt just as he had years ago in the Lagoon.

He’d left Kasabian to die, and now he’d done the very same to his daughter.