Guardian of the Sun

by Hinterland Seer

Rating: mature
Tags: Princess Celestia, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure, Sex, Gore
Length: 52793

Blaze Burn was a nopony, not really, who was just trying to keep him and his brother alive in the ruined capitol brought low by that demon Discord. If only his life had would have let things be that simple. . .

Blaze Burn was a simple pegasus, just doing what he had to to keep him and his little brother alive after the destruction that an ancient demon by the name of Discord had wrought upon their once-mighty city. Unfortunately for them both, things were never going to be easy, and they soon found themselves with all the right (and the wrong) kinds of ponies in their struggled to free their friends and family from the utter chaos. Only the passing of time will tell him what fate has in store for him, and how many walks of life that he had never imagined existed; such as becoming the royal guard to, and object of affections from none other than Princess Celestia herself.

Published 2019-12-28 01:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-11-01 07:15:07 UTC

Blazing Away

Chapter 1: Blazing Away

Living in the city was alright, Blaze Burn guessed, though he felt like he wasn’t really living up to his full potential in his current situation. Not really.

He spent nearly all of his time sitting around at home, while his mother went out and did whatever it was that she had to do to keep them alive. He was stuck inside more than he cared to admit, but he knew that it could have been worse: they were breathing, for starters. So many ponies living in the capital were suffering because of the recent war with that demon, Discord, that he knew that he was lucky just being the position he was in. That knowledge still didn’t help him feel any better.

He had always felt like he was missing something: something that would show him his path in life, something that would earn him his cutie mark. Sitting there on the dilapidated couch that he and his mother had salvaged from a ruined building nearby, he stared at his snowy white coat, fluttering his wings and shifting in place to get a better view of his blank flank.

He had heard his mother whisper to herself on some nights about how he was reaching ‘that’ age and how she was worried he would be a late bloomer, or something like that. If only he knew what some of those words meant.

Still, even if his destiny remained clouded, he could still think of what he might do, and so he flopped over onto his back and stared at the crumbling ceiling, the flickering light of their sole candle serving insufficient lighting for the main living room. He got a strand of his mane in his eyes, getting him to pry it out with a hoof and glare at the stuff. He wondered just why he had this mane: it was red at the base, but slowly faded into white once it reached the tips. His mothers was a solid blue, much like he had heard Princess Luna’s to be. Though it was rumored that hers was similar to the night sky, complete with sparkling stars and constellations.

He doubted that, but it was fun to think about.

It was another starving night for him: mother hadn’t pulled enough money at work to pay off the roaming gangs that terrorized the neighborhood and to buy enough food for the week. Just like things had been for as long as he could remember, and likely how things would be for a long while. . .

The night passed into morning easily enough, and he always enjoyed the little time-skip that sleep offered, as inconsistent as his dreams were. And now for another day of doing whatever he really could.

He hopped off the couch with an exhausted smile, his normal face, and trotted into the ruined kitchen, though it was basically a glorified storage room, though there wasn’t really anything stored in there. What he found surprising was that the thing it did happen to contain now was his mother, looking considerably more tired than usual. Her ears perked up at his hoofsteps on the worn wooden planks, and she lifted her head off the table she sat at, her baggy eyes turning to him with what he thought to be surprise and happiness.

“Morning mom!” he chirped as he trotted over to the dried water basin, where he found the large glass bottle of purified water they had. He drank from it greedily, only returning it to its home when he had had his fill, and then he noticed that something seemed off with his mother. He turned to her, seeing her expression dripping to the usual weariness.

“Blaze Burn, sweetie. . . I don’t really know how to explain this to you, but you’re going to get a little sibling.” she sighed, and her pearly head lowered to the table as she began to rub a hoof over her stomach. He cocked his head to the side, not entirely believing that she was going to get him either a brother or sister.. That confusion was soon replaced by the excitement of soon having a new friend to play with, and a large grin broke out on his face. He darted forward and slammed into her side, trapping one of her wings under his grip and nearly throwing her off balance. He thanked her repeatedly for the gift he needed to relieve his boredom, but it came out as muffled noises loosely coming from his muzzle buried in her coat. “Yes, Blaze Burn, you’re going to have a sibling to take care of. But that means that you’re also going to have to help me watch over them, and you’re going to have to act more responsibly if they are going to be happy here.”

“I won’t let you down.” he stepped back and stood up straight and raised a hoof to his head in a strange mockery of a salute. “I’ll be the best big brother ever!”

He immediately set about trying to become an adult, and his first goals were going to be at a reasonable time, though his mother always seemed to leave for her nightly duties before he could pass out. He also tried to get a better, more adult-like attitude, but he was smart enough to know that he wasn’t really fooling anypony.

And so, that summer was probably the worst, best, most exciting, and most boring summer he figured he was likely ever going to have. The city celebrated the Summer Sun festival, though he wasn’t allowed to go, and his mother finally managed to return with a bunch of food, which made him think it was a perfect day. Then the days began to shorten, they began to cool, and his mother’s belly expanded tremendously, which made him start to question just where foals were supposed to come from: was she supposed to go to the Princesses and get one? Did she receive it from a bird? Did somepony deliver it? When he asked her the question, she simply looked down at her stomach, and sort of chuckled to herself.

“No, Blaze Burn. I’m growing the foal, and when it’s time for him or her to arrive, I’ll call over some of my friends, and we’ll do parenting things in my room. You’ll understand when you’re older.” he didn’t like that answer.

“But you want me to become a responsible pony, so isn’t this something that I should know if I want to be one?” she looked genuinely horrified at him for all of about three seconds, then she inhaled deeply and took a second to compose herself. Once she was ready, though it looked to him that she was simply done with this conversation, she opened her eyes and gave him a stern glare. Stern. . . but he could see the humor in her sparkling blue eyes.

“Nope. This isn’t something you need to know about for a very long time, sweetie.” and with that, she shooed him off, and his daily rituals were taken with greater enthusiasm than before. He was going to show her, show them all, that he was capable, he was responsible, and that he was the best pony to be a big brother. Ever.

The Everfree may have been an evil forest, but at least it followed the ponies’ weather cycles, most of the time, and when fall came, he could just barely make out the reddening leaves peeking over the crumbling city walls. He would go for quick flights around the block, or take a short run to the park and play with the very few foals, those were his cheat days, as his mother liked to call them. And as the time passed, his mother’s belly became absurdly large, leaving him overwhelmingly curious about what was happening.

Mother left one night for one reason or another, which he had found strange, as she had taken a break from work about three months prior. He wanted to ask her where she was going, but he was hesitant to break her rules about asking where she went at night: one of two rules she was absolutely adamant about enforcing.

That night, he tried to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but his stomach just wasn’t settling, and his mind was unusually active. He laid there, staring at the ceiling while his brain thought of everything that he was going to do with his new little brother or sister: teaching them all about flying, and playing games like tag and Red Rover. Maybe he would even earn his cutie mark in the process, and it would hopefully be something about flying.

He really hoped this new sibling would learn to fly quickly, so they could go out more often: the city was still dangerous, but he was starting to be able to go further and further from home. Last week, he had gone three whole blocks away to play with a group of teenagers!

His mind steadily returned to the things that he had hoped would come for his cutie mark, that special symbol that would appear on his flank, telling him what his true special talent would be. He had spent way too much time imagining what it would be, all the things it could be: from amazing stunts in the air, to being just an amazing pony. . . the possibilities were endless! He almost always seemed to come back to flying, as if something in his body was just screaming that he’d be airborne for a lot of his life, and that he’d likely get a cutie mark for being the best pegasus ever.

However, his mother came home that next morning, where he’d been completely unable to sleep with his troubled thoughts. And any dreams he had built up in those twilight hours had been crushed the moment he saw his new little brother, whom his mother had named Star Burn. He knew he’d do anything to protect him. When that tiny little bundle of joy was brought to him, all wrapped up and cozy in a blanket, he had a surge of resolve in his new dream: he would be his brother’s protector.

He would become Star Burn’s ultimate pegasus, a winged guardian.

Time seemed to both creep by, and soar passed them with frightening speed. In what felt like mere moments, that tiny, royal blue bundle of a pegasus that was Star grew rapidly, and had proven to take the extremes of Blaze’s dreams, flying the day after he was brought home, and never stopping to land. . . ever. It was the most exhausting thing ever. But Star was growing, he was learning, and he was becoming more than anything Blaze could ever hope for in a little brother. His relationship with his mother may have been rough, but the snowy pegasus felt it in the depths of his very being that this blue colt was all that he could ever need to love. He took to caring for the foal all day, and helped his mother at night when she got home, having returned to work immediately after bringing Star home.

It was during those long days and sleepless nights that he had started to formulate various ideas, accumulating dreams and hopes, and turning them towards how he would further protect Star, and how he could become the best big brother ever.

The city was built in the center of the Everfree, though the massive glade they were in was shrinking with every passing year. They had walls, but the entire city was crumbling: it was in ruins as a result of the war with Discord. The Castle of the Two Sisters had remained relatively untouched, as a result of the alicorns’ powerful magic, but everywhere else seemed to be collapsing under the needs of everypony’s needs. Discord may have been encased in stone, any more chaotic magic he might be capable of spreading may have ceased, but the damage was already done, and his magic had still destroyed so much of Equestria’s prosperous land.

This created a slight problem if he wanted to steal Star away for a better life: there were simply too few opportunities for him to get anywhere outside of the city. That forest was corrupted beyond containment.

Their mother barely managed to get by, and he could tell that Star wasn’t eating enough, even though he made sure to give the foal extra food, and mother had nursed him every night. The household basically consisted of the two colts, as their mother was gone so much working to make ends meet, and with the extra mouth to feed, she had started to work overnight completely, though it wasn’t everyday.

But Blaze was a determined pony, even if he was young and wildly inexperienced. He had made up his mind, and was going to run away with Star, so he just had to come up with some way of providing for the two of them. He couldn’t burden his mother anymore than they already were, and he knew that Star needed to live someplace better.

The more he thought about his situation, the more he found himself coming to the same conclusion: even if the rest of the country was totally collapsing around them, the Castle was still very sturdy, and was still a beacon of survival for the ponies. He knew that that structure had to have survived far worse events than just this most recent war, and he figured that it was likely to survive many more. With two Princesses reigning from within, it was going to be well off, stocked with excessive resources to cater to their every whim. . . food that would have been considered luxury down in the city. Food that could be passed around to the sick, the homeless, the starving, and the Princesses would have never even known it was gone.

Nobles and Royals always had plenty of food, right?

He knew his mother wouldn’t stand to see him steal from the castle, and if the current condition of the city was anything to go off of, he knew that the Princesses weren't going to just give out free food to anypony that asked. His plan was forming slowly.

All he needed to figure out was a way to get the two of them to survive long enough for him to force the Princesses to share the spoils of leading a country with the needy. But that was just the first roadblock he had encountered as he contemplated his options, which was soon joined by others. The days roiled on as he thought more and more about what he could do, and he just kept finding himself back at the Castle. . . and the problems he knew he would have to address.

Even if he had managed to find a way to keep both him and Star alive while he worked out a way to break into the obviously fortified structure, he had no idea of how he would go about sneaking to the kitchens and storerooms and then actually stealing from the Princesses. He had no idea how those things were supposed to work.

Still, if he just sat around and waited, he would become a failure, and there was just no way he could allow himself to fail at the only important thing he had ever been trusted with. He spent less than a week trying to convince himself out of it, trying to find any other solution that he could confidently pull off, but the answers seemed to elude him, and his determination to give his brother a fighting chance for a better life than what he’d been experiencing won against his hesitation.

Mid-day, in the middle of autumn, he darted from the kitchen, his heart and head finally coming into agreement that this was the necessary course of action. He entered the minuscule living room, decorated by the battered and weathered couch that he and Star had called their bed, and the torn and faded rug that was the best thing in this forsaken house. He looked around the room he stood in: how the walls were about ready to fall off the frame, how the foundation seemed to be crumbling into a pit of sand, how the walls themselves were giving under the relentless assault of the elements. He gritted his teeth that he had welcomed this as his home, and he dreamed of the day that he could give Star his own small castle to live in. Not some crumbling outhouse whose roof was leaking in at least a dozen places, and was the home to not only ponies, but a score of various different species of insects. He yearned for the day that Star would be able to wake up in his own bed, a real bed, and look around his own room, with his own door, and his own wardrobe. He would make that happen, somehow, he had to.

He glanced over at the couch, where Star was wrapped in his star-splattered blanket and snoring softly. He stopped for just another second to look lovingly at his little brother, and to let that seed of hope take root in his heart that things would be better. When he was happy, he turned and silently crept backwards until he was at the base of the stairs, well a set of steps that took him up to what might be considered the first-and-a-half story, which was home to his mother’s room, the only bedroom in the building.

He wondered how this place had ever been normal for him, how he had accepted it.

He trotted into her room, grateful that she had gone off to work early today, and walked over to her closet. He was looking for one thing and one thing only, so he rifled through the old rags and heaps of clothes that she had worn, clothes that reeked of scents he hadn’t a clue to the identity of. Then he found it: a dusty, ragged but sturdy knapsack that he’d used one summer to gather wildflowers in.

Smiling briefly at the memory, he bit down on the straps and tugged it out of the mess of fabrics, then dumped the crumbling bits that were left to fade to dust inside. He patted the remaining dust out then spun on his hooves and trotted down the five steps and back into the living room.

He trotted over to the couch and grabbed what few possessions the two of them owned, which basically consisted of two ragged winter jackets, some boots that barely fit, and his blanket. He shoved them all into the sack, then had to frown at the lack of things they had a claim to, and finally pulled the flap back over the knapsack, tying down the only things that they held onto in order to survive. He pulled the sack along as he worked his way to the tiny kitchen, hoping to find some kind of food that they’d have for the first day or two while they were gone. He just needed something to hold them over, as he wasn’t going to let Star starve, not when he was still just a growing colt.

He scavenged along the empty cupboards, his frustration growing with each successive barren pocket. He had to force it down before he started slamming things around to vent.

Then he found a sliver of hope tucked away in the last cupboard: a chunk of cheese wrapped in crispy paper, stacked on top of what was probably the last loaf of bread they had. He scooped the food up and moved it to the table, where he set about reorganizing the pack so the sparse food they were going to have with them wouldn’t get crushed.

Feeling his emotions rising, the tension in his guy clamping down with enough force to momentarily diffuse his lingering hunger, he rose from his seat and stepped over to the wall. There was a resounding thump when his skull connected with the dull wood, and he started to struggle to hold back the tears. “Oh Princesses, why do we suffer so? Why must life be such a struggle, such a constant fight for survival?”

He understood that the two Sisters were trying to fix the situation the entire country had fallen into, but there was still only so much progress that had been made, even in their own city! He knew that some things were already going to start improving, but all he had known was a city crumbling in on itself, and all he had ever seen were the struggles of the impoverished fighting over scraps. He could see that some had taken to the state of the country better than others: his mother worked by selling herself out, as he had learned. He’d had the misfortune of finding out that she worked in the surprisingly thriving sex industry, though she wasn’t at all living the glamorous lifestyle.

No, that privilege went to the rich, and to the royal, who had all the luxury and wealth, who desperately clung to their freedom from oppression.

He had to pound his head on the wall again to stop the errant thoughts. He didn’t need the added anger of the life fate had deemed him deserving of living, and directing those emotions to the better-off wasn’t going to solve any of his problems: he had to act if he wanted to go anywhere in life. And more importantly: he had to act if he wanted better for Star.

“Brother?” the voice resonated around him lightly, and he whipped back from the wall just in time to see that very same blue pegasus floating into the kitchen. He must have been more out of control than he thought.

He stared in fear as Star landed before him and began to wipe the sleep from his eyes, then he finally took control of his body and jumped forward, pulling the source of all his happiness in for a big hug. Star happily returned it, even patting his on the back, though the colt’s eyes wandered curiously around the room. “Are you going somewhere?”

Blaze realized that the knapsack was in plain view for the colt, so he let him go, looking down at the ground so he could gather his thoughts over what he wanted to say. He patted Star’s head lightly, then stood up and grabbed the sack off the table, slinging it over his shoulder and returning to his place before the tiny colt. “Well, yes, but actually no. What I mean to say is that we are going somewhere, and I was just making sure we had everything we needed.”

“We’re going somewhere? Where are we going?” Star looked at him with open, vibrant blue eyes that held nothing back: no emotion was filtered, not the wonder, not the excitement, not even the touch of worry. It was that last emotion that Blaze saw which made his ears fall flat against his head, and he looked out the cracked window, hoping to find a clear answer in the clear blue skies.

“Well, we’re going to go and leave this place behind, and we’re going to try to find someplace better. . . we’re going on a bit of an adventure.”

“Why do we have to leave?”

“So you can get big and strong, and so mom doesn’t have to worry about us. We need to go our own way.” he felt the weight of the decision hit him as if the house had collapsed on top of him, but he just barely managed to hold up his shoulders and keep himself from loosing his cool when he needed to show Star that he was strong. Weakness could not be tolerated, for that happy little colt’s sake, if not his own. “Mom isn’t able to feed the three of us, and you need all the food you can get, and the more sun you get, the stronger you’ll grow up to be.”

All the sleep that had stuck in Star’s eyes vanished at the promise to grow up big and strong, and he now beamed with excitement. “I want to be big and strong! Just like you!”

“And you will, I promise. But we have to leave sooner rather than later, and get this adventure going, or else we’re going to be stuck inside again, and have no way of exploring the world!” he smiled at his brother’s enthusiasm, and started leading him through to the living room. “Now grab you’re blankie and I’ll hold onto it so you don’t drag it on the ground and get it all dirty, and then we’ll be all ready to leave.”

Star beamed and bolted over to the couch, snatching his blanket and bolting back to him, offering the battered blue fabric with a innocent smile. The blanket was tucked around the pack as well as they could get it. “Should we leave mommy a note?”

“Already thought of that.” Blaze replied with a very fake smile, though he was grateful that Star took the smile at face value and nodded as he trotted to the door. He really hated that he would have to lie to Star, but the thought of breaking his heart to know that they were sneaking around behind their mother’s back would have been too much to handle. He was hoping that he could manage to get Star to trust that he was doing what was best for the two of them, and that he would become the provider so their mother would slowly fade away. He knew it sounded rough, heartless, and cruel, but he was banking heavily on the future pain of this to fade before the damage was done, or at least until Star was old enough to come to his own conclusion when he was old enough.

He stumbled after the energetic colt, finding the persistent weight of the knapsack already making itself known. The least he could do was to pull through, and the two pegasi slipped into the streets, leaving the house under the sole care of their mother, who he was trying desperately to put out of his mind. He could not afford to let any of those thoughts ruin everything he had been preparing for.

They stepped into the dirty streets, leaving behind the last remnants of what might have been considered their world of innocence, and began their blind adventure into the unknown.

The blindingly bright sun blinded their eyes for a second, and they stood there until their vision had adjusted. When they felt ready, the two took to the air, and even though he was weighted down by the sack between his wings, they stayed airborne enough to flutter above the cobblestone streets below. They steadily passed the only regions that Blaze had ever known, entering unknown territories in a city that felt uninhabited most of the time. Many of the streets they had flown over would have been considered busy if two ponies could see each other. The sun was reaching its zenith, with warm rays shining through the shambled cracks in the roofs of the standing buildings, while sharp shadows contrasted along the seams and pillars of the collapsed ones.

They pushed further through the city, welcoming an old friend of theirs that was exhaustion, following the battered and weathered trails that managed to snake between the crumbling ruins. Half an hour of arduous travel passed before they found any signs of significant life, as ponies started to gather in greater numbers, and it had become apparent that they were closing in on the parts of the city that had been used much more frequently.

Then the sounds of a living city began to carry through the patchwork of buildings that were steadily becoming more dense and inhabitable. They were closing in on the parts of the city that had yet to succumb to strife, and their excitement was returning from ragged restlessness. They had passed a few buildings that might have suited their purposes, but Star wasn’t really satisfied with the options they had come across. It was the housing district, after all, and that was the region that had suffered the most, so they had chosen to push forward.

With the hustle and bustle of city life making itself very well known, as the sounds of bartering ponies and creaking wagons filled the air, they landed and continued by hoof.

Setting his eyes on the largest street in the entire city, filled with ponies of every size and color, moving around and going about their lives was something that burned into his memory. It was something truly unique for both the brothers: so many ponies all gathered in one place, all talking relatively peacefully, where they weren’t trying to hurt one another. It was something special, they were sure.

Still, Blaze knew that they had a mission, and he wasn’t about to wait around just because there was something interesting before them: they would have more than enough time to check out this place once they had found somewhere to settle. So they crossed the street, not a single pony paying any mind to the two colts traveling around the city alone, obviously taking their few precious belongings with them as they traveled.

He considered it something of a blessing that nopony seemed to pay them any mind: it made moving around significantly easier than he was anticipating.

They crossed with ease, though they had stayed on the ground for Star’s sake, and had slipped into one of the smaller streets jutting off from the main thoroughfare. The moment they passed into the secondary corridor, the sounds of the bustling marketplace became muted, and the walls felt like they were closing in around them. This was someplace that wasn’t friendly to foals, but they had no choice.

They pushed onward.

Whatever place they were in, it had a much smaller number of ponies walking around, even though the central street was still so close. And the ponies that they did come across almost seemed to be worse off than the other side, as if the housing district really wasn’t that bad. The air smelled of smoke and ash, and as they trotted along, their wings far too tired to try flying again, it became clear that nopony was meant to live here.

At a whole hour of travel, they finally reached a building that looked to be intact enough to consider living in. And while Star wasn’t thrilled about the option, he wasn’t willing to complain anymore, not after the distance he felt like he had covered.

Blaze had him wait by the side, and he approached the very large warehouse, cautiously stepping up to the heavy, rusted metal doorway. The sheer size of the building daunted him a little, though the small stream of scented smoke drifting from any of the openings told him that this was no factory or normal warehouse. This was a community of ponies living in the refuge of a building that had been either abandoned or forgotten, and that was more than enough for him to consider it. When he was sure that there was no chance that something would happen to his brother, he pulled the door open a touch, and instantly felt surprised at the ease in which he had been able to do so. He stole a peek inside the shelter to get an idea of what he was dealing with.

And a peek was all he needed, as the full force of the sight of an adults-only shelter slammed into his eyes, whipping his head back as he shut the door behind him. He dashed back to Star and hurried him along, clearing passed the building and down a street to get away from that place. “We can’t stay there.”

“Why not?” Star asked, suddenly sounded very tired. Blaze stared onward as he led his brother down the street, until they came across a much smaller market, this one occupied by only a small selection of stalls selling various wares meant for either survivors or industrialists.

“Because. . . it’s. . .” he stopped so he could collect his thoughts, and he let his eyes drift around them: he needed some kind of excuse that would both satisfy his brother’s curiosity, and protect him from the absolute horrors he had just witnessed. Things that no colt should ever have to see. He eventually came up with an idea that he really hoped would be good enough: “. . . otherwise occupied.”

Star looked off-put by the answer, but he seemed to accept that it was what it was, and he resigned himself to even more trudging through the dirtied streets. They passed a few more potential shelters, though each one failed in one way or another: the next had a giant hole blown out of the back, while the third had rusted and dangerous metal parts scattered haphazardly. The fourth they had come across had been ‘occupied’ by more adults, though it lacked any of the funny scents or radiating warmth. The sun had dipped behind the cover of the tops of the tallest standing structures when the brothers decided to take a break, flopping onto the side of the road in exhausted heaps.

“This isn’t fun, brother.” Star complained, rolling onto his back and staring at the skies as he did what he could to stay awake. Blaze desperately wanted to mimic him, but his senses were feeling twitchy at the strange, and potentially dangerous environment they found themselves in: he wasn’t going to take any chances.

Of course, he was just too damned tired to care about anything other than the fact that Star was now homeless, and they were likely not going to make it passed the first night on their own. He had taken them away from the only shelter they had known, the only safety that they had been promised was guaranteed, and it was all his fault.

“I know, and I’m so, so sorry, Star.” he picked himself up off the cobblestone and scanned their surroundings, wondering just how many of the standing structures they were now facing were possible shelters. They had finally come across a section of this industrial district that had some decent-sized buildings that looked just run-down enough to have been neglected and abandoned. He lifted Star back onto his hooves and wiped the dust and grit out of his mane, offering him a reassuring smile. “Just a little bit more, okay. I think we’re almost at our new home: I can feel it.”

They tried each of the metal doors to the large buildings, finding many of the warehouses to still be in operation, and locked. But the few that weren’t didn’t offer that much in terms of survivable shelters, so they carried on down yet another side street, pulling away from any of the noise of the markets, and through a part of town occupied entirely by working ponies.

They turned to the next warehouse, one sandwiched between two collapsed buildings, and stepped up to the door: it was different than the others, in that the sheet metal door had been crushed shut by some fallen masonry from one of the neighboring structures. The door they had the option of going to was a tiny wooden door. . . well, tiny when compared to the usual doors. He looked to Star, then put his hoof to the door handle and opened it enough to peek through. Much to his relief, the second he pushed his muzzle through the door, he hadn’t had to snap his had back out. There were no dangerous materials just lying around, and the large space was still enclosed, if a little dirty. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

After many heartless attempts to find a safe-haven, and with so many failures, he had reason to feel hope.

He pushed the old, burnt door even more, and stepped through the portal, entering the spacious room that was empty of whatever had been stored before the ancient, great war. He stepped through hesitantly, unsure about just what dangers he might possibly find, but ultimately he had to know what lay within.

The first thing he noticed was the huddled ponies all curled against each other in the center of the room, all staring at him with exhausted, terrified looks. Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all clumped together as if they were a litter of newborn puppies, staring at him like he was some kind of strange animal they’d never seen before. He eyed them cautiously, though he stopped right at the doorway, taking in the rest of the building in his peripherals: the roof was shoddy and crumbling a bit from that war with the demon Discord, but at least it was intact. The four walls looked like they were built out of ancient, cracked stone, but didn’t let any light in, which meant that they might be whole enough to brave the elements.

The floor may have been made out of stone, but he wasn’t sure: it was so covered in filth that it could have been a pile of trash and he couldn’t have told the difference. He wasn’t about to test it with those ponies staring at him, as he wasn’t sure how they would have reacted to him just waltzing in on their home, though it didn’t really look like they were doing much of anything. Flanking the herd were four pillars jutting out of the filth and bearing the full responsibility of holding up the ceiling, their steel exterior coated in ash and dust, but otherwise appearing unharmed. He was just barely able to make out the lines running between the pillars, as if the group had attempted to set up some dividing walls by hanging fabrics from the lines, but didn’t have the materials to finish them.

He took the moment to get a better look at the ponies, his attention focusing on the individuals: though each pony looked to be at different stages of health, he noted that they were all following the same path. . . slipping away. The small herd of ponies produced an aura of utter deterioration, an effect he figured came from the cloak of death slowly wrapping around them. They were all obviously starving, as he could see ribs from across the large room, even showing through the little scraps of clothing a few of them wore.

Their manes and tails looked drier than straw, while he could feel the coarseness of their coats from where he stood, and on some of the ponies, he thought he saw patches where the fur was coming clean off. His first thought after the shock had cleared was that these ponies could not have been alive: he just knew that they were undead, until one of the ponies rose from her spot in the mix with a weathered frown on her muzzle.

The mare was a very dusty purple unicorn, her deep violet mane looked disingenuous, and her dull violet eyes bore into him with greater force than he thought possible. She may have appeared weathered and terrified, but as she approached, her stride grew more confident and purposeful until she stopped right before him, towering over him and reminding him of just how young and small he was. Draped over her back was a tattered garment that might have passed as a coat or dress maybe a year earlier, which only conflicted with the reserve of strength she had gathered to approach them.

She stared at him in silence until he shuffled in place.

“Excuse me, miss. . .” he shuffled around even more nervously as her unwavering gaze penetrated his very being, and he had trouble looking directly at her. “is there a couple of open spots here?”

She stared at him for another minute, then her gaze seemed to soften for a second, dropping all its edge the moment Star shuffled in and stood beside his older brother. Her stern, aggressively concerned expression fell into a look of complete sadness, and her eyes drifted between the two brothers for a few more seconds, emotions flying around in those hopeless purple orbs. “And why would two extremely young pegasi need a couple of open spots in a dump like this?”

He got the feeling that she knew the answer, but Blaze wasn’t about to lose the only option they had left: sleeping in the streets was a horrible idea. That much his mother had drilled into him. “Our. . . we need somewhere to rest our heads for the night. It’s getting late, and my brother needs to sleep.”

He pulled his brother in closer, hating that things had even come to this, but he desperately hoped that appealing to whatever honor and compassion this mare had left would garner them enough sympathy to get those spots.

“Oh, dear Princesses.” the mare sighed, her expression falling even deeper into sadness and depression. The depths of emotion in her gaze hit the brothers full force when she finally managed to lift her eyes to look at them. “More victims to this heartless world? Well then, I guess you might as well follow me: you’ll find that this place has just the things you are looking for, and more than you ever even wanted. I think we might have spare spaces for two lonely brothers.”

She turned around and led the brothers back to the group, who had lost most of their terrified expressions, though the vast majority of them had opted to continue staring suspiciously at them. He couldn’t blame them, not after seeing the kinds of places that this side of the city had to offer.

She didn’t lead the pair directly to the huddled ponies, but skirted around them and took the pair back to the furthest steel beam. She motioned to the general area and left them to get settled, worming her way back into the group, who huddled around here closer.

“Okay. . .” Blaze watched as the ponies all began to whisper back and forth, then he grew tired of that and turned to Star who was already looking comfortable sitting against the cold steel pillar. He shrugged to himself and walked over to his brother, agreeing with himself that he could deal with them in the morning. At the moment, his greatest concern was making sure they were safe, and the sooner Star was settled and asleep, the sooner he could get a more permanent plan set in motion.

The four pillars seemed to act like a boundary, as the herd of ponies pulled out tiny candles around them, making a small pocket of light as the ring of shadows slowly slipped from the darkest corners. He didn’t really mind the darkness, and he thought that it would offer the pair of them at least some measure of privacy through the night. He was still cautious of what might come to pass, but at least they were indoors, and had a group of equally lost ponies between them and the entrance.

Sitting down next to Star, he shifted his shoulders and let their knapsack fall to the ground, nearly falling down in the process. “Come on: let’s get you ready to go to bed, okay?”

Star smiled at him, though his eyes were dropping lower with every passing second. The smaller colt lazily nodded and tried to push himself forward to grab his blanket, resulting in him tipping forward, then collapsing in exhaustion beside Blaze. Chuckling to himself, as he understood the feeling all too well, Blaze just pried the blanket free and draped it over his brother, wondering how long they were going to have to sleep on the floor. He figured that as long as Star was comfortable, that it didn’t really matter, so he pulled the blanket up and slid under it, slipping his wing over his brother and pulling him in. He found himself asleep soon enough, even through the unfavorable conditions they were now entrenched in.

The blackness of night was suffocating everything under the overcast sky, where not even the moon was able to cast light to the streets below, when Blaze snapped awake. ‘What was that?’

He tried to peer around the room, but he saw nothing in the room devoid of light, so he switched all his attention to listening for anything. Silence dampened around him, and Star’s gentle breathing was barely reaching his ears, even as he strained. A minute passed, his chest locked tightly and his breathing coming in tense spurts as he tried to find the culprit that roused him.

Nothing.

‘Must have been my imagination.’ he thought to himself. He tried to let his muscles relax, to get his breathing back to normal, but he just couldn’t shake this trumpeting sense of urgency. He had managed to relax his ears, but his chest remained locked and alert. In an alley near the warehouse, a cat loudly meowed, briefly breaking the silence, but even that sparse audible life was snuffed out by the dominating sleep of the city. Adrenaline finally started to flow through his limbs, and he could feel himself getting restless, so he delicately pulled himself free from the blanket and left Star to blissful sleep. Even though he was blinded, every other sense was doing their best to make up the difference: he finally started to make out the cacophony of breathing coming from the slumbering herd of ponies, now encircled by dead candles. He could smell the charred wood from fires long past, overlaid by the heavy musk of ponies that had been stuck inside a building for untold days, weeks, or even months. He could feel the blood pulsing through his limbs with every step, with every beat of his quickening heart. He could taste the drifting dust, disturbed by some unseen force that he just knew was watching him.

Through a silent creep, he snuck to the door, using his experience sneaking around the house to aid his adventure. He needed fresh air, but he wasn’t going to ruin the sleep of his most gracious hosts, and when he was at the door, a subtle glimmer of moonlight filtered through the cracks. His vision so adjusted to the dark, it was nearly blinding, and he cast a final glance to the ponies huddled together in the middle, their shady silhouettes just barely splitting from the black background.

Content that he hadn’t disturbed them, he slipped out into the desolate streets.

The light shift left him blinking for a few seconds, until he was able to see clearly: the warehouses around him had taken a severely increased intimidating appearance without the light from the sun to illuminate them. He stared at the surroundings for a few seconds, breathing deeply and trying to get his breathing under control.

He couldn’t see anything, there wasn’t anypony anywhere near him: he was alone. . . so why did he still feel like something was watching him? He swept his gaze up and down the street, trying to reassure himself that they were barren, even checking the rooftops everywhere he could see. There wasn’t a soul around at this time: it was later than he thought, and the moon was just a light gray disk behind the clouds, steadily dipping towards the western horizon. He was definitely alone, and the watchful feelings refused to leave.

Shaking himself, he forced down the wary shivers and spread his wings, hoping that getting in the air would be better for him, until a new breeze washed over him.

It carried the faintest of scents, and he would have almost called it a natural breeze, with the brief hints of the crumbled and ruined city, and the forest around said city. Almost. He lifted his head and inhaled deeply, trying to pinpoint the specific scent that was out of place among the usual regulars. Whatever it was, it roared at the back of his head, trying to surface some memory that he had likely shoved into remission, and it was slowly driving him crazy to figure it out. Then the winds shifted, and moved around some building that had blocked them, and the scents intensified tenfold.

He recognized the scent now: the scent of death. Of rotting flesh, the scent that he blocked from the various ponies that had starved, and then were torn apart by scavengers, and the bones that had nearly been picked clean. He wanted to turn back to the warehouse, because he didn’t want to try to find some other dead pony, but then, as fast as it had come, the breeze died. Any memory it had resurfaced, he immediately shoved back down, not wanting any extra negativity than he was going to have thrust upon him.

He stuffed his wings against his sides, then thought about whether he even needed to stay outside, but the racing thumping coming from his chest, and the fear-laden adrenaline coursing thoroughly through his body answered that errant thought for him. He spotted a crumbling building that was completely missing the front door, as well as most of the second and third stories, and made his way over to it.

The stairs were right before the entrance, so he climbed up as far as he could, until he was overlooking the street from the second set of stairs, and he considered using the opening as a place to throw himself to the skies. He glanced to his right, and saw that he was just about the right height to use the rooftops as a sort of ramp, somewhere he could run off of.

He unfurled his wings and jumped up to the neighboring roof, touching down nearly silently on the decrepit ceramic tiling. He stretched his legs to get ready for a short sprint, and started flapping his wings to get some better airflow under them. He rolled his shoulders and stared at the fairly even runway he now had open to him, then cast a cautionary glance around him, just in case anypony was watching him.

He crouched down, then firmly planted his hooves against the tiles, dashing forward and sprinting the length of the first warehouse, which was longer than he expected. He still wanted some more speed, so he half-opened his wings and jumped the small drop to the next rooftop without missing his pace. His hooves clattered against the ceramic tiles with each flurry of steps, and he peeled to the ledge of the rooftop, where he could slide by the next building without needing to jump above it.

He hurled into the air, opening his wings fully and catching as much as as possible as he whipped passed the corned of the building. He pumped his wings to gain altitude, but he saw that he was about to crash into another warehouse that marked the end of this street. He pulled up, and readjusted his plan: he figured he knew how to do this. Galloping in the air, he prepared to use the roof to launch himself skyward even further.

It was at points like this that he wished he had more experience flying around back home: he hit the tiles harder than he thought, and he nearly tripped as one slipped loose, but he managed to catch himself enough to charge up to the crest, where he thrust his wings down and jumped into the air.

It was open skies from here on out, and he immediately took to relishing in the feeling of unhindered flight, complete with winds whipping his mane and tail to and fro. He admired the sights he had from up here, until a crosswind slapped against him, forcing a wing shut, and he found himself dropping rapidly.

He scrambled to get his flight under control, and once he did, he made a strong note to keep his flying closer to the city. He dropped down and did a tight turn to slip between two buildings, where he’d be mostly safe from any strong winds.

He tried to keep his attention on the path he was taking, even as he decided to try to find some kind of solution to their predicament. He knew that theft was morally wrong, but he also knew that his mother worked in an industry that was very hush-hush. ‘If she does what she has to to survive, then there is no reason why I can’t also do what I need to to keep Star alive.’

Sweeping upwards to avoid colliding with a chimney, though he was a hairs-breadth too close, he learned a painful lesson in speed and reaction times as his forehooves clipped against the edge, knocking a couple loose. He suppressed a pained cry, opting to hold his hooves against his chest as he pulled away from the buildings.

He knew that the thieves were more than able to get caught, well, the good ones were at least: and he had to be good if he was to get some of the wealth out of the castle. Stealth was something that he figured he was going to have to use more liberally if he was going to get anywhere with this. It was times like this that it would have helped for a pegasus to have a coat that matched the night sky, and he envied his brother’s beautiful blue coat: his stark white coat wouldn’t do him any favors sneaking around somepony.

He swerved around the rooftops, performing basic flying maneuvers in hopes of wearing down his nerves. At least his feelings of being watched had died down, even if his heart was still racing. An hour later, and the moon was dipping ever closer to the horizon, he had to call it quits: dawn was coming soon, and he still needed all the sleep he could get.

He landed at the wooden door, taking extra care to slip back inside, though the exhaustion now creeping into his limbs was making that progressively more difficult. He managed to work his way back to where Star was sleeping without disturbing anypony, a feat he felt immensely proud of, and crawled under the blanket. He just managed to wrap his wing around his brother before he promptly passed out, welcoming sleep after his spontaneous workout.

Author's Note

So, this little note here is coming out well, well, well past the actual date of posting this story, but I think that it needs to stay to serve as a little reminder for all of us.

For anyone who actually stopped by: thank you for spending some time here, and I really do hope you enjoy this story. This little monster is a long time coming, and has gone through so many variations over the years, and is so drastically different from my very first attempt at a legible story that the two ideas are pretty much separate stories. However, though I've gained a lot of skill and improved so much in that time, I'm still but a single man, and I can only catch so many mistakes in the writing process. Any and all criticism is greatly accepted and appreciated, and if you see anything that I might have missed, feel free to point it out, and I'll work towards fixing any issues.

Someone might have noticed that this little baby right here isn't exactly what I've uploaded before on some other sites, and that's because I decided that a new opening was needed. Years of writing left me cringing at what I'd originally put out, and so I'm systematically fixing a bunch of my earlier mistakes, hopefully to the effect of improving the overall story. As such, these first few chapters are likely to be a drastically different take on the origins of my characters, and some things might not flow exactly how I planned. Just know that, while the majority of this story is premeditated; I'm still really flying by the seat of my pants, and might need to make some last-minute adjustments here or there. Please, please be patient with me: I'm a terrible writer most of the time, and I'm obnoxiously picky about how I go about putting my thoughts into words. However, I've learned that, sometimes, the best way to go about these things is to just write the first thing that pops into my head, and to just roll with it. One character that should be coming up shortly is the product of just such a train of thought let loose!

Anyway! Things have slowed down as I tried to find some more passive ways of learning how to improve my skills, but the writer's block hasn't really been helping me actually put anything into proper words. Things had slowed down for quite a while, but things are finally looking up again! Expect chapters at disgustingly inconsistent intervals, but please take some solace in the knowledge that this is a project I WILL see through to the end.

Maybe someday I'll actually work on the four sequels I'd dreamed about for the Guardian series, but that's probably a bit too ambitious, even for me. :/

New Dawn's Fire

Chapter 2: New Dawn’s Fire

Blaze was roused from the blissful depths of sleep with a groan, though even his unintelligent mind was able to surmise that the persistent tapping on his side wasn’t doing him any favors. It was something that he was familiar with, and even as his mind began to clear, he recognized what was happening, and that this was a routine he frequently shared with Star in the mornings when their mother was unable to come downstairs He’d be asking about breakfast in 3. . . 2. . .

“Blaze Burn, wake up: I’m hungry.” Star mumbled at his side, giving the elder pegasus a little harder shove in an attempt to get him to emerge from sleep slightly faster. When the mumbling began, his ears perked up, and he nudged Blaze even harder, though it didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the elder colt.

“I’m up. . . I’m up.” Blaze finally managed to grumble, though he immediately followed up by rolling onto his side and putting his back to his brother, his hooves sleepily fumbling for the blanket that had been pulled from away from him. Star wasn’t much a fan of that, so he jumped over Blaze and hit him with an even harder nudge, making sure to put his weight behind it. He repeated his demand to his brother, who was steadfast in staying in bed.

Blaze groaned, and he tried to pull a wing over his shoulder, only for the very sudden and painfully immediate realization of his mistake. His wings ached horribly, and as he slowly drifted back into full consciousness, he had to wonder just how he had managed to ignore the screaming muscles for so long.

It was as if the entire world was making damn sure that he got up sooner rather than later, or at least, that was how he felt. So, with a clenched jaw, he struggled to his hooves, failing twice in the process and barely managing to hold his own weight up.

‘Maybe that was just too much exertion for me in one night.’ he thought tiredly, cracking his eyes open to the light bleeding into the large room. ‘Any more of that and I’ll never be able to do anything: I’ll just be too sore.’

Though his vision was finally clearing up, there was still enough fog over his eyes that he couldn’t quite make out everything in the dampened interior. The morning sun shone through the rafters easily, but the floor was obscured by just enough shadow that he could barely make out his own brother next to him. He sat there and let some life creep back into his burning limbs, then he forced the sleep out of his eyes and more attentively scanned the room, making a note that most of the other ponies had opted for remaining massed together to cling to whatever sleep they would muster.

He envied them.

Star nudged his shoulder again, reminding the elder that there was business to attend to, then backed away enough for the two of them to have room to leave their bedding. The small colt blended into the shadows easily, though the sun was steadily rising, and the levels of light inside were gradually erasing the darkness around them. The herd of sleeping ponies in the center were becoming more distinct, and the two brothers silently skirted the group, clinging to the remaining shadows as they made their way to the charred door.

Blaze forced the door open just enough for the two to slip through the gap and left the tangible suffering and misery behind them. They stepped into the street, and as the weak rays of sunlight fell upon them, it finally dawned on him why it was that the group of ponies were all still huddled together: Star had woken him up near the break of dawn.

“Um. . . Star, you do realize that it’s. . . like. . .” he stifled a yawn before continuing, “way too early for us to get anything, right?”

“Maybe for somepony looking to buy something. But you weren’t going to buy anything, were you?” Star looked at him with an expression he didn’t quite have a word for, but he wasn’t able to force himself to look at the colt: those words cut deep. He shuffled to keep up with the small blue colt, now feeling a wave of confusion as he tried to find some way to answer that.

“What-what makes you think that?”

“Well. . .” Star looked at him for a second, then his muzzle snapped shut and he mimicked Blaze’s anxious shuffling.

“You know what?” Blaze sighed, pulling his brother in for a hug. “Never mind. It doesn’t really matter, because you need to eat and that’s the end of it. Why don’t we get you somewhere to enjoy yourself while I find us breakfast, huh?”

He took the opportunity to look away from his brother, looking at the mass of battered buildings and piles of rubble as he thought of some way that he could protect Star from this. He wanted to buy himself enough time that he’d be able to process that Star had somehow managed to figure out that they had no money to buy anything, and then he could work on solving the immediate problem of getting food. They continued in silence for a bit, until they started reaching the busier parts of town, and the central street was getting close.

He could hear the faint sounds of morning life for the ponies of the capital, which meant that time was running short for him to reach a solution and get food. He refused to let Star in on the dirty details of his plans, so there was no way he could just take his brother along to the markets. . .

Conscious of time drifting away, he finally found some sort of a solution, now that he was reaching somewhat more familiar territory: there was a small park very close by. “Hey, Star? Remember that small park we passed by on out way out here yesterday? Why don’t you fly over there real fast, since it’s just around the corner, and bring me back anything that I could make you a toy out of?”

The mention of a toy was all Star needed to perk up and immediately take to the idea, nodding enthusiastically and already buzzing his wings to float off. He beamed brightly and prepared to take off, stopped only by Blaze’s hoof shooting out to hold onto him. “Meet me this side of the marketplace once you’re done, then we can eat and figure out what we’re gonna do after that.”

The blue colt nodded happily then took off, leaving Blaze standing there with a worried expression. He watched his brother disappear behind a side-street before he managed to tear his attention back to the immediate task at hoof.

Steeling his resolve, he pulled himself along the alleys towards the marketplace slowly filling with life, his thoughts turned to what would even be possible to get for food. There were shops, no doubt, but he knew those that weren’t already open would be locked shut, and the stalls wouldn’t have anything of use out. He slipped onto a small street, intending to turn and take it into the massive central street, when he found what was on the menu for breakfast.

An accident involving two late-night carriages had left a few crates of supplies sheltered in the shadows on a building, hiding just inside the edge of the alley across the smaller street. He glanced down both ways of the street, confirming that he was alone, then he bolted over to the pile of supplies. He sifted through the boxes as fast as he could, finding three of the five to have befallen some terrible fate, and their contents already erased from existence. He stepped to the fourth, which had a section of the corner torn open, the valuable contents already looted by somepony first. He felt a rise in his disappointment, but he held onto hope as he turned to the final crate. Hoping that he would be somewhat lucky, he spun around, pulling his hind legs back and bucking with all his strength, crashing through the wood after two attempts.

“What d’ya think yer doin’ there little colt?” a coarse voice asked from just behind him, enticing him enough to stop trying to pry the wood fragments apart and spin around. Standing before him were a trio of rough-looking stallions, all of whom must have crept up behind him. They stepped fully into the sunlight streaming onto the street, identifying them as deadbeats donning ragged clothes. To him, they looked like homeless ponies who were going to fight for their treasured scraps.

Except for the obvious leader of the trio, a burly brown pegasus with a mottle green mane and ruthless green eyes that sparkled with a sadistic glee: he wore a felt hat that was, at least, undamaged and a gold chain swung from his corded neck. “Looks like the buggar’s tryin’ ta get into our loot.”

‘What do I do?’ Blaze kept repeating to himself as he eyed the three guys down. He figured that he might be able to get a surprise shot on one of them, but then he’d either be stomped or slammed into a wall. The two earth ponies chuckling to themselves in the back wouldn’t have been that hard to evade, but this hulking pegasus in front of him. . . there was no way around or away from him.

“Look, “ he began slowly, his thoughts racing for some way out of this. “I hadn’t realized that this was already claimed loot, but I do believe that scroungers gotta watch their bags, right? It’s, like, the rules that you take what you can, whenever you can. . . so, how about we come to some kind of arrangement? I just look into this one little crate, since you’ve already gone and claimed the other four, and I’ll let you have whatever I don’t want; sound good?”

“Well, well, well. Looks like we got ourselves a brave lil’ bastard.” the hulk said with a smirk as he looked over his shoulder to his buddies. Then he slowly turned his attention back to Blaze, his smirk shifting into a violently wicked grin. “And you know what happens to thieves, don’t you?”

Blaze gulped, but maintained his composure enough to puff out his chest and not look like he was as terrified was he was. He was pretty sure he failed.

“Well, I guess that really depends on who’s dishing out the punishment, though I suppose it doesn’t really apply to me: I’m just happening upon some trash left out by somepony. I’m no thief, just some poor foal trying to scrounge for anything to survive. . . whereas the three of you are looking quite like a trio of thieves.” he replied, doing everything he could to keep his fear from creeping into his tone.

The pegasus was a touch smarter than his two pals, who were gawking at Blaze’s audacity, and had seemed to notice that the colt had been slowly backing away from them. His wings unfurled ever so slightly, and he started fanning them enough to get a breeze going, puffing himself up to look even more intimidating. “Now look here, you little shit: I’m going to give you to the count of three-”

The threat was cut short, and chaos was sowed right then and there, when Blaze backed over a ceramic tile and promptly slipped on it. The tile was shot out from under his hoof, sailing straight into the pegasus’ nasty sneer, and shattered against his teeth. There was a split second where the stallion recoiled back, slamming into his two buddies, before Blaze rolled backwards to avoid slipping. He went with the roll, trying to use the perfect accident to escape, even though he hit his head pretty hard on the ground, and bolted upright so that he had enough time to get onto his hooves and away from the three before they caught him.

He had just started to gallop as fast as he could when he heard the sounds of hooves slamming into the ground as the three gave chase. Unfortunately for him, the hulk was a strong flier and had easily crossed the distance between them, slamming him into the nearest wall. The stallion had used him as a sled as they slipped into another alley.

The other two caught up in a moment.

“Don’t ya think that hurting others is a bad move?” the guy’s snout was dripping with blood, and as his mouth moved, Blaze could see that several teeth were now missing. His voice had dropped to a deep growl, and each word was tensed with almost enough venom to actually sting.

The stallion swiped at Blaze, slamming him against the wall again, then threw him backwards. The colt rolled with the blows, trying to minimize the damage he took, but he could feel the bruises that he’d be having for a while after this. He took the moment of freedom to look around, desperately looking for somewhere to escape to, but all he found was that they had wound up in a dead-end alley. He was in a very bad place right here, and with the stallion stomping closer, things didn’t seem to have any chance of getting better. “It ain’t right!”

“Buck, he’s losing it.” one of the two earth ponies mumbled in fear, and the pair stepped away from the raging pegasus. “We might want to get the hay out of here.”

“Yeah. . . you got this, boss! We’re gonna. . . um. . . go stand outside and just, like, be watch guards. . . or somethin’.” the second muttered just before he turned tail and bolted out of the alley. Blaze barely heard the words, but he figured that, had he actually been paying them any mind, he’d be terrified of their responses.

“Yeah. We got the entrance.” the first added as he spun around and bolted out as well. The hulk had spared just a brief glance at the two as they fled the situation, but it seemed that he didn’t care much to spare them much more than that: he turned around to direct the endless pits of his rage on the poor foal in front of him. When his attention was returned to the object of his anger, his pupils faded into pinpricks and his eyes became bloodshot, only terrifying the colt more.

Blaze had been scared before; he’d been worried about hurting himself when he was reckless. For him, it was one thing to be worried about a sprained wing, and another matter entirely to be faced with a brown pegasus so angry his face was blue.

The guy snorted in rage, and a ring of smoke blew out of each nostril, while his forehoof pawed at the ground, his head lowered and he looked about ready to ram Blaze down. The colt could only crawl backwards in utter terror, mumbling incoherently and waving a single hoof in an attempt to calm down the raging behemoth, until he felt his back hit the stone wall of a crumbled building.

‘I’m not making it.’ his mind was stuck repeating as the hulk planted his hooves and leaned into a charging stance. He swore he could see a bright light shining from some ethereal place, beckoning him to come take his place somewhere else, that this moment would be the last of his suffering, and that he’d finally be at peace.

Then the light was shut out by a clear image of Star taking the forefront of his vision, and he felt a surge of resolute hope, of resolve to do whatever it took to make sure he prevailed through this.

He watched as the stallion surged forward, watching for any indication of how the pegasus would react to him, then, when the guy lowered his head and shut his eyes to slam into the colt, he rolled to the side, letting the guy ram into the wall. He didn’t stop there, either, and chose to dive away before he missed his chance.

He jumped towards the exit, hoping that he’d make it out of this just fine, and then he made the mistake of looking back to see what was making such a loud commotion behind him. He saw the guy shaking off the crash into the building, and he could see that it had done nothing to deter the monstrous stallion for turning to pursue. He felt a spike of panic, and tried to put on a burst of speed, failing just as he made a discovery: there happened to be a convenient trash can laying on the ground, just in his way.

The can slid out from under him with a surprising amount of force, and he started to wish that trash cans were made from steel that exploded on contact. The can slammed into the stallion, which did nothing to stop his advance, and seemed to actually further his bellowing rage.

As Blaze rolled backwards, scrambling to get his hooves under him so he could run, he tried to find some kind of reason in the mixture of utter terror and amusement in his mind. It was quite the sight he could behold: not only had the guy’s face gone a furious scarlet, but there was visible steam coming out of his ears. For just a moment, Blaze actually found some measure of amusement from the ridiculous sight before him, and even against his better judgment, he felt an unbearable urge rise in him. “You, uh. . . you know that you’re steaming, right?”

The stallion glared at him with wild eyes, then leaped into the air with wings flared, and mouth foaming. Blaze took the opportunity to dive backwards, trying to buy enough time to get his legs under him, though the larger pegasus was making the effort futile. Still, he had to try, so he bucked again, hoping for it to have done something.

He liked to think that he was fairly strong, given how young he was, but given how his kick hadn’t even fazed the hulking figure above him, he was starting to doubt that.

He tried to pull himself towards the street as the stallion planted himself over the colt, preventing him from getting very far. He still struggled, using his smaller stature to wiggle a tail’s-length up to the edge of the alley before the stallion grabbed him with both hooves, firmly ripping him off the ground. The pegasus had a vice grip on his shoulders, before one forehoof moved to his throat and he started squeezing with his full strength. Even as he started to choke the life out of the colt, he lunged to the side, slamming Blaze against the nearest wall, giving off a resounding pop upon impact.

His hooves flailing in a desperate attempt to break free, Blaze started to see the futility in resisting, even if his body was fighting for any chance for safety. He couldn’t breath, so he sent every thought and prayer he had that the Princesses would find some way to take care of his little brother. His vision started to blur, and his could feel a painful throbbing racking his body, and he felt himself slipping away.

He hoped that this agony would end soon.

There was the sound of a scuffle, followed by a couple brief grunts, then the rumble of hooves galloping towards him, before there was a particularly loud bursting sound. A second later, the hulk holding him let him go, and the two of them dropped to the ground, though Blaze wasted no time in struggling to his hooves to escape. He fought through the ragged coughing fit as he filled his lungs with fresh air, and hobbled away from the collapsed body of his attacker. Doing his best to bolt away, he barely managed to leave the alley before a new set of hooves wrapped around him, preventing him from escaping this abuse.

“Let me go!” he shrieked, thrashing in the relentless hold of armored hooves. He did what he could to break free, but he was still trying to recover from the previous attempt on his life, and his body was starting to shake uncontrollably. The firm hooves weren't trying to hurt him, however, and instead planted him to the ground, turning him so he could look at his new captor.

He found himself staring through a deep blue helmet to the concerned face of a Royal Guard. Well, he thought it was a Royal Guard; he’d never actually seen one before, and had only heard about them from his mother once or twice.

He stiffened up, either from fear or the sudden realization that he had narrowly evaded a very bad situation, and found himself staring directly into the guard’s worried orange eyes. There was a second where he was terrified for what was going to happen to him, but then the guard dropped him to the ground. Instinct was demanding that he run, after everything that he had just barely managed to avoid, but he couldn’t get his legs to move as the guard stared at him.

A flicker of movement to the side caught his attention momentarily, and he as glanced over, he saw another two guards throwing the other thieves into a caged wagon. Seeing the other stallions being dealt with eased him more than the presence of the guards, so he did what he could to relax as he turned to face the unicorn who had saved his life.

The armor-clad unicorn was large, even larger than the hulk of a pegasus he had just taken down, and the heavy plates of steel wrapping around his face and chest only improved his intimidating stature. He planted a heavy, armored hoof on Blaze’s shoulder, and his expression seemed to soften into something resembling relief. “It’s all gonna be okay, now: we ain’t gonna let some lowlifes hurt ya. But we gotta know what happened, so we’re gonna have to ask you some questions.”

The statement reached Blaze’s ears in a thick drawl, unlike most of the tones he’d heard from ponies in the city. He was caught off guard by the sincerity of the guy for a second, until he gathered his thoughts and nodded along. “I. . . guess that makes sense.”

“Good. So, tell me why that guy was attacking you?” his horn flared up a light beige, then a small notepad floated in front of him, followed shortly after by a quill.

“Well. . . I was just walking towards the markets, trying to think of something that I was going to get for breakfast, when the three of them jumped me. They started rambling about how I was stealing their stuff, though they didn’t even have anything that I could have stolen. . .” he had to pause so he could calm his nerves and try to stop his racing heart: he wasn’t really lying, just leaving out some details. “So I had tried to back away from them, when I slipped on some trash, and had accidentally hit that guy with something hard as I fell. It was an accident, I swear!”

“Okay, colt: calm down. I believe you.” the guard looked at him with a suddenly reassuring face. “It ain’t the first time we’ve had to deal with desperate bastards who stoop too low, but Ah’m mighty sorry that you had to go through this ordeal. Ah hate to bring it up, but we gotta know what exactly happened between the two of ya, so. . . what happened when you two wound up in this alley?”

“Well, I was just trying to get away after the accident, and the three chased after me, cornering me in there. The big one was really angry, which comes from what I’d have to guess that brick or whatever knocking some teeth out. All I was doing was just trying to get out of there, but he was after blood, and the other two just walked off to let him hurt me.” he felt a spike of fear as he recounted the events, as if realized just how close he was to losing everything he had worked so hard for. He wondered what would have happened to Star had these guards not shown up.

“Look, these guys were scumbags, criminals, and they were likely looking for trouble. . . it wasn’t your fault they attacked you.” the guard had looked up from the notes he was taking, and it had seemed that he had misread the emotions on Blaze’s face. “Still, you managed to defend yourself long enough for us to find the trouble and put an end to it before you suffered anything serious. If everypony was as brave as you were, I think most of us guards would have to be replaced by a bunch of foals, and we can’t have that.”

Blaze offered up a half-smile at the guy’s attempts of cheering him up. It was nice that he’d avoided that before anything terrible happened to him, and he sat there appreciatively as the unicorn used his magic to lift the unconscious thief. He eased into a much more relaxed state, now that the threat had been taken care of, and he wasn’t in any danger.

He turned and left the guards to deal with those three trouble-makers, hoping to get back to Star as soon as possible. After this encounter, he was starting to worry that going out to get supplies would be significantly more difficult than he had anticipated. He still wasn’t sure whether or not the two of them were going to stay inside the warehouse for much longer, as the ponies there didn’t seem interested in having even more residents; he just wished there was somewhere that he could much more easily protect his brother. . . the warehouse would have to do for now.

He traced his fleeing steps back to where the looted crates were, which remained hidden in the darkness of an unforgiving alley. The very last undisturbed crate was sitting there, and he wasted no time in pouncing on whatever scraps he’d be able to scrounge from this opportune moment.

Within the box, he’d secured a very lovely find of valuables, and a hefty-looking bag that jingled when he grabbed it. It was the stunning sound of coins that made his mouth salivate at the fortune the world had graced him with, and he greedily snatched the pouch to his chest, where he delicately slipped the bag open, revealing what appeared to be at least a dozen bits, maybe more. While the bits were the best of the treasures, he wasn’t going to waste the other useful items, so he patched together a ramshackle sack to hold the meager loot in, making a note to himself to invest in a saddle as soon as he could. As it was, he balanced the sack on his back and trotted through the darkened passages until he returned to the markets, which were significantly more populated now that the sun was rising above the treeline.

He pushed his way through the crowd, sticking close to the line of buildings, until he finally spotted a tiny blue colt sitting in front of a pile of rubble that must have been an impressive store in the past. Star appeared to be scanning the crowd with a determined expression, searching for his brother.

“Looking for somepony?” Blaze cheerfully called out. His muzzle split in a grin as he watched Star’s head whip towards him, then the tiny colt jumped into the air and bolted over to him. The larger brother braced for impact, then wrapped his hooves around the smaller when they collided. When the two separated, Star glanced over at the tattered cloth holding several clinking items and his face lit up with curiosity.

“Where did you get all that?” he asked as Blaze reached over and opened the sack in a grand display. Star sat and stared at the brim of the fabric as the items shifted and settled, clearly waiting with bated breath for his brother to spill the spoils.

“There were a few friends off in the city, nasty friends, and they were kind enough to let me take some of the unclaimed loot. . . after I managed to convince them.” Blaze answered with a pained grin, his hoof latching onto the first of the items and revealing it for his adoring little brother: a roll of cloth so smooth it could have been made of the finest of clouds. Star snatched the fabric as quick as a bolt of lightning, and instantly began to rub his cheek against it, cooing and sighing with each movement. Shortly following the fabric, though with enough of a pause so that Star could enjoy the treasure, Blaze pulled out a shining silver necklace.

The brothers admired the glinting material, though it was short lived the moment that the bag of shiny, clinking coins slipped into view. Star’s eyes grew as wide as saucers when Blaze tipped the bag and two dozen gold bits clattered on the ground between them. “WHOA!”

“Now we can go and get some breakfast!” he said with a victorious grin, his hooves already scooping the bits off the ground and putting them back where they belonged. He gave the necklace to Star to wear, and the two found the shining metal to be quite the appealing contrast to his deep blue chest. The cloth was draped over Blaze’s back, and he was tempted to hide the precious bag of bits under it.

In the end; the two began to search for breakfast with Blaze simply biting down on the bag so that he could keep a very close eye on it.

The markets weren’t especially packed, yet, but there was already a crowd beginning to mill around, with ponies either opening up shops and stalls, or the very early risers looking to capture the best deals while they could. Between the bag of bits, and the two items they might have for bartering, he was kind of hoping that they might end up being among the latter. They slipped through the sparse crowds, scanning whatever shops were open, finding most everything within sight to be unsatisfactory, or not selling food. Disappointed, the two tried their luck pushing further through the jumbled mess of stalls, taking their time in the hopes that one of the produce stalls would open up, until they found themselves in the thinning regions of the marketplace. They were getting close to the far end, and had yet to find anything worthwhile, and now Star’s stomach was beginning to protest the lack of anything for breakfast. They were about to try another pass through the markets when a gold mare hauled her food cart into sight, the sides colored bright green and brown, with paintings of various apple-related delicacies plastered over every visible surface.

The brothers glanced between each other, then nodded happily and followed the cart as the found a suitable spot just within the fringes to sell her goods.

Still cautious of how the day had started, however, Blaze decided that rushing the mare for food might not be such a good idea, and he didn’t want to two of them to appear desperate. They were desperate, but he figured it would be good for them to at least not look like it: he had the feeling the desperate would be ripped off pretty fast.

So the two of them took a more scenic path to the mare, passing by a couple of open stalls to appear interested. Star was confused by it, and had looked like he was about to complain that there was food, until Blaze hushed him with a hoof. “We’ll head over there in a second.”

Star didn’t look at all satisfied, but he trusted his brother enough that he didn’t protest, though he cast very pointed stares in the direction of the cart, which was opened up and displaying several tantalizing baked goods. There wasn’t a breeze, but the colt thought he just might be able to pick up on the delicious scent of apple pie.

After a few minutes of wandering, the pair accidentally stumbled across a small tailor shop that looked to be open. The entire front of the building was in bad shape, but looked to be fairly well off when one considered the shape the rest of the city was in. The two slipped inside the shop, and Blaze managed to strike a deal with the shrewd merchant, selling off the fabric that wouldn’t have helped them a whole lot wherever they decided to go next.

Now a few bits richer, the brothers exited the shop and made short work trotting through the steadily thickening traffic of ponies looking to get their morning deals in. The succulent aroma of apple pie was starting to infuse the marketplace, getting to the point where even Blaze was starting to feel the effects of hunger, and those pies were seeming better and better by the second. “Come an’ get yer filling here, with some good ol’ fashioned, delicious, homemade Apple Family grub! Come one, come all, an’ taste the reason why the entire city loves the Apple Family bakery!”

“Ooh, I want some apple pie! Blaze, can we get some apple pie? I just was one slice!” Star tugged at his brother’s foreleg. Though he was determined, Blaze had to relent well before they were within sight of the apple pie stall, and he was forced to submit to the will of his little brother.

“Alright, alright: you can have apple pie, but just one slice! You are still going to have something proper for breakfast.” he muttered around the bag of bits, though his mood wasn’t going to be ruined, not when he saw the look of utter joy on Star’s face. He had wanted to set a good example for him for eating the right breakfast, but he wouldn’t really complain: those pies smelled heavenly. The two passed some more stalls and finally got to the source of their increased hunger, and Star made no attempt to hide his excitement for a slice of pie.

Blaze stopped before the raised counter on the side of the stall, dropping the bag of bits onto his hoof while Star excitedly gaped at the display before him. Reaching into the pouch, he pulled out three bits and dropped them on the counter before the mare. “Can I get a couple of apple salads, and one slice of pie for my brother?”

The mare immediately snatched the gold off of the counter, dropping them into her apron, and offered a small smile. She pulled out a basket of greens from behind the counter, sliding a knife from her apron, then instantly began to prepare their food. He was surprised at her efficiency, but he didn’t have much time to process his surprise before two bowls of greenery were sitting before him, garnished with crisp apple slices.

He blinked, then a small slice of steaming apple pie was resting atop the salad to his right.

“Have a great day.” She said with a smile, though now that she had his attention, Blaze noticed that the smile never reached her very tired eyes. From just the fleeting glance, he could see the utter exhaustion in her expression, and he sympathized with the feeling all too well. He gave her a knowing nod and offered her a genuine smile before the brothers left.

Star hadn’t even waited until they had left before he began to ravenously devour the pie, showing the world just what he thought of the item as it disappeared in a heartbeat. Then he seemed to lose his enthusiasm, and the pair managed to enjoy their salads at a more reasonable pace. As the two ate their breakfast, they meandered through the livening market and took in the sights of various other ponies starting their day. Star was looking exceptionally cheerful, and was a stark contrast to the depressing aura of most everypony else wandering around.

Blaze found himself feeling grateful that things had turned out as they had, because even though he had a hiccup in the beginning, he walked away with some very useful things, and maybe they still had a fighting chance on their own. Star being happy was only the icing on a proverbial cake, and the more he saw his little brother happy, the more it raised his own spirits. He knew this day would turn out alright.

The morning had slipped into the afternoon, and after having thoroughly explored the markets in this part of the city, the brothers were both feeling exhausted. Star had resorted to leaning against his legs heavily, acting all dramatic and begging for his brother’s attention. “Blaze Burn! We’ve been walking for ages!”

“It hasn’t been ages; only a few hours. But I’m also feeling a little tired, so. . .” he replied, looking around the area they were in and trying to find somewhere to relax for a bit. He found the perfect spot: a tree along the side of the road offered them a bit of shade, and had enough space from the flow of traffic that they shouldn’t be trampled for taking a seat. He nudged Star in the direction of the tree, and soon, Star’s whining was alleviated.

That wasn’t quite enough for him, so Blaze leaned against his little brother and nudged him in the side, then his hoof worked it’s way around Star’s shoulder, and he began tickling him. It was only mere seconds before Star’s joyful laughter rang out across the busy street as the two brothers climbed and wrestled each other.

Star was begging for reprieve, but his pleas only incited further assaults, resulting in harder and harder laughing, and then bouts of gasping for breath whenever he got a break. “Please! Please! Stop i-it!”

After he had had his fun, Blaze finally saw that Star’s eyes were coated in tears, and his face was only a slightly deeper shade of blue. Seeing that he’d achieved his goal of torturing his brother with some fun, he backed off, giving Star enough room to roll onto his side, his forehooves clutching his ribs as he fought to regain control over his ragged breathing. He settled down beside Star, giving the colt ample time to recover and giving himself time to make sure that their bits were still safely beside them.

Star recovered and settled into a happy silence, the pair happily sitting in the shade of the tree and idly watching the traffic pass before them. Blaze found it easy to become absorbed in his thoughts, his worries for the future, and his desire to improve their current standing. He was terrified that this lucky break of his wouldn’t give them enough to survive off of for long, and he was terrified that they might hit some rough patches in the future. He was almost certain of it, but he just couldn’t bear the thought of Star suffering anything else: they’d barely managed to survive back home. He had to find some way of learning everything that he needed to as soon as possible: he had to find a way of supporting both Star and himself.

He shook his head and looked to his brother, who was happily watching the crowds move by, and he knew that he’d just find a way, and that he couldn’t let himself worry. He wanted things to be as bright as they were now. “Hey, Star. Did you find anything of interest in that park?”

“Actually, about that. . .” Star sounded, disappointed for a second, and his gaze dropped to the ground. “I didn’t manage to find anything worth keeping: not much other than rubble and overgrown weeds.”

“Yeah, I figured that was the case. I’m sorry, but I’m sure we’ll manage to find something for you in no time, maybe we’ll get lucky later. Or maybe I’ll just find something to buy from a trader.” he nudged his brother’s shoulder, trying to keep up the positivity. He needed this day to go smoothly, for both their sanity, and he was going to make damn sure of it. “We’ll find something for you to bring back when we get around to that warehouse.”

“Don’t worry: I’m more than happy to just be out!” the colt beamed, his youthful joy returning to dominance. Blaze couldn’t resist the smile working its way onto his muzzle, even if he tried: seeing Star so happy and confident was truly worth fighting for. And he wasn’t about to argue with some extremely sound logic from the best little brother he could ask for, which only broadened his smile even further. He wrapped his wing around his brother and pulled him in for a quick hug.

Time started to slip by as they sat there in contentment, happy to simply be with each other, watching the ponies of the city going about their business. However, it wasn’t long before Star began to shift anxiously under his older brother’s wing, his foalish need to simply move wearing down on his patience. Blaze had been more than content to sit there for quite a while, with food in his stomach, some supplies that he could use to keep himself and his brother safe for a bit, and hope for a brighter future burning hot in his heart. He glanced down at the blue colt, who’s eyes were rapidly darting around the crowd, looking at ever possible flash of color, clearly desperately looking for something to latch on to.

“Hey, buddy; what’s the problem?” He asked softly. he was worried that there might have been something eating at his younger brother.

“Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing, really. I’m just really bored, I promise.” the answer came a little too quickly for Blaze to like, so he continued to stare at his little brother for a second longer, taking the moment to study his movements. He knew what that craving felt like, the urge to do something, and after a second to see the signs, he accepted the reply.

“Well, if you’re just so ready to do something else, what do you want to do?” he asked after a moment to think of anything he’d particularly like to accomplish today. He had plans, but those would have to wait until he had taken care of Star. “What can we do that sounds like fun to you?”

“Hmm.” Star patted his hoof to his chin, his head dipping as he put all his effort into thinking of something to do. After several silent seconds of deep contemplation, his eyes sparked with joy and he beamed a toothy smile. “Oh! I know: we can play tag!”

Without even waiting for a response, Star leapt to his hooves, slamming a forehoof into Blaze’s chest before bolting down the street. “YOU’RE IT!”

Grinning at the playful punch, he bolted after the fleeing colt, following the flow of the crowd and keeping an eye on the edge of the street, where Star had seemed determined to stick to. Rather than follow exactly, however, he opted to take to the skies, using his experience in the air to garner an advantage to rapidly close the distance between them. Star was galloping along the fronts of the buildings, and with his path following a straight line, it was all too easy for Blaze to enter a shallow dive and land in front of Star.

The smaller colt slid to a stop before his older brother, panting lightly and frowning at the obvious defeat. Blaze simply booped him on the snout and jumped into the air, grinning deviously all the while.

Star grunted, then his face hardened into a determined scowl, and his wings flexed. He lowered himself, his wings rising to take off, like he had seen his brother do so many times before. He sent his wings down with a surge of strength, jumping skyward in an attempt to match Blaze’s skill on the feather. Even though he had inherited some of his foalish skill for flying, much of it had been lost, and his abilities had unfortunately diminished. He was able to fly above the crowd, but Blaze was already circling the blue colt, easily staying out of reach.

“You know, Star: these kinds of games are a lot more fun when you’ve got more friends to play with.” his comment momentarily paused the younger colt. A moment later, he, too, had halted his exercise to recoil from what he had said. There were so few foals around for either of them to play with nowadays. “Star. . .”

“Can we just not talk about this?” the pair of pegasi slowly drifted to the ground, the mood sullen at the next example of a lackluster life. . . one of many.

“We can, but I’m just worried for you, Star: foals need friends to play with-”

“But you don’t have any friends to play with!” Star stared at him accusingly.

“I used to, back before mom brought you home. And even though we didn’t play often, we still played sometimes, which is something that I want you to experience: it’s important for you to know some of the other foals around. Friends are good to have.” he rubbed his forehoof between his eyes. “I know it’s scary, but I think I saw some foals back at the warehouse; maybe you can try to find somepony there to be friends with? I just want you to have somepony to spend time with when I’m gone.”

“G-gone?” Star’s eyes widened impossibly wide, and his body started to shake, making the fear he felt overwhelmingly obvious. Blaze flinched at the reaction his brother had, and he wrapped his wing around the shaking colt, doing what he could to comfort him.

“You know, whenever I finally find some way to get us some bits, to pay for us.” he reminded the colt, placing a calm hoof on Star’s shoulder. He then pulled the colt in for a hug. “I can’t just stay here and play with you all the time; even you would start to get bored of that. Besides: I’ve got to make enough money to keep buying you all those apple pies that you so love!”

“Fine.” Star mumbled as he was released from the tight hug, he stared at the ground, defeated. “I do love apple pie.”

“Oh, stop that!” Blaze nudged his brother’s shoulder. “Besides, we’re going to spend a lot of time together, regardless of anything that happens: you’re my brother and I am going to protect you.”

“Promise?” Star looked back up, his eyes pleading.

“Promise.” the elder nodded. “Now, let’s head back to that warehouse; I think we should really try to make that place feel like a home.”

Star may have mumbled something under his breath, but he was still the first of the two to get onto his hooves. He was also several steps ahead before Blaze was able to catch up. They slipped down a side street heading in the general direction of their new home, walking in silence as most of the city traffic was massed in the markets. They were making great time, and the sun was still shining over the city, and Star had even slipped out of his dreary mood.

The pair had almost returned from their trip when yet another group of shadowy ponies emerged from the darkness of a nearby alley. Blaze growled softly, immediately putting himself between Star and the newcomers, lowering himself to be ready for anything.

“Ya must be that annoying little colt that managed to put old Shuffleboard in irons.” the lead pony said, sliding into the sunlight like the pompous bastard he likely was. The first thing Blaze noted about the guy slinking towards them was the practically gleaming teal unicorn’s horn waving in the light. He didn’t know exactly what unicorns were capable of, other than they could use their magic to grab others from anywhere. The massive teal stallion smirked as he turned to the ponies behind him, his dusty gray mane flipping around as he did so, and gave them a little chuckle. As he tried to turn around, the aged brown leather hat on his head flung itself to the ground, landing with an audible thump.

The unicorn flinched, then flung himself forward to grab the hat before anypony else could even react. He stuffed his hat back on his head, then glared at the two colts before him. After a second on shame, his mocking, smug grin reappeared, and he relaxed his stance. “Well, I got some good news for ya; the boss wants to see ya.”

“Well. . .” Blaze tried to gather his thoughts, though they were racing through his head. He really needed to find some way of getting out of this, for Star’s sake at least, and he was also trying to figure out just who the buck was this Shuffleboard guy? Was it that pissed off pegasus from earlier? Even if it was, how did this group find out so quickly? He could use from more friends, but he just knew that these ponies weren’t exactly in the group that he should want to be friends with. “You can tell your boss that I thank him for his interest, but I’m going to have to decline. I’ve got to get my brother home.”

“Oh. . . I see. . . too bad this wasn’t no request. Ya see, the boss’ words were closer to; ‘Get that little bucker over here,’ an’ I ain’t about to go pissin’ him off.”

Blaze crouched down, his body ready to attack anypony that got anywhere near him or Star: no guards were going to save him this time around, and there was no way in Tartarus that he was going to let these thugs lay a hoof on Star. He counted the opponents before him; the unicorn, two pegasi, and a single earth pony; pretty bad odds against him. He tried to come up with some real plan, some way of taking out both the unicorn and the pegasi: they were the only ones he had any problem with possibly being able to escape from. He just wished he was older already: he could have used being both bigger and stronger.

“So, before anything gets out of hoof, how about we try to come to an agreement?” the unicorn added quickly, his smug grin refusing to lower. “I’d rather avoid any unnecessary trouble.”

Blaze hesitated for a moment, his mind filling with relief that he just might have gotten a way out of this, until a scream erupted from behind him. He whipped around, fear clutching at his heart from the distinct sound of a terrified foal’s scream, and witnessed a massive wall of a pony stuffing Star into a burlap sack. He leapt into the air, intending to do anything he could to kick that guy’s teeth out, but was immediately wrapped in the unicorn’s magic. He wanted to kick and scream and fight, but before he could do anything, the unicorn threw him to the ground, where the two pegasi held him down.

The unicorn slowly walked into his field of vision, staring down at him as if he were a prize. He inhaled deeply, then turned his gaze to what Blaze thought was the pony holding Star in a bag. “This is how this kind of thing works: you cooperate, and we release both you and your brother as unharmed as you like. The more you resist, the less unharmed we’re going to end up releasing you.”

Very upset with the situation, but with no way out, Blaze forced himself to calm down, in which he began by stopping the kicking and fighting under the grip of the two stallions above him. He wasn’t going to just give in, and there was no way he was stopping the burning rage inside of him, but he managed to curb it enough that he could think straight.

“Good.” the unicorn grinned as he returned his attention to the trapped pegasus. “One thing you might want to know: we’re hesitant to just show the location of our hideout so easily to uncooperative ponies, so. . .”

The unicorn nodded, and an instant later, there was another burlap sack thrown over his head, and as he flinched in surprise, his head instinctively trying to throw the blinding object off, he was rewarded with a punch to his back. He was hauled off the ground, and he felt his wings being tied to his sides, while somepony tied his hooves together. Now totally helpless, he was tossed from one pony to another, before being dropped onto somepony’s back. Then there was silence from the others as they began to move, resulting in a very long, almost agonizingly slow trip to wherever these brutes were taking him and his brother.

Wherever these ponies took him, he wound up being planted on the ground, before his hooves were freed and the sack ripped off his head. He had had his eyes fully open to a flash of blinding white, which was quickly corrected. The sudden change in brightness sending a piercing pain right through his skull. He let himself recover as the noise of several ponies around him began to grow and grow, until he was finally able to tentatively crack open his eyes.

His vision was bleary at first, but as his eyes cleared up, he saw a large brown unicorn. The new unicorn standing before him wasn’t quite as large as some of the other brutes he’d encountered thus far, but there was still some kind of strength to him. Blaze rubbed his eyes and got a better look at the stallion before him: a hard, lean frame emphasized by a fitted leather vest and set of bracers and boots. His face was set in what seemed to be a permanent scowl. Hanging in a neat braid off his shoulder was a dusty gray mane, spotted with flecks of white, and while the coloration seemed to signify wisdom, what seemed to draw the most attention were the stallion’s keen gray eyes, which seemed to cut right through his very soul. The more Blaze studied the unicorn, the more he felt like there was an aura of power and knowledge encircling him. Whoever this pony was, Blaze was certain he’d just met somepony capable of reaching a level of power unmatched by these mindless thugs.

“Good afternoon, mister Burn.” the unicorn said, his voice somewhat stiff, almost as if it were corroded by time. the unicorn pulled a glass of what smelled like alcohol up and took a fleeting draught of it

“My name’s Blaze.” he couldn’t help himself; he was nervous. The raw power and aura of authority this unicorn was giving off made him uneasy.

“Of course, my apologies.” the unicorn sounded slightly amused, though his face remained as unimpressed as ever. He brought the glass up again and quickly finished whatever he was drinking, then the glass vanished in a magical pop. “Oh! And where are my manners? Since I know your name, allow me to introduce myself: my name is Al Capony, and I run these streets these days.”

“Okay. . . nice to meet you, Al Capony. Now that we’re friends, do you mind letting my brother-” Blaze cursed himself for letting himself slip, and his head whipped around as he searched for Star. The small blue colt was huddled in a corner, whimpering and staring at an intimidating purple mare unicorn. She had a black saddle on, which bore a crossbow that seemed far too heavy for her to use. She was watching the proceedings with a sadistic grin.

The boss nodded to the mare, who rolled her eyes and stepped aside, letting Star dash over to Blaze.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he pull Star in tightly and looked him over for any injuries. The colt was crying so hard he couldn’t speak, so he simply nodded, burying his face into Blaze’s chest.

“Can we go home now?” Star asked once the crying had died down and he got himself under control. Tears were still streaming down both their cheeks.

“Just about.” Blaze promised. He stared up at Al Capony, who was watching with disinterest, and he pulled his brother even tighter against him, doing whatever he could to shelter the most important thing in his life. “Can we please leave?”

“I’ll let the two of you go, but we’ve got some details that have to get settled first.” the unicorn approached the pair of colts. There was the distinct pop of a unicorn casting a spell, though it was not Al Capony that cast it, and then a chandelier burst to life above them, cascading the dimly lit room in better light. Whatever room they were in was large enough that the distant walls were cloaked in shadows, and there were few furnishings filling the empty space, with only a layer of rugs covering the floor, and a few chairs stacked in one corner.

“You see,” Al Capony’s voice brought Blaze’s attention right back to the matter at hoof. “you somehow managed to get Shuffleboard put behind bars, which is a slight problem. Honestly, he was starting to be more trouble than he was worth, so it wasn’t a complete tarnish on our capacity, but it’s still the principle that matters. You removed one of our members, which puts the creed behind.”

“No.” Blaze retorted immediately, already aware of what was going to happen. “I don’t want to be a common thug the likes of you or these ponies.”

Al Capony chuckled at that, and there wasn’t a shred of light in his tone, only a cold, dead, and cruel mockery of jovial amusement. “You say that like you have a choice.”

His face seemed to darken, as if his soulless eyes were absorbing all the light in the room. “Well, surprise, surprise: you work for me now, until this error can be corrected. I don’t care what you want, all that matters is that there is a debt to be collected, and you are the source of it all. Do what I say, and we may all be able to walk away from this significantly richer, and maybe you’ll see that there is something here that you might want. All debts must be paid off, you understand?”

“I owe you nothing; it wasn’t my fault your idiot goons got arrested.”

“I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. You actually seemed promising.” Al sighed, the room seeming to darken with him, only further increasing Blaze’s anxiety. When the stallion returned his attention to the pair of colts before him, he seemed to be darker than usual, like the lights were actually effected by his emotions. “I’m not going to be cruel in front of the little one, so you’ve just used up your last free pass. Let’s try this again-”

“I can’t just join up with any gang of thugs!” Blaze cried out suddenly, his worry for what might happen to him or Star finally overpower his hesitations. He found himself accepting that they were only going to get out of here if he was careful. “I have to make sure that everypony that I care about is also safe.”

“But you will; you have to. You see, your obligations to others will have to come second until you can pay off this debt you owe us. Of course, for your brother, I’m sure we can come to some sort of. . . arrangement.” Al stared at the shaking blue colt, his expression unreadable. “It is, as I understand it, that he is the one of two ponies in your life you care about, yes?”

Blaze felt himself choking on his answer, and hating that this random stallion seemed to know so much. He hated that this bucker had pulled out the one card that would get him to go soft, and he hated that he now had no other choice. It was a low tactic, and he knew that he would forever resent this stallion for resorting to it.

“So, are you going to continue to fight me, or is there an arrangement to be had?” Al cocked his head to the side, his features returning to their default scowl of negativity, with the exception of his eyes: those sparkled in some sadistic, cruel glee.

“I want us out of here, and for you all to never come near Star ever again. If anypony so much as thinks about touching him, you’ll regret it.” he growled out, clutching his brother even tighter in some vain attempt to keep him calm.

“It’s nice to see you know how to drive for what you want, but I believe you need to be finding something that can please the both of us.”

“You know what else you’ll get.” Blaze managed to get out through clenched teeth.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Why don’t you clear any possible confusions, though?”

“Fine. . . if you and all your goons stay the buck away from my little brother, then I’ll do what I have to to fill this make-believe debt you claim I have.”

“Good. I think those are reasonable enough. Now, there's a little job we got going in the north market tomorrow morning, and I want you there to start paying us back. Be there before dawn.” Al turned his attention from the brothers to face the group of ponies that had gathered at the door to watch in grim amusement. “And as you can all see, I am quite the kind and wise leader. Now get your lazy flanks back to work: there’s money to be stolen!”

Blaze did what he could to calm Star down, but the shouting voices of Al’s goons was making that difficult. While he busied himself with that, Al had silently trotted back up to the pair, and he stared down at them with his frowning appearance. Once the foals realized they were being watched, they fell into silence nearly instantly. Blaze coughed and cleared his throat, glaring at the towering figure. “So, can we go home now?”

Al appeared to think it over for a second, his eyes actually losing focus for a second, before they snapped back and he stared at the brothers again. He nodded, and his horn flared to life. Blaze wasted no time in scooping Star up and getting ready to charge out of this strange place.

Before he even got a step away from the stallion, Al’s horn flared a deep gray and a bolt flew out, slamming into Blaze. The two colts were sucked into an expanding ball of darkness, and found themselves suddenly thumping on the ground outside an abandoned warehouse.

Noxious from having just been teleported, the two struggled to their hooves and tried to regain their balance. Once they had cleared their heads and gotten themselves under control, they stared at their surroundings trying to find anything familiar, but coming up with nothing significant. Star turned to say something to his brother, but his words were cut off before they began.

Blaze looked at his brother, confused as to what had him so awestruck, until he found the object of Star’s fascination: his flank. Or rather, the new image sitting on his flank. His jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw the brand new cutie mark that he had earned, and he found himself mimicking his brother’s reaction.

His flank plopped on the floor as his legs gave way, and he continued to stare at his destiny depicted on his haunches, all while Star had managed to gather himself and trot over to poke and prod at the image. “That’s so cool!”

“It’s. . .” Blaze tried to get something out, but his mind was reeling with thoughts and nothing intelligent seemed to be forthcoming. His flank was now adorned with a cutie mark! Although he was curious as to what this particular one meant: a white shield only discernible from his dirty coat by a thick blue outline, and emblazoned on the shield was a massive red heart backed by a pair of blue wings.

He immediately knew that the shield had something to do with protection, like he had promised to protect his little brother. Then the rest of the pieces clicked together: his interaction with Al Capony had revealed just what he was willing to do for his brother, that the heart represented his love of his blue-winged brother, and that he’d do anything to protect him. Of all the destinies he could have gotten, he felt his pride and his heart soar that this was what fate had decided for him: he’d be his brother’s protector forever.

A big grin split the brothers’ faces and they pulled each other in for a big hug: even though things had been rough going, this was a sign that things were finally going to get better.

“Alright, buddy: let’s head home now. Nopony else is going to bother us.” he said, climbing to his hooves and gesturing for Star to follow. The smaller colt was all too happy to bounce along, the horrors of moments before already steadily being forgotten in the wake of such great news.

They had worked their way out of the small street into one that had a bit more breathing room, and the pair stretched their wings to take to the skies. But before either could take off, Star stopped and let out a massive yawn, stumbling as a wave of exhaustion slammed into him from a day of extreme excitement and emotional exercise. Blaze chuckled when he saw the state his brother was in, and decided that the sooner they got home, the better.

With a little help, Blaze managed to get Star flying, and the two rose above the crumbling buildings around them. Neither had much of an idea where they were, but they could see the main street which would give them the opportunity to get back easily enough, and so they set to slowly fly that way.

It quickly ended up being Blaze carrying a napping Star on his back as he worked his way back to the warehouse. It took his longer than he had wanted to, and by the time he had gotten to the dilapidated building, the sun was close to setting,

His cheeks were starting to hurt, but he just couldn’t get over the sheer excitement coursing through his blood, and not even his brother’s exhaustion was going to damper his energy. He had gotten the little lump of softly snoring blue fur and feathers all cozy under a couple of blankets, then had merrily trotted over to the larger group of ponies huddled in the center.

They eyed him up and down as he approached, there rigid bodies unwavering in their attempt to resist his jovial attitude. He sat down at the edge of their inner circle, and it was as if his very presence forced them to recoil.

“So. . . how long have you all been living here?” he asked, his eyes darting between them almost as readily as theirs darted amongst themselves. The air was tense, and his smile was starting to take hits at the stoic resignation of stiff throats and cold shoulders. He waited in terse silence, his jaw tightening as the others shrunk in on themselves, until a cough finally broke the silence. The sound was amplified by the silence, and the booming noise echoed across the herd of ponies, leaving a flinching wave in it’s wake.

Silence.

He had to respect their resolve, but he really hated that this was what they were trying to do: he’d seen how ponies could act. Hay, the ponies in the market, while not the best example, were still often at least talking when they were bartering. The image of his mother floated to the surface of his mind, and he shoved down the rogue thought before it crashed down on him. There was no way everypony was like that. There was no way everypony just ignored each other.

“I’ve been bouncing between shelters for a few years.” a stallion said from the crowd. It was too dark to see who it was, but Blaze smiled gratefully anyway. That one nudge seemed enough for the encircling ponies to at least shrug off their frosty shoulders. They were painfully tense, but now they weren’t all pretending he was a ghost or something.

“Month-and-a-half.” another muttered.

“Seems like my whole life.” a third joined in, mumbling through clenched teeth.

“No idea how long it’s been.” the pony directly to the left of Blaze sighed.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Blaze looked between the ponies, his eyes glinting as several lanterns were lit, expelling the innermost darkness. He saw the exhaustion in their eyes, the sorrow, the despair. He hoped that they could see the hope he was holding onto: the need to provide for his brother, and the strive to keep pushing forward. He pulled his stance just a little higher, set his shoulders straight, and squared his jaw, his mind clearing as he thought of what he would need to do. “I know that I’m the newest one here, but I can’t sit idly by and let my brother wallow in this. . . this thing you guys are wallowing in. I’m willing to help make your lives a little better, but I don’t know what I can do for you all to help.”

“Try not to get in our way.” a mare across from him muttered, her ragged purple coat shifted into the shadow of the group as she retreated from the discussion. He frowned at her attitude, but decided to put her out of mind.

It seemed that the frail contentment that the herd had gathered from that first willing stallion dissipated, and the others likewise retreated to their various sections of misery.

He groaned at himself, dissatisfied by the outcome of that short talk, and decided that he might as well follow their example a bit. He turned, and his gaze fell to his sleeping brother, and he thought about how things were about to get so much worse. Or better.

He may have calmed a bit, his heart relaxed, but the utter joy at finally having found his purpose in life was still soaring through him. His heart was calm, but his blood felt hot, and there was a slight twitch in his leg, a growing restlessness in his wings that begged for some exercise.

Perhaps a short flight, sticking close to the street, would do him far more better at settling into this new place, and into his new life.

To Leave the Flames of Youth

Chapter 3: To Leave the Flames of Youth

Even after an arduous flight, and doing whatever he could to sleep, Blaze grumbled incoherently to himself as he pulled the sole blanket off of his anxious body. He’d gotten restless sleep, at best. Not that it mattered: the moment his hoof pulled off his only cover, he was greeted by the remorseless cool of a very, very early morning.

The chill ran up his spine, failing halfway through, but he welcomed the stunning clarity it gave him. He had work to do, unfortunately, and now that Star’s success was dependent on his own, he was determined to do this right.

He turned to where his brother slept, and gingerly draped his own blanket over the star-patterned one. With Star taken care of, he turned and crept his way across the empty space, using the minimal light cast by the very few remaining lanterns to avoid any of the sleeping ponies. He stopped the moment he got to the large door, pausing as another thought bounded into his mind: perhaps he should leave Star a note. He didn’t want his brother to worry about him while he was gone, assuming he didn’t get back before then.

He cast his gaze around the almost black room, and he realized that even if he wanted to write a note, he didn’t have anything to write on or with. Sighing to himself, he let out a silent prayer to anything that would listen that Star didn’t decide to go out and spend their few precious bits on candy.

He slipped out the door, walking down the streets still shrouded in the shadows before the dawn. He did what he could to suppress the shudder running through his stomach, but every step he took as he slid through the shadows only reinforced the feeling that something was wrong.

He paused next to the corner of an aged, but intact, warehouse. Pulling himself deeper into the shadows, his gaze swept down every street, barely making out the shapes of buildings and non-buildings from within their own shadowy blankets. It was far too early or anypony else to be out- reasonably, at least -and without his eyes being able to pick up anything, his ears perked up. He barely felt his stomach tightening up, but the tension in his wings and shoulders was nearing a painful margin.

Nothing was coming out to play, and the longer he held his breath trying to find them, the more he was starting to believe that maybe he was just overreacting. His encounters with those buckers from the day before was replaying in the back of his head, and by the third iteration, he had let loose that long-held breath. He didn’t feel like he could relax, not really, but he tried to force his legs to pull him further towards the markets.

He had no idea who he was supposed to meet, or where they were going to be within the market, but he was going on the assumption that they’d find him.

He shuddered underneath his fur, the conflict in his head reaching ever higher and pounding ever harder against his skull. He hated that this was a reality for him now, that he was actually going to go through with this, but he also knew that this was but a small price to pay if he was going to pursue his destiny and protect his brother. Each hoof hit the cobblestone beneath with a heavier thud than it used to, but it felt like he was moving along faster than he ought to have been.

His stomach churned one final time, with greater intensity than before, and a shocking chill shot through from his left wing, passing through his body as it went through his right. His chest tightened up and he felt his heart flutter, forcing a gasp out of him, just as a light breeze began to blow through the streets. His head whipped from side to side, trying to find just what had caused such a reaction out of him, his eyes desperately tearing through the darkness with renewed clarity. Was it fear that he found dominating over him? Or perhaps it was a spark of rage?

There was, just as before, not another soul hiding in the shadows around the streets, nor could he see anything taking shelter along the rooftops; he was alone. But every fiber of his being was shouting at him that that was just not the case.

He forced down a growl, and tried to pull himself further into the darkness, all the while he bemoaned his misfortune of having a nearly pristine white coat. It was the opposite of what he wanted right then. Well, it was an inconveniencing pristine white coat whenever he had the chance to bathe, and everypony knew that those were a very rare luxury that few ponies could make regular use of.

Five minutes of stillness in the shadows, and there was nothing coming out. He couldn’t stop the frustrated growl from escaping, and he stomped a hoof onto the paved stone while berating his inner senses for bringing unwanted stress for absolutely nothing. He pulled into the center of the street, and as he passed a pile of rubble, he glanced over the ruins of what was once a grand building. The moon was resting above the ruins, cresting perfectly between the peak of the mound, shining a brilliant light that cascaded his patch of street in an eerily calm silvery glow.

“What troubles thou?” a deep, almost regal voice asked. The voice was distinctly commanding, sounding booming over the deathly silence of the rest of the city, yet there was the strain as if somepony were whispering in his ear. Blaze spun around on his hooves, crouching down to face the owner of the voice. He’d been down this kind of situation before.

There wasn’t anypony before him, the street was empty, save the shadows that clung to everything with greedy claws.

He was confused for but a second, until the sound of beating wings raised his attention to the space above him. His jaw dropped as his eyes fell upon one of two ponies that he was very certain that he was never going to meet in his lifetime, if he was lucky: the Princess of the Night herself, Princess Luna.

“Buck,” it was the first thing that floated through the barren space that his mind had been, and so it had only felt natural to let it fly out of his unhinged mouth. Then things started to work again, and he proceeded to reclaim control over his body, starting promptly by shutting his mouth shut and shaking his head to get thoughts flowing again. She gently floated down from her aerial position, landing with graceful ease and elegant calm that encouraged his rising worry to flare much larger. He shut that down quickly as he watched her, remembering that she was one of the two most powerful ponies in existence: what did she have to worry about?

She landed with a grace that he assumed would come with the title of Princess, her wings folding at her sides while she stared at him with an expression that he couldn’t quite place. Worry? Confusion? Curiosity? Something else? He eyed her cautiously, taking in the royal presence, noting that she had a striking resemblance to his brother. With that in mind, an unreasonable part of his mind started to chat around, his shoulders relaxed, and he settled his own wings.

The two ponies were standing in silence for the greater part of a minute, observing each other, before Blaze had a sudden realization that the Princess had asked him a question. He shook his mind clear and thought about how much she was actually interested in hearing about his problems.

Pawing at the ground, he strained his ears to find the presence of somepony- anypony -else, only to be reminded, once again, that they were alone. Well, those previous warnings might have been false, after all. His ears were on swivels as his gaze fell upon the massive mare before him. “Uh. . . I guess I’m just a little stressed about things. Worried for my brother. Nothing worthy of the attention of a Princess.”

The Princess cocked her head to the side, concentration pulling her face downward while her eyes focused on his worried expression. “We art here to help thy little ponies. It is of no consequence to bear thine heart before us.”

“Don’t know why you’d care, though-” he finally shot back, his mind finding purchase at the thought of his little brother. His stance widened and he felt his feathers stiffening at his actions, the steady beat of his heart quickening as he settled into some semblance of a combat stance. He’d learned a little from the last time he’d been in a bad spot, and he had no intention of making the same mistake; no, he was fully planning on doing whatever he needed to to escape. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was goading the Princess, but the urge was there, and what kind of pony was he to refuse his every base desire? “-you’ve been oh so busy up in that cozy little castle of yours enjoying the regal life that you’d never need to understand what troubles us pathetic commoners.”

The Princess flinched back at the biting tone, and for a moment her ears flopped back over her head. She looked genuinely hurt. “Surely, thou doth not belief this to be true?”

He blinked for a second, biting the inside of his cheek for the brief flicker of doubt emerging, but the feeling was crushed by a surge of resignation. He straightened his stance, doing what he could to appear as large as possible, though he leaned back just enough to have an easy time spinning and fleeing. He was far too gone to back out, and Princess Luna would not see him doubting the path he’d chosen.

“Of course I mean it!” his hoof gestured to the buildings surrounding them, “Have you even bothered taking a look around? This shit-show is basically dragging itself to Tartarus, ponies are desperate for anything and everything, and everything is seeping in chaos. We’re just trying to survive, and yet you somehow think that your gracious benevolence has shown clearly to us peasants? Like we have so much time to just stand around and talk about politics? We’re starving down here; we’re fighting over scraps. We’re doing whatever we can to make it through another day. So, yes: I do believe that you don’t care about what troubles I’m going through.”

Each word assaulted the Princess with venom, spite raging forth as the walls crumbled down, releasing the torrent of pent-up emotions. Princess Luna slowly stepped back, begrudgingly retreating from the barrage of rage, until she caught the first opportunity she had when he paused for breath. She stepped up to him, her wings stubbornly fighting to rise to their full height, as befitting a pony of her stature.

Though her chin was set and her shoulders square, her gaze cast down upon the young colt with a soft understanding, and just the barest sparkle of hope. “But thou hath not the understanding of just what it is we Princesses hath labored over to prevent further collapse of thine country, nor our effort in hastening the peace and well-being of everypony within.”

The dignified ferocity of her Royal Voice was straining to be heard, to rise up and disable any displeasure with the royal Sisters’ attitudes. Still, she kept her tone even and her voice carried a soft melody as she approached the aggravated colt.

“Spare me the royal language. You don’t have any idea. . .” He waved her away, dismissing her kindly extended hoof. His emotions were still running loose, and it was only through clenched teeth that he was able to refrain from actually slapping her hoof away. Kindness had no place being in his company right now. He was about to continue his rant, but the words died in his chest, his throat catching when that very deep blue hoof landed on his shoulder.

His body locked up, any thought he had had about his misfortunes, and how he had seen the city around him suffer, was swiftly replaced by a crippling fear. He’d made another tragic mistake. He knew he did: he had gotten too worked up, and now he was going to be punished by the Princess for his insolence. If only he’d managed to keep his cool enough to have watched out for whatever she was doing: maybe he would have been able to distract her enough to find a means of escape. . .

He doubted that would have worked.

Princess Luna inched closer to him, then she fell onto her haunches, her generous smile radiating a strange warmth that nearly cooked the crisp air between them. She found her gaze shifting from the desperate fear and confusion in his eyes to the dingy, grimy coat of fur that had once been a pristine and elegant white. She could see the bones showing through, something she wasn’t terribly accustomed to, and she felt a break in her chest.

The moment the royal hoof had touched his shoulder, he knew he was bucked: there was just now way he’d even be able to escape from whatever wrath he was deemed due to suffer. His mind was screaming for a means of freedom, the incoherent shouting echoing in his skull, though none of the thoughts seemed to carry any weight. The best he got was a startled flicker of acknowledgment when she sat down before him, her presence seemingly not there to punish, but to comfort. He couldn’t wrap his head around that, though he wasn’t able to wrap it around much right then.

“Thou art correct in one assumption; we hath not had the misfortune of being forced to fend for ourselves in the street.” her tone remained as calm and comforting as ever, and as her words began to wash over him, he felt some of his turbulent emotions begin to sooth over. With the abating emotions, he found himself in greater control of his body, and he made short use of that control, lightly stamping a hoof onto the ground.

“You get to spend all your time in that castle, enjoying every little pleasure you could want.”

“Even so, we still throw ourselves into our work; laboring day and night to restore our nation to the glory we had before. It may sound simple enough, little pony, but we assure thee: it is most intensive.” her other hoof reached down and brought his chin up so she could look into his eyes. “We hath no desire to see thee, or anypony, suffer from what hath brought us so low.”

He was beginning to despise the fact that his anger was dissipating, but the more he tried to hold onto it, the faster it seemed to slip away from him. He looked into the Princess’ eyes, and though he could see the genuine compassion she felt, he refused to buckle entirely and return her kindness. He just wasn’t ready for that yet.

“You might be fighting some fight that I don’t understand, but right now. . . right now I’ve got to fight for anything that will keep my brother alive: I’ll fight for any food or bits that I can get my hooves on.” he glanced down the street, towards the markets that he really needed to get to. His gaze seemed to fixate itself on the ever-decreasing shadows, reminding him that he was running out of time, whatever it was that those damned thieves were going to use him for, it was happening very soon. He sighed, forcing his attention back to the larger pony before him. He regarded her in a slightly new light, understanding that she might actually care about all the little ponies struggling to live. She seemed to be regarding him in a similar light, as her features seemed to soften to a degree that he thought to be almost casual. “You can keep doing whatever it is you Princesses do up in that fancy castle of yours, and I guess I’ll be staying out here in the filth until I can do something to help my baby brother.”

The Princess gave him a small smile and took a step back. Her horn lit up a bright blue, and for a moment, her eyes shut in concentration, then there was a soft pop, and a bag appeared before her. Her magic enveloped the small pouch and levitated it over to the young colt. “We must apologize to thee; for it would appear that we hath not done enough to care for the personal wellbeing of our subjects. We beg thee to accept this small allowance of bits as a token of our regret that thee and thine brother hath suffered under us.”

He quickly snatched up the bag, hearing the merry clink of gold within, and returned her smile, a touch more enthusiastically this time. He gave her a short bow as she rose to her full height, wings flaring open. Without another word, the Princess threw herself to the open skies, fading from sight as she returned to whatever it was that befitted a royal Sister on the dying night.

He bounced the bag in his hoof once he was alone again, guessing that there had to be at least a few dozen bits in here: more than enough for him to help feed a growing colt and himself. “Maybe the Princesses aren’t so bad, after all.”

With the bag clenched firmly between his teeth, he made his way down the street, suddenly remembering that he had places to be and important meetings to deal with. Or whatever it was that that thief leader wanted with him. Probably stealing. It was a meeting at the market before just about anypony should be up, and there was that little fact that he was needed to repay some bullshit “debt.” It wasn’t his fault those stallions were idiots and got themselves into trouble; so why was he being required to pay for it?

As much as he wanted to just run back home with the new bits he’d just received, he knew that refusing to go through with this horrid deal would end badly: that Al Capony guy had some knowledge that most everypony else wouldn’t have had access to. Whatever he did, he had a feeling that the leader of those thieves would eventually find out.

And he could not have that.

So he kept his dissatisfaction to himself, though he grumbled incoherently around the bag of bits in his mouth, and forced himself to scurry down the streets faster. His body was still remembering that absolutely horrible feeling he’d had just before running into Princess Luna. But the genuine happiness creeping through his skull, quickly joining forces with the unrelenting hope that had entrenched itself, had allowed him to move and he did his best to push it out of his mind. The market was just a few blocks away and he was hoping that he still had enough time to put up with whatever plan he was expected to put up with. Things were too unstable for him to have even more bad shit happen to either him or Star.

He trotted down the center of the street, glad that the shadows were unhindered by the moon. He had known that he was alone, but the presence of a single pony had shattered that knowledge, and he couldn’t shake the tingling sensation under his fur screaming that he was still being watched. The streets around him were empty, the gentle breeze flowing around him his only company, and even the skies above were devoid of life: he felt like Princess Luna had left him for good. And yet those invisible eyes seemed to cling to his flank regardless of anypony around him.

He put a bit more energy into his stride, trotting down the barren streets towards the market in the hopes that maybe a bit of distance was all he needed. His hopes diminished with each step as the feeling rose higher and higher, clawing at his ability to focus, and making his hide crawl: it was getting to the point he thought something was trapped inside of him and trying to fight its way out, and he hated every bit of it.

The sensation was getting so bad he was considering just collapsing in the street and waiting for it to pass. But before he had the chance to drop his legs out from under him, the choice was taken away, and the watchful eyes let him be. Just as soon as the feeling had started, it was gone, leaving him equally grateful and terrified at what would have been able to produce such a feeling in anypony.

He hoped that he’d be lucky enough to never find out.

He shrugged the remaining tingling out of his fur and found himself trotting through the barren marketplace. Even without the help of the pale moonlight, he was able to see the shapes of the decrepit stalls either lined up or scattered around the vast opening between the encircling buildings. He glanced around the open space, trying to find any signs of the ponies that he was supposed to meet with. If they were here, he figured that it shouldn’t be too hard to find them.

He trotted into the large opening, hoping that the faint sound of his hoof falls would alert them to his presence. He was finding the idea of stumbling around in the dark to be undesirable, especially when he was cutting it short on time. And as he made his way closer to what was probably the center of the market space, he found his unease rising at the others’ lack of presence.

He continued on, however, unwilling to give up with so much on the line, and eventually found himself closing in on the buildings at the far side of the market, still noticing the distinct lack of anypony else. He was starting to get more than a little worried.

He turned to his left and followed the buildings around the market, desperately hoping that he’d run into whoever those damned thieves wanted him to meet. Time was already short, and he very rapidly found himself grumbling around his bits about how badly this was already going. A knot was forming in his stomach, and his worry was growing by the second, but nopony was appearing, and he had the strangest feeling that he’d already made it back to where he started.

He looked around at the empty marketplace, then unfurled his wings and took to the skies, hoping for a better viewpoint. The market felt even more desolate as he rose above the barren opening; the lifeless stalls seeming to call out in forlorn abandonment, as if he were the final pony they were ever going to see. His irritation was growing by the second, and he hastily stuffed his meager wealth into his mane, hoping that it would hold through whatever ordeal he knew he was going to suffer.

“This is bucking horseshit.” he grumbled as he circled over the buildings, his eyes glued down, though his attention was desperately fighting to avoid lingering on those balck shapes that liked to shift in his imagination. Eventually, he heard the telltale clopping of hooves on cobblestone not far below him, and he gradually slid back down to the ground.

Landing between a couple of those unsettling market stalls, he trotted towards the sounds of the ponies he was hoping he was supposed to meet. He passed away from them and found himself facing three shadowy figures exiting from one of the standing buildings. He was really beginning to hate how frequently he was running into less than fortunate situations. But he shoved his disapproval away enough that he stepped forward to meet the three.

One of the shadows separated from the other two and slid silently towards him, creeping forwards in an intimidating way that got him to take a single step back. He watched as the form solidified into something definitely pony-shaped, though in the darkness any discernible features melded flawlessly together to form one black shadow. It stopped just short of him, standing a complete head taller than him, and what looked to be something like a head leaned down to stare at him. He held his breath as the strange thing stared down at him, well; he thought it was staring at him. In the darkness, there wasn’t any glint of eyes or flash of a color other than that of the void.

“You’ve got to be bucking kidding me?” a mare’s voice grumbled from where a mouth could have been. He flinched when what looked like a hoof split from the shadows and reached up, then he blinked in surprise when a hood was pulled down. There was just enough light for him to make out the general features of what he found to be a rather striking mare standing over him.

Her charcoal coat melded so flawlessly into her clothing that he had trouble finding where one ended and the other began, though her mane was something else entirely. It was several shades lighter than her fur, appearing strangely groomed and looking delightfully tidy pulled back behind her ear. His eyes caught on the singular stripe of the brightest of pinks he had ever seen running down her mane, effectively splitting it in two. His attention was quickly shifted to her gleaming pink eyes as she glared at him, her hoof poking his snout and forcing him to blink and scrunch his nose in surprise.

“The Boss told us we was gettin’ some fresh blood come morning, I didn’t think he was sending in the fresh blood.” she groaned as she turned to her two companions, whom Blaze figured had to be two more of the thieves. At least he’d finally found them. The two others trotted forward, slipping into the slightly better light and revealing themselves to be exactly as he’d thought they’d been: a couple of thieving ponies. Her tone hardened as she addressed them, “Alright, you two do what you gotta do to get him paying his dues. I’ll head down to the Roaring Hydra, finish up with that little detail we’re earning.”

Without waiting for either of her companions to respond, the mare revealed more of her form when a pair of wings unfurled from her sides and she took to the air. Blaze stared at where she’d flown off to for a few seconds longer than was probably necessary.

Then he managed to shake a couple of sudden and strange thoughts out of his head, a small voice in one corner of his mind wondering just where a few of these new thoughts were coming from. That voice was very quickly snuffed out when the two other ponies, gruff-looking stallions who seemed rather disinterested in this whole situation, stepped forward and one pointed a hoof at him.

“Listen here, kid; we’re just doing some simple snatches and break-ins. No need to do anything special, just crack a few locks and grab anything that looks even remotely valuable.” the speaker was a crimson unicorn who seemed especially bored to be here. His silent friend lacked a horn, though Blaze was suddenly hesitant to disregard the possibility of wings under a cloak, but did appear to at least be anxious to get to this ‘snatching and breaking in’ and Blaze wasn’t sure which attitude he prefered. “Boss said that we’re going to make sure you get in your fair share of work, so don’t think you can just slack off. Now come on, we’ve got a couple of wealthy donors looking to make a few contributions to the cause.”

“. . .Okay.” Blaze replied, trotting to catch up with the two large stallions as they turned and began to make their way down a side street. They were steadily making their way towards the large central street. He shoved any disgust he had remaining about doing something like this into the darkest parts of his head, forcing a happy image of Star into his mind. Any justification he had was going to be employed until he no longer had to see these things through.

Even in the darkness of the predawn, the three ponies made excellent time crossing away from the crumbling ruins of the markets and industrial districts and into the more lavish ruins of the wealthy patrons to Equestria’s capital. A small part of his mind was overly pleased to see that those who seemed to try to be snobbishly better than the rest were also suffering. Then a flicker of worry crossed the front of his mind; these two said that there was going to be valuable to procure, but what if the ponies they were victimizing- no, he was doing what he needed to to help Star- had nothing that they could share? Would the others accept his ‘efforts’ for their thieving cause if nothing turned up for it?

He had to put that thought on hold as the crimson unicorn’s horn lit up in a sparkly show and directed them away from the street and along a tiny wall. The three crept along the crumbling stone until they reached a section that had worn down enough that they could hop over.

His heart thundering in his chest at the crime he was willingly committing, Blaze kept his eyes and ears alert for any signs of danger. His vision had adjusted to the crippling darkness enough that silhouettes were a more visible shade of black than the void outside of their miniscule circle of light flickering from the unicorn’s horn. The yard he found himself in was large, but far from pristine; with what appeared to be a dilapidated fountain as the centerpiece of an untamed and heavily invaded lawn. As they approached on silent hooves, a ruined cobblestone line loosely marked where a beautiful garden path might have welcomed visitors as they entered the property in the proper way.

Unease was a growing concern, but he managed to stifle it again.

The trio slipped past the wrecked fountain and made their way to the manor proper; a building that would have stood tall and regal in its prime, with what could have been a grand front porch framed by a double row of shining marble pillars. In the gloom of night, and after the destructive touch of chaos, blackened streaks of shadow arose from the ground, lifeless teeth itching to clamp down on whoever thinks to enter the void behind them. Behind the maw of the manor, and flaring out in both directions, a mass of shadow darker than the air or ground stood and endured the test of time. Whatever elegance and prestige had been thrown into making this building beautiful had been so completely masked by time and the cover of night that it seemed to have been perverted into a twisted mockery made of the embodiment of black.

Blaze looked at the other two, who shared his concerned look, but the unicorn shrugged it off. The unicorn hung his head low and pointed his horn off towards one side. “The size might just work to our aid. We’ll go dark, break in, and grab everything we come across of value. In and out. Let’s go.”

Without waiting for confirmation, the miniscule light died off, and it was only by straining his ears to listen for hoof-falls that they were able to steadily make their way towards one side of the whispering porch. It might have been his imagination, but he thought he could hear a faint, gentle weeping coming from the desecrated building.

They managed to find the side of the building eventually, and with little effort, the unicorn slipped the lock on a window, sliding it open with but a tug from his horn. Blaze was pressured to be the first to enter, and when he had hesitated, he was thrust through the opening by force, reminding him that a unicorn with magic could do quite a few things that he couldn’t. Still, the thief had had the decency to not throw him hard enough that he slammed down.

It took but a moment for him to realize that the darkness of outside was a bright light compared to the void within. In a moment, he’d gone from disoriented to wholly anxious; the building was grieving, of that he was certain. The sadness in the very walls immediately began to tear into him, lamenting of a glorious past marred ugly by fate, bemoaning the beauty and grandeur of a noble lost to the horrid scarring of war. The melancholy was nearly stifling, and would have swallowed him into the carpet for the rest of time had one of his new partners in crime not dropped on top of him.

The slip in his concentration was enough for him to regain control of himself and pull his hooves back under him. He blinked when the area around them lit with a gentle pink hue.

“Damn, those walls were thicker than I thought.” the unicorn muttered as he climbed through the window and settled beside the others. “What the actual buck is wrong with this place? You know what? Don’t answer that: we’ll just do what we gotta do, then get the buck out of here. I’d suggest we split up to save time, but it’s so damn dark in here. . . buck, really wish we’d have gotten another spellcaster. Pegasi ain’t nothing but trouble.”

“If I had a magic horn sticking out of my head, I’d probably have just zapped all the gold out of this house without trying to break in.” Blaze mumbled in retort, shaking the last clinging tendrils of depression from his head. He shot a short glare at the unicorn before Pulling himself away from the others and trying to get a better look at wherever it was that they had ended up.

It looked to be some kind of hallway, well, he thought it might have been that; what with the lack of anything other than a matted rug running into the darkness to either side of him. The walls on the other sides were also a pretty big thing, too.

There was a short reply from the unicorn that he chose to ignore, and instead waited for the other two to decide on just what their new plan of action would be. Eventually, they were on the move again, stalking down the hall in one direction, peeking through every door they came across in the hopes of hitting a score worth the trouble they’d gone through.

For fifteen minutes, they worked a circle around the hallway, moving through the square building’s bottom level with ease. No guards, servants, or even animals disturbed their progress, and yet, there wasn’t an item of value to be found. The barest of furniture decorated sparse regions of various rooms, each coated in dust and worn from use, spread around the barren rooms in a manner that begged for recognition and pleaded for salvation from an inevitable end.

The trio finally came across a staircase leading up to the next floor, though it was with hesitation that they decided to proceed. The lack of anypony else in a building that seemed only rumored to be inhabited was worrying for them, but a job in need of doing was a job in need of doing.

The boards creaked as they ascended the steps, despite all their efforts to muffle themselves. The anguished manor had a smaller presence in the more occupied quarters, and the trio were given a small bit of breathing room as they all spread into the open landing, squinting as the light cascading off the unicorn dimmed. Though there were no signs that anypony was awake, they’d had it in good faith that this place still had residents, and that called for the bare minimum of light necessary.

Door to door they went, desperately scanning each room for possible valuables and then scurrying to the next, grabbing the occasional vase or platter from any and all tables they crossed. The halls were all the same dull grey, barely broken by the meager light they had to move about, and not even the barely distinguishable shapes of paintings on the walls could shake the sensation creeping into each of their heads that the midnight hours turned this manor into some sort of resting place for the dead. Blaze had the distinct feeling of being locked inside a building that acted like a graveyard; and he wasn’t enjoying any second of it.

They had gotten roughly halfway down a side hallway, carefully picking out anything they thought would have any remote value behind it, when they came to their first setback. The door they were in front of had been locked, which normally wouldn’t have posed any problem: the unicorn proved quite adept at picking locks, and had easily slipped past the simple mechanisms of a couple of doors already. No, the problem he was muttering about wasn’t the door being locked, it was the five snapped picks he’d already lost to the greedy device. The inconspicuous hole in the door was stubbornly refusing to yield to anything but the correct key, preventing the trio from reaching whatever would have been held within. Blaze had suggested moving on, but the unicorn insisted on breaking through, his voice deep and rough in the silence of the building. “This is a personal affront to my skills, and I’ll not give up just because this scrap metal doesn’t know its place! Head on down to the next door and see what you can see.”

Blaze relented, the tension that had been slowly building up demanding that he not try to start something that could put them in any more trouble than they were likely going to run into sooner rather than later. He turned and was about to follow the order when he ran into nothing less than that very same trouble he didn’t want to make: a small colt, easily younger than Star by at least a year, standing before them with wide, confused eyes.

The foal was just within the reach of their feeble light, but his ghostly coat appeared to be somewhere within the range of maybe having color to maybe being a light grey. The only thing that made him obviously living was the sparkling pink eyes that locked onto the closest of the trio of thieves, who happened to be Blaze.

“Uh. . . you are those scary monsters, are you?” his voice trembled just slightly, like his drowsiness was vying for control with his fear and confusion. A pale hoof rose to try to wipe the sleep from his eyes, but he missed and instead bumped it against his cheek, much to his surprise. Blaze blinked at the sudden and very unwelcome presence of somepony else, but before he locked up in fear, an unusually hopeful thought jumped to the front of his mind, and he stepped into action before something bad happened.

“No. No. . . we’re not some scary monsters.” he kept his voice barely above a whisper, speaking to the colt in a calm, nearly friendly manner. He offered the young foal a warm smile and stepped up to him, crouching so that the two were at eye level. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Quartz Quarry.” the colt smiled, his body relaxing with the confirmation that there weren’t any monsters lurking inside his house. He looked at the three of them for a second before his satisfied smile turned into a worried frown and he opened his mouth to state the obvious question.

“Well then, Quartz Quarry; would you mind telling me what you’re doing up and about at such a late hour? You know that it’s a bad idea to walk around at night: that’s when all the big scary monsters come out to snatch little foals up.” Blaze said before the foal had a chance to say that one something that could turn their situation even worse. The sudden question stunned the colt for a second, as his thoughts tried to reform through his exhaustion.

“I. . . I thought I heard something and I wanted to just make sure that everything was okay. . “

“Oh. Well, I’ll let you know that everything over here is fine.” another warm smile disarmed the foal before he could try to rouse his wariness at the three of them. Blaze slid closer and placed a comforting hoof on the pale colt’s shoulder. “But before you head on back to bed, can I ask you a question?’

“Um. . . what exactly are you guys doing here?” the question that he’d been trying so hard to avoid made Blaze wince.

“We’re here for a. . . surprise. Yeah, a surprise for your parents.” he nodded to Quartz, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze and did his best to give off the most friendly, brotherly aura he could. “But I need to know a couple of things first, and I think that you can help us out just fine.”

“Dad doesn’t like surprises. Like; he really doesn’t like them.” the colt muttered, his ears falling to the back of his head and he frowned at the ground. “One time he came home from the palace once and found out that a couple of the servants had been moving some of the furniture around. He got really mad and started yelling at them, then he took them out back and had them work really hard to clean up the gardens, and they worked so hard that they had to spend a couple of days at their homes.

“Then there was that time he got the surprise that mommy had been spending a lot of alone time with one of our cooks. There was a lot of yelling and screaming, and I got really scared, so I hid in the vault. . .” Blaze shared a very quick look with the other two before returning his attention to the colt. “I don’t really know what happened to mommy after that. I think she had to go help the Princesses with something, but dad doesn’t talk about it.”

“This vault you mentioned-” the unicorn started, stepping closer to the foal with a greedy grin plastered on his face. He hadn’t managed to finish the thought, as Blaze quickly stepped in front of him and shot him with a short warning scowl.

“I’m sorry to hear that your dad gets a bit angry, but maybe there’s a way that we could convince you that this is going to be a fun surprise? I want you to know that we’re really good at giving ponies surprises, like; we’re professionals at it.” even as he said it, he did his best to hide his internal wincing, forcing the distaste as far away as he could. His forced smile seemed to placate the foal enough, however, as he was rewarded with a hesitant, if genuine, smile from him. “I think that this is going to be a pretty big surprise, but I’ve got to know that you want this to be the best that we can give; can you do that for me?”

The foal nodded eagerly, appearing to be more and more enthusiastic of the idea of a fun surprise.

“That’s wonderful!” the tension slowly began to slip away from the group as a semblance of a panicked plan was finally beginning to form in the minds of the three intruders. Blaze patted Quartz’s shoulder and leaned in close so he could more easily whisper towards him. “The first thing I need to know is that you’ll be able to keep this a secret from your dad: we can’t have you spoiling the surprise before it can happen naturally. Remember that we’re really good at this, and I need you to trust me that we know the best way to give somepony a surprise. Can you do that for me? Can you keep this a secret until your dad finds out on his own?”

With an eager nod, the colt threw in his aid for their ‘mysterious’ plan to give some kind of ‘pleasant’ surprise to his dad. Blaze wanted to waste no more time, and pulled the colt to the center of the hallway, gesturing to the others to keep quiet. “Alright, Quartz, I hope you’re ready for this. I’m going to need you to show us all the special places that you run off to hide in when your dad gets real angry. If we can get to all those little nooks and crannies, we can make this surprise super special.”

On silent hooves, the four ponies stalked through the halls, illuminated only enough to see by the unicorn’s magic. They made their way through several rooms, the two elder thieves grabbing everything they could while Blaze kept Quartz distracted with the various intriguing and crafty places the oblivious colt could hide in. The unicorn had tried to urge them to go straight to this supposed vault so they could grab their loot and go, but Blaze had managed to silence him.

“We need him to think we’re actually doing something in all these places, or else he’s gonna catch on to us.” Blaze had explained when the colt was occupied by their third partner. “We’ll get to this vault when we get to it.”

“Kid. . .” the unicorn set his jaw in a stern fashion and glared down at Blaze, who returned the expression with an equally hard glare. “The boss thinks that he’s able to make something out of you, but unless you hurry this along, I’m really going to have to disappoint him and remind us all of why little foals don’t usually do this kind of work.”

“Fine.” Blaze spat out before spinning around and approaching Quartz, who had finally stopped to wonder just what they were talking about. “Hey, Quartz Quarry; I’ve got something real important to tell you, but it’s a secret that we like to keep between us ponies who give others fun surprises, okay? Come here and I’ll let you in on something as important as it is special.”

Once the younger foal had leaned in close enough that whispers were as loud as yelling, Blaze emphasized the urgency of getting this surprise done with so they could move on to the other ponies that needed to get their own surprises before it got too early in the morning. Quartz seemed to accept the new pace well, which did unnerve Blaze, but he got over it as quickly as he could, hoping that he had enough charm to convince a single foal that he was actually doing something good. If his hunch was wrong. . . he shook his head clear of any doubts and doubled his attention down to the task at hoof. The pale foal led the trio of thieves further down the darkened hallways until they reached what seemed like a dead-end.

“I’m not really supposed to know about this place, but if you told me so many of your secrets, then I supposed it’s alright if I tell you some of mine.” he seemed both anxious and excited, emotions that Blaze understood all too well under these kinds of circumstances. Before any of the intruders could question what the foal was going on about, he reached his ghostly hoof up and tugged at an unlit candle sconce.

Despite all the strange things that he’d already witnessed growing up in these interesting times, the fact that the sconce was actually a secret lever still caused Blaze to do a double take. There was a nearly silent clicking sound, then a part of the wall popped loose and slid forward enough for Quartz to pull it open; revealing a small alcove just large enough to store both the foal himself and a pony-sized block of pure blackness.

Blinking into the void, Blaze tried to figure out what the unnatural shape was supposed to be, until his unicorn buddy lit his horn, casting a faint light into the secret compartment. The odd shape turned out to be an impressive safe, one that could have held quite the fortune inside of it, and one that, no doubt, had an equally impressive lock sheltering that fortune. He stepped forward, wondering if this safe was the entire ‘vault’ that Quartz had mentioned, or if there was more to it. While he was sure that there had to be enough gold in that safe alone to feed him and Star for months, he immediately began to wonder just how he was going to get the poor foal away from the safe long enough for the other two to grab the valuables and slip away.

“You got the ‘surprise,’ right?” the unicorn turned to the unfortunate third party member, who snapped his gaze off of the safe to nod nervously. He then turned to Blaze and Quartz with a worried frown on his face. “Kid, why don’t you make sure that the foal gets back to his bed nice and safely, and just let us professionals handle the finer details, yeah? Don’t worry: you’ll get to have your share of the fun at the. . . next job.”

Blaze frowned at the unicorn, but ultimately, he didn’t have any argument that would also maintain the poorly cobbled illusion they had Quartz under, and he really didn’t want his first involuntary job with these goons to go that badly: the more gold he collected, the better. So he set his jaw in a resigned smile and nodded along, tugging the unknowing foal along.

“We’ve already told you this; but just remember that these kinds of surprises are best left to be discovered on their own.” he nudged the foal’s shoulder as the two quietly crept towards the more inhabited portions of the manor. “And I promise you; your father is really going to have a big surprise waiting for him, so let him have the pleasure of coming across it, alright?”

“Okay. . . but just what kind of surprise are those stallions going to give us?” Blaze winced at the fact that this kid really wasn’t hearing that he had to keep this between the thieves.

“The kind that is best left for your father to find. . . it would be really hard for you to understand, since you’re still so young. But I promise you that once you’re older, I’m sure that you’ll be able to appreciate it.” he hoped that the non-answer was enough, because he was still internally screaming at himself for even considering resorting to this kind of behavior.

“Star. . . for Star” he had to mumble to himself as he sent the foal back to wherever he had come from in the first place. He didn’t want to try to rack his brain for some other excuse for why he needed to keep the poor colt away.

Once he was sure that Quartz had gone back to his room, or at least far enough away that he could run right back to the others, he wasted no time in bolting through the halls. He was nervously noting that the light shining from the unblinded windows was growing ever stronger, and that dawn was rapidly approaching. The sooner they grabbed the goods, the sooner he’d be able to get this stupid job done with and return home to where he belonged.

Turning the final corner, he nearly slammed into the other two, who had already finished their part of the job, and had slid the hidden door back into place, making it look like they had never even been there. He blinked in response, but quickly recovered and stepped into line beside them as they made their way to the nearest window that would allow them to quickly and, more importantly, quietly leave the manor. “I really do hope that there was enough gold in that safe to justify how badly this mess could have gotten.”

“Eh, there was plenty of gold, but that wasn’t what the boss wanted from this place.” the unicorn shrugged as the pair slipped by the colt and silently crept towards the nearest window that overlooked the fastest escape route. His horn lit up brighter than usual as they slipped the window open, nearly blinding them while they waited for their vision to adjust. “Just hop on out and meet us over that far wall past the row of hedges and we’ll be able to call this job a success.”

“Damn shame we couldn’t get to the other place. . .” the second stallion muttered as he threw himself out of the building and into the welcoming darkness. While he was making a dramatic departure, the unicorn’s horn flared even brighter for a split second before the light detached itself from his horn in a violent burst, flinging itself as a steadily dimming ball of light to illuminate the courtyard.

Blaze took a second to watch how the path was revealed before him as the light travelled, noting that this side of the manor seemed particularly depressing to view from inside. The unicorn disappeared in a flash, his magic allowing him to cheat out of any kind of sticky situation, and the sudden realization hit the colt that he was now alone in a strange place, and he needed to be gone.

He snapped his wings open and felt a comfortably gentle breeze flow over his sweaty feathers. HIs let out a tense breath and tried to focus on one thing at a time as an unwelcome spike of nervousness wracked through his brain. “Just leave this place and be done with it. Just leave and be done.”

Finally getting his nerves under control, he jumped out of the window and pumped his wings down, feeling relief wash over him as they caught air, and he was propelled even further away from this nightmare of an adventure. A second beat of his wings, and he was fully flying through the air, soaring rapidly across the open space between the scene of the crime and freedom. The light was getting uncomfortably bright, and he had to pour even more effort into crossing the final third of the way, hoping that nopony was awake and looking in his direction. He was hating that his coat was the exact opposite of a benefit for sneaking around, but at least he was going to start learning how to minimize the misfortune as soon as he could.

He shot over the dilapidated stone wall that marked his passage into freedom and breathed a sigh of relief as he snapped his wings shut and thumped to the cold cobblestone road beside the other two thieves. “We’re good now, right?”

“Yeah. . . we’re good.” the unicorn wasn’t sounding terribly convinced, and he shuffled in place as he looked over his shoulder. The three were silent for a moment as they all shared an equally worried expression, with the two elders’ ears parked high on alert for any signs that they might have been compromised. Not a minute after meeting back up, the trio wordlessly slunk into the shadowy alleys that divided the crumbling manors.

“Well, things could have definitely gone worse. . .” there was a sigh from the unicorn as his companion made the remark, but it went unchallenged as a clinking bag was drawn forth and a beam of light illuminated the weathered canvas. “These shards better have come with enough bits for me to enjoy a trip to the Galloper’s Delight.”

“You and your whorses. You’re going to wind up getting into some kind of trouble one of these days, and I’m going to laugh my flank off when you come back with an itch.” the unicorn chuckled as his magic slid the pouch open and a dozen or two shining gold bits floated over to the second stallion. Before any more gold was dispensed, a smaller, second piece of canvas was pulled from the pouch, and the two older thieves held their breath as the unicorn carefully pulled the string loose. Blaze watched in hesitant interest as the big reveal came for whatever this band of thieves wanted so badly.

The string slipped away from the canvas pouch, letting the rough fabric fall loosely around the unicorn’s magic grip, his horn casting a gleaming cherry glow on what Blaze thought were several shining, sharp pieces of scrap metal. His confusion made itself apparent nearly immediately, and he had no control over his thoughts as an audible “what?” was blurted at nopony in particular.

“Are you really trying to tell me that we went through all of that. . . that. . . that trouble, and that house specifically, all because your stupid boss wanted some shards of metal?” the colt asked in disbelief, and he even went as far as to lean in to get a closer look at the shards, which were as unremarkable as he imagined, even in the dim light. He just couldn’t believe what they had gone through, raiding some slightly well-off place all because some stupid, mean, and ugly ponies wanted some scrap steel. “You guys are aware that there are, like, a hundred abandoned ruins dotted around the city, right? There’s a whole lot of metal there, and nopony’s even gonna care if you go and salvage to your hearts’ content.”

“This ain’t just the same ol’ steel we use in those ancient piles of rubble.” the unicorn grunted, his magic folding the fabric back over the shards and returning the pouch back to safety. “I ain’t too sure that it is, but the boss wanted these shards pretty bad, and so we had to go and relieve that troublesome pony of them, for his sake, of course. But either way; we were planning on hitting up another unwelcoming donor, but this place was worse than anypony would have liked, and we didn’t scour the place as thoroughly as I normally would.”

“Whatever, I just hope that this all gets done with as soon as possible. I really don’t much care for this line of work.” Blaze muttered as he glanced up at the larger stallion. “I’ll just take my split of the gold for my split of the work, and hopefully we’ll never work together in the future.”

The two elder thieves shared a devious grin between themselves before they cackled at the colt’s expense. Their chuckles did nothing to ease the worry that was starting to blossom in the colt’s stomach, and he felt his ears plaster themselves against his skull at what he figured was about to come next. Eventually, the two quieted down enough for the unicorn to give the colt one final look before the pouch of bits disappeared in a flash. “Your payment is the pleasure of working with us, and the wonderful experience we so generously shared with you.”

“You really ought to feel grateful,” the second stallion continued the thought while the unicorn started to giggle again. “Not everypony is so lucky to receive first-hoof experience from two talented souls such as ourselves.”

Before Blaze could voice his disappointment and anger, he was forced out of their way by way of a hard telekinetic push, easily toppling him as the two thieves made their hasty escape. He bounced right back up to his hooves and stepped forward to try chasing them down, but he stopped himself, realizing there wasn’t a whole lot he could do to collect his rightful payment from what he was finally understanding to be a pair of righteously selfish assholes. Instead of hunting them down and demanding his payment, which was what his gut was screaming at him to do, he opted to at least take the bits from the Princess and treat Star to something nice.

Day two of their newfound freedom and subsequent struggle to make a place for themselves was going to be so, so much harder than the first. Or, at least that was what every fiber of his being was telling him.

Binding Pyre

Chapter 4: Binding Pyre

All things considered, Blaze’s return trip from the middle of an alley halfway across town at the break of dawn really went as smoothly as it could, with him running into nopony who questioned why such a young colt was wandering the streets, and he ran into no other kinds of issues before getting back to the temporary safety of the dilapidated warehouse. As he approached the worn out building, his heart beat just a little harder; inside there was the most important thing in his world, and now he was getting into some nasty business trying to keep both their heads above water, so to speak.

He sighed as he silently slipped back inside the warehouse, the predawn light gently glowing out from the cracks in the crumpled steel door, and he frowned at the few rays slipping in through cracks in the walls themselves. The floor was still shrouded in darkness, but his eyes had adjusted to those shadows long ago, and he could see the mass of ponies huddled in the center of the room, all of whom were abandoned by the city and left to seek shelter and safety with each other. Then his gaze wandered away from the herd, where he could strain his eyes enough to see the sleeping form of his world huddled all alone in one corner.

He didn’t bother fighting the relieved smile that sprung up from beneath the waves of fear and worry that he had been unconsciously building the entire walk back.

Home. He was home; maybe not this specific building, or wherever he and Star decided to settle down, if they ever did, but as long as he was with his brother, he’d happily think of it as home. He crossed fully into the receding darkness, his hoof-falls gently thumping on the cold floor as he crossed over to the pair of bed rolls that was his extremely luxurious bedding.

Star had wrapped himself into a tight ball within his blanket, his blue mane revealing but a teasing glance from the folds. Blaze paused as he neared the empty bedding, wondering just whether he was tired enough to warrant going back to sleep. After a few meager seconds to mull it over, he shrugged and nodded to himself, figuring that snagging a couple more hours of rest before everypony else woke up couldn’t do him any harm. He silently slipped into his own bed roll, grateful that the nightly chill was lifting enough for the blankets to not be too uncomfortable.

The ground was hard and unforgiving, even through the worn padding of his bed roll, but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying to grab at least another couple hours of rest. He curled up under the rapidly heating covers, doing what he could to shut off any and all unwanted thoughts while waiting for sleep to gently sweep him from the troubled world around him. During the brief time he had left in the lonesome darkness, he welcomed the growing comfort he felt in just being near Star, he relished the fading anxiety and worries that steadily plagued him. He knew so little about so much, but he felt safe with his knowledge that the two of them were going to make it through all of this and come out as better ponies. Basking in those comforting thoughts, he finally felt the last of his resolve blend into the dying night, and he drifted off to sleep, content to grab as much rest as he could.

His entire plan for that morning had been to recoup at least a little energy from his nap before the world finally woke up and slapped him with another day. That plan had gone to shambles all too quickly when Star was the one to slap him with another day. Literally.

“Come on, you big white foal! It’s time for food!” there were several blue hooves pounding into his shoulders and sides, reminding him that the world was a cruel and unforgiving place, and that Star was most definitely hungry. Adding insult to injury, his back and neck felt unbearably sore, reminding him that he had done quite a bit in those few hours between his bouts of rest. The pouch of royal bits crammed right against the base of his skull hadn’t helped anything, either.

“Alright, Star; you can stop punching me now.” of course, that didn’t sway the younger brother from his perfect persuasions, and another flurry of hungry hooves were sent cascading down upon the stiff colt. Blaze raised a hoof up to defend himself while he tried cracking his eyes open, revealing a bright and glaring halo around his pouting little brother.

Not wanting to allow this assault to continue, he groggily crawled out from under his humble bedding and gave out a hearty yawn, stretching as much of the sleep from his eyes as he could. There was an unpleasant ache in his wings, and his legs were unusually stiff, something he was mildly concerned about, given that he had always considered himself a rather active colt. His tired mind ever so briefly mulled over his state coming from stress, but his attention shifted away when an impatient hoof jabbed his strained stomach. He nearly lurched as he flipped himself onto his back, throwing his forehooves around his midsection in a futile attempt to protect his weak spot.

Star knew full well that he was ticklish there!

“Come on!” the younger colt whined again, stomping his hooves on the ground to drive home his impatience. “I’ve been waiting forever for you to wake up! I’m hungry!”

Blaze glared at his brother in silent contempt, until his own stomach rumbled in agreement and forced a delighted, victorious smile off of Star. Giving into his own need to find something to justify his extensive activities lately, Blaze grumbled to himself and rolled onto his hooves, feeling a knot in his neck that he just knew was going to be a pain all day. Then he heard the lovely sound of jingling coins, and the reason why his neck hurt was suddenly thrust to the forefront of his memories.

Reaching back into his mane, he pulled out the meager pouch of coins that had been his “royal inheritance,” a gift he was already trying to figure out how to put to its best use. Star seemed to grin even wider at the sight of their newfound wealth, a mutual feeling the brothers were going to share.

“Oh wow!” Star gleamed as he pumped his wings and tried to bolt forward to get his swinging hooves around the pouch. Unfortunately for him, Blaze had read his brother’s intentions even as he had flexed his wings to pounce. The bits were pulled safely out of reach of the poor, starving foal, who was left to land back on the ground with a light thump and an audible groan of frustration. “We could buy so many apple pies with that much money- wait, how much money did you get?”

“Enough, silly. And we’re not going to buy apple pies with these bits; they’re going to get us both some proper food to eat for breakfast, and whatever is left is going to anything else we need to make it out here.” Blaze smiled and ruffled Star’s mane, despite the younger brother’s desperate attempts to throw off the offending hoof. The pouch was safely hidden away in his mane again so he could sweep the grumpy foal into a crushing hug and a playful noogie. “I know I could use a pair of proper saddlebags; carrying things in my mane is going to break my neck one of these days. But at the same time, I think we both could really use quite a few more things, like food- apple pies are a special treat and should be treated as such.”

Star pouted when he couldn’t get in his suggestion for a valuable foodstuff. Blaze was good at resisting the sad, puckered and quivering lips, and those teary, dilated puppy-dog eyes. Star’s powers of cuteness had no effect on him, which was a skill he needed to remind himself that he had learned from their mom.

“Now, let’s get ready for the day. . . just one thing we need to clear up before we leave.” he had turned to lead Star out into the city, being glad that he’d have the chance to spend some more time getting things ready for the pair of them. Then movement near the back of the warehouse had caught his attention, and a dirty purple earth pony mare reminded him that he was only in a half-decent position because of the generosity of these strangers.

He had a kindness to pay back to these ponies, but he had nothing that he was willing to offer to them, so he breathed a short prayer to anything that would listen that they’d be kind enough to accept his sincerest thanks.

“Excuse me, miss?” he asked after shuffling up to the mare, noting that she may have been staying in the same place as the first mare he’d run across, she didn’t appear nearly as tired. Her honey golden mane had dirt and dust, sure, but it still clung to life like a stubborn weed refusing to die under the glaring summer sun. She had been turning to disappear within the group of huddled, distracted ponies before them, but paused long enough to give the colt a soft frown.

Had he known what had happened to the first mare, Blaze would have happily gone to her to express his gratitude, but she wasn’t anywhere in the crowd, not at first glance, at least. Still, he figured that anypony receiving his thanks was probably more than enough.

“I just, uh. . . I just wanted to thank you for letting me and Star stay the night here. It really means a lot that. . . that you all were willing to let a couple of random foals sleep here, and if we had somewhere better to stay, we wouldn’t be bothering you guys. . . but uh, yeah. Sorry, and I just wanted to let you all know that we are really grateful for everything you’ve done for us, even if it means we might need to stay here for a little bit longer.” he shuffled in place for a second, terrified that these strangers would kick him and Star out, and he knew that they were perfectly capable of doing just that. Just the simple thought of being forced into the streets made his entire body ache. “If that’s okay with you guys, of course. . .”

“Do you really not have anywhere else you could be? No other family to take care of you?” the mare asked, her jade eyes seeming to pierce through the colts with unfiltered concern, and as Blaze looked into her eyes, he thought he saw a fleeting moment of doubt, but then the concern returned. As her emotions seemed to rise and fall, he could see brief flecks of gold appear within the fields of jade. He shuffled and nodded passively.

“But what about mommy?” Star nudged his shoulder, his confusion written as clear as day across his muzzle.

“Mommy can’t take care of us Star; she did her damn best, but it just isn’t enough anymore. I tried to help her as much as I could, but there just wasn’t much of any difference from living there as there is here; strange ponies aside.” he tried to force a smile, but he suppressed an internal shudder and just how awkward and fake it felt. Returning his attention to the purple mare before him, he tried to shake his doubts and fears. “Mom really did try her best, but we weren’t going to be able to keep on living like that. I mean; she wasn’t doing too well back when it was just her and me, and then things-”

He snapped his muzzle shut and pulled his brother in for a hug, realization at how his words could have come across slapping him in the face. “We’re going to be better off once I can find a means of getting enough money to take care of the both of us. Hay, if I get enough, I’d love to try to help you all out; sort of as a way of returning all this kindness that you’ve already shown us. That would be fair, right?”

The mare sighed, her expression growing ever more somber as she listened, negativity seeming to be something that she was waging an internal war against. He felt like that was something that all of these ponies were able to bond over extensively, and for just a second, he cursed his attempt at trying to bargain for a share of the roof over their heads. These poor ponies were going through the exact nightmare he was dreading would come his way, and they’d probably been dealing with it for a whole lot longer than he had been.

“The world is far from fair, little one.” every word was slow to come out, and the mare almost seemed to be literally chewing on them before speaking. Her face settled into a grimace with practiced ease, her eyes seemed endless pools of conflicting emotions, of both hope and regret. “You seem to be a survivor, somepony who might understand this simple truth, but somepony able to withstand these injustices all the same. I have no doubt that we all could use any compassion you’d spare us, though many would never admit to such a thing, but I wonder if you could ever find yourself in such a position. Still . . .

“You seek wealth; perhaps fame and fortune? Well, should the gold you acquire happen to find its way into these suffering individuals, then they may yet accept you. I know that I can see that flame that burns within you, a passion alight with life and purpose, undimmed by the burdens of existence.” her grimace lifted swiftly, yet momentarily, leaving her face a brief flash of something Blaze thought resembled a strength of hope he himself held tightly to. It was gone equally as swiftly, however, and her features resumed one of regretful contemplation. That same internal war he was believing more than a few ponies here were waging.

“I’ll certainly do what I can to make sure Star and I earn our keep.” a simple promise to make, though the colt wasn’t sure this dilapidated building, or these downtrodden ponies, was really somewhere he’d even want to settle down.

Not that he was drowning in options. . .

“Come on, Star! Let’s get something good to eat, and then we can put our heads together and try to find something for us to do.” his heart warmed at his brother’s blissful smile, the younger colt already putting their dreary conversation behind them. He took full advantage of the lapse away from this dreary conversation and happily hurried his brother out of the building. At some point, he just knew he was going to have to have some kind of conversation with whichever ponies were considered to be the important ones here. He just wanted to put that off until he knew for certain that this was where he and Star were going to stay.

Until that point, he had the bits to make sure the tiny blue colt by his side was happy and healthy; which included a proper breakfast, or at least some real food. So, he found the market to be the most natural and logical place for them to get to.

“Hey Star; is there anything you are craving for breakfast?” he looked to the younger colt while he held his meager bit pouch out to be admired. He wasn’t craving anything in particular, which he would have considered a bit of a nuisance, if it wasn’t for Star usually being a straightforward and decisive colt who knew exactly what he wanted. “But before you go saying we should buy as many treats as we can, I need you to know that I have plans on saving at least a little bit of this money for any serious emergency.”

Star had had his hoof held aloft to name his suggestion, but the rebuttal against any potential mass of treats quickly shut down his dreams of a bright and sugary start to his day. His hoof fell back to the ground as he dropped his gaze to stare at the cobblestones they trotted over.

“Well, Star? You always know what it is that you want. Any suggestions?” Blaze slowed his pace at his brother’s sudden lack of decisions.

“I guess if you really don’t want me to be as healthy as possible, we could always just abandon those poor sweets to never being eaten. . . but apple pie is always a good choice, right?!” and with the dejection gone, his youthful optimism returned and a spritely step inserted itself into his gait. “And I think I already know just the place where we can get ourselves some delicious apple pie!”

“Apple pie. . . always with the sweets.” Blaze mumbled as he shook his head, doing absolutely everything to hide his smirk as he picked up his pace. Star could really get going when his stomach took control.

The trip to the main street was getting to be a progressively shorter trot with each trek he took, and now that he was becoming more familiar with these streets, he was feeling ever more comfortable being in the region. He wasn’t thrilled to just be waltzing around with Star being so insistent on charging recklessly through the steadily thickening crowds of ponies, but he was getting the feeling that he would know these streets even better than the ones from across town. If only Star hadn’t developed this habit of half-galloping, half-flying away. The foal was growing rapidly every day, and pretty soon, he’d be able to easily outpace Blaze’s trot doing that.

Though the elder brother was inwardly hoping that Star would better hone his skills on the wing. He had always considered it odd that most pegasi foals forgot how to fly between their infancy and becoming young foals, but Star was making good progress. Well, as good as progress as the inexperienced brother could tell.

Despite the city having made remarkable progress in recovering from the war, the streets still felt hauntingly empty, and as the two brothers converged onto the main thoroughfare for the city, this fact became all the more apparent, as many of the usual rowdy crowds had all but dissipated, and even most of the stalls and vendors seemed to be missing. Blaze immediately felt his fur crawl and he instinctively rushed over to Star, throwing his wing over him in a protective gesture.

The market was never this empty. It was quiet. . . too quiet.

As they approached one of the stalls that actually had ponies around it, they overheard two of said ponies talking: “. . .believe it: the Princesses actually called for a city-wide assembly? They’ve been so busy in that castle, why; I can’t remember the last time an assembly was called.”

“Blaze, what’s an assembly?” the question from his brother pulled Blaze back to focus, and he glanced at his brother with confusion in his eyes.

“It means that they sent out a message asking for everypony to come and gather in one place. I only heard that they did that for emergency announcements not relating to threats on the city, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually been to one.” and now that his curiosity was piqued, he gave his brother a gentle squeeze across his back before releasing him and stepping closer to the talking ponies. “Hey, excuse me. Do you know what’s going on with this whole assembly thing?”

The two stopped talking to spare him a glance, clearly sharing his curiosity at the interesting event. The mare to the left, a small, alarmingly thin gray unicorn with an excessively curly mane shrugged and gestured towards the castle with a quick nod. “All’s I know is they sent out some messengers to bring ev’rypony to the gatehouse fer an assembly.”

Humming in thought, he thanked the mare for the information and turned back to his brother. He could see the burning curiosity clear as day across the younger foal’s face, and the two shared an interested look that conveyed perfectly what was going to happen. Breakfast be damned; there was something really strange going on, and the two of them just had to know what it was all about. Without sharing another word, they made their way through the mostly barren marketplace and began winding through the other ponies trying to arrive at the gatehouse barring the castle courtyard before this assembly either started or ended. By the mass of ponies merging from side streets, it seemed to be a popular decision to be a latecomer to this strange event, but that didn’t rule out the embarrassment of missing it entirely.

However, before the gatehouse had even come into view, hay, before they could tell they’d merged in with the proper herd of ponies waiting for the announcement, they were stopped short by a shout that Blaze had really hoped wouldn’t be calling for him.

“Hey, kid! New blood! Hold up!” the brothers stopped, though Blaze made sure he had his wing firmly planted over Star’s back, just in case anything went horribly wrong, which was rather quickly becoming something he was seeing in his life. He tried scanning the crowd around them, but there were just enough ponies moving around them that he couldn’t tell anypony apart, and nopony seemed to be paying him much mind.

He had paused for just a second to see if maybe he wasn’t the one being called, until he saw a disappointingly familiar crimson unicorn stallion trotting towards him. Blaze thought that that would have been bad enough on its own, but fate was a cruel mistress, and the stallion was actually sporting what appeared to be a genuinely gleeful grin. Like he’d just gotten paid in a mountain of bits, and he had come here to flaunt his newly acquired wealth to the rest of Equestria. Or what was left of it, anyway.

“What do you want, scumbag.” the colt spat out, probably a bit too harshly, given where they were, but just having these thieves so close to his brother managed to make his blood both boil and run ice cold, a feat he reserved for only the most esteemed of bastards. He did regret the venom in his voice not a second after the words left his mouth, but he knew this was one of those buck-ups he was bound to perfect in front of his brother.

Some role-model he was.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that; you’re the one who took that fool Shuffleboard and got him incarcerated, not me. Ain’t my fault you gotta make up the work.” the stallion actually had the nerve to look mildly offended for a split second, until his unusual joviality replaced the mocking expression. “Besides, this here opportunity is something that we absolutely cannot pass up: just about everypony in town is headed over to that damned gatehouse for this assembly, which leaves all the goods and shops in open season. You got a debt to pay off, and Al has all hooves on deck to split the work, so consider this an advanced method of working towards your desired freedom. So ditch the kid and let’s get going: there’s so much work to do!”

“There’s no bucking way I’m leaving Star, and I’d sooner put your a- flank in jail with Shuffleboard.” he was glad to have at least caught that last slip; it’s the small victories. “So why don’t you go back to your hole and tell Al that he’s just going to have to find somepony else to do his dirty work.”

“I ain’t asking, kid.” the stallion’s bright tone instantly shifted into a thug’s usual intimidation tactic. “But I’m not unreasonable; you’ve got half an hour, then I’m going to need you by the markets so we can at least get some shit done.”

“. . . One hour. And you guys are going to regret this.” Blaze’s voice dropped to match the larger stallion’s, though his diminutive size in comparison really didn’t do him all that much. Still, it’s the effort that counts, or that was what he was content to tell himself, and for the briefest of seconds, he thought he saw either approval or admiration glinting in the stallion’s eyes, but it was so immediately replaced by a nastly-looking bastardization of mirth that he wasn’t so sure of what he saw.

“Half an hour, and this is non-negotiable.” those cruel eyes sparkled with sadistic glee, and the colts were quite certain this was a stallion who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a foal to get his point across. He bared his teeth, leaning down so he could stare Blaze hard in the eyes, his shoulders flexing and his neck so tense that a couple veins were easily bumping out of his coat. Intimidation: who would have guessed that frightening stallions were capable of using it? “And just to remind you; failure to show up for the job could have. . . unpleasant consequences for you or anypony you consider yourself to be close to.”

Without another word, the stallion returned to his casual stance and trotted away from the two foals, rapidly blending in with the few straggler ponies trying their best to make it to the assembly before they missed all the important announcements.

“I think it’s probably for the best that we go home. . .” as much as Blaze wanted to disagree, he knew that there were some truly monstrous ponies out there, and he had really hoped that he’d been lucky enough to avoid meeting any of them in a pony. This was just getting worse and worse.

“Come on, I’ll just make sure you get back safely, then I’ll try to deal with this stupid job. Maybe I’ll get enough work in that Al Capony will cut me loose and I can try to find some better way of making a living. Maybe we’ll find a nice place with lots of sweets and a bunch of big bedrooms so we could sleep in a new bed every night. Wouldn’t that be so much fun, Star?”

“Yeah. . .”

‘Not in the mood to joke? Can’t say I blame ya, buddy.’ Blaze thought as he tried to hide the melancholy he was feeling, but this really put a hamper on his plans for the day. ‘With any luck, they’ll let this count as the work that I was supposed to do for these thugs. . . but I doubt I’d be that lucky. Shit’s just going to keep getting harder and harder, but at least this will count for some experience, should I actually need to fall back on petty theft to get by. Oh, by the heavens I hope it doesn’t actually fall that bad that I have to take from these suffering folks. This just feels wrong.’

Thanks to everypony being at the assembly, the two brothers made quick time reaching the repurposed warehouse. As much as the two of them wanted to know just what had happened to get the Princesses to do something out in the public, neither brother was really interested in seeing just what kinds of creative punishment the group of thieves would find appropriate were Blaze to skip this sudden ‘job opportunity.’

“Here you go, Star. I want you to hold onto this, at least until I get back.” Blaze said once they had slipped past the front door, he reached into his mane and pulled out their depressing pouch of gold. He added a mental note to grab a pair of saddlebags as soon as they could afford it. Storing small things like this pouch in his mane for a short period of time was fine, but he didn’t want to have a constantly sore neck from any unnecessary weight. “Just don’t go spending it all at once, you hear me? I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise, and then we can go out and I’ll treat you to some really nice apple pie. I’m so sorry this happened, Star.”

“It’s okay, because you’re buying me an entire apple pie once this is all done with.” Star finished with an overly confident grin and a nod, as if the final decision had been made. Blaze held up a hoof to protest the declaration, but Star just smirked and shoved him back out the door. “Now go and prove those meanies a thing or two! I’ll hold down the fort and keep our precious wealth safe!”

Despite being literally shoved out by this tiny foal, Blaze gave a light chuckle and wrapped his brother in a tight hug. “Before I go; I want you to at least try to make some friends while I’m gone. I know it’s probably not going to be that long, but I don’t want you to be spending all this time alone, okay?”

Star had groaned at the demand, suddenly turning to the defensive in an attempt to break free from the deathly grip of affectionate snuggles of doom.

“Hey, brat! Stop squirming about and just listen to me for once in your life; I want to hear all about the new friends you’ve made when I get back. I know I saw a couple other foals around here, in this very building. . . maybe you can at least try with them?” finally releasing the struggling colt, Blaze looked down at him with a warm gaze, happy that things might not turn out so badly. After all, they’d get to share some apple pie when he returned, and then maybe they could ask somepony else what that assembly was all about. He felt uneasy about the situation, but at least he was comfortable having Star someplace relatively safe, and maybe he might actually get some more gold out of this. “Hey, Star. . . you know I love you, right?”

“Of course, now get out of here before I kick your flank into next week. I’ll whoop you so bad those buckers will make me their new leader.”

“Star! Language!” Blaze’s eyes widened quite a bit at the unexpected swear, then his face very quickly found a comfortable position in a very stern frown. “You’re too young to be using those kinds of words.”

“I learned them from you!” as much as he would have liked to respond to Star’s attitude, the colt had already dashed inside the warehouse, and would likely do everything to avoid him. It didn’t help that he was acutely aware of how little time he had to get back to the market. He frowned as he reluctantly turned around and left the building, plans of proper revenge and a good lesson for his younger brother already well on their way in his mind.

With his important matters taken care of, he felt comfortable enough to just fly over the buildings and take the shortest route to get to the still-barren markets. Whatever the Princesses had had going on during the assembly must have really caught the populations’ attention. He felt a spike in his curiosity, which was reaching nearly unbearable levels, but he had other commitments to settle, so he forced it down for the time being. “Just got to find that bucker and figure out just what’s the plan and whether all of this is really worth it.”

Landing in the market proved the easiest way of reaching the crimson unicorn standing beside what appeared to be an inn, who was back to wearing that unnerving excited smile.

“Ah, kid! I’m so glad you made it; the boss says that, with all of those idiots over at the assembly, there’s a veritable fortune of bits, gemstones, and valuable materials to be claimed.” he began immediately, nodding towards the colt and gesturing with a hoof towards the mass of empty stalls. Besides the two of them, there were a total of four other ponies within a couple blocks of where they stood. “Now’s prime time to grab what we can, but we don’t want to grab just anything; which means careful selection of the goods to be collected for donation to the cause.”

“And am I wrong to assume that you’ve already figured out which ponies are going to be our lucky ‘charitable souls’ today?” the stallion only smirked in reply.

“It’s nice to hear you aren’t a total idiot. Yeah; I’ve already marked some targets for acquisition, and it should go along even faster if we split and snag the loot. Once you’ve grabbed a bag’s full, head back to this inn and drop everything off behind the counter. The guy’s one of our fences, so nopony will question why you’re gifting several questionable items to a ramshackle barkeep in an equally questionable tavern.” he paused for a moment, staring at Blaze, until he gasped and clicked his tongue. “Ah, yes. I suppose it might be a little difficult for you to grab a bag’s full of loot without a bag, but lucky for you, I’ve got a couple spares. Might be a bit big for you, but I’m sure you’ll manage just fine.”

His horn flared a bright red for a second, then a worn down saddlebag poofed into appearance beside him. Blaze glanced at the thing, trying to figure out whether this was a genuine offer, or if there was going to be some kind of catch. “You say this is for grabbing the loot?”

“Yeah. Just strap this bad boy on, and load the ever-loving shit out of it, grab your haul, and then dump the loot inside. Rinse and repeat until you’ve grabbed all the loot, then you’ll be free to go. Just try to hurry, I doubt the Princesses will be able to keep those suckers entertained forever.” Blaze eyed the saddlebags a second longer, then shrugged and grabbed them by the straps. He threw them over his haunches and slid them until they were comfortably resting over his flanks, giving his rear end a shake to settle the abused bags. He wasn’t thrilled that they covered his newly acquired cutie mark, but he knew that it was a compromise that would make his life significantly easier.

He did have plans to get a saddlebag, and now he had one!

“Alright, and now that you have the capability to fill a bag with loot, I suppose you’ll want to know what places to hit here soon.” the unicorn said quickly. “For now, just run down the main street until you cross that big brown complex with the tinkerer’s workshop on a corner, we’ve heard that there’s some interesting things in there. A friend of ours even said that something expensive was being worked on in there.

“After the workshop, your next contributor will be a particularly generous merchant just down the Way that’s been holding out for one massive, up front display of generosity. She should be down at the castle for quite a while, but if any of her servants are there when the assembly ends, you could be in trouble.” the unicorn smirked at a stray thought that danced across his eyes. “Don’t get caught; we could use this wealth. And lastly, a lower priority target, but one who might be worth it still, is a smaller trinket merchant down Third near the corner of Terrace, watch out for the sign. Says ‘Mundane and Magical’ or something equally stupid, might be hard to miss, given all the local business in the neighborhood. Our eyes say that there should be some valuables stored away behind all the junk.”

“Tinkerer’s Workshop on the main street, Merchant on the Way, and a Trinket Hoarder on Third and Terrace, got it.” Blaze nodded, rolling his shoulders and turning to fly off and start the dirty deeds. He paused before he could leave, though, as he tried to remember the layout of all the streets, and which ones had actually received names. Though he had done his best to spend his time learning the layout of his new home, expansive exploration wasn’t something that he was particularly interested in just quite yet.

“So. . . uh, where exactly is the Way? I know where Third is, so I should be able to come across Terrace quickly enough, and it sounds like it’s close enough to the market district that I can avoid the more heavy housing regions.” even as he asked the question, he could see the confidence of the unicorn take a hit. It brought him a small amount of pleasure knowing that he was, at the very least, inconveniencing the bastard. That satisfaction quickly faded when said unicorn adopted the expression of somepony doing their best to not throttle the source of their irritation.

Hoping to avoid another encounter with anypony working for these guys, similar to his first experience, Blaze took a couple steps back, giving the magic user some space- not that it would really do anything.

His luck seemed to be holding steady, however, as the unicorn collected himself before he gave the colt a beating to remember. Despite giving himself a moment to take a deep breath, the unicorn’s expression was fixed into that signature scowl he seemed to enjoy wearing. “Kid. . . I don’t know how the ever-loving buck you’re gonna ever repay this debt, being as useless as you are. The Way is just down past the markets, two streets beyond, and the place you’re going to hit there is on the south side, closing in on the high-end district with all them nobleponies and bootlickers. Look for the green-slated roof and shoulder-high fences; you shouldn’t miss it. I’d probably be disappointed if you managed to get yourself lost, but it’s getting to the point that my expectations for you are hitting some unexpected lows right now.

“Damn, I wish Shuffleboard was back. Stupid as a rock, but at least he knew his way around.” the unicorn grumbled with a shake of his head. His horn flared a crimson red as he turned away from the colt, and a faint hum filled the air as the unicorn charged his magic for a spell. Then, in a sudden flash and a loud pop, the unicorn disappeared from the street, leaving Blaze alone to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Pricks.” he stretched his back while he muttered away his displeasure. Taking to the skies just above the rows of buildings, he began his lengthy journey across town, knowing the sooner he started, the sooner he’d be done. He considered it a good thing that he was already tired of working for these guys; maybe it was a sign that his consciousness would hold out long enough for him to get out of this circumstance. His eyes scanned the streets below as he passed, keeping him right above the main thoroughfare while he searched for this tinkerer’s workshop.

He tried to think of how many times he’d seen the structure, though he did wonder if he ever really would have taken notice of anything like it.

It took him an impressive three minutes of mindless soaring before his eyes settled on a structure that could only be described as a groundskeeper’s worst nightmare. The structure beneath him had the standard slate roof of a trade building, except there was a billowing chimney that was pumping out black smoke. As he approached the building, he could see various wagons and other contraptions sitting idle before what appeared to be some sort of patio. He spent a bit of time wondering how he had never noticed the mess of tools laying around, or the half dozen wooden. . . items that Star would have a field day exploring. It truly was remarkable that he had no memory of seeing such a terrifyingly disastrous place.

Attached to the workshop were an unfortunate line of smaller shops that stretched down the side street branching away the heart of the city. His heart weeped for those who had to suffer being next to such an eyesore, though a small part of him wondered just what kinds of things might be available inside.

It wasn’t until he realized that he had spent the better part of a minute just staring that he pulled himself together enough to glide around to the back of the building. He sent a silent thanks to any supernatural beings watching him that the space behind the workshop was devoid of anything that appeared outright hazardous.

The back had even more tools lying around, though there weren’t any of the utterly alien machines from what he’d seen out front. He chose a relatively clear spot to land, then carefully trotted around the various tools until he got to a simple door. More thanks were sent to any ethereal beings when he pulled it out, and found the door to be unlocked, giving him all the access to whatever potential riches he might quickly pilfer.

Inside was no more organized than the outside. He was really starting to dislike these ponies, sure; he wasn’t the most orderly pony around, hay, he could even have been called a bit of a slob at one point. But at least he liked the idea of having a path to walk through his home!

Carefully climbing his way over every conceivable tool ponies had access to, he stumbled through a small hallway, half his mind occupied by the mess underhoof, and the other half trying to wonder just what the buck would be of value in here.

A scowl on his face, he hopped over a particularly large pile of what might have been pliers, maybe; he didn’t know what most of these things were.

He would have loved to describe his adventures through this place as a graceful test of how flexible and sure-hoofed he was. He would have loved to prove to all those ethereal beings that he was balanced and elegant, full of poise and grace; a master of traversing anything with ease. He imagined a golden light showering over him and he rose above the mountain of neglected tools, his wings half unfurled and catching a faint breeze, highlighting his folded forelegs and powerful hindquarters and giving his aerodynamic barrel a sense of unknown power and muscle definition. A gorgeous glow basking around him as his slender form rose to its peak, his red mane flowing behind him in a wondrous record of his rise to glory. He saw that his tail flew behind him like a wind-torn banner of a magnificent knight charging towards glory; complimenting the strength and power of his legs as he pulled his hooves towards him to fully bound over the obstacle before him. As he reached the zenith of his hop, he would have liked a choir of angelic voices to cry out in bliss and wonder of the majesty he displayed, beckoning him to join them in the heavens above. His mind raced with images of him politely declining their offers, and instead, slowly drifting back down to the heaps below him, being carried down from up high by the power of adoration itself. His imagination threw together a picturesque dream of his perfectly toned forehooves stretching to meet the ground, slipping easily between two slabs of unfinished wooden puzzle pieces, as if fate itself were moving the world to complete this wonderful occasion. The world would conspire together to make this the single most perfect example of grace it would ever create. He would land with such authority that a path would clear itself before him, his knees bending slightly to absorb the impact from his wondrous leap as he brought his rear hooves to the solid oaken planks below him. And as he rose to his full height again, that choir of heavenly voices would beg out for another performance, and the very earth would applaud his performance, rewarding him with a path carved straight out of the mountains before him. And as he gazed longingly on this path, he caught the faintest glimmer of gold. There; before him, at the end of the path lay a mountain of shining bits, waiting for him to fill his bags and steal Star away from this forsaken city.

The truth was much less flattering than that.

In fact, his imagination running so wild distracted him from what he actually did, which was catch his forhoof on a handle, tripping him and sending him face first into a mound of shovels. He learned rather quickly that steel isn’t the tastiest of metals. As he picked himself up, he groaned and shook the dream from his head, regretting letting himself get so carried away. He groaned as he pulled himself out of the heap of trash, feeling the familiar pulse of an oncoming headache, and the regret he was going to be facing in a couple of minutes.

He stumbled his way deeper into the mess, wondering just what the buck was he supposed to be going after. He pulled himself out of the short hallway and into some sort of larger room; the constant layer of various parts and tools everywhere was starting to make it hard to make anything out beyond the bare minimum.

“If they honestly expected me to understand if anything in here was actually worth anything, then it looks like I’m seriously going to have to explain to them that I’m a wasted cause. . . hmm.” he tapped a hoof to his chin, wondering if he could leverage this to get them to agree to cut him loose. That asshole unicorn already said he had low expectations, so maybe it wasn’t totally unbelievable that he could get them to give up on him. “Well, worth a shot. Maybe I can actually snag something while I’m here, anyways. Can’t hurt to have a bit more gold in my pockets.”

He shrugged to himself, happy that he might have just stumbled onto his ticket to freedom, and began to more earnestly search through the various tools. Not that he had gained any understanding as to pretty much anything that he was looking at, but at least he felt his spirits going up considerably.

He had shuffled his way through the larger room until he hit the far wall, where he discovered that there was, in fact, a doorway leading to another room. This one, while still covered in tools, was obviously a dining area. He could see a table in the center, layered with a healthy coating of pliers and hammers, and more than one wheel. He also spotted several mugs on the closest side of a broken wheel, though the aroma coming out of it was completely foreign to him. He found numerous plates lining both the table and several larger contraptions that had what appeared to be food scraps left on them.

Forgotten meals, he concluded.

He scanned the room, glad to not be knee-deep in metal bits. Noting the counters covered by more parts than tools, he concluded that this must be one of the actual working areas inside, though he still had to wonder just what kind of pony would be able, let alone willing, to work in these kinds of conditions.

He traversed the uneasy terrain, taking his time to avoid stepping on anything painful, making his way to the next obvious doorway. The first room he managed to pass through unscathed, he breathed a sigh of relief and peered around, feeling his relief flood through him: a room not trashed with what looked like trash. Instead, he found a small table surrounded by three abused pillows.

The table held a small contraption that he doubted he’d ever understand, though he was content to realize that it shone a lot like gold. Gold would be valuable, a concept he didn’t need any smarts to understand.

As he trotted up to the thing, he took a second to appreciate the intricacy of whatever it was; what looked to be a solid gold block, with a massive black gemstone embedded in the top of it. As he got closer, he saw silver engravings encircling the gemstone, written in a language he didn’t understand. A warm breeze flowed around his leg the moment he stuck his hoof out to grab the object, freezing him on the spot for a few seconds, even after the breeze subsided. “Spooky.”

He sat there a second, hoof stretched to snatch the golden box, his mind wrestling over whether or not he should even bother with it. On the one hoof: it was a block of gold, with some pretty ornate decorations that could have some very nice value. On the other: this was a strange object that was starting to make his fur crawl. After another moment, he decided that he’d just go find something else that he could try to grab, and that he’d only take this thing if there wasn’t anything else inside with a much smaller spook factor. His fur did calm down as his hoof hit the wooden floorboards, though, so he figured he probably made the right decision.

Walking passed the table, he made his way to a staircase, taking him to the second floor, and further through the cleaner parts of the building. As he reached the top of the stairs, he was greeted by two doors, one on either side of him, and both closed off. He eyed the two before shrugging and stepping up to the right door.

The knob jiggled a bit, but refused to relent, leaving him sighing and stepping away from a potential excuse to not take the box. Spinning on his hooves, he tried the left door, happy that it gave way, and stepped into a large bedroom. The floor was littered with junk, but he was able to step around anything in his way and cross over to the massive bed spread at the far end of the room. It could fit five ponies comfortably, so he figured there had to be at least seven that slept there, eight if everypony had a single pillow to themselves. He put a hoof on the bed and had to fight the creeping envy at how comfortable it felt.

“Must be nice to have money for something like this. . .” he shook his attention back to the task at hoof and started searching the room for anything of value. The first things to obtain his scrutiny were the three modest dressers next to the bed.

Resting on the dresser tops were several scraps of metal and even more plates. His hopes were slowly dwindling as he opened the first row of drawers and was greeted by a bunch of heavily worn clothes. “Of course; ponies who sleep in groups of eight aren’t going to have nice clothes to steal. Be willing to bet that bed’s gotta be worth something. . . if only I could steal an entire bucking bed.”

He moved on to the middle set of drawers, pulling them open with more desperation than anything. His face flattened and he sighed at the sight or more tools.

“Tools could be worth something. . . maybe? How the buck am I supposed to know what tools are worth: they can’t be worth that much! There’s hundreds of them in here!” he dropped his head onto the dresser and shut the drawers, really hating where life was taking him. He idly slid the last drawers open, took one look at the impressive spider’s web covering most of it, before he sighed deeply and apologized to the large spider chilling in the corner of the drawer. With no luck in the drawers, he looked around for anything else, spotting an open closet.

Feeling like he was going to be leaving with the strange golden box, he trotted over to the closet and took a quick peek at the scrap heap. He didn’t resist the dissatisfied nod that came as he saw what was becoming an obvious theme for the place. Tools and parts, tools and parts everywhere.

Across the room was a small bathroom, and he didn’t really feel like searching in there, so he internally belated his misfortune and made his way back downstairs to grab the spooky golden box and be done with this place. He paused when he reached the base of the stairs, however, and stared at the box, wondering if it was different, or if he was just imagining things. He took a single step closer to it, his eyes fixed on whatever it was supposed to be, but nothing seemed to change. Another step closer, and now he was expecting it to react to his presence, and yet nothing changed.

He felt a chill run up his spine, but he fought it off and took another step, his eyes narrowing as he put even more attention to spot anything off. He reached the table without anything changing, but he still had a feeling that this wasn’t something that he wanted absolutely anything to do with.

With the uneasiness remaining firmly rooted throughout his entire being, he decided that he would just write the workshop off as a lost cause and pretend that he never saw anything in here. With his resolve finally settled on something, he backed away from the table and immediately dragged his flank back the way he’d come. Now that he’d gained some experience traversing the mess that was the entirety of the back parts of the building, he managed to get out in half the time it took to get in. And he only tripped on scraps once, as a treat!

Shutting the back door behind him, he ruffled his wings and took a deep breath, happy to be out of the scrap storage site. Taking to the skies, he felt the sun fall down on his back like a comforting blanket, soothing his troubles for but a moment. He took a second to appreciate the respite before returning his attention to what he was being forced into doing. With the workshop scratched off the list, he remembered the next location, the merchant that hadn’t been robbed by these thieves yet.

“The Way. . . the Way. . .” he flapped his wings a little harder as he oriented himself to fly further down the large street towards the central marketplace. Realizing he was getting pretty high above the city, he took a short dive to stick closer to the skyline, relishing the light breeze helping him along. Having a breeze and the sun on his back was beginning to raise his spirits.

Having a strangely peaceful flight over the city, his mind drifted off to thoughts of Star, and whatever future they were going to have together. He found the anxiety replaced by a surging sense of hope, and he felt a pleasant smile form on his muzzle. This city may not be perfect, but being up here, this was an experience he wanted to share with his brother: for the two of them to enjoy the privilege that pegasi have. He found himself eager to share the skies with Star, to relish the joy of flying above the world with the only important pony he knew.

Though he was nearly lost in thought, flashes of bright colors did manage to snap his attention back to the world around him. The largest marketplace in the city passed below him, reminding him that he needed to head down further until he came across the wealthier district. He tapped his head as he began to look for the building that he was supposed to find, trying to remember which color it was. He completely passed the markets, and decided that a higher vantage point would actually be useful.

As he rose a fair distance above the skyline, the first proper mansions came into view, and he felt a small pit of frustration harden up in his stomach. He knew the instinctual reaction wasn’t good, and he did what he could to quell it before it got worse, but he struggled to stifle the emotion.

He figured the faster he was out of the district, the better he’d be.

Eyes darting around nervously, he scanned the various buildings, trying to discern shop from smaller housing units, though the larger manors and mansions held their own identities with pride. He was holding onto some hope that he wouldn’t have to go into another of the larger buildings. He doubted that he’d have anywhere near as much luck actually getting anything worthwhile from one, even during this assembly.

As he soared above the buildings, a green slated roof caught his attention, and his memory shot back to the conversation he had with his crimson thief friend. Having found what he was looking for, he folded his wings against his side and dove back down to the empty streets below. He was holding out hope that he’d be able to get in and out as quickly as possible, and he considered it a strong start that there weren’t any other ponies out in the streets.

His momentum carried him further than he would have liked, and his hoof-steps clopped across the barren streets as he trotted to a stop. When he finally managed to stop and turn around, he gave the supposed manor a quick glance, quickly noting that the large structure was built out of aged, rotting wood.

The dark beams and pillars were unfamiliar to him, though he did recognize the equestrian traditional stone foundations that held everything up. The front porch was cleared, leaving a blank railing of the same variety of dark wood to enclose what would only function as a standing area when the weather was nice. The doors, though equally dark as the rest of the manor, were strangely smooth-looking compared to the rough texture of the, likely, treated logs and aged planks that made up the rest of the walls. He also made a note that the knobs to said doors were rather gleaming, a shiny metal he wasn’t familiar with. He turned his gaze from the porch to somewhere a bit less difficult to break in through; his gaze falling upon the pair of massive, curtained windows to either side of the porch. They vaulted up at least twice as high as a pony, with some flare put into the framing that he thought would have looked nice, before the war. . .

All in all, he wasn’t too thrilled to be jumping into an ancient and crumbling estate, but nopony cared what he wanted, so shrugged and stepped closer. The rusty iron fencing blocking him from his destination was shorter than he was, so a simple hop, boosted just a tad with a flap of his wings, got him clear over. He also sailed over the dying bushes, and landed him on a lawn that had a tedium of care put into it.

He’d give them that: at least the owners had given some attention to something on the outside. He shuddered when the thought of reenacting the last journey he decided to undergo passed through his mind.

He sent a prayer to anypony listening that he didn’t have to go through anything like that again.

Steeling his resolve, he trotted up to the manor, his ears on swivels as he listened for both ponies passing by on the streets and on the other side of the walls. The manor was less impressive the closer he got, and he let out a tiny sigh of relief that he wasn’t going to be braving anything horrendous, at least the manor was only a small bit larger than the warehouse; he found it more modest than what the neighbors were flaunting. . . or maybe this merchant was on the poorer side of rich?

The snort that escaped his muzzle was entirely involuntary, though he wouldn’t have resisted it even if he had the option. Having spared a moment to relieve some of his winding tension at the task at hoof, he brought his attention back to the manor before him, and with it; a plan to get in.

Fighting a brief spike of disappointment, he noted that the windows in the front of the house weren’t exactly an option, though he opted to not think about it too hard. He did see that the path leading up to the porch split off, heading off to the side of the manor, where he saw a small gap between the crumbling fence and the dilapidated building. As he followed the path, leaving his exposed position on the lawn, he felt a small bit of tension flow out of his shoulders and wings. His steps smoothed out as he crept into the shadow of the manor, and he felt an ache he was unaware of vanish from the base of his neck.

He paused for a moment as he realized just how tense he’d become.

“Stupid thieves with their stupid plans and stupid threats.” he muttered to himself when he finally got his emotions back under control. He brought his attention to the wall to his left, his eyes immediately piercing through the stained glass to peer inside the manor for the first time. He trotted up to the base of the windows, standing on his hind legs to see over the lip, and his vision fell upon a warm interior, the walls made of some dark wood panels with decorations spaced evenly on them.

As his front hooves pressed against the window, it slid open, almost bringing a yelp of surprise out of him. He caught himself before he made a mistake, and pulled himself through the opening, slipping into what appeared to be a hallway. Once he’d gotten his bearings around him again, he took a better look around, taking in the warm, cozy atmosphere, from the comfortable blue carpet running down the center of the hall, to the spaced benches and flower pots lining the base of the walls. He turned his head to the side and his gaze fell upon a massive painting of a mare, the mare he assumed to be either the merchant herself, or a family member.

He turned to focus on the painting, his curiosity of the painting momentarily overtaking his anxiety. The mare was seated on a lavish-looking black leather couch, her posture firm and confident; the straight back, forehooves planted firmly between her back hooves, a slightly smug smirk on her muzzle. Then the finer details made themselves out to him: how a heart-shaped patch of white fur shone out from the soft gray of her coat on the tip of her snout, and those very same white patches stood out on her perked up ears, one of which had a shining pearl earring embedded in it. The artist seemed to capture in their painting a fierce passion in the mare’s lively pink eyes, staring back at him through the portrait and compelling him to believe that this was, in fact, the merchant. Slicked back and resting upon her shoulders, framing an extravagant pearl necklace, her rich magenta mane almost seemed to glitter, as if the artists had sprinkled in something with some glint to it. Resting underneath her vibrant mane and sparkly pearl necklace, the mare was decorated with a simple, if inarguably pretty blouse that the artist had crafted so perfectly, Blaze thought for sure that he might feel the fabric itself with a touch. Completing the mare’s outfit in similar humble fashion, the mare had a skirt of magenta matching her mane that flowed over her flanks and hid her tail, only barely revealing a set of soft, black sandals over her hooves.

He knew getting distracted was a bad idea, and even though he was constantly aware of the steady dwindling time he had left, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the mare. Something about the painting held his attention longer than it should have, holding him in place as he stared at it.

It took his focus finally snapping back to reality before he could peel his gaze away, and as he did, he forced his hooves to carry him along the carpet and further away from any other distractions. It shook him deeply that he’d become so enraptured by the painting, and he found the worst part being that he didn’t even know what caught his attention so thoroughly. His hooves kept him trotting along, the surprisingly lush carpets muffling his hoofsteps while his mind wrestled with itself in confusion.

So focused on his own thoughts, he nearly trotted into a door that had been swung open in front of his path.

It was his saving grace that his first instinct was to leap into the air, his wings carrying him above the hall and straight into the side of the ceiling, smashing himself as far into the wall as he could get. A mare in a maid’s outfit walked through the now open doors, humming a happy tune as she walked over to a potted plant just in front of the door, a feather duster dangling from her muzzle. She kept humming her tune as she dusted the wilting plant’s pot, oblivious to the intruder hovering just above her.

He tracked her every movement, his eyes stretched wide that he’d been so close to being caught, and his nerves standing on end. He stared in shock, every fiber in his body strained and ready to jump at anything, his mind devoid of anything save for waiting to see if this maid would discover him. He watched her dutifully dust a dying plant’s pot, her emerald wings twitching and fluffing with every brush she made, her body shifting around as she cleaned the pot. He helplessly watched as her tail swung back and forth to the rhythm of whatever melody she was humming, with his heart pounding so loudly in his ears he could no longer make out that melody.

Wings stiff and sore from staying planted against the ceiling, flapping just hard enough to keep him airborne, yet not enough to make a sound, he stayed silent for what felt like an eternity as the maid thoroughly inspected the pot, taking her time to make sure her job had been done to perfection.

Even as she stepped back to move on to her next task, he never took his eyes off of her.

He watched as she offered the same dedication to dusting the next item down the hall: an old bench that he doubted had ever actually been used by anypony. With the maid’s own attention directed to the object of her ministrations, he carefully edged himself away from her, until he was directly above the door she had carelessly left wide open. He waited until she had turned her back to him, then he shut his wings and dropped to the opening, flapping his wings back open enough to throw himself back and into whatever room she had come from.

He held his breath even as he passed out of the maid’s sight, his nerves still on high alert as he quickly surveyed his new surroundings. He knew that the manor wasn’t exactly big, but he was still surprised by the sheer length of the next hallway he had entered; he figured it must have stretched the entire width of the manor. This hallway, like the one he’d just escaped from, had doors lining the walls, both sides this time, and at the far end it was capped by a simple staircase leading to the next floor.

It was with some effort that he suppressed the groan at the number of doors he’d have to search to find anything promising.

His ears quickly flicked back to the doors he’d just passed through, listening for the maid, until he stepped towards the first door. He paused at it, then slid forward a step and pressed his ear against it, desperately trying to split his focus between any sounds coming from the room and his surroundings.

He didn’t think he heard anything, so he put a hoof to the doorknob, took a steadying breath, and turned the knob, feeling his heart climb into his throat as he pushed his way into the first room. His heart very quickly fell back into his chest as he peaked around the door, seeing a barren office-looking room, with a single, dusted desk front and center. Lying on the desk was a stack of papers, along with a quill poking out of a tiny pot of ink. He blinked at the desk in surprise, then stepped further into the office, turning his gaze around the room, with some more decorations finally coming into view.

Sitting to either side of the desk against either wall were a pair of simple shelves, sparsely populated by aging books, though the maid seemed to have done her job and kept the empty spaces well dusted. As he entered the office, the carpet had given way to hard planks of wood a shade or two lighter than the walls.Passing inside the office gave him a chance to appreciate the cooler interior, though the candles glowing in the small chandelier above him did cast some warmth. He wondered why anypony would want to sit down in such a lonely, empty space, but he just couldn’t think of any reason.

Standing in the center of the room, he stared at the desk in doubt, before he sighed and walked up to it, hoping that there might be something interesting in the drawers. As he rounded the corner of it, his attention moved to the space behind the door that he hadn’t been able to see yet. Sitting against the wall was a rather lonely stool pillow, though it seemed strange that it would be placed so far from just about anything else in the room, though just above that pillow was a framed painting of some trees, something that he thought felt out of place in the spartan office.

The desk had a single drawer around the back, and as he pulled it open, all he was rewarded with was several loose sheets of paper that he doubted would be of any value to thieves who told him to look for valuables. He did give them a quick skim, though, his curiosity mildly overpowering his desire to finish this up. His reward for that inspection was more useless information.

His eyes wandered over the papers for a moment longer, until he couldn’t hold in yet another sigh of disappointment.

He shut the drawer with more force than was necessary and pumped his wings to quickly hop over the desk. As he made his way back to the door, his attention shifted back over to the single painting in the room, and as he gave it more attention, he saw that it was off-centered, tilting ever so slightly to the left. With how clean and organized the rest of the office was, he found that a particularly strange thing for either the maid or merchant to have missed.

Feeling like something wasn’t quite right about the painting, he stopped marching towards the door, instead choosing to approach the seat. The fabric of the pillow was harder than he was expecting, his hooves weren’t sinking into it like they probably should have.

He also noted that propping himself up on the pillow put him eye-level with the first few branches of the center-most tree. One hoof reached up and tried to straighten the painting, only for him to be met with the slightest bit of resistance, more than just the weight of a large painting. He blinked in surprise, his curiosity and confusion continuing to rise, though he quickly cast a glance away from the painting to check the door.

He reached up both hooves, pushing the painting up and letting it gently slide down the wall so he could inspect it on the ground. The painting was definitely heavier than it should have been, though, as he pulled down the painting, the situation revealed itself to him: a small safe had been embedded in the wall, hidden from sight by the painting.

Now that he could see what was going on, a grin slowly grew on his muzzle: he was finally getting somewhere. He placed the painting on the ground, out of the way, and he leaned up to get a better look at the safe, which would have surely held something of value in his mind. As he leaned closer, he felt the first spark of interest in whatever it may have been that these thieves were feeling about this occupation.

Was it excitement?

He paused, taken aback by the sudden sympathy he was feeling for those ponies that were absolutely ruining his life. He was just supposed to be doing this to protect Star. . . so why was he imagining gaining more than that out of this?

Shaking his head clear, he decided that now was probably the worst time to start thinking this over, and returned his attention to the safe before him. There was a keyhole on the left side, though he had no idea what to do about getting it open: breaking into safes was something that the thieves would know, but not him. He didn’t even see a key in the desk, so he imagined that it would either be hidden somewhere else in the room, or, what he was leaning more into, it was being held by the merchant mare. His ears flattened against his head, and he stared at the safe a little harder, wishing he had some way of opening it up and getting a glimpse of what was inside.

The spark of excitement he’d felt just a moment before died off, and he backed away feeling even worse than before he’d made this interesting discovery. He bent over and pulled the painting up to the pillow, deflated at how bad today had been for him. As he lazily drifted his gaze around, something glinted against the wooden floors, and he paused to see what had appeared before him.

It was a small metal key. . .

He stared at the key for a second. . . then two. . . three. . . then he jumped, leaping forward and snatching it up in a fever of excitement, his mind rushing with ideas of what he might find in the safe.

It took him longer than he thought it would to get the key into the hole, but his hooves were trembling, possibilities distracting him from focusing on what was and will be, and he had to make several attempts before the key slid in. There was a second where he hesitated, taking the time to center his thoughts and to bring down his racing heart: here was the first of what he felt could be a very exciting string of successful outings of finding wealth.

The key turned effortlessly, unlocking the catch of the safe with a satisfying ‘pop’ and swinging the door open enough for him to grab it and fully reveal whatever the merchant had deemed important enough to be locked and hidden away.

Though it was midday, the office had been tucked within the interior of the manor, and was consequently darker than it would have been otherwise. He was half-expecting the safe to have been much the same; though the chandelier above him would have given enough light to see the contents of it. What he was not expecting was a tiny, iridescent gemstone inside the safe to bathe the cast iron walls with a soft blue glow. He stared at the gemstone in wonder, it’s flawlessly cut sides reminding him of the perfect gemstones he’d seen on display at more than one travelling merchant from the markets. Though he couldn’t remember ever seeing a gemstone that glowed.

He scooped the glowing beauty up with gentle hooves, admiring the perfection of it as it rested against his now blue-hued hooves. With care, he placed the gemstone in one of his saddlebags, happy that he now had something pretty interesting to show for his efforts.

Returning his attention to the safe, he also saw a small folder paper being pinned down by a plump pouch that jingled with a lovely tune as he pulled it out. He slid the paper into his saddlebags, intending to read it later, while the pouch of bits followed shortly after. Resting next to the pouch was a small stack of metal medallions, which he pulled out with curiosity.

Engraved on one face was a strange triangle, with the bottom line both rounded into a semicircle, but also split in half. He flipped a medallion over, seeing a pair of crossed knives. He blinked at the metal coins, which were made of a softer metal he hadn’t seen before. “Huh. A bit used by other ponies?”

He shrugged, tossing the stack of medallions into his saddlebags and checking for anything else in the safe. The final item he found was a really intricate wooden box, rectangular in shape, and coming in just short of the length of his foreleg. As he slid it out of the safe, he noticed that it had, much like the painting, more weight than it probably should have had. Judging by the interesting things he had found within the safe, he was excited at the possibility of something valuable being in the box as well.

He examined the box once he’d gotten it out of the now-darkened safe and into the candlelight. The wood was about as light as oak, but was polished and shone cleanly: somepony cared for it greatly. On the top of the box were a series of intricate metal engravings flowing in a rather pretty pattern, and the corners had been capped by even more intricately detailed metal. He spun it around in his hooves, admiring the detail put into the decorations, his excitement at what could possibly deserve such a display almost making his drool in anticipation.

That is, until he turned it around and found yet another keyhole locking the lid and sealing the box from revealing its tantalizing secrets. His face fell flat as all his hopes and dreams were crushed by the revelation, he stared lifelessly at the crushing disappointment of a secret box, his ears flicked against his head, all the while his mind slowly caught up. His attention flickered to the safe, hoping that maybe the key had been left inside, but the safe had now been thoroughly cleared out. The safe’s key was much larger than the one he needed to open the box, something that he made sure to double- and then triple -check.

At a complete loss, he put the box in his saddlebags and shut the safe, locking it again and hiding the key in the back of the painting. As he put the painting back on the wall, he felt his hopes slowly climbing back up, and with them, the excitement that was blossoming in his chest.

Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as he was thinking it would be.

He paused at the door, pressing his ears against it, only leaving when he made sure he couldn’t hear anything on the other side. With the office raided, he turned his attention to the line of at least another five doors on this hallway, but instead of the resigned exhaustion he felt earlier, he now felt drive, excitement. He was being pushed along by the rush of finding something interesting.

He crossed the hall and paused at the next door long enough to listen for anypony on the other side. When he heard nothing, he pressed onward, entering the room, and finding himself in what might have once been a guest bedroom. It was difficult for him to tell; there wasn’t a lot of light, save what bled in from the hall, but the old, ragged bed pressed against the far wall meant that somepony was supposed to use it at some point. He quickly scanned the rest of the room, but even though everything was clearly being taken care of by the maid, he couldn’t shake the feeling that nopony had actually used this room in quite a long time.

Still, he succumbed to the urge to at least check the dresser drawers and closet to see if there was anything in them.

After the first room had been such a success, he found no reason to object to looking around for anything, and he found himself eyeing up every painting that he could see. He knew that the likelihood of yet another one having something hidden behind it was abysmal, but he felt the urge nonetheless. The second room had been a complete bust: nothing in the dressers, and the closet was equally barren of absolutely anything. The third room fell in much a similar fashion, though instead of it being a guest bedroom, he found himself in what was likely a spare office, though it had traded any obvious signs of use for stacks of boxes.

His newfound desire to investigate anything that might hold value was fed as he searched through the boxes, though that desire then went unrewarded as he found heaps of useless items.

The fourth room was yet another spare bedroom, equally tended to by the maid, though this one seemed to have some life to it: as he had entered the room, he was hit by a cloud of various scents. Unmistakably pony, he knew that, though none were particularly strong, which meant that they were probably remnant smells, somepony had at least used the room. What confused him the most was that he couldn’t actually identify the scents: he had the impression that they weren’t individual smells, as he remembered coming across similar ones in both his old and current homes, but he had no reference for what they actually were. Sweat? He thought that he could pick out the musty aroma that came whenever ponies put physical effort into anything, but it was muddled by other, much less familiar scents.

He had decided to move on, not finding anything of interest.

As he approached the fifth room, he had finally started to break free of the clutches of the interest of searching every little thing for any valuables, the itche he’d acquired going so unscratched for too long. He listened for anypony on the other side, and when nothing came up, he pushed the door open and slipped into the next office. It was a pattern he’d noticed going on, the rooms on this side had been more work-related, while the other side was for bedrooms. And as he stepped into this one, he found the pattern to hold true.

This office was well lit like the first, a fact he was grateful for, and was in an interesting state of use: it was clear that somepony had been using this room for their work, though that work was far less organized as the merchant’s office. There was an actual rug on the floor, already giving the room far more personality than the first office, though his attention was drawn to the desk at the far end, which was decorated by a bright green vase with several flowers within.

Placed next to the vase was a small portrait of a pony, though he couldn’t quite make out the details yet, though as he stepped further into the room, he saw that it depicted a mare he had yet to see anywhere else in the manor.

Stacked on the desk were a few loose sheets of paper, along with several folders, though nothing about them caught his attention quite like the display of flowers. He turned his attention to the rest of the room as it fully came into view: a couch was sitting against a wall, with a couple of pillows fluffed on either end, while a small end table held some bound books that caught his eye.

The books themselves didn’t hold any meaning or interest for him: the titles made them sound like bad romance novels, but he was hesitant to leaf through them enough to find out. His time was running out as it was, and he felt no need to waste it on books, so he quickly scrounged through the room, enjoying the relaxing aroma that the flowers infused in the air. A line of shelves on the far end of the room held little of particular interest, though he did snag a tiny silver pocket watch, figuring he might get something out of it.

“Two separate offices? Why would one merchant need them, and why would she have so many different things in them? I didn’t hear anything about there being more ponies that worked inside, though maybe that maid is using this?” he voiced his thoughts to the manor, as if he were expecting it to actually entertain him.

Leaving the second office behind him, with only a watch to show for it, he quickly finished the final room in the hall, which had confirmed his suspicions of each office having a small bedroom just across the hall. He took a single look inside the room, and upon seeing it in the exact same state as the others, just decided to leave it be and move on to the rest of the manor.

He found himself standing at the base of the simple stairs, the blue carpets worn heavily from hoof traffic, and the second floor seeming to be much brighter than the first. His ears on high alert, he slowly climbed up the stairs, each hoof gently placed while he internally grimaced that the planks underneath him might creak or groan if he were to rush the ascent. He had made it halfway before he finally started to relax enough that he no longer felt like he might snap from the tension stiffening his entire body, though he still kept close vigil for anypony that could easily spring upon him. His body eased as his head cleared the base of the next floor, and he cast a quick glance around to get a good look at his surroundings.

The second floor greeted him with a small balcony of sorts, complete with a small table and armchair resting next to a humble bookshelf. He was extremely grateful that nopony had been sitting in the chair, though the double doors just beyond him were shut, so the possibility of a pony being on the other side shouldn’t be written off just yet.

As he rose further onto the second floor, he took a moment to appreciate that the windows up here, though slightly smaller than the ones of the first floor, were actually open now. He found the change in lighting to be improving his mood already, and that spark of eagerness to continue grabbing valuables rekindled in his chest. Making no effort to hide the devious grin that was brightening his face, he climbed the last few steps and crept over to the doors, following the procedure he’d developed to keep from being surprised again.

When he felt confident nopony was on the other side, he pushed the doors open, revealing a rather large seating area, with several lounging couches resting against the walls, while a large circle of plush pillows sat in the middle, surrounding a low table. As he stepped into the room, he saw that the table held quite a few items that he was completely unfamiliar with, strange round objects standing upright, held up by a pedestal of gleaming crystal. Tubes and metal rods were connected to the strange object, and he found himself thoroughly stumped by its purpose. Surrounding the mysterious object he saw three pouches that looked like they could hold bits, along with several more of those strange foreign bits dotting the table. He quickly trotted up to the table and scooped all the bits into his saddlebags, feeling quite content with the jingle of money that was, indeed, kept within those pouches.

At this rate he would have more than enough money to keep him and his brother safe. He figured that at this rate, he’d even be able to easily get those thieves to leave him alone.

He scanned the room again, seeing yet another pair of doors leading off to one side, and with nothing else to do in the room, he shrugged and walked over to them. Nopony making any noise on the other side, his grin grew wider as he pushed the next set of doors open, being greeted by what was obviously the master bedroom.

His first sights were on the ridiculously large bed standing right in front of him, dominating the room from its central position, a massive block of pillows and blankets that looked particularly expensive. Four posts held aloft a set of soft curtains that billowed in the draft of his abrupt entrance, and even though the bed curtains were slightly pulled back, he was still able to see the huddled form of somepony buried beneath the blankets.

He balked at the surprise waiting for him, but quickly dashed back into the lounging room, his heart exploding in his chest in shock. As he pressed himself against the wall, he waited for the alarmed shriek of somepony realizing he was there.

Seconds turned into minutes as he dreaded being caught red-hoofed in the act, but nothing ever came. The mysterious pony in the bed had yet to react to his presence, even though he had brazenly burst into their room. Once he had managed to get his breathing under control, he peered around the doors, eyeing the pony that had nearly given him a heart attack, who was still snuggled deep within the confines of the bed. Apparently, they were a heavy sleeper.

He hummed at the revelation, blinking his surprise away as he slowly crept back into the room. He ignored everything else as he snuck up to the bed, wondering just who would still be asleep at this time, and whether they were actually asleep or not. The pony had buried themselves pretty deep in there, refuting his attempt to identify them, but he wasn’t about to push his luck just to see somepony’s face.

Letting the sleeping pony do their own thing, he backed up and took a better look around the room, seeing lavish furnishings all around him: fancy lounging chairs, elegant desks and shelves holding several more exotic items, and more than one rather comfy-looking pillows thrown around the room.

And the smell! He felt like his snout was being assaulted by an entire flower garden, mixed in with the irresistible aroma of an earthy and familiar home.

He walked around the bed, admiring the sheer wealth that was being concealed around him, wishing that he could have been able to show Star this. Then he felt the absolute desire to give his baby brother this kind of life, something inside of him hardened around his heart, and his chest tightened as he felt that desire turn into resolve. Stealing may have been something he’d found undesirable, but the more he felt this conviction, the more he felt that both he and his brother deserved this kind of life. Or, at the very least, something better than living in an abandoned and repurposed warehouse.

The desks around him were littered with jewelry and bits, as if the ponies that lived here were unconcerned with the amount of wealth that they had, and were willing to leave it just lying wherever was most convenient.

“Well, can’t say I’ll complain.” he mumbled to himself as he shoved everything that looked valuable into his saddlebags. He was surprised by the sheer volume of riches he’d discovered just lying around, as one saddlebag was completely stuffed with loot by the time he’d made it all the way around the room. As he grabbed the last of the loose bits he could see in the room, he thought about the final job he had to do, and whether or not the thieves would be satisfied with what he’d gotten out of just this one.

He felt tempted to just leave while he’d accumulated this much wealth and call it good there, but then he remembered the disaster that was the tinkerer’s workshop, and how nothing had come out of it.

He figured that he’d at least give the last shop a peak: try to justify only grabbing things from one location. He doubted that a general shop would have anything nice in it anyways, but he had an unshakable feeling that those thieves would be upset if it were discovered that he’d cheated them out of any potential riches. As he made the final decision, he gave the strange sleeping pony a final look, before passing his attention over to the nearest desk, one he hadn’t looted yet. Sitting on top of it was a beautiful silver necklace.

“More pickings.” he shrugged, trotting over to the necklace and happily snatching it up. Upon closer inspection, he saw that a gleaming moon pendant hung off the end of the necklace, capturing his attention for a second. As he looked at the pendant, he admired the workponyship of it, then decided that this would be quite the gift he could give to Star, and that, surely, the gang of thieves wouldn’t mind missing out on a single silver necklace. Not that he had any intention of letting them know about it.

He gently wrapped the necklace in on itself and stuffed it in his mane, hoping that it didn’t get itself tangled as he went through the day.

His run of the building having been more than successful, he wondered whether or not it was worth continuing to explore and find any more loot, though he was also aware that time was very much running out. He looked around the room to find anything else that might be of immediate interest, but though the furniture was rather intriguing to look at, he had no way of hauling an entire bucking desk out of the manor.

He rolled his shoulders and shuffled his wings as he considered his options, though he had a sinking feeling that there was really only one option left for him. Still, he found that he was starting to hate the idea of not really being able to search the entire manor for riches, though he knew that it wasn’t something that he would have been able to do anyways. He just didn’t actually know what he was doing, other than running around grabbing shiny things and avoiding the owners of said shiny things. Still, having this new necklace for Star, and a saddlebag full of shiny things was feeding a hunger that he had awoken, and now he doubted that he’d be able to fully stifle it. Especially if these thieves noticed it and roped him deeper into doing their dirty work.

He frowned at that thought, though a small part of him revelled in the possibility of finding more shiny things. He did his best to shut that part up.

Realizing that standing here debating a losing battle was just wasting even more time, he trotted back out of the bedroom, shutting the doors behind him and making his way back to the stairs. He heard voices at the base, which stopped him in his tracks. They sounded like they were just underneath the railing beneath him, which he found to be quite the nuisance, though he thanked the heavens above that they didn’t sound to be heading up the stairs quite yet.

He approached the railing and leaned over it, wondering if he could get a sneak peak at them, but hesitated just before he leaned over the edge.

“-strange that this assembly would take so long. What do you think that the Princesses would want to talk to everypony about?” one of the ponies asked, a stallion, judging by the sound of his voice.

“Honestly? I haven’t got a clue: they’ve been pretty reclusive up in their castle, so I don’t think there are very many ponies out here in the city that actually know what’s even been going on. But hey: at least they’re letting everypony know about something important.” a mare responded, “What do you think, Ebony?”

“Whatever it is, I hope that the Master and the Lady can find something useful out of it.” a mare who was apparently Ebony answered. “I wouldn’t dare to say this directly to their faces, but they’ve really been struggling to keep this lifestyle up, and I think that, unless something changes soon, they’re going to need to start giving up some luxuries.”

“And how could you possibly know they’re struggling to make money?” the stallion asked, his voice sounded to Blaze like he was wearing a shocked and offended face.

“I know I shouldn’t have, but it was just right there! The Master had asked me to help him with a few re-organizations in his office, and while I was stacking some of his studies on the bookshelf, I caught a glimpse of his business ledger. I don’t know too much about it, but it looked pretty bad, with a bunch of arrows and angry-looking notes written around.” Ebony sounded ashamed, but Blaze also picked up on a bit of fear and sadness in her voice.

“That was a bad decision, Ebony.” the first mare scolded at first, but then her voice softened, and Blaze imagined that she put her hoof on Ebony’s shoulder. “Things will get better, I know it. The Master and the Lady have kept us all alive through these uncertain times, and I know that they’ll do whatever they need to to provide for us, even if the Princesses can’t.”

“Talking bad about the Princesses sounds like a horrible decision to me.” the stallion remarked, his tone stiffening quite a bit. “I’m going to go bad to my rounds, you two should at least keep your voices down if you want to talk of such things.”

With that closing remark, the three ponies seemed to have come to an agreement, and the voices died off as they all returned to their duties. Whatever they had gathered at the base of the stairs for, the conversation had, Blaze very thankfully noted, killed off their desire to head up the stairs. He stood there for a moment longer, taking the time to process just what he’d heard, though he was struggling to believe that these ponies, who had money absolutely everywhere it seemed, were running out of it. A very short spike of guilt ran through him that he might be taking bits that these working ponies very well might have needed, but then he remembered that they were working for ponies living in a manor, with enough bits that they could just leave stuff lying around.

He leaned over the railing to check the hallway, and when he had confirmed that it was empty of ponies, threw himself over the ledge and used his wings to propel himself down the hall. He figured the less time he spent in here, the better. Especially now that he knew there were at least three ponies downstairs.

His wings carried him swiftly across the carpeted hall until he reached the first set of doors that he’d slipped through in his first encounter. He paused at them, not wanting to run into another maid, not when he was so close to making his break with all the goodies he’d grabbed from them. He turned his ears backwards to listen carefully as he slowly pushed a door open, giving him a small view of the far hallway.

Nopony in sight. Something he was grateful to see.

He pushed the door open just wide enough for him to slip through, and had managed to get his shoulders through the gap before he turned his head and nearly jumped out of his own skin. Two of the maids were still walking away from him, having not even made it to the next set of doors, or the painting, for that matter. He froze in his tracks, staring wide-eyed at the mare and stallion before him, hoping against all hope that they hadn’t seen him yet.

In the brief moment before he dove back behind the doors, in that flashing second he was rooted to the spot, his fear-stricken mind noted with strange curiosity that the two ponies were very clearly wearing the exact same maid’s outfit. A black and white blouse and skirt, their manes pulled back into a bun, with a matching set of black pins holding them up. A white belt tying their skirts to their waists, while several items hung from their sides. Both mare and stallion wore a set of long white socks that ran all the way up to the rest of the outfit, the only fur from their coats showing through coming from a thin strip between the socks and the outfit, and from a pair of openings at the back of their joins, where tufts of fur stuck out. A flash of color distracting his darting gaze, he had gotten an even more momentary glimpse of small bows tied to the lips of their socks. Blaze found his eyes swiftly travelling between the two ponies; eyeing them from their manes to the compact shoes that softened their hoofsteps on the carpet below, and absolutely everything in between.

As he pulled himself against the door and back out of sight, he found his mind stuck on the image of the two. He decided, for his own self-interest, that it was out of fear that he had nearly ran into them, rather than face the strange emotion he hadn’t felt before that was trying to rise out of the lowest pits in his stomach.

It didn’t help to distract him that his cheeks were burning up like he’d stuck his entire face into an oven.

He gave the two maids a chance to get further down the hall before he even dared to check to see if they were gone, both so he could have an opportunity to escape, and to give himself time to crush the strange feeling that was squeezing his chest. After he had managed to get the thundering out of his ears, though his heart still felt like it was just about to come out of his throat, he peered around the door again, seeing just the mare this time, and much further down the hall. Much more importantly to him at that point, was that the window he’d snuck in from was, though closed, now completely out in the open again.

Not wanting to waste any more time, though he was also starting to feel terrified of getting distracted by anything else and then running right into one of the maids, he darted out from behind the door and made as short of work as he could to get to the window.

He grabbed the latch and ripped the window open, leaping out and pumping his wings to get to the skies as quickly as possible, the wind rushing by and his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, drowning out everything else as he bolted away from the manor. Maybe that mare had noticed him when he’d gotten to the window, but by that point, he was already gone, so it didn’t matter. He pulled up over the nearby buildings and angled himself to soar back to the markets that he’d run into his crimson friend. He tried to settle his thoughts and remind himself of everything he’d accomplished and the tasks he still needed to do, but if he wasn’t drowning out his thoughts with panic to escape with his goods, then the distracting image of two ponies in maid outfits had him struggling to even focus on flying.

He wasn’t going to admit to nearly falling out of the skies because he forgot to keep his wings moving on more than one occasion in his mad dash away from the manor, no matter what anypony below him would try to tell anypony else. It didn’t happen.

Once he’d managed to get some distance between himself and the manor, his thoughts finally settled enough for him to get his attention back to the task at hoof. He put the intrusive thoughts and feelings away for processing later: he had neither the time nor the desire to think about what they were and where they were coming from. What he did need to put his thoughts to, however, was remembering the street and the name of the last shop he was supposed to look into.

It took him a few minutes, time that he had spent getting closer and closer to the markets, which were still surprisingly empty, before he remembered something about the store being a trinket store. He shook his head to refresh his thoughts. “‘Magical and Normal’ or something similar?”

Shrugging, he figured it was something that he would be able to better remember as he got closer to his final destination. So he dove down to get a closer look at the streets below, nearly skimming the roofs of some of the taller structures, but at least he could actually see some of the signs from that distance. As he watched the streets below him, those intrusive thoughts from earlier came biting back, nearly causing him to throw himself straight into a chimney stack as he fought them away with a mental broom, effectively stuffing them back away for later.

He realized he needed a better distraction than what he had going for him, and decided to do something a bit more active by diving into the empty streets below. It may not have been much, but at least he could put some effort into weaving through the streets instead of just flying over them. He still kept himself above any of the ponies trotting around on the ground; flying was still the fastest means of travelling, after all.

Once he’d turned a corner, he crossed a large open space with several benches dotted around, and trees marking the corners of the space. A modest statue in the center of the clearing stood proud, modeled after the two Sisters posed in grace and pride. As he soared just over the statue, he realized that he was crossing the Terrace, and that the street he was looking for was literally just around the corner. So he pumped his wings even faster and made his way around a tree and into the streets once more, very quickly finding himself hovering in the intersection of Third and Terrace Path.

Steadying his wing beats to keep himself where he was most comfortable, he scanned all the nearby shops and storefronts, looking for anything that sounded like it would have been a trinket shop. He saw various signs in various states of decay and abuse, barrels lined the streets, a wagon stood in front of a shop he couldn’t see a sign to, though the boarded up windows didn’t bode well for the place.

He spun in place, scanning every building until he saw exactly what he had been looking for: a surprisingly large shop that stood three stories tall, with broad, elegant windows to the front displaying several antique boxes and displays holding eye-catching pieces of jewelry and knickknacks.

Satisfied with how well his day was turning out to be, he wiped a grin off of his muzzle and landed in the streets below, casually walking down to the door of the Magical and Mundane. Though, the moment he entered the shop, he understood why his thief friend had said that it was a low-priority target: the place inside was a mess, and he had no clue just what he would be able to find that was of any value. He stepped fully into the store, eyeing all the shelves in front of him, and he realized that, while it might be difficult to find anything worthwhile in here, at least he would have an easier time hiding amongst the walls and walls of junk.

He entered a crouch, sliding into the shadows cast by the shelves, carefully searching through the piles and heaps next to him, rifling through stacks of items that he genuinely had no idea what they could possibly be. He did find some recognizable items, from ancient boots and saddles to an ornate dagger that he happily snagged, if only for the gold that adorned the sheathe.

Whatever idea the thieves had that this was a good idea, he wasn’t too keen to hear them out on this again. He had gone between the rows, aisle to aisle, digging through a mountain of junk, and he doubted that any one item he picked up would have been worth more than a hoof-full of bits. He did see some things that he found mildly intriguing, though he doubted that he actually wanted to waste anymore time on looking around at the various items.

He had circled around the first floor of the shop, since nopony was ponying the counter, grabbing whatever items looked like they were worth his time. After finding a relatively unimpressive haul, at least compared to the riches he’d gotten from the manor, he decided to, at least, check what was behind the counter.

As he reached the back of the store, he looked at what was actually on the counter, having only given the dangy looking items but a sparing glance. He saw more of what he’d seen everywhere else: just a whole lot of worthless junk. Though, as he hopped over the counter, standing where the store workers would handle transactions, he did catch a bit of a lucky break, and found a rather healthy pouch of gold, which was hastily added to his growing wealth. He smiled as he dumped the jingling bits into his saddlebags, feeling more relieved that he could take some of this money home and really spoil Star for the rude interruption they had received.

With the gold safely stored in his saddlebags, and not a whole lot else to show for the trouble of stopping by, he was just about to call it a day and leave, when something in the air seemed to shift.

He couldn’t quite tell what it was, but something was. . . off, and he felt a definite, if indescribable shift in either the atmosphere around him. It felt. . . colder? No, he felt the exact same, but there was something very wrong with the situation, and it was clawing at his sides that he didn’t know exactly what was going on. He felt the urge to leave growing worse now that he’d noticed that something was wrong, and that feeling of wrongness intensified. He felt a sweat break out on his coat, and his heart started to beat hard against his ribs, yet, at the same time, his curiosity had been fed by something.

Worried about his situation, he felt compelled to leave, yet that wrongness in the air. . . he swore he could almost taste the desire to find out where it was coming from. Like some kind of sweet allure, he couldn’t resist the bite, and he fought down the urge to run away.

Strangely enough, the second he decided to stick around and find out what was messing with him, the dreadful feeling of wrongness abated, leaving him only with this desire to seek out the source. His ears flicked in annoyance, knowing all too well that nothing good could come out of this, yet his newfound itch to find valuables had been thoroughly fed by this strange overpowering feeling. It kind of scared him, but now that he’d fed the feeling, his legs almost seemed to move on their own, dragging him over the counter and towards the stairs in the back of the store.

He doubted that the actual store led up to the second floor, which was most likely the home for the shop owners, but still. . . that allure was irresistible.

As he ascended the stairs, he felt yet another shift in the air, this time being almost a sweet aroma, desire laced with potential, and he felt overwhelmed by the need to find out what was dragging him further into the building. As he rose above the proper store and entered the home, he noticed that the insides, while lit by open windows, were exceptionally dark. More concerning for him, immediately at least, was that the second floor was absolutely gutted, and not even actual walls were holding anything in place. He rose from the stairs to enter a large, empty space, being driven forward by some outside influence, and his internal dread very quickly morphed into terror as he fought to regain control of his body.

The moment he tried to resist the pull, a white light pulsed into his vision, and he thought he saw a glimpse of a normal hallway lying in front of him, but the air shifted, and the flash was gone, leaving the darkened space. He was forced to take yet another step into the darkened room, and again he tried to resist, being met with yet another flash of what looked like an actual interior to this building.

The second flash remained much longer than the first, and he could make out a rug underneath his hooves, and a warm glow coming from a window at the far end of the hall. He could see various items hanging from the walls, though he didn’t recognize a single one of them. He saw a pair of doors on either side of him, both shut tightly, not that he could move to check them, anyway.

The vision faded, and he was, once more, standing in the terrifying void of a room, his hooves still unwilling to heed his commands to turn and leave, or even simply stop. His heart was thundering through his chest, thumping harder than anything he’d ever felt before. Well, a recent memory flooded back to him, of travelling in the early morning hours when he felt a sense of dread rather similar to this, overcome with despair and the presence of something very, very dark nearby. Whatever was happening to him here, it was exceptionally similar, and he dreaded to think of what was going to happen to him.

His body moved forward again, and again, he tried to resist it, to pull his hooves back and run away from the enchanting grip. It didn’t work, and he stepped forward, even though the tears started to break down, and he let out choking sobs of absolute terror, he stepped forward.

He was praying and begging to whatever force had afflicted him, he just wanted to go home, to leave this place and never come back. A flash of light, and he found himself in the hall again, the same warm, comforting light as before surrounding him, and for a moment he felt relief flood through him that his prayers might have been answered. The tears freely falling down his cheeks warmed a bit, and instead of being fueled by righteous terror, he shed some in utter relief. His eyes focused on where he was, noticing that he was now facing the rightmost door, and in but a moment of clarity, he thought that these two places were connected, that whatever force was moving him had been pulling him towards whatever was on the other side. He cast a glance behind him, and sure enough: there behind him was the other door, still closed tightly.

His relief was very quickly slaughtered, as the light was consumed, and he once more the tears of terror flowed, followed by sobbing pleas for freedom. He leaned away from wherever the force was pulling him, and for a second, he thought he could lift his hoof, but when he tried, pulling away from the darkness with all his strength, all he could feel was his muscles shifting in place.

It was a start, but it was far too little to ease his terror as the force simply pulled him closer, delving even deeper into the welling darkness before him. Through his hazy vision, blurred by fearful tears, he thought he could see the darkness welling before him into a physical being.

The shadows condensed into something, he couldn’t find any recognizable form, but he knew for certain that the shadows and darkness were, very much so, turning into something. Whatever that thing was, it was terrifying.

His fur stood on end, and he fought against the force, thrashing his head around in an attempt to free his hooves, his wings beat and pumped backwards, to no avail. The shadows simply held him in place, until one hoof broke free from the grip, shocking him from his crazed fight to stare at his released hoof. His shock instantly vanished as his panic returned, and he slammed it against the floor to gain more momentum and to free his other limbs, an audible whispering suddenly appearing around him as the shadows seemed to swarm around him in a flurry. They did nothing to deter him from fighting their grip, however, and he continued to rip at his invisible bonds, until both his forehooves were freed.

Feeling the allure of the shadows fading, he continued to pull, finding his hind legs moving with much less resistance, though they still felt locked to the floor.

The whispers that had so abruptly appeared turned into a raging cacophony of screaming voices, each distinct, yet none overtaking the others. To Blaze, it felt like he’d been thrust into the deepest, darkest pits of Tartarus, with the shadows swirling around him in unbridled chaos. He still did not stop fighting the grip.

With a sudden push, he was sent flying forwards, crashing to the ground in a crumpled heap, he was overwhelmed by the shadows, which were screaming in incomprehensible languages, all shouting over each other and ripping through his ears like a howling tempest. Having full control over his own body no longer felt like a freeing experience for him, instead, he felt like he had just angered the forces that had enslaved him so. Yet, he thought that he could feel something was off about the shadows; before, when he was still held in place, it had looked like they were taking a physical form. . .

He spared a quick glance up, and as the shadows swirled around him, he could spot a black spot in the waning light of the room. It sort of looked like a saddle, of sorts. He also felt that familiar warmth of the visions coming from it, yet, he had no way of reaching out to that comforting warmth, as the shadows still surrounded him, even if they had yet to touch him.

After curling up for what felt like an eternity, he simply shut down, waiting for the wicked shadows to run their course, hoping that he could return home to Star. He held out hope that he’d see his baby brother again, and that he didn’t ever have to go through something like this again.

As if he’d said a magic word, the shadows all vanished at once, and the cold darkness surrounding him seemed to lift all at once. He lifted the wing he was sheltering under, and peered around, seeing that he now found himself lying on the floor of a room. He was extremely confused about where he was, but as he looked around, he saw a few distinguishing features: the doors behind him were opened revealing a terrifyingly familiar hallway and second set of doors. He saw several pillows around him, and the cozy rug underneath of him reminded him of better days.

The single object that made his heart nearly stop was held upon a pedestal just in front of him, however. He shakily rose to his hooves when he saw it, though he had to wonder just what the actual buck had happened to him.

He stepped forward and admired the absolutely gorgeous saddle before him: whatever pristine material it had been made out of, he wondered just how much work had to go into keeping it so glistening and stunning. The seat in the center seemed to be shaped out of an elegant black leather, and the stitching holding it to the rich blue jockey and obsidian black skirt looked to be made out of some kind of golden thread. Following the theme of rich coloring, the fender and stirrups looked to be crafted of a fine gold-studded leather, while the various buckles and rigging looked to be formed of a strange black rock that shone with surprising brilliance that almost matched the gold. Engraved patterns seemed to flow across every large open space. Resting just behind the cantel, and sitting quite proudly on the richly engraved back housing, a set of massive, black-dyed saddlebags promised him that, when he grew older, he’d have all the room in the world to hold things. He admired with awe at the seeming perfection of such a gorgeous saddle, though he was stricken with doubt over the ordeal he’d just endured.

Was such a beauty his reward?

He was stuck questioning it, before he just gave up, feeling more exhausted than he had in quite a long time. He stripped off his current saddlebags and threw them to the floor, picking the exquisite saddle off of the pedestal and slipping it over his back. As it was right now, it was far, far too large to even fit him, it nearly touched the floor when draped over his back. Hay; he figured a saddle this large might be too big for even the Princesses, but he wasn’t going to pass it up if the shadow things left him with it. He piled the old saddlebags over the new ones and then turned, marching from the second floor and hoping that he never had to return here ever again.

The small colt had claimed his prize, hauling the Old One’s Glory from where the elders had left it, and as he fled back from the Place of Trials, the second set of doors swung inwards on themselves, revealing a darkened room that not even the midday sunlight could penetrate. A creature hummed and chuckled as it pulled itself from the shadows, its cloaked head cocked to the side as amused thoughts flitted around inside its head.

“Interesting.” the creature mused, its voice deeper than any mortal creature’s voice ought to have been. “To have been so young, and yet able to resist the demon’s call? My, oh, my; you are quite the intriguing fellow, Siliyah Compinea.”

Author's Note

So. . . yeah. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I am not quite dead yet.

For this chapter itself; I really struggled to finish it, like, I really struggled to get it done. There were a few weeks right after the last chapter where I decided to get to writing. I mean; all the free time in the world to write because of quarantine? Sign me up! The only real problem was that I never liked anything that I put to page. I went through quite a few different iterations of the first, like, 5K words. Then I put it off for a few months, tried coming back, was really unsatisfied with how it was turning out, and shelved it for the time being. I never stopped thinking about it, but I guess I was never in a place where writing was actually enjoyable. My life sucked (still kind of does, but that's besides the point), and it was really effecting my writing and my perception of the quality I wanted to create, you see I was what they called a "Gifted Child" and as such, I was raised to a perfectionist's standard, and that really crippled my outlook on the things I create. When I was first dabbling in writing, I was okay with any imperfections because I had genuinely no idea what I was doing. However, that changed, and I started to get an idea of how to build up a world, and with that change, I started applying a perfectionist standard to GotS.

To be honest, it was ridiculously difficult to break that habit of trying to craft a perfect story. I know it's impossible, and I am still trying to create the best possible story I can, but perfection is inherently unattainable. I still kind of need to get better and understanding and internalizing that, but I am making progress.

So, to the two or three of you who are actually interested in this story, I deeply apologize for the long wait. I'm feeling better than I have in quite a long time, and while I can't really bust out chapters like I used to back when I was in college, this quarantine has given me the time to figure some things out, and to find out what I really want out of this story. Maybe things will get to how I want them to, maybe not: only time will tell.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was actually pretty fun to make, at least once I found my rhythm and had gotten over the hurdle of hating everything I created.