Minorityby Darkrainb0wdashChaptersCh. 1Ch. 2Ch. 3Ch. 1“Grandpa, can you please tell me a story?” Honey asked. She was an earth pony, like the rest of her family. She had yellow fur with a teal mane and bright blue eyes. Honey and her mother, Sugar Song, came to check up on Feather Quill, her grandfather. “I don’t know, Honey. It’s time for you to go home. Besides, you must have something better to do than listen to my old stories,” Feather said. “No I don’t, and I like your stories! Please, grandpa? Pretty please?” She was using the puppy dog eyes. Feather could never resist the puppy dog eyes of a foal, especially not his granddaughter, and Honey knew it too. “Fine, but only if you mother says you can stay a little longer.” Feather turned to look at his daughter. On the couch was a mass of pink fur, with a green mane poking out the top. Sugar was one hundred percent asleep. Feather got up, and walked to his daughter. “Sugar? Sugar, if you are going to stay asleep, don’t say a single word,” Feather said while nudging her. Being already asleep, she didn’t hear him. It didn’t help that he was whispering as quietly as he could. “I don’t think she’ll wake up too soon.” He said while smiling at Honey. He walked back to his chair, sat down, and levitated a pipe to his mouth. Feather never smoked, it was just something to chew on. “Let’s get started. After all, most ponies won’t see an earth pony levitating things around everyday.” ~~~~~ Feather’s story started at the Canterlot College, were he worked. He was a teacher in the foreign language department. He taught Grévy, the language of the zebras, and was fluent in every way. He knew every word, including the slang. Feather had always had a knack for languages since he was a colt. He always did his work by himself, lesson planning, grading test, and etcetera. It was all done in the privacy of his office, or his apartment. He was always alone to hide his telekinesis. When he worked, there were papers being levitated left and right. He had one test with all the answers filled in, and just referenced the student’s tests to it. Once a test was graded, he put it in a pile, and levitated the next one to start the process over. It was like that the entire time he had worked there. He was always working alone. That was how it was until Summer Reading, a co-worker of Feather’s, walked in on him. When he realized that he was being watched, he turned around to look at her. She was scared, and rightly so. Since Feather had no horn, there was no aura of magic surrounding the objects. “Feather, what’s happening?” she asked, starting to back out the door. Her face was contorted in a mix of fear and surprise. Her eyes had widened to a ridiculous size, and her pupils had shrunken to smallest he had ever seen pupils shrink. At the time, it was the worst moment in Feather’s life. When he noticed that she came into the room, he had lost his concentration. The papers had come crashing down to the floor with a thump. He was so nervous that he could barely form words, and started to stutter. “N-now just hold on a minute. T-this isn’t what it looks like!” “Please, just tell me what is happening.” she asked, taking another half step back. “What do you think is happening?” “I think that I’m going insane. There is no way that this could possibly be happening!” “Summer, just calm down.” Feather pleaded as he started to walk toward her. He was hoping that her good nature would hold true. He had worked with her for years. He had gone to the barbeque that her husband held at the end of every school year. She was a good mare, and would not harm a fly to save her life. “Stay away from me! Don’t ever talk to me again!” She commanded. Just as soon as she had entered, she was gone. Feather heard the sound of her hoof steps running away. He just sat quietly in his office chair, drinking in the silence. It was the closest he had ever been to being in trouble because of his power. He started to pack his stuff into his saddlebag and get out of the school as soon as possible. ~~~~~ Celestia had already raised the moon high into the night sky when Feather finished packing his saddlebag. Every thing he needed to finish grading the tests had been packed up. A spare test with the answers filled in, extra ink and pens, but most importantly were the actual tests. Feather was always the last one out of the building, and tonight was no different. Because he was the last one out, he became a good friend with the janitor, Squeaky Clean. Squeaky was a friendly stallion, and in his entire time of working at the College, Feather could only remember one time that he had missed work, and that was when his mother died. However, he wasn’t there. I wonder where he could be, Feather thought to himself. The school was the quietest Feather had ever heard it. Something was off. Even at this hour, there were some stupid ponies running around campus, but for some reason, the halls were empty. The front door was just down the hallway from him. When he got there, it was locked. He got out his keys from his saddlebag, and started to unlock it. All that he managed to do was get his key stuck in the lock. He groaned, but with a bit of force, he pulled the key from its place. Now that he had his key back, he was off to find a side entrance. When he turned around, there was a red pegasus standing there. He had a coat on that had the hood pulled up to cover himself. All that showed were his hooves. “Who are you?” Feather asked. “It depends. If my informant is right, then I’m a very good friend.” The hooded pony replied. “If your informant was wrong?” “Than I’m just a strange stallion. We’ve watched you for a year or two now. We never were sure if you had what we wanted but we’ll make sure we know tonight.” “Who is this ‘we’ your talking about?” Feather asked, getting more suspicious by the second. “That would be us, ‘friend.’” To the left, was another hooded pony walking out of the shadows. This one was orange, and holding a crowbar in his mouth. From the right was a third hooded pony. This one was teal and unarmed. Once again, the red pony in the middle spoke up. “We know about the special talent you have. Not the language, but the other one. You know what I’m talking about. Your telekinesis. We just have a few questions for you. Now, you’ll need to come with us. If you resist we will take you by force. So, what’ll it be?” Feather quickly thought about what to do, until settling on an answer. “I don’t think so.” He quickly grabbed them in spheres of his telekinesis, and through the orange one into a trophy case, shattering the glass and sending the trophies sprawling out on the ground. The teal one was thrown into the wall hard enough to leave a sizeable hole, and stay in it. They both were going to stay out for a while. However, the one in the middle was still there. “You missed me.” Feather decided to play it differently this time. He grabbed the pegasus in a ball of telekinetic energy, and slammed him into the ground. This was where the hooded pony drew the line. In a fraction of a second, he had gone from one side of the room and was now next to Feather, but his cloak was blown off. It was Swift Victory, a pegasus racer. He was known around Equestria for winning almost every race he was in. Feather didn’t know whether he should be scared or happy that a celebrity had attacked him at work. He was starting to lean closer to scared when a thought occurred to him. Swift Victory had disappeared after winning his last race, and was declared dead. How could he be here attacking me if he’s dead? Feather thought. He leaned in close, and whispered into Feather’s ear. “Sorry, you’re to slow.” Feather felt a prick in his left fore leg and started to wobble. His vision slowly started to tunnel, before he lost all feeling in his legs, and collapsed. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Swift walking away to check on the other two ponies with him. ~~~~~ Just as Feather finished his sentence, Sugar awoke with a yawn, catching the attention of Honey, and Feather. Feather had long ago forgotten just how heavy a sleeper Sugar is since she moved out. Sugar rolled over, and fell off the couch with a groan of pain. She had done it when she was a foal, but once again, Feather had forgotten. “You used to do that when you were a filly,” Feather chuckled. “I know dad, you tell me every time it happens.” “Mommy, mommy, grandpa told me a story while you were asleep!” It was Honey’s turn to be excited now. She ran back to her mother and put her hooves on Sugar’s side. Sugar just lay there and listened to another retelling of Feather’s stories. The only difference being that it came from her daughter, and had most of it left out. Honey retold her favorite parts, and kept trying to climb onto Sugar's back. With a sigh, Sugar got up, forcing her daughter to give up on trying to climb her back. She looked at Feather and asked, "What time is it?" Feather turned to his left and looked at the clock hanging from the wall. "About five thirty." “Well, I think it’s about time to get going. Are you ready, Honey?” “No! I wanna hear the rest of grandpa’s story!” Honey started to pout again. Feather never thought of himself as a storyteller. He thought that he was mediocre, at best. Honey had liked the story much more than Feather thought, because she was using the puppy dog eyes to try and hear the end of the story. Just like before, Feather never could resist a foal with puppy dog eyes. “How about this, if you come back next Sunday that I promise that I’ll tell you the rest of my story. How about it?” “Really grandpa? You’ll tell me more?” “Of course I will," Feather said with a smile."Right now you need to go home. If you don’t, what do you think will happen to your father? He’ll start to miss you, won’t he? We can’t have that, now can we?” “No, I don’t want dad to miss me!” she shouted. She turned back to Sugar and shouted, “Mommy, we have to go home, or daddy will start to miss me!” Less than a minute ago she was begging to stay, now she was begging to leave. That is why Feather loved foals. They cared about anypony near them. Even if they didn’t know them, they would still help in any small way. Even if they were a pain in the flank some times, Feather still loved them. Now that Honey agreed with her mother, they said their goodbyes, and were out the door, just like any other Sunday. He watched them go out the door before going to the window. He watched them walk down the street to get to their house. Feather never could wait until he saw his granddaughter again. Ch. 2Thump! Thump! Thump! There was someone knocking on Feather’s door. He slowly opened his eyes, and sat up. There were three more thumps from the door, reminding him why he was awoken. He rolled to his right and got a look at the clock. Seven thirty. Seven thirty! Who has the audacity to wake me up at seven thirty? I should have at least four more hours of sleep! Thump! Thump! Thump! “Can it! I’ll get there when I get there!” he shouted. The knocks stopped for a little while. He hurried out of bed, and walked down the stairs. Before he opened the door, he looked through the peephole to see who it was. It was Sugar Song, and Honey Suckle. Weird, they don’t come on Mondays, he thought before opening the door for his daughter. “Grandpa!” “Hi, Honey! Sugar, why are you here so early?” “I had a job interview, but I forgot to tell you yesterday. I need you to watch Honey for the day.” “Alright,” he said as a smile crept onto his face. “Thanks, Dad.” Sugar bent down so that she was eye level with Honey. “Honey, you’re going to stay with grandpa today. Ok?” “Ok,” Honey replied. “Bye, Honey! Bye, Dad!” “See you later.” Honey had already run into the house, like the energetic foal she always was. Feather turned around, shutting the door behind him. “Honey, have you had breakfast yet?” Feather asked. “Does some apple slices count?” “No. Come on, we’ll get you some breakfast. And it’s ‘do’, not ‘does’. Use proper grammar.” Feather led her into the kitchen to pick out a cereal. He levitated a bowl, a spoon, milk, and three boxes of cereal onto the table. “Take your pick.” Honey sat down and looked at the three boxes. She put her hoof to her chin, stuck out her tongue, and started to think. She furrowed her brow as her thinking became more intense. She still couldn’t decide, and started to hum as if it would help her decide. Finally, after to long of a time, she decided. “That one!” she shouted, pointing her hoof at the box on the right. Feather gave her a weird look, but complied none-the-less. He hadn’t thought that she liked that brand of cereal. Foals her age normally like cereal with much more sugar. He grabbed another bowl and spoon for his own bowl of cereal. When they had finished breakfast, Feather made Honey go up stairs to brush her teeth. He had always kept an extra toothbrush around in case of an emergency, most of the time it was him dropping his toothbrush in the toilet. Sadly, that happened to much. Honey, just like almost every foal, didn’t want to. Feather finally convinced her to brush her teeth by promising he would do it too. After Feather and Honey finished brushing their teeth, they were done with their morning routine. They went down stairs and found a place to sit. Feather was in his chair, and Honey sat on the couch. “Grandpa? Can you please finish your story?” “Alright, where was I?” “The mean pegasus hurt you!” “Oh, right. Back to the story.” ~~~~~ Being drugged isn’t as bad as everypony says it is. To Feather, it was like waking up every time he tried to sleep. He could not feel, see, or hear anything. If he had seen, heard, or felt anything, then he could not remember anything. When Feather finally became conscious, he could just barely make out some voices. Upon opening his eyes, he quickly shut them from the light. When his eyes adjusted to the light, the first thing he noticed was that he couldn’t move his legs. They had been hoof-cuffed to the chair he sat in. He started to take in his surroundings, but something was blocking his view. It was a unicorn mare about six inches from his face. “Aah!” he yelped. Her face wrinkled as she tried, and failed, to stifle a laugh. She had fallen to the ground, almost in tears. While Feather tried to calm his heart the unicorn was rolling left and right on the ground, getting too much humor out of the childish joke. Feather took a look around the room, and it could accurately be described as a large metal box with two chairs on either side of a table. Feather was hoof-cuffed to one of these chairs. “Sorry, sorry. I just had to do that. You wouldn’t believe how long I was sitting there, waiting for you to wake up. It was totally worth it.” It was the unicorn again. Feather looked her from head to hoof. She had white fur, and her mane was split into stripes, half were the same color as her fur, and the other half was a light purple. She had three purple stars for a cutie mark. She doesn’t even look like she’s out of high school. “Mr. Feather Quill, is it?” She had sat back down in her chair, and was reading from a manila folder. He nodded and she continued. “I’m Velvet Sunset. Do you know why you’re here?” He shook his head. “Well, to make it short, you’re weird. We think you have a special talent that very few ponies have. Just in case you can’t figure it out, it’s your telekinesis.” Her tone abruptly changed to one more harsh. “Didn’t you parents teach you it’s rude to try and break somepony else’s stuff. I’d appreciate it if you stop trying to break the hoof-cuffs.” Ponyfeathers! he thought. The surprised look on Feather’s face gave away his emotions. “How did you-“ “You’re pulling a link two different directions trying to break it. Next time try turning the tumblers inside of the lock.” “How old are you? You look a little young,” he asked, trying to change the subject. “I’m fifteen, and I don’t ordinarily do this. Swift handles all the introductions, but he’s off doing Celestia knows what.” “Well, what do you ordinarily do?” Her face lit up lit up like a tree on Hearths Warming Eve when she heard that. “I do all the-“ Just as quickly as her face lit up, it went out, her eyes narrowed on Feather. “Hey, I’ll be asking the questions here.” “Then get started.” She stuck her muzzle back into the folder she was so fond of. She started to spout off information. Feather’s face dropped when he realized it was about him. “Feather Quill. You were born in Trottingham to a Mr. and Mrs. Hoof, a smith, and a seamstress respectively. You had an older brother and sister that had already moved out of the house, which you didn’t see often. Currently, you are twenty-four years old. After graduating from Stalliongrad University, you moved to Canterlot to accept a job offer teaching Grévy. You live on Blue Mane Road, in apartment building numb-“ “That’s enough! You don’t need to read me my whole life story over to me! I lived it, so stop telling me everything I know! I know what happened better than you ever could!” Every word had made Feather increasingly annoyed. Just like everypony else, he had a breaking point, and he just hit it. “How do you know all this stuff? How do you know everything about me?” he asked, trying to calm down. “Oh, I know more than this. I have your school report cards, medical records, and more. I’d tell you where we get it all from, but it’s a secret only I get to know. Besides you don’t even work here. Now let’s get back to the matter at hoof.” “What would that be?” She had just opened her mouth to answer his question, but a door to the left swung open, cutting her off. A red pegasus with a black mane walked in, Swift Victory. Just seeing his muzzle again was enough to make Feather even angrier than he already was. “Hey, Velvet, I got it from here.” Velvet just sighed and left the room. Swift walked forward, and took a seat in the chair across from Feather. “Before we continue, how about you tell me just what in Tartarus is going on here?” Feather shouted at Swift. “Ok. Mr. Quill, if you’ll walk with me, I’ll explain everything.” He got back up, and walked to the wall. He pushed on a small part next to the door. The wall popped out revealing a small hole. He pulled out a key, and undid the hoof-cuffs. Feather got up and followed him out of the room. Feather was on the ground floor of a building going up to a third story. He was in the first room of the building, and the second floor above him was little more than a balcony. He looked up further, and saw a glass ceiling. Only the middle of it was glass, and the rest was tiled. He couldn’t see much of the third level besides the ceiling. “Welcome to the Minority, your new home! This is the ground level, more specifically, the living room. The room to your left is the kitchen, and the room on the right is the rec room.” There were two sets of stairs on either side of the living room leading to the second floor. Swift turned to the right and started up. The center of the second floor wasn’t much. It was only the balcony that overlooked the living room of the first floor. However, there were two rooms that were on this level. Swift turned into the first one, on the right. “This is the first aid room. We only have one doctor, but she’s more than enough. She normally sleeps all day, so I’ll introduce you to her when she gets up.” Feather looked around the room. There was a bed that looked like it would be used for surgery. Next to it was a tray that had some scalpels and gauss on it. The pair turned back around, and walked to the other side of the balcony, and into the second room. “Welcome to filing. This is where we keep the information we collect on everything.” The wall all the way to the left had three filing cabinets with papers sticking out of the top. On the other end was a table. It had a map of Equestria, and some more papers thrown about. Once again, they went up a pair of stairs. This was more like the first floor. It was a small hallway with rooms lining both ends of it. “These are the rooms. Most are empty, so pick what ever one you want.” Feather walked to the first room on his left. When he opened the door, it was clean. The covers were lay neatly on the bed, and the pillows were resting at the top. The nightstand had its drawers closed, and the closet doors were shut. Feather just shut the door, and went to the next one. This one was empty, and the bed was nicely made. “I’ll take this one,” Feather said. “Good! Now for introductions,” Swift said happily. He walked to the room across from the clean one Feather was in. There was a loud thump, and Swift came walking out. He walked past the stairs, and into another room. This time there was no thump, and Swift came out with a green pegasus. His fur was a light green all the way around, and his mane was split down the center. Half of it was the same color as his fur, and the rest was blue. Then it struck Feather. This was one of the ponies that attacked him at work. Feather bent his fore legs to assume an offensive stance. He was about to slam the green pegasus into the wall, but Swift stopped him. “Wait! This is Hazy Day. He’s not going to hurt you.” “Why is he here?” Feather said back, anger seeping from his words. “He’s part of the Minority too. If Orange gets up, you’ll see he’s not going to hurt you either.” Right on cue, the floorboards squeaked, and Orange walked out of his room. Like his name suggested, his coat was a solid orange. His mane was blue, but the ends were dyed black. “What do you want Swift?” Orange asked. “This is Feather Quill. The one from the school.” Orange looked to his right. Seeing Feather, he looked him up and down. When he was done, he turned back to Swift. “Is this the entire reason you woke me up?” Swift face hoofed. He didn’t expect much of a reaction from Orange, but he did expect him to say something more than that. “Go down stairs. Once I’m done showing Feather around we’ll start planning.” Orange didn’t say anything. He walked down the stairs, to find a snack and find Velvet. Swift was tapped on the shoulder. He turned around and looked at Hazy. “I’m going to head home. I have chores to do.” Hazy also walked down the stairs, this time to leave the house. Feather gave Swift a look of confusion. “They may be weird, but they might as well be family. They both have a power like us. Orange has super strength, and Hazy can teleport. Come on, we need to go down stairs. They walked back down the stairs to the first floor. They went into the filing room and found that Orange, and Velvet had beaten them there. Swift didn’t particularly care, and started to explain the plan to the group. Feather didn’t play a key role in the plan, but was being brought along just to get some experience from a fairly easy job. Feather hadn’t been paying attention to the plan much until he heard Swift mentioned the Paladins. He hadn’t said anymore than a short backup plan encase they decided to show up. Feather, being the only one that didn’t know who they were, got the name stuck in his head. Being a teacher, he knew the time for questions, and now was not the time. “Any questions?” Swift asked. “Who are the Paladins?” Feather asked. Swift’s normally cheery face fell into a frown. “Everyone go get ready, we leave in an hour.” Feather and Swift were the only ones left in the room now. “The Paladins are the ones who hate us more than anypony else in the world. They’re a bunch of religious nut balls. They think that we don’t deserve to live because we defy the laws of magic, and in a few cases, physics. Remember reading about the witch hunts centuries ago to kill unnatural ponies? That was them killing us. Why do you think that we live in the middle of a forest?” “They hunt us?” “And kill us like animals. Don’t worry too much about it, they shouldn’t be showing up on this opp. Come on, we need to get ready.” Swift turned and left for his room. Feather just stood in place taking everything he just heard. When he finally understood the situation, he just shuffled back to the empty room he claimed. One thought went through his head, Am I going to die? Ch. 3Feather lay in his bed doing nothing. His time for nothingness was interrupted by somepony knocking on his door. He didn’t move as Velvet poked her head in the door. “You ready yet, Feather?” she asked. When Feather still did nothing, she walked all the way in. She had a plain saddlebag on her back that looked like it was filled. Now at Feather’s bed, she started nudging him. “Feather, get up.” He rolled over trying to ignore her. Her horn glowed blue with magic, and not so soon after, so did Feather. She lifted him off of the ground, and dropped him to the floor in an undignified heap. He sighed, and got onto his hooves. “What do you want?” he asked. “It’s time to go,” she said. “Orange and Swift are waiting down stairs. Did you finish packing?” “Packing what? All my stuff is at my house.” “Than your done. Let’s go.” She left the room, and Feather followed at a much slower pace. Swift and Orange were indeed waiting for them at the bottom, each with their own saddlebag. “Ready?” Swift asked when they were all there. Velvet and Orange nodded, but Feather only stared at the ground. Swift didn’t notice, and turned to leave the house. The outside was what Feather had expected it to be, a forest and a cliff. The house was built on the edge of a cliff, and the other side was completely surrounded by a forest. Celestia’s sun was just coming over the horizon, making the sky a bright shade of orange. Swift pulled out a map, and compass from his saddlebag. After a quick glance around, he said, “This way.” He headed off into the forest with the other following him. Soon the trees had obscured Feather’s view of the house, and the only way out of the forest now was to follow Swift and the others. After what seemed like hours of walking had only amounted to about a half hour. Feather didn’t know the others well enough to start small talk, and so they marched on in silence. Luckily, or unluckily, for Feather, something finally happened to relieve the boredom of the walking. Feather heard a low growl from behind a bush. He ignored it, thinking he was hearing thing. Never the less, it did put him closer to the edge. It wasn’t long before the manticore slowly, and quietly came out of the bush, stalking a group of four. The manticore followed them through the forest. It decided now would be the best time to strike. It leaned forward onto its front paws. It sprung forward, letting out a thunderous roar. Feather turned to see the manticore, midflight, attacking him. He fell onto his back, but before he could even scream, there were two more hooves in front of him. Orange had reacted quickly. He had gotten there just in time to buck the side of the manticore’s head. The manticore rolled on his back, before righting itself. It sat on its haunches, trying to close its not lopsided mouth, but couldn’t. Lifting a paw to examine where Orange had bucked its mouth, the paw shot away, and the manticore whimpered. Orange had shattered its jaw. Tears started to form in its eyes. They shot up and out of each eye, making an arch. After a few second of crying, it got up and ran off, still sobbing. Orange still looked at where it ran off to as if it were going to come back. Feather stared wide-eyed at Orange. He had never even dreamed of somepony beating manticore it hoof to hoof combat, and especially not it one punch. As Orange walked past Feather, he said, “Get up.” Orange hadn’t broken stride and Feather watch him walk by. The rest of the group started to walk away, leaving Feather on the ground. Feather realized that they were leaving, and shot up off of the ground. “Hey, wait up!” he called after them. The rest of the trip, Feather walked farther behind the group. He eyed kept an eye on Orange more than he did the path. If he can beat a manticore in one punch, what can the others do? he thought. I need to find out more on them. Orange can punch, but what can the other two do?Feather had stopped walking without noticing, and quickly caught up. The sun would be setting soon. If Feather hadn’t been scared of the others than he would have asked when they were stopping. Feather’s prayers were answered when Swift told them to stop. “You guys see that shack?” At the bottom of a hill was a small shack. “We’ll stop there for the night.” They started to walk down the hill, and stood before the doors in less than five minutes. On the out side it looked like something that could fall apart in a second. However, Swift opened the door to something different. It was about the size of a studio apartment. It was rather empty, with only what looked like a manhole cover. There was heat that kept the room comfortable, and a small closet to put their stuff in. The group walked in, and set all the stuff down in a corner. Swift walked up to the cover. He pressed his hoof against it, and started to vibrate. He slowly pushed into the cover, and put his whole head in. Feather, for the second time that day, was scarred stiff. Feather pulled his head out, and stopped vibrating. “All right, there’s nopony down there. We’ll set out in morning, and take the sewers to Canterlot, and meet with the others there.” Swift looked at Feather, and saw the shocked look on his face. “What’s wrong with you?” “How did you…?” “What, the density shift?” Feather nodded. “It comes with the speed. It hard to do, but worth it.” It dawned on Feather. That’s it! he thought. He has super speed! Orange has super strength, and Swift has super speed! He smirked to himself, but Swift didn’t notice. Velvet pulled out four blankets from the closet and gave one blanket to each pony there. She lifted Orange’s bag, and pulled out some food. There was a family size bag of chips; two small bags of trail mix, apples, oranges, and peaches. She picked out three apples, and an orange. She tossed an apple to Swift and Feather, an orange to Orange, and kept an apple for herself. “Thanks,” Orange said. He started to peel his orange but stopped. “Hey, these are mine!” Velvet looked at him and smiled. “They sure are delicious!” She took a large bite out of her apple, taunting him. Orange growled and started to stare down Velvet. “Shut up, finish your food, and go to sleep,” Swift said. “We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.” Swift, having finished his apple as fast as he could, grabbed his blanket, and found a spot on the floor to sleep on. After a few minutes, the rest did the same. ~~~~~ Feather woke to the sun shining in his eyes. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but he was already up. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and took a look around. The others were sound asleep, and it didn’t seem like they were getting up. He looked at the door for a second, but lay back down. Not even a second later, he was back up, staring wide-eyed at the door. He looked over the room again. The others wouldn’t wake up for some time, and a thought passed through his head. He had been kidnapped, and forced to come along. Now he had a chance to escape. The blanket fell off his body as he sat up. He got to his hooves, and crept his way to the door. Half way there, his hoof came down on a floorboard, and let out a high pitch squeak. He cringed, but didn’t here anything else. The others were still asleep. The rest of the way to the door was quiet. As he wrapped the door handle in magic, Swift spoke up. “When are you going?” Feather hadn’t even heard him wake up. “No where,” he lied. “I’m just going for a walk.” “Don’t. Wake up the others for me, it’s time to go.” Feather turned around, and shook Orange and Velvet awake. Orange got up on the first try. Velvet rolled over and ignored him. He shook her again and got a reaction. She rolled back over, and gave him the evil eye, but slowly started to get up. Now that everypony was awake, Swift spoke. “Alright, is everyone ready?” Nopony answered and took it as a “yes”. “Than lets go.” He jammed a crowbar under the manhole. He pushed down, and it started to come off, but it wasn’t enough. He pushed again, but made very little progress. Orange walked up to it, and slammed his hoof down onto the bar. The cover flew off the hole, and landed with a loud clang. The bar had gotten wedged in the floor with no hope of getting it out. Never the less, Swift grabbed the end of the crowbar in his mouth and lifted. It didn’t budge, and Swift gave up quickly. Soon they were all down through the manhole and in the sewers. The only speck of light was coming from the manhole. Velvet lit up her horn, and the darkness lifted. The sewer looked like any other sewer. It was cold, and had a small river of waste flowing next to them. The top was round, and made out of red brick. On the other side of the river was a pathway like the one they were standing on. It wasn’t long till Feather noticed the smell. “Ugh, what is that smell?” “What do you think? We’re in a sewer of all places. Did you expect the smell of dandelions?” Velvet asked sarcastically. “Breath through your mouth. It won’t be quite as bad.” The group moved along with Velvet leading the way. The trip was uneventful. There would be a split every so often, and Swift would tell them which way to go. The rounded another bend without stopping. A rat, scared by Velvet’s light, ray past the group. Feather squealed when it brushed up against his leg. They others looked at him with deadpan expressions. “It was just a rat,” said Orange. “Just a rat? That thing touched me! Do you have any idea how many diseases they can carry?” Feather asked. “It was just a rat.” Velvet shook her head and started to walk again. Not wanting to get left in the dark, they others followed. They continued further into the sewers, but stopped again. There was an iron door in front of them. In the center was a wheel to open the door with. Swift walked up to the door and rapped on it three times, screaming “Barrel! It’s Swift, let us in!”
Ch. 1“Grandpa, can you please tell me a story?” Honey asked. She was an earth pony, like the rest of her family. She had yellow fur with a teal mane and bright blue eyes. Honey and her mother, Sugar Song, came to check up on Feather Quill, her grandfather. “I don’t know, Honey. It’s time for you to go home. Besides, you must have something better to do than listen to my old stories,” Feather said. “No I don’t, and I like your stories! Please, grandpa? Pretty please?” She was using the puppy dog eyes. Feather could never resist the puppy dog eyes of a foal, especially not his granddaughter, and Honey knew it too. “Fine, but only if you mother says you can stay a little longer.” Feather turned to look at his daughter. On the couch was a mass of pink fur, with a green mane poking out the top. Sugar was one hundred percent asleep. Feather got up, and walked to his daughter. “Sugar? Sugar, if you are going to stay asleep, don’t say a single word,” Feather said while nudging her. Being already asleep, she didn’t hear him. It didn’t help that he was whispering as quietly as he could. “I don’t think she’ll wake up too soon.” He said while smiling at Honey. He walked back to his chair, sat down, and levitated a pipe to his mouth. Feather never smoked, it was just something to chew on. “Let’s get started. After all, most ponies won’t see an earth pony levitating things around everyday.” ~~~~~ Feather’s story started at the Canterlot College, were he worked. He was a teacher in the foreign language department. He taught Grévy, the language of the zebras, and was fluent in every way. He knew every word, including the slang. Feather had always had a knack for languages since he was a colt. He always did his work by himself, lesson planning, grading test, and etcetera. It was all done in the privacy of his office, or his apartment. He was always alone to hide his telekinesis. When he worked, there were papers being levitated left and right. He had one test with all the answers filled in, and just referenced the student’s tests to it. Once a test was graded, he put it in a pile, and levitated the next one to start the process over. It was like that the entire time he had worked there. He was always working alone. That was how it was until Summer Reading, a co-worker of Feather’s, walked in on him. When he realized that he was being watched, he turned around to look at her. She was scared, and rightly so. Since Feather had no horn, there was no aura of magic surrounding the objects. “Feather, what’s happening?” she asked, starting to back out the door. Her face was contorted in a mix of fear and surprise. Her eyes had widened to a ridiculous size, and her pupils had shrunken to smallest he had ever seen pupils shrink. At the time, it was the worst moment in Feather’s life. When he noticed that she came into the room, he had lost his concentration. The papers had come crashing down to the floor with a thump. He was so nervous that he could barely form words, and started to stutter. “N-now just hold on a minute. T-this isn’t what it looks like!” “Please, just tell me what is happening.” she asked, taking another half step back. “What do you think is happening?” “I think that I’m going insane. There is no way that this could possibly be happening!” “Summer, just calm down.” Feather pleaded as he started to walk toward her. He was hoping that her good nature would hold true. He had worked with her for years. He had gone to the barbeque that her husband held at the end of every school year. She was a good mare, and would not harm a fly to save her life. “Stay away from me! Don’t ever talk to me again!” She commanded. Just as soon as she had entered, she was gone. Feather heard the sound of her hoof steps running away. He just sat quietly in his office chair, drinking in the silence. It was the closest he had ever been to being in trouble because of his power. He started to pack his stuff into his saddlebag and get out of the school as soon as possible. ~~~~~ Celestia had already raised the moon high into the night sky when Feather finished packing his saddlebag. Every thing he needed to finish grading the tests had been packed up. A spare test with the answers filled in, extra ink and pens, but most importantly were the actual tests. Feather was always the last one out of the building, and tonight was no different. Because he was the last one out, he became a good friend with the janitor, Squeaky Clean. Squeaky was a friendly stallion, and in his entire time of working at the College, Feather could only remember one time that he had missed work, and that was when his mother died. However, he wasn’t there. I wonder where he could be, Feather thought to himself. The school was the quietest Feather had ever heard it. Something was off. Even at this hour, there were some stupid ponies running around campus, but for some reason, the halls were empty. The front door was just down the hallway from him. When he got there, it was locked. He got out his keys from his saddlebag, and started to unlock it. All that he managed to do was get his key stuck in the lock. He groaned, but with a bit of force, he pulled the key from its place. Now that he had his key back, he was off to find a side entrance. When he turned around, there was a red pegasus standing there. He had a coat on that had the hood pulled up to cover himself. All that showed were his hooves. “Who are you?” Feather asked. “It depends. If my informant is right, then I’m a very good friend.” The hooded pony replied. “If your informant was wrong?” “Than I’m just a strange stallion. We’ve watched you for a year or two now. We never were sure if you had what we wanted but we’ll make sure we know tonight.” “Who is this ‘we’ your talking about?” Feather asked, getting more suspicious by the second. “That would be us, ‘friend.’” To the left, was another hooded pony walking out of the shadows. This one was orange, and holding a crowbar in his mouth. From the right was a third hooded pony. This one was teal and unarmed. Once again, the red pony in the middle spoke up. “We know about the special talent you have. Not the language, but the other one. You know what I’m talking about. Your telekinesis. We just have a few questions for you. Now, you’ll need to come with us. If you resist we will take you by force. So, what’ll it be?” Feather quickly thought about what to do, until settling on an answer. “I don’t think so.” He quickly grabbed them in spheres of his telekinesis, and through the orange one into a trophy case, shattering the glass and sending the trophies sprawling out on the ground. The teal one was thrown into the wall hard enough to leave a sizeable hole, and stay in it. They both were going to stay out for a while. However, the one in the middle was still there. “You missed me.” Feather decided to play it differently this time. He grabbed the pegasus in a ball of telekinetic energy, and slammed him into the ground. This was where the hooded pony drew the line. In a fraction of a second, he had gone from one side of the room and was now next to Feather, but his cloak was blown off. It was Swift Victory, a pegasus racer. He was known around Equestria for winning almost every race he was in. Feather didn’t know whether he should be scared or happy that a celebrity had attacked him at work. He was starting to lean closer to scared when a thought occurred to him. Swift Victory had disappeared after winning his last race, and was declared dead. How could he be here attacking me if he’s dead? Feather thought. He leaned in close, and whispered into Feather’s ear. “Sorry, you’re to slow.” Feather felt a prick in his left fore leg and started to wobble. His vision slowly started to tunnel, before he lost all feeling in his legs, and collapsed. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Swift walking away to check on the other two ponies with him. ~~~~~ Just as Feather finished his sentence, Sugar awoke with a yawn, catching the attention of Honey, and Feather. Feather had long ago forgotten just how heavy a sleeper Sugar is since she moved out. Sugar rolled over, and fell off the couch with a groan of pain. She had done it when she was a foal, but once again, Feather had forgotten. “You used to do that when you were a filly,” Feather chuckled. “I know dad, you tell me every time it happens.” “Mommy, mommy, grandpa told me a story while you were asleep!” It was Honey’s turn to be excited now. She ran back to her mother and put her hooves on Sugar’s side. Sugar just lay there and listened to another retelling of Feather’s stories. The only difference being that it came from her daughter, and had most of it left out. Honey retold her favorite parts, and kept trying to climb onto Sugar's back. With a sigh, Sugar got up, forcing her daughter to give up on trying to climb her back. She looked at Feather and asked, "What time is it?" Feather turned to his left and looked at the clock hanging from the wall. "About five thirty." “Well, I think it’s about time to get going. Are you ready, Honey?” “No! I wanna hear the rest of grandpa’s story!” Honey started to pout again. Feather never thought of himself as a storyteller. He thought that he was mediocre, at best. Honey had liked the story much more than Feather thought, because she was using the puppy dog eyes to try and hear the end of the story. Just like before, Feather never could resist a foal with puppy dog eyes. “How about this, if you come back next Sunday that I promise that I’ll tell you the rest of my story. How about it?” “Really grandpa? You’ll tell me more?” “Of course I will," Feather said with a smile."Right now you need to go home. If you don’t, what do you think will happen to your father? He’ll start to miss you, won’t he? We can’t have that, now can we?” “No, I don’t want dad to miss me!” she shouted. She turned back to Sugar and shouted, “Mommy, we have to go home, or daddy will start to miss me!” Less than a minute ago she was begging to stay, now she was begging to leave. That is why Feather loved foals. They cared about anypony near them. Even if they didn’t know them, they would still help in any small way. Even if they were a pain in the flank some times, Feather still loved them. Now that Honey agreed with her mother, they said their goodbyes, and were out the door, just like any other Sunday. He watched them go out the door before going to the window. He watched them walk down the street to get to their house. Feather never could wait until he saw his granddaughter again.
Ch. 2Thump! Thump! Thump! There was someone knocking on Feather’s door. He slowly opened his eyes, and sat up. There were three more thumps from the door, reminding him why he was awoken. He rolled to his right and got a look at the clock. Seven thirty. Seven thirty! Who has the audacity to wake me up at seven thirty? I should have at least four more hours of sleep! Thump! Thump! Thump! “Can it! I’ll get there when I get there!” he shouted. The knocks stopped for a little while. He hurried out of bed, and walked down the stairs. Before he opened the door, he looked through the peephole to see who it was. It was Sugar Song, and Honey Suckle. Weird, they don’t come on Mondays, he thought before opening the door for his daughter. “Grandpa!” “Hi, Honey! Sugar, why are you here so early?” “I had a job interview, but I forgot to tell you yesterday. I need you to watch Honey for the day.” “Alright,” he said as a smile crept onto his face. “Thanks, Dad.” Sugar bent down so that she was eye level with Honey. “Honey, you’re going to stay with grandpa today. Ok?” “Ok,” Honey replied. “Bye, Honey! Bye, Dad!” “See you later.” Honey had already run into the house, like the energetic foal she always was. Feather turned around, shutting the door behind him. “Honey, have you had breakfast yet?” Feather asked. “Does some apple slices count?” “No. Come on, we’ll get you some breakfast. And it’s ‘do’, not ‘does’. Use proper grammar.” Feather led her into the kitchen to pick out a cereal. He levitated a bowl, a spoon, milk, and three boxes of cereal onto the table. “Take your pick.” Honey sat down and looked at the three boxes. She put her hoof to her chin, stuck out her tongue, and started to think. She furrowed her brow as her thinking became more intense. She still couldn’t decide, and started to hum as if it would help her decide. Finally, after to long of a time, she decided. “That one!” she shouted, pointing her hoof at the box on the right. Feather gave her a weird look, but complied none-the-less. He hadn’t thought that she liked that brand of cereal. Foals her age normally like cereal with much more sugar. He grabbed another bowl and spoon for his own bowl of cereal. When they had finished breakfast, Feather made Honey go up stairs to brush her teeth. He had always kept an extra toothbrush around in case of an emergency, most of the time it was him dropping his toothbrush in the toilet. Sadly, that happened to much. Honey, just like almost every foal, didn’t want to. Feather finally convinced her to brush her teeth by promising he would do it too. After Feather and Honey finished brushing their teeth, they were done with their morning routine. They went down stairs and found a place to sit. Feather was in his chair, and Honey sat on the couch. “Grandpa? Can you please finish your story?” “Alright, where was I?” “The mean pegasus hurt you!” “Oh, right. Back to the story.” ~~~~~ Being drugged isn’t as bad as everypony says it is. To Feather, it was like waking up every time he tried to sleep. He could not feel, see, or hear anything. If he had seen, heard, or felt anything, then he could not remember anything. When Feather finally became conscious, he could just barely make out some voices. Upon opening his eyes, he quickly shut them from the light. When his eyes adjusted to the light, the first thing he noticed was that he couldn’t move his legs. They had been hoof-cuffed to the chair he sat in. He started to take in his surroundings, but something was blocking his view. It was a unicorn mare about six inches from his face. “Aah!” he yelped. Her face wrinkled as she tried, and failed, to stifle a laugh. She had fallen to the ground, almost in tears. While Feather tried to calm his heart the unicorn was rolling left and right on the ground, getting too much humor out of the childish joke. Feather took a look around the room, and it could accurately be described as a large metal box with two chairs on either side of a table. Feather was hoof-cuffed to one of these chairs. “Sorry, sorry. I just had to do that. You wouldn’t believe how long I was sitting there, waiting for you to wake up. It was totally worth it.” It was the unicorn again. Feather looked her from head to hoof. She had white fur, and her mane was split into stripes, half were the same color as her fur, and the other half was a light purple. She had three purple stars for a cutie mark. She doesn’t even look like she’s out of high school. “Mr. Feather Quill, is it?” She had sat back down in her chair, and was reading from a manila folder. He nodded and she continued. “I’m Velvet Sunset. Do you know why you’re here?” He shook his head. “Well, to make it short, you’re weird. We think you have a special talent that very few ponies have. Just in case you can’t figure it out, it’s your telekinesis.” Her tone abruptly changed to one more harsh. “Didn’t you parents teach you it’s rude to try and break somepony else’s stuff. I’d appreciate it if you stop trying to break the hoof-cuffs.” Ponyfeathers! he thought. The surprised look on Feather’s face gave away his emotions. “How did you-“ “You’re pulling a link two different directions trying to break it. Next time try turning the tumblers inside of the lock.” “How old are you? You look a little young,” he asked, trying to change the subject. “I’m fifteen, and I don’t ordinarily do this. Swift handles all the introductions, but he’s off doing Celestia knows what.” “Well, what do you ordinarily do?” Her face lit up lit up like a tree on Hearths Warming Eve when she heard that. “I do all the-“ Just as quickly as her face lit up, it went out, her eyes narrowed on Feather. “Hey, I’ll be asking the questions here.” “Then get started.” She stuck her muzzle back into the folder she was so fond of. She started to spout off information. Feather’s face dropped when he realized it was about him. “Feather Quill. You were born in Trottingham to a Mr. and Mrs. Hoof, a smith, and a seamstress respectively. You had an older brother and sister that had already moved out of the house, which you didn’t see often. Currently, you are twenty-four years old. After graduating from Stalliongrad University, you moved to Canterlot to accept a job offer teaching Grévy. You live on Blue Mane Road, in apartment building numb-“ “That’s enough! You don’t need to read me my whole life story over to me! I lived it, so stop telling me everything I know! I know what happened better than you ever could!” Every word had made Feather increasingly annoyed. Just like everypony else, he had a breaking point, and he just hit it. “How do you know all this stuff? How do you know everything about me?” he asked, trying to calm down. “Oh, I know more than this. I have your school report cards, medical records, and more. I’d tell you where we get it all from, but it’s a secret only I get to know. Besides you don’t even work here. Now let’s get back to the matter at hoof.” “What would that be?” She had just opened her mouth to answer his question, but a door to the left swung open, cutting her off. A red pegasus with a black mane walked in, Swift Victory. Just seeing his muzzle again was enough to make Feather even angrier than he already was. “Hey, Velvet, I got it from here.” Velvet just sighed and left the room. Swift walked forward, and took a seat in the chair across from Feather. “Before we continue, how about you tell me just what in Tartarus is going on here?” Feather shouted at Swift. “Ok. Mr. Quill, if you’ll walk with me, I’ll explain everything.” He got back up, and walked to the wall. He pushed on a small part next to the door. The wall popped out revealing a small hole. He pulled out a key, and undid the hoof-cuffs. Feather got up and followed him out of the room. Feather was on the ground floor of a building going up to a third story. He was in the first room of the building, and the second floor above him was little more than a balcony. He looked up further, and saw a glass ceiling. Only the middle of it was glass, and the rest was tiled. He couldn’t see much of the third level besides the ceiling. “Welcome to the Minority, your new home! This is the ground level, more specifically, the living room. The room to your left is the kitchen, and the room on the right is the rec room.” There were two sets of stairs on either side of the living room leading to the second floor. Swift turned to the right and started up. The center of the second floor wasn’t much. It was only the balcony that overlooked the living room of the first floor. However, there were two rooms that were on this level. Swift turned into the first one, on the right. “This is the first aid room. We only have one doctor, but she’s more than enough. She normally sleeps all day, so I’ll introduce you to her when she gets up.” Feather looked around the room. There was a bed that looked like it would be used for surgery. Next to it was a tray that had some scalpels and gauss on it. The pair turned back around, and walked to the other side of the balcony, and into the second room. “Welcome to filing. This is where we keep the information we collect on everything.” The wall all the way to the left had three filing cabinets with papers sticking out of the top. On the other end was a table. It had a map of Equestria, and some more papers thrown about. Once again, they went up a pair of stairs. This was more like the first floor. It was a small hallway with rooms lining both ends of it. “These are the rooms. Most are empty, so pick what ever one you want.” Feather walked to the first room on his left. When he opened the door, it was clean. The covers were lay neatly on the bed, and the pillows were resting at the top. The nightstand had its drawers closed, and the closet doors were shut. Feather just shut the door, and went to the next one. This one was empty, and the bed was nicely made. “I’ll take this one,” Feather said. “Good! Now for introductions,” Swift said happily. He walked to the room across from the clean one Feather was in. There was a loud thump, and Swift came walking out. He walked past the stairs, and into another room. This time there was no thump, and Swift came out with a green pegasus. His fur was a light green all the way around, and his mane was split down the center. Half of it was the same color as his fur, and the rest was blue. Then it struck Feather. This was one of the ponies that attacked him at work. Feather bent his fore legs to assume an offensive stance. He was about to slam the green pegasus into the wall, but Swift stopped him. “Wait! This is Hazy Day. He’s not going to hurt you.” “Why is he here?” Feather said back, anger seeping from his words. “He’s part of the Minority too. If Orange gets up, you’ll see he’s not going to hurt you either.” Right on cue, the floorboards squeaked, and Orange walked out of his room. Like his name suggested, his coat was a solid orange. His mane was blue, but the ends were dyed black. “What do you want Swift?” Orange asked. “This is Feather Quill. The one from the school.” Orange looked to his right. Seeing Feather, he looked him up and down. When he was done, he turned back to Swift. “Is this the entire reason you woke me up?” Swift face hoofed. He didn’t expect much of a reaction from Orange, but he did expect him to say something more than that. “Go down stairs. Once I’m done showing Feather around we’ll start planning.” Orange didn’t say anything. He walked down the stairs, to find a snack and find Velvet. Swift was tapped on the shoulder. He turned around and looked at Hazy. “I’m going to head home. I have chores to do.” Hazy also walked down the stairs, this time to leave the house. Feather gave Swift a look of confusion. “They may be weird, but they might as well be family. They both have a power like us. Orange has super strength, and Hazy can teleport. Come on, we need to go down stairs. They walked back down the stairs to the first floor. They went into the filing room and found that Orange, and Velvet had beaten them there. Swift didn’t particularly care, and started to explain the plan to the group. Feather didn’t play a key role in the plan, but was being brought along just to get some experience from a fairly easy job. Feather hadn’t been paying attention to the plan much until he heard Swift mentioned the Paladins. He hadn’t said anymore than a short backup plan encase they decided to show up. Feather, being the only one that didn’t know who they were, got the name stuck in his head. Being a teacher, he knew the time for questions, and now was not the time. “Any questions?” Swift asked. “Who are the Paladins?” Feather asked. Swift’s normally cheery face fell into a frown. “Everyone go get ready, we leave in an hour.” Feather and Swift were the only ones left in the room now. “The Paladins are the ones who hate us more than anypony else in the world. They’re a bunch of religious nut balls. They think that we don’t deserve to live because we defy the laws of magic, and in a few cases, physics. Remember reading about the witch hunts centuries ago to kill unnatural ponies? That was them killing us. Why do you think that we live in the middle of a forest?” “They hunt us?” “And kill us like animals. Don’t worry too much about it, they shouldn’t be showing up on this opp. Come on, we need to get ready.” Swift turned and left for his room. Feather just stood in place taking everything he just heard. When he finally understood the situation, he just shuffled back to the empty room he claimed. One thought went through his head, Am I going to die?
Ch. 3Feather lay in his bed doing nothing. His time for nothingness was interrupted by somepony knocking on his door. He didn’t move as Velvet poked her head in the door. “You ready yet, Feather?” she asked. When Feather still did nothing, she walked all the way in. She had a plain saddlebag on her back that looked like it was filled. Now at Feather’s bed, she started nudging him. “Feather, get up.” He rolled over trying to ignore her. Her horn glowed blue with magic, and not so soon after, so did Feather. She lifted him off of the ground, and dropped him to the floor in an undignified heap. He sighed, and got onto his hooves. “What do you want?” he asked. “It’s time to go,” she said. “Orange and Swift are waiting down stairs. Did you finish packing?” “Packing what? All my stuff is at my house.” “Than your done. Let’s go.” She left the room, and Feather followed at a much slower pace. Swift and Orange were indeed waiting for them at the bottom, each with their own saddlebag. “Ready?” Swift asked when they were all there. Velvet and Orange nodded, but Feather only stared at the ground. Swift didn’t notice, and turned to leave the house. The outside was what Feather had expected it to be, a forest and a cliff. The house was built on the edge of a cliff, and the other side was completely surrounded by a forest. Celestia’s sun was just coming over the horizon, making the sky a bright shade of orange. Swift pulled out a map, and compass from his saddlebag. After a quick glance around, he said, “This way.” He headed off into the forest with the other following him. Soon the trees had obscured Feather’s view of the house, and the only way out of the forest now was to follow Swift and the others. After what seemed like hours of walking had only amounted to about a half hour. Feather didn’t know the others well enough to start small talk, and so they marched on in silence. Luckily, or unluckily, for Feather, something finally happened to relieve the boredom of the walking. Feather heard a low growl from behind a bush. He ignored it, thinking he was hearing thing. Never the less, it did put him closer to the edge. It wasn’t long before the manticore slowly, and quietly came out of the bush, stalking a group of four. The manticore followed them through the forest. It decided now would be the best time to strike. It leaned forward onto its front paws. It sprung forward, letting out a thunderous roar. Feather turned to see the manticore, midflight, attacking him. He fell onto his back, but before he could even scream, there were two more hooves in front of him. Orange had reacted quickly. He had gotten there just in time to buck the side of the manticore’s head. The manticore rolled on his back, before righting itself. It sat on its haunches, trying to close its not lopsided mouth, but couldn’t. Lifting a paw to examine where Orange had bucked its mouth, the paw shot away, and the manticore whimpered. Orange had shattered its jaw. Tears started to form in its eyes. They shot up and out of each eye, making an arch. After a few second of crying, it got up and ran off, still sobbing. Orange still looked at where it ran off to as if it were going to come back. Feather stared wide-eyed at Orange. He had never even dreamed of somepony beating manticore it hoof to hoof combat, and especially not it one punch. As Orange walked past Feather, he said, “Get up.” Orange hadn’t broken stride and Feather watch him walk by. The rest of the group started to walk away, leaving Feather on the ground. Feather realized that they were leaving, and shot up off of the ground. “Hey, wait up!” he called after them. The rest of the trip, Feather walked farther behind the group. He eyed kept an eye on Orange more than he did the path. If he can beat a manticore in one punch, what can the others do? he thought. I need to find out more on them. Orange can punch, but what can the other two do?Feather had stopped walking without noticing, and quickly caught up. The sun would be setting soon. If Feather hadn’t been scared of the others than he would have asked when they were stopping. Feather’s prayers were answered when Swift told them to stop. “You guys see that shack?” At the bottom of a hill was a small shack. “We’ll stop there for the night.” They started to walk down the hill, and stood before the doors in less than five minutes. On the out side it looked like something that could fall apart in a second. However, Swift opened the door to something different. It was about the size of a studio apartment. It was rather empty, with only what looked like a manhole cover. There was heat that kept the room comfortable, and a small closet to put their stuff in. The group walked in, and set all the stuff down in a corner. Swift walked up to the cover. He pressed his hoof against it, and started to vibrate. He slowly pushed into the cover, and put his whole head in. Feather, for the second time that day, was scarred stiff. Feather pulled his head out, and stopped vibrating. “All right, there’s nopony down there. We’ll set out in morning, and take the sewers to Canterlot, and meet with the others there.” Swift looked at Feather, and saw the shocked look on his face. “What’s wrong with you?” “How did you…?” “What, the density shift?” Feather nodded. “It comes with the speed. It hard to do, but worth it.” It dawned on Feather. That’s it! he thought. He has super speed! Orange has super strength, and Swift has super speed! He smirked to himself, but Swift didn’t notice. Velvet pulled out four blankets from the closet and gave one blanket to each pony there. She lifted Orange’s bag, and pulled out some food. There was a family size bag of chips; two small bags of trail mix, apples, oranges, and peaches. She picked out three apples, and an orange. She tossed an apple to Swift and Feather, an orange to Orange, and kept an apple for herself. “Thanks,” Orange said. He started to peel his orange but stopped. “Hey, these are mine!” Velvet looked at him and smiled. “They sure are delicious!” She took a large bite out of her apple, taunting him. Orange growled and started to stare down Velvet. “Shut up, finish your food, and go to sleep,” Swift said. “We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.” Swift, having finished his apple as fast as he could, grabbed his blanket, and found a spot on the floor to sleep on. After a few minutes, the rest did the same. ~~~~~ Feather woke to the sun shining in his eyes. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but he was already up. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and took a look around. The others were sound asleep, and it didn’t seem like they were getting up. He looked at the door for a second, but lay back down. Not even a second later, he was back up, staring wide-eyed at the door. He looked over the room again. The others wouldn’t wake up for some time, and a thought passed through his head. He had been kidnapped, and forced to come along. Now he had a chance to escape. The blanket fell off his body as he sat up. He got to his hooves, and crept his way to the door. Half way there, his hoof came down on a floorboard, and let out a high pitch squeak. He cringed, but didn’t here anything else. The others were still asleep. The rest of the way to the door was quiet. As he wrapped the door handle in magic, Swift spoke up. “When are you going?” Feather hadn’t even heard him wake up. “No where,” he lied. “I’m just going for a walk.” “Don’t. Wake up the others for me, it’s time to go.” Feather turned around, and shook Orange and Velvet awake. Orange got up on the first try. Velvet rolled over and ignored him. He shook her again and got a reaction. She rolled back over, and gave him the evil eye, but slowly started to get up. Now that everypony was awake, Swift spoke. “Alright, is everyone ready?” Nopony answered and took it as a “yes”. “Than lets go.” He jammed a crowbar under the manhole. He pushed down, and it started to come off, but it wasn’t enough. He pushed again, but made very little progress. Orange walked up to it, and slammed his hoof down onto the bar. The cover flew off the hole, and landed with a loud clang. The bar had gotten wedged in the floor with no hope of getting it out. Never the less, Swift grabbed the end of the crowbar in his mouth and lifted. It didn’t budge, and Swift gave up quickly. Soon they were all down through the manhole and in the sewers. The only speck of light was coming from the manhole. Velvet lit up her horn, and the darkness lifted. The sewer looked like any other sewer. It was cold, and had a small river of waste flowing next to them. The top was round, and made out of red brick. On the other side of the river was a pathway like the one they were standing on. It wasn’t long till Feather noticed the smell. “Ugh, what is that smell?” “What do you think? We’re in a sewer of all places. Did you expect the smell of dandelions?” Velvet asked sarcastically. “Breath through your mouth. It won’t be quite as bad.” The group moved along with Velvet leading the way. The trip was uneventful. There would be a split every so often, and Swift would tell them which way to go. The rounded another bend without stopping. A rat, scared by Velvet’s light, ray past the group. Feather squealed when it brushed up against his leg. They others looked at him with deadpan expressions. “It was just a rat,” said Orange. “Just a rat? That thing touched me! Do you have any idea how many diseases they can carry?” Feather asked. “It was just a rat.” Velvet shook her head and started to walk again. Not wanting to get left in the dark, they others followed. They continued further into the sewers, but stopped again. There was an iron door in front of them. In the center was a wheel to open the door with. Swift walked up to the door and rapped on it three times, screaming “Barrel! It’s Swift, let us in!”
