A groan escaped my mouth as I dragged an old log towards the cave and laid it in front of some bushes I had placed around the entrance. With a sigh I wiped the sweat from my forehead and backed up a few feet to inspect my work. I smiled with satisfaction and cleaned some of the dirt from my face with my gray shirt. The entrance was barely noticeable now. I looked up to the sky and saw that the sun was starting to rise. “Shit, guess I lost track of time,” I chuckled while cracking my neck.

Last night I couldn’t get any sleep so I tried to keep myself entertained. At first I just worked out. A couple of push ups, sit ups and other types of shit people do to stay in shape. I quickly realized how much I hated working out and tried to find something else. After several failed attempts to find something entertaining I decided to get some work done around my new hideout.

Not feeling satisfied with my camouflage net outside the cave, I began to gather more leaves and branches to scatter around the entrance to hide any signs of movement in and out of the cave. Of course I would have to redo them once and awhile. I thought it would be a good way to hide our trail. Once I was done I decided that it wasn’t enough and started to dig up a few bushes to hide the entrance a bit more. It was a pain in the ass at first since I don’t have a shovel so I used my hands. After a few minutes I got pissed and looked around for anything to get the job done. Thankfully I found a rock that seemed flat enough to work. It was a bitch since I cut myself a few times, but I got the job done a lot faster. When I was finished digging up three or four bushes I placed them in front of the entrance. It looked good enough, but I had figured to add one last piece to my new camouflage. After an hour of searching I had found a decent sized log that would be a perfect addition to my new camouflage and dragged the heavy bitch back to the cave.

With a sigh I walked towards the entrance and made my way through the camouflage. As I entered I saw that Splinter and our guest were still sound asleep. Splinter was closely curled up next to the sleeping pony with my hoodie covering both of them. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. “Damn, they look real peaceful,” I whispered with a bit of jealousy. Wish I could join them in that peace, but I knew we had to get the shit storm out of the way. I slowly inched my way towards Splinter and knelt down close to his ear. “Hey buddy, wake up,” I whispered and gently shook him. His eyes slowly opened and he let out a small yawn. He looked up at me and seemed to give me a little glare. I chuckled and shrugged. “Sorry, but we got some things to sort out,” I whispered and gently removed my hoodie from the two.

With a huff Splinter pushed himself up and stretched his wooden limbs with another yawn. I quickly threw my hoodie on and felt the warm fabric touch my cold skin. I shivered a bit and rubbed my arms to warm them. “Man, I didn’t realize I was that cold.” A soft moan came from below and I looked down to see the sleeping pony shifting in her sleep. With a sigh I looked to Splinter and smiled. “Hey, think you can find more of those lizards for breakfast? They weren’t too bad,” Splinter gave a happy bark as he ran deeper into the cave to search for breakfast.

I chuckled and collected some firewood that was left from last night. After making a pile I dug through my bag to find a box of matches. I pulled one out, lit it, and started the fire with ease. Thank god for these things. I chuckled and kissed the box of matches. I threw the box back into my bag and slowly sat down onto the ground. As my ass made contact with the caves hard stone floor I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of satisfaction. I guess I’m still a little tired from last night. It felt good to sit down after a night’s work. I smiled and stared into the flames.

After a few minutes of silence Splinter returned and stopped in front of me, wagging his tail in joy as he held not two, not three, but four lizards! A huge grin appeared onto my face as I laughed and rubbed Splinter on the head. “Hell yeah little buddy! Nice catch!” Splinter dropped our breakfast onto the ground and gave a happy bark. I rubbed my hands and licked my lips as I stared at our food. “Go get some sticks so we can cook these little bastards,” Splinter gave another bark and ran off to collect some sticks. He quickly returned and after a few more praises I impaled the dead lizards and held three of them over the fire, while Splinter held his own with his teeth. I was a little worried when he got close to the fire since, well, he’s made of wood. I don’t want my wooden companion bursting into flames after catching breakfast. Thankfully he didn’t and we both sat there with excited smiles as we cooked our meal.

The smell of cooked flesh began to hit my nostrils and I chuckled as I looked to Splinter. “Think they’re done?” I asked. Splinter wagged his tail and removed his lizard from the fire. After a few sniffs he looked back up at me and barked. I smiled and removed the rest. “Alright, let’s split this up buddy. Two for you and two for me,” I placed two of the larger cooked lizards down in front of him since he did catch them. Only seems fair that he gets the most out of this meal. After I licked my lips I grinned and raised my breakfast to my mouth. “Let’s eat!” I shouted, but before I could take a bite I felt something tug at my pants. I stopped halfway and looked at Splinter who was glaring at me. I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

He motioned with his head towards the sleeping pony. I looked over and saw that she was still asleep. “What about her?” I asked as I looked back to Splinter. He rolled his eyes and pointed one of his paws at my meal and gestured with his head towards her again. After realizing what he was getting at I sighed and lowered my meal to the ground. “Oh come on, didn’t you give her your nuts and berries. She’ll be fine,” Splinter shook his head and gave a hard glare. After a few moments of silence I groaned in annoyance. “Fine, how about we just wake her up and get this shit over with,” Splinter looked over to the pony for a few seconds and looked back to give a quick nod. With a roll of my eyes I lined our meal together near the fire and rose to my feet.

I flipped my hoodie over my head and pulled out my bandana from my pocket. After I had covered most of my face I looked over to Splinter who gave me a confused look. “What, don’t want her to see my face. Plus I don’t think seeing a strange creature and his wooden companion would make her feel any safer,” Splinter just shrugged and walked over to the sleeping pony. As he looked away from me I quickly checked my M9, and placed it in the back of my pants. Just to be safe.

As Splinter reached the pony he began to lick her face in attempts to wake her. She groaned and lazily waved her hand in Splinters direction. “Ugh, no, not now, just a few more minutes,” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms while looking at Splinter with a grin. He looked back at me and I only shrugged.

“Hey, you wanted to wake her up,” he gave me a glare and looked back at the pony to lick her face some more. After a few seconds she groaned again.

“Go awaaaay!” she growled and flipped around to show her rear to Splinter. I stifled my laughter as I saw Splinter glare in anger and annoyance at the pony. I gave a soft mocking clap and almost lost it when he snapped his head back at me and growled in frustration. Once again I shrugged and gestured him to continue. Splinter lowered his head, looked back at the pony and placed his two front paws on her shoulder. He began to gently shake her. Again she gave a low groan and nudged Splinter off of her shoulder. “Dear Celestia and her fat ass would you leave me alone!” she shouted as Splinter fell back onto his back. I snickered as I saw his shocked face stare up at the ceiling. After a few seconds of silence his glare returned and he shot up to his paws and got down into an offensive stance. My eyes widened as I saw where he was planning to strike.

“Oh boy,” I muttered with a chuckle. With a growl he shot forward towards the pony’s ass and bit her on the right cheek. I shot my arms up and laughed. “Goal!!” I shouted through my laughter. The pony screamed and shot up from the ground with Splinter still holding on.

“Ahhhh!! Owowowowowow!!!!” she screamed and shook her ass in attempts to throw Splinter off. Soon Splinter had let go and fell to the ground on his paws. Once he was off the pony fell to the ground and began to rub her ass with a few tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. “Ooow, why did you do that?” she whimpered and closed her eyes.

“Oh man, that was great buddy,” I chuckled and wiped a tear from my eye. I looked over to Splinter who had a look of pride on his face as he puffed out his wooden chest. I shook my head and looked back to the now fully awake pony who was still trying to dull the pain in her rear. After few seconds of letting her tend to her injury I cleared my throat. “Good morning, did ya sleep well?” the pony opened her eyes and glared up at me with puffed up cheeks.

“Seriously, is that how you wake someone up!? You could have just shook me harder or just… just…” she trailed off as she began to get a better look at me. I mentally sighed and got ready for the worse.

“Yep, here we go!” I thought to myself as I stared back at the pony. After what felt like hours of silence she finally spoke.

“U-uh, who are you?” she asked and looked around the cave. “And where am I?” I sighed and scratched my head. At least she’s not freaking out like I expected.

“Well, you don’t need to worry about my name right now, but to answer your other question, you’re in my, um, home I guess,” she looked around a bit more and winced before rubbing her head.

“Ooooow,” she moaned.

“Hangover?” I chuckled. She nodded and seemed to freeze. After a couple of seconds she looked at me.

“H-how did I get here?” she asked nervously.

I chuckled as I remembered last night. “Right, last night. Well you see I was having a midnight stroll and I ran into you drunk off your ass. After that well…” I trailed off and cleared my throat a bit as I remembered last night’s close encounter. Her eyes shot opened and her cheeks were crimson red.

“D-d-did we...” she whimpered in a shaking voice as she covered her chest with her arms. My eyes widened and I began to wave my hands franticly.

“W-what!? Nonono nothing happened I swear! You just passed out and I couldn’t just leave you alone!” Well I could have but the little wooden prick would have been pissed. “I swear nothing happened!” after a few seconds she slowly lowered her arm and looked away.

“Really?”

“Of course!” I rapidly nodded my head. She gave a small sigh of relief and nodded.

“Good,” I gave sigh and looked to Splinter who was giving me a stupid little grin. I narrowed my eyes and flipped him off before looking back at the pony who seemed to collect herself. “So, um, why am I here?”

“Like I said, you were drunk off your ass and passed out in the forest,” her ears perked up a bit as she gave me a curious look.

“Forest? You mean the Everfree forest?” she asked. I only shrugged.

“I guess, I’m not really from around here,” I said and looked to Splinter who had walked over to the pony and sat down on his rear with a happy look. The pony looked surprised as she stared at Splinter.

“Is that a Timberwolf pup?”

“Is that what they’re called?” she nodded.

“Yes, but why is he here?” she asked and looked up at me. “Is he yours?” I looked down to Splinter and thought for a moment. He wasn’t really mine, he was just a companion that I traveled with. He was more a friend than a pet. I shook my head.

“Nah, Splinter and I are just traveling buddies. Right buddy?” he looked back and barked with joy as he wagged his tail. “See?”

“Splinter huh? Clever,” she said with only a hint of sarcasm in her tone. I narrowed my eyes but ignored it. She scratched Splinter behind his ear and smiled as he moved closer and laid on her lap. Jesus, this is going a little better than I had expected. Like really well. She isn’t really hostile and she hasn’t freaked out too bad. Plus Splinter seems to like her. So yeah, this isn’t to bad! “So why were we in the forest?” she suddenly asked. I started to recall last night again and felt my cheeks slightly heat up under my bandana. Thank god she couldn’t see my face. I scratched my head and gave a nervous chuckle.

“O-oh, yeah. Um, well…” I cleared my throat and sighed. “You were real drunk and you sort of, well ambushed me near the edge of the forest.”

“Ambushed?” she asked with a tilted head.

“Well not really ambush, more like come out of nowhere and scare the shit out of me,” I said and chuckled.

“Oh, well sorry about that, but how did we end up in the Everfree forest?”

“Ah, that… well I’m not sure, but do you usually go into heat when you’re drunk, or is it all mares?” confusion covered her face for awhile until a bit of realization hit her.

“Oh no, did I try to…” I slowly nodded and her cheeks lit up a bit as she covered her face. “Not again!” I rubbed the back of my head and sighed.

“Yeah I was little caught off guard when you dragged me into the forest. Not really a normal thing for me when a girl wants to show me her, uh, ‘cutie mark’.” I swear I could see steam coming from her face as she kept it buried in her hands and shook her head.

“Oooh, I knew I shouldn’t have had cider vodka!” she whimpered and looked up at me with pleading eyes. “Please don’t tell anyone, I just moved here. I don’t want people thinking I’m some sex hungry mare that can’t handle her alcohol! I can handle my booze, but just not the hard stuff ya know! Oh I just wanted to ease my nerves not get drunk and make myself look like some sort of slu-”

“Easy, easy now, just relax!” I shouted as I raised my hand in attempts to calm her down. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. I was actually starting to feel bad for the pony. “Look just relax, okay?” she breathed deeply and looked down to see Splinter staring back up at her with flattened ears. She nodded and stayed silent for a minute before finally speaking.

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?” she asked quietly with lowered ears and started to scratch the back of Splinter’s ear. I chuckled and shook my head.

“Hell no, I never go near that damn town anyways,” I said, feeling a bit of relief when she looked up with a small smile.

“Thanks.”

“Sure, uh, what’s your name?” I asked with a sheepish smile under my bandana.

“Oh right, sorry. My name is Ace Spell, but you can just call me Ace,” I nodded and chuckled as I sat down against the wall.

“Ace Spell huh? Well Ace I’m gonna be honest with ya, I’m a little surprised at how you’re reacting to waking up in a stranger’s home. Does it happen often?” I asked with a smirk. She chuckled and shook her head.

“No, it’s just that this isn’t the strangest thing that has happened to me after a few drinks,” she smiled with a shrug. “I’m kinda use to it.”

“Same,” I chuckled and looked to Splinter. “Yo buddy, can we eat now? I’m getting a little hungry,” I said while rubbing my growling stomach. He jumped from Ace’s lap and barked as he ran over to me. I grinned and looked up at Ace to invite to breakfast, but before I could say anything I started to smell something. Something was burning. My eyes went wide in realization as my head snapped towards the lizards to see them burning to a crisp. Splinter and I gave a loud yelp as we jumped to save our breakfast, but as we scrambled to put out our meal it was already too late. The flesh was way to burnt and crumbled into black ashes the second we touched it. As we stared at our once perfect meal with slack jaws we hung our heads in sadness. As a few moments of silence went by Splinter slowly looked up at me with a glare and growled. I recoiled and raised my hands.

“Hey don’t blame me man, I didn’t know they would burst into flames like that. Plus you were the one who said you wanted to wake her up before we ate,” I said with crossed arms. He barked and scratched at our burnt meal. I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Well sorry, I didn’t want them to get cold while we woke her up,” he replied with a huff and whined as both of our stomachs growled. I sighed, rose to my feet and looked to Ace who stared at us with a little guilt on her face.

“Sorry about your breakfast guys.” I shrugged and chuckled.

“Don’t worry about it, lady luck is always screwing me over once and awhile,” I said and gave a groan as I looked down at Splinter. “Guess we’ll have to find a new meal buddy,” he lowered his head and nodded. Ace cleared her throat and I looked back over to see her standing up with a smile.

“Well I can help you with that,” I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms.

“How?” I asked. She smiled and placed her hand into her shorts. After a few seconds of digging she pulled out a small bag that made a clinking sound.

“Well since you had to deal with me last night, I thought I could at least treat you to breakfast. I just moved here, but I’ve been told there’s a good place called Sugarcube Corner. Hows that sound?” I cringed under my bandana and rubbed the back of my head.

“Look, thanks for the offer, but I’m not really, uh…” I looked down to Splinter for an answer only to see him shrug. I sighed and looked back to Ace to see a confused look on her face. “Ace, we’re not really social with the town and to be honest we’re not in the best of terms with the population.”

“Why not? Is it because you’re not a pony?” she asked. I froze for a second with wide eyes, but after a few seconds I chuckled and lowered my bandana with my finger.

“Guess I couldn’t fool ya huh?” I asked showing my smirk.

“It took me a few minutes, but I just noticed that you didn’t have a tail and that you have feet instead of hoofs,” she said as she pointed out the flaws. I shrugged and gave her a curious look.

“Again you surprise me with your reaction. You’re not freaked out about me in any way?” I asked. She smiled a little wider and shooker her head.

“Like I said before this isn’t the strangest thing to happen to me.” I shook my head and smiled.

“Well it’s a nice change,” I muttered.

“But seriously, why don’t you come with me to get some breakfast?” my smile disappeared and I sighed.

“Ace, really thank you for the offer, but I can’t be seen there and I really don’t want them to know I’m here,” she frowned and placed her hands on her hips as she stared at me with a slightly annoyed look. After few moments a smile came to her face.

“Fine, how about I bring it here then?” I raised an eyebrow and rubbed my chin.

“Why?” She had a confused look on her face.

“What do you mean ‘why’?”

“I mean why would you want to buy us food? We just met and you have no idea who I am. So why waste money on us?” She pursed her lips and glared at me.

“First off I’m not wasting my money on you, I just want to buy you breakfast since you did put up with me last night and you didn’t just leave me passed out in the Everfree. Second, we may have just met, but you seem like a cool guy so I don’t have a problem with it,” she said and chuckled as my stomach growled. “And third you sound like you could use a decent meal.” I frowned and rubbed my stomach before looking at Splinter who was also feeling the effects of hunger. After a few seconds of thinking I sighed and looked back to Ace with a stern glare.

“How do I know I can trust you not to mouth off about me?” She gave me a curious look.

“Why would I do that? You obviously don’t want them to know you’re here for some reason and to be honest I don’t really care what your reason is. Plus I still owe you for your troubles,” she said with a smile. I stared at her for a few seconds before hearing my stomach growl again. I sighed and shrugged.

“Fine, fuck it, maybe luck is on my side this time, but keep in mind if you screw me over you’ll regret it,” I said with a stern glare. She rolled her eyes and nodded as she placed the clinking bag back into her shorts.

“Yeah, yeah I’ve heard it before. Don’t worry I’ll keep my mouth closed.” I nodded, grabbed my bag, and swung it onto my shoulders.

“Good, now I’ll walk you back to the edge of the forest,” I said and walked towards the entrance with Splinter close by.

“Such a gentleman,” she smiled and followed me out of the cave. I rolled my eyes as I lifted the camouflage for her. She looked over my camouflage and chuckled.

“Nice set up.”

“Thanks, it was a bit of a pain, but I think it looks good,” I said, beginning to lead the way towards the edge of the forest. As we walked quietly through the forest I was starting to feel a bit worried. I glanced back at Ace and saw her looking away as she inspected the forest around her with a smile planted on her face. She seemed nice, but what if she hears about what I did? She may just rat me out and lead them to me. I clenched my teeth at the thought of being put back in chains by those damn ponies. All these ponies have done so far is try to kill, capture, or even rape me! Though the rape was a one time thing I still don’t like it! I may deserve a bit of an ass kicking, but I won’t let them treat me like some kind of freak!

“So, what exactly are you?” I was pulled out of my thoughts at Ace’s question and shook my head clear.

“Oh, well I’m a human,” I said.

“Human huh?” I nodded and looked over my shoulder to see her rubbing her chin. “I think I’ve heard of you guys before,” I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah, where?” I asked. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and crossed her arms.

“I’m not sure actually. I think it was when I was in the Gryphon Empire,” she sighed and shook her head. “It’s not coming to me, but I know I’ve heard of your kind somewhere,” I chuckled and shrugged.

“Well it’s no big deal,” I said and looked forward. Silence quickly surrounded us as we continued to make our way through the forest. Half an hour had passed and the sight of the edge of the forest finally came into view. I gave a quiet sigh of relief and stopped near the edge behind a tree. I looked back to Ace. “Alright, we’ll wait for you here,” she nodded and began to walk towards the town, but before she exited the forest I grabbed her by the arm and stared into her eyes. “Remember, don’t fuck me over,” she stared at me for a few seconds before smiling and patting my hand.

“Just relax and wait for your food, I shouldn’t be too long,” she chuckled and pulled away from my grasp. I huffed as I watched her walk away towards the town and looked down to Splinter.

“Is this a stupid idea? I mean I know we always have stupid ideas, but is this one REALLY stupid?” I asked as I slid down the tree and sat on the ground. Splinter shrugged and laid down next to me as he looked towards the town. I soon joined him and peeked out from behind the tree to see it slowly come to life. Ponies of different colors and races walked down the streets in harmony and let off this happy and joyful vibe. I felt a shiver run up my spine and groaned as I continued to watch the town and it’s people. “Not use to this kind of place, right buddy?” I asked as I glanced down. Splinter nodded as he gave his own shutter.

With a chuckle I pulled out my binoculars to get a deeper look into the town to look for Ace. After a few seconds of looking I saw her making her way through the town. She looked like any other pony, but it was clear she was not a social person. She seemed to make it her mission to avoid others as she continued to hang her head low to avoid eye contact and buried her hands into the pockets of her shorts. No one seemed to even notice her as she continued to walk through the town. Soon she stopped in front of a large building made from pure diabetes. I cringed as I inspected the building. “Damn, someone has a sweet tooth,” I muttered as I pulled my attention back towards Ace to see her being stopped by another pink pony.

“Ah shit,” I mumbled as I quickly noticed the pony as one of the main characters. The pink mare wore a ear to ear smile as she spoke to Ace and pointed in my direction before waving at me. Wait, what!? My eyes went wide as Ace turned in my direction with a bit of shock and snapped back to the mare with her hands flying through the air in panic. The mare simply laughed, poked her on the nose and said something before pouncing away towards the house of treats.

At this point I was so confused at what happened and saw Ace slowly turn back in my direction. She shrugged and slowly followed the pink pony into the store. I rubbed my temple and groaned. This may have been a bad idea after all.

[Ace’s pov three minutes ago]

“Ugh, my head,” I mumbled as I rubbed my temple from the throbbing pain that pulsed through my brain. “Never again will I drink cider vodka. It’s too painful,” and the sound of a fully awake town wasn’t helping at all. I swear how these people are able to be this full of energy in the morning baffles me. I glanced around my surroundings and quickly felt my introvert self start to take over. A few ponies waved hello and I forced a smile as I gave a weak wave back. After a few more weak hellos I began to avoid eye contact and walked a bit faster so I could get to my destination a bit faster.

Luckily, I arrived to my destination without any problems and stopped as I stared at the large gingerbread house with a raised eyebrow. I know I just moved here, but how did I miss this place? I mean it stands out like a sore thumb. I shrugged and gave a small sigh. “This would have been easier if he would have come with me,” I mumbled to myself as I started to make my way to the entrance, but before I could even take a step forward I was blinded by a pink blur. I gave a yelp of surprise and stumbled back. As I got a look at the source of pink I was greeted by a smiling pink mare. She wore a pink striped shirt with blue jeans. Her hair looked like cotton candy and her body shook with what I would assume was excitement. I stared at the mare for a few seconds before finally clearing my throat and speaking.

“Um, hi, can I help you?” I asked. She shook her head and let her smile grow even wider.

“No, I just wanted to say hello since you’re new! You’re new in town right?”

“Uh yeah, I moved here three days ago,” she gasped and gave me a look of shock. Did I say something?

“Three days ago!? But I haven’t even noticed you! Is this thing broken?” she asked herself as she knocked on the side of her head a few times which made a hollow sound. “I swear I can tell whenever there is a new pony in town. Maybe I’m getting rusty,” a look of determination filled her eyes as she looked at me. “I’ll just have to make your party super duper amazing to make up for it!” I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“What?” I asked the strange mare. The mare giggled at my confused look, snatched my hand and shook it at a rapid speed. I swear it was nearly ripped off.

“My name’s Pinkie Pie, but you can just call me Pinkie. What’s your name?” I quickly recovered my hand and looked at Pinkie Pie with a bit of caution.

“Uh, Ace. Ace Spell, but you can just call me Ace. Now what were you talking about? Something about a party? What’s it for?”

“Why it’s to welcome you to Ponyville silly,” I was a little caught off guard and tilted my head in confusion.

“A party for me?” she nodded and smiled.

“Yep, you can even bring your friend.”

“My friend?” she nodded again and pointed behind me.

“Yeah, your friend who’s being a creeper and watching us from the Everfree Forest,” I froze and saw her wave in the same direction. I slowly turned and only saw a small shining glare of something from the edge of the Everfree Forest. I quickly snapped back to Pinkie and flailed my hands to block her view of the direction where the human was hiding.

“I-I-I don’t know what you’re-” I was cut off as she poked my nose and gave me a sly smile.

“Tell him it’s not very attractive to stalk mares, it gives off a creepy vibe,” she chuckled before spinning around and pouncing away towards the entrance of Sugarcube Corners. I only watched as she pounced away humming a song. I looked back in the direction the human was hiding and shrugged. I knew he could see me and I bet he was just as confused as me. With a sigh I turned back to the store and walked towards the entrance.

As I opened the door a small bell rung from above and I was greeted by the sight of a blue mare standing behind the counter with a smile as she saw me enter. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, I’ll be with you in a moment,” she said and directed her attention towards two other customers. With a forced smile I walked up to the counter and waited quietly for the other customers to finish their orders. After a few minutes they thanked the blue mare and walked to a nearby table with fresh cups of coffee. The mare looked back to me with the same smile as I walked forward to the counter. “Now, how can I help you?” with a forced smile I quickly scanned the selection of treats and glanced at the menu. Breakfast special for twenty bits? I mentally shrugged and pointed towards the menu.

“I’ll have your breakfast special with two coffees. Please put a few packets of sugar and cream with it,” she nodded and wrote down my order.

“Anything else?” I thought for a moment and quickly remembered Splinter. Could timberwolves eat sugary treats? I didn’t want to poison the human’s pet. He is already hesitant of me so killing his pup would surely throw out all of his trust out the window.

“Actually, this may seem strange, but do you have any treats for dogs?” I asked with a sheepish smile. To my surprise she nodded and pulled out a box from under the counter. I read the name on the box and felt my eye twitch as I saw that Pinkie character on the front wearing a slightly revealing dog costume with a doggy treat in her mouth. I felt like groaning as I read the name of the box.

“These are ‘Pinkie snacks’. Pinkie Pie invented them a few months ago for Applejack’s pet, but I guess she went a bit overboard with the baking. Especially with the strange get up on the cover,” she chuckled and handed me the box. “Pinkie already told me about you, though it was rather hard to understand since she spoke too fast for me to hear, I got the idea that a new pony had come to town. You are the mare she was talking about, right?” I nodded and took the box of ‘Pinkie snacks’.

“How much?” she shook her head and held up a hand.

“No need, you can have that for free since we already have too much,” I was a bit surprised, but smiled and placed the box under my arm as I dug into my pocket for my money. I pulled out the bag of bits, placed twenty on the table for the breakfast special, and five more for the coffee.

“Thank you, um, sorry but what’s your name?”

“Oh, sorry I nearly forgot. I’m Missus Cake, and my husband Mister Cake and I own this establishment. What’s your name?”

“Ace Spell, but you can just call me Ace.”

“Well Ace your order should be done soon, Pinkie Pie should be finishing soon so please take a seat and relax until then,” I nodded and made my way to an empty table in the corner of the room. I gave a heavy sigh as I sat in a surprisingly comfy chair and laid back in my seat as I stared at the ceiling. The throbbing pain in my head had somewhat disappeared, but a dull pain still remained. With a groan I buried my face into my hands.

“So were you at the party yesterday?” one of the customers from before asked his companion.

“No, I was too busy with work, but I wished I could have been there to see the poor filly,” the other customer asked as she sighed. “It must have been terrifying to have been attacked by a monster like that,” my ears perked up a bit and I slowly moved one of my fingers to peek at the two other customers. There was a light red stallion with black hair that covered a bit of his face. He wore a plaid green shirt and tan cargo pants. I inspected the mare and saw she was a light shade of pink with blue hair. She wore a normal white T-shirt under a purple un-zipped hoodie and dark blue jeans.

“Is that what happened?” the stallion asked with raised eyebrows.

“Oh right, you were out of town weren’t you?”

“Yeah, they thought they had found a new species in Zebraca and asked me to come and study it, but it turned out that a few zebras got drunk and made up a few sightings. Was a real pain, but forget that right now, what was that about a monster attacking the filly?”

“Well I don’t really know much of the details, but this weird looking creature attacked a filly in her home and hid in the Everfree. I guess the family had some pretty powerful connections because a group of Royal Guards came to catch the monster. They ended up catching it and dragged it back to town to show off their victory or something,” she said and took a sip of her coffee.

“Sounds kind of dangerous to bring a monster they caught into the middle of town just to show it off,” the stallion said.

“Yeah, I thought the same thing, but it was pretty beat up so it didn’t really struggle.”

“Well whatever, what did it look like?” the stallion asked with a bit of poorly hidden enthusiasm.

“At first I thought it was just some furless pony, but it was so… alien like. It was like some hairless ape. It’s face was a bit flatter than yours, it had no tail, it’s ears were smaller and lower on its head and it had this dull look in its eyes.”

“So it was just some scary looking hairless ape?”

“Well it wasn’t completely hairless. It had a small patch of brown hair on its head and a bit of a stubble on its face. Looked kind of gruff to be honest.”

“Well did anything else happen?” she was quiet for a moment and shrugged.

“Well the guards started to poke at it and making fun of it, but at that point I just wanted to get away from the place and headed home. I know it attacked the poor filly, but I started to actually feel bad for it. Being helpless like that never felt right to me, even if it was some monster,” she said with a frown as she stared into her cup. The stallion shrugged and laid back in his seat.

“This creature actually sounds interesting, shame I wasn’t here to see it,” the mare rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile.

“I swear, you’ll mess with anything that’s ‘interesting’,” the stallion chuckled and shrugged.

“I blame my father,” they both laughed a bit and continued to talk about something, but by now I was deep in my thoughts. Were they talking about the human in the Everfree? If so then… should I even go back? From what I hear he is dangerous and is not well liked by the government, but does that really mean he’s bad? I mean if he really was a monster then why did he even help me last night? He could have done anything to me, but instead he helped my drunk ass and brought me home. Plus, he doesn’t seem all that bad. I gave a heavy sigh and rubbed my temple. Maybe I should just keep my guard up a bit before I fully trust him. Besides, it’s not like he can beat me.

“Hey!” I jumped as a hyper voice appeared from thin air next to my ear. I looked over to see Pinkie standing close to my table with my order in a paper bag. “I have your order Ace!”

“O-oh, thanks,” I said and rose from my seat as I used my magic to levitate my order in a light blue aura.

“Hope you enjoy your breakfast, but make sure to tell that creeper in the trees to stop being creepy!” she shouted as I walked out of the store. I rolled my eyes and started to walk through the town. After a few minutes of walking I slipped into a nearby alleyway and looked around to make sure no one was looking. After seeing no one I built up my magic around my body, focused on the edge of the Everfree, and saw a flash of light blind me for a few seconds. Once the light had disappeared I was instantly met with a girly shriek and saw two blurs shoot up from the ground and into the trees. A few leaves fell to the ground as I looked up and saw the human and Splinter holding on tightly to a tree branch with wide eyes directed towards me. A smile formed onto my face as I covered my mouth to stifle my laughter, but I failed miserably. I fell to my knees and held my stomach as I laughed uncontrollably with a few tears escaping my eyes. Some monster.

[Jacobs prov]

I dropped to the ground and caught Splinter as he fell after me. I glared down at the laughing pony and felt my cheeks warm up as she pointed at me and continued on. I let Splinter down and crossed my arms as I waited for her laughing to stop. After a few snorts and giggles she finally seemed to calm down and picked herself up. “Ya done?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Y-yeah, I’m done,” she chuckled and wiped away a few tears. Her horn began to glow light blue and a brown paper bag levitated into the air. “I got breakfast,” she said with a smile. I sniffed the air and felt my mouth water a bit. A smile came to my face and I looked down to Splinter who gazed at the bag with wide hungry eyes. With a chuckle I walked past Ace and gestured her to follow me.

“Come on, let’s go eat,” Ace nodded and quickly followed behind me. Splinter gave a happy bark and ran to my right side with a wagging tail. After a few minutes of walking Ace walked to my left side with a grin.

“So do ya trust me yet?” I smirked and glanced over to her.

“We’ll see how the food tastes first,” we both chuckled and continued through the forest. After another four minutes of silence I glanced over to Ace again and saw her simply admiring our surroundings with a relaxed smile. I formed my own smile and looked to the clear blue sky. Maybe lady luck’s giving me a break.

Author's Note

Hey boys and girls hope you enjoyed the chapter! I really don't have much to say soooo.... :b

Anyways have a good day, or night!