Watchers of the Dark

by SIMIOCAOS

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark
Length: 7643

The town of Coltkham and its neighboring university have always praised themselves of being quiet and peaceful, but when a group of friends run over a strange mare in the woods, the peaceful and serene atmosphere in town may not last for long…

Knights of Earth and Sky I

Nothing, for being an Eqiestrian town, beyond normal happens in Coltkham, and Kurios and his friends have always enjoyed it. At least until the university gets to host the annual literary convention, and visitors from all over the kingdom arrive. Now, as strange events begin to unfold, the unlikely group of friends run over a strange mare in the woods, and unwillingly set a series of forces to move…

The only question remaining is how much would that peace last?

Thanks to Snowflake the Pegasus for his collaboration with this project.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-08 18:20:15 UTC

Prologue: "Nice road lights!-Oh wait…"

"There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception." - Aldous Huxley

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The drops hit the ground.

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Too close from each other to be precise. They left their hold at the roof, and traveled always towards the deepness. Her ears had accustomed to that rhythmic sound a while ago, but this time was different. There was too much water coming down from the ceiling. Perhaps it was raining outside.

     No wonder. Clouds were feeling bad all morning, and since Sky had been moved out of their way now there wasn't anyone else to comfort them… So sad that Sky hadn't been there to help. More rain poured down. She hated that the weather weren't real in Equestria.

     But that was not the place or the time. She still had to… To… What was she doing, again? Oh, yeah! The mission. She had to stay focus. Be like a shadow. Like a shadow in the dark… She liked the dark. And the night as well. Not that there was something wrong with the day, just details of raising. Still, nothing in Equestria felt that natural. At least not from her perspective…

     Wait! That wasn't of any interest. Focus!

     She sighed. Perhaps it wasn't the best moment to do it, but she knew that there wouldn't be another one. Silently, as the noise of water falling around her improvised hut let her, she closed her eyes. Slowly, she faded the world around her. The constant murmur of the rain was steadily drawn back from her ears, and the soft caress of the dying light was taken away from her fur. And so, as reality around herself began to loose more and more sense, the other world began to appear.

     She suddenly felt it within her. A spark, so futile yet so immense that could sustain the world in its very futility without even flickering. Something that altered briefly the currents of existence she'd just came to be… Something that she'd never forget its touch from: the invasion of a black, darkened will.

     She frowned. In a realm where emotions and thoughts could be as visible as lighthouses this particularity was very well concealed. It may had slipped bigger consciences, but not hers. Hers was more cunning than all of them. Hers was hers after all…

     Yet what she witnessed was most preoccupying. Something was moving, something beyond the reach of everyone, and it was doing so undetected. A loose end, a variable like this could cause a havoc unprecedented in the order of things… And speaking of which.

     Something suddenly hit her conscience like a tidal wave, something that sparked a hundred waves more, stretching and stretching for a indefinite amount of infinity, crashing and moving everything in its path. Thoughts got shattered, dreams got split apart, and the very essence of beings was erased from existence for a moment before the path of that earthquake… and then rebuilt.

     She was tossed aside and thrown beyond her point of origin as the immeasurable energy was being casted from an unknown source before finding herself in the very place she begun. Something had been set in motion, something had been… revorned.

     She brushed those feelings aside. Something greater was happening now. The world began to convulse, and the ether around her figure suddenly became a thick mass of terror and corruption. In the space beyond her essence, an unidentified source was starting to move. An intelligence so long thought gone was sparkling into motion.

     Responding to the invocation, a mass so large that she couldn't see it all began to creep. At first passive and slow, but gaining form and weight as it moved towards its caller, and sliding through, pushing nightmares and more essences in its wake until it took its terrible shape. She pressed forward to watch closer, but the presence of the horror didn't allowed her to come close. She had to fight agains the chaos around her just to remain in the same place. If she could just get a little more detail…

     And then, just as it all had begun, the creature, as terribly as it had came to awareness, disappeared from the realm of essence. She watched in horror how its caller did it too. And nothing more. There was only echo…

     She woke up to the sound of hooves hitting the ground. Around her, brushwood and bushes were being trampled as a solid body opened path through the vegetation. The ground were sustaining a body as it swiftly moved over it, appearing and disappearing as it evolved through the landscape. The woods around her had watered her cover, and her hood, though clad up, was as wet as if she'd be running without it. It was no surprise to learn that all of her body was completely soaked. And neither was it to learn that she had been running all along.

     It always happened when she envisioned something. The energies around her had been so powerful lately that even she didn't knew when was she being dragged by them and when was, in fact, her own desire… Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

     Something moved her forward. Calling from a distance with the imperious urge to accelerate until she crumbled. It was her frenzied stated, sure, but she couldn't deny that there was something else this time. Something had been set in motion, and even if the vision she had in the realm of magic had been from a moment to come it was so vivid that it may as well be happening now.

     The voice… Her memories hand't been at their best lately, but sure as heck she'd heard them before. Them? Maybe… From a time when she wasn't herself.

"The servants of End are moving" she whispered, though she never ordered her lips to move. "At last, after all these years…"

     She stopped where she was. The impulse that had been guiding her had just disappeared, and her legs were now stale in their place, paralyzed by an unknown will that definitely wasn't hers, leaving her stranded. Her voice spoke again.

"The old world is beginning to reawaken!"

     And that was it. Her senses suddenly returned to reality, and her mind began to assume control of her body. One by one, every nerve of her body reacted, and her muscles began to stretch, as if they were being put through a long sleep. It never felt completely good to return from a trance, but then again, it never felt complete bad also. It was just the sensation to embrace a single aspect of the world right after being the world itself. To become an entity completely and end being omniscient for a while-

     Something interrupted her thinking. In the distance, a noise that at first was muffled by the presence of the trees, but that began to become clear by every passing second. At first she couldn't make what it was, but after a second her memories instinctually recognized the sound of cart wheels rattling against the ground. Something was coming her way.

     Just a second later, shadows started to form, and a source of brightness began to move through the woods. She followed with her eyes for a minute until they began to turn in her direction, closing by at a great speed as well as the newfound sound of galloping hooves.

"Hey, nice road lights!" she said, her usually corky self returned…

     …Just before she realized that the vehicle was moving straightly at her, for she was standing in the middle of the road.

     The light immediately blinded her, and before a moment passed, her real hooves felt the ground beneath her. A source of motion tried to take her out of the way, but that was just inertia. Suddenly, just as the form of the two stallion-pulled cart, appeared before her she realized that it wasn't precisely her who had been standing in that place all along… Just another vision, of what was yet to come.

"Oh wait…"

     Just as her ears stopped working, and her head began to spin around with the rest of the world, she could hear the screams of both terror and surprise, and while her body was delivered to the wind to fly for the eternally long space of few yards, all the commotion and havoc that sprung from her appearance, just disappeared with the rest of her conscience.

     …Just one thing, one last sound breached her ears as she was embraced by the darkness.

"…Kurios!"

Featured:

Awaken - Deathklok

"Morphine is not for playing"

"So, how is she going to be?" asked Mint Coin, trying to contain a yawn.

     The doctor didn't say anything. He just adjusted his glasses as he looked again to the radiographs, silent. Somehow, she knew that wasn't supposed to worry her, but it didn't ease her either.

"It's hard to say" he stated at last. "She took a heavy blow, that's for sure, but there aren't' any serious damage, or internal bleeding, apparently. I'd be more concerned about her mental state, though."

"Come again?"

"Well, as I said, she took quite a hit, and although it doesn't seem to be any further damage, I'd be more inclined to wonder, what was a mare doing in the middle of the woods at that hour of the night?" he took down the papers showing her cranial structure. "…But that'd be just my way of dealing with things. In any case, you shouldn't have any trouble with her. Just see that she sleeps comfortably."

"Okay…" she noted it down. "Is there anything else?"

"Give her some pain medications if the ailment persists" he shrugged. "And if you need anything else, please bring her to the clinic. I'm not one for home visits anymore."

"Understood" she nodded as she got her notebook into her saddlebag. "And sorry again for bothering you, sir."

"Don't mention it" he took seat behind his desk. "Anyhow, I'm just happy to know that your friends've got over their shock state."

"Yeah, me too!" If that's a way to put it… "Anyway, I think I'd better be going now. Check how's everything back home."

"Very well" he smiled sideways. "Please give them my regards… And tell that pegasus friend of yours that morphine is not for playing, if he doesn't' wanna get arrested."

"Don't worry, I will!" she giggled as she made out the door. "Have a good day, doc!"

"You too, young one!"

     And with that she left the consultancy room.

The sun left another bank of clouds behind and poured its light on the land below. He sighed, both in frustration and in defeat. Even though everything seemed more lively, the weight of having to fulfill a duty after having to pass through everything he had wasn't making it any fresher. Not for his eyes. If anything, it was just another sign that the world had carelessly continued without him. That he was somehow now left behind… Or at least that's what it felt after a night without sleep.

     Kurios stretched his legs once more and yawned. His condition wasn't making him any favors, and his actual standing position was making his legs numb. So seated was his routine that now he actually hated not galloping in the morning. He would've entered the station just as the rest of the student mov that had being assigned to accommodate their visits, but the crowd had proven too much for his actual state of mind.

     Oh how he despised the recent circumstances, but there wasn't much to do about it anyway, and besides, he still had to wait for his own visit to show… If somehow he would have the brilliant idea to walk outside.

     Well, I guess I can enter when the place has cleared up a little bit, he though, watching the first couples starting to move out.

"Slaking off again?" the voice made him jump in surprise. Behind him, Mint Coin was just getting there too. "No wonder why you're in such a bad state."

     If Kurios's shiners could speak, they'd state his mind clearly, but for now he'd just have to go by the assumption that somehow his' matched hers.

"I know, we all had our rough time yesterday" the mare continued. "But brighten up! It's monday!"

"You brighten up" he muttered. "You're the only one who likes it!"

"That's because I am the responsible one" she jokingly pocked his nuzzle. "Besides, weren't you supposed to accommodate a coworker too?"

"Whatever you say, boss" Kurios rolled his eyes. "You go in there and try to stand it" he pointed to the train station, where dozens and dozens of other students were struggling to find their respective partners. "Wish that those hellish engines wouldn't have to be so early…"

Mint Coin stared at the place with eagerness at first, but then she seemed to have second thoughts.

"Yes, we could probably use some sleep" she said, lowering her head a little.

     Kurios winced for her. It wasn't that Mint Coin and him hadn't anything else rather than a good friendship, but he couldn't help but to feel bad for her. Mint Coin wasn't at all ugly. If anything she was what anypony would call an averagely attractive mare.

     Kurios himself wasn't much of a sight to behold too. A tin gray stallion with a bright orange mane that he used to keep nicely short and a well cut tail with the same color. There wasn't any mystery about his person other than his name and his cutie mark, and his face was almost as agreeable as his actual self, or at least as the self he wanted to believe he was.

     Referring to his cutie mark, no one, not even him, had ever understood it. It had the shape of a spiral with seven branches that converged in a single point, each of them conformed of seven different purple symbols with a central one where the spiral sprung in all directions. He wasn't sure about what did it mean, and neither all the other ponies he had inquired, and nor had he earned it, for it was told to him that he was born with it, only contributing to the mystery of what could it be. The only thing he'd somehow learned about it was that maybe it could be due to his foreigner origin, for it was said that horsemasterists used to have more outlandish designs as their personal cutie marks.

     Perhaps it was true, or perhaps not, but that, as he'd decided long ago, was for another time, when he could actually remember to talk to any folklorist teacher of the campus. Anyway… Fifty symbols that apparently had no meaning in his flank have long ago lost their appealing to his questions about himself, and he'd decided for now to let it be.

"Well, there's nothing a good dose of coffee can't fix!" she cheered up again. "I'm gonna get some, do you want me to get you too?"

"Yeah, thanks" he smiled as she left.

     He watched her leave and disappear inside one of the stores that lied just outside the station, where visitors and tourists had already begun to pile in an attempt to get ahold some souvenirs, and, of course, at the poor sizars' expenses. Kurios though to himself how fortunate he was for not being in their place. He had just to accommodate a transferred companion from another town, and not a pack of curious-over-frenzied-book-fanmares and colts here for the Annual Literary Convention. He could even revel for not being in their place if it weren't because he had empathy for those poor souls, Mint Coin included.

     He pondered about it for a second, but either way his joy wouldn't last long… Again and without warning that overpowering sensation of tiredness regained a hold on his body that only the intervention of his friend could have help to deceive. His head suddenly felt heavy, and his eyelids were possessed by an irresistible desire to close. Kurios fought it, but in the end there wasn't much he could do. Drowsiness styled in his already weary conscience and began to establish, closing his eyes and whispering him that perhaps sleep standing wasn't such a bad idea…

"Um… Hello? Can you help me?"

     The voice wasn't powerful enough to take all the weariness away, but it did make him react.

     Kurios turned his head to the source of the sound. Standing just a few yards from him, a gray mare with blond mane was staring at him… or… just looking in his general direction with half of her vision field, since her eyes seemed… desynchronized.

"Have you some trouble, ma'am?" he asked, reactivating his vocal cords before they were shut down as well.

     The mare took a little bit to locate him, or at lest she gave that impression, and frowned for a second in surprise, like if nopony would've spoken to her in such way.

"C-can you help me, mister? I'm looking for my liaison pony for an appointment…"

"Of course, yeah…" Kurios took a moment to yawn, and was about to answer her, when he suddenly snapped. "No, wait… I'm sorry" he suddenly changed. "I would help you myself, but, you see, I'm already waiting for somepony…"

"Oh… I see…" she looked down, pitifully as well. "But can't you point me in one direction? It shouldn't take much."

"I'm sorry miss… I couldn't… I'm not with the students. Please consult the dean for that matter."

     The mare blinked a few times, confused.

"B-but I'm not with the students either."

     Now it was Kurios's turn to be confused.

"You're not?" he looked over to the mare again, and began to advert some details he had slipped because of his tiredness. Most important of all, a leather strap that ran across her chest and into her side.

"Of course not" she continued. "I'm here for a work transference from Ponyville."

     Transference? Work? These words connected almost immediately within his mind, and in less than a second he had picked over her shoulder to check on what he'd heard. Under her wing was the characteristic mailbag of the profession he'd just now ascertained.

"OH!" Kurios face hoofed himself, awakening again in the process. "I'm sorry for that. I haven't been on my five this day."

"No problem. It happens to me all the time!" she smirked. "…Though I don't know what are you apologizing for."

"Well…" Kurios scratched the back of his head a little bit."You see-"

     …An explanation later.

"I see…" she muttered meditative.

"I'm totally sorry, miss. I completely misjudged you" Kurios lowered his head in embarrassment, now completely brought back to life. "If I knew you were… well, you, I wouldn't be so disrespectful!"

"It's okay" she grinned, understandingly. "It's a common thing, really! You don't have to be so Res-Pect-Thingy-Stuff… What was that you said again?"

"Disrespectful, miss" he lowered his head more. "You're Ditzy Doo, winner of the Mailmare of the Year!" he turned his side for her to see his own mailbag. "I don't know what happened, but among our profession you're legend!"

"Oh… That…" now she lowered her gaze. "Yeah, there's a funny story about that prize-"

"Hey there!" Mint Coin suddenly appeared, levitating two cups of steaming liquid beside her. "I see that you've already got what you came for" she winked to the mare and fetched a vessel to him. "Don't fret if he was rude. He's not meant to be a brute all the time."

"Mint Coin!" Kurios snapped.

"Don't worry, I'm just kidding" she giggled as she sipped her own drink. "Heck is this thing good…"

Kurios frowned, thoughtfully. "How many of those have you had?"

"Trick question…" she looked to her cup. "Three?"

"Three? Really!?" Kurios almost exclaimed. "But you were gone less than five minutes!"

"So what?" she shrugged. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, and sleepless nights call for sleepless's coffee!"

"Sounds logic" Ditzy shrugged as well. "But wait, isn't that dangerous?"

Mint Coin just beamed. "Mare, if this drink were dangerous half of this town would already be dead!" she laughed a little too loud, then suddenly stopped. "Wait! …Did you heard ticking?"

"Ookay, I think we'll leave you where you are, since you and the coffee seem to be getting a little bit too familiar" Kurios sipped his own and turned to Ditzy, waving the way. "Please, follow me."

     Ditzy got puzzled again, but compelled nevertheless.

"Yeah, you two guys leave and go do your things" Mint Coin waved goodbye as they left. "I still have my own hayseeds to pick either way… And you're welcome for the coffee!"

Another ray of Celestia's light pierced through the window and into his eyelids. It was annoying, comfortably warm, but annoying. He switched to another side, trying to maintain his discomfort to a minimum, but the day had just came over, and there was nothing he or all his slumber could do.

"Well hello there" her voice broke through like a leaf carried by a soft breeze. A sweet and sarcastic wind, if there were breeze inside there anyway. "Feeling any comfy or do you need another couch for yourself?"

     He rolled over his side once again. The noise wasn't of his like, and the presence of the company only reminded him where he was. The sound continued, nonetheless.

"Hey, lazy flank!" a hoof pushed his side. "Snow Flake wake up!"

     Snow Flake jumped in his seat as his eyes opened to receive the world outside. The poke from the other side pushed him out of his dream with violence, but his own drowsiness prevented him to dully react. Just to embrace the sound of the metallic wheels and the rhythmic movement of the cabin where they have been traveling.

"W-wha?" he mumbled as the rest of his body reactivated itself. "Are we there yet?"

"No" she backed to her seat. "But you could easily be, seeing how much you were drifting away."

     Snow Flake didn't noticed at first, but a slight trace of saliva was coming out of his lips, and had made its way into the leather couch, where his head was resting a moment before. Lilly smiled at him with a knowing grin, folding her hooves. Snow Flake didn't say anything. He didn't even wanted to think of anything. He just stared at it for a moment, then at his sister, and then to the seat again, and lied down like if nothing had happened.

"Oh come on!" Lilly leaned over him. "You've been like this all the way. You need to cheer up. See the landscape a little bit. It'll make you good, you'll see!"

"Sorry, not interested" he groaned, trying to sink his face a little further into the leather. "You cherish the day, I contemplate the night, that's how things are… And besides, I don't tell you nothing when you're sleeping!"

"Well, then that's one of the things that you're gonna have to change for now" Lilly pressed further. "Or do I have to remind you of that thing that happened back home?"

Snow Flake rose up suddenly. "Hey! I thought we agreed to never speak of that again!"

"Ah, but I didn't" she stuck out her tongue jokingly. "…And even though I'm not mad anymore, it still means that you owe me."

Snow Flake took a second, but then groaned in frustration and sat up where he was, glaring at her. "You're despicable, you know?"

"You love me" she giggled. "And I love you too, brother."

     The rest of the trip wasn't more of a bother. Snow Flake stayed awake, even against his own desire, and stared out the window, to the passing of the land as Lilly, on the other side, had sinked her nuzzle into the same book she had been reading the past two days. The same tome she'd had ever since they were secluded in that little chamber, all the way back from Ponyville.

     But that was just how things were, and the pegasus couldn't do much about it. Stupid Shamrock, stupid Nightshade, he snorted within. When I'm back from this you're really gonna get it!

     It wasn't that he weren't even a little curious about their destination as well, but at least he would have liked to visit Coltkham under his own terms before being dragged around by his sister, and perhaps that was the most frustrating of all. That he had to be put out of the way because all the commotion that'd happened back home.

     He'd like to arrange things differently, but the warning from the Royal Guard had been very clear:

"Stay out of trouble, or else…"

     And Lilly just happened to be there, so…

"I got an idea, you can come along! It'll be a good chance to get out of your routine… And to keep you in check, of course."

     He'd like to complain, to refuse, to say anything, but it seemed that the world was full of injustices…

     Well, on the bright side, at least he could become a little more clearer about it in the eyes of the authorities, and get to know a fair place as was supposed to be Coltkham University in the way. After all, it wasn't that he didn't need to get out of the routine, like Lilly said…

"Look, there it is!" said Lilly, who had unexpectedly taken out her eyes from the reading.

     Snow Flake turned, taken out of his train of thought, and stared into the distance. Beyond a set of hills, the majestic formation of the Galloping Gorge rose up to the sky, covering the landscape beyond its height like a defensive wall.

     Snow Flake stared in awe at the great peaks that aligned to shorten every time more the horizon, though his interest wasn't entirely for the geological characteristics, but because something else. For before arriving, he'd heard that long ago the place was used as an outpost frontier by unicorns of the long gone Unicorn Kingdoms, and that sometimes new ruins and curious objects appeared from time to time.

     That was, perhaps, a reason why he'd looked upon this journey with less unwilling eyes, but that was yet to be seen. For now, the attention of the pegasus had centered more into what jumped to the fore. The arrangement of rooftops and taller more noticeable buildings that piled at the shadow of the colossal tectonic fault: The town and its neighboring university, where they'd be spending the next three days in what he used to address as the biggest bookworm summit of Equestria.

"Isn't it beautiful?" wondered Lilly, staring at the town. "This place has always had something striking in it. Perhaps is the rustic atmosphere."

"Yeah, rustic, to put it on a way…" he sighed.

     Lilly was enraptured in her thoughts, but didn't miss it, and turned to him. Snow Flake prepared himself for the taunt, but this time his sister's grin wasn't at all joking. "Hey, its gonna be fine, I promise" she leaned a hoof on his shoulder. "Everything's gonna be fixed, and then you'll come back to have your silly revenge, you'll see."

Snow Flake smile sideways at the thought of it. "Well, I'm more impressed that you care about our… Issues."

"You kidding? You're my brother!" she chuckled. "And after what I've heard from you, when we get back I'll even assist you to do it!"

Oh Lilly, so full of kindness… Now it was a full, entirely warm smile which was on his face. "That's my sis."

     The train reached the station in at least half an hour later, and between clouds of steam and the calls from the engine drivers and the personnel the gates of the wagons opened for all the occupants to descend.

     Snow Flake and Lilly came down the transport and into the frantic activity of the place. They already expected some fuss about their arrival, but nothing could prepare them for what they were going to find out there. Apparently there weren't as much ponies inside the train as they thought, but in the platform the awaiting parties had already been gathered, and now, as they emerged from the wagons and the liaison personnel tried to find their respective visitors, it was as if suddenly some invisible signal would have been fired to turn everything into a free-for-all.

     At first it wasn't that bad, but as more and more ponies entered the platform the chaos of the scene became more frantic. Pushing and asking in de midst of the yells of the locals, the steam sounds of the machine at their backs, and the overall noise of the scene. Snow Flake and Lilly opened path through the tides of ponies as they circled the station from one point to another, trying to find their respective receivers.

"Where do you think it's our own?" asked Lilly when she began to notice how the visits started to leave en-mass.

"I don't know" he said, trying to peek over everypony else's heads. "Must've been lost."

     Snow Flake flew a little bit, but returned right after, when he spotted the NO FLYING sign. There wasn't any sight that anypony was looking for them.

"I can't see our receptionist" he declared. "What are we to do now?"

"I don't know" Lilly pushed back a colt that was pressing her. "But the sooner we leave this place the better!"

     The tide of visitors vegan to diminish to the point where walking was almost easy, and the platform was as emptying as if it were being evicted. Shouts and voices were still loud, but at least it didn't look like they were in the middle of a riot… More like a very lively auction for for one of the princesses' hoof.

     Impressive, how the movement of staff had cleaned everything in five short but intense minutes. Snow Flake may not know how much organized did the authorities were, but at least it comforted him to know that that febrile scene hopefully wouldn't last long.

     He was walking along Lilly when the voice that they've been expecting appeared in the distance.

"Lilly! Lilly! Lilly! Is there a Lilly here!?" it somehow shrieked over the general sound. "Come on I know you're here, don't be shy!"

"You heard?" he turned to his sister.

"Indeed" she nodded.

     They followed it, though sometimes it was difficult to hear over all the commotion. Doing so, they headed for the exit, but couldn't move forward for too long. Taking into consideration the number of inhabitants of the platform, the exits had obviously turned into nothing less than funnels, and pushing, pressing, and moving in a claustrophobic ambient suddenly became the only thing to do.

Snow Flake and Lilly pushed their way through, all the while trying to locate and don't let go the calling, that was moving closer to them by every step ahead.

"Come on guys, I know you can hear me!"

"We can" growled Snow Flake while pressing in, sensing that he was about to get out "Just do us a favor and shut. Tha heck. U-!"

     Snow Flake fell off his stance when the resistance of the crowd suddenly ceased to exist. He tried to stop himself from reaching the ground, but it seemed that his own pushing had been too much to counter, and he hit the floor with his face first.

"Well aren't you dexterous" giggled the same voice that was calling them.

Snow Flake slowly stood up. "I dunno. Aren't you supposed to be polite?"

     Before him, the owner of the voice was standing there, sipping her steaming cup as she idly smiled. She was a unicorn mare with a peach pink coat and a slightly darker mane with a single golden flock that hanged over her forehead. The sign on her flank was a mint with a bit aside it.

The mare zipped again before chuckling. "Hah! Speak for yourself, dude. I'm here looking for my own date!"

Snow Flake brushed off the dirt of his coat. "Yeah well, fun fact about it. Who do you think you're talking to?"

The mare took a couple of seconds, but her expression suddenly dropped. "L-Lilly?"

Snow Flake sighed in relief. "Indee-Wait what!?"

But he hadn't time to end his train of though before the mare bursted into laugh. "Lilly? SERIOUSLY, are you kidding?" she laughed again. "What were your parents thinking?"

"No, wait!" he exclaimed, starting to feel the utter indignation kicking in. "That's not me, that's my sist-!"

     But he couldn't end again, for in that moment somepony pushed him from behind. Normally it would take a lot more to take him off valance, but in that moment his pusher was putting so much force in it that Snow Flake was unprepared to receive it and he helplessly tripped. The mare in front of him, taken by surprise as well, got out of the way in a blink, but her mind apparently wasn't able to dodge him completely.

     The last thing Snow Flake could see before recovering his stance was the steaming hot cup of coffee, levitating in mid air and closing at a dangerous speed against his helpless face.

"My drink!" she whined.

"Ah!" he grunted when the liquid poured on his head, and down his shoulders. Then it really began to burn. "WAAAAAAGGGHHHH!"

"I'm sorry!" apologized the mare behind him, speaking over his scream.

"Dammit!" he turned, ready to punch the face of whoever was- "Lilly!"

"Lilly?" asked the mare behind him, puzzled. "Lilly the colt, or Lilly from Ponyville?"

"What?" Lilly asked, holding her suffering brother. "Who are you?"

"Mint Coin, at your service" she bowed slightly. "And I'll be-"

"Burning!" yelled Snow Flake. "I'mstillburninghere!"

Mint Coin's look became suspicious again. "And you are…"

"Lilly" she said. "Lilly from Ponyville, and this is Snowfalke, my brother."

"You brother?" she puzzled again. "Why wasn't he in the manifest?"

"It's kind of complex…" she shrugged. "But I trust there won't be any trouble accommodating him."

Mint Coin scratched her hind head a little worried. "I don't know… We kinda have another guest-"

"Pleaseladiesthisreallyhurts!" suddenly exploded Snow Flake.

"Oh yes, you're still burning!" Mint Coin snapped.

"Thanksfornoticingpleasehelpme!"

"…But don't worry, we got everything to fix you up!" she ignored his shrieks. "Go to the right part of the building, there you'll find a nursery. They should be able to treat you or whatever."

And in a blink Snow Flake was already at it. "Thankyouseeyoulaterbye!"

"Its really nice to meet you too!" she waved good bye. "But I guess that if he comes with you then we'll have to wait for him anyway."

"Really?" asked Lilly.

"Meh, one roomer more isn't gonna change things, I guess" she shrugged. "We could even use that in our favor and get a group discount!"

"Really? Thank you!" she grinned. "I like the way you think!"

"Well, isn't every predicament an opportunity?" she shrugged jokingly. "And if you're gonna be here for the whole weekend I've only one thing to tell you…" she stepped beside her and smiled rascally. "…Welcome to Coltkham!"

A while later, somewhere else…

"…And here we are!" Kurios stepped inside. "Perhaps not as big as Ponyville's, but it's something."

     Ditzy stepped inside. The post office was located inside what was surely a large house in other times, a counter was located immediately before the entrance, that surrounded the three sides of the living room. There, the usual activity was developing in the narrow space that existed between the wooden bar and the booksellers filled with filed letters.

"Don't worry. Its quite neat!" she smiled, while looking over the place. "I wish Ponnyville's were this organized too."

"Isn't it?" Kurios puzzled.

"Well… Not lately" she winced a little bit.

     Lately was the exact word. Perhaps it used to be more tidy, but the recent… Events had sure changed it for long, or at least until Twilight's organization abilities could fix the situation that transpired in the place. That transpired in the whole town, and had been doing so since at least four days now… I just hope they're alright.

     But back in reality she looked around to find Kurios again. The colt was more puzzled than before, and it looked as if he was about to ask when another one stepped in.

"So, you're the new one?" asked a colt behind the counter. "Ditzy Doo, isn't it?"

"That's right sir" she instinctively saluted. "I'm here for the transference."

The stallion looked at her with contemplative eyes, and Ditzy waited for some kind of observation, but instead a chuckle came out of his mouth. "Now there's no need to be so formal. You're not in Ponyville!"

"I know, sorry" she apologized. "My bad."

"It's okay" he dismissed it. "Kurios, why don't you show the new one around?"

"Yes boss" he jokingly saluted then got going with Ditzy not far behind.

"And one more thing" she heard from behind. "Put her with the archivists, that shouldn't be so hard to begin with."

"Alright" he said without turning. "Please, follow me."

     Kurios then led Ditzy to the backstore of the building, where more and smaller shelves aligned against what she could make was the back wall of the counter, where the other one was still managing any visit and arranging the envelopes and packages that were being put on his bar.

"This is the archives section" explained Kurios. "Here's where we distribute and hoof out every letter and package in Coltkham, arranging it by address."

"I see…" she muttered, staring at the placards over each individual shelf. "Looks like a good way to avoid confusion."

"Usually it is" he smiled sideways. "…As long as nopony messes it up. Then the havoc begins!" he chuckled. "You will be arranging any incoming package into its destination shelf. Nothing complicated. I believe you shouldn't have any trouble doing it."

     Nah, not at all. She thought …As long as there's no saprolings involved-

"Thank you" she grinned. "I think I'll manage."

"Well, that's all I needed to hear" he smiled back as he turned. "I'm gonna run some errands. If you need something don't hesitate to ask for it, and remember, make yourself at home" he waved as he headed for the exit. "See you at lunch!"

     Ditzy waved, but didn't say anything, and as Kurios left she turned to the place where she had been pointed: a cart stuffed with boxes and letters to the point where it looked as if somepony could swim in it. And I used to believe Ponyville had a lot of mail…

     With a cautious nuzzle, Ditzy lured into the cart, and picked the first letter she reached. The envelope was addressed to a certain Seres in White Willow st. Ditzy took the letter and after a little research put it where it belonged.

     That wasn't that hard, she thought while looking at the shelf. Well, it may not be the best job, but at least is something I can't get wrong. She grinned as she headed back to the cart. Six hours more of this, how bad could it be?

A few hours later his skin was still itching, and he had a weird sensation that some of his feathers would fall off, but at least the burning was over. Snow Flake was sometimes doubtful about the quality of his luck, but just that morning he couldn't believe how specially bad it had been. The doctors had given him an ointment for the burns and the indication to use it once every two hours for at least the rest of the day. The unguent was cold and sticky to the tact, and had a smell of sweaty hooves, which had earned him some stares from the general population, since the gym smell could be perceived at least ten feet away.

     Not the best way to enter his new home indeed, but at least the other two were occupied enough to pay attention to his actual condition.

"…And at your right, lady and gentlecolt, you'll find the Rectory Building, or how some students like to call it, the Holy Equinesition headquarters" Mint Coin pointed at the building with a joking professionalism.

"Oh…" Lilly gasped at the sight of it. "Why is called like that?"

"Because…" Mint Coin came closer. "It actually was an Equinesition building back in the medieval times!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. The Unicorn Kingdomsfolk used to gather there to interrogate their prisoners, and before this place became a town it is said that it was a great prison complex."

"Wow…" she looked at the tall building for a moment. "And then what happened?"

"Dunno" Mint Coin shrugged. "It fell into abandonment when the kingdoms fell, back in the Rising of Equestria. It was restored a hundred years ago or so to serve as the rectory of Coltkham, aside of containing every piece of historic events of the town and its neighboring areas."

"So, its like a museum?" Snow Flake asked.

Mint Coin gave him an unamazed look over her shoulder before speaking. "Museum, students' projects warehouse, archives' dumpster… A little bit of everything. Student ponies around here use it to store whatever they don't want to be used anymore, and while one can find some cool stuff in there most of it is useless junk or contemporary art. It's hard to find something that actually works due to the bad conservation state everything's in, but…"

"But?"

Mint Coin this time gave him a more severe stare. "It is said that there is a wing of the building where the principals store the most potentially dangerous projects and artifacts. A place so full of powerful and diverse magical weapons that opening it by the wrong pony would be nothing less than disastrous!"

Now she had caught his attention. "Wow, seriously?"

"Oh yes. I've seen it with my own eyes" she smiled devilishly. "Its an entire hall, guarded day and night by two bulky Royal Guards, and whoever tries to get past them hasn't ended well in most of the cases."

"For the institution?" asked Lilly.

Mint Coin shook her head. "For the trespasser."

"Sounds like a place that I'd like to visit" Snow Flake joked, but to no effect, at least in his sister.

"Anyway…" stepped in Mint Coin. "Moving on, I'd like to introduce you to your next stop in this tour, and hopefully the last one."

"And where's that?" asked Lilly.

"I'm glad you asked, miss!" she reassumed her tourist leader attitude. "Because we're headed straight forward to the most special location of all…"

"Aren't you hearing galloping?" asks Snow Flake, that'd just picked up the sound.

"Questions at the end of the route" Mint Coin snapped as she turned. "Now please follow me to-" but she hadn't given a single step when, suddenly, a blue shadow crashed against her.

"MINTCOOOOIN!"

     Mint Coin was thrown backwards, as her attacker had tackled her with all strength. Snow Flake saw this in the last moment and dodged, making his body ache for the burnings, while Lilly stared baffled at the rolling ponies as they settled from their collision.

     Sitting on top of the unicorn, a blue pegasus with a baffled expression was recovering from the hit, which probably was as hard as it looked. He had a navy blue coat and a cyan mane, and the mark at his flank was a leaning anchor.

     Judging by the look on his face, he had taken quite a hit, but under him Mint Coin, on the other side, didn't look at all affected. Just more angry than sore.

"Sling Shot!" she pushed the pegasus away. "I told you to stay at home!"

"W-wha…" the alluded one mumbled, then shook his head. "Oh, sorry!" he stood up. "Mint Coin, you need to come home, now!"

"What now?" she sighed, frustrated. "Is there a spider in you bath again?"

"What? No!" he said. "This doesn't have to do with those eight legged beasts. I'm serious!"

Mint Coin stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "You're not gonna let this go, don't you?"

"What?"

"Nothing…" she turned to Snow Flake and Lilly. "I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to postpone our tour. Is that okay?"

"It's alright" immediately answered Snow Flake. "I wasn't having fun anywa-Ouch!" he almost cried when his sister jabbed him in the burnt shoulder.

"It's fine" she said. "At least that way we'll get to meet your home!"

"Wait, they're coming?" Sling Shot puzzled. "Who are you?"

Another sigh from Mint Coin. "The ones that we're supposed to move around? They're the ones that are gonna stay in our place for the weekend."

"Oh, them!" his face lit with realization then extended his hoof to them. "Hi there, my name is Sling Shot how are you doing?"

"Fine, thank you!" greeted Lilly, to Snow Flake's puzzling.

"Weren't you supposed to do something here?" he said instead.

"Me?" he puzzled. "Oh yes!" he slapped himself and turned to Mint Coin. "Mint Coin, you have to come back!"

"What is it?" she asked, still unamazed.

"Mint Coin, its her" he turned serious. "She's awake!"