One Chance for the Damnedby YithiannitChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3PrologueThe stinging sensation on Last Chance’s neck had grown more bearable as the time he spent with the unicorn in front of him passed. The sensation was cold, a feeling which was strengthened through the suddenness of its coming. Chance didn't dare move his head, nor take his eyes off the unicorn as he tried his best to breathe normally and calmly, he knew that if he made one wrong move then his throat would be cut. It’s not a nice thing, having a knife pressed against your neck. The unicorn, who was levitating the knife with his innate magical powers, had a stare as cold as the steel of the blade. Chance could tell that he wasn't enjoying this as his face had no hint of the joy or malice one would suspect some deranged, alley prowling killer to show in this situation; in fact his face seemed rather indifferent to the matter. From this, Chance considered the possibility that this was no random incident and that he specifically had been picked out by this unicorn and was left wondering why. A full minute passed as the two ponies stared at each other, this confirmed Chance’s suspicion that this unicorn wanted something from him and that this little show was more to scare him than anything else. Letting out a small sigh, Chance cautiously began to speak, his voice cracked horribly though as he was too afraid of accidentally slicing his own throat. “Can I help you?” Chance forced a friendly smile, it was unclear even to him if he was trying to make light of the situation or if he was genuinely asking. “Yes, you can.” The unicorn’s voice was calm and had a certain twinge of pride to it, he was either very proud of his work or was of high birth and Chance couldn't tell which. “Are you Last Chance?” “Well…” Chance was considering how to respond, on one hoof this may be an assassin out to get him and on another he may just want to ask him some questions and might be angry upon learning that the white coated earth pony had lied about who he is. Chance gulped and closed his eyes; he had no idea if he should say yes or no. He decided that there was only one thing he could do and that was to make himself sound smart while giving the other pony an ego boost. “I assume that you know what you’re doing, and with that assumption I can also assume that you wouldn't have put me into this situation if you weren't entirely sure of my true identity. I’m sure that under your red mane you have a good head.” The unicorn grinned. “I suppose you’re right.” He said while moving closer, unfortunately for Chance the knife was also moving closer which forced him to back up until he reached the wall at the end of the squalid Manehattan alleyway. Fortunately the knife also stopped but just as close to his throat as it was before. The unicorn stopped moving and sat on his haunches. “Then tell me, Mr Chance, do you know why I’m here?” “Are you here to try and scare me? Because I must tell you, you’re very good at it. I’d say you were a professional.” Chance forced another smile. “Do you do Nightmare Night parties?” “I’ll tell you why I’m here.” The unicorn got up. “I’m here because my employers have heard of your talents.” He trotted towards Chance’s side and looked at his cutie mark. “A magnifying glass over a pony, excellent, just as the description said.” While he was inspecting him Chance couldn't help but notice that the unicorn’s cutie mark was covered by what appeared to be some sort of non-transparent tape. At first he understood, one of the easiest ways to identify a pony was from their cutie mark and in this pony’s line of work it was probably best that he should keep his professional and personal life separate. However, Chance thought that someone as professional as this pony appeared to be would have used something better than tape. On that note wouldn't his cutie mark have something to do with this sort of thing? And wouldn't showing it help intimidate his victims more? Chance’s pondering was short lived however as he felt the unicorn’s cold eyes fall upon him again. “I think you can understand why I’m here now?” The unicorn asked him. He was right, it was obvious to Chance. “Okay then. Who do your employers want me to find?” Chance asked, it seemed as if whoever hired this pony was in need of Chance’s services and thus needed Chance alive which gave him a bit of confidence in this situation. “And please tell me why I should accept this job when this little negotiation tactic has been far from pleasant.” The knife quickly rose and slashed at Chance’s cheek, eliciting a girlish squeal from his throat before the knife returned there, stopping it from becoming a full-fledged scream and draining every bit of confidence he had gained. The unicorn cocked his brow to emphasize his point. “Oh, I get it.” Chance said shakily. “I should do it to avoid getting blood all over your lovely orange coat, I see. If I may be so bold however I would like to ask if you could maybe put the knife away so we can have a proper discussion?” The knife dug into his neck a little more. “Please?” Chance begged but his requests fell on deaf ears. Apparently the magic word is useless against real magic. “Mr Chance.” An orange aura much like the one holding the knife in the air formed around the unicorn’s saddle bag and out of it came a folder which was presented to Chance. “In here is everything you need to know about the pony my employers want you to find. Once you have located her send a letter to the address written on the folder and I shall come to collect her. You will then be paid and I promise you that it will be worth your while.” “May I ask a question?” Chance asked. “You just have.” The unicorn responded with a deadpan expression. “Screw you. Anyway, I was just wondering why your employers decided to conduct business in this manner.” Chance’s eyes darted to the knife to emphasize his point. “Because my employers are not the type of ponies you would want to disappoint and they asked me to make sure you understood that. And they also wished for you to understand that this is very important to them and if you do well then they will make sure you are compensated nicely, and I assure you that they won’t forget what you have done for them.” Chance understood the threat but was confused as to why he also included those promises. Ponies that are willing to make somepony do something at knife point often don’t care for positive reinforcement. “Well I suppose I have nothing better to do at the moment.” Chance smiled at the unicorn. “Sure, I’ll do it.” Upon hearing Chance’s words the unicorn smiled and cancelled the telekinesis spell he had on the knife, causing it to drop to the ground. Chance also dropped to the ground clutching at his throat with his hooves and was relieved to find that there were no cuts or blood but just a mark which didn't seem serious. “Excellent.” The unicorn looked pleased. “If you ever have second thoughts about this though just remember what happened here.” “I swear, if you weren't scary with a knife I would make sure that the ground and your face got well acquainted.” Chance said. The unicorn grinned. “So the pathetic coward tries to talk tough? How surprising.” “You want to know surprising? Finding out your marefriend has been using your basement to hide the bodies of her victims, now that’s what I call surprising.“ Chance spat on the ground and looked up at the unicorn with a scowl. “And I may be a coward but at least I don’t go around using spooky horn powers, not that I have any, to scare poor little ponies into doing shady jobs for ponies he’s never met.” Chance gave a triumphant smirk as if what he said was some profoundly clever retort. He knew it wasn't but if there was one lesson life had taught him it was that a good bluff can often be more convincing than the truth. He had been humiliated by this little encounter and unless he pays for it first he doesn't like being humiliated, he was determined to get a victory even if it was a small one. The unicorn laughed as he picked up the knife and put it back in his saddlebag. “A bluffer, a liar and so easy to intimidate that I may have not even needed to bring the knife, not only that but everything seems to be a joke to you.” The unicorn looked down at Chance with disgust. “You really are a wretched pony, aren't you?” Chance looked up at him and smiled. “I suppose you've heard of me then? It’s always nice to meet a fan.” Chance coughed and stood back up, meeting the unicorn’s eyes with his own. “I can’t say I like you but since it’s obvious you don’t like me I suppose it doesn't matter. What I will say though is that your employers have good taste. I’m the best at what I do.” He brushed his brown and black mane with his right hoof and smiled. “That’s exactly what my employers are hoping for.” His horn was enveloped in an orange aura which also manifested around the folder which he showed Chance earlier. It floated over to Chance who caught it in his mouth. He sat down and spat it into his hooves, opening it up he began looking through the many pieces of paper in it, there really was a lot about this pony in it. “I trust that will be enough to get you started?” The unicorn said. Chance grinned as it was rare he ever got anything beyond a photo and a description of the pony’s social life. He had a reputation for getting the jobs he’s given done and this one seemed like it was going to be easy, if the unicorn wasn't lying about Chance being well compensated for this then he was in for quite a nice pay day as well. “It seems this attempted evening stroll wasn't a complete waste after all.” Chance said. “It’s more than enough.” “Good.” The unicorn turned to leave. “I suppose you've already worked this out but my employers are desperate at this point, they don’t usually hire outside help if you know what I mean. You’re literally their last chance, I hope you remember that.” He trotted away out of the alley. It was quiet now as if nothing had happened. No matter how many times Chance was faced with silence after something weird happening he would never be able to get over it. It was surreal but somewhat comforting at the same time, it let him know that no matter what happened to him it won’t matter overall and life will go on as normal. He let loose a loud sigh and put the closed folder back in his mouth. He got up and trotted after the unicorn, after leaving the alley however Chance could find no trace of him. Not that it mattered. He trotted down the street which, even though it was in Manehattan, was practically deserted. He knew what he was going to do next, he needed to put the folder somewhere safe for later and then go for a drink, maybe have an early night and start tomorrow. He couldn't help but feel there was something off about his current business associate though, it bothered him and he began to feel worried, as if there was a knife being held to his throat. Chapter 1Of the nature of ponies there were two things Chance knew for sure. The first is that most, if not all, ponies have a bizarre affinity towards other ponies. This psychosis is often referred to as “the magic of friendship”, a concept which Chance, being a self-described logician, couldn’t get to grips with. Chance had three friends within his lifetime, one tried to kill him, the other turned out to only tolerate him and not actually like him and the other he started a relationship with, until he found out that she had been hiding bodies in his basement. If there was anything Chance was sure of, it was that friendship is bullshit. The second thing that Chance was sure of is that most ponies seem to be extremely naïve, probably as a result of their misplaced trust in everyone around them. Chance liked to think of himself as above this. Sure, he often found himself at the receiving end of another pony’s hoof being thrown in his general direction because of this mind set but Chance knew he was right about everything. The two revelations he had about other ponies are what shapes the three main principles he lives by. The first is don’t trust anypony who can’t prove that they are legit, this has saved Chance from many a bad deal. The second is always make everyone think you’re smarter than them, Chance finds that in any situation that endangers his life and/or body parts as long as he sticks to this principle whoever threatens him overestimates him. Chance would be the first to admit that he isn’t the smartest pony out there but when ponies overestimate him they tend to make mistakes even he can exploit. And the third is always make yourself look cooler than you are, no particular reason for this one besides the fact that Chance sees life as trying to get an SSS rank on Tirek May Cry. Chance, being raised in the highlands of Trotland, hated many concepts which were intrinsic to modern Equestrian life. The one concept he hated the most however was coffee. Not that it didn't exist where he was from, he hated it as much back home as he does now. But, in Equestria, it seemed that everypony couldn't live without it. Chance sighed as he took another sip of his cup. “If you hate it so much, why do you drink it?” The mare sitting across from Chance asked. “Because I’m a hypocrite?” Chance raised an eyebrow. The mare responded with a snarl, indicating that she wanted a true answer. Sighing, Chance puts down his cup and looks her straight in the eyes. “It’s because, as much as I hate to admit it, it’s a great hangover cure.” “You know what’s also a great hangover cure? Not drinking until you black out.” “Where’s the fun in that?” Chance picked up the cup again and took another sip. The mare, Love Synapse, was a unicorn with a pink coat and short, bright red mane. Her cutie mark, a pair of hoofcuffs, indicated her talent at being a police officer, although most ponies think that means she’s a dominatrix, a misunderstanding which led to her meeting Chance. She sighed and took a sip from her own cup. “Anyway, I can’t do what you’re asking of me.” Chance spat out his coffee. “Why not?” “It’s unethical. I don’t know what you have gotten yourself involved in but if I get dragged into this it could mean the end of my career. Not to mention you don’t even know who these ponies are.” “I know that they are willing to threaten my life if I don’t do what they want.” Chance opened the lid of his coffee cup to look inside. Seeing that there wasn’t anything left in it he placed it on the table next to him where two ponies who appeared to be a couple were engaged in an argument. “And that’s good enough for me.” Love shook her head. “If you just report this to the police we can protect you and find the ponies responsible.” “How many times must I explain this to you? I don’t need protection. I’m going through with it, I just need information, you know, what the police know about this.” Chance looked towards the table he placed his empty cup on, seeing that the couple were still arguing and had left their coffee unguarded. Chance reached out towards one of their cups and took it for himself. “Put it back.” Love said in an annoyed tone. “Make me.” Chance stuck his tongue out. Love raised her hoof to her forehead and sighed. “You’re extremely lucky that we’re friends.” “I have no friends.” Chance seemed offended by the mere accusation. “Whatever.” Love’s horn began glowing and her saddlebag, which was on the floor, floated up. The bag opened and a folder floated out of it towards Chance who opened it and began reading the information within. “A few days ago a mare by the name of Summer Dancer disappeared, her mother reported it. This is all the information we have. You’re lucky I’m the one who got the case.” “Don’t you mean you’re the one who’s lucky, not only do I have to do your job for you but you get a share of whatever I get out of this.” “You better be right about this being a big score. Remember last time? When the reward was a freaking pat on the back?” Chance raised an eyebrow at her. “Not so unethical when money’s involved, huh? And technically I did share that with you, hell, I gave you two pats, that’s more than I got. And anyway, I thought you didn't want to get involved in this.” Love rolled her eyes and got up from her chair. “Just remember that I’m only doing this because I like you and I like money. But, I like money more, if you screw me over then I’m going to find some illegal substances in your apartment. And, I'm not getting involved in this, this whole conversation never happened.” Chance smirked at her. “Okay then. And listen, if the police ever decided to search my place then drugs would be the least of my worries. You don’t know half the freaky shit I’m into.” Love sighed again and left the coffee shop, her saddlebag floating behind her. Chance took a sip of his stolen coffee. He loved corrupt police, while there were some legit officers out there they were usually the ones he found himself enemies with. The corrupt ones were much better for business. He continued reading through the files he’d been given. Summer Dancer lived with her mother, Summer Runner, Chance sniggered at the name, he often thought that he was the only pony to realize just how stupid pony names were, it was his theory that his parents had named him Last Chance because they knew their relationship was falling apart and that it was their last chance to have a foal. Summer Dancer was a fairly normal high school going, friendship loving, singing, dancing pony. She had last been seen with her coltfriend, a stallion by the name of Dark Brooder, a loner who appeared to hate everything other ponies consider good. “A pony after my own heart,” Chance said to himself, “But Dancer appears to be somewhat popular among her compatriots, or whatever the kids call themselves nowadays, why would a well-loved pony associate herself with such a guy?” Chance pondered for a moment, discounting the ideas of true love or opposites attracting Chance could only see one possibility, they both had a secret. Chance knew that secrets tend to bring those who know about it together, hell, his relationship with Love which revolved around corruption was proof of that. Chance closed the folder and put it into his saddlebag. He took another sip of the coffee and placed it back on the table next to him, the couple who were arguing were now hugging. “Yo,” Chance said to the couple who responded with a confused gaze. Chance pointed at the cup with his hoof. “Your taste in coffee sucks.” He got up from his chair and put on his saddlebag. “You should be ashamed.” As he walked towards the door he could hear the mare call him a weird asshole, Chance left before any real discourse could be conducted. Manehattan in the afternoon was a cesspool. Chance loathed the crowds and smells of the city. At night, when he drunken singing resonated from every street and bar, when the criminals and con artists came out from their holes, when decadence and debauchery held dominion, that is when Chance fell in love with the city. Canterlot was too stuck up to let anything like this happen, the nights there were quiet, peaceful and boring, just like Canterlot during the daytime. Manehattan was a completely different place depending on the time of day. Chance walked down the street, around him parents were walking with their foals home while they recounted their day at school, Teenagers galloped to and fro’, giggling and cheering all the while and crowds of ponies in suits wandered out of office buildings, smiling at the prospect of a few drinks before heading home. Chance watched it all with silent contempt. He never could figure out why they all seemed happy to be able to get on with their lives. After about a half an hour of trotting through the various streets of this labyrinthine city Chance arrived at the residence of one Summer Runner. Through the documents Love and the mysterious unicorn he met last night Chance knew that the mare was overall rather dull. Her interests included knitting, reading, talking with friends and drinking tea, all stereotypical features of an older mare. Chance thought back to the night before, when he met the orange unicorn and got acquainted with his rather sharp knife. He had received information on pretty much every aspect of Summer Dancer’s life, everything anypony would possibly want to know about her was in it. There were however two key pieces of information not present which Chance needed. Where was she last seen and how she was acting before she disappeared? For the former Chance needed notes on the official police investigation, which he received from Love, he had learned that she had last been seen with her coltfriend who the police haven’t been able to find. Chance was pretty sure that Dark Brooder was the key to finding her. And for the later he needed to talk to her mother, the pony who saw her every day of her life. If she was acting strange before disappearing, or had mentioned any specific location more than usual her mother was the most likely pony to know. Chance sighed. He had been threatened by a mysterious unicorn who was working for an unnamed party to find somepony. Love’s theory had been that she and her coltfriend had ran away to elope and while that is a valid theory Chance preferred his own, that the two were bound together by a secret, a secret which caused them both to suddenly vanish. Who’s so desperate to find them that they would come to Chance? Why do they want to find them? Why is it they only seemed to care about Summer Dancer being found, not bothering to mention Dark Brooder? And why did that orange unicorn seem so strange? Chance was trying to answer all of these questions, partly because he was certain figuring everything out would get him paid and partly for the sake of his own sanity. Chance looked up at the door to the house with a smirk. “Hopefully things are about to get interesting.” Chance said to nopony in particular as he started towards the door. Chapter 2Doorbells were frustrating, at least to Chance they were. The doorbell to Summer Runner's home was smaller than most, if Chance wished to use it he would have to use his tongue since he was unable to use magic or the tips of wings. Well, unless he pulled a random unicorn or pegasus off the street to do it for him. He considered this for a moment, after all, he had always wanted a sidekick, he decided against it though. Chance thrust his hoof forward, striking the button which would, in turn, ring the bell. A quiet sounding ringing emanated from somewhere inside and Chance put his hoof down and waited. There were no hoofsteps coming from the other side of the door, there was not even the slightest sign that anyone had heard the bell. Equestrian technology was bucked, barely any of it worked in Chance's experience. Then again, Chance often thought, maybe most of it's fine and it was just not working for him. Chance rung it again. Like the first time, the sound of the bell was audible but there was no sign that anypony but him had heard it. No, Chance thought, there is either nopony in or they just didn't hear it, it's not the door, I am not going back to that time where I didn't trust doors or their accessories, enough damage was done last time. He lifted his hoof to ring a third time but decided against it. “You are not winning,” he mumbled under his breath, disregarding his earlier self assurance in favour for his former paranoia. Chance took a deep breath, threw back his head and threw it as hard as he could towards the door. At that moment the door opened and Chance's head flew through it eliciting a scream from the mare opening it who stepped back just in time for Chanced to miss her and slam his face into the floor. Several seconds of silence passed while both ponies attempted to figure out what had just happened. “Hello?” The mare said. “Hey.” Chance responded, still with his face on the floor. “Um, sorry, I was in the shower when you rang. May I help you?” The mare's expression became concerned, after all who wouldn't be? Chance sighed and stood back up. “Bucking doors, always treacherous. Anyway, yes, I believe you can. My name is Last Chance, am I to assume that you are Summer Runner?” Chance put on his best fake smile and began scanning the mare. She was definitely Summer Runner, she looked like she did in the picture he was given. She had a light red coat with a straw blonde mane that curled in on itself at the ends which rested halfway down her front legs. He thought she looked beautiful but there was something off about her. "Yes, That's me. Nice to meet you, Last Chance." "Call me Chance." Chance reached out his hoof, Summer Runner did the same and gave his a shake. "Okay, Chance. So, can I help you?" "I think I'm the pony who will be able to help you." Summer Runner raised an eyebrow. "You see, Mrs Summer?" "Ms, I'm not married." Chance's smile widened slightly at this, without his permission of course which was frustrating. "Well, Ms Summer, you see, I may be able to help find your daughter." Summer Runner's eyes lit up slightly and she began to stutter out an incoherent response. "I think you should probably sit down while I tell you what I mean. Mind if I come in?" Summer Runner just nodded and stepped aside, letting Chance pass into the house. As Summer Runner closed the door behind Chance he inspected the front hall of the house. It wasn't much, there were stairs leading to the next floor of the house, several doors leading into other rooms and various pictures adorned the walls. The pictures all featured one of two ponies, Summer Runner and Summer Dancer, who didn't look much like her mother with her blue coat and short lavender mane, not as beautiful as her in Chance's eyes. Dammit, Chance thought, why do I keep focusing on how pretty she is? I don't even know her, why am I so interested? He shook his head to get the thoughts out of his mind. With this new found clarity Chance noticed something he had failed to see the full implications of before. He was standing in a house, not an apartment, but a house. This was he city of Manehattan, here one would have to be rich in order to have a full fledged house. Chance looked back at Summer Runner who was fiddling with the door handle and thought about how she could have come across enough money to live comfortably when, according to everything he had read about her, she had no job. Summer Runner finished with the lock and turned to Chance. She coughed and pointed to a door,"that's the living room, we'll talk there. Would you like a drink or something?" "Whiskey would be great." He responded while making his way to the living room. "It's early in the afternoon though." "And I'm supposed to care? Ah screw it, I'll just have some milk if you don't mind." Summer Runner nodded and galloped to the door on the far side of the hallway. Chance opened the door to the living room and stepped in. It was a rather quaint little room, there was a small fireplace, a few fabric sofas emblazoned with frilly patterns of flowers and birds, a few coffee tables in front of those sofas and there was a bookcase in the corner. Chance trotted to the closest sofa and climbed onto it. While waiting for Summer Runner Chance studied the spines of the books resting on the bookcase. Most were rather common affair when it came to pop culture literature; there were several romance novels, classic adventure novels, modern thrillers and a few non-fiction books about various subjects. What interested Chance was one book in particular, this book had several cracks adorning the spine, signalling that it had been read more times than the other books. "The Anatomy of a Changeling" the cracks and creases made it too hard for Chance to read the name of the author but the title was pretty clear. Changelings were never of much interest to Chance, his work and talent focused on ponies and so, with a begrudging smile, he endeavoured to focus on them too. Summer Runner came in with a tray on her back that had a glass of milk and a cup of tea on it. She trotted over to Chance who took the glass of milk with a quick thank you. Summer Runner carefully slid the tray off her back onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. She then climbed onto the sofa and picked the cup up with her hooves, taking a sip. "Are you telling the truth?" Summer Runner asked Chance who was halfway through gulping down his glass of milk. He looked at her to find her eyes staring back into his pleadingly, Chance realised what he found off about this mare at this point, she seemed tired. There were slight bags under her eyes which were sunken and in them there wasn't much of a spark. Chance put his glass back down on the coffee table and gulped. his mare had obviously been through a lot because of her daughter's disappearance and even though he couldn't quite put his hoof on it he seemed to want to help her more than before for some reason. Maybe it was her eyes? He wanted to see some light in them. "Yes, I can help you find your daughter but I need your help, that's why I'm here." Chance placed a hoof on her shoulder and nodded assuringly. Summer Runner placed her hoof on his, which made his heart jump a little. "Are you with the police then?" Summer Runner asked. Chance had to hold back his laughter. "Technically. It's best you don't mention me to the detectives or officers you talk to though." Chance smiled nervously as she gave him a worried look. "All you need to know is that I'm here to help." Summer Runner looked down for a moment, seemingly pondering the situation, she sighed and looked back into Chance's eyes. "At this point I'm willing to accept any help I can get. Why should I trust you more than the police though?" "Because I'm a finder." Chance leaned at a slight angle to show off his cutie mark. "And, as my cutie mark shows, I'm a finder of ponies." Summer Runner looked at him open jawed. "Okay, for starters you're not a unicorn, secondly if you really have a talent like that why aren't you with the police? And finally, cutie mark? Really? You're a stallion, shouldn't you not want it to be called that?" "Heh, I assure you that your first two concerns are of no real concern and as for the cutie mark thing, it's not that I like it being called that, it's more that I don't care about what it is called." Chance was lying of course, not about his apathy towards the term "cutie mark" though. Chance is a somewhat special breed of pony, a finder. Every pony had a talent, it was debated whether these were inherent to the pony or if the natural magic within a pony merely enhanced a certain thing they happened to be good at which caused an image to be placed upon them which corresponded with this talent. Nopony could deny that these "cutie marks" existed though. Some ponies had a certain type of talent, the talent to find specific things, there's a mare in Ponyville Chance had heard of for example whose talent allowed her to find diamonds. These ponies were referred to as "finders" and even among them Chance was special for his extremely useful talent of being able to find ponies. At least, it would be useful, if he hadn't been born an Earth Pony. A Unicorn finder can use their horn to lead them to whatever they are meant to find and a Pegasus can just begin flapping their wings which will take them straight to where whatever it is happens to be. This was because their natural magic manifested in those ways, an Earth Pony's magic manifests with the ability to grow produce and natural strength. Chance thought he could probably buck down a tree, which would then point in the direction he needed to go, or he could grow a carrot which may point him in the general direction of the pony he was trying to find. In other words, Chance's talent just wasn't suited to him, making him useless which is why the police haven't hired him for his ability. Well, he wasn't completely useless, if he was given the name of the area where the pony was he'd be able to tell by instinct that they were there, he just couldn't say the exact spot where the pony happened to be standing. Once he got to the general area, he had to rely on his wits. It was frustrating, but Chance supposed that if a Unicorn or Pegasus were to have his talent they would be able to find anypony instantly, which could be dangerous in the wrong hooves. Summer Runner put her tea down onto the coffee table. "I'm honestly desperate, so I suppose any help is better than none. What do you need?" Chance smiled at her warmly, there was something about her which just put him at ease, it also produced a sickly feeling though, what had her daughter gotten caught up in? Why would shady ponies with orange coated enforcers be getting involved in this? "I just need you to tell me if there's anywhere she might be." Summer Runner rested her head on her hoof, "hmm... well, she always wanted to go to Canterlot, she often seemed interested in Ponyville, one of the Princesses lives there after all, the Crystal Empire seems unlikely but she has mentioned it..." She kept naming several places, Chance listened and his eyes wandered to the bookcase again. Among the non-fiction books there was a thin book which seemed more like a pamphlet. On the spine was the name "Pegasus Falls" his ears pricked up at this and he interrupted Summer Runner. "Sorry, but did Dancer ever mention a place called Pegasus Falls?" Chance asked. "Yes, she did, I was just about to mention it. She just asked me what I knew about it which is really nothing. She bought a book about the place, it's on the bookshelf." "I noticed." Chance's smile widened "I also think I may have an idea on where your daughter is." Summer Runner gasped, Chance responded with a nod to confirm that he was being serious. "There's a problem though, I've heard stories about that place, it's an isolated town with some real spooky shit going on, ponies disappearing, ponies acting really strange. They also have a pretty hostile attitude towards outsiders." Summer Runner seemed worried but Chance put his hoof back on her shoulder. "I promise you I'll find her, no need to worry." "Thank you." She said shakily due to held back tears. "You'd better go. I don't want to keep you any longer." Chance gave another nod and climbed off the sofa. "Before I go I need to ask you something, what can you tell me about Dancer's coltfriend?" the question seemed to alarm Summer Runner a little. "She doesn't have a coltfriend. What are you talking about?" "So you don't know Dark Brooder?" Summer Runner shook her head "I see, perhaps I was mistaken, anyway I'll see myself out." He gave her one last smile and trotted back into the hallway and to the front door to leave. Once back on the streets he began the slow trot back to his place, it was getting late and he's going to have to travel a bit to get to Pegasus Falls so he thought it best to leave it until tomorrow. His thoughts were interrupted though as he saw a familiar looking orange unicorn in a small alleyway. Chance scowled and walked up to him, "here to check up on me, I presume?" The orange unicorn sneered at him. "Just tell me what you know." He ordered Chance in a somewhat elegant tone, as if he truly saw himself above Chance. "Fine, arrogant prick, Summer Dancer, and her coltfriend Dark Brooder, are currently in Ponyville." Chance smirked at the unicorn, "I suppose you'll want me to go there, really find them and bring them back. Or do you need to tell me this with your knife out again?" The unicorn snorted. "Ponyville? You're lying. We do want you to find Summer Dancer but by looking in the right place. Otherwise we will be disappointed." Chance sighed, "So, you know where she is already?" The unicorn took a step back. "What makes you say that?" "You're so sure that I was lying, why would you be unless you already knew she was in..." Chance mockingly pulled his hoof up to his ear, indicating that he was waiting for the unicorn to finish the sentence. "Pegasus Falls." The unicorn said, annoyed. "Thank you. So, do you mind cutting the cryptic bullshit and telling me who you are and why you're sending me to find a pony you know the location of? Maybe even telling me what's going on?" The Unicorn smirked,"what do you think?" "Well, I noticed that there were no pictures of Dancer's father in the house, it was a house which would require money and Summer Runner seemed extremely tired and you're employers are very shady. If I were to guess the scenario, Summer Runner was married to some mobster, she left him and took their daughter and money. She sent Dancer to Pegasus Falls because it's out of the way, Dancer also took her secret coltfriend for some reason. I'm guessing that Summer Runner stayed behind to perhaps try and lead you guys off Dancer's trail or maybe she's just resigned herself to her fate and is waiting for you to get to her. She's tired from looking over her shoulder all the time. Of course, the Mafia can't just go to some out of the way town and shoot up the place so you send a naive and handsome gentlecolt to bring Dancer back for you." Chance smiled triumphantly as the unicorn sniggered. "I'm wrong?" The unicorn composed himeslf, "what makes you think that?" "You laughing tells me that you think my theory to be ridiculous, plus, if Summer Runner was really hiding her daughter why would she have told me where she really was? I just wanted to confirm whether or not I had found myself working within organised crime, which I am not. So who am I working for?" "A pony who will pay you very well for the return of Summer Dancer to Manehattan. That's all you need to know." The unicorn turned to leave. "Can you promise me that neither her or her mother will be harmed?" The unicorn stopped, "What do you care? You're a scum bag who only helps ponies to suit his own needs." Chance rolled his eyes, "coming from the unicorn who greets people with knives." "Whatever, I can promise you with all certain that neither of them will be in danger, can't say the same for you though if you fail." The unicorn began trotting down the alley, he stumbled a little which caused him to produce a muffled grunt of frustration before he continued on his way. Chance looked down the alley. There was something off about that Unicorn, when they first met Chance was convinced that he was a professional but now he wasn't so sure. Chance had been able to show him up which caused him to drop his guard a little. He thought that the Unicorn probably knew what he wanted out of their meetings, and as long as that's what he got he was cool and calm, he was used to getting what he wanted. "A spoiled hitpony? Now I've seen everything." Chance struck his hoof against his face and sighed, "something seems really off about this whole thing. Well, guess I'll think about it more tomorrow." Chance began trotting down the street again, yawning and muttering curses to Love for getting him involved in this. He knew she had nothing to do with it but he didn't care, to him it was all her fault. He knew what he needed to do at least, tomorrow he would ask around about any travelling performers or merchants going that way and would ask to accompany them. Not perfect travel plans but it was all he could come up with. Maybe, with a bit of luck, Dancer would be waiting right in the town's centre. Chance knew that his namesake was not on his side however, it was going to be a long few weeks ahead. Chapter 3The cart shook violently as it rolled through the rocky path which caused Chance a lot of discomfort. “Hey!” Chance called out to the large, bulky stallion pulling the cart, “Can't you go any slower? When I thought about ways I would like to die being beaten to death by a cart was not at the top of the list!” “Stop whining,” the stallion looked back at Chance, his eyes filled with pure unmitigated malice, trying to pull a cart through treacherous terrain while being criticised for doing so isn't much fun. “Besides, if I go any slower it will take us days until we get anywhere.” Chance sighed and looked to his travelling companions who were all giving him disapproving stares. “What?” Chance asked, the four ponies sharing the cart with him responded by turning their heads away, Chance just gave a dismissive shrug and sighed again. He really couldn't complain, it's not every day you get a free ride to the middle of nowhere, a place where nopony bothered to build railways because nopony cares about this glorified wasteland or the settlements strewn about within it. The wheel of the cart caught on another rock and it shook again violently, causing Chance to be thrown slightly upwards. This made the pony next to him snigger, Chance sneered at him and shifted to regain his composure. He couldn't understand how he was the only pony having trouble with this ride, he supposed that the others were just more used to travelling. None of the ponies were talking, what started out as a nice ride quickly turned sour after Chance made a joke about what Celestia does in her spare time and told the story about how he found out his ex marefriend was a serial killer. While most of the ponies now refused to talk to him one was still fine with some discussion, the pony sitting across from Chance, an Earth pony who had neglected to share his name. He was strange, he was constantly shaking and seemed to look at the other ponies, even Chance, as if they disgusted him. He looked fairly normal for an Earth pony besides that; grey coat, short black mane, average build and with green eyes. The one feature Chance couldn't help but immediately notice about him though was his face, it reminded him of a rock as it was strangely shaped and seemed to jut out unnaturally. “I'm sure it will be over soon enough,” he assured Chance. “Yeah, it will all be over when this road kills me, I suppose I should be thankful that I'll die in this uninhabited waste,” Chance was interrupted by the aftermath of the cart's impact with another rock, “dammit, anyway I suppose I should be thankful because if anyone I knew found out I was beaten by a cart I would never live it down. They'd never find my body so hopefully they'd assume I died in some cool way, like being incinerated by something that can do that.” “What brings you out here anyway?” The rock faced pony enquired. “I'm going to Pegasus Falls.” This answer caused the pony to flinch slightly, Chance became intrigued, “do you know anything about the place?” “Um, a little. I guess.” Chance raised an eyebrow at him, encouraging him to continue. “There's a lot of stories; ponies going missing, ponies acting strange or turning up dead with no explanation. Since it's so out of the way not a lot of word gets around about the place.” “Yeah, I know that stuff. The only reason anyone knows about it is because of some insane pony showing up at Canterlot and ranting about the place being evil.” Chance grinned, he had found the story laughable the first time he heard it from some drunk guy in a bar. “Of course nopony cared enough to investigate anything, but it certainly got the attention of conspiracy nuts and those with an interest in the occult.” “Is that why you're heading there? To solve the mystery? Maybe find some ghosts?” “Nah, I'm not interested in that stuff. I am hoping to solve a mystery though, and hopefully the pony I'm trying to find isn't quite a ghost yet.” Chance smirked, “what about you? Where are you hoping to end up?” “Same place as you.” The rock faced pony admitted. “What's your excuse then?” The rock faced pony looked away slightly as if in shame. “It's personal.” Chance sighed, “well, good luck with that.” The cart hit another rock, this time the impact wasn't as bad but it was still enough to make Chance curse under his breath. “What's your opinion on changelings?” The rock faced pony asked. “Huh?” Chance was a little taken slightly aback, he never expected such a topic to even come up. “Changelings, what do you think of them?” “Well...” Chance pondered for a moment, “I don't really know anything about them besides the fact that they feed off love and can make themselves look like any pony at will. If you mean what do I think about them personally then I can't condone what some of them have done but I can't condemn all changelings. There has to be a few good ones at least. Also, to be honest, I'm a little envious of them.” “What do you mean?” The rock faced pony had a slight twinge in his voice, to Chance it seemed like he understood the feeling. “They can become whoever they want to become, they're not bound to one identity. If we screw up, it's game over, if they screw up they can start again somewhere else.” A sad smile formed on Chance's face, “it must be nice, not having to be a pony you don't want to be.” The rock faced pony nodded in agreement. “Not that it matters though since most of them are slaves to Queen Chrysalis, or at least that's the popular opinion. Like I said, I don't know much about them. Why do you ask?” “I was just curious.” Chance shook his head and smirked, causing the rock faced pony to smirk too. “Yeah, I know that explanation won't cut it. I'll tell you later, if my suspicions turn out to be true.” He turned his head to the front of the cart. “Looks like we're nearly there.” Chance looked into the distance and saw several small buildings, Pegasus Falls. He couldn't quite make out much of it since they were still a while away but that was definitely where he needed to be. He smiled and looked back at the rock faced pony, it was obvious he was hiding something but Chance believed in letting ponies keep their private business private. After a little more time had passed, and a few more bumps, the cart arrived in the small town. Chance and the rock faced pony got off, thanked the stallion pulling the cart, bid their farewells to the other ponies who seemed disinterested and wandered to the town's centre. It was a quaint place, most of the buildings were houses but there were a few shops scattered around and what looked like a small clinic. Overall the place had a rather rustic feeling, from the way everything looked this place had been around for quite a while. “Nice place,” Chance remarked. He smiled at a young mare passing him who let out a slight gasp and hurried away, “the locals seem, interesting.” Since they had arrived they had been receiving strange looks from the ponies around them. Chance felt rather uncomfortable under the oppressive gazes, if someone told him he wasn't a pony he would probably agree because the locals made him feel like a visitor from another world. The rock faced pony didn't seem to mind, he looked like he had other things on his mind. For the first time Chance was able to see his cutie mark, it depicted a magnifying glass, much like the one on Chance's flank but instead of a pony in the centre his had a question mark. “Hey, what's your cutie mark mean?” Chance couldn't work it out. The rock faced pony looked at him, bemused. “Do you really call it that?” “Call it what?” Chance smirked, he had been in this conversation before. “Your a stallion, and you call it a cutie mark. I know that's what it's actually called but come on, don't you feel weird calling it that?” The rock faced pony laughed, “I know I would.” “Well, I don't.” “Why not?” “There's not any particular reason. It's more the sense of apathy I feel towards the matter which allows me to call it that.” Chance smiled, “plus I'm just too cute not to call it that.” The rock faced pony laughed again and turned around. “You're all right, Last Chance, come on, we should find a place to stay, it's getting late.” “Yeah,” Chance responded,” by the way, I never got your name.” “That's not important, not any more at least.” The rock faced pony's expression went sour. “Okay then, well do you mind at least telling me what you're running from?” Chance asked, causing the rock faced pony to look back in shook. “What? You've been shaking throughout the entire trip here despite it not being cold, you refuse to give your name and you're in the middle of nowhere. Normal ponies don't do those things, unless they're trying to escape something.” The rock faced pony sighed, “I suppose you could say that.” He began trotting away at a slow pace. Chance thought better than pursuing the issue further and decided to drop it for now. Chance followed him down the street. It didn't take too long for them to find a bar with a few rooms available for rent. The rock faced pony paid for both their rooms, despite the owner charging more than some high class hotels. Chance was surprised about how many bits the rock faced pony had with him, what pony brings so much money to such a backwater place like this? After a few drinks and a meal the two wished each other a good night and retired to their rooms. Chance couldn't sleep, maybe it was the country air that he hadn't felt since he was a foal or maybe it was just because of the crappy mattress he got. Either way he lay awake as Luna's moon rose into the sky. He had always liked the moon, it was bright and beautiful and unlike the sun he could look at it without being blinded. As he stared at it he thought about how strange his life had become recently, and how he knew it would become much stranger very soon. For some reason Summer Runner came into his mind, that had been happening often since he met her. “Dammit Chance, what are you doing? You don't even know her and your acting like a school colt experiencing his first crush.” Chance paused at that, now that he thought about it there was something oddly familiar about her. This puzzled him since he had never met her before in his entire life but something didn't seem quite right. He sighed, “since when has anything been right. No matter what it is or where I am, there's always something screwed.” He buried his head into the pillow, trying his best not to think about anything in the hope that sleep would come quicker this way. If he was going to find Summer Dancer he would need rest. The town wasn't very big but he still had no idea where to start looking, she was here, of that he had no doubt, but the tricky part was finding out her exact location within the town. “The rock faced pony definitely knows something about this town that he's hiding. Maybe it's connected in some way. I'll talk to him about it tomorrow.” After letting out a yawn he sunk back into his pillow and fell asleep. The moon was still shining into the window, outside it made the dark little town surprisingly bright. The silver light illuminated the cloaked figure watching Chance's window. The few ponies still out at this time avoided this figure, doing their best to avoid looking at him and making strange hoof gestures after passing him. He trotted away into one of the back alleys, the ponies out there saw him leave and breathed sighs of relief before going on their way.
PrologueThe stinging sensation on Last Chance’s neck had grown more bearable as the time he spent with the unicorn in front of him passed. The sensation was cold, a feeling which was strengthened through the suddenness of its coming. Chance didn't dare move his head, nor take his eyes off the unicorn as he tried his best to breathe normally and calmly, he knew that if he made one wrong move then his throat would be cut. It’s not a nice thing, having a knife pressed against your neck. The unicorn, who was levitating the knife with his innate magical powers, had a stare as cold as the steel of the blade. Chance could tell that he wasn't enjoying this as his face had no hint of the joy or malice one would suspect some deranged, alley prowling killer to show in this situation; in fact his face seemed rather indifferent to the matter. From this, Chance considered the possibility that this was no random incident and that he specifically had been picked out by this unicorn and was left wondering why. A full minute passed as the two ponies stared at each other, this confirmed Chance’s suspicion that this unicorn wanted something from him and that this little show was more to scare him than anything else. Letting out a small sigh, Chance cautiously began to speak, his voice cracked horribly though as he was too afraid of accidentally slicing his own throat. “Can I help you?” Chance forced a friendly smile, it was unclear even to him if he was trying to make light of the situation or if he was genuinely asking. “Yes, you can.” The unicorn’s voice was calm and had a certain twinge of pride to it, he was either very proud of his work or was of high birth and Chance couldn't tell which. “Are you Last Chance?” “Well…” Chance was considering how to respond, on one hoof this may be an assassin out to get him and on another he may just want to ask him some questions and might be angry upon learning that the white coated earth pony had lied about who he is. Chance gulped and closed his eyes; he had no idea if he should say yes or no. He decided that there was only one thing he could do and that was to make himself sound smart while giving the other pony an ego boost. “I assume that you know what you’re doing, and with that assumption I can also assume that you wouldn't have put me into this situation if you weren't entirely sure of my true identity. I’m sure that under your red mane you have a good head.” The unicorn grinned. “I suppose you’re right.” He said while moving closer, unfortunately for Chance the knife was also moving closer which forced him to back up until he reached the wall at the end of the squalid Manehattan alleyway. Fortunately the knife also stopped but just as close to his throat as it was before. The unicorn stopped moving and sat on his haunches. “Then tell me, Mr Chance, do you know why I’m here?” “Are you here to try and scare me? Because I must tell you, you’re very good at it. I’d say you were a professional.” Chance forced another smile. “Do you do Nightmare Night parties?” “I’ll tell you why I’m here.” The unicorn got up. “I’m here because my employers have heard of your talents.” He trotted towards Chance’s side and looked at his cutie mark. “A magnifying glass over a pony, excellent, just as the description said.” While he was inspecting him Chance couldn't help but notice that the unicorn’s cutie mark was covered by what appeared to be some sort of non-transparent tape. At first he understood, one of the easiest ways to identify a pony was from their cutie mark and in this pony’s line of work it was probably best that he should keep his professional and personal life separate. However, Chance thought that someone as professional as this pony appeared to be would have used something better than tape. On that note wouldn't his cutie mark have something to do with this sort of thing? And wouldn't showing it help intimidate his victims more? Chance’s pondering was short lived however as he felt the unicorn’s cold eyes fall upon him again. “I think you can understand why I’m here now?” The unicorn asked him. He was right, it was obvious to Chance. “Okay then. Who do your employers want me to find?” Chance asked, it seemed as if whoever hired this pony was in need of Chance’s services and thus needed Chance alive which gave him a bit of confidence in this situation. “And please tell me why I should accept this job when this little negotiation tactic has been far from pleasant.” The knife quickly rose and slashed at Chance’s cheek, eliciting a girlish squeal from his throat before the knife returned there, stopping it from becoming a full-fledged scream and draining every bit of confidence he had gained. The unicorn cocked his brow to emphasize his point. “Oh, I get it.” Chance said shakily. “I should do it to avoid getting blood all over your lovely orange coat, I see. If I may be so bold however I would like to ask if you could maybe put the knife away so we can have a proper discussion?” The knife dug into his neck a little more. “Please?” Chance begged but his requests fell on deaf ears. Apparently the magic word is useless against real magic. “Mr Chance.” An orange aura much like the one holding the knife in the air formed around the unicorn’s saddle bag and out of it came a folder which was presented to Chance. “In here is everything you need to know about the pony my employers want you to find. Once you have located her send a letter to the address written on the folder and I shall come to collect her. You will then be paid and I promise you that it will be worth your while.” “May I ask a question?” Chance asked. “You just have.” The unicorn responded with a deadpan expression. “Screw you. Anyway, I was just wondering why your employers decided to conduct business in this manner.” Chance’s eyes darted to the knife to emphasize his point. “Because my employers are not the type of ponies you would want to disappoint and they asked me to make sure you understood that. And they also wished for you to understand that this is very important to them and if you do well then they will make sure you are compensated nicely, and I assure you that they won’t forget what you have done for them.” Chance understood the threat but was confused as to why he also included those promises. Ponies that are willing to make somepony do something at knife point often don’t care for positive reinforcement. “Well I suppose I have nothing better to do at the moment.” Chance smiled at the unicorn. “Sure, I’ll do it.” Upon hearing Chance’s words the unicorn smiled and cancelled the telekinesis spell he had on the knife, causing it to drop to the ground. Chance also dropped to the ground clutching at his throat with his hooves and was relieved to find that there were no cuts or blood but just a mark which didn't seem serious. “Excellent.” The unicorn looked pleased. “If you ever have second thoughts about this though just remember what happened here.” “I swear, if you weren't scary with a knife I would make sure that the ground and your face got well acquainted.” Chance said. The unicorn grinned. “So the pathetic coward tries to talk tough? How surprising.” “You want to know surprising? Finding out your marefriend has been using your basement to hide the bodies of her victims, now that’s what I call surprising.“ Chance spat on the ground and looked up at the unicorn with a scowl. “And I may be a coward but at least I don’t go around using spooky horn powers, not that I have any, to scare poor little ponies into doing shady jobs for ponies he’s never met.” Chance gave a triumphant smirk as if what he said was some profoundly clever retort. He knew it wasn't but if there was one lesson life had taught him it was that a good bluff can often be more convincing than the truth. He had been humiliated by this little encounter and unless he pays for it first he doesn't like being humiliated, he was determined to get a victory even if it was a small one. The unicorn laughed as he picked up the knife and put it back in his saddlebag. “A bluffer, a liar and so easy to intimidate that I may have not even needed to bring the knife, not only that but everything seems to be a joke to you.” The unicorn looked down at Chance with disgust. “You really are a wretched pony, aren't you?” Chance looked up at him and smiled. “I suppose you've heard of me then? It’s always nice to meet a fan.” Chance coughed and stood back up, meeting the unicorn’s eyes with his own. “I can’t say I like you but since it’s obvious you don’t like me I suppose it doesn't matter. What I will say though is that your employers have good taste. I’m the best at what I do.” He brushed his brown and black mane with his right hoof and smiled. “That’s exactly what my employers are hoping for.” His horn was enveloped in an orange aura which also manifested around the folder which he showed Chance earlier. It floated over to Chance who caught it in his mouth. He sat down and spat it into his hooves, opening it up he began looking through the many pieces of paper in it, there really was a lot about this pony in it. “I trust that will be enough to get you started?” The unicorn said. Chance grinned as it was rare he ever got anything beyond a photo and a description of the pony’s social life. He had a reputation for getting the jobs he’s given done and this one seemed like it was going to be easy, if the unicorn wasn't lying about Chance being well compensated for this then he was in for quite a nice pay day as well. “It seems this attempted evening stroll wasn't a complete waste after all.” Chance said. “It’s more than enough.” “Good.” The unicorn turned to leave. “I suppose you've already worked this out but my employers are desperate at this point, they don’t usually hire outside help if you know what I mean. You’re literally their last chance, I hope you remember that.” He trotted away out of the alley. It was quiet now as if nothing had happened. No matter how many times Chance was faced with silence after something weird happening he would never be able to get over it. It was surreal but somewhat comforting at the same time, it let him know that no matter what happened to him it won’t matter overall and life will go on as normal. He let loose a loud sigh and put the closed folder back in his mouth. He got up and trotted after the unicorn, after leaving the alley however Chance could find no trace of him. Not that it mattered. He trotted down the street which, even though it was in Manehattan, was practically deserted. He knew what he was going to do next, he needed to put the folder somewhere safe for later and then go for a drink, maybe have an early night and start tomorrow. He couldn't help but feel there was something off about his current business associate though, it bothered him and he began to feel worried, as if there was a knife being held to his throat.
Chapter 1Of the nature of ponies there were two things Chance knew for sure. The first is that most, if not all, ponies have a bizarre affinity towards other ponies. This psychosis is often referred to as “the magic of friendship”, a concept which Chance, being a self-described logician, couldn’t get to grips with. Chance had three friends within his lifetime, one tried to kill him, the other turned out to only tolerate him and not actually like him and the other he started a relationship with, until he found out that she had been hiding bodies in his basement. If there was anything Chance was sure of, it was that friendship is bullshit. The second thing that Chance was sure of is that most ponies seem to be extremely naïve, probably as a result of their misplaced trust in everyone around them. Chance liked to think of himself as above this. Sure, he often found himself at the receiving end of another pony’s hoof being thrown in his general direction because of this mind set but Chance knew he was right about everything. The two revelations he had about other ponies are what shapes the three main principles he lives by. The first is don’t trust anypony who can’t prove that they are legit, this has saved Chance from many a bad deal. The second is always make everyone think you’re smarter than them, Chance finds that in any situation that endangers his life and/or body parts as long as he sticks to this principle whoever threatens him overestimates him. Chance would be the first to admit that he isn’t the smartest pony out there but when ponies overestimate him they tend to make mistakes even he can exploit. And the third is always make yourself look cooler than you are, no particular reason for this one besides the fact that Chance sees life as trying to get an SSS rank on Tirek May Cry. Chance, being raised in the highlands of Trotland, hated many concepts which were intrinsic to modern Equestrian life. The one concept he hated the most however was coffee. Not that it didn't exist where he was from, he hated it as much back home as he does now. But, in Equestria, it seemed that everypony couldn't live without it. Chance sighed as he took another sip of his cup. “If you hate it so much, why do you drink it?” The mare sitting across from Chance asked. “Because I’m a hypocrite?” Chance raised an eyebrow. The mare responded with a snarl, indicating that she wanted a true answer. Sighing, Chance puts down his cup and looks her straight in the eyes. “It’s because, as much as I hate to admit it, it’s a great hangover cure.” “You know what’s also a great hangover cure? Not drinking until you black out.” “Where’s the fun in that?” Chance picked up the cup again and took another sip. The mare, Love Synapse, was a unicorn with a pink coat and short, bright red mane. Her cutie mark, a pair of hoofcuffs, indicated her talent at being a police officer, although most ponies think that means she’s a dominatrix, a misunderstanding which led to her meeting Chance. She sighed and took a sip from her own cup. “Anyway, I can’t do what you’re asking of me.” Chance spat out his coffee. “Why not?” “It’s unethical. I don’t know what you have gotten yourself involved in but if I get dragged into this it could mean the end of my career. Not to mention you don’t even know who these ponies are.” “I know that they are willing to threaten my life if I don’t do what they want.” Chance opened the lid of his coffee cup to look inside. Seeing that there wasn’t anything left in it he placed it on the table next to him where two ponies who appeared to be a couple were engaged in an argument. “And that’s good enough for me.” Love shook her head. “If you just report this to the police we can protect you and find the ponies responsible.” “How many times must I explain this to you? I don’t need protection. I’m going through with it, I just need information, you know, what the police know about this.” Chance looked towards the table he placed his empty cup on, seeing that the couple were still arguing and had left their coffee unguarded. Chance reached out towards one of their cups and took it for himself. “Put it back.” Love said in an annoyed tone. “Make me.” Chance stuck his tongue out. Love raised her hoof to her forehead and sighed. “You’re extremely lucky that we’re friends.” “I have no friends.” Chance seemed offended by the mere accusation. “Whatever.” Love’s horn began glowing and her saddlebag, which was on the floor, floated up. The bag opened and a folder floated out of it towards Chance who opened it and began reading the information within. “A few days ago a mare by the name of Summer Dancer disappeared, her mother reported it. This is all the information we have. You’re lucky I’m the one who got the case.” “Don’t you mean you’re the one who’s lucky, not only do I have to do your job for you but you get a share of whatever I get out of this.” “You better be right about this being a big score. Remember last time? When the reward was a freaking pat on the back?” Chance raised an eyebrow at her. “Not so unethical when money’s involved, huh? And technically I did share that with you, hell, I gave you two pats, that’s more than I got. And anyway, I thought you didn't want to get involved in this.” Love rolled her eyes and got up from her chair. “Just remember that I’m only doing this because I like you and I like money. But, I like money more, if you screw me over then I’m going to find some illegal substances in your apartment. And, I'm not getting involved in this, this whole conversation never happened.” Chance smirked at her. “Okay then. And listen, if the police ever decided to search my place then drugs would be the least of my worries. You don’t know half the freaky shit I’m into.” Love sighed again and left the coffee shop, her saddlebag floating behind her. Chance took a sip of his stolen coffee. He loved corrupt police, while there were some legit officers out there they were usually the ones he found himself enemies with. The corrupt ones were much better for business. He continued reading through the files he’d been given. Summer Dancer lived with her mother, Summer Runner, Chance sniggered at the name, he often thought that he was the only pony to realize just how stupid pony names were, it was his theory that his parents had named him Last Chance because they knew their relationship was falling apart and that it was their last chance to have a foal. Summer Dancer was a fairly normal high school going, friendship loving, singing, dancing pony. She had last been seen with her coltfriend, a stallion by the name of Dark Brooder, a loner who appeared to hate everything other ponies consider good. “A pony after my own heart,” Chance said to himself, “But Dancer appears to be somewhat popular among her compatriots, or whatever the kids call themselves nowadays, why would a well-loved pony associate herself with such a guy?” Chance pondered for a moment, discounting the ideas of true love or opposites attracting Chance could only see one possibility, they both had a secret. Chance knew that secrets tend to bring those who know about it together, hell, his relationship with Love which revolved around corruption was proof of that. Chance closed the folder and put it into his saddlebag. He took another sip of the coffee and placed it back on the table next to him, the couple who were arguing were now hugging. “Yo,” Chance said to the couple who responded with a confused gaze. Chance pointed at the cup with his hoof. “Your taste in coffee sucks.” He got up from his chair and put on his saddlebag. “You should be ashamed.” As he walked towards the door he could hear the mare call him a weird asshole, Chance left before any real discourse could be conducted. Manehattan in the afternoon was a cesspool. Chance loathed the crowds and smells of the city. At night, when he drunken singing resonated from every street and bar, when the criminals and con artists came out from their holes, when decadence and debauchery held dominion, that is when Chance fell in love with the city. Canterlot was too stuck up to let anything like this happen, the nights there were quiet, peaceful and boring, just like Canterlot during the daytime. Manehattan was a completely different place depending on the time of day. Chance walked down the street, around him parents were walking with their foals home while they recounted their day at school, Teenagers galloped to and fro’, giggling and cheering all the while and crowds of ponies in suits wandered out of office buildings, smiling at the prospect of a few drinks before heading home. Chance watched it all with silent contempt. He never could figure out why they all seemed happy to be able to get on with their lives. After about a half an hour of trotting through the various streets of this labyrinthine city Chance arrived at the residence of one Summer Runner. Through the documents Love and the mysterious unicorn he met last night Chance knew that the mare was overall rather dull. Her interests included knitting, reading, talking with friends and drinking tea, all stereotypical features of an older mare. Chance thought back to the night before, when he met the orange unicorn and got acquainted with his rather sharp knife. He had received information on pretty much every aspect of Summer Dancer’s life, everything anypony would possibly want to know about her was in it. There were however two key pieces of information not present which Chance needed. Where was she last seen and how she was acting before she disappeared? For the former Chance needed notes on the official police investigation, which he received from Love, he had learned that she had last been seen with her coltfriend who the police haven’t been able to find. Chance was pretty sure that Dark Brooder was the key to finding her. And for the later he needed to talk to her mother, the pony who saw her every day of her life. If she was acting strange before disappearing, or had mentioned any specific location more than usual her mother was the most likely pony to know. Chance sighed. He had been threatened by a mysterious unicorn who was working for an unnamed party to find somepony. Love’s theory had been that she and her coltfriend had ran away to elope and while that is a valid theory Chance preferred his own, that the two were bound together by a secret, a secret which caused them both to suddenly vanish. Who’s so desperate to find them that they would come to Chance? Why do they want to find them? Why is it they only seemed to care about Summer Dancer being found, not bothering to mention Dark Brooder? And why did that orange unicorn seem so strange? Chance was trying to answer all of these questions, partly because he was certain figuring everything out would get him paid and partly for the sake of his own sanity. Chance looked up at the door to the house with a smirk. “Hopefully things are about to get interesting.” Chance said to nopony in particular as he started towards the door.
Chapter 2Doorbells were frustrating, at least to Chance they were. The doorbell to Summer Runner's home was smaller than most, if Chance wished to use it he would have to use his tongue since he was unable to use magic or the tips of wings. Well, unless he pulled a random unicorn or pegasus off the street to do it for him. He considered this for a moment, after all, he had always wanted a sidekick, he decided against it though. Chance thrust his hoof forward, striking the button which would, in turn, ring the bell. A quiet sounding ringing emanated from somewhere inside and Chance put his hoof down and waited. There were no hoofsteps coming from the other side of the door, there was not even the slightest sign that anyone had heard the bell. Equestrian technology was bucked, barely any of it worked in Chance's experience. Then again, Chance often thought, maybe most of it's fine and it was just not working for him. Chance rung it again. Like the first time, the sound of the bell was audible but there was no sign that anypony but him had heard it. No, Chance thought, there is either nopony in or they just didn't hear it, it's not the door, I am not going back to that time where I didn't trust doors or their accessories, enough damage was done last time. He lifted his hoof to ring a third time but decided against it. “You are not winning,” he mumbled under his breath, disregarding his earlier self assurance in favour for his former paranoia. Chance took a deep breath, threw back his head and threw it as hard as he could towards the door. At that moment the door opened and Chance's head flew through it eliciting a scream from the mare opening it who stepped back just in time for Chanced to miss her and slam his face into the floor. Several seconds of silence passed while both ponies attempted to figure out what had just happened. “Hello?” The mare said. “Hey.” Chance responded, still with his face on the floor. “Um, sorry, I was in the shower when you rang. May I help you?” The mare's expression became concerned, after all who wouldn't be? Chance sighed and stood back up. “Bucking doors, always treacherous. Anyway, yes, I believe you can. My name is Last Chance, am I to assume that you are Summer Runner?” Chance put on his best fake smile and began scanning the mare. She was definitely Summer Runner, she looked like she did in the picture he was given. She had a light red coat with a straw blonde mane that curled in on itself at the ends which rested halfway down her front legs. He thought she looked beautiful but there was something off about her. "Yes, That's me. Nice to meet you, Last Chance." "Call me Chance." Chance reached out his hoof, Summer Runner did the same and gave his a shake. "Okay, Chance. So, can I help you?" "I think I'm the pony who will be able to help you." Summer Runner raised an eyebrow. "You see, Mrs Summer?" "Ms, I'm not married." Chance's smile widened slightly at this, without his permission of course which was frustrating. "Well, Ms Summer, you see, I may be able to help find your daughter." Summer Runner's eyes lit up slightly and she began to stutter out an incoherent response. "I think you should probably sit down while I tell you what I mean. Mind if I come in?" Summer Runner just nodded and stepped aside, letting Chance pass into the house. As Summer Runner closed the door behind Chance he inspected the front hall of the house. It wasn't much, there were stairs leading to the next floor of the house, several doors leading into other rooms and various pictures adorned the walls. The pictures all featured one of two ponies, Summer Runner and Summer Dancer, who didn't look much like her mother with her blue coat and short lavender mane, not as beautiful as her in Chance's eyes. Dammit, Chance thought, why do I keep focusing on how pretty she is? I don't even know her, why am I so interested? He shook his head to get the thoughts out of his mind. With this new found clarity Chance noticed something he had failed to see the full implications of before. He was standing in a house, not an apartment, but a house. This was he city of Manehattan, here one would have to be rich in order to have a full fledged house. Chance looked back at Summer Runner who was fiddling with the door handle and thought about how she could have come across enough money to live comfortably when, according to everything he had read about her, she had no job. Summer Runner finished with the lock and turned to Chance. She coughed and pointed to a door,"that's the living room, we'll talk there. Would you like a drink or something?" "Whiskey would be great." He responded while making his way to the living room. "It's early in the afternoon though." "And I'm supposed to care? Ah screw it, I'll just have some milk if you don't mind." Summer Runner nodded and galloped to the door on the far side of the hallway. Chance opened the door to the living room and stepped in. It was a rather quaint little room, there was a small fireplace, a few fabric sofas emblazoned with frilly patterns of flowers and birds, a few coffee tables in front of those sofas and there was a bookcase in the corner. Chance trotted to the closest sofa and climbed onto it. While waiting for Summer Runner Chance studied the spines of the books resting on the bookcase. Most were rather common affair when it came to pop culture literature; there were several romance novels, classic adventure novels, modern thrillers and a few non-fiction books about various subjects. What interested Chance was one book in particular, this book had several cracks adorning the spine, signalling that it had been read more times than the other books. "The Anatomy of a Changeling" the cracks and creases made it too hard for Chance to read the name of the author but the title was pretty clear. Changelings were never of much interest to Chance, his work and talent focused on ponies and so, with a begrudging smile, he endeavoured to focus on them too. Summer Runner came in with a tray on her back that had a glass of milk and a cup of tea on it. She trotted over to Chance who took the glass of milk with a quick thank you. Summer Runner carefully slid the tray off her back onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. She then climbed onto the sofa and picked the cup up with her hooves, taking a sip. "Are you telling the truth?" Summer Runner asked Chance who was halfway through gulping down his glass of milk. He looked at her to find her eyes staring back into his pleadingly, Chance realised what he found off about this mare at this point, she seemed tired. There were slight bags under her eyes which were sunken and in them there wasn't much of a spark. Chance put his glass back down on the coffee table and gulped. his mare had obviously been through a lot because of her daughter's disappearance and even though he couldn't quite put his hoof on it he seemed to want to help her more than before for some reason. Maybe it was her eyes? He wanted to see some light in them. "Yes, I can help you find your daughter but I need your help, that's why I'm here." Chance placed a hoof on her shoulder and nodded assuringly. Summer Runner placed her hoof on his, which made his heart jump a little. "Are you with the police then?" Summer Runner asked. Chance had to hold back his laughter. "Technically. It's best you don't mention me to the detectives or officers you talk to though." Chance smiled nervously as she gave him a worried look. "All you need to know is that I'm here to help." Summer Runner looked down for a moment, seemingly pondering the situation, she sighed and looked back into Chance's eyes. "At this point I'm willing to accept any help I can get. Why should I trust you more than the police though?" "Because I'm a finder." Chance leaned at a slight angle to show off his cutie mark. "And, as my cutie mark shows, I'm a finder of ponies." Summer Runner looked at him open jawed. "Okay, for starters you're not a unicorn, secondly if you really have a talent like that why aren't you with the police? And finally, cutie mark? Really? You're a stallion, shouldn't you not want it to be called that?" "Heh, I assure you that your first two concerns are of no real concern and as for the cutie mark thing, it's not that I like it being called that, it's more that I don't care about what it is called." Chance was lying of course, not about his apathy towards the term "cutie mark" though. Chance is a somewhat special breed of pony, a finder. Every pony had a talent, it was debated whether these were inherent to the pony or if the natural magic within a pony merely enhanced a certain thing they happened to be good at which caused an image to be placed upon them which corresponded with this talent. Nopony could deny that these "cutie marks" existed though. Some ponies had a certain type of talent, the talent to find specific things, there's a mare in Ponyville Chance had heard of for example whose talent allowed her to find diamonds. These ponies were referred to as "finders" and even among them Chance was special for his extremely useful talent of being able to find ponies. At least, it would be useful, if he hadn't been born an Earth Pony. A Unicorn finder can use their horn to lead them to whatever they are meant to find and a Pegasus can just begin flapping their wings which will take them straight to where whatever it is happens to be. This was because their natural magic manifested in those ways, an Earth Pony's magic manifests with the ability to grow produce and natural strength. Chance thought he could probably buck down a tree, which would then point in the direction he needed to go, or he could grow a carrot which may point him in the general direction of the pony he was trying to find. In other words, Chance's talent just wasn't suited to him, making him useless which is why the police haven't hired him for his ability. Well, he wasn't completely useless, if he was given the name of the area where the pony was he'd be able to tell by instinct that they were there, he just couldn't say the exact spot where the pony happened to be standing. Once he got to the general area, he had to rely on his wits. It was frustrating, but Chance supposed that if a Unicorn or Pegasus were to have his talent they would be able to find anypony instantly, which could be dangerous in the wrong hooves. Summer Runner put her tea down onto the coffee table. "I'm honestly desperate, so I suppose any help is better than none. What do you need?" Chance smiled at her warmly, there was something about her which just put him at ease, it also produced a sickly feeling though, what had her daughter gotten caught up in? Why would shady ponies with orange coated enforcers be getting involved in this? "I just need you to tell me if there's anywhere she might be." Summer Runner rested her head on her hoof, "hmm... well, she always wanted to go to Canterlot, she often seemed interested in Ponyville, one of the Princesses lives there after all, the Crystal Empire seems unlikely but she has mentioned it..." She kept naming several places, Chance listened and his eyes wandered to the bookcase again. Among the non-fiction books there was a thin book which seemed more like a pamphlet. On the spine was the name "Pegasus Falls" his ears pricked up at this and he interrupted Summer Runner. "Sorry, but did Dancer ever mention a place called Pegasus Falls?" Chance asked. "Yes, she did, I was just about to mention it. She just asked me what I knew about it which is really nothing. She bought a book about the place, it's on the bookshelf." "I noticed." Chance's smile widened "I also think I may have an idea on where your daughter is." Summer Runner gasped, Chance responded with a nod to confirm that he was being serious. "There's a problem though, I've heard stories about that place, it's an isolated town with some real spooky shit going on, ponies disappearing, ponies acting really strange. They also have a pretty hostile attitude towards outsiders." Summer Runner seemed worried but Chance put his hoof back on her shoulder. "I promise you I'll find her, no need to worry." "Thank you." She said shakily due to held back tears. "You'd better go. I don't want to keep you any longer." Chance gave another nod and climbed off the sofa. "Before I go I need to ask you something, what can you tell me about Dancer's coltfriend?" the question seemed to alarm Summer Runner a little. "She doesn't have a coltfriend. What are you talking about?" "So you don't know Dark Brooder?" Summer Runner shook her head "I see, perhaps I was mistaken, anyway I'll see myself out." He gave her one last smile and trotted back into the hallway and to the front door to leave. Once back on the streets he began the slow trot back to his place, it was getting late and he's going to have to travel a bit to get to Pegasus Falls so he thought it best to leave it until tomorrow. His thoughts were interrupted though as he saw a familiar looking orange unicorn in a small alleyway. Chance scowled and walked up to him, "here to check up on me, I presume?" The orange unicorn sneered at him. "Just tell me what you know." He ordered Chance in a somewhat elegant tone, as if he truly saw himself above Chance. "Fine, arrogant prick, Summer Dancer, and her coltfriend Dark Brooder, are currently in Ponyville." Chance smirked at the unicorn, "I suppose you'll want me to go there, really find them and bring them back. Or do you need to tell me this with your knife out again?" The unicorn snorted. "Ponyville? You're lying. We do want you to find Summer Dancer but by looking in the right place. Otherwise we will be disappointed." Chance sighed, "So, you know where she is already?" The unicorn took a step back. "What makes you say that?" "You're so sure that I was lying, why would you be unless you already knew she was in..." Chance mockingly pulled his hoof up to his ear, indicating that he was waiting for the unicorn to finish the sentence. "Pegasus Falls." The unicorn said, annoyed. "Thank you. So, do you mind cutting the cryptic bullshit and telling me who you are and why you're sending me to find a pony you know the location of? Maybe even telling me what's going on?" The Unicorn smirked,"what do you think?" "Well, I noticed that there were no pictures of Dancer's father in the house, it was a house which would require money and Summer Runner seemed extremely tired and you're employers are very shady. If I were to guess the scenario, Summer Runner was married to some mobster, she left him and took their daughter and money. She sent Dancer to Pegasus Falls because it's out of the way, Dancer also took her secret coltfriend for some reason. I'm guessing that Summer Runner stayed behind to perhaps try and lead you guys off Dancer's trail or maybe she's just resigned herself to her fate and is waiting for you to get to her. She's tired from looking over her shoulder all the time. Of course, the Mafia can't just go to some out of the way town and shoot up the place so you send a naive and handsome gentlecolt to bring Dancer back for you." Chance smiled triumphantly as the unicorn sniggered. "I'm wrong?" The unicorn composed himeslf, "what makes you think that?" "You laughing tells me that you think my theory to be ridiculous, plus, if Summer Runner was really hiding her daughter why would she have told me where she really was? I just wanted to confirm whether or not I had found myself working within organised crime, which I am not. So who am I working for?" "A pony who will pay you very well for the return of Summer Dancer to Manehattan. That's all you need to know." The unicorn turned to leave. "Can you promise me that neither her or her mother will be harmed?" The unicorn stopped, "What do you care? You're a scum bag who only helps ponies to suit his own needs." Chance rolled his eyes, "coming from the unicorn who greets people with knives." "Whatever, I can promise you with all certain that neither of them will be in danger, can't say the same for you though if you fail." The unicorn began trotting down the alley, he stumbled a little which caused him to produce a muffled grunt of frustration before he continued on his way. Chance looked down the alley. There was something off about that Unicorn, when they first met Chance was convinced that he was a professional but now he wasn't so sure. Chance had been able to show him up which caused him to drop his guard a little. He thought that the Unicorn probably knew what he wanted out of their meetings, and as long as that's what he got he was cool and calm, he was used to getting what he wanted. "A spoiled hitpony? Now I've seen everything." Chance struck his hoof against his face and sighed, "something seems really off about this whole thing. Well, guess I'll think about it more tomorrow." Chance began trotting down the street again, yawning and muttering curses to Love for getting him involved in this. He knew she had nothing to do with it but he didn't care, to him it was all her fault. He knew what he needed to do at least, tomorrow he would ask around about any travelling performers or merchants going that way and would ask to accompany them. Not perfect travel plans but it was all he could come up with. Maybe, with a bit of luck, Dancer would be waiting right in the town's centre. Chance knew that his namesake was not on his side however, it was going to be a long few weeks ahead.
Chapter 3The cart shook violently as it rolled through the rocky path which caused Chance a lot of discomfort. “Hey!” Chance called out to the large, bulky stallion pulling the cart, “Can't you go any slower? When I thought about ways I would like to die being beaten to death by a cart was not at the top of the list!” “Stop whining,” the stallion looked back at Chance, his eyes filled with pure unmitigated malice, trying to pull a cart through treacherous terrain while being criticised for doing so isn't much fun. “Besides, if I go any slower it will take us days until we get anywhere.” Chance sighed and looked to his travelling companions who were all giving him disapproving stares. “What?” Chance asked, the four ponies sharing the cart with him responded by turning their heads away, Chance just gave a dismissive shrug and sighed again. He really couldn't complain, it's not every day you get a free ride to the middle of nowhere, a place where nopony bothered to build railways because nopony cares about this glorified wasteland or the settlements strewn about within it. The wheel of the cart caught on another rock and it shook again violently, causing Chance to be thrown slightly upwards. This made the pony next to him snigger, Chance sneered at him and shifted to regain his composure. He couldn't understand how he was the only pony having trouble with this ride, he supposed that the others were just more used to travelling. None of the ponies were talking, what started out as a nice ride quickly turned sour after Chance made a joke about what Celestia does in her spare time and told the story about how he found out his ex marefriend was a serial killer. While most of the ponies now refused to talk to him one was still fine with some discussion, the pony sitting across from Chance, an Earth pony who had neglected to share his name. He was strange, he was constantly shaking and seemed to look at the other ponies, even Chance, as if they disgusted him. He looked fairly normal for an Earth pony besides that; grey coat, short black mane, average build and with green eyes. The one feature Chance couldn't help but immediately notice about him though was his face, it reminded him of a rock as it was strangely shaped and seemed to jut out unnaturally. “I'm sure it will be over soon enough,” he assured Chance. “Yeah, it will all be over when this road kills me, I suppose I should be thankful that I'll die in this uninhabited waste,” Chance was interrupted by the aftermath of the cart's impact with another rock, “dammit, anyway I suppose I should be thankful because if anyone I knew found out I was beaten by a cart I would never live it down. They'd never find my body so hopefully they'd assume I died in some cool way, like being incinerated by something that can do that.” “What brings you out here anyway?” The rock faced pony enquired. “I'm going to Pegasus Falls.” This answer caused the pony to flinch slightly, Chance became intrigued, “do you know anything about the place?” “Um, a little. I guess.” Chance raised an eyebrow at him, encouraging him to continue. “There's a lot of stories; ponies going missing, ponies acting strange or turning up dead with no explanation. Since it's so out of the way not a lot of word gets around about the place.” “Yeah, I know that stuff. The only reason anyone knows about it is because of some insane pony showing up at Canterlot and ranting about the place being evil.” Chance grinned, he had found the story laughable the first time he heard it from some drunk guy in a bar. “Of course nopony cared enough to investigate anything, but it certainly got the attention of conspiracy nuts and those with an interest in the occult.” “Is that why you're heading there? To solve the mystery? Maybe find some ghosts?” “Nah, I'm not interested in that stuff. I am hoping to solve a mystery though, and hopefully the pony I'm trying to find isn't quite a ghost yet.” Chance smirked, “what about you? Where are you hoping to end up?” “Same place as you.” The rock faced pony admitted. “What's your excuse then?” The rock faced pony looked away slightly as if in shame. “It's personal.” Chance sighed, “well, good luck with that.” The cart hit another rock, this time the impact wasn't as bad but it was still enough to make Chance curse under his breath. “What's your opinion on changelings?” The rock faced pony asked. “Huh?” Chance was a little taken slightly aback, he never expected such a topic to even come up. “Changelings, what do you think of them?” “Well...” Chance pondered for a moment, “I don't really know anything about them besides the fact that they feed off love and can make themselves look like any pony at will. If you mean what do I think about them personally then I can't condone what some of them have done but I can't condemn all changelings. There has to be a few good ones at least. Also, to be honest, I'm a little envious of them.” “What do you mean?” The rock faced pony had a slight twinge in his voice, to Chance it seemed like he understood the feeling. “They can become whoever they want to become, they're not bound to one identity. If we screw up, it's game over, if they screw up they can start again somewhere else.” A sad smile formed on Chance's face, “it must be nice, not having to be a pony you don't want to be.” The rock faced pony nodded in agreement. “Not that it matters though since most of them are slaves to Queen Chrysalis, or at least that's the popular opinion. Like I said, I don't know much about them. Why do you ask?” “I was just curious.” Chance shook his head and smirked, causing the rock faced pony to smirk too. “Yeah, I know that explanation won't cut it. I'll tell you later, if my suspicions turn out to be true.” He turned his head to the front of the cart. “Looks like we're nearly there.” Chance looked into the distance and saw several small buildings, Pegasus Falls. He couldn't quite make out much of it since they were still a while away but that was definitely where he needed to be. He smiled and looked back at the rock faced pony, it was obvious he was hiding something but Chance believed in letting ponies keep their private business private. After a little more time had passed, and a few more bumps, the cart arrived in the small town. Chance and the rock faced pony got off, thanked the stallion pulling the cart, bid their farewells to the other ponies who seemed disinterested and wandered to the town's centre. It was a quaint place, most of the buildings were houses but there were a few shops scattered around and what looked like a small clinic. Overall the place had a rather rustic feeling, from the way everything looked this place had been around for quite a while. “Nice place,” Chance remarked. He smiled at a young mare passing him who let out a slight gasp and hurried away, “the locals seem, interesting.” Since they had arrived they had been receiving strange looks from the ponies around them. Chance felt rather uncomfortable under the oppressive gazes, if someone told him he wasn't a pony he would probably agree because the locals made him feel like a visitor from another world. The rock faced pony didn't seem to mind, he looked like he had other things on his mind. For the first time Chance was able to see his cutie mark, it depicted a magnifying glass, much like the one on Chance's flank but instead of a pony in the centre his had a question mark. “Hey, what's your cutie mark mean?” Chance couldn't work it out. The rock faced pony looked at him, bemused. “Do you really call it that?” “Call it what?” Chance smirked, he had been in this conversation before. “Your a stallion, and you call it a cutie mark. I know that's what it's actually called but come on, don't you feel weird calling it that?” The rock faced pony laughed, “I know I would.” “Well, I don't.” “Why not?” “There's not any particular reason. It's more the sense of apathy I feel towards the matter which allows me to call it that.” Chance smiled, “plus I'm just too cute not to call it that.” The rock faced pony laughed again and turned around. “You're all right, Last Chance, come on, we should find a place to stay, it's getting late.” “Yeah,” Chance responded,” by the way, I never got your name.” “That's not important, not any more at least.” The rock faced pony's expression went sour. “Okay then, well do you mind at least telling me what you're running from?” Chance asked, causing the rock faced pony to look back in shook. “What? You've been shaking throughout the entire trip here despite it not being cold, you refuse to give your name and you're in the middle of nowhere. Normal ponies don't do those things, unless they're trying to escape something.” The rock faced pony sighed, “I suppose you could say that.” He began trotting away at a slow pace. Chance thought better than pursuing the issue further and decided to drop it for now. Chance followed him down the street. It didn't take too long for them to find a bar with a few rooms available for rent. The rock faced pony paid for both their rooms, despite the owner charging more than some high class hotels. Chance was surprised about how many bits the rock faced pony had with him, what pony brings so much money to such a backwater place like this? After a few drinks and a meal the two wished each other a good night and retired to their rooms. Chance couldn't sleep, maybe it was the country air that he hadn't felt since he was a foal or maybe it was just because of the crappy mattress he got. Either way he lay awake as Luna's moon rose into the sky. He had always liked the moon, it was bright and beautiful and unlike the sun he could look at it without being blinded. As he stared at it he thought about how strange his life had become recently, and how he knew it would become much stranger very soon. For some reason Summer Runner came into his mind, that had been happening often since he met her. “Dammit Chance, what are you doing? You don't even know her and your acting like a school colt experiencing his first crush.” Chance paused at that, now that he thought about it there was something oddly familiar about her. This puzzled him since he had never met her before in his entire life but something didn't seem quite right. He sighed, “since when has anything been right. No matter what it is or where I am, there's always something screwed.” He buried his head into the pillow, trying his best not to think about anything in the hope that sleep would come quicker this way. If he was going to find Summer Dancer he would need rest. The town wasn't very big but he still had no idea where to start looking, she was here, of that he had no doubt, but the tricky part was finding out her exact location within the town. “The rock faced pony definitely knows something about this town that he's hiding. Maybe it's connected in some way. I'll talk to him about it tomorrow.” After letting out a yawn he sunk back into his pillow and fell asleep. The moon was still shining into the window, outside it made the dark little town surprisingly bright. The silver light illuminated the cloaked figure watching Chance's window. The few ponies still out at this time avoided this figure, doing their best to avoid looking at him and making strange hoof gestures after passing him. He trotted away into one of the back alleys, the ponies out there saw him leave and breathed sighs of relief before going on their way.
