I saw one thing as I looked ahead to the city in front of me. Crystals. The entire freaking city was made out of crystals. Even some of the ponies had sparkling crystal-looking coats. I snickered to myself as I change shape to a pony shape, then changing my coat to match the locals. At least, I assumed the sparkly ponies were natives. I guess their name would probably be crystal ponies then. Jeeze, how long has it been since I was last out of Lokura, or even my tower? I shrugged mentally. I quickly decided to be a sapphire unicorn with midnight blue eyes. A stallion, of course. My newfound psionic abilities would easily be hidden this way. I created a mental projection that made my texture match what is should be. The airship got to the right altitude, and leveled out. We started to dock. As soon as they were done, I bolted.
I continued racing through the city, trying to get to my favorite part of any good city. I slowed down a bit. Here, the heart of any city. The guild district. I took a look around, and looked at the smallest guild home I could see. It was called Nocturne. I walked in the door. A mare shot up. She had a coat so light a yellow it was almost white, and a wild two-toned mane that was both an electric blue and a more average blue, the color that you would get from the hex code 0000ff. Her guild mark was a blue disc, with a space left in it that showed it was scratched. She was wearing magenta shades with black frames, and her cutie mark was a black eight note. Quickly, I realized I had forgotten mine, so I quickly added a couple of white gears forming the shape of a pony brain.
"I'll have to tell ya, til' there's more than me here we aren't takin' any requests. Sorry. Why don't you go to that Pixie Wing guild, or whatever it was called." She slumped at the mention of only her in the guild.
"I didn't come here to ask for help." I grinned.
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Then you're tellin' me you came here to join!?"
My grin widened. "Yes, miss..."
"Scratch. Vinyl Scratch."
"I am Corundum." I giggled internally as I realized how fitting my name was to my form.
"Well, here at Nocturne, we've recently had a membership drop. We would be open to anypony who dared to become an applicant." She said in a mock fancy voice.
"What if they weren't a pony?" I returned to my normal shape and dispelled the psionic fields I was keeping up.
She looked up, gaping. She shook here head and looked straight at me. "Okay."
"Thank you."
I knelt. Vinyl cast the marking spell on me, and the mark appeared on my sapphire shoulder. A scratched disk, a light orange to contrast with the dark blue.
"Your first task will be to get at least four more recruits. Age doesn't matter as long as they can fight. I am a rogue, light on my feet and quick with my wit. You, on the other hand, are made of hard crystal. That'll make you a good tank, as long as you have a powerful enough weapon. Use your disguise while searching for recruits. But first, what are your abilities?"
I grinned widely. "I am a psionic. I have telekinesis, telepathy, I can create shields and other solid structures. I can pull at space enough to be able to teleport. I can use my telepathy to create illusions that fool every sense and normal detection spell or machine. This ability can also use the placebo effect to heal, and can use the same effect to convince someone's mind they are dead or knocked out, and their body will do the work for me. I have enough raw telekinetic power to throw me into orbit, or to provide nigh-endless power to an airship. I am pretty powerful if I do say so myself."
Her jaw dropped. "You're going to be useful. There is no doubt."
I laughed, activated my disguise, opened the door, and then fate hit me with the weight of three fillies and a full grown stallion moving fast enough to take the head off of anybody else. I didn't budge. Being a heavy sapphire golem helps, even when in disguise. Their bones, however? Not so much. Immediately I used my powers to sooth their pain, and began using my telepathic ability to heal. I straightened their bones with telekinetic energy, and gave their systems a huge energy discharge. Their bones and cuts were sealed in seconds. I wiped their memories of crashing into me.
"Heya mister! Who're you? Ahm Apple Bloom, the orange one is Scootaloo, the white one is Sweetie Belle, and the big red guy over there is mah big brother, Bic Mac!" The yellow filly with bright red hair and a pink bow stared up at me with her orange eyes, and her cutie mark was a hammer connected to a gear. Her front right leg was mechanical, with just a spark of magic to make it work with her easier. The other fillies just nodded when their names were mentioned.
The orange one possessed undersized wings. Her mane was magenta, and her eyes were a light shade of purple. She was wearing light, leather armor and she appeared to be very agile. She was fast and strong enough to draw a cart with to other fillies her size at that speed, though? That's got to take some effort. She looked like a qi monk to me.
The white one was a unicorn, with a pink and mulberry mane, and light green eyes. She smiled wider than the others, and carried with her only a lute. Probably a bard, then, which matched up with her sixteenth note cutie mark.
The red one was a draft stallion, no doubt about it. He had orange hair and light green eyes. He was in heavy armor and had a giant hammer slung across his back. He had a tree emblazoned on his chestplate that was a tree, both roots and branches, with the roots and branches stretching to form a circle, touching each other. He was a cleric of Gaia.
"I am Corundum. You all seem to be adventurers, are you looking for a guild?"
"Eeyup." The stallion was slow and steady, like the beat of life.
"If I may ask, what are your relations?" I worried a little bit about what they might do.
"Scoots and Belle are mah friends, and Big Mac, my brother, like ah said." replied Applebloom.
"I mean, who're your parents." I mentally flinched.
I did it again when Scootaloo's head sank and Sweetie Belle's eyes dimmed.
Scootaloo spoke, and her words were choked out slowly. "I never knew my parents."
Sweetie Belle followed. "My parents were killed in a train wreck, and my big sis Rarity's job couldn't pay for both of us, so the Social Services took me away."
Apple Bloom shuddered and dipped her head, so Big Mac spoke. "Mah sis Applejack was killed on a dangerous delivery to some old hermit, and mah Granny died of old age. I was left to take care of Applebloom."
I faltered. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize-" Big Mac stopped me.
"It's okay, ya didn't know. Whut Ah wanna know is why you asked about guilds earlier."
"I just joined one, and now it has two with me joined. My guild leader Vinyl Scratch told me to go get four new recruits, and as soon as I open the door, here you are. Almost as if by the will of some contrived idiot..." I looked up.
"Ah'd like to join, and Ah think they'd like to join too."
"Okay, just follow me in."
I walked in, and Vinyl blinked.
"How'd you already get four recruits?!" she asked. "This doesn't make sense!"
I pointed at Big Mac, then switched along the fillies. "Cleric of Gaia, Qi Monk, Bard, Artificer."
"I'm sold. If you guys wanna join such a small group, it's up to you." Vinyl looked at them, and lowered her shades slightly, revealing her eyes to be blood red.
The group shared a look, then stared at Vinyl confidently. "We're in." They said together.
And that's how I made a guild change from one to six in one day.
