Author's Note

Back with another chapter, and with that; more of the plot will unfurl as we delve more into the story. Enjoy.

''Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.''

-James Altucher.

Step 5: Honesty

Duncan felt the air in his lungs leave as he stopped by Mayor Mare's office, once again to drop off his weekly payment. He had worked hard, even extra hours to get a little extra to help him get a little bit ahead for when everything would be all said and done.

''And that's the 3rd of 4 payments,'' Duncan cried internally as Mayor Mare counted the small bag filled with 106 bits. One more and he would off of the hook, and any subsequent money would be his to enjoy. He still vowed to make sure Celestia would pay him back his just due for this. She attacked him first, nearly gave him a concussion, and damaged property in the midst of attacking him.

He would charge pain and suffering, as well.

''Well, as always, a pleasure to business with you, Mayor Mare. I'll see you next Friday?'' Duncan asked rhetorically as he approached the door. That dent was indeed there, and the curtains still had yet to be replaced. A holding period before any work was agreed upon after all of the money was present and accounted for. ''Sorry again.'' Duncan chuckled nervously before Mayor Mare waved him off.

''It's quite alright, Duncan. It's not your fault about what happened; just a case of a bigger situation that none of us quite understands yet. I am more than sure that with time, will the facts be revealed.'' Mayor Mare said in quite a confident voice. It still surprised him just understanding most of the ponies in the town were. At least, the one he was able to interact with at the moment. Never had they seen a Human, let alone heard anything concrete about them, and here he was as bright as day.

With almost no judgment.

''Appreciate it. I'll be going now.'' Duncan smiled and bid her goodbye until the next time they would meet. He carefully walked out of Town Hall, looking each way in the hopes of not being seen by anyone right away. How he managed to not been seen for the last three weeks eluded him. He would take the same route, at about the same time with no more than a minute or two in between the different times he left.

On his agenda for this week? He had just the idea of just knowing more about Ponyville, and one way that was brought up besides learning from the books had to be to interact with the folks of the town more. Much to his surprise, he discovered that just like Rarity, Applejack had a sister that he had yet to meet. And it sounded like they would be a good start to bridge the gap between Humans and Equestria.

Plus children were easily impressionable, so he figured it wouldn't take much for the interactions to begin.

Golden Oaks Library.

''Any luck, Twi?'' Spike asked Twilight as she continued to pursue every book in her collection on anything related to Humans. Nothing. Never even remotely close was ever mentioned about where exactly there were exiled to, or even why. Two of the biggest questions that she hoped would be answered eventually so the true nature of Princess Celestia's actions can be judged.

Still feeling some sort of instinctual connection to her mentor, Twilight was torn between a rock and a hard place as she fought to try and make sense of everything. Ever since Duncan and her 'argued' about the issues of loyalty and trust, she admittedly was a little sourer than usual as she had a small tick that often concerned being proven wrong, especially be it about something that she had poured extensive knowledge into, only to have those days of study, practical application and everything else underneath Celestia's sun to be questioned so easily. ''Nothing yet, Spike,'' Twilight sighed and massaged her temples as she fought to make sense of this. Nothing she resolved herself to studying never took this much headache to accomplish. It may take a while, but it never came with quite the level of headache that was currently trying to stave off.

''Do you think Princess Celestia would have told you this if Duncan hadn't come when he did?'' Spike folded his arms as his eyes shone with worry for his new friend. He didn't want to lose him to this crazy thing going on with Princess Celestia. He would try his best to prevent that. ''Or do you think she doesn't trust you?''

Trust. . .a strong word. Something Twilight honestly didn't know if Celestia was capable of understanding. If ever she was in pain, had any kind of problem, or even stubbed her hoof on something; Twilight, as her top student would be to help do whatever it would take to help her get over that. She was just that good of a mentor that she was willing to do any and everything in her power to help. But after she blindly attacked their friend, and without valid reasoning made her question just about everything about the entire exchange.

She. . .was unsure. Of herself, of her studies, and even of Duncan and Celestia. It just all began to pile up so quickly, and she had no idea of what would come next; whose side to be on, what things to keep secret, what plans to make, what-

''-Twilight!'' Spike yelled, knocking her out of her thoughts for the moment. "Are you ok? You blanked out there.

And there were her friends and Spike. Lying would be the wrong thing to do in this situation and she was more than sure of it biting her in the flank if she even so much as thought about committing to it. Plus AJ would not give her an inch if she found out. ''No. I'm not. This is just too much stuff to ingest so quickly.''

Spike knew his friend was having a small internal crisis, but a joke had to be made nonetheless. ''Even though you study like it's nopony’s business? You can’t let this get you down,” Spike approaches Twilight as she looked into his eyes. A huff of air came from her mouth. “You look tired, why not take a break?” Spike noticed the faint bags under her eyes. She must have been going full steam ahead.

Twilight sighed and pulled herself back into her current book that she was going over. She couldn’t stop now, not with so much going on. “Maybe. . .” Spike was given a kiss on his head as Twi told him to just go and take the rest of the day off. She would be alright.

Hopefully.

“Wow, so you’re kinda famous round here, huh?” Apple Bloom asked Duncan as he sat in the treehouse with her, which he found to almost be a challenge with the dimensions being smaller than he would expected, as well almost falling over before getting inside. “How come you don’t have a Cutie Mark?”

That was another thing. Apparently, with Apple Bloom, she and her other two friends were avid hunters of their Cutie Marks, or their markings that would define their talent for their life; The Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Humans can have more than one talent,” Duncan let the filly know as she looked on with the complete enthralled look of a child. He didn’t expect her to be so welcoming either, she didn’t seem to look too surprised when Applejack introduced him. “Though, some are not as good as having multiple things they can do, so it depends on the person.”

Apple Bloom looked confused before she dismissed the thought. She would make sense of it later. But now, the better thing to do would be to help Duncan be inducted into the CMC. Even without a Cutie Mark, maybe him being there can help her and the girls find theirs. “So, have you met any other ponies here besides my sis and her friends?”

“Kinda.” Duncan said, rubbing the back of his head and thinking back to when he and Pinkie talked to Cheerilee. “Just Mayor Mare and Cheerilee for now, and then probably whoever else in the town would be more welcoming too, with time.”

Apple Bloom still didn’t buy that. Ponyville was a good place; everypony would be nice enough to not chew his head off; maybe. “So why are you really here?”

Duncan was confused. Wasn’t he here to learn? To make friends? “To make friends.”

“Are ya sure ‘bout that? I was raised not to judge, but even I can tell that you probably wouldn’t really want to be here; least not without more of your kind.” Apple Bloom pointed a hoof to Duncan, who quirked her brow.

Was a kid. . .being racist?

“It’s not like a choice, Apple Bloom. I wasn’t sent here because I wanted to be, it just happened,” Duncan uncovered the small faded scar on his stomach. “I was hurt and thrown into a lake. And came here through that magic pond or whatever.” Duncan sat back down from standing and gestured to the filly. “And while it seems nice here so far, that wouldn’t be my first choice if I had one, least not with your leader with a death wish against me.”

“Well, why not find your folks?” Apple Bloom asked. “Maybe they can come here.”

If they weren’t exiled, maybe. If he had to guess, they were probably not told about Humans, to any real degree. He didn’t want to lie to her, but he also did not want to tell a child something as sensitive right away. It wouldn’t be the whole truth; but not a full lie either. “Well, they’re here, but where; I don’t know.”

“I can help!” Apple jumped up sudden and scared Duncan a bit.

“Beg pardon?”

Apple Bloom clicked her tongue. “I mean, let me and the girls help you find your kind! They can’t be that far, right?”

Hmmph. Maybe, maybe not. But having 3 kids help, 3 pony kids no less just did not seem like a power move to him. Plus Duncan had the small feeling that with their lack of understanding the small amount of controlled propaganda about Humans would also skew their thinking on the matter. Wait, why was he even thinking about this? It’s a no. He wouldn’t risk it. “Thanks, but no thanks. I can find them on my own; and that’s even considering if I want to find them.” Duncan spied Apple Bloom frowning at what he said. “What?”

“But, I want to help!” Apple Bloom argued. She wouldn’t take this sitting down. Not if it meant there would be a chance to help find their Cutie Marks. He didn’t understand. “This could be just what we need to help us find our talents, and if we help a friend in the process, why not do it?”

“That’s very nice of you, but trust me when I say you don’t want to get too involved with my people, let alone me,” Duncan chuckled and frowned at himself. He should stop talking before he created more questions for her that he wouldn’t want to answer.

“That’s not the way of The Cutie Mark Crusaders. We’ll help you, Duncan. Don’t worry. We might be small, but we can-“ Duncan held a hand up, stopping her.

“Just. . .stop.”

Seriously?

“Can we at least try and help?” Apple Bloom’s bottom lip began to quiver and stick out. Maybe the eyes and lip pout would do it.

“You can help me by getting the town to like me; maybe if we do that, it can help you girls find your Cutie Marks and get the major stick out of Celestia’s flank.”

“Language!” Apple Bloom thwacked Duncan on the knee, which did nothing.

Ignoring that, he continued. He would try this Twilight’s way; non-aggressive said until
It was pushed to that point. After that, nothing would stop him. “And if you want to make any ‘plans’ as the self-proclaimed leader you think you are, the rest of your team should be here first.”

“I knew that!” Apple Bloom blushed a bit. “Oh, pony feathers.”

“Hey, what happened to language?” Duncan thwacked her back, to which she did the same to his knee. Then he to her nose, then her to his forearm.

“Don’t tell Applejack!” Apple Bloom backed away as Duncan was poised for another strike. “If she-“

“-If she whats?” Duncan heard another voice sound behind him as he looked to see a Unicorn and Pegasus behind him looking ver curiously at him. “Who are you?” Duncan spied the Unicorn speak, her tiny white hoof pointed at him.

“Let me guess; you two are Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?”

“Yea!” Sweetie and Scootaloo responded with a vigor, then defaulted back to their previous look of confusion as they spoke at the same time. “Who’s this, Apple Bloom?”

Breathing a sigh of relief it wasn’t her sister, Apple Bloom rubbed her hooves together. “Our newest Crusader, girls. Our newest Crusader.”

Celestia’s Chambers.

“Yes, Princess?”

“You are to strike in exactly one week from tomorrow. That will be the perfect time.” Celestia sat on her bed as her agent reported to her via telepathic message. A slow going few days since dispatching her has passed, but the first remnant of a chance to begin her plans may have presented itself.

“But that would be on-“

“-I am aware, but your job is not to think past what you are told.” Celestia said, her tone final and uncaring. “Until you become my Understudy, you are nothing. Remember that.”

“I-I. . .yes, Princess. I apologize. I am nothing without you.”