All through the night the storm raged over town fiercely raking The streets. And rattling the panes of glass in the windows of the inn. After the commotion of the colt’s entrance, the bar goers moved the passed out predator into a padded corner of the room for those who overdo it. Star gazer slept slumped on a nearby table a half-eaten plate of food nearby, his condition has improved slightly since hear about this stranger, a small hope began to grown in his Hart.

Slowly hours moved by and the revelry of the bar died down as more of the customers either went to their rooms or drank themselves into a stupor. A few hours after midday Star Gazer woke with a start groggily looking over his surroundings. The room was mostly empty with most of the ponies departed from home or their various jobs. Most of the ponies barely offered more than a sad sympathetic smile or a pat on the shoulder as they passed star, as his situation was a common occurrence to the townsfolk Gave their condolences was the only aid they can offer.

After a few after a few moments the Details of his situation sunk and he remembered his location. Pausing for a moment he sat up and took in the nearly empty room. Then looked over to his would-be savior, the strange Fox creature was sprawled flat on his back, his head and muzzle pointed directly upwards with his tongue out. His front legs and paws hung limply over his soft fluffy chest like a dogs when they are left in that position. back legs were stretched outward almost rested against the blanket. Looking closer I noticed that his fur was covered in splotches of mud and dirt, likely caused by the rain and the storm the previous night.

The strangest thing being the creature’s tails. Never before had I seen a creature with so many limbs in one place, it certainly looked like it could be quite aggravating. earlier they lay flat against the floor in a large fan like shape taking up the rest of the sleeping space twitching occasionally. The things almost seemed to have a mind of their own as during the night they had curled upwards towards his head the red tip of the center tail was less than an inch from the sleeping Fox's unsuspecting nose.

Sitting up from the table stretching and hearing the various bones click back into their original positions from sleeping in an unnatural position. As alertness came back so too did the voice of the previous day. In a moment of panicked worry Star rushed over to his sleeping saviour.

“Hey Mr wake up.” His plea had no effect on the sleeping Fox. Star shook him “Come on wake up you said you’d help” not even the slightest response. Bitter shuffled past with a broom in hoof clearing up the mess of the previous evening.” Nice try kid, I’ve been in the bar tending long enough to know that he’s not going to be up before noon no matter how hard you try, best just to let him sleep it off.” The wizened stallion returned to his duties.

Sinking slightly Star looked back at the fox bringing a hoof to his muzzle in thought. For a moment an evil smile spread across his face leaving earning a confused look from the aged bartender. Shuffling over to the foxes sleeping form he pushed on the back of the middle longest tail causing the tip to brush the foxes nose.

Repeating this action a few times the caused the fox to flick his paws and part his jaws. At the wrong moment he sneezed, snapping his mouth on the tip of his tail in the process. In less than a millisecond the sleeping drunkard was awake and moving across the bar yipping in pain and yelling various curses previously unheard of this this world.

After flailing around for a few minutes waiting for the pain in his failed to alleviate the Fox came over to the barn sat down completely ignoring Star Gazer, "Oh man now I remember why I never drink." bringing a paw to its four head to stop the headache.

Bitter walked past placing a bowl of salted peanuts in front of him "If anypony else drank as much as you did they'd probably be dead by now." Star sat down next to him which brought a slight frown to the fox’s face. "Hey what's the deal kid not sure my tails will forgive you for that one." No less than a second after Star had sat down one of the fox’s tails whipped along the back of the ear. The action had a surprising amount of sting behind something so deceptively fluffy looking. Turning said to glare at the Fox who shrugged in response with a slight smirk.

"Well hey I warned you, these things have a mind of their own sometimes." He said while looking behind himself with a smirk, obviously not holding the colt’s actions against him. He waved the tails causing a slight wave effect amongst them. Leaning forward he began to decimate the peanuts. Star gave him a once over the predator catching a glance at his sharp Canines as he consumed the peanuts. He certainly looked much more threatening now it tongue wasn't lolling out and it was no longer slumped across the floor.

"I'm sorry Sir but in the noise and commotion last night with so much happening at once I failed to catch your name." Stargazer mumbled, with the effects of last night still raging through my head the colt’s words were naturally loud and caused slight jolts of pain adding to the already growing headache. The unicorn noticed and assumed the winces and grimace caused by his words to be one of anger and shrank back slightly in his stool.

Seeing the teens reaction and obvious wariness to my presence, I softened my gaze slightly turning to him "The names Ro'ord. Sorry for the ragged appearance, it's been a long time since I've any amount of alcohol and kinda went overboard on it. Don't worry I don't bite, unless you're into that. Once you get to know me I'm just a big huggable ball of fluff. So what was it that you needed help with so urgently Mr…?"

Watching the teenage Colts face go from alarmed to embarrassment in the span of a few seconds was priceless, he almost fell of his stool after realising my joke thinking of how to proceed with his story he looked up and responded.

“My names Star Gazer. But just Star is fine I’m not sure how much you know about this town or its problems with the Black horn guild, they have been terrorising this village for years now and have started getting rougher with the so called protection money.
With the town in disarray my mother and I have been hard pressed to sell enough to afford it. Like so many others before he they have taken her to ransom off more bits from any family she may have. The captives that couldn’t be bailed out are never seen from again.” A deathly calm Seemed to settle over Stars face as he related the situation. The acceptance of one without hope to continue.

“I know there’s not much hope for her but we never get strangers here as the guild prevents anypony from leaving or entering unless they agree to have their speech magically bound to prevent them from speaking of what’s going on here. But you made it in somehow, please Ro’ord if you could just get to one of the proper guild’s and ask them to send help. Otherwise this town will not last much longer and their crimes will go unanswered.”

Feeling old memories rising of the disparity of my world a simmering rage began to build. “I know next to nothing about Equestria I came to this country only once briefly. A friend of mine I met on the plains of a different land came from here, she only mentioned few things about it. Isn’t there some form of governing body the oversees all wizard guild to make sure things like this don’t happen.?” Looking at Star with hope.

He frowned in thought for a moment “The government of this land has rules in place preventing this but they are directly tied to the funding of the country as a whole and the military and local law enforcement are stretched to thinly to properly enforce both domestic issues and the guilds themselves, and this towns police ponies were swiftly dealt with by Black horn’s members. There has been whispers of a magic council forming as a separate entity but that’s still ways off.” He leaned his head on the bar dejectedly. His head faced forward staring at the wall.

“What with all the random dragon attacks and recent threats to the kingdom it’s no surprise small backwater towns like ours have gone unnoticed for so long with the main forces overburdened. Most of the help is diverted to the major cities. From what I know of Equestria's history we are relatively peaceful country, we haven't had any wars for centuries. Though every once in a while we are raked by some madman intent on the control or destruction of our nation. Guilds were created to give like-minded ponies the chances to form friendships and grow attain their goals and dreams, it seems the scum and villainy have adopted the idea for their own ranks."

Silence enveloped the conversation in the bar. 'From what I heard from Sky Fire and Phyron That Equestria was supposed to be a peaceful place where friendship truly thrived and one is free to do as he wishes and follow his dreams. From the sounds of it this place is no different from old world where only the rich and privileged living protection while the out of the way people are given nothing.

I won't let this place be somewhere the greedy and the wicked prey on the weak. I might not have been able to make a difference in my world but I'm damn sure not ever gonna let this happen again not in a place like this'

The air around the Fox became noticeably darker as his features tightened in pure rage, upon seeing this a cold stab of fear entered Star Gazer's heart. Somewhere deep in his soul he felt sorrow for the poor wretch that tried to get in this Demons way. Ro'ord slammed the paw down on the counter top only to wince in pain from his forgotten hangover returning with a vengeance.

Getting up from the seat shakily I stumbled as I made to leave the bar. Flicking the colts shoulder with one of my tails "Come on kid take me to their guild master, Guild hall which ever." Star Gazer got up looking shocked.

"There's an entire guild of them and they have powerful magic. Just what exactly do you intend to do?" Turning my head to face him just a brief second those pure hatred and rage lingered in my eyes before they transformed back into the usual fun loving playful gaze they usually held, and everything and faded from my stance like a dream. Standing resolutely in a brief moment of stability, a few moments later falling back on my rump, gently rubbing my head with a for paw. Star looked at him thoughtfully.

'This guy is unbelievable, one minute he's a wacky prankster the next he’s like a completely different person. There's no stopping him. Might as well see if he really can help.' Looking at a nearby window Star Gazer saw that it has grown later in the day that he thought, "Oh no, it's way past noon if we don't get there soon then it won't matter what you can do that we no chance of getting my mum back." Balking rushing forwards and grabbing the Fox by the nape of the neck. The Running through the doors of the in leaving Bitter leaning on the bar with a rarely seen hopeful gleam in his eye. "Go get them. . . Maybe this time we'll actually have a chance." he mumbled.

Stargazer dragged his canine friend swiftly through the doors of the inn and into the bright daylight oblivious to his protests. Thankfully the town had endured the onslaught of the storm well and beyond the already destroyed buildings. There was little damage a few trees looked to be blown over, and a handful of them still on the edges of collapsing. Earth pony cruise with their basic knowledge of plant magic were seeing to their restoration.

The news had spread from the previous night while many of the ponies looked on in wonder at the town's guests none of them seemed overly fearful. The town ponies spirit seemed to be slightly higher than usual it had been a long time since they'd seen any fresh faces. One of the hard-working earth pony is turned to them.

"Whoa there youngling and . . .” Obviously not knowing how to address me simply left it there with a wan smile, causing a slight but unnoticeable sad frown on my part. 'You are prepared for this is always bound to be some tension between herbivores and in obvious predator no matter how kind ponies of this world are' Thinking to myself as the stranger continued.

"As always there is a fine morning following a bad storm, where are you going on this day stargazer with your uhh friend.” fighting through my migraine took a moment to look around at the village in the daylight leaving star to deal with the as of yet unnamed stallion. In the morning light it looked much less depressing, though the buildings painted clearly faded and a lot less time had been put into the appearance of the town as a whole. While the ponies were in the daylight conversed and smiled there was a forced tightness to their motions showing that their hearts weren’t truly in it and were merely trying to hold onto something they all felt to have lost.

Weeds were growing up through the cobblestones of the street which had also began to adopt a slightly grimy look. Many of the houses walls had cracks through the chipped paint and as a whole the town's appearance was as husk workers the pretend happiness of its occupants. "Oh we're not up to anything special Strong Hammer, we are heading to the town centre. There is some business for Ro'ord here to complete then he'll be on his way out of town" Star Gazer of the said awkwardly scratching his mane with a four hoof.

I looked at the large stallion with a tan brown coat and a black and silver mane, his cutie mark was a hammer striking something with various sparks flying outwards. Obviously the town blacksmith. "I don't suppose after my businesses finished here, would I be able to utilise the services of your forge, there some gear that I would like to make for my journeys that would be sorely missed" Following on which stars lie to prevent unwanted questions.

The Smiths eyes immediately brightened turning his full attention to me. "You’re a brother of the craft! It's been quite a while since we've had any tradesmen pass through here, I miss the days where we used to compare knowledge and techniques. Unfortunately, with the current predicament of the town I'm hard pressed to find new materials. Such is the right steel and proper fuel, lately it's only urgent repairs only due to the lack of material, apologies stranger." The stallion’s eyes look downtrodden.

A slight look of pain entered his features. I could sympathise as a blacksmith being cut off from doing what one loved and being able to explore new techniques, it almost takes the magic out of the job. Seeing the town and the ponies in such a state brought back some of the anger from before except this time it was more contained and directed.

"Well we better be going otherwise will be late, we wouldn't want to miss our appointment" said Star Gazer quickly trying to end the conversation given their lack of time. As we began to depart look of slight panic him across the Smiths face. "What I wanted to warn you of lad, two of black horns crew were seen entering the town earlier. Be on your guard eh there's is no knowing what they could possibly be after." After thanking him and shaking his hoof we left heading towards the centre of the town.

Less and less ponies appeared beside us on the streets as we grew closer to the town centre. Upon arriving I paused to look at the surroundings in the middle of the centre the town which everything had grown outwards from there was a large water fountain it was one of the few things in this town which are cared for and maintained, likely due to it being the public source of water for every pony.

The square itself was mostly empty with Two fillies cowering on a bench, shakily looking at squares other occupants. Only a handful of ponies could be seen peaking fearfully out of the windows of houses. Two rough looking stallions with the only others in the square. there was nothing exceptionally noteworthy about them the larger of the two was an earth pony, he had a dark grey coat with a dark brown mane and tail.

The second was a smaller slimmer but no less idiotic looking pegasus. His coat was a midnight black as mane and tail were a greasy looking blue colour and he was wearing what looked to be an eyepatch though likely only for intimidation purposes. Around the fountain in the centre of the square were for benches that faced the fountain.

The two mares were leaning to the side of the bench the farthest from the pair. While yes the earth pony had a slightly more serious if bored look about him his pegasus counterpart had a much hungrier look in his eyes. He lay down on the occupied bench near the couple lying flat on his back, almost in a human’s relaxing position. Then using his hind legs, he forcefully bucked the shivering females off the bench, and watched with glee as they hurriedly sprinted away from the area.

Filled with anger at the sight, I picked up a small pebble by my paws, testing's weight even though such an action shouldn't be possible with my appendages, and tossed the rock at the pegasus who now had his eyes closed lazily. Fortunately, his counterpart hadn’t noticed us yet but he certainly heard the pained exclamations of his companion who got up from his seat tenderly rubbing a hoof over his cutie Mark was a grey storm cloud in the rough shape of the laughing Skull.

Immediately his companion cracked a smile at his misfortune. 'It seems there is little sense of, honorary or concern for your members in this group' I thought to myself with a slight sadness. Suddenly I recall that I hadn't had any water to drink this morning and the salted peanuts had only made it worse, my tongue felt like the dusty road we walked here on. Star was oblivious to my inner pain chuckle lightly from my actions and galloped forward to confront the two.

The pegasus are merely straightened trying to look more professional in front of the higher ranked member while looking around for the culprit. The pair suddenly noticed Star Gazer running towards them they adopted he smiles as he drew near. "Now then boy you'd better had brought the payment that our master is so generously proposed. You don't want to keep Fell Fire or little Jasmine waiting now would you, it could have. . . Fatal consequences." The larger stallion barked in a gruff voice.

He unsheathed a small dagger with a warped wavy blade and a small glowing crystal in the guard, casually scratching his chin with the edge of the blade. His intimidation didn't deter Star as he pushed the stallion backwards which brought an angry scowl across his face " No! No more will I stand back and allow you to terrorise us we've had enough of you and we are doing something about it" Star said with a confident smile whilst looking up at the much larger enraged stallion. Upon seeing the two would likely take his mother his sense of fear inhibition suddenly disappeared behind his grief and anger.

The stallion was positively fuming whilst his pegasus counterpart was saying something about foals caught throwing stones should loose teeth to be taught proper respect. "And exactly are you going to do about us. Your pathetic towns ponies have no chance against our magic. It’s about time you learn just like the rest of your elder’s why you should never refuse us." the large stallion took a step forward brandishing his dagger.

Star took a step back his confident smile faltering slightly. He planted his hoof down on the ground sharply "I bought along a friend and outsider was heard plea and come to help." For a brief moment a look of panic overtook the stallion's face 'Damn, no way an outsider can slip past the perimeter. The boss will have our guts if he hears somepony made it through' the pair looked around. "Nice try kid but I don't see anypony with you looks like you’ve picked the wrong moment to brave up."

Wildly Star confirmed that his companion was indeed no longer behind him. Backpedalling and looking around the square he noticed the fan like shape and sway of Ro'ord's tails, the kitsune had his head submerged in the fountains water taking mouthfuls of the water at a time to quench is thirst. The two cronies saw this and began laughing and shouting about how their opponent was the town drunkard.

Pulling my head from the fountain after that much-needed refreshing reprieve my headache had lessened slightly though I still felt slower than normal. Shaking to dispel the water droplets from my fur I turned to see Star backing away from a large stallion holding a dagger, standing next to him was a smaller pegasus. They gave me the once over. The smaller pegasus I noticed seemed much more shocked my predatory appearance.

'Okay then he's the squealer and his big friends clearly the muscle.' The earth pony shoved past Star roughly sending him sprawling sideways. Seeing this caused my anger to overtake me for a brief moment but was swiftly put back and check. 'Okay this douche bag goes first' I thought to myself as I smiled merrily sauntering toward him.

He strode forward cockily when he was about a foot away he opened his muzzle to speak. But before he got the chance to one of my tails moved at lightning speed and wrapped itself around his head leaving a gap for his eyes so he could see my smiling friendly face. "Nope!" And before he had any time to react, I forcefully whipped my tail downwards pulling the surprised stallion with it as his head impacted the dirt pathway surrounding the fountain with enough force to create a small crater. Said pony was completely buried in the ground looking like a misshapen ostrich.

He immediately began trying to pull his head out of the ground while his companion now completely frozen watched in surprise. I walked over looming over him adding some red glow to my eyes. "Now then I suggest you tell me where your guild hall is." I said towards the cowering stallion letting all the hatred and anger I’d been building up leak through.

Author's Note

ok thanks for reading thing should be getting a little more interesting in the next chapter. if you spot any flaws that ,might be missed point them out i'll correct therm thanks.

another thanks to jack for editing this.