The PAWN Chronicles

“Ahahahahaha!” Noctis laughed. “You where talking in your sleep and everything! Good lord your pathetic!”

The other pony also laughing then finished and took a deep breath. “You still did pretty well though! Managed to knock out both of the enemies I set for you!” He said.

Arcane simply rolled his eyes. He felt a bit embarrassed when he didn't realize that what he was going through was simply an illusion the whole time, and a bit betrayed that Noctis was in on it. But atleast he was safe in a hotel room now. “So then,” He said. “Who are you?”

“My name's Nimbus.” The pony replied. “Nimbus Colorcove. At your service!”

“Arcane Mystic.” Arcane replied. Introducing himself. “Now how the hell did you manage to sneak up on me and knock me out? Are you a friend of Noctis?”

“Ha!” Noctis said, now wearing his usual judgmental expression. “Of course not! I have no friends you fool!”

“...Noted.” Arcane replied with a bit of an annoyed expression.

“Well, I snuck up on you in a crowd of other ponies!.” Nimbus answered. “It wasn't easy with Noctis around. My illusions don't work on him it seems. To willful. But you where perfectly vulnerable to my spells. Now that being said, Noctis didn't take too kindly to me knocking you out at first but after I explained myself we then agreed to take you here and put you through a trial or two for fun.”

Arcane's expression then turned to a mix of confusion and anger as he turned to Noctis. “And you just let him?! What the hell?!” He snapped.

“Oh please.” Noctis said. “If he had done anything to harm you while you where under I would have known. And Nimbus would be promptly dealt with before he could even blink.”

“Somehow that doesn't make me feel any safer.” Arcane said.

“While you where out, Noctis told me about this team of researchers you where building!” Nimbus then said, some excitement in his tone. “Im quite partial to tinkering. Perhaps I could join in?”

“Yeah.” Arcane said. “Cause if anything, we need sick pranksters on our team.”

“He's also a master of illusion magic it would seem.” Noctis replied.

“Your going to entertain this?” Arcane then asked.

“This one seems to be the most qualified around this city.” Noctis answered. “Not to mention, tinkering and mechanical expertise may as well be the same thing anyway. You may have a magical aptitude, and I have mastery in alchemy, but that still leaves a mechanic missing.”

Arcane sighed and thought for a bit. Nimbus waited patiently for his answer. They did need a mechanic if they where to make any machines. And developing new machines could help Equestria greatly. Arcane put a hoof over his face, sliding it down with a sigh. “Im probably gonna regret this but... Fine.” He said.

“He he he!” Nimbus chuckled in relish, rubbing his hooves together.

“By the way,” Arcane then added. “Before I forget, there where three enemies, not two.”

“Wait... Three?” Nimbus said, confused.

Arcane nodded. “A zombie replica of both you and Noctis, as well as a changeling.” He answered.

Nimbus tilted his head in confusion.

Noctis then raised an eyebrow. “You didn't add the third then.” He said. “It seems someone was tampering with your illusion.”

“Wait, then that wasn't you?” Arcane then asked.

Noctis shook his head in response.

The trio then thought for a bit on what might have happened.

“If they tampered with your illusion directly,” Arcane said. “you'd probably know about it because they'd have to target you for the spell. But if they added a new illusion on top of yours then they would only have to target me.”

“Thus escaping your detection.” Noctis added.

“Huh... Wonder who could have done it?” Nimbus then asked.

“We can investigate later.” Arcane said. “It was probably just some sick prank on their part. For now let's find one more teammate. Four's a nice even number.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Nimbus replied.

The three then left the hotel to begin their search for the fourth and final member of their team. “By the way, what kind of pony are you anyway?” Arcane asked Nimbus. “I can't tell if your a unicorn or what?”

“Well, im a gomen.” Nimbus answered. “A form of psychic Bat pony. We don't use magic. But we do focus our psychic power through our antennae. Just like you focus your magic through your horn.”

“Huh... Guess that makes sense.” Arcane said. “I've never seen gomens in Ponyvile. Are you even from Equestria?”

“Nope.” Nimbus answered. “Im from a place called Arctos. It's a kingdom built under the mountains.”

“Nice.” Arcane replied. Having someone not native to Equestria might certainly bring some extra perspective to the team. “Remind me to ask about that later.”

“That being said,” Noctis then added. “Shall we keep looking around the city or should we try somewhere else?”

“I know a place you can look.” A voice then sounded from nearby. The three then looked to see a stallion standing there. With a pale blue coat, pale gray mane, and pale orange eyes with slits for pupils. The pony also had a pair of antennae it would seem. However, he also seemed to have wings. A trait not common to gomen. Nimbus looked a bit pleasantly surprised to see what appeared to be another of his kin.

“Where you the one who was messing with Nimbus's Phantasm?” Arcane asked.

“Me? Nah.” The pony said. “I was just passing by.”

“You mentioned someone you know who could fill the last position?” Nimbus asked. “Would you consider joining.”

“Not me.” The pony then said. “I have some business elsewhere. But there's someone in Canterlot. A bat pony. He's a good friend of mine. You should definitely consider talking to him about it.”

“Not so fast!” Noctis said. He found it suspicious that the newcomer knew they where looking for researchers. They had not made their search public, not to mention from outside the building. “How do you know we where looking for other researchers?”

“And who are you anyway?” Arcane added.

“A certain monarch told me.” The pony then replied. “As for my name, it's not important. Just know, im a friend. Needless to say, you putting this team together will be very important in the long run.” With that, he then seemed to disappear into the crowd.

“What the hell was that all about?!” Arcane then asked.

“Im not sure but I don't trust him.” Noctis replied. “All that secrecy, not a smart thing to go with if you want someone to trust you.”

“He said a certain monarch told him of the team were assembling.” Nimbus said. “Who else knows of this?”

“So far? Only Twilight as far as I know.” Arcane answered.

“Let's not forget Celestia and Luna.” Noctis added. “During the weeks I spent with her, she seemed to run almost everything by those two. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume they may know as well.”

“Well I trust those three.” Arcane said. “Let's head over to Canterlot and see this bat pony that gomen was talking about.”

“This is a foolish idea.” Noctis said. “You're both morons.”

The three then boarded the next train to Canterlot in order to find their next teammate.

While on the train, Arcane got out one of the games he brought. This game was called road walker. It was a cross between a board game and a card game that was inspired by Ogres and Oubliettes. They set up the board and picked their character cards as well as their starting equipment cards. The goal of the game was to find the boss card and defeat them. Arcane used the fighter, Noctis used the rogue, and Nimbus had the bard. The game went well as they seemed to clear a few areas. That is until Noctis betrayed both Nimbus and Arcane, killing them both and looting their treasure to fight the boss on his own.

“Dammit Noctis!” Arcane said. To which Noctis simply laughed.

“I did not see that coming!” Nimbus added. “That was fun!”

“Why are you surprised?” Noctis asked. “You know that if I wasn't under contract, I would burn you both to ash.”

Arcane rolled his eyes and then turned to Nimbus. “By the way, what is gomen culture like anyway?” He then asked. It then started to rain. The shower picked up quite quickly into a heavy deluge. It quickly soaked the windows outside as the skies grayed.

“Well, the first thing to know is that gomens are very open minded.” Nimbus answered. “We need to be. Those of us who are close minded turn to stone. That's why you won't find many non eccentric gomens around. Except perhaps in the deeper parts of the underground. Far deep into the earth where a different variety of my kin live. They have found a way to escape such a fate by living much deeper within the earth than the rest of us.”

“Trying to hide from your gods?” Noctis then asked.

“Pretty much.” Nimbus replied. “Dig deep enough and there are places even they won't look for you. Which is quite odd considering.”

“Perhaps some extra-planar energies hiding them.” Noctis suggested. “When beings enter a plane other than this one that isn't part of a certain god's plane, then they're out of their jurisdiction.”

“What about education?” Arcane then asked. “How's that work there? Same as ours or?”

“It's quite similar.” Nimbus said. “But once we finish the basic classes we get to choose the subjects we wish to learn. Cutie marks don't mean all that much. Having an aptitude in something is nice. But it's even better to choose your profession. Even better when your talent actually matches your interests.”

“I see.” Arcane said. “Im guessing your's matched your interests. So then, is it common to see gomens with professions that don't match their cutie marks?”

“Oh yes.” Nimbus answered. “There are all kinds of skill one can learn. Why limit oneself to just one?”

“That makes sense.” Arcane then said. “How's graduation?”

“When a gomen graduates from their studies, we go through a right of passage called the great showing.” Nimbus said. “In it, we show the skills we've learned so far, as well as what we excel in the most. I did this by crafting a helper construct. It runs on homemade fuel. Alchemy is one of the basic classes we have. You'll find most gomens know the basics of potion crafting.”

“Any magic classes?” Arcane asked.

“None that are basic classes.” Nimbus said. “Were psychic, not magic remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Arcane chuckled. “You told me that earlier.”

“The most popular form of psychic proficiency is the illusionist arts.” Nimbus added. “We mainly use it for entertainment purposes. Since the only limit is one's imagination, it can be used to spin quite a tale.”

“Your kind is looking more and more to have a showman's culture.” Noctis said. “With what seems to be a few pursuits in research.”

“Perhaps so.” Nimbus replied. “An open mind is good for the imagination. And such a trait is a must for the art of entertainment.”

“Hmph. Your kind is a nuisance.” Noctis then said.

Nimbus simply shrugged with a smile.

When the train arrived to it's destination, the trio then exited. Unfortunately with what they had packed, they had no umbrella. Arcane provided a magical barrier however to act as one. They looked around the city to try and find the bat pony they where looking for. The heavy rain was thick enough that they could hardly see in front of them. This being the case, they then decided to get indoors till the rain subsided.

“So where to?” Nimbus asked.

“I don't recall ever getting anything to eat at that restaurant.” Arcane replied.

“Heh heh... My bad.” Nimbus then said.

The trio then headed to a nearby restaurant called the Fiddle Lucker. They looked at the sign for a bit thinking of why it was named that.

“...Hahaha!” Nimbus laughed. “I get it!”

“Huh?” Arcane asked.

“Replace the D's in fiddle with T's and switch the L and F.” Nimbus answered.

“Ah. I see.” Noctis then replied.

“Ha! Nice!” Arcane said.

“And they're none the wiser!” Nimbus added.