[Do we honestly have to keep her around?]

Fluttershy glanced at the same note that had been slipped under her nose again and again over the last couple of days. Hazama had taken to placing it on the wall and pointing to it whenever he felt like bugging her again.

Ever since Polly had been dropped off at the house three days ago, she had constantly been chasing after the intelligent Human for as many hours as she possibly good, intent on getting him to acknowledge her presence, so Fluttershy could understand his frustration. But at the same time, the Pegasus didn’t understand what he had against the girl. While Fluttershy never claimed to be an expert on Humans, let alone intelligent ones, she would have thought that Hazama could show some emotion towards the pining female other than deadpan negativity.

The yellow Pegasus had been shocked, returning home those days ago to find Hazama absent from the room and Angel collapsed on Harry the Bear’s beanbag laughing himself silly. The rabbit never found anything funny, so whatever had happened must have been truly hilarious.

That was when she had walked upstairs to find that Polly had somehow gotten inside the house and was sitting cross-legged outside the bathroom door, tapping on it every few seconds. Dropping her saddlebags at the landing of the stairs, Fluttershy had called out (as much as the Pegasus could do so) Hazama’s name, getting a response in the form of a larger knock from inside the bathroom.

Convincing Polly to move out of the way and head downstairs by means of a treat, she had spent a few minutes in a back-and-forth conversation where Hazama would slip responses underneath the crack in the door. Given that she’d seen the Human’s notepad left next to the beanbag, she was quick to notice that these notes were scribbled on her toilet paper.

When she had received the full story, Fluttershy had felt extraordinary pity for the girl, and had immediately decided to take her in, much to the evident dismay of Hazama, who had slipped several sheets of paper through the door, still connected, with the word [Whyyyyy? Just drop her off at the pound or whatever it is that you do with lost Humans here.] written out in full.

The Pony had been quick to reprimand the Human. The Ponyville Pound wasn’t a nice place for a Human to be. They could barely contain and take care of the smaller animals that sometimes appeared there, let alone a much more potentially dangerous Human. Not to mention the conditions there were exceedingly poor, but ironically the place never got extra funding because Fluttershy had always taken care of most of their animals. In essence, her house was the pound, and had been for many years.

Hazama had, at that point, swung open the door and, upon seeing that Polly was not in the general area, nodded with a slight frown on his lips. The explanation was understood, but he was still disappointed.

While the green haired Human spent some time straightening his clothing out again, she had wondered what could have led Hard Sell to give up Polly against his will. It couldn’t have been financial issues: the stallion was the second richest Pony in Ponyville, just below Filthy Rich. It also couldn’t have been a marital disagreement, as him and his wife considered Polly to be their pride and joy.

Whatever the reason, Fluttershy now had yet another more permanent addition to her household. She had stopped short at that thought, glancing over at Hazama with a blink of surprise. She was already thinking of the intelligent Human as somepony that would be living with her for a while. Why did she think that? For all she knew, he could be leaving in a few days, or want to go somewhere else.

Upon nervously breaching that subject a day later at the breakfast table, after successfully pulling Polly away from him, Hazama had looked at her in a contemplative manner, pausing just before he popped an egg into his mouth (a habit which Fluttershy hadn’t questioned, but still found extraordinarily odd).

She had asked him how long he wanted to stay, and he’d said that he had nowhere else to go, and that was it. Just like that, Fluttershy had two Humans living with her for the foreseeable future.

Fast forward to today, and the Pegasus looked down from the note on the wall, quietly smiling to herself as she remembered the many variable faces of disgust and discomfort that Hazama had made whenever Polly attempted a pass at him. Those kind of situations usually caused him to point indignantly towards the message.

Her answer had not once changed, however, and now she was preparing a few bits and pieces in the kitchen for the impromptu trip into Ponyville that Hazama had suggested as a means of getting away from the incredibly clingy girl.

Fluttershy could understand the reasoning behind it. The Guards had yet to pay them a visit, and their presence around town had decreased significantly over the last couple of days, although Shining Armour was still taking residence in Twilight’s castle while he prepared to head back to the Crystal Empire the moment that Cadence sent the word. It would be good for Hazama to stretch his legs, as sitting around the house playing cards all day wasn’t very good for one’s body, even if he hadn’t been able to sit down and play as of recent with the constant presence of Polly.

Hazama, meanwhile, was greatly looking forward to leaving the house, if only for a day. While it was true that he didn’t care overly much for the irritating girl following him around like a lost dog, he also found her reaction to his refusals to be a source of great amusement. The reason he’d given Fluttershy for wanting to go into town was a combination of Polly’s irritations and wanting a better look at the town than he’d gotten previously, which was true to an extent but not entirely.

He was curious about magic. Namely, the way it worked and just how different it was to Ars Magus. In the house, he had no way of studying it outside of the latent magic element running through the air, but he needed to see it in action, properly being cast by a Unicorn and preferably not against him. That way, he would be able to observe the way that the creatures harnessed the power and hopefully be able to replicate the feat with a bastardised version of his Ars Magus aptitude.

Then he could see what to do about the seal around his voice.

For now, though, he was preparing to leave. And by that, he meant that he was tapping a foot impatiently beside the door, watching the Pegasus scramble around the kitchen. What was she even trying to do? They weren’t intending to have a picnic, after all.

Eventually, the horse found what she was looking for and trotted over, gesturing for him to follow as she held a bag in her mouth.

While it wasn't quite as sunny as the first day he'd arrived, the temperature was just perfect for what Hazama was used to. It felt just like the slightly humid areas of Orient Town in Kagutsuchi, one of the better places to find something to eat if he did say so himself.

He had grown used to getting strange looks by the first five minutes of being in town, but it still amused him to catch whispers of his odd looks from the horses that thought they were being quiet. And yes, he was still going to call them horses. Calling them Ponies was just a step too far in the girly direction, even if the yellow one sent him a disparaging glance every time he called them horses.

Hazama paid little attention to the Pegasus as he walked, enjoying being out and about for the time being. Horses of all varieties went about their business around him: market stalls were set up, shop windows flipped their signs to open, and overall the town seemed to be just getting into the swing of the day. He had no idea how the mornings usually looked in this place, but it seemed like an average day by most standards.

He paused in the middle of a step as he felt something tug at his trousers, and looked down.

"I need to visit the pet store for some more birdseed. D-Do you think you can wait outside? I promise I won't take too long..." Fluttershy whispered, drawing a slightly confused glance from a passing mare, who seemed to quickly shrug it off and keep walking. Hazama had learned recently that the yellow horse could talk to animals, and as much as that seemed ridiculous, there was really no other explanation for why she was so comfortable trusting all those creatures around her house.

The green-haired Human grunted slightly, and tried to convey his question the best he could by moving an arm in the general direction of the store simply labeled 'Pets!' and then back to himself.

She seemed to get it, shaking her head sheepishly. "N-No, i'm afraid they don't let Humans inside... But they have a post to tie..." Fluttershy trailed off, flushing somewhat as she realised what she was suggesting. "You won't want that, will you?"

Hazama simply shook his head in response, sticking his hands in his pocket and moving to stand a few meters away from the door as the Pegasus walked past, shooting him an apologetic look as the double doors swung shut behind her, leaving the Human hovering awkwardly with nothing to do.

Seriously, what kind of pet store didn't allow pets inside? That was just ridiculous! It would be like a hospital that only let healthy people get treated. It was unjust! It was stupid! It was absolutely dumb that Hazama was actually thinking of defending his rights as a pet.

Abandoning that train of thought, he allowed himself to look around, for lack of any other options.

And found himself staring straight into the face of a naked male across the path. He seemed to be tied up to a pole similar in appearance to the one next to Hazama, linked by an oddly thick metal chain instead of rope. He was squatting low to the ground, looked shorter than an average Human, and was staring straight at his intelligent counterpart.

Hazama cocked an eyebrow in its direction, seeing that he had the dumber creature's direct attention for some reason. He didn't have food on him, and nor did he have anything that might be of interest to an animal. So why him? There were horses milling around all over the place, and one stallion even walked straight past his line of sight, but still the stare of the male was locked upon him.

He took a moment to study the body of the unintelligent being, running through a mental checklist of comparisons to his own species. Its head was definitely flatter, less round than expected; it had a dirty brown colouration of hair, and its eyes had the same lifeless daze to them as Polly did. So why was it so intent on staring at him?!

That's when it began to growl. Quietly at first, gnashing its filthy yellow teeth in his direction, making the surrounding horses visibly uneasy. When it started to sound comparable to a chainsaw in nature, however, the disruption became so great as to halt most of the area as they watched the Human on the bench get threatened by the Human squatting on the dirt.

"What's that Human getting so worked up about?"

"I don't know, but isn't that other Human the same one that Princess Twilight tied up a couple of weeks ago?"

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, it definitely is. I recognise the stupid green hair."

At the last murmur, Hazama felt the overwhelming urge to go and punt the offender into the ground, but he restrained himself and kept his eyes on the growling Human. An animal would stay locked onto the potential threat, not caring about muttered whispers from the sidelines, after all! That, and he wouldn't be able to tell who had been speaking, so it was best to not care.

He kept a watchful, steady gaze upon the feral Human as it started barking, almost shouting in inexplicable anger at something or another. It tried to stand, yanking against the metal chain linking it to the post. Every one of the nearby horses took a fearful step back at the unreasonable levels of rage displayed by the Human.

A flicker of movement to the left caught Hazama's eye. There, at the end of the road. Two horses wearing a set of old-fashioned golden-steel armour, muttering wordlessly to one another and pointing in his direction.

'The Royal Guard.' He thought dispassionately, tuning out the screeching from the right and focusing discreet attention on the way the Guard were acting. They definitely had some interest in him, but was it because of the Human screaming at him, or some other reason? From the very edge of his perception, he was able to catch a mumbled word or two, out of context.

"Him...Sure?"

"Titan...Barking... Sure."

"Get... Armour... Take him in."

And then they nodded to each other, and several things fell into place for Hazama.

The chain in place of a rope. The intense focus. The endless feral barking after a moment. This wasn't some random Human acting out on a whim. This was a guard dog! Something placed to recognise a specific target, like a bloodhound. They wanted him. Of course they hadn't forgotten his suspicious presence in the infected Human incident! How foolish of him to think so!

Hazama twitched imperceptibly, his eyes flickering around the crowd and, with an internal groan of annoyance, spotting another armoured horse in the other direction. He was surrounded, and that didn't bode well at all. It wasn't that he couldn't take them out, he was sure of his capabilities in that respect, but that in doing so he would obviously reveal his nature.

But there didn't seem to be any other way out. He could run, of course, but then why would he have a reason to in the eyes of the crowd? He could bolt inside the store to 'look for his owner', but then if that fell through he'd be cornered even more. Damn, he wished there was a convenient butterfly to chase after.

They were getting closer, now. Having spent a moment sending some kind of signal to each other, the three Guards that Hazama could see were starting to close in. That wasn't even counting the ones he couldn't see without being suspicious about it.

'They're sure putting a lot of effort into catching a dumb animal.' Hazama thought grimly, pretty annoyed that the horses were this persistent about it. Why were these dumb horses more efficient at their jobs than most of the Intelligence Branch!?

There wasn't anywhere to go or anything to do, not without outright revealing himself to the world. The horses were within seventy meters of him now, and he could see one of the Unicorns in the group lighting up their horn.

His foot shifted against the dirt, kicking up a small amount of dust as he weighed his options. If he got captured, what would they find out? One couldn't arrest an animal, after all. Did they actually suspect that he was intelligent in some way?

Fifty meters. Fourty five. Fourty.

'Damn it, what the fuck do I do?'

Thirty. Twenty five. He could see their faces clearly, and the crowd had started to part for them, muttering concerns about the presence of Guards all the while. The feral Human had stopped its shrieking, but now settled for growling intimidatingly in the green-haired Human's direction.

Hazama sucked in a breath, squinting his golden eyes and trying not to mess with his hat too overtly. It was the moment of truth. Fight or flight.

Twenty. Eighteen. Fifteen.

The Unicorn with the lit-up horn started walking faster, and the hairs on the back of Hazama's neck stood on end. Magic. A magical force was trying to influence his body in some way, or was starting to. He had to choose quickly.

Around him, the crowd seemed to be drawing closer, a sea of concerned faces looking around at the scene. Hazama got an idea. An utterly ridiculous idea, and one that would kick his pride forever, but it was better than nothing.

He started to growl. Standing up off of the bench, he raised himself to his full height. He made his head shoot around to look at the crowd, focusing on each area for a second or two before moving on. In his searching, he took note of the Guards hesitating, which was exactly what he wanted.

Hazama moved shuffled a foot to the right side of the path, where the crowd was strongest but the presence of the Guard seemed to be lesser. In the midst of the horde, there was still a slight gap made to accommodate the horse that needed to get through, and that was his ticket.

Ignoring the increasingly agitated response that the other Human was giving across the road, and the wary eyes of the Guards who seemed to have an inkling about what was going on, the intelligent Human took one last look around the ever encroaching group of horses, taking note of where the biggest potential threats appeared to be as he acted out being scared of the massive gathering.

And then he took off, turning to the left and sprinting as fast as he could go towards the partial gap in the crowd, which at his level of strength and speed was very, very quick.

Action exploded from all sides. The civilian horses shrieked in fear of the suddenly agitated Human, scrambling out of the way and inadvertently making Hazama's job much easier, while the few Guards dotted around began to gallop towards him. Luckily, the ones in the direction that Hazama was sprinting had already been passed before they realised what was happening.

He could hear panicked shouts from almost every horse he passed, and he made sure to make his arms flail in the air as he went, for as embarrassing as it was, it wouldn't do to make it seem as though he had method to his madness.

He passed into the busy marketplace within seconds, coming out from one opening and startling a great many horses on his way through the center, intent on making it to one of the alleys that led to the other side of town, as far as Hazama could tell, at least.

"Aaah! A loose Human!"

"Get out of its way and it won't hurt you!"

And then, "Stout Shield, Rolling Stone! After the Human"

A particularly commanding shout from the left, and suddenly more of the Guards emerged from pathways and buildings. From what he could gather while sprinting, there were approximately eight, nine, or ten of them chasing after him now, and the path he had intended on traversing was now blocked off, leaving only the large dirt track to the right, leading out of the town.

'Well, in for a penny, I suppose...!' Hazama thought, skidding on the dirt as he dug his foot down, causing him to almost drift in the correct direction until he was back in a straight line, continuing to run with the lower half of the back of his suit flapping in the wind. At this point, it didn't matter if his actions seemed a little suspicious. He was out of the view of most of the crowd, and he was going much too fast for any of them to keep up with. In fact, he was mildly surprised that the horses were keeping up as well as they were, given the speed at which he ran.

But they were starting to trail behind, further and further as he sprinted out of town, and into a plain of rolling hills with the dusty track running over them. The colourful buildings grew smaller with distance, and so did the Guards that were after him.

That didn't stop Hazama from continuing to flee, not even remotely winded as the hills were soon replaced with a large area of flat land, rows upon rows of trees now filling his surroundings. Perfect.

After another few minutes of running, his pace slowed until he came to a complete stop. He moved his head around, but could neither see nor hear any sign of his attackers. Upon noticing nothing of the sort, Hazama allowed himself to let out a deep, winded sigh.

Running had never been his strongest suit. He liked to take even the most dangerous of threats casually, hopping back and forth to irritate his opponents. Luckily, he was still more than fast enough thanks to experience and raw power.

"You again? Ah thought Fluttershy was keepin' hold a' y'all..."

Hazama groaned, turning warily to face the orange horse that had tied him up a week and a half previously. She didn't appear to be angry, but seemed more bemused than anything, her hoof holding her stetson higher on her head as though she didn't quite appear to believe what she was seeing. Nor could Hazama, really. This entire, massive orchard, and he happened to end up next to one of the same horses that had been against him before?

It was better than the guards, at any rate.

Author's Note

Hey so I was a bit of an idiot and didn't hit Publish on this chapter yesterday before I went to bed, so I uploaded it today instead. There probably won't be another chapter until tomorrow, so the schedule should right itself then.

Now I know I never promised daily uploads of chapters, but I did fall into that rhythm so I basically stuck with it.

So my thought is this. My weekday uploads will be as close to daily as I can manage, but I will only upload once on the weekend.

This may be subject to change once the plot gets a little heavier and more action needs to fit inside one chapter, but we'll see how that goes.

Music segment time, cue the trumpets or whatever.

This is 'Silent Scream', the theme of Yuuki Terumi. An edgy track name for an edgy character. Also it's a youtube extended version for some reason, I don't know.