Chapter eleven: Red as Blood with Tricky Troubles.

My brow furrows.

It just furrows as we approach the transparent dome closer and closer. I can see buildings within the strange, misty construct, though they have a red tint to them and are, for a lack of a better word, foggy and mirage-esque. The primary tint of the dome is close to scarlet and appears to be magical in nature, since I can see it, but it ain’t no magic I’ve seen so far. I am unable to see any rune anywhere on it. It is like pure will, no knowledge of the science was required to create this… that.

I look over to the guards in the chariot’s seats, moving my lips to the side as I check for their reaction to the construct. Nothing.

We bounce a little as we run over some loose rocks in the dirt path. I keep staring at the dome and as I am about to warn the others about the abomination, nearly leaping out of the vehicle, redness washes over us and I sit back down.

This is the moment the fun began.

I sit with a calm expression on my face, staring towards our movement. We seem to take a turn or something if the sudden shift of the world around me indicates anything. The world moves around me and something moves with me, as I look around, looking but not really seeing much. Everything is so nice and close, all the colours, so much warm red.

A few washed out silhouettes dance here and there. Something happens, did we take a turn? The world keeps moving slightly left or right as I shift through it with my companions. Wait… do I have compatriots? I don’t look to check as we take another turn.

My mind flickers and buzzes as the silhouettes of buildings and moving figures become more pronounced, taking form. Aww… who-... mmm… Some clouds are colourful, some are slowly moving around, or simply standing still, almost watching. My mind buzzes.

My eyes narrow in annoyance… pain? My eyes narrow in pain, as I feel a headache coming on. The figure I am... looking at... twitches… orange approaches me and follows our group, as I stare at it happily with a smile, slightly tired. Why would I be tired? The silhouette turns into odd shapes as I stare at it, unblinking.

Another tur-

A solid smack reaches my ears, as my head lurches to the side and my torso bends in half as I hear something clatter against metal together with a heavy thud. I hold hands up to my eyes. Hands. I have hands. I look at the nerves in them, tinted lightly with red as every detail becomes less blurry. I pick up my sunglasses that lie next to the box with my belongings on the carriage floor, putting them on.

I blink up at the form of an orange mare who is dressed in jeans, a simple work shirt and straps, complete together with what was probably a cloth hat. She seems ready to shout at me, “Hey! Can ya hear me!?” She raises her hand again as I don’t respond immediately.

I slowly put a hand up to my stinging cheek, groaning, “What the hell is this? What the hell was that dome?…”

“You were able ta see it?” The mare asks me with an accent I rarely hear but recognize very well.

“Yeah.” I say, groaning once more and looking to my escorts, seeing them gazing blankly into a direction with tiny smiles on their faces. ...Oh...Oh hell no.

“How? Why’d you go in then?” I look back to her and wiggle my brows.

“I have special eyes.” She looks at me with an impressively raised eyebrow, seemingly disbelieving my claim, “And reasons.” Such as being a slow, overthinking idiot as per usual. “Now, what is going on?”

“Evil magic, is what’s goin’ on. I’m glad I was able ta snap ya out of it.” More ponies of various races but mostly of earth and pegasus division stand around the street, eyeing us in either fear, sadness, distrust or… hope? I can only guess that’s hope, “The dome, it’s a vile thing I tell ya. It has made it impossible to enter the town and leave without some… unpleasant consequences. Of course… it also saved many Pony lives but… well, doesn’t make it less evil, in mah opinion’.” Awh, don’t bully the little evil dome. It’s just an evil little dome.

“What does it do?” I attempt standing up, but the mare pushes me down with one hand.

“Stay put.” She hisses, “That witch has eyes almost everywhere… I’ll make it short. Before the storm, a Pony arrived. A simple mare, nothing too odd about her. She did a few shows, but they were nothing more than tricks-” I cut her off.

“Yadda-yadda, that’s not short, where are we headed?”

“I-” She looks down the fork in the road, one of them leads deeper into town, while the other directly into the forest, “Oh shoot! Listen, we don’t have much time. Your driver will try to get ya to our town hall. To Trixie.” ...Ah, fuck. “Quick, you have to do somethin’, or yer friends will not be in a good place.”

“If I can’t get out, what the hell do I do?”

“Well, yer the first one to break out of the spell and it looks like Trixie hasn’t noticed yet, you must have some pretty powerful magic in that case. Use it.” She encourages. I don’t feel very encouraged.

Powerful magic? What is she-Ohhh… I think as my hand lifts to my chest. The amulet came through. I narrow my eyes and notice a tint to everything. Barely. “Uh- yeah, hate to break it to ya, but I think we might need another plan, any ideas?” I look to her as we take a final turn and it’s just a straight line until we’re out of the borders and right into what might be a main road, considering the bigger width.

“We could throw them out of the cart? Tie them up?” She shakes her head.

“The curse will allow her ta find them even if they were a needle in a stack of hay. What about yer magic?”

“I don’t have any magic!” I practically growl at her, before looking back to the others and try to shake them, but the mare grabs my arm.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” I give her a look. She elaborates, “‘Queen’-” She gets a sour expression as she says that, “-Trixie warned us after the dome appeared, that if we were to touch anything that was under the effects of th’ spell, then the curse would move to us as well.” I look at her.

“Let go.” She does so, taking a step back as we get nearly half-way to doom.

“We can’t help yer friends. I’m sorry.” I sigh, looking at my ‘friends’.

I decide to do a dumb, hoping it works. I rear my hand back, delivering a solid punch in the faces of the two mares, before jumping off the seat and delivering a downward strike to the side of the pegasuses head with a metal clang.

I land off to the side, stumbling and holding my hand in agony as the happy crew groans, holding their battle wounds. Which is probably just simple bruises. I turn around fully to them, shaking my hand and clutching it with the other, ignoring the look from the country mare, as some of my hopes and dreams come crashing down in less than an instant when I see smiles on their faces. Those annoying fucking smiles and the pain in my head just makes it worse.

“Well… that didn’t work.” ...I’m gonna hit you as well, let’s see what it brings us, ey?

I stare intently at each of the guards, following the carriage as I run ideas through my head, before setting on one, as I reach into the now moving again chariot and grab one of my daggers out of the box, “Whoa, whoa, what do ya think yer doin’, pardner?” I stab Platinum in the upper leg, not going all the way, grimacing lightly as I watch the silver colour drain from within her to the blade stuck in her legging. I don’t know how well it deals with bone and leg armour is easier to replace. This better work smoothly.

Her body becomes limp as I see red just evaporate into nothingness from her, as many around us gasp. I stab her again, eliciting more gasps as the shifting, shimmering light within my tool flows back into her, spreading from her leg to her brain and across the whole body. She gets up with a gasp, her horn sparking a bit as she looks around wildly, before setting her eyes on me and looking at me in a woken haze.

“V-Vadon? Wh-wha-what happened?” The captain grabs the railing.

“...Ho-What did you even jus’ do?” I ignore the pony behind me as I stab whatsherfacewithvampirethings twice in the thigh as well, while Platinum simply looks on, probably currently in shock after getting stabbed in the leg if her unchanging expression is anything to go by. I couldn’t simply cut their finger, the cart was too shaky.

“How are you feeling, Platinum? Talk to me. Keep talking, keep thinking.” I jump over the side to our Solar guard and slam my blade through his leg, stopping him in his tracks, the light-blue disappearing from his eyes, together with a red smokey taint.

“I- I… w-what? What happened? Vadon, what happened? ...Have you just stabbed me?” She finally demands with sternness standing up in the horrible taxi, wobbling a bit from side to side.

“What happened is that this place seems to be on lockdown by someone who doesn’t want any uninvited guests. If your head still hurts, I’ll elaborate: that’s us. As for me stabbing, I need to reach a nerve.” The batpony looks around, confused, before stepping around the Night captain and onto the street, her hooves clicking with metallic sounds against the smooth dirty stones.

“No, my head is fine now.” …You lucky fucker. The pegasus groans and flinches when he sees me standing in front of him, “What’s the situation?” I turn to her, before lazily motioning to the mare that slapped me.

“The situation is unneeded bullshit. First step: ask the locals.” I get a few frowns here and there, as I simply fold my arms.

The captain steps down onto the street, before approaching the farm mare, “What is your name?”

“Applejack, ma’am.” The orange mare answers, while I just look around, recognizing some ponies from the show. Lyra Heartstring, Carrot Top, Snips- Oh shit. I look slightly to the side, while keeping him in sight. The guy just stands there like everyone else, gaping, like we’re some sort of miracle. Or abomination of nature, that’s also a possibility.

“Miss Applejack, do you know what is going on here and what this dome over us is?” Platinum began her questioning, some of the crowd hid into their homes, leaving less ponies on the streets.

“Ah sure do, maam. A couple weeks back, a Pony - a showmare arrived to town. She wasn’t anythin’ magical at first.” I see Snips slowly crawling away from the scene. I give him the two fingers point of both our eyes. “She jus’ seemed to be here to make some bits. But when the darn storm came here, she suddenly got all confident and powerful.” I hear her mumble something under her breath, “So she did her magic, creating this dome to protect us. And boy, protect us it did. From both the weird lightin’ and the critters that crawled out of the’ forest. The first few days, everyone cheered for her, prasin’ her. Hay! Even I thanked her and offered something for savin’ my farm as well.” The buildings honestly look a bit ridiculous, almost like cardboard cutouts in some kind of fantasy book. The supports just don’t look right to me.

“Right, so how does that bring us to now?” Captain asked.

“I was gettin’ there, maam.” Applejack takes a deep breath, as do I but I do it because my head hurts, inhaling the scents of dry grass, flowers and wood, “So somewhere around the end of the week, she became a lil’... unhinged. Began demanding tributes and total servitude for bein’ our ‘Great and Powerful Saviour Queen’.” Applejack makes physical quotes in the air, “Started threatenin’ some of us and gone through with some of them. On the second week… I don’t know. I didn’t like her before, ma’am, but now I very much almost… hate her.” She whispers the last part and looks off to the side and something causes her eyes to widen, “Somepony, stop that colt!” She said point at the now pretty quickly moving Snips, “Anypony!?” She looks around in surprise as everyone just shuffles and looks away awkwardly.

I look at the guards that still seem to be groggy after dying, noticing that Platinum is barely on her hooves herself, “...Plan, now. I’m going to buy us some time.”

“Wha- Vadon, get back here!” Platinum calls out, but I am already on the move, sprinting.

I silently follow Snips, trying to catch up with him as the little bugger leads me through some filled with various things back streets. Thankfully, he’s fat and smaller than normal kids here, so I don’t need to overexert myself. Still: he can run alright. After turning multiple streets, I catch up to him at a giant tree as he tries to turn to what I recognize as the town hall. I grab him by the collar of his simple cloth shirt and get into the library that is within the tree, shutting the door behind myself as I fling him onto the solid wood floor.

I stand with folded arms and await his move. His move is to just crawl backwards, until he hits a round table from which a book falls on him, causing him to yelp. As he rubs his head, grimacing in pain and still staring at me in fear, a beige unicorn comes rushing down the stairs.

“What is goin-? Ah! Who are you?! ...Snips? What are you doing here?” He lowers his horn at me, taking a step forward and towards the colt.

“I am a new arrival to town. As for him… well, Snitch is more accurate of a name.”

“I-I-I’m sorry, Q-Queen T-Trixie would punish us for not t-telling her about y-you! She already stopped making us carrying her around in that… stupid throne of hers.” He covers his face, “Please don’t hurt me, I’m sorry!”

“...You were able to break Trixie’s spell?” The unicorn asks, slowly taking a step towards me.

Snips tries to reply, “Y-yeah, he has! Nopony knows ho-!” Which I am having none of.

“Shush, the grown-ups are talking.” The fat snitch falls quiet as I continue looking right through the glasses of the resident librarian, “I need help. Advice or information will do just fine.”

“Why should I help you?” The unicorn asks, narrowing his eyes.

“Because by helping me, you help yourselves.” He blinks, but says nothing, “The guard is here, a captain, a lieutenant and a pegasus. Don’t know who he is.” His eyes widen considerably as he seems to give my words some thought as he glances at Snips who nods repeatedly, not saying a word.

“I mean… What possible help could I be? I don’t have any useful information on Trixie’s magic or…”

“Any information is useful, seeing as we’re utterly in the dark here.” He seems to ponder that for a moment before sighing and looking somewhere up.

“...Trixie wasn’t always like she is now.” Oh no… “She was a very nice mare, even helped me out around the library. She had a good quip and smile ready, even if she seemed sad at times.” Please no deep emotional backstory… “Around a week ago… She came here, to the library, after she set the dome up. At the time, I didn’t know it was who did that, but anyway: she came looking for a book on spells. Basic spells, very commonly known… I thought it was a bit odd, but said nothing. I helped her find the book she was looking for and in return she offered to sort the library together with me. When we talked, she threw some… sarcastic quips around. Nothing really mean, but I have gotten a good laugh out of most of them... A few days later: her happy smiles got replaced by cruel smirks and… her sense of humour got twisted…” He looks off to the side, “Many got hurt because of her… I’m not even sure what kind of pony Trixie is anymore.” From the floor, Snips looks at him, sniffing a bit, almost shedding a tear. My face is death itself.

“Right… Well either she was always secretly a bitch, or something happened to her.”

“...I- But she’s not a dog?” Yay, I can cuss royally!

“It’s a metaphor.”

“Ookay?... I agree that something must have happened to her, but what could have caused her to act so cruel?” The librarian looks at me, one hand under his chin.

“...I don’t bloody know, possession?” I offer.

“Possession? But ghosts... aren’t real.” His head rears back, as he stares at me strangely, almost not seeing me. Ha...Ha...Ahem.

“I mean… it can be anything, not necessarily a vengeful spirit. An item, perhaps? Some kind of… cursed object? I heard she was nothing more than a showmare from one of the locals, why would she be a showmare if she had such power?” The two ponies look at each other.

“That is… a very good point. But what are the actual chances of that, hm? Why isn’t she a mage at canterlot? Is she travelling?”

“I dunno… if she was just travelling, I think she would have let this town go after the storm disappeared over you.” The stallion hums, before looking down at Snips.

“What do you think? You’ve known about her for longer than I have, has anything changed?”

“W-well, I- uh…” The squeaky one really strains his brain, “I- I think, yeah! She always has this weird amulet on that she didn’t have before the dome, but it’s nothing odd, right?” He looks at each of us, “Right?”

“...What do you think?” The smarter of the two asks me.

“...She has to keep up this shield twenty four seven, right? I can see that weightening down on her mental capacities… unless she somehow does it unconsciously. Though that doesn’t explain much of the why she has the warden complex…” I look around the library, at the many wall-shelves filled with books, “What book did she take?”

“Uh- I um. Hold on, I have it written down somewhere.” The librarian steps up to the central table and picks up a makeshift notebook, listing through it, “...Here, she took ‘Magic Control, the Guide to Not Making Explosive Boo Boos’.” … I walk up to him. It’s actually called that.

...So does this mean, that this Trixie knew of the effects of the amulet? Or at least was smart enough to realize it. If it even is the same amulet. “Hmm.”

“Yeah, everypony learns this in basic magic school, why would she need that though?” That’s kinda sad… both her and your comprehension skills.

“Well… there are multiple options, one of them being she never went through the same education as most other ponies.” I look around, “But she needs it for something now, I bet that amulet is some sort of ancient evil artifact, that causes the wearer to act like a d-” I look down for a moment, “-douche.” For funsies. Got to preserve the rest of my lingo. He gasps.

“Language! There is young colt in here!” I look at him, “...What? You can’t say that in front of children.” I give him the look over the glasses, “A-anyway: what makes you say that? Maybe it’s something else.”

“I bet a hundred bits that that is what it is.” His brow furrows

“Uh- I don’t really-”

“C’mon. For funsies.” I wink and after a bit: he sighs.

“...Deal.” Easiest hundred bits I ever made. “I still think you’re wrong however.” His face suddenly twists into a thoughtful one, “Wait, if you are here Snips, then where is Snails?”

“Uh-oh.” The small unicorn squeaks, “Uhh… he might have already told Trixie… Since we both were there and you chased only after me...” I tilt my head, wondering if he is being serious with me before rushing to a windows and peaking out with one eye.

The unicorn mare herself - Trixie, is walking towards the library, her cape almost static from the lack of wind. During the two seconds that I look at her, I notice that she is dressed in some kind of corset and a pantyhose underneath the light cape. Not that I pay that much mind. She is half-way down the street at this point and I can see a skinny unicorn kid obediently following her as they were nearing us.

“Oh hell no.” I rush through the library, looking around, before turning to the unicorn and hissing: “Is there a back entrance?”

“Uh-uh- I- yeah, in the kitchen over there.” He points to an archway which I dash through, before looking back out and raising my thumbs.

“Act natural.” I go back into the kitchen, navigating myself through the small mess that was here. I think he was trying to make toast.

I hear a door slam open, “Snips? What are yo-” A bassy young voice speaks up.

“Shut up. Snips, why are you here?” I hear a mare demand as I quietly open the back door, sighing internally at the typical lack of squeaky hinges.

“I, uh- greetings, Great and Powerful Queen Trixie. I-I w-was getting chased by a s-s-strange thing a-and I decided to hide from it here.” I hear a muffled disgusted sound.

“You’re a coward, Trixie would punish you, were Trixie not in such a- wait-” I close the door as silently as possible without a click and take of in a sprint.

I circle the library around to the front in case she checks where I exited and come out onto a wide street leading directly to the town hall, which I cringely try to sneak across to reach a familiar street, or at least head in the same direction as the chariot. Although it’s probably better to hide somewhere else, in case she has found it already. A red beam of light whizzes past my head and a sound of glass breaking reaches my ears as I make a few dodges without any more lights coming from behind before turning around.

Trixie steps out of the library, her blue form almost entirely replaced with misty red that seems to have different thickness in different spots, the brightness, most concentrated point of the light located on her chest-neck area. Indeed her cape has many details, engraving and designs from various other fabrics sewn onto it, although nowhere near as the palace. The clothes beneath the static fabric seems to also be heavily accented with detail. She raises an eyebrow, before beginning to approach me, her hooves hitting the ground with bony clicks.

I stand still, trying to not make any sudden movements, although my body instinctively leans backwards just a bit. The overpowered unicorn stops four meters in front of me, looking me up and down with her eyes, as she sniffs hauntingly, magic literally wisping from her as she breathes.

“What manner of creature are you?”

“The one that is not of afraid of you.” I reply, looking right back at her.

“Hah! You think you’re stronger than the Grreat and Powerful Trrixie!?” She strikes a pose and smoke swirls around her horn, before four spires of what looks like…red gas... Spires of what I guess is fire burst up from the ground behind her, making her cloak billow from the force.

“Neat flames.” I say, casually taking off my glasses.

She takes a step back, her face twisting in surprise and she nearly walks into the fire, but it disappears before she does so not even leaving embers. A brief silence falls over us as she looks me over in a seemingly new light, a few emotions flashing, before returning to her previous expression of ‘I am great, you all suck’, “Hmph. The Great and Powerful Trixie knew you were more than meets the eye. Whatever you are… Trixie is impressed with you being able to resist her magic. No weak being would have been able to do so. ”

“I mean… just some basic mind-control.” I notice that her eye twitches.

“Basic!?” She screeches, before snorting loudly, “It is in no way basic! It has Trixies greatness all over it!” Phrasing. “It has not failed once!” We all have our moments.

“Right. Well, it was basic for me.” She narrows her eyes, while mine lazily move to somewhere behind her shoulder and my brow furrows, “What the hell is that?” She turns around to look at the thing.

While she’s looking at a spot of air, I twist on my feet and resume my running, managing to turn a corner with only two lasers shooting by me, “Get back here! Trixie is not done with you!”

I look behind me as I hear a loud clap, and see her shakily standing on her hooves, before stabilizing herself and shooting another spell at me by headbanging. I leap towards the ground, the beam harmlessly passing over me and hitting a barrel up ahead. Which freezes over. And not in the cartoonish way. Fuck that. I continue shakily moving forward on all fours for a bit before managing to get back on my feet alone and zig-zagging from more spells. The latest one makes a pot combust.

As I take another turn I nearly crash into someone, grunting as I stumble back and raise my hands in front of me, nearly apologizing in reflex as I try to be already on my way, but one look at the one I crashed into makes me stop. It seems to be a guard judging by the armour, I’d say Solar, but it looks basic. There’s not much coverage, only the vitals, despite him being an earth pony. He reaches a hand with weak scarlet nerves towards me, staring at me with red eyes that have a tint of yellow in them.

“Halt, in the name of the Great and Powerful Queen Trixie.” I stand still with widened eyes as he gets closer to me for what seems like longer than it actually is, then I leap back out of the way of his fingers.

“Nah, bruv.” Taking off in a new run, going faster than before, I begin progressing through alleyways again, hearing Trixie shouting at me from somewhere on my heels.

I take a left turn, getting on another street, running by the front of the buildings and looking back, searching for her, when someone suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me inside one of the houses. They shut the door and look down at me, making a shushing motion with her finger as I try to breathe quietly.

I see Trixie run past the house, her silhouette appearing in one window, then the other. A few seconds tick by. The unicorn that pulled me in smiles and breathes out, “I think we’re safe. Hello, I’m Lyra.” She offers me a hand, which I shake still on the ground, though she seems to have been expecting to pick me up. I look around the hallway room, still catching my breath with raspy pants.

“Hey, Plat… Hey Shady... Hey dude.” The ladies wave, while the pegasus grouches.

“My name is Swift Wind.” ...I don’t caaaare.

“...So... what’s the plan?” They tell me the plan. It’s awful, “That’s an awful plan.” I grunt as I get up from the floor shakily, trying to breathe in before exhaling for a long period of time.

“Oh yeah? Why is that?” The Pegasus snarks, while I make an innocent thoughtful look, staring somewhere at the ceiling as I softly open my mouth, taking a breath.

“Well, considering that she has a magical amulet of probable ancient evil power that makes us seem like ants in comparison and lets her mind control a potential army and vaporize at sight, or turn us into some kind of decoration for the fireplace like a vase, I’d say that plan won’t work.” I look back at him and they exchange looks, before Platinum addresses me.

“...We accounted for the army, because we have seen… the local guards patrolling together with a manticore while we sought shelter. They were inspecting the cart, thankfully, we grabbed everything with us.” She points at all the baggage we had with us. Apparently we had a lot more than I noticed at first, which does make sense that they have their own things. This actually gives me a couple ideas. “...Are you sure that she has a-”

“I don’t know if it’s anciet, I do know it’s an amulet made in the image of an alicorn that makes her insides glow red as if she was a mini Celestia.” Bon Bon lifts a brow at me.

“You don’t refer to her majesty by her title?”

“Nope.” Folding my arms, I look at patiently at the trio of guards.

The Lunar Lieutenant is the first to speak, “We need a new plan.”

“...Yes, you do. How about we just go with the classic, someone leads her to a spot where there will be as less collateral damage as possible and then you all ambush her and capture her?”

“That’s a classic?” I blink at captain Platinum in utter confusion.

“Uh...Yeah? You’ll need something to deal with her magic though...” Everyone besides me shares a look.

Lieutenant Batters tilts her head at me, flicking her extra fluffy ears, “We have something for that, but… Aren’t you going to help?” My brow falls and I give her a look from under it.

“I’m not a guard, I don’t have experience, so I’ll be useless here.” I spread my arms, letting them flop to my sides.

“I highly doubt that. Perhaps not combat, but definitely in further planning, considering it’s your idea for a plan, a fantastic idea, mind you. We may need your help in forming the plan entirely and...perhaps you could give us a hand in accomplishing the plan successfully.”

“Psh, we don’t need his help, we don’t need the ambush, that Trixie character is not that powerful.” I look at the pegasus who said that.

“We have seen a couple of her troops, without considering what other possible pets she has from the nearby woods, how many guards were stationed here originally?” He visibly gulps, “Each one of them will attempt to capture you, if not outright terminate you on the spot, which means that isolating her from her army and disabling her magic as quickly as possible might be the best solution. In my opinion.” I tilt my head and give a sweet smile as the reality finally seems to dawn on him judging by the paleness of his face and lack of muscle movement. I don’t think he has ever been in a field operation yet.

I give a glance around the room, Lyra is wearing what appears to be a mildly puzzled expression, Bon Bon’s is unreadable but looks like something between shock, confusion and a bit of something else.

An awkward moment of silence passes and I look around at their muzzles, but Platinums calm one suddenly speaks up, “I see a single problem if one of us tries to distract Trixie.” I lift a curious brow, “We might fail.” The brow turns to confusion, “What I mean is: Trixie might simply send one of her guards after us and not do it herself as you seem to be in higher priority due to your…” My face falls and I stare at her in silence.

“Goddamnit.” I whisper flatly and take a long breath before opening my eyes, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

Platinum gives me a nod, “I agree with what you said and I am sor-” I wave a palm at her.

“Meh. Let’s just get to the details.” She gives me another nod, albeit a bit unsure.

“Very well, we have found a good spot on our way here. It is a big road going through town near the border-”

And so: we start planning. They give me the description of the place and I hold in laughter and a sigh as I realize they are still in medieval times despite some of the familiar technology of my time. They don’t seem to be familiar with Guerilla style warfare despite sending a small squad with me. Makes sense in a way though. The only reason I am familiar with it is because I was a strategic gamer from a very young age. Literally three years old is when I first picked up a shooter game and a real time strategy one. In any case: I think about how to approach two high-ranked soldiers of the Equestrian military and tell them their plans could be more effective. Although, the Lieutenant has much better ideas than Platinum. I ask a couple questions and we refine the plan into an ambush that should work in multiple scenarios. Of course, things can always go wrong, but we are short on time.

I stand somewhere in the middle of one of the main streets, breathing heavily. Trixie appears on the side closer to the town hall. Many meters behind me is the path to Sweet Apple Acres, a path that leads by the infamous Everfree.

“So, Trixie sees you have finally stopped trying to escape your fate.” I look at her, straightening up.

“My fate? Do tell, what is my fate?” Some ponies peek from the buildings, or look on from out of the windows.

“Why… it is to be by my side, of course.” ...Wat? My body changes to match my thought.

“Oh really?”

“Yes, you can be the Not So But Still Pretty Great and Powerful… um. Who are you?”

“I am Vadon.” She nods and opens her mouth, “And you?” She stops and blinks rapidly at me.

“I- I am the Great and Powerful Trixie?” An edge comes to her confused voice.

“Oh, sorry, you were speaking in third person, please continue.” She takes some time to recompose herself and takes up a confident pose.

“You can be work by my side-” I notice a horn poking from one of the alleyways, “-we could rule this place, together!” A cloud moves closer to us over the street, “With your and my powers combined, nopony would be able to stop us! We could rule over all who need our help!” ...Okay, I think I see where this is going.

“Our help, you say?”

“Indeed, the world is a dangerous place, but we can protect everypony! We can make everything matter!”

“That sounds very nice. Very nice indeed.” Trixie grins smugly, “However, I have a counter offer.”

“Oh?” She asks, everyone already in position.

“You’re a really powerful magician, right? So why don’t you just summon up a giant condom and a poisonous cactus on fire out of that and go fuck yourself since you are dressed for the occasion?” I say with the happiest grin I can muster, leaning forward as I place my palms over my knees.

“Wh-what…? How dare you!?” She is triggered. Grrreat succcess!

“Whaat?~ Safety first.” I offer with a smirking grin, glad no children are nearby due to the guards having evacuated everyone a couple streets back.

Red swirls up to her head, as she… charges me. And fast, her legs sparkle as she gallops over towards me with her horn lowered. I sidestep, honestly surprised at her choice of action, hitting the back of her head with the side of my hand, nearly knocking her over. She turns around and readies her horn for a big spell as it glows a dark red. A white snowglobe-like transparent dome appears over her entire form, before bright sparks appear within it, nearly blinding me, but it has a bigger effect on her as she writhes around inside and fires her spell, cutting through the cloud where a pegasus with surprisingly fast reflexes was, making some of the water vapour turn to stone as gravity takes hold of it.

He grabs the remaining two bits of the cloud and speeds towards the unicorn, doing something that causes lightning to shoot out of them, aiming right at Trixie. Unfortunately, she notices in time and puts up a quick one-directional barrier, protecting her from the lightning.

It doesn’t protect her from the lieutenant however, as the awesome mare delivers a buck to her back, causing some red sparks to fly out from the spot as Trixie cries out. Shade grabs her shoulders and tries to put a strange ring over her horn. She succeeds. Trixie growls, as a glowing red crack appears in the ring.

“Shade, get awa-!” I begin to warn, but there is bang as both the Night guard and the magician disappear.

Bits of the ring fall on the ground, as I see Shade get flung at a wall from a point in space, while Trixies appears on the opposite side of me. I rush to the bat, as another spell misses me, causing the ground to simply explode. I hear screaming within the homes, but the only one in pain is the lieutenant that I manage to reach evading stray magic.

I look her over and see a gash on her arm and her left ear missing a half, “Are you alright, are there any other wounds?” I look her over, without touching her. One of her wings is bent oddly, although there is no bone showing.

“I’m fine.” She grunts in pain, before hitting her back and head against the crumbling inward stone wall, her wings going slack.

“You don’t look fine.” I voice casually and she chuckles.

“I’ve had worse.” I nod.

“Tell me that after you aren’t in shock.” I grunt as I pick her mildly light form up, holding her arm in a way that won’t deal any further damage to the tissue, “Hey! Quick Whistle!” He turns around in mid-air, avoiding a beam of red.

“For the last time, my name is-!”

“Get her to the hospital! I’ll deal with the bitch!” He sees who I’m holding and nods, turning grim and flies towards us.

“But she’s not a dog.” Shade tells me in a weak, curious tone.

“Doesn’t really fucking matter.” She giggles briefly as Swift takes her off my arms and flies off with her somewhere into town.

I walk over to an open cafe to the side and grab a wooden chair. I walk over to Trixie, who continues having a magical duel with Platinum. The saturated red unicorn has her back turned to me, while she gets showered in sparks and blocks pure blast waves.

I raise the chair with both hands and quickly twist and untwist my body, placing one leg forward before the chair cracks upon contact with Trixies back. She doubles over and turns back to me with a more surprised than anything expression.

The grunting scowl on my face stays the same as I break the chair this time, making her fall on her back, as tiny sparks and bits of wood fly off her form at the place of contact. She glares at me in anger, scowling herself making a growl not unlike a wolf and pointing her scarlet horn at me, before her face gets covered in another white sphere, with more bright pops happening inside. I hear Trixie scream in anger and annoyance and maybe just a bit of pain.

“Platinum, preserve energy, I’m going to get a message to Canterlot!” I say as I begin sprinting down the street towards the edge of the red dome, passing by the confused captain and running over a bridge across the river separating Ponyville from the forest.

Seconds later: a loud shout of frustration and a blast of air hits me, “Oh no you don’t!” I increase my movements, getting closer and closer to the exit as I turn around to see Trixie catching up to me, her legs glowing bright red.

I leap through the magical barrier, my vision going blurry before I mostly snap out of it by falling on the ground with my elbows and face. I inhale the fresh smell of cold grass and damp dirt as I pick myself up and check where the mad mare is.

She just went through the barrier at breakneck speeds.

I turn around… then turn around again, delivering a punch to her gut, as her own speed makes it much more painful than my normal punch would have been and despite the bit of resistance to pain she seems to have, she loses her breath, looking up to me with fire in her eyes. I start running towards the forest, keeping close to its very curved edge, ignoring the sting in my whole arm.

She chases after me, continuously casting spells, modifying the terrain in various ways such as either freezing it, setting the grass and dirt on fire, causing the grass turn to stone or making the ground simply collapse in on itself or rise in walls and tall pillars. I reach the place I wanted to be at and spin around to see around ten of her walking towards me at a steady pace.

Most of them are almost entirely made of colour, while only one looks like the rest of population of the planet, but more glowy. I stare at one that is made entirely out of colour as they walk into two directions surrounding me. The real one walks over closer to the forest’s edge.

The cold wind is blowing around us, picking up leaves and shaking the trees. The farm should somewhere nearby, but not close to here. We’re no longer in sight of town, it is just me and her. I look up to take a deep breath and see a massive cloud high up in the sky moving closer to us.

“You… you are incredibly tenacious. But this is the end for you, I’m afraid. We could have been allies, nay, PARTNE-” I pull out my dagger the guards gave to me in Lyra’s home and raise it high in the air, looking upwards, feeling the stray droplets of rain hit my face, “What does that gesture mean? You’re surrendering?” They all speak at the same time, but I look to the one on my left.

“No, but I can tell you that this particular gesture has two meanings.” I lift a single middle digit towards her and look straight into the curious and patientless eyes of the unicorn, “I have won and fuck you.” The lightning of a multitude flashing colours strikes with the force of an anvil and the sound of thunder, hitting my dagger as my legs spasm and my whole body locks up, before my arms flop to my bending knees.

At the same moment, the second lighting goes for Trixie, hitting her exposed amulet and throwing her back at a tree as there is a sound not unlike glass breaking while a small cloud of red smoke suddenly appears in the air before spreading far. I shakilly approach the groaning mare and stand above her. After her eyes focus on me, she tries casting a spell, but grunts and screams in pain as only a few sparks come out of her horn and a single short beam that I manage to avoid by tilting my head. I squat, grab her by her cape collar and look straight into her eyes, raising my dagger with a multitude of colours spinning around in it over her chest, rainbow sparks dancing across the blade. However, slowly one by one the colours evaporate from the tool, leaving only a light-blue one inside. The blade is still sparking.

“I will give you only one chance, hand me the amulet.”

“Wh-what? Ho-how dare you demand that of Tri-” I thrust the dark dagger to her chest, making her yelp and resting my thumb on the top of the pommel between two curved spikes.

“Inside this dagger is a soul. That soul is the sole occupant of the vessel. If I were to stab you right now and drain your soul, it would simply fade into nothing and redistribute across the world as energy. You would properly die, being nothing more than a mass of energy. Heh, not even that.”

I’m pretty sure at the time my voice was as monotone as possible and expression unchanging, which made her really terrified if how mad her glowing pupils were behaving is anything to go by.

“So, how badly do you want to that amulet to be on you?”

Her hand twitches and slowly reaches towards the alicorn amulet with the red gem, that seems to begin glowing brighter the closer her hand gets to it, after having dimmed the moment the lighting hit. Her face twists into a grimace as I play with my fingers on the dagger, wrapping and unwrapping them around the handle. She seems to be taking a while so I raise the tool in preparation and she tears off the amulet almost immediately, looking at me with wide eyes as all of the red disappears from her together with my migraine. She begins gasping and breathing deeply and shakily, before dropping the Alicorn Amulet on the ground from her slack palm and covering her face, breaking into tears.

I pick up the dangerous trinket and look at it. Nothing really special, just an evil ancient artifac- oh no, there are the whispers. It is less of a voice and more of a sudden desire to put it on, I guess the effects from the previous owner haven’t worn off yet. Wether that, or Trixie must have had a will of steel. Speaking of the mare...

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so-so sorry…” Trixie rocks against the tree, hiccuping with her legs pressed tight, “Th-this isn-...” Sob, “This isn’t what I wa...wanted...hic.” I put the amulet inside my other inner pocket.

“Oh, I bet. Still… consequences are consequences and so is responsibility.” I grab her by the back collar of her cape and pick her up, before leading us away from the storm as quickly as possible. I look back up at it and see it retreating over the forest. I glance down into the bushes between trees and notice two small green lights staring at me as I stare back before they blink out into darkness and I blink as well, turning my head back to our path.

I put on my glasses as we approach the town now clear of any red. Ponies are cheering and looking at the colourless sky with joy, hugging each other and laughing. I notice Applejack and Platinum walking towards us, while the farm pony holds the unicorn up as she limps very lightly.

“Y-you did it. I cain’t believe it.” The orange earth pony says, tugging a bit on one of her straps, “How?”

I throw an arm around Trixie as I look at Applejack with a grin, “I was very convincing.” I turn my head and see Trixie looking in the opposite direction of me, down on the ground.

“Uh… huh.” Jackers says, fixing the hat atop her head as her ponytail gets flung around a bit. Now that I think about it… I look around at all the ponies on the street and notice all of them having a tail sticking out of their pants, “Then why does it look like she’s cryin’?” A mighty brow is raised.

“I dunno, probably because of a reason that she knows.” I shake the unicorn around a bit in my grip without glancing at her and turn to Platinum, “So what do we do now?”

“Her amulet… where is it?” The captain asks, standing proud and tall despite the clear pain in her leg and arm.

“It got hit by a lightning.” Both mares blink, before looking at Trixie. “I had to add a bit of improvisation to the end, but I think it went better than I expected.”

“...I… I didn’t mean to… it wasn… it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” Another choked sob from Trixie, “I- I just wa-wanted to protect everypony… I wanted them to be safe.”

“By holding them prisoner?” Platinum asks, sticking a magic suppressor on her horn that looks like a very cool black ring with red runes and eight spikes, making Trixie whimper as she shakes her head, her slightly pristine-looking hair swinging from side to side while the captain ties her hands with rope that AJ provides.

“I- It was there to protect t-them from the storm and the things that came with it…” She keeps on crying, “I- I didn’t want to do those things, b-but… I had to keep the shield up. But… But it was meant to simply be a- a shield, nothing more, I swear!” So Trixie added all the effects on it later? That is… very advanced... Applejack butts in.

“Well, I’ll say: you have a bunch of explaining to do, witch. What do ya mean ya didn’t want to, but did them anyway?” More wimpers come from Trixie.

“I… Th-the amulet it is… a c-cursed item… it- it amplifies a unicorns m-magic, but a-at the cost of the-themselves. I… I really did not want to hurt them. All of it was the amulet, I swear!” Applejack and Platinum stare at her, both shocked.

“...Well. I’m not sure if I believe yah. But… You have suddenly stopped using that weird speech o’ yours.” The captain turns to me as I smirk and nod in confirmation of the silent question before she turns to the apple lady.

“Miss Applejack, please allow me to continue the interrogation. I appreciate your assistance to me, but I assure you that I am fine, you may let me go. There are most likely a lot of others that require help.” The orange mare gives a nod.

“Yer’ right. I’ll get right on that, but… are you sure?”

“Of course, miss Applejack, now hurry.” ...She sounds more like Luna than Luna herself…

“Aye, ma’am.” She gives her a nod, me a handshake and Trixie a look before turning to leave, “WHOAH!” She jumps back in surprise, nearly crashing into me as I lift a single hand to stop her from back pedalling too far, “Pinkie! What are yer doing here!? Didn’t we talk about you doin’ this sorta thing? Like...multiple times? I’m pretty sure we did.” I hear a high-pitched giggle from the other side of Applejack.

“Aw, cheer up a little, AJ! Look at how many smiles there are! Even on the no longer scary guards!” Platinum looks a bit taken aback by the sudden appearance of the single pony I was actually interested in the response to me. Who I still couldn’t see.

“Yeah, well- wait. You mean the guards that were controlled by Trixie?” The mare with the name flinches a little in my grip.

“Yuppers! All of them are currently re-grou-ping!” I see pink fluffy hair bounce over Applejacks head each time a syllable is pronounced by the voice. It takes me a moment but then I blink. Wait...the hair has colour? But that means… At this point, I am sort of just waiting for the inevitable, whatever it may be. “In the town centre!”

I hear Applejack whisper, “Then that means...Sweetie…” The mare steps aside and looks at each one of us, “I- I gotta go.” I give her a nod and she runs off deeper into town, leaving the four of us.

If I had three brows, all of them would be lifted because I was staring at an earth pony that was filled with magic. Literally. Her hair and tail were pink while the rest of her had bright blue veins with two bright blue eyes that were smiling at us and sparkling with pink. Her magic, unlike the other earth ponies shifted a bit more not unlike a pegasuses, but flowed like a unicorns. Earth ponies usually have less movement. But that is not the only weird part. Pinkies soul, which as far as I have seen all have similar structure, but hers was focused in two spots: her brain and her heart. But it gets more interesting, her heart had more colours than simply blue or pink. And I mean much more. They were like tiny spots shifting across, through and between each other with red lines moving quickly and erratically across the surface. Plus it had an irregular form, but it was definitely where her heart would be.

“Heya!” Pinkie waves with a grin and takes the innocent leaning forward stance, arms behind her bakers skirt, “Heya Trixie, heya Captain, hey-Ohh! Who are youuu?” And instantly in front of my face.

“Hi. I would be Vadon.” I outstretch an arm.

“You would be? You’re not now or were before?” Instead of going for the handshake, she tries to glomp me which I avoid by rotating together with Trixie. Pinkie frowns. I rotate again.

“I am. And you are?...”

“Oh, pshh, silly me. Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, nice to meet’cha!” She grins wide with a tilt as the magic inside her hair bounces. I wiggle my lips.

Pinkie Pie bounces around me, giving Trixie an odd look at times as Platinum starts questioning her while Pinkie starts questioning me. Pinkie is mostly interested in such things as what is my favourite colour, desert, frosting and the like. It is surprisingly easy for me to concentrate now, but I was able to answer both Pie’s rapid fire questions and follow the conversation between the no-longer sobbing but mostly dead-sounding Trixie and the Captain. Despite not really needing to since I can look at this later, I still might have to know at the moment.

Trixie says she was born is some sort of small herd of Ponies far away. She began travelling across Equestria quite recently since the beginning of the last winter as a showpony. A ‘magician’ to be precise. She does know a few spells, but she always just wanted to be famous and have her own thing. Before she ‘set off on her travels’ she was given the amulet by her herd and told that it contained great but corrupting power as help against the ‘dangerous outside world’. I can only simply massage my face with my free hand as we walk through the town.

“So let me get this straight. Your herd somehow came into possession of a powerful, evil, magical item and gave it to you because the ‘outside world’ is dangerous?” That’s what I was about to ask! Trixie gives a little nod, looking mostly down, “Do you know why?” She shakes her head and both I and the captain release a long sigh and share a look.

“So, what would be the punishment for this?” I ask Platinum and Trixie sort of locks up in my arm. I take a look around and there are a bunch of hateful glances being sent towards the broken unicorn.

“Usually it would be to the dungeons until the court commences.” I lift a brow as we near the town hall.

“Usually?” Platinum nods and I notice a bunch of weakly armoured day guards standing on their posts around the town hall or helping ponies around the streets. I count at least ten. I also see a pegasus mare leading what I assume is a manticore somewhere out of town. It looks very metal. I love it. Trixie flinches at the sight of it however and immediately looks elsewhere.

“In this case, the town of Ponyville is a bit… self-governing. It is an experiment proposed by Princess Luna. In short: the Ponies of this town will decide what will be done with Trixie Lulamoon without overstepping the overall Equestria laws. On top of community service.”

“Oh, that’s a little rough.” She turns to me as we step on top of a wooden platform in the front of the town hall spire.

“What do you mean by that?” An mare with fluffy hair and glasses turns to approach and Pinkie greets her as ‘Miss Mayor.’

“Well, it’s just if they decide to lynch her after the community service, that would be quite a sad tale.” She looks at me with shock while Pinkie, Mayor and Trixie look at me in confusion and the mayor shakes her head lightly and smiles politely at us.

“Good day, captain Platinum Spark, I assume?” She shakes hands with her as the captain nods, “Welcome to Ponyville.” The mayor chuckles and sighs before turning to me.

“This is Vadon, the one we are ordered to be protecting.” From.

Pinkie bounces up next to my side and continues the bounce by my side, smiling wide at me as I just stare flatly at the mayor while she inspects me. After she is done oogling me over her glasses, she fixes them while reaching to me with the other hand. I reach with my own to hers, but before contact, I clack my teeth visually and audibly, making her flinch and me: chuckle inwardly, “You fear me.”

She fixes her glasses and give a stretch of a polite smile, “You are something new and… unexpected.” My smile grows and she freezes when I shake her hand.

“I am Vadon. A pleasure.” I let go of her soft, cold hand and she gladly looks at Pinkie, greeting her as well.

Captain and the Mayor discuss the current situation, Platinum informing that she was not done questioning Trixie and whatever punishment the townsfolk will decide upon her will have to be done after.

“...That’s kind of dumb.” They turn to me as I butt in, “Think about it, what if the townsfolk without knowing everything will decide on… A lynching, for example?” I get confused looks from three ponies and the only one with a different expression that I can’t read is Platinum.

“Excuse me, Mr. Vadon, but… what is a lin-lincheyng?” Mare asks.

“Well… It’s when you make sure, the prisoner or criminal no longer commits any crimes ever. Or action. Besides… Rotting.” I state the obvious, making Trixie give me a horrified look, Pinkie bouncing innocently and the Mayor of Ponyville trying to work it out as the captain grabs me and pulls me across the big backstage, dragging on my heels, excusing herself.

When we are far enough away, she grabs my shoulders with her fluffy fingers as the trio start discussing something inaudibly to me, “How do you know about Lynching?”

“What do you mean, captain?” I lift a brow at her fierce glare.

“Do not play games with me, Vadon. How do you know what lynching is?”

“I mean, doesn’t everybody?”

“It’s not something that has been practiced for a long time, the word itself has been forgotten, so how. Do. You. Know it?” Her fingers clench on my shoulder and I keep the smirk hidden with a spiteful moan.

“Well, in the world I’m from, it is something that was practiced long ago in history as well. And such things as books exists. That’s how I know what is it. Can you let go of me?” She waits a couple seconds, narrowing her eyes before looking up at her horn that has some pale runes flowing around it and me before they fade and she lets me go, hiding heavy breaths with a snort while I simply walk back to the group before simply turning to her, “By the way… Thank you for telling me everything I needed to know.” I smile at her before resuming my walk, noticing her gobsmacked turning expression with the side of my eye. “Better question, captain, is: how do you know it?”

After some time, the captain joins us with a straight face, not even looking at me, but I notice movement as her fist unclenches. She joins the discussion and follows right behind Trixie who in turn follows Mayor to the stage. They do a little greeting, with a not as big of a crowd as I was expecting, but it fills the space quite nicely. All those shifting colours gradually grate on my nerves, but I bear with it.

The crows listens to Mare’s every word, some looking dubious, some: very dubious as even Applejack puts a word in from the crowd, talking about some filly who is apparentelly okay.

Eventually, the Captain takes stage, still keeping her eye on the prisoner, speaking what had transpired and what she has found out so far and that there was a… “There was another that helped us. Without him, this might not have been possible.” The crowd murmus, having accepted her word so far while I simply walk past the open part of the stage curtain, waving a hand.

“Yo.” There is a silence and I hear hoofsteps on wood first before the confused captain.

“Vadon, where are you going?!” I reach the backstage stairs on the other side.

“Why!?” I take the steps.

“I want to check up on the lieutenant. Plus I’ve been struck by multi-coloured lightning, I think that deserves a trip to the hospital.” I walk down the plaza, the crowd able to see me again as I stride calmly to where I saw the hospital in my running. There is a bounce.

I turn to look at Pinkie that has followed me silently. Or maybe she bounced that far, fuck if I know. I turn back to the road. “I’m not going to a party, Pinkie.” She just bounces silently with me on my trek.

“...What happened to you?” I look in her eyes, staring intently into mine as I take off my glasses.

“A lot.” She sighs, not even shocked while simply shaking her head for some reason.

“...It’s gonna take a lot to cheer ya up, isn’t it?” She says in an almost different tone.

“It’s gonna take something that does not exist.” The glasses are set back on me as we pay a visit to the thestral.

A week or so passes and I find myself again at Illuminant Scroll’s place - the Golden Oaks library, watching him carrying books around as I help him a bit, sadly: for free. ...But not quite.

“Hey, Lumin, why aren’t you just using magic to sort these?” I jiggle the stack of books in my arms before setting it on the round table with lots of space atop it.

“Because some of these are absolute relics that can crumble any minute, Vadon.” He over exaggerates with a grunt while shelving one of said relics up high before climbing down. “And I am not that good with magic. That would be my brother.” He chuckles, wiping his brow from the heat in the library even though the windows are open, leading to the previously scorching and still busy streets outside.

“Okay, fair enough, but what about using it on certain books while carrying others?” He finally gets payback via giving me the look. It’s not quite the look though.

He lifts two fingers, “Two reasons primarily, that would take up too much of my concentration, constantly switching my magic on and off like a candle and like I said before: I am not that good with magic. At least, not this kind. I am very good at healing magic however!” He smiles before it sort of fades and he turns back to the shelves as I sort through the various tomes myself, looking for something to myself.

We continue for a bit before Illuminant strikes another conversation on a more unpleasant topic, “So… I heard you rejected another of Pinkie’s parties? I remember being told she tried throwing you one on that same day and you kind of just… left?” He turns to me as I groan in the direction of the center of the table, slamming a book on it. “Hey!”

“Sorry, not sorry, the book will be fine. I, on the other hand, feel like death after all the encounters with her.”

“Haha, why is that?” Lumin asks, having gotten used to my manner of speech and humour surprisingly quickly. Faster than Sunset or the guards anyway.

“Too fucking cheerful, man. Too fucking bouncy. Basically? Too. Fucking. Much.”

He nods and shakes his head with another chuckle, “I rather enjoy her company when I get out of the library. Maybe you should try being friends with her?” I slowly turn my head to him and widen my eyes, opening my mouth at the same speed.

“Unacceptable!” I glare as he blinks.

“Why is that?”

“I does not simply become friends. Or at all.” I look through a small book about plants quickly, stealing all the knowledge for later before placing it back down.

“Aren’t we friends?~”

“Neighbours.”

“...That’s a start, riiight?”

“You haven’t even attempted the first step and I will never give you the sugar.” The door opens and through comes Trixie dressed in a casual outfit of a shirt and shorts.

"I'm pretty sure that you will have to ask me for sugar." Illuminant smirks.

"I ain't horse. I drink my tea brutally raw."

“Oh, uhm, hello.” The light-pink unicorn waves timidly, hiding one hand behind her waist.

“Hey, Trixie! Come on in, how’s the weather?” Lumin says as Trixie glances to me, making me lift a brow, causing her to turn away.

“It is still hot but there is a breeze once more.”

“Well that’s good. Want to help out?” She sighs.

“I would gladly, but, I’m not as good with magic now as before… You know it.” Scroll sighs and rolls his eyes as I notice a book of interest, picking up the ‘Metals and Their Alloys’. I open the book to look at the contents. Simple title, plus accurate. I like it. Is this actually public knowledge tho?

I turn around to Lumin finally finishing telling Trixie that she is amazing either way or some garbage like that, “Besides! You can practice your natural magic like this, it’s been a while, you have to flex your horn every once in a while, it’s good for you..”

“I-I am not sure…” I walk up to Trixie after signing off in the notebook, placing a hand atop her shoulder, making her jump and look at me.

“Trixie. Do some magic. Just don’t blow anything up or summon something like me.” I pat her arm and go out the door, waving with the book, “Catch you later, Lumin.” I hear him say ‘bye’ as I walk through the sunny outside, feeling the sun on my skin together with the wind, rather than seeing it. So glad I didn’t put on the jacket. I glance up at the sun and narrow my eyes, less out of instinct and more of thoughtfulness.

The sun itself is nothing of interest, as bland as other surroundings. I sometimes can’t even tell where it is, but that just means the sun ain’t magic in any way. I have been checking during sunrises and sunsets as well and yet… I look around the street at all the ponies going somewhere with smiles, chatting or buying something for themselves. I sigh as I walk into the Sugarcube Corner - a local pastry shop and bakery. It’s a pretty good pastry shop. One problem though.

“Heya, Vadi!” I sigh, still not used to the nickname from Pinkie Pie as it sounds really similar… to something from the past. “Came for the order?”

“Yes, Pinkie. How have you been?” I walk up to the counter as another pony takes his order and leaves the building that looks like something you might take a bite out of in the night, while drunk and peckish.

“I’ve been pretty good! What about you?” She bends under the counter on her side, as I go to answer but stop for a moment.

“...I would have to say the same, actually.” Pinkie lifts back up a curious brow and a carton box of freshly made brownies, the recipe of which I gave to her, barely remembering it. She improvised in places of course.

“Oh? Why'd you say it so…” She rolls her free hand, giving me the package as I leave payment on the counter.

“Reminiscently?” She bounce and nods, devouring the coinage with her poofy hair which glows for a bit.

“Yeah!”

“Because I am reminiscing.” I return both hands to my sides.

“Oh.” I nod and turn around, beginning to walk out.

“See you around, miss Pie, have a good one.”

“Byeeee!”

I return to my home, getting inside the cold and leaving the box of treats on a round wooden tea table in the main area that works as living room and a replacement of the corridor. The ceiling is not big, but just the right size for me and the tiny mutant ponies. Instead of going upstairs, I turn right into the basement, opening the door with the signature of my soul as I turn on the light in the much smaller, but cozy basement. I got myself a bunch of shelves for books and stuff that I find out in the wild. I walk over to my low bed and reach under it, pulling out a small hexagonal box that widens near to the top with a bunch of designs all over it. I lift it to my ear and shake it, hearing something rattling inside together with evil whispers before hiding it back under the bed and standing up.

I look through the slightly messy room, part of the stuff I brought with me lying on the corner table, some greenery plant pots and vines hanging off walls, a bunch of schematics strewn around before my gaze falls onto an construct on the floor and an apple, hair-pin and a flopping fish, all resting atop a shirt within the circle.

Capital~

Author's Note

Hello all. It's been a while.

First of all, yes, I am back from a 'small' hiatus.
If you would like some elaboration, you can take a look at my recent blog because I do that now as well apparently.

Can you expect the next chapter soon? ...Maybe. Hopefully. I myself am excited to write it.

SO.
I hope you had a fun read....
NOTE: I went back and edited the previous chapters a little to a more suitable version of the story.
...Have a good one I don't have much to say, I got to get up early, fuck everything, see you all later, bye bye!~

Oh yeah, if you noticed any grammatical mistakes... Sorry about that. Please do point them out, will ya?