Gear Knights- Initiations

by Amalvi

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 14397

Secret pony agents with watches

Ponies have only two forms of sending messages. Either using the convectional postal service, which is unreliable and there is the chance of it being intercepted by enemies or you can contact the Palladium Couriers, a secret and forbidden organisations of courier ponies who's highest priority is to send the information to the client, no matter how hard the conditions they may seem to be, they never fail.

Published 2012-08-01 12:34:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-06 18:53:43 UTC

1-Who is this douche bag?

A solitary blue coated earth pony entered the building of Ponex. The elegant vestibule was decorated with some palm trees, some white leather sofas and advertising images of their last models of watches all over the walls. Now and then some ponies dressed with suits and ties would pass coming in and out of the elevators situated behind a counter where a young mare was sitting. The colt approached her  with a smile on his face he saluted the pegasus in the counter.

-"Hello there"

-"Good day sir, welcome to the main offices of Ponex, biggest watch trademark of Equestria, what can I help you with

-"Not to mention the only. I was here because I need to give a message to the president"

-"Have you made an appointment?"

-"No?"

-"In said case you need first to fill a document and then wait to receive an answer, and if Ms. Dove finds it worthy of her time she will then contact you to agree on a date when you can meet her

-"But I was told I wouldn't need to, besides I need to give it to a stallion named Mirage Sun, not some Dove mare”

The mare stopped looking at her paperwork and then she gave the blue pony an inquisitor look

-"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. What did you just said?"

-"I said that I need to give a letter to the president, named Mirage Sun"

-"Well, I'm afraid to tell you that you've been informed incorrectly, there is no pony with that name working here."

-"Sure? Oh well, I guess I'll have to leave then"

-"I'm sorry I couldn't help. Would you like some candy?".

The mare pointed at a bowl filled with colored wrapped sugary sweets.

-"Oh, thank you, I'll take some"

The colt reached one and put it in his mouth, cherry, not his favorite but will do, then he opened his saddlebag which was hanging on his side and put some more candy in it, then he turned to the mare who was now staring at him with critical eye.

-"Is something wrong?"

-"Absolutely not, now if you don't have any questions or something...

-"Oh no, thank you, but I'll better go, good day miss."

-"Good day sir."

The colt walked away, once the mare made sure he was out of sight she called the bellcolt and said:

-"Kid, I need you to send a note this instant

                                                                     --------------------------------------

-"Okay, so how do I do this?"

Outside the offices and just around the corner, the pony was inspecting the building he just came off. It wasn't as tall as nearby edifications but tall enough to reach six or seven floors. The outside walls were all painted in white with windows all over them. However it wasn't any of the Ponex building what the pony was interested in, but  a hotel just in the same block. Those two buildings were separated two meters from each other and the hotel was only one floor taller. Yes, that will do it..

The blue colt walked to an alley behind the hotel where a lot of ponies were coming in and out from the kitchens. Once he made sure there weren't any ponies watching he sneaked inside, them he moved through the kitchens. Most ponies were surprised to find him but they were too busy to actually say anything, so they let him wander around. After being lost for a while the intruder found the the stairs to the roof, which luckily for him was open. He went outside and looked over the edge, in the direction of the Ponex building. It was a big fall to the ground, so no sane pony would ever dare to do such a thing.

The problem for this colt is that for him, sanity is overrated

He took some steps back and with all his strength he jumped to the roof of the Ponex building, having an awful landing on the other side and hitting hard his two front forelegs, but at least he made it, hurt, but he made it.

After a minute or so of silent crying for the pain in his legs, the pony stood up and walked to the door that leaded downstairs. He tried to open it but it didn't budge, so he sighed, turned around and with all his force he kicked the rusty door, making it open and letting him inside.

He wandered through the building and the corridors, several ponies were doing paperwork and some unicorns were using magic screens to look data and talk but the colt didn't pay any attention  to them, his mind was too busy looking for Mirage Sun or any sign of where he could find him. Luckily for him in the instructions he received he has been told that the office of said director could be found on the floor 4, making the search easier. After some minutes he found a door with a plate that read: "Mirage Sun" not other information was showing on it.  The pony stopped, knocked the door a couple of times and a voice answered from the inside.

-"Come in"

The colt smiled and opened the door and when he entered inside he was greeted by an old stallion punching him hardly in the face.

                                                        -----------------------------------------------------------

About half hour ago

-"Kid, I need you to send a note this instant"

-"Yes ma'am, right away, to whom it might be?"

Before answering the pegasus finished writing said note, then she folded it and passed to the bellcolt

-"Make this reach mister Sun as soon as possible"

-"It will be done!"

The pony grabbed the note with his unicorn magic and went to the elevators, once reached the fourth floor he walked towards the office of Mirage Sun, but he found him just about to enter inside along with another Stallion.

-"Oh, mister Sun, mister Sun!"

The stallion turned to face the colt

-"Do you want something kid?"

-"Yes, Ms. Stomp told me to give you this note."

The unicorn levitated the little note in front of Mirage, who grabbed it with his own magic

-"Thanks kid, you may retire now"

The bellcolt obeyed and moved away. Mirage Sun entered his office, followed by a cream colored pegasus. He unfolded the note and read out loud:

-"Mister Sun, I must warn you that there is an unidentified pony asking for you and willing to give you a message. It was a blue earth pony with light brown hair and a light bulb cutiemark. He was carrying a saddlebag on his side and a watch in his left foreleg. When I told him that there is no Mirage Sun he left the building and walked away. When I sent you this letter he was walking towards the hotel on the side."

The stallions looked at each other and smiled, then the pegasus said.

-"Possible candidate?

-"Possible candidate, you know the procedure, tell the guards to avoid the boy and if he manages to get to my office I'll see what I do, depending of his performance."

-"Do you know him?"

-"I think I've remember something, he might be the son of Gerard, my banker. He keeps my money and helps me to launder it so he more or less knows about the organisation. I once made a watch for him and for each member of his family, so if this colt is the son of Gerard then the watch  he is wearing is my creation."

-"So it's safe to let him in?"

-"Oh, please, is not like many ponies attempt to be part of the organization this way,these days, let him have some fun. Meanwhile I'll be watching him using the magic monitors."

-"Alright sir, have a nice day."

-"Same for you Tejer."

The pegasus left the room and closed the door behind him. Mirage Sun trotted to his desk and glowing his horn he made a magical screen appear on his table which showed some parts of the building such as the hallways and the offices as well as the windows

-"Now, where are you?. Where are you going to enter from?"

Then he found it, on the roof of the hotel. Mirage Sun was actually surprised, only pegasi try to enter from the roof and it was interesting to see an earth pony trying for once. The stallion laughed when the colt almost break his legs with the fall and continue to watch all his moves until he heard him knocking his door.

                                               ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blue earth pony was now laying on the floor, he has been hit so hard that his nose was now bleeding and his ears were whistling, needless to say he was stunned enough to not be able to say a single word. Mirage Sun took advantage of this and stole the saddlebag of the intruder and levitating it to his desk he emptied it to see its contents: A bottle of water, a package of cookies, a bag with bits inside, a multi tool knife, some bandages, candy and more important, a little envelop with his name, "Mirage Sun" on it.

The colt finally was able to mutter something after a minute, Mirage Sun noticed this and said:

-"Oh you are back!"

Then he slowly walked towards the semi conscious pony, who was still struggling to understand anything of what was happening. Then the horn of Mirage glowed and the multi tool knife came from the table levitating with a cyan glow. Then he took the blade out and pointing it to the laying colt he said:

-"I have a question for you and you will answer as I command you or else I'll start to cut each of your joints, one by one and I'll finish with your tongue once I have no more joints to cut."

Of course he wasn't planning to do this, not in his office at least. What he was probably going to do is send him to the security room and let the guards beat him up a bit, but not everyday you have the chance of scaring the crap out of somepony.

And this one was specially scared. When he saw the knife pointing at him he started to scream and say unintelligible words, and keeping in mind that he didn't paid any attention to the menacing words of Mirage that said a lot of him.

Mirage laughed and put the knife away. He threw it into the desk and asked.

-"First question: Why does a pony with fear to blades have a knife in his saddlebag?"

-"Wha... what? how do you know I have..."

The colt didn't even finished the phrase as the unicorn hit him once again with his hoof. That would leave a mark.

-"Wrong answer! Never answer to me with another question"

-"Wait.. what the fuck is g..."

-"Second question: Who  the hell are you?"

-"Amalvi sir, my name is Amalvi"

-"Didn't ask for your name kid, but I'll keep it in mind. I was asking of who would be so freaking willing to deliver a letter as to infiltrate here jumping from one roof to another, which, by the way, was the worst landing I've ever seen. Hell I can even see the bruises in your legs.

-"Oh yes! the letter. I was told to give it to you today and only today, I guess you should read it."

-"Wrong guess Malvo, I won't turn my back on you. Third question!"

The stallion then got close to Amalvi and with menacing tone he whispered:

-"Who I am?"

The colt seemed surprised for such a bizarre question, however he knew that saying "what" or similar would result in another hit to the face so he tried to say what he knew about the stallion who was giving him a beating

-"You are... Mirage Sun, the president or to be more exact leader of an organisation of secret agents, who deliver messages?"

-"Perhaps. Who told you that?"

-"My father. Gerard"

-"Ponies from Marerid surely have the weirdest names"

-"How do you I'm..."

-"Of course I know who are you and your father. I made this watch myself."

The stallion was holding a watch on his right hoof. When Amalvi saw it he realized it was his own watch. He was both surprised to find its creator and also angry because of hard difficult was for him to buckle the band with his tongue.

"Hey, that's mine!"

-"Actually is now mine, here you can see my initials. But anyway, let's read that letter"

Mirage Sun walked away. He didn't care anymore about being attacked by Amalvi. That little brat couldn't harm him even if he let him. He seated and putting on some glasses he opened the envelope and read the note inside:

-Dear Mirage Sun

If you are reading this letter then there is not much I can say that my son hasn't already proven. He has managed to infiltrate into your office and deliver it, which as long as I'm aware of, is enough to qualify for being an agent. When I told him about the order he immediately wanted to work for it. Sure I got mad at him because I wanted him to be a doctor or an engineer, but there is no way I can detail how stubborn he is. Consider this a favor to me since besides business associates we are friends.

Sincerely:

Garnet Earring

Gerard

Once finished reading the note, Mirage Sun gazed at the colt, who was now painfully standing up and giving him a smile. Mirage Sun smiled back said.

-"So, what makes you think you can be an agent?"

-"I have certain skills"

-"Well, as long as I can see your skills suck, specially when you broke that door. Damn, everyone in the building heard that"

Amalvi didn't say anything, he just kept smiling. Mirage couldn't prevent a laugh.

-"You are going to need a lot of training"

-"So, is that..."

-"Yes son, you are accepted, come here tomorrow so we can send you to our training facilities"

Amalvi smiled even more. He even had to hold himself from laughing or grinning like an idiot. Then he got closer to the desk and offering his hoof he said:

-"You won't regret this sir"

-"Oh, but you will”

Then they shook their hoofs.

2-Magic, I ain't explaining shit

Some years later

Amalvi walked outside the train. After such a long time having a hard military training the only thing he wanted now was to have a shower and something that didn't taste like dust and dry thistles. However he was told to return to the headquarters as soon as possible.

The earth pony walked outside the station and melted with the multitude that just came from  the express. He just barely walked a few steps when there was already a pony following him, just some steps away. Amalvi tried to ignore him, but even when he walked through empty streets it was just too obvious that said pony was after him. Then he finally spoke

-"Amalvi, I presume?."

The colt then bothered to turn his head for a second to face the follower. It was a tall pegasus with cream colored coat and light brown hair. Without stopping Amalvi answered.

-"Perhaps, do I owe you money?"

-"You have to come with me"

-"What I have is no intention of doing so"

-"You act like you have an option"

-"Oh, is that so?"

Amalvi quickly bucked the face of the stallion. Taking him off guard he surely gave him the classic earth pony kick that was guaranteed to be able to knock out anypony if hit in the head .

But this guy showed that he wasn't anypony when he stood up nearly undamaged. Amalvi couldn't believe the endurance that pegasus had, but trying to maintain calm he looked with arrogant expression and said:

-"Make me."

The stallion wasn't unharmed.  Sure he had an incredible and anomalous resistance, but it was still an earth pony kick right in the face and it surprised him. He didn't expect that anypony would be stupid enough to dare to attack him. He wouldn't make the same mistake ever again.

-"Oh, it is on now, fucker."

Then he proceeded to attack Amalvi. He moved fast and  with the help of his wings he managed to stay airborne to hit with his back legs, launching Amalvi on his back. The blue colt managed to roll to his side just before the hoofs of the pegasus stomped where his head was laying one second ago. Then he jumped and stood up and quickly launched a kick to the side of the stallion, but this managed to block it with his wing and then hit Amalvi with his front hoofs several times while he poorly tried to block the shift of hits he was receiving. The colt received a direct hit in the face and then managed to avoid the next one and connect a kick on the back leg of the pegasus.

Now, when fighting a pegasus the objective of an earth pony is to break as many bones as possible. Pegasus complexion make them strong as earth ponies, but the major difference is that they are faster, thanks to their hollow bones, which makes them lighter, more agile and overall faster, but more fragile too. An earth pony and a pegasus can hit both really hard, but never expect a pegasus to resist hits like an earth pony would do. Also earth ponies have a natural ability of overall hitting harder than the other two races for their roots as farmers.

Keeping in mind all of this and remembering all the training he received, Amalvi hit just in the right spot to shatter in pieces the leg of the pegasus.  But for Amalvi’s surprise, it didn't, not unlike other times. It wasn't the first time he tried it, as he had many fights with some other cadets in the training fields, and more than once he had completely destroyed the legs of rival pegasus.

But this guy wasn't a rookie, and although it was obvious that Amalvi had managed to do some havoc on him because of his pain shout, he was still able to walk normally. The pegasus felt the pain, no doubt, but that only made him more angry. Amalvi couldn't believe that he resisted his kick.

The pegasus did notice how Amalvi was stunned and smiled at him with superiority. He looked at his leg and moved it freely, showing that it was unharmed.  Then he turned to Amalvi and said:

-"Do you actually think that you stand a chance?"

Amalvi couldn't give credit to what it was happening, but without hesitating he charged towards the pegasus once more, who just jumped backwards as he threw some dust into Amalvi's face with his wings. Then, taking advantage of the momentary blindness of his adversary, the stallion kicked Amalvi with his two back legs and threw him to the floor.

Amalvi was completely stunned, and he was hit too hard to be able to stand up again. The pegasus slowly walked towards him. Amalvi said:

-”Care to tell me who are you?”

The stallion smiled and answered.

-”I am Tejero Marble, but everyone calls me Tejer. I’m going to be your superior and I am in charge right now of showing who are the people you are going to work with and give you missions in the future.”

Tejer tended the hurted pony a hoof.

-”Welcome to the Palladium Couriers”

Amalvi smiled and grabbed the hoof, that’s when he noticed the watch Tejer was wearing.

-”Okay, let’s get started, shall we?”

Amalvi and Tejer walked through the empty streets. It was already night time so nobody saw the fight they’ve already had, but they had to leave the place as soon as possible to make sure.

Instead of going to the Ponex building as he was first told, Amalvi followed Tejer to a clockwork shop nearby, owned by Ponex, of course. No lights were on and the sign of “closed” was hanged on the door so there wasn’t any sign of anypony being inside.

Tejer took a key that was hidden between the feathers of his right wing. Amalvi thought of how was it possible that said key didn’t fall during their fight. Tejer used the key and they entered inside. It was very dark but Amalvi distinguished several counters with watches and clocks exposed, all of them with the Ponex emblem of them except for some that were in a separate showcase in corner. Since he was young, Amalvi has been always amazed by clocks and watches but he never had a chance of being in a shop and admire so many of them. Sure Amalvi had a watch of his own, and as much as he loved it it was getting dented and old.

Tejer allowed Amalvi to look for a while until he finally made him a sign to pay him attention. Amalvi nodded and followed the pegasus to some stairs that lead to the basement.

Down there there was a unicorn mare seated on a chair and giving her back to the colts. Amalvi at first thought that she wasn’t aware of their presence there as she totally ignored him and only payed attention to a watch she was working on in the total darkness, only broken by the glowing blue light of her magic. Tejer finally broke the silence.

-”Lightrod, here is Amalvi, I’ve already told you about him.”

Without even bothering to turn around she answered.

-”Took you a while, huh? Don’t need to answer me I already know that the train was delayed. Let me give this the final touch and in a moment I’m with you.”

The mare levitated some little bolts into the air and cautiously she screwed a tape on the watch she has been constructing. After doing so she turned the lights on and relaxed on her chair.

-”Well, why don’t you let me... Oh my Celestia! What happened to you guys?”

Both stallions looked pathetic. Tejer had all his coat full of dirt, his mane and tail totally messed up and a big bruise covering half of his face. Amalvi looked even worse, lacerations covering his legs and face, and his coat was begging for a bath. The colts looked at each other and smiled. Then Tejer said

-”This pony thought he could beat me”

-”Well, true is that I’ve never seen anyone able to hurt you before.”

Light said referring to the face of Tejer.

-”I have a medikit over there, feel free to take anything if you think you need it.”

Amalvi went towards said kit and opened it. After retrieving some rubbing alcohol and bandages he proceeded to close his wounds. Then Tejer walked to the kit and looking into it he asked

-”Are there any painkillers there?”

-”I think I may have some, take them if you need”

After the nursing, Amalvi had more time to inspect the mare. She was a unicorn with soft yellow coat. Her indigo mane and tail were sharp and pointy like if she had received an electrical discharge. Amalvi couldn’t see her cutie mark but it looked like a lightning or something similar.

-”So you are Amalvi.”

-”That’s correct miss”

-”Here I have your profile data. Born in Maredrid, I suppose that means that you are bilingual, right?

-”I learnt this one after my long stay in Equestria”

-”Aha... You have some major studies of linguistic and political sciences, as well as your military training, which consisted of?

-”Oh! It was just the regular training that the soldiers of the Equestrian Army receive, the only difference being that nopony knew I was sent to later be part of this organisation. There I learned combat tactics such as close quarter combat with barehooves, how to use several weapons and even how to shoot firearms.”

Light raised an eyebrow.

-”I thought that guns were banned in Equestria. Not even the Royal Guard uses them, and the only weapons left are used only by freaks in the wild west.”

-”Don’t look at me. I’m telling you that we were taught of how to fire guns.”

Lightrod and Tejer looked at each other. It was obvious that they were worried about something, but Amalvi had no idea of what it could be.

-”Is there anything wrong?”

Tejer turned to answer.

-”The situation is getting worse by moments. Regardless, is not something you need to worry for now, Amalvi.”

The unicorn turned to her papers and revising them she continued.

-”High score on the IQ test, signs of some mental instability diagnosed, no vision problems, no hearing problems, overall perfect medical condition and not so perfect mental condition.”

Amalvi smiled, she didn’t know she was actually complimenting him.

-”You didn’t have such a great performance on the physical exam. You are the average earth pony when it comes to strength, but nothing special. Here it says that you have high agility and that you are good runner and swimmer. That actually surprises me.”

-”So, what is your opinion?”

The unicorn took a pause and looked at the papers, then at Amalvi, then at the papers again, then one more time at the papers and she finally throw them to a the corner of the room and said:

-”Well, you are pretty much good at everything but also you don’t stand out in any aspect. Which is actually good because you are going to need to be suited for any situation. But anyway, tell me which enchantment would you like.”

-”Which what?”

Light face formed a frown as she turned to face tejer.

-”Don’t tell me you didn’t explain the guy about the enchantments”

The pegasus shrugged his shoulders and excused himself.

-”I thought that you would do a better job explaining it”

Light sighed and murmured some insults, then she proceeded to explain.

-”Well Amalvi, do you know that the agents use special watches to help them in their missions, right?”

-”Yes. I know that it allows them to materialise the messages they need to send and to put them in contact with a supervisor, is that correct?”

-”It is, but they also grant the agents special powers depending of what their speciality is. For example, your boss here Tejer chose to have superior resistant. So we took his watch and charging it with the appropriate spell he has now the strength to resist the impact of a hammer”

It all made sense now for Amalvi. He knew that there was no way a pegasus could resist a buck to the head or a bone breaking kick without cheating.

-”Can I see your watch?”

-”Yeah, sure.”

Amalvi unwrapped his watch with his tongue and holding it with his hood he gave it to the Light.

-”Hm... Indeed is a work of Sun. That old pony haven’t made a watch in ages, but he taught me everything about enchanting watches and making them. Adding magic to the watches to enhance the agents was his idea, you know?”

-”No idea, but I see what you are saying. So if I tell you some power I want to have, it will be possible for you to cast it on my watch?”

-”Yes, but you may want to see that book over there. It contains some possible enchants.”

Amalvi grabbed said book and opened it. Although he didn't’ know what he wanted he started to look for something that he may consider interesting and more important, useful. Thinking about his skills, he thought of something that may help him to go unnoticed and don’t call any attention. After some time looking he finally found something: shapeshifting.

-”Hey Lightrod, How about this shapeshifting spell?

Tejer interrupted and said

-”You wouldn’t like that. It didn’t work as good as the agent expected.”

-”What do you mean?”

-”Well, trying to copy another pony is harder than we thought. You see, every pony is unique and that means that when the agent tried to transform into other he first appeared without cutie mark. When he transformed into a unicorn he started puking for the sudden magic getting into his body and when he transformed into a pegasus his bones started to shrink and he died instantly.”

-”Well, that pretty much sucks”

Amalvi frowned. That ability would be awesome, but it didn’t look like he could change himself.

What if he didn’t need to?

-”What about... Age shifting?”

-”Age shifting?”

-”Yes, like shape shifting but instead of changing into a different pony the only thing I do is change my age to look like a little foal or a stallion.”

Lightrod thought about it, then she levitated the book and read some lines, then she looked at Amalvi and said.

-”It can be done. Let me grab your watch.”

-”Wow, is already made?”

-”Yes it is, look!”

The horn of the unicorn glowed and a watch sphere came levitating.

-”Here it is. Made of palladium, with three buttons that I will lately explain to you and the initials P.C. inside the sphere. How you like it?”

-”Beautiful, but any of that is what I find interesting.”

The watch was only composed of the sphere and there wasn’t any band or anything attached to it.

-”How am I going to wear it?”

-”First let me put the spell”

Lightrod looked into the book and wrote some words on it. Then, she turned to the watch and concentrating her magic she shot some kind of beam into it, making it glow and then turn it gold colored. Light smiled at her work and then levitated some bolts and a big iron nail. Then she proceeded to to screw said nail to the sphere.

-”You see, the reason this watch has no band is because we are going to use this nail to attach it to your leg.”

-”Wait, what?”

-”That way you can’t lose it. It’s also the only possible way of putting the enchantment in your body.”

Tejer interrupted.

-”Not going to lie to you, it hurts, a lot. Your leg is going to be sore for days, and soon it will turn purple from the blood pressure. Pray for it not to get infected. But don’t worry, after a couple of weeks it will heal and you will be one with your watch.”

Amalvi was desolated, he couldn’t believe that he had to do such a thing. The stallion noticed his fear and said.

-”After this there is no way back. Take this as your final decision, because once you put that watch one you will belong to the organisation. But you can still quit.”

Amalvi walked forward. He looked to Tejer and Light and then at the watch. Then he smiled and put his leg on the table.

-”Bring it!”

Tejer smiled. Light levitated the watch with the nail along with a hammer, then she put it on Amalvi’s leg and lifted the hammer, preparing to hit with it.

-”Wait!”

The unicorn stopped for a second.

-”Can I have some of those painkillers?”

Light laughed.

-”Save them for later”

Then she lifted the hammer once more and hit with it.

3- Could be way worst

Amalvi was pleasantly sleeping in his apartment. Since he received his watch three days ago his leg has been hurting terribly and sleeping has been becoming a more difficult task so he tried to enjoy every minute of his rest as much as he could. However he heard something, or to be more exact somepony inside, pretty much thanks to his light sleep.

He opened his eyes and automatically tried to look at his watch as he always do, only to find himself like an idiot looking at the bandages around it. The earth pony looked around, some sun rays were entering the horizon and soon Luna would lower the moon to let the night end. Then he rolled to the side of the bed, falling to the floor silently. Once he sharpened his ear and made sure there was indeed someone or something inside the apartment he crawled to the door and opened it as slow as he could and took a glimpse to the scenery.

Amalvi saw the figure of a pony inside the house. It was dark but he could totally distinguish it. After some seconds the intruder walked to another room and the colt took this chance to open the door and sneak behind him. The intruder was having a hard time trying to move in the darkness, but Amalvi knew perfectly the house and had no problem getting closer to him. Once he was just behind him, Amalvi turned and performed a sweeping kick, trying to throw the intruder to the floor.

However he couldn’t. When he preformed said kick he was suddenly stopped by the leg of the pony as if it was made of concrete. There was only one pony Amalvi knew who could resist his kicks.

-”Arg! You scared the buck out me, Amalvi!”

-”Oh, screw you Tejer, is not even even 7 in the morning.”

Amalvi walked and turned the lights on, then he looked at the pegasus, who was rubbing the spot where Amalvi just kicked him.

-”Nice shoot, I didn’t expect anything less from one of our agents. Anyway, are you ready for your first day of work?”

-”Well, I haven’t had much sleep, but you don’t care, right?”

-”Oh, I do. I remember perfectly how bad I slept the first nights after I received the watch. However it seems you are now able to walk with it, right?”

And just like that, the pain of his leg suddenly returned, but true was that it didn’t hurt as much as the day before and he was able to walk with it.

-”Thanks for remembering me, your shenanigans made the pain return.”

-”Don’t be a wimp. At this point you would be able to take the bandages off”

-”For real? You better not be lying to me and this still needs to be bandaged for more time”

-”Really, go ahead.”

Amalvi lifted his left hoff and biting the bandages he got rid of them. His leg was all dirty with dry blood sticked with the hair. Amalvi felt both relief for taking it out and displeasure for seeing such a mess.

-”Well, if you excuse me, I would like to clean this and then maybe have something for breakfast”

-”Go ahead, but there is no time for breakfast, we need to go.”

-”Just one thing.”

-”What is it?”

-”How did you enter my apartment?”

Tejer smiled and gave him a superiority look.

-”Amalvi, please...”

Once Amalvi was ready they marched towards the ponex building, which wasn’t too far away from Amalvi’s house. During the walk Tejer took the liberty to explain Amalvi certain things about the missions and such.

-”Well, now you have your watch. Do you remember the functions?”

-”I think this is for calling the supervisor, this one for displaying the info and this one for delivering the message”

-”You got the order wrong, but basically those are the functions. Speaking of which, do you know what a supervisor does?”

-”I think those are unicorns who can telepathically talk with me if I press this on my watch, right?”

-”About half right. You can contact the supervisor at anytime by pressing that button. The supervisors are unicorns born with the gift of using the telecommunication artifacts who are also trained to use a searching spell that allows them to search any information that has been written. If something has been in a book or a newspaper or anything they can find it and tell you.”

-”That sounds pretty convenient.”

-”The bad news, for you at least, is that the supervisor also can see anything that happens to you”

-”Wait, what?”

-”From the moment your watch is magically linked with the supervisor, he or she will be able to watch anything of your surroundings, like if they were phantoms floating over your head.”

-”That’s, great?”

-”Just think that is more awkward for them than for you”

Both ponies continued with their walk until they finally reached the Ponex building. Upon entering Amalvi couldn’t prevent to remember the first day he was there and how anything had changed.

The earth pony followed Tejer to the elevators. He continued his talk.

-”Well, you are about to meet your supervisor.”

-”How is he or she?”

-”Her name is Miriam. I know is a weird name, but she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

-”You didn't answer me, how is she?”

-”Well, to be honest she is not the nicest supervisor we have. To be more honest she is going to drive you crazy, but at least she is really good at doing her work”

-”Driving ponies crazy is one of my specialties.”

-”Then you have both something in common. And here we are”

After walking through the corridors they arrived at the front of a door with no sign on it. After calling, Tejer abruptly entered, followed by Amalvi.

-”Miriam, this is the guy I talked you about, his name is Amalvi”

Inside the office there was a white unicorn with cyan mane sitting on chair and looking at some magical screens and paperwork. A chess queen cutiemark was visible on her flank. Then she turned and gave a look at Amalvi and especially to the his leg with the bruises.

-”He is just a kid”

Tempting the luck, Amalvi tried to guess the age of that mare.

-”For what I heard, you are only one or two years older than me.”

Miriam didn’t even react and turning around she replied.

-”What did I just said? Just a kid.”

Then her horn glowed with a yellow aura and a lighter came levitating along with a package of some tubular little sticks that Amalvi couldn’t tell what they were. Then the unicorn put one of those sticks in her mouth and lighted it, soon a pestilent smoke impregnated the air of the room, making Amalvi cough. With disgusted face Tejer grumbled at her.

-”Miriam, you perfectly know you can’t smoke here. I’ve already told you that it disgust other ponies.”

-”And I’ve already told you that I couldn’t care less about other ponies.”

Tejer was furious, but he didn’t said anything. Amalvi now understood why the pegasus said that Miriam drives ponies crazy. She continued to look at the magical monitors and to the papers. Without even bothering to look at him, she started to talk to Amalvi.

-”If I’m going to be your supervisor you need to know a few rules. The first one, don’t expect any sympathy from me.”

-”That’s a shame, you look like a pony who knows how to have fun.”

The mare ignored the poor attempt of Amalvi to compliment her.

-”Second one is that you are only going to contact me if you need something important that is worth my time.”

-”Don’t worry, I can pretty much handle on my own.”

Miriam abruptly interrupted the colt

-”And the third one, learn to listen, idiot.”

Amalvi blushed and looked down. He couldn’t hide his impulsivity and because of that there was already somepony mad at him. However that didn’t discourage him, and trying come back with something to disarm the mare he looked at her and said.

-”Well, I didn’t expect my boss to be so...”

Miriam raised an eyebrow

-”...cute.”

She started to laugh. Amalvi smiled, thinking that he had surprised her. Far from the truth, the unicorn replied.

-”Cute? Seriously? You are insulted and you came back with a compliment?”

Amalvi shrugged his shoulders.

-”Well, what can I say?”

-”Oh, you better not say anything. You are better with your mouth shut.”

Tejer rolled his eyes.

-”Okay Malvi, we need to leave”

Amalvi nodded and then he smiled at the unicorn.

-”Well Miriam, it’s been a pleasure.”

-”How sad I can’t say the same”

Miriam smiled while she soaked more of her cigarette and before the two colts left the room she said.

-”Let’s see how much you last with that attitude”.

The door closed behind them and Tejer let a long sigh before he talked.

-”What did I tell you? She gets me on my nerves.”

-”Well, perhaps she may need a humility lesson, but is also true that I would brag if i had such an important work and talent.”

-”The worst is the smoking. Nopony has no idea where she gets those. In any case, usually  the tradition is that the boss himself gives you your first mission, so come with me.”

-”The boss? You mean...

-”Yes, the same who kicked your face when you entered this building back then”

Amalvi followed the pegasus through the building and to the same door he knocked the first time he came there.This time Tejer called and  voice answered from the inside telling to enter. Inside there was Mirage Sun standing behind a desk and smiling at the ponies. Amalvi could tell that his mane has gone grayer since the last time they met, but otherwise he was the same pony who greeted him years ago.

-”Hey Malvo! Nice to see you son, and welcome to the organisation.”

-”Is Amalvi, or even Malvi, but anyway, everything is great.”

-”Yeah I can tell you have received your watch. That hurts huh?”

-”Well not as much as...”

-”But anyway, we are here to talk about your first mission. Take a sit please.”

Tejer closed the door and Amalvi sat in front of Mirage, who levitated a stack of papers and gave it to the colt.

-”Here it is, detailed information will be charged in your watch once it’s linked with the supervisor, who is Miriam, right?”

-”I think.”

Amalvi looked at the paper and he started to read just to stop seconds later after he saw the location.

-”Am I going to enter the palace in Canterlot?”

-”Yes kid, is not as hard as you think. Since the changeling invasion most guards have now vacations so security is not as it used to be. However, there are still a lot of guards so be very careful. The easiest way to enter is the gardens.”

-”Wouldn’t be the gardens the most difficult place? You know, since it’s the place where I would put most of the guards.”

-”Let me finish. The garden may have a lot of guards patrolling it, but only in near the walls of the castle. You actually want to enter from other place, the side of the mountain. Using some ropes you can move actually below the castle and enter through the sewers. Here, let me show you in this picture.”

Mirage sun passed several drawings and photos of the gardens, the spot where Amalvi was supposed to jump and the entrance to the sewers.

-”This is going to be a hell of a first work.”

-”Anyway, once inside you are going to move in the total darkness, so we’ll give you a lantern and a map. count 3 to the left and 7 t the right and then go up. You’ll appear at the kitchens. At that hour in the night there will be noponies there so don’t worry. Once you are there go to a door in a corner and go upstairs to the highest floor. You’ll appear in the top of the tower, and you are going to need to jump to the nearest roof, at the east. Once there descend a floor and You’ll be at the room of the princess.”

-”Aha, great, yes.”

-”Since you didn’t pay any attention I’ll make someone write it down for you.”

Amalvi blushed, he was right, he didn’t pay any attention to what he just said. Except for...

-”Wait, what did you just said?”

-”I will fucking kill you if keep not paying attention?”

-”No, before that.

-”You’ll be at the room of the princess.”

Amalvi was scared.

-”Don’t tell me I’m going to give a message to...”

-”Yes, Malvo.”

Mirage gave the earth pony a malevolent smile.

-”Tell Celestia I say hi.”

4- I might regret this later

After taking a train, Amalvi arrived at Canterlot. The sky was covered in  thousands of stars and the moon lighted the land with its pallid and cold glow. The blue colt walked towards the castle gardens. Once at its limits, he started to look for a place where he could jump inside and looking through the iron bars that composed the fence he examined the scenery. He spotted at least two unicorn guards using a lantern spell and patrolling near the statutes of the fields. He also saw a pair of hornless guards (could be either a pegasus or earth ponies) at the sides of the big door that leads inside the castle, and all the way to the other side the cliff where the colt was supposed to jump. But before that, Amalvi needed to enter, so he ceased to examinate the gardens and put his attention on the fence again.

In this moments is when the earth pony wished for wings, the fence was just too tall to be jumped over and the ability of flying would be very useful at that moment. However, it seemed that he wouldn’t need it at all when he stepped into a something that made a metallic sound. After looking down he found an iron rod laying on the grass next to some bushes that  passed through the fence. Amalvi smiled and moving the bushes he found a portion of one of the bars cut or broken. Jackpot. From one side this was pretty convenient, on the other hand it also meant that there was also somepony who had already broke in. The hole was small and the stallion had a hard time passing through, but he made it and once he was inside he quickly moved in the shadows towards the cliff.

He moved near the statues and plants of the gardens so his silhouette would be confounded with the ones of the objects. Once he arrived at the other side he look at the landscape and got captivated by the beauty of the moonlight illuminating the woods and houses of the land of Equestria. A marvelous view but he had no time for it so he walked towards the point from where he had to jump. Once he reached it he could clearly see the entrance of the sewers he was supposed to jump to. A skilled throw would be necessary to lodge the rope in the open hole and then he only needed to hang on said rope to get to the entrance.

Amalvi retrieved the rope from his saddlebag and estimated the distance between his spot and the sewers, about ten meters. Then he looked down and calculated the distance to the floor, about three hundred meters. He grabbed the rope, concentrated and then he suddenly threw it to the ground and say out loud.

“Fuck this, I ain’t doing that”

Then a voice sounded coming from nowhere.

“Then what do you plan to do?”

The colt screamed and his hearth shrinked. The fright made him fall on his back with the legs stretched into the air. Once he calmed down he stood up and made sure his screaming didn’t call any attention from the guards. What the hell was that?

“What an idiot you are, I’m your supervisor.”

Amalvi was surprised, he totally forgot about her.

“Miriam? You startled me.”

“That usually happens to rookies. Get used to it”

“Keep it down, I don’t want to get caught”

“Relax, I have activated the silent communication. I’m actually not making any sound, just making your brain think I do through your nervous system.”

“So to anypony I would look like a crazy colt talking alone?”

“Pretty much. Now, you didn’t answer my question, what do you plan to do? Is not like you have been given other choice.”

She was right, his instructions clearly said that the rope jumping and going through the sewers was the only safe way on going in. Regardless, Amalvi had another idea in mind

“Want to know what I think?”

“Are you actually able to think? That’s surprising.”

“Jokes on you, I don’t even need to most of the time. Anyway, I think that Mirage doesn’t want me to follow this instructions. I got into the organization because I didn’t listen to the mare when I was told to leave and I’m not a government agent. So screw the instructions, I’ll do it my way.”

“As you wish, what is your way then?”

He looked at the surroundings and smiling he said.

“I have no idea”

“Idiot”

“Hey, don’t insult me, I’ll figure out something.”

“All right then, bye Amalvi, don’t get killed.”

“What? Don’t get killed? What kind of farewell is that?”

There was no answer, so the colt just sighed and looked around. There was a  unicorn guard getting close, luckily he didn’t spot Amalvi because he only could see where he pointed with the lantern spell. However the blue pony didn’t want to risk so he moved towards the walls of the castle and waited for the guard to pass by, hoping to not get illuminated by the light of his horn.

When fighting a unicorn, the most wise option is to get him off guard and knock it out before he has time to anything. Most unicorns rely only on their magical abilities to fight, so they don’t train physically and is easy to beat them in a hoof to hoof fight. But, the royal guards are the elite of Celestia’s army and these unicorns are both lethal in combat magic and fighting with spears and kicks (but that chore is usually left for pegasus and earth ponies guards), also the heavy armor they carry protect them from being hit in the head and flank, so Amalvi had no chance against them.

Once the guard passed by, Amalvi looked at a nearby window and tried to open it. The window didn’t budge of course, it was closed with a padlock. He was just about to break it with a kick when he saw another window some meters away which was already open. After coming closer, the colt saw that somepony already broke the padlock in that one, so after looking in and making sure there was nopony inside, he jumped in.

The architecture was sublime, but also inconvenient. The high ceiling and the vault form it had made the sounds reverberate, which made silent movement very difficult because of the sound of stepping hoofs on the marble floor. However Amalvi could take advantage of this as well to avoid unwanted encounters. After he found a way to trot without making much noise by letting the hoofs slide, he proceeded to move inside the palace with no idea whatsoever of where to go. In more than one occasion he had to hide from some guard coming. After an hour of sneakin in the castle the colt arrived at a hallway in which the ceiling was decorated with paintings of clouds and pegasus that matched the paintings of earth ponies on the walls. From above there were hanging several golden chandeliers that could easily reach the 500 kilograms of weight.

Amalvi was so distracted by the decorations that he bumped into something, making him fall to the floor. He quickly stood up and found that he had actually walked into another pony, a purple earth pony with sky blue mane who was now rubbing her head. Without looking at the colt she said.

”This isn’t what it looks like.”

Then she stood up and looked at Amalvi. She was surprised to find a total stranger inside. Changing the tone of her voice, she talked again

”I mean... Who are you? What are you doing here?”

”The same I could ask to you. I see no reason to answer”

”I’m a servant of the castle, now leave before I call the guards.”

Amalvi looked at the mare. She wasn’t wearing any maiden outfit or neither looked like she would be admitted for serving the royal sisters. And what was even more important, something shone with golden color inside her saddlebag.

”I don’t think that would be convenient for you, you are not supposed to be here either.”

”How dare you to talk to me like that”

”Lies are my game, don’t try to use them against me. I think you are only a thief.”

The mare tried to look surprised. Amalvi had to admit that she would be a good actress, but he already got her.

”What? I don’t know what are you talking about.”

”I do, is about those gold chalices you have in your bag.”

”Oh! hehe... This? Well... I was only going to clean those. Yes, I’m not stealing anything.”

”Likely story, anyway, good night.”

The colt smiled and passed by the mare, but he was stopped when he felt a blade being puncturing his flank. He turned his head and found the mare holding a knife with his mouth and giving him an aggressive look.

“Okay, brat, now give me the contents of your bag if you don’t want me to cut you.”

Amalvi was actually scared, the sole vision of someone threatening him with a blade was something that he feared. However, he tried to hide it and without turning he said.

“Wrong move, bitch”

He jumped to the side just when she slashed with the knife and then he threw a kick to the neck of the girl, making her shout in pain and throw the knife to the floor. Amalvi quickly grabbed the knife, which was especially shaped to be held with the mouth and before she recuperated he pointed at her.

“Wellf, It loofs like tafles haf turdned”

He still needed some practice to hold something in his mouth and speak at the same time. However he just needed to relocate the knife with his tongue to a position where it fit perfectly with the mandible and allowed him to speak more freely.

“That’s better. As I was saying, tables have now turned.”

The mare gave him the angriest possible look. Her anger and fury were visible on her face as well as her frustration.

“What do you plan now? Killing me?”

“What? Oh please, that actually offends me. Do you think I’m a murder? Please, no.”

The mare sighed with relief.

“However, I have a rope in my saddlebag. How about I tie you and I let the guards find you in the morning.”

Now she was scared.

“Oh please, you have to be kidding me, I wasn’t going to do any harm, just wanted to scare you a bit.”

“Oh shit, it looks like your gun has backfired on you. And unlike you, I’m actually going to do this, if you don’t help me.”

The mare looked both sides and she sighed again, this time recognising her defeat.

“What do you want?”

“Do you know this castle?”

“I’ve been here stealing a couple of times, I know it better than my cutiemark. why?”

Amalvi looked at her cutiemark, which was a pie. Then he continued

“Well, because you are going to take me to the royal chambers.”

Her pupils dilated and she let a brief laugh go out.

“Haha, that’s a good one boy. Seriously?”

“Seriously, or else I hit you in the head and let you unconscious so the guards can find you.”

She grumped and stood up. Then she said.

“Fine. Just follow me.”

Amalvi smiled, but ceased the grin when the knife almost felt out of his mouth. Then he proceeded to follow her lead, making sure he didn’t paid any attention to anything but her moves, in case she decided to turn back and attack him. This was bad for him since he wouldn’t be able to learn the path to go back the entrance, but he prefered to make sure she didn’t try to attack.

After a couple of minutes they arrived at a hallway with a exquisitely decorated wooden door at the end of it. The mare turned around around and said.

“Well, there it is, the room of the sun winged unicorn. Can I go now?”

“One last thing, what is your name?”

She raised an eyebrow and then she smiled.

“You will call me Pie, just Pie, How about you?”

Amalvi knew that Pie wasn’t her real name, so looking at his own cutiemark he thought of a proper name. Lightbulb? Nah, it didn’t sound good.

“Call me... Bright, that will do”

“Okay, Bright, can I...?

Amalvi didn’t get what she meant at the beginning but then he realised that she was pointing at the knife. The colt laughed and said.

“I’m going to keep this as gift. Now get lost before I change my mind.”

She frowned and walked away while grumbling some insults. Before she disappeared Amalvi said:

“Good bye Pie. Hope to see you again.”

“Good bye, Bright douche.”

She walked away and Amalvi put the knife inside his saddlebag and turned to the door. He slowly walked to the door while he was getting more and more nervous as he was getting conscious of what the consequences of entering the royal chamber of Celestia would be. Regardless he had a mission to complete, and he wasn’t going to mess his first one. Overcoming his nerves he knocked the door. There was no answer, so after some seconds he called again and then the second time a melodic voice answered.

“Who is there?”

Amalvi calmed himself. He was now about to meet the most powerful pony of equestria and he couldn’t make any mistake.

“Your highness, I’m here to bring you a message”

As if they were hours, seconds passed in which Amalvi though he had signed his death sentence. However the same voice answered again.

“You may now enter”

The door made a sound as if it was unlocked. The colt hesitated to open it since the last time he opened a door in a place he wasn’t supposed to be in he received a hard hit to the face. But this time was different, this time was Celestia, the benevolent monarch, and she wasn’t going to greet him with a kick in the face. Right?

And effectively, she didn’t. The moment Amalvi stepped inside the royal chamber he was surrounded by a golden halo and levitated in the air. He violently moved his legs but it was useless. He stopped and looked at the mare who was now in front of him. Even without her jewelry and her auroral hair tied into a ponytail she looked as magnificent and powerful as when he saw her raising the sun when he was young. However, unlike then, signs of anger were visible on the the face of the winged unicorn.

“You enter my castle, avoid my guards and interrupt my sleep. You should know that my sister now takes care of political matters during nighttime. Speak my subject, and be brief”

Amalvi was terrified, but at least she has granted him a chance to explain himself. So calming himself and still levitating he said:

“Mirage Sun says hi”

Celestia was first confused, but when she finally remembered she smiled and putting the colt back in the floor she said.

“Mirage. What a gentlecolt he was. How is he?”

“He is fine, your highness. Perhaps a bit old but full of energy.”

She turned to look to a cuckoo clock hanging on the wall and then she continued.

“How sad. I wish I could see him again. Tell me your name, my subject”

“I’m known as Amalvi”

“Amalvi? what a particular name you have.”

“It is because is an abbreviation.”

“I see. Well my little pony, you said that you had a message for me.”

Celestia pointed at the watch Amalvi was carrying. The colt nodded and pressed the button that was supposed to deliver the message, although he never pressed it before. When he did so, the watch glowed and several runes appeared floating near it along with the message “speak”. The princess cleared her throat and said

“Princess Celestia.”

The runes floating condensated at one point and became a cloud of dust that materialised a scroll in the air. Celestia grabbed it and she proceeded to read it. Amalvi just stood there, looking how Celestia smile wiped out of her face and started to draw a worry expression. Once she was done she levitated the scroll and put it on a desk and then turned to Amalvi.

“You have done a great work, is there anything you want?”

Amalvi smiled and joking he said.

“What about a kiss?”

The princess laughed and smiled as well

“Haha. Very funny. Now get out of here before I throw you into the dungeon.”

“Wait, what?”

“You are not supposed to be here. You are also a member of a forbidden organisation. As much as you have helped me is my duty to do justice.”

“I understand your highness. Farewell.”

“Goodbye, Amalvi. Bring my best wishes to Mirage.”

Amalvi bowed and walked outside the royal chambers, once he was outside the door closed with a golden halo and a lock sounded. He turned around and walked down the hallway. First mission accomplished, now he only needed to get out of there and head back to the headquarters to receive his part of the payment.

However when he turned the corner somepony put a bag on his head and before he could scream he was hit on the head. leaving him unconscious.

5-Nothing of value was lost

Amalvi was slowly recuperating his sense. His head was hurting and there was probably a bump on it right now. He didn't want to move or do anything just in case someone would realize he had come back. However, he half opened one of his eyes to look around. It was useless though as the room was in total darkness and he couldn’t see anything. Knowing that probably there wasn't anypony there he tried to move and tried to make sense of what was happening. He could feel that he was hoofcuffed  and he was laying on a stone floor. His saddlebag was missing, but he already expected that. His head was hurting a lot, but it was nothing compared to the pain his foreleg was suffering. That told him that someone had tried to take the watch out, and the movement of the nail had reopened the almost closed wound. Luckily for him they couldn’t take it off.

He was startled by the sound of somepony approaching the door, or the place where Amalvi though the door was. He laid his head and pretended that he was still sleeping. As the door opened, he heard the conversation between two stallions

“Look, there he is. Still sleeping.”

“Sleeping... Are you sure he’s not dead?”

“Oh come on, he’s still breathing, see? Also, I’ve never killed anypony with just a kick in the head.”

Amalvi carefully half opened one of his eye to take a peek at his captors. Watching through his eyelashes, he saw two blurry figures that he could distinguish as an earth pony and a pegasus. The stallion was partially relieved when he saw them wearing the armor of the royal guard, meaning that he was probably caught in some dungeon of the castle and not by some kind of kidnappers or murderers. Amalvi closed his half opened eye to pay all of his attention of what the guards were saying.

“So, where did you catch this guy, you said?”

“Oh! I was doing my regular patrol when I heard hoofsteps coming from the hallway of the royal chambers. I took my arrest bag, and before I could even look at him I put it on his head and hit it to leave him unconscious.”

“I think that’s too much for just a guy who simply has broken in. Was it really necessary to bring him to the dungeon and hoofcuff him here?”

“I first I thought that, I was planning on just throwing him outside the castle, but while I was inspecting his saddlebag I found this.”

“Wow! That’s dangerous! Sure.”

Amalvi didn’t need to open his eyes to know what they were talking about. He had realized what a stupid idea was to carry that combat knife with him compared to what a brilliant thing it seemed to be when he decided to keep it. However, it was just bad luck, so he couldn’t blame anyone except himself.

“Do you think this guy was planning to do something?”

“I’m not sure. True is that trying to kill Celestia is impossible, but on the other hand he seems very suspicious. Especially because he is carrying a watch.”

“A watch? Oh look, is true.”

Amalvi felt how his foreleg with the watch was kicked and moved a bit and resisted the urge to make any sound because of the pain.

“Why you didn’t take it off?”

“I tried, but it seems like it’s cleaved in the leg with a nail and it’s impossible. The only thing I can tell is that a pony with enough wealth to buy a watch doesn’t seems to need to enter the royal castle just to steal something for his family.”

“”Indeed. Anyway, you have done a good work, soldier, I’ll call the interrogator to ask him some questions later. You may retire now.”

“Thanks sir.”

Amalvi heard the door closing and the sound of hoofsteps fading away. Then he opened his eyes and tried to accommodate his vision to the darkness. At first he couldn’t see at all, but after some minutes his pupils were dilated and he could poorly see something in the darkness, thanks to some light coming from the chick of the door. He was in a small room, prepared for isolated confinement and probably with the walls soundproofed. Whatever happened inside there couldn’t be good, not to mention the fact that it was too clean for being a cell, that only meant that it was cleaned often. The stallion wasn’t sure of what would be the job of an interrogator, but with a little of thinking he could imagine what was it, and he didn’t like it, not at all. So he needed to escape somehow, and for that he would need some help from his supervisor, Miriam. Amalvi was wondering why she hasn’t contacted him yet.

But first he needed to get rid of the hoofcuffs. These weren’t tied to anything in the room, but it was impossible to move with them, it wasn’t even possible to stand up. He moved and struggled, but it was in vain. At first he thought that his legs were sliding slowly out, but then he realized that he only had managed to hurt his skin a bit. Those hoofcuffs were made exactly for a pony of his size, meant to hold, but not suffocate, which meant that that specific kind of hoofcuffs couldn’t hold a bigger or smaller pony. And that gave him an idea

So it was about time to use it. The first problem was that he had no idea of how to do it to start with. He tried to imagine how a unicorns do magic, they concentrate, their horns glows and suddenly objects are floating in the place. Okay, that wasn’t very useful, so what else? He tried to imagine himself for when he was just a foal, and suddenly when he started to think about his age at that moment he felt how the watch gave him a shock, pretty similar to the feeling of being grabbed by magic. That startled him for a second, but then he smiled at the discovering of how to make the spell work, so he kept concentrating in his image as a foal as he was receiving more and more shocks from his watch.

Then all of the sudden, Amalvi felt a powerful discharge of magic, and then the feel of being electrocuted. He cried and shouted in pain while feeling his bones decreasing, his muscles shrinking and his coat and skin burning. At that moment the agony was so intense he thought he was going to die, and unconsciously he wished to, luckily for him, the suffering stopped. After a moment of silence, he opened his eyes and looked at his body, he was still himself, but with the appearance he had when he was just a small colt, shorter, skinnier and with no cutiemark, but still an earth pony with blue coat. Needless to say, the hoofcuffs were now too big to hold him and he easily took them off.

However the moment he tried to stand up he felt dizzy, his stomach started to hurt and his head spined on itself. He staggered to one of the walls and not being able to hold himself he puked on the floor, feeling much better after it. It was probably because he had now a smaller stomach that couldn’t hold all the food he had eaten before, or perhaps not since he hasn’t had anything to eat in a while, it was irrelevant, the . After recuperating the breath and resting for some seconds he crawled to the other side of the room and sat against the wall, then he pressed a button of his watch, lighting it and making some runes appear along with a familiar voice.

“Congratulations Amalvi, your first mission is accomplished and the spell of your watch works nicely”

“Ver...

Amalvi stopped for a second, surprised to hear himself speaking with the voice of a foal, but then he continued, still feeling a bit awkward.

“Very funny Miriam. I need help, can you tell me where I am right now?”

“Don’t worry, I tracked your position. Everything seems to indicate that you are at the subterranean dungeons. In an isolated cell suited for interrogations.”

“Interrogations? I don’t like how that sounds.”

“Is not as bad as you think. They first use some eloquence and if it doesn’t work they beat you up a bit. But you have a lot experience in that field, right?”

Amalvi rolled his eyes even if he knew Miriam couldn’t probably see him doing it.

“I can’t say I’m not, regardless, can you get me out?”

“I can give you directions if that’s what you want, but how I’m supposed to open the cell for you? Don’t be an idiot.”

“Well, duh. I’ve never asked for you to do such a thing. Anyway, directions.”

“Okay, once you are out of there you have to go upstairs three times. The dungeons are designed as a labyrinth to make escapes more difficult so you need to memorize this: two right, third left, first right, up, second left, first right, up,  fourth right second right, third left, first right and all the way to the end of that hallway. You got it?”

Amalvi smiled and his eyes moved each in a different direction as he tried to remember what he was just told

“NO”

An even if he couldn’t see her, Amalvi could felt how Miriam was giving him a inquisitor look of desperation and anger

“You are such an idiot. I’ll contact with you once you are out to give you instructions as you go.”

“That seems to be a better plan.”

“So, goodbye, and by the way, we didn’t expect you to survive the spell, but since you did you should know that the more you use it, the less painful the procedure will be each time, according to Lightrod.”

“Thanks Miriam.”

“Bye Amalvi, try not to get killed.”

“Say what again?”

The watch went off and the runes disappeared. Once he was alone again he started to think of himself at the age he was before the transformation, a grown stallion. After feeling the electrical shock passing through his body he started to suffer pain as well from the muscles and bones suddenly growing and his cutiemark coming back, but the pain wasn’t as agonizing as the first time. Amalvi shook his head, still being a little bit stunned by the transformation and looked at the time.

Now he only needed to wait, it was just matter of time that the interrogator entered the room and that would be the perfect chance for him to escape, so he moved to the side of the door and looking at his watch he stayed there for about half hour until he heard hoofsteps again. He got in defending position, preparing for attacking, but he could hear how the hoofsteps faded away, so he had to wait more. After fifteen minutes he heard hoofsteps again, this time getting closer and closer to the door, so there was no doubt somepony was going to his cell.

When the door opened, a unicorn gasped when he found the hoofcuffs in the floor, but before he could close the door again he was hit in the head by the hindlegs of Amalvi and getting KO'd instantly. Amalvi jumped to the corridor where there was an earth pony with angry expression and wielding a spear.

Fights between earth ponies are a match of endurance, since both fighters resist hits pretty well, there is a complete equal fight in which only the toughest and the most trained will win. The question for Amalvi was, who was better trained? an elite soldier of Celestia or just a regular guy with a few years of military training? The answer was obvious, in normal conditions Amalvi had no chance whatsoever against the earth pony guard. Amalvi counted with the surprise factor and the guard counted with a weapon, heavy armor and the fact that his rival had his leg wounded. However, his advantage was also his disadvantage. The corridor was too narrow to make a spear an effective weapon and the armor, while protecting the vital parts like the chest, the flank  and the head it made him very slow and didn’t offer any protection for the legs. It seemed like Amalvi had a chance after all but he would need some luck.

The guard pointed the spear at the blue pony and said:

“Don’t dare to move a bit”

Not like he wanted to. Amalvi knew that any attempt to run in the direction of the guard would result in him being impaled by the spear. So instead he slowly walked as closer as he could, staying away from the range of the spear. This surprised the guard, who said.

“Didn’t you hear me? Go back into the cell, you scumbag!”

Then he proceeded to try to hit with the lance, but the colt was just at the exact distance to not get hit by it. That didn’t prevent his hearth from shrinking and getting frightened when the blade of the spear passed just a few inches near him. Now the guard understood the plan, spears are a bad weapon for earth ponies if they aren’t attached to their flank. He could do so, but that would give Amalvi a chance to strike. Also, if the guard tried to move forward the colt could easily avoid him and get closer, were the spear would result useless. But Amalvi couldn’t move either, they were in a stalemate at the moment. Waiting for the other to make the next move.

After some awkward silence, the guard decided that it was stupid to use the spear at all,  so he got rid of it. The moment the spear touched the floor Amalvi had already moved forward and launched a kick on one of the front forelegs of the guard, making him fall on his chest. The colt jumped on the fallen guard and used his back to launch himself, however the guard predicted that and bucked with one leg the chest of Amalvi, sending him a few meters away. Both stallions stood up as soon as they could. Amalvi could just run away, but he couldn’t outspeed the guard with a wounded leg and he didn’t want that guard to call for reinforcements. The guard then charge towards Amalvi, even with the weight of his equipment he moved faster than the colt predicted and with all his strength headbutted Amalvi chest and threw him to the floor again. The guard was about to stomp on the head of Amalvi when this decided to kick the unprotected stomach while he was still laying on the ground. The hit was so hard that the guard choked and emptied his stomach, luckily for the colt it didn’t spill any on him. Taking advantage of this, Amalvi stood up as soon as he could and with all his earth pony strenght he launched a kick to the face of the stallion, which wasn’t nice at all if we keep in mind that he was hit directly in the right eye. That hit bursted the eye of the guard, who was now shouting in pain and touching his bleeding face.  Amalvi was both happy for knowing that he had won the fight and horrified for doing such a mess to the face of the poor guard. Regardless he took the helmet of the guard off with his foreleg and once it was unprotected Amalvi threw a kick to  his head to put him to sleep as he turned. The guard was knocked out, but he still mumbled nonsensical gibberish before totally fading out. Having pity of him, Amalvi took a piece of clothing from the armor and tearing it apart with his mouth he used the piece of cloth to poorly bandage the head of the guard, covering the bleeding eye.

He had no time to waste, who knows if somepony heard the fight he just had and if another guard could come at any second. Amalvi lifted his leg, tried not to think about the pain and pressed the button to call for Miriam. She then answered with her usual neutral tone.

“What a disappointment. Anyway, directions, first go to the second corridor to the right.”

Amalvi couldn’t prevent to get curious about the words of Miriam. Disappointed? She expected him to beat the guard faster than he did or something?

“Disappointment?”

“Oh is nothing, just that me and coworker were betting about who would win, and now I own her 10 bits”

“Lovely. Second, what you said?”

“Second corridor to the right”

The blue colt commenced to walk. His moves were slower and clumsier than usual due to the wounds he was suffering but at least he could still walk, which was more than could be said from the royal guard. After giving only a few steps he turned back to search the guards body, finding a set of keys, a little map of the place with some times on it (which Amalvi supposed it would serve to tell the guard their workplace and working times) and a little sack with some bits. Amalvi thought of taking those objects, but he didn’t have a way of carrying them as he had lost his saddlebag so he just left them in the floor.

Right left, left right. The whole place was designed like a dungeon and if it wasn’t thanks to Miriams instructions Amalvi would have sworn that he was simply going in circles because of the fact that all the corridors looked the same: grey stone walls, metal jails inside them and an iron door at the end of some. Sometimes Amalvi had to make a detour to avoid some guards, but luckily for him he only had to do it twice and with the help of Miriam he didn’t have to worry about entering a corridor with no way out. He couldn’t but think how he was so stupid as to not ask her for help when he was searching for the room of Celestia. After ascending through the dungeons he finally found the exit at the end of a hallway, which cleverly looked like another iron door just like in the rest of the corridors but after being opened by Amalvi it revealed to lead to a bigger hallway with windows and furniture instead to another isolation room.

The stallion wanted to rest but he was too close to being finally free that he couldn’t waste any second and get caught, not now. However the simple vision of the sun rays passing through the windows gave him enough energy to continue. He walked to the closest window and looked outside, the sun had appeared moments ago and the first rays of the dawn were heating the land. Amalvi then tried to open the window but realized that it didn’t budge, he was just about to buck it when he heard the hoofsteps of some pony approaching. Panicking, he kicked the window multiple times, but he was too tired and wounded to do a proper kick that would allow him to open it. There was no place to hide and the hoofsteps were getting closer and closer. So Amalvi though that would be his end.

Luckily, or unluckily for him who showed wasn’t a guard, but a mare with purple coat and blue mane. Amalvi didn’t know if to be thankful or to curse. In any case there was only one question in his mind, what is she doing here?. Pie examined the room and then realized the presence of the stallion, she was scared for a second but then she looked again and letting a brief laugh escape she exclaimed.

“Hey, isn’t it the douchebag of Bright. Where is my knife?”

“They took it, and if it wasn’t because of it I wouldn’t have had to escape the dungeons.”

Taking advantage how bad was Amalvi, the mare got closer and hit him with her forehoof in the face.

“Do you know how expensive it was? Go back to get it for me, you imbecile!”

Amalvi ignored the hit, compared to the hits from the guard that kick was nothing. He stood up and walking away he said.

“You crazy bitch. You are stupid if you think I’m going to get back there again”

Just as he expected, but hoped not to happen, the mare jumped on him, and with a very agile maneuver she managed to land with all four legs in the back of Amalvi, making him fall to the floor again. He tried to struggle but it was useless, he was too weak at the moment to move Pie off him. He turned his head and looked how she examined his body for some seconds before stepping off him. He sighed with relief and stood up again. She then said

“Just saying that the only reason I’m letting you go is because you don’t have anything I could take from you and because I have nothing to kill you with.”

Amalvi turned to hide his smile and then said

“Like if I give many bucks, anyway, seeya.”

She didn’t say anything and instead started to look inside some furniture and put some silver cutlery inside her bag. Amalvi ignored her and after looking for an open window he jumped out of it. The fall was larger than he expected and he landed with his face. Overcoming his weariness, he trotted as fast as he could away from the castle. Luckily for him there were no guards in the gardens and he went pretty straight forward to the place he entered from. Now that he thought about it, Pie couldn’t have cut the fence, so there was even another intruder inside during his stay. Oh well, it wasn’t anything of his business. He was free, but he didn’t have much time until the guards started to look for him so he had to make haste, towards the train station. Then his watch lighted again and the voice of Miriam sounded, again.

“How do you pretend to get on a train without money?”

He didn’t paid attention. He already planned to sneak inside some train and go illegally

“I’ll figure out something, the biggest problem is already solved

“As much as I would love to leave it by yourself now, I’m supposed to help you, so I contacted someone over there who will give you a ticket you can use to get back to Baltimare”

Oh sweet Celestia, he couldn’t believe his luck.

“For real?”

With sarcastic tone Miriam replied

“No, I just wanted to give you false hopes. Now, why the hell would I do that?

“Is just too good to be true. Anyway, who is this pony?”

“Apparently another agent called Sal Sundae is in Canterlot as well, she agreed to get to the train station and buy you a ticket. She is an earth mare with green coat and blonde mane.”

“Green coat, yellow mane, got it. I’ll go there as fast as I can.”

“Goodbye agent, congratulations for not getting killed.”

The communication closed and Amalvi ran towards the train station. Some ponies were already going out of their houses and opening their business so the streets were slowly filling with activity.

Once he arrived at the train station, a crowd was starting to gather there, however he had no trouble finding Sal Sundae, who also had noticed him and approaching the stallion she said.

“Are you Amalvi?”

Before answering anything he inspected her, and only when he saw that the mare was wearing a watch like his own he answered.

“Yes I am, are you Sundae?”

The girl nodded and after searching inside her purse she retrieved a ticket and handed it to Amalvi, who thanked her and took it. After saying a brief goodbye she walked away and disappeared. The stallion then turned to look at the train and walked with steady pace to it, The ticket inspector was surprised to find a pony covered in wounds hanging him a ticket, but he made no questions after the stallion rejected his offer of medical attention. Amalvi dragged his hoofs to his seat, and only when the train started to move he closed his eyes and let the

depletion took over him, finally falling asleep.