Dusk could only assume it was morning even though there was only darkness leaking in through the poorly covered up windows. Thunder and lightning was accompanied by heavy rain. Apparently this storm was supposed to last 3 or 4 days. He wasn't too excited about that. Mainly cause a guard from the Broken Shield was staying with him. Sure, he may have been nice to her last night, but that's because something in him told him to. And if there was one thing he actually obeyed, it was the voices in his head. Dusk was in the kitchen, heating up his wood stove to prepare some food for himself and his guest. He did tell himself he wanted to get to know her while she was here, so he thought he'd make some good ol' breakfast in bed.

He cracked some eggs onto a pan, and tossed some strips of haybacon on the side. The usual start to his day. He grabbed some oj from his magically cooled cooler he got awhile back and filled up a glass. He hadn't used the cooler in awhile, but now was the perfect time to break it out. Grabbing a tray, Dusk put the glass of oj on one side, and a plate on the other. Once he finished cooking up the breakfast, he scraped it onto to plate and dropped the still hot pan in the sink before turning down the stove to let it go out in its own.

"Well... Here we go..." Dusk said, picking up and balancing the tray onto his back. Trotting out of the kitchen and to the hallway, he listened for a moment. Hearing nothing but the howling wind and rain outside. He took that as a sign that Crystal was still asleep. Dusk trotted down the hall and pushed the door to his room open. And sure enough, the guest was tucked up and snug in the bed.

"Uhm... Hey, Crystal?" Dusk said, trying to wake her. After no response he slid the tray off his back and onto the nightstand. "Hey, I made you breakfast. I'll just.. Leave it here." He said turning around before being stopped by a voice.

"Wait," Crystal said, rolling over to face Dusk with tired eyes. "I thought about what went down last night... Why did you decide to be nice? You were kinda quick to accepting me being here..." Crystal sat up and looked to the food in front of her. "And you didn't have to make me food."

"Well even though I kinda hate you guys, it still isn't right to leave somepony stranded in a storm. And even though, again, I hate you guys, I think some company could be nice. So I'm not gonna just starve you." Dusk answered, about to trot or of the room.

"Well thank you. And thanks for letting me sleep in here. It was nice to sleep in a real bed again."

"No problem. I'll be in the living room when your done in here." Dusk said turn trotting out into the hall and into the main open room.

It was a little chilly, so Dusk tossed a few logs and kindling into the fireplace before lighting a match and tossing it in. It took a second, but a flame slowly started burning through the little wooden shavings as it got to the logs and began igniting them. Dusk hopped onto the couch and layed back to relax.

"I hope today's going to be a good day." Dusk mumbled, closing his eyes and losing himself in thought.
"Did I lie to Crystal? I'm not even sure why I'm really trying to be nice aside from not making an enemy. There's just something about her that I like, but just can't place my hoof on it... Maybe it's because our parents are gone cause of the Shield? I'm not sure..." Dusk was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the mare sneaking up on him who had already finished her breakfast.

"Dusk? Can I ask you about something? I'd understand if you don't want to but... It's something else I've been thinking about."
Shae asked him, taking a seat beside him.

Dusk was shook out of his thoughts and simply said, "Uh, sure."

"Well... Do you have any other family? My mom was the only one that was still actually around, but Corporal Onyx Armor is as I said before pretty much like a dad to me. And, well... I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've got that same lonely vibe coming off you."

Dusk sighed and thought for a moment, before speaking up.
"You'd be right to guess that... Everypony in my family has always been unicorns and wouldn't settle for anything less... But I wasn't born as one." He explained, "My dad, Autumn Blaze, was the only one that didn't throw me out. He was my only friend too. This little house? It was his before he met my mother. Who divorced him when she found out he didn't want to give me up." Dusk shifted around on the couch uncomfortably. He didn't want to share everything, but felt a need to. Like it would give him some sort of closure.

Crystal was unsure of what to say. Well she knew what she wanted to say, but just didn't want to offend Dusk. "Wow. I'm sorry, I didn't know you had it that rough. My mom was single and I was adopted so I didn't know anypony else, but your story is so much worse. But know something's on my mind... I've only just now realized your surname is Everfree. The mayor's last name is the same. Are you two related?" Crystal asked.

Dusk groaned then put his face in his hooves. "Don't remind me. He's my grandfather on my moms side. He doesn't exactly hate me, but he doesn't love me either. It's kinda half and half, you know?" Granted, his grandfather was nice from time to time, but he still mostly ran by the unicorns only rules set in place by his parents and the parents of his parents.

"So... Technically, judging by this towns trend of only electing family to run it, you'd be next in line? Right?" Crystal questioned. If that was the case, he'd probably declare war against the Broken Shield whenever he was elected the next mayor. Assuming the Shield would still be around by then.

"Yeah. He talked to me about taking up his job awhile ago. He did make me the Deputy Mayor, even though I really don't care about it... Anyways, enough about me. Tell me about you."

"What do you wanna know?"

"Anything." Dusk said, looking over towards Crystal like he was ready for a story.

"Well..." She began, "When I joined the Broken Shield, they told me exactly how they functioned. It was all the same as when they were the Equus Shield. Everypony got their normal pays, anypony could enlist if they wanted to, they were open to all kinds of ponies. They were even considering to open it up to griffons and zebras.
Yet, behind all of that, they're now Equestria's biggest enemy right now."

"There has to be some reason why they're against us, right? They were the leading military force for such a long time." Dusk more or less thought out loud.

"From what recruits were told upon joining, they were mainly against the princesses because of some experiment they were conducting under covers." Crystal explained, before continuing. "When they asked the Equus Shield, for help, they refused. Apparently what the princesses wanted was so bad that it lead to them publicly executing all the higher ranked soldiers to avoid them from turning on the Shield because of their pledged loyalty to royalty."

Dusk just stared. Was she really serious? "So what you're trying to say is that they became the bad guys to stop Princess Celestia from whatever she was doing?"

"Yeah. Why do you think we haven't completely ransacked this town? Why would we have tried to be nice and help you all out while allowing you to go about you're every day lives?" Crystal already knee she said to much. If anypony found out she spilled the beans on the Broken Shield, she'd surely be imprisoned. Or killed.

"This all runs waaay deeper then I thought... But... If you knew why they were doing what they're doing, why do you still hate them? Aside from the reason you started hating them in the first place?"

"Look, I've said to much. Whether I stay with the Shield or I leave, I'll be wiped out by a firing squad if any of the other guards find out I said anything." Crystal said, getting up off the couch and trotting to the front door. "I should go. I can't stay here."

"But the storm-" Dusk was in the middle of speaking before being cut off by a loud bang outside. Crystal opened the door a crack to investigate. A tree had fallen. Directly in front of the door. Great, now Crystal was stuck.

"...Nevermind..." She said.

-Meanwhile in the Canterlot Castle-

A Royal Guard scurried into the throne room holding a scroll with his magic. He bowed down and said, "Princesses! We've located the Broken Shield's whereabouts." He opened up the scroll and read what was written, "They've taken up residence in a small town called Everville in one of the forests to the far east."

"Good." Celestia said, "Get you're best guards, we're going."

"But Princess, there is a very dangerous storm surrounding the entire area. If we sent squads, it'll take hours to get through the harsh conditions."

"Then so be it." The princess said, rising from her throne. "We have to put a stop to the Broken Shield immediately."

• Back at Dusk's house-

"So... What do you we do now? I don't really want to talk about what we've been talking about anymore." Crystal said, laying back on the leather couch, listening to the fireplace crackle and snap.

"I don't really know. Maybe we can like, play some sort of game?" Dusk suggested.

"A game? I'm not a filly. I'm not playing tag."

"No, like something we'd have fun with. Like... Umm... Yeah nevermind, I got nothing."

Crystal thought for a good minute, then spoke up "I have an idea. Depends if you're up for it."

"Whatcha got?" Dusk asked, looking over to her.

"It's a little game a lot of the Privates play, though I never really joined in. Mainly because the end result was always the same."

"What do you mean? What happens?"

"Well," She said, "Whoever wins chooses whoever they want to have as a personal... Assistant? For a week. Normally their 'assistant' would be used for some late night fun. If you know what I mean by that."

"So to put it blatantly... The winner chooses a sex slave for a whole week?" Dusk said, pretty much unphased by this.

"Pretty much, yeah. I'm not interested in that stuff though. I would only play to get somepony to run my errands and take my extra shifts." She explained, "But chances are I'd probably lose, so I never play. But I watch them play a lot."

"Well then sign me up. How do you play?" Dusk asked, scooching closer to Crystal.

"Huh? You actually want to do this?"

"If it'll pass time, then yeah. If I win I probably won't do anything with it anyways. So why not?"

"Ok... Well if you're sure." Crystal thought back to how it's played. "One pony tells a true story with some made up bits, and everypony else has to determine what they are." As crystal explained, Dusk took a mental note of what she was saying. "You keep going till somepony manages to either guess all the false parts, or if they give up. Basically, for every one thing you guess, you get one point. And there are 3 rounds. Who ever has the most points wins." She finally finished explaining.

"Aaand.... What if there's a tie?" Dusk asked.

"The two victors play a real risk round of would you rather until one of them surrenders."

Dusk sat there for a second, trying to make sense of all the rules to this little 'game'. "Um... I think I get it? Can you go first just so I get an idea on how the story part works?" He asked.

"Sure! So, My story starts like this..."

To be continued?

Author's Note

This chapter and the next will build up some story before the more interesting things happen. I've probably already lost your interest, but if not, nice.
GIMME YO FEEDBACK SO I CAN TRY TO WRITE BETTER!