As we made it to the place where our meeting was being held, I took a moment to account for who is all here. I just realized how weird this line up is. We have the two princesses, the six element bearers... then me. I kind of feel out of place. Eight famous ponies and one infamous person. Well technically I am also famous. Fuck it, I'm thinking too hard.

"Now that everyone is settled, let us start." Celestia called out. Everyone nodded and she started to speak. "A few hours ago, a pony, who was identified to be a unicorn, broke into the royal archives." Everypony gasped but me and the princesses. Luna seemed skeptical about that and asked me a question.

"Why aren't you surprised?" Because I'm the one who did it.

"Because I don't even know what that place is." I lied. She realized this and looked at me apologetically.

"Right. I forgot that you don't originate in Equestria." I turned to Celestia and she continued.

"The things we know about this pony is that he is a stallion with an orange coat and red and yellow mane. He was said to be levitating himself around, so he has to be someone very powerful." That confused me a little bit on how it deducts that hes powerful.

"How is levitating yourself mean your powerful?" Twilight's eyes twinkled and she answered my question.

Lifting one object is easy because it is solid and you don't have to be careful about damaging the inside. Lifting a different pony is not as simple and some unicorns will never be able to do it without the risk of dislocating bones or organs. It is actually outlawed in some parts of Equestria to levitate anything living because of this. Lifting yourself, however, is almost impossible for the average unicorn. You levitate the bone you use magic on as you move your body, so not only do you have to keep your head and horn only feeling naturally strained, you have to lift the entire body as well, which makes things impossible. One wrong shift of the horn bone and you face cutting off your magic supply and possibly damaging your horn permanently. Imagine cutting off your magic supply when you are super high in the air." If what I'm hearing here is correct, then an effective way to cut off someone's magic supply is to grab their horn if that's the issue they have. Although I'm not showing it on my face, I was kind of relieved at myself for having a ridiculously high magic supply. That could've ended bad.

"What else do we have?" I asked, feigning innocence. Celestia frowned.

"We have nothing else on him. None of the guards had ever seen him before." Imagine if I had the book with me when I got off the train. I'm suddenly glad I teleported it back to my house. It's not until you think about these things that you realize how lucky you are.

"We must split up and search for the book. If it gets into the wrong hands, then we could suffer the worst." Luna said in an equally worried tone. She nodded to Twilight and the purple pony pulled out a piece of paper.

"Okay. This is how we will search for him. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will look in Cloudsdale. If he is as powerful as the princesses say, then we can't rule out cloud walking spells. Applejack and Pinkie Pie will search around Ponyville and ask anypony if they saw anything. Rarity and I will help the guards in Canterlot search the shadier places. Axel, you will search the Everfree forest. The princesses run a country and don't have the time to search for him themselves, so we will keep them updated if we find anything. Everyone know what they are doing?" Everyone nodded except Applejack. Little do they know that there is 1 impostor among us.

"Actually I would like to assist Axel in the forest." Applejack said, looking skeptically towards me. Orange right now is looking pretty sus right now. Twilight looked to Pinkie Pie.

"I don't mind checking Ponyville by myself! It actually will make things faster!" Twilight stood there confused.

"Wouldn't less hooves make things slower?" Twilight asked.

"Not when we will skip most of the day it won't!" Pinkie said cheerily, getting bewildered looks from everyone.

"But.. how do... you can't just.... ugh... nevermind. Applejack can assist Axel in the forest." I guess it is possible to burn Twilight's brain after all.

Everyone started to leave, Applejack and I included. The entire time, Applejack looked at me as if she wanted to say something, but every time I asked her if things were alright, she said that she was fine. Confused, I just continued to follow her out into the forest. We made it there quite easily and walked straight in. I knew the things that wandered out inside of this forest, so I'm surprised that she could just walk in here with no fear at all. At least I think there isn't. After being deep enough that the entrance wasn't even in sight, she stopped and turned to me, with a lasso in her mouth. I could've dodged it, but I wanted to hear what she had to say, so she threw the lasso out of her mouth and around my waste and pulled, constricting my arms.

"What's this all about?" I said in an even, unamused tone. She studied my face before speaking.

"What did ya do before ya got off that train?" She asked, staring at me intently.

"Uh.... Ride it?" I said, smiling. She didn't seem to have a funny bone in her body, however, because she squeezed tighter.

"I'm serious, Axel." She said, continuing to stare at me.

"I was in Canterlot touring the castle." I said. I wasn't technically lying, so she shouldn't be able to tell.

"You aren't lyin', but you also aren't tellin' the full story." Fuck.. she can read that too? I'm in some deep shit. I'll have to go with plan B.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said, pretending to be angry about something. The lasso lightened as well as her voice.

"You know you can tell us anythin', right?" She said, trying to encourage me to speak my mind. Fuck it, I have to go full emotional mode.

"I'll tell you later. The wound is still fresh, and I'd like it to heal first." She studied me even further before nodding. The lasso around me fell to my side and I rubbed my arms to ease the minor rope burn I had gotten. We continued walking deeper into the forest until I thought about something. If she asks what I ever did in Canterlot, then I'm fucked. I need to get some space from her. That's when an idea came into mind. I nudged her and she turned to me.

"Is there anything ya need, Axel?" She asked, now fully paying attention to me.

"I think it'd be easier to search this forest if we split up." She looked around the forest and then turned back to me.

"Ah don' think it'd be a good idea to split up inside of the forest."

"Don't worry. We can meet back up at the forest entrance before nightfall if that would make you feel better." She thought about it for a second before nodding. Instantly, I ran the other direction, towards my home.

"Be careful!" She said, now no longer in sight. Now my life should be easier. I probably should get that book to the hive.

I went back home and found the book on the bed. Now that I was here, I kind of wonder what's up with Alpha. I haven't seen the wooden wolf in quite some time. I doubt he is in any serious trouble though because, well you know, spells and shit. I'd be the first one to know if he was in trouble, and also since he is a predator species and his pack is like 40 wolves strong, I doubt he will be in trouble anytime soon.

Okay, enough talk. I have only a few hours left of sunlight before I have to meet Applejack. I took the book and ran out of the door and towards the hive. Maybe I should make teleporters wherever I think I'm going to go multiple times, because I haven't ran this much since my earlier days as a criminal. I'm glad that my magical power comes from imagination. Is it cool? Yes it is. Is it a little overpowered? Yes and no. Using higher tier spells still requires magic capacity. It's only the fact that it grows so quickly after using it all every time before I go to sleep. Although after a while of doing it, I realized that my growth is not exponential, and that it is quite linear. I had expected it to double in size every time I used it, but it only adds on. Getting a +2 instead of a x2 is always unfortunate. I've played enough games with these types of logic to know that. I guess all I can do is keep on doing what I do and learn those spells after a few months of doing this. I finally made it to the hive and the guards at the entrance did not stop my advance. Actually, they seemed to look at me like I was a Mcdonalds in a major city. After glancing back at them, I walked off, still confused at the sudden notion. As I walked, I started to notice that every changeling that walked past me looked at me like a snack. Some even walked up to me, shapeshifting into various ponies, seeing if I found it attractive.... wait a minute.

"Do you think I find ponies attractive?" I asked the changeling in front of me, shapeshifting Celestia.

"Do you?" She asked excitedly. Damn, she even has Celestia's voice down.

"While it's true that I think almost each and every pony here is so damn adorable that I could sit in a room just hugging them for a day straight, I don't find them attractive." I'm going to be honest. It's hard to use the race factor as a point to why I couldn't date them. One, I'm pretty sure inter-species relationships are common here. Two, they literally all act human, aside the almost 0% crime rate, and three, despite living in a world where I'm sure ponies should die a lot, considering magic is a thing here, no one does. Fuck, I realize that it isn't that I don't find them attractive, but just not the ones I've met. Wait a minute, why am I lying to myself. I could see myself dating any one of the ponies I just met.

"Oh. Is that so." She said, inching closer with a seductive look. You know what I couldn't see myself doing? Fucking a bug. That's what. I nod and walk past her. I make it to the throne room and the doors open for me without me needing to say anything. I walk in to find Chrysalis sitting on the throne talking to one of her guards. It's weird that they probably fight their wars with guards, but that's not important right now. As I walked in, Chrysalis and the guard look up at me.

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite human." ...I'm the only human.

"I got your book for you." I say in an even tone. She was smiling ear to ear.

"I've heard that you managed to take the book. One of my spies brought back a paper which I deemed to just be a wanted poster for you." She levitated a small piece of paper to me which basically was me, but how the hell was this photo taken if not one camera was even in the area? To hell with it. I see that there was no name added to the paper. Wait a minute, did I even give myself a name? I facepalmed and Chrysalis looked at me with confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Just me realizing my stupidity." I answered. She looked even more confused by it but dropped it nonetheless. I'll have to make a name for myself the next time I turn into a pony. "Anyways, I have to hurry back to the Everfree Forest entrance before it gets dark, else I get suspected by some of the ponies." She nods in understanding and opens the book, inspecting the pages to see if the book I gave her was the real deal. Satisfied, she looks to me.

"Before you leave, I must give you a reward. You have done what us changelings could not, and on the first attempt no less. That being said, please tell us what you would want as a reward." As she awaits, I thought about what I could ask for. I would ask for use of the book, but as far as I'm concerned, I haven't reached any sort of limiter. I always measure my strength by kicking a tree as hard as I can. When I first started doing this, it was just me hurting my leg, the tree not even wavering to my kicks. However, now is a different story. Not only can I kick a tree off of its stump, I can obliterate the entire tree in the process, turning it into wood chips. I also noticed as I kept on doing it and getting stronger, my legs would feel less pain and the wooden powder I create with a single blow would only grow more refined. It was like I put a tree through a wood-chipper without ever needing to buy one. I guess I'll do what I do best.

"This is a reward for me and you. What I want as a reward is sparring partners." She is caught off guard by the answer.

"Why would you want those."

"I'm getting to that, but first, how good do you think your subject's armor is?" I asked her. She smiled to me.

"The metal and enchantments forged in them could stop even Celestia's magic." I call bullshit. You wouldn't be this far out in the forest starving if that is true.

"Then why isn't Equestria taken over yet?" I asked.

"It isn't a matter of my changelings getting destroyed, but rather them dying from the knockback a magical blast can make. If no pony in this world could be knocked back, then we would probably be the strongest race on Equus." Hmm. I guess she needs this more than I do.

"Well, having your changelings battle me can help improve your armor. By the way, I could help you make changelings strong enough to survive such blows, allowing you to add weight to the armor and decrease the knockback of an attack." She smiled with each benefit I listed. She did that thing again where she "thinks" to herself before giving an answer. After a moment, she puts her hoof in front of her.

"We have a deal then." I shake her hoof and proceed out of the throne room. It was already sunset and I was loosing light quickly. Best run my way back.

I make my way back and see Applejack sitting there with a hat covering her eyes. Did she really fall asleep in what is probably the most dangerous place within a 100 mile radius? Damn, that's ballsy as hell. I nudge her to get her to wake up, but to no avail. Time to see how I improved in the muscle department. I carry her piggy-back style and we made our way back to the tree house. The entire way back, she was shaking and whispering about someone she refers to as 'granny'. I know it's a nightmare from how much she is shaking, but what does 'granny' mean? I've never heard the term before. I assume it must be someone important to her, such as family. I know other parts of a family tree have names, but since I only knew my mom, who died during my birth, I never bothered to learn any of them. Not like I need them much now. You know, because none of them are here. As I walked up to the door, I realized that I had no arms to open them, so I did what any normal human would do in this situation.

BANG!

Everyone inside immediately quieted down and Twilight answered the door.

"Did you have to bang on the door?" She asked, looking half-way stressed.

"I had no hands." I answered.

"Wait, then how did you...." She asked. I looked up to my forehead and she put one and one together. "Ugh.. nevermind, just come inside." I love making her brain hurt. I walk inside, everyone talking with one another in private conversations. I set Applejack down on one of the pillows and take my own. As I sat down, the room went silent.

"Did you and AJ have any luck?" Rainbow asks.

"Nope, I couldn't find anything that looked suspicious." Applejack gave a pained look to her face. Did her body just subconsciously said that I was lying? That is fucking cool and scary at the same time.

"What's ever is going on with her?" Rarity asks.

"She fell asleep at the entrance at the Everfree Forest, waiting on me to show up. Right now I could say she is having a nightmare. By the way, what's a granny?"

"Uhh... what do you mean?" Pinkie Pie asked, copying the Discord thinking emoji. Do ponies even have the internet?

"I heard her use the term in her sleep, and by context clues, I assume it's something related to family." Everyone looked to one another and then back to me.

"Are you saying that you truly never had a grandmother?" Celestia asked curiously. Everyone leaned in, making me feel interrogated. I nod my head in denial.

"Aside my mom, who died a while ago, I don't know any of my family." Everyone gave me a saddened look. Fuck, I hate it when people pity me.

"Oh you poor thing. Surely there must have been someone in your life who you held close." Anger started to rise in me as I remembered one of the only friends I ever had betraying me for what I could do. Everyone took notice and started stepping back.

"There was one, but he is someone that I'd like not to remember. The bitch fucking sold me out just because I could do what no one else could." Pinkie, now shivering, asked a bold question.

"Whatever happened to him?"

I'm trying my best not to explode right now. I stay silent, Luna catching this and giving a light cough.

"How about we just leave him alone for the time being and focus on the task at hand. Where is this book and where is the audacious stallion that took it?" Luna said. If I recall from my memories, or rather, Fluttershy's memories, Luna could only speak bible. She must have practiced a lot to be able to speak the language that we use today, otherwise I would have quite a hard time understanding anything that she is saying. Twilight nodded.

"Maybe if you told us some of the details of what happened last morning then we could find him." Celestia put a hoof to her chin, in thought.

"Well," Twilight summoned a piece of paper so that she could jot down some notes about the incident. "The stallion is a unicorn with an orange coat and a main that swirled yellow and red. We can easily infer that he came in through the vents, as it was already open when we caught him taking his leave. We doubt he is native to Ponyville, as we asked the mayor if she knew anyone that looked like it, but only giving the response that she hasn't seen him before." As Twilight scribbled notes on to the notepad, I asked a question that I'm surprised no one asked.

"How does the mayor herself not knowing him indicate he isn't native?" Applejack, now fully awake, answered.

"Everyone in Ponyville knows each other like they're family. If this stallion isn't known by anyone here, he definitely ain't from here." Everyone nodded, indicating that that was correct. As far as they know, I can't turn into a pony. I think it's best to not let them find out about it. Everyone turning back to Celestia, she continued.

"He could have gone to only two places: Ponyville or the Crystal Empire, the reason being that he managed to escape Canterlot by train," Like she remembered something, she turned to me, "Did you by chance see anyone on the train who looked like how I described?"

"Not to my knowledge. It wasn't like I was paying attention to everyone on the train. I napped for a bit and then got off the train, meeting you girls," Wait, what the hell? I'm the only guy here? Fuck no does Spike count! He's like 10 years old, or however dragon years work. "A bunch of ponies got off the train at once. Maybe he was among them?" Wait, ponies didn't freak out on the train when they saw me? Or did they not care? Celestia thought about it some more. The girls were all doing the same, except Applejack, who gave me the stink eye. Damn, what for?

"I don't think we should rely on that." Celestia spoke, ending the brief silence. "I will go back to Canterlot with Luna and issue a full guard search of the entire country. Any book stolen from the archives are treated as a national security crisis. I just hope that the book hasn't fell into the wrong hands." The nervous edge in her voice portrayed the seriousness of the situation.

"Wouldn't it have already fell into the wrong hands if the book was stolen?" Twilight said, confused that Celestia would say that statement.

"There are times, Twilight, where a pony will see or hear about something in the archives and think that they can use it for their own personal gain, only to either fail, or in worst case scenarios, die. If this pony know what he is doing, I have no doubt that the Elements of Harmony will be used in the future to protect Equestria." That put everyone on edge. Since I didn't know how strong the Elements were, I assumed that they were incredibly powerful if the reliance was on them. "I encourage you and the other element bearers to remain on high alert at all times."

"Will do, Princess. Enjoy the rest of your night." Twilight said, earning a nod from Celestia. The two princesses took to the sky and made their way back to the castle.

"Well, that happened." I said, trying to strike up a conversation.

"In the case that something happens, we should stick together, so how about everyone sleep here tonight?" Twilight asked. I nodded, not having anything better to do.

"I'll sleep here, but first lemme go tell my family where I'm at." Applejack said. Twilight nodded and she made herself out of the door. The others nodded without any problems with it.

An hour later, everyone was sitting on pillows in the middle of the library.

"I think we should take this time to get to know each other better, don't you think?" Twilight said.

"You mean me, right?" She nodded.

"Yes, we barely know anything about you other than how powerful you are. I'd love to do research on you if you agree'd to it." Twilight got that twinkle in her eye as she said research. That made me a little uncomfortable.

"I'll do it if you want me to." I said, looking away. That caught the entire room off guard.

"You? Willingly do something? I never saw that one coming." Rainbow had jokes, huh?

"We can start tomorrow if that's okay with you?" She asked. I nodded, causing her to smile from ear to ear. "Great! This is going to be so fun! Anyways, what should we play to pass the time?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! How about truth or dare?" I almost missed what the bubble-gum horse said. I want to know how she can speak so fast. Said horse turned to me. "Truth or dare!"

"Dare." I don't think I could tell most truths.

"I dare you to carry me like I was your daughter!" Huh? Is she serious? "You know I am!" I guess she is. Wait, did she just read my mind? That's hella creepy.

I complied, picking the pony up and carrying her piggyback style. She isn't heavy at all, so that makes this easier. "Your turn!" My ear almost fell off.

"Okay. Rainbow, truth or dare?" I asked.

"Truth!" That was more instant than I thought.

"How much do you sleep per day?" Everyone listened closely to what she answered with. I ask because every day I see Rainbow either sleeping on a tree or sleeping on a cloud. It made me curious if she even had a job to do at all.

"Since my job at the weather factory is either early in the morning or late at night, I would say most of the day." I nod. So she does have a job. I thought she was just a freeloader.

"Truth or dare." Rainbow said to Twilight.

"Dare." Rainbow giggled, loving the choice she chose.

"I dare you to use the name tag spell and name yourself 'dinnerbone'." Twilight went wide-eyed at this.

"Really? Why did I have to create that spell?" She looked unhappy by the challenge. This better not be what I think it is. I started giggling a little bit, catching Rarity's attention.

"Whatever is the matter?" She asked.

"If this does what I think it does." Twilight groaned and performed the spell on herself. As she did, dinnerbone appeared right above her and she was now standing upside-down on air. When she walked, it was like she was on the ground, but she wasn't. No way! This world actually put a minecraft reference into its spell physics? Rainbow and I both died on the floor right then and there. My chest hurt from how much I laughed and I bet Rainbow had the same situation. This world is going to kill my lungs. After about an hour of picking on Twilight, by doing, but not limited to, complimenting her hooves that were in the air or complimenting her shadow for looking like a factory, we had settled down and it was Twilight's turn.

"Applejack. Truth or Dare?" Applejack thought carefully on this.

"Truth."

"D'aww. You always pick truth." Twilight pouted.

"I'm sorry I've got nothin' to hide." Applejack's even tone was not helping Twilight.

"Ugh. Fine. What is your least favorite fruit?"

"Well that's easy. Pears." Twilight nodded and gave the floor to Applejack.

"Hey Axel. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." Applejack gave me a smug smile.

"Tell me what you really did before getting off that train." Did I just get baited? Everyone listened intently, even Fluttershy, who showed no sense of interest in any of what was going on until now.

"I did want to know that myself." Fluttershy said.

"I-" Before I managed to speak, Twilight blasted me with a magical blast. Obviously not liking it, I gave the normal human reaction. "What was that for!?" I yelled.

"Applejack told me that every time that she brings this up, you lie or leave things out. So for a solution, I used a truth spell on you." I'm fucked. Okay, minus well tell them. I stood up and turned around, staring at the bookcases that were behind me.

"In Canterlot, I went to get a certain book from a certain library. It was for a client who asked me to take care of a mission for her." I started. Twilight immediately put one and one together.

"Well, where is the book right now?" She asked, giving me the benefit of the doubt.

"That's classified. So continuing, I-"

"What do you mean classified?!?" Twilight interrupted with a lot more fervor.

"What kind of person would I be if I shared every name for everyone I worked for?" I replied. Twilight was already steaming.

"It would be fine, if what this person did wasn't a national crime!" Her anger wasn't going to let this go.

"A job is a job, and I can do it no matter how big or how little."

"WHOS SIDE ARE YOU ON!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"The side where I profit the most." I gave the smart-ass answer. Everypony else started to look between Twilight and me with worried looks. I agree, this is turning bigger than it should.

"We tried to be nice to you. We tried to help you. We even tried to be friends with you, and guess what you only did in return? Hm?" This feels like what I see a parent say to their kid in public. Even though my face is hidden mostly and I don't get good views of these things, hearing them is a different story.

"Violence." Twilight answered for me, "Violence is the only thing we get in return. You don't care for those around you. If that's how you want to be, then so be it. Get out." Wait, is she kicking me out of her house? Before it could get any further, Rarity stood in.

"Now darling, let us rethink about th-" Twilight completely ignored Rarity

"GET OUT AND NEVER COME BACK!" Twilight said, running to impale me with her horn. Everyone got up and tried to stop her, but she managed to hit me in one of my core weakness points. FUCK! I doubled over and held my balls, groaning from the pain. I've had my fair share of pain... but this.... FUCKING HURTS. Applejack and Rainbow walk up to me.

"Sugarcube, are you alright?" Applejack looked down to what I was holding, and went wide-eyed. Rainbow didn't know what she was staring at until she looked at my position and put one and one together.

"She hit you there, didn't she?" I slowly nodded. I got a brief peak of what the others were doing before I closed my eyes in pain. Fluttershy looked like she was pissed at Twilight, and Rarity as well. Twilight had a wave of regret going on, and was arguing with Rarity. Pinkie Pie looked at me with a pained look. You know what, fuck this.

After a few minutes of pain nursing, I stood up and everyone turned to me, Twilight included.

"I-" I cut Twilight off.

"If my absence is what you want, then it's what you get." I made my way towards the door, being stopped by Rarity.

"Darling, surely you could talk this out with Twilight and become friends again?" I declined the offer.

"She said what she wanted to say. Now I'm going to take my leave, but just know this, Twilight." I turned to her and saw that she was staring at the floor, crying to herself over what she had done. "My client's name is Chrysalis, and you just gave her a new ally." Everypony now had scarred looks on their face, including Twilight, who now tried to reason with me.

"I...I...I'm so-"

"Sorry?" I laughed. "This must be how all friendships are. You make mistakes, and say sorry every time you make them. You hurt somepony deeply and think that everything will be fine with an apology. You only, however, say these when the situation doesn't benefit you. Friendship is a hoax. Friendship is its own system of corruption."

"Sugarcube, settl-"

"Friendship is betrayal." I said in a deeper voice, startling everyone. With this, I made my way out of the tree and went towards the hive, the entire time remembering the one who betrayed me on earth. I wonder if any drinks exist here, because I could sure use one right now.

Author's Note

Schools a bitch. Expect these chapters to release incredibly slow.