A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 11: Payment and a huge misunderstanding.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Location: Castle of the two sisters, Underground library*
*Time: 1:05 in the afternoon*

Brex had to try and contain his laughter after seeing the hilarious reaction he had just witnessed after mentioning to the mare’s that the tower they were talking about had the giant Star spider. However, he had already taken care of it three days prior to them arriving here at the Castle today.

The earth pony called Shadow lily asked, “What do you mean by a… *Gulp* Giant, Star Spider?” He could hear the armor she had making some rattling noises.

He replied with that same nonchalant attitude and said, “Killed it already.” That was when he decided to lean into the book shelf with his back and started to look around at the many books. He then thought, “Hmm. I wonder what I should try to find next to read. Hope they have a filing system or this will take a lot of time.”

It was then that the pink one that went by the name Swirl Sugar added to the conversation and said, “Are you saying that inside that tower is… I mean there, was a giant star spider, and you already killed it? How big was the thing?”

Brex turned to Swirl and said, “Bigger than me.” He then reached behind his head and grabbed another book at random and glanced at the cover. Brex shrugged his shoulders and opened the book and began to read again.

Swirl then raised both her hands and pressed them onto her own face and did the motion where one would rub down their face and stop at the point that they could cover their mouth. She then let out a silent scream before she released her hold and said, “Could you stop reading already! I’m talking to you here, this is serious!”

Brex did just that and turned his head towards the mare. With his face covered by the mask, there was no way of knowing what kind of expression he could have been making and just remained silent.

This caused Swirl to go rigid and close her mouth quickly before her gaze went left and right in a hasty manor for a few seconds. She then regained her demeanor and said, “I’m sorry for that, but it’s just that, with everything going on, I need you to stay focused and tell me what’s going on here, who are you and what are you doing in this place? This is the old castle and no one is allowed to be on these grounds. You’re trespassing.”

Brex thought to himself, “Well she has a point there, I am trespassing on private property after all. Guess I’ll just cash in on what I’m owed and see how this pans out.” Turning to Shadow, he points at her and says, “You, Pay time.”

She instantly went into attention stance and looks towards Brex with a Shock filled expression and stammers a reply, “P-Pay T-Time? Do, do you mean about me saying those things before about offering my b-body and soul?!”

Thinking back to a little while ago, he recalled those words. But he didn’t want anything like that. Shaking his head, He said, “Let me… stay.” That was when he pointed to the ground as to make his meaning clear.

Shadow had a confused expression and said, “Huh, you want me to let you uh, stay here? So, you don’t want me to… I mean you don’t want my… I mean, I-I, I don’t know what I mean anymore!” She covered her face just as it turned red with embarrassment.

Swirl then interrupted this scene and with a confused tone of her own that was laced with skepticism and said, “Hold on there, are you saying that because we got locked in here after our commander sent us into this death trap, then there was an oversized pony eating bug that we couldn’t stop but to have you show up and take it out, thus saving our lives. Then there is the information about the giant star spider in the tower already being taken out. You have the Balls to demand that we pay you back by letting you stay in the castle grounds??!” the hold time her volume was getting louder until she was essentially screaming.

After a long pause of silence, Brex just replies in the most articulate way possible in this situation, which was, “Yes.” There was yet another long stretch of silence. Then more, and still more. Swirl with a straight face just said, “Ok.” This caused shadow to drop her hands from her face and screamed, “why did you say that Swirl?” Swirl just turned to shadow and said, “He makes a very convincing argument.” This nearly made Shadow fall over at just what had happened.

Thinking that things have stayed this way for long enough, Brex used his mind and started to think about his mini map and figured that with this place having a monster that created a boss territory. Then this place must count as a dungeon.

With yet another thought command, Brex brings up another window and on the top of it were the words, Map, in bold letters. Smirking under the mask, he looked it over and was relieved that his hunch had worked.

Unlike in the outside, one had to run around and fill out this map for future use. The map would auto fill in the gaps while exploring and show the land and any worthwhile places of interest. This would be things like, cities, small towns, area names, dungeon locations and would show on the edge a clearly marked icon of where this direction was leading into for the next area.

But when it comes to the inside of a dungeon however. It’s a little different. When one enters a section, that area is instantly shown on the map. The only way to cut off this function from going further, would have to be if the rest of it was on another floor all together.

In this instance however, Brex had just brought his map up and it displayed the underground library. It shows every inch of the floor that they were on and along with the way that they all had come in. The section they happen to be at right now was at the center. Mentally controlling it, he zoomed out on the window and it showed a set of steps that cuts off the map from displaying further beyond.

Comparing it to his memory of the lay out outside of the castle, Brex understood that it led in the direction of the south west. Judging from the scale of this library, He assumed that if the steps he saw, were really going up, then the exit should place them near the entrance that the rope bridge is near too.

He turned to the mare’s and found them talking to one another, he assumed by the way they had been pointing to the entrance that they had been discussing how to get out of here. He had also noticed that he had yet to do anything with the book he had been holding and placed it back where it was pulled from.

When the tome had been returned, Brex looked back at the two and while using a board tone, said, “Enough… Follow me.” He then turned in the direction of the steps on the map and started to walk away into the darkness. His heavy steps being the only thing within the hall aside from the crackling of the still burning torch.

After a short pause of silence, Brex started to hear the two trying to catch up from behind. He thought, “Well, I guess I’ll get them out of here. If they hang around, I just know its going to bring trouble. I can see it now, Celestia rushing in here and spouting some bull about her little ponies this and her little ponies that. There would be a good chance that she wouldn’t even hear a word I say. I bet she would just slap a label on me and say that I’m a spawn of her sister and I’m here to cause her ponies harm.”

Lightly shaking his head, He continues with, “I wouldn’t put it past her that she thinks that I’m doing something to these two. *Mental Sigh*… even if they vouch for me, Celestia would just say that I’m controlling them or some other nonsense. She is their goddess after all. There is no way that she could be wrong about anything.” He inwardly scoffs.

Looking to the passing shelfs, Brex could see the titles on the books and noticed that they seemed to be randomly placed. There was one about building an outhouse right next to a book about how to sharpen one’s sword.

The next thoughts were, “Oh my… Twilight is going to have a heart attack when she sees this place. No wonder she spent so much time here when she was looking for new books. Must have been spending most of that time trying to organize the dump. Wish I had the items to write a small book, would make a good prank if I wrote something about magic used by one of the schools back in the game. If I’m lucky, they have nothing like it and it would drive her up the walls. Especially if I made it vague at the wrong possible parts. I can see it now, the purple unicorn tossing books left and right trying to find some sort of reference to the half completed book I would have made.”

After thinking this, He couldn’t help but hold in a set of laughing, however he couldn’t restrain his body from letting out a shutter from the internal laughing. Brex did manage to keep it all in. when it had passed, he relaxed and let out a long sigh. Brex then brought his attention back to the task at hand and focused on getting those mare’s out of here as soon as possible. There was a lot of research to do before he could come up with his next move.

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*
*Time: A few minutes ago*

Shadow and Swirl were in a heated discussion, well that’s what they would have liked it to have been seen as. But it was more along the lines of, Shadow having a small break down over the fact that there was this stallion inside the castle where he doesn’t belong and Swirl just said it was fine. Then the talk about how to get out of here started, but the two had no idea where they should be going. The library was massive, moreover, with how dark it was in here, it was a good chance that they would go around in circles until they died from lack of supplies.

That was when they both registered the stallion saying, “Enough… Follow me.” Shadow being the royal guard as she was, couldn’t believe a civilian would just say that to her. On the other hand, this was no normal male. She couldn’t help but stand there in shock, it wasn’t long before the sight of the stallion was beginning to fade into the darkness. That was when she rushed forward and snatched up the torch and called to Swirl, “Swirl, lets go. I don’t know about you but I’m not letting the only monster killer to leave us here alone.”

(Play this music)

They managed to catch up to the Stallion, but kept to a four-meter distance behind him. Swirl leaned in and whispered to Shadow, “What do you think is his story?” Shadow replied in a confused tone, “what are you talking about?”

Swirl then said, “What do you mean, what am I talking about?! Here, we have a stallion that looks to have been built like a stone house and he’s down here. Not only that, he’s alone as well.”

This quickly gets Shadows attention and she says, “Huh? Alone? Of course, he is alone. I don’t see any other ponies around. Do you think he has an accomplice?” Shadow begins to look around at the darkness surrounding them.

Swirl gives Shadow an incredulous stare. Sighing, she continues, “No, didn’t you notice it at all. Look at the guy. He’s big, also a strong fighter that can kill something like that thing back there. He is a catch no matter how you look at it. Not once did I pick up the scent of another female anywhere near him. Trust me, I can tell these things easily. Not one mare has even come close to him… ever! There isn’t anything at all that’s close to a lingering scent.”

Shadow then understood what Swirl was trying to get at. With how the male population has been lowering, it wasn’t all that hard for any stallion to have had some kind of relations with the mare’s. Even if it was just holding hands, there would have been something left behind for another female to detect. But there wasn’t a single thing there when it came to this stallion.

She whispered to Swirl in an even lower volume and said, “S-So, you mean that he… He is?” Swirl quickly replied with a nod of the head. She shifted her eyes towards the stallion in front of them and continued, Not only is he a single male right now, but it looks as if, he is untouched as well. We just hit the jackpot! I can’t believe that we have something like him right there.”

Shadow looked towards the stallion and then back to Swirl and asked, “but that doesn’t make any sense Swirl. He has to at least be our age or a little older thanks to how strong he is and the tone of his voice. That’s impossible, maybe he just washed himself thoroughly and got a new set of clothing.”

With a shake of the head, Swirl answers with, “No way. I worked in the red district. I have seen stallions that would try to mask their wife’s scent by bathing and using scented bathwater along with buying new clothing. The scent is always there. No matter how well of a job they do, I can still pick something up.”

With a thoughtful expression, Shadow asks, “Don’t you think there has to be a reason for that? I mean, there is no way that could happen. There could be something we didn’t think about. Maybe he did have some pony, or perhaps he is promised to some mare out there.”

Swirl raises her right eyebrow and answers with, “No way, look at him. No way he has some one waiting for him. If it was me, I would have been all over the guy in some form or another. The only way that he could have been left alone. It would have to be due to some enormous reasons. Like, I don’t know, perhaps a… political… *Gulp* marriage… “

With her eye’s going wide, the unicorn goes silent for a moment before continuing, “Oh, by Celestia’s tits… He, he couldn’t be, could he?” the mare’s face had just gone ghostly white before saying, “Shadow, we can’t let anything happen to this stallion. I mean anything at all. I’m considering this to be a top-level emergency assignment!”

Shocked, Shadows ears shot up sharply, she couldn’t help but ask, “What are you talking about, you’re going to have to explain it to me. I’m still new after all. What does this top-level assignment mean?”

Glancing over to her friend, Swirl answers with, “Don’t you get it? The only way that a pony like this guy here wouldn’t have any female scent would have only two reasons. The first would be that he is into other stallions, but that’s out of the question. I don’t smell another on him at all, female or male aside from his own scent.”

Swirl then takes in a small whiff of the air, then says, “I’m positive. So that leaves one other option. He is in a political marriage to a mare in some high-ranking position. That’s the only thing I can think of. Consider this, if some noble mare was to have her eyes on a stallion and that stallion was some pony like this one here.” She then nods towards the one in front of herself.

She looks back to Shadow before continuing, “Then in order to have the power to keep other mare’s away, would have to be extremely influential. When I say powerful, I mean somewhere close to that of the princess. I haven’t heard any whispers about this so I can only assume that he is to be with some mare in a high station of power from someplace else. Maybe there is a princess in another country. I did hear a whisper once about a crystal empire, but that was to the north.”

Shadow was now showing signs of understanding the situation. But then it morphs into one of confusion again as she asks, if that’s the case, then why would some pony like him, be here of all places? Wouldn’t he be with some guards at the very least? You… you don’t think that he is on the run perhaps?”

Letting her gaze drift to the floor, shadow then says in a somber tone, “I think, something happened and he might be on the run from the mare. It could be, that the one he is to be with is not a very nice individual. We both know how nobles are like. They aren’t like the princess when it comes to being understanding. In fact, I’m terrified of the idea of one of them being interested. Wither it be a male or female, they can do whatever they want and get away with it.”

Swirl listens to this and nods to what Shadow was saying, then replies with, “I know what you’re talking about. I see it many times with those I work alongside with before joining the guard. They have their snouts so far in the clouds with how superior they see them self’s as, it’s hard to believe they don’t have wings.”

Shadow was now holding her left arm and said, “He must have his reasons. I feel sorry for him, for being forced into something by them. I can’t help but think that, with how he talks, he must be trying to hide more than who he is.”

With a tilt of the head and a dumbfounded expression, Swirl asks, “So you’re getting that feeling too huh. Yeah, I can’t help but think that he is trying to keep his distance from us. He was capable of doing the impossible just earlier, but it seems that, he can’t bring himself to talk properly to us.” She lets out a small gasp. Suddenly, her eyes widen in sudden realization before saying in a trembling tone, “You… you don’t think that she could have done something to him do you? It would make sense when trying to come up with a reason for a stallion like him to be here all by himself.”

Shadow could only cover her mouth as she showed horror. Then spoke, “She must have forced him to be her’s through some nasty means. Maybe the mare threatened his family, or had him isolated. It would explain how he has no other scent on his body. Oh, I can’t even envision the idea of where a stallion would be kept away from others just for the sake of a noble.” This caused Shadow to have tears form on the edges of her eyes as she attempts to hold them back.

Just then, Shadow noticed something happening to the stallion that was walking in front of them and this caused a lump to form in her throat. She then poked Swirl in order to get her attention. When her friend looked over in her direction, shadow then pointed at the one leading them, what they saw was the figure shuttering as he walked. It was soon followed by a long sigh. This only caused Shadow to solidify her thoughts on the matter.

She whispered to Swirl in a much lower volume and said, “I think he heard us. Did you just see that reaction? We must have hit the nail on the head and caused the poor thing to re-live some traumatic events. Now I feel like a bucking idiot, but I can’t believe that this actually happened to a stallion out in the world. I can’t let this go on without doing something. I need to inform Celestia about this crime. She would understand that a noble can’t just go around and force others to do what they want. But I need to learn the full story first.”

Swirl had a rather complex thinking expression and said, “Well, I don’t think he is going to tell us what happened. If you hadn’t noticed, he isn’t the type to complain like some other stallion we both know about. So, he’s not going to just talk about everything that annoyed him. He hasn’t even said more than three words to us at a time. He must be scared of mare’s and is keeping himself from getting abused again. “

She mustered up the courage and spoke up to the stallion and said, “So, do you mind telling us, why are you here in the first place? This is a castle that’s inside the middle of the Everfree forest.” She managed to close the distance and was close to a meter away on his left side at the point.

(Stop the music here)

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

After hearing the question, Brex turned his head so he could look over his shoulder and replied with a simple, “It is… personal.” While still watching the mare, he watched to gauge her reaction.

Thinking that this mare was doing her job, he didn’t want to give too much information to this guard that works under the very individual that he wanted to avoid like the plague. He saw that she made what he could have only called a… pained expression. This confused the Roegadyn.

He asked Rory, “So, am I the only one that’s getting an odd vibe off this pony or am I just being paranoid? Also, what’s up with that face she’s making at me. I get the impression that I did something to hurt her feelings. why do I feel as if there is something going on that I’m not aware of?”

Rory lets out a long, drawn-out sigh and says, “I’m sorry master, but I believe that this little thing may have the wrong idea about you.” Sensing the confusion she elaborated, “from what they had said so far, I assume they see males as the weaker of the two sexes. That would imply that they see you as the one that needs protecting. They might be thinking, you’re in some type of trouble.”

Chuckling to himself, he then says, “Well, if the fact that I have been sent to another world, while in a body that isn’t even mine isn’t enough. Then add on top of that with the fact there is a sun raising magical pony that has the power to do anything that her mind can think of.” He then sighs, “not only can she just do any magic, but due to the fact that she is on the top of the chain for most powerful political figures only means that the law won’t mean jack and will not be used on her for punishment. In other words, Celestia can get away with murder.”

Taking in a few breaths, he continued with, “So yeah, I’m in trouble alright, the worst kind. From the stories, there have been displaced that have done everything they could and still end up meeting her and that leads to them getting turned to stone, this leads them to become mentally insane from the isolation, or simply get killed off if lucky. There have been a few where she takes them and tortures them for her own personal amusement. Oh, by the twelve, I really hope she isn’t one of the worst ones.”

Rory sensing the buildup of anxiety from her master quickly says, “Its going to be ok master. You’re not alone, after all, I’m here with you. Even if I can’t do anything in the real world, I promise that I’ll do everything I can to make sure that you make it through this.”

Brex, who was becoming moved by Rory’s words let this slip through his lips in a small whisper, “Thank you Rory.” He then decided to pick up the pace and walked a little faster towards the steps that for the moment was perhaps 15 minutes away by his estimation using their progress displayed on his map.

Looking over his shoulder, Brex called to the ponies and said, “Not far now.” Then returned to facing forward. The rest of the trip had gone without anymore talking from either the two mare’s or Brex as the drew closer to the second exit.

When they had arrived to the destination marked on the map. Brex was not before a door, but a solid wall of stone. He approached it and pressed his hands on the rough surface and moved along it while pushing in random locations and rapping onto the stone with his knuckles in order to find anything amiss. This was going on for a few minutes.

He thought, “I know its here some place. The map shows something here, but it would seem that this exit was intended to be a secret so they purposely made it this way so any others wouldn’t find it. Ha, Ha, this reminds me of the first dungeon I ran where there was a secret switch you had to press to move on and the thing had a trap set up so if the wrong action was taken, then a monster would pop up. But if you happen to have done it right, then the real switch would be shown.”

He continued for a few more moments before his hands stopped on a particular spot and lightly hit it with his knuckles. This produced a deferent type of sound that the other spots had not produced. He then said out loud, “Found it…”

Brex was at that moment facing the wall while the mare’s were standing back a ways, this meant that they couldn’t see him too well and Brex used that to reach down and made a motion of pulling something out of a coat pocket. In reality, he was pulling something out from his equipment section and the item was something that he normally wouldn’t equip while in the Ninja class but he had a hunch that this might work.

In his hands was a rather large hammer that was roughly a foot and a half long, it had a blueish tinted metal on the end and had gold patterns engraved on the sides of the handle. This was the secondary tool used by the Miner class. He thought, “Well, its in my hands and I haven’t dropped it or had it just, disappear right back into the inventory. Was a little worried that holding this would switch my class but with it being the offhand item, that didn’t happen and I’m still a ninja. Let’s hope it works.”

While holding onto the item, Brex struck the wall on the abnormal location and this sent a wave of information into his head. The reason he used the tool was not, that he wanted to break the wall, but to gather information. He soon determined that this was constructed in a way that one could only get into the exit by busting through it. He said within his mind, “The lazy pony who made this didn’t even bother to install some lever.”

The tool had the stats to raise the user’s perception, but thanks to his tendencies to be a hoarder, he had one that was level one for him to utilize its functions.

He thought, “It’s a good thing I have a hard time in getting rid of things. Well, I did want to give this to one of my retainers so they could go out and get me some materials when I was busy. Hmm, I wonder what would have happened if they some how came along for the ride just like my gear? I wouldn’t know what to think if I had all four of those girls just popping up and waiting for me to issue them orders.”

This got a reaction from Rory in the form of a loud gasp and a worried tone as she said, “Master, what do you mean by that part of girls popping up thing just now?!” Within Brex’s head, the demi goddess of death stood there stock still with her biting her thumb as she waited for an answer.

Brex asked her, “Oh, here I thought that you knew everything that I did. What I was talking about before was over these four retainers that would serve me by selling my goods and along with me sending them on mission to either hunt, explore or harvest materials for my use. I would select how they looked from the race and all the way to their makeup.”

Pausing for a second, he continued with, “If I remember correctly, they were comprised of a wide variety of the races in the game. Such as, one being of the Human’s. Then there was one Miqo’te who is a cat-like race with pointed ears and a long feline tail. Then there are the Au Ra twins, The Au Ra are very similar to the human race except for their curved horns and glistening scales. Many speculate they descended from dragons.”

Rory was silent while hearing this, but as her master was nearing the end of the explanation and descriptions of his retainers. The girl was letting out small distressed grunts that went un-noticed by her master. When he finished, she replied in a, fake cheery tone, “I see, I’m so, happy that my master had such hard-working girls at his command to take care of him back then.” She then whispered under her breath, “I wish master would command me…” Rory then pouts and looks to the side with an envious expression.

Brex turns to the mare’s and says, “Stand back.” He then approaches the two and with a wave of his hand, gestures them to follow him to a safe distance from the stone wall. When they had reached about 11 meters away, he then pointed to a nearby book shelf and instructed them by saying, “Cover your ears.” The two quickly did as they were told and hid behind the shelf and covered their ears with both hands while trying to watch just what Brex would do next.

It was then, He walked back towards the wall and when he had traveled 5 meters closer. The Roegadyn used his, Ninjutsu: Fuma Shuriken. This launched a large shuriken at the fake wall, just as the blade sank into the stone, there was a concentrated explosion. This blasted the wall and sent the debris of rocks to litter the ground around the spot along with a large amount of dust. The blast caused a loud boom that rattled the books but they stayed in place. Brex then turned to see how the mare’s were doing.

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*

Shadow was very confused by what she had just seen. The stallion had been leading them deeper into the library for what seemed like forever, to only stop at a random part of the wall. She then witnessed him placing his hands all along the stones and at times rapping it with his knuckles. But what thrown her off was the fact that he had pulled out a rather large hammer and used it on the wall but only once then stopped.

She turned to Swirl and asked, “What do you think he is doing. This is a dead end, all I see is this wall.” Swirl tilted her head and said, “I’m not sure, all he said was to follow. But I think he is testing the wall with the hammer.”

Shadow then asked, “Do you find it odd that he can walk around down here without a light of his own or is that just me over thinking it?” Swirl replied while trying to watch what the stallion was doing in detail from the current angle, “It does seem as if he isn’t bothered by this darkness that’s for sure. He was able to read with very little light earlier. Is it possible that he is accustomed to the environment such as this place?”

Shadow scrunched up her face and replied, “It makes no sense for a pony to be so well adapted to such darkness. Its unnatural for one to walk as if, its… all… they… know…” Shadow’s face slowly shifted to horror as a stray thought crossed her mind, she then grabbed swirl by the shoulders and pulled her in close enough that they almost touched faces.

She then said to Swirl while her eyes where full of panic, “I think this poor stallion was held underground!” This caused Swirl to push on Shadow for a few more inches of breathing room before replying, “HUH?! Er… you’re going to have to run that past me one more time. Mabey add some context so I understand just what you’re getting at.”

Shadow continued by saying, “It all adds up, the lack of scent of others on him. The way he keeps his distance and doesn’t open up to us. Then there is the fact that he is alone and can operate just fine in such a scary, dark place as if it were normal for him.” At this point she was now doing a sort of yelling whisper while shaking her friend Swirl.

Shadow continued as she turned her gaze towards the stallion that was still looking at the wall and whispered to Swirl, “The Noble mare that had her eyes on him didn’t keep others away by assigning guards or anything like that! She had him locked up in a dungeon. That’s the only explanation. That’s why he seems at home here and isn’t scared like any other stallion would be. We need to tell Celestia so she can find the mare and punish her. This is just sick! Who knows how long he has been subjected to this, he must be so traumatized.”

It was then that both she and Swirl were escorted away from the wall and instructed to cover their ears. Swirl asked, “Wonder what he is going to do. I don’t see anything on him that would need us to be this far.”

Shadow, while covering her own ears said, “I don’t know. He isn’t going to do something crazy like, run right at the wall or something, is he?” She leaned her head around the shelf and Swirl soon, mirrored the action. A moment later they watched the stallion walk a little and stop in place. With the unicorn’s head laying on her friend’s, the two watched with confusion as they saw the stallion from the back.

It was but an instant later that Shadow could have sworn that she could hear what could have been a set of three, small ping sounds coming from the stallion before he produced a large item and swung in behind himself before hurling it at the wall. As the item was brought back, Shadow was able to make out a pony sized cross made of black sword like ends that resembles a windmill.

This brought back the memory of the time with the hydra. There was a pair of objects that came out of the woods that hit the beast and brought it to the ground. She thought, “Wait, I seen that before. So, it really was him back then, he saved our life’s not once but twice. He did all that and didn’t even show himself to us. But why, we could have helped him if he had told us about what was happening to him. Unless… oh no, did he think that we would capture him if we had seen him? If… if that’s the case then, the one that mistreated him, must be from Canterlot!” this made Shadow go pale, but then realized that the stallion was about to let the item go and closed her eye’s due to the knowledge of what’s to come.

There was a substantial boom that filled the area with a cloud of dust that managed to reach all the way to where the mare’s were hiding. She could hear the stallion calling out to them with the almost monotone voice of his that said, “This way.”

All that she could do was to nod, dumfounded as her hoofs brought her to the stallion and stood next to him. All the while thinking, “that, thing. It just, appeared. He, He can do magic, is he a unicorn? No, I didn’t see a horn. But he may have one, after all, its really dark in here so I could have just not seen it.”

Her friend Swirl followed Shadows and stood near to the stallion also and turned to shadow. She then mouthed out the words without making a sound, “A Strong unicorn?” Shadow could help but mimic her friend by mouthing, “Who is he?”

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

Thinking to himself, “Ok, now that the way is cleared, lets head out of here. The faster I get them to the outside, the faster I can get back to these books.” Seeing as the two were now standing close, the Roegadyn walks to the whole that was over 3 meters wide and enters the now unsealed steps that went in a straight line and was going up at a slight slope towards the surface.

It had taken them roughly ten minutes of climbing before they came to a set of wooden double doors that had a long-carved log placed across it to prevent it from opening. Brex reached out and grabbed the wood and lifted it off the metal hooks that kept it in place.

When he did that, there was a set of runes that flashed for but a second and disappeared as if they had lost their power. At the same time however, the unicorn that was called Swirl Sugar called out in a panic but stopped abruptly.

Turning towards her, Brex asked, “Yes?” All he got was the sight of the mare moving her mouth, but Brex couldn’t hear her making any sounds. He turned to shadow and said, “She, ok?

The earth pony shook her head and replied with an uneasy expression, “I, think so. Um, t-thanks for helping us down there. Your more than welcome to come back with us to Canterlot if you.” That was when Brex cut her off by saying what came next in a way that made it seem final. “NO!”

Brex started to push the set of doors and walked outside, the sun was still in the sky, but he looked at his clock and noticed that it was getting close to 3 in the afternoon. With what he knew, he figured that it would take them too long to get back to the outskirts of the Forest before it got dark and spoke. “Late… Stay tonight.”

This obviously wasn’t what the mare’s expected, Shadow called out to him by saying, “Huh? But we, can’t stay. We have to get back, isn’t that right Swirl?” the pony called Swirl said, “He does have a point there, Shadow. Just look at where the sun is now, it has to be two hours until the sun goes down. We can’t make it back out of the Forest before that happens. I’m not going through there in the middle of the night either.”

Brex then pointed back to the Castle and said, “Know… safe spot.” He escorted the pair of guard mare’s back to the castle and retraced the most direct path that let into the lunar wing and made it back to the bed chamber that belonged to the princess of the night.

He could hear the two talking to each other now and then but just focused on the path and kept an eye on his mini map for any other extra pests that may pop up as he showed them to the one place in the castle, he knew would be both safe and comfortable for the mare’s.

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*

They arrived at the double doors to a room that was on the top floor of a tower that had silver all along the door frame with moons and stars etched into it. The stallion opened the door and walked right in. soon after she and her friend entered as well and what they found was a rather large room that seemed to have been left to the passage of time thanks to all the dust covering almost everything within the room. Shadow did notice that the biggest bed she had ever seen seemed to be in wonderful condition though.

She was just about to ask how the sleeping arrangements were going to be but she heard the words, “I’ll take floor.” This caused both her and Swirl to stop and look at the male with confusion. Shadow then asked, “But, don’t you want the bed?” She then started to show a blush as she averted her gaze towards the floor and continued with, “Or we could, Umm. S-Share… the bed among all three of us…” She was now a full shade of red at the end of that sentence.

There was a short pause before he answered with, “Rather… not.” The stallion then turned to the door and was about to walk out. This caused Shadow and Swirl to look at one another with panic and reached out and both called out at the same time, “Wait, you don’t have to go!”

Shadow was kicking her self right now for what she had just tried to do with the whole, wanting the share the bed idea. She thought, “BUCK, BUCK, BUCK, Shadow why did you mentioned something like that?! Of course, he isn’t going to want that, especially after what you figured out about his past. You just made a move on a vulnerable stallion.”

She had just closed her eyes tightly. Just the idea of looking at him caused Shadow to fear that she could trigger some sort of traumatic memory to surface for the stallion. But what was said next brought that to a crashing halt.

The stallion turned and while looking over his shoulder said, “I’ll get food.” Then he walked out of the room and closed the doors. She could hear the steps become distant quickly before the silence was all that she could perceive.

Swirl placed a hand onto shadows right shoulder while standing behind her and said, “Its ok you see. He isn’t mad or anything, after all, he just said he is getting food.” She lets out a small chuckle before continuing, “He really isn’t like most stallions is he. Letting us have the bed to only end up taking the floor… I don’t know of any that wouldn’t take advantage of this situation.”

Swirl then turned Shadow around while changing her face to that of seriousness before saying, “But your idea about him being important may just be right on the money after all.”

Shadow tilted her head and said “HUH? Um… well of course he is important. After we inform the princess about the crime’s we can get him help.”

Swirl just held up her hand to let Shadow know she had something to say, “It’s not just that Shadow. Did you happen to notice anything odd about how we made our way up here? To be more specific, the fact that the runes that are in place to stop intruders all along the hall ways and including the ones outside this room didn’t react at all to him aside from a slight glow?”

Shadow reached up and began to scratch the back of her neck as she said in an unsure tone, “I think I saw that happening. Why do you ask?” she then tilted her head.

Swirl sighed at the sight before answering, “There are runes in place that are meant to stop any from entering areas of the castle that are not meant to be there. Which means that there are a select type that can just pass right by them and cause them to react in the way they have.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow as she asked, “So then, who would be the ones that could do something like that?”

This caused Swirl to facepalm before she talked past her hand, “The spells work on all that pass by them, but there are exceptions.” The unicorn then held up one finger and said, “The first is that only the princess can walk by them, this means royalty.”

A second finger is brought up before continuing, “The second would be some one that is with the princess at the time.” Swirl then pointed to Shadow, then herself.

Bringing her hand back up, Swirl showed an additional finger before saying, “The runes can detect if some pony is extremely trustworthy. Did you happen to know that back in the past, the princess worked with a powerful unicorn called Star Swirl the bearded?”

Shadow just closed her eyes for a moment or two and hummed to herself, but in the end, she gave a bashful expression as she replied with a simple, “sorry Swirl. No idea.”

This caused Swirl to use the hand that she had been using to count with to join the other in massaging her own tempol’s slowly. After calming down, Swirl explained, “He is a famous unicorn wizard. Aside from that, he and Princess Celestia worked on a number of runes in this old Castle.”

The unicorns’ eyes hardened again and she looked into Shadows eyes and talked in a serious tone, “So we have some new possibilities as to who this stallion could be now. Taking out the first part seeing as he is in fact, not the princess. He is either extremely trustworthy to the point that the princess could put complete faith in him with her very life or the last explanation is the fact that he could very well be of… royal lineage!” Swirls voice was getting higher as she got to the last part due to how excited she was getting.

The earth pony raised an eyebrow as she looked very confused during the explanation. As Swirl got near the end, the ponies expression turned almost pure white as she had a mortified and fearful expression, but quickly morphed to what could only be called a pissed off mare.

Shadow was now breathing heavily as she started to see red tinting her vision. Turning to Swirl, who by this time noticed her friends change, had taken a few steps back and was now sweating from nervousness.

Shadow then talked in a nearly, demonic like possessed tone that just oozed of unadulterated hatred, “IF I EVER COME ACROSS THE MARE THAT DID THIS TO HIM, I’LL, I’LL…” That was when she stomped the stone floor. This caused a network of spider web like cracks to spread from the spot while shaking the room. One could have confused the mare for a raging bull at that moment.

Back within Brex’s mind, Rory was watching her master, but then she turned her head around to some random direction and muttered under her breath, “Why do I feel as though I have a comrade?”

Now back with the girls. Shaking her head up and down at speeds that would make a certain pink mare impressed. Swirl, attempted to calm down her friend that was right now, more terrifying than the giant bug from down below the Castle. “Take it easy Shadow, we have the Stallion in our protective custody now. Like you said, we can explain the story to the princess and she can take it from there. All we have to do, is wait until tomorrow morning, then we head to Canterlot.”

Shadow had then taken a few deep breaths and replied in a more normal tone, but was on the edge of crying, “If what your saying is true… that he is just a really good pony or even royalty. Then what happened to him is just unforgivable. He, *Light Sobs* Saved us from death and told us we can use the bed and he would just take the cold floor. Also, he is out there looking for food for us…” Shadow was now rubbing at her eyes with her right arm while trying to keep it together, but was not doing a very good job.

She continued with, “It should be us that are doing that for him, not this way. He should be the one to have the bed. *Sobs* Why do I feel like this Swirl! Why can’t I stop thinking that I should be the one protecting him!” At this point Shadow was nearly bawling her eyes out.

Swirl came closer and gave her friend a tight hug as she wrapped her arms around the slightly smaller pony. The talked calmly to her and said, “It’s just your protective instincts kicking in, that all Shadow. Just take a moment to rest. Look, lets just sit on the bed. Today had been a long and stressful one.”

The two mare’s then approached the bed and sat near the edge. As Shadow calmed down. Swirl was taking the time to glance from her spot and gave the room a quick examination. She soon noticed something about the room and asked Shadow, “this room seems to have not been cleaned for a long time.”

She pointed to the floor near the door and brought her hand towards the balcony, then back to the bed before saying, “Its so dusty that I can tell just where one has been walking inside this room. Aside from a few spots here and there. I can tell that the only traffic is from the door, where it starts, then it leads to only the balcony and then to the bed.”

She then turns her head to the bed and leans in closer to give it a good sniff before saying, “His scent is so strong on this bed. Moreover, I can tell that its so strong that he must have been here for more than a day. If you take into account of how many hoof prints there are on the dust covered floor, then he must have only come in and left once.”

She then takes a thinking pose with her legs crossed before voicing her thoughts, “With how strong his scent is on this bed. Along with how it looks like he only came in here once. I think he must have been in bed for well over a day, maybe even two. But if that’s the case, then why… oh… could it be? Did he get hurt by the Star spider he mentioned and he had taken refuge in here to recover?”

She then turned to Shadow, who was strangely quiet for all this and discovered that she was face first into the pillow and taking in deep breaths through her nose. Swirl’s eyes widened and she screamed, “Shadow are you drowning yourself in the stallions scent?! Don’t tell me you’re in heat?!”

While still deep in the luxurious pillow, she replied with an exhilarated tone, “No~ I’m not in heat, its just. *Sighs in delight* He is such a good Stallion~ and he smells so good~ I can’t help it. This causes Swirl to just blink repeatedly as she was forced to watch her friend that was once a shy mare just earlier today, to some how become some sort of love-struck mare that even scares Swirl who was once in the red district. She couldn’t help but mutter, “Oh Buck, you got it bad girl!”

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

Back with the Roegadyn, he was just down in the kitchen trying to find some plates to use for the food he had managed to get after he left the girls. Running into the Everfree, he found some wild berries and other plants that he knew they could eat and made into a simple salad for their meal. He didn’t know why, but Brex was now shivering from nonstop waves of cold chills that wouldn’t stop running up along his spine.

He asked Rory mentally, “Any idea as to why I feel as if there is trouble in my future?” The girl within his head answered while giving out a cheerful tone, “Oh master, I think you need to pay more attention to your surroundings.” Brex then asked in a confused tone, “What do you mean by that?” After a moment, Rory replies, “Oh its nothing big. However, I will say this. Bringing them food in bed is a very high-level move, He-he.”

*Point of view: Unknown, Daddy*
*Location: Unknown*

Just like before, there was the location with a color changing sky above a sea of white and gold water. At a large oval shaped table there was two beings sitting in office chairs placed side by side.

Daddy was sitting beside little moon while apparently getting a crash course in how to use the table before them. He then said, “Oh, umm, so if I do this then…” there was a series of beeps and what could have only been the iconic sounds of an old-fashioned game over sound that soon came forth.

With a disgruntled sigh, Little Moon groans for the billionth time. She then says, “Uhg! Really?! Just how did you even manage to log-in in the first place?... I can’t do this without you daddy. I been trying to re-connect but it keeps rejecting my pass code. Apparently its keyed to you, so you better get caught up to how things work now!”

Daddy just groans in annoyance before saying, “Why do we have to use this anyhow. What happened to the whole thing where we just go down and do it in the direct way?”

Little Moon replies with a deadpan tone, “Well, if some one remembers the last time that was done, then they could recount the incident that was caused back on some other world?”

Daddy couldn’t help but show it in his voice a reluctant reply, “H-H How was I to know that would cause that worlds snakes to be the higher life form down the road and that they would kill one another over the color of their scales?”

Little Moon then says, “Well, that’s why we do things this way now. This table acts as the go between with us and there. It keeps us from going to far and is a kind of a buffer so that Snake fiasco doesn’t occur again.”

Daddy grumbles, “Kids these millennium don’t know how to let things go… not like I go around and point out that one time a certain Little Moon didn’t like where a particular moon was placed and decided to move it over a bit. In doing so she placed it in the path of two gods that happen to be leaving their world and caused them to crash through it. Thus leaving that world with a broken moon.”

The light blue and purple mist figure then turns a shade of pink in the area a face should be and quickly replies with an embarrassed tone, “You, you said you wouldn’t bring that up! Those brothers should have looked where they were going in the first place!”

Daddy then says, “Your lucky that it was the brother of light that got the worst of it and was forgiving in the end. Now if the dark brother was to be the one that got injured. *SHIVERS* I’ve seen the black and white things he calls up. Nasty buggers.”

He then continues with, “So back to the nitty gritty. How do I log into this thing again? I need to give this boy his things before something else happens. Also, it needs to be done before she shows up. You know how she can get about the rules.”

Little Moon just sighs before saying, “Oh she just needs time to cool off. She did have that nasty break up awhile back after all. Ever sense then, she has been acting like the new goddess of rules or something.”

Daddy then replies in a confused tone, “Didn’t that happen like… er… when was it again? Now was that before or after the primordial ooze started to spit out life?”

Little Moon answered with, “No, this was around the time the dinosaurs died out. Your thinking of the one before that.”

It was then that a new female voice came and it sounded as if it where right behind the two sitting at the table in a cold tone, “No… daddy. Your thinking of my first. The one after the dinosaurs was my third boyfriend…”

Both Daddy and Little Moon slowly turned their chairs towards the new arrival and in perfect unison they said, “Hi there, when did you get back Little light? Hehe Hehe.”