A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 33: Spies in The Family.

*Point of view: Third Person
*Location: Fancy Pants Manor*
*Time: Close to one in the morning*

After Brex had invited the Changeling maids to share his bed, did they jump at the opportunity without any indecision. They ended up laying on either side of Brex in the same way as they were positioned during dinner. With the dark haired one on his right and the silver haired maid on his left side.

Brex realized that the bed, although being as big as it was, would have made it difficult for all of them to fit comfortably with him having his arms down at his sides. Seeing as the only option was to either kick them out or use his arms to pull them in, Brex had little choice in the matter.

He then reached up and around the maids and brought them closer into his body. Thereby causing them to roll and press their chests onto him. This left both of the Changelings to use his upper arms as improvised pillows while leaning in.

Although, when he did this, he had elicited a set of excited. ‘EEPS’ From the two. Seeing that both of their cheeks were getting heavily flushed at being made to do something like that without first asking. Brex immediately apologized by saying, “Sorry if what I did startled you. There isn’t a whole lot of space and I wanted to make sure that the two of you didn't fall out of the bed in the middle of the night. If this is uncomfortable for you? Then I could…”

He was about to remove his arms that were currently placing his palms on Their backs to keep them steady. However, the moment his hands began to let up on pressure, did both of the maids suddenly let out a set of gasps as they quickly reached around with their free arms to grab onto his hands in order to prevent it from leaving.

While trying to prevent their faces from being seen as much as possible, the two attempted to hide their expressions by pressing themselves into his clothing. The one on is right spoke up and said, “N-No please my Lord, That's quite all right. T-Thank you for the consideration. I can say for my sister that we are quite comfortable as we are now.”

What they neglected to say to Brex, was that they were both getting turned on more and more as time went on with how he was going right ahead and doing things without even asking permission first. Which was a rarity among the males, as they always seemed too scared to make the first move most of the time.

The maid on his left was the next to speak as she asked while still hiding her face, “D-Does the Lord not intend to undress before sleeping? It must be quite uncomfortable to be wearing those clothes to bed. If you wish, we could help with the undressing.”

To that, Brex simply shook his head as he said, “No, that won't be necessary. I tend to sleep fully dressed. So, this is no issue for me.” He then felt them releasing his hands and soon were now placing their own across his chest only a few seconds later.

Of course, by doing this, they also shifted their bodies just a little. This small act of movement had the effect of allowing Brex to feel they're ample orbs pressing up against his form quite firmly. This in turn, only caused him to feel some more arousal, which he had to concentrate far more on containing the feelings from being detected.

Both of the maids began to shiver and Brex began to think that they must have been cold with how they were only wearing a set of extremely revealing nightgowns that barely covered much of anything. He had wanted to use the rescue skill to pull the blankets backup, but he had neglected to glamor any of his gear to that of the mysterious Butler. So, if he tried the change right there, then his outfit would have as well and he didn't want to startle the girls.

With a careful application of moving his right leg, he managed to hook his foot underneath the edge of the blanket and began to pull it along its body until it was close enough to grab onto with his hand. All the while, he felt as the maids were beginning to shiver even more. So, he hurriedly pulled the covers the rest of the way up until it was just below their shoulders.

What he hadn't realized was yet, was that the reason that the maids we're shivering, was not entirely due to the cold of the room. But it had more to do with their close proximity to Brex. Ever since they felt something being emitted from him during dinner, they had yet to calm down and this situation was only making things more difficult for them in the current scene.

It didn't help them anymore when they felt him moving his arms and legs as he tried to bring up the blanket to cover them. During this act, he had inadvertently caused their legs to swing over his own and this was causing them to repeatedly press their lower lips against the fabric of his pants leg.

Thanks to the glamor turning his gear to that of a Butler's outfit that was meant to be extremely stylish as to serve those of the higher class, the fabric itself was essentially the same as the finest silk. Which only meant that the rubbing was that much more pleasurable for the maids as it brushed into their privets.

The dark haired one opened a mental link with her sister that was on the other side of Brex and began to say, “Sister are you doing OK over there? I can't tell if he’s purposely doing this or if it is an accident.” The other then reply to her the same way with saying, “I really can't tell. I can't sense his emotions at all. But its hard to believe how soft his clothing is on my... All I can say is-.” She had suddenly stopped in mid-sentence. Not even a second later, did she release through the mental connection a low moan to her sister.

To which she got a confused tone from her sister in her mental voice as she asked, “What just happened are you OK?” She ended up getting a following answer that was more of a whimper as the other sister said, “It’s... Fine...*HUFF* He, just moved this leg little more and it... *HUFF* Brushed up on my... *GASP* Oh! He did it again! Uh~ I don't know how much longer I can handle this. I've never been with a stallion that didn't just go straight for having sex. By the time we normally get them in bed, it's a done deal.”

The maid with the dark hair then said, “I know how you're feeling. This is a first for Me Too! I don't think I've ever Been this pent up before. Is it weird of me to say that not knowing how he feels and having to hold back, is really turning me on? I think if he was to do what he did to us back at the hive again, I would most likely be out of it for a full week with how I'm all wound up right now.”

Back with Brex, he was completely unaware that the two of them were having a discussion with how everything was silent in the room. It was too bad that he had a hard time with sensing their body heat with how he had a high resistance to both fire and ice. But feeling them cozying up against his body was sending him a sense of comfort in some strange way. He didn't know why, but this situation seemed rather familiar to him.

He then focused on putting himself to sleep as to avoid any more embarrassing moments. Only a few seconds later did he finally close his eyes and fall into the realm of sleep just as the clock in the room had reached one in the morning.

Unknown to him, the two Changelings maids however, had yet to fall asleep with how they were constantly fidgeting now and then while pressing themselves against him. Several minutes passed after Brex had finally fallen asleep and the Changeling on his right-hand side was now bucking her hips lightly against his pants leg. All the while, trying not to wake him up and letting out small, short whimpers.

The one on the other side wasn't faring so much better as she was biting down on a few of her fingers to stifle a moan. Whenever one of them was making too much noise or was about to go too far, they would stop immediately. Only to only shutter uncontrollably before relaxing. Much to their dismay… or perhaps pleasure, to end up repeat this process over and over again throughout the course of the night.

*Point of view: Dragon Lord torch.
*Location: Dragon lands, Northwest territory. Across the sea.

High above in the skies and just below some of the few clouds, was a large dragon of epic proportions hovering in the air with the use of its mighty wings. At this moment, it was currently staring down at the mountain range below with anger burning in its large eyes and smoke bellowing from the edges of its partly open mouth that was lined with sharp teeth that were fully capable of shredding even steel.

This was the current Dragon Lord of all dragons and his name was Dragon Lord Torch. His body was so massive that it would not have seem out of the realm of possibility that his entire body would not have been able to fit within the castle of Celestia even if they were to completely hollow out all the furniture and walls within the structure itself.

In the middle of a small range of mountains, on the edge of their territory was a large hoard of monsters scaling their way down the side of a few of the mountains as they made their way towards the flat planes below.

There could have easily have been close to two hundred and total as they made the sight of the mountain appear as if it was rippling with the waves of them crossing over the surface. Most of which consisted of these lizard type creatures with long arms, legs and a long neck that had a serpent head that resembled a cobra.

( Here is the Lizard picture. )

There were even these creatures that looked as if they were dogs that were half starved to death with how they were so thin. But at the same time, their body structure was quite large as they roamed on four legs and had an oversized jaw with sharp serrated teeth that could be seen from quite a distance.

( Here is the Monster Dog Picture. )

The last type of monster that could be seen in this grouping, appear to be a two-legged creature that was a cross between a dinosaur and a bird that had a large mouth with many small teeth within it.

( Here is the Dino-Bird Picture. )

Judging from the size of each monster, they were large enough to be around three meters tall. Three and a half to four if you counted the long snake like neck on the lizard. As for the one that appeared to be resembling a dog, that one was closer to one and a half meters tall.

A myriad of noises was being made by each of them that consisted of howl's, hissing and snapping of jaws while marching.

One of the lizard like creatures had come across what appeared to be a prairie dog that was out in the middle of the open, while trying to escape the horde of monsters. It had made the unfortunate mistake of looking towards the lizard like creature for it to see a red light emanating from its eyes. Which instantly turned its form into stone. Only to be immediately crushed by the same monster as it continued on its unknown path with its front leg.

Dragon Lord Torch had finally had enough and had made a dive bomb after folding his wings in. From an outsider's point of view, they would see a large black object falling from the heavens and heading straight towards the mountain range. Halfway down, its entire surface erupted in a bright flame that caused everything within a hundred miles to be bathed in its light as if it itself was a miniature sun crashing to the earth.

Just before getting to the ground, Dragon Lord Torch unfurled his wings once more and changed his heading to go down along the slope. Keeping at a very low altitude, the dragon breathes out a heavy torrent the flames which was capable of spreading out and covering the entire side of the mountain he was passing.

The monsters that were caught up in the sudden tsunami of heat were instantly engulfed within seconds and turn to nothing but bones and ash, which crumpled to the ground in heaps.

As soon as he had gotten down to the plains, he had circled around immediately. This allowed him to display his abnormal ability to change his flight path even with his enormous stature. In doing so, he caused a miniature tornado to occur right when his tail whipped out as he straightened out.

This too had done a significant amount of damage to the few monsters that had managed to run down the base of the mountain. These were swept up and bashed against the large nearby rocks, thereby killing them instantly with the blunt force trauma.

Taking in another deep breath after holding himself in a hovering position and facing the way he had just came, another blast of flame that was more intense than the one previously used to be launched while he swept his head side to side. This attack had the desired effect of blanketing everything in sight with his flames. During each of these attacks, the heavens themselves were rumbling with his tremendous roar that came with each breath attack.

The whole scene had lasted for no more than a few minutes until he was finally finished and landed on the ground with a heavy crash. He then propped himself up with the use of his arms and legs until he was now sitting on his tail and observing the carnage that he had just brought.

The once pristine mountain range that was mostly comprised of brown earth and rock, was now completely blackened. There are even sections which had been turned to glass due to the intense heat and was now reflecting the light of the moon above.

After letting out a menacing growl that echoed through the deepest reaches of the planes, did he finally take flight once again with just a single flap of his enormous wings. He then soared over the dragon lands to which he was so ruler of for the next hour until he had come across the site of at least fifty dragons that were in the midst of their own battle against similar creatures. This was due to him having the eyesight of a dragon which could see miles upon miles away.

By the time he had finally gotten to them, the battle had been won. But not without a few of the dragons showing injuries that would no doubt take some time to recover. Unfortunately, he could see that there was one that was on the ground not too far away that appeared to have been turned to stone and broken into several pieces.

Dragon Lord Torch couldn't help but to let out a growl upon seeing this site as he said, “Grrrrrr... For all of our strength and might, as well as our resistance to magic. We are still falling to these lesser creatures. You there! See that this one's family is notified. Tell them that he fell bravely in battle in defending their family.”

The dragon he had called out to, had immediately bowed before taking flight to the center of the dragon lands to where the hatchery and much of the remaining dragons have taken refuge, along with their hatchlings.

Dragon Lord Torch then called over the nearest dragon. Which was only up to his knee in height. This one had blue scales all over its whole body and a short-bladed tip on the end of its tail that appeared to resemble that of a diamond with how smooth and dangerous it seemed.

The dragon then spoke in a female's voice as it said, “My Lord! All enemy combatants have been slain. I regretfully inform you that we lost another four dragons in this raid. That brings the total of this year up to twenty-one dead.”

Dragon Lord Torch then snarled at this information, but manage to quickly calm himself down before he went and lost his temper. This would normally end with him striking the nearest living creature, which would have been one of his fellow dragons.

He then spoke with much irritation in his voice, “This makes the fifth time this year that we've seen one of this size coming towards us. It's like they breed just to make numbers to attack us as if it was, they’re only meaning in life. If this keeps on going, odds are we'll end up losing the dragon lands to these monstrosities. Do they intend to weather down our numbers by sending these nearly endless waves?”

He was about to go on before he heard the flap of another dragon that was speeding towards him at nearly breakneck speeds. It then suddenly passed by overhead and whizzed around while making a large arc before coming back to land with a heavy thud, which displaced much of the dirt nearby.

This had the effect of causing not only Dragon Lord Torch and the blue dragon nearby to cough at the dust cloud filling their lungs, but also at least half a dozen more nearby. After finally being able to breathe once more, Dragon Lord Torch bellowed out, “Thunder Claw! How many times have I told you to slow down?!”

Before the Dragon Lord, was a new dragon that was jet black. Some of the scales were colored neon blue and they were arranged on his body in a pattern that was reminiscent to a thunder strike reaching out as it started near the back of his head and ran along the length of his body and wings.

The now named Thunder Claw, began to speak in a very rushed tone that would make one wish that a tape recorder had been invented already in their world to capture what was being said, only to be played back in slow motion to be understood. Thunder Claw was saying, “I found another group of monsters, they were over on the South side. They were heading towards the hatchery!”

Dragon Lord Torch picked up the word monster, south and hatchery. With eyes going wide, he was about to take flight after bringing out his wings to full mast. However, he was stopped when Thunder Claw zoomed up and block this path while hovering in the air near his face. Getting rather annoyed, Dragon Lord Torch thought to himself, “This whelp is not even half my height and yet he always shows me disrespect.”

He was about ready to simply blast this tiny dragon out of the way, but stopped when he heard what the dragon said next. While speaking in the same rushed voice as before, He said, “Don't worry, they're already dead!” This earned him a confused stare from Dragon Lord Torch.

Appearing to be taking a few breaths to calm down, the dragon then began to speak again. But this time at a more understandable speed. While pointing towards the south, Thunder claw said, “I was making my rounds on patrol in the south right after a sandstorm had just passed through. What I found was the corpse of a number of monsters littering the ground. I couldn't tell how many there was because of the storm, but there could be many more buried just underneath the sand.”

The dragon went on to continue with, “From where they were, they could have easily have gotten to the hatchery long before our forces returned. We're lucky that they were stupid enough to go through a sandstorm and to be killed off by it.”

Dragon Lord Torch then released a long sigh of relief as he pulled his wings back in. He then looked in the direction of where the hatchery should be. With his eyes now going relaxed, he said under his breath, “Thank goodness... We deployed all of our forces to the North. There was almost nothing left to defend the hatchlings. If those monsters had gotten through, then even my daughter would have been killed.”

He then turned towards Thunder Claw and commanded, “I want you to head back after rallying the troops to return. You're our fastest flier. I will return home and stand watch until our remaining forces arrive.” To which the dragon bowed and took off again towards the nearest group of dragons to relay the message.

Afterwards, Dragon Lord Torch then took back to the skies and was now making his way back home. The night sky still had a few hours left before the princess of the sun began the rotation.

He grumbled to himself as he said, “These attacks are coming too often. If it weren't for our scouts, we would have been unprepared for a night time assault. I hate to admit it, but we may need to call on outsider's help… No! What am I thinking! We're dragons, we're the most powerful beings on the planet. We can handle this; their numbers are not infinite.”

The scene then shows the large dragon disappearing over the horizon with the moon still hanging high in the sky.

*Point of view: Third Person*
*Location: Griffin Empire. One of the small towns along the coastline. Over the sea. *

Along the coastline near the Griffin Empire. Is a small village with no more than forty residents living within it. The occupants were that of the griffins and they lived within wooden houses built into the high trees of the forest nearby the sea.

The Griffin's living here happened to be very much accustomed to warm climates and wore very little in terms of clothing. The males would commonly wear what appear to be leather armor made of a crude design that was only meant to protect their chest. As for their arms and legs, they were merely wrapped in brown leather that seamlessly matched the tone of their fur, which all happened to be that of a light brown.

The females that didn't wear any armor at all, would be wearing something reminiscent of a bikini. As for the males that wore no armor, they simply had on a loin cloth to cover up their privates and tails. This small town was known for their fish that they would catch and then sell their extras to the towns and cities deeper Inland.

Tonight, seemed like any other with some of the youth who are accustomed to being out at night we're only just now coming back to sleep. The atmosphere was that of a tropical paradise with how the distant waves can be heard over the wind.

However, tonight that at was going to be broken. A series of loud shrieks and squawks could be heard coming from the coastline. This brought the attention of all those within the town almost immediately.

Those who knew how to fight quickly grab the nearest weapon they could find and made haste in taking to the skies. The urgency of the screams from before caused those who had not done any armor previously, to forgo dawning any to answer the call.

When a number of the fighters and hunters had arrived brandishing their wooden spears that were tipped with metal added to the points showed up, they found one of their own kind, a male Griffin roughly the age of eighteen on the ground. It was clear to all that he was dead after having his head bitten clean off by some predator.

One of the hunters had immediately lost what they had eaten that day onto the sand after seeing the site. Before any of them could say anything, there was a sudden swish sound that came from near the tree line where a small river was entering the forest from the sea.

A number of the Griffins that were on the sand, were suddenly knocked over onto the ground unceremoniously after a large object had sped by and struck them all with its momentum.

Those that were flying, were having a hard time of seeing just what was attacking them. Thanks to it being night time and the blinding glare from the waves reflecting the moonlight, the Griffins were having a hard time with adjusting their sight with the constant changes between the darkness and the light of the moon.

Eventually, one of them had managed to position themselves so that they had their back towards the sea and called out while pointing their spear towards the target that was attacking and said, “A fish is attacking us! A fish that floats on land!”

( Here is the Picture of the Fish monster. )

What the young Female Griffin hunter had said was true. Right there floating only feet above the ground as if still swimming along the sea floor, was a large fish. Brown in color with a very long snout with rows of teeth showing. With each movement of its fins, it moved the same way it would in the water. It then charged towards one of the nearest set of Griffins that were still on the ground and began to spin in a corkscrew motion as water began to surround its body that just came out of nowhere.

It suddenly had a burst of speed and tackled one Griffin that wasn't ready and there was a sickening crunch as the body went limp as it tumbled across the sand until it finally came to a stop. Now motionless. Now getting wise as to its attacks, the remaining Griffin's took flight and began to throw their spears at the monster fish.

A number of the spears had ended up missing and when the opportunity came up, any Griffin that was currently without a weapon, would dive bomb the sand and retrieve one of the weapons to use again before the fish had managed to get to them.

Most of the attacks that did land, only bounced off and caused very little damage. But eventually the accumulation over time had managed to finally catch up to the creature and it fell to the sand after one of the spears had gotten through one of its scales that had been previously damaged after repeated strikes.

One of the griffins finally spoke up after examining the strange monster after landing and said, “This is the first time I've seen one of these, have any of you?” This only got shakes of the head from every one of the Griffin's in attendance. The same Griffin then pointed towards the river and said, “That there leads near town. If we hadn't had stopped at here, then it could have made its way over to us while in our sleep.”

Upon hearing those words, a few of the female Griffin squawked in hysterics and one of them called out and said, “They would have gotten to the chicks. We need to put up more guards incase more of those things come back. We need to send a word to the Griffin Empire that a new monster has appeared.”

The one Griffin that had gotten taken out after arriving was being tended to by another. After a few seconds, that one turn towards the group and slowly shook their head.

The one that had spoken up first and pointed out the river then said, “More guards may not be enough. You saw what it took for us to take one of those beasts down. We need to come up with new way to combat the new threat. I suggest that we should send a few warriors to get training at the capital. Then they can return and teach us. Until then, no Griffin is to go anywhere alone, especially at night.

*Point of view: King Longhorn the Third. *
*Location: Minotaur kingdom Capital, Island of Thrace. *

Right now, King Longhorn the Third was In a meeting with one of his generals and a leader of the largest mine that was directly underneath the kingdom. Where they would dig up a large portion of their minerals that are used for their crafts, which consisted primarily of metal working.

At the moment, the mine leader and the general were currently having a heated discussion which consists of them literally grinding their horns into one another as they bash their heads repeatedly. Apparently, this had been happening quite often and this current bout of discussions has already passed the thirty-minute marker.

King Longhorn the Third, who is known by those close to him as simply being Longhorn, was now massaging the bridge of his snout while sitting at the end of a long table watching these two bickering like an old married couple.

After finally rubbing his hand down his face one last time, did he finally stand up and slammed his left fist onto the table. This had the effect of creating a defining boom as it nearly made a noticeable indentation onto the steel table itself. Thankfully it had the desired effect of getting the two arguing Minotaur’s attentions.

After letting out a strong snort, Longhorn then bellowed out, “Mind telling me what the problem is this time?!” To which the general answered with saying. “We're having issues with taking out the new problem. Because of this, the miners are not doing their job and of course this leads to a lack of weapons to deal with the new threat.”

The mine leader then stepped forward and pushed onto the general with a heavy shove as he turned to give Longhorn his version of things. While holding up his arms in exasperation, the Mine leader said, “It's not our fault we can't get at the raw minerals. Ever since those lumbering giants showed up down there when we broke down a few of the walls leading to new cave systems, they've been popping up one after another. It's gotten to the point that my workers are scared of their own shadows!”

“Now if that wasn't bad enough, the little monsters that come flooding through the new openings are not helping. One of my miners had gone and mistook a monster as a hunk of ore to be mined, only to be attacked unaware of the danger. Of course, we can't make new weapons if we aint got the raw materials!”

Longhorn then leaned across the table while sitting down again. He then rested his right elbow and propped up his head as he leaned onto his hand and asked in a exhausted tone. “Tell me what the casualties were on this latest issue.”

The Mine leader then spoke up again and said, “We lucky no life has been lost. However, a number of our equipment went and got itself all smashed up due to the monsters swinging those blasted oversized sledgehammers of theirs.”

“A few of our heavy excavator equipment ended up getting blown to bits by some of those weird floating fireballs that got too close for comfort. I got about a quarter of my men in the infirmaries right now trying to nurse some rather nasty lumps and it's gonna take more than a wee while before they recover to be of much help.”

When that report was finished, the general was the next to speak up with his own as he said, “My King, my men have been fighting these things off for a while now and our weapons are just not cutting it. We keep needing to get them repaired or more often, replaced faster than the blacksmiths can handle the orders.”

“And seeing as we specialize in this here in our city, that's saying a lot. Nevertheless, if we can manage to push through enough and mine up some of the new ore that we discovered around the time that these creatures showed up, that might be what we need to have a fighting chance.”

The ore in question, was something that they had not come across until only around a week ago. A small amount was brought to a blacksmith and it was found out that the mineral was easily twice as strong as iron. It had taken some considerable work, but they had managed to get whatever they could to form a single one handed, wide blade sword that was roughly five and a half feet long.

The King recalled how he had originally wanted his general to use the weapon to help fight off the creatures as to mind more. Yet, it was voted against with the council's recommendation that such a rare weapon should not be used out of fear of being lost and wielded by one of the beasts to use on them would not be the best course.

When Longhorn at first heard about these creatures that stood on two feet that were obviously taller than themselves from a report, he was dumbstruck that there was something else out there aside from a dragon that could have been taller than themselves. Even the princess of the sun was but a few inches shorter than a regular Minotaur.

Longhorn then asked the pair across the table, “What are our losses if we allow such an occurrence to keep going? To which he got an answer from the general as he said, “My King, we have troops that are in desperate need of new weapons and repair work on their gear who are out in the field fighting the monsters as we speak. Our island nation only has problems with the monsters that are in the underground mines and those that come onto shore from the sea. Those we can handle with what we have on hand.”

“But It's a whole nether issue when it comes to those on the mainland. They don't have access to the stockpile we have here when it comes to weapons and provisions. I'm the last one to say this, but we may have to reach out for aid. If things go on as they are now, it's only a matter of time until our military structure collapses.”

With that, the general stepped back and looked towards the Mine Leader, who then nodded and stepped forward to give his own say. After taking in a deep breath, he then said, “What the lunkhead over here is saying about the situation with the ore and minerals for our gear is pretty much spot on. We have a sizable amount of iron to keep the forges going for a while. But if we don't turn a profit with the mine's after so long, then we will be unable to provide anything when it comes to exports.”

“We rely heavily on trade and something like this would not only destabilize our military, but our economy completely. If some new policies are not put into effect soon, odds are we will never be able to recover. We would be forced to give whatever we could for aid, which would of course look poorly on us.”

Longhorn then closed his eyes while letting out an exhausted sigh. After a few seconds, he then opened his eyes again and sat up and leaned against the back of his chair as he said, “Send a messenger to Equestria. The message will be this. The Minotaur Kingdom requests aid in the form of adventurers. Inform them that we are need of skilled fighters to handle a monster infestation in our lands. Payment will be negotiable upon arrival and further information will be given then.”

The general was the next to speak up as he asked, “Payment to be negotiable? Isn't that a little reckless?!” Longhorn then answered with, “We’re saying that to get them to come here. No doubt those words will cause the greedier of the bunch to show up. But what we need right now are numbers and this is the only way I can think of to get those ponies to come all the way out here from the other side of the world.”

“No way am I gonna call help from those ignorant Dragons or those conniving Griffin's. And before you say it, I already know about the racism that the ponies have. Those bunch, they're the lesser of the three evils.”

He then let's out a long sigh before continuing with, “We Just want to do what we like and that's working with metal. We dig it up, process, mold, build things and sell it to other nations. We pretty much keep to ourselves and don't start any trouble. Just why is it we have to deal with stuff like this?”

After rubbing his eyes, he went on to say, “Sometimes I wonder if it was really worth taking over the throne for my father?” The King then slammed his head into the table with a resounding thud. The two from a cross said table were only looking at each other and then the king as they whispered the following words in unison, “Glad I'm not the king.” After a few moments, they saw how their king had yet to sit back and the Mine leader asked the general, “Hay…You don’t think he got his horns stuck again in the table, do you?”

A few seconds later, they could hear the King grumbling with his face that was smooched into the metal table saying in a low whisper, “Could I get a little help here? One of yeah get the crowbar… its in the corner by the door.” Apparently, his horns had managed to impale the table and he was literally stuck.

*Point of view: Brex
*Location: Fancy Pants Manor
*Time: Close to six in the morning

During the night after going to sleep, Brex had gone into his dreamscape and found that Rory had locked herself away in one of the other rooms that were not in use. It had taken a little while of coaxing and he had managed to get her to come out.

Brex had figured that Rory was not very good when it came to being praised, considering the fact that she was modeled after the anime character who always seemed to get uncomfortable when a devote follower was praising her. But he had no idea how weak his Rory was to being flattered and talked about in such a way.

As a result, she wanted him to cuddle with her for the night as a form of an apology. To which he was all for and the pair undressed immediately and climbed into the large bed together. At first, Rory wanted to at least play around, but was reminded by Brex that if they had done something and he had ended up getting too aroused, that might have an effect on the Changelings outside in the real world that we're currently clinging to him.

After pouting for a little while from hearing this, Rory resigned herself to simply holding on to her master for the rest of the night while he fell into a deeper sleep.

When it had come close to being six in the morning, Brex had begun to wake up as per the norm. Upon opening his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. But after allowing himself a moment to recall the previous day’s events, he remembered that he was in the guest room. Unfortunately, he had taken too long to recall those memories before his hands had unintentionally dropped from where they were. Which was on top of the maid's backs and we're now resting on their asses.

When he had done this, he had elicited a pair of high pitch moans as both of them instantly bucked against his legs hard while arching their backs. Brex's eyes went wide upon seeing the shocked looks on the both of them before witnessing their eyes rolling in the back of their heads as they immediately after ended up slumping their bodies on top of him while panting heavily.

Within Brex's head, all thought came to a screeching halt for what seemed like an eternity to him. After several minutes had passed, it appeared that both of the maids were currently out cold and we're not going to be getting up anytime soon.

As if on auto pilot and without thinking, he used to shadow movement to dive into the one that was being made on the bed just underneath his body. Before the pair of Changeling maids could fall through, the whole had closed up and they were now resting comfortably on the bed. Meanwhile with Brex, he had appeared on the far side of the room where there was the most amount of shadow in one corner.

Thanks to the way that his body was positioned earlier, he had only traveled through for a split second to find that he was already set up to exit the shadows on his feet. Then as if almost robotically, he turned towards the other door of the room that led to the bathroom and quietly went inside before closing the door with as little noise as possible.

As soon as the door had made that small click, did he whirl on the spot to face towards the mirror that was just over the sink and leaned in to look at his emotionless, wooden masked face.

With his shaking right hand, he reached up and removed his mask and slowly placed it on the counter next to the sink. While he was doing this, he had not looked away from the mirror and watched as his face was being revealed to show that he had gone from his usual pale color to that resembling of tomato with wide unblinking eyes.

He felt that Rory was about to say something, but quickly nipped that in the butt by mentally saying, “Not... One... Word...” Thankfully for once, Rory listened to him and remained silent.

Seeing what he had done to those two was making it very hard for him to have straight thoughts and even trying to figure out what had just happened was well beyond his current cognitive functions. Right now, his mind was in the middle of trying to reboot as if having a system crash. Slowly, over the course of several more minutes, did he manage to finally bring himself to even blink. A minute after that, he began to turn on the faucet and tried to splash some cold water on his face to help wake himself up from the stupor he was in.

He then sighed immediately after when he remembered how he had a resistance to the cold, so the water simply felt the same as room temperature to him.

He then went back to looking up at the mirror and slowly whispered to himself in a low volume as not be heard by any other besides Rory. “This is something I need to take care of now. I really need to apologize to them both. Even after I told them I wouldn't do anything and this being an accident, it's still on my part.” Before he could even get his hands on the door knob to exit the bathroom. Rory spoke up and halted him by saying, “Master, I think you should hold on.”

While he gave her a confused look, she went on to say, “Just think about your position. Yes, it was an accident, but you're beating yourself up too much over it. Also, if you go out there in your current state, you’re only gonna make yourself seem weak.”

Within his head, Brex replied by asking, “I don't really understand. What's wrong with me simply coming out and saying I'm sorry. Isn't it always the best plan to straighten these misunderstandings in the beginning, rather than letting them go on?”

Rory then released a tired sigh as she replied to that by saying, “Just think about it. Yes, it was an accident and you didn't mean to do it, but you don't have to run to them. From what I could tell, they went through a big rush just moments ago. Right now, they're not thinking clearly.” The next part she whispered so low that Brex was having a hard time of hearing it when she said, “I can relate to how they're feeling after being touched by your hands.”

Brex was about to ask on what she had just said, but she went on to say, “Talk to them later tonight. Get them alone and explain the situation calmly. Don't overthink things, just give them the facts. Otherwise, it will just seem like you're begging for forgiveness when you don't need to. Keep in mind, they're the ones that wanted to do this and they were fully expecting something to happen to begin with. All you did was accidentally move your hand down and they ended up having that reaction.”

“Besides, it's not like you already didn't make half of their colony collapse from a sudden, orgasm sneak attack in one night already. This is pretty tame compared to that.”

What Rory was saying was beginning to calm him down, but the part at the end had only Re-lit the flames of embarrassment as his face turned beat red again after only moments ago it had just finished with returning to normal.

It had taken Brex a good ten minutes to calm down enough to finally get out of the bathroom. Only to find the two Changeling's still in bed and passed out along with a set of content smiles as their bodies were spread out underneath the blankets.

Brex made a motion to the door, however, he stopped after a few feet and looked over his left shoulder towards the bed. After letting out a small sigh, he went over to it and gingerly pulled the blanket so that they were fully covering the maids has to make them more comfortable before exiting the room and closing the door behind himself.

The next fifteen minutes went with him digging through the kitchen and locating all of the ingredients required to make his pancakes for all of those living in the house.

While getting everything set up on the counter, he thought to himself about if he should try adding a little something to it and opened his Item box. Brex then began to scroll through his contents. Luckily, once he used the organization tab, everything was shuffled around and placed into neat groups that went with what they were meant for.

First, we're all of his extra weapons and armor, along with jewelry consisting of rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. After that was an assortment of other various items. It didn't take long until he got to the section that had all of his ingredients when he came to cooking.

He had considered in going in and pulling out a few of them, but he had yet to see any on his travels to say that they were around in their lands. Not wanting to draw even more suspicion by pulling out something completely alien, he scrolled around more until he had found an item that he knew was from this world. Right there, in a neat pile within one of the slots, showed something being called Everfree Strawberries.

As soon as he mentally clicked on the icon, did a small mound appear on the counter before him that consisted of approximately thirty of them in total. Just as he went to go pick one up to begin washing them all, did he have a sudden déjà vu feeling. His face, that was at the time relaxed, became a little sorrowful as he began to picture the faces of the two mare’s that he had begun to talk with for the first-time sense coming to this world.

He spent a good minute in silence just staring at the piece of fruit. During that time, more images of their encounter came flooding from his memories. He almost broke into a small smile when he recalled their reactions when it came to him giving these to them back then.

A small sound caught his attention and he moved his head to trying locate where it was, but it's all nothing. Then there was another and that was then proceeded with another one immediately after. Upon the last, he located the sound to be becoming from directly below him and when he looked down, he saw a couple of wet spots on the stone floor.

He was just about to kneel down to find out what they were, when he noticed a single droplet falling from the bottom of his mask to join the others on the floor. After blinking a few times, he came to realize that they had been tears that he himself was unaware of making.

At that point, Rory had already used her imaginary doorway and was now standing alongside of Brex, while placing a hand onto his right arm, just above the elbow. She then asked, “You really missed them, don't you?”

Immediately, Brex went back and began to wash the strawberries hurriedly with a bucket of water that he had retrieved before starting his preparations. While doing so, he answered Rory in an obviously fake, cheery tone. “What? I don't know who you're talking about. Who would I be missing?”

She leaned over the countertop to make sure that her face was within his peripheral vision. Rory didn't say anything, but just gave him a flat look that said, are you kidding me.

With a strained chuckle within his mind, Brex then said, “Ohhh~ Your talking about those mares from back at the castle? Of course, I don't. I only knew them for one night. Besides, I already said my goodbye to them before everything happened. I already knew I was never gonna see them again. We were about to head towards the Griffin Empire to get out of Equestria After all.”

Just as Brex had finished with his, not so convincing excuse. Did Rory finally relent in giving him the stair down and adopted a more relaxed posture as she went over to sit on the counter as to be out of the way. It just so happened that the window leading to the outside world, was right behind her and when Rory turned around to look outside, she had a questionable look on her face as she turned back to Brex.

Seeing this, Brex tilted his head in confusion and asked, “Uh, what's going on?” To which Rory replied by pointing over her shoulder with her left thumb before asking, “You normally don't get up this early before sunrise. Shouldn't it already be lit up by the time you've started making food?”

He then tilted his head to look up at an angle while humming to himself. He then said, “Hmmm-mmm. You know, now that you mentioned it. I think my internal clock usually has me getting up about five or ten minutes before that even happens. It's been more than half an hour since then, If not more. Let's see...”

Taking a quick glance to his upper right corner, Brex went to examine the current time and found it to be fifteen minutes before seven in the morning. Now looking extremely puzzled, he wondered to himself as he thought, “Huh... Say Rory, I may have missed it. But I don't think I ever saw anything about there being a daylight savings time on this world. Did you?”

To which Rory slowly shook her head with a dumbfounded expression. Only to have the sun beginning to rise a few seconds later. Though it seemed to be coming up at an accelerated rate compared to normal until it got to the point in the sky where it should have been at the time.

During this, both Rory and Brex were at the window now and watching the event occurred with raised eyebrows. Rory then asked while not taking her eyes away from outside the world under her breath, “So... I take it this normally doesn't happen?” This got Brex to reply in the same manner by saying, “Uh... no. I've never once seen this happen before. Usually, I could set a watch and do a countdown for when it comes up.” That statement was completely true as Brex had actually done that a few times where he would do account down as to predict when it would come up.

If one was to see this happening, they would think that he was a kid at the time. One that was counting down the seconds to being able to leave when the bell rang to get out of school.

Brex then said while shrugging, “I guess the little gift that Ryu had me deliver, may have had something to do with this. I wonder if she stayed up all night and ended up oversleeping. I wouldn't be surprised if we started to hear stuff about this happening while we're out today. I mean, she literally controls when the day starts apparently. Honestly, this would be considered a national emergency and she ended up getting letters coming in that would be demanding an answer as to why this rare occurrence happened.”

He had just gotten back and was halfway washing the strawberries when he added the last remark by saying, “I doubt very much she's gonna say that she stayed up all night because of a music box. That wouldn’t run well with a pony of her status.”

When he had finished with that, he went right back to preparing the pancakes and the strawberries he was going to place on top. It was a good thing too that he spotted what he needed to make some whipped cream and thanks to his chef abilities from the game world. He was able to cook everything faster than a professional cook could thanks to his game logic.

Normally in the game, whenever a player wanted to craft something, they would simply kneel down and the appropriate, miniaturized set of gear would just appear on the ground and he could start crafting. Brex had found that this would still happen, but as to not draw more questions, he relied solely on what was available to him. This in turn made the cooking process skip the whole, ten seconds and it's done rule. However, it was still quite fast with how his hands would move as if on auto pilot.

At this point, Brex was gliding from station-to-station while quickly dealing with not only the mixing and cooking on the stove top. But also, with arranging the strawberries that he was in the process of cutting up as he went. To him, hardly any time at all had passed, but in the outside world a good nine minutes have gone by the time he had finished with placing nearly fourteen plates of pancakes on the large Island counter in the middle of the kitchen.

Without wanting to cause any more problems for the staff that had nothing to do with the meal, Brex went straight to washing the pots and pans. As he did this part, he thought to himself, “That food is gonna get cold if I take too long, I better trying speed things up a bit.”

That was when he began to mentally recite a pair of spells almost simultaneously within this head. Thankfully, this was something that Little Light was very adamant about him learning how to do. Especially when trying to combine spells while in the middle of combat. She once said that in order to be able to do something while in the middle of a fight, one should be able to do something along these lines as a form of practice in everyday life. As to get into a rhythm.

The two spells were from the book of the Shield Hero. One was being the Low Wind spell, while the other was the Low Quick spell. With a little subtle application of funneling a steady flow of magic, Brex was able to literally speed up his body to wash the dishes while keeping the spell on for longer. To an outsider's perspective, it would have been the same as someone picking up a remote to a television and clicking the fast forward button for the, times three.

The Low's Wind spell was used in rapidly drying what he had just washed to be put away almost instantly. It had only taken him a few minutes to get everything all cleaned up and the counters washed with a quick wipe down with a rag before he began to pick up the plates and rush them over to the dining area.

From last night's dinner, Brex could tell that the table was quite large and could have seated not only the four of them, but all of the Changelings and the Butler if they were all to sit. So that was where he was planning on feeding them all.

He was still funneling magic into the Low Quick spell and this made it possible for him to finish the task long before the pancakes had even cooled. During the preparations, he had nearly stopped to facepalm himself when he realized that all he did was make the food and there were no drinks or utensils. So, he quickly went back into the kitchen and scrounged those up along with a bunch of mugs for everyone to use and poured both a glass of milk and orange juice for each plate.

There was just one small snag. He soon found out there was hardly enough for all of them to drink when it came to both the milk and orange juice. Out of a form of desperation, Brex went into his item box and clicked on the icon that showed milk, as well as the one that showed an orange from the game.

Seeing as the pancakes were going to cool soon, he poured even more magic into the Low Quick spell and without realizing it, had inadvertently change it to that to the Medium Quick. Brex hadn't noticed it, but he was almost moving quick enough to appear as if he were in two places at once while squeezing the oranges after getting all of the Changelings their milk.

After the remaining preparations were completed, he cut the flow of magic and stood there at the end of the table that was fully prepared for breakfast and wiped away some imaginary sweat on his mask's forehead.

A second later, his eyes went wide as he thought to himself, “Oh wait! Hold on, just how am I supposed to wake them all up. It's not like I could just start shouting.” While Brex was currently trying to come up with a wake-up plan, he had failed to notice that there were a large group of eyes watching him while he was at the table from over at the entrance leading to the stairway up to the next floor.

Now resigning to simply going up to wake them all one at a time, he turned on his right heel. Only to come face-to-face with the house's occupants that were now all lining up with dumbfounded expressions and hanging mouths. Not wanting to show that he was surprised, Brex stood there silently.

After six seconds of absolute silence, which felt like an eternity. Brex finally went on to cough into his fist before saying in a jovial tone, “How much did you see?”

Fleur de Lis had just then, began to shuffle her way past a few of the Changelings to get in front before she began to speak after finally recovering her voice. “I think we all came down just as you're coming out with the food.”

Her eyes then roamed the table before returning to Brex as she went on to say, “I think I might have still been sleeping, but it wasn't my imagination that you were moving really fast, right?” That whole sentence was her talking as if she couldn't believe the words that were leaving her mouth.

As if to play it off as nothing, Brex shrugged a little with his shoulders before saying, “That would be due to a spell I picked up while on my travels. Now before we continue, I suggest that you'll sit to eat. Wouldn't want the pancakes to get cold. Now do we?”

Without so much as waiting for a response, he went over pulled out a chair and sat in it to begin eating. He noticed how Fancy Pants, Fleur de Lis and Blaze Caster we're both taking a seat. As for the rest, they were simply leaning over and we're taking hold of their plates. He surmised that they were about to take them away in order to eat at some servant’s quarters no doubt.

While letting out an annoyed Huff through his nose, which was clearly heard by the rest. He lifted his right hand just above the table and sharply motion downwards as he said out loud for the others to hear him saying, “Sit.”

By doing that, Brex caught how all eyes in the room were looking directly at him in shock. Aside from the obviously assigned seats for the four of them, the others who had normally been tending to them and standing off to the side, were nervously glancing to one another.

One of the Changeling maids was the first to speak up as she began to talk in a confused tone as she asked, “B-But my Lord. Servants are not meant to sit at the main table. That's reserved for the current heads of the household, along with their guests.”

That was when Blaze Caster chimed in while already inhaling half of his pancakes as he tried to speak through his full mouth and said, “It's one of his rules.” The colt then swallowed before continuing, while still already plunging is fork into the next set of pancakes, “He doesn't want pancakes to be eaten other than at the table. Otherwise, it makes a mess.”

Fancy Pants then went and join the conversation while looking up at the others in the room as he said, “I think it would be OK to disregard formality for today. Sir Gambit is a special guest and if he wishes it, then I see no problem with doing so.”

After getting the go ahead from the head of the house, all of the servants took a seat. All be it wearily, as this was something that they didn't think would happen. From behind his mask, Brex was watching this whole thing unfold and began to think to himself, “I guess even with Fleur de Lis being as fiancé, the rest of them still try to keep up with traditions or appearances. If I think about it, it's almost as if he has complete authority over his sisters-in-law’s in this case. Ah, I better not think about it too hard. This is a whole another universe after all, they got their own rules of etiquette.”

During the breakfast, he was constantly hearing how all the others present were enjoying his food. But as to not seem rude, it appeared that they were not troubling him at this time. Although we can plainly see that some of them were going to ask about how to make it themselves with how they kept drooling over the next bite.

He had even caught sight of the pair that were in his room that night and it appeared that they had recovered and we're now looking as if nothing was wrong with them being nearly halfway down the table. That was when he remembered what had happened and he resolved himself to talking to them at some point tonight. As per Rory’s advice. He did however think that their pony disguises were showing a little bit of color aside from the blue Fur on their faces. But thought it was just from how they were apparently enjoying the food and didn't think any more about it.

Soon, he heard Fancy Pants speaking up and when Brex looked up, he saw that the stallion was looking straight at him. He then heard the Unicorn say, “I don't know what you did, but this tastes absolutely amazing. Also, I was unaware that we had any strawberries. I didn't know you had any on hand. Not to mention the orange juice. I'm not sure why it is, but it has a very pleasant, unique taste. Not like any I have had.”

After taking another sip of his orange juice, Fancy Pants went on to say, “I take it you happen to have a dimensional pocket spell to be able to hold all of these. Hearing those words had caught Brex unaware and he was trying very hard not to show it on the outside.

He then began to curse himself as he realized that he had not thought things through when it came to where he got his ingredients. He did remember when reading the spells that the Unicorns can use. They did have a pocket dimension where they would place some items in. It was essentially the same thing that Twilight used in the show to grab quills and parchment most of the time.

He then began to relax when he thought about how he had already explained that he can use magic. In the outside world, only a few seconds had passed and Brex quickly started to say, “I do have a way of storing items in a similar manner.”

To this, Fancy Pants smiled as he replied by saying, “Well you did say that you could use magic. I honestly shouldn't have been surprised that you can cast such a high-level spell given your abilities. Is it right for me to assume that yours is something different from what you just said?”

Not seeing that it would do any harm in going into a little detail about it, Brex answered with, “I'm capable of storing perishable foods in it and while within its confines, they do not go bad. What I used to top the pancakes were from the Everfree Forest. As for your drinks, most were freshly squeezed from what I brought from my homeland.”

“Ah, about that. That is something I want to talk to you about as well when it comes to one of the businesses I wish to open. One of which being the cultivation of unique foods to be sold on the market.”

Brex could see how Fancy Pants was leaning back into his chair while adopting a thinking pose. After getting a quick nod from the stallion, Brex went on to say, “I have a supply of fruits and vegetables that I want to start growing here. Much of which closely resembles what is already grown in Equestria. While others would draw the eye. We can set up greenhouses to ensure that they will grow with a steady flow of artificial sunlight to maximize production and to protect them from unwanted pests.”

“This will allow us to grow them without the need of using any pesticides. Back from where I'm from, this is called growing them organically. It's actually a healthier form, rather than spraying them with chemicals.”

Fancy Pants raised an eye brow as he fixed his monocle before saying, “I do know that pesticides are used when keeping bugs from eating our crops. However, I have never heard of this… Greenhouse you talk about. Would you mind going into details on what that is?”

At that point, Brex went on to explain the building of a typical greenhouse and what it was used for. As well as what is considered to be an artificial light source, which would be turned on at night to help plants grow.

Apparently, this was a huge thing to the pony when Brex had finished explaining the concept of indoor sunlight. The Roegadyn hadn't realized that they had not developed the technology for that and had to explain on what he knew about it. Oddly enough, he knew just what was required to create one and simply contributed it to his past life. With how fast the discussions were going, he didn’t have time to think about it.

Just then, the large grandfather clock in the next room over rang and when it had hit seven, did all eyes in the room go wide and disbelief. Brex internally chuckled to himself when he thought about how they all must have gotten up due to the sun raising. But had no idea that it was essentially an hour off.

It didn't take that much longer until the meal was finished off by all in attendance and Brex found himself with Fancy Pants in the parlor. While there, they continued their discussions from the night before in regards to locations that could possibly be of any use.

Fancy Pants on his part was a little confused as to why he didn't want to try and build next to or within cities and towns. As a reason, Brex had insisted on building in spots that were wide and open for a number of the the businesses as to avoid onlookers during the construction, as well as expansion if needed.

When it came to the farm to produce the meat for them to export to those that consumed it, it was decided that they would need a natural area for the livestock. So, Fancy Pants and Brex looked over a map that was brought over by Butler and unrolled it onto the large table in the parlor.

Upon closer examination, Brex pointed to a section of the map that was just off to the west side of the Everfree forest. It was a nice chunk of land that had yet to be claimed and was still up for grabs. There was a set of mountains towards the North and there was also a stable flow of water supply just to the South. There was even the added benefit that there was already an existing set of tracks nearby that they could immediately build a train station on. From there, their products could easily be shipped to Canterlot that just happened to be a main hub in the center of the country to distribute across Equestria.

Brex mentioned that after things were discussed with his associate, that they should consider meeting in that area that was pointed out earlier. Fancy Pants was a little confused about not having a meeting in his house, so he asked as to why. To which Brex said that it would be better to get things going as quickly as possible as to not waste time. The business’s needed to be started before the schools.

Afterwards, they checked the map again and began to select other areas that were available for purchase. Fancy Pants was a little worried about the cost but Brex simply told him how he would be able to cover the cost once they found a solid way of using his lands currency as capital. The young stallion was rather surprised when he heard that Brex would be essentially taking care of the bill when his monocle shot out of his eye again after hearing this.

Upon seeing this happening yet again, Brex wondered if that thing was spring loaded or something. It had only been less than two days and he has seen those lenses fall from his face at least a half a dozen times already.

By the time it was eleven in the morning, they were pretty much set on what they could do for now. Brex then excused himself, along with Blaze Caster to go out on the town to see what there was. After all, he did promise the kid last night that he was going to do just that.

Calling for the kid had the effect of informing him that they were to get ready, to which Blaze Caster immediately ran to the front door while literally hopping from hoof to hoof while saying that he was already set to go and sporting a big smile of excitement.

The Roegadyn was happy to see how Blaze Caster was able to put aside his earlier misgivings about coming to the city. It seemed like being able to speak with the Changelings and the soon to be married couple had really lightened his mood.

As Brex was opening the front door, he heard Blaze Caster ask, “Is it just going to be us that's going out?” With a tilt of his head, Brex asked, “I had planned on that being how it goes. Why do you ask?” To answer Brex, Blaze Caster looked towards the stairs and pointed over with an amused look.

Following the kid's gaze, Brex found Fleur de Lis just coming down from the steps while wearing fancy dress with a large stylish sunhat on her head. After finally being noticed, Fleur de Lis finally came up to them while giving them a wide smile. She then lightly clapped her hands together in excitement as she said, “I'm already to go if you are!”

Honestly, Brex had not counted on anyone else joining them, but took her up on her offer seeing as she knew the city better than he ever could. Sure, he had the basic layout of the important buildings, but she knew what went on for real after living here for a while and having some connections through her career. But he couldn't help but to ask, “What about your Fiancé, will he not be accompanying us as well?”

To that, Fleur de Lis shook her head lightly before saying, “He's quite busy today. I didn't really have anything planned to do either. So, upon hearing that you want to go out on the town, I saw it as a perfect excuse for me to have a little fun. I'm usually so busy with schedules that I hardly ever get to do anything for myself these days.”

That was when Brex recalled that she was just starting her modeling career not too long ago. Which meant that she was quite busy with photo shoots and going to those big celebrity parties. Well, that's what he thought was mainly going on.

After Fleur de Lis gave her fiancé, Fancy Pants a kiss goodbye did they leave the Pants Manor. For the next hour, they found themselves being led by Fleur de Lis as she took the lead and taking them to some interesting spots in Canterlot.

On Brex's part, he didn't have a particular place that he wanted to go, aside from the history museum that had that most recent heist to see things for himself. However, that wasn't happening because, along the way to someplace else, they were passing by and saw that there was a closed for reconstruction notice on the front door. Apparently, the explosions did a number on the place and it was now in some desperate need of a repair work.

There was a number of stalls open along the streets in the market district and Brex had to keep an eye on Blaze Caster with how he was darting from stall to stall. He could have sworn there was a few instances where he literally left the dust cloud in the shape of his own body when he had a sudden burst of speed to catch something that caught his eye. Again, in his head, Brex had to mumble to himself about cartoon logic. But at the same time, he considered it could have been an effect from his fire abilities and getting a little too excited.

Of course, while on this little outing, he did catch little snit bits that were being said from a short distance away by the onlookers. Brex had opted to stay in his mysterious Butler attire for this day. So, most assumed that he was her bodyguard or possibly a lover. It seemed that it didn't take long for the crowd to notice just who Fleur de Lis was. There was even one ridiculous whisper going on by a pair of elderly mare’s that Blaze Caster could have been our child.

To which Fleur de Lis immediately began to stutter out of embarrassment upon hearing the whispers herself. At the end of the two and a half hours of walking around the city, did they find themselves in a park. Blaze Caster was currently playing on a jungle gym while Fleur de Lis and Brex were both sitting on a park bench not too far away.

He had actually gotten to feel more relaxed during the excursion then he had realized. Not once was there some type of calamity or monster attack occurring while outside and the kid was obviously having a lot of fun just like any other child his age should be having.

His musings were disrupted when he heard Fleur de Lis beginning to say, “I didn't want to say this before, but… would it be that Blaze Caster happened to be from an orphanage in that town that got burned down that I mentioned?”

While giving an amused smirk, Brex answered while still not turning away from Blaze Caster, who was now dangling from a set of climbing bars. “Your information network is impeccable.” After letting out a small sigh, he went on to continue saying, “Yes, he did come from that orphanage. Like I said before, if you want more details, you'd have to ask him yourself.”

Without changing any facial expressions other than just enjoying the day. Fleur de Lis kept her eyes on Blaze Caster just as Brex was when she said, “I did not forget. But after feeling something from him after we mentioned that town last night, I couldn't help but to want to learn more about what had happened. So, I asked one of my sisters that was stationed near there to look into it last night.”

“I got word from her only a little while before we left. That was one more reason for why I wanted to come along with you both. What she told me, was rather concerning. Brex went and released a small hum and nodded his head once. He then asked, “Just what did you hear?”

She then looked towards him for a moment before returning her gaze back to Blaze Caster as she said, “I know about it being attacked, that's common knowledge now. But what got me seeing things as weird was the testimony from the mare’s that ran the orphanage.”

This earned Fleur de Lis a single hum from Brex before she went on to say, “By their words, they said that Blaze over there should already be dead.” From behind his mask, Brex had an incredulous look on his face. Seemingly, Fleur de Lis picked up on his emotions that manage to spike at that moment. This was an evident with her giving a slight nod before going on.

She then said, “They collaborated with each other in stating that the building was already on fire and they had tried to make their way to his room to rescue him. However, when they got to his room and swung the door open, he was already on the ground and in the middle of being devoured by strange black creatures with long years and mouths full of razor-sharp teeth.”

Upon hearing the description, Brex did recall seeing those at the town when he had come across it. The only problem was with the testimony itself in regards to Blaze Caster's condition. According to what he was told by the kid. He had woken up and attempted to find them, but they were nowhere to be seen. Also, from the description, none of the monsters had made their way over to the orphanage just yet.

Brex then answered in a low tone, “And what do you think happened?” As soon as he had asked that question, he caught a glimpse of Fleur de Lis adopting a look of killing intent that only lasted for a split second before her calm demeanor came back. Afterwards, she then said in a sing song voice as if trying to play off what she had shown earlier, “I believe those mare’s are bucking Liars. My sister also dug around a little deeper and found a few other things that didn't seem to match up.”

She found it rather odd that there was a colt that had yet to be adopted while all the others were already taken by the time of the attack.” She then raised her left eyebrow as she looked towards Brex as she continued to say, “You must already know that males are exceedingly rare among us ponies. To think that he had yet to be adopted by that point is utterly unthinkable.”

Brex had to admit that part of the story was something that had been nagging him in the back of his head for a while. Blaze Caster should have essentially been considered the pick of the litter with just being a male by itself. Any aspiring parents to be would give their tails to have a son.

Fleur de Lis then went on to continue by saying, “We dug up some paperwork that was shuffled around and found that there were applicants that wanted to adopt Blaze. But for some reason or another they were rejected. Some had legitimate reasons stated. However, we found some discrepancies on others that were just absurd. If it was done right, then he should have been in a new home within that first week.”

After a few seconds of going silent, she then turned her head towards him and said, “I'm not sure, but I think they were intending to keep him for themselves. Or perhaps, to even hand him off to another when he was older.”

Brex recalled how Blaze Caster mentioned how they hardly ever spent any time with him. He then started to think to himself, “If it was a case of them wanting him to stay with them, then there should have been more activity between those mare’s and Blaze Caster. Hmm... I think Fleur de Lis’s idea about them holding on to the kid to pass him off seems more reasonable.”

He then began to think about the herd cult that wasn't too far away and began to put the pieces together. He wasn't a one hundred percent sure, but odds were that those mare’s were a part of that group. Upon coming to this conclusion, Brex began to speak as the air around him was beginning to get warmer. “Do you happen to know anything about the Herd Fanatics?”

To which got a settle nod from the mare as she replied by saying, “Yes, who hasn't... Even we Changelings detest what they do. Before you came along, we would abduct ponies to take their place or simply take on a form to attract another for source of food. At least we try to make them happy by giving them dreams while in one of our cocoons. But these mare’s that go around taking all the males, they are nothing but monsters.”

As soon as she had gotten finished saying that, her eyes went wide in disbelief as she quickly asked, “Y-You… really don't think that...” Brex stepped in and finished her thoughts my saying, “That those orphanage mare’s were most likely going to send him to a group like that? Yes, yes, I do. Listen, could you have your sister's keep an eye on them? Let me know if you find out anything in regards to this group.”

To this, Fleur de Lis quickly nodded as she said, “But of course. I was thinking of doing something along those lines. Honestly, at first, I thought it was just them being neglectful in their duties and leaving the child to die in order to save their own tails. I didn't even consider the other option.”

Just then, a couple had walked by while passing on through the park. They both waited until new comers had left to continue with their talks. However, Brex picked up on the stallion saying something about not being able to go to day court today. To which Fleur de Lis tilted her head upon hearing the same thing in a confusion.

Internally, Brex was chuckling to himself. Now being curious, he opened the link to his doppelgänger that was in the castle to get an update. It only took a few seconds for the relevant information to be sent over to him and he had to try really hard not to laugh out loud.

Apparently, his double had witness from a distance how the princess had her lights on in her chamber's window for nearly the entire night and had overslept by the talk in the castle, which was why the sun was late in the morning.

Then she had even ordered to cancel today's day court. However, that was not what got him to nearly burst out laughing. The reason being what had happened later on when a flood of complaints came from a number of nobles about being late to their appointments due to the princess neglecting to raise the sun on time.

To which gained them the ire of the princess as she ended up using the Canterlot voice to send them away. His body double had managed to catch a glimpse of a few of them literally being thrown several feet back by the force alone. It seemed that his initial thoughts back in the past about the voice being used as a weapon back in the warring days may have been correct with how effective it was on a number of those ponies.

When they were finally alone again, Brex said, “Before I forget. Could you explain to me more on why you gave me a set of keys?” That was when he gestured to his coat pocket near his chest and began to pad where the pocket was to indicate that he was holding the item there.

Fleur de Lis gave him a gentle smile before returning her gaze to the playing Blaze Caster. She then said, “Blaze is a gentle colt. It's also a breath of fresh air to see how open my sisters can be around him. We don't normally get to interact with other species unless we're in disguise and this is rather nice. What I'm trying to say is, Fancy Pants and I wouldn't be against you both visiting more often. I know you must have your reasons for living wherever it is you are and only coming to visit once a month. But he is still a growing kid and socializing would be good for him.”

As Fleur de Lis was speaking, Brex found themselves nodding to the words and saw her point. Brex had been focusing on training the kid in order to harness his powers so he wouldn't have an incident occurring. Because of this, he didn't think it threw more on the kid's social Development.

Brex then replied by saying, “I wouldn't be opposed to bringing him for a sleep over once in a while. Of course, I would make more frequent visits as well. He's only staying with me for now for his own safety, but I do hope to find him a more stable living environment in the future.”

Fleur de Lis looked towards Brex with a concerned gaze as she slowly asked, “What do you mean by that? Blaze looks up to you like a big brother. I assumed that he was going to stay with you from now on.”

To that, Brex sighed as he said, “I'm not a good role model. If I can help it, I would much rather have a normal life for him. When he gets a little older, I'll ask him what he wants to do. He has a lot of potential and if he chooses to, then I would train him to using his abilities more for combat-oriented situations. But if you told me he wanted a normal life, then I do everything I could to find him a family that would take him in. Of course, if I can't do that, then I’ll take on the responsibility myself.”

He then released another sigh as he leaned forward to rest his elbows onto his knees. After a few long seconds, he finally went on to continue by saying, “But that there is the issue. I don't know how long I could possibly give him a normal life. There are going to be things happening that are going to require my attention. When this happens, I most likely won't be around as much.”

By the time he had finished, Fleur de Lis had stood up and was now directly in front of him. He then noticed how she was giving him a scowl before she said, “Honestly! I don't see why you would say you're not a good role model. Now, as for Blaze, I think he’s old enough to figure out what he wants to do.”

She then straightened up and adopted her usual calm smile as she went on to continue with saying, “Now I think you forgot something very important. In case you haven't noticed, you have Fancy Pants and my family. We all happen to like him. So don't hesitate to ask us for any help.” On that last line, she playfully gave him a light tap on the shoulder with her fist.

This brought a small smile to his face from underneath his mask. He didn't know why, but talking to Fleur de Lis like this kind of made him wonder if this is what it would have been like if he had a sister to talk to. Unlike the other Changelings, she was more open with him and didn't hold on to the whole attitude that just screamed that they saw him as royalty or something.

After that little discussion, Blaze Caster had returned after a good hour and a half of playing around in the park. Brex had no idea just how much energy this kid had. To him, it seemed limitless with how he wasn’t even breaking a sweat, even after wearing that coat to prevent accidents from occurring with his powers.

They were now heading back to Fleur de Lis’s home and just as they got up to the door, did Brex remember that he still needed to have a talk with those two Changelings later. Which only caused him to be a little anxious upon thinking of when it was time.

It really didn't help that when they finally opened the door, the two maids in question were the first to be seen on the inside just past the door. This only made Brex to think his head, “Why do I feel like I'm gonna be in for a long night...”