A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 41: Who Needs a Pen, When I Got This?

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Location: Flower sister's shop*
*Time: Five-thirty in the morning*

Brex had just woken up a little earlier than normal after having a night with Rory and his dreams. Thankfully, even after getting her own body, the two of them still shared a connection. The only difference now, was how he couldn't imagine things being done to her anymore. Such as putting a gag in her mouth for whenever she got too flirtatious. But that didn't mean he couldn't do the same thing as usual when they were both asleep and sharing his dreamscape.

But as for tonight, he didn't do anything sexual with her. Seeing as he was in another pony's bed and he didn't want to leave any traces behind that can be found out later. Especially when it came to how good a sense of smell these ponies had. Also, it would have been just plain rude to do something like that.

While trying to be careful, the Roegadyn got out of the bed and opened the door into the hallway and stuck his head out. While at the same time, looking at as mini map to check just where the sisters of the house would be. Once it was discovered that they were still in their rooms and their dots were stationary, he made his way over to the door leading into the bathroom and went in.

Once there, he locked the door and looked at himself in a mirror after removing his mask. Once he was looking at himself in the mirror, he then began to grumble internally and started to think. “I'm so glad I'm a video game character. Otherwise, I think my ears would have suffered some physical damage after last night... Seriously! Who screams right into someone’s face like that? It's scary to think of what that would have been like if she had a voice amplification spell added on. probably would have given Ryu a run for his money.”

He then started to think about the events of last night after returning from exploring the town in person. Just as he was asked to do, Brex had returned a little before seven-thirty at night. Right as he had opened the door and came in, there was a mare who he had not met yet and she was standing on his side of the counter, with her back turned towards him.

It took a few seconds for her to realize that he had entered and when she turned around and saw his large figure only a few feet away, she then suddenly released an ear-piercing scream as she grabbed onto the side of her face and fainted on the spot. Brex could have sworn that at the very end before she had lost consciousness, the mare had muttered, “Oh the horror...”

Brex could do nothing but stand there in disbelief while slightly tilting his head towards the right and blinking slowly as his mind tried to process what just happened. If it wasn't for having already felt an indirect hit from the Wolfman's howl from the past, then he would not have been partially conditioned to be able to resist such a scream this time around.

At the time, the shop had nearly half of its lights turned off with how they were going to close soon. So, it took a little bit of time before Brex was able to get a good look at who this pony was after his eyes readjusted from coming in from outside.

The mare that was currently laying on the ground, with her one arm up and covering her eyes as if she was play acting, but could make out the partly open eyes. She was an Earth pony with a pale-yellow coat, raspberry mane with light raspberry streaks, chartreuse green eyes, and a cutie mark of a rose. From the looks of things, she was wearing a summer dress that was a slightly lighter shade of red compared to her hairstyle. That was even this one spot near the hips where her cutie mark was printed on.

(Here is a pony picture of, Rose.)

After taking in everything, he instantly was able to identify her as the pony called Rose without even having to bring up her status bar. Only a few seconds had passed since the scream and Brex could hear someone coming in from the back while in a rush. Brex just stood there and waited patiently. While keeping a respectful distance from the fainted Rose. It was out of a sense of wanting to not be accused of something.

The one that came in next, was another pony he had yet to come across. But since he knew that this was one belonging to three pony sisters, then it was safe to assume that this one was, Daisy. In a way, she was wearing the same type of dress that Rose was. The only difference being, was that the color was closer to a shade of white and it had a hint of yellow. She was an Earth pony with a pale magenta coat, lime mane, emerald green eyes, and a cutie mark of two daisies.

(Here is a picture of the pony, Daisy.)

Once the new mare had discovered the scene inside of the shop, she quickly ran over to the nearest flower pot and was fully ready to hurl it straight at Brex. Fortunately for him, the third member of the family had rushed in and could quickly tell what was about to happen and pulled the flower pot from her still conscious sister's hands. From there, Lily started to explain how Brex was the one that they were waiting for and was going to stay with them.

Even with it being told to her, Daisy was still giving Brex the stink eye as she was still upset about finding her sister Rose on the ground and was apparently still suspicious of him. This continued on until Rose finally woke up and the situation was explained about how she fainted upon seeing him. Of course, this didn't exactly go as smoothly as Brex had hoped. This was thanks to Rose seeing him and ended up screaming herself back into unconsciousness for the second time.

It seemed that Lily was a little fed up with the whole screaming and fainting routine with how she was pinching the bridge of her muzzle when it happened again and was giving her sister the, are you kidding me look. Now seeing a pattern. Brex just went back up to the room that he was going to be staying in and locked himself inside to wait for everything to be smoothed out.

He didn't really feel much for staying in there all night, so the Roegadyn created another one of his body double’s and had it stay in the room while he used his shadow traveling ability and got himself to appear in the castle of the two sisters that was located in the middle of the Everfree Forest. While there, he spent a couple of hours to survey the ruins so that if it came down to it, he wouldn't be caught by surprise if there was anything new added, or if the structure was more unstable than what was shown on the television show.

Luckily enough, there was only a few monsters inside that were a low level and he quickly dispatched them all. Over the last eleven years, Brex had only come to this castle a handful of times. On each one of those visits, Brex would clear it out and do some slight maintenance on the castle structure. But made sure it wasn't too noticeable that it was being done, so the place still looked like it was a mess.

However, he never once went back up to Princess Luna's room. Instead, he would go pretty much everywhere else. This included the basement that led to the library. Along with the courtyard where he had his run in, with the solar princess. It would seem that the flowers back then weren't completely destroyed during that blast of magic. During his first visit, he found a small patch of them growing and collected some seeds from the flowers and place them into his item box, where they would be safely kept.

Which was quite easy thanks to his high leveled Botanist class. Whenever he did come by the castle. He would always make sure to tend to the flowers and cut away any plants that would hinder their growth. Brex had even gone through the trouble of using his alchemy skills to create an organic pesticide that would deter bugs from eating them.

As for the Roegadyn, He wasn't exactly sure as to why he would go so far as to do this, but figured that it had something to do with his past life. Perhaps he was one of those people that picked Luna to be the best pony or something like that.

Ironically enough, she was portrayed to be the less likely one of the two sisters to go after a displaced. Perhaps deep down, he was hoping that she would be that way as well in this reality. During the time that he was at the castle, he would periodically receive information from his body double that he left at the flower shop.

These would be status reports on what was happening. It seemed that what was going on downstairs had finally been talked about among the three and they had come to the door to apologize to him. The body double reassured them through the closed door that there were no hard feelings and that he was tired from his trip and just wanted to go to sleep. They persisted with saying that they were making dinner and that a plate would be put out for him. But the body double responded with how he had already eaten while out.

Brex was very thankful that these weren't simply illusions or magical constructs that would only have a physical form. Even more that they didn’t require him to remotely control them at all times. In a way, they were a complete copy, right down to his memories and abilities, but to a lesser degree. Right now, he was capable of having up to sixteen of them out at a time. What surprised Brex more, was with how they were becoming much more resilient as the time went on.

In the past, they weren't able to do much and were suited mainly used for stealth operations to gather information, along a small workforce to do the non-combat-oriented tasks. A strong enough hit would cause their bodies to disperse and return into the shadow’s. But now, they're able to take on quite a bit more punishment before that was to happen. If Brex had to make a comparison. Then he would say that a single one of his copies was approximately a tenth of his overall strength. Which would mean that they were set around level seven.

Brex had experimented on a few occasions to see how well it would be to keep a constant connection among them would work out, when it came to doing tasks or gathering information. Unlike the ‘Shadow Clone Technique’ that was used by so many other displaced, the body double did not transfer its new experiences over once it was sent away. Instead, they would condense their memories and send them over to him for short bursts while still active. This was similar to getting a download, from a personal standpoint.

If he had to give it a type of comparison. Then the experience would be no different to a scene, where a boss would be in a room and one of his workers would be setting up a power-point presentation on a white screen for him to see. The relevant information would be there, but it's not the same as the first-hand account for him.

Now, when it came to the constant connection part. That would literally overload his mind if he had too many going at once. This would break the connection altogether eventually. In the end, this was no better than trying to multitask something all by yourself. So, he gave up on that idea and decided to only use that option as a way to gain real time information from just one or two body doubles.

Before Brex left the castle, he went over to the throne room, where the elements of harmony were supposed to be hidden and started to examine the floor that was meant to open up. After using his, Identify and Detect Magic spells. Brex could see within his mind's eye, a multi layered, wire picture display of the internal mechanisms. Along with the magic spells that would be required to activate them.

He then started to think to himself. “What I really don't get is, why didn't Nightmare Moon just come straight here and remove the elements before the new owners would show up? Also, it's really odd how all of their trials that were set up by Nightmare Moon herself, would turn out to be something that would test their needed trait for each one of the elements.”

“Did she do that on purpose. Or was it to test them in order to find out, whether or not they were the real ones, just so that she can get rid of them? Also, there's the possibility of why didn't she just destroy them to begin with instead of waiting until they all got to the castle. Being Nightmare Moon, she would not have been able to utilize their power. So, they would have been worthless to her.”

“Now, if it were me. I would definitely try to get rid of these before they could become an issue.” He then started the tap as chin, while pacing back-and-forth, while still in the throne room. After a few minutes of this, he came to a stop and started to think once again.

“Thinking about it more, it could have something to do with her ego. She had just disposed of Celestia. Made a large declaration of her comeback, in place of her sister's scheduled appearance. Being sealed away would have meant that she would have very little information to go off of. But thanks to her eves-dropping on Twilight when they found a book talking about the Elements of Harmony and where to find them. She rushed off to the castle while leaving some traps behind.”

“But that still brings me back to the question as to why she picked those specific traps to begin with. Something... just doesn't add up. Honestly, if she hadn't done all of that during her rush back to the castle, then Twilight would never have figured it out the correlation of each element to all of the ponies that were present.”

“Also, that brings me back to their time frame. Nightmare Moon would have had plenty of time to get this open and deal with the Elements. Instead, she waited until they found them and teleported them and Twilight away when the rest left her alone to try and figure the mystery of the final Element. She obviously had more than enough power to take all of those ponies in their current States. So why did she want to single out Twilight?”

“Sure, she has a lot of magic. But that doesn't make her stand out too much. Of course, Nightmare Moon could have easily had overheard Twilight mentioning that she was the student of Celestia. That could have been a factor and why she was singled out. Perhaps as a way to torment her older sister by saying how she took out the young student of her sister?”

Brex quickly grabbed on to both sides of his head and began to shake it furiously for a few seconds before letting it go. After letting out a small grunt of annoyance with himself. He started to say out loud. “Ghaw! I'm over thinking things again! I gotta stop doing that!” He was about to leave when he stopped after moving a few paces away to look back towards the trap door.

After humming to himself, he then snapped his fingers and said, “I know what's missing here. In the show, they were already displayed. But they're still hidden right now. What's more is that Nightmare Moon can get at them easily, since she already knows exactly where they are from the last time they were used.” He then went back over to the trap door and then started to use some of his own magic to start the mechanisms that were just underneath the flooring.

Over the course of several seconds. There was the sound of mechanical gears grinding against one another as the floor slowly opened up and the displays that were holding on to the stones, were now brought into full view and locked in place as they spun around until they were encircling the center piece. From what he could tell. A good portion of it was corroded away due to lack of maintenance and there was some vegetation that was gumming up some of the moving parts.

Once he was positive everything was pretty much where it should be. The Roegadyn transported himself back to the flower sisters’ room and dismissed his body double immediately. The rest of the night was pretty much uneventful and he went off to his dreamscape to have some talks with Rory about what was to happen in the coming days.

Now that little memory was finished, Brex was turning on the faucet and splashing some water on to his exposed face in order to help in wakening himself up more. When that was done, Brex opened the door after unlocking it and found himself nearly running into one of the sisters. She was apparently reaching for the doorknob when he had come out and released a startled welp when the two had nearly collided.

It turned out to be Rose and she had what looked to be a towel hanging off of her right forearm and a toothbrush being held in the other. What caught his attention immediately after seeing those, was how the mare was wearing a nearly see through, red nightgown that went just past her knees and was just standing there stunned. Thinking that things are going to escalate just like in all comedies he remembered. Brex immediately spoke, while carefully moving around her to head to the stairs. “I'm, going out.”

After that little run in with the mare that apparently must hate him by now. The Roegadyn went downstairs and exited the shop. While he made sure that the sign was not flipped to open when he quickly exited and stepped out onto the sidewalk. After turning to his right, Brex began to go down the street and towards the center of town while silently cursing his luck as to how he can't go just one single day without something happening.

He then heard Rory beginning to speak to him. “Master, you're not about to make a rash decision over what just happened. Are you? At least she didn't scream this time. I would call that an improvement over last night’s reaction.” Brex released a heavy sigh without replying and continued on the street. Clearly not wanting to get into it with Rory right now.

The sun still had a good five minutes until it came up from what was shown on the clock on the upper right corner of his vision. Rory then spoke up again. But this time in a worried voice. “Master... What's wrong? I can't help you unless you tell me what it is. I can't sense what you're going through unlike before. So, throw me a bone here.”

After a little bit more of walking, Brex found himself passing Sugar Cube Corner and giving it a sideways glance as he did so. A few more minutes passed before he finally broke down and went to sit on a public bench that was located just outside of a shop called, ‘Quills and Sofas.’

Typically, something like that would cause him to go into a rant, but instead, he stayed silent. This went on for a little while before Rory then went on to ask after a period of silence. “Master, it's been a while since I've seen you like this and it's getting me worried. You're doing that deep thinking without me again aren't you?” Again, nothing but silence. Instead of saying anything. The Roegadyn just stared towards the East as the color of the sky began to change to an orange hue as the sun was coming close to rising.

Lately, it would seem that the princess has been making the sunrise and setting, a little more showy than normal. In the past, whenever the process was done, it would be pretty quick. Because of this, Brex had been getting up and sitting wherever he could in recent weeks to watch the event happening. To him it was reminding him of earth to some degree with how normal it seemed.

Just as the rays of the sun began to peek over the mountains and hit the buildings nearby. Brex finally spoke up within his mind and there was a hint of melancholy behind his tone. “I suppose you could say that I am having a sort of... Pre performance jitters.” After letting out a long sigh, he leaned back into his seat and placed both of his hands on to his knees as he threw his head back to look straight up at the sky.

He then went on to continued. “I've been in the shadows for most of my life here. Jumping from one town to the next. Through Fancy Pants, I was able to get everything off the ground, and then some. Not only that. I even got to meet the Changelings and develop a strong bond with them. A lot of the stuff that requires a face to do, is usually done through one of the Changelings that would step in for me and say that they're my assistant.”

“Now that we're literally on the pilot episode, so to speak. I'm just getting some anxiety about being out there. These Ponies are so skittish about everything and always jump to the wrong possible conclusions from what I've seen. We still have a couple of them over at HQ that over react to certain situations. Seriously! A pony works around a Changeling knowingly for a month and is suddenly told in a random conversation that they used to suck out love from their victims and they suddenly go running and jumping inside of a trash can for protection.”

“Seriously, the key phrase, used to, was in the sentence. As in, past tense! Now I'm in one of the most xenophobic towns on the television show, aside from Canterlot. Most of the places I end up going to are way more tolerant due to their diversity. As far as I know, this place is completely made up of ponies and there's only one donkey. I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb.”

Rory then chimed in and said, “Well Master, you could always use that spell to change your appearance again. But I guess you would have to spend time to recover on your valuable spell slots to re-apply it every hour. If you really think about it, you can only use it so many times before you end up needing the rest and recover your magic again.”

Dungeons and Dragons Spell: Alter Self.

2nd Level, Transmutation.

Range/Area: Self.

Components: Verbal or Gesturing activation.

Duration: Concentration, up to one hour.

You assume a different form. When you cast the spell, choose one of the following options, the effects of which last for the duration of the spell. While the spell lasts, you can end one option as an action to gain the benefits of a different one.

Options: First, Aquatic Adaptation. Second, Change Appearance. Third, Natural Weapons.

Change Appearance. You transform your appearance. You decide what you look like, including your height, weight, facial features, sound of your voice, hair length, coloration, and distinguishing characteristics, if any. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your statistics change. You also can't appear as a creature of a different size than you, and your basic shape stays the same; if you're bipedal, you can't use this spell to become quadrupedal, for instance. At any time for the duration of the spell, you can use your action to change your appearance in this way again.

Thankfully, through some rigorous self-training, Brex was able to get past the whole size problem when altering his body with this spell. But as a result, whenever he did that type of alteration, it would cut down the spells duration time down to a mere twenty minutes. Moreover, with his current artificer level, Brex only had three spell slots available to use level two spells, before he needed to take a rest to recover them.

Brex then replied with, “Yeah... It's kind of a waste. Especially if I really need to use something on the spur-of-the-moment and I end up finding out that it's all used up just to keep my identity a secret. But still, a guy wearing something to cover up his body would stand out no matter what. More so, if they're over seven and a half feet tall.

“It's just... After seeing the reaction from Rose back in their house. It's a real wake-up call about how odd I am with covering up my face when I'm around civilians. It's completely different when you go into a Guild Hall. At least some of them have helmets and their own kind of masks. So, you don't end up seeming like the odd one out.”

“Now that I'm here in ponyville, I'll need to get used to others treating me differently again. I've been around the Changeling so much that I'm more comfortable with them than anything else from this world. Even hiding my emotions has become as effortless as breathing. I don't even need to think about it anymore and it just happens.”

“Staying over there was my idea of keeping a low profile. I just thought that perhaps, playing the part of a tourist would make things easier on me.” Now, the Roegadyn's shoulders were beginning to sag as he melted a little into a seat before going on.

“It looks like that bit me hard in the ass... Maybe I should just give them the rest of the money that they're owed and just camp out in the forest. It's really my fault. It's not like they can get another border all of a sudden. Oh well, may as well do my rounds and check on how things are going. Twilight is due to show up tomorrow morning and I need to make sure that it's as close to the show as possible. Now, the question is, where should I-.”

His thoughts were broken, when he began to feel a presence entering his detection range. Whoever it was, they were running pretty quickly judging by the speed. He then thought to himself while not moving. “OK, so who is this? Judging by the speed, they're obviously running, so they're on foot. Rainbow Dash would never stay on the ground for more than she needs to, in order to get that task done and would much rather fly than run. So this leaves her out to do one of those classic, without any warning attacks on the displaced character.”

“There's no way it's Applejack, because she's supposed to be at the farm right around this time. As for Rarity, there's no way in Tartarus that she's going to run around this early in the morning. Knowing how vain she can be, she would rather spend a couple of hours putting makeup on and styling her hair. So, I doubt she would even show up until closer to eight. Now if it was Pinkie Pie, she would have been here as soon as I picked her up. As for Fluttershy, I'm pretty sure she would most likely be busy taking care of her animals for the next hour or two before she did anything else. Wow, just listen to myself, I sound like a stalker.”

He then opened his eyes and glanced over to the mini map and saw the dot heading towards him. However, the weird thing about it, was how it was fluctuating between green and yellow, which was new to him. This of course, piqued his curiosity as he raised an eyebrow questionably.

That was when he heard a familiar voice quickly calling out to him through labored breathing. “Thank… Celestia… That I… Found you! I just wanted to tell you… That we're not that sort of mare’s!” This obviously caught Brex unawares as to what exactly Rose was getting at and opted to stay quiet and hear everything out.

After taking several breaths to finally be able to speak properly, she went on. “I swear, I did not know you were in there. I don't want you to think that we just invite stallions over to use a room so that we can pull a stunt like that, so that we can get one to stay with us. We're not that type of mare's. Please, believe what I'm telling you.”

It took a moment before everything clicked and he heard Rory speaking up. “It looks like she's scared that you'll think of them as a set of blackmailers that would cause an incident to happen and force the males to be theirs, or they would most likely spread rumors about how we got to see them naked or in this case, in their nightgowns.”

Honestly, he didn't even think of it that way. Brex was actually believing that they would try to say things about him and try to convince others that Gambit the adventure, was some type of sexual deviant that would go after innocent girls in their house.

Without so much as saying anything, he went into his item box and selected one of the empty pouch icon’s and began to transfer a number of bits into it. This only took a few seconds before he reached into his arm sleeve and pulled it out and placed it on the edge of the bench. When he had done this, he said, “As agreed on.”

What he had just placed down, was the agreed upon amount for staying, plus a few for tips. Even though there was a down payment made for the reservations, Brex didn't want to leave without at least giving them what was agreed upon. He could see that Rose was looking back-and-forth between the pouch and himself with a questioning gaze, that soon evolved to one of panic as she slowly began to shake her head.”

She quickly grabbed it off of the bench and tried to shove it back into his gloved hand, while her eyes darted around to see if there was any that could be seeing this play out. Rose then went on to speak in a hushed whisper. “You can't leave now! You still have another day. Lily and Daisy don't know yet. It'll be like it never happened. Please, don't leave because of me. My sister's will be so angry.”

While still having the pouch in his open hand. Brex then asked, “Why would they?” When he had asked the question, Rose started to look a little more nervous and was now holding on to her right elbow while lightly kicking at the road and turning her eyes to her hoofs. He then heard her swallowing a lump in her throat before she began to quietly speak.

“I... Well to say, we may have told others that we're putting up a stallion at our place. It just sort of slipped out. And you see... If it gets out that we ended up chasing one away, then...” Upon seeing what the girl was getting at, Brex slowly nodded before replying. “Your reputation.”

Rose quickly nodded along before she continued. “If word gets out that you did something like that. Then it can really hurt our chances of getting our own stallion to like us. It was one thing with those mare’s out there that would hunt down the stallions and secret. But ever since that trial that happened in Canterlot a while back, the stallions have been more withdrawn and keeping their guard up.”

Brex then immediately realized what she was talking about and nodded to it, while thinking to himself. “She must be talking about what Ryu and I did. I would have been surprised if that didn't shake up quite a few when word got out about what that mare did. From what I understand, a lot of the stallions have been keeping their guard up way more than ever. I'm pretty sure. Even had to be the reason that there were so many males signing up for the schools.”

When Brex was finished with his internal thoughts, he had released a small sigh and said, “Fine. I'll stay.” When hearing this, Brex was worried for the mare’s health when he heard her neck snapping when she suddenly looked up at him with an astonished look on her face. Afterwards, he got up and was slowly beginning to walk away when he heard Rose calling out.

“What, wait! Just like that? You're not mad? Are you at least suspicious of us? Aren't you afraid that something like this might happen again?” This got Brex to pause mid-step and without turning in her direction, he lifted his right hand that was now empty after putting away the pouch full of gold and was now beginning to expose one finger after another has he responded. “Yes. No. No. No.”

The way that he had replied, clearly stumped Rose for a few seconds before she realized what he was doing and gave him a small smile and response, before she ran up and was now right next to him. She then quickly asked him, “I take it you've never been here before, are you about to go sightseeing?” This earned her a slow shake of the head before he replied with, “Passed through once.”

Rose then asked, “Oh, and just how long ago was that? I'm pretty sure I would have spotted you. Seeing as you're so tall. Especially when it comes to that mask you're wearing.” Brex replied with, “Remember Sonic Boom?” This made the mare scrunch up her muzzle for a brief instant while she was clearly thinking hard on what he had just said.

She then quickly responded as soon as she appeared to have come up with an idea. “Ah... You're talking about that Sonic Rainboom that happened around ten or eleven years ago. You must have been a colt back then. I was in school when that happened. No doubt that's the reason as to why I didn't see you back then. So, how about I make up for what happened earlier and act as your tour guide for a while?”

This got Rory to speak up with a suspicious tone in her voice. “She may sound innocent, but I get the feeling she's trying to put a move on you Master. But still, it would help with your cover story. This way, it won't seem suspicious that you're wandering around on your own. Having a mare at your side would deter quite a few of the others from trying to make a move as well. Just make sure you're careful about making any unnecessary judgment calls and actions around her. Otherwise, she may take it the wrong way.”

Apparently seeing the logic in having Rose showing him around. The Roegadyn nodded and gestured with his right hand to lead the way as he said, “In your care.” This got the mare to close her eyes while giving him the biggest smile he had seen on her yet, while almost visibly vibrating on this spot.

From there, she began to lead him around town and pointing out various buildings. At the same time, also throwing in a few, gossip worthy tidbits here and there. After nearly an hour of slowly strolling around, they had been able to cover at least a good half of the town by that point and Rose was beginning to look a little tired and glancing at him and appearing to be rather confused.

The pair had just stopped right in front of a cafe that Brex was positive he saw on the show a few times. No, he was definitely positive, seeing as there was that one table in particular, that Twilight sat at during the episode called, The Ticket Master. Where Rainbow Dash was trying to earn a favor with keeping the rain off of her alone. He was brought out of his distracting thoughts, when he heard Rose speaking in an exhausted tone.

“Are you... In any way, related... To Applejack? Because, I find it really hard to believe you're not... The least bit tired after all of this walking.” This earned her a shake of the head as he replied with, “No blood relatives.”

He then motioned towards the cafe and asked, “Take a break?” It would seem that Rose was somewhat in thought and had to shake her head before she quickly nodded to his question and the pair then began to go into the fenced in area and sat at a free table outside.

What surprised Brex next, was how the same snobbish waiter that was on the show, was the one that came up to their table and gave them their menus before leaving. He was positive with how the gender thing was going on in this world, that the waiter was going to be replaced with a mare.

After he had recovered from this little shock, the Roegadyn glanced over the given menu to see what they had to offer. Just as he had figured. It was mainly focused on the diet of a pony. There wasn't even anything on it that would be remotely consider to be tailored to any other species.

He then thought to himself, rather annoyed. “These are just some elitist ponies. There's nothing on here that would make another member of a visiting race to feel welcome. I can understand if they don't add any type of meat to the menu, but still... They are ill-prepared for any that can’t eat flowers and hay. So glad that I didn’t bring Rory with me. Otherwise, she would starve.”

His rant was cut off from continuing any further, when the waiter came back and was now holding onto a notepad and quill. At the same time, eyeing them both suspiciously in the same way one would do when they wanted to say that you are not important enough to eat here.

Appearing to be unaffected or perhaps she didn’t notice, Rose ordered a daffodil sandwich and a cup of tea. As for Brex, he ordered a small spinach and cheese omelet, along with a glass of water. After the waiter had left, the atmosphere began to feel a little awkward with how silent it was between the two of them.

Thankfully, the silence was broken by another voice calling out to Rose from over by the street. Brex was able to register the voice immediately and had to stop himself from having any type of visible reaction when it turned out to be Rarity. “Yoohoo! Rose! Just the pony I wanted to see! I just wanted to ask you something in regards to the delivery of flowers that I'm going to use inside of the celebration hall.”

After that point, she began to ask Rose a number of questions. But Brex was internally screaming in his head, while this was all going on. “Oh shit! Why did it have to be Rarity out of all of the main six? She is literally the only one of the whole bunch that's ever seen me in person. Not to mention, she is the biggest town gossip that’s ever lived.”

“OK, Twilight has seen me too, but I was using the Caretaker persona back then. The only difference between then and now, when it came to this pony, is that my robes are a different color. Please, oh please! Let her have forgotten about me!”

“Oh, she must have forgotten about me by now, it's been over a decade and she was just a little kid at the time. I should be safe, so long as she doesn’t notice me.” As the two were talking, the food had finally arrived and that gave Rose the opportunity to break off their little chat.

When the waiter was approaching, his hoof tripped over a small rock in his path and began to stumble forward and into their group. Unfortunately, in his possession, was a full tray of food and beverages and they were on a direct course for Rarity, with how the stallion had inadvertently thrown his arms in front of himself for protection.

The sudden commotion had caught the attention of all those nearby, including the fashionista. Who instantly turned on the spot and had a look of outright horror growing on her face. Rose was currently bringing her hands up to her mouth as she made a big, “O” shape with her lips, as her eyes got comically wide.

As the stallion's arms were fully outstretched and the tray was beginning to tilt forward. The contents were now shifting. Brex concentrated and began to internally chant a spell at a speed, that verbally doing so, wouldn’t have been possible.

“By my name, decipher the laws of nature. Wind!” When that was finished, a strong gust of wind was now starting to accumulate out of nowhere and shot straight up from right between the stallion and Rarity.

The apron that the stallion was wearing, was thrown up and into his face as his entire form was literally caught and pushed upright thanks to the force, until he was back onto his hoofs, along with the tray of food. Once everything had died down, the stallion's mane was a complete mess and had been swirled into a style that was reminiscent to a, soft served, ice cream cone.

Rarity quickly started to pat herself all over, while checking her hair after summoning a small hand mirror with her magic. Once she discovered that she was just fine and her mane was not messed with, in the same way as the waiter, she had released a relieved chuckle and immediately excused herself right after that, to continue with the preparations.

Brex sighed within his mind out of relief that the whole incident had distracted Rarity enough to not pay him much mind. He then thought to himself. “Just what I would expect from a prim and proper, snobby girl like rarity. The instant her appearance is put in a jeopardy, she drops all common knowledge when it comes to regular interactions. Didn’t so much as acknowledge my existence. I bet she's gonna be running straight back to her home and rush in front a bunch of mirrors to check every inch of her body.”

His thoughts were brought back to the moment, when he heard Rose beginning to munch on her sandwich and asking between bites. “You better start eating your food now before it gets cold. Although, it might be already with that freak windstorm that came out of nowhere. You know something like that happened yesterday too? I heard from the grapevine, that Rainbow Dash was about to have a really bad crash when one of those windstorms caught her just before hitting the ground.”

“She was even asking all of the Unicorns for the one that was controlling it. But the word is, that none of them did anything and it was just a lucky accident.” Brex responded to that with nodding his head and saying, “Very fortunate, indeed.” He then proceeded to eat the omelet and got a good glimpse at the slightly, alarmed expression as Rose tried to inform him that he was still wearing his mask when the piece of egg was sucked through the wood at the very moment it made contact with it.

While still having her mouth partly hanging open and her right hands index finger, still pointing straight at his face. She began to speak with a bewildered tone. “Just... How do you? But that's not? Why not just take-?” Brex lifted up his free, left-hand and raised up two fingers, one after the other, as he answered. “Magic. Personal reasons.”

Rose nodded to this and went back to eating her sandwich, while still watching the spectacle in front of her. When it got to the point where Brex was now drinking all of the water in one go from the glass. He heard her saying, “I don't think I've seen anything like that. Do you ever take that mask off for anything?”

Instead of replying, Brex slowly brought down the now empty glass and got out of his chair before placing a set of bits on the table for payment. When Rose saw this, she instantly got up and began to go into her pouch, that she had hanging on her hips as she hurriedly spoke to him. “Oh, you don't need to do that! I got it covered.”

He quickly shook his own head towards that and the mare gave him a look, that just said that she didn't believe what she was seeing and raising one of her eyebrows in response. She then went on to say, “But, but a stallion never pays for a meal when he’s out with a mare.” When hearing this, the Roegadyn Ask, “Why is that?”

Rose was apparently stumped when asked that question, with how she was scrunching her face while seeming to be in deep thought. She was about to say something, when she was interrupted by the sound of another pony at a nearby table and they were complaining quite loudly. There was even another voice that followed immediately after as the two were conversing back and forth.

The first one was very angry and had this way of speaking that just screamed, that they were from the upper echelon of Canterlot’s, hi society. While the other, belonged to a mare that had something similar to what one would hear from a proper lady, but was slightly panicked by the sound of things.

“You call this a proper breakfast?! Was I not perfectly clear when I instructed you on what I wanted and how it was to be served to me?! I cannot even fathom how a mare such as yourself, can even be employed in such an establishment, when simple instructions are well beyond your understanding.”

“I'm dreadfully sorry ma'am. Please allow me to bring it back to the kitchen and we can correct the issue. Again, please accept my apology I will have a talk with the cook. I’m sure that there was a simple mistake and this can be taken care of quickly.”

“I doubt very much, that the cook is the one at fault here. It was your responsibility to take down the orders and convey them to the chef. Furthermore, you should have taken a time to correct any errors before it was even brought over to my table! From what I see, this is entirely your fault! I shall have a few stern words with the manager of this establishment and see that a, mud-pony, such as yourself is released from employment Immediately!”

“P-Please ma'am, there's no need to do such a-.” This was when there was a sudden crash of plates on the ground. Along with a small shriek from the one that was just speaking. This had the effect of drawing the attention of Brex and he turned around immediately. What he ended up seeing, caused his blood to approach the boiling point as his eyes narrow dangerously sharp at the scene in front of him.

Right there, between the tables. Was a mare on the ground and currently covering her face out of fear. While at the same time, her right leg was fully extended and there was a trickle of blood coming from a wound near her hoof. Nearby, was a broken plate with some food scattered about and it was apparent that one of the pieces, had some red markings along the edges after cutting her leg.

Right in front of her, still sitting in her chair and not even bothering to look upset in the least in regards to the injured mare. Was a rather plump Pony, wearing some expensive looking clothing and a thick set of pearl necklaces going around her neck. There was even this dirty little sneer creeping on to her lips as she watched as the mare on the ground was slowly beginning to release silent whimpers.

Brex rushed over and placed himself between the pair to kneel down and began to examine the wound. From what he could tell from a glance, it went quite deep as it ripped open the stockings and the blood was not showing any signs of slowing down. There was a pretty high chance that some tenants may have been severed and the poor mare would not be able to stand on that leg if action was not taken.

The entitled mare behind him began the spout nonsense that he was paying no attention too as he pulled out a set a vial’s from out from his sleeve. From there, he uncorked them both and poured the first one over the wound, which was a cure disease potion as a precaution. Then the high heal potion was administered, as it was poured directly over the wound and one could tell that it was working quite fast with how the flesh was mending within seconds.

Ignoring the snobby mare that just wouldn't stop talking, was apparently something that she didn't take kindly too. Because something soon shattered against the back of his head and some liquid was beginning to drip off the edge of his hood. But Brex paid it no mind and was fully focused on the mare’s injuries and making sure that everything was healing well.

However, something else began to strike his back, it was similar to the last one, but felt just a little bigger. Still, the Roegadyn paid no attention to it and asked in a monotoned tone. “Feel any pain?” Which got him a quiet response between sniffles. “N-No, I feel no pain. T-Thank you very much.”

This was when he finally heard the mare screaming at the top of her lungs. “I WILL NOT BE IGNORED, BY SOME DIRTY PEASENT!!” At the end of that sentence, he could feel that his robes were being grabbed at the center of his back. Finally having enough of this nonsense, Brex began to stand at an agonizingly slow rate.

*Point of view: Rose*
*Time: A moment earlier*

Rose was simply in shock after following the one that she was giving a tour of the town and saw the large gash going through the mare's leg. The overly dressed one, who had started this whole thing, was still yelling and directing all of her comments towards Gambit. Who was currently ignoring all of the verbal abuse.

Rose had to contain a shriek when she saw the high-class mare throwing a glass against the back of Gambit's head and splattering its contents all over his clothing. This was almost immediately followed with another plate of food, which broke on contact and was completely smeared on the lower part of his back now.

After a few more seconds, she watched as he got to his feet after the mare had grabbed on to his robes and had begun to yank furiously. Only to be left with no other option than to let go after she was no longer able to hold on without being dragged off her hoofs with how tall he was after standing.

Rose could tell that she was immediately going to fire off another set of complaints, but stopped when she realized just how much taller Gambit was compared to her. This caused the mare to shrink and back up a few paces. By this time, a set of two bodyguards wearing some flashy gear had showed up and were now standing at either side of her and were now giving Gambit their death glares, while hovering their hands over their swords that were still in their sheaths.

The cocky mare then started to speak far too loud for what was meant to be a private conversation. “You broke my nail. Some pony! Any pony! Call the town guards, I'm being assaulted!” Rose was completely appalled and had brought her hand up to her mouth out of pure shock as to what this mare was going on about. She saw the whole thing and it was completely the snobbish one's fault and Gambit hadn't done even a single thing.

But before she could call everything out on what was wrong, the pair of bodyguards that accompanied the mare had pulled out their swords while standing in front of Gambit. She then heard the two speaking to one another, as a set of identical, malicious smiles formed on their lips. “Did you hear that?” “He hurt our boss.” “Oh, I do believe I heard it as well.” “It would seem that it has come down to self-defense and we are fully obligated to protect our employer.”

As soon as Rose fully processed what was being said, her eyes shot wide open. But before she can say or do anything at all. The bodyguards leaped into action and swung their swords in a wide arc directly towards Gambit. All Rose could see, was the flash of their metal as they came across. But instead of the sickening sound of flesh being torn open, along with blood spilling forth. The air ring with a set of metallic clanks, as the pair of bodyguards were now falling back onto their tails while looking straight ahead dumbfoundedly.

Not understanding what was happening. Rose glanced back over to Gambit and saw that he had an object in his left hand and immediately assumed it to be a dagger that he had hidden in his sleeve, with the way it was glinting with the sunlight reflecting off its surface. After a moment, Rose got a better look at it and her mind froze when it registered to her, that he had defended himself with a large serving spoon that came off of one of the plates that had been thrown against him earlier.

Rose was brought back to reality, when he heard Gambit saying, “Form... Power... Awful.” When the bodyguards heard this, they got back to their hoofs and began to attack repeatedly once they got to either side of Gambit. Not once did he even shift his stance while defending against their assault. Once one blade was countered and the next was coming at his other side. Gambit would effortlessly toss the spoon over to his other hand and perry the blade. He would then repeat this process whenever he needed it on either side of his body.

The bodyguards were apparently putting their entire body weight into each of their slashes but were easily blocked and thrown back hard enough, that they nearly stumbled a number of times. By the time they were both looking really worn out and were having some trouble with even lifting their blades. There was a set of shouts coming from the crowd that was beginning to form. Soon out came a group of town guards that rushed in and pulled their blades out of their sheaths.

One of the female town guards quickly shouted, “OK! That's enough, break it up! Lower your weapons you two! And as for you... Uh... Put away your... Huh?... Spoon?!” It would seem that one of the bodyguards was pretty full of themselves and she called out, while still pointing the blade at Gambit. “This one showed up out of nowhere and tried to kill our employer. We're only doing our jobs, so stay out of this!”

The guard then called out to them again, but in a far louder voice. “The both of you are the only ones that have a weapon out. Besides, what do you think the stallion over there is gonna do with the spoon? Spill your tea by stirring the sugar and milk into it too hard?!” But it would seem that they were not heeding the town guard’s words and preparing their swords for another go.

The guards that were surrounding them, readied their blades to intervene, but the pair of swords that were being wielded by the bodyguards suddenly snapped and the tips of their blades sank into the ground in front of them. To say that every pair of eyes that was not hidden behind a mask, were now bugging out. As they could plainly see that the swords had not a single scratch long the blades. Aside from the section that was horribly bent and disfigured where it broke off. Which was only a few inches away from the handguard of the weapons.

That was when Gambit began to speak in a nonchalant tone. While flipping the spoon around a few times to get a better look at it. “Good quality utensils.” It was the annoying mare from before that quickly screamed out while pointing at Gambit. “Arrest this ruffian! Can you not see that he has a deadly weapon and is out to kill me! No doubt hired by one of my competitors. I demand that you lock him up and throw away the keys for all of the hateful remarks that were spewed from his lips at me and threatening my life!”

Rose can see how the mare’s lips were curling into a deep, devious grin as all the lies were spewing out from her. All the while, the bodyguards were glancing at the spoon and the mask on Gambit's face repeatedly a number of times before bringing them back down to the remains of their swords as the color on their faces drained.

The town guard that has been speaking throughout the altercation, called out to Gambit while pointing her sword at him. “Sir! I don't know who you are, but you clearly are a threat! I order you by the name of Princess Celestia, to lower your weapon and submit!” As soon as Rose heard those demands. There was a sudden cold breeze that filled the air that made her begin to shiver and wished that she had a coat.

However, it was quickly evident that she was not the only one that was getting this feeling, as all those present, began to show signs of being cold as well. Gambit merely responded with just two words, that ended up causing the egotistical mare to go pale, just at the sound of them. “Scarlet… Prize.”

Rose looked around and saw that the four guards were now visibly nervous as they look to one another. Soon, they all slowly began to lower their pointed weapons and away from Gambit. Now using a lower volume compared to before, the lead guard then said, “What we have here is a case of assault and defense. Seeing as we don't know the details, then we'll have no choice but to bring you in for questioning.” This was clearly being pointed at Gambit, before the guard went on. As for you, I'm going to have to ask that you stay in your hotel until this is all sorted out.”

Rose was now visibly angry, as she bawled her fists at seeing the unjust treatment. Just because one of them turned out to be some noble snob. Gambit was going to be taken in, while she gets to rest comfortably in some hotel. All because of the lies she said.

Right as she had taken a single step forward to voice her opinion. Another one came out of the crowd that she had recognized due to the southern accent. “I saw the whole thin! Not a word of what she's been saying, is a lick of the truth. She injured that poor mare down there on the ground. This fella just showed up and began to treat her wounds.”

“Then this one here, starts to throw all of her food and plates onto his back for not paying attention to anyth'in she was sayin to him!! She was holding on to his clothing when he was getting up and then started to scream that she broke a nail. Then use the excuse to say that he was attacking her and sicked her goons on him. If any deserve to go to jail, it's that lying snake in the grass and those two with her!”

This was quickly Followed with a chorus of whispers among the crowd, that was now lining the walkways outside of the cafe. There was then the following being said among them. “Applejack is right! She was the one who started the whole thing. Yeah, she even threw all those dishes when she was being ignored when he was tending to the dear. They’re the ones who drew their weapons and attacked. That's right! They went and claimed self-defense and pulled out their weapons for an excuse, I heard everything!”

This just kept on going on and on, with each Pony beginning to gain more courage after the next and calling out what they seen. As this went on, the stuck-up mare was getting angrier by the moment and was now clutching at her pearl necklace and grinding her teeth. Which were visibly showing. She seemed to have enough of it and took a single step forward, while jabbing one of her fingers into the breastplate of the guard that was in charge and started screaming in her face.

“Don't tell me that you're honestly going to believe these worthless peasants over an important Pony such as myself, over the common rabble. Are you?!” The guard then said to the mare. “It would seem that there are quite a number of witnesses that seem to be contradicting everything that you gave in your statement. Unlike those in Canterlot, we follow the rules here in Ponyville. Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you and your bodyguards to come along with us for further questioning.”

The posh mare, literally exploded while still trying to push into the guard. “If you don't do as I tell you, I'll make sure that you lose your post. I have the princess's ear and I can assure you, that you will pay for this indignity!” This only earned the mare a raised eyebrow from the guard, as she calmly replied.

“Ah yes. And as for one of her laws, she will be getting a written testimony from both myself, as well as the multiple witnesses here. Along with your self conduct, during this whole investigation. Now, I wonder just how well the princess would take it, once she finds out that a noble has been throwing their title around and assaulting the... Hmm, I believe you called them peasants and the rabble, if I’m not mistaken. Not to mention, that you are physically assaulting an official town guard… As we speak.”

The mare’s eyes began to twitch erratically, as she pulled her hand back and was now looking around at the group of ponies that were slowly growing in size. Rose could see how she was now visibly sweating with all the angry stairs that were directed straight at her and had finally relented and was escorted along with her two bodyguards, towards the local barracks. One of the town guards was currently assisting the mayor that had been injured and was now asking her questions as to what had transpired.

But not before receiving an apology from the lead guard about not being able to interfere sooner, before the incident had escalated and thanked him for stepping in once it was discovered that the mare on the ground was given first aid. During all the commotion, while the guards were leaving and dispersal of bystanders. Rose was sure that she could hear Applejack calling out to them. But felt her right hand being grabbed onto by Gambit and was quickly led away through the crowd.

Once they had gotten onto the street again, they began to walk for a few minutes at a high pace before Gambit finally slowed down and release their hand. By then, Rose was pretty much out of breath with how fast they were going. When she got her arm back, she turned to Gambit and asked quickly. “Do you care to tell me what that was all about? Just how were you able to do all of that? And with a spoon?! Also, the one who spoke out in your defense was trying to call out to us and we ended up running off.”

Once Rose was done asking all those questions. She could see how the stallion was slightly lowering their head and giving out a heavy sigh. After a few more seconds, she then heard him replying in a somewhat tired tone. “Too much attention.” Rose just stood there, while with a confused expression as she attempted to process what he had meant by that. She then heard off in the distance, some mare's talking as they were walking as a group, right around the corner.

“I'm telling you, that was a stallion. I just know it! He was so big and he was able to take out those bodyguards all by himself. And with a spoon no less! I bet you that he’s an adventurer! He has to be!”

“Oh no doubt about it. I know that he was wearing some loose fit clothing, but you have to admit that he must have some strong upper body strength for arms as thick as those! I could just imagine what it would be like to have them wrapped around me.”

“But could you believe that he ran off with Rose when everything was calming down? You all don't think that he’s the stallion that they were having over and using one of their rooms, do you? Just how in Tartarus, did she get her mitts on a stallion like that?”

“I haven't seen that stallion around, that’s for sure. He must be here for the celebration. Where do you think he came from? None of the males around here can do anything like that. I’ll bet you ten bits, that he’s from outside of the country.”

“Who cares where he came from. What I'm most interested in, is getting him to stay. How about we all keep an eye out for him and find out what we can and come up with a plan? You just know that rose and her sisters are going to try and do something and we need to beat them to the punch!”

The conversation between all of the mare in that group continued on as their voices faded after turning and heading down a different path than she and Gambit were on. All the while, she was keeping an eye on him and noticing how he was beginning to shift his body while pressing up against one of the buildings. This was obviously an attempt to seem less noticeable until the mare's had all passed by.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

Brex was exceedingly uncomfortable, with how much focus was being placed on him now. At least he knew back when he was with the hive, they were respectful enough not to gossip about him or to make a move. Or at least he thought, since he had not heard any within earshot. But out in the world again by himself, was getting to the Roegadyn.

That was when he began to think to himself again, while in a flat, inner voice. “I knew to expect something along these lines, when it came to their conceptions towards the males. But I just don't see why they treat us like candy. They're seriously trying to come up with a plan to take me as their own already, and I only just showed up. By the seven hells, they know nothing about me.”

“Am I really gonna be able to stay in Ponyville if things are gonna be like this? Maybe I should go with what Rory told me and just get this done and go back. All these mare’s ever care about, is getting a stallion for themselves. Males are nothing but a trophy to these girls now. Maybe I should just show my face. Then maybe, just maybe, they would get repulsed and just leave me alone. This is Ponyville after all. Anything different immediately gets shunned, if not run out of town with pitchforks and a sneak attack from Rainbow Dash.”

Before his internal monologue could go any further. He heard Rose coming up next to him and was now leaning up against the wall also, before she started to talk. “I take it you don't do very well with having the mare’s talk about you behind your back. You know, other stallions would be eating this all up and be basking in all of the attention. They would even go so far as to use this as a good opportunity to add more to their herd.”

There was a short pause, before she continued after getting off of the wall and standing in front of him. “One of them mentioned something about the Guild. Is it true that you're an adventurer? None of the stallions here in Poneyville are a member. But I have heard gossip about them joining more often, in recent years in other towns. Did you happen to go to one of those schools that opened up a little over seven or eight years ago?”

“I didn't go myself, but I know of a number of other girls who have. So, just which school were you a student of?” As the mare was going on, Brex couldn't help but to have a few thoughts in his head. “Maybe having her be my guide was not such a good idea after all. She's beginning to ask me too many questions. I could have already scoped out this entire town and including Sweet Apple Acres, if I was on my own. But I suppose, I would not have been there to treat that girl's wounds, if I had been on my own.”

“We should really just finish with the tour and I can go off on my own afterwards.” That was when he finally responded to Rose. “I prefer privacy.” After saying those words, Brex pushed himself off of the wall and started taking a few steps, while calling over his right shoulder towards her. “Still more, correct?” This got a strained reply from Rose as she slowly, yet reluctantly nodded and caught right Back up to him.

Soon after, Rose was back to showing them around Ponyville once again. When the town itself was finished, they both headed in the direction of the local apple farm. However, along the way, Brex noticed something off in the distance, that there was a structure being built near to the Everfree forest, on the Southwest end of town. It was a fair distance away from the town itself and very big.

Whatever it could have been, was safely hidden away under some frameworks that were erected around it and covered with a white tarp. There was even a thick brick wall surrounding it that was just tall enough, that Brex couldn't even look over to see what the landscape was like. This was thanks to the whole structure being on a slightly elevated section of land.

Brex remembered seeing the structure starting to be put together several months ago, but didn't think too much on it. Rose however, saw how he was turning his head in its general direction and quickly started to explain. “I don't really know what to tell you about that. There hasn't been any real gossip about who owns that place. They started building there close to half a year ago. But if you ask me, I think it has something to do with those new schools or maybe they're doing something to raise the defense when it comes to the monsters inside of the Everfree forest. How much do you want to bet it's a new barracks to hold a contingency of guards?”

Brex really wasn't all too sure about what to think about it. But he did ask Rory once to look into it for him and she replied a short time later that it wasn't anything to be concerned about. Just something that the town really needed. So, after hearing what Rose thought about it, he began to wonder that it might just be what she suspected it to become. Perhaps the Princess was cracking down on the defense of the towns and left it at that.

The rest of the stroll, down the beaten path towards the apple farm went quite smoothly as the pair simply watched the scenery. The peace and quiet, along with Rose no longer asking any more questions was beginning to relax the Roegadyn as time went on. Although, he still felt her eyes drifting towards him once in a while, but that wasn't much of a problem.

As soon as they went over a small hill and had arrived at the very top. Both Brex and Rose were able to see the entirety of the Sweet Apple Acres farm. To say that it was quite a large field just couldn't do it Justice. No matter how many times he ended up coming over for a quick visit or had one of his body doubles send him a mental report. He just couldn't get over how amazed he was that Applejack and Big Mac, were able to handle working with so much on the show.

He could hear how Rose was telling him a little bit about the place, but everything was what he had already known. But without seeming rude, he stood there silently while taking it in. What she said at one point, did catch his interest. “You've probably already tried their apples before. But have you been able to get any of those, Mirror Apples? I don't know too much about them. Several years back, they just started selling these strange apples during the winter one year.”

“Which I found to be quite strange, that they would have any fresh apples to sell around that time of the season. I asked Applejack about it one time. She told me it was a kind of Apple that only grew and bared fruit during the winter cold season. And I have to tell you, that they are so good. I don't know how It was possible, but they lived up to their name with how their skin would be able to reflect so easily whenever you held it close to your face. You wouldn't believe how many Ponies from Canterlot came down once word got out about them.”

Brex had to hold in his amusement when he began to recall how much both Rin and Lin, adored those apples. Thanks to the item box keeping everything fresh and the periodic visits to pick up a few bushels of them. He was hard pressed to go a single day without one of them asking if they could have another. Brex had even commissioned some of the scientists to put together an underground greenhouse with a refrigeration system, just to be able to grow them in a large enough quantity for those over at the institute to have.

After thinking about that. Brex finally replied to Rose. “They're quite delicious.” Rose quickly replied to that by asking, “Oh? You mentioned that you haven't been here for a while. So just how did you get your hands on some?” To which he simply said, “A close acquaintance.” This caused Rose to hum to herself, while looking at him quite suspiciously before she returned back to her normal attitude, as she was speaking again.

“Suppose I would have seen you during those times, when they went on sale. if you were the one to get them. Even with it snowing, the lines went around the corner whenever Applejack opens up her stall and announced that she was selling the Mirror Apples. You should have seen a resident rainbow Pegasus after getting a swig of the stuff when it was made into some hard cider. Haha-Haha! Apple Jack had to literally hog-tie her from trying to take the rest. I swear, that mare will do just about anything, for just a taste of that stuff.”

Brex couldn't help but to ask rose, “She's an alcoholic?” This got a somewhat strained smile from Rose as she brought her hand up while, tilting it from side to side, before reluctantly answering. “Well... I wouldn't say she's an alcoholic, per say. It's just, she likes to drink sometimes. And of course, when she does, she has a hard time controlling herself.” Rose then began to chuckle, while covering her mouth as she found herself using one of her hands to study herbody on a knee as she went on to continue.

“Don't tell any pony that I said this. But one time, Rainbow Dash got so tipsy from drinking at a party that Pinkie Pie through. She was so out of it that she kept saying she was fine flying home on her own. We would have protested if she had managed to get out of the building that is. Poor thing was flying into a close window repeatedly. What made it hilarious, was how she didn't even remember flying into it, just a few seconds earlier and just kept doing it until she finally passed out.”

Brex thought to himself, “This was during one of Pinky pie's parties? No wonder I didn't see it. Made sure to keep my body doubles away from her as much as possible, so they didn't go into any of her parties. Kind of wish I was able to see it that time though. But still... To get that wasted can't be good for the mare. This must have been going on for a few years now since the ponies develop a lot quicker than a human does. This has a result of them lowering the drinking age down to sixteen.”

Brex could hear Rose speaking again. “There's something I've been meaning to ask you.” This caught his attention and he replied with motioning his hand towards her to continue. While seemingly nervous, she then asked, “Why did you come to Ponyville by yourself? I mean, it’s just that I can clearly smell that you've been with a female. So, I was just wondering why did you not bring her along with you?”

The question had clearly caused Brex to go blank in his mind, with how sudden this particular subject came up out of nowhere. He then began to think, “Oh crap! I completely forgot about their strong sense of smell. She must be picking up on Rory. And here I was positive that I managed to get that all off of me. I even used that one spell to clean everything really well before coming here.”

The spell that Brex was referring too. Was called, Prestidigitation. It had a number of effects, but not really meant for combat. It was more for everyday utility. In this case, it had the desired effect of being used to clean oneself of any dirt or grime. Without the need for water or any kind of cleaning agent when it came to both objects or one’s self. In a way, it was the magic version of a wet-wipe, except it really gets it all off.

Another added bonus was how this was considered a, Cantrip. Which meant that it could be used repeatedly without consuming any spell slots. It would take a little bit of time with how it would only work in patched areas. But eventually, one could clean their own whole body with it.

Dungeons and Dragons spell: Prestidigitation. This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following six magical effects within range:

First Effect. You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.

Second Effect. You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.

Third Effect. You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than one cubic foot.

Forth Effect. You chill, warm, or flavor up to one cubic foot of nonliving material for one hour.

Fifth Effect. You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for one hour.

Sixth Effect. You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.

He then continued with his thoughts. “OK, just run a quick checklist. Pants... Check. Robes... Check. Underwear... Double check. Boots and gloves?... Check. What's left? Oh Rory, you didn't?” That was when he heard the girl giggling in his head before she spoke. “I honestly didn't think you would notice, Master. I mean, you're so used to being around me that I guess you went nose-blind to it.”

Brex immediately shot back to her by yelling within his head. “Why the seven hells? Rory, what the fuck did you do to my mask! That's literally the only thing I did not use that spell on! I know for a fact, that I removed it the last time we were in bed together. How and when, did you get around to getting your cent on that?”

Rory then replied to that while using her usual mischievous tone. Master? Did you really think I was going to let you go to a town, full of females and not make sure that I laid claim to you? The night before you left, we were snuggling in bed. I grabbed your mask and placed it between my legs to rub on my-.”

The Roegadyn then snapped back at her by yelling while trying to not alert Rose, who was just a few feet away. “Rory! I know your kinky and all. But to use my mask to masturbate with when I’m asleep right next to you, shows that you need to control yourself!” This got her to giggle some more before replying with, “Oh Master. Teehee~. I suppose I needed to be tied up again. It’s been a while sense our last session. If I don’t get trained now and again, then I’m bound to slip up. Rory’s been a very bad girl and needs to be… Punished~.”

He then quickly straightened up himself while taking some deep breaths before speaking to Rose in his usual tone. “It's personal.” This only got Rose the pout at him and cross her arms before she spoke up again. “Why do I get the feeling that is going to be your answer for a lot of questions?” To which, got Brex to say, “Because you're smart.” Then, he immediately started to walk quickly back to town and left Rose just standing there with a bewildered look on her face as she tried to form some words, before finally noticing that he had left her behind and started to give chase.

*Point of view: Rarity*
*Location: Carousel boutique*
*Time: Nine at night*

After a long day of working on both preparations and getting a few more outfits done for her, already expecting clients. The fashion designer had just put away her sewing supplies to be ready for use on the following day and had entered her room, once she had finished taking a bath and getting herself, all cleaned up.

As soon as she had gone to her bed and sat on the edge. Her eyes shifted over towards her pillow and caught sight of the plushy that was laid there earlier that day. Right now, Rarity was wearing a silk nightgown that was pure white, with a purple trim and was hanging off of her shoulders with these thin straps. As the back was completely exposed until it got near her tail.

While holding on to the item in both hands. Her eyes began to soften as she tried to recall her past around the time that she had made it. She was able to recall, bits and pieces in regards to being taken away from her parents, right in the middle of their trip to visit a sick family member. How she woke up in a daze inside of a cage, while some fight had just taken place.

There was a vague imprint of a tall figure wearing a faded, yellow set of robes and a mask. Along with using a bow and arrow, to fight off some vicious creature. But the one thing that she could not allow herself to forget. Had to do with how the stallion had fought when It came to the use of his weapon.

In the beginning, it was awe inspiring with how precise each shot was to take out all of those icicles in mid-flight. Then, there was that mysterious technique that allowed just one single arrow, to split up into many. Now if that that wasn't enough, then it had to do with the arrows that split off, being controlled while in the air and had created a type of, barrier of arrows to stop the oncoming flurry of attacks, being launched at not only herself, but the other ponies around her.

It was all because of what she saw that day, that she had been able to devote her abilities into refining them in such a degree, that she could do so much more than a normal Unicorn can possibly even imagine, with the level of control she had with her levitation. For the average Unicorn when using a levitation spell, would only be capable of moving up to four items at a time and that was if they were talented in doing so. Otherwise, it would only be two or three at most.

Rarity was now caressing the edge of the fabric, with the fingertips on her right hand, when she had an odd thought. “Perhaps, you would look better in, white and blue? Hmmm-Hmm. Yes, yes. I can see it now. Change the yellow to white. Then the brown can be blue. Maybe throw in some gray or a hint of silver here and there. Perhaps I could... Hold on-.”

That was when she began to scrunch her muzzle, while staring straight at the toy with a questioning gaze. After a moment of this, her head began to rise and was now looking straight ahead at the wall in front of her, without so much as blinking. That was when she began to slowly say, “Now, just why in Equestria, would I think about changing your color scheme. Especially after all this time?”

*Point of view: Applejack*
*Location: Sweet Apple acres, the main house*

The entire Apple clan was just getting ready for bed after finishing up their late meal. This was due to them fiddling with the new farm equipment for longer than they had realized. Applejack at that moment, was coming out of the kitchen after helping out with the dishes and saw big Mac, already halfway up the stairs, so she called out to him. “Off the bed there, big brother?” In response, the larger pony looked down to her from the railing and gave her a solid, “Eeyup!” Before proceeding to head the rest of the way upstairs to hit the sack.

She was about to head up the stairs herself and head to her own room. But when she got onto the second step, she began to recall what happened earlier that day. At first, it was going to look like any other, with her selling apples in the market. But then, she heard that a noble was screaming at some pony and immediately abandoned her cart to try and put it in to the ruckus before it got out of hand.

Needless to say, Applejack was taken aback, while watching the stallion that was wearing the white robes, effortlessly defending himself against a pair of armed ponies, with just a single soup spoon. Again, when he eventually broke their weapons. She had tried to go over to talk to the stallion. But thanks to the others around, they had slipped away. Although she was positive that the one that was with him, had to have been Rose and promised herself that she would talk to the mare later on about it.

Now, when she had gotten home and it was dinner time. The orange mare began to tell her family about what she saw. Of course, Apple Bloom was jumping in her chair, while at the same time, trying to swing her own spoon around and was quickly reprimanded by Granny Smith to not play around at the table. Especially after the little girl had accidentally flung what was already on the spoon into the elder Mare's face. That ended up to be a generous dollop of apple sauce. To which Granny Smith, licked off her own nose.

Applejack had expected that her parents would be surprised by the news. However, they seemed rather unfazed by the news. Aside from them giving her another one of those small smiles and looking at one another, before returning to their meal. The only thing she got out of them, was how her dad said, “Seems to me, some fella lent a quick hand as he was passing through.”

When she was finished with thinking that over. The farm mare, was already in her bedroom and had gotten under the covers and turned off the light. Before she closed her eyes, she had turned away from the window and was now staring across from a room. Soon her eyes laid on to a small object, that was nestled between her dresser and a bookshelf. That had a few nick knacks placed within. The object in question, was a small hatchet that could easily let it rest and one of her hands. Although, when she was little, she was just small enough to need both when swinging it.

Just as Applejack's eyes began to close and she was ready to go to sleep. She began to mumble just under her breath, while half yawning. Just a fella... lending a hand... Why... Does that sound... Familiar” As soon as Applejack had fallen asleep, without knowing that she had done so, she had reached up and had placed a few of her fingers on the back of her head, as she dozed off into dreamland.

*Point of view: Fluttershy*
*Location: Fluttershy house, Edge of town*

The yellow Pegasus had just finished feeding her daytime animals and was halfway through with working on the breakfast meant for the nocturnal ones. While at the same time, making sure that all the critters that had been up during the day, were all nestled in their beds.

Right as she had gotten to the second floor of her house, that had a nest of bats right underneath the roof covering, outside of the windows. She was just about to open said window to give them some fruit for their breakfast, when she stopped moving her hand just a few inches away from the latch.

Right there, on one of the lower left-hand sections of the glass window. Was a tiny, green and white speck of light that was hovering near the glass itself. There had been a little bit of dust accumulating on the edge of the window sill and that was being carefully blown around, thanks to the wind that this small light was giving off.

Fluttershy had knelt down and place the fruit that was within a small basket onto the floor and looked and Inquisitively towards the light. She then began to speak in her usual, sweet voice, that she only used while in the company of her animals. “This is quite a surprise. Aren't you usually at the other window facing the East? I hope you don't mind me asking, but why are you over here? Especially after all these years?”

The faint light that it was giving off, began to pulse a few times before returning back to its normal glow in response. Afterwards, Fluttershy tilted her head before saying, “I just wish I could understand you in the same way that I do with my animal friends. Could it be, that there's danger over in town?” This ended up getting her nothing. Then she asked, “Do you have a friend that's in town right now?” That time, she got a response with it blinking a few more times, before going back to normal once again.

Seeing this made the timid Pegasus giggle a little bit, before she replied with some excitement in her voice. “Yay! Isn't that just great? I do hope I get to meet your friend sometime.” That was when the ball of light began to pulse once more, before it zoomed around Fluttershy and ducked into her mane. This elicited a few more giggles from the mare, before it exited and quickly flew off somewhere else in their house.

*Point of view: Rainbow Dash*
*Location: Sugar Cube Corner*

Rainbow Dash was currently hovering inside of the kitchen, located in the back of the shop. At the moment, she was wearing a pair of ripped blue jeans and a white tank top with the words, “I'm awesome.” Printed on the front. While at the same time in the background, there were some bags of ingredients being tossed back-and-forth cross the kitchen.

Over the chorus of utensils mixing, clanking and the sound of a small egg timer going off. The blue Pegasus was talking while crossing her arms and having a pouting face on. While at the same time, staring out of the window at the night sky. “I just know that freak windstorm yesterday was the work of a unicorn. I was even asking any in town if they knew about one that can use wind magic. But I got zilch, nodda, bubcus! There is not a single Unicorn in this town, that can use wind magic at all. And there's no way it was a coincidence after what I heard about today.”

“Pretty much every pony in town knows about what happened thanks to Rarity. She went on and on about how her mane had miraculously escaped being destroyed when this freakishly strong wind came out of nowhere and kept some food from being spilled on her. BUCK! I really hate when I owe a pony a favor. Especially, when they do something like this. I just don't get why they won't fess up?! Say, Pinky? You don't think it's one of my many fans that are too scared to approach me, do you? I must be too awesome for them to think that they're worthy to come near me! That's gotta be it!”

Now Rainbow's voice was beginning to get a little irritated as she continued. “Pinky! Are you even listening to a word I say?! Also, what are you doing, aren't you finished with all the baking for tomorrow's stock for the shop? Is all of that stuff to make blueberry muffins? Then there's all this cheese. Don't tell me you're gonna try and make another cheesecake again, are you? The last time you did, it was over eight hoofs tall and it fell over the instant you put that cherry on top.”

There was then, a bubbly voice that came out of pretty much nowhere and at the same time, everywhere thanks to how fast the mare was moving. “Oh Dashy! Don't be silly. These are the help to make the extra, extra, cheesy quesadillas. As for the muffins, those are to make up for a lot of birthdays that got missed.”

Now scratching the side of her head, Rainbow Dash then asked, “Missed birthdays? Pinky, you're the only one around here that can remember every single pony's birthday. Even when they themselves forget about it. Just who is it you’re doing all of this for anyhow?”

That was when Pinkie Pie popped up from behind Rainbow Dash and turned her around, while holding on to her shoulders as they were still several feet off the ground. Apparently, Pinkie Pie had suddenly gotten a ladder out of nowhere and was perched, right on the top step and looking straight into the Pegasus mare's eyes.

Now literally close enough that they can feel the other one's breath. Rainbow Dash was beginning to blush with how close they were, when Pinkie Pie began to whisper in her right ear after leaning in. “I don't know who. But I know that, someone... Really, is in need of some parties. I also need to make sure that everything is perfect or they might run away!” This whole-time that Pinkie Pie was whispering so low that she was nearly pressing her lips onto Rainbow Dash’s ear. It was causing the blue mare to turn the shade of red.

Before she was able to utter her next words. Pinkie Pie had already gotten away and was already back to baking. Now seemingly shocked from what had just happened. Rainbow Dash began to mutter. “What does she mean by... Someone?” Unfortunately, her train of thought was lost, when she instantly remembered the feeling of Pinkie Pie whispering into her ear. That ended up causing her wings to lock up and she ended up falling to the ground with a heavy thud.