Author's Note

Good Evening.

I hope y'all are having a great weekend, and for many of you, a wonderful start of the week. Not much going on. I scrapped the current map in favor of creating something more detailed. So hopefully I will have that out sometime this coming week.

Oh and a new chapter for my lore based comedy is being dropped next Sunday.

Well, that's about it for this week. If you like my work, and want to give me a little support, considering donating to my Kofi. I operate on a donation only, as I am not the that greedy. That money will be going to art for the story, equipment, and programs.

Thank you for reading.

Peace!

A Conversation With The Sun

Tongue lolling out of his mouth, Orion examined his teeth in the bathroom mirror.

Despite the horse-like nature of the species he now found himself in, the species itself wasn't really much like equines from his world.

For one thing, they had nearly the same amount of teeth, if flatter, as humans. Another was how squat the muzzles really were. In the struggle to survive his first days and months in this world, he hadn't really paid too much attention and was too busy to notice.

Though he was a bit different, and not just the human nature of his teeth and biology.

An interesting little factoid had come back from that medical examination some years ago. His vision was better than most save for pegasi, and even then, he beat them out in other ways.

It turns out that ponies didn't really see that well at night. Hence why nearly every alleyway and gutter in the city was lit like noon at any time of day. He supposed it was his human predator nature that gave him that advantage.

Closing his mouth with a smack, he examined himself thoroughly, brushing his fingertips against the patch of fiery gotee that he had begun growing on his chin. While not the standing mirror in his room, the orphanage bathroom mirror still gave back a pleasing sight.

"I may be getting a little vain here, but God-damn! Do I look good!"

Years spent at the gym had paid off, but he had decided against building the bulging muscle he had initially wanted early on. He was still big by colt standards, as he towered over most his age and many older than he. Orion had instead chosen to go with a more lithe form that was more than strong enough for his age.

Muscles rippled along his arms as he began adopting various poses he had seen on TV years ago.

He snorted, giving way to outright laughter. He looked ridiculous.

Shaking his head, as chuckles still shook him, he tossed the towel over his shoulder and left the washroom.

Well, he tried to.

Little fillies and colts ran around him in a tide of excited squeals and gaping wonder. Gaping wonder at him that had made him uncomfortable with past residents, though he supposed there was a reason for it.

The excited squeals were due partly because it was their first day of school. Most foals would be thrilled.

For the new charges of "Evergarden's Home for Wayward Foals", he was a mystical being that haunted the halls of the orphanage. A legend that refused to be adopted. Some of the previous little tenants had written stories about him, complete fabrications except for a few, and wildly entertaining when he had found them, squirreled away in little holes and out-of-the-way nooks.

Instead of throwing them away, he left them and their "sacred texts" alone. He didn't see the harm in letting them have their crazy ideas, and the mild fear and worry made getting around the place easy.

Except for this morning, apparently.

Any concern over him had been swept away by the prospect of their first day in class. Mrs. Evergarden had gotten an entire crop of unicorns this go around. So the idea of attending a prestigious school was almost beyond their little minds to accept.

Many of the brats ran around half-dressed, save for one little colt who was destined for life as a nudist, bumping into one another as they kept zipping in and out of their rooms. All while boasting of how they would impress their new classmates.

He inwardly winced. Their fellow students would most likely be absolute miserable little assholes to them.

Getting to his room, he shed his pajama bottoms and quickly slipped into his uniform. The purple sweater vest had grown on him, but he would never willingly choose it outside school.

He shook his head, stirring several braids and beads intermingled in his mane. To disguise the few enchantments he carried, Orion had chosen to make and buy normal ones to hide them amongst. Keeping to wood and steel, his head now sported a multitude of ornaments that made him look like a surfer. Or a pothead.

"I wonder if there is weed, or something like it, in this world?" If there was, would he be the first to know what it was and market it?

Grabbing his bag, he headed for the door and stopped. Did he really want to tangle with all those kids flooding the halls? The shrieks of delight made him change direction.

"Nope. Nu-uh. Not today." He muttered.

Walking over to his window, he yanked it open with a jerk. The recent rain had swelled the wood somewhat, making the frame stick a bit, but there were no bugs. Mr. Dumpling had not misled him.

Seeing no one below and not sensing anyone either, he leaped out, an application of telekinesis shutting the window behind him. Three stories up was not an insignificant drop, but as he approached the bottom, he cast Windfall, and a gust of air slowed his descent to a more manageable speed.

Still, the shock shook his legs, causing him to hop a couple of steps.

"More wind next time, I think." He looked at his hands and smiled.

A peculiar bonus had come with his new "horns".

It was common knowledge that unicorns used their horns to cast a spell. This was normal. What wasn't normal, was that he was now capable of casting through his hands. The fingers acted as the foci for whatever he was attempting to do, and in the field of enchanting, was actually a massive increase in fine control.

Larger castings either didn't work or hurt his arms, depending on the size of the cast. So he kept it to small, simple spells.

The discovery of this new talent had come at a frightening moment.

In an accidental discharge, which he was sure had some sanitation workers scratching their heads in wonder, he had smoked a rather large spider with a fireball from his hand.

That was a reasonably advanced spell, though it only matched the power requirements needed and had not strained anything. That incident had led him to experiment and discover that by horn or wiggly fingers, he had become something more than average.

He decided it would be best to keep that little trick a secret.

The Windfall spell was, however, one such spell he could cast without difficulty with his hands.

Whistling, he walked into the back door and straight into the kitchen. Mr. Dumpling was there, of course, and so were three fillies watching the older stallion go about his work, their eyes glued to the pancakes the stallion had already stacked up on a plate. None had noticed him, and he snatched a few breakfast burritos he had made on Sunday in his magic and started heating them with a warming spell. They would be ready by the time he reached the street.

Slipping out, as undetected as before, he found himself munching on one of the three as he shut the foyer door behind him.

Today was going to be a good day.

Maybe...he had been too optimistic.

By lunchtime, Orion was exhausted. Mr. Cloverleaf's class had been moved forward in the schedule this year. His “remarkable” improvement had only spurred the teacher to test the limits of his newfound strength.

What had been a hope for ease of personal lessons had turned into a trial by fire to test his limits. The hard part was trying not to show too much. If he was being honest, and what he suspected was true, with the bands, he was now far beyond the strongest in the class.

That effort had served to exhaust and piss him off all at once, as restraining himself was just as taxing as pushing his new abilities to the max.

Getting to the dining hall, he groaned. It was packed. It seemed there were more students than ever before, and he had no desire to deal with them.

Rather than be stuck inside the cafeteria, he chose to go out into the early September sunshine. He decided to take shade under a tree toward the rear of the enclosed mezzanine. It had a rather lovely view of the upper plate, and the castle stood prominent over the rim. Likely an artistic choice of the builders that he entirely took advantage of.

He was not alone in his decision. Groups of ponies, both younger and older than him, were spread about amongst the available tables. All talked excitedly as they shoveled food into their mouths.

What struck him as odd, though, as he dug into his meal of oatmeal and fruit, was that more than a few looks were being shot in his direction. Surprisingly hostile faces with grins that made the hair on his neck rise.

"Something's fucky." Had he pissed someone off recently?

As he continued to eat, several colts had gathered near the entrances to the school proper. A few here, a few more over there, all arrayed as if blocking the way inside.

"What in the hell is going on?" He finished his food and glanced around. A frown on his face. He started recognizing some of them and barely contained his shock. These were idiots who had tried to bully him to some degree over the years and had verbally abused the hell out of them. "You have got to be shitting me…"

It was clear what was going on now. Block the exits, and make sure the target can't escape. The why was answered before he had the chance to ask why; his thoughts were abruptly interrupted.

"And there he is! The meat-eating monster of an orphan himself!" The pitch was deeper, but he recognized that whiny ass tone.

Fillies had suddenly shifted to the far side of the mezzanine in quick haste. A couple bore smug expressions, but most others were just confused. A few colts were also with them. So not all the males were in on it.

As Orion turned around, he could only groan in annoyance. Of course.

In truth, he had forgotten about the asshat that had lived with him all those years ago at the orphanage.

Golden Trot stood there, hands on his hips and a smug grin on his face. The idiot looked like he had just stepped from a spa. His uniform, much like his own, was silk rather than the cotton everyone else wore. His blonde mane, perfectly coiffed in a pompadour, glimmered in the sunlight.

The white-furred colt was the picture of refinement and arrogance. He had gotten big in his own right, just not as tall as the black pony himself.

No lunch was in his hands, an obvious red flag if he had ever seen one. Golden hadn't come to the mezzanine with food on the mind.

At his announcement, the corner where the majority of foals had ended up gasped out loud.

Orion wanted to smack a bitch.

"It's been a while since I had a need to beat some ass. But why me?!" He whined to himself. "I'm a fucking adult! Why do I have to deal with the high school drama bullshit!? I'm not even IN high school yet!"

He stood up and walked around the picnic table, planting his rear on the edge. Best not be sitting down when the fight inevitably starts.

He couldn't help but wonder where the teachers were.

Rather than let his little speech go wherever it seemed he wanted it to go, he interrupted as Golden opened his mouth again.

"What the hell do you want, dumbass?" He growled out. He had thought about acting bored, but he figured intimidation would work better in this case. The last time they had gotten into an altercation about bathroom privileges of all things, he had made the idiot practically piss himself in fear. Hopefully, that terror was still within him somewhere.

It seemed that was not to be the case as the white-furred pony just smirked at him, completely shrugging off his glare.

"That's concerning." Orion cast his baleful gaze on the others and noticed the same expression. Confidence and arrogance.

"Where are the teachers?"

Usually, there was at least one set to watch the students as they ate and interacted. Now, there was none to be seen in either the lunch hall itself or outside with the rest of them.

That's when he spotted Mr. Shower with another stallion he had never seen before, both standing inside a windowed corridor connecting the cafeteria with the gymnasium. Both had self-satisfied looks as they watched on from their vantage.

"So that's the game...shit." A fight was going to happen whether he wanted it or not.

Turning back to Golden Trot, he noticed for the first time that he wasn't alone in his approach. Behind him were half a dozen colts. He couldn't recall any of them save for Prickly Shower.

The colt had been born with a chip on his shoulder. Likely due to the fact that he was as ugly as his father, Golden Shower. It turns out he had guessed right about the name and had laughed his ass off when a colt in his class, Bismuth, had told him the stallion's name.

To top it off, he was a Nazi pony looking for his Hitler. Mr. Shower was thoroughly convinced that unicorns were the superior breed and that all others were beneath mention.

There was even a fraternity of all things, one that seemed both father and son were a part of. As the little shit nearly said the same as his father on a daily basis. Orion made a point of busting his ego anytime he started his nonsense within hearing.

Golden suddenly gestured.

Prickly's horn flashed orange, and before the black pony had a chance to react, he was pinned to the tree he had been sitting beside, his horn wrapped in the same glow.

Trapping someone's horn in magic was most often used by guards and law enforcement across the nation. Of course, only unicorns could do it to other unicorns, but it was rather effective in keeping one from casting a spell. The influence of outside mana disrupted a caster's ability to focus through their horn—something to do with frequency, though his magic classes had yet to cover the details.

It appears as though Golden Trot had managed to get ponies that had a problem with him to back the white colt up.

"So how much are ya paying these guys to do your heavy lifting?" He smirked back, which was difficult considering the knot in the tree that was digging into his spine, making him want to wince instead.

"P-pay them!? They are my friends, and there is no need to pay friends." He recovered well after the shaky start, but the looks of the others behind him gave evidence of the lie as they glared at the back of his head.

"Figures someone like this clown had to buy support."

"Oh yeah, you most certainly paid them." He laughed. "And you called me an orphan. Dude, that's not an insult. Hell, you were one yourself not too long ago."

Whatever advantage he had made with the group didn't appear to amount much as Golden Trot grinned up at him. This was not going well.

"Was, my little predator. Oh yes, I know all about your need for meat. Your desire for flesh. I will not allow you to stain the halls of this great academy any longer!" He was projecting his voice. Gasps echoed around the mezzanine repeatedly with each pronouncement. "That's right, my fellow ponies." He cried out, sweeping a gaze over the assembled crowd. "This creature masquerading as a "pony" is a beast that eats poor innocent animals!" His hand shot out and gripped Orion's jaw, twisting to pry open his mouth, exposing his teeth to them all.

More gasps and a few shrieks of terror followed. "Jesus, these people are weak."

"See, my friends! It is, as I said. He is a beast! What pony knows how long it would have been before animals were not enough for him! Perhaps he has already partaken of a mare or even a stallion!"

The Orion wanted to make a dirty comment about exactly what part of a mare he would eat but now did not seem the time for that level of flippancy.

There had been rumors. Missing persons that vanished in the night without rhyme or reason, and this little shit was playing on a tragedy to families for his own gain.

The growl that rumbled into the moment's stillness came from his throat much to his surprise. He wanted to hurt the arrogant young aristocrat very, very badly.

Opening his mouth to respond, Golden Trot punched him in his jaw. It hurt. Apparently, he had been doing more than sitting on his laurels eating bon bons and being waited on hand and hoof.

"Don't growl at me, beast." He said contemptuously. "From the sound, it must have been a Diamond Dog that raped your mother. That would explain the half-breed nature." He pulled a scarf from a sleeve and wiped his fist off before dropping the cloth. "No...she likely begged for it. Like a whorse."

Your mother was a hoe taunts. Original.

"Look at you, being brave with others at your back" Orion chuckled darkly. A thought had occurred to him. "First and foremost, every faculty member here knows about my dietary needs, you smooth-brained slug." That chuckle morphed into a cackle as he devised a new tactic. "I've never bitten anyone either." His grin was all teeth now. "Well, no one that didn't deserve it, at least." He was exposed now, he might as well have fun with it.

A couple of his pack of morons took a step back, fear in their eyes.

He had been so careful to never grin or smile openly to anyone in school. He had not wanted to cause a panic nor break a promise that was not quite a promise to Mrs. Evergarden either. A not-promise he had stuck to for years.

Besides Twilight, no one in the school had ever known what they shouldn't have. Now those teeth flashed in the noonday sun for all to see.

He decided this was going to be a teaching moment, a lesson on not screwing with potentially dangerous people. They would not enjoy it.

"Y-you admit your carnivorous nature!?" The would-be school bully shrieked.

"I also eat vegetables, and fruit, you halfwit. Everyone here has seen me dig into oatmeal almost religiously. It's called being an omnivore, you chud. So congratulations, you exposed an omnivore. Good job. Go collect your gold star, get a little juicy box, and fuck. Off." He wondered if juice boxes were a thing here.

"That is only because you are forced to!"

"Have ever you had cherry oatmeal drizzled in honey and mixed with butter? Trust me; no one is forcing me to eat that deliciousness." He interrupted.

"A likely story! My father says it's well known that lesser creatures always give way to their baser instincts eventually, and I know you will, you savage." He adjusted his uniform. Of course, he would wear that ridiculous tie that was technically mandatory, he never did. "I, Golden Trot, will never allow you to visit your predations on my fellow pony." Stepping forward, getting right in his face, "You shall leave this illustrious place of learning, this very city, never to be seen again!"

Orion could only gape in astonishment. He couldn't be serious, there was no way. Before he could stop himself, he roared with laughter.

"This is ridiculous!" Had he not been bound so tightly to the tree, he would have drummed his hooves in mirth.

His captors could only stare on in bewilderment. They all were, from what he could tel,l with tears in his eyes. It took minutes for him to recover, and even then he was wracked with chuckles of amusement.

"Hehe, "my daddy says"!" Okay, so what happens if I, you know, don't go?" He had to see how far this fucker thought he could go.

"I shall have you chased out if must be. Possibly slain like some sloven beast in an alley. The guards would do for you just fine." There was that beast comment again.

"Do you have any other insult, "beast" is getting mighty old. You know what they say: Overusing a word makes it lose its meaning. As to your... heh...guard comment. You mean the guard who serves under Equestrian rules and regulations?" This was becoming utterly moronic. For a plan it wasn’t that well reasoned out.

"But of course, who better to act than the guardians of Equestria's finest."

"The very ones that Princess Celestia herself commands absolutely." He wasn't going to bother with questioning tone anymore, hoping this absolute nebula brain would get the picture.

"Yes, yes, if you must spell it out." Of course, he didn't.

"The very Princess that I actually know, who also knows about me and has allowed me to remain as a student." He grinned darkly.

The change on the irritated foal's face was remarkable. From smug annoyance, it morphed into confusion, then outright horror. "Oh boy, this is fun now."

"Im-im….that is preposterous!" Oh, denial. A fantastic cologne on the pompous ass. A quick glance toward the large windows in the corridor showed an unsmiling Shower and mystery stallion. He wondered if they were getting the picture. Did no one do any research on him before this half-assed plan had been developed?

He might just be able to keep his not-promise after all.

"So, you're saying that Princess Celestia is inattentive? That she doesn't know what's going on in her own school. Her own orphanage?" It was his turn with the smug.

Many were now looking uncertain. As well, they might. Golden Trot was starting to pale, in fear, he hoped.

"Never, the Goddess of the Sun always watches out for us!" He squeezed his eyes shut rather forcefully. Taking a deep breath, he fixed Orion with a glare. "I refuse to listen to your lies any longer! You will leave and leave NOW!" He roared into his face and punched him again, harder this time.

His fist wasn't the only one. With that first strike came others.

"Well, shit." So much for trying to end things peaceably.

As the blows fell, he tested Prickly's hold on his horn and grinned.

There was one minor issue with using this particular method to restrain a unicorn. If the subject was stronger than you, you could not hold them for long, if at all.

No one had bothered to fuse magic with Golden Shower's son either. Which made his first move all the easier.

With a surge of his magic, added by the bands on his arms, he blew through Prickly's surprisingly weak hold on his horn. Shattering the bindings cast on him, his first punch dropped the ugly turd of a colt like a brick. His other hand wrapped around Golden's throat.

They all backed away from him then. Well, the ass clown in his grip tried to at least.

When he was bound to the tree, they had all looked taller than him, but as he rose to his full height, he looked over them all. A sneer was plastered to his lips.

Orion spat blood to the side. They had managed to bust his lip.

"I am gonna teach you a lesson now." He spoke coldly, through gritted teeth. "You came here and attempted to make me into some type of fucked up boogeyman. All to look like some noble hero." As his horn burst to life, he snorted, and the complex spells that increased his strength began to suffuse into his flesh. "But let's be honest, until some mare drives her strap on the size of a club into your ass, you won't feel fulfilled. I imagine your "daddy" might be proud when you've been spit-roasted. I am told it takes a bit of fortitude to get your asshole cored out." He leaned in. "Ya fucked up coming after me like this."

Enraged, Golden Trot struck him again. He simply turned and spat more blood onto the ground once more.

"Be tee dubs, you hit like a bitch."

"Oh, look, red."

Twilight raced down the hallways of the gymnasium building, having left the fillies' locker room, dread flogging her mind.

She had just finished her extra long shower, as she always felt filthy after her time running laps with her classmates. The purple filly could not understand what Orion found so fulfilling getting that sticky. It was disgusting.

While slipping on her bra, the fillies in the other aisle were chatting and laughing away.

She had long since come to ignore the conversations of others, as she was often left out and didn't need to be reminded of the fact that while she was the Princess's student, she was still largely unpopular.

However, when her friend's name came up, her ears couldn't help but perk in their direction.

"Oh yeah?! Golden is really gonna force Orion out?!" Squealed Velvet Touch.

"Oh, absolutely. He's been talking about it since he and his father's herd returned from Trottingham this summer. They have a "history"." Giggled Morning Ray.

"No way! Are we finally going to get rid of that lout? When's it happening!?" Chortled a third, whose name Twilight was unfamiliar with.

"Well, it should be going down right about now. It's his lunchtime, after all. And before you ask, no, the teachers won't be there. They will be diverted. However, he wouldn't tell me how. Such a brilliant pony. I wonder if he is already thinking about his own herd. I could see myself…"

The rest of what Morning had to say had become white noise. She threw on her blouse in a scramble, barely able to finish buttoning it up as she burst out the door.

He had to be warned! Or at least a teacher notified by what was about to happen.

Skidding into the corridor connecting the gymnasium with the cafeteria, she spotted Mr. Shower, and of all ponies, Prince Blueblood himself.

"Yes! They can stop it before it gets out of hand!"

But as she approached, she couldn't help but notice the slack-jawed expression on their faces. She turned her head and slowly came to a stop.

Brow furrowing, she didn't understand what she was seeing at first. Then her eyes bulged as what was happening became apparent as a colt sailed through the air.

Orion was wielding Golden Trot like a flail while chasing a group of them. Each smack sent a pony flying in random directions.

They must have been the ones who had decided to join the now weaponized foal in his attempt to chase one of her few friends out of school.

Orion was laughing like a maniac, teeth flashing in the sunlight as he dodged a half-hearted attempt at a magic missile barrage by a handful of fillies. What he couldn't dodge bounced harmlessly off a shield that flashed into existence.

"So fast...wait, what are those…" Orion was sporting a set of sharp teeth she had seen before, but they were somehow bigger, which made them monstrously more frightening. She wanted to run for an entirely different reason now. Orion Falls had become a monster.

Swinging around after clubbing the last colt he had pursued with his improvised weapon, he whipped his arm back and shot Golden forward toward the corridor. Toward them.

Twilight dove to the ground and shrieked as a hail of broken glass and wood showered them. The sound of air escaping somepony in a pained exhalation echoed loudly in her ears.

Tentatively looking around from her balled-up position on the floor, she found Prince Blueblood and Golden Trot entangled in a lump on the other side of the corridor. The older pony was groaning, clutching his belly, but Golden was wailing loudly, his words incoherent as he laid on his father.

Turning back to the large hole in the wall where a window had once sat, she got her first real good look at her friend. She was vaguely aware of the tide of frightened ponies rushing away from the mezzanine, pouring out of the cafeteria wing.

Teeth bared in a rictus snarl, Orion's hands clenched and unclenched in rhythm with his heavy breathing. The horn which had always illuminated so weakly was now a torch on his brow. His shirt and vest were nothing but scraps.

The pants, however, hadn't suffered any damage at all.

"Was he always this big?"

It wasn't his height that had not changed in the slightest, but where cloth gave way to fur, muscle rippled. He looked; expanded was the only word that stirred in her mind.

Sweat matted his fur and mane, and his lip was bleeding, but she could not move. His visage frightened her, and the black eye did nothing to detract from the heated glare that threatened to ignite all it landed on.

He moved and was in the hall with the three so fast she at first thought he had learned to teleport.

She couldn't help the squeak that ripped its way through her throat. Gray, dead eyes looked at her. This was a side to her friend she had never seen before. She was more than scared. Twilight was terrified.

"Celestia, preserve me! Those teeth!" The sight of them drove all rational thought from her mind. The fact that she invoked her mentor’s name was proof enough of that.

Before her was a monster. A monster that had replaced the aloof and often irritated colt she knew. Fear gave her legs the strength to scramble to her hooves, but she couldn't take a step in any direction under that gaze.

"Twilight." His voice made her shiver. No pony should sound like that. Like death, or as she imagined it to sound like. "Would you please go get Principal Farsight? I seemed to have gone too far." He glanced behind him, several colts were stirring, but none had yet gotten up from the ground. "Might need some guards and medics here as well."

A groan from behind her drew his gaze back past her. He sighed heavily. Some of that dead look had tapered off a little. He visibly shrank as his horn's magic winked out.

"He looks important. Might want to have the principal notified on that as well." A splash startled them both, and Orion laughed a harsh sound. "Jesus, might as well call for janitorial while we are at it. Someone sprung a leak."

Turning around, she saw Mr. Shower, his pants drenched at the crotch. Terror mirroring her own etched into his face.

It was all too much for her. Before she realized it, her hooves started her down the hall, each step becoming quicker than the last. By the time she turned the corner, she was in a full sprint.

Celestia found herself unable to speak. That did not happen often.

It was about what she expected in terms of the aftermath. She had been given a preliminary report by the guards at the scene of the incident an hour ago.

But the details Orion provided painted a very different set of events than what her nephew had claimed.

Those details also made his escort stiffen noticeably—one going so far as to aim her spear at him a little more levelly.

Most had never seen combat, something she was not sure was good or not. There were the border guards and the Darkwatch Guards, both having far more experience with somepony trying to kill them. The latter having to watch the Badlands themselves for the horrors that may spawn from there.

But these were city guards, and they lacked what regular troops possessed. So his statements came with tightening grips on chains and spears. At the end of his tale, one of them even took a step back.

"So much for the courage of the guard." She thought wryly. Though from his tale, it sounded as if he fought like a seasoned veteran of battle. Likely just making himself sound capable but still, she could understand the fear.

Orion, however, was very observant.

"Hey, hey. Keep it cool, ladies." His look took in all around him, his smile trying to be both disarming, and a little charming. "I'm not gonna try anything." None of them relaxed by a tail hair. "Oh, for fuck sake, you have a demi-goddess right here. Before I could so much as twitch, she would nuke my ass from orbit. It would be suicide even to consider fighting her. So chill the hell out!"

"Demi-goddess?!" She supposed that too many, that was true. It was even a little flattering to hear it spoken aloud. But she wondered what the term "nuke" implied.

Questions for later.

"So you admit that you struck at your fellow students. Your fellow pony. That you had attacked Blueblood with his own foal, Orion, you are not painting yourself in a very kind picture." She was surprised he had been so honest. Many would have lied in his place.

"You wanted, asked, for the truth. Not some half-ass lie that you would eventually see through the moment an investigation had been made." She merely nodded. It was impressive that he had considered all of that already. Even adult ponies would attempt to circumvent her purview. "Besides, in my defense, this could have been stopped well before it began."

She arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Attempting and failing to lift his arms too high, he gestured toward Blueblood and his son.

"That jackass, and Mr. Shower, could have stopped it all before it even began. Instead, they stood laughing in the corridor. What responsible person does that?"

He was right. Her nephew and the teacher named had been there, by both the colt's account and the report. She eyed the Prince suspiciously. He was licking his lips, and his eyes would not meet her own. Was it true?

Not for the first time, she felt justified in her act of violation on anypony born to royalty. When Platinum's descendants were born, as with all members of that bloodline, Celestia had taken the time to cast a spell on their minds, as a safety measure.

"Antilier's Insurance" was a spell designed to allow a pony to peek into the mind of another without damaging them. It took hours to cast because you had to lay skeins of power across the nero-network of the brain very carefully and more importantly, it had to be done in their infancy. As much so they did not remember it being done as it bore the most negligible effects on their mental development. As experiments had proven, a developed consciousness suffered various brain abnormalities.

She was not happy to have to do it, but the results allowed her to ensure that those closest to her throne, her power, could never plot anything. It was Dark Magic that some would say was downright evil, but as she probed into her nephew's mind, it had again proven its worth.

"The Tree preserve me…" she groaned inwardly.

This had long been in the planning stages for months. Through Golden, the Prince had learned of Orion's omnivorous nature and had made plans to make his son the hero. But that wasn't what had made her groan. If anything that may have been expected given who he was as a pony.

She wanted to bite something.

Of course, the Church of Sol had a hand in this, if only slightly. The black colt's description and his "crime" had been sent to every high-ranking pony in the nation. That was known even to her.

To this day, she had no idea why a Functionary of the Church, this Velvet Backwater, had fastened so tightly onto the colt in chains. Inquiries had yielded nothing other than the mare taking it as a personal failure to lose Orion.

As an ardent supporter of the Church, it made sense for the Lord of Trottingham to want to curry favor with their upper echelons, and Backwater had contacted him personally. Her nephew was always seeking more power and influence, much as his mother had been, and the CFP agent was a good angle with her connections and influence.

As she perused through his mind, she viewed everything from parties set up to gather support for Golden's scheme amongst his peerage, to arranging teachers and any adults away from the cafeteria for the duration of the conflict.

The whole incident was orchestrated to frighten the orphan away from school. From the city itself, in fact. The reason was clear if a little bizarre.

Agents from CFP were lying in wait for him to leave Canterlot. How they believed the plan would work was up to speculation, but she often found ponies making ridiculous choices in a path to greater wealth and influence.

"What is their obsession with the poor colt?" She made a mental note to have this looked into more thoroughly. There had to be something she was missing. Some piece she had not found to put into the puzzle.

Despite the Church being raised to worship her, she had almost no control over their inner workings. As of late, none at all. It would be challenging to discover anything, but she would double her efforts.

However, things did not play out as anypony in the plot had suspected.

Instead of being met with the expected fear from Orion, they got rage and violence in abundance no pony was ready for. And as she watched events play out from Blueblood's perspective, she was stunned.

"An intimidation spell? Where had he learned that?!" Seeing him swell in size wasn't the only surprise the colt had up his sleeve. He had gotten past whatever block that had been afflicting him as he rampaged through the lot of them.

With a sword, it would have been a slaughter. Even so, it very nearly was. Celestia had to fight to keep her face smooth as Golden Trot had been used as a weapon to beat the other colts who had come after him. It was hilarious on its face because the idea of using a pony that way would never have occurred to her to try. Not in the countless battles through the ages she partook in would she have ever considered doing so.

She had confirmation on who had been telling the truth. Now she had to deliberate on how to give judgment.

Pulling her consciousness back, she was bombarded by Blueblood's whiny demands once again.

"-this mad beast should be hung! No, I demand he be butchered! It serves him right! Attack my son as he-"

"Back to hanging, with butchering as an option. Blueballs-" She barely suppressed another groan. Now the colt had her thinking of it. Soon enough, she would be uttering it out loud if she was not careful.

Opening her mouth to interrupt before he could spout more idiocies, she was interrupted by Orion instead. Well, he interrupted both of them.

"You know, for a subject of the Princess, being under her authority and all, you certainly like to spout orders as if you're the one in charge, Blueballs." Dead silence save for the renewed shaking of chains. Guardsmares were biting their lips in an attempt not to laugh again, but their shoulders gave them away as they shook violently.

Prince Blueblood had never been a popular pony among the common equine.

Celestia could only close her eyes and focus all her strength on holding that mask. This was becoming a circus, and not for the first time, was she glad she had made this a private session.

"Y-YOU DARE!" Blueblood's magic erupted and was only just prevented from lashing out. His blue aura was slapped down by her more powerful golden one.

"YOU WILL NOT DO THAT AGAIN." Celestia boomed into the silence. More and more, she was being given reasons to use her Royal Voice these past few months. The white monarch desperately desired a vacation.

In the back of her mind, she was worried that the stress of rule was beginning to be too much for her.

Schooling her face to neutrality, she leveled her gaze on everypony involved.

"Prince Blueblood, of Trottingham." He winced at his name and title. "I know what you have done. The parties thrown to gather support for this endeavor have not gone unwitnessed." She could not announce everything. To do so would be to expose her own criminal actions. She had signed that particular law to banish that spell in its entirety personally. But she could bend the truth. Who was to say she lied?

"You goaded young Golden into acting on his hatred of young Orion. Why I do not know, but I promise you I will find out." Her nephew practically folded in on himself. The snores from the wheelchair announced to all that the poor broken foal had fallen asleep.

Orion only snorted in amusement.

"Orion, you have a terrible habit of getting yourself into trouble." She magicked his restraints off, leaving the nullring still on his horn.

Before she could continue, the angry black colt interrupted her.

"Excuse you? But who went after who? I didn't start this shit! If this all hadn't happened, would I have just gone randomly swinging on people in school today?" He jabbed a finger at Blueblood and his son. "This giant sack of shit, and his slightly smaller sack of shit son, came after me! I had nothing to do with this ass fuck of a plan! Don't you dare lay the blame on me!"

Eyes wide, Celestia could not respond to his tirade that blasted forth from his mouth.

The guards, having backed up once the restraints had been removed, gaped in open astonishment. Blueblood joined his son in unconsciousness, collapsing beside the chair in shock.

For long seconds there was silence, and as the moment stretched on, Orion's eyes widened in alarm, apparently seeing his mistake too late.

Not that she paid attention to his expression any longer.

He dared correct her. Her! The Ruler of the Day and Avatar of the Sun itself! High Princess of the Nation of Equestria, having wrought it from the collection of tribes and petty, small kingdoms into the mighty force it was today.

Anger didn't swell; it boiled over within her breast.

"You dare to speak to me that way?" The words were quiet yet hot enough to turn water to vapor in an instant, carrying heat like a furnace into the furthest corners of the massive room.

Standing, she glared down at him.

"YOU ARE BUT A FOAL!" She roared. "What wisdom do you possess that you believe you may speak to me in any capacity of what is right and wrong?!" She had long since lost the mask of tranquility, burned away by the rage within.

Guards fled in all directions, mostly toward the doors. Blueblood and his son stayed where they were. Had she been paying attention, she would have noticed that the colt's wheelchair was beginning to warp.

Orion was sweating buckets, but whatever fear he might have had was not on evidence. Fierce anger glared back at her.

"Wisdom? How about predictive reasoning? I know right from wrong, and you were about to say I was partly at fault! That's not fair! I broke a promise today because of them, and you trying to lay blame equally on me as one of them is BULLSHIT!" He roared back at her.

She seethed. No, she churned in rage. He would dare-!

It hit her like a hammer between the eyes. That had been exactly what she had been about to do. She blinked. What had she been thinking?!

Shaking, she looked down at herself and gasped in shock. Her brilliant white dress with gold and purple trim, had suffered burns and scorch marks, reducing the garment to barely a covering. There was no saving it.

At her hooves, the marble had been blackened, cracking under tremendous heat, and a quick glance behind her showed her throne suffering the same. The pillow upon it had been burned to ash. She had liked that cushion.

Shame scoured Celestia's heart and mind. Her rear plopped onto the stairs of the dais beneath her, first staring at nothing, then burying her head in her hands.

"What had I been about to do?!" Flashes of anger, rage, and death had rolled through her mind, and it frightened her. Terrified her. Looking at the colt in front of her. "Why does he anger me so?" Celestia's mind had no answer for that.

He disturbed her. To a degree she couldn't understand. He bore knowledge that only a scholar could know. He acted as a stallion many years older then his age could possibly excuse. Looking at him now, she was reminded of a pony in the distant past.

General Iron Wall had been a pony of singular honor. He never took the path of popularity but of principle and courage. Orion startlingly shared many of his traits. But the one thing the pony of the past did not have, the colt before her made up for in spades.

Anger. Uncontrollable anger. It was in evidence since his foalhood, and she believed she knew where it had originated from. His abandonment all those years ago could easily be the culpirt.

No, she shook her head as she reevaluated what she knew of him; rage seemed to be more an apt name for it. She had seen that emotion rear its head on more than one occasion.

That lone thought took her to an uncomfortable comparison. His anger, his frustrations, often mirrored her own. In that, they were quite the pair.

But her history gave reason to her issues. Was it only abandonment that had fueled his? Or was there something more?

Taking her face from her palms, she looked at him, really taking him in from crown to hoof since he had been marched into court.

He had changed so much since that day she surprised him with her private meeting. Hard muscle twitched under deep black fur. He truly had dedicated time to building a healthy body in the house of iron.

Speaking of metal, there were new adornments about his person. Steel ornaments mixed with wood ones decorated his mane, glinting in the afternoon light through the court’s windows. With her vision, she could see little carvings of birds and trees etched into them.

On his arms, wrapped securely around the biceps, were two bands of steel. Smoothly polished to a dull shine, they were simple, and she had not seen their like in a long time.

Before Unification, earth pony nobility wore arm rings as a status symbol and to mark rank among their peers. A little over a century ago, they had made a return amongst the earth pony mares for a time before eventually falling out of favor once more. During that time, it was a measure of progress for muscle growth. It seemed Orion was attempting to revive that particular vein of culture.

Celestia's eyes drifted to his face and paused.

Of all that changed about him, those eyes never had. They always seemed far older than any foal she had ever met. She saw worry but couldn't help but notice that set in his jaw. He was convinced he was right and was determined to stand by his belief.

How very much like Iron Wall.

She allowed herself a smile. The fiery patch of chin fluff looked adorable on him. When had he decided to grow it was a question for another time.

Like so many others.

How to proceed? She had been too quiet for far too long. Her smile turned rueful.

"Start with the truth, you old nag." She admonished herself. It was advice she often gave to others even now, and today that wisdom would serve her. Or so Celestia hoped.

She patted a spot next to her and gestured for him to come close. Suspicion was loud on his face, but approach he did and took a seat not too far away, but not within arms reach of her. That was acceptable given the circumstances.

"I'm sorry, Orion. You were…are correct. I was about to cast blame about equally with little regard for the circumstance." She was proud of how steady her voice was.

He, of course, grinned smugly. Well, Celestia couldn't have him being too bold.

Before he could react, she leaned over and booped him right on the nose. The offended look she received and the way his face scrunched up pulled a needed laugh from her.

"Be proud, foal, but not too proud. It is not often I am proven wrong. Recent memory has placed you as only the second to correct me in the past five hundred years." She frowned. "Do not let it go to your head. Do not make the mistake that you are wiser than I due to this one moment. I have erred, but that is seldom, and you will remember that. And by your own testimony, you went too far today with Golden Trot and his coterie."

He grimaced and nodded in acquiescence. "Yeah, I kinda did." Scrubbing hands through his mane, he chuckled. "Truth? I kinda lost myself there without meaning to. I was so pissed off and...well, you know, lost control."

She nodded. Celestia did know. Had experienced it herself, on more than one occasion. She would have said the difference between the pair of them was her self-control, but clearly, she had proven that thought false today.

While he wouldn't take the blame for the event itself, he did seem to regret his responses to it. Just like an old general, he very closely emulated.

He was growing into a fine stallion, if strange and outdated in this era.

"If I am being honest, I would not punish you this day. But you injured a number of ponies in your desire to, shall we say, instruct others on what not to do. That, and you fairly destroyed the corridor connecting the gymnasium and cafeteria of my school. I am going to have to assign some kind of repercussion for that." He groaned loudly.

"Seriously?! I thought I was right?!"

"You were, and are. However, you caused injury and quite a lot of destruction in your anger. As a unicorn, you have a greater and more immediate effect on the world, and thus a greater responsibility to hold yourself to a higher standard. You lost control today, Orion. I cannot let that pass."

He hung his head and sighed. "But I tried so hard to get them to stop…"

"I know, and I commend you for your efforts, but as it stands…" She arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I get. Stupid as hell, but I get it."

"Starting tomorrow, you will be suspended from my school for one month." He grimaced. "Also, I will assign you community service during your suspension."

"You could just, oh, I don't know, toss my ass into the dungeons for a while. I think I would prefer that."

He was attempting to be humorous. She chuckled despite herself, a much-needed relief that went a little in healing her bruised ego.

"Alas, no. No dungeon for you. Perhaps if you went and committed a real crime, I may just consider it." She chuckled.

"Well, I'll get right on it." He jabbed a finger. "Hey, you! Get over here. I see you got a knife; I need to stab you with it." The guard blanched visibly. He turned back to the white monarch, a grin stretching his face. "Assault will do it, right?"

Celestia full-on laughed.

She was feeling better. Admitting her fault had hurt, but his sudden return to his easy and sassy nature had made it not sting as much as it could have.

She supposed being right all the time was boring. Another chuckle, more at herself than anything else, as she vaguely recalled her thinking the same the last time she had been corrected.

"I'm afraid you shall not get out of this that easily."

"Shiiiit."

She gestured for the guards to return to the dais. The confusion was evident in their eyes as to what had just happened. The smile that Celestia had been wearing twisted a bit.

Orion was likely unaware, but his legend was growing. Ponies knew who he was in the city already. And Guardsmares loved to gossip. No doubt this would reach the ears of the press soon enough.

Oh, the field day they would have with her. As she thought about that, she realized that she would have to send him outside Canterlot for his community service. If she did not, the news ponies would no doubt mob him daily.

She blinked in surprise. Silver Bell was amongst the assembled detail. With the insanity that had occurred, Celestia likely didn't realize one of the Royal Guard had added herself to the mix.

"Lieutenant Bell, since you somehow managed to include yourself in this, I request that you escort young Mr. Falls to the city guard. Give them instructions on confining him to his orphanage and to await orders on where he will be doing his service tomorrow."

"Aye, I think I can do that fer you, yer highness." Celestia carefully did not wince.

She could find no better officer. But unless upset, the mare's tongue would never be fit for civil speaking.

"Come along ya 'ittle hooligan. I think ya taken up enuff of the Princess's time. Don't cha?" She clapped a hand on his shoulder, fairly dragging him away from her and the dais.

"Oh, eat me, bellbottom. It wasn't my plan to end up here!" And with that, the pair began a light-hearted bickering back and forth, much to the amusement of those around them.

The sun monarch smiled. He would likely hate what she had in mind, but it would be good for him, teach him patience. Keep him from potentially harming the press.

A sudden thought occurred to her.

"ORION!"

He spun around, eyebrow cocked.

"The nullring stays on." She said firmly.

"WHAT THE HELL! JUST TOSS MY ASS IN JAIL THEN!" He bellowed back.

She gave one of her patent motherly smiles, mostly to mask the urge to laugh again, and walked away herself. It wasn't revenge for her embarrassment today, but it tasted sweet.

She had to get changed, it would not do for her to attend her duties this out of sorts, and she still needed to deal with Twilight. She had not allowed her attendance to this because of how shaken the filly had been at her friend's sudden and somewhat violent transformation.

As she stepped through a side door, she could not help but think she had forgotten something.

The doors didn't quite slam shut, but the reverberating boom nearly made him jump.

It was a quick, but not rushing pace the guards kept as they marched through gilded marble halls and high-ceiling crossways.

Naturally, he ignored all of it. Orion was too busy screaming internally at himself to try and price a particularly heavy vase in a recess of the hall they swept by.

"THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" That had to be the third time that particular question was leveled at himself, with successive increases in hysteria.

When he had been escorted under restraints, he had expected Celestia to rule in his favor. In his mind, at least at the time, he had been merely defending himself.

As Blueballs went on his little tirade, that only solidified things in his opinion. But his hopes were toppled as fast as he toppled those idiots who had tried to gang up on him.

The moment she had begun removing his chains, obviously ready to tell him of his own faults in all of it, his mind snapped over the audacity. Everything he had wanted to say had poured out in a rush that he only realized too late was the exact wrong thing to say.

He knew what she was planning to do. He had seen school teachers back on earth pull the same line on students caught fighting. Regardless if only one was defending themselves. At that moment he had decided, if not knowingly, that he wasn't about to let this bitch do it to him too.

But as she turned from shocked monarch to raging inferno on legs, he realized his mistake. It was a surreal experience, watching the Princess's mane and tail go from calm dawn colors to bonfires in high wind like that.

However, what alarmed him most was her eyes. "Shit, and her teeth!" He had never seen or heard of a transformation like it. And he was the omnivore.

The whites had roiled, was the best word he could use, to orange so dark as to nearly be black. Gone were the warm magenta pupils. In their place was gold that seemed to glow with unseen fire. As she shouted at him, her teeth flashed in the light. He imagined it was like discovering you were locked in the room with a half-starved lion.

Terrifying. And for the life of him, he could not begin to understand how he withstood the onslaught of heat and death or the testicular fortitude to actually yell back at her. Her! The bitch had the power to lay waste to the entire area with plenty to spare. He could feel it like sludge rolling off of her.

And there was his dumbass picking a fight.

Had he not been so ready to bolt when she had suddenly shifted back to normal, he would have collapsed in relief. He hadn't even noticed that Blueblood had passed out toward the beginning of that contest of wills.

The rest had been a blur, though he could clearly recall what had been said now.

He still believed the dungeon would be preferable. Catching up on some sleep sounded better than whatever the sun princess had in mind.

A nudge hit him in the ribs.

Glancing over, he noticed Silver Bell with a bemused slant to her lips.

"Bairn, do ya know 'ow lucky ya are?" She prodded him in the ribs again.

"Stop that!" He slapped her hand away. "The hell is a Bairn? And yes, I am more than aware that I nearly had a personal conversation with the sun. I think the scorch marks were evident enough."

"Bairn is what we call eh foal. You, in this case. The buck were you thinking?!" She jabbed him again. He was going to hit her.

That's when he realized the rest of his little escort team had gone silent, all ears aimed at them—time to proceed carefully.

"I was thinking that she was wrong. That's what I was thinking." He might not want to tell her how tight his asshole had been squeezing. He was so close to shitting himself in those few seconds of fiery furry, and he didn’t want to think about it.

"'ucky ya was right then!" She clapped him on the shoulder. At the same time, holding her other hand out. Bits from several of the guards began to plop into it.

"You're kidding me. You fucks gambled on whether or not I was going to die?!" He shouted angrily. Several servants eyed the group in alarm, more rushing toward the throne room itself.

All he got was laughter in answer.

"... high-pressure zone it sinks to the ground. The air is sucked back toward the low pressure at the equator. This describes the convection cells…"

This was the eleventh time she had read this same line. She knew the chapter discussed the airflow and the effects in the Everfree. She understood that this book also discussed ponies' impact on their environment by shifting the weather manually. There was even a chapter twenty-one pages from the end of the current one she was reading that discussed how ponies went about easing the stress they cause for the weather as a whole.

But try as she might, she could not focus on the passages within the textbook.

Her mind kept returning to the moment he stepped into a hole that had once held a large arched window of lead glass. His breathing came in labored panting. Those cold eyes glanced at her, taking everything in an instant.

Dropping the book onto her bed, Twilight wrapped her arms around herself to try to stave off the trembling, attempting to pushing the images from her head. But her mind would not stop.

Flash.

Swinging poor Golden Trot around like some kind of stick as he beat other colts over the head with him.

Flash.

Golden's broken body slammed through the window and straight into his father, making both sprawl in a heap.

Flash.

The glint of sharp incisors in the morning sunlight.

Suddenly warmth enveloped her in a tight embrace. It flushed away the dark thoughts her mind kept creating in random order.

Blinking away tears and shocked that she had been crying yet again, she craned her neck to see the Princess holding her in wings and arms. Her head propped on top of her own.

"P-p-princess?" The hoarse unsteadiness in her voice made her wince.

"Shhhhh shhh. It is okay, Twilight. You are safe." The gentle murmurs of her mentor soothed her. While not quite dispelling her tears, it went far in comforting her frightened mind.

For long moments the two sat rocking gently back and forth on her bed, where she had been since the early release of students after what had happened on the mezzanine of the cafeteria.

By now, the entire city knew. She wished she had never learned.

"Twilight, tell me what's wrong." The Princess spoke slowly, squeezing her a little.

"...oh, Princess. Orion...he... I…" It was like a vice had gripped her throat. She could not speak. Never in her life had she witnessed such violence.

"Oh, my little pony. It is alright. Orion, well, Orion demonstrated a side of himself I believe scarce few knew. From the way he spoke, I do not believe he knew of it himself." A vibration in her back made her realize that her mentor was giggling.

"Princess?" She asked wonderingly. The idea of her teacher somehow finding humor in all this was not something she couldn't ever believe. True, the monarch enjoyed good-natured satire as all ponies did, but to laugh at today's events was inconceivable.

The strangeness of it only continued as she was regaled with what had occurred in the Hall of Judgement. It explained the sooty smell that had been invading her nose.

"I have not been this embarrassed in a very long time." Princess Celestia finished with more giggles, a blush darkening her ears and cheeks.

"But….but he challenged you. Corrected you." That last, she said a touch breathlessly. The idea of correcting someone like her was entirely at odds with her view on what should be.

Her mentor rose and walked to the large bay window, which held a tiny bench built in so she could read with the breeze flowing in on warm days.

"Let this be a lesson—one for both of us. No matter how old we may get or how much we might have seen or learned, we can still be wrong from time to time. A lesson I believe I should take to heart most fervently." She replied, a bit of a grimace twisting her lips.

Twilight's eyes looked down. She was right, she supposed. But to her, Princess Celestia was the epitome of a standard all others should strive to be. To hear from that very symbol that she too, was fallible rocked her world in uncomfortable ways.

Another thought occurred to her, one of teeth and fear.

"I…I knew he was an omnivore, or so he had claimed. But his…teeth…" She trailed off.

"Are not nearly as big as they might have seemed. Illusion magic can do several frightening things." Her teacher had pivoted, looking at her gently.

"But I've looked at the records. There's never been a pony like him! Ever!" It was the reason for her doubt, though she had yet to figure out how to disprove his claims. Seeing the teeth and seeing him eat meat were two different things. He has always eaten fruits or vegetables when around her.

"That is...not exactly accurate, Twilight."

Bewildered, she could only blink at her mentor.

Princess Celestia fidgeted. Fidgeted!

"I suppose today's lecture will be based on pre-unification history. A very little known portion of it, at least."

Her horn blossomed in a cascade of soft golden light, and suddenly a blackboard appeared in the room. With it were four books looking decidedly old.

"Bear in mind, not many ponies, save for some very old scholars know much beyond that there was a time before the written word. For a great deal, time began when unicorns first constructed their alphabet…"

Twilight listened with rapt attention.

Sticking a finger in his ear, he gave it a wiggle. He had never heard Mrs. Evergarden yell this loudly before, or ever come to think of it.

To say the mare was angry was like saying water was wet, or the sky was blue.

The moment his escort, a Sergeant Errant Strikes, had recited the whole affair, the customarily reserved mare went up like a volcano.

"You promised! Promised! That you wouldn't do this!" She paced back and forth in a furry. She was stopping only to shake a finger under his nose. "Why did you get into a fight?! Look at your clothes! Where is your vest?!"

"It's like she didn't even listen…"

He had tried to, several times, to interject, but the diminutive mare would not hear it, and the sergeant was absolutely no help whatsoever. Whenever he looked at her for assistance, the bitch just grinned broadly at him.

Finally, when she had made her thirty-fifth turn in her attempt to wear a hole in the library floor, he shouted.

"For the love of God, will you listen!?" Maybe that was the wrong thing to say, but he pushed on quickly. "They ganged up on me! They cornered ME! I tried to talk them out of it till the very end!"

Technically, the end had come with him hurling Golden's sorry ass through a window into a prince, but still, the point stood.

"I didn't want anything to do with it!" He pushed on as she opened her own mouth and spilled the whole thing in greater detail than the fair officer of the city guard had done.

When he finally finished, a sad look had replaced Mrs. Evergarden's angry features.

"I see. I'm sorry, Orion, I jumped the hedge a little too early on that one. Given your past history…" she trailed off.

Now that hurt. He had demonstrated more than enough over the past six years that he was a respectable and reasoned person. And still, his past haunted him.

Granted, this was far, far worse than breaking some idiot's nose or an arm, but it was the principal of the thing.

From the look on her face, she had seen his hurt expression and knew it for what it was.

"That was unfair of me, and you have been a model foal since coming to live here. You've even gone out of your way to help other foals adjust to their new environment. I am sorry." She bowed her head.

"It's….it's fine. I get it." He did, but it wasn't fine. But making a big deal about it wouldn't win him any prizes either. Better to let the matter drop than make the poor mare feel even worse than she already did.

"Anyway, I'm on house arrest till I get my marching orders. I am gonna be doing some type of community service during my month of suspension. Knowing Celestia, it'll be cruel and unusual." He really wasn't looking forward to whatever the hell she had planned.

"Princess Celestia." Pipped up Errant Strikes, a frown creasing her features.

"I just got done arguing with the Avatar of the Sun. Last I checked, I won that one. Wanna make it two and oh?" Her eyes bulged. For that matter, so did Mrs. Evergarden's.

"Oh shit. I may have glossed over that bit…" He groaned inwardly as he braced himself for the ensuing tirade.

"I cannot believe you argued with the Princess...and…and she yielded to you…" He didn't think it was that dramatic.

He had managed to hold back the fact that she turned into a mini-sun during that little clash of wills. He wasn't confident the mare could handle that one.

From the look the lieutenant gave him, she knew and actually approved of him keeping quiet. Though no doubt the Guardsmares that had been his escort into the castle would talk, hopefully, his ass would be elsewhere when news infested the city. That would be a day of regret.

"Yielded? Naw, more like we saw eye to eye, and I just happened to be on the winning end. As I understand it, she's not often wrong. I got lucky." That was true. He was damn lucky not to be a pile of ash right then.

"So, what is to happen now?" Sitting down across from him, a worried frown on her lips.

"Now, we wait for whatever the hell Celestia wants me to do for punishment." There was a knock at the foyer door. "No way could she have already come up with something." He grumbled getting up, only to be pushed right back in his seat by Errant.

"My duty is to make sure you stay put. There's no telling if you might run or not." He gave her a look and pointed at his horn. " Yeah, I get that. But rules are rules. You stay here. Mrs. Evergarden? If you would?"

"Oh! Yes! Sorry, I'll return shortly." She practically flew from the room.

True to her word, she did return. With Silver Bell hot on her heels.

"Afternoon, little colt. How are ye doing?" She ruffled his mane, which irritated him and made his heart leap in worry.

It had taken everything in him not to sweat at the idea of someone finding out that there was more than meets the eye with some of the ornaments tangled within.

"Oh, I could be doing better. Like, oh, I don't know, not being punished for defending myself." He grumbled.

"Aye, I suppose that is true. But no matter. I have your assignment for your vacation from school." He snorted at that, and Silver just gave him a dry look. "You'll be doing your penance in Ponyville! Working with the local school teacher there."

"Ponyville? Seriously?" He stopped and thought. "Well, there is a Humansville, so I guess that one passes."

"And to what will I be working toward with them?" On the surface, it seemed like a relatively benign assignment. But he suspected something worse.

"You'll be he'pin' with school foals there. Teachin' em all your fancy knowledge."

He could only continue his inner grumbles. He hated kids and hated teaching even more. His tutoring here had been under duress.

"Here's your tickets. One there and one back. Errant here will be there to keep an eye on you. Also, you'll be staying in the barracks out there. Hope you like stiff cots."

"Oh, Celestia, you bitch. Eat a fuckin' dick."

"Are you sure?" A musical voice asked softly. Its owner's face belied that voice, hard angles, and even harder look.

"Yes, ma'am. As far as can be determined, Orion Falls is under suspension and guard for the duration of one month." A stout stallion stood rigidly just inside the tent's entrance.

Gusting Gale was a smart pony. One that Valorant Hammer had used often in observation and infiltration.

Valorant sighed heavily. Well, this plan had been a bust. Six months of plotting had come to nothing.

"Any word on what happened?" She asked.

"The colt did not act the way it had been projected." He licked his lips nervously. "Instead of being cowed by the number against him, he...well, he fought back. Rather violently, according to eyewitnesses. Six colts are in the hospital. Major damage was inflicted onto a corridor connecting the gymnasium and cafeteria." He coughed and finished in a rush. "Also, both Prince Blueblood and his son have also been injured in the incident."

That got her attention.

"What?!" Gust cringed at his handler's shout of surprise. "What happened to them?"

"Apparently, they altered the plan to make his son, Golden Trot, into some sort of hero. I'm not sure how the idea got into Blueblood's head, but I can only speculate that he believed he could increase his son's status by making him the spear point of the altercation." As he went on, Volorant's head fell into her hands.

"The absolute idiot."

The fact that he suffered an injury because of his personal desires was small comfort to the fact that her lead was not going to be happy with any of this. Her sister was going to mock her relentlessly.

"Ma'am. If I may ask? Why are we doing all this for one colt? Spending resources like this for one pony so inconsequential makes no sense. So, why?"

Honestly, she had no answer. She suspected it was primarily due to ego, however. It was not uncommon for the "uppers" to be petty and look for opportunities to flex their influence.

She had heard how Orion had slipped away years ago in the dark of night. Aided by the then Matron of the orphanage he had stayed in, that disappearance had left Backwater fuming for months. The fact that she managed to assign her and her small team of three on this fool's errand showed two things.

One is that the mare was very hung up on a single foal for egotistical reasons. And two, she had significant pull within the Church itself to the degree, they could waste assets on this fool's errand. The question, however, remained: why now?

What had triggered a renewed interest in this one colt?

"I do not know, but tell Blizz to pack it in. We need to leave since we have no orders beyond this. The target isn't going to just wander into our camp."

Saluting smartly, Gusting Gale bolted from the tent, and soon enough, the flapping of wings could be heard dancing about the small encampment.

She had never understood other unicorns' disdain for pegasi, or even earth ponies for that matter. More often than not, their natural abilities outstripped any spell one of her own could create in their place.

Sighing, Valorant sat at her desk and began constructing her report in her head. Artful would no doubt mock her religiously for this, but the plan had been Backwater's, and she would take the brunt of the failure.

Still, why all of this for one colt that happened to insult a high-ranking member of the Church? She shook her head in vexation.

"Now, how do I word this to lay blame at that fool of a foal's hooves..?"