And I thought we were normal. How wrong I was.

"What the hell?" I question in a somewhat hushed tone.

"Excuse me?" Rarity says with either genuine curiosity for what I said or a subtle chastisement for my profanity.

"Where did the guards that were here go?" I say flatly while looking around. Nope; Nopony is here. Where did they go?

"Oh them; they were leaving whenever I went down to get the gloves for you," she says while readjusting her hair slightly.

"One of them came to the door said that they were sorry for any inconvenience and then they left. I'm honestly supposed you didn't hear them leave." I am too.

"Huh; I guess they finished what they were doing." I say calmly. Why would they leave? They should've been around for a week at least if they were serious about catching me; I may not be used to being a felon wanted by the ruling government, but I would guess having to lie low for a good while would be required. Did somepony order them back?

"Yes; well can we be off now? I need to have at least some sleep tonight and your shenanigans won't allow that at this rate." She says before we begin a casual strolling pace.

"My well founded and somewhat mutually beneficial shenanigans; if I might add." I say with some playful malice.

"In what ways has anything you've done tonight been mutually beneficial? I have to spend my time making sure you don't rob a library and I had to rearrange my room to get it presentable enough for you." She says angrily and shoots a death glare in my direction.

"First; I didn't ask you to rearrange your room nor should you feel that you have to keep up such an appearance of your personal room around me, it's not like you're infatuated with me and you need to try to impress me. Second; I never remember you resenting that kiss or complaining about it extensively." I say while giving a playful wink. I need to calm down and if she responds anything like I expect of her then this will be a great way to calm down.

"W-w-well it never came back up and of course I'm not infatuated with you. You're some kind of foreign rogue. For what reasons would a mare be attracted to some inherent troublemaker like you?" She says with a small hint of disbelief or awe. I'm not sure about the way mares; or rather females in general, work.

"Because I'm your type." I say with an even tone while putting on my best poker face.

"Please! Do you think I'm some mare who reads 'romantic' novels and wishes for it to happen to her?" She says in a disapproving manner.

"I was betting on it, but I guess I was wrong." I say with fake depression, I may not know much, but this seems to be the best way to relax.

"No! It's not to say I don't like you. I'm just not... That type of mare." She says in a somewhat frantic tone.

"Whatever; you still never said you hated that kiss though." I say for the sake of having the last word.

"W-well it's not like that matters right now. I'm going to get you home and that's it." She says with a pouting tone. Aw, how cute. I'm really having too much fun with this.

"Yeah. Anyways is it really necessary for you to accompany me all the way to my home."  I say in an effort I know will be fruitless.

"If it weren't for the fact that you have an inherent talent for crime, I wouldn't, but considering you do; I will make sure you get back and then I will return home." She says with an annoyed tone of voice. I guess she's getting tired of this topic. I can't blame her I am too. I'm just bringing up the same question to get the same answer.

   I take out the book left to me and pick a topic that I feel could come to be useful, clairvoyance. Father scrolling through to the desired page, I am met with a page with a list of the spells in an order it dictates goes by easiest to hardest. I guess I'll try the easiest one.

Chapter 10: Clairvoyance

Spell 1: Chained Touch

While the applications of the spell have some good variance; the main purpose I have found is to discern whenever somepony or something in general has entered into an area. This spell basically allows the user to create an artificial nerve chain in an object that the user is directly connected to. While you cannot directly tell where the object is being touched you can sense when it is touched and how many things are touching it. Since magic has its own system of flow through the body this spell works by extending that flow into an object and whoever the object is being touched the magical energy inside of it will send a pulse to the horn which will then by its nature transfer that into a signal which the brain will receive. You can tell how many things are touching it because small dots of the same or similar colour to your magic's colour will appear around the edges of your vision. There is however a maximum amount that can be shown. I have found that after the number grows above 9 it will be unable to count any more and more accurately it won't even be able to maintain a count. It will actually overrun your vision for a few moments with an unnumbered amount of bright lights. So I recommend whoever uses this spell either uses it will caution or just for conditioning their magical endurance. First look at the object in question and touch it. Then in the surface that is facing you imagine 5 octagons with four of them forming a square-like structure with one of them in the center of it. From there imagine thin lines coming out from the eight corners of the center octagon going straight out and then pour your magical energy into the mold and then an artificial nerve set will be created until you drop the spell or until you lose direct physical contact with the object.

   That was a bit more than I wanted to read, but I have a good idea of how this works.

"Really?" I hear Rarity say which draws me out of my almost dreamy state.

"What?" I say after closing the journal.

"This is one of the problems with you; you seem to always be reading out of that book. If you keep acting like this then I might actually get a little scared of the fact that you're part changeling." She says with what I think may be serious concern.

"You weren't scared already? Besides, while I know it isn't wildly accepted, what is so bad about the changelings?" I say to fish a little bit of knowledge from her.

"A true changeling wouldn't have let anypony know about it. You don't know much about changelings do you?" She says and I nod. "I guess I'll fill you in. Changelings are the insect-like ponies of the north who are ruled by the governing hive queen. The queen has a magical connection and dominance over each member of the hive except for the queen to come which isn't born until late into the present queen’s life. These things feed off of love of other ponies or rather the queen does. The drones can operate off of minimal nutrients but the queen requires love to maintain her metabolism. The drones can use love but the application of it for them is only to strengthen the strength of their exoskeleton. Changelings usually gather love by capturing a pony and placing them in hibernation like state and keeping them in a gel sack. They then assume a disguise if the pony and gather loves from that pony's loved ones. After gathering a significant amount of love they transfer the unneeded memories to the trapped pony and release him or her. The problem is not what they do to gather energy, but it's what they do with the excess energy. Since they usually gather an excess of love the queen will select changelings for advanced assignments like guarding or her royal guard. The problem is that these special troops are at times assigned to assassinations or assault on equestrian borders. Because of these actions there tends to be a general distrust to almost anypony connected with the hive." She says and then takes a few breathes.

"Wow... So why did you trust me?" I say while dealing with the slight shock over what I've been told. Why is the world here telling me to become an assassin?

"Like I said; a true hive member wouldn't have let themselves be found out and, besides, it’s not like you had a choice over your genealogy." She says with what I think is a genuine sympathy for my situation. The only problem is that I don't have a set genealogy from what I can guess this is a magically assembled body from when I jumped dimensions. So if I have to take a guess; my best bet is that those two in my soul are manifesting or something of the sort.

"Thank you for understanding my situation, Rarity. Some ponies might not have so understood of my situation. Just try not to let too many ponies know about this. I was confronted with a few things while I was on my trip and I need those things sorted out before I go too far. Also, what do you know about phoenixes?" I inquire on the off chance some more information could help me.

"Phoenixes? That is a far cry from changelings. Why would you want to know about them?" She says while giving me a look of confusion.

"They see too have some significance with a generation or so back with me and I don't know much about the other races since where I came from they don't teach much about them." I say in a half lie.

"Honestly couldn't you just ask your family?" She says in aspiration while we walk along the path under the light of my horn.

"If I could I would, but they're not going to be available for any questioning any time in the future." I say while letting some of my true sadness through because of having the thought of my family brought up. I didn't care for them very much, but I did owe them a debt, those bastards.

"Oh... Sorry for bringing that up." She says with a repentant tone.

"No, no, it's fine. I don't worry about it much and either way I'm alive right now with a life ahead of me I'd like to make a happy one. So what's the general knowledge about phoenixes?" I partially lie. I don't really worry about it, but the life I have ahead of me doesn't seem like one I could make a really happy one.

"Oh, yes. There isn't really much to know about them. Their only characteristics that come to mind are that they are the magically imbued fires that have taken the shape of birds and the fire is reignited by the magical energies within the bird whenever it goes out. They are 'born' in certain places in the wastelands to the south and for the most part don't interact with the other species, or at least not generally or with a reasoning for it. You could say that they're just about the same as most other animals." She almost moans because of her apparent boredom as we approach the edge of the everfree.

"We're finally here," I say has we enter the forest. "You can stop following me now. It's not as if I'm going to go through the trouble of walking back to town now that I'm here and you've told me just about everything I wanted to know."

"You really are the worst kind of pony. Fine; I'll leave you only your own now. I won't tell anypony about what happened to you leave what happened tonight between you and I." She demands rather than offers. I guess it's fair enough this way. She doesn't tell them I'm a cross-breed and I don't tell them about how I tried I rob a store. Oh wait; that only benefits me. Oh well, it's not like she really lost anything besides some sleep. I do feel bead though.

"Alright, but you have to let me make up for this at some point. I'll treat you to a dinner or something." I promise to her and myself to keep with my personal obligation to not let a debt linger.

"I'd prefer it if you just let this one go."

"Oh come on... You saved my sorry ass on this. The least I can do is purchase a meal for you." I moan with displeasure. These are the worst kinds of ponies to deal with; the ones who don't want me to repay them.

"The problem is that if I let you do that it’d be the same as taking the chance that you might try to build off of that kiss." She says in a sarcastic tone.

"I'm not the kind of stallion who'd just try and flirt with a mare based off a spur of the moment thing. If the mare wants to take it farther, then I'll gladly try out the ride; if not then I’ll just continue on as I was. If you don't want me to go with you then tell me how much you think it will cost and I'll just hand you the amount right now and we can be on our separate or converging ways." I more or less beg her.

"Fine I'll you buy me something sometime. Just don't get any idea and turn back on your word." She says in acceptance to my terms.

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be leaving. Good night Rarity." I say with a liars smile.

"Alright. Good night then." She says before turning around and walking away.

   I wait for about five minutes at the edge of the forest watching her walk away to make sure she is leaving before I do something I've been meaning to do ever since the whole shit-storm began. I immediately take off into the forest without a care. I run like hell as I pass various trees, plants and animals that all seem the slightest bit more predatory than the last. I swear that for I moment I heard a familiar growl but I dismiss it immediately as I let my stockpiled fear and rage move throughout my body. I stop after about seven minutes of sprinting next to a size able tree and I immediately begin to pound my fists a few times before stopping to lean against it.

"Why is it like this?" I begin as I finally allow my suppressed shock to be released. Before I always had something to make me put this aside for later. Uefi needed me or else he probably would've killed himself; so I put my fear aside. I couldn't afford to have the other ponies worrying or wondering about me; so I out my fear and sadness aside after Uefi left. I had to survive Luna's pursuit and betrayal so I could live a little longer; so I put away my fear, sadness and hatred. Now though, there is no immediate need for me to be level headed. Though I'm not out of the woods yet this small clearing of time where I have peace. Sadly all of this means that my suppressed emotions are now resonating and I can't hold them back.

"Fuck; why do I deal with this shit? Although a better question would be; why do I have to deal with this?" I say with self-disgust. "I really am pathetic, but circumstances seem to dictate that I must be." I say before standing up and turning back towards where I came from. Crying isn't going to help me.

"Do you really have to be so loud? I understand your situation, but there is no reason for you to whine this much. Be at least a bit objective." I hear a semi familiar voice say from behind me before I jump back and spin around to face him. What the hell is he doing here?

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I say defensively.

"What; can't a guy fly out into a desolate forest to see how a national fugitive that he met a little while ago is doing?" I hear the almost laughing voice of Thunderback say as his shadow covered form descends to the ground only 3 meters at most from me with his wings unfurled and an almost infective smile on his face. I didn't ever hear him...

"How do you know about that?" I retort and lower my guard slightly. He already had a perfect chance to capture or kill me; he could easily get another if he wishes to kill me.

"In my line of work word about someone like you gets around. Enough of that though, I came here to talk. Come and walk with me while I make you a 'proposal'." He says while gesturing further into the forest. "It's not like you have too much to lose by following me."

"It sounds more like I don't have a choice in the matter." I comment before walking towards him with my right hand stuck into my pocket. I hate these situations.

"I'm glad you're seeing how things really are." I hear him reply as I walk past him and he follows alongside me.

"So what is this proposal of yours?"

"Strait to business are we. That quality will get you far where you may be going, but just remember business is only half the battle." He says contently while he drops his smiling facade. "Haven't you though that it’s odd though?"

"What?"

"It's odd isn't it you told an emotionally unstable drunk and a supposed drug dealer about your highly suspicious talents and yet neither of them said or did anything to the affect that they were scared or even set off. A large platoon of guards was sent after you, a recently escaped national criminal, and yet they all left immediately as if they were called back. Now tell me why a group of royal guards, including the guard captain, who were assigned to look out for a high priority criminal, would disappear almost instantly."

"I would guess they were called back due to a suspect being apprehended." I answer and turn my head towards him. What is he getting at?

"That would make sense if it wasn't for the fact that A: no subject was apprehended and B: even if a suspect had been found the search for somepony of your caliber or rather your past caliber wouldn't end immediately just because somepony who looks similar to you was caught. No; it would be more accurate to say that you were 'forgotten'. You were forgotten and therefore the guards were called back forthright for unauthorized behavior." He says flatly before stopping.

"You expect me to believe this? Look; I don't know how you know about any of this but forgive me for not believing you." I reply in a serious tone. "So what do you actually want to tell me?"

"I'm serious about this, but I didn’t expect you to simply take my word for it. I guess I need to show you how serious this is." He says before I feel odd energy and feel the sensation of what I guess imploding would be like and I fade out of the forest. What the hell?

   I immediately find myself in a large black walled room with a white floor and four two seat couches, two on each wall, and a television hanging on the wall opposite of where I am. A pony that I recognize as Berry Punch occupies the one and the far left and is wearing a long dark purple dress and is holding a single glass of wine in her right hand... The couch on the far right is occupied by a large red stallion that is wearing farm styled clothing and has an indifferent look. The couch to my immediate left is unoccupied and the one on my right is occupied by a red unicorn mare that I don't recognize and has a long yellow mane and is wearing casual clothing and I notice her horn has a faint glow leaving it. That explains the teleportation.

   I look to my left and I see that Thunderback is actually wearing a gray hoodie and regular jeans. I'm impressed and underwhelmed at the same time.

"You see; we are the ones who took the liberty of wiping the princesses’ memories so you could have your life back." He says before sitting down on the empty couch. "You should recognize Berry and the other stallion is known as Big Mac and the mare over there is Closed Rift. There is a reason Berry and I didn't react violently to your cutie mark. We were surprised; we've needed another member for a while now."

"Another member?"

"Yes." The red mare next to me says evenly. "This organization has hit a bout of bad luck. We used to be one of the largest of our kind, but some odd years ago, before these two colts joined, a lot of our members died. Because of that we had to cut our clientele and recruit these two to help with the job inflow. They wanted some extra money and Berry and I offered a means to that end." She says with a laughing tone.

"When we cut down our clientele we cut off the jobs that either paid the least or that we could afford to lose. We now have enough jobs of each type for a single pony of exceptional performance to carry out. However, we are always looking for somepony who can help or who has potential we don't want to see wasted." Berry says while eyeing me in a casual manner.

"And just what are these 'jobs'?" I say even though I can guess the answer.

"Theft, Intel acquiring, illegal growing and death. I head the death portion of our group. Since those jobs don't come by to awfully often I tend to just kill random visitors who nopony would miss by pretending to be drunk, of those bottle I drank only one was actual wine, and I then loot and hide their bodies. Nopony notices when a pony they just met or when a pony with no strong connections goes missing: everypony forgets eventually. My original intent was to kill you that night, but then you told about your particular talents. That awful fake bar name I told you to go to was my intended attempt to offer you this proposal. I was going to have Thunderback kidnap you and then we would offer you a place here, but then you became a criminal and we had to change that." Berry says with a small laugh. Killing ponies that nopony would ever care about? Cold and scary...

"So you planned to kill me?" I say in a somewhat offended tone while trying to find a way out of here as discreetly as I can.

"Yes and don't try to get out. In your current state you can't get out of here." She says with a smirk before drinking some of her wine.

"I'm going to guess that Mac is your grower, Rift is your thief and Thunderback is your acquirer."

"Bingo." Thunderback says happily.

"What I don't get is why you let a rumor that you're a drug deal exist of your involved with illegal activities." I say coldly.

"It's simple. When ponies think of me they think of Thunderback the drug dealer and consequently chase after the illusion instead of the actual me. I can hide what I'm doing as something that it isn't and I don't even have to try." He says calmly. So he's pulling an illuminati trick?

"So from what I'm hearing I can only guess that this 'proposal' is one as to whether or not I want to join."

"Yes and no." Rift says while I turn my head back to her. "You see, the poisons we used to wipe the princess' memories of you aren’t exactly cheap and administering it under such a short time span was no easy feat. In short; we put our flanks on the line to get you into a workable position and we've already told you more than we would have before. You can't deny our request unless you have the urge to die here."

"So I've been played?" I say unhappily.

"Right into checkmate. Don't get us wrong though; since our downsize we treat each member here like family, it isn't as if we're going to be cold and just treat you like a slave. Nopony got caught or hurt when we poisoned the princess' memories and we can always make the bits back. What I'm saying is that ,even though you can't deny this request because of the effort we put out, you're still going to be treated like family just as much as the rest of us. Except you'll be more like the youngest child who mommy Rift and auntie Berry have to piss off and condescend onto now and again. Just remember; compromise anypony here and you'll die before you know it." She says with a chuckle. At least I know they're not just going to treat me like a burden and that they'll have my back, but I still don't quite get this situation.

"I don't quite get it. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy you plan and treating me with a mild respect, but I don't get the entire situation." I say with a cautious smile.

"Don't worry you'll get used to it. It's a bit to take in at first but after a few jobs and hanging around with us for a while you'll come to understand it." Berry says warmly. A 'family' of an assassin, a spy, a thief and a drug farmer? If it is understandable than it will take a while to be understood.

"Forgive me if I can't say I still trust all of you."

"We don't expect you to automatically trust us. You'll start by learning some basics from one of us and also by just being around to get used to us. For now just go home and sleep. I'll contact you tomorrow with the details. Just remember; don't tell anypony about what you've been told or you may both meet an unfortunate accident. Berry happens to be good with the dual suicide gag." Thunderback says in the calmest voice I've ever heard him use. What other choice do I have?

"Alright; I'll play along since I can't take a chance of assuming you're all liars and your stories make an odd form of sense, but how am I going to get back home?"

"Like this." I hear Rift say before I feel the sensation of teleportation again.

   I find myself back in my room at the underground home next to my bed. Why does nopony warn me about when I'm going to be teleported? I think before lying down onto the bed without even thinking of unloading my cargo or changing into sleepwear. This is all some crazy shit to take in, but in the last few days I've lost my entire life and family, escaped death through unknown reasons, became a fugitive, became innocent and now I'm apparently part of a group of criminals. What the fuck is this place.