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

   I wake up soundly and breathe slowly while looking around the room. I can't believe I can be calm right now. I switched worlds, became a criminal by legal standards and now I'm supposed to become a criminal by a literal standard. Yet I can't force myself to be upset or even deterred. I guess it's one of the perks of naturally going with the flow. Or is it a curse?

   Regardless of what I may be thinking, I get up, take a shower and proceed to dress and ready myself as I have done in the days prior: bartender outfit that fits almost no atmosphere, watch and chain in their respective pockets, necklace that serves only to remind me of what I am meant to be, book of spells and my wallet.

   I walk into the kitchen and remember that I don't have any food. Crap; I guess I'll have to go out and get something to eat. What day is it anyway? Tuesday? Who knows....

   I climb up the ladder and through the 'door' of my temporary home and I bask in the small streams of sunlight making their ways through the small holes in the forest's canopy. I take out my watch to and open it to check the time, 9:34. Damnit, I slept too long, but I did stay up fairly late last night dealing with all of the ins and outs of this new life. What am I supposed to do until I get called up anyway? Breakfast can only go on for so long... I still can't believe this though; my world being switched is something I've come to terms with, but the whole thing about joining a criminal organization is a little offsetting. Regardless I need to get to town and eat. I think before charging the quick step spell. Just take it slow and don't lose control.

   I take my first step, but before I can even begin to move I feel an almost immediate drain if my energy and I vomit onto the path before me. What the hell? I can't summon and energy beyond the initial casting. Did something happen to me that I didn't notice before? I think as I scratch the near the base of my horn and I feel a small object in my skin. I begin to pull at the object until it comes forth from my forehead.

   I hold the object in front of my eyes and examine it. It is a stark white colour with three small prongs which are covering in a bit of my blood and it is moving fluidly as if it's alive. I can see a small stream of sapphire coloured magical aura falling from the center of it. I drop it and it scurries off into the forest. Was that some kind of magical tick? I think as I cast the quick step spell, bit rather than feeling exhausted as I did a few minutes ago I can feel my previous energy amount returning to me.

"I guess the little bastard was feeding off of me. Oh well; we all need a meal every now and again." I think before begin my jog towards town. I only made it 12 meters or so before stopping again from exhaustion. I forgot; my magical energy amount is dependent to my physical energy and I don't have very much of that right now because of hunger. I think before walking towards town.

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   I reach the outskirts of town by about 12 o'clock. My late arrival mostly due the fact that I stop many times along the way to check behind myself and on a single occasion to take a nap alongside the road since I wasn't in a truly great hurry to go anywhere.

   As I approach town I can see a few blurry figures of ponies moving around and I also see a set of stationary ponies standing in the center of the road; one white and one blue in primary colours. As I come closer to the surrounding edge I make out the identities of the two stationary ponies and I also feel a resonating pain in my wallet as they walk towards me.

"Hello Rainbow Dash. Hello Rarity." I say while stopping before them.

"Hello." Rarity, who is wearing a purple dress, says in a reserved manner. Is it always a dress? Variety is usually a good thing. I think before looking at my attire. I said usually, not always.

"Hey Sonata. I hear you made an offer to treat Rarity to a meal." Dash, who is wearing a black top which is partially obscured by her light blue hoodie which is unzipped and who is also wearing a pair of black running pants, says with a sinister smirk.

"I did because I'm in a 'light' debt to her for reserved reasons. I'm guessing she's going to make me pay up now?" I respond evenly.

"Yeah. She met me in the road last night and told me about what happened. By that I mean I know what happened to you entirely, Mr. Changeling." She mocks and I am met with the expected deal of shock, but I try to retain my poker face. So much for not telling anypony.

"She told you about that?" I say while giving Rarity a death glare which she immediately dismisses by looking away in an almost disgusted manner.

"Yup. All about how your left hand has carapace on the back of it that you're covering with the gloves you're wearing." She says happily while pointing to my covered hand.

"Try not to be too loud about that. I am trying to keep that under the hood for the time being. So I'm paying my debt now Rarity?" I say in a disgruntled tone.

"Yes, but rather than taking me for a meal you're going to be treating Dash to lunch. I only waited because I didn't know if you'd trust Dash without my consent." She says without meeting my gaze. What's her problem?

"Why am I taking Dash? Not that I'm against it; the original plan was that I'd pay for a meal for you or for a group of you and some friends."

"She doesn't feel like going out to eat anytime soon and she'd rather just let the two of us go instead." Rainbow Dash responds happily. I guess she's happy to be getting a free meal out of me.

"I just feel that she could use the meal more than I could." The white mare replies in a tone that I think anypony could tell is that of a liar.

"Well I guess I'll take Dash out for lunch. Just consider my debt paid." I say while turning to face the excited cyan mare and Rarity walks away briskly.

"Yes. Come on, I already have a place." She says before turning and walking off.

"Wait Rainbow Dash; why did Rarity have me take you out?" I say evenly to hopefully not offend her.

"What, you don't like me?" She says while turning to face me.

"No it's nothing like that. You're great from what I can see on the outside. It's just that I felt like Rarity was annoyed with my existence." I say and she openly meets my untrustworthy gaze.

"Alright, I'll just cut the crap for you. She is disgusted with you now. She used to think you were ok, but now that she knows you're part changeling she thinks that you're some kind of freak. The only reason she put up with you last night was because doesn't want you to be involved with her. Turning you in would've caused you to make a memory of her. Basically she hates you just for existing. That's why she told me about you. She wanted to dump your offer onto somepony else who knew the situation. I just happened to be that pony." She says before walking off again and I follow.

"Well that is slightly hurtful..." I say while walking alongside her and looking at her face. Pretty. No damnit; they're ponies. I cannot afford any attraction.

"Yeah. You'll have to forgive her though. She was born with that sense of being clean. If she is with a crossbreed like you violates her priorities. You'll just have to deal with me." She chirps out joyfully.

"Oh well. When you live around high standard ponies you're destined to fail if you can't conform." I say with a smile. "Oh well, life goes on."

"Yup. You've gotta keep going on." She says and flexes her wings through her hoodie as we turn to go another direction.

"What I don't get is why you don't even seem to be fazed about the changeling thing."

"I don't tend to care too much about these things. I am a little thrown off, but I don't know much about you yet so I'm willing to go along with it. Besides not everypony can say they're part changeling." She says with a dismissive wave of her hand and keeping her light smile.

"Did she also tell you I'm part Phoenix?" I say with the intention of letting one of my secrets be free.

"Yeah, but she also said none of the traits have shown up yet." She responds calmly.

"Huh, well at least you're getting something out of this."

"A free meal with a colt who has a genealogy of predators. At least I can take you to my favorite place." She says as we stop in front of a small brown building.

"So what kind of place is this?" I say as we walk in and a waitress, who I guess is familiar with Dash, yells over for her to just go to her usual spot and wait a minute.

   The restaurant has a fairly good appeal to it and the layout is small so I'm guess they never get too many customers. There are a few large tables around to sit larger groups of people, a bar in the back left corner and multiple sets of booths along the wall. There is a single waitress standing behind the bar at the moment. I can slightly small the scent of a type of food which feels familiar but I cannot place it.

After we sit down Dash decides to answer my question, "It's one of the few places in town that serves meat for those with some of the meat eating species in their bloodlines. I go here every once in a while to have some meat because I have some gryphon a little ways back apparently." She says while opening her mouth in an uncovered smile to show me her set of teeth which as four carnivorous teeth and I notice that the rest of her teeth seem to look a bit sharper than other pony's teeth.

"So that's the smell of this place, huh?" I say as I can vaguely recognize the smell of meat.

"Yeah. I figured we could eat here since you also have a predatory bloodline. Rub your tongue on your teeth and see if you have any sharp teeth."

   I begin to trace along my teeth and I notice that rather than before I now have 6 teeth on each side if my mouth that are similar to the ones that Dash has, but they are a little longer than hers are. I guess she hasn't told many ponies about this. Which is probably why Rarity still associates with her?

"In truth I'm surprised you had to check. I've had these teeth for quite some time. I don't remember it being an overnight thing."

"Yeah, but I also didn't have carapace on my hand two days ago." I say quietly as the waitress approaches.

"Fair enough." She says before turning to the brown pony with a dark chocolate coloured mane.

"I haven't seen you here in a while." The waitress says before handing us menus.

"Yeah, I know. But you know that I can't go here often." She responds calmly.

"Yeah I know." The waitress says before turning to me, looking me over and then turning back to Dash, "I'll give you a few minutes to decide." And she then walks away.

"Why can't you come here often?" I say as I flip though the menu and look at my potential meals.

"I usually don't have the money and also eating meat is somewhat of a taboo to some." She says before setting her menu aside.

"What do you mean by that?"

"While it may be legal and usually acceptable for us crossbreeds to eat meat and other things; there are some ponies who believe that we are 'tainting the future of Equestria' by eating the meat of dead animals. There's a group of them around here that like to give me shit and even at times become violent over it. If I don't eat any meat they tend to tolerate me, but as soon as I do there is a chance they'll pay me a visit sooner than expected." She says with an almost scared look on her face. I need to get her off of this subject entirely. I wouldn't expect somepony like her to get scared, but the subject seems a little too sensitive of a subject for her.

"And nopony does anything about it?"

"They don't usually resort to violence unless attacked and because of that they can't be truly punished for being such bigots." She says with a vacant look on her face. How do I navigate this back to being a happy thing?

"It sounds like they're nothing more than some coward's group. Let's just have lunch together and forget about them. If they try anything just let me take the punches, alright?" I say and give her a closed smile which seems to bring her back into her previous demeanor after a few moments of looking at me.

"So when do you plan on introducing me to your friend Dash?" I hear the voice of the waitress say suddenly which almost causes me to jump upwards. Damnit. How long has she been here?

"Damnit Juice; how long have you been here?" Dash barks back at the other mare. At least she seems to be back to 'normal'.

"Long enough; so who is this?"

"Juice this is Sonata. Sonata, well you know." Dash responds in an annoyed tone.

"Nice to meet you." I say while looking up at the mare.

"Likewise. So what will you two be having?" She asks and Dash and I order our respective meals. Needless to say Dash ordered the most expensive meal she could.

"I'm guess you're the one paying for this?" Juice antagonizes while looking at me.

"Yeah. I got roped into a debt. This is how she's making me pay it."

"With company or by making you pay?"

"Both." I say and Juice and Dash both laugh lightly.

"Yeah I wonder about that. I'll be back when your meals are done." Juice says before walking off.

"You really are cocky, aren't you?" Dash remarks.

"I do enjoy complementing myself from time to time."

"That aside; do you have any clothes besides those?" She says pointing at my attire.

"I have other sets of clothes but they're all the same in appearance mostly." I admit with a sheepish smile. "I don't see the problem with my outfit though."

"There's not a problem. I was just wondering if you wore anything else. I trout you were just wearing it when I first met you because you were trying to give a good first impression." She says with a small chuckling at the end of her statement.

"No it's nothing like that. I just like to be looking fine I case of an unforeseen situation, such as this, where I may need to look a bit more exemplary than normal." I respond plainly.

"Why would you need to look better than usual right now?"

"Isn't it always the task of a stallion to look his best in the presence of a mare during certain situations that are more or less public?" I reply courtly.

"Yeah; well whatever. I need to use the restroom." She says before standing up and walking away with her polychromatic mane and tail moving back and forth slightly. Damnit; why am I watching?

"Flattery and starring only gets you so far, Sonata." I hear Juice say and two plates are set down with the meals we ordered on them.

"Damnit Juice; how long have you been here?" I respond in a startled tone.

"Just like before: long enough. So tell me about yourself." She says before sitting down.

"Why? Not to be rude."

"I just want to know who you are. I already know you're a braggart and a flatterer. I just want to know how much of that is true."

"I mostly do the bragging as a cheap attempt at humor. But you'll have to specify as to which pieces of my complementing are honest."

"Well we don't have much time so I'll just cut to the part that matters the most: were you serious about taking care of anypony who tryies to hurt her for her heritage?" She questions and her face takes on a darker look.

"I couldn't call myself a gentlecolt if I wasn't honest about that."

"This isn't about whether or not you're a gentlecolt or if it's your obligation as a stallion. This is about will you, as a pony, do what is needed to help her with these problems. You should know just from seeing her that her pride is insurmountable. For her to be scared means that there is some history behind it. I don't know much about it, but I do know it matters to her. Will you actually try to help her?" I knew this had some weight to it, but I guess it holds more than I thought.

"I'll do what I can, not as a gentlecolt but as myself, to take the pain off of her and onto myself." I say sincerely. I never was good at letting shit like this go to begin with. How many times did I get beat to shit before I was able to turn the tables in my old life? Who knows?

"Alright then. Just remember that if you're lying I'll make a small hell and imprison you within it." She says with a literally devious smile. "Since we have a little extra time I'll ask another question. Are you sincerely attracted to her?"

"What kind of question is that?" I say in a bewildered manner.

"Are you sincerely attracted to her or are you just having dirty thoughts when you stare? Also regardless of which it is, try to be more discrete in the future."

I guess the obvious answer would be no. How could I be attracted to a pony in a world completely foreign from that of my origin? However, there is a fairly close resemblance between our species I guess. Fur and tail aside, the basic earth pony isn't an extremely far cry from a human. Also, even though we're called ponies it's not as if we're walking around on four legs eating grass. Thinking about it now Juice is right. I guess I was starring a little bit and this wouldn't be the first time I've considered how attractive mares in my age group are. But this is absurd I mean come on they're ponies. Granted though, I am too now. I'll flip my mental coin I guess. Heads I tell her I'm actually attracted to Dash; tails I harbor no attraction. Flip. Tails. Oh well.

"I am sincerely attracted and should a mutual situation arise I would ask for courtship." I answer truthfully and almost to my own surprise. I guess lying about these things is something my heart couldn't let me do. Damnit; I've got a crush on a half human, half pony pegasus. Uefi would be ripping me a new asshole with furry hate comments by now. I can't tell how to feel right now? Happy or disgusted with myself?

"Well alright then. It's a good thing you said that or else I was going to beat you down for being a pervert. I guess you pass my test. Just don't let it go to your head and remember if you're lying-"

"My life becomes your punching bag." I cut her off.

"More or less. I like you Sonata. You actually thought about those questions even though you responded fairly quickly. Dash can get impulsive so having somepony around who can think through things quickly might help that habit. Seriously though; not a single dirty thought?" She antagonizes.

"I may be in adolescence, but I can control myself well enough. Truly I had hardly noticed my own 'assessing' of Rainbow's physical appearance until you questioned me on it." I honestly respond.

"How long have you known her?"

"When was the day the town went dark?"

"I don't know; Saturday or Sunday maybe?"

"Well I met her then, had a terrible first impression with her, met her again at that school function, accidentally cut her arm slightly, caused her to be near the center of a fireworks explosion which seems to have not affected her and I saw her again the same night for a short while with a few other mares, but we didn't talk much if any." I say doing my best to recall the events.

"Huh? I would think she would hate you after that."

"I guess she's more understanding than we're giving her credit for. Out of the two ponies that know about my genetic history she's the only one who accepted it and the other was on better terms with me. She is a nice mare, I guess." I say and still contribute a bit of surprise and denial to my thoughts because of what I'm saying. Attracted to a pony? Uefi really would be having a ball with this one.

"Well enough talking. She's coming back now." Juice says before standing up as Dash exits the restroom and walks back over to the table.

"What were you two talking about?" Dash says as she sits back down and takes in a bite of steak from her plate which consists of a large rib-eye steak, rice, two fried chicken legs and a slice of what looks to be smoked pork tenderloin. She can't be serious about eating all of that. With her physique I don't think she could let herself.

"Just how adorable you are." Juice teases as I take a bite of my own food which is just a simple cheeseburger with pickles; good but not spectacular. Something I'm paying for had to be cheap.

"Well thank you." Dash says through a mouthful of chicken. I never thought I'd see a pony enjoy meat so much.

"Yeah. Just remember to keep this one around Dash. He pays well." She responds before laying down a bill and walking away. 68 bits for this. I guess their prices have to be high since their customers must be fewer than surrounding locations, but that doesn't make the pain in my wallet go away.

"You'll have to forgive her. She tends to be a little bit of an ass when it comes to annoying ponies." Dash mumbles through the food in her mouth which I'm guessing in a mix of rice and chicken.

"If she's your friend I guess I'll just have to put up with it." I say after finishing another bite of my food and successfully consuming half of the small burger. It does feel good knowing meat is available for me.

"Yeah."

"How long were you and Rarity waiting for me there?" I say remembering seeing than at where the town begins.

"We met there this morning hoping to catch you on your way into town so you could treat me to breakfast, but when you didn't come fast enough we ate at a nearby diner and then waited for you again." She says after swallowing another mouthful of steak and pork.

"I'm sorry you had to wait all morning. I didn't know anypony was waiting on me so I took my time getting to town and even just took a nap in the grass alongside the road at one point." I say sorrowfully and hang my head slightly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm late all the time for the same reason. Sometimes I just see a nice cumulus cloud and I can't resist a little nap, unless I'm exercising." She says guiltily.

"I had you figured for an athletic type." I remark after finishing another fourth of my burger.

"What gave it away?" She says before stuffing her mouth again with the various meats.

"When you ran me down after I escaped from the school and your physique is a giveaway."

"I'll take that as a complement. I'll give you some credit though; it took a slight bit of effort to catch up with you and Thunderback. I never though a unicorn could make me have to fly at about 63% of my top speed. Also, why were you with Thunderback?" She says before taking in the last bite of her pork.

"I used a spell to double my speed and I picked him up on the way out of school. I ran past him and he just decided to join in my escape for the thrill of it." I say after finishing my meal.

"Oh. I guess it was commendable that you stopped to fight me; egghead jokes excluded."

"There was no chance I could outrun you at that rate. I just made an on the spot decision. Also, sorry about taking away the light for a while, cutting you with my horn and lighting fireworks off directly on your body." I say and I hang my head a little lower.

"Don't worry about it. A few unicorns with medical training came along shortly afterwards and they were able to fix the burns easily and the scrape wasn't that bad. You can just pay me back later." She says and finishes her chicken and rice off.

"That sounds like an excuse for me to buy you another meal."

"You're the one who said it, not me." She says before taking in the last bite of her steak.

"I'm honestly surprised you finished all of that." I say while looking down at her now empty plate.

"I can't take a to-go box in case of somepony seeing what's in it and when it comes to meat I have somewhat of a problem with having a splurge. I'll just have to exercise for a little longer today. I'm surprised that's all you had to eat." She says while giving my own empty plate a tap and standing up.

"I wasn't too hungry." I say before standing up after leaving the payment of bits and a five bit tip with a note thanking Juice for the advice.

   As we step outside of the restaurant I check the time, which happens to be 12:56, and I notice that the density of ponies in the area has dropped to 0 ponies per square meter. Odd...

"Want to go and have a few races with me? I realize that you're in a little better shape than most egghead unicorns, but you could always get better." She says as we walk along towards the western side of town.

"I guess I could head along. I haven't been exercising like I usually do since I got to town." I say while looking around in every side passage. Not a single pony.

"Alright, then we're gonna to the fields west of town. It's open enough there for ground training." She directs as we walk along.

"Hey, wait for a second." I hear an unfamiliar voice call from behind me and I see Dash almost freeze instantly upon hearing it.

   As I turn around I see three pegasi, one blue, one orange and one purple, running towards us and then stopping about 1 meter from us. I look to my side and Dash's face is half covered in fear. Who are these three?

"Yes?" I say calmly.

"Where were you two just now?" The blue pegasus in the center responds.

"I was buying her a meal to pay off a debt. Why?" I answer and the orange one gains a look of open disgust. Let me guess..

"At your disgusting meat eaters' shack?" The purple one blurts out. How did I know? I'm really not in the mood to be doing this today.

"I wouldn't say disgusting. Excuse if I fail to see why you should care about that." I respond while shifting my position to be a little closer to them than Dash is.

"Why shouldn't we care about you cretins? You kill and eat animals of the land; it corrupts our future as ponies." The orange one replies in an unpleasant tone of voice.

"Excuse me, but I cannot see how a simple diet choice that is available for some ponies corrupts the future."

"That's the problem with 'ponies' like you. You can't see the bigger picture. If one of us eats meat like those birds to the south, then soon there will be two of us eating meat, then four, then eight and so on until one day we're all devouring innocent animals just so we can eat them for the enjoyment." The blue pony debates.

"Forgive me if I can't see this in the way you do." I respond. If there's one this I know; it's that you can't reason with intolerant religious drones.

"Don't worry about that. We'll help you see it our way. One way or another." The orange one says before throwing a punch at Dash's face.

It didn't connect with its target.

"Don't you know it's not nice to hit a mare unprovoked?" I say after side stepping in front of the polychromatic mare, taking his punch to my chest. To put it simply; when he tried to hit her, something snapped. I grab his fist and push him backwards so I can gain a better position to fight them. "Dash step back for a bit. I might need some time." I say before pushing the mare off into a side alley by turning her around and pushing on her back.

Damnit that punch hurt, but that can wait. I think before looking at the three pegasi closely. While the orange one may have hit pretty hard he seems like the sluggish type on the ground at least. The blue one is more of a ring leader type so he'll probably send in the other two to assess my capabilities before starting his own assault. The purple one is swaying back and forth slightly and his build suggests that he is probably the fastest of the group. It's just like fighting the thugs back at school.

"You'll need more than 'some time' after this. It's three against one and you probably couldn't beat one of us on your own." The purple colt taunts.

"We will see. We will see." I say calmly.

   I begin by throwing out at 27 dots on various rocks in the area and I begin to rotate them around myself slowly. As one as the orange one moves again I send all 27 of them as fast as I can towards the sternum of the purple pegasus and I bring up my left arm to guard against the onslaught of punches being thrown at me. I duck under I high punch to my face and drop kick the orange pegasus in his right shin which causes him to lose balance momentarily and fall. I begin to move over him to get the advantage when I notice a lavender figure move from my peripheral vision. I don't move fast enough and a punch is delivered directly into my abdomen and I double back in pain. A little stronger than his human thug counterpart.

   I form a thin wall with my magic to block his next set of punches and then I drop the wall to deliver my own into his chest with a follow up own to his face which causes him to move back a few meters. I cannot relish this though as an orange hoof side swipes my knees and I fall down, but I instantly begin to role away before he can pin me down. I learned a few things after getting beat to shit a few times. I stand up and intercept a punch from the purple pegasus. I respond by grabbing his neck and throwing a few quick jabs into his face which to my surprise leave the pegasus unconscious. He also has less endurance than his counterpart. Regardless, one down. It really is like fighting the thugs at school. I think before the remaining pegasi take to the air and rise above the surrounding buildings. Except these ones can fly.....

"That isn't really fair." I say before the orange one dives at me and I jump to my left to avoid the punch. He's much faster in the air. Fuck.

   I barely doge multiple dive attacks from the orange pegasus before I have an idea to turn the tables. I form many small boxes with my magic to form a staircase into the air. After dodging another punch, I take advantage of his terrible tempo and I move up my staircase quickly and condense a large platform for me to stand on. Damnit this is exhausting. Just sanding on it drains me a little. I condense another 15 platforms at a similar height in the immediate area and a few smaller boxes to use as points to hang onto and jump off of. I need to get rid of than orange bastard. I guess this isn't the time to play around anymore.

   I gamble and activate a quick step spell and many smaller cubes in the area. I begin to circle them as fast as I can and is as many directions as I can by using platforms I places above them to confuse them. I quickly throw a directional inversion on the orange one who is uselessly trying to swat at me. I drop my speed spell as I pass directly in front him and I throw the hardest punch I can muster into his abdomen causing him to lose consciousness and fall onto a roof not to far below us. Two down. I think before vomiting down onto his body. This is a little more intensive than the fights from before.

   I start to turn around, but I am met with a hard kick to my sternum and I fall back onto another platform and before I can respond the blue pony who had done almost nothing this entire time, drives an onslaught of punches into my body. I am only able to escape by using my escape teleportation to appear behind him and I run across the field of cubes as fast as I can.

   I spit out some blood that had begun leaking from my mouth where my teeth had cut my tongue and the rest of my mouth. I look over at the pegasus who is now floating in the center of my field.

"I didn't expect you to go to such lengths for something like this. You know you can just give up and let me beat the shit out of you without you having to exhaust yourself more." He 'offers' from his position.

I don't have much energy left to fight or cast spells with, but I think I have enough for this idea. I think before bringing the area around him into darkness and rushing to complete my formation. This might work.

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Why the fuck is it so dark all of a sudden? Is that cretin trying another trick? No matter; the righteous will always prevail.

   The darkness soon leaves and rather than the field of many small platforms in the sky there are only eight forming an octagon-like shape around me. The almost frightening thing is that on each of the platforms is a clone of the unicorn carnivore I am fighting.

"What is this? Some trick you've devised?" I yell out to him or rather 'them' before rushing at the one to my right and punching it. It erupts into a small explosion of red mist and my hand merely impacts a post made from his magical energies and the post and the platform break apart soon after. Replications? So one of them is the real heretic. "Nice trick heretic. Making fake versions of yourself while I couldn't see. It's ironic," I say as I punch through a third clone, "you're making false images of yourself when you are a false image of a pony." I say as I finish punching through the sixth one. "Nowhere left to hide." I finish as I look at the real heretic and after I fly forward and impact his dirty face, he erupts.

***********************************************************************************************((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((  SONATA'S POV

As soon as he impacts my last replication I jump down from my new platform I moved to above the fakes and as fast as I can position myself behind him. "And you would've been dead." I say as I drive my left hand into the back of his head knock him out. Three down. Victory.

   I grab the blue pony by his shirt and throw him down onto the vomit and the body of the orange pony under me. That makes me feel a little better. I think as I vomit again onto the blue pony. Fuck, I'm exhausted. I think as my entire body aches greatly due to the strain of casting so many spells in such a short time period and being beat to shit. Definitely a little worse than the thugs back on earth, but I did it for a lady mare. I guess my values don't change with the body.

   I form another stairway downwards and I make it down to the 3rd t last step before dropping the spell and letting myself fall to the earth softly. Just take it slow.

I walk over to the purple pony who seems to be waking up and I grab him by his shirt collar for the sake of giving him a price of my mind. "Now you've learned you lesson, right? You aren't going to be giving that mare anymore trouble, right?"

"Yes. We won't antagonize her anymore." He wheezes out with a scared look on his face. They also take less convincing than the thugs from before.

"Good. Now run along." I say and I then release him and he runs of with his tail literally between his legs.

I slowly walk over to what I think is the alley I left Dash in. "You ok Dash?" I say before falling to the ground and losing consciousness. Fuck. I pushed it too far.