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

   The bubbly warm water welcomes me like a mother's embrace as I lie down in the bathtub, intent on breaking my mind away from the night's affairs. The heated water helps to calm my frazzled nerves, but I can still feel the predatory drive in the back of my conscious just as it's been for the last four hours.

   I fold my arms against my muscular frame and try to make sense of the whole fiasco. The details are all bit a blur to me at this point, but I remember the only thought that persistently ran through my mind in that fight, attack. I wasn't in complete control then. It was like I was watching someone else make up my mind for me.

   I switch to the changeling eyes and reach my left hand out of the pristine liquid. I place the simple squares on the finger tips and small arcs of electricity shoot out from them like sparklers. I drop the hand back into the water after dropping the spell and do the same with the other hand. However the right hand's fingertips just ignite in a pale green fire.

Why is it that I'm always dealt the bad hand? I yawn and stare back at where the gash in my arm was. The healing spell fixed it up well enough, but the area still aches with old rhythmic pain.

   The scene keeps coming back into my head every time I stare at the wound. The worst part is that the predatory urge would like nothing more than to go through it again. I need to go kill something.

"No denying it." I grab my towel. I wasn't really intent on washing anyways.

   After toweling off quickly, I slip on my pants. The shirt is left alone and neglected on the can. I don't quite know what I plan on letting this urge release on and a torn shirt is near useless to me.

"I'm going out, Berry." I tell the mare and focus solely on the ladder.

"There's a bear cave to the south of here if you want to go have some fun."

"What?" I stop in my tracks. "How'd you know?"

"The first urges are the worst. Not to mention you still have your eyes in the open." I nearly slap myself for that mistake.

"Right. I'll remember that." I start up the ladder without another thought.

   I let the corrosive urges out of the cage and smile insanity. Go hard or go home. One hand catches fire and the other excretes sparks as before. I love it.

   The backseat is comfortable enough in my mind to watch the killer urges run out. I follow the sounds of the forest and run head first into it. I bypass any smaller life like flies in search of something... Bigger.

Maybe I should stop before I get in over my head again. I think for a moment, but the poison of more blood and charred flesh crosses my mind again. This is going to be fun.

   I find the cave with great ease considering it's carved into the side of a small cliff face and a pungent smell of, well, shit fills the air. I run in without regret and light the area accordingly. Considering the racket I've been making, it's not surprising the large black beast is already awake when I reach the back of the little cave.

   The bear lets out a blood curdling growl, but I'm more focused on one thing. Kill it. I backhand the annoying sack of dirty fur with fires of pleasure. I can smell the flesh and hair char in the heat. To my delight however, it only pisses it off.

   A back-step saves me from his own backhand paw. At that speed I can consider this some light exercise. I kick upwards and into the creature's jaw and satisfying cracks of bone fill the stagnant air.

   I lay off and let the bear make the next move. I don't really want to kill my plaything too early. Thankfully that move isn't something slow and predictable. It rushes at me, but when I try to back away I find myself against the wall.

"Smart little fucker." I laugh even as he opens his jaw for a bite at my stomach. "Not smart enough though."

   I shoot my hand into its mouth like lightning and wraps around a taut tongue. Another quarter of my magic is drained to funnel electricity into its head. I feel the pressure of the jaw clamping down instinctively, but against the extending plating it's hardly more than a scratch.

"Try again!" His tongue flies across the cave after I rip my hand out.

   The bear backs off and does its best to growl out pain. I feel a little bad, however my urge to kill something overrides that like it's nothing.

   My laughs of sadistic joy are cut off by a slash across my face. I reach up and feel the size able gashes with joy.

"Looks like I pissed you off." I stick a middle finger right in the bastard's right eye. "Sadly, you did the same."

   It isn't a moment later before the eye explodes in a burst of pretty blue flames and blood and the body goes limp.

"Aww, come on!" I yell and start patting on the fallen corpse. "I wasn't done playing with you yet." Bastard had to die from shock. "Come on." A tear falls down my face. "DAMNIT, GET UP!" I scream at the dead pile of fur.

   I blink.

   Such a simple thing, blinking.

   I look around for a moment. What was I doing again? I groan and stand up, looking at the lightly mangled corpse. Oh yeah... I really did that? I notice a sizable bulge in my pants as well. When the hell did I get a boner? Wait, better; why in the hell do I have a boner?

"Sorry about that buddy." I repent a little and pick it up with a mix of magic and my own physical effort. "I guess I should try to moderate these urges in the future. I can hardly remember anything now."

   While I wouldn't say my magic or physical condition is laughable, the bear still weighs a lot and it takes me a bit of effort to hold it up. I manage, amid my headache, to carry it out of that pit and back towards home. No reason to waste good meat.

What was I doing there though? The thought is ceaseless. I only meant to go rip the heads off a couple of squirrels. Why the hell did I rush into a bear cave? On the upside those idiotic instincts stopped trying to take over for now.

   It takes me more than a half hour to get back between taking breaks, but other than that it's easy enough. I drop the corpse outside the box and hop down easily.

"Yo Berry. I killed a bear on accident. Any chance you know how to butcher one of these things?" I open my eyes to see the mare in question sitting next to Dash on the couch. "What're you doing here?"

"I came by to see if you wanted to go for a jog, but I see you had other plans." The rainbow mare pouts, but I don't let it throw me off track.

"You'll keep quiet about this whole bear thing right?" Damage control mode has been initiated.

"I kept quiet about the manticore thing didn't I?" She smiles cutely.

"That was self defense. This was fun." I notice Berry walk off without a word.

"Whatever, but did you really kill a bear?" I notice an excited glint in her eyes.

"Yes. Though you're surprisingly cool about this." I raise I brow and cross my arms.

"Berry said you went out for a hunt when I got here. So I already knew you'd do something like this. A bear was a little more than I expected." She stands up and stretches in her black tank top and shorts. "Do you plan on keeping that wound open though?"

"What wound?" I look my body once over, but see nothing.

"Your cheek." Her own is tapped for emphases.

   I run a hand past the old, still bleeding wound and cringe a little. How did I get this? I start to thread magic into it to reform and connect tissues of muscle and skin. Must've been from the fight.

"I can't believe I forgot about that."

   Before the conversation can carry on further, Berry comes back in with a variety of bone-saws and knives strapped to her waist along with a couple of aprons in hands.

"Come on. I don't want to spend all day on this." She tosses me my apron. "And cover your chest for Celestia's sake."

"Oh, right." I remember my own shirtless-ness.

"Are you gonna help out or go?"

"I'll stick around for a while, but I don't plan on helping too much." Dash evades any work as expected.

"Alright. Let's see this bear of yours then." I start to climb back up the ladder with the other two not far behind.

"When Berry said you went hunting, I assumed you were using a gun." The winged female notes.

"My original plan was to just go kill a squirrel or two. The bear was an unexpected occurrence." I pick up the bear by his front legs so we can get started.

   After getting the damn thing hanging from a tree to keep things easy enough to skin, Berry insists on doing it herself from the point on. I rejoin after she gets all of the skin and fur off, rather impressively if I may add. It all came out in a single sheet. Dash fetches a bucket for us to toss unusable features into and a separate one for usable items.

"So Sonata, what's the deal with his right eye?" Berry asks while cutting through some ribs.

"I jammed my thumb in there when he slashed me."

"Why is it burned though?" Dash chimes in and I remember.

"Oh uh... Flame spell?" I blink and remember. "Wait, why haven't you asked about my eyes?"

"I filled her in on the situation before you got back. I filled her in on a lot of things actually."

"Like what?"

"Like what exactly I did to your eyes."

"What happened to doctor and patient confidentiality?" I glare daggers at the drunk.

"I don't have a degree in medicine. I majored in psychology." She tries to joke her way it of this.

"Then you should've known how she might've reacted and how I'd react. I planned it keep this on the down low."

"How? Your eyes are a completely different colour now. What kind of lie could you produce? 'Umm... Coloured contacts' or 'Uh... Magical problem' aren't exactly believable lies." She mocks me rather accurately.

"She's right you know."

"You two are just best friends, aren't you?" My brow furrows in discontent.

"Better than some." Berry drops the sets of ribs into the keep bucket. "Seriously though, I don't see what your problem is. She's not a pure breed herself so there's no reason to get so pissy about it."

"Still, you could've consented me on this." I realize the futility of this, but I'm not very sensible sometimes.

"Hey, calm down. It's fine really. It's not like you're doing anything illegal." Dash tries to defuse me, or rather does defuse me.

"Fine." I concede without a second thought. Damn chivalry complex. "You're not gonna tell anypony though?"

"Are you gonna tell anyone about my heritage?"

"No."

"There's your answer then." She stands up smiling. "I really need to go before it gets too dark though."

"Oh yeah. I guess I lost track of time." I notice the sky darkening overhead. At some point I started lighting the place with my horn unknowingly. "See you tomorrow then?"

"I've got to make a delivery to Cloudsdale tomorrow."

"Meet you at the post office at eight then."

"Only pegasi can walk on clouds, so are you going to pay for the cloud walking spell?"

"You let me worry about that." I wave her off. It won't have been the first time I've messed with clouds.

"Alright, then I'll meet you there." She walks off without another word.

"Smooth." Berry laughs at me after Dash has gotten far enough off.

"Shut up." I groan and drop more assorted cuts into the bucket. "It gives me something to do considering Uefi is always at the orchard."

"You could work there too."

"If I was there, it'd be even more of a sausage fest." I joke. "How does bear taste anyways?"

"It's not the greatest thing you'll ever have, but it's good." She tosses the heart and livers into the good selection. "That reminds me. How are your instincts right now?"

"They're gone actually. If I extended the plating, they'd probably come back though."

"I doubt it."

"Why is that?" My trusty left brow rises on cue.

"If you had killed a squirrel or something small they wouldn't have stopped at all. However, because you killed something like this, most likely they won't be back for months at least."

"Really?" I smile in pure delight. I don't know if I could deal with those every other day.

"Yup. They're based off of how long it's been since they were satisfied. Kill something small and you earn a day at maximum. Something medium like a bear and you get months. Anything bigger like an ursa and you can get years."

"So I'll have to do something like this again in a couple of months?"

"Yes sir you will." She sticks her long tongue out at me.

"So when will you have your rampage again?"

"Never." Only a small amount of the bear remains to be cut.

"Never? I thought you said the maximum you could get was years?"

"I said large animals could get you years. I never said that was a maximum. If you're smart there's a loophole you can use to avoid the craving forever."

"What's that?" My interest reaches a peek. Never having to care about them again would be perfect.

"Kill somepony."

"...what?"

"You go kill somepony. It will completely sate the urge. The only problem is that ponies like us tend to catch a taste for it immediately." She lacks any emotion.

"So I'd have to kill somepony else to beat it forever, but I'd become addicted myself? How is that even a loophole if those are the conditions?" I almost entirely dismiss the idea without a second thought. It's fun to think about killing somepony else in my honest opinion. However, I'd never do it.

"Trust me; it's different after you do it yourself." She reassures me.

"Well I think I'll deal with a dead bear now and again."

   It takes us another twenty minutes to finish everything up and toss the corpse, but even as I lay down in bed the thought keeps irking me despite my own disinterest. How would it be to kill someone?

~\o/~

   Like clockwork, I wake up at the very crack of dawn like most other days lately. Though it could be fair to say a little bit before or after the crack of dawn considering that I can't see the sky underground.

   My morning routine goes by simply, but I off the fancy clothes and replace them with a pair of black baggy pants and a loose white t-shirt.

   With mane hanging loose, I slip into the kitchen and grab some scrapple from the fridge. A minute or two to heat up the skillet later, and a pair of small meat patties sizzle happily.

"You're up already?" Uefi crawls in from the hallway with crossbow in tow.

"Yeah, what're you taking your bow out for? We don't have a job, do we?"

"I don't have a job, but I think Berry was cooking something up when I got back last night."

"Damnit." I curse under my breath. "Anything specific?"

"Nah, she just said not to worry about it."

"I'll talk with her then, but what about the bow?" I flip the patties.

"I'm gonna go do some target practice. It'd be useless for me to get rusty with it."

"Ah, well have fun with that." I wave him off with a smile. I'll have to find something we can do to hang out some more. We still see each other, but not like before.

   I take the food out of the pan a minute later and set the patties onto separate plates. After setting a couple of forks out, I push one plate to the other end of the counter. On cue as always, Berry grabs the plate and starts eating.

"Thank you."

"No problem." I munch on my own portion of the meager breakfast. "So Uefi told me that you were working on a job for me."

"Yes I was, yes I was. You see, there's a particular item I need you to *ahem* 'pick-up' for me."

"When, where, how and why?" I role my eyes.

"Today in an abandoned house there might be a stash of stuff to steal. As for why, because I want to either sell them off or keep them for myself."

"Not to undermine your authority, but why would an abandoned house have anything worth stealing?"

"Normally they wouldn't have anything worth batting an eye at. However, Spacial was snooping around and sent me word about it. With any luck, it should be a good experience for you."

"Alright, but won't it mostly just be walking in there and grabbing what was left behind?" I realize there's got to be something more. Berry isn't exactly a mare to send me out on busy work.

"Somepony catches on quick." She smiles. "We're nowhere near the only crime organization in the world and it isn't unusual for businesses like ours to keep safe-houses to store loot. Of course we also aren't too keen on ponies sneaking in or taking our things."

"So there's a chance I'll run into some resistance."

"Bingo." She slides the empty plate over to me. "I'll lend you my scarf so you can tie up a face mask, just in case things go wrong. Though there shouldn't be anypony there guarding it since it's probably loaded with traps."

"Alright, but I still need to know where I'm going." Plates drop into the sink with a dull 'cling'.

"Where you're already going today, Cloudsdale."

"What?" I glare daggers at her. "I hope you just mean stay there until night and come back in the morning."

"I mean, you slip away awhile you're there today and get back today."

"I'm not going to do it today Berry. I'll do it tonight, but not today. I'm not going to ruin my day and take the risk of getting caught to broad daylight." I put my hoof down for once. I'm not about to take a risk like that.

"Have you forgotten that I own you? I can stop you from having any fun at all at anytime; so I strongly urge you to consider your options." Her eyes change.

"I'll do it tonight, but I can't just blow off Dash to go break the law and maybe even get caught."

"You will do it today and you'll stop this argument now." I watch a wave of green role across the shining planes of her eyes and feel... Odd. Not necessarily bad, but not quite right either. What was I arguing about again?

"Yes Berry." I respond systematically. "I'll find a way."

"Good, I'll be watching." She grabs one of her long scarf off the rocking chair, handing it to me soon after.

   In truth I've always liked this scarf. A nice pixelated black and watch camo pattern with small amounts of crystals embedded into the thread it was sewn from. A thin enchantment across it meant to enhance the effects of other enchantments and spells that the user uses. A good neutral piece of neckwear.

"How much should I expect to find there?" I wrap the fabric around my neck loosely.

"Nothing that won't fit in your pockets if what Spacial told me is correct. Though if it's something bigger, I expect you to figure something out."

"Got it." I slip outside without another word. I still wish I knew what I was arguing about though.

~\o/~

   In truth, I should've waited before going to the post office. I don't know much about Dash, but I do know she tends to be a polar opposite to Twilight. As such, she's late. Now I don't mind somepony being late for a meeting, but this is pushing an hour and a half at this point.

"About time you showed up." I try to give her hell as she lands in front of me.

"Shut up, I slept in too late and I need to get going so we can get the done today." The cyan pegasus barges ingot he post office without another word.

"Nice to see she's gotten more subtle." I joke and in a minute or two she charges back out with a small black package.

"Come on." She slaps my back and starts to run off.

"What's the problem?" I catch up as soon as I can.

"The problem is that I'm more than an hour late and there is a deadline for this today."

"Shouldn't you have made sure to wake up earlier then?" I slip past the mid-morning bystanders with relative ease.

"I don't believe in alarm clocks or going to sleep early and please, pick up the pace a little."

"You know, I think it's finally starting to dawn on me as to why you're as fast as you are." Puzzles are fun.

"Why?"

"You have a terrible sense of time, but you're obsessed with being on time. So you're constantly running late and you can't really tell how late you are. Because of that you go as fast as possible to try and make sure you won't be late."

"How would you know?"

"I'm the same way, except I'm not running late. I just like to be as early as possible." I role my eyes. It's just a joke.

"Well either way, I need to get to the train station soon or else we'll miss the train." For what I think is the first time today she glances over at me.

"So you do wear normal clothes?" She laughs a little.

"I happen to enjoy a good change of apparel now and again." I act a bit more sophisticated than I should.

"Whatever, I'm just happy to know you changed clothes for once." We reach the train station rather quickly.

"Wait, how exactly is a train supposed to get us to a city made of clouds?" I try to figure out the cost of the materials needed to raise a track that far off the ground, not to mention safety standards

"How else would we get there without flying?" She roles her magenta eyes casually.

"I thought we were going to go on a plane or something."

"What's a plane?" I face palm as soon as the words leave me mouth. I forgot that they don't have planes here.

"Nothing, nothing. Just a slip of my tongue." I wave her off casually.

"Whatever," she turns to a ticket counter. "two for Cloudsdale."

"Hundred thirty-five bits per ticket." I almost shit my pants. This is bullshit, but I know their prices are set by the company. I tried to argue with the guy about going to Cannonrim.

"I'll pay it." I sigh and hand him the money. My wallet is in pain.

"The train leaves in five minutes."

"I can pay for my own ticket you know." Dash tries to reprimand me.

"I don't want to hear it, Dash. I owe you one."

"For what?" We board the train.

"I don't know. If not, then just chalk it up to my being a gentlecolt or trying to earn brownie points." We move to the back of the train and take a seat next to each other.

"Sometimes I really don't understand you. Most ponies would just pay for their own tickets like they should."

"I'm not most ponies. I'm a gentlecolt."

"I really wish you'd quit with that word."

"Why?"

"Because it makes you sound all high and mighty."

"Sorry, it's just the way I am around mares. I just grew up in that kind of home." I remember one of the very minimal amount rules around the house. I was allowed to be an asshole back to women who were, for lack of a better word, bitches. However, I was not allowed to be an asshole to any other women.

"It doesn't matter what I say, does it?"

"Not really." I chuckle at her defeat as the train kicks into motion. "I'll try to downplay it a little in the future though."

"Whatever. I just don't think it makes much sense for somepony like me. If it was Rarity or that other one you were working for it would make sense, but I'm just a sports nut." She sighs, leaning her head back against the glass window.

"Well if you haven't noticed those two both turned out to be bad in their own right. Rarity was way too prissy and Lily was a complete airhead with an over pompous bodyguard."

"Yeah, but that tends to be how ponies like them are."

"Well that's the problem. Ponies like you and Twilight have a good enough sense to deserve to be treated like ladies. If Lily wised up a little she could be too, but that's besides the point."

"I'm not going to have this argument. Just, try to tone it down a little."

"Noted."

"Good." The athlete closes her eyes with a yawn. "I'm gonna catch up on some sleep."

"Didn't you say you slept in too late?"

"Don't argue with me." I, rather unrightfully, earn a soft punch in my stomach.

"Fine." I slip the old book of spells out if my pocket. I might as well get something out of this train ride.

   After doing a little bit of research with Twilight. I learned most these old spells are obsolete because the whole damn thing was written before the discovery of FFMFM. I tried to find more information on the books first author, but the only things I could find we're that she was publicly executed for a very vast array of crimes. There are still some good sections though, like synthetic bomb making and anything relating to my changeling traits, which Berry was kind enough to write in. Though I haven't looked too much into them until now.

  I flip to the near the back of the book where Berry wrote down the changeling spells and start trying to find something interesting. Fang creation and poison secretion were what Berry recommended so I guess my choice is obvious.

Poison secretion.

I wrote poison, but really this could be used for any liquid you want. However, in this line of work poisons would be the best. Changelings tend to be able to easily repurpose existing elements and compounds in their bodies into different versions of them for various purposes. Of course considering being a crossbreed waters down that effect, mixes are limited into that field even after one generation. So while a changeling can do it subconsciously, we need to use magic and different seals actively to do so. A rather simple version is liquid excretion through the pores in the body. As long as the needed elements exist in the surrounding area to the point of excretion, they can be reconfigured to different liquids. The problem is that the seal for this spell varies from substance to substance. The chemical structure of each compound will form the seal along with four arrows pointing away from it, so you may need to brush up on your chemistry for this. As one could expect though, the more complex the structure; the hard it is to maintain secretion.

Ok. I'm a little sad to admit that about 93% of my knowledge of chemical structures relates to 'less than legal' substances thanks to Uefi, but I guess I can just test it with water though. I decide and look down at my left hand. So just concentrate on the structure and pushing it out of my skin. I start to pump a steady stream of magic into the structure as the 'H's change to red and the single 'O' to a bright blue. It isn't but a moment later and my entire hand turns damp and water flows out of my along with a small amount of magic, but it's fairly neglect-able. That was easy enough. I stop the spell and skip through the book to the fang creation spell.

Just like chitin, fangs are nothing more than another part of changeling anatomy. As such the ability to temporarily grow a pair is a feature of crossbreeds. The process is similar to extending chitin coverage, but has a few differences. The first one is that it consumes a much larger amount of magic to activate, the second isn't a real requirement, but you may find it useful to change into your other set of eyes before you use them. Finally, you will need to coat a pair of teeth in changeling blood to activate the feature. You'll still have to go through the reconstruction process like with your eyes sadly.

"Well this isn't going to be fun." I sigh and remember having my eyes burned out of my skull. "And where am I supposed to get more blood anyways?"

P.S. If you find yourself in a bind for blood, you are part changeling yourself.

"Oh yeah." I stare down at my left hand and groan in annoyance. I guess I need to do it sometime or another and it's not like I have anything else to do.

   I slip and my hand into my pocket and pull out a small sewing kit I've started to keep with me considering how many times I've ripped my clothes messing around. I pull a needle out and replace the packet in my pocket and grab my pocket mirror. After setting the mirror aside, I take the needle and prick my left index finger quickly. I cringe involuntarily as a small bead of reddish-green blood protrudes from the small hole.

   I flip the makeup mirror open so I can see what I'm doing. Now that I think about it; why do I carry this thing around? It's not like I wear makeup. I dismiss the thought and open my mouth in a smile. Just don't think about the pain. I quickly rub the blood onto two of my pre-existing canine teeth on the upper row of teeth.

   No sooner than when I remove my finger, a dull throbbing assaults my gums, but this is nothing compared to my eyes. I watch tentatively as my two teeth dissolve into a fine red mist and the gums above were they were twitch.

   Two small shards of ice actually shoot out of my gums where the teeth once were and slowly grow into the shape of short fangs and the metallic taste of blood is the only thing in my mouth at that point. The cold ice slowly changes into something more similar to teeth rather than icicles. The whole process wasn't nearly as bad as my eyes, but that might just be from having been through it before.

   I take a moment to examine the teeth and manage to smile a little. While they aren't fangs yet, the pair is a little longer than their original counterparts, but still hold the same shape. Though before if you saw them you'd just dismiss it as my teeth being slightly pointed, but now it's very apparent that they're for tearing up meat. They sit equidistant from the center of the front row just like my human canines did. One surprising factor though, is that all of my other canine teeth, except the ones directly under the fresh set, have reverted to basic pony teeth. Looks like no more open mouth smiling for me.

"A little underwhelming. I was expecting to scream like a little girl." I speak freely considering Dash is snoring rather loudly and nopony else is here. "I guess I can try out growing them though."

   I switch to my changeling eyes as Berry instructed before focusing on trying to expand them just as I did with my carapace. I try slowly channel the magic to keep control, but the things are like lightning rods and far too quickly I lose any control I may have had over how fast it's being used. My right hand begins to bleed not even a second after I start.

"Shit." I mutter and block off the flow of magic as quickly as I can. "What the hell?"

   I flip the mirror back open and stare at my teeth, but nothing has changed. They're still just pointed teeth, nowhere near the title of fangs. Why did my magic get used then? I use a small shred of my remaining magic to switch back to pony eyes. Why wasn't it controllable?

~\o/~

   I wake up with a yawn when the train grinds to a halt. I glacé out the window at the clouds with a smile. I don't know how it worked, but I don't care. After my attempt had failed I just decided to sleep off the remaining pain rather than trying again. As far as I'm concerned, Berry can explain it later.

"Wake up Dash." I give the mare a pat on the head to break her slumber.

"Alright." She leans forward and grabs her package. "I guess we're here then?"

"Yeah."  I stand up smiling. Time for some midday theft. "So how long will it take you to get that delivered?"

"I don't know, maybe a half hour at most. Why?"

"I've gotta go grab some stuff from a friend's house so I wanted to know how long I had." I pull out the slip with the address of the safehouse. 8416 West Cumulus Street.

"Well try to be quick about it. The train back leaves in an hour and a half." We exit the train, but I'm stopped on the metal platform.

"Excuse me sir, but you need to get a cloud walking spell first." A brown officer advises me and I sigh.

"I used my own sir." I hop onto the plush clouds to prove a point.

   I'm exactly sure why, but I can walk on clouds easily. A feature I learned when Uefi flew me up to a cloud to drop me through it to see how it felt. I assume the mix of phoenix blood or changeling blood carried the trait over though.

"Very well."

"I don't remember you casting a spell." Dash inquires.

"I did it before you woke up." I keep my assets a secret. "Any idea where west Cumulus Street is?"

"About eight blocks that way." She points away. "I'll meet you back here in an hour. If you're not back by the time the train comes, I'm leaving."

"See you then." I start to walk off into the city in the clouds.

   Pictures from books don't really do the floating city justice. Ancient architect made of pure clouds meld seamlessly with more modern buildings which only have a thin layer of clouds around a metal frame. Metal frames started being used when this place became a tourist hub so that other races could walk in buildings without a spell because the metal worked for a floor. Apparently the northern half of the town already has metal under all of the streets so a cloud walking spell isn't even needed there.

   I kind of stand out considering more than 95% of the local population are pegasi, but I ignore it and just cuddle my scarf closer to my neck. Plenty of discrimination here.

   I have to admit it is weird to be in a city of this size and structure. That fact that so many clouds were able to be gathered and modified in such a way during early times is amazing. Although I wouldn't choose cloud flooring for my home. It's always feels like there's something tickling me and even now I'm a little afraid of falling through.

   I find Cumulus Street easily, but frankly it looks like the slum of this place. The clouds here actually have changed into much darker colours and I can detect the distinctive smells of fire and the oddly placable scent of a slum.

   I do my best to keep my head down and ignore the more piercing gazes of the inhabitants. It couldn't have been an upscale neighborhood. After finding the building, I take a moment to examine it for a good point of entry.

   A simple two story house with a few upstairs windows and a tastefully gratified front door. I nonchalantly sneak into the alleyway next to it before taking my scarf off. I tie a makeshift face over with it to help conceal my identity. Just in case. To my displeasure there isn't a back door to break in and it's not like I can just come in through the front. I guess there is that option.

   Blind teleporting isn't exactly the smartest thing someone can do. If you don't do it into an open spot, you have a 50/50 shot of severing a limb. Though at this point my options are limited and I do have one advantage, my shadow sonar. Theoretically speaking, if I use it and this is a full cloud building, I should be able to see and determine where furniture and other things are before using the teleport.

   I flip the spell on quickly and watch an artificial pulse of magic instantly rebound off the wall. Shit. Looks like another building with a metal skeleton. I guess I'm winging it then. I don't even think and teleport into the building.

"Perfect." I smile happily despite the fact that, if I had been two inches over, I would've lost a leg due it a kitchen table.

   As the neighborhood would suggest, this place is a complete dump. The only furniture in the place is actually the table that nearly fucked me over and a heavy layer of dust covers the floor and walls. It's always sad to see a place like this.

   I switch eyes and extend my plating for safety before moving an inch. I restart my sonar to check the walls and smile in relief when it picks up a long metal box on the next floor of the building.

"Well I don't mind if I do." I move a hoof forward and feel a wire snap instantly. Shit.

   I hear a small click and feel a bullet graze my cheek and fly into the wall behind me. Shit. I crouch instinctively and hear another two shots hit the wall behind me. Berry did say that it wasn't to just be a cakewalk. I take a moment to calm down and heal my wound before continuing on slowly.

   I make it out of the room without any problem before stopping to make sure there aren't anymore tripwires. I spot one by the front door, but I disregard it and keep moving towards the staircase at the far side of the room. The cloud flooring is annoying the bloody hell out of me when I make it halfway through the place, but now I know they the choose it.

"Fuck!" I watch a metal spike fly through my hoof and retract quickly. "Fucking pressure plate."

   I take a knee for a second, but instant regret the decision when another spike breaks through my knee promptly. I can't even see the past the clouds. I set my left hand next to my hoof just to have another spike fly up.

"Not this time." I grab the sharp surface with my armored hand and rip it from the floor.

   I use at least a sixth of my magic capacity to rebuild the bones and muscles in the wounds. I'm glad I spent those forty bits on a good medical book. Though I'd  rather not waste all of my magic on this. But there is one way I could do this... I teleport to the stairwell easily.

"I should've thought of that sooner."  I smile teleport past the tripwire on the next step just to be safe, even though my nose is dripping blood onto the cloud flooring. I'm definitely leaving traces of my presence this time.

   Nothing stops me from making it up to the second floor which thankfully is just a completely open room. I don't even think about looking of tripwires, but instead opt to create a secondary floor out of magic. Not very safe for a safehouse.

   I reach the far wall where the safe is supposed to be. I push the clouds out of the way and find the corner of a metal trunk. Managing to pull the case out, I curse at the combination padlock.

"At least I should be able to break this." I smile and start focusing some magic on the lock's hinge.

   It may take almost a quarter of my magic to use, but watching the bar explode in a small burst of magic is worth it. But what kind of thief protects their stuff with a shitty padlock? I dismiss the thought and open the trunk.

  It's rather small pickings to be honest. I love jewelry for some reason, but sadly the only thing in here is a stack of hundred bit bills. I pick it up and flip through the stack, but, despite the fact that there's a good five thousand bits here at least, I'd rather find something a bit cooler next time.

   After pocketing the cash, I heave the trunk back into its place in the wall and smile in relief. Like taking candy from a baby. I get bludgeoned in the back of my head and fall to cloud floor along with my shattering magic.

"What the hell?" A furred hand grabs my throat and flips me over promptly.

"Who the hell are you?" I blink in attempt to regain my vision.

   I manage to make out a thin white unicorn sitting on my chest with a foot long club in her other hand with some metal wrapped around one end. That explains what hit me. I stare back at her red eyes and notice her squirm a little as magical restraints tie me down.

"An' what are you?" She refocuses in an instant and pulls my scarf off. I better get busy talking.

"I'd guess in the same thing you are, a thief." I smile and watch the cloth fall to the floor slowly.

"Do you have anypony else working with you?"

"No."

"Good, I hope you're ready to pay for what you took." She levitates a small switchblade to my throat.

"Woah, woah, can't we talk this out?" I try to scoot back out of fear. This isn't fun anymore. "I-I'll give the money back."

"To late for that."

"Come on. What is killing me going to get you?" I feel the cold blade break the skin on my neck.

"Nothing, but nopony is going to miss a unicorn thief at the bottom of a lake. Not to mention you tried to take my stash." I try to teleport, but my mind is in too much chaos to focus on a spell. Come on, teleport. TELEPORT DAMNIT! I keep struggling as the blade moves deeper. I don't wanna die.

~\o/~

   My eyes shoot open in fear to view the dark black sky above me without a single star. What the hell? I stand up on the black earth and glance around at the black cherry trees.

"Just where the hell am I?" I realize something isn't right here.

"I don't know. Where do you think you are?" A chuckling changeling voice asks me.

"You?" I turn to the mare in the red dress. "Look, I'd love to talk, but I'm about to die if you didn't notice."

"Why do you think I brought you here?" She picks a cherry from the tree. "Don't worry, I already blocked off the blade's path, but you're still bleeding though."

"How did you block it off so quickly?"

"I don't have to play by your rules and use blood and whatnot. I can just make it happen if I need to, but for now you need to just listen to me. I can put plating anywhere but it will break easily so we have a couple of minutes at most."

"Then just tell me what to do!" I yell at her and she sighs.

"Don't worry; this won't even take a minute. Just let me finish with this cherry." She holds the small berry in her palm and a soft glow begins to surround it.

"What are you doing?"

"Well you should know by now that I'm the source of your changeling mutation. As such, I control when and where you mutate." The cherry suddenly changes to a deep violet hue. "So if you eat this which has my magic in it, you should be able to use your fangs."

"How does that even work? It's genetics, not some magic." I take the modified cherry regardless. However, I'm pretty sure this is just one of those near death illusions you get because your oxygen levels are dropping rapidly.

"Normally you'd be right, but you're a special case. I can link your genetics directly to magic to easily modify them through spells. Now eat that before the plating breaks."

I sigh and stare at the berry in my hand. "Will it work?"

"I haven't lied to you yet."

"I'll want an actual answer later."

"I'll give it to you then, but this is something you'll just have to accept for now."

"Fine. I'll go with it." I toss it in my mouth. It's not like I have a choice right now.

~\o/~

   I open my eyes again to see the white mare restraining me still trying to cut open my throat. Not today. My mind clears enough for my fangs to grow in. I channel more magic to my right hand and a blue flame actually burns away the magic, freeing the hand.

"What the hell?" She manages to say before I slap her across the face.

"Payback." I use my superior strength to toss her off of me and onto the floor.

   I don't skip a beat and pounce onto her prone body. Instinct tries to drive me and I find the switchblade at her throat in my magical grip. No. She tried to kill you. I'm better than that. Come on, think of who else she's killed and stolen from. She's filth. I'm not going to kill her for that. I still feel my conscious falter a little. You know you want to. Nopony is going to miss her anyways. Someone will. Trust your instinct, nopony will notice. Get the hell out of my head. Do it. I said no. Do it. No. Do it. NO!

   I toss the blade out the window to remove the temptation. I have my own plan. I feel my fangs slide deep into her neck. Time for a little injection. I write the chemical structure of cocaine in my mind and start excreting coke straight into her bloodstream. If she's anything like Uefi's ex-girlfriend and his old customers, this should calm her down quickly.

   I retract my fangs put of the wound after filling her with a fair dosage, but I doubt it's anything near an overdose. I get off and grab the scarf off the floor. I need to see if this works before I go. I activate the enchantment in my ring and merge into my surrounding seamlessly. With the scarf's enchantment feature, this should last for a good fifteen seconds, enough time for me to watch and see.

   I watch the unicorn flip over about ten seconds later, glassy eyed and mouth agape. She looks around for a moment, but I already know the drug is taking affect. Uefi had me learn a lot about this shit. One thing was how to know when somebody just shot some up.

   Not wanting to completely exhaust my ring, I grab her club from the floor, which fades into the scenery as well, and give her a quick love tap on the back of the head with it to knock her out. It's really not a bad weapon. I decloak and eye the simple thing. It's mine now. I decide and stick the metal end in my pocket.

   I glance back at the ivory female and sigh. I'm sorry, but I doubt your situation is worse than mine. I remember Scarlet's voice coming to me with the blade. No, mine is definitely worse. You don't have to fear yourself. I get chills just thinking about what I might've done.

"I need to leave now." I switch to business only mode, but then I notice a familiar bulge in my pants. "Why the hell do I get a boner from this?"

   I sigh and ignore the tent to repair my throat with what is nearing the last of magic whilst I stare idly at the fallen mare. She pretty really. Though I guess that doesn't matter considering I just made her an enemy. I decide and teleport back into the back alleyway from before and walk to the train station. There are better ways in this world to make six grand. Though I guess this is a much faster way. I smile despite the fact that something feels oddly bad about this situation.