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

by Requim

Rating: teen
Tags: Human, Anthro, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe
Length: 165821

Contains Anthromorphic ponies. So if you don't like them there's your warning. It was all simple. We did our work as high-school students and nothing more. Something went wrong though and now we're thieves working towards a free future

Contains Anthromorphic ponies. So if you don't like them there's your warning. It was all simple. We were just your average human male teenagers, stupid and without even a fleeting thought of the future. Now however, we're ponies and in debt to a criminal organization of no name. While the debt may be staggering, the hope of freedom from them is still strong for me and my future is something I want back. Will I ever get it back? Who knows, but I can try and that is good enough for me.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-12-19 05:03:12 UTC

Screaming At The World. 2

"Shit,shit,shit,shit,shit!" While I guess I should feel sorry for Uefi, since he is terrible with stress that isn't time related, but I still find how terribly he's adapting to be funny.

     As we walk in what I guess is Uefi is rolling incoherently on the floor and hitting his head on a nightstand on the wall opposite of me. In the far left corner is a bed and on the wall to the right of me is another door which I guess leads to a bathroom since there's a wardrobe next to it. I look over to Uefi who seems to have stopping rolling around and stopped to look at me and Luna. I notice that he has a cerulean fur, a short aqua coloured mane and tail and similar coloured eyes. Wait. What colour are my eyes,mane and tail anyway? Turing around I notice I have a longer ebony black mane and a tail of a similar colour. I'll have to find a mirror later. Then I notice something, he has fucking wings. No horn but he has wings. Hmm so can he fly? Flight or magic? Magic.

"WHO THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU TWO?" Oh yea, Uefi is still in shock. Now I will deal with him in the way accustomed to me.

"Uefi it's Quentin. NOW SHUT THE HELL UP!"  Luna gives me a look that seems to say What the fuck Quentin and Uefi stops and looks right at me.

"Quentin? You're Quentin?" And the prize for highest intelligence goes too..... anyone but Uefi.

"Is it that hard to believe or are you just stupid?" Well in hindsight I guess I was probably not the most recognizable person but if he thought clearly for a few moments he could've figured it out considering how smart we both like to think we both are.

"Holy shit it is you. What fucking happened to us and who is this woman?" While the term bitch might have fit better we both agree that using the term to describe women would be to disrespectful to them. What? We still have feelings. Don't mistake this for favoritism we will still be as hateful to people as we feel is appropriate based in their actions.

"First Uefi stand up." Time for some fun.

"Ok." 1..2..3 and down he goes onto the concrete. Fucking lol. Fucking lol. I burst out laughing and Luna hurries to conceal a smirk that already spread across her face.

"SON OF A BITCH! Damn you Quentin." Worth it, nothing but worth it.

"Sorry I just needed to see you try. Anyway, stop cussing you're offending the princess." Luna gives me appreciative look and Uefi gives a look that seems to say who the fuck is this princess well now to answer another question.

Pointing to Luna I say "Uefi let introduce you to Princess Luna of Equestria and the lady who sent us here." Luna gives a slight curtsy and Uefi proceeds to keep his stupid what the fuck face.

"Mare is the proper term, and you are Uefi then?"  So we're stallions then?

"At your service princess." Uefi lets sarcasm pour from his mouth.

Slightly tired of wasting time I decide to cut to the chase "As for why we're here and what exactly happened? I'm sure our princess here would like to tell us about those details."

"Yes I would actually but first Uefi needs to learn how walk." If this is some attempt at making me teach him it has failed miserably.

"Why do I need to know how to walk?"

"I don't like talking to stallions of your age when they can't even do such a basic task." Well someone is picky about her associates.

"Feel like helping me out since you seem to have figured it out Quentin?"

"Nope. I figured it out after three tries and woke up a whole 3 hours before you so if we're gonna be proportionate then you have about 53 attempts ahead of you. Oh and by the by,what colour are my eyes I've been wondering since I saw you?"

"I still don't get why you don't just say something more modern ,by the by, just doesn't seem to fit with modern context Quentin." I still don't see why you care Uefi I just prefer it to other equivalent statements.

Luna who was smirking at my denial of helping him, spoke up to say "They're the same as your mane and tail, which I have to say either matches the rest of your colours perfectly or it's just scary."

"Thanks for the confidence Luna now lets leave Uefi to himself for a bit while he figures out how to use his hooves."

"Yea I have a few things to ask you about anyway." hmmm???

   Luna and I proceeded back into the living to the sound of Uefi's grunts of pain and his continuous falls onto the floor. I sit down on the couch along the wall with Luna sitting on the couch across from me. Still no damn cupcakes. Well either way I guess Luna takes prominence over cupcakes right now. But not by much and only momentarily. Cupcakes are fucking awesome.

"So Luna what is it you wanted to talk with me about?" I have a idea of what she's going to ask but I'd rather be sure.

"I'm wondering why you're so calm. Someone in your position should be acting like Uefi was before you talked to him. Isn't this scary to you?" She says giving me one of the weirdest concerned looks I've ever seen.

"Well I guess panic set in for Uefi and then he thought about the reality before he saw his fur and such so it kind of piled up and became to much. As for me, I saw my fur and hooves before it set in and was able to adjust."

"And what is the reality of your situation?"

Allowing a few tears to flow I say "I'm in a different universe and a different body that according to you is of a sync far off from my original so I probably can't return to it and because of that I won't be seeing anyone I knew from before again except Uefi, but then again it's not like I have much of a care for it from what I've seen this is some sort of home and I'm going to guess you don't live here and though the other door is another bedroom so accommodations have been made for Uefi and I to live so I can guess this place is a much nicer place than earth."

"This explains why your mind was so close to the frequency of the place rather than your old one."

"So I'm going to guess that I was right?" Nailed it™

"Yes quite. And you're sure you're fine with this?" Why the hell not?

"Why wouldn't I be? I get to start over in a new place as a magical unicorn guy whom in my opinion has a badass colour scheme and I'm going to guess I'm still the age I was prior so I haven't lost any progress and on a smaller degree I got my Friday back based on that calendar." I say pointing to the calendar besides me.

"And how do you think Uefi will feel?" She says chuckling slightly at the Friday comment. So now we're getting to the real situation are we? Ok then.

"He'll be shock for a few minutes, then he'll go into slight denial, come out of it and notice he had wings, we'll have a long drawn out debate over wether flying is more badass or if magic is, another one over who's colours are better and then from there I have no idea. The rest depends on what you have to say to us."

"Yes I guess it does." She says looking slightly more relieved. **I'M A FUCKIN' MIRACLE WORKER PRAISE ME!* To dramatic? Yea probably.*

Then I notice something I don't think she picked up on yet or just hasn't made any notice of having noticed. Uefi isn't groaning or making funny concrete face-plant sounds.

"So ready to tell us why we're here Luna since Uefi will be joining us shortly?"

"Yes quite." She says as Uefi walks though the doorway.

"Take a seat next to me or on the princess' lap Uefi it's story time."

"I'm afraid he'll have to sit next to you Quentin, I'm not fond of having stallions sit on my lap." Fucking liar. She just doesn't like ones she doesn't know well doing it. Or is she telling the truth? GOSSIP TIME!

"Shit I was gonna sit on mommy's lap and listen to my story. Oh well Quentin move your damn feet."

"Fuck you too, and gladly."

Screaming Into The Darkness. 3

     Uefi proceeded to sit down next to me as Luna went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Wait. Is that glass fucking floating? I think as I see Luna walk back in with a glass floating next to her covered in a dark purple glow...So is that unicorn magic? Well her horn is also glowing dark purple. Yep magic. Then again I guess I should ask.

"I'm going to guess that is unicorn magic then?" I ask as she sits down and the glass levitates beside her.

"Yes it is. Though it is just basic levitation it's one of the spells most used by unicorns. There are spells for many other things such as invisibly,fireworks,gem finding and other things that are for other specialized purposes." Stealthy magic hmmm? That I'll need to learn.

"I'm going to assume I can't use magic since I don't have a horn?" Now I feel bad for Uefi, we're talking about our magical horn shit and he doesn't have one.

"Yes and no. As a Pegasus you walk on clouds at will, but you can't use any other magical things and obviously you can fly." So he can fly and I can use magic? Fun fun fun.

"And you can do both?" Uefi says taking a new interest in the whole I can fly and shit thing.

"Yes I am of a small group of ponies who have wings and a horn. We are know as alicorns and are usually high class royalty."

"So are there some people who have neither?" I decide to ask since we're talking about races.

"First everyone here is a pony so use the term everypony instead of everyone and yes there are some ponies who don't have wings or a horn." So...we're ponies?

"So we used pony or ponies where we would usually use person or people?" Uefi says beating me to the question

"Correct but I believe I was going to tell you about why your here, wasn't I?" Time for her to fill in some very annoying gaps in the story.

"Yes you were Luna, Quentin and I would love to know why you dragged us into a completely different universe and entirely new bodies." And now I let Luna speak and Uefi ask the questions.

"Well as You both might've guessed you are both in the land of Equestria. Most of the residents are ponies those being unicorns,pegasi,earth ponies and alicorns the other residents are griffons,diamond dogs and some dragons."Dragons hmm? Like with fire and wings? I think I might shit myself if I see one..

"My sister, celestia, controls the sun and I control the moon." Wait. They control the fucking sun and moon?!? *THE BLOODY HELL?** That's something you might want to mention when you meet someone. You know what I mean, something like "Hi I'm Luna and I control the fucking moon so don't piss me off." You know something that warns you.*

"YOU CONTROL THE FUCKING MOON?" Thank you for speaking for me Uefi.

"Yes and as for my explanation it flows over into how you got here." Well Luna you have have my attention.

"Well you'll have to understand that there are multiple universes and each universe has a set of deities. My sister, me, Discord, who is a deity over chaos, and a few others you shouldn't concern yourself with. Each universe and it's inhabitants are also aligned to a set wavelength as we have decided to name it. Each mind and body in a universe are synced with it within a close degree. However you two have wavelengths that were extremely off from the ones of your old bodies and universe. Now I know that most of the beings in each universe have theories about parallel universes, these are wrong. Each universe has some similarities but are for the post part entirely different with different people. Your wavelengths were at a level that was highly warped from the one of your world. Because of this your deities and the ones of of this universe decided that we would move the two of you once we moved one of your wavelengths close enough for the shift and let your new bodies finish the sync and then I would help you adjust. This was done as you slept because that is when you're wavelengths are the most free from outside influence and it is also when you're the most attentive to your surroundings. We could have done this at the beginning of the week since Quentin needed almost no sync time but he was so close he couldn't make out my voice because of the sound amplification from the highly similar wavelengths. This so also why he adjusted to his body and movements faster than you did Uefi. As for what is going to happen to you, you two are going to live here in the ever free forest near the edge and attend your schooling at the ponyville high school and from there the rest of your lives here."

     While usually if someone, or I guess somepony, told me this I would call bullshit, but considering that has happened and the nature of her story I guess I should believe her. While I could ask questions that have haunted humanity for what seems, like forever like "how did we get here?" and "what god is right?" but I really don't give a damn about it. I'll leave those questions to the philosophers and scientists.

"So we're going to live here alone after you've adjusted us properly?" I say deciding to speak up.

"Yes and for the most part you're adjusted I'm just going to install some basic things for your conditions. First is cutie marks. Each pony has a thing called a cutie mark which identifies their special talent. Each of you already has yours because you both already found it but just didn't have anything to show that you did. So I'm going to tell you what they are and I will copy over some basic magic to you Quentin and knowledge of flight to you Uefi." So I have a mark on me telling me what I'm best at? Sweet? But where is it?

"Quentin yours is of a hidden wrist stiletto and coin bag against a horizontal long black eye (author note: think of the eye in skyrim when you're detected while sneaking) and another eye same as the first but vertical that is centered with the first. It symbolizes your talent is, and this is why your colours are a little scary, stealth,thievery and assassination." So the thing I'm best at is being undetected, thievery and killing people stealthily? Badass.

"And there goes my shit, I'm going to be living with a guy who is some sort of stealthy killing thief bastard!?" You jelly?

"You're not the only one a little disturbed Uefi, I knew I was good at being quiet, sneaking past people and stalking animals but the whole thief and assassin thing scares me a little too."

"Yea, but still I'll be living with you when you could easily kill me or worse, take my Hershey kisses." Once again he values his Hershey kisses more than his life.

"You know I don't like candy, besides there's probably not any Hershey kisses here." Oh shit. I've doomed us all. Uefi immediately panicked and began to cry as his cruel own cruel Hershey-less reality set in.

"NO FUCKING HERSHEY KISSES, WHAT KIND OF WORLD IS THIS?"

"Actually Uefi Hershey products are one of the inter dimensional similarities between all universes." Oh thank Luna, what she said she is a deity, there's Hershey products here. Uefi would've killed us all on his misery and hatred fueled rampage.

"So anyway what you're saying Luna is that the things I'm best at are any actions involving stealth as their core?"

"Yes quite, while thievery isn't too uncommon I haven't seen a assassination cutie mark in a few thousand years let alone a pony whose special talent involves stealth of most any form." Again. Badass.

"Well Luna what's mine? Not to be disrespectful Quentin but I'd also like to know what I'm badass at doing." Yea he's jelly. Uefi said deciding that talk of assassination and shit could happen later and that he probably felt left out.

"Yes, yours is of four feathers pointing downward with a few clouds behind them. While this being slightly cryptic it shows that your talent is high speed evasive maneuvering."Well that explains a lot. It makes sense actually. If you've seen Uefi walk though a crowd you'd agree with me. I would look across when I'm only a quarter of the way though a crowd and see Uefi on the other end waiting for me to cross.

"Well Uefi what do you think?" I say trying to gauge his reaction.

"Well while mine may not be as broad of a spectrum as yours, yours only has one aspect that is legal under common conditions. Mine ,however, can be used under almost all circumstances and will help with normal actions so I think I beat you Quentin." Damn it. He's right. While I still favor mine he is right, the only part of mine I can use is the basic sneaking, even then might be kinda creepy, while he can use his in almost anywhere at anytime. But what is Luna's?

"So what is yours Luna?" Thank you Uefi.

"Well as my name and profession may imply my special talent is moving the moon." Well I guess we should've seen that coming. Uefi and I seem to think simultaneously looking over at each other.

"Now, before I give you some basic magic knowledge Quentin and Uefi your basic flight knowledge do either of you have any questions?" Oh no. How could we have any questions at all. OF CORSE WE DO! Really how couldn't we?

"Well first, since we don't have any legal guardians here how can we attend high school while living on our own unattended? Wouldn't that cause some form of legal issue or problem with money for schooling?" I say starting off with a simple question.

"In Equestria you only need to have a guardian for the first years of schooling being the age you are now makes you allegeable to live on your own as long as there's another pony living with you, though he or she doesn't need to be a guardian they just need to be somepony to help keep the both of you in check. As for money, except for clothing, supplies and unnecessary commodities, schooling is provided by the nation." While I fail to see how this system hasn't collapsed I'm just gonna go along with it since its helping us out.

"And this actually works?" Uefi says apparently picking up and the bullshit system while Luna gives him a quizzical look.

"Why wouldn't it? Where you are from it may not make sense but that's most likely because your world's deity is just an ass if I may be blunt." While this response doesn't satisfy me more does it seem to satisfy we both seemed to decide to go along with it and move on to the next question.

"As for the second question, how are we going to pay for electricity,water and heating of we don't have any money or jobs currently?" Uefi says actually thinking of something I didn't question about myself.

"This might make me seem like a bad pony, but I added a few additions to a home in ponyville's pluming,heating and electric systems without their knowing and connected them to here." Wait...She did what? The princess stole? How unbecoming of her.

"Don't you think they'll notice when their bills rise though?" I ask sensing another bullshit answer on the horizon.

"Considering that the home is actually a mansion and costs an amount each month that's already obscure I doubt anyone will notice the added cost. Yea, no one will notice....

"3rd,  besides our current ones we don't have any clothes, food or other items. Any ideas as to how to get some?" I ask worried as to  how we're going to get food and hygiene items.

"Well you're going to have to find jobs to pay for your food,clothes,supplies and whatnot but I took some bits ,which are the equestrian currency and equal to the value of your money just about, to give to you to get some things to keep you going until you get jobs." Well that was nice of her to give us some money ,or I guess "bits", to start us off with.

"How many "bits" are we talking about Luna?" Damn it Uefi. Now we seem greedy.

"Somewhere around 5000 so you can get other clothes and a few recreational items if you choose." Well that was very nice of her. In reality we didn't need that much probably but still it was very nice of her.

"Thank you, fourth question, how long is it until the school resumes?" I ask wondering how long I have before any form work begins.

"It will resume on the Tuesday of next week however there is a meeting for your group of students tomorrow to let people reacquaint, receive schedules and be briefed on how it will be working this year."

"Damn it Uefi we lost our Friday again." I say realizing the rest of this day would be preparation for the following.

"Fuck. Oh sorry princess. Just a little pissed." Uefi says remembering what the princess had said about profanity.

"Yes, well do you have anymore questions?"

"Yes, finally where are our cutie marks?" Well?

"To be honest they are on your outer thigh or in this terminology "flank". The fucking thing is on my ass? Well at least nopony will see it and ask about it.

"Is there any way we can get something to show e image of it? Like a necklace or something?" Uefi asks seeming to want to show off his talent without looking unbecoming.

"Yes there are companies that make jewelry and such for it, but I figured as a final welcoming present I'd get you both one. You'll find them in your rooms when I leave and if you're going to ask whose room is whose just check the pendants." Once again I gain a dumbfounded look at her generosity. Are all the people here this nice?

"Well I don't have any more questions do you Uefi?" I say deciding I was satisfied for now.

"Nope."

"We'll then I'll give you both your knowledge of magic and flight along with some basic cultural concepts and be on my way." Luna says while here horn begins to glow.

Then my world goes dark. REALLY? HOW MANY TIMES IS THIS GOING HAPPEN IN 7 HOURS?

Screaming Within My Soul. 4

Fuck. Well I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore to put it in terms I find overused. I open my eyes to find I'm on some sort of weird world. There isn't any real floor so much as its like I'm standing on some sort of black water. It's solid but it still ripples when I put my hands on it to get up. There are wide pillars spread  out along the surface each one at least 20 meters or higher from the surface. The sky that is trenching around is black but there is still a dark blue tinted light reflecting off the pillars to the water. From my peripheral vision I see a black winged and horn silhouette on the pillar to the right of me and another silhouette but this one seemed to have a feline tail and ears without a horn or wings. Both about 30 or 40 meters away in either direction. Wait two of them?

"Luna did anyone ever tell you it's bad social skills to teleport people without their consent or at least telling them?" I ask hoping whichever one is her can hear me.

   To my surprise though Luna jumps down from the pillar next to me on my right only a few meters away. Then who are the other two?

"Yes, but its much less fun when they don't get surprised." Luna says while standing up.

"Where are we anyway and where is Uefi?" I ask noticing he isn't here.

"Well right now we are actually within your soul. You see, unicorn magic isn't just something I can unlock for you like I can for Uefi's flying. Most unicorns learn magic in kindergarten by slowly channeling power into their horns, but since you aren't a unicorn by nature this doesn't come naturally to you like it does with other unicorns. Thus you have to be taught what magic really is to channel it. That's why we're inside your soul." Luna says as I proceed to try and understand how this works. So I'm inside my own soul? And I have to learn magic in the most unrefined way? Fuck....

"So where is Uefi?" I ask walking over to a pillar behind me and leaning against it.

"Uefi is currently asleep while I teach you. Since his can be unlocked instantly I figured I'd let him sleep while I taught you." Damn lucky bastard.

"How exactly am I in my soul and how are you here for that matter?"

"Well as a deity I can move in and out of people's minds as I wish and I wouldn't suggest trying to figure out how you got here. The great scholar and magical genius Star Swirl The Bearded tried to figure it out and ended up insane in his later years ranting about conjuring and soul splits of some sort, since then all knowledge of the subject has been kept only in my sister's and mine personal collection of books, since the ability comes natural to unicorns we felt it didn't matter if they didn't understand the concept of where exactly it came from." I wonder if they ever figured out what exactly happened to him.

"What happened to Star Swirl after he went insane?" I ask wondering what they did to him.

"We initially tried to rehabilitate him but when that failed we put him in a cell in the crystal caverns under Canterlot. I went down to check on him one day and found him to have finally died."

"His life got crappy quick. Huh?"

"That's one way to put it yes." She says looking a little offended. Damn poor guy...

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MEANWHILE IN THE MIND OF UEFI BYOSE.

"Hehe...that's racist."

***********************************************************************************************

"So you're going to teach me how to use magic from the source of it and then we're done?

"Yes, the first thing you need to know is that magic is not a bodily attribute of unicorns. The only reason unicorns can use it is because the horn acts as a way to help focus it and unicorns are the only ponies who actually have the inborn ability to focus it. Earth ponies and pegasi used to beagle to preform spells but the affects of them were unpredictable so they stopped trying to sat them pitot concern for their safety. While they still have what is needed for magic they can't preform it because the time since they used to has been so long their body can't channel it in any way so they don't even know they have it nor can they use it anyway." Damn now I feel bad for Uefi....

"So what is the source of magic?"

"The source of magic is the soul of the caster, this is why it is affected by your emotional status. When magic is preformed the caster focuses their soul into energy and focuses the energy to whatever form of seal is associated with the spell.."

"Ok, but a few questions, if magic is drawn from the soul why did you say they get physically exhausted from using it?"

"Mind you this is only for complex spells, when the horn is focusing magic the body is put under a small strain, this being unnoticeable with most spells because the strain is nullified because the body is accustomed to it from constant use."

"Ok. Why is magic affected by my emotions?" I say thinking I knew why but felt like confirmation would be needed.

"Well since magic is focused from your soul if your soul is filled with fear, sadness, pain or other negative emotions the souls energy is disrupted and the focus is lost or isn't as sharp. However if your soul is filled with determination and strong purpose the soul will focus more energetically and your spells will become easier to cast and will have more power." So my emotions can either kill or maximize my magic? Scary...

"And you mentioned seals? What are those exactly?"

"You see most spells have a form of symbol associated with them. You envision the seal over the object in question and focus your magic into the seal. The seal within your mind will then glow in areas as magic is pumped into it, theses spells are generally harder to use since the seal needs to be memorized by the mind to be used at all and eventually by the soul for them to be used quickly and without having to visualize and pump magic into the seal, however both of these still cost magic the difference is that when the soul memorizes them they can be preformed near instantly, the seal doesn't need to be visualized and slightly less magic is used as well." She say gesturing to a boulder next to the pillar she fell from.

"And what would that be?" I ask walking over in front of it.

   There wasn't anything particular about it. All it was was a boulder with the left half a scarlet color and the right half a sapphire color.

"This is a representation of how much magic your soul has memorized. As it learns a spell the seal for the spell will engrave itself in the stone and with time it will expand the stone to hold more seals." Umm....Ok? I think as anime thoughts slim into my mind.

"Luna, while all of this is fine and well, can I learn some casting now?" I ask starting to be less amused by my host. Or am I her host since she's in my soul?

"Yes, we will start with a basic spell, illumination. This will teach you how to focus your soul energy without having to worry about and objects or seals. First I want you simply to try and focus your magic into the tip or your horn. While I don't expect you to succeed on your first try I want to gauge you. So simply try for me." *Clap. Clap.* Great job teaching me Ms.Luna. I think the correct analogy for this would be asking a 6 year old to divide fractions without telling them how. But regardless I guess I'll just try to focus my magic?

"Ok then so I just--" I say as I start what I guess is focus my magic into my horn. As Luna sits down on the boulder seeming to decide she didn't like walking around on my souls water floor. I don't see why. The floor is actually pretty nice in my opinion.

   As I begin to do what I think is focusing my magic into the tip of my horn and close my eyes. I hear a few storks and then Luna letting out a slight gasp. As I open my eyes I see my horn is covered in a scarlet light akin to that of the left side stone and the rings on my horn are glowing a sapphire color like that of the right side of the stone and a ebony ball has formed near the tip of it about the size of a volleyball. I guess this spell isn't to exhausting since I don't even feel a strain on my mind or body so my magic regeneration must be equal to or greater than the absorption rate or the spell. The strange thing is is that there isn't any light being produced from it.

"So I got it wrong I guess?" I ask wondering why there isn't any light being produced.

"No you didn't get it wrong it's definitely a light spell and in truth I didn't expect it to work on your first try. But I still don't get why it isn't working. Is it straining you? A ball of that size should be draining you at a medium rate since you're new to magic."

"No it feels fine, but do you have any idea why it's not producing light?" I ask still bewildered at why no light is coming off of my orb.

"I can only guess its a attribute of your soul. You see within your soul some spells may not work because of the attributes defining them. Your soul is very dark so most light is nullified by it so I can only guess that why your spell isn't working." So my soul likes darkness? I guess it's like that because of my cutie mark. I think as I stop holding the light spell and the glows in my horn recede.

"Also, why is the glow of my magic multicolored but yours was a singular shade of purple?"

"Oh yes.....W-Well you see your magics color is dependent on your souls attributes. Since yours is split up its divided into two colors." She's lying, did she really think she could trick a guy whose talent involves deceit? No of corse she doesn't, but I doubt I can get a answer out of her, I'll just go along with it for now...

"So what the next spell for me to try?" I ask as Luna gets a relieved look.

"Oh yes, next lets try levitation." She says taking off her necklace.

"Ok so what do I do?"

"Simple" she says holding her hand out with the necklace in it. "Focus your magic again while thinking of a simple dot in your mind." Seems simple enough.

   I begin to focus my magic and think of a dot it my mind that begins to glow scarlet and the necklace glows scarlet with sapphire waves going though it. It rises out of her hand as I tell it in my mind to rise, but I still don't feel any strain. I tell it to re-latch around her neck and it does as I say. Once I drop the spell a small dot engraves itself into the scarlet side of the boulder. So that's what happens when the soul learns a spell? Is it always this fast? I wouldn't think so.

"So my soul now knows the spell?"

"Yes, although only simple spells such levitation will be this fast at being memorized within the soul. As for your next spell I want you to condense your magic into a solid object. This is similar to the light spell but you must picture a square in your mind and pump magic into it while thinking of where you want it and what you want it to be. This spell should also be memorized near instantly." Seems simple enough.

   Once again my horn glows scarlet and the rings in it sapphire as I focus my magic into it. I picture a square in front of me but rather than being filled with a scarlet glow it starts to glow sapphire. I see a sapphire outline of a rectangular prism slightly taller than my pony body appears in front of me. Thinking of it now, how tall is this body? Slowly magic beings to fill the empty space with more sapphire magic. I walk up to it and tap on the surface it stays solid but a little scarlet ripple stems from where I touched it. Like the floor here it resists me trying to break it but still ripples.

"You can stop now of you want to since I guess this is putting a strain on you." While I can feel a little bit of strain the drain ratio is still in my favor by about 3-1.

   Regardless I drop the spell. As I do the prism fades away and a square is engraved into the sapphire side of the boulder. So they're color coded for me?

"Are these things color coded or something?" I ask hoping Luna can shed some light on this.

"What do you mean "color coded"?"

"For levitation which appeared on the scarlet side the dot glowed scarlet and for the condensing it glowed sapphire and appeared on the sapphire side of the stone."

"O-Oh well yes since you magic has different colors they'll just go to one side of the stone or another, you see." She really sucks at lying.

"Anyway, those are the only spells you should require first off. The rest you will have to learn though books to learn the seals and how they need to be focused in the world around you for them to work. However, these spells are meant to be simple so the seals are minimal. Other spells you will learn if you want to use advanced magic will require much more complex seals and focus."

"Ok. Also any chance I could read some of star swirls notes on this?" I say putting on my best poker face so she won't see I'm begging. Come on I wanna read what made him crazy.......

"Sorry but even though you know more about this than most people those still hold knowledge you shouldn't have." Damn it.

"Anyway I'm going to leave here and I'll pull you back out in a few minutes after I leave."

"Wait a second, one more question. Who are those people to on the far left and right pillars." I ask wondering since they weren't her and hadn't moved. As Luna gets a hides quick look of anxiety.

"O-o-oh those are just probably part of the scenery. Hehe...." She has to know how bad she is at this...but I best not pry into the mind of a goddess. I should be able to bring myself back here anyway I think.

"Oh ok. So you were leaving?"

"Yes, I'll pull you though in a few minutes. Just wait for me once I'm gone."

   Luna then turns away from me and begins to charge her horn. Returning to an old habit of mine I place my open hand behind her head only a few inches away with my wrist and fingers slightly more outward than the palm. She the disappears and I then drop my arm back.

"And she would've been dead." I say as I take a seating the floor. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, I just tend to do that when peo-PONIES and dropped their guard too much. Nothing personal to anypony I just like to when I could've killed somepony without their knowing.

"Yes, she would've been." And now for a response natural to me.

"AND JUST WHO THE HELL ER YOU!"

"Ugg...why does he have to be so loud? It's annoying..."

"Yes but he is ours Safaiafenikkusu."

"Yes, just as we our his Hitsuki."

"WOULD EITHER MIND TELLING WHO THE HELL YOU TWO ARE?" I yell trying to figure out where they are.

"You'll know soon enough. It's not like we're going anywhere." I hear the one called "Hitsuki" say. Then I notice the two figures from the opposite pillars start to walk away in my peripheral vision.

"Just who the hell were they? I say trying to figure out what exactly just happened. Luna would just bullshit me so its not use asking. Besides that Hitsuki one said I would find out soon. And they said they weren't going anywhere, but that also means I'm stuck with them. And what did she mean I am theirs and they are mine? I guess it's just another thing time will have to show me...

***********************************************************************************************

BACK TO LUNA

"I hope he doesn't inquire more about those two. These things are too dark for ponies. Star swirl went insane from his and that was only one AND he was a genius. I can only imagine what two would do to him. I just hope they don't talk to him or else this could become terrible for us all."

***********************************************************************************************

"SHIT WHY IS IT ALWAYS A BLACK VOID!

The Book Of Sreaming. 5

As I regain consciousness  I see Luna still sitting across from me with her horn glowing. I turn to see Uefi just waking up flexing his wings slightly. Wait..if these are human clothes how are his wings and our tails still sticking out? I'm just gonna go with magic, I'm done with questions. They're just annoying to ask.

"So can you use magic now Quentin?" Uefi asks flexing his wings a few time seeming to have gotten a handle on them.

"Yea not much but a few basic spells the rest I'll have to learn from some books. What about you, can you fly?"

"Yea I have some control over my wings now and flight knowledge floating around in my head. Thanks Luna." Uefi says getting a grateful nod from Luna. Damnit he beat me to it, oh well I guess.

"Your welcome and Quentin there is a bookshelf with some spell books on it in your room, but I would suggest you test the more complex ones upside for safety." Luna says once again slightly surprising me with her generosity.

"Thank you. So what else do we have to discuss?" I ask not being able to think of what is left for us to discuss.

"We'll there isn't much left to discuss, all that remains is for you two to choose your names, which I'm going to leave up to you after I leave, just keep in mind that the names of most ponies have something to do with their talent or color pattern." So their names are like puns or something? How do they know before birth?

"So anything else then if your leaving it to us?" Uefi asked seeming to feel left out.

"No not really. I'm just going to restart time, drink my water and go." Oh well ok that seems norma-Did she just try to causally say restart time?! *The fucking hell?***

"RESTART TIME?" Uefi says taking the words from my mind to the air.

"Oh yes, I guess I should've mentioned that. You see at 9:42 p.m. or 21:42, whichever one makes you happy, I stopped time here in Equestria so we would be able to get both of you adjusted and ,in the event it took awhile, so the ponies wouldn't be wondering where one of their princesses went." Luna says remaining indifferent to our were we just fucked with? faces.

"You know what? No. Just no. I am not going to ask. You're a deity,I'm a mortal and I'm not going to ask why the universe just ate it's own foot and grew a panda where it used to be. So is that it?" Uefi says simplifying my situation a great deal.

"Ok then. As I said I'm going to drink my water after I restart time and go." Wait....she hasn't drank any of that water yet.

"Yes, speaking of that why haven't you drank any yet." I ask being slightly curious of this.

"Well to keep dimensional balance nopony can know of your background beyond what I created. In this water is a drug that will destroy my memories of this event and maybe the rest of the night afterwards." She says picking up her water. So after she drinks that we really are on our own? Well there's two ways I can feel. Rational scared or irrationally happy. Yeah going with happy. Happy,happy,happy,happy,happy.

   Luna's horn begins to glow and then I look to to see the clock turn back to 9:42 and then starts moving in the correct direction again. Luna then stands up.

"We'll I'm going to go now, remember to choose your names. Bye!" Luna says with a poof. Uefi and I then look over to each other dumbfounded.

"So how much of this do you believe anyway?" Uefi asks me seeming to be thinking the same thing I am.

"Well, at first I thought you drugged my cupcakes...but after all of this I can't bring myself to remain with that. I guess you could say I really do believe what she said. It's like you said, you can now control your wins and I can do some magic. I doubt a drug induced trance would go that far. So wanna go check the place out and go get some stuff?" I say standing up still feeling a little awkward on hooves.

"Yea I guess we better do it tonight while we won't attract too much attention. Lets check our rooms and go." He says standing up and walking over to the room he woke up in as I went across to the other one.

   I walk in and see a room with most of the same commodities as Uefi's with a bed in the far left corner with a wardrobe in the far right, a door to what I guess would be a restroom and a book shelf to my right. I noticed a black box on top of the wardrobe and walked over to it. It had a small latch on the front of it with some kind of engraving on the top and sides of it. Well at least it's not some overwhelming gold lacing shit. Just a nice simple black box and simple carving.

   I open the box and see the necklace. It has a simple unadjustable small link black chain with my, omg am I really gonna say it?, cutie mark..... with a silver outline on the eyes,coin bag and stiletto and black background. Nice and symmetrical. Putting it on I notice that rather than having a circle  larger than the links it has a smaller one that connects to just a single link rather than the whole thing. Good, it's stationary. I guess I should go see if Uefi is done.

   As I turn around I decide to grab a book in case I get some time to read. I walk over to the bookshelf and see a small notebook like book and grab it. "Stealth linked spells. A guide for stealth spells from the basics to the master level spells. Property of the canterlot royal archives, *for use by princess Luna and princess Celestia only!*" Umm? Did she mean to give this too me? Was it a mistake?.... As if I care. ALL THE SPELLS ARE MINES! But how is it containing every spell of stealth with its only a few centimeters thick, about 15 centimeters tall and about 10 centimeters wide?  Thin pages?

   As I walk back into the main room sticking the book into my pocket. Damn I hope I don't get caught with this on me... I see Uefi siting on the couch that isn't against the wall.

"We'll I see you like your necklace." He says as he looks over to me. I notice he isn't wearing his.

"Yea. What you didn't like yours?" I ask as he stands up.

"As a necklace? No, I wouldn't of, but since mine is actually a bracelet I like it." He says holing up his arm. His, unlike mine, is coloured beyond black and gray. With a slightly larger link chain with a rainbow colour. His cutie mark on it has a cerulean background just slightly lighter that his fur with the white clouds and rainbow feathers. Not what I would wear but nice.

"Nice. So you ready? Something tells me it's gonna be weird." I say walking over to the ladder.

"Yea thinking the same thing. Also, any thoughts on your name?" Damnit.

"Damnit forgot you have any idea?"

"Yea since its supposed to be affiliated with yourself I'm gonna go with Cloudbreaker." Nice. Close enough I guess. Hmm...what for me?

"Nice. I'll go by Still Sonata."

"No comment." Damnit Uefi you know I suck at this kind of thing.

"You have a better one?"

"No."

"Well then let's go. Also I guess we shouldn't call each other by our given names unless we're alone"

"Yea lets go."

   I begin to climb the ladder to get up with Uefi behind me. As we got out be looked to the lights off in the distance. Something tells me a long night is heading our way.

***********************************************************************************************

On Luna's end.

   Luna threw the glass of water off of the balcony looking down onto the everfree forest from the canterlot castle. I can't let this go for now. His soul and magic are too tuned for these conditions. He has two of them and he is still is sync with his soul extremely well. With his cutie mark and soul I can't let it go on without me watching. She thought as she turned away from the edge. I hope he finds those two books I left when I teleported back. While it may not be smart to give him every stealth spell and Starswirl's notes I hope it will help him cope with or keep away from them. I just hope they didn't say anything to him when I left him alone in his soul for those few moments. I'll just have to see how it turns out, for better or worse.

Screaming With A Drunk. 6

"Hey have you noticed something about this box." Uefi says as I walk out of it.

"No, why?" I ask turning around.

"Well is it just me or do we live in a fucking T.A.R.D.I.S?" Turning around I see what he means.

   Turning around I see a blue box looking almost completely identical to the actual thing. The only difference is that instead of it saying "police public call box" it says "royal guard public letter box". Well and it's covered in mostly vines and other overgrowth. Why do I feel Luna is just a troll?

"We aren't gonna question it, right? I ask Uefi.

"Nope. Lets go." He says turning back around.

"Yea, lets." I say turning around putting my hands in my pockets.

   As I put my hands in I find my things are still in them. One pencil, a pen, that book, two pepper mints,wait...I hate pepper mints, and some sort of other things. Taking out them I see that they are the cause of my shame. Why did I buy and make these? In my hand are my two ear pieces I bought actually thinking they would work and the two watches I affixed the microphones too. Why am I shamed by these? Because I bought them at the request of Uefi who thought they would work and sadly he was half right the ear pieces worked and received from a ok range but the microphones didn't pick up sound worth a crap. After fifteen Internet searches, a trip to radio shack, 3 hours and three cups of tea the microphones where attached to the watches, push button activated and the range was upped to about 1.5 km more than before to about 2 km of range. My shame is that these things are like something a movie would have.

"Hey Uefi take yours in case we need to split up." I say handing him his gold plated watch. Why did he pay to gold plate that thing anyway? Him and his aesthetics.

"What you still have those? Huh. Didn't think we'd keep anything." He said grabbing his set and putting them on.

"Yea I know." I said putting mine on. And taking out the book seeing that it was a full moon and the town was still a good 2km away.

"Where did you get that?" Uefi asked looking over to me.

"It was on the shelf back in my room. Why?"

"I was just wondering since I didn't see a title or author on the front of it."

"It's just a book of stealth spells." I say opening the book again. Yea thin pages.

Chapter 1:Spells of sound. Spell One:Voice localizing. This spells purpose is to modify the sound of your voice to only be applied to the desired area. First you must think of the area that you want it to encompass, then envision  5 circles each one within the last. Then begin to fell it with magic starting with the innermost circle and then moving outward. Note: This is the initial spell cost. Until the spell has been deactivated each time you speak it will drain more of your magic based on the messages length and how small of a space you want it localized to.

Huh? This could be useful if I need to talk to Uefi without being noticed talking out loud. I guess I'll try it. I begin to think of an area around my head but not leaking over onto Uefi and envision the circles within each other. As I pump my magic into the smallest one it glows with a sapphire hie and I fell fine and the second one isn't a problem. On the third one I feel a small tug on my mind and on the forth I feel a strain but then I feel it loosen and stop altogether. I guess I can restore the initial cost on spells like these. Test 1.

"FUCK YOU UEFI!" I yell while feeling a tug as scarlet and sapphire sparks come out from my lips, but Uefi just keeps on walking like nothing happened. Nope. No response at all. Good.

Ok now to try expanding the range. I think back to the orb I put around my head ad expand it to hold both mine and Uefi's head. I feel a strain from expanding the range but it doesn't seem like I have to re-cast it. Test 2.

"Hey Uefi." I say catching up to him.

"Yes?" He says turing to me.

"Nothing just testing something out." I say stopping the spell and putting the book back in my pocket.

"So what should we do first? Try to find some kind of map, just try some stores or ask some...pony."  Uefi asks seeming to have to push the last word out.

"Lets try to get a feel for the town tonight and try some stores I guess. Wait... Do you have the bits?" I ask being a little worried about any money we my need.

"Yea I've got them. I found two wallets in my room. Each one had 2500 bits on them so I grabbed both of them. Here's yours." He said handing my the silver coloured wallet with the image of a knife on it. I open it and begin count off twenties, it's not that I don't trust Uefi. Ok well I guess it is.

"Thank you." I say counting off 2500 and sticking the wallet in my pocket.

  We continued walking for about another 5 minutes until we came up to the town.

"Looks like we're here Uefi." I say checking my watch. 11 p.m., 2300 for people who like that, that only took about 12 minutes. Good.

"Ok so where do you want to go first?" TO THE BAR! Not really.

"Lets start to all around the outskirts to get a feel for how big this town really is then from there either continue to look closer to the center of it or head back. By the way any idea which side of town this is?"

"Nope. You?"

"Well let me check." I doubt the Big Dipper is here but--son of a bitch. Son of a fucking bitch. Ok well that might be there but I doubt Polaris is there but I'll check I guess. Ok draw a strait line going though the last two stars on the right going up and--MOTHER FUCKING COW BABIES* no other words can describe but mother fucking cow babies. Right fucking there is Polaris. Ok going with magic.  So if Polaris is there then this is the south entrance of the town.*

"It's the south entrance, you want to take the east side of the circle and I'll take e west side and we meet up at the northern entrance, or stick together?

"Lets each tale a side and meet up it'll take less time and we might have enough time left to stop by a store."

"Alright make note of any clothing stores or food stores, we'll want to at least get some different clothes for tomorrow." I say turning to my left.

"Ok. I you find a clothing store just mic it to me and I'll tell you what I need you to pick up for me. We can go to a food store tomorrow." He said walking past me towards the east side of town. Well now I'm on my own I guess...

***********************************************************************************************

   I continued to walk on for awhile around the western edge. The town from what I could tell was shaped like a circle with a few roads jutting out in different directions, these seem to be at S,SW,W,NW,N,NE,E and SE since the only one I've passed that led out of town was going roughly south west. So far I hadn't found any buildings that looked useful and was mostly residential areas except a few ,of what seemed to be, restaurants and bars. So far though my trip had been pretty in eventful, save for when a earth pony threw her drink at me and started calling me a drunk. I promptly caught the bottle and threw it underhand at her legs and ran behind the back of a nearby restaurant while she actually managed to dodge the bottle, granted she fell over and the bottle was only going about 3-5 kph. Regardless it's been all in all a good walk.

"Hey you, over there, creepy fucker." Oh fuck...

   Turing around I see the same mare from earlier holding another bottle however this one was actually full where as the last one had only a quarter left.

"Umm...hi?" I say trying to act calm and happy.

"You made me waste my wine and fall you drunken bastard." She said in a slur of speech. So I'm the drunk?

"Yeah, sorry about that, but you see I'm not a drunken bastard." I say trying to calm her down.

"Liar. I know you took a sip before you threw it back at me." She says waving her bottle and moving closer to me

"Uhh.. I'm sort miss but I really must be going... Just tell me how much it was and I'll pay you back. Ok?" As I say it she moves closer and begins to laugh.

"No, no. I don't want your money." She says closing the distance between us and putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Then what?" I ask with fear growing within me.

"I wanna share a drink. All my friends went and said I was too drunk and left me, but it's no fun drinkin' in my lonesome. I figured a drunk,perverted bastard could share one with me." Ok them to evaluate my options, A. Try to run again. B. Share a drink C. Play deaf. Going with B, she'd find me back anyway.

"I'm sorry but I can't drink with you, I'm still a minor. And also I'm not drunk, I'm not a bastard and ,as far as this goes, I'm not a pervert, but you can follow me along and drink if you wish." I say as I turn around and she walks forward happily sipping from her bottle.

"More for me and I get a buddy." She says grinning wildly skipping behind me.

"Heh yeah, whatever."

"Hey, are you new here or somethin' cause I don't remember seeing a black eyed pony who has a weird cutie mark like the one you have around your neck." For a drunk she is acting pretty smart.

"Oh yeah me and my friend are new here so we're walking around town to get a feel for it. He has the east side and I have the west side." I say looking over to find her with a empty bottle and listening to me intently.

"Oh? Ok. But what about that cutie mark necklace" What is that for?" She asks while pulling another bottle out of her purse. Shit..how much is she going to drink?

"Oh yea well uhh.." Shit. Shit. Shit. Crap. Shit. Ah she's drunk. I'll just leave out the whole thief and killer part. Hopefully she won't notice the purse and knife.

"My cutie mark is for stealth purposes, like hiding,following, being unseen, you know that kinda thing." I say with a little fear coating my words.

"Ok. But what about that little brown coin bag and knife thingy, why are those there? You good at killin' or stealin' or somethin'?" Crap. She got me.  Well no use hiding it I guess, I just hope she can keep it on the down low.

"Ok. I'll tell you the whole thing just don't tell anyone. Ok?" I say stopping and turing towards her.

"Well ok I'll keep quiet. Just tell me, it's impolite to keep a mare waiting." She says throwing her bottle off on the side of the road

"Yeah I know. Well you see I didn't lie when I said its for sneaking and shit, but I also am at my best when I'm stealing and assassinating."

"OOOOOHHHHHH! Well ok then." Wait what? She's ok with it?

"Wait you're ok with this?"

"Hell yea. My drinkin' buddy is a pony of the night and besides I always trust my drinkin' buddies." Best drunk EVER!

"So who's this friend of yours? He some kind of killer night pony like you or somethin'" She asks as we turn and continue walking.

"No, not really. His mark is for evasive maneuvering. What about yours?" I ask turning to her.

"No offense but I'm not sure your friend would make a good drinkin' buddy." Heh. She's right, Uefi always hated drunks.

"Heh. You're right he hates drunks, says they need more self control."

"WHAT DOES HE MEAN? I HAVE TONS OF SELF CONTROL. I HAVE A CUTIE MARK IN DRINKIN'." She says taking out another bottle. Well I should've guessed that.

"So you have your mark in drinking? Do you make wine?"

"Yeah I make it. My wine is the best wine in this town." Is this a challenge?

"Sorry, but I still think my grandfathers would be better." I say stopping.

"What? Oh come on. I GUARANTEE YOU MINE IS BETTER." She says turning around and shoving her bottle by my mouth.

"Go on take a sip. Mine is better." She says waving the bottle.

"Ok fine if it'll make you happy." I say taking a drink of it. Well I won't deny it's good. But I still don't think it's better than his.

"Well you're right that's good, but I still think his is better. Then again I'm probably too bias. I'll have to make some like he did and we can get somepony to decide. Ok?" I ask and she finishes the last half of the bottle.

"Well ok. Damnit I'm out." She says grabbing into her magic wine purse again. Good. No offense but I didn't feel like dealings with a passed out drunk.

"AWW. MY DRINKIN' BUDDY IS OUT OF BOOZE." I say going along with her happy drunken skipping.

"YEA I KNOW! Well I've gotta get home I have stuff to do tomorrow anyway. If you wanna talk again just wait by the bar called "We got drinks and stuff" it's on the outskirts on this side of town. I go there every other night. What your name anyway?" She says turing to me.

"Oh yea it's Still Sonata. You?"

"MISS BERRY PUNCH! PONYVILLE'S NUMBER ONE DRINKER!" She says turning toward the inner portion of town.

"Well bye Berry." I say feeling a little sad she had to go.

"Bye." She says running off in the weirdest drunken run I've ever seen, and I've seen one of my dads friend piss all over his parents while he was drunk and then run away. Funny time that was. Well I better call Uefi since I'm almost to the north entrance.

"Hey Uefi" I say casting the voice spell around my head and the watch.

"Yea?" I hear in my ear piece.

"I'm almost there what about you"

"I'm here already. What kept you?

"Oh nothing. I just met the local drunk." Then I hear exactly what I expected.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK YOOOOOOOUUUUU!"

A Quiet Scream Tells No Lies. 7

   Rounding the next corner I see a pony who seems to be Uefi, or I guess "Cloudbreaker" now, standing on the the side of the path looking a little annoyed. I guess he's still not happy about me talking with a drunk woman. Oh well...

"Hey, it's about time you got here." He says getting up and walking over to me.

"Yeah, Berry held me up for a bit." I say walking over to him.

"I'm just going to get this out of the way now." He says shifting his posture a bit and drives his hoof into my newly acquired assets, as I fall to the ground he continues."Don't mention that again."

"SHIT! I WOULD RATHER NOT DAMAGE THESE THINGS QUICKLY!" I say slowly getting up and regaining my balance. I shouldn't of told him, the single minute of laughter wasn't worth it. *Definitely. Not. Worth. It.***

"It's better I kick you now than when we get back. There you'd fall onto concrete, here you fall onto dirt." That doesn't make your hoof hurt any less. Jackass.

"Well than thank you for being considerate."

"You're welcome. So what's your plan? Go though the center of town together, split back up and we both take the opposite side from our former, or just wander?" He says looking off into the distance.

"There wasn't anything useful on my side, just residential buildings and a few bars and restaurants. Did your side have anything I'll need to know about?" I say turning to him.

"Nothing I think will be important just a few businesses, homes and some kind of apple orchard, but I doubt you would miss it." He says turning back to me.

"So, down the center road and back home then?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Hopefully, we can find a map of this place near the center so we aren't wandering tomorrow." He says beginning to walk forward.

"If we don't, I guess we'll just have to try and fill in the blanks." I say catching up to him.

"Yeah, what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"Since when do I make the plans?" I say sarcastically, turning my head to him.

"Exactly." He says chuckling.

"We'll first need to find a restaurant to get something to eat since I think we don't have any food, find a general store, clothing store and a clock to reset our watches to the time here, get food and get clothing. Besides that, try to meet a few locals I guess. Having a few friends couldn't hurt."

"That's why I'm glad I chose you, I don't have to come up with a complicated plan of action." That was complicated? I never knew.

"Well then let's hurry back, I'd rather not be out too late since there isn't much natural light."

"Didn't she teach you a light spell or is it to complicated or are you too inept?" He says in a mocking tone.

"Yes she did, and yes I did learn it. I'm just not sure if it works."

"Why is that?"

"Because the ball that emits the light is black."

"1st. Thats creepy. 2nd. Try it once we leave town. The light here is fine but on our way back even just a glare off of the trees would help a great deal."

"Alright then." I say turning back ahead.

  We continue to walk on for another 5 or so minutes passing by a few general stores, all of which were closed, until we came upon what seemed to be the center of the town. In the center is a small octagonal pool of water above the ground with white bricks on the sides going down into the ground around it. The general shape of it seems to be in a circle with 8 larger shops where the roads merge into the circle, 7 of which had their lights out. The one that didn't was to our immediate right with a sign reading "Carousel Boutique". We finally found a open store that we can use. Good.

"Well Cloud want to head in there?" I say pointing to the boutique.

"We might as well, we need some clean clothes for tomorrow. My shower had soap but my dresser was empty."

"Ok then lets head in." I say beginning to walk over to the opening in the fence surrounding the shop.

   The boutique wasn't very well lit, since it seemed that about half of the outside lights had burned out, but I could see that it was a 2 story building and that the first story consisted of some white pillars going up to the second floor and some tall windows reaching up almost to where the floors divided. I open the door and let Uefi walk in ahead of me. Walking in behind him I hear a few crashing noises upstairs. To my right I see a beige unicorn mare walking over us looking slightly surprised. Well, I guess when someone who looks like me comes in your store at near midnight it would be a little unexpected.

"Well hello, sorry for the noise my assistant is up in her inspiration room as she calls it. I wasn't expecting any more customers so I left the lights on and came down here to try and read for a bit." She says closing the distance between us.

"Oh it's fine. It isn't that bad and ,if anything, we're being rude for interrupting you." I say giving her a closed smile.

"No you're fine, I should make Rarity go home soon anyway, but that's besides the point. You came in here for some clothes, yes?"

"Yeah we just got here and we need to buy some." Uefi says deciding to speak up.

"What kind do you need, casual wear, dress wear, night wear?"

"Well Sonata will probably want some kind of suit, but I'll just look at something casual." He's right. I blame anime and the cosplayers for making me wear one everyday, but I don't care.

Pulling out a picture I keep in my shirt pocket I say "Have anything like this?" Uefi begins to chuckle slightly but she doesn't seem to notice it.

"Well that certainly is a odd looking pony, and I don't like the smoking aspect of it, but I do have some clothes like that." She says pulling a few carts over with her magic, two of these being some basic casual clothes the other being what I wanted.

"So how much are these?" I ask wanted to be sure I'm not gonna piss away my money.

"About 200 bits for each one. They're relatively inexpensive in time and money to make and we don't sell very many of them so I can't sell them for much more." She says turning to me.

"Alright I'll take 7 of these. Cloud you ready?" I ask looking over to Uefi, leaving a slightly dumbfounded unicorn standing there.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He says turning around holding a few blue and white shirts with some jeans.

"Alright so how much will this be then?"

"Oh yes well, yours will be 1,450 bits and his will be about 230 bits." She says walking over to a counter with mine and Uefi's choices.

"I'm going to guess you'll be using a card or something?"

"No. Will just bits be fine?" I say pulling out my wallet.

"Oh...uh sure I guess." She say looking slightly surprised. Well fuck. Of corse, who our age carries around that in their active wallet?

"Oh and how much for that silver pocket-watch there?" I say pointing to a silver plated pocket-watch. Damn you Uefi, you're wearing off on me.

"That will raise your total to 1600 bits."

"Alright then." I say passing her 16 of the hundred bit pieces.

"Thank you and again sorry for the noise." She says handing me my outfits on some hangers and the watch.

"It was fine, don't worry miss.....?" I ask putting the watch in my pocket for now.

"Pattern will be fine. And you are?" She says as Uefi hands her his bits.

"I'm StillSonata and he's Cloudbreaker. Thank you again." I say walking out the door with Uefi behind me.

"Well that was simple enough." I say pulling my bartender outfits over my back.

"I still can't believe you got those." Uefi says hiding a smirk.

"I still can't believe you started to "pitch your tent for the night"." I say sarcastically causing him to look down embarrassed.

"Asshole."

"Well now there's two of us then. Let's hurry back that clock in there said about 0037 so we need to speed up and get back before it gets too late."

"Yeah let's, and quit saying your time like that, I don't like having to think just to know the time." He says flapping his wings and flying off ahead of me.

"Asshole you're not besting me in speed. New wings or not." I say running off ahead determined to overtake him.

   Even though my new body isn't quite as fast as my old one ,and slightly more awkward to run with because of the hooves, I manage to catch up to where I can overtake him. He's faster that before which I guess is from his wings and I'm slower than before which I guess might be because I'm a unicorn. We probably don't do much manual work so it probably took its tole over time, either way I'm still faster than him. I over take him and hear his say something along the lines of bullshit. I stop on the edge of town and catch my breathe. About 30 seconds later Uefi flies casually over.

"I guess I've got to get faster still to beat you?"

"Yeah, I'm slower than before, but the thought of you beating me hasn't changed."

"Alright then. Cast your fancy spell so we can get back."

"Alright. Alright." I say focusing my magic, or soul, into my horn.

   Once again a block orb grows from the tip if my horn but this time the area around me to illuminated in the same blue tint from my soul. Once the glow surrounds a good 4 meter diameter around us. The ball isn't as big as before but I still feel a tug in my mind if I try to make it grow but passively I feel fine.

"Alright lets just walk back, these may be covered in plastic but I'd rather not risk it." I say walking on ahead.

"Ok then." Uefi said walking up behind me.

It's been a interesting 3&1/2 hours to say the least.

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20 minutes later.

   As I lie down in my bed I can't help but feel odd. In the last 20 hours  I've crossed dimensions, been turned into a pony, met a living deity, learned I wasn't normal at all before, saved the world from a Hershey-less Uefi again, found out I'm seem sort of assassin-thief, learned magic, been scared out of my shit by two beings in my soul, found a book of every stealth spell, met a pretty nice drunk woman and got some quality clothing. Yet, I still feel normal. I can hear Uefi crying in his room but I can't seem to make it happen. I'm sad but I can't express it. I'm hurt but I don't bleed. I scream but nobody hears me. In the end this is my own truth.

A silent scream tells no lies, and I am that scream.

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At the boutique.

"Rarity you need to get home. You do realize it's 1:30, in the morning, right?" SewnPattern says walking into Rarity's inspiration room to find it a mess as usual. With a displeased white unicorn standing in the epicenter of it furious.

"Fine... Who was here earlier anyway? I heard the door open and you talking to somepony." Rarity says grabbing her bag off the chair in the far corner with her magic.

"Just two stallions, they said they were new in town and bought some clothes."

"Which kinds did they buy? Just casual ones, I'm guessing?" Rarity says walking back down the stairway to the too floor with her bag over her shoulder.

"One of them yes, the other bought 7 other those old bartenders outfits we've had lying around for the last few months." Pattern says catching up to Rarity who had already made it to the door.

"Hmm... What a odd pony that one must've been. I wish I had been down here."

"Well you'll probably see him soon he looks about your age, so you'll probably see him in school."

"Yes, I guess I will." And with that she stepped back out into the night.

***********************************************************************************************

In Quentin's soul.

"Well, at least he's not crying." Hitsuki says calling over to Safaia.

"Yes, but still he's to loud for my taste."

"He's also the only reason we're back. After what happened with Discord I thought you and I were dead."

"Yes I suppose you're right. I just hope he calms down, maybe I should talk with him."

"NO! If either of us talk with him now we'll scare him and Luna with notice. We both know we aren't evil but if she figures out who and what we are she'll just kill us rather than use the elements again. She'll just think they're useless since we haven't changed. Besides, I'd rather not get him killed, he is the best of both of us." Hitsuki says with a hit of sadness, jumping from pillar to pillar, over to Safaia.

"Yes, while he talks to much he is the only reason we're both here." Safaia says calmly as Hitsuki lands beside her.

"Yes I suppose your right. After all he's already found the first truth of us and of himself."

"I still wish he was more quiet."

"Would you shut up about being quiet already?"

Screaming In The Darkness. 8

   As I wake up I take another look around my room and try to figure a few things out. Yeah, this place is real. While I'm not entirely thrilled to find out that I wasn't just hallucinating there's still a few things I need to think about if Uefi and I plan on working with this situation. We have shelter, clothing, water and money, but we're still missing a few important things. We still need food, jobs, knowledge of the area and it's customs,  a plan and connections, if we don't have a few friends this could get difficult. While I may know Berry and where to find her, one person isn't a large enough contact web for us to survive on right now, not to mention she is a grown mare, if we don't talk to others our age suspicion is a possibility. Pattern mentioned a mare called Rarity was her assistant, could she be around our age? Not much but it's something to think about. Planing time. First, I need to change into my clothes for the day and clean the watch, I'm not sure of its actual materials but rust and corrosion aren't things I endorse. Second, I should leave that book here for now and practice it later. Third, wake Uefi's sorry ass up. Four, go to town and find a restaurant that hopefully has a few people for us to talk to. Five, head to a supermarket and get some food. Six, return back to here with the food and head back to the town. Seven, hopefully it will be around midday when we return, during that time there should be the highest concentration of ponies near the center of town. We'll slowly move in and try to pick up a little more on their class system and a few groups. Eight, that was a boutique that makes it's own clothes, unless they are common here that could mean that the higher-end shops or specialty shops are in the center ring. Since these shops would most likely be frequented by ponies they might be another good place to meet some ponies. Nine, get some lunch. Ten, let Uefi do some of this damnable guesswork.

"Well time to get ready for the day then." I say rolling onto the concrete, happy that my plan was completed. Why didn't I just stand up and get out of bed? Concrete is a hard surface.

   As I walk over the wardrobe and pull out one of the outfits I bought last night I can't help but laugh a little. I still can't believe I bought these. I walk into the bathroom I notice that the clothes washing and drying machines are to my right with a toilet past them, a sink to my left and a simple shower with a white curtain for privacy.

***********************************************************************************************

7 minute interval.

***********************************************************************************************

   I walk out of the bathroom with my clothes on and grab the silver pocket-watch with its new microphone off the nightstand with my wallet. I forgot to buy a chain for the watch. It will be fine for now but I'll need a chain to put it on. Addition to step seven, buy a chain. Maybe I'll meet Rarity while I'm there. She probably knows a few people and could show us around.

   Putting the watch into my pocket, I walk into the center room I compare my watch to the clock. Adjusting my pocket-watch to 6:07, I walk across into Uefi's room. While I've never seen him asleep, I'm going to guess that this isn't how he usually looks. How did he even get his foot there? Either way I better get him up.

"Get up Uefi." No response. Time for level 2.

"Get up you bastard." Nothing. Skipping to level 34.

"GET UP, YOU FURRY BASTARD!"  Step 3 completed.

"Damnit Quentin, what are you doing her-- oh. So, last night actually happened, huh?" He says looking downcast and looking at his hands. Damn, I feel bad for him, he hasn't adjusted yet. Then again, I guess I haven't either.

"Yeah I know, but regardless, take a shower and get your stuff ready we're heading back into town and get something to eat."

"I'm gonna guess you already thought of a plan."

"Yeah, I'll fill you in while we eat, just go on and get ready." I say walking back though the door. Will we ever be normal again? Or I guess the better question would be, "Were we normal to begin with?".

***********************************************************************************************

   As we walk back along the road to town, I notice a few side paths leading off in various directions and a few squirrels running away as we came out.

   Walking though the center road, we receive a few looks from some of the ponies along the streets. I notice a pink pony a little ways ahead jump behind another building. As we pass by the building I look over to the alley but she seems to of left. Walking a little ways ahead I open my watch and check the time, 7:30. I see a pink head sticking out of the bushes behind us with the reflection off the glass surface. So she's following us? Why? I guess asking couldn't hurt, but I think I'll wait until we find a place to eat. If she follows us there I'll ask.

"Hey Cloud, we've got somepony following us. I'm not entirely sure but if she follows us to the restaurant we'll have to confront her when we leave." I whisper over to Uefi hoping she doesn't pick up on what I'm saying.

"Alright then, what does it look like?"

"It's a pink earth pony mare wearing some gray pants and a blue shirt." I say putting the watch back into my pocket.

"Ok I'll mention it if I see her. You alright with that place?" He says pointing to a little café to our left.

"Sure, by the by I've been thinking. If we're ponies, we won't eat meat will we?"

"No I guess not. Oh well though, as long as there's eggs." He has a point, meat is meat, BUT EGGS ARE FUCKING EGGS!

   As we walk in I notice a few ponies sitting at some of the tables and couple, looking like waitresses, walking around and talking to them. One of them, a beige pegasus who seemed to have noticed us, walked over to us.

"Well you two sure seem to be oddities."

"Yeah, we're new here and it seems like everypony has noticed, but so far nopony has asked us anything." I say keeping a indifferent face.

"Well most ponies here have just gotten up and don't feel like thinking. Give it some time, where are you living anyway?"

"We live alone a little ways into the everfree." As I say this she seems on the border between calling bullshit and being concerned.

"S-so you live by yourselves out there? Are you two brothers?"

"Yeah we live in our home out there and no, we're best friends." I say remaining indifferent.

"Well ok then, I'm sorry I shouldn't really pry into the lives of newcomers like that."

"It's fine, if anything I should be sorry for wasting your time with a story like ours. Should we just take a table?"

"Yes, just take a table. What will you be having since I'm here."

"Do you have eggs here?" Uefi asks deciding to speak up.

"Yes, how many would you like?"

"I'll just have two eggs and you Still?" He says, surprising me by remembering to not using out given names.

"I'll just have one egg and a piece of bread Ms...?"

"Just call me Persicum and you two are?

"I'm StillSonata and he's Cloudbreaker." I say sitting down at a open table.

"Well ok then, I'll be back in a bit." Se says walking off into the back.

"Alright fill me in on this "plan" of yours" Uefi says sitting down besides me.

"We'll head to some kind of market after we're done here, then head back and drop our stuff off, from there we head back to the boutique so I can get a chain for my watch. Then we just try to meet people and learn where the high-school is until tonight when that meeting is, I guess."

"You need to go with the flow a bit more. You know that right?"

"Yeah it sounds like he does need to loosen up." Persicum says placing our plates in front of us. Not her place to pry, but yet it's her place to eavesdrop? Fair enough.

"Not much but some, yeah. He always makes a plan and unless by some random urge he chooses to change it he'll try to stick by it."

"I'm not even going to deny it, what's true is true." I say deciding to be honest.

"At least he realizes it. Anyway, that will be 15 bits."

"Well honesty is a virtue. Thank you." I say handing her the bits.

"You're welcome." She says walking back off to the door to meet the new customer. Oh my Luna, she was following us.

   Turning around I see the same pink mare that was following us and a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. The pink one whispers something to the  cyan one while pointing over to us before they proceed to sit down. With both of them seeming to keep a focus on us. Ok, we can either try to slip away from them or confront them. For now we'll try to slip away. I wonder if one of the spells in that book could help.

   Remembering I forgot to put the book back, I take the book out from my chest pocket, and begin look though the chapter titles. Sound spells? No, if they know where we are so those won't help us. Perception spells? No, those would probably drain me and I'd have to throw off almost their whole perception. Light spells? Right on the money if I can cancel out all light. If I cancel out all light within a good area Uefi and I can get away without anypony seeing us. I start flipping though pages until I find the one I'm looking for.

Chapter 3: Light Spells

Spell 1: Light Cancelation

This spell was designed by a thieves organization that was in existence more than 100 years ago. It's purpose was to repel all light within and coming into a area so that daytime robberies could be easier to pull off. This is the last record of this spell, all others were destroyed and those who knew of it were arrested and are now dead. First you must envision a orb or dome around yourself that you want to cancel light from. Afterwards picture five small dots,such as those from the levitation spell, and place them in the middle of a white sphere. Then begin to push you magic into them and the area within their formation and push them outwards. This spells will continuously drain you because of the light continuously trying to get in, and even more so if you take too long to push your dots outward entirely. For a more affective approach just make a smaller orb around the lights source, you will only have to keep magic within that area and no light will get out. So you get a larger area for a lower cost.

But couldn't I just put it around their eyes? I'll have to try that, but I'll just scribble it in for now.

   I look over to the cyan one and envision a dome around her eyes. Then after forming a pentagon outline with the dots over the white background in my mind. I begin to push magic into them and outward of them. The dots and the area within them glow scarlet and push outward at a fast rate since I wanted to make sure I didn't waste any magic. I feel my magic drain out of me and notice I could probably only hold this spell for 20 minutes at the most. I look back to her and see that she has proceeded to stab the table with her fork randomly with a fearful look on her face, as her eyes are covered in sapphire domes with scarlet sparks spraying out of them as the light hits them. I then drop the spell and the domes go away. She proceeds to scratch her head and wave her hand in front of her eyes confused, but doesn't say anything and continues eating. Good, so it did work. But putting it around eyes won't work for what I have in mind.

"Hey Cloud you almost done?" I whisper over to Uefi.

"Yeah I'm done. Do you have a plan to deal with them?"

"Yeah let's get out of here and confront them outside. We're gonna run for it."

"How are we gonna run for it? That pegasus looks pretty fast and even if we do get away plenty of ponies outside could point then in the right direction."

"Not with what I have in mind. We'll have about 5 minutes to make a run for it. Don't worry, nopony is going to expect this. Just make sure you keep up with me when I grab you."

"Alright then let's go, but you better be right about this." He says standing up from his chair.

"Don't worry we'll be fine. After all who is the guy with a talent for this shit?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just get moving with this so called "plan" of yours."

   As we get about halfway to the door the other two get up and follow us out. After we get about 15 feet from the building I grab Uefi by his should and then turn us both around. The pink one trying to turn around before I see then following us but before she can her cyan friend grabs her.

"So you finally noticed us? Took you long enough." She says condescendingly.

"I've noticed since she jumped behind the first building and I don't appreciate being followed." I say remaining indifferent.

"Either way, who are you?"

"I guess that will depend on if you can catch me."

"Is that a challenge?"

"If you want it to be." I say focusing and shifting to the east.

"Bring it on."

"Gladly." And with that the town became covered in darkness.

   I grabbed Uefi amongst the scream of the ponies I just covered in darkness and a familiar sounding female voice saying "bullshit".

   I feel as though I was just punched in the face, but regardless I kept running past and into buildings and ponies hoping I'd be able to find what I'm looking for.

"WHAT THE FUCK? WHY IS IT BLACK?"

"Shut up Cloud we only have another two minutes at best before I have to drop the spell. Just keep up with me I know what I'm doing."

   We come it of my dome and exactly where I planned to be. An apple orchard. Reading to the sign to my left I see it's apparently called "Sweet Apple Acres". Running farther into the trees I stop and drop the spell. We should be ok here.

"Damnit Quentin, what the fuck did you do?" Uefi says catching his breath.

"I casted a light repelling spell over the entire town so nopony could know where we went." I say feeling pain throughout my body.

"Ok, but why the apple orchard?"

"If that pegasus is smart she'll probably fly over the town looking for the two ponies who look like they're hiding or running. Here, we have some trees  for cover."

"Ok, but what should we do now?"

   Still indifferent I look over towards the path though the orchard.

"Want to stop and meet the ponies here? I didn't cover this place. We can get some contacts and wait for the towns hysteria to drop a bit while we do so."

"Why not?" And with that we started down the path and, unbeknownst to us, we also began our walk to a very suspicious farmer and her enraged purple unicorn friend, whom just happened to witness a mostly undocumented form of magic and didn't even think to record the event.

***********************************************************************************************

"Well, how do you think he did?" Safaia asks hovering above Hitsuki.

"He did well. He's raising his magical regeneration and his magic amount faster than he thinks."

"So how long do you think we have until we should talk to him again?"

"Let's give him a week and as for when we let him use us, we'll wait until a situation finally arises to where he'll know for what reason he has us."

"Well ok then, I'm going to sleep don't be too loud."

Damn her and her whole quiet addiction.

Screaming A Goodbye And A Hello. 9

   Walking up the trail, I can feel my magic slowly returning to me. I should really practice some other lower level spells. If I do that too much right now I'll just keep draining myself aimlessly. While this would help get me gain a magic reserve, if I use a lower cost spell for longer I can get more endurance. Not to mention lower level spells will be memorized by my soul more quickly, rather than this one that would probably take a while.

"Hey Uefi, fly up for a second and see if anypony is getting close. If they are we need to come up with a cover story." I say remembering how large that dome was.

"Alright." He says unenthusiasticly while flexing his wings.

"Don't go too high. If that blue one is searching for us we don't want her to see you."

"I got it." He says propelling himself upwards.

   As he ascends I think back to when I casted that spell. Something resonated within me. Something inside of me was enticed by it. What was that? It felt like some kind of peace coating my soul. But why? That spell was designed to plunder and steal. Why would I feel at peace while using it then? Could it have something to do with my cutie mark? Or could it have something to do with those two from my soul? Interrupting my though Uefi lands back next to me softly.

"There are two ponies coming our way. They're not going too fast but it won't be long until they reach us. What's the plan?"

"Let's just keep it simple. Tell them we just left and we weren't sure what exactly happened, so we came out here to see if anypony knew anything."

"Whatever you say, it's not like I could think of something. What if that fails?" He says as we start walking again.

"Then leave it to me."

   We continue to walk on for another 4 minutes before I begin to hear hooves coming close to us. Motioning for Uefi to stop I take out my watch and check the time, 8:23. That blue one will still be looking for us. It won't be long until she figures put where we went. I need to finish this quickly. Rounding the corner I see a purple unicorn mare who seems to be sprinting and an orange Stetson wearing earth pony mare that has her eyes closed and looks to only be jogging. Screeching as she looks at me the unicorn punches me in the face. As I fall the orange one, seeming to have found new vigor grabs my shirt and slams me into a tree. What the hell?

"Ah fuck. What's your problem?" I say catching my breath,

"Be quiet. What'd you do to Twilight?" The orange one says with a heavily coated accent.

"Who?" I say looking over to the Uefi and unicorn  both of whom still seem to be processing what's happening. Damnit Uefi help me out.

"My friend there."

"I don't know. I guess I scared her when I turned the corner."

"That true Twilight?" She says turning to her friend.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that, I just saw that black dome and it scared me. Then you came and with your dark colors and it just pushed me over the edge I guess." Fair enough. I guess I do have that effect on people.

"Oh. Well, sorry about hurting you like that buddy." The orange one says letting my down.

"It's fine. If anything, I'm sorry for scaring your friend so badly." I say walking over and holding my hand out to Twilight. "Want some help?"

"Oh yes." She says taking my hand as I pull her up. Looking at her now, she is wearing a complimentary purple shirt, a pair of dark purple pants and has her purple mane in a straight well-kept fashion with a magenta streak going through it.

"And Cloud," I say walking over to Uefi. "SNAP THE BLOODY FUCK OUT OF IT!" I say punching him into the closest tree.

"WHY'D YOU DO THAT?" The one, apparently called Twilight, says being snapped out of her trance.

"YEAH, WHAT THE HELL STILL?" Uefi says standing back up.

"I got tired of that helpless look on your face. I don't like seeing such a depressed person."

"He hasn't seen himself lately has he?" I hear Twilight whisper to the orange one.

"Probably not." She says with a smirk.  They're right. I do look a little depressed apparently. I always have, or so I've been told, but I never understood it.

"Regardless, who are you two?" The orange one says as I turn around.

"Cloudbreaker." Is all Uefi says having regained his balance.

"I'm StillSonata. And you are?" I say giving a slight bow.

"I'm Applejack and this is my friend Twilight Sparkle." The one called Applejack says. Getting an actual look at her, I see she is wearing a white undershirt with a brown vest on top, a pair of jeans and her blonde mane in a, ironically, ponytail. But did her name HAVE to be Applejack?

"Nice to meet you. By the by, why were you running?"

"Oh well, I was talking with Applejack and then some kind of dark magic cloud with scarlet sparks spewing from it came over the town. So we decided to get to town and see if anyone knew what happened. Do you know anything about it; it looks like you just came from there?" Damn analytical unicorns.

"Well, we just came from town, it the only think I can tell you is that it was dark. Like all black dark. We came out here to see if somepony knew anything." As Uefi says this I see a twitch in Applejack's left eye. Is she catching on to the lie?

"Oh so you don't know anything?" Twilight asks seemingly disappointed.

"Nope." I say noticing another twitch in Applejack's eye.

"Why are you lying?" Ah shit, she caught us. On to plan B.

"I'm sorry what?" I say trying not to be immediately blunt.

"You were lying just now about not knowing why it happened. Why?"

"Alright you got me it was my spell that did it." As I say this Applejack gives a slight nod and Twilight becomes simply...well oblivious.

"And why'd you use a spell like that? Something that makes everything in it go dark isn't very every day."

"Well technically it destroys all light within it and all light entering it. But as for why I used it? I used it because we had two ponies following us and I wanted to make sure they stopped."

"Do you really think covering the whole town was necessary?"

"Well it seemed the most effective way to make sure nopony knew what happened and it’s not like I enjoyed it. That magical strain wasn't any fun at all.

"Wait... You said you casted that spell?" Twilight asks seeming to have broken out of her trance.

"Yes I did." I say dusting my back off where I had neglected to.

"B--but I have never read about or heard of such a light spell. I don't even think it’s recorded. Where do you learn it?" Well I'm out of automated responses. Time for improvising.

"Well yes it is mostly an undocumented spell, but it's an old spell. I got a journal of stealth spells from thief. Apparently she saw some kind of talent I had for it and wanted to pass these spells on to someone who could use them. She really was a nice mare, pretty too. She died shortly after though, they killed her since she still knew all of those spells and was a danger to peace." I say lying on the 3rd, 5th and 6th statement but it doesn't seem like Applejack caught on. However Twilight remained intrigued.

"Oh, can you teach me?" She asks pleadingly.

"Nope." I say bluntly.

"WHAT? Why not?"

"For one these aren't the kinds of spells for everyday unicorns and 2nd, she was killed for knowing these. If I teach you then others will learn about them. Then I will be responsible for the death of many ponies." As I say this she seems to understand and calms down.

"Wait you said she saw a talent in you. Does that mean your cutie mark is for stealth?" Twilight says questioningly.

"No. I can perform a few but it’s not my special talent. My talent is for the violin. Thus the name StillSonata." As I say this Applejack's eyes absolutely spasm. I'll have to explain it to her.

"So we were on our way to town then?" Uefi says seemingly tired of our banter.

"In a few moments Still will be but not you." I hear a familiar voice say.

   Noticing everypony but me and Uefi froze in place I turn around and see the owner of the voice. Shit. Nothing but shit. Standing across from us is Princess Luna casually biting into an apple.

"What are you doing here, I though you forgot us?" Uefi says seemingly dumbfounded.

"When an event like the one you two are occurs I have to take a one day trial period to test if you actually are meant to be here." Ah shit I know where this is going.

"So one of us failed then." I say down-casting my eyes.

"Yes. I'm afraid immensely so."

"I thought you knew we were meant for here." I say looking back up to her.

"We can only guess. We can check your wavelength and estimate but until we pass you though we can't be for certain though."

"So which one of us failed?" Uefi says seeming to have fallen out from his trance.

"You did Uefi. While I thought you would still adjust your wavelength has actually veered back to that of your own universe. Because of this I can't let you stay here."

"Well that's a fucking relief." Wait...what? I know Uefi too well he's never been so blunt.

"What do you mean Uefi?" I say wondering about his sudden change in attitude.

"Exactly what it sounds like. I'm fucking tired if this stupid mock earth with pastel horses. It's fucking annoying and yet here you are ENJOYING it and giving a fuck about it." He says enraged. Is this really what he feels? I can feel his hate.

"Is this what you meant by changing in wavelength Luna?" I say taking a few steps closer to her.

"Yes he's gone back to the human he really is, that's why I'm sending him back."

"What will happen?"

"He'll wake up like he would've the night you got sent here and won't remember a thing. Everypony here except you and me won't even remember him having ever been." She says as a glow emits from her horn.

"Yeah I couldn't care less. Just blast me you stupid pony."

"Wait a second Luna." I say walking over to him.

"Uefi... Goodbye." I say grabbing his wallet and sincerely saying goodbye to the Uefi I knew before. Luna then sends him off in a haze.

"So that's the end of him huh? Back to earth and all?"

"Yes. I'm leaving now." She says charging her horn.

"You're going to forget me this time right?"

"Yeah I'm taking the pill as soon as I get back." And with that she disappears from where she was standing, but not before I see a twitch in a certain orange pony's eye. That lying bitch.

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   I take Uefi's bits out of his wallet and put them back into mine before tossing it away with my telekinesis. Time then begins to restart, it begins with the wind picking back up and soon after Twilight and Applejack both start moving again. They both look around for a second before their eyes fall on me. Oh yeah, I'm not where I was before. It doesn't seem like they noticed Uefi is gone now. It’s probably for the better. With how he was talking, it seems like he was ready to just kill somepony. Still, I can't believe he changed that much. But, even more so, I can believe he's just gone.

"You comin'?" Applejack says; taking me out of my trance.

"Yeah in a second I dropped my watch. Care to help me find it Applejack? Twilight you go on ahead." I say waving her off.

"Oh...well, ok. Just don't be too long." She says with uncertainty. As she begins to walk off I turn back to Applejack.

"So, what do you want to actually know?" I say knowing she caught onto me.

"Uh?"

"You want the truth don't you? I'll tell you, just tell me what you want to know."

"Alright then. Why were you lying in the first place?" She says while readjusting her hat.

"There are just some things about me I'd like of keep to myself for a while."

"And those are?"

"I can't tell you all of them but I'll tell you a few of them. First, I'm new here and I don't want everypony to know everything about me. Second, some of the things I lied about might scare ponies from me and I don't endorse rumors."

"Alright but what are the things you're hiding then?"

"Once again you're not going to get everything so it'd be better if you just asked what you wanted to know." I say looking back around the sky. Still nothing. Good.

"Where are you from?"

"I can't answer that."

"Ok then. Where are you living?" She says seemingly annoyed that I shot down her first question.

"At the edge of the Everfree forest, just look for the blue box covered in vines.”

“Ok then… Since I don’t feel like you’re going to answer my other questions I’ll just skip to this one. What really is your cutie mark?” I should’ve seen that coming.

“It’s no use lying to you so I’ll tell you. My cutie mark is for sneaking, stealing and assassinating.”

“I’m sorry. What’d you just say?” She says raising an eyebrow.

“Probably what you heard. My special talent is sneaking, stealing and assassinating. It should be self-explanatory why I wasn’t eager to admit what it actually is. So, can you just keep it a secret, between us?” I say hoping she reacts rationally.

“Well… I may be none too fond of what you’re good at, but if you’re not just abusing it and being a criminal, I’ll keep your secret. Just remember, you owe me.” Thank you Applejack. Thank you.

“Thank you, and trust me I don’t plan on being a criminal.”

“Well alright then we better catch back up to Twilight.” She says turning around and then she begins to jog off.

“Yeah, we better.” I say jogging back up to her.

   After jogging for about two or three minutes we come up on Twilight and we begin to slow down until we are walking with Applejack on her left side and myself on the right side.

"So did you find your watch?" She asks as we walk along.

"Uh? Oh, yeah I found it. It wasn't too hard to find." I say taking it out of my vest pocket.

"Ok then. Could you check what time it is?" She says eyeing the watch as I click it open.

"It's 9:13." I say closing the watch and putting it back in my vest pocket. "I need to get a chain for this; I guess I'll make a trip back to the Carousel Boutique once we're back in town."

"Oh, we were on our way there anyway to see Rarity anyway we can go along with you." Twilight says as we reach the end of the path to and from the orchard.

"When did you get to town anyway?" Applejack asks seeming to have noticed it must be my first day in town from the looks I've been getting form the ponies.

"I got here last night. I came into town, met a drunk mare called Berry Punch, got these clothes and the watch from the boutique, came back into town in this morning, noticed I was being followed, got some food, went outside, casted the spell ad you know the rest." I say giving them the full recap of my time here.

"So you're living by yourself?"

"Yeah I am."

"So, you are going to school here, right?" Twilight asks.

"Yeah, I am. I'm going to the meeting tonight. Now that you mention it, where is the school?" I say realizing I have no idea as to where it is.

"It's on the first road north from the one to the orchard." Applejack answers for Twilight while gaining an uneasy look. I guess she still is a little uneasy about my talent.

"Where are you from anyway?" Twilight asks, but she seems to not be curious by her tone.

"Oh nowhere special, I guess. I don't have any family to speak of so I'm on my own." As I say this Twilight seems to have regained some curiosity

"What do you mean you don't have any family to talk about?" Applejack asks looking over to me.

"I just don't have any. They're dead or I don't know about them. It's just me." I say remembering Uefi isn't here anymore. Damnit I miss the old him.

"Oh, sorry for bringing it up." Applejack says sympathetically.

"It is fine; I don't have a problem talking about it." I say trying to even the mood.

"What's the population ratio here anyway? I've only seen 3 or four stallions since I got here." I say wondering why there are so many mares here.

"It's a 13:1 gender ratio in favor of the mares." Twilight says normally. Damn. How is this town working? Oh well, at least the odds are in my favor.

   As we walk into the center of town, I make sure to check around for the pink pony or the blue one. Not seeing either of them I continue to walk across with Twilight and Applejack into the boutique. As we walk in I notice that, instead of Pattern being here, there is a marble white unicorn mare with a styled purple mane and tail wearing a simple blue long sleeve shirt and ivory coloured pants using her magic to move things into their appropriate places. So would this be Rarity then?

"Hello Twilight, Applejack and..." She says turning around to face us.

   Next thing I know five hangers impact my face and stomach. As I fall backwards I hear her scream. Beginning to stand back up I see Applejack trying to calm her down as Twilight catches more of the things she's throwing at me.

"Umm... What's happening Twilight?" I say regaining my balance and cleaning myself off.

"Rarity is being a little panicky. She tends to become slightly melodramatic after things like that darkness. Just give her a minute." She says replacing things back to where rarity was getting them from.

"Now Rarity just calm down. He's not doin' nothin'. He's friendly." Applejack says somehow getting Rarity to calm down a bit.

"Oh. I'm so sorry for throwing things at you. It's just your eyes and whatnot scared me a bit much." Rarity says stopping her flailing and replaces the objects.

"It's fine, if anything I'm sorry. I should've waited for Applejack and Twilight to warn you before I came in. By the by, do you have a chain for this watch. I bought it here last night along with these clothes from Pattern but I forgot to ask about a chain." I say holding up the watch.

"Oh yes, well, I'm fine really. I'll go get you that chain." She says walking over and grabbing a silver chain with a clip from a case.

"Thank you, how much will that be?" I say pulling out my wallet with my free hand.

"Oh no, those watches are sold with the chains. I guess Pattern forgot to give it to you since it was so late yesterday." She says handing me the chain.

"Thank you. Wait... How did you know I got these late last night?" I say attaching the watch to the chain, the clip to my left pants pocket, and putting the watch in my left vest pocket and my wallet back in my right pants pocket.

"Oh, after you left she came up and told me about your coming here and what you bought. You're probably the only pony around here who'd be wearing those clothes." She says giving me a simple smile.

"Is there a problem with them?" I say looking into one of the many mirrors around the room. I don't see a problem with them.

"No it's not that. They look rather nice on you actually. It's just not many ponies would wear them casually."

"Well thank you for the compliment. So what are we doing now?" I say turning back around to them.

"Well, if you just got here I guess we could show you around. And you could meet a few ponies." Twilight says calmly.

"Yeah, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash would probably love to meet you." Applejack says somewhat enthusiastically. Wait...Pinkie....Rainbow... Ah shit...

"Would those two happen to be a pink earth with a scrabbled hair style and a cyan pegasus with rainbow hair?" I say cautiously.

"Yes. Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure I pissed them off."

A Dash And A Scream. 11

Before I start; sorry about the late update.

I do not own, nor do I claim to own, any of the music that I have linked in this chapter, all of it is the work and product of those who produced it.

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   We enter the cafeteria through its only entrance, and I begin to take notes of the room. Around 37 small tables dot the room with groups of about 4-5 ponies at each respective table. A small podium is set up on the opposite side of the room and a dark yellow mare with a brown mane, who seems to be the director of the meeting, is composing herself in front of it. We take a seat at one of the tables closer to the podium and I take a seat across from Twilight and pull out Silent's journal and I turn to the chapter for perception spells. I look over to Twilight who is doing a terrible job of ignoring the book and has her left eye constantly flipping back to it. I find a seemingly useful spell and begin to read.

Spell 7: Direction Inversion

This is a very simple seal type of spell that I accidentally made when I was 19. I was testing a flame spell while I was drunk off my ass and ended up with this. Think of a dot on the pony you want to affect and then simply visualize a compass with the directional letters inverted and without a needle.  This won't turn their forwards into backwards but it will inverse their left and right will become inverted. So just round a corner and you'll be ok. Here's a tip; this is really useful when stealing alcohol.

I'll save this for later. I don't want Applejack getting angry or Twilight getting excited again.

"Welcome everypony to our informational meeting. I am, as most of you know, GuidingLight, the school's counselor. This meeting is mostly just a chance for any new students, of which there's actually only one, to meet a few ponies and to ensure that you all know about school's beginning being scheduled for Monday at 8:15 a.m.. I will now turn the night over to you for the next 2&1/2 hours." She says walking away and joining a group of ponies at another table.

"So now what?" I say looking back to the mares at my table and putting my book back in its own pocket.

After I say this they simultaneously begin to say, "5,4,3,2,1." Then the lights in the room go out. What the hell?

   I bring up the seal for the light cancellation spell with its AOE circle along with the seal for the escape teleportation seal and wait for the inevitable. The second after the lights come back on with a fury, all of the ponies in the room jump from their tables and a pink blur fills my vision. As soon as this happens I fill in both spells as fast as I can and find myself outside the only doors that go in and out of the cafeteria. I can hear 5 familiar voices cursing my name and the rest screaming. I drop the cancellation spell and I begin to turn around towards the room but a rush of ponies immediately flows from it, all of them wearing a mask of disgust. I begin to run down the hallway as they chase me without fail. I turn around and turn my head around and think of 5 dots on the mares at the head of the chase. I then activate the inversion spell and round another corner. The next thing I hear is them whining at the slight pain of impacting a wall, but at least 3/4 of the original group keep up the chase. As I near a bathroom a dark gray pegasus comes out and begins to run alongside me, seemingly confused as to what's is happening.

"What the hay happened to you?" He says giving me a pompous grin.

"Oh the usual, got jumped by a horde of ponies at the meeting, casted some epic magic shit, got them pissed and now they're chasing me. My name's StillSonata. You?" I say holding out a hand and returning his grin and we take a left turn.

"Thunderback Raintail, no relation." He says slapping my hand.

"No relation to whom?" I say as we take a right turn.

"Not a clue, my mom just told me to say it. So what's the plan?" He says brushing off his dark green mane that is only a few hairs short of meeting my manes length.

"How fast can you fly?"

"About twice as fast as when I'm running. Why?"

"Good, you'll be able to keep up with me. I need you to guide me outside, you then fly alongside me and I'll use my speed spell. We'll run into the center of town and if we get separated before then we meet up there. From there we need to sneak as well as we can to the southern edge if the town, once again if we're separated while doing this we meet up at the end of the road. From there I need you to stay behind me and I'll guide you to where we'll be safe. You got all of that?" I say as we take another left.

"Fuck yeah. I was bored tonight anyway and I could use a bro like you." He says holing out a fist.

"Thanks. Now I need you to tell me who we need to worry about." I say bumping his fist with my own.

"We'll need to worry about Rainbow Dash since she is the into one who could outrun us, Pinkie Pie will be angry and she's unpredictable in her assault, Rarity is cunning and could figure out our plan, Applejack could easily take either one of us down, Fluttershy will most likely be angry that you hurt her friends and her stare is completely terrifying and Twilight might try to plug in to the towns magic inhibition field generator and make magic much more hard on you. You know how those tongs work right?" He says as we take another right turn.

"Not a clue."

"Well, when you think of your seal it'll be filled with her magic. You have to use your own to overpower hers by pushing it out of the seal then activating the spell. Take a right." He says pointing at the end of the hallway.

"Well then lets hope they don't stick together or we might be fucked." I say as we take a right and I see the doors I came through to enter the school.

"You ready bro? He says pulling it a pair of badass looking sunglasses. And I thought I was cliché.

"Hell yeah. Let's just hope the shits soul mate isn't the fan." I say nearing the door.

   The second I push the door open Thunderback spreads his wings and I activate the quickstep spell the second he becomes airborne. We keep up with each other perfectly with our speeds matching. I turn around and I see a rainbow maned pegasus, whom I was hoping not to see again. We need to split up.

"Yo, Thunderback. I need you to fly up near cloud level. I'm going to take care of Rainbow back there. You just worry about getting to the center of town. If you're there before I am just hide up in the sky and wait." I say turning back forwards.

"You sure you can take her?" He says genuinely worried.

"It'll take more than a rainbow to stop my storm." I say bringing potentially the worst metaphor ever into existence.

"I don't need to tell you how stupid that sounded, but alright I'll meet you there." He says laughing and flying up wards towards the clouds.

   I turn around and see that Dash is already 15 meters from me and has stopped. I take up a leisure stance and stop my spell.

"A new challenger--wishing to test my prowess--but can she contend?" I say in a mocking haiku.

"Don't use that egghead stuff on me. I'm going to make you pay for hurting Pinkie's feelings, and none of that fancy dark shit you keep pulling." She says taking up a stance.

"Of this, I am sad--I hoped to avoid conflict--but I reject loss." I say genuinely sad that I have to fight and also depleting my haiku comeback reserves.

   Without speaking again she lunges at me with her fist and I casually swerve to the left to avoid it, but she then uses her wings to bring a kick up into my stomach, knocking me away. I get up and ace a few dots on some pebbles around me before slinging them at her with telekinesis. The majority of these hit her softly in her wings since I'm merely trying to immobilize her. She then comes at me in another flurry of punches and I guard from them by blocking them with my left forearm. I bring my right fist up wards into her stomach which causes her to lay off her attack momentarily. I take advantage of this opening and I run forward to drive another fist into her stomach. Before I can connect she swerves to the right and brings her left elbow down onto my horn which cuts her lightly as she scrapes over the naturally sharp point. I distance myself from her and assume a stance to give me more dodging capabilities. I never thought I'd actually be thanking those thugs for trying to rob me every other day.

"Damn your horn is sharp. Twilight's is dull but yours is sharp as shit." She says rubbing the very small incision.

"I'm not sure how to respond to that; so whatever." I say keeping a sharp eye on her wings for any movement.

   I suddenly see a small ball of fire come past my face and I immediately begin bunny hopping around until I'm facing my attacker. I'm looking at a darker colored Pinkie Pie, whose hair has become completely strait, with an arsenal of fireworks on a belt around her body with strike pads strapped to the sleeves of her shirt and has another two bottle rockets at the ready. My god. I'm fucked at this rate. I dust myself off and then begin assessing my situation.

"Hey Pinkie. It's about time you showed up." Dash says taking a place by the pink pyromaniac who is meeting my stare with her own.

"I know Dashie. I just went home and got my fireworks. I'm gonna make this bitch burn for missing his party." She says inciting true fear out of me. I need to figure something out and get out of here.

   Noticing the larger fireworks on her belt, I quickly place two dots on the biggest two rockets and pull them from her belt. Before she can respond I take them both and strike them against her side pads and then I use the inversion spell to keep them confused while I use my magic to tie each respective firework to it's own leg on each mare. Dropping the inversion, I activate the quick step and run like an unholy frozen hell mongrel towards town. I hear something go off and turn around to see a torrent of multicolored lights exploding into the air. Oh yeah, Pinkie's entire belt had those on it. I hope they're alright, but in case they're not; I'm sorry.

   I run into the town, making sure to not run into any obvious traps, and I can see Thunderback doing a pretty good job of hiding himself in the clouds. As I walk into the center her glides down to me and greets me with a brofist.

"Aw shit. I saw those fireworks from here. We should be ok to sneak out of here now. Everypony will want to see what happened there." He says happily.

"Yeah, but I doubt it will distract Twilight and the others. We need to move while we can. Keep quiet and lets go." I say trying to cast a small light spell only to find my magic repelled. "Damnit, Twilight must have set up the inhibition field in town. This is bad we really need to get going now."

"You're a weird guy. You know that?" He says rhetorically.

"Yeah, come on." I say walking into a alleyway as he follows me in.

   We continue to walk along for a while heading towards the south road uninterrupted by any ponies, save for the group of three gossiping mares talking about the explosion and so we continue to work our way to the south road though the night's blanket.

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   We arrive at the southern road smoothly and decide to simply jog along it since the inhibitor field stretches slightly outside the towns' circumference. We keep up a good pace and decide to talk since neither one of us knew very much about the other.

"You're new in town aren't you?" Thunderback says slowing down slightly.

"Yeah. What gave it away?" I say matching his slower speed.

"Well, when I was explaining the dangers of this I mentioned Pinkie would be particularly angry and you didn't deny it. With that in mind, you most likely ran out on and ruined your welcome party."

"Does everypony get a welcome party?"

"Yeah, she's basically made it a tradition by this point." He says chuckling seemingly at the idea that a single pink mare could do such a thing.

"Something tells me she has too much time on her hands."

"With Pinkie Pie there are no securities besides shit and fans."

"Yeah those are the only ones, and you just met another set of 'em!" I hear the voice of a familiar mare say before Thunderback and I are thrown off into the dirt and then land next to each other. Damnit, I didn't want to try this spell on the fly but I better give it a try while I have a chance, I think connecting my hand with a boulder to my left.

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Thunderback's POV

Ahhh shit. Applejack got the jump on us, we'll be ok if we can get back up and try to lose her. Before I can run though, a butter yellow pegasus emerges from behind Applejack with a death stare directly aimed at Still and I. No. Not this. We can't win against that stare. It's a hell send. I look over to where Still landed to see him in a state not unlike my own with fear drowning his face.

"Eh, good job sugarcube. They won't be goin' nowhere anytime soon. Just keep em' there while I know them out." She says forming a fist and walk up to Still.

"Oh sure, um, ok." Fluttershy says focusing her stare more keenly on Still.

"Sorry about this." Applejack says before driving her fist into Still's face. "OH FUCK! WHAT THE HAY?!" I hear Applejack yell as her fist impacts a rock where Still previously was as a scarlet smoke floods out of it momentarily. What the hell? Where'd he go?

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Still's POV

Good. It worked. My spell to transform the rock into a mirror image of myself worked. While it could only take one hit before the magic veil ruptured, it worked perfectly for letting me get away, however, my body still hurts from that magical drain. Since was able to cast the spell and teleport to escape from their field of view to a position behind them, I can know slowly scare the two of them until I can get in behind Applejack and knock her out; if I do that Fluttershy's weak tolerance for scares should make her drop too.

From my vantage in the bushes, I activate the voice localizing spell and form the link between Applejack and myself. I then begin to silently talk through it to scare her, "Hey...Applejack... I'm right here.... Can't you find me?... Or maybe I'll find Fluttershy first."

"Show yourself you little filly, I am not afraid of some sneaky unicorn. You're not gonna get to me or Fluttershy." She yells furiously and turning towards Fluttershy.

"Umm, Applejack w-who are you talking to? What do you mean get us?" Fluttershy says with her fear eminent in her speech.

"It's that blasted unicorn. He's jus' messin' with us. Yeah, he's trying to trick us, scare us. He's-"

"Right behind you." I say before giving Applejack a knock to the head, causing her to fall to the ground unconscious as Fluttershy follows in suit after a small 'eep!'.

"Holy shit man. What was that?" Thunderback says standing back up relieved to be out of danger again.

"I noticed we were out of the inhibition field awhile ago and decided if we ran into anypony; I'd use my substitution spell mixed with my escape teleportation spell so I could slip away unnoticed and take them down. There wasn't too much to it in the realm of skill. For the most part shit just fell into my lap." I say with a shy smile while rolling the two unconscious body's off the road to help keep anypony from trailing us.

"Well either way, it was awesome. Now come on, we gotta get to where you were gaining before anypony else finds us." He says jogging off.

"Alright. By the by, why did you help me out anyway?"

"You looked like you were in some deep shit and I thought you looked like a badass. My last bro left town so I've needed a new one anyway." Huh. Shit really did just fall into my lap.

"Alright. What's your cutie mark for anyway?" I say brushing myself off again.

"I got mine for high speed flying; it's of two tribal style black wings. What about you?" He says looking at me.

"I won't lie to you. My cutie mark is for sneaking, stealing and assassinating." I say as we walk into the everfree.

"Whoa, nice bro. Wait. You live out here?" He says as we walk along my makeshift path.

"Yeah, it's not far off though. So you don't care about my cutie mark?"

"Nah. If you'd planed on doing something to me you could've done it while we were running. I trust you."

"Uh, well thanks."

"Nah, thank you. Tonight's been great fun and tomorrow is gonna be even more so." He says as we walk up to the entrance.

"Here it is." I say pulling my watch out to check the time, 10:46.

"That's it? That box thing is it?" He says hitting the side of it lightly.

"It's bigger on the inside. Trust me." I say; opening the moving the overgrowth from the door and opening it.

"Ah, it's underground. Nice." He says and I begin to climb down the ladder.

"It serves its purpose." I say stepping off the ladder.

"Still though, nopony should find us here." He says just jumping down the hole.

"Oh hello Still and Thunderback. You two should know not to keep a lady waiting." I hear the voice of a familiar white mare say. Oh shit...

"Oh shit..." Thunderback says as I meet Rarity's gaze from where she sits on the undocked davenport.

"I should've guessed it. So, are you going to try to take us back too?" I say rubbing the back of my head.

"Well actually, I wasn't planning on forcing you to go back." Huh?

"What do you mean?" I say looking at her inquisitively.

"I have no plans of making you go back, but you most likely will go back." She says gaining a smirk and standing up.

"How are going to convince us to go back when we just made it to safety?" Thunderback says propping one of his knees on the side docked couch.

"Well, I don't know about you, but something tells me I could get Still to go back relatively easily." She says batting her eyelashes at me. I see where this is going. "Still will you please go back to the party with me and not run away again. Please, after all it is a lady's request." This is what I get for being a gentlemanCOLT.

"Oh come on, it's not like he's gonna fall for that. Right Still?" He says giving me a cocky grin.

"Sorry Thunderback, but as a gentlecolt I cannot deny such a lady's request. I will humor your request, by my honor as a gentlecolt, Ms. Rarity." I say fixing my bow tie and giving a bow as Thunderback simply looks at me in shock.

"Thank you Still." Rarity says giving me a smile and a wink. I know how this must look to Thunderback, but a lady's request should be honored as long as the intention does not have ill-purpose.

"I have no comment. By the way, how did you know where Still lived Rarity?" Thunderback says rolling his green eyes.

"Oh, he mentioned he lived in the everfree near the border in a blue box. Since not many ponies knew this I figured he would come here. I simply went down the south road to the everfree and I noticed a small make shift path a little ways into the forest." She says simply.

"Ok, but why didn't you tell any of the others?" Thunderback replies bringing his knee off the sofa.

"Twilight was far too furious at you using such magic complacently to be reasonable, Pinkie was too depressed, Rainbow Dash was already half way to the roof, Applejack and Fluttershy had already left out the back to wait for you along the road some place and I had already figured all I would need to do is ask because it seemed like Still was too much of a gentlecolt to deny a lady's request." She says flaunting her mane slightly.

"And you were right." I say centering my necklace under my bow tie.

"So you'll be going then?" She says smiling and clasping her hands together. I've said it before and I will gladly repeat it. Confound these mares.

"Yes I'll go. What about you Thunderback, will you be going?" I say turning to him.

"Nah, sorry but I've got an image to keep up and hanging out with somepony like you would kill it. I'm gonna head back home, I'll see you around I guess. I'll be denying all claims of tonight and you two do the same." He says flying back up the hole and apparently leaving.

"What did he mean, 'he had an image to keep up'?" I say turning back to Rarity.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention, that one you just met, he's the local drug dealer." She says looking at me bluntly. WHAT?! What did he and Uefi NOT have in common?

"Huh, I'm glad he not going with us then."

"As am I. So, we were going?"

"Ah yes. Right this way Rarity." I say gesturing to the ladder.

"Thank you." She says as she begins to climb the ladder. I quickly turn away so I don't get falsely accused of trying to look up her skirt.

"Aww, and here I thought you thought I was gorgeous." She says laughing as she seems to of noticed why I turned away.

"Don't get me wrong Rarity, you're beautiful, but I'm a gentlecolt not a pervert." I say unmoving. Wait. Since when did I find ponies attractive? Then again, these ones aren't too far off from women on earth. I mean, they do have jigglies and stuff, they're just furrier.

"Well thank you. You can climb up now." She says in her usually dainty tone.

"Alright then." I say as I begin to climb the ladder.

   As I climb out I turn to see Rarity leaning against the box with what seems to be this places equivalent of a iPhone out as she seems to be texting.

"Whom were you talking to?" I say as she puts her phone away and I lock the door.

"Oh I was just telling Pinkie that the after party is still going to happen."

"After party? What do you mean?" I say as we begin to walk along.

"Yeah, because of your running away the time for us to mingle was exceeded so everypony had to 'officially' leave."

"I'm gonna guess there is still some ponies hiding in there and Pinkie as a way in." I say chuckling lightly as we exit the forest.

"Pretty much. It's been near a hour since everypony ran out so it's been long enough for them to think that nopony is coming back. We're still going to isolate it to the gym to be safe from any prying eyes and we always keep a few ponies as spotters for anypony moving too close." She says flaunting her mane once again.

"Something tells me this isn't the first time you've done this, nor has it always gone perfectly."

"With every plan anything can go wrong. You proved that tonight when we planned to surprise you." She says in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah I guess. How many ponies will be at the party anyway?"

"Besides the obvious ones, about 4, 1 of them being my sister, another Applejack's and I don't know much about the other, regardless they're just little fillies. They'll go ballistic about you being from some far off place, but for the most part keep to themselves." She says with a hint of dread and annoyance.

"Oh that's fine then, I like foals well enough." That is a lie. I hate most children. "Doesn't sound like a party though. Who is the forth?"

"That would be one Ms.VinylScratch, ponyville's self-proclaimed, and for the most part publicly proclaimed, queen of wubs. If there is a party at school you can expect her to be there taking care of the music. Her sister, Octavia, however, is a cellist, so she usually takes care of any more formal event around the school. How the two of them are twins will elude my existence forever." She says before laughing lightly. Hmm, dubstep or cello? On one hand I can't not dance to good dubstep and on the other I play the violin. Such a tedious conundrum.

"I'm going to guess her sister retired for the night after the events I caused."

"I'm not sure yet. Vinyl just said she'd try to convince her."

"Heh, there might be an actual party in this, if I'm not the only one who can dance to dubstep we could try a dance contest to fill the time or if Octavia comes I think a musical contest could be arranged for us." I say becoming none to enthused by my voice but a good bit in my head.

"You play an instrument?"

"The 'sonata' part of my name isn't for nothing. Stealth is like a musical art that when perfected can soothe any harsh pain of the world to a dull thin pain of meager importance, and I play the violin." I say trying to be deep and shit.

"O-oh, well ok then. I'll tell Vinyl about your being able to play then. It should be able to get Octavia to come; she also has a few violins if I'm correct." She says taking her phone out and sending off a quick text message.

"There's somepony for everything in this town, isn't there?" I say half sarcastically.

"Yeah, just about."

***********************************************************************************************

   As we enter the school's gymnasium, I can Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie and I also see a stark white unicorn with light and dark blue alternating streaks in her mane and tail; who is setting up some DJ equipment and is wearing a simple black tank top, black pants and a pair of purple shades with a cool relaxed smile on her face and a gray earth pony in a black dress and pink bow tie, who is setting up a cello near the white pony. VinylScratch and Octavia, those two are twins?

"Hell--No Dash, I'm friendl-" FUCK!

   I immediately find myself pinned to floor by Rainbow Dash with Applejack following close behind, with each one taking a side.

"Rarity did you forget to smooth this over with them?" I say calmly walking into the room as the fake erupts into scarlet smoke and then leaves a branch I had found outside. I'm glad I'm an avid reader.

"What the-- That trick again?" Applejack says, rushing to me and pushing me to the ground as follows in suit.

"No. Rarity told is what happened this is just payback for what you did to us before." Dash says punching me in the face.

"Yeah, and what's this whole 'I came back because it was a lady's request' bullshit? You let her take ya' back but not us. Why?" Applejack says as the rest of the ponies in the room just keep on enjoying the show.

"Well, if you want the truth Applejack; she was the only one who asked me to go back. If you, Fluttershy or Twilight had asked me to, I would've done the same." I say genuinely.

"What about Pinkie and I? Why wouldn't you of listened to us?" Dash says tightening her iron grip.

"I know nothing about Pinkie, except for that she's a potential pyromaniac, and you haven't really shown the qualities of a lady to me that the others have. This isn't to say you're not a lady, you're just not enough of one that I wouldn't challenge that request." I say teleporting from their grip to a position in front of them.

"W-well, if we're still a lady, why did you hit us? Don't gentlecolts have a problem with hitting ladies?" She says trying to find a flaw within my logic.

"A stallion that hits a lady unprovoked is scum, and to live as scum is no different from death. However, you all provoked me first by attacking me."

"Huuh- fine. I guess we did take it a small bit overboard, but you started it!" The polychromatic pegasus states with ferocity on the latter part.

"Fair enough. So what's the agenda?" I say walking over and joining the main group.

"First, Pinkie has some to say." Twilight says levitating a list in front of her,

"Ok then. What is it- OH MY GOD-!" I say as Pink fills my vision

"OHMYGOSH! YOU RAN AWAY AND THEN I WAS SAD AND I TRIED TO FRY YOUR SORRY ASS WITH FIREWORKS! THEN YOU TOOK MY 'OH SHIT IS ABOUT TO BLOWN THE FUCK AWAY' FIREWORKS AND BLEW IT UP THEN YOU JUST WALKED AWAY LIKE A BADASS AND IT WAS AWESOME! THEN TWILIGHT CAME AND FIXED DASH AND I UP BUT WE STILL WANTED TO GO FUCK YOUR SHIT UP, THEN RARITY TEXTED US AND TOLD US IT WAS OK SO WE STOPPED AND CAME BACK FOR THE PARTY!" Pinkie Pie exclaims in a slur of profanity and with a ungodly volume.

"Ok Pinkie, I get it, just stop making my ears wish deaths sweet kiss was pointed at them!" I say jumping backwards and clutching my ears.

"Oh, ok. She says and then does a cartwheel back to her spot.

"Ok. So what's the rest of the schedule?" I say, walking forward to my original spot  with the group.

"Next, we will have a test of musical prowess between Octavia, Vinyl and you, beginning with Octavia." Twilight says respectively.

"Ok then, is she ready to begin?" I say turning towards the gray pony.

"While I'd rather be sleeping, I will defend that I am the better musician indefinitely." She says as she strikes up her cello.

   After her piece is over a fair amount of cheers are let out, but I keep on clapping respectively.

"Thank you." The gray mare says nodding her head and moving to out her cell against a wall.

"Ok your up next Still. Don't disappoint; Octavia put a violin up on Vinyl's stage." Twilight says nodding to the stage.

"Ok then. Let's see if I can still trike up a tune." I say walking over to the stage.

   I walk up onto the makeshift stage and Vinyl gives me a slap in the back as she gets off of it. Seeing as the violin is of good quality and operable, I take it out and begin to set it up. After I teach a comfortable position on the metal folding chair, I begin to play a tune I had heard recently before getting my sorry ass sent to Equestria.

   After I finish, I receive a smaller amount of applause than Octavia did, but I expected that since I only played that thing just to say I could. After I step off, Vinyl takes up the stage and immediately begins to blare out the electronic music that isn't unlike that which was common to me one earth. The volume, however, is only slightly quieter than that of Pinkies yelling. She continues on for what must've been at least fifteen minutes before she finally stops and receives a amount of yells and applause that outgrew Octavia's amount near instantly. And I think I lost.

"Well, I was going to have us formally vote, but considering the circumstances I think we can skip that." Twilight says incinerating the ballot box that was being held within her magic.

"So what now?" I say as Octavia leaves without another word. I'm gonna go with she's angry.

"Hey sorry buddy, but I better go make sure she doesn't lose it. I'll see ya tomorrow and we can flak whenever." Vinyl says before quickly packing her equipment into a closet and running off after Octavia.

"Well, so much for talking to them." I say in a half sad half neutral mood.

   Turning around I see something I half expected. I see Twilight reading a book, Fluttershy is still in her corner that she ran to when Vinyl started playing, Rainbow Dash is giving me a death glare and Rarity and Applejack are feeding over proper fashion. I feel like I'm forgetting a few things.

"Wasn't there something else scheduled Twilight?" I say managing to get her to look up from her book for only a moment before she goes back to reading.

I can her whispering "5,4,3,2,1.." Oh shit...

   I can see three small fillies through the scarlet smog. They are now sitting in top of Twilights book, which I had made to mirror my image before I teleported, with looks of complete bewilderment. My legs hurt from the drain since making objects of a size smaller than me takes more magic, but I'm getting used it the drain.

"What the-- what happened?" A small orange pegasus with a purple mane says scratching her head while Twilight's eyes begin to twitch either from me using that magic again or from me messing up her book.

"Where'd he go?" A small yellow one with a pink mane that is in a bow says, poking the ground where I was.

"I don't know . Rarity did say he was sneaky, but he just avoided us left that weird fake him there." A silver coated unicorn with a two toned mane says handing Twilight her book which she gladly accepts and then resumes reading. I'm surprised they haven't looked behind themselves. I didn't exactly hide, I'm just standing behind them.

"It's a substitution spell I was given, and don't bother trying to learn it from any book. Any unicorn with the now ledge of it was terminated, I only know about it from a journal of spells willed to me by a relative." I say leaning my head in between them.

   I am then immediately kicked in my jaw by three small hooves near simultaneously, but I just keep smiling with my eyes closed. Just keep smiling. They're just children. They don't know about you yet. Resist the urge to attack.

"So, is that a hello?" I say opening an eye to look at them.

"Oh, are you my sister's friend?" The small unicorn pipes out. I like this one. She thinks the second after she is surprised to try and figure it out. The other two are probably coming up with some weird accusation.

"ARE YOU A SPY?" The orange one blurts out and RainbowDash gives an approving nod. Called it.

"Do you like apples?" The yellow says sniffing my breath. I like this one too. She's asking a logical question like the unicorn did, albeit less logical than the unicorns.

"Yes, No comment and yes." I say standing back up at my full height to see that Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie had left during the fray. "So, who are you three?" I calmly say while looking down at them with my pure black irises and pupils, eliciting a shake from the orange one, that is quickly replaced with one of bravado. It's like a little RainbowDash. And a look of awe from the white one. I think I can honestly say that's the first kid I've ever liked, myself included.

"Ah'm Applebloom." The earth pony sates cheerfully.

"I'm Scootaloo." The pegasus says indifferently.

"I'm SweetieBelle, and we are..." The unicorn says and they then take in deep breathes.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!" They scream in unison making my ears ring again. They're loud when they want to be

"Ow, that hurt a lot. So, I'm gonna guess you're all in some group dedicated to finding their cutie marks." I say noticing Rainbow Dash has left. Scootaloo also seems to have noticed because her face is more downtrodden.

"Yup. We go and do lots of stuff to find our special talents!" Applebloom says happily.

"So what was the last thing you did?" I ask preparing myself for an absurd answer.

"We tried to become fireponies by drenching the school house in gasoline and then trying to put it out." Scootaloo squeaks out cheerfully. Well, I wasn't prepared for that.

"Well, that is great. Just don't do it again. Isn't time to go home though?" I say pulling out my watch and checking the time, 1:24.

"Yes Sweetie, we've got to go." Rarity says walking over to Sweetie with Applejack following her.

"Yeah Applebloom we've gotta go." Applejack says putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Awwww. But we were gonna be cutie mark crusaders sneak thieves!!!" Sweetiebelle whines as the two older mares sigh.

"I'll take you three out some other time, ok? But right now I'm tired. What about you Scootaloo; who's taking you home?" I say respectively to them.

"Fine..." They all say in unison.

"RainbowDash is waiting outside for me." Scootaloo says happily.

"Ok then, I'm gonna head back now then." I say to them. "And one more thing," I say charging my teleportation spell, "boo." I then find myself back a my home and I vomit into the trash can next to me. I knew using all of that magic was gonna catch up to me.

   I go into my room and I lay down on the bed exhausted and ready for sleep to come to me. Something, however, tells me my night isn't going to be that simple.

Entities Within A Dream, Damned Be The Royal And A Scream To Pierce The Night. 12

   As I fall asleep, I feel the same kind of comfort from before, but it almost feels predatory. It's as if it is being forced on me rather than just being around me. The comfort then feels as though its flowing off of me and back into its source. What are these feelings? But more importantly, why do I feel them when I'm doing anything stealth related? After about ten minute of thinking, I decide to just sleep and hopefully whatever two things are making these feelings will try to induce a confrontation.

***********************************************************************************************

   After what I guess is about five hours of sleep a slightly familiar scene begins to form around me. The ground I am standing on holds all the properties of water, but yet I can stand on it as if the surface tension is invulnerable even though the water still ripples as I tap it with a hoof. A seemingly immeasurable amount of pillars rise out of the water slowly. The pillars go up about 75-100 meters before stopping as the blue tinted light from the water reflects off of them. Looking to my left I can see the same feline like silhouette about 120 meters off, but it seems more human than feline. I then turn to my right and see another silhouette resembling an alicorn but its wings almost seem to be made of a substance other than feathers because of their shape and how small pieces fall off gradually. Looks like they're back. A dual colored boulder then rises from the water with the scarlet half on the left and the sapphire half on the right. My soul; I like it here. Walking over to the boulder, I notice that it has become larger, but no more seals have been inscribed into the stone. Huh, I thought quick step might be here, it wasn't draining as much near the end of the chase. Maybe my magic reserve is growing?

"Hmmm, so now what?" I say looking around.

   The pillars around me then erupt into an explosion of scarlet and sapphire shaded sparks and fall against the pillars farther away from me; which thankfully held most of them in place, causing large ripples to go along the 'ground'. Quickly turning to my left, I see that the feline-like figure has left its pillar and turning to my right I ascertain a similar result. Damnit. What are they doing?

   I begin to hear feminine giggling around me but I cannot determine the actual direction of the sound or the distance it is from me. I quickly try to look around for some form of escape. While I could just run; they, most likely, could easily catch me. I run over to the base of one of the pillars that completely fell and climb on top of the base. I quickly bring up the seal for the light cancelation spell and I think of a circle around the circle of fallen pillars and I then wait for either of them to come for me.

   Away from me, I can see a blur going in all directions except significantly towards or away me and its going too fast for me to be able to make out it's shape. Looking down, I suddenly see ripples going past the pillar I'm on and colliding with the ones from the other figure's movements before they reach me. Then that means... Oh shit.

"Oh fuck!" I say turning quickly on my heel as a blurred scarlet figure goes past where my midsection previously was. And now time for one of my favorite spells.

   I try to push my magic into the seal, but I find it instantly repelled with massive force that I am unable to overcome. What the hell? My magic should work here. Why won't it work? Wait. Scarlet magic is the kind in that seal, half of that boulder is scarlet and that blur that went past was scarlet. So could it be that the figure that went past me has a grip on my magic?

"What? Did you think I'd let you use my own spell against me? While I'll admit it'd be a fun experience, I want to see how you work without it." I hear a familiar and mocking feminine voice say. Oh fuck; sometimes being right isn't worth it.

"Yeah, I guess it will be interesting. So, are you Hitsuki or Safaia?" I say while mentally preparing where I should run to.

"Hitsuki No Megami is my full name, but Hitsuki works fine." I hear her say from my left.

"Strange name for a strange individual, how quaint." I say respectively.

"I had strange parents. For them too simply be happy with calling me what it means would've been to easy for them". She says from behind me.

"I guess you're not going to tell me what it means." I say nonchalantly. I can't say I expected to find very much out tonight, but at least I have around five subjects to look into.

"Where would be the fun in that?"

"True. So how long have you been here?" I say;  keeping my eyes fixated on the ripples coming towards me.

"Only a few days. Before that we were just wandering around while trying to find a suitable host." I can hear her say from my right.

"Huh, it has been a strange existence for you then?"

"Quite." I hear her voice come from in front of me. Now.

   Taking advantage if their positions, I dash towards where Hitsuki had originally come from, but sadly none of the spells I try work. I dash along for awhile and I can hear Hitsuki saying something about how I interrupted her. After running for 20 or so meters, I decide that if I keep running down here they can find me from the ripples I'm emitting. I look upwards and notice that the pillars around here have a plethora of branch like structures coming off of them with the lowest ones being within my reach if I jump. I quickly jump upwards and manage to grasp one of the low hanging 'branches', which surprisingly does feel like wood. I pull myself up onto the structure and I immediately jump forwards and grab a 'branch' on the next level of them as the one I initially used to get up here snapped apart.

   I continue to climb closer to the top of the pillars as a thought crosses my mind. Shouldn't I of at least heard them by now? Considering how fast they made it to me prior to this I should've at least been confronted before I started climbing. That is unless...

"Well, hello there. I'm gonna guess you figured it out by now." I hear a familiar female voice say from behind me as I finish climbing to the top of a pillar.

"Damnit; I can't say I didn't expect this." I say standing up and turning to meet my supposed adversary.

When did my life start involving people like these? Standing across from me is a scarlet earth pony mare with a scarlet mane and body length low cut scarlet dress on; both resemble the hue of my scarlet magic perfectly. All of the fur up from her neck however is a stark white and she has a set of feline ears and a tail of the same kind. No other word but strange. Wait. Luna did mention that there were griffins in Equestria. Griffins are half lion. So could this be what a pony Griffin cross looks like?

"So what are you? Half griffin half pony?" I say evaluating my situation.

"Kind of. My mom, a changeling, didn't have many choices for a husband, so she went with my father, a griffin. Then after a few games of chess, a cheese desert and an early estrus here I am." She says with a smirk. What the hell is a changeling?

"All of that in mind. Now what?" I say and she then jumps at me and I dodge by jumping to a nearby pillar and I nearly fall back off of it.

"The game begins again." She says jumping back at me.

   I quickly jump from pillar to pillar in the same direction from when I had started running and it doesn't take long before I notice that she could easily catch to me if she wanted to. She's toying with me. I decide that the longer I keep up this chase the more exhausted I will be when she decides to get serious. I stop on the next pillar I get to and I throw a wild punch behind myself to where I think she is. Sadly my punch just goes straight through the air and I twirl around to see her on the pillar I had previously jumped onto.

"Is something wrong Still? I didn't expect you to stop so soon." She says with a grin and giggles quietly as if to herself.

"No. I but I know you're toying with me. If I had kept running there is no doubt I would become even more tired than I am and then you could simply over power me. If I stop here, however, I may be able to at least tire you enough to make my escape." I say while panting.

"He may be a loud one, but at least he knows his limits." I hear the voice of whom I remember to be Safaia say from behind me. This day just gets infinity better.

"Ah shut up Safaia; for you everypony is too loud." Hitsuki says as I turn around to meet my other potential adversary.

   The first thing to strike me is her wings. Rather than being made if feathers hers are made of a seemingly never ending fire. The insides of the wings are a stead yellow fire while the outer edges are a sickly inconsistent green with small green flames constantly falling from the wings and then disappearing steadily in the air. tearing my eyes from her wings I see that she is a sapphire coated alicorn(?) with a darker blue mane and tail combination and she is wearing a lighter blue hoodie and a pair of simple pants that hold the same color. Her mane is fairly short and strait and only serves the purpose to help frame her face. She bears a slightly annoyed expression and her yellow eyes seem to hint that she is off in some sort of daydream land.

"So; who're you?" I say meeting her uninterested gaze.

"The Corroded Sapphire Phoenix but Safaia works fine I guess." She says solemnly. Quite a strange lot these two are.

"Quite strange indeed. I'm going to guess you're a cross between a phoenix and a pony then?" I say while trying to think of a proper way out of this.

"Yes, but my mother, a pony, had a pony for a mother and a hydra for a father so sadly the conflicting blood lines of my father, a pure phoenix, and my grandfather caused my wings to be less beutiful and stable as a normal phoenix's would be."

"Wait. A hydra and a pony!? Isn't there a big size difference between those!?" I say: dumbfounded by the images flowing through my over active mind.

If you were to consider where Hitsuki and I are living and our family history, I think you could figure out that the regular laws of nature aren't going to apply." She says condescendingly while shifting her gaze upwards. And please be more quiet, you're annoying when you're loud.

"Yes, you've said that before. So; shall we get on with this game?" I say taking a half step backwards and turning so that I can see at least some of both of them.

"A fool running headstrong into his death; oh well, let's indulge him." Hitsuki says and I can see her move forwards and out of my peripheral vision.

   I jump onto the pillar in front of me and I then proceed to jump to a pillar on my left as Safaia lunges at me with the same unchanging expression. After regaining my footing, I leap towards her with one fist ready to punch her. My fist, however, never connects as she punches me on the chest with her own longer arm and I fall back down though the first layer of 'branches' and one of the near top 'branches' catches me. I've got a few options now; I could try to get back up there, I could try losing them through here or I can get back down on the ground. If I get back up there they'll just knock me back down of I try to fight, but running will be easier up there than in here.

   I quickly grab onto a branch above me and I vault up onto the edge of a pillar and I then slowly pull myself on to it. After standing up I look around and notice that neither of them are here. There's no way they went down after me. Where did they go?

"That is enough for now. This time was just to give you an idea of who we are. The next time won't be so sudden. It's not our intention to scare you, but that it was inevitable that we would this time. Just remember that this won't be the last time we meet." I can hear the voice of Hitsuki say from a direction I cannot seem to determine.

   My vision then fades into a soft white blur. This is much nicer than that violent black void.

***********************************************************************************************

   I open my eyes to find that I am still in my room and I slowly wipe my face off in a futile effort to calm myself. Deciding that I cannot make sense out of what just happened, I get up and check my watch after putting my necklace on but I find that the watches hands aren't moving at all and small dark purple sparks are coming off of the hands periodically. I quickly put my watch in the designated left vest pocket and clip the other end of the chain onto my left pants pocket. Forming an idea of what Is happening, I quickly run into the main room to see if my theory is correct. The wall clock is in the same state as my watch is with the times being froze in the exact same place. It seems Luna is coming. I know she's coming here because of those two but this time; so it can't be guaranteed she'll be happy or nice. I shouldn't take anymore than I already have on me, I'd rather not lose that book and if she's angry she'll most likely only worry about whether or not I have it so I doubt she'll look for it anywhere besides on my person.

   Deciding that running of any sort would be useless for the time being, I sit down on the davenport that runs along the wall and try to calm myself before a potentially bitchy ruler of the night comes for me. Yup; definitely fucked. Not even a minute after I sit down a torrent of dark purple air flows down from the ladder and small pieces of rock and plant fall down afterwards. Soon after a pony with a similar hue to the air that come prior to it falls down from the ladder wearing the same dress she had worn when we first met. This Princess Luna, both my beginning and my end, shall be the one to end it all for me.

"Luna." I say solemnly adverting my gaze from her.

"Quentin; or do you prefer your new name? StillSonata was it?" She says looking down upon me with a gaze of disgust and regret. I had no idea I was this much trouble.

"I'll keep the new name, thinking back it is the first one I ever actually lived with." I say truthfully while staring back at her gaze, but trying to break it with my own is impossible under these circumstances.

"So be it, it's not as if anypony will remember it in a few days." She replies while her left arm shifts slightly.

"And why would that be?" I respond evenly.

"You'll be gone. They'll think about you for a day or two but in the end they'll just give up and accept that you must've gone on somewhere else with your life." She says with a smirk.

"I hate it when I'm right. It's just not worth it sometimes," I say leaning back and scratching my shoulder, "but how do you plan to take me?" I say bringing up the escape teleportation seal in my head and hoping that my magic will work this time.

"Simple; like this." She says and her left arm comes forwards quickly with a metal clamp.

   The moment the clamp is attached to my horn I am filled with excruciating pain and the seal breaks apart in my mind and I scream out in pain. Using what little coordination I am left with I grasp the strange thing affixed to my horn but I find it unmoving.

"I must say I really hate using these old things, but we don't have any known material that can absorb magic and I can't use to inhibition field and time stop at the same time. So I'm afraid we'll have to use this old machine. This device will periodically send amounts electricity into you. The amount isn't lethal but it will hurt immensely and disrupt any magical current you're trying to summon." She says with a devious smirk. Damn her.

"S-so now what? You kill me and bury it all away as a failed experiment." I say as she binds my hands with thick cloth that I cannot break or wiggle free of.

"Not quite. You're going to tell me exactly what happened."

"And then?" I say as another jolt of pain goes throughout my body.

"You'll see, but first tell me what happened." She says and sits down on the couch opposite of me.

"I fell asleep feeling weird, woke up in my soul, a set of the pillars exploded, I was attacked by the two entities, I ran, climbed up the pillars, ran and fought for awhile, they said they were done for now and I woke up to find you stopped time." I say bluntly and rolling my eyes.

"That's all? Nothing else? Nothing about purpose or anything?" She says scanning my eyes.

"Besides tripping a few times and falling on my ass, that's it." I say as the clamp on my horn racks my body with another upset of electricity.

"Don't be an ass. You may not have chosen the situation you're in right now, but the consequences still fall on you."

"And what would those be?" I say meeting her icy glare.

"If what you said is true, and I know it is, I'm going to have you privately executed in the castle under the guise that you're a terrorist with information that could destroy the peace of Equestria. You'll be killed privately and nopony will know you're dead except for my sister, 12 guards that will execute you and me." She says smiling with outright glee. What a bitch.

"And what does your sister think of this?" I say trying to find a weak link in the plan.

"She doesn't think anything of it. She doesn't know that it's you. The only thing she'll know is that some random terrorist will be executed." She responds and gaze is lifted from me.

"You bitch." I say and she slaps me across the face.

"I told you not to use profanity. I don't care what you think. Those two inside of you; they make you an abomination. You're a disgrace to all existence. You're death will put a smile wider than Equestria on my face. You. Need. To. Die." She says staring at me in pure disgust.

***********************************************************************************************

   I awaken to find that I am now in a cell, or rather a cage, with my bonds and horn clamp still on. I immediately scan the room to see if I can figure out where I am. Two golden armoured pony's stand at the other end of the room next to a door and both of them are holding a golden spear in either if their hands. The rest of the room is barren save for a few barrels and candles.

"Hey, where am I?" I say shifting myself as well as I can to face them.

"The canterlot execution cell you cretin. I thought you would at least know that." One of the barks at me filled with anger. It seems that Luna has weaved her lies already.

"Really? I'll have to keep that in mind." I say and the guard who spoke to me leaves the room. "Where's he going?" I say, doing what I can to point at the door.

"He's going to tell the princesses you're up. It's time for an execution." He says walking over to my cell and unlocking it. Ah fuck.

***********************************************************************************************

   While I am about to be executed for simply existing under the guise of being a threat to peace, I cannot say that the throne room didn't impress me in the slightest. The room was needless to say huge; the walls were lined with stained glass windows that seemed to portray events of history. While white and gold isn't my thing, if the colors were to change to something darker I would probably love the rooms design. However it's still the room I'll die in; so I can't love it.

   In the center of the room stands a tall white alicorn mare whose attire seems to scream the word 'sun' from each of the suns depicted in the fabric, 11 earth pony guards  stand around her with spears in hand and Luna is standing beside the other alicorn, whom I'm going to guess is Celestia. Really feels welcoming; welcoming to my death that is.

The guard behind me walks me over to Celestia who then addresses me, "Hello my little pony. I'm trusting you know why you're here."

"Well that's a very dependent question." I reply as the guard behind me falls into formation with the other eleven.

"How so?"

"I could tell you the extremely unbelievable truth that I'm here for simply existing in a way that is apparently unacceptable or I could tell the the much more believable lie that I'm some sort of terrorist out for blood, blood and maybe a donut afterwards. Which would you prefer?" I say in an effort I know is futile to slip some doubt into Celestia's mind. I've made the resolution that I can't convince her in the position and I'm happy with that.

"I know which one of those is the truth. I have to raise the sun soon so I don't have time for this. Guards form your positions." She says flaunting an arm in an annoyed manner and the guards proceed to form a circle around me with each of their spears strait up towards the ceiling. "Anything you want to say before you die a traitor's death?"

"Yes; two things. What is a changeling?" I say remembering what Hitsuki had said.

"None important. What's the other thing?" She says without missing a beat, but her eyes betray her uneasiness with my question.

"Alright then. Could you please take these bindings off of my hands? They're chafing me." I say rubbing my hands against the restrictive bonds.

"Absolutely not. You're considered extremely dangerous and you're going to die anyway." She says replacing the anxiety in herself with anger.

"Cannot a man die with his hands free to his bidding?" I whisper under my breath. This seems to be it. Everything I've ever done; gone by my own breath. Uefi, you were my only friend and I respect who you are. The Uefi who left me was not the one that you were. I hope you would accept this if the chance arose.

Uefi, if you could see me now, would you be happy with my death?

"Ready you spears." Celestia barks at the guards who proceed to lower their spear points to about 6 centimeters from their faces.

Uefi, if you could see me now, would you be proud of whom I am?

"Raise your spears." I hear Luna's voice say and the the spear tips then rise up to my throat.

Uefi, if you could see me now, would you save me?

"Kill him."

   I instinctively crouch down in an attempt to avoid the spears before they are pushed back towards and though me. The effort thankfully worked to keep them away from my neck; however they hit my forehead and induce excruciating pain due to their proximity to my horn. Thankfully though a natural armor seems to have strangely formed around and on my horn. I, however, do not have anytime to revel in my extreme luck as the guards have already reformed their formation around me. As I see the spear in front of me move closer, I do what has become natural and immediately use my escape teleport to leave the circle of guards.

   I appear outside of the circle of guards entirely surprised that my spell wasn't block by the collar. What? I immediately throw my hand up to my still sore horn to realize that the impact of the spears must've shattered the clamp on my horn. I cannot bask in my luck however as the royal guards live up to their status and immediately charge me head on. I haphazardly turn around and run past a still slightly dazed Celestia and an obviously pissed off Luna, both of whom then take up the chase after me as I run towards the end of the room.

   Somehow manage to outrun the guards, I make it to the end of the room which is just a glass window meant to allow sunlight on the throne. Shit.

"Form a circle around him." I hear one of the random guards say.

Uefi, if you could see me now, I know you would be happy with who I am.

"Arm you spears idiots; we have to kill him."

Uefi, if you could see me now, I know you would be proud of my actions.

"On my count; 3. 2. 1!"

Uefi, if you could see me now, I know you would help me, but you cannot see me and thus I will do it myself!

I jump head first through the window and turn around to see the confused guards and a yelling Luna to whom I reply, "In the words of my friend, 'Damned be the royal'," and with that I begin to plummet.

OH SHIT! NOPONY MENTIONED THIS FUCKING PLACE WAS HANGING OVER A CLIFF! I gain speed from my falling quickly and my mind is in to big if a panic to conjure a spell to help me.  Oh well... I died by my hands not theirs; that will have to suffice. I watch as the ground becomes closer and closer to me and I have to close my eyes from the speed at which I'm moving downward. I am content to die, but I wish to live another day. Please grant me it. With my final thoughts stored away I wait for the grounds hard embrace and I scream at the night.

A Quest For Home And Scream Of Change. 13

"Dispatch a squad of guards to the bottom of the cliff and search for him. I want his body found and I want a group of 100 guards, including the guard captain, dispatched to ponyville and another 15 guards put up around an address that I will supply to those brought forth to me. Have them stay in the town for 2 days after arriving to ensure that he has no plans on returning. Send a sketch artist and a scribe to me so that we can make pictures of that brute; I then want a copy sent to every guard post in Equestria. Go!" Luna shouts at the remaining guards in the room before storming off towards the dining hall.

"Luna, don't you think that's a little too extreme for one unicorn. After all, there is no way he could've survived that fall." Celestia says calling after her sister.

"Trust me dear sister; since to deals with him, you're lucky I'm not sending all of our soldiers to search for him.

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What the hell? Where's the fire death zone? I should be dead; shouldn't I?

   I open my eyes and see the cliff face glowingly the sun's radiance a small distance away covered in moss and vines. Looking behind myself I see that I am leaning against a fairly wide and tall tree and I think I am in some part of the everfree due to the familiar sounds and smells. Shouldn't I be dead now?

   I remember the events of the fall but nothing comes to mind that could've saved me. Well, there's no use in trying to figure this out. Luna won't let this slide so I need to move out before she starts to send pegasi after me. I stand up and dust myself off while keeping my eyes towards the castle to ensure that no pegasi sneak up on me. I reach up to my forehead to scratch my forehead and to help relieve some stress. For the second time since I've arrived here; that action held the opposite affect.

"Oh fuck." I whisper being mindful of my situation.

   The back of my left hand is covered by a rough plating of a midnight black coloured exoskeleton of sorts that is riddled with small deep holes. What the hell happened to me? What could've done this? I flex my fingers and find that despite the holes being in places that should be impeding my ability to use them; they work just as well as they did before. What the hell?

   I decide to look into it later when I actually have an idea of what exactly has happened. I check my watch to make sure it still works which it does with the time stating 5:47. Next I check to make sure my necklace is still affixed around my neck and thankfully it is even though my expectations were that it had fallen off and broken during my descent. I turn around to check my back for anything strange and I notice something strange not on my back but rather where my back had been against the tree.

   Against the back of the tree are two huge burn marks is the rough shape of wings about 15cm longer than my back. I walk over and look at them wondering how these got here. Hmm. It's like some kind of bird with wings of fire sat against it. Wait; that would be a phoenix. From what I can see there aren't any phoenixes around here and those marks are exactly where my back was against the tree. Wait; Safaia said something about her being a phoenix, if that's so then... Oh shit; did I fly? If there aren't any phoenixes around here then the only thing I can assume is that those two inside of me did something to help me and if that's true it could mean that these holes in my hand are from Hitsuki's origins.

"Huh, I'm jumping to too many random conclusions but if it was you two, thank you. You really saved my ass there." I say humbly.

   Planning time. First; I need to distance myself from here and find a road. Second; I need to figure out which direction ponyville is in and walk through the everfree towards it so I can retrieve that book and change my clothes. Third; I need to get any books on changelings I can from the library at night since I'm almost certain Luna will be sending guards there to catch me. When did I become such a clear thinker?

   I come to the decision that walking along the perimeter of the cliff will probably get me to a road much faster than walking through a mostly unpopulated forest. I start off in a sprint to distance myself as quickly as possible from the area where I fell. I remember seeing canterlot quite far from ponyville so I can guess it could only be about 8 hours away if I ran and about 10 or so if I walk, both of these assuming that it's a nice flat walk.

   After running for about 15 or so minutes I come across a path heading in what I can guess is the general direction of ponyville. To keep up at least a slight factor of stealth I decide to walk through the everfree, but to stay close enough to the path that I can watch and follow it.

***********************************************************************************************

   After a rough 12 hours of walking through the forest I begin to notice a few odd things. Previously when I had walked into the forest the animals would scurry away from me out of fear. However in this case the smaller creatures are actually running towards me. While small animals such as rabbits may not seem odd, some of these small creatures confuse me. I can no longer honestly say that I've never seen a half chicken half wyvern run away in fright or that I still think this place is safe. As I'm walking I notice carcasses of deer being devoured by vultures and maggots.

   Where I am is not an easy place to walk, or rather climb, though. Since the sun is nearly set there is a minimal amount of light outside of the forest but even less inside of the dense canopy of vines and branches. The roots of the tree where I am are simply astounding in their size and they rise out of the ground about a meter or so. As if to give me an even worse time I am on a hill that rises at about a 35 degree angle so in addition to having to walk around on top of the roots I cannot stand with great balance or composure.

   I decide to take a break due to my exhaustion and hunger and I sit down with my back against the tree and my legs sit on the tangled roots. The exhaustion isn't bad but the hunger and constant fear are what have really gotten to me. While I have dealt with my own share of stress the stress of being chased by the royal guard is on a completely different tier of mental pressure. My clothes were torn asunder early on by a large collection of thorns and I'll most likely discard this set after I get my other pairs back. I feel bad about getting rid of what was once a fine piece of clothing but at this point it has been rendered beyond use and if any fashion respecting pony saw me wearing this set I'd most definitely get my ass chewed out.

"MOTHER FUCKER!" I scream as pain shoots through the palm of my left hand.

   I look down immediately and I am met with a very scary and awkward sight. A growling wolf's head has grown out of the tree and bit into my hand. The large fangs couldn't penetrate the new plating on the back of my hand. The lower set of teeth got through my skin but was thankfully impeded by the underside of the plating and didn't get deep enough to cause any bleeding. Two large predatory yellow eyes are affixed to the head and the large twisted fangs with what seems to be sap coating and flowing down the fangs complete the ghastly image of this unforeseen and vicious predator.

   I manage to rip my hand away and I fall over the roots of the trees until I manage to regain some footing. I stare at the strange head affixed to the tree.

"What the hell?" I say as something I never expected to happen occurs.

   A full body wooden wolf walks out of the tree and growls at me loudly and scratches its sap coated wooden claw against the vines. Immediately after this 7 others sink out of the trees and come up through the roots behind the first one. A pack; how quaint.

   Three of the wolves rush forwards at me with incredible speed and instinctual determination. I immediately try to use my light cancelation over the surrounding area but I find the seal in my mind to be filled with a feeling of hostility and a dark gray colour. To my delight, before they can reach me, I manage to bring up a telekinetic grip on the lose branches and roots to bring up a shield about 10m from me. Through the holes I can see the wolves jump directly into my shield, but, to my disgust, they simply flow through the branches and keep up their sprint. Damnit; they just go through wood and my cancelation spell won't work; I can't use any of the materials around here to fight with.

   Before the three wolves can reach me I jump out of the way before they can pounce on me. I use the escape teleportation on instinct and I end up behind the three that ran at me. I kick the center one out of the way and I grab the other two by the rough bark of their necks and throw them back at the main group. To my disadvantage the center one simply merged into the roots and I have no way of knowing where it went and the other two have done the same. Rather than trying to win such a one sided fight I quickly activate the speed step spell and I dash off as quickly as I can up the hill toward where I know ponyville is. Don't judge me. I'm a thief at heart so it's only natural that I'd run from a fight. I may be a 'gentleman/colt' but I'm not some sort of knight. I look over my shoulder after I get over the apex of the hill to see the the pack of wooden wolves are still following me and going slightly faster than I am. I am able to increase my speed though since the ground is no longer littered with roots and I nearly trip multiple times. I finally trip and roll out into an open field of grass and I throw up and look towards the woods to see that the wolves stopped on the edge of the tree line with their yellow eyes gleaming with annoyance. We continue to glare at each other until they slowly turn around and run off back up the hill.

"Well that was fun as fuck. See you later assholes." I say before standing up and spitting out the remnants of vomit in my mouth.

    I look at my left hand's palm and see 6 holes through the skin which aren't deep enough to bleed and are filled with the colour of my exoskeleton-like plating. It's durable, good. I sit there for a few minutes trying to think of any various reasons as to why my spell for light cancelation failed but yet the others worked.

"It just felt so... impure and repulsive. I couldn't feed any magic into it and it almost hurt just to think of. I don't have that repressor on my horn anymore so my magic should be unrestricted. Why didn't it work?" I say aloud for the same of just hearing something semi-pleasant.

   I turn back around to the open field behind me to see that I have arrived at the outskirts of ponyville. However, the sight it not as pleasant as I had hoped because I can count at least 8 golden blobs from where I am. Damnit; I didn't beat the guards here. I half expected that though, they were able to use the roads and fly. I had to walk through a forest of death. I take out my watch and kneel on the ground to check the time which is now 6:30 p.m. or rather to fit my own liking 1830. I can tell it will be dark soon from the already darkening sky and that I can no longer, or rather I still cannot, see the sun. I won't be able to see in the forest after dark and it will be harder for the guards to see me then, but I doubt Luna left that place unguarded. Still it's my best bet at getting the things I need in the most efficient way and from the looks of it the guards have the town on a strict lockdown. Getting in at night still won't be easy since they'll most likely have some torches up but it's much easier to see a dark gray silhouette moving through a green field at sunset than it is to see a dark gray silhouette at night moving through a blackened field. I think before creeping back off into the woods where thankfully none of the previous wolves attack me. Now to make my way home. I kind of like this sneaky life style.

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A Screaming Stare And A Reclamation Of Knowledge. 14

   Celestia scurries around the castle in search of the group of guards that Luna had chosen. I trust my sister, but these measures are too high and what that unicorn said bothered me, "I could tell you the extremely unbelievable truth that I'm here for simply existing in a way that is apparently unacceptable or I could tell the much more believable lie that I'm some sort of terrorist out for blood, blood and maybe a donut afterwards. Which would you prefer?." What does he mean by existing in a way that is unacceptable and why was Luna's case against him so blunt, it only gave the detail that he knew of something that could topple equestria. While this could become a major problem line did refrain from saying what the something was and how he acquired it. More so than that, her report didn't give any detail as to his other background information. I simply choose to execute him because of Luna's urgency. I still can't get over what he said though. Either way I'd like to see how this develops.

***********************************************************************************************

   Somehow I am able to find my way back to the area around my home; or rather what was my home. Granted the group of guards I saw walking into the forest did help. I expected the mobile guards to actually wear a more concealing version of armor and have coats to help fit their position but they wear the same golden armor and all have the same white fur. How boring. The sun has already set behind the hills and a crescent moon has taken to the sky with a shattered glory. An insignificant moth flies past my face as I walk along behind the guards with my path lit by the subtle illumination from their light spells. The clatter of their armour overcomes the sounds of my soft footsteps as I follow them from a safe distance. The occasional sounds of owls and nightingales pass through the clear night as a dulled and disgraceful view of stars hangs over the sky.

   As we reach my home I begin to turn off to the left so I might have a chance of sneaking behind them. While there are only 3 guards and I may have a chance of actually taking them down if I go for one guard at a time; that wouldn't work because I don't plan on killing anypony yet so after they wake up or free themselves they would report back to Luna and she would know where I am. I have to stay complete undetected; this is going to be shitty.

   I don't think of myself to be good at this stuff by any means yet, but this company that was sent after me is even worse. While I may not know the training they went through or the most proper way to form a watch around a box, these three simply stand right next to each other in front of it facing ponyville. You'd think that they'd at least face different directions.

"I wasn't expecting much from my first mission, but standing in front of a box for two days is bullshit," I hear one of the guards sigh in a dropper than normal voice.

"We are just grunts. We can't expect anything stellar from our first assignment." I hear another guard reply in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Yeah, but still I wanted something where I would actually see somepony besides the other guards every once in a while.

"True, it'd be nice if somepony was the actually come along every now and again." Replayed a third voice from the guard that had been silent until prior. They want somepony to interact with? Since they're all leaning against the door there is no way I can get in without doing something to them. That one said they were new so I should be able to trick them fairly easily if I can actually be convincing. It is time to play a fun little card.

"Why hello my good fellows. Would that happen to be the place?" I say gaily after I trip out of the scenery.

"Hey! Who are you?" The center guard yells at me while raising his spear.

"Oh, me? I'm the inspector." I say while hiding my left hand behind my back.

"We weren't told of any inspector."  The one on the left says while shifting his position.

"Well you're just a little grunt my friend. These things are left to the higher ups. I'm here to go in there and inspect; you're here to guard it from bad ponies or whatever it is you ponies look for these days. Forgive me for being blunt but know your place." I say continuing my jolly advance.

"Sir, I'm sorry but we are under orders to not allow anypony into this place so could you please leave." He replies instantaneously.

"Well, I guess you could turn my away, but just remember I outrank you and I was given a direct order from the princesses to inspect that home for terror devices. If you turn me away I'll have to report it." I say jauntily.

"Forgive us for not believing you, but you look like some sort of bum off the road." The center guard says accusingly while chuckling quietly. "As if we'd think a high ranking officer would look or sound like you do."

"Well sir, I will have you know that I ran into a bout of bad luck. You see, I was attacked by a group of wolves, the wooden ones? They're made of wood and they go in and out of wood. Nasty little things they are. Oh and the thorns! Now as for my manner of speaking, old sport. I've been doing this for quite a long time. When you do this for as long as I have you begin to act like this. On the inside I'm as serious as I can be; on the outside I seem crazy. I used to be so serious that it'd be impossible to socialize with ponies because of it. So I started having some fun with my life old sport." I say while keeping on a wide smile and I then advance a few more steps.

"Well if you've been doing this for so long; why do you look younger than us?" The one on the left says steadily.

"Sir for a stallion in my position to not know a few disguise spells would be a disgrace. Do you know who I am?" I say, growing in fake excitement.

"Who are you then?" The one on the right questions.

"Leader of fifth branch of the special concealment division, Silver Soliloquy." I say completing the general idea of my new persona and a bright green flash comes over my eyes for a moment and I feel a slight temperature rise in my face. Odd; what was that?

"Oh sorry sir, we didn't realize that it was you. Forgive us sir." They all say in unison while dropping their spears. What the hell? Where is the opposition? Why aren't they fighting what I'm saying anymore?

"Wait; why do you believe me?" I say dumbfounded.

"Why shouldn't we? You're the commander of one of the stealth divisions. Although I don't remember there being a fifth branch of the concealment division it makes perfect that a man of your position would come here." The center one replies casually.

"So even though you have no reason to believe me; you trust me?" I say while cocking my head.

"Yes sir Silver Soliloquy."

"Ah yes about that, please forgive me but that name is simply a bother, I honestly don't know why it was given to me; I really do love cauliflower. Regardless, please just call me S.S." I say deciding to go along with the ruse I've begun.

"Oh yes sir. Do you have any questions?" The one on the left inquires lazily.

"Yes I do. I thought there would be more guards here." I say while closing the distance between myself and their group.

"The original plan was to have fifteen advanced concealment guards take care of guarding this place but enforce they could leave Celestia stopped them and grabbed us, fresh graduates, from the barracks. Though our squad was rather unimpressive compared to the original squad she told us that it would be a simple mission." The one on the right, who I am now going to call onion, says in a reminiscent manner. Wait; Celestia would've known where that squad was heading so why did she help me?

"Do you have any idea why she may have done this?"

"Not really; forgive us but it's not our job to ask why." The center one, who I now deem to be carrot, responds.

"Yes, well thank you for realizing who I am. Now could you please move so I can proceed with my inspection?" I say and they then move aside. "Thank you; now return to guarding while I investigate here." I say appreciatively before descending.

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   I cannot find the light switch on the dark room so I resort to activating my light spell which illuminates the area in its cerulean glow. The place seems to be in the same condition as I had left it in. I take off my necklace and pocket watch and set them on the arm of the undocked couch before I take off the tattered remains of my vest. I walk into my room and I throw the vest onto my shoulder after finding and flipping the lights on in the room. My room seems to have been entered recently because I don't remember having ever picked up the clothes which I had laid on the floor the day before. I wonder who was here.

   I notice something small and white adorning the top of the bookshelf and I take it off to see what it is. The object seems to be a small letter of sorts with a small strand of red fabric tied in a knot around it.

"A letter, for little ol' me?" I say trying to imitate the southern accent of a certain orange mare while trying to calm myself down with humor before opening the letter.

                     Dear S.S.,

             Sorry for contacting you in such a way, but I hadn't seen you in the last two days, since the party. I was meaning to ask you a few things about your history, but I couldn't find you in town so I decided to come here to look for you. Being as you weren't here I was somewhat worried, but I thought you might've been off finishing some kind of legal issue with your arrangements. After I came back today, or more rather the day after the party, I came with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. After picking up the mess in your room and moving it into the back room Dash and I spent 2 hours trying to keep Twilight from your book. While I will say I thought your saying that it had every stealth spell was a lie; I must say it surprised me to find you weren't lying. You should really keep that book safer considering its contents. Being as you still weren't here I felt leaving a letter would be more appropriate than checking back every day. Whenever you find this letter please come by the boutique sometime so we can talk.

                                                                                                                                       Ever waiting, Rarity.

Well it's nice to know that at least three people don't want to kill me on sight and if Rarity wants to talk with me I might as well kill two birds with one stone and get gloves from her. I set the letter back down and I notice a small arrow in the bottom left corner of the paper pointing downward. I flip the paper over and I see two small sets of text with adorned by its own P.S. acronym.

             P.S. Rainbow's addendum (Twilight said I should use bigger words [It won't happen]),

Hey I just wanted to say a few things. First of all you need a better hobby than reading some old book, try being more social when you're with ponies. Second; I like your wardrobe. Third; Rarity wants you. Sorry she made me cross it out.

                                                                                                                           PASSION IS POWER, R.D.

'Somehow I can't say I didn't expect somepony like her to say that' I think as a small smile creeps onto my face. At least something is letting my calm down.

             P.P.S. Twilight's addendum,

I. Will. Get. That. Book. Also my brother is coming to town for a few days so lay off the spells for a bit. If he knew we had a resident assassin/thief cutie marked pony, who I just happen to be friends with, around he would set out to  kill you, imprison you or make you leave.

                                                                                                                                       Keep reading, T.S.

'Oh if only she knew how right she is about her brother' I think before removing the rest of my tattered 'clothes' and moving towards the bathroom after grabbing a new set. I need to clean off.

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   I exit the bath room into my room or perhaps old room would be more appropriate being as I most likely won't be returning. I take a look around the room to ensure that I won't need anything else. It would be in my best interest to not leave that letter here. If those two princesses catch wind of this the safety of my new acquaintances may be at risk. What a funny word that is, acquaintances. If they had it their way I'd call them friends, but I don't know them well enough for anything else. So besides that all I need to grab is my book and a change of clothes. I grab the book off of its place on the shelf and the letter with my levitation and I guide them onto the bed while I check something.

"If Luna suspected me of something from the beginning then why did she give me that book from Silent? She also avoided my questions regarding two subjects, Starswirl and those two entities. Normally I'd let this pass bit two things interest me. The first is that Hitsuki and Safaia both talked and interacted with me. They weren't just scenery like Luna had said. The second is how Starswirl died. If he was as great of a wizard as Luna said he was then he would've been constraints while he was in prison for his insanity. There would be no way for him to kill himself with magic since I can almost guarantee that he had a horn collar on and that they wouldn't give him any potential deadly objects. So there would be no way for him to commit suicide. Luna was willing to kill me immediately after I had interacted with Hitsuki and Safaia. So while it may be a long shot there might be a relation between Starswirl's death and these two inside of me." I say out loud while scrolling through various titles of books ranging from caterpillar anatomy to the aerodynamic qualities of leaves.

   I eventually find what I'm looking for, an old extremely worn book without a title. I flip through the first few pages to a page with the words Day 1: First Visions. I close the book and put it into my right pants pocket and I the put my spell book into its respective place before exiting my old home. I can't waste time here. I'll read it later.

"Oh hello sir." One of the guards says as I open the door.

"Ah yes, hello....um" I say, realizing I don't know their names.

"It's CrimsonSpear, sir. This is BlackEdge and this is CrackedHilt." He says gesturing to the guard on his right and then to the guard on his left in their respective order.

"Ah yes thank you. Now if you'll excuse me I must be off," I say walking ahead," keep on guarding.

"Um sir, where do you get those clothes?" I hear Crimson call from behind me.

"Turns out the chap who lived here had good taste so I borrowed some." I say before dashing off. I've got some friends to meet.

A Scream Suppressed By Shock And Wanting Souls. 15

   After checking behind my back at least fifteen times to ensure that none of those guards and decided to follow me I finally made it to the outskirts of town, not to far from where the guards were patrolling. Thankfully none of the guards have seen me most likely due to the low light level where I am.

   From what I can make out there are four or five unicorns patrolling and another 3 or so pegasi keeping watch from above. I can't afford to just stroll up like I did before. Those three were a fluke and there is no way I would be able to move around as freely as I'd like to if they were to know I'm there. I need a more permanent solution to the problem with my hand that won't seem suspicious.

   While getting past the unicorns alone may not be too difficult, the pegasi above have a wider view and could see me slipping through the holes in their guard. I guess this wouldn't be a huge problem if I didn't have to worry about getting to certain places in town, but I have to get to the library and I need to 'acquire' some gloves from the boutique.

   Thinking about it now I could just go along the road for awhile until I find another town and get what I need there, but I ave my own suspicions that Luna would've informed other towns of my existence and features. If I remember correctly this portion of town was a bit more like a recreational district rather than a residential area; so I may be able to go through the buildings without being found. The problem with that is that the windows of these buildings will most likely be locked and I can't afford for them to hear a window being broken or for somepony to inform them if the shattered windows in the area.

   The constant sound of water flowing nearby begins to annoy me as I try to think of a way to get past these guards. Wait; there aren't any steams here and it isn't raining. Why is water flowing? I move towards the sound slowly as to not arouse suspicion and I come to find a drain pipe with a small stream of water flowing out of it and stopping a few moments later. A sewage pipe; no the smell isn't very rancid. I guess that it's some form of drain pipe. If a drain pipe is ending here then there is a chance it might end in the town.

   The hole isn't very large but I guess that I could crawl through it. With the way it seems testing this may not be the worst option. I guess this is the best thing I can try for now. At least it's not a sewage pipe.

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     I sit down against one of the cold stone walls of the alleyway I found myself within after getting out of that damnable drain. I crawled through that drain for about 50 minutes before it ended on the side of a alley where I had to fit through a grate that isn't very much wider than the pipe itself. Needless to say I may have the makings of a contortionist.

   From what I can see I'm only just inside the town, but I think I'll be fine as far being spotted goes. However this doesn't extinguish the flames of my newest problem, a web. A purple web-like structure is forming a dome over the town. I can only guess that this is a spell put up by the guards to keep the citizens from leaving or rather to keep somepony like myself inside. I take a few deep breathes to calm my somewhat frantic mind. Just put it aside for now. I can scream about this later; for now I have things to do.

   I stand up and dust myself off before walking towards the center of town where I know the boutique is. I check both directions of the street before crossing it to ensure that I don't encounter any guards or townsponies. I take up a small jog as I move through the small alleyways in between the various businesses. As I come to the next street I stop to look for by guards and to my displeasure a group of two guards happen to be coming towards me. I take a low position and move back a little ways from the edge of the street before stopping to wait for them to pass by.

"I still don't completely understand this alert level. It makes since to put up a guard here after a prisoner like that escaping, but for the captain to have to put up this interdiction shield; it seems like things are going to far." I hear one of them say before they come into view,

"Yeah, it does seem like a good bit of overkill, but we'll only be here a few days. Besides we need to tell everypony to meet up in the center of town before the spell falls." The second one says before they leave my line of sight.

"True: it'd be bad if we let the spell drop for too long." I barely hear the other one say.

This might be my way out of here. If the spell drops while all of the guards are in the center if town I might have a chance to slip out, but first I need to finish what I have to do. I stand up and take it my watch to check the time, 23:56; I can only guess I have an hour at the most to finish and make my way to the border of the ***************************************************************************************

   I slowly open the door to the boutique and peek my head inside to make sure that nopony is inside. After confirming that nopony is in the main room I slowly crawl through the doorway and close it behind me. I activate a very dim light spell so that I can be see what is in front of my while hopefully keeping the light from leaking out the window and causing suspicion.

I won't be able to find anything in time like this. I'll have to move upstairs so I can broaden my light field. Hopefully they will have some kind of storage up there.

   I head towards where I had seen a staircase during my first visit and I begin going up the lumping spiral cautiously. Upon my arrival to the upper floor I slightly raise the brightness of my spell and move down the hallway. I see a total of three doors ahead of me. I figure the best option would be to to check them all one at a time.

   I creep up to the first door as silently as I can and I move my left hand subconsciously behind my back. I open the door slowly and crouch-walk my way into the room; that was when it hit me.

"What the hell?" I quietly groan while bringing my left hand over my head in both pain and to hopefully block the direct force of a potential second impact.

   I look up over my arm to see a panting white unicorn mare. Damnit Rarity; why'd you have to be here at a time such as this? She stops panting for a moment and looks me over for a moment before gaining a light smile and exhaling as if relieved.

"Oh thank Celestia it's you. I was thinking you were some kind of---" She says before her eyes wander down to my left hand again. Well.....Shit.

   I lung upwards and plant the palm of my left hand onto her mouth before she can elicit a scream directly into the open air. A stream of muffled grunts come through my hand while I place my right hand behind her back to keep her from falling over; consequently my entire body broke the rule of personal space as a result. Nice job; now you look like a creep.

"Rarity; it's me, StillSonata, I know my hand looks... off, but I have an explanation for that. Now if I remove my hand will you scream?" I say while preparing myself for what I'm about to do.

"Grff." She shakes her head no.

"Ok, but don't make a fool of me." I say before I begin to lift my hand.

"WHY IS YO---" I then block off her mouth with one of my only unused instruments that I feel has a good chance of at least dumbfounding her.

   Needless to say I never had any major intention to kiss a pony and those intentions were ever lower given my current circumstances, but I cannot truly say I hated the experience as a whole nor can I truly say that this tactic had a good likelihood of working or that I've done anything like this before.

"Are you better now?" I say after removing my lips from hers and running a hand through my hair mane.

"Wait; did you just..." She says while her face seems to say that her mind is having quite a time processing this. Really? I expected more from you Rarity. My goal wasn't to dumbfound you; it was to get you yelling about me kissing you so if anypony did hear is they would hopefully think it was a lovers quarrel. Maybe I should've taken what Dash wrote more seriously...

"Yes I did, but please stop yelling. I have a mediocre explanation for my hand and why I snuck in." I say in a hushed to tone while stepping back looking her over to be sure I didn't hurt her at all.

"What are you doing here anyway?" She says after a few minutes of blank staring.

"Well as you saw my left hand has fallen into a... disarray of sorts. I needed a pair of gloves to cover it up so I'm not scaring ponies. You get that right?" I say while looking around the room.

   I guess that I've gone into Rarity's inspiration room. Various fabrics lay around the room in a disarray while four sewing machines each one with it's own article of clothing, a small single pers pony bed sits in the back left corner with a dresser next to it.. I expected something more orderly, but I guess everypony has a guilty pleasure or two.

"Yes, but that gives you no right to kiss me like that!" She says as an expression of rage comes over her face.

"First of all; I said not to scream. Second; was I really that bad at it? It was my first time, but to think it was that unenjoyable makes me a little sad." I say while mostly trying to calm the somewhat tense atmosphere.

"Well either way how am I supposed to react to somepony sneaking into my room at midnight and what about that... Stuff on your hand. You look like you're part changeling." So I was right about this being a changeling thing?

"Yeah... Turns out you might be right about that. Also, why'd you avoid my second question?" I say and she gains a bashful expression and I imagine a blush has formed somewhere on her cheeks. This is much easier than I anticipated. "So about those gloves?"

"Don't try to change the subject! You can't just sneak into the store at night find me up here and say you're part changeling and expect me to just treat this normally." She says a little bit too loud for my taste. Ouch...

"Fair enough; but why didn't you run away or try screaming for help again? From what I can guess being a changeling or even part changeling isn't something natural or highly acceptable and you also know what my special talents are. Shouldn't that be ample reason for you to run?" I say and I meet her gaze solemnly.

"Oh come on; I'm not a mare who doesn't think before she acts. This obviously came as a shock to both of us and since you seem to know the potential repercussions  I guess it's understandable that you would do this." She says before taking a small breathe. "However, that still doesn't completely justify everything you've done."

"So what are you saying exactly? You want another kiss or something?" I say jokingly in an attempt to keep her from knowing how on edge I really am.

"W-what? No! I just want an apology." She says while assuming a more pouting attitude.

"Ok; I'm sorry for sneaking into your room unannounced and violating your personal space." I say while kneeling down and hanging my head. A little much? Probably; but for somepony like her I might've hit it dead on.

"Well I guess I can let it go for now, but don't expect me to not hold this over your head for awhile." She says and then she gives a undignified huff. "What a troublesome pony you are."

"I would expect nothing less from a lady," I say while standing up. "Now about those gloves..."

"Fine I'll go get you a pair, but first I want an explanation for your hand." Se says while pointing at the aforementioned appendage.

"Your guess is probably better than mine, I just woke up from a... nap earlier and I had this on the back of my hand." I say while tapping the dark surface.

"You really are helpless, aren't you?"

"I live my life day by day. I never expected to wake up from a nap to find my hand part changeling." I say trying to defend what small amount of pride I would like to maintain.

"Fine; I guess none of is expect to wake up and find something like this to of happened. Where did you go anyway?"

"I just went on a little trip is all." I say while giving a small smile.

"You're not very convincing, but I guess it's just one of those things you can tell me yet." She says while giving me a indignant look.

"Not right now; I'll tell you some other time."

"Ok p; I'm going to go get some gloves, but you have to leave this room first." She says and she then points to the door.

"Why?" I say before looking around the room again. I don't see a problem with me staying in here for a few minutes.

"This room is basically a second bedroom for me. I can't leave some colt who has obviously been infatuated with me because of my beauty stay in here without supervision. Ugg... Kiss a mare one time to calm here down and now I'm a pervert. Wait; I might've already been one, but that is besides the point. I can control my urges.

"Fair enough, Ms.Rarity" I say before exiting the room with her. She locks the door after exiting.

"I'll be right back with a pair of gloves. You stay here." She says before walking off in the direction of the staircase. I expected things to go much worse than they did. I'm not going to complain about something good happening to me though. I wish it would happen more often.

   After about three minutes of twiddling my thumbs in the darkness a light blue glow emerges from the stairwell. Rarity follows soon after with a pair of white gloves in her hands.

"Thank you." I say before extending a hand towards the gloves, but she then holds them closer to her.

"Not yet; I've been doing some sides work for you and it's time I put it to use." She says before taking out a key and unlocking the door to the room.

"Thanks for the gesture Rarity, but I really can't afford to wait any longer." I say while following her into the room.

"Sorry, but refusal isn't an option right now. I try to make it customary for me to give a gift of sorts whenever I have a good opportunity. Now please get out; a lady deserves some privacy, especially after you pulling the stunt you did." She says before pushing me back through the doorway and closing the door. I soon after hear her lock the door for an extra measure. i should've just taken my chances in the darkness.

***************************************************************************************

   I wait for about 20 minutes while enduring the boredom and the sounds of various illegible words from the other side of the door before the white unicorn unlocks and opens the door to 'her' room and gestures for me to enter.

   I walk into the room and see than she has somewhat organized the room. Organized is probably to loose of a term. It's more like she color coded the fabrics and pushed them against a wall.

   Rarity is standing over by her bed facing towards the wall with her arms moving somewhat erratically over something that seems small based on how little her arms are moving outward.

"Really Rarity, this is too much. I really only need the gloves and then I can be off to the library." I say without thinking. Damnit; why'd I say that.

"Oh, you're going to the library then?" She says without looking up. Too late now.

"Yeah; I need to go there and see if there are any books on changelings." I tell her knowing that this could cause many repercussions.

"Oh; well you really shouldn't go there until tomorrow. I know how must feel about this situation, but not following legal guidelines can only make it worse." She informs me in a matter of fact tone. Only if I'm caught. Oh wait; that already happened, fuck.

"Oh come on. I was going to leave you some bits on the counter and I planned to pt some at the library too. Does that count for anything?" I say in an irritated tone.

"Not if you get caught doing it. Just trust me and go there tomorrow whenever it's daylight and you can take care of this more sensibly. Nopony, except for me, will have to know that happened to your hand now that you have something to hide it with." She replies in a matter-of-fact tone. Why is it that she has to be persistent.

"You're not going to give up; are you?"

"Not until you listen or until you let me call Twilight to have her meet us there and she can make you go through the regular procedure." She says before gaining a confident smirk. So I'm trapped and by a mare such as this none the less. Am I really this pitiful?

"You're also not going to let me leave here without an escort; are you?" I say without thinking that that may have been something she hadn't considered.

"Not originally, but not hat you have mentioned it I will be escorting you back to your home." She says with a taunting tone which only drives my current hatred of myself further. Why am I working slower than I should be?

"I'm really just digging my own grave arguing with you; aren't I?" I say while running a hand through my black mane.

"In an argument between you and I there is no other way for it to end." She says in a pompous fashion. really do need to get advice before I try outsmarting the opposite gender of a species different than my prior one.

"A little pompous; don't you think?" I say knowing full well the potential dangers.

"Only if I happen to be wrong."

"Alright; I guess I can respect that. Now about my gloves..."I say; giving a slight gesture to the bed behind her.

"Oh yes, here." Se says before turning around and back again with the gloves in her hands.

   Nothing significant has changed to the basic basic structure or colouring, but on the back of the hand a familiar black design looks as though it's been there since the gloves were made. The design is a seemingly exact mirror of my cutie mark. I like it, but how did she do this?

"Thank you Rarity." I say as I take the gloves form her. "How did you get the design to be this good though?" I say before putting them on. Needless to say they fit well.

"After working here for awhile Pattern taught me a few spells to assist in making high quantities of basic clothing. One of these was a spell to inlay designs directly onto a peace of fabric. The spell doesn't work well for mass production of finer clothing though because the designs have to be very simplistic for them to not be distorted. However, if you focus a little longer and take more time manipulating the manipulative field of the magic it is possible to get more complex designs to be imbedded into the fabric; with a good possibility if failure to boot." She says leaving me somewhat dumbfounded.

"Manipulative field of magic?" I say without a care as to how stupid I may sound.

"Oh sorry. I've been asking Twilight for some tutoring and she ends up rambling on about some of the things from her advanced classes. It gets confusing, but I understand a thing or two from it." She says in a seemingly uncharacteristic meek tone.

"So I guess Twilight is a little more adept at spells than a average unicorn?" I say while trying to win my own mental game of connect the dots. I guess since I can't go to the library I can calm down a bit. I still have to get out of here while the shield is down.

"Well she is a four ring unicorn." She says regularly. What? Four ringed unicorn; I don't follow."

"What do you mean a four ring unicorn?" I say for the sake of gaining some additional knowledge.

"Wait; you don't know about the classification system?" She says in a somewhat surprised tone.

"No." I sigh flatly.

"You really must've not had parents that taught basic knowledge or you just came from a town where it didn't matter enough to be taught." She says with a sigh. "It's easy; there are seven unicorn classifications, alicorn horn, sharp and dull adept, sharp and dull medium and sharp and dull low. Your put into these categories based on when or if your horn achieves a certain number of spirals and the aspect of your horns point. For the average unicorn you will see a 3 spiral horn until about the nineteenth year of age where the horn will grow to be a four spiral to compensate of the growth of your magical reserve. A lower unicorn will have the spirals and then it will grow to three at the nineteenth year. For an adept unicorn though they will achieve a fourth spiral in the early to mid teen years and potentially a fifth ring at the nineteenth year, but in some cases the fifth ring won't be achieved and they simply drop back down into a average ranking." She lectures and then takes a breathe.

"What about the sharp and dull distinction?" I ask since she didn't previously mention it.

"All of what I mentioned before applies to dull horned unicorns. Sharp horned unicorns a bit different. While dull horned unicorns achieve these attributes based on genetic make-up ,according to what Twilight told me; sharp horned unicorns have to increase their magical reserves by conditioning themselves. Though while their reserves may come from conditioning themselves there are certain restrictions such as how before the nineteenth year of age the highest rank achieve able is 4 rings and after that the highest achieve able to five rings. In the the long run though there isn't a real difference between the two besides that a sharp horned pony could rise up into a higher ranking or be lowered into a lower ranking. Alicorns have seven rings actually, but the lines move very close to each other with time so that it looks as though they only have 3 rings." She says before giving another few deep breathes. So I can rise up in levels? Sweet.

"Huh, interesting. Can we leave then?"I say before reaching a hand up to my horn to feel the number of rings on it, 3. At least I'm average. I'll have to try and get it up to four rings though before I'm nineteen to make sure I don't fall behind.

"Oh yes. Let's leave; I'd like to get some sleep tonight and the faster I get you home the faster I can sleep." She says before turning and leaving the room while I follow behind her. At least she's happy.

***************************************************************************************

"It's a beautiful night; isn't it." Rarity says while looking upwards to the sky.

"Ah yes; quite... nice." I say while looking up. What!

   I look up and there is no purple webbing or anything that looks like a shield. There is only the clear night sky with the moon looming overhead. Where did the shield go? Furthermore, when I look around the plaza I see that none of the guards are here either. There were ten or so here whenever to entered the boutique, but now none of them inhabit the area. Were did they all go?

The Scream Hidden By A Contract Of Freedom. 16

"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.

A Scream To Find And Remove The Oppressive Stains Of Fear And Pain. 17

   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.

***********************************************************************************************((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((  BLUE PONY'S POV

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.

A Scream To Rob Fleeting Joy. 18

   I wake up to the sight of a room that I recognize almost immediately due to the four couches against the black walls and the dark gray pegasus, who is wearing a black hoodie and a pair of jeans, sitting down in the couch to my left. Damnit; there's just no escaping this mess. I think as I can feel portions of my body aching mildly.

"Glad to see you finally woke up." Thunderback says before walking over to me and smiling.

"Glad to see you had the courtesy to put me on a couch rather than the hard floor." I say before standing up so he isn't talking down to me. "So what happened?"

"Well; first you disabled the tracker we put on you back at the castle when you escaped, it was the white thing you found, second I had to hunt you down with spacial so we could talk to you, third we watching you fight that group of pegasi to as far as I can stretch the term 'save' that blue mare, fourth you had a down-sided victory, fifth we had Spacial some of the major injuries you had and sixth you've been sitting here unconscious for the last 6 hours due to the exhaustion you pushed on yourself. Any questions?" He says with an non-amused look on his face.

"So that little thing was a tracker?"

"Yeah; we attached it to you when you jumped out of the window at the castle."

"You do realize that thing was draining my magic; right?" I question.

"Yeah; it's meant to track escaped prisoners not friends, but it was the only thing we had on hand." He replies meekly.

"Fair enough. What happened to Rainbow Dash after the fight?" I say while taking care to dispel any concern from my voice. I'm going to try to keep this thing incognito for now.

"She ran off in fear a few moments after the fighting started. Why?" He says and a coy smile grows on his face.

"No reason; I just wanted to know if she was alright."

"Look; it's none of our business what you do with your personal life or who you fawn after, but I going to give you some advice. Keep your life is simple on the outside and try not to get involved with too any ponies. It's not smart to juggle that around with the position you're in. Mac may not say much, but he has a shitty time trying to keep his family from knowing about his 'other' crops. Trust me on this." He says seriously.

"Don't worry I'll be fine." I respond calmly. I afraid I can't do that. I'm an idiot about these things.

"Alright. Also, just something I was wondering about; shouldn't you be in a state of distress right now? You did just become a member of a small organization of criminals after becoming a fugitive."

"I thought about it, but what is whining going to do for me. Wishing for things to be different isn't going to make it so. I'll just have to put up with it until I can understand exactly what's going on. In short, I tend to be too calm about some things." I say in contradiction to what happened last night.

"You're going to snap one day and I hope I'm not around you when you do."

"You're probably right. Also; what did your group mean when you mentioned how it's a 'family'?" I ask.

"If you were to ask me it's a load of shit. I think Berry and Spacial just like to sugar coat it so it seems more inviting. To me and Mac it's just a job that requires you to not let the employer's identity or actions be known or else you're fired; or in this case killed. In short; if at any point you endanger us you will be dealt with." He says bluntly.

"Fair enough. My last question; what's my progress report?"

"Huh?" He responds in a befuddled tone.

"How would you say I did in that fight?"

"You sucked until the end."

"Huh?" I reply. I thought I did ok.

"You beat them, but most of that lacked skills essential to our line of work. You went at them head on. You could've at least punched one of them upside the head before you started fighting. You also neglected the importance of the blue pony and focused only on the two I front of you. Also, without your magic you would've lost that fight. You relied on it heavily in that fight and also used what I'm guessing your 'trump card' on a single easy to beat enemy. I will however say that you used your spells in an ok way at the end." A pink maned pony, with a plain yellow shirt and jeans on, scolds after she appears in a slight poof of golden mist which almost scares me into falling flat on my ass. I silently reprimand myself. Hello Berry. She is right though. I need to start thinking like a thief if I'm going to be one.

"Thanks for stealing my thunder Berry." Thunderback retorts before sitting back down.

"I felt it gave a good bridge for my entrance." She says with a smile before turning to me. "So how're you?"

"I'm fine for the most part; better than I could be I guess. I'm just wondering why you brought me here. It doesn't seem logical that you would go to the trouble of bringing me here for something this trivial." I say calmly and she simply chuckles in response.

"Always on business, huh?"

"Not always, but I don't know any of you well enough to get too comfortable."

"I'll have to change that at some point, but that's beside the point. You can leave now Thunderback. I'll take over from here." She says and gives him a little 'shooing' gesture with her right hand. She's having fun with this.

"Alright. I'll see you later Sonata." He says before grabbing a small gem of sorts that hangs on the end of his thin chain necklace and he immediately disappears in a small burst of dark green mist in the area he was previously in which clears in less than a couple of seconds. I'm not even going to ask.

"Don't worry; there's a story to those gems and you'll learn it in time." She says as if she was reading my mind. "That's beside the point though. It's time to get down to business; I'm going to be the one to 'mentor' you." She says before sitting down in the same seat she was in last night.

"Why did you emphasize the word mentor?"

"Well to be honest I'm not the teacher type. Spacial taught Mac and Thunderback whenever we recruited them, but I have no head for teaching."

"Then why not have Spacial teach me?" I question logically.

"She's isn't teaching you about the job because she thinks you'd be better off learning from me than her. I also think she's just angry with me for not teaching either of the other two anything." She sighs. "So now I'm stuck teaching the newbie."

"So Spacial is in charge?"

"Not at all. We haven't had a leader since the family almost fell apart entirely. We just work together to decide on what is going to happen next. This time I left the decision up to her as to which one of us is going to teach you and for some reason she thinks I'd be better at it."

"Alright then. So what is my first lesson?" I inquire with genuine interest.

"It's going to be somewhat of a sink or swim lesson. For the next week you're going to have to steal everything you need; food water, ect. You will also have to steal something from a residence that I will tell you about later. I will allow you to buy some things with bits if I feel that it's logical; such as if you were to go out for a meal with that blue mare again. I wouldn't feel right about making you worry about getting out of the check and about trying to make sure she has a good time. I'll be watching you so don't try to sneak in anything I don't approve." A test about something I haven't done very much of for my first lesson. I have a great teacher.

"You repay one debt and everypony takes it the wrong way." I complain.

"We also put an audio receiver and transmitter on you with the tracker. Check behind your left ear." She says with a smirk.

"So you've been hearing everything?" I say as I pull out another small object similar to the first and I throw it aside.

"Loud and clear."

"I really don't have any privacy."

"Not right now."

"So you also heard the stuff about the changelings?" I question.

"Yes, but we already knew about that from when you were checked on after that fall. It's really a bonus in this line of work."

"Anything else?" I say in a disgruntled tone.

"Yes." She says before getting up and walking over to me. "You'll know if I don't mind you buying something because you'll get a small shock from this." She says before pulling the glove off of my right hand and wrapping a length of clothe which seems to have some wires embedded into the fabric around my palm and stepping back

"Next time it would be appreciated if you told me about that." I say before putting my glove back on. "Is that it?"

"Yes; now let's get to work." She says before putting her right hand on my head and I feel myself pulled through what almost feels like a pool of water. It's much nicer than most of my experiences teleporting I've been a part of.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

    I open my eyes a few moments later to find that I am still face to face with Berry the only difference being that she moved her hand off of my head.

"Alright. I had Spacial teleport us to the southern road going into the town. I'll leave you alone for a while, but just remember what you have to do."

"This is all a little sudden, but I guess it's not my choice. I'll see you later." I respond before walking off.

"Wrong way." Damnit.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

   I make my way through the masses of ponies which are enjoying their nighttime festivities and their relative happiness and carelessness: both things I have time for right now. I retrace my memories of the town from the last few days to see if I can remember the locations of any general stores in town. Needless to say my efforts proved to be near fruitless. The only thing I can remember is Uefi saying something about how me thought he saw a general store on our first night, or rather morning, on the half of the town that he went around. The problem is that I don't feel like walking half way around town at 2200: 10:00 p.m.; which you prefer to think of it as. Sadly, this seems to be the only option.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

   I finally find what seems to be a grocery store after about an hour and a half of searching and by this time most of the night crowds in the area have left to enjoy the commodities of the bars and such I saw on the other half of town.

   The store is closed already so I don't have to worry about getting past any clerks or other shoppers. However, I still do not know the extent of technology here. I'm not sure whether or not I should expect cameras, a night guard, ect. While I hate working with unknown variables at least there is way to work around it. I'll just have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

   I'm not even going to waste my time trying the front door so instead I sneak around back through the alley way along the right side of the building under the dim illumination of my light spell and I find a back door and a small loading bay. I can already see that the loading bay has been closed and because of that I think it's safe to assume it's locked down for the night. I try to turn the knob on the back door, but just as every other attempt so far it proved useless. Trying to pick the lock would be an option of it wasn't for the fact that I never took the time to actually learn how to or to even read about the general concept. Time for a quick look into my little book of spells.

   I grab into my vest pocket to retrieve my book when I notice an absence of the item in question and instead a small piece of paper is in the pocket. What the hell?

'Dear Sonata,

I took your book from you after we brought you back to our room. I stored it at my home and you will be

able to retrieve it after this lesson is over. Of course you could try to steal it back if you wish, but don't

expect my home to be left unattended. If you think you're up for it just find NE567 Fallen Road in the

northwestern quarter of town. Just remember; no cheating.

Good luck from,

Aunt Berry

I wasn't expecting this. I think before walking back into the streets. I guess it's time to pull off my first heist.

~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~<|>~

   After walking around for at least another hour I find the residence that was specified. It's a simple one story home and I guess it probably only has one bedroom, one bath room, a common room and a kitchen. Of course this is all speculation, but I think it's something akin to that. From my vantage in the bushes across the street I can see that the lights are on in the front of the home and in what I would guess is the common room. I don't think this is Berry's house though.

   While I don't know much about the mare, I do know that the persona she puts on has being a drunk at its core. This would make me more inclined to think she would live in the southeastern corner of town near the bars. Of course she could have a house there that she just uses for when she is playing her 'games', but not as a main home. Even with that aside I expected something more aristocratic. Simply put; it just doesn't feel right, but that could just be part of the test.

   I am guess that Berry either has Thunderback or Mac or maybe even both waiting in the house to catch me if I come for the book so I can't afford to cross the street under the light of the lamp posts. I have plan for that though. I wrap circles around each of the light posts along the street and form a small seal for each one. I prepare myself to dash across the street before pouring in my magical energy as fast as I can into each seal at once and taking off across the streets and I hide next to the bushes along the side of the house away from the door and drop the spells. It's getting a little easier to think like this and use these spells. I hold down a small urge to regurgitate. Not too easy though.

   I wait another five or so minutes just in case I alerted anypony before moving again. I go around the house to the back side of it under the dim illumination of my light spell and I see a window without any light coming through it. I make my way over under the window and I push up on it and thankfully it slides up with ease and without any major creaking.

   I pull myself over the window and thankfully I land on a carpeted floor rather than on a nightstand or something else like I may of in another home. I do however notice a major problem as I survey the room. A little unicorn who I guess is an 8 or 9 year old female do to her long mane and her rooms decorations, it's like something from a little girls TV show. But who am I to make guesses? I think as I run a hand through my long black mane which is probably longer than a few of the mares I've seen. I need to get a haircut, but that is beside the point. Why the hell is a kid here? Berry hardly seems like the motherly type and they even advised me to not have a large social life. Something isn't right to say the least.

   Hoping I will find an answer if I search the house a little more, I slowly sneak through the room making sure to not make too much noise and to not let my light spell get to bright. As I open the door I push up on it to minimize any creaking sounds. I don't know if it matters right now but it did at my old house. I slip through the small opening in the door and close it behind me, only turning the knob back after the door is closed so that the metal wouldn't click into place and make noise. You can never be too cautious.

   I find myself at the end of a hallway with a small shaft of light coming from the other end of the hallway from what I guess is the common room. There are two other doorways in the hallway and I decide that checking to see who is in the common room may be more beneficial than checking the other two rooms immediately.

   I make my way to the other end of the hallway and I slowly peek and lean into the room to see what is happening. Not what I expected to see. I see a colt, of undeterminable race from my view and is probably only a year older than I am, who is watching a movie of a certain genre that would be blocked of his parents had been smart enough to enable parental controls. That was a bit more than I needed to see. I think as I quickly back track a few feet before any more of my dignity is lost. Maybe it was a good thing I was a little sheltered when I was younger. Needless to say I was not ready to think of that new aspect of my life here. I'll just file that away for later.

   I decide to ignore the colt and I go back down the hallway to the door nearest the child's room and open it. I can make out that this is the master bedroom. A large bed sits in the center of the room against the far wall with one dresser on each side of the bed. I can make out two figures in the bed; sleeping thankfully and a small book shelf next to the one on the left side. It couldn't be that easy, but then again this definitely isn't Berry's house either. There's no reason I need to treat it as such.

   After making my way over to the shelf I begin to scroll through them looking for any unmarked books. I find a few but none of them are the book I'm searching for. Where is it? I think before looking on top of the shelf where book apparently it has been sitting the whole time. Well that was anticlimactic.

   I grab the book and begin to skulk back across the room. I slip through the doorway and close the door quietly behind me. Before I begin to move down the hallway my eyes notice something. The lights just turned off in the common room. I hear a foot step on the hardwood floors and I immediately cut my light spell and back up a few steps. Shit. Maybe I can wait it out?

   I see a white light in coming from the room and moving towards me and I back up until my back is completely against the wall. I can now see the silhouette of the approaching unicorn coming down the hallway and I watching the edge of the lit area approaching me. He does however turn just before the light gets to illuminate  my body.

   I quickly open the door and slip into the smaller unicorn's room and I fluidly climb through the window and dash off through the various alleyways towards the store. Now I can get to work.

A Scream Passing Through The Darkness. 19

   I once again approach the backside of the super market after checking the time, now 12:34/0034, and the only thing I can really say is that I'm tired, pissed off at the situation I'm in and wishing that I would finally have a long overdue panic attack. I guess I'm too calm for that though. After sneaking my way to the back door I take out the book and I check the table of contents where I find a chaper that seems like it make have my answer: Breaking And Entering.

Chapter 7: Breaking And Entering

Spell : Lock-pick Conjuring

While this spell could probably be found in most spell books I feel that it would be a good idea to add it in. As the name would imply this spell allows you to form a small set of lock-picking tools out of your magical energy. These picks however do break like the average pick. These are free however and they come with a fashionable and discreet carrying bag which you can attach to and remove from your clothing at will. Also, while the picks may disappear and break the bag won't but it is also a one time conjuration. My advise; don't lose it. Simply form a rough outline of a generic keyhole and begin to fill it with magic. ill warn you though; this spell does take a good bit of magical energy, but has a 100% cast rate. This is because this spell causes magical recoil. even if you run out of magic completlely it will just destroy your body a bit, but if you are lacking a good amount of magical energy you run the risk of seriously injuring or killing yourself. Also if that wasn't enough this spell will stall your magic regeneration for 8 hours 34 minutes and 57 seconds if any recoil occurs. (It took my forever to get that timed exactly.) I'll draw up a diagram of how to pick a lock if you don't know how to though...

Well that was a draw out explanation. At least she was nice enough to leave a labled diagram on how to pick a lock. I think as I put the book on the ground and form the seal in my mind. Here goes nothing. I immediately throw as much energy as I can into the hole which for some reason was an odd mix of both sapphire and scarlet coloured magic and I manage to fill it to the edge quickly and I keep pushing more in. I can feel pain all over my body and my concentration is beginning to waver. Just a little more. I think as I exert as much energy as I can into it and the keyhole finally fills and I feel a surge of pain run along my left arm and my light spell abruptly ends. I guess that is the end of magic for awhile. I open my eyes which I apparently had closed at some point during the spell and I look down to the tools in front of me.

   I see a small sapphire coloured tool which I guess is the tension wrench according to the diagram which glows slightly. Along side it is a scarlet... star pick as the diagram describes it which also emits a slight glow which allows me to see the small black case which lies between them. I grab the pouch with my left and affix it to my left pants leg and to my surprise I feel the material change into the same material as the pants.

   I grab the wrench with my right hand and pull up my left sleeve. I slowly move the tool over my left arm and the glow illuminates my arm enough for me to see the the various crevasses which are torn into my arm and blood flows slowly from them. Another shirt ruined. I think as I pull my sleeve back down.

   I pick up the pick with my left hand which feels oddly natural even though I'm right handed and using my right hand might make more sense. I fumble around in the darkness for the next five minutes trying to find the door again. After finding the door I look at the diagram one more time by the light of my new tools before attempting to pick the lock.

   I insert the wrench and put a very small amount of tension on it. I then insert the pick and slowly go through the process of getting each cylinder moved. After about a minute I succeed in opening the door and I remove the instruments of my newfound ability. I keep them both in the hands they were originally in an I'd enter the building under their dim illumination which only serves to keep me from walking right into a table.

   I walk the perimeter of the small room a few times to get a feel for its layout. A medium sized table sits in the center of the room there are two doors, one of which has a electronic lock and the other which seems to go out into the main store, and a wooden countertop runs along two of the walls. I guess this would be the employee break room. I hold up the pick out over the countertop and check for anything useful. I find a chocolate candy bar which I proceed to eat without the use of my hands and I also find a schedule detailing the guards on duty. Seems like tonight it's one guard by the name of a NightScreen.

   Before leaving the room I check the table to make sure I didn't miss anything. I don't find anything besides a small folded piece of paper which I proceed to read.

Dear Sonata,

I hope you night is going how well as mine is. As you can probably guess it's me, Berry. I'm glad to see you got your book back and don't worry nopony read anything out of it. While I'd like to annoy you with my witty banter, il, just tell you straight up why I wrote this. I was thinking and it doesn't seem very teacher-like of me to just send you out without much instruction so I thought I'd help you out a little. I already did a run through of this place to figure out a few things that may help you. There is a total of 12 cameras in the main section of the store and one in the break room which I was I nice enough to disable for you. I figured out the combination for the door, 1874, using a trick that I'll teach you later. So here's a few options for you. You could go up into the guards room through the door in the break room and take him out. Or maybe cause something to freeze his computer screens so they won't update? You could also try to steal what you need while trying to avoid the prying eyes of the cameras. Finally, you could check their pharmacy for anything you could use; I'm not sure what it has because I thought it'd be fun to leave something extra for you to do. Below you'll find a map I put together which shows the isles and the locations of the cameras and the pharmacy. You'll have to use your judgement though to figure out what ways the cameras are facing. Just remember; for each crime you commit there will be a consequence and I will be watching closely to see the choices you make.

From,

Aunt Berry

Well isn't this nice? She DOES care. I think as I finish reading the neat cursive writing under the low light of my wrench. I'm going to hurt my eyes if I read like this for too long. I muse before looking down at the roughly drawn map of the store and grabbing the pen which was lying next the note. Time to draw a path to follow.

   After forming what I believe to be the best route I fold the paper until it only shows the map and I walk out the door. I quickly turn the first corner I walk along the wall and then turn and walk along the next wall. As I reach the first camera I lay as close to the wall as possible hoping to sneak under its view. I successfully make my way past the camera and it doesn't seem as though I alerted anypony. I walk farther along, sprinting past the next marked camera and sneaking under the next one.

   As I reach the produce section I contemplate just grabbing some vegetables and leaving. While it would be easier there no fun without a good risk. Besides I'm not to keen on just eating salads and eggs for the next week, some rice would be nice. I walk farther along and I slip past the next camera's prying eyes before making it to the pharmacy's doorway. I've got to fast on this one. I think before grabbing the cold handle with one of my gloved hands.

   I twist the handle and push the door open slightly. I slip through and close the crack in the door before scooting backwards until I hit the wall. So far so good. I think as I turn around and start looking at the medicines before me, hoping to find a fast acting sleep medication. A syringe filled with tranquilizer would suffice though...

Pain relievers, no. Sleeping aids won't be fast enough. Vaccines; I'm not trying to give him a clean bill of health. I'm to make fall asleep. Assorted laxatives, maybe. after sorting through a few dozen type of drugs I find one that should work, a syringe which is only about the size of a small pen filled with a fast acting sleeping agent which I guess they use to take care of any patients that may be panicking. i guess if by chance somepony did get hurt in the immediate area treating them on the spot would be beneficial.nice to see some places are preparing for the unlikely and unfortunate situations that may arise, but in this case their efforts against them serve to enable them. I hate to say it but I'm actually enjoying this a little. I wonder if I could get some of the cash registers open... Wait, what? No I'm not going to steal anymore than I have to. I think before grabbing the small device.

   I slip out the door and I move as quickly as I can back to the break room where I stop for about 5 minutes to rest and hopefully induce my over-due panic attack. Nothing. No matter what happens I can't seem to not take it in stride. I guess it's an advantage right now though.

   I walk over to the locked door and I enter the code into the door and turn the handle which to my happiness opens with ease. I can see the faint reflection of light off of what I guess is a concrete staircase and I proceed to walk up the staircase slowly being careful not trip in the darkness.

   As I turn to face the next passage I can see faint light coming from the room ahead. I reach the top of the stair case and the sight ahead of me is a little bit scary. I can see the views of the cameras on the wall where the monitors are built in and the light from the casts a dark shadow over the pony o see in the chair in front of them. From what I can see the pony is wearing a hat and seems to be of a stockier build, but luckily he seems to be pretty relaxed right now. I grip the syringe in my left hand and push on the end slightly to make sure it isn't stopped. Luckily a small trail of liquid comes out of the end of it and I can proceed.

   I crouch low and slowly make my way forward, focusing on what I'm about to do and gripping the medical device tightly. This is it. This either make or break my robbery. I think as I close the remaining distance between us. I stand up behind him and hold the syringe pointed directly into his fat neck. Now.

   I thrust my hand forward and the syringe pierces his neck with ease and push down quickly on the end of the syringe and inject all of the remaining fluids into him. Living up to to description before he can even being to yell he goes limp in his chair. I stand there for another minute or two just holding myself there. I actually did it. I got him. Wow. I think before pulling the tool out of his neck and wiping it on my blood soaked sleeve. I'm gonna keep this thing like a charm or something. I think before setting on the table in front of me.

   I look at the guard and give him a couple of taps on his face but he doesn't respond in anyway. Out like a light. I turn to the desk in front of me and see a control board. After pushing the guard in the chair out of the way, I overlook the control board carefully. On the top of the board are twelve switches with small prices of tape which are number accordingly. Quickly deducting what they do I flip the first switch and one of the monitors views is replaced with a simple line of text stating, OFFLINE. Easy enough. I flip the rest of the switches and thankfully each camera deactivates correctly.

   Satisfied with my work, I move the guard and his chair back into place and grab what I will now refer to as my lucky syringe and put it into my lock pick case where it fits quite well since it isn't much bigger than a pen. Before walking away I look the guard over and I see couple of interesting objects. I can see a small item sticking out of a pocket on his shirt and another handle looking object is exposed by his right pants pocket.

   I pull out the object from his shirt pocket first and it turns out to be an odd Y-shaped device. I grip in my left hand and I notice a small button on it. I push in the button and an arc of electricity jumps between the two ends of the device. So it's like a taser knife? I'll be keeping this. I think before putting the device into my right pants pocket. I take out the other object but I it back immediately. Why would I want a regular taser? It only has one use.

   I begin to walk away but I stop and turn around to face the guard and I place both of my hands on the back of his head in a ceremonious manner.

"And you would've been dead." I whisper before walking out of the room quietly with my new tools in their pockets.

   I freely stroll out into the main room, grabbed a basket and walked through the isles grabbing assorted canned goods and other junk food. I then close all of the doors turn the cameras back on and walk out the back like I own the place with my groceries. Nopony saw a thing and I walk home in the dark by the moon light and to think its only 3:30.

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   I finish climbing down the ladder into my living room and I simply fall face first onto the couch. Once again, walking to my bed would've been too much work.

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   To my discontent I almost immediately wake back up within my soul's world and I swear, "Dear fuck, not this again." I hope this will be more enjoyable than last time.

"That would depend on what you believe to enjoyable." I hear a disheartening voice respond to from my left.

"I doubt this is what he enjoys though." Another voice responds from my right.

"And you would be correct to think that." I say before hearing the sound of water moving behind me ad I turn around to see the same entities from my second arrival.

   The one who's name I vaguely remember as being Hitsuki or some weird ass name of the sort is now wearing a scarlet dress which seems to be reminiscent of the fifties and holds a large umbrella of the same colour. The Phoenix I see next to hear how ever looks the same as before in her blue hoodie and with her large wing slowly falling apart a d repairing themselves. I hope every night isn't like this.

"So what's your plan this time?" I question before preparing myself to run like hell again.

"Don't worry you want be here long." The one in the dress respond before throwing me a small metal spike which, to fit the theme most likely, has a scarlet tint and the half Phoenix throws me a cleaver which unlike the spike I don't even try to catch. I pick it up off the ground and the cold blue handle almost seems to excite me.

"Here's is what you're going to do. Just try to kill is before we kill you. Simple enough?" Good." The Phoenix explains before both of them disappear and I bring up what I feel like to a defensive stance. What the hell? At least give me a heads up. But where are they.

   Before I can even utter a phrase a feel something similar to raging flame engulf my left and I fall down to the floor as the seemingly endless pain grows stronger. I look down to my right leg and I see so etching terrifying. A large blue flame is growing up my leg from my kneecap and the pain feels unbearable. I scream and look up with my agony.

   Above me I see the Phoenix, who I know vaguely remember as being named Safaia, is standing above me with a frown.

"It's a shame. I expected more." She mutters as the unholy flame grows to my waist.

"Yes it's a real shame. Oh well there's always next time." I hear Hitsuki say and I look to my left to see here standing over me as well holding what look like a spike made of the same material as the plating on my hand. Dear fuck this hurts. I think before she slams the spike down into my skull and my mind goes blank. Fuck.

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   I wake up abruptly and swear before picking myself up off the floor. What the hell? I think before rubbing my forehead amd check my leg for and burns. Nothing. How am I even alive? Or does what happens there not effect what happens here? I then look around and notice I'm on the floor. Really? I fell off the couch? I stand up and check the time 6:34 and I walk into my room, grab a new set of clothes and walk into my bathroom to take a shower. Time to get the hell up...

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   I stand next to the ladder and make sure all of object are in their correct places. Watch in the left vest pocket, book I. The right vest pocket, taser in my right pocket, pen syringe in left pocket, wallet in the pocket with the syringe and my lockpicking tools hidden in their pouch on the inside of my vest sideways and facing towards my center so that I can access them quickly.

    I climb up the ladder without any real haste, being especially careful to not spill any of the tomato soup I'm having for breakfast.

   I reach the top of the ladder, without spilling any of my food thankfully, and I close the door behind me before taking a sip of the thick soup.

I hear a peppy voice to my left greet me, "Good morning Sonata," and I lazily shift my gaze to the mare beside me dressed in a simple pink T-shirt and a pair simple jeans.

"And a good morning to you Berry." I respond after swallowing my mouthful of soup. "Why are you here?"

"Oh you know; stopping by, enjoying the scenery and enjoying everything this world has to offer." She says as we walk along towards the outside of the forest.

"Everything as long as its profitable I would guess." I say before taking another sip from my can.

"Now you're getting it." She says before pulling out a small note from her pocket and handing it to me. "I guess I wouldn't be a good teacher though if I didn't give you a grade on your assignment." She finishes and I unfold the paper which only has a few lines of information.

Grade: 74/100

Debt before job: 4,326,876.19 bits

Debt after job: 4,326,876.19 bits

Payment: Knowledge

Remarks: Toke too many risks, was too dependent, and nearly failed job at multiple points.

"Only a 74?" I say before handing her back the note and taking another drink of my soup. I thought I did pretty well actually.

"You read the remarks didn't you? You're still an amateur so I expected some mistakes, but I also expected some caution on your part. You just went in head on. While you may have had a plan you never stopped to consider alternative routes." She says before taking out a flask. "I've got my work cut out for me." She mutters before downing a few gulps and putting the flask back in her pocket.

"Fair enough. Why do I have a debt though?"

"Well Spacial and I were thinking and we decided to cut you a deal. We don't believe that you're very fond of this fate and we decided that we'd be nice ad give you a way out. The debt you saw is the total amount of bits we spent to save your ass along with some added bits to pay for the risk factor. Once you pay that off you then have to pay me for teaching you. After that you must finally pay a bit more as an insurance policy for us in case you leak any secrets. Once all of those bills are paid you can leave a free stallion. This is how your payment will work. I'll take 1/3 of the amount of bits that would've been paid to you and put it against your debt and the remaining 2/3 will go to you. As an option you can choose to receive the maximum amount of money for a job but nothing will go to your debt payment as a result. You're welcome." She says with a smirk.

"Thank you." I say simply. I have a chance to get out of this mess. A very steep slope to climb but I have a chance.

"Anytime. I'll talk to you later then." She says before turning to walk away.

"Wait a second." I respond as we exit the forest.

"Yes?" She moans and turns back to me.

I take out the syringe and taser and hand them to her. "Get me some refills of a sleeping agent that I can use for the syringe, colour the liquid scarlet and get change the Y-shape and that taser to just be a 'l' type of shape. Just add more to my debt and I'll pay it back later." I demand before walking off and I hear what sounds like rocks falling to the earth and I turn around to see only the remains of a magenta mist. Odd. I think as I throw the empty soup can off into the forest. Oh no, I littered.

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A Scream By The Daylight's Bliss. 20

   I walk into town with a small smile on my face and with my right hand in my pocket. It's nice to know that I can have some alone time for a while. I run a hand through my mane and I enjoy the feeling of the warm sun on my face. So Refreshing.

"Excuse me son, are you the one known as Still Sonata and if so could I speak to you for a moment?" I hear the voice of what sounds like an older gentleman call from my left and I turn promptly towards the voice.

   I take a steady of the pony before and I can feel, only by a small margin, an air of peace around him. The pony has a thinning gray mane and is wearing clothes which seem to be befitting of a catholic priest. Odd; I hate most religions and therefore hold a near immediate dislike of their teachers. I guess I'm guiltier than I thought of being critical. I guess it's only natural since I'm not a religious person. I do however enjoy the look of regret in his eyes with which feels truly genuine.

"Yes sir?" I reply happily.

"Oh please you can drop the 'sir', son." He answers.

"Ok then. What do you need?"

"Please allow me to explain myself. I'm the local head of the purist church here which advises against the crossing of the world's races." He says and my mood drops a little.

"Please don't tell me this is about what happened a while ago with those other ponies." I say remembering that half shitty day.

"Don't worry son, you're not of any fault here. I was here waiting to apologize to you." He responds while waving his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"What would you need to apologize for?"

"Well, it would be more accurate to say I'm apologizing for somepony else. I'm sorry those three decided to take up a fight with you and you weren't at fault with, as you young ponies call it now, 'beating the shut out of them'."

"It really is fine. I shouldn't have reacted as I did as it was. One of them just threw a punch at the mare I was with at the time, as I was repaying a small debt, and I guess you could say I snapped. It's more my fault for losing my temper." I say trying to be humble. I'd like to leave this stallion with a good impression. Celestia knows I don't need any more enemies in my life.

"I thank you for your kindness, and regularly I might have agreed with you, but allow me to explain the situation. You see those boys aren't very... tempered if you will. Usually they just name call and we can't really do much about it. I've tried many things and, while I value their devotion to our cause, they take it too far. The catalyst of this situation wasn't them however. You see a certain feminine member of your church persuaded them with certain 'rewards' if you will which was ample reason for them to try to beat you." He explains with a tone of great honesty.

"So I was set up by somepony other than them?" I ask for some clarification.

"Yes. I've already discussed the matter with them and their families and they've forgiven you and don't plan on taking any legal actions." He informs me with haste.

"I wish had known this sooner. I wouldn't of reacted so violently if I had known." I lie. I wouldn't have done anything different.

"Like I said son, it's no fault of yours. I just hope we can put this behind us."

"It's all in the past now sir. I just hope nothing like this happens again." I assure him.

"I would hope so, but one more thing son. You aren't courting that other mare are you?" He asks and I sense a small change in his demeanor.

"No we aren't. I was just paying off I debt I had by relating her to a meal, which cost more than I bargained." I answer while raising an eyebrow. What is he getting at?

"Well that's quite good then. Just remember this," He says before walking past me, "if you do get romantically involved with her you run the risk of tainting our great race." He lectures in a cold manor.

"Don't worry; I have no plan of it." I reply before walking off in the opposite direction.

I don't like him anymore. Not a hint of his kindness was genuine in the end. I should've known though. I think as I run a hand through my mane again.

"But who tipped them off?" I say to nopony in particular.

I guess the obvious culprit would have to be Rarity. She's a good friend of Dash's so she probably notice the carnivore's teeth Rainbow Dash has and she is also the one who set up the eating event in the first place. Well ain't this a bitch. I thought she at least had a good enough heart to ignore my genetics. On well, I guess she wasn't worth the trouble in the end. I hate two faced people anyways. I'm better off without them. I sigh and try to think of something I could do for the day.

"It's a week day so I won't be able to hang out with anypony I know and I don't think Berry wants me going to school and if she does I think she'll tell me. Missing a day couldn't hurt anyway. I pull out my clock and check the time, which is now 9:01. I should have my magic back then. I think before trying to form a small box in my hand. At first I feel a little off but it then forms with the amount of ease I expected. I guess I'm back to normal then. Well, as normal as it gets in this new forsaken universe. It really is a rare privilege to have seen two worlds though. Score one for me.

   I walk along without any real purpose before turning off to my right. I might as well find a nice place to lie around for a while. I decide as I make my way towards the school. I doubt anypony will be walking around there for the next few hours so it should be secluded enough for a bit.

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   I walk up to the school at what is now about 10:15 and I stifle a yawn. I could use a nap. I didn't get much sleep last night so I believe I have a good right to some rest.

   I'd rather not draw any attention so I walk about 50 meters from the school before forming multiple small magical boxes and walking up them like stairs. After I reach a height that seems to be just above the schools roof, which isn't that high up since the school is only two stories high, I form a single long box in the air that reach over to the schools roof. The things I do for a nice nap. I hope nopony is up there.

   I jump off of the end of my box after reaching the roof and I roll a few feet upon my landing since I had been about 4 meters above the roof. I dispel my magic and walk around for a few minutes on the roof to get an idea of how it's laid out. The roof is really quite barren except for one door to get inside the building and a few vents that are expelling air.

   I sit down against the back of one of the walls around the door before I close my eyes and let sleep come upon me.

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"Well look who it is." I hear a voice say as a hand begins to tap on my head and my mind begins to work its way out of the various cobwebs of sleep. Well now what?

   I open my eyes and brush away the annoying hand at the base of my horn. I look up at the cyan figure above me and the pink bystander next to it.

"Well hello RainbowDash and PinkiePie. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I say sarcastically before rising off of the ground with a small jump.

"You're not the one who's supposed to be asking questions right now. What are you doing sleeping on the roof?" The cyan pegasus responds bluntly.

"I bet he was looking for aliens, or maybe a burrito? But why would a burrito be on the roof? Maybe it's an alien burrito? I will never know." The pink pony chimes in and I begin to question her sanity. What?

"Well in light of that accusation, I was simply up here because it looked like a nice place to sleep where I wouldn't be disturbed." I answer simply. "Although I see now I was wrong."

"So your own home wasn't good enough?" RainbowDash argues with a somewhat irritated tone of voice.

"It gets lonely there." I answer since I have no other response besides admitting my own lack of foresight.

"I bet."

"Moving on... Why are you two up here?" I say in an effort to redirect the conversations focus.

"Pinkie has convinced herself that she'll be able to hang glide off the roof and I came along to help make sure she doesn't hurt herself." She says and draws my attention to the pink pony who is now pulling a small hang glider through the doorway.

"And she thinks this is a good idea?" I ask as I come closer to believing this pony has little sanity. I've jumped into active fires before for money but that was different. I got paid to do that.

"Yeah. If you know anything about Pinkie it's that she has no understanding of letting go of something she wants to do after she's decided on it." She remarks before moving to stand next to me and whispering into my year, "Don't worry Twilight is going to make it glide regularly to make sure Pinkie doesn't hurt herself."

"Smart girl." I comment. It's a lie but it's a lie that for her own good.

"We've done this enough to know how to deal with Pinkie."

"Alright I'm ready." I hear the pink pony call and I turn to see her holding up the glider and wearing a helmet to match her purple shirt.

"Go for it." RainbowDash responds and the pink pony jumps off the edge of the roof and proceeds to glide away with a light purple mist leaving a trail behind her.

   Rainbow walks forward and leans off the roof with a 'thumbs up'. I peak my head over and I see TwilightSprinkleSPARKLE down in front of school waving. I guess it worked.

"That takes care of that then." RainbowDash says before flying down to the unicorn below us.

"She could've at least brought me down with her." I say before forming many long thin blocks with my magic which I use as a ladder to get to the ground. "Hello Twilight." I greet as I tough the ground and dispel my blocks.

"Good afternoon Sonata. I wasn't expecting you to be here." She replies.

"I guess not." I say and she begins to walk ahead and I follow along with Rainbow.

"So what have you been doing today?" Rainbow asks me while giving me a sideways glance.

"I woke up, took a shower, had breakfast, and talked to a few people about my job and my current living arrangements." I answer without thinking.

"So what job would that be?" She answers what now seems like an obvious follow up question. Fuck; I wasn't thinking.

"Oh yeah... I'm working as a... Trash collector." I say the first thing that comes to mind and I hope it's enough to convince them.

"Oh well that's... nice." The cyan mare responds on a despondent tone.

"It's a little underwhelming but I am getting paid for it after all." I remind her with a mild glare.

"He is right Rainbow. You can't expect somepony to get anywhere without starting somewhere." The purple unicorn remarks.

"That doesn't mean he has to start at the bottom." Dash says with a huff.

"Fair enough. So what are you two going to do?" I question as we walk what I believe to be aimlessly down the road.

"Twilight is going to volunteer at the library as usual and I'm going to go out for a run/fly down one of the old forest paths." Dash answers quickly. "What to come along?"

"I could use the exercise. Eh, what the hell? I'll go with you Dash." I answer and a small smile creeps across the blue mare face which I can slightly see in my peripheral vision.

"Alright. Twilight is it alright if we go on then?" Dash asks.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You two go have fun." The purple mare responds and Dash proceeds to run off towards the forest to the left.

"She isn't very patient is she?" I ask as I watch the mare run along in her black sweat pants and hoodie.

"Not usually." Twilight answers and I turn off and sprint after the pegasus.

   I catch up to the mare after about thirty seconds and we slow down to a jog as we enter the forest and I take note of the nice green leafy scenery and the small insects occasionally flying past us as we jog for about an hour in silence.

"Hey I need to talk to you about what happened yesterday." Dash says through a couple of breathes.

"Don't worry about it. Nothing too bad happened." I say dismissively.

"No. I'm not going to deal with any of that shit. You didn't need to get involved."

"It was nothing. Besides they threw the first punch at you. I have a personal obligation to not let something like that go unpunished."

"Yeah, but it wasn't any of your business. I've dealt with them before. They just hit me a few times call me some names and go. I learned to deal with it." The mare responds and I can see a sad expression forming on her face. Fuck; I need to diffuse this situation.

"That doesn't mean you should have to deal with it though. Look Dash, I used to deal with assholes like that before in the same way you are now. So I decided to punch back once. I got beat into the ground, but I kept at it until one day I was the one who beat them into the ground. It also did wonders for my dexterity, agility and strength but that's beside the point. The point is that after I made it clear that I wasn't just some piece of shit they could trample they respected me enough to stop. Now don't mistake for me telling you to start picking fights with them. I'm just telling you that if they try it again; you run away. Just run until you can find somewhere safe like a crowd and if you can't run, just come find me." I say with a smile of false confidence. I won't mention it took me a whole year to get back at those idiots.

"But what about you? Won't you get in trouble for it?" The blue mare says and she seems to be regaining some of her bearings. Either this stuff is easier than I thought or she's just a little melodramatic.

"Trust me; I have better things to worry about than ponies being a little scared or unhappy with me. I'd feel even worse if I didn't help. Just don't do what I did and take it all on yourself. What I did worked but it didn't do me any good. It only showed that I let my anger take hold of me. I'm not saying get revenge. I'm just saying... work around it." I counsel in a recount of all the advice I was given after I start to get revenge constantly. My family didn't give two shits but there were some nice ones who at least tried to help me. It didn't help much but I'm not near as violence prone as I used to be.

"And you figured all of that out yourself?" The blue mare says and stops in her tracks.

"Nope and to be honest I never took it all to heart. There were just some nice ponies in my past that kept me from becoming worse than I am. I'm just saying that I'm already a terrible pony. I just don't want to see anypony turn out like me. If you need me just come get me because in the end there's only one side of mr you may ever see and that is the good side of me." I say in a mysterious manner to try and sound much cooler than I really am. I'm always in the mood for a good facade.

"Well thanks for the advice." She says evenly. "I need to get home now so I'll be seeing you around I guess. Bye."

"Bye." I say and she flies up out of the forest and off to the west. I think that went well. But how do I get out of here? I think before activating an escape teleportation. Oh yeah, like this.

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   I find myself teleported convention in front of my home and I smile. Today hasn't actually been that bad. I just lazed around for a while; I think I scored some points with Dash. The only bad thing is I'm hungry. I think as I climb down the ladder and the smell of beef assaults my nostrils.

"What the hell?" I say as I reach the bottom of the stairs and I turn around to see a mare I had hoped not to see again for a while.

"Oh so you're already back then? I expected you to be out longer with RainbowDash." The magenta mare says from her position in front of the stove.

"And how would you know that Berry?" I say before walking closer and scratching the back of my head.

"I was watching. I need to talk to you about a few things so I was going to stop and get you from the roof of the school but you ran off with that pegasus so I thought I'd let you have your fun." She says before turning around with two plates, each with one steak which seems to be of the rib-eye disposition. I prefer T-bones, but I'm not going to complain about a free meal.

"So you're an omnivore too, huh?" I ask.

"Yeah, 3/8s changeling. Nothing you can see besides my teeth but most my insides are similar to theirs." She says before pushing one plate to me with a fork and knife. "I hope you like it rare because that's the only way I'll cook one."

"If you have it any other way it's like eating carpet." I say before taking a bite and my mouth almost falls apart at the delicious flavor. And to think I used to pride myself on my culinary skills.

"Agreed." She says while eating her meal at a much slower rate than I.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I ask without any real rush.

"You're starting to calm down a bit. That's good. Anyways, I came by to talk to you about your living arrangements. I'm fine with you living here but we need a cover-up for it. Thus, since I am your teach, I've always wanted to live underground and since I always wanted a colt to treat like my own but since I never wanted to deal with the first 13 years of their lives,  I went by the public office and had it arranged so that I'm your guardian now." She says and I nearly choke on the fragment of heaven which was passing through my esophagus.

"You're my what?"

"I'm now your legal guardian under the guise that your parent abandoned you and I've taken you in as my own." She reiterates.

"I'll be moving into that unused room over there. I won't be around a lot at night and you'll be gone during the day so we won't communicate much but I'll still be here."

"I don't have a choice do I?" I ask already expecting an answer.

"Not unless you want Spacial to live here." She mentions and I remember the seemingly icy mare from before.

"No I'm fine. Do Mac and Tunderback get this same treatment?" I mention after finishing 1/2 of the steak already.

"No. They both have families already but you're and orphan with no family at all from the looks of it. Besides they've been in this 'family' for years. I can trust them." She says through a mouthful of her own cooking.

"Fair enough." I grunt after finishing another fourth of my food. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yes as a few rules. You are now to say that you are attending night school when asked of your schooling and I will teach you what I feel is necessary, you will do anything I assign you to do, I may be living here but you still have a job with the family, no funny business she I'm home unless I approve of it, you will learn the traits of all 217 bottles of wine I won and you will not touch them unless I request them and finally please call me mom." She says calmly. 217 bottles? Fuck. Everything is fairly reasonable though and I guess I can stand to call her mother.

"Alright then, thank you for the meal." I say before putting my plate into the sink.

"What no objection?" She says in an almost hurt tone.

"Nope. I guess I should just trust what my mother says for once. Maybe you'll be more of one than the last one I had." I honestly say,

"What was wrong with her?" Berry asks innocently.

"We had... Problems to say the least." I finish before walking towards my room. "I'm going to sleep. Good night."

"But it's only 7:13." She whines.

"I'm sorry I'm tired. I'll talk to you more tomorrow." I say before walking not my room and collapsing into sleep on the bed. My whole life is upside down, yet I feel completely ok with it. I just hope I can find a way to live a normal life again. Or at least as far as that goes in pony society.

A Scream To Be Silenced. 21

   I wake up in a small daze and I rub my eyes carefully with my hands which are still covered by my gloves since I went to bed without any real idea as to why. I guess I just had a little bit of a subconscious stir whenever Berry decided to move in as my parent. I should really apologize for being so distant. I decide before removing my gloves as I usually do before my daily shower, but I notice an odd change has occurred to my left hand. What the hell?

   Where there used to be a dull odd looking plate of the exoskeleton material there is now a neat formation of triangle shaped plates of what seems to be the same material as before but it's much smoother, lacks any holes and instead forms a single large triangle on the back of my hand with a base of about 5 of the triangles building up to the point which lies just below my knuckles. Alongside this new change there is also a scarlet coloured glow coming through the small openings between the pieces and on the outer edge of the formation. What the hell happened to my hand?

   I flex my fingers a few times to make sure everything is still as cognitive as it was before and it seems to have checked out alright.

"But why would it change so suddenly?" I ask to nopony in particular while continuing to flex my hand. "It would help if I knew more about changelings I guess." I say before remembering what Berry has said the night before.

"Yeah, 3/8s changeling. Nothing you can see besides my teeth but most my insides are similar to theirs."

Now that I think about it she might actually know something about this. I think as I walk into my bathroom and strip off the rest of my clothes and accessories. Bur first; a shower.

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   I walk out of the bathroom with a new set of clothes on and most of my accessories back in place and I walk over to the bookshelf that my necklace is sitting on and I look at the lone piece of apparel. I remember when I first got this thing. It gave me a little sense of pride I think at the time. It gave me the sense that I actually did own something in this world, but then against doesn't mean any of that now. Now it just reminds me of that bitch who tried to kill me. I think as I close the box so I don't have to look at it anymore and I walk away before turning my head back slightly to look at it. Maybe I'll wear you again someday. If the day ever comes I can forgive that 'princess'. I contemplate before walking out of the room.

   I walk out into the main room and I already see Berry sitting in a wooden rocking chair which now sits in the middle of the room where the other couch used to be.

"What happened to the couch?" I ask while walking put to and leaning on the kitchen counter.

"Oh that old thing? I sold it last night and used the money to buy this." She says demonstrating the rocking motion of the chair. "Pretty nice isn't it?"

"Yes quite nice. What happened to the rest of the money you got for the couch? I know that chair couldn't be worth as much as that couch was." I deduct.

"Alright you got me. I've owned this chair ever since I stole it 14 years ago when I was 22 years old; it was the first thing I ever stole on a real job. It's not like those little missions I had before it like stealing my own food and such." She says as she slowly goes back and forth in her chair.

"So I'm doing crap-jobs am I?" I ask to humor her ulterior motive.

"No you're just doing jobs that would be expected of somepony in your position on our ladder of power. You're at the bottom so you have to earn respect first." She says sympathetically. "Thunderback and Macintosh didn't start like this though. Since Spacial taught them entirely with training rather than real jobs, they got to start on good jobs automatically. I'm training you the way the old guild leader trained me, by actually stealing. It's the same way he was taught and the same way and the master before him. He always said it was the best way to raise a thief." She explains with almost a hint of sadness at the mention of the old guild master. This seems like a sensitive topic for her so I'm going to move on before it gets bad. My cheesy lines probably won't be enough to cheer her up if she gets sad.

"Well, thank you for the special training." I thank her.

"You probably wouldn't be saying that if you knew how Thunderback and Macintosh responded when I told them the jobs I'm having you do." She says with a small giggle.

"I guess not. This doesn't answer my question though. What happened to the money you get from the couch?" I ask confidently. You didn't think I had forgotten, did you?

"Oh yes that. I used to pay for the movers to bring my possessions in and get them set up." She says while pointing a finger at the wall behind me and I turn around to see a large steel door, which looks almost like a small bank vault, where part of the kitchen counter used to be.

"What is that for?" I ask in a dumbfounded manner.

"That, my dear son, is my wine vault. It contains all 207 bottles of wine I own. Some are valuable some are cheap; some are stolen some I bought with stolen money, the point is that you are not to enter that room without my permission and you will only be given the unlock code when I trust you enough or when I die." She answers in a cold manor and I continue to look at the door.

"Was that vault door really necessary though?" I ask politely.

"Some of those bottles are worth thousands, even tens of thousands, of bits. Some date as far back as over 2500 years approximately. I don't drink those bottles but their collector value is historically high." She says in great defense of her position.

"Nice pun." I say sarcastically with a small chuckle.

"Thank you. I thought so as well." She responds.

"Well now that that is taken care, of what is my job for today?" I ask knowing that she has some sort of plan made already.

"Always as sharp as a tack huh? Well to find that out you'll have to step outside and see for yourself." She answers and propels herself out of her chair.

"One thing first." I say to stop her and thankfully she responds to the message.

"Yes?" She asks while raising an eyebrow.

"How much do you know about changelings?"

"A good bit more than most because of my genetic heritage. The old guild master took me to their main hive for a few months to help train me to own my skills as a member of the changeling bloodline just as he did. So yes I know a lot about them." She explains calmly.

"Then could you explain this?" I say while removing my left glove and showing her the odd development of the chitin on my hand. "It didn't look like this yesterday and it didn't have this glow either."

"Oh I see what happened. You collected a bit of 'love'." She says while walking over and inspected the hand.

"I did what?" I ask in a bewildered manner.

"You collected a bit of love or rather in this case some stronger positive emotions, like infatuation or compassion." She answers and gives the chitin a few taps.

"I still don't follow."

"You see, changelings collect love for two reason food and to enhance themselves."

"Yes I know."

Well the enhancements they gain are mental, physical and internal. Being as we aren't pure blood we only take on parts of those attributes. There are also a few different types of changelings. Simply put for a changeling to change its type it must upgrade itself by absorbing love into and becoming upgraded to a better type like guard or collector. For us however we are set into one of a few categories when our genetics manifest themselves. For example, I am a prowler type. My insides are composed to not contain much love but to be able to process and use it more quickly. My legs are also hollow like a changeling's legs but they are just as strong as a changeling's legs as well. However, because of my disposition, I cannot enhance my mental or physical abilities. I can however upgrade my internal stability to process and gather love to use as a resource to sustain myself. I'm currently at Royal Assassin level in my class meaning I have the same internal integrity as the most elite changeling assassins." She explains proudly.

"Nice, but what am I?" I ask genuinely interested.

"You're a tactician type like the old guild master was. Chitin will grow to cover a portion of your body and you can enhance the physical aspects of that chitin to be more advanced such as its appearance will change and it will become stronger. Your brain is also more like a changeling's brain. While you can't enhance this skill you'll find that you have a natural ability to work around some mental problems and you will also be able to find ways out of the worst situations subconsciously at times through a changeling's natural escape instincts. Examples of this ability are things such as a changeling's ability to convince those who are weak willed through flashing green eyes or slightly unnatural reflexes although these abilities cannot be activated by force nor are they common." She says and I think of when I was being executed. Now that I think about it all my movements then were instinctual and when I had to convince those guards I remember my vision flashing for a moment. So those were changeling attributes showing through? Interesting enough.

"How can you tell I'm a tactician type?"

"By the way your chitin sounds and by the scarlet glow. Tacticians have a natural ability to collect any love being directed at them. However, they cannot collect love being directed at another pony. That is an ability reserved for all other types and mainly prowlers. That glow is a sign that you're near being able to enhance your abilities." She says pointing at my hand.

"So why didn't you tell me this before?" I ask.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't know what type you were. The type of changeling you are is only revealed when you collect strong positive emotions for the first time." She answers simply.

"So what level will I be after I upgrade?" I ask giddily since this notion actually excites me.

"When you upgrade next you will be a miner's level." She answers with a sly grin.

"Just a miner?"

"Yup; the lowest rank before newborn."

"I guess I have to start somewhere." I decide aloud.

"Isn't it the truth?"

"What level was the guild master when he died?" I ask with my own curiosity taking hold.

"The highest possible, Royal Family. He obtained enough love and experience from a single pony to bring himself up to the same level as the queen herself." She says with a tone of reminiscent. Wow. Just what kind of mane as he?

"Wow. So I guess that's what you're aiming for?" I question her.

"Nope. I don't have any desire to be royalty. I'm glad to be an assassin." She says bluntly.

"I guess everypony has their own priorities." I say evenly.

"Exactly. I'll tell you more later but for now let's go out into the forest for some fun." She says and we climb up the lander but I have one question left in my mind. Who did I collect the love from?

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"Alright here's the plan for today." The magenta mare says as we enter the center of town together. "To be brief today we are going to play a hunting game. Here's the idea; I'm going to give you a thirty minute head start. After that time expires I'll begin to hunt you down with Spacial. Your goal is to hide out for the whole day until morning without being found by us. Of course this doesn't mean you can only hide in the traditional sense. Try to be creative with it. You have three chances so if we manage to find you three times you lose. If you lose you will be punished. Simple enough?" She says with a wide grin.

"Wait; what do you define as having found me?" I ask to make sure the rules are clear. Normally I'd object, but that isn't going to get me anywhere. I just have to play along.

"We have to be within 3 meters of you and we have to talk to you directly. Also, you are not allowed to leave the town." She answers simply.

"Alright then. When do we start?" I ask

"Now." She says and I dash off towards where we came from. And so it begins.

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   I finish climbing up the ladder I made to get onto the roof of the restaurant and I lay low on top of it as I'm pretty sure my half hour has run out. I first ran off towards my home in an attempt throw them off and from there I looped around towards the dining area of town and climbed to the top of this roof. This should work for a while but I'll need to change spots eventually.

   I crawl over to the edge of the roof facing the street and I peek my head over the side to keep a lookout for Berry or Spacial. I spend the next 45 minutes lazing around and watching out for my stalkers. I thought for looking up another spell but there is no telling when I might be in danger.

   I watch as another pony comes around the corner and I immediately duck down. Shit. I'm not very sure what skills Spacial has but I can't underestimate her. I peak my head over just enough to see into the street. However, I do not see her anymore which I find a little scary. Where did she go? I think before looking down into the alleyway and I see the mare standing below me in the alley.

"Ah shit." I mutter and her head immediately shoots upwards to me and I fall backwards on my ass. Fuck; I think she saw me. I need to leave, but how should I go about it? I think before activating a light cancelation spell over the area and I begin to turn around before light begins to rip through the spell and the dome falls apart into a cascade of small black feathers and seem to burn up in the air. It font of my stand the imposing figure of Spacial with one outstretched arm and with a sliver golden mist around her arm and she looks down at me in what seems to be disgust.

"That's one down." She comments in an extremely cold manor.

"But.... How did you....?" I mutter as I find myself at a loss for words.

"That cheap spell may work on somepony who isn't expecting it but for somepony like me tearing it apart is easier than you could imagine." She scolds.

"But how did you find me?" I ask before standing up.

"You reek of your own magic. It's disgusting." She says before disappearing into a cloud of dark mist. What the hell? I reek of my own magic? I think before smelling the air and nothing seems to be off of the norm. I don't smell anything. Either way I need to move before they can find me again. I think before making another ladder and climbing down from the roof.

"I think I'm clear to go." I say as I activate a speed step spell and run down the road. I can't afford to waste any time. After all I'm only an hour into this game and I already lost one of my chances.

   As I run aimlessly across town I place magical blocks in some easy hiding places and I use my substitution spell on them to make them look like me. Thankfully only a few ponies are actually out and about right now so I can move freely. After placing about 17 fakes across town and vomiting 3 or so times, I stop behind a dumpster in an alleyway to hide in and I hope that the magic coming off of the fakes will be able to confuse Spacial and that Berry won't be able to find me for a while since she'll be preoccupied hunting the fakes. It probably won't work but it is my best shot.

   I wait with a constant vigilance on the two ends of the alley and I listen closely for anypony approaching. Thankfully I am able to wait for a good two or so hours with few visitors and I can actually relax. I open my book of spells and begin to flip through my index for something interesting.

"What-cha readin'?" I hear a familiar voice question as soon as I look down. Fuck.

"Fuck." I say as I look up to see Berry sitting on top of the dumpster.

"Only one chance left now." She comments with a smile.

"How did you find me? Didn't the decoys confuse you?" I ask in a bewildered tone.

"Those cheap knock-offs? No. I'm a prowler type I told you. I can trace you down by your emotions easily. I just didn't think it'd be fun if I didn't give you a fair chance at winning so I went out to eat with Spacial for a while." The mare says while hopping off of the dumpster.

"But wasn't she confused by the magic they're made of?"

"Not in the slightest. It isn't hard for her to tell what is and isn't magical and those things screamed magical and since they had no emotions I could easily pinpoint you after I got close to you." She says evenly. So that's what Spacial meant by 'You reek of you're own magic.'

"So for you to find me with your prowler abilities you have to be close to me and Spacial can just trace me down by following my magic?" I ask for some clarification. I have an idea.

"That is correct. Now let's begin again you only have 13 hours left." Alright. If Spacial is tracking me through my magic and Berry is only able t find me when she's close... I have a plan now.

"Yes let's," I say before pulling out my lock-picking tools and shattering them against the wall. "because things are about to finally get interesting." I finish and she gains a genuine grin which seems to emit a sense of pride.

"So you finally came up with a good plan..."

A Scream Quieter Than Before. 22

   I quickly activate a quickstep spell and I dash back through town and after I make it past the main square I stop behind a building to execute the second part of my plan.

"I hope this works." I say as I kneel down and form the seal for the lock-pick conjuring. Ok; I only need to cast this once and I'll have a chance at winning this.

   I force as much of my magic into the seal and once and the seal disappears as I can feel my left arm ripping its self apart to compromise for the magical energy. I open my eyes and I see the two familiar tools sitting before me again and I tuck them into their pouch under my vest.

Let's see if that worked. I think as I try to conjure a light spell and I get a light headache and the spell fails. Perfect; I shouldn't leave a trail of magic if I can't emit any. That cares care of Spacial finding me too easily and as long as I keep moving I should be able to evade Berry's natural detection abilities.

"Now to get moving." I say before taking a left and running through the side streets haphazardly.

    I continue to run/walk/sneak around in the manner for the next few hours switching between the tactics occasionally and thankfully I never catch sight of Spacial again and I only saw Berry 7-8 times but I always ran off before she could figure out where I am. Those times were much scarier than I needed them to be though.

   I sneak through the alleyways quietly and my hunger begins to become a bane on my stamina since I haven't had time to eat since last night. I had tried to persuade Berry to have breakfast in town but she denied the noun for unknown reasons. Now I know why.

    I stop for a moment to check the time, 4:13, before turning the corner to walk amongst the now plentiful crowd of ponies. Thankfully the magical recoil didn't lacerate me as badly this time so there are only a couple of red stains on the arm of my shirt and I'm pretty sure Berry can pick out my individual emotional field amongst this crowd. I've walked strait past her 3 of times I saw her and she didn't even seem to notice. I hope these stains come out.

   I figure that I won't have too many problems until nightfall since that's with the inhibition period will end but thankfully according to Berry's time estimation I'll only have to it run them until midnight which I think should be manageable as long as I don't move around too much at first so that I don't leave and trails until they pick up the chase. The only problem I can for see though is their abilities to hide and sneak up on me. I guess I'll have to leave that up to chance.

   I walk back into another alleyway again nonchalantly before breaking off into another sprint. I stayed in this part of town for too long. I need to relocate again.

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   I wake up from my nap with a small yawn and I check the time which is now 8:01. Luckily I had found a nice place to hang out at for a while; so I ate some dumpster nachos to refresh myself and I took a nap. I hope I don't regret that decision. I think as I role out from under the dumpster near the main square.

My magic should be returning soon so I need to stay hidden while I can and I need to get up where I'll be able to see Berry or Spacial coming. I think as I climb on top of the dumpster and I grab onto a pipe above me which is carries a dim illumination from the street lights.

   Using some of my skills from my old life that I gained from trying to run from each and every ass-hat that went after me, bless their souls, I manage to shimmy my way up the angled pipe to the point where it straitens up and runs up to the roof. I pull my body up until I can rest my feet on the pipe and I then begin to use my feet to help me push myself up.

   I pull myself up and over the edge of the building after I reach the top of the pipe and I find myself to be panting a little. I guess this body isn't like my old one was. Usually I could do that a few times before getting tired and it'd only take a few seconds; that took me a whole three minutes. I think as I stand up and look to the building before me which stands a little below the one I'm on and is overlooking the square directly. I should be able to jump that.

   I take a few steps back and I then run forward to the end of the roof. I jump and I watch as I come close to the other roof. Just a little farther... I impact the other roof barely and I tuck myself into a role and I go about another meter before stopping. That worked surprisingly well.

   I stand up slowly and gather myself before crouching back down. I stop for a moment and I try to form a magical box in my hand and it forms easily within my palm. Alright then; my magic is back now so I don't want to move around to much so I don't leave a trail. I could re-cast the spell of lock-picks but since there isn't much if a night crowd Berry should now be able to find me and if I accidentally get too close I'll need to be able to outrun her.

   I wait for the next 2& 1/2 hours without anypony coming by with my only company being the sounds of the nightlife across town where the bars and such are. I should've hidden there. I think as a pony enters the square from the way across from me. Fuck; I thought I was going to able to ride this out from up here but that probably won't happen now. Thanks a lot Spacial.

   She walks around the place with her head moving around and checking the area and with her long violet dress flowing slightly in the breeze. She stops after reaching the area under me and I immediately turn towards the building next to me and arm a quick step spell. I think she got me.

"I thought you would've learned from your past mistake idiot." I hear her say evenly and I jump off of the roof I'm on and onto the lower one next to it.

   I hear a small gust of wind from behind me and I sidestep off of the roof the instinctually. I land on my side with a thud, but I push through the resounding pain to get myself up. Fuck; here's my advice, don't jump off of roofs. It hurts like hell.

   I activate the speed step spell again since the first one broke upon my landing and I run off towards the sounds of the nightlife. I keep pushing through the mental and physical pains since I can still hear gusts of wind behind me most likely from Spacial's odd spell.

   I take a sharp left into another alleyway and I knock over a few trash cans to hopefully stop her but the seemingly endless sound of the wind continues to follow me. Fuck. Oh wait I forgot about something. I think before throwing up an extremely tall magical box behind me and I hear a small thud from behind me and the sound of wind stops. That was anticlimactic, but I'm happy with the result.

   I continue running haphazardly for the next five minutes before stopping and vomiting into a trash can. I flip open my pocket watch and check the time, 11:34. Fuck; I almost won to. I think as I fall to the earth and my consciousness slips away. I lose.

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*{Berry's POV}*

"Looks like he pushed himself too far." I say as I continue to poke Sonata's face. Soft yet firm; he would make a fine mattress.

"If you can call his sorry performance 'pushing himself'." Spacial sneers from behind me.

"He's just a little but singular in his talents right now." I remark as I hoist his body over my shoulder.

"'A bit' is being generous."

"Then I'll teach him a few new tricks. At the very least I think he's starting to understand the thought processes we use. He found a way to work around your tracing abilities. It wasn't the best way, but it worked." I defend my student solidly.

"But after that he went back to being a fool. If it wasn't for you telling me not to go too fast he wouldn't have won the game at all." She says but I ignore most of it.

"He's a student Spacial not an expert. He picked up on our hints and found a way to use them to his advantage even it was for only a moment. As his teacher that's good enough for me. Besides he's the first member since me to win this game on his first try." I remind her. And I was the first since the last guild master and I was his only student as well. I guess it he wore off on me more than I had thought.

"Either way; can I remove our limiters now?"

"Yes, please do; I'm tired of working at 30% of my usual abilities." I say remembering the traditional limiters we put on for the game. They're annoying but its tradition. I think and the magical limiters break away from my wrist. "That's much better."

"Well I'm going. Next time, make sure your student is actually ready." Spacial snips before teleporting away in a small puff of smoke. She can be a real bitch sometimes.

"Don't worry Sonata; soon I'll have you robbing ponies blind like pro just like the old master taught me to do." I say before lugging him home. At least he isn't too heavy to be a bother.

A Scream Full Of Recompence. 23

   I open my eyes slowly as I begin to regain consciousness and I can feel my bed under me. I begin to look around the pitch dark room slowly but I'm unable to see anything. I manage to enable a dim light spell at the cost of turning my slight headache into a migraine. Fuck; I need to be more careful about using my magic. It's literally a doubled edged sword most of the time.

   I get up out of the bed and I almost fall to the floor due to my disorientation. I take it slow and I continue to walk towards my door. I open the door after reaching it and I open the door slowly as the light of the hallway assaults my eyes and I cringe I'm displeasure. After my eyes recover from the sudden shift in light, I dispel the light spell and I continue through the hallway with my head throbbing. Suddenly just going back to sleep seems very appealing.

   I walk into the main room and I don't see anypony in the room. I at least thought Berry would be here. I think as I walk over to the wall clock and checking the time, 6:54. I guess she's still asleep. I walk over to the kitchen and I pull another can of tomato soup out of the cabinet. I guess I should eat something; keep my strength up and whatnot. I open the can and I set the can in the microwave for about 45 seconds to warm it up and during that time I grab a spoon out of one of the drawers. I hate spoons

   I grab the can out of the microwave and set it on the countertop with my spoon. Time to eat. I stir the thick soup for a few moments before taking a few warm spoonfuls. Simple yet delicious. I finish the soup in the next few minutes and thankfully my headache has subsided by that time.

"I wonder what happened last night... I probably lost after I dropped. After all I doubt my magical wall actually did anything; she probably just acted like it did to trick me. I wonder what Berry is going to do for my punishment." I say aloud as I toss the can into the trash can and walk into the main room to sit on the remaining couch.

"Good morning Sonata." I hear the voice of Berry come from my left and I turn towards the mare wearing a simple running outfit.

"Good morning?" I say in a more asking than greeting tone.

"What's the problem?" She responds while pulling out a carton of eggs from the refrigerator.

"I thought you'd be displeased with my performance last night. I did lose after all." I answer.

"What do you mean? You didn't lose; it was close but you won by 32 seconds." She answers before pulling out a package of bacon. What?

"What; but didn't Spacial catch me right after I blacked out?" I question while eyeing the meat and eggs. I didn't steal either of those at the store although stealing the eggs would've been beneficial now that I think about it...

"Nope. She ran into your wall like an idiot and hurt herself and as for me I was stuck in the night crowd across town." She answers and begins to heat up a pan on the stove top. I guess she brought over more stuff than I thought.

"Wasn't she teleporting though? How could she hit the wall when she was disappearing and reappearing?" I ask.

"She wasn't teleporting. It's a spell she picked up on a few years ago. It acts like your speed step to increase here speed slightly but rather than just doubling the speed of the user it also creates an area of low pressure in front of caster creating less resistance and allowing the caster to flow through the area quickly which explains the sounds of wind that accompany it. Simply put it only looks like teleportation." She explains thoroughly as she cracks two eggs into the pan and seasons them with what seems to be a simple salt and pepper mix.

"So I'm not going to be punished?" I ask to ensure my theory.

"Nope. It's a shame though. I thought you'd lose.it must just run through this chain of mentors and apprentices." She says with a sigh near the end.

"What do you mean 'through this chain of mentors and apprentices'?

"You're the first one to win this game on the first try since me and I was the first one since my mentor, the previous guild master, to win on the first try. I guess I'm a better teacher than I thought." She says while taking the eggs out of the pan and putting the bacon into the pan with the same basic blend of seasonings.

"Or I'm a better student than you thought." I remark sarcastically.

"Considering Spacial and I were only at 20% of our usual power; I think it's my teaching." What?

"20% of your usual power?" I ask.

"Yeah; it's traditional for the two chasers to wear limiters that bring them down to 20% of their usual power during the first time the game is played. Afterwards we can change the limiters to take away less power to train you more. For the most part we play this game as a way to gauge what your strong and weak points are." The magenta mare says while taking the bacon out of the pan and setting it with the eggs on her plate.

"Uh; and here I thought I was actually doing better than you."

"There's not a chance in hell you could already be better than I am." She replies while taking a bite of the bacon.

"What did I do right and what did I do wrong?" I ask as she enjoys her meal.

"You made good use of the defects the lock-pick conjuring spell comes with, the faux bodies might've worked on a pegasus or earth pony and you also recognized how a crowd can be used to mask your trail. However you choose to hide in two places highly similar to each other and also you only ran for a good portion of the time." She chastises through a mouthful of egg whites.

"Sorry about that. The light cancelation fell through and when the faux bodies didn't work my options where severely reduced." I respond somberly. I really am a one trick pony.

"And that, my son and student, is what I plan to fix. You already see to have a respectable enough magical reserve for now, but without spells to use it I can't expect much from you. In your pocket, however, there happens to be a list of spells I picked out from your book for you to learn. I want you to have them down by Thursday because then we're going to play an Everfree survival game." She explains

"What do you mean 'survival game'?" I ask evenly.

"We go out into the Everfree and go camping for awhile. It's mostly a team building exercise rather than a training exercise though. We even have a great spot by some manticore dens." She says and I do the calculations in my head. The fuck is a manticore

"Wait; you're only giving me a day to learn them?" I say as I remember today is Wednesday.

"They're fairly simple and I'm giving you all day to learn them. Besides; it's not going to be Spacial and me will go going you this time." She answers and puts her plate into the sink.

"Then who is going to go with me?" I ask with an idea already forming in my head. Who else but...

"Thunderback and Macintosh." She says while walking over and sitting in her rocking chair.

"Why them?" I ask.

"We may be a family, but we still have jobs. Spacial is going to rob a home in canterlot and I'm going to assassinate a large landowner in the griffin badlands. The way I hear it his young colt is getting a little anxious for his inheritance." She says with a smirk.

"And you don't think anything of it?" I ask wondering how such a happy mare could be cutting other pony's lives short.

"Not really. It's like any other job; to make money you have to make somepony else pay a price. The way I see it; you can say I'm a criminal or murder, but at the end of the day I need bits like anypony else. I'm just doing what I'm good at." She says solemnly. I understand what she's saying but I still don't agree with it, maybe I'm too young or she's looking at it the wrong way.

"Will they have limiters on them like you two did?" I ask to change the subject.

"Not at all." She answers and I take out the list of spells for me to learn.

"Ten spells, heh? I guess I can do this." I say after reading the list.

"That's the spirit. Now go on out for a while; I need to plan out my job." She says before walking back to what was once Uefi's room. Heh, if Uefi could see the shit I'm having to do right now he'd probably laugh at me and call me an idiot for listening to them. Either that or he'd be yelling at me for living with an alcoholic.

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   I walk out into the forest hoping to find a secluded place to practice. The forest itself is pretty nice actually, besides the somewhat ominous fog. The larges trees in the area seem to an odd twisted pattern to their bark and they're branches and leaves are formed like that of a weeping willow's. Vines hang low to the ground from the branches and I find myself acing to move them all around simply to make it another meter ahead. Small moths, flies and butterflies continue to come by me as I walk and I wonder how they manage to move around through the vines. The advantages of being small, I guess.

   After walking for about 20 minutes and making mental marks as to how to get back, I finally find a nice place to stop. A little extravagant for the forest but I like the mythic feel. A small pond, only about 10 meters in diameter all around, makes up most of a small clearing in the trees and the branches if the trees create an overhang of the first meter of so of the pond and light floods through the canopy formed by the high branches in small shafts giving off a good bit of iridescent light. To put it simply the pond has an ethereal feel. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but that's how it feels. Either way, I've found my training area. I just won't do anything potentially destructive here; it's too precious for that.

   I kneel down near the edge of the water and pull out Berry's list of spells to learn. Where to start?

-Raven Cloak- Page:36

-Shadow Wrap- Page:23

-Dark Sparks- Page:45

-Light Rift- Page:21

-Dark Sight- Page:29

-Air Coil- Page:34

-Open View- Page:43

-Spire Form- Page:47

-Chaos Point- Page:147

-Deviant Point- Page:147

Time to get to work. I think as I flip through the book to first spell.

Chapter 4

Spell 6: Raven Fall

This is an old favorite of mine. This spell creates a storm of fake magical birds that cover a ten meter diameter area and initially will come from the casters feet and wrap around him/her for a brief moment. Usually you would just use this as a scare tactic to trip up pursues while you teleport away, if you can teleport that is. The birds themselves will fade away after thirty seconds or so; so that's your time limit for it. The seal for this spell is one large circle and 8 lines starting at the center of that circle that spiral outwards to the circle. Have fun.

This seems to be simple enough. I think before setting the book aside and forming the seal in my mind while I close my eyes. Here goes nothing.

   I begin to push my magic into the seal and the sapphire hue of my magic begins to fill each section formed by the spirals one by one and I can feel a little strain but nothing that shouldn't be taken care of by my natural regeneration after I cast the spell. I fill the last section and open my eyes to see the effects of the spell.

   An eruption of black birds begin to flow out from the ground around me and they swarm around me for a few moments in a spiral before flying outwards and flying around the diameter of the pond in a frenzy of feathers and the sound of birds screeching fills the air. The birds are midnight black in colour and their eyes are singular sapphire colour. There's probably a good hundred or so of them forming a thin veil of falling feathers and faux bodies which continue to circle the area in a counter clockwise manner. After thirty seconds of this, the birds begin to become quieter and one by one their bodies begin to fade away and disappear. Well that was fun; I guess that could be useful to elude any predators I come across.

   I practice the spell another fifteen times before deciding to move on being as I feel I've done good enough practice with it.

Chapter 3

Spell 8: Shadow Wrap

As the name would entail this spell allows you to darken the preexisting shadows on yourself or an object and the shadows around the object and magic is drained as the shadows that are already around your object and the shadows around it become darker depending on how large the item is. Simply put; your magic is used to darken the shadows. This spell does require a continuous amount of magic to be applied to it to keep the shadows wrapped around the object and to keep the added concealment effective. The seal for this spell is quite minimalist in its nature however you must be in contact with the shadow and with the object you wish to cloak; the higher your contact level is the better. After you darken the object however you no longer need to maintain contact with the shadows or the object allowing you to have a stronger concealment while in the shadows. The seal is only four lines coming out in a spiral from a single point. After filling this seal you will need to simply think about pulling the shadows around the item as of you were wrapping it in another layer of shadows.

I guess this won't be too hard. I think while walking over under the trees and putting my book back into my pocket. I kneel down in the grass with the palms of my hands in the shadow covered grass. I guess I'll start by wrapping myself. After all, I'm most likely to use to hide myself and if I can't do that it will severely cut how useful this will be for me; not it mention it will be good practice.

   I form the seal in my mind and I begin to fill it with what is now the scarlet hue of my magic. The seal itself doesn't take much magic to fill the seal and I look down to my hands. Here we go. I begin to think of the shadows wrapping themselves around my hands and body; to my surprise the shadows around my hands begin to darken along with portion of the initial one. I can feel a drain on my energy but I could probably hold this spell for a good five minutes before running out of energy. I'll play with this one later. If I'm supposed to get these spells down by days end I don't want to be running out of energy before at least getting halfway through. I think before dropping the spell and I visibly become lighter with the shadows around me. Time for the next spell.

   Chapter 5

Spell 2: Dark Sparks

This spell has the name might entail is a spell you use to create black sparks to light fires and the like. I realize the fire made by the fire is still the same as regular fire but the black sparks are good if you don't have enough time to activate the spell when you're burning something so with this you can activate it off sight and light the fire when you get to the object. Also I wanted a flame spell in this book but I needed one that would fit the theme. The seal is fairly simple; just imagine a small square with four arrows outside of it pointing to its corners and a circle around that. You will need to regulate how much magic it receives after this to ensure you don't make too many sparks and to ensure that the sparks don't die out. Not for indoor use.

I think I'll try this one later. I don't want to risk burning down my sanctuary. Moving on now...

Chapter 3

Spell 6: Light Rift

As the name implies Light Rift creates light. Rather than your basic light spell this will create a flashlight type of light which will be emitted from one of your hands. The more magic you put into the spell; the bright it gets. To activate this spell think of a thin and tall oval in your mind and fill it with your magic. Simple and effective.

And here we go again. I think as I envision the mentioned seal and I fill it with my magical energy. The initial cast is quite easy for me and after filling it with my sapphire magic a small oval similar to the one I thought of opens above my right hand with light flowing out of it like a flashlight. This however still doesn't even absorb more magic than I can regenerate. Then again it's highly similar to the light spell so the cost is naturally similar to it's forerunner.

   I shine the light around for another few minutes just to get the hang of its range and whatnot. And onward moves my training session.

Chapter 3

Spell 11: Dark sight

A common spell, but never the less useful; is Dark Sight. The spell creates a low level night vision effect to help you see in the dark. This is good pair with a dim Light Rift spell to help even out the center of your vision but also give some situational awareness to the rest of the area. This spell originated in an old tribe back before equestria's founding as a central government. They used it to give them the ability to hunter quietly at night and launch ambushes without being seen from their light spells or so I'm told. The seal for this is pretty simplistic; just two circles with one small circle in the center of each larger circle and a line passing horizontally through each circle's center. This spell will require a continuous amount of magic to stay active. Have fun and don't make me look bad.

   I walk back under the trees where the sun isn't coming through very well to make sure that I don't end up hurting my eyes. If staring at the sun is bad for your eyes, then staring at it with night vision couldn't be much better. I envision the seal after I'm under the trees' canopy and I begin to fill it with what is unsurprisingly my scarlet magic. I think I'm sensing a pattern.

   The spell does take a little bit of energy to cast but nothing too substantial. I feel am odd sensation come over my eyes and to my surprise a red tint comes over my eyes and areas originally to dark to see into become clearer. The drain is noticeable but I could still hold this spell for a good half an hour or so before needing to stop. I look around for another few minutes before deciding to move on to the next spell being as sitting around with night vision is only going to waste time. Hmm; Air Coil doesn't sound exiting and neither does Open View or Spire Form. I guess I'll just do Chaos and Deviant Point before taking a break for a while. I think as I flip the page for the two spells.

Chapter 17: Imbues

Spells 1&2: Chaos and Deviant Point

These two can explain themselves to you. Think of seven points in a line with a hexagon of any size on both sides of the line. Celestia have mercy on your soul.

Well that was vague. I think as I sit down by the water's edge. I mean really; at least be more descriptive. Oh well; I guess I'll just give it a try. I think before drawing the image in my mind. Here we go, I think as I begin to fill the seal with my magic. Surprisingly enough the spell actually does use up a good bit of my magical energy as the hexagons fill with my magic; the left takes to the scarlet magic and the right takes to the sapphire magic. After the hexagons are both filled with their respective colours of magic the center dots begin to fill with an odd silver hue of magic that I'm unfamiliar with. Odd; I don't remember having magic like this.

   After the spell is finished being filled I nearly vomit into the waters due to the strain and feel an odd pain in both of my hands and when I look to them I'm surprised to see two small wisps of smoke making their ways out of the back of my hands. The scarlet wisp rising from my left and is thinner and longer than its sapphire coloured companion which is more of a thick puff of smoke which is rising out of my right hand.

"Ok; I'll bite. What the hell is this?" I say aloud as the two wisps float in front of face.

"Hello. I believe this our first real meeting outside of your soul. Good thing; it was getting a little stuffy in there."  A now familiar voice comes from the scarlet wisp.

"Shit. You two again?" I say while face palming. It just doesn't end.

"Quite. If you didn't want to see us you shouldn't of done an imbue spell." The sapphire wisp voice with the voice of Safaia.

"I don't know what an imbue spell is. It was just written that it would explain itself." I defend while watching the two puffs of smoke closely. This is much less threatening.

"I guess that makes sense. After all imbue is something better explained through an actual conversation. To put it simply an imbue spell is a spell which allows hosts, such as yourself, to manifest the abilities of those within them through an object. In this case, air is the medium." The red wisp explains. What?

"What do you mean by 'hosts' and 'those within them'?" I ask with genuine confusion although I'm pretty sure I'm the host and they're the ones I'm hosting.

"Oh yes, you don't know about that, but that's all in good time. First let's see if you're really worthy of manifesting us." Safaia says and I feel my body go limp as my vision goes blurry and the two small puffs of smoke disappear into the air. Fuck. You'd think I'd be used to this by now.

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Berry's POV

   I walk out from behind the trees after his conversation ends and I give him an experimental tap on the head. He's out cold.

"Looks like I was right. He is a host." I say aloud. I hope you're ready Sonata because those two are going to put you through the hoops now. Celestia knows mine did the same thing to me. I think before walking away for his limp body. You definitely won't understand now, but in time you'll understand.

A Scream At The End Of Tranquility. 25

   I open my eyes lazily to see a magenta mare leaning over me and tentatively knocking her fist against my forehead.

"Good morning." Berry yawns quietly to me before standing up groggily.

"Good morning." I moan in response before checking the time, 5:17, and looking at her downtrodden face.

   Her eyelids droop down over her eyes and her hair lies in a disarray of sorts. My eyes travel downwards and she looks to be wearing a simple white tank-top and a pair of gray sweatpants. I guess she just got up too.

"I'm going to go and get ready to leave. You need to be ready in the next fifteen minutes so we can leave." The older mare tells me before walking out of the room.

I guess there isn't much time to mess around then. I think as I get out of bed.

   I decide that I'll still bring all of my items with me and I grab a set of clothes and walk into the bathroom. I just hope today goes well.

(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)(/)

   I walk out of my room and pleasantly enter the main room only to see that Berry is either not done getting ready or she is already outside waiting. Considering that I took about 17 minutes getting ready, I assume the latter and move to climb up the ladder.

   I exit the small blue box and close the doors behind me before I notice something I should've noticed before, there's no lock on this door. I guess I'll have to figure something out. I might just get a padlock and put it on. I decide as I turn around to face the forest.

"You're late." Berry scolds me as I face her.

   Not too much seems to have changed in her attire besides that she replaced her old pants with a simple pair if blue jeans and she is now wearing a pair of glasses with an oval shaped thin black frame for each lens. Her hair looks to be back in its usual semi-straight style.

"Yeah I know. You wear glasses?" I ask in an attempt to change the subject.

"Not usually, but I don't think my contacts are the best choice for this, considering we will be out there for a couple of days." She answers as I close some of the gap between us.

"I guess you have a point. I guess we need to be going then?" I ask her as I pass by.

"Yeah; I guess we do need to get a move on. It'll look bad in both our parts if we're late." The older mare says before taking the lead ahead of me.

   The early morning seems to have an oddly mystical feel to it. The faint blue light comes through the canopy and gives off only enough light for the area to be seen. A few birds chirp occasionally but for the most part the utter silence comforts me as I watch the motionless leaves and branches. An occasional squirrel runs up a tree from time to time and the small shakes as it climbs from tree to tree, but more than anything the stasis of the forest comforts my mind and allows me to crack a small grin. Utterly peaceful; if only it lasted a little longer.

   I pull my book out of my pocket and flip to one of the spells I skipped over learning yesterday and I begin to read the details of it. I may not get to test them but at least I'll know how to use them.

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   As we turn the corner around the back of the Apple family house I see Applejack and her siblings all doing various things to prepare. Applejack is collecting items off of the ground and putting them into various backpacks. Big Mac is bringing out various other supplies such as canteens and the like. Applebloom is simply playing around with the backpack she is carrying while running around in a small circle. Cute.

"Good morning." Berry greets them for me as we approach the group.

"Mornin'; sleep well?" The orange mare responds while loading the last of their supplies.

"Well enough. Have you heard from Dash or Thunderback at all?" I answer after noticing the absence of the two ponies.

"Thunderback is locking up the barn and Dash should be here in a few minutes." Macintosh informs me before throwing a duffle bag at me which I promptly catch. It's heavy, but it shouldn't be too troublesome. "Those are some supplies for you."

"Thanks." I say as he tosses Berry her own bag and I put the strap around one side of my neck and let the bag hang loosely under the opposite arm.

"Any chance you could carry mine for me Sonata?" Berry asks in a whining manner. I may be indebted to her, but there's no way I can expect her to remove any of the debt so...

"No." I say flatly, but she proceeds to wrap her bag around my neck in the same fashion as the other except for the sides being inverted.

"Thank you dear." She remarks sarcastically and with a happy grin. Really?

"You would've been carrying two bags anyways Sonata. Here's another bag Berry." The red stallion says before throwing her a medium sized backpack. I still think I'm getting the raw end of the deal, but at least I feel a little better.

"Damnit." The magenta mare moans as she puts on her pack.

"Alright the barn is locked up and I left the keys with Granny." I hear the familiar once of Thunderback come from behind me and I turn to meet him.

   The dark grey pegasus, in compliance with what I thought he would be wearing, is simply wearing a black hoodie with a pair of somewhat tattered blue jeans, but in the dim light it seems to be a natural tattering rather than it looking as though he bought them with that style. I hope they don't sell clothes like that here; it's something I could never understand back on earth,

"Thank you." Applejack says as she finishes putting supplies into their bags.

"Hey Sonata; how've you been? Is Berry treating you nicely?" The pegasus says with a wink.

"More or less; how've you been?"

"Same old, same old." He says as we walks over to the pile of bags and Applejack hands him a set consisting of a backpack and a duffle bag. "Thank you."

"Yer' welcome." The orange pony says before going putting on her own set of bags.

"Now that I think about it; what about your grandmother? Will she be fine her by herself?" I ask with thoughts of my own grandmother. Now she was probably the one person in my family who I knew that really did care about me genuinely. I am going to miss her. I think with a little tear in my right eye.

"She'll be fine. Our cousin, Braeburn, is coming up from appoloosa tomorrow anyways. He said he'll take care of her while we're away." The mare answers back to me as a faint shadow crosses overhead. Good morning Dash.

"Hello everypony." Rainbow Dash says after doing an admirably stylish landing besides me.

"You're late." Applejack, my mentor and I all say in near unison.

"Was that rehearsed?" The blue pegasus says while putting her left hand behind her head and dragging it through her mane.

"No; it was natural instinct." I answer her before handing her one of the duffle bags from around my neck. "Here you go."

"How was that natural instinct?" She responds while taking the bag from my hand and putting it over her neck like I did mine.

"You were late so we called you out on it. What happened anyways; did you sleep-in again?" Applejack answers her for me.

"What of it? I'm here now so we can go. Isn't that all that matters?"

"If you had been here on time we could've already left." I say as I turn to face her.

   The athletic pegasus is wearing a simple blue hoodie and a pair of black running pants which I guess she just wore for comfort. Turning back to face Applejack, I notice that she is wearing a simple green t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans and her sister is wearing something of a similar manner except that her shirt is more of a tan colour. Her older brother is wearing a deep red t-shirt with a pair of jeans as well and after noticing all of this something dawns on me. I'm the only one who is in no way dressed for this event. Damnit; note to self: make sure to but casual wear.

"Fair enough." The blue pegasus mutters as Mac throws me and her a backpack each which we proceed to put on at our own individual paces.

"Well if everypony is ready, and you seem to be; let's go on then." Applejack says before turning to walk off towards a path I can see amidst the apple trees.

   We separate into semi-natural groups as we begin to walk down the somewhat narrow path. Big Mac takes the lead by himself and Thunderback takes the position after with Applejack and they take up a light conversation which from what I can tell Thunderback seems to be more interested in than Applejack is. Berry and Rainbow Dash walk along behind them and the older mare is seems to be giving her bits of information which I can't really make out very well. This order however leaves me to walk along with and entertain Applebloom. I know I said she was one if the only kids I ever actually liked, but that sentiment only goes so far.

"So... How are you?" I ask the small pony awkwardly.

"Ah'm doing ok I guess. What about you?" The little pony answers with a slightly less significant southern draw than her sister's or brother's.

"Fine; I'm still getting used to it around here, but it's not too bad." I say and she merely nods in response.

"Oh; mah sister said you were new around. When did you come to town?" Applebloom responds in a more interested manner.

"About a week or so ago."

"How're you related with Ms. Berry anyways?"

"She's my aunt and teacher. Why do you ask?" I ask her as she seems to be well interested in the topic.

"Mah sister told me you were livin' with her and not to pick up on her habits too much. So; ah was wonderin' what you thought of her." She explains as best she can and I nod back to her.

"Well it's true that I'm living with her. As for her habits though; I'm not sure. She's definitely got a few that you shouldn't pick up, but as a pony she actually seems to be nice enough." I say with disregard to her profession.  That is definitely a habit she doesn't need to pick up.

"Oh; ah guess that makes sense. So what about you?" She asks as I duck under a low hanging branch.

"What about me?" I answer her back while raising an eyebrow.

"What do you do? Like with your cutie mark?"

"Me? Well I guess whatever comes up, really. My cutie mark isn't of much use in today's world." I elaborate to a minor extent.

"What is your cutie mark?"

"It's not important. I was just given an inconvenient one; it's not very useful to me." I tell her as a lie.  Something tells me it will be awfully convenient in times to come.

"Oh; I hope I don't get one like that then." The small filly says in a sorrowful manner.

"Oh don't worry about it. Mine is quite uncommon; you'll probably get a nice one. Have any of your other friends gotten their's yet?" I ask and her look turns a little downtrodden.

"Everypony in my class has their's besides Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle." She answers me back.

"Oh; does that make it hard on you three at school then?" I ask before thinking of the potential backlash. Damnit; I didn't think again.

"Yeah; they call us 'blank-flanks' and make fun of us all the time. It's just horrible." The small one says with great hate and sadness. I guess it's time to play damage control again.

"Well look at it like this; whenever you get your mark it might be great and all but think about it. Doesn't it kind of lock you into one thing? If you don't have one there's still the wonderment of the mystery. You don't know what you may become but that doesn't matter. You've got to be in it for the race itself rather than the finish line if you really want to enjoy it. The race is always changing and becoming new, but the trophy at the end doesn't change into anything new. It's just a trophy. Not to say the trophy isn't great, but the trophy is only half of the greatness. If you rush the race you're just likely to not enjoy it. So yeah; they can make fun of you for not having your mark, but you just remember that you're still running the race and that the race is what makes half of the experience." I say to try and stabilize her but she just looks back in a confused manner. I probably went a little bit out of kilter on that one though. That's what I get for being the only person amongst my old group who actually tried to help others out. Seriously though; Uefi was a little bit of a loon before I talked to him. Then again; I'm not sure I helped him. I think he just learned to suppress his emotions like me a bit, although I am much better at it than he was.

"Umm...what?" The little earth pony questions me in a bewildered manner.

"Sorry about that; I forgot your age. Basically, even though you don't have your mark, you still get to have fun looking for it." I elaborate for her. "And if anypony keeps giving you trouble just tell me. I think I could convince them otherwise." I finish with a chuckle. Implying that convince equates to scaring them a little to make them know how it feels. You know; eye for an eye and the like. Besides, it's not like a couple of eerily moving objects would hurt too much. It's not like I'm going to stalk anypony and scare them all individually. It'll be a like a little ghost story in a sense.

"Oh; well I guess that makes me feel a little better." She responds after a light pause, but she does seem to be in better spirits. Once again I somehow avoid a bad situation by spewing out the first seemingly prophetic idea to come to mind. Maybe I should begin to take not of these things...

"Well good; just remember I come to me if they get on you too bad rather than trying something yourself, alright?" I ask to reassure myself of the situation. It's probably a good idea to make sure she didn't distort it too much in her head.

"Alright then." She answers in a more natural, upbeat, tone.

   We walk along for most of the rest of the way uneventfully before we enter the forest and Applebloom becomes a bit frightened.

"Have you ever been in here before?" I ask her with truthfully only somewhat genuine worry.

"Yeah, but Ah'm still not very used to it."

"What's there to be afraid of?" I ask her. I can't think of anything more scary than just weird, besides that pack of wooden wolves that is, but I believe that was a special situation.

"Do you not know anything about the Everfree?" She answers me back in an almost offended tone.

"Not much besides that it is supposed to be scary."

"Well yeah. It's got manticore and timberwolves and cockatrices and a bunch of other scary stuff." He answers back to me a bit of a loud manner. I'm just gonna be honest.

"What's a timberwolf, manticore or cockatrice?"

"You really don't know much about the area do you?"

"Not a lick." I respond in a little bit of a hurt tone. I just got here a week ago. It's not as if you can expect me to know all of the town's characteristics.

"Well timberwolves are these wolves made of wood that can hide inside of trees and other wooden things. Manticores are weird faced lion things with a scorpion tail that poisons your nerves so you can't move. Cockatrices are the worst though; they're half chicken half dragon-like things and if they look into your eyes they can turn you into stone." She explains with an exaggerated sense of fear. While I can't doubt her knowledge too much considering that she is right on two accounts of appearance at least and on one account of abilities; I don't know if they're really that scary.

"Oh; I guess there's more to know than I thought. Although I'm pretty sure I could avoid a cockatrice and that I could outrun the other two." I say to put on an air of confidence over an air of fear.

"Yeah right." The little pony says as the group stops ahead of us.

"Ok we're here." Mac calls from the front and the rest of us move around into a circle.

"Ok. This where we break off into our groups. Due to the fact that I didn't much think about the group division on the way over we'll just go by gender. Applejack, RainbowDash, Applebloom and I will form team A and the rest of you will form team B." Berry directs us.

"Doesn't that give you the upper hand though since you have four teammates at her than our three?" Thunderback complains simply.

"Scared of what a few mares can do?" Applejack taunts him with a small jab at his side.

"Not at all; forget that I mentioned anything." He reforms himself and we join into our separate groups.

"There's a stream not to far ahead. We'll have our camp on one side of the stream and yours can be on the other side. We cannot however have our camps directly on the stream. A 75 meter minimal distance has been established around it and within that area you cannot form a camp. Although camps may be divided by the stream, any member can cross the stream at anytime to gather resources and any flags they see. Sabotage of any sort is prohibited, however if somepony from the other team is trying to get a flag and you take it before he or she gets to it, that is acceptable." Berry explains as we begin to walk ahead and I hear the faint sound of moving water.

"Isn't that last part a little unfair?" Applejack asks her elder.

"Hey; if you snooze, you lose. Of the game was entirely fair it wouldn't be any fun." The magenta mare responds to her question as we stop near a shallow stream.

"We'll take this side." Applejack and Dash say at nearly the same time and they both run across the stream to two separate red flags hanging branches on one side.

"We're already losing." Thunderback says in an irritated manner. "I blame you, Sonata."

"How is it my fault?" I ask him in an offended manner.

"You're the new guy; who else would I blame?" He says as the mares gather on the other side of the stream.

"Shut up you two. From here on we are two separate groups and we will only co-operate in situations of emergency. This is not to say that we will not talk or anything; it's just that we don't have to help each other outside of the specified situations." Berry says as I lazily watch the water move in the stream.

   The stream itself at this point is only about 15 centimeters deep and it runs slowly with a fairly clean quality of water. Small bits of algae are stuck to the rocket bottom and an occasional minnow comes by briskly.

"Well goodbye then; see you whenever." Mac answers her and we walk off into our own section of the forest. After that, I hear another cry of victory come from behind me. I guess they found another flag. My luck is terrible today.

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   After we find a suitable collection of trees about 15 minutes later which is about the prerequisite of distance from the stream.

"We'll make our beds up in the trees." Mac says while looking up at the dense canopy of low hanging branches.

"Why don't we just make it on the ground? It'd be better sleeping than in the trees." I argue with him.

"We would, but knowing my luck, we'd wake with a cockatrice staring you in the face. Then we'd have to go all of the way back to town while carrying your stone body so a unicorn could treat you. Although they're part dragon, they can't very well climb or fly so if we stay up there we'll be fine. Manticore's also prefer to hunt on outside of the stream sense it's close to their den. If we're up in the trees I think we stand less of a chance on being attacked in our sleep. Being that manticore's don't tend to look up in the trees for prey, this should give us better protection." Thunderback says while throwing his luggage up into the dense canopy,

"We also didn't get any tents in our bags. Ah let Applejack take our three tents for them to sleep in." Big Mac says between branches as he climbs up a tree into the branches. I guess they do have a point. After all, what do I know about this place? Of course that doesn't mean I'm going to climb that tree.

"Fair enough." I mutter as I shape a ladder out of magical boxes and climb up it.

"Cheater." Thunderback scolds me as he flies up to where Mac and I are.

"You're one to talk." I respond while pointing at his wings.

"Quit it you two. We've got work to do. Sonata; I want you to go get us some water from the stream. Thunderback go get us some berries or something so we can have some food. I'm going to get started on making this place more comfortable and safe." Mac directs us as he tosses a few canteens over to me.

"Taking the easy job Mac?" Thunderback mocks him as I unload my bags and Mac hands him a blade which seems to be something like a miniature machete.

"So he gets a weapon and I don't; remember this when I get mauled by a manticore." I say sarcastically and they laugh a little. They may be a little off, but at least they're enjoyable.

"We only have one and he'll make more use of it than you could. Now go get the water and make sure to look out for any flags while you're at it." He says and I begin to climb back down my ladder.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

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   I walk out of the trees and I see the stream ahead of me. From what I can tell no pony is around besides me so I walk up to the water's edge and I unscrew the cap off of one of the round canteens. I hold the canteen down under the water and I let it fill for a few moments before removing it from the water.

"They've got you doing this too, huh?" I hear Dash's voice say and I look up from my work to see the mare standing over me with a few canteens in her hands.

"Yeah; a little boring, but I guess somepony has to do it." I say after filling my second canteen on closing the cap on it,

"I guess." The athletic mare responds with a nod before kneeling down and filling her own canteens.

   We finish filling our canteens before standing back up and I stretch to the sky lazily,

"Well I guess I need to get back then." I say, but something feels odd in this moment. I can't quite figure it out, but something is off.

"Yeah, I just hope they have camp set up by the time I get back." The mare says, but to be honest I only pay a light amount of attention. What is it?

"Be quiet for a moment. Doesn't something seem off to you?" I ask her as I scan the surroundings.

"No; why?" She responds and then I figure it out.

"Because the animals stopped moving and I don't hear any birds." I realize as a roar rips through the tranquil air. Fuck.

A Fight To Bring About Both Realization And A Scream With A New Tone. 26

     I do a spin 180 degrees to face where the roar came from and I see a collection of wooden wolves come running out of the forest. Alright, but that roar couldn't have come from timberwolves.

"Oh it's just some timberwolves." Dash says as the wolves begin to run down stream, but they aren't close enough to be a problem.

"If my memory serves me correctly, a timberwolf doesn't make that sound." I say as the last of about 12 wolves comes out if the brush.

   Contrary to the others this one seems to be about 1.5 times the size of the others and it seems to be made of walnut rather than the regular oak wood that the others are made of. I guess that would be the alpha then; but why does it look familiar? That however isn't what worries me; this wolf looks around towards its pack before turning and running towards us.

"Why is that one running towards us?" I ask and my answer comes through the brush while taking down a couple of small trees with it.

   The large beast is, needless to say, imposing. The creature is the conglomeration of the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion and the face of a man. So this is the manticore; ok, now I'm scared.

"Dash; it's probably a good idea for us to run." I say as I turn upstream.

"Yeah; it probably is." She answers back and I begin to dash upstream.

   After about thirty seconds or so of running I turn back to see the wolf and manticore are still behind us and they're closing in rather quickly. Looking back ahead I see a steep cliff face. I guess it's time for me to follow the wolf's example.

"Dash; could you please go get somepony to help?" I ask as calmly as I can as I turn my head back and lock eyes with the larger beast.

"What do you plan on doing?" I hear her say as I watch the approaching animals.

"Somepony has to redirect their path away from here." I remind her. If I don't get the manticore going the other way, or at least slowed down, there's a low likely hood of it being unable to follow us back to their camp; not to mention that that wolf looks pretty pitiful by itself.

"Well then let me; I can fly so it won't have a chance of getting me." She insists as we stop at the base of the small cliff.

"Yeah, but it'll probably realize that and go back after me. Besides, you're faster than me and we need help as quickly as possible. We don't have time for this argument either; get going." I command her and I feel a small gust of wind come against my backside a few moments later. Good; she listened.

   After forming a few seals in my mind, I ready myself to embrace the oncoming attacker. The wolf begins to slow down and it looks up at me and I swear I see a look of understanding on his face.

   After the wolf gets within 10 meters of me, he nods his head to me and jumps out of the way. Picking up on his cue, I plant both of my hands onto the ground and force magic into my spell, spire form.

   Looking up I see small tendrils of dirt coming out of the ground quickly, as they also lower the ground level around them, and they impact the manticore; stopping it in its tracks. I feel a drain in my energy, but I could probably use it few more times.

Spire form works by having at least one hand on an object and using magic to pull the object into the shape of a pillar. However, this spell does not work outside of conservation of mass and can only be used until the object has no more mass to grow with. The spell also requires more energy based on the object being shaped, for example; dirt is easier to mold than stone. Also whenever you take your magic out of the seal it will revert to its original state. I think as I remember the book's entry on it.

   I pull my energy back out of the seal and the small tendrils retreat back into the earth and the ground levels back out accordingly. While the manticore is still a little dazed, I take off my gloves and put them into my pockets. I don't want to ruin my only pair. The large wolf is now about five meters to my left and it stares at me with what seems to be confusion.

"What? I'm helping you." I tell the beast, but it doesn't seem to change much. "Whatever..." I finish and role my eyes. I guess it's a stupid idea for it to understand me.

   Seeming to have understood my last gesture, we both turn to face the now rehabilitated manticore. The beast stands about 25 centimeters taller than me and has a long red mane which in my opinion clashes a bit with its orange coat. Then again; I'm not fashion expert.

   Taking the first move, the timberwolf lunges towards the manticore with great ferocity. The manticore however uses his size to his advantage and swings his right paw in a backhanded style which sends the wolf soaring towards the forest edge like a leaf in the breeze. Rather than running towards the beast haphazardly, I levitate a few stones out of the water and I move them into different positions around the manticore. After I get the rocks into a pentagon formation, I send them all flying towards the manticore, but they simply impact and fall off without any visible effect.

   My attack must've angered it because it roars once again and lunges at me. I quickly jump out of the way and tumble a small distance before standing back up and dodging another barrage of swings which I can barely avoid. Thankfully, I see a blur come out of my peripheral vision and impact the manticore.

   While the object doesn't make the manticore move much, it does serve to break up the tempo of its attacks which I am thankful for. A few more moments of that and I'd of been in trouble. I now make out the object to be the timberwolf and it jumps off of the manticore's body, barely avoiding a swipe of its left paw.

I think it's about time for me to give myself an advantage. I think as I fill in another seal in my mind. I can feel a small bubbling in my eyes as the spell takes effect and my field-of-view begins to expand to a full 20 degrees past its usual size. While the spell doesn't take much to cast a do remember one thing about it. Open vision may not coat much to cast at first, you must beware of one thing; this spell takes one large drain as soon as it's dropped and that may result in an unwanted crash.

   Feeling confident with my new advantage, I activate quick-step for a moment and I make a jump at the manticore. Midway through my lunge, I see a large paw coming at me with my expanded view and I turn to brace myself for the impact. I form a box quickly to hopefully stop the attack. I feel a small rupture in my energy as my box shatters under the power of the manticore's attack and it hits me with the full brunt of its force.

   I am knocked back through the air and I tumble over to the edge of the forest. Well that hurt like hell. I think as my body aches. I get up with a groan and I see the wolf now is being thrown around by the manticore as it desperately tries to bite and claw at the beast. It's completely out of its element here. Without any wood to mold with it can't maneuver properly. I think and I can see two large trees out of the sides of my newly expanded peripheral vision. Bingo.

   I stretch my arms out until I have one hand on each tree and I begin to funnel magic back into a spire form seal. After it is filled I begin to manipulate the tree and I begin to extend very thin, but long tendrils of wood out of it until I have about 5 of them in total coming out of the former base of the tree. As soon as the wolf gets hit again I send out my tendrils to create a bed for it to land on.

   Thankfully the timberwolf figured out what I did and as soon as he forms into the wood I drop the spell and pain rips across my chest. Contrary to what I thought, wood is harder to use than dirt; a lot harder. The wood reverts back quickly into its previous state and the timberwolf walks out of it and looks up to me and I notice that the alpha stands at about half of my height. If he stood up he'd probably be about my size.

"You're welcome." I say as I direct my tension back at the confused manticore. This isn't good enough. At this rate we'll be done for, or at least I will be, by the time Dash gets back with help. I need another advantage.

   I look back down to the wolf and it seems he has come to a similar conclusion base on his expression. How am I telling the expression of a wooden face anyways? Wait a minute... Wooden. I think and a smile creeps across my face. That might work.

"Trust me on this one buddy." I say as I quickly plant a hand down on its head and I fill in another seal and a cloud of mist erupts from its skull. Time for a change in venue.

   After the smoke clears I see an identical copy of me standing next to me awkwardly and I remove my hand from his shoulder. I've got to say I'm surprised that worked. What used to be the wolf makes a grunting kind-of noise through its mouth and I chuckle a little at the awkwardness of the sound.

"Don't worry it won't last long." I say and my body double grunts. "Let's just finish this." I say and I dash forward at the manticore with ferocity.

   After I make my way to the beast, it decides to make use of its stinger and I twist around to dodge the downward strike. Midway through my spin I see that the wolf is attempting to move around in his new skin that my substitution spell gave him and by the time he reaches the manticore he seems to have adjusted enough and watched me enough to have figured out how to move in the body.

  He barely dodges the first attack sent at him and I come in from behind the manticore and I ram my horn into his back which allows it pierce through his skin with the sharp tip and it stops halfway. The manticore cries out in pain and I pull my horn out before he has the chance to recover and I jump back a few steps away from his fierce attacks.

   My counterpart follows my example through the confusion and uses his own horn to slash through part of the manticore's back left leg. Remembering his other adversary, the manticore sends a backhand blow to my double and he is sent to the ground and the magical body breaks off of him and leaves his now cracked and somewhat distorted body lying defenseless in the grass.

   Sadly the manticore takes advantage of this and turns back around and I see it raise its tail up into the air to finish the final blow. Following my own instincts I quickly speed-step over to his body as the manticore's tail comes down within the second and I have no time to dodge for myself.

   I hear a small clink as I bring my left hand up over my face and I feel an almost overbearing about of force behind the hit. I open my eyes and I see that the manticore's tail was impeded by my plating and the tip is stuck in between the small crevices between the plates of chitin. Well that was a lucky break for me. I think as I see a dark blue liquid drip off of the end of my hand. I guess that's the neurotoxin.

   Before the beast can reorganize its efforts, I quickly grab the wolf and jump away until I'm about 15 meters from the beast. I set down the wolf's heavily injured body and I feel a little sad for him. His back legs are only being held together by a few small sections of wood which I could easily break without any effort. His front legs are a little better, but they aren't anywhere near good. His back has large sections missing in the wood and his tail has been almost entirely nipped. His head now has a large scrape over the right side of his mouth. Small amounts of sap steadily flow out of all of these wounds and I feel a little anger inside of myself as I look into his sad glowing eyes and hear his soft breathing.

He only tried to save his pack. I think as I remember how he purposely ran in the opposite direction of his pack-mates. He saved my sorry-self more times than one. I remember as I move him over to the trees and he merges into one of them. And all you did was hurt him. Something you couldn't even use for food. Just for the sport of it, you sick freak.

"I won't lie; you've pissed me off." I tell the manticore as I clap my hands together and put my right hand on my left hands plating. "Now; I'm going to try at revenge." I finish and I fill in a seal as I drag my right hand forward.

   I feel a strong drain and my vision spins a little, but I push that aside as I look down to my modified appendage. I changed the amour-lie, plates into a solid thin spike which extends about 20 centimeters past my knuckles and its base is planted into the back of my hand. I rub my hand against the sharp edge and I can feel how sharp it is through the blue toxin left on its edge for the manticore's tail. Let's see how this works.

   I activate a quick-step with no regard to the stress and I close the distance between the manticore and myself. I dodge both of his swipes by jumping above them and I drive a thrust straight into its chest, effective injecting its own poison into its system. Let's see how you like being unable to move. I think with a smile as some of the manticore's remaining blood flows from my horn down into my right eye and I close it. Forgot about that.

   A moment later I find myself being pushed down to the earth by a large paw. I look up to see the manticore standing over my and its aligning its tail. Fuck; I forgot. That was the manticore's own poison; it wouldn't be awfully surprising that it wouldn't affect it. I think as I watch as its tail shoots down at my face and I close my eyes. Shit.

   Despite what I expected to feel, I feel nothing and I open my unbloodied left eye. Standing over my body is a large red stallion wearing a pair of jeans with a white shirt and I see the bulb on the ends of the manticore's tail in his hand with the tip in the gap between his middle and index fingers as the manticore continues to try and push it farther towards me.

"It's about time you showed up Big Mac." I mutter and I set my head back onto the grass.

"I expected more of you Sonata; I thought you could at least avoid a mistake like what you did with the poison." I hear another voice say and I turn my head to see Thunderback standing to Big Mac's right with his machete in hand.

"Sorry; a bit of anger got the better of me." I admit through rough breathes. "Did mention that this paw isn't getting any lighter?"

"Yeah; I've got it." The pegasus responds and swings his blade down on the manticore's arm and it jumps back with a yelp.

"Thanks." I say as I allow myself to take a deep breath and I let my plating return to its original shape.

"Think nothing of it. Now watch how we work." Big Mac says and he takes the machete from Thunderback.

   After taking the blade in his right hand he lunges forward at the injured manticore. He intercepts a swipe with his left hand easily and swings his weapon quickly in an upwards motion across the manticore's chest and across into its right paw. The manticore roars out in pain and Big Mac takes full advantage of this and drives the tip of the blade into the beast's chest up to the hilt and he jumps back casually and leaves the weapon.

"Your turn Thunderback; just don't play with it too much." Mac says and puts his hands back in his pockets and the manticore pushes through its pain and lunges at us.

"Well you're no fun." The dark pegasus says with a laugh before pulling a silvery white pistol out of his hoodie's right pocket and the sound of a gunshot ranges out.

   I look over at the manticore and I see a small hole next to the machete's hilt with blood flowing out of it and the manticore roars out in even more pain. I hear another five shots and I see holes open in each of his paws and one in the center of his chest.

"Good-bye." Thunderback says and another whole opens in the center of its skull and its body slumps over onto the grass. I think I found a new respect for these two.

"Wow; that sure makes me look weak." I say as I drop my open vision and vomit as I stand up. That is quite a bit of a drain.

"And that makes you look even weaker." Thunderback says while he conceals his gun back into his hoodie.

"Thanks." I say as I walk over to the stream and I dip my head down into to wash off the blood on my horn and face. Refreshing. "So what took you two so long?" I ask I stand up.

"Dash was a little hysterical when she got to us so it took a bit for us to figure what she was saying and to convince her to only tell Berry about it and where we would be. We can't have Dash or Applejack knowing about my little friend, can we?" He answers while patting his covered weapon and I walk to the forest's edge.

"You alright, buddy?" I ask and the wolf walks out of the tree I put him in. Well that son of a bitch; pun.

   The wolf walks out if the tree with not a single injury on its red cherry wood body. Its legs have been entirely reconstructed and its back now has a nice gleam to it which goes well with its now extended tail.

"You little faker." I say as I rub its head and it wags its tail a little. Like a dog; just don't get on its bad side.

"What? You didn't know about an alpha's regeneration properties?" Mac asks and I shrug in response. "Well basically the timberwolf alpha can regenerate its body from a near death state 4 times in its lifetime and each time it will change in the type of wood it is. This one has another three uses left." Mac answers and I stand up.

"Good to know." I say and look down to the animal. "See ya buddy." I say to bid farewell to him and he runs off, literally through, the trees.

"I'm surprised he didn't die; having to compensate for an idiot like you and all." Thunderback says sarcastically and I chuckle a little.

"Quite right you are Thunderback." I hear Berry say from behind me and I almost jump a little in surprise.

"You're a little late to the party, Berry." Mac reminds her.

"I had things to do. Now you two run back and tell them everything is alright. Give us a cover story too while you're at it." Berry says to Thunderback and Macintosh before turning back to me. "We'll take care of the body." The older mare says with a wink.

"Alright; we'll think of something. Just don't take too long." Mac says and they run off together back downstream.

"Now that I've taken care of them we can begin our discussion." She says and I groan.

"Something tells me this won't be beneficial to me." I say as we walk over to the manticore's body.

"Quite the contrary actually. This is quite the treat for ponies like us." She tells me as she eyes the dead animal.

"Ponies like us?"

"Yeah; omnivores. It's been a while since I've had manticore meat and we now have some sitting right in front of us." She says with no less than a slight bit of excitement.

"One problem though; how do you plan to skin and harvest all of this and get it back before it goes bad?" I remind her.

"I'm only taking the tail. The actual manticore meat isn't very good, but if you harvest the tail, and properly cook it, you can eat the toxic glands within it safely. The glands don't rot for up to 2 weeks so I don't have to worry about them going ad before I cook them. A nice treat I didn't have to work for is what it will be." She explains as she pulls a small knife out.

"I had to work for it though."

"You're indebted to me. If anything it's more skin off my bones than yours." She remarks as she cuts through the scales and through the tail of the manticore; effectively removing the appendage.

"Yeah right; so where are you going to keep that while we're out here?" I ask as she picked up the tail which is leaking a mix of blue neurotoxin and red blood onto the ground.

"At my camp; if they ask I'll just tell them I took a little war trophy."

"Why would you take a war trophy from my fight?" I say in an attempt to catch her in a fault,

"Nopony said you had to be a part of a fight to reap its benefits. Besides; if they don't buy it I'll just tell them I'm holding into it for you." She says with a smile as we walk back.

"You really love your life don't you?" I ask in suspicion of her supposed glee.

"Almost every bit of it; I've got a career I excel at, our organization is coming back from its downfall and I get to watch the youth grow to their fullest potential. What isn't there for me to love?"

"Nothing I guess, but I have a question."

"Go for it." She says and I nod back to her.

"What is it like to have...killed somepony?" I force myself to say the words and to my surprise she only chuckles a bit.

"I guess it's only natural you would be wondering about what our work is like outside of the training and the explanations. I guess you could say it's an acquired taste, though. I felt entirely prepared for it. I had simulated it so many times in my head I had lost count and even more times I had practiced it. It went really simple though. I went through like I usually did and I made my way to the pony. I didn't hesitate at all to be honest. I slit his throat easily and quickly, but that was when it went downhill." She says before giving herself a calming interlude. "As soon as I felt a little bit of blood contact my wrist I vomited and felt terrible. The grief felt unbearable at the time and I had no idea how anypony could even consider doing this as a profession. After I got back I went home, cried and drank away my sadness for six days before coming out. I didn't want to have to do that ever again, but I didn't have enough saved to leave and go in my own." She finishes solemnly.

"What did you do?" I ask with genuine intrigue.

"I did what I had to do; I kept working. I didn't want to kill anypony again but the only way out of it was for me to finish another 4 assassinations so I could buy myself out. I killed the first one and I did nearly the same thing except I didn't give myself the luxury of waiting and I killed the second one the day after along with the third one before spending another week wallowing. After that week I went off to kill the fourth one and gain my freedom from such a wretched place. I did everything right; made it past the guards and avoided any detection at all. I got right up behind my target and I slit his throat just as I did the others. My freedom from the organization was granted with that."

"What happened though? You're still here so what changed?"

"Like I said; it's an acquired taste. Contrary to my first 4 times; when I slit the throat and the blood soaked my wrist, I looked down at the corpse and I smiled wider than I had ever smiled before. I still don't know why, but something about it grew on me in an instant and I have no problems at all with killing now. That isn't to say I'm addicted to it though." She finishes with a smile on her magenta face.

Wow; to think she could change so much in an instant. Am I going to be like that at some point? I think as I remember my subtle urges to steal more back at the store. No... I can't; I won't let myself. I just have to remember what Mac said about keeping my eyes on the goal ahead of me. I will retain who I am no matter what happens; predetermined skills or not.

"Why are you telling me this?" I ask as I realize how much this must mean to her,

"I trust you. You're new with us, and you don't trust any of us very much to be honest with you. Consider this an exchange of sorts. I trust you enough to tell you things like this about me and to keep your mouth shut about them and you trust me enough to loosen up and take some of my advice. Like I said before; this organization is like a family and trust is important. A thief works but undermining people's trust and taking advantage of it. So by us trusting one another not to take advantage of our trust shows the unity of us. Just don't share too much with Spacial." She adds onto the end of her speech-like statement.

"Why not her?"

"Keep this between you and me, but I don't even trust her the greatest bit. She has never given any trust to us and always acts with contempt. The line of work is dark enough without ponies like her. She just doesn't feel right to me, but like I said; keep this between you and me only." She remarks coldly before changing to a smile. "It's mostly just speculation though so don't pay much mind to it."

"Oh; ok." I say quietly. This is a little odd. I guess I'll take her word for it though; she seems to be more trustworthy than her aforementioned associate.

"Don't worry too much about this though. You have plenty of other and more important things to worry about. I already have another fun bit of training ready for you when we're done here." She says happily as we reach the point where I had left my canteens.

"I guess this is where we part for now." I say as I pick up my canteens and turn towards the forest. "See you later."

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   After creating another ladder for myself I climb up to our make-shift camp quickly as I hear Macintosh and Thunderback talking up above. After making my way to the top I toss the canteens over to the pile of other various things before sitting back down and moving into their conversation.

"It's about time you got back." Thunderback comments as he tosses me a green apple.

"Sorry about that." I apologize before biting into the juicy green fruit. "I have to admit though; I never thought of either of you doing something like that."

"If you're in this line of work long enough you're bound to pick up some kind of skill; for me it was marksmanship and for Mac it was just an addition to his strength. As for you; I don't think you've learned much." Thunderback says cockily and Mac slaps the back of his head soon after.

"What he means to say is that you haven't been around long enough to pick anything up."

"I don't think I meant to say that. Regardless though; I guess you didn't completely screw up. Of course, if had been Mac or me, we wouldn't have even been hurt." The pegasus remarks as he runs the back of his head.

"So what do we do now?" I ask as I notice that we have a good pile of apples and an ample enough source of water.

"Well, we have a few options. We can split up and look for flags until nightfall or we can sit around of here and start our search in the morning." Mac explains as he eats one of the apples next to him.

"How long do we have until nightfall?" I ask as I try to find the sun through the leaves.

"About 15 minutes or so. If you ask me, I think we should just wait and start in the morning. Our chances of finding a flag close enough for us to get it and get back before dark are slim." Thunderback reminds us.

"Alright then; so what will we talk about?" Mac says, putting an end to any idea if going on a search.

"Well... I guess neither of us knows much about you Sonata. Anything you wish to tell us about yourself?" Thunderback says enthusiastically.

"Thank you for your stunning amount of interest." I answer sarcastically which leaves Thunderback chuckling a little. "Regardless, there isn't much to know about me. I don't come from anywhere interesting to note, I lack any remaining family and as it seems, I tend to be near useless in most situations."

"I wouldn't say that. I'd say that you're just not effective means to an end. You did succeed in keeping Dash safe and in surviving until we got there. It's simply that you don't think enough. Wouldn't it be a safe enough assumption that manticores aren't affected by their own poison? It's things like that that make you useless. We can't trust you to work solo simply." Mac explains and I nod. He is right. I don't think things through enough. It's enough for me to reach and end but not exactly easily or to a good end.

"That's one way of putting it. If you ask me he lacks a combat or killing related skill. Mac has strength although he doesn't work in any combat or killing situations, I can shoot about any weapon in my opinion and Spacial and Berry have a great many skills. You just don't have a skill besides thinking. If you were a better tactician you may not need it, but that's not going to happen. Do what is smart; learn to shoot, learn to fist fight, learn to slash, learn to sneak, learn to run, learn to cast or learn to examine. Any of those should serve you well enough to make it in our line of work. Although; I guess learning to run will only get you so far." Thunderback advises me, causing me to think of things at a different angle. I guess that's also a valid point. If I had been better equipped or trained that may have left me much better off. Although I still think Mac's point of view is much more logical. What use is a gun if you can't figure at what to shoot first and when to shoot it?

"I still think Mac makes a better point, but both of you are right in your own rights. While I agree being able to think more quickly and clearly is important, your options are still quite limited without your own skills to make those plans come to fruition. I also agree that having a skill does help you win a fight or avoid one entirely, it's severely limited if you can't think of effective applications. You just need a balance is all I'm saying." I state my decision and after a few moments they both break in a somewhat hearty laughter. Did I miss something?

"That's a good laugh. There's a reason we're at the bottom and Berry and Spacial are at the top of this organization. We aren't anywhere near old enough or good enough to be able to balance ourselves effectively. We just worry about what is needed to finish our jobs. I know for a fact Mac is getting out ASAP and I don't plan on staying in any longer than another 3 or 4 years. We just needed extra cash." Thunderback explains.

"Neither of us really wants this as a profession. Thunderback enjoys it, but not enough to risk himself on it and I might actually be able to get off little bit earlier than expected it turns out. Since you came along, there's less of a problem with not being able to complete contracts without me." Mac continues, leaving me a little confused.

"You're the same right? You're just here until you get your debt paid off right?" Thunderback asks in an upbeat tone.

"Yeah; just until it's paid off." I say with a nervous laugh. Considering the thoughts that have gone through my head so far; that may not happen.

"See? Don't get me wrong; I like Berry and Spacial as much as the next pony, but, if you're going to be honest, they're part of a dying breed. Once we leave they won't be able to keep up with enough contracts to be able to keep their clientele and the organization will fall apart. Today's world isn't kind to thieves and, if you don't have numbers, you can't make it as one. I don't mean to be offensive, but this organization has been running on borrowed time for the last few years." Thunderback continues somewhat clinically.

"I'm a little sad that it will be the end of their long run in this profession, but it's based on dishonesty and my family can't stand dishonesty. They should've looked into alternate, legal, professions after their downfall rather than trying to recapture their glory. I sacrificed a little of my pride coming into this and I hope to gain it back by living a hard honest life after I can buy myself out." Mac finishes for Thunderback and the two nod to each other. That's a little harsh. I mean, yeah it's not an 'honest' way of living, but they've worked hard at it. Although I guess it is the choice of Thunderback and Mac as to whether or not they want to be here. I can't stop them.

"Speaking of jobs, what is it that you do as an intel gatherer Thunder?" I ask the pegasus and he chuckles a little.

"It's pretty simple really. For a simple example, say I get a job to learn about what some company's rival is planning on doing to take customers and employees from the company in question. It's my job to figure out when meetings are between executives are being held and it's also my job to 'attend' that meeting and sell the information learned back to my client. Of course I usually don't do petty things like that. Most of the time it's just some spoiled family trying to figure out ways to overthrow a rival family to gain more prominence. Some ponies value their family status a bit too much nowadays." The pegasus responds simply and I nod in understanding. Sounds about like what I expected.

"I don't need an explanation for your job Mac. I had a friend before a left that was into that stuff." I say, remembering the first time I met Uefi.

I never sold, grew, transported or smoked, but that didn't keep Uefi from telling me details after I fixed a few obvious flaws in his operation. 'The turkey is in the oven.' isn't the best code phrase for 'cooking' if it's the only thing you use and you at least get 15 messages, calls or notes saying that within a week. I wasn't involved and I had no intention to be invovled but I didn't want Uefi to get caught. In the end I gave him the advice needed for him to expand a little and not be caught. Needless to say, Uefi wasn't very good at planning ahead, nor was he good at team building. What a jumbled mess they were...

"Oh well... Ok then. What about you Sonata? Which job field are you most interested in?" Mac asks me as the light drops enough for me to feel that a light spell is in order.

"Which one pays the most?" I ask in a searching the fastest way out of this debt.

"Assassinations followed by theft, intel and finally growing." Thunder explains in a simple yet informative manner.

"I guess theft or intel then. I don't think I'm cut out for that kind of killing and I think growing might take too long." I answer and they both nod slightly.

"I guess it's logical enough. I don't think I could just kill easily. I always just shoot their legs or wings if I get caught then I run. I've never killed and I don't want to either. Too much grief is involved for me to do it." Thunder says first and Mac follows with his own statement.

"Eeyup. I might be able to in a war, but there isn't a single thing right about shooting somepony in the back."

"Yeah, but enough about work. Let's change subjects; any ideas?" Thunderback says as he takes a drink out of one of the canteens.

"What else do we have to talk about? There isn't much else we could use for a conversation besides our personal lives." I remind him. I am right. I only know these two like this because of work.

"Exactly; anypony you're interested in Sonata?" Thunderback says which causes me to be taken back a bit.

"Where did that come from?" I ask him in a somewhat offended tone.

"Nowhere in particular; was just thinking that if we plan on being 'friends' we should treat each other like friends. Besides; I don't really have a group of stallions to do shit with. Yeah Mac and I are good friends but you can't call it a group of stallions if you don't have three stallions." Thunderback says with an air that demands respect and recognition. "No homo."

"So you're not really asking about our personal lives. You're really asking for me to tell you about my personal life." I respond without missing a beat.

"Pretty much; mostly I just want to know if there's anything personally interesting going on with you. Like if you have a mare in mind or something like that." Thunderback says in an almost giddy tone. A gossip type heh? No wonder h works for intelligence gathering.

"Not really; I might have one in mind but like you said; that shouldn't be a priority for me right now." I state factually.

"True; I did say that. However, I only said I wouldn't recommend it. It will be hard to balance your facade with reality, but it can help your facade as well. The more normal you seem the more normal they think you are. I just don't think you should try to yet. You're too green for it in my opinion." The pegasus responds and I notice that Mac has fallen asleep.

"I guess you're right. You know... I never expected you to be like this." I say truthfully.

"It's my job not to appear as I really am. So; who are you interested in?" He persists and I laugh a little.

"You're not going to learn of that tonight." I tell him through a yawn. Today has been draining.

"Then when will you tell me?"

"Maybe tomorrow; or maybe never. We should probably get to sleep though. The earlier we get up; the more chances we have of getting flags." I remind him as I lay down on the hard branches.

"Alright, but at some point you have to let me know." He says as I drift into sleep before I can even hear his 'goodnight'.

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   I slowly open my eyes and I stare up at the dark sky and the tops of pillars before realizing where I am. Without saying a word I stand up on the liquid floor and find myself face to face with Hitsuki who simply looks at me with a cocky grin.

"You forgot you had to do this tonight, didn't you?" She asks with a little laugh.

"I might have neglected that thought." I admit as I slowly ready a spell and I find my magic flowing freely.  Good; I might have a chance if this keeps working.

"Well here we go again." She says and we both fall through the floor once again into the think fluid.

   Rather than waiting for her move, I immediately change my plating into the same shape as when I had fought the manticore. Time for me to make use of these spells.

   I see a sharp red point move through the still fresh bubbles and I barley dodge it by swimming upwards. This is a liquid so I need to fight by making use of every direction. I catch sight of my adversary through the remaining bubbles and I jab my arm straight down at her left shoulder blade.

"Damnit." I hear her curse as I feel the tip of my appendage break through the resistance of her skin and into her bones. Perfect.

   I allow a smile to come across my face as she pulls herself away from me and my blade exits through the wound it made, allowing a somewhat generous amount of blood to leak from the wound and into the now darker fluid.

"How did you move like tha-..." She trails off as her eyes travel from her wound to my arm.

"I guess you understand now." I say with confidence as I look down to my own left arm.

   A thin sapphire coloured veil is wrapped around my arm from the tip of my appendage to my neck. I swing my arm up and down a few times and it moves with a speed light faster than it would in regular air.

"So that's what you did. You used Air Coil." She says with one hand on her wound.

"Exactly. I used it to wrap a small amount of air around my arm before your disabled the surface tension. Since I only used a small amount I had to lower the concentration of the air so I move a little faster even." I explain to her and she merely nods.

"So what gave you this idea?"

"I noticed how much faster you were than me last time and I knew I would need to get faster to beat you. The problem with that is that I'd either have to at least double my speed or I'd have to learn to bypass the waters high viscosity. When I read about Air Coil which allows me to stretch and constrict air at will I began to think of the properties of air; mainly it's thickness. That's when I realized that if I was to stretch a small amount of air around my arm it would allow me to not only attack with a higher speed but with a speed higher than yours here." I tell her as she moves he hand away from her wound.

"Interesting; then why not cover your whole body with that thin layer of air?" She asks meaningfully.

"Because then gravity here would work against me and continue to pull me downwards which would throw my aim off; not to mention this is all I can do without losing too much magic."

"I'm glad you actually though this through. Now we can begin again." She says before lunging upwards at me and I turn downwards and push myself downwards off of the reformed surface tension.

   I feel a pain go through the outer portion of my right shin and I twist back to face the mare. I send another jab forwards at the same moment as she does and our blade cross just past each other. Mine enters her chest and from her expression I think it entered her right lung. Hers however misses by a small margin and slices through my inner right elbow and my outer chest, barely missing my own right lung. I win.

"I-I guess this is your win then. Good job." The mare says as she pulls my blade out of her chest.

"You're not hurt, are you?" I ask with the sudden realization of what I did.

"Not really; this is your soul after all. You're never hurt when you leave and it's the same with me. I'll be fine." She says reassuringly and I sigh in relief. "Good job though; I didn't expect you to finish my trial on your second try. Although I guess it is only my first test."

"Yeah. So does this mean I can use Deviant Point?" I ask.

"Nope; Deviant comes in a pair with Chaos and for that you have to beat Safaia." She says and I notice the holes in her beginning to fill in with more tissues. "See; I'm already healing up."

"So now I have to fight the Phoenix hybrid? So be it; I guess you'll be sending me off then?" I say as I drop the Air Coil.

"Yeah; make sure you win." She finishes with an almost motherly smile as I feel a warm feeling come around me and my vision fades to black.

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   Within a few moments my vision returns and I find myself standing on top of one of the pillars and across from me is Safaia standing idly with a small green fire floating in the air next to her head. I look around and I notice that there aren't any more pillars to stand on and I look down and to my displeasure it seems that we're standing at least 90 meters above the floor. Only two platforms to fight on and we're at a height that would either severely injure or kill me? I guess I'm going to lose then; after all Safaia can fly..

"Hello?" I say after a few moments of silence.

"Hey."

"So are you just going to stand there or are we going to fight?" I ask her simply and she nods her head.

"I guess we'll fight.  Want to get this over with too so don't waste my time." She says before spreading her wings and flying into the air with her fire following her.

   Within the next half second she dives downwards at me as if she was a hawk going after a mouse, but since she happens to be slower than Hitsuki I find myself easily able to dodge her. I suddenly feel a searing pain go down my back and I turn my head around to see the back of my shirt burning with a greenish-blue fire and I see the small flame move out of my peripheral vision.

   Before it can continue to hurt me, I rip the shirt off and toss it off the edge of the pillar which leaves me shirtless. Another shirt ruined; what shitty luck. Rather than waiting for another attack, I lunch forwards with my blade and I slash at her. She twists out of the way in an almost tired fashion and I only leave a small scrape on her left shoulder. I twist to my left to dodge another flyby from the flame and I jump back to the pillar Safaia was on originally.

"What is that anyway?" I ask as I point to the small body of fire.

"My flare, a small fire I figured would be enough to suffice for this test." She says and I nod. I figured a Phoenix might do something like this. Time for my second plan.

   I pump more magic into a seal as I retract my modified chitin and I see a small torrent of black sparks come out of my right hand.

"Safaia; I must ask you. Do you know why oxygen is dangerous?" I ask her as I ready Air Coil.

"Why?"

"Because in high concentrations it ignites very easily." I say and I torrent of red flames burst forth from my finger-tips and engulf her entire body. Perfect; as simple as compacted the oxygen so much that it created a fast moving flame. I think as vomit off the side of the pillar. Maybe not too easy.

   Contrary to what I expected, simply jumps through my flaming veil and looks at me lazily as she flaps her wings to maintain her airborne status. For an adult she sure lacks ferocity.

"But how..." I trail off as I look at her damaged figure.

"I'm a Phoenix. Did you really think that any regular fire could hurt me?" She says and I mentally face palm. Of course fire wouldn't do shit to her. Then again; if I can't use oxygen to fuel a fire perhaps I could...

"Actually; I was counting on that." I lie as her wings disappear into the air and she begins to fall.

If the fire has no oxygen the how can it burn? I think as I continue to focus my Air Coil's effect to keep air from coming within a five meter radius of her body; a task which becomes much more intensive as she distances herself. Thank whatever deity ponies thank that his spell doesn't require me to see what I'm using it on after I cast it.

   My right arm begins to rip itself open to compensate for the drain a few moments before I find my spell stopped off by a suppressive gray force. Before I can curse my luck I hear a resounding voice come from an undeterminable direction and I try to reform my weapon but the same gray force stops me.

"I can't believe I fell for something like that, but if you win you win. Congratulations you dirty cheater." I hear Safaia's voice say with great distaste. I was under the impressions thieves don't play fair.

"I wasn't under any impression that you had a rule against that so I figured it was fair game." I say factually as the hybrid rises up in front of the pillar I'm on lazily.

"Anyways you won. You can now use Chaos and Deviant Point. We'll explain what they do when you cast them, but for now it's about time for you to wake up." She informs me with an almost pleased tone.

"You're not angry?" I ask her as she sits down on the edge of the pillar opposite of mine.

"No; somepony of your occupation was quite likely to do something like that. I'd of been angry if you had played fair." She answers as she lazily swings her legs back and forth.

"Why would you be angry about that?

"I'd be angry because that would've shown that you didn't get the point of any of this. The point of these trials was to see if you had the smarts to figure out how to undermine our advantages. You figured out how to bypass your lack of weaponry, your lack of speed in the first trial and how to remove my flight advantage. Although I'm fairly certain that last one was a fluke, it still shows that you didn't have any immediate intention of trying to meet out level. You were looking for the easiest way to get to your goal. Something a thief should be apt to do," She explains with a smile.

"So you're just happy that I solved it like a thief instead of a man. Seems like the opposite of what most ponies would want."

"Trust me; sometimes the manly way of doing something is overrated."

"I guess so, but now what?"

"You wake up and later cast Deviant and Chaos again and we'll explain the spells to you. For now though I'm tired; you try taking a 100 meter plummet and not be tired. I'll see you later." She says and my vision goes black.

A Scream From The Past. 27

A Scream From The Past. 27

   I check on the manticore tail in the bathtub in the center of the main room to my home and I pour another picture of rabbit blood into the bathtub and onto the tail: a process that used to make me cringe, but I'm used to it by now. It's been about a week since the camping trip. It was cut short on the second day when Applebloom found the black flag in a hummingbird nest and my side gave up at that point. I never got to meet Braeburn but according to Mac he not very interesting.

   Berry left the day after to do a job up in Canterlot and left me with a list of instructions for how to properly ready the tail for smoking. The first point of this being that I have to soak it in a mix of rabbit's blood, parsley, oregano and cinnamon for three days. I'm not sure why you do this, but it is not my place to question it.

   It took me a day or two to find a place that I could buy rabbit blood from, but eventually I just went to by the restaurant Dash and I went to and was able to get some from them since they supply themselves with their own meats. In the mean time I went by a junkyard and got this bathtub so I wouldn't soil my own. Today is supposed to be the day when Berry returns so I've already aired the place out and sprayed an ungodly amount of air freshener.

   I haven't heard anything from anypony for the last week besides talking with Juice about the blood and the pony at the junkyard about this tub. Thank god there was a tub without any rust or holes for me to buy.

"This has been a really boring week for me." I say aloud for the sake of hearing a voice amidst the silence.

   I've neglected trying to cast Deviant and Chaos Point due to my general lack of ambition to get in touch with those two inside of me anytime soon. I figure that whatever those spells actually do is either going to be something awesome or something lackluster. I figure I might ask Berry about them when she gets back which should be relatively soon since she said about 6:45p.m. today.

"Anypony home? Sonata, if you aren't here, I'm going to give you a piece of my mind for leaving this place with the door open and unattended." I hear Berry's voice come from just outside the ladder.

"Yeah; I'm here." I call back to her as I clean out the bloody picture in the sink.

"Good; I've got some interesting news for you." She responds and a moment or two later I see her drop through the hole where the ladder is wearing a pink t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"What would that be?" I ask her as I wipe off my hands with a dish towel and she kneels down by the tub.

"You've done nicely with the tail I see." She comments as she swirls a finger slowly through the blood.

"I've done well enough I guess."

"How long has it been soaking?"

"For the last three days; so it should be ready by now." I say as she gives the tail an experimental poke.

"Yeah; it's ready now. I'll get Spacial over here later and she can take care of the tub for us and we can move on to the next step then."

"Ok, but what was the important news you had for me?" I ask her and she stands back up from her kneeling position.

"I got word of an interesting death row prisoner in Canterlot. From what I hear, he's been portrayed as some sort of army nut who lost his mind, killed his whole unit if you believe that. He got moved to death row just this week." She says and I simply raise an eyebrow.

"So why does that matter to me?" I respond simply.

"Well the interesting thing is that nopony has really heard of him until now. The story goes on that he got caught over in the Griffin Nation and was brought back here a week ago. So why do you think this is important?"

"I don't know. You'll have to forgive me, but I don't really get it." I answer her in a respectful yet dumbfounded manner.

"Perhaps I'll just make this easier on you. Would you happen to know of a green coated, aqua manned, aqua tailed pegasus?"

"I've seen a couple of pegasi like that around town, but none of them could've been the one you're talking about considering that he was apprehended last week." I answer back with still hardly a clue of how this matters to me. Although, now that I think about the time frame, I guess it could have something to do with my arrival.

"Perhaps you need a little more help..." She begins with an obvious level of annoyance, "What I told you his name is Cloudbreaker." My mentor finishes, causing my ears to perk up with renewed interest.

"Uefi..." I whisper to myself in relative awe.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. I just know him." I answer as I take a seat on the couch nearest the kitchen. He's still here in Equestria. I had figured he was actually sent back. Even worse, he's going to be executed.

"I figured you did."

"But wasn't your memory of him erased like everypony else's?"

"There are two functions to the memory poison we used on the princess. If you use it in its purest form it can be used to remove sections of memory from up to five days ago relating to a pony of your choice. However, if you inverse the ratio of two of the ingredients then it can be used to fix any memories of yours that were altered within the last five days. Considering the nature of your situation, before we went to take care of you we all took a drop of the 'antidote' and I remembered you talking of a friend of yours." She explains and I absorb as much of the information as I can.

"And you noticed the similarities between my execution profile and his. But does Luna remember him at all?" I ask her.

"I doubt it. If she did she would hold an immediate execution under a different guise."

"Then why didn't she execute us at the same time?"

"Any dual execution has to be checked by both princesses, three stewards and a thirty day waiting period is required in case of any new information being brought forth."

"Oh, but why not have an immediate execution?" I ask Berry which causes her to groan a little.

"The case she created doesn't allow for it. An immediate execution can only be done if the criminal still has the ability to cause immense harm. Most likely she planned to change the story quietly to something along the lines of that he could still cause harm to ponies or to Equestria after you died."

"But since she doesn't remember me, she also doesn't remember why she really wanted to kill him anyways. So she's just going off the story she made up."

"Exactly." Berry remarks in a more upbeat tone.

"So what are we going to do about this?" I ask with a tone that betrays my hopefulness. If they got me out of this then it should easy enough to get Uefi out of this.

"What do you mean 'we'? I don't remember there being any reason for me to risk myself or our group over him." Berry answers me in a cold manner and I am truthfully taken aback.

"What do you mean there's no reason? He's like family to me!" I respond quickly.

"Exactly; he's like family to you. Why should I spend my time and resources to save him?"

"B-but..."

"Look; I'd love to help your friend out, but when you consider your own situation. For us, you're a long term investment at the very least we want to break even with you on your debt. If we were to save him, we'd be acquiring another unneeded investment and, because of what I know about his inherent talents, there's a lower chance of a payoff. You'd have to convince me that it's a worthwhile effort, or I won't lift a finger to help you." She continues in her cold manner. Wha--- Fine; I guess I play her game now.

"He's done work like this before though." I protest.

"Oh really, but was he any good at it?"

"Well...  My point is that, given a little time, he would be of good use to you." I mutter in my own defense. I can already tell I'm losing this argument.

"That's what I mean; given enough time. This is a business. I can't risk the entire 'company's' welfare two times in the same month for only two investments that may not ever payoff and if they do it will at least take a few years for them to." She restates and I realize the full reality of my predicament. So is that all they think of me; a long term investment.

"So that's all I am to you."

"No. You're my lovable and relatively incompetent student who I treat like I would the son I never wish to have. However, yes, you are an investment that I need to keep track of. So, sad to say, that does come before your status as my student. After all, this is a business." She shrugs.

"So the only difference between me and him is that you have a minor history with me?"

"Exactly."

"Then it shouldn't be a problem for you to help me get him out. At most it should only be a matter of effort. I have very little doubt you don't have any of that mind poison left."

"Yes, but think of what it implies as far as preparations go. I'll have to take off for almost a month to get you anywhere near ready for it so I'll have already lost money from that lost work. I'll need all of us to work on it so the chances of any of us getting found are even higher than usual."

"Trust me; I won't hold you back. Besides; what if I worked as a team with him afterwards. I know there must be a few jobs you're losing because they can't be completed by a single pony. Think of the possibilities it will open up and it would even help me after training. With a partner there's less of a chance I'll miss something on a job and get caught, or worse, fail the job. It will allow for me to not fail my first few jobs as I probably would without him; which of course implies more bits in your pocket." I argue with her in an attempt to appeal to her business centered way of thinking.

"Look; I'm going to level with you. As far as money goes, this probably won't pay off even if you started taking on big jobs together, and because of that it isn't worth it to me. How-" I cut her off.

"But-" I begin but she soon cuts me off as I did her.

"HOWEVER, I will consider putting forth an effort to go get him based on how much you improve in the next month. If you can prove to me that you're at least worth my time, I may be able to convince myself that our resources would be well used." She finishes with a sly smirk on her face and I can feel my own face loosen up from the tension.

"What..."

"You heard me. I'll consider your request as long as you improve enough in the next month. This means you will have to learn how to really sneak, how to actually take down an enemy, whether your preference be lethal or non-lethal, and you must learn to work past any unfortunate situation that may arise. If you can at least learn to do those three things to even a relatively small degree, I will consider going to get your friend. Do we have an agreement?" She reiterates with mild exhaustion in her voice.

"Y-yes. Thank you. Look; I'm sorry if I got you wrong." I repent solemnly. I guess I shouldn't have been so quick to judge her.

"Don't take this as me letting my emotions run my life. I think of money first. Although at times I am known to trust my gut on something's. If I were you, I would just chock it up to being lucky and leave it at that."

"Yes, thank you." guess I shouldn't expect too much from her, but a chance for this means a lot to me. I just hope Uefi is in better spirits than he was before. I think with remembrance of my last time seeing him.

"Alright then, let's get started then. I'm going to give you all of today to prepare in anyway you like, whether that be to not prepare at all or to rig an ungodly array of traps for you to use. Basically though, tomorrow you and I will go out to a field a little ways outside of ponyville and I want you to display every tool and/or spell you have at your disposal at that time. From there I will form up a plan as to how I will continue to train you. Think of it as you choosing what tool you'll be using during you time with us." She explains as she rises from her chair with a yawn. "Now if you'll excuse me, I haven't slept in the last 72 hours and I need a nap. Don't you dare wake me."

"Yes'm." I respond as I stand up and she walks down the hallway grumbling something about me being more trouble than I'm worth.

   I check the clock behind me, which now reads 7:03, and I grab my own watch off of the kitchen counter before climbing up the ladder and closing the door behind me. I better get to library before it closes.

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   I arrive at the library and check my watch, which now reads 7:34. The place is a little bit simpler yet a little more extravagant that I had expected, with a simple square masonry for the foundation and walls, but a steep angled roof that I think might be evidence of a loft space. I hope this place is still open. I think as I walk inside.

   As I move through the door the stench of stale ash and an almost tangible feeling of knowledge I've always associated with these places, floods past me and I cough a little in response. I reopen my eyes and I see an array of five double sided bookshelves parallel to the walls to my left and right. Ahead of me I can see the stone shaft of a fireplace and down from it I see a small wooden podium with the silhouette of a unicorn hunched over behind it.

   Coughing once more from the ash, I make my way across the candlelit small room to the stand.

"Hello?" I call out to the dimly illuminated pony upon reaching the midway point of my journey.

"Yes?" I hear a familiar voice answer and I sigh in light relief.

"Oh, it's you Twilight. It's Sonata." I greet her as I finish making my way to the stand.

"I was wondering who would be coming by at this hour. What're you here for?" She responds as her eyes peer over her glasses to me.

"I need to see if I can get some books. I've got a list of the types I'm looking for here; so if you could look it over and recommend some to me that would be great." I answer as I pull out a notepad I had written some notes on as I was on my way to town.

   She takes the small object from my hand and I can see her eyes in the dim light moving across and down the page and her lips move quickly and without any actual speech as she reads off the page to herself.

"What's with this list?" A guide to mixing and creating sedatives, simple spring wire trap designs and a book on poisonous plants in the local area'? What exactly are you planning on doing with these?" She says with no less than an extreme of apprehension and a bit more than an iota of anger.

"Berry and I ran into some trouble with local pests around our home. Rather than buying what she would need to get rid of them, she wants me to make up a few non-lethal traps with some poison to calm them down so she can collect them and either sell or release them. It's more trouble than it's worth to me, but all she cares about is the profit." I explain my cover story to her as I take back my notepad. "So can you help me out?"

"I guess. Come on; I think we have some books on the basics of trapping and another for novice apothecaries. Those should be enough for what you're planning to do." She answers and takes a step away from her pedestal and I follow her along through the far left aisle and she grabs three books off of the various levels of shelves and hands them to me. "There you go."

"Thanks. What's the takeout policy?" I ask as we walk back to her stand.

"You get a week before you need to return them. After that we'll start to charge you a late-fee."

"Fair enough."  I say for the sake of the conversation as she writes down a few things in a logbook. "Do you know any place in town that might sell some parts or traps I could use?"

"There're a few stores along the main north road that might. They'll be open until about nine so if you get moving you might be able to get to them in time." She says and she turns the log book to face me. "Sign here." She commands while pointing a pen at a line next to the book names. I begin to sign my name in cursive and as soon as I finish my first name I realize that I subconsciously wrote my true name instead and I quickly cross it out. "Quentin? What was that about?"

"Nothing, nothing; just something from a while ago." I cover up for myself as I just sign a quick S.S. and give her back her pen. "See ya later." I say as I exit to avoid any follow up questions. I really should've watched myself there.

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   I climb down the ladder back into my home with a bag filled with a variety of traps and wires I purchased and with a few various plants and tools that were specified in my book for making a few poisons, I bought from a florist on my way back and I just hope I can figure this out in time for tomorrow.

   I walk into the center of the living room and I conjure up a table out of magical boxes in front of the couch and I set my tools down on it with the books I rented. For the rest of the night I sit on the couch and experiment with the various flowers to make up poisons to use tomorrow and, if things go as planned, in the future as well. I hope these things work.

A Scream To Prepare For Chaos. 28

   I yawn due to my lack of sleep as I follow Berry along the edge of the forest with my now small bag of traps strung over my back with my left and few vials of poison in a small box underneath my right arm. Needless to say I failed a few more times at getting these things where I wanted them to be than I'd like to admit.

"This should be adequate enough." Berry says as we stop next to the border and she drops her three cages which are containing a single rabbit respectively.

"So now what?" I say as I gently set down my box and bag on the earth.

"You tell me. Just set up your traps or whatever you brought and I'll let them out when you say." She says gesturing to her cages which I now notice adorn a single small nameplate per cage with the names from my left to my right going from marshmallow to brick-licker, to fluffy.

"Did you have to name the rabbits?" I ask as I turn fluffy's cage so that the entrance faces the opening between two of the trees.

"It would be impersonal of me to not name them. What if brick-licker's legs were broken and she died? How can I have a funeral for the unnamed?" She answers with no less than mild humor.

"They're rabbits; why have a funeral?" I say as I take a small trap out of my bag which is composed of a thin metal frame with two holes on the side which I stuck two small spearhead-like blades through. The inside looks like a mess of bladed wires. I love this little thing.

"Why wouldn't I? When a life is lost you should have a ceremony to commemorate it." She says as I lay my trap down in between the two trees and I press a small button on the side which causes the small spearheads to shoot out at a high speed and they both break through the bark of the trees with ease and lock into place with two almost invisible lines of wire connecting them to the main apparatus. Stage one: success.

"But it's just a rabbit. It's not as if it means much." I respond bluntly as I sprinkle some of one of my poisons over the remaining wires in the frame from a small green vial.

"Don't forget your position Sonata." Berry answers and I can almost feel her hostility burn across the back of my head.

"What do you mean?" I ask with apprehension as I stand up and turn to the mare.

"Don't forget that you're a part of our organization and don't forget what I do for a living, killing. Sure right now you're a petty thief at best I was the same thing when I was your age and look at me now; stabbing ponies in their sleep and framing priest's for murder." She explains with no less hostility than she had before and I find myself unable to avoid her hateful gaze. "Do you think when I was picking pockets for a few coins for bread I thought very differently from you about things like a rabbit's importance? No; I hadn't a care in the world about it. But you realize something as the job changes. Like I said; I hated my first kills but not too long after I fell in love with the feeling. The feeling of taking life out of somepony, it brings a few changes to you once you come to terms with it.  You'll realize then that from worm to noble they all fall the same to ponies like us. That's when you'll really get this if you get to that point. Pony, griffin, changeling, worm, dragon, rabbit... They're all the same at the end; cold, lifeless, purposeless, all things that the dead are fond of. So whether it be a rabbit or a prince the warmth, purpose and value of life is held by both of them, but the moment it's taken, they're truly the same in death. Just remember that Sonata; death is the great equalizer, nothing else may or can ever hold that title." She finishes in a meditative manner as her eyes soften to their usual humorous feel, but I can still feel the after-burn from her speech.

"S-sorry..." I mutter in my own humility. I never thought of it that way. I always just thought of her as she was and that she had little respect for life, but I failed to realize that the roots of her evil are the very roots I'm making now. I feel so stupid.

"Don't worry about it. I just don't want to hear you speak lightly of life and death. It's a trap so many fall into and it bothers me immensely at they're carefree attitude for it, especially with animals. Phrases like 'we'll get another one' or 'we can always get a new one' I particularly despise. Life only happens once for everything; so don't think it's replaceable."

"Why are you telling me this though?"

"Because it's my place to. You live under my roof and it's my job to teach you. Its things like this that you'll really understand later on and maybe more so than I." She answers with a smile and a short pause falls upon us as I simply stand there feeling the calm yet intense atmosphere. "Well let's get on with this then; we're losing day light." She breaks the silence and I nod.

"Yes; let's. Open up Fluffy's cage when you're ready." I answer back to her as I get out of the way of the cage door.

   After a brief pause, she pulls up on a lever on the cage and the door falls open soon after. The rabbit shoots out of the cage soon after and of connects with the thin wire of my trap and the moment the wire breaks from the tension, the thicker bladed wire spirals outwards from the center of the trap and extends to its full one meter diameter and lacerates the rabbits legs lightly causing it to trip over itself for a moment, and I hope that it infected it with my brew.

   Thankfully a second or two later, after it making it only another quarter meter or so, it slumps down to the earth as the sedatives take effect. The whole event only took about three seconds.

"Well that worked better than expected." I say as I go over and pick up the limp body of Fluffy.

"I'll admit; I was pretty that wouldn't work, but I'm not complaining." She lightly praises as I set Fluffy back down in her cage and lock the door in place.

"Thank you for your confidence." I say sarcastically. "Sadly that was the only kind of trap I made. I've got about five extras, but I couldn't think of anything else that would be effective for this." I say as I pick up the frame of the trap and carefully put it into a bag I brought for the used traps.

"I guess I can't complain too much. I always hated traps anyways. You leave one to keep ponies from getting to you, but then you forget about it or you can't retrieve it then you're leaving evidence everywhere, but having a couple just in case can't hurt I guess. One thing though; that was just a rabbit. Did you consider that you'll need a stronger poison for a full sized pony?" She says as she picks up the three cages.

"Yes I did. The green vial is filled with a diluted brew," I say as I take out the red glass filled my other brew," but this red one is filled a more concentrated poison I made."

"Good. Well, I won't lie; that was underwhelming. I guess I'll have to take over from here. Here," she explains as she drops the cages and writes down something on a small slip of paper,"give this to Mac and he'll get you started working at their apple farm. I want you to go there during the day for the next week at minimum to improve your physical condition and I'm going to go 'acquire' some things I think might suit you. You head back home and go see them tomorrow." She says as she opens the cage doors and let's all of the rabbits run out, except for Fluffy who she just drops on the ground. "Life also shouldn't be caged, but that's flexible." She says and she walks away without a goodbye, that was the last time I saw her for the next week.

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   I spend the next week working my ass off with Mac at the farm doing everything from pulling their wagon filled with barrels of apples into town, bringing it back, refilling it and repeating the process, and other days I just spent carrying fifty pound sacks of the despicable fruit from the cellar of their home to the loft in the barn. Many a time, I asked for the right to just use magic, but Mac would always instantly deny my request. Something about how farm work is something meant only for the strength of flesh and muscle, not for machines and odd forces.

   I complied for the sake of maintaining my good tanning with him, but also because I figured the purpose of this was to become physically stronger. However, after each day I stayed after for an extra hour practicing my magic by lifting multiple barrels of apples at once and keeping them in place until I most literally had no strength left to hold them up with and in the mornings I would run all the way to the farm with my quick-step. For the first three nights I would fall asleep on the spot before the barrels could even fall the single centimeter to the ground from where I had held them and I could only make it half way to the far in the mornings. By the seventh night, I could seven hold them off the ground a whole three meters for an hour before I would need to lower them to floor for fear of damaging their contents and then I would dash back home, making use of my remaining vigor and I could make 3 round trips before stopping because of fear of being late. I didn't get another ring on my horn or anything, but the results were unarguably better than I had predicted.

   I toss a small pebble with my magic towards a tree trunk as I sit by the entrance to my home waiting for Berry to come back. The pebble flies through the air with a high velocity and it impacts the trunk and breaks apart the rough trunk of the tree before falling back to the earth and a few small pieces of the trunk fall with it, the whole process creating a few quarter meter long cracks in the bark with their origin being devoid of any of the very material the cracks run through. Next to that origin is a single crack separate from the rest, only 2.34 cm long total. That mark was the one I made the day when Berry left with a similar sized pebble. I can't help but smile in satisfaction. It's amazing what a little effort can lead to.

"I don't remember telling you to sit around playing with rocks." I hear the voice I've been expecting for a while now.

"I got the day off since we got your letter yesterday." I answer as I stand up and turn to face the mare.

"I knew I should've returned unannounced. So expectable of you underlings to take advantage of situations such as these." Berry complains as she hands a briefcase to me

"True." I say simply as I take the black leather briefcase in my left hand.

"Glad to see that you agree. Now come on; it's time for you to try out some new toys your dear mother went out and stole for you." She says with her usual gusto as I follow her off towards the fields.

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   After making our way to a secluded and now barren field due to the recent harvesting, Berry stops and turns back to me with a stretch of her arms.

"This'll due for now. Go on and open up your gift there." She says as she nods her head to the briefcase I'm still carrying.

   With a bit of eagerness I'm not too prideful to admit, I kneel down on the recently exposed earth and set the briefcase in front of me. Undoing the clips on the front, I open the case to reveal a plain black garbage bag which fits snugly into the bottom of the case. Looking up from the bag I see one blade strapped to the top of the case which measures about a quarter meter and above it sits another blade a little longer than the first.

   The first blade has a stark, dark black, hexagon shaped hilt and blade guard with a dark gray blade which makes up 2/3s of the weapons length and is about 3 cm wide with both sides having a sharp edge to them and come together at a point at the end of the blade. Looking close I can see a dark red gem embedded into the end of the hilt which gives off a light glow.

   The second dagger gives off a much more 'holy' feel to it ironically with a circular hilt and guard which both seem to be made of polished stone with an almost white hue which leans slightly towards yellow. The blade itself is of a similar standing as far as colour goes with a width and design similar to the first. Examining the weapon again I can see a similarly sized blue gem at the end of it to the first gem.

I almost don't want to know where she got these from, but even less so do I want to know how much they're worth. I think as I reach for the black bag.

"Not right now." She tells me with a tap on my head. "You can look at those yourself later. For now grab that blade on the top and we'll get started."

"Alright then." I comply as I undo the straps holding the white blade in place and instinctually grab it with my right hand, a little surprised at the weight.

   After moving the case away, I stand up with a firm grip of the sword.

"Now; I want you to swing at me."

"Come again?" I ask, unsure if I had heard her correctly.

"You heard me. I want you to swing that blade at me. Don't worry about hitting me; I just want to see what comes naturally to you. I doubt you'll be able to hit me at all." She says with a smirk.

"Then I shan't waste time." I respond as I raise the blade and give a heavy downward swing angled to my left.

   My strike only passes through the air though as she simply spins to the right. Wasting no time to think of my next move, I twist my hand and send a swing in reverse of its predecessor back to her and, as she spins again to dodge, I too spin on my right foot and send a wild swipe horizontally which quite nearly makes contact with her stomach. Moving my right leg forward a step I swing a strike back across with the momentum.

   Feeling something on the end of my blade, I look up to see her hand with a gentle grip on the tip of it.

"That will be enough." She says simply and let's go of the blade. "Now tell me how that felt to you."

"I don't know really. There wasn't much thinking to it; it just felt instinctual." I say solemnly and lower the blade to my side.

"But now that it's over do you notice anything?"

"No; not really." I mumble.

"Look at your left hand." She says and I look down to the appendage in question.

"What about it?" I question her as I look at the hand at my side. "There's nothing out of the usual about it."

"It was at your side the whole time. Not once did you even move it. Now take the other blade and put that owe back." She commands me and I follow through with the switch; this time I take the blade in my left hand by some sort of habit I never developed.

"Ok; now what?"

"Go on and attack me." She tells me and I proceed to take another few swings at her, most of them being the directional opposites of my first set.

"Ok; so what are you trying to prove?"

"Notice that you didn't use your right arm at all this time, when by default you should've because it's your dominant."

"I just didn't use it because my left arm felt right this time."

"Perhaps you aren't getting it yet. This should make obvious enough. Now take the other blade again and use both." She says with blatant annoyance.

   Taking the white blade back into my right hand, begin with horizontal slash with my left arm and to a bit of my surprise I pivot on my right foot and push forward, spinning slowly through the air with both arms extended. Still lacking any form of contact with her I land facing her and, without a moment's thought, I push forward with my right foot and thrust my 'holy' blade forwards at her. Once again I feel a resistance on the tip and I look up from my now hunched over position to see her holding the edge of it.

   She begins to open her mouth, but I deny her the chance to speak as I bring my left leg forwards and as my head passes her I bring my dark blade up behind her neck and hold it there a few centimeters away for safety's sake.

"Humph; I should've expected as much. Good job." She says in what I swear must be her first genuine commendation.

"Thanks. I figured I wouldn't be much of a criminal if I didn't at lease try." I say with a little bit of a laugh. I've got to admit; that kind of felt good. Then again; now I can't help but feel a little scared. I did that with no thought at all after all. Although I guess I need to get used to it. It's not like I can stay the way I was with this kind of circumstance.

"I'm glad to see you're getting the big picture. Now you can't tell me using two blades didn't feel better." She says as I remove my blade from behind her neck and take a step back to face her again.

"I'll admit it. It felt better than just using one."

"Almost like it made you feel more complete."

"Yeah, I guess." I agree with her.

"I'm glad kind of glad I'm the one who has to teach you now." She says with a compassionate smile.

"Why is that?" I ask with a little apprehension.

"You're like me; the kind of pony who likes using two blades. It'll make it easier to teach you." She tells me.

"I guess so. One question though; where did you get these?"

"That white one; I stole from a priest of the sun up in canterlot. During a sun priest's time of being a monk they're given a blade such as this to use in ceremonies. That darker one I stole from a monk of the moon who was training for being an undertaker. The blade is standard for moon monks as you might've guessed. I thought the irony was fitting for you. Trying to live a nice peaceful life by day, but being a messenger of death by night." She explains to me and I sigh in a little bit of relief. I thought she was going to say she got the, by killing somepony.

"Hey; I'm no killer."

"It was the best metaphor I could think of and besides, you never know." She jests and I scoff at her remark.

"Well thank you. How much did these cost for you?" I ask ready to have more debt than before.

"Your first stuff comes free. Anything more and it's your own problem. You'll find the scabbards for them in that bag along with some other things I thought would suit you. I want you to keep working at that farm for now though and at night you'll work with me. You'll get only four hours of sleep a day now and little time to eat, but that is just something you'll have to deal with if you want to save your friend."

"If that's what it'll take then I'll do it. Besides, in this line of work sleepless nights seem like they would be a standard." I reason with myself. Although only four hours of sleep a day doesn't entice me much.

"Alright, then let's head back home. Tonight you begin stealth training and tomorrow you'll continue to work on strength." She says as she walks past me.

"One thing Berry. Why did you get me these? You already know I don't plan on killing anypony. A syringe for poison injections would've sufficed." I ask as I turn to face her.

"It makes a statement. Seeing an armed thief or just someone armed in general it's a little unnerving. Besides, I'd rather you have something in a fight besides your fists, if that situation arises. Don't worry though; I'll make sure to teach you a few knockout tactics in case you need to take somepony out." She answers as I put the blades back in their straps and close the case.

"I see, well thank you for these."

"No problem Sonata, but after your friend this is going to my last favor to you until you make me some money." She reminds me and I follow her back to my home.

   The entirety of the next 1&1/2 weeks I spent working towards becoming a better criminal almost nonstop. Three days before his execution date I woke up and gathered all of things I was to use and met Berry outside. Today she would take the train to Canterlot with the rest of them and I would take another one to Canonrim, the town fifteen miles from the prison Uefi's being held within. Tomorrow it would be my job to get him out while they took care of memory wiping the princesses, nobles and other needed  officals. I'm on my way.

A Scream Of A Reunion Of Friends. 29

   I sit alone in the back cab of the train as it makes its way towards Cannonrim. With each passing moment I grow farther from the green fields and forests of Ponyville as the land gradually changes from lush green lands to an arid, desolate desert.

   The town of Cannonrim started as a small homestead about fifty years back. The town took shape with the farmer dug a well near her home and unearthed deposits of multiple precious metals. Drawn in many the discovery many miners came seeking to find their own wealth on the dirt. For thirty~four years after the town prospered greatly with cart loads of gold and silver coming out daily. However with such wealth there also came a great deal of crime. Thus leading to the erection of the prison, a rather simple structure surrounded by large stone walls and many of the single high security cells being down in the earth, hidden in natural worthless chasms with the only way to each elevator being through an elevator specified to it. However, all things must come to an end. After almost thirty~five years of prosperity, the earth finally dried up and all of the mines closed, leaving most of the town empty as the foreponies of the mines and their workers moved on to different towns. The only things keeping the town afloat now being its location along the rails, it's few remaining saloons/inns and the prison, now used to hold the very few criminals in the town and a couple of death-row prisoners hidden down in the earth to discourage escape since the only way out of town is by the rails. I think as I remember the details of the town.

   Thankfully Berry already took the liberty of having one of her inside contacts alter the ledgers to say he was moved a few days ago so the portion of the underground he's in should be unattended now. As long as I can make my way to the elevator specified to lead down to his cell without being seen and as long as we can get out of there in without being seen, the plan is that we will leave on the morning train as if nothing happened. If we are seen then the plan is that we split as a soon as possible by hoping onto a cargo train set to stop in town and we jump off a few miles from Ponyville and walk to town from there.

   That's the rough detail of it; Berry left the details to my own discretion. She did however inform me of an air shaft leading almost all the way to elevator that I should be able to squeeze through easily enough. If not, I'll have to find my own way past the guards, but sadly that will most likely end in confrontation due to the simplistic structure of the place, this meaning that there is only one path to the elevator from the main holding cells. I guess that means it's either take the shaft and the morning train, or the hallways and take the night train. I'd prefer the prior option.

   The only thing I really need to worry about though is making my way to the inner building from the walls. The walls aren't equipped with outside spotlights so I should be able to make my way to and up them easily enough as long as I make sure to begin the climb near the gaps in the light near one of the covered towers at one if the corners of the square. The problem is the spotlights that move on the inside of the facility and the sentries that wait and watch for any unauthorized movement.

   This wouldn't be a problem if I had black coloured magic because then I could just go over the lights to the roof. However, since my magic isn't black I'm going to have to move quickly across a few small boxes while the light isn't on my path so their eyes aren't drawn to the small lights of my magic. I just need to cross the gap quickly.

   Deciding not to worry too much about that which I can't control, I wait out the next few hours of the trip uneventfully.

"I guess this is my stop." I say to myself as I stand up and grab my bag from under the seat.

   Walking out of the train and onto the platform, I don a simple pair of sunglasses with black lenses to block out the intense light of the sun. Not wasting anytime to talk to any of the other few passengers that got off with me in this somewhat forsaken town.

   Most of the buildings have either collapsed or they've been condemned, this leaving only the buildings along the center road still inhabited for the most part. I receive a few odd looks as I walk down the old dirt road through town past the brown and dirt covered structure from the small amount of local ponies, most of the being simple earth ponies except for the stray pegasus now and again.

   After about five minutes of walking I find a building with a simple sign in front indicating its status as an inn, and I walk inside casually without casting a look at the few ponies out front as they eye me strangely. I can already tell I'm an outcast in this western styled town.

   The inn is a rather simple one story building with a large wood burning stove in the center with a few tables strewn about, a couple of doors on the far wall from me and a bar. A couple of ponies sit around the stove talking, but they soon quiet as they notice my entry and I act as if I didn't notice and I all over to the bartender to ask about a room.

"Excuse me, but can I rent a room for the next couple of days?" I ask the rusted red coloured stallion, who wears a simple brown suit, behind the bar.

"I guess you could, but it'll be two hundred bits." He says with a rough voice and I can smell cigarette smoke heavy in his breathe with that of whiskey.  Pleasant.

"Two hundred bits for two days?" I ask in a somewhat offended manner.

"Now I don't get much business here as you can imagine; so my prices have to be high. That also covers dinner for today, three meals tomorrow, and breakfast when you leave. Although those meals may just be bread and water usually." He continues with a heavy cough.

"I guess my options are limited. Here's your money." I say with a sigh and give him the requested amount.

"Thank you. Your room is the one on the left." He says as he pockets the coins.

"Quick question for ya; why is everypony giving me weird looks?" I ask with a small gesture to the group behind me.

"I wouldn't pay much attention to it. Most folk here haven't seen a unicorn come through in a few years and even more of them don't take to kindly to magic. The town was founded on hard work so most of us don't like the way unicorns work around manual labor with magic. You'll get a few nasty looks and a slur or two about you, but keep your head down and don't use any magic and you'll be fine." He manages to say through coughing fits and I take me leave. A bit more racism in this world than I expected.

   Rather than spending more time outside with the locals I decide to retire to my room for the rest of the day.

/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/

   I open my briefcase on the bed in my rented room to reveal my two blades in their sheathes with appropriate matching colours to the blades. After moving the weapons out of the way, I pull out my body-length black coat with four buttons at the waste point to connect it, a purchase I made on my own dime at the boutique, after setting it aside for the time being I retrieve my black long sleeve shirt and my dark black cowl with its dark gray face cover.

   I take off my shirt and vest and proceed of put on my new set of clothes. Before putting on my coat I put on my belt and I put the two blades into the straps on the belt for them. I pull on my coat, leave the collar as it is and I button the square formation of buttons near my waste to conceal the weapons tastefully. I'd rather not have anypony see them now, but I don't think it would matter much anyways; most of the ponies I saw yesterday were making no attempts at all to hide their guns.

   I stroll out of the inn after a light lunch of bread and water and, making sure to not get too close to my of the late-afternoon locals, I find the road leading to the prison.

   After slowly walking along the road for an hour or so I can see the illuminated prison walls in the distance. By this time the sun has already gone behind the clouded horizon and I look down at my hand to see that it's already merged seamlessly into the darkness of the night.

   Taking one more look behind me, I sigh and take deep breathe and the heavy beating of my heart almost hurts in my throat. I guess this is it then. It's either I turn back now and leave Uefi or I go onwards and break him out. I guess I know my own answer to this. Onwards into the beast. I think as I pullover my cowl and I pull up the face cover so that it sits on my nose, covering my face save for my eyes.

   I make my way towards the lit up walls quickly and I travel up to tower on the right side from the roads perspective. I find a small gap in the lights illumination and I slip through it and put my back as close as I can against the 15m tall structure. I form a couple of magical blocks above me and I pull myself up with my arms and I create supports for my hooves before forming another set of grips and repeating the process. After about 30 minutes of climbing, with a few cautious breaks, I finish making my way to the topic the structures masonry.

   I peak my head over the edge to ensure that no guards are moving towards me. All of the guards seem to be moving away from my position, judging from the rays of their flashlights, so I make a couple of more grips and foot holds and I cross the 3m gap between the masonry top of the way and the wooden cone shaped roof each of the towers have.

   I sit down for a few minutes to access the situation as I look onto the inner yard. The main complex is only about three quarters of the height of the walls themselves and about 100m in any directness from the wall.  I can count about 7 guards along each wall that slowly go back and forth along each wall with a few of them just staying in place with lanterns next to them. The lights move back and forth about every 15 seconds.

   I wait about five minutes until all of the moving guards are facing away and as soon as the light passes by, I jump from the roof towards the complex. The moment I being to lose altitude I form two small blocks under my feet angled downwards at the building and I push off of them in another jump. Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit. Ect. I think e entire time I continue to jump through the air. At this point the least of my worries is being seen, but rather it's falling. Why did I do this?

   I slowly allow myself to descend and thankfully after about 12 seconds of jumping I'm close enough to the building in bother elevation and forward distance that I can push forwards and commit a role onto the roof. I can't believe that actually happened. Maybe I should trust Berry's judgement more often.

   After vomiting from the excitement and praising whatever gods there are in this world, I stand up and look around to make sure I didn't arouse any suspicion. Thankfully it doesn't seem anypony saw me and I make my way over to the center of the roof where the entrance to the air ducts should be.

   By this time my eyes have already adjusted enough to make out some things and I find the shaft without too much trouble. A simple steel cover lies on the roof over the metal duct which, praise Celestia, has about 10 cm of clearance for each of my shoulders.

   I pull out a screw driver and unscrew the cover. Moving the shroud out of the way, I slip into the shaft which is angled downwards at about a 40 degree angle. I allow myself to slide slowly down the shaft until it flattens out. Remembering what Berry told me I crawl forward about 5 meters before turning and the shaft opens up into a slightly larger maintenance shaft that I'm able to stand up in but only my head hits the top of it and there's only about 6cm of space for me to stand on before the ladder comes through.

   According to Berry they use these shafts as points to operate on the air ducts and electricity here. I'm not too sure myself, but I won't question it if it helps me.

   I climb down the ladder until I reach the bottom of it and I slip back into the smaller ducts. After going through the maze of metal and stopping a few times to wait for guards to pass by, I finally make it to my destination.

   After making sure no guards are outside as well as I can, I open the grate and slip out into the hallway, only a few meters from the elevator I need to take. I look around I dash into the old elevator and pull a key out of my pocket that Berry gave me to use.

   Since each of the elevators is for a single cell, the elevators also need a key to be operated; so Berry got the spare from her inside guy and gave it to me. I still find it hard to believe I got the easiest job out of all of us. I think as I take a deep breathe to try and calm down my heart. At this point I'm in a light daze at how this is going.

   I slip the key into the slot and twist it causing the elevator to shake a little and soon after it begins to lower me down into the chasm and into the darkness. After about five minutes the rickety device stops and the metal doors open up to the empty, lit hallway to his cell.

"It's about time one of you came down here. I haven't been fed in four days now." I hear an angry voice call from down the hall and I sigh in heavy relief.

   I walk down the hall and turn left to face the black bars of his cells. I see Uefi with his hands against the bars wearing a now ragged luminescent orange jumpsuit and with his green face heavily covered in dirt and his aqua mane and tail in a mess, but his aqua coloured eyes lack no ferocity at all despite this.

"Uhh,.. Who're you?" He asks humbly as his look of fury changes to one of fear as his eyes travel down my form and linger for a moment on the now exposed hilts of my blades.

Remembering my cowl, I pull down the face cover under my chin and smile, "Don't you recognize me buddy?" I joke a little as my heart's beating dies down a little.

"You're shitting me. Quentin?" He says after a light gasp.

"Who else Uefi?"

"But how did you get in here and what's with the get up and those weapons? What happened to you?" He begins to rattle off as I pull out the extra key to his cell.

"Not right now Uefi. I'll explain all of this later. Just know that I've gone through some intense stuff to get here and we're both involved with an 'odd' organization now." I inform him lightly as I open his cage door and he rushes out and gives me a hug.

"Thanks man, thanks. They were going to kill me." He says solemnly before releasing me.

"If it's any consultation I had the tips of their spears at my throat when I made my break for it." I say and we brofist.

"I can't believe this. First we cross dimensions and now we're on death row. This doesn't make any sense." He says with a hand wiping his face.

"Wrong; you're on death row. Well not anymore. The organization we're with now has taken care of it. The problem is now we're in debt to them; big time." I say as I pull out a pack containing a white short-sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Whatever it is, it's got to be better than death." He states and I hand him the clear plastic pack.

"Yeah. Put those on and we'll start making our way out. We're not out of the wood yet." I say and I walk back over to the elevator while he goes back to his cell.

   After about six minutes he comes back out with the other set of clothes on and joins me on the elevator.

"So you've got to tell me; what's this 'organization' like?" He asks as I turn the key and the machine starts back up again.

"It's a group of thieves, intel gatherers, drug farmers and assassins. Well actually 1 gatherer, one farmer, four thieves counting us, and two assassins. Now that you're on board we number to six. The top two do both theft and assassinations." I explain simply as we rise from the chasm.

"Woah, woah, woah. You're serious?"

"Sadly yes. They're actually mostly nice ponies when you get to know them." I say in defense as his jaw just hangs open.

"Well fuck; Dear god Quentin, what have you gotten us into?"

"I know, but the good thing is that if we make them enough money doing this, they'll let us off the hook."

"At least we have that." He determines.

"I have a question though Uefi. Why did you say what you said before?" I ask remembering our last conversation.

"I don't know. I didn't want to say it but some kind of force over took my body. I'm really not sure about it."

"That was probably that princess. She tried to have me executed only a day or two later.  We should be off the hook with her now though. The others are in the process of wiping their memories of you right now."

"Dear god."

"Hey, we're alright now aren't we? We just have to work as thieves for a while. It's not too much different from what you used to do and trust me it's a good bit more fun than I expected." I say with a laugh as I hand him his wristwatch that I got back from Thunderback and his wallet that I refilled with his old amount of bits.

"I can't believe you kept these things." He says as he slips the wallet into his pocket and puts the watch on.

"I can't believe they let you keep that bracelet." I counter, noticing the object on his wrist.

"They didn't think it'd be a problem so they left me with it. What about you though, carrying around blades in that getup?" He says and I pull out the blades with their respective hands.

"Tools of the trade for me, the white one is from a priest of the sun and the black one is from a monk of the moon. Berry stole them for me to use and the getup is something she bought me." I explain before sheathing the blades.

"Berry?" He raises an eyebrow.

"The drunk I met on our first night. Turns out she's one of the top two in the group. She took over your room and moved in. Knowing her though she'll have had another bedroom made for herself." I tell him as the door opens back up the hallway I exited the air duct into.

"Now what?" He asks as we exit the elevator and I take the key and put it back in my pocket.

"We're taking the air ducts out of here." I tell him as I reopen the cover I came out of.

"Really?"

"It works and it keeps us from being seen. Our problem is when we get outside. Follow me." I command him and then crawl up into the shaft.

   Soon after he comes into the vent as well and we begin to make our way back to the roof. After another 15 minutes of crawling through the ducts, climb out onto the roof and stretch with a yawn.

"I'll admit you're a bit better at this than I thought you'd be. What's next?" I hear Uefi say from behind me and it seems that even under these circumstances we both fell back into our usual mannerisms.

"I need you to fly up and go over that wall, but make sure to go at least 10m over it. Go past it another 50m before landing. I'm going to get out of here my own way me and we'll communicate to find each other from there." I tell him as I point in the direction of Cannonrim and he nods as I pull my cowl and face cover back on.

"See ya later then." He says with light apprehension.

"Don't worry; I got into prison and I'll get back out the same way." I joke and he flies upwards with a few beats of his wings. Now to make my way back to that tower.

   After waiting another 10 minutes or so until the positions of the guards and of the lights are in the correct positions. I begin to jump upwards and towards the town as quickly as I can and I try not to think about the fear of falling to the ground. Just as the light begins to move back, I make my last jump onto the cone shaped roof of the tower and I grip as tightly as I can to it to keep from falling.

   After a two minute breather, I begin the climb back down the tower. Five minutes later I touch the sweet ground again and I dash off towards the direction Uefi flew in.

   Twenty minutes of communicating back and forth later and we found each other and made our way back to Cannonrim.

   We enter the in after 11p.m. and the barkeep greets us. After I a detail lacking introduction and renting a room for Uefi we retire to an empty corner of the bar. I spent the next hour telling him in detail about everything I went through.

"Wow."

"So how do you feel about this?" I ask him with slight fear due to my knowledge of how he deals with this stuff.

"I'm scared, I won't lie. However, I was a drug dealer before so I'm used to being on the wrong side of the law you know." He says with a laugh and I join him in it.

"Yeah; well we have a train to catch in the morning so it's time we sleep." I say and we retire to our rooms. However, I get no sleep this night for I keep fearing that somepony will find out what I've done.

/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/W\M/

   After another breakfast of bread, Uefi and I catch the train back to ponyville and, as the trip goes by and the desert turns into the green lands I've come to know, I sigh in relief. The prison break went off without a hitch and Uefi and I are now both free men again, save for our debt.

   But such thoughts are far from me now. My best friend is now going to keep living and if I can pull off a prison break then I can survive as a thief. And who knows; maybe one day I'll be free to find a nice mare have a family and make a life for myself in this world I'm stuck in now. After all, it's my life still and I need to make the best of it.

Coming Back And Moving Forwards To The Next Job. 30

   We exit the train calmly at about 11a.m. and walk off of the platform into ponyville with Uefi still wearing the clothes I brought for him and myself back into my casual wear.

"It feels weird being back here." Uefi comments as he eyes the townspeople.

"Try being me. You know what I did to get you back here and now I have to act like nothing happened." I remind him with a semi-humorous glare.

"Yeah, but now I have to explain what happened before." He tells me, referring to what happened a month ago when he was taken I guess.

"No you don't; that princess wiped you from everypony else's mind. You just have to re-introduce yourself. Consider this your opportunity to change your name or something. Also; you're now my brother." I explain to him.

"Brother?"

"Berry thought a faux bloodline association would help explain our living arrangements and would sound cooler if there was ever to be a bounty on our heads."

"Fair enough I guess, is there any kind of last name thing here?"

"If there is; I was never told of it. Just keep your old name or whatever you feel like calling yourself. It doesn't matter to me; just make sure that you tell me if you change it." I inform him as we enter the center of town.

"Call me Redolent Rose." He changes his name and I give him an odd look. I'm surprised that word is in his mental dictionary. "What? The prison did not deny me access to books so I started a whole 'word-of-the-day' thing. Yesterday's word was Redolent, but I never got the chance to use it."

"Whatever you say Rose." I say nonchalantly as we make our way through the crowd of ponies in the plaza.

We walk into the boutique, with the warm chime of the bell on the door heralding our entry. "Why are we here Sonata?" 'Rose' asks, doing a good job of sticking to our personas.

"We threw out your old clothes to make room for Berry's; so now you need to get new ones. Don't worry about 'work' clothes though; Berry will take care of those. Just get something that looks nice; maybe something to fit my 'style'." I say as a white mare runs over to greet us.

"Hello Sonata," she brings with a nod of her head, "and I don't believe I know who you are." She finishes while eyeing Uefi.

"Good day to you as well Rarity. This is my brother Redolent Rose." I introduce a slightly dazed Uefi and I snap to draw his attention.

"Oh yes, pleased to meet you, Ms. Rarity was it?" He says with a small bow. That was a bit formal for him, but whatever.

"Yes, pleased to meet you as well. You're Sonata's brother then?" She asks with a return of the bow and her face becomes slightly disgruntled.

"Yes, I am. I hope my brother here hasn't troubled you any."

"Not very much. I guess you're here for gloves or something then." She says gesturing to the hand Uefi has had in his pocket thus far.

"What?" He responds, caught off guard by the specific question I presume.

"No, no Rarity. He doesn't have any changeling blood impurity like I do. You're looking at a pure blood pony. He's just moving in today, but, as you can see, he needs to get some new clothes. Our old home village didn't offer much as far as clothes went so he needs to get up-to-date." I explain quietly and her face loosens with a sigh.

"Blood impurity? What imp-" Uefi begins but he is soon cut off by Rarity.

"Thank Celestia; it'd be problematic for me if he was a changeling too."

"I'll explain later Rose and why would it be problematic?" I ask her.

"No reason, no reason; so you need new clothes then?" She backtracks and I nod.

"Yes; he'll be able to tell you more about what he wants than I could. I guess just give him the grand tour and help him pick things out. We should have enough bits between for a small wardrobe." I say before turning to my green companion, "Just follow her around and take her advice."

"I'm not a child, Sonata." He complains a little.

"Oh yes, sorry about that. I guess I got a little carried away there." I myself backtrack.

"Learn to take a joke, brother." He says as he walks past me and follows Rarity through the store, taking plenty of time to be selective of his clothes this time.

   I wait around for the next hour near the entrance and after about fifteen minutes I move over to an empty table and, taking advantage of the otherwise vacant store, I begin to form tiny magical boxes to be used as bricks in the construction of my miniature castle.

   Surprisingly I find myself straining to keep each small brick from falling apart. Stacking the blocks only makes it worse due the constant vigilance it takes me to keep the boundaries between them from falling apart.

    By the time I have half of the first wall done, I'm already suffering from a massive migraine and I consider abandoning the endeavor. So it's hard to make large or dense magical constructs because of the amount of energy needed, but alternately it's difficult to create many small things because of the constant attention needed to keep the thin 'skin' around them intact; interesting.

"Yo; Sonata. You ready to go?" I hear Uefi call and my concentration wavers for a moment causing the structure to barrack apart and the small amounts of energy in the blocks floods out and dissipates into the air.

"I guess I am." I mutter in defeat as I turn around to see him holding a few bags of clothes. "Where'd Rarity go?" I follow as I look around him.

"She rang me up and said she needed to go take care of a few things." He answers and I nod.

"Well let's go. I still have to go and see my secondary employer about what I'll be doing tomorrow." I tell him as we walk out the door.

"So I finally get to meet this Berry then?"

"Not yet, I guess I should've said my 'daytime' employer. I have a side job working at that apple farm we went to before. Mostly it's just to build up strength and stamina, but only one pony there knows about my, or rather our, alternate professions; so I still have to report in as if it's my only job."

"You're really embracing this, or at least more than I thought you would." Uefi remarks, most likely noticing my nonchalant attitude.

"I'm more surprised that you aren't reacting. Usually by this point you're in a corner asking yourself what to do while I run damage control. This time however it seems we aren't doing either; although I can't run damage control yet."

"Well for me so far you've been the only hospitable part of this world. I had to run my own damage control when you weren't around so it was left to me." He defends himself with his usual vigor.

"I guess we've both had to grow up a little." I decide as we exit the town on the trail to Sweet Apple Acres.

"I've got to ask though, what was that changeling thing about?"

"It's basically the core reason for Luna trying to kill us from what I've determined. I have a genetic displacement which, for me, means that I'm partially changeling." I begin and I pull off my left glove, revealing the midnight black chitin plating on it to Uefi. "My hand changed shortly after I escaped. The problem is that changelings are insect-like ponies from the north of Equestria that tend to work as spies and assassins. Mere association, bloodline relations being even worse, can lead to heavy segregation. However, that very thing that almost got us killed, also saved us." I finish, avoiding telling him about the two 'tenants' in my soul, and putting my glove back on.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, because of my cutie mark showing a natural talent for stealth and my 'ancestry' being heavily rooted in crimes, Berry and her associates took notice of me and helped cover up my existence after I escaped. Then about a month ago, Berry heard about your imprisonment. I got you out, they covered it up and here we are now."

"So this is your fault." He sarcastically blames me and I give a grunt,

"Not intentionally, but, yes, you could say that." I finish as we take the last turn to face the Apple family home.

"So this is where you work?" Uefi asks plainly as we approach the old, decaying house.

"Yeah; it's mostly moving barrels of apples and sacks of apples to the market and in a week's time we'll start making different apple products. It won't be until next year that I get to do any harvesting so I haven't been paid much as of yet." I tell him and we reach the door.

"Sounds fun." More sarcasm.

"It is." I counter and knock on the old wooden door.

   A few moments later the door opens inward to reveal a tired looking Applebloom who looks us over a time or two before she seems to realize who we are.

"Hello Sonata, hello whoever ya are." She murmurs as she looks at us respectively. "What're ya here for." She finishes with a yawn.

"Good morning Applebloom. I need to see your sister about work and this is my brother, Redolent Rose. Is she around?" I ask the small filly who just stares off into space. Must've just woken up I guess.

"Nice to meet you Rose. I'll take ya to her; she's in the kitchen now." The droopy eyed pony mutters with a yawn and we follow her into the house.

   While I've been in the cellar, I only enter it through the outside entrance; so I've never actually been inside their house before. The smell of old ash becomes immediately apparent, most likely due to Granny Smith's active smoking habits, and I can hear the wood creak under my every step. Across the walls of the hallway hang a few family portraits and the ceiling seems to have some minor water damage.

   At the end of the hallway we enter a small rectangular room with a countertop on the opposite wall and cabinets run above the surface with a stove with a fume-hood and a refrigerator at the end of the countertop and cabinets, respectively. Across most of the room stretches a long wooden table of rather good condition with four chairs on each side and one on each end.

   In the chair closest to us sits Applejack wearing her flannel pink and white checkered shirt and jeans. In front of her sits a simple sandwich on a plate.

"Sonata is here to see you, Applejack." Applebloom informs her before turning to leave. "See ya later."

"Thank you Applebloom." Uefi calls back to her as we each take a seat by the orange mare.

"Good afternoon Applejack. I'm guessing your sister just work up." I greet the mare who refocuses her attention to Uefi.

"Yeah; ah let er stay out with her friends last night which was probably a bad idea since now she's too tired to do much. But that's enough about me, who is this?" She explains without a glance in my direction.

"Applejack I'd like you to meet my brother." I stop for Uefi to handle his own introduction.

A pause...

Uefi continues to just gaze......

.........Well this has gone on long enough..........

"Uh; you there Rose?" I say with a snap of my fingers which seems to drag him out of his trance.

"Oh yes, excuse me. Nice to meet you. Redolent Rose, I hope my brother hasn't troubled you." He recovers.

"Not at all; I guess you already know my name though." The orange mare says with a warm smile.

"Applejack, wasn't it?" He answers with a return of the smile.

"Yup. So why did you to come by?" She confirms and turns to face me.

"I needed to ask about work for this next week; I would've come by yesterday but I had to go pick up Rose." I explain to her, glazing over the subject of where I picked him up from.

"Well, we had planned on having you and Mac replace some of the siding on the house, along with putting in some new flooring in some sections, putting new shingles on the roof, and fixing the stairs both inside and in the barn." She rattles off.

"Where'd you get the idea to do that?" I ask as my mind begins to process what she just said. Sounds like I've got my work cut out for me.

"Sales have been better than usual in the last month so we have enough bits lying around to fix-up the place." She explains and turns to Uefi, "and with another pair of hands around things should go faster."

"How'd I get dragged into this?" Uefi complains, but I know he doesn't mean anything by it.

"'Cause yer his brother and I'll pay ya." Applejack shoots with a slightly perceivable amount of hostility back at him, most likely not picking up on the fact that Uefi was being sarcastic.

"I was just joking Applejack." Uefi explains other with a bashful smile and raises his hands near his face in case of a punch. I guess he remembers our first meeting with her well.

"Well, be more direct about it next time."

"Point taken."

"But you two are up for it, right?" She asks for confirmation and finishes her sandwich,

"Of course we are, but I'm guessing the 'no magic' rule hasn't changed." I answer her.

"Unless it becomes absolutely necessary, which it shouldn't, you won't be allowed to use it." She reiterates and I nod.

"I guess that's all then. So unless you need anything else I think it's about time we went off." I say, looking out through a window to see the sky changing to the orange of sunset.

"Well I won't keep you then. I expect to see both of you tomorrow and ready to work, I'll have everything we'll need ready then." She says and Uefi and I both get up to leave.

"It was nice meeting you Applejack." Uefi bids her farewell and we start to move towards the door.

"You too; see ya Monday." She calls after us and we exit the hour and head back 'home'.

~\o/~

   We approach the hole down to our home with the sun sitting just on the horizon and I pull out the key for the padlock one the door. After opening the lock and door I jump down into the hole casually and I can see Berry sleeping in her rocking chair with a half glass of wine sitting lazily with the stem in between her long fingers and a book in her lap, still wearing her usual purple shirt and a pair of jeans. I didn't she'd be back this early, let alone early enough for a nap.

   I move out of the way to make way for Uefi to climb down and I go into the kitchen to rummage around for some food. After taking out a can of tomato soup from a cabinet I turn around just as Uefi finishes making his way down.

   Setting down the can, I walk over and tap Berry on the head a few times which seems to bring her back from whatever dream she was having.

"Ugh... What the hell?" She groans and I stop.

"We're home Berry."

"Oh; it’s about time." She snaps as she closes her book, but not before downing the rest of her beverage and pouring herself another with the bottle next to her chair.

"Sorry; we had some things to attend to and I didn't think you'd be back already." I apologize to her and take a seat on the remaining couch.

"I finished the job early and took the early morning train back. Saved 15 bits by doing that and then spent that and a bit more and this cheap bottle of wine." She explains and takes a sip of her wine as she turns to face Uefi who is still standing by the ladder with a somewhat dumbfounded expression on his face. "So this is him then; thought he'd be shorter."

   Berry and I both sit there for a moment expecting Uefi to say something or another, but he still stands there seemingly trying to put his thoughts into words.

"Well speak up birdie." Berry snaps at him playfully.

"Sorry; I just thought you'd be a bit... different." He mumbles.

"Different how?"

"I had you figured for a bit of a darker, more serious type." Uefi explains and the mare in the room just nods.

"Fair enough; so what's your name?"

"Redolent Rose."

"I'm gonna call you Rose or Flowers then, and I guess you already know my name is Berry Punch." She sighs before turning to me. "So how did it go?"

"Just fine; I had to do some dangerous acrobatics, but besides that nopony even knew we were there."

"Good; I'm glad to see I didn't waste a month of time."

"So now that I'm out of prison; what are we going to do now?" Uefi asks her and he leans back against the wall.

"Well Sonata is ready for actual jobs now as far as I'm concerned. I'm not like Spacial who'd rather just keep teaching him from books and practice. So from here on he's going to be learning on the job as well and getting advice from me. You however need a little bit of training." She explains and I feel a little bit of apprehension grow in my chest. So now I'm going to be having to do stuff like that all the time? Shit.

"What kind of training?" He asks her and the look in his eyes tells me he's starting to take a serious interest in this.

"Shooting and spotting mostly. You'll also need to do some basic strength building and some gain some foot and air speed until you can match Sonata in both; speed should be easy for a pegasus, but he does have more strength than the average unicorn or pegasus so that may take some time." She explains to him and he raises an eyebrow.

"Shooting?" Uefi and I both ask her at the same time.

"Medium range shots mostly, but yes. Pegasi and gryphons tend to be renowned marksmen. Mind you I said shooting; not killing. Mostly it will just be something like a crossbow with mild sleep enchantment to make the arrows knockout the targets. You will have to pay for the garnet and the enchanting services though; I can get you the bow and some arrows though." She tells us.

"You never mentioned enchanting before." I glare at her. "One of those sleep enchantments would've been a nice alternative to poisons or having to knock them out."

"It wasn't needed before. Besides, enchanted items run out of charge after so many uses and then they need to be recharged and that can only be done a four ring unicorn. Knowing my luck you'd end up running out of charges and since you'd be dependent on them you'd be as defenseless as an infant. On his side though, he'll only be playing support for you and he can also just carry as many arrows as there will be charges left. If he runs out of charges he can just switch to spotting, if you ran out you'd be dead in the water. I'll let you enchant those eventually, but not until you can charge them yourself and not until I think you're ready." She explains to me and I sigh.

"You do have a point."

"I always do."

"Excuse me, but how much will those cost me?" Uefi chimes in.

"Since garnets are the only gem that can hold a knockout enchantment you'll have to pay for one with a good enough cut to hold the enchantment well and you'll need to pay for the enchanting as well, so about 1000 bits." She estimates and Uefi pulls out his wallet.

"Here you go then." He says as he pulls out a few bills and walks over and hands her the cash.

"I didn't think you'd have the bits on hand, but whatever." She comments, counting the money, "pay an extra 1.5 and I'll get you a monocular with emerald rimmed lens that'll have an enchantment to adjust to different light levels that you can attach to the bow." She adds on and I wonder a little at the price. I guess enchanting is expensive.

"I guess I'll need it we work at night, fine I'll pay." He groans and pulls out the extra money.

"Thank you." She responds and pockets the money.

"So when do I start?" He asks as he walks back I his place on the wall.

"Tomorrow; I already have the bow ready with a scope. It'll be a week before I can get the gems though. I also lined up a job for you two once I get the gems." She tells him.

"A week is a little bit too short don't you think Berry? After all; I had I work for a month before you gave me a real job." I mildly criticize her.

"Yes, but you had to learn many more things that he does, like sneaking, lock picking, hiding, knockout techniques, ect. He only has to learn how to preform mid-range shots with a scoped weapon and how to find a good vantage point. You had a bit more to learn and it also took a week before we started any of that training, so really you only spent three weeks on that."

"I guess you've got a point, but what are we stealing?"

"I need you to break into a local mansion and steal a few things. It should be within your skills since you'll be working together and security is fairly light." She summarizes.

"I guess we don't have much of a choice, but I'd like to know that we'll be stealing." I comment. She wasn't kidding when she said I'd be doing real jobs from here on.

"Well you can steal almost anything you want as long as you can get it out, but you must steal three things. A necklace that you'll find next to the dresser in the master bedroom, a small enchanted ring which is kept in the library and a pair of earrings bearing a similar enchantment which should be found by the necklace. There's plenty else to steal and no doubt a safe somewhere, but these items were requested by a client. Claims they were stolen from him oddly enough. Besides those three items, take any other trinkets you want. They're yours if you can take them." She laughs a little at the end.

"That's a little much for my first job don't you think?" I kid and Uefi nods.

"You won't learn anything if you don't test yourself. Besides you're a thief; the worst thing that can happen is that you get seen and you run like hell out of there. You don't have to fight anypony if you so choose." She shoots back.

"I don't plan on getting seen." I dodge her statement.

"None of us plan on getting seen. I however due plan on getting back to sleep now." She finishes her glass. "Rose, your room is the first door on the left in that hallway; you two can go to sleep whenever, just remember that you start training tomorrow Flowers." She tells him and points to the hallway to her room as she puts up her bottle and glass. "Good night."

"She's a lot less intimidating than I pictured." Uefi whispers to me as soon as she's out of earshot and we hear the door close.

"You have no idea how chill she can be and how serious she can be. Alcohol tends to keep her in-between the two pretty well." I tell him as I levitate my can of soup over to my body.

"But what do you think about this whole mess? I mean I sold drugs before, but breaking into someone's home and robbing them blind just doesn't feel right to me." He asks me, letting his old insecurities show.

"Don't worry about it too much. I'm not too happy with it either, but it's something we've got to do. To be honest though, I kind of like it. It was all mental for me, as soon as I just decided to do it and get over the fear of doing it, it got pretty fun." I tell him honestly before chugging the thin soup.

"I guess you're right. After all, it wouldn't be the first time I broke the law." He decides before walking towards his room. "See ya in the morning."

"Alright then." I mumble before getting up to go to bed myself. I do have work tomorrow.

Moving In The Darkness, But Not Without Sound. 31

   Over the next week Uefi and I helped to fix up the Apple family home during the day and at night when I slept he would go out and train with Berry to get ready.

   I close my dresser, putting away my everyday clothes. I already have on my clothes for tonight, but I have my blades hidden in the back if my coat to make sure nopony who doesn't need to see them views them.

   I set my watch, book and other trinkets down on my desk before exiting the room, but not before checking the time 11:12. In truth I am a little scared for tonight. For starters, there won't be anypony on the inside to give me an edge like when I broke Uefi out and I've also had to chance to see Uefi train at all. Not to say I doubt his abilities, but I don't know how much I can rely on him to do.

   Dismissing my worries for the time being, I enter the common room to see Uefi sitting on the couch wearing a black turtleneck and a pair of navy blue running pants. On the glass table in front of him sits a pure black device, which I believe to be his crossbow.

   While it holds the same features I expect of the device however the limbs seem to be retracted against the center of the frame to make it more manageable and concealable until he plans to use it, with a shoulder strap along its length. The entire weapon is pure black, save for the small red gem which is embedded at the end of the device, opposite the stock. A scope of the same shade of black is attached to the device with a green gem midway along its length on the topside of the object. Both gems emit a small glow of their own colours. Next to it sits a quiver filled with a few arrows and strap similar to its counterpart.

"Ready to go Uefi?" I ask him and I pull up my face shroud and hood.

"Ready as I'll ever be. Needless to say I'm glad I skipped dinner." He mumbles, throwing his bow and arrows over his back.

"Please; I'd rather not know." I kid; trying to break the tension we're both undoubtedly feeling.

   We both climb out of the hole, one at a time mind you, and begin our walk out of the forest.

"So what's the plan?" He asks and I yawn.

"I scouted the outskirts of it a little yesterday. The house itself is close to the edge of the forest, but the trees are too dense to get through and there's extra security there. You can probable get into a position on one of the sides where the trees aren't as thick and wait for me to give you targets." I explain to him as we exit the forest.

"Ok, but where will that leave you?" He questions as we turn off into the grassy fields to avoid traveling along the roads, the last thing we need to for somepony to question our attire and what weapons we're carrying.

"I'll have to pull myself up and over the front wall. At night the guards move closer to the mansion itself; so the front wall should be clear enough for me to get over it easily. From there it's about 100 meters of open lawn with a few decorative shrubs that I'll have to move through. I don't know anything else though. All I know about the inside is that the library should be somewhere in the left wing and the master bedroom will be on the second or third floor in one of the other sections. Your shots shouldn't be any more than 30 meters though."

"I should be able to handle that easily enough then. Where will you go first?" He asks as the grass rustles underneath or hooves as we travel by the faint moonlight.

"I'll go by the library first. The amount of guards there should be lower than that of the bedroom so it'll be easier. Also, if I get the ring without any problems and then get found while trying to get into the bedroom, I can just grab the stuff quickly and run like hell." I explain my bare-bones plan to him and he just nods as the mansion comes into view.

"So after you get the things we need, you're just going to sneak out and we're done?"

"That's the plan. After all we're not stealing because we want to, we're stealing to survive." I remind him.

"Glad to see you haven't forgotten." Uefi remarks and we continue in silence until we reach the gray masonry front wall of the estate on the left corner facing the manor.

"Ok; I'll wait here for now. Radio me when you're in position and we'll get started." I whisper to him. I asked Berry about cameras but she said the owner respects his own privacy as well as that of his family too much to want cameras everywhere however I'm not sure as to whether or not it's the same story in the outdoor part of the estate.

"Got it." He whispers back and we both put on the ear pieces and small microphones we were supplied with.

   Uefi skulks off around the corner and I wait for another half hour before I hear his voice come through the device with some static.

"~I'm ready when you~ are."

Clicking the button on my own communicator I call back to him, "Got it," before reaching up and placing my hands on top of the wall.

   After pulling myself up and over the masonry, I land softly on the plush grass and my eyes dart back and forth to check for any movement.

"Any movement, Uefi?"

"Nah~, there's no one for the next 60 meters or so. Ju~st take it slow and steady."

   Following his advice, I slowly take my daggers and put them back in their respective places at my waist before crouching low and continuing onwards, making sure to not stray too far from the left wall in case I would need to escape.

   I dart back forth from bushes to the open courtyard careful to go fast when moving and taking a minute or two before moving again.

I finally get within the last twenty five meters or so to the oversized structure before I'm able to see faint silhouettes and Uefi radios back to me, "~ok; there's a set of shrubs about twenty meters up along the wall. If you ca~n get into those you'll be able to just hug the wall and~move behind them until you find your entrance."

"Ok I see them, but what about the guards?" I ask, hearing the faint voices of the bodyguards.

"I'll tell you when to go for i~t," he answers me and I wait about three or four minutes before hearing him again, "go for it."

   Quickly activating the quick step spell, I lunge towards the greenery and roll upon landing, perfectly into the small clear space between the bushes and the left wall.

"You're fine, keep going forwards and tell~me when you have a plan to get in." Uefi reassures me and I move on.

   The mansion could be described as being in the shape of a rectangle with semi-circles forming the shorter sides at the end of each wing. Formed of an outer layer of bricks with lines of windows running along each floor.

   I line myself up with the center column of windows before thinking about my options. I could try finding a way to the roof and getting in from somewhere up there, or move around to the back and see if there's a back door of some sort. Wait a minute; I'm looking for the library in this wing not a small study. This is a mansion so I doubt the library would be anything like the one back in town. This one would be for showboating. If it was me I'd have it have high ceilings, like two of three story high ceilings.

   Deciding to bet on the idea that the entire semi-circle is the library, I make plans to scale the wall up to the second story window within the column and go from there.

"Uefi; you know where I am, right?"

"~Yeah, about centered with the building right?" I hear his voice come back.

"Yeah. I need you to tell me when it's safe to run at that column of windows."

"Let me look~ around for a minute to see where the guards are."

After about ten minutes of waiting I hear his voice come back over the ear piece, "Ok, we have a potential problem. There's a guard~on top of the roof standing over that column of windows. I can take him out but there are~about five other guards on the roof." I sign.

"Are they moving at all?" I ask, downtrodden that my plan might already have a snag.

"No; I've been watching them for the last five minutes~but they never moved."

"Then they're probably just stationary lookouts, I'll take the risk on it." I decide to take the risk. Please let this pay off.

"~Got it Quentin. I'll take the shot when the guards aren't looking. When I do, you run at the windows~as fast as you can." He answers back and I take up a stance. I can't risk using magic in case they see it.

"Tell me when."

One minute....

Two minutes....

Three minutes....

"GO NOW!" Uefi comes of the comm urgently and I can hear the click of the trigger through the ear piece.

   Not wasting the opportunity, I keep myself low to the ground and sprint to the illuminated windows. I make it the windows without anypony noticing and I lunge upwards and pull myself up the wall and climb quickly until I'm midway between the first story and second story windows. Thank god for thick and poorly maintained grout lines.

   I pant heavily for a minute or two, with my hands and hooves firmly planted on the wall as if I was rock climbing.

Taking one hand off the wall I click my mic back on and whisper, "Did it work?"

"~Yeah; he fell backwards onto the roof, but I don't think~anypony noticed you or him."

"What luck; alright, I'm going to get up to the next window and go inside. Once I'm in I need to you to make sure nothing unusual goes on and to wait for me to come out." I tell him before resuming my climb upwards.

"You were right~, once you get past the idea of it; this gets fun."

"Don't get used to it." I pant, turning my mic off afterwards.

   After scaling the wall up to the next window, I peek my head up to look inside. Thankfully I was right about my suspicion that it was a two story library. Built in bookshelves line the walls up to this line of windows with a small overhang from the windows, probably enough for me to stand on.

   Using a hair of magic, I pull the window open and slip up into the library and onto the wooden overhang. My good fortune showing through again, the inset lights that run along the overhang are turned off, effectively shrouding my in shadows while giving me a view of the library floor where the lights that run up the bookshelves are still lit.

But if the lights are on, then someone is in here. I think before surveying the room.

   At the stair wall of the semicircle, directly across from me, is a small collection of chairs facing inwards towards and unlit fireplace and about 4 meters away one both the left and right sides are long wooden tables with books sitting in neat stacks on them. A few meters in from the edges tables are positioned to fit the curve with openings periodically. Directly under me is some sort of square display case and I can see a small gleam come off of it. Bingo. Closer to me from the fireplace is a small circular table with four chairs.

   However only three of these chairs are empty, a pegasus with a brilliant coat of yellow with a red tint at the end of the wings which are over the back of the chair and on the fur slightly who wears a short golden mane occupies the other chair facing away from me. I cannot determine a gender, but, due to the night clothes it's wearing, I know it isn't a guard so if worse comes to worse I should be fine. Just go slow and quiet; it's one pony who's facing away from you, no big problem.

   I form a few boxes in the shape of a staircase to avoid climbing down a bookshelf and making a racket. Keeping low and slow, I descend to the floor quietly without more noise than that of a feather falling to the ground.

   I turn to face the pony, who has still not noticed my presence, and then back to the display case.

   Within the case, which is about half my height sits a small silver ring on a cushion with a bright purple gem in it. I stare at it for a moment, captured by the object's glow, before getting back to business.

   I lift the fabric quickly to check for any form of wires or alarms as I was taught to do. After confirming a lack of traps, I lift up the glass from over the box before pulling the ring out from under it with my magic and into a pocket in my coat. One item; stolen. I congratulate myself as I set the glass down.

   I turn around and I can instantly feel my heart sink and my stomach churn. Standing no more than one or two meters from me is the yellow pony, who I now see to be a mare about my age, holding a white cane and staring at me with large yellow eyes that seem to have an odd hazy look in colour, but that makes them no less intense.

"What're you doing there?" She asks innocently and I double back from my plan to use a book held in my magic to knock her out.

"Umm... What?" I respond, standing up now.

"Oh good; I was hoping I wasn't hearing things again." She laughs shyly. Hearing things? I thought I was being pretty quiet. "You must be one of the guards then?"

   One of the guards? Is she's been watching this whole time then she knows I just took that ring. Or maybe she just now saw me?

"Yes, I am." I lie through my teeth to her. "I just came by to check on the library. I didn't mean to disturb you. I hadn't thought anypony would be in here at this hour."

"Do you promise not to tell on me, then?"

"Tell on you?" I ask, unsure of what she means. Is she just a klutz or something?

"Yes, just please don't tell Dad. He'll be angry with me if he knew I was reading this late again." She whines a little and it darts to take shape for me.

"So your Coin purses daughter?"

"Well yes, didn't you know?" She asks me, it now being her turn to double back.

"No, actually, I just got hired today as a house guard; so I'm not too familiar with your family yet or this mansion for that matter." I continue to fib. If I play my cards right I might be able to make this work.

"Oh, sorry for not knowing. Dad tends to leave me out of any business." She apologizes.

"No it's fine. I was just hired today anyways." I tell her before checking the room one more time with my eyes. "Would you like me to walk you back to your room before I continue my rounds then?" I offer. If I do that it might prove to be a good way to get information on where things are here and of guards come by I'll have an alibi.

"If you could, please. I'd rather not risk having another guard find me and telling Dad or Mom, they've already given me plenty of hell for this stuff." She says and I'm surprised at her profanity due to her more elegant way of speaking. Of course being caught snooping around with the daughter of the guy I'm supposed to steal from could prove problematic.

"Alright, but you'll have to lead the way. I only, found my way in here by accident." I say and she turns to leave.

   Using her cane as a walking stick, she moves forwards and I follow, still a little confused as to why she doesn't suspect me of anything. After all, anyone with eyes should've been able to see me take that ring. Think as we walk past the table she was at and I look at the book, whose pages are just filled with random bumps in the paper.

Wait. A book filled with odd bumps in the paper, a long cane she always extends in front of herself before moving and she didn't see anything I did even though she was looking right at me. Bingo?

"Excuse me for asking, but are you blind?" I shyly ask the blonde mare for confirmation and she smiles.

"Yeah; the blind second daughter, born without sight of any form. Dad tends to not mention the part about my blindness to the guards." She confirms my theory as we exit the library and begin to head down a dark hallway with the rhythmic tap of her can filling the void.

"I'm impressed that you're able to get around this place. I can barely even find the library." I kid with her to change the conversations focus and she laughs a little quietly.

"You just have to get used to it, I guess." She mumbles as we enter a large room which I assume to be the entryway to the home with one large staircase in the back leading upstairs and three doors on the wall opposite of me and one on either side of the stairs.

"I guess we go to the upstairs now?" I quietly ask her.

"Yes, after that it's just a few doors down." She says and we climb the stairs, myself walking behind her in case she was to trip and her with a hand clutching the guard rail.

   After a few minutes, we step off of the stairs and onto the second floor. I follow her to the right and down another hallway, thankful my time as a fake escort is almost over. We stop in front of a single door and she fumbles around in her pocket for a key.

"Thank you for coming with me this far." She thanks me and bows slightly.

"Not a problem, but could you tell me how to get to your parents room? I'm supposed to go by and make sure everything's alright." I ask her as she opens her door.

"Sure. Just head back towards the staircase and on either side there's staircases leading up to the third floor. After that turn towards the back of the house and you'll see the door immediately." She tells me before entering her room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight and thank you." I return the phrase and she closes the door behind her. Thank god, at least it doesn't seem like anything has gone wrong yet.

   I walk down the hallway and back to the staircases before stopping for a moment.

"Hey Uefi, anything weird going on out there?" I ask to make sure that mare wasn't just playing me for a fool.

"Nah~ I flew over a little while ago and moved that guard I shot so they wouldn't see him if they changed out guards.~ How are things on your end?" His voice comes back through and I sigh in relief.

"I almost got caught but she was blind, so I was able to convince her that I was a guard. I've got the ring and I'm heading up to the master bedroom now. I'll call back to you if anything changes." I whisper back and turnover my mic again.

   I stay low to the floor and slowly make my way up the staircase, testing each step to make sure to avoid any creaking steps. I come off of the last stair and turn around to see a set of double doors on the wall a few meters away.

   I sneak up to the doors before I hear a small rhythmic creaking noise from one of the alternate hallways along with a light coming through from the hallway at the end if the right stairwell.

   Thinking of no better place to hide, I slip behind the guard railings of the stairwell, hoping that the dark metal rails will allow me to blend into obscurity.

   A moment or two later a dark gray pony wearing a suit comes through the doorway, holding a flashlight in one hand and in a holster at his side I can see the handle of a pistol sticking out and I gulp in fear before putting my hands on their preferred blades, just in case.

   He begins to shine the light around the room, but thankfully only along the walls and not for very long. The light passes over my head and I freeze in fear. He doesn't seem to have noticed me though and continues on through the room and into the next hallway.

   Taking no chances, I sneak back to the other side of the room and look down the hallway to make sure he's still just going on his way. Happy to see the guardsman still walking down the hallway and shining his light around, I go am to the door to the master bedroom.

   I turn the knob but I'm stopped partway through the turn and I sigh. Locked; time to break in. I pull out my tools and put them into the lock before beginning to methodically push up each tumbler.

   After five minutes of screwing around with the lock, I finally get the last tumbler in place with a satisfying click. I turn the knob and open the door enough to peak my head in.

   I see a table on the left side of the room with dressers on either side and the story is the same on the right side, against the back wall is a king sized bed with two large rises in the blankets. Just go slow and don't wake them, whatever you do; don't wake them.

   Taking my tools back out of the lock, I slip through the door and close it behind me quietly. I move to the left side table first and look the table over. A few small rings and trinkets sit on the table, but for the most part none of them seem to be the necklace or earrings I'm looking for.

   However at the far end of the tables I can see a necklace sitting on a small stand. Emerald in the center, rubies on both sides, thin golden chain; this is it. I slowly lift the necklace off of the stand and I hold it I my hand for a few moments, admiring its glow in the lowlight.

   I slip it into another pocket and move to the opposite side to look for the earrings. I can see a small glow being emitted from one end and I go over to that first seeing as how everything else enchanted I've seen glows.

   Sitting amidst the glow are three things, the pair of diamond earrings, which I pocket immediately, and a note with a key over top of it. I move the key and take out the ring to read the note with its low light.

~Sir, we've finished installing the hidden safe you requested in the hallway outside your bedroom behind your father's portrait as requested. Just as well we moved your research project into it was well. Although it would've been nice if you had told us of it prior. ~Guard Captain Ash Shield~

Research project? I think as I fumble around with the key. Something like that must be valuable if he's hiding it. A smile creeps across my face and I pocket the key and leave the note on the table before slipping out of the bedroom.

"Uefi, I've got the stuff. I'm got to check something out first though. I'll radio back to you when I'm leaving." I whisper into the mic after making sure there aren't any guards coming.

"~Alright, just don't push it. Remember we're just here for the stu~ff."

"I know but I need to check this out first." I click off the device before moving down the hallway at my right.

   To avoid giving off too much light, I pull out the ring again and hold it along the wall without windows to look for any paintings. I find a few, but almost none of them are of a male and those that are don't have anything behind them but more wall.

   I reach the end of the hallway with no success and turn around to tryout the other end of the passage. Since I already went past everything, I move quickly at the cost of making a bit more noise, but nopony seems to have heard anything.

   About halfway down my search of the alternate hallway, I come across a painting of a rather impressive looking red stallion. I slip my fingers behind the portrait and I feel the cold of metal behind it.

   I pull the painting down, revealing a small square safe with a key hole and handle. I check around me quickly before pulling out the key and slipping it into the key hole. I turn the key and a satisfying click is heard and I sigh in relief.

   I turn the handle and open the safe to reveal only two items. One being another piece of paper and the other being a set of fake hands in a glass box with what looks to be some kind of white wraps around them which emit a glow of the same colour. What's so special about a piece of paper and boxing tape? Although those wraps do look pretty cool with that white glow.

   I pull out the piece of paper to read it. ~I am sorry to inform you that despite our best efforts to determine the nature of the wraps. We were only able to figure out three things. They always conform to the hands of whomever or whatever they touch and after a few moments on any of the test subjects they always drain them of their energy. On unicorns it drains magical energy, earth ponies have physical strength drained and pegasi have their wings temporarily crippled until the wraps are removed. Finally there seems to be some kind of odd crystalline structure woven within the threads that we've yet to identify. We've requested for an audience with the science board of Canterlot to see if they could bring more light to this, but it could be months before we get a response. If you wish to get more information faster, it may be a good idea to finally tell us were you found these accursed things. ~Steel Core~ I finish and set the paper down.

So they drain energy? I think as I pull up the glass, curious of how the fabric actually feels.

   The moment I lift the dome however, the two strands of thread come to life and slip off of the prosthesis faster that I can react and wrap onto my own exposed hands, tearing apart my only set of gloves.

"Shit." I curse under my breath as I try to pull the damnable things off of my hands.

   I try to get my fingers under the clothe to try and pull them off, but they've already wrapped around my hands and are firm against my skin. "They drain the magical energy of unicorns..." The words echo in my mind.

   I stop for a moment and think about that, after all shouldn't my energy of been drained by now? I try to form a box in my hand and it forms just as easily as before. I'm still able to use magic? I think before something catches my eye in my peripheral vision.

   I turn my head to see an approaching light from the right and I curse my luck. Forgetting the wraps on my hands, I close the safe and put the painting back on the wall and at that moment I feel the light on my skin. Shit.

"STOP!" I hear a rough voice yell at me and my instincts kick in.

"Nope." I say back to him before dashing past him and down the hallway.

"We've got an intruder on the third floor, running now probably going down." I can hear him relay to the other guards form behind me.

   I make it to the stairs with the guard close behind and I freeze for a moment as I hear a gunshot ring out and I can feel the air next to my neck moved towards me. I snap out of my daze when the second shot goes through the tail of my coat and barely misses my right leg.

"~What the hell man? The guards are going crazy out here." Uefi's voice comes through as I lunge down the stairs and roll on my landing, another bullet coming at me.

"They saw me; take out any guards from where I came in. It's time for us to disappear." I whisper hastily back to him as I slide down the handrail of the stair case quickly.

   The moment my hooves touch the ground the doors to the outside open and guards begin to flood in, most carrying pistols but a couple carrying rifles. I quickly take out a razor trap I modified and throw it at them. A few moments into the flight, it activates and the bladed wires wiz around causing light lacerations to the crowd.

    I quickly dash into the hallway leading to the library, but not before a few shots come back at me, one of them impacting the wall just in front of my eyes. I close the door behind me and quickly drop another razor trap behind me with the razors drenched in the sleep drug.

   As I see the lights flood through the now open door behind me, I duck low and use quick step to accelerate my pilgrimage to the library. I turn back to see the guards tripping over a few of their now sleeping comrades and I sigh in relief. Then another shot punctures the floor behind me and I'm pulled back into fear.

   After an onslaught of shots that I dodge by ripping doors front the walls to block off the hallway, I enter the library and immediately from a staircase to the unlit windows above the book cases.

   I make it up to the overhang and dispel the blocks before stopping to radio back to Uefi.

"Is it clear for me to run out?" I whisper as the remaining guards burst into the room and begin to search for be both high and low.

"~Yeah they're all down. Just g~et out of there." He confirms and I open the window just as one of their lights comes across me.

   I dive through the window as shot after shot can be heard impacting the walls behind me. Not letting the fall get the better of me, I form a long box underneath me and land on it.

   I run along the box, using it as a bridge to the forest, and jump off of it into the forest, the wailing of sirens and the yells of confused guards behind me.

"Where are you Uefi?" I ask him through the mic and a few moments later he lands next me.

"Right here. Let's go already." He says urgently and we dash out of the forest and back across the open fields our pursuers far behind us. Intense; no words, but intense.

~\o/~

   We dive down into our home, the sounds of the chaotic mansion far behind us and Uefi turns back to me with his face in between laughing and yelling with his crossbow still in his hands, the limbs not retracted as they were before.

"What the hell happened back there man?" He decides to say.

"Sorry, there was something I had to check out, but it was a bust and I got found just as I was turning to leave." I explain to him as I check my coat tail to see about 10 new holes in it at various places.

"And what pray tell did you find?"

"These," I begin, showing him the hand wraps, "apparently they're supposed to neutralize the energy of whomever puts them on, but they didn't do anything to me."

"So we almost got caught so you could get those." He complains and taps the wraps, causing emote come back to life and wrap around his hands.

   Uefi screeches in pain and his wings spring out unnaturally as he tries to pull the wraps off. Remembering what he did, I try to pull the wraps off of his hands and they go back onto my hands.

"Now stay." I tell the inanimate fabric, or would it be animate?

"How can you stand those things?" Uefi asks, taking one hand to stroke his wings.

"Huh, so it's just me that's immune to it then. The paper said that its drains magic from unicorns until they're taken off and cripples pegasus wings while they're on, but my magic is fine, interesting." I think aloud and he sighs.

"Yeah really interesting. You almost got shot and we both almost got caught so you could get some pain inflicting clothe."

"At least we weren't caught." I say and a figure drops though the shaft and Uefi pulls up his bow which still has an arrow loaded.

"Calm down Flowers, it's just me." We hear Berry's voice and we both sigh in relief.

"Damnit, Berry you scared us half to death." I mutter and she laughs.

"Funny; I would've thought the gunshots did a good enough job of that."

"They did." Uefi and I both say simultaneously.

"I've got to ask though; what happened in there?" She asks, walking past us and sitting in her chair.

"It went perfectly until I pushed my luck too far." I confess to her.

"What do you mean?" She asks and I sigh for seems like fortieth time tonight.

"I got all three things without any complications, but I found a key for a safe and I couldn't help myself but look for it. I found it without getting caught, but as soon as. I got the stuff out a guard saw me and I ran."

"And what was in this safe?"

"These." I say, holding up my still wrapped hands.

"So some clothe..." She mutters and Uefi laughs a little.

"That's what I said." He comments and I grimace.

"I guess I'm the only one who likes them then." I groan before smacking Uefi's hands. "Go play with Flowers." I tell them and when my hands contact his they come off of mine and go onto his, causing his wings to stretch out again.

"Damn you." He's able to mutter through the pain and I hit his hands again, reversing the process.

"I'm also the only they like."

"Umm... Mind explaining that?" Berry asks with what feels like faux innocence.

"Not at all. You see apparently these things drain the magical energy of unicorns and cripple pegasus wings until they're taken off. They also drain earth pony stamina. For some reason though they haven't done anything of the sort to me." I explain and she walks over to me.

"Interesting." She mumbles and taps the clothe causing it to move to her and I'm surprised to see her double over in pain. "Really interesting." She punches me in the gut and the curse is back to me.

"Ow." I say with a cough.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect it to work that well." She sits back down.

"I don't know how he stands that thing either." Uefi concurs again.

"I'll make a few calls to see if I can find information on it, but you did get what you needed, right?" She asks and I nod.

   I pull out all of the items from my pockets and move them over to her with my magic.

"Good, good." She pockets the jewelry and turns back to us. "Congratulations, you just finished your first real job. I'll have a report for you tomorrow, but besides that; consider it a day off." She says before standing up and bidding us goodnight.

"So; we're complete criminals now." Uefi says simply.

"Yeah; honest to goodness thieves."

"I need to sleep on this. It's completely different actually doing it than just thinking about doing it." He tells before walking off to his room.

"God, I'm glad that's over." I say to myself as I walk to my room.

   Not wanting to spend too much time, I just unhook my belt and let the blades and traps fall to the floor. I pick up the belt by the blade handles but the moment I grip the handles I can feel them shatter. What the hell?

   I open my hands and the shards of the handles fall out of them. I hastily flip the sheaths over and to my great dismay shards of the blades simply fall out of both of them.

"What the hell is this?" I mutter picking one of the shards and it proceeds to disintegrate into a fine powder.

   To test something, I quickly pick up the traps and other things on the belt, but none of them exhibit the same result. I toss the belt onto my nightstand and grab the broom and dust pan from the corner.

   After getting all of the shards and dust into the pan, I begin to tap each shard causing each one to turn into the same fine dust. Why is it just with these? I get it all into a fine powder in the dustpan before pouring it into the trash can; deciding to dismiss the anomaly for the moment. I guess I can work without blades, but this is still a problem.

    I pull off my coat and hang it up on the rack I got for it and stare at the bullet holes. Definitely the closest I've ever come to a bullet. I guess I'll have to get used to that though for this line of work. I think as I walk over to the restroom and vomit into the toilet. That too I guess.

   I flush the toilet and I look up to my left hand and notice something odd; my hand is smooth. I take my right hand I run it over the surface of the back of the hand, but I can't feel any chitin under the clothe.

"Get off of me." I tell the wraps, seeming as how they've listened before, and they slither off of my hands and onto the floor.

   I come to a mix of elation and dismay when I see it for myself. My hand is devoid of any changeling features. I rub the fur around to see if it maybe just retreated below the fur, but the only thing I find is more skin. It's just gone.

   Seemingly done with being off of my hands the wraps slip back onto me on their own, but not as ferociously as before. I stand up and sigh a little at the loss of the blood impurity as I look into the mirror and see that my teeth are back to those of a herbivore. How did this happen? I think as I lie down in my bed. I think I know two being that may hold an answer though.

Moving To The Spring Of Growth. 32

   My eyes slowly open to embrace the light of the bright black sky and the great purple sun overhead with the clouds slowly drifting by.

I sigh, "This is unusual." as I shift slightly, feeling the soft grass underneath me.

   I sit up to see the vast expanse of oaken forest before me, stretching on without a conceivable end. I'll bite; who refurnished? I think, noticing the lack of pillars, water floors and deadly spirits.

   I stand up and stretch my cramping arms, yawning into the 'fresh' woodland air. I look around for a moment at the forest before turning to see what lies behind me. Behind is just more of the same forest continuing on and on into oblivion.

   To my surprise however, I look down in front of me and nearly vomit at the scene before my eyes. A pale white unicorn, looking to have been quite old due to his balding mane and tail, body lies on the grass with his arms sprawled out as if he had been running. My eyes go down his body, still clad in robes like those of a Buddhist monk, to see the large gashes on his back and, even more dreadful, the lack of legs with flies in a frenzy around the rotting wounds.

"Dear god." I mutter as I back away from the corpse with haste.

"Sorry about that; I didn't have much time to clean up." I hear the voice of a familiar scarlet changeling from above.

"I'd rather know why there's a fucking body here!" I yell back at the scarlet mare above me.

"Ah yes; the grand question. To be frank, the old prick barged in here and tried to kill me. Our birdie friend was and still is asleep; so I took care of him after he managed to give me a good punch." She informs me and drops down from the branches, one of her eyes having a large blue ring around it.

"But how did he get in here in the first place?"

"You're the one who brought him here. Sometimes stealing a pair of glowing clothe has negative affects you know." The mare crosses her arms and I notice the red clothe weaved around both of her hands and going up her arms some distance, barely short of her elbows.

"Those wraps were how he got in?"

"Yes; you see in this world there exists certain entities called spirits, the dead souls of ponies stuck between the fabric of life and death; ghosts if you will. These spirits can only directly be killed by other spirits. At times however, they will latch their souls to an object and become infused with it until a compatible, and living, host comes to be." She begins before pointing at the corpse, "That was one of those few spirits capable of doing so. When bound to the object any magical powers they hold are amplified and then channeled into the object, making it seem as if it were enchanted. You were the first worthy host he came across. Through invading your soul he could kill you from within and seize control; effectively passing as you indefinitely and getting a free shot at another life."

"But how does this not happen more oft-" I try to say but she cuts me off.

"However, very few ponies are capable of being possessed and your favorite princesses tend to keep such things under control. Because of this, possessions of that sort only tend to happen once every thousand years or so. To avoid this though, I killed him myself; causing the object he was bond to, to come under my jurisdiction."

"So why did my changeling features go away?" I ask. In all honesty I had assumed something bad had happened.

"The enchantment he had bound to the fabric included a range of illusions and slight transmutations. With those I made your plating and teeth undetectable to a naked eye. Sadly that twerp didn't have much as far as offensive prowess goes, defensive was o.k., but the strong suits were illusions."

"And the blades, and the revamp in here?"

"That's where the disadvantages came into play. He had the intellect to do two things before death. That being, he broke your blade related instincts or rather, he destroyed the parts of our brain and soul that held your knowledge and instincts regarding small blades. Second, he caused a rupture in the energy frequency we had with your daggers, causing the energy distortion to break them. To make a long story short, you don't know shit about fighting with short blades anymore and you're not going I be able to for quite some time."

"How is that even possible?" I call bullshit on her.

"How is it possible you have a Phoenix and a Changeling living inside of you? How is it possible you had a natural excellence for using small swords? Why did I call it our mind? He didn't have much power, but for a final he destroyed the entire section of our soul and mind bound to daggers, which is why we're now in this part. What you saw before was the area devoted to everything dagger related as far as you using them went; that part is now gone along with any chance of you being effective with them. This is the part devoted to fist fighting. Thankfully it was your second best fighting style so we're not back at square one." She lectures. "The point is that for somepony like that removing a skill set was possible. You're literally missing a small chunk of your brain where that information was."

"How am I still cognitive then?"

"I said a small chunk, literally only a hair bigger than the eye of a needle. I compressed all of it down, thinking something like this might happen."

"But how can I fight without blades?"

"A better question at this point would be 'how can I fight with blades?', but you're going to have to learn some fist fighting from somepony. I don't care if you're using an 'open palm' style or boxing; just find a way to fight with your hands. I really don't want to have to move to shooting, heads-up; you suck at shooting." She laughs.

"Just what exactly are you?"

"I'm just a simple wanderer who happened to start freeloading here, but we're out of time." She says simply and my vision begins to fade to black.

"What the hell?"

"We're already out of time. You got back at 4:20 so morning came relatively fast. Remember; find a tutor." The changeling reminds me as the darkness engulfs my vision.

~\o/~

   I open my eyes slowly and I stare into the darkness for a minute or two before sitting up in bed and illuminating the room on the soft blue light from my horn. Using some energy, I toss a small cardboard box from the corner to the light switch with my magic to turn on the regular lights.

   Taking a deep breathe, I slide out of bed and stretch out my arms with a yawn. I take the now red wraps and set them on the nightstand. I guess the colour change is expectable if she's in control now. I think before going through my morning routines.

~\o/~

   I straighten my vest as I enter the main room; still wearing the wraps which now stretch up to the base of elbows rather than just around my hands, but the shirt covers most of that from view.

   I see Uefi sitting down on the couch with a rather meager looking plate of burnt scrambled eyes in front of him and I sigh. Nice to see his cooking skills have improved. I think before levitating an apple over to myself.

"So what's the plan for today?" I mumble between bites of the juicy fruit.

"Last time I checked, you made the plans, but I think I'm going to just laze around here for today; maybe take a walk in the woods." He tells me and I nod.

'I guess I'm on my own then. I'll be in town if anything comes up." I say, putting my free hand in the ladder, "See ya."

"Yeah; see ya later." I hear the pegasus mumble back and I climb the ladder to the open world.

   Taking care to close the door behind me, I exit the forest on the road into town with the occasional shadow of a bird flying overhead or a rabbit running past, one of which I try to pounce on, but the damn thing got away. Of course what would I have done with it if I had caught it?

   Within the hour, I arrive in town and it becomes immediately apparent that word about the break-in spread quickly. I walk past a local newspaper vendor and grab a copy of the report on my handiwork before tossing the vendor a coin for the payment.

   The article doesn't say anything about what stole, but, according to the information they gave out, they do know that it was a unicorn working with another unknown pony that broke into the mansion and made free with some select items from the mansion before escaping as guards opened fire on him. No description besides race is within the report and I sigh in relief.  I'm glad to see nopony got a good look at me.

   I role up the page with the article and keep it in hand before tossing the rest of the paper away. I'm think I'll hang onto this as a memento of my first heist. Who knows; if I become a big deal this may be worth money in years to come. I keep my wishful thinking to a minimum though.

   As I walk into the plaza, all I can seem to hear is ponies talking about the robbery, some in fear for their own possessions, others condemning the action, condolences to the family on occasion and the majority criticizing the guards for being incompetent. After haggling with a street vendor over a deal on a box of cabbages, I proceed upon my journey to the apple farm to see a large red pony, with large, almost scary, red arms about turning my comparably small, none frightening, arms into usable tools of the trade.

~\o/~

   After finding my way into the newly renovated farmhouse, I slip into the kitchen; being as I've usually been able to find at least one of them there every time prior.

   As I enter the kitchen, I see the red stallion I had been looking for sitting at the table reading over the newspaper with his youngest sister. As if the universe simply wants me to remember and relive what I'd done, they're going over the report of the theft.

"Good morning Mac, Applebloom." I greet them respectively as they finish the article.

"Mornin'." The little filly returns the pleasantry to me and looks up from the paper.

"I wasn't expecting to see you today." Mac says in mild distaste and taps on the paper a few times. "So what do you think of this whole thief business?" You just couldn't make this easy on me; could you Mac?

"It's a shame for the owner, but, from what I've read and heard, not much was stolen." I lie through my teeth and I can see the humor in his eyes.

"And what of this thief? What do you think of him?" He eggs it on.

"I can't really agree with what he did obviously, but I'd like to think there's a good reason for it."

"But why would he take things from ponies?" Applebloom pipes up and Mac nods.

"Yeah; why would somepony take things from other ponies like that?" Shut-up Mac. Please? For me?

"Well I'd like to say that he's just down on his luck and made a bad decision, but it's a bit more likely that it was greed or spite. Sometimes ponies just do bad things." I try to explain to the little one without sounding as if I'm defending myself.

"Uh, I thought you'd say something a bit fancier." The ignorant filly remarks.

"Why is that?"

"'Cause ya' always talk fancy like."

"I wasn't aware that I did so, how uncouth of me to not realize my own mannerisms." I joke with her; trying to sound s but profound.

"See; like that." The yellow furred pony says and Mac stifles a grunt.

"Why don't you run along Applebloom? I don't guess that Mr.Sonata came here just to talk about fancy talking." He tells her, saving me the trouble of trying to dispel the filly's presence.

"I'm hardly worthy of being called a 'mister', but he's right; I need to talk to make alone for a bit." I concur as the youngest of my company leaves the room. "You kind of threw me under the bus there Mac."

"What? You can't expect me to not take advantage of good comedy."

"Whatever, but I needed to ask your advice on something."

"Fine, fine. What do you need?"

"I need somepony to teach me how to fight unarmed."

"I thought you were a blade freak." He stands up to face me.

"Something came up and I can't use them anymore. So now I need somepony who can teach me how to throw a good punch." I glaze over any details.

"Well, I can teach you a thing or two I guess. After all, it's a lot easier to avoid killing with fists than blades." A smirk runs across his face.

"What's the catch?" I ask him, knowing the meaning of that evil smile.

"I want a favor when spring comes around; just leave it at that."

"Why spring?"

"You'll know when it comes around." He taunts me and I sigh in defeat.

"Fine; you teach me fighting and I'll help you in the spring." I deal with the devil-coloured colt and we shake hands.

"I'm looking forward to it."

~\o/~

   I take a detour around the town center, not wanting to hear more of the 'merciless and dishonorable deeds' of the duo of thieves, and after a good hour and a half trip I finally make my way back to my home and drop down the chute to the common area.

"I'm home." I call out upon landing before looking up.

   I see a distraught looking Uefi standing in front of Berry who holds in her hands a suitcase and a piece of paper, which she holds in front of his face and I can see his eyes glide over it.

"Good; you're here. Now I don't have to trust Rosey here to tell you." The mare looks to me and my brow rises subconsciously.

"Tell me what?"

"You two are going to be on your own for a while." She answers simply as I stand up.

"On our own?"

"She's leaving for some sort of griffon nation thing." Uefi breaks his trance to speak.

"I got a contract from one of my more lucrative contacts to take out a few choice individuals in the griffon nation and there's also more than a couple of things that I need to wrap up there. I won't be back much before spring." She elaborates and I can feel my jaw drop as Uefi's did.

"Spring? That's a whole three months! How much are you doing over there?" I ask with irritation seeping through my words. She just plans to run off for three months?

"15 assassinations, four of those I have to frame a few ponies for, two of the four needing to be done in the same night and I need to restock our supply of gems. You can't have an overnight coup d'état in the world anymore."

"A coup d'état?" I mutter, wondering just who this contact is.

"Yeah; the griffons can't seem to go a decade without one. I'm not sure if they just like the chaos or if they just can't get along. I've been expecting it ever since word came of a revolutionary army. Seems they're tired of having a monarchy so now they're going to try and switch to an oligarchy, not that I give a damn; pay is pay." She finishes before tucking the paper into her pocket.

"Well what are we to do while you're gone?"

"I'm going to have Thunderback relay any low tier jobs to you, but other than that; I expect you to be a four ring unicorn when I get back and I expect Flowers to flying a hell of a lot faster."

"So this is what you meant by a hands off way of teaching." Uefi groans as the mare walks past me to the ladder.

"Not exactly, but I'm not a fan of hand holding. I left some bits on the countertop and if you run out then you just have to steal stuff you need."

"You just live life day by day, don't you?" I ask without looking back.

"Long term planning isn't my strong suit. I just take jobs as they come. Now you two get along and I'll be back in a few months." She climbs up the ladder and I hear the door open and close moments later.

"She's terrible at goodbyes." I smirk.

"Just who did you get us involved with again?" My pegasus friend groans.

"A group of criminals and more specifically the most relaxed assassin I could think of." I laugh before sitting down on the couch. "Looks like our lives are going to be pretty relaxed until spring."

Moving Through The Spring Of Growth. 33

   A few weeks after Berry's abrupt departure an article about the alleged killing of two high ranking griffon officials by a high sun priest appeared in the paper and caused a little bit of a stir amongst the townsponies, but it was soon forgotten since it didn't affect them much, quite unlike the news of my robbery which lasted two weeks before dying off along with the investigation.

   After letting the assassination news wore off I decide to make a trip to the library to see if Twilight knows anything about magic training besides my idea to simply cast multiple spells at once until all of my energy runs out.

   I walk through the doorway and take a deep whiff of the ash-ridden air, causing me to cough heavily, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I cross the room to where the lavender mare stands at her podium reading a small tome.

"Good morning Twilight." I greet her, causing her to look up from her book to me.

"I wasn't expecting to see you today Sonata. What brings you here?"

"I've been trying to increase my ring level lately, but my way of training doesn't seem to be very efficient. I was wondering if you knew some kind of method to train magical energy." I explain to her and she nods.

"Alright; what's been your method thus far?"

"Cast a bunch of spells at once and hold them until I run out of energy; repeat." I tell her with obvious shame.

"Well, I guess that's one way, but let's try something less... barbaric." She laughs a little before taking out a metal instrument, closely resembling a large ruler with a small needle on one end, "you may feel a little tingle."

   Without warning, she reaches with the tool and pricks the tip of my horn and I gasp at the stinging sensation. It feels as though someone shot a taser into the inside of my skull and like the tip of my horn is being incinerated. Moments later, I collapse onto the floor, freeing me from the accursed needle and causing a cloud of ash to rise from the floor. I feel violated and by a librarian no less.

"You said a 'little tingle'." I mutter before rising from the wood floor.

"If I told you how bad it hurts you wouldn't have let me do it." She says with a smile before inspecting her ruler.

"What is that thing anyways?" I rub my horn which still aches and burns from that accursed tool.

"You could call it a magic thermometer. The end of the device causes the passive amount if magic in your horn to be converted into heat and channels that heat into the thermometer. Depending on how hot it gets, we can determine how much magical energy is in your inactive horn and based on that, how close or how far away you are from a fourth ring." She explains to me with an unfaltering smile.

"Isn't that a little barbaric?" I regain my now passive smirk.

"It's a low budget library, or rather I allocate most of our money into other projects."

"I guess so." I mutter while trying to think of ways to destroy the archaic tool. Boil it down and feed it to an owl, crush it into a fine powder and spread it over an ocean, eat it and gain its power.

"Well according to this, you're not too far from another ring, but at the rate your training works it'll be another half a year before you get there."

"Well that won't work for me Twilight. You're a smart unicorn; you must have a method." I plead a little.

"Yeah there's a different way that will work." She grins a little and puts the torture device away.

"Which would be?" I ask and I swear I can see a maniacal glint in her purple eyes.

"Follow me." She gesture to her left before walking away from her pedestal and I follow as directed. Cryptic mare...

   We reach the back corner of the room and she opens up a door to a downwards stairwell and I follow her down into the dark abyss.

"Where exactly are we going?" I ask as she illuminates the passage with a purple light from her horn.

"You'll see." I groan in response.

   Deciding not to pester her further, we make it to the bottom of the stairwell. The librarian turns a light switch and a few bulbs illuminate the small pure white room.

"I'll bite; what is this?"

"This is my magical training room. The walls are made of a magically resistant substance so any spell that goes wrong won't cause any major destruction."

"I'm guessing this is one of the projects you were talking about?" I joke as I put a hand on the hard white walls.

"Maybe."

"That's a yes in my book."

"Then we're writing different books."

"Fair enough, but what's the alternative method you had in mind?" I break the flow of the dead end conversation.

"Free flow magical field manipulation, or FFMFM for short." She states simply and I sigh.

"Excuse me if I sound unintelligent, but what is that?"

"Oh yes, sorry about that. In basic terms it's breaking down the formations of magical seals into their most basic component and then combining such symbols randomly, or scientifically, into new seals with unknown or predicted effects." She explains and I nod to her.

"So that's why this room as to be magic proof; in case you screw up and it explodes or something."

"Exactly; most ponies don't actually use FFMFM though. They either can't get their heads around it or they're just incapable or they just don't understand it. It's something you'll find college magical manipulation majors doing usually, but if you have the aptitude you can start using it before then. However, it has been proven to cause a larger strain on magical reserves, more particularly it bypasses the sole use of magic needing to be transferred directly into your horn from your body." She begins to explain with her tone becomes more intense.

"What do you mean it bypasses it?"

"What you have to understand is that within the very air magic is laced among the particles." she starts up and as the air around her body begins to tint to a light purple colour and separates into small purple threads. "In basic magical use, your body will absorb some of this magic naturally and transfer it into your horn until it reaches its maximum capacity. However, in FFMFM you basically turn your horn into a large magical magnet; essentially forcing your horn to overcharge its capacity and to adapt to that amount." She continues and the collections of threads suddenly rocket up and into her horn and she stifles a small scream. "It also hurts a bit." I'd be a liar if I said that her little squeal wasn't cute.

"Ok, but what are the individual parts of seals, or do I have to figure those out as well?" I ask after she recovers a little.

"I've got a book with the basic structures detailed in it, but it's doesn't have everything since it's only the first book in the series it doesn't have too much." She tells me and in a poof of purple smoke a book appears in her hand.

"Well then, I guess I'll get started."

"Ok, first you need to figure it how to deliberately focus the magic in the air." She says, setting the book down on the floor.

"And how do I do that?"

"You obviously know that you form a square for simple constructs, correct?" She questions and I nod, "it's sort of similar to that, but, rather than a square, you need to try and focus it into a solid line in the air without using a seal. Think of it like a light spell, but instead of condensing what is in your body into your horn; you need to try and take what's in the air directly into your horn." She tries to explain and I sigh. Here goes nothing I guess.

   Taking a deep breath, I begin to start focusing as I regularly do with magic, but instead I just try to channel it into the air in front of me. After a few minutes of continuous effort I finally begin to see some results. A small bit of the air begins to glow a reddish-blue mix and I continue to try and condense it like I would a magic construct.

   Finally, after about ten minutes, I succeed in creating two small strands of magic in my respective colours. While it's not impressive compared to how Twilight created hers in mere seconds, to succeed at all on my first try excites me.

"Ok; now try and think about focusing it into your horn." She coaches and I follow the instructions.

   Thankfully the second part passes much easier and it only takes a second for the strands to shoot up into my horn and I stifle a yell of agony from the pain of the process, not unlike that of Twilight's meter, but a little less intense.

"Good, good. For your first time it didn't take very long relatively. You just need to keep at it until it starts to become a little second nature to you."

"Well then, I better get started."

~\o/~

   At this point I'd like to mention that I have an explanation of FFMFM symbols and  major seals that were derived over this time skip which is right under this, but I didn't want to have a wall of text to describe in the chapter since it felt like it was breaking up the flow and I think it'll be fun to guess at what they will do. Sorry if that's an inconvenience. (The outermost squares on the three constructed seals are just borders, not parts of the actual symbols.)

~\o/~

   After a good few months of alternating days between training with Mac, creating a few spells with Twilight and racing with Uefi, I finally walk through town sporting a muscular, but not as overly muscular as Mac's, body and a four ring horn with my head held high and pony tail bobbing slightly behind my head, even as news of the griffon king comes through my ears as the town gossips of the event. Uefi walks at my side with a now large wingspan than before due to the training he got from Thunderback.

   Mac had told me at the last session to bring Uefi with me so we could discuss the favor I owe him, but he remained elusive as to what exactly the favor implied, but as I walk through town I can feel the gaze of more than I few ponies on us and I decide to pick up the pace a little to speed past the crowds to the ranch.

"I still can't believe you're wearing your hair like that." Uefi manages to say through a snicker.

"My manes long enough to pull it off and it doesn't look back with my hair swept back." I defend my pun of a hairstyle.

"Or you could just get a haircut like I did. It wouldn't kill you and the stylist was fairly cute so that's a plus." He suggests and I groan in response.

"I like my mane long and that's that." I end the conversation as we start up the path to the farm house.

"Fine, hippie." He says before pulling out a marijuana cigarette and lighting it.

"And yet you're the one smoking pot." I challenge him, not being too surprised to have seen him taking up his old habit of smoking one a day everyday composed of half and half tobacco and pot.

"You've gotta sample what you grow before you sell it man." He exhales the narcotic smoke in multiple rings. "But what did Mac want us for anyway?"

"I don't know. He just said that he needed to talk with us,"

"I guess there's only one way to find out then." He finishes his smoke and drops it on the ground, crushing it underfoot, as we walk towards the barn.

"About time you two got here." I hear Thunderback call as we enter the barn and shortly after he emerges from the shadows to our left.

"I wasn't aware there was a set time." I joke with the black pegasus.

"Whatever, just come on. Mac is waiting in the 'war-room'." He gestures behind himself.

"War-room?" Uefi vocalizes my very thoughts.

"It doesn't quite fit that name most of the time, but for now it does." He says before moving some of the hay away from the floor, revealing a locked metal grate. "You don't tell anypony about this and what we talk about in here; understood?" He commands before pulling out a key and we both nod, "Good; then welcome to the war-room.

   After unlocking the grate, he opens the hole up and hops down past the ladder and I follow suit. At the bottom on the small shaft I see Mac standing at the far wall of the rather well-lit and large concrete room with a glass-top table in front of him and Thunderback at the right side of the table with a few couches, tables and shelves strewn about the room.

"Nice war-room." I say before taking a position across from Mac, making room for Uefi's entry.

"Thank you." They say simultaneously as our remaining friend takes the left side of the table, which I now see has a list of names with a few circled, each having a number next to each name.

"So why are we here Mac?" I ask him, wanting to get to the point.

"As you should all know tomorrow begins the battle we wage each spring for seven days." He begins but I cut him off.

"What battle?"

"That, my friend, is the battle ever stallion dreads, the battle of hormones and mares, the battle... of the estrus." He answers in an almost sagely manner and Uefi barley stifles his laugh, thankfully both of us read up on some pony anatomy in our time here so we won't sound like idiots asking what it is.

"Oh, but that shouldn't be a problem right?" I say simply. I mean; wouldn't they just lock themselves up or something.

"Wrong. Ponyville holds the same tradition its always had; a contest." Thunderback chimes in.

"A contest?" Uefi manages to say and the other two nod.

"You could call it a survival game. Since the princesses have every town set to its own estrus timing, the town has a weeklong event with ponies separated into age and ranking. Based on their capabilities mares are given a rank and a certain amount of points up to eight. Stallions are ranked and given points up to twelve based on body condition, magical energy and estimated *ahem* 'size'. Mares can either work alone or in teams, but here's how it works. Each mare is given a tag with their team name and point worth on it. Tonight they're going to tag us in our sleep to 'claim' us, barring any mare outside their team from hunting us. Stallions are also able to team up; meaning that the team has to be claimed by another team, but a stallion team cannot by split between two teams. We're along not allowed to withdraw from the competition unless we're married." Mac begins before Thunderback takes the reigns.

"Then at eight in the morning were gathered and registered by our teams to the groups of mares. At eight thirty we start off; stallions get a thirty minute head start but for the rest of the seven days it's just a war against what will literally and most definitely be painful and torturous 'fun'."

"Ok, but how hard could it be? After all, if we make good use of our head start they shouldn't be able to keep up with us; let alone track us." I reason with him.

"Wrong again; when the mating hormones kick in their speed and magical energy at least doubles from the constant adrenaline and their actually able to lock onto the smell of us, unicorns specifically because they can actually see the trail of magic your bodies emit. It's a cutthroat competition of cat and mouse; so it's better to work in a team of those on a similar level. That's why ah' gathered you here." Mac explains to me and I can feel my heart sink. "Last year ah' tried to go alone and barely avoided gettin' caught by two mares. With a team you've got somepony ta' watch your back."

"But what about those that lose; I mean what about pregnancy?" Uefi asks and his eyes betray his uneasiness.

"A temporary infertility spell is placed on us for the competition if we choose. We're mostly outrunning a merciless ride and a very awkward social situation."

"Thank goddesses." Uefi mutters under his breath.

"So you want to make a team with us to boost your chances." I say to get an affirmation.

"Yeah, you need to have a team on the same rank as you so you three are my only options." Mac explains.

"So what's our rank anyways?" Uefi shakes his head at the ideas being circulated.

"That's the problem. We're the stallions top tier in our age grouping, rank twelve." Mac grimaces.

"Crap." Uefi and I say at the same time and with the same degree of excitement, none at all.

"Yeah; we get the worst of it all, and there's only one team that's on our level."

"And who are they?"

"Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and mah sister; team harmony."

"Isn't it a little weird having your sister come after you?" Thunderback says, easing an eyebrow.

"She's already said she only after you three, her team just needs her points to be able to claim all of us."

"Anypony else think we're doomed?" I voice my opinion, having witnessed Twilights magic first hand and knowing full well it's nothing to scoff at.

"Don't talk like that; if we watch each other's backs we should be fine. Besides we're criminals, avoiding pursuers should be second nature." Thunderback assures me and I laugh a little.

"True; quite true."

"Another thing is the damn cameras. Since we're the only modern town to still keep this up there's always a t.v. show on it. This year they plan on documenting the game live between the top tier teams in each group; that meaning us. Sadly we only get a hundred bits of compensation as a base amount. If we do well, and trust me we will, we could get more; so just expect them to wire a mini-camera to your head or something for POV shots." Thunderback says and Uefi laughs.

"So not only are we going to have to run for seven days, we're going to have our experience live streamed to the world."

"And ya' wouldn't believe the ratings it gets." Mac chimes in.

"I'm starting to think we shouldn't have moved here Uefi." I joke.

"Not much we can do about it though."

"I'm glad you understand; then one more thing before we're adjourned." Mac says before pulling out a small piece of paper. "Sonata this is yours. It's a magical seal that will absorb your magical energy and repress your trail for half a day that the company hosting the show supplied. You can make it leak the same trail slowly by ripping it a little to throw them off until you start leaking again. Rip a whole piece off and it will simulate your presence within as if you were there. Tear it all up and it'll be like a flash grenade and momentarily disable magic in its field. Each unicorn gets just two so use them wisely." He explains as I take them and look at the insanely intricate seal formations.

"Thanks." I say before sticking the papers in my pocket.

"Alright then; we're adjourned. Bring your work clothes and meet me in the morning in the center of town." Mac says and we all nod, knowing full well what this next weak might hold.

Moving Through The First Of Spring's Trials. 34

   I wake up with a mild yawn before flipping the switch on my clock to turn off the damnable alarm and getting out of bed. I immediately notice the presence of two small strands of thread on my right wrist and I just dismiss them after noticing the sets of cutie marks adorning them.

   I quickly slip into my thief outfit as Mac told me to do, but not before looking at the coat or more specifically the bullet holes at the coattail and remembering the mansion. At least I shouldn't have to worry about having that happening again this time.

   After tossing on my cowl and leaving the face cover down, I move into the common room and to my surprise I see Uefi sitting on the couch with his own clothes on and an apple in his hand, which has the same type of ribbons tied to it.

"'Bout time you got up." He comments and I nod.

"I'm surprised you're up to be honest."

"A pair of rowdy mares came in an hour or two ago and woke me up when they tagged me. Good thing I had the bow under my bed instead of on my nightstand." He bites into the red fruit.

"Yeah; although I don't think they'd of said anything about it anyway." I say and grab an apple of my own from the jar on the counter with some magical assistance.

"We've only got 45 minutes until the event starts so we better get moving." He tells me after taking a peek at the wall clock.

"Then we better get moving."

~\o/~

   We get to the town center with about five minutes to spare after getting a quick impotency spell casted on us and quickly join the male side of the division, trying to both find Mac or Thunderback and to distance ourselves from the hungry glares of the mares on the opposite side as they hoot and holler at the males.

   I fell pretty bad for most of the stallions here seeing as most of them have an obvious amount of fear in their faces and no less than a few of them are crying and talking of last year.

"... I had to keep bandages on for weeks until the skin healed enough to stop bleeding..." Was just one of the more mild statements I heard and I can see Uefi start to gain a more mild look of their own fear.

"Don't worry dude; they're just playing it up for the cameras." I try to comfort him as we swerve past a camera crew.

   After two or three minutes we manage to spot Mac through the abyss of fur and manes and quickly fall in next to him.

"You were almost late." He scolds, giving me a joking punch that a month or two ago would've hurt a little. He's still a little scary though.

   I had never actually seen Mac's clothes for the organization, but the pair of black overalls and white undershirt are quite underwhelming to my expectations.

"We got here before Thunderback though." Uefi beats me to the punch.

"Not by a long shot." I hear the voice of the aforementioned pegasus as he moves out from behind Mac.

   Thunderback's clothes don't surprise me too much, but they don't fall under my expectations. A simple black leather jacket and a pair of pants in a seemingly similar material. Now that I think about it, I've seen leather all over; so it's already to use their hides, but apparently it's wrong to eat the animals?

"I didn't see you there." I dismiss the thought as he opens his hand to reveal four small devices, not bigger than a push pin, each with a different colour.

"Yeah; I got the cameras from the news team." He says as he sticks the black one to his own face, just between the eyes and then does the same to Mac with the red one.

"They're definitely small enough; how are they going to hold a charge for seven days?" I ask as he pushes the device in between my eyes and I can feel a few small metal pins go into my skin and latch into my skull, just about the nose.

"They run off of magic and just take in a little from the air. They also periodically clean themselves to keep dirt and other things from ruining any good shots." Mac explains as Uefi gets his own camera attached.

"When do these things turn on?" I ask, prodding the end of the device idly.

"As soon as the opening speech starts." Thunderback chimes back in and I notice a glint of metal in his jacket.

"Woah; what are doing with your gun?" I catch him and he sighs.

"They're just rubber bullets. I'm not going to be really 'shooting' anypony." He defends himself as a horn blares above the sounds of the crowd and we turn to the center of the plaza as a pale yellow pony, who seems to be holding back urges of her own, takes a position behind the podium and I hear a small 'click' from each of our cameras.

   I don't much may attention to the speech since most of it just seems to be a short history of the event, the competing teams and tips of the hat to sponsors of the event; none of which I really care about. As far as I'm concerned it's just a game of cat and mouse between us and team harmony which I manage to spy across from us, each with a familiar hunger in their eyes.

   The speech lasts for about fifteen minutes before she stops and a rather plump green stallion takes her place wearing a clashing red suit.

"And now for the main event. Each of these stallions will have a thirty minute head start before the mares are allowed to give chase and remember; no chasing a stallion that your group didn't tag. Stallions you may ready yourselves." He finishes and the rest of the crowd turns in the exact opposite direction of the mares, towards Sweet Apple Acres, but, as we previously discussed, our group takes up positions facing towards the mares in the other direction. If we go this way we'll be able to avoid the crowd and get farther faster.

"Alright then; I hereby initiate this estrus season." The overweight male says over the microphone and, with the sounds of hooves stamping and wings flapping into a frenzy in my ears, I conjure a ramp for Mac and I and we sprint up the surface of it as fast as possible and I also use my speed boost to keep up with them, but thankfully it doesn't drain me near as badly as before.

   We pass easily over the mares on my ramp and both Uefi and Thunderback fly upwards with us. After we get up about 30 meters into the air, which happens to be at the towns border due to the shallow nature of the ramp, I flatten it into a narrow plane for Mac and I to run on so that the environment's natural imperfections won't slow us down an I'd sneak a peek back at the town to see about half of the stallions still stuck trying to leave the plaza and a few other teams exiting the town on our side just behind us, seeming to have copied our tactic; posers.

"You think I should use one of those sheets now?" I yell at Mac through the wind as I continue to dispel the box as we pass it and create more ahead of us to avoid making a huge construct.

"No; wait until they catch us once so we'll be able to make an escape. The time it would buy us now wouldn't be enough." He answers back and I nod as we all lower our speeds slightly to avoid exhaustion.

   We continue on my path and after what feels like ten minutes I can't even make out the few teams that followed our example, but I can see a rather large purple box moving towards us with a few figures on it and I gulp. Damn adrenaline making a half hour feel like ten minutes.

"We've got a problem." I yell at them as a small voice comes from our individual cameras.

"Mares were released ten minutes ago, sorry for the late warning colts." A voice comes through and I can hear Uefi's curse blow through the wind past me.

"Nice fuc~king warning."

"Any ideas?" I ask, but Mac just laughs.

"Run, little unicorn, run." He boosts his speed and we all follow in suit.

"This seems terribly under balanced." Uefi calls out. "Can't you throw up a wall or something Sonata?" He asks and I shake my head.

"I can't. What if they fall because of it?"

"Tough luck?" Thunderback jokes and Mac glares daggers at him.

   Our jokes are quickly interrupted however as I feel something breach the tail end if my path.

"Why didn't we just hide out in the war room?"

"That thing wouldn't have lasted more than a day." Mac calls back out to me.

"We're going to last less than that at this rate."

"The first day is the most intense. It'll get easier if we can survive today." Thunderback yells and a cyan blur passes in between Mac and I, I barely duck in time to avoid having my hood grabbed onto.

   I see another yellow burr crash into Uefi and grab onto his sweater with ease. As the blue one diverts her attention to Thunderback, who swoops downwards into the forest under us.

"Mac." I yell as I feel fingers against the back of my coat but I don't dare to look back.

"Yeah?" I hear the fear in his voice, a stark change from how he was a minute prior.

"Have you even been to a water park?"

"No; why?"

"Then this is going to be a little weird for you." I laugh to keep from crying as I put a new seal in my head, one I developed with Twilight.

   I conjure a downwards ramp ahead of us at a 45 degree angle and the moment we get within a meter of it I form a wall behind us and widen the path to avoid injuries. I fill the symbol with magic quick as I focus on the slide and like magic a torrent of artificial red coloured water spews for from the air and down its surface, contained by the walls I put on both sides.

"Yeah!" I yell out; thankful that it actually works large scale.

   I opt to crouch on my two hooves and slide down with the water while Mac just falls on his flank and screams in a quite unmanly fashion. We reach the treetops rather quickly and I slowly modify the angle to slow us down before we hit the earth.

   I role through the grass before hitting a tree and stopping in my tracks. Giving my head a quick shake, I get up off the forest floor with grace to see Mac's face in the dirt next to me.

"Sorry about that; but we need to get moving." I say, pulling his face up the dirt.

"Don't. Do. That. Ever. Again." He manages to mutter through spiting dirt.

"It worked didn't it? Now come on; I doubt that's going to slow them down much."

"Glad to see you two are alright." I hear Uefi from my left and I sigh.

"Same to you. How'd you get away from Fluttershy?" I ask since the last I saw of him he was barreling into the canopy.

"I managed to lose her in the trees." He states simply with a smile I know well enough on his face.

"Good for you then." I mutter, returning a knowing look. If you don't want to tell me that's fine.

"Not to ruin this heartfelt moment, but we need to get moving again. I doubt those vines are going to hold up R.D. for long."

"You're right Thunderback. Let's get a move on again. With any luck they'll slow down to help their friends first." I agree with the black pegasus on the branches above me.

   After giving Mac a quick second to wash out his mouth with some water we brought, we decide it'd be better to try and zig-zag through the trees rather than using a straight forward path so we can throw them off.

"What time is it anyways?" Uefi mutters after some good time of walking through the dense underbrush.

"About 12 o'clock." I mutter through a mouthful of Manticore tail jerky, that I made sure to hide from the cameras, before putting my watch away.  You can really taste the rabbit...

"Shouldn't we have seen them again? It's been a few hours." He continues his questioning.

"They probably decided not to exhaust themselves too much. Think about it; they have all week to catch us, if they go all out today they'll get be exhausted. Not to mention in the trees we'll have a much better chance of getting away. I wouldn't worry until we reach a clearing." I reason and Mac nods in agreement.

"It's not an uncommon tactic, especially since they almost got us early on they'll be expecting us to be going as fast as possible. If we did that we'd ware ourselves out and be east targets, it's a marathon not a sprint." Thunderback joins in on the conversation and our other pegasus just sighs.

"Fair enough..."

   Sadly it takes another four hours before the dense brush clears up and night sets in rather quickly in rather quickly as we exit the forest into a grassy field.

"So do we stop her for the night or do we keep moving?" I ask, shaking off a few branches that got caught on me.

"We'll have to stop for the night. I don't trust the forest at night so we'll setup camp here." Mac says and we all nod in agreement.

"I guess we'll need somepony to take watch then. Any volunteers for first watch?" I ask and as expected none of them volunteer. "Ok; I'll take first watch and we'll alternate every four hours." I offer myself to avoid conflict.

"Alright then; let's get a fire going." Uefi says, taking out some crumpled paper. "This should be enough to get us started, but we'll need more. Any chance one of you has an easy way to get wood, or get a fire started at all for that manner?"

"I can get it started with some magic, but I can't gather wood any faster than picking it up."

"Then we better get to work before we run out of light altogether." Mac directs us and we split up into the woods to maximize our ability to gather timber.

   I take a path directly into the woods, picking up any wood lying on the earth, but I find myself jumping at the sound of everything in the forest and the thought of being jumped while I'm alone.

   I push the thought aside for the time being and after about ten minutes if scavenging I manage to fill both of my arms with various twigs and branches, from there I start gathering more with magic to maximize my load.

   I finally start to calm down and just enjoy the sounds of the forest as darkness begins to set in when a large booming sound hits me and I feel the ground quake under my feet, causing me to drop the wood in my spell's grip.

"What in the bloody hell?" I mutter, grabbing the dropped wood. That sounded like it came from where we were going to camp...

   I don't waste any time and run back through the forest, dropping a few smaller twigs held in my arms and within what feels like seconds I find myself back in the clearing next to Mac and Uefi.

"What the hell Thunder?" Mac says as we all stare at the scene before us.

   A large, obviously decaying, pile of wood lies on the ground about 3 meters from us in shambles, smoke rising off of some of it, with a rather pompous looking Thunderback standing on top of it with arms crossed and a small device in his left hand.

"What? You said to gather wood." He replies simply, pocketing the device and jumping off of the pile.

"Not that; what are you doing with explosives?"

"You know I'm no good without tools."

"But what made you think you'd need to blow something up?"

"I don't know... Intuition?" He smiles rather sheepishly.

Mac just sighs in defeat, obviously having dealt with this behavior before. "You're crazy; you know that?"

"Yeah, but where's the fun without it?"

"Excuse me, but what just happened." Uefi interrupts them and Thunderback just laughs.

"What just happened is Thunder here just blew up a tree." Mac explains.

"Blew up is such a rough term. I prefer forcefully and explosively deconstructed."

"Why would he have explosives?" I ask, wondering more so where he got them rather that why he had them.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I felt like I might need it so I took it. I'm not ones question premonitions." The pegasus in question shrugs as I toss all of my wood onto the pile.

"Rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it, huh?" I return a smile.

"Glad to see somepony gets it. Now come on, we've got a fire to build." He returns to his natural demeanor and grabs a few pieces of the shredded wood.

   Deciding not to question him any further, we all go up and begin grabbing pieces of decaying bark and plant fiber.

"Is he always like this outside of town?" I whisper to Mac, remembering the manticore incident.

"He may not outright say it, but if you watch him you'll learn that he's a little... Off. When he's not pretending to be a good civilian like we always do, he gets a bit extreme. He isn't homicidal in any way, but he won't protest to hurting ponies a little to get from point A to point B."

"I'm glad I'm on his good side then."

"You're not the only one." He huffs as we toss an armful each into the pile.

"Alright Sonata; let's see you get that fire started." Thunder says and I nod, quickly getting a few sparks to fly off of my fingers and into the kindling.

   Luckily a flame quickly takes and slowly spreads throughout the pile. At this point I think most of us have stopped worrying about getting jumped, but more about catching a little shut-eye.

"I've got first watch then. You all get to sleep and I'll wake one of you in a while." I tell them and one by one they lie down in the grass, obviously just as tired as I am from the long day of running and being on edge.

   It isn't long until I can hear a rough and annoying symphony of snores and I groan, knowing full well it's going to be a long four hours of waiting. Soon the crackle of the fire becomes the only pleasant sounds I hear amongst the snoring, crickets and various woodland sounds.

   I periodically look around behind me, but for the most-part I keep my eyes on the dimly illuminated forest, barely able to keep myself from jumping at every stray sound.

   It takes what feels like an hour for my nerves to finally settle down and I relax against the pile of wood, occasionally tossing a few pieces into the blaze, waiting for something to happen.

   However, around four hours later at about 9 p.m. I get up and continue to look at the forest nothing besides moths and other insects came out of and I give Uefi a light kick to the arm, which succeeds in pulling him out of his slumber.

"Time to switch out Rose." I use his equestrian name, just in case somepony is listening in.

"Already?"

"Yeah; so far nothing has happened, but I need to rest too. Just keep the fire going and I don't think anything will happen tonight. Switch out with Mac or Thunder in about four hours." I direct the still groggy pegasus, who reluctantly gets up from his dirt bed.

"I should've taken first watch." He yawns.

"Just sit down on the wood pile and you shouldn't fall asleep." I take a place on the plush grass. "Good luck." I mumble falling into sleep rather quickly.

~\o/~

   I wake up to what feels like somepony kicking my shin and I open my eyes into the darkness. But I already took watch... I think as I notice something else. I can feel the ground moving under me and my arms being held up in the air.

   I activate a night vision spell to see just who decided to drag me off and sadly my second worst fears return. I look up and see a blue pegasus dragging me behind her and to my left I see Uefi staring at me, gagged and being dragged by Applejack, down from him I can see Mac then Thunderback, but I can't tell who's dragging them. I knew I shouldn't have let Uefi take the next watch.

   I cast a voice localization between Uefi and myself, but as I try to open my mouth to speak a find a rag wrapped around my face, effectively stopping me from speaking. I drop the spell and slowly move a leg over to kick him back, just to let him know I'm awake.

   His expression turns to relief as I turn to my right to see Twilight walking along side Dash and I mentally sigh. So I'm being held captive by the fastest one and I'm right next to the strongest one and most probably the smartest one; crap.

"No Dash; I'm just saying that I should have the first turn with him since I'm also a unicorn." I eavesdrop on their conversation.

"You wouldn't even know what to do with it egghead." The pegasus retorts.

"Yes I would; I've read plenty of books on the subject."

"Books can't teach you everything Twilight."

"They taught me plenty, so I should get the first turn." Twilight continues and I tune out their conversation. Neither of you will get a turn if I have anything to say about it.

   Taking another spell from my expanded arsenal, I begin to condense magic a few meters in front of the traveling mares until I'm confident that the thin sheet to hard enough to block their advance.

   I shudder a little as Dash and the rest of them impact the new invisible barrier, causing a few blue sparks to come off of the indistinguishable surface.

"What the hell?" My immediate captor responds, rubbing her head with one hand, allowing one of my own to fall from her grasp.

"Ah'm not sure, it's like there's some kinda wall here." Applejack chimes into the conversation, dropping Uefi's left arm to give the wall an experimental tap.

"I'll just break it down." My bet on Dash's own pompous nature pays off as she readies her free arm for a hard punch and I drop the barrier.

"Wait Dash-" Twilight beings but by this time it's already too late as Dash send the punch into the nothingness where my barrier was originally, causing her to stumble forward from the excess force and in turn release my remaining hand from her grasp.

   Ignoring Dash's curse, I send my hand straight into my coat pocket and activate one of the paper seals, cutting off the magical trail from my body. Activating Raven Fall, a cascade of faux black birds erupt from the ground under me and I back step away from the confused mares as Uefi tries to no avail to escape AJ's iron grip, sadly both Mac and Thunder remain oblivious in their sleep.

"I told you to wait. In case you forgot, I helped Sonata make some of his spells and I've seen him use even more." I can hear the purple unicorn complain from my position only a few meters away.

"How was I supposed to know? I thought you had them all in a sleep spell or something?" Rainbow defends herself as Applejack gives Uefi a hard hit, effective stopping his thrashing.

"Its effectiveness is based on how long they've been asleep. If you remember; he was the first look-out so his was naturally weaker."

"Think we should go after him Twi'?" AJ asks, but to my relief she shakes her head.

"No. He probably ran already. Just make sure I get a turn with Mac and we'll go after him tomorrow when he starts leaving a trail again." The lavender pony sighs and they begin walking towards the forest again.

I guess I could run off now and leave them to their fates and maybe if I ran fast enough I could make it back to town; after all that's the last place they'd look for me. I think before crouching low and moving to follow at a distance.

Of course what kind of man would I be if I just chickened out and left my friends for the torture? A smart man, but I've never been that clever.

   A few minutes later they enter the forest on a path way and I wait for a minute before jumping into the branches. I follow them down the trail, moving from branch to branch quickly and quietly like a predator with magic coursing through my veins.

   They stop at a small break in the forestry where a small fire is going and six mats lie around it at periodic lengths.

   Fluttershy pulls Mac onto one of the mats, Applejack sets Uefi on the next and Thunderback is dropped onto the next by Pinkie and the mares form a circle a meter or so away from the unconscious colts as I watch from my timber perch across the camp from them.

"So who gets the first turn with Mac?"

"Well Dash, I think I should get the first turn since it was my spell that let us get them here so easily." Twilight defends her handy work as I begin to formulate my own plan as their argument continues.

Twilight knows most of my spell like the back of her hand and is probably the smartest, Dash is the fastest but not that smart, Applejack is the strongest, Pinkie is unpredictable, Fluttershy has those eyes and Rarity more of a commanding figure than an actual fighter from what I've seen. Come on think...

"Then we're agreed. I get Mac first, then Dash, then whoever wants a turn. Fluttershy and Pinkie will share Thunderback and Applejack will get Uefi then Rarity will follow." Twilight's voice breaks my concentration.

   I pull my cowl back over my head and face. Thinking: done.

~\o/~

This next part is going to be an experiment in my writing that I would very much enjoy to see some comments on. I guess I would call it a minimalistic style. Anyway, enjoy AJ's POV.

~\o/~

   I hear a solitary branch break some distance away, but I ignore it, circling the green pegasus with a grin. Just how big is this ball of feathers underneath, I wonder. I sneak a peek at Twi and Pinkie who seem to be doing the same thing, sizing up their prizes. I turn back to the others who all seem to be only hairs away from crossing the line and pouncing and I feel my smile widen in anticipation, despite the small discomfort from the camera bound to my face. I wonder how many perverts are tuning in right now...

   I take a step closer, but I immediately jump back as darkness floods through the camp. What in tarnation... I turn towards where the fire was by memory to see nothing but darkness.

"What's going on?!" Dashes voice breaks the silence as light returns to the camp in a wave revealing the still burning fire.

"Ah don't know." I yell back at her before turning to the sounds of leaves and branches rustling just in time to see Twilight hit the ground unconscious and the branches behind were she stood shaking.

"What's happening?" I can her Fluttershy whisper barely through the sounds of branches breaking all around.

"Ah don't know, just let me think." I yell at the poor thing as her and Rarity cluster near the fire.

"He's mine! Mine!" Pinkie screams into the darkness putting herself into a rather compromising position overtop Thunderback.

   I continue to spin, following the sounds of the branches which suddenly comes to a stop in front of Dash who's doing the same thing I am. I continue to watch the trees, waiting for something, anything, to come out.

   A cluster of small burning leaves fall down from the darkness although I can't distinguish where they came from, almost as of they were born out if the shadows. I watch them fall until I hear three small 'thumps' from behind me and I pivot on a hoof to see Pinkie, Flutters and Rarity all lying in a pile by the fire.

"AJ, get over here." I hear Dash yell back at me and turn back and run to my fellow mare, who now stands across the camp from the others.

"What do we do Dash?"

"Look if we stay together we'll be fine." She tries to comfort me.

"Ok; let's just get back to ba-" I begin, but a cascade of brown wood floods the camp and my vision, causing me to scream in fear unnaturally.

"Dash?" I mutter as the swarm dies down and I open my eyes to see an unconscious pegasus at my feet. "Just where the hell are you?" I yell before turning to see a dark figure holding Mac in his arms less than a meter from me.

"Right behind you, again." He whispers before a storm of birds fill the air between us and by the time they clear they're both gone, along with our other two prizes and I just fall to the ground, exhausted.

Damn Sonata.

Moving To The End Of The First Of Spring's Trials. 35

   Before you start reading I'd like you to ponder this and leave a comment with your answer. Who should be the main romantic interest if I choose to have one. Twilight, Rainbow Dash or the blind pegasus from his first actual mission. I'm open to other alternative, but these three are weighing the heaviest in my mind and I'd like some help. Now that that's over, on with the story.

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   I illuminate the path ahead of us as Uefi and I both run down the path as quickly as we can, myself carrying Big Mac and him carrying Thunderback. I had remembered what Twilight said about the sleep spell so it didn't take much to wake him up. With the help of some voice localized instructions, I was able to direct him and pull him back into consciousness without letting the others know.

"I can't believe that you actually did that. I figured you'd just run off on us." I hear him sigh in relief as we exit the forest.

"I thought about it, but how long could I go on without my decoys/lackeys?" I huff, poking Mac with a stick held in my magic.

"I resent that."

"Nopony asked your opinion Mac." I laugh, stopping to unload the now conscious, but still groggy, man.

"Ugh, what happened?" I hear Thunderback groan as Uefi sets the pegasus down.

"I saved your flanks; that's what."

"What?"

"They got the jump on Rose when I switched out with him for the watch. He woke me up when they were dragging us back and I escaped before following them and getting you all out before anything happened." I give the short version of what happened.

"Well thanks, but what happened Rose? Weren't you supposed to keep watch?" Mac asks with a good bit of annoyance.

"Twilight used some kind of spell on you guys to keep you sleeping while the rest of them just went right at me. I tried, but when it's five on one you can't expect a miracle." He defends himself as we get back on the move.

"You could've run off and came back later to save us."

"I'm not very good in combat without my bow; running would've been the extent of my capabilities. Luckily I woke Sonata up on the way there."

"When your tools are your fists and your magic, you can't very well leave home without them; given you're a unicorn that is." I joke.

"That's why I brought my gun with me. I'm not as useless as Rosebush here, but without it I'd probably be reduced to running too it that situation." Thunderback defends my other pegasus friend who groans, obviously regretting the name he chose.

"I'm glad to see somepony gets it."

"That's the problem when you use silly gadgets." Mac laughs and we high-five.

"Unarmed or nothing, then again that's pretty close to nothing." I agree with my bulkier counterpart, ignoring my usage of blades prior to the last few months.

"See if you're saying the same thing when you're getting shot at." Thunderback retorts, hopping over a random rock in the field.

"Nopony said we couldn't run away." I remind him.

"Nopony said that we're aloud to run away until we finished the job. Failing looks bad on our part." Uefi chimes in and I sigh.

"Some of us are good enough that we don't worry about getting shot at because we don't get caught." I respond.

"Yeah; that business at the mansion was really the epitome of not getting found."

"I blame my partner for not giving me better directions."

"Hey; don't blame me for that. Without me you'd of never gotten in there." Uefi retorts and I laugh.

"Whatever; let's just agree that each pony has different skills." Mac mediates the senseless agreement as I check the time, 1:45.

"I'd like to know though; where exactly are we?" Thunderback asks, causing my instinct to sigh to be stimulated once more.

"I'm not sure. I got knocked out when they jumped me, so I can't be sure of how far they actually took us." Uefi says as I hop over another stone in the grass.

"It's been awhile, but I've been in this area before for sales and other things. If we keep going this way we should hit a road going north to another town." Mac directs us but I cock and unseen eyebrow.

"How will reaching a town help us? Won't they just follow us into the town and nab us there?"

"You're not leaking a trail right now. If we can get into town and hide, our scents will mix into the general population's and as long as you don't move around too much there won't be able to track you very well."

"And, if we need to, I can just run out of town and distract them if they get too close. It would at least buy you a little bit of time." I try to finish the idea.

"Yes, well; let's hope it doesn't come to that, but I doubt the town would be able to keep us hidden for more than a day or two, especially after ponies realize who we are. Ponies aren't very big on helping contestants like us; they prefer watching us run for our virtue."

"~If you four are done talking, I'd like to make announcement.~" I hear the voice from earlier come through my camera.

"Yeah; what?"

"We're giving Sonata a fifty bit raise for that little stunt, Rose will receive a ten bit raise for causing it and Thunderback a five bit raise for the explosion. Rating boosted a whole 23% after that and the net has been talking about it quite a bit.~" I smile as the other three stallions grimace.

"What can I say? I'm a crowd pleaser." I grow my passive smirk even as Mac gives me a jab in the side.

"Well keep it up and there'll be plenty more where that came from.~ Now if you'll excuse me I have some posters to attend to." He finishes and I hear a small 'click'.

"Looks like you're in the lead for now Sonata." Thunderback matches my smirk. "Of course I'll be ahead of all of you by the time this is all over."

"Don't be so confident. Remember; I'm doing this to get the farm some extra money, if that means putting on a show, I'll do it." Mac glares at us.

"Fair enough big guy." I keep a smirk as we continue to dash towards the supposed road.

~\o/~

   Luckily, we arrive in town just after daybreak, so the concentration of ponies is pretty low in the area as we duck into an alley.

"I didn't think this is what he meant by posters." I hear Uefi say as I slip into the shadows.

"What do you mean?" I ask, slightly pushing the green pegasus out of my way.

   Near the end of the alley a dimly lit poster sits, depicting a dark grey unicorn, clad in black clothes a long coat, crouching in a tree, dimly illuminated by the orange glow of an underlying fire as six mares pass through under it, carrying three other stallions behind them. The title, Prey Turned Predator, hangs above the image with a smaller line under it reading, Sonata's strikes back to save his fellow males. *~Special dual camera view package available for five bits extra.~*

"~How do you like it? The split screen camera views have been a hit so far and since half of what you did fell under the second day's events many ponies were forced to preorder both the DVDs of day one and day two to avoid not knowing just the beginning and not the end, vise versa applying."

"I don't remember authorizing this though."

"You authorized it when you let us put that camera on you.~"

"Fine, but I don't see how you these things out so quickly.

"~Magic is a great thing my friend. We had a painter start as soon as you finished and had enough copies made to send out within an hour. This event is quite the cash cow if you're quick on the draw.~" The disembodied voice says and I sigh.

"And yet I only get a fifty bit raise."

"If it had been the last day you would've gotten much more, but since there's still a high chance of failure we can't afford to give you more. Besides, contestants who succeed always get a bonus if they make it out with their 'honor'.~"

"Then expect to pay up in a week."

"I look forward to it~." I hear the familiar 'clicking' sound.

"I better have my own poster by the end of this." Uefi mumbles.

"Same here." Thunderback and Mac agree simultaneously as I start to take down the poster, which is about half my approximate two meter height. "What're you doing that for?" They continue the trend of voice overlapping.

"It's the first time I've been on a poster. Not to mention it'll be a good conversation piece and potentially valuable someday." I defend myself, rolling up the sturdy material, now ingle decreasing its value, but allowing me to slip it into a loop in my belt so that it won't be intrusive.

"Whatever, you're enjoying this way too much."

"You'll know the feeling when you're on a poster, but for now we need a plan." I switch back to a more serious mindset.

"Well, we probably have a few hours lefts until you start leaving a trail again; so for now we need to find a nice out-of-they-way place in town to hide you." Mac says, rubbing his chin in thought.

"We can't use any inns or hotels since those will be the first places they'd check and it has to be somewhere they couldn't see very well from above. I'd suggest a dumpster, but since running is the only option if you get found it wouldn't be a very good idea. Alternatively a stair well could've also been nice, but none of these buildings look big enough for one. So that leaves us with... Not much." Thunderback brainstorms aloud.

"What about that one spell you were working on before? Did you ever get it to work?" Uefi chimes in; referencing a spell I had been working on before we left.

"No, I can't use it for more than about fifteen minutes, tops. Besides, it's full of faults. For now I'll stay here, but you all go out and look around for a bit. I need to catch up on a little sleep." I plop down in the dirt of the alley with my back against the wall.

"Well it was worth a shot. I guess you can get some sleep though. After all you are the one who got us out of there last night. We'll meet in a few hours to compare hiding spots." Uefi uncharacteristically takes charge and I watch them exit the alley before drifting into sleep.

~\o/~

   I munch on what is almost last of our supply of stale bread roles as we sit, huddled in an alleyway. The narrow alleyway seemed lie the best idea five days ago when we decided on it, but ever since Twilight and her group arrived two days ago we've all been stuck here trying to think of a way to get more food or at least move to a better spot until  time runs out tomorrow morning.

   In truth cabin fever started to set in for me when they walked into town being as I'm not allowed to leave the small space behind the dumpster to avoid leaving a trail and I can only count the amount of pebbles per square centimeter so many times.

"This sucks." I groan to my other two companions.

"This is the game though." Mac says solemnly and Uefi nods.

"I wonder when Thunderback will get here though. I'm starting to think that they found him."

"Don't worry; it's his job to gather information without getting found out." Mac reassures Uefi but it doesn't seem to help much.

"Yeah, but all six of them are looking for him. I'm not sure about how long he can avoid their prying eyes." I voice the concern Uefi and I obviously share.

"Let's just put some faith in the crazy flyboy. After all, he's been doing this for-" Mac begins, but the crash of a dark figure interrupts him as a cloud of smoke rising between us.

"We gotta go now!" Thunderback's voice almost cracks in anxiety, quickly dusting off his jacket.

"I told you Mac." Uefi and I groan at the same time.

"Now, now what's the problem Thunder?" Mac tries to calm the frazzled colt.

"They saw me. I tried to keep them from following, but I doubt rubber bullets did very much to them. I knew I should've sprung for the knock out enchantment instead of the zoom enchantment, but how useful is that whenever a regular bullet stops them long enough to get away." He begins to rant before Mac slaps him across the face, springing to his feet rather quickly.

"Calm down. Now come on, we can worry about the details later but we need to move." Mac slaps him again for good measure as Uefi and I get to our feet.

"Mac, you take Thunder and go. Rose and I will try to draw them off. It's the last day so if we split up it should disperse them enough for us to deal with." I direct him and he nods before running off, obviously catching my meaning.

"What the hell man? We're weaker without them and we don't have any backup." Uefi complains and I give him a stern look.

"Uefi, Mac and I decided on this yesterday. If we run away from them there's a higher chance of Applejack going after us since we already know she's not interested in her brother or Thunderback, but if we stay with them she'll follow and he won't be able to do any required fighting. We'll be stronger without each other. He also gave me these." I explain our plan to him, taking out a bag of small metal pins.

"What're those?"

"Magical inhibitors, Mac gave me ten of them for us to split in case one of us gets one of the unicorns on our tail." I take five off the pins out and hand them to him.

"Alright, I'll trust you." He slips the pins into his pocket.

"Glad we understand each other, but we need to move now." I say, a shadow passing over head. "Like right now." I backflip out of the grasp of a cyan mare.

   I hear Dash curse under her breath before dashing off with magic in my step and Uefi flying not too far behind, the months of speed training obviously paying off. We enter the midday crowd and I begin to struggle to slip through the gaps before jumping up onto a magical platform to see Uefi standing at the other end, tapping a hoof in annoyance. Damn pegasus is good with crowds. I think, jumping off of the platform and landing next to him. With the sound of a certain purple pony's voice in my ears, I sprint away from the scene and soon find myself out of the town in the open fields with a blue pegasus about ten meters away ahead of me.

"Shit." I mutter, noticing the orange pony at my left and the purple unicorn at my right, equidistant from me.

"It's no better from behind either." Uefi chuckles nervously and I sneak a peek at the fashionista. At least I know that one has no intent of doing me.

"Uefi, I don't think we can run from this." I bring up my fists and ready my horn for defense.

"Doesn't look like we can." He tries to mimic my stance and stands behind me, facing AJ and Rarity. I probably should've told him about Rarity's general dislike of me.

   Not taking anytime to talk, Dash rushes me, but not before I see Twilight's horn light up slowly. I form a multilayered wall at my right to take care of any on coming spell, but I just take Dash's fists head. Duck left, swing high, block low, block left, step back, swing kick, shit. I coach myself mentally, taking in hit in stride before she grab onto my leg with a fire in her eyes.

"Too slow." She licks the end of the appendage slowly before twisting the leg and flipping me onto my back and I shiver, feeling the thin coat of cold saliva on the tip of my hoof. No, just... No

   I feel a small rupture in my magic and I spring up, glancing to my right to see a rather disgruntled looking Twilight and a large purple net caught up in the set of see-through barriers I put up.

   I find myself smirking again until I feel two cyan arms come from behind and bind my arms at my side. Damnit. I think before charging up my horn and pulling fake red water out of the air and thinning it out into a few small tendrils. Before I can give her time to react, I slip the appendages under her wings, guessing based on her location behind me as to where they are, and I begin to tickle the base of the wings, causing her to gasp and loosen her grip enough for me to break the grip. Good thing pegasus wings are sensitive.

   Before getting any chance to revel in my success, a stray shot of magic impacts my side and extends into a large purple net. I struggle against the binding for a moment before remembering something. Popping a spell, I find myself about half a meter away from the now empty net and I give a quick sigh of relief. Teleportation occasionally seems overpowered.

"Uefi we need to get back on the move!" I call to the pegasus overhead who has been dodging rocks are magical shots for the whole 2-3 minute ordeal.

"You know who I think would like this time of year in Equestria?" He calls back as I dodge more punches and grabs from Dash along with multiple nets from Twilight.

"Who?"

"Austin Powers."

"Rose, as much as I would love to start making puns, I don't think we have time for it. That is unless you want to get shagged, baby." I spare the time to make a single joke.

"So how do you want to do this then?" He lands next to me as I form a tri-layered set of walls around us to keep the mares out for a minute,

"You go left, I go right. If we make it until the next day we'll meet back up in Ponyville with Mac and Thunder." I tell him as the first of the three layers breaks and the muffled voices of mares become clearer.

"Alright I'll trust you. I just hope Dash doesn't go after me, I can't outfly her when it isn't estrus so I definitely don't have a chance now." The second layer cracks open.

"Then we're agreed. We'll meet back in the farm when it's all over." I say as the last layer shatters around us and I shred a small piece of paper and a flood of blinding light springs forth.

~\o/~

Thunderback's escape

   (Also, the next few different POV's do not occur at the same time. They occur chronologically by the order they appear. Example: this part will end just about five minutes before Mac's part begins.)

"Damnit. Why'd it have to be her?" I mutter under my breath, flying as fast as I can through the forest with a pink blur of speed follows not too far behind. "Never should've split up with Mac."

   Rather than continuing to reprimand myself, decide to start doing the three things I'm good at, thinking, shooting and blowing shit up. After slipping a few rubber bullets back into my gun, I flip my back to the earth and am down the magically enhanced sights and fire the faux bullets at the randomly moving pink blur of pony.

   The recoil the gun flows through me and I smile as the cool metal moves in my hands seamlessly, regardless of the fact that every shot either missed or just glanced off of the pink mare.

"Well that was useless." I complain, re-holstering the pistol and slipping out a small coin sized package of mild explosives. "This shouldn't hurt, much."

   Flipping the coin shaped package into the air, I turn back around just in time to dodge a tree branch and click the detonator in my pocket and the sound of a small boom and the feeling a few stray pieces of wood on my back comfort me. That is before a sharp jab at my through causes me to gasp and fly off course into a tree.

"Sorry Thundy'." A bubble voice fills my ringing ears and I curse.

"No fair." I mutter back, rustling my pants leg and taking out the pistol again, aiming it right at the pink beast's midsection.

"Oh come on. You won't shoot me." Pinkie whines a little, tracing her fingers over her T-shirt and I groan. Any other time I'd say yes, but the estrus is not one of those times.

"Don't be so sure." I bluff, sliding a finger onto the trigger.

"Trust me, I know you would." The maniacal mare whispers, closing the distance between us and slipping her thumb over the barrel. "But you're all out of bullets."

"You're right; I am, but explosives are a different story." I mutter as she leans in before flipping a switch on the pistol grip and pulling the trigger.

  I shoot up through the trees as smoke fills the air between us from the weakest explosives I shook out of my pants leg. I sigh in relief before a missile of cotton candy flies out of the canopy and grabs onto me.

"You're not getting away yet Thundy'." She giggles and plants a kiss on my forehead as I flip upside down and close my wings, letting gravity fuel my dive into the earth.

   We impact the earth hard, but I take the worst of it on my back and I just groan in pain before looking over at Pinkie, who seems to of taken the force on her right arm, which is bent at quite an unnatural angle, but thankfully it doesn't seem like the bone broke out of the skin and the screams of her agony fill me ears. This of course giving me a mix of pleasure from my sadism, but also a bit of guilt for hurting the mare so badly.

"Quit crying." I groan, slipping out a syringe of mostly morphine from under my vest. "Always come prepared."

   Jabbing the end of the syringe into her skin, I inject the narcotic into her before taking out some bandages and other materials to stop the mild bleeding and to bind the arm into a proper position. The sound of the bones moving unnaturally under her soft skin causing me to smile despite my conscious desire not to

"There, that should work for now." I tell her, admiring my own handiwork. "I'm not doctor, but you should be fine until we get back." I lift the now calm mare back to hooves.

"Ah' wantaa have ice cream." She giggles and I laugh a little, the stronger of the drugs in the mixture obviously slowing down her brain a bit, but also nullifying the estrus urges for the time being since the last days urges are the weakest.

"We'll get you all the ice cream you want back in Ponyville." I allow her to lean against me as we walk towards the road, not too far from where we are. "I wonder how Mac is doing with Flutters. Probably worse off than me, I told him that tools were better than fists." I say mostly for my own benefit being as Pinkie is mostly just nestling against my side, seemingly oblivious to the world around her as we walk down the road to town and I just smile into the sky. Even if it's mostly drug induced, this slowed down version of her is pretty cute too.

~\o/~

Mac's chase

In hindsight, I probably should've stuck with Thunderback. I think, dodging different grabs and lunges.

"Just. Let. Me. Do. You!" I can hear Fluttershy emphasizing each word as I purposely avoid eye contact.

"I thought you were shy." I laugh a little, trying to least enjoy situation a little.

"I thought you liked mares."

"No need for that kind of talk 'Shy." I reprimand her, giving the opening for her to latch onto my chest.

"Gotcha!" She exclaims her success, pushing me into the earth with unusual strength.

   I manage to break the hold fairly easily but by this time she already pinned my arms down, the strength of estrus hormones aiding her. Not giving her any chance to continue her advances, I use my superior strength to turn over top over her and begin running off. I guess I can't just play around then.

   I ignore her angry yell and run into the forest as fast as my legs can carry me. Grabbing onto a tree, I pull myself around into a turn a slip behind a bush, hopefully unseen by the pink manned pegasus.

   Not but moments later she turns the same corner, before stopping to look around for me as I lean forward.

"Where did he-" She begins before falling forward with a small squeal and I grab the back of her sweater with the hand I didn't use to hit her.

"Ah' didn't think she'd fall that easy." I smile, tossing the now unconscious mare over my shoulder. "I guess Sonata and Rose got the worst of it. It must be quite a bit harder to deal with two mares instead of one." My smile grows at the very quick and clean nature of my knockout, stepping into a road and holding Fluttershy by her long legs.

"Well this is an unexpected surprise." I turn to see Thunderback standing a meter or so away with a giggly PinkiePie leaning on his shoulder.

"Umm, Thunder did you?" I stumble over my words, gesturing to the other earth pony.

"What? No, no. She broke her arm on impact so I gave her a shot to ease the pain. She's just acting like this as a side effect." He assures me as we start to walk down the road together.

"I guess we didn't stray very far from each other then."

"I was running back to you when we crashed. I guess I made it a little closer than I thought." He sighs as the pink mare just keeps giggling. "I'm starting to think half a dose would've been enough."

"I wonder how Sonata and Rose are doing, if these two came after us then that means the other four went after them."

"Well, I think, as long as Rainbow doesn't choose to chase Rose, he'll have a pretty good chance to get away. As for Sonata, I can't be sure. I know he's fair enough when nopony knows where he is, but after he's found I don't know how he'll do."

"Don't worry about him, he'll do fine."

"Confident in him are you?"

"I wouldn't say confident. I'd say I have faith in him."

~\o/~

The pursuit of Uefi

   I try to resort to just flying away being as my body is already covered in bruises, but as soon as my arms come over my head a I feel a rope come around my midsection and bind my wings at me side.

"Crap." I mutter, running into the forest and trying to loosen the damnable thing.

"Not so fast flyboy." I hear Applejack call out as I fall backwards onto my ass.

"Come on; a lasso?" I question, slipping a hand into my pocket as I'm pulled out of the woods and back into the field again.

"Ah' have to do what's necessary." She says as I come within arm's reach of her.

"I guess we have that in common then." I concur, grabbing her leg and she falls down the earth, consciousness having left her body and I smirk.

"What just happened?" I hear Rarity ask, obviously being in a bit more control of her emotions compared to the cereal lying in the  grass.

"Just this little gem." I reveal the small orange piece I removed from my bow before leaving.

"And what exactly does it do?" The white unicorn asks, taking a step back.

"See for yourself." I close the gap on what feels like and instant, slamming a fist into her mid section and she slumps over. "Well that was easy enough. It took ten hits to down a Fluttershy on the first day, hormones must be wearing off."

   I toss Rarity over my shoulder after a good bit of trouble with her white dress, but Applejack's choice of jeans and a simple t-shirt made it much easier to flip her onto my remaining shoulder.

"Well look who we have here." I hear a deep voice call to me as I turn to see Mac with Fluttershy held in the same manner in holding the two I took down and Thunderback who has Pinkie leaning against him who is just laughing manically.

"Hey. What's with Pinkie?" I ask, slowly moving my hand down Applejack's legs and away from her ass. Gotta be careful when carrying the man's sister.

"Don't mention it." Thunderback complains obviously having been given enough shit over it.

"Point taken."

"So have you seen Sonata?" Mac asks and I shake my head.

"Not since we split up. Dash and Twilight went after him so I'm doubting whether or not he's still among the virgins."

~\o/~

The tempo of hastened Sonata

   I continue to run as fast as possible through the trees with my horn and body aching from exertion and blood trickling down my left arm from a few hard blows, forming a small outline around the unseen chitin plating. I lost Dash and Twi' a few turns ago, but with the trail I'm leaking I don't think it'll last long. I guess now is a good a time as any though.

   I pull out the last slip of paper in my pocket and the collections of lines on it begin to glow a mix of my magical hues. Ok; now that that's taken care of... I begin to form a plan, creating a small tear in the material. Now to make a fake trail... I tie the paper to a rock with a piece of string before throwing it as hard as I can, up through the canopy with my magic. I better make sure I get a good shot of this.

   I bring my hand up in front of my face, and begin to charge the only spell I made that I didn't show Twilight. After filling the seal the image my hand begins to get blown away as if it were smoke starting at the fingertips until the entire appendage seems to have been blown away into the wind. I look down and continue the process quickly until my entire body fades from vision along with my clothes and accessories.

   While the invisibility spell does work I'm already aware of the problems in possesses. It doesn't really matter what, but if something hits me the spell will be 'peeled' away on contact, if I stand too close to something as it moves the movement of the air will actually cause the spell to be blown away in the area, if the lighting in the area isn't consistent I'll begin to fade back into visibility, any spell affecting vision will see past it and it drains magic pretty badly, but what do you expect from a spell I worked on by myself. In truth I'm surprised the thing even works, although it did help on the first day to stalk them back to their camp.

   I can hear Dash and Twilight from not too far away and I slip back behind a tree to avoid the chance of them breaking the spell. Not but a moment or two later both the cyan pegasus and the purple unicorn run in right where I had been standing and I keep my head poking out from the tree to observe them.

"He must've gone up to try to trick us." Twilight says, not even taking a moment to consult with Dash before lunging through the canopy with a magical burst.

Seems like that worked well. I congratulate myself before turning to run away.

"Not so fast Sonata." Dash says and I feel a rock graze my left cheek as the thin layer of the spell is torn away.

"How'd you know?" I ask, trying to seem nonchalant and letting the spell flow off of my body.

"I had Scoots' follow you around the week before the estrus to get some information. She mentioned that spell and the faults and there's also a gap in the trail right here." She points in the area to her right.

"So now what? I run off again and you chase me down within five minutes, we have another ten minute standoff before repeating the cycle another two or three times before I'm exhausted and you have your way with me." I simply state the reality of the situation.

"That or you can just give in. Face it, my speed is too much for you." She smirks and I sign in defeat.

"True; even on the last day you're fast enough to overtake me."

"Then you'll let me win now." Her smirk changes to be a bit more 'suggestive', biting her lip slightly and glinting her eyes.

"I submit, but on this condition." I begin, closing the gap between us and slipping an arm behind her back and pulling her close.

"Yes?" She gasps a little as her body rubs against my own.

"Just take it slow." I whisper to her, taking my other hand and running it through her dazzling mane.

"Ok." She returns in the same volume.

"And Dash?"

"Yes?" Our eyes meet.

"Sorry, baby!" I turn sinister and slam my head into her own as hard as I can and her body goes limp in my grip. "I hope that wasn't too hard..." I groan, putting a few fingers up to her supple neck to feel for a pulse. "Nah, she's alive."

   I sweep her off of her unconscious hooves and turn back towards where I know the road is. About an hour later I find myself on the road with ponyville looming not too far off in the sunset of the horizon. I guess I survived the estrus then. I think before continuing on, holding the mare in my arms. I wonder where I should drop her off for the day though. I don't think Granny would object to letting her stay the night at their place I guess. I contemplate before setting a mental course to the apple farm.

~\o/~

"About time you got here." I here Mac call out from the barn and I turn in the illumination of my horn to face him.

"Glad to see you made it bro." Uefi follows the greeting, peeking his head out from the barn door.

"Now Mac I understand, but how did your sorry ass keep from getting shagged?" I joke, entering the barn, illuminated by lanterns.

"Very funny; you can set Dash in the hay pile over there with the rest of them." Uefi sarcastically laughs, pointing at a pile of hay with the other four mares on it in a pile, save for Pinkie who sits separately with a proper cast on her arm.

"I guess that means you all made it then." I hear a semi-familiar voice say as I drop the blue mare onto the pile softly.

"Never thought I'd meet you in person." I say, turning to the stallion I only heard through my camera before.

"Well it is my job to bring you your pay and collect your cameras." A bring red unicorn pony in a black suit says from his seat on a wooden box with four small coin purses next to him.

"And now that you're here we can finally get on with it." Thunderback emerges from one of the darker corners.

"Ok. I'll begin with the smallest earner." The unnamed pony begins. "A mister Big Macintosh receives the base reward of one hundred bits with a total 75 bit bonus for completing the competition and putting on a fair show." He tosses Mac the small sack and pulls the small device out of his skull with some magic.

"Thank you." Mac pockets the bits respectfully.

"And to a Thunderback goes the total amount of 225 bits and for a Redolent Rose 245 bits." He continues, tossing bags of bits and ripping camera from their faces.

"Danke." Uefi thanks him and Thunderback just nods before leaving through the barn door.

"And how much for me?" My smirk grows wider.

"And Still Sonata for an exemplary performance will be receiving 300 bits and the original painting of the poster to be delivered to his home." He tosses me the largest bag of bits and removing my camera rather easily.

"Thank you very much." I smile.

"Well then stallions; allow me to be the first to congratulate you on surfing the estrus." He stands up and bows.

"Yeah, but I feel like I forgot something..."

~\o/~

Twilight's night hike

"Damn Sonata tricking me like that and damn Dash running off without me." I mutter under my breath as I walk through the forest, trying to find the road in the darkness.

Life Keeps Moving On. 36

   I crack open my eyelids and groan at the sunlight for all to hear as my headache pounds against my skull with no remorse. I shouldn't have listened to Mac. Mac in his infinite and omnipotent wisdom decided a victory drink was in order after the announcer, who later let his name, Rating Rat, slip, left.

   Then he decided to have a drinking contest would be even better. Uefi stopped after a bottle and Mac said something about him being pretty good for a pegasus. Mac and I went on for another two bottles each before he gave in. From there we went on to make a hammock on top of the barn that I fell asleep in; all of this leading to my hangover and my position on the roof.

   Stifling a grunt of agony, I try to pick myself up out of the potato sack turned hammock before getting caught-up in the fabric.

"Ah shit." I mutter as I begin to slide down the right side of the tin roof as magic fails me.

   I hit the gutter hard before being propelled off of the roof and into the air. Just as I'm realizing the weight of my situation, I feel a set of soft arms grab me in mid-air and I sigh.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." I hear a bubbly voice respond.

"Fell off the right side. Looks like you win this one Ditzy." Uefi's voice breaks apart some of the cobwebs in my skull.

"What?" I scratch my head as the gray pegasus sets me down.

   I wipe my eyes and see Mac and Uefi toss the mail-mare two small sacs of bits and she stuffs them into her cargo shorts.

"We had a bet on which side of the roof you'd fall down. Mac and I thought you'd fall down the left side and she said the right side." Uefi informs me.

"So you had a bet on whether or not I'd fall and hurt myself?"

"In our defense it was her idea." Mac points fingers at Ditzy.

"In her defense you shouldn't have went along with it." I rub my still aching horn.

"I'd like of stay, but I'm a little behind on my deliveries." The cross-eyed mare salutes and grabs her brown courier bag.

"See ya Ditzy." Uefi waves after her as she flies off.

"Anypony else feel a little weird talking normally with mares when we were running away from them for the last week?"

"I might feel that way about the group that was chasing us, but as far as the other goes, I don't mind. I'm little curious to see how it is in town though." Uefi answers me.

"Did they leave already?"

"Applejack is taking a shower in the house and she avoided eye contact with me at breakfast, but the rest left afterwards." He tosses me my second baggie of manticore tail and Mac gets the same uneasy look he always gets when I eat the stuff.

"I would've thought you'd gotten used to it by now." I speak through a half-mouthful of it before pocketing the bag.

"I have, it's just a little weird still..." He avoids eye contact with me.

"You know I didn't kill it in cold blood if that helps at all."

"It just feels wrong still. It's nothing against you, it's just... Unusual."

"Whatever." I decide not to make a big deal of it and look to Uefi. "Ready to head home? Berry should be back by now."

"I guess. Although I'm not thrilled of go back to stealing."

"You're not the one who got shot at last time." I hold up my coattail, referencing the holes in it.

"Fair enough." He groans as I close the gap between us.

"Then let's go."

~\o/~

   After a walk through a town filled of ponies mostly staring at each other awkwardly, and giving out a few autographs on the side to a few stray fans, all mares, but only some of them in my age group, we make it back to the door to our subterranean home.

"You head on in. I need to take care of something first." I tell Uefi and he nods, unlocking the padlock on the door and hopping down the rabbit hole.

   I look around in the trees for a moment I come across what I was looking for. I thought I saw something earlier. I think before tossing a rock at the obscured being with my magic.

"Come on out Scoots'." I call through the forest at the spying filly.

"I didn't think you'd notice me." I hear her grumble as she comes out from behind the larger oak, wearing full black clothing.

"I didn't think you'd still be spying on me." I grumble as the small pony crosses the brambles.

"I wasn't told to stop and Berry said it was alright." She retorts.

"So Berry knew about this, huh?"

"Not until she caught me waiting this morning."

"Why were you watching me anyway?" I ask, knowing the reason full-well.

"Because Dash told me to and its fun."

"It's fun?"

"Yeah, but it was a little scary after you noticed me." She chirps.

"A filly after my own heart." I sigh.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." I wave her off. "You can stop spying know though. Dash only needed you to for the estrus, but it's over so it should be fine if you stopped."

"Well ok then." She says, downtrodden.

"Of course if you ever want a friend to come along while you spy, I wouldn't object to it every now and again." I smile, trying to cheer her up.

"Ok then." She beams before jogging off.

"Then again, the last thing the world needs is another thief." I chastise myself for partially approving of her spying before locking the door behind me hopping down into the main room.

"Nice to see you again, Sonata." Berry welcomes me and I turn to face the magenta mare.

"It's been awhile. How was the coup d'état?" I ask her, noticing the small medal pinned to her yellow shirt.

"Pretty good actually. The king was a little annoying to get to, but I got this medal." She says, flicking the small piece of silver.

"Glad to hear it was successful." I smile.

"Glad to see you got another ring." She takes a sip of the wine held in her hand.

"Yeah, I guess I'm allowed to have enchantments now."

"I guess so. How was the estrus for you?" She diverts from the subject.

"We survived." Uefi chimes in from the couch, reaffixing the gem to the end of his bow.

"Looks like one of you did a little more than survive." She points at the wall to the original copy of my poster.

"I had to do what was necessary." I shrug and take off my coat.

"I'm still wondering why you lot got caught."

"We let our guard down." Uefi and I respond simultaneously.

"Well, regardless of that, I need to talk with you two about a job."

"Oh joy." Uefi groans.

"Quite." She finishes her glass. "Before I begin, I will tell you that it will require you to go out of town again, but I'll take care of the expense. You'll be heading into Dodge Junction, a town not too much unlike Cannonrim, but it's a larger town, characterized by its cherry ranch. You'll be taking a train there friday night, stealing a few select items and returning Saturday morning. You will not talk to anypony, and you will not be seen, lest you forfeit your profit. You'll get there around 6p.m. to remain timely you'll want to start moving through the ranch as soon as possible. There won't be a problem as far as guards go, but, unless you wait and risk missing your train, you'll have to move through the house while they're still awake."

"So will I need to even go along on this one?" Uefi asks, seeing that his place as a spotter would be useless.

"Yes. For what's required we'll probably need both of you working at the same time. It'll take a bit of time to get the safe picked open so I'd like it if he had somepony to watch his back while he gets it open."

"What if I found the key?" I ask her, remembering my last time picking a safe.

"Cherry Jubilee, the ranch owner, keeps the key on her person at all times so you'd have to pickpocket the key and then slip it back in her pocket before she notices. You can try if you want, but I'd opt for just picking the lock and leaving it at that."

"Point taken; where will the safe be?"

"In her office on the first floor, I don't know where it is exactly though. Once you get it open I want you to take out four of the ten bags of bits along with three out of the seven golden bars." She instructs but I cock a brow.

"Why not take all of it?"

"We're sending a message Sonata. Our client is a private protection agency that have been trying to get a contract for the last two months. They want us to take only part of the wealth to make sure they don't go under and, for the same reason, it means repeat business later."

"Good thinking." Uefi comments and she smiles.

"You don't get far in this business without good planning. Also Sonata, I need you to run back into town and grab some chicken I ordered. I'd ask Rosey here to do it, but he doesn't know where the restaurant is."

"Alright, just let me go take a shower first." I smell the cider in my breath. Some toothpaste wouldn't hurt either...

"Fine by me, just make sure you get it in time for dinner."

"Fair enough." I grumble, tossing my coat over my shoulder and walking back to my room.

~\o/~

   I finish combing my hair back with my pocket comb just as I enter town, opting to wear my usual clothes and leave my mane in the ponytail.

"Excuse me?" I hear a cute female voice call and I smile with a sigh. If I had a bit for each fan-girl who did that today.

"Yes?" I say, opening my eyes before sending them wide and wishing I had ignored the voice.

   A bright yellow mare stands across from me with shoulder length, curled hair and a smile on her face. A pretty white sundress runs down her form with small yellow flowers accenting the lower right corner. Her semi-opaque yellow eyes stare just to my right with a false knowing expression.

   Next to her stands an older looking dark green stallion wearing a jet-black tuxedo who just looks at me and sighs as if he expected this.

"Five centimeters to the right, miss." He speaks up.

"Oh, sorry." She stumbles over the words realigning her eyes with my face. This is the last possible thing I needed to happen. I should've known wearing my thief clothes for the vent would be a bad idea.

"Miss, perhaps you should let me take the lead in this?" He suggests, seemingly used to this situation. At lease it doesn't seem like they're here about the heist.

"That'd probably be best, you know as well as I do that I don't have mind for this stuff." She says, taking a step back and her butler fills in the position.

"Sorry if that was a little awkward for you." He extends his hand.

"No it's fine. I'm mostly wondering why you're talking to me though." I shake his hand, returning to my smile.

"We're here on a bit of business. You see, milady, my master and the young master watched your performance in the event and Mr.Purse would like to extend you a job offer for the next few weeks." I cock a brow.

"Not to be sound offensive, but how did she watch my performance?" I ask and he breaks demeanor to laugh.

"They described the event to her as it proceeded, this including how you look. I haven't a memory for these things and I haven't personally seen the tapes yet. Although I did see a few posters remaining as I walked through town. So we got here about an hour ago and I described the ponies that came by until you matched the description she had of you." He explains after taking a moment to calm down.

"Oh... You'll have to excuse how I acted before. I've had some problems with giving autographs today for some of the mares and I'm tired of it to be honest." I apologize and his eyes widen in embarrassment and I notice the large role of paper in his grasp. "Just give it here." I groan, taking the poster.

"Sorry about this."

"No problem, no problem. At least she's my age, I had a 34 year old ask for one and run off like a school girl. Didn't even stay long enough to hand me the poster." I wave him off, sighing the bottom left corner in stylized cursive as I did with the others.

"That must've been something." He chuckles as I hand it back to him.

"Yes, well I remember you mentioned some business..." I lead him on, the yellow pegasus standing behind him and humming a tune.

"Ah yes. Mr.Purse would like to offer you a job for the next two weeks as a day time guard while he and the Mrs do some business in Manehattan. Normally he wouldn't be worried, but in light of the little skirmish a few months ago he'd like to have a few extras on hand. He decided to offer you a position to work with me during the day."

"Well, while I appreciate the offer, I would need to run it by my employer first."

"I understand, I understand. Just talk it over with him, or her, and bring this by the mansion tomorrow." He hands me a small piece of yellow paper. "They'll let you through the gate and bring you to meet Mr.Purse and you can talk it over with him."

"I'll make sure to come by with and answer then." I tell him, taking the paper.

"Thank you, sir."

"One thing, what's your name?" I ask, slightly annoyed that he didn't introduce himself.

"Oh yes, where are my manners. You can just call me Chilled' and milady her is..." He moves out of the way to reveal the mare, who still hums her tune in ignorance. "20 degrees right and one step forward." He instructs like before and she follows it perfectly, arriving just outside of my personal space.

"I'm Golden Lily. I hope you can come by and work for us." She smiles cutely and I shake her outstretched hand with an unseen smile. By a fair enough margin, the most beautiful mare I've met.

"Still Sonata, and the feeling is mutual." I assure her, retracting my hand.

"Well we better be off then. I'll expect to see you tomorrow then?" Chilled chimes back in and hands Lily her cane.

"I'll try to come by sometime around midday probably."

"I look forward to it then." He calls back as they walk off.

All things considered, that went much better than expected. I think, watching a golden tail swishing back and forth away from me. Come on, back to work Sonata; no time for sightseeing.

~\o/~

   I slip into my home, or more rather Berry's home at this point, and set the bag of chicken down on the counter next to her.

"Thank you Sonata." She says in the same sing-song tone she usually has when cooking.

"No problem, although I am wondering when you'll be teaching me to cook." I joke; remembering the last few months of eating my food which compared to Berry's seems to be dog-food.

"I'll get around to it sometime." She answers just as she did before she left as I slip the yellow paper from my pocket. "What's that?"

"It's a pass to get into Coin Purse's mansion tomorrow. His butler and Daughter caught me on my way into town and it turns out they saw my performance in the estrus."

"You'd be hard pressed to find a pony around here who hasn't." She mumbles, tossing the now seasoned chicken breast into the wok.

"Well, it turns out that, because of what I did, he's become a little impressed with me. His wife and him are going to Manehattan on business and want to hire a few extra guards because of the robbery you had Uefi and I commit. He wants to sign me on as a daytime guard for the next two weeks." I explain to her, pocketing the invitation.

"Are you going to take the job then?" She doesn't miss a beat.

"How can I? I have the job this weekend and who knows about next week. Not to mention the fact that I'm the one who caused this. I'm truly surprised you even asked." I scoff at the obviously tipsy mare as she stumbles around the wok, another glass of wine poured and in her hand.

"Like I said, we're a family here. If my 'wonderful' son wants to get a part-time job, I don't mind at all. I won't have you doing daytime heists for awhile, so as long as you're just working days you can work if you want to. And what you did last year was just business. In my opinion it'd do you some good to have your days occupied with something you like, because I know the apple orchard isn't a place you like working." She sounds so much like a mother I nearly forget myself... Nearly.

"So you don't care at all?" I ask as Uefi comes in from his room.

"Not really. Go for it is what I say."

"Alright then, I'm taking the job." I smile and she turns back with the same look.

"Glad to see you're realizing I'm not a terrible pony."

"Umm... What's going on?" Uefi asks in a bewildered manner.

"Nothing, Rose petals, nothing at all." She smirks with the new nickname taking hold.

~\o/~

   I walk up to the faux gold gates to the mansion, but this time without the will of a thief in my heart. I spot a small intercom on one side and walk over to it before clocking the small button on it.

"Hello?" I ask through the static, taking a hand off of the button.

"State your business."

"I'm Still Sonata. I'm here about a job as a temporary guard for the next few weeks. I have this invitation if that helps." I explain and slip the paper through the slot.

"Ah yes, that colt from the heat cycle. Come on in." The voice lightens up a little as the gates slowly open.

   I walk through the gateway and up the cobble path to the oversized house, the breeze of the day accompanying me with the occasion leaf blowing past. I open the rather large front door and walk into the foyer after walking up a few stairs to the entrance. I choose to simply ignore the occasional glare from the guards.

"I'll be taking you to me Mr.Purse now, sir." A middle aged butler greets me and I follow him towards the library.

   I enter the library and the servant closes the door, leaving me in the large room with a rather imposing looking blue unicorn, wearing a white dress shirt tucked inside of his dark grey pants, who sits in a chair near the fireplace.

"You must be Sonata?" He calls and I find myself eerily calmed by his voice.

"And you must be Coin Purse." I return the pleasantry and take a sear across from him.

"Nice outfit."

"Same to you." We both smirk and I can already tell that I'll like this man. Although I do wish this weird post-theft nostalgia would subside. "So you wanted to hire me for the next few weeks?"

"Yes. I'm still a little on edge from the theft a few months ago and I've been trying to up my security. I saw you and an idea occurred to me; you seem to be good at the whole sneaking business and you seem to have some combat skill."

"I appreciate the complement, but how does an affinity for stealth matter?"

"It won't to be honest, but I think having somepony on hand who knows how to hide might be able to understand the minds of these ponies a bit more."

"You really believe that you'll have another thief problem so soon?" I barely contain my laughter at his paranoia.

"Not so soon, but of know what happened the last time I dropped my guard."

"Fair enough, but what will my job be here?" I ask as he takes a shot of whiskey.

"Well that's up to you, but I'd like to have you work with Chilled. He's the personal guard to my daughter, but I'm a little worried about him having too much to do at times. I don't doubt his ability with the gun, but he's a bit old too be doing all of this alone. Not to mention my daughter has been requesting a younger attendant to work with him. Something about needing a more relatable guard."

"I'm surprised you'd trust me to do that immediately." I raise a brow, wondering just why he'd trust a relative stranger with his daughter's safety.

"Normally I wouldn't, but I've heard a thing or two about you. You got into a fight with three pegasi because one of them threw a punch at a mare you were repaying a debt to, continuing until you passed out from exhaustion. You also feel a sense of loyalty to those you work with, like when you helped your friends in the estrus. Your muscle mass is impressive for a unicorn and you achieved a fourth ring over the last month. I admire somepony with those aspects of loyalty."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere." I refrain from blushing.

"Yes, well, based on what I know about you, I thought it would be reasonable for you to take the task." He pours another shot.

"I think I can take that task. Your daughter seemed quite enjoyable when I met her yesterday. Although I'll only be working during the day correct?" I ask.

"Yes, I trust you, but not enough to be a private night guard, especially for my daughter." He glares daggers at me that seem to say 'don't lay a finger on her'.

"Don't worry about anything like that. I was asking because I work a night job already, not because I had dirty thoughts about your daughter." I defend myself and his eyes soften.

"So now my daughter isn't beautiful? Is that it?" He jokes as his hard demeanor does a 180.

"I didn't say that, in honesty she's probably one of the prettiest mares I've seen since moving here."

"See, now you're fawning after her!" He rises from his seat.

"For a colt of my age to not notice her beauty would be a stupid mistake. You should take it as a compliment!" I follow his game and raise up to face him, our equal heights putting us face to face.

"Then I'm glad to see we understand each other." He smiles and holds out a hand, the charade being broken in an instant.

"Same here." I shake.

"Well, I think Chilled and Lily should be in the foyer by now to give you a tour of the grounds. You can go on ahead, my wife and I will be leaving tomorrow, but you may see us from time to time today." He pulls pack from the handshake and I nod before going off back to the lobby.

   I enter the sunlit room to see Chilled standing in the center, wearing something similar to Coin Purse, along with Lily who has switched to a pink sundress with the same flowery ascents. Next to her however, I notice a young unicorn who looks almost like a miniature Coin Purse, save for his darker coat, who eyes me cautiously.

After whispering something to Lily, Chilled turns back and smiles, "Glad to see you decided to take the job." Lily turns from the staircase to face me.

"He made an offer I didn't want to refuse." I answer simply.

"How much is he paying you?" Chilled asks and I stop in my tracks and curse.

"I knew I was forgetting something." I sigh. He's rich; he couldn't be too stingy... Could he?

"Now I'm starting to think I should've found a better candidate." He groans as I finish closing the gap in distance.

"I was just so excited by the opportunity to be around such pleasant ponies that I forgot to ask." I say sarcastically before looking down at the blue unicorn and changing my demeanor. "And who are you?"

"This is young master Bag, Ms. Lily's younger brother. He wanted to meet you for himself." Chilled responds for the mute colt.

"He's just a little paranoid over having a new guard around me." Lily sighs as I just look at the unwavering unicorn.

"Does he not like me?" I ask the sociable ponies in the room.

"No, I just don't trust you." He speaks up.

"So you do speak; but why don't you trust me?"

"I don't trust you with protecting my sister. Dad said he enjoyed watching in the estrus competition, but never anything about hiring you to me."

"He's in that phase where he's protective of me..." The blond mare says.

"And why don't you trust me with your sister?"

"You don't have any background in this line of work, you're too sneaky to just be an average unicorn, you're generally under qualified and you're probably just taking this job to brag to your friends." He lists off and I decide to just be civil with him. At least his heart is in the right place.

"First off, I was very good at hide-and-seek as a foal and it carried over into my magic style. Second, I'm a gentlecolt and would never let anything bad happen to your sister. Finally, who am I going to brag to? My brother, who has apples in his head everyday now or Macintosh, the pony who literally has apples in his head everyday; I could get a job at a Marey-Queen and still brag to them." I defend myself, but in a neutral manner after all this is the son of my employer.

(Mid-way note: I loled so f**king hard when I wrote down 'Marey Queen'.)

"Well you're still not qualified to be a guard here. Maybe a trashcolt but not a guard."

"We'll let time be the judge of that, Silvy." Lily smiles again, moving her hand around in the area near 'Silvy' until she manages to find his head.

"But sis-" he grounds before getting cut off.

"And if he isn't suited to guard me then at the very least he looks intimidating, I think, and he can just get caught in the crossfire." She jokes and I'm happy she took over the conversation.

"I guess he can't hurt too much if Chilled is watching him..." The small unicorn complies, stretching out a hand to me.

"I'll do my best." I assure him and shake.

"Don't think this means I like having you here. You were fun to watch in the game, but that doesn't mean you're good enough for us." He hastily retracts.

"I'll keep that in mind." I assure him before he walks off towards the library, probably to give his dad shit over this. "Is he always like that?" I whisper to Chilled.

"Only about his family. He tends to like new ponies otherwise." Chilled replies as we take advantage of Lily's lack of understanding her surroundings.

"Also, should I be calling Lily and 'Silvy' 'Ms, Mr, young master or milady'?" I ask, hoping I didn't break any formality.

"Since we're Lily's personal guards, though technically I'm a butler, when we're not in the company of others it's fine to call them by name, but around other guards or ponies in general it'd be wise to just call her Ms. Lily or milady." He instructs me before turning back to Lily. "Are we ready to begin the tour then?"

"If you are, then I am." She says in what seems to be her usual bubbly tone before reaching out and grabbing Chilled's hand so that he can guide her.

~\o/~

   The tour passed uneventfully and afterwards I had to ask Chilled', who had then revealed his whole name to be Chilled Ice, about what hours I was working with him, which were decided to be 8a.m. to about 5p.m. give or take extra time if needed.

   The only real factors he could tell me was that, A. Lily enjoys lunch at the local Italian restaurant two-three times a week and B. the days would probably consist of lounging around due to her relaxed personality.

   After having bid a quick farewell to Lily, Chilled and her father, I make my way back home by the light of the moon, but I can't help but feel I got a bit too lucky there. I'm surprised I didn't get shot, then again I guess none of them got a good look at me last time I was there.

"So how'd your interview go Sonata?" Uefi asks me as I step off of the ladder.

"I got the job so it went well all things considered. How did asking Mac for a full time position work out?"

"He was a little hesitant, but with the gathering season looming ahead he did admit that it would be nice to have an extra set of hands around. I guess you could say I'm still on a trial run, though." He admits, running a hand through his mane nervously.

"You did tell him about Saturday though, right?"

"Of course. He just said he understands if I have to leave early for it."

"How of you feel about going back on a job?" I ask, after all it has been a few months and in that time I'm the only one of us who kept up on it. Not that I actually stole anything, I would just slip inside and slip back out without waking anypony.

"It'll be a little different being on the inside, but I think I can handle it."

"Well alright then. One thing though..." I lead on.

"What?"

"Do you kinda feel like we got downgraded? From a mansion to a cherry farm; not that I'm complaining. It just doesn't feel right..." I voice my concern.

"Just don't think about it. Maybe Berry is trying to ease us back into the feel of it."

"Yeah... Maybe." I scratch the back of my head. It still doesn't feel right though...

Moving Through The Shadows In A House Of Cherries. 37

   Uefi and I sit lazily in the back can of the train as we barrel down the tracks in the dark to Dodge Junction. Uefi decided to take his entire outfit, but this time I decided to leave my long coat since it tends to drag behind me too much. I don't even want to remember the times that it got caught in windows or doorways.

   Uefi left his bow, but didn't refrain from taking his knockout gem and a cheap pair of eyeglasses he duct-taped his night vision gem to. I opted to bring my wraps along in hopes that the thieving activities would induce another confrontation with my 'spirits' as I decided to call them.

   Chaos and Deviant Point didn't do anything the last time I tried them and every other attempt at seeing them again failed. I did, however, have Twi' give them a look-over and, after a very long, very boring argument to convince her not to cut my hands off to examine the bonds between them and the fabric, she gave me an answer.

   The crystalline structure in them, while she couldn't identify it, seems to have a small portion of magic; some of it mine, coursing though it that seems to be some sort of enchantment she couldn't make sense of.

   My week working for Coin Purse was much less exciting than I had hoped. Ice kept me doing smaller jobs that never involved Lily or even protecting her; something about how he wanted me to work my way up to it.

   However, as the train comes to a stop, all of these thoughts I push aside to focus on the job and stand up.

"Ready to go Uefi?" I ask my pseudo-brother.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He groans as I slap him across the back and in a split second of teleportation we find ourselves in the alley next to the train station. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

"Trust me, my teleportation isn't the smoothest thing you'll find, but I've had some rough ones." I tell him, sniffing up some blood from my nose. The disadvantages of using regular teleportation instead of escape teleportation.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with." He says, walking on ahead towards where the orchard is.

"You almost sound like you're not enjoying this." I follow along.

"It's not that I'm not enjoying the idea of stealing something again. It's that I'm not enjoying that I enjoy it. Doesn't it ever get to you; taking something that some other person worked so hard to get?" He turns to me and I can see the depression on his face.

"It does, but I try not to think about it. Everypony has to get by somehow Uefi; we just happen to be part of the group that has to steal to get by." I try to console him the same way Berry had consoled me.

"Still though, it just doesn't feel right to enjoy it." Sighing, he turns back ahead.

"I just don't question it." I mutter and we continue to pass from alley to alley until we reach the orchard at the end of town, the moonlight giving us needed illumination. "Follow me."

   I take the lead and begin to weave my way through the trees near the path as Uefi follows in suit. At least a half hour passes on before we finally reach the medium sized, two story house with a few windows still illuminated inside.

"How do you want to get in?" Uefi asks as I run through my options, which only amount to the front door, back door and windows.

"Let's to around and see if there's a back door. If there isn't we'll use a window." I direct him as I slip along the edge of the cherry trees, trying to crush as few cherries as possible, lest I leave a trail.

   I keep my eyes firmly on the house as we sidestep; freezing solid as soon as I even think I see movement. After fifteen minutes of stop and go we reach the back of the area behind the house before I twist back to Uefi.

"I'm going to go see if I can't get that door open. I need you to wait here until then." I direct, pointing at the dimly lit doorway.

"Got it."

   I make a quick check across all of the windows and, with a small bit of effort; I roll over to the side of the home and stick to the outer wall like a mosquito on a windshield. I hold a hand out and make a thumbs-up with it before turning in down and then back again while looking at Uefi.

   He gives me a thumbs up and I sigh in relief. We should've brought our comms. I peel my frame off of the wooden siding and get as low as I can in a crouch to keep under any windows in my way.

   Doing what I can to keep a silent step and a serene focus, I manage to make it to the screen door without detection. I open the door and pull out the picks from my pocket before getting to work on the tumblers of the wooden door.

   I rake the cylinders until finally, with a satisfying click of the knob turning; I succeed in opening the lock. I hold up a hand to wave the green pegasus over and within a few moments he comes out of a roll next to me.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Not really, but nothing is going to change that." He chuckles and I open the door.

   We slip into the pitch black room and I close the door as silently as possible behind me. I channel a bit of magic and slowly my vision comes back in a shade of green and I turn to see Uefi fumbling with his cheap glasses.

   We seem to be in some sort of a kitchen/dining room combo with a large walnut table in the center with some counters and kitchen appliances across from us. Resisting the subconscious desire to check for fine china or some other high priced dining ware; I nudge Uefi and walk ahead to the next door.

   Cracking it ever so slightly, I see what to most others would be a pitch black hallway leading down to my left to what seems to be a dimly illuminated living room.

   The very notion of dilly dallying being lost on me, I step out into the hallway and immediately thank my lucky stars that a long rug is going down its length. I curse my luck soon after as I realize there aren't any other doorways in this hallway.

"Fuck."

"What the problem?" Uefi whispers back after closing the door.

"There aren't any other doorways. We'll have to go past that room first." I stick a finger out at the changing glow of the room ahead.

"It couldn't be easy, could it?"

"I'd rather deal with stuff like this sooner rather than later." I decide and live to the edge of the glow, dropping the night vision as well.

   I see a rather large flat screen hanging on the wall to my left with a large couch about two meters in front of it. Another couch sits on the left side of the larger one, forming a right angle with both it and the wall and win about a 1/3x1/3 meter gap between it and the long couch.

   I can see the head of a pony at the far end of the couch parallel to the television and I curse again. My only grace is that the only illumination in the room is the TV, which is playing some sort of pony iron chef, but because of the size of the room I'll have to move within the pony's line of sight and, with the changing light of the show; invisibility is out of the question at its current point.

"I'll go first." I whisper back taking a few steps forward until I'm at the edge of the couch and directly under the pony's head.

   Tempting fate, I quickly roll through the light and behind the other couch. I look back to Uefi who is holding himself as still and possible and I turn up to the pony looking at the crack in the shadows.

"Could've sworn I saw something." The feminine voice mutters before turning back to the TV. "What kind of pony would put Seastars in ice cream?"

   I let a silent breath escape before looking back to Uefi who has his thinking look stern about his face. A moment later he smiles as the image of a timer comes across the screen with 44:59 seconds left on it and counting down.

   Putting my knowledge of Berry's TV watching habits to use, I arrive at the same conclusion he did with seconds as the screen fades to black momentarily for commercials and by the time the light is back I have a rather smug looking pegasus at my side, the other pony in the room none the wiser.

   With our night vision reactivated and both of us knowing not to talk until the job is over, I take the lead as we pass by the staircase and into another hallway. Similar to its counterpart, this hallway consists of three doorways, one at the end and one on either side.

   "You take left, I'll take right." I whisper to Uefi as we pass the door on the left and he slides through the doorway. With nary a peep, I come up to the door on the right to find it locked. Promising... I smile.

   Unlike the outside lock, this one only takes me about five seconds. I feel a light tap on my soldier and I almost jump out of my skin before I realize it's Uefi.

"Jesus, man." I mutter.

"Sorry. The other room was just a bathroom."

   I ignore him and open the door and smile at the sight of bookshelves and file cabinets on the walls with a desk straight ahead of me.

"Bingo." I wave Uefi in before closing the door. "Time to work my magic."

   Activating a rather complex spell I made in privacy, I begin to send very noticeable lines of scarlet magic across the room until I can feel a small rejection of the field. While my Shadow's Sonar, as I've taken to calling it, is extremely visible and causes physical recoil about 88% of the time, for something like this it's worth saving the time.

[Full description at chapter end.]

   I take out a bandage from my small storage I keep on hand for these kinds of spells and put it across my face where a rather sizable gash appeared. With the bleeding stopped, I follow my mental waypoint to where the safe is and find myself at a rather small portrait of a solemn cherry tree.

   I slide my fingers into the space behind it I slide them around on the top until I find the clip holing the painting in place. After undoing the clip and taking the painting down to reveal the dark black safe. Shit.

   While I expected a simple lock and key system, some smart little pony decided that the combination lock was a safer route. You're fine; just remember what Berry taught you, most ponies keep the combination within twenty feet of the safe itself. I reassure myself.

   I walk over to the desk and begin to look through various pieces of paper on the surface. Expense reports, profit margins, break even point, supply graphs... No, none of this. I take a quick survey of the books on the shelves but none of them yield any logical result and I dare not begin pulling books off the walls. Shit; where is it?

"Dude, we need to get out of here soon." Uefi reminds me from his position by the door and I sigh.

"We're gonna have to bail for tonight. I can't find the code." I decide after what seems to be thirty minutes of useless searching.

"Berry won't be happy about this."

"She'll be happier with us not in prison." I become the very voice of reason.

"Fine, I'll unlock the door." He says as I pick the painting back up.

   I hang the painting back up before looking down and sighing. Come on, you're better than this. It's just a stupid code! I yell mentally before bring my eyes back up and catching a small sliver on cursive in the lower right hand corner of the picture.

"From humble beginnings. April 12, 1912." I whisper aloud. "Wait up, Uefi. I think I cracked the code." I grin like a bloody madman.

   Vigor renewed, I practically rip the painting off the wall and begin fumbling with the knob. 12,19,12. I coach myself and grab the handle. And behind door number one is... I pull the handle and safe opens up like a rich-man's wallet to buy another suit.

   A small yellow sheen comes off of the golden bars in the safe and I grab the leather pouch I had strapped to my leg. I toss three of the golden bars into the sack, the weight of them surprising me a little but I ignore it. Reaching a little farther back, I grab onto a pair of small brown bags and toss them into the pouch, another pair shortly after.

"Alright I've got it all." I whisper back before something else catches my eye, a rather nice looking silver ring adorned with about 10 deep red gems growing in proportional size while moving into a central, larger gem.

"Ok, I'll go open the door." He turns away and I give into temptation and snatch the ring, slipping it onto my left hand, over the wraps.

   After taking the time to hang the painting again, I move to join Uefi and we slip out the door together, locking it behind us to ensure we leave the smallest trail we can. We move back into the main room and thankfully by this time, surprisingly only 9:30 according to my clock, she's fallen asleep as a Marey Queen [Zing] commercials come across the screen.

  Uefi has no sense of shame however and takes the opportunity to grab her left breast lightly and I grab his collar and literally drag him away anger rising, but it isn't the worst thing I've seen him do to sleeping women on earth, at this point I just accept that it's the way he is, no more trying to roundhouse him into submission like I did back on earth.

   After exiting through the kitchen's back door, I let go of him and he groans in response as we take off into a sprint through the cherry trees towards town.

"Come on man. They were nice."

"I don't want to hear it Uefi. We were on the job and you know it pisses me off." I retort.

"Like you don't think about it with ever mare you look at."

"I'm not a perv like you. I'm a gentleman." I respond as we enter the town again through the alleyways.

"Whatever..." He flips me off.

   Deciding not to make a scene of it, we continue to run through from alley to alley until we end up where I teleported us to begin with.

"Alright. You ready for this?" I ask him, a train pulling into the station behind me.

"Just get it over with." He says and I punch him at 15% power right in the face and magic swirls around us as we appear in the back of the train.

"That," I begin as he falls back into a seat, "was for flipping me the bird."

Moving With An Enhanced Swagger. 38

   I get off of the ladder after Uefi with the bag of loot on my leg making small rustles. I reach down and undo the knot on it before turning around to see Berry sitting up with a bag of potato chips.

"Glad to see things went well." She comments and I toss the sack at her and she promptly catches it.

"Yeah, save for the fact that it was a combination lock and not a key lock." I complain, but Uefi just goes off to his room obviously wanting to get as much sleep as he can for the coming day.

"Well it doesn't seem like that was a problem though."

"It almost was, but I guess it was worth it in the end." I take a seat on the couch and show her the ring I swiped for myself.

"I don't remember that being in the job description."

"Neither did I, but I figured I was at liberty to pick up a thing for myself every now and again."

"I guess you are, but why the ring?"

"I don't know, it was in the safe and it seemed like something I should take."

"Hmm, any chance that you've learned anything over these last months about enchantments?"

"Nothing except for how to charge one." I mumble, only catching what feels like a part of what she means.

"Alright then. You can just hang onto the ring for now, but I'd advice learning a bit more on enchantments so you could take care of the enchantments yourself."

"You're not going to teach me?"

"Do I look like a unicorn?" She remarks and I face palm.

"No."

"Then there's your answer, go to the library or track down Spacial or something."

"You don't know where Spacial is?"

"I usually only know where she is up to 8% of the time. I send her jobs over the phone and that's about it." I raise a brow.

"She's not much of a home body then?"

"No, she just doesn't care for other ponies very much. I guess that's why stealing from them and killing them suits her so well."

"I'm starting to see why you don't like her that much."

"It's not as much I never liked her than it is she never liked me, but that's another story for another time." She waves me off and I decide not to push the subject further.

"I won't pry then." I stand up and start towards my room. "Good night."

~\o/~

   I replace my watch into my vest pocket as I enter the foyer and move towards where the cleaning staff supply room is, intent on grabbing a broom and continuing cleaning duty for the 7th day in a row.

"Not today Sonata." An old fart of a stallion calls me from the staircase and I glance up at him.

"What do you mean Chilled?"

"I need you to come along with me today. Lily wants to go out to eat again and I don't have the necessary funds with me today."

"So you need me to pay?" I narrow my eyes.

"In a word."

"I thought you were rich?"

"Master Purse is, but he sets a daily budget for these things. I already went over that budget twice to pay for her to go out and I can't afford to risk a third day. In all honesty I'm not supposed to let her go there at all while he's gone." He chuckles.

"Well you know, that's just a load of-" I begin but catch myself when Lily enters the room from the direction of the library. "-extremely good news and I would be glad to accompany you for brunch." I laugh nervously. My fellow butler I might tell to fuck off, but considering she's my boss's daughter I think I'll wait for later.

"Glad to see I have your consent." He makes no attempt at a poker face considering the mare is blind.

"I'm glad you offered." I flip him the bird.

"Don't be so happy about it." He chuckles, surprising lacking any glint of irritation.

"Good morning Chilled and Sonata." Lily greets us merrily but turns to us in the incorrect order.

"Inverse your perception my dear." He corrects her.

"Good morning to you as well Lily." I answer back.

"Thank you Sonata." She turns back to Chilled. "So are we leaving now?"

"I guess if you want to. I hope you don't mind if Sonata were to accompany us."

"Not at all. I was wondering where you were the last week." She turns back to me, the way of expressing irritation with her face not being lost by her vision impairment.

"Yes, well my senior here decided I would be better suited for cleaning duty." I jive.

"Really Chilled?" She raises a brow to where she believes the older male to be.

"I felt like he was better suited for that. Besides, he's with us today isn't he?" He defends himself and I'm still not sure what to make of him. Seems to act a lot less strict and her.

"I guess so. I just wish you would've told me." She sighs and extends her cane.

"I guess we're ready to go then?" I ask, still not feeling like justice was done.

"Yes we are."

~\o/~

   We enter a rather expensive looking restaurant and the semi familiar pain in my wallet pounds against me at the same time the smell of herbs and spices does.

"Just how expensive is this place?" I ask Chilled quietly.

"The water is ten bits per glass." He whispers back and I nearly shit a brick.

"Is it imported?" I ask in a half serious manner.

"Yes, it has a zero taste profile as well."

"I thought this was a rural town..." I groan.

"They aren't too fancy though. The water is more of gimmick."

"Thank god." I sign as an all too familiar waitress comes over to seat us. "Dash?"

"Sonata?" The polychromatic pegasus returns with an equal amount of surprise.

"You work here?" I ask, taking the time to appreciate the look of my outfit on her.

"Part time on weekends... What are you doing here?" She returns, looking over Chilled and Lily.

"I got hired as a part time guard until the end of this week by Coin purse. This senile old fart didn't have the money on him today, so I have to pay." I joke a little.

"Oh, well I'll get you seated then." She gets back into a waitress mood and grabs the menus.

"He'll be sitting at a separate booth." Chilled speaks up and Dash nods as I sigh. Still doesn't trust me at all.

   After helping Lily and Chilled into their booth, Dash takes me two booths down the line, smirking now.

"What?"

"I'm surprised the rumors that you got a job because of your estrus performance are true."

"It's been nothing but cleaning duty for the last week. That aged flatulence over there doesn't like me too much I think. Thankfully it's only until week's end." I explain.

"I'll be back in a minute. It probably not a good idea to keep them waiting." She manages to say through a small chuckle before running over to the other table.

At least I'm not having to work with somepony I know nothing about. I think checking my dough quickly; my wallet with 250 bits worth of bills and a few lose coins. I take a quick look through of the menu and find that Chilled was only half joking, the cheapest appetizer or dessert being a solid 30 bits and cheapest entrée being 45. So if they go for a full course meal I'll at least have a 205 bit bill and a maximum bill of 275, taxes excluded... Fuck. I'm starting to understand why Purse doesn't want her eating here too much.

"Sorry about that, apparently they were already ready to order." Dash apologizes and pulls out a notepad. "So what will you have?"

"Wait a second; what did they order, since I'm paying for it?"

"I'll skip the names and just give you the total then, 247.34 bits." She reads off and I sigh.

"After taxes I hope?"

"After taxes."

"Thank god. I won't be having anything then. Something tells me I don't want to get any debt." I tell her and she nods.

"Sad, I was going to offer you the meat based menu." She says, pocketing the note pad.

"Meat based menu; a place like this serves meat?" I raise a brow; semi-certain she's yanking my chain.

"Every now and then a Griffon or a Diamond Dog comes through so Whiskey keeps a separate menu for those occasions."

"Whiskey?"

"Whiskey Barrel, resident chef."

"He's the only chef here?" I ask, wondering how this place is operating off of the labor of a single ponies cooking.

"Have you noticed how few ponies eat here? Just him is enough and besides, his magical duplicates can take care of the rest."

"Ah. I see. Well you can put me down for nothing then. I can't afford more with the money on me now." I hide my displeasure, a nice spaghetti and meatballs sounds really good right now, even if there are fancier options.

"And you thought I was bad."

"Treating you to another lunch would be a walk in the park compared to these two; fight included." I kid with her.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it and even if they did try anything again I'd definitely fair better. Mac's helped me get enough muscle mass, though there's no style to the fighting. Now you might want to get that order in before they complain." I tell her and she nods before leaving through a set of double doors. Although I believe Chilled would be the only one to complain.

   I resign to twiddling my thumbs as I wait for either Dash to come back for conversation or for Chilled and Lily to eventually finish their meals. Deciding not to waste all my time I begin to stack small magical blocks again for the purpose of seeing if I can actually manage a castle again. Of course the moment I finish one wall and tower a rather pleasant voice interrupts me again and the magical energy breaks its boundaries and disappears into the air.

"Alright, I'm back."

"Took you a little bit." I say, not really sure as to what I should talk about.

"Yeah, I had to talk with Whiskey for a bit and bring them their drinks."

"It's no problem. So how long have you been working here?" I mutter, merely trying to keep the only thing repelling boredom around. Couldn't be a restaurant with complementary chips and salsa, could it?

"About a month or two ago, just needed the extra money."

"Oh."

"Yeah, sure you can't afford anything to eat though?"

"Maybe your garbage," I just chuckle. "But seriously I'll be fine until dinner." I finish, not mentioning that I skipped breakfast as well.

"Alright then, I can't wait to tell the girls about this though."

"About what?"

"How you got your job and about how bad it is." She keeps giggling.

"What's so funny about it?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just that you seem to be good at turning one bad situation into another."

"Give me one example."

"You turned have to buy me a lunch into a fight and you turned the estrus into a bad job."

"That... is a very good point." I admit defeat.

"There's a reason stallions never win arguments with mares."

"I guess so." I decide and a bell ringer shortly after.

"Meals are ready; be back in a bit." She sighs before running off again and leaving me back to my thoughts.

I guess she is right though. I also turned going to a different universe into becoming a thief; not that she needs to know any of that though. I chuckle a little. I still haven't gotten entirely used to that though. I go back to twiddling my thumbs in boredom.

   I wait for another three or four minutes before Dash comes back over with a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" I ask and she just sighs.

"Nothing, they were just complaining that it took to long for their orders."

"Ah, I guess it was mainly the old guy?"

"How'd you know?"

"Call it a guess." I laugh a little.

   We spend the next half hour just shooting the breeze in-between Dash having to leave for a few minutes to service the very minimal amount of customers, that is until Chilled comes over to tell me it's time to go.

"Already?" I ask, but he just turns back to Dash.

"You can bring him the bill." He turns back to me. "We'll be waiting outside."

He walks off with the usual air of smug dignity I've come to expect from him before Dash looks back to me. "Why did you agree to work with a guy like that?"

"He acted a lot nicer before I got the job. Whether that was a sales pitch or just because he was around Lily is unknown to me. If I had known he was this 'unpleasant' for lack of better words, I wouldn't have taken the job." I explain and she nods.

"How long are you stuck working there?"

"Until the end of this week."

"At least it's not too bad then; I'm still sorry for you though. Be back in a minute with the bill." She sympathizes and goes off towards the hostess stand.

Glad to see somepony cares about my misfortune, unlike that ass out there and the obliviously happy mare with him. I really don't know why I put up with his shit. I contemplate as another thought enters my mind. Then why do I deal with it? Better; why should I deal with it? Better yet; I won't deal with it. I smile with suddenly brimming confidence as Dash comes back over.

"Here you go, 247.34 bits due." She hands me a receipt as I pull out the mix of bills and coins. "Thank you."

"Thank you for the conversation." I return to her and stand up with my smile still on my face.

"Somepony seems a little happier." Dash comments with a cocky smirk.

"Yeah, I guess I am." My smile grows a little as I turn away.

On second thought...

I conceal my smile back into my common demeanor before turning back to Dash, "Hey, would it be alright with you if went to hang out sometime?" I lay my cards on the table. Kind of got low chances here, but, save for Twilight and Applejack; she is one of the only mares who have been nice to me.

"Oh uh, sure I guess. You have my number so just give me a call whenever." She passes it off nonchalantly, but to my current state of mind it just sounds like a yes.

"Alright great. I'll give you a call later." I smile again, but not as wide, before exiting the building to see an annoyed looking Chilled.

"About time you got out here you-" I cut off his lecture.

"Cut the crap Ice."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm through. No more being your lackey, no more reorganizing the library in both alphabetical and by date of publishing to see which looks better; I quit." At this point he just looks completely pissed and I notice Lily standing a good twenty meters away with some mares who seem to be her friends. So he won't be holding back I see.

"Now look here, you can't just quit. You'll be working until your time is up. You should be grateful for how Mr.Purse gave you this job; you're indebted to him." He practically yells but I just chuckle.

"I'm indebted to him? I just paid less than three bits away from a quarter of a thousand on lunch for you and his daughter. If I was indebted then it's paid, you can send my pay through the mail." I argue no further before turning away from him.

A rather forceful hand grabs my shoulder and turns me around to face him again, "Now you stop where you are, I-" but I don't let him finish before giving him a strong backhanded slap the nearly cause him to collapse.

"You can't fight me here Chilled. You're too weak to stop me from leaving. Like I said, I'm through." I keep the level tone I've had since this began.

"Well just where do you think you're going then?" He yells back up at me with one knee planted in the dirt, obviously caught up in both the surprise of my outburst and the stares of onlookers.

   I channel the last of my sudden energy and bravado spike into one single statement. One known across galaxies far and wide for its profound meaning. One uttered only when needed most. One I think everyone should honor.

"Screw you guys, I'm going home." I give two fingers to him and the last of my energy fades along with the small spirit of South Park within me.

   I walk off, leaving a dazed butler, an oblivious golden pegasus and a very small crowd of ponies who I hope are just going to pass this off as another weird day in ponyville; after all I've seen worse happen in these streets.

   After I get a good distance away from the scene, I slip into a small alleyway and sit down unceremoniously, panting like a dog. I can't believe I just did that. Asking Dash out; a ways out of my comfort zone, but not unbelievable. Telling Chilled to fuck off and that I'm quitting; a little less likely since I'd like to keep a good reputation. Both in a public place; that I can't see my logic in.

   I catch my breath and pull myself up and out of the dirt. Whatever in me caused that little outburst; thanks I guess. I laugh a little while walking back to my subterranean abode. Though something like that is hardly the usual me.

~\o/~

   I step off of the ladder, my regular gusto having returned, and walk past Uefi and into the kitchen. I pull an apple put of the fruit basket, not what I would've wanted for lunch but it will work.

"I thought you were working today."

"I quit."

"Finally decided to stop dealing with that prick, huh?" Uefi chuckles and sips his apple juice.

"Yeah. I had to pay a quarter thousand for his lunch. That kind of thing tends to push me over the edge."

"How much did you pay?!" He almost spits his whole drink out.

"Less than three bits under a quarter thousand."

"I can't blame you then."

"How could you?" I bite into the delectable green fruit.

"So what are you gonna do for a job?"

"I don't know. I don't really need one, but I guess having one on the side would be helpful."

"You could always talk with Mac about farm work."

"Nah, that's not my thing. I need something a bit more... Fun." I chuckle at my lack for better words.

"Well I can't help you there." He rolls his eyes, a task I'm not sure either of us is used to yet due to our large eyes, as Berry enters the room.

"What's this I hear about Sonata growing a pair?" Uefi again nearly loses his entire drink.

"Har, har; yeah I quit my job." I role my own eyes.

"Good for you. So you're free during the day now, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good, then tomorrow I want you to meet me at that little clearing you go to in the woods every now and again." Her smile grows.

"Why?" I ask, but she turns my devious.

"I think it's time I started getting you in touch with those changeling roots." I have the small feeling that this isn't going to be fun.

The Pains Of Moving Forward. 39

      As per Berry's instructions, I made my way into what I somewhat call my sanctuary in the forest at 9:00 a.m. on the dot. However, I soon find myself sitting around for the next hour until she finally strolls in with a drunken smile on her face and her casual pink t-shirt and skinny jeans. Funny; she usually isn't tipsy until 12.

"About time you got here." I reprimand her, but she just blows it off.

"Nopony said I had to be here on time. Besides all good things come with time." She turns to a scowl before slipping a hand into her back pocket.

"What are you getting?"

"Nothing, nothing." She waves me off and reveals a small vial of an eerie green fluid.

"What's that?" I cycle to a bored expression. Why do I even ask? This mare moves at her own pace, no faster.

"Just a little study aid. Now tell me, what do you know about changelings; biologically speaking?"

"They're covered in a hard carapace, they feed on love to gain strength and they're somewhat similar to insects."

"So what any hack on the streets knows."

"Pretty much." I shy away.

"Well I guess I need to educate you a little then. You see your lowest class drone is mostly a hollow husk, created from the decayed body of the changeling before it. The empty shell is filled with magic from the queen and operated like a puppet so that freshly bred changelings can focus on higher service. These newborns however are not entirely flesh and blood as well. Certain portions are missing at birth and usually lead to a dead body being born." She refreshes her breath. "After being filled in the some magic artificial organs they live with a free will, but rely on the queen to continue their life. This effectively forms the hive mind ponies refer to."

"Ok, but what does this have to do with me?"

"I'm getting to it. You see, while everypony knows about the hive mind; the actuality of the fake organs and corpse puppets isn't known at all, even to the upper echelon. Changeling bodies are rigged to 'forcefully deconstruct' into dust if captured or if they defect to prevent this knowledge from leaving the hive."

"Then how do you know this?" I raise my brow, a slight suspicion she's feeding me shit itching at me.

"I'm part changeling and I work for a thieves' organization idiot. We work with the hive now and again and the queen was willing to teach me a thing or two since the old man recommended me. Being that as it may, I also have permission to teach those of a similar affliction as long as they're working in the organization."

"Ok then, continue."

"Gladly, now you must understand that the hive mind is only one side of the coin. The other reason is this; the raw energies form a better breed of assassin. By having body parts replaced with magic you can gain certain abilities unattainable to flesh and blood bodies." I interrupt again.

"Abilities like what?"

"Disguising is the most basic example. The changeling's carapace modifiers draw on a spell from the queen to form a perfect disguise."

"So you're going to teach me perfect impersonation?"

"No,no,no; that spell is something that usually only the queen knows. Her subjects can draw on it because of their link to her." She laughs.

"Usually?"

"Every now and again when a part changeling reaches royal level the queen may bequeath the knowledge of that spell to him or her. In short it's probably nothing I'll ever earn. What I'm going to teach you is something a little bit more basic." She blinks quickly and I take a half step back. What the hell?

   Her usual purple irises are completely gone now and have been replaced by a set of pale pink irises with multiple streaks of dark purple throughout. The regular large pupils have thinned into a set of thin black slits that just scream at me predatorily, almost as if they're uploading the very instincts of the prey into my subconscious.

"Well, what do you think?" She smirks.

"What the hell happened to your eyes?"

"I ditched the originals things when the old man was teaching me about changelings. These are genetically modified with magic, essentially a genuine pair of changeling eyes."

"I thought their eyes were mostly all blue?"

"That's mostly just the corpse puppets; they don't make their own decisions so the queen just lets them go blind instead."

"Then what happened to your real eyes?"

"All gone at this point, the usual look is just a simple illusion modifier, the queen did teach me how to hide the visual effects."

"I thought only unicorns could use magic?"

"All changelings have a natural affinity for it; so as the genetic barriers faded I became able to tap into a small amount of magic."

"Just how much of you is genetically modified anyways?"

"56%, mostly internal."

"Doesn't that bother you at all?" I ask.

"At first it did, the idea of giving away pony flesh and blood for changeling chitin and magic seemed terrible. It had to do with that old pony pride of mine. I'm still proud of being a pony mind you, but I'm not some elitist."

"So this is what you planned to teach me?"

"Not teach so much as activate, but yes. If you'd rather not embrace your blood now I understand, I wrestled with the question for a month before I decided to augment."

Interesting prospect though. On one hand I lose my original eyes, but on the other I get a newer set with magic as an actual part of them. I contemplate before another idea hits me. How are these eyes my original eyes? Technically they're just part of this new body.

"Well, what's it gonna be Sonata?"

"I'll take that offer." I say confidently.

"Alright then, I'll administer the treatment." She smiles deviously which is onto amplified by the foreign eyes. "Sit down."

   Not wanting to dilly dally, I comply and sit down on the plush grass as another hand drifts behind her back.

"Ok, now what?"

"This!" She exclaims before lunging on top of me, pushing me down into a position where both of her knees are weighing down on my shoulders, effectively keeping me from resisting besides kicking.

"What the hell Berry?"

"Don't move too much." She giggles as her hand reveals itself, holding two small, empty syringes. She uses her mouth to undo the cap on the green vial before sticking a syringe in and filling it, the other soon after. "Now don't move, this may sting a little." She tosses the empty vial away and grabs my neck to immobilize my falling head.

   The first one came like lightning and the pain was fleeting but excruciating as the tip penetrated the membrane of my left eye. I clutch my eyelids shut instinctively for protection, but the second needle just glides through it and into my right eye, my awareness to the pain making each tenth of a second feel like a year as I feel the liquid that now seeps through the entirety of my optical receptors.

   What follows is more than excruciating, it is like hell.

"First step; deconstruction." I can hear Berry say, but I don't really care at this point.

    I cry in agony as the serum begins to take effect. I can feel the cores of my eyes begin to dissolve slowly and the searing pain of the acidic formula only intensifies by the moment as my eyes are burned from the insides out. I can feel it the moment my optical cords snap away from my eyes and the pain intensifies.

   It becomes apparent to me in almost a split second that the outer membrane of my eyes feels like they're bubbling from the heat. It's actually only one or two seconds into it, but I finally notice that I cannot see anymore and at this point I can't tell of its been years or decades or if I still have eyes at all and what I'm feeling is just my bones deconstructing.

   After what I think is about 90 years of this torture, the pain slowly subsides and I stop screaming, that is until I start to feel something else.

"Step two; reconstruction."

   Contradictory to the inferno of losing my eyes, it almost feels as if the air in my empty eye sockets is at absolute zero and the rest of my head trapped in a growing chunk of ice.

   The feeling of the center expands until the lowest chill encases the entirety of both of empty holes. Then the ice begins to form. I feel thin ring of solid cold ice around my eye sockets and soon after something, I'm not sure what, begins to tingle inside of my skull. The feeling of ice and cold subsides to an average temperature and feeling of my eyes, but I still have no vision.

"Final step; activation."

   The tingling in my skull climaxes as I feel what I think are my old optical chords reattaching to the new membranes as one final surge of otherworldly pain shoots through my skull as if a chisel was driven from my neck, through some teeth and finally through and out my brain.

   Slowly after the pain ends I begin to notice something, or rather many things, the tree branches overhead, Berry standing over me with a proud smile on her face and the solitary squirrel hanging from a stray branch nibbling at a chestnut; my vision.

"Glad to see you made it." I blink. What an odd feeling, blinking.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, adjusting to the odd feeling if skin over new eyes.

"There was an eight or nine percent chance that you'd die." She turns sheepish as I stand back up.

"And you just happened to neglect that fact?" I raise a brow and I notice something, her eyes no longer phase me at all in fact they feel... comforting, like a mother.

"Nope, I just didn't mention it so you wouldn't back out." She smiles again, making no attempt to lie.

"What was in that stuff anyways?" I rub my forehead which is still aching.

"Nothing too much. A drop or two of water and the rest was my blood."

"Your what?"

"My blood. To force mutation it requires a certain amount of injection of changeling blood to activate the dormant cells."

"First of all, disgusting. Second, who came up with that idea in the first place?" I shiver. I might've gone with the death risk. Drinking her blood? No.

"It's an old way; whoever figured it out has been dead on gone for at least a couple hundred years."

"I'm gonna have to talk with you about this later, but tell me; what did this accomplish? As far as I can see this changed nothing."

"Well are you scared of my eyes anymore?"

"Not really, but how many changelings am I going to run into?"

"Not many and you won't feel anything towards them, but since my blood induced the modification you'll feel naturally at ease around me."

"I felt at ease around you before. I was hoping for some practical use."

"Ok, ok. Go over to the pool." She waves over at the water.

   I walk over to the water's edge and look down at my new pair of peepers. Well, no more super spooky eyes. My eyes are not unlike Berry's save for that the general iris colour might be a half a shade darker than hers are.

"What happened to my black eyes?"

"Side effect, since it was my blood your cells used as a base some of the attributes carried over."

"Ok, now what do I do?" I ask, slightly annoyed I've learned nothing about the two things I just went through hell to get.

"Think of a square with an inscribed circle that has an inscribed triangle, channel magic and blink." She directs and I construct the seal.

   After a small magical surge to the seal, I blink quickly and the predator's eyes change into a set of normal looking, pale pink eyes, once again a similar colour to Berry's changeling eyes rather than the pure black of my old ones.

"I see I lost my old colours too."

"Sorry about that." I hear her say and I repeat the spell to bring back the changeling look.

"It's fine. What else can I do?"

"You can reuse the seal to change the look back, but for the rest I'd be better if we had a different venue. You'll also want to avoid anything that'll disable your magic, every now and again that'll cause the optical illusion to wear off."

"What kind of venue?" I raise a brow, a gesture quickly put on hold as another sting shoots down my spine as a stray portion of optical chord latches back onto my new eyes.

"I'll meet you in the living room at eight sharp. I'll explain the rest to you then." She shrugs. "Other than that, take the rest of today to adjust to them."

"Always the cryptic one aren't you?" I curl my lips back into a smile.

"You'll learn to deal with me." She begins to walk off and I begin to follow, but I'm cut short when my legs give way from under me and my vision fades to black. "You'll have to learn with those two too."

~\o/~

   I rub my forehead in agony as conscious returns to me along with a peculiar pain just below my horn.

"You think I hit him too hard?"

"No, he should be fine." I try to lean forward but I feel a heel pressing down on my chest I choose not to fight it.

"You two again?" I half question as open my eyes to see a rather annoyed looking blue Phoenix standing over me with the heel of her high healed shoe digging into my chest and a rather happy looking part changeling next to her. "I don't hear from either of you in five months and this is how you greet me?"

"We started giving each other the silent treatment for awhile after you got those hand wraps, it obviously put most of our plans on a standstill." The scarlet looking one says and I groan. To hell with it, I'm just calling her Scarlet; I can't remember that other name for the life of me. Same to the Sapphire coloured one.

"Why'd you give each the silent treatment?"

"She got angry that I took the entirety of the hand wraps which piled on top of the anger from you having no Phoenix alliance at all."

"Let me guess; the new eyes thing pushed her over the edge." I take a deep breath as Sapphire finally takes her hoofer off of my chest. How do ponies even walk in high heels?

"Pretty much," she finally speaks up, "so I figured I'd collect on what I'm owed." She holds up her index and middle fingers which soon become alight with a sickly blue flame.

   Before a protest can leave my mouth, both fingers plunge into my new eyes and incineration rocks my sense of touch. Within the same second the orbs are completely dissolved and soon I can feel two new one forming in the once again empty sockets. Of course none of this stops me from screaming out in agony and profanity.

   About a third of a second later the pain subsides while my vision returns again. Doesn't anypony know what painkillers are? I think as I glare back at the assailant.

"Mind telling me what that was about?"

"I reintroduced my DNA into your system." She states with no emotion before taking the same fingers from her right hand and plunging through the back of my right hand, pulling it out before I can even realize.

   Different from my eyes however, I don't feel burning, or cold, or even pain for that matter, just... discomfort. I just watch the blue flame burn out and the hand wraps gradually regenerate to fill the hole as I close my eyes again for the void.

~\o/~

   An annoyed groan erupts from my mouth as I wake back up in the forest, a bug quickly flying off of my forehead. I force myself up to my hooves with the grace of a pheasant in a thunderstorm and give my eyes an experimental tap. I've still got them and my hand is fine. I flex my right hand.

They still don't feel right though; my eyes that is. They feel kinda... Hot? I glance to my left where the pool of water is and walk over in no particular hurry. Taking a knee, I peer over the water's edge to make sure my eyes still look alright.

"God damn eye poachers." I curse into my reflection.

   The subtle pink eyes seem to be gone along with the changeling pair and what replaces them isn't any more subtle. A perfect circle of light-blue encompasses my pupils with eight different streaks of pale green in each one. The streaks are like a compass, placed pointing towards the pupil at forty~five degree intervals. The pupils themselves are what really catch me though. A perfect square of semi-thick black pupil sits around the center of each eye. Each square is bisected twice by two equally thick black lines, forming four smaller squares within each one, like a coordinate plane.

"Can't I get a pair of eyes that are normal?" I clutch the dirt in annoyance.

   I hear a small crack from behind me and I turn back to see the same squirrel from before sitting on the branch, looking at me whilst eating a small nut. I sigh before something a bit more intriguing catches my eye, or rather eyes.

   My vision tunnels a little bit to focus on the squirrel and slowly I can feel a trickle of information leek into me. Body temperature: 310.38 degrees Kelvin. Preferable cooking temperature: 442.04 degrees kelvin. A rather monotonous voice comes through my head, only reading off those two facts.

"Now just how is this useful?" I mutter, still trying to think of how to get rid of these things. "That might work."

   I quickly toss up the seal Berry told me about and in a blink I feel a small twitch in my eyes. I turn back to the pool of water and see that the changeling eyes are back and still the same as before. Another blink later and I'm back to the pale pink set.

   After straightening my vest and resetting my watch, I turn around and start the slow stroll back into town. I do wonder though; what exactly happened to my hand and why did they do this to me?

~\o/~

   With the scent of oranges annoying the bloody hell out of me, I slip into the library. Uefi and Mac weren't very big on conversation about anything but my eyes at the farm and I wasn't scheduled to meet Berry until night time; so I figured it might be a good idea to check up on enchanting.

"You in here Twilight?" I call out; I'm pretty much the only pony who frequents this place.

"Over here." She calls back from the back left corner.

   I walk over to her, but the scent of oranges and the lack of ashes in the air keeps on irking me the wrong way. I chuckle as I turn the corner to see the purple unicorn in a pile of books and papers up to her neck.

"Need some help?"

"If you would be so kind." She blows a paper away from her face and I start pulling books off of her with magic and replacing them into the empty shelves. "Thanks."

"No problem." I've seen her make bigger messes of this place.

"Well I doubt you came by just to clean up with me." She brushes herself off and grabs the bottle of disinfectant next to her. "What did you come for this time?"

"I figured I'd pick your brain about enchanting."

"Well I guess I can help you wi- oh my." She finally turns around to see my face. "What happened to your eyes?"

"Oh these? It's just uh..." Crap, I forgot to make up a cover story. Mac and Uefi already knew about the changeling thing, but this is different. "Coloured contact lenses?"

"Yeah right. Now how about you tell me what it really is. Don't think I can't see the magic." Damnit, I hate it when ponies read into things too deeply.

"I'm not really sure what you mean."

"Take it off before I take it off for you."

"Alright, alright. Can you keep a secret?"

"Do I look like a gossip?"

"Fair enough, just... Don't freak out." I blink into what I think are the changeling eyes and she takes a half are back.

"What the hell happened to you?" She purposely looks away.

"That's not all." I blink again and her body temperature is read off to be in the same voice as before. Like a mix of Morgan Freeman and Hank Hill.

"What happened to you?"

"A little bit of magical training went awry out in the everfree this morning. The spell backfired and my eyes kinda got screwed up. I'm not too sure when they'll switch back to black though."

"Strange, what kind of spell were you working with?" She asks as a magically held pen cap begins to poke my eye softly but I do my best to ignore it.

"Nothing special, just throwing magic at the metaphorical wall to see what sticks." I push the pen cap out of my eye and switch back to the pony eyes.

"Fascinating, each one is different from the last. But why did they turn out like that is the question." The pen cap reemerges with new vigor.

"I'd rather not discuss this now Twilight. Besides, I don't think it'll last more than a week." I lie.

"Then I'd sleep with one eye open I if was you." She smirks and puts the pen cap away. "So you wanted to learn some enchanting?"

"Yeah." I toss 'my' ring to her. "What could I do with that?"

"Let's see... Refined corundum material, probably rubies, high quality, silver band, sizes ranging from minor to large... Well isn't this a surprise." She tosses the ring back.

"What?"

"The internal structure of the gems in enchanting will determine what magical frequencies they can use and be imprinted with. Different types of spells ahead to certain frequencies, for example a fire ball spell will have a similar frequency to a fire breath spell. These gems have a structure meant to adhere to illusions, and quite well at that." She forms a scowl. "I thought you were going to go light your criminal talents."

"I just bought the thing at random; the enchantment idea was just for the sake of learning more magic." I defend myself.

"Yeah, and you still haven't explained where you got that cloth on your hands."

"A flee market if you want the truth. When I picked up my brother a few months back I had a rather heated discussion with an old stallion about the worth of the cloth." My castle of lies is so beautiful and well made.

"I'll believe when I see it. Regardless, I suppose I can give you some knowledge for enchanting." She opens the doorway behind her. "Follow me back down to the spell room."

   A minute later we're both back down in the same white room as before with my ring siting on a thin metal pole and my horn barely touching the center gem.

"So now what?" I raise a brow.

"Do you have a spell in mind that you could use for it?" I nod. "Then imagine the ring with that seal somewhere on it."

"Alright." I follow the steps.

"Now I need you to start using the spell and keep it up for as long as possible."

   I keep my eyes fixated on the ring even as it slowly fades out of vision and I cough. This is definitely taking more magic than it did before, but I guess the modification might be responsible for that.

"I should've known you'd choose that one. Now how long can you hold that for?" Twilight chimes in after about seven minutes.

"Usually fifteen minutes, but like this; only ten minutes."

"The enchantment will only last about six seconds before needing to be recharged then."

"Six seconds?" I keep my anger down as much as I can even a gash opens on my left leg.

"This is the most basic setup for enchanting so it will only last 1/100th of the amount of time it's casted. If it was a different spell like a fireball it would have to be hit with the spell one hundred times just to have a single shot."

"Then how is enchanting even useful?" I question. After all, even if I could hold this spell for an hour, it would only last about a half minute.

"That's because this is the basic setup. If I bought specially made stands that are actually made for certain enchantment types it might last just as long as you can cast it for."

"And how much would one of those cost?"

"They cost about a hundred thousand bits or so each. Why; do you plan on buying one?"

"Not at that price." I mutter. "How long as it been?"

"Almost ten minutes." She checks her watch, and I cringe as more cuts join the first one.

"Then I'm done with it." I disconnect from the ring, slipping out my supply of bandages as well.

"Want some help with those?" She asks but I shake my head.

"No, it's fine. I'm a fast healer." I opt away from the smaller bandages and just tie some tight bands of cloth around both of my bloodied legs. It might be worth it to learn some medical magic.

   She tosses the ring back to me, and I examine it rather idly. The gems don't glow with energy like the other items I've seen, but rather they've become darker. Each on has an almost pure black center and only a thin ring of red around the outside. They're barely recognizable as rubies anymore. The metal itself almost looks like it's covered in a heavy layer of ashes. The only bright part about it is right in the center of the largest gem, adorned with a stark white version of the magical seal.

"It looked prettier before." I complain, but slip on the ring regardless. "But thanks Twilight."

The Comfort Of Moving Through Life In Lies. 40

   After thanking Twilight, I left rather abruptly to ensure I would have time to get ready for whatever tonight is going to be. After grabbing my night clothes, coat excluded, I just wait around in the living room until the mare in question finally comes in from her room.

   Unlike now I've seen her before; she wears a skin tight black suit that covers her entirely from her neck down. A camo-patterned grey scarf is wrapped around her neck lazily. All in all, nothing too far from what I expected her to look like.

"You ready to go then?" She asks and I pull my cowl over my head.

"Ready."

   Without another word, we both climb the ladder out of the hole of a house. I pull up the face mask and she wraps the scarf around her head like a turban.

"So where's that 'brother' of yours?"

"He's working late tonight and possibly just staying over at Mac's." We exit the forest. "Where are we going anyways?"

"Out and around, wherever I feel like going." She stops on a dime and flicks my forehead and in an instant I find myself in a vat of darkness that I can't hope to see through.

"Shit." I mutter under my breath before lighting up my horn.

"Bad dog." I feel a strong hand slap me across the face, stopping my spell.

"What the hell Berry?" I whisper back to the mare.

"We're here for you to learn about your damn heritage, but not for you to practice magic 101."

"I can't very well do that if I can't see you."

"Switch to your damn eyes idiot." Another slap hits me and my eyes switch to the changeling set... I think.

"Now what?" I feel two fingers taps my eyes and in a single moment my vision brightens significantly to see her standing in front of me with her same predatory gaze.

"Changeling night vision, fairly easy it isn't visible at all."

"Ok, but where are we?" I look around the room.

   The room is pretty small actually; with some worn kegs lining the back wall and a ladder nearby, the only slightly odd part about it is that the entire damn room is made of steel.

"The cellar of a ship."

"What kind of ship?" I raise an eyebrow.

"It kinda sorta, could be and probably is a pirate ship." She smiles awkwardly.

"A pirate ship, in this day and age?"

"Pirating is pretty profitable right now. You raid some villages and ships and you're already making money."

"Ok fine, but what're we here for?" I sigh. Sometimes I think these ponies are just as advanced as earth and other times not.

"I want some new earrings and I remember the captain here having a very attractive pair. She also had nice earrings." We both laugh a little.

"So we're robbing pirates for earrings?"

"Pretty much. It should be easy, and it's a good chance to teach you. Just remember, we may get into a fight. These ships aren't very easy to sneak through." She gestures to the ladder. The shit I get pulled into.

   I exit the small hatch to find myself top side and hidden in the darkness. The top of the ship is completely barren except for the opposite end whichever is raised up about 15 meters, obviously the bow. The problem is that I can easily count about fifteen ponies, all of them carrying rifles, and almost all of the deck is illuminated by the inset lights on the rails and floor. Berry comes up shortly after, cursing her luck.

"Looks like we're gonna have to duke this out." We both sway as the ship takes the waves rather well.

"So what's the plan?" I don't argue; I know all too well she's smarter than me.

"Give me a minute." She disappears in a small gust of red magic and I curse.

"Damn teleportation necklace."

   About ten minutes later she reappears with an angry Uefi next to her, crossbow in his hands and two silenced 9mm pistols in hers.

"Sup, bro?" I kid.

"I'd like to know why we're fighting pirates for earrings." He groans.

"Cause I told you to and you both still owe me." She slaps him. "Now Rosey, you fly onto the top of the bow and give us support. Sonata, you and I are gonna go fuck 'em up."

"That's your plan?" Uefi and I go off at the same time.

"Pretty much." She tosses me one of the silenced pistols, which I fumble with.

"What's this for?"

"They're using guns. There's no guarantee you won't have to try some shooting. Just don't shoot too much; I didn't grab any extra clips." I slip the barrel into my belt as a makeshift holster.

"Shit got real pretty quick." Uefi sighs before flapping his wings a few times and ascending into the air.

"We've got a minute of two so I'm going to give you a few tips. Most of those idiots will be stunned at first by the eyes, unless they're more stupid than I think, use that moment to get them. Two, think about expanding the chitin on your hand. Since your DNA is becoming more like a changeling you should be able to temporarily expand it. It can stop bullets so the more the better. Third, place a square seal on them and hit that spot. It will eat up a good bit of magic, but it's very effective." She instructs me and I nod.

   Before she can give a signal I focus on trying to stretch the chitin of my hand and slowly, but surely the plating reappears on the back of my hand and more triangles of carapace rise out of skin until my whole hand is covered in it. It's odd though, my whole hand feels... Good, like really good.  Almost like... I want to hit something, and hard.

"Try not to hurt them too much Sonata, they're only ponies." Berry's words barely break through the feeling that almost scares me into submission. Almost. If I'm gonna pick a fight with pirates, I'm gonna do it my way. "Now let's go have some fun. We' got a good twenty meters to rush through."

   I take off in a mad dash at the nearest pirate, a poor green pony wearing some sort of combat armour. Before she can even say a word, I drive an uppercut into her stomach and she slumps over onto the deck like a rag-doll. Sadly, Uefi wasn't very clean and soon I find myself with a hail of bullets coming at me.

"Fuck." I layer some heavy barriers at random around the ship to block the bullets.

   I turn to Berry for guidance, but the mad-mare is actually running straight into the bullets and I can see them flawlessly sliding off of her midsection, and she already took out six of my damn targets and Uefi got three.

   The insane urge to not be outdone surfaces and I rocket away from the barrier with my quick step spell. Two meters before the next pirate, who is already trying to load a clip so he can fill me with lead, I teleport behind him and place a square right on his back.

   As soon as my fist makes contact, a full quarter of my magic is funneled into his body and he flies forward with a thick stream of red electricity connecting his body to my bloody fist.

   Licking the blood from my lips, I teleport to the next pirate and pull the same trick, but this time I slam my other fist in him and the wounds erupts into a short burst of green flames. Such beautiful chaos. I look around for more targets and find three more idiots standing next to each other.

  I grab control from my instincts for a moment to raise my fist in front of face and soon a volley of at least ten bullets bounce off of the plating. Bastards. I place another set of squares around them and teleport in front of the group simy for the sake of cutting off Berry's path.

   After moving a square to their assault rifles, I slap them out of their hands and the devices almost fall apart form the force. I couldn't have more than another three of those left in me. Not missing a beat, all three of them draw their blades and I jump back to avoid the first strike from the yellow mare.

   Deflecting the second strike with my modified fist, I drive a fiery uppercut into the jaw of the yellow mare; sending her flying  up a meter or so in a bright burst of flames. I'm not as lucky with the third slash however and the short blade adds to the gash I already have on my cheek.

"You mother-fucker." I pierce his concentration with my gaze.

"Just what the hell are yo-" I don't let him finish before I place my left hand on his chest.

"Just a thief." I mutter and place five squares where my hand is, bringing a huge, but hopefully non-lethal, amount of electricity into his body. He doesn't last a second before falling over and a third gash runs across my face. "Mother fucker."

   In my ignorance the third bastard drove his knife right into the inside of my damn should, thankfully only grazing the bone, but I can feel the exit wound. The stallion wraps him arms around me in an attempt to immobilize me while he fumbles with trying to draw the blade.

   I let instinct back into the front seat and grab the pistol out of my belt and push it right against his stomach along with another square. I'm not sure if this will work, but I'll find out. I think and pull the trigger.

   Like a firework, I feel a large flower of beautiful green flames erupt through the barrel. I turn out of the grip in time to see the red  idiot fly five meters away with a large patch of burnt fur covering the entire left half of his stomach. I pull out the knife quickly  and let it fall to the ground, but oddly it doesn't hurt very much at all. Probably the adrenaline.

"That was fun." I mutter and the plating recedes into my skin. "So much fun..."I fall face first onto the deck as my mind slowly recognizes. What the hell just happened?

   My eyes slowly travel to my two bloody fists and I nearly vomit at the sight. What did I just do? I stagger back to my hooves. A flood of pain erupts in my arm and I gasp at the sight of exposed and shredded muscle. I guess I'll want to get into those medical books tonight. I think as I wrap the wound and bandage my abused face.

"Did you have fun?" Berry's voice breaks the silence and I nod, finishing my impromptu first-aid.

"I did, but... What exactly was that?" I cycle back to my own eyes.

"Changeling instinct, it will come back every time you extend your plating beyond its passive amounts. It's the double edged sword of this blood."

"But what if I actually killed somepony?"

"Don't think about it. That alternate personality won't kill unless you let it. Now come on, we have some earrings to steal."

"Is that all you have to say?" I solemnly mutter, bypassing any sadness or anger and skipping into the void of nothingness.

"Yes. Now come on, we're wasting time." She continues toward the illuminated door in front of the bow and I follow, Uefi landing not too long after.

"What happened down there man? It was like you were insane."

"That's just the thing Rose, I think I was." I mutter and Berry gives him a slap across the face again and he disappears in another burst of magic.

"Try not to tell anypony about this. They don't take kindly to those with our affliction."

"I always thought it was like a gift."

"Only if you're truly insane." We entered the bow without another word and climb the stairwell into the captain's room.

   Surprisingly enough the mare is still asleep, that is until Berry rips her off her cot by her ears and literate shreds the earrings off.

"Thank you for the jewelry." She smiles and in an instant we're gone again and back home.

Just don't think about it and you won't go insane... I think that would be best. Besides, you've got plenty of good things going for you and as long as you don't use that plating it won't happen again. I know I'm lying to myself, but that makes it all the more bearable.

Moving Into A Hidden Device. 41

   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.

The Night My World Ended,I Felt A Scream In My Soul. 1

"...and we're done." I say allowing a sigh.

"We better be I'm tired as hell. Remind me why we were idiots and waited on this again?" The voice of Uefi came again though my headset.

"We waited because neither of us ever do our work ahead of time and make the last 2 or 3 days hell for ourselves because we both have agreed our work is of a higher quality if we rush."

     All of this is actually true both of us really fucking hate working ahead of time on a project or studying. Which in hindsight might have been a good thing to think about when we decided to be partners for this project. Which reminds me to mention this project was project we were assigned over summer. Were we supposed to have partners for this? No. Did either of us care? No. Regardless of that we both had the topics that were relatively similar so we worked together to save time. But now we were done and it was now 1 a.m. Saturday morning.

"Wait a fucking minute Uefi. We started working on this Thursday right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because I think we just wasted the last Friday of our break. We haven't slept since Thursday morning and its been two days."

"Shit."

     While we may enjoy our profanity we both agreed that for soon to be sophomores we might resort to it slightly to much, but this didn't stop us from using it.

"Well we only fucked ourselves slightly I guess. We still have from today until Wednesday." I sigh again.

"I don't think we can really count Tuesday since we'll both probably be preparing."

"Still we have another four days to play Battlefield 3,watch anime and most of all get angry at the grenade spam of 64 player metro."

"I won't be joining you on the second and third if I can help it."

"Fair enough, so gonna go to bed or play for a bit?"

"Bed." And with that Uefi signed off.

"He never could give a proper good bye." I say taking my headset off.

    Well it has been two days of non stop work, the only exception being a few meals though which we worked. I am finally able to lie down on the floor and sleep. Walking 5 steps to get to my actual bed would've been to much work.

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"GET OFF YOUR ASS. I'M FUCKING CALLING YOU!" Fucking Uefi. How he manages to get onto my phone and change my call tone for him I have no idea.

"What do you want jackass?" I say picking up my phone. Checking the clock I notice it hasn't even been two hours. I repeat. Fucking Uefi.

"Dude my dream was awesome."

"I was up for almost 48 hours then I get less than 2 hours of sleep before you wake me up to tell me about a dream you had?"

"Pretty much,yea." Jackass.

"Fucking awesome" I say sarcasm drowning my pitiful words.

"Well anyway there was this voice and it kept saying Prepare for your life and the life of a friend will end today."

"And you believed it didn't you?"

"How could you expect me not to?"

"Sarcasm isn't very amusing Uefi."

"I don't care, but guess who I choose as my friend."

"If you fucking choose me that cosmic voice to gonna get fucked up then you are going to be on a inconceivable scale."

"I wouldn't be so quick to judge a cosmic voice."

"When the voice gives someone in your position the choice to end the life of anyone I'll judge it as fast as I please."

"Well regardless of what you have to say-

Then in a voice I can only describe as something that belongs in pokèmon and also should be stripped from existence I hear.

-QUENTIN I CHOOSE YOU!"

"Done now?"

    Then the world faded to black and my soul was ripped from it.

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Shit. No other words can describe what just happened. Just shit. I have no idea how many times he's heard voices in his sleep and how many times he's been wrong yet he still called me every time and now the only time one of the voices was right it has to do with the end of my life, but now for the real question. WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Does it mean I die, am I going to be reborn, wake up in a new place where no one knows me or just wake up in a hospital bed with a officer in the corner because Uefi drugged the cupcakes we made that afternoon? I have no fucking clue but I plan on finding out as soon as I wake up.

"Oh shit" Is the only thing I can think of to say as I open my eyes. While I find I've said this a lot in the last 2 hours of my life I find this statement to be fitting for someone of my position.

     From what I can see I'm in a basic recreational room with concrete floors and walls, a TV in the corner opposite of me, a couch on the wall aside it and another 12ft across from it at a angle to give a better view of the television from it. The walls bear nothing except for a set of light switches and a clock and a calendar. While I couldn't make out what the calendar said I noticed that its only been 10 minutes since I blacked out. There are 3 entrances to the room one on the wall I'm against,one across from it and one to my left with a ladder going up. So I'm underground. There is a kitchen to my right with a simple sink and oven along the wall with a set of cabinets running along the wall. So I'm in a home of some sort. I bring my hand up to my face to shade my eyes from the set of lights when I notice something. Now to respond in the way accustomed to me.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" My hand is fucking covered in a dark ash gray coat of fur.

"WHAT THE GODDAMN FUCK?" Taking a look at the rest of my body I find a similar affect. While I'm still wearing my gray cotton shirt and black pants I'm covered in ash gray fur and my feet seem to have been replaced with some sort of stub like appendage. Hooves? My feet are fucking hooves?

"I'm a fucking half horse thing?" I say resorting to talking to myself to make sure I'm still within some realm of sanity.

     I reach up it wipe my face to try to refresh myself. It had the opposite affect. A fucking horn? I have a fucking horn? Shit.

"It's fine. I'm ok. I'm fine. I just to need to recap what's happened."

     Ok. So far Uefi has sent me and him to our "deaths" which apparently means I've woken up in some kind of home as a half human half horse thing with a horn. So I'm half unicorn? Like with magic and shit? Awesome I guess. While I find the situation to be frightening the thought of using magic and shit is still quite pleasing. Now for another important question. Where the hell is Uefi. He should have been sent though around the same time as me so where is he and is he like me or is he some different kind of thing? Luckily for me my question seems to have a answer all to happy it present itself.

"I see you have awoken."

"Shit." Is the only thing I manage to say as I notice who said it.

     From the ladder opening a woman from what I can see seems to have entered. She seems to have a dark blue fur color and ever flowing hair (or would it be mane since we both seem to be half horse things?) of a similar color. She is either some sort of high class woman or royalty since she is wearing a tiara and long ebony black dress. Wait. She has a horn like me AND WINGS? And to think I thought I was special when she has a horn and wings. So since this woman see to have both wings and horns I guess I can assume there are also some who have just wings, but are there people who have neither? Well I guess it's time for me to ask my questions.

"So who are you?" Damn. She beat me to it.

"I think I can ask the same of you since you seem to have been waiting for me to wake up."

"I am Princess Luna of the nation of Equestria and you?"

"Quentin and I have feeling you know where I'm from."

"And why is that?"

"Well since you seem to have been waiting for me to wake up and you're the princess of a nation and also have a horn and wings ,which I assume means you have more power than the average person, I'm going to have to guess you're the cosmic voice that spoke to John in his sleep and told him about the end of his and a friend's life. And if I am right and you are that voice, then you already know where I'm from and my position there. Am I right?"

"Yes very much so." She didn't even comment on how calm and clear thinking of a person I was for someone of my position, in truth I'm a little hurt. But this is no time for me to get depressed over someone not acknowledging my observations. **THIS IS THE TIME FOR SCIENCE.* Wait no. This is the time for me to figure out what the hell happened to me, and then it will be time to make cupcakes. I fucking love cupcakes.*

"So when do you plan on telling me why and how I'm here and where exactly here is?"

"As soon as Uefi wakes up and asking kindly would be appreciated." Then we both were silent for a minute or two. Probably less but for me time seems to be in stasis. This has become slightly awkward.

"So...are there any cupcakes around here or will I wait for those as well?" Time for phase two of my extremely well thought out plan.

"Sorry but I don't have any cupcakes right now sadly." She says as she sits down on the sofa along the wall. WHY? WHY NO CUPCAKES? It's ok i just need to calm down until Uefi wakes up. Then Cupcakes.

"Do you have any idea when Uefi will be up?"

"He should awake soon, in truth I'm surprised I expected him to wake up first since out of the two of you he's the only one who listened."

Wait. Out of the two of us?

"What do you mean out of the two of us?

"Could you not hear me call to you as well?"

Wait. What she mean call to me? The only thing I can remember from my latest dreams of the last week were lucid ones about skyrim with some weird painfully loud sound. So does she mean she was that sound? I guess I should ask when she began to call to me.

"When did you start calling to me?"

"About one week ago." So she was that annoying ass sound?

"So you were that sound that was painfully loud and annoying?"

"What do you mean painfully loud?"

"It gave me headaches and was omnipresent in my dreams and if it was your voice it was too loud for me to make words from it."

"SO THAT IS WHY YOU AWOKE FIRST!" Well that was a change from the indifferent jackass attitude she had before. Now she had a smile like a child when they get a new toy.

"What do you mean that's why I awoke first?"

"Your mind was in such a close synchronization with mine that my messages were to amplified to be made out, but also because of this your mind and new body adjusted near perfectly with each other allowing you to awake faster than your friend who was only able to make it out that day because of how far he was from synchronizing with me." She says while jumping out of glee. "I was worried you'ed die on the adjustment process."

"So...once again I beat Uefi at something?"

"If inter-dimensional and inter-body transport and adjustment is a contest to you then yes, you won by quite a large margin." Badass.

"So if I woke up in ten minutes because of my near perfect sync then how long,approximately, does Uefi have until he wakes up?"

"About 2 or 3 hours."

"And I still have to wait for him to wake up to know why I'm here?"

"While I find that the words wake up may not be the proper terms since you know that it's more or less until his new body and mind accept each other yes you do still have to wait."

"Damn."

"Could you please refrain from the cursing? I find it a little offensive." Damnit.

"I won't promise anything but I'll try."

"Thank you."

"So what do we do until he syncs?"

"I guess you could try walking around and moving since you might need some practice to adjust to your hooves." So they were hooves.

"I might as well since I have nothing better to do and you don't seem like you'll be answering anymore of my questions until Qefi wakes up."

     After three embarrassing attempts at walking I finally succeeded in actual walking and sat down on the couch opposite of Luna. She mentioned something about "not expecting me to adjust so quickly" but then decided to sum it up to my easier sync of my mind and new body accepting messages from each other. Then after 3 hours of me walking around the room to help become more accustomed to hooves I hear something I've been waiting for since I woke up.

The sound of Uefi  screaming "HOLY SHIT I'M FUCKING BLUE!"

"Well now let's calm him down and I'll tell you both about why you're here." Luna said rising from the couch and walking though one of the openings.

"Sure. Why not?" Wait he was in the other room all along? Well either way now to confront a whole new problem. Uefi.

Screaming Through The Soul. 10

"Wait, what? What do you mean you pissed them off?" Applejack responds in a uneasy tone.

"Do remember when I said two ponies were following me?" I say meeting her gaze.

"Yeah, what 'bout it?"

"Well, one was a pink earth pony and the other a pegasus with rainbow hair, or ,if what you said was true, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are their names."

"Yes, but why would they be upset with you?" Rarity says looking over to me.

"You remember that darkness that came over ponyville, right?" I say adjusting my head to look at her.

"Well, yes, but I fail to see why that is important."

"Don't be excited by this or anything, but I caused that. They kept following me so I confronted them and casted it to get away. Sorry of I scared you near death with it, I needed to get away and I only just started with these stealth spells." I say bracing myself for a familiar feeling of pain, which never came. Huh?

   Looking over I see Rarity with a look of thoughtfulness on her face, seeming to be pondering what I just said. After a few moments, Rarity seems to of snapped put of her trance.

"Oh, it wasn't anything to awful. I know how overwhelming those two can be and trust me it was quite alright. If anything I enjoyed the thrill of it." She says becoming slightly more flustered in her speech. What just happened?

"Ok then. So are we ready to go see them? The faster this gets done the better." Twilight says breaking the awkward presence in the room.

   Walking out the door, we step back into the central plaza and Twilight begins to instruct me on how to get to some of the important shops and buildings. Falling behind Twilight and Rarity as we walk, I bring up the localization spell with only Applejack's ears within the area. I hope Twilight doesn't notice this and ask about the multicolored magic. I'm still not sure was it means.

"Hey Applejack, what happened with Rarity back there? She got all flustered after she realized I casted that spell. Also be sure to whisper your responses, I'm only talking normally because of the spell I'm using." I say turning to her.

"Oh, she was probably just going though some small shock; and what did I say about these spells of yours?" She whispers over to me with a hint of contempt.

"I'm sorry. I just felt like I should ask. But your sure that's it? It didn't seem like it to me." I say with more sparks coming from my lips.

"What, do you think she's smitten with you or somethin'? I've been her friend for a lot longer than you've known her, so trust me she was just a little shocked." Applejack whispers back over to me chuckling a small amount.

"Yeah, I guess I should trust you." I say before dropping the spell.

"So where do you think they'd be Twilight?" I say calling up to her.

"Rainbow Dash won't be hard to find, she's probably still up in the air or down on the ground looking for you. As for Pinkie Pie, we don't need to find her." She says as Applejack and I catch up.

"Why won't we need to find her?" I say inquisitively.

"You'll know by the nights end." Applejack says chuckling again. Must these mares be so cryptic?

"Must you be so cryptic?" I say agitated.

"Trust me darling, it's better we let you find out on your own." Rarity says hiding her own smirk.

"Mares, they never change no matter where I go, but at least you three are enjoyable." I say slightly depressed.

"Don't worry, you'll learn that proper mares always have their reasons." Rarity says smiling and continuing along.

"I'm sure Ms.Rarity, I'm sure." I say sarcastically.

   Rarity begins to open her mouth, before a cyan blur grabs my collar and pushes me to the earth. Opening my eyes again I see the rainbow maned pegasus from earlier standing over me with a death stare and her wings open to their farthest points.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO, YOU BASTARD?" She yells at me while the other ponies, Applejack,Rarity and Twilight included, either stopped to watch or continued on with their business. Confound these mares. They drive me to negotiate.

"Hello." I say scratching the back of my head.

"Hi," she says while slapping my across the face with her free hand. "But that doesn't answer my question."

"Oh yes, sorry about that. Twilight would you care to fill her in?" I say turning as far as I can to her.

"Alright, but Dash could you please get off of him." She says giving the rainbow maned pegasus a tap on the shoulder.

"Fine, but there better be a damn good explanation for this." She says standing back up and moving off of me.

"Thank you." I say to Twilight while standing back up and dusting myself off, "Now could you fill her in Twilight?"

   As Twilight goes over my situation, Rainbow Dash simply remains silent and keeps up her cold stare. Rainbow Dash simply stood there unmoving and only slightly nodding at a few things. She really doesn't like me, uh. I didn't know I was displeasing.

"So... You're new here?" Rainbow Dash says looking over to me with the same stare. I nod. "And you thought we were going to do something to you?" I nod. "And you're the one who made it dark." I sheepishly smile and nod.

"Yeah that's me." I say wiping off my mane.

"Well then...," she says as her eyes gain a playful expression. "You're a cool guy, not as cool as me, but about Rarity level cool." She says giving me a punch in the shoulder that might've made a less prideful man yelp. While I may have been knocked back a half step, I did not make a notion of pain.

"Don't you think that you're being a little pompous?" I say returning her smirk.

"Well I have a right to be. I AM the best flier around here." Yeah, pompous, but at least she seems hospitable.

"I'll take your word for it." I say taking out my watch and checking the time now that the sun is getting near the setting point. 2:56, I best get back home and rest before the meeting.

"Sorry for being sudden, but I need to get back home and get ready for the meeting tonight. Thank you for showing me around." I say turning around towards the south road.

"Wait you're leaving already? It's only 3 o'clock, we have five hours until the meeting." Rarity says in a slightly down casted manner while checking her wrist watch.

"Yeah, I mean you just met ME!" Dash says in a offended tone.

"Yes I know, but I want to get back and do some reading before I've got to head out." I say eliciting a questioning look from Applejack, a confused one from Rarity, Rainbow Dash face palms and Twilight gets a certain look in her eyes that probably won't ever sit well with me.

"WAIT! YOU'RE an egghead?" Rainbow Dash says laughing at me. I guess I could've expected that from her attitude.

"I prefer the term 'activist of the literary arts', but yes I guess 'egghead' will be fine." I say as she continues to laugh.

"OOH, what book are you reading? Complex floatation variables? Controlled psychological variances? Advanced rotation and deconstructing spells? A  complex study of the mid-equestrian anarchy? A EXQUISITE DRAWING GUIDE TO HENTAI?!" Twilight rattles off excitedly while hopping with more energy than I expected of the purple unicorn. Wait...Hentai? Who is this unicorn or even better, why would she assume I'd be drawing that?

"Let me answer from the first book to last. No,no,no,no and I would be reading that if I had the book. I'm reading the journal I told you about earlier." I say taking the journal out of my right vest pocket.

"Oh, I guess I could've expected that, but if you really do want a drawing guide for that, I can get you one. I work at the library in town, just go to the north entrance and you'll see the sign." She says eyeing the book.

"I'll keep that in mind and please get a basic version of the book first. Also, you can't read it Twilight." I say putting the book back in my vest pocket as she smiles sheepishly.

"Well, goodbye then," Applejack says waving my off."I'll be seein' ya' later." She finishes seemingly relieved by my coming absence.

"Yeah. I guess bye Still." Rainbow says in a indifferent manner.

"Bye darling." Rarity says waving me off.

"Goodbye." I say walking off towards home along the southern road. Interesting days seem to be upon me.

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   Walking along the path, I take out my book once again to do a quick study of a spell or two I might want before I get home. Movement spells? Why not?

Chapter 8:Movement Spells

Spell 1: Quick Step

This spell involves a use beyond stealth as is applicable to regular life, however this spell is useful for escaping after you've been detected, going quickly though open places to more hidden ones, escaping quickly to help avoid detection, following a target or if you cannot yet use forms of teleportation. This spell is used by thinking of seven lines pointing upwards that then converge into one arrow in the center. This spell works by having a initial charge up and a drain for every time your foot impacts the ground. Sorry, I don't have any efficiency tips for this one.

"Seems simple enough." I say while stopping closing the book.

   I create the seal in my mind and then begin to push my magic into it. In contrast to the last spell I learned, this seal begins to glow sapphire, beginning at the bottom of the lines and filling up to the arrow. While this spells drain isn't as bad as the light cancelation spell the drain is still more than my other spells but the initial drain is regenerable. But it will drain more when I step?

   Taking a step, I see that sapphire waves pulse though the ground where my hoof hits it and small scarlet waves pulse up my legs and my step propels me almost twice as far and I feel a small amount being drained from myself. I walk a few more propelled steps in a circle to help get a idea for the drain. Not too bad. Hmm, no use in not getting back fast. I think while waiting for my magic to finish recharging completely.

   Once my magic is recharged I break off in a mad sprint down the road, easily going near double my speed from last night. I can feel the air moving around me in a torrent of broken tranquility, blowing my long mane backwards as I continue to dash forward, slightly veering off the the left. Looking at the ground I can see the sapphire pulses growing in magnitude and power yet my steps aren't gaining any sound as I would expect. Why is this? I think as I feel a familiar approving feeling within myself, yet from a different source it would seem. What the hell is with this? I think as I drop the spell.

Oh shit. I run over to the ditch on the side of the path and proceed to deposit the contents of my stomach via my mouth. I pushed it to far. Spitting out the last of the vomit from my mouth I think of the feeling that was just within me. It was like the feeling I from the cancelation spell, yet it felt like it was coming from a different source than the former. What are these feelings?

   Dismissing my thoughts for a later pondering, I look around to see how close I am to home. Damnit, I must've turned. Looking around me, I can see the forest off in the distance, however the path I'm currently on doesn't lead towards it. Taking note of the way I was facing when I stopped, I go down the path towards where I came from.

   I decide to just enjoy the walk and look around at the scenery that escaped my vision the last two times I was on one of these paths. The grass around them was littered with various flowers and insects going about the business of spreading life, small bushes line the paths and dot the fields around me, the occasional tree along the path produces no fruit, but instead provides a nice place of shade for anypony waiting for somepony or just stopping to bask in a landscape foreign to me, and small rodents, mammals and birds move around throughout the area collecting what they may need from the greenery that has been preserved in the land. Tranquil peace, how quaint.

   Stopping under a tree I pull out my watch and check the time once more. 4:21, I need to hurry up if I'm going to get home and back on time. As I think this, I hear a small 'Eep' come from behind the bushes to my right. A bird? No it would've flown off and if it was a hatchling I would be hearing more. Rabbit? Since when to those things 'Eep'? Rampaging hatchet wielding hitman? No, that's me when I play DayZ.

   I turn towards the bush while putting my watch back into its designated pocket and then proceed to nudge it with my hoof.

"Hey, anypony there?" I say, nudging it with slightly more force than before.

   As I do this a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail jumps from the bush and up into the tree next to me, while expelling another cry of fear. Damnit I spooked her.

"You can come out of there, you know." I say in a detached manner while turning to where she jumped into the tree. Nothing.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. You don't have to be scared or anything I'm just passing by. Do need some help?" I say trying to sound more enthused than usual.

"O-oh, w-well ok then. I'm sorry for making you worry so much. I-if thats alright with you." She says lightly flying down from the tree. I can know see she is wearing A beige sweater and some plain light yellow pants. She's shy. Based on what I know about pony names, I'm calling it now. The word shy will be in her name.

"It's fine. I'm StillSonata. What's your name?" 3,2,1...

"I'm Fluttershy." She says being one of her green eyes behind her mane. Called it.

"Hello Fluttershy, anyways what were you doing behind that bush?" I say becoming detached once again, by both expression on look. Maybe I am depressed on the outside. Weird I feel fine on the inside.

"Oh umm, hi." She say trying to hide even more behind her veil of hair.

   We continue on with saying nothing for the next five or so minutes with the only change being the occasional breeze. Awkward isn't the right word, strange would work better.

"Well, I'm gonna be back on my way to the everfree. I guess I'll see you around Fluttershy." I say giving a small wave and turning around.

"Wait." She says and I turn around,"Why are you going to the everfree forest? I-if you don't mind answering that is."

"Oh yes, you don't know. I live out in the everfree forest and you could've guessed I'm new around here, so I need to head back there to get ready for the orientational meeting that's tonight." I say brushing a stray piece of my mane from my forehead.

"Oh no, I forgot all about that! I'm sorry but I need to be going right now." She says in the closest thing she may ever achieve to a yell and then flys off down the path where I was returning from.

"These mares I have met are quite strange." I say quietly before returning to my trip back to my home.

***********************************************************************************************

   As I sit on the couch, waiting a little longer until I leave, I pull out the book I've already been in three times today and turn back to the chapter over movement spells. I then flip to a random page among the chapter and begin to read.

Spell 5: Escape Teleportation

This spells name for the most part explains its purpose. This spell is a situational spell, this meaning that it will only work when trying to escape something. While this may make it less versatile than regular teleportation, it will use less of your magic and be casted faster. The origins of the spell begin in my 27th year of life when I was testing a mix of the quick-step spell and the basic teleportation spell. While this spell may work only when escaping something, that something can be anything, tangible or not, such as light, darkness, the line of sight of somepony or something as simple as a room. This spell works by visualizing a square with a circle inside of it that touches the edges of the square but doesn't exceed the squares edges. There is also one small dot that must be visualized and you must know where you wish to exit to. You do not need to know exactly where though, simply 'the other side of that door' will work. Once again, no tips besides the previous ones.

   I close the book and put it back in it's vest pocket in my fresh clean outfit. A little more complicated than any of my previously learned spells, but as always 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'. I take out my watch and check the time, 7:33, and then deposit it back in the left vest pocket. Time to go, I may as well try it.

   Bringing up the seal described by the book in my mind, I think of the path outside my home and begin to pump magic into it. First the circle is filled with a scarlet glow then the square containing it followed by the dot. Nothing. Maybe it needs more? I pump more magic into it before I get a similar feeling to the one from the light cancelation spell, no not similar, it's exactly the same. Rather than fighting it, I let it guide my magic in until the dot has become violently white. I then feel what could be described as a river of air casting my downward until the compression feels to break away my bones. As I open my eyes I see that I am on the path from my home to ponyville again. It worked, that feeling wasn't bad either, if anything it was friendly in a sense. Why? I feel slightly exhausted by the drain is hardly worse than the initial cost of the quick-step spell.

"I guess it's time to go then." I say before running down the path into he darkness. I can't help but think a long night awaits me.

***********************************************************************************************

   As I walk up the path Applejack directed me to, I see a few ponies walking there as well. Some who seemed to be friends gossiping, some seemingly student and parent pairs walking along tightly and others roaming on their own as I am. Near the end of the path, I can see the school clearly and notice that it seems rather small, but I best not be judgmental of foreign architecture.

   As I walk up to the door I can see Twilight, Rarity and Applejack standing there as if waiting for somepony. I decide to walk up to them since they seem like they could give me the most information about the nights events. As I near them Applejack notices me and waves me over. Were they expecting me? Why?

"Hello Applejack,Twilight, Rarity." I say walking over to them and checking my watch. 7:53, not much time left.

"Oh, hello Sonata. I see you changed clothes, are all of your clothes like this?" Rarity says looking me over.

"Yes, the other picked up quite a bit of dust from falling down and being punched all day, and yes I only have clothes like these."

"Fluttershy you can come out now." Applejack says pulling the slightly familiar butter yellow pegasus out of a bush.

"O-oh umm, hi." She say hiding once again behind her seemingly nature wall of hair.

"Oh hello there, I didn't notice you." I say pulling my necklace out from under the vest where it fell into and giving her a half nod.

"What's that? I don't remember you wearing it earlier." Twilight says eyeing it.

"Oh yes, it's just a necklace of mine." I say putting it back into place, centered with my vest.

"Really? It looks like a cutie mark necklace." Rarity says taking note of it while Applejack shoots me a half mad half uneasy look. That's it. I'm done lying. These ponies may of not told me about this 'Pinkie Pie' or her 'plan', but they've been honest. I don't have a right to distrust that honesty.

"Hey Twilight, remember when I told you about how I got this book?" I say taking it out once more then putting it away.

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, that story was only half true, but if you want to hear the other half promise me you'll be understanding of it and not over-react and excommunicate me and whatnot." I say staring back at all of them while Applejack's expression changes to more of a shocked one.

"Oh come on, darling. How bad could it be?" Rarity says becoming slightly uneasy.

"Go on, tell 'em. If 'Ah excepted you for it, they can too." Applejack says meeting my gaze.

"What do you mean Applejack? He already told you?" Twilight says turning to her orange friend.

"You should know it no use lying to her Twilight. I haven't known her a day and I know that." I say grinning inwardly.

"Aright I guess. Go in with it we don't have much time. The meeting begins at 8:15, they postponed it by somepony's personal request." The purple unicorn says turning back to me.

"Ok but first. Rainbow Dash get down here." I say calmly throwing a small rock up in the air where she is with my levitation while Twilight eyes my horns unique glow.

"How did you notice me?! I was SO quiet!" The cyan pegasus says landing next to Applejack.

"What's with your horns glow? It's multicolored and-" Twilight begins to say becoming all too loud for my tastes before I cut her off.

"Quiet. I'll explain all of that if you'll listen. First, this necklace is a cutie mark necklace. Second. My magic is divided into two portions, one being scarlet and the other sapphire. Third, I noticed you because I have a talent for things like hiding. And forth, my cutie mark is not for the violin, it's for stealth, stealing and assassination and this necklace is what it looks like." I say as Applejack grabs Fluttershy and Rarity to keep them from running off and Rainbow Dash grabs Twilight to stop her. At least 2 of them didn't freak out. I'm surprised Rainbow Dash didn't tackle me though.

"Now just calm down you three. He ain't done nothin' to us. Even Dash is takin' his word for it, be reasonable." Applejack says getting them to actually  calm down and think.

"Alright fine you can let me go Applejack. I'm terribly sorry I was so quick to judge you darling, with the way today has been I'm rather jumpy." Rarity says giving me a apologetic look.

"It's fine. If anything I'm sorry for being so blunt about it."

   Twilight and Fluttershy follow along with her shorty and we then wait around for the next few minutes.

"What about your book? Where is it actually from?" Twilight asks.

"I wasn't lying when I said it contained most ever stealth spell, but it's actually a journal written by a mare called SilentOrchestra about 259 years ago and it was given to me as a gift from her." I say checking back in the book. Wow I never even looked back here before.

"What do you mean 'as a gift from her'?"

"You know that every cutie mark is recorded right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, if you go to that back of the journal she leaves a note stating that the next pony along her line of spiritual descendants will be given this journal filled with every stealth spell ever created and every stealth spell that ever will be made since the field of these spells has been completely exhausted. She also said that the next along her line would be the last of the true thieves. This book has been in the Canterlot Royal Archives until recently when it was bequeathed to me." I say speaking truthfully and remembering what I had read from her will which had been left in the back of the journal. Funny, our names actually matched up like a family. Why didn't I read back here before? It makes a few thing come together. Like the feelings I've been having.

"Isn't that a little much?" Applejack says becoming uneasy again.

"Well, kind of. Knowing that after me nopony will ever have a cutie mark like mine and that I'm the last of this 'True Line Of Thieves' can be a little unnerving but I'm going to have it either way. And I don't want to make my 'Spiritual' ancestor angry with me for being given her personal arsenal of spells to just let it gather dust. It also explains my magics colors, according to her every pony along this line has always had dual colored magic. Her's apparently was black and gold. Mine, as you saw, is scarlet and sapphire. There's more here but it just says the rest you'll learn with time. So I'm just going to trust her." I say as they all look at me dumbfounded.

"Nope, I'm not gonna ask. If you really are the descendant of one of the greatest thieves ever and also the last of them, it's ok with me, have fun with it." Twilight says and the rest agree with her.

"Anyway, shall we head in?" I say gesturing to the door.

"Alright." Dash says starting off.

"Anypony else have a bad feeling about tonight?" I say looking at them.

"Nah, what could go wrong?" Dash replies casually.

That bitch just excited the wrath of Murphy now we will all pay dearly for it.

A Scream To Prove One's Worth And To Remember One's Place. 24

   I find myself back within my soul lying on my stomach and I push myself up off the floor and the water-like surface ripples as my hands and hooves move around on it. Always so odd. I think as I turn to see both Safaia and Hitsuki facing me and standing on two really small, probably only a meter tall, pillars and are only a about 12 or so centimeters in diameter.

"Hello again." I say calmly. It's not like panicking will help.

"Hello." Hitsuki responds.

"So what's your plan this time; another assault maybe?" I muse as they both sit down atop their pillars.

"Nope. We don't need to do a thing."

"And why is that?" I ask while running a hand through my mane. "And also, why are you two standing on such small pillars? Wouldn't it be easier just to stand on the floor?" I say while tapping a hoof on the floor.

"That's what I don't understand. How can you stand on liquid so easily?" Hitsuki says with a smile and I instantly splash down into the liquid floor and I can tell it isn't water due to how thick it is. What the hell?

   I try to swim back up for a breath but I find that the original surface tension has reformed. Fuck; I didn't even get a god breathe. I think as I struggle to try and break it open again even though my speed and strength are at least halved due to the thickness of the liquid. Damnit; it won't break. I look to my left as a cascade of bubble come through the surface and the figure of Hitsuki emerges as they clear.

"Yo; what seems to be the problem?" She says with a smirk and I merely nod as I continue to try and break the glasslike barrier. "You do realize you can breathe here right? It may feel like you're swimming, but all I did you bring you to another one of my corners of this realm." She says while looking at her nails. What?

   While I don't trust this mare, there's is no denying she holds power here and that she is my best shot. I guess I'll trust it. I think as I open my mouth and take a deep breath. Surprisingly I can breathe regularly and despite the sweet taste it's essentially like breathing air.

"Thank you." I say while taking a few deep breaths.

"You're welcome, but I'm afraid I don't have time to explain hosts and such to you; so let's get to what you're going to do now. You can breathe this in, however if you do not acquire oxygen within ten minutes after I begin the challenge you will pass out and lose this challenge. If you intend to get some oxygen the only way would be to break this barrier to the surface. However, as you've already noticed, you cannot break this barrier without the proper equipment." She explains as we both occasionally give ourselves a push upwards as to not sink farther down into the abyss.

"Before we get any farther; why would I want to complete this challenge and what is the challenge?" I ask with a disgruntled look on my face.

"The challenge as you may have guessed is to get back to the surface before your time runs out or before I can kill you. I'll explain your reward now. You see, chaos and deviant point are spells used to give things in your world a fraction of mine and Safaia's abilities. However, it's not as if we're going to lend somepony incompetent our power. Thus we give you a challenge to complete and if you complete it you'll earn the right to manifest a small bit of our power. I reside over Deviant Point within you; so if you when this challenge and Safaia's you'll earn the right of use those spells." She explains while conjuring a block of magic under her to rest on. Smart girl.

"So what do I need to break the barrier?" I ask, content with her explanation.

"Oh I don't know... Maybe something like this?" She says as a dark scarlet spike shoots out from her left hand and she turns the back of her hand to face me. Fuck.

   On the back of her left hand is an exact replica of my own chitin plating except her chitin is coloured the same scarlet hue as her fur and a large red spike is coming out of the tip of the triangle. The spike glows with an odd light and extends about 25 centimeters or so off of the end of her fist. I look down to my own left hand and sadly I don't have a spike of my own; I just have my regular black plating.

"So I was right; you're the reason I have this changeling plating on my hand." I say while flexing my own hand.

"Yeah; although mine doesn't look like this. I simply modified to be on the same level as yours for this challenge." She says with a smile.

"Then why doesn't mine have a spike then?"

"First; you can only manifest a certain extent of my physical structure passively. Second; this spike can't passively be manifested. Third; you haven't earned the right to use this.

"How do I earn the right to use it?" I ask with genuine interest as to how I could use the seemingly sharp appendage.

"Simple; you need to learn how to conjure it and then you need to win the challenge."

"And when does it begin?"

"Right now idiot." She says before lunging forward at me with the same speed she would have out of the liquid.  Fuck.

   I shift to the right as fast as I can to dodge it and she barley misses my left arm with her lunge. She quickly turns back around towards my front as I twist to face her. She creates another block behind her and propels herself off of it. She swings her arm in a sweeping motion and I try to move back in time but with no avail. The tip of the spike comes across my chest and leaves a large gash is left across my chest and it leaks blood out into the water. Damnit; I'm already losing the fight.

   She sends another swing of the weapons at my head and I begin to move back while bringing my fists up to block the strike. I feel an excruciating pain come across the back of my right hand yet I feel nothing on my left hand except a slight bit a pressure. What? I open my eyes, which I had closed in fear, to see blood conforming to the liquid I'm in from my right hand and nothing from the left.

   Stopping for a moment I turn my hand and look at the dark chitin plating which on the back of the appendage.  Nothing; it blocked the strike. I guess it makes sense considering how my carapace is a creation from her carapace. I just found my way to fight back.

   She sends another jab my way and I shift my left fist downwards to intercept the strike. Her scarlet weapon impacts my makeshift shield and I twist slightly to ensure that her strike glides off with ease. While she is in this vulnerable position I take the opportunity to send a punch at her which merely nudges her face to my lack of speed and power here. She however, with her normal speed which easily overtook mine before entering this place, doesn't miss a beat and makes another jab at my abdomen which I cannot avoid.

"Fu...ck" I mutter as the spike enters my abdomen and barley pierces back through my back.

   An almost up bearable pain comes across my body as a seemingly ungodly amount of blood and pieces of my organs come out into the fluid as she pulls the blade back out of the hole it made in my body. I move my hands down to feel the ending in my body. Disgusting will suffice being as I am extremely repulsed by the texture alone.

"Uh... Well you at least lasted longer than I expected of you." The mare says with a tone consisting of contempt and something else, sympathy perhaps.

"How long did I really last though?" I ask as my vision begins to blur.

"About 1 minutes and 23 seconds; a good 34 seconds longer than I expected." She answers while forming a long scarlet box of magic under both of us.

"Thank you. So I guess I lost then?" I am able to mutter through me pain as I kneel own on the platform.

"Yeah; starting tomorrow night every time you sleep until you finish this challenge you will come here and we will continue. After completing this you will challenge Safaia and once you finish that you will have earned the right to use Chaos and Deviant Point. Goodbye." She answers completely as my vision goes black and I feel a warm embrace come upon me with the feeling of being lifted. Definitely nicer than that old void was.

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   I open my eyes slowly and I find that I am still lying in the same clearing as before. I push myself up off the grass despite my groggy status and I move my right hand down to where my wound used to be. Nothing. I think as I rub against the fabric. It hurts like hell in there but out here I'm fine it seems. I decide while checking my clock to see what time it is. 4:37; I was in there much longer than I thought. I think while walking back through the various vines of the forest and out of the clearing. I'm gonna go see what's happening in town for a while. I can finish practicing the rest of those spells later.

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   After an hour or so of taking a shower and making my way to town, I walk into the main square nonchalantly which my right hand in my pocket. I walk up to the fountain and look at the waters while trying to think of something to do. What to do; what to do?

"Well hey Sonata." I hear a voice come from my left and I shift my head slightly to see the caller.

"Hey Dash; hey Applejack." I say calmly as they approach. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were following me around."

"Yeah right; you should know by now there aren't a great lot of things to do in this town so bumming around here is a good time waster. Also I was meeting Applejack here so we could go do some work at her farm." The blue pegasus answers with a smile.

"Is it alright if I come help?" I ask while giving them a more interested stare.

"Sure; just one rule though, no using your magic for it. First off; I don't trust you entirely yet and second; we don't much care for using magic for regular work." Applejack answer and we begin to move along.

"So why are you so willing to go work?" RainbowDash asks me while giving me an inquisitive look.

"I just felt like it. I've been out in the Everfree all day testing some new spells so I can't afford to neglect my physical health either. Living with Berry almost requires that I do so." I admit.

"What kinds of spells and who are you living with?" Applejack responds immediately in a surprised tone barely cutting off Dash.

"Just a few survival spells and I'm living with BerryPunch." I answer simply.

"The drunk irresponsible mare, that Berry?" The orange mare asks for clarification.

"Yeah; she's a bit of... Extended family if you will."

"So you, the criminal by fate, are related to her, the town's most premiere alcoholic?" Dash asks.

"Yeah. However, she's a little more of a fitness nut that you'd think though; keeps me on my toes though." I muse.

"I'm not even going to comment. You already seem to know your situation." RainbowDash responds while snickering.

"I have to learn every detail of 207 bottles of wine." I say with a theatric shiver.

"I wouldn't doubt it." The orange mare says and that seems to cease our conversation until we arrive at her farm.

"So what are we going to help out with?" I ask as we approach a large farmhouse.

   The entire home's structure only stands about 20 or so meters tall and is composed of wood which is painted red with white boards forming the edges of the structure. While the home seems nice enough I can see pieces of the construction chipping and a few boards are bowing slightly. It's nice, but it needs renovating.

"Well we first have to go see my granny. She'll be a great bit angry with me if I don't introduce you to her before letting you work. She just likes to know who she's dealing with is all." The orange mare elaborates and I simply nod my head in acknowledgment. How bad could it be?

   We walk around the back of the building and I see an old yellow-green mare with her mane in a bun standing with the assistance of a cane near the back wall. Through her wrinkled face I can see her eyes dart towards us as we come around the corner and she smiles softly.

"Well hello Applejack; finally decided to get to work for the day, huh?" She says sarcastically to the orange pony who simply chuckles.

"Sorry about that, but I was able to pick up a few friends to help out." Applejack answers while gesturing to Dash and I.

"Nice to meet you." I say while holding up my hand in part of a fist with only my index and middle fingers pointing upwards and firmly together.

"I recognize your rainbow friend but who is this colt?" The older pony asks while bringing her face closer to mine and her eyes dart around eyeing my facial features.

"This is StillSonata, although he tends to go by just Sonata." RainbowDash answer for me.

"Sonata, heh... I approve. I'll give him 10 bits for the day." The mare responds after a ten second or so pause.

"Now that's fine. I just came by to help out. I don't need to be paid anything." I say while waving my left hand dismissively.

"Now I really like you. Applejack make sure to bring him around more if he does a good job. It's nice having a colt around who just likes to help. Free labor is nice too." The older mare responds with a laugh before walking off.

"Sorry about that; she's a bit too outspoken for her own good sometimes." Applejack apologizes.

"Take no notice of it; I did offer after all. So where do we start?" I finish in an attempt to change the subject.

"We're going to meet my brother over by the barn. He needs some help moving a few barrels of cider to the upper level." She says, seeming to have understood my motive.

   We walk over to the barn which is of a similar condition to the house and as we enter I see a red stallion of seemingly the same height as I am with the most prominent difference being his obviously toned muscles which are apparent even past his deep red fur. Ah shit. I think as the Mac's gaze meets my own before he gives me a look of surprise which is replaced almost immediately by a 'don't say a fucking word' kind of look.

"Hey Mac. I brought some friends to help speed things up." The orange earth pony greets him for us before walking over to him. "This is my brother 'Big' Macintosh; he helps us run the farm and the like. Rainbow I know you already know him but Sonata doesn't."

"No; we met each other a couple of days ago." Macintosh corrects with a smirk and leaves me bewildered. Isn't this something we don't talk about?

"Oh really; how did you two meet each other?" Applejack's questions to my discontent.

"We just happened to come upon each other in town. He looked like he was lost so I came by to see if I could help him." The red stallion answers before raising an eyebrow in my direction. I guess it's my turn to lie.

"I had happened to be looking into a job as a trash collector, but in my ignorance I never asked the pony who told me about it what direction it was in. So Mac brought me there and we had some light conversation during that time." I finish for him.

"I also invited him to go on our annual camping trip if he wants to tomorrow." My fellow male adds on and I give him a death stare. Is he trying to get me in trouble?

"Oh really? Well I guess it's alright if you think he's fine enough. You still plan on coming Dash?" Applejack says while giving Macintosh a sideways look.

"Yeah. Twilight and the rest said they couldn't make it and by that I mean Rarity and Fluttershy are too scared, Twilight is having another all night study session and Pinkie says her Pinkie sense is telling her not to." The blue pegasus remarks with a hint of annoyance.

"So you're coming along too?" I ask while looking at the mare in question.

"Yup. I tend to go along with them each year. Sadly Mac always brings Thunderback along. He's a nice colt and all but the rumors aren't the best as you know." Great now I have to deal with being the new kid in the thieves organization and with two mares, one of which I like and one which is the sister of one of my fellow members. Oh, what joys await me?

"Yeah I've heard. So; shall we get to work?" I say in hopes of switching the subject.

"Alright. Dash and I will bring barrels over to the stairs, you can carry them up Sonata and Mac will sort them once they're up." Applejack directs and points towards a staircase across the width of the barn.

"What was that about?" I say after Mac and I get a safe distance, out of earshot, from the two mares.

"Think nothing of it. They would've come along anyways. I just did that so they wouldn't think anything whenever you came along. Trust me; I'm not stupid enough to me jeopardize us in that way. Now Applebloom will be coming along as well; just for your information." He says while giving me a look of mild contempt.

"Ok; I guess that's fine. It's not like I have anything against foal. You're sure you don't mind Applebloom and Applejack knowing me though?" I ask sincerely as we reach the stairs. I thought he'd be more sensitive about this.

"Don't think I won't be angry if you get either of them involved in his organization, but I don't particularly mind. I only joined up with them to fill the financial gap left from our parents passing. The farm is back in the green now so I'm focusing on leaving now. It'll just take me another year or so to pay the leaving fee then I'm done." He answers.

"Heh, I can only wish to be that close. If I had it my way I'd not be in this situation. However, this is my debt and it my responsibility to pay it off."

"Trust me you'll get there someday as long as you remember that you're not like them. Thunderback is there because he loves it and the same is for Berry and Spacial. I'm only in the organization because my family needed me. If you remember that you're only there because of your debt and that you want to leave as soon as possible, you'll get there before you know it." He says reassuringly.

"I like you a lot more than when I met you now." I say with a chuckle. I'm not closer to being out of this but it's nice to know I'm not alone in this.

   Macintosh begins to say something but the two mares are getting within earshot again with a barrel in each of their respective arms and he dashes up the stairs. Applejack sets down her barrel in front of me and I kneel down to pick it up.

"What were you and Mac talking about?" I hear the orange pony's voice come from above me.

"Just about some details for the trip."

"Ok. Just be here at 8 tomorrow morning and we'll set off." She says before walking away and I pick up the barrel and walk it up the stairs.

   The stairs creek under me, but I think they'll be fine enough to handle the combined weight of myself and the full barrel. The barrel itself isn't as heavy as I expected it to be, but it still has a good bit of weight to it. I get it up the stairs and I set it down on the floor before walking back down to get the next barrel. This process continues for the next fifteen or so minutes and we move about 24 barrels in total.

"That should've been the last of it." Applejack says as I walk back down the stairs. "A little harder than what you're used to as a unicorn?" She sarcastically remarks.

"Not at all; training my mental power for magic doesn't mean I can neglect my physical condition." I answer with a smile as Mac walks down the stairs.

"Well that's good; it's too often unicorns just skip to using magic these days. There's nothing wrong with it since they're born with it, but whenever you become a slob because of it it's no good." He comments while swinging himself back and forth through the air from an overhanging wooden beam.

"True; but I don't intend to get like that. I wouldn't be able to live myself I did." I say honestly.

"They never do; you probably couldn't beat any of us in a race without your magic." Applejack comments which hurts my pride a little. I don't have much pride as a unicorn, but my pride in my speed will not be damaged. Then again; this isn't my old body. This one is still a good bit slower than its forerunner. Teehee; pun. Nonetheless I will do what I can to win.

"When and where?" I answer back to her.

"Now and to the edge of town closest to here. Sonata you can't use magic and Rainbow you can use your wings. Big Mac, begin the count down." Applejack says before her, Dash and Mac get down into running positions.

"3,” he counts and I get down into a similar position. "2, 1 and go." He says and we each bolt off.

   Big Mac takes an immediate lead over us and is able to exit the barn first with the rest of us not too far behind. Applejack begins to overtake me and Dash so I try to go a little faster to keep pace. After we begin the downhill portion of the run down the path to their home Dash overtakes Applejack and I and Mac seems to have run out of steam and has now slowed down to just behind me.

    Rather than continuing to swerve through the winding path I decide to simply cut through the trees to save myself time. The trees aren't too awfully close so I am to weave through them easily and I come out on the last leg of the path ahead of Applejack and on pace with a now slower RainbowDash.

"So; now we're neck and neck. Who will win?" I say to help set the tone for our situation.

"Probably me; after all I'm not the one who cheated to win." She remarks while increasing her speed slightly.

"Just because I choose to go alley cat style to compensate for my obviously lower speed doesn't mean I cheated. I played to my strengths and no rule was established that I couldn't." I huff out in defense. Besides, could I call myself a criminal if I played without bending the rules?

"Either way this will be my win." She finishes as we come within the last 50 meters to the towns outermost ring.

   I try my best to overtake her but even with my longer legs I can only manage to match her pace which still only allows the gap to not widen anymore. I see something out of my peripheral vision and I see that Applejack has managed to catch up to me. I can't beat Dash but I'm sure as hell not letting a cereal beat me. I think as we pass into the outer edge of town with my body only being a hair or two ahead of the orange mare's.

"I won. I should've been betting." RainbowDash cheers pompously as I simply huff alongside Applejack.

"I guess so; I should've chosen a shorter run." Applejack remarks.

"Yeah; you could've gotten at least second place if you had." I say while remembering the beginning of the race.  Then again I would've also been last.

"So how did you get past me Sonata?" Applejack asks me with a sideways look.

"I weaved through the trees rather than going through the curving path." I admit.

"So you cheated?"

"No; I played to my advantages. You never specified which way we had to take to get here." I remind her.

"Anyways; where did you brother go Applejack?" Rainbow asks the orange mare with a semi-confused look.

"He decided to just go back; I think he realized it was his loss. Speaking of which it's about time I go back too. Granny will be wanting some help with dinner and Applebloom will likely be wanting some help with something or another." Applejack says before going into a light jog up the path leaving me with the athletic pegasus.

"So now what?" I ask while readjusting my vest and watch since they seem to have shifted during transport.

"Well, I guess I'm going to go get something for dinner." She says before turning to walk into the town and gestures for me to follow.

"I'll probably do the same. Then again, knowing Berry she'll have me make dinner to make up for her making me dinner yesterday." I remind myself. She seems to be the kind of mare that would do that.

"Mind if I come over then?" She asks and gives me a pleading look. Damnit; I usually wouldn't concede to that tactic, but I'll make an exception just this once.

"I guess that would be alright. It's not like she can complain when I'm the one cooking." I answer and her pleading look becomes a closed mouth smile and she hops up a little.

"That was easier than I thought it would be."

"I can be generous from time to time." I remind her.

"I'll remember that." She says and we then turn to go down an empty street the path to my home.

"I thought you would've already."

"I guess I should've." She says meekly.

"Don't worry about it. After all; it's my duty if I want to be considered a gentlecolt." I say for my own amusement.

"I guess it would be."

"I still can't believe you're faster than me." I lie simply to keep the conversation going.

"I would've beaten you even more if I had flown instead of running." She mocks and flexes her wings through her short sleeve shirt.

"Is that another challenge?" I humor her.

"From here to your place. Anything goes except direct teleporting to there?" She else orates and we stop as I bring up a magical seal in my mind.

"Go." I say in a hushed tone as a swarm of black birds erupt from the earth under me into the street and I dash off through the swarm with my speedstep and all I hear is the faint sound of Rainbow saying 'asshole' from behind me

   After I make it about 25 meters I see a faint shadow created by the moonlight come alongside me and I look up to see Dash a little ways ahead of me. I thought that would buy me a bit for time. Oh well I guess I'll have to try harder. I hint as I exert a bit more energy into my run which is grown proportionally by my spell. It still drains me a bit but I've gotten a bit used to it now.

   Sadly since I need to be able to conserve enough energy to be able to keep the spell the whole distance to my home I cannot overtake Dash but rather I can only keep a neck and neck position. I need to find some way to shift this back to my advantage. I think as I turn out onto the open path to my home. That might work.

   I strip the glove off of my left hand to see the scarlet glow slightly illuminating the plating. The glow is a result of love. I think as I lift my hand up near my horn. And since love equates to energy for a changeling; this should work. I contemplate before tapping the plating against the tip of my horn.

   I can feel a small tingle and a few stray sparks of my magic come down in front of my eyes. Sadly, although I feel a little more invigorated, I don't gain anywhere near enough of energy to increase my speed. I bring my hand back down and I see that the scarlet glow is no longer there but the plating hasn't changed. Damnit; I can't think of anything else either.

   After making it about three-fourths of the way down the road I begin to fall behind Dash and I drop the spell as I enter the forest. I guess this is my loss. I think as I redone my left glove and continue to my door. Thinking about it now if I had chosen to do a short dash I might've won. I couldn't go too fast with the spell because of the distance.

   I turn the corner to see that Dash isn't at the front door and I can hear muffled laughter as I near the entrance.I think I get the picture now. I think as I open the door and climb down into the main room.

"It's about time you got here Sonata." I hear Berry say as I turn my head around.

   I see Berry sitting in her rocking chair and Dash is laying down on my remaining couch with a bowl of salad on the floor next to her with a fork in it. I guess I don't have to cook then.

"Sorry about that; I didn't feel like vomiting so I conserved my energy." I say while conjuring a magical box to sit on.

"Good; I can't have you getting sick. Also did you get those spells learned?" The magenta mare asks and I mentally chastise myself. Oops; I forgot to finish learning them. Oh well; I'll finish them tomorrow morning.

"More or less. I particularly enjoyed the last two. Quite the pair they are." I say sarcastically.

"Ah yes those two. I guess you never got them figured out?"

"Nope. It just hurt a lot."

"Umm... What are you two talking about?" Dash says through a mouthful of salad and with a confused look on her face.

"Just some spells I made Sonata learn. I'm trying to diversify him. After all; you can't be a good 'trash collector' if you're a one trick pony." Berry answers her for me.

"Oh; I guess that explains the bird spell he used." She says and takes another bite of her salad.

"It's called Raven Cloak and yes; that is one if the spells I learned." I correct her.

"Also Sonata we made a deal while we waited for you." Berry says and I mentally face palm.

"And what, pray tell, would that be?" I ask with no attempt to mask my contempt.

"We're going to split up into two groups when we go on the camping trip tomorrow. You, Mac and Thunderback against me, Dash and Applejack. It's not really a competition but I think a large group of six would affect how much unity is formed." She answers back while casually going back and forth in her chair and Dash co tuners to scarf down her food.

"Wait; don't you have a job tomorrow?" I ask remembering what she had said this morning.

"The client cancelled. His father got diagnosed with a fatal disease so he said he'd have to put the job off for a while." She answers with a wink.

"How unfortunate for him." I say while hiding my happiness. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy she didn't have to go kill somepony tomorrow. That isn't to say I don't know she will do it again in the future.

"Yeah really. I can't imagine how he must feel." Dash says empathetically.

"I can, but that's beside the point. Now I know I said the group thing wouldn't be a competition, but what's the point of having two groups if we don't at least have a friendly competition." Berry says and the conversation shifts directions.

"It's always an ulterior motive with you, isn't it?" I say hypothetically and with no intent of hiding my minor annoyance.

"Kind of; regardless though I will now explain the competition and Dash I hope you can carry the message onto Applejack. Maybe send her a text message or something?"

"Yeah; I'll tell her about it." The mare in question answers before taking out a phone and pushing her empty salad bowl aside,

"I'm still surprised she had to problem with you coming along."

"As am I." I say while extending my seat and giving it more of a couch design to lie down on. It's still not very comfortable.

"Anyways, here's how it will work. I will have one of my friends go out and set up a collection of small ribbons, 51 in total. They will be hidden in various places within the surrounding area of the campsite and at varying difficulties. Each ribbon will have a set value. There will be twenty-five red ribbons with each being worth one point and they will be the easiest to find. There will be fifteen yellow ribbons which will be worth five points each which will be slightly harder. Along with those will be ten blue ribbons worth ten points each and are the second hardest. Finally there will be a single black ribbon worth twenty points; I plan to have it near impossible to find." The earth pony explains quickly.

"And you just thought if this tonight?" I ask in minor disbelief.

"Yeah; I'm a genius. Did you get all of that Dash?"

"Yeah; she said it sounded like fun, but to be sure to not hide them too difficultly. Applebloom is coming along so it'll be nice if she can find a couple." The blue pegasus says before hitting her phone back I to her pocket.

"Alright; I'll make sure that some are easy enough for her. Also; it's getting late. Shouldn't you be getting home to get some rest for tomorrow?" Berry says while pointing at the wall clock which reads 7:39.

"Yeah I probably should. See ya Berry and thanks for dinner. Sonata, get faster and good night." The blue mare says before getting up off the couch.

"Good night; see you at Applejack's tomorrow." I say whole watching her climb up the ladder. Pervert or not; I am attracted.

"Don't go staring Sonata." Berry says as the door closes and I turn back to her.

"I wasn't staring." I say in my futile defense. Ok; maybe a little, but I blame these new horse hormones. I've only been here a week. Thankfully the social relations don't seem to be too awfully different from earth's, except the gender ratio that is.

"And I'm not a criminal. Normally I'd lecture on the importance of when and where you look, but I think I'll move on to a more pressing matter. How did it go with those spells?" She says as I get up off of my conjured seat.

"None of them were too awfully bad, excluding the last two. I also never tried to actually cast Dark Sparks because I didn't want to risk starting a fire I wouldn't be able to put out." I answer as I pick up Dash's bowl and bring it I to the kitchen.

"Fair enough." Wait; what? No question at all as to why the last two were difficult?

"So you have no questions about why the last two were difficult for me?" I say as I walk back to the open couch.

"Not at all; I expected them to be hard. I'd be surprised if you said they weren't." She says with a nod of her head. Considering what I know, that means she knows something I don't know.

"So you do know something about besides what the books states?" I question her.

"No; what gives you that notion?" She replies while closing her eyes.

"While I could see you having me learn those two spells out of simple curiosity as to what they are, you said you'd be surprised if I said they were easy. Along with that you asked if I ever got them figured out and you didn't respond when I said it hurt a lot. Had you of asked out of curiosity for their purpose it would've made more sense to ask things such as how it hurt me or if I had determined anything useful about them. Being however that you didn't ask either of these things or anything for that matter seems to me to be an implication that you have outside information on them that I could benefit from. Am I correct?" I explain to her with a bit passion. If it can help me finish their 'trials' any faster, I'd like to know it. I'd rather not spend every night for potentially years to come getting holes stabbed into me.

"Wow, and here I thought you were stupid. Look, while your reasoning isn't bad, it's one sided. You didn't really try to play in many ulterior motives I may have had besides curiosity and that I knew something you didn't. Next time you argue think about more possibilities than the two which forefront in your mind and you'll be more likely to convince somepony to believe you or at least give it a good bit of thought. I'm got to go get somepony to put up those flags now so you get on to bed. You'll want your rest I'm sure." The older pony responds before running over to the ladder and shooting up it.

"Well I guess that makes sense, my argument was a little one sided.... Wait a minute; she completely side stepped my question!" I realize aloud and face palm at my own stupidity. Although that isn't to say she didn't answer. She does know something, if she didn't she wouldn't have avoided my question. Score for Berry; 7. Score for me; 1. I guess I'm still losing.

   Not wishing to continue thinking about this for too much longer, I get up and go back to my room. After a quick shower and removing my accessories, I crawl into my bed and wait for sleep to come. Something tells me I have a long few days to come.

-Reboot Incoming- (To be honest I forget I even had an account)

Hello anybody who somehow remembers this exists and cares to look. I realize nothing has come out of the flaming pile of shit for awhile (many weeks I'd rather not count), but I ran into some family troubles that consumed my life. To be honest again, it had been building up for awhile so when  it finally burst, it was larger than I care to admit. In short, I forgot this existed and even if I hadn't, any creative flow would've been dead. So somewhere from then to now, somehow my account name got changed ( I had to look up the story to find the account name), an old friend mentioned what ever happened with this and I decided to give it a look over.

Now that I look it over, I realize many and a multitude of problems both logically, grammatically and over-all it was appalling to me and I'm actually sorry for it. So now I'm going to rebuild from the metaphorical ground up with modified supports. I'm tossing HiE out the window, there won't be a build up into the thief idea (it'll just be there from the start and if i decide to give back-story into why, I'll add it then), the whole spirits thing will still exist but in a greatly modified fashion so it isn't so obstructing, and other overall fixes. Obviously somethings will remain the same (some names, spell system, ect.) but the main problems will be addressed hopefully.

Damn this is a longer notice than I wanted.

Also I will not try to blend so many god-be-damned genres. My previous attempt at merging them seems an obvious flaw to me so I'm going to keep it simple. Thieving will be the main focus at first but it will take a similar shape of trying to balance a life of crime with an everyday life, though that will only be after doing some planing and establishing a base for the story.

To tie this up, give me a week or so to turn my preplanning into a new chapter and for any severely minimal word to get around and I should have the story name changed, the damned typo in the account name changed, old chapters gone and a new shinier shit in their place.

Or at least that's the plan...