Advent of Victoryby DyonChaptersBefriendMeetingDreamingNightPlansRubytonPreparationExecutionMedicationDepartureExcursionProgressionClueRevelationChaseArrivalFreedomElementaryBefriendHe continued to quake in fear as I stood over him trying to determine what to do. Eventually, I settled on the honorable thing, and decided to let him go. “Hey kid, are you okay?” I asked as I started to let him out of the net. He shrank away from my hooves, and began to stutter. “s-s-s-s-s-s” “What.” I stopped untying him. “Stay back!” he screamed, making my ears pin back. That was a really strange feeling. “Stay away from me!” Oh great, now he was crying. “Calm down, kid. I’m not gonna hurt you.” I probably looked like I was about to hurt him though, I would really need to clean up soon. I face palmed at the obviousness of it all, if I were in his situation there is no way I would trust me either. “P-p-please don’t eat me,” he cried as he continued to shrink away. The guy looked to be no older than seventeen, but he should really grow a backbone. Crybabies really piss me off. “I’m not going to eat you,” I said as soothingly possible as I finished freeing him. “I only eat assholes, and you don’t seem like one to me.” I left him and walked back to the fire that was still burning. The diamond dogs had left all their stuff here when they ran, which from the looks of it seemed to be a lot. A couple of hours in Equestria and I had already accumulated a nice amount of loot. I was going to take this world by storm. I started sifting through the things that the yappy dog had in his pack, but wasn’t able to find anything particularly useful. There was a dagger that was made out of emeralds with a ruby jeweled handle, and the rest of the pack was filled with gems. I tossed the bag aside as I walked over to Raq and started to loot him. The awkward shuffling of hooves behind me drew my attention. “Um… miss?” being addressed as a woman was probably going to get annoying quickly. “What?” I said as I flipped over the dead dog to get at the sword that was still strapped to his back. This thing might come in handy down the road. “T-Thank you for saving me.” He hesitantly walked over to the fire and sat down near it while he continued to look at me. “Don’t worry about it, kid,” I replied as I finally freed the sword and began to inspect it. I looked up at him and saw him glaring at me. “I’m not a kid.” Oh god not this. “Fine then what’s your name.” I looked back down at the sword. Damn this thing practicality hummed when you touched it. “Deciduous,” he replied simply causing me to look back up at him. “Seriously?” that was such a dumb name. My disbelief only caused his leer to increase in intensity. “Oh yea. Well what’s your name miss ‘I am too good pony names’” That’s what he thought I was questioning? “Umm…” Shit! I was actually really good at coming up with Equestrian names, but being put on the spot like this always screwed with me. My mind raced with all of the possibilities for a new name since I didn’t want to actually give my own. Something in the back of my head shouted a name at me and I just decided the go with it. “Vixen.” I mentally slapped whatever part of my mind had come up with that name immediately. It was far too girly for my tastes, but it looked like I was just going to have to get used to things being that way. “Vixen,” he pondered for a moment, “yea that’s a lot better than my name.” What the hell he actually looked depressed that my made up on the spot name was better than his. “Don’t worry about it, kid. My parents were geniuses.” Me calling him a kid again snapped him out of his melancholy and he glared at me once more. “Go look though that fat one’s things, Deci.” I ordered pointing to the sack that was lying a couple of feet to my right. What the hell did he actually blush at me calling him by a nickname? “Yes, ma’am.” “Tell me if you find anything useful.” I said as he made his way over to the bag. I continued to fiddle with the sword for a little bit. The blade was curved like a scimitar, but I couldn’t figure out why since it didn’t look like the dogs rode anything into a fight. Seeing as how there was only one way to actually test its sharpness, I grabbed the handle in my mouth and swung it above my head. I brought it down on Raq’s arm and it cut deeply into it, but I didn’t have enough power to make it go through the bone. The sickening crunch of flesh seemed to pull Deciduous away from his scavenging and he looked up to me with an ill look on his face. I wiped away a few drops of blood that had spattered my face as I let go of the sword and turned to him. “What?” I asked innocently. Nothing…” as he turned back to looking through the sack I could see disgust clear in his face. Ponies probably didn’t mutilate corpses too often. I looked back to the sword that was sticking out of Raq’s arm at a weird angle for a moment. I grabbed a hold of it with my front paws as I sat on the ground and was eventually able to wrench it free. This time I swung it through the air with my paws instead of teeth and was able to lob off his head with an easy motion. I was elated that it was so easy to do I allowed myself a small smile before I turned and watched Deciduous follow the head with his eyes as it rolled across the desert floor. The fear had once again returned to his eyes. I had forgotten once again that he was a pony, and would probably not be able to handle me mutilating a corpse to test a new weapon. “Sorry kid, you shouldn’t have seen that.” “It’s… okay.” That was honestly a surprise. “He was going to put us in slavery, and was probably going to do some pretty bad things to you.” A shiver ran up my spine at his mention of Raq’s plans, but I was able to stop the mental image before it formed. “Let’s not worry about that. We are free now, and I doubt those little pissants will be coming back. Did you find anything good in there?” I asked, trying to change the subject. He looked into the bag for a moment and shuffled some things around. “Looks like all my stuff is in here, and a couple of pieces of wood.” He pulled out a pair of saddlebags from the bag, and slung them over his back. “Got anything useful in there?” I asked as I got up from my seat and walked over. As I stopped in front of Deciduous I picked up a few errant pieces of firewood and tossed them on the fire to keep it going strong. “Just some bits and food. You want any?” “No thanks,” I laughed, “I am stuffed.” He looked like he was going to be sick for a moment. “By the way, do you know where we are?” My question seemed to shock him so he reached back and pulled out a map that he had tucked away in his bags. “We are in the Badlands,” he said pointing to the spot on the map. “We aren’t actually that far from the border, and if we start walking we can make it back to Equestria before tomorrow.” “We?” I hadn’t actually thought about it, but it looked like I had already acquired a companion. Wouldn’t The Doctor be proud of me. “Well I mean…” He looked down at his hooves and began to shuffle around awkwardly. “Could you help me get home?” He tried to hide a small tear that found its way out of his eye. “What are you even doing way out here?” “It’s personal,” he spat. Looked like Raq wasn’t the only one with bi-polar tendencies. “If you want me to take you home then you better answer the question.” I brought myself to my full height, which actually a little taller than he was. Whatever kind of fox creature I was it seemed that I was at least as big as a pony. “I ran away.” “I’m sorry what was that?” “I ran away.” “Still can’t hear you.” “I RAN AWAY!!!” he screamed, almost knocking me off my feet. My ears rang for a moment before I regained my hearing. It seemed that foxes had heightened hearing, which was really a pain in the ass with how much this kid liked to scream. “Fuck kid, take it down a notch.” “I am not a kid!” At least that scream was a little softer. “Fine, fine, Deciduous. Why did you run away?” I have actually dealt with friends doing this before. “Because.” I rolled my eyes, and walked back over to where Raq was lying. At least he didn’t scream at me anymore. “You know if you want to stop being called a kid you might want to stop acting like one. How old are you anyway?” I started to loot Raq’s bag, which had a lot more valuables in it than the others had on them. “Sixteen,” he answered immediately. “I’m old enough to be on my own.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again as I looked back at him. “Fine. I don’t really care why you ran away I just don’t want to show up at your house, and be arrested for foalnapping.” Yea I could slip into the Equestrian dialect seamlessly. You jelly?” “I left them a note,” he replied in a huff. “Alright. Since you will probably just get grabbed again by more dogs if you try to go alone, and since I have no fucking idea where we are you can tag along. But you need to do what I say when I say it. Got it.” “No,” he rolled his eyes at me. This kid has an attitude problem. “I will eat you, you little shit.” That got his attention. “O-O-Okay,” he stuttered. “Good. Now pack up everything we will need while I finish looting this guy.” I kicked Raq’s body in the ribs hard, and was delighted to hear one of them break. “Also, you might want to take this sword.” I removed said blade from the ground and tossed it to his feet. He eyed the sword that still had a bit of blood dripping from the end of it like it was a snake about to bite him. Tentatively, he reached out a hoof and touched the handle before pulling away again. “Why are you giving this to me?” he asked after a moment. “Because the only way I will be able to use it is if I stand on my back paws, and that isn’t going to happen. No, it will probably be better for you to use.” I shrugged and went back to my work. I pulled off the scabbard that was still attached to Raq’s back and tossed it over my shoulder to the same general area I had the sword. I didn’t hear Deciduous move for a long time, but eventually I made out the sound of hooves scraping against the ground to retrieve the sword and scabbard. He quickly took them both and strapped them on under his saddlebags. Deciduous then scrambled between all the equipment the dogs had been carrying and started stuffing anything he could into his saddlebags. I stopped him as he started to grab the scrappy dog’s bag and emptied it of gems and knife before I gave it back to him. I tossed them into Raq’s bag before I slung it over my back. I took a closer look at the bottles that Raq had been carrying, but couldn’t make heads or tails of them. These chemicals might come in handy down the road, but they had no labels on them so I had absolutely no idea what they did. Careful not to break any, I unstrapped them from around Raq and started to tie them around myself. It was hard to do with my paws, but eventually I managed to get them all in place. The bottles seemed to come in two distinct types, and I figured it would be better to test them now than before we got into an actual fight. I removed one of the bottles, which seemed to have a green liquid sloshing around and chucked it far across the sand away from us. To my surprise I was able to actually put some good distance on it before it crashed down to earth and split open. A sickly green gas started to rise into the air before dissipating. This was probably the knockout gas that the dogs had used on me and Deciduous to capture us in the first place. The thought made me angry, but I suppressed the urge to destroy all the bottles since we were likely to need them. I removed the other kind of bottle from the straps, which was filled with a clear liquid this time and tossed it close to where I had the first. The bottle crashed to the ground and split open sending the clear liquid flying in all directions. The second it hit the air the liquid ignited in a brilliant display of fire before it started to burn itself out. All right then, the clear bottles are the dangerous ones and I should probably not be carrying them around. As I looked over myself with the bottles strapped to me I realized that I still had no idea what my face looked like. I dug around in Raq’s bag for a while until I finally found a mirror. What that ugly dog had a mirror for I will probably never know. I turned until my back was against the fire and held up the mirror in front of myself to get my first good look at my body. I had known what most of my body had looked like before, but when I saw the whole thing in profile I had to admit that it was very slim and feminine. I hated admitting it, but it was definitely something I couldn’t deny. I was probably very sexy, and some part of me loved it. My coat was sticking up in odd angles at places so I ran a paw over it in order to smooth it out before finally turning back to the mirror to study my face in detail. I had been unable to wipe all of the blood from my muzzle earlier and my fur was stained pink where the crimson liquid had settled. Besides that my face resembled that of an average white fox except for a small black patch of diamond shaped fur in the middle of my forehead that seemed to glow a faint blue color. I put the mirror back in the bag and turned back to Deciduous who was happily munching away on an apple as he waited for me. God dammit! I had made a man wait while I prettied myself up! I was never going to live down this shame. I motioned for him to lead the way, which he did gladly. We began to trek through the wilds of the badlands with our destination set, but as I looked around at the barren wasteland around me I realized I had no idea what direction we were going. “Do you even know where we are going?” I asked. “To Equestria,” he deadpanned. “Well no shit. What I mean is do you know which direction we are going.” “You like to swear a lot lady,” he replied, ignoring my question. “When you get to be my age you can swear as much as you want. Now answer the damn question.” “How old are you anyway,” he asked just before he slapped a hoof over his lips. That was a major faux pas. “You aren’t supposed to ask a girl how old they are.” Hell, even I knew that. “Sorry.” “Whatever, I am three hundred and twenty-one if you must know.” It was only off by about three centuries. I had no idea how long my new species lived so fudging the number a little bit probably wouldn’t hurt anything. Probably. “Wow.” He was completely awed by my bullshit. “Yes, amazing I know. Now how do you know we are going the right direction.” He stopped for a moment and pointed to the sky behind us. I looked up to where he was pointing to see a bright star sparkling in the darkness. “That’s the north star. Since we want to go south we just go the opposite direction of it.” He turned back around and continued to trudge through the dirt. “Know it all,” I muttered under my breath, but I think he heard it since he started chuckling lightly. I continued to trudge along behind him, and started to really study him. The lowlight didn’t seem to be a problem, and I was able to actually get a good look at the kid for the first time. He was a dark green, which was somehow accented perfectly by the various fall colors that made up his scraggly mane. He had a couple of scrapes along the left side, but nothing that seemed too serious. His cutie mark was of several trees covered in winter snow. I decided to ignore the irony that was the pony walking in front of me, and continued to trudge along behind my new green friend who was obliviously walking ahead of me. We continued on for several hours until the first signs of light started to creep over the horizon. I looked to the east and watched the sun crest the horizon with interest, and as soon as the first rays of light touched me I felt different. It was hard to explain, but suddenly the bundle that I was carrying felt three times lighter, and I was able to heft it with ease. When I looked back to Deciduous who had ignored the rising sun he seemed to be moving a lot slower, almost as if in slow motion. I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding and the world returned to its usual self. I quickly raced to catch up to the pony that had left me behind in the dust, and was walking beside him after a few seconds. We glanced at each other a moment before continuing on ahead in silence. I am somebody that appreciates the quiet, but this was just starting to become unbearable. “So what is Las Pegasus like?” I asked after a moment to break the tension. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like my question did that at all. “I don’t really want to talk about home,” he replied. I rolled my eyes and sighed as we continued to walk. Eventually I heard him ask a very similar question from his spot to my left. “What is your home like?” I didn’t exactly want to explain to him that I was a human and probably from a different dimension. Hell, I still didn’t wholly believe that this world even existed and was still holding out that I was in some strange coma dream. “I don’t really want to talk about home either,” I replied. He seemed to take my answer in stride, and we kept our forward march at a steady pace. It was probably going to take a while before either of us decided to open up to the other, and that was okay with me. The sun started to climb into the sky and give the desert its trademark heat as we walked across its harsh environ. MeetingMy stomach quivered and protested as we continued to trudge along in relative silence. The apple that I had foolishly accepted was still trying to make its way up my esophagus. It had been delicious going down, but it seemed that my new body wasn’t exactly built for ingesting the juicy fruit. I groaned in agony, but kept walking forward at my reduced pace. We had stopped for a small break earlier, and I had taken the opportunity to cook all of the meat I still had. Using some scrap pieces of paper and a tinder that I found in Raq’s bag I had started a fire strong enough to thoroughly cook the slabs of meat I had brought with me. The entire time I was working though, Deciduous looked like he was going to relieve himself of a particularly sweet and delicious apple. He didn’t launch any protests with me the whole time I was cooking what was left of the Diamond Dog however. I had thought that him being a herbivore would mean he would be violently against any eating of meat. I am still not sure if he kept silence out of fear or some deeper understanding of my nature, but he had made sure to not come anywhere close to the fire as I was cooking. It hadn’t taken too long since there wasn’t exactly all that much to dry out, and soon I had a nice bundle wrapped up in my bag that would last me a few days if I ate it sparingly. It seemed that my young friend had gravely misjudged how long it was going to take us to get to the border, since we had been walking through the daylight for nearly four hours now. Everything for miles around was a barren wasteland, but about half a mile ahead I was able to see the mountains we were approaching at a snails pace. The earth pony in front of me suddenly stopped and almost caused me to crash right into his back. I sidestepped and narrowly avoided the collision before giving him an incredulous look. “What is it?” I asked. “Up ahead is the border.” He pointed to the mountains in front of us. “There is a path that leads through the mountains and into Equestria. You might want to clean up some before we get there though.” He sheepishly looked away from me after that last bit. It took me a second to realize what he was talking about, but eventually it clicked. I licked my lips and was immediately greeted by the taste of copper. It seemed that some of the diamond dog blood had dried on my muzzle, and would probably be a major put off to anypony we came across. “You have some water?” I asked. Before the question had even left my lips he was already digging through his bags for a canteen. I used my teeth to rip off a small piece of linen from a cloth in my bag and I took the flask from him. With the now wet cloth I vigorously scrubbed my jowls. After a moment I pulled away the now pink cloth, and smiled to the kid next to me. “I get it?” He just stared back at me for a minute as if trying to decide what to say before he finally rolled his eyes, “Yea.” “Lead on then.” At my word he once again began to advance towards the mountains as I tossed the cloth over my shoulder. Probably wouldn’t be much use for a bloody rag out here with nopony around. “Hey Deci, where do you live anyway.” I wasn’t able to see him blush at my use of a nickname, but I could see him freeze up for a moment before continuing on. “My parents live just outside of Las Pegasus,” he said without turning back. “How far away is that from the border?” “About two weeks on hoof,” he replied nonchalantly. I had to stop myself from falling over in shock in true anime style though, since I was walking around in a cartoon world the desire to do so was very tempting. “What the hell are you doing all the way out here?” “I told you that already.” “Whatever. If I have to babysit you for half a month there better be one hell of a reward waiting for me.” We had just about reached the foot of the mountains, and the path ahead was just starting to become visible. The mountains themselves were towers of rock that stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction. The insanely small path that was stretched out ahead of us wound along the sheer cliff face, and looked like it had been built by an insane blind man. If I focused for a moment I could even see tiny pieces of it falling hundreds of feet to the ground below. My apprehension was understandable. “Oh hell no,” I said as I stopped and caused my companion to as well. “What?” he asked innocently. “There is no way in hell that I am getting on that path,” I stated with a stomp, which since I now had paws didn’t really do much. “Why not?” he turned to face me. “Just look at it. There is no way that thing will hold both of us.” I honestly have no clue about architecture or construction, but it looked really shoddy to my untrained eyes. “Well you can walk all the way around if you want. See you in a couple of months.” Without waiting for my reply he turned and started along the trail. I looked left and right, but wasn’t able to actually make out anything other than mountains. Sighing, I followed him onto the path, which I just knew was going to be the end of me. Instead of staying close to the ground like any good path would have done, this one quickly began to ascend higher into the mountains until I was soon able to look over the side and see the rocks hundreds of feet below. It isn’t something that I like to talk about, but I may have a tiny fear of heights. It isn’t like anything traumatic happened to me as a child that caused the fear, but for as long as I could remember, whenever I was this high up I could not help myself from picturing my body crashing into the ground below over and over. Only after the fifteenth time I saw myself dying horribly on the jagged rocks that lay at the bottom of the cliff, my companion pulled me from my reverie with a simple question. “Hey, Vixen?” “Yea,” I answered after a moment. It took me a second to realize he was calling me by my fake name. “What is hell?” At first I was struck dumb by the question, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made. Of course ponies had no concept of hell. “It’s a place were murderers and bad ponies go when they die so they can burn for all eternity.” Maybe I shouldn’t have put it so bluntly. The color drained from his face as I finished speaking. “That’s horrible.” “They deserve it or else they wouldn’t be there.” Shrugging, I took the lead of our two-man wolf pack. It wasn’t like I actually needed him to guide me much anymore since there was literally only one way we could go. To my relief, as we crested a rise the path started to get a lot wider. It was almost as wide as two car lanes, and if the wheel marks that I could see in the dirt below me were anything to go by then there seemed to be a decent amount of traffic. The mountains provided a shade that I was thankful for. Like any true Texan I have no problems with the heat or walking around in the sun when it is over a hundred degrees outside, but with this new thick coat attached to my skin the heat was starting to get to me. I was just about ready to keel over at any moment when we finally made it to the shade of the peaks above us. “Where does this path let out anyway?” I asked as I dropped back so that I was walking alongside him. “There is a town on the other side of the mountains called Rubyton. It is where I stocked up on supplies before I came this way. They are mostly traders that send out caravans into the wastes to get gems and bring them back.” I noticed that he was glancing around nervously. “How do they get the gems?” I also glanced up at the ledges we were passing under half expecting to see sandpeople staring down at us. I was a little disappointed to find nothing there. “I assume they trade with the diamond dogs for them, but who knows they might dig them up themselves.” “You mean they trade with slavers?” Was I the only one that thought that was incredibly wrong? “I guess.” He shrugged. I sighed; I don’t think that I would ever be able to understand these ponies. “Why do you look so nervous?” I asked, deciding to change the subject. He hesitated a moment as he continued to look around. With every step he took I could see him wince a little. “Snakes.” “Snakes? You are afraid of snakes?” Now I was laughing. He glared at me, but that only served to increase the hilarity of the situation. He was walking around with a super sharp sword how could a snake scare him? My laughter was suddenly cut off as the sound of somepony screaming reached my ears. Before I could stop him, Deciduous had taken off running down the path ahead towards the noise. I would have called him out for doing something incredibly stupid if I weren’t afraid of attracting attention to myself. I scowled and took off after him, I wasn’t going to let the kid die after I had just saved his life the night prior. I’m pretty sure there is supposed to be some responsibility or something about saving someone's life. As I rounded a particularly sharp corner I almost ran into the green earth pony that was standing stark still in the middle of the road. I walked up next to him, and followed his gaze to the horrible scene that was playing out in front of us. About fifty yards away a group of ponies were fighting off a fifty-foot snake with wooden spears. The thing reminded me of an ancient basilisk, but was far larger than any depiction of one I had ever seen. It stood nearly fifteen feet tall as it looked down on its prey that were feebly trying to defend against it. Its sand colored scales blended in perfectly to the mountainside, and I could only assume that it had been lying in wait for the poor caravan to come along and be its lunch. The massive creature lunged forwards as quick as lightning and grabbed one of the mares by her head before lifting her into the air. I could hear her muffled screaming from where I stood before it was cut off by the crunch of the snake biting down. The serpent then reared back its head and devoured the mare whole before turning back to the group of ponies staring at it in horror. “We are going to need a bigger net.” Though incredibly lame it pretty much summed up all my thoughts on the situation. Before I knew it, my companion was once again charging over to the group with no care for his safety. His insanely stupid and hasty actions had now put me at a metaphorical crossroad. If I tried to go up against that thing there was no doubt in my mind that it would rip me to shreds in an instant; especially since it was twenty times my size and I was still trying to get fully used to this body. At the same time I didn’t want to see the only pony that I had met so far by eaten because he charged at the nightmarish creature without thinking. I groaned in frustration for a moment once more took off running after him. I took the time to marvel at just how fast I was going; I was probably doing something close to thirty or forty miles an hour. Looking up at the snake as I ran towards it once again reminded me that this was by far the stupidest thing I have ever done. Well, maybe it wasn’t as stupid as running into oncoming traffic in order to win a bet, but it was definitely a close second. That twenty bucks had totally been worth it. It took me only ten seconds to cross the expanse between where I was standing and the group of ponies, but in that time the snake had thrown a unicorn stallion into the rock wall where he now lay motionless. I did a quick count, and saw that there were seven ponies still left fighting against the serpent, including the two pegasus in the sky that were trying to get its attention. The snake wore what appeared to be a grin as it played with its soon to be meal. Deciduous had tossed his luggage into one of the carts, and unsheathed the sword he had strapped under his saddlebags. He broke the line of ponies and stabbed the snake causing the diamond edge to sink deeply into the snake’s underbelly. Blood sprayed everywhere as he ripped the sword free once more and moved to make another attack. The snake turned its attention to the teen and dived at him, and he was barely able to roll out of the way as it snapped the air where he had just stood. I took the opportunity to lunge forward myself, and swipe at its face with my claws. They didn’t sink into its scales very far, but I did manage to score four long marks down one of its cheeks which slowly started to bleed. The giant snake let out a shriek of what I could only assume to be pain before it turned on me. I really didn’t like the look in its eyes. “Come at me bro,” I taunted as I slowly moved away from the group of ponies. I highly doubted they would be of any help here. The snake stared down at me as I separated from the group. In a flash its mouth was moving forwards at me. I jumped to the side in a display of agility that I shouldn’t have been able to do, and barely managed to get out of its way as it flew past me at lightning speeds. Luckily, I had been standing near the rock wall, and the snake collided with it hard enough to send a few rock crashing down the mountainside. A massive boulder nearly crushed me as it landed just to my side between the snake and me. I swore as I ran around the rock, wanting to make use of the daze the beast had likely received from ramming that rock wall. Just as I made it around the rock it lunged at me once again causing me to jump wildly to the side to avoid being eaten. It almost caught me with a swipe of its tail, but I managed to roll under it. It occurred to me that I should probably try and use the vials of liquids I had strapped about me. The snake stopped concentrating on me as Deciduous landed another strake as its back was turned, giving me enough time to pull off one of the vials of clear liquid. There was absolutely no way that I had enough sleeping gas to knock out this giant so I would have to use my incendiaries. I took aim and threw the vial for all it was worth at the snakes head to only miss horribly. I’m not sure if you know this, but paws aren’t very good for throwing projectiles. The vial came crashing down near one of the ponies that shrieked and jumped out of the way as fire exploded next to her. I swore and grabbed another vial ready to make another attempt, but the snake seemed to catch on to what I was doing. Soon I was once again staring into its huge unblinking eyes as it leered down at my small form. I threw the vial once more only for it to sail wide and fall off the trail and into the jagged rocks below. I could swear the snake seemed almost amused with how terribly I was doing. It opened its mouth wide to show me its long rows of terrifyingly long teeth that dripped with saliva and poison. My breath caught in my throat as it launched itself down at me. I couldn’t watch my death come at me and closed my eyes flinching away. I waited for what would not doubt be the inevitable searing pain followed by a quick fade to black, but the snake never bit into me. Hesitantly, I opened an eye to peer up at the great beast that had for some reason decided not to kill me, and the view before me almost made me let out the breath I was still holding. The snake had completely stopped moving just a few feet away from me. In fact everything had stopped moving. I looked around disbelieving as I saw Deciduous suspended in the air with a bloody sword in his mouth and an angry scowl on his face. A blanket was frozen in the grip of an earth pony mare as she tried to beat an unmoving flame that I had accidentally caused. Several droplets of saliva trailed behind the massive serpent as it continued to stare down at me with both hunger and fury. I had no idea why time had decided to stop for a moment, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I made to take a step out of the way of the snake’s path, but as soon as I finished taking my first step a sudden pain exploded in my chest. I fell to the ground with a yelp letting out the breath I had been holding, and watched as the strange spell that had fallen over everything broke. The snake crashed into the ground where I had just been, missing me by only a few inches. I tried to get up, but the pain that had flared up in my chest was still impeding me. I shakily made my way to a standing position only to be caught off guard by a swipe of the snake’s tail and sent careening into the rock wall. The beast had recovered from its fight with the ground, and now slithered over towards me slowly. I didn’t have enough strength left in me to stand up let alone continue to fight the serpent. I don’t know what had caused the time stop that had just saved me, but it seemed that it was all for not; seeing as how the creature was about to eat me anyways. Imagine my surprise when a ball of fire exploded in front of it and caused it to rear away. Another explosion blossomed next to the first and was soon followed by yet another. The glass bombs continued to reign down from on high, and created a wall of what I assumed to be burning oil between my foe and I. I turned my gaze upwards to see a pegasus hurling bottles down at the ground to try and scare the beast off, and to my endless wonder it seemed to be working. The mare slowly descended as she kept throwing liquid flame at the snake until eventually, fed up with all of the trouble it was having, it slithered off to places unknown. She landed with one of her bombs still held in her hoof until she thought that the coast was clear. I shakily stood up from where I was lying against the mountainside, and limped over to where Deciduous was standing with his sword still in his mouth. My entire right side was sore from the impact, but I don’t think that I had broken anything, which was incredibly lucky. A few cuts had opened all along me as I had slammed into the uneven rocks that made up the side of the mountain. I wiped a good amount of blood from my brow before turning to the mare that had just saved my life. She was a red pegasus with an incredibly white mane. Her cutie mark was hidden beneath the several bags that she had strapped to her back, and a scar ran along the right side of her neck. She finished stowing away the bottles that she had been carrying and turned to face me as well. We continued to stare at eachother for a tense few seconds before our contest was ended by Deciduous’ face popping into my vision. “Oh my goodness, Vixen. Are you okay?” I backed up from the stallion that was invading my personal space. “I’m fine kid, just a few scrapes. It would have been a lot worse if our friend here hadn’t showed up,” I said motioning to the mare in front of me. “Don’t worry about it,” she replied hesitantly. “No, but we should be thanking you. You saved us all from that snake.” He was now walking over to her, and she looked almost as wary of him as she was me. “I’m Deciduous by the way, and this big fox over here is Vixen. I know she may look kind of scary being covered in cuts and some blood, but she won’t hurt you or anything.” He motioned to me without turning around. “Scarlet.” “Well Scarlet, like I was saying we are just super grateful for you helping us out.” “Like I said don’t mention it.” Scarlet spread her wings wide and took off into the skies before he could say anything else. “Well that was kind of rude,” he said to himself as he watched her leave. “Maybe she just wants to be alone,” I remarked as I started walking back to towards the caravan. “Come on lets get our stuff and get out of here.” He quickly hurried along behind me as we made our way over to the survivors. They were all huddled around the stallion that had been tossed into the wall and still hadn’t gotten up. Another stallion was lying in a heap beside one of the carts, crying his eyes out. He was probably the husband of the mare who had gotten eaten. I walked over to the cart that Deciduous had tossed his belongings into, and grabbed the bag I had dropped into the dirt next to it. Deciduous followed my lead and grabbed his stuff and started putting his saddlebags back on. “Try not to run straight at a monster without thinking next time. It is a really good way to get yourself killed,” I said as I began to once again walk down the path ahead. “I was just trying to help. We couldn’t just leave them there to fight that thing alone,” he protested causing me to sigh. “We didn’t even do anything except almost getting ourselves killed. In the end it was Scarlet that scared the snake away, and all we did was take a few hits. If something dangerous like that happens again just try and take a second to think before you run in waving around that sword.” “Fine.” He turned away in a pout that only brought a smile to my lips. “Wait!” a voice cried out behind me, bringing me to stop. I was already cursing myself for even stopping as I turned around to look at the mare who was quickly running over to me. “Don’t leave us here like this. What if that snake comes back?” She was an average looking earth pony that really didn’t stand out much. She was grey with a ginger mane that clung tightly to her neck as it fell over her left side. She had a pair of decent looking saddlebags slung over her back, and her cutie mark seemed to be of a pile of bits. “That’s not my problem. Maybe you should find a path that isn’t infested with giant snakes if you don’t want to be eaten. Or at least get something better than wooden spears to protect yourselves with.” I can’t believe how dismally they were equipped. “Please don’t just abandon us. I saw you fight the snake, you are strong.” “And I got my tail handed to me. What makes you think that I can help you out at all?” Oh great, now she looked like she was about to cry. “Vixen, lets just stick around,” Deciduous pleaded. I looked back and forth between him and the mare for a moment before I finally conceded. If anything, when that snake came back I would be able to use these ponies as meat shields while I got away. “Fine, but I want to get paid if you are going to have me on escort duty.” Escort missions are the worst. That mare in front of me immediately perked up and began nodding her head eagerly. “Of course. It’s only three more days until we get to Rubyton once we start moving again. Does seventy bits sound reasonable?” How the hell was I supposed to know? “One hundred and ten bits, take it or leave it.” I liked to think I had a flair for extortion. “Deal!” she eagerly ran back over to one of the carts and started to count out bits. I facepawed at how easily she had accepted my counter offer. These were traders; of course she was going to lowball me with the first offer. Sighing, I walked over to the mare and collected my fee before inspecting the rest of the group. I tossed the bits into my bag before handing it to Deciduous, which he happily accepted. There didn’t seem to be any unicorns among this caravan aside from the one that was passed out on the ground, and there were only two pegasi. The earth ponies pulled the three carts that they had, which were loaded to the brim with boxes and gems. If we ever made it back to civilization they would probably make a small fortune off of this trip. They gently placed the unconscious stallion into the back of one of the carts before hitching themselves up so that they could move out. Since I didn’t feel much like walking I also jumped into the back of one of the carts and unstrapped all of the vials that I had around me before lying down. It seemed like my throwing arm hadn’t gotten any better with this new body so they would probably be completely useless for me. I put my head between my paws and tried to get to sleep as the ponies pulling the cart along the dirt path. If I had to stick around then I might as well get a ride while I did so. DreamingI stood over the squirming diamond dog with my boot pressed to his throat. Though he was almost an entire foot taller than me he was still unable to move out from under me; his fear leaving him completely paralyzed. Tears began to stream down his face as I continued to apply pressure. The dark space around me whispered encouragements as I slowly stole the life of the dog beneath my heel. His lips moved in words of pleading, but he was unable to make anything audible escape his throat except a whining choking sound. I reveled in the power I held over him as I increased the weight on my foot. I felt his trachea begin to shudder as it tried to absorb the force pressing down on it before suddenly snapping. I removed my foot and took a couple of steps back and watched the dog thrash around trying to pull oxygen into his lungs. His flailing was in vain and no life giving air could make it down his shattered throat and save his miserable existence. I smiled as he wheezed and his face began to turn a comical blue. The veins in his eyes bulged and burst as he strained to take even a single pained breath. It didn’t take long before his flailing calmed and he laid motionless on the dark surface that served as the ground, becoming still. My grin threatened to split my face as I watched the last moments of this murderer's life slip from him and float into oblivion. I didn’t know if he even had a soul, but if he did I prayed that it would find its way to hell so it could burn in fire for the rest of eternity. “It feels good to triumph over your enemies,” A voice spoke behind me, causing me to turn immediately. Before me stood the beautiful woman that had prompted my journey to Equestria not a day ago. “You!” I seethed. “You should not be so hostile towards me, Maximilian.” She continued to walk forward until she stood but two feet away. “You ruined my life.” I spat at her feet, but the gesture roused no emotion from her. “I offered you a choice and you took it. Now you must listen for there is not much time. The veil between our worlds can only be open for a short period.” “Speak your piece then.” I folded my arms and took a step away. Though I despised her for what she had done, I didn’t exactly want to push my luck too hard with her. If she had been able to send me across universes then she could probably squash me like a bug. “I may have not been very upfront with you when we first met, and for that you are owed and explanation. You have been placed into a game between the immortal and powerful for stakes higher than you can imagine. Now that you are in the game there is only one way out, and I do not believe that you wish to journey down that path.” It was pretty evident what she was hinting at. “So basically you and some other people got together and decided to toy with some mortals like myself. Who exactly are you anyway?” “I have been known by many names but you may call me Victoria. I am your sponsor in this game, and you are to be my champion. Together we shall reign victorious over all others.” A fire ignited in her eyes and she showed me a genuine smile. “Wait,” my mind reeled back to the history classes I had half slept through, “do you mean Victoria as in the roman goddess?” “The one and the same. We do not have time to discuss such things now, as time is short. If you ever wish to return to your home, and be out of this game then you must win it. Victory in this competition will bring about spoils unimaginable.” “Fine, okay lets say that I accept everything you just said.” “You should I wouldnt lie to you,” she quickly added. “That’s not the point. I am still debating whether or not I have had some mental break, but lets put all of that shit aside for a moment. I really only have one big question that needs answering at the moment. Why the hell did you make me a chick?” Above everything else I felt this needed answering. She laughed to herself. She actually laughed! “You will thank me for that later.” “I highly doubt it,” I deadpanned. “Believe what you will, but it is the truth. It seems that our time has run out and I must leave. Good luck my champion, may your efforts bear fruit.” She began to step away, and quickly vanished into the blackness of the world that surrounded us. I tried to take off after her, but found that my feet were glued to the ground. “Wait! How am I supposed to win this game if I do not even know the rules,” I called after her, but the darkness had already consumed her. “How does anyone defeat another in a battle?” the voice echoed around me. “By destroying their opponent’s forces.” I sprung to my feet and almost tumbled right off of the back of the cart. I looked around frantically trying to get my bearings and noticed a couple of ponies staring back at me. We were still traveling along the winding path through the mountains, and if the sky was anything to go by, the sun was just beginning to set. I must have dozed off during my ride in the back of the cart. I sighed and settled back onto my stomach as the wagon continued its slow pace along the downward slope. After glancing ahead I could determine that we were not too far from reaching the end of the mountain range. It had taken a good portion of the day to pass through, most of which I had spent sleeping, but it seemed we would pass the border into Equestria in a few hours. I sighed and began to turn my thoughts inward. I was still very disturbed by the dream that had shaken me awake. Was that really something that had happened or had I imagined the entire conversation? It had felt real or at least as real as the last time I had seen her in a dream. It was probably safe to assume that it was actually her. Was her claim of godhood really true though? She had claimed to be the roman god of victory, and if I were to believe that then how could I deny her other assertions. She said that many immortals like herself were playing a game, and that I was to be her champion in this game. Did that mean that there were other humans here in Equestria all competing for some prize that I had no knowledge of? Was this Equestria just one giant staging ground for this game? I had knowledge of this world from the show, but it was very limited. To my knowledge of canon only three gods existed within Equestria itself, and potentially more outside of its borders. The two pony princesses that ruled the land could be considered gods themselves seeing as how they were able to manipulate cosmic entities on a daily basis. Discord could also be considered near omnipotent with how much his chaos magic had changed the world, and even caused the sun and moon to cycle at random. If each of these gods had their own champion in this game then I was easily out of my depth. One thing that she had said was bothering me the most though. “How does anyone defeat another in battle? By destroying their forces.” Does that mean that Victoria wanted me to kill the other champions in this game? Does that mean that they will be trying to kill me? Was that the goal of this game? I sighed once more and buried my face in my paws, I simply lacked enough information to draw a conclusion at this point, but it would probably be wise to be cautious. I needed to keep my identity as a human hidden at all costs. If anyone found out then it would potentially be the end of me. The simple act of burying my face in my very soft and furry paws prompted an entirely different train of thought to leap out at me. Why was I a big female fox? Why wasn’t I in my natural human form in the first place? If I had to be changed into something else to be in Equestria, which would be the only logical explanation, then why was I in this form? Had Victoria decided this form for me when she cast me into Equestria with no knowledge, and if so why this one? If she wanted me to defeat the other champions in order to win this game then why did she give me a form that couldn’t even use any weapons? Would it not have been wiser to simply make me a massive dragon that could easily eat all others? Hell, anything with wings would probably hold an advantage in combat. Being a fox did seem to carry with it certain advantages though. For one thing I was intimidating, at least to ponies if all of the looks they were chancing at me were anything to go by. It made sense that they would be wary of a carnivore that was at least as big if not bigger than they were. I still needed to figure out if I could actually eat anything other than meat. In this form it seemed like I was much more agile than I had been as a human. Not being a big lumbering oaf was still something I needed to get used to, and it would probably take a very long time. A big downside was the lack of fingers; I could still pick up things with these clumsy paws, but most if not all of my dexterity was lost. I probably wouldn’t be able to do any sort of painting with them. The last thing however was truly bugging me, and no matter how long I thought on it I doubted I would be able to get over it. Why was I a girl? I could rationalize everything else, but this genderswap I just could not wrap my head around. If she had been the one to choose my form while sending me here then why would she do this to me? Tears threatened roll down my face, but I was able to blink them back. A hysterical woman breaking down in front of a group of traders wasn’t very inconspicuous, and that was what I was trying to be at the moment. I decided to stop bemoaning my fate since it wouldn’t help me in the least, and turn my mind to a more constructive task. What had caused that time stop I had experienced while fighting the snake? I still could not figure out exactly what had happened; one minute the massive creature was bearing down on me, and the next everything had just stopped in place. Was Victoria responsible for this or had it been something else? Could I have possibly been the origin of this strange phenomenon? It seemed likely, almost certain, that I was somehow at the epicenter of whatever had happened since it hadn’t affected me. That is until I had tried to move at least. My chest was still aching from whatever had happened, and I knew that I needed to figure out whatever had happened as soon as possible. I would need to spend the rest of tonight trying to figure it out. The sky was completely black now after the sun had dropped below the horizon, and several stars had started to make their appearances. I always did love the night sky more than the day. The day was important for life to flourish, and therefore often revered over its counterpart, but the night was when the heavens lit up with beauty. It wasn’t a necessary thing that kept the unthinking creatures on the ground scuttling about, but it was important for any who looked to the sky and were capable of awe. It gave inspiration to poets and painters alike, and allowed them to express their desires and that of their entire race with their pen or brush. It gave the depressed and lonely something to look to, and brought lovers together. The night was something that defied necessity in favor or desire, and in doing so made itself necessary. Life without beauty is no life worth living. I jumped down from the cart and easily landed on my paws already in a trot to keep up with the vehicle. I quickly made my way to the head of the procession where my young earth pony companion was chatting up one of the mares. I did a quick scan and noticed that there only seemed to be two stallions left among the traders. Maybe mares really did outnumber the other sex by a large margin. “What are you two talking about?” I asked as I walked up to them. “I was just telling Light Gale here about our run in with the diamond dogs,” Deciduous answered as he motioned to the mare the he was walking alongside. It seemed that he had taken the initiative, and hooked himself up to the lead cart so that he could give the mare a break. “You haven’t told her anything bad about me I hope.” I shot him a glare while making sure that the mare next to him wouldn’t catch it. “Nothing you have to worry about I assure you,” Light Gale added with a smile; speaking for the earth pony that was looking down in shame. “He just told me that you saved him from being forced into slavery. That was really kind of you.” She turned her smile to me, and I awkwardly returned the gesture. Did she not care exactly how I had managed to help him out? “Well that’s good.” I let myself relax a little. “Sorry about taking a nap while everypony was pulling carts all day. I was just a little wiped out from everything that has happened the past couple of days.” “Don’t worry about it, dear. We saw you try to fight off that snake, and even though it was that pegasus that ultimately stopped it we still owe you a debt of gratitude.” I studied her for a moment. She was a light beige color, and had a scraggly blonde mane. She was one of the pegasi that had been flying around trying to distract the snake so that the others could get at it with their spears. I immediately found myself liking her; even though it was mostly due to the praise she was giving me. I was very susceptible to flattery. “Shouldn’t we be making camp soon?” I asked. “We will be settling down to camp as soon as we clear the pass. The mountain pass is by far the most dangerous part of the journey because of all the snakes that like to prey on caravans passing through. Once we clear the path we will all hunker down, and get a good nights rest.” She looked between the stallion that was lying unconscious in the cart Deciduous was pulling, and the one pulling the cart behind us with tear stains on his face. “Some of us really need it.” “Speaking of rest,” I turned my attention to the kid pulling the cart, “shouldn’t you take a break? If I’m right then you have been up for nearly a day now, and should not be operating heavy machinery.” “I’m fine,” he said, but speaking caused him to let out a yawn. “Sure you are.” I unstrapped the harness he was wearing and lifted it off of him, causing him to fall forward momentarily before catching himself. I practically shoved him out of the way and pushed him over to the side of the cart. “Why don’t you relax and take a ride in one of the carts with our stuff. I got this.” I started to strap myself into the cart, and found it rather easy. In less than a minute I was pulling the vehicle behind me with hardly any strain. The mare next to me stared at me for a couple of seconds before she started to walk again and quickly caught up. “You are pretty strong for something so thin. Pretty strong for anypony with your figure.” She seemed genuinely impressed. “What do you mean by that?” “I didn’t mean any offense. It’s just that you don’t look like you are very built for strenuous activity. This cart has to be heavy, and I don’t want you straining yourself unnecessarily.” “Looks can be deceiving,” I replied before beginning to pull the cart again. “Don’t I know it, sister.” I winced, but didn’t think that she caught it. “Tell me Light Gale, where did you get all of these gems. I hope you didn’t buy them off of any slave trading diamond dogs.” I allowed my tone to become harsh as I said the last bit. “Of course not!” she seemed shocked that I would even think such a thing. “There is a small pony settlement that digs for gems to send back to Equestria. The settlement is very well defended, but it is so far out there that not many ponies are willing to make the trip out for the gems. I guess they just don’t see the point when you can just gems from one of the trading companies much cheaper.” “I doubt that a corporation would have the moral backbone to not trade with slavers. Buying from them would simply make sure that the cycle continues.” If there was anything that humans did it was make the same mistake over and over until eventually everyone knew what not to do. It had taken us centuries to figure out how terrible slavery was and some places of the globe were still trying to grasp the concept. “I know.” She looked down at her hooves depressed; apparently this was a sore subject for her. “Which is why it’s so important that ponies make the trip out to secure new trade lines. If no pony does then this will never stop.” “Trying to save the world one caravan at a time.” I smiled at her, not enough to show my teeth, and she smiled back. “You are alright in my book, Gale.” “I think you are a decent mare too, Vixen, even if you aren’t actually a mare.” She laughed a bit, and I found myself chuckling lightly as well. “If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing out in the badlands in the first place?” I hadn’t really given much thought to any back-story. Looked like I would have to improvise. “I’m an artist,” I said simply. “I travel the world looking for new things to see so that I can show them to everypony else across the world. When those diamond dogs grabbed me they wrecked all of my equipment, essentially leaving me destitute.” It sounded plausible to me, and if the tears welling in Gale’s eyes were anything to go by, she bought it too. “That is terrible. What will you do now?” “Well first I’m going to make sure that the kid gets back home safely. Apparently he is all the way from Las Pegasus so it will take some time. After that I don’t really know,” I answered truthfully. “We could always use another hoof to help out here if you are looking for work. From what I have seen, we could really use your help to protect the caravans. It is kind of strange to see an artist that is capable of fighting a giant snake.” “When you are on your own as long as I have been then you pick some things up. I do appreciate the offer, but I will probably find something else to do.” Did she find my defeat impressive? I had barely scratched the thing before it took me down. “To each their own I suppose.” After that we just walked in silence until we reached the end of the mountain path. Two giant pillars of stone loomed before us with a large archway in between them. I was pulling the lead cart so I was first across the threshold and into Equestria, and as soon as we passed the border a chill ran down my spine. It was hard to describe but the closest thing would be to compare it to a warning. It was almost as if Celestia was staring down at me, daring me to try and do something wrong. “Home sweet home,” Gale said with a sigh. “Why don’t you steer us to that clearing just off the road there.” She pointed to large circle of dirt alongside the road where all the grass had been trampled. I turned the cart and angled it towards the clearing that she had pointed out. I circled the perimeter to allow the other carts to fall in line behind me before stopping and unhooking myself. The ponies didn't waste any time as they started to set a fire and lay out sleeping mats. Gale came up to me with a blanket probably to offer it to me as a place to sleep. “Don’t worry about me,” I said waving her off. “I had plenty of sleep on the way here. I think I will just stay up and keep watch.” She nodded and returned to the others who were bedding down in the middle of the clearing. I quickly walked to where Deciduous was soundly sleeping in the third wagon, and silently grabbed my vials of chemicals. If I was going to keep watch over these ponies then I was going to at least look the part. I strapped the vials on and walked back to the middle of the clearing where everypony was hunkered down around a small fire. I would need to wait until everypony was asleep to make my next move. NightThe bottle fell out of my paw and onto the soft grass below me as I swore. No matter how hard I tried I was simply unable to get a good grip on the damn thing. I had tried to palm the vial as I used to be able to do with a basketball, but my soft pads simply lacked the amount of friction I needed in order to keep the glass in my grip. I had started earlier by finding rocks that were similar weight to the glass vials that I carried around me and throwing them at a tree. Some of the smaller ones I had been able to toss semi-accurately, but the bigger ones I was unable to get a grip on and would go flying off wildly. Out of the dozens of rocks that I had managed to throw at the tree only four actually hit it. I picked up the vial of knockout gas that had landed in the grass and tried to hold it out again. This time I tried grabbing it by the neck with my paw, but still I couldn’t get a good grip. I don’t know how those Diamond Dogs had been able to throw these at all when they also had paws. Maybe it was because they were bigger than I was? A grunt of frustration escaped me as I threw the bottle at the tree only for it to bounce off the leaves that adorned it and fall into the grass once again. Sighing, I quickly walked over to where it had fallen to retrieve it. I wasn’t able to get a good grip on any of these so if I was going to use their contents I would need to change what they were stored in. The grass gave little protest as I unstrapped the rest of the vials from around me and tossed them down. I unsheathed Deci’s sword that I had brought with me and tried to hold it like I would have if I still had fingers. This was a little easier than the glass bottles, but still very unreliable. The blade shuddered in my grasp as I tried to swing it at the tree. I finally landed a blow on the bark of the tree, but the blade fumbled out of my grasp when it touched the trunk. I almost sliced my paw off as it tumbled to the ground and rolled for a moment before coming to a standstill. This seemed to be another weapon that I would have no use for. Leaving the sword where it lay I took out my last hope for a weapon that I had. I hadn’t taken the time to admire the small dagger that I had scavenged from one of the dog’s bags, but it was very nice. It had a long curved blade that was serrated near the tip. The handle seemed to be made of mixture of gold and silver, and was embedded with several emeralds that gave the dagger a light green hue. It didn’t look like the weapon was actually meant for combat, but was maybe more of a ceremonial piece. No matter what it was originally intended for the blade was wicked sharp. I gave up on trying to hold anything with my paws, and grabbed the handle with my mouth so that the blade was sticking out of the right side of my mouth. It felt insanely uncomfortable to have something this sharp so close to my face, and it tasted terrible, but at least I was able to get a good grip on it. I jerked my head at the tree and scored a long gouge into the bark. The dagger threatened to wrench out of my grasp as I brought it across the bark. It seemed that canines weren’t very good for holding anything metal with. I spat the dagger out next to the sword and cried out in frustration. There had to be something out there that I could use effectively. Why hadn’t I found any guns? I knew how to shoot guns. It seemed I wasn’t going to get any use out of anything that I had with me so I decided to fall back to an old classic. I brought up my paw once more before my eyes and studied the claws that hung off each of my fingertips. During the fight with the snake I had managed to actually cut through its scales with my claws, and it looked like that was all I was going to have in the way of weaponry. Shrugging, I raked the tree with as fierce a swipe as I could. To my shock my claws actually dug into the bark very far before coming back out with little to no resistance. It was hard to really see in the darkness, but it looked like a bear had just mauled this tree. I allowed a small smile to grace my lips as I took another swing. Again the tree completely yielded as I sliced through it with ease. I wouldn’t even need a blade if I had four wickedly sharp ones attached to each of my paws all the time. Why had it taken me so long to realize what I could do with these? I began laughing as I landed blow after blow on the poor defenseless tree. This was amazing if I had known I could do this then I would have never been captured by those Diamond Dogs in the first place. If I had known this then I would have just taken them all down with ease before they knew what hit them. I stopped short as the image of murdering three sentient beings with such ease flashed before my eyes. I quickly shook it away, not willing to deal with those feelings right now; I had things that I needed to do at the moment. I picked up a large branch and bit down on it hard in order to test my new jaw power and was surprised by how easily it snapped in half. After spitting out the bits of wood that had found their way around my mouth I decided that I had enough natural weaponry to last me for the time being. There was something else that I had been putting off that I needed to look into. What exactly had happened during my fight with the snake. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like whatever had caused that time stop had been me. What else could it have been if it left me unaffected like it had. How did I do it though? Did this new body have some form of magic that I didn’t know about? The only thing I could think of was that it had been some sort of fear response triggered by the adrenaline that was coursing through me, and the danger of the moment. I would have to try and recreate this if I was going to replicate whatever had happened. I began by trying to get my heart rate up, which I accomplished by taking short shallow breaths. I continued to breath like this for several moments, and soon found myself getting lightheaded. I looked at everything around me as I tried to get my mind off of what I was attempting to do so that it could come more naturally. I was just at the edge of the tall grass that surrounded the clearing where everypony was camped. They were spread out around in small groups around the roaring fire that was in the middle of the clearing offering them both warmth and protection from the dark. More than one of them could be found snuggled up next to another pony in their bedroll. My materials were spread out below and to the side of me where I had thrown them when I was done with them. The full moon overhead shone down on everything, illuminating my nighttime activities with a soft warmth. The tree in front of me that was just on the edge of the clearing bore several claw marks where I had a little too zealously tore into it. The grass beyond the tree swayed in the soft breeze that filled the night. It was almost hypnotic as it moved back and forth with no will of its own. I continued my shallow breathing as I watched the long blades flow back and forth, becoming slower the more that the wind slowed down. I had to blink as my lightheadedness started to catch up to me, but the slowing beat of the grass kept my attention, and allowed me to continue. Suddenly, the grass and the air that was coming in and out of my lungs stopped moving altogether. I couldn’t breath, but I wasn’t scared by this discovery; it felt exactly like it had when time had stopped before. I looked around and spotted a single leaf that had paused in its fall, which confirmed that the forward march of time had ceased. Something inside of me felt different. I couldn't get my mind off of the image of a swirling blue ball of energy, and I could feel it beating in my chest. The sphere pulsed in time with my own heart, which was beating very slowly despite how fast it had been racing just moments before. I swear I could almost reach out and touch the blue energy but it would move away from me; the same way one would reach towards a beam of light only to be unable to pin it down and cast a shadow instead. Though I couldn't actually grasp the thing I knew it was there. This was the source of whatever was happening, and it was inside of me. I smiled at having completed the task I had set, and hesitantly tried to take a step forwards. Once more the pain exploded in my chest causing me to slump over into the grass, and the spell to break. The grass went back to its gentle swaying and the leaf fell to the ground just before my eyes. I panted as I lay in the grass on the edge of the clearing, desperately trying to catch my breath. What the hell was I doing? I had been taken against my will to a place that I had thought nonexistent, and trapped in a body that was so different to my own, yet here I was trying to figure out how to stop time. What was wrong with me! I had murdered someone not even a day ago, and I was occupied on trying to find a way to be even more deadly. My breathing stopped again; not due to some spell, but rather the stark realization of what I had done hitting me for the first time. I had killed someone in cold blood, and I hadn’t even cared at the time. I had fucking eaten them for Christ’s sake. A sob tried to escape my throat, but I choked it back, not willing to cry in front of the ponies asleep behind me. It hurt to move, but I slowly dragged myself to my feet in spite of the pain. My chest felt like someone had set off a small explosive inside of it, and with every breath I took a new wave of pain rolled over me. I was not unaccustomed to pain, but despite my high tolerance I was barely able to make it to the grass before I fell over. I collapsed into the ground and buried my face in my paws as I started to cry. I hated to feel guilty; it is the one emotion that we are capable of that holds absolutely no value. To feel guilty is to feel pity for oneself, and that never solves anything. I continued to cry for some time, but made sure that my sobs were silent so as to not wake anypony in camp. The night air was cool around me, and the crickets played their soft melancholy tunes. The tall grass itched where it poked my skin at sharp angles, but no matter how I adjusted I was unable to find a comfortable position. The earth beneath me, which held a consistency between mud and dirt, clung to my coat and sapped the heat from my body. I allowed myself to vent for some time before I was able to regain control of my emotions. I hadn’t cried like that for years, not since I was a pre-adolescent child. Was this new body affecting my ability to control myself? Was my mind being changed along with the rest of me? I pushed away the depressing thoughts that would get me nowhere. Instead, I looked up to the night sky that didn’t care for my transgressions. The puny problems of one mortal were not enough to blemish the majesty that the stars held over the world. I felt myself begin to calm as I studied the heavens and took note of the differences between the two worlds I had gazed at them from. The amount of stars that shone down on me were infinitely greater in number than what we could see from Earth. That could probably be attributed to there also being an actual goddess of the night to look after them. I wondered if I prayed to the heavens would Luna hear me. I decided to not test the theory for fear of what she would do if she found me. I picked myself up off the damp ground still aching all over, and shook to relieve myself of any mud that had stuck to my underbelly. The shaking did little to help so I walked back to camp in search of water to clean myself with. I made my way to the nearest cart, and after prying open a couple of lids, found some water and rags that I could use. Holding the now wet rags in my grasp I proceeded to scrub off any foreign substances that clung to my bright white coat. I realized that I hadn’t bothered to clean out the multiple wounds I had attained during my fight with the snake so I went about making sure that none of them would get infected. I then removed and water that might have lingered on me until my coat was pristine. I tossed away any of the rags with blood on them into the grass, went about picking up all of the weapons I had left in the grass. I did a quick scan of the camp, and was happy to see that none of the ponies had woken up during the entire ordeal. Tossing the rest of the materials into the back of the cart I quickly walked over to the middle of camp where the fire was just now dying. I grabbed a few logs that were stacked nearby and tossed them on the fire to keep it alive. I felt emotionally drained, and was soon just sitting on the warm ground staring into the depths of the fire. For some reason a song began to escape my lips. I've been believing in something so distant As if I was human And I've been denying this feeling of hopelessness In me, in me All the promises I made Just to let you down You believed in me, but I'm broken I have nothing left And all I feel is this cruel wanting We've been falling for all this time And now I'm lost in paradise As much as I'd like the past not to exist It still does And as much as I'd like to feel like I belong here I'm just as scared as you I have nothing left And all I feel is this cruel wanting We've been falling for all this time And now I'm lost in paradise Run away, run away One day we won't feel this pain anymore Take it all away Shadows of you Cause they won't let me go Until I have nothing left And all I feel is this cruel wanting We've been falling for all this time And now I'm lost in paradise Alone, and lost in paradise “That was beautiful.” A voice coming from behind me made me recoil and nearly fall over. “Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Out of the darkness I saw Light Gale emerge into the light of the campfire. “Pfft you didn’t scare me,” I said as I picked myself up. Light Gale just gave me a knowing smile before walking over and sitting next to the fire with me. “Right.” I sighed, realizing that I had been caught. “So how much did you hear?” “Not all of it I think. It was really a beautiful song though, sad, but beautiful.” We gazed into the fire for a while just watching the embers dance in their chaotic fashion. “Do you really feel like that?” she asked after a few minutes. “I guess I do.” I let my head hang for a moment. “What is the matter? Nopony should have to feel so alone.” I looked back up to her smiling face, and wondered if all ponies were this nice. “I am stranded so far away from home with essentially no hope of returning, and I am all on my own. The only things that I have to my name are what I managed to loot of the corpse of a diamond dog that tried to make me his sex slave, and the few bits I managed to get for taking this guard job. That was probably a mistake on your friend’s part by the way. “On top of all that I feel like I am losing myself, and I don’t know what is going to happen to me in the future. Sometimes it all just feels like too much. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you up or dump all this on you. I will let you get back to sleep.” I got up to leave, but found a hoof holding me back. I looked back to the pegasus who had still not dropped her warm smile. “I won't pretend to know what you are going through Vixen, but you aren’t alone here. From the way Deciduous talked about you earlier I think that he really looks up to you. You even agreed to take him all the way back to Las Pegasus out of the kindness of your heart. “I don’t know why you can’t go home, but you can always find a new one. Home is the place where our friends and family are, and if you can’t return to one then all you need to do is make a new one. As for what the future holds, none of us can know that for certain. This way you are feeling now could just be a dark tunnel you are traveling down, and soon you will make a turn and see the most brilliant light ever. All you need to do is not give up hope.” Before I knew it she had pulled me down to her and swept me up in a hug. Her wings wrapped around me protectively, and I allowed myself to be pulled into the warm embrace. I felt new tears trying to escape my eyes, but I fought them back with a new determination. I would not cry again; not here. “Thank you, Gale. I think really I needed that.” I whispered as I buried my face in her chest. She didn’t reply she just merely held me until I was ready to break the embrace. I am not sure how long we stayed like that, but when I finally pulled away from her I could see the sun beginning to break over the horizon. PlansI looked back at Gale as I gently pushed myself away from her. She was sleeping soundly with her wings and hooves still wrapped around me, which caused a small smile to grace my lips. Ever so carefully, I set her down on the ground, and did my best not to wake her up as I stood up. I looked back towards the horizon and noted that the sun would take a few more minutes to come into view. The fire was nothing more than embers, and a few wisps of smoke continued to snake through the air above the hearth. The grass below my paws was chill with morning dew as I trudged through it with only small crunching sounds to mark my exit. When I reached the cart where my belongings were stashed I noticed that Deciduous was still curled up in the back of the cart sleeping soundly. Silent as a cat, I moved around him and I walked away and grabbed our supplies that I had left spread out in the grass. I set the items in the back of the cart next to my slumbering companion and quickly walked away. I took the dagger with me since I wanted to see what I could barter it for. Looking up I was unable to spot any clouds overhead, which dampened my mood somewhat, but I quickly renewed my enthusiasm at greeting the new day. I walked back to the center of camp and saw many ponies sluggishly moving around in the early morning light. I guessed that they preferred to move from dawn to dusk in order to cover as much ground as possible. I also heard Deciduous begin to stir behind me as I walked over to the pony that had hired us for this small journey. “Hello,” I greeted as I approached her. She slowly looked up from the bedroll she was rolling up. “Hello yourself,” she replied with a friendly smile. “Sorry if I came off a bit mean yesterday. It has just been a stressful couple of days, and I was feeling a bit worn out. Let’s start over again shall we. Hello my name is Vixen and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” I offered her my paw, which she eagerly took. “Think nothing of it. Name’s Copper Bit by the way.” “Nice to meet you, Copper. Now I couldn’t help but notice that this little caravan is made up of traders.” “Naturally.” “With that in mind I was hoping to purchase some necessities from you fine folk.” I could be nice when I wanted, or when I was trying to coerce someone. “What are you looking for?” She inclined her head. “If it wouldn’t be any more trouble could I see about purchasing a set of saddlebags?” “Well I think we may have something for you if you follow me this way.” After motioning with a hoof she started walking to the only cart that didn't have a pony sleeping in it, and I quickly followed. I could see before we even got there that the cart had almost twice as many boxes as the others. Copper Bit jumped into the back of the cart, and began to go through the various boxes. It took a moment before I saw her head pop up over the crates. “We have several different high saddlebags that we picked up from a caravan coming from the Zebra Isles. What color would you prefer?” “Well, What other colors do you have?” “Just name it, we have just about everything,” she replied as she went back to looking through the boxes. I thought a moment before replying. “Do you have anything in white?” “Sure we do.” I heard her pry off a lid and rustle through another bin before tossing a pair of saddlebags to the back of the cart. The saddlebags were a very pearly white with what looked to be ivory buckles. The actual bags seemed to be made out of some faux leather and had Celestia’s cutie mark emblazoned on them. “That will be fifty bits,” Copper Bit informed me before I could get them a few inches off the cart. I immediately turned and began to scan camp until my eyes landed on a sleepy earth pony. “Deciduous!” I called. Slowly, he began to pad over to where we stood and looked up at me with weary eyes. “What?” “Haggle with the kind salespony won't you?” Before he could reply I was already walking away from the two, and to the cart where our belongings were. The last time I had tried to haggle with that particular mare I was pretty sure that I had been ripped off, and I wasn’t about to let her do it again. Deciduous had a much better chance of getting a good deal since he actually had an idea of how much currency was worth here. I looked once more to the horizon to see the light starting to spread in the sky, and figured that I had a few more minutes before the first rays of the sun would strike me. I started to buckle my new saddlebags into place to see if they would need any adjustments to fit, and luckily they fit like a glove. I opened the bag that I had looted from Raq and to put everything into my new shiny saddlebags. Once I had finished I stopped for a moment to look back at myself. The saddlebags somehow managed to hold everything that I had in the bag I was carrying around previously including the bag itself. The weight of the various gems I was carrying didn’t seem to affect me in the least so after making sure that everything was snug, and in its own place I took off once more to where I had left me green companion. Reveling in the fact that I was now clean and had a shiny new pair of saddlebags I hurriedly padded over to Copper and Deciduous who it appeared had just finished their argument over bits. “So what do I owe you?” I asked when I was finally standing before the two. “Twenty-five bits,” they said in unison, and I had to stop myself from giggling. I really didn’t want to lose any more man points for giggling. I felt around in my saddlebags for a moment for the bits, and after a minute was able to locate them somehow. There was so much stuff in my bag that it was going to take me forever to look through it from now on. ”Now that my buying is done would you happen to be in the buying market for rare items?” I didn’t actually know if the knife I had was rare, but it looked pretty expensive to me. “Depends on what it is honestly,” Copper replied shrugging. Once again it took me a moment to locate the dagger that was buried under all of my random stuff. Eventually, I pulled out the dagger and showed it to her, but I couldn’t really judge her reaction. At first she seemed shocked that I was brandishing a weapon, but the fear quickly passed and gave way to curiosity. She motioned for me to pass the dagger to her and I did gladly. “This is really impressive,” she told me as she examined it closely. “How impressive exactly?” “It is expertly made, and would fetch a great sum to a collector. I myself am not a collector of weapons so you won't be getting its full worth from me.” It was amazing that she was so honest. “Well how much will you give me for it?” She continued to study it for a long moment before answering. “I can go as high as five hundred bits for this particular item. Like I said you can probably get a better deal from a collector.” She tried handing the dagger back to me, but I waved her off. “You are a gem trader though aren’t you?” I said. I needed to unload all of these gems that I had hidden away in my saddlebags. “Why do you have any to trade?” That seemed to perk her interest. “As a matter of fact I-“ I was cut off by Deciduous putting his hoof in my mouth. I know that it is really funny in the show and all, but it tastes terrible. He was very fortunate that I didn’t dislike him or I would have bitten down, hard. “Can I talk to you for a second?” It wasn’t so much a question as a demand, and he was quickly walking away to somewhere more secluded. He walked to the edge of the clearing near the tree I had been practicing on the night before. I wasn’t about to just let him get away with being so bossy so I walked over to where he was waiting ready to give him a piece of my mind. Unfortunately, he cut me off once again before I could get a word in edgewise. “What are you trying to do?” “I am trying to unload all of these gems we got of course,” I replied motioning to the saddlebags I was now wearing. I had almost forgotten that I had nabbed the gems before he had the chance to get a good look at them. I opened the bag and allowed him to take a good long look at the gems inside. If his face was anything to do by I had a lot of bits worth of gems with me. “You got all of these from the diamond dogs?” he asked, practically drooling. “Yea, why?” “There has to be eight thousand bits worth of gems in these bags.” I swatted away his hoof that was reaching for the gems expectantly. “Is that a lot?” I still didn’t really have a handle on how much a bit was. “Is that a lot!” he exclaimed, “You could buy a house with that much.” Oh finally a frame of reference. Where I came from the housing market was actually doing pretty well, and the average two story ran around 210,000 dollars. 210,000 divided by 8,000 is 26 ¼ meaning that it takes 26.25 bits to make a dollar. Give or take a lot of variables that I hadn’t included, but this was a rough estimate. Wait, that means I bought a pair of saddlebags for two dollars? Yea, all of that calculation was for absolutely nothing. Well now I knew that I had a ton of equity just sitting in my saddlebags and nothing to do with it. The smart thing would have probably been to wait until we arrived at town shop around a bit and find the best dealer to trade with. The fast and easy thing would have been to go ahead and sell these and the dagger to Copper Bit for whatever she was able to get me. I am American, which do you think I went with? I grabbed Deciduous’ bag that he still had for some reason and poured all of the gems into them before shoving it back to him. “Take these and get us a really good deal on them. I am trusting you with a big responsibility here Deci, so don’t let me down.” His face lit up as he nodded eagerly and returned to the mare that was still holding the dagger and waiting patiently for our little sidebar to finish. Deciduous didn’t waste any time in negotiating and the conversation actually became quite heated more than once, but in the end they settled on what seemed to be a fair price. Copper Bit agreed to give us 7,000 bits for the dagger and the gems, and even threw in some basic camping supplies for us since we didn’t really have any aside the flint I got off of Raq. As we were walking back to the cart where I had planned to take a very long and peaceful nap after being up all night a thought struck me. “Hey Deci, where did you learn to haggle so well?” I asked. “My dad owns a lumber company,” he replied after several moments, “he taught me all about negotiating prices and getting the best deal possible.” As I climbed into the back of the cart I thought over what he had said; that was the first time Deciduous had ever really talked about himself. I had still to share anything real with him about my past, but I was probably going to put all of that off indefinitely. We were going to be splitting up in not too long anyways. The day was blissfully uneventful, and I managed to sleep through most of it. We were still trudging along slowly towards our far off destination that we had no sight of, but the road ahead of the ponies pulling the carts was smooth enough to allow the wooden wheels of the carts traction, and didn’t jostle those riding in them too much. I woke up sometime around late afternoon to find that the cart I was sleeping in was inhabited by another pony. Sometime during the day a yellow pegasus mare had curled up in the back of the cart, and was taking a nap. I sat up out of my small fort of boxes that I had used to block any of the sun’s rays that would have would have kept me up if they had been shining in my face the whole time and looked around. As opposed to the landscape we had been traveling through this morning, the scenery was much more lively. Rolling grasslands filled the landscape as far as the eye could see, and with my new eyes that was pretty far. Several groups of small birch trees dotted the ground every couple of hundred feet, and swayed slightly in the nice afternoon breeze. In the distance, nearly a mile away, I could see a couple of large cats lounging under the shade of a tree. Who had known that there were natural predators just hanging around on the outskirts of Equestria? I chanced a momentary look at the sun, and was rewarded with several black spots in my vision. I had been able to deduce just a second before I had been blinded that there was likely only one or two hours left of daylight, which left me with nothing to do, but think for a while longer. I sighed and settled back into my small alcove of crates, and desperately tried to find something to ponder that would keep me occupied until nightfall. Thinking critically was an easy way to waste time, but it was often much better to have a partner to bounce ideas off of if you wanted to truly get anywhere. It was such times as this that I found myself carrying conversations with an imaginary representation of myself just to get anywhere down a certain path of logic; a tool that I had decided to employ now. “What do we really know about this world?” “We can be pretty sure that this is Equestria, and until proven otherwise we can also assume that this is a different dimension,” I answered. “Of course, but what I was getting at is what do we *know** about this world. Do you think that events here unfolded as they did in the show?”* “A valid point. I would pose a counter question, why do you think that Victoria would send us, a brony, to Equestria if it did not follow the same rules and timeline as the show. She would be much better served sending someone with some actual survival training into this environment. Therefore, I think we should conclude that the timeline would be the same up to a certain point.” “Perhaps it is the knowledge of canon that would give us a true advantage here. However, we have no idea about where exactly we are in the timeline. That is something we need to figure out.” “I will concede that.” I stood up and looked around for a pony that didn’t seem to be doing anything. “You there,” I called to her and she quickly looked over, “what do you know of Discord or Nightmare Moon?” “I heard that Discord turned an entire city upside down.” She answered immediately. “As for Nightmare Moon, are you talking about the monster that they talk about to scare children during Nightmare Night?” “Don’t worry about it. Will you tell me what feelings you have if any in regards to changelings?” “In regards to what?” She just looked at me confused for a moment before shaking her head and going back to what she was doing. I think I heard her grumble something under her breath along the lines of, “crazy fox monster thing.” “Well that seems to answer that,” I thought as I engaged once again in my imaginary debate. “I agree, it seems that we are somewhere between the release of Discord and the attack during the royal wedding. I wonder why she didn’t know anything about Nightmare Moon though.” “Celestia probably covered up the incident during the Summer Sun Celebration so that Luna didn’t get any bad press, but forget about that for a moment. If we have arrived in this world before the attack on Canterlot then we can warn the princesses about it, and probably get some huge reward.” “Yes, because that went so well for Twilight didn’t it. Some random fox running into the middle of the castle screaming that Cadence is actually a changeling. If they do even take long enough to listen they will no doubt be fearful of our carnivorous nature, and kick us out on principal. Aside that they might find out that we are actually human, and if our theory about Celestia and Luna being in this game also is correct then that could be the end of us right there.” There were a lot of cons to that plan it seemed. “Perhaps we can send a letter to warn them?” “I don’t see why not.” “Actually that might be a bad idea,”[/i] a third voice interrupted. Now the discussion was getting really heated. “Why would it be a bad idea to warn them,” “If we were to warn them that changelings were going to attack during the royal wedding then we would likely cause events to change. We know that they are able to beat back the changeling threat on their own, and we wouldn’t want to stop that.” “What if we did?” *“Why would we want to? I don’t see any way that could be beneficial to us. The entire idea of changelings taking over Equestria was dumb in and of itself. A changeling occupation would eventually be beaten back by sheer numbers and rebellion. If the ponies threw off the shackles of their conquerors how kindly do you think they would look on another creature that eats ponies. We would do well to not get in the way of Equestria’s triumph over Chrysalis,” I shot back at the second voice.* “We don’t eat ponies!” “That isn’t the point.” “Maybe it opens an opportunity though.” “Care to explain?” “We know the day that all of this chaos is going to ensue in Canterlot. We know that the ponies are going to triumph, and we even know that they don’t even need the Elements of Harmony to do so. What if, during the massive hysteria of that day we stole the Elements of Harmony?” “That could be lucrative,” “I don’t think that any amount of ransom money we would be able to get would be worth the wrath that the princesses would bring down on us. The elements are essentially the most powerful magic weapon that Equestria has, and we wouldn’t even be able to use them. There would be no reason to risk ourself to steal an artifact that we can’t even use.” “Okay scratch that idea then. What if we used the chaos to make off with some artifacts that we were able to use? I am sure that the princess has acquired many magical items over her thousand-year rule. Just think about what we could do with all of them?” “That plan has merit,”* I admitted, *“and it is unlikely that any of the guards would be worrying about one unusual creature while changelings are running around everywhere.” “We could also hit the treasury,” “There is one huge problem with this plan though.” “What?” *“How are we going to fight through a horde of changelings during the middle of the wedding?” The question struck the other two selves silent, and made the third one leave altogether.* “That is a good point.” “Isn’t it?” “Okay, well I have noticed that we actually have some pretty impressive magic. The ability to stop time is extremely useful all we need to do is figure out how to use it without almost killing ourself.” “It is true that it saved us during our encounter with the snake, but do you think it could be that useful against an entire army of changelings?.” “It seems that we need to learn some more magic then,” “Would we even be able to? What if our newfound powers only extend as far as stopping time momentarily? We cannot possibly know until we are able to actually find out more about magic in this universe.” “Well the solution is quite simple then isn’t it?” “What would that be?” “We need to visit a library.” RubytonThe day flew by without much happening. The ponies continued to pull the carts along the road as I took it easy riding in the back with only my thoughts and a sleeping pegasus to keep me company. They did stop once when the stallion that had been lying unconscious in the back of one of the carts finally woke up. He seemed fine though he was still bandaged up and would probably need to be looked at once we got to town. I spent that night keeping watch as I had the night before. Once again nothing eventful befell our small group of travelers as they slept and I tried once again to figure out how my power worked. The only thing I gained from that venture was a sore rib cage that was still paining me somewhat today. It seemed that whatever was happening internally was continuing to persist, and was actually damaging my insides. I resolved that night to hold off on the magic training until I had a better idea of what this pain in my chest was. Around noon the next day the town of Rubyton came into view as we crested a hill. From my seat in the back of the cart I was able to get a really good look at the city. It wasn’t actually big enough to be considered a city; it more reminded me of some kind of port town if anything. Most of the buildings were small houses that looked very much like the houses in Ponyville. Smoke was making its way out of several of the chimneys, giving the whole town a nineteenth century vibe. There was a definite main street that was lined on both sides by an outdoor market and farther down by actual stores. I wasn’t able to actually see from where I looked down on the small town, but I guessed that the large carved out oak tree was some sort of library, which was super original. Off to the right of Main Street smaller stores lined the roads including a bakery, and what was obviously an inn. We would need to stop there as soon as we got into town. Even farther off of Main Street was the residential area where ponies were walking back and forth to and from work. On the other side of Main Street a few restaurants could be seen, and behind that street was a path that led to the train station. One of the trains was pulling in just now, and I noted that it didn’t seem to have any ponies pulling it. At least they fixed that before I came here. The train would likely be our way of getting out of town and I would need to check the times before we got settled, who knew maybe we would be able to catch a train to Las Pegasus today. It took two more hours before we reached the outskirts of town where a couple of guards stopped the caravan to inspect it. I would have thought that any inspections would have taken place at the actual border to Equestria, but apparently since this was the closest city to the border it was good enough, probably a lot less dangerous too. Everything was going fine until the first of the guards reached the cart that I was lazing in and stopped with a look of shock on his face. Out came the spear that he had been carrying and it somehow found its way to be pointed straight in my face. I sighed and lazily turned to look at the guard who was leveling a weapon at me. The first thing I noticed was his lack of wings or horn, and the asymmetric way he wore his armor. I was still a little tired from waking up recently, and I wasn’t feeling so great with the constant ache in my chest. The guard that had his pointy phallic polearm positioned in my periphery was obviously very green. The exasperated guard standing behind him shaking her head about ready to facehoof was a dead giveaway. “What?” I asked in the most bored tone I could muster. Aggression puts people on edge, sadness makes them confused or hesitant, unexplained glee can cause others to be fearful and fearfulness can make others happy, but boredom; boredom shows that you are no threat and they should simply look the other way. “State your name and purpose,” he commanded, moving the spear a little closer to my nose. I batted the thing out of my face like I might a fly and astonishingly he actually lost his grip. Why were his hooves so sweaty? “Vixen, entertainment.” I went turned to study my paw like it was the most interesting thing in the world, which at the moment it actually was. I was still amazed that I could actually pick things up with these soft padded appendages, but since ponies were able to pick things up with hooves who was I to complain. The guard scrambled with his weapon for a moment trying to make sure that it didn’t hit the ground, and after some juggling managed to get it back under control. He put on a scowl that might have actually been scary if it wasn’t on a face almost as young as Deciduous’. How can ponies look scary they are just so darn cute. “Assaulting a guard of her majesty’s royal service is a punishable offence. I will have you…” Finally the other guard, a white unicorn mare decided that it was about time to step in. Now that I thought about it they both had white coats, I wondered if what they said about the special enchantments that the guards have on their armor was true. “Quick Fire, that is enough.” She stood before him and forcibly pushed him away with just her icy gaze. I smiled as the stallion backed away from her fury before she turned to me with a smile of her own. “All non-pony species have to pay a tax before coming into the city. It is twenty bits, and I am sure a mare like you can certainly afford it.” She was eyeing my saddlebags suspiciously. “But I am a pony,” I lied, “ I was cursed by an evil unicorn and forced into a life on the run after my village ran me out.” Sure I had literally thousands of bits with nothing to spend them on, but think of it this way. Would you tell a harmless lie to make a few bucks? I know I would and that was exactly why I turned to it now. “Well that sounds just terrible, but since you aren’t a pony now that will be twenty bits.” She held out her hoof expectantly which I deposited the required amount of bits into, and only called her a Nazi once. I was very proud of myself for that. With that little delay out of the way the caravan continued into town uninterrupted, and soon we found ourselves on Main Street. This was the first time that I had seen a pony settlement up close, and I took in everything. The freshly baked goods in some of the stalls made my mouth water with anticipation. The smell of freshly trodden dirt burned at my nose, and the sound of a hundred conversations going on at once bombarded me from all directions. Feeling no need to really stay with the group now that we had arrived I jumped out of the cart with my saddlebags firmly attached and went to find Deciduous. He of course was pulling one of the carts, and took a while to convince to leave and go with me to the train station. We said our goodbyes and farewells to the group before heading out; hoping that we would be able to get a train to Las Pegasus that day. When we finally arrived at the single booth that constituted a train station in this insanely small town I hurriedly walked to the pony behind the glass shield and inquired about the departures. “Excuse me miss, can you tell me when the next train to Las Pegasus is arriving and departing?” She didn’t even bother to look up from the book she was reading as she replied, “Next train arrives and leaves tomorrow at four.” Damn, it seemed like we were going to have to spend the night in town. At least I would be able to hit up the library while I was here. “Two tickets for that train then please.” I turned to Deciduous and motioned for him to pay to which he merely gave me a glare. I glared back and eventually the battle of wills was decided with me naturally being the victor. He sighed and went to the booth to pay the mare that still had not bothered to look away from her book. We left the small booth and started our way back into town when I nabbed my ticket from Deciduous, and in doing so caused him to stop. “Why did you make me pay? You are literally rich right now,” he said a little too loud. “Will you keep your voice down about that? After paying that racism tax I am not too thrilled about paying for much else, but if you are going to make such a big deal about it then I will pay for our rooms tonight. Does that sound okay to you?” “Fine,” he replied with a huff. “So where are we going now.” I stopped and looked around at the small town that was bustling with afternoon commerce. Ponies were milling about everywhere, and those near us would look my way for a moment before turning away out of fear or shyness. I could see the top of the library over the houses, and thought it would be a good place for me to stop. I was also pretty hungry so we would need to get some food soon. “Why don’t you go and buy us some things to eat while I visit the library,” I said looking back to my companion. “What do you want to eat,” he asked hesitantly. “Some pastries would be nice unless they sell some sort of meat here. After you are done with getting our food meet me at the inn.” Without another word I turned and padded away towards the big carved out tree. I passed several technicolor equines as I approached the store; all of which gave me a wide berth. Was I really so scary? I reached the door of what I had assumed up until this point to be the library and pushed it open without further ado. The inside was actually very different from what I had expected. When walking up to the building I had assumed that it would look exactly like Twilight’s house, but it had a completely different layout. The bookcases stretched out before me in long neat rows with their subjects displayed proudly from a placard atop each. There was a standard librarians desk near the front that was vacant at the moment, and the entire place smelled of old paper. I took a deep inhale admiring the scent before looking around the abandoned building for somepony that could help me locate what I was looking for. After ringing the bell at the front desk repeatedly for a few minutes an elderly unicorn mare with her hair in a classic librarian bun came from the rows of books and approached me. Her mane had grayed with age, and the glasses she wore looked to have three different lenses in them. Her gait was short and slow, and as she approached I was able to make out that her cutie mark was a book and inkwell. She took a long squinted look at me through her glasses before going over to the door and opening it. “Come on a library is no place for a stray dog,” she said motioning me out of the door. Skipping straight past the direct insult that the gesture was I laughed it off, which seemed to catch the mare off guard. “I am no dog, ma’am.” I leaned against the desk and continued to watch her as she stared back. She took another very long look at me before finally shutting the door behind her and approaching me. “Can’t say that I’ve ever seen one of whatever you are before. What can I do to help you?” “There are a few things that I would like today. The first would be the most complete bestiary that you have. As you just said my kind are rare, and I would like to find a book with at least one example of my species in it. Secondly, I would a book on beginner’s magic that teaches both practical application and theory. If I need to get two separate books for that then it is fine.” I looked back to the dozens of rows of books that likely held what I was looking for. The mare tapped her chin in thought for a few moments before finally looking back to me with a nod. “Sure I can get those for you.” She immediately turned away and wandered back into the maze of bookcases. I waited where I was for a while content to just be alone with my thoughts, but that quickly grew very boring. The librarian was taking forever, and I was still hungry. Finally, the mare returned with the books I had asked for held in a yellow telekinetic field. She placed the three books in front of me and began to explain them each. “This is the bestiary that you asked for,” she said motioning to the massive tome. “It is the most current and up to date. It has everything that anypony has ever come across in it if they lived to tell the tale. These two right here,” she continued motioning to the two smaller books, “are intro lesions of the basics of magic. The blue one is theory and the red one is practical application. I don’t know what you would want those for, but it had never been my place to ask why ponies want to check out what they do.” I reached into my saddlebags and pulled out a few bits to pay for the literature, but she refused any payment. “Just remember to bring them back and it is fine,” she said with a smile. I smiled back and took the books; giving them a quick once over before placing them in my saddlebags. I was running out of room quickly. “Thank you very much I will remember to do that.” I would probably never come back to this place. The elderly mare waved to me as I left, and I found myself waving back in return. As the door closed behind me I felt a chill run up my spine. This was going to be my first dishonest act in Equestria. If you discounted the lie I had told to the guard, which I did because I hadn’t gotten away with it. It felt like Equestria itself wanted me to be a good upstanding citizen, and that it was telling me that I should return these books before I left. I shook away the alien feeling and continued onwards towards the inn I had seen coming into town. It didn’t take long to reach the inn, and ponies continued to avoid me the entire way the same as they had done before. The innkeeper even gave me some guff about not having dangerous animals sleep under his roof, but handing over a few extra bits cooled him down. I didn’t really care about paying some pony ten extra bits when I had thousands tucked away inside my bag. It seemed that Deciduous hadn’t arrived yet, so I quickly hurried up the stairs to the plain two-bed room I had acquired for us. Tossing my saddlebags to the side I pulled out the bestiary that I had gotten from the library, and began to look through it. The learning of magic could wait a little while; at least until after I figured out what the hell kind of creature I was. PreparationUseless, if there was a single word to describe the books that I had gotten it would be useless. You would think that a giant ass book with the words bestiary on the front would have a lot of information on all sorts of different animals. You would be wrong if you were looking at the same book I was. The tome actually didn’t even have over fifty different kinds of beasts in it, and there was no surprise that whatever I was also wasn’t in it. Oh sure it mentions diamonds dogs and all sorts of other canines, and how they were all descended from the same original race though it didn’t actually tell me anything about them. It also mentioned the griffins could be traced back along the same route, but of course that is where its helpfulness ceased. Whatever said ancestor was they apparently passed down the traits of strength and speed, which the race was known for. Seeing as how the other two ancient races were alicorns and dragons I was pretty certain that this mystery race was what mine was descended from. It did even make a point that the creatures that shared this lineage weren’t very well known for their magic so where did that leave me? There I was without amazing strength or incredible speed and the only asset I could be certain of was that I definitely had some sort of innate magic. I knew exactly as much as I did about whatever species I was as before I opened this useless book. I had thrown it aside in frustration and turned to the other books that I had procured hoping that they would be more useful. I was sorely mistaken about that. Both of them were written in some bizarre language that I couldn’t read no matter how long I spent staring at the strange words, and let me tell you, that was a long time. Great, so now I had a useless bestiary and two books on magic that I couldn’t read. They weren’t even worth stealing in the first place. I probably would end up returning these and be a good little law-abiding citizen for once in my life. I wondered what that felt like. I tossed the two books against the wall where the other had landed and laid back on the comfortable bed that the room held. I hadn’t actually slept in a bed since I arrived in Equestria, and this thing was amazing. I suppose that my soft fur had kept me pretty satisfied as far as cushioning had gone up until now, but now that I actually was back on a mattress the ground just would not cut it anymore. Deciduous had come in some time after that, and set several paper bags he had procured down on the table that was in the room. To be honest I had expected the room to be a lot smaller than it turned out to be. There were two queen-sized beds that sat against the far wall of the room with a bedside table between them beneath the only window in the room. There was a couch with a coffee table in front of it on the left of the entrance, which seemed slightly odd to me. Why would you have a couch in a hotel room when there was no TV to watch? Maybe I should just chalk that up with unexplainable things like why ponies had doorknobs, which by the way are a pain in the ass to use with paws. The bathroom was relatively small with only a shower and a strange looking toilet that I wasn’t quite certain how to use. Yes, over the last couple of days I had gotten used to doing my business with a female body, but I was by no means happy with it. God help me if I somehow found myself in heat one day. I don’t think I would allow myself to live through it. I sighed and got off of the extremely comfortable bed and padded over to the table that Deciduous had just finished setting all of the food on. “What do we have here?” I asked. “I got some pastries like you asked, but I also bought some other things that I think you might like,” he replied with a grin and began to pull items out of the brown paper bags he had brought in. He pulled out a box of sweet rolls, some cupcakes, a few pieces of fruit, two pre-made salads, and what looked like what I could only assume to be hay fries. “They didn’t sell any meats though I wouldn’t have expected them to. Some ponies gave me a couple of odd looks when I asked.” He glanced away awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t exactly know what else you eat so I got a variety.” “Don’t worry about it this stuff looks great,” I said trying to put him at ease before picking up a roll and munching on it. The taste of its buttery goodness pulled me from my woes and sent me straight to a starch filled heaven. “Oh my god this is so fucking good.” I pretended to not notice his unease at my swearing as I continued to chow down on the roll, and soon was starting on my second. The rolls brought me back to memories of thanksgiving dinners with my family at my grandfather’s ranch. Granny would always make the most delicious rolls and stuffing while my mom would try her hardest not to burn the turkey year after year. She always ended up overcooking it but we pretended not to notice; mom wasn’t exactly what you would call the most competent chef in the family and I of course was no better. “Hey are you okay?” Deciduous asked, bringing me out of my revere. I blinked a few times, bringing my self out of my memories, and finished the roll I was eating. “Yea, of course I am why would you ask,” I said putting on the best smile I could. “Well, you were crying.” At his mention of it I put a paw to my face, and found the fur beneath my eye to be slightly damp. “Must have gotten something in my eye,” I lied. Of course he knew I was lying, but it was the kind of lie neither party would expose in order to avoid mutual awkwardness. “I think I am going to take a shower, and get all of this dirt off of me.” I quickly grabbed a roll hurried into the bathroom before anything more could be said. Thankfully the door used a handle instead of a knob with a simple button as the locking mechanism, which I employed as soon as the door was shut. I stood there for a long while, leaning against the door with the complex carbohydrates of the roll in my mouth breaking down into more simple and delicious sugars. I sighed and went back eating my roll as I sat back on my haunches against the door. I was crying again; why was I crying again? I should be better than this. If I was somehow going to win this crazy game that I now found myself in the middle of, and get back home then I couldn’t be breaking down at every little thing that reminded me of home. I took a few minutes to collect myself and steel my resolve for the no doubt countless trials that were ahead of me, and finished the food that I had brought into the bathroom with me. Oddly enough after eating only three relatively small rolls I found myself somewhat full. I walked to the shower and turned the handle, and allowed the water to start warming as I went to the mirror to examine myself. I had really let myself get beaten up on the way to Rubyton. There were several dark spots along my fur where dirt had decided to cling, and a few of the wounds I had previously addressed had opened again on the short ride here staining my snow-white fur crimson in a select few places. The fur itself was sticking out periodically at some rough angles every so often and showed that I could use a good brushing. I found the complementary brush that was on the counter near the sink, and chucked it over the shower curtain into the shower itself. I pulled back the curtain and using a paw determined that the water was warm enough to stand, and jumped in. The feeling of the thin jets of water that rained down on my slowly dampening my fur was a rather odd sensation but not unwelcome. I was quickly enveloped in a warm aura that was both soothing and relaxing. I sighed and sat back in the wash bin, finding the brush I had tossed in and strapped it to my paw like I assumed ponies did. The water aided in straightening my fur with the brush and making sure that it all flowed in the same direction. When finished with my first round of grooming I located the complementary conditioner that the inn was stocked up on, and proceeded to use the entire bottle on my coat to make sure that it was all silky smooth. When I stepped out of the shower after over half an hour of relaxing and self-grooming I was met with the irresistible urge to fling all of the water off of myself like a dog might. I started the motion, but luckily was able to stop myself before I completely destroyed the bathroom. I grabbed the towel off the rack next to the shower, and proceeded to spend the next ten minutes drying off. It was then that I developed a deep respect for those that chose to grow their hair out long, and kept up with the maintenance of it all. Between everything it had taken me over an hour to shower and dry myself when I was used to only spending ten minutes on the same activity previously. I turned the shower off and hurried out of the bathroom, slightly embarrassed at taking so long. I found Deciduous in the hotel room reading through one of the magic books that I had gotten from the library as he absentmindedly ate his salad. A few pieces of lettuce had been the unfortunate recipients of his split focus, and littered the floor around his hooves. He noticed that I was finally done with the bathroom and looked up from the book as I came back into the room proper. “You look a lot better,” he said casually before looking back to the book he was holding. “Why did you get a book on magic anyways?” “You can read that thing?” I asked, taking a seat next to him on the couch. “Well yea. Why, can’t you?” “Not at all,” I said with a sigh. “I can read the bestiary just fine, but whatever language this is in escapes me.” I looked back over the rest of the food that was left. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I felt that I might as well have a cupcake so I helped myself to one. They were every bit as good as the rolls had been. “They are both Equestrian but these magic books are in high equestrian, which is usually what unicorns use. I never really understood why we still use two different written forms, but only speak one. Something about tradition of the original pony tribes I think.” He also sat back and scratched his chin in thought. “Tradition is the corpse of wisdom,” I replied without really thinking about it. For some reason that was one of my favorite quotes, and I loved to bring it up whenever the chance arose. “Umm, sure,” He said in an odd tone. “Anyways, why did you get these books in the first place? If you didn’t notice I am not exactly a unicorn, and I haven’t really seen you doing any magic either.” So here it was, a chance to tell him that I could actually pull off some magic or not. Sure I couldn’t actually show him what I could do since it was apparently extremely subtle, and only affected me so he might not even believe me if I did tell him. In the end I decided against saying such in order to avoid more awkward questions that might arise if I did tell him the truth. “Haven’t you ever been interested in learning about new things? Where I come from we don’t really have a lot of books and nopony really knows much about magic so I picked up these books while I could. It is a real shame that I can’t read any of it. You wouldn’t mind reading it to me would you?” I asked with the best puppy dog eyes I could pull off. Fun fact, being an actual member of the canine genus makes it a lot easier to pull off puppy dog eyes. He looked back at me for a few long moments before finally sighing. “Fine, where do you want me to start?” he asked flipping the book to the index. “Start with the basics of what magic actually is,” I instructed. He turned the book to page one and started reading from the beginning. “Magic is a force that emanates from and penetrates the world around us. Every creature that lives in the world has some form of innate magic, but those able to express it and use it in the physical world have a greater tie to it than others. Magic tends to orient itself in leylines that run through the world and give off power to their surroundings. Those with a great tie to leylines are able to produce more magical work than others which is a common reason that unicorns are able to perform more magical feats than less magically inclined creatures such as mules or donkeys.” He turned the page of the book and hummed to himself. “This is actually kind of interesting. Okay so here it goes on to say, other forms of innate magic have been found that do not draw power from leylines or use them to replenish themselves. These different forms of magic are often rare and far between, and use the actual beings own life energy in order to fuel them. It has often been reported that such ways of using magic can be stronger, but have a much higher risk of backlash on the caster. “Magic as it is used in unicorns, which is what this book is meant to cover, is first drawn out from the environment and leylines through the caster and into the horn. From there it is shaped into the proper spell by the caster until it is in the correct form to complete its task. See chapters eight and nine for a more in depth coverage of how to properly build and release stored magic. “Magic and spells that they are used for align themselves into a rainbow spectrum with the categories of fire, water, earth, air, dark, and light. Any spell can be categorized as originating from one or more of these categories. The clever combination of categories in either sequence or parallel is what has led to our most complex and powerful spells, which will not be covered in this book.” He stopped for a moment and looked back at me. “It goes on from here to the actual sections of the book that describe each category and how it can be used. Do you want me to go through all of that?” “If you don’t mi…” A rumbling outside shook the building that we were sitting in and caused some of the cupcakes that were on the table to fall off. I looked on in horror as they hit the ground and were dashed to pieces by the impact, which ruined their sugary goodness. Deciduous had already tossed aside the book that we were reading and retrieved his sword from where he had put it near the door. Not a second later he was out said door and headed downstairs into the lobby. I groaned in frustration and followed him out of the room quickly, praying beyond hope that he wasn’t about to do something incredibly stupid. The lobby was packed with panicking ponies that were running back and forth like chickens with their heads cut, and a few that were trying to calm everyone down. I caught a glimpse of Deciduous as he disappeared out the door and into the night that had fallen while we were in the room. I scurried past the ponies that filled the lobby to the brim and out into the darkness of the streets. There wasn’t a lot that could be seen by the pale moonlight of the waning gibbous above, but the fires certainly helped to clear everything up. I had a low vantage, but the library that I had visited previously was on fire, and burning down very quickly. I caught the sight of a massive black shadow moving just beyond the fire, and Deciduous racing off towards the burning building. I took off after him, and after rounding a corner had to correct myself. The library wasn’t the only thing that was going up in flames; half of the entire town was burning down including most of Main Street. The building just in front of me collapsed, as the massive back of a reptilian tail smashed through it. For one perfect moment the fires stopped obscuring the rampaging beast that was laying waste to the pony settlement, and accented its features perfectly. I had thought the snake that I had stared down earlier had been huge, but it had to be a baby compared to this behemoth. It was completely adorned in black scales that blended in near perfectly into the darkness of the night, and stood sixty feet tall. It held a cabbage stand in its mouth with a screaming mare trapped inside of the booth. Slowly it closed its maw, crunching down on its meal until the sickening snap of bones and wood could clearly be heard over the mass of ponies that were running and screaming. A flash of green brought my gaze back to ground level, and Deciduous who had just taken off running at the massive reptile with that wickedly sharp diamond sword clenched tightly between his teeth. I took off as fast as I possibly could and tackled the little moron before he could do something incredibly stupid that I would end up regretting. With his focus completely turned to the giant snake it wasn’t too difficult to blindside him and knock him to the ground despite how much stronger I assumed he was than me. It seemed that being slightly bigger than him gave me an advantage in this. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?” I screamed down at where I had him pinned. “I am trying to help. Now get off of me.” He tried to shove me away with his free hoof, but I firmly pushed down on his hoof I had to the ground and his chest. This wasn’t the first time I had wrestled someone to the ground and having digits, no matter how crappy, was coming in handy. “Didn’t I fucking tell you not to do stupid shit after you just charged at the last snake we came across. This one is like a million times bigger and you are just going to go with the same dumbass plan again. Do you even have a brain?” I yelled in his face hoping that he would get my point. I was rewarded for my efforts with a punch to the face that sent me sprawling. The kid had a really good right hook. “I can’t just do nothing,” he yelled back at me as he picked himself up off the ground. “I am sure that the guard can handle it. We shouldn’t get involved.” As if the universe just wanted to prove me wrong the guard that was hassling me earlier came crashing down to earth just a short distance away. He slid through the dirt before coming to a halt, and just continued to lay there. If the bone protruding from his leg was any indication then he was going to be out of the fight for a while. I looked back to the giant snake which had moved farther into Main Street while I had been bickering with Deciduous, and was now fully visible thanks to the fires. The amount of guards that were trying to fend it off were woefully inadequate. I counted two pegasi that were attempting to beat it with their hooves, and a few unicorn jumping around its base shooting magic at it. Apparently the earth pony guard had been the only one they had, and he was definitely out of the fight. They seemed well trained from what I could tell; the pegasi would swoop in and assault the monster from behind, and once its attention was turned elsewhere the unicorns would launch a salvo at it. Now that I was looking closer I could see blades attached to the hooves of the pegasi that were attacking the snake, but every time they would score a hit they weren’t able to penetrate much of its hide. Seeing what the guards were doing the serpent lashed out with its tale as soon as it turned its attention to the pegasi, and struck one of the unicorns sending them through a burning building on the other side of the street. One of the mares flying around its head was stunned by this and caught as the snake snapped down on her wing. She let out a shriek before the snake bit down harder completely severing the wing, and causing her to fall to the ground. A flash of red sped out of one of the burning buildings and caught the mare just before she would have hit the ground. As the streak sped back into the air and came to a rest I was able to see that it was the pegasus that had saved my ass from a snake earlier. Scarlet held the profusely bleeding pony in her hooves before she rocketed over to two ponies in medical uniforms and deposited the mare with them. Scarlet took once more to the air, and started circling the snake while pelting it with bottles that erupted in fire as soon as they hit. The fire didn’t seem to be doing anything seeing as how the snake was actually half standing in the corpse of a burning building. The unicorns and one pegasus guard that was left were clearly outmatched here. For whatever reason this snake was a lot smarter than any reptile had the right to be with how it had seen the pattern of their attacks and preempted them. This entire town was about to be leveled, and the look on Deciduous’ face told me that he knew it. He turned to look back at me for a moment before picking up this sword I had knocked out of his grip and said. “I am going to help fend off this monster. You do whatever you want, and if you can live with yourself knowing you let an entire town of ponies die without lifting a hoof to help then I don’t even want to be associated with you anyways.” With that he took off at full gallop to where the unicorns were busy futilely fending off the snake. He raced over, and as soon as one of the guards caught sight of him he was directed into position to help. He leaped forwards and struck at the scaled beast with the sword, and cut deep into it before pulling the blade back out with a little bit of trouble. Because of its size that cut couldn’t be more than a minor annoyance, and the snake treated it as such by staring down at Deciduous with what I can only describe as a look of bemusement. Deciduous jumped back out of the way of its strike, and scored another hit on his face as he did so. He smiled as he swung again at the snake and gashed it, and the unicorn to his left shot a bolt of magic at its face causing it to rear away suddenly. His smile grew wider as the bolt struck, and he jumped around to avoid its tail coming at him. No doubt he thought that they were doing well against the beast, but from where I stood a good distance away I could tell; there was no chance that they would win this fight. ExecutionWhat was I supposed to do? Was I really supposed to go and risk my life for ponies that I didn’t even know in a pointless struggle against a giant snake? The screaming and the fires all around me mixed with the sounds of the battle that was unfolding before my eyes sent me into a near panic. My heart started thundering in my chest as I stood frozen in place with no idea what to do. One thing did occur to me, and I started working to get my breath under my control. I pulled a long slow breath in and let it out just as slowly. This did little to slow my heart rate, but I managed to get a modicum of control over myself as I reached towards the swirling ball of energy I could feel at the back of my mind. I made contact with the energy, and the world around suddenly came to a halt. I continued to hold my breath as I had found that it was what allowed me to stay in this state the day before. The snake was lunging at the red pegasus that was circling it and splashing fire onto its scales with minimal success. From my vantage I could see that it would miss, and she would be able to dodge it easily. Learning from my previous attempts with this state I held off moving, and instead used the time that I had borrowed to think. I had a choice before me that would have dire consequences if I chose wrong. On one hand I could race forwards and try and help the ponies fending off the monster, and on the other I could turn tail and run away. Deciduous was frozen at the base of the snake with a snarl on his face as he leapt forward to attack. What would he think of me if I ran from this fight? His words rang in my mind making the obvious choice of abandoning these ponies all the harder to make. I had no real ties to them so there was really no reason for me to die for them aside from it being the good and virtuous thing to do. Dammit, why did he have to say that before he raced off? If I left now I doubt that the snake would catch me as I made my getaway. Leaving Deciduous behind would mean that I would have no future destination, and I would just end up wandering Equestria aimlessly. While that is not necessarily a bad thing it isn’t really very good either. If I went to help then we would either succeed or fail. In both of these outcomes there was a high chance that I wouldn’t survive the encounter. If I didn’t survive then I would just simply be dead here, and no one would mourn me. If I survived however I might be able to achieve hero status, and keep Deciduous as a traveling partner assuming that he lived as well. Going to help had both the best and worst possible outcomes while desertion was essentially neutral. Why did this have to be so hard? I let out the breath I had been holding for a while, and watched as the world slowly sped into action. The snake lunged and Scarlet dodged just as I had expected. It seemed that it was time to use an old and tried method of making a choice that you don’t want to; the imaginary coin toss. It is pretty simple really, you toss a coin in your head and whatever side lands up is what choice you make. This helps to show me what I really want to do sometimes when I just can’t decide on something. I closed my eyes and assigned heads to helping and tails to running away. The toss lasted nearly ten seconds before I watched the quarter fall to the ground heads up, and with a sigh I immediately sprinted into action. The snake had caught a pedestrian and was currently swallowing the pony as I arrived at its base. It flicked its forked tongue out of its mouth and turned its attention back to the pegasi that were doing an excellent job at being a distraction. “What can I do to help?” I asked the unicorn guard that I had met earlier that day, who I had run up next to. “Why don’t you cut this thing up until it doesn’t move anymore,” she snarled back as she finished charging a spell and let it loose at the snake. The spell struck its base where it began to rise into the air and blew off a good amount of scales, leaving behind a fleshy layer of skin. Not wasting a second I dashed forward and sliced along the exposed area with my claws leaving a deep gash behind. Blood seeped from the wound, and I struck again and again trying to dig deeper and deliver something more than a superficial laceration. The massive beast shifted ever so slightly drawing my attention away from where I was attack, and up to the head that was barreling down at me. Something struck me from the side pushing me out of the way of its teeth. The remaining pegasus guard swooped down and nailed the snake just above the eye, turning its attention away from my prone form on the ground. I blinked a few times getting my bearings and noticed a green mass lying on top of me. I shoved it off to discover that none other than Deciduous had saved my life. “Come to help I see.” he said with a smile as he also picked himself up off the ground. “If we live through this I am going to fucking kill you!” I yelled back as I moved to the side. This time it didn’t seem like he was bothered in the least by my swearing or my threat, and he also moved back to get ready for another attack. While we were all inflicting wounds on the serpent we really didn’t penetrate its skin much, and just weren’t hitting anything vital. We would need to change up strategy if there was to be any chance of victory. “Look out!” came a shout to my right, but it was too late. As I had been lost in my planning the snake had taken the opportunity to strike out with its tail as Deciduous and I. The nimble earth pony that had actually been paying attention had dodged the strike with ease, but I hadn’t seen it coming at all. I was sent flying into the support beam of the nearest building with enough force to snap it in two, and bring the floor above down on myself. The support beam wasn’t the only thing that had snapped, and I was able to distinctly hear at least three ribs do the same as I collided with the brick wall that stopped my flight. The floor above came crashing down into the first, but luckily enough I had landed against a load bearing wall meaning that I was spared from being crushed. Dust and dirt filled the air for several moments as I whimpered in pain pathetically. I coughed to get rid of the air that was burning my lungs and tried to stand. The building around me was burning in a roaring inferno, and I needed to get out of there before the fires reached me and I died of smoke inhalation. Running was a bit beyond me at the time and I wasn’t doing much better with walking, so I crawled from my safe place against the wall to the nearest window. Several jagged pieces of glass cut at me as I pulled myself up over the windowsill and flopped down to the ground outside. There was a ringing in my ears that wouldn’t go away, and the chronic chest pain that I had been feeling for the past few days had been replaced with millions of needles boring through my flesh. For I don’t know how long I wasn’t able to move from where I was lying on the ground. There had to be something that I could do to get through this right? I reached towards the swirling mass of energy that I had felt earlier in a hope that I could stop time, and with it the pain that was penetrating me. It seemed to work, but I wasn’t exactly sure since with my eyes clenched shut tightly the only difference I was able to make out was the lack of screaming. I continued to concentrate on the blue energy that I was feeding from, hoping that I could do something else with it. Just reaching out and touching the energy with my mind seemed enough to allow me to enter this state of timelessness. What I really needed though was a way to take out that monster, and if I could just figure out how to use this source of magic to do that I would be golden. I tried to grab the energy, but it quickly slipped from my mental grasp like it was water. I didn’t care and continued grabbing at it until I had pulled away a small bit that I thought I might be able to use, and did the only thing I could think to do with it. I put all of it into my claws in a hope that it would somehow supercharge them. To my endless astonishment it seemed to work. I felt a warm sensation overcome my front paws and when I opened my eyes to look I saw that they were alight with a blue fire. The fire traveled halfway up my arms and seemed to bleed off into the air around me. The pain that I had been feeling before was almost completely gone, and I was able to make it back to my feet once more. The alley I had landed in was dark, but by no means was it cold. Burning pieces of debris littered the ground around my as I quickly raced back into the open where I hoped the fight was still going on. I smiled as I sped into the open faster than I had been able to run previously, and saw the snake still trying to get at the ponies fighting it. Luckily, it seemed that no more of the ponies had fallen to the beast while I was incapacitated so I ran to them to once more engage the enemy. The unicorn guard had just finished launching another spell, and sweat dripped down from her brow as she panted. Deciduous had more than one scrape on him from rolling around to get out of the way of the snake’s strikes, but other than that he appeared no worse for the wear. The pegasi above were moving slower, and taking turns resting for a few seconds on one of the nearby buildings that hadn’t collapsed yet. “Vixen, you are on fire!” Deciduous yelled at me as I rejoined the fight. “I know it’s fine,” I called back to him. I sprinted forwards and slashed at the snake’s body with my flaming claws hoping that I would have some sort of increased penetrating power. I was pleasantly surprised when it looked like that wasn’t all that I had gained with this new ability. As I slashed into its flesh I distinctly noticed that I appeared to just cleave straight through it. The wound that I left behind didn’t bleed, nor did it seem to attract the attention of the serpent, as it was busy lunging at one of the unicorns, which was quite fortunate because I was just staring in awe. The wound was completely healed over with a mass of scar tissue that appeared to have been there for years. Being as dedicated to the scientific process as I was I repeated the experiment and cleaved into the beast once more though I took this strike far deeper. I carved out a good twenty pounds of flesh and marveled as once again the wound that I left behind which should have been bleeding an incredible amount just appeared as a deep and vicious scar. I smiled and started to strike in frenzy at the monster leaving behind scars all over its body. This time I caught the subtle movement it made as it turned to strike at me and lunged out of the way in time to dodge it. As I retreated I struck out with my claws and managed to gouge it in the eye. The creature roared in pain and pulled its head back away from me quickly. As I looked up at it once more I saw that its eye was now white and milky. I laughed at it as I moved back to catch my breath before I would start attacking it again. The strikes that I had been causing were deep, but they wouldn’t bring it down in time at the rate that the ponies around me were tiring out. I ducked as its tail came at me and Deciduous once more, and watched him leap forwards once again with his sword and slice into the snake. What were the vital points on a snake? There weren’t many since it was essentially just a long spinal cord with a head at the top. An idea came to me and because of how ridiculous it was I found myself immediately wanting to try it out. I ran back to the hulking python and used my flaming claws to slice into and crawl onto its back. The scars that I rended in its flesh made excellent handholds, and I was soon atop of the thing. It squirmed around as it continued to strike at the others without so much as acknowledging me. I smiled as I ran along its back towards its head that was high in the air. I dug into it once again as I started to climb towards my objective while happily causing as much damage as I could as I went. The snake lunged forwards at one of the unicorns on the ground nearly causing me to be thrown off as it did so. My front paws cleaved through its scales as its head shot forwards leaving me with just my back legs to keep me in position. Miraculously I was able to keep hold, and used the opportunity of its lowered head to run towards my destination. I made it to the base of its skull just as it lifted its head once more into the air to get at the pegasi above. I dug in deep in order to keep hold and tried to locate my target. I freed one of my front paws and began slashing at where I assumed its spinal cord to be, and after tearing away a lot of muscle I found the bone I was looking for. The white of it peeked out at me, and I plunged my claws forwards like daggers in hopes of severing it. The bone was much harder than the skin and muscle had been, and I wasn’t able to get a good cut on the bone. This didn’t deter me in the least and I stabbed at it over and over trying to paralyze the rampaging beast. I continued for what felt like several minutes before I was finally rewarded with a loud crack as the first vertebrae of its spine snapped and the entire beast fell to the ground limp. This time I was thrown aside as the snake smacked against the ground wetly, and I landed on the ground next to its head with a thud. All of the beatings that I had been taking were starting to catch up to me, and I found it hard to bring myself once again to a standing position. I looked over to the snake’s useless eye that spun around blind in confusion. I smiled once again as I realized that it had no idea what was going on. From here it was pretty much just clean up, and I really didn’t want to have to deal with that. I released the hold on the magic I had been maintaining in the back of my head ever since I had managed to learn this new ability. The first thing I noticed as the blue fire ceased was that the chest pain I felt earlier returned with renewed vigor in an attempt to barrel me over. I held my ground for a moment, but only because the cool numbness in my front paws was distracting me from the pain that I felt. I slowly lifted one of said paws before my eyes to examine it, and saw that all of the fur that had covered them had been burned away, and left behind just skin. The skin itself was black, which hadn’t been what I had expected my skin color to be, but since I was completely covered in fur how was I to know. I tried to wiggle a finger to rid myself of the numbness that was penetrating me and watched in horror as the skin and flesh beneath it cracked and split open to reveal the white bone beneath that was trying to escape. That was when I started screaming. The world around me fell away and was replaced by one that knew only pain and anguish. I fell to the ground and writhed in agony as more of my skin split open, and seemed to try and rid itself of the bones that held my frame together. The fiery fury of pain screamed through my legs and into my mind where I wasn’t able to shut it out. It was the most intense sensation that could possibly be felt, and as I felt something or someone try to push down on me I struck out reflexively and felt a new wave of pain wash over me as the blow landed. I continued to scream and scream as my now ruined legs were forced down, and something was jabbed into my arm. I tried to pull away and do anything I could in the hopes of making the pain go away, but nothing helped in the least. Before everything disappeared into black either from the shock I was going through or the sedative that I had been injected with I was barely able to make out someone calling for a doctor and a stretcher. MedicationA brilliant light shining in my eyes dredged me out of the black of unconsciousness. It flashed off and on centimeters away from my right eye, and I made out the warbling sound of someone talking. It tried to focus on the light, and it was made easy by how insanely annoying it was. As I came back to the world of the living the first thing that struck me was how warm I felt. I had no idea where I was, but I was so comfortable that I never wanted to leave. I looked around and my blurry eyesight began to rapidly clear. Everything around me was a stark white that bounced the overhead lights around everywhere, and just screamed for me to dare to sleep. A few ponies were milling around talking to each other but all I was able to make out were trumpet noises coming from their mouths. I was reminded of Charlie Brown and laughed a little bit to myself at how dumb the situation was. My own laugh came out garbled or at least what I was able to hear of it. Another warbling sound started going off to me right causing me to lazily turn my head towards it. The light once again reappeared, and I tried to swat it out of my face to only find my legs unresponsive. I laid my head back against the pillow I just noticed I had and stared at the bright thing moving back and forth while more random sounds continued to assault me. The light suddenly turned off allowing me to make out the crude form of a brown pony holding a thin flashlight that he was shining in my eyes. I saw that the noises I was hearing was him talking, but I still couldn’t make anything that he said out. I tried to tell him so, but really had no idea what I said myself. He put a hoof to my face and pulled back my eyelid to stare at my eyes very closely; a definite invasion of my personal space. I tried to push him away just again to rediscover that my legs weren’t moving. He turned and said something to some other pony that I couldn’t make out, and the world around me once again started to disappear into black. The feeling of warmth came over me once again and I gladly drifted off to sleep once more as the cloud I felt myself lying on lulled me to sleep. I didn’t dream. I came to again sometime later with a constant ache in my side nagging at me. Everything itched except for my front paws, which were strangely numb to everything. I reluctantly opened my eyes once again to take in the world and found I was in the same very white room. A constant beeping to my left alerted me to the heart monitor I was hooked up to, but something sounded off about it. I tried to lift my head only for the ache in my chest to intensify dramatically bringing me crashing back down into the pillow I was resting on and panting for breath. The heart monitor began racing in its offbeat fashion alerting my roommate to my awakened state. “Oh you’re finally up huh?” came a voice from my left. I turned my head towards the speaker and was greeted with a white sheet separating us; giving a small modicum of privacy. A red hoof pulled the curtain back and I recognized the face of Scarlet staring back at me as I tried to slow my breathing. I tried to reply to her with something witty, but all that came out was a coughing fit. I finally noticed that my throat was insanely dry, and I really needed to get something to drink. There was a glass of water on the left side of the bed beckoning me, and I tried to reach towards it in hopes of quenching my thirst, but my legs wouldn’t move. The water remained just out of my reach as I looked back to where my front paws were suspended above me in casts with wires holding them in place. I whined a little and stretched my neck as far as I could despite the pain towards the glass of water sitting on the bedside table. Grabbing the glass with my teeth I reclined back and knocked it to the side to get some in my mouth. I felt a rush of could that increased the aching in my chest as most of the water spilt all over me, but my thirst was quenched by the small amount I managed to down. All the while Scarlet just sat there watching me with a bemused smile on her face. After I finished cleansing my throat with another coughing fit I took the time to look over myself. My front paws were held stiffly in the air, and I couldn’t move them at all no matter how much I tried. Thick bandages constricted my chest where most of the pain was coming from, and all sorts of wires were running into them and onto my fur beneath. An IV drip was hooked up to one of my front legs supplying me with some unknown clear fluid. I tried to remember how exactly I had gotten here, and it all came back in a rush. I saw the snake crash to the ground and me along with it. I stopped channeling whatever spell I had figured out to use, and all of the pain had suddenly returned. I remember seeing the skin along my paw crack open, and then everything was completely black. How had I survived? “How long?” I asked with my still slightly raspy voice as I turned back towards the red mare. “Two days,” she replied immediately. Two days? I had been in what I could only assume was a hospital for two whole days, and I was only waking up now. I knew that I should have just left the snake along and taken off, but no I had to rise to Deciduous’ challenge. Why can’t I just let people down? “That was really awesome what you did to that snake,” Scarlet said causing my attention to snap back to her. “What?” “The way that you tore it up and put it out. Why didn’t you do that to the other on that was attacking you guys on the road? If I could go all super claw on some monster I know I would.” She imitated me by punching at an imaginary foe in front of her. Oh great, a red Rainbow Dash. “Well I didn’t exactly know I could do it, and just look at what it got me,” I replied motioning back at my forelegs with my eyes. Whatever trauma they had received was no doubt the cause of that spell that I had recklessly used. I didn’t even know what it did, and I just took off and kept it on for who knows how long. “Yea that kind of sucks, but you definitely saved everypony. We were all about to drop by the time that you brought it down. Then you started screaming and everypony was freaking out, and that green earth pony had to hold you down while the nurse took care of you. Anyways, thanks for saving our flanks I guess I owe you this time.” She smiled at me and sat back in her own bed. I started looking her over too, searching for the obvious wound that would have landed her in the hospital, but I couldn’t find anything. “Why are you in the hospital, I didn’t see you take any hits during the fight.” She cringed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well it wasn’t during the fight.” She rolled over to show me her other side where her wing was bandaged up, and most of her fur had scorch marks. “I was helping out with the fires after you took down that snake, and a burning beam fell on my wing, and trapped me for a bit. Kind of embarrassing that I can go toe to toe with a giant monster and then a plank of wood gets me.” She laughed and rolled back over to look at me. “Nothing embarrassing about saving ponies from a fire in my opinion. What did they do with the snake by the way?” “Well they hauled it away of course. Garthok has had a giant bounty on her for years, and you finally caught her. I thought it would be impossible to get the extra bits for bringing her in alive, but you managed it somehow. Sweet Celestia I just can’t get over how cool that was.” “There was a bounty on a giant snake?” I was shocked someone would actually do something like that. Who was supposed to bring it down all on their own? Was there anyone crazy enough to try? “You didn’t know about the bounty? Wow, I just assumed that was the reason you came to Rubyton in the first place like me. Ha, well I guess that makes you one rich chick now doesn’t it?” She put her hooves behind her head and sat back in the bed with a sigh. “That would have been one sweet payday.” “How high was the bounty?” I asked. “It was up to five thousand bits if you can believe it, and there was a bonus thousand for bringing it in alive. Hunters have been coming to Rubyton for years to take a shot at her, and the price has gone up every time. I bet you were the first one to think to rip its spinal cord out though so good job on that,” she said nonchalantly. “So that’s what you are, a monster hunter?” Now the pieces were starting to fit together. “Sure am, I thought you might have been one too when I saw you fighting on the pass. You really need to watch out for the tails more you seem to have a real problem with that. Anyways, I saw you in trouble decided to help out a fellow hunter, but had to jet and get back to my search for Gathrok’s lair. It is really weird that she came out and attacked the settlement; she hasn’t done something like that in I think forty years.” “How old was that monster anyways?” “Well I looked through old newspapers and research materials to get a good handle on what I would be dealing with. There were reports of a giant black snake attacking ponies along the pass for over a hundred years now, and it was always getting bigger. Don’t really know why those caravans keep using the same pass if snakes keep attacking them, but hey that’s their business am I right?” She laughed and reached for her own glass of water and downed it. “I figure that I owe you for saving me back with that first snake.” It was true; I had been hoping to actually run into her again so that I could repay her. “Don’t worry about it you saved me right back.” She dismissed the thought with a wave of her hoof. “Even so I would feel better if we settled up. How about you take my bonus and we can call it even. That is assuming that I even get any money.” I said as I tried to get into a comfortable position, which is really hard to do when your limbs are suspended in place. “I don’t know still sounds kind of crummy of me. Especially when you are obviously going to have a lot of hospital bills to pay. Tell you what, in return for the thousand bits I will stick around with ya until you are at one hundred percent and help you out. When you are all good again then we will be even.” Having apparently decided what was what she turned over in her bed. “I am going to go to sleep now I am feeling kind of tired.” “Yea sure, I will try to keep it down,” I replied as I also started to drift off. For some reason I was feeling really tired. The next time that I found myself conscious it was because a nurse was shaking my shoulder lightly to get my attention. As soon as the magical spell that was sleep broke over me I shot awake as the ache in my chest that had been bugging me earlier grew to epic proportions. The nurse pushed me down with a firm hoof until I was once again lying back in bed. “I will put you back on your pain medication, but the doctor needs to speak with you while you are still coherent,” the middle aged yellow mare informed me as she turned a knob on the IV. I watched as the clear liquid traveled along and made its way into my leg where a warmth immediately touched me, and began to spread through my body. I sighed in relief, and saw the mare leave and be replaced by a brown stallion levitating a clipboard in front of him. He walked over to the bed and didn’t acknowledge me for several moments before finally sitting at my bedside, and sticking his hoof on my neck. His hoof was unnaturally cold, which was the clearest indication that this pony was in fact a medical professional. He held his hoof there for a long moment as he studied his watched with his eyes before finally taking his hoof off my neck and looking up to me. “I really cannot get a pulse at all through all of that fur,” he said with a smile, and actually managed to make me laugh. “I am Doctor Bedside Manner,” insanely obvious, “and I have been attending to you miss Vixen for the past few days. Tell me, can you remember how you ended up here in the hospital.” I began to recount events to him as he waved his stupid flashlight pen in my eyes checking on something I had no knowledge of. When I got to the part about finding my paws burned to a crisp he frowned and sat back looking at his clipboard once again. He hummed to himself as he looked over the board once again before turning back to me. “Yes, while I have never treated one of your species before I have to say that you are very fortunate to still be breathing. The wounds you sustained along your front paws were third degree magical burns, and if we didn’t get to you immediately after you acquired them then you might never have walked again. As it stands now we were able to use magical grafts to save your paws, and once the fur grows back over them you should hardly notice the difference. Unfortunately, you will likely never regain sensation in them.” Well that explained why they were so numb. So I was never going to be able to feel with them again; at least I hadn’t been crippled by my own stupidity. “Also, you broke three ribs, one of which had to be removed since it was completely obliterated. The other two will take a few weeks to completely knit, but after some time they should be as good as new. As we were looking you over we discovered that you had a slight arrhythmia; tell me how long have you been living with this,” the paper on his clipboard crumpled loudly as he flipped the page and produced a pen to write down whatever I would tell him. “Honestly Doc, this is the first time I am hearing about it,” I replied honestly. It is always best to be one hundred and ten percent honest with medical professionals since a single lie could lead to me dying. Plus, they can’t go around spreading whatever I say to anyone else because of the whole doctor patient confidentiality thing right? He scribbled something down on the clipboard while he thought for a moment. “Well, it is a good thing that we caught it now. It isn’t anything serious, but it can cause lightheadedness, dizziness, and low blood pressure. It also puts you at increased risk for heart related diseases such as cardiac arrest and strokes. My advice to you would be to avoid any activity that is incredibly strenuous so that you don’t aggravate it and it doesn’t develop into something more serious. Though, seeing how you took down old Garthok I doubt you are the type to listen to your doctor huh?” “You saw that huh?” I asked sheepishly. “I was out there treating ponies when the beast finally fell. It has been terrorizing citizens of Rubyton since my grandfather’s grandfater’s time so I think we all owe you a debt of gratitude for finally taking it out. The entire town is still getting over the tragedy, but as soon as they are I suspect that they will be singing your praises for years. The guard even saw fit to pay for all of your medical expenses, which is very lucky for you because I don’t come cheap.” He turned his clipboard around to show me the astonishingly high price that all of this would have cost me. “Why did they do that?” “Commander Beam said something about helping out a cursed mare. I wasn’t really paying attention since I was so distracted by digging around in your ribcage for bone fragments. Anyways, you will be out of here in five days, and we will be getting those casts off when you are let out. I will be turning up your morphine drip now so you can make full use of our facilities while you still have the time,” he said with a wink before the knob on the IV turned slightly more to the left and the warmth I had been feeling spread through me like a wave, washing away the pain and the world around me. I didn’t see Decidous until a few days after I had first woken up in the hospital, which was extremely worrying for me. A small part of me had been afraid that he had up and left me stranded here in Rubyton, but I knew that was a ridiculous idea. Deciduous seemed like the kind of person that was loyal to a fault, and would always try to do the right thing. Those kind of people were few and far between. “Oh you’re awake,” he said as he entered the room like his absence had been nothing. I was alone in the room now that Scarlet had finally checked out when her wing had been fixed up enough for her to be let out. “And where have you been?” I asked indignantly. He shrugged it off, he was getting way too used to how I acted. “I have been collecting the bits you earned, and seeing about how we are going to get out of here. The doctor said that you will be released in two more days so I booked us some train tickets to Las Pegasus on the train that comes through that day. Unfortunately, we will be having a layover but that shouldn’t be more than a few hours.” He took off my white saddlebags that I just noticed he had been carrying and set them on the floor beside my bed. The jingling of money was heard plainly as they hit the hard tile floor. “You know if you keep going at this rate you will be able to afford a mansion pretty soon,” he joked. “You mean I can’t buy one now? I should have well over twelve thousand bits saved up shouldn’t I?” Once again my ignorance about currency was going to come back and bite me in the ass eventually. “With that you can buy some really nice stuff like a big house, or an airship, or a cottage with a large plot of land, but it will not buy you a whole mansion.” Wait did he just say what I think he said. “What was that second one again?” “An airship? Yea, they are these big ships that fly around in the sky and can go wherever. I don’t think twelve thousand is enough to get you a really big one, but it could definitely buy you a nice one. Why are you interested?” An airship, they had fucking airships in Equestria! Of course I wanted one and I wanted one now. Why wasn’t I already sitting on my very own airship right now flying around with a cool steampunk leather suit on? Oh my god I wanted one so bad. Have I mentioned that I have some pretty bad impulse control when it comes to spending money? “I want one. Go get me one right now,” I told him; motioning to the saddlebags he had just set down. He laughed and looked back at me. “They don’t sell them here. There are only a few places where you can even buy one, and like I said before I don’t really know how much they go for. We will see about getting one later, but right now you should focus on getting better.” As if his own words triggered it his face turned dark and serious. “I’m sorry about getting you hurt. It was all my fault that you fought that snake in the first place.” I sighed and waited a long while before replying. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t blame him for it somewhat, but it had been me that had rushed off after that monster in the end. I had made the decision to help out, and it looked like it had turned out for the best in the end. Sure I had been laid up in the hospital for a week and had gotten some permanent nerve damage, but I earned some money and saved a town in the process. Once I was aboard my very own airship I would probably forget all about this. “Don’t worry about it, Deci. Everything turned out for the best in the end, and I am only going to be in here for a few more days. After that we can get back to what we were doing in the first place, and get you home. They took me off the morphine yesterday so I can’t really talk too much, and I am feeling a little tired. I am going to go to sleep so I guess I will see you in the morning?” I replied. “Yea sure,” he said smiling as he got up to leave. “Vixen, you are one seriously tough mare.” With that he turned off the lights and left me alone to sleep. The circular saw buzzed and sent plaster flying everywhere as the doctor gently cut through the casts on my paws. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t in the least bit scared he would slip, and slice them off completely. I winced as the saw neared my skin and with a crack the plaster cast snapped open, and with some prying the doctor managed to get it off of me. I started to study my numb paw as he went to work freeing the other one. They had told me that the plaster had been enchanted to speed up the healing process, but I hadn’t expected so much of the fur to grow back yet. A thin layer of fur obscured any of the hideous burns that might have lied just beneath. I flexed my digits and smiled happily as they moved to my every whim; I just couldn’t actually feel them moving. With another snap the other cast came off, and I practically jumped out of the bed I had been confined to for a week. The first thing that greeted me as I made it to the ground was the cold hard tile as it smacked me in the face. I honestly hadn’t expected trying to walk to be as hard as it apparently was now. Ever tried walking with two legs that fell asleep? It is not very easy. Deciduous helped me back to my feet, and I hesitantly took a step forwards quickly followed by another. I noticed my legs wobbling a little bit, which probably meant they had atrophied somewhat. I willed them to come back under my control and soon I was walking just fine, though I had to pay attention to the ground in front of me more now that I couldn’t feel it below my pads. “Well now that you are finally out of that stuffy bed we should probably hurry to the train station,” Deciduous said as he walked next to me, going at the excruciatingly slow pace I was. We made it out of the room and down the hallway slowly towards the front desk. I had always thought that hospitals had a policy to make people leave in wheelchairs, but apparently that didn’t follow through to Equestria. It kind of made sense with how most everyone was a quadruped and a wheelchair would work strangely for most of the general population. At the front desk I was presented with a big stack of papers to read through and sign before I could leave. Being as excited to leave as I was, I just opted to sign everything without reading it first just to expedite the process. I finished signing the papers to check out sloppily with a pen in my mouth, before I spat the thing back out onto the desk. “We have two stops we need to make before we go to the train station,” I informed him. “Oh yea, where?” “Firstly we need to find Scarlet, and get her payment to her. She will probably not want to accept it or bring up this ridiculous deal where she is going to follow me around for a bit. Secondly, I really need to take a shower.” “Sounds good to me,” he replied. “I just hope we will be able to make our train or else we have to wait a few more days for the next one.” “I swear to god that we will not be doing that again,” I said, taking the lead. “I have seen enough of Rubyton to last a lifetime.” DepartureI stepped out of the bathroom with the warm air clashing against the coolness of the room causing anything nearby to instantly be covered in condensation. My coat was still warm and sleek with a thin layer of water sticking to it, but to my infinite wonder I had found a blow dryer in the bathroom this time around. The still drying fur clung to my frame in long swaths of straight snow-white hair. I practically sauntered over to where Deciduous was sitting on the couch reading some book that I had never seen before. “You were right taking a shower first was a much better idea,” I said as I started to stretch. The popping of my stiff joints was ecstasy; even the one in my forelimbs that I couldn’t feel made me happy to hear. “Can you help me with the bandages.” I motioned to the pile of cloth on the table in front of him, and pulled his attention away from his reading as I did so. “Sure,” he replied before sticking a card in the book to mark his place and setting it aside. I looked over the cover, and saw that it was written in that strange language that I couldn’t read one bit of. Deciduous deftly collected a long length of cloth, and I stood still for him as he started to wrap it around me. My ribs were still really tender and knitting, which I reminded him of with a yelp as he pulled the bandages tight and strapped them in place with two metal clamps. “Sorry, but the doctor said that they need to be snug in order to keep everything in place,” he said, sheepishly backing away. “Yea I know, but warn me next time won’t you. That hurts like a bitch,” I rubbed the two injured ribs lightly to try and work out some of the pain. The cloth was by no means smooth, and my claws accidentally stuck into it as I rubbed it making me spend two whole minutes trying to dislodge my paw without undoing the bandages. Finally freeing myself I sighed and carefully put my saddlebags on before turning back to the earth pony that was once again reading on the couch. “I thought you said we needed to hurry,” I deadpanned, as I looked him over. “That was when I thought you would practically be crawling there. For somepony with nerve damage in their paws you are doing remarkably well,” he replied as he put the book he was reading in his already ready saddlebags and strapped them on as well. He was right, I hadn’t expected to be up and moving about as easily as I was when I couldn’t even feel two of my limbs. Grabbing things was still extremely difficult, and I doubt I would be able to catch a ball for a long while, but movement was coming back to me really quickly. “That is probably because of how amazing I am,” I said as I approached the door. I could practically see him rolling his eyes behind me as I opened the door. “Sure, just keep telling yourself that.” We exited the room for the last time with all of our supplies and belongings in tow. We walked down the short corridor to the set of stairs leading into the lobby, and were soon in front of the checkout desk. I told the pony working the desk that we would be taking off, and made to pay for the extra days we had spent in the room, but he waved me off. Apparently, heroes don’t have to pay for a room. “Well that was nice of him,” Deciduous remarked as we exited the building. The streets were bustling with ponies making repairs to all the damage that had been caused by the monster’s attack. Shacks and tents were set up along the road for ponies to sleep in while they were rebuilding, and more than one of the colorful equines could be seen scaling a building to repair roof damage. The sound of hammering and sawing filled the town and mixed well with the hurrying of the ponies running back and forth quickly working to rebuild after the disaster. The fire had been swiftly put out after the snake had finally been taken down and dragged off. Apparently during the entire battle the ponies were already working hard to put out the blaze and save any from the flames. Slightly more than a dozen had died in the fire and discounting the dozen or so that the snake had eaten or killed the death toll was actually not very high. It seemed that ponies living this close to the frontier had at least some experience in dealing with disasters. “Yea, I am sure he is making absolutely no profit from all the now homeless ponies that are staying at the inn, a regular Mother Teresa.” “Who?” he asked confused. “Don’t worry about it. How long do we have until the train arrives?” At that moment a large bell went off somewhere in the town, and chimed three times as if the universe just wanted to be convenient. “Well it’s three now so we have another hour until it gets here,” Deciduous replied. “What are we going to do until then?” “We still need to find Scarlet,” I said looking around, paying particular attention to the sky. “Hey Vixen, I think I see her,” Deciduous said bringing my attention back to the ground. “Where?” “She is right there walking over to us with a smile.” He pointed to the red mare that was standing not ten feet away. Touché convenient universe, it is about time that I got some good luck. “Hey Scarlet, we were just looking for you,” I said as I approached her with my own somewhat smaller smile. She had on the bags that I had seen her wearing before, which kept her cutie mark obscured. It occurred to me that I had never actually seen what it was. She had her bottles strapped around her frame with a Final Fantasy level of belts. “That’s crazy I was looking for you too,” she said coming to a stop in front of me. “I heard you got out of the hospital.” “Yea, just this morning. I was hoping to find you before we headed off on the next train out of town to give you the thousand bits.” I reached around in my saddlebags for the bag that I had put aside earlier before it hit me that it would be impossible for me to find it with that method. I craned my neck back and pulled the bag out with my teeth before tossing it to the mare that easily caught it. “Well it looks like I’m leaving with you then doesn’t it,” she said as she tossed the bag into her bags. “You really don’t have to do that,” I replied. I wasn’t just trying to be polite, I really didn’t want to add another companion to my list. Sure Scarlet seemed like a pretty cool mare, and was probably a great drinking buddy, but I was still trying to be inconspicuous and if my party kept growing that would be harder and harder to do. “I thought we already went over this. I can at least stick around until you make it to Las Pegasus right? Come on it’s the least I can do,” she said as she continued to smile at me without a single worry in the world. “…Fine,” I finally relented, “but only until we get to Las Pegasus I don’t want to be taking you out of your way or anything.” She laughed for a moment before turning back to me. “My guild is stationed out of Las Pegasus so I was heading there anyways. These days there are plenty of monster running around Equestria that need hunting so it is easy enough for me to just tag along.” Something prodding me in the side hit me the wrong was causing me to yelp before turning to look at Deciduous who had just poked me in the ribs. “Oh sorry, I completely forgot. I was going to tell you that we need to get to the train station and make sure that we arrive on time. I know you don’t want to stick around here longer than you need to.” I stopped myself from growling at him and reigned in my emotions. He hadn’t meant to cause me pain so I could forgive him for it. “Okay, let get going then.” With that the three of us set out for the train station so that we could get out of this small destroyed town that had brought me so much pain. ExcursionWe had arrived at the station a few minutes before the train, which gave me time to admire it as it pulled in. I hadn’t taken the time to admire it before, but the actual train yard was very large; far larger than the one booth I had thought it to be previously. Several tracks lay empty in anticipation for the train to arrive and deposit its cargo while other cars, which appeared to be for passengers, sat waiting to be connected to the engine. A whistle blaring farther down the track brought me from my observations and back to the sight of the steam engine slowing to a stop in one of the empty lanes. The massive steam engine pulled dozens of boxcars into the stop at Rubyton, and allowed at least a hundred ponies to exit before we were allowed to board. The ponies getting off the train took a look at the destruction of the town before forming into groups and heading off to help. Several crates were offloaded from one of the front cars as well as several tons of steel from one of the other cars as well. Those carrying supplies were unhooked from the front engine after it pulled them into a stop and moved out once more to connect with the passenger cars. Once the passenger cars were in place the train moved once more to the terminal where we had been waiting for nearly an hour. Seeing these ponies work with machinery really brought back a feeling of nostalgia for me, which I bitterly suppressed. I had been down that line of thought before and it only ended with me feeling depressed and pitying myself. I was only going to think about the future from now on, and finding a way to get out of the terrible situation I was in. The train pulled to a stop once more in front of us, and several of the ponies that had also been waiting along with us picked up their luggage in anticipation of boarding. The only things that we had were already strapped to us so we continued to laze about as the conductor took his sweet time to open the doors for passage. The ponies crowding around the doors stood there for ten minutes before the doors finally opened and they filled in excitedly. It seemed that more than one pony was leaving the town after the devastation that it had seen, but if the ponies coming off the train were anything to go by then plenty were moving in to fill their places. Once all of the ponies clambering to get onto the train were out of the way I slowly made my way to stand. My side was still aching and it was the worst whenever I was getting up or sitting down, but the pain wasn’t unbearable. They had only kept me on morphine for the first couple of days, and luckily it seemed that I hadn’t become addicted to the stuff even though it was the most fantastic drug I have ever been on. My weight shifting caused the many bits I had in my bag to jingle slightly, but since I had taken the time to stack them and tie them up earlier it wasn’t very audible. We calmly walked to the pony that was standing near the door and Deciduous flashed him our tickets. He directed us to the back of the train where the personal cars were, and Deciduous thanked him before he started ushering us to the back. We arrived at a very large and very pink care near the end of the train before we climbed into the private car that we had. Deciduous had explained to me earlier that he went ahead and got us our own car since he thought that I was going to be far more incapacitated then I apparently was. The car itself was overly large and had both its own bathroom and dining sections. It dwarfed the small room we had been staying at in town, easily being three times as large, and was full furnished with very expensive looking furniture. It had two couches that sat opposite each other with a really nice coffee table in between them, which held a chessboard on it. There was a fully stocked bar against the opposite wall that had numerous amounts of alcohol, which I would no doubt get wasted on during our little excursion. Checking the bathroom told me that it was indeed fully furnished with both a giant bathtub and a separate glass paneled shower. A big king sized bed sat against the back wall near the end of the car, which I called for myself by tossing my bags onto. I hopped up onto the bed and began to stretch out once more as I admired the plush feel of the mattress. Lying there I felt so light I could imagine that I was actually on a cloud just floating about in the breeze. Did they make beds out of clouds in Equestria? They had to right since Rainbow Dash lived in a cloud house meaning that she wouldn’t be able to have actual furniture. Unless they had cloud furniture or something. “Hey Scarlet, what do pegasi use for tables in their houses?” I asked as my curiosity started to get the best of me. “Do you mean like in a cloud house or something?” she replied as she laid out on one of the couches. “Yea, because like if you had normal tables or something it would fall through the floor right?” “Well most pegasi I know get all of their furniture enchanted so it can be on clouds. Some unicorns will do that for you for free, but there is a real business in it. Other than that you can just make a table out of cloud if you really wanted. Apparently, there are some unicorns out there that can make clouds act like solid objects but not lose any of their softness,” she answered as she stared off into space. “Why do you ask?” “Because this bed is so awesome,” I replied as I popped my back. I had never really been able to pop my back very well back on Earth, but with this body it was all too easy. “If you two girls are done gabbing I would like to go over our plan,” Deciduous interrupted as he sat on the other couch and tossed his bags aside. I huffed and rolled onto my side to stare at him. He pulled out a book from his saddlebags and set it on the table in front of him before he too sat back in the couch. We all sat there in silence for a while before I finally decided to break it. “The plan is pretty simple isn’t it? We take the train to Las Pegasus and then drop you off at your folk’s place. Scarlet goes back to her guild, whatever that is, and I go off to do something else.” I laid there a few minutes longer before it struck me that I really needed to think of something to do after we arrived at the city. Scarlet hummed to herself for a few seconds before saying, “Yea what Vixen said sounds like a good plan.” “So that’s it we just get to Las Pegasus and go our separate ways?” Deciduous asked incredulously. “I guess so,” I said before reaching out and grabbing a pillow. I pulled it under my head and began to drift off. “I’m kinda tired so I think I will be taking a nap, wake me if something interesting happens.” As I started to drift off the train car lurched forwards as the engine rumbled to life and started to pull us along the tracks. I took another sip of my drink as I thought over what my next move would be. I was currently sitting opposite Scarlet as we played a particularly difficult game of chess. I had actually been pretty surprised when she asked if I wanted to play a game; chess just didn’t seem like something that she would be interested in. After being absolutely trounced in the first game I started to take the games seriously and now we were tied up at three to three. We had decided to break out the scotch after the fourth game, which had been an endeavor in and of itself. I knew that I had lost a good amount of dexterity after being turned into a creature with no opposable thumbs and then even more when my forelimbs had become permanently numb, but I didn’t think that picking up a glass would be so damn difficult. Plenty of the no doubt expensive booze had been spilled on the floor, but after several attempts I had finally managed a system to drink it without incident. Ever seen a raccoon hold something with its paws? Yea, it kinda looked a lot like that. I set the now empty glass back on the table and motioned for Scarlet to fill it while I looked back over the board. She was heavily favoring her knights, which was something that I usually tended to do. I had taken her first by sacrificing a bishop, which would normally been seen as a mistake, and the second by threatening her queen. However, she had then used that queen to take my only remaining bishop and a rook before I had forced her back. All of her pieces were off of her back line save for the king, which was the only opening that I had in order to take this game. She had just moved her queen into line with her bishop to prevent me from taking it unless I wanted to sacrifice my already dwindling pieces. Deciding that it was now or never I pushed my queen forwards across the board to her second line and took out a pawn. Her king wasn’t in check, but she was going to need to do something about it soon. “Attacking with your Queen huh,” she said with a smile. “I think I will do the same,” she moved her queen from its safe position behind her bishop to my back line. “Check.” The move was actually a pretty good one if it hadn’t been exactly what I was hoping for. By putting me in check she alleviated the pressure that I might have had on my queen, and just maybe meant that she had forgotten about it. Using a castle I saved my king from pressure and put my rook in the way of her queen. My knight was poised to take her queen if she so much as dared to take my rook, which would no doubt force her out. “Alright,” she said as she moved her queen back to its previous position, “I guess I will try something else.” I smiled as my plan came to fruition and shot my rook across the board all the way to her backline, a hole that I had been trying to make all game. “Checkmate.” She stared down at the board for a minute with her mouth agape, trying to find an error I had made that would lead to her escape, but there was none. She picked up her drink and downed it before she knocked over her king with her other hoof. “Good game,” she said after finishing her scotch. “You know I didn’t really peg you as a chess player.” She put down the shot-glass and refilled both of our drinks before sitting back on the couch. I arched an eyebrow and sat back myself. “To be honest I didn’t take you for one either, no offense,” I quickly added. “None taken, I know I come off as kind of a brute sometimes but I love the game. A friend of mine taught me to play a long time ago, and I just immediately fell in love with it. It helps me work out my problems you know?” She took a light sip from her drink. “Yea I know what you mean. I used to play all the time with some of my friends, but we all stopped playing for some reason or another. Now a days when I want to clear my mind and just think I turn to painting.” I clumsily picked up my own glass and took a shallow drink. “So what is this guild thing that you are going to in Las Pegasus?” I asked. I knew the concept of guilds from the brief amount I had been taught about medieval culture back in highschool, but never really knew anything about what one actually does or how hers operates. Equestria has to be the strangest place that I have ever been, and that is discounting that everyone is a colorful equine. The culture seems to be some bizarre mix of the eighteenth century and the twenty-first. I am sure that any history nut that found themselves here would have a field day. “Just your basic monster hunter’s guild. We aren’t really that big but the guild leader has a lot of pull with some of the aristocracy, and he knows everyone from everywhere. The headquarters is in Las Pegasus, and they have housing there for all of the members and it’s also where we hold all guild meetings. You also have to head back there if you want to pick up any missions, which is why I need to head back since my last one ended up being kind of a bust.” She laughed and finished her drink. “Sorry about that by the way. I didn’t know at the time that you were actually hunting the thing.” She waved off my apology as it left my mouth. “Don’t worry about it. After seeing the snake in action I know that there is no way I could have taken it on my own. Did you see what my bombs were doing to it? Absolutely nothing, yea I would have been pretty screwed if I tried to fight it solo but luckily I had The Blue Flame on my side.” “The what?” I asked before I finished my own drink. “Yea, that is what the ponies were calling you back in town. I had thrown in my two bits for Vicious Vixen, but they had shot that down immediately. I guess they didn’t want their town hero to be known as vicious,” she said with a laugh. She picked up the bottle once again and poured herself a drink before offering me more, which I declined. “They have titled me now.” I sighed and stretched out on the couch. The train continued to rumble along the tracks below, but the ride was incredibly smooth. I had never actually ridden on a train before so I had nothing to compare it to, but it had been a really enjoyable ride so far. “Ponies like to give things titles; it is just the way we are. The Blue Flame is actually pretty cool if you ask me, but I could understand if you wouldn’t like it. Having a title isn’t that bad actually, it definitely helps to increase your cred which is pretty big in my line of work.” She sat back once more and sipped her drink for a moment before gasping. “You should totally join my guild.” I could just imagine a chat window opening in front of my face with the words ‘Scarlet has invited you to join her guild’ written in a nice font. The only question was do I accept or decline. True, I didn’t really have any aspirations for the future, and having someone vouch for me would be an easy way of getting into a seemingly prestigious monster-hunting guild, but did I really want to do that. I was supposed to be figuring out a way of winning this whole game that I was now thrust into, so would becoming some kind of monster hunter aide in that goal. “I don’t know I never really thought about being a monster hunter actually. What do you really do outside of fighting big baddies and getting paid?” I reclined back on the couch and listened to her speak as I stared at the ceiling. “Well first of all it isn’t always about fighting monsters. The name seems to imply that, but we also do some other kind of jobs. Being a monster hunter is pretty much just like being a mercenary that specializes in one thing. Other than that you pretty much just travel around the world doing whatever job you get before coming back to the base or back home for a rest before you set off again. The life isn’t for everyone, but it is certainly exciting and you get to see a lot of places,” she finished as she opted to do away with her glass and started drinking straight from the bottle. So it was essentially just mercenary work, which was a concept that I was pretty familiar with. I would get to travel all around the world, and seeing as how I was completely new to this world that sounded like something I would like to do. I would be constantly fighting against monsters and the like, which would mean that I would constantly be getting stronger, and that could only help me for this game in the long run. I had to admit that running around the world hunting down monsters and getting paid for it actually seemed like an awesome job that I immediately wanted to do. “I will think about it,” I said noncommittally. The train car darkened for a minute as we entered a tunnel and the sunlight that had been streaming in through the windows was cut out. Luckily, there were electric light on the inside of the train cars that allowed us to see in the darkness of the tunnel. “You really should,” she agreed as she took another swig from the bottle. “What is the name of your guild by the way?” I asked. “Crow’s Legion,” she declared proudly. Just then all the lights in the car went out bathing us in darkness. We just sat there in silence for a few moments as the train continued to rumble along the rails. “Well that is a cool name, what does it mean?” The darkness continued to surround us, but it didn’t really bother me too much. “Well, Black Crow is the leader of the guild so it kind of comes from that,” she replied through the blackness, and I could hear the liquid inside the scotch bottle swish back and forth as she took another drink. The lights in the cars turned back on a moment later suddenly, and caused me to suddenly close my eyes shut as they had been adjusting to the darkness just seconds before. A scream in one of the neighboring cars pulled my attention away from my own bleary vision and to the excitement going on not too far away. “Well that sounded ominous,” I said as I lazily rolled off the couch and onto my feet. Scarlet also stood from where she was sitting although she did so much more shakily then I did. “I guess we should check it out,” she said as she slowly walked to the door that separated our car from the connecting hallways beyond. Scarlet was a nice change of pace from Deciduous, if he had been in the car with me he no doubt would have been off racing towards the trouble as soon as we heard the scream. I slowly walked behind her as she opened the car door and walked out into the narrow hallways that ran along the length of the passenger cars. We walked for a while before coming to a door that a lot of ponies were crowding around including a familiar green earth pony stallion. “What is going on?” I asked as we neared, and caused Deciduous to look back at us. “I don’t know I just got here, and I can’t see anything from here,” he grumbled. I looked over the crowd for a while before deciding that if I came all this way I might as well see what all of the fuss was about. Using my size I began to edge the nosy ponies out of the way and cleared a path for us to walk along. “Out of the way, important persons coming through. You, mare in the pink, move along there is nothing to see here.” If you act like you know what you are doing and show off your confidence you would be surprised at how much you could get away with. We finally pushed past all of the ponies crowding around and into the train car that everything was going on in. It was a private car that looked exactly like the one we had been staying in for the past few hours; it even had the exact same furniture. The only remarkable difference was the dead stallion on the floor with a knife in his back, and the crying mare talking to the two ponies in the corner. The mare looked positively distraught at the death of whoever this poor guy was, and the two ponies that I were either royal guards or some kind of police officers wore stoic expressionless faces. Deciduous looked downright sorrowful at the apparent murder that had taken place on the train we were on. Scarlet on the other hand only looked marginally pensive, but was no doubt upset that this had occurred. I however, was as giddy as a schoolgirl at the events that were apparently unfolding on this train ride that just got way more interesting. ProgressionSomething was wrong. The images were flashing before me; coming at me, but that was the reverse of what should have been happening. They flashed before my three eyes at dizzying speeds, pulling me onwards towards that I couldn’t fathom and what I already knew. I was pulled along, my own will forgotten long ago if I ever had it towards a destination I knew not. Figures stood around me and I among them. Unmoving, save for then the hand or claw would dip below the darkness above and give a simple nudge. Some tried to take their motion into their own whim, but were mocked by those above for such ignorance. The tiled ground under my stone paws showed the dichotomy that plagued those upon the board; a never moving equilibrium, the one thing that could not be changed but would always swing to and fro of its own accord. The hand came for me as well, long fingers tipped in blood moving me ever so gently onto the path that was set long ago, but never to be revealed. I stood once the fingers, that crushed me with every light stroke, let go of my broken form on a space of grey, constantly in flux but never changed. The one before me blocked my way and I moved of my own will towards it, the hand above pushing me along against my protestations. The stone ahead gave way to marble, the piece dark and black though the grey still held it firmly. We clashed, a battle that lasted a mere second but would forever alter the path, creating a past that chose my future no matter how I struggled. It fell before me, the only thing that could have possibly come, the crimson nails guiding my every move watching over my every action. The path ahead, checkered and drowning in red, showed those that stood in my way. They flew above and crawled below me, while I could do not but remain upon the ground. The red seeped from them as their lives slowly bled way before their eyes, though they remained blind. They continued to move, each step taking them closer and closer to the end, for better or worse they did not know yet still they move; those above guiding the unending course to its fruition. I stopped seeing the sea of red pour out before my eyes, not wanting to go forwards any more, and the fingers that dug into me allowed my respite. There, still ahead on the path, stood another figure poised to block me, but another to intercept. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The ground gave way to a field of death that stunk with the life of those that poured onto it in their fervor. A new hand of fire and brimstone loomed up before me and I was not deterred. I moved now free of the finger’s motivation, alongside dead giants that marched to battle with faces of stone. Their eyes pierced the smog around us and their breath cleared away the risen that would oppose our righteousness. The hands erased the paths behind, but none dared turn back to watch, knowing our destination to be ahead whether it was the final one or just another door that needed to be passed through. The radiance we shared gathered all colors of the spectrum against the mounting black that loomed ahead, my own contribution being of a somewhat muted chromatic origin, but adding and strengthening the collective all the same. We fought long and hard against the enemy whose face could not be known, not for its etherealness but rather the consequences that such knowledge bore. I gazed upon such a fearsome sight with my giants around me and we screamed our fury into the beast. The voices around began to die as the others scream cried out over us, a single pitch that murdered all life be it small or large. We fell, one by one, but were not beaten as we continued our march of the damned to the end. The world muted by the death of the colors; the snow fell upon us though it carried the color of our vanquished enemy. The sky above, the same crimson as the hand that had guided me thus far, wept and we shared its tears. The clouds above forever changed by the ballads played and the moon… The moon… “Hey Vixen, wake up.” I heard as I began to ascend out of the darkness of sleep. It had been a long time since I had been shaken awake, and I had almost forgotten the feeling. What I hadn’t forgotten however was the extreme annoyance that soon followed being shaken awake by someone else. “What!” I snapped, as my eyes flew open momentarily before being shut against the blinding rays of the sun that filtered into through the open windows. The pony that had been near my face just a second before jumped back, startled by my sudden outburst. “You said to wake you up if you weren’t awake already by ten,” Deciduous explained and I immediately regretted snapping at him like I had. I opened my eyes once more to see that I was still in the train car, and the meadows outside were sweeping past us at a rapid pace. The wind blew into our car at a much more relaxed speed and filled the room with a cool breeze. I blinked a few times, clearing the rest of the sleep from my mind as I yawned and started to stretch. I made it all the way to the third pop of my spine before something caught the stitch in my side and sent me sprawling back onto the bed. I had forgotten that my ribs were still healing, and apparently aggravated them. “Sorry about that, Deci,” I apologized. “I guess I just didn’t get much beauty rest.” I caught the phrase just after it left my mouth and had to resist the overwhelming urge to facepalm, which I failed to do. Luckily it just seemed that my companion was taking the gesture as me trying to wake up. “You look pretty tired,” he agreed. “Do you want me to put off the interview until later so you can get some more sleep?” Everything that happened yesterday started to come back to me gradually. Just before we were about to bed down for the night we had discovered that High Born’s wife, High Class, was a passenger aboard the train. I had rushed off and managed to catch Diligence just before she was also heading off to bed and asked her to arrange an interview with the mare for ten-thirty today. Just in case I didn’t wake up on time I had asked Deciduous to wake me up just before I headed off to bed myself. It was strange that I hadn’t woken up earlier with how relatively early I had gone to sleep. I hopped down from the plush bed that I had shared with Scarlet the night before to find the pegasus nowhere to be found. I padded over to the bathroom and started to groom my matted and out of place fur with a brush that could easily be attached to either a hoof or paw. “No it’s fine, just need to get ready for when our guest arrives,” I said as I brushed my fur. Sure it wasn’t overly masculine to care so much about my hair, but it was really the only feature I had much control over, and if I was going to be stuck in a body that I didn’t particularly like then at least I was going to look good. It only took a few minutes to get everything where it was supposed to go, and soon I was standing before the mirror feeling fully awake. I unstrapped the brush and tossed it onto the counter before walking back into the main room. “Where is Scarlet by the way?” I asked, looking around for the mare that wasn’t to be found. “Said something about stretching her wings. I think she went flying around outside,” he replied with a shrug. Glancing over at the analog clock sitting atop the bar in our room I was able to see we still had ten minutes before High Class was supposed to get here. “What’s to eat?” I asked, walking over to the covered dish that sat on the table beside the chessboard. I grabbed the lid and lifted it off just as Deciduous was making his reply, “Vegetable soup,” he said cheerily. I looked down at the red soup in front of me with a clear frown. Sure I had nothing against vegetable soup, sometimes I even enjoyed it if I had some cornbread on hand, but how was I supposed to eat it? I put down the lid with a sigh and sat at the table. With nothing better to do than try I picked up the spoon with my paw, which in and of itself was incredibly difficult. I dipped the spoon into the soup and tried lifting it to my mouth before I could lose my grip. The awkward movement, and my terrible hold on the eating utensil, caused it to fall onto the table in front of me and spill its contents on the expensive looking furniture. With another hefty sigh I stood and walked away, “Wasn’t that hungry anyways.” Deciduous flinched at seeing my struggles, “If you want I could…” I cut him off immediately, “I am not going to let you feed me,” I deadpanned. He blushed and looked away. “I was actually going to say that I could go and see if they have anything else to eat. You know, something that doesn’t require forks or spoons.” I thought it over for a moment, it would help alot if I wasn’t so hungry. “Wait until after we have our meeting with Miss High Class, I need my stenographer around for it after all.” Just as I finished speaking an almost inaudible knock came from the door to my right. I glanced back at the clock and noted that it was only ten twenty-three. “Seven minutes early, how nice of her.” I promptly made my way to the door and pushed down on the handle that kept it shut. It opened to my will to reveal a very lithe white unicorn mare with an equally white mane waiting to be let in. “Miss High Class, I assume,” I said, stepping aside to allow her entry. She pranced in gracefully, dipping her head to me in greeting as she passed, and made her way towards the couches without a word. I looked her over thoroughly before following her. She had to be the thinnest and maybe tallest pony I had ever come across so far; she had a physique that could put Fluer De Lis to shame. Her mane and tail were both almost completely white aside from a single streak of crimson that ran through them. She also appeared much younger than I had originally expected, she was maybe in her late twenties at the most. Seeing as how this was the wife of the victim’s older brother she had to be a trophy wife. Maybe even a second or third one after a few divorces. The cutie mark she bore was a crescent moon eclipsing the sun. She wore no clothes like I had expected her too, seeing how both Expensive Taste and Pleasant View had been wearing them. I guess I had come to see wearing clothes as a sort of status symbol. I followed her to the couches and sat in my usual seat that I had during all of the interviews. I silently motioned for Deciduous to take up his usual spot as well, and he did so without complaint. We sat there looking each other over for a long while before she finally decided to break the silence. “That is a beautiful coat you have,” she said with a soft smile. I looked a while into her amber eyes before smiling myself and extending a paw in greeting. “The name is Vixen, and it is a pleasure to meet you. I assume you know why I have asked you to come here today.” She took the paw with a hoof of her own and returned the greeting. “High Class, and yes I think I do. I heard about what happened to Expensive and feel just awful about it. He was my brother-in-law you know, so I assume you are contacting the family members.” With our formal greeting concluded I sat back in the couch and stared disdainfully at the bowl of soup that had beaten me just a few minutes ago. “I will be frank as I believe you to be the type of mare that appreciates that. At this point in time you are a suspect for this, and I need to interview you.” She also glanced at the bowl of soup for a moment before sitting back as well. “I had thought as much. I will tell you right now that I didn’t do this, but you of course cannot take my word for it. And yes, I am a mare that appreciates frankness so I shall speak plainly with you as well.” I found myself immediately liking this mare, despite the lead we had on her. “It’s like there’s two of them,” I heard Deciduous whisper from my side, though I ignored the comment. “Let us begin with your relation to the victim then. You said you are related through marriage so tell me more about that.” For some reason I found myself feeling more like a therapist than someone trying to solve a murder. “Yes well, Expensive Taste and I are related through marriage. I am married to his older brother High Born. We have not interacted very much on a personal level, though I have always admired his professionalism and his drive,” she answered immediately. “I assume you know about Expensive being poised to take over as the new head of the family. We have it from a reliable source that your husband wasn’t very enthusiastic about this.” She smiled at that. “If by reliable source you mean Pleasant View, and if by not very enthusiastic you mean fuming mad. My husband kicked up quite a storm about not being chosen to be the next head. You probably think this means that I acted on his behalf and did away with his brother. I can assure you nothing is farther from the truth. I was actually pleasantly surprised that High Born would not be taking over as head of the family. “I love my husband dearly, but his talents aren’t suited for running a family and taking care off all of its interests. No, Born is a natural socialite whose abilities are better suited for mingling with other aristocrats and exchanging favors. With Expensive as head of the household the family would no doubt have grown even stronger, his natural business sense would have made all of us prosper. This no doubt is what his uncle had thought when he left the position to him. I could also do without the pay cut.” This was some new information, if she was to be believed then she would have no personal reason to take out Expensive Taste. Of course if she was lying, then none of this could be believed. “Explain that last remark if you would.” “Oh do you not know? The head of the house, and as a general rule for all nobles, are not allowed to work. If High Born had been made head of the household then we would of course have access to the estate’s funds but those are watched over closely. I would no longer be able to head up any of the charities I watch over or anything else for that matter. The life of a noble just sounds absolutely dreadful to me, but it looks like that is what lies ahead. Once you have uncovered the true culprit behind this I will have to meet once more with my husband who is now bound to take the head of the household,” she said with a sigh. Either she was a terrific actress, which I had not really seen from a pony thus far, or she was being completely sincere. Every word that I heard from her seemed genuinely authentic, which put me on guard. I am not very used to dealing with those that tell the honest truth despite being under scrutiny. “I have to say that you take me a bit off my guard,” I replied honestly. “Your sincerity is refreshing, but I still have to hold you as a suspect for the time being.” “As expected,” she said immediately. “I do have to say that I hope you didn’t commit this crime, but of course I have to deal in facts here. Where were you when the lights went out yesterday evening?” Man I really wish I had something to sip from right now. “I was in my private car reading when the lights went out all of a sudden. I continued to sit there for some time waiting for them to come back on. When they did I heard a scream, which I now know was Pleasant View and continued to stay within the safety of my car.” “So in other words you have no one to corroborate your alibi.” I pointedly stated. “Yes, that would be correct,” she replied simply. I hummed to myself as I thought over the facts. Everything would just about line up if she had been the one to do it, but I wasn’t inclined to believe she had. Something about her was off, and I just didn’t peg her for this. If she was a very good liar though she would make the perfect suspect. There was just not enough to go on currently, I needed to look for some real clues. We needed some concrete evidence. “Take me through everything you did yesterday.” I commanded politely, hoping that she would either trip up or expose something that would clear her. She tapped a hoof to her chin for a moment before replying; “I woke up in the morning promptly at seven like I do everyday. I had breakfast in the dining car before returning to my room to read from a new novel I had acquired the day before. I returned to the dining car for lunch and finished the book there. That evening I was busy reading the next one in the saga when the lights went out and the murder took place. After a few more hours of staying in my room I left once more to the dining car to have a quiet dinner and catch up on some paperwork. After a few hours of that I returned once more to my private car to sleep. Aside from the lights going out it was a fairly dull day.” I once again thought over her story. She didn’t meet with anyone much, but I could possibly get some information from the waiting staff on her behavior before and after Expensive’s death. A slight variation in how she was behaving could signify something important or nothing at all, but it would be best to check. Aside from that, finding the things stolen from Expensive would go a long way to helping figure all of this out. I continued to sit there thinking for a long while as she waited patiently. I figured that being an aristocrat might entail a lot of waiting. “I don’t think I have any other questions for you today,” I said as I stood and motioned her to do the same. “Make sure to keep a clear schedule until we have this case all wrapped up.” She stood also and walked gracefully beside me until we had reached the door. Her horn lit up in the same red that ran through her hair and the door opened before us. “I will make sure to do so,” she said as she exited into the hall before turning to me once more. “Good luck in your endeavor, Miss Vixen.” With that she left and slowly walked down the hall to where I could only assume her private car was. I turned back to Deciduous who was putting away his pen and paper. I would need to spend some time tonight going over all the interviews that I had conducted thus far. “Come on Deciduous, let’s go check out that dining car,” I called to him, beckoning him to step outside with me. “I am famished.” ClueWe sat at the table in the dining car, enjoying the breadsticks that were given out complimentary. Well, it would have been enjoyable if several ponies weren’t giving me the stink eye when they thought I wasn’t looking. I get that I am a huge canine, but does that make me less of a person? I sighed and turned back to the delicious starch filled treats in front of me before looking at Deciduous. He had thought it prudent to bring the interview papers along so he could look over them as we ate. Unfortunately, he had written them in high equestrian and only realized just now that I would be unable to read them. The single waiter that seemed to man the car was making his rounds at another table, which left us plenty of time to theorize as to who Expensive Taste’s killer was. “You picking up any clues in there, Deci?” I asked as I plopped another breadstick in my mouth. I hadn’t really realized how incredibly hungry I was until we had gotten here. “Nothing yet. I don’t think I am very good at this at all,” he admitted, putting the papers aside to take a sip from his water. “Have you ever read a mystery novel?” I asked. Since apparently there weren’t any televisions in Equestria that would have to be the second closest thing. “A few,” he sheepishly admitted. “Well then forget everything about that then. Real crime is usually not planned out very well, and occurs in a passion. Ninety percent of the time the one you suspect the most is usually who did it.” Thank you cop shows. “So were you really a detective back where you came from.” He seemed to genuinely believe that I might not have been lying about that. “Of course not. If you have picked up anything about me so far it should be that lying and carrying a façade of importance will get you most anywhere right?” I smiled and took a sip from my own water as he rolled his eyes. “Why would I even ask,” he muttered. “I don’t know.” I relaxed where I was sitting, apparently pony seats wouldn’t work so well for me so I had to use the floor, which I didn’t really mind. I was insanely scared however that someone was going to step on my tail as they passed behind me though. The approach of hoofsteps caused me to tuck it around me and look over to the waiter that was finally coming back to our table. He was a grey unicorn stallion of average build wearing a simple black jacket. “What can I get you two?” he asked, looking us over quickly. Fortunately, he seemed completely professional and didn’t have his gaze linger on me longer than he did Deciduous. “I will have a daisy sandwich,” Deciduous answered, passing his menu to the waiter. “The same for me, except hold the daisies and add tomatoes or some other vegetables.” I also handed my menu to him but held onto it a moment longer. “I was hoping to ask you some questions if you wouldn’t mind.” He kept his hoof on the menu waiting for me to release it as he looked back at me, “I don’t really have time right now ma’am. As you can see we do not have a lot of waiting staff on hoof.” “Which is exactly why I would like to talk to you. You have no doubt heard about the horrid murder that took place in one of the private cars yesterday?” He shuddered at my mention of it, which was all the conformation that I needed. “I am investigating the death and I need to speak with the wait staff here about it.” I let go of the menu allowing him to take it. He waited a little, longer looking me over. “Let me put these orders in and tell my boss. When I come back with your meals I will be happy to answer any questions.” With that he turned away and left Deciduous and I alone once again. “How are you so good at that?” Deciduous asked, pulling my attention back to him. “At what?” I replied, genuinely not understanding what he was getting at. “Just confronting others and telling them what to do. If you weren’t really a detective then how come you are so at ease and confident faking to be one?” I contemplated his question for a long moment. It was true that I had absolutely zero experience handling the kind of situation that I now found myself in. Back home I hadn’t ever been the kind of person to take charge so readily, I was more of the reluctant participant who would step up into the role if there was absolutely no one else to fill it. I had always known that I had an affinity for lying and deceit, but I had never employed it to often. But now that I was here, in a world and a body that was not my own I guess I felt like an outsider who could manipulate the environment however I wanted. Was this the reason I was chosen, because I would just take this new life and do whatever I felt like with it? Because I would lie and cheat in order to get whatever I wanted? Is that why a goddess of victory would scoop me up so readily to be her champion in a game that I still didn’t know the rules of? Would this drive that seemed central to my being by what she would count on in order to win. What she would count on to drive me to kill off the competitors. “Vixen?” I refocused my eyes and pulled them away from the window that I was staring out of. “Are you okay?” Deciduous was looking at me with some amount of concern, I must have zoned out for longer than I had meant to. “Perfectly fine, and to answer your question, it just comes naturally to me. Maybe lying is my special talent.” “What would a lying cutie mark even look like?” he pondered aloud. “I imagine it would look like a lawyers briefcase,” I joked. Unfortunately, it seemed like my attempt at humor had been lost on him. Luckily, it was that exact moment that our waiter decided to return to the table. Apparently sandwiches don’t take that long to make, who knew? He set the plates down in front of us, Deciduous having his daisy sandwich and my own being a wild assortment of vegetables. No I wasn’t overly fond of eating tomatoes and bread for lunch, but ponies are vegetarian so I couldn’t exactly ask for a BLT. That was when it hit me that I should have just gotten a grilled cheese. Once he finished serving us he pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table as well. I pushed the sandwich away and motioned for Deciduous to do the same. He immediately understood and gathered a sheet of blank paper as well as his quill so that he could record the conversation. The waiter seemed nervous, more so than I would expect an innocent person to be, but then again he was about to be questioned by a large carnivore. “State your name please,” I began, trying to be amicable so that I could put him at ease. “Timely Service.” Of course it was. “Were you working a shift yesterday, Timely Service?” “Yes ma’am, I worked a twelve hour shift yesterday,” he replied instantly. “Can you tell me if you saw anything odd while working your shift yesterday?” I probably should have asked this to the others, but it had slipped my mind. “Not especially no.” “Can you recall a mare eating in the dining car yesterday by the name of High Class. She is a tall thin white unicorn mare with a white and red mane.” “Yes, I remember serving her all of her meals yesterday,” he said with a nod. Good at least this means she wasn’t lying about coming to the dining car yesterday. “Can you tell me what your impression of her was?” “Well, she was very quiet and kept mostly to herself. She complimented me on how quickly I brought each of her meals and tipped very well. Why do you want to know about her?” “No reason for you to be concerned about. Can you tell me what you thought of her demeanor as the day progressed? Were there and significant changes?” It didn’t looked like we were going to get a lot here. “Not really no, she sat quietly like I said and ate her meals in peace.” I sighed and dismissed the waiter to go back to his duties. Interviewing the rest of the wait staff would likely be an effort in futility. As I had surmised earlier, if High Born had killed Expensive Taste then she was an excellent actress and wouldn’t have let her façade fall around other ponies. Of course if she was also innocent then there would be no reason for her to have acted differently around the wait staff, so either way they were all going to say that she didn’t do anything out of the normal. If I was going to find some clue that would give me the answer to the identity of the murderer then I would need to have a thorough look around the train. Maybe my untrained eyes could catch something that the guards had missed. The biggest thing I could still not get over was that whoever had committed this crime had managed to shut out the lights in order to use the cover of darkness. The problem with this was that they would not only have had to shut out the lights along the entirety of the train, but also make there way back to the car, struggle with Expensive Taste, kill him, and then make a clean getaway. The more I played it over and over in my head it seemed improbable. Of course Equestria had magic so it would make perfect sense if it had been a unicorn and they had teleported to the car to commit the murder. For that reason it would have made perfect sense for High Born to have been the culprit. Although, I would be remiss to overlook the likelihood of there being more than one killer. It would have been all too easy for one person to kill the lights while the other carried out the deed. Hell, that was probably the more likely scenario than a unicorn teleporting. For a tag team group, the only ponies that came to mind were the two guards that had arrived quickly at the scene, though I couldn’t think of a reason for them to have done it aside from getting paid by someone. In the end there was only really one pony aboard the train with any motive that I could think of and that was High Born, though I still didn’t think that she had done it. Maybe I was letting my personal feelings get in the way of what the facts were pointing to, but I didn’t really care at the time. I decided to put off my thoughts a little longer and turned back to the sandwich that was before me. I picked up my meal and bit into it and was pleasantly surprised at how well prepared it was. I wasn’t sure exactly what they had used to substitute the daisies, but it was blended perfectly with whatever sauce they were using. I quickly ate the sandwich with my brain working in the background, trying to figure out something that I was missing. It didn’t take long for me finish and stand from the table. Deciduous who had finished his own sandwich long before me stood as well; collecting the various papers that he had been looking over as he did so. I dropped a few bits on the table as a tip and immediately started back towards our car. The main passenger cars were located towards the front of the train while the private ones were at the back. There was an engine attached to the back of the train to pull it in the other direction in case it was needed, and that was where the conductor I had spoken with was. The car with all of the electrical equipment in it that kept everything running was just behind that engine car. The dining car was in the middle of the train, separating the first class and coach. I guess that way none of the elite had to rub elbows with the riff raff. We exited the dining car and started along the hallways that lined the private cars. One thing that was most certainly not first class was the state of the floors. I don’t think that I have ever seen a hallway with so much grime along the bottom of it. There wasn’t a single clean spot along the entire way as we headed towards the electrical car. Once we arrived at the giant wall of circuits I asked Deciduous to go retrieve the conductor, which he did without a word. We all stood in front of the electrical circuits for a while before the elderly stallion finally broke the silence. “Why did you call me here?” he sounded a little more aggravated than curious. “Can you tell me how all of this works?” I asked, without looking back. “Nope,” came his immediate reply. I think I heard Deciduous snicker a bit behind my back. “Can’t or won’t?” I asked. “Won’t, to tell you how all of this worked would take up way too much of my time. Why don’t you ask me something simpler so I can answer you and be on my way.” Well at least he was upfront about it. I looked back over the dozens of flashing lights and knobs that stood before me. It really seemed that this entire thing was as complex as an 80’s supercomputer, and since I had no idea how even one of those worked I wasn’t going to figure this out anytime soon. Might as well put off the investigation into Equestrian technology until later. “What happened to this machine that caused the lights to go out?” I asked after a moment. “Well that is quite simple,” he said, stepping forwards so I could see him for the first time during this meeting. “If you look here you will see the fuses that keep the lights along the entire train on.” He motioned to a set of switched along the side of one of the panels. “What happened is pretty simple, they all turned off. It was a simple matter for me to walk back here, feel around and flip all of them back on.” It sounded simple enough; I know that I have had to flip the circuit breaker more than once. I continued looking over all of the paneling a while more, and something suddenly jumped out at me. I had been so preoccupied with all of the electronics that I hadn’t really paid attention to anything else but now that I looked up a little more there was a faint bit of red that was sticking out to me. Mainly, what appeared to be blood smeared on the corner of an air vent. “Was that there before?” I asked, motioning to the air vent and the blood that was coating the cover. The conductor followed my gaze to the vent and his eyes went wide, “No, that is the first time that I am seeing it.” “We need to get that open then,” I stated as I stepped forwards to do just that. The bolts that held the vent in place weren’t screwed on that tight, but I couldn’t get a grip on them with my apparently useless front paws. “Let an earth pony handle that,” Deciduous said, stepping forwards and easily twisting the bolts off of the vent cover. I was amazed at how easily he did it, but then again when your dexterity is nil it is easy to be amazed by things. He finished unfastening it and pulled the cover off. I immediately was in front of the vent as he put the cover aside and found that there were two items hidden away inside. The first of which was the golden pocket watch that had been stolen from Expensive Taste’s corpse. The two initials that were engraved into the piece were a dead giveaway of that. The far more interesting item though was the bloodied handkerchief that the pocket watch rested on. I grabbed the watch and tossed it to Deciduous before taking a hold of one of the clean corners of the handkerchief and pulling it out of the vent. I had it up in front of my face to give it a close inspection, but that wasn’t really necessary. The corner that I held onto had a half moon eclipsing the sun, and the other had the initials HB. It didn’t take a genius to figure out whom this bloody garment belonged to. I now had some very strong physical evidence pointing to High Born for committing this murder. RevelationIt had been a pretty simple matter of giving the found evidence to the guards, and having both the conductor and Deciduous corroborate my story, for the guards to immediately take High Class into custody on suspicion of murder. I stood outside of her private car watching as she was walked out, a silver ring clasped around her horn. I guessed that it was probably placed there in order to stop her from using any magic to get away. She didn’t have anything around her hooves though that I assumed ponies had to ping them. Odd that they didn’t seem to carry those around just in case, or were they being more gentle with her for some reason? She didn’t try to get away however, which had been the smart move on her side since I doubted she would be able to get away from the two guards. There were several other ponies looking on as she was led through the hallway back to the guard car where she was going to be confined for the remainder of the trip. For some reason there even seemed to be a reporter among the rabble, taking pictures of the mare as she was led away in shame. She didn’t beg them to let her go or scream her innocence like I had expected her to do. No, she held her head high and walked with the same grace I had seen her posses previously. As she passed my small section of the hallway her eyes moved from their constant looking ahead to gaze at me. I could swear there was a pleading sadness in those eyes. What was she… “Check.” I blinked as I came from the memory and back to the current moment. How many turns had I played without paying much attention? Apparently enough to allow Scarlet an easy check. I moved back to block with a rook; the move would be a sacrifice, one I wouldn’t have had to make if I had been paying attention, but that seemed to be a big problem of mine. Scarlet moved her bishop and captured my rook, which I then took with a pawn. She used her queen to take that pawn, putting me in check once more though this time I was free to move my king away unimpeded. “Are you okay?” she asked as she captured another pawn with the queen. I took a pawn with one of my knights in an attempt to bait her queen. “Just a lot on my mind,” I replied, before frowning as she didn’t fall for it; electing instead to claim another pawn and squeeze me into a corner. “Still thinking about what happened with High Class? That was days ago. Check.” She shot a rook across the board to put me in check once again and put me on my back line. I moved a bishop in the way of her check so I wouldn’t be herded quite yet. “I still have a bad feeling about the whole thing. The times just don’t add up, and my gut is telling me that she didn’t do it. Can’t really put my paw on why though.” She took the bishop and succeeded in pushing me onto the back line. “Well if there is one thing that I have learned in my line of work it is to listen to your gut. Facts and evidence are great, but intuition is also incredibly valuable.” She moved her queen forwards, locking me into the corner “Checkmate.” I sighed and dethroned my king. Maybe she was right, and I should take a second look into it. I don’t think I would be feeling any better for a while if I didn’t exhaust all options. Maybe, I just needed to get myself out of this room I had been in for days now, and wander about the train a little bit. Taking a walk could usually do wonders for clearing the head. Scarlet allowed me to sit and think for a while as she began to reset the board. I hadn’t been able to beat her a single time all day, my mind was just not in the game and it was causing my play to suffer. She glanced up at me with a smirk as I stood from the couch and began to walk away. “Running away from a little chess match?” she asked, the smirk on her face almost taunting me into taking a seat and trying again. “No, I just need to clear my head. The games have been distracting, but I think I need to do some proper thinking. I will be back before dinner.” I made it to the door before her calling out caused me pause. “We will be arriving at our stop before Las Pegasus today, we will probably catch something to eat there in a few hours.” I nodded to her in acknowledgement before leaving the car and closing the door behind me. The grime of the floor greeted me immediately and made me cringe. I wasn’t usually a person that was so against getting dirty every now and then, but would it really kill the janitor or whatever they had on a train to mop the floor for once. This was just ridiculous. I padded down the hallway trying to organize my thoughts. There were certain tracks that did play out logically for High Class to have been the one to do it. She was a unicorn and like I had theorized earlier, she could have teleported to the room once the lights were out. She wouldn’t have used magic in the room because it would have given her away. Why return to the vent and hide the things though? That was the one thing that got me. We are on a moving train, it would have been easy to just toss everything off the side of the train and no one would ever know. She had chosen to hide them though which seemed like an incredibly mistake on her part. If she really did do it then she was pretty smart and an amazing actor to no even act shaken up by committing this murder, would such a person be clumsy enough to leave behind so much evidence. The handkerchief was proven to be hers and the blood on it was proven to be the victims. A couple of handy spells had figured out that much, so it was very concrete evidence against her. She was also the only one that seemed to have any motive to commit this murder in the first place, which was another strike against her. All the evidence seemed to point in that direction so was I just being delusional? Was I just being stubborn and not looking at the facts correctly because I just so happened to like the mare? I had only met her once anyways so did it even make sense for me to avoid facts because I just so happened to like her on a personal level. Was there some sort of attraction that I was feeling for the mare somehow? I stopped for a moment in the middle of the hallway at that thought. I had wandered so far in my musings that I didn’t really even know where I was any more, but that last thought took all of my concentration that I wasn’t even able to give a close inspection to it. Did I somehow feel attracted to her? After a moment of consideration I came to the conclusion that no, I didn’t have that kind of attraction to High Class. I just happened to like her on a personal level and felt enjoyment to be around her. She would probably make a great friend were it not for her being accused of murder and the lead suspect in the case. I turned my thoughts once again back to the situation at hand. All of the facts that we had did really point to her being the culprit, and there wasn’t anything that I could really do to change facts. If it wasn’t actually her that had done it then that means that the handkerchief was planted. Someone had known that we would figure her for this and had helped us along in the process. By throwing that one piece of evidence into suspicion it called into question the entire investigation. If the real culprit, assuming High Class didn’t actually do it, had planted that evidence for us to find then they must have known a good deal about the victim in the first place. I came to a half open almost boxcar inhabited by a single pegasus and stopped in my tracks. The car itself was painfully simple, just a wooden structure with a desk that had a few papers lying atop of it. The open side gave me a good view of the landscape we were traveling by as the train sped forwards. I shook my head to clear my mind of my observations and in the end decided not to try and continue thinking about the case anymore. I had been thinking these same thoughts over and over for the past few days and they didn’t really get me anywhere. I was just stuck in this repeating cycle of reasoning and I had nothing new to help break me from it. Maybe I should just give up on High Class and go with what the evidence was saying. My rational side was screaming at me to just drop it and get on with my life, but my irrational side wanted me to keep digging and try to find something more. “Are you okay miss?” I heard a voice ask from in front of me. I looked up to see the pegasus that I had just recently brushed off without a second glance looking at me intently. He was big for a pony, almost as big as myself and both his mane and coat color were purple. I couldn’t get a good look at his cutie mark from this vantage, but the most surprising thing about him was that he didn’t look a bit scared of wary of me at all. I decided to address this issue as bluntly as possible. “You aren’t cowering. Why aren’t you cowering?” He laughed off my statement and actually slapped his knee with a hoof. “Now that’s a good one coming from the fox that saved Rubyton singlehoofedly. And now she is running about the train putting murderers behind bars and she asks why I ain’t scared of her. You are a funny one Mrs. Vixen.” I am not really sure why that irritated me so much but it did. I thought I was supposed to be intimidating, but here this pony was laughing at the thought because I had a little bit of reputation. How had he even heard about the Rubyton thing, and how in the hell did he think I did that all by myself. I was laid up in the hospital for a week and permanently crippled from that fight. I let out a long tired sigh; I wasn’t quite in the mood to get into an argument with this yokel. “So what’s your name?” “Name’s Stream ma’am. I fly this leg of the track.” He replied with a salute. Why was he saluting me? “Fly? Doesn’t the train do all the traveling for us?” He gave another laugh. Have you ever heard Goofy laugh in any animated show or movie? Yea, it sounded almost exactly like that, and it grated my sanity. “I’m the messenger pegasus for this leg of the track. I take the messages that need to be sent out and the next day the next pegasus flies to the train with any letters that need to be delivered. It’s a pretty cushy job if you know what you are doin.” He gestured to a stack of papers that were laid out on a table. Having nothing to do I walked over to the table and started reading through the mail, I had expected him to stop me immediately but he just continued to stand there with an oblivious smile plastered on his face. “So tell me Stream, do you carry a lot of important messages back and forth?” I read over what looked like a plain expense report. Not really the kind of urgent message that I would have thought needed to be ferried back and forth. He nodded immediately “Sure do, one time I even carried a letter for Princess Celestia herself.” I tossed aside another bill, why does the mail always seem to be bills. “Oh really? What was it about?” A coupon for a horn enhancer. Wow. “I didn’t read it. It had the royal seal on it so I wasn’t supposed to,” he replied, speaking of seals I finally found something that might be interesting, it was also sealed with some sort of symbol. Of course I opened it immediately and read it over, it was a lot of numbers and figures so it took me awhile to get a grasp on it. “So you aren’t supposed to read the mail?” I asked, to which he gave me a nod. “It’s against the rules.” So I guess he didn’t think the rules applied to me. Since I am not an Equestrian citizen do they actually apply to me? I wish I paid more attention in Government, because then I might actually know the answer. This bit of paper was actually pretty interesting. Sure it was a lot of numbers and figures, mostly bit amounts, but I did like math back in school. “So what are you doing when you aren’t carrying messages back and forth?” I asked. “Oh a little bit of this or a little bit of that. I actually live in Cloudsdale most of the time and have to commute out to get to the trains. They don’t have a lot of trains up in the clouds you see so most of the pegasi in my job live on the ground. Not me though, nope I live in good ole…” I stopped his rambling with a raised paw. “Wait, this is really important.” I had come across something on this spreadsheet that had jumped out to me. Could this be right? Was this just really sitting around here waiting to be read? I rushed out of the room without another thought, I had to get the others to look at this. I faintly heard the pegasus calling out behind me “Miss, you aren’t supposed to take that.” ChaseWhen I finally made it back to our car I threw the door wide before hurrying inside. I was actually surprised that my breath wasn’t very heavy, had I been back in my old human body then I would be hunched over after having sprinted all the way here from the other car that I had found the paper in. Decidious and Scarlet both stopped whatever they had just been doing to look at me in surprise. Deciduous had a spoonful of some kind of soup held in his grasp and his mouth was still open, whereas Scarlet was holding a magazine of some kind and peering at me over the top of it. “I figured out everything!” I exclaimed before ducking back out and heading towards the guard car. Behind me I caught wind of an exasperated sigh and a metal object clattering against porcelain. Good it looked like they were going to follow me. The guard car wasn’t actually very far from our own, only about three of four doors down towards the dining car. I saw the door up ahead and spurred myself into a sprint once again in my excitement before throwing this door open as well. Admittedly, that wasn’t exactly the best move. Both of the guard ponies that had been napping inside were in my face in an instant, moving to pin down the intruder. I barely had time to move out of the way before Stern Hoof, the one that had taken a personal dislike to me, barreled through the open doorway. He rolled back to his hooves and crouched low one more in what looked like him getting ready for a strike. I caught movement from his back hoof just before everything stopped. I once again found myself unable to breath, and was very disturbed. It seemed that I had gone into this strange time stop ability on reflex again. I continued to hold my breath as I looked the pony over, his back hooves we pointed to me and a few inches off of the ground at this point. It was obvious that he was aiming to kick me straight on, were guards supposed to strike out without assessing threats first? I coiled the muscles in my own legs, being very careful not to actually move before letting out my breath and jumping back simultaneously. The fur was blown from my face as the two hooves whipped past me. “Hold on, hold on. It’s just me,” I said as I took a few more steps backwards. Stern Hoof stopped for a moment before turning around to face me, a scowl evident on his face. Diligence chose that time to take a step from the doorway and look at me too, she did not look very happy either. “What business do you have throwing the door to our car open,” Stern nearly shouted as he took a few steps forwards. I looked between the two guard ponies for a few seconds before straightening myself up to my full height and staring him down. “I was going to tell you about how you arrested the wrong pony and now the real killer will be getting away once we stop in the next town, but now I don’t know if I want to,” I huffed. Now Diligence decided that she too should step forwards, “Wait, what do you mean by that?” she asked. I produced the paper that I had at some point taken the time to tuck into my saddlebags, and handed it to her. She looked the paper over for several seconds before looking back up to me with a blank expression. “What is this supposed to be?” she asked once more. I sighed and rolled my eyes as I pushed past the two and back into their private car. The guard car was admittedly much smaller than my own had been, but was still decently sized considering that there was a mini-jail in the far corner of the room. High Class sat alone in the cell with chains now around her hooves and that silver ring still on her horn. “I had spent so much time trying to figure out why she would have possibly done it or tried to hide the evidence of her doing it on the train. The only real piece of concrete evidence we have had in this entire case was the handkerchief with her initials on it,” as I spoke the two guard also followed me into the room and High Class looked up at me from her cell. Good, now I had an audience. “I thought we had been over that already,” Stern retorted, “she killed him so that her husband could be the new head of the house.” I spun quickly to face him “Wrong, High Class only had an empty titles to gain from that. She is the head of many charities and would have to give up that position were she to become part of the aristocracy.” Now Diligence decided to add her input “But we still have her handkerchief with the victims blood on it.” “Yes, but High Class isn’t the one that put it there. She was framed by the real killer.” I had honestly expected a gasp, but unfortunately received none. “If it wasn’t her then who was it?” Stern asked. “Pleasant View.” “What!” this time it was High Class gasping from her jail cell. Stern shot her a look and she immediately settled back down. “Yes Pleasant View is the real killer behind this entire plot. The timeline just didn’t make sense to me at all, how did High Class here turn out the lights, make her way to the car in the darkness, kill the stallion, and then make her getaway before the lights came back on? Then it suddenly came to me, she didn’t because she couldn’t have. The only thing that we have really marking the time of the victims death was the scream from Pleasant View that established the beginning of the known timeline. “That scream happened because she wanted us to come to the private car. The first thing she did was kill her husband, and make it look like a robbery before she made her way to the back of the train and cut the lights. Once that was done she hurried back to her car and waited for the lights to come back on so that she could scream.” “Wait, wait, wait,” Diligence cut in before I could continue. “Where does the handkerchief and the pocket watch come in then?” I smiled back at her “I was just about to get to that. If you haven’t noticed the floors of the train are not cleaned on a regular basis, or at least they haven’t been cleaned for as long as we have been here. How could High Class have possibly made it all the way back to the end of the train before cleaning her hooves of blood without leaving a single print on the floor? For that matter why would she even do it? She could have just cleaned her hooves and chucked all the evidence off the side of the train if she wanted. “No those two pieces were planted by the same pony that gave us the High Class lead in the first place, none other than Pleasant View herself. Once we had caught on that this was no regular robbery and interviewed her she pointed me at High Class for the number one suspect. At some point she snuck away once again and planted the evidence in a place she knew we would look. It is the only thing that makes sense.” I had seen reveals like this on cop shows before, and was a little disappointed that I didn’t actually have Pleasant View here for it. Stern decided that it was his turn to speak once more “Okay, lets say all of this crap you are trying to shovel us is true. Why would she do it? She was about to become a member of the aristocracy along with her husband, and she never worked a day in her life. What reason could she possibly have to kill her husband when she was about to get this big break?” And finally we were getting to the crescendo, with a smirk I replied in a single word, “Money.” “Money?” he parroted. “Yes, one of the oldest and truest reasons for murder. Motive was the hardest thing about this case, and once I finally figured out hers all the pieces fell into place. She had to kill her husband before he could actually become the head of the household and step down from CEO of his company. Diligence if you would be so kind could you take a look once more and tell me just how much Pleasant View will be collecting from the company’s life insurance policy on her husband?” The mare looked over the paper a few more times before her eyes went wide “Five hundred thousand bits!” she exclaimed. “Exactly, if he had succeeded in stepping down from the company she would get nothing. The mare married early to a rich bachelor who was only going up in the world. After he would have become the head of the house he wouldn’t have nearly as much money for her to blow all over town, only being able to use the families money for family things.” Stern looked back and forth between me and High Class who sat silently in the cell behind me a few times before letting out a long sigh, “I hate to say it but…this all make perfect sense.” Diligence turned her eyes from the paper to her partner “You believe her Stern?” Stern put off answering to walk over to the cell instead and unlock it. “Yes, I believe her and have to admit that I had been feeling something off about this whole thing from the start. I couldn’t exactly put my hoof on what was wrong, but she hit the nail on the head and is right. Everything just seemed to fall into place just now.” He unlocked the door of the jail and started undoing the chains that were on High Class’ hooves. I was actually pretty shocked by Stern Hoof being so level headed about this now since he had seemed like a pretty big asshole the entire time I had known him. Admittedly, that had only been a few days and that is usually not nearly long enough to get to know someone, but still, this was a new side of him. I actually found myself smiling as the last of the restraints fell away from High Class. My ears flicked towards the sound of approaching hooves, I still felt extremely unsettled whenever that happened, and a few seconds later Scarlet and Deciduous were looking through the doorway at all of us in the room. “What did we miss?” Scarlet asked. “Nothing, things are just about to get interesting.” When we finally found Pleasant View she was eating alone in the dining car. We made out our way into the car with myself at the head of the entourage, which was a hard one battle in and of itself since Stern Hoof really wanted to take lead. Behind me were the two guards and behind them were my two companions, Scarlet let out a bored yawn as we reached our destination while Deciduous looked to still be going over everything I had just told him a few minutes prior. High Class had even opted to join us in our search though she mostly kept to herself at the back of our little pack. Pleasant View noticed us as soon as we entered the car, probably due to the not so subtle way I had of opening doors, and dropped what she was eating immediately. She was halfway across the car staring at us with side eyes as all six pairs of our own locked onto her immediately, I think it was about then that I realized we were kind of giving ourselves away here. It seemed that Pleasant realized the same thing and bolted for the door on the other side of the car, and what happened next was the most ridiculous accidental dog pile that it has ever been my displeasure of being part of. As soon as the mare ran from her table I tried to immediately take off after her like any person impersonating a police professional would, but tripped over a bag on the floor that I wasn’t able to feel due to my numb paws. Stern has been just behind me and tried to take off at the same time only to trip over me and fall atop my lithe form. Diligence met the same fate as her partner and soon I was crushed beneath the two guard, who by the way were clad in that heavy looking (and feeling) golden armor that you see them wearing in the show. Next up in this display of pure incompetence was Scarlet who was walking to the front of the group laughing her ass off. “You guys look like such idiots,” she managed to choke out between her fit of laughter…she never saw the banana peel coming. It was incredibly acrobatic of her to somehow slip into the air sideways and land square atop Diligence. Crack I let out a literal howl of pain as I felt one of my ribs crack from the combined weight being put on them. They had been mending so well too. At the actual sign of me being in pain the whole stupid fiasco seemed to end and the three ponies quickly hurried and got off of me, apologizing profusely all the while, except for Stern of course who maintained that it was my fault in the first place. I unsteadily made my way back to my paws and looked back at the bandages around my chest, they were still in place and I could still walk, though breathing would be difficult for a little bit. “Okay let’s get her,” I said as I started to walk towards the door that Pleasant had fled through what seemed like five minutes ago. My pace proved to be too slow for the two guards that raced ahead of me and through the door before I was even halfway across the room, but I didn’t let that deter me. I was actually in a chase on a train, and I wasn’t going to let something like a broken rib stop that. Scarlet and Deciduous kept pace with me, the former still apologizing and the later looking at me with worry evident on his face. I was not exactly sure where High Class had decided to run off to, but she was now gone. We reached the door, which opened into an open air railing that connected the dining car to the coach set of cars, just in time to see the two guards taking off down the long corridor in front of us. I was about to follow them but was stopped by Deciduous by tapping my shoulder. “Vixen look at this?” he said pointing to a horseshoe that was lying under a ladder that led up onto the top of the train. I looked between the two for a couple of seconds before it dawned on me what he was implying, and I felt my face pull into a large smile despite the good amount of pain I was in. “Alright,” Scarlet butted in, “I will just fly up there and…” “Scarlet,” I swiftly cut her off while doing my best attempt at big puppy dog eyes “just…just…okay?” She looked at me long and hard “You are hurt even more now and it would be easy for me to just...” “Oh my gosh can you just be cool, once, please. Just once. Can you just once be cool? Once. Please.” There wasn’t really a valid response she could even make to that other than just to look at me with that deadpanned stare she was giving me. I took that as all the permission I was going to get and immediately started ascending the ladder. It was incredibly difficult to do, and I am still not even sure why ponies build ladders in the first place when they have to do this with hooves, but just a little while later I was looking over the top of the dining car at the tracks behind us. Just a couple more seconds after that I was all the way on top of the train and admiring the view. I didn’t see Pleasant View down that side of the train so I turned around to look the other way, but was swiftly laid low as the blinding pain hit me. “Oh god my eyes! My eyes are on fire!” I covered said eyes with a paw, which allowed me momentary respite from all of the dirt that was being blown into them at the speed of a train. I peeked out momentarily from behind my paw to see Pleasant galloping down that end of the train. After having come this far I wasn’t going to let a little something like potential eye damage stop me. I took a few steps back while angling my head down to help shield my eyes before getting a running start and jumping across the gap. Apparently the gravel in the eye had helped me forget the pain in my ribcage and I quickly took off after the mare that was still trying to escape. I was faster than her by a good bit and quickly started closing the gap as we raced atop the train cars. I felt like I was in the train scene of my favorite Indiana Jones movie, except that there were no deadly animals in each car trying to kill me. The mare arrived at the front of the train and came to a stop just as I landed on the car behind her. “Give it up Pleasant, we figured it all out and you running from the guard pretty much sealed your fate. Now come along peacefully and nopony has to get hurt,” I said as I started to inch towards her. She spun around to face me as soon as I started talking, slowly moving to one side of the train. “You don’t understand, I could never have been an aristocrat, not really. I am an earth pony for Celestia’s sake, the unicorn nobles would never allow it.” She kept moving slowly to the left side of the train, it was at that time I realized that we happened to be traveling along a mountainside and how bad this situation might turn. “You don’t have to tell me I know how ponies can be, but you need to come with me now,” I said, trying to calm her down. “I can’t go to prison, I won’t! I’ve heard what happens to mares in prison, I won’t let that happen to me.” She put a hoof over the side of the train car. “Now just hold on let’s talk about this. Don’t do anything crazy now,” I urged, taking a step forwards. “Stay back!” she screamed, causing me to freeze. “Look Pleasant, you killed your husband so you are going to prison, but we can probably get you protection from those kinds of things.” I took another hesitant step towards the mare. She looked back at me as I tried to make my slow approach with big sorrowful eyes. If I hadn’t known better I would have guessed that she was actually sorry for what she did, but I did know better. She had killed her husband in cold blood and made his death look elaborate so there was little chance that she would actually feel remorse over this. Still, she did look sad, and she continued to look at me sadly as she jumped over the edge. “No!” ArrivalA few beads of sweat rolled down the plastic mask that was covering most of my face, and fell to the blue tarp beneath me. The back of my gloved hand wiped my brow clean for a moment before returning to the bottle of spray paint and giving it a vigorous shaking. The mask was both uncomfortable and made the air smell of plastic, but suffering momentary discomfort was a lot better than the brain damage I was liable to get if I chose not to wear it. The space around me was filled with tiny particles of paint that were already slowly turning my old clothes various shades of the rainbow. The masking tape hissed as I pulled it from the poster board; leaving a clear white border for the painting that I had just finished creating. I slipped off my thoroughly soaked latex gloves and tossed them in the trash pile I had next to me. The skin of my hands immediately expanded and began to drink in the cool air around them before sighing in relief. I gently grabbed both edges of the poster board, and held it before me, as my knees remained rooted on the harsh concrete. I studied my creation, and felt a small bit of pride well up inside me before it was crushed by my noticing an error. The picture of a planet far out in space surrounded by a meteor shower was marred by the unnatural looking rocks of the landscape surrounding the scene. Failing once again to inscribe a realistic portrayal of a barren wasteland, I sighed and set aside the painting next to two others that I had finished today. The compulsion to mark my work never failed strike me, so I picked up a pen that lay near me and scribbled my initials into the still drying paint. The pen clacked as it once again found itself on the tarp, and I reached over to another piece of poster board and began to tape it down. Another pair of gloves were soon restricting blood flow to my phalanges as I let my mind wander for a moment. My parents had strictly forbid me to do any of my painting in the house because the fumes would get trapped in the air, and could lead to possible death or start a fire. I was wise enough at this age to trust my dad on the matter so every time I wanted to create something with my own two hands I would have to carry all of my supplies through the house to the back porch where I would then need to set it up. I pulled my Ipod out of my pocket to search for a song that might bring me inspiration. A short time later I had eventually settled on listening to some Evanescence; Amy Lee could inspire me any day. With the perfect song found I looked around the yard to begin gathering my thoughts. The simple sight of suburbia stared back at me as my eyes traced over the decent sized lot of a yard we owned. The piano entrance began to play, and I began to softly sing as the opening verse started. I've been looking in the mirror for so long. That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side. All the little pieces falling, shatter. Shards of me, Too sharp to put back together. Too small to matter, But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces. The yard would have been completely uniform like all the others were it not for the steep slope that began halfway out. Something about the limestone beneath the ground that caused the unique depression that none of our neighbors had to put up with. My knee popped as I leaned on a hand to remove some of the pressure they had to put up with. I feared that if I didn't find a better way to sit while I was outside painting I would end up with arthritis by forty, not that I was anywhere close to being that old. If I try to touch her, And I bleed, I bleed, And I breathe, I breathe no more. The ball in the can of red paint I was holding smacked against the aluminum casing several times before I lowered the can, and sprayed a massive red circle on it. After filling up almost the entirety of the canvas I began to cover the red circle with yellow before setting aside that color also. Lastly, I took a very dark purple and placed a couple of patches over the yellow. Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well. Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child. Lie to me, Convince me that I've been sick forever. And all of this, Will make sense when I get better. Satisfied that I had the layout of the new planet I was trying to make, I set the paint back down and picked up a few pieces of newspaper I would be using next. The papers crunched in my hands as I compacted them before pulling them straight once more to study the various lines that they now had. I set them on the board, and allowed them to soak up small amounts of the still wet paint. Once every space of the unborn planet had a paper on it they were peeled away to reveal the surface that would become my new red planet. But I know the difference, Between myself and my reflection. I just can't help but to wonder, Which of us do you love. It had worked just like I had planed, and I now stood down at the crude shape of a sulfuric planet with vast oceans of lava, and small settlements of purple colonies. Smiling behind my mask, I grabbed my largest circular pan that I had set aside, and covered as much of the paint spot I could. I started to fill in every piece of white that stilled existed on the board with a deep black paint. So I bleed, I bleed, And I breathe, I breathe no... Once finished I put aside the black, and picked up the blue, and with my trusty clipboard created a star which would cast its illumination on my red planet. After exchanging the blue for white the middle finger of my right hand was soon coated in quickly drying white paint,and daintily, I began to flick the paint onto the black canvas to imitate the stars, which would stand out in deep space. The process was repeated a few more times before the white was set aside, and the pan was lifted from the poster board. Bleed, I bleed, And I breathe, I breathe, I breathe- I breathe no more. It had taken a while, but over the months I had nearly perfected a technique for placing down and lifting the pan, which created the planet’s outline, without leaving any smudges in the wet paint. Before me sat a magnificent red planet, which matched the small amount of pride I allowed myself. Over the months of me carrying out this newfound passion, the heavenly body that I had just made was probably my best. The pan was set aside, and once again I had the black paint in hand so that I could finish. Carefully, I shaded in the plant on the side opposite the star to give the picture more depth. My frown was hidden behind my mask as I accidentally used too much paint in the shading and essentially destroyed all of my hard work. I sighed, and set aside my materials as I signed the poster board and pulled up the tape. I had been so close to finally not messing anything up. The four paintings that had been put aside stared up at me approvingly as I began to pack everything into the old laundry basket that I used to hold it all. The over two dozen cans of paint and various utensils somehow fit into the basket, but only just barely. Once finished I took the basket off of the tarp which I also started to fold it up. Once the tarp was also resting atop the rest of my supplies I finally breathed a sigh of relief as my mask was tossed on top of the pile. My breath slowly escaped me as I watched the clouds overhead drift quickly across the sky in the strong autumn breeze. I was unable to spot any dark cumuli overhead so there was little chance my materials would be rained on as I was inside taking a much needed shower. Although, you know what they say about the weather in Texas; if you don’t like it wait ten minutes. I fought the decision for a few seconds before tossing my latest set of latex gloves in the small trash can that had been brought outside. I turned and climbed the few steps that led into the house. Two dogs were immediately at my heels as I opened the door, but with experience I had gained from years of handling the animals blocked them from running outside, and managed to squeeze the door shut behind me. They continued to jump around me as I kicked my shoes off and made my way to the upstairs bathroom. I grabbed a towel from the closet and rushed into the bathroom, locking them outside in the process. Schnauzers were great pets to have, but sometimes they just needed to understand personal boundaries. First checking behind the curtain to make sure that there weren’t psychopaths that would leap out at me, I turned on the shower, and began to undress. Showering was always an activity I did quickly since I didn’t really see the point in wasting time while bathing. Unlike most people the act of showering always left me drowsy, and after turning off the water and drying myself I thought it would be a good idea to take a well deserved nap. With a towel wrapped around my waist I left my clothes on the bathroom floor and groggily stumbled to my room. The telltale sound of plastic bags meeting tile downstairs along with the yappy barks of my dogs told me that my parents had just returned from their outing as I had been showering. I could practically see my mother’s worried expression as she tried to keep them away from the fried chicken she had likely brought home. I quickly stepped into my room, and dressed in my usual loose nighttime attire. I wasn’t likely to be going anywhere for the rest of the day so it was fine for me to walk around the house in my pajamas. I considered taking a moment to check FiMFiction.net to see if any of the stories I was tracking had updated today, but when I turned to look at my bed I could just hear its siren song beckoning me, so I decided to put it off until later. The pleasant whooshing sound of the air being let out of my mattress greeted me as I flopped onto my bed, causing one of my pillows to roll off onto the floor. I was a big guy, and I was glad that my bed at least was made for a man of my size. I wasn’t big in the way of being pudgy, but more in the way of a six-two guy that when you saw you stepped out of his way. Thanks to the physique that I had inherited from my dad I was able to pull off my abrasive anti-social personality without becoming the target of the school punks. Once you head butt the leader of the group and knock him out with a swift knee to the face the rest tend to leave you alone. That was a glorious day indeed. After reaching over the side of the bed, I quickly brought the pillow beneath my chin to rest my head. The memory foam cradled me perfectly and I quickly found myself drifting off. The weightless of sleep began to take hold, and I was soon in the sweet abyss of the subconscious. The vast whiteness around me was stark, but had nothing to contrast too in the great empty expanse. I had the idea to train myself to become lucid while in my dreams after seeing the matrix for the first time, and place I now stood in greatly resembled the loading area that they used in the movie. I quickly found my focus locking onto a lone figure that was slowly making its way towards me. As she got closer I was able to make her out in greater detail, and what I saw was amazing. She was a tall woman, and when I say tall I mean like seven feet tall. She was wearing several pieces of plate armor, which showed way too much skin between them. Her hair was long and black, which hung down over her shoulders and across her chest. In essence, she was my dream babe. “Hello, sexy,” I said as I sat in the opulent throne that my mind had just conjured. Sometimes I loved my brain for giving me these small bits of happiness. She finally stopped walking when she was about five feet away, and suddenly the world around me shifted from an endless white expanse to a dark castle. The change in scenery was confusing for a moment, but I quickly shrugged it off. Dreams, after all, were supposed to be strange. “State your name,” she commanded in a stern voice that held just a small amount of passion. I liked my women to be in charge. “Maximilian,” the stones of the room shuddered for a moment before coming back to rest, “but you can call me Big Poppa.” I often found it was best to vent any misogynistic feelings during REM sleep. They could get you into real trouble out in the real world. “Maximilian, I have come here with a proposal.” “Oh?” My eyebrow once again found itself in the upright and locked position. “Yes, would you like to take a trip?” Even though I knew she was just a figment of my imagination she was surprisingly good at hiding her emotions, though I doubt she actually had any. “Where to, my little black rose?” Thank god she wasn’t real. She waved her hand and a hole in space opened before us. The deep blackness before me seemed to stretch on into infinity. I would probably need to actually create a world beyond the portal before anything would show up. “That is for me to know and you to find out.” she smirked. “You are a coy one aren’t you?” I wore a smirk of my own. “I would be delighted to take you to places unknown.” I stood from my seat and walked over to the swirling black vortex. I concentrated on it for a moment, and it became the town of Ponyville. So she wanted to take a trip with me to Equestria? Hadn't been the first time I had gone there during a dream. “Oh I won't be going,” she deadpanned. “Well then what was the point of this?” I turned back to look at the hole in front of me. The picture began to shift and started to rapidly change across a huge variety of landscapes. Suddenly the tear in space turned back to a simple picture of the abyss with a small light shining off far in the distance. If I squinted just right I could almost make it out. Something push me from behind, and soon found myself falling through the blackness as I sailed headfirst into the hole in space-time. The sound of a girlish scream echoed around me as I fell into oblivion. The angry red light continued to strike my unopen eyes prompting me to relent and see what exactly had happened. The blinding light of the sun burned into my retinas forcing me to shield them. I felt around with my free arm, and soon came to realize that I was lying on my back in the dirt. My stomach meeting the dry landscape below me caused me to let out a groan. I could have sworn that I was on a boat as the barren landscape around me tilted one way and then the other, and I momentarily managed to stop myself from puking. I opened my eyes again, this time making sure that I was staring down at the ground before doing so. The harsh red dirt stung my nostrils as I took a deep breath of air so I pulled away quickly before I could choke on it. I pushed myself onto all fours, and tried to shake the drowsiness off of me. A small prick of pain lanced through my lip, and I tried to investigate the cause of my newest pain. As I raised my right arm to inspect my lip I came to the stark realization that I no longer had an arm. Held before me was a dark black paw, and further down the limb the fur changed to a very nice white color. A smile graced my lips as I waved the paw back in forth in front of my face. This was certainly a strange dream. I have had dreams of being other people before, but never of being a different kind of animal before. Merely judging by what the paw that I held before me looked like I was willing to bet that I was some kind of fox. A quick look behind myself to my big bushy tail was enough to confirm this. “Very interesting.” I gave words to the various thoughts that spun around in my head. The voice that came from my mouth was definitely not my own, it was far too feminine. My eyes widened in surprise as I heard my words reached my ears, and I soon found myself looking down between my hind legs. Yep, I was definitely no longer male. Now this had officially become the strangest dream that I have ever had. The gender swap was quickly placed at the back of my mind since it could be reversed at any time, and I began to look over the rest of my body. I couldn’t see myself from the third person view, which I usually watched my dreams from so I had to pull one of my long ears down to get a good look at it. I am not exactly sure how I was able to do this with my paw, but i somehow managed. I prodded my teeth a little and found that instead of the usual two canines I now had an entire mouth full. Running a paw along my smooth white fur felt really good. The hair was so smooth and straight that I almost couldn't believe I was dreaming this all up. Deciding that I had wasted too much time just sitting out here in what appeared to be a barren desert, I closed my eyes and willed the scenery to change to that of a more suitable environment for what I could assume was a snow fox. While I had my eyes closed I also decided to change my sex back to that of a male. My eyes opened once again to the familiar sight of a sun beaten desert. I sighed, and tried to will the world around me to change again, but was met by disappointment once more. A small pang of panic started to make itself known as I tried to change anything about the environment around me. The wind blew by and kicked sand up into my face as it did so. I shielded my eyes against the buffet of rock particles with a paw, but accidentally hit myself in the eye as I did so. The pain wasn’t that great and rubbed away with the same offending appendage before the realization of what I had done came crashing down on me like a ton of bricks. I had hurt myself. The small bit of panic that I had been able to keep in check rose like a sleeping giant and took hold. I was soon repeatedly slapping myself in the face as I tried to shake myself out of this dream turned nightmare, but I was met with failure and a bruised cheek. My strikes drifted too close to my mouth, and a yelp escaped me as I sliced open my forepaw on my apparently razor sharp teeth. I held up the paw once again in front of my face to see a small trickle of blood roll down my two toned leg. Before I could stop it a fit of laughter escaped my mouth, and was soon followed by another. The laughter quickly became that of an insane man, or in my case, an insane woman. I had woken up in the middle of nowhere as a weird fox thing. There was no way this could be real, but it was. How could I deny that it was when I was unable to actually wake up from this dream? When I was actually able to hurt myself in this dream. I had to brace myself as I hurled the contents of my stomach on the ground before me. It looked like I hadn’t eaten in days since the only thing lying in the puddle beneath me was sickly green stomach acid. Though I was in the middle of what appeared to be a desert I could not stop myself from shivering. My dizziness suddenly returned, and I fell to my side as I continued to retch but was unable to actually bring anything up. My manic fit of laughter turned to sobs as I lied in the dirt crying. How could this actually have happened to me? Something breaking a few inches in front of my face caused my eyes to shoot open. A broken container laid before me with a few fumes still rising from it. I should have held my breath, but at the time it was impossible due to the sobs that were raking my body. As the fumed wafted towards me I once again started to fall back into an unavoidable sleep. FreedomThe sound of something heavy being drug across the ground was the first thing I was able to make out as I started to come to. As something that felt like a sharp rock scraped against my side, I realized that I was what was being dragged across the dirt. My eyes popped open as I tried to scramble to my feet, but found myself bound by some net. I flailed around trying to rid myself of the oppressive net that was holding me captive, and after a few moments I stopped moving. Thudding footsteps reached my ears as whatever had been dragging me let go of the net and walked over to me. The moon, which was the only light I could make out, was soon eclipsed by what was probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. Above me stood what at first glance appeared to be a diamond dog. I knew what they looked like from the show but this thing was massive, which had largely to do with my new vantage. It was just shy of seven feet tall, and had muscles like a bodybuilder. Several liquids swished around in their vials with every step the beast took, and a red light glinted off the long sword that was strapped to its back. Its glowing yellow eyes stuck out against the pitch-black background of night. I flinched away as it bent over and started to sniff me. I was completely trembling by the time that it stood back up and continued to look down at me. It opened its mouth wide to give me the most wicked smile that I ever had the displeasure of seeing before it spat in my face. “Does pretty lady not like being dragged?” It asked, but I was unable to formulate a reply. My fear must have been amusing because it laughed and walked back over to the other two smaller dogs and continued dragging me along. I continued to squirm, but the ropes around me were taut and my legs could not find any purchase. It didn’t take long before I just couldn’t put the effort into it anymore so I laid in the most comfortable position I could find while I continued to be dragged through the arid desert. I looked back to my captors, and noticed that there was a pony that they were dragging along behind them. From what I could see through the darkness he appeared to be a green earth pony with a mane made up of all sorts of reds and oranges. I couldn’t get a good look at his cutie mark, but that really didn’t matter at the moment. He looked like he was still unconscious, probably knocked out by whatever had gotten me. The dog that was dragging him was at least three feet shorter than the big one that had me. He was a lot wider, and looked like he had gorged himself on whatever he could find daily to gain his physique. He had a few unused nets slung along his back, what appeared to be a crossbow with a net in place of a traditional arrow. To the left of my captor was a very lean diamond dog carrying a torch. The only light around for miles was the small fire that he held in his hand, and he waved it back and forth as we continued to proceed to places unknown. He was currently yapping something to the big dog. “Alpha be happy. We make good catch.” The lean yappy one blabbed. “Dad should be happy. It’s not everyday we get a pretty thing like that one,” he pointed a thumb over his shoulder at me. Great. “We have fun with her?” the fat one asked what I now assumed to be the leader. The tall diamond dog slapped him across the face with his free hand and growled until he was on the ground in submission. “She is mine!” he yelled. I really did not like the sound of that. I especially did not like the way he turned and gave me that super creepy smile again before we continued moving on. I needed a brilliant plan that would somehow get me out of this terrible situation. As it stood I had apparently been transported to Equestria by some weird warrior chick from a dream, and had landed in the body of a creature that appeared to be a white fox. I had then been caught by some diamond dogs, and was now being dragged off to somewhere I definitely didn't want to go, and for some reason said diamond dogs found me attractive. I tilted my head up again to look around, but I couldn’t see anything for miles. That probably meant that wherever we were going we wouldn’t reach it tonight. If I could somehow get out of this net then I might be able to sneak off while they were asleep. I scoured my mind trying to think of anything that might be of use in this situation, but a rock striking against the cut in my leg pulled me from my ruminations. Sudden inspiration hit me, and I gave thanks to whatever god had dominion over small sharp rocks. Carefully, in order to avoid any of my three captures noticing, I opened my mouth and grabbed a small part of the net and began chewing on it. Hardly a second later the piece of rope snapped audibly causing the lead dog to stop. Slowly, he turned around and glared at me before dropping the net and stomping over again. I shrank away as the titan canine towered over me and studied the net. “What did you do?” he asked as he reached down and lifted me by my neck. I immediately began gasping for air as his grip tightened, and his scowl depend. I couldn’t tell him that I was able to cut the rope with my teeth or he would probably beat me to a pulp for trying to escape. He might have even killed me! I continued to stay silent as tears started to leak from my eyes. My pathetic form did nothing to calm his anger, and my face was whipped to the side as I was backhanded. Have you ever sparred with a professional boxer? Well imagine that, but instead of boxing gloves they were wearing brass knuckles. The sickening sound of bone on bone rung in the night air. Tears started to spill down my face more furiously as I felt my cheek start to welt up. I don’t think that I have ever been more helpless in all my life, and it made unfathomably angry, but there was nothing I could do. “Raq, wait!” the lean dog yelled as he scrambled over. “Alpha want this one good shape.” The big one whose name I now knew was Raq stopped as his paw was coming down for a second blow. Still holding me by the throat, he pulled his face closer to me and stared into my eyes. Whatever he saw made his anger vanish, and only served to increase mine. “You are mine.” His smile once again returned as he dropped me to the ground. “I’ll make you squeal when we get back to the den.” I was shaking uncontrollably as both fear and anger warred inside me for dominance. “Bauld!” he yelled pointing at the fat dog, “drop the pony and the get wood.” The fat dog did as he was told and pulled out a couple of small pieces of wood he had in the bag on his back as well as a few pieces of really old paper. The lumber was quickly piled together, and the scrappy dog could hardly stop himself from lighting them on fire until Raq told him to. Soon a blazing fire was lighting up the night as the three dogs made their camp. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other pony start to stir. “What?” he asked as he tried to sit up, but found that he was bound by a net. “Shut up, kid,” I whispered in my new feminine voice while trying not to be overhead by the dogs. I failed horribly as Raq turned and gave me that smile I was quickly coming to hate. Despite my warning the earth pony, which I had guessed was in his late teens, started thrashing around and screaming his head off. The sound didn’t only seem to hurt my ears, but the ears of the dogs as well as they covered them with their paws. “Shut up pony!” Raq snarled, but he just continued to scream and thrash. Raq picked up a large rock that was on the ground next to him, and after sailing through the air stopped his screaming and almost knocked him back out. The diamond dog then lifted him up with the same choking hold he had used on me. “You will be quiet.” From my vantage I was able to barely make out a nod of understanding before he was dropped back to the ground. The scrappy one seemed to want to lighten the mood so he dug around in his bag before he found a few gems, and offered them to his leader. “Raq, eat. Eat and sleep then be happy.” The large diamond dog’s growl caused the smaller one’s ears to pin back before he swiped the gems from his paw and tossed them into his mouth. He once again shifted unnaturally between anger and happiness as he smiled at his meal. The small dog shared his leader’s smile and passed out more gems to the fat one before serving himself. The three dogs sat around the fire discussing whatever stupid dogs discuss, and laughing as they told lewd stories. Some of the things they said made me want to gag and toss my guts for the second time that day. I stopped listening to them a moment, and turned my attention back to myself. Earlier nausea and a chilling sensation had been assaulting me, but now I was feeling a lot better. Scratch that, I was feeling better than I ever had despite the situation I was in. My muscles coiled with untapped energy as they just waited to spring into action and pounce upon these stupid cretins and tear them to shreds. I knew I could take all of them at once if I could only get out of this net, but I was not stupid enough to try. If I could just silently free myself, as they were asleep then I would quietly slink off into the night, and hope that they didn’t bother looking for me. “Alpha probably want pretty thing himself,” Gould said, pulling my attention back to the conversation. “He said go out and bring back more slaves. I will keep this one for me.” That was the most disturbing smile I could ever imagine. “She different. Alpha keep,” the small scrappy one agreed causing Raq to growl at him. The large dog then reached behind him and grabbed the net I was caught up in and pulled it over to himself. I soon found myself scooped up in his arms like one would hold a puppy as he continued to glare at his companions. “Pretty bitch mine!” he snarled as he fell into broken English like both of the other dogs. I felt my stomach lurch at the thought, but was able to stop myself from vomiting all over him out of fear of his retribution. So these guys were not just slavers but also rapist that captured ponies to work for them. I know I had seen in the show what looked like Rarity being enslaved by some diamond dog bastards, but that had been playful. These assholes were fucking scary, and the more they talked the more pissed off I was getting. Few people know this about me since I always seem to be such a cool and collected guy. I have a small circle of friends who might be able to tell you, but when I get pissed off I can be a scary son of a bitch. I don’t blow up like most other people, but instead slip into a state where I just cut off all emotion as I coldly try to plot revenge. These bastards made me want to rip each of their hearts out with my bare hands. Without bothering to look down, Raq tossed me over his shoulder like a rag doll where I fell to the ground with a thud. The air rushed out of my lungs, and I had to gasp for a few seconds before I caught my breath again. When I looked over to the green colt I saw pity in his eyes. “Go to sleep,” Raq ordered the other two. “We will reach the den tomorrow.” He then loudly slumped over and caused a cloud of dust to puff into the air. He turned his back on the other dogs and faced me instead. As I glared at him that wicked smile on his face only widened. I am not really sure how long I stayed like that, just glaring at the diamond dog who continued to smile at me, but eventually his eyes closed and his breathing pattern changed to that of someone sleeping; if the snores that the other two dogs were anything to go by, they had also found their way to dreamland. I continued to stare at the dog, not willing to try and free myself until I knew that he was truly asleep. I counted to a thousand several times before I moved as quietly as possible and put a piece of rope in my mouth. I gently bit down on the net and snapped the rope just as easily as before, only this time slack in the line stopped any audible protests. I kept staring at the dog intently searching for any change as I continued to cut my restraints. It didn’t take long before I had a hole large enough for my new body to slip through. This was going to be the real test, so as quietly as possible I started to slowly move out of the net that was still draped over me. Amazingly, the dog that was resting not two feet away didn’t stir during the entire procedure, which must have taken a good thirty minutes to complete. I had to stop myself from sighing as the hard part was over; I wasn’t out of the woods yet. “What are you…” the young stallion to my right began, but I cut him off with the harshest glare I could. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Raq’s eyes popped open, and he started to move to stop my escape. I did the only thing that I could possibly think to do at the time. I lunged. I lept across the small two-foot gap between us, and sank my teeth through the soft fur of his neck, and into his jugular, which was pumping warm blood to his woefully inadequate brain. The startled cry he gave off before he was silenced by my vice like grip woke the other two dogs, and they started to look around for the source of the sound. Raq squirmed in futility as I held onto his neck like my life depended on it; it probably did at the time. The other dogs saw their leader thrashing around as a small fox, which I had gathered they knew nothing about at this point, held him down and ripped his throat out. Blood flew through the air and hissed as it touched the flames before quickly evaporating. Raq continued to spasm on the ground as he clawed his throat, which kept leaking his vital fluids before he finally came to a rest. The other two dog’s look of pure horror was enough to cause me to break out into a fit of hysterical laughter. The sight of me with the blood of their leader dripping from its muzzle was probably the scariest thing they had ever seen. Without waiting another second they both turned and bolted, leaving their things behind in the dust. I watched as they ran frantically into the night with twin trails of urine lining the ground behind them and continued to laugh like a madman. I licked my lips to stop the sweet juices from escaping, and savored their flavor. I’m not sure why but his blood was so delicious I could not help but yearn for more. I looked back down to the dead body of the diamond dog whose throat I had just unceremoniously ripped out, and couldn’t stop myself from diving back in. I started ripping apart his flesh in order to get to the meatier pieces that lay beneath. I knew how to properly butcher an animal and get the meat off of them, but at the moment I didn’t care in the least. It felt like I hadn’t eaten in weeks and the dead dog before me was like a free country buffet. I turned and stared at the green pony that was shaking in fright as he looked up at me. If he hadn’t been trapped by the net he was still in he probably would have followed the other two dogs off into the darkness. I imagine that I must have looked like the devil himself, and while literally scaring the piss out of those other diamond dogs had been fun, scaring this kid was a major buzz kill. I ran a paw along my muzzle and wiped away the blood before it dried on my nice white coat, and walked over to him. Elementary“Would you stop smiling,” Deciduous hissed from my right, as I attempted to restrain myself from dancing in excitement. “Is she okay?” I heard Scarlet ask. “I honestly have no idea,” he deadpanned. I turned to the right to look at my two companions who just stood there staring back at me for a long moment. Didn’t they understand what this meant? How could you not it was so obvious. I sighed and rolled my eyes pointing back to the dead pony that was lying on the floor some seven feet away. “Don’t you get it?” I asked, to only be rewarded by two shakes of the head. “There is a murderer on this train and that can only mean one thing.” “That we should get off?” Scarlet ventured. “That we need to let the guard take care of it and go back to our room?” Deciduous also chimed in. “No! It means that there is going to be a fight on top of this train. I have always wanted to be in a fight on top of a train.” My smile had once again returned as I started to think through all of the scenarios that this could play out in. One thing was for sure, I would have to somehow embed myself in the investigation, and I knew just how to do it. I snapped back to reality and got the attention of the two ponies in front of me. “Okay we need to get in on this case, and I know just how we are going to do it.” “Wait, why do we need to get involved?” They both asked at the same time. “Because… you want to help bring a murderer to justice don’t you Deciduous, before anypony else is harmed.” He looked pensive for a moment before finally relenting and nodding. “And this would be a great boost to your rep wouldn’t it Scarlet?” I asked pointing to her. She stared at me for a long while before breaking out in a laugh. “Okay, you want to play murder mystery that is fine with me.” She said. I nodded and looked back over to the two guards that were still interviewing the mare. Their stoic armor seemed to be cracking as she continued to bawl her eyes out in front of them. I let the scene play out a little longer, her wearing them down for me, before I finally motioned back to the others to follow me. We continued deeper into the room, making sure to gingerly step around the body. He was a unicorn stallion with a black mane and light yellow coat. He wore a suit jacket that was disheveled and becoming more soaked in blood as time passed. His wallet was lying on the floor to his right with all of the money torn out of it. A broken gold chain was attached to his jacket pocket, and his golden horseshoes glistened on the bottom of his hooves. This guy was probably filthy rich; too bad you can’t take it with you to the other side. We finished traversing the room and came to a stop next to the guards that had yet to notice our presence. I waited a few moments before coughing to get their attention and one I had their necks audibly snapped as they turned to face me. “Who are you,” said the first one as he reached for a blade that was attached to his belt. He was an earth pony who had a dark grey coat, which struck me as odd since I had only seen white guards so far. “Hold it boys, didn’t mean to scare I just simply came to offer my expertise,” I replied with a smile in the best impersonation I could do of a posh English accent. “I just thought that this might be a bit much for just two of her majesties royal service to handle.” The guard looked me over for a long while before finally relaxing and standing to face me properly. Now I have never been in a real police investigation, but I have watched hundreds of hours of crime shows. Those things cross over right? “There may be only two of us on this train, but no we do not need any help. Why would you offer any in the first place, are you some kind of drug sniffing dog or something?” he said with a laugh. It took a lot of my willpower to not scowl at that. I chuckled lightly just trying to let the remark roll off my back. “Of course not, as you might have guessed I am not exactly from Equestria, and back home I work as a police detective. Now you may be asking yourself why I am so far from home and just offering my services freely, and that I cannot answer. What I would ask from you two good stallions is what you have made of the scene thus far?” This time the second one stepped forward. It came as a slight shock to find that she was not in fact a stallion but a mare, she was far larger than any mare I had ever seen was and much more muscled. She ignored my calling her a stallion, probably used to it happening and walked over to the body. “This was a robbery,” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “The perp probably came in while the lights were out, taking the opportunity to rob one of the expensive cars. There was a struggle and the vic was stabbed in the process where he collapsed and bled out on the floor.” I hummed to myself as I also walked forwards to examine the corpse. I had seen him earlier, but looking over him again helped somewhat. “Who is this stallion?” I asked as I continued to look over him. The mare pulled out her notepad and flipped through the pages a while before coming to the page she was looking for. “His name is Expensive Taste, he is an aristocrat from Canterlot on a tour of the country with his wife Pleasant View.” This time I couldn’t stop my reaction as I scoffed at the names of the two ponies. Really, why are the names so ridiculous? “An aristocrat you say?” I tapped my chin in thought as I continued to look around him. The splayed out wallet and broken chain certainly made it look like a robbery. “What did the wife say about what happened?” She flipped through her notes a few more times before coming to the page that she was looking for; I was honestly surprised that she was being as cooperative as she was since her partner obviously didn’t like me. I spared a look back at him, and true enough he had a scowl on his face as he stared at me. “She said that she heard the struggle taking place and that she hid under the bed. When the lights came back on she found him on the floor like this and screamed. By the time that we arrived on scene he was already dead and she was in tears.” The guard mare put away her flip book and looked back up to me. I continued pacing for a while to give off the impression that I was thinking all the facts over. In actuality, I had seen this exact scene on CSI more than once and knew pretty much exactly what happened. “Good police work…” “Diligence,” she replied, puffing out her chest a bit. “Yes, good police work Diligence, but you have overlooked a glaring flaw. The stallion’s wallet is still on the ground next to him.” I pointed out and heard a pony in the doorway gasp. I looked up to see that I did in fact have an audience, which only made me smile before I continued. “A thief would not take the time to empty a wallet they had pinched at the scene of the crime, especially with the train lights coming back on at any second. No, a true thief would have taken all of the goods back to wherever they were staying before they checked to see what they had gotten. I am afraid that what we have here is premeditated homicide.” “Homi what?” I heard Deciduous ask from behind me. “Ponycide, I meant ponycide.” I instantly clarified. I was definitely going to need to be more careful in the future. One slip like that around the wrong person, and I could be found out instantly. Or at least, maybe I could. “If it was premeditated then why steal from the victim?” Diligence asked back. “To throw you off the trail of course. By the time that we make it to the next stop the killer will have hopped train, and probably never be found again. We have a clock on this situation and it is winding down each second that we sit here asking me silly questions with obvious answers,” I replied, channeling my inner Sherlock Holmes. I turned around once more and pointed at Deciduous “Go back to our car and get some paper and a pen, we will need it for when we conduct our own thorough interviews.” He arched an eyebrow before slowly making his way out of the room. I then pointed at the guard stallion that obviously didn’t like me “I will need everything that you have so far. Make a copy of it for Scarlet,” I motioned to the mare in question, “and she will bring it to me later.” “Why should I take orders from you,” he spat back. “Because I am your one chance to catch this killer before they get off this train. I am sure you would love to explain to your superior how you let the killer of a Canterlot aristocrat get away right out from under your nose.” I turned back to the body and away from him. I caught the other guard looking at me with some measure of awe and a bit of reservation. “Just who are you?” she asked. “The name is Vixen, and you shouldn’t go forgetting it anytime soon.” It had taken some doing, but eventually the guards had relented and allowed me to take lead of the investigation. I was still not sure how I had managed that with just a few snide remarks and well-placed observations, but I tend to not look a gift horse in the mouth. The hours had passed by and I was finally gotten to my first interview the sun had set. We sat in our private car with the shades drawn, though that didn’t matter much since it was now night outside. The wife of the dead stallion, Pleasant View, sat across the table from me. She still had tear stains on her face, and drank a little from the water glass we had given her when she was escorted in. She was a grey earth pony mare, probably in her forties, with a blue and pink mane styled in a bun. She also had a suit top on though hers was a light pink that matched her mane with a white undershirt on underneath. She wore a pearl necklace and had a diamond tennis bracelet on around her front left hoof. For my part, I was trying to look as relaxed as possible. I idly fiddled with a few chess pieces on the board in front of me, playing with an invisible opponent, as I took a drink from my scotch every now and then. Deciduous stood to my left taking down everything that was said by the two of us as we continued the interview. I had asked Scarlet politely to get us a passenger manifest and ask a few ponies to come to our room to have an interview with us as well. She found the whole situation hilarious, especially how I had gotten the guards to do as I asked, and had walked off laughing lightly to herself to carry out her appointed task. “So you were hiding during the attack, according to what you told the guards?” I asked, glancing over to Deciduous to make sure I had that right, and he nodded in return. “Yes,” she said, not bothering to expand on her answer. “I don’t know if you heard, but I do not believe this to be a crime of passion or opportunity. Can you tell me who would have wanted your husband dead?” At this she let out a sad laugh. “Who didn’t?” she dabbed her eyes a few times with a clean handkerchief before continuing. “He was just about to step down from being CEO of his company. His uncle died a few weeks ago and he was going to take up being head of the family. We were going to be true nobles and this trip was our way to celebrate before went back to Canterlot.” “I am afraid I am not overly familiar with how the noble houses work in Canterlot. Why would this make somepony want to kill your husband?” She sniffed a few more times before looking at me again. “His uncle didn’t have any children so all of the titles he held fell to the children of his brother, my husband’s father. He had five siblings each of them vying for the noble title and wanting to become the head of the house. If I had to guess I would say it was probably one of them that did this.” “Anypony in particular that we should focus our search on?” I asked, sitting back once more and taking another sip. “I would look into his brother High Born,” seriously these names are ridiculous, “he was older than Expensive and thought that he should have been the successor. He is a lay about that just used his status all his life, and lived off of his parent’s money. He of course didn’t get chosen to be the next head like my Expensive did. He was a hard working stallion that never took shortcuts.” She brushed a few more tears away from her eyes. “Thank you for your time Pleasant View, if we need anything else from you we will call you again,” I said as I stood and began to usher her out of the room. Talking with crying women still made me insanely uncomfortable and we could always do this later when she had calmed down some more. “Of course, thank you Miss Vixen,” she replied as she stood. “I need to contact the company about Expensive’s passing.” As she was about to step out of the car she turned and looked me straight in the eye. “Get whoever did this. Promise me you will do that.” I nodded and without another word she turned and made her way along the passageway outside. I sighed and padded back into the room where Deciduous still stood waiting. I sat back down on the couch and took another sip of my drink before turning back to look at him. “You got all of that right?” I asked. “Of course.” “Good, send the next one in.” “So you are the conductor of the train?” I asked the elderly stallion in front of me. He was an earth pony with a light blue coat and a mane that had turned grey long ago. He wore very large thick-rimmed glasses and had on a red bowtie. “That’s right little lady,” he replied as he sat across from me. I shrugged off the comment and focused instead on the case. I found myself really liking murder investigation for some reason it was very exciting. “So perhaps you can tell me what happened with the lights.” I said, also sitting back. “Well it goes like this, I was up in the engine care mindin’ my own business when all o’ a sudden the lights for the whole train go out. Now I know this old girl like the back of my hoof so I quickly hurried along to the breakers and found ‘em all tripped. Well I flipped ‘em all on and then that scream came from somewhere in the back. I didn’t really think anything of it, but some minutes later one of dem guards comes a hollerin’ and tells me someponys been killed. Don’t really know what happened after that so I just went back to the engine car and mindin my own business.” The guard hadn’t gotten around to interviewing the stallion yet so I had first crack at him. “Tell me then…” “Steady Ride,” he supplied. “Tell me then Steady Ride, how did all of the breakers get flipped in the first place?” I moved another piece on the board in front of me, capturing the white side’s rook. “Don’t rightfully know myself. Coulda been a surge in the system or somepony could flipped them themselves. I wasn’t standin around at the time so I can’t tell ya.” I nodded and went along with what he was saying. The stallion seemed far too old and frail to wrestle a younger one to the ground and murder him so it wasn’t likely that he did it. “Thank you for coming by, I don’t really have any more questions for you at this time, but can you stop by again if we need to talk to you again?” I said as I got up. “Of course I can, and I’ve been needin to ask ya. Are you that same Vixen that saved Rubyton about a week ago?” I froze, and tried to maintain an amiable smile. “You heard about that huh?” I said turning back to him. “Well I just knew it. I have to thank ya for that, my daughter lives out in Rubyton and if it weren’t for you I just don’t know what coulda happened to her. Of course, I will make time to talk to ya whenever you like.” He approached the door with a smile and was about to leave before I called out to him once more. “Can you tell me how long it is going to take to reach our destination?” “Well I figure it will take about five more days before we get to the next stop,” he said turning back to me. “Anyway that you could push that back a little farther, and give us more time to catch this killer before we get there?” “Sorry, no can do. This train has run on time for the past twenty years and I am not about to have that record blemished. Thank ya for what you did back in Rubyton and let me know if I can be of any more help.” With that he exited the car leaving me alone with Deciduous once again. I walked back over to the couch and sat down, motioning for Deciduous to let the next one in. “I don’t understand why you are asking me questions.” Said the stallion across from me with his hooves crossed in front of him. It was the same guard that I had trouble getting along with earlier, and had asked to come in to answer a few questions. I had learned previously that his name was Stern Hoof. “Isn’t it protocol to go over the responding officers to the scene of a crime?” I asked, I was still piecing together how the justice system in Equestria operated. “Of course it is, what I am saying is I don’t understand why I am talking to you. You have no position or authority here so why are you the one asking the questions. I wouldn’t even be going along with this if it weren’t for Diligence wanting your help so much,” He replied coldly. “And the fact that I could actually solve this thing,” I added. “You know what, that is it.” He stood up and hastily made his way to the door. “If you find anything take it up with Diligence, I will be doing the real police work on my own.” With that he slammed the door to the car after making his exit. I sighed and sat back in the couch one more, rubbing my temples. I was starting to get a headache at asking all of these questions. “I only got one more in me today, Deciduous. Can you send the last one in please?” I sat forwards and poured myself another bit of scotch as I waited for the final interviewee to come in. The final interview that I had today just so happened to be with Diligence, and the mare sat across from me at attention answering all of my questions with lightning speed. She was a unicorn with the stark white coat that I had seen all of the other guards having. She was perfectly controlled in the way that she sat there in front of me, waiting for the questions to be asked. “Okay Diligence, tell me what you saw when you first arrived on the scene.” I said. “After hearing the scream coming from the car me and my partner Stern Hoof raced to the car in order to see what was the matter. When we arrived we found Expensive Taste dead on the floor in a pool of his own blood and Pleasant View crying to herself in the corner. She had her face buried in her hooves and was rocking back in forth. “My partner and I hurried over to her after checking to make sure that Expensive Taste had no pulse to find out what the situation was. She told us that somepony had murdered her husband while the lights were out, and we began to immediately take her statement. We hadn’t even noticed the onlookers gathered around until you interrupted us talking with Pleasant. “At that time you began to take the lead, and we relinquished control of the investigation to you despite my partner’s protests. We kept looking around the train during the interim, but found nothing suspicious going on. You called me into this interview sometime later, and that is all that happened since we first heard the scream.” She finished. “That was very…professional. Can you tell me what you and your partner were doing before you heard the scream?” I asked, hoping to establish an alibi without too much trouble. “We were playing cards in the guard’s car. Both of us can corroborate the other’s whereabouts at the time of the murder,” She added. “Good, this was mainly just a follow-up since I already have your written report here. Keep doing a good job and I am confident that we will catch this killer in no time.” I said moving to let her leave. She got up from her seat and patiently made her way to the door. She didn’t bother saying anything to me as she left like the others had, and I had to respect her a little bit for that. With the last interview of the day complete I sighed and walked over to the bed where I flopped down, feeling exhausted. It seemed that my time in the hospital had done a number on my stamina and I was already wiped out from all of the excitement that went on that day. The door opened once again, drawing my attention, and I watched as Scarlet entered the room with a clipboard held in her mouth. She walked over to the bed that I was lounging on and dropped it on the mattress next to me before hovering over to the couch where she sat down and also let out a tired sigh. “If I knew getting a manifest was going to be so difficult I would have stayed behind and done the interview thing,” she said glancing at Deciduous. I picked up the list of names and started flipping through it. It only contained basic information, but at least it was a start. “Being a stenographer is no picnic you know,” Deciduous shot back. “No matter how fast they are talking I have to write all of it down, and make sure that I don’t miss anything. Even the slightest thing could be the clue we need to bring this whole case down.” He tossed the legal pad that he had been using so far onto the table next to the chessboard. “Still probably easier than running around and getting every single ponies info,” Scarlet said as she stretched out and grabbed the bottle of scotch. I was actually surprised that I hadn’t been feeling any of its effects with how much of it I had been drinking through the day. It was probably watered down significantly to save the rail company money. “So how are we doing these sleeping arrangements anyways?” Deciduous put a hoof to his chin for a while before replying, “I think you and I get the couches, unless you want to share the bed with Vixen. She is bigger and just got out of the hospital after all.” Something on the list in front of me suddenly jumped out at me and brought a smile to my lips. Scarlet hummed to herself before looking back over at me. “I am fine with taking the couch, but I would prefer the bed. You don’t mind if we share do you?” I looked up from the list at my companions that were discussing what I might have considered trivial. “Forget that, and listen to what I just found.” I said turning the list around towards them. “What is it?” Deciduous asked, getting up from the couch and walking over to me before taking the list. “Third from the bottom. Do you know who that pony is?” I asked, sitting back with a smug grin plastered on my face. “I says its some mare named High Class.” He looked at me confused for a moment before taking a look back at the list. “What about her?” “Take a look at who it says her husband is,” I urged him. He looked back over the list and studied it for a while before he also had a smile on his lips. “High Born,” he said after a moment. “Exactly.”
BefriendHe continued to quake in fear as I stood over him trying to determine what to do. Eventually, I settled on the honorable thing, and decided to let him go. “Hey kid, are you okay?” I asked as I started to let him out of the net. He shrank away from my hooves, and began to stutter. “s-s-s-s-s-s” “What.” I stopped untying him. “Stay back!” he screamed, making my ears pin back. That was a really strange feeling. “Stay away from me!” Oh great, now he was crying. “Calm down, kid. I’m not gonna hurt you.” I probably looked like I was about to hurt him though, I would really need to clean up soon. I face palmed at the obviousness of it all, if I were in his situation there is no way I would trust me either. “P-p-please don’t eat me,” he cried as he continued to shrink away. The guy looked to be no older than seventeen, but he should really grow a backbone. Crybabies really piss me off. “I’m not going to eat you,” I said as soothingly possible as I finished freeing him. “I only eat assholes, and you don’t seem like one to me.” I left him and walked back to the fire that was still burning. The diamond dogs had left all their stuff here when they ran, which from the looks of it seemed to be a lot. A couple of hours in Equestria and I had already accumulated a nice amount of loot. I was going to take this world by storm. I started sifting through the things that the yappy dog had in his pack, but wasn’t able to find anything particularly useful. There was a dagger that was made out of emeralds with a ruby jeweled handle, and the rest of the pack was filled with gems. I tossed the bag aside as I walked over to Raq and started to loot him. The awkward shuffling of hooves behind me drew my attention. “Um… miss?” being addressed as a woman was probably going to get annoying quickly. “What?” I said as I flipped over the dead dog to get at the sword that was still strapped to his back. This thing might come in handy down the road. “T-Thank you for saving me.” He hesitantly walked over to the fire and sat down near it while he continued to look at me. “Don’t worry about it, kid,” I replied as I finally freed the sword and began to inspect it. I looked up at him and saw him glaring at me. “I’m not a kid.” Oh god not this. “Fine then what’s your name.” I looked back down at the sword. Damn this thing practicality hummed when you touched it. “Deciduous,” he replied simply causing me to look back up at him. “Seriously?” that was such a dumb name. My disbelief only caused his leer to increase in intensity. “Oh yea. Well what’s your name miss ‘I am too good pony names’” That’s what he thought I was questioning? “Umm…” Shit! I was actually really good at coming up with Equestrian names, but being put on the spot like this always screwed with me. My mind raced with all of the possibilities for a new name since I didn’t want to actually give my own. Something in the back of my head shouted a name at me and I just decided the go with it. “Vixen.” I mentally slapped whatever part of my mind had come up with that name immediately. It was far too girly for my tastes, but it looked like I was just going to have to get used to things being that way. “Vixen,” he pondered for a moment, “yea that’s a lot better than my name.” What the hell he actually looked depressed that my made up on the spot name was better than his. “Don’t worry about it, kid. My parents were geniuses.” Me calling him a kid again snapped him out of his melancholy and he glared at me once more. “Go look though that fat one’s things, Deci.” I ordered pointing to the sack that was lying a couple of feet to my right. What the hell did he actually blush at me calling him by a nickname? “Yes, ma’am.” “Tell me if you find anything useful.” I said as he made his way over to the bag. I continued to fiddle with the sword for a little bit. The blade was curved like a scimitar, but I couldn’t figure out why since it didn’t look like the dogs rode anything into a fight. Seeing as how there was only one way to actually test its sharpness, I grabbed the handle in my mouth and swung it above my head. I brought it down on Raq’s arm and it cut deeply into it, but I didn’t have enough power to make it go through the bone. The sickening crunch of flesh seemed to pull Deciduous away from his scavenging and he looked up to me with an ill look on his face. I wiped away a few drops of blood that had spattered my face as I let go of the sword and turned to him. “What?” I asked innocently. Nothing…” as he turned back to looking through the sack I could see disgust clear in his face. Ponies probably didn’t mutilate corpses too often. I looked back to the sword that was sticking out of Raq’s arm at a weird angle for a moment. I grabbed a hold of it with my front paws as I sat on the ground and was eventually able to wrench it free. This time I swung it through the air with my paws instead of teeth and was able to lob off his head with an easy motion. I was elated that it was so easy to do I allowed myself a small smile before I turned and watched Deciduous follow the head with his eyes as it rolled across the desert floor. The fear had once again returned to his eyes. I had forgotten once again that he was a pony, and would probably not be able to handle me mutilating a corpse to test a new weapon. “Sorry kid, you shouldn’t have seen that.” “It’s… okay.” That was honestly a surprise. “He was going to put us in slavery, and was probably going to do some pretty bad things to you.” A shiver ran up my spine at his mention of Raq’s plans, but I was able to stop the mental image before it formed. “Let’s not worry about that. We are free now, and I doubt those little pissants will be coming back. Did you find anything good in there?” I asked, trying to change the subject. He looked into the bag for a moment and shuffled some things around. “Looks like all my stuff is in here, and a couple of pieces of wood.” He pulled out a pair of saddlebags from the bag, and slung them over his back. “Got anything useful in there?” I asked as I got up from my seat and walked over. As I stopped in front of Deciduous I picked up a few errant pieces of firewood and tossed them on the fire to keep it going strong. “Just some bits and food. You want any?” “No thanks,” I laughed, “I am stuffed.” He looked like he was going to be sick for a moment. “By the way, do you know where we are?” My question seemed to shock him so he reached back and pulled out a map that he had tucked away in his bags. “We are in the Badlands,” he said pointing to the spot on the map. “We aren’t actually that far from the border, and if we start walking we can make it back to Equestria before tomorrow.” “We?” I hadn’t actually thought about it, but it looked like I had already acquired a companion. Wouldn’t The Doctor be proud of me. “Well I mean…” He looked down at his hooves and began to shuffle around awkwardly. “Could you help me get home?” He tried to hide a small tear that found its way out of his eye. “What are you even doing way out here?” “It’s personal,” he spat. Looked like Raq wasn’t the only one with bi-polar tendencies. “If you want me to take you home then you better answer the question.” I brought myself to my full height, which actually a little taller than he was. Whatever kind of fox creature I was it seemed that I was at least as big as a pony. “I ran away.” “I’m sorry what was that?” “I ran away.” “Still can’t hear you.” “I RAN AWAY!!!” he screamed, almost knocking me off my feet. My ears rang for a moment before I regained my hearing. It seemed that foxes had heightened hearing, which was really a pain in the ass with how much this kid liked to scream. “Fuck kid, take it down a notch.” “I am not a kid!” At least that scream was a little softer. “Fine, fine, Deciduous. Why did you run away?” I have actually dealt with friends doing this before. “Because.” I rolled my eyes, and walked back over to where Raq was lying. At least he didn’t scream at me anymore. “You know if you want to stop being called a kid you might want to stop acting like one. How old are you anyway?” I started to loot Raq’s bag, which had a lot more valuables in it than the others had on them. “Sixteen,” he answered immediately. “I’m old enough to be on my own.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again as I looked back at him. “Fine. I don’t really care why you ran away I just don’t want to show up at your house, and be arrested for foalnapping.” Yea I could slip into the Equestrian dialect seamlessly. You jelly?” “I left them a note,” he replied in a huff. “Alright. Since you will probably just get grabbed again by more dogs if you try to go alone, and since I have no fucking idea where we are you can tag along. But you need to do what I say when I say it. Got it.” “No,” he rolled his eyes at me. This kid has an attitude problem. “I will eat you, you little shit.” That got his attention. “O-O-Okay,” he stuttered. “Good. Now pack up everything we will need while I finish looting this guy.” I kicked Raq’s body in the ribs hard, and was delighted to hear one of them break. “Also, you might want to take this sword.” I removed said blade from the ground and tossed it to his feet. He eyed the sword that still had a bit of blood dripping from the end of it like it was a snake about to bite him. Tentatively, he reached out a hoof and touched the handle before pulling away again. “Why are you giving this to me?” he asked after a moment. “Because the only way I will be able to use it is if I stand on my back paws, and that isn’t going to happen. No, it will probably be better for you to use.” I shrugged and went back to my work. I pulled off the scabbard that was still attached to Raq’s back and tossed it over my shoulder to the same general area I had the sword. I didn’t hear Deciduous move for a long time, but eventually I made out the sound of hooves scraping against the ground to retrieve the sword and scabbard. He quickly took them both and strapped them on under his saddlebags. Deciduous then scrambled between all the equipment the dogs had been carrying and started stuffing anything he could into his saddlebags. I stopped him as he started to grab the scrappy dog’s bag and emptied it of gems and knife before I gave it back to him. I tossed them into Raq’s bag before I slung it over my back. I took a closer look at the bottles that Raq had been carrying, but couldn’t make heads or tails of them. These chemicals might come in handy down the road, but they had no labels on them so I had absolutely no idea what they did. Careful not to break any, I unstrapped them from around Raq and started to tie them around myself. It was hard to do with my paws, but eventually I managed to get them all in place. The bottles seemed to come in two distinct types, and I figured it would be better to test them now than before we got into an actual fight. I removed one of the bottles, which seemed to have a green liquid sloshing around and chucked it far across the sand away from us. To my surprise I was able to actually put some good distance on it before it crashed down to earth and split open. A sickly green gas started to rise into the air before dissipating. This was probably the knockout gas that the dogs had used on me and Deciduous to capture us in the first place. The thought made me angry, but I suppressed the urge to destroy all the bottles since we were likely to need them. I removed the other kind of bottle from the straps, which was filled with a clear liquid this time and tossed it close to where I had the first. The bottle crashed to the ground and split open sending the clear liquid flying in all directions. The second it hit the air the liquid ignited in a brilliant display of fire before it started to burn itself out. All right then, the clear bottles are the dangerous ones and I should probably not be carrying them around. As I looked over myself with the bottles strapped to me I realized that I still had no idea what my face looked like. I dug around in Raq’s bag for a while until I finally found a mirror. What that ugly dog had a mirror for I will probably never know. I turned until my back was against the fire and held up the mirror in front of myself to get my first good look at my body. I had known what most of my body had looked like before, but when I saw the whole thing in profile I had to admit that it was very slim and feminine. I hated admitting it, but it was definitely something I couldn’t deny. I was probably very sexy, and some part of me loved it. My coat was sticking up in odd angles at places so I ran a paw over it in order to smooth it out before finally turning back to the mirror to study my face in detail. I had been unable to wipe all of the blood from my muzzle earlier and my fur was stained pink where the crimson liquid had settled. Besides that my face resembled that of an average white fox except for a small black patch of diamond shaped fur in the middle of my forehead that seemed to glow a faint blue color. I put the mirror back in the bag and turned back to Deciduous who was happily munching away on an apple as he waited for me. God dammit! I had made a man wait while I prettied myself up! I was never going to live down this shame. I motioned for him to lead the way, which he did gladly. We began to trek through the wilds of the badlands with our destination set, but as I looked around at the barren wasteland around me I realized I had no idea what direction we were going. “Do you even know where we are going?” I asked. “To Equestria,” he deadpanned. “Well no shit. What I mean is do you know which direction we are going.” “You like to swear a lot lady,” he replied, ignoring my question. “When you get to be my age you can swear as much as you want. Now answer the damn question.” “How old are you anyway,” he asked just before he slapped a hoof over his lips. That was a major faux pas. “You aren’t supposed to ask a girl how old they are.” Hell, even I knew that. “Sorry.” “Whatever, I am three hundred and twenty-one if you must know.” It was only off by about three centuries. I had no idea how long my new species lived so fudging the number a little bit probably wouldn’t hurt anything. Probably. “Wow.” He was completely awed by my bullshit. “Yes, amazing I know. Now how do you know we are going the right direction.” He stopped for a moment and pointed to the sky behind us. I looked up to where he was pointing to see a bright star sparkling in the darkness. “That’s the north star. Since we want to go south we just go the opposite direction of it.” He turned back around and continued to trudge through the dirt. “Know it all,” I muttered under my breath, but I think he heard it since he started chuckling lightly. I continued to trudge along behind him, and started to really study him. The lowlight didn’t seem to be a problem, and I was able to actually get a good look at the kid for the first time. He was a dark green, which was somehow accented perfectly by the various fall colors that made up his scraggly mane. He had a couple of scrapes along the left side, but nothing that seemed too serious. His cutie mark was of several trees covered in winter snow. I decided to ignore the irony that was the pony walking in front of me, and continued to trudge along behind my new green friend who was obliviously walking ahead of me. We continued on for several hours until the first signs of light started to creep over the horizon. I looked to the east and watched the sun crest the horizon with interest, and as soon as the first rays of light touched me I felt different. It was hard to explain, but suddenly the bundle that I was carrying felt three times lighter, and I was able to heft it with ease. When I looked back to Deciduous who had ignored the rising sun he seemed to be moving a lot slower, almost as if in slow motion. I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding and the world returned to its usual self. I quickly raced to catch up to the pony that had left me behind in the dust, and was walking beside him after a few seconds. We glanced at each other a moment before continuing on ahead in silence. I am somebody that appreciates the quiet, but this was just starting to become unbearable. “So what is Las Pegasus like?” I asked after a moment to break the tension. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like my question did that at all. “I don’t really want to talk about home,” he replied. I rolled my eyes and sighed as we continued to walk. Eventually I heard him ask a very similar question from his spot to my left. “What is your home like?” I didn’t exactly want to explain to him that I was a human and probably from a different dimension. Hell, I still didn’t wholly believe that this world even existed and was still holding out that I was in some strange coma dream. “I don’t really want to talk about home either,” I replied. He seemed to take my answer in stride, and we kept our forward march at a steady pace. It was probably going to take a while before either of us decided to open up to the other, and that was okay with me. The sun started to climb into the sky and give the desert its trademark heat as we walked across its harsh environ.
MeetingMy stomach quivered and protested as we continued to trudge along in relative silence. The apple that I had foolishly accepted was still trying to make its way up my esophagus. It had been delicious going down, but it seemed that my new body wasn’t exactly built for ingesting the juicy fruit. I groaned in agony, but kept walking forward at my reduced pace. We had stopped for a small break earlier, and I had taken the opportunity to cook all of the meat I still had. Using some scrap pieces of paper and a tinder that I found in Raq’s bag I had started a fire strong enough to thoroughly cook the slabs of meat I had brought with me. The entire time I was working though, Deciduous looked like he was going to relieve himself of a particularly sweet and delicious apple. He didn’t launch any protests with me the whole time I was cooking what was left of the Diamond Dog however. I had thought that him being a herbivore would mean he would be violently against any eating of meat. I am still not sure if he kept silence out of fear or some deeper understanding of my nature, but he had made sure to not come anywhere close to the fire as I was cooking. It hadn’t taken too long since there wasn’t exactly all that much to dry out, and soon I had a nice bundle wrapped up in my bag that would last me a few days if I ate it sparingly. It seemed that my young friend had gravely misjudged how long it was going to take us to get to the border, since we had been walking through the daylight for nearly four hours now. Everything for miles around was a barren wasteland, but about half a mile ahead I was able to see the mountains we were approaching at a snails pace. The earth pony in front of me suddenly stopped and almost caused me to crash right into his back. I sidestepped and narrowly avoided the collision before giving him an incredulous look. “What is it?” I asked. “Up ahead is the border.” He pointed to the mountains in front of us. “There is a path that leads through the mountains and into Equestria. You might want to clean up some before we get there though.” He sheepishly looked away from me after that last bit. It took me a second to realize what he was talking about, but eventually it clicked. I licked my lips and was immediately greeted by the taste of copper. It seemed that some of the diamond dog blood had dried on my muzzle, and would probably be a major put off to anypony we came across. “You have some water?” I asked. Before the question had even left my lips he was already digging through his bags for a canteen. I used my teeth to rip off a small piece of linen from a cloth in my bag and I took the flask from him. With the now wet cloth I vigorously scrubbed my jowls. After a moment I pulled away the now pink cloth, and smiled to the kid next to me. “I get it?” He just stared back at me for a minute as if trying to decide what to say before he finally rolled his eyes, “Yea.” “Lead on then.” At my word he once again began to advance towards the mountains as I tossed the cloth over my shoulder. Probably wouldn’t be much use for a bloody rag out here with nopony around. “Hey Deci, where do you live anyway.” I wasn’t able to see him blush at my use of a nickname, but I could see him freeze up for a moment before continuing on. “My parents live just outside of Las Pegasus,” he said without turning back. “How far away is that from the border?” “About two weeks on hoof,” he replied nonchalantly. I had to stop myself from falling over in shock in true anime style though, since I was walking around in a cartoon world the desire to do so was very tempting. “What the hell are you doing all the way out here?” “I told you that already.” “Whatever. If I have to babysit you for half a month there better be one hell of a reward waiting for me.” We had just about reached the foot of the mountains, and the path ahead was just starting to become visible. The mountains themselves were towers of rock that stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction. The insanely small path that was stretched out ahead of us wound along the sheer cliff face, and looked like it had been built by an insane blind man. If I focused for a moment I could even see tiny pieces of it falling hundreds of feet to the ground below. My apprehension was understandable. “Oh hell no,” I said as I stopped and caused my companion to as well. “What?” he asked innocently. “There is no way in hell that I am getting on that path,” I stated with a stomp, which since I now had paws didn’t really do much. “Why not?” he turned to face me. “Just look at it. There is no way that thing will hold both of us.” I honestly have no clue about architecture or construction, but it looked really shoddy to my untrained eyes. “Well you can walk all the way around if you want. See you in a couple of months.” Without waiting for my reply he turned and started along the trail. I looked left and right, but wasn’t able to actually make out anything other than mountains. Sighing, I followed him onto the path, which I just knew was going to be the end of me. Instead of staying close to the ground like any good path would have done, this one quickly began to ascend higher into the mountains until I was soon able to look over the side and see the rocks hundreds of feet below. It isn’t something that I like to talk about, but I may have a tiny fear of heights. It isn’t like anything traumatic happened to me as a child that caused the fear, but for as long as I could remember, whenever I was this high up I could not help myself from picturing my body crashing into the ground below over and over. Only after the fifteenth time I saw myself dying horribly on the jagged rocks that lay at the bottom of the cliff, my companion pulled me from my reverie with a simple question. “Hey, Vixen?” “Yea,” I answered after a moment. It took me a second to realize he was calling me by my fake name. “What is hell?” At first I was struck dumb by the question, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made. Of course ponies had no concept of hell. “It’s a place were murderers and bad ponies go when they die so they can burn for all eternity.” Maybe I shouldn’t have put it so bluntly. The color drained from his face as I finished speaking. “That’s horrible.” “They deserve it or else they wouldn’t be there.” Shrugging, I took the lead of our two-man wolf pack. It wasn’t like I actually needed him to guide me much anymore since there was literally only one way we could go. To my relief, as we crested a rise the path started to get a lot wider. It was almost as wide as two car lanes, and if the wheel marks that I could see in the dirt below me were anything to go by then there seemed to be a decent amount of traffic. The mountains provided a shade that I was thankful for. Like any true Texan I have no problems with the heat or walking around in the sun when it is over a hundred degrees outside, but with this new thick coat attached to my skin the heat was starting to get to me. I was just about ready to keel over at any moment when we finally made it to the shade of the peaks above us. “Where does this path let out anyway?” I asked as I dropped back so that I was walking alongside him. “There is a town on the other side of the mountains called Rubyton. It is where I stocked up on supplies before I came this way. They are mostly traders that send out caravans into the wastes to get gems and bring them back.” I noticed that he was glancing around nervously. “How do they get the gems?” I also glanced up at the ledges we were passing under half expecting to see sandpeople staring down at us. I was a little disappointed to find nothing there. “I assume they trade with the diamond dogs for them, but who knows they might dig them up themselves.” “You mean they trade with slavers?” Was I the only one that thought that was incredibly wrong? “I guess.” He shrugged. I sighed; I don’t think that I would ever be able to understand these ponies. “Why do you look so nervous?” I asked, deciding to change the subject. He hesitated a moment as he continued to look around. With every step he took I could see him wince a little. “Snakes.” “Snakes? You are afraid of snakes?” Now I was laughing. He glared at me, but that only served to increase the hilarity of the situation. He was walking around with a super sharp sword how could a snake scare him? My laughter was suddenly cut off as the sound of somepony screaming reached my ears. Before I could stop him, Deciduous had taken off running down the path ahead towards the noise. I would have called him out for doing something incredibly stupid if I weren’t afraid of attracting attention to myself. I scowled and took off after him, I wasn’t going to let the kid die after I had just saved his life the night prior. I’m pretty sure there is supposed to be some responsibility or something about saving someone's life. As I rounded a particularly sharp corner I almost ran into the green earth pony that was standing stark still in the middle of the road. I walked up next to him, and followed his gaze to the horrible scene that was playing out in front of us. About fifty yards away a group of ponies were fighting off a fifty-foot snake with wooden spears. The thing reminded me of an ancient basilisk, but was far larger than any depiction of one I had ever seen. It stood nearly fifteen feet tall as it looked down on its prey that were feebly trying to defend against it. Its sand colored scales blended in perfectly to the mountainside, and I could only assume that it had been lying in wait for the poor caravan to come along and be its lunch. The massive creature lunged forwards as quick as lightning and grabbed one of the mares by her head before lifting her into the air. I could hear her muffled screaming from where I stood before it was cut off by the crunch of the snake biting down. The serpent then reared back its head and devoured the mare whole before turning back to the group of ponies staring at it in horror. “We are going to need a bigger net.” Though incredibly lame it pretty much summed up all my thoughts on the situation. Before I knew it, my companion was once again charging over to the group with no care for his safety. His insanely stupid and hasty actions had now put me at a metaphorical crossroad. If I tried to go up against that thing there was no doubt in my mind that it would rip me to shreds in an instant; especially since it was twenty times my size and I was still trying to get fully used to this body. At the same time I didn’t want to see the only pony that I had met so far by eaten because he charged at the nightmarish creature without thinking. I groaned in frustration for a moment once more took off running after him. I took the time to marvel at just how fast I was going; I was probably doing something close to thirty or forty miles an hour. Looking up at the snake as I ran towards it once again reminded me that this was by far the stupidest thing I have ever done. Well, maybe it wasn’t as stupid as running into oncoming traffic in order to win a bet, but it was definitely a close second. That twenty bucks had totally been worth it. It took me only ten seconds to cross the expanse between where I was standing and the group of ponies, but in that time the snake had thrown a unicorn stallion into the rock wall where he now lay motionless. I did a quick count, and saw that there were seven ponies still left fighting against the serpent, including the two pegasus in the sky that were trying to get its attention. The snake wore what appeared to be a grin as it played with its soon to be meal. Deciduous had tossed his luggage into one of the carts, and unsheathed the sword he had strapped under his saddlebags. He broke the line of ponies and stabbed the snake causing the diamond edge to sink deeply into the snake’s underbelly. Blood sprayed everywhere as he ripped the sword free once more and moved to make another attack. The snake turned its attention to the teen and dived at him, and he was barely able to roll out of the way as it snapped the air where he had just stood. I took the opportunity to lunge forward myself, and swipe at its face with my claws. They didn’t sink into its scales very far, but I did manage to score four long marks down one of its cheeks which slowly started to bleed. The giant snake let out a shriek of what I could only assume to be pain before it turned on me. I really didn’t like the look in its eyes. “Come at me bro,” I taunted as I slowly moved away from the group of ponies. I highly doubted they would be of any help here. The snake stared down at me as I separated from the group. In a flash its mouth was moving forwards at me. I jumped to the side in a display of agility that I shouldn’t have been able to do, and barely managed to get out of its way as it flew past me at lightning speeds. Luckily, I had been standing near the rock wall, and the snake collided with it hard enough to send a few rock crashing down the mountainside. A massive boulder nearly crushed me as it landed just to my side between the snake and me. I swore as I ran around the rock, wanting to make use of the daze the beast had likely received from ramming that rock wall. Just as I made it around the rock it lunged at me once again causing me to jump wildly to the side to avoid being eaten. It almost caught me with a swipe of its tail, but I managed to roll under it. It occurred to me that I should probably try and use the vials of liquids I had strapped about me. The snake stopped concentrating on me as Deciduous landed another strake as its back was turned, giving me enough time to pull off one of the vials of clear liquid. There was absolutely no way that I had enough sleeping gas to knock out this giant so I would have to use my incendiaries. I took aim and threw the vial for all it was worth at the snakes head to only miss horribly. I’m not sure if you know this, but paws aren’t very good for throwing projectiles. The vial came crashing down near one of the ponies that shrieked and jumped out of the way as fire exploded next to her. I swore and grabbed another vial ready to make another attempt, but the snake seemed to catch on to what I was doing. Soon I was once again staring into its huge unblinking eyes as it leered down at my small form. I threw the vial once more only for it to sail wide and fall off the trail and into the jagged rocks below. I could swear the snake seemed almost amused with how terribly I was doing. It opened its mouth wide to show me its long rows of terrifyingly long teeth that dripped with saliva and poison. My breath caught in my throat as it launched itself down at me. I couldn’t watch my death come at me and closed my eyes flinching away. I waited for what would not doubt be the inevitable searing pain followed by a quick fade to black, but the snake never bit into me. Hesitantly, I opened an eye to peer up at the great beast that had for some reason decided not to kill me, and the view before me almost made me let out the breath I was still holding. The snake had completely stopped moving just a few feet away from me. In fact everything had stopped moving. I looked around disbelieving as I saw Deciduous suspended in the air with a bloody sword in his mouth and an angry scowl on his face. A blanket was frozen in the grip of an earth pony mare as she tried to beat an unmoving flame that I had accidentally caused. Several droplets of saliva trailed behind the massive serpent as it continued to stare down at me with both hunger and fury. I had no idea why time had decided to stop for a moment, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I made to take a step out of the way of the snake’s path, but as soon as I finished taking my first step a sudden pain exploded in my chest. I fell to the ground with a yelp letting out the breath I had been holding, and watched as the strange spell that had fallen over everything broke. The snake crashed into the ground where I had just been, missing me by only a few inches. I tried to get up, but the pain that had flared up in my chest was still impeding me. I shakily made my way to a standing position only to be caught off guard by a swipe of the snake’s tail and sent careening into the rock wall. The beast had recovered from its fight with the ground, and now slithered over towards me slowly. I didn’t have enough strength left in me to stand up let alone continue to fight the serpent. I don’t know what had caused the time stop that had just saved me, but it seemed that it was all for not; seeing as how the creature was about to eat me anyways. Imagine my surprise when a ball of fire exploded in front of it and caused it to rear away. Another explosion blossomed next to the first and was soon followed by yet another. The glass bombs continued to reign down from on high, and created a wall of what I assumed to be burning oil between my foe and I. I turned my gaze upwards to see a pegasus hurling bottles down at the ground to try and scare the beast off, and to my endless wonder it seemed to be working. The mare slowly descended as she kept throwing liquid flame at the snake until eventually, fed up with all of the trouble it was having, it slithered off to places unknown. She landed with one of her bombs still held in her hoof until she thought that the coast was clear. I shakily stood up from where I was lying against the mountainside, and limped over to where Deciduous was standing with his sword still in his mouth. My entire right side was sore from the impact, but I don’t think that I had broken anything, which was incredibly lucky. A few cuts had opened all along me as I had slammed into the uneven rocks that made up the side of the mountain. I wiped a good amount of blood from my brow before turning to the mare that had just saved my life. She was a red pegasus with an incredibly white mane. Her cutie mark was hidden beneath the several bags that she had strapped to her back, and a scar ran along the right side of her neck. She finished stowing away the bottles that she had been carrying and turned to face me as well. We continued to stare at eachother for a tense few seconds before our contest was ended by Deciduous’ face popping into my vision. “Oh my goodness, Vixen. Are you okay?” I backed up from the stallion that was invading my personal space. “I’m fine kid, just a few scrapes. It would have been a lot worse if our friend here hadn’t showed up,” I said motioning to the mare in front of me. “Don’t worry about it,” she replied hesitantly. “No, but we should be thanking you. You saved us all from that snake.” He was now walking over to her, and she looked almost as wary of him as she was me. “I’m Deciduous by the way, and this big fox over here is Vixen. I know she may look kind of scary being covered in cuts and some blood, but she won’t hurt you or anything.” He motioned to me without turning around. “Scarlet.” “Well Scarlet, like I was saying we are just super grateful for you helping us out.” “Like I said don’t mention it.” Scarlet spread her wings wide and took off into the skies before he could say anything else. “Well that was kind of rude,” he said to himself as he watched her leave. “Maybe she just wants to be alone,” I remarked as I started walking back to towards the caravan. “Come on lets get our stuff and get out of here.” He quickly hurried along behind me as we made our way over to the survivors. They were all huddled around the stallion that had been tossed into the wall and still hadn’t gotten up. Another stallion was lying in a heap beside one of the carts, crying his eyes out. He was probably the husband of the mare who had gotten eaten. I walked over to the cart that Deciduous had tossed his belongings into, and grabbed the bag I had dropped into the dirt next to it. Deciduous followed my lead and grabbed his stuff and started putting his saddlebags back on. “Try not to run straight at a monster without thinking next time. It is a really good way to get yourself killed,” I said as I began to once again walk down the path ahead. “I was just trying to help. We couldn’t just leave them there to fight that thing alone,” he protested causing me to sigh. “We didn’t even do anything except almost getting ourselves killed. In the end it was Scarlet that scared the snake away, and all we did was take a few hits. If something dangerous like that happens again just try and take a second to think before you run in waving around that sword.” “Fine.” He turned away in a pout that only brought a smile to my lips. “Wait!” a voice cried out behind me, bringing me to stop. I was already cursing myself for even stopping as I turned around to look at the mare who was quickly running over to me. “Don’t leave us here like this. What if that snake comes back?” She was an average looking earth pony that really didn’t stand out much. She was grey with a ginger mane that clung tightly to her neck as it fell over her left side. She had a pair of decent looking saddlebags slung over her back, and her cutie mark seemed to be of a pile of bits. “That’s not my problem. Maybe you should find a path that isn’t infested with giant snakes if you don’t want to be eaten. Or at least get something better than wooden spears to protect yourselves with.” I can’t believe how dismally they were equipped. “Please don’t just abandon us. I saw you fight the snake, you are strong.” “And I got my tail handed to me. What makes you think that I can help you out at all?” Oh great, now she looked like she was about to cry. “Vixen, lets just stick around,” Deciduous pleaded. I looked back and forth between him and the mare for a moment before I finally conceded. If anything, when that snake came back I would be able to use these ponies as meat shields while I got away. “Fine, but I want to get paid if you are going to have me on escort duty.” Escort missions are the worst. That mare in front of me immediately perked up and began nodding her head eagerly. “Of course. It’s only three more days until we get to Rubyton once we start moving again. Does seventy bits sound reasonable?” How the hell was I supposed to know? “One hundred and ten bits, take it or leave it.” I liked to think I had a flair for extortion. “Deal!” she eagerly ran back over to one of the carts and started to count out bits. I facepawed at how easily she had accepted my counter offer. These were traders; of course she was going to lowball me with the first offer. Sighing, I walked over to the mare and collected my fee before inspecting the rest of the group. I tossed the bits into my bag before handing it to Deciduous, which he happily accepted. There didn’t seem to be any unicorns among this caravan aside from the one that was passed out on the ground, and there were only two pegasi. The earth ponies pulled the three carts that they had, which were loaded to the brim with boxes and gems. If we ever made it back to civilization they would probably make a small fortune off of this trip. They gently placed the unconscious stallion into the back of one of the carts before hitching themselves up so that they could move out. Since I didn’t feel much like walking I also jumped into the back of one of the carts and unstrapped all of the vials that I had around me before lying down. It seemed like my throwing arm hadn’t gotten any better with this new body so they would probably be completely useless for me. I put my head between my paws and tried to get to sleep as the ponies pulling the cart along the dirt path. If I had to stick around then I might as well get a ride while I did so.
DreamingI stood over the squirming diamond dog with my boot pressed to his throat. Though he was almost an entire foot taller than me he was still unable to move out from under me; his fear leaving him completely paralyzed. Tears began to stream down his face as I continued to apply pressure. The dark space around me whispered encouragements as I slowly stole the life of the dog beneath my heel. His lips moved in words of pleading, but he was unable to make anything audible escape his throat except a whining choking sound. I reveled in the power I held over him as I increased the weight on my foot. I felt his trachea begin to shudder as it tried to absorb the force pressing down on it before suddenly snapping. I removed my foot and took a couple of steps back and watched the dog thrash around trying to pull oxygen into his lungs. His flailing was in vain and no life giving air could make it down his shattered throat and save his miserable existence. I smiled as he wheezed and his face began to turn a comical blue. The veins in his eyes bulged and burst as he strained to take even a single pained breath. It didn’t take long before his flailing calmed and he laid motionless on the dark surface that served as the ground, becoming still. My grin threatened to split my face as I watched the last moments of this murderer's life slip from him and float into oblivion. I didn’t know if he even had a soul, but if he did I prayed that it would find its way to hell so it could burn in fire for the rest of eternity. “It feels good to triumph over your enemies,” A voice spoke behind me, causing me to turn immediately. Before me stood the beautiful woman that had prompted my journey to Equestria not a day ago. “You!” I seethed. “You should not be so hostile towards me, Maximilian.” She continued to walk forward until she stood but two feet away. “You ruined my life.” I spat at her feet, but the gesture roused no emotion from her. “I offered you a choice and you took it. Now you must listen for there is not much time. The veil between our worlds can only be open for a short period.” “Speak your piece then.” I folded my arms and took a step away. Though I despised her for what she had done, I didn’t exactly want to push my luck too hard with her. If she had been able to send me across universes then she could probably squash me like a bug. “I may have not been very upfront with you when we first met, and for that you are owed and explanation. You have been placed into a game between the immortal and powerful for stakes higher than you can imagine. Now that you are in the game there is only one way out, and I do not believe that you wish to journey down that path.” It was pretty evident what she was hinting at. “So basically you and some other people got together and decided to toy with some mortals like myself. Who exactly are you anyway?” “I have been known by many names but you may call me Victoria. I am your sponsor in this game, and you are to be my champion. Together we shall reign victorious over all others.” A fire ignited in her eyes and she showed me a genuine smile. “Wait,” my mind reeled back to the history classes I had half slept through, “do you mean Victoria as in the roman goddess?” “The one and the same. We do not have time to discuss such things now, as time is short. If you ever wish to return to your home, and be out of this game then you must win it. Victory in this competition will bring about spoils unimaginable.” “Fine, okay lets say that I accept everything you just said.” “You should I wouldnt lie to you,” she quickly added. “That’s not the point. I am still debating whether or not I have had some mental break, but lets put all of that shit aside for a moment. I really only have one big question that needs answering at the moment. Why the hell did you make me a chick?” Above everything else I felt this needed answering. She laughed to herself. She actually laughed! “You will thank me for that later.” “I highly doubt it,” I deadpanned. “Believe what you will, but it is the truth. It seems that our time has run out and I must leave. Good luck my champion, may your efforts bear fruit.” She began to step away, and quickly vanished into the blackness of the world that surrounded us. I tried to take off after her, but found that my feet were glued to the ground. “Wait! How am I supposed to win this game if I do not even know the rules,” I called after her, but the darkness had already consumed her. “How does anyone defeat another in a battle?” the voice echoed around me. “By destroying their opponent’s forces.” I sprung to my feet and almost tumbled right off of the back of the cart. I looked around frantically trying to get my bearings and noticed a couple of ponies staring back at me. We were still traveling along the winding path through the mountains, and if the sky was anything to go by, the sun was just beginning to set. I must have dozed off during my ride in the back of the cart. I sighed and settled back onto my stomach as the wagon continued its slow pace along the downward slope. After glancing ahead I could determine that we were not too far from reaching the end of the mountain range. It had taken a good portion of the day to pass through, most of which I had spent sleeping, but it seemed we would pass the border into Equestria in a few hours. I sighed and began to turn my thoughts inward. I was still very disturbed by the dream that had shaken me awake. Was that really something that had happened or had I imagined the entire conversation? It had felt real or at least as real as the last time I had seen her in a dream. It was probably safe to assume that it was actually her. Was her claim of godhood really true though? She had claimed to be the roman god of victory, and if I were to believe that then how could I deny her other assertions. She said that many immortals like herself were playing a game, and that I was to be her champion in this game. Did that mean that there were other humans here in Equestria all competing for some prize that I had no knowledge of? Was this Equestria just one giant staging ground for this game? I had knowledge of this world from the show, but it was very limited. To my knowledge of canon only three gods existed within Equestria itself, and potentially more outside of its borders. The two pony princesses that ruled the land could be considered gods themselves seeing as how they were able to manipulate cosmic entities on a daily basis. Discord could also be considered near omnipotent with how much his chaos magic had changed the world, and even caused the sun and moon to cycle at random. If each of these gods had their own champion in this game then I was easily out of my depth. One thing that she had said was bothering me the most though. “How does anyone defeat another in battle? By destroying their forces.” Does that mean that Victoria wanted me to kill the other champions in this game? Does that mean that they will be trying to kill me? Was that the goal of this game? I sighed once more and buried my face in my paws, I simply lacked enough information to draw a conclusion at this point, but it would probably be wise to be cautious. I needed to keep my identity as a human hidden at all costs. If anyone found out then it would potentially be the end of me. The simple act of burying my face in my very soft and furry paws prompted an entirely different train of thought to leap out at me. Why was I a big female fox? Why wasn’t I in my natural human form in the first place? If I had to be changed into something else to be in Equestria, which would be the only logical explanation, then why was I in this form? Had Victoria decided this form for me when she cast me into Equestria with no knowledge, and if so why this one? If she wanted me to defeat the other champions in order to win this game then why did she give me a form that couldn’t even use any weapons? Would it not have been wiser to simply make me a massive dragon that could easily eat all others? Hell, anything with wings would probably hold an advantage in combat. Being a fox did seem to carry with it certain advantages though. For one thing I was intimidating, at least to ponies if all of the looks they were chancing at me were anything to go by. It made sense that they would be wary of a carnivore that was at least as big if not bigger than they were. I still needed to figure out if I could actually eat anything other than meat. In this form it seemed like I was much more agile than I had been as a human. Not being a big lumbering oaf was still something I needed to get used to, and it would probably take a very long time. A big downside was the lack of fingers; I could still pick up things with these clumsy paws, but most if not all of my dexterity was lost. I probably wouldn’t be able to do any sort of painting with them. The last thing however was truly bugging me, and no matter how long I thought on it I doubted I would be able to get over it. Why was I a girl? I could rationalize everything else, but this genderswap I just could not wrap my head around. If she had been the one to choose my form while sending me here then why would she do this to me? Tears threatened roll down my face, but I was able to blink them back. A hysterical woman breaking down in front of a group of traders wasn’t very inconspicuous, and that was what I was trying to be at the moment. I decided to stop bemoaning my fate since it wouldn’t help me in the least, and turn my mind to a more constructive task. What had caused that time stop I had experienced while fighting the snake? I still could not figure out exactly what had happened; one minute the massive creature was bearing down on me, and the next everything had just stopped in place. Was Victoria responsible for this or had it been something else? Could I have possibly been the origin of this strange phenomenon? It seemed likely, almost certain, that I was somehow at the epicenter of whatever had happened since it hadn’t affected me. That is until I had tried to move at least. My chest was still aching from whatever had happened, and I knew that I needed to figure out whatever had happened as soon as possible. I would need to spend the rest of tonight trying to figure it out. The sky was completely black now after the sun had dropped below the horizon, and several stars had started to make their appearances. I always did love the night sky more than the day. The day was important for life to flourish, and therefore often revered over its counterpart, but the night was when the heavens lit up with beauty. It wasn’t a necessary thing that kept the unthinking creatures on the ground scuttling about, but it was important for any who looked to the sky and were capable of awe. It gave inspiration to poets and painters alike, and allowed them to express their desires and that of their entire race with their pen or brush. It gave the depressed and lonely something to look to, and brought lovers together. The night was something that defied necessity in favor or desire, and in doing so made itself necessary. Life without beauty is no life worth living. I jumped down from the cart and easily landed on my paws already in a trot to keep up with the vehicle. I quickly made my way to the head of the procession where my young earth pony companion was chatting up one of the mares. I did a quick scan and noticed that there only seemed to be two stallions left among the traders. Maybe mares really did outnumber the other sex by a large margin. “What are you two talking about?” I asked as I walked up to them. “I was just telling Light Gale here about our run in with the diamond dogs,” Deciduous answered as he motioned to the mare the he was walking alongside. It seemed that he had taken the initiative, and hooked himself up to the lead cart so that he could give the mare a break. “You haven’t told her anything bad about me I hope.” I shot him a glare while making sure that the mare next to him wouldn’t catch it. “Nothing you have to worry about I assure you,” Light Gale added with a smile; speaking for the earth pony that was looking down in shame. “He just told me that you saved him from being forced into slavery. That was really kind of you.” She turned her smile to me, and I awkwardly returned the gesture. Did she not care exactly how I had managed to help him out? “Well that’s good.” I let myself relax a little. “Sorry about taking a nap while everypony was pulling carts all day. I was just a little wiped out from everything that has happened the past couple of days.” “Don’t worry about it, dear. We saw you try to fight off that snake, and even though it was that pegasus that ultimately stopped it we still owe you a debt of gratitude.” I studied her for a moment. She was a light beige color, and had a scraggly blonde mane. She was one of the pegasi that had been flying around trying to distract the snake so that the others could get at it with their spears. I immediately found myself liking her; even though it was mostly due to the praise she was giving me. I was very susceptible to flattery. “Shouldn’t we be making camp soon?” I asked. “We will be settling down to camp as soon as we clear the pass. The mountain pass is by far the most dangerous part of the journey because of all the snakes that like to prey on caravans passing through. Once we clear the path we will all hunker down, and get a good nights rest.” She looked between the stallion that was lying unconscious in the cart Deciduous was pulling, and the one pulling the cart behind us with tear stains on his face. “Some of us really need it.” “Speaking of rest,” I turned my attention to the kid pulling the cart, “shouldn’t you take a break? If I’m right then you have been up for nearly a day now, and should not be operating heavy machinery.” “I’m fine,” he said, but speaking caused him to let out a yawn. “Sure you are.” I unstrapped the harness he was wearing and lifted it off of him, causing him to fall forward momentarily before catching himself. I practically shoved him out of the way and pushed him over to the side of the cart. “Why don’t you relax and take a ride in one of the carts with our stuff. I got this.” I started to strap myself into the cart, and found it rather easy. In less than a minute I was pulling the vehicle behind me with hardly any strain. The mare next to me stared at me for a couple of seconds before she started to walk again and quickly caught up. “You are pretty strong for something so thin. Pretty strong for anypony with your figure.” She seemed genuinely impressed. “What do you mean by that?” “I didn’t mean any offense. It’s just that you don’t look like you are very built for strenuous activity. This cart has to be heavy, and I don’t want you straining yourself unnecessarily.” “Looks can be deceiving,” I replied before beginning to pull the cart again. “Don’t I know it, sister.” I winced, but didn’t think that she caught it. “Tell me Light Gale, where did you get all of these gems. I hope you didn’t buy them off of any slave trading diamond dogs.” I allowed my tone to become harsh as I said the last bit. “Of course not!” she seemed shocked that I would even think such a thing. “There is a small pony settlement that digs for gems to send back to Equestria. The settlement is very well defended, but it is so far out there that not many ponies are willing to make the trip out for the gems. I guess they just don’t see the point when you can just gems from one of the trading companies much cheaper.” “I doubt that a corporation would have the moral backbone to not trade with slavers. Buying from them would simply make sure that the cycle continues.” If there was anything that humans did it was make the same mistake over and over until eventually everyone knew what not to do. It had taken us centuries to figure out how terrible slavery was and some places of the globe were still trying to grasp the concept. “I know.” She looked down at her hooves depressed; apparently this was a sore subject for her. “Which is why it’s so important that ponies make the trip out to secure new trade lines. If no pony does then this will never stop.” “Trying to save the world one caravan at a time.” I smiled at her, not enough to show my teeth, and she smiled back. “You are alright in my book, Gale.” “I think you are a decent mare too, Vixen, even if you aren’t actually a mare.” She laughed a bit, and I found myself chuckling lightly as well. “If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing out in the badlands in the first place?” I hadn’t really given much thought to any back-story. Looked like I would have to improvise. “I’m an artist,” I said simply. “I travel the world looking for new things to see so that I can show them to everypony else across the world. When those diamond dogs grabbed me they wrecked all of my equipment, essentially leaving me destitute.” It sounded plausible to me, and if the tears welling in Gale’s eyes were anything to go by, she bought it too. “That is terrible. What will you do now?” “Well first I’m going to make sure that the kid gets back home safely. Apparently he is all the way from Las Pegasus so it will take some time. After that I don’t really know,” I answered truthfully. “We could always use another hoof to help out here if you are looking for work. From what I have seen, we could really use your help to protect the caravans. It is kind of strange to see an artist that is capable of fighting a giant snake.” “When you are on your own as long as I have been then you pick some things up. I do appreciate the offer, but I will probably find something else to do.” Did she find my defeat impressive? I had barely scratched the thing before it took me down. “To each their own I suppose.” After that we just walked in silence until we reached the end of the mountain path. Two giant pillars of stone loomed before us with a large archway in between them. I was pulling the lead cart so I was first across the threshold and into Equestria, and as soon as we passed the border a chill ran down my spine. It was hard to describe but the closest thing would be to compare it to a warning. It was almost as if Celestia was staring down at me, daring me to try and do something wrong. “Home sweet home,” Gale said with a sigh. “Why don’t you steer us to that clearing just off the road there.” She pointed to large circle of dirt alongside the road where all the grass had been trampled. I turned the cart and angled it towards the clearing that she had pointed out. I circled the perimeter to allow the other carts to fall in line behind me before stopping and unhooking myself. The ponies didn't waste any time as they started to set a fire and lay out sleeping mats. Gale came up to me with a blanket probably to offer it to me as a place to sleep. “Don’t worry about me,” I said waving her off. “I had plenty of sleep on the way here. I think I will just stay up and keep watch.” She nodded and returned to the others who were bedding down in the middle of the clearing. I quickly walked to where Deciduous was soundly sleeping in the third wagon, and silently grabbed my vials of chemicals. If I was going to keep watch over these ponies then I was going to at least look the part. I strapped the vials on and walked back to the middle of the clearing where everypony was hunkered down around a small fire. I would need to wait until everypony was asleep to make my next move.
NightThe bottle fell out of my paw and onto the soft grass below me as I swore. No matter how hard I tried I was simply unable to get a good grip on the damn thing. I had tried to palm the vial as I used to be able to do with a basketball, but my soft pads simply lacked the amount of friction I needed in order to keep the glass in my grip. I had started earlier by finding rocks that were similar weight to the glass vials that I carried around me and throwing them at a tree. Some of the smaller ones I had been able to toss semi-accurately, but the bigger ones I was unable to get a grip on and would go flying off wildly. Out of the dozens of rocks that I had managed to throw at the tree only four actually hit it. I picked up the vial of knockout gas that had landed in the grass and tried to hold it out again. This time I tried grabbing it by the neck with my paw, but still I couldn’t get a good grip. I don’t know how those Diamond Dogs had been able to throw these at all when they also had paws. Maybe it was because they were bigger than I was? A grunt of frustration escaped me as I threw the bottle at the tree only for it to bounce off the leaves that adorned it and fall into the grass once again. Sighing, I quickly walked over to where it had fallen to retrieve it. I wasn’t able to get a good grip on any of these so if I was going to use their contents I would need to change what they were stored in. The grass gave little protest as I unstrapped the rest of the vials from around me and tossed them down. I unsheathed Deci’s sword that I had brought with me and tried to hold it like I would have if I still had fingers. This was a little easier than the glass bottles, but still very unreliable. The blade shuddered in my grasp as I tried to swing it at the tree. I finally landed a blow on the bark of the tree, but the blade fumbled out of my grasp when it touched the trunk. I almost sliced my paw off as it tumbled to the ground and rolled for a moment before coming to a standstill. This seemed to be another weapon that I would have no use for. Leaving the sword where it lay I took out my last hope for a weapon that I had. I hadn’t taken the time to admire the small dagger that I had scavenged from one of the dog’s bags, but it was very nice. It had a long curved blade that was serrated near the tip. The handle seemed to be made of mixture of gold and silver, and was embedded with several emeralds that gave the dagger a light green hue. It didn’t look like the weapon was actually meant for combat, but was maybe more of a ceremonial piece. No matter what it was originally intended for the blade was wicked sharp. I gave up on trying to hold anything with my paws, and grabbed the handle with my mouth so that the blade was sticking out of the right side of my mouth. It felt insanely uncomfortable to have something this sharp so close to my face, and it tasted terrible, but at least I was able to get a good grip on it. I jerked my head at the tree and scored a long gouge into the bark. The dagger threatened to wrench out of my grasp as I brought it across the bark. It seemed that canines weren’t very good for holding anything metal with. I spat the dagger out next to the sword and cried out in frustration. There had to be something out there that I could use effectively. Why hadn’t I found any guns? I knew how to shoot guns. It seemed I wasn’t going to get any use out of anything that I had with me so I decided to fall back to an old classic. I brought up my paw once more before my eyes and studied the claws that hung off each of my fingertips. During the fight with the snake I had managed to actually cut through its scales with my claws, and it looked like that was all I was going to have in the way of weaponry. Shrugging, I raked the tree with as fierce a swipe as I could. To my shock my claws actually dug into the bark very far before coming back out with little to no resistance. It was hard to really see in the darkness, but it looked like a bear had just mauled this tree. I allowed a small smile to grace my lips as I took another swing. Again the tree completely yielded as I sliced through it with ease. I wouldn’t even need a blade if I had four wickedly sharp ones attached to each of my paws all the time. Why had it taken me so long to realize what I could do with these? I began laughing as I landed blow after blow on the poor defenseless tree. This was amazing if I had known I could do this then I would have never been captured by those Diamond Dogs in the first place. If I had known this then I would have just taken them all down with ease before they knew what hit them. I stopped short as the image of murdering three sentient beings with such ease flashed before my eyes. I quickly shook it away, not willing to deal with those feelings right now; I had things that I needed to do at the moment. I picked up a large branch and bit down on it hard in order to test my new jaw power and was surprised by how easily it snapped in half. After spitting out the bits of wood that had found their way around my mouth I decided that I had enough natural weaponry to last me for the time being. There was something else that I had been putting off that I needed to look into. What exactly had happened during my fight with the snake. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like whatever had caused that time stop had been me. What else could it have been if it left me unaffected like it had. How did I do it though? Did this new body have some form of magic that I didn’t know about? The only thing I could think of was that it had been some sort of fear response triggered by the adrenaline that was coursing through me, and the danger of the moment. I would have to try and recreate this if I was going to replicate whatever had happened. I began by trying to get my heart rate up, which I accomplished by taking short shallow breaths. I continued to breath like this for several moments, and soon found myself getting lightheaded. I looked at everything around me as I tried to get my mind off of what I was attempting to do so that it could come more naturally. I was just at the edge of the tall grass that surrounded the clearing where everypony was camped. They were spread out around in small groups around the roaring fire that was in the middle of the clearing offering them both warmth and protection from the dark. More than one of them could be found snuggled up next to another pony in their bedroll. My materials were spread out below and to the side of me where I had thrown them when I was done with them. The full moon overhead shone down on everything, illuminating my nighttime activities with a soft warmth. The tree in front of me that was just on the edge of the clearing bore several claw marks where I had a little too zealously tore into it. The grass beyond the tree swayed in the soft breeze that filled the night. It was almost hypnotic as it moved back and forth with no will of its own. I continued my shallow breathing as I watched the long blades flow back and forth, becoming slower the more that the wind slowed down. I had to blink as my lightheadedness started to catch up to me, but the slowing beat of the grass kept my attention, and allowed me to continue. Suddenly, the grass and the air that was coming in and out of my lungs stopped moving altogether. I couldn’t breath, but I wasn’t scared by this discovery; it felt exactly like it had when time had stopped before. I looked around and spotted a single leaf that had paused in its fall, which confirmed that the forward march of time had ceased. Something inside of me felt different. I couldn't get my mind off of the image of a swirling blue ball of energy, and I could feel it beating in my chest. The sphere pulsed in time with my own heart, which was beating very slowly despite how fast it had been racing just moments before. I swear I could almost reach out and touch the blue energy but it would move away from me; the same way one would reach towards a beam of light only to be unable to pin it down and cast a shadow instead. Though I couldn't actually grasp the thing I knew it was there. This was the source of whatever was happening, and it was inside of me. I smiled at having completed the task I had set, and hesitantly tried to take a step forwards. Once more the pain exploded in my chest causing me to slump over into the grass, and the spell to break. The grass went back to its gentle swaying and the leaf fell to the ground just before my eyes. I panted as I lay in the grass on the edge of the clearing, desperately trying to catch my breath. What the hell was I doing? I had been taken against my will to a place that I had thought nonexistent, and trapped in a body that was so different to my own, yet here I was trying to figure out how to stop time. What was wrong with me! I had murdered someone not even a day ago, and I was occupied on trying to find a way to be even more deadly. My breathing stopped again; not due to some spell, but rather the stark realization of what I had done hitting me for the first time. I had killed someone in cold blood, and I hadn’t even cared at the time. I had fucking eaten them for Christ’s sake. A sob tried to escape my throat, but I choked it back, not willing to cry in front of the ponies asleep behind me. It hurt to move, but I slowly dragged myself to my feet in spite of the pain. My chest felt like someone had set off a small explosive inside of it, and with every breath I took a new wave of pain rolled over me. I was not unaccustomed to pain, but despite my high tolerance I was barely able to make it to the grass before I fell over. I collapsed into the ground and buried my face in my paws as I started to cry. I hated to feel guilty; it is the one emotion that we are capable of that holds absolutely no value. To feel guilty is to feel pity for oneself, and that never solves anything. I continued to cry for some time, but made sure that my sobs were silent so as to not wake anypony in camp. The night air was cool around me, and the crickets played their soft melancholy tunes. The tall grass itched where it poked my skin at sharp angles, but no matter how I adjusted I was unable to find a comfortable position. The earth beneath me, which held a consistency between mud and dirt, clung to my coat and sapped the heat from my body. I allowed myself to vent for some time before I was able to regain control of my emotions. I hadn’t cried like that for years, not since I was a pre-adolescent child. Was this new body affecting my ability to control myself? Was my mind being changed along with the rest of me? I pushed away the depressing thoughts that would get me nowhere. Instead, I looked up to the night sky that didn’t care for my transgressions. The puny problems of one mortal were not enough to blemish the majesty that the stars held over the world. I felt myself begin to calm as I studied the heavens and took note of the differences between the two worlds I had gazed at them from. The amount of stars that shone down on me were infinitely greater in number than what we could see from Earth. That could probably be attributed to there also being an actual goddess of the night to look after them. I wondered if I prayed to the heavens would Luna hear me. I decided to not test the theory for fear of what she would do if she found me. I picked myself up off the damp ground still aching all over, and shook to relieve myself of any mud that had stuck to my underbelly. The shaking did little to help so I walked back to camp in search of water to clean myself with. I made my way to the nearest cart, and after prying open a couple of lids, found some water and rags that I could use. Holding the now wet rags in my grasp I proceeded to scrub off any foreign substances that clung to my bright white coat. I realized that I hadn’t bothered to clean out the multiple wounds I had attained during my fight with the snake so I went about making sure that none of them would get infected. I then removed and water that might have lingered on me until my coat was pristine. I tossed away any of the rags with blood on them into the grass, went about picking up all of the weapons I had left in the grass. I did a quick scan of the camp, and was happy to see that none of the ponies had woken up during the entire ordeal. Tossing the rest of the materials into the back of the cart I quickly walked over to the middle of camp where the fire was just now dying. I grabbed a few logs that were stacked nearby and tossed them on the fire to keep it alive. I felt emotionally drained, and was soon just sitting on the warm ground staring into the depths of the fire. For some reason a song began to escape my lips. I've been believing in something so distant As if I was human And I've been denying this feeling of hopelessness In me, in me All the promises I made Just to let you down You believed in me, but I'm broken I have nothing left And all I feel is this cruel wanting We've been falling for all this time And now I'm lost in paradise As much as I'd like the past not to exist It still does And as much as I'd like to feel like I belong here I'm just as scared as you I have nothing left And all I feel is this cruel wanting We've been falling for all this time And now I'm lost in paradise Run away, run away One day we won't feel this pain anymore Take it all away Shadows of you Cause they won't let me go Until I have nothing left And all I feel is this cruel wanting We've been falling for all this time And now I'm lost in paradise Alone, and lost in paradise “That was beautiful.” A voice coming from behind me made me recoil and nearly fall over. “Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Out of the darkness I saw Light Gale emerge into the light of the campfire. “Pfft you didn’t scare me,” I said as I picked myself up. Light Gale just gave me a knowing smile before walking over and sitting next to the fire with me. “Right.” I sighed, realizing that I had been caught. “So how much did you hear?” “Not all of it I think. It was really a beautiful song though, sad, but beautiful.” We gazed into the fire for a while just watching the embers dance in their chaotic fashion. “Do you really feel like that?” she asked after a few minutes. “I guess I do.” I let my head hang for a moment. “What is the matter? Nopony should have to feel so alone.” I looked back up to her smiling face, and wondered if all ponies were this nice. “I am stranded so far away from home with essentially no hope of returning, and I am all on my own. The only things that I have to my name are what I managed to loot of the corpse of a diamond dog that tried to make me his sex slave, and the few bits I managed to get for taking this guard job. That was probably a mistake on your friend’s part by the way. “On top of all that I feel like I am losing myself, and I don’t know what is going to happen to me in the future. Sometimes it all just feels like too much. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you up or dump all this on you. I will let you get back to sleep.” I got up to leave, but found a hoof holding me back. I looked back to the pegasus who had still not dropped her warm smile. “I won't pretend to know what you are going through Vixen, but you aren’t alone here. From the way Deciduous talked about you earlier I think that he really looks up to you. You even agreed to take him all the way back to Las Pegasus out of the kindness of your heart. “I don’t know why you can’t go home, but you can always find a new one. Home is the place where our friends and family are, and if you can’t return to one then all you need to do is make a new one. As for what the future holds, none of us can know that for certain. This way you are feeling now could just be a dark tunnel you are traveling down, and soon you will make a turn and see the most brilliant light ever. All you need to do is not give up hope.” Before I knew it she had pulled me down to her and swept me up in a hug. Her wings wrapped around me protectively, and I allowed myself to be pulled into the warm embrace. I felt new tears trying to escape my eyes, but I fought them back with a new determination. I would not cry again; not here. “Thank you, Gale. I think really I needed that.” I whispered as I buried my face in her chest. She didn’t reply she just merely held me until I was ready to break the embrace. I am not sure how long we stayed like that, but when I finally pulled away from her I could see the sun beginning to break over the horizon.
PlansI looked back at Gale as I gently pushed myself away from her. She was sleeping soundly with her wings and hooves still wrapped around me, which caused a small smile to grace my lips. Ever so carefully, I set her down on the ground, and did my best not to wake her up as I stood up. I looked back towards the horizon and noted that the sun would take a few more minutes to come into view. The fire was nothing more than embers, and a few wisps of smoke continued to snake through the air above the hearth. The grass below my paws was chill with morning dew as I trudged through it with only small crunching sounds to mark my exit. When I reached the cart where my belongings were stashed I noticed that Deciduous was still curled up in the back of the cart sleeping soundly. Silent as a cat, I moved around him and I walked away and grabbed our supplies that I had left spread out in the grass. I set the items in the back of the cart next to my slumbering companion and quickly walked away. I took the dagger with me since I wanted to see what I could barter it for. Looking up I was unable to spot any clouds overhead, which dampened my mood somewhat, but I quickly renewed my enthusiasm at greeting the new day. I walked back to the center of camp and saw many ponies sluggishly moving around in the early morning light. I guessed that they preferred to move from dawn to dusk in order to cover as much ground as possible. I also heard Deciduous begin to stir behind me as I walked over to the pony that had hired us for this small journey. “Hello,” I greeted as I approached her. She slowly looked up from the bedroll she was rolling up. “Hello yourself,” she replied with a friendly smile. “Sorry if I came off a bit mean yesterday. It has just been a stressful couple of days, and I was feeling a bit worn out. Let’s start over again shall we. Hello my name is Vixen and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” I offered her my paw, which she eagerly took. “Think nothing of it. Name’s Copper Bit by the way.” “Nice to meet you, Copper. Now I couldn’t help but notice that this little caravan is made up of traders.” “Naturally.” “With that in mind I was hoping to purchase some necessities from you fine folk.” I could be nice when I wanted, or when I was trying to coerce someone. “What are you looking for?” She inclined her head. “If it wouldn’t be any more trouble could I see about purchasing a set of saddlebags?” “Well I think we may have something for you if you follow me this way.” After motioning with a hoof she started walking to the only cart that didn't have a pony sleeping in it, and I quickly followed. I could see before we even got there that the cart had almost twice as many boxes as the others. Copper Bit jumped into the back of the cart, and began to go through the various boxes. It took a moment before I saw her head pop up over the crates. “We have several different high saddlebags that we picked up from a caravan coming from the Zebra Isles. What color would you prefer?” “Well, What other colors do you have?” “Just name it, we have just about everything,” she replied as she went back to looking through the boxes. I thought a moment before replying. “Do you have anything in white?” “Sure we do.” I heard her pry off a lid and rustle through another bin before tossing a pair of saddlebags to the back of the cart. The saddlebags were a very pearly white with what looked to be ivory buckles. The actual bags seemed to be made out of some faux leather and had Celestia’s cutie mark emblazoned on them. “That will be fifty bits,” Copper Bit informed me before I could get them a few inches off the cart. I immediately turned and began to scan camp until my eyes landed on a sleepy earth pony. “Deciduous!” I called. Slowly, he began to pad over to where we stood and looked up at me with weary eyes. “What?” “Haggle with the kind salespony won't you?” Before he could reply I was already walking away from the two, and to the cart where our belongings were. The last time I had tried to haggle with that particular mare I was pretty sure that I had been ripped off, and I wasn’t about to let her do it again. Deciduous had a much better chance of getting a good deal since he actually had an idea of how much currency was worth here. I looked once more to the horizon to see the light starting to spread in the sky, and figured that I had a few more minutes before the first rays of the sun would strike me. I started to buckle my new saddlebags into place to see if they would need any adjustments to fit, and luckily they fit like a glove. I opened the bag that I had looted from Raq and to put everything into my new shiny saddlebags. Once I had finished I stopped for a moment to look back at myself. The saddlebags somehow managed to hold everything that I had in the bag I was carrying around previously including the bag itself. The weight of the various gems I was carrying didn’t seem to affect me in the least so after making sure that everything was snug, and in its own place I took off once more to where I had left me green companion. Reveling in the fact that I was now clean and had a shiny new pair of saddlebags I hurriedly padded over to Copper and Deciduous who it appeared had just finished their argument over bits. “So what do I owe you?” I asked when I was finally standing before the two. “Twenty-five bits,” they said in unison, and I had to stop myself from giggling. I really didn’t want to lose any more man points for giggling. I felt around in my saddlebags for a moment for the bits, and after a minute was able to locate them somehow. There was so much stuff in my bag that it was going to take me forever to look through it from now on. ”Now that my buying is done would you happen to be in the buying market for rare items?” I didn’t actually know if the knife I had was rare, but it looked pretty expensive to me. “Depends on what it is honestly,” Copper replied shrugging. Once again it took me a moment to locate the dagger that was buried under all of my random stuff. Eventually, I pulled out the dagger and showed it to her, but I couldn’t really judge her reaction. At first she seemed shocked that I was brandishing a weapon, but the fear quickly passed and gave way to curiosity. She motioned for me to pass the dagger to her and I did gladly. “This is really impressive,” she told me as she examined it closely. “How impressive exactly?” “It is expertly made, and would fetch a great sum to a collector. I myself am not a collector of weapons so you won't be getting its full worth from me.” It was amazing that she was so honest. “Well how much will you give me for it?” She continued to study it for a long moment before answering. “I can go as high as five hundred bits for this particular item. Like I said you can probably get a better deal from a collector.” She tried handing the dagger back to me, but I waved her off. “You are a gem trader though aren’t you?” I said. I needed to unload all of these gems that I had hidden away in my saddlebags. “Why do you have any to trade?” That seemed to perk her interest. “As a matter of fact I-“ I was cut off by Deciduous putting his hoof in my mouth. I know that it is really funny in the show and all, but it tastes terrible. He was very fortunate that I didn’t dislike him or I would have bitten down, hard. “Can I talk to you for a second?” It wasn’t so much a question as a demand, and he was quickly walking away to somewhere more secluded. He walked to the edge of the clearing near the tree I had been practicing on the night before. I wasn’t about to just let him get away with being so bossy so I walked over to where he was waiting ready to give him a piece of my mind. Unfortunately, he cut me off once again before I could get a word in edgewise. “What are you trying to do?” “I am trying to unload all of these gems we got of course,” I replied motioning to the saddlebags I was now wearing. I had almost forgotten that I had nabbed the gems before he had the chance to get a good look at them. I opened the bag and allowed him to take a good long look at the gems inside. If his face was anything to do by I had a lot of bits worth of gems with me. “You got all of these from the diamond dogs?” he asked, practically drooling. “Yea, why?” “There has to be eight thousand bits worth of gems in these bags.” I swatted away his hoof that was reaching for the gems expectantly. “Is that a lot?” I still didn’t really have a handle on how much a bit was. “Is that a lot!” he exclaimed, “You could buy a house with that much.” Oh finally a frame of reference. Where I came from the housing market was actually doing pretty well, and the average two story ran around 210,000 dollars. 210,000 divided by 8,000 is 26 ¼ meaning that it takes 26.25 bits to make a dollar. Give or take a lot of variables that I hadn’t included, but this was a rough estimate. Wait, that means I bought a pair of saddlebags for two dollars? Yea, all of that calculation was for absolutely nothing. Well now I knew that I had a ton of equity just sitting in my saddlebags and nothing to do with it. The smart thing would have probably been to wait until we arrived at town shop around a bit and find the best dealer to trade with. The fast and easy thing would have been to go ahead and sell these and the dagger to Copper Bit for whatever she was able to get me. I am American, which do you think I went with? I grabbed Deciduous’ bag that he still had for some reason and poured all of the gems into them before shoving it back to him. “Take these and get us a really good deal on them. I am trusting you with a big responsibility here Deci, so don’t let me down.” His face lit up as he nodded eagerly and returned to the mare that was still holding the dagger and waiting patiently for our little sidebar to finish. Deciduous didn’t waste any time in negotiating and the conversation actually became quite heated more than once, but in the end they settled on what seemed to be a fair price. Copper Bit agreed to give us 7,000 bits for the dagger and the gems, and even threw in some basic camping supplies for us since we didn’t really have any aside the flint I got off of Raq. As we were walking back to the cart where I had planned to take a very long and peaceful nap after being up all night a thought struck me. “Hey Deci, where did you learn to haggle so well?” I asked. “My dad owns a lumber company,” he replied after several moments, “he taught me all about negotiating prices and getting the best deal possible.” As I climbed into the back of the cart I thought over what he had said; that was the first time Deciduous had ever really talked about himself. I had still to share anything real with him about my past, but I was probably going to put all of that off indefinitely. We were going to be splitting up in not too long anyways. The day was blissfully uneventful, and I managed to sleep through most of it. We were still trudging along slowly towards our far off destination that we had no sight of, but the road ahead of the ponies pulling the carts was smooth enough to allow the wooden wheels of the carts traction, and didn’t jostle those riding in them too much. I woke up sometime around late afternoon to find that the cart I was sleeping in was inhabited by another pony. Sometime during the day a yellow pegasus mare had curled up in the back of the cart, and was taking a nap. I sat up out of my small fort of boxes that I had used to block any of the sun’s rays that would have would have kept me up if they had been shining in my face the whole time and looked around. As opposed to the landscape we had been traveling through this morning, the scenery was much more lively. Rolling grasslands filled the landscape as far as the eye could see, and with my new eyes that was pretty far. Several groups of small birch trees dotted the ground every couple of hundred feet, and swayed slightly in the nice afternoon breeze. In the distance, nearly a mile away, I could see a couple of large cats lounging under the shade of a tree. Who had known that there were natural predators just hanging around on the outskirts of Equestria? I chanced a momentary look at the sun, and was rewarded with several black spots in my vision. I had been able to deduce just a second before I had been blinded that there was likely only one or two hours left of daylight, which left me with nothing to do, but think for a while longer. I sighed and settled back into my small alcove of crates, and desperately tried to find something to ponder that would keep me occupied until nightfall. Thinking critically was an easy way to waste time, but it was often much better to have a partner to bounce ideas off of if you wanted to truly get anywhere. It was such times as this that I found myself carrying conversations with an imaginary representation of myself just to get anywhere down a certain path of logic; a tool that I had decided to employ now. “What do we really know about this world?” “We can be pretty sure that this is Equestria, and until proven otherwise we can also assume that this is a different dimension,” I answered. “Of course, but what I was getting at is what do we *know** about this world. Do you think that events here unfolded as they did in the show?”* “A valid point. I would pose a counter question, why do you think that Victoria would send us, a brony, to Equestria if it did not follow the same rules and timeline as the show. She would be much better served sending someone with some actual survival training into this environment. Therefore, I think we should conclude that the timeline would be the same up to a certain point.” “Perhaps it is the knowledge of canon that would give us a true advantage here. However, we have no idea about where exactly we are in the timeline. That is something we need to figure out.” “I will concede that.” I stood up and looked around for a pony that didn’t seem to be doing anything. “You there,” I called to her and she quickly looked over, “what do you know of Discord or Nightmare Moon?” “I heard that Discord turned an entire city upside down.” She answered immediately. “As for Nightmare Moon, are you talking about the monster that they talk about to scare children during Nightmare Night?” “Don’t worry about it. Will you tell me what feelings you have if any in regards to changelings?” “In regards to what?” She just looked at me confused for a moment before shaking her head and going back to what she was doing. I think I heard her grumble something under her breath along the lines of, “crazy fox monster thing.” “Well that seems to answer that,” I thought as I engaged once again in my imaginary debate. “I agree, it seems that we are somewhere between the release of Discord and the attack during the royal wedding. I wonder why she didn’t know anything about Nightmare Moon though.” “Celestia probably covered up the incident during the Summer Sun Celebration so that Luna didn’t get any bad press, but forget about that for a moment. If we have arrived in this world before the attack on Canterlot then we can warn the princesses about it, and probably get some huge reward.” “Yes, because that went so well for Twilight didn’t it. Some random fox running into the middle of the castle screaming that Cadence is actually a changeling. If they do even take long enough to listen they will no doubt be fearful of our carnivorous nature, and kick us out on principal. Aside that they might find out that we are actually human, and if our theory about Celestia and Luna being in this game also is correct then that could be the end of us right there.” There were a lot of cons to that plan it seemed. “Perhaps we can send a letter to warn them?” “I don’t see why not.” “Actually that might be a bad idea,”[/i] a third voice interrupted. Now the discussion was getting really heated. “Why would it be a bad idea to warn them,” “If we were to warn them that changelings were going to attack during the royal wedding then we would likely cause events to change. We know that they are able to beat back the changeling threat on their own, and we wouldn’t want to stop that.” “What if we did?” *“Why would we want to? I don’t see any way that could be beneficial to us. The entire idea of changelings taking over Equestria was dumb in and of itself. A changeling occupation would eventually be beaten back by sheer numbers and rebellion. If the ponies threw off the shackles of their conquerors how kindly do you think they would look on another creature that eats ponies. We would do well to not get in the way of Equestria’s triumph over Chrysalis,” I shot back at the second voice.* “We don’t eat ponies!” “That isn’t the point.” “Maybe it opens an opportunity though.” “Care to explain?” “We know the day that all of this chaos is going to ensue in Canterlot. We know that the ponies are going to triumph, and we even know that they don’t even need the Elements of Harmony to do so. What if, during the massive hysteria of that day we stole the Elements of Harmony?” “That could be lucrative,” “I don’t think that any amount of ransom money we would be able to get would be worth the wrath that the princesses would bring down on us. The elements are essentially the most powerful magic weapon that Equestria has, and we wouldn’t even be able to use them. There would be no reason to risk ourself to steal an artifact that we can’t even use.” “Okay scratch that idea then. What if we used the chaos to make off with some artifacts that we were able to use? I am sure that the princess has acquired many magical items over her thousand-year rule. Just think about what we could do with all of them?” “That plan has merit,”* I admitted, *“and it is unlikely that any of the guards would be worrying about one unusual creature while changelings are running around everywhere.” “We could also hit the treasury,” “There is one huge problem with this plan though.” “What?” *“How are we going to fight through a horde of changelings during the middle of the wedding?” The question struck the other two selves silent, and made the third one leave altogether.* “That is a good point.” “Isn’t it?” “Okay, well I have noticed that we actually have some pretty impressive magic. The ability to stop time is extremely useful all we need to do is figure out how to use it without almost killing ourself.” “It is true that it saved us during our encounter with the snake, but do you think it could be that useful against an entire army of changelings?.” “It seems that we need to learn some more magic then,” “Would we even be able to? What if our newfound powers only extend as far as stopping time momentarily? We cannot possibly know until we are able to actually find out more about magic in this universe.” “Well the solution is quite simple then isn’t it?” “What would that be?” “We need to visit a library.”
RubytonThe day flew by without much happening. The ponies continued to pull the carts along the road as I took it easy riding in the back with only my thoughts and a sleeping pegasus to keep me company. They did stop once when the stallion that had been lying unconscious in the back of one of the carts finally woke up. He seemed fine though he was still bandaged up and would probably need to be looked at once we got to town. I spent that night keeping watch as I had the night before. Once again nothing eventful befell our small group of travelers as they slept and I tried once again to figure out how my power worked. The only thing I gained from that venture was a sore rib cage that was still paining me somewhat today. It seemed that whatever was happening internally was continuing to persist, and was actually damaging my insides. I resolved that night to hold off on the magic training until I had a better idea of what this pain in my chest was. Around noon the next day the town of Rubyton came into view as we crested a hill. From my seat in the back of the cart I was able to get a really good look at the city. It wasn’t actually big enough to be considered a city; it more reminded me of some kind of port town if anything. Most of the buildings were small houses that looked very much like the houses in Ponyville. Smoke was making its way out of several of the chimneys, giving the whole town a nineteenth century vibe. There was a definite main street that was lined on both sides by an outdoor market and farther down by actual stores. I wasn’t able to actually see from where I looked down on the small town, but I guessed that the large carved out oak tree was some sort of library, which was super original. Off to the right of Main Street smaller stores lined the roads including a bakery, and what was obviously an inn. We would need to stop there as soon as we got into town. Even farther off of Main Street was the residential area where ponies were walking back and forth to and from work. On the other side of Main Street a few restaurants could be seen, and behind that street was a path that led to the train station. One of the trains was pulling in just now, and I noted that it didn’t seem to have any ponies pulling it. At least they fixed that before I came here. The train would likely be our way of getting out of town and I would need to check the times before we got settled, who knew maybe we would be able to catch a train to Las Pegasus today. It took two more hours before we reached the outskirts of town where a couple of guards stopped the caravan to inspect it. I would have thought that any inspections would have taken place at the actual border to Equestria, but apparently since this was the closest city to the border it was good enough, probably a lot less dangerous too. Everything was going fine until the first of the guards reached the cart that I was lazing in and stopped with a look of shock on his face. Out came the spear that he had been carrying and it somehow found its way to be pointed straight in my face. I sighed and lazily turned to look at the guard who was leveling a weapon at me. The first thing I noticed was his lack of wings or horn, and the asymmetric way he wore his armor. I was still a little tired from waking up recently, and I wasn’t feeling so great with the constant ache in my chest. The guard that had his pointy phallic polearm positioned in my periphery was obviously very green. The exasperated guard standing behind him shaking her head about ready to facehoof was a dead giveaway. “What?” I asked in the most bored tone I could muster. Aggression puts people on edge, sadness makes them confused or hesitant, unexplained glee can cause others to be fearful and fearfulness can make others happy, but boredom; boredom shows that you are no threat and they should simply look the other way. “State your name and purpose,” he commanded, moving the spear a little closer to my nose. I batted the thing out of my face like I might a fly and astonishingly he actually lost his grip. Why were his hooves so sweaty? “Vixen, entertainment.” I went turned to study my paw like it was the most interesting thing in the world, which at the moment it actually was. I was still amazed that I could actually pick things up with these soft padded appendages, but since ponies were able to pick things up with hooves who was I to complain. The guard scrambled with his weapon for a moment trying to make sure that it didn’t hit the ground, and after some juggling managed to get it back under control. He put on a scowl that might have actually been scary if it wasn’t on a face almost as young as Deciduous’. How can ponies look scary they are just so darn cute. “Assaulting a guard of her majesty’s royal service is a punishable offence. I will have you…” Finally the other guard, a white unicorn mare decided that it was about time to step in. Now that I thought about it they both had white coats, I wondered if what they said about the special enchantments that the guards have on their armor was true. “Quick Fire, that is enough.” She stood before him and forcibly pushed him away with just her icy gaze. I smiled as the stallion backed away from her fury before she turned to me with a smile of her own. “All non-pony species have to pay a tax before coming into the city. It is twenty bits, and I am sure a mare like you can certainly afford it.” She was eyeing my saddlebags suspiciously. “But I am a pony,” I lied, “ I was cursed by an evil unicorn and forced into a life on the run after my village ran me out.” Sure I had literally thousands of bits with nothing to spend them on, but think of it this way. Would you tell a harmless lie to make a few bucks? I know I would and that was exactly why I turned to it now. “Well that sounds just terrible, but since you aren’t a pony now that will be twenty bits.” She held out her hoof expectantly which I deposited the required amount of bits into, and only called her a Nazi once. I was very proud of myself for that. With that little delay out of the way the caravan continued into town uninterrupted, and soon we found ourselves on Main Street. This was the first time that I had seen a pony settlement up close, and I took in everything. The freshly baked goods in some of the stalls made my mouth water with anticipation. The smell of freshly trodden dirt burned at my nose, and the sound of a hundred conversations going on at once bombarded me from all directions. Feeling no need to really stay with the group now that we had arrived I jumped out of the cart with my saddlebags firmly attached and went to find Deciduous. He of course was pulling one of the carts, and took a while to convince to leave and go with me to the train station. We said our goodbyes and farewells to the group before heading out; hoping that we would be able to get a train to Las Pegasus that day. When we finally arrived at the single booth that constituted a train station in this insanely small town I hurriedly walked to the pony behind the glass shield and inquired about the departures. “Excuse me miss, can you tell me when the next train to Las Pegasus is arriving and departing?” She didn’t even bother to look up from the book she was reading as she replied, “Next train arrives and leaves tomorrow at four.” Damn, it seemed like we were going to have to spend the night in town. At least I would be able to hit up the library while I was here. “Two tickets for that train then please.” I turned to Deciduous and motioned for him to pay to which he merely gave me a glare. I glared back and eventually the battle of wills was decided with me naturally being the victor. He sighed and went to the booth to pay the mare that still had not bothered to look away from her book. We left the small booth and started our way back into town when I nabbed my ticket from Deciduous, and in doing so caused him to stop. “Why did you make me pay? You are literally rich right now,” he said a little too loud. “Will you keep your voice down about that? After paying that racism tax I am not too thrilled about paying for much else, but if you are going to make such a big deal about it then I will pay for our rooms tonight. Does that sound okay to you?” “Fine,” he replied with a huff. “So where are we going now.” I stopped and looked around at the small town that was bustling with afternoon commerce. Ponies were milling about everywhere, and those near us would look my way for a moment before turning away out of fear or shyness. I could see the top of the library over the houses, and thought it would be a good place for me to stop. I was also pretty hungry so we would need to get some food soon. “Why don’t you go and buy us some things to eat while I visit the library,” I said looking back to my companion. “What do you want to eat,” he asked hesitantly. “Some pastries would be nice unless they sell some sort of meat here. After you are done with getting our food meet me at the inn.” Without another word I turned and padded away towards the big carved out tree. I passed several technicolor equines as I approached the store; all of which gave me a wide berth. Was I really so scary? I reached the door of what I had assumed up until this point to be the library and pushed it open without further ado. The inside was actually very different from what I had expected. When walking up to the building I had assumed that it would look exactly like Twilight’s house, but it had a completely different layout. The bookcases stretched out before me in long neat rows with their subjects displayed proudly from a placard atop each. There was a standard librarians desk near the front that was vacant at the moment, and the entire place smelled of old paper. I took a deep inhale admiring the scent before looking around the abandoned building for somepony that could help me locate what I was looking for. After ringing the bell at the front desk repeatedly for a few minutes an elderly unicorn mare with her hair in a classic librarian bun came from the rows of books and approached me. Her mane had grayed with age, and the glasses she wore looked to have three different lenses in them. Her gait was short and slow, and as she approached I was able to make out that her cutie mark was a book and inkwell. She took a long squinted look at me through her glasses before going over to the door and opening it. “Come on a library is no place for a stray dog,” she said motioning me out of the door. Skipping straight past the direct insult that the gesture was I laughed it off, which seemed to catch the mare off guard. “I am no dog, ma’am.” I leaned against the desk and continued to watch her as she stared back. She took another very long look at me before finally shutting the door behind her and approaching me. “Can’t say that I’ve ever seen one of whatever you are before. What can I do to help you?” “There are a few things that I would like today. The first would be the most complete bestiary that you have. As you just said my kind are rare, and I would like to find a book with at least one example of my species in it. Secondly, I would a book on beginner’s magic that teaches both practical application and theory. If I need to get two separate books for that then it is fine.” I looked back to the dozens of rows of books that likely held what I was looking for. The mare tapped her chin in thought for a few moments before finally looking back to me with a nod. “Sure I can get those for you.” She immediately turned away and wandered back into the maze of bookcases. I waited where I was for a while content to just be alone with my thoughts, but that quickly grew very boring. The librarian was taking forever, and I was still hungry. Finally, the mare returned with the books I had asked for held in a yellow telekinetic field. She placed the three books in front of me and began to explain them each. “This is the bestiary that you asked for,” she said motioning to the massive tome. “It is the most current and up to date. It has everything that anypony has ever come across in it if they lived to tell the tale. These two right here,” she continued motioning to the two smaller books, “are intro lesions of the basics of magic. The blue one is theory and the red one is practical application. I don’t know what you would want those for, but it had never been my place to ask why ponies want to check out what they do.” I reached into my saddlebags and pulled out a few bits to pay for the literature, but she refused any payment. “Just remember to bring them back and it is fine,” she said with a smile. I smiled back and took the books; giving them a quick once over before placing them in my saddlebags. I was running out of room quickly. “Thank you very much I will remember to do that.” I would probably never come back to this place. The elderly mare waved to me as I left, and I found myself waving back in return. As the door closed behind me I felt a chill run up my spine. This was going to be my first dishonest act in Equestria. If you discounted the lie I had told to the guard, which I did because I hadn’t gotten away with it. It felt like Equestria itself wanted me to be a good upstanding citizen, and that it was telling me that I should return these books before I left. I shook away the alien feeling and continued onwards towards the inn I had seen coming into town. It didn’t take long to reach the inn, and ponies continued to avoid me the entire way the same as they had done before. The innkeeper even gave me some guff about not having dangerous animals sleep under his roof, but handing over a few extra bits cooled him down. I didn’t really care about paying some pony ten extra bits when I had thousands tucked away inside my bag. It seemed that Deciduous hadn’t arrived yet, so I quickly hurried up the stairs to the plain two-bed room I had acquired for us. Tossing my saddlebags to the side I pulled out the bestiary that I had gotten from the library, and began to look through it. The learning of magic could wait a little while; at least until after I figured out what the hell kind of creature I was.
PreparationUseless, if there was a single word to describe the books that I had gotten it would be useless. You would think that a giant ass book with the words bestiary on the front would have a lot of information on all sorts of different animals. You would be wrong if you were looking at the same book I was. The tome actually didn’t even have over fifty different kinds of beasts in it, and there was no surprise that whatever I was also wasn’t in it. Oh sure it mentions diamonds dogs and all sorts of other canines, and how they were all descended from the same original race though it didn’t actually tell me anything about them. It also mentioned the griffins could be traced back along the same route, but of course that is where its helpfulness ceased. Whatever said ancestor was they apparently passed down the traits of strength and speed, which the race was known for. Seeing as how the other two ancient races were alicorns and dragons I was pretty certain that this mystery race was what mine was descended from. It did even make a point that the creatures that shared this lineage weren’t very well known for their magic so where did that leave me? There I was without amazing strength or incredible speed and the only asset I could be certain of was that I definitely had some sort of innate magic. I knew exactly as much as I did about whatever species I was as before I opened this useless book. I had thrown it aside in frustration and turned to the other books that I had procured hoping that they would be more useful. I was sorely mistaken about that. Both of them were written in some bizarre language that I couldn’t read no matter how long I spent staring at the strange words, and let me tell you, that was a long time. Great, so now I had a useless bestiary and two books on magic that I couldn’t read. They weren’t even worth stealing in the first place. I probably would end up returning these and be a good little law-abiding citizen for once in my life. I wondered what that felt like. I tossed the two books against the wall where the other had landed and laid back on the comfortable bed that the room held. I hadn’t actually slept in a bed since I arrived in Equestria, and this thing was amazing. I suppose that my soft fur had kept me pretty satisfied as far as cushioning had gone up until now, but now that I actually was back on a mattress the ground just would not cut it anymore. Deciduous had come in some time after that, and set several paper bags he had procured down on the table that was in the room. To be honest I had expected the room to be a lot smaller than it turned out to be. There were two queen-sized beds that sat against the far wall of the room with a bedside table between them beneath the only window in the room. There was a couch with a coffee table in front of it on the left of the entrance, which seemed slightly odd to me. Why would you have a couch in a hotel room when there was no TV to watch? Maybe I should just chalk that up with unexplainable things like why ponies had doorknobs, which by the way are a pain in the ass to use with paws. The bathroom was relatively small with only a shower and a strange looking toilet that I wasn’t quite certain how to use. Yes, over the last couple of days I had gotten used to doing my business with a female body, but I was by no means happy with it. God help me if I somehow found myself in heat one day. I don’t think I would allow myself to live through it. I sighed and got off of the extremely comfortable bed and padded over to the table that Deciduous had just finished setting all of the food on. “What do we have here?” I asked. “I got some pastries like you asked, but I also bought some other things that I think you might like,” he replied with a grin and began to pull items out of the brown paper bags he had brought in. He pulled out a box of sweet rolls, some cupcakes, a few pieces of fruit, two pre-made salads, and what looked like what I could only assume to be hay fries. “They didn’t sell any meats though I wouldn’t have expected them to. Some ponies gave me a couple of odd looks when I asked.” He glanced away awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t exactly know what else you eat so I got a variety.” “Don’t worry about it this stuff looks great,” I said trying to put him at ease before picking up a roll and munching on it. The taste of its buttery goodness pulled me from my woes and sent me straight to a starch filled heaven. “Oh my god this is so fucking good.” I pretended to not notice his unease at my swearing as I continued to chow down on the roll, and soon was starting on my second. The rolls brought me back to memories of thanksgiving dinners with my family at my grandfather’s ranch. Granny would always make the most delicious rolls and stuffing while my mom would try her hardest not to burn the turkey year after year. She always ended up overcooking it but we pretended not to notice; mom wasn’t exactly what you would call the most competent chef in the family and I of course was no better. “Hey are you okay?” Deciduous asked, bringing me out of my revere. I blinked a few times, bringing my self out of my memories, and finished the roll I was eating. “Yea, of course I am why would you ask,” I said putting on the best smile I could. “Well, you were crying.” At his mention of it I put a paw to my face, and found the fur beneath my eye to be slightly damp. “Must have gotten something in my eye,” I lied. Of course he knew I was lying, but it was the kind of lie neither party would expose in order to avoid mutual awkwardness. “I think I am going to take a shower, and get all of this dirt off of me.” I quickly grabbed a roll hurried into the bathroom before anything more could be said. Thankfully the door used a handle instead of a knob with a simple button as the locking mechanism, which I employed as soon as the door was shut. I stood there for a long while, leaning against the door with the complex carbohydrates of the roll in my mouth breaking down into more simple and delicious sugars. I sighed and went back eating my roll as I sat back on my haunches against the door. I was crying again; why was I crying again? I should be better than this. If I was somehow going to win this crazy game that I now found myself in the middle of, and get back home then I couldn’t be breaking down at every little thing that reminded me of home. I took a few minutes to collect myself and steel my resolve for the no doubt countless trials that were ahead of me, and finished the food that I had brought into the bathroom with me. Oddly enough after eating only three relatively small rolls I found myself somewhat full. I walked to the shower and turned the handle, and allowed the water to start warming as I went to the mirror to examine myself. I had really let myself get beaten up on the way to Rubyton. There were several dark spots along my fur where dirt had decided to cling, and a few of the wounds I had previously addressed had opened again on the short ride here staining my snow-white fur crimson in a select few places. The fur itself was sticking out periodically at some rough angles every so often and showed that I could use a good brushing. I found the complementary brush that was on the counter near the sink, and chucked it over the shower curtain into the shower itself. I pulled back the curtain and using a paw determined that the water was warm enough to stand, and jumped in. The feeling of the thin jets of water that rained down on my slowly dampening my fur was a rather odd sensation but not unwelcome. I was quickly enveloped in a warm aura that was both soothing and relaxing. I sighed and sat back in the wash bin, finding the brush I had tossed in and strapped it to my paw like I assumed ponies did. The water aided in straightening my fur with the brush and making sure that it all flowed in the same direction. When finished with my first round of grooming I located the complementary conditioner that the inn was stocked up on, and proceeded to use the entire bottle on my coat to make sure that it was all silky smooth. When I stepped out of the shower after over half an hour of relaxing and self-grooming I was met with the irresistible urge to fling all of the water off of myself like a dog might. I started the motion, but luckily was able to stop myself before I completely destroyed the bathroom. I grabbed the towel off the rack next to the shower, and proceeded to spend the next ten minutes drying off. It was then that I developed a deep respect for those that chose to grow their hair out long, and kept up with the maintenance of it all. Between everything it had taken me over an hour to shower and dry myself when I was used to only spending ten minutes on the same activity previously. I turned the shower off and hurried out of the bathroom, slightly embarrassed at taking so long. I found Deciduous in the hotel room reading through one of the magic books that I had gotten from the library as he absentmindedly ate his salad. A few pieces of lettuce had been the unfortunate recipients of his split focus, and littered the floor around his hooves. He noticed that I was finally done with the bathroom and looked up from the book as I came back into the room proper. “You look a lot better,” he said casually before looking back to the book he was holding. “Why did you get a book on magic anyways?” “You can read that thing?” I asked, taking a seat next to him on the couch. “Well yea. Why, can’t you?” “Not at all,” I said with a sigh. “I can read the bestiary just fine, but whatever language this is in escapes me.” I looked back over the rest of the food that was left. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I felt that I might as well have a cupcake so I helped myself to one. They were every bit as good as the rolls had been. “They are both Equestrian but these magic books are in high equestrian, which is usually what unicorns use. I never really understood why we still use two different written forms, but only speak one. Something about tradition of the original pony tribes I think.” He also sat back and scratched his chin in thought. “Tradition is the corpse of wisdom,” I replied without really thinking about it. For some reason that was one of my favorite quotes, and I loved to bring it up whenever the chance arose. “Umm, sure,” He said in an odd tone. “Anyways, why did you get these books in the first place? If you didn’t notice I am not exactly a unicorn, and I haven’t really seen you doing any magic either.” So here it was, a chance to tell him that I could actually pull off some magic or not. Sure I couldn’t actually show him what I could do since it was apparently extremely subtle, and only affected me so he might not even believe me if I did tell him. In the end I decided against saying such in order to avoid more awkward questions that might arise if I did tell him the truth. “Haven’t you ever been interested in learning about new things? Where I come from we don’t really have a lot of books and nopony really knows much about magic so I picked up these books while I could. It is a real shame that I can’t read any of it. You wouldn’t mind reading it to me would you?” I asked with the best puppy dog eyes I could pull off. Fun fact, being an actual member of the canine genus makes it a lot easier to pull off puppy dog eyes. He looked back at me for a few long moments before finally sighing. “Fine, where do you want me to start?” he asked flipping the book to the index. “Start with the basics of what magic actually is,” I instructed. He turned the book to page one and started reading from the beginning. “Magic is a force that emanates from and penetrates the world around us. Every creature that lives in the world has some form of innate magic, but those able to express it and use it in the physical world have a greater tie to it than others. Magic tends to orient itself in leylines that run through the world and give off power to their surroundings. Those with a great tie to leylines are able to produce more magical work than others which is a common reason that unicorns are able to perform more magical feats than less magically inclined creatures such as mules or donkeys.” He turned the page of the book and hummed to himself. “This is actually kind of interesting. Okay so here it goes on to say, other forms of innate magic have been found that do not draw power from leylines or use them to replenish themselves. These different forms of magic are often rare and far between, and use the actual beings own life energy in order to fuel them. It has often been reported that such ways of using magic can be stronger, but have a much higher risk of backlash on the caster. “Magic as it is used in unicorns, which is what this book is meant to cover, is first drawn out from the environment and leylines through the caster and into the horn. From there it is shaped into the proper spell by the caster until it is in the correct form to complete its task. See chapters eight and nine for a more in depth coverage of how to properly build and release stored magic. “Magic and spells that they are used for align themselves into a rainbow spectrum with the categories of fire, water, earth, air, dark, and light. Any spell can be categorized as originating from one or more of these categories. The clever combination of categories in either sequence or parallel is what has led to our most complex and powerful spells, which will not be covered in this book.” He stopped for a moment and looked back at me. “It goes on from here to the actual sections of the book that describe each category and how it can be used. Do you want me to go through all of that?” “If you don’t mi…” A rumbling outside shook the building that we were sitting in and caused some of the cupcakes that were on the table to fall off. I looked on in horror as they hit the ground and were dashed to pieces by the impact, which ruined their sugary goodness. Deciduous had already tossed aside the book that we were reading and retrieved his sword from where he had put it near the door. Not a second later he was out said door and headed downstairs into the lobby. I groaned in frustration and followed him out of the room quickly, praying beyond hope that he wasn’t about to do something incredibly stupid. The lobby was packed with panicking ponies that were running back and forth like chickens with their heads cut, and a few that were trying to calm everyone down. I caught a glimpse of Deciduous as he disappeared out the door and into the night that had fallen while we were in the room. I scurried past the ponies that filled the lobby to the brim and out into the darkness of the streets. There wasn’t a lot that could be seen by the pale moonlight of the waning gibbous above, but the fires certainly helped to clear everything up. I had a low vantage, but the library that I had visited previously was on fire, and burning down very quickly. I caught the sight of a massive black shadow moving just beyond the fire, and Deciduous racing off towards the burning building. I took off after him, and after rounding a corner had to correct myself. The library wasn’t the only thing that was going up in flames; half of the entire town was burning down including most of Main Street. The building just in front of me collapsed, as the massive back of a reptilian tail smashed through it. For one perfect moment the fires stopped obscuring the rampaging beast that was laying waste to the pony settlement, and accented its features perfectly. I had thought the snake that I had stared down earlier had been huge, but it had to be a baby compared to this behemoth. It was completely adorned in black scales that blended in near perfectly into the darkness of the night, and stood sixty feet tall. It held a cabbage stand in its mouth with a screaming mare trapped inside of the booth. Slowly it closed its maw, crunching down on its meal until the sickening snap of bones and wood could clearly be heard over the mass of ponies that were running and screaming. A flash of green brought my gaze back to ground level, and Deciduous who had just taken off running at the massive reptile with that wickedly sharp diamond sword clenched tightly between his teeth. I took off as fast as I possibly could and tackled the little moron before he could do something incredibly stupid that I would end up regretting. With his focus completely turned to the giant snake it wasn’t too difficult to blindside him and knock him to the ground despite how much stronger I assumed he was than me. It seemed that being slightly bigger than him gave me an advantage in this. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?” I screamed down at where I had him pinned. “I am trying to help. Now get off of me.” He tried to shove me away with his free hoof, but I firmly pushed down on his hoof I had to the ground and his chest. This wasn’t the first time I had wrestled someone to the ground and having digits, no matter how crappy, was coming in handy. “Didn’t I fucking tell you not to do stupid shit after you just charged at the last snake we came across. This one is like a million times bigger and you are just going to go with the same dumbass plan again. Do you even have a brain?” I yelled in his face hoping that he would get my point. I was rewarded for my efforts with a punch to the face that sent me sprawling. The kid had a really good right hook. “I can’t just do nothing,” he yelled back at me as he picked himself up off the ground. “I am sure that the guard can handle it. We shouldn’t get involved.” As if the universe just wanted to prove me wrong the guard that was hassling me earlier came crashing down to earth just a short distance away. He slid through the dirt before coming to a halt, and just continued to lay there. If the bone protruding from his leg was any indication then he was going to be out of the fight for a while. I looked back to the giant snake which had moved farther into Main Street while I had been bickering with Deciduous, and was now fully visible thanks to the fires. The amount of guards that were trying to fend it off were woefully inadequate. I counted two pegasi that were attempting to beat it with their hooves, and a few unicorn jumping around its base shooting magic at it. Apparently the earth pony guard had been the only one they had, and he was definitely out of the fight. They seemed well trained from what I could tell; the pegasi would swoop in and assault the monster from behind, and once its attention was turned elsewhere the unicorns would launch a salvo at it. Now that I was looking closer I could see blades attached to the hooves of the pegasi that were attacking the snake, but every time they would score a hit they weren’t able to penetrate much of its hide. Seeing what the guards were doing the serpent lashed out with its tale as soon as it turned its attention to the pegasi, and struck one of the unicorns sending them through a burning building on the other side of the street. One of the mares flying around its head was stunned by this and caught as the snake snapped down on her wing. She let out a shriek before the snake bit down harder completely severing the wing, and causing her to fall to the ground. A flash of red sped out of one of the burning buildings and caught the mare just before she would have hit the ground. As the streak sped back into the air and came to a rest I was able to see that it was the pegasus that had saved my ass from a snake earlier. Scarlet held the profusely bleeding pony in her hooves before she rocketed over to two ponies in medical uniforms and deposited the mare with them. Scarlet took once more to the air, and started circling the snake while pelting it with bottles that erupted in fire as soon as they hit. The fire didn’t seem to be doing anything seeing as how the snake was actually half standing in the corpse of a burning building. The unicorns and one pegasus guard that was left were clearly outmatched here. For whatever reason this snake was a lot smarter than any reptile had the right to be with how it had seen the pattern of their attacks and preempted them. This entire town was about to be leveled, and the look on Deciduous’ face told me that he knew it. He turned to look back at me for a moment before picking up this sword I had knocked out of his grip and said. “I am going to help fend off this monster. You do whatever you want, and if you can live with yourself knowing you let an entire town of ponies die without lifting a hoof to help then I don’t even want to be associated with you anyways.” With that he took off at full gallop to where the unicorns were busy futilely fending off the snake. He raced over, and as soon as one of the guards caught sight of him he was directed into position to help. He leaped forwards and struck at the scaled beast with the sword, and cut deep into it before pulling the blade back out with a little bit of trouble. Because of its size that cut couldn’t be more than a minor annoyance, and the snake treated it as such by staring down at Deciduous with what I can only describe as a look of bemusement. Deciduous jumped back out of the way of its strike, and scored another hit on his face as he did so. He smiled as he swung again at the snake and gashed it, and the unicorn to his left shot a bolt of magic at its face causing it to rear away suddenly. His smile grew wider as the bolt struck, and he jumped around to avoid its tail coming at him. No doubt he thought that they were doing well against the beast, but from where I stood a good distance away I could tell; there was no chance that they would win this fight.
ExecutionWhat was I supposed to do? Was I really supposed to go and risk my life for ponies that I didn’t even know in a pointless struggle against a giant snake? The screaming and the fires all around me mixed with the sounds of the battle that was unfolding before my eyes sent me into a near panic. My heart started thundering in my chest as I stood frozen in place with no idea what to do. One thing did occur to me, and I started working to get my breath under my control. I pulled a long slow breath in and let it out just as slowly. This did little to slow my heart rate, but I managed to get a modicum of control over myself as I reached towards the swirling ball of energy I could feel at the back of my mind. I made contact with the energy, and the world around suddenly came to a halt. I continued to hold my breath as I had found that it was what allowed me to stay in this state the day before. The snake was lunging at the red pegasus that was circling it and splashing fire onto its scales with minimal success. From my vantage I could see that it would miss, and she would be able to dodge it easily. Learning from my previous attempts with this state I held off moving, and instead used the time that I had borrowed to think. I had a choice before me that would have dire consequences if I chose wrong. On one hand I could race forwards and try and help the ponies fending off the monster, and on the other I could turn tail and run away. Deciduous was frozen at the base of the snake with a snarl on his face as he leapt forward to attack. What would he think of me if I ran from this fight? His words rang in my mind making the obvious choice of abandoning these ponies all the harder to make. I had no real ties to them so there was really no reason for me to die for them aside from it being the good and virtuous thing to do. Dammit, why did he have to say that before he raced off? If I left now I doubt that the snake would catch me as I made my getaway. Leaving Deciduous behind would mean that I would have no future destination, and I would just end up wandering Equestria aimlessly. While that is not necessarily a bad thing it isn’t really very good either. If I went to help then we would either succeed or fail. In both of these outcomes there was a high chance that I wouldn’t survive the encounter. If I didn’t survive then I would just simply be dead here, and no one would mourn me. If I survived however I might be able to achieve hero status, and keep Deciduous as a traveling partner assuming that he lived as well. Going to help had both the best and worst possible outcomes while desertion was essentially neutral. Why did this have to be so hard? I let out the breath I had been holding for a while, and watched as the world slowly sped into action. The snake lunged and Scarlet dodged just as I had expected. It seemed that it was time to use an old and tried method of making a choice that you don’t want to; the imaginary coin toss. It is pretty simple really, you toss a coin in your head and whatever side lands up is what choice you make. This helps to show me what I really want to do sometimes when I just can’t decide on something. I closed my eyes and assigned heads to helping and tails to running away. The toss lasted nearly ten seconds before I watched the quarter fall to the ground heads up, and with a sigh I immediately sprinted into action. The snake had caught a pedestrian and was currently swallowing the pony as I arrived at its base. It flicked its forked tongue out of its mouth and turned its attention back to the pegasi that were doing an excellent job at being a distraction. “What can I do to help?” I asked the unicorn guard that I had met earlier that day, who I had run up next to. “Why don’t you cut this thing up until it doesn’t move anymore,” she snarled back as she finished charging a spell and let it loose at the snake. The spell struck its base where it began to rise into the air and blew off a good amount of scales, leaving behind a fleshy layer of skin. Not wasting a second I dashed forward and sliced along the exposed area with my claws leaving a deep gash behind. Blood seeped from the wound, and I struck again and again trying to dig deeper and deliver something more than a superficial laceration. The massive beast shifted ever so slightly drawing my attention away from where I was attack, and up to the head that was barreling down at me. Something struck me from the side pushing me out of the way of its teeth. The remaining pegasus guard swooped down and nailed the snake just above the eye, turning its attention away from my prone form on the ground. I blinked a few times getting my bearings and noticed a green mass lying on top of me. I shoved it off to discover that none other than Deciduous had saved my life. “Come to help I see.” he said with a smile as he also picked himself up off the ground. “If we live through this I am going to fucking kill you!” I yelled back as I moved to the side. This time it didn’t seem like he was bothered in the least by my swearing or my threat, and he also moved back to get ready for another attack. While we were all inflicting wounds on the serpent we really didn’t penetrate its skin much, and just weren’t hitting anything vital. We would need to change up strategy if there was to be any chance of victory. “Look out!” came a shout to my right, but it was too late. As I had been lost in my planning the snake had taken the opportunity to strike out with its tail as Deciduous and I. The nimble earth pony that had actually been paying attention had dodged the strike with ease, but I hadn’t seen it coming at all. I was sent flying into the support beam of the nearest building with enough force to snap it in two, and bring the floor above down on myself. The support beam wasn’t the only thing that had snapped, and I was able to distinctly hear at least three ribs do the same as I collided with the brick wall that stopped my flight. The floor above came crashing down into the first, but luckily enough I had landed against a load bearing wall meaning that I was spared from being crushed. Dust and dirt filled the air for several moments as I whimpered in pain pathetically. I coughed to get rid of the air that was burning my lungs and tried to stand. The building around me was burning in a roaring inferno, and I needed to get out of there before the fires reached me and I died of smoke inhalation. Running was a bit beyond me at the time and I wasn’t doing much better with walking, so I crawled from my safe place against the wall to the nearest window. Several jagged pieces of glass cut at me as I pulled myself up over the windowsill and flopped down to the ground outside. There was a ringing in my ears that wouldn’t go away, and the chronic chest pain that I had been feeling for the past few days had been replaced with millions of needles boring through my flesh. For I don’t know how long I wasn’t able to move from where I was lying on the ground. There had to be something that I could do to get through this right? I reached towards the swirling mass of energy that I had felt earlier in a hope that I could stop time, and with it the pain that was penetrating me. It seemed to work, but I wasn’t exactly sure since with my eyes clenched shut tightly the only difference I was able to make out was the lack of screaming. I continued to concentrate on the blue energy that I was feeding from, hoping that I could do something else with it. Just reaching out and touching the energy with my mind seemed enough to allow me to enter this state of timelessness. What I really needed though was a way to take out that monster, and if I could just figure out how to use this source of magic to do that I would be golden. I tried to grab the energy, but it quickly slipped from my mental grasp like it was water. I didn’t care and continued grabbing at it until I had pulled away a small bit that I thought I might be able to use, and did the only thing I could think to do with it. I put all of it into my claws in a hope that it would somehow supercharge them. To my endless astonishment it seemed to work. I felt a warm sensation overcome my front paws and when I opened my eyes to look I saw that they were alight with a blue fire. The fire traveled halfway up my arms and seemed to bleed off into the air around me. The pain that I had been feeling before was almost completely gone, and I was able to make it back to my feet once more. The alley I had landed in was dark, but by no means was it cold. Burning pieces of debris littered the ground around my as I quickly raced back into the open where I hoped the fight was still going on. I smiled as I sped into the open faster than I had been able to run previously, and saw the snake still trying to get at the ponies fighting it. Luckily, it seemed that no more of the ponies had fallen to the beast while I was incapacitated so I ran to them to once more engage the enemy. The unicorn guard had just finished launching another spell, and sweat dripped down from her brow as she panted. Deciduous had more than one scrape on him from rolling around to get out of the way of the snake’s strikes, but other than that he appeared no worse for the wear. The pegasi above were moving slower, and taking turns resting for a few seconds on one of the nearby buildings that hadn’t collapsed yet. “Vixen, you are on fire!” Deciduous yelled at me as I rejoined the fight. “I know it’s fine,” I called back to him. I sprinted forwards and slashed at the snake’s body with my flaming claws hoping that I would have some sort of increased penetrating power. I was pleasantly surprised when it looked like that wasn’t all that I had gained with this new ability. As I slashed into its flesh I distinctly noticed that I appeared to just cleave straight through it. The wound that I left behind didn’t bleed, nor did it seem to attract the attention of the serpent, as it was busy lunging at one of the unicorns, which was quite fortunate because I was just staring in awe. The wound was completely healed over with a mass of scar tissue that appeared to have been there for years. Being as dedicated to the scientific process as I was I repeated the experiment and cleaved into the beast once more though I took this strike far deeper. I carved out a good twenty pounds of flesh and marveled as once again the wound that I left behind which should have been bleeding an incredible amount just appeared as a deep and vicious scar. I smiled and started to strike in frenzy at the monster leaving behind scars all over its body. This time I caught the subtle movement it made as it turned to strike at me and lunged out of the way in time to dodge it. As I retreated I struck out with my claws and managed to gouge it in the eye. The creature roared in pain and pulled its head back away from me quickly. As I looked up at it once more I saw that its eye was now white and milky. I laughed at it as I moved back to catch my breath before I would start attacking it again. The strikes that I had been causing were deep, but they wouldn’t bring it down in time at the rate that the ponies around me were tiring out. I ducked as its tail came at me and Deciduous once more, and watched him leap forwards once again with his sword and slice into the snake. What were the vital points on a snake? There weren’t many since it was essentially just a long spinal cord with a head at the top. An idea came to me and because of how ridiculous it was I found myself immediately wanting to try it out. I ran back to the hulking python and used my flaming claws to slice into and crawl onto its back. The scars that I rended in its flesh made excellent handholds, and I was soon atop of the thing. It squirmed around as it continued to strike at the others without so much as acknowledging me. I smiled as I ran along its back towards its head that was high in the air. I dug into it once again as I started to climb towards my objective while happily causing as much damage as I could as I went. The snake lunged forwards at one of the unicorns on the ground nearly causing me to be thrown off as it did so. My front paws cleaved through its scales as its head shot forwards leaving me with just my back legs to keep me in position. Miraculously I was able to keep hold, and used the opportunity of its lowered head to run towards my destination. I made it to the base of its skull just as it lifted its head once more into the air to get at the pegasi above. I dug in deep in order to keep hold and tried to locate my target. I freed one of my front paws and began slashing at where I assumed its spinal cord to be, and after tearing away a lot of muscle I found the bone I was looking for. The white of it peeked out at me, and I plunged my claws forwards like daggers in hopes of severing it. The bone was much harder than the skin and muscle had been, and I wasn’t able to get a good cut on the bone. This didn’t deter me in the least and I stabbed at it over and over trying to paralyze the rampaging beast. I continued for what felt like several minutes before I was finally rewarded with a loud crack as the first vertebrae of its spine snapped and the entire beast fell to the ground limp. This time I was thrown aside as the snake smacked against the ground wetly, and I landed on the ground next to its head with a thud. All of the beatings that I had been taking were starting to catch up to me, and I found it hard to bring myself once again to a standing position. I looked over to the snake’s useless eye that spun around blind in confusion. I smiled once again as I realized that it had no idea what was going on. From here it was pretty much just clean up, and I really didn’t want to have to deal with that. I released the hold on the magic I had been maintaining in the back of my head ever since I had managed to learn this new ability. The first thing I noticed as the blue fire ceased was that the chest pain I felt earlier returned with renewed vigor in an attempt to barrel me over. I held my ground for a moment, but only because the cool numbness in my front paws was distracting me from the pain that I felt. I slowly lifted one of said paws before my eyes to examine it, and saw that all of the fur that had covered them had been burned away, and left behind just skin. The skin itself was black, which hadn’t been what I had expected my skin color to be, but since I was completely covered in fur how was I to know. I tried to wiggle a finger to rid myself of the numbness that was penetrating me and watched in horror as the skin and flesh beneath it cracked and split open to reveal the white bone beneath that was trying to escape. That was when I started screaming. The world around me fell away and was replaced by one that knew only pain and anguish. I fell to the ground and writhed in agony as more of my skin split open, and seemed to try and rid itself of the bones that held my frame together. The fiery fury of pain screamed through my legs and into my mind where I wasn’t able to shut it out. It was the most intense sensation that could possibly be felt, and as I felt something or someone try to push down on me I struck out reflexively and felt a new wave of pain wash over me as the blow landed. I continued to scream and scream as my now ruined legs were forced down, and something was jabbed into my arm. I tried to pull away and do anything I could in the hopes of making the pain go away, but nothing helped in the least. Before everything disappeared into black either from the shock I was going through or the sedative that I had been injected with I was barely able to make out someone calling for a doctor and a stretcher.
MedicationA brilliant light shining in my eyes dredged me out of the black of unconsciousness. It flashed off and on centimeters away from my right eye, and I made out the warbling sound of someone talking. It tried to focus on the light, and it was made easy by how insanely annoying it was. As I came back to the world of the living the first thing that struck me was how warm I felt. I had no idea where I was, but I was so comfortable that I never wanted to leave. I looked around and my blurry eyesight began to rapidly clear. Everything around me was a stark white that bounced the overhead lights around everywhere, and just screamed for me to dare to sleep. A few ponies were milling around talking to each other but all I was able to make out were trumpet noises coming from their mouths. I was reminded of Charlie Brown and laughed a little bit to myself at how dumb the situation was. My own laugh came out garbled or at least what I was able to hear of it. Another warbling sound started going off to me right causing me to lazily turn my head towards it. The light once again reappeared, and I tried to swat it out of my face to only find my legs unresponsive. I laid my head back against the pillow I just noticed I had and stared at the bright thing moving back and forth while more random sounds continued to assault me. The light suddenly turned off allowing me to make out the crude form of a brown pony holding a thin flashlight that he was shining in my eyes. I saw that the noises I was hearing was him talking, but I still couldn’t make anything that he said out. I tried to tell him so, but really had no idea what I said myself. He put a hoof to my face and pulled back my eyelid to stare at my eyes very closely; a definite invasion of my personal space. I tried to push him away just again to rediscover that my legs weren’t moving. He turned and said something to some other pony that I couldn’t make out, and the world around me once again started to disappear into black. The feeling of warmth came over me once again and I gladly drifted off to sleep once more as the cloud I felt myself lying on lulled me to sleep. I didn’t dream. I came to again sometime later with a constant ache in my side nagging at me. Everything itched except for my front paws, which were strangely numb to everything. I reluctantly opened my eyes once again to take in the world and found I was in the same very white room. A constant beeping to my left alerted me to the heart monitor I was hooked up to, but something sounded off about it. I tried to lift my head only for the ache in my chest to intensify dramatically bringing me crashing back down into the pillow I was resting on and panting for breath. The heart monitor began racing in its offbeat fashion alerting my roommate to my awakened state. “Oh you’re finally up huh?” came a voice from my left. I turned my head towards the speaker and was greeted with a white sheet separating us; giving a small modicum of privacy. A red hoof pulled the curtain back and I recognized the face of Scarlet staring back at me as I tried to slow my breathing. I tried to reply to her with something witty, but all that came out was a coughing fit. I finally noticed that my throat was insanely dry, and I really needed to get something to drink. There was a glass of water on the left side of the bed beckoning me, and I tried to reach towards it in hopes of quenching my thirst, but my legs wouldn’t move. The water remained just out of my reach as I looked back to where my front paws were suspended above me in casts with wires holding them in place. I whined a little and stretched my neck as far as I could despite the pain towards the glass of water sitting on the bedside table. Grabbing the glass with my teeth I reclined back and knocked it to the side to get some in my mouth. I felt a rush of could that increased the aching in my chest as most of the water spilt all over me, but my thirst was quenched by the small amount I managed to down. All the while Scarlet just sat there watching me with a bemused smile on her face. After I finished cleansing my throat with another coughing fit I took the time to look over myself. My front paws were held stiffly in the air, and I couldn’t move them at all no matter how much I tried. Thick bandages constricted my chest where most of the pain was coming from, and all sorts of wires were running into them and onto my fur beneath. An IV drip was hooked up to one of my front legs supplying me with some unknown clear fluid. I tried to remember how exactly I had gotten here, and it all came back in a rush. I saw the snake crash to the ground and me along with it. I stopped channeling whatever spell I had figured out to use, and all of the pain had suddenly returned. I remember seeing the skin along my paw crack open, and then everything was completely black. How had I survived? “How long?” I asked with my still slightly raspy voice as I turned back towards the red mare. “Two days,” she replied immediately. Two days? I had been in what I could only assume was a hospital for two whole days, and I was only waking up now. I knew that I should have just left the snake along and taken off, but no I had to rise to Deciduous’ challenge. Why can’t I just let people down? “That was really awesome what you did to that snake,” Scarlet said causing my attention to snap back to her. “What?” “The way that you tore it up and put it out. Why didn’t you do that to the other on that was attacking you guys on the road? If I could go all super claw on some monster I know I would.” She imitated me by punching at an imaginary foe in front of her. Oh great, a red Rainbow Dash. “Well I didn’t exactly know I could do it, and just look at what it got me,” I replied motioning back at my forelegs with my eyes. Whatever trauma they had received was no doubt the cause of that spell that I had recklessly used. I didn’t even know what it did, and I just took off and kept it on for who knows how long. “Yea that kind of sucks, but you definitely saved everypony. We were all about to drop by the time that you brought it down. Then you started screaming and everypony was freaking out, and that green earth pony had to hold you down while the nurse took care of you. Anyways, thanks for saving our flanks I guess I owe you this time.” She smiled at me and sat back in her own bed. I started looking her over too, searching for the obvious wound that would have landed her in the hospital, but I couldn’t find anything. “Why are you in the hospital, I didn’t see you take any hits during the fight.” She cringed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well it wasn’t during the fight.” She rolled over to show me her other side where her wing was bandaged up, and most of her fur had scorch marks. “I was helping out with the fires after you took down that snake, and a burning beam fell on my wing, and trapped me for a bit. Kind of embarrassing that I can go toe to toe with a giant monster and then a plank of wood gets me.” She laughed and rolled back over to look at me. “Nothing embarrassing about saving ponies from a fire in my opinion. What did they do with the snake by the way?” “Well they hauled it away of course. Garthok has had a giant bounty on her for years, and you finally caught her. I thought it would be impossible to get the extra bits for bringing her in alive, but you managed it somehow. Sweet Celestia I just can’t get over how cool that was.” “There was a bounty on a giant snake?” I was shocked someone would actually do something like that. Who was supposed to bring it down all on their own? Was there anyone crazy enough to try? “You didn’t know about the bounty? Wow, I just assumed that was the reason you came to Rubyton in the first place like me. Ha, well I guess that makes you one rich chick now doesn’t it?” She put her hooves behind her head and sat back in the bed with a sigh. “That would have been one sweet payday.” “How high was the bounty?” I asked. “It was up to five thousand bits if you can believe it, and there was a bonus thousand for bringing it in alive. Hunters have been coming to Rubyton for years to take a shot at her, and the price has gone up every time. I bet you were the first one to think to rip its spinal cord out though so good job on that,” she said nonchalantly. “So that’s what you are, a monster hunter?” Now the pieces were starting to fit together. “Sure am, I thought you might have been one too when I saw you fighting on the pass. You really need to watch out for the tails more you seem to have a real problem with that. Anyways, I saw you in trouble decided to help out a fellow hunter, but had to jet and get back to my search for Gathrok’s lair. It is really weird that she came out and attacked the settlement; she hasn’t done something like that in I think forty years.” “How old was that monster anyways?” “Well I looked through old newspapers and research materials to get a good handle on what I would be dealing with. There were reports of a giant black snake attacking ponies along the pass for over a hundred years now, and it was always getting bigger. Don’t really know why those caravans keep using the same pass if snakes keep attacking them, but hey that’s their business am I right?” She laughed and reached for her own glass of water and downed it. “I figure that I owe you for saving me back with that first snake.” It was true; I had been hoping to actually run into her again so that I could repay her. “Don’t worry about it you saved me right back.” She dismissed the thought with a wave of her hoof. “Even so I would feel better if we settled up. How about you take my bonus and we can call it even. That is assuming that I even get any money.” I said as I tried to get into a comfortable position, which is really hard to do when your limbs are suspended in place. “I don’t know still sounds kind of crummy of me. Especially when you are obviously going to have a lot of hospital bills to pay. Tell you what, in return for the thousand bits I will stick around with ya until you are at one hundred percent and help you out. When you are all good again then we will be even.” Having apparently decided what was what she turned over in her bed. “I am going to go to sleep now I am feeling kind of tired.” “Yea sure, I will try to keep it down,” I replied as I also started to drift off. For some reason I was feeling really tired. The next time that I found myself conscious it was because a nurse was shaking my shoulder lightly to get my attention. As soon as the magical spell that was sleep broke over me I shot awake as the ache in my chest that had been bugging me earlier grew to epic proportions. The nurse pushed me down with a firm hoof until I was once again lying back in bed. “I will put you back on your pain medication, but the doctor needs to speak with you while you are still coherent,” the middle aged yellow mare informed me as she turned a knob on the IV. I watched as the clear liquid traveled along and made its way into my leg where a warmth immediately touched me, and began to spread through my body. I sighed in relief, and saw the mare leave and be replaced by a brown stallion levitating a clipboard in front of him. He walked over to the bed and didn’t acknowledge me for several moments before finally sitting at my bedside, and sticking his hoof on my neck. His hoof was unnaturally cold, which was the clearest indication that this pony was in fact a medical professional. He held his hoof there for a long moment as he studied his watched with his eyes before finally taking his hoof off my neck and looking up to me. “I really cannot get a pulse at all through all of that fur,” he said with a smile, and actually managed to make me laugh. “I am Doctor Bedside Manner,” insanely obvious, “and I have been attending to you miss Vixen for the past few days. Tell me, can you remember how you ended up here in the hospital.” I began to recount events to him as he waved his stupid flashlight pen in my eyes checking on something I had no knowledge of. When I got to the part about finding my paws burned to a crisp he frowned and sat back looking at his clipboard once again. He hummed to himself as he looked over the board once again before turning back to me. “Yes, while I have never treated one of your species before I have to say that you are very fortunate to still be breathing. The wounds you sustained along your front paws were third degree magical burns, and if we didn’t get to you immediately after you acquired them then you might never have walked again. As it stands now we were able to use magical grafts to save your paws, and once the fur grows back over them you should hardly notice the difference. Unfortunately, you will likely never regain sensation in them.” Well that explained why they were so numb. So I was never going to be able to feel with them again; at least I hadn’t been crippled by my own stupidity. “Also, you broke three ribs, one of which had to be removed since it was completely obliterated. The other two will take a few weeks to completely knit, but after some time they should be as good as new. As we were looking you over we discovered that you had a slight arrhythmia; tell me how long have you been living with this,” the paper on his clipboard crumpled loudly as he flipped the page and produced a pen to write down whatever I would tell him. “Honestly Doc, this is the first time I am hearing about it,” I replied honestly. It is always best to be one hundred and ten percent honest with medical professionals since a single lie could lead to me dying. Plus, they can’t go around spreading whatever I say to anyone else because of the whole doctor patient confidentiality thing right? He scribbled something down on the clipboard while he thought for a moment. “Well, it is a good thing that we caught it now. It isn’t anything serious, but it can cause lightheadedness, dizziness, and low blood pressure. It also puts you at increased risk for heart related diseases such as cardiac arrest and strokes. My advice to you would be to avoid any activity that is incredibly strenuous so that you don’t aggravate it and it doesn’t develop into something more serious. Though, seeing how you took down old Garthok I doubt you are the type to listen to your doctor huh?” “You saw that huh?” I asked sheepishly. “I was out there treating ponies when the beast finally fell. It has been terrorizing citizens of Rubyton since my grandfather’s grandfater’s time so I think we all owe you a debt of gratitude for finally taking it out. The entire town is still getting over the tragedy, but as soon as they are I suspect that they will be singing your praises for years. The guard even saw fit to pay for all of your medical expenses, which is very lucky for you because I don’t come cheap.” He turned his clipboard around to show me the astonishingly high price that all of this would have cost me. “Why did they do that?” “Commander Beam said something about helping out a cursed mare. I wasn’t really paying attention since I was so distracted by digging around in your ribcage for bone fragments. Anyways, you will be out of here in five days, and we will be getting those casts off when you are let out. I will be turning up your morphine drip now so you can make full use of our facilities while you still have the time,” he said with a wink before the knob on the IV turned slightly more to the left and the warmth I had been feeling spread through me like a wave, washing away the pain and the world around me. I didn’t see Decidous until a few days after I had first woken up in the hospital, which was extremely worrying for me. A small part of me had been afraid that he had up and left me stranded here in Rubyton, but I knew that was a ridiculous idea. Deciduous seemed like the kind of person that was loyal to a fault, and would always try to do the right thing. Those kind of people were few and far between. “Oh you’re awake,” he said as he entered the room like his absence had been nothing. I was alone in the room now that Scarlet had finally checked out when her wing had been fixed up enough for her to be let out. “And where have you been?” I asked indignantly. He shrugged it off, he was getting way too used to how I acted. “I have been collecting the bits you earned, and seeing about how we are going to get out of here. The doctor said that you will be released in two more days so I booked us some train tickets to Las Pegasus on the train that comes through that day. Unfortunately, we will be having a layover but that shouldn’t be more than a few hours.” He took off my white saddlebags that I just noticed he had been carrying and set them on the floor beside my bed. The jingling of money was heard plainly as they hit the hard tile floor. “You know if you keep going at this rate you will be able to afford a mansion pretty soon,” he joked. “You mean I can’t buy one now? I should have well over twelve thousand bits saved up shouldn’t I?” Once again my ignorance about currency was going to come back and bite me in the ass eventually. “With that you can buy some really nice stuff like a big house, or an airship, or a cottage with a large plot of land, but it will not buy you a whole mansion.” Wait did he just say what I think he said. “What was that second one again?” “An airship? Yea, they are these big ships that fly around in the sky and can go wherever. I don’t think twelve thousand is enough to get you a really big one, but it could definitely buy you a nice one. Why are you interested?” An airship, they had fucking airships in Equestria! Of course I wanted one and I wanted one now. Why wasn’t I already sitting on my very own airship right now flying around with a cool steampunk leather suit on? Oh my god I wanted one so bad. Have I mentioned that I have some pretty bad impulse control when it comes to spending money? “I want one. Go get me one right now,” I told him; motioning to the saddlebags he had just set down. He laughed and looked back at me. “They don’t sell them here. There are only a few places where you can even buy one, and like I said before I don’t really know how much they go for. We will see about getting one later, but right now you should focus on getting better.” As if his own words triggered it his face turned dark and serious. “I’m sorry about getting you hurt. It was all my fault that you fought that snake in the first place.” I sighed and waited a long while before replying. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t blame him for it somewhat, but it had been me that had rushed off after that monster in the end. I had made the decision to help out, and it looked like it had turned out for the best in the end. Sure I had been laid up in the hospital for a week and had gotten some permanent nerve damage, but I earned some money and saved a town in the process. Once I was aboard my very own airship I would probably forget all about this. “Don’t worry about it, Deci. Everything turned out for the best in the end, and I am only going to be in here for a few more days. After that we can get back to what we were doing in the first place, and get you home. They took me off the morphine yesterday so I can’t really talk too much, and I am feeling a little tired. I am going to go to sleep so I guess I will see you in the morning?” I replied. “Yea sure,” he said smiling as he got up to leave. “Vixen, you are one seriously tough mare.” With that he turned off the lights and left me alone to sleep. The circular saw buzzed and sent plaster flying everywhere as the doctor gently cut through the casts on my paws. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t in the least bit scared he would slip, and slice them off completely. I winced as the saw neared my skin and with a crack the plaster cast snapped open, and with some prying the doctor managed to get it off of me. I started to study my numb paw as he went to work freeing the other one. They had told me that the plaster had been enchanted to speed up the healing process, but I hadn’t expected so much of the fur to grow back yet. A thin layer of fur obscured any of the hideous burns that might have lied just beneath. I flexed my digits and smiled happily as they moved to my every whim; I just couldn’t actually feel them moving. With another snap the other cast came off, and I practically jumped out of the bed I had been confined to for a week. The first thing that greeted me as I made it to the ground was the cold hard tile as it smacked me in the face. I honestly hadn’t expected trying to walk to be as hard as it apparently was now. Ever tried walking with two legs that fell asleep? It is not very easy. Deciduous helped me back to my feet, and I hesitantly took a step forwards quickly followed by another. I noticed my legs wobbling a little bit, which probably meant they had atrophied somewhat. I willed them to come back under my control and soon I was walking just fine, though I had to pay attention to the ground in front of me more now that I couldn’t feel it below my pads. “Well now that you are finally out of that stuffy bed we should probably hurry to the train station,” Deciduous said as he walked next to me, going at the excruciatingly slow pace I was. We made it out of the room and down the hallway slowly towards the front desk. I had always thought that hospitals had a policy to make people leave in wheelchairs, but apparently that didn’t follow through to Equestria. It kind of made sense with how most everyone was a quadruped and a wheelchair would work strangely for most of the general population. At the front desk I was presented with a big stack of papers to read through and sign before I could leave. Being as excited to leave as I was, I just opted to sign everything without reading it first just to expedite the process. I finished signing the papers to check out sloppily with a pen in my mouth, before I spat the thing back out onto the desk. “We have two stops we need to make before we go to the train station,” I informed him. “Oh yea, where?” “Firstly we need to find Scarlet, and get her payment to her. She will probably not want to accept it or bring up this ridiculous deal where she is going to follow me around for a bit. Secondly, I really need to take a shower.” “Sounds good to me,” he replied. “I just hope we will be able to make our train or else we have to wait a few more days for the next one.” “I swear to god that we will not be doing that again,” I said, taking the lead. “I have seen enough of Rubyton to last a lifetime.”
DepartureI stepped out of the bathroom with the warm air clashing against the coolness of the room causing anything nearby to instantly be covered in condensation. My coat was still warm and sleek with a thin layer of water sticking to it, but to my infinite wonder I had found a blow dryer in the bathroom this time around. The still drying fur clung to my frame in long swaths of straight snow-white hair. I practically sauntered over to where Deciduous was sitting on the couch reading some book that I had never seen before. “You were right taking a shower first was a much better idea,” I said as I started to stretch. The popping of my stiff joints was ecstasy; even the one in my forelimbs that I couldn’t feel made me happy to hear. “Can you help me with the bandages.” I motioned to the pile of cloth on the table in front of him, and pulled his attention away from his reading as I did so. “Sure,” he replied before sticking a card in the book to mark his place and setting it aside. I looked over the cover, and saw that it was written in that strange language that I couldn’t read one bit of. Deciduous deftly collected a long length of cloth, and I stood still for him as he started to wrap it around me. My ribs were still really tender and knitting, which I reminded him of with a yelp as he pulled the bandages tight and strapped them in place with two metal clamps. “Sorry, but the doctor said that they need to be snug in order to keep everything in place,” he said, sheepishly backing away. “Yea I know, but warn me next time won’t you. That hurts like a bitch,” I rubbed the two injured ribs lightly to try and work out some of the pain. The cloth was by no means smooth, and my claws accidentally stuck into it as I rubbed it making me spend two whole minutes trying to dislodge my paw without undoing the bandages. Finally freeing myself I sighed and carefully put my saddlebags on before turning back to the earth pony that was once again reading on the couch. “I thought you said we needed to hurry,” I deadpanned, as I looked him over. “That was when I thought you would practically be crawling there. For somepony with nerve damage in their paws you are doing remarkably well,” he replied as he put the book he was reading in his already ready saddlebags and strapped them on as well. He was right, I hadn’t expected to be up and moving about as easily as I was when I couldn’t even feel two of my limbs. Grabbing things was still extremely difficult, and I doubt I would be able to catch a ball for a long while, but movement was coming back to me really quickly. “That is probably because of how amazing I am,” I said as I approached the door. I could practically see him rolling his eyes behind me as I opened the door. “Sure, just keep telling yourself that.” We exited the room for the last time with all of our supplies and belongings in tow. We walked down the short corridor to the set of stairs leading into the lobby, and were soon in front of the checkout desk. I told the pony working the desk that we would be taking off, and made to pay for the extra days we had spent in the room, but he waved me off. Apparently, heroes don’t have to pay for a room. “Well that was nice of him,” Deciduous remarked as we exited the building. The streets were bustling with ponies making repairs to all the damage that had been caused by the monster’s attack. Shacks and tents were set up along the road for ponies to sleep in while they were rebuilding, and more than one of the colorful equines could be seen scaling a building to repair roof damage. The sound of hammering and sawing filled the town and mixed well with the hurrying of the ponies running back and forth quickly working to rebuild after the disaster. The fire had been swiftly put out after the snake had finally been taken down and dragged off. Apparently during the entire battle the ponies were already working hard to put out the blaze and save any from the flames. Slightly more than a dozen had died in the fire and discounting the dozen or so that the snake had eaten or killed the death toll was actually not very high. It seemed that ponies living this close to the frontier had at least some experience in dealing with disasters. “Yea, I am sure he is making absolutely no profit from all the now homeless ponies that are staying at the inn, a regular Mother Teresa.” “Who?” he asked confused. “Don’t worry about it. How long do we have until the train arrives?” At that moment a large bell went off somewhere in the town, and chimed three times as if the universe just wanted to be convenient. “Well it’s three now so we have another hour until it gets here,” Deciduous replied. “What are we going to do until then?” “We still need to find Scarlet,” I said looking around, paying particular attention to the sky. “Hey Vixen, I think I see her,” Deciduous said bringing my attention back to the ground. “Where?” “She is right there walking over to us with a smile.” He pointed to the red mare that was standing not ten feet away. Touché convenient universe, it is about time that I got some good luck. “Hey Scarlet, we were just looking for you,” I said as I approached her with my own somewhat smaller smile. She had on the bags that I had seen her wearing before, which kept her cutie mark obscured. It occurred to me that I had never actually seen what it was. She had her bottles strapped around her frame with a Final Fantasy level of belts. “That’s crazy I was looking for you too,” she said coming to a stop in front of me. “I heard you got out of the hospital.” “Yea, just this morning. I was hoping to find you before we headed off on the next train out of town to give you the thousand bits.” I reached around in my saddlebags for the bag that I had put aside earlier before it hit me that it would be impossible for me to find it with that method. I craned my neck back and pulled the bag out with my teeth before tossing it to the mare that easily caught it. “Well it looks like I’m leaving with you then doesn’t it,” she said as she tossed the bag into her bags. “You really don’t have to do that,” I replied. I wasn’t just trying to be polite, I really didn’t want to add another companion to my list. Sure Scarlet seemed like a pretty cool mare, and was probably a great drinking buddy, but I was still trying to be inconspicuous and if my party kept growing that would be harder and harder to do. “I thought we already went over this. I can at least stick around until you make it to Las Pegasus right? Come on it’s the least I can do,” she said as she continued to smile at me without a single worry in the world. “…Fine,” I finally relented, “but only until we get to Las Pegasus I don’t want to be taking you out of your way or anything.” She laughed for a moment before turning back to me. “My guild is stationed out of Las Pegasus so I was heading there anyways. These days there are plenty of monster running around Equestria that need hunting so it is easy enough for me to just tag along.” Something prodding me in the side hit me the wrong was causing me to yelp before turning to look at Deciduous who had just poked me in the ribs. “Oh sorry, I completely forgot. I was going to tell you that we need to get to the train station and make sure that we arrive on time. I know you don’t want to stick around here longer than you need to.” I stopped myself from growling at him and reigned in my emotions. He hadn’t meant to cause me pain so I could forgive him for it. “Okay, let get going then.” With that the three of us set out for the train station so that we could get out of this small destroyed town that had brought me so much pain.
ExcursionWe had arrived at the station a few minutes before the train, which gave me time to admire it as it pulled in. I hadn’t taken the time to admire it before, but the actual train yard was very large; far larger than the one booth I had thought it to be previously. Several tracks lay empty in anticipation for the train to arrive and deposit its cargo while other cars, which appeared to be for passengers, sat waiting to be connected to the engine. A whistle blaring farther down the track brought me from my observations and back to the sight of the steam engine slowing to a stop in one of the empty lanes. The massive steam engine pulled dozens of boxcars into the stop at Rubyton, and allowed at least a hundred ponies to exit before we were allowed to board. The ponies getting off the train took a look at the destruction of the town before forming into groups and heading off to help. Several crates were offloaded from one of the front cars as well as several tons of steel from one of the other cars as well. Those carrying supplies were unhooked from the front engine after it pulled them into a stop and moved out once more to connect with the passenger cars. Once the passenger cars were in place the train moved once more to the terminal where we had been waiting for nearly an hour. Seeing these ponies work with machinery really brought back a feeling of nostalgia for me, which I bitterly suppressed. I had been down that line of thought before and it only ended with me feeling depressed and pitying myself. I was only going to think about the future from now on, and finding a way to get out of the terrible situation I was in. The train pulled to a stop once more in front of us, and several of the ponies that had also been waiting along with us picked up their luggage in anticipation of boarding. The only things that we had were already strapped to us so we continued to laze about as the conductor took his sweet time to open the doors for passage. The ponies crowding around the doors stood there for ten minutes before the doors finally opened and they filled in excitedly. It seemed that more than one pony was leaving the town after the devastation that it had seen, but if the ponies coming off the train were anything to go by then plenty were moving in to fill their places. Once all of the ponies clambering to get onto the train were out of the way I slowly made my way to stand. My side was still aching and it was the worst whenever I was getting up or sitting down, but the pain wasn’t unbearable. They had only kept me on morphine for the first couple of days, and luckily it seemed that I hadn’t become addicted to the stuff even though it was the most fantastic drug I have ever been on. My weight shifting caused the many bits I had in my bag to jingle slightly, but since I had taken the time to stack them and tie them up earlier it wasn’t very audible. We calmly walked to the pony that was standing near the door and Deciduous flashed him our tickets. He directed us to the back of the train where the personal cars were, and Deciduous thanked him before he started ushering us to the back. We arrived at a very large and very pink care near the end of the train before we climbed into the private car that we had. Deciduous had explained to me earlier that he went ahead and got us our own car since he thought that I was going to be far more incapacitated then I apparently was. The car itself was overly large and had both its own bathroom and dining sections. It dwarfed the small room we had been staying at in town, easily being three times as large, and was full furnished with very expensive looking furniture. It had two couches that sat opposite each other with a really nice coffee table in between them, which held a chessboard on it. There was a fully stocked bar against the opposite wall that had numerous amounts of alcohol, which I would no doubt get wasted on during our little excursion. Checking the bathroom told me that it was indeed fully furnished with both a giant bathtub and a separate glass paneled shower. A big king sized bed sat against the back wall near the end of the car, which I called for myself by tossing my bags onto. I hopped up onto the bed and began to stretch out once more as I admired the plush feel of the mattress. Lying there I felt so light I could imagine that I was actually on a cloud just floating about in the breeze. Did they make beds out of clouds in Equestria? They had to right since Rainbow Dash lived in a cloud house meaning that she wouldn’t be able to have actual furniture. Unless they had cloud furniture or something. “Hey Scarlet, what do pegasi use for tables in their houses?” I asked as my curiosity started to get the best of me. “Do you mean like in a cloud house or something?” she replied as she laid out on one of the couches. “Yea, because like if you had normal tables or something it would fall through the floor right?” “Well most pegasi I know get all of their furniture enchanted so it can be on clouds. Some unicorns will do that for you for free, but there is a real business in it. Other than that you can just make a table out of cloud if you really wanted. Apparently, there are some unicorns out there that can make clouds act like solid objects but not lose any of their softness,” she answered as she stared off into space. “Why do you ask?” “Because this bed is so awesome,” I replied as I popped my back. I had never really been able to pop my back very well back on Earth, but with this body it was all too easy. “If you two girls are done gabbing I would like to go over our plan,” Deciduous interrupted as he sat on the other couch and tossed his bags aside. I huffed and rolled onto my side to stare at him. He pulled out a book from his saddlebags and set it on the table in front of him before he too sat back in the couch. We all sat there in silence for a while before I finally decided to break it. “The plan is pretty simple isn’t it? We take the train to Las Pegasus and then drop you off at your folk’s place. Scarlet goes back to her guild, whatever that is, and I go off to do something else.” I laid there a few minutes longer before it struck me that I really needed to think of something to do after we arrived at the city. Scarlet hummed to herself for a few seconds before saying, “Yea what Vixen said sounds like a good plan.” “So that’s it we just get to Las Pegasus and go our separate ways?” Deciduous asked incredulously. “I guess so,” I said before reaching out and grabbing a pillow. I pulled it under my head and began to drift off. “I’m kinda tired so I think I will be taking a nap, wake me if something interesting happens.” As I started to drift off the train car lurched forwards as the engine rumbled to life and started to pull us along the tracks. I took another sip of my drink as I thought over what my next move would be. I was currently sitting opposite Scarlet as we played a particularly difficult game of chess. I had actually been pretty surprised when she asked if I wanted to play a game; chess just didn’t seem like something that she would be interested in. After being absolutely trounced in the first game I started to take the games seriously and now we were tied up at three to three. We had decided to break out the scotch after the fourth game, which had been an endeavor in and of itself. I knew that I had lost a good amount of dexterity after being turned into a creature with no opposable thumbs and then even more when my forelimbs had become permanently numb, but I didn’t think that picking up a glass would be so damn difficult. Plenty of the no doubt expensive booze had been spilled on the floor, but after several attempts I had finally managed a system to drink it without incident. Ever seen a raccoon hold something with its paws? Yea, it kinda looked a lot like that. I set the now empty glass back on the table and motioned for Scarlet to fill it while I looked back over the board. She was heavily favoring her knights, which was something that I usually tended to do. I had taken her first by sacrificing a bishop, which would normally been seen as a mistake, and the second by threatening her queen. However, she had then used that queen to take my only remaining bishop and a rook before I had forced her back. All of her pieces were off of her back line save for the king, which was the only opening that I had in order to take this game. She had just moved her queen into line with her bishop to prevent me from taking it unless I wanted to sacrifice my already dwindling pieces. Deciding that it was now or never I pushed my queen forwards across the board to her second line and took out a pawn. Her king wasn’t in check, but she was going to need to do something about it soon. “Attacking with your Queen huh,” she said with a smile. “I think I will do the same,” she moved her queen from its safe position behind her bishop to my back line. “Check.” The move was actually a pretty good one if it hadn’t been exactly what I was hoping for. By putting me in check she alleviated the pressure that I might have had on my queen, and just maybe meant that she had forgotten about it. Using a castle I saved my king from pressure and put my rook in the way of her queen. My knight was poised to take her queen if she so much as dared to take my rook, which would no doubt force her out. “Alright,” she said as she moved her queen back to its previous position, “I guess I will try something else.” I smiled as my plan came to fruition and shot my rook across the board all the way to her backline, a hole that I had been trying to make all game. “Checkmate.” She stared down at the board for a minute with her mouth agape, trying to find an error I had made that would lead to her escape, but there was none. She picked up her drink and downed it before she knocked over her king with her other hoof. “Good game,” she said after finishing her scotch. “You know I didn’t really peg you as a chess player.” She put down the shot-glass and refilled both of our drinks before sitting back on the couch. I arched an eyebrow and sat back myself. “To be honest I didn’t take you for one either, no offense,” I quickly added. “None taken, I know I come off as kind of a brute sometimes but I love the game. A friend of mine taught me to play a long time ago, and I just immediately fell in love with it. It helps me work out my problems you know?” She took a light sip from her drink. “Yea I know what you mean. I used to play all the time with some of my friends, but we all stopped playing for some reason or another. Now a days when I want to clear my mind and just think I turn to painting.” I clumsily picked up my own glass and took a shallow drink. “So what is this guild thing that you are going to in Las Pegasus?” I asked. I knew the concept of guilds from the brief amount I had been taught about medieval culture back in highschool, but never really knew anything about what one actually does or how hers operates. Equestria has to be the strangest place that I have ever been, and that is discounting that everyone is a colorful equine. The culture seems to be some bizarre mix of the eighteenth century and the twenty-first. I am sure that any history nut that found themselves here would have a field day. “Just your basic monster hunter’s guild. We aren’t really that big but the guild leader has a lot of pull with some of the aristocracy, and he knows everyone from everywhere. The headquarters is in Las Pegasus, and they have housing there for all of the members and it’s also where we hold all guild meetings. You also have to head back there if you want to pick up any missions, which is why I need to head back since my last one ended up being kind of a bust.” She laughed and finished her drink. “Sorry about that by the way. I didn’t know at the time that you were actually hunting the thing.” She waved off my apology as it left my mouth. “Don’t worry about it. After seeing the snake in action I know that there is no way I could have taken it on my own. Did you see what my bombs were doing to it? Absolutely nothing, yea I would have been pretty screwed if I tried to fight it solo but luckily I had The Blue Flame on my side.” “The what?” I asked before I finished my own drink. “Yea, that is what the ponies were calling you back in town. I had thrown in my two bits for Vicious Vixen, but they had shot that down immediately. I guess they didn’t want their town hero to be known as vicious,” she said with a laugh. She picked up the bottle once again and poured herself a drink before offering me more, which I declined. “They have titled me now.” I sighed and stretched out on the couch. The train continued to rumble along the tracks below, but the ride was incredibly smooth. I had never actually ridden on a train before so I had nothing to compare it to, but it had been a really enjoyable ride so far. “Ponies like to give things titles; it is just the way we are. The Blue Flame is actually pretty cool if you ask me, but I could understand if you wouldn’t like it. Having a title isn’t that bad actually, it definitely helps to increase your cred which is pretty big in my line of work.” She sat back once more and sipped her drink for a moment before gasping. “You should totally join my guild.” I could just imagine a chat window opening in front of my face with the words ‘Scarlet has invited you to join her guild’ written in a nice font. The only question was do I accept or decline. True, I didn’t really have any aspirations for the future, and having someone vouch for me would be an easy way of getting into a seemingly prestigious monster-hunting guild, but did I really want to do that. I was supposed to be figuring out a way of winning this whole game that I was now thrust into, so would becoming some kind of monster hunter aide in that goal. “I don’t know I never really thought about being a monster hunter actually. What do you really do outside of fighting big baddies and getting paid?” I reclined back on the couch and listened to her speak as I stared at the ceiling. “Well first of all it isn’t always about fighting monsters. The name seems to imply that, but we also do some other kind of jobs. Being a monster hunter is pretty much just like being a mercenary that specializes in one thing. Other than that you pretty much just travel around the world doing whatever job you get before coming back to the base or back home for a rest before you set off again. The life isn’t for everyone, but it is certainly exciting and you get to see a lot of places,” she finished as she opted to do away with her glass and started drinking straight from the bottle. So it was essentially just mercenary work, which was a concept that I was pretty familiar with. I would get to travel all around the world, and seeing as how I was completely new to this world that sounded like something I would like to do. I would be constantly fighting against monsters and the like, which would mean that I would constantly be getting stronger, and that could only help me for this game in the long run. I had to admit that running around the world hunting down monsters and getting paid for it actually seemed like an awesome job that I immediately wanted to do. “I will think about it,” I said noncommittally. The train car darkened for a minute as we entered a tunnel and the sunlight that had been streaming in through the windows was cut out. Luckily, there were electric light on the inside of the train cars that allowed us to see in the darkness of the tunnel. “You really should,” she agreed as she took another swig from the bottle. “What is the name of your guild by the way?” I asked. “Crow’s Legion,” she declared proudly. Just then all the lights in the car went out bathing us in darkness. We just sat there in silence for a few moments as the train continued to rumble along the rails. “Well that is a cool name, what does it mean?” The darkness continued to surround us, but it didn’t really bother me too much. “Well, Black Crow is the leader of the guild so it kind of comes from that,” she replied through the blackness, and I could hear the liquid inside the scotch bottle swish back and forth as she took another drink. The lights in the cars turned back on a moment later suddenly, and caused me to suddenly close my eyes shut as they had been adjusting to the darkness just seconds before. A scream in one of the neighboring cars pulled my attention away from my own bleary vision and to the excitement going on not too far away. “Well that sounded ominous,” I said as I lazily rolled off the couch and onto my feet. Scarlet also stood from where she was sitting although she did so much more shakily then I did. “I guess we should check it out,” she said as she slowly walked to the door that separated our car from the connecting hallways beyond. Scarlet was a nice change of pace from Deciduous, if he had been in the car with me he no doubt would have been off racing towards the trouble as soon as we heard the scream. I slowly walked behind her as she opened the car door and walked out into the narrow hallways that ran along the length of the passenger cars. We walked for a while before coming to a door that a lot of ponies were crowding around including a familiar green earth pony stallion. “What is going on?” I asked as we neared, and caused Deciduous to look back at us. “I don’t know I just got here, and I can’t see anything from here,” he grumbled. I looked over the crowd for a while before deciding that if I came all this way I might as well see what all of the fuss was about. Using my size I began to edge the nosy ponies out of the way and cleared a path for us to walk along. “Out of the way, important persons coming through. You, mare in the pink, move along there is nothing to see here.” If you act like you know what you are doing and show off your confidence you would be surprised at how much you could get away with. We finally pushed past all of the ponies crowding around and into the train car that everything was going on in. It was a private car that looked exactly like the one we had been staying in for the past few hours; it even had the exact same furniture. The only remarkable difference was the dead stallion on the floor with a knife in his back, and the crying mare talking to the two ponies in the corner. The mare looked positively distraught at the death of whoever this poor guy was, and the two ponies that I were either royal guards or some kind of police officers wore stoic expressionless faces. Deciduous looked downright sorrowful at the apparent murder that had taken place on the train we were on. Scarlet on the other hand only looked marginally pensive, but was no doubt upset that this had occurred. I however, was as giddy as a schoolgirl at the events that were apparently unfolding on this train ride that just got way more interesting.
ProgressionSomething was wrong. The images were flashing before me; coming at me, but that was the reverse of what should have been happening. They flashed before my three eyes at dizzying speeds, pulling me onwards towards that I couldn’t fathom and what I already knew. I was pulled along, my own will forgotten long ago if I ever had it towards a destination I knew not. Figures stood around me and I among them. Unmoving, save for then the hand or claw would dip below the darkness above and give a simple nudge. Some tried to take their motion into their own whim, but were mocked by those above for such ignorance. The tiled ground under my stone paws showed the dichotomy that plagued those upon the board; a never moving equilibrium, the one thing that could not be changed but would always swing to and fro of its own accord. The hand came for me as well, long fingers tipped in blood moving me ever so gently onto the path that was set long ago, but never to be revealed. I stood once the fingers, that crushed me with every light stroke, let go of my broken form on a space of grey, constantly in flux but never changed. The one before me blocked my way and I moved of my own will towards it, the hand above pushing me along against my protestations. The stone ahead gave way to marble, the piece dark and black though the grey still held it firmly. We clashed, a battle that lasted a mere second but would forever alter the path, creating a past that chose my future no matter how I struggled. It fell before me, the only thing that could have possibly come, the crimson nails guiding my every move watching over my every action. The path ahead, checkered and drowning in red, showed those that stood in my way. They flew above and crawled below me, while I could do not but remain upon the ground. The red seeped from them as their lives slowly bled way before their eyes, though they remained blind. They continued to move, each step taking them closer and closer to the end, for better or worse they did not know yet still they move; those above guiding the unending course to its fruition. I stopped seeing the sea of red pour out before my eyes, not wanting to go forwards any more, and the fingers that dug into me allowed my respite. There, still ahead on the path, stood another figure poised to block me, but another to intercept. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The ground gave way to a field of death that stunk with the life of those that poured onto it in their fervor. A new hand of fire and brimstone loomed up before me and I was not deterred. I moved now free of the finger’s motivation, alongside dead giants that marched to battle with faces of stone. Their eyes pierced the smog around us and their breath cleared away the risen that would oppose our righteousness. The hands erased the paths behind, but none dared turn back to watch, knowing our destination to be ahead whether it was the final one or just another door that needed to be passed through. The radiance we shared gathered all colors of the spectrum against the mounting black that loomed ahead, my own contribution being of a somewhat muted chromatic origin, but adding and strengthening the collective all the same. We fought long and hard against the enemy whose face could not be known, not for its etherealness but rather the consequences that such knowledge bore. I gazed upon such a fearsome sight with my giants around me and we screamed our fury into the beast. The voices around began to die as the others scream cried out over us, a single pitch that murdered all life be it small or large. We fell, one by one, but were not beaten as we continued our march of the damned to the end. The world muted by the death of the colors; the snow fell upon us though it carried the color of our vanquished enemy. The sky above, the same crimson as the hand that had guided me thus far, wept and we shared its tears. The clouds above forever changed by the ballads played and the moon… The moon… “Hey Vixen, wake up.” I heard as I began to ascend out of the darkness of sleep. It had been a long time since I had been shaken awake, and I had almost forgotten the feeling. What I hadn’t forgotten however was the extreme annoyance that soon followed being shaken awake by someone else. “What!” I snapped, as my eyes flew open momentarily before being shut against the blinding rays of the sun that filtered into through the open windows. The pony that had been near my face just a second before jumped back, startled by my sudden outburst. “You said to wake you up if you weren’t awake already by ten,” Deciduous explained and I immediately regretted snapping at him like I had. I opened my eyes once more to see that I was still in the train car, and the meadows outside were sweeping past us at a rapid pace. The wind blew into our car at a much more relaxed speed and filled the room with a cool breeze. I blinked a few times, clearing the rest of the sleep from my mind as I yawned and started to stretch. I made it all the way to the third pop of my spine before something caught the stitch in my side and sent me sprawling back onto the bed. I had forgotten that my ribs were still healing, and apparently aggravated them. “Sorry about that, Deci,” I apologized. “I guess I just didn’t get much beauty rest.” I caught the phrase just after it left my mouth and had to resist the overwhelming urge to facepalm, which I failed to do. Luckily it just seemed that my companion was taking the gesture as me trying to wake up. “You look pretty tired,” he agreed. “Do you want me to put off the interview until later so you can get some more sleep?” Everything that happened yesterday started to come back to me gradually. Just before we were about to bed down for the night we had discovered that High Born’s wife, High Class, was a passenger aboard the train. I had rushed off and managed to catch Diligence just before she was also heading off to bed and asked her to arrange an interview with the mare for ten-thirty today. Just in case I didn’t wake up on time I had asked Deciduous to wake me up just before I headed off to bed myself. It was strange that I hadn’t woken up earlier with how relatively early I had gone to sleep. I hopped down from the plush bed that I had shared with Scarlet the night before to find the pegasus nowhere to be found. I padded over to the bathroom and started to groom my matted and out of place fur with a brush that could easily be attached to either a hoof or paw. “No it’s fine, just need to get ready for when our guest arrives,” I said as I brushed my fur. Sure it wasn’t overly masculine to care so much about my hair, but it was really the only feature I had much control over, and if I was going to be stuck in a body that I didn’t particularly like then at least I was going to look good. It only took a few minutes to get everything where it was supposed to go, and soon I was standing before the mirror feeling fully awake. I unstrapped the brush and tossed it onto the counter before walking back into the main room. “Where is Scarlet by the way?” I asked, looking around for the mare that wasn’t to be found. “Said something about stretching her wings. I think she went flying around outside,” he replied with a shrug. Glancing over at the analog clock sitting atop the bar in our room I was able to see we still had ten minutes before High Class was supposed to get here. “What’s to eat?” I asked, walking over to the covered dish that sat on the table beside the chessboard. I grabbed the lid and lifted it off just as Deciduous was making his reply, “Vegetable soup,” he said cheerily. I looked down at the red soup in front of me with a clear frown. Sure I had nothing against vegetable soup, sometimes I even enjoyed it if I had some cornbread on hand, but how was I supposed to eat it? I put down the lid with a sigh and sat at the table. With nothing better to do than try I picked up the spoon with my paw, which in and of itself was incredibly difficult. I dipped the spoon into the soup and tried lifting it to my mouth before I could lose my grip. The awkward movement, and my terrible hold on the eating utensil, caused it to fall onto the table in front of me and spill its contents on the expensive looking furniture. With another hefty sigh I stood and walked away, “Wasn’t that hungry anyways.” Deciduous flinched at seeing my struggles, “If you want I could…” I cut him off immediately, “I am not going to let you feed me,” I deadpanned. He blushed and looked away. “I was actually going to say that I could go and see if they have anything else to eat. You know, something that doesn’t require forks or spoons.” I thought it over for a moment, it would help alot if I wasn’t so hungry. “Wait until after we have our meeting with Miss High Class, I need my stenographer around for it after all.” Just as I finished speaking an almost inaudible knock came from the door to my right. I glanced back at the clock and noted that it was only ten twenty-three. “Seven minutes early, how nice of her.” I promptly made my way to the door and pushed down on the handle that kept it shut. It opened to my will to reveal a very lithe white unicorn mare with an equally white mane waiting to be let in. “Miss High Class, I assume,” I said, stepping aside to allow her entry. She pranced in gracefully, dipping her head to me in greeting as she passed, and made her way towards the couches without a word. I looked her over thoroughly before following her. She had to be the thinnest and maybe tallest pony I had ever come across so far; she had a physique that could put Fluer De Lis to shame. Her mane and tail were both almost completely white aside from a single streak of crimson that ran through them. She also appeared much younger than I had originally expected, she was maybe in her late twenties at the most. Seeing as how this was the wife of the victim’s older brother she had to be a trophy wife. Maybe even a second or third one after a few divorces. The cutie mark she bore was a crescent moon eclipsing the sun. She wore no clothes like I had expected her too, seeing how both Expensive Taste and Pleasant View had been wearing them. I guess I had come to see wearing clothes as a sort of status symbol. I followed her to the couches and sat in my usual seat that I had during all of the interviews. I silently motioned for Deciduous to take up his usual spot as well, and he did so without complaint. We sat there looking each other over for a long while before she finally decided to break the silence. “That is a beautiful coat you have,” she said with a soft smile. I looked a while into her amber eyes before smiling myself and extending a paw in greeting. “The name is Vixen, and it is a pleasure to meet you. I assume you know why I have asked you to come here today.” She took the paw with a hoof of her own and returned the greeting. “High Class, and yes I think I do. I heard about what happened to Expensive and feel just awful about it. He was my brother-in-law you know, so I assume you are contacting the family members.” With our formal greeting concluded I sat back in the couch and stared disdainfully at the bowl of soup that had beaten me just a few minutes ago. “I will be frank as I believe you to be the type of mare that appreciates that. At this point in time you are a suspect for this, and I need to interview you.” She also glanced at the bowl of soup for a moment before sitting back as well. “I had thought as much. I will tell you right now that I didn’t do this, but you of course cannot take my word for it. And yes, I am a mare that appreciates frankness so I shall speak plainly with you as well.” I found myself immediately liking this mare, despite the lead we had on her. “It’s like there’s two of them,” I heard Deciduous whisper from my side, though I ignored the comment. “Let us begin with your relation to the victim then. You said you are related through marriage so tell me more about that.” For some reason I found myself feeling more like a therapist than someone trying to solve a murder. “Yes well, Expensive Taste and I are related through marriage. I am married to his older brother High Born. We have not interacted very much on a personal level, though I have always admired his professionalism and his drive,” she answered immediately. “I assume you know about Expensive being poised to take over as the new head of the family. We have it from a reliable source that your husband wasn’t very enthusiastic about this.” She smiled at that. “If by reliable source you mean Pleasant View, and if by not very enthusiastic you mean fuming mad. My husband kicked up quite a storm about not being chosen to be the next head. You probably think this means that I acted on his behalf and did away with his brother. I can assure you nothing is farther from the truth. I was actually pleasantly surprised that High Born would not be taking over as head of the family. “I love my husband dearly, but his talents aren’t suited for running a family and taking care off all of its interests. No, Born is a natural socialite whose abilities are better suited for mingling with other aristocrats and exchanging favors. With Expensive as head of the household the family would no doubt have grown even stronger, his natural business sense would have made all of us prosper. This no doubt is what his uncle had thought when he left the position to him. I could also do without the pay cut.” This was some new information, if she was to be believed then she would have no personal reason to take out Expensive Taste. Of course if she was lying, then none of this could be believed. “Explain that last remark if you would.” “Oh do you not know? The head of the house, and as a general rule for all nobles, are not allowed to work. If High Born had been made head of the household then we would of course have access to the estate’s funds but those are watched over closely. I would no longer be able to head up any of the charities I watch over or anything else for that matter. The life of a noble just sounds absolutely dreadful to me, but it looks like that is what lies ahead. Once you have uncovered the true culprit behind this I will have to meet once more with my husband who is now bound to take the head of the household,” she said with a sigh. Either she was a terrific actress, which I had not really seen from a pony thus far, or she was being completely sincere. Every word that I heard from her seemed genuinely authentic, which put me on guard. I am not very used to dealing with those that tell the honest truth despite being under scrutiny. “I have to say that you take me a bit off my guard,” I replied honestly. “Your sincerity is refreshing, but I still have to hold you as a suspect for the time being.” “As expected,” she said immediately. “I do have to say that I hope you didn’t commit this crime, but of course I have to deal in facts here. Where were you when the lights went out yesterday evening?” Man I really wish I had something to sip from right now. “I was in my private car reading when the lights went out all of a sudden. I continued to sit there for some time waiting for them to come back on. When they did I heard a scream, which I now know was Pleasant View and continued to stay within the safety of my car.” “So in other words you have no one to corroborate your alibi.” I pointedly stated. “Yes, that would be correct,” she replied simply. I hummed to myself as I thought over the facts. Everything would just about line up if she had been the one to do it, but I wasn’t inclined to believe she had. Something about her was off, and I just didn’t peg her for this. If she was a very good liar though she would make the perfect suspect. There was just not enough to go on currently, I needed to look for some real clues. We needed some concrete evidence. “Take me through everything you did yesterday.” I commanded politely, hoping that she would either trip up or expose something that would clear her. She tapped a hoof to her chin for a moment before replying; “I woke up in the morning promptly at seven like I do everyday. I had breakfast in the dining car before returning to my room to read from a new novel I had acquired the day before. I returned to the dining car for lunch and finished the book there. That evening I was busy reading the next one in the saga when the lights went out and the murder took place. After a few more hours of staying in my room I left once more to the dining car to have a quiet dinner and catch up on some paperwork. After a few hours of that I returned once more to my private car to sleep. Aside from the lights going out it was a fairly dull day.” I once again thought over her story. She didn’t meet with anyone much, but I could possibly get some information from the waiting staff on her behavior before and after Expensive’s death. A slight variation in how she was behaving could signify something important or nothing at all, but it would be best to check. Aside from that, finding the things stolen from Expensive would go a long way to helping figure all of this out. I continued to sit there thinking for a long while as she waited patiently. I figured that being an aristocrat might entail a lot of waiting. “I don’t think I have any other questions for you today,” I said as I stood and motioned her to do the same. “Make sure to keep a clear schedule until we have this case all wrapped up.” She stood also and walked gracefully beside me until we had reached the door. Her horn lit up in the same red that ran through her hair and the door opened before us. “I will make sure to do so,” she said as she exited into the hall before turning to me once more. “Good luck in your endeavor, Miss Vixen.” With that she left and slowly walked down the hall to where I could only assume her private car was. I turned back to Deciduous who was putting away his pen and paper. I would need to spend some time tonight going over all the interviews that I had conducted thus far. “Come on Deciduous, let’s go check out that dining car,” I called to him, beckoning him to step outside with me. “I am famished.”
ClueWe sat at the table in the dining car, enjoying the breadsticks that were given out complimentary. Well, it would have been enjoyable if several ponies weren’t giving me the stink eye when they thought I wasn’t looking. I get that I am a huge canine, but does that make me less of a person? I sighed and turned back to the delicious starch filled treats in front of me before looking at Deciduous. He had thought it prudent to bring the interview papers along so he could look over them as we ate. Unfortunately, he had written them in high equestrian and only realized just now that I would be unable to read them. The single waiter that seemed to man the car was making his rounds at another table, which left us plenty of time to theorize as to who Expensive Taste’s killer was. “You picking up any clues in there, Deci?” I asked as I plopped another breadstick in my mouth. I hadn’t really realized how incredibly hungry I was until we had gotten here. “Nothing yet. I don’t think I am very good at this at all,” he admitted, putting the papers aside to take a sip from his water. “Have you ever read a mystery novel?” I asked. Since apparently there weren’t any televisions in Equestria that would have to be the second closest thing. “A few,” he sheepishly admitted. “Well then forget everything about that then. Real crime is usually not planned out very well, and occurs in a passion. Ninety percent of the time the one you suspect the most is usually who did it.” Thank you cop shows. “So were you really a detective back where you came from.” He seemed to genuinely believe that I might not have been lying about that. “Of course not. If you have picked up anything about me so far it should be that lying and carrying a façade of importance will get you most anywhere right?” I smiled and took a sip from my own water as he rolled his eyes. “Why would I even ask,” he muttered. “I don’t know.” I relaxed where I was sitting, apparently pony seats wouldn’t work so well for me so I had to use the floor, which I didn’t really mind. I was insanely scared however that someone was going to step on my tail as they passed behind me though. The approach of hoofsteps caused me to tuck it around me and look over to the waiter that was finally coming back to our table. He was a grey unicorn stallion of average build wearing a simple black jacket. “What can I get you two?” he asked, looking us over quickly. Fortunately, he seemed completely professional and didn’t have his gaze linger on me longer than he did Deciduous. “I will have a daisy sandwich,” Deciduous answered, passing his menu to the waiter. “The same for me, except hold the daisies and add tomatoes or some other vegetables.” I also handed my menu to him but held onto it a moment longer. “I was hoping to ask you some questions if you wouldn’t mind.” He kept his hoof on the menu waiting for me to release it as he looked back at me, “I don’t really have time right now ma’am. As you can see we do not have a lot of waiting staff on hoof.” “Which is exactly why I would like to talk to you. You have no doubt heard about the horrid murder that took place in one of the private cars yesterday?” He shuddered at my mention of it, which was all the conformation that I needed. “I am investigating the death and I need to speak with the wait staff here about it.” I let go of the menu allowing him to take it. He waited a little, longer looking me over. “Let me put these orders in and tell my boss. When I come back with your meals I will be happy to answer any questions.” With that he turned away and left Deciduous and I alone once again. “How are you so good at that?” Deciduous asked, pulling my attention back to him. “At what?” I replied, genuinely not understanding what he was getting at. “Just confronting others and telling them what to do. If you weren’t really a detective then how come you are so at ease and confident faking to be one?” I contemplated his question for a long moment. It was true that I had absolutely zero experience handling the kind of situation that I now found myself in. Back home I hadn’t ever been the kind of person to take charge so readily, I was more of the reluctant participant who would step up into the role if there was absolutely no one else to fill it. I had always known that I had an affinity for lying and deceit, but I had never employed it to often. But now that I was here, in a world and a body that was not my own I guess I felt like an outsider who could manipulate the environment however I wanted. Was this the reason I was chosen, because I would just take this new life and do whatever I felt like with it? Because I would lie and cheat in order to get whatever I wanted? Is that why a goddess of victory would scoop me up so readily to be her champion in a game that I still didn’t know the rules of? Would this drive that seemed central to my being by what she would count on in order to win. What she would count on to drive me to kill off the competitors. “Vixen?” I refocused my eyes and pulled them away from the window that I was staring out of. “Are you okay?” Deciduous was looking at me with some amount of concern, I must have zoned out for longer than I had meant to. “Perfectly fine, and to answer your question, it just comes naturally to me. Maybe lying is my special talent.” “What would a lying cutie mark even look like?” he pondered aloud. “I imagine it would look like a lawyers briefcase,” I joked. Unfortunately, it seemed like my attempt at humor had been lost on him. Luckily, it was that exact moment that our waiter decided to return to the table. Apparently sandwiches don’t take that long to make, who knew? He set the plates down in front of us, Deciduous having his daisy sandwich and my own being a wild assortment of vegetables. No I wasn’t overly fond of eating tomatoes and bread for lunch, but ponies are vegetarian so I couldn’t exactly ask for a BLT. That was when it hit me that I should have just gotten a grilled cheese. Once he finished serving us he pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table as well. I pushed the sandwich away and motioned for Deciduous to do the same. He immediately understood and gathered a sheet of blank paper as well as his quill so that he could record the conversation. The waiter seemed nervous, more so than I would expect an innocent person to be, but then again he was about to be questioned by a large carnivore. “State your name please,” I began, trying to be amicable so that I could put him at ease. “Timely Service.” Of course it was. “Were you working a shift yesterday, Timely Service?” “Yes ma’am, I worked a twelve hour shift yesterday,” he replied instantly. “Can you tell me if you saw anything odd while working your shift yesterday?” I probably should have asked this to the others, but it had slipped my mind. “Not especially no.” “Can you recall a mare eating in the dining car yesterday by the name of High Class. She is a tall thin white unicorn mare with a white and red mane.” “Yes, I remember serving her all of her meals yesterday,” he said with a nod. Good at least this means she wasn’t lying about coming to the dining car yesterday. “Can you tell me what your impression of her was?” “Well, she was very quiet and kept mostly to herself. She complimented me on how quickly I brought each of her meals and tipped very well. Why do you want to know about her?” “No reason for you to be concerned about. Can you tell me what you thought of her demeanor as the day progressed? Were there and significant changes?” It didn’t looked like we were going to get a lot here. “Not really no, she sat quietly like I said and ate her meals in peace.” I sighed and dismissed the waiter to go back to his duties. Interviewing the rest of the wait staff would likely be an effort in futility. As I had surmised earlier, if High Born had killed Expensive Taste then she was an excellent actress and wouldn’t have let her façade fall around other ponies. Of course if she was also innocent then there would be no reason for her to have acted differently around the wait staff, so either way they were all going to say that she didn’t do anything out of the normal. If I was going to find some clue that would give me the answer to the identity of the murderer then I would need to have a thorough look around the train. Maybe my untrained eyes could catch something that the guards had missed. The biggest thing I could still not get over was that whoever had committed this crime had managed to shut out the lights in order to use the cover of darkness. The problem with this was that they would not only have had to shut out the lights along the entirety of the train, but also make there way back to the car, struggle with Expensive Taste, kill him, and then make a clean getaway. The more I played it over and over in my head it seemed improbable. Of course Equestria had magic so it would make perfect sense if it had been a unicorn and they had teleported to the car to commit the murder. For that reason it would have made perfect sense for High Born to have been the culprit. Although, I would be remiss to overlook the likelihood of there being more than one killer. It would have been all too easy for one person to kill the lights while the other carried out the deed. Hell, that was probably the more likely scenario than a unicorn teleporting. For a tag team group, the only ponies that came to mind were the two guards that had arrived quickly at the scene, though I couldn’t think of a reason for them to have done it aside from getting paid by someone. In the end there was only really one pony aboard the train with any motive that I could think of and that was High Born, though I still didn’t think that she had done it. Maybe I was letting my personal feelings get in the way of what the facts were pointing to, but I didn’t really care at the time. I decided to put off my thoughts a little longer and turned back to the sandwich that was before me. I picked up my meal and bit into it and was pleasantly surprised at how well prepared it was. I wasn’t sure exactly what they had used to substitute the daisies, but it was blended perfectly with whatever sauce they were using. I quickly ate the sandwich with my brain working in the background, trying to figure out something that I was missing. It didn’t take long for me finish and stand from the table. Deciduous who had finished his own sandwich long before me stood as well; collecting the various papers that he had been looking over as he did so. I dropped a few bits on the table as a tip and immediately started back towards our car. The main passenger cars were located towards the front of the train while the private ones were at the back. There was an engine attached to the back of the train to pull it in the other direction in case it was needed, and that was where the conductor I had spoken with was. The car with all of the electrical equipment in it that kept everything running was just behind that engine car. The dining car was in the middle of the train, separating the first class and coach. I guess that way none of the elite had to rub elbows with the riff raff. We exited the dining car and started along the hallways that lined the private cars. One thing that was most certainly not first class was the state of the floors. I don’t think that I have ever seen a hallway with so much grime along the bottom of it. There wasn’t a single clean spot along the entire way as we headed towards the electrical car. Once we arrived at the giant wall of circuits I asked Deciduous to go retrieve the conductor, which he did without a word. We all stood in front of the electrical circuits for a while before the elderly stallion finally broke the silence. “Why did you call me here?” he sounded a little more aggravated than curious. “Can you tell me how all of this works?” I asked, without looking back. “Nope,” came his immediate reply. I think I heard Deciduous snicker a bit behind my back. “Can’t or won’t?” I asked. “Won’t, to tell you how all of this worked would take up way too much of my time. Why don’t you ask me something simpler so I can answer you and be on my way.” Well at least he was upfront about it. I looked back over the dozens of flashing lights and knobs that stood before me. It really seemed that this entire thing was as complex as an 80’s supercomputer, and since I had no idea how even one of those worked I wasn’t going to figure this out anytime soon. Might as well put off the investigation into Equestrian technology until later. “What happened to this machine that caused the lights to go out?” I asked after a moment. “Well that is quite simple,” he said, stepping forwards so I could see him for the first time during this meeting. “If you look here you will see the fuses that keep the lights along the entire train on.” He motioned to a set of switched along the side of one of the panels. “What happened is pretty simple, they all turned off. It was a simple matter for me to walk back here, feel around and flip all of them back on.” It sounded simple enough; I know that I have had to flip the circuit breaker more than once. I continued looking over all of the paneling a while more, and something suddenly jumped out at me. I had been so preoccupied with all of the electronics that I hadn’t really paid attention to anything else but now that I looked up a little more there was a faint bit of red that was sticking out to me. Mainly, what appeared to be blood smeared on the corner of an air vent. “Was that there before?” I asked, motioning to the air vent and the blood that was coating the cover. The conductor followed my gaze to the vent and his eyes went wide, “No, that is the first time that I am seeing it.” “We need to get that open then,” I stated as I stepped forwards to do just that. The bolts that held the vent in place weren’t screwed on that tight, but I couldn’t get a grip on them with my apparently useless front paws. “Let an earth pony handle that,” Deciduous said, stepping forwards and easily twisting the bolts off of the vent cover. I was amazed at how easily he did it, but then again when your dexterity is nil it is easy to be amazed by things. He finished unfastening it and pulled the cover off. I immediately was in front of the vent as he put the cover aside and found that there were two items hidden away inside. The first of which was the golden pocket watch that had been stolen from Expensive Taste’s corpse. The two initials that were engraved into the piece were a dead giveaway of that. The far more interesting item though was the bloodied handkerchief that the pocket watch rested on. I grabbed the watch and tossed it to Deciduous before taking a hold of one of the clean corners of the handkerchief and pulling it out of the vent. I had it up in front of my face to give it a close inspection, but that wasn’t really necessary. The corner that I held onto had a half moon eclipsing the sun, and the other had the initials HB. It didn’t take a genius to figure out whom this bloody garment belonged to. I now had some very strong physical evidence pointing to High Born for committing this murder.
RevelationIt had been a pretty simple matter of giving the found evidence to the guards, and having both the conductor and Deciduous corroborate my story, for the guards to immediately take High Class into custody on suspicion of murder. I stood outside of her private car watching as she was walked out, a silver ring clasped around her horn. I guessed that it was probably placed there in order to stop her from using any magic to get away. She didn’t have anything around her hooves though that I assumed ponies had to ping them. Odd that they didn’t seem to carry those around just in case, or were they being more gentle with her for some reason? She didn’t try to get away however, which had been the smart move on her side since I doubted she would be able to get away from the two guards. There were several other ponies looking on as she was led through the hallway back to the guard car where she was going to be confined for the remainder of the trip. For some reason there even seemed to be a reporter among the rabble, taking pictures of the mare as she was led away in shame. She didn’t beg them to let her go or scream her innocence like I had expected her to do. No, she held her head high and walked with the same grace I had seen her posses previously. As she passed my small section of the hallway her eyes moved from their constant looking ahead to gaze at me. I could swear there was a pleading sadness in those eyes. What was she… “Check.” I blinked as I came from the memory and back to the current moment. How many turns had I played without paying much attention? Apparently enough to allow Scarlet an easy check. I moved back to block with a rook; the move would be a sacrifice, one I wouldn’t have had to make if I had been paying attention, but that seemed to be a big problem of mine. Scarlet moved her bishop and captured my rook, which I then took with a pawn. She used her queen to take that pawn, putting me in check once more though this time I was free to move my king away unimpeded. “Are you okay?” she asked as she captured another pawn with the queen. I took a pawn with one of my knights in an attempt to bait her queen. “Just a lot on my mind,” I replied, before frowning as she didn’t fall for it; electing instead to claim another pawn and squeeze me into a corner. “Still thinking about what happened with High Class? That was days ago. Check.” She shot a rook across the board to put me in check once again and put me on my back line. I moved a bishop in the way of her check so I wouldn’t be herded quite yet. “I still have a bad feeling about the whole thing. The times just don’t add up, and my gut is telling me that she didn’t do it. Can’t really put my paw on why though.” She took the bishop and succeeded in pushing me onto the back line. “Well if there is one thing that I have learned in my line of work it is to listen to your gut. Facts and evidence are great, but intuition is also incredibly valuable.” She moved her queen forwards, locking me into the corner “Checkmate.” I sighed and dethroned my king. Maybe she was right, and I should take a second look into it. I don’t think I would be feeling any better for a while if I didn’t exhaust all options. Maybe, I just needed to get myself out of this room I had been in for days now, and wander about the train a little bit. Taking a walk could usually do wonders for clearing the head. Scarlet allowed me to sit and think for a while as she began to reset the board. I hadn’t been able to beat her a single time all day, my mind was just not in the game and it was causing my play to suffer. She glanced up at me with a smirk as I stood from the couch and began to walk away. “Running away from a little chess match?” she asked, the smirk on her face almost taunting me into taking a seat and trying again. “No, I just need to clear my head. The games have been distracting, but I think I need to do some proper thinking. I will be back before dinner.” I made it to the door before her calling out caused me pause. “We will be arriving at our stop before Las Pegasus today, we will probably catch something to eat there in a few hours.” I nodded to her in acknowledgement before leaving the car and closing the door behind me. The grime of the floor greeted me immediately and made me cringe. I wasn’t usually a person that was so against getting dirty every now and then, but would it really kill the janitor or whatever they had on a train to mop the floor for once. This was just ridiculous. I padded down the hallway trying to organize my thoughts. There were certain tracks that did play out logically for High Class to have been the one to do it. She was a unicorn and like I had theorized earlier, she could have teleported to the room once the lights were out. She wouldn’t have used magic in the room because it would have given her away. Why return to the vent and hide the things though? That was the one thing that got me. We are on a moving train, it would have been easy to just toss everything off the side of the train and no one would ever know. She had chosen to hide them though which seemed like an incredibly mistake on her part. If she really did do it then she was pretty smart and an amazing actor to no even act shaken up by committing this murder, would such a person be clumsy enough to leave behind so much evidence. The handkerchief was proven to be hers and the blood on it was proven to be the victims. A couple of handy spells had figured out that much, so it was very concrete evidence against her. She was also the only one that seemed to have any motive to commit this murder in the first place, which was another strike against her. All the evidence seemed to point in that direction so was I just being delusional? Was I just being stubborn and not looking at the facts correctly because I just so happened to like the mare? I had only met her once anyways so did it even make sense for me to avoid facts because I just so happened to like her on a personal level. Was there some sort of attraction that I was feeling for the mare somehow? I stopped for a moment in the middle of the hallway at that thought. I had wandered so far in my musings that I didn’t really even know where I was any more, but that last thought took all of my concentration that I wasn’t even able to give a close inspection to it. Did I somehow feel attracted to her? After a moment of consideration I came to the conclusion that no, I didn’t have that kind of attraction to High Class. I just happened to like her on a personal level and felt enjoyment to be around her. She would probably make a great friend were it not for her being accused of murder and the lead suspect in the case. I turned my thoughts once again back to the situation at hand. All of the facts that we had did really point to her being the culprit, and there wasn’t anything that I could really do to change facts. If it wasn’t actually her that had done it then that means that the handkerchief was planted. Someone had known that we would figure her for this and had helped us along in the process. By throwing that one piece of evidence into suspicion it called into question the entire investigation. If the real culprit, assuming High Class didn’t actually do it, had planted that evidence for us to find then they must have known a good deal about the victim in the first place. I came to a half open almost boxcar inhabited by a single pegasus and stopped in my tracks. The car itself was painfully simple, just a wooden structure with a desk that had a few papers lying atop of it. The open side gave me a good view of the landscape we were traveling by as the train sped forwards. I shook my head to clear my mind of my observations and in the end decided not to try and continue thinking about the case anymore. I had been thinking these same thoughts over and over for the past few days and they didn’t really get me anywhere. I was just stuck in this repeating cycle of reasoning and I had nothing new to help break me from it. Maybe I should just give up on High Class and go with what the evidence was saying. My rational side was screaming at me to just drop it and get on with my life, but my irrational side wanted me to keep digging and try to find something more. “Are you okay miss?” I heard a voice ask from in front of me. I looked up to see the pegasus that I had just recently brushed off without a second glance looking at me intently. He was big for a pony, almost as big as myself and both his mane and coat color were purple. I couldn’t get a good look at his cutie mark from this vantage, but the most surprising thing about him was that he didn’t look a bit scared of wary of me at all. I decided to address this issue as bluntly as possible. “You aren’t cowering. Why aren’t you cowering?” He laughed off my statement and actually slapped his knee with a hoof. “Now that’s a good one coming from the fox that saved Rubyton singlehoofedly. And now she is running about the train putting murderers behind bars and she asks why I ain’t scared of her. You are a funny one Mrs. Vixen.” I am not really sure why that irritated me so much but it did. I thought I was supposed to be intimidating, but here this pony was laughing at the thought because I had a little bit of reputation. How had he even heard about the Rubyton thing, and how in the hell did he think I did that all by myself. I was laid up in the hospital for a week and permanently crippled from that fight. I let out a long tired sigh; I wasn’t quite in the mood to get into an argument with this yokel. “So what’s your name?” “Name’s Stream ma’am. I fly this leg of the track.” He replied with a salute. Why was he saluting me? “Fly? Doesn’t the train do all the traveling for us?” He gave another laugh. Have you ever heard Goofy laugh in any animated show or movie? Yea, it sounded almost exactly like that, and it grated my sanity. “I’m the messenger pegasus for this leg of the track. I take the messages that need to be sent out and the next day the next pegasus flies to the train with any letters that need to be delivered. It’s a pretty cushy job if you know what you are doin.” He gestured to a stack of papers that were laid out on a table. Having nothing to do I walked over to the table and started reading through the mail, I had expected him to stop me immediately but he just continued to stand there with an oblivious smile plastered on his face. “So tell me Stream, do you carry a lot of important messages back and forth?” I read over what looked like a plain expense report. Not really the kind of urgent message that I would have thought needed to be ferried back and forth. He nodded immediately “Sure do, one time I even carried a letter for Princess Celestia herself.” I tossed aside another bill, why does the mail always seem to be bills. “Oh really? What was it about?” A coupon for a horn enhancer. Wow. “I didn’t read it. It had the royal seal on it so I wasn’t supposed to,” he replied, speaking of seals I finally found something that might be interesting, it was also sealed with some sort of symbol. Of course I opened it immediately and read it over, it was a lot of numbers and figures so it took me awhile to get a grasp on it. “So you aren’t supposed to read the mail?” I asked, to which he gave me a nod. “It’s against the rules.” So I guess he didn’t think the rules applied to me. Since I am not an Equestrian citizen do they actually apply to me? I wish I paid more attention in Government, because then I might actually know the answer. This bit of paper was actually pretty interesting. Sure it was a lot of numbers and figures, mostly bit amounts, but I did like math back in school. “So what are you doing when you aren’t carrying messages back and forth?” I asked. “Oh a little bit of this or a little bit of that. I actually live in Cloudsdale most of the time and have to commute out to get to the trains. They don’t have a lot of trains up in the clouds you see so most of the pegasi in my job live on the ground. Not me though, nope I live in good ole…” I stopped his rambling with a raised paw. “Wait, this is really important.” I had come across something on this spreadsheet that had jumped out to me. Could this be right? Was this just really sitting around here waiting to be read? I rushed out of the room without another thought, I had to get the others to look at this. I faintly heard the pegasus calling out behind me “Miss, you aren’t supposed to take that.”
ChaseWhen I finally made it back to our car I threw the door wide before hurrying inside. I was actually surprised that my breath wasn’t very heavy, had I been back in my old human body then I would be hunched over after having sprinted all the way here from the other car that I had found the paper in. Decidious and Scarlet both stopped whatever they had just been doing to look at me in surprise. Deciduous had a spoonful of some kind of soup held in his grasp and his mouth was still open, whereas Scarlet was holding a magazine of some kind and peering at me over the top of it. “I figured out everything!” I exclaimed before ducking back out and heading towards the guard car. Behind me I caught wind of an exasperated sigh and a metal object clattering against porcelain. Good it looked like they were going to follow me. The guard car wasn’t actually very far from our own, only about three of four doors down towards the dining car. I saw the door up ahead and spurred myself into a sprint once again in my excitement before throwing this door open as well. Admittedly, that wasn’t exactly the best move. Both of the guard ponies that had been napping inside were in my face in an instant, moving to pin down the intruder. I barely had time to move out of the way before Stern Hoof, the one that had taken a personal dislike to me, barreled through the open doorway. He rolled back to his hooves and crouched low one more in what looked like him getting ready for a strike. I caught movement from his back hoof just before everything stopped. I once again found myself unable to breath, and was very disturbed. It seemed that I had gone into this strange time stop ability on reflex again. I continued to hold my breath as I looked the pony over, his back hooves we pointed to me and a few inches off of the ground at this point. It was obvious that he was aiming to kick me straight on, were guards supposed to strike out without assessing threats first? I coiled the muscles in my own legs, being very careful not to actually move before letting out my breath and jumping back simultaneously. The fur was blown from my face as the two hooves whipped past me. “Hold on, hold on. It’s just me,” I said as I took a few more steps backwards. Stern Hoof stopped for a moment before turning around to face me, a scowl evident on his face. Diligence chose that time to take a step from the doorway and look at me too, she did not look very happy either. “What business do you have throwing the door to our car open,” Stern nearly shouted as he took a few steps forwards. I looked between the two guard ponies for a few seconds before straightening myself up to my full height and staring him down. “I was going to tell you about how you arrested the wrong pony and now the real killer will be getting away once we stop in the next town, but now I don’t know if I want to,” I huffed. Now Diligence decided that she too should step forwards, “Wait, what do you mean by that?” she asked. I produced the paper that I had at some point taken the time to tuck into my saddlebags, and handed it to her. She looked the paper over for several seconds before looking back up to me with a blank expression. “What is this supposed to be?” she asked once more. I sighed and rolled my eyes as I pushed past the two and back into their private car. The guard car was admittedly much smaller than my own had been, but was still decently sized considering that there was a mini-jail in the far corner of the room. High Class sat alone in the cell with chains now around her hooves and that silver ring still on her horn. “I had spent so much time trying to figure out why she would have possibly done it or tried to hide the evidence of her doing it on the train. The only real piece of concrete evidence we have had in this entire case was the handkerchief with her initials on it,” as I spoke the two guard also followed me into the room and High Class looked up at me from her cell. Good, now I had an audience. “I thought we had been over that already,” Stern retorted, “she killed him so that her husband could be the new head of the house.” I spun quickly to face him “Wrong, High Class only had an empty titles to gain from that. She is the head of many charities and would have to give up that position were she to become part of the aristocracy.” Now Diligence decided to add her input “But we still have her handkerchief with the victims blood on it.” “Yes, but High Class isn’t the one that put it there. She was framed by the real killer.” I had honestly expected a gasp, but unfortunately received none. “If it wasn’t her then who was it?” Stern asked. “Pleasant View.” “What!” this time it was High Class gasping from her jail cell. Stern shot her a look and she immediately settled back down. “Yes Pleasant View is the real killer behind this entire plot. The timeline just didn’t make sense to me at all, how did High Class here turn out the lights, make her way to the car in the darkness, kill the stallion, and then make her getaway before the lights came back on? Then it suddenly came to me, she didn’t because she couldn’t have. The only thing that we have really marking the time of the victims death was the scream from Pleasant View that established the beginning of the known timeline. “That scream happened because she wanted us to come to the private car. The first thing she did was kill her husband, and make it look like a robbery before she made her way to the back of the train and cut the lights. Once that was done she hurried back to her car and waited for the lights to come back on so that she could scream.” “Wait, wait, wait,” Diligence cut in before I could continue. “Where does the handkerchief and the pocket watch come in then?” I smiled back at her “I was just about to get to that. If you haven’t noticed the floors of the train are not cleaned on a regular basis, or at least they haven’t been cleaned for as long as we have been here. How could High Class have possibly made it all the way back to the end of the train before cleaning her hooves of blood without leaving a single print on the floor? For that matter why would she even do it? She could have just cleaned her hooves and chucked all the evidence off the side of the train if she wanted. “No those two pieces were planted by the same pony that gave us the High Class lead in the first place, none other than Pleasant View herself. Once we had caught on that this was no regular robbery and interviewed her she pointed me at High Class for the number one suspect. At some point she snuck away once again and planted the evidence in a place she knew we would look. It is the only thing that makes sense.” I had seen reveals like this on cop shows before, and was a little disappointed that I didn’t actually have Pleasant View here for it. Stern decided that it was his turn to speak once more “Okay, lets say all of this crap you are trying to shovel us is true. Why would she do it? She was about to become a member of the aristocracy along with her husband, and she never worked a day in her life. What reason could she possibly have to kill her husband when she was about to get this big break?” And finally we were getting to the crescendo, with a smirk I replied in a single word, “Money.” “Money?” he parroted. “Yes, one of the oldest and truest reasons for murder. Motive was the hardest thing about this case, and once I finally figured out hers all the pieces fell into place. She had to kill her husband before he could actually become the head of the household and step down from CEO of his company. Diligence if you would be so kind could you take a look once more and tell me just how much Pleasant View will be collecting from the company’s life insurance policy on her husband?” The mare looked over the paper a few more times before her eyes went wide “Five hundred thousand bits!” she exclaimed. “Exactly, if he had succeeded in stepping down from the company she would get nothing. The mare married early to a rich bachelor who was only going up in the world. After he would have become the head of the house he wouldn’t have nearly as much money for her to blow all over town, only being able to use the families money for family things.” Stern looked back and forth between me and High Class who sat silently in the cell behind me a few times before letting out a long sigh, “I hate to say it but…this all make perfect sense.” Diligence turned her eyes from the paper to her partner “You believe her Stern?” Stern put off answering to walk over to the cell instead and unlock it. “Yes, I believe her and have to admit that I had been feeling something off about this whole thing from the start. I couldn’t exactly put my hoof on what was wrong, but she hit the nail on the head and is right. Everything just seemed to fall into place just now.” He unlocked the door of the jail and started undoing the chains that were on High Class’ hooves. I was actually pretty shocked by Stern Hoof being so level headed about this now since he had seemed like a pretty big asshole the entire time I had known him. Admittedly, that had only been a few days and that is usually not nearly long enough to get to know someone, but still, this was a new side of him. I actually found myself smiling as the last of the restraints fell away from High Class. My ears flicked towards the sound of approaching hooves, I still felt extremely unsettled whenever that happened, and a few seconds later Scarlet and Deciduous were looking through the doorway at all of us in the room. “What did we miss?” Scarlet asked. “Nothing, things are just about to get interesting.” When we finally found Pleasant View she was eating alone in the dining car. We made out our way into the car with myself at the head of the entourage, which was a hard one battle in and of itself since Stern Hoof really wanted to take lead. Behind me were the two guards and behind them were my two companions, Scarlet let out a bored yawn as we reached our destination while Deciduous looked to still be going over everything I had just told him a few minutes prior. High Class had even opted to join us in our search though she mostly kept to herself at the back of our little pack. Pleasant View noticed us as soon as we entered the car, probably due to the not so subtle way I had of opening doors, and dropped what she was eating immediately. She was halfway across the car staring at us with side eyes as all six pairs of our own locked onto her immediately, I think it was about then that I realized we were kind of giving ourselves away here. It seemed that Pleasant realized the same thing and bolted for the door on the other side of the car, and what happened next was the most ridiculous accidental dog pile that it has ever been my displeasure of being part of. As soon as the mare ran from her table I tried to immediately take off after her like any person impersonating a police professional would, but tripped over a bag on the floor that I wasn’t able to feel due to my numb paws. Stern has been just behind me and tried to take off at the same time only to trip over me and fall atop my lithe form. Diligence met the same fate as her partner and soon I was crushed beneath the two guard, who by the way were clad in that heavy looking (and feeling) golden armor that you see them wearing in the show. Next up in this display of pure incompetence was Scarlet who was walking to the front of the group laughing her ass off. “You guys look like such idiots,” she managed to choke out between her fit of laughter…she never saw the banana peel coming. It was incredibly acrobatic of her to somehow slip into the air sideways and land square atop Diligence. Crack I let out a literal howl of pain as I felt one of my ribs crack from the combined weight being put on them. They had been mending so well too. At the actual sign of me being in pain the whole stupid fiasco seemed to end and the three ponies quickly hurried and got off of me, apologizing profusely all the while, except for Stern of course who maintained that it was my fault in the first place. I unsteadily made my way back to my paws and looked back at the bandages around my chest, they were still in place and I could still walk, though breathing would be difficult for a little bit. “Okay let’s get her,” I said as I started to walk towards the door that Pleasant had fled through what seemed like five minutes ago. My pace proved to be too slow for the two guards that raced ahead of me and through the door before I was even halfway across the room, but I didn’t let that deter me. I was actually in a chase on a train, and I wasn’t going to let something like a broken rib stop that. Scarlet and Deciduous kept pace with me, the former still apologizing and the later looking at me with worry evident on his face. I was not exactly sure where High Class had decided to run off to, but she was now gone. We reached the door, which opened into an open air railing that connected the dining car to the coach set of cars, just in time to see the two guards taking off down the long corridor in front of us. I was about to follow them but was stopped by Deciduous by tapping my shoulder. “Vixen look at this?” he said pointing to a horseshoe that was lying under a ladder that led up onto the top of the train. I looked between the two for a couple of seconds before it dawned on me what he was implying, and I felt my face pull into a large smile despite the good amount of pain I was in. “Alright,” Scarlet butted in, “I will just fly up there and…” “Scarlet,” I swiftly cut her off while doing my best attempt at big puppy dog eyes “just…just…okay?” She looked at me long and hard “You are hurt even more now and it would be easy for me to just...” “Oh my gosh can you just be cool, once, please. Just once. Can you just once be cool? Once. Please.” There wasn’t really a valid response she could even make to that other than just to look at me with that deadpanned stare she was giving me. I took that as all the permission I was going to get and immediately started ascending the ladder. It was incredibly difficult to do, and I am still not even sure why ponies build ladders in the first place when they have to do this with hooves, but just a little while later I was looking over the top of the dining car at the tracks behind us. Just a couple more seconds after that I was all the way on top of the train and admiring the view. I didn’t see Pleasant View down that side of the train so I turned around to look the other way, but was swiftly laid low as the blinding pain hit me. “Oh god my eyes! My eyes are on fire!” I covered said eyes with a paw, which allowed me momentary respite from all of the dirt that was being blown into them at the speed of a train. I peeked out momentarily from behind my paw to see Pleasant galloping down that end of the train. After having come this far I wasn’t going to let a little something like potential eye damage stop me. I took a few steps back while angling my head down to help shield my eyes before getting a running start and jumping across the gap. Apparently the gravel in the eye had helped me forget the pain in my ribcage and I quickly took off after the mare that was still trying to escape. I was faster than her by a good bit and quickly started closing the gap as we raced atop the train cars. I felt like I was in the train scene of my favorite Indiana Jones movie, except that there were no deadly animals in each car trying to kill me. The mare arrived at the front of the train and came to a stop just as I landed on the car behind her. “Give it up Pleasant, we figured it all out and you running from the guard pretty much sealed your fate. Now come along peacefully and nopony has to get hurt,” I said as I started to inch towards her. She spun around to face me as soon as I started talking, slowly moving to one side of the train. “You don’t understand, I could never have been an aristocrat, not really. I am an earth pony for Celestia’s sake, the unicorn nobles would never allow it.” She kept moving slowly to the left side of the train, it was at that time I realized that we happened to be traveling along a mountainside and how bad this situation might turn. “You don’t have to tell me I know how ponies can be, but you need to come with me now,” I said, trying to calm her down. “I can’t go to prison, I won’t! I’ve heard what happens to mares in prison, I won’t let that happen to me.” She put a hoof over the side of the train car. “Now just hold on let’s talk about this. Don’t do anything crazy now,” I urged, taking a step forwards. “Stay back!” she screamed, causing me to freeze. “Look Pleasant, you killed your husband so you are going to prison, but we can probably get you protection from those kinds of things.” I took another hesitant step towards the mare. She looked back at me as I tried to make my slow approach with big sorrowful eyes. If I hadn’t known better I would have guessed that she was actually sorry for what she did, but I did know better. She had killed her husband in cold blood and made his death look elaborate so there was little chance that she would actually feel remorse over this. Still, she did look sad, and she continued to look at me sadly as she jumped over the edge. “No!”
ArrivalA few beads of sweat rolled down the plastic mask that was covering most of my face, and fell to the blue tarp beneath me. The back of my gloved hand wiped my brow clean for a moment before returning to the bottle of spray paint and giving it a vigorous shaking. The mask was both uncomfortable and made the air smell of plastic, but suffering momentary discomfort was a lot better than the brain damage I was liable to get if I chose not to wear it. The space around me was filled with tiny particles of paint that were already slowly turning my old clothes various shades of the rainbow. The masking tape hissed as I pulled it from the poster board; leaving a clear white border for the painting that I had just finished creating. I slipped off my thoroughly soaked latex gloves and tossed them in the trash pile I had next to me. The skin of my hands immediately expanded and began to drink in the cool air around them before sighing in relief. I gently grabbed both edges of the poster board, and held it before me, as my knees remained rooted on the harsh concrete. I studied my creation, and felt a small bit of pride well up inside me before it was crushed by my noticing an error. The picture of a planet far out in space surrounded by a meteor shower was marred by the unnatural looking rocks of the landscape surrounding the scene. Failing once again to inscribe a realistic portrayal of a barren wasteland, I sighed and set aside the painting next to two others that I had finished today. The compulsion to mark my work never failed strike me, so I picked up a pen that lay near me and scribbled my initials into the still drying paint. The pen clacked as it once again found itself on the tarp, and I reached over to another piece of poster board and began to tape it down. Another pair of gloves were soon restricting blood flow to my phalanges as I let my mind wander for a moment. My parents had strictly forbid me to do any of my painting in the house because the fumes would get trapped in the air, and could lead to possible death or start a fire. I was wise enough at this age to trust my dad on the matter so every time I wanted to create something with my own two hands I would have to carry all of my supplies through the house to the back porch where I would then need to set it up. I pulled my Ipod out of my pocket to search for a song that might bring me inspiration. A short time later I had eventually settled on listening to some Evanescence; Amy Lee could inspire me any day. With the perfect song found I looked around the yard to begin gathering my thoughts. The simple sight of suburbia stared back at me as my eyes traced over the decent sized lot of a yard we owned. The piano entrance began to play, and I began to softly sing as the opening verse started. I've been looking in the mirror for so long. That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side. All the little pieces falling, shatter. Shards of me, Too sharp to put back together. Too small to matter, But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces. The yard would have been completely uniform like all the others were it not for the steep slope that began halfway out. Something about the limestone beneath the ground that caused the unique depression that none of our neighbors had to put up with. My knee popped as I leaned on a hand to remove some of the pressure they had to put up with. I feared that if I didn't find a better way to sit while I was outside painting I would end up with arthritis by forty, not that I was anywhere close to being that old. If I try to touch her, And I bleed, I bleed, And I breathe, I breathe no more. The ball in the can of red paint I was holding smacked against the aluminum casing several times before I lowered the can, and sprayed a massive red circle on it. After filling up almost the entirety of the canvas I began to cover the red circle with yellow before setting aside that color also. Lastly, I took a very dark purple and placed a couple of patches over the yellow. Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirits well. Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child. Lie to me, Convince me that I've been sick forever. And all of this, Will make sense when I get better. Satisfied that I had the layout of the new planet I was trying to make, I set the paint back down and picked up a few pieces of newspaper I would be using next. The papers crunched in my hands as I compacted them before pulling them straight once more to study the various lines that they now had. I set them on the board, and allowed them to soak up small amounts of the still wet paint. Once every space of the unborn planet had a paper on it they were peeled away to reveal the surface that would become my new red planet. But I know the difference, Between myself and my reflection. I just can't help but to wonder, Which of us do you love. It had worked just like I had planed, and I now stood down at the crude shape of a sulfuric planet with vast oceans of lava, and small settlements of purple colonies. Smiling behind my mask, I grabbed my largest circular pan that I had set aside, and covered as much of the paint spot I could. I started to fill in every piece of white that stilled existed on the board with a deep black paint. So I bleed, I bleed, And I breathe, I breathe no... Once finished I put aside the black, and picked up the blue, and with my trusty clipboard created a star which would cast its illumination on my red planet. After exchanging the blue for white the middle finger of my right hand was soon coated in quickly drying white paint,and daintily, I began to flick the paint onto the black canvas to imitate the stars, which would stand out in deep space. The process was repeated a few more times before the white was set aside, and the pan was lifted from the poster board. Bleed, I bleed, And I breathe, I breathe, I breathe- I breathe no more. It had taken a while, but over the months I had nearly perfected a technique for placing down and lifting the pan, which created the planet’s outline, without leaving any smudges in the wet paint. Before me sat a magnificent red planet, which matched the small amount of pride I allowed myself. Over the months of me carrying out this newfound passion, the heavenly body that I had just made was probably my best. The pan was set aside, and once again I had the black paint in hand so that I could finish. Carefully, I shaded in the plant on the side opposite the star to give the picture more depth. My frown was hidden behind my mask as I accidentally used too much paint in the shading and essentially destroyed all of my hard work. I sighed, and set aside my materials as I signed the poster board and pulled up the tape. I had been so close to finally not messing anything up. The four paintings that had been put aside stared up at me approvingly as I began to pack everything into the old laundry basket that I used to hold it all. The over two dozen cans of paint and various utensils somehow fit into the basket, but only just barely. Once finished I took the basket off of the tarp which I also started to fold it up. Once the tarp was also resting atop the rest of my supplies I finally breathed a sigh of relief as my mask was tossed on top of the pile. My breath slowly escaped me as I watched the clouds overhead drift quickly across the sky in the strong autumn breeze. I was unable to spot any dark cumuli overhead so there was little chance my materials would be rained on as I was inside taking a much needed shower. Although, you know what they say about the weather in Texas; if you don’t like it wait ten minutes. I fought the decision for a few seconds before tossing my latest set of latex gloves in the small trash can that had been brought outside. I turned and climbed the few steps that led into the house. Two dogs were immediately at my heels as I opened the door, but with experience I had gained from years of handling the animals blocked them from running outside, and managed to squeeze the door shut behind me. They continued to jump around me as I kicked my shoes off and made my way to the upstairs bathroom. I grabbed a towel from the closet and rushed into the bathroom, locking them outside in the process. Schnauzers were great pets to have, but sometimes they just needed to understand personal boundaries. First checking behind the curtain to make sure that there weren’t psychopaths that would leap out at me, I turned on the shower, and began to undress. Showering was always an activity I did quickly since I didn’t really see the point in wasting time while bathing. Unlike most people the act of showering always left me drowsy, and after turning off the water and drying myself I thought it would be a good idea to take a well deserved nap. With a towel wrapped around my waist I left my clothes on the bathroom floor and groggily stumbled to my room. The telltale sound of plastic bags meeting tile downstairs along with the yappy barks of my dogs told me that my parents had just returned from their outing as I had been showering. I could practically see my mother’s worried expression as she tried to keep them away from the fried chicken she had likely brought home. I quickly stepped into my room, and dressed in my usual loose nighttime attire. I wasn’t likely to be going anywhere for the rest of the day so it was fine for me to walk around the house in my pajamas. I considered taking a moment to check FiMFiction.net to see if any of the stories I was tracking had updated today, but when I turned to look at my bed I could just hear its siren song beckoning me, so I decided to put it off until later. The pleasant whooshing sound of the air being let out of my mattress greeted me as I flopped onto my bed, causing one of my pillows to roll off onto the floor. I was a big guy, and I was glad that my bed at least was made for a man of my size. I wasn’t big in the way of being pudgy, but more in the way of a six-two guy that when you saw you stepped out of his way. Thanks to the physique that I had inherited from my dad I was able to pull off my abrasive anti-social personality without becoming the target of the school punks. Once you head butt the leader of the group and knock him out with a swift knee to the face the rest tend to leave you alone. That was a glorious day indeed. After reaching over the side of the bed, I quickly brought the pillow beneath my chin to rest my head. The memory foam cradled me perfectly and I quickly found myself drifting off. The weightless of sleep began to take hold, and I was soon in the sweet abyss of the subconscious. The vast whiteness around me was stark, but had nothing to contrast too in the great empty expanse. I had the idea to train myself to become lucid while in my dreams after seeing the matrix for the first time, and place I now stood in greatly resembled the loading area that they used in the movie. I quickly found my focus locking onto a lone figure that was slowly making its way towards me. As she got closer I was able to make her out in greater detail, and what I saw was amazing. She was a tall woman, and when I say tall I mean like seven feet tall. She was wearing several pieces of plate armor, which showed way too much skin between them. Her hair was long and black, which hung down over her shoulders and across her chest. In essence, she was my dream babe. “Hello, sexy,” I said as I sat in the opulent throne that my mind had just conjured. Sometimes I loved my brain for giving me these small bits of happiness. She finally stopped walking when she was about five feet away, and suddenly the world around me shifted from an endless white expanse to a dark castle. The change in scenery was confusing for a moment, but I quickly shrugged it off. Dreams, after all, were supposed to be strange. “State your name,” she commanded in a stern voice that held just a small amount of passion. I liked my women to be in charge. “Maximilian,” the stones of the room shuddered for a moment before coming back to rest, “but you can call me Big Poppa.” I often found it was best to vent any misogynistic feelings during REM sleep. They could get you into real trouble out in the real world. “Maximilian, I have come here with a proposal.” “Oh?” My eyebrow once again found itself in the upright and locked position. “Yes, would you like to take a trip?” Even though I knew she was just a figment of my imagination she was surprisingly good at hiding her emotions, though I doubt she actually had any. “Where to, my little black rose?” Thank god she wasn’t real. She waved her hand and a hole in space opened before us. The deep blackness before me seemed to stretch on into infinity. I would probably need to actually create a world beyond the portal before anything would show up. “That is for me to know and you to find out.” she smirked. “You are a coy one aren’t you?” I wore a smirk of my own. “I would be delighted to take you to places unknown.” I stood from my seat and walked over to the swirling black vortex. I concentrated on it for a moment, and it became the town of Ponyville. So she wanted to take a trip with me to Equestria? Hadn't been the first time I had gone there during a dream. “Oh I won't be going,” she deadpanned. “Well then what was the point of this?” I turned back to look at the hole in front of me. The picture began to shift and started to rapidly change across a huge variety of landscapes. Suddenly the tear in space turned back to a simple picture of the abyss with a small light shining off far in the distance. If I squinted just right I could almost make it out. Something push me from behind, and soon found myself falling through the blackness as I sailed headfirst into the hole in space-time. The sound of a girlish scream echoed around me as I fell into oblivion. The angry red light continued to strike my unopen eyes prompting me to relent and see what exactly had happened. The blinding light of the sun burned into my retinas forcing me to shield them. I felt around with my free arm, and soon came to realize that I was lying on my back in the dirt. My stomach meeting the dry landscape below me caused me to let out a groan. I could have sworn that I was on a boat as the barren landscape around me tilted one way and then the other, and I momentarily managed to stop myself from puking. I opened my eyes again, this time making sure that I was staring down at the ground before doing so. The harsh red dirt stung my nostrils as I took a deep breath of air so I pulled away quickly before I could choke on it. I pushed myself onto all fours, and tried to shake the drowsiness off of me. A small prick of pain lanced through my lip, and I tried to investigate the cause of my newest pain. As I raised my right arm to inspect my lip I came to the stark realization that I no longer had an arm. Held before me was a dark black paw, and further down the limb the fur changed to a very nice white color. A smile graced my lips as I waved the paw back in forth in front of my face. This was certainly a strange dream. I have had dreams of being other people before, but never of being a different kind of animal before. Merely judging by what the paw that I held before me looked like I was willing to bet that I was some kind of fox. A quick look behind myself to my big bushy tail was enough to confirm this. “Very interesting.” I gave words to the various thoughts that spun around in my head. The voice that came from my mouth was definitely not my own, it was far too feminine. My eyes widened in surprise as I heard my words reached my ears, and I soon found myself looking down between my hind legs. Yep, I was definitely no longer male. Now this had officially become the strangest dream that I have ever had. The gender swap was quickly placed at the back of my mind since it could be reversed at any time, and I began to look over the rest of my body. I couldn’t see myself from the third person view, which I usually watched my dreams from so I had to pull one of my long ears down to get a good look at it. I am not exactly sure how I was able to do this with my paw, but i somehow managed. I prodded my teeth a little and found that instead of the usual two canines I now had an entire mouth full. Running a paw along my smooth white fur felt really good. The hair was so smooth and straight that I almost couldn't believe I was dreaming this all up. Deciding that I had wasted too much time just sitting out here in what appeared to be a barren desert, I closed my eyes and willed the scenery to change to that of a more suitable environment for what I could assume was a snow fox. While I had my eyes closed I also decided to change my sex back to that of a male. My eyes opened once again to the familiar sight of a sun beaten desert. I sighed, and tried to will the world around me to change again, but was met by disappointment once more. A small pang of panic started to make itself known as I tried to change anything about the environment around me. The wind blew by and kicked sand up into my face as it did so. I shielded my eyes against the buffet of rock particles with a paw, but accidentally hit myself in the eye as I did so. The pain wasn’t that great and rubbed away with the same offending appendage before the realization of what I had done came crashing down on me like a ton of bricks. I had hurt myself. The small bit of panic that I had been able to keep in check rose like a sleeping giant and took hold. I was soon repeatedly slapping myself in the face as I tried to shake myself out of this dream turned nightmare, but I was met with failure and a bruised cheek. My strikes drifted too close to my mouth, and a yelp escaped me as I sliced open my forepaw on my apparently razor sharp teeth. I held up the paw once again in front of my face to see a small trickle of blood roll down my two toned leg. Before I could stop it a fit of laughter escaped my mouth, and was soon followed by another. The laughter quickly became that of an insane man, or in my case, an insane woman. I had woken up in the middle of nowhere as a weird fox thing. There was no way this could be real, but it was. How could I deny that it was when I was unable to actually wake up from this dream? When I was actually able to hurt myself in this dream. I had to brace myself as I hurled the contents of my stomach on the ground before me. It looked like I hadn’t eaten in days since the only thing lying in the puddle beneath me was sickly green stomach acid. Though I was in the middle of what appeared to be a desert I could not stop myself from shivering. My dizziness suddenly returned, and I fell to my side as I continued to retch but was unable to actually bring anything up. My manic fit of laughter turned to sobs as I lied in the dirt crying. How could this actually have happened to me? Something breaking a few inches in front of my face caused my eyes to shoot open. A broken container laid before me with a few fumes still rising from it. I should have held my breath, but at the time it was impossible due to the sobs that were raking my body. As the fumed wafted towards me I once again started to fall back into an unavoidable sleep.
FreedomThe sound of something heavy being drug across the ground was the first thing I was able to make out as I started to come to. As something that felt like a sharp rock scraped against my side, I realized that I was what was being dragged across the dirt. My eyes popped open as I tried to scramble to my feet, but found myself bound by some net. I flailed around trying to rid myself of the oppressive net that was holding me captive, and after a few moments I stopped moving. Thudding footsteps reached my ears as whatever had been dragging me let go of the net and walked over to me. The moon, which was the only light I could make out, was soon eclipsed by what was probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. Above me stood what at first glance appeared to be a diamond dog. I knew what they looked like from the show but this thing was massive, which had largely to do with my new vantage. It was just shy of seven feet tall, and had muscles like a bodybuilder. Several liquids swished around in their vials with every step the beast took, and a red light glinted off the long sword that was strapped to its back. Its glowing yellow eyes stuck out against the pitch-black background of night. I flinched away as it bent over and started to sniff me. I was completely trembling by the time that it stood back up and continued to look down at me. It opened its mouth wide to give me the most wicked smile that I ever had the displeasure of seeing before it spat in my face. “Does pretty lady not like being dragged?” It asked, but I was unable to formulate a reply. My fear must have been amusing because it laughed and walked back over to the other two smaller dogs and continued dragging me along. I continued to squirm, but the ropes around me were taut and my legs could not find any purchase. It didn’t take long before I just couldn’t put the effort into it anymore so I laid in the most comfortable position I could find while I continued to be dragged through the arid desert. I looked back to my captors, and noticed that there was a pony that they were dragging along behind them. From what I could see through the darkness he appeared to be a green earth pony with a mane made up of all sorts of reds and oranges. I couldn’t get a good look at his cutie mark, but that really didn’t matter at the moment. He looked like he was still unconscious, probably knocked out by whatever had gotten me. The dog that was dragging him was at least three feet shorter than the big one that had me. He was a lot wider, and looked like he had gorged himself on whatever he could find daily to gain his physique. He had a few unused nets slung along his back, what appeared to be a crossbow with a net in place of a traditional arrow. To the left of my captor was a very lean diamond dog carrying a torch. The only light around for miles was the small fire that he held in his hand, and he waved it back and forth as we continued to proceed to places unknown. He was currently yapping something to the big dog. “Alpha be happy. We make good catch.” The lean yappy one blabbed. “Dad should be happy. It’s not everyday we get a pretty thing like that one,” he pointed a thumb over his shoulder at me. Great. “We have fun with her?” the fat one asked what I now assumed to be the leader. The tall diamond dog slapped him across the face with his free hand and growled until he was on the ground in submission. “She is mine!” he yelled. I really did not like the sound of that. I especially did not like the way he turned and gave me that super creepy smile again before we continued moving on. I needed a brilliant plan that would somehow get me out of this terrible situation. As it stood I had apparently been transported to Equestria by some weird warrior chick from a dream, and had landed in the body of a creature that appeared to be a white fox. I had then been caught by some diamond dogs, and was now being dragged off to somewhere I definitely didn't want to go, and for some reason said diamond dogs found me attractive. I tilted my head up again to look around, but I couldn’t see anything for miles. That probably meant that wherever we were going we wouldn’t reach it tonight. If I could somehow get out of this net then I might be able to sneak off while they were asleep. I scoured my mind trying to think of anything that might be of use in this situation, but a rock striking against the cut in my leg pulled me from my ruminations. Sudden inspiration hit me, and I gave thanks to whatever god had dominion over small sharp rocks. Carefully, in order to avoid any of my three captures noticing, I opened my mouth and grabbed a small part of the net and began chewing on it. Hardly a second later the piece of rope snapped audibly causing the lead dog to stop. Slowly, he turned around and glared at me before dropping the net and stomping over again. I shrank away as the titan canine towered over me and studied the net. “What did you do?” he asked as he reached down and lifted me by my neck. I immediately began gasping for air as his grip tightened, and his scowl depend. I couldn’t tell him that I was able to cut the rope with my teeth or he would probably beat me to a pulp for trying to escape. He might have even killed me! I continued to stay silent as tears started to leak from my eyes. My pathetic form did nothing to calm his anger, and my face was whipped to the side as I was backhanded. Have you ever sparred with a professional boxer? Well imagine that, but instead of boxing gloves they were wearing brass knuckles. The sickening sound of bone on bone rung in the night air. Tears started to spill down my face more furiously as I felt my cheek start to welt up. I don’t think that I have ever been more helpless in all my life, and it made unfathomably angry, but there was nothing I could do. “Raq, wait!” the lean dog yelled as he scrambled over. “Alpha want this one good shape.” The big one whose name I now knew was Raq stopped as his paw was coming down for a second blow. Still holding me by the throat, he pulled his face closer to me and stared into my eyes. Whatever he saw made his anger vanish, and only served to increase mine. “You are mine.” His smile once again returned as he dropped me to the ground. “I’ll make you squeal when we get back to the den.” I was shaking uncontrollably as both fear and anger warred inside me for dominance. “Bauld!” he yelled pointing at the fat dog, “drop the pony and the get wood.” The fat dog did as he was told and pulled out a couple of small pieces of wood he had in the bag on his back as well as a few pieces of really old paper. The lumber was quickly piled together, and the scrappy dog could hardly stop himself from lighting them on fire until Raq told him to. Soon a blazing fire was lighting up the night as the three dogs made their camp. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other pony start to stir. “What?” he asked as he tried to sit up, but found that he was bound by a net. “Shut up, kid,” I whispered in my new feminine voice while trying not to be overhead by the dogs. I failed horribly as Raq turned and gave me that smile I was quickly coming to hate. Despite my warning the earth pony, which I had guessed was in his late teens, started thrashing around and screaming his head off. The sound didn’t only seem to hurt my ears, but the ears of the dogs as well as they covered them with their paws. “Shut up pony!” Raq snarled, but he just continued to scream and thrash. Raq picked up a large rock that was on the ground next to him, and after sailing through the air stopped his screaming and almost knocked him back out. The diamond dog then lifted him up with the same choking hold he had used on me. “You will be quiet.” From my vantage I was able to barely make out a nod of understanding before he was dropped back to the ground. The scrappy one seemed to want to lighten the mood so he dug around in his bag before he found a few gems, and offered them to his leader. “Raq, eat. Eat and sleep then be happy.” The large diamond dog’s growl caused the smaller one’s ears to pin back before he swiped the gems from his paw and tossed them into his mouth. He once again shifted unnaturally between anger and happiness as he smiled at his meal. The small dog shared his leader’s smile and passed out more gems to the fat one before serving himself. The three dogs sat around the fire discussing whatever stupid dogs discuss, and laughing as they told lewd stories. Some of the things they said made me want to gag and toss my guts for the second time that day. I stopped listening to them a moment, and turned my attention back to myself. Earlier nausea and a chilling sensation had been assaulting me, but now I was feeling a lot better. Scratch that, I was feeling better than I ever had despite the situation I was in. My muscles coiled with untapped energy as they just waited to spring into action and pounce upon these stupid cretins and tear them to shreds. I knew I could take all of them at once if I could only get out of this net, but I was not stupid enough to try. If I could just silently free myself, as they were asleep then I would quietly slink off into the night, and hope that they didn’t bother looking for me. “Alpha probably want pretty thing himself,” Gould said, pulling my attention back to the conversation. “He said go out and bring back more slaves. I will keep this one for me.” That was the most disturbing smile I could ever imagine. “She different. Alpha keep,” the small scrappy one agreed causing Raq to growl at him. The large dog then reached behind him and grabbed the net I was caught up in and pulled it over to himself. I soon found myself scooped up in his arms like one would hold a puppy as he continued to glare at his companions. “Pretty bitch mine!” he snarled as he fell into broken English like both of the other dogs. I felt my stomach lurch at the thought, but was able to stop myself from vomiting all over him out of fear of his retribution. So these guys were not just slavers but also rapist that captured ponies to work for them. I know I had seen in the show what looked like Rarity being enslaved by some diamond dog bastards, but that had been playful. These assholes were fucking scary, and the more they talked the more pissed off I was getting. Few people know this about me since I always seem to be such a cool and collected guy. I have a small circle of friends who might be able to tell you, but when I get pissed off I can be a scary son of a bitch. I don’t blow up like most other people, but instead slip into a state where I just cut off all emotion as I coldly try to plot revenge. These bastards made me want to rip each of their hearts out with my bare hands. Without bothering to look down, Raq tossed me over his shoulder like a rag doll where I fell to the ground with a thud. The air rushed out of my lungs, and I had to gasp for a few seconds before I caught my breath again. When I looked over to the green colt I saw pity in his eyes. “Go to sleep,” Raq ordered the other two. “We will reach the den tomorrow.” He then loudly slumped over and caused a cloud of dust to puff into the air. He turned his back on the other dogs and faced me instead. As I glared at him that wicked smile on his face only widened. I am not really sure how long I stayed like that, just glaring at the diamond dog who continued to smile at me, but eventually his eyes closed and his breathing pattern changed to that of someone sleeping; if the snores that the other two dogs were anything to go by, they had also found their way to dreamland. I continued to stare at the dog, not willing to try and free myself until I knew that he was truly asleep. I counted to a thousand several times before I moved as quietly as possible and put a piece of rope in my mouth. I gently bit down on the net and snapped the rope just as easily as before, only this time slack in the line stopped any audible protests. I kept staring at the dog intently searching for any change as I continued to cut my restraints. It didn’t take long before I had a hole large enough for my new body to slip through. This was going to be the real test, so as quietly as possible I started to slowly move out of the net that was still draped over me. Amazingly, the dog that was resting not two feet away didn’t stir during the entire procedure, which must have taken a good thirty minutes to complete. I had to stop myself from sighing as the hard part was over; I wasn’t out of the woods yet. “What are you…” the young stallion to my right began, but I cut him off with the harshest glare I could. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Raq’s eyes popped open, and he started to move to stop my escape. I did the only thing that I could possibly think to do at the time. I lunged. I lept across the small two-foot gap between us, and sank my teeth through the soft fur of his neck, and into his jugular, which was pumping warm blood to his woefully inadequate brain. The startled cry he gave off before he was silenced by my vice like grip woke the other two dogs, and they started to look around for the source of the sound. Raq squirmed in futility as I held onto his neck like my life depended on it; it probably did at the time. The other dogs saw their leader thrashing around as a small fox, which I had gathered they knew nothing about at this point, held him down and ripped his throat out. Blood flew through the air and hissed as it touched the flames before quickly evaporating. Raq continued to spasm on the ground as he clawed his throat, which kept leaking his vital fluids before he finally came to a rest. The other two dog’s look of pure horror was enough to cause me to break out into a fit of hysterical laughter. The sight of me with the blood of their leader dripping from its muzzle was probably the scariest thing they had ever seen. Without waiting another second they both turned and bolted, leaving their things behind in the dust. I watched as they ran frantically into the night with twin trails of urine lining the ground behind them and continued to laugh like a madman. I licked my lips to stop the sweet juices from escaping, and savored their flavor. I’m not sure why but his blood was so delicious I could not help but yearn for more. I looked back down to the dead body of the diamond dog whose throat I had just unceremoniously ripped out, and couldn’t stop myself from diving back in. I started ripping apart his flesh in order to get to the meatier pieces that lay beneath. I knew how to properly butcher an animal and get the meat off of them, but at the moment I didn’t care in the least. It felt like I hadn’t eaten in weeks and the dead dog before me was like a free country buffet. I turned and stared at the green pony that was shaking in fright as he looked up at me. If he hadn’t been trapped by the net he was still in he probably would have followed the other two dogs off into the darkness. I imagine that I must have looked like the devil himself, and while literally scaring the piss out of those other diamond dogs had been fun, scaring this kid was a major buzz kill. I ran a paw along my muzzle and wiped away the blood before it dried on my nice white coat, and walked over to him.
Elementary“Would you stop smiling,” Deciduous hissed from my right, as I attempted to restrain myself from dancing in excitement. “Is she okay?” I heard Scarlet ask. “I honestly have no idea,” he deadpanned. I turned to the right to look at my two companions who just stood there staring back at me for a long moment. Didn’t they understand what this meant? How could you not it was so obvious. I sighed and rolled my eyes pointing back to the dead pony that was lying on the floor some seven feet away. “Don’t you get it?” I asked, to only be rewarded by two shakes of the head. “There is a murderer on this train and that can only mean one thing.” “That we should get off?” Scarlet ventured. “That we need to let the guard take care of it and go back to our room?” Deciduous also chimed in. “No! It means that there is going to be a fight on top of this train. I have always wanted to be in a fight on top of a train.” My smile had once again returned as I started to think through all of the scenarios that this could play out in. One thing was for sure, I would have to somehow embed myself in the investigation, and I knew just how to do it. I snapped back to reality and got the attention of the two ponies in front of me. “Okay we need to get in on this case, and I know just how we are going to do it.” “Wait, why do we need to get involved?” They both asked at the same time. “Because… you want to help bring a murderer to justice don’t you Deciduous, before anypony else is harmed.” He looked pensive for a moment before finally relenting and nodding. “And this would be a great boost to your rep wouldn’t it Scarlet?” I asked pointing to her. She stared at me for a long while before breaking out in a laugh. “Okay, you want to play murder mystery that is fine with me.” She said. I nodded and looked back over to the two guards that were still interviewing the mare. Their stoic armor seemed to be cracking as she continued to bawl her eyes out in front of them. I let the scene play out a little longer, her wearing them down for me, before I finally motioned back to the others to follow me. We continued deeper into the room, making sure to gingerly step around the body. He was a unicorn stallion with a black mane and light yellow coat. He wore a suit jacket that was disheveled and becoming more soaked in blood as time passed. His wallet was lying on the floor to his right with all of the money torn out of it. A broken gold chain was attached to his jacket pocket, and his golden horseshoes glistened on the bottom of his hooves. This guy was probably filthy rich; too bad you can’t take it with you to the other side. We finished traversing the room and came to a stop next to the guards that had yet to notice our presence. I waited a few moments before coughing to get their attention and one I had their necks audibly snapped as they turned to face me. “Who are you,” said the first one as he reached for a blade that was attached to his belt. He was an earth pony who had a dark grey coat, which struck me as odd since I had only seen white guards so far. “Hold it boys, didn’t mean to scare I just simply came to offer my expertise,” I replied with a smile in the best impersonation I could do of a posh English accent. “I just thought that this might be a bit much for just two of her majesties royal service to handle.” The guard looked me over for a long while before finally relaxing and standing to face me properly. Now I have never been in a real police investigation, but I have watched hundreds of hours of crime shows. Those things cross over right? “There may be only two of us on this train, but no we do not need any help. Why would you offer any in the first place, are you some kind of drug sniffing dog or something?” he said with a laugh. It took a lot of my willpower to not scowl at that. I chuckled lightly just trying to let the remark roll off my back. “Of course not, as you might have guessed I am not exactly from Equestria, and back home I work as a police detective. Now you may be asking yourself why I am so far from home and just offering my services freely, and that I cannot answer. What I would ask from you two good stallions is what you have made of the scene thus far?” This time the second one stepped forward. It came as a slight shock to find that she was not in fact a stallion but a mare, she was far larger than any mare I had ever seen was and much more muscled. She ignored my calling her a stallion, probably used to it happening and walked over to the body. “This was a robbery,” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “The perp probably came in while the lights were out, taking the opportunity to rob one of the expensive cars. There was a struggle and the vic was stabbed in the process where he collapsed and bled out on the floor.” I hummed to myself as I also walked forwards to examine the corpse. I had seen him earlier, but looking over him again helped somewhat. “Who is this stallion?” I asked as I continued to look over him. The mare pulled out her notepad and flipped through the pages a while before coming to the page she was looking for. “His name is Expensive Taste, he is an aristocrat from Canterlot on a tour of the country with his wife Pleasant View.” This time I couldn’t stop my reaction as I scoffed at the names of the two ponies. Really, why are the names so ridiculous? “An aristocrat you say?” I tapped my chin in thought as I continued to look around him. The splayed out wallet and broken chain certainly made it look like a robbery. “What did the wife say about what happened?” She flipped through her notes a few more times before coming to the page that she was looking for; I was honestly surprised that she was being as cooperative as she was since her partner obviously didn’t like me. I spared a look back at him, and true enough he had a scowl on his face as he stared at me. “She said that she heard the struggle taking place and that she hid under the bed. When the lights came back on she found him on the floor like this and screamed. By the time that we arrived on scene he was already dead and she was in tears.” The guard mare put away her flip book and looked back up to me. I continued pacing for a while to give off the impression that I was thinking all the facts over. In actuality, I had seen this exact scene on CSI more than once and knew pretty much exactly what happened. “Good police work…” “Diligence,” she replied, puffing out her chest a bit. “Yes, good police work Diligence, but you have overlooked a glaring flaw. The stallion’s wallet is still on the ground next to him.” I pointed out and heard a pony in the doorway gasp. I looked up to see that I did in fact have an audience, which only made me smile before I continued. “A thief would not take the time to empty a wallet they had pinched at the scene of the crime, especially with the train lights coming back on at any second. No, a true thief would have taken all of the goods back to wherever they were staying before they checked to see what they had gotten. I am afraid that what we have here is premeditated homicide.” “Homi what?” I heard Deciduous ask from behind me. “Ponycide, I meant ponycide.” I instantly clarified. I was definitely going to need to be more careful in the future. One slip like that around the wrong person, and I could be found out instantly. Or at least, maybe I could. “If it was premeditated then why steal from the victim?” Diligence asked back. “To throw you off the trail of course. By the time that we make it to the next stop the killer will have hopped train, and probably never be found again. We have a clock on this situation and it is winding down each second that we sit here asking me silly questions with obvious answers,” I replied, channeling my inner Sherlock Holmes. I turned around once more and pointed at Deciduous “Go back to our car and get some paper and a pen, we will need it for when we conduct our own thorough interviews.” He arched an eyebrow before slowly making his way out of the room. I then pointed at the guard stallion that obviously didn’t like me “I will need everything that you have so far. Make a copy of it for Scarlet,” I motioned to the mare in question, “and she will bring it to me later.” “Why should I take orders from you,” he spat back. “Because I am your one chance to catch this killer before they get off this train. I am sure you would love to explain to your superior how you let the killer of a Canterlot aristocrat get away right out from under your nose.” I turned back to the body and away from him. I caught the other guard looking at me with some measure of awe and a bit of reservation. “Just who are you?” she asked. “The name is Vixen, and you shouldn’t go forgetting it anytime soon.” It had taken some doing, but eventually the guards had relented and allowed me to take lead of the investigation. I was still not sure how I had managed that with just a few snide remarks and well-placed observations, but I tend to not look a gift horse in the mouth. The hours had passed by and I was finally gotten to my first interview the sun had set. We sat in our private car with the shades drawn, though that didn’t matter much since it was now night outside. The wife of the dead stallion, Pleasant View, sat across the table from me. She still had tear stains on her face, and drank a little from the water glass we had given her when she was escorted in. She was a grey earth pony mare, probably in her forties, with a blue and pink mane styled in a bun. She also had a suit top on though hers was a light pink that matched her mane with a white undershirt on underneath. She wore a pearl necklace and had a diamond tennis bracelet on around her front left hoof. For my part, I was trying to look as relaxed as possible. I idly fiddled with a few chess pieces on the board in front of me, playing with an invisible opponent, as I took a drink from my scotch every now and then. Deciduous stood to my left taking down everything that was said by the two of us as we continued the interview. I had asked Scarlet politely to get us a passenger manifest and ask a few ponies to come to our room to have an interview with us as well. She found the whole situation hilarious, especially how I had gotten the guards to do as I asked, and had walked off laughing lightly to herself to carry out her appointed task. “So you were hiding during the attack, according to what you told the guards?” I asked, glancing over to Deciduous to make sure I had that right, and he nodded in return. “Yes,” she said, not bothering to expand on her answer. “I don’t know if you heard, but I do not believe this to be a crime of passion or opportunity. Can you tell me who would have wanted your husband dead?” At this she let out a sad laugh. “Who didn’t?” she dabbed her eyes a few times with a clean handkerchief before continuing. “He was just about to step down from being CEO of his company. His uncle died a few weeks ago and he was going to take up being head of the family. We were going to be true nobles and this trip was our way to celebrate before went back to Canterlot.” “I am afraid I am not overly familiar with how the noble houses work in Canterlot. Why would this make somepony want to kill your husband?” She sniffed a few more times before looking at me again. “His uncle didn’t have any children so all of the titles he held fell to the children of his brother, my husband’s father. He had five siblings each of them vying for the noble title and wanting to become the head of the house. If I had to guess I would say it was probably one of them that did this.” “Anypony in particular that we should focus our search on?” I asked, sitting back once more and taking another sip. “I would look into his brother High Born,” seriously these names are ridiculous, “he was older than Expensive and thought that he should have been the successor. He is a lay about that just used his status all his life, and lived off of his parent’s money. He of course didn’t get chosen to be the next head like my Expensive did. He was a hard working stallion that never took shortcuts.” She brushed a few more tears away from her eyes. “Thank you for your time Pleasant View, if we need anything else from you we will call you again,” I said as I stood and began to usher her out of the room. Talking with crying women still made me insanely uncomfortable and we could always do this later when she had calmed down some more. “Of course, thank you Miss Vixen,” she replied as she stood. “I need to contact the company about Expensive’s passing.” As she was about to step out of the car she turned and looked me straight in the eye. “Get whoever did this. Promise me you will do that.” I nodded and without another word she turned and made her way along the passageway outside. I sighed and padded back into the room where Deciduous still stood waiting. I sat back down on the couch and took another sip of my drink before turning back to look at him. “You got all of that right?” I asked. “Of course.” “Good, send the next one in.” “So you are the conductor of the train?” I asked the elderly stallion in front of me. He was an earth pony with a light blue coat and a mane that had turned grey long ago. He wore very large thick-rimmed glasses and had on a red bowtie. “That’s right little lady,” he replied as he sat across from me. I shrugged off the comment and focused instead on the case. I found myself really liking murder investigation for some reason it was very exciting. “So perhaps you can tell me what happened with the lights.” I said, also sitting back. “Well it goes like this, I was up in the engine care mindin’ my own business when all o’ a sudden the lights for the whole train go out. Now I know this old girl like the back of my hoof so I quickly hurried along to the breakers and found ‘em all tripped. Well I flipped ‘em all on and then that scream came from somewhere in the back. I didn’t really think anything of it, but some minutes later one of dem guards comes a hollerin’ and tells me someponys been killed. Don’t really know what happened after that so I just went back to the engine car and mindin my own business.” The guard hadn’t gotten around to interviewing the stallion yet so I had first crack at him. “Tell me then…” “Steady Ride,” he supplied. “Tell me then Steady Ride, how did all of the breakers get flipped in the first place?” I moved another piece on the board in front of me, capturing the white side’s rook. “Don’t rightfully know myself. Coulda been a surge in the system or somepony could flipped them themselves. I wasn’t standin around at the time so I can’t tell ya.” I nodded and went along with what he was saying. The stallion seemed far too old and frail to wrestle a younger one to the ground and murder him so it wasn’t likely that he did it. “Thank you for coming by, I don’t really have any more questions for you at this time, but can you stop by again if we need to talk to you again?” I said as I got up. “Of course I can, and I’ve been needin to ask ya. Are you that same Vixen that saved Rubyton about a week ago?” I froze, and tried to maintain an amiable smile. “You heard about that huh?” I said turning back to him. “Well I just knew it. I have to thank ya for that, my daughter lives out in Rubyton and if it weren’t for you I just don’t know what coulda happened to her. Of course, I will make time to talk to ya whenever you like.” He approached the door with a smile and was about to leave before I called out to him once more. “Can you tell me how long it is going to take to reach our destination?” “Well I figure it will take about five more days before we get to the next stop,” he said turning back to me. “Anyway that you could push that back a little farther, and give us more time to catch this killer before we get there?” “Sorry, no can do. This train has run on time for the past twenty years and I am not about to have that record blemished. Thank ya for what you did back in Rubyton and let me know if I can be of any more help.” With that he exited the car leaving me alone with Deciduous once again. I walked back over to the couch and sat down, motioning for Deciduous to let the next one in. “I don’t understand why you are asking me questions.” Said the stallion across from me with his hooves crossed in front of him. It was the same guard that I had trouble getting along with earlier, and had asked to come in to answer a few questions. I had learned previously that his name was Stern Hoof. “Isn’t it protocol to go over the responding officers to the scene of a crime?” I asked, I was still piecing together how the justice system in Equestria operated. “Of course it is, what I am saying is I don’t understand why I am talking to you. You have no position or authority here so why are you the one asking the questions. I wouldn’t even be going along with this if it weren’t for Diligence wanting your help so much,” He replied coldly. “And the fact that I could actually solve this thing,” I added. “You know what, that is it.” He stood up and hastily made his way to the door. “If you find anything take it up with Diligence, I will be doing the real police work on my own.” With that he slammed the door to the car after making his exit. I sighed and sat back in the couch one more, rubbing my temples. I was starting to get a headache at asking all of these questions. “I only got one more in me today, Deciduous. Can you send the last one in please?” I sat forwards and poured myself another bit of scotch as I waited for the final interviewee to come in. The final interview that I had today just so happened to be with Diligence, and the mare sat across from me at attention answering all of my questions with lightning speed. She was a unicorn with the stark white coat that I had seen all of the other guards having. She was perfectly controlled in the way that she sat there in front of me, waiting for the questions to be asked. “Okay Diligence, tell me what you saw when you first arrived on the scene.” I said. “After hearing the scream coming from the car me and my partner Stern Hoof raced to the car in order to see what was the matter. When we arrived we found Expensive Taste dead on the floor in a pool of his own blood and Pleasant View crying to herself in the corner. She had her face buried in her hooves and was rocking back in forth. “My partner and I hurried over to her after checking to make sure that Expensive Taste had no pulse to find out what the situation was. She told us that somepony had murdered her husband while the lights were out, and we began to immediately take her statement. We hadn’t even noticed the onlookers gathered around until you interrupted us talking with Pleasant. “At that time you began to take the lead, and we relinquished control of the investigation to you despite my partner’s protests. We kept looking around the train during the interim, but found nothing suspicious going on. You called me into this interview sometime later, and that is all that happened since we first heard the scream.” She finished. “That was very…professional. Can you tell me what you and your partner were doing before you heard the scream?” I asked, hoping to establish an alibi without too much trouble. “We were playing cards in the guard’s car. Both of us can corroborate the other’s whereabouts at the time of the murder,” She added. “Good, this was mainly just a follow-up since I already have your written report here. Keep doing a good job and I am confident that we will catch this killer in no time.” I said moving to let her leave. She got up from her seat and patiently made her way to the door. She didn’t bother saying anything to me as she left like the others had, and I had to respect her a little bit for that. With the last interview of the day complete I sighed and walked over to the bed where I flopped down, feeling exhausted. It seemed that my time in the hospital had done a number on my stamina and I was already wiped out from all of the excitement that went on that day. The door opened once again, drawing my attention, and I watched as Scarlet entered the room with a clipboard held in her mouth. She walked over to the bed that I was lounging on and dropped it on the mattress next to me before hovering over to the couch where she sat down and also let out a tired sigh. “If I knew getting a manifest was going to be so difficult I would have stayed behind and done the interview thing,” she said glancing at Deciduous. I picked up the list of names and started flipping through it. It only contained basic information, but at least it was a start. “Being a stenographer is no picnic you know,” Deciduous shot back. “No matter how fast they are talking I have to write all of it down, and make sure that I don’t miss anything. Even the slightest thing could be the clue we need to bring this whole case down.” He tossed the legal pad that he had been using so far onto the table next to the chessboard. “Still probably easier than running around and getting every single ponies info,” Scarlet said as she stretched out and grabbed the bottle of scotch. I was actually surprised that I hadn’t been feeling any of its effects with how much of it I had been drinking through the day. It was probably watered down significantly to save the rail company money. “So how are we doing these sleeping arrangements anyways?” Deciduous put a hoof to his chin for a while before replying, “I think you and I get the couches, unless you want to share the bed with Vixen. She is bigger and just got out of the hospital after all.” Something on the list in front of me suddenly jumped out at me and brought a smile to my lips. Scarlet hummed to herself before looking back over at me. “I am fine with taking the couch, but I would prefer the bed. You don’t mind if we share do you?” I looked up from the list at my companions that were discussing what I might have considered trivial. “Forget that, and listen to what I just found.” I said turning the list around towards them. “What is it?” Deciduous asked, getting up from the couch and walking over to me before taking the list. “Third from the bottom. Do you know who that pony is?” I asked, sitting back with a smug grin plastered on my face. “I says its some mare named High Class.” He looked at me confused for a moment before taking a look back at the list. “What about her?” “Take a look at who it says her husband is,” I urged him. He looked back over the list and studied it for a while before he also had a smile on his lips. “High Born,” he said after a moment. “Exactly.”
