"They think they are in control? They have no idea what I'm capable of."

-Alex Mercer

The sound of hoof steps echoed off the walls as two stallions quietly conversed amongst themselves, speaking in low voices so as not to be overheard. The cold air of the night flowed over what little fur actually showed through the gaps in their armor, chilling them down to the white skin underneath. They paid it no attention, years of nightly patrols around the castle gardens giving them thick-skinned immunity to the biting wind. They stopped walking when they got to a gap in the foliage that allowed them a view of the horizon, small smiles adorning their faces as they beheld the tell-tale signs of the sunrise. Only a few more hours until the change of guards, and then they could finally relax and get the sleep they so desperately needed. Stifling yawns, they continued once more, heading to the next area of their patrol route. They showed mild surprise when they noticed their superior officer approaching them, stepping to the side to give him a sharp salute as he walked by.

"Captain!" They said in practiced unison.

Shining Armor nodded curtly, acknowledging them so they could continue with their patrols. He heaved a heavy sigh once they were out of earshot. He'd had a rough night, which he blamed completely on the large stacks of paperwork that had sat on his desk for the last few months. After repeated requests he finally decided to stop procrastinating and finish it all, a task that took up all of his time over the last week and then some.

He yawned loudly, not caring if anyone in the vicinity could hear him. The only other living creature besides himself, a small Blue Jay perched on a nearby statue, gave no reaction other than to chirp and continue preening its feathers. Shining smiled softly.

"Captain Armor, sir!"

The smile dropped from his face. He turned around slowly, scowling sharply as he growled "What is it, Lieutenant?"

The guard was unfazed by his hostility. "Sir, her Highness has requested your presence in her study right away."

"Can't it wait?"

"She said it was urgent, sir."

Shining clenched his teeth. "…Did she say what it was she wished to discuss with me?"

"No sir. She only instructed me to retrieve you. I know nothing about the matter she wishes to speak to you about…sir."

He sighed. "Alright…you're dismissed." The lieutenant saluted. "At ease."

As he watched the guard leave, he thought about how mad his wife was going to be when he got back after sunset for the fifth day in a row. Cadance knew what she was getting into when she married the Captain of the Guard, so a divorce was the last thing he was worried about. That being said, it didn't mean she wasn't above long periods of silence followed by even longer periods of him sleeping on the couch. What was even worse was that tonight was supposed to be the night they performed their "marital duties" for the first time in a month. She was already fairly stressed out thanks to his lack of participation in said duties, and, as she put it, since she was the Princess of Love, she had an obligation to spread love wherever she goes. But in order for her to "give" love, she must first "make" it. And as any adolescent colt could tell you, that was a two pony job.

Speaking of princesses, he had his own obligations to fulfill. Cadance will just have to deal with the fact that she wasn't the only princess he had to answer to.

Taking one last look at the tower his and Cadance's chambers were in, Shining Armor reluctantly turned around and headed back in the direction he came from, a small sigh escaping his lips while he mumbled disappointedly.

The door to Celestia's study flew open, slamming against the wall and startling Philomena, who had been sleeping peacefully with her head under her wing.

"Alright Celestia, what the hay is it that's so important you had to interrupt what may just be the last chance I have at maritals for the next few weeks!?"

Shining's direct and fairly rude outburst didn't surprise Celestia at all. The sun goddess slowly took off her reading glasses with her magic and set them along with the book she had been enjoying down on the desk. "My, Shining, you sure have come a long way to be so bold as to speak to me in such a rude manner."

He huffed indignantly. "You're the one who told me I could address you less formally now that I'm married to your niece."

Celestia chuckled. "Yes, I did say that." She stood up from the seat she was in, walking over to a shelf on the side of the room and grabbing a scroll off of it with her magic. The door behind Shining glowed as Celestia shut it softly. Suddenly becoming serious, she handed him the scroll once she was sure no one could hear them. "The reason I called you up here is because of some worrying news I've received from your sister."

"Twily? What did she say?" He opened the scroll and began reading it over quickly.

"She speaks of a friend of hers that had recently become, as she put it, 'mentally unstable', and attempted to kill a pony in broad daylight." She paused a second so he could catch up to that part in the letter. "She was very shaken to discover one of her friends had done something so cruel, and wasn't sure if it warranted a full friendship report, so she sent me a more personal letter to ask me how she should handle the matter."

Shining Armor shook his head. "Poor Twily…but what does this have to do with me?"

Celestia sighed. "It's the friend she was speaking of." She pointed a hoof on the paper. "'Zecora'."

Shining squinted at the name. "…Yeah…I remember Twilight telling me about her. Why does that matter? So she's a killer, it's not anything that hasn't been dealt with before."

"Zecora is, in fact, no killer. She is a kind, gentle zebra, who wouldn't harm a fly unless it was in the best interest of others."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you would know this because?"

"She is an old friend of mine."

"Princess, I still don't see what this has to do with-"

"Zecora was acting under my orders when she attempted to kill that pony."

Shining took a step back. "P-P-Princess?"

"Relax, Shining Armor, I didn't tell her directly. She was following her own leads when she did it. But I believe there is more to this story then Twilight knows."

"What do you mean?"

Celestia didn't reply right away. She stared at the wall for a moment, as if she was trying to see all the way to Ponyville from that room. "…Zecora has been investigating a possible threat to Equestria by my request. It is my belief her actions were due to a lead she has been unable to relay to me."

"Princess…why have you not told me of this sooner?"

"I was hoping I wouldn't need to…but that was wrong of me. Now I am afraid I may have made things worse." She walked up to Shining Armor and placed her hoof on his shoulder. "That is why I need your help now. The threat I spoke of is a pony, one who is unlike any other you or even I have ever encountered. He is responsible for the attacks the Gryphon dignitaries blamed on me."

Shining Armor gave the letter back to Celestia. "Don't worry princess, I'll gather my best guards and head to Ponyville to stop him right away-"

She held up her hoof, stopping him midsentence. "No, you can't do that, Shining. I have it on good authority this pony is more dangerous than we can understand. For whatever reason, he has decided to lay low, but I fear it won't last if he knows he has been found out."

He thought a moment. "Then we need to find Zecora. Whatever information she has might be vital to stopping him. Where is she now?"

Celestia shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know. I stopped receiving word from her some time before Twilight sent me this letter."

Shining turned to leave. "Alright. I'll send a handful of guards to Ponyville to look for her. As long as everypony thinks they're only there for that reason he won't be any wiser to our plans."

The princess smiled at him. "Thank you, Shining Armor. I should have left this matter to you in the first place. I'm sorry for having to trouble you with this at such a bad time." Her smile turned to a smirk. "If you wish, you can have a few days off to catch up on your 'maritals' with my niece."

He stopped with his hoof on the door handle. Without turning around, so as to avoid showing her the blush growing across his face, he mumbled "…Yeahsurewhatever…" before opening the door and stepping through. "Oh, wait!" He stuck his head back into the room before the door closed all the way. "What is this pony's name?"

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Alex Mercer."

Nick scratched his head with his hoof, more out of boredom then for relief. He'd been standing in the same spot doing nothing for the last hour, the itch in his wings for some excitement making him more than a little fidgety. He wasn't used to being still for this long. Usually he was busy with a job, or looking for another job, or worrying about finding another job. "Lazy" just wasn't ever a word he accepted in his dictionary.

He cursed himself silently. Yesterday was as eventful as any, and had it gone his way, might have ended with him getting lucky. But it didn't go his way, and now he was left with even more problems than before, so finding another job no longer held any priority for him.

"Would you quit sighing? You're getting on my nerves."

"Sorry..."

Oh, that's right. And he was standing in a house that wasn't his with a pony that had pretended to be a beautiful mare to trick him into taking him back to his place. Thankfully he removed his disguise before Nick's attempt at foreplay reached a level that would make things awkward for the both of them, and when he pulled his head out of the puddle of vomit he'd passed out in the next morning, he found that the strange pony was still there, sitting on the couch patiently waiting so he could explain the reason behind his deceit.

"Who….who the hay are you?"

"Don't you remember me? You walked me home last night."

"…Oh Celestia…I didn't think I was that drunk…"

"You were. You were barely able to stand."

"…I could have sworn you were a mare…"

"I was."

"Wh…what?"

"Do you remember what I said last night? About how you could be part of something bigger?"

"…Uuuuh…"

"Hehehe…I'm sure it will come to you. Now, why don't you go clean yourself up? We have a lot to talk about."

It hadn't been the best ending to the night, but it almost made sense. He should have known that mare wasn't legit; the entire night had been one clue after another, and yet he missed every one of them. The way she talked and acted, the sheer volume of alcohol she could put back without getting tipsy, not to mention the fact she actually talked to him in the first place. He wasn't the worst looking stallion, but even he had to admit a mare like that was well out of his league. Although, now that he thought of it, it was sort of an unfair advantage that Mercer could just alter his appearance and make his disguise more attractive. That's like fishing for trout in a bucket.

Nick may not remember much about last night, but he sure remembered a lot from this morning. At first he was confused with what Mercer was saying; all his talk of viruses and superpony abilities seemed way too farfetched to be true. It was just a little much all at once. But some of Mercer's points struck a chord with Nick. Call him selfish, but he would be lying if he said the idea of having superpowers wasn't appealing to him. Plus, if this strange pony wanted to help everypony, it couldn't hurt to volunteer his services, right?

At least that was the thought process that got Nick to convince himself all this was a good idea. By the time he realized he may have acted a bit thoughtlessly, he was already about twelve hours too late to turn back. Nick wasn't stupid; he figured out that Mercer was going to infect him with the Blacklight virus from the moment he walked up to him in the bar. He was doomed before he ever even said his first "Um".

Nick stretched his shoulder, rotating it in a circle a few times to test its flexibility. His shoulder didn't hurt anymore. Good thing something about this mess was working out for him.

"…Ugh…Z…Zecora…what did you…why…"

The attention of all three ponies in the room snapped to the unconscious rainbow headed mare lying on the bed. She was mumbling in her sleep, shivering and reaching her hooves out to pull the covers over her that she had long since kicked onto the floor. A wave of tendrils wound its way up her body as her frustration grew. Fluttershy made a move to help her friend, but Mercer stopped her, grabbing her shoulder and shaking his head. Rainbow continued to mumble incoherently, but she finally stopped groping for a blanket, settling for just curling up in a ball and shivering herself back to slightly more restful sleep.

"Is she…is she going to be alright?" Fluttershy was in tears as she asked, never tearing her eyes away from the other Pegasus.

Mercer shrugged. "Maybe. I can't be completely sure. I've had plenty of practice turning people into Evolved, but I've never done this sort of thing on a pony before now."

Nick raised an eyebrow at that. "What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying you had no idea what you were doing this morning when you infected me?"

"I'm saying I haven't exactly had much time to test out the effects of the virus on the equine biology."

"So we're your test subjects now?"

"If you wanna look at it that way, it's fine by me."

"Jackass…"

"What was that?"

"I called you a jackass."

"I know, I just wanted to see if you actually had the balls to say it again." Mercer raised his hoof and smacked Nick in the back of the head. "Now shut the fuck up, ponyboy."

"Um…Mercer…your Pinkie Promise…"

"What? Oh, right…"

Silence fell on the room, creating that all too familiar quite awkwardness that stems from lack of conversation. Nick rubbed his head, casting a glare towards Mercer, who pretended not to notice it. Fluttershy stood between them, hiding her face behind her long hair and sneaking glances at the hooded pony standing next to her. Rainbow Dash had begun to shiver again, a few tendrils snaking across her back and making her wings flex slightly. Mercer was watching her intently, his eyes scanning her body for signs of the virus working its magic. It was too early to tell at this point, he wasn't joking when he'd said he wasn't sure. Since he'd had to act quickly back in the alley, he wasn't completely sure he'd given her the right strain of the virus. Out of the fourteen he had a choice of, at least ten different strains of Blacklight were lethal to a creature with such a small stature. He was usually able to improve the chances of survival by manipulating the virus directly, but that required extended physical contact, which he didn't have time for while he was dealing with Zecora.

All he could do now was stand by, watch, and hope the virus ravaging every cell in Rainbow Dash's body didn't ultimately kill her, which he was genuinely not interested in happening. No point in going through all this pony induced mental trauma just to kill her.

To his right, Mercer heard an agitated sigh and a low grumble from Nick, who had navigated over to the window and was now staring out at the gardens surrounding Fluttershy's cottage.

"Are you not having any fun, Mr. Flash?"

"What do you think, Mercer? I've had more fun sorting pebbles at the Pie's rock farm."

"Then why don't you go with Pierce to look for more candidates? It might be a better use of both our times."

Finally agreeing with something Mercer said for the first time since they'd met, Nick ignored the polite usage of the phrase "Just get out of here and stop wasting my time" and briskly made a beeline for the exit. When he opened the door, he paused just a second to yell back "And next time, if you want to spend some alone time with Fluttershy, you can just tell me, you know" before he ran out and slammed the door behind him.

Mercer growled in annoyance. Fluttershy fainted.

Once outside, Nick took in a deep breath of fresh air, glad to finally be able to stretch his legs properly. He rolled his shoulders, expecting to hear a popping sound but getting nothing instead. His confusion was short lived when he remembered Mercer's explanation of how the virus worked. He chuckled lightly. That's right; he no longer had a skeletal structure. No bones, no popping joints.

That reminded him of a question he'd been meaning to ask. Mercer had claimed the virus also took away his internal organs. How exactly was he able to take in a deep breath anyway? He didn't have lungs anymore. He would have to keep that in mind for later. He certainly wasn't going back in there just to find out.

Nick walked to the end of the path leading away from Fluttershy's cottage, admiring the multitude of flowers carefully planted alongside it. They bordered the edge all the way to the colorful mailbox at the end, which had even more blossoming at the base of the post. He thought it was ironic that Mercer had chosen this place to hide out while they waited for Rainbow Dash to wake up. The area was bright and happy, while he himself was dark and gloomy. As well as being kind of a jackass.

Standing at the mailbox, Nick looked around for the grey, blonde headed pony that was supposed to be guarding the pathway so nopony would barge in on the questionable situation inside the house. When he saw no one waiting for him, he took in a breath and prepared to call out. What he didn't prepare for was a voice to suddenly appear from beside him and say "Looking for someone?"

"Sweet Celestia!" Nick nearly jumped out of his skin, backing away quickly and knocking over the mailbox. "Dear Luna, Pierce, you scared the Tartarus out of me!"

Pierce chuckled. "Sorry about that, didn't think you were so skittish."

"I'm not skittish…you just…caught me off guard."

"Of course."

"Where did you come from anyway? And why are you sneaking around?"

"I wasn't sneaking, and I've been here the whole time."

"Really? I didn't see you."

"I get that a lot. Just a perk of being a notorious drunk."

"I guess so…" Yes, the pony Nick was now talking to was indeed the same drunk trying to find the bathroom last night. Turns out Mercer had gotten to him before coming into the bar. "I would have thought you'd be passed out in the bushes or something…no offense."

Pierce was a light grey Earth pony, with nearly bleach blonde hair and pale yellow eyes. He was old enough to be Nick's father, yet he had no kids that Nick knew of. Nick wasn't even sure the guy had ever been married. As long as he's ever known him, he was always a lonely, pathetic drunk. "Hehehe…none taken, and I wouldn't do that to ya. Besides, I haven't had a drink since my little talk with Mercer last night. For the first time in a few days, I'm sober as a bird."

"Good for you. I'm actually proud. You've come a long way from pissing in flower pots."

Pierce beamed. "Thank you, thank you."

The two shared a laugh. "Alright, enough jokes. Mercer wants us to search for new ponies. Where do you think we should start?"

Without hesitation, Pierce said "I don't know about you, but I could go for a drink."

Nick nodded. "The bar it is."

They set off across the field to Ponyville, neither intending to do what Mercer had ordered them to do. The day was still young, so the sky was as bright and blue as it usually was over the town. The weather ponies had decided to go light on the clouds today, so the sun shone through with full force. The exact definition of a good day.

The two walked in silence for the first half of the trip, but as it turned out, silence was something Pierce was as comfortable with as Nick was. "So, Mr. Nick Flash, what is it that got you to accept Mercer's offer?" He asked innocently.

"He offered me a giant bag of candy. How could I say no?"

"Seriously."

Nick exhaled. "I don't know. When I was hung over it seemed more appealing."

The other pony shook his head. "I've been there. Sometimes it just seems better because it's a way out from what you're feeling inside."

Nick's eyebrows rose. "Whoa, that was deep! Are you a poet?"

The older pony laughed. "Maybe one time. Not anymore though."

They were nearing the outskirts of Ponyville. The sound of fillies and colts playing could be heard from somewhere nearby. "What about you? What made you want to join Mister Grumpy-Boss Pants?"

Pierce's smile faded. He was quiet for a long moment, taking his time to form what was apparently a tough explanation. It seemed his reason for joining was a lot more complicated than Nick's "I just joined because my head hurt".

Finally, the older pony spoke. "…Mercer may be a bit of a hothead, but already he's helped me more than I can say." He paused. "…I'm sure this may come at a surprise to you, but I haven't always been a careless, idiotic drunkard. Years ago, I actually turned away from the drink. I preferred to see life through clear eyes." Nick had stopped walking, his full attention now on Pierce. He could tell when a pony was about to bare his soul. "I appreciated life back then. Never wasted a day if I could help it."

"...I feel like something bad is gonna happen in this story."

There was another pause. "…Do you remember that storm we had years back? The big one that came knocking on Ponyville's front door?"

Nick nodded his head. Of course he remembered. That was the storm that got Nick his cutie mark. It came from the Everfree forest, where the weather has always been unpredictable. It was a bad one too, and it threatened to tear Ponyville to pieces. None of the other Pegusi were able to even slow it down, except for Nick. He still wasn't completely sure how he did it, getting struck by lightning kind of left him fuzzy on the details, but he was somehow able to stop it before it could get any closer to town. "Yeah, I remember it. How could I forget?"

"A lot of ponies say the same thing. That storm was one of the scariest things that have happened around here besides that Nightmare Moon appearance a few years ago. It didn't quite make it here, but it was close enough to take down more than a few houses."

Nick agreed. "There weren't that many ponies that got hurt. Most ponies just got a few bruises here and there. I remember there was only one pony that was in critical condition. Some mare named Silver Force I think-Oh…" The realization hit Nick pretty hard. "Don't tell me-"

"She was my wife."

Just like that the conversation turned awkward. Nick had no idea what to say. That storm was horrible to say the least, yet it had brought one of the happiest days of his life. He had saved Ponyville and gotten his cutie mark doing so. Yet it had never occurred to him how other ponies would remember it. For Pierce, it wasn't the day Ponyville was almost destroyed; it was the day his wife had died.

A tear fell from the stallion's pale yellow eye. "We were helping some fillies find their mothers. She heard crying inside of a house nearby, and went to help…" He swallowed a lump down before continuing. "…It was a cat. Just a stupid, confused cat. She went in to rescue a damn cat…" He was crying now, thick tears streaming down his cheeks and falling to the dirt at his hooves. "The house came down on top of her. It happened so fast; I can still remember the sound of the wood giving in to the wind…"

Nick still couldn't say anything. He was stuck standing there, opening and closing his mouth soundlessly, looking much like a fish out of water. Pierce wiped his cheeks with his hoof, only to have more tears replace what he had wiped away. "For all these years, I haven't been able to let it go. I blamed myself, though I don't really know why. I've spent the last decade drinking myself into a stupor, hoping one day I would be able to wake up and not hate myself completely…"

Finally Nick was able to find his voice again. "I-I'm…I'm so sorry Pierce…I-I…never knew…"

Pierce shook his head. "It's no one's fault, kid. I realize that now. After so long, I've finally been able to move on. Mercer may be a 'Mister Grumpy-Boss pants', and I may not completely trust his motives, but I'd follow him off a cliff at this point. I have a purpose again, something I can fight for. He's given me the one thing that's eluded me for all this time." He began walking again, the tears in his eyes already drying up. "For the first time since that day, I found closure. I loved my wife; I still do, and I always will. But now, I can let go. I can move on. And I have Mister Grumpy-Boss pants to thank for that." A small smile came to his face, and he chuckled. "Not exactly what you expected, eh?"

Nick was still reeling from the confession, as was evident on the stupid look he was giving the other pony. "Uh…y-yeah." Silence once again overcame the two. They continued to walk to the bar, but it now seemed less likely they were actually going to drink when they got there. Nick wasn't sure what to think about Mercer anymore. He was rude and abrupt. Hell, he was a downright asshole most of the time. And that was coming from somepony who had barely known him for half a day. Nick didn't think that Mercer had done it on purpose. It was most likely sheer coincidence, there was no way he could have known all that when he offered Pierce this power. But whatever this misguided adventure of his he was obsessing himself over, it might not be so bad. Mercer might just be inadvertently helping ponies as opposed to his goal of simply hurting them.

The bar finally came into view, the familiar dark colored building where this started almost seeming foreign now. They stopped on the street in front of it, just standing there staring at the sign next to the door that read "Open". Neither made a move to go in. They were both content to just stare blankly at the ponies that came in and out, regardless of the strange looks they got from a few of them.

"Excuse me, sirs. May ask you two a quick question?"

Their attention turned to the owner of the gruff voice, a heavily armored Unicorn with a serious look on his face: a member of the Royal Canterlot Guard.

"Have either of you seen a zebra by the name of Zecora in the last few days? She is wanted for questioning and any information about her whereabouts would be helpful."

Pierce feigned ignorance, shaking his head and saying "A zebra? No, ah don't recall ever runnin' into any zebra in the last few days." He pretended to think. "Could ya be more specific maybe? Was it a white zebra with black stripes, or a black zebra with white stripes?" Pierce was slurring his words together, like he did when he was drunk. Nick bit his lip to keep himself from laughing out loud. "I suppose the search will be a long one, what with all the zebra that keep comin' an' goin' around here. It's a damn disgrace is what it be I tell ya! This place just ain't what it used ta be…" He lowered his head and shook it, stumbling a bit over his own hooves and bumping into the guard. Like hitting a brick wall, Pierce smacked into his armor and slid to the ground, rolling onto his back and staring up at the Unicorn with a glazed look in his eye. "Sorry 'bout that miss. Didn't see ya there fer a second…"

The guard narrowed his eyes. "Damn drunks." He mumbled under his breath. The stallion looked at Nick. "What about you? Have you seen her?"

Nick shook his head quickly. "Nope, haven't seen a thing. What's a zebra? I don't even know. Damn my generation, with all our rock 'n roll and dubstep. We just don't learn things like we used to." He cast a quick glance down to Pierce, who gave him a smile and a wink.

The guard rolled his eyes. "Well if you have any information to offer in the future, contact us immediately. This is very important and your cooperation would be appreciated." He gave one more look to Pierce, who was still playing up the "Drunk unable to get back on his hooves" card like a pro, before brushing past Nick to continue on his search.

"Hey, wait." The Unicorn paused, turning his head to regard Nick out of the corner of his eye. "Could you, uh, tell me what this all about? Is this because of that Berry Punch thing? I didn't think that would warrant divine intervention."

The guard glared at him. "If you're implying that Celestia had anything to do with this, you're mistaken. This sort of thing doesn't happen often; we take it very seriously." With that, he marched away, most likely to interrogate the next pony that happened to be standing in his way.

It was obvious he was lying. Attempted murder may not be very common, but it's not something that needs to be handled by the princess herself. Nick helped Pierce back to his feet and to brush off the dirt from his coat.

"Thanks kid. That was pretty good. What the hell is 'dubstep' anyway?"

"Some weird music craze that started in Canterlot. Was acting drunk really necessary? It's not like he knows who we are."

"I'm known as a drunk around here, if I suddenly start acting sober, it's going to attract a bit of attention. And Mercer wouldn't want that, now would he?" Nick was surprised by that explanation. Pierce was truly an evil genius. "He's lying you know. About Zecora. He's not here to bring her to justice."

Nick nodded. "Whatever they're up to, it's not good. Do you think they know she's dead yet?"

"I wouldn't count on it. Still, this is something Mercer would want to know about. Why don't you head back to let him know what's going on. I'll stick around to find out more."

Nick gave him a salute before spreading his wings and taking off, angling himself over the buildings and heading towards Fluttershy's cottage. As he flew, he kept an eye on the streets below, noticing that there were actually quite a few Canterlot Guards walking about. He was able to count at least seven of them, all spread out around town questioning anypony they came across. They seemed very determined to find Zecora. Whatever it was they thought she could tell them was important.

As his shadow passed overhead, it caught the attention of a Pegasus guard, who narrowed his eyes at the sight of the young stallion quickly heading out of town. Without hesitation he spread his own wings and took flight, staying lower to the ground and flying well behind him to avoid being seen. Once outside of town he landed on a hill and watched the other pony fly to a small cottage just on the edge of the Everfree forest. Noting the suspicious behavior, he began walking to the cottage to see for himself what was being hidden within.

Author's Note

So...yeah, its been some time...sorry about that. I got caught up in some real life crap, blah blah blah, you know the excuse. I will now proceed to sit in front of my computer and wait patiently for the first person to reply so I can get that sense of ill-deserved accomplishment for a piss poor chapter.

And as a joke, just because I'm bored, I will follow anyone that can find a way to work the word "Nudiustertian" into a sentence properly. It will amuse me.

-Poly