Today by Smashing Pumpkins

So here we are… um, not much to say I guess. Though we have a new character who's going to be Charming's apprentice. For now at least. Who knows what's going on in his head? Oh, also, POV shift :P

Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Charming Charmer walked along the dirt path at a moderate pace. He was on his way to Italy for… something. He was trying to find something. Everything was going okay… except for one thing. He glanced to his side to see the colt that was walking next to him. Though, colt wasn't the most accurate word considering he was probably going to be a teen soon. When did a colt become a stallion? Probably wh-

CRUNCH

Charming's thoughts screeched to a halt as he watched the colt munch on the carrot he grabbed from somewhere. That was one of the many questionable things Charming noticed about… the Apprentice. What was his na-

CRUNCH

Charming's eye twitched.

"Hey Apprentice," he asked the colt in Equestrian. They had come to an agreement to speak to each other in Equestrian because they were both fluent in it. The colt quickly finished what was in his mouth before replying.

"Yes Master?" He asked, causing Charming to gag a little on the inside. He hated being called that. He also realized that if he was to keep the colt from eating that carrot, he'd need to have… a conversation.

"... How many ponies have you killed?" He asked. The Apprentice turned to him surprise on his face.

"... None," he answered, but Charming could tell that he was lying. Though it was almost believable and had he not felt the bloodlust he had radiated during the tournament, he probably would have fallen for the lie. Oh, there was also the 'being an assassin' thing that probably also helped him detect lies.

"Well… you do know that if you're going to be my apprentice, then you're going to be an assassin right? You know… killing ponies and all that for some money?" He asked the Apprentice. He nodded his head.

"Yes, I understand that completely," he said. Charming nodded as well. At least he understoo- "But it's fine since we're killing bad stallions."

Charming stopped in his tracks, causing the Apprentice to stop as well.

"I'm sorry, but what?" He asked.

"... What?" The Apprentice asked in reply.

"'Killing bad stallions'? Is that what you think I do?" He clarified.

"Well yeah, since you're so strong, that means you're a good stallion. Right?" The Apprentice asked. Charming began laughing at that.

"So, just assuming that there is such things as 'bad and good stallions', you think that the righteous and noble stallions hire other righteous and noble stallions to kill the evil and vile ones?" He asked him. The Apprentice hesitated, which allowed Charming to continue.

"So what's wrong with that view of me is that you assume that there are such things as inherently good and inherently bad stallions. There's no such thing as the whole good versus evil motif. There are certainly better and worse ponies, but no good and evil. I'm not good, nor am I evil. I mean, I kill ponies for money so most would assume that I'm evil just from that. But I kill whoever I'm told to. At least, most of the ponies I kill are because I was told to… accidents happen. Anyway, sometimes I kill 'good ponies' and sometimes I kill 'bad ponies'. Sometimes I'm asked by 'bad ponies' to kill worse ponies. That's how my business works," Charming explained. He glanced to see the Apprentice staring at him. "... What?"

"That was inspirational…" He said breathily.

"... I have a new order," Charming said, the Apprentice snapping back to attention.

"What is it master?" He asked. Charming looked around at the path they were on.

"Go find me a rock that…" He noticed a leaf falling to the ground in his peripherals, "distorts gravity. Yep, a rock that distorts gravity."

This was something that actually piqued Charming's interest about his apprentice. He seemed to have an odd knack for finding, so far, literally anything. From a fork that shoots fireballs to a stick that under all tests had proved unbreakable. Which of course, tempted him to ask for a bladed object that could cut anything and see what would happened if he used it on the stick. He withheld that request though as he was sure that would break the fabric of the universe or something… which would prevent him from getting his money. So maybe later. Or he'd have to put more effort into breaking the stick himself, but he-

"Oh, I think I have one of those," the Apprentice muttered as he pulled out a book from his bag. After going through the Apprentice's stuff while he was asleep, Charming found that book. But it had been completely blank when he opened it. Just 252 blank pages. The Apprentice opened the book and used his magic to flip through the pages. Charming noticed two things. One, that the pages were absolutely filled with text that he couldn't quite read. Two, the Apprentice was now on the 1,78-er, 1,79… he was way past page 252.

"Ah, raabs," the Apprentice said randomly as he continued flipping through the book. "Doo, doo, doo… Here we are, rocks. Rocks… rocks… Rock that cools anything above 30° Celsius to 20° Celsius…"

"That's stupidly specific," Charming interjected.

"Rock that… no. No. No," The Apprentice said, going one page at a time as he read before jumping ahead. "Rock that grants immortality? Whoops, went too far."

"Wait, what?" Charming asked as he tried process what he was hearing and seeing.

"Ah-ha! Rock that distorts time!" The Apprentice cheered.

"Gravity," Charming blankly reminded. The Apprentice blinked.

"Oh, right," he said, flipping a page backwards. "There it is. Knew I had one."

He then reached into the book, his foreleg disappearing into the page. He stuck his tongue out as he seemed to dig around for a bit. He then pulled his hoof out, revealing a… well, rock. He closed the book and put it back into his bag.

"Here you are master, one rock that distorts gravity," the Apprentice said, presenting it to Charming. Charming then took it into his own hoof and waited. He glanced from the rock to the Apprentice and then back to the rock.

"I think this is just a regular rock," Charming said out loud.

"Hm… should distort gravity…" The Apprentice said.

"How?" Charming asked.

"I dunno," the Apprentice answered, causing Charming to look at him.

"So… you say this rock can distort gravity, but you don't know how?" He asked.

"Yep," the Apprentice said. Charming sighed then dropped the rock in resignation and was then mildly surprised as his body became several hundred pounds heavier. The Apprentice let out a surprised 'hrrk' and collapsed to the ground.

"Oh so that's how I guess," Charming muttered before picking up the rock, the effects of gravity disappearing. He held it in his hoof before dropping it back on the ground, causing the Apprentice (who had been getting back up) to collapse back down on the ground. He picked the rock back up, noting how the gravity returned to normal once again. "Interesting."

"Do I pass?" The Apprentice asked, getting back up. Charming sighed.

"Yeah, I guess," he answered, tossing the rock to the Apprentice who caught in with his telekinesis. He took his book back out and flipped it open and dropped the rock into a random page. Charming raised his brow as he watched. "What is that book?"

"Hm?" The Apprentice asked, in the middle of putting it away. He looked down at his book. "Oh! It's an enchanted book."

"Yeah, I got that," Charming replied with a roll of his eyes. "But like what does it do? Because when I opened it-"

"Wait, when did you open it?"

"- was blank."

"... Well, you see, this book acts a fourth dimensional storage. It allows me store an object of any size or quantity in it. All of the objects being enchanted or magical. And the reason it was blank, was because it only reveals its text to those who are looking for something," the Apprentice explained, putting the book away.

"Wait, you just need to be looking for something?" Charming asked. The Apprentice nodded. "Huh, I was expecting it to be that only you could use it for some reason."

"That would be a stupid condition. Especially considering that I'm not the one who enchanted the book," the Apprentice countered. Actually made sense.

"Well how'd you get the book?" Charming asked.

"Stole it," the Apprentice said, surprising Charming.

"Oh… hey look, a sign," Charming said, gesturing to a sign that was on the side of the road. "What's it say?"

"It says that we're about a mile out from Stables… wait," the Apprentice read.

"Oh Stables? Never been there before, we should check it out," Charming suggested.

"Wait, though. How are we by Stables? Stables is basically in southern Italy! How did we get here without seeing any other cities or towns?" The Apprentice asked. Charming shrugged his shoulders. "And didn't we only leave Belgium like yesterday?"

"What? We've been traveling for over a week," Charming corrected. He put a hoof to his chin. "At least I think we have. Hey Gecko?"

Gecko popped his head out of the pocket he had been staying in.

"How long ha-"

"WHAT IS THAT?!" The Apprentice interrupted. Charming looked up to see that he was pointing to Gecko.

"Uh… this is Gecko," Charming stated, like it was obvious.

"I can see that it's a gecko! But why is it in your pocket?" The Apprentice asked.

"Because he lives there," Charming answered, stating the obvious.

"What? How long has it been in there?"

"Why are you acting like this is your first time seeing him?"

"Because it is!"

"What do you mean? He was like… on my face when you asked to become my apprentice."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure… then again, it has been awhile since the last chapter."

"What?"

"Oh! I get why you're so confused!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's your first time skip so your clocks all effed up. Don't worry, you get used to it."

"Time skip?"

"Hey look, a city," Charming said, ignoring the Apprentice's question and pointing towards the city that they were approaching.

They entered the city of Stables and immediately noticed that the atmosphere on the streets was rather… tense. Ponies were going about on the daily grind, but they all seemed to be constantly looking over their shoulders or avoiding others as much as possible.

"Hm… let's go to a cafe," Charming said. They blended into the crowd, joining into the beat easily and navigated their way until they randomly came across a Caffé Gambrinus. It was fairly crowded due to the time of day… "Wait, what time is it?"

"I'd say about 11," the Apprentice answered, glancing outside.

"Oh okay so this does make sense," Charming said. Eventually, it was their turn to order.

"Ah, i turisti. Quello che porta alla nostra bella struttura?" The barista, a stallion, asked. Charming stared at him a bit before turning to the Apprentice.

"Do you speak Italian?" He asked. The Apprentice nodded. "Great, don't need to get gecko out here and translate. So what'd he say?"

"He asked what brought us here. He knows we're tourists," the Apprentice answered. Charming nodded. The Apprentice's convenient fluency of the language could actually prove to be useful. How many languages could the Apprentice speak fluently and why wasn't one of them Spanish?

"Tell him we're here on business," Charming said, surprising the Apprentice.

"We are? I thought we came here rando-" He saw the glare Charming shot him. "Siamo entrambi qui per affari."

"Oh veramente? Che tipo di affari?" The stallion asked. Charming could tell from his tone and the questioning gleam in his eyes.

"He asked what kind of business," the Apprentice translated. Charming pondered for a bit. He might as well try to use this.

"Tell him we're looking for something," he said.

"Stiamo cercando qualcosa," the Apprentice said. The barista laughed before speaking again.

"Sembra che tutti vengono qui in cerca di un po 'di qualcosa," he said. Wasn't he supposed to be taking our drinks down? There was a bit of line and this seemed fairly unprofessional.

"He says that everypony seems to looking for something when they come here," the Apprentice said. Charming grinned.

"Well tell him that we're looking for ponies who operate in the shadows," he told the Apprentice, who gave him a confused look before turning to the barista.

"Siamo alla ricerca di persone che operano nell'ombra," the Apprentice said. Immediately, Charming noticed a shift in the stallion's demeanor.

"L-Le ombre?" He asked.

"Sì," the Apprentice said, seeming to note the change as well.

"Ordinare le vostre bevande ora ... ne parleremo ancora una volta le mie estremità turno," the barista said, now speaking in a quieter voice.

"He says to order our drinks now and that he'll talk more once his shift is over," the Apprentice said.

"Hm…" Charming mused. The actual odds of finding what he was looking for in this city was exceptionally slim. He could practically tell if a city or town has been under Royal's influence. But this seemed like it could be fun. "Order our drinks, I'll go find us a table."

Charming turned around and began walking to find an open table, but paused and turned back.

"Oh, and Apprentice," he called, distracting the Apprentice as he looked over the menu. "Get me something I don't like and you won't be my apprentice anymore."

He then left to find a table. The added pressure would distress the Apprentice. And the kicker? He didn't really even like coffee. He found an open table for two, but then remembered that he needed another for the barista. He eventually found an open table and set his saddlebags on the seat before sitting down himself. He noticed that while the cafe was certainly lighter than the streets, everypony still seemed more on edge than usual and spoke in hushed tones.

The Apprentice eventually came over, carrying two steaming cups of coffee. He looked… completely normal and fine. He set the cups down, set his bags on the chair and sat down himself. Charming inspected his drink. From the fragrance alone, he could tell that it was an espresso. It was topped with whip cream, he think he spotted some foam beneath that, a brown powder which was too dark to be cinnamon or nutmeg which meant it was probably cacao powder sprinkled on top with actual chocolate. It seemed… over the top. He glanced at the Apprentice and was surprised to see him casually drinking his coffee and reading a newspaper. He actually forgot he was a Europonean at the core.

"So… what is this?" Charming asked the Apprentice. The Apprentice looked at him before setting the newspaper down.

"It's the cafe's special," he answered simply. "The barista recommended it to me."

"Oh… and what'd you get?" Charming asked, noticing that his drink looked much simpler.

"A macchiato," the Apprentice said, taking another sip from it.

"Huh," was all Charming said before bringing the drink to his lips. He waited several moments, getting a taste of the drink. It… wasn't actually bad. While he wouldn't say it was one of his favorite drinks ever, it wasn't actually bad.

"So the guy said that he'll be off within the hour," the Apprentice said, picking the newspaper back up with his telekinesis. Charming narrowed his eyes at the Apprentice.

"So, what'cha readin' there?" He asked.

"Oh, well I'm trying to see if there's anything in here that might tell us what's got everypony on edge," the Apprentice answered. Ugh, where had this sudden seriousness come from? What happened to the Apprentice that was an idiot?

"It's probably just the local government or something that's screwing over ponies," Charming guessed.

"That's what I was thinking," the Apprentice said, causing Charming to visibly shudder. Him and the Apprentice having similar thoughts? He needed to go kill things. Then the world would start making sense again. "But this newspaper seems to debunk that thought."

That surprised Charming.

"How so?"

"Well, the majority of the articles in this is just saying how wrong the political system is. Mostly local, some national," the Apprentice explained. Charming frowned.

"Well maybe it's trying to stand up to the government," he suggested. The Apprentice shook his head.

"Not with their headquarters being across the street," he said. Charming blinked and turned. Across the street was a rather normal looking building. It looked… like a building.

"Really?" He asked the Apprentice.

"Yeah, can't you- oh, right. Forgot you don't read Italian," the Apprentice said, bonking the side of his head. Ah. Guess Charming forgot to mention that he can't read… anything.

"Huh, but still, what makes you think that the government isn't corrupt?" Charming asked.

"Well, despite the majority of the articles being about how the government needs to change… I don't really see anything concrete that points to them being evil or bad," the Apprentice replied. Ugh, why couldn't they just have to topple a government? That was easy and simple.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well… the newspaper claims that the government is weak and there needs to be change. But… it doesn't list what it wants to change or actually goes into detail about what's wrong with the government," the Apprentice clarified. Charming mulled over this a bit in his head.

"Sounds like there's a third party involved then. Vying for control," he said after a pause. The Apprentice looked at him, causing him to raise his brow. "What?"

"That's brilliant! I can't believe I didn't even think of that!" He said, his eyes sparkling weirdly. Charming just assumed that it had a simple and logical conclusion. After all, this certainly wouldn't be the first time he had fought off a third power from taking control of the government by using the people's fear. Those were fun missions since he got to let loose a bit.

"Ah! Ci si due sono," a vaguely familiar voice said, distracting both of them. It was the barista, who was now minus a bowtie.

"Si prega, avere un posto a sedere," the Apprentice said, gesturing to the empty seat at the table. The barista bowed his head and sat down. He leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice like everypony else in the cafe.

"Io lo prendo avete notato lo stato della città è in?" The stallion asked. The Apprentice nodded. Charming frowned, now feeling left out. "La città ... è ... paura."

"Paura? Paura di cosa?" The Apprentice asked.

"Il Suonno," the barista seemed to answer. The Apprentice frowned. "Sono una banda locale che gestisce praticamente la città dal sottosuolo."

The Apprentice froze.

"What is it?" Charming asked.

"He's saying that the city is under the terror of a gang," he answered.

"A gang? In Italy?" Charming asked before his eyes lit up. "You mean like the mafia?!"

The Apprentice and the barista turned to look at him, but he had a distant look in his eyes.

"You know, I've always wanted to fight the mafia. I'm a huge fan of that Equestrian noir stuff," he explained, only to find that they had gone back to talking to each other. Though… something seemed… off about the Apprentice.

"-destra, poi a sinistra, poi andate verso il basso quel blocco, troverete un magazzino alla fine. Si trovano lì," the barista seemed to finish explaining. The Apprentice narrowed his eyes.

"Come fai a sapere così tanto su di loro?" He asked the barista, who shifted nervously in his seat.

"Il mio ... fratello era una parte di loro," the barista seemed to admit. "... L'accento è stato."

The Apprentice seemed to accept his answer and got up to leave, surprising Charming. He looked down at their drinks. How was he going to pay for this? He had no idea how expensive these drinks were. So he did the only logical thing and pulled out some gold. Considering that the current gold per ounce exchange rate in Italy was about €1,170 but considering what he'd seen of the city, he'd probably factor in a %1.051 coefficient rounding it out to €1,230. And the current euro per bit ratio was .8893% which meant about 1,095 bits. The average cup of coffee was something like 4-5 bits. He set down a piece of gold, noting how the barista's eyes turned into dinner plates.

"There. That should be enough to probably pay for everypony's drinks in here," Charming said, nodding his head before chasing after the Apprentice. He quickly caught up to him, but noticed that he seemed extremely focused. "So where are we going?"

"The gang's base of operation," the Apprentice answered.

"Oh cool! I finally get to kill some mafia! And you'll finally get to see me in some real action," Charming said. The Apprentice didn't say anything, causing Charming to frown. Something was definitely off. He followed him until eventually the came to a warehouse and stopped in front of it. "Wait a warehouse?"

"Yes," the Apprentice said before entering it.

"But I wanted to duke it out in a smoke lounge or something..." Charming complained before following inside. They were in an empty lobby with nothing but a very conspicuous door. "Alright, so we should probably do a bit of recon arou- and you're gone."

The Apprentice disappeared behind the door and Charming sighed. Was it going to be like this ALL the time? Had he been this annoying when he had been an apprentice? He followed the Apprentice behind the door where they navigated a small hallway that split off in two different directions. They peeked around a corner, spying an enemy several paces down the hallway who had his back to them.

"Alright time to show you a deftly executed stealth ki- where'd you go?" He asked, noting the distinct lack of an Apprentice around him. He looked back around the corner to see the Apprentice rushing the guard. "Oh, there you are. How'd he get over there?"

He watched the Apprentice close in on the guard and threw something at the back of his head… was that a sugar packet?! Had he been carrying one since they left the cafe? He watched the guard turn around, just to get a knee driven into his chin. The Apprentice then put him into a very good guillotine chokehold.

"Wow, well done. Not exactly what I'd do but knocking him out is-" Snap "And you just killed him…"

Charming watched the Apprentice set the guard down and searched his body before pilfering a knife.

"Hey cosa-" Charming heard behind him but before he could turn around, he quickly recognized that he needed to move his head. He threw his body to the side as he watched the knife sail past him and imbed itself hilt-deep into a second guard's head. Charming blinked as he watched the guard drop down to the ground, most definitely dead.

"Holy… kid you should probably-" He turned and saw that there was the distinct lack of another living pony in the hall with him. "Son… of… a bitch."

Suddenly, he realized what had been off about the Apprentice. The Apprentice had been leaking bloodlust ever since they left the cafe. Wait a second… cafe. Charming checked his sides and noted the distinct lack of his saddlebags.

"Fuckin' fuck!" Charming shouted. The fuck was going on today? He glanced at the two dead bodies. "You know what, he'll be fine. And if he's not, then he'll be dead and out of my mane. Then I'll get to fight the mafia."

With that happy thought, Charming made the trek all the way back to the cafe. He breathed a sigh of relief at finding their bags still in the same spots. He slung them both onto his back and headed back towards the warehouse. He made his way back in and then tried to navigate his way through the warehouse and eventually came across the main storage area and was… rather surprised by what he saw.

Dead bodies littered the ground, having been killed from what looked like either stab wounds or cuts. Maybe both. Probably both. He checked the nearest body. Definitely both. Most were killed brutally, leaving blood everywhere in the warehouse. The more he walked, the more bodies he found. He stopped as a drop of blood fell in front of him. He looked up and his jaw hung open a bit as he saw a stallion hanging from the ceiling, by his neck, from a chain. Wounds littered his body, causing him to bleed out.

Charming had to admit… he'd give his apprentice a solid B on raw murderous destruction. Cleanliness though… they'd need to work on that. But where was the Apprentice? The sound of glass breaking sounded above him, causing him to look up. He took a step back as a body crashed onto the floor with a bloody splat, splashing blood onto Charming's legs. He looked up to see the Apprentice's head sticking out of a second story window.

"Oh, hey master!" He said, before disappearing back into the room. At least he sounded normal…

He watched as the Apprentice appeared on an elevated pathway that lead to some stairs on the side of the storage area. He met the Apprentice halfway and floated his bags off of his back. The Apprentice grinned.

"Thanks! I realized that I had totally forgotten it when I tried grabbing my book," he said, slinging it over his back. Charming looked around.

"So… take care of everything?" He asked. The Apprentice nodded.

"Oh yeah, they won't be bothering anypony anytime soon," he affirmed. Charming raised a brow at that.

"You actually left some alive?"

"Yeah… emphasis on some though," the Apprentice answered.

"Huh… So…" Charming trailed, causing the Apprentice to raise a brow this time.

"What?" He asked. A big grin formed on Charming's face and his eyes had a gleam in them that unnerved the Apprentice.

"Never killed anypony before, eh?"

Done! This was a fun little chapter in Italy. Italian provided by Google Translate. And we got to see the murderous rage of the Apprentice! And yes, get used to seeing that as his name. It probably won't change. Ever.

This was fun, got to see some coffee and walls breaking. Those are always good. Now next on the list… more typing for my buddy who is falling into a pit of stories that he can't get out of. SoloAcrobat6 out.

Hahahahahahaha… yeah. Anyway, favorite/follow and all that jazz. Leave a review please! I think I'm at the point where I'd literally murder for one! See y'all next time!

~Djsoresupon3