Longsword sat down at the table, which was oddly placed between two footlockers in a small room, until he had moved it to the center. Next to him were the two 'best' of the Ponyville Night Guard, each taking off their metallic armor, which smelled of dried sweat from the twelve hour shift. Although he hated how they were so casual with their tasks, he gave a certain amount of respect in that they stand out, even if standing out does not mean standing above.

He sat there, because he had decided he would take an early break for the day. His morning started with finding a body, far more gruesome than any other to date. It was even worse when it occurred to him that it was Mayor Mare's house. Luckily she had been found later, apparently having stayed at a friends house for the night. She was checked for being a changeling, and was found to still be a pony, and not one of those invading bugs.

Mandatory scans for everypony that enters a government building had begun days prior. None were found, barring the group victim to that freak accident, and the bat-pony waking up.

A small part of him was actually thankful, not that he would admit it. The human was pulling ponies out of a captured state, but even so, is killing changelings instead of capturing them. Due to recent laws regarding treatment of changelings, it was illegal to kill them unless survival was in question. Capturing them was the proper action, since their pods didn't harm anybody. Although, that was all for changelings that were under disguise and pretending to be somepony else.

I wonder what would happen if one just walked around without a disguise? He thought. It would throw us through a loop, that's for sure.

The earth pony had completed taking off his armor, and sat on one side of the table, placing a deck of cards on the table, along with a silver flask. His now naked fur was a chocolate brown, with his unkempt mane and tail an even darker shade and having a single blonde streak. He took a swing of whatever strong alcohol he had in his flask, then held it out to Longsword.

“Want some?” He asked, as if they were best friends.

“No thanks.” Longsword replied. “I'm still on the clock.” He enjoyed drinking, probably a lot more than most ponies, but he was stern on staying sober during work. He couldn't harp on the pony, though, since he was off his shift.

“Alright.” He took it back and place it down on the table. He grabbed the cards and began shuffling.

Longsword watched as the bat-pony finished taking his armor off. His fur was a natural gray, but his mane and tail started off pink, and became a vibrant red as it went back. The lower-ranking soldier grabbed two paper bags and gave one to his friend as he sat down at the table.

“Thanks, Steel.” The earth pony said.

“No problem, Dig.” He replied.

The two dug into their meals, consisting of thick sandwiches and steamy fries. After a few bites of what was surely a delicious meal, they half-turned their attention to the game and their company. Dig took two cards and placed them face down to each member. They all picked up their cards, and made signals to either hit or stay. In the meantime, they began conversation.

“So what happened this morning?” Dig asked, gesturing towards Longsword.

He didn't want to start off talking about the latest incident, since the whole point of taking the break was to keep his mind from worrying about it until the town meeting at seven thirty. Too fucking early for my tastes.

“Only one this time.” He answered. “Bloody, too. There were four pods, though, so it seems we have at least three changelings ready to insert themselves in somepony's place, if they haven't already.”

“Well shit.” Steel interjected. “I lost a bet then.”

“A bet?” Longsword asked.

“Yeah. Twenty bits on it being five bodies at least.”

He eyed the guard with a steady mix of disapproval and judgment. “You shouldn't be taking bets on us screwing up. It might send the wrong message to ponies.”

“'Screwing up' is an odd way to say it.” Steel threw his cards to start a pile, having gone over twenty one. “The guy's doing our damn job; Keeping the fucking invaders out of our lives. If he wasn't stealing, he'd be called a hero, human or no.”

“Probably not.” Dig said. “Remember Zecora? Everypony here is so xenophobic, if they had never seen a butterfly, they'd probably run away screaming. I'm still surprised that minotaur didn't get the boot.”

“Alright.” he replied. “Bar the human thing. It still doesn't change what he's doing.” With no one hitting, the remaining two showed their cards, letting Dig win with two aces, an eight, and a nine. They scratched one victory and began again.

“You're right, it doesn't.” Longsword said. “And that's exactly why we're focusing on him and not the changelings.”

“What- We're going after him cause he does our job better?” Steel asked, not understanding the reasoning.

“No. It's because he's not doing our job at all.” Longsword gave a piercing gaze to Steel. “Our policy is to capture changelings, not slaughter them. That policy was directly crafted by Celestia herself. It's covered in the laws now, that we can't attack them except in reasonable defense, or failure to surrender. Killing them outright is now murder, since we're not in a war, or even a skirmish.”

“Well, why not? The dirty little doppelgangers are getting their filthy chitin all over citizens of Equestria, and we're suppose to just let them go for it? Sounds stupid to me.”

Dig leaned over and whispered into Steel's ear. “It's probably not the best plan, to chastise the actions of your own goddess.” He leaned back, and met Steel's questioning eyes. “Just saying.”

“No.” Longsword deadpanned. “They will get their trials, just like everypony else.”

“I say they don't need any trials.” Steel looked away casually, as if he said that the weather was nice.

“Let me explain all this to you right now.” Longsword started, almost breaking out a soap box. “Love is all changelings feed on. The only way they can get it, is to get someone to love them, disguise or no. So, if you had to get loved, and everypony around you that didn't look just like you was out to get you, and you had the innate ability to change yourself into one of the ponies after you, wouldn't you use it?”

Begrudgingly, Steel nodded.

“Because that's survival.” He said. “Now, say this continues, and we begin to kill them. One of two things will happen; Either we kill them, or we don't. If we do, we've committed genocide. If we don't, we get to live in constant fear of wondering whether or not our best friend was replaced by an imitator.”

“What if there is another queen? Then it's not genocide.” Steel asked.

“We only know of one queen. And even if there are more, what's to stop it at our border? Others will surely join in and try to take the battle way too far.”

“Alright.” Steel threw another hand in the pile, and held his hooves up in a defensive gesture. “I get it, killing isn't the solution.” He waited for the others to finish. “But why would giving them trials and just capturing them do anything?”

Longsword sighed. “Now that part, I’m not sure. The best I can guess is some kind of assimilation of them into Equestrian society.”

“Assimilation? Load of shit!” Steel turned to dig. “Dig, back me up on this!”

“I don't know.” Dig said. “He's got good points. I don't doubt Celestia would do it, given her position on forgiveness. Plus, I say there's a lot of economic opportunity to be had with changelings.”

“What?”

“I mean, just think about it. All they eat is love. We can give them homes, which last a long time if taken care of, and when they enter our workforce they won't explicitly require money to live, so they can do cheap labor. If we just have to pay them in love, then we can get some building projects rolling, some of which our plans have been sat on for years. Or we could bump the populations of some towns that get attacked often, or farming towns, for crop production. I'm just saying, there's not much to go wrong economically.”

“Okay look.” Steel pointed at both of the ponies. “I don't fucking care what gains there are to be had from moving them in. This is still the wrong way to do it. Ponies aren't going to suddenly love all changelings just because the law or somepony high up says we're supposed to. It should be the ponies changing the laws, not the other way around.”

“Case in point.” Longsword said. “If laws preventing blatant racism aren't passed until the majority of ponies agree with it, then it's already too late to prevent the damage! A single pony cannot wane his or her self off xenophobia or paranoia when there is no reason or need to do so, so how could a society?”

“What about Zecora? We got over her pretty quick-like once she helped the elements.”

“That was different.” Longsword rebuked. “We had no proof she did anything, just rumors. The changelings, though, are going to need a lot more than one good deed for ponies to get over it, and some may never do so.”

Steel just sat in silence. He was tired of trying to show them how wrong they were. He decided they had a couple good points, but was also chose to buy himself more time to think of ways to prove his argument. Dig, on the other hand, decided he wanted to prod the superior for information.

“Why go after the human, though, instead of the changelings?”

“Hmm?” Longsword asked. “Implying we're not going after both?”

“Just focusing on him, I mean.” He placed his cards down, knowing that his cards broke over twenty one. “Wouldn't it be better to systematically scan everypony, and find the changelings?”

“Normally, yes.” He placed down a pair of kings, beating Steel's pair of nines. “But doing that would let them know that we know, and they could figure out a way past it. The reason we're going after the human, is because he has something we don't. He knows where all the changelings are, and how to get to them when they aren't looking. If we can capture him, we can use whatever he has to pick them out without a town-wide search and seizure, and without giving the changelings a forewarning.”

“Alright.” Dig asked, taking in the theory. “But if we don't want them warned, why have a town meeting about it today?”

Longsword sighed. “Because if we can't get him within this amount of time, then we need more eyes. I failed to catch him within the time frame I set, and I can't keep the public in the dark without more risk. Even if it does warn the changelings, it would be much easier to catch the human if we had all the citizens being alert.”

Steel muttered. “Half the town knows already...not like it's a big secret.”

“That's none of our concern. Most of it is speculation, and the few that actually know something were asked to keep quiet.”

“Doesn't mean they'll stay quiet.”

Longsword didn't give a retort to that. Instead, he placed his cards down. “Black Jack.”

The two looked and saw an ace of spades, and a jack of spades. They both threw their cards into the used pile, knowing that whatever they had could not beat his hand.

Before they started again, the clopping of hooves could be heard. “Officer?” A feminine voice called out.

Longsword turned his head to see Mayor Mare herself. “Ma'am?”

“We're ready.”

Finally. He thought. Let's get this show on the road.

Kestral sat on an undersized bench, surrounded by brick and wood; the marks of an unfinished building. He tapped his foot incessantly, and every once in a while checked the window just next to him. The open window was how he got in, given the only thing that was there was the frame. The second story view showed him a calm scene of sunrise, where a few groups of ponies had already made their way to the town hall, waiting for their leader to make his or her big speech.

Probably about me.

Next to him was the little sparrow that Discord had commanded, just after the first one died. The little bird hopped up and down, daring not to fly for some reason. He had been there for thirty minutes, and the bird was meant to help him identify changelings, though how he wasn't quite sure yet.

Rifle in his lap, and everything at the ready, he couldn't help but feel nervous. Going into houses at night was no big deal. He could have just figured out which were changelings and which were not. Out there, he couldn't be perfectly sure, and one slip up would put innocent blood on his hands. The pods that they used to hold the ponies would keep them safe, at least for a while, until he could make it. He would have more time if it was just finding captured people. The time limit also put stress on him. In perhaps less than an hour from then, several people would die if he could not kill the right ones first.

It was a shame that Discord had not found the new hideout. Things would have gone smoother if he had been able to kill the other bugs before they left.

Well...I made the choice. Now I deal with the consequences. He assured himself.

He pulled the sleeve on his right arm back, and looked at the new mark he attained. On the second row, one of the circles was filled with half a head of a pony, and half a head of a changeling, seamed together in the middle, where straight line separated the two. That was the symbol that appeared the night before, and he still couldn't figure out what it meant. He knew it had something to do with the voices, and those eyes... Those eyes meant something, he was sure. All of that couldn't happen by accident.

The more he thought about, the more he felt there was a missing connection he just couldn't make. The changelings said Kestral took away his family. Looking back on it, he came to the idea that it may not have been the multiple changelings he killed, but the voices. Kestral had cut off his horn, which he knew was required for their magic. So...the magic let's them use that 'hive mind' of theirs!

But I thought they did that in the pods... He thought. Suddenly it made less sense, but he still held onto the idea, since it was a better theory than nothing. It all helped him get nowhere closer to figuring out the spell, so he put the sleeve down and looked out the window again.

He saw a large group of ponies centered in front of a stage, slowly becoming larger as time went on. Several guards were moving a table to the side of the group, and began placing what appeared to be snacks and drinks. Several guards were waiting at the side of the stage, and one was discussing something with an important-looking figure.

Well, looks like the show is about to begin.

The plan he had discovered was simple, but effective. Two of the changelings were disguised as guards, and the third was the mayor of the town. One was going to poison the food with something subtle and slow acting. Another was going to enter the crowd and attempt to assassinate the bearers -whoever they may be- with a blade. The one playing as the mayor was going to 'panic' upon the outbreak of nausea caused by the poison, and call out a patsy among the guard ranks. A fourth role was to be had; that of another 'guard' that clued in and 'proved' the patsy to be a changeling. After all that, it was just slaughter. No direction; just bodies.

In his mind, the mayor and assassin positions were certainly held, but the other two were in question, since the fourth changeling was hanging from a ceiling via metal chain. The one to agree to the patsy would have made a better distraction, but without something to provoke it, like the poison, it might have lead to confusion against the mayor rather than chaos in general. He decided he would try to play is safe, and just look for both of them.

He stood back, and grabbed the bench. He pulled it to the side, placing it directly under the window. He placed his gun on the window and rested his elbows on the bench, easing some of the movement on the rifle. He began surveying the area, looking for any suspicious actions.

At the table, he saw a pink pony and a blue one, each sporting pink manes. Along with a guard, they were setting out snacks, and a big bowl of what looked like lemonade.

With so many civilian targets, Kestral realized that he would only have one chance to get it right. If he started up the chaos himself, things could turn ugly faster than he could fix it. He knew he was going to have to be a true marksman, and smart about when he hits the targets. After he finds them, that is.

Well, at least I know what the mayor looks like. Glad discord could tell me.

Longsword gave a final nod to the mayor, letting her know that everything was ready to begin. He stood at the side of the stage, with a couple of guards at each entrance. He stood in his stoic stance as Mare made her way to the podium. The murmurs of the crowd lowered considerably as she got its attention.

“Good morning citizens of Ponyville!” A few groans let out from the crowd. “We have called this meeting today for something of utmost importance! As some of you know, there has been a thief in town for days now, striking at the honest hearts of Ponyville!” A few worried murmurs went throughout the crowd. “But that is not all! The thief is also an assassin! He has killed a large number of changelings since his arrival!”

Longsword noticed the last sentence was met with much more variety of reactions. Many were disgusted, some even fearful, but there was a noticeable number of ponies that didn't react negatively. In fact, one or two of them seemed to smile.

“When are you going to catch her?!”

“What about getting the the changelings?!”

“Why are there even changelings here!?!”

“Why aren't you doing your job?!?”

The screamed questions came out of the woodwork. As Mayor Mare began dealing with the questions, Longsword spotted one of his guards making a beeline towards him from the side of the crowd. She passed the guards at the steps and saluted Longsword.

“Sir!” She said.

“What is it?”

She leaned in close to whisper. “We found another one.”

He waved it off. “Report it. I'll check it out later, I need to be here for the meeting.”

“Sir.” She insisted. “It's here, behind the drinks.”

...Shit. He looked at her. “Stay here.”

Longsword made his way down the steps and towards the table, looking as calm as could. On the opposite side from the crowd, a guard stood, trying to keep a straight face while standing next to the collapsed body of a changeling. Longsword leaned in next to the guard, and make sure she could hear him, while the crowd could not.

“What happened?” He asked.

“Nopony witnessed it.” She whispered back. “We just found it like this.”

He looked down, and saw the body was parallel to the table, leaning up against the cloth, with a foreleg reaching under it. Now how the fuck did nopony witness it? If he just dropped, somepony should have seen it! ...Maybe he was already on the ground?

He leaned down and observed the hole in the skull. Just like the others. He got up and snapped his eyes toward the crowd. He has to be close. Real close. So either he's in the crowd, or he's in here! He pulled up on the tablecloth, expecting some demonic creature to step forth and attempt to flee, but instead, just saw a little sparrow looking at him.

“Oh.” He looked at the bird, and saw that it was standing on a metallic container marked with a skull and crossbones. Shit, what's that? He grasped it with his magic, which sent the bird into a panic. He pulled it close enough to read the ingredients, but the bird objected to having its item stolen, and slammed itself into his horn, causing him to drop the container with a wince.

“Stupid bird.” He said with a hushed voice. He swiped at the sparrow in an attempt to knock it away, but hit the container, and sent a small cloud of powder into the air. The white powder covered the bird, and it went into a panic. Longsword watched as it completely forgot about the container, and flew about aimlessly.

He noticed that a couple of ponies were watching, as the bird flew in various shapes, until it finally slammed into the table. It tried to take off again, but an injured wing made it nigh impossible, so the sparrow landed in the large bowl of lemonade set out in the center. With its wings wet and injured, the bird could not take off, and splashed around in the liquid. As Longsword grew closer, the splashing became less violent, and even stopped. He looked in the bowl to see a small amount of red blood seeping from the sparrow, possibly through its skin, and mixing into the drink.

He looked up and saw the astonished faces frozen on several of the onlookers. With the poker face of a skeleton, he grabbed the bowl with his magic, lowered it to the ground, and dumped its contents as silently as he could.

“Nothing to see here, folks.” He said mechanically.

Must be in the crowd. He thought.

“I gave one instruction, dammit.” Kestral watched what had happened through the scope. He had sent the bird to get the can of whatever chemical the 'guard' was about to put in the drink. When he saw the other side, though, he just barely managed to see the skull and crossbones on it, which he decided was an absurdly convenient sign that it was a poison. When the changeling had crawl down to get the bird, he took his chance, and killed him without alerting the crowd.

But then the guards came, and resulted the the bird dying in the colorful juice. Oh well. I'm more of a dog person anyways.

He looked at the guard walking away with the body of the bird. Judging by the lack of a helmet, he was important. Once he was out of sight, Kestral decided to sweep the area with his rifle. After a minute, he still could not find a definitive target. The mayor was a changeling, that much was certain, but he was going to save him or her for last. With one out of the way, and the situation was still in his control, he wanted to keep the chaos for when he was done. Panic made for messy shots, and he didn't want that.

His sight rolled back to see that the guards were shifting, lining up along each side of the crowd. Eight guards on the left and right, along with six along the back, ready to intercept runners. The guards on the left and right began to move into the crowd at an even rate.

What are you guys doing?

His best guess is that they were looking for something, anything that would tell them what happened to the changeling. Or, they might be looking for more changelings, since they then knew there were some present. His sight moved from guard to guard, seeing every step taken. He watched the pattern, how they effectively covered every bit of the crowd in one pass to ensure that whatever they were looking for was found. After both sides passed each other, he saw one of the guard veer off.

He followed the defector with his eye, and watched carefully as the guard bumped into a yellow pegasus with pink hair. Instantly, the guard began to make a big show by pulling out a sword. Kestral could barely hear it, but he could hear the guard yell out 'I found a changeling' at the top of his lungs.

Instantly, some of the crowd scrambled away. The yellow one looked around in fear, and jumped back as a swing of the weapon came close. Oh, there you are. He aimed his sights at the 'guard', but hesitated. His reticle was on the changelings head, sure, but the yellow pony's body was directly behind it. If he fired, it was likely to pierce through both bodies.

At the edge of the his sight, he saw some guards moving in, and a couple flying closer.

Shit. If I lose him now, I won't be able to tell which is which! Think!

His aim moved down, and he acted. He pulled the trigger as the scope was over the leg, sending a bullet through the back knee of the disguised changeling. A small amount of green spray made its way out, and the bug collapsed. In the very least, his target was then marked.

Kestral pulled the bolt back, caught the ejected bullet, putting it up, and pushed the bolt forward again, leaving only two bullets left in the gun. He put his crosshairs on the changeling again. It was on the ground, probably wondering just what happened, or simply in shock from the wound. The yellow pegasus managed to scoot away into the safety of the crowd, which was quickly backing away from the changeling.

There was no longer a threat of a casualty, so he placed his aim at the most lethal spot, and pulled the trigger before one of the guards could reach his target. The head dropped down and matched the rest of the body in its relaxed posture. Several screams from the ponies could be heard, and some of the crowd began rampaging, bursting any way they could to get away. Regular ponies and unicorns ran about, while many pegasai took to the sky, jumping around his vision.

With the other two out of the way, Kestral moved his sight directly on the mayor. She was yelling a monologue, from the looks of it, trying to calm down the crowd. With only a bullet left, he aimed at her head, and waited until his scope was clear of fleeing pegasai. Once it was, he held his breath, and pulled the trigger.

Front and center, where everyone could see, the body of the mayor dissolved into a changeling, and landed on the podium. It was the final strike, because nearly the entire crowd burst into chaotic panic. He watched as the ponies scattered, while the guards seemed to be more controlled over what happened.

Particularly, he saw a couple of the armored pegasai move to the top of the town hall, and saw them join a small group. He spotted the officer that had gotten his bird killed earlier. The higher guard was taking in the information given, and pointed a group off to some unknown location, and they left.

Well crap. With the guards on such a high alert, and civilians running around, it would be far more difficult to move without being seen. Not to mention it was daytime. Although, with the dead changelings, the civilians may just brush off his presence entirely in favor of finding brain-bleach -or for a couple of them, actually wiping off some bug brain. Actually, if everyone is so scared of me, I could probably just walk down the street without a care. It's not like any will confront me... Nah, one of them would report to the guards.

He saw the helmet-less guard walk to a telescope, and begin searching the area. He would have moved out of the way, to prevent sighting, but it was too late: The telescope stopped while aimed directly at Kestral.

SHIT!

Kestral didn't move, he barely blinked and he hardly breathed. The guard wasn't reacting immediately, but Kestral knew better. He was just getting a better look. Not even a twitch was to be had. He waited, hoping for that moment the guards sight continued onward, but it didn't come.

Then another pegasus flew up, and tried to grasp the guards attention. But to his relief, Kestral saw the spotter take his eyes off him, and he instantly teleported behind the wall, as close to the opposite windows as he could. Like the rest, it was unfinished, with the frame only half-placed. He poked his head out to spot any potential observers, but found only a handful of ponies running about.

Better get out of here before he notices that he saw me.

He jumped down, and began heading towards the edge of town, hoping that not a single pony spotted him.

Another?

Kestral watched in angst as another pair of guards made their way past. He dared not stick his head out of the open window, lest another authority figure spot him. It had become apparent that someone had spotted him on his way down here, and made the determination that he was making an escape from the town. It was a shame, because it became far more difficult to move, and if they found him at the train station, they would probably stop the train from leaving, just to catch him.

From there, he could see that it was some kind of steam engine. It was straight ahead from the house he was in, and wasn't guarded by anything other than patrols, which was a problem. Open space would make him easier to spot running to it.

Damn. He thought. I should have gone around through the forest. That way I could have jumped on from the prairie’s side.

Kestral pulled out his slingshot and looked for anything that could be a distraction. There wasn't anything he could find, though. Everything within his range was either too close to the train yard to do any good, or could not be his because of obstruction.

Very slowly, he began to stick his head out, taking in every detail that he could. Further down his left was the actual station, and down either direction he saw the ends of buildings lining up to form the outer edge of town. Something that caught his eye, though, was a pony running down the road, towards him. She pulled a very large cart, piled high with hay, and nothing but.

Kestral smiled at his good luck. As she passed nearby, rushing to whatever her destination may be, Kestral flicked his finger in a meaningless gesture, and set a portion of the hay on fire. As the pony ran off, the guards took very good care to notice, and began chasing her, yelling that her product was on fire. One of them, the pegasus, flew off into the sky for some reason.

With his pursuers taken care of, he jumped out the window, and ran straight for the engine. Quick running, combined with skipping distances with teleportation, made for a very short trip, and he found himself standing on the open space between the engine controls and the supply of coal for the engine. He looked around the corner, at the side of the train that met the prairie, and ensured that there was not any guards or an employee down there. There was not, so he decided that he had a chance to get his disguise before he was found.

He moved into the cabin of the engine. He grabbed his cloth compass, and tapped. Almost instantly Discord's voice came in, as if anticipating his contact.

“Yes?” He asked, like he was for Kestral the whole time. “How did it go?”

“Fine.” Kestral replied. “All three are dead, the guards are on my ass, and I need that disguise right now.”

“Hmm.” He said in a relaxed manner. “Are you sure all three are dead?”

“Yes. None of them have bullet-to-the-skull deficiency anymore.” Kestral looked around the corners again, making sure no one was coming. “And I really need that disguise right now.”

“Very well!” A clap came out of nowhere, and a pile of clothing fell on the ground, next to Kestral's feet.

Kestral took off his two bags, and placed them on the ground. Everything else, short of his briefs, he threw into the rift with just a thought. Then he began putting on his disguise as quickly as he could. He started with the cloth pants, which had leather padding on the knees and up the front of the shins and thighs. Then the cloth shirt that covered everything from his waist, to his wrists, to his neck, then the leather vest just riddled with pockets, and hooks, presumably for tying sacks of gold to.

On the shoulder, a familiar shape was present, so he pulled his knife back out of the rift, and placed it in the sheathe on the vest. He could see there weren't any boots present, so Kestral placed his own boots on his feet instead, along with the holster for his machete, and the blade itself.

He picked up the last leather item, which seemed similar to that of a robe. Like a duster, there were buttons going down the front, extending all the way to the bottom. There was no cut or slit along the back, but it seemed to have extra width to make up for that. The edge of the coat extended down to the point that it was on the ground; Though, perhaps that was the purpose, since it would hide the fact that he has feet instead of hooves. He put it on, and saw the pockets and hooks in the inside, which were much larger than the jacket's.

Those pockets would be so fucking useful, if not for the fact that I can just throw valuables into oblivion and pull it out any time I want.

The arms were a little long, almost covering his hands, and the hood was rather large as well. There were only three items setting on the ground, so he grabbed the smallest two. They were a pair of gloves, covered in dirty white fur, and looking like a bad mimic of his hands. He put them on, knowing they were part of the disguise, and grabbed the last item.

It was a mask. It looked similar to a bull's head, but it seemed fit to be worn by a human. It was a silvery color, but was otherwise not very aesthetically pleasing. The cloth on the back molded to his head as he put it on, and the dark glass the covered the eye holes helped keep light from glaring in.

All in all, he looked similar -at least his clothes- to the type of clothing that the ponies might wear. The varying shades of brown for the leather were less antagonistic-looking than his own black-oriented clothing. Though the mask was obviously a mask, it did hide the fact that he was a human, which was the important detail.

“You sure this is going to work?” Kestral asked.

“Do not doubt the machinations of a wizard!” Discord proclaimed. With some glee in his voice.

“Alright! Alright.” He said. “Thanks for the disguise though.”

“Thanks for not screwing up.” Discord said, thought Kestral could not decipher if it was sarcastic. “Is that all?” He asked.

“Yep. Just need to snag a spot on the train.”

“Farewell, then.”

“Later.”

With Discord gone, he walked around the side, making sure to act calm, but not get spotted.

One town down. Let's get on with it.

Longsword stood at Fluttershy's door, hoping to get her attention. After a few raps on the door, the yellow pegasus in question showed her face. From behind her, the cyan pegasus known as Rainbow Dash bolted around to see who it was as well.

“Good morning Fluttershy.” He said

“Oh, I guess so...” she replied. “I mean; You too!” She squeaked.

He nodded his head and smiled at the amusing shyness. “Dash.” He put his attention back on Fluttershy. “I don't want to waste too much of your time, so I just need to ask something of you.”

“Well, what do you need?” She asked, curious.

Longsword took out a small brass piece and presented it to them. Fluttershy recognized the piece, and was confused.

“I want to ask if you have a dog with a good nose. We believe that we could track the human this way.”

“Oh!” She said. “I have a few dogs that might be able to. Come right this way.” Fluttershy walked out and fluttered over around the house. The other two followed, leading to a small doghouse, with a couple dog inside and several more running around each other outside. She got the attention of what looked like a bloodhound, and brought it over to Longsword.

“This here is Mark.” Fluttershy stated. “He's real good at sniffing things out, but he gets distracted easily.”

I'll probably need to train him a bit before he's useful. Might as well try, though. Longsword held the brass piece out with his magic. “Can you follow this, pup?”

The dog put his nose against the metal, and sniffed it out several times, even giving it a lick for good measure. It gave several more sniffs in different directions, then aim his nose at Fluttershy, and began licking her on her lips.

Damn it. He thought. Maybe after some training.

Suddenly, to the surprise of everyone, another dog popped up and ate the metal piece, quickly swallowing it. It wasn't a regular dog, it was a timberwolf, and one that was only about half the average size, at that. After it completed the deed, it just stared at Longsword, as if it did nothing wrong at all. One of its eyes was lazy, and was far off to the side, seemingly bouncing at the same rate of the dog's quick breaths.

“I- Wha- Gods damn it!” He said.

Fluttershy gasped at the action. The tamed timberwolf started running towards the Everfree Forest, and she chased after him.

“Moon-Moon, come back! Please! You're just a pup still!”

Longsword just watched as the dog that ate the only object they believe was in connection to the human ran off into the forest.

I am going to kill somepony.

Author's Notes:

Funny typo; I mistyped 'slingshot' as 'flingshot' and didn't catch it immediately. I wonder if i should call it that from now on?

On another note, i'm just glad i didn't fall into that 'every thief steals from the Apple family' (Or filthy rich, for that matter) trope that tends to go around on thieving stories. I was tempted, so i may just write it out another day as a bonus scene. (I'm not saying it's cliche, i'm just saying iv'e seen it a lot)

Feel free to point out to me if there are any errors, grammatical or otherwise.

Have a good read!