Kestral stirred awake again. The darkness still permeated the room, until a small flick brought a singular light to life. He brought himself up, pushing on the cold stone wall to keep his drowsy body stable. He had been drifting in and out of sleep those prior hours. It would be difficult for him to switch sleep schedules so quickly, so he'd just have to deal with it until his body felt it was the norm.

He stumbled on over to the entrance, peering through the crack that separated the doors. Dull red light greeted him, letting him know that dusk was at hand. He knew it was almost time to start another night of thieving.

Kestral took out the folded piece of cloth in his chest pocket and smoothed it out until it was completely unfolded, revealing the ink map. Only two houses had an 'X' on them, so it was going to be a less stressful night. Of course, it also meant he'd have plenty of time for proper thieving.

He drew his finger around the map, every which way in an attempt to find what he was looking for, until he realized that one of the oddly shaped designs had some writing in it. He spread his fingers to bring it closer and read it as 'Library'.

Perfect.

He closed the map up, lapping it over until it showed only the compass again. He turned it side to side, watching as the ink somehow stayed in pace with the turning. It still confused him greatly, but he supposed that was to be expected if he knew nothing of magic. Remembering his reason for bringing it out, Kestral tapped the cloth a few times, right in the center, and waited.

“Yes? What is it?” Discord called to him.

Kestral wanted to ask him a lot of questions, but knew that it was not the right time for such things. He would need to keep it short so he was ready for whatever may come. “Hey, remember when you said I could do magic? Did you find any potential 'spells' I could use?” The word felt foreign, but that did not keep him from asking what he needed.

“Yes. I've studied you a bit, and I have my theories, but I don't have much proof for them. Why?”

“Well,” he started, “i decided it would do me well to learn some more.” He padded the leather bags of gold attached to his belt. “I've got plenty of cash from today and last night. I found a library too, so if it's there just give me the name of the books.” Kestral didn't know much about magic, but he could guess that it would be easier on Discord to give him names instead of teleporting the books directly to Kestral.

If his attitude showed up on his statue prison, the marble Discord would have been smiling at that moment. Wide. “Very well.” He magicked away a significant portion of the gold in Kestral's pockets. At the same time, a slim piece of paper floated in from of him, which he quickly grabbed from the air.

“There you go. Two books with practical application. I can't guarantee usefulness, but I’m confident in my ability to read the resonant magic on you. Read them thoroughly. Anything else?” He patiently awaited Kestral's response, which was only slightly delayed by him putting away the list in his front pocket.

Kestral was about to say 'no' when he remembered something. He pulled out the gold band he found earlier and presented it before himself, since he had no idea if Discord could actually see everything on his person. “Do you take jewelry as a form of payment?”

“Yes. Anything else?”

Discord seemed to be rather pressed for time to Kestral, but he didn't question it. “Nope. That's it.”

Not even so much as a 'goodbye' and he was already gone. It wasn't his place to, but Kestral wondered why Discord was so short. He simply chalked it up to being a mastermind of defending this place. Of course, he couldn't deny the possibility of his need to focus on one of his 'tools' as he had put it. Whatever the reason, it was important.

Kestral pressed up on the door, letting in soft starlight. He let the hard wood slide down his fingers, and he softly placed it back in it's shut position.

The crisp, cool air ran through his fingers, replacing the cold, humid air from the basement. He took a deep breath, writhing in the clean air. In the basement, Kestral could smell the musky scent that he was surely putting off himself. It had been weeks since his last shower, but he had gotten used to the smell. That didn't make it any more comfortable for him to taste his own sweat in the air, though.

He took out his compass again, and lined himself up with the line. With it in his hand, he began making his way to the end of the alley. He checked around to ensure that no guards were in the vicinity, then quickly moved across the road.

Up ahead, he saw two guards begin a route leading his way, so he moved onto a connecting road and began going around. He kept a swift pace until he saw a group of three ponies making their way down that path as well. To keep from being seen, he began weaving around houses. Many of them had lights on, but that was to be expected so soon after dusk.

He saw down the street was a pony talking, just outside the door of a house. He assumed that there was another one in front of her. Kestral was starting to get better at telling genders from a distance.

After checking the other direction, he burst into a sprint across the road, hoping he wasn't spotted in darkness. His compass moved considerably, so he knew the house was near. He jogged in the alley, watching the needle as he went. As he passed a house, it pointed straight for it, so he stopped. He unfolded for the map, and sure enough, there it was in front of him.

He heard the two ponies talking, he was sure, so Kestral moved up along the side, watching for ponies. At the corner, he could see that he was at the same house as the two that were conversing.

He walked back, and he looked at his options. There were two windows on the lower floor, with two more on the top. If he went in the bottom, he would more than likely be heard by the two. Of course, it would be difficult to pry open the top one while hanging on a ledge. It was just a chance he'd have to take.

He set his foot on the lower window and leaped up, grasping the ledge. He set his feet on the head of the lower window, and reached for his flat bar. He stuffed it under the edge and forced down. It came open surprisingly easy, like it wasn't locked. After that, he pulled himself in as quietly as he could, then shut the window.

He moved his way across the carpeted floor, listening for activity. To his surprise, there was loud hoof traffic in one of the upcoming rooms, which was left ajar. Either there was a third pony, or they were quick to move. He was going to need to wait for a better time to move to the basement, so the checked what rooms his could to find a hiding place. Kestral found a closet, and carefully entered, not quite closing the door all the way.

He waited a moment to hear someone either go down or come up. It was the latter, as he heard a female voice speak out.

“Are we ready?” She asked.

“Yeah,” a male replied, “everything's perfect. Bring her up.”

Kestral didn't know what that meant, but he could hear hoof clopping leading away. A minute later he heard two sets of hooves come back up.

“-mber when you said you haven't been in a herd before? I asked my coltfriend to show you what it's like.”

A bit of silence followed, but the mare continued.

“Don't be shy. I'll even help you. Come on~” She made the last words sound sing-songy, and began pulling her friend into the room. After the shuffling of hooves, the door closed lightly, and all the words of the three became muffled.

Knowing he was safe for a moment, Kestral opened the door and ensured that the room further down really was closed. It was, so he quietly moved on and down the stairs. He passed by the living room and found the basement. He opened the door and made his descent down more stairs.

Upon entering, he saw not two, but four pods lined up against the walls. He quickly went to the first pony, pulled out his knife, and sliced open the membrane. He grabbed the brown, unicorn colt, and pulled him out, only dragging him out a few feet before dropping him. Kestral went to the other pony. He cut her prison open as well, and dragged the pink, pegasus mare out in the same fashion.

When they were both relatively safe, Kestral made his way back up again. He made sure to remember their details, because one of those ponies up there is not a target. He looked longingly at the kitchen as he saw it, wishing he could ransack it, but kept going, knowing that there were lives in his hands.

He hiked up the stairs and came to the bedroom where he could hear the 'ponies'. He grabbed his revolver, but eyed the window down the hall. He knew that as soon as he did this, he would have to escape quickly. The sound of a gunshot might not have been familiar to those ponies, but they would likely come running anyway. He slowly grabbed the door knob and turned, pushing on the door.

The three were all there, the stallion sitting on his hind legs at the edge of a large bed and the two mares just in front of him. Now that he could hear the moaning of one of the mares, he realized what was happening. The colt was having a very good night.

The changeling was having a good night.

Not anymore.

He pulled on the hammer of the gun and aimed at the head of the stallion. With a pull of the trigger, a loud gunshot resounded, sending the two mares into a fit. The body changed to it's true form instantly, making the real pony start screaming. He pulled back the hammer again and aimed at the pink pegasus. There was so little time to react, that the 'pegasus' could only stare in awe and blink.

Another pull of the trigger, and a second bullet was fired right into the skull of the target. It's body dropped to the ground as well, adding reason for the last pony to panic.

He watched her as she backed into the corner, on the verge of tears. She seemed to whisper to herself, offering some kind of prayer to whatever gods she worships to help her. It would have gone unbroken if he stood silently, but he spoke up instead.

“Hey, just so you know, your real friends are down in the basement, unconscious. If I were you I'd help them out.” He backed out of the room, closing the door as he went. He holstered his revolver, and jogged over to the window. Kestral forced it open, crawled through, and dropped to the ground.

He began running. Running hard. He ran as fast as his legs would take him. He didn't care if someone heard him, he just needed away from the scene. Surely the guards would have been at the house within a moment, so Kestral needed to get away. He ran hard down the alley, until he reached the end. He sat down next to a trash can, gasping for breath from the sudden exercise, but it quickly subsided as fast as it came.

He may have heard a guard at one point yell, but no one was following Kestral, so he was safe. He took out his map and checked for the last house of the night. It was not too far, but from what he could tell, the location was not in the mess of houses around him. It seemed to be near the business district, so he could spy out some good thieving targets on the way.

On the way to his next target, Kestral ran by a couple of place with much interest. The first was a local bank. A large marble building with no guards on the outside, but a couple of lights were on and bright on the inside, indicating some kind of night crew. The second was a jewelry shop; one that was decorated quite well, and had some expensive pieces on display at the front windows. The third was a large mansion, located at the end of the residential district. It had a large courtyard and a tall, metal fence surrounding it.

Kestral knew very well what his big targets were.

But those were for later. Right then, he stood behind a three story shop, next to a set of trash cans, looking for a way inside. There were windows all over the building, but most were barred, and the only open one was at the third story, with no real way to reach it. A wooden door on the back was present, but was locked with a modern-looking deadbolt.

Even if he forced open a window, the bars would keep him from getting in, unless he found a way up to the third story, which was not in his set of skills. Kestral would just have to get creative.

He walked up to the door. He easily saw that the the whole frame was made of wood. He smiled at that and thought one clever thing.

Wood burns.

He focused on the area surrounding the deadlock, making the carbon within the center of his attention. Slowly, the wood at that spot crackled out into a small flame, burning away at the oak around the lock until ash was all that was left. To keep himself from touching the hot knob, he simply grabbed his flat-bar and pried a little at the door, until it swung open. He entered, and cautiously grabbed the cooler inside knob to close the door.

The inside was filled with toys and dolls. Knickknacks and doodads filled walls and shelves every which way. A nearby doll somehow pierced the darkness with it's button eyes and seemed to contemplate his soul.

He flicked on a flame to abate the shadows, and looked for a basement. No such thing was seen by Kestral. The only things he could see from the door was the counter before him, and a set of stairs off to the right. His best guess was that since he couldn't go down, he needed to simply go up instead.

First, though, he went over to the counter and looked at a primitive looking cash register. It was something out of a historic movie, before electronic cash registers took over.

The technology around here seems to be pretty mix-n-match. I wonder if they know what computers are.

Kestral pressed a large button, and the drawer popped open with a loud ka-ching. He grabbed some bits and stuffed them into some of his empty pouches. It wasn't a large amount, though, so he guessed that there was a safe spot somewhere. He looked around the counter, finding anything out of place or looked like it could hold a secret compartment.

He couldn't find anything, so he decided to move on, since he still had upstairs to look through. He jumped the counter, walked over to the steps, and began climbing. When he got to the top, he saw a kitchen joined with a living room on one side, and a door leading to a bathroom on the other. The kitchen was of great interest, but it could wait for Kestral. He continued on his trip up the next set of stairs, and pulled out his knife to prepare himself.

He walked through the open doorway and found himself in a rather large bedroom, taking up all the space where an attic would normally have been. A couch and two chairs circled a low table near him, while a bed and wardrobe stood at the farther end of the room, next to a door. He ran over to the door and swung it open, revealing a closet containing some clothing two changeling pods side by side.

Kestral went for the changeling first, readying his knife. He plunged his hand into the membrane and grabbed the bug. He pulled it out by the horn and quickly stabbed it, but missed. The squirming from the bug had thrown his aim off just enough to miss the eye, and land the knife on the carapace behind it, leaving a deep, but not lethal, cut.

The changeling kept shifting its body rapidly, making Kestral lose his grip. It managed to grasp Kestral's legs with its own and pulled itself down. It unsheathed the sharp fangs in its mouth and chomped down on his thigh. Kestral tugged, but it only made the wound hurt more. He swung down with his blade to meet the bug's eye, and succeeded.

Slowly, it released the grip it had, and became limp. Kestral pulled the fangs out of his thigh, silently praying that they didn't pierce anything important. He knew little about medicine, but he did know that a deep cut to the femoral vein or artery could be lethal. Although, he could never remember how deep they were into the thigh.

He set his backpack down, and unfastened his belt. He pulled down his pants to see four red marks, with streaks leading down. They weren't bleeding profusely, but did require some attention. He opened his backpack, and took out a small blue box with a red cross on it. He opened it to find only the most basic medical supplies. A bottle of rubbing alcohol, small and large pads, gauze, large stick-on bandages, and some painkiller.

He sat down, and put some of the alcohol on a pad before rubbing it on the wounds. Once they were more or less sterilized, he took the stick-on bandages and placed them on each of the bite marks, leaving only a couple stick-ons left. He placed the bottle bag in the box, and simply threw the used rubbing pad to the ground. He clicked the box shut, threw it in the backpack, and put his bag back on.

After pulling up his pants again, he stood up and looked toward the pony on the wall. He went over and cut open the membrane, allowing some of the goop to spill out. He grabbed the wingless and hornless pony, and pulled him out of the closet. He placed the equine on the bed, and wiped off the goop on his arms into the sheets.

He pulled out his map to see that there were no 'X's on the map, so he was done for the night. He walked over to the nightstand next to the bed, and began pulling out drawers. Only a few papers and documents were in there, so he made his way to the wardrobe and did the same. He threw out clothing, trying to find something useful. At the bottom, he saw a silvery-looking bar only the length and width of his palm. He picked it up and tried to read the words inscribed on it, but it looked like Greek to him. The most he could read on it was the number '50', and nothing else.

He only saw one bar, so he pocketed it and went on to the stairs, descending into the second floor. After rummaging for food again, he went on to the lowest floor, and out the back door. With his targets out of the way for the night, it was time for him to take it slow and get to that library.

Kestral peered out of the bushes as the trio of guards walked off. With them gone, he came out of the shrubbery. As he had closed in on the Library earlier that night, he saw that a light was illuminating the higher portion of the tree. Its occupant was apparently still awake, even when the sun had left visibility several hours prior.

He pulled out the piece of paper he had been keeping, and looked at the two names listed on it: Shadowmancy: Practical Edition, and Telekinetics: Novice. He put it back up and shook his head. If he had read those names a week before, he would have scoffed and thrown the paper away, laughing at the ridiculousness.

Things tend to change quickly, don't they?

He put it back up, just in case he forgot somehow, and walked around the base of the tree. Once he reached a window, he peered inside to see a lightless room, absent of life. He grabbed his flatbar and stuffed the end under the window, then forced down. It cracked open, and he pulled it all the way up before entering.

Once he was in, he closed the window again. He could hear a lone voice, though muffled through a door. He flicked on a flame and saw the array of shelves before him. Along the living wood walls were rows of books, with some shelves jutting out to hold even more. As he passed by each one quietly, he began reading plaques to find the section he was looking for.

Fantasy...Sci-fi...Historical Fiction...Realistic Fiction...blah blah, blah blah blah.

He skimmed over a couple section until he hit the nonfiction area. He filtered through the subsections until he found one called 'Sorcery'. Right as he did, he heard the creaking of a door opening upstairs. Instantly, he flicked off his flame and got up against the bookcase.

“Huh. What was that?” Kestral listened as the pitter-patter of tiny...somethings made its way down a set of steps. Once it sounded like it hit the bottom, it stopped. “Must have been nothing.”

Kestral waited for a moment, listening to the distant sound of clay or glass moving against more clay or glass. Another minute or so after it finished, he heard the 'foot'-traffic return and make its way back up the stairs. Once the door closed, he breathed a silent sigh, and began looking for the books.

He skimmed over the section, hoping to find them quickly. He grabbed the Telekinetics book, and looked over again for Shadowmancy. He couldn't find it, so he went to the other side of the bookshelf, and scanned through its selection. The books were not arranged by alphabetical title, so Kestral was surprised to find it next to a book titled Sexual Sorcery.

Odd.

He backed up between the shelves and pulled off his backpack. He put the books in the bag and closed the bag up. He swung it over and put it back on. He crept as best as he could on back to the window. He opened it up and excitedly rushed out, eager to learn new 'magic'.

He needed to get Discord to give him more names, if those two books worked.

He needed to find more money.

Author's Notes:

Hope it doesn't sound too rushed.