Sundays on Market Street were an odd time period, Wayfarer had found. It was like a roller coaster of activity at all times. Not in that there was always excitement, but that there were long stretches of time were little to nothing happened, before a wave of ponies seemed to flood the street. They buy what they need for the coming week, then disappear as fast as they came, back to their homes or to the open fields around Ponyville to continue their day off. Wayfarer managed to arrive during one of the intervals of calm, a bag of bits and a list in his pocket of things Twilight needed him to pick up for her.

The last thing he needed on the list was a special brew of tea mix from Zecora, so he was on the hunt for the zebra's tent of oddities. The tent itself seemed to change location from one appearance to the next, making Wayfarer wonder how Zecora kept business going if she was so inconsistent. He found it eventually however, nestled between a stall selling a multitude of different flowers, and a less permanent looking establishment that seemed to selling imported cherries from Dodge Junction.

Stepping up to the stall in question, Wayfarer looked around for Zecora, not knowing which of the many many jars scattered about contained the needed tea mix. "Hello?" he called out.

"Wayferer!" Came a call from the flower shop next door. Zecora came out from the almost forest like displays with a rather odd looking potted bloom. "Forgive me my absence! I needed this Anise for my Absinthe."

Wayfarer's left eyebrow rose at that. "Absinthe? As in, 'I'll get you so drunk you'll start hearing colours' Absinthe?"

Zecora laughed as she ducked under the tent flap to stand behind the counter, placing the Anise flower next to her. "True a brew of Absinthe would make your head flip, the purpose of this drink is not to sip. Absinthe makes a good changeling detector, as they find it hard to resist its sweet nectar."

"Why would you go looking for changelings?" balked Wayfarer.

Zecora's eyes squinted as she explained herself. "I spotted one bug in my neck of the wood, and I intend to run it out before it causes no good. Though I do not deem to call one of another race a pest, I fear if I don't find it no pony will find rest."

Wayfarer frowned in thought. There wasn't much doubt in his mind that this Changeling might be the same one that had been buzzing about Ponyville since not long after he got here. Now that its cover was blown, it must have been hiding out in the forest instead of in town where Celestia or one of the Guard ponies stationed here could catch it.

"You want me to tell the guards or Twilight about it? I'm sure they'd be more than happy to help out."

"Do not trouble yourself with my personal crusade," chimed Zecora, waving a hoof dismissively. "In what way today may I provide you with aid?"

Shrugging, Wayfarer pulled out the list and read aloud the tea Twilight wanted. "A bag of 'Narcissus Oolong Tea' if you'd please."

"For one Miss Twilight I presume? I'm sure there was some next to the crocodile rheum." She turned and began shuffling through all manner of potion making ingredients before she pulled out a small jar of dark brown powder and placed it on the counter. "And here we are, from Chiniegh far. Narcissus Oolong Tea, to ease the ills that be."

Wayfarer looked at the zebra incredulously. "You sound like an advertisement for the stuff when you rhyme like that that."

Zecora smirked with a self satisfied smile. "Am I not advertising it to Twilight and you? Now seven bits will be your due."

Rolling his eyes, Wayfarer pulled out the sack of coins and dropped the requested amount in front of Zecora as she hoofed over the jar. "Thank you Zecora. And don't hesitate to ask me or Twilight if you need help with that Changeling."

"You warm my heart with your kind words. But I feel assured in my own girds."

Wayfarer dodged an incoming book tossed his way by Spike, who was standing at the top of a latter thumbing through a shelf of books. "Uhh, Spike? I thought your job was to keep the library looking nice, not making it a mess."

"Oh, sorry Wayfarer." Spike, finding what he was looking for, climbed down from his precarious position and hefted a large book above his head. He ran towards the coffee table and slammed the tome down on it before cracking it open and scanning the table of contents.

Curious of the dragon's actions, Wayfarer walked over to join Spike. "What's that?"

"A bestiary. It names all the known races of Equestria, both civilized and uncivilized, and how they're spread around. I was wondering if it made any mention of dragon settlements."

"I thought dragons were a migratory race." Wayfarer raised an eyebrow as Spike turned a few dozen pages until he landed on an entry for Fillydelphia. "Besides, I doubt a creature that grows to three times the size of this tree and hoards twice its weight in treasure would be able to live with dozens more of its kind."

"But they do! Well, at least the one's I met did. They didn't haul that much treasure around, but there must have been hundreds hanging out in that volcano to the southeast."

"Hundreds?" Wayfarer swallowed a lump that had suddenly gotten caught in his throat. "And Celestia just lets them migrate over midland Equestria?"

"Yep." Spike froze mid page turn and lifted his head in a pondering manner. "Actually, that is weird. I mean she sent Twilight and the girls to remove just one dragon from the Smokey Mountain. Why would she let them fly over Equestria?"

"Let who fly over Equestria?" Celestia poked her head out from the hall. Wayfarer's mind nearly collapsed in on itself when he saw she was wearing a frilly apron with the phrase 'If you can't take the heat... RUN!' written on the front. "Dinner's ready by the way." Wayfarer shook his head around a bit to jumpstart his brain, then followed Spike and her into the kitchen.

"Why do you let dragons fly over Equestria every hundred some odd years?" Spike asked.

Celestia hmmed at that. "It's part of an old treaty with them we have. I allow them to cross over my lands, and in exchange we receive payment for it, provided they don't cause any damage or harm on their way over."

"What happens if they do cause harm?" Wayfarer asked.

"Oh, they don't." Celestia smiled, but Wayfarer could have sworn her hair flared like fire for a moment. "They know what happens when they do." Spike and Wayfarer took a seat as Celestia pulled a lasagna out of the oven. Spike immediately cut out a slice of the pasta when it hit the table, while Celestia and Wayfarer awaited for it to cool to something more bearable for their non fire resistant tongues.

"What sort of payment do the dragons give?" Wayfarer asked with genuine curiosity. "Money and Gems?"

"In abundance." Celestia nodded. "It's one of the reasons I feel safe in keeping taxes so low, despite others complaints to the contrary. I am given other things as well. Sometimes I get old treasures, once thought lost to the ages. Other times I might receive favors and what not. And then there are times when I'm given much more surprising things." Celestia looked down at Spike and smiled warmly. "Like you Spike."

Spike nearly had a mouthful of lasagna go down the wrong pipe at that. He choked and sputtered slightly before he managed to set himself right and respond with a very reasonable, "WHAT?!"

"It's true. During the migration before the last, about seventy years ago, the dragons thought a few eggs would suffice in place of gold and gems. They of course never mentioned that the eggs were duds, but it didn't take much to figure it out. Save for one though. That one I held onto, knowing I could hatch it myself at any time, but preferring to use it as a test to find a new student. Many prospective young unicorns came and attempted to hatch the egg, but few came close to doing so. There were two who even managed to come close to accomplishing this goal." Celestia stopped for a moment and seemed to become rather somber for a moment before continuing. "One, of course, was our dear Twilight. She was the only one out of hundreds who could bring you out of your shell Spike. And I think you know the life you and Twilight were able to lead because of that."

Spike sat with his mouth gaping as he stared at Celestia, shock and awe at one of the questions of his existence being finally revealed to him. "Whoa... Why didn't you-"

"Say anything?" Celestia finished. "You never asked, and neither did Twilight. I was always willing to tell you if the question ever popped up, because I knew you'd want to know eventually. But to my surprise, neither you nor Twilight spoke up, not even after the last dragon migration." Celestia looked over to the hallway with a half confused expression. "Speaking of Twilight, where is she?" The two boys looked at each other and shrugged.

"I haven't seen her since I came back from errands,” Wayfarer said. “You Spike?"

"Same here."

"Hmm." Celestia pursed her lips before standing up. "You two enjoy dinner, I'll go have a look around for her." With a flash of light and a nod of goodbye, Celestia teleported out of the kitchen.

"Well that was certainly interesting." Wayfarer, deciding the lasagna was cool enough for him now, cut out his own slice. "Didn't figure the dragons would be so essential to our economy. Bet that was a bit of a shock to you too, eh Spike?"

"Yeah..." Spike poked at his food a few times, something clearly doing the same to his mind. "The dragons thought I was a... 'dud?'"

Wayfarer, a fork full of pasta half way to his mouth, sighed and shrugged before continuing on with his feeding. "Their loss."

"Huh?"

Wayfarer swallowed and then smirked at Spike. "I've heard enough about dragons to have a pretty good idea of what they're like: greedy, short fused, and not easy to get along with. You on the other hoof, Spike, are kind, helpful, and always trying to be friendly. If even a third of all dragons were like you, they wouldn't have the bad reputation they've built over the centuries. Consider yourself lucky to have been raised away from all that."

Spike smiled widely. "Thanks. But, I do still wish I could meet with at least one dragon who I could talk with."

"Hey, you never know. We've got one good hearted dragon living amongst ponies, who's to say there aren't any more?"

"The history books." Spike grimaced went back to poking his food. "I'm sure if there had been other dragons living with ponies, Celestia, or somepony else for that matter, would have heard of them. I mean it's not like theres a whole section of Fillydelphia where they all live. That'd be really stupid."

Wayfarer chuckled and went back to his food. "Well, regardless. You still got your friends here in Ponyville."

"Yeah... I do."

.

"Thank you again for helping with the foals, Wayfarer," Cheerilee said as she dragged an eraser across the black board. "You really are a life saver."

"Not a problem, Cheerilee," Wayfarer said. "But there is something I'd like to talk to you about if you don't mind."

"You're not about to ask me for a pay raise are you?"

"No. Actually it's about two of the foals. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?"

Cheerilee froze. She sighed and then dropped the chalk eraser in a bin next to the black board. She then turned and gave a tired look to Wayfarer. "I am aware of their... behavioral problems, Wayfarer. But there is only so much I can do with them at school. I've sent numerous notes to their parents and given countless hours of detention, nothing seems to get through to them. If I had their parents support, maybe more could be done, but I don't ever get any responses to my letters and every time I bring it up during parent teacher conferences, they laugh it off as 'kids being kids.' So, if you have any suggestions, feel free to voice them, because I am out of ideas."

Wayfarer sighed. He was afraid that would be the case. It seemed odd to him though that such a nice man like Filthy Rich, who he'd met several times in his wonderings around town, wouldn't take a more vested interest in his daughter's school life. Especially when accusations of bullying were being tossed around.

"If that's all Wayfarer, you're free to go." There wasn't any of Cheerilee's usual joy in that sentence. It seemed to be filled instead with remorse and frustration, like she knew she was fighting a battle she'd already lost.

Wayfarer turned to leave and gave a very somber goodbye as he did so. "I'll see you on Wednesday, Cheerilee."

~~~~~

"How'd it go Wayfarer?" Sweetie Belle asked as she and the other two Crusaders led Wayfarer through Sweet Apple Acres.

"Poorly. Cheerilee has done everything she can, and I don't think any more letters to Diamond and Silver's parents will help matters. I think it's best if you three just ignore them. They just want a reaction, so if you deny them that, eventually they'll stop."

"Letters to their parents?" Apple Bloom mumbled. "You mean the ones they throw away before they even get home?"

Wayfarer could have face hoofed at that moment. Of course those two would do everything in their power to appear as pleasant as possible to the only people who mattered, including destroying evidence. "Have you told Cheerilee about that?"

The three looked at each other, then slowly looked away ashamedly. "Uhmm, no?" Scootaloo mumbled.

"That might be a good place to start don't you think? Let Cheerilee know tomorrow and see what happens. I'll take the heat Wednesday when you tell her I've been talking to you about this."

The three nodded to him. "Okay."

"Alright, so what are you three dragging me out here for this time?"

Sweetie Belle did a cute little skip and jump as she took the lead of their little group. "We thought of a great new idea to get our cutie marks!"

"And you're going to help!" Scootaloo added.

"Oh, joy."

"Don't worry Wayfarer," Apple Bloom said. "It ain't nothin too dangerous."

"See, unless you three are training to be members of the royal guard,” Wayfarer said. “your special talents shouldn't be anything remotely dangerous."

"But where's the fun in that?" Scootaloo asked accusingly. "Rainbow Dash says life needs to be filled with excitement! You have to enjoy it until the very last bit!"

"Yeah," Wayfarer mumbled. "But sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone."

"Huh?" The three say at the same time, tilting their heads in confusion.

"Nevermind, just something my english teacher used to say. Alright, what's your plan girls?"

After putting up with the crusaders' nonsense for a few hours, Wayfarer tiredly made his way back to the library, hoping for a nap and possibly a hot meal. However the fates didn't seem to keen on that idea, so they dropped Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in front of Wayfarer when he opened the front door.

Pinkie jumped right up into his face with an over excited hello prepared. "Hi'a Fare-"

"If you call me Farey one more time, I will hit you."

That just seemed to make Pinkie smile more and giggle. "Oh you wouldn't hit a girl," Pinkie fluttered her eyelids and made a pouty face. "Would you?" Wayfarer took that moment to turn to Rainbow Dash, who had walked within hoof's reach of him and Pinkie, and slugged her right in the shoulder.

"Ow! Hey!" Dash shouted indignantly.

"Sorry,” he said. “Just proving a point."

Rainbow squinted her eyes at Wayfarer and sneered at him. "Yeah? Well now I'm going to prove one!"

Faster than Wayfarer could blink, Rainbow Dash had one hoof against his chest and another under his left foreleg. With a grunt she pulled him around and over her shoulder, then stood up on her hind legs, flipping over and slamming Wayfarer down to the floor. He barely registered the fact that his back was now in pain before Rainbow placed a hoof on his gut and posed like she had defeated some great beast.

"Point made?" Rainbow asked as she smirked. "Or should I repeat myself?"

"NO! No, you've made your point very clear... also, ow."

Pinkie snorted and started laughing just as Twilight and Celestia walked back in. They stared at both Wayfarer and Rainbow's position with mild shock and confusion.

"What is going on here?" Twilight asked, making herself known to Rainbow Dash.

Dash quickly took her hoof off of Wayfarer and turned around, scratching the back of her head embarrassingly. "Oh, uhhh. Heh heh, I was just teaching Wayfarer here a lesson."

"Yeah," Wayfarer coughed as he got back up. "Don't poke the hornet's nest, you might get stung."

Pinkie stopped giggling long enough to add her own thought. "I thought the lesson was, boys shouldn't hit girls."

"No, the lesson was, Wayfarer should know better than to hit a black belt and not expect retaliation." Rainbow smirked and flexed her forelegs, emphasizing to Wayfarer that she was a lot stronger than her thin frame would suggest.

Twilight just gawked at the three, Celestia giving a bemused look as she shook her head slightly. "Okay," Twilight said slowly. "Well, it's good you're back now Wayfarer. We needed to ask you something."

Wayfarer rolled his still aching shoulders. "Okay, lay it on me."

"Well we needed to know if you had any problem with Rainbow Dash joining us on our... 'Rescue Team' I guess you could call it? With her, it'd bring the total number of Persona users we have to five."

"Hey I'm all for it. She certainly gave me a good indication that she could handle herself against the Shadows. She didn't even hesitate to tackle hers when it was attacking us."

Celestia smiled and turned to look at Dash. "Then I guess that settles it,” she said. “We'd be delighted to have your help Rainbow Dash."

Dash did a hoof pump and jumped up to do a little flip in the air. "You won't regret it guys! Now come on!" She cried as she rushed for the front door.

"Wait, w-what?" Wayfarer stuttered.

"Let's go right now! I wanna see what Andraste can do!"

Celestia nodded and followed the overtly excited pegasus. "Yes, I too would like to gage the ability of Rainbow's Persona. And now seems as good a time as any.

Wayfarer's exhausted body and mind chose a few expletives and tossed them at nothing in particular, then sighed as he too walked out the door, Pinkie and Twilight following behind. "Well it has been a while since I last went to the Velvet Room. Igor probably has half a dozen new Personas for me."

~~~~~

You step inside the Velvet Room for the first time in what felt like months, the clacking of the train down the tracks that led to nowhere welcome you. You turn your head left and right to see Agatha and Agero, but in between them Igor is surprisingly absent.

"Oh, hello there." Agatha smiles warmly to you as you take your seat at the rounded table. "Unfortunately, our master is not in at the moment. He has stepped out to deal with some matter or another."

"But rest assured," Agero said. "Just because he is not around, does not mean we cannot assist you. Sister, the compendium?"

Agatha pulls out her large tome and sets it on the table, flicking it open as several cards flew out from its pages. "You have been busy as of late. Not only have you strengthened the bonds you already had, but you have forged several new ones and gained there power: Kaiwan of the Star," A black and white star shaped creature with the face of a man and wildly frayed purple hair and beard appears as one of the cards shattered. "Take-Minakata of the Hanged-Man," An armless demon wearing white clothes and ropes draped around his limbless torso appeared next. "Zouchouten of the Chariot," Another demon, complete with both arms this time, adorned in white armor, and some sort of duel ended relic clutched in its hand. "And Principality of the Justice." An angelic figure wearing an ornate dress of green and blue and wielding a staff with a cross atop. All four figures bow to you before disappearing.

"And what's more," Agero said as he picked up one of the cards and showed it to you. The face of Miss Cheerilee smiles at you from within the face of the card. "With a powerful bond being forged with one aligned to the Priestess Arcana, it would seem that Scathatch, the Scottish Warrior and Teacher of Heroes, has joined you as well." The card shatters in Agero's hand before reforming into a miniature woman with a large red hat and cloak that covers most of her pale face and body from view. The woman also bows to you before vanishing.

"We hope these will be of great use to you." Agatha closes the compendium and lifts it back up from the table. "Now, is there anything else we may do for you today?"

"Where IS Igor?" You allow the question to fall from your lips before you can stop it.

Agero and Agatha look at each other nervously before Agero speaks. "Truthfully, we know not where he goes when he disappears like this."

"But rest assured," Agatha continued. "Nothing in this room happens without a reason. This room is tied to your fate just as your friends are tied to you through your bonds. Whatever reason our master has for leaving, it is to assist you on your journey."

Satisfied with the answer for now, you turn and leave the Velvet Room.

~~~~~

"Get anything good?" Twilight asked as Wayfarer walked back over to her from the blue door that none of the others could see.

"Five new ones," Wayfarer said. "And one of them is supposedly really powerful."

Twilight frowned slightly. "That power might come at a cost. Just be careful, alright?"

"Are we done yet?" Rainbow yelled from the hall that led to the cellar. "Let's get moving!"

~~~~~

Andraste, as it turned out, was slightly different in comparison to the Personas of Wayfarer, Twilight and Pinkie. Where as theirs each had an element associated to them like wind, lightning or fire, Rainbow Dash's Persona seemed to focus solely on physical attacks. Rainbow didn't seem to mind, in fact she rather enjoyed the fact that Andraste preferred getting up close and personal with her foes.

"Persona!" Rainbow shouted as they turned a corner and spotted three more hapless Shadows waiting to get body checked by a twenty five foot tall armored machine of destruction. As the sword wielding knight plowed its shield into the first, it swung its blade around in a wide arc that sliced clean through the other two. The first dropped to the floor just as the remains of the others disintegrated, then Andraste finished the job by stomping her foot down on the creature.

"This is so AWESOME!" Rainbow yelled out as she bounded around in circles.

The other four Persona users, out of breath from chasing Rainbow around, finally caught up just as Andraste was doing her own triumphant fist pump. "You think...huff... you could slow down a bit Dash?" Wayfarer gasped.

"No way! I'm on a roll!"

Celestia shook her head. "No, he's right Rainbow Dash, rushing ahead like this is going to get you into trouble. If you're going to help us, then I insist you stay by our side at all times when we're down here."

"With all due respect Princess Celestia, I'm not twelve."

Twilight whispered into Wayfarer's ear, "Well you sure act like you are sometimes." Wayfarer snickered at that, getting a scowl from Rainbow.

"Fine, whatever. I know how that friendship report will go." Rainbow rolled her eyes and lifted a hoof up, rotating it around as she continued. "I'll say I don't need anyone's help, then I'll get over run by more than I can handle and get my butt kicked, you four will run in to save me and I'll learn the value of teamwork or something. I'd rather skip all that if that's okaaaaaAAAAAHHHHGG!!" A bolt of lightning arced through the hallway and struck both Andraste and Rainbow right in the tail end, dissipating the Persona and sending the pegasus flying past her friends and landing in a heap behind them.

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelped in surprise as two Shadows that looked like giant snakes, with the standard male/female gender symbols hanging about their necks, swam right through the air at them.

"I don't think I want to know what those guys are supposed to represent. Sati!" Wayfarer's fire bathed Persona appeared and shot several large balls of flame at their attackers. The Shadows reeled backwards as they were engulfed in fire, but they were able to pull themselves together long enough to shoot another round of electricity at them.

"I got this! Tyche!" Twilight yelled as her Persona appeared in front of Sati to take the brunt of the oncoming attack. Tyche was unfazed by the assault, and responded with her bladed wheel, tossing it at the snakelike Shadows. The high spinning weapon tore through one, but unfortunately missed the other.

"Shoot!" Twilight cursed. Wayfarer prepared himself to launch another attack and finish off the remaining enemy. But before he could do anything, Rainbow sped past himself and Twilight, rushing the Shadow and calling out to her Persona.

"ANDRASTE!" She cried out. Once more her knight appeared, raising up its shield in defense as the Shadow sent a third volley of lightning out. This time however, Andraste's shield caught the arc and rebounded it back at the shadow. Even with its resistance to its own element, the snake was too weak to withstand its own attack and was thoroughly obliterated by it. With that, the hallway fell silent, and all five Persona users glanced at each other before Rainbow started to laugh under her breath. The laughter spread to Wayfarer, then to Pinkie and Celestia, and finally Twilight.

It was a sign that they were all too exhausted to carry on, even with the adrenalin rushing through their blood. With a nod from Celestia, the group retraced their steps and left the castle, satisfied with their efforts that night.

Author's Notes:

my editor, the great and wonderful Red Sage, is in the middle of moving right now, so at this time this chapter is unedited. As such if you happen to find any glaring mistakes please don't hesitate to let me know.