64 vs. The Underground

by Jman9877

First published 1st of January, 2014

Now in the employ of Princess Celestia, Project 64 must come to terms with his new life and what it will bring, but how will he do that with the visions and memories of the past coming to haunt him at every corner? What new enemies will he face?

Featured: 7/27/14
Now in the employ of Princess Celestia, Project 64 must come to terms with his new life and what it will bring, but how will he do that with the visions and memories of the past coming to haunt him at every corner? What new enemies will he face? With his new abilities he will embark on a new adventure, this time with friends and allies alongside him.

This is obviously a sequel to 64 vs Equestria, so any constructive criticism is incredibly encouraged.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

3rd Person POV

A night in Trottingham brought dark clouds and stormy weather, as the rain pelted down onto The Methysmenos Mare, an large tavern filled with drunken stallions and mares alike. It was a place for friends to grab a pint, and wait for anything bad happening in their lives to blow over. It was a place for adulterating stallions to pick up loose mares and have a night in the sheets, at a very expensive rate the patrons would say. Of course a Tavern like this would gather a sleazier crowd than usually, due to its obscure location and lack of advertising, so this was a place for many discrete and behind closed door deals.

Three stallions walked through the rain towards the bars entrance. You could hear the loud Rock ‘n Roll music playing from the outside, along with the constant yelling and hollering from the patrons on the inside. The doors swung open as the three stallions walked in unnoticed, the music too loud for any of the customers there to hear them or care.

“Are you sure this is the place? Seems too public for Shura to meet us here.” One stallion said under his Grey Cloak, his associates barely hearing him.

“She knows what she is doing. She gave us specific instructions to meet her at the bar, and to tell the waiter to order a ‘Red Fang Reloader’.” The second stallion said under his Red Cloak, speaking with a slight Marescow dialect.

“Whatever… let’s just get this show on the road, I gotta a lot of shit to do after this.” The third said from under his Black Cloak. They all walked up to the bar, sitting in different parts. The plan was for the accented pony to order the special drink, as the others covered him for anypony who would want to butt in. None of them knew what Shura wanted to meet them for, but a letter with her hand writing and signature had called them here, and no one disobeyed Shura.

The Unicorn bartender walked up to the Black Cloaked stallion, wiping down a mug with a rag.

“Welcome to Methysemnos, or Methy’s for short. What can I get ya son?” The bartender asked.

“I’ll take Celestia Ale, but that fella over there looks a bit thirsty.” The stallion said as he pointed his hoof to his Red Cloaked associate who would give the order.

“Comin’ right up, and I’ll get to him eventually, so don’t go worryin’ your behind about nothing.”

The Unicorn bartender levitated a clean mug and a bottle of Celestia Ale out of the small shelves within the Bar, and poured the frosty brew into the mug. He set the mug onto the Bar and slid it to the pony, as he took a nice big gulp of the drink.

“Thanks, now shove off.” The stallion said as threw 4 Bits onto the counter, before he turned away from the bar and looked towards the Entrance, looking for anyone who looked suspicious who would enter the establishment.

“Hm. Mind your manners next time.” The bartender said as he turned away in a huff, as he walked over to the Grey Cloaked stallion in the group, “What’ll you have?”

“I’ll take a Manticore Malt, 40oz please.” The stallion said as he pulled out 6 Bits and set them on the table, making sure not to piss off the bartender like the Black Cloaked did. The bartender nodded as he took the bits and reached into the cooler behind the bar, pulling out a 40oz bottle of Manticore Malt and setting it on the counter, as the stallion nodded and took a nice big swig.

“At least you’re a more well-mannered then yer companion over there.” The bartender said as he started to take a few more ponies orders. The Red Cloaked stallion waited patiently as he sat there, watching as his companions slowly sipped their drinks, making sure to stay clear headed if anything went wrong.

The door opened as another stallion walked in, dressed in a Brown Cloak as he walked to an empty table and sat down, waving over a waitress to take his order. The Black Cloaked stallion noticed the pony walk in, and gave a small nod towards his companion across the bar. He shook his head back no, telling him to stay put and let the pony be, and wait for anything big to happen.

After the steady rush of ponies died down and abandoned the bar, the bartender finally was able to walk over and get to the Red Cloaked stallion, whose patience was starting to wear thin after all his time waiting.

“I’m terribly sorry for the long wait, but things around here got a bit hectic. What’ll you have?” the bartender asked, as the accented stallion huffed.

“It’s alright; I have the patience of a tree waiting to grow. I’ll take a Red Fang Reloader please.” The stallion said, as the Bartender recoiled a bit, before he leaned closer to the stallion.

“Are ya sure ya want to order that? Are you who she sent?” The bartender said as the stallion grew a smirk on his face.

“Yes. Me and my three associates…” the Red Cloaked stallion said as he nodded towards the two, who raised their drinks in acknowledgment.

“Alright… I’ll tell her I’m sending ya to the back room. HEY! YOU! STOP MESSIN AROUND BACK THERE!” The bartender yelled at the Brown Cloaked stallion, who appeared to be trying to hit on one of the waitresses walking around. He backed off as he stumbled a bit, walking over the small jukebox. He pulled out a Bit as he inserted it into the coin slot, and a heavy rock song started to play.

“This right here my song!” The stallion said as he tripped over his Cloak, falling onto the floor as the Cloak blanketed him. He groaned as he lay there, shifting a bit in his drunken stupor.

“I’m dreadfully sorry about this stallion’s behavior everypony! Say, friend, before you go to meet Shura upstairs, would you mind throwin’ out the trash? My bouncer called in sick today.” The bartender explained as he gave a pleading look.

“Of course, no problems.”

The Red Cloaked stallion walked over to the inebriated pony on the floor, before he gave a swift punch to the drunkards head.

“Oi! Get outta here right now! This place has no need for your patronage tonight!” The Red Cloaked stallion yelled as he went to punch the back of his head, when all of a sudden an appendage came up from under the figures Cloak, gripping the oncoming hoof.

“What the fuck?” The Red Cloaked stallion yelled as the grip on his hoof slowly increased, and the Brown Cloaked figure lifted off of the floor still holding onto the hoof which tried to Assault him. As the figure now stood equally to his attacker he continued to rise upwards, the Cloak falling from his arms as they were revealed. He stood on two legs, and stood 2 feet taller than the Assaulting pony.

“Before you start to attack someone, make sure you can take them first.” The tall figure said, as he lifted the stallion off of the ground and dropkicked him, sending him flying behind the bar. The other two stallions saw the leader of this operation get sent flying behind the bar, as they quickly made for the attacker.

The rude Black Cloaked stallion got up to lunge at the tall cloaked figure, before he felt an excruciating pain shoot into his hoof. He looked down at his hoof to see a knife stabbed through it, with the bartender holding it down.

“AAH! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” the stallion yelled as he tried pulling the knife out.

“Be careful what demons you stir up son!” The bartender yelled as he picked up an empty Vodka bottle and smashed it into the head of the stallion, effectively knocking him out.

The bartender turned around to see the Red Cloaked stallion, stumbling to get up.

“Now you, need to get out from behind this bar!” the Bartender yelled as he picked up the Stallion with a magical grip, and tossed him from behind the bar.

The Grey Cloaked stallion stood in front of the tall figure as he unsheathed a sword hidden under his Cloak using his magic.

“What in the fuck are you?” The stallion yelled as he aimed his sword at the tall, cloaked figure.

The figure said nothing as he grabbed his Cloak and tossed it away, revealing bipedal being, wearing a Black Long sleeve with grey cargo pants. His hair ran down to his neck, oily and grimy from days of unkemptness. With a burn scar on his right eye, he smirked in excitement.

“I’m Project 64, and you’ve been a bad pony.”

A few of the bar patrons sensed what was about to go down, so the less rowdy ones immediately went galloping out the door. Others were either incredibly drunk or incredibly stupid, and stood to join into the fray.

“Look at that thing right there! He must be 6 feet tall! That ain’t a fair fight!” One of the less inebriated customers yelled, as he ran over to join 64’s opposition. Other stallions looking for a fight went to go join in, some on 64’s side, and some on his opposition.

64 wore a grimace on his face. This many civilians in the middle of this fray were going to be a bad thing, especially when two of the combatants were armed. He needed a way to diffuse this situation, and quickly.

“Look, this is between me and this gentlecolt right here! Everypony should clear out of here before things get ugly!” 64 yelled as he saw a Bar Stool being magically lifted and thrown towards him as he ducked, the Stool colliding with a stallion behind him.

“Well so much for a peaceful approach…… Oh well, acceptable injuries can be made. CHARGE!!!” 64 roared, pointing towards his target.

“EVERYPONY, GET THE MONSTER!!!” The Grey Cloaked stallion screamed, as both sides of the opposition yelled as they collided. 64 hung back to wait for an opening, watching as the countless drunken ponies start to brawl, some not even bothering to see what side of the fighting they were on, and were just swinging wildly with beer bottles and bar stools.

64 saw a gap in the fray, and saw Grey standing across the mass of ponies, still holding his Sword in his magical grip. 64 made his way through the mass of brawling ponies, simply walking as he pushed stallions out of the way.

“C’mere you!” A drunkard yelled as he lunged onto 64’s back. 64 shifted left and planted an elbow onto the drunk’s muzzle, knocking him back onto the ground in an unconscious lump.

“Hooves off …” 64 growled as his irises glowed red and he pulled his hood back up. He continued towards Grey, and when he was finally within range 64 conjured a Double Edged Rapier and slashed forward at Grey as he parried the swing, thrusting forward towards 64 for a stab to his head. 64 moved his head left last second and came in close with a Dagger in his left hand, ready to put the blade into the stallions shoulder.

When a bright light illuminated his vision 64 suddenly felt himself get launched from his battle and into a wall, as [Red finally got to his hooves and saved one of his comrades from injury. Only feeling the force blast him back 64 got onto his feet easily, and saw Red across from him, his horn glowing a bright green.

“We’ve heard of you Project 64, many stories of the Bipedal Blight have come across mine and Shura’s ears!” Red shouted, yelling over the hollers of the still brawling drunks.

“I bet you have heard of me!! I’ve been busy these past months. Tell me, your old man is still locked up in Canterlot right? How’s that been going for business? I bet Shura has been having a hard time keeping things together without him right?” 64 taunted, knowing Red’s family held very close bonds in their mafia.

“You will not disrespect the Slava family name!” Red yelled as he rushed at 64, charging his horn as he blasted a bolt towards him. Reaching to his right very quickly 64 grabbed a chair and threw it at the bolt, causing a mild explosion which stopped the bolt and destroyed the chair in the process. A large flash of light exploded, and both combatants ran towards one another, both bearing Long swords.

The weapons collided as sparks flew, Red charging his horn to catch 64 up close. Eyes widening 64 immediately dropped backwards onto his back, and while Red fell forward on top of him he planted his foot onto Red’s stomach, launching his body backwards in a roll. Red collided with a wall as 64 got to his feet to see Greyattacking him with a sword.

“You’ll pay for this!” Grey screamed as he suddenly teleported from the ground, and appeared right above 64, ready to cleave his head in two.

“SHIT!” 64 yelled as he brought his sword up for a block. Seeing his chest was exposed Red charged up a bolt of energy, and launched it at 64. He was blown backwards into the bar, smashing the countertop as he crashed.

“Ya need some help there bud? Seems these two are more than ya can handle!” The bartender yelled as he pushed away another brawler trying to swipe a Bottle of Appalosa Ale.

“No Ghost, I got this! Just hang back and deal with the civilians!” 64 yelled as he got back onto his feet, and stared at his two combatants. They stared at him with malicious grins, knowing if they were able to finally put an end to the Bipedal Blight they would be sitting pretty in bits.

“You know Deimos, I say we use the little trick we have up our sleeve to finally finish this…” Red growled, as Deimos, AKA Grey, nodded his head slowly.

“I agree Duplex, let’s end this quickly…” ‘Grey’ said back. Both of their horns began to glow, as 64 waited for whatever was going to happen play out. He stared wide eyed as Duplex began to duplicate himself. First there were 2 clones, then 4, then 8, then 16, as they all had the same evil grin as the original. Deimos' horn then blasted at all 16 of the clones, shrouding them in a reddish glow. All clones then grew longer fangs, and their pupils began to shrink, as some began to cackle wildly.

“Minions! Sic the Bipedal Blight of Equestria! Tear him limb from limb!” Deimos screamed as all of the clones did the same, and all of them rushed at 64. 64 dispelled his sword, and held his hands out towards the group of rushing clones. He shut his eyes tightly as he concentrated, and attempted his latest skill.

A bright red wall formed in front of him, as the crazed clones began to try and leap and climb over it. 64 began to sweat at the amount of energy and concentration it took for him to pull that off, as he began to catch his breath.

“EVERYPONY! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” 64 roared as his irises once again began to glow red, immediately catching the attention of all of the drunken ponies. They scattered at the sight of 64 beginning to leak a red aura, as the palms of his hands began to burn with flames.

“THIS. IS GOING TO BE FUN!”

The shield dropped as the crazed clones swarmed towards 64 as a psychotic grin split his face, ready for his share fair of fun.

64 POV

I cracked my neck as I took a look at my handiwork, finally coming down from my magic induced rage. The bodies of Deimos “Grey” Tranq and Duplex “Red” Slava laid at my feet, both covered in bruises, cuts, and swollen limbs. The only pony who looked relatively uninjured was Dust “Black” Charmer, only having a few lacerations to the face from a broken Vodka bottle and a knock on the side of the head from a short recovery from unconsciousness.

The bar we stood in was a totally different problem.

There were destroyed tables and chairs everywhere, along with large holes in the walls from the flurry of fights which hurricaned through the entire place. It was chaos Discord would have been proud of.

“Well, looks like ya done wrecked the bar up, but we did make an agreement with the owner of this place, right?” Ghost asked me, still masquerading as the bartender of Methysemnos Tavern.

“Yep, he should be getting compensated for the damages, but let’s let the Bean Counters back in Canterlot worry about that. Let’s get these three bozos upstairs with Shura, and then we can make our way back to Canterlot. From here it’s about a 2 days travel, but we can try and use that spell that Princess Celestia gave you. I know that I won’t be able to pull it off.” 64 explained, as he slung Deimos and Duplex over his shoulders.

“Alright, I’ll grab this one then. Made me glad I could smash a bottle over his head with his rap sheet.” Ghost said, a hatred burning inside of him. He picked up Dust using his magic, revealing it to be bright neon green, and propped him onto his back.

Luckily the staircase to the roof was still intact, so Ghost and I carried our three captured fugitives from the destroyed bar up to the roof, where Shura was still lying there unconscious.

“Alright, lay them down so we can do our stupid capture report.” I said, setting the two down and stretching out a bit, sore from an extended use of magic. I grabbed my satchel which I left on the roof and rummaged through it, pulling out a small manila folder containing 4 profiles, and then I tossed it Ghost’s way.

Ghost opened up the folder and pulled out the first piece of paper. He shook his head as he was consumed by a green flame, shedding his disguise and revealing his true form. Black chitin made itself apparent, and beady bluish eyes were uncovered. Ghost shook himself a bit, before clearing his throat, regaining his actual buzzing voice. A changeling pup might've not been the most ideal choice of a companion, but the little bugger had grown on me.

“The first stallion from Manehatten, Dust Charmer. Enforcer of Shura Moonlight’s Crystal Methamphetamine and Mare trafficking ring. Identified by a Cutie Mark of a female gender symbol with dust falling out of it, signifying his ability to put ponies of the opposite sex in a trance. Status, Captured.” Ghost chirped as I nodded, pleased at what we had. Dust had a perfect description of Princess Celestia’s dossier, down to the cutie mark. He was an orange stallion with a black mane, spiked forward with gel.

“The second stallion from Californeigha, Deimos Tranq. Enforcer of the same organization. Identified by a cutie mark of a Heart with 3 claw marks slicing through it, signifying the ability to put ones true soul to sleep, and reveal a much eviler, much more demonic side of one’s self. Status, Captured.”

Ghost looked down and matched the descriptions, grey coat with a white mane, along with matching cutie marks.

“That would explain what I saw in there before I sorta blanked out. The clones Duplex was able to make all had some sort of spell cast onto them, making them crazier.” I said, trying to recall what had happened while I was in a rage.

Ghost nodded yes as he continued flipping another page, “The last stallion from Marescow, Duplex Slava, Son of Shura Slava and Manager of Drug Rings from Neighvada to Ethaxial. Identified by a cutie mark of a mirror, signifying his ability to duplicate himself with very little effort. Status, Captured.”

This stallion had a red coat like his cloak, with a black slicked back mane, and the cutie mark was a spot on match.

“Then that leaves her…” I said, grabbing her profile and reading it for myself. “Shura Slava, Leader of the Slava Crystal Meth and Mare Trafficking Ring. Identified by a cutie mark of a black mask, signifying her ability to appear as something she’s not. She’s used this to swindle past the police, DEA, and the Royal Guard itself. I wish I could learn her secrets, but sadly Celestia is paying us to bring her back as soon as possible. We should get going, turn into a human so you can carry two of these two at a time.” I told Ghost as he nodded his head, green flames enveloping him as he formed into me, smirking as he knew that seeing a copy of me really freaked me out.

“Ready to go 64?” Ghost said using my voice, as I punched his shoulder.

“Hey, you know how much I hate that, stop it.” I said, grabbing Duplex and flipping him onto his back, reaching into his Cloak to repossess the real reason we got this task.

A small blue amulet in the shape of an arrow pointing downwards, and hopefully it would stay that way forever.

“Alright, got it. Let’s go. Try using the Longshot Teleportation Spell, Celestia still hasn’t taught that thing to me.” I grunted as I lifted both Shura and Duplex onto my shoulders, as Ghost lifted Deimos and Dust onto his shoulders.

Ghost nodded as “my” forehead began to glow green, and a ball of green flames surrounded us both. I looked down to see my feet disappearing as they were being teleported into Canterlot along with the rest of my legs, my torso, and eventually my head, as Ghost and I successfully appeared in the Canterlot Throne Room I looked up to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sitting upon their Thrones, looking at both of us with small grins upon their faces.

“Princess, glad to see you again.” I said, placing my right fist across my chest to my left shoulder, bowing slightly.

I was back home.

Author's Notes:

Sup Losers! First Chapter of 64 vs. The Underground is here! Lots of questions to be answered and lots of Cliffhangers ahead! I know for a fact that this story will not do half as good as its predecessor did, but hey, I don't give a shit. Enjoy the new story!

As last time this story will be updated every 3 days!

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

64 POV

Princess Celestia gave me a warm look, nodding her head down towards me and Ghost.

“It seems you have brought some guests along with you, are they who we have requested?” Celestia asked, as I nodded and pulled a dossier out of my satchel.

“Yes ma’am, Deimos, Duplex, Dust, and Shura. The Crystal Mare Runners. Took a few weeks to locate them all, but we eventually set an ambush after we forged a document using Shura’s hoofwriting. These two here took a bit of elbow grease to bust down, but all in all they’re alive and captured.” I said, gesturing to Duplex and Deimos.

“Yes your highness, it was indeed a successful mission. Due to the Longshot Teleportation Spell I have casted, I seem to be a bit tired. Permission to retire to my quarters ma’am?” Ghost spoke, struggling a bit to force his words out. He turned back to his Changeling form, bright green flames lighting the room for a few seconds.

Princess Celestia took notice of the Changelings weakened state and nodded, “Yes young Ghost, you may retire to your quarters.”

Ghost nodded respectfully, and proceeded out of the Throne Room, down to our quarters. After he was gone I turned back to Princess Celestia and Luna, wanting to speak to them.

“Excuse me Princess, if I may. I want to feed Ghost tonight, especially now that we just got back from a mission. He hasn’t fed for the past 4 weeks and I’m afraid it’s starting to get to him.” I said, seeing his slightly more disheveled state.

Princess Luna looked surprised by this, and stepped off of her Throne, and walked up to me.

“Are you sure about this Project 64? You must remember last time he fed from you, you were out of commission for almost 2 days.” Luna said, putting a hoof to my shoulder.

“I've been trying to help him with self contol, and I want to see how far along he has come. He now knows what he needs to do to focus on getting the sustenance he needs versus what he wants.” I said, defending my closest friend.

Both Princesses looked apprehensive, and turned back to me. Princess Celestia spoke up first, “Project 64. The reason we are slightly unsure about his feeding is because we have a job which needs to be taken care of in the next 2 days. It involves the defense of Canterlot itself.”

I looked confused at that last remark, knowing defense wasn’t my forte.

“But, Captain Shining Armor is in charge of Canterlot’s defenses, why am I being put in charge?” I asked confusedly, as Princess Celestia shook her head.

“No, you will not be defending Canterlot lot in its wholeness, but rather a small portion of it due to a very important upcoming event.”

“What event? I’ve been gone for the past month remember? It’s been awhile since I left to go find these four.” I said motioning to the 4 unconscious heaps on the floor, “Speaking of these heaps, Guards! Escort these four to the Underground Dungeons!” I yelled out, as the two Unicorn Guards stationed inside of the Throne Room nodded and lifted the 4 ponies magically, carrying them out of the room.

The Underground Laboratories were converted to a small prison, with many spare cells for the more dangerous prisoners I had taken over the months. It was strange when I had to first go back down there, but the feelings quickly disappeared over time.

My thoughts were interrupted by Luna’s explanation.

“Why the Grand Galloping Gala of course, it is the Annual Autumn celebration here in Canterlot, and due to your latest job, we have reason to suspect that somepony may come to sabotage the celebration. We need your skills to help and defend Canterlot Palace for that one night, then you may let Ghost feed upon your emotion.” Princess Luna explained, finishing with the procedure I was to follow.

I looked down dejectedly, knowing that Ghost was probably starving at this point, and I couldn’t stand to see him go hungry for any longer. I looked up confidently, knowing what I had to do.

“With all due respect Princess Luna, I simply cannot wait 3 days until I can feed Ghost. This is the longest he has ever gone without being fed, and I won’t sit by as he starves. I will be feeding him tonight.” I spoke, purposefully speaking against them.

They dropped their soft faces for blank expressions, as we began a mental tug of war.

Princess Celestia was still wary about having a Changeling within the Palace, which was obvious. But Ghost no longer had a connection to the Hive; he was a free Changeling and was loyal to Equestria. She always did this when I requested to feed him, as she didn’t want him to become too strong to pull any funny business.

“Princess. I will be feeding him tonight, and I will still be able to execute the job you have given me. You have my word.” I said, knowing my word wasn't really worth that much, it was my job to be deceitful. Princess Luna turned towards her sister, and spoke.

“Sister, I have reason to believe Project 64 is telling the truth about Ghost’s state of mind. He has shown no signs of disloyalty, and has shown in many cases that he is an incredibly docile. I say that we allow him to feed tonight, and you can see that Ghost is in fact safe to have within the Palace.”

Celestia looked a bit pensive, knowing the Changeling Race has been known to be as deceptive as I had to be to achieve some very violent jobs.

There had been an attack with 2 Changelings involved about a week before I left for Trottingham, and Ghost was immediately pegged as Suspect #1. I had to go around the castle to ask ponies to testify his innocence, and confirm his alibi’s throughout the day. Luckily Ghost wasn’t convicted, but I had to learn to make sure I kept him a bit closer than usual after that to try and keep him from trouble.

“I can’t guarantee that I approve of this feeding session, but I know for a fact that you won’t listen to my pleas. If you feel that it is so necessary to feed Ghost, then you may. I still expect you to be ready 2 days from now for security detail, so I suggest you feed him as quickly as possible.” Celestia said, bowing her head down in frustration.

“Thank you Princess, I assure you I will be here.” I said, bowing down slightly and letting out a sigh, turning around and walking out of the Throne Room. I felt Princess Celestia’s eyes bore at the back of my head, knowing that she still wasn’t too sure about letting me feed Ghost. I had never had major problems with Ghost’s eating habits, and didn’t understand Celestia’s apprehensiveness towards him.

“Oh, and by the way, I managed to complete the secondary objective.” I said, pulling out the Blue Downwards Arrow amulet out of my pocket, and tossed it towards Princess Celestia. I saw her catch it with her magic, but before she could say anything, I turned on my heel and continued to walk out of the Throne Room.

I eventually reached my quarters, the strange bedroom I had encountered while infiltrating Super Nova’s castle. I had searched for the staircase in the wall to try and find that strange room again, but it was nowhere to be found. I had later learned that the room was transported back to its original space, back in a small tower of the Palace which had an overlook to a large gathering area, used for small announcements from the Princesses.

I swung the door open to see Ghost curled up at the side of my bed, curled up similarly to a dog, sleeping as he tried to get some rest after our long month of work. I almost didn’t have me in it to wake him up, but I knew I had to feed him.

“Hey, Ghost. You gotta wake up for a few minutes, it’s feeding time.” I said, rubbing the back of his neck. I didn’t really see him the small Changeling as a pet, but sometimes I couldn’t help but baby him a bit.

“Hnnn…… alright…… I’m starving……” Ghost said, grumbling a bit and rubbing his eyes, opening them to reveal their icy bluish color.

“Hey, you know the Celestia is always riding my ass about unauthorized feeding sessions, and you were able to stick out that job with no complaints, so I think you deserve a little reward.”

Ghost chirped happily as he buzzed his wings and hopped up onto my bed, ready to feed on my emotion. I sat on my bed next to him and closed my eyes, ready to let him absorb his food. I felt him nuzzle up against my shoulder, and the faint hum of his horn snuck into my ears.

“Alright…… go ahead Ghost, remember what I told you about control......” I said, nervous to see if Ghost took our lessons about control to heart.

“Understood…” Ghost whispered, as the humming in his horn intensified, and I opened my eyes. A green aura surrounded his horn, and slowly out of my chest, a red mist began to get sucked out. Ghost smiled contently as he began to feed, releasing a sigh as he began to fill himself.

The feeling of having an emotion sucked out of you forcibly is a very strange sensation. It feels as if you are literally having the life sucked out of you, and you feel your years dwindling. The fatigue that shortly follows after the process begins is always a given, and it’s impossible to get used to, so you can only prepare for it.

I began to hear Ghost purr louder, and the pull of my emotions began quicker. I knew that he could feed for a bit longer, but I still felt that he was absorbing a bit too quickly. If he wasn't able to hold himself back soon enough I would have to do something about it.

“Ghost… remember what I told you… hold it back…” I grunted through clenched teeth, watching as more red mist started to flow out if my chest. It didn’t stop flowing, and I felt my eyelids start to droop a bit as I tried to keep them open.

“Ghost… stop it right now… you’ve gotten enough…” I grunted, clenching my hand in a fist. Ghost responded with another loud purr, and I acted as quickly as I could. I grabbed Ghost by the temples and slammed his forehead into mine, knocking him out with a head butt.

“Ahh… shit… that hurt…” I groaned, clutching my forehead in both of my hands as Ghost fell onto the floor in an unconscious heap. Luckily I had managed to head butt him without impaling myself on his sharpened horn. I looked at him with a disappointed glare, knowing how far we had gone in this kind of restraint training before. He had let his hunger get the best of him, and he attempted to gorge himself of love until he couldn’t eat anymore.

“Well, that went as expected.” A voice said from above, although I already knew she was there.

“Yes Luna, seems that Ghost was trying to stuff himself this time… I fell like there are freaking rocks in my veins right now….” I groaned, rubbing at my neck in fatigue. I looked up at Luna, who was standing on the roof upside down, clinging to it using the same kind of magic I used during some stealth missions.

“I am aware that you wish to keep this small incident away from the ears of my sister. I will keep my mouth shut about it, you have my word.” Luna said, hovering down to the floor. She and I had developed an excellent friendship, becoming one of my good friends, besides Ghost of course.

“Yea, if you can do that. I don’t know what she would do if she realized that Ghost is still susceptible to his inner instincts. Luckily I don’t think he did too much damage to me, and I’m pretty sure he’s had his fill for the next few weeks, so that’s good I guess…” I said, trailing off as I realized something.

“You wouldn’t just come into my chamber to simply observe the feeding session. My guess is you have something to tell me?” I asked, unclasping my brown cloak from my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor unceremoniously.

“Yes… but, it’s a very delicate situation.” Luna spoke, rubbing her left leg with her right hoof.

“Is it regarding my job in two days? Because I assure you I can still work, I just need to take it easy tomorrow.”

“No, well… not exactly… It is in regards to Ghost, and his jobs.”

I looked towards Luna with a confused look, wondering what she meant by that. Ghost had gone on many solo missions before, due to his ability to easily adapt to any kind of situation he was sent on many silent assassination tasks, while I was either assigned to demolition or capture tasks. We each had a specific skills set which was already known to the Princesses, so why would Luna need to talk to me?

“And what about his jobs? Do you need him for a specialized assignment?” I asked, reaching my arms over my head behind my neck, grabbing the collar of my hooded long sleeve and pulling it over my head, pulling the dirty piece of clothing off of me and tossing it into a small hamper in the corner of the room.

“Yes we do. There are reports of Diamond Dog raiders attempting to smuggle Crystal Dust through Ethaxial into Equestria for financial gain, but to those they are selling the Dust to are unknown at the moment. We need Ghost to infiltrate this smuggling ring and find out who the buyers are, and once we do, you will be sent after him to arrest the culprits. This is a specialized job for the amount of danger Ghost will be put through, and the amounts of time Ghost will be away from Equestria. It may be a matter of months until we learn anything about Ghost’s progress in this mission if he accepts it, so he will be truly on his own when he is hooves down in Ethaxial.” Luna explained, as I immediately saw something flawed in this plan.

“Ghost won’t be able to feed from me if he is overseas, how the hell would he eat if he were to accept this job?” I asked, as Luna gave a slightly unnerving answer.

“He will need to feed himself while overseas, and extract emotion on his own.” Luna said without skipping a beat, as if she already had the answer in her head.

I had never seen Ghost feed off of anything besides me, and the fact that he would need to learn to feed off of a deceived pony was terrifying to me.

He is a growing Changeling Project 64. You can’t keep him from his true nature for long; he will need to learn the ways a Changeling must adapt to survive.” Princess Luna said as she turned and walked leaving me standing there in shock. That was why it was a specialized assignment. Ghost would need to feed off of unwilling hosts of love while overseas.

“Wait! Luna!” I called out, grabbing a black shirt out of a drawer and slipping into before I ran out after her. “How can he learn how to be a Changeling? Send him back to a hive? They would rip him apart if he went back into one, and I doubt we have any other Changelings which can teach him.”

Luna stopped in her tracks, but didn’t bother to look back at me.

“We have your reports from the Changeling infiltration you did. You learned more about the Changelings than even my sister knew about. Give those documents to Ghost if he chooses to accept the task, and let him learn the true ways of the Changelings. He will need it.” Luna said, before she continued to walk down the hallway we were in. I stared as she went, until she eventually went out of sight, and I turned back to my room sighing.

I still remember what I saw 4 months ago in that disgusting hive, all of the grotesque things which happened on a day to day basis.

-----------------------------------------------------FLASHBACK 4 MONTHS-------------------------------------------

3rd Person POV

64 was crouched low in a pool of glowing green goo, letting its rancid smell invade his nostrils. He was currently observing a Changeling Queen by the name of Clovercloud, who was currently putting 4 of her newest soldiers through the ringer.

By making them fight to the death.

The four Changelings were stabbing and slashing at each other’s chitin, making grotesque cracks and cuts throughout their bodies.
“GOOD, WE WILL SEE WHO IS THE MOST WORTHY OUT OF THE FOUR OF YOU INSIGNIFICANT, PUTRID, SACKS OF WASTE!” Clovercloud cackled, obviously seeing entertainment in seeing the 4 Changelings brutally attacking each other.

One of the Changelings finally successful in an attack and impaled his brother through the stomach, as a very high pitched scream rang throughout the cavern, causing 64 to wince at the screeching tone. The wounded Changeling fell in a deceased heap, his bluish eyes losing their light and finally closing.

Clovercloud laughed in glee at the fatality, as the 3 remaining combatants continued to beat and stab at each other.
Every bone in 64’s body screamed at him to end all of this madness, but his cover was going to be blown. His job was to assassinate Queen Clovercloud, all Changeling soldiers, and any offspring which would grow up to become Soldiers. It was a very violent job, one which 64 wasn’t used to, but it needed to be done.

Another one of the unfortunate Changelings fell after being bucked in his temple, killing him with the heavy blow. The two remaining Changelings stared at each other, each covered with green, oozing wounds, and 64 suddenly realized what he was nose deep in.

“HA HA HA! YOU TWO! AMUSE ME! ONE OF YOU WILL HAVE THE GRAND PRIZE!” Clovercloud screamed, looking as if she was in ecstasy at the horrific display. The two remaining Changelings slowly circled each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. The first lunged forward to try and catch the other with a stab of his horn, but was caught when his opponent put his hooves out to stop his forward progress. The two began to punch and beat at each other, but 64 noticed something. They were starting to quietly communicate with each other as they fought, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

The Changelings eventually backed off of each other, and stood across from one another. Their horns began to glow a bright neon green as they both began to charge a spell, aiming them at each other for one last push. The spells were finally fully charged, but instead of shooting the spells at each other, the Changelings shot the spells at the roof of the small cave, causing massive tremors to shake throughout the Hive.

The Changelings had joined forces and sent large bolts of magic into the caves walls, causing the small cave to start to cave in. Queen Clovercloud realized what was going on and went into a rage, sending two deadly bolts of magic into the Changelings, disintegrating their bodies into piles of ash.

“YOU LITTLE TRAITORS! HAVE FUN IN TARTARUS!” Clovercloud yelled, as 64 pulled himself out of the Changeling blood pool and leapt at her, sending a flying haymaker into the side of her head. Before she had time to recover, 64 conjured a Dark Red Claymore and lunged at Clovercloud, aiming to cleave her head from her neck. Clovercloud saw this and cast a small repelling spell, pushing 64 back as if a large gust of wind was blowing him back.

“The Bipedal Blight!? What an unexpected surprise! Have you come to see my little show?!” Clovercloud yelled as pieces of the ceiling continued to fall, as 64 jumped to the right to avoid being crushed. He knew he had no time to talk, so he decided to try and end this quickly, and quickly dashed at Clovercloud, using his magic to flash there in a burst of red light. He swung at her left foreleg, slicing through her chitin and into her skin, causing her to screech in pain before she bucked out of reflex, catching 64 in the chin.

He was sent backwards into a wall, smashing into it hard enough to leave an impression.

“Shit…… gotta make this quick……” 64 groaned as he struggled to get up, stumbling a bit as he saw Clovercloud limping towards him.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR ATTACKING ROYALTY SUCH AS ME—“

Clovercloud was stopped as a stalactite fell from the ceiling, impaling her through the top of her head. 64 stared in shock as her mutilated body slumped to the floor, her head completely destroyed.

“Holy fuck…” 64 muttered as he shook his jitters away, knowing that the combined effort of the two rebelling Changelings would be enough to take down the very delicate caverns of the Badland Mountain he was in.

“Alright, the cave-in is gonna kill the eggs and most of the workers. I just gotta get to the exit and wait for the Soldiers to try and escape. I gotta get out of here!” 64 screamed in his head as he climbed up the side of the rocky wall into a small tunnel entrance above him, leaving the gore filled cavern behind.

64 ran full speed through the cramped tunnels, barely tall enough for him to stand upright in. He saw Changelings pinned underneath the falling rubble, each screeching and crying for help from their brethren. 64 knew in his gut that what he was doing was wrong, but these Changelings had been reported for various crimes throughout the San Palomino Desert settlements. Amongst these charges were Murder, Aggravated Assault, Child Abuse, and if not the worst of them, Rape.

The easiest form of love to acquire, whether it is consensual or non-consensual, was through sexual intercourse, and the go to Changeling method of forcibly extracting love. 64 knew the job had to be done in order to stop any more of these heinous crimes, but something in his gut was telling him there were some innocent Changelings in these caverns which were going to be killed.

Quickly jumping to the right 64 barely dodged a falling column of stone, but in doing so he tripped over loose rocks covering the ground he was running on, forcing him to quickly roll as he hit the ground.
“SHIT!” 64 swore as he quickly dove into a small cavern carved into the wall next to him, barely escaping being crushed into mush. He slowly got up and made sure he was all there, feeling his arms and legs as he cracked the stiff muscles.

“Fuck, now I gotta try and dig my way out…” 64 muttered as he saw the entrance into the small cavern was now completely blocked by stone, cutting off his only exit. His only option was to dig his way out, but he was inexperienced in spells which would help clear the rubble, and one of his conjured tools wouldn’t be strong enough to break through the rocks.

64 formed a pickaxe into his hands, its deep red glow adding light to the pitch black dark cave. He turned to the rocky blockage and took a swing, sending small chips of rock flying around him. Swing after swing for over 15 minutes and nearly no progress had been made, and 64 began to become impatient.

“Ugh, if I had the same targeting thing Vi had I could probably take down this entire wall in one swing…” 64 groaned, as he sat back against the wall, opposite to the blocked entrance. He dispelled the pickaxe, plunging the cavern into darkness once again.
“How the fuck am I going to get out of here?!” 64 yelled in frustration, pulling on his hair to try and relieve his anger.

“You can get out 64…” A voice whispered, as 64 looked up to see a quick flash of blue leave his vision, angering 64 further.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” 64 screamed as he charged towards the blocked exit, sending punch after punch at the stones, bloodying up and skinning his knuckles. These hallucinations and whispers from thin air had invaded 64 since the day of Vi’s death, driving him madder with every passing day.

After his assault on the stones, 64 finally calmed down, and looked at the damage to his now bloody knuckles.

“Shit……” 64 whispered as he released a small red light from his palms, illuminating the room a bit to stare at his bloody injuries. He needed to find a way to escape the caverns before this small space collapsed too, and at this point he had no idea where to turn.

Apparently it was to his left.

“I…I can h…help…” A chirping voice whispered, startling 64 and forcing him onto his feet with a dagger conjured, looking in the direction of the voice. He put out his left hand with the small red light, and saw what was lying there.

A small changeling, no bigger than a pup, was lying on the floor where 64 was just sitting. He looked incredibly malnourished, his chitin cracking in some areas, and bags underneath his neon blue eyes. He slowly got up onto his hooves, wobbling as he did, and walked over to the blocked off entrance.

“I… I can move these… I… I have a lot of practice…” He chirped, as green glow began taking the rocks out one by one, but with each pull of a rock, about 5 others fell. He was strategically pulling out the rocks as 64 simply stared, watching as the small changeling started to create a small tunnel out of the cavern. The changeling turned around as 64 flinched slightly, wondering what he wanted.

“C…Can you f…follow me with that light? I can’t r…really see…” The changeling said to 64, who slowly nodded as he walked forward. The changeling hopped into the small tunnel he was digging and crawled forward, throwing rocks out the way he came in, as 64 attempted to squeeze himself into the small tunnel.

“Hey, watch it with the rock throwing will ya?” 64 said as a stone collided with his forehead, as the little changeling continued to dig stones out of the way. Eventually 64 was able to wiggle into the small opening with his forearms clutched close to his chest as he kept the light spell up, illuminating the small tunnel for the changeling.

“I… I had to practice this… there is a lot of cave in’s here…” The changeling said, as he gasped very sharply. “I think… we are at the end of the blockage…”

He was right, as he was able to push the rest of the rocks out of the way, allowing him and 64 to crawl out, as 64 began taking deep breaths.

“Oh fuck my claustrophobia…” 64 gasped as he put his hands to his knees, trying to regain his bearings.

The small changeling looked at the strange creature, wondering just what it was. He had seen many kinds of creatures before in crude pictures, attempting to replicate their forms, but always failed due to the lack of 3D figures. Now he had an actually being here, the Changeling wasted no time in recreating the figure, down to the black hooded long sleeve and baggy black combat pants.

“Alright, now I gotta get outta he—“

64’s sentence stopped in his tracks as an exact copy of himself stood in front of him, standing 5’10 along with him, brown shaggy hair, and a large burn scar on his right eye. Memories flashed through 64’s vision, more specifically, Ghost. His double while inside of the Peacemaker, his sparring partner, his friend. These were things 64 had tried so hard to forget, but thanks to this little Changeling in front of him, those memories came flooding back.

“Get the hell out of that form.” 64 said, staring at “his” face with an incredibly cold stare. Bringing up the past was something he definitely didn’t want right now, especially with his job still in progress. He knew this Changeling wasn’t harmful, it being a worker instead of a Soldier drone.

The Changeling surprisingly obeyed, closing his eyes as a green flame engulfed “his” body. The Changeling stood there dizzily, whimpering in slight pain as he put a hoof to his stomach. He was obviously starving, but now wasn’t the time for 64 to feel sympathetic. He stepped around the Changeling, continuing down the dark passageway towards the exit of the Caverns.

The footsteps echoed down the tunnels, and after about 10 minutes of walking, 64 felt a disturbance in the vibrations his footsteps were making. He turned to see the small Changeling tailing him, following as if he was a dog following his master.

“Why are you following me?” 64 said, making sure his voice had a slight edge to it to try and scare away the pup.

“I…I want to leave too…” He said, looking down at the floor rubbing his stomach once again.

“No, you have to stay here. I’m not just going to let you leave this place.”

The Changeling looked down dejectedly and nodded, and to 64’s surprise, began to shed a few tears. 64 turned away and kept going to prevent himself from seeing the depressing image any longer, and continued down the path.

Eventually he saw a very dim light at the end of a long tunnel, and instantly recognized it as the exit.

“Finally, gotta get the hell out of here. Gotta destroy the entrance so nothing comes back here.” 64 whispered as he ran for the exit, the light from his right hand dissipating as the natural sunlight began to leak into the cave the closer he got.

Finally stepping outside of the cave, 64 looked over the edge of the small trail which held the entrance, taking in the vast canyons and mountains which made up the Badlands, home to a small pocket of Changelings that decided to settle in.

Looking up towards the cliffs above him, 64 saw a plateau which held very large boulders near the cliffs, perfect for blocking off the entrance. He began a climb up the cliff face, sighing as the heat of the intense began to beat down upon him.

“Shit, maybe black wasn’t such a good thing to wear out here……” 64 muttered as he finally reached the top of the plateau and walked over to the loose boulders, ready to push them down the cliff.

“Alright, let’s get this over with…” 64 sighed as he planted his hands upon the stones, and planted his feet.

He didn’t see the first Changeling tackle him.

Author's Notes:

Yay! New Chapter! I want to get the flashbacks out of the way as quickly as possible so we can get to the nitty-gritty story line I have planned. Once again any constructive criticism is encouraged, and new chapter out in 3 days!

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

3rd Person POV

64 felt his entire body lurch to the left, getting tackled to the ground. He was tackled by a Changeling Soldier drone, who wasted no time in attacking his enemy.

“YOU KILLED OUR QUEEN! I NO LONGER FEEL HER PRESENCE!” He yelled, charging his horn with a sickly green magic. 64 sent his right fist into the Changelings face, wincing as the injuries to his knuckles protested. The Changeling was flung off of 64 as he quickly got up to see 3 other Changelings along with the first.

“YOU WILL PAY YOU BLIGHT!” They yelled in unison as they all geared for battle, with two of the Changelings morphing into Manticores, and the other two simply charging combative spells. 64 quickly brandished two Tomahawks, duel wielding them to try and make sure he didn’t have a blind spot.

Both parties rushed forward at each other, as 64 slid underneath the legs of one of the Manticores, and then leapt over the other, hacking downwards to create a large gash in its head. The unmorphed Changelings quickly fired their spells at 64, who dodged the first volley, but was caught in the second. He was caught in his left shoulder, as the Tomahawk in his left hand dispelled due to the disruption in his magic.

64 winced as he tried to shake away the pain as he rushed at the unmorphed Changelings, swiping at the first. The Changeling ducked under the swing before he tried to impale 64 on his sharpened horn, but was caught off balance as 64 grabbed the horn with his left hand, pulling him forward before planting a knee into his gut.

64 quickly spun around with the Changeling still in his grasp to throw him at the advancing Manticore, who was trying to sneak up behind him. They slammed into each other as the Manticore was knocked onto his back, before the other Manticore rushed at 64. He slashed at 64 with his enormous claws, who was forced to jump backwards to get out of the range of the attacks. Unfortunately 64 didn’t notice the other unmorphed Changeling, who quickly leapt at 64 from behind, stabbing his horn straight into his right lower thigh.

“AHH! YOU FUCKING FUCK!” 64 yelled as he brought the Tomahawk in his right hand down onto the Changeling’s neck, instantly cutting through its chitin and through its skin, clean decapitating it. Its body fell in a dead heap, but its head still stayed impaled in 64’s right thigh. He pulled it out as he saw the blood start to seep out.

“Shit… that’s gonna put a hamper on things…” 64 thought as he looked at his 3 remaining combatants, 2 of which had the power of fully grown Manticores. “I can’t move quickly enough to attack right at them…”

The injured Manticore roared at 64, before rushing right at him. Using his very amateur magic skills, 64 charged a repulsion spell in his left hand, and sent it towards the Manticore rushing at him. With the incredibly destructive power behind 64’s new magic, the left arm of the Manticore was ripped from its body when the bolt of magic collided with it, sending green blood splattering from the wound.

The Changeling quickly morphed back into its true form, squealing in pain at his lost left foreleg. 64 wasted no time in forming a Javelin in his hand, and threw it with complete accuracy into the downed Changeling, impaling it through its body to the ground, killing it instantly.

“2 down… 2 to go….” 64 panted, his leg injury getting the better of him.

The 2 remaining opponents circled 64, one standing in front of him, one standing behind him. The Manticore opponent morphed back into a Changeling, fangs bared and wings buzzing. Both of their horns glowed a menacing green, ready to strike down 64 at a moment’s notice. 64 once again constructed his duel Tomahawks, ready to fight these things.

“Give it up! Even with a bum leg I can still kill the both of you!” 64 taunted, knowing he still could fight.

“THE BLIGHT STILL THINKS WE WILL SIMPLY TURN TAIL AND FLEE?! WE HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE WITH OUR QUEEN GONE! AND WE WILL AVENGE HER DEATH!” The Changelings yelled in unison, their minds connected with the last shreds of hivemind they had. They charged at 64 at the same time, each connected to the other to work together.

64 tensed for them both and quickly spun on his left leg, extending the blades out to keep the Changelings at bay. They instead slid underneath the swings and swiftly bit into 64’s ankles, causing him to yell in pain. He swung downwards at the offending Changelings, but they quickly teleported away, before they each charged a spell with their horns. 64 used the short lull in battle to create another Javelin in his right hand, and launched it at one of the Changelings who had its eyes closed.

As the Javelin neared its target the Changeling dodged left, surprising 64 because his eyes were closed.

“How the hell?!” 64 thought, as both Changelings smirked at his confusion.

“WE ARE CONNECTED AS ONE! WE ARE ONE!” They both said, as they fired their large repulsion spells, both aimed for 64. Thinking quickly, 64 put up a weak shield spell, blocking the spells but launching him backwards. 64 skidded against the rocky floor as he neared the edge of the cliffs, unable to get up due to the injury to his right leg, and when he tried to move his left, he felt it stiffen up and become unresponsive.

“Shit… paralyzing agents were laced in their bites to my ankles.” 64 grunted, pushing himself onto his elbows. They could see through each other’s eyes, giving them almost perfect 360 degree vision, a major disadvantage in 64’s favor. He needed an endgame here, to finish the fight in one fell swoop, or else things were going to look bad for him.

The Changelings advanced on him, ready to end the life of the monster known as the Bipedal Blight, a monster which was feared by many across Equestria, a monster which parents would tell their children stories of to prevent them from disobeying. They would take his head as a trophy for the naysayers who wouldn’t believe their tale, and mount it on a bloody pike outside of their next hive. It would truly be their crowning moment in life, and they would rule with absolute power of the Changeling race.

64’s mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to think of anything that would get him out of this mess. A spell, a maneuver, a weapon, nothing was coming to mind. As 64 backed up on his elbows he suddenly felt the ground leave him as one of his arms slipped off of the cliff behind him, startling him as he struggled to regain his balance. His eyes suddenly shot wide open as he thought of a quick plan, and readied his arms.

“YOUR HEAD IS MINE!” The Changelings yelled as the both lunged at 64, who shot his arms forward and gripped their necks as they gnawed and bit at him, holding them back as strongly as he could. He could feel himself being pushed backwards on his back, edging closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. At this point half of his back was now off of the cliff, his numb waist being the only thing preventing him from falling.

As 64 tried his damndest to hold his grip on their necks, he felt it start to weaken, the numbing agent now starting to nip at his arms. He was now near completely falling off of the cliff, his legs only partly still on the edge. His back was being bent off of the cliff, now parallel with the plateau, as the Changelings attempted to completely throw him off of the Cliffside. 64 held on with everything he had, trying not to fall to his death at the hand of these Changelings, but his grip weakened, and he felt himself start to fall off of the cliff.

“Shit! Fucking Changelings!” 64 yelled as he finally lost his grip, and slipped down the cliff. Down he fell as his body went numb, only able to move his neck and head. Unable to move at all 64 started to list the possible outcomes at the end of this fall.

“Ok, so I’ll either die upon impact, or live upon impact. Ok, so about 50/50?” 64 thought as he saw the ground approaching quickly. He shut his eyes tightly and awaited the inevitable impact, knowing that this was gonna be a really bad fall.

A weak force suddenly pushed on 64’s back, trying to push him upwards. Turning his neck as far as possible, he saw a pair of buzzing wings pushing him up, but not doing a very good job at it. The force continued to buzz and buzz, but 64 continued to fall at an alarming rate. 64 finally hit the ground, hitting hard but definitely not as hard as he would have.

64 laid on the ground as he tried to take in breath, feeling the wind being knocked out of him with the impact. In his mind 64 had to see what had helped him, so he attempted to move his slowly numbing neck to the left where he heard an intense panting close by.

Next to 64 was the same Changeling he had encountered in the caves. The small Changelings laid on its side panting, obviously exhausted from slowing the fall of the 200 pound Biped. 64 looked at this Changeling in confusion, wondering why in the hell he would save him.

Unfortunately the numbing agent finally reached the entirety of his body, causing nearly immediate unconsciousness.

------------------------------------------4 Hours Later--------------------------------------------------

64 POV

When I realized I was awake I shot up from the floor, flames in both of my hands ready to take on whatever the hell was out there. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything to be seen. One of those reason was that it was pitch black, save for the moonlight and small light emanating for my hands. I looked around for the Changeling that had saved me, wondering what he did after I was knocked out.

I was now at the bottom of the mountain, but I remember that the Changeling had set me down at about the halfway point down, which means he had moved me even further down the mountain.

“Hello? Anything out there? Little Changeling?” I spoke out, wondering if I would get a response. Silence followed my call, and nothing echoed off of my voice indicating anything nearby. All that was around me was the small patch of dead grass I was just laying on, and a few sticks lying around it. Feeling some cold start to set in, I pulled the dead grass form the ground and bundled up the sticks to create a small campfire, knowing that I wouldn’t be moving anywhere for a while.

“Where the hell did that little bug go? Did he go back to that hive?” I thought, wondering about the Changeling that managed to save me from serious injury. “Hello?! You out there little guy?!”

Once again I heard no response, so I decided not to bother with it anymore. I would need to go back up there tomorrow to destroy the hive, and I needed some rest.

“H-Hello?” I heard behind me, causing me to jump from my sitting position, and turn around with a Sword conjured, prepared to defend myself from the startling voice. I found the voice belonged to the Changeling I was just calling out for, who now looked much worse than when I first saw him within the Hive.

His chitin where it was once cracked and split was now nearly gone and broken, green blood oozing from every cut and injury he had. I swore I could see bone through the more severe injuries, and knew that without some immediate medical attention he would die.

“Y-You… You saved me back there?” I said, not really sure if he did or not. The Changeling nodded, blood dripping from a laceration on his forehead.

“I…I had to save you… You helped me l…leave…” He grunted, shaking as if he had trouble standing. It turned out he did, because shortly after he said that he fell onto his side, taking deep breaths.

I didn’t have time to wonder what that sentence meant; I needed to make an incredibly difficult choice. This Changeling saved my life, and my damn morality wouldn’t let me just leave him here to die. But with him being a Changeling I had a job to eliminate every single one of his kind I found in these Badlands.

“D…Did I get all of the venom out?” The little Changeling asked, pointing to my ankles. I rolled up my black combat pants and saw large bruising on the area I had gotten bit by the two other Changelings, indicating that the venom was sucked out of my system.

Well… that answered my question. I had to help this little guy and fast. I didn’t have any medical equipment on me that would be sufficient enough to treat the severity of his wounds, and my Destructive Magic was incapable of healing wounds. I had only one option, get this little guy back to Canterlot, and quick. I would deal with Celestia’s bitching later, this Changeling had to live.

“I’m gonna get you help, just hang on tight. This might be a bit intense.” I said, cradling the Changeling in my arms as I slightly cringed at the neon green blood being dripped onto me. He nodded as he tried to make himself a bit smaller and easier to carry.
I shook my legs a bit as I got them ready, knowing that by train the Badlands were about 5 hours away from Canterlot. With my speed being faster than a train I knew that I would get there quicker, but every second was counting for the Changeling dying in my arms.

“Alright… focus energy to legs to reinforce muscles and bones… focus energy to repel the ground from my person… focus energy to reduce wind resistance… all checks completed…” I whispered to myself, mimicking Shining Armor’s checklist so I didn’t rip my legs apart doing this.

“Alright little guy… hang on tight…”

Red Magic leaked out of my legs as I felt the heat of Super Nova’s magic travel through me, fueling me with malicious thoughts and an incredible power wanting to be used. I obliged as I shot forward at incredible speeds, every step leaving a cracked footprint on the ground the size of a frying pan.

I was heading in the direction of the train tracks, knowing that if I followed them all the way to Canterlot I wouldn’t have to run up and down the Macintosh Hills, making a much quicker route. Through the adrenaline rush I was able to feel the Changeling in my arms shivering in fear, scared out of its mind as we traveled at such high speeds.

“JUST HOLD ON TIGHT! HOPEFULLY WE’LL BE THERE SOON!” I yelled, running through the Badland Desert as the train tracks came into view, a train on its way towards Macintosh Hills. I sped up, running as fast as I could get ahead of the train before it went into a tunnel, knowing that if it went into the tunnel first, it would slow me down tremendously. I raced alongside the train as I saw the amazed looks from passengers inside, Ponies and Foals alike gawking and pointing at me as I ran faster than the train.

We closed in on the tunnel I slipped in front of the train, going in first so I would be able to speed ahead of the train. Letting go of the Changeling with one arm and gripping him tighter with the other, I reached into the front of my shirt and pulled out a small necklace with a gem on the end, surging magic through it as I gained a connection with Celestia.

“PRINCESS! I’M COMING BACK TO CANTERLOT, THERE’S BEEN A COMPLICATION!” I screamed, knowing I just probably scared the shit out of Celestia wherever she was.

“Goodness 64, could maybe not scream out of nowhere while I’m eating? I nearly choked on some corn! What is the situation?” Princess Celestia asked, clearing her throat a bit.

“I HAVE A WOUNDED INDIVIDUAL IN MY ARMS RIGHT NOW WITH NO NEAR MEDICAL CENTER! THE ONE IN DODGE JUNCTION ISN’T EQUIPPED ENOUGH FOR THIS JOB, SO I’M HEADING STRAIGHT FOR CANTERLOT! ETA 10 MINUTES, GET A MEDICAL ROOM FOR CHANGELING SPECIES READY!” I yelled once again, trying to be heard over the rushing winds I was running against.

There was no response for a few seconds, and I saw the city of Dodge Junction coming into view. Finally Celestia responded, and I heard her voice fill my head.

“Can you repeat that last remark? What should we get the medical center ready for?”

“CHANGELING! YES I KNOW WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO, BUT THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT! I’LL TAKE THE HEAT FOR THIS LATER WE JUST GOTTA MAKE SURE THIS ONE DOESN’T DIE! FOR FUCK’S SAKE CELESTIA CAN YOU JUST TAKE THE STICK OUT OF YOUR ASS FOR ONE DAY AND HELP TREAT THIS GUY?!”

There was once again no response as I finally broke the limits of Dodge Junction, seeing the surprised faces of ponies that were seeing a red blur zoom by the city going near the speed of sound. Seeing Cherry Jubilee’s farm I nearly wanted to smash straight through it, but there wasn’t any time for that. Soon after passing Dodge Junction I would pass Rambling Rock Ridge, and that would mark the halfway point of my journey.

“There will be a room in the Palace ready for the Changeling patient. Heavy security will surround the patient at all times, and you must not be anywhere near him during the procedures, do I make myself clear?” Celestia said taking on a harsh tone, obviously pissed at what I was bringing home. I didn’t care at the moment though; I just had to get this little thing help.

After about 2 more minutes I saw Rambling Rock Ridge come into view, but I knew I couldn’t just run around of the mountainous area. Surrounding it were Quarray Eels, and running in front of them meant more danger, and running on top of the hills would slow my progress. The only option to quickly get across was definitely my favorite, even though Celestia has said it would soon lead me to my demise.

As I crossed the river indicating the Ridge’s border, I saw the rock wall which held the Quarray Eels’ homes, and ran towards it. Holding onto the Changeling tight I leapt onto the wall, and kept my speed up as I started to run on the actual wall. I used magic to stay connected to the wall as I ran alongside it, quickly cutting left and right to maneuver around the holes in the walls which held the Eels, I made it across Rambling Rock Ridge unharmed.

I saw Canterlot on the side of its mountain, and immediately shot towards it. Knowing it was slower to take the secret tunnel Celestia made for me to sneak out of the city undetected, I decided to take the less subtle approach and ran up the mountain face, up the cliff where I had taken the leap of faith which gained me my freedom.

“Celestia, I’m here, where to?” I asked, reaching the top of the cliff and stopping, cracking my neck and making sure the Changeling in my arms was still breathing.

“Considering I heard your stomping footsteps from my Throne room, I see you’re at the back entrance. Just come to the Throne Room, I have a team here which will quietly escort him to where it will be treated.” Celestia said as I held the Changeling in one arm, putting my other hand onto a small pad next to a large Steel door. I sent my magic through the sensor and the door opened wide, revealing a small hall to a door hidden behind Celestia’s throne.

I opened the door and saw both Princesses ready with lit horns, prepared to take cautionary measures against the Changeling. Next to them I saw 4 Guards, including Captain Shining Armor, alongside with 5 medical ponies and a large stretcher.

“64, you will be explaining this to me later. For now, release the Changeling into medical custody.” Celestia said, before she snatched the Changeling out of my arms and put it onto the stretcher, and the medical ponies wheeled it out of the room, 3 of the guards following. Shining Armor stayed behind with the Princesses, and I knew it was time to explain myself.

“Ok look, you sent me to clear out a Changeling Hive out in the Badlands. I stayed out there for a week waiting until I had the chance to get Queen Clovercloud by herself, but a complication occurred. She was making 4 Soldier Drones fight to the death for some strange reason, and when the last two competitors were left standing, they apparently decided enough was enough and tried blowing the place up.” I explained, before Celestia cut me off.

“Wait does any of that have to do with why there is now a Changeling in Canterlot Palace, being cared for?!” She snapped, as I put a hand up.

“Let me finish please. As chunks of debris began to fall a falling Stalactite caught Clovercloud in the head pretty much killing her on the spot, and when I got stuck trying to get out of the Hive, that Changeling helped me escape. And when I ran into a few Changelings which gave me some problems he helped me when I was pretty much finished. I wasn’t about to let the little guy die out there. Shining c’mon you have to see some logic behind this!”

Shining looked a bit pensive at my statement, but ended up nodding.

“I can’t see a reason to not help him, there have been cases before of malicious creature suddenly gaining affection and assisting ponies in times of need. Why can’t that happen to Changelings?” He asked, as Celestia turned on him too.

“Because being deceitful is part of the process they need to survive! That’s how they work! They wiggle their way into your trust, and when the time is right they will turn around and stab you in the back to feed, and won’t stop until there isn’t anypony around for them to feed on! You have just let a great threat into our walls Project 64, I would think you would understand this.”

“Oh, a defenseless Changeling PUP is a great threat?! He was about the size of my forearm! He’s malnourished, obviously incredibly injured, and saved me twice. So how the hell is he a great threat!?” I screamed back at her, getting in her face to try and drive her back.

Luna got between the two of us and pushed us away, trying to defuse the situation.

“Calm down both of you. 64, while it is obvious your heart is in the right place you have to understand what could become of this. Changelings are known to deceive the very ponies they wish to feed from by appearing to be their allies. We must see if this Changeling is indeed as trustworthy as you say he is. And Sister, without his help 64 might have not come back from this mission alive, and seeing its harmed state 64 only thought he needed to repay the favor. We mustn’t lose sight of what needs to be done.” Luna said, successfully bringing both me and Celestia down from our arguing.

We looked at each other as Celestia sighed, using her magic to close the secret entrance behind her Throne, and pushed it back against the wall. She took a seat and flared her wings, her usual exercise for calming herself down.

“I can see where 64’s heart is, but I must think of my subject’s safety first. We will need to keep that Changeling under lock and key until we can deem it safe. Until then, let us all retire for tonight. 64’s sudden wakeup call wasn’t very subtle.” Princess Celestia said, walking off of her Throne and allowing Luna to sit upon hers, signifying it was now Luna’s Court for the night. Celestia walked out of the Throne room unceremoniously, leaving only me, Shining Armor, and Princess Luna in the room.

The clock on the wall struck 11PM and I sat on the floor, rubbing the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger.

“What did I just do Shining…” I asked with a huff, wondering what would become of the Changeling I saved.
Shining put a hoof to my shoulder and shook it encouragingly.

“I think you just did what you thought was right.”

---------------------------FLASHBACK END--------------------------------

I was shaken out of my day dream by Ghost stirring in his slumber, his horn poking me in the arm. I settled him a bit better on my stomach, with me lying down on my bed trying to rest a bit. It was still pretty late in the night, but I didn’t feel as if I could sleep. I needed to get this whole thing with Ghost settled.

I gently picked Ghost off of me and placed him on the bed, before heading out of the room and walking to one of my favorite areas in the entire Palace.

The Training Area.

It was a place where I could blow off a bit of steam when I needed to clear my head, or I could just go there to work out a bit. I went through the barracks of the Equestrian Guard and saw the various sleeping ponies on their bunks, managing to sleep despite the dim lights illuminating the room.

I had stopped feeling nervous around the Guards about a week after I was pardoned by Princess Celestia. I remember the first day after coming back from my job of taking down Sunmoon Gaze I was tackled by about 5 Guards who thought I was still at large. Apparently even after I was injured enough by their assault to be admitted into the Hospital for a few days they were still let off scot free, so I was pissed about that for a while.

I entered the dark room which was the Training Floor and walked out onto the blue mat on the ground. I liked training in the darkness better because the Red light from my magic calmed me in a way, so I very rarely trained when it was light out where some of the sunlight outside could seep into the room.

I closed my eyes and rolled my shoulders, working out any kinks from the bed I was laying on earlier. I rolled my neck a bit before letting out a deep breath, feeling the smoke from my magic blow out of my mouth.

Focusing with as much as I had I opened my eyes and drew all of my magic to them, watching as my vision began to gain a red tint. The darkness of the Training Room began to glow red for me, giving me a form of night vision. Once I had perfect vision in the darkness, I also started to gather my magic in the palms of my hands, causing two small flames to sprout up and illuminate the room.

“Activate Target Practice, Level Intermediate.” I announced, causing the voice sensors in the room to read my voice. Small target rings made their way out of the ceiling and floor, slowly spinning in two opposite directions around the circular mat.

They all had small LED lights attached to them, all glowing red for the moment. I took a stance and began to look around, waiting for the right moment to strike. Quickly 3 of the lights blinked green as I focused on one of them, using my heightened vision to zoom in at it and shoot a fiery bolt of magic at it.

The target retracted as the magic hit, and I repeated the process with the other two targets. 4 more targets lit up as they were quickly taken care of, followed by 5, then 6, and finally the last 7. I decided to switch it up a bit and focus a stream of magic between both of my hands, sending it towards the first of the last targets.

I willed it to shoot from one target to the next, making it look as if it was bouncing from target to target in a rapid succession. Finally the last target was hit, as an automated voice rang out through the room.

“Targets Eliminated. Time: 23 seconds. Accuracy: 100%.”

I sighed as I let the magic in my eyes recede, throwing me back into darkness again. I quickly went into my physical exercises as I walked over to the bench press, racking up 200lbs onto the weights. I wanted to push myself a bit more than I normally would today, so I added about 20 more from my average.

I proceeded with my usual routine, making up of benching, squats, and deadlifts. With each exercise I felt my head becoming clearer, making more rational decisions about what I would tell Ghost the next morning.

I began to grab a jacket I had stashed in one of the lockers in the corner so I could go for a nice 3AM run, when all of a sudden all of the lights in the Training Room flickered on, nearly blinding me due to the sudden change in light.

“Look who had the same idea I did.” A voice said as I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the specs of black splotches out.

“Hey, I was here 30 minutes ago Shining, if anything you had the same idea I did.” I quipped, regaining my vision as I saw Shining Armor standing at the entrance. He usually woke up around this time for a quick work out session, and on occasion I joined him.

“Where are you going so early in the morning? Matter of fact, why are you up so early in the morning?” He asked, a curious look painting his face.

I decided to keep the jacket on the rack, and walked over to Shining.

“Eh, I gotta think about something. I just couldn’t sleep so I decided to come here for a while.”

Shining all of a sudden smirked, a look I knew all too well. He walked over to one end of the large training mat, cracked his neck, and stomped his hoof twice onto the floor. I chuckled and walked over to the other side of the mat, cracking my knuckles and rolling my neck.

“Ground rules?” I asked, wanting to know how far we could take this.

“Non-Lethal Magic, stay within the mat, fight till the other submits. Winner by KO or Submission. Want to count us down?” Shining said, charging his horn with what I could guess was a repulsion spell.

I smirked at his cocky attitude, knowing this was going to be a fun fight.

“Alright. You asked for this. 3……2……1…”

Go.

Author's Notes:

Shedding some light on the Orgins of Ghost! Things will continue to progress from that flashback, but next we will see 64 vs. Shining Armor! Stay tuned for the next installment of 64 vs. the Underground!

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

3rd Person POV

The two rushed forward at each other with top speed, each charging magic for their attacks. Shining Armor launched a Repulsion Spell at 64, who slid onto his knees and managed to dodge the attack successfully. Rising to his feet 64 sent a fist charged with flaming magic at Shining Armor’s exposed muzzle, but as soon as the fist collided 64 was sent flying backwards, repelled by a shield Shining Armor put up as soon as he shot his first distraction spell.

“Gotta watch your opponent at all times! You never know when your magic will prove ineffective!” Shining said, his voice laced with a tone a sensei would give to his student.

64 immediately recovered from being launched backwards and rolled back onto his feet, ready to launch another attack at the Royal Captain. Focusing his magic into his hands 64 punched his hands into the ground, sending a line of red magic through the ground towards Shining Armor. He saw this and jumped to the left, as the ground he was just standing on suddenly erupted with Red Magic.

“Hey, nothing lethal!” Shining yelled as he look towards 64, but saw that he was no longer standing where he was, but instead coming in from above with a magic infused kick. 64 connected with Shining Armor’s muzzle, but Shining used the momentum of the kick to spin around and plant a hard buck onto 64’s chest, launching him onto his back.

“That wasn’t a lethal spell, it was just gonna freeze you in a ball of magic!” 64 said as he conjured a large staff, ready to defend himself from Shining’s next attack. Shining’s horn lit up as he teleported just to the left of 64, tackling him to the ground as soon as he made the trip.

64 backwards as soon as his back hit the ground, in turn pinning Shining Armor to the ground. Shining teleported out from under him, moving across the mat while charging his horn with another spell.

“Get ready for this one 64!” He yelled, as magic began to swirl around his body at an incredible pace, looking as if Shining had a ring of magic around him. 64 lifted his staff and ran forward, ready for whatever Shining was doing.

The ring of magic surrounding Shining Armor suddenly started to launch small discs of magic at 64, forcing him to leap left and right as he still moved forward, ready to put a stop to whatever this spell was doing.

Shining’s focus began to intensify, sweat dripping off of his forehead as he kept up the barrage of magic. 64 began deflecting the discs with his staff, unable to move forward due to the sheer amount of them flying towards him.

“Shining is going to tire out if he keeps up this spell; all I gotta do is not get hit until he does.” 64 thought as he quickly spun the staff in front of his to keep up with the assaulting magic. Shining suddenly realized how quickly this was draining him, so he stopped the flow of magic to his horn and rushed at 64 while he was immobile.

64 saw this move and swung his staff at Shining Armor, who caught the weapon and pulled, trying to rip it from 64’s hands. 64 used this pull to send himself towards Shining Armor, colliding his fist with his face.

Shining Armor was knocked onto his side from the blow but quickly got up, once again lunging towards 64. He managed to grip 64’s arm and swept his feet out from under him, sending him onto his back as the staff in his hands dispelled. Shining but his fore hooves on 64’s chest as his horn lit up, sending a spell into 64’s stomach.

It felt as if 64 was suddenly being electrocuted, all while being held down. He writhed in pain as flashbacks began to flash through 64’s mind, being held down and tortured for experiment under the hooves of Celestia and Knight. Feeling himself losing it 64’s irises suddenly glowed red as he began to expel Red Magic through every pore he had in his skin, feeling himself becoming more powerful and able to escape from his captor.

Shining Armor noticed this and realized what he was doing, stopping immediately and back off of 64’s now glowing red body. 64 shot up onto his feet and saw Shining Armor standing there, but wasn’t able to distinguish him from friend or foe.

“C’MERE YOU! YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” 64 yelled as he rushed at Shining Armor with incredible speeds, making Shining Armor suddenly go wide eyed. He put up a defensive barrier around himself as 64 collided with it, launching him backwards into a wall. He pulled himself from the drywall and rushed once again, this time charging more magic into his hand than the rest of his body. When he reached the shield Shining Armor had put around himself he punched it for all he had, sending ripples through the magical barrier.

It began to crack and break down, forcing Shining Armor to dispel the barrier as he tackled 64 to the ground, then suddenly yelled in pain, feeling to intense burn 64’s magic was beginning to give off. 64 sent a fist into Shining Armor’s face, dazing him before grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up.

“I’M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” 64 growled as he slowly tightened his grip on Shining Armor’s neck, causing the Captain to gasp and choke for air.

“don’t do this… please forgive them…” a figure said, blue invading 64’s vision. 64 let go with one of his hands and tried to wipe away the intrusion to his eyes, but the blue figure remained there.

“fight it 64… shining isn’t the enemy…” the figure said once again, digging its way into 64 mind. He suddenly let go of Shining Armor as he fell to the ground, gasping and wheezing for air. 64 gripped his temples as his fell to the ground in pain, seeing the figure in blue slowly become clearer in his vision.

It spoke softly, slowly, and clearly. 64 screamed at it to go away.

“calm down 64… don’t let it corrupt you as it did me…” the voice said, finally breaking through to 64’s head, allowing him to now clearly speak to Shining Armor.

“SHINING! HELP!” 64 yelled as he banged his temples with his palms, begging the pain in his head to go away. Shining Armor got to his hooves and made his way to 64, who was still shaking and spasming with his hands covering his head.

Pinning him to the ground Shining Armor sat on his shoulders, forcing 64’s arms to his sides. He brought his two front hooves up, before he muttered at 64.

“Sorry buddy.”

Shining Armor brought his hooves down onto 64’s head, promptly silencing him.

64 POV

I felt myself wake up before I opened my eyes. A splitting headache was shooting through me when consciousness came back, nearly making me throw up in my bed. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked around the small medical room I was in, a heart rate monitor and IV drip stuck into my wrist.

No nurse was in the room at the moment, so I undid the IV drip and sat upright on the bed I was lying on.

“What the hell happened to me?” I groaned, feeling blood suddenly rush to my head as I felt a bit dizzy. I had vague memories of me and Shining Armor sparring, but when PTSD kicked in I couldn’t remember anything after that.

I stood up and saw I was still in my training apparel, and not in those horribly awful robes that were too small for me, which was strange because if I was taken in by medical personnel, I would have been stripped of my clothing.

“Hello? Anypony out there?” I asked, walking over to the door of the room. I opened it and saw Shining Armor standing there with his hoof reaching out towards the doorknob, obviously about to answer my question.

“Oh, I was just coming to see you. I kinda need to you be quiet for a bit, technically you aren’t supposed to be here.” Shining Armor said, motioning for me to follow him out of the room. I complied, wondering what he meant by that.

“What do you mean I’m not supposed to be here? Didn’t the medical personnel check me in?” I questioned, as Shining Armor nodded his head no.

“I brought you here after you went kind of bonkers. I’m not sure what would happen if Princess Celestia caught wind of your little episode, so I snuck you in here so you could cool down for a little while, literally. Luckily, you’ve only been out for about 3 hours, so the ponies around here are just starting to wake up.”

I suddenly remember seeing flashes of Vi telling me to calm down while I was freaking out, and instantly felt bad about it.

“I didn’t hurt anyone right?” I asked worried for the ponies in the palace’s safety.

“No, you managed to calm yourself down before you did any real damage. Luckily I was there to stop you when I did. I’m sorry about using the stun spell on you like that, I forgot how powerful it could be.”

I waved my hand to disregard the subject, “It’s alright, all that matters is that nopony was hurt. We’re in the medical wing of the palace, right?” I asked, to which Shining Armor nodded.

“Yeah, 5 floor, why?” He asked, seeing the small grin I had on my face.

“You go on ahead; I can sneak out of here quicker by myself. I just need to find the tower…”

I looked down the hallway we were in and saw a stairway to the Memorial Tower, where the Elements of Harmony were held.

“Alright, remember to inform Ghost of the job he needs to decide about. Oh, and Princess Celestia wants to meet you at noon to give you information about the Grand Galloping Gala tomorrow.” Shining Armor told me as he walked away, heading back towards the Barracks.

I chuckled as I proceeded down the hallway towards Memorial Tower, climbing the stairs to reach the Room I was looking for. The memorial I was looking for was dedicated to a mare named Snowdrop, whose room had a perfect perch for a jump into the bushes of flowers decorating the ground below. I felt a little bad using her memorial to get to ground level quicker from up here, but I figured no real harm was being done.

I passed many memorials on my way to Snowdrop’s. The most notable of them all would be Starswirl the Bearded’s room. It was massive, complete with paintings, magic theories and forbidden spells, one of them being a resurrection spell which was written in some illegible language. I often found scholar ponies studying the artifacts found inside, but I had never really gone in myself.

I climbed up to Snowdrop’s memorial, feeling its magical aura permeate throughout the room. It always felt naturally cooler in this room, even when the temperatures outside were in the triple digits. I walked to the balcony window and open it, feeling the rush of cold air hit me as the air pressure in the room changed.

I looked over the edge and saw the bushes of flowers decorating the Court Yard, forming beautiful patterns with their colors and shapes. I wasted no time of choosing a spot I was going to aim for and jumping off of the balcony, making a much quicker way downstairs than any elevator.

I landed in a thick bed of Rhododendron’s, perfect for cushioning my fall as I managed to carefully pull myself out of the bed of flowers. I looked to a large clock on the side of the Memorial Tower and saw it was only 7AM, nowhere close to noon. Seeing that Celestia wouldn’t need me for about 5 hours, I went to go talk to Ghost, know I would need to tell him about the job Celestia wanted him to do.

I made my way back to my room, seeing guards and attendants alike waking up for their days in the Canterlot Palace. Many attendants waved happily to me, some of them being ponies I saved in rescue situations.

A light blue coated unicorn mare with a brown bowl cut mane happily walked up to me, hugging me as her horn lit up happily.

“How are you doing Blusa? Feeling good this morning?” I asked her, as her horn lit up with a bright green light.

“That’s good, are you making sure to take it easy? It’s only been about 2 months since we got back from south of the border.”
She nodded yes to me, nuzzling me affectionately before she waved to me, walking away to start her work. She was such a strong mare, especially if she had the strength to continue her life after all she had been through.

I managed to bring her back from the southern Country of Tuvalu, where she was being auctioned off as a slave to a very sleazy politician. She was abused on a daily basis, both physically and emotionally as she was forced to do the most demeaning of tasks for her “master”. I can still remember how many tears she shed when we escaped, but she didn’t cry.

Her vocal cords had been damaged beyond repair when the stallion who had bought her punched her in the throat for speaking out of turn, causing her to become incapable of communication. Upon returning to Equestria she saw no other option in life but to become an attendant in Canterlot, where she made many friends and eventually learned magical sign language.

She had mentioned to me once that she had a brother out in Manehatten who I went to go find, and found that he was a very skilled fellow, able to craft the some of the finest metal trinkets in Equestria. He had a shop where he sold the trinkets, but I quickly found that he was incredibly laid back and very blunt, causing many patrons who entered to leave immediately.

He was happy to hear that he still had a relative who was still alive, and wanted to meet her for a while now. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get Blusa over to him yet, but I planned on doing that when Celestia let me off the leash a little bit.

I made my way to my chambers and opened the door, seeing that Ghost was still curled up on the bed where I had left him, moaning at the light which was seeping through the now open door.

“Why does my head hurt?” He groaned as he woke up, buzzing his wings a bit and rubbing his eyes.

“Ghost, you and I need to have a talk.” I said seriously, making him look down at the floor.

“Is…Is it about when I ate?”

I shook my head no, knowing that he just couldn’t help his hunger.

“No, I can see why you did that Ghost. All you need to learn from that is self-control will prevent accidents like that happening again. Celestia has something she needs you to do. It’s really important that you listen to what I’m going to say, so pay attention.” I spoke, walking over to a bookshelf I had on the wall and pulling out a small folder, labeled with the title “Clovercloud”.

“Celestia needs you to do something important, but it’s your choice whether or not you are going to take the job. Ghost, you need to learn how to be a Changeling.”

-----------------------5 Hours Later--------------------------

Ghost had taken the news about what he would need to do overseas if he decided to take the job well. He didn’t freak out about like I had predicted, in fact, he seemed a bit excited about learning new skills involving deception. I had told him the terms of the job and what he would need to do, and he excitedly accepted the job on the spot.

I would need to tell Celestia about his decision, so I quickened my pace to the Throne Room. Celestia also said she needed to see me, so I left Ghost with my report of the Badlands job and went to go see what she wanted, curious of what I would need to do.

The doors opened as I approached, the Unicorn guards detecting me coming near. I saw Princess Celestia sitting on her Throne, a small grin on her face as she and Luna sat in silence.

“Princess, Shining Armor told me you had wanted to see me?” I asked, seeing her turn her head a bit in confusion.

“Yes, but I’ve had trouble locating you all morning. Where have you been?” Celestia asked as she walked forward to me.

“I was informing Ghost about the job Luna had told me about, and he actually was more than happy to accept. And before that I was walking around the Palace early in the morning.” I explained, my explanation being accepted by Celestia.

“Well that explains it. The reason I have called you today is to inform you of a small journey I need you to make before the Grand Galloping Gala tomorrow. I ask you to travel Ponyville and make sure that my student and her friends receive their tickets for the event. I also suggest that you acquire a suit from the Element of Generosity, who is a well-known tailor. I know for a fact all that you have in that closet of yours is Black and Brown Cloaks and a bunch of combat pants, so acquire something suitable.”

I looked down to what I was wearing and saw that all I had wear a pair of black combat pants and a black long sleeve.

“What’s wrong with what I have on right now? I’m just going to be working security; I don’t see a reason to dress up for the occasion.” I countered, as Luna walked down.

“64, there’s nothing wrong with dressing up for a special occasion. So pick up a nice suit while you’re in Ponyville, or I and my sister are going to make you pay.” Luna said in a mock anger way, causing me to chuckle.

“Alright, fine. I’ll be back tomorrow in time for the Grand Galloping Gala, til then, take care of Ghost. Speaking of which, when will he be leaving?” I asked, to which Celestia answered.

“We have plans to send him to the ship ports in Baltimare, and then have him travel to Ethaxial sometime within the next 3 days. Until then, he will be traveling to Baltimare with a small guard squad.”

64 nodded, understanding what would happen during the next few days.

“Alright, so how will I be getting to Ponyville? Running there?” I asked, as Celestia shook her head no.

“We would rather have you get there in a way which wouldn’t incite a city wide panic. We’re going to send you by Chariot, a much more pleasant arrival. You can leave now if you want, unless you want to say goodbye to Ghost?”

“No, Ghost and I have a saying about goodbyes. If you never say goodbye, you aren't really gone. I’ll be on my way to Ponyville. You got the Chariot ready?” I asked as Luna nodded.

“Yes, I can escort you there at once. Please follow me.” Luna said, walking towards Celestia’s Throne and tilting the small candle on the wall, revealing the secret passageway to the back cliff of Canterlot Palace. Princess Luna wasn’t lying about already having a Chariot at the ready. 4 Pegasi Guards were attached to the chariot as they were ready for takeoff.

Luna pulled out a small purple envelope containing the tickets and handed them to me, and then immediately turned around and walked back into the Palace.

“Well I did tell her I wasn’t too fond of goodbyes. Alright soldiers! I’m ready to fly.”

Author's Notes:

This Chapter was written very hastily to get it out on time, but hopefully in later chapters I won't be swamped with my Sophomore year in high school.

Chapter 5

Ghost POV

I read happily as I felt myself jitter in excitement for my upcoming mission. I would learn how to feed like a real Changeling would! It was so exciting I felt like I was going to burst at any moment, but the only thing that would make it a bit better is if 64 was there to see me off.

We had this little agreement where we would never say goodbye, but sometimes I really wish he could see me go on my own adventures. Even though he wasn’t a pony or a Changeling, I felt as if he was the closest thing to any kind of family I had. He saved me from Clovercloud’s Hive, kept Princess Celestia from hurting me when he brought me back to Canterlot, and then gave me a new way I could help other ponies.

When he first brought me back I felt as if he was trying to repay me for saving him when we met, but after time passed I felt as if he took me under his “wing”, teaching me so many things I thought I would never ever learn in my life!

“Young Ghost, Princess Celestia has summoned you to the Throne Room. She requests you at your earliest convenience.” An attendant said, sticking his head into the door of the room.

“Oh, yeah I’ll be there right now.” I said, closing the manila folder which held all of the information about Changelings 64 was able to gather. I hopped off of the bed I was lying on and shook myself a bit, fluttering my wings in nervousness.

The job 64 had described to me sounded very serious, as Crystal Dust was often used in magical hexes and malicious potions. If the trade continued to go through into Equestria, a lot of bad things could happen to innocent ponies.

Before I was able to exit the room, another attendant blocked my path, but I was delighted to see that it was Blusa who was going to check up on me.

“Blusa! I haven’t seen you in a month!” I said happily as I went to hug her, with her gladly returning the hug.

My horn lit up as I signaled I was ready to use telepathy to communicate with her, as her horn glowed as well.

“Oh my goodness Ghost! Did you molt in your time away? You look so much bigger!” She piped, making me blush.

“Oh no, I haven’t molted since 2 months ago. It might just be because 64 fed me last night. What about you? Has the throat been any better?” I asked concerned, as she rubbed it with one of her hooves.

“Oh Ghost, you already know what my answer will be. I’m afraid my voice might never come back, which is a shame regarding my cutie mark…”
I looked to her flank and saw the microphone with 5 little stars surrounding it, telling anypony who saw it that she was able to magically enhance her voice. Apparently she had been a successful singer in Las Pegasus before she was kidnapped and taken to Tuvalu.

“I’m sorry I brought it up Blusa, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” I said looking down, as Blusa gave me a warm smile and patted me on the head, making me purr affectionately.

“Don’t worry about that Ghost. I actually came to talk to you about why Princess Celestia called you., 64 has gone to Ponyville already, I was just wondering why you didn’t go with him.”

“Oh! Celestia is giving me a job overseas! I’m so excited!” I buzzed, jumping up and down happily.

Blusa’s face suddenly went into a shocked expression as if I had told her something wrong.

“I’m sorry Ghost, but did you just say you were going to go overseas? As in leave Equestria?!” She said with worried voice.

“Yeah! I’m gonna learn how to be a real Changeling and feed off of other bad ponies. Then I have to find where a gang of Diamond Dogs are selling magical Dust and then 64 will come and then capture them! It’s going to be really hard, but I’m ready for it!”

Blusa stood there for a few moments before I saw her put on a smile, but I could tell she wanted to say something to me.

“Well, I just hope you stay safe Ghost. It would be terrible if something were to happen to you, but I know that you always find your way out of all sorts of situations. I hope you come back safe.” Blusa said as she patted me on the head once again before she turned around and left the room in a hurry, making me wonder where she was going.

I shrugged and continued off to the Throne Room, the butterflies of nervousness once again fluttering through my stomach. It would only be a quick hour chariot ride to Baltimare, then a day’s boat travel to Ethaxial, a Griffin Territory.

Griffins were often very brash and rude, so I needed to make sure to remember this while making contact with the Diamond Dogs. I needed to impersonate any one of their contacts, meaning had to observe any and all business regarding the magical Dust, and eventually that will lead me straight towards the culprits. Once I found them 64 would come in and make the arrests, and it would be smooth sailing.

“I hope I show 64 that I’m not just a little Changeling…” I whispered, realizing that I was standing in front of Throne Room doors. I pushed them open with magic, and saw both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sitting in their respective thrones, each giving me serious gazes. I approached the two and bowed down, knowing that although I was loyal to 64, I was still one of their subjects.

“Rise Young Ghost, the time for your departure has arrived, and we must not waste any time in getting you overseas. Do you understand what you must do once you are hooves down in Ethaxial?” Princess Celestia asked, to which I nodded.

“Yes your majesty, I understand completely. I will do my best.” I said politely, rising up and adjusting my saddlebag, containing 64’s Clovercloud file, a Daring Doo book, a notepad, and a charm only to be used in emergencies which would allow me to contact Celestia.

“You seem under equipped; wouldn’t you pack a bit more essential items such as a sleeping bag or maybe a few extra bits?” Princess Luna asked as I shook my head no.

“I haven’t the need for warmth, so sleeping in outdoor areas won’t have much effect on me, and as for bits…” I said, using magic to open a back pocket of my saddlebag and take out a small pouch, showing it to the Princesses.
“That hardly looks like it contains the amount of bits which you will need for your adventure, allow us to—“

“No need Princess, look.”

I undid the small string on the end of the pouch and opened the pouch, revealing a Rose Ruby in all its shimmering glory. Princess Celestia remembered what kind of species I was going to deal with on my adventure and nodded.

“I also have a lot of little gems in other pockets, perfect for bribing and bartering my way to get close to the Diamond Dogs. I feel as if I am perfectly equipped Princess.”

The Princesses nodded at each other, as Princess Luna walked forward to Ghost.

“Very well, come with me. The chariot awaits us in the center of the Canterlot Hedge maze.” Luna said, as I followed out of the Throne Room and outside of the Palace. As we walked I noticed the frightened gazes of many passerby’s, seeing my “grotesque” appearance compared to their pompous, high and mighty looks.

I briefly considered changing my form, but I decided against it. I wanted to win them over by showing them I wasn’t a monster, so they were just going to have to see the real me.

We reached the Hedge Maze and began to traverse its leafy walls, making left and right turns at different intervals. When we reached the center of the maze, I took a second to appreciate all of the statues which were decorating the small field.

One stood out to me the most however. 64’s statue where he defeated Super Nova was standing there proudly, her snarling face yelling at 64’s cocky grin while she was pinned on top of him. I almost didn’t believe 64’s story until I came to see the statue with him, but when we got there I almost couldn’t believe it.

He knelt by the statue for a long time without saying anything, and I could swear that I saw some tears start to form in his eyes. After we had observed the statue 64 went on this long speech about what he went through before I met him, and how that no matter how hard the difficulties in front of you seem, there will be a rainbow to guide you in the end.

I still don’t get what he meant by that, but I feel that maybe when I was a bit older I would figure out what it meant.

The Chariot waiting for me had 2 Pegasi attached, both standing at attention due to Princess Luna’s presences. She turned to me before I got onto the Chariot, a worried look in her eyes.

“Young Ghost, although I am aware of your skills in combat, I urge you to avoid as much unneeded confrontation as you can. If you can learn something by simply eavesdropping then please do so, don’t put yourself in immediate danger by asking the questions yourself.” She said, kneeling down and nuzzling my cheek.

I nodded and saluted to her, “Don’t worry Princess, I’ll do my very best!” I said, hopping onto the Chariot. I stamped my hoof twice onto the floor as the Pegasi received the signal, taking off and soaring to the sky towards Balitmare.

“I’ll do my best, I’ll make you proud 64.”

64 POV

The ride was coming to an end, and I could see Ponyville in the distance. It was only about a 10 minute trip, but I wanted to get out of this damn Chariot. I had asked if I could jump from the Chariot like I had done before, but the Pegasi were very strict about wanting to make a peaceful entrance, and not making the citizens of Ponyville frantic.

I guess that kind of made sense, but I didn’t like being up in the air for too long. It’s because I like to have an immediate choice in what goes on around me, but while being dragged through the air by these 4 Pegasi I felt pretty vulnerable. All I could do was look at the approaching city as we began to make our descent.

Even from here I could see the ponies in the town looking up towards the Royal Chariot, excited for whoever was going to be visiting their quaint town. They were probably going to be a bit shocked at what was really coming to town, but I paid it no mind, I had something to do.

The Chariot eventually hit the ground and the ponies were able to see me, some becoming scared at my strange appearance, and some going as far to scream and run away. Others stood there in curiosity, and some actually recognized me from 6 months earlier.

A Blonde maned and grey coated mare was the first to point out this fact.

“Hey! Aren’t you that thing that fought that fiery pony a few months ago?” She asked, walking up to the chariots and putting her hooves up onto the side, standing on her rear hooves to get a better look at me.

“Yeah, that was me. But right now I gotta find Twilight Sparkle, do you have any idea where I could find her?” I asked, as the mare brought her hoof to her chin. Her eyes lit up as a happy grin donned her face.

“Oh yea! She was over at the Carousel Boutique with a few of her friends! You could check there!”

I nodded to her and said my thanks as I stepped off of the Chariot, ponies surround me stepping out of the way so I could get to the Carousel Boutique. Luckily I knew what building she was talking about, because I only knew one building in town that resembled a Carousel in anyway.

Luckily the crowd of ponies that were watching me eventually dispersed as I walked away, not really caring and proceeding with their normal business.

I heard a loud ringing noise and turned to the Clock Tower, seeing it ring as the time struck 12:30. Memories of events past started to bubble their way to the surface, the smallest tinge of blue invading my vision. I shook my head to try and clear it, but they still kept coming to the fore front of my mind.

The ringing got more intense in my head as I felt myself becoming a bit dizzy, having to kneel down onto one knee to try and catch my breath.

“Fuck, I do not want to have an episode in a public area…” I muttered as I will myself to stand up and keep walking, the noise still permeating in my head. I could see the Carousel Boutique in the distance, next to a few other shops which sold miscellaneous items.

When I approached the door I suddenly remembered something before knocking, and reached into my small satchel pocket. I pulled out something I owed Rarity, but luckily never got rid of.

With that I pulled the hood of my black Cloak over my head, going onto all fours to not surprise them too much when somepony opened the door. I knock twice and waited, hearing the quick pitter-patter of hooves on wood as they approached the door.

Light blue magic enveloped the door as it was opened by a small filly, the same one who almost caught me sneaking in her so long ago.

“Hello, how can I help you?” She asked.

“Is Ms. Twilight Sparkle here at the moment? I have something I need to give to her.” I said, pulling out the envelope with my hand before putting it in my mouth, making it look like how an earth pony would grab it.

“Yeah, she’s in here with Rarity putting the final touches onto her dress for tomorrow night! Want me to call her for you?” The little filly asked as I shook my head no.

“No I can get her, can you just point the way?”

The filly stepped aside and pointed into one of the backrooms of the boutique, covered by a curtain. I made my way through the room and saw that the chest I had broken into 6 months ago was now locked with a magical padlock, needing both a combination and a magical signature.

I chuckled a bit, knowing that I could still break into the chest very easily. I moved aside the curtain and saw a sight that I had to struggle to not laugh at. Rarity was pulling and tugging with all her might to tighten a corset around Twilight’s abdomen, whereas Twilight looked as if her eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets.

Upon seeing me Rarity gasped, in turn releasing Twilight’s corset from her teeth, sending the both of them flying in opposite directions. I let out a quick snort of laughter, unable to hold it in much longer.

After composing herself as best as she could, Rarity stood up and tried to make an attempt of swinging her hair attractively. Unfortunately for her, her hair looked absolutely horrendous, so any effect it would have on a stallion was immediately deadened.

“Umm, excuse me, I am in the middle of helping somepony prepare themselves for a very important event tomorrow night, so I’m afraid I must ask you to sit in the waiting area of the Boutique. I promise that I will be with you once I am done with this mare.” Rarity said, trying to turn me away in the most polite way possible.

“Oh, yes of course. But I’m afraid I have something for your client. Ms. Twilight Sparkle?” I asked, still disguised.

“Huh? Something for me?” Twilight asked, still a bit a dazed from her crash.

“Yes. From Princess Celestia herself. I believe you will be needing these for entry into the event you will be attending tomorrow?”
I stood up and held out the tickets with my hand, scaring the hooves off of the mares in front of me. Twilight’s fight or flight reaction apparently was fight because upon seeing me she immediately sent a small bolt of magic at me, forcing me to duck to the ground and pull my hood down, waving my hands in the air.

“Woah! Woah! It’s me! 64! Twilight it’s just me!” I said, not wanting to get hit by a bolt of one odf the strongest magic users in Equestria.

Twilight’s eyes suddenly lit up as she realized her mistake, the magic in her horn fading.

“Oh my gosh! 64?! What in Celestia’s name gave you the idea to scare us like that?!” Twilight yelled at me, as I grinned stupidly and rubbed the back of my neck.

“I thought it would be too much to simply walk up to the door and tell that little filly over there what I was, so I got by her using my Cloak. I thought you would remember the guy who help the Elements of Harmony defeat Super Nova 6 months ago.” I said crossing my arms at that last part, as Twilight gave me a sheepish grin.

“Well when you just suddenly stand straight up like that it sorta startles anypony who suddnely sees your height! And what are you doing with those tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala? Princess Celestia was supposed to send those through Spike!” Twilight said angrily as she began to remember what happened 5 months prior.

----------------5 MONTHS AGO----------------

I stood with my Cloak over my prone by Princess Luna, as we both had smug grins adorning our faces. In front of Princess Luna was a large jar slowly being filled to the brim in bits, as the vegetable cart next to me was slowly being empty of the various food products inside of it. I had decided to bring my idea to Luna’s attention when I had thought it up, and due to her still slight anger at her sister she instantly jumped onto the idea.

It was only a plus that Twilight Sparkle was coming to visit today for her monthly visit.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ALL DOING TO PRINCESS CELESTIA!?” She yelled, trying to cover Princess Celestia who was being pelted with various food, ranging from tomatoes to eggplants. She was locked into a Pillory stand, and a small ring was placed on her horn which negated all magical powers she could use. A ball gag was wrapped around her neck and mouth, preventing all sounds from leaving Celestia's mouth.

Twilight was now in the crossfire as ponies from Ponyville to Dodge Junction stood in the Canterlot Palace Courtyard and threw the vegetables mercilessly, this being the most “lenient” form of punishment we could perform without any suspicious towards me.

Ponies were buying the various foods at 2 bits a throw, and we were quickly running out of stock. This event was advertised across Equestria, and we even got Shining Armor to get the guards to turn a blind eye to this little stunt.

“PRINCESS LUNA YOU HAVE TO STOP THEM!” Twilight said as I stepped backwards and blended into the shadows, not wanting to let Twilight see and recognize me. She was wiping away the various pieces of food that were now staining her coat and yelling frantically to Luna, who was having trouble keeping in her boom laughter.

“Twilight, you must simply let these ponies enjoy themselves for a short while. Look at all of these bits we are going to be donating to the Canterlot Hospital, they will simply be ecstatic!” Luna said nonchalantly, as if her sister just didn’t get slugged by an apricot.

Twilight turned around to yell at the crowds, who simply turned on her as they began pelting her with the foods as well. I felt slightly bad about allowing this to happen, so I stepped out and stood next to Luna, pulling down my hood slightly so Twilight could see my face.

“64?! WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS GOING ON?”

“Payback.”

-------------FLASHBACK OVER-------------

“Ah… Good times…” I muttered, both me and Twilight remembering the embarrassing event for Celestia. That event continued for 3 days, making it one of the most financially profitable moments in farming history. The total amount of bits earned for Canterlot Hospital that day was about 2000 bits, meaning there was about 1000 pieces of food thrown at Princess Celestia in those 3 days.

“Can you please forget about that? That incident made Princess Celestia a total laughing stock!” Twilight said as her face reddened. I simply laughed and handed the tickets to her as she snatched them out of my hands, glowering at me.

“There are 7 tickets in there from Princess Celestia, for you, your friends, and Spike. I’m gonna be there as well, and that brings me to my second reason for being here,” I said, turning to Rarity who had come back after her scare, and was now listening to me and Twilight, ” I’m gonna need a better suit…”

Rarity’s eyes light up like a candle as she realized what that meant, a large smile splitting her face in two.

“OHH! I NEED TO GET MY MEASURING TAPE!” Rarity yelled running upstairs, as Twilight yelled after her.

“Rarity! What about my… dress…” Twilight muttered at the end, once again turning back to me and glowering.

I shrugged my shoulders and waited for Rarity to come back with her tape, wondering what a suit on someone of my stature would look like. I had seen plenty of ponies wearing suits to simply walk around in Canterlot, but they were all quadruped, so they wore clothes much differently than I did.

Rarity came running back in as she held her tape in her magical grip, quickly running in front of me and using her magic to hold me still. I suddenly saw another flash of blue and felt the tingling sensation of an episode at the back of my head, as I yelled out suddenly.

“PLEASE! Ahem, Rarity… can you please… umm… let me go… I can stand still…” I said through clenched teeth as she let me go, allowing me to crumple back onto my hands and knees.

I could feel the two mare’s gazes burrow at the back of my head, each of them wondering why I just acted the way I did.

“Why 64, what’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?” Rarity asked me, oblivious to my condition.

“Yea, just a little… Look, I can stand perfectly still… just let me take off this damn Cloak.” I said, untying it from my neck and tossing it to the side, revealing a black longsleeve I had underneath.

“Well Rarity, if you are so occupied with our visitor here, I’ll leave you to your business. I wanted to have a word with Sweetie Belle regarding her magic tutoring.” Twilight said walking out of the room with the tickets, making sure to hold onto them for tomorrow night.

“Very well Twilight, be sure to come back tomorrow to let me do your makeup for the Gala!”

Rarity turned back to me as I spread my arms out wide, allowing her to get all of the measurements she needed.

“Oh 64, you are going to look simply dashing tomorrow night. Might I ask who you are attending with?” She asked me, trying to make small talk.

“I’m not going to be going with anyone. I’m gonna be working as security for the Gala all night. I’m not gonna have time for any mare.” I said sarcastically as Rarity chuckled.

“Oh I do suppose you’re right… besides, I’m not exactly sure how you will be able to dance with a mare with your height. Maybe if the mare would stand on her hind legs?”

“Maybe.”

Chapter 6

64 POV

About an hour later Rarity had gotten all of her necessary measurements, so I rolled my shoulders and tried to undo the knots I made, to which Rarity scolded me for not letting her hold me still for me. I thought that the slight discomfort I had to go through was much better than the assured panic attack I would have if I had let her hold onto me for too long.

“Well since we’re done here I’m gonna go over and see Twilight. I heard her walk out the door when she was done talking to that little filly. When will my suit be done?” I asked, walking out of the room and heading towards the door.

“I’ll get it done as soon as tomorrow afternoon! Then you can be a gentlecolt and escort us all to the Gala!” Rarity called back, already pulling pieces of black fabrics off of the walls and sewing them together on her sewing machines.

“Actually, I won’t be able to escort you there. I gotta get there earlier so I can take my post in security, you might need to get somepony else to escort you!” I called back, opening the door to walk out of the Boutique. I made sure to place the Rose Ruby I had stolen from Rarity onto a counter top she could see when she would walk out of the room.

“Oh, well no matter Darling! I’m sure my little Spikey-Wikey will be more than enough to get us there safely!”

I chuckled at that. Leaving the 3 foot lizard to escort you to Canterlot on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala? Good luck. I stepped outside and pulled my Cloak back around my shoulders, feeling the slight chill an incoming breeze.

As I made my way through town to the Golden Oaks Library, I got a significantly lower amount of strange gawks, and an increased amount of happy grins and waves. A small Unicorn filly with blonde hair and a purplish coat walked up to me and tapped my shin, waving her hoof towards herself to signal she wanted me to come closer.

I kneeled down to her level and listened to what she had to say, as she came closer to me to whisper.

“Are you what mommy is telling everypony in town about? She says you’re the thingy that saved everypony from a fire pony.” The little filly asked as I smiled and patted her on the head, a small blush lighting up her cheeks.

“Well yea, about 6 months ago though. But it was Twilight Sparkle and her friends that really stopped the fire pony, I don’t deserve all of the credit.” I said, rising up to my feet as I continued walking to Twilight’s library, wondering how fast one mare was able to announce my arrival.

I reached the Golden Oaks Library and knocked on the door three times, waiting for Twilight or Spike to answer the door. I heard a series of loud banging before hoofsteps came to the door, a magenta glow surrounding the door before it swung open.

“Hey Twilight, I just… need to… make…… sure?” I trailed off, seeing an obscene amount of apple remnants littering the floor of the library. Twilight wasn’t even standing at the door; she was in the center of the mess while pulling another apple out of the 20 something crates stacked against a wall.

“64, what do you want I’m really busy trying to perfect a spell I’ll need for tomorrow, and I’d like it if I could have as little distractions as possible.” Twilight said, sweating as the apple suddenly lit up with a purple light, before it completely fizzled out and dropped to the ground like the many before it.

“Umm, I was coming to see if there was anything you needed me to do around here. I don’t know if you know this but I’m not used to just sitting in one spot as others are actually doing things.” I said as I stuffed my hands into my pockets.

Twilight looked as if she was going to simply disregard me and continue with her practice, but she then grew a contemplative face.

“Actually, there might be something you can do for me. I need a few field mice for the second part of this spell, so I need you to go ask Fluttershy for three of them. I’m gonna stay here and reread the spellbook I found this dang spell in…”

I nodded and started to walk in the directions of Fluttershy’s house, before a voice stopped me.

“Wait! Twilight!” A younger voice said as I heard the pitter patter of small feet hitting the floor as the sound quickly approached, and soon a small purple and green dragon stood next to Twilight.

“Twilight, I still need to get my tuxedo tailored today but I overslept so I wasn’t able to go with you and now I need to go to Rarity’s right now so I can get the suit done and make sure to find out when I need to take you girls to the Grand Galloping—“

Spike suddenly saw me standing there in the doorway, his quick bantering being cut short.

“Uh, hey there. Remember me?” I asked, with us only meeting once in a bad situation. He stood there in a frozen daze, mouth open and knees shaking as I saw his eyes start to water up.

“Twilight you mind explaining things to him?” I asked, not wanting to deal with a weepy little Dragon right now. Dragons could really get under my skin whenever I had to make contact with them, trying to make me perform dangerous acts to gain their trust. It was all about who was stronger, who was bigger, who was “more like a Dragon”.

I guess I could say that I didn’t really trust Dragons, no matter how small. I saw Twilight take Spike to the side and whisper a few things in his ears, with Spike looking over his shoulders at me a few times during the explanation he was receiving. I guess it’s also kind of my fault he was acting this way, I mean we didn’t exactly meet in the most optimal situation, but I can’t help but feel that he might be overreacting just a bit.

When Twilight was done with her short explanation, Spike turned around to me and stood, with a look on his face as if he was trying to gain the courage to speak.

“U-Umm… T-Twilight thinks… thinks we need to… like… reintroduce ourselves… why don’t you go first?” Spike said, slowly gaining confidence with every word spoken.

“Sure, my name is Project 64. What’s your name?” I asked, kneeling down and reaching my hand out. I already knew his name due to Princess Celestia’s explanations, but I only felt that if I told him I knew his name he would freak out a bit more.

“My name’s Spike, I’m Twilight’s assistant here in Ponyville. I’m also the strongest Dragon within a 50 mile radius!” Spike said, now gloating as we finally gained a common ground. I felt he was still a bit egotistical as all Dragons were, but with him being raised around Ponies it seemed as if he was much tamer.

“Yeah, because you are the only Dragon within a 50 mile radius…” I muttered, not loud enough for the other two to hear. “Well, Spike, how about this? I need to go to Fluttershy’s cabin to get some field mice for Twilight, and you need to go get your suit tailored. How about you tag along with me to get the mice, I’ll take you to get your suit tailored?”

Spike suddenly look happier at the mention of his suit going to get tailored, and immediately ran upstairs to go and grab it.

“Well he seems happier. Any idea why? Getting a suit tailored isn’t all that exciting.” I asked to Twilight who seemed to be giggling.

“You’ll see when you get there; just make sure you don’t scare Spike as much as you did last time. He was absolutely traumatized by you.” Twilight told me, making me shrug my shoulders.

“I promise not to sneak into the Library posed as a pony and grab him by the mouth telling him to shut the fuck up.” I smirked to which Twilight punched me in the shoulder.

Spike came running down the stairs with his little suit on a clothes hanger, eager to get going.

“All right Twilight, we’ll be back soon, hopefully.” I said, walking out of the door with the baby Dragon in tow.

3rd Person POV

64 walked the dirt roads of Ponyville with Spike alongside him, the baby Dragon asking question after question regarding 64’s new life after the defeat of Super Nova.

“So like, you go and hunt the bad ponies and kill them?! That sounds cool!” Spike exclaimed, eyes wide as 64 explained what his job was.

“Not exactly. Although I do go to hunt down the ‘bad ponies’ as you put it, I try not to kill them. I always aim for an incapacitation and capture, that way we can find out any more information regarding anything else they’ve been doing. A lot of the ponies I go for are drug runners, pony traffickers, slavers, and dirty politicians, so it’s always in Princess Celestia’s interests to capture and interrogate. I never really liked adding to the rising death toll of every day.” 64 clarified, as Spike nodded in understanding.

“So, you take in the bad ponies to find out other bad things they’ve been doing?”

“Exactly. Sometimes we find out that they have smaller rings of crime hidden under the mask of larger crimes. It’s a really long process, but I think Ghost and I are doing really good.”

Spike suddenly grew confused.

“Wait, who’s Ghost? Is he like your partner?” Spike asked.

“Well yeah, but I also see him as part of my family. He’s been with me through the thick and thin. I wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble to save him if I didn’t see something really special in him…” 64 said, trailing off as slightly more pleasant memories of the past bean to surface.

64 POV

“What do you mean I can’t see him!?” I yelled to the Royal Pegasus Guard in front of me, blocking my path to see the Changeling that saved me.

“The prisoner is currently being question by both Captain Shining Armor and Princess Celestia. If it is deemed clear you will be admitted to see him in the detention center. Now please leave until the interrogation is over.” The guard said, his voice trying to be intimidating yet had no effect on me.

I decided to use a bit of intimidation as well, fronting the guard as my nose hit his muzzle. I stared deep into his eyes as mine started to flicker red, causing his demeanor to slightly falter. I blew a puff of thick black smoke out of my nose as I saw it rise past our eyes, further breaking the guard’s defenses.

“Now listen here… If you do not let me in to see the Changeling, I will not hesitate to force my arm up your asshole and pull your intestines out so I can choke you with them, so I think it’s in your best interest to allow me passage, got it?” I growled, allowing Super Nova’s voice to leak out.

I had finally broken the guard who stepped aside and unlocked the door, letting me push the doors open to see Princess Celestia and Shining Armor both pressing the Changeling hard, but they were unable to see me through the one way mirror. I was hearing their words and decided it wasn’t a good time to intervene, waiting for a moment when they acted overly violent.

“Listen, I don’t care what you did for my agent; your species is still guilty of many crimes. If you know something that you aren’t telling use right now I will not hesitate to use force to get it out of you…” Celestia said, bearing down on the Changeling menacingly.

Shining Armor stepped in and put his hoof on Celestia’s shoulder, telling he to lay off a bit.

“Look, I know you’re young, but you aren’t stupid. Living in that hive you had to have heard something through the Hivemind that Clovercloud was communicating through. Anything regarding any attacks, invasions or anything malicious would be helping Equestria become a safer place for all of us.” Shining said, obviously playing good cop in their little charade.

The changeling continued to say nothing as he let a few tears drop, but no sound emitted from his mouth. Celestia apparently thought that was the last straw, because she proceeded to grab the changeling with her magic and bring him to her eye level.

“You forced my hand in this little one…” She said, as I knew that was enough. I smashed through the locked door and grabbed Celestia horn, cutting off her flow of magic to the changeling as he fell to the ground.

“Ok Celestia, time for you to lay the fuck off of him. It obvious that he doesn’t know anything and you’re scaring the hell out of him. How about you start out slow and try asking him his name?” I growled, letting go of her horn as the changeling scurried to get behind my legs, peering around them to meet Celestia’s intense gaze.

“That’s a good idea Princess, we don’t even know his name yet. Maybe if we act a bit friendlier we can get through this predicament a bit quicker?” Shining Armor suggested, as Celestia’s gaze fixed to me.

“You will leave this interrogation at once as Captain Shining Armor and I continue. I will not hesitate to detain you if necessary.” Celestia said as I kneeled down to gently pick up the changeling, and placed him back onto his chair.

“Look, just answer any questions that you can, then they’ll let you out of here. Ok?” I assured, as the changeling nodded.

I turned around to Celestia and pointed a finger to her.

“No threats.”

I stepped over the broken pieces of the door as I walked out, passing the Guard who was now curled up in a ball on the floor.

3rd Person POV

“64!”

64 suddenly snapped out of his memories as Spike yelled in his ear, causing 64 to suddenly trip over. After picking himself up and dusting himself off, 64 glared at the Dragon.

“What was that for?!” 64 yelled.

“You had this weird look on your face and then stopped talking! I didn’t know what to do so I climbed up your leg, up to your shoulder, then screamed in your ear! We’re also right outside Fluttershy’s Cabin.” Spike explained, as 64 looked in front of him.

Spike was telling the truth apparently, because Fluttershy’s Cabin was just ahead. 64 shook his head and continued walking with Spike right behind him, wanting to hurry up and get this day over with. Reaching the front door 64 knocked then instantly put his hood up, going down onto all fours.

Spike was amazed how much like a pony 64 looked like while he was like that, so amazed that he didn’t realize that the door had opened.

“Oh, h-hello there. Is there anything I can help you with?” Fluttershy said, sounding more like a whisper.

“Fluttershy, it’s me, 64. Remember me?” 64 asked as he pulled down his hood, as Fluttershy immediately recognized him.

“Oh! 64! It’s so good to see you after all this time. What are you doing in Ponyville?” She asked as 64 shrugged, standing up to his full height.

“I just have a few things to do here, but right now Twilight asked me to grab a few field mice from you for her. Apparently she’s trying to pull off a spell or something, and she needs them for experiments I guess.”

Fluttershy’s suddenly shot wide open as she heard the word ‘experiment’, making 64 realize what he just said.

“Wait! I didn’t mean that, I just mean she needs them for something. I don’t know what that something is though.”
Fluttershy let out a small sigh at that, her wings fluttering just a bit.

“Oh that’s good. I wouldn’t want any of the little critters to get hurt by Twilight. Did she say how many she needed?”

“Yeah, she said three. I can go ahead and bring them back after she’s done with them.” 64 said as he stepped into Fluttershy’s home. Almost immediately 64’s and Angel Bunny’s eyes locked onto each other, as Angel Bunny leapt up onto his face and started to claw the hell out of him.

“AHHH! GET THIS LITTLE FUCKING ASSHOLE OFF OF ME! AHH SHIT HE’S CLAWING MY FUCKING EYES!” 64 yelled as he stumbled backwards into a wall and knocked over a painting, before tripping on Spike and falling to the floor. 64 finally was able to rip the offending animal off of his face and held him outwards, as Angel began to claw at his hands.

“No use little fuck! Those things are calloused 3 times over!” 64 said as he got back up to his feet, as Fluttershy flew up and grabbed Angel.

“Angel! How dare you attack 64 out of nowhere like that! You better apologize right now before I bring out the cage!” Fluttershy threatened, as her eyes suddenly opened at bit wider, causing Angel to freeze in place.

64 wiped some blood off of his face and fur out of his mouth, causing Spike to wince slightly at the wounds. They were incredibly small compared to some of 64’s other endeavors, but due to Spike being scaled he had never experienced a cut before, making ever paper cut look like a gash to him.

“Eh, I’m alright Fluttershy. I’ll just take those mice and get them back to Twilight.” 64 said, glaring at the bunny that was now in Fluttershy’s clutches. She nodded and grabbed a prepared cage with 3 mice on the inside, all happily sleeping.

“Get them to Twilight quickly before they wake up, they don’t really like being in the cage.” Fluttershy informed me. 64 nodded and took the cage into his hands, making sure to do it gently.

“Thanks Fluttershy, I’ll get them to Twilight as quickly as I can.” 64 said as he walked out of the door, Spike following close behind him.

“Wow! I’ve never seen Angel Bunny that violent before! What do you think set him off?!” Spike yelled as we walked away. 64 didn’t really know the answer to that question either. He knew they had met before when he spent the night in Fluttershy’s Cabin, but he didn’t really do anything to piss him off, except maybe threatening to eat him a few dozen times.

“I’m not very good with animals…” 64 said, making a quick excuse for himself. Spike seemed to accept this and continued walking back to Twilight’s Library.

“Wait out here, I’ll just drop these off then we’ll head to Rarity’s Boutique.” 64 said as he went inside of the Library to see Twilight reading her book furiously, unaware of all of the fruit flies which were now zipping around.

“Umm, Twilight? I got the field mice you wanted.” 64 said, snapping Twilight out of her stupor.

“Huh, what? Ah! Why are there so many flies!?” Twilight yelled, her horn shooting out a bunch of little sparks as flies began to drop. After the pests were taken care of Twilight began to sweep up the destroyed apples littering the floor, trying to get rid of what the flies were attracted to.

“Ugh, I forgot to clean up before I read… You said you got the mice 64?”

“Yeah, right here.” 64 said, putting them onto the table she was reading on. “I’m gonna go with Spike to get his suit tailored. I think he’s a bit too eager to get to the Boutique.”

Twilight nodded and continued to sweep up the apples, not really paying attention to what 64 was saying.

“Okaay… see ya. C’mon Spike! Let’s go see Rarity!”

“Alright!”

“Little weirdo…”

Chapter 7

64 POV

Little weirdo didn’t even began to describe Spike right now. He was borderline OBSESSED with trying to impress Rarity. He was bragging about how much stronger he had gotten since he had last seen her, which had been about two days. Little shit even started to brag behind my back that he was probably strong enough to take me in a fight.

“Oh Spike, you mustn’t distract me while I’m resizing your suit! You have gotten bigger, but I’m afraid not in the way you have hoped… I’ve had to widen your shirt and jacket quite a bit.” Rarity said, as I tried my best not to chuckle.

“Yeah, well, Twilight says I have to keep eating so I can grow to big a bigger Dragon!” Spike said, trying to puff out his chest to look more muscular. That didn’t sound right to me, because I knew what was really needed for Dragon growth.

“Spike, are you telling me you don’t know what you need to grow bigger?” I asked, breaking my silence as I sat on a table playing Solitaire.

“Yeah, eating like a pony has too. I’ve seen what Big Mac eats and he’s huge!”

I didn’t know who Big Mac was, but based on his name I had to guess he wasn’t small. I shook my head at his answer though.

“No, No, Dragons are fed by a mixture of both Greed and Gems. The bigger their hoard is the bigger they become. It has something to do with your body feeding on the enjoyment of your possessions, which goes back to the instinct you have to hoard valuables. I’m surprised Twilight doesn’t know more about this.” I said, going back to my game on the table.

Spike looked at me with a look of confusion, and promptly sat down in the seat across from, spouting more questions about Dragons. Rarity silently thanked me for getting Spike’s attention away from her and continued to work on both our suits, while I continued to explain what I could to Spike.

If I had my case notes then I probably give a finer explanation, but I did alright on the facts. Dragons were driven by a primal instinct to gather and hoard. The reason for this is that the bigger their hoards are, the bigger they will become. So in reality, Dragons didn’t have a desire to hoard, they had a desire to grow.

Spike’s eyes widened at this, as did Rarity’s.

“Wait, but I’ve never wanted to go and take things for myself! Why haven’t I felt anything yet?!” Spike asked, overreacting to his situation. I chuckled and continued my explanation.

“Well no doubt you haven’t reached maturity yet. So it’s only a matter of time until you start to feel more primal urges. Damn, why do I feel I’ve had this conversation with Ghost?” I asked myself, remember what I explained to Ghost about him maturing.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense…” Spike said, rubbing the spines on his head. I nodded and continued my game of Solitaire, trying to find a Red 8 I could put on a Black 9. Rarity continued stitching and sewing away while Spike seemed to be questioning his own existence.

The hours slipped away as I heard a ringing outside signifying that is was now 7PM, and I was now on my 4th game.

“Damn, it’s getting late…” I muttered.

“Won’t you be needing to get back to Canterlot tonight?” Rarity asked, her hair becoming messier and messier as time droned on.

“No I can stay in Ponyville for the night, I’ll just stay at an Inn or something.” I said, putting the deck of cards away and standing up. Spike was asleep on a couch set against a wall, and kicking in his sleep much like a dog would.

“I think I gotta get this little guy home… Twilight will have my head if he doesn’t get home somehow.” I muttered, picking up Spike and cradling him.

“Oh thank you Darling, he seems to be a bit clingy whenever I take him home.” Rarity said, dragging a comb through her hair a few times to try and tame it, “Do be safe!”

“I will, goodnight Rarity” I said, walking out of her workshop area and heading towards the front door. I noticed that the Rose Ruby I had left her was still sitting in the same spot it was when I left it.

“Holy crap did she not leave that sewing machine at all today?” I thought as I walked out the front door, feeling the chill of the night’s air.

I walked through town as polite waves were directed towards me, as I tried to respond to them with a smile.

I was feeling hungry right now, knowing I hadn’t eaten since I had come back from Trottingham. I knew there wouldn’t be any meat to eat in this pony filled town, but there was always the Whitefire Woods nearby.

I silently pushed open the door to Twilight’s Library and was introduced to one of the strangest sights I had come across in my life, and that was saying something.

“Twilight, why is there an overgrown apple in the middle of the library?” I asked, looking at enormous apple in the room. Looking closer I saw that it was actually hollowed out, looking as if it would serve as a carriage for a group of ponies.

Twilight’s head peeked around the apple as she came out holding a book in her magical grasp.

“Oh! 64, I was wondering when you were going to get home. This is the spell I’ve been working on for tomorrow night, and I was finally able to get it just right!” She said with a large smile, before noticing who had in my arms. “Oh, did Spike fall asleep?”

“Yea, it seems that lusting after one mare for 6 hours in a row can tire a Drake out.” I said with a bit of sarcasm.

Twilight chuckled at my tone. “Well you can head upstairs and set him down in his bed. It’s the small basket with the blue blankey in it.”

I stopped in my tracks when she said that. I had the strongest urge to laugh so loudly I would need to drop Spike. The little gut acted all tough for Rarity, but still slept with a blankey!? Damn I would need to use that against him later.

“Alright thanks for that.” I said with a stupid grin, walking up the stairs and opening their bedroom door. True to Twilight’s word there was a small basket on the side of Twilight’s bed, complete with blue blankey. Again forcing the urge to laugh down I set him in the basket, covering him with the sheet.

“I know he seems a bit old for a blankey but—“ I cut off Twilight before she could continue.

“No, I know. Even for a dragon he’s still a baby. Put how old is he in pony years?” I asked, wondering if Spike was the dragon which I heard about when I was still in the labs.

“In pony years he is still very young, only 6 years old, but Dragons minds mature very rapidly, don’t they? So I feel he needs time to remain a child than grow to be like some of the meaner Dragons out there.” Twilight said, walking back down the stairs with me following.

My stomach quietly growled as I hesitated to ask my next question.

“Hey, uh, Twilight. I was wondering, do you have anything to eat around town? You know, more… omnivorous...?” I asked, waiting for Twilight’s response. She turned around quickly to look at me, a confused look on her face.

I opened my mouth to show her my teeth, more specifically the canines. She flinched when she saw the intimidating teeth, knowing what animals used them for.

“64, you’re carnivorous?!” Twilight questioned, backing away slowly.

“Of course not… I’m an omnivore! I remember nearly dropping dead when all they fed me in the labs was half a carrot every two days! I nearly went insane! After looking at my biology with… her… I discovered that a human needed a lot more than a pony needed to survive, and that led me to the perfect source of nutrition, meat.”

Twilight nearly fainted when I said that last word, obviously not wanting to know that grisly part of my anatomy.

“Look, I can tell this sounds really weird, so I’ll leave you to it. I’ll go see if I can find an Inn to stay at tonight, okay?” I said, walking towards the door.

Twilight nodded as she started to release the tension she had been building up. “Ok 64, but there aren’t any… meat… vendors around town. Ponies are primarily vegetarian. You might find some luck in things like beans, which a mare named Squeaky Bean is famous for here in Ponyville.”

I thought of that. Beans were a good substitute for meat for a while, but I was feeling adventurous tonight.

“Ok, I’ll ask around. Thanks for that Twilight, have a good evening!” I said, walking out the door as I heard Twilight reply a ‘Good Night’ of her own.

Truth was I wasn’t heading for an Inn. I was headed straight for the Everfree Forest, where I knew there were plenty of wild animals for a good hunt. Manticore was often very good, and when their venomous stingers are chopped of and burnt, it often tasted very sweet.

I walked past Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s Cabin, straight to the entrance of the Everfree. Night had fallen, and all of the animals could be heard skittering about through the tall grasses. I closed and channeled magic towards my eyes, giving them a red glow and allowing me to see in the incredibly dark place.

There were snakes slithering through the tall grass next to me, which I quickly leapt for and captured. I identified it as a harmless Garden Snake, and quickly deprived it of its head, stuffing it into a small cloth pouch I had.

I walked along the trail scouring the ground for any prey I could find, which ended up being frogs, rabbits, snakes, and squirrels. I decided that it was a good enough dinner and started to make a small fire, gathering up dry tinder from the ground and pulling large branches from trees.

Making a small knife I peeled and skinned all of the animals I had captured, prepping them for my meal. They were all relatively easy to skin, but finding a river to wash them was terrible. I ended up finding a small stream near the forest entrance, but it was a pain in the ass to walk all the way back to the small fire place I made.

“Heh, I wonder what Fluttershy would do if she saw me with this food. She’d probably fly me up to the atmosphere then drop me.” I chuckled, finally arriving to the pile of wood. I lit the flame with my magic and stabbed the pieces of meat onto a small spit I made, placing them into the flame and waiting for them to cook.

I dispelled the magic in my eyes, knowing it was no longer necessary with the fire lighting up the immediate area. I wanted to lie on my back to stare up at the stars in the sky, but the canopy of trees above me blocked Luna’s creations from my vision. I sighed loudly, knowing that Luna often sat in her Court alone while Celestia got a flurry of visitors each and every day.

It made me feel really bad at times, especially if I wasn’t able to watch the stars at night like I had promised her I would. I always tried to watch the stars at night, because whenever I was really far away from Canterlot for a job, Luna would often leave little messages hidden in the stars for me, something I found incredibly awesome.

I heard the crackling sound of meat beginning to become well done, and pulled the small skewers of meat off of the flames. Munching lazily on the various sticks of meat, I laid back down onto my back, ready to fall asleep for the night. Some ponies might say that sleeping in the Everfree Forest was a bad idea, but I’ve slept in a pool of Changeling blood before, so I think a forest will do me just fine.

After a few minutes later the skewers of meat were done, and my stomach was left satisfied. I dozed off after a while, taking in the pleasant sounds of crickets chirping and water running.

3rd Person POV

64 awoke with a few pleasant streaks of sunlight hitting him in the face, rousing him out of his slumber. He was surprised that Luna hadn’t contacted him during the dream he had about skydiving, before realizing he was afraid of heights.

He stood up and cracked his back a few times, knowing that the rocky ground wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on. Rarity said she would be finishing his tux today, so he would need to pick that up today.

“I hope she didn’t literally spend all night working on it. And I pray she didn’t bedazzle the shit out of it…” 64 muttered, covering up the fire by kicking dirt all over it. He made the quick walk back into Ponyville, taking in the scenery he wasn’t offered while working. Hell, even in Canterlot he had to stay hidden within the Palace Walls.

“HEY! IT’S YOU!” A mare’s voice said, as 64 turned towards the direction of the voice. He saw an Orange Mare with a Stetson hat running towards him, along with a smaller yellow coated and red maned filly riding on her back.

“64! It been ages! ‘Ah haven’t seen ya since you rode off with Princess Celestia on that chariot! Ah nearly thought she did you in when ya took off!” Applejack said, as the filly on her back looked part confused and part terrified.

“Uh, Applejack? Your passenger?” 64 said, pointing to Applebloom. Applejack looked slightly confused for a second, before remembering.

“Oh! This here’s mah sister Applebloom! Say Hi Bloom.” Applejack said, putting her on the floor and pushing her towards 64. All Applebloom had seen was a strange creature had come out of the Everfree forest towards Ponyville, and then her sister had ran full speed at it, only to greet it. So her natural reaction was expected.

“Uh… H-Hi? I’m… uh… Applebloom?” She said, slowly backing away. Applejack put her hoof onto Applebloom’s rear, pushing her back forward towards 64.

“Now Applebloom, jus’ because he looks a bit different doesn’t mean ya can just back away from him. Get to know him first before you’re terrified of him.” Applejack said.

“Wow, are you sure you’re not the Element of Harsh Truth?” 64 asked sarcastically, as Applejack waved a hoof at him.

“Ah had heard you were in town, but I hadn’t seen ya till now. What brings ya?”

“I came in to deliver the tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, and to get a nice suit made by Rarity. I don’t have much formal wear, so I decided it was best to get it done by the up and coming Fashionista of Equestria.” 64 said, adding a fake posh accent at the end of the sentence.

Applejack laughed as did Applebloom, now warming up to the strange creature that was so casually conversing with her sister.

“Well, if you’re headin’ to Rarity’s right now, mind if ah tag along? She wanted the girls to head on over to do our makeup or somthin’…” Applejack said, kicking her hoof in the dirt.

“Oh c’mon, can’t be that bad… I hate getting gussied up for these stupid meeting that Celestia always has with clients. It’s always strange to see a stallion all dressed up in a suit asking for a hit out on somepony…” 64 said, looking upwards, muttering that last part to not worry the girls.

“Well, if you say so. Let’s go an’ see her, I just hope we’re not too late…”

“Why would we be late? What time is it? Like 9?”

Applejack shook her head no.

“No, it’s about ta be 11, and Rarity wanted me there by 11:15 for whatever she does…” Applejack said, waving her hoof over to 64 as the two began to walk to town. Applebloom tapped her sister’s leg as they walked.

“Hey sis? Ah’m gonna head back home ok?”

“Ok, make sure to tell Big Mac that the apple’s in the east orchard need buckin’! We missed some of ‘em last Harvest Season!”

Applejack yelled as Applebloom began running home. 64 suddenly remembered that name as one that Spike told him about.

“Big Mac? Who’s that?” 64 said, not wanting to try and make a guess.

“Oh, he’s mah big brother. Strongest stallion in all of Ponyville!” Applejack boasted.

“Well it’s too bad I’m not a stallion then, because I can bet bits to berries that I’m stronger than him.” 64 said with a smug grin on his face.

“Yeah, Yeah, whatever keeps your ego afloat…”

The two continued their walk to the Carousel Boutique, each going back in forth in conversation.

“HEY! YOU!” A voice said, as a blue and Rainbow blur suddenly swept over 64 as he ducked, narrowly avoiding it. 64 looked up at the assailant as it began to make a turn around, and decided to try out a technique Shining Armor had taught him.

Charging his hands with red magic he steadied himself on the ground, ready to parry a projectile. It continued at him as he put his hands straight out, and gripped the Pegasus’s wing He pivoted on his right foot and swung the Pegasus around before slamming it into the ground, as dust kicked up everywhere.

“Hey! Let go of me!” The voice yelled as 64 was able to identify it.

“Listen Rainbow, I can’t have you attacking me in a public place like this, so let’s call a truce for whatever this is huh?” 64 asked, releasing his grip from Rainbow Dash and standing back up. She stood up as well and shook all of the dirt off of her, scowling at 64.

“The reason I did that is because Twilight told us all about what you did to Princess Celestia! That was horrible!” Rainbow Dash yelled, sending a punch into 64’s unprotected stomach. He simply rubbed the pain away and smiled, pissing Rainbow dash off even more.

Applejack was using her hat to try and muffle her laughs, as Rainbow Dash turned on her as well.

“What AJ? You try punching him then!”

Applejack stopped laughing as she waved her hood. “Ah’m not laughin’ at your punch Rainbow. Ah’m laughin’ at that story! That thing was priceless!” Applejack said, seeing the story as hilarious as 64 did.

“What?! He embarrassed Princess Celestia in front of the entire population of Canterlot! How are you not mad at him?!”

“Because, compared to what Celestia has done to him in his past, ah think that was nothing. If anything it could ‘ave been a lot worse.”

The two began to scowl at each other as Fluttershy made herself apparent.

“Um… girls? We’re supposed to get to Rarity’s, I can see Pinkie Pie and Twilight are already there…” Fluttershy whispered, stopping the arguments.

“Rainbow, could I make it up to you if I get you a pass to the VIP section? The Wonderbolts are gonna be there, and I know three of them personally.” 64 said, as Rainbow Dash shot up from her stare down with Applejack and zoomed to him, flying up to his eye level.

“What?! You know the Wonderbolts?!” she screamed. 64 wiped his face of her spit, and continued.

“Yeah, they aren’t just an Aerial Performance group, they’re part of the Equestrian Military. Whenever I was on a job and needed some equipment I didn’t have, they would drop supply crates to my location. Sometimes they would provide aerial support and tell me what was up ahead. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin all helped me in some way, so I’m pretty sure I can ask one more favor and get you inside.” 64 said.

Rainbow squealed in excitement and flew upwards, obviously over excited.

“Alright, Fluttershy’s right we gotta get going.” 64 said as the group continued, walking towards the Boutique.

Rarity could be seen scolding Pinkie Pie, and Twilight was still studying the book she was reading last night.

“Where are the others? It's getting late.” Rarity said, as Applejack spoke up.

“Hold your horses, girl. We're here.”

“Perfect! I’m ready!” Twilight said, slamming her book shut and standing up. Spike placed an apple onto the ground and backed away, as the rest of the company decided to do the same.

64 nudged Rarity as Twilight prepared and spoke, “Hey Rarity, is my suit ready?”

“Yes 64, I do hope you’ll like it. I had a feeling you wouldn’t particularly like the usual designs I give my clothing, so I went for a more plain look. It’s a simple Jet Black 3 piece, so I hope you’ll like it. Oh! And thank you so much for that lovely Rose Ruby! I remember losing one 6 months ago, and I haven’t been able to find one ever since!” Rarity said, as we both saw the apple on the ground suddenly expand into a grand Carriage, complete with reigns and driver’s seat.

“It was no trouble. Mind if I grab the suit?”

“Not at all, do be careful for Sweetie Belle in there. She has a problem with overreacting anything strange.”

“Got it.”

64 turned away from the group and entered the Carousel Boutique, seeing his suit ready on a rack. Looking at the suit he saw it also came along with a Red Undershirt, his favorite color.

“Damn Rarity, this is awesome…” 64 muttered, taking the coat off of the rack and carefully folding it over his arm. He did the same with the pants that came along with it, and walked out of the Boutique, seeing Rarity flirting with two stallions, most likely to get them to pull the carriage for the ladies.

“Well girls, now that I’ve delivered the tickets and gotten my suit, I do believe it’s high time for me to head back to Canterlot. I still gotta help set up for the Gala tonight.” 64 said, as Pinkie tackled him to the ground. Luckily the clothing he had was covered in plastic.

“WHAT?! You can’t do that! Aren’t you going to come with us!?” Pinkie yelled, as Twilight puller her off of him.

“No Pinkie, he’s working security at the Grand Galloping Gala and he needs to get there a bit earlier. Don’t worry, we’ll probably see him later anyway. Right 64?” Twilight said, as all of the girls looked expectantly.

64 nodded his head, “Oh yea, you’ll probably see me walking around, but don’t get too exciting about being able to talk, I gotta be paying attention to everything. I’ll see you all later!” 64 said, standing up and waving to all of the mares, walking away. He reached for the necklace charm and held it in his palm, channeling magic into it.

“This is Biped ready for pick up.” He said into it, looking up in the sky. 4 Pegasi came into view with a Chariot behind them, as 64 gripped the clothing under his arms a bit tighter. They landed onto the ground but continued running, rolling up to 64. He ran alongside them before hopping onto the Chariot, whistling to give the signal for takeoff.

They were back in the air as the mares on the ground looked up in awe, wondering how 64 managed to do that.

“Alright, now all I gotta do I get back and get ready. I hope these clothes actually fit…” 64 said, sitting down and looking at the dirty plastic wrapping surrounding the clothing.

64 POV

After arriving in Canterlot the first thing I did was check to see if the suit fit, and as I expected it fit perfectly. It wasn’t too tight that it restricted my movements, but it wasn’t too loose that it would feel a bit saggy.

It was nearly time for the Gala opening, and the festivities were starting up. Tables were being set up, dance floors were being laid out, and the Equestria Symphony Orchestra, were tuning their instruments.

I knew this was going to be a suit and tie thing, but I never thought it would be this boring! All of the stuffy prissy ponies were waiting outside for the doors to open, and just by listening to their conversations they each had an ulterior motive for attending. Some wanted to get closer to the Canterlot elites, some eligible bachelors came to find the daughters of rich dignitaries, and others came to simply see who was richer than the other.

I was the one who was going to open the doors for everypony, and I could already see some of the looks of disgust I was receiving. Some recognized me from the Courtroom 6 months ago, so they happily smiled and waved at me.

Shining Armor walked up to me clad in his battle armor, which struck me as odd.

“Hey Shining, what’s with the get up? I thought you were bringing Cadence to this thing?” I asked, as he sighed.

“I was, but Princess Celestia wanted me to guard the border of Canterlot along with a few other Squads. I had the whole date planned out too…” Shining said dejectedly. My wristwatch suddenly started to buzz, ringing 5PM.

“Well I gotta open these doors. I hope you have a good time guarding the place. See ya.” I said to Shining Armor, who walked away with 4 other Royal Guards. The ponies in the crowd looked at me with anger, no longer wanting to wait any longer.

I sighed, “This better be worth my time, and these ponies better behave themselves.”

I opened the large Palace doors, and instantly regretted it.

Author's Notes:

Well The Grand Galloping Gala is on! From here things will only being to heat up, so get ready!

Chapter 8

64 POV

They absolute torrent of ponies rushing into the Palace to be the first to be greeted by Princess Celestia was crazy. The mares that looked as if they wouldn’t even want to hear the word dirt were pushing, shoving, and kicking to get to the front, while the stallions did the same to each other. I managed to break up a few of the fights and get people to proceed in an orderly fashion, but a few decided to ignore the “ugly monster” and continue with their scuffles.

I ordered a few of the guards to break up those fights, and another few to keep watch by the front door. I walked into the Palace and stood next to Princess Celestia, watching as ponies continued to push and shove each other. Luckily we put barriers on the edges of the of the wooden drawbridge so nopony was getting soaked.

“I didn’t think it would be this hectic right off the bat…” I said, making sure to keep an eye on all of the ponies walking up to be greeted by Princess Celestia.

“Yes well— Oh, Good evening, things usually— Good evening, welcome to the Gala, start to die down by— Welcome to the Gala, the 3 hour mark.” Celestia said, continually getting interrupted. A white stallion with a slick powder blue mane walked up to Princess Celestia, and accepted her greeting, but began to talk.

“Ah, hello there Princess, how are you this fine evening?” The stallion said, as I immediately knew I had to step in before he tried to start up a conversation.

“Excuse me, but can you continue along? We have a lot of ponies here wanting to meet the Princess tonight.” I said in a slightly rude tone wanting to get my message across.

The stallion suddenly reared back as if I had spit on him, and immediately putting his hoof to his chest.

“How dare you! Don’t you know who I am?” He asked, but I already knew a very extensive answer, and planned to freak him out a bit.

“Yes, Fancy J. Pants, born September 23, 1973. Blood type AB+, with a cutie mark representing your talent in lording over various ponies, thus it being three crowns. I know you very, very, well. Now if you’ll please excuse yourself you are starting to create a hold-up.” I said, keeping a straight face the entire time.

Fancy Pants eyes suddenly shot open, the monocle in his right eye falling out. He quickly shuffled out of the way, as the pony behind him sighed in relief, walking up to Celestia and receiving her greeting. This continued for quite a while, with only one or two ponies causing problems in the line. Some ponies were more middle class and were actually grateful they got to attend the biggest gathering of the year, unlike some others who were able to come by birth right. An asshole couple by the name of Jet Set and Upper Crust not only insulted what I was, which I can deal with, they had the nerve to insult Rarity’s perfect suit, saying it was ‘a perfect mess’.

I nearly wanted to light their incredibly oiled hair on fire, but I knew my place right now and if I did that, there would be trouble. I simply gave a sickly grin and made it seemed like my eyes were on fire, making them both back off before I did something I would regret.

An hour had passed of this nonsense, and I suddenly thought of something.

“Hey, Twilight and her friends haven’t shown up. Any idea when they are coming?” I asked, turning to Celestia as a lull in her greeting’s came.

“Wait for it…” She said with a grin.

“Wait for what?”

Suddenly music started to play out of nowhere, and choirs began to sing out. I looked around to try and find the choir, but I couldn’t find them anywhere.

“What the hell?” I asked, to which Celestia chuckled.

“My guess this is the first time you have experienced magical music?” Celestia asked. I quickly wondered about it and thought of one instance.

“Does playing music while destroying a bar with another pony’s body count?”

Celestia suddenly looked at me as I shrugged, going back to try and figure out where the hell the music was coming from.

“Trust me; it’s just in the air. It’s an oddity even I can’t explain. Ponies in the immediate area of exposure to musical magic will instantaneously burst into song, instantly knowing the lyrics to the melody being played in the air.” Celestia explained.

“I really hope I don’t experience that anytime soon, I don’t think my singing voice is all that great.” I chuckled, as I suddenly saw the ponies I had just asked about march in an orderly fashion onto the drawbridge, singing the words, “At the Gala!” over and over.

Spike suddenly looked incredibly excited as he jumped out from behind the girls, only to be left hanging in the dust as they all shot off in different directions. Twilight instantly came running up to us with a huge grin on her face, stopping just in front of Celestia.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said with a smile.

“Twilight! It is so lovely to see my star student.” Celestia said as the two nuzzled each other.

“Oh, I'm so excited to be here! We have so much to catch up on. Oh, I’m sorry 64, it’s nice to see you too! You look wonderful tonight.”

I chuckled and nodded to her, “Thanks, you look awesome too, did Rarity do all of your makeup?”

Twilight nodded, “She did! Just right after you left she did all of ours. Maybe you could have gotten a small touch up too. I’m sorry, but that scar on your eye isn’t the most pleasant thing to look at.”

I brought my pointer and middle finger on my right hand to my right eye and touched the burn scar I had, feeling slightly insecure about it.

“Yeah, maybe… Maybe it’s one of the reasons I keep getting strange stares.” I said, as Twilight suddenly brought her hoof to her mouth.

“Oh no did I make you feel bad about it?” She asked me.

“No, No, it’s just that I got this through a series of unfortunate events I don’t really like to remember. Don’t worry; it’s not your fault.”
Twilight looked down and rubbed her left leg with her other hoof, as Celestia brought her attention back.

“Well Twilight, I want you right by my side the entire evening, so we'll have plenty of time together. Does that sound good?” Celestia asked, as Twilight’s downtrodden demeanor immediately perked up.

“That's just what I was hoping you'd say!” Twilight said, zooming to Celestia’s left side. I laughed at her sudden attitude change, before going back to observe the ponies walking up to greet the Princess and the ones simply walking around the main lobby.

I saw Rainbow Dash storm up the steps towards me and fall onto her stomach, her eyes looking as if she had been crying.

“Rainbow what’s wrong? Is someone giving you problems?” I said, kneeling down as Twilight and Celstia looked down worried.

“64! Please tell me you got the VIP passes! The Wonderbolts actually offered for me to come into the VIP section but the stupid Guard working the rope won’t let me in!” Rainbow said, as I suddenly remembered what I had in my coat pocket.

I reached into my jacket and pulled out the small laminated card, a seal from both Princesses stamped on the front. Rainbow Dash’s eyes suddenly lit up as she saw the pass, flying up to snatch it out of my hands squealing in joy.

“OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying up to give me a hug. I returned it a chuckled a bit.

“It’s nothing Rainbow, now get going. I think the Wonderbolts are waiting for you.” I said as Rainbow nodded, flying away to go meet her idols. Celestia, Twilight and I watched as Rainbow Dash head to the VIP section with a large smile on her face.

“That was a very generous thing to do for her 64. Did you pay for that VIP pass yourself?” Princess Celestia asked me as I shook my head no.

“Nah, I swiped that one off of that Fancy Pants when he came up. I saw it sticking out of his coat pocket and remembered I needed one.” I said, as Celestia laughed and Twilight elbowed me.

A voice brought our attention back to the stairs, where a stallion wearing a fedora hat and Black trench coat stood there.

“What a lovely display of affection…” the stallion said, his voice instantly recognizable. Marescow. “Hello Princess Celestia, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be in attendance today.”

“The pleasure is all mine, enjoy yourself Marcus.” Celestia said, as the stallion continued to walk. I looked at him as he walked into the ballroom, leaving my line of sight.

“Marcus? Who the fuck was that?” I asked, already suspicious. Celestia glared at me as she explained.

“Marcus is Maxis Slava’s son. He is unaffiliated with the Slava’s and comes to visit his father in the Underground Prison every few months. I invited him tonight to enjoy some of the festivities, so don’t make a scene.” Celestia told me.

I didn’t like any of this. 2 days after I get back from imprisoning 4 members of the Slava drug ring the son of their Ex-Leader comes to the biggest event in Canterlot? This was too much to be a simple coincidence, and I needed to get to the bottom of this.

“I won’t make a scene. I’m just going to tail him for a bit to see if he does anything suspicious.” I said, walking in the same direction he did. A hoof grabbed my right sleeve to stop me, and I saw it was Twilight.

“Wait, just how are you going to tail one pony while you’re taller than almost everyone here?” She asked, to which I smirked.

“I’m going to take a position next to the Orchestra. From there I can see the entire Ballroom, and I’ll be able to keep an eye on him.”

Twilight slowly let go of my sleeve, taking her position next to Celestia.

“Be careful Project 64, if anything happens it will be at your own risk. I will not be held accountable.” Celestia warned me.

“I understand Princess. Don’t worry; I won’t do anything unless he acts first.”

I followed Marcus into the Ballroom, ready for anything.

3rd Person POV

The Ballroom was full of ponies conversing and some actually dancing, if you could call it that. It was simply taking one step forward then one step backwards while each pony rested their heads on each other’s shoulders. The orchestra was playing what could only be described as the average “rich pony” song, Luigi Boccherini’s Minuetto, but they didn’t look too excited about it.

Pinkie Pie could be seen hopping back and forth throughout the crowds, but often interrupted the ponies she tried to make friends with. As she bounced along 64 grabbed her dress and pulled her back onto the ground, as she giggled.

“Aww, what’s wrong 64? Does having to stand there all night and not being able to dance make you all grouchy?” Pinkie said, to which 64 had no choice but to smile to.

“Not exactly Pinkie. Look, this isn’t like most parties you are used to going to. This is what I like to call a frilly gathering. Ponies just hang around trying to make it seem like they’re more successful than everypony else. No real “partying” happens. I’ve had to go to more than one of these before while on other jobs, so just try to keep to yourself and some other friends, okay?” 64 said, kneeling down to Pinkie’s height.

“Ohhhh… I get it! So it’s like a showing off party! Well don’t worry 64! I’ll be the most showingest off pony in the Gala!” Pinkie screamed, zooming off before 64 was able to grab her.

“Wait, Pinkie no! Fuck…”

Turning back to everypony else in the room, 64 scanned for any sign of Marcus. He had checked the coat room to find he had hung up his Trench coat and Fedora, which meant he must have had a different set of clothing or something.

Marcus had a red coat with black mane, did up to look a bit bigger than it really was. He was the spitting image of his brother, whose mane was just a bit shorter, and coat a shade darker. It was almost as if they were twins, but Marcus was usually much more calm and collected, not lashing out to the smallest insults directed towards him.

“Where could he be?” 64 asked himself, his eyes peering throughout the crowd as he tried to locate his target. 64 could send a pulse of magic out to get a more widespread view of the entire Ballroom, but that would cause every Unicorn in the building to probably shit themselves at the sheer malicious intent of his magic.

A tinge of red caught 64’s eye as he saw a pony grabbing themselves some Whiskey, the ponies description perfectly matching what 64 had seen in the Main Hall. Marcus now wore a grey suit, and looked as if he was bored o the entire event already.

64 decided that his was the perfect point for him to do some eavesdropping. He nodded to a guard across the way and held his hand up in a fist, giving a signal. He then mimicked the act of drinking from a glass then gave up a 3 fingered symbol for red.

The guard nodded and drew his attention to the beverage table, seeing the red Unicorn Stallion to which 64 was giving notice about. He moved closer to the stallion and took position just behind him, making sure to listen closely for anything the pony might say.

64 grinned at the Guards actions, glad that he was able to understand with the quick briefing he had in silent symbols.

“Good, now we just gotta make sure that he doesn’t do anything funny.” 64 muttered to himself turning away from Marcus and doing a quick sweep over the rest of the ponies, making sure everything was alright.

“AHH!” A voice yelled, as 64 turned towards the source. The Guard 64 had just assigned to watch over Marcus was now doubled over on the ground, tears flowing from his eyes and body shaking furiously. 64 quickly made his way to the incapacitated Guard and grabbed him, trying to calm him down.

“CALM DOWN! Where did Marcus go?” 64 asked, as the Guard continued to shiver and quake.

“T-They… t-they w-were all… d-d-dead… I-I-I couldn’t… c-c-couldn’t help…” The guard whispered, as other guards gathered around and tried backing the onlookers away. 64 held the guard down to keep him from thrashing and looked around for Marcus, who seemed to disappear the second he heard the scream.

“I knew that son of a bitch was up to something, I gotta find him and stop him before he does anything else…” 64 thought, before grabbing the nearest Guard.

“You! Get me this guard’s service report. Now!” 64 yelled, as the guard he grabbed ran off. 64 wanted to check if this guard had any history of anything that would make him act like this. If Marcus was able to do this to him and disappear in a matter of 2 seconds then there would be a serious problem on 64’s hands.

The guard came back running a minute later, holding a small folder in his mouth. 64 snatched it out and began to look at his medical records. A few problems with breathing, broken foreleg, concussion...

“Maybe, but I’ve gotten plenty of concussions before and they aren’t the reason I freak out sometimes…” 64 muttered, standing up and pointing to two guards. “You two, get this guy to the medic station. I’m gonna find out how this happened.”

The guards picked up their incapacitated brother and hauled him to the medic station, as ponies surrounding the commotion began to disperse back into the crowd. 64 saw one who was still staring, and pointed to him.

“You, did you see a Red Stallion wearing a Grey tuxedo here before this happened?”

The White stallion nodded, his blonde hair bouncing up and down. “Yes, the ruffian was muttering something under his breath before the guard began to convulse on the floor. After that there was a small flash and the stallion in question was gone! I was petrified to see that he had spilled some of his drink on my fabulous suit!”

64 saw this stallion as incredibly strange, wondering why he would worry so much about the suit he was wearing.

“Umm… ok… thanks for the tip Mr….”

“Oh, Blueblood. Prince Blueblood. And it must have been a pleasure to have me assist you in this.” Blueblood said in a cocky tone, to which 64 had to restrain himself for sending a jab into his jaw.

“Yea, whatever…” 64 said, before seeing Rarity walk up to him.

“My word 64, what was that terrible commotion? I could hear it from all the way across the Ballroom.” Rarity asked.

“I think we may have a dangerous party crasher. I gotta find him before he does anything else. I’ll be seeing you Rarity.” 64 said, standing up and walking back to the main halls. He briefly saw Blueblood start to flirt with Rarity, but disregarded it and left her to deal with the egotistical ‘Prince’.

Walking back to Celestia and Twilight, he saw that they were once again getting swarmed by visitors wanting a greeting. Stepping in front of the wanting ponies he spoke loudly.

“I apologize but I must have a word with Princess Celestia in private. It will only be a moment so don’t get your knickers in a bunch.” 64 said, as a chorus of groans made themselves heard. Not bothering with them 64 pulling Princess Celestia both the hoof aside and brought her close, annoying the Sun Goddess.

“64, what is the meaning of this? Why are you pulling me away from my subjects?” Celestia asked, to which 64 grunted.

“Look, a guard was just attacked by what I believe is a Nightmare Spell, and Marcus was seen quickly leaving the scene the second the Guard made himself heard. If that doesn’t scream suspicious then I don’t know what will. We have to find Marcus and find out what he’s up to.” 64 answered.

That made Celestia curious. “What do you mean by Nightmare Spell? Do you mean spells similar to the designs of King Sombra?”

“Yes, I don’t see any reason why the guard would suddenly lash out like that. He had no history of mental health issues, nor any signs of PTSD. Once again, there is no way Marcus isn’t the culprit here.”

Celestia looked down pensively, before looking back up and nodding. “You may seek out Marcus, but unless you see him actually doing anything malicious, do not engage him in combat. You may speak to him if you wish though.”

64 sighed and nodded. “Yes Ma’am. I’m gonna look around the Underground first. If this might be a prison break that’s where he would go.”

Walking away, many of the rude ponies still waiting for their Princess yelled obscenities at 64, to which he just flipped them off and continued walking away.

“Alright, if I’m gonna be sneaking around I don’t think this tux is gonna cut it, I gotta change first…” 64 said, making his way to his room to change into his stealth clothing. It was a simple camouflage jumpsuit which had a chameleon spell on it, able to blend in to any background. It was perfect for any kind of Recon mission, and this technically counted as one.

Reaching his room, 64 shed the suit and carefully hung it up, not wanting to ruin such a nice outfit. Pulling out the white jumpsuit next to it, 64 slipped it on quickly and channeled a bit of magic through it, making him partially transparent.

“This was damn worth going through the black market to get this.” 64 said, pulling the hood over his head and the mask over his mouth and nose. It was light enough to move quickly in, and sturdy enough to take a few hits thanks to the built in chain mail.

“Alright, gotta find the final Slava Son. Let’s just hope things don’t escalate any higher than they need to…”

Author's Notes:

Yay! Conflict!

64 vs. Marcus

Ghost POV

Loud music blared through the Night Club I was in, a steady bass beating throughout everyone in the dance floor. Now hooves down in Griffon Kingdom, my first order of business was to find a lead on the Crystal Dust runners. I was disguised as a Griffon by the name of Fonix, who after being heavily inebriated revealed to me that he was on vacation from Equestria. I stole his identity and put him onto a shipping freighter headed back to Equestria, that way family back home would know he was still alive, and anyone he made contact in Ethaxial wouldn’t question his disappearance.

The Black feathers on my head and Brown feathers on my body were slightly uncomfortable at first, but after a good while of dancing in this Club, they felt natural. I was told by one of the Bouncers that the Griffons I was looking for often frequented this club, so all I had to do was wait and see if they would show tonight. Once I found them, they would lead me to the Diamond Dogs who were running the actual Dust into Equestria, and it would only be a matter of how long before 64 could pound them into the ground after that.

Seeing two Griffons making out in one of the booths made me chuckle, seeing how Princess Luna often discouraged me from coming into places like this to prevent me from seeing things like that. She said that I was still a “colt”, so I needed to spend my time still being one.

In reality Changelings minds often matured way faster than their bodies, so I already knew what procreating entailed. 64 was afraid that I might need to feed using those techniques while here, and not the ones we usually used. I didn’t see myself using them either, but I would if I needed to.

“Hey good lookin, you gonna sit there all day, or are you gonna but this gal a drink?” A raspy feminine voice said from behind me. I turned to see White and Brown feathered Griffon giving me a lustful gaze, as I felt the raw, unadulterated emotion she was giving me.

This mare obviously wanted something, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to give anything up.

“Sorry, but I’m not here to hook up with some mare. I’m here to meet a friend. How about this? You tell me anything you can about Crystal Dust, and I’ll go ahead and buy you that drink.” I offered, to which the Griffon instantly perked up.

“Oh… you want the stuff right? I know a dealer who can get you any kind you want cheap… Ice Breath, Red Raze, Terror Frenzy? No one in Ethaxial uses it for that namby bamby pony bullshit. Us Griffons know how to really party with it… How about I go show you where the fun really is?”

Jackpot. Find the dealer, move up from there.

“Alright babe, lead the way…”

64 POV

I made my way into the Underground Prison, formally the Underground Labs. My freak-out flashes stopped after a few times of coming down here to interrogate the inmates, but I still had a tingling feeling at the base of my neck. Thankfully the flashes of Blue I began to see subsided shortly after I started to go down the steps, making my way all the way to the G-Floor.

The entire Slava family was all being held on this floor of the Prison, so if Marcus was really planning a jailbreak then he would have to come here. After reaching the correct floor I looked at the designated cells, making sure none of them were compromised. All cells assigned to the Slava Gang were still locked tight, and all prisoners were accounted for.

“Hey fuckface.” A voice coming from the cells said. I turned to look into the cell and saw Dust Charmer through the window, glaring at me.

“Yeah? What do you want?” I asked, not really caring.

“I know why you’re here. You wouldn’t just come and visit little old me. You want something, or rather somepony, right?” Dust said, sneering at me. I squinted at him, suspicious to how he knew.

“How do you know that?”

“Hehe, that little asshole Marcus. He came down here a few minutes before your sorry as showed up. He tried picking the locks to the fucking doors but they wouldn’t budge, so ran off saying he was going to grab some amulet that would help him out or some shit. Something about reversing the gravity so we could bust out through the vents on these tall ass roofs.”

There were ventilation ducts on the roofs of all the cells, mainly because the doors were sealed so tight that air wouldn’t be able to get in. They were set so high that nopony but a Pegasi would be able to get to them, and in that case we had specialized cells with much smaller ducts, too small for a grown pony to fit through.

“Why are you telling me this?” I growled, knowing there was something up.

“I hate that little asshole. Before your ass came into the picture he ratted nearly the entire family out to your pretty fucking princess, telling them what we were up to. I’m guessing that’s when you caught wind of us. The only reason he came here was to bust out his brother, and when Duplex said it was either all of us or no one, Marcus ran off to go get that fucking amulet. I would like to get out of the joint, but I’d rather rot in here rather than have him bust us out.” Dust explained, growling every time he said Marcus’s name.
I had no choice but to believe what he had to say. If Marcus was going to try and get what I think was going to get, then I knew exactly where to go.

“For fucks sake…” I grumbled, running to where I needed to go.

“FLY YOU FUCK FLY!” Dust yelled, cackling loudly as I began to hop over the railings of the stairs.

Celestia took all artifacts that I recovered and put them into a specialized room, made to withhold the magical energy radiating off of the artifacts at all times. A unicorn had to wear a specialized suit in order to not feel frenzied the second they stepped into the room, so even if Marcus managed to get into the Treasury he wouldn’t get very far.

Making my way out of the dungeon looked to the nearest window that could be opened, and saw one next to one of the many stain glass windows adorning all of the walls. I opened it pulled myself outside, seeing the 2 story drop below me. I sent a surge of magic into the suit I was wearing, making me nearly invisible to somepony that wasn’t looking really hard.

In this surge of magic I also activated the charm hanging around my neck, and heard Celestia voice from the other side.

“Yes 64? You needed to contact me?” She asked, obviously a bit hushed.

“Yeah, I just talked to Dust Charmer in the Underground Prison. He says Marcus went down there to try and bust out his brother, but he couldn’t break open the Cell. He’s going to try and get the Reverse Gravity Amulet from the Treasury, so I’m en route to intercept him. Have guards on full watch around the Dungeon exits, and a few stick by the Elements of Harmony. With them here I would rather be safe than sorry.” I replied, scaling the walls of the Palace heading up to the Treasury room.

“That would be wise. I’ll send a few more Guards to the Underground Prison, and have a few keep an eye on Twilight and her friends.”

“What was that Princess?” Twilight said, hearing Celestia say her name.

“Oh nothing Twilight. You were saying about the Dragon leaving the cave?” Celestia covered up, as Twilight began to explain. I cut my connection to Celestia as I scaled the wall upwards to the top floor, where the Treasury was located.

I could already feel the vibrations of magic buzzing through the air, so once I opened the window I would need to get in as quick as I can to make sure that Marcus hadn’t already weaseled his way in there.

“Ah Shit… this is gonna suck…” I said, finally reaching the window which would open into the Treasury. I undid the latch and opened the window wide, feeling the sudden rush of magic emanating from the room.

Luckily all it felt like to me was a bit of nausea, and maybe some dizziness, thanks to Super Nova’s magic not being entirely benign. To other unicorns it would burn like a fire in the pit of their stomachs, and the only cure was to have the magic flushed out of the body by extremely advanced medical spells. I wasn’t able to perform regular medical spells, but due to the fact it was a magic which flushed out other kinds of magic, all I would need to do is retract my magic when the spell was done.

A bit complicated but effective nonetheless.

I swung myself into the room and swiveled my head around, and was shocked to see what was standing before me. Marcus stood in front of the deposit box which held the Reverse Gravity Amulet, with no protective clothing on. He stood steadily on his 4 hooves, unwavering as he opened the deposit box and pulled out the Reverse Gravity Amulet, its Blue Downward Arrow shimmering brightly.

“I knew you were going to come for me… Like you did for my entire family…” Marcus whispered, his back still turned to me.

I didn’t answer, knowing I had to get that Amulet out of his hoof.

“Barrier Shield.” I muttered, closing the window and releasing a large pulse of magic, not allowing him to escape or use the full effects of the Amulet.

“Look, you can go down easy. You haven’t done anything seriously wrong here. I can escort you out of this Palace, and the out of Canterlot, and then let you go. You wouldn’t be in any trouble. Or you can do the exact opposite, and get locked up with the rest of the Slava gang. Your choice.” I said, wanting to see what he would do.

Neither of us moved, so I decided to make the first move. I lunged forward at him, but before I even made it halfway, he did a backflip into the air, and activated the Amulet. It went from a Blue Downward Arrow to an Orange Upward Arrow, and I felt everything suddenly go upside down, literally.

I was pulled from my feet and started flying towards the ceiling head first, colliding with it and falling onto my back. I quickly tried to pull myself onto my feet, but the vertigo I was undergoing got the best of me, and I only got up to my hands and knees.

“The Slava family has kept this Amulet for over 5 decades. It’s passed from Leader to Leader. Although I chose not to become the new Figurehead of the Slava’s, this was our family heirloom, and I won’t let some disgusting 2 legged creature ruin my family.” Marcus said, kicking me in the side as I struggled to get up.

Now regaining my sense of balance I pushed myself up back onto my hands and knees, now moving on getting up.
I saw Marcus’s punching come at me and reached out to catch it, blocking it and pulling it towards me. I brought my forehead forward and collided it with his, causing him to stumble backwards and shake his head. I stood up and quickly looked around the room, seeing the deposit boxes and desks which were neatly organized now scattered everywhere due to the change in gravity.

Marcus sent a bolt of lightning at me, and I quickly conjured a Longsword to deflect it. I rushed at him with the sword, taking swings at him as he jumped back and started to dodge. Eventually he ran out of space to move and growled, pulling out the Amulet once again and diving at my feet. My first reaction was to jump up and slash downwards at my feet, but the Amulet’s magic once again filled the room and I was sent flying upwards, once again crashing into the ceiling as the many deposit boxes fell around me.
Marcus landed gracefully on the floor, obviously having experience in using the Amulet.

“Allow me to leave peacefully and I promise I will make your death a bit less painless.” Marcus spat, as I quickly regained my footing and dispelled the sword in my hand. Instead I channeled magic to my eyes and focused on Marcus, trying to replicate his movements next time he tried to activate the amulet.

“Like hell I would just let you walk out of here. The only way you are going get out of here is in a body bag!” I yelled, throwing a bolt of fiery magic at Marcus who ducked down to dodge. Marcus then decided to go on the offensive and charged at me with a dagger in his mouth, making me wonder why he wasn’t using magic to levitate it.

Instead of thinking any longer I charged as well, sliding last second underneath Marcus who sliced down at me. As the blade grazed my cheek, I planted my feet onto Marcus’s stomach, launching him upwards towards the ceiling.

He and the ceiling collided, and I quickly reacted as he began his descent. I rolled out of the way of his falling body, and quickly roundhouse kicked him while he was in midair, causing his body to go sailing towards the wall.

“You’re not much of a fighter are you? You seem to be more of a mage. How the hell would you know Alicorn Magic spells?” I asked him as he lay on the floor, groaning at his new set of broken ribs.

“Those Nightmare Spells… were nothing…” He wheezed out, holding his side. “I learned those as a mere colt, learning under my bastard of my father with my brother… I was more adept in Alicorn Magic, mimicking its properties perfectly, while my brother failed to understand the mere concepts.”

I had enough of his monologue, only wanting to know who taught him. I made my way to him with a dagger brandished in my hand, ready to kill him while he was down.

Marcus had other ideas though, activating the Amulet and sending the both of us rocketing towards the ceiling. Seeing him flip in mid-air I did the same, landing on one knee with one fist hitting the ground. I felt a hard buck kick me square in the jaw, sending me onto my back. I rolled backwards as quickly as I could, seeing a relatively unhurt Marcus now rushing at me with the same Dagger in his mouth, now shimmering with purple magic.

Forming 3 knives in my right hand I threw them at his hooves, 2 hitting their marks and stabbing cleanly into the legs, and the last slicing the outside skin. He stumbled but didn’t fall like I wanted him to, grunting as he jumped up towards me. I brandished a sword and blocked his incoming strike, sweeping his hooves from underneath him with a quick kick of his two front hooves. I stabbed down at his prone body but he rolled away quickly, jumping to his hooves.

I saw the injuries to his front hooves start to slowly close up, making me growl at his abilities.

We stood on the ceiling apart from each other, wait for one of us to make a move. It was obvious any injury I would inflict on him would just heal, and if I was about to make the mortal strike he would just use the Amulet to throw me off balance and send us in the opposite direction.

I saw the Amulet light up as I turned around and ran towards the wall, running down as Gravity shifted to its normal state. I continued running once I hit the floor to see Marcus gracefully land, before I launched myself at him with two Tomahawks in both hands.

He saw me lunging at him as he once again activated the Amulet, jumping in the air towards the ceiling. I felt myself now launching towards the wall, going upwards to towards the ceiling. I flipped midair so my back hit the wall and I slid ‘up’ towards the ceiling, once again shooting to my feet and running at Marcus.

He could now see that the sudden shifts in Gravity no longer fazed me, and was starting to become worried. His eyes steeled as he entered my range for attack, and I saw the dark purple charge of Alicorn Magic ignite in his horn.

He sent a bolt towards me, but I sidestepped and swung a Tomahawk into his face, getting a clean slice across his right eye and cheek. He screamed out in pain as he pushed a hoof into his new injury, causing blood to stain his appendage.

I smirked knowing it would take a while before he would be able to weasel out of that injury, so I decided it was time to end him.
“Alright Marcus, time for you to go to sleep.” I said, bringing the Tomahawks over my head as I prepared to bring them down onto his head.

“YOU WILL NOT!” Marcus yelled, his eyes being filled with the Dark Alicorn Magic and turning to me, blood dripping down his face and neck. I was paralyzed by the gaze that was digging into my very core, freezing me in my tracks as the weapons in my hands dispelled, and a flash of blue filled my vision.

I stumbled backwards as I felt Marcus buck me in the stomach, sending me to the wall. I cleared my eyes and saw he had thrown his dagger at me, narrowly missing as I moved my head last second. I wasn’t about to let this bitch take off running.

“Magical Barrier’s all have time limits. All I have to do is wait out the timer and I’ll be out of here.” Marcus said, growling as blood dripped down his chin from his destroyed eye. I got up and shook the pain of his kick to my stomach off, ready to use his new blind spot to my advantage.

“You aren’t gonna be alive long enough to do that.” I said, seeing something glint in the corner of my eye. A sword by that name of Chaos, said to be forged by Discord himself, laid on the floor next to me, obviously tossed around due to the random shifts in Gravity.

I picked it up and felt its weight, feeling comfortable in my hand. The constant stream of magic in this room was starting to fuck with my magic due to prolonged exposure, and I would need a weapon for now.

“What, that little butter knife is supposed to do something to me?” Marcus taunted. I grinned and held the sword out.

“Yeah, it’s gonna put you 6 feet under!” I yelled, charging at Marcus who took a few steps backwards. I felt myself leave the ground as Gravity once again shifted, sending the two of us back towards the ground.

I was still charging at him and we collided in mid-air, me landing on top of him. I brought Chaos up to chop down onto his head, but once again we left the ground, sailing up towards the ceiling.

“For fucks sake! Enough with that shit!” I yelled as I gripped the Amulet around Marcus’s neck, who brought his head up to try and impale me with his horn. I pulled the Amulet as hard as I could, but Marcus was continuously channeling magic through it, sending us up and down while we were still midair.

I began to get incredibly dizzy as I began to send my fist into Marcus’s stomach over and over, dropping Chaos sometime while crazily flipping through the air. The Amulet just wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard I pulled and tugged at it. Having enough of this shit of randomly flipping through the air, I pushed Marcus away from me, hearing him land with a thud on the ceiling.

I followed shortly after, landing with Chaos next to me.

Due to my incredible dizziness and Marcus’s inability to move yet, we both stayed laying on the ceiling, groaning and trying our hardest not to puke.

“I… I don’t get it… the spell I placed you under was supposed to make you relive your greatest nightmare… why didn’t it work...” Marcus said, still groaning and laying down. I didn’t have to think.

She saved me there… I would have been dead if it wasn’t for her…

“I don’t have to think about it…” I groaned, standing up and shakily and making my way to Marcus’s incapacitated body. I kicked him in the side of the head to make sure he would stay down, though it wasn’t enough to knock him out.

“I believe this is supposed to be in the possession of The Canterlot Royal Family, not with the son of the Slava gang…” I said, grabbing Chaos and using it to pry The Reverse Gravity Amulet off of Marcus. He made a feeble attempt to try and take it from my hands, but I brought my fist to his horn, snapping it in two.

“AHH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Marcus yelled.

“I don’t know… Shura had a pretty damn loud mouth. I would say the real son of a bitch is you.” I said, walking backwards with the Amulet in one hand, and Chaos in the other. I saw something that made me choke down a laugh.

Marcus was attempting his best to try and crawl his way to me. I looked behind him and saw that the red glow indicating that the Magic Barrier was still up was beginning to flicker, and next to the flickering was the window that I used to climb into the Treasury.
I chuckled as the opportunity presented itself with shimmering colors, and I decided to send Marcus out with a bang. I lifted the Amulet to look at the Orange upwards arrow, and charged a small amount of magic into it. I felt the gravity in the room begin to let up, and cut off the magic flow.

“Alright Marcus, I hope you have a nice flight.” I said, to which Marcus looked confused. I overcharged the Amulet with magic and threw Chaos overhanded, sending it spinning forward. The shift in gravity sent everything towards the ground, including Marcus. Chaos was flying so fast that the change in gravity didn’t affect him, as he and Marcus met in midair.

Chaos impaled Marcus through the stomach, sending him flying in the same direction as Chaos was headed. The Barrier shield dispelled as Marcus was sent flying out the window, sending pieces of glass and one dead pony towards the ground below.

I sighed as I heard a loud scream and dead body hit the ground, no doubt making quite a mess. I reached for the charm around my neck, channeling magic into it as I laid on the ground from also sailing to the floor.

“Yo, Celestia. You might get word of this in a few minutes, but Marcus is dead.” I said, sighing as I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

“64! Something is going on in the Underground Prison! I’ve lost contact with all Guards currently assigned to the Prison! Something big is going on but I can’t make a scene!” Celestia yelled through the connection.

My eyes shot open and I forced myself onto my feet already heading out the same window I just sent Marcus through. I grabbed the edge and flung myself over, quickly climbing down the side of the Palace with incredible speed. I had to see what the fuck was going on.

3rd Person POV

A bladed wing feather picked the lock to Shura Slava’s magic negating cell, successfully managing to break it open. She stepped out with a confident smile, looking at the figure that had successfully killed and disposed of every Royal Guard guarding the specialized cells.

“Ah, finally. Free from this idiotic prison. Thank you for your assistance Red Wing.” Shura told the Pegasus known as Red Wing, who did nothing but nod. He proceeded to break open Dust’s, Duplex’s, and Deimos’s cells, but as he was about to open the last one, Shura put her hoof out.

“Leave that scoundrel in his cell. He wants to cross me like that? Leave him to rot in this prison.” Shura said, glaring at the Cell placard.

“Leaving the matriarch of the Slava’s to be locked up? Admirable.” Red Wing growled. “The escape chariot awaits. Follow me.”
Red Wing flapped his large bladed wings as he began to spin at impossible speeds. Everypony else’s horns in the room glowed, ready to perform a teleporting spell. Red Wing finally reached his highest speed and actually managed to teleport along with the Slava’s channeling Pegasi Magic.

They arrived at the edge of Canterlot, just behind the Canterlot Train station. Red Wing hurried to attach himself to the front of the Chariot, being more than capable of transporting the 4 ponies now standing on the large Chariot.

“Hey, you best be thanking me for the help! I managed to get that big lummox to go after that idiot Marcus. He woulda stayed at the Prison and waited for your ass.” Dust said, earning him a smack in the head from Duplex.

“He is not an idiot. He is my brother.” Duplex said with a growl, as Red Wing took off from the ground.

Shining Armor saw the chariot take off, eyes looking through binoculars and seeing who was onboard.

“PEGASI! ATTACK THAT CHARIOT WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!” Shining Armor yelled, charging his horn and preparing to launch a shield spell. The Chariot exploded in a flash of light, though it wasn’t from it being attacked.

“For fucks sake… 64’s gonna go on a fucking killing spree.”

Author's Notes:

Hello there! You might notice that the Chapter name is a bit different then usual. Every time there is a plot driving fight the title name will be "64 vs. X". I've been wanting to do this for awhile, so I thought "fuck it".

If you were wondering:

Deimos
Duplex
Dust
Marcus
Shura

Chapter 10

3rd Person POV

64 reached the Underground Prison G-Floor, and saw the aftermath. The Guards who had been defending the Slava Gang’s cells had been nearly cut to pieces, some of the bodies hanging together by small pieces of muscle and tendons. As brutal as the image was, 64 noticed something about the mortal wounds.

The cuts were incredibly clean, slicing through and through every part of the body. There was no sign of the blade that was used had any trouble in cutting through both the heavy armor and the actual bodies.

“Fuck… Fuck… FUCK!” 64 screamed, sending his fist into the side of one of the cells. With the Gala still continuing upstairs, 64 wouldn’t be able to alert Celestia of anything. All he could do was wait, and that was something he absolutely hated to do.

“Where the fuck could they have gone? There was only about 3 minutes between me getting here and them escaping, so how the fuck did they manage to leave?” 64 asked himself. The only way he could think of was teleporting, but they wouldn’t have been able to teleport out of Canterlot, Shining Armor had set a much larger Magical Barrier around the city.

64, unable to do anything from where he was, raced back up to the Palace, needing to get out of the Camouflage suit so he could get around the Gala.

“I gotta talk to Celestia. Hopefully things haven’t gone to shit since I had to leave.” 64 muttered to himself, quickly reaching his Quarters and changing into his Gala outfit. Once again suited and ready, 64 made his way to the Main Ballroom, and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

There were animals running amok, Fluttershy yelling and screaming her head off which 64 thought was terrifying, Rarity was now covered in what looked like cake and yelling at Prince Blueblood, who looked like he was about to start crying. Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of it all with the now destroyed pieces of the Marble Columns sitting around her, including a Alicorn Statue which took 64 nearly a week to buy. Pinkie Pie was dancing, Applejack looked around in shock just as 64 was, and it looked as if Fluttershy was now trying to eat a squirrel.

“Eh, I’ve been in stranger situations.” 64 shrugged.

Twilight stood next to Princess Celestia who bent down to whisper something into her ear, before turning around and running from the ballroom. Twilight whistled as her friends quickly followed after her, not wanting to be around when things got worse.

64 had a quick thought to follow them out the door, but thought better of it. He walked out into the middle of the chaotic ballroom, almost basking in all of the disorder happening all around him, then put his hand straight into the air. He charged magic into it, making sure it was just the right amount so it didn’t kill everypony.

“Earth moves to quake and shake, now flip onto their backs to stop in their tracks!” 64 yelled, slamming his hand into the ground, causing tremors to shake the entire Palace. The Ponies and animals alike running around were and suddenly now all on their backs, disoriented and dazed.

“Alright! Enough screaming and running around! All ponies in the Main Ballroom please proceed to the Main Lobby while the attendants and I proceed to clean up the mess! The Gala will continue shortly!” 64 yelled, as all ponies now listened to the new authority figure in the room. They filed out of the Ballroom as Attendants quickly came and started to clean up the mess, gently taking the animals and throwing them out the windows to the main gardens.

Other worked on repairing the decorative Marble Columns, along with the Alicorn statue.

“Ugh… I was gone for 30 minutes and this shit happens?” 64 said, rubbing the bridge of his nose once again. He was still aching all over from being in the Treasury for too long, and the last quake spell he had performed had him pretty drained.

Blusa was one of the attendants who was sweeping up and saw 64 leaning against the wall, and walked up to him with her horn lit up a bright green.

64 perked up a bit when he saw her, know that she was someone he could “talk” to when he needed moral support.

“Hey the Blu, some Gala huh?” 64 said, to which Blusa nodded. Her horn blinked red a few times, with her scowling at 64.

“What? You mad about me not being able to keep things together here? This is my first time trying to do security for anything, ever!” 64 said, to which Blusa shook her head no. Her horn lit black then green, meaning ‘Ghost’.

“Oh… you’re mad about me letting him take the mission overseas?”

Blusa nodded intensely.

“Look, it wasn’t my decision to make for him. If he wanted to go, then I have no right to hold him back from that. I know you see him like a son, but he’s big enough to look after himself. We should get word within 2 weeks of how he doing, ok? Now I gotta go find Princess Celestia. Get one of the attendants to signal everypony outside when it’s alright to come back in here.” 64 said, still angry about losing the Slava’s.

Blusa watched 64 walk away while undoing his bowtie, and saw that he had something else on his mind. Not wanting to bother him any further she continued to sweep up the many piece of broken glass littering the floor, not wanting a pony to step on something and getting a piece stabbed into their hoof.

64 on the other hand wanted to smash something made of glass, shoving Ponies aside as he made his way out of the Palace. He needed to find Princess Celestia and talk to her, and for some reason she wasn’t receiving any messages form the charm around his neck.

He knew where to find her, because she had an incredibly disturbing obsession involving frosted treats.

“For fucks sake. She know that 4 fugitives escape from the Underground Prison and all she can do is get a fucking pastry!?” 64 yelled to no one in particular, turning a corner in the road to see Donut Joe’s Donut Shop down the street.

He attempted to calm himself down so he wouldn’t make a fool out of himself by barging in and chewing her out, but deep down that’s all he wanted to do.

He pushed open the door to see Princess Celestia with Twilight and her friends, all laughing.

“I assume you all had an enjoyable evening?” 64 asked leaning against the wall as everypony in the room smiled at him.

“Oh, 64. I’m glad you’re here. I would like to talk to you first thing tomorrow morning. Unfortunately with the recent, ‘events’, which have transpired tonight I feel it need to wait.” Princess Celestia told 64, stressing the word events to get her point across.

“Yes ma’am, but I feel the quicker this is sorted out, the quicker I’ll be happy.” 64 said.

Twilight spoke up at this. “Are you disappointed because we sorta ruined the Grand Galloping Gala? We can go back to fix things up if it would make you happy.”

64 shook his head. “No, No, it’s alright. Before I left I ordered a few of the attendants to clean up the mess then resume activities. They’ll have everything cleaned up within the hour if you do wanted to head back.

“No thanks. I think we’ve all done enough damage tonight.” Rainbow Dash joked, making everyone in the room but 64 laugh.
He walked up to Joe who was working the counter and pulled out 4 Bits.

“Hey, I’ll take 3 Chocolate Sprinkled and 1 Coffee, 3 creamers 2 sugars.” 64 ordered, taking a seat on the incredibly small stool set on the counter. He wanted to start screaming and find the bastards who helped spring the Slava Gang.

“64, you feelin’ okay partner? Seems like ya got somethin’ on yer mind that ain’t coming out.” Applejack asked, making 64 chuckle.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about. It’ll be settled within a few days, hopefully…” 64 said, muttering that last part under his breath. Tomorrow he would scan the Prison for any clues, and hopefully talk to both Luna and Celestia about the situation.

“Well Twilight, you and your friends are welcome to stay in the Palace for tonight. You can stay in your old quarters with your friends.” Celestia said, subtly nodding her head towards 64 to go outside. 64 caught it and followed the order, walking outside with his coffee and donuts.

“Excuse me, but I have a few things to discuss with Project 64. I’ll be right back.”

Celestia followed 64 outside and saw him chugging the still burning coffee down, throwing the cup onto the ground once it was empty.

“This coffee bullshit isn't working for me right now. I’ll tell you what I need, Bourbon.” 64 growled, taking small bites of the donuts in his hand. “Marcus was the fucking diversion. Whoever set the Slava’s loose planned on him going in there to try and break the gang out.”

“That is what I figured. Marcus betrayed my trust, and for that I take full responsibility. All we can do now is keep an eye out for the Slava’s and wait for their next move.” Celestia said, making 64 scowl at her.

“And why the fuck do we have to wait!? Why don’t we take the fight to them and kick ‘em while their down!?” 64 yelled, as Celestia also raised a scowl.

“Unfortunately we have no idea where the Slava’s could have gone. Reports from Shining Armor report they used a Longshot Teleportation Spell to flee once they escape the Barrier, and they could have gone a dozen miles in any direction. As I said, all we can do is wait for their next move and prepare for it.”

64 clenched his fists, breaking skin as he continued to scowl at Celestia.

“How can you just tell me that? We just let them run off and not do anything!? What the fuck kind of plan is that!?”

“It’s the only option we have! And I will not stand for your disobedience any longer 64. We must first think logically, and in order to do that, you must calm down.”

“You want to see fucking calm!? I’ll show you!” 64 screamed, before backing up and expelling magic in all directions around him, making it look like he was shooting fire out of every pore in his body. It eventually died down and 64 stood there growling and panting, magic still igniting his hands.

“Do I need any more proof you need to calm down?” Celestia deadpanned, causing 64 to sigh. “With your recent job in Trottingham and the recent events of tonight, I feel that you need a vacation 64.”

64 was about to yell and scream at Celestia once again, but realized he would be playing right into her hooves. He simply shook his head.

“I can’t take a vacation, I need to help investigate where the Slava’s might have gone.” 64 said, realizing the donut he used to have in his hands was burnt to a crisp.

“I have the Investigative Guards working on that right now as we speak. If we find anything informative, then I will allow you to start your search. For now, I officially order you to take a week’s leave vacation. Things have been hectic lately, and I feel if you continue any longer you will fall where you stand.” Celestia said, surprisingly thinking of 64’s well being.

64 decided he had nothing else to do, and the idea of a vacation, although boring, sounded incredibly relaxing.

“Ok… Ok fine I’ll take the stupid vacation. I don’t see you giving me any other alternative anytime soon. And I can already guess where you want me to spend my weeks’ vacation. Ponyville right?” 64 asked, causing Princess Celestia to laugh.

“I was going to suggest to Crystal Tundra’s to the North, but the choice is completely yours.”

64 thought about it for a bit, wondering what he should do. The solitude of the Tundra’s sounded good, but he was really more of a person who enjoyed scorching weather to freezing.

“Fuck it, Ponyville. It’ll be nice to stay for a visit rather than stay for one afternoon. I’ll go and pack my shit for tomorrow when we head back to the Palace.” 64 said, rubbing his eyes and finally feeling the fatigue beginning to affect him. He walked back inside and took his seat once again, ordering one more donut to make up for the one he turned to ash outside.

Twilight walked up next to him and looked at him curiously. “We... all heard yelling outside. Is everything alright 64?”

64 rubbed his eyes and sighed. “There’s just been a few problems lately. Hopefully everything will get sorted out soon, but for now there isn’t anything I can do about it, Celestia is sending me on a vacation to Ponyville for now.”

“You’re coming to Ponyville!?” Pinkie Pie yelled, suddenly appearing from behind the counter 64 was sitting at.

“HOLY SHIT!” 64 yelled before falling backwards on the stool, scared half to death at Pinkie’s sudden appearance.

“Oh! I’m sorry 64, but is it true you’re coming to Ponyville on a vacation?”

“Yeah, a week to be specific.” 64 said, getting up off of the floor and dusting himself off. Rainbow Dash flew over and hovered at 64’s eye level.

“So we’re gonna have that hoof wrestling contest you promised me?” She asked making 64 chuckle.

“Maybe, all I want to do tonight is lie in a bed, and close my eyes for a few hours. That sound good to anypony?”

Everypony in the room agreed, as 64 finished up the donut in his hand. “I’m gonna head back to the Palace with Celestia. I gotta help finish up cleaning, and make sure that there isn’t anypony thinking about hiding in the Palace once the Gala is over. Shining Armor might be coming back soon so I want to meet up with him when he gets there.”

“Ok, well we’ll be seeing you tomorrow in Ponyville then?” Twilight asked, to which 64 nodded. “Ok, bye 64, see you tomorrow.”
64 walked out of the Donut Shop and headed for the Palace, wanting to get all of his responsibilities out of the way so he could finally fall asleep.

64 POV

I woke up in my bed after the long night, still angry at the events passed. I just couldn’t believe that the Slava’s escaped, and that Celestia wouldn’t let me help the investigative team. Although I wasn’t really one for finding evidence and more of a stab first ask questions later kind of guy, I feel I could help them in their efforts.

Looking at the watch on my nightstand I saw it was 8AM, and I knew I was gonna get going to Ponyville at Noon. I decided it was time to get up and get ready, so mustering all the willpower I had in my body, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and pushed myself up onto my feet. I had to pack up and talk to Luna to see if she knew anything about the Slava’s. She was on lookout from the Observatory, so it isn’t likely that she missed them.

I nearly called to Ghost before realizing that he wasn’t there, and I shook my head to try and clear it a bit.

“Damn, I’m already missing him.” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck as I walked to my drawers to pack up. I opened the first shelve and saw all of my Combat Pants sitting inside, all neatly folded and ironed already.

I took an old Duffel bag out of my closet and stuffed the clothing I was gonna take to Ponyville in it, the contents consisting of black long sleeves, black cargo pants, undergarments, and an extra pair of boots. After feeling I was optimally packed and ready to go, I made my way to the Royal Guards mess hall, where I knew I would find Shining armor there getting breakfast.

My predictions were correct as I walked into the Mess Hall, but what shocked me was that Shining Armor wasn’t alone in there. Sitting across from him was his marefriend, Princess Mi Amore Candenza. She was Princess Celestia niece apparently, but for that to be true Luna would have needed to have a daughter, and I don’t see a stallion anywhere in Luna’s life. Maybe it was just niece by title?

I decided that I didn’t want to interrupt anything they were talking about, so I casually made my way over to the serving area, and got myself a nice helping of scrambled eggs and refried beans.

“Oh! 64 why don’t you come over and sit over here with us? Shiny has told me so much about you!” Princess Cadenza called, waving me over with her hoof. I grabbed a few tortillas that were on a heating plate and walked over, setting my tray down and taking a seat.

“Hello Princess Cadenza, pleasure to meet you.” I said, trying to be courteous to the Alicorn Princess. She giggled at my introduction, while I tore a few pieces of the tortilla to scoop up the eggs and beans.

“Oh, no need to be so formal, you can call me Cadence. I never did like when addressed like that by friends.” ‘Cadence’ said, making me chuckle.

“You think of me as a friend? How kind.” I said sarcastically, making Shining Armor laugh.

“Don’t worry; I painted you in a good light. She knows all about 6 months ago and what went down. Luckily she wasn’t here for those three days, she was down in Las Pegasus for one of her other friends birthday parties. Apparently the party must have been crazy if she was gone for 5 days.” Shining Armor joked, inciting a kick from Cadence.

“Well I wish I could have attended the Gala last night, but with Shining Armor’s assignment last night and my unusual fatigue I stayed the night with Aunty Luna in the observatory. Speaking of which there was a moment later in the night which had Luna acting very strange. Did anything serious happen last night?” Cadence asked, making me and Shining Armor look at each other for a second.

Both our eyes read the same thing, “What the fuck do we tell her?”

"Well... There were a few fights down in the Ballroom. A few ponies were injured and I had to knock out a few ponies so my guess is Luna thought I was being too violent." I said, quickly making up a lie and rolling with it. Cadence seemed to accept it and continued to eat her bowl of oatmeal, with Shining Armor doing the same.

I seriously wanted to enjoy the vacation Princess Celestia was going to send me on, but with the Slava's on the loose I couldn't shake the feeling I would be on high alert all week.

Damn Celestia was right. I do need a vacation.

Chapter 11

64 POV

Cadence went back to her guest room when she forgot something she wanted to show Celestia. If had to guess I would say it was something she found in the Crystal Tundra, but my guess was a good as anypony else’s.

“So… How are you feeling?” Shining asked me, as I finished the remainder of my breakfast. I honestly didn’t know how I was feeling. I was angry that the Slava’s had managed to escape, but I was also semi-pissed that Celestia was arranging this vacation for me. Another part of me was actually excited that I was going to get a break, finally being able to kick my feet up and tell anybody who tried to order me around to fuck off.

“I’m feeling… tired… Marcus was the diversion in everything and I chased him like a mouse would chase cheese. He had fucking Alicorn Magic, that’s why he was immune to the Treasury. I woke up today and I felt like my hands were on fire, not because I was casting a magic spell, but because the magic nerve endings in my hands were fried to hell after all the exposure to that harmful magic. I pray for the ponies that have to clean up the mess I left in the Treasury.” I said, grabbing the glass of milk I had and taking a gulp.

Shining Armor nodded and brought a piece of toast to his mouth taking a bite. “Well from what I heard, you ought to be excited for that vacation Princess Celestia is sending you on. Finally gives you time to stretch your legs and relax for a while, right? With all the running around you’ve been doing lately I think you deserve it.”

I smirked and stood up. “Thanks Shining. I’m gonna go see what I can go do about the Treasury. I threw Chaos out the window when I killed off Marcus. I think the body was disposed of last night by a few guards, but I want to make sure I didn’t cause any serious damage to the sword. Celestia would have me by the neck if I destroyed that artifact.”

I threw my plate and cup into the sinks and walked up to the Treasury, this time opting for the stairs rather than climbing up the side of the Palace. I saw several ponies in radiation suits, but I knew the magic wouldn’t be too harmful to me unless I was continuously using magic and had prolonged exposure. A few of the ponies walking in and out of the Treasury were giving me harsh glares, but that was to be expected for wrecking the entire place and destroying weeks of organization. I walked inside and saw an attendant holding a clipboard and pen, picking up artifacts one by one with her magic, then writing a serial number down so they could identify it later.

“Umm, excuse me. I was wondering what I could help with.” I said, trying not to sound too much like an asshole. She looked up at me and sighed, obviously a bit peeved at my unexpected appearance.

“If you want to try and make up for all of this destruction, you can help by levitating some of the heavier debris up off the ground. The unicorn instruction entail not using large amounts of magic at one time, yet you seem strangely unaffected by the magical radiation in this room. Please make yourself useful won’t you?” the Mare asked, to which I slowly started to rub the back of my head.

Umm… I’m not sure how to put this… but I can’t levitate objects…” I said sheepishly, a bit embarrassed at the confession. The attendant did a double take and stared at me, nearly slamming her hoof into her forehead.

“How in the name of Celestia are you unable to perform one of the most basic magical spells known to ponykind? I’ve seen you set the entire kitchen on fire with a single spell, and then put it out a few seconds later. So how are you not able to perform levitation?” The attendant asked, making me shrug.

“I never got around to perfecting it. Whenever I did try I could never focus enough to keep the magic constantly flowing. It feels as if there’s some sort of blockage in me whenever I try finer spells like levitation or teleportation, so eventually I decided to drop those spells when they became too troublesome to learn.” I answered making the attendant sigh once again.

“Well can you just lift the damn thing then? Do something than just stand there and take up space.”

I grunted and walked over to one of the overturned desks in the room, grabbing the sides and lifting it up with ease, allowing a few other attendants to look underneath and retrieve any hidden artifacts. I heard the *clink clink* of something falling out from underneath the desk.

“Hey boss, we got this stupid Arrow Amulet. This is what caused all of the mess up here isn’t it?” a stallion’s voice asked, making me set the desk down and take a look at what they were talking about. Sure enough, the stallion was holding the Reverse Gravity Amulet; it’s arrow a deep blue and pointing down.

“Yes it is. Give it here.” The attendant in charge said, her horn glowing for a second as she made to grab it out of the air. I quickly jumped forward and swiped it from the stallions hoof before she could get any magic into it.

“Hey! Give that back before you do anything stupid!” The mare yelled, making me glare at her.

“Are you daft?! Channel any magic into this thing and you’re gonna make everything go upside down again!” I yelled back, making her back off a bit. She walked up to me and swiped it out of my hand with her hoof, scowling at me as she went to look at another part of the Treasury. I decided that my services weren’t really needed after that little spat, so I decided to walk out of there and went to go meet up with Celestia.

As I walked to the Throne Room, I started to see a lot of trash still strewn around from the Gala, and I wondered why they still hadn’t cleaned up. I’ve seen as little as one unicorn attendant clean entire hallways in a matter of seconds.

I saw one of the attendants running by, and I quickly flagged them down really quick.

“Hey, not trying to sound rude or anything, but why is there still a bunch of trash everywhere?” I asked, to which the attendant yawned.

“Whoever’s not working up in the Treasury was given the day off to recover from the Gala. Got to say, I love it.” The stallion said, yawning at the end of his sentence.

“Ok I guess…”

The stallion continued down the hallway, turning a corner and leaving my sight. I looked towards some of the discarded napkins in the corner and held out my hand towards them. I focused on creating the beam of invisible magic on the napkins, then tried to connect that beam to my hand. I saw a thin sheen of red magic surround the napkins, and I eagerly lifted up my arm to lift it up.

As soon as my arm moved, my connection to the napkins was lost, and they fell unceremoniously to the ground.

“For fucks sake…” I muttered, disregarding the trash on the ground and making my way to Celestia. I wanted to talk about taking Blusa with me on my little vacation. I wanted to take her to Manehatten so she could see her brother Grey Streak, but I needed to clear it with her first.

I pushed the doors to the Throne Room open, stepping inside to see Celestia and Luna sitting in their respective thrones.

“Princesses.” I said, bowing my head a bit respectively. “I came here to talk about another term of my vacation.”

“And what term would this be 64?” Celestia asked me, making me grin a bit.

“I want to take Blusa with me for a small detour to Manehatten so she could see her brother. I might even want to take Applejack there for as well to see if she wants to visit her cousin’s grave.”

Princess Luna smiled at suggestion, and Princess Celestia nodded.

“Very well, I will inform Ms. Blusa Streak to meet you at the Train Station at Noon. She will accompany you to Ponyville to see if the Element of Honesty would like to join you on your detour to Manehatten.”

I nodded back at the princess. “All right, sounds like a plan. I’ll be seeing you.”

They waved back, but Princess Luna came down from her Throne to walk up to me.

“We may receive word from Ghost at the end of your vacation. Hopefully he will be making progress in tracking down the Crystal Dust and you will be able to assist in the assault on the smugglers.” Luna said, to which I gave a thumbs up.

“Perfect. I hope he’s not having too much trouble over there. He’s a tough little Changeling, but I can’t help but feel a bit worried.” I said back. I turned on my heel and left the Throne Room, planning on making some last second preparations before leaving for Ponyville.

3rd Person POV

64 arrived at the Train Station exactly at Noon, and saw Blusa already standing at the platform, bouncing up and down, barely able to hold her excitement. She saw 64 and immediately jumped at him to glomp him, wrapping her legs around his shoulders and flashing her horn green over and over.

“Glad to know you’re happy Blu. I just wanted to make up for my shortness with you last night. There were a few complications that are gonna make my job a lot harder now, and I really want to get them out of the way sooner than later.” 64 said, as Blusa let go of 64.

Blusa nodded and waved her hoof, telling 64 that she understood. Her horn blinked a few times in Morse, spelling out the word ‘brother’.
“You’re excited to see him again huh. I heard Grey is doing pretty well for himself last time I checked. He gets a lot of higher class ponies up there in Manehatten to commission him for things like metal sculptures and some blacksmith jobs for decorative weapons. He should be really surprised when I show up with you at the doorstep.”

Blusa quickly nodded yes, holding her hoof to her mouth to simulate if she were giggling. The two both heard the sound of a horn incoming and looked in the distance, seeing the train quickly make its way into the station. Blusa jumped in the air in excitement, biting 64’s sleeve and telling him to hurry up and get on the train.

“Ok! Ok! Let me grab my duffel.” 64 said, grabbing his bag and slinging over his back. The two stepped onto the train and showed their tickets to the conductor. He gave a split second look at 64, but shook it off, letting the passenger onto the train.
Blusa made her way to the first class cabin Celestia had arranged for her and 64, immediately leaping up and taking the top bunk of the beds.

“Hey, I wanted top bunk.” 64 said, playfully scolding Blusa who just kicked at him and rolled over into the pillow, obviously wanting to skip past the train ride by sleeping. 64 didn’t see this as a bad idea, but knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep due to his nervousness.
The Slava’s were still nipping at the back of his head, their escape still baffling him. Their voices taunting him, saying that he could try over and over again, but he’d never find them. 64 lay in the lower bunk shaking his head, trying not to think too hard about the problems he had.

He had Ghost overseas, the Slava’s escaping from their prison, and to top it all off, now he was feeling insecure about him not being able to perform the most elementary of spells. That last one was a bit insignificant, but it still bothered 64 nonetheless.
He found himself finding the vibrations of the train leaving the station incredibly relaxing, and began to forget about all of those problems. All he had to do right now was get to Ponyville, see if Applejack wanted to go to Manehatten with him and Blusa, then it was another long train ride there. 64 wanted to run there, knowing with his speed augmentation would get him there faster than this train, but he didn’t want to scare the ever-loving hell out of Blusa.

He remembered Ghost’s reaction to the super speed, saying it nearly made him pass out.

Celestia had finally left the interrogation room, both her and 64 exchanging glares as they passed each other. 64 had waited for Celestia and Shining Armor to finish interrogating the Changeling, wanting to talk to him afterward.

Shining Armor stepped out of the room next, and saw the guard that was standing post slightly shaking as he looked at 64, having trouble keeping his composure.

“You guys done in there?” 64 asked, leaning back against a wall nonchalantly. Shining Armor nodded.

“Yeah, after you barged in there I told Celestia to let me do the talking, and things stated to go a bit smoother. Apparently he was the runt of the Hive, still affected by the hive mind of Clovercloud, who you said was dead, right?” Shining asked.

“Yep. Crushed by a falling stalactite. And with her dead, the effects of the hive mind should slowly wear off, right?”
“Should be right. We have reports of many Changelings unable to feed themselves after the death of a Queen, the lack of leadership killing them off slowly. When we asked the name of the Changeling, he said he was never assigned one. Apparently they had tags, not names. No close relatives, no friends, left to die. Sad to say this, but I don’t think this Changeling was meant to live.

64 looked down contemplatively, wondering what kind of life he lived day to day.

“I want to talk to him a bit.” 64 said, not waiting for permission from Shining Armor. He walked back inside and saw through the two way mirror that the Changeling had his head on the table, and was crying softly. He grabbed his stomach and rocked back and forward, obviously suffering from starvation.

64 walked into the small room quietly, noticing the perfectly repaired door that now stood.

“Hey there.”

The Changeling suddenly looked up, icy blue eyes widened at the new voice. 64 took a seat across from the Changeling, giving a small smile to show that he wasn’t going to try and hurt him.

“The large one gave me that smile too.” He said, making 64 drop his smile.

“Then I’m sorry she tricked you like that. Did she hurt you?” 64 asked, making the Changeling shake his head no.

“No… not after you came in… She just said a lot of mean things… but I heard a lot of those things from the caves…”. 64 saw his icy blue eyes being to flutter open and close, obviously close to exhaustion.

“I’m sorry if I scared you from how fast I was going. I just wanted to get here as fast as I could.” 64 said sheepishly, making the Changeling laugh a bit. As he laughed he suddenly lurched forward, making an awful coughing and wheezing sound. He fell from his chair and landed hard on the floor, making 64 get up and rush to the Changeling’s side.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong?” 64 asked frantically, noticing the Changeling was now hacking up his neon green blood. The Changeling frantically pointed to his stomach, telling 64 that he was now dying from starvation, his body now running out of sustenance to continue to function.

64 thought frantically, wondering how in the hell he would be able to save this small Changeling pup. There was only one way he knew, and if Celestia found out, he would be dead.

“Feed then. Feed!” 64 yelled, bringing the happiest emotions he had to the surface of his mind. The Changeling’s horn began to glow green, and a torrent of red mist started to flow from 64’s body.

“Argh!” 64 grunted loudly, nearly collapsing at the new sensation shooting through his body. The Changeling continued to keep feeding, and 64 began to get angry.

“That’s enough!” He yelled, scaring the Changeling enough to stop feeding. The Changeling looked up at 64, his big blue eyes having small tears at the edges. He started to cry and sent himself into 64’s chest, wrapping him in hug as 64 still had trouble regaining his breath.

“T-Thank you…” The Changeling said, still crying tears of joy.

“Don’t… Don’t mention it… you saved me… why can’t I return the favor?” 64 asked, making the Changeling’s wings flutter a bit.

“I feel full now! I feel I could fly around the world!”

“Yeah, let’s not push it…”

64 thought about something really quick, and kind wanted to see it.

“Hey, back at the caves… You changed into me. Mind doing it again?” 64 asked, now giving the Changeling permission to do so. The reason he was so unnerved by the Changeling last time was because he had just seen a vision of her.

The Changeling nodded his head really fast and hopped onto the table, concentrating on 64’s form to imitate it. Green flames surrounded the Changeling as he suddenly turned into an exact replica of Project 64, making the original 64 give a small grin.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t have a name?”

The Changeling nodded slowly once again.

“Hmm… I think I have the perfect one…”

After that, 64 proposed that the newly named Ghost would assist him in his more stealthy missions, where being inconspicuous was the way to find the target. At first Celestia had tried sending Ghost on what could only be described as suicide missions, but luckily with 64’s help, the two of them would get out relatively unscathed.

64 trained Ghost in the art of combat, all the way from assassination to demolition. Due to 64 not having any ability to fly, Ghost developed his own techniques, learning how to use his ability of flight to launch himself towards the enemy.

“Ah… good memories…” 64 chuckled to himself, before a small voice on an intercom rang throughout the cabin he and Blusa were in.

“Ponyville station ahead. All passengers prepare to station.”

“Damn… how long was I reminiscing? Whatever. Blusa! C’mon wake up! First stop to Manehatten.”

Chapter 12

3rd Person POV

64 and Blusa both stepped off of the train, with 64 having his duffel bag around his shoulder. Blusa had her saddlebags full of clothing needed for her week in Manehatten, along with more than enough bits for spending. All they needed to do here was drop off 64’s stuff, and see if Applejack wanted to come. The train headed for Manehatten wouldn’t come until 1:30, and it was only 12:25.

“C’mon Blu, we can stop off here and grab a bite to eat. Then we’ll get on the 1:30 to Manehatten, deal?” 64 asked, making Blusa flash her horn green once. The two continued through town, 64 getting some friendly nods here and there. He still needed to find out where he was going to stay for his week in Ponyville, so he would need to ask around to see if the Inn in town had any vacancies.

“Alright, let’s go ahead and make our stop at Sweet Apple Acres. I wonder if Applejack is actually up for a visit to Manehatten, I mean her relatives there weren’t the most welcoming people when I met them.” 64 said, making Blusa shrug her shoulders.

The pair eventually made it to Sweet Apple Acres, and 64 began to sweep the area for Applejack. He saw no sign of her, so he went to the front door of the country home and knocked on the door twice, standing back and awaiting an answer.

The answer he received was the sound of incredibly heavy hoof steps heading towards the door, eventually stopping right in front of it. The door swung open and a red stallion nearly reaching 64’s neck in height appeared, his eyes widening at the sight of the large creature in front of him. 64 saw the look in this stallions eyes and knew it very well.

It was the look of some who’s Flight or Fight reaction was fight.

64 immediately tossed his bag to the side while pushing Blusa out of the way, as the stallion immediately tackled him. The two went tumbling backwards as Blusa internally screamed, looking around to see if there was anypony to help. She saw an orange mare wearing a Stetson hat coming out of the nearby Apple Orchard, and she immediately ran to try and grab her.

Applejack saw Blusa rushing towards her and immediately tensed up.

“Woah nelly! What’s got you in such a bunch girl?” Applejack asked as Blusa furiously tugged at her leg and pointed to the scuffle that was happening outside of the house. Applejack’s eyes widened as 64 sent a fist into her brothers cheek, knocking him off of his body. Big Mac was nearly unfazed by it as he got back up to once again rush 64.

Applejack immediately ran towards the two and tackled Big Macintosh onto the ground, preventing him from getting back up.
“WHAT IN TARNATION ARE YA THINKING BIG MAC!? A’VE TOLD YA BOUT 64 BEFORE! DO YA GOT JUNEBUGS JUMPIN IN YER HEAD ‘ER SOMETHING?” Applejack yelled, as 64 got to his feet, dusting himself off.

“Hey, lay off him. What would your reaction be if you suddenly saw me standing at your front door? You wouldn’t act calm either. Don’t worry; he didn’t even do anything to me.” 64 said, playfully harming Big Mac’s ego. Big Mac scowled at 64, getting up and dusting himself off.

Applejack saw the tension beginning to bubble up, and immediately went to diffuse it. “Well it seems like the two of ya jus’ got off to a bad start. How about ya learn each other’s names first? Big Mac, 64. 64, Big Mac.”

The two gave each other a brief nod, acknowledging each other. Blusa looked glad that the fighting was over, and went to 64’s side.

“Yo.”

“Eeyup.”

The brief exchange over, 64 turned to Applejack.

“Well AJ, me and Blusa here are just making a stop here in Ponyville to drop off my stuff and get a bit to eat. We’re heading up to Manehatten, and I was wondering if you or your family wanted to come with us. I mean, I was planning on visiting Orange Grove’s grave, so I thought it would only be right to ask if you wanted to come along.” 64 explained, surprising Applejack.

“Well, that’s mighty kind of you 64… I guess I can go. Jus’ let me pack a few things up. It’s been awhile since I up an’ visited my Aunt and Uncle Orange anyway.” Applejack accepted as she walked back into her family’s home.

64 went to pick up his luggage, but when he reached out to get it, it was already being picked up by Big Macintosh. He handed it to 64, a sheepish grin growing on his face.

“Ah’m sorry for the way ah overreacted. I shouldn’t have tried beatin’ ya up like that.” Big Mac apologized, as 64 patted his shoulder.

“It alright. Like I said, no real harm was done. I understand what stallions like you do when they see something that might threaten their loved ones. I’ve certainly gone off the handle a few times when someone has threatened my friends.” 64 explained, both Big Mac and him agreeing on something.

After a few moments of waiting, Applejack finally came out of the house, her saddlebags all packed and ready.

“Alright, it’s just gonna be an overnight trip for me and you AJ, Blusa here is gonna stay the week with her brother. C’mon, lets grab something to-go over at Sugarcube Corner before we head out. My sweet tooth is aching.” 64 said as the newly formed trio began to walk down the road, heading towards the confectionary restaurant.

“So, you meetin’ up with your brother huh? I got family up there too. What’s the occasion?” Applejack asked, but 64 stepped in.

“Uh, AJ? Blusa here is mute, she can’t talk.” 64 explained, making Applejack’s cheeks go red.

“Oh! Uh, sorry there Blu. I didn’t know.”

Blusa simply shrugged her shoulders and did a mock giggle. AJ’s embarrassment didn’t last much longer than that, and the trio finally made it to Sugarcube Corner. 64 had to duck down a bit to enter, and as soon as he entered, the sudden wall of scented sweets made him gag a bit.

“I know, kind of a rush every time a new customer walks in here. Welcome to the Sugarcube Corner! Pinkie Pie has told me so much about you!” A Pink maned, blue coated mare told 64 as he walked in, Blusa and Applejack following behind him.

“Yeah, I have a really acute sense of smell. Not that hard to get used to though.” 64 said, taking a nice big inhale through his nose. The scent of frosting, sugar, and preservatives was thick in the air, and it nearly sent 64 to his knees once again, but he held tight.

“Well aren’t ya gonna order somethin’ 64?” Applejack asked, as 64 reached into his duffel bag to pull out a large sack of bits.

“Yeah, I’ll take 1 Chocolate chip cookie1 and 1 muffin, blueberry if you have it.” 64 said, as Blusa blinked her order in at 64. “And she’ll take 2 Red Velvet Cupcakes.”

“Hey, ah thought you said she couldn’t talk. And ah didn’t see her point to anything.”

“She can’t. She uses a mixture of sign language and magic to communicate. She can talk telepathically with other Unicorns, but to others she has small signs you need to carefully read. Go ahead and place your order.”

Applejack just accepted the answer for what it was and placed an order for 2 apple fritters. The snacks came out very quickly, with 64 paying the appropriate amounts of bits for the order. Applejack eyed the money carefully, a thought invading her mind at the sight of it. She decided to hold that thought until she and 64 had a more private setting, not wanting to bring the matter up in public.
Now with their snacks in small baggies, the trio continued towards the train station. It was only 1:10, so there wasn’t any need to rush.

64 pulled out his cookie and muffin and began to munch on them both, relishing the incredibly sweet taste they had. Blusa easily inhaled her Red Velvet Cupcakes, and Applejack went ahead and munched on her apple fritters.

“Say, Blusa. Feel free to not answer, but were ya born without yer voice?” Applejack asked, making 64 slightly flinch. Blusa shook her head no, pointing to her hoof and making a punching motion with it.

“Oh, took a bad hit huh? From what? A baseball or something?”

64 wanted to stop the conversation before Blusa started to get uncomfortable, but she made no sign that she was uncomfortable in anyway. Blusa horn flashed a few times, signing that she wanted 64 to tell her what happened.

“You sure Blu? It only happened about 2 month ago.” 64 asked, to which Blusa nodded. 64 decided to just go with it and told the story about his job in Tuvalu, toning down a few of the more gruesome details, especially the ones about what he did to the stallion who bought Blusa. Let’s just say that not even DNA testing would be able to identify him.

By the end of the recollection Applejack’s eyes were widened to near impossible levels, stunned that such events occurred without any word getting out.

“How in tha’ name of Celestia did somethin’ like that never be found out?! By what you said Blusa here was a famous singer in Canterlot! There no way in Equestria that something’ like that jus’ be covered up!” Applejack questioned, making 64 grin.

“That’s why I go in. If something small happens, Princess Celestia sends in the Royal Guards to diffuse it. Something a bit more extreme happens? Send in the Equestrian Knights. Something really, really bad happens and you don’t want the public eye to find out? That’s when I go in. I go in, take care of business, make sure no one knows Princess Celestia ordered it, and get out. I’ve taken the moniker ‘Bipedal Blight’ to make it seem like I’m doing things of my own accord, and it’s worked for a long time. I’m a story book legend, helping the meek and helpless by destroying the evil and strong.” 64 said, trying to make himself seem like a bigger deal than he really was.

Applejack just shook her head, the question she had been wanting to ask 64 bubbling back the surface. They had reached the Train station with minutes to spare, and shortly after a horn began to ringing through the air.

“Here we go…” 64 muttered, cracking his neck a few times and pulling out the bits to purchase Applejack’s ticket. As he walked to the ticket booth to buy it, Applejack nudged Blusa a bit.

“Hey um, Blusa? Does 64 seem a bit… off to you?” Applejack asked, making Blusa shake her head no.

“Well… ah mean… he works for the Princess now, but 6 months ago they had nearly killed each other. Ah mean did Celestia do anythin’ to 64 to make ‘im like this?”

Blusa shrugged her shoulders at the strange question, making Applejack a bit frustrated.

“If only you could talk this conversation would be much easier….”

“Alight AJ, here’s your ticket. Let’s get aboard.” 64 said interrupting Applejack’s literal one sided conversation.

The group walked inside and took their seats inside another one of the first class booths, but Applejack noticed that 64 still had his bag with him.

“Hey 64, ah thought you were gonna drop off your bag? Ya still got it in yer hand.” Applejack said, making 64’s eyes widen.

“Ahh shit… wait up, I got an idea.” 64 said, looking up towards the emergency hatch at the roof of the cabin. He attached himself to the wall and scaled up to the hatch, but nearly fell off when the Train started to move. He popped open the hatch and climbed to the top of the train, the entire things still gradually gaining speed.

He scanned Ponyville and found his target, the newly repaired Clock Tower. He tightened grip on the duffel bag strap and geared his arm back, quickly using the incredibly fast mathematical skills he gained from her and calculated how much power he needed to make the throw. Perfectly calculating it 64 launched the duffel bag in his hand towards the Clock Tower, nearly hitting a few Pegasi in its flight.

He had no idea if the bag actually made it or not, but 64 decided that when he got back he would just search in that general area for it.

“Alright, dropped it off.” 64 said casually, dropping back into the cabin as the roof hatch closed. Applejack and Blusa simply stared at him with deadpan looks, both wondering if all that was really necessary.

The train began to pick up speed, now on its way to Manehatten. 64 decided to take the time he had and laid back on one of the lower bunks, relaxing and simply trying to wait the hours away. Applejack looked like she was trying to do the same thing, taking off her hat and laying down on her stomach on the bunk above 64.

Blusa’s horn began to flash in Morse again, spell out the word ‘food’.

“Didn’t we just get something at the Sugarcube Corner?” 64 asked. Blusa simply shrugged and blushed, think that it wasn’t enough.

"Alright, I think the food cart is still near the Engine, so you might need to make the trip over there.” 64 said as Blusa nodded, hoping that a Unicorn was there to take her order. She left the cabin and proceeded to the food cart.

Applejack saw this alone time as the perfect opportunity to ask 64 those questions she had, and didn’t want to miss it.

“Huh… 64? Can ah ask ya… well… ah mean if you don’t want to answer ‘em ah understand, but… can ya answer a few questions fer me?” Applejack asked from her bunk, making 64 shrug his shoulders.

“Sure, ask away.”

“Ok then… I was jus’ wonderin’… you and Princess Celestia are on uh… good… terms, now right?”

64’s face scrunched into one of deep thought. “Well… yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean… sometimes we argue and stuff, but it’s not like before were she wanted me dead. I guess we have a sort of strange relationship. I took the job so I wouldn’t have to be scared anymore. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life running, watching my back for every little thing, or making sure I wasn’t seen by the public. But right now I feel as if she and I are kind of not seeing eye to eye on a certain subject.” 64 explained, remembering what was going on with the Slava’s right now.

“Thas’ another thing ah wanted to ask ya. 6 months ago you and her were at each other’s throats like a pair of two of the wiliest pit bulls in all of Equestria, but now you two are all in kahoots now. I jus’ thought it was mighty strange that you were able to forgive her for all she’s done to ya.”

64 tensed at that last part, and a small chuckle escaped his mouth.

“You think I forgive her?”

It was Applejack’s turn to tense up.

“No, I don’t forgive her. All I can do right now is suck it up and try to be big about it. She made 20 years of my life hell, but in the end I know that it was Knight that pulled the strings. I can’t be mad forever. She taught me something, ‘The more you stay mad at something, The more it controls you’. I’m not mad at Celestia anymore, but I don’t forgive her.”

Applejack was visibly stunned by 64’s answer, and although she still had one more question to ask, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to ask it.

“Ah… Ah have one more question…”

“Shoot.”

“How can ya do what you do?”

64 was confused at the question and poked his head over to Applejack’s bunk. “What do you mean?”

Applejack wanted to choose her next words carefully, still slightly frightened at 64’s nonchalant answer.

“Ah mean, how can you kill? You seem almost remorseless of what ya’ve done. All them bits in yer pockets were paid for by killin’ somepony. How can ya be so calm about the entire deal?” Applejack asked, making 64 give her a grin.

“Well I prefer to capture, not to kill. But when I have to kill, I always remember something. The ponies I killed have all brought misery and suffering to others in one way or another. If killing them is the best way to get their ugly mugs off of the face of Equestria, then by all means I am happy to do it.”

Applejack simply shivered and decided to stop talking, unnerved by 64’s casual demeanor. It was at this point Blusa walked back into the cabin, a large daisy sandwich held in her magical grip. She was munching happily as she sat back in her bunk, blissfully unaware of the conversation which had just taken place.

3rd Person POV (Ghost)

Ghost was in a tight situation. It wasn’t anything serious, but if things continued the way they were, he would have serious trouble later. Still disguised as a Griffon, he took one more look at his surroundings. To his side there was the same Griffon chick who had offered him the Crystal Dust, but instead of her normally flirtatious nature, she was now writhing on the floor with her beak foaming.

She had taken a very large dose of a special strain of Dust, Fern’s Love. Its properties included hallucinations, loss of motor skills, loss of speech, sensory overload, and prolonged paralysis. She had taken a very large dose, and if Ghost’s medical diagnosis was correct, she was experiencing an overdose.

To his other side, two Diamond Dogs were now freaking out with knives drawn at each other, one pissed off at the other for calling the local police. They were on the verge of starting something, and if they continued, there would be a lot of blood.

Behind him two griffons were stuffing duffel bags full of Silver Bars into the back of a large van which was being driven by a masked earth pony. The griffons were yelling obscenities at each other, telling the other to hurry up and stop freaking out. The driver was getting impatient and was yelling something about threatening to drive off, and when police sirens started to sound nearer, he actually did, bags flying out of the still open trunk. The Griffons flew after him with large knives now held in their mouths, obviously ready to kill him if the need arose.

The diamond dogs finally began to start slicing at each other, the flurry of fur and blood starting to stain the floor of the large warehouse they were all standing in. There was still a large amount of Crystal Dust of all varieties littering the floor, much of it from the freak out the female Griffon was now going through. She eventually stopped thrashing around, and a last gurgle signified her last breath.

The Diamond Dogs also finally stopped fighting when one realized he had clearly killed the other, a clean slice making itself apparent across his friends neck. The victor started to yell and scream incoherently, dropping the knife and running out the same garage door the van had driven out of.

“Well, at least I found the dealer.” Ghost said to himself as he quickly pulled out his Royal Equestrian Badge out of a pouch he had made for himself in his feathers, needing it for when the police kicked in the door. The sirens eventually reached the outside of the door, and Ghost prepared himself for what was to come.

The front Garage doors of the warehouse were bucked open, the Police Officers holding out Taser Guns in their hooves.

“Relax. Agent 65 from Equestria here.”

Author's Notes:

I'M STILL ALIVE! Hey readers. Sorry that this damn chapter took so goddamn long to get out. My Super Bowl weekend totally fucked up my schedule. I lost a $1 bet on the Broncos, but if I would won, I would have been $45 Dollar richer!

Chapter 13

Ghost POV

Well flashing my badge did absolutely nothing. The Police officers not only took me into custody after tasering me, they took my badge and stomped it into the ground! Apparently being found in a room with piles of incredibly harmful drugs surrounding you along with a dead Gryphoness next to you wasn’t the best situation to be caught in. The police officers were currently using MY Magical Charm to contact Princess Celestia to confirm my place in her ranks, something I bet she wasn’t going to be too happy about.

I didn’t drop the Gryphon façade, not want to be further persecuted as a Changeling, knowing it would only make things worse. I still held the name of Fonix, but I told them to address me as Agent 65 so Celestia wouldn’t get confused. I figured the sooner I was out of this dinky little prison cell I could easily escape out of the better, because I now knew who the head Dealer of the Crystal Dust was in Ethaxial. I could just tell the police, but I doubt they would be able to apprehend the suspects without arousing suspicion. I already had one tie to the dealer now, one of the Gryphon’s who had been stuffing the bags of silver bars into the back of the getaway van. His name was Wrath, and he had given me the location of where the Diamond Dog leader was holing up. All it took to get the info out of him was a very hefty amount of Gems I had brought with me.

I wasn’t able to get the name of the dealer, but I knew that I would need to go back to the club where I had met the Gryphoness in two days, and request the DJ there to play “Luna”. After that the dealer always went to the bar to order something called the Sidebar, apparently the heavy song often put him in the mood for his favorite drink.

All it would take would be a few choice words and maybe some bribery, then I would be in. All I had to do after that is find some evidence incriminating the dealer, then call in 64 for the kill.

“Alright, she sounded pissed, but everything checks out. We’ve been trying to find the bastard running the dust for a while, so don’t bother trying to dig any deeper.” The Earth pony officer told me, making me scowl at him.

“And what the heck makes you think I won’t be able to find anything about the Dust? You don’t know what I’m capable of.” I retorted, making the officer chuckle.

“I do know. You managed to get yourself arrested for remaining at the scene of a crime which you were investigating, already revealed yourself as an uncover agent from Equestria to nearly every officer in Ethaxial, and you are doing a very bad job in finding any evidence. I will say something though, you managed to plant yourself inside of the very group we have been trying to find any information about for the past year. How did you manage that?”

“Easy, find the buyer, find their seller, find their supplier, and then find their dealer. Follow the ladder all the way up, then strike from the inside. And FYI, I do have a very important piece of information that I might need help with.” I said, piquing the officer’s interest.
He looked down a bit before unlocking the door to my cell, stepping inside.

“Where are my manners? Captain Reggie Fawkes.”

I grinned. “Now we are getting somewhere.”

64 POV

The train finally arrived in Manehatten, and Blusa looked like she was gonna burst in excitement at any moment. She nearly knocked me over when she ran to go get off of the train, and I had to grab the edge of her saddlebags to prevent her from zooming off into the city.

“Wait up Blu, Grey isn’t going anywhere. His shop is on the far side of Manehatten, so it’s about a 30 minute walk. Applejack’s Aunt and Uncle live about 10 minutes from the train station, so let’s go drop off Applejack, then we’ll head for your brother alright?” I asked, making her nod her head sadly.

“Aww don’t worry Blu, it’ll only be a moment. 64 and ah were gonna go visit little Orange Grove later anyway, so we have plenty of time.” Applejack said. We walked out of the Train Station and looked at the immense urban jungle in front of us, Applejack’s eyes widening and Blusa jumping up and down in excitement.

“C’mon, the Orange’s live in one of the Stately Apartments at the Pinewood Suites on the corner of 22nd and 3rd. You excited AJ?” I asked, making Applejack shrug her shoulders.

“Ah haven’t seen them since ah moved back to Ponyville, in fact ah didn’t even leave any kind of note or anythin’. I think ah might have given ‘em a really bad scare so ah’m glad I can come back and apologize.” Applejack said, making me nod.

“You know, I was still locked up in the Labs when that whole fiasco with the Sonic Rainboom happened. But it’s strange; I’ve heard the stories about how you and your friends all got your cutie marks in all of the same days, and based on Twilight’s story, if it wasn’t for Rainbow setting off the Sonic Rainboom, I wouldn’t have escaped.”

“How do ya figure? You weren’t able to see it.”

“There were these two know rookie guards. After a particularly bad session, they began to blather on about Twilight’s fiasco with Spike. While they talked that’s when I first heard about the Peacemaker, and my plan for escaping was set in motion. If anything, Rainbow Dash was the reason I escaped.”

Applejack and Blusa both looked surprised at my explanation, even though it was a bit far-fetched. I still thought it was plausible, so that’s was what I was sticking with. We continued to make the short walk through the streets of Manehatten, and I received the usual terrified and disgusted stares. At this point I was numb to them, but then something I didn’t even expect happened.

Suddenly I felt the hairs on the back of my head stand straight upwards, indicated imminent danger was coming. The magic she gave me suddenly sensed a projectile heading towards the three of us, and I could tell by its trajectory that it was directed towards me, but it was instead coming towards Blusa.

I quickly made a 180 turn and caught the object about to hit Blusa in the back of the head, and saw it was a nicely sized rock. I looked in the direction it came from and saw the rear half of a stallion running away down an alley across the incredibly busy street.

“AJ lead Blusa to your Aunt and Uncle’s house, I gotta deal with this punk.” I said, making Applejack nod and continue with Blusa down the road. I looked at all of the carriages quickly speeding up and down the road, so I channeled magic to my eyes to “slow” things down. I saw a two second opening coming, and used it to my advantage.

I zoomed across the street with my legs augmented, and quickly followed the asshole who threw the rock at us. I saw that there were overturn garbage cans and thrashed around trash making a trail, so I quickly followed it.

I slowed down when I heard the sound of conversation, causing me to hug the wall and listen closely.

“I still don’t understand why the heck ya wanted me to throw the rock Jess, he wasn’t hurtin’ nobody.” A voice said, indicating himself as my provoker.

“That thing needs to learn that this is our turf, and he better stay off. I don’t want some two legged thing walkin’ my streets.” The stallion indicated as Jess responded. The little punk wanted to fuck with me? Alright, I’ll show him I’m nothing to fuck around with.

I looked up the wall I was hugging and saw that there were bricks that were slightly protruding, and I immediately started climbing. The building creating the small alley had a fire escape right above them, and I saw the perfect idea to show them who was really in charge. Using one of the water pipes along the wall I shimmied across to the escape, and saw the three stallions standing below were still talking shit.

I grabbed the lever release of the fire escape ladder and waited for the moment they were going to start and walk away. They eventually nodded their heads and were about to leave, but I pulled the lever and caused the ladder to crash down to the floor.
I saw the three stallions turn towards the sudden sound, obviously startled.

“What the fuck!?” I heard the stallion say; now identifying himself as Jess. I pulled up the hood attached to my long sleeve and took a few steps back then ran forward, vaulting myself off of the railing of the fire escape and jumping towards them. The now identified adolescent stallions below me saw my quickly descending form, and all scrambled.

Unfortunately for Jess, he wasn’t quick enough to evade me. I landed on his back and felt his body immediately crumple to the ground, his forelegs trying to crawl his way out from under me. His two buddies decided they weren’t gonna help him, so they booked it out of the alley.

“HEY! WAIT! YA GOTTA—MMHM!” Jess tried to yell, but I held his mouth shut.

“So, you think you run these streets huh? How old are you? 16? 17? Huh Jess?” I whispered, trying to sound as menacing as I could. Jess simply started to whimper and tried harder to crawl his way out, but easily held him down and detained him.

“So what in the name of Celestia do you think you are? Huh? Telling your ‘friend’ to throw a rock at me and my friends? You think you’re tough shit?” I continued.

He shook his head no feverishly, tears starting to form at the edges of his eyes.

“Now there’s a good boy, get the fuck out of here.” I said, finally standing up and letting go of him. He started to bawl and ran in the same directions his buddies did moments ago, yelling the word ‘mommy’ as he ran.

“Damn that felt good. Little shit needed to be knocked down a peg.” I said, pulling down my hood and walking towards Applejack’s relative’s house. They should have arrived there by now, so I would be able to take Blusa to her brother once I got there. I walked out of the alley and made the not so complicated walk to the Orange residence.

I made my way up the stairs and found the front door to their apartment, knocking twice to alert them of my presence. Uncle Orange opened the door and smiled.

“Ah, Project 64. So nice to see you again. Applejack tells me you are here to pick up your friend?” Uncle Orange asked me.

“Yep, I just had to take care of something really quick. I’ll be back later today to pick Applejack up so we could go visit… uh… Orange Grove’s grave.” I said slowly. Uncle Orange looked down a bit before giving me a sad smile.

“It’s been 5 years… it only feels like yesterday…”

I felt like I had to do something to console him, but I knew that any words I give wouldn’t mean anything coming from me. I still had to try something.

“It was a terrible thing to happen. I can’t imagine what losing a daughter must be like.” I said, honestly feeling incredibly terrible. The Underground Guards were chasing me, and Orange Grove got caught in the crossfire. If I had turned in any other direction before I crossed Orange Grove then this terrible tragedy wouldn’t have happened.

“It’s alright son. She’s in a better place now.”

Uncle Orange stepped aside when Blusa came to the door, a sad smile on her face. She blinked out the word sorry to Uncle Orange, who turned to me for translation.

“She says she is sorry for you loss.” I answered, to which Blusa nodded.

“Ah, thank you very much young lady. I do hope you and your brother will have a happy reunion.” Uncle Orange told her, making her blush and nod.

“C’mon, we better get going. It’s about a 10 minute walk from here.” I said, wiping some tears that were threatening to fall from my eyes. Blusa nodded and I said my goodbyes, Applejack apparently meeting up with her other relatives inside, and was unable to come to the doors to say goodbye.

We walked back downstairs and walked back outside. I caught a glimpse of what looked like Jess and his friends quickly scurrying away when they caught sight of me, and I had a quick chuckle at their expense. I looked over at Blusa who was now visibly sweating, obviously nervous at meeting her brother.

“Hey Blu, he was nearly in tears when I told him that you were still alive. He’s going to be so relieved to see you again. Heh, I’m actually jealous of you right now.” I said, making Blusa look at me strange.

“You have the pleasure of having a relative in your life. Ghost is definitely the closest I will ever get to family and he’s over in Ethaxial doing who knows what. I don’t share blood with anypony else in this world except for me.”

Apparently this helped Blusa calm down a bit and realize how lucky she was to have a brother. She blinked the word ‘lonely’ to me, and I chuckled a bit.

“Only a little bit. It nips at my sanity from time to time, but I’m good. All I have to do is realize that it could be worse and keep moving forward. Sometimes I just wished I had a relative.”

The conversation stopped after that and a comfortable silence between us grew, the hustle and bustle of the Manehatten streets still buzzing. After about 7 more minutes of walking, I finally saw the building we were looking for, Grey Streak’s Creations. This was Grey’s workshop, where he made incredible metal works. He wasn’t a combat weapons blacksmith, but he was definitely skilled when it came to decorative weaponry.

“Alright Blu, you ready?” I asked. Blusa nodded incredibly fast, a wide smile and shaking legs obviously shown.

“Ok, wait just outside the door until I call you in ok?”

Blusa nodded yes as I opened the door to the building. The small tinkling bell sounded through the building, and a large grey stallion was seated on a swivel chair with his rear hoof kicked up on the counter. His eyes were covered by his long hair, and it looked like he wasn’t very interested in the potential customer who just walked through the door.

“Welcome to Grey Streak’s Creations… do ya got a order placed?” Grey Streak asked lazily, making me chuckle a bit.

“Sorry, I don’t. You Grey Streak?” I asked, making him wipe the hair out of his eyes.

“Thas’ the name, don’t wear it… Hey, you’re that guy who came here 2 months ago to tell me about little baby Blu! How ya doin?”

“I’m doing good. How’s the business treating you?”

“Eh, you gotta work to live, and I say why not do somethin’ that involves a bit of fire. It’s doin’ alright, it’s what is keepin’ the meals rollin’ in.”

Grey Streak once again took his lazy demeanor, once again kicking his hooves up onto the counter.

”Anyway, you obviously didn’t just drop in to check on me, what you gotta say?” Grey Streak asked me, making me grin a bit.

“Blusa? Somepony wants to see you!” I called out, making Grey Streak’s eyes suddenly widen and mouth to drop. He shot back to his hooves and looked at the slowly opening door. Blusa stepped through the door and made eye contact with her brother, and tears immediately began to be shed.

“BLUSA!” Grey Streak yelled, vaulting himself over the counter and rushing his sister. She ran forward too and they embraced each other, Grey crying tears of joy along with Blusa, who was unable to cry audibly but was still shedding tears.

I looked at their emotional reunion and could only smile at them, but something caught my eye on Grey Streak’s counter. It was a camera with an incredibly large flash bulb on it, and I immediately grabbed it and took a snapshot, catching the two in a surprise.

“Now that is literally worth 1000 words…” I whispered as the camera began to develop the picture. It popped out and I handed it to Grey, who wiped his teary eyes and looked at the photo I was holding out at him.

“Heh, It’s just been so long Baby Blu. I was so scared something happened to you when I heard you got foalnapped, and I nearly didn’t believe this guy when he told me you were alive in Canterlot.” Grey said, choking up a bit.”

“How about I just leave you two here to catch up a bit? I’m gonna head back and meet up with AJ ok Blu?” I asked, making Blusa nod.

“Wait up. Thank you so much for saving her. I… I can’t tell you how grateful I am for saving her.” Grey Streak told me, making me smile and nod.

“It’s all part of my job. All that matters is that she’s safe and sound now back with her family. I actually have something to ask before I forget. Blusa has a week’s vacation right now, and she wanted it to spend it in Manehatten to spend time with you. I have more than enough to set her up in a hotel nearby, but I was wondering if you wanted her to stay with you.” I asked, making Grey Streak look at me as if I was stupid.

“Of course she can stay with me! It’ll be perfect!” Grey Streak answered me, turning to Blusa with a grin. “You don’t mind staying with me for a week right?”

Blusa nodded no, but she pointed a hoof to her throat.

“Oh! It’s cool! I learned Morse once I heard the news from this guy here! Speaking of which, what’s your name by the way?”
I chuckled. I always got a funny reaction.

“64, my name is 64.”

Chapter 14

“………”

“………”

“I…I don’t know what… what to say…”

“Then don’t say anythin’… Ah mean, you don’t need too…”

“But… I mean… look at them…”

“I wouldn’t have gone any different either way. You didn’t have anythin’ to do with it.”

“………”

“………”

“Thanks…”

“Don’t mention it sugarcube…”

64 POV

Applejack and I were now at the grave of Orange Grove, whose death was once blamed on me by Celestia. Now the truth was clear, and Orange family was now grieving openly at the massive grave. The size of the tombstone was a bit more than average, and instead of it being a placard in the ground, it was protruding upwards, a portrait excellently capturing the dead filly on its surface.

An inscription read, “Although Her Body Is Gone, Her Flame Will Live On”. She was a very bright filly, and often radiated happiness to all who knew her. She died at the age of 12, and all who knew her felt as if a part of them had been taken along with them. I didn’t even know her very well, yet I felt as if a part of me had died that day too. I had witnessed my first real death up close that day, and all I wanted to do was scrub it from my memory.

All I wanted to do was cry and cry and try to tell the crying family in front of me that it was all my fault, but Applejack was holding me back from doing so. She had known her while she lived in Manehatten for that short week, and when word of her death got to Ponyville a few weeks later, she nearly ran all the way back.

“She always wanted to do mah mane up in a bunch of little frilly curls. Ah remember when ah was jus’ a filly after hearing about this, that’s all ah wanted to let her do. Ah never let her, but gosh darn it now ah wished ah let her.” Applejack cried quietly. This was hard on everypony here, and I started to let some of the guilt get to me. Years had passed, yet the pain of her family was still burning hot.

The Orange’s crying began to die down, unable to continue like they were.

“I… I…I want to thank you from coming out with us today 64.” Aunt Orange told me, making give her a sad smile. “I…I wish we could have met on better terms, but I’m glad you brought our daughter back to us. We might have never found her.”

“I understand. I also know this… is more of a family matter, and a lot of unwanted memories are being resurfaced. I’ll leave your family to grieve today. I’ll find somewhere in the city to hole up for the night, and tomorrow morning I’ll come by to pick up Applejack from the train station. Have a good evening Mrs. Orange.” I said, nodding respectfully.

“Thank you, and a good evening as well.” She replied before turning back to her husband and leaning on his affectionately.

This was one part of life I wished didn’t have to exist, but it’s a heavy truth. Death was necessary evil, needed to allow the new to replace the old. But when a young life is forcibly ripped out of somepony’s hands, that’s when the horrible truth sets in. Death could happen to anyone at any age, no matter how skilled, no matter how brave. All it took was one wrong decision, one wrong turn in life to send you 6 feet under.

I walked away from the grave to leave the families grieve in privacy; they had no need for another bystander. I pulled up my hood and decided to go somewhere I hadn’t gone for a long time, my Outpost at the top of Vanderhoof Tower. It had been a long time since I had seen that place, with me not having to go there for rest or repose it had probably gathered a good amount of dust buildup.

I made my way down the busy streets, now lit up by the lights of the evening. Unlike my last visit I had no need to cover myself up or hide. I could walk right through the town with only strange glares sent my way, and not the yelping and screaming for guards.

The old warehouse where the entrance has hidden still stood, now even more worn down and dilapidated than I had remembered. I stepped inside and looked around, seeing all of the destroyed wooden pallets littering the place. I saw the rusted door which led to the maintenance stairs of the Vanderhoof building and walked towards it, opening it to see that they hadn’t changed since I was last here.

“Ah…… memories……” I whispered to myself, making the long ascent to the rooftops. After a short long while, I had finally reached the top floor, with me only breaking a light sweat. The store room door was still closed, rust and oxidation clearly apparent on it. It swung open with a light creak, and what I saw made me chuckle.

I still had various notes written all over the walls thinking of ways to kill Celestia once I got my hands on her, and reading them again now made me wonder what a younger version of me would think of me right now. Part of him would be confused and angry, but the other part of him would probably be relieved that I was still alive and no longer living from day to day.

I looked at all of the equipment I still had lying around here, varying from some unused gunpowder, to some old rusty throwing blades. A quiver of a few dozen arrows was still lying there without a bow to use them, and a few schematics of survival gear were written out on a desk in the far corner.

“Hey… I remember some of these…” I whispered, looking down at the crude drawings of the improvised tools I could have used. A poison dart for a makeshift blowpipe, using the berries of the Nightshade Plant to form a toxin which wouldn’t kill right away, but make friends look like foes for a short amount of time. A wing suit for falling from high altitudes and survive, a wrist mechanism… which looked incredibly salvageable…

“Hey… I could still use this…”

I rolled up the large paper and stuffed it into the small satchel pocket attached to my pants, saving it for later. It looked really good, and I would need time to improve the designs to work out any flaws. I quickly rummaged through all of the other stuff, but couldn’t find anything of use besides a few bottles of whiskey that were still good. Drinking wasn’t really my thing, but sometimes after a hard job it was the perfect way to unwind.

I looked out of the window which had an overlook of nearly the entire city, and took a deep breath. I looked down to the alley way underneath me and saw the now empty dumpster. I would usually jump from all the way up here and drop all the way to the filled dumpsters, surviving with only a bump or bruise to show for it.

I really wished I had gone and made that wing suit right now; it would have been so cool to glide all the way to the ground. I could probably have one made by a tailor in Canterlot, but where would the fun be in paying somepony to make it?

I opened the window and took a seat on the edge, feeling the cool rush of the night wind hit my face and clear my mind. I had to agree with Celestia, I shouldn’t be too worried about the Slava gang. Wherever they were, they would show their mugs again someday, there was no way they could just slink back to the shadows.

When they once again reemerged, I would be ready for them, and they wouldn’t stand a chance…

3rd Person POV

Celestia’s sun rose from the horizon, its warmth glowing and awakening the many ponies throughout Equestria. The rays of light rose of Manehatten, and Applejack was rousing from her night’s sleep. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked away the sleep in them, getting up and stretching a bit.

“Well, it was sure nice of 64 lettin’ me tag along, it was kinda nice to see ta’ family again.” She whispered to herself, looking at the vanity mirror in the spare room she was in. she gripped a brush in her hoof and did a quick run through her hair and placed her hat back onto her head, grabbing her saddle bags to make sure she still had the photos which she had gotten from her Aunt and Uncle.

Applejack sighed, “Ah jus’ wish the trip wasn’t so emotionally taxin’, ah could barely stand in front of that tombstone without breakin’ into tears…”

She closed her bag and walked out of her room to the main kitchen, and saw her Aunt already standing there making breakfast.

“Oh hello Applejack, isn’t it mighty early for you to be up and about?” Aunt Orange asked, making Applejack chuckle a bit.

“Oh shucks, ah always get up around this to get the chores done on the farm. Heck, sometimes ah even get up a bit earlier.”

The two had a nice laugh while Applejack started to help make breakfast, breaking up a few eggs to scramble them. She suddenly started to remember something, or more specifically the lack of something yesterday.

“Hey, Aunty? Didja see where 64 went off too yesterday at the cemetery? Ah know he showed up there with us, but ah couldn’t find ‘im anywhere after we left.” Applejack asked, hoping not to get a negative response for bringing up the events of yesterday.

“Oh dear, he walked off after telling me that it was a private family matter. I guess he felt really guilty for everything. Poor dear, I don’t want him to be thinking that any of this was his fault. If anything I should be thanking him for bringing her back nonetheless, but when I did he just walked off. He probably needs some time to cool down before he thinks about it too hard.” Aunt Orange explained, slightly quelling Applejack’s curiosity.

“Did he come back here? Ah didn’t see ‘im asleep anywhere.”

“I don’t think so; I haven’t seen him since the cemetery.”

Applejack shook her head and sighed, “Where does he get off too?”

64 was actually asleep in his Outpost, sleeping on the dusty cot which was placed in there. He stayed up late staring up into Luna’s night sky, laughing at the drawings she was making with the stars. She at first had done very crude drawings of Celestia, and then threw a pie into her face, which she then proceeded to eat. After that there were drawings of him fighting various things, such as Manticores and Giant Spiders, and then there were others like Ghost changing into various ponies.

He finally fell asleep at around 2AM, staving off nightmares of the past which threatened to haunt him. The rays of sunshine were starting to leak into the small room through the window, awakening the sleeping human within.

“God dammit, Celestia… couldn’t have waited 5 more fucking minutes?” 64 grumbled, sitting up on the cot and rubbing his eyes. He realized he had to pick up Applejack and get back to Ponyville later that day, so he got to his feet and made sure he still had the stuff in his Satchel pocket.

“I’d better check on Blusa before we go. She has her train ticket for the end of the week, but I want to make sure she doesn’t need anything else…” 64 said to himself, making the slow journey down the maintenance stairs.

He wanted to talk to Grey Streak one last time too, just to make sure if he was up for letting Blusa stay with him. He was getting pretty emotional last night, a far cry from what he had seen him 2 months ago, so he might have not meant everything he said.

Back onto the chilly streets 64 sent magic throughout his body, make a faux heater. The cold never really bothered him, it just felt so different to what he was now used to feeling all the time. His magic was the pure power of Super Nova, who took power from the sun, so it was only natural that he had a constant warm feeling in him, so whenever he had to deal with the cold early morning air, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

“I shoulda bundled a bit more…” 64 muttered, rubbing his heated hands up and down his arms. He eventually reached Grey Streak’s Creations and opened the door, seeing Grey knocked out on the counter with small cage looking creation on the counter. 64 delicately grabbed the small trinket and looked closer.

He saw that there was a small bird crafted within the cage, perched on a small bar within the cage. 64 looked down to the sleeping Grey and looked at the wings on his sides, but also noticed something else which was wrong.

He had no cutie mark. Grey Streak, the 24 year old stallion, had no cutie mark. 64 wasn’t one for staring at some stallion’s ass, but for some reason this confused the hell out of him. The oldest he had ever heard of somepony gaining a cutie mark was 17, and that was after a mare realized she could kick the shit out of the assholes who were bullying he in school for so long.

“What the hell?” 64 muttered to himself, wanting to wake up Grey so he could ask him about his strange predicament.

“If you are gonna keep starin’ at my ass then you better get the fuck outta my shop…” Grey Streak muttered, looking up a 64. Not even fazed, 64 blurted out his next words.

“How in the fuck do you not have a cutie mark? Look at this cage you’ve made! It’s magnificent! How do you not have a cutie mark in craftsponyship are something?” 64 asked, making Grey roll his eyes.

“It’s like I said, I don’t gotta like what I do. Plus what if this gig ain’t my special calling? What if I’m just super fucking good at it but the universe wants me to do something else? The way I see it, I can choose what I want to do in life, I don’t need no cutie mark to tell me what I’m destined to be.”

That sentence made absolutely no sense to 64. Even though he was physically incapable of receiving a cutie mark, he understood the science, or magic, behind them. They were physical representation of what your calling in life is. Everypony gained one sometime in their lives. It was unheard of for a pony to die of old age without a cutie mark.

“Whatever man. I just came here to tell Blu that I’m leaving today and see if she needed anything else. I also wanted to ask you, are you really up to let Blusa stay here a week?” 64 asked, making Grey wave his hoof.

“I got this. You think I can’t care of myself? I’ll be fine, but go ahead; she’s in the guest room in the back. Make a left at the first hallways and it’s the 2 door on the left.”

64 nodded and walked behind the counter, seing the workshop Grey Streak had. He was in the process of building what looked like a mini chariot, complete with metal figurines of Celestia and 4 Royal Pegasi guards.

64 followed Grey Streaks directions and saw that the door he had described was ajar, and he could see Blusa sleeping soundly. He really didn’t want to bother her, so he decided to wait awhile and see when she woke up.

He turned to go back to the shop area, but noticed a door which had a magical lock. Instead of it just being a standard magical lock, which 64 could easily just overload, it was powered by a Sound Stone. These set off alarms which signaled if they were being tampered with. Nopony used these unless they had something big to hide, and 64 was suddenly determined to find out what was behind the door.

He turned his head down the hallway and saw Grey was nowhere in sight, so he went to pick the lock. He sent magic into the tips of his fingers and started to deactivate the Sound Stone. He had to find the small rune symbols covering the stone and overload them in a specific pattern. As he looked at the runes trying to find a pattern, he saw that it was musical notes.

64 saw the pattern and got to work, using his magic to overload the first 16th note symbol. He continued to overload the symbols rising in time, moving to the 8th note, quarter note, half, dotted half, full, and finally dotted full note.

The Sound Stone deactivated with a low whirr, its small glow darkening. 64 then proceeded to simply overload the remaining lock and quickly went inside, glad to find that Grey Streak hadn’t seen him. He looked inside and saw it was a simple storage room, containing the many tools that Grey used to make his masterpieces.

“Well that was a waste of a lock out there… if anything the special one arouses more suspicion…”

64 scanned the area to see if could find anything, and his eyes eventually fell onto a small chest in the back corner of the room. It had a simply tumbler lock, which 64 had no trouble picking. He lifted the lid of the chest to find a small bag inside, no bigger that 64’s fist.

“What the…?” 64 muttered to himself, grabbing the bag and tossing it up and down in his hand. It had a small tie at the top of the bag, and after undoing it, 64’s eyes widened. It was a Purified Rhyolite Stone, 200 times more potent than it’s unrefined predecessor. This was on a Search and Capture list that Celestia had issued shortly after 64’s employ, and here it was in the possession of a craftspony in Manehatten.

64 quickly stuffed it into his Satchel bag and looked around some more, seeing more and more of these small chests in the room. Each of them were filled with a large amounts of bits, much more than an average craftspony was supposed to be making. 64’s mind was racing at this, wondering what the fuck was going on.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Grey Streak said, now standing behind 64. 64 quickly spun around and saw Grey standing there, the door wide open.

“What the fuck is all this?! Why the fuck are you in the possession of a Purified Rhyolite Stone!? And what the fuck is with all of these Bits?” 64 swore, making Grey turn around and quickly shut the door. He and 64 had a long stare down, wondering who was gonna make the first move.

“I’ll tell you… but I swear if you say a damn word about it I will drag to you the pits of Tartarus myself…” Grey threatened, not wavering 64 in the slightest.

“Fine, now answer my question.”

Grey Streak grunted and put his head down.

“Remember what I said about me not being the universes bitch? How I am more than capable of deciding my own destiny?”

64 nodded slowly, still tense.

“I used… I’m stressing the word used… USED, to work in the Equestrian Black Markets… It was way before Blusa got kidnapped… and I was the reason for it…”

64 continued to listen to the story, now even more suspicious.

“I work on making weapons, swords, maces, vehicles, anything needed to do bad in this world… once I began to get cold feet about everything, I told my boss that I was leaving… for good… He told me that wasn’t going to be possible, but I did anyway… 2 days later, Blu was kidnapped from Las Pegasus by ponies hired by my boss, and sold into slavery…”

64 was now a less bit tense, but had a question. “So that’s how you got the Purified Rhyolite, your work in the Black Markets?”

Grey nodded slowly.

“The reason I got cold feet was because one night I had a vision. It was me getting my cutie mark the next day. It was gonna be a skull and crossbones, but with a hammer and wrench as the crossbones. I knew that I would become the universes bitch unless I got of there, so I did. I nearly killed myself when Blusa had gotten kidnapped all those years ago, but I knew that she was a fighter, so I did the same. And when you came here 2 months ago… it was like my fucking world had gotten its light back. I kept the Rhyolite Stone here just in case my old boss decided to come knocking, so I could level the entire place with the both of us in it.”

64 looked down at his Satchel and pulled out the Rhyolite Stone, gripping it in his hand. He wondered what would happen if he let Grey Streak keep the stone. Celestia wanted it back so it could be rightfully laced in the Treasury, but Grey needed it for a last resort against the ponies who were hunting him.

“Do what you want with it, I won’t stop you.”

64 looked down at the Stone.

Author's Notes:

YAY CLIFFHANGER! Sup pony people. More back story for Grey Streak, who BTW, was the OC suggested by Phoenix Archangel for winning the Title Contest.

Here is Grey Streak

And here is Blusa

Chapter 15

64 POV

“Blu… Hey Blu…” I whispered, lightly rousing her from her sleep. She woke up with a small yawn, rubbing her eyes and looking up bleary at me.

“Hey, Applejack and I are leaving at 10, so I was wondering if you needed anything else before we go.”
She shook her head no and gave me a small smile, thanking me for checking up on her.

“Alright Blu, make sure to hold onto that ticket and get back to Canterlot next Friday. By then Ghost will probably make contact with us, so I’ll make sure to tell you what he’s up to.”

She nodded again and snuggled back into her pillow, obviously trying to soak up the last little amount of sleep she could get. I chuckled and brought her blanket up a little more, giving her a little bit more warmth. I patted her on the head and walked out of the door, Grey standing right outside.

“Ya know after you left she was talkin’ bout how you got her outta there. She said the deserts are a fucking killer.” Grey said, making me nod a bit.

“Yeah, it gets really dry really quick out there. I swear the water in my canteen was evaporating…” I replied, as an awkward silence settled over us. I simply walked down the hallway back to the front of the shop, stepping in front of the counter as Grey took his spot back behind it. Neither of us said a word for a while, until I spoke up.

“I can see why you did what you did, but all that matters is that she’s alive, and you aren’t messing around in the Undergrounds anymore.” I said, with Grey giving me a look of confusion.

“Uh… Underground?” He asked.

“Yeah, Underground. It’s where the criminal world does its dirty work. It’s just a nickname I gave it. Rapists, Thieves, Murderers, Extortionists, Smugglers, Dirty Politicians, yadda yadda…… they all do their dirty work in one place, The Underground. It’s my job to flush them out and bring them to justice. It’s never gonna be totally wiped out, but I try my best to keep it clean as I can.”

“Sounds kinda strange, I don’t see why some…one… like you would go outta their way to hunt those guys down. Why not jus’ leave ‘em be? You said it yourself they ain’t gonna ever leave.”

I shook my head and crossed my arms. “They will never leave, but for now I can try and stop them from doing any more bad than they already doing.”

We had another round of silence, neither of us saying a word as we simply began to think.

‘How the hell does somepony try and not get their cutie mark? I still don’t get this guy…’ I thought. I knew that it was a pivotal moment in a lot of young pony’s lives, but this guy didn’t want one. He thought it would make him a bitch to the universe, a phrase I still didn’t understand, but I knew there wasn’t anything I could do to try and change his mind.

“Well I hope that whatever you decide to do with your life, you stay happy.” I said, holding out my hand. He stuck his hoof out as we shook, giving him a smile he returned.

“And I hope that you never talk of this day ever again.” Grey joked, making me laugh as I walked out. Grey Streak was a good pony who just dabbled in the wrong crowd, and luckily he got smart and left before anything bad happened to him. Although he had 2 years more life experience than me, I still felt he could learn a bit from me.

“Now all I gotta do is get Applejack and head home… and then find some way to enjoy my ‘vacation’…” I grumbled, still not having a clue of what I could do for the next 6 days. I took a deep breath and sighed loudly as I walked down the now busy streets, breathing out a large cloud of smoke.

“Damn, with all this smoke I could breathe why the fuck can’t I breathe fire?”

That question sparked something in my head. With all the fiery magic flowing through me, why couldn’t I breathe fire? It sorta sounded weird to think, but I wanted to learn how to breathe fire, and the only one I knew who could breathe fire was… Spike…

“Well I know what I’m doing this week!” I said happily, now with the thought of breathing fire spiraling through my head.

I reached the home of the Orange’s and looked up at the building, seeing the balcony of the Orange’s State Apartment.

“Fuck it…”

I began to scale up the wall using the windows and balconies for grip, making sure to not scare anypony who happened to be looking out their window that exact second. Luckily I managed to make it all the way to the top without incident, pulling myself up the balcony and seeing its door closed and the blinds shut.

I walked up to the door and knocked twice, making sure to try and catch the attention of somepony inside. I heard the faint sound of hoofsteps on soft carpet inside, before the blinds were quickly pulled. I saw Uncle Orange standing there with a surprised look on his face, before opening the door and motioning me in.

“You know, we do have a front door…” He explained, making me laugh a bit.

“Yeah, but where is the fun in that? Anyway, the train for Ponyville leaves in about an hour. So I came by to make sure Applejack is ready for our return.” I said politely, remembering the Oranges were a bit ‘frilly’.

“Oh yes, I think she is in the guest room packing the last of her things. I would like to say 64, it was a pleasure having you come and visit, and I’m glad that even after all these years you still didn’t forget about my little Orange Grove.” Uncle Orange said with a smile, making me give one in return.

“Of course, and I’m sure that Applejack was glad to be back and see her family up here. She said she hadn’t seen you guys since she left back to Ponyville.”

“Oh that… She gave us the biggest scare after she left! Thankfully Granny Smith sent us a letter shortly afterwards explaining the situation. We nearly sent out the bloodhounds in search for her!”
We both had a laugh at his recollection, and Applejack walked out of the room.

“64! Where the hay have ya been? We didn’t see ya come in last night.” AJ said.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been safe. Remember when I was on the run I told you about some of those ‘outposts’ I had? I have one of them here, so I holed up there for the night.” I explained, chuckling slightly at how worried she looked.

“Well then ya shoulda told us! Who know where ya run off to in the dead of night!” Applejack grunted, turning around and throwing her saddlebags over her back. “Well ah’m ready to go, all jus’ say the word and we’ll vamoose.”

I nodded, “Alright, Mr. Orange? It’s been a pleasure.” I said, sticking my hand out for a shake. He accepted it with a grin and I waved for Applejack, who was giving her Uncle a goodbye. We walked out the door and made our way down the stairs, heading back to the train station where we would head back for Ponyville.

3rd Person POV

64 and Applejack were back on the 10:00 for Ponyville and sitting quietly in their cabin, both lying across each other from in their bunks. Both simply enjoyed the light vibrations of the Train moving at top speed, which wasn’t nearly as fast as 64 wanted it to be.

“Ugh… can’t I just run to Ponyville? I can get there 3 times as fast as this big clunker!” 64 complained, making Applejack scowl.

“64, can’t ya jus’ relax for a bit and enjoy yerself? If ah had ta guess then this is the first yer first vacation!” Applejack joked, making 64 simply stare blankly at her. She noticed his stare and stopped chuckling; realizing that what she had said was truth. “Oh… never mind then…”

64 grinned and waved off the statement. “Nah, it’s alright. I’ve never had time to simply relax, so this is a nice change in pace. I was always running or fighting, so sitting around and doing nothing for a while sounds like heaven…”

Applejack still had another question she didn’t want to ask the day before, due to her nerves getting the best of her, but now she wanted to ask.

“64, ah know ya already explained about how Celestia and you aren’t at each other’s hides anymore, but it seemed like that wasn’t tha whole story. Was there anythin’ else ya had to say?” Applejack asked. 64 cracked his neck and sighed a bit.

“There was a bit more… but it really doesn’t stack up to what she told me. I guess it helped, I mean… he helped a lot… I mean Ghost, he helped a lot…” 64 explained, as he slightly shifted on his back. “He… he was like the thing between us that prevented the friction from me and Celestia from building up into an inferno, which is possible with my powers…”

64 sat upright and rested his elbows onto his knees, facing towards Applejack’s bunk.

“He was the thing that finally pulled out the wedge between me and Celestia…”

64 POV

I was covered in soot and ash, stomping through the hallways of the Canterlot Palace. Ghost was in the same condition, and I knew that this was the finally straw; Celestia had gone too fucking far with this. I reached the doors to the Throne Room and saw two Pegasi Guards acting sentry, their spears crossed in an X.

“STOP. No one is to see the Princesses for the remainder of the day.” The guard on the left ordered, causing me to check him with a right hook and throw his body into the other Guard. I kicked the doors open and saw Celestia standing there, scowling down at me.

“64! Why do intrude us? I’ve ordered no one may enter—“

“I don’t give a fuck what you’ve ordered! Why the fuck didn’t you tell us about the damn Dragon Raiders hiding out in that city!? You told us it was a few break ins, and when we arrive, 10 adolescent dragons are razing that place to the ground! You knew from the fucking start and you sent us in there without a damn clue! You’ve been doing this ever since Ghost came into the picture, deliberately trying to get him killed. Don’t even try to lie to me!” I screamed, every breath I was taking causing a cloud of smoke to plume out of my mouth.

Celestia growled and stood up from her Throne, advancing towards me as Princess Luna watched with a frightened face. She finally walked all the way up to me, our foreheads nearly butting.

“You dare question my actions?! I sent you with the confidence that you would be able to handle anything that was thrown at you, and by your obviously less than harmed state, I can say I was right. I am NOT deliberately trying to kill Ghost, I am seeing what he is capable of!”

“BULLSHIT! If you wanted to see what he was capable of you would’ve put him through the same testing course you make the Equestrian Knights go through! You are just sending him so he could—“

“ENOUGH!”

A small voice broke mine and Celestia’s attention of our arguing, and both our heads were turned towards Ghost, who’s horn was glowing in anger.

“64! I don’t care why she’s doing it, all I care about is the bad guys get taken care of! If it’s too hard for me, you’ll be there to back me up! Celestia has given me a new purpose in life, and she gave you one too! So I don’t think you should be so mean to her.” Ghost yelled, making both of the fires in our eyes dim a little bit.

“I think if she is really trying to do what you are saying, then let’s prove her wrong and accomplish those missions, and if she really isn’t then we should just do the jobs because they are our responsibilities. We shouldn’t hold it over her head if things go wrong during our missions, because she might not know any better.”

I was shocked to hear Ghost’s explanation of what he thought was going on. I thought he was going to be just as mad as I was at Celestia, but here he was defending her. I didn’t understand why in the name of Equestria he would be defending her, especially since I knew for a fact Celestia had been trying to kill him, but here he was.

I didn’t want to push things further. I knew that Ghost could handle himself, but I just wanted him to stay sheltered and make sure he wasn’t growing up too fast, but it was obvious that I had failed in that department. Still, he looked ready…

I turned back to Celestia, who was still standing there with a scowl on her face. I dropped my sneer towards her and nodded.

“Alright Celestia, I believe you… But… but please take into account Ghost’s young age. I prefer if her didn’t go on such high risk jobs so early in his career, ok?” I asked, Celestia slowly dropping her glare. She looked a bit pensive at my request, but eventually nodded.

“Very well… I will assign Agent 65 onto lower risk jobs when he must perform on his own, but he will still accompany you when the time for High Class Missions occur, understood?”

“Understood.” Ghost and I said in Unison, nodding slightly at the Princess.

“You are dismissed.”

Ghost and I both turned around and started walking away, and although I was still incredibly pissed, I knew that Ghost’s way of thinking was better. Just suck it up and do the job anyway…

3rd Person POV

“Ever since then I tried looking at things through Celestia’s eyes. Could she have really known about those Dragons? Was she really out for Ghost’s blood? I don’t really know, I just felt really protective of Ghost and felt he needed to be protected, but that obviously wasn’t the case.” 64 finished explaining, as Applejack looked at his with wide eyes.

“Wow, that’s some story…”

“Want another? I got hundreds… like the time I had to cauterize myself with the tip of a spear head?”

“No! No thank ya… Ah’m not sure ah need another one…”

The two passengers finally fell into a state of comfortable silence, simply letting its prescience wash through the room. 64 yawned and decided to catch up on the sleep that he had missed out on when the sun shined in his face that morning.

Applejack saw him dozing off and decided that she should do the same, even though she really wasn’t that tired. She was thinking about 64’s story and wondered about his Changeling companion. She had heard about how they needed to feed on love to survive, and they often used trickery and deceit to get it.

“Ah wonder…”

She dozed off shortly after, letting the Train’s gentle vibrations lull her to sleep.

64 POV

I woke up to the sound of the Train’s horn suddenly blowing, waking me up from my nap. I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it was 12 noon, meaning the Train ride here was a bit shorter than the ride there.

“Hey AJ, wake up we’re here…” I groaned, getting up from my bed and shaking Applejack.

“Hmm… 5 more minutes…” She grumbled cutely, trying to snuggle back into her pillow.

“Hey, 5 more minutes and you’ll be on your way to Tall Tail, now get up.”

“Fine…”

After our wakeup we both stepped off of the Train and were back on the platform, and I was surprised to see Twilight and all her friends were waiting at the Train Platform for us. Of course Pinkie Pie was the first one to come leaping over the group and tackled me to the ground.

“Oh my gosh! We heard you went to Manehatten with Applejack from Big Macintosh but we didn’t know when you were getting back and we’ve been here since 8 because that’s when the first Train from Manehatten came in an— MMPH MPHHMH MHPHM MMPH MMPH!“

Pinkie Pie wasn’t able to finish her ranting because Twilight had now magically zipped her mouth shut, allowing me to get up from my position on the ground and dust myself off.

“Sorry about that. Big Mac told us how you and Applejack went on a trip to Manehatten to visit her family, but he didn’t know when you were coming back.” Twilight explained in a less frantic tone which was much easier to hear.

“Sorry about that, it’s just we both had business up there. For me it was reuniting a brother and sister, but for AJ here it was to visit the Orange’s after what happened when she moved over there for a little bit.” I explained.

“Well now that you’re here, does that mean you’re gonna stay here for your vacation?” Rainbow Dash asked me, making me nod.

“Until Celestia calls me back, or something big happens, but this seems like a pretty quiet town. I’m sure I’ll be able to have a pleasant week of peace in this place.”

For some reason, the girls around me began to laugh crazily, making me wonder what was so funny.

“Uhh, can I get an explanation here?”

“64. You’ll learn pretty quickly, nothing in this town is peaceful. Something is always going on no matter what.” Rarity said, making me laugh a bit.

“Don’t worry, anything that can happen here, I’ve probably tangled with worse.”

I didn’t know I could be so wrong…

Author's Notes:

Yes, the red text is there for a reason...

Chapter 16

3rd Person POV

64 was now resting in the cot he had set up in the Clock Tower, and was quite surprised that the bag he had thrown had actually made it through the small window. He was lying on his back while throwing a small dagger up and down, catching it by the tip of the blade every time. He literally had nothing to do, and Spike was sick from something he had eaten at Pony Joe’s 2 days ago.

He was also continuously blowing smoke out of his mouth, trying to see if there was any way he could breathe fire. He channeled magic into his lungs and blew out, creating yet another stream of black smoke cascading out.

“For fucks sake…” 64 muttered, waving the clouds of smoke in the small room out of the window. He was getting pretty tired of just lying in bed, so he decided he would go walking around town for a bit. He thought about visiting Twilight’s Library and seeing if there were any books he might be interested in, then heading over to Sweet Apple Acre’s to see if there was anything he could do. Anything but just sitting there.

He leapt out of the window and slid down the side of the Clock Tower, pushing himself off once he neared the ground. He rolled when he hit the ground and dusted himself off, walking towards the Golden Oaks Library.

Once he arrived, he knocked on the door twice. Even though the building was a Public Library, it was still Twilight’s home, so it felt natural. He wait until a purple Aura surrounded the door and swung it open, showing Twilight going through an incredibly large book. It looked like it didn’t have an actual story, but rather a very long list of names.

“Yo, Twilight. What’s that?” 64 said curiously, tilting his head to try and read the words upside down.

“Oh, 64 it’s you. This is simply an archive of all of the books that have been checked out of the Library and their respective return dates, but while I was re-shelving I noticed that there are a few that haven’t been returned. They we’re checked out by Cup Cake and Vinyl Scratch, and they were both due last week. I’m sure they must’ve just forgotten, but I was gonna go make sure. Ugh, but I still have half of the Library to re-shelve…” Twilight groaned, causing a light bulb to go off in 64’s head.

“Hey, I’ll go and get those books. Shouldn’t be too hard, and it certainly can’t be like collecting from the tax dodgers in Canterlot right?”

“Uh… Tax Dodgers?”

“Yeah, ponies who try and skip out on paying their taxes. Usually when it’s only a few dozen bits Celestia would just send them a letter, and then they would usually pay soon after that. But when somepony doesn’t pay up a really serious amount like a few hundred, or even a thousand, I’m usually banging down the doors. Sometimes they try threatening by calling the Royal Guard, but I just show them my badge and they shut up.”

64 pulled the badge which was in an inner pocket of his Black Long sleeve, and showed it to Twilight. It was a Purple 6 pointed Star, much like Twilight’s Cutie Mark.

“My cutie mark…” She mumbled, making 64 chuckle.

“Yup, that’s what I said about them. Anyway, these prove my affiliation with the Royal Family, but whenever I do a mission which requires that… Canterlot’s security… isn’t compromised, I go in saying that I work for nobody. It makes Canterlot look innocent.”

Twilight looked like she was about to question what he meant, but 64 was already standing up and making for the door.

“I’ll be back to explain more when I get back from getting those books! I’ll just ask around for Vinyl Scratch’s house!” 64 exclaimed while walking out the door, making Twilight grumble. She continued to re-shelve all of the remaining books, now wondering about 64’s line of work.

64 made his way towards Sugarcube Corner, wanting to get the first book from Mrs. Cake. He arrived and walked into the establishment through the double doors, seeing Pinkie Pie running the cash register. She gasped and waved happily, bouncing up and down.

“Oh! Oh! 64! I was wondering when you were going to show up! So what’ll you have?” Pinkie Pie said, pulling out a pen and paper out of her hair and ready to take 64’s order. 64 looked at her and decided to not worry about it and have nightmares later, wanting to get the book.

“It’s alright Pinks, I didn’t come to eat. I came get an overdue book from Mrs. Cake. Is she in right now? It says on this small list I stole from Twilight that she still hasn’t returned… what the… A Sensual Night on Lake Libido 4? What the fuck?” 64 reeled back, making sure he was reading that right. Why the hell did a public library have that?

“Oh I’ve seen her reading that. She hides it in her nightstand and reads it when Mr. Cake is out to make a delivery. I can ask for it back!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing into the kitchen and up the stairs. 64 followed her and watched her knock three times on what 64 could only assume was Mrs. Cake’s bedroom door.

“Yes? Oh, yes Pinkie? Did you need help in the kitchen?” Mrs. Cake said, not realizing I was standing there.

“Oh no! It’s just 64 came here saying he’s here to pick up an overdue library book. Do you still have it in your nightstand?” Pinkie said casually, making Mrs. Cake’s cheeks suddenly go red.

“um… well… uhh… I… do… but…” Mrs. Cake stuttered, as 64 understood why she hasn’t returned it.

“It’s ok Pinkie, I can take it from here.” 64 whispered, making Pinkie Pie shrug and bounce away. Once she was gone, 64 turned to Mrs. Cake who was still incredibly red in the face.

“I understand why you didn’t want to return it. I would be pretty embarrassed too I guess, but it still needs to be returned. I’ll be more than happy to take it over to the library for you.” 64 offered, making Mrs. Cake sigh in relief.

"Oh thank you. I understand it’s a dirty thing to have, but I wouldn’t be able to face Twilight again if I showed up with that book in my possession. I just love that series and didn’t have chance to return the newest edition.” Mrs. Cake said, grabbing the book out of her nightstand shelve and hoofing it over to 64.

He gladly took the book and put it into his Satchel Pocket, keeping it away from prying eyes.

When the next book comes out, just ask me to bring you a copy and I’ll be right over. Now I gotta get over to Vinyl Scratch’s house and get a book she still hasn’t returned. You have any idea where she lives?”

“I’m afraid I don’t dear. But I do know that Pinkie Pie often contacts her for the music for her parties, so you might have luck asking her.”

64 thanked her and walked back down the stairs to see Pinkie Pie serving a young filly a box off cookies, who balanced it on her back and walked out of the shop.

“Hey Pinkie, do you know where Vinyl Scratch lives? I have to pick up an overdue book from her.” 64 asked, making Pinkie Pie start to laugh crazily. “Was it something I said?”

“No! HAHAHA! I-I-It’s just because she is like the best mare to go to whenever my parties need a bit of those beats to keep delivering! Of course I know where she lives. C’mon! I’ll walk you there myself!” Pinkie said, leaping over the counter and walking towards the door.

“Uh, don’t you need to take orders down here?” 64 asked, making Pinkie Pie suddenly stop in her tracks. She brought a hoof to her chin and hummed thoughtfully, before gasping and pulling a ballon out of her hair. She inflated it and started to shape it in a way that 64 couldn’t see, and when she revealed it, it revealed a life sized balloon sculpture of herself.

“There we go! No one will notice!” Pinkie cheered, before bouncing out the door. 64 stared at the crude creation for a few seconds before sighing, and simply walking after the Pink menace. They continued through the Market District, where the vendors were peddling their wares. 64 saw that due to the day being right after all of the ponies got off from work, it was hustling and bustling with business. The ordeal looked a bit strange to 64, due to his much larger height than most of the ponies who barely stood up to his elbow.

Pinkie led him to a small one story house with a double eighth note painted on the door, with two records as the note heads. 64 was about to knock on the door, when Pinkie just all of a sudden opened the door and continued to bounce in. He just shook his head and followed, all of a sudden feeling a pulsing beat shake through his feet.

“What the heck is this?” 64 thought as he continued through the house, feeling the vibrations continue to shoot up through his legs.

“It’s just Vinyl, she’s probably working right now!” Pinkie shouted, making 64 try to shush her.

“Pinkie, we’re in someponies house. You don’t yell.” 64 said, recalling that he usually felt the urge to not make a sound when he entered somepony else’s house because he usually had to sneak into them.

“Oh don’t worry! There’s no way that Vinyl is going to hear us. The feeling in your legs is just the vibrations from her super loud speakers she has in her basement!”

“Speakers? Feels like a damn earthquake simulators…”

The pair continued through the small house until they reached the basement stairs, descending towards the incredibly strong vibrations. Once they reached the basement, they both saw a white mare with an incredibly bright mane of two mixture of blue. She was inside a small studio, her eyes behind goggles and her head bouncing up and down to the incredibly heavy beat.

Surprisingly 64 didn’t hear anything, but only felt the bass throughout his body.

“When is she gonna finish up?” 64 asked, and saw Pinkie Pie was by the door already, pressing her hoof down on a big red button. The bass all of a sudden stopped as Vinyl looked up and saw 64 and Pinkie Pie standing outside of her studio, pulling her goggles up to show her magenta eyes.

“YEAH? WHAT DID YA NEED!?” Vinyl shouted, obviously still a bit hard of hearing after playing music that loud.

“Vinyl Scratch right? Well I’m here to pick up an—“

“WHAT?! CAN YOU SPEAK UP A BIT?”

“Um, sure?! You have an overdue library book! I’m here to get it for Twilight Sparkle?!”

“Oh! Yeah, I remember that one. One With The Beat Right?”

64 nodded and noticed she was suddenly talking completely normal, and shortly wondered if he was getting played. Vinyl walked back inside of her studio and grabbed the book off of the table, hoofing it over to 64 who took it and stuffed it into his Satchel pocket along with Mrs. Cake’s book.

“Hey, that was cool! The book is like way bigger than that little pocket attached to those pants things! How’d you do that to the book?” Vinyl asked, making 64 open it slightly so she could look inside.

“It’s an illusionary spell cast by Princess Celestia. It made my old Satchel which was too big to carry around look smaller, but still have the capacity to hold the same amount of things. Still kinda weirds me out from time to time.” 64 explained, making Vinyl nod her head in acceptance.

64 turned and walked out of the basement as Pinkie started to chat away with Vinyl, starting to talk about some party.

“Got the books… now all I gotta do is get back to Twilight.” 64 whispered to himself, walking out of Vinyl’s house and heading back to Golden Oaks Library.

64 POV

I made it back to Twilight and gave her the books back, and she actually paid me a bit for my troubles. I wanted to refuse, but she literally just shoved them down my pants pockets.

“Is there anything else Twi? I’m going crazy having nothing to do…” I complained, walking upside down on the roof to try and alleviate my boredom. Twilight grabbed me with her magic and pulled me down, making me land headfirst into one of the couches.

“No, but I’d like it if you didn’t leave footprints on my ceiling. I’m all done re-shelving, I already got the medicine for Spike’s stomach ache, and I’m 3 days ahead on my to-do list, so right now I have nothing to do.” Twilight said, looking a bit sad.

“I think the concept of down time is funny. Sometimes we hate to have it, and then we want them when we don’t have it. So right now we should just enjoy what we have got going for us. I’m gonna head back to the Clock Tower and take a look at some schematics that I—“

A heavy buzzing sound stopped me in my tracks when I felt it on my chest, along with a Pink glow.

“GHOST!” I said happily, knowing my messenger charm was going off. I channeled my magic through it and heard a static interference, but after a short moment I heard Ghost’s voice.

“Hello? 64? You there?” Ghost whispered.

“Yeah, how you doing Ghost? Have you found anything?” I said quietly, not sure if he was in an area of danger. Twilight looked at me strangely as she listened on to our conversation.

“You bet I have! Right now I’m staying at some back alley hotel posing as a Gryphon who was here on vacation, but I sent him back to Equestria so there wouldn’t be any duplicates here. I haven’t had to feed yet, but there are a good amount of really lonely Gryphons here that are trying to pick up some tail.”

“Ghost, you remember the female training right? You can feed off males without even getting them in an extracting situation. If you need to resort to that just remember your training.”

“Got it 64. Right now I’m organizing a sting to get the Dealer over here, but I kinda enlisted some help.”

“Woah, woah. Help? Who’s helping you?”

“I sorta… got mixed up with the… local… police… force…”

“Dammit… are they aware that you’re a Changeling?”

“No, I’m keeping up the Gryphon look while they are around, but I drop it when they aren’t. Don’t worry 64, we have a really good plan, and it won’t be long before the trade is stopped. I’ll be fine.”

“I hope you are telling the truth Ghost. Remember, if you are ever in a jam don’t try to be brave, ok? Just run and get out alive ok?”

“Ok 64. I promise.”

“Bye kiddo, make sure to contact Celestia alright?” ‘

“Alright bye!”

The magical connection finally dropped, and I gave a deep sigh. Twilight continued to look at me with a tilted head, and finally spoke up.

“So that was Ghost?” She asked, and I nodded my head.

“Yup, my partner in crime. He’s over in Gryphon Kingdom, and I can’t help but worry about him. He’s… ugh… he’s like a son to me. But he’s proven that he can take care of himself 10 times over. Celestia isn’t too fond of him, but she’s turning around.” 64 responded, looking out the window.

“It’s naturally I guess. Like how I see Spike as a little brother?”

“You mean besides the fact that you practically gave birth to him?”

Twilight turned bright red in the face as I had a good laugh at her expense. She did in a way give birth to Spike, accelerating his growth inside of his egg and allowing him to hatch.

“W-Well, you could probably word it better than that!” Twilight glowered; making me put my hands up in surrender.

“Alright, alright… all that matters to me is that Ghost is safe and succeeding in Ethaxial. As I was saying, I’m gonna go ahead and head back to the Clock Tower. The sun is about to set and I wanna get something to eat. Speaking of that, you wanna come along? You said you didn’t have anything to do.” I offered, making Twilight nod happily.

“Sure, where did you have in mind?”

“There’s that outdoor restaurant on the corner of Mane and Rainy Street, I saw it had food that I was capable of eating.”

I led Twilight out the door and into the town, the sun slowly starting to set into its twilight state. I looked around and saw that Applejack was still at her stall in the market, but it looked like she was just about to pack up for the day. I waved at her as she saw me and Twilight walking, and she waved us over.

“Hey AJ, you set up the stall after we got back?” I asked, making her nod proudly.

“Eyup! Had to, Big Mac isn’t exactly a talker, so he can’t bring in the customers like ah can. And Applebloom is stayin’ overnight at some field trip her and her classmates took over to Canterlot, so she couldn’t run it. Ah guess ah’m the only one in this family who can actually do somethin’ about sellin’ the crop we bring in.” Applejack said, a little annoyed.

“You shouldn’t feel too bad. You are the pater familias, so of course you would be in charge of making sure the Bits keep rolling in.”
“Uhh… pater whatius?”

“Pater familias. Head of the household. Old Equestrian Language.”

“Oh, uh, if you say so. Where are you two headin’ at this time of day? It’s almost quittin’ time!”

Twilight stepped in for this answer, not wanting to keep Applejack waiting. “We’re just about to go and get some dinner. 64 offered so I thought it would only be polite if I accepted.”

“Ok then. Enjoy your supper! Ah gotta get home. See ya tomorrow!” Applejack said over her shoulder, done with the conversation and now walking away. With her gone Twilight and I continued down the street towards the restaurant, and I began to simply stare up at the sky.

“You mentioned earlier, something about Canterlot’s innocence. What did you mean by that?” Twilight asked me, causing my focus to return to Twilight.

“Well, I’m basically a contract killer, no use in sugar coating it. So what would happen if somepony learned that Princess Celestia was sending me to do the dirty work, or more specifically, she was condoning the work of an Assassin? I doubt she would be would be very popular for long. Whenever I have to go on a job, I always try my best to keep my work with Celestia on the down low, and try to make it look like I was working of my own accord, but lately that's harder than usual." I explained.

“But why is that? Can’t you just stay in the shadows for a while until they forget?” Twilight asked naively.

“If I do that, then who will stop the bad guys?”

There was a moment of silence between us as we continued making our way through the now emptier streets of Ponyville. I went back to staring back up at the now darker sky, but something caught my eye.

“Hey, does that cloud look pink to you?”

Author's Notes:

Eeyup.

64 vs. Discord Part 1

64 POV

Blood… Blood… Blood…

Is… is it mine…?

I… where… he…?

I smelled smoke… heard the flames… saw destruction… Ponyville…

“dis…cord…”

“discord…”

“Discord…

“DISCORD!!”

I woke up in my cot in the Clock Tower and looked around a bit with bleary eyes, remembering that dinner had kinda sucked. Spaghetti was pretty good, but without meatballs it wasn’t anything to love. I pushed myself up off of my bed and remembered that I had decided to go shirtless to bed, due to the fact I had been wearing the same shirt for 2 days.

I looked through my Duffel Bag and pulled out another hooded long sleeve, slipping it on. I twisted my back a few times to work out a few kinks, and then realized something smelled really, really sugary. I wasn’t near the Sugarcube Corner, and I obviously wasn’t carrying any sweets on me or else they would already be devoured.

“What the fuck?” I whispered, blowing my nose on a small rag to make sure there wasn’t anything stuck up it. I heard the pattering of rain outside, and looked towards the windows covered by blinds. I pulled them down and saw the rain falling, and I immediately noticed something was wrong. Instead of the crystal clear rain along with darkened skies, it was still crystal clear skies, but with pink clouds floating in the air, and brown water falling from them.

I pulled my hood over my head and leapt out the window, channeling magic into my eyes to try and find Rainbow Dash among the clouds of pink. I saw her zooming around Sweet Apple Acres, chasing dozens of the pink clouds around in an effort to try and stomp them out.

I saw a few flying towards me and I dove out of the way, rolling and channeling magic to my hands. They once again rushed me as I did the same to them, only sliding underneath them as they came over me, punching them into nothing but pink dust as my fists connected with them.

I got up and looked around to see the residents of Ponyville all running around in chaos, and I knew they needed something that would get them to calm down. Chaos begets Chaos.

I knew using the same spell I did at the Grand Galloping Gala wouldn’t really do anything here, due to the fact that with all of these ponies running around it would require too much focus that I wouldn’t be able to give. I immediately started to climb back up the Clock Tower, knowing what to do.

I conjured a large hammer into my hands and swung at the Bell, its loud ringing catching the attention of the ponies running around mad.

“PONIES OF PONYVILLE! GATHER AT THE CLOCK TOWER! GATHER AT THE CLOCK TOWER!” I yelled as loudly as I could with a voice amplification spell, causing the ponies to flock to the Clock Tower and see what was going on.

As I was about to speak, a large purple flash of light illuminated in the distance, and a wave of purple magic blasted past the entire city. The town’s ponies, shortly after the harmless blast passed them, once again immediately started to panic and run around, causing me to groan.

I knew that wouldn’t be able to grab their attention again, so I decided that I needed to find Twilight and find out just what the fuck was going on. I jumped down from the Clock Tower and landed on the ground, splashing in a puddle of what smelled like Chocolate Milk. More clouds began to dive bomb me, forcing me to quickly sidestep and duck under a consecutive torrent of the pink masses.
I conjured 2 Maces to beat the clouds into dust, causing them to explode in masses of Chocolate Milk. I looked around to find that other ponies were also running from clouds, but they seemed less violent than the ones targeting me.

I finally caught a small break and was able to flee from the clouds by leaping into an empty barrel and closing the lid, giving me a minute to think.

“Dammit, looks like my vacation is gonna be cut short. I gotta get to Sweet Apple Acres.” I whispered, peeking from the barrel and making sure the coast was clear. I hopped out and snuck along the walls of buildings until reached the open road which would lead to Sweet Apple Acres, and I knew that it would be an incredibly mad dash for me to get there.

I saw the pink clouds patrolling through the streets, and I knew that the second I exposed myself, I would be spotted.

“Fuck it…”

I ran as fast as my legs would naturally take me, and immediately saw the clouds give chase. I continued down the road and saw the cornfields which Applejack had were exploding into large mountains of popcorn, and the Apples on the trees had grown into gargantuan sizes.

I needed to go a bit faster, so I augmented my legs enough to where the clouds weren’t nipping at my heels to closely. I saw Rainbow Dash gathering a large abundance of the clouds into compact form, and it was apparent that the group of mares ahead didn’t see me coming in hot. I had to get rid of the clouds at my tail, and I saw the perfect little dragon to help me.

“HEY SPIKE!” I yelled loudly causing him to turn around. When he did, I used his head as a foothold to vault myself into the air, flipping to see the clouds chasing me while I was upside down. I threw 4 blasts of magic to dissipate the attacking clouds, and landed gracefully on the ground. Spike was now on the ground with a large shoeprint on his face, obviously dazed from my sudden jump.

“64! You’re just in time. We just figured out a way to keep the clouds from attacking anymore.” Twilight said proudly, as looked over to a large bundled up cloud tied with rope being munched on by a disproportionate group of animals.

“Twilight, no offence, but I don’t think that’s gonna hold for very long.” I said honestly, making her scowl.

“Well I don’t see anypony else doing anything about the cotton candy clouds. And if what Rainbow Dash said is true then the entirety of Equestria is experiencing strange weather patterns, so we have to think of a permanent solution before this escalates into something we can’t handle.” Twilight said worriedly, causing me to sigh.

“Alright, Celestia has to know something about what’s going on. This seems like a bunch of disturbances in the natural magical order of things, so it can be detected and put down. All it will take is time.” I said, as I heard a choking sound behind me.

Spike suddenly sat up and burped out a scroll with Celestia’s crest on it, which Twilight immediately took and opened. She read it fervently for a few seconds before suddenly gasping and looking up at us.

“C’mon! Princess Celestia wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately!” Twilight yelled, as I immediately knew what to do. I pulled out the Messenger Charm from my shirt and channeled magic into it.

“This is Biped ready for pick-up, 6 passengers, immediate evac.” I said into the charm.

“Copy Biped, ETA 2 minutes.” The voice of the Pegasi Guard replied, as the glow from my charm dissipated.

“Why 2 minutes? Last time you did that they came almost instantly!” Rainbow Dash asked me.

“That’s because they didn’t have to account for passengers that time. Spike, listen. You head back to the Library and stay put alright? We don’t know what could happen and we don’t need you getting hurt, alright?” I explained, making Spike scowl.

“And why can’t I go? I can help!” Spike argued.

“I know, there can be plenty of ways you can help, but right now we can’t have anything—“

A large roar stopped my sentence and startled me into making two Tomahawks in my hands, and turning towards the monster. The girls slowly back away from what they saw, and Spike immediately zoomed off to the library, heeding my advice.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me…” I groaned, seeing that the bundled up mass of Cotton Candy clouds that Twilight had bound together was now a 16 foot behemoth made of Cotton candy. I looked down at my watch and saw that I only had to hold this thing off for a minute and a half, but I would rather kill it so it couldn't attack Ponyville next.

“Alright girls, stay behind me! I’ll handle this!” I yelled, rushing toward the monster. He swung his massive fist at me, causing me to roll under it. I shot back up and jumped up to his face level, taking a swing at his large glowing green eyes.

He roared in pain as I was able to destroy his right eye, the remnants simply dripping down in green goop. He smashed down at the ground in an attempt to try and smash me, but I jumped to the left at the last minute. I decided I needed a smashing weapon, so I dispelled the Tomahawks and formed a large two handed War Hammer in my hands, ready to destroy this thing.

I once again charged at the behemoth, as he once again smashed at the ground with his two enormous fists. I sidestepped them as I ran towards him, sliding last second underneath his legs. As I turned around to smash him in the back, I was met by the backhand of the monster, sending me skidding against the ground.

“Argh! Motherfucker!” I yelled as I brought the War Hammer over my shoulder, augmenting my eyes so I could see the weak points on the monster. I saw the Cotton Candy on his neck was very fragile, compared to the rock hard compacted candy of the rest of his body.

I augmented my legs and dashed over to the monster, using my large hammer to swing at his leg as I ran past. He roared and swung at his leg with his large fist, destroying it himself. I turned around and dashed at his back, leaping for the back of his neck.

The behemoth turned around and swung his large fist at me again, only this time I swung the hammer in my hands at his fist, causing it to explode in Chocolate milk. I continued to zoom towards the monsters face, dispelling the hammer in favor of simply augmenting my fists with magic. I gripped the monsters face when I collided with it, holding on with my left hand and feet while I pummeled at his using my right fist.

With his other fist he grabbed me and threw me towards the girls, who moved out of the way to avoid me crashing into them. I landed harshly and used the momentum of the throw to roll onto my feet, shooting up quickly to charge once again.

“64! Look!” Twilight yelled, as I looked up to see the Pegasi Chariot coming in.

“Dammit! Gotta end this quick!” I yelled, as my eyes glowed red with anger. I looked towards the monster who was slowly limping his way towards us, his left leg and right hand destroyed. I stepped forward and gather as much magic as I could into my right shoulder as I could. I looked to Twilight who was shivering with fear, and I knew the next question I was about to ask her could freak her out.

“How well can you reattach an arm!?” I yelled, making her jump back.

“I-I-I have some healing experience, but nothing with dismemberment!” She yelled frightened, as I growled.

“Then you better learn quick!” I roared, making a Long sword in my left hand. I continued to build up magic in my right shoulder as the monster finally came close enough. I stuck out my right arm in front of me, as I looked back at Twilight.

“YOU BETTER FIGURE OUT HOW TO STOP THE BLOOD FLOW!”

I brought the blade of the Long Sword down at my elbow, slicing clean through my arm as my forearm fell to the ground. All of the magic I had built up in my shoulder suddenly shot out, forming a Red Glowing Arm. I ran forward while screaming in pain, leaping up to the chest of the behemoth and sending the magical fist into it.

He roared in pain as he exploded in a mass of Chocolate Milk, the entirety of his body disappearing. I landed less that gracefully into the ground, feeling the rush of magic through my body slowly diminishing.

The magical arm I had suddenly faded away as I started to bleed profusely from my severed limb, forcing me to rip the fabric on my fallen forearm off and hold it to the stump.

“FUCK THIS HURTS!” I yelled as the adrenaline rush faded away, nearly causing me to pass out. The Pegasi landed and quickly undid themselves from their harnesses to drag me on board, along with the now unconscious Fluttershy who must’ve passed out when she saw me take my own arm off. I saw the trail of blood from my arm as they pulled me on board, and tried increasing pressure to my arm.

The girls quickly boarded as well, as we took off from the ground and started towards Canterlot. I felt myself starting to black out, and Twilight’s horn started glowing. She nearly vomited when she took my dismembered forearm in her magical grip, and put it to its respective place.

She was grunting in focus, and I felt numbness in my arm. She was now sweating profusely as the rest of us looked on, as she was finally able to fuse my arm back to me.

"T-There… I had to reattach and repair the destroyed nerves, torn muscles, and the sliced bone, so it may feel a bit numb. Try flexing your arm.” Twilight panted, as I did as she told me. I winced as I was able to close my right hand into a fist, but it took a bit of effort.

“Thanks Twilight, I’m sorry I yelled at you back there. I get like that when I use too much magic at one time.” I apologized, as she waved a hoof.

“No, thank you for stopping that thing. My magic doesn’t seem to work against whatever is going on, but you were able to destroy those clouds using your magic. It’s probably because your magic is from an Alicorn, and mine isn’t.”

“Maybe…”

I sighed in relaxation as I laid my head back on the chariot, continuously flexing my arm to get feeling back into it. I noticed that Rainbow Dash suddenly stood over me, and she poked at my right arm.

“How did you do that!? You sliced off your own arm!” She screamed, obviously still freaked out.

“Hell, I’m not even sure… it just… came to me… kinda regretting thinking of it now though…” I groaned, feeling a bit dizzy. We were quickly approaching Canterlot, and my arm had started to get some feeling back into it. Fluttershy woke up to see that I had my arm reattached and wondered for a moment if it was all just a dream.

Then she saw the blood in the Chariot and realized it actually happened.

“Oh! 64! Are you ok?! Is your arm feeling alright? Does is feel as if the bone is misplaced or the muscles not working right!?” Fluttershy yelled, suddenly going into her ‘medic’ mode for animals. I simply shook my arm and nodded.

“I feel fine Flutters, just ruined one of my shirts is all…” I chuckled.

We finally came down into the Canterlot Hedge Garden, and the girls shot off towards the Palace, but I immediate knew something was horribly wrong.

A statue was gone.

As a person with their own statue in the Garden, I had spent some time here. But one of the statues was missing. I couldn’t remember which one it was, but I knew for a fact that one of them was missing.

“Fuck, there’s no time to investigate a theft…” I whispered, following the girls into the Palace. I entered and found Twilight trying to ask Princess Celestia a flurry of questions.

“Is this about the weather? And the animals' weird behavior? What's happening out there? Why isn't my magic working? Is there–“

“Follow me. You too 64, I feel you may be of assistance as well.” Celestia said, making me angry.

“Oh… I may be of assistance… yeah right…” I muttered, following begrudgingly. We began walking to a place I knew very well, Canterlot Tower. It was where I fought Super Nova, and Shining Armor respectively, along with Snowdrop’s memorial being a few floors above.

“I've called you here for a matter of great importance. It seems an old foe of mine, someone I thought I had defeated long ago, has returned. His name... is Discord.” Celestia explained, as I heard Fluttershy give a small shriek behind me.

“Discord is the mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I saw how miserable life was for Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns alike, so after discovering the Elements of Harmony, we combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him to stone!”.

“I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever, but since Luna and I are no longer connected to the Elements, the spell has been broken.”

“No longer connected?” Twilight asked, although I had already put it together in my head.

“It means that Celestia doesn’t control the elements of Harmony anymore, you do. You all do.” I said, making Celestia nod her head.

“64 is correct. Now that you and your friends now control the Elements of Harmony, my sister and I have no power over them. It will be your job to defeat Discord…” Celestia said, almost frightened.

Twilight suddenly understood the responsibility which was being put onto her and her friend’s shoulders. She looked down contemplatively for a short time, before looking up with bravery.

“Princess Celestia, you can count on–“

Twilight was cut short as Pinkie Pie suddenly interrupted her.

“Hold on a second! Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate rain!”

Twilight simply disregarded her and nodded towards the Princess, who stepped over to the door which protected the Elements of Harmony. She inserted her horn into the small keyhole, and allowed a large blue light to illuminate the room.

“Déjà vu…” I whispered, remembering the experiences I had with that door. Within the door, the gem encrusted case sat, shimmering with all colors of the rainbow.

“Ooh. You can keep the Elements. I'll take that case!” Rarity exclaimed, making me think, hadn’t she already seen the case before?
“Have no fear, ponies. I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these!” Princess Celestia exclaimed, opening up the case to reveal……

Nothing.

Everyone in the room gasped, including me, but then I remembered that I had broken into the room before, so it probably wasn’t beyond a spirt of Chaos’ abilities to bust into it.

“Oh, well. If anyone needs me, I'll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swirly straw.” Pinkie said, making me grab her by the hair and pulling her back.

“No Pinks, we gotta work together and find out what’s going on. Celestia, do you know anypony else who is capable of opening this door besides me?” I asked, making Celestia shake her head no.

“That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break! This doesn't make sense!” Celestia explained, as a deep, throaty chuckle rang throughout the room. Everyone looked around for the source, but none was found.

“Make sense? What fun is there in making sense?” The voice taunted, making my blood boil in anger for some reason.

“Discord... Show yourself!” Princess Celestia called, but of course the voice disobeyed.

“Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you.” The figure in the stained glass window suddenly started to move, moving from window to window. “It's quite lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that, would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone.”

That struck a nerve with me, knowing that I was saved from an eternity of stone prison by her…

“Enough! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?” Celestia yelled angrily.

“Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while.” Discord said, snapping his fingers to make the elements in the stain glass window disappear.

“Permission to destroy all the windows to shut his trap!?” I growled, making Celestia put a hoof on my shoulder.

“Not yet… You never get away with this Discord!”

“Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be, Celestia. It's really quite boring.” Discord said lazily, reclining on one of the paintings.

“Hey! Nopony insults the Princess!” Rainbow Dash yelled, zooming towards Discord. He teleported last minute out of the window, causing Rainbow Dash to crash harshly into the window. A moment after she was able to pull herself off of the window, Discord reappeared.

“Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent.” Discord snickered.

“That's right! I'll always be loyal to the Princess!” Rainbow Dash replied, causing Discord to chuckle.

“We’ll see about that…”

“I can’t believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window.” Rarity scoffed, making me laugh a little bit.

“The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, if I'm not mistaken?” Discord questioned, making Applejack step forward.

“So you know who we are, big deal.”

“Oh, I know much more than that, honest Applejack.” Discord responded, growing to fill up the enormous window he was standing in.

“You seem to know our strengths too.” Twilight perceived. Discord shrunk and laid on his stomach, resting on the small picture of Fluttershy.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful and elusive element, magic. Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favorite of mine - laughter.”

Pinkie Pie looked as if she was holding in a heavy laughter, before suddenly bursting out laughing.

“He’s… He's standing on your head! Hahaha!” Pinkie Pie chortled.
Discord suddenly cast his eyes on me, and once again growing to the enormous heights.

“And then… there is you… The Variable. The Jack of All Trades. Yet, you are chaotic… Anger… Cruelty… Dishonesty… You and I are very alike…” Discord chuckled, as I growled.

“You and I are nothing alike…” I whispered, gathering magic in my hands and eyes to shut the window up.

“Stop stalling, Discord! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?” Princess Celestia stepped in, making me glad for the distraction from this prick.

“Oh, so boring, Celestia. Really? Fine, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way. To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began.” Discord said, slowly fading back into a simple stained glass portrait.

I sighed as I let go of the pent of anger slowly building up inside me.

“What the fuck was that guys deal? He just showed up and left us with a shitty riddle?” I yelled out, before getting shushed by Celestia.

“64, now is not the time to get angry. We must discover what he meant by his riddle, and find the Elements of Harmony.”

I shook my head and sighed, sitting down on the floor to catch my breath. I saw Twilight talk to Applejack a little bit, before she started to pace back and forth muttering to herself.

“Twists and turns... twists and turns...” Twilight said to herself, walking by a window which showed a view of the Canterlot Hedge Maze. A light suddenly clicked in her eyes, and she jumped back. “Twists and turns! Discord must’ve hid the Elements of Harmony in the Palace Labyrinth!”

I stood up and went over to look out the same window as Twilight just did, but I noticed something was happening. The maze looked 10 times bigger, and the paths were shifting right before my eyes.

“Shit… that’s gonna be easier said than done guys. It looks like Discord is changing the outlay of the maze as we speak. Putting your hand to the right wall and going forward isn’t gonna work here.” I said, as Princess Celestia and the girls came to see what was happening.

They all saw the layout of maze shifting and changing, so I pushed myself away from the window and sighed.

“We gotta get to the middle of that maze, and quick. Who knows what Discord is doing in there.” I said, making Celestia nod. She walked over to Twilight, and placed her horn on her shoulders.

“Good luck, my little ponies. The fate of Equestria is in your hooves.” Celestia told the ponies in the room, but I spoke up.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell are you gonna do? The least you can do is help us navigate through the maze!”

Celestia shook her head in my direction, speaking sternly.

“I’m afraid I cannot be of assistance. Discord’s magic is too powerful, even for me. The energy in his magic is derived from pure Chaos, and nopony else in Equestria wields his magic. The only tools that can stop him are the Elements of Harmony, so to him, I’m no more of a threat than the weakest of Earth Ponies.” Celestia explained, making me understand.

“Alright then… C’mon girls! We gotta get through that maze!” I said, running towards the window and smashing through it. I fell and rolled when I landed, looking back up to see if anypony else followed me. Celestia was glaring daggers at me for destroying the stain glass window I just smashed through, and Rainbow Dash was the only one to follow me down.

“You know?! We’ll just take the stairs!” Twilight yelled down to me, making me nod.

“We’ll take down Discord like it’s nothing! All we gotta do is make sure that we don’t fall for anything of his stupid tricks!” Rainbow Dash said confidently, borderline cocky.

“No Rainbow, this is gonna be harder than any of us thinks it’s going to be. There’s no way Discord’s gonna make it as simple as navigating a maze, there has to be something behind all of this…” I said, whispering the last part to myself.

I saw the rest of the girls running towards us, I waved my arm towards myself as I too began running towards the main tourist entrance. We all stopped in front of the entrance, taking in the situation at hand.

“We…We have to go in there?” Fluttershy quivered, taking in the now intimidating entrance.

“Nope! Dopey Discord forgot about these babies! I'll just do a quick flyover and we'll have the Elements in no time.” Rainbow Dash said, already zooming over the hedges.

“RAINBOW NO!” I yelled out, before she suddenly stopped flying, and came plummeting to the ground. I ran up to her to tell her about the enchantment in the Labyrinth, but saw that she stopped flying for a totally different reason.

“My wings!” Rainbow Dash yelled, terrified. I heard three more magical bursts as Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight all started to yell in horror. I saw that all of their appendages that gave them their special abilities were now gone, and they were now all Earth Ponies.

As they all began to freak out, a large green ball of light began to form in front of us. It grew larger and larger until it exploded out in a soft blast, and a loud roar bellowed. In front of us, was a mass of mismatched body parts, ranging from bat wings to lion paws.

I only uttered one word.

“Discord…”

Author's Notes:

BUM BUM BUM!!! Early update to make up for what I am about to say. Sadly I WILL NOT be able to update until next week Monday. Why you ask? I will be in Las Vegas, Nevada for a Cheerleading Competition, and I am the oil boy for the High School All Star Team.

Ok I wish, but I'm really going becasue I'm one of the stunt coordinators for my sisters team, and I need to go along. With me only being 15, it's probably going to be pretty boring, so I'm gonna bring my 3DS and watch some TwitchPlaysPokemon.

ALL PRAISE THE HELIX FOSSIL!