The Element of Courage

by Lunarus Solaris Nexus

First published 12th of January, 2014

But she soon finds that there are somethings that a cutie mark can't tell you.

Ever since she was a filly, Silver Bit dreamed of something bigger. She learned everything she could about metallurgy out of spite for her parents but she came to love it. She started a business, made millions on an invention and became an innovator. The Silver Bit musket was her bread and butter. She made all of them by hoof, not wanting some cold machine building her most cherished device. One day, one of the greatest inventors came to her for help. Her! Of all ponies he chose her to help him. But after he comes to her, some strange things start coming around. Theafs of unknown origin start attacking and even her own boyfriend starts acting strange. A lot more clingy and lovey-dovey. Something's going to go down, and Silver Bit is at the center of it. No one but Silver Bit, Autumn Spark and Fixette are used without permission this time. Orion is property of Epreeses1. Go check out Orion's story here She's going to take some time so be ready for a long wait in-between chapters. Also, for those coming from the NLR, the connections with Luna's military will be coming in later chapters.

Silver Bit (Prologue)

Manehatten was possibly the most boring place to live. Day in and day out it was the same thing. Get up, yell at somepony in a cab for not picking you up, eventually getting where you're going and hating every second of it, getting home and repeat. Ever since Silver Bit was a filly, she wanted to leave the hustle of the city. She hated having to keep her long, dark orange mane up in that complicated fashion and her rust colored coat brushed in the most specific manner she had ever heard.

It wasn't until she found the a job that her parents hated and made her sweat like no tomorrow that she could find some kind of happiness. No she didn't become a whore you dirty bastards! She found a job with the local craftsman. The furnaces forced her to take her mane down, lest the sweat just make it sag down into her face. She still kept most of her mane behind her ears and had to tie the end of her tail to keep any stray hair from catching one of the machines. She loved it there.

Silver Bit got use to staying late and tinkering with some broken machinery hoping to make it work again. She'd always had a knack for fiddling with things. She once made an alarm clock catch fire. No pony understood how she did that but it got under her parents skin so it was still a win. Eventually, she fiddled with a hot press and got it working. She stayed up all night melting down old silver that had been trashed into ingots. That's when her cutie mark appeared. A stack of three silver ingots.

Her boss was elated with his janitor's accomplishment and made her a full intern, learning everything there was to know about the trade. After six years of training, she was a master at the forge and with the tools of the trade. She saved up enough money from side jobs in her apartment building and across the city that she was able to move out of that stuck up town and into the middle of BF nowhere just outside of Baltimare. Just like she always dreamed. What made it better was the sudden influx of insperation.

In two months, she created the most innovative weapon every. It was a happy accident; she meant to make a fireworks launcher, but when the ball of fireworks failed to go off and instead knocked down birds and a small chunk out of her right ear, she had an epiphany. She named it the Silver Bit Musket and showed it to Princess Celestia. She loved it. Her soldiers did too. They ordered a few hundred of them and she had to work for hours building them. After a while, she had to go looking for some extra hoofs.

Her only issue, every stallion that came for the interview kept hitting on her. So what if she hadn't quite grown out of the girlish look she had about her? That didn't mean she was looking for a date! All she wanted was a few hoofs to help her build a few hundred muskets. She was about to give on trying and just hoping to Faust that Celestia let her have some more time until two mares came to her. One was a little rough and tumble for being a mare. She was a dust colored earth pony with a pale green mane and neon purple eyes. They really clashed but considering how messy her mane looked it didn't matter.

The other had a quiet disposition. She was light blue with pale sky blue mane mane and eyes. She looked to have a small shimmer in her coat. They sat down as a pair with smiles on their faces.

"Can I help you two?" Silver Bit asked.

"We're here for the job." the dust colored one answered.

"I'm not sure you're sure if you understand what I'm lookin' for. I'm lookin' for somepony not afraid to get their hoofs and teeth dirty."

"We don't mind a little mess. We’re here for the job in metallurgy." The blue one said softly. "I'm Fixette (pronounced Fix-it). This is my partner Autumn Spark."

"Partner in what exactly?"

"Life." Autumn Spark added to the end of her "friend's" statement.

"Oh… I'm sorry if I-"

"It's alright sweetie, no pony guesses it by lookin' at us."

"Well, okay. So what makes you qualified for this job?"

"We've worked several side jobs here in Baltimare; ranging from pluming to some minor electrical. We've also done some repair work in the newspaper factory." Fixette told Silver.

"So you two are handy ponies?"

"More or less." Autumn said.

"Well, is there anypony else waiting?"

"I didn't see anyone." Fixette said.

"Well, considering you two are the only ones that haven't hit on me in the past month…"

"Well if you want a flirt." Autumn said with a sly grin before giggling a bit.

"You're not serious right?" Silver asked hopefully.

"Nah. Just foolin' around. I'd never try so long as I've got Fixette to flirt with."

Fixette giggle before answering. "Yeah, she's cute when she flirts."

"So long as you two don't do anything on the job, you're hired."

"Really?!" Fixette said giddy but still quiet.

"Yeah. Welcome aboard." Silver Bit said putting her hoof out to Autumn first.

Autumn shook it happily and so did Fixette. Once the trio were back at their shop, Silver took them right to work. She had to show them how to use everything and get them familiar with the safety equipment but other than that, the two caught on quick. In no time, IE just before the due date a month later, they made over seven hundred muskets. Celestia was very impressed. She even added a few hundred bits to the bill as a tip for excellent service. Silver was happy with the results.

"So, what are you two gonna do now?" Silver asked just after Celestia left.

"Well, I guess we could go back to working around Baltimare." Fixette suggested a little depressed.

"Why? The description only said for this job."

"Well, would you two be interested in staying permanently?"

Both mares eyes lit up instantly and they eagerly accepted the offer. The three decided the best use of the new contract money was dinner in town. Fixette got so excited that she even called her older brother back in Manehatten to celebrate with them. Silver Bit loathed the idea of somepony from Manehatten joining them, but she wasn't going to tell the mare she couldn't invite her own brother.

It took a day for the stallion to arrive so they had to hold back on the celebration. At least it gave her some time to make a reservation in the fanciest restaurant in Baltimare; The Griffon's Taverne. She found the name stupid but a lot of words from the north east were so similar that it didn't matter.

The restaurant was far from a tavern however. The place was lined wall to wall in velvet red carpet and had a live string band playing soft music for everypony that could afford to even walk into the restaurant. All of the tables were made of dark, polished oak and the silverware was made of actual silver. It was a remnant of home to Silver Bit, but she couldn't remember the last time she'd treated herself to some good food.

Silver wore a brand new black dress she bought after she made the reservation and a new pair of ruby earrings. She kept her hair mostly messy and let it hang lose. The most she did was brush it until it was somewhat neat. Autumn Spark wore a bright red dress and did the same thing with her mane. She also bought a brand new pair of red heels to match the dress. The two mares sat in the dim light of the restaurant waiting on the rest of their party. The two of them had already started drinking. Silver a simple glass of wine and Autumn an apple martini.

"Uhg! Where is she? I'm gettin' worried." Autumn said taking a sip of her martini.

"They're only five minutes late. Don't you two live together?"

"Yeah, but she took a cab to her brother's hotel first."

"I'm sure they'll be here soon Autumn. Where is she from anyway? She doesn't look like a normal pony."

"Her mother's from the Crystal Empire and her dad's a manager at a hotel in Manehatten. That's why her coat shines like it does, she's part Crystal Pony."

"Really? That's cool." Silver said genuinely. "What about you?"

"Born and raised in Baltimare. Nothing that cool."

"No offence, but I agree."

"We're here!" Fixette said as loud as she could without sounding loud.

She wore an ice blue dress that complimented her well. The dress seemed to have a pearly sheen like her coat, but stronger. Behind her a very handsome brown earth pony stallion in a pressed suit. He stood tall with a black mane and bright yellow eyes that were hard to look away from. It took Silver a moment before she realized she was staring.

"Hey. I'm Silver Bit." Silver said putting out her hoof.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tiber. But you can call me Tyler." the stallion said bumping Silver's hoof.

"Better late than never, Ty." Autumn said.

"Yeah, we would've been here sooner but Fixette insisted on haling the cab."

"Hey." Fixette said quietly insulted.

"We still got here and that's all that counts Sis." Tiber said sitting next to Silver.

Silver felt her heart start pounding nervously. This was nice as it was. A guy that wouldn't hit on her was sitting next to her, but it didn't help that he was absolutely gorgeous! She tried to keep her eyes off of him and on her associates, but they were too busy saying "hello".

"Um," Silver wracked her brain for something to strike up conversation. "So, you're part crystal pony?" That's good.

"Yeah, Sissy got more of it then I did but yeah." He said with a smile.

"That's cool." 'Come on think of something else.' "What'd you do back in Manehatten?"

"I'm just a ferryman. I take ponies across the harbor to the Freedom's Light Statue and back."

"You drive the boat?"

"Drives it? The man owns it!" Autumn said after breaking her kiss.

"You own it?"

"Well, I'm just the Captain."

"The Captain that can take it out as often as he wants."

"Hey."

"Well you can." Fixette added.

"I can retire if I want."

"Retire? How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-four. But I've worked there since I was ten. I've made enough money to just get a nice little house somewhere and settle down."

"You think we could get some of that so we could get out of our apartment."

"What's wrong with our apartment?" Fixette asked. It's more than likely that she decorated it.

"Well nothing, other than it's an apartment. We should get a house."

"Well I'm sure that's a discussion for later. We're here to celebrate! Remember?" Silver said trying to break a little tension.

"Ya know what? You're right. And I'll celebrate even more when I get home." Autumn said ginning to her lover.

Fixette giggled. "So have you two ordered already?"

"Not yet. Waiter! Another glass of wine, and leave the bottle this time." Silver shouted to the closest waiter.

Two hours, a few steaks, a lobster and two bottles of wine later, the four decided to call it a night. Fixette was lightly buzzed but Autumn Spark was flat out drunk. She had to stumble to the cab outside of the restaurant. Silver was just a bit tipsy as she left. Tiber was the same. The two giggled on their way to the cab where Tiber's sister and her lover were laughing waiting for them.

The four laughed at incoherent jokes the entire way to Autumn and Fixette's apartment. The next stop was suppose Tiber's hotel but he insisted on seeing her home. The two chatted the entire way there. They talked mostly of what they hated about Manehatten; the bustling streets you were likely to get run over in, the claustrophobic sidewalks and the smoggy air from the factories on the coast. They laughed gaily at jokes at old friend's expense and even current friends. When they got to Silver Bit's cottage outside of town, Tiber walked, or rather stumbled her to the door.

"Well mahm," Tiber said in the most southern voice he could muster while intoxicated. "I believe this is yer stop."

The two burst out laughing remembering the joke they shared in the cab. "I had a great time tonight." Silver looked to her door and a drunken thought crossed her mind. "Hey, you wanna keep it goin'? I got some apple whisky inside."

Tiber's head slowly swiveled for a second. He quickly shook it to try and clear his thoughts if only for a moment. "I had a great night too." He said moving closer.

Silver didn't stop him. Hell if it were Autumn she probably wouldn't have stopped her either. Silver leaned into him and let their drunken lips meet. The two moaned a bit as they kissed. The cab driver rolled his eyes and started out of the drive. The two didn't notice, Silver simply opened the door and lead Tiber into her house.

Author's Notes:

Nexus: Lesbians? Really?
Me: Hey, I had to give her assistants and a way to have connections to her BF before the next chapter.
Nexus: Okay... But why lesbians?
Me: Because I haven't had any ponies of different sexuality and I wanted to have a little fun with it.
Nexus: Please tell me you're not doing a sex scene.
Me: I will never write a sex scene. And stop toughing yourself.
Nexus: I'm not touching myself! I had an itch!
Me: Sure you did. Horny bastard.
Nexus: Oh. I feel like I got whiplash from the speed of that chapter.
Me: Well it's a prologue. It's not to be a play by play story. Anyways, I think you have some explaining to do. *points to Dust Storm walking up behind Nexus*
Nexus: You got room on the couch for me back in your world?

A Rude Awakening.

Silver groaned a bit as she shifted in her bed. She sighed finding that sweet spot that was just so comfortable that she couldn't help herself. Then something draped itself over her waist and pulled her away from the sweet spot. It pulled her into something larger. She could feel the thin fur of its stomach a hard hoof of the foreleg that wrapped around her.

Silver Bit's groggy mind didn't put two and two together as quickly as she would've hoped. Her eyes shot open quickly when it finally did and she quickly rolled out of the grasp of her guest. As she rolled out of the bed, she took half the sheets with her. Where she had been sleeping soundly, a brown earth pony sat with a surprised look on his face.

"What!?" Tiber said looking around the room for a threat.

"You're in my bed!" After a quick look over of the stallion in her bed, she could feel the blush come to her cheeks. "And nude. You don't see the issue here?"

"I see somepony freaking out over nothing." Tiber said with a yawn.

"Why are you so calm? Oh Faust, what was I thinking last night?"

"We were drunk. Don't you remember last night?"

Silver put her hoof to her head as the hangover started to settle in after the shock of waking up. "Not a lot. Why aren't you hung over?"

"Because I can handle it. You've never head to drive a big boat while hung over."

"Oh my gosh, what was I thinking? I mean, your handsome and nice, but I'm not the kind of mare to do this one the first date. Wait! That wasn't even a date!"

"Calm down." Tiber said getting out of the bed. "I'll go boil you a pot of tea and you take a shower. Alright? After that, we can talk and I'll leave. Sound good?"

Silver thought about Tiber's offer for a minute. "There had better be a lot of sugar in that tea when I get out." Silver Bit said annoyed as she moved off to the bathroom in a huff.

"Now let's just hope that I can think of a way to make myself not look like a total jerk." Tiber mumbled to himself as he left Silver's bedroom.

Silver checked the closet to make sure she had a towel for when she got out. After that she turned the knob marked H and stepped into the stream of water. The water coming from the shower head was ice cold. She shivered as she felt goose bumps start coming up on her skin beneath her fur. As the water started to warm up she shook the cold from her body and just sat beneath the torrent of water as it started getting hotter.

Her thoughts raced. What was she thinking!? Sleeping with some guy she just met. Though the memories of the cab ride home started coming back as the water started getting hotter and hotter. Sure he was nice and they both hated Manehatten. But other than that what did she know about him? For all she knew he was a total jackass trying to buy some time to think of some way to not seem like one.

What would Fixette say about it? Oh by Celestia's beard. What would Autumn Spark say about it? Nah, she was more concerned about what Fixette would think. After all, she just had sex with one of her best friend's brother! After what wasn't even a date! She would have shouted more at herself more if a sudden searing pain from all over her body hadn't snapped her out of it.

The water was now steaming before it even hit her body. She jumped out of the shower's path, towards the knobs. She quickly turned the knob for cold and stuck her hoof out into the water stream. She waited until it became warm and stepped back under. How long had she been in here? A few minutes, an hour? Regardless she had to get out now. No shower should take any longer than five minutes. She shut off the water instead of getting back under the stream and stepped out into the steamed bathroom. She quickly dried her hoofs on the bath mat and made her way to the linen closet.

With one of her robes on and her mane all in a half wet and half dry mess, she made her way to the kitchen. The cabin wasn’t too big. It was big enough for two though she preferred the solitude she had out here. The cabin was a two bedroom two bath. There were five rooms to Silver Bit's house; the living room took up most of the space along with the kitchen tucked into the corner. There was a hall closer to the back of the house that led to the guest bedroom on the right and laundry room at the end to the left.

The living room as simple; nothing too extravagant. A simple dark red couch, stained pine coffee table and rocking chair sat in front of the moderate sized fire place. On the mantel hung the first sign she had from the workshop she founded in town. It only said Silver Bit's Metal Works in a bright red letters. Nothing special. The walls were covered in posters for bands and even one for Luna's Royal Guard: The Evening Guard. She just thought it looked cool. She could care less about the Guards of Equestria.

The kitchen matched the rest of the house. Light brown, hard wood counter tops, a gas stove, a simple sink for dishes and such, a tall white refrigerator and cabinets filled with food or plates and drawers of silverware. The silverware she made herself. Tiber sat on the couch flipping through the morning news paper that was delivered as a tea pot of water sat on the stove waiting to come to a boil. Tiber heard her leave her bedroom and turned to see her.

"Feel better?" He asked with a smile.

"Yeah I guess." Silver replied trotting over and snatching the paper from the dirt colored stallion.

"A nice hot shower always helps with a hangover. The tea should be ready any minute now."

"Whatever." Silver said blankly sitting on the other side of the couch from Tiber.

"So… You wanna tell me your damage?"

"My "damage" is that I slept with one of my best friend's brother." Silver replied annoyed. She didn't bother lookin up from the paper. "You don't see a problem with that?"

"Well-"

"If the next words that come out of your mouth are I care about you then get the fuck out of my house." Silver butted in.

Tiber stopped and pondered his next move in this verbal chess game. "I guess there isn't anything I can say that'll make me seem like less of a jerk, huh?"

"I would have used jack-ass but yeah."

"Well all I can say is that I'm not loving this either. We were both drunk and we both regret what we did."

"Some more than others."

"Anyways, I just want to say that whatever you think I am I'm sorry for it. I'm not expecting you to instantly forgive me but all I ask is that you don't hate me."

The tea pot started to whistle loudly and he shot up to get it off the stove. Silver just sat there and red the front page for the twentieth time the whistling subsided and she heard him pouring two cups. There was some clanging of silverware against the side of the tea cup before he came back over with two cups of green tea.

"Tons of sugar. Just like you asked." He said setting hers down on the coffee table in front of her.

He sat back down where he had been before and waited for Silver to say something. When they sat in silence for about five minutes, he decided to try and get something out of her.

"You haven't touched your tea."

"I'm waiting for it to cool down."

Tiber didn't have much else to say to that. But after a few minutes of thinking about the situation he came to a mild realization. He was overstaying his welcome that wasn't so welcome. "Look, whatever you're mad at, I'm sorry. I can't fix it. But it was nice meeting you regardless." he said leaving his cup on the table.

On the outside, Silver didn't care; but inside, she didn't know what to think. She hated that she slept with him to begin with but felt bad about not getting to know him better. She was never one to judge quickly; she thought it was stupid to say that she didn't judge. She always at least tried to get to know somepony before having a full opinion on them. From what she remembered of last night, they had a lot of fun. Enough to where they drunkenly wanted to have some more fun.

She was going to kick herself for this. "Wait." she sighed just as he got to her door. He turned around and waited for what she had to say. "One date. Tonight, eight o'clock. No alcohol. If I still don't like you by then, then you can get out of my life. Deal, Tyler?"

Tiber smiled at her. She didn't understand what it was about him, but she couldn't help but smile back at him. "Deal." He said opening the door.

Another thing she couldn't help but do was stare. He was stunning! She shook her head and read the front page again. This time actually reading it. Something about a new Captain of the Evening Guard nearly dying in a bazaar training accident where an Iron Icarus failed. The picture looked familiar for some reason.

Author's Notes:

Nexus: Wow... Way to amp up the sleep factor.
Me: Says the man sleeping on my couch.
Nexus: Hey that was your fault!
Me: You're the one who "scratched" himself at the mention of lesbians.
Nexus: Also, how why-
Me: If you start asking for the logistics of what my definition of a "nude" pony is you're sleeping on the lawnmower tonight.
Nexus: Fine. Probably more comfortable than your damn couch.

Another First Date

Silver Bit kept glancing back at her Viva Las Pegasus watch waiting for eight to come around. She would never tell anypony this, but Tiber was her first. She'd been on plenty of dates before, all of them with rich, stuck up dudes from wealthy families. She had never let those losers even kiss her, let alone sleep with her. This guy couldn't be different, could he? He was from up town Manehatten with what is considered to be the most pure blood there is. And even with all of that he manages to be one of a kind.

He hates up town us much as she does, he worked hard and earned his keep early, he worked a low tow job despite having an uptown parentage. They were too alike for Silver Bit's taste. She looked back at her watch. Eight o' one. She was starting to get antsy. This wasn't like her at all. She never had this reaction when dating in Manehatten. Why? He's from the same cast, but he's not like them. How does that make sense? Her heart was pounding. Silver glanced back down at her watch. Eight o' three.

"Gah!" She shouted in annoyance.

She hated this feeling. It was just not her. He was three minutes late! It's nothing to even get worked up over. Silver plopped down onto the couch and picked up the paper and re-re-re-re-reread the front page story. Just as she read the title again, a soft knock came at the door. Silver practically threw the paper into the unlit fireplace. She rushed to the door and nearly fell out of it before she could open it. She sighed and tried to steady her heart beat. When she turned the latch, she was utterly surprised when she saw who was standing on the other side. Not only was Tiber there, but so was his sister and her girlfriend.

"Hey boss." Autumn said with a smile.

"Hi Silver." Fixette said quietly.

"Uh, hey. What are you two doing here?"

"Double date. Didn't Tyler tell you?"

Silver smiled thinly at Tiber who grinned nervously. "No, he didn't."

"Well we are. So lock up and come on. Meters' runnin' sweetie." Autumn said talking Fixette back to the cab.

Silver flipped her main out of her face and locked her door behind her. Tiber walked next to her on the way down the driveway.

"Scared to be alone with me?" Silver asked trying to sound mean rather than nervous.

"A little bit, yeah." Tiber replied sarcastically.

Silver was taken back a bit from that statement. She wasn't sure if she should feel insulted or happy about that. Guess she's going to have to find out the hard way. The cab barely fit the four of them as they went into town. Since it was midwinter, nothing incredibly fun was open. The Amusement Park was frozen over, the pool would have been shut down and the arcade would be filled to the brim. Why did she even think of that? What was she seventeen?

Regardless, Tiber guided the cabbie to the move theater close to the bay. The smell of the fresh salt air was nice compared to the thick smoky air in her forge.

"So what are we goin' to see?" Silver asked.

"Patient-Z!" Autumn said exited.

"That new zombie pony movie?" Fixette asked a bit afraid.

"Oh yeah! One pony against thousands of zombies with only his hoofs and his wits. This is going to rock!" Autumn said elated. It sounded like she's been waiting on that movie for some time.

Silver rolled her eyes as Autumn Spark led everyone inside, happily paying for everything with her share of the profits that came from the musket deal. She bought everypony a ticket to the eight thirty showing and two large popcorns. Silver and her friends didn't bother asking for drinks after Autumn bought two double jumbo sodas for herself. Silver had a feeling there was going to be a lot of explaining what happened after several trips to the bathroom.

The number on the ticket said theater eight. Lucky them it was just letting out. No one said anything as Autumn bounced with the biggest case of the jitters Silver had ever seen. She hopped up and down so much she wondered how she didn't spill a single piece of popcorn. Once there was a gap in the crowd, the four weaved their way through the ponies chatting about their favorite parts. And again, by some form of physics defiance, Autumn kept her hoofs over her ears while still holding her drinks and popcorn. They weren't the first in the theater somehow. There were a few scattered ponies sat in the theater as the last couple trickled out.

Autumn Spark moved into the middle of the theater. She waved them over saying that it was where the best acoustics were to experience the movie fully. Silver only hoped she didn’t drag her and Fixette out when it was redone in 3D. Everyone sat down around Autumn. Silver Bit had a vague hope that she could get Tiber to sit on the other side of Fixette and Autumn. But by the Goddess herself, it wasn't happening. After Silver sat down next to Fixette, who had seated herself on Autumn's right, Tiber sat down next to Silver.

"Why are we here half an hour before the movie starts again?" Silver asked.

"'Cause, I wanted the best seats. Didn't you see all of the people that left after it ended? We wouldn't've gotten a seat if we had come any later than this. Plus I like the movie trivia they show before the movie." Autumn explained.

"It's true; she knows everything about movies and movie stars." Fixette said.

"Everything?" Tiber asked.

"Everything. Watch." Autumn said as the trivia started.

What famous actress started their career in the movie rendition of, Daring Do and The Jade Dragon

"Living Legend. She was a great Daring Do. Much better than Silver Star." Autumn answered.

Living Legend started her career in the movie rendition of, Daring Do and the Jade Dragon.

"Any pony would have known that." Tiber said skeptically.

"The movie was low at first in box office ratings, but blew the roof off of them when the buzz started over the accuracy to the book. And Living Legend went on to date Sky High, director of Highway to The Moon, in 1056. a year after Daring Do and The Jade Dragon came out."

Tiber's mouth might as well have been on the very sticky floor. Autumn smiled and stuffed her face with popcorn as more trivia rolled.

"That was unexpected." Tiber finally said.

"Never underestimate the power of the movie lover." Silver said.

"Speaking of "lover". You two seem awful quiet. Something happen last night?" Autumn asked with a mouth full of popcorn.

"What!? No, of course not. We just spoke to each other now."

"Yeah, but we've been out for an hour and this is the first time you've spoken to him since we left. Something went down last night. I know it."

"Nothing happened Autumn. Now whose high school picture is that?" Tiber said trying to distract Autumn with her favorite subject.

"Silver Screen. Graduated 990. Now answer my question."

"I'm not saying anything." Silver said slumping down in her seat.

"I'll take that as an, I slept with him and I'm ashamed."

"You what?!" Fixette said sitting up. Up until now she had been listening hoping that Autumn was just poking fun at them. But Fixette knew just as well as Silver that Autumn had a gift for picking people apart.

"This isn't the place for this." Silver said leaning over to Autumn Spark.

"Sorry sweetie, but I won't leave you alone until you answer my question."

"What about this one! What-"

"Manehatten Arts Institute. Answer me." Autumn answered cutting Tiber off without looking to the screen.

"Nothing happened. I swear." Tiber said before Silver could lose her temper.

Autumn Spark shifted her eyes between the two before leaning back into her seat as ponies started trickling into the theater. Silver couldn't've felt more relieved. She wasn't sure what made Autumn stop her interrogation; getting board with the argument or if she believed Tiber. Hold it. Did Tiber, not talk about sleeping with her? That doesn't make any sense. Even the uptown Manehattenites bragged about their sexual exploits. He had to be playing something. There was no way he was that noble. Stallions like him only happened in fairy tales; sexually depraved and drama filled fairy tales.

The lights went down about half an hour later and the opening credits rolled as the movie explained the zombie apocalypse by some kind of virus that started with an anti-virus. Just one of the usual generic plots of these movies. As the movie stared to pick up in action with the hero, a pegasus known as Lieutenant Lighting Storm, finding another pony alive in Manehatten, of course a semi-attractive mare.

Silver didn't care that much about the movie but Autumn was watching the movie unfold with rapt attention. Fixette didn't seem entertained in a different fashion then her partner. She had pushed up her cup holder and had snuggled up against Autumn in fear. She obviously didn't like blood and gore. Tiber was in the same boat as Silver, half paying attention to the movie as another hoard bore down on the two main characters.

"I never got a chance to thank you." Silver whispered to Tiber.

"What'd you mean?"

"I mean trying to keep Autumn off topic and getting her to stop."

"This isn't the place to have an argument about drunk decisions. It's the least I could do for you not kicking my head off this morning."

"That happen to you often?"

"No, first time."

Silver Bit was about to go back to the movie when a question crossed her mind, one she wished she hadn't said. "First time in bed or waking up drunk afterwards?"

Tiber may have been brown and it might have been dark, Silver could see him blush. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks as well as Tiber froze from the question.

"I-um. Well-"

"Could you two make out later? I can't hear the movie." Autumn said not looking away from the screen.

Silver Bit and Tiber broke eye contact and looked back to the screen. Neither of them paid it any attention as the awkward silence between them started. When the movie ended with Lighting Storm sacrificing himself for the girl, like always, and the credits rolled, Silver and her friends began walking out of the theater. Autumn Spark couldn't stop rambling about how good the movie was.

"Best movie of the year!" She kept saying.

Fixette wasn't too so ecstatic. She clung to Autumn like a little filly. Autumn noticed after she had called for a cab and gave her a little kiss on the forehead to try and calm Fixette down a bit. Silver and Tiber still didn't speak. Not out of hate but from fear of crossing some line that neither of them wanted to cross. Tiber finally spoke when the cabby asked where they were going now. He simply said to take them to the closest diner.

The little diner in the middle of town was nice. It had a very retro feel to it. Jukebox in the corner playing older swing music, black and white pictures of either now retired or dead Las Pegasus actors and musicians and a menu that had the only chocolate malt in town. This was more Silver's style. The waitress took their orders and since they were the only ones in the place at nine thirty at night, their orders were brought post haste.

They all ordered a daffodil and daisy sandwich with some different condiments and enough hay fries to feed all four of them. None of them could understand how Autumn could still eat anything considering she ate most of her bucket of popcorn and both of her jumbo sodas without going to the bathroom once. It was baffling. She was the only one to carry on any conversation. Silver could understand why Fixette didn't want to talk to her and why Tiber was reluctant to really look at her.

And it was no secret why she wasn't speaking. Silver was to afraid that Autumn would start interrogating her again. She was also afraid that Tiber's opinion of her would change if she went off on Autumn. Why? She had no idea. After they spent an hour at the diner, Silver insisted they get home. She could only afford to keep the forge closed for two days and they had to be up bright and early to catch up on projects and jobs.

Autumn was annoyed but understood that they all had a job. Tiber probably had to head out tomorrow tomorrow anyways. Silver wasn't quite sure how to feel about that yet. As much as she hated it, and I do mean hate, but Tiber was starting to grow on her. Half of her still hated that she slept with him and the other half was starting to see that he wasn't what she thought he was.

They piled into another cab and repeated last night without the mass amounts of alcohol. Speaking of, she had to remember to restock her liquor cabinet. She and Tiber drank half of it and broke the other half. After Autumn Spark and Fixette were dropped off, Tiber told the cab driver to take them to her house. Just like last night, he walked her up to the door and stopped.

"I had fun tonight. Despite the near fight in the theater, I had fun." Tiber said with a smile. "So?"

"So, what?" Silver said. She wouldn't tell him, but she was getting lost in his bright yellow eyes again. "Oh! Well, I don’t know. I don't hate you anymore I guess." she said hoping he hadn't noticed. Why'd he have to look so Celestia damn good!?

"Well it's an improvement. I guess I'll see ya around." Tiber said sounding a little depressed.

He didn't like it much either, but he kind of liked her. He only wished he had more time to spend in Baltimare to get to know her. Wait a second…

"Hey, you have a guest room?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking that, well… since I didn't get a lot of time to know you… I was thinking that…maybe, if it's fine with you… if I could just stay a while?"

"Don't you have a job?"

"Okay, I haven't been entirely truthful with you. Or even Sissy."

"What?"

"Ya know how Autumn said I could take the ferry out when I wanted? Well that was a onetime thing. I did that a week ago and I got fired a week ago when they found out. I do have enough money to keep myself aloft back home for a few months, but If I don't find a job soon I'll have to live with my parents."

"So why did you lie last night?"

"Because I didn't want to worry Fixette. She's the only member of my family that actually cares about what I want. She's great, but she's too nice. I don't want her to just start giving me money."

Silver had an idea pass through her mind, and she hated it slightly. She glanced at his flank, something she oddly enough hadn't glanced at yet. his cutie mark was strange, it looked like a type writer but typewriters don't have a lever on the side. "What's your talent anyways?"

"Oh, I'm good with organization and math. I know, not interesting. You would've thought it would've had to do with boating."

"So you're a natural born accountant?"

"That's why I have a lot of money in reserves."

"Makes sense I guess. Would you be interested in… *sigh* working for me?"

Tiber's eyes lit up. "You'll actually give me a job!?"

"Fixette's not the only one that's nice. You can stay here and save some money. But I expect you to pull weight around here. That means half of the bills, half the chores and half of the work in the shop. Deal?"

"Deal!" Tiber said hugging Silver tightly.

Once again she feels her cheeks turning red. Half of her wants him to let go and the other half wants to hold him back. This was getting annoying.

"Okay, go back to your hotel and get the stuff you brought. I'm not moving you in. You'll have to do all that yourself."

"Whatever. Thank you. Thank you!" Tiber smiled brightly and gave Silver a small kiss on the cheek.

Silver froze. She her heart didn't just skip a beat, it shot out of her chest and into the atmosphere. Tiber let her go and ran back to the cab. Just as he got in, he looked back and waved to a very stunned Silver Bit. She was able to put her hoof up and wave back just as the cab pulled away. Silver couldn't move. He just kissed her. He was sober and so was she. This wasn't at all what she expected. She had expected to feel… okay she had no idea. She'd been divided on this the entire time and now it was getting harder to understand what he felt for him.

Silver stood there for what seemed like hours before she unlocked her door and went into her house still pondering what she was feeling.

Author's Notes:

Nexus: So, she likes him?
Me: I guess. I wrote it and I don't even know.
Nexus: How does that make sense?
Me: I don't know. I just want to get to the second act and you want to get off of my couch. How long did she say you couldn't come home?
Nexus: I'll be out by Saturday. I don't wanna be around to see what your people think goes on in Equestria.
Me: Fair enough.

Opportunity Has Metal Legs?

The next day was warm for winter. The snow would be here any day now and there were hundreds of ponies looking to have their heating systems looked at. Silver had sent out Fixette to handle the look over and if it wasn't something she could do on her own, she'd come and get either Silver of Autumn. Thankfully, most everypony's heating systems were working well and only needed some minor electrical repairs. She only had to get Autumn Spark once to replace a few heating ducts.

Minutes after they came back from that job, Tiber walked in through the front doors with his saddle bags. Fixette was sitting at the desk when he came in.

"Tiber!" the quiet girl said happily. "What're you doing here? I thought you had to go home."

"I quit. And Silver was nice enough to give me a job here!" Tiber said equally as ecstatic.

Silver heard the commotion and came out of the shop to see what was going on. "Oh thank Faust, you're here. Fixette, we've got a problem on the metal lathe. Go back there and see what's up with it."

"Okay. See you in a bit Tiber."

"You, make yourself comfortable at the desk and I'll go get the paper work from my office. We have some orders that need to be organized and a few taxes that need paying."

"Happy to help. And thanks again for the job."

"N-no problem." she said trying to find something other than his eyes to look at. "Just get to work."

"Yes mama." Tiber said with a smile taking a seat at the front desk.

Silver Bit sighed as she walked through the workshop. The island in the middle of the shop was covered in random assortments of mechanical components waiting to be put together. On her right a rack of Silver Bit Muskets sat waiting to be shipped where ever they were needed and next to them a few machines she used to make them. On the left machines and four forges sat ready to work. Two forges were already blazing while Fixette and Autumn tried to fix the Leigh.

Silver's office was at the far end of the shop. A big glass window let her see everything in the shop. The office was actually more like a second work station with a private forge, work bench and anvil. Her forging smock and boots sat next to the door next to the filing cabinet on the right.

As Silver Bit opened the filing cabinet in the back, a pony walked into through the front door as Tiber put his pictures and little knit knacks across the desk. He looked up and got a good look at the pony. The unicorn stallion was dark cobalt across most of his body. His chest and back were covered by two metal plates and his legs were robotic. Tiber was astonished at what he was seeing. And that wasn't the strangest thing; he had mechanical wings as well.

Aside from the mechanical oddities, he was normal. Medium, somewhat shaggy, black mane and dark blue eyes. His cutie mark looked to be a crescent moon with wings and a horn going through the middle of the moon along with a star floating in-between the arms of the moon. He carried black saddlebags and had an eye patch over his right eye.

"Uh, can I help you sir? Tiber asked still unsure of what he was looking at.

"Yes." The stallion replied, his voice was loud and resident but carried a calm tone to it. "I'm looking for Silver Bit."

"Well, she's in the back. I'd be happy to-"

"I need to speak to her personally." the stallion said losing some of the calm in his voice as he walked past the desk and towards the shop.

"Um, you can't go back there!"

"I know what I'm doing."

"Hold up!"

Silver was half way across the shop when the door opened and the stallion walked in. It took her less than two seconds to realize who he was.

"Oh my gosh! You're Lunarus!" Silver said dropping the files she was carrying. "You're the Lunarus Nexus!"

"Lunarus?" Tiber asked. On the other side of the shop, Fixette and Autumn spark had to look up from the lathe to see if what they were hearing was true.

"Lunarus Nexus. CEO and majority shareholder in Lunarus Crop. He's the greatest inventor of this day and age. What are you doing here?"

"Well believe it or not I'm here to give you something." Nexus said.

"Why?" Tiber asked still skeptical.

"My friend has said great things about this place and I've got something that might be helpful around here. They’re still in Beta, but they're one hundred percent safe."

"What is it?" Fixette asked moving up to the island where Nexus was standing.

"These," his horn glowed and something that looked like a brass wagon hitch with legs. "are going to make things a lot easier in your line of work."

"What are they?"

"These don't have a name yet. They're mechanical arms that work off of the nervous system like the Iron Icarus I built a long time ago."

"The second thing you ever built." Silver said.

"Somepony does their research. Anyways. These work just like the wings, but they just have claws to grasp things."

"Does it hurt?"

"Just a small shock. It feels like a static shock. Nothing at all. Give it a try."

Silver moved forward and started getting her way into the brass ring. "Now be warned, the learning curve on these things is fairly sharp. Just imagine they're wings and start from there."

To Silver Bit's relief, Nexus was telling the truth. Once she clasped it onto her midsection, there was a small electric jolt. Nothing stronger than a static shock. The metallic arms jolted and started twitching.

"Now just try moving them up."

"How?"

"Like I said, think that they're wings and try to move the muscles that are just beneath them."

Silver had always wondered what having wings would be like. She tried as hard as she could but they didn't move. Then she realized she wasn't using the muscles. She started stretching her shoulder blades. The signals that were being sent to the blades were copied and translated into the arms and they lifted up into the air like a skeleton of a pegasus. The claws themselves were wide open as they hung in the air.

"Wow."

"That's what I thought when these worked for the first time. Now, relax your shoulders a bit and move them forwards."

Silver followed the instruction and the arms lowered themselves to shoulder height and the claws closed. She then moved her shoulders forward slightly and the arms followed with a bit more movement then she wanted.

"They're a bit sensitive." Silver Bit told him.

"They take some getting used to. They have to translate more than the wings have to. They do need some tweaking in that area and I'm still working on it. I just haven't had a chance to test it in a forge. Go ahead, give it a shot."

Silver ran back to her office and as quickly threw on her forging gear. The thick boots were covered in black alligator leather and tipped with steal. Her smock was thick, compressed wool and shielded her from the heat. She ran back out into the shop hopping she hadn't made Nexus wait too long. Anxiously, she walked closer to the forge she left running when the Leigh broke. Sitting next to the closest anvil, a pair of hoof clams sat waiting to pull whatever was in the white hot forge.

Out of reflex she grabbed on arm of the clamps with her teeth. Then she remembered she had the claws. She moved her right shoulder slightly and the arm followed her movement. The claw opened and moved forward to grab the other arm of the clamps. She looked into the forge next to her and saw a spear head sitting around the burning embers. She could feel the heat curl her eyelashes as she inched closer.

Even with the smock and leg high boots on, she could feel the intense heat on her skin. Sweat started to bead on her forehead; both from the heat and the nervousness of being watched by one of her hero's. The head of the clamps moved into the fire and inched closer. The heat was getting stronger and stronger as she maneuvered the clamps under the spear head. She moved her right shoulder and the right arm moved with it and closed the clamp around the spear head. She lifted the piece of soon to be sharpened steal out of the embers and slowly moved back with it.

The heat started to get subside but the sweat didn't. The spear head glowed a bright orange as she set it in a bucket of water next to the anvil. The spots of black spread across the spear head as the water hissed in protest to the hot object. Silver set the clamps onto the anvil again and looked back to Nexus. He was now standing next to her. She hadn't even noticed him move.

"Well?" Nexus asked with a small smile on his face.

"It's definitely nice not to have to put my hoof in the fire. They are going to take some getting used to but I'll be happy to help out in any way I can." Silver said unhooking the claws.

There was another small shock as the brass ring left her body.

"I'm happy to hear, because there is a small catch to this offer."

"What?" Autumn asked with a suspicious tone.

"I have a little project of my own that needs a little tune up. I've tried to figure out what's wrong with it but I'm good at drawling the plans, not making it. Now, normally I'd send this to my partner in White Tail, but he's busy at the moment with an order from the Princess'."

"What is it?"

"I'll show you."

Nexus opened his saddle bags again and pulled a metal gauntlet out. The only thing odd about it was that a one foot long blade was sticking out of the bottom of it.

"This normally responds to the electrical commands that move my leg to move the blade. There's a manual that shoots the blade from the gauntlet but for some reason neither work. I think it's a broken gear, but I don't have the tools in Canterlot to find out. If you wouldn't mind taking a look at it and seeing if you can fix it for me I'll let you keep the claws free of charge after testing is done. I'll even throw in two more for your partners here."

"Wow. You want me to help you?" Silver asked hoping this wasn't some kind of new prank show she was on.

"Really. And if you have any improvements you want to make to it then I'd be happy to hear them. Do we have a deal?"

"We have a deal."

"Great. Here's my card. Mail me if you have any questions or to update me on your progress. Take your time. I don't need this back right away." Nexus said placing the gauntlet on the table along with a small calling business card.

"Okay. Thanks again for coming Lunarus."

"Call me Lunar. There's only two ponies in all of Equestria that can call me by my full name."

"Sorry, Lunar. Thanks again for stopping by."

"Don't disappoint me Silver Bit."

Nexus turned and lead himself out, leaving the four of them alone with their thoughts.

"Can you believe what just happened!?" Silver shouted in glee.

"So what? A famous inventor comes in and asks for help. Big whop." Tiber said with some amount to resentment towards the robo-pony.

"Ooooooo. Somepony's jealous." Autumn said mockingly.

"Am not."

"Don't be ashamed. So what if he's got money and can get anypony he wants. I'm sure you're secure in the girlfriend department."

"Silver's not my girlfriend."

"And he's not my boyfriend." Silver added.

Fixette was keeping as quiet as usual. She was afraid that she'd say something wrong and that her lover was right.

"Stop it you two." Silver continued. "You and Fixette have a lathe to fix and you have paperwork to file. Get to it. Chop chop!"

Everypony took the orders and quickly dispersed. Silver looked down at the work bench and stared at the gauntlet for a moment before taking it into her office to give it a quick run over. But unknown to anypony watched them quietly from inside of the shop. Something was lurking in the rafters; listening, observing, waiting for the right time to leave its position. Its flat blue eyes were hardly visible in the dim, orange light of the work shop. It watch Silver Bit carefully as she entered her office and began work on the gauntlet.

Author's Notes:

Well views are rising. I'm liking this. If you ask where Nexus is. Well he's busy in the chapter.

A Break-in to A Make-Out.

Two months. Two, bloody months! It's been far too long since Silver Bit under took this job. Sure, she worked a few side jobs to keep the cash flowing but by Celestia's beard! This thing was a pain in the ass to work with. She couldn't get the thing open for the life of her. She would work, day in a day out trying to crack open the box that held the gears and springs, but the screws would never give way.

She even had a unicorn, a fucking unicorn try prying open the box and even using a screwdriver. But they never moved. After another long, hard night of trying every possible way to open the gearbox, again, Silver closed up shop. Tiber had left about an hour ago and was probably starting to worry. Silver Bit sighed. This was the longest time she had ever stayed after hours working on this.

This was getting old. After locking Nexus' project in her safe, she moved over to the forges that were starting to smolder and pulled a single cord. All of the forges hissed in anger as water poured into the hot forges. Smoke rolled out of the chimneys and the dim light from the fires turned faded away. There was something off about the hiss after the fires went out. They sounded like whispers for some reason. Silver just shrugged it off and started walking towards the doors through the dark shop.

She'd walked through here so much she could walk through it blindfolded. Her mental map told her exactly where everything was. She walked around the table like the sun itself was lighting her way. In the darkness she could hear better as well. The sound of the hissing bounced off of the brick walls so well that if she were one of Luna's boys, she could have a perfect map of the room just from the sound. So when a dead spot in the sound came up, her head snapped to the gap in the sound.

Her eyes had just started adjusting to the darkness. She could make out the silhouette of a unicorn with a curved horn. Silver reached for the work bench next to her and grasped the first thing her hoof touched. If felt like a screw driver. The pony heard her fumbling and looked her way. All she saw was two small, white circles where the eyes were suppose to be. The pony hissed like some kind of snake and lunged at her. Silver was ready. As soon as the pony tackled her, she shoved the screw driver into its chest. The pony screed in pain and fought against her grip.

"Ah! Somepony help me! I'm being robbed! By Faust, somepony get their lazy flanks in here!" Silver Bit shouted in anger trying to hold the pony down.

Though, the more it fought, it didn't feel like a pony. It felt like it was wearing very thin leather armor. There was no way this was skin or fur she was grabbing. It was hard like the exoskeleton of an insect. Silver pulled the screwdriver out of the pony's chest and was about to push it into its neck when a bright flash of light, followed by a loud explosion, echoed inside the shop. She felt the pony get hit with something and let it go. The pony quickly writhed in pain before standing. The Flash made it hard to see now. All she could see were the white circles of its eyes as it staggered out the front door.

Silver started to give chase but something grabbed her before she could get to the door. With her adrenaline rush still pushing her limits, she swing her screwdriver of death around and trying to stab her attacker.

"Silver! Silver! Calm down! It's me!" the stallion holding her shouted.

The voice made her stop instantly. "Tiber!?"

The moment she said his name, he let her go. By now her eyes had readjusted to the dark. She was relieved to see that face of his again. His handsome, handsome face. "What are you doing here?"

"I left a work order I meant to sign off on on your desk. I came back to get it and I hear you screaming."

Silver tried to keep from acting like anypony from some cheesy romance movie. "Ugh. Don't expect me to fall into you like some damsel in distress." Silver said hoping to sound annoyed.

"I wouldn't expect you to. Knowing you, you'd be more likely to burst into flames first. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright."

"Let’s just get out of here. The cab's waiting outside. I'll take you to the police station before we head home."

"They're not open until dawn. Tyler. Let's just go home."

"Are you sure? That was a loud fight you were putting up."

"I'm fine. Let's just go before I change my mind about stabbing you with my screwdriver."

"Fair enough." Tiber said setting one of her muskets on the work bench.

On the way out, Silver could see the first winter's snow starting to fall. The white flakes sparkled in the moon light as they fell. The air outside was frigid compared to the warm comforts inside. The smell of winter washed over Silver as she stepped into the cab with Tiber right behind her. He was beginning to get obnoxious constantly asking her if she was okay. The cab ride home was long for her tastes. The driver seemed to be a moron when it came to driving in snow. Even if there wasn't on the ground.

Once home, Silver was the first in. She could smell the spices in the air from Tiber's cooking. Though not his talent, he was a damn good chef. Two salads that were cooked in vegetable oil sat on the coffee table with forks ready. She had no idea how long ago he'd made them but the smell hung in the air like it had just come off the pan.

Silver didn't hesitate to sit down and dig in. She loved his cooking. Tiber sat down and ate slower but seemed none the less happy to eat it quickly. Once Silver was half way through her bowl of salad, she asked the question that had been milling in the back of her mind.

"I didn't know you could shoot." She said. Okay so it's not a question but it does warrant some explanation right?

"I can't. I just got lucky."

Okay, not much explanation there but it's something to work with. "How'd you know how to use the muskets?"

"I saw you test firing one. And Fixette had me help her put one back together."

"Convenient."

"I guess so."

The two ate in silence for a moment. Silver's heart started pounding again as she tried to think of something to say to Tiber. He saved her life after all; he deserved some kind of gratitude.

"Thanks for saving me." that was too simple. "I don't know what I’d do without you back there." better I guess.

"It's nothin'. Besides, if you died, I'd be out of a job." Tiber said with a nervous chuckle. "So, you make any progress on that inventor guy's project?"

"No. Can't get the damn gear box open. I have the right ratchet size, but I can't get enough force on it to pry them open."

"You ever try heating it up a bit?"

"What? And risk ruining one of the best inventors in Equestria's creations? You're insane."

"Well, my dad had this hitch he needed to change out on the family carriage and it was stuck on. He and the maintenance mare took a blow torch to it and it came loose. Even if that doesn't work, you’re the smartest pony I know. You'll figure it out."

"Why do you have this much faith in me?"

"Because you're a fighter. I knew that even before I started working for you."

"Do you really think that?"

"Yeah. You're kind, considerate, smart, and beautiful-" Tiber quickly covered his mouth at that last word. He put his hoof to his mouth a bit too quickly and more or less slapped himself.

"I'm what?" Silver said putting her salad down and looking to Tiber.

"I said you're smart." Tiber said not looking away from his salad.

"No after that."

"I smacked myself."

"No smart ass, before that."

"I-I-I said you're beautiful." Tiber said with a blush hardly showing on his dark brown cheeks.

"Y-You think I'm beautiful?"

"Well, yeah." Tiber said finally making eye contact. "You're beautiful. I really like you."

Silver Bit's heart stopped the second he said that. Her insides started tying themselves in knots. He liked her! He actually liked her! Okay, calm down. Don't act eager. Make him work for it. "Um, that's unexpected." Silver said stalling for time.

"Yeah. To me too. I-I really do like you Silver. D-Do you like me?"

"I don't know. I guess." Yes you do you moron! Stop torturing the poor boy and get with the kissin'! You know you want him too. 'Shut up.' she thought to herself.

"Oh. So, you wanna give this a shot then? Like a real shot?"

"I-I, uh-"

Silver Bit would've finished her mindless babbling if it weren't for Tiber putting his lips to hers. Under normal circumstances, she'd land a hind-hoof into his groin. But a little something inside her just made her freeze in place. Then it took control. She leaned into him and let him deepen the kiss. Silver couldn't hold back a sigh of relief as months of tension left her mind and body.

Outside, the snow started to build up. And another pair of white circles watched the two embrace on the couch. Its head started to tilt slowly left and right trying to devise a plan. After a moment, Silver started hearing that noise again. The noise that came from the forges. She broke the kiss and looked to the front window.

"What is it?" Tiber asked.

After scanning the narrow view of the world being blanketed in snow outside her window, she couldn't see anything amiss.

"I-I don't know. You ever get the feeling you were being watched?"

"Sometimes. Why, you think somepony's out there?"

"Probably nothing. Let's just go to bed."

Author's Notes:

Nexus: Sometimes, I want to hit you.
Me: I get that, but it's essential to the character. You don't know anything about writing so I suggest you get off your computer and do your job.
Nexus: I'm on leave.
Me: That was last week.
Nexus: .... Fuck me running!

Things Are Getting Interesting.

The next day, Silver Bit and Tiber took the police to the shop in town. When they got there, there was nothing to be seen. Just a screwdriver covered in something that looked like green blood. They took it in and took pictures of the place. Since nothing was stolen, it wasn't that important. Autumn Spark and Fixette came just as the police ponies were leaving.

"What's going on Boss?" Autumn asked after hugging the mare.

"There was just a break in last night while I was locking up."

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Fixette asked still as quiet as ever.

"Did they take anything?" Everypony looked right at Autumn and a glare except for Silver. "I mean, are you okay."

"I'm fine, nothing was stolen. Tyler was coming back to get something and helped."

"Wait, he saved you?"

"Helped. She was doing fine on her own when I got there."

"That's a relief."

"Yeah. We'd be out of a job otherwise."

"Autumn." Silver said glaring at Autumn Spark.

"Um, I'll go check and see if the lathe is still working."

"Yeah, best thing you've said today."

Everypony chucked lightly and started going about their day normally. Well, as normally as they could while avoiding the area the burglar had been. About seven hours into the day, Silver was still picking away at the gauntlet gear box. She hated this more and more. Silver groaned and spit out the socket driver she had been trying to use. Her jaw hurt and she was half certain that she needed braces again. Silver leaned over her personal hell and put her hoof to her cheek.

"What am I going to do with you you son of a bitch?" Silver said to herself.

You know you'd tell me if you could talk. Silver thought to herself. What'd you got against me? All I did was poke and pry at you for hours a day trying to fix you. Why is this making me so hot headed?

The thought suddenly dawned on her. Tiber had said something about what his dad had done with an old hitch. The idea was somewhat sound. Metal expands with heat, but Silver didn't know the melting point of this metal was. In fact, she didn't even know what metal this was. It looked to be stainless steel. But looks are always deceiving. For all she knew, it was a combination of metals. After all, it was a weapon. She knew Nexus wasn't just an inventor, he was a weapons designer. And this was no letter opener.

Silver looked over to her furnace where Nexus' mechanical arms sat. She moved over and shoveled two full scoops of coal and half a log into the blazing furnace. She took the time for it to heat up, to put on her usual gear and Nexus' arms. With everything set, Silver Bit grabbed Nexus' gauntlet with the arms and gently placed it into the fire. The heat was far more intense then she was use to. She could feel it against her skin under the protective cloths. She could feel the heat curling her eyelashes and the sweat dripping down her face.

Once it was in the center of the blaze, Silver quickly backed away and blinked a few times trying to get the sweat out of her eyes. It stung. She hated this kind of thing. True, this wasn't the first time this happened, but that doesn't mean she was use to it. Silver Bit sighed and looked back at the blazing fire. It was practically blinding. She pulled down her welders goggles and peered through the glare and fire.

The gauntlet didn't reflect light well. It looked like a black smudge in an ocean of orange before and now its shape was defined sharply against the light of the flames. Silver sat back on her haunches and watched the gear bolts on the gear box carefully. She was sure the structural pieces of the gauntlet wasn't going to get hot easily, but the gear box was made of a lighter metal. It felt like aluminum when she was working with it so this blaze should be enough to get that red hot in no time at all.

An orange form slowly spread over the gear box. Silver wasn't keeping track of time, it didn't matter. It was all an experiment. That was enough time. Silver moved to the flames and pulled Nexus' gauntlet out of the blazing furnace. She backed away with the metal steaming in the cooler air. She prayed that this didn't break anything inside of the gearbox. She used the claw to pick up the bolt driver that fit the best and held her breath. With one claw holding the gauntlet, and the other on the bolt driver, she began prying at the mechanical nightmare. The claw shook as her shoulder muscles strained to turn the bolt.

She started sweating much more than when she had her face practically in the fire. Just before she gave up on the fight, a quiet high-pitched squeal caught her attention. The bolt driver was starting to move to the left, it was working! A new found second wind took her over and she started unscrewing the bolts as fast as she could before the metal cooled. Gradually, it started getting easier. The squeal was getting louder, but it was getting easier.

Then there was a light click as the bolt slipped. Silver was relieved to hear that sound. She hoped it meant that whatever was holding the bolt let it go. The bolt started coming undone like it should have. Smooth and easy. After the bolt fell away from the gear box, Silver Bit felt ecstatic. But she wasn't done yet.

The last four bolts were much easier. They started hard but the first one was the evil one. Instead of squealing in resistance, they clicked and came undone with little resistance. When the last one hit the work bench, the box fell away revealing a complicated system of gears, cogs, springs and diodes.

Silver had little to no experience with electronics, but the mechanical aspect was right up her ally. Silver reached over to her right where a line of screwdrivers sat ready for work. She used her teeth this time out of habit. Still using the claws to hold the still hot gauntlet, she put the head of the small flat head against the top of a gear and tried to turn it. It clicked but didn't move. Silver set the screwdriver down and pushed her welder's goggles up. It wasn't going to be un-jammed by force and she really didn't want to take it apart if it was something electrical. Silver let go of the gauntlet and moved to the door of her office that she just realized was open.

"Fixette!" She shouted across the shop.

"Yes?" She said poking her head out from behind her work bench next to the fuse box.

"I need your opinion."

"Why me?"

"Your talent has to do with this electrical mumbo-jumbo right?"

"Well, yes but-"

"Then get in here."

"Okay."

Guess we know who wears the st-NO don't go there Silver! Silver groaned as the thought passed through her mind. She never liked going there. There was a clear difference between joking and being a bitch in Silver's mind, and she never wanted to let it get past that.

Silver Bit moved out of the way and let Fixette enter her office. Silver left the door open as she led Fixette to her work bench.

"Careful. It's still hot." Silver warned.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's fine, you have your kit on your belt?"

"Yeah. I always do."

"Well… do what you do and see if it's working. 'Cause I don't know if there's something holding it back or if it's electrical."

"Oh, then I'm happy to help."

Fixette reached down into her smock and pulled a small roll of cloth. She set it down on the table and unrolled it, revealing a neat assortment of tools in little pockets. Silver had no idea what any of them did; she just let Fixette go to work. She pulled two of the tools from the pockets and started fiddling with the gauntlet. She held one of the tools to the diodes to the gear box and another to a point inside the gauntlet. There was a sudden spark under the gauntlet then silence. Fixette came back up from the bench with a smile.

“Good news for you, the signal isn’t getting to the gear box.”

“How is that good for me?”

“It means you can take a break.” Autumn Spark said walking in.

“I can’t take a-”

“You’ve worked on this nonstop for two months straight. You need a break. Go get a milkshake or something. We can handle it from here.”

“But-”

“No buts. You go do something other than this.” Autumn told her as she started shoving her through the shop.

“But the safe. I lock it in the safe every night.”

“We’ll take care of it. I know where you keep the combination in case you forget it. Go on! Take your boy toy with you."

"I'm sorry what?" Tiber said as Autumn pushed Silver into the lobby.

"Nothing Tyler." Silver said quickly.

"You're taking the day off."

"No he's not. You stay here and keep working. I would rather spend some time on my own anyways."

"Come on. You two might live together but you don't go out enough."

"Exactly why I wouldn't mind a few hours alone. If it'll keep you off my flank, I'll go. But Tiber has work to do."

"So does Fixette."

"Well she should be done in a few minutes. So I'll be back in an hour."

"Whole day or bust." Autumn said with a grin.

"Fine. Whole day. Can I go now?" Silver said rolling her eyes.

"Yes. Have a nice day boss." Autumn said walking back into the work shop.

Silver leaned over the counter to Tiber. "You remember where I keep the real combination?"

"Yeah. Go on. Have fun." Tiber replied kissing Silver Bit on the cheek.

"Alright. Keep them from burning the place down." Silver said with a smile.

Silver Bit trotted out into the cold midday and started towards the movie theater; the only way to kill time in winter. Patient-Z was still playing but there was no way she was going to see that monstrosity again. She had a while to make-up her mind though.

Strangely enough, the comedy she chose wasn't any better. It had something about shenanigans after a high night in Las-Pegasus. Stupid as she would thought; not as funny though. She hailed a passing cab and headed home after the movie ended. She had to sit around for two hours waiting for the first showing to let out before she could see it for herself. She was never one for movies. She'd grown up around high society; they went to the theater instead of cinema.

She sat back and enjoyed the ride home. It was an uncharacteristically warm day for winter. It didn't warrant heavy clothing or even a scarf. It was how she liked it. The cab pulled into her driveway just before sun set. She paid the driver and went inside. She was greeted by the smell of… meat? Looking towards the kitchen, she saw Tiber preparing a stake. Where'd he even get a stake in Baltimare? Tiber turned at the sound of the door closing and smiled at Silver.

"Hey Silver! Hungry?" He said with an upbeat smile.

"Uh, no. What are you-"

"What? Haven't you ever seen a stake before?"

"I have, but I haven't had one. And I don't plan on having on anytime soon."

"Eh, more for me!"

Tiber didn't hesitate to take the stake from the pan with his horn and take a massive bite out of it. Hold it…horn? When did that appear from his head? Sure, his mane was thick and stuck up higher on his head than most, but Silver had seen him fresh from the shower. She would've seen if he had a horn or not then. The green glow was as alluring as he was. It's possible she would've missed his horn…

Tiber walked over after leaving the stake in the pan and pecked Silver on the lips.

"So how was your day?"

"It was… fine. You okay Tyler?"

"I'm fine why?"

"You just seem, different is all."

"Nah. I'm fine. So how was your day?"

"You know how it went dude. Stop acting like you don't."

"Yeah. You were busy as always."

"Yeah… You didn't need to say it but whatever. I'm going to bed."

"What about dinner?"

"I get you're one of the only ponies in Equestria that eat meat, but I won't be one of them."

"Oh, okay."

Silver sighed and started to her bedroom. As she passed the threshold she heard somepony behind her. She turned and nearly fell back when she saw Tiber standing right behind her.

"Um, where do you think you're going?" Silver asked.

"To bed? Isn't that-"

"You have your own room. You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." Tiber's horn flashed a green aura for a moment before he continued. "I just thought that we could have a little fun before we went to bed."

Silver was stunned by his forwardness. This wasn't like him at all. Or was it? She couldn't quite remember. Unfortunately, her thoughts took up a lot more time than she thought and she was already lying on the bed with him before she could utter a single word of protest. And, oddly enough, she didn't feeling like protesting. She sat back and went with it as a warm feeling over took her and held on all night.

Author's Notes:

Nexus: So, he's a-
Me: STOP! You remember the contract?
Nexus: ....
Me: I don't make you bi so long as you don't spoil anything.
Nexus: But they already know what happened. What makes you think they don't know?
Me: It's for those that don't. It will come. So shut the only part of your body that isn't metal.
Nexus: You know what is and isn't metal, so does Dust. *snickers*
Me: *snicker* Okay, not as clever as I would've hoped, but none the less funny. Moving on! Next time on Dragon Ball Z!
Nexus: What are you doing?
Me: I'm working on a roll as a crazy narrator that says what he wants without a care and such.
Nexus: Isn't that what these are anyways?
Me: No, this is like talking to myself you numb nut.

Something's Afoot

Silver awoke the next morning with a splitting headache. She knew for a fact she hadn't toughed a single drop of alcohol last night, but she still felt like she downed her whole liquor cabinet again. She tried rolling over only to find she was in the grasp of a very content Tiber cuddling her from behind, spooning if that suits your fetish. She sighed and nudged him in the ribs. Tiber twitched and dug his snout into her light red mane, inhaling the smell. This was just getting stranger by the minute. She elbowed him again, but harder this time.

Instead of twitching, he straight up shouting in pain and fell out of bed.

"What!?" Tiber said angrily.

"You wouldn't let me go and I couldn’t wake you, so I had to do something to free myself." Silver Bit's usual charisma didn't last long before pain shot through her head. Something was really wrong. Everything was foggy about the past few months, especially things concerning Tiber.

"Headache?"

"Feels more like a migraine."

"I got just the spell for that." Tiber said as his horn glowed a dark green.

The pain intensified as her questions started to mount in her mind. Then, they passed. All of them. The migraine faded quickly but her eyes still felt like they were trying to come out of her head.

"Better?" Tiber asked with a smile.

"Yeah. Keep that one on standby if I need it again."

"Wasn't planning on doing anything different."

"Okay then…" Silver glanced to the clock on the wall and nearly had an aneurism when she saw the time. "Oh shit! Eight twenty six! We're late! We need to get moving."

"Don't you want to shower first?" Tiber said sneaking up behind her as she rummaged through her drawers for the keys to the shop.

"Tiber, play lovey dovey all you want after we get back. Did you finish ordering that new part?"

"Uh, yeah… It should be here next week."

"Um… What? They told me it would be here next month. They send you a letter?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Well you'll have to show me the copy of the one you sent them. I might want to take notes for the next time I have to shooze somepony like that."

"Uh, Yeah."

"Call a cab. I'll be looking for my keys."

"Uh yeah. I'll do that."

Silver turned around and looked to Tiber with her brow knit. "You forget the number or something?"

"Uh…"

"I'll call you boil a pot of tea while we wait. Unless you forgot how to use the stove overnight?"

"That I can do."

Silver rolled her eyes as she headed to the only phone in the house. Thankfully for Silver, her keys sat next to the phone. She kicked off the receiver and had the operator connect her to the local cab company.

When she arrived at the shop two hours late thanks to Tiber. Silver carried a thermos of tea in her saddle bags to try and help keep the migraines back and to help her wake up. Fixette and Autumn Spark stood waiting at the front door.

"Finally! Could you two keep your 'fun' for the weekend when I have time off?" Autumn said still tapping her hoof on the sidewalk.

How does she know? "Sorry. Tiber forgot to set the alarm last night." Silver said taking her keys out of the saddlebag.

Silver could feel a warm wind flash behind her from Tiber as she unlocked the door. Out of her peripheral, she saw both Fixette and Autumn shake their heads. She shoved the wooden door open and stopped cold at what she saw, the entire place was trashed. Papers littered the floor and drawers sat either open or buried in the wall. Everypony stood in shock. Tiber seemed a lot less surprised to see this but was none the less gob smacked. Silver didn't hesitate to run straight to her office. She skidded through the open door and stared underneath her work bench where her safe sat untouched. She couldn't be sure though, she got down on her knees and spun the dial as fast as she could until he input the combination.

The safe clicked and the door popped out a few inches. She grabbed the edges of the iron door and yanked as hard as she could. Inside, important documents, bits and Nexus' gauntlet sat untouched. The only difference was that the blade was now pulled all the way back. Fixette was a generous. Silver sighed with relief and shut the safe as Autumn Spark ran in through the door.

"Everything's trashed!"

"Yeah. You see anything missing?"

"No. Whoever broke in wasn't lookin' to steal money. The register out front is still full and from the looks of things all tools are accounted for. What about the safe?"

"Full. They must've been looking for the combination."

"Want me to move it?"

"Yeah. Have Tyler put it in the back of the register. He'd be the only that could get it then."

"Speaking of, you notice anything weird about him lately? Like, as early as this morning?"

"He's just stressed. He's been getting a lot of stuff ddone faster than we couldn't do in the same amount of time. Give him a break. GAH!" Silver shouted as another bout of migraines shot over her.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine. I just need some tea. Go send a letter to Nexus. Express."

"Alright. If you say so. I'll have Fixette get the cops down here."

"You do that."

Express to Canterlot Castle must mean teleportation. Nexus showed up before the cops did. It was odd to see that he wasn't wearing his eye patch. He walked around the wreckage and did his best to try and help put the place back together.

"What are you doing you moron!?" Autumn asked shoving Nexus as he pulled a drawer out of the wall.

"My job? The police handed the investigation over to my people." Nexus replied sliding the drawer back into the front desk.

"What?"

Nexus sighed before speaking. "No pony ever knows what I do for a living. I'm a member of the Evening Guard. We've been keeping track of a string of burglaries like these all over Equestria."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We'll need to put some surveillance on this place for the next few days."

"You sure that's what we need around here?" Tiber asked stepping out of the shop.

"I do. My team is setting up right now."

"But why are you putting everything back where it was?" Autumn continued.

"Because we need them to come back. Where's Silver Bit?"

"In the back. Why?"

"I need her go-no-go on this. It's not my call."

Nexus didn't wait for either of them to argue and made his way past them. As he walked, everything on the ground was enveloped in a light blue glow and went back to where it had been sitting the night before. Silver saw that through her window and quickly jumped out of her office about to yell at him.

"What are you-"

"I'm putting everything back where it was. Nothing was stolen right?"

"Um, no. What are-"

"He's Royal Guard." Autumn said getting up behind him.

"Evening Guard. There is a difference."

"Whatever. AH! How'd you remember where everything goes?"

"Photographic memory. Migraines?"

"Yeah."

"How long have those been going on?"

"Since this morning. I've got tea and Tiber's got this spell that really helps."

Nexus looked over his shoulder and moved a screwdriver back to the rack next to the forge. "Does he now?" he said looking back to Silver.

"Yeah." Silver could feel those questions coming back in. The horn, his attitude change; it all came back with another migraine.

"Speaking of-" Tiber's horn glowed and all of the questions faded with the migraine. "Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Nexus knit his brow and looked at her sideways. "Anyways. Hang on to the gauntlet for a while."

"Oh, but we fixed it. It works right Fixette?"

"Yeah it should work now." Fixette replied quietly as always.

"Well, either way I would suggest you hang on to it. It might be what the robber was trying to get to. After all, you had it locked up safe and sound right?"

"Yeah! Of course. Built the safe myself."

"Well keep it there and put the combination somewhere safe.”

“Already done. Back of the register right?”

“Already done.” Fixette assured.

"Well then. Keep on with your regular day. We can't let them know we're watching. My troops will report to me daily and even sooner if they come back."

Nexus turned and started out of the shop and was met by a black unicorn. "You feel what I feel?" He asked.

"Yeah. Keep a very close eye on this place. I think we have a code 8."

Hate Over Love.

The day went by quietly. Silver's migraines didn't get better but they started getting farther between. And Tiber was a huge help, when he wasn't kissing her nicked ear. She had to constantly shove him away and force him to go back to work; which he didn't. It was getting on her nerves. The day passed slowly for Silver. She was more than happy that she didn’t have to do anything with the gauntlet now. She could just get out at the normal time. The sun was just starting to set when Autumn Spark and Fixette punched out. Tiber was suppose to be right behind them, but he insisted on staying to, make sure he'd done something right.

Silver didn't bother forcing him out, he was too sweet to throw out. Silver say back in her office doing her best to fix some cellist's tuning fork. How does one simply warp a tuning fork? Silver didn't care, she liked a challenge. It took some spot welding and reinforcement for it to play in the right key. Silver put the tuning fork into the box the mare brought it in. Silver sighed as another minor migraine started to seep into her skull. She reached for her thermos to try and take some of the pressure off, but she remembered she drank that last of her tea at lunch. Tiber walked in just as Silver was putting up her tools for the night.

"Hey sweaty, how you doin'?" He asked leaning up against her.

"Fine. And don't call me that."

"You want me to use that spell?"

"No. I should be fine until we get home."

"You sure? Migraines suck."

"I'm fine." Silver giggled leading Tiber out of her office. "Ya know, I thought you were an earth pony for the longest time."

"Did you now?" Tiber said sounding a bit suspicious.

"Yeah. Weird right? Anyways, let's get home."

"Gladly." Tiber said leader her out of her office.

Though, about halfway across the shop floor, something clicked in her head. "Oh! I forgot to put out the furnaces. You know how to put them out; I'll handle the one in my office." Silver said trotting back towards her office.

"Silver wait!" Tiber shouted after her as she walked into her unlocked office. Silver turned to stone almost instantly. The strangest black pony was standing in front of her safe. Its mane didn't look like a mane; more like some kind of fish tail. Its eyes were a glazed blue all the way across. Its deformed legs, horn and insect wings gave Silver Bit shivers. The insect pony hissed and bared its fangs at her.

That snapped her out of her shock quickly. She tried to turn and run to her gun rack, but Tiber was blocking the door with a stone cold stare.

"Tiber! Move, move!" Silver said trying to shove her way past.

Tiber wrapped his forelegs around her and squeezed tightly, holding her in place. Tiber's horn glowed dark green and a small slip of paper hovered over to the insect pony. Silver knew instantly what the paper was.

"What are you doing? That's the combination!"

"I'm fully aware. My brother will take what we want then you don't have to see us again." Tiber said his voice sounding somewhat distorted.

"What are you talking about? Let me go! AH!" A migraine suddenly shot over her.

A memory of that first night with Tiber came back to her. His mane was smooth, soft, nothing in the way. He wasn't a unicorn… Something was up.

"Who are you and what have you done with Tiber?!"

"You shall find out when you meet your Goddess." The fake Tiber hissed.

"You bustards!" Silver cried in rage.

There was a magical flash from her right and a bolt of magic through the fake Tiber's skull. Green plasma came from the wound instead of red blood. With the grip on her now nonexistent, Silver charged the creature in front of her just as he opened the safe. She reached into the safe and put her hoof through the gauntlet. She felt a light static shock as the gauntlet magically connected to her nerves. She felt her anger and rage flow through her as the blade popped out of the gauntlet with the sound of metal on metal. She brought her foreleg back and plunged the blade into the creature's head. She didn't stop there; she repeatedly stabbed the blade into the insect pony's eyes, neck, chest; she didn't know how many times she just knew that she kept doing it. After what felt like an eternity, somepony grabbed her right foreleg and kept her from stabbing it again.

She fought back. Whoever was holding her back undid the clamps on her foreleg and put their forelegs around her. This wasn't like when she was being held back by "Tiber". It was more like she was being comforted.

"Ma'am, calm down. You're okay." the stallion shouted holding her back.

"You fucking bastard! Let me go so I can end these fuckers!"

"Ma'am. I'm with Captain Nexus. You're safe now."

"No, I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill all of those fucking things!"

"Ma'am!" the stallion holding her turned her around and slapped her across the face. "Get a hold of yourself!"

Silver stopped cold and let the situation set it. Her boyfriend was gone, her shop had just been broken into again and she had just killed something. She looked behind the stallion and saw an insect pony where Tiber used to be. Silver was hating this now. She was calming down and the sadness was setting in, the reality. Silver could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as all of her thoughts became clear with another massive migraine. Silver lowered her head and sobbed in both remorse and pain.

Game On

Guards were swarming around the place about a minute after the attack. Silver sat outside as the moon rose on the horizon with a blanket wrapped around her. The stallion that had saved her sat next to her hoping to give her some comfort. He was a bright yellow unicorn with a red mane and red eyes.

"Hey. The Commander never gave me your name."

"Silver… My name's Silver Bit."

"I'm Orion. You okay?"

"My boy friend's dead, and my business is being seized by your boss. How do you think?" Silver said; her voice still raspy from holding back her sobs. She hated crying. It made her feel like she was some little filly that scraped her knee. She never wanted empathy from anypony, despite her always being willing to give it.

"Yeah, about that-"

"I know that thing in there isn't him but they told me he was dead."

"They said that to make you mad. They feed on emotions. The one that was with you was feeding on love. A few minutes ago they were feeding on fear and hate. But-"

"What were those things anyways?"

"Changelings. They're creatures that live at the edges of Equestria. We've been hunting them for some time now. They-"

"Why me? Why'd they choose me?"

"If you'd let me finish what I'm saying for once. They look for ponies that either have been in love for a long time or have just started. From there they suck all of the love from the relationship. If they can't do that, they rape and murder to feed on fear and the hate of the ones effected. They normally suck all of the blood from a victim to gain all of their memories."

"So?"

"So, you said that Tiber acted differently? Forgetting what he normally wouldn't?"

"Yeah?" Silver started connecting the dots. "He's still alive?"

"They've been having a hard time finding ponies to hurt thanks to us so they keep hostages to feed on. It's not hard to believe that he's still alive."

"I have to go find him." Silver said standing up from the curb waiting for somepony to point her in the direction of the hive.

"It's not that simple. We've been hunting them for about a year now and we've only narrowed it down to somewhere near the Badlands."

"Take me there now."

"You know that's at the southernmost tip of Equestria right?"

"I don't care. I'm not letting one of my friends be hurt like this."

"Okay, let me rephrase this. You are asking me to take you to the Badlands. Land of the Dragons, and where the worst monsters leave Tartarus. You want me to take you there? From here that's a month's travel on hoof."

"You're in the military. You should have unlimited resources right?"

"We're not the Royal Guard. We have to go through two Princesses' instead of one. And we're not exactly on Celestia's sunny side."

"Then we hoof it."

"Okay you're insane."

"If they're in the Badlands we should be able to find them."

"Even if you find their hive, that's no guarantee that your boyfriend will still be alive by then."

"I'm not letting somepony else go through this. I'm going and I need somepony to come with me."

"I'm not diverting resources to save your-"

"Then have somepony come with me. I only need one pony for backup."

"I can't authorize anypony to follow you to the Badlands."

"Then I'll go on my own." Silver let the blanket fall from her shoulders as she walked back into the shop.

A mix of Guards and cops combed the area for evidence that would help them find the location of the hive but Silver knew that would take too long. She pushed past them all and into her office. She stepped on the head of the changeling that had pretended to be Tiber and over to the wall where she kept the claws. If worse came to worse, she'd use those in a fight. If she could writer her name with them, she could snap a neck or two with more force than her hoofs could muster.

With the claws now a fixed to her shoulders, she walked back out and grabbed two rifles from the gun rack along with a powder horn and saddle bags full of ammunition packets. Just as she left the shop, Orion stopped her again.

"You're can't do this." He said putting his hoof in her chest.

Silver reached her left claw around and clamped down on his foreleg. "Watch me."

She used the mechanized muscle to move his hoof off of her and then walked past him.

"I mean, you can't track them down. You don't know how."

"Then I'll comb all of Equestria until I find them."

"Let me be a bit more blunt." Orion said stepping in front of her again. "You don't know how to track. My talent is tracking. Changelings are my specialty."

"So? You said you wouldn't help. So I'm going on my own."

"No. I said I couldn't authorize anypony to go with you. Commander Nexus ordered me to."

"How'd you get word to him so fast?"

"Radio transceiver." He said pointing to his right ear. "I called him and told him what you were planning on doing, so he assigned me to help you."

"Why?"

"Nexus doesn't like collateral damage. He's always told us that if we ever go to war that we leave the civilians alone. It's not acceptable in his book."

"So you're just going to follow me?"

"No. I'm going to lead you to the hive. If I can hang on to their trail long enough we should be able to find where in the Badlands they are this time."

"What'd you mean, this time?"

"I've always lost the trail just after the border of the Badlands. If we can get there in less than a month, the trail might still be fresh enough for me to follow it."

"And you're up for this?"

"I have my own score to settle with those things. Like it or not, you're the one who's following me."

"Fine. But we run into trouble, we're handling it my way."

"And your way is?"

"Putting a lead ball in its breast. What else?"

"Subtle."

Orion walked slightly faster than Silver and started towards the bay.

"'So. You have a plan or are we just going to walk?"

Orion's horn glowed a dark green color and he looked to either side of the street. "Changelings aren't too bright. They just know the basic location of everything and when told, they follow visual cues. The trail leads to the bay so they followed the ocean. We follow that as fast as we can, we find their bases of operations, then we make our way to the Badlands. Easy peezy."

"That easy?"

"Yep."

"Okay. So if you're yellow and red, why's your aura green?"

"It's the spell. The tracking spell makes it green. Normally it's light red."

"Oh. Is that the only spell you know?"

"The only important one. Let's just get moving. We'll rest at noon and continue until dawn."

"You want to travel at night?"

"They don't see well at night. Enough light and they're blind for a moment. They don't sleep so their eyes adjust to the light slowly."

"That's why you can see their eyes in low light."

"Yeah. White circles of eyes underneath their blue lenses."

"It's creepy."

"You have no idea."

Author's Notes:

Nexus: Kinda short ain't it?
Me: Set up my ponysona, pure set up.
Nexus: I still don't get why you put these in the notes.
Me: Because, it's entertaining and I couldn't think of anything else to put in here.
Nexus: But what-.... Ponysona?
Me: Someone on Deviant Art used it so I thought I'd give it a shot.
Nexus: Never do that again.
Me: Don't have to tell me twice.

The Journey: Part 1

The two of them stayed in awkward silence until dawn. And since they started at early twilight, they'd been walking for about twelve hours. They stopped for supplies at a camping store close to the bay and got enough supplies for two people for a week. Orion had said they'd reach Ponyville by the time the food ran out. Every mile or so, Orion would lose the train but find it again with his spell. Apparently it had a time limit as to how long he could do it. Silver never got a glimpse of his cutie mark for some reason. It was covered by his dark blue armor. He said it was a magnifying glass over green fire but Silver wasn't really in a trusting mood.

She'd seen him levitate a few things and saw that the natural aura was, as he said, a light red but that his signature spell came across as green. Every few hours, he'd tap his ear and talk to Nexus through the small transceiver in his ear, telling him about their process. She still had her doubts about Orion. He was quiet otherwise. He was a lot nicer when he wasn't going with her, or she was going with him. At dawn, he checked the map and lit his horn with a green glow. starting to move more to the west. Silver checked her own compass and knit her brow.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought we were following the coast?" She asked following Orion.

"We are. But Ponyville is a few hundred miles this way and we need to stop off there. Unless you want to cross the desert without food or water."

"Why do we have to that?"

"Because, the only other place to stop then is Dodge or Appaloosa." Depending on if we walked past Dodge."

"Doesn't Ponyville connect directly to Dodge by the rails?"

"Yeah. We'll take the train to Dodge, then to Appaloosa before continuing on foot. If we didn't it'd take a year to cross Equestria."

"Good point."

"Plus, if we just went straight south, we'd have to go through the Everfree Forest."

"What's so bad about that?"

"Nopony really knows what's in there. Celestia and Luna's old castle is there, but other than that, we don't know anything about it."

"Frightening." Silver said sarcastically.

"Commander Nexus spent two months in there hiding from Equestria. He fought off manticores on a weekly basis."

"He did?"

"That's the scuttlebutt of it anyways. It was two years ago and he's not one to talk about the past."

"What about you? You said you had a score to settle with the changelings. What exactly did they do to you?"

"Trust me. You don't want to know."

"Believe me, I want to."

Orion stopped in his tracks and Silver nearly bumped into him. "When I was twelve, changelings covertly invaded Canterlot. These weren't the normal kind; they were a rare breed that literally sucked the love out of ponies along with their blood. They tore down my home and killed both of them in front of me. After that the Commander found after I had run away to Ponyville. He took me in and taught me magic and Luna showed me how to track changelings. I've been working for him ever since."

"And that's why you want to hunt them down? They killed your family?"

"Not all. I met this filly in Ponyville that needed somepony to look after her."

"What does she have to do with anything?"

"She is a changeling. Converted. She was too young to do any harm but everypony hated her."

"Again, why is she important?"

A smile started creeping across his face as he spoke. "I more or less adopted her. After I got recalled to Canterlot, she moved with me. I leave her with The Commander's maid whenever I leave for a mission. It's rare but sometimes I'm the only one for the job."

Silver started to like this side of him, the nicer, less broody side. "What's her name?"

"Eclipse. She's the most adorable little girl ever."

"What's she look like?"

"Black coat, purple mane, violate eyes. She never grew wings so she's just got a normal horn. She even has some freckles on her muzzle." Orion said with a chuckle.

Silver was really starting to enjoy this side a lot more than when they had started this journey. He acted like she'd always been his real daughter. For the next eight hours, Silver had Orion tell story after story of his little girl. He'd found her two years ago when she was six. He sympathized with her, seeing as she had more or less been tormented by the other foals for being who she was, and started with just letting her stay with him, but he eventually got all of the papers to legally make her his step daughter.

After that, Eclipse really lightened up and started acting like a normal girl. She's been a regular girl ever since; going to school, learning magic and other skills, playing with the few friends she can find and getting use to her new environment in Canterlot. By midday she couldn't even walk anymore. She had no idea how far they'd traveled but she did know that she needed to sleep. From his saddle bags, Orion pitched two tents. As soon as the first one was up, Silver threw her small cot into it and practically passed out. Orion only chuckled before making his and giving himself a restful sleep as well.

Night came quickly. Silver hated that. True, she wasn't getting much sleep to begin with considering it was broad daylight but she was able to drift off for a few hours before tossing and turning trying to fall back asleep. Orion didn't have an issue at all. It might have been a part of the training to work on such little sleep and remain nocturnal but that was beyond her. Silver helped Orion break down the camp before following him south west.

For the next five days, they kept to that schedule; only stopping to eat, refill canteens in creeks and streams and to take care of private business. When they reached Ponyville's northern border, Silver Bit was elated. They crossed a bridge into the small town. Though, for a small town, the whole place seemed to be bustling. Ponies walked in and out of shops and tended small gardens next to the dirt roads. They first stopped to resupply at the street market before finding a small motel near the center of town.

Silver checked into her own room as Orion caught up with somepony who recognized him. The rooms weren't that nice, but it was better than a piece of cloth on top of two sticks. Silver didn't hesitate to fall face first into to the sheets and fall straight asleep. She still didn't have an easy time staying asleep. It was like her body was giving her the minimal amount of rest she needs to function before her mind tells her that it's time to move, it's daylight after all.

She could never tell how much time had passed. She knew about a minute after laying down she had to throw her two rifles and saddle bags onto the floor for comfort. She could remember going to sleep for what felt like two hours but woke up five minutes later. After that she'd just fall asleep again and then it would feel like seconds before the time skipped ahead an hour.

After another bout of seconds turning into hours, a harsh knock came at her door. Silver lazily sat up and rolled out of the bed. She opened the door with a yawn and greeted the pony on the other side.

"Hey Orion. What's up?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

"It's almost dusk, we should get moving. We have a long walk ahead of us."

Silver didn't question it as she threw her supplies over her shoulders before exiting. She returned her card and paid the mare at the counter before following Orion towards what she assumed was the south side of town. As they passed Market Street, something clicked in Silver Bit's head.

"Wait. You said we'd be taking the train to Dodge and then to Appaloosa right?"

"Change of plans. The trains are delayed so we have to cut through the Everfree Forest and hope we don't run into anything before the desert."

"We can't survive out there with the supplies we have."

"We'll ration." Orion looked over his shoulder with his gaze past her. "We need to move faster." he said picking up the pace to a mild trot. Silver started to pick up speed as well if something completely out of the ordinary happened.

"Silver! Don't move!" Orion shouted from the other side of Market Street.

Silver Bit turned fast to see the bright yellow and red unicorn standing on the other side of the street. The Orion that had followed turned and seemed to stumble for a moment. Silver hesitated as well and then drew one of her muskets. She drew the hammer back to full cock and took aim at the second Orion before turning to the first one. Everypony saw her draw her weapon and scattered.

"Silver don't listen to that thing. It's a changeling! You have to believe me. It's leading you into a trap." The second one pleaded as she turn the weapon to him again.

"Silver, we have to move. If there's one of them there'll be more behind him." The first Orion said making her turn once more.

"Don't listen to it! You know I wouldn't take anypony through the Everfree Forest. You have to believe me."

"Silver!"

"Both of you shut up before I blow both of your heads off!" Silver shouted in anger.

She didn't know who to believe. This could've been a trap from the beginning and the first Orion was going to get her killed, or the second Orion was telling the truth. Her first thought was to ask somepony about the train schedule, but seeing as they all scattered, that wasn't going to happen. A quiz would suffice.

"Okay then. I'm going to ask three questions and first to answer all three correctly won't get blown away. Got it?"

"Yes." they said in unison.

Off the top of her head she could only think of one thing that she knew about Orion. "Okay, first question. Do you have a kid?"

"A step daughter." They both said.

"What's her name?"

"Eclipse." they both said again.

Okay this had better work or she'd have to shoot herself. "What race is she?"

"Converted changeling." they both said.

Faust be damned. The two of them groaned at the end of the questions. Both exactly the same.

What was she suppose to do now? It was obvious that they both knew what they were talking about. Considering he adopted a changeling as a daughter they should keep up with him, but she didn't think they'd be this good at impersonation seeing as how the first one didn't know anything other than her name and where she lived. What was she going to do now? She could start asking more specifics; but more than likely they would do what they just did. What could make her certain that one wasn't who they were?

Then it hit her. "Okay. Now I have a test. You see that apple over their?" She said pointing to the fruit stand across from her. "Levitate it."

"Easy." the first Orion scoffed. His horn glowed green and the apple lifted off of the cart.

Just as a smile crossed his face, he looked over to see Silver with her rifle aimed right at him. And before he could react, Silver pulled the trigger and let loose the lead ball. The round projectile landed right in between its eyes. The head snapped back and a green slime poured from the wound as it fell back in ball of green fire. As its body came to rest, the flames cleared revealing the changeling it was. Orion, the real one, ran up next to Silver and stopped as she reloaded the rifle.

"But-how'd you know?" Orion said baffled.

"Easy. Your aura isn't green."

"But-"

"That's only when you use the spell. The rest of the time its red." Silver looked him over and saw a puncture wound on his left foreleg. "I guess they took some of your blood?"

"Yeah." He said looking down at the still bleeding wound. "Like I said, once they get that, they know everything about you."

Orion levitated some gauze from Silver's saddle bags and wrapped the puncture to keep it from getting infected. Once Silver finished reloading her rifle and Orion grabbed his bags off of of the changeling, the ponies from the market started to peak out of their corners and homes just as the police arrived. They quickly took the body away and Market Street closed for investigation.

Not wanting any attention, Orion lead Silver to the train station where they quickly hopped the only train in the station, going straight to Dodge.

Author's Notes:

Nexus: You're a retard.
Me: Hey I mess up putting up the chapter. We all make mistakes anyways.
Nexus: I'm better at that kind of thing though.
Me: Just go back to your dimension. I've been having a bad day

The Journey Part 2

The train rides to both Dodge and Appaloosa were smooth and uninterrupted. Thank Faust. Silver probably couldn't take being attacked again without some kind of rest. How soldiers did that she'd never know. But that aside, when they reached Appaloosa, They started across the desert. There was a trail leading south through their apple orchard. The mayor did warn them of the Buffalo Nation. Though they had settled their issues with them, they didn't like ponies trekking their land.

Silver bit and her guide, Orion, hadn't talked since they left Ponyville. He was back to being silent as they made their way across the plains. The desert wasn't hot considering it was night, but the cold was something Silver wasn't accustom to. She never liked the cold. But the word outside was always more beautiful when there was a chill in the air: Snow falling, leaves in the fall, flower buds in the spring; all beautiful and when the air was colder. And the night was no different. The vast expanse of stars stretching out into the infinite was breath taking. They covered the sky completely this far from city lights. They formed ribbons that looked like they tied the earth to the moon, like Princess Luna was never far away. And the moon, the full moon the silver sphere where the ribbons came from. The creators forming the Mare in the Moon formation, another reminder that Luna was watching over them.

The idea was comforting to Silver. She'd always been able to hold her own but over the past few days, she wasn't sure she'd even get this far on her own. Silver looked to the desert ground, the hard clay beneath her hoofs was covered in the pale blue sheet from the moon. The wind was lightly blowing at their backs so it didn't feel like wind until they stopped for whatever reason. Whispers flowed in the wind like the gentle sounds of a lost lover assuring you you're safe.

"You hear that?" Silver Bit asked.

"What?" Orion asked.

"That whispering."

"You hear whispering?"

"Yeah. It's nice."

"That's cool."

"It's not strange to you?"

"I hear them too."

"Really?"

"Every night. The Commander told me that it's the fallen soldiers watching over us in times of trouble."

"Fallen soldiers?"

"Yeah. He says that each pony in the Evening Guard has ancestors that were in the old Armada. We're not made, we're born. We're all natural soldiers."

"That makes no sense."

"Hey, believe what you want but this makes us stronger. We're all connected by our lineage."

Silver rolled her eyes and continued to try to keep pace. "So does that mean I'm one of you?"

"Either that or you're insane."

"What if you're insane?"

"Well then I'll be happy being crazy."

Silver giggled and looked back to the sky and full moon as they walked. She kept Orion's yellow coat in her peripheral vision to keep from getting lost in the desert. The whispers continued for what seemed like an hour before changing from calming to urgent. They weren't coming from around her anymore, they were coming from her right. She looked away from the sky and snapped her neck left and saw two white dots sitting on a hill under a cover of shadow just ahead of them. She stopped at the same time as Orion and looked straight to the hill intently waiting for the dots to move.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is…" Silver said a bit nervous.

More dots started popping up in pairs across the dark hill until they covered the face completely.

"Unfortunately for us, it is."

One Pony Raid Part 1

The changelings didn't waste any time and neither did Silver Bit and Orion. Orion cut down changeling after changeling with dark magic attacks and Silver used her two musket shots with a deadly accuracy. With no time to reload her weapons, she had to resort to using her second musket as a club. With every swing, she broke into their skulls and scattered their brains or knocked their heads clean off their brittle necks. Silver could feel her limbs getting weaker and weaker as the fight went on. Each swing taking more and more out of her as more and more Changelings came to kill them.

Orion was doing well, his talent seemed to also include killing changelings as well as hunting them. His spell could disintegrate a changeling almost instantly. On more than one occasion he saved her with it but things were getting more and more intense. After what seemed like an eternity, and just as suddenly as they appeared, they ran. The bodies of their brother's and sister's littered the desert and their green blood wet the sand. Silver fell to her knees in relief and Orion sighed rubbing his head.

"We need to get moving." Silver said standing up and throwing her rifles over her shoulders. "While the trail is fresh."

"No." Orion said bluntly. "They're going towards Las Pegasus. The opposite direction of the trail we're following. They're trying to take us off track. We must be getting close to the Badlands."

"How do you know that?"

"It's what I'd would do."

"Huh?"

"Always assume your enemy is as smart, or smarter than yourself. If I were Chrysalis, and I knew somepony was coming for me, I'd try and lead them the other way."

"So we follow where they came from and not where they're going?"

"That's the idea." Orion looked to the east and saw daylight starting to break. "We should start moving west. If we can get along the ocean then we can get more water."

"We can't drink salt water. It would make our situation worse."

"Not if you have a filter for the water. If I'm right about where we are we should be there by the end of the day today. Let's go."

"Can't we rest?"

Orion looked back at her with a surprised look on his face. "You should know that if we stay here we'll be in the sun longer than we have to. At the coast at the least we can get some shade as we continue south. Let's go."

Silver Bit groaned and started after Orion. They walked unimpeded for hours, only stopping to drink and have some of the rations they brought with them. Silver could feel the sun on her back as it rose over them. At this point they'd reached the part of Equestria that nothing lived. South of the Badlands was Mianica; Silver only knew that because that's where the first Daring Do was set. Bellow that, no pony had ever explored that far south. No pony dared to even try. Hell, most don't try going to the Badlands but this was a special exception.

Silver and Orion reached the edge of a forest just before night fall after traveling south west for what seemed like an eternity. Not even Orion could fake not being tired. They set up camp and decided to go south west more tomorrow morning and hope that they don't run into anything troublesome. Orion checked the map and said they'd made it to the edge of the Haystead Swamps. The water wouldn't be drinkable unless it was filtered properly but it would make due for now. Just after Orion went to sleep, Silver was unable to. Something was off about this place.

She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it but something was off kilter. The world around them wasn't as noisy as she'd expected. Even at the edge of the swamp they should be able to hear the loud creatures that live there. Like the toads and such. She could hear them faintly but after venturing from camp to relieve herself, she found the rest of it. It was obvious they were up wind of it because it smelled atrocious! And the sounds were a long ways away. It wasn't reassuring. It was like the animals were like, "Hey, they're fucked. Let's stay as far away from them as possible."

The thought actually made her a bit paranoid. Something could be lurking behind her and she wouldn't ever know it. It kept her up and made it impossible to even consider sleeping. And another thing that didn't help was being so close to the Badlands. The Great Dragon Migration was about a month ago so that wouldn't be a problem right?...Right? She really didn't want to find out that she was wrong about that.

A rustle! She heard a rustle behind her. She knew she did. Silver started to back away from it and towards what she hoped was east. She turned and bolted as a rustle came a few feet to her right. Her heart rate increased and her mind raced. The old stories of the Headless Horse and things her cousin would tell her on Nightmare Night started coming to mind. Never being heard from again, a horseshoe being the only thing left of her. She couldn't take it!

She was afraid. She didn't want to be here anymore. This was too much! Just too much! She had to get out of here! Silver Bit ran faster and faster until she tried going in-between two trees and stopped cold. She jolted forward then fell flat on her stomach. Looking back she could see nothing approaching but that didn't make her feel any less afraid. She could see one of her muskets bent and broken.

She'd completely forgotten that she still had them on her shoulders. Silver threw the broken one off and pulled the good one off of her back. She'd reloaded it a while ago but made sure of it before pulling the hammer back to full cock. She quickly started scanning the area for anything that could hurt her before pushing the hammer back down and kept running. She was more than done with this place, she was hoping it would burn to the ground in a lightning storm.

She kept running. She didn't know how long she'd been running for at this point but she was hoping that she could find her way out of here. She was too afraid to care anymore, she just wanted to get out. She stopped running just as she entered a clearing. It wasn’t any clearing though, it was the the size of a small town. It was huge! Small dirt mounds sat all around the clearing, some much larger than others. Silver started moving further into the clearing until something caught her attention at the other end of the clearing. A hollow oak tree the size of a Manehatten skyscraper stood with a green glow coming from holes in the bark. High pitched whispers flowed through the entire clearing. They were terrifying to her; menacing. Silver turned and found Orion standing with her broken rifle in a red aura and a look of concern on his face.

"Hey. What are you-" Orion looked behind her and his concern turned to fear. "Shit, get down!" he said shoving Silver down behind a dirt mound nearby.

"What? What is it?"

"Do you know what you just ran to?"

"No… I was running."

"That's a hive!"

"A hive?"

"A changeling base out. They use caves mostly but this has changeling written all over it."

"That's where they are?"

"We were going to need to call this in. We're going to need back up."

Silver would've been content to waiting if a certain light brown earth pony hadn't crossed her mind. "How long will that take?" She said urgently.

"From where we are now, about two hours."

"Two hours? They'll find out we're here before they get here."

"It took four platoons to even make a dent in their defenses once before. Two ponies would die before they even got to the front door."

"We have to do something."

"We are. We're calling them in The Commander. He can tear down half of this place on his own. We need him."

"Has anypony tried taking a hive on their own?"

"They were kids that thought they won't die doing it. In short, no pony will go in there and live."

"What about Tiber? He could be in there!"

"Tiber's not my priority. Not just anypony can even do this without some serious help."

Silver was tired of this. Orion dropped her broken rifle and put a hoof up to his right ear. Before he could get a word out, Silver Bit grabbed the butt of the broken rifle and slammed it into the back of the yellow unicorn's head. He yelped in pain and surprise as his world slipped into black.

"Well I'm not like anypony." Silver put her remaining good rifle in her teeth and started towards the hive.

One Pony Raid Part 2

Silver was glad she'd snuck out of her shop with the mechanical claws. She clamped them down onto her abdomen and didn't budge from the static-like shock that magically attached it to her nerves. She'd lifted a small anvil with some strain back in the shop but she wasn't sure they could help her up the nearly branchless bark of the tree, but if there was a chance of getting Tiber out of there she was taking it. With as much force as she could muster, she buried the right claw up to the wrist into the tree. She put the left in higher up and planted her hoofs onto the tree and lifted herself off of the ground. She stuck to the tree without any obvious issue.

It was working, it was actually working! She pulled the right claw out and lifted it above the left and then dug it into the bark. Using both her legs and the arms, she pulled herself up a step and then repeated the process with the left claw. Slowly but surely, she started going up the dead tree. The sky above her was a dark gray; the dead branches looked black lightning spreading across the background of the sky. The air was getting colder as she got higher and the wind got stronger. Her rifle was still clenched tightly in her teeth as a branch loomed in front of her.

A hole big enough for a pony sat under the root of the branch with a dark green glow emanating from inside. Silver could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins as her heart rate kept going up; not from exhaustion, but fear. She had no idea what she'd find on the inside of the dead tree, but she was certain it would either kill her or turn her into-

"Alright, this isn't helping." She thought to herself as she put her forelegs around the branch.

She peered into the hold and was amazed at what she saw. Wall upon wall were covered in shelves of books. Some looked scorched while others were covered in dust and cobwebs. Silver swung her hindlegs into the hole and took her rifle out of her mouth with her left hoof. She slowly took her other foreleg off of the branch and let her claws take her weight. She was amazed that they were holding her up as well as they were.

With a bit more strain, she pulled herself through the hole in the tree and down the wall. As soon as her hoofs hit the floor, she stopped cold. She didn't know what to expect to begin with, but what she saw made her blood freeze in her veins. A green and black cocoon looking object sat right in front of her. The green was the dominate color while the black was more like webbing across the surface on four sides. Inside, the glowing form of a pony floated in a thick liquid that held them in place.

Their coat was pitch black, insect like wings were just starting to form, the mane and tail had turned into an oily fish-like thing and the horn was hardly misshapen. This wasn't some small foul neither, it was a fully grown stallion inside the cocoon. Silver Bit felt the old foul temptation to poke it and see what happened but the more logical side of her told her to get a move on ASAP. She shimmied past the cocoon and followed the book shelves on her right wall. to the left was a dead drop several stories down.

She was too high up to see clearly but she could see several changelings buzzing back and forth. She still wasn't sure she could do this, she was tempted to just turn and jump back out the window and leave everything behind her but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Praise Faust that she found a stair case. Though it didn't look sturdy, it was a way down. Silver peered over the railing and could see the spiral staircase leading almost all the way down to the ground floor. There were several holes and rotted portions that were completely impassable unless you could teleport or fly. And seeing as how changelings could do both, she could see why this wasn't an issue.

Those spots were also out in the open. True, she wasn't well hidden as it was anyways, but she was hoping that nopony would see her as she started to make her way down. Silver creeped down the stairs as the quiet, high pitched, screeching echoed throughout the tree. The sound was completely unnerving and horrendous. It was like a white noise machine that mimicked the sounds of crying fouls, nails on glass and chalk boards at the same time and that sound when you move your straw in a fast food cup all rolled into one. It made her ears hurt and her head throb.

It only got worse the further down she went. She was only half way down the stairs and she was ready to pass out from the headache the sound was causing.

"Quiet my children." A mare said calmly. Her voice sounded like it was being run through a water filter as she spoke. "Quiet now. I understand you are all hungry but we only have but so much to give. We shall be well fed soon enough."

Silver crouched low and peaked through a hole in the railing. Silver was appalled at what she saw. A tall, highly deformed mare stood in the center of the main lobby. Her mane was the same as a normal changeling only much longer. Her eyes were green and sharp as knives; it was as though she could look through Silver without even trying. Her horn was about as long as one of the Princess' but looked like it had been drilled through and bent in every way possible to try and make it straight again.

"In the coming weeks," she continued. "We shall finally have our grip on this land. Ponies shall quiver in fear of our army and that fear will fuel us. With Cadence in the Crystal Empire now, Canterlot is wide open for attack."

"Canterlot?" Silver whispered to herself.

She instantly regretted even making a noise as the tall changeling's head snapped to where she was hiding. Silver's heart jumped into her throat and she started back up the stairs as fast as she could.

"Dinner has arrived my children." the tall changeling said.

Right after that, Silver felt her body become weightless as she slowly came to a stop while still trying to run. Silver reeled around and took aim at the tall changeling.

"Out me down or eat lead!" Silver shouted trying to sound intimidating.

"Oh? Go ahead."

Silver didn't hesitated to pull the trigger. The sound of the gun shot bounced off of the walls of the tree as the musket ball left the end of the barrel. After it left the muzzle, it went with a green aura trail instead of the usual trail of smoke. The musket ball quickly came to a stop; like it had been shot into a pool of water as it floated down to the floor two stories bellow.

"Did you really aspect that to work you little foul?" the tall changeling said with a grin. "You are in my domain now. I must say it is a surprise that our dinner would come every so willingly."

"Let me go!" Silver shouted as the changeling lowered her down to the floor.

"I can feel your fear. It's simply divine."

"Let me go and tell me what you did with Tiber!"

"Tiber? You mean…" she stepped aside to show Tiber being held by his legs in the black web with several bruises and bite marks across his body. "Him?"

"Let him go! Or-"

"Or what? You'll shoot me again?"

"That's-" Silver reached back into her saddle bags to grab another shot, but found that she couldn't find any rolls of ammo.

"Well what do you know? No more bullets."

Silver turned back to face the creature standing before her. "Who are you?"

"I am Queen Chrysalis, and these are my children." She said waving a hoof around the room.

Silver Bit could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she saw the changelings approaching from all sides.

"You see, thanks to Celestia, we've been nearly starved for food. And I'm sure little Cutler told you of our form of sustenance?"

Silver nodded still not being able to move. "Then I'm sure you know what comes next."

"Not a chance."

"Oh really? I can-"

"I know. Feel my fear. But that won't stop me. Fear is powerful, but it all depends on how you control it. So what if I'm afraid? That doesn't mean I can't kick your royal ass."

"Is that so? Well then, I suppose you wouldn't mind if I asked your little friend how he feels?"

Chrysalis walked over to Tiber and removed his restraints. He fell limply into a field of magic and she levitated him out in front of her.

"He means something to you doesn't he? You've come this far for something."

"Let him go and you can have me."

"Deal."

"Silver… Don-"

Tiber was cut off by his neck turning one hundred and eighty degrees with a sickening snap. If his body was limp before, it was wet spaghetti now. Silver Bit's heart stopped as Chrysalis dropped his lifeless body to the floor. She felt the weight of the magic holding her down leave and she ran to him with the musket still clutched in her left hoof. She leaned on the barrel of the rifle as she knelt down next to him with tears in her eyes. She held back as much sobbing that she could as every emotion she could think surged through her. Sadness, fear, dread, anger, hate; all of it at once.

"Do you still think you can control your emotions? I must say they are delightful."

"Y-You whore. I'll-fucking-end you!" Silver jumped up holding her musket by the barrel and swung it like a club right at Chrysalis' neck.

She wasn't expecting such a strong reaction from Silver; she didn't have time to dodge. The stock slammed into her neck. Chrysalis cried out and every changeling lunged in her direction. Silver wheeled around and homeruned the closest changing. Another changeling tackled her from behind just before she could swing again. She struggled to turn over and knock her attacker off but was completely pined, that didn't stop her.

There was a sudden clap of thunder that sounded like it came from right next to her and the weight of her attacked vanished with only a static feeling in the air.

"Captain. I would say it was a pleasure but I'm afraid I have to run." Chrysalis said.

Silver picked her head up and saw Chrysalis break down the side of the tree and bolt. As soon as she did so, the entire tree started to shake. Looking up, she could see the other changelings doing the same. Silver got to two legs and would have gone after Chrysalis if a dark blue aura enveloped her and pulled her out.

"No time!" a somewhat familiar stallion's voice shouted as she was pulled to the door. "This whole place is coming down!"

Silver struggled against the telekinetic hold of the Captain as the hole that Chrysalis went through got further and further away. The rest was a blur of rotten wood and dark colored ponies as the whole tree collapsed on itself.

What Now?

The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds. Silver Bit was pulled away from the collapsing tree by Commander Nexus as it fell and the whole area was covered in branches, bark and books that were unreadable after the collapse. The dust settled heavily over the clearing and a large radius outside of it. The Evening Guard were quick about putting a shield over the area and picking the whole thing apart. Nexus stood in the center shouting orders like the Captain stereotypical soldier he was. Silver on the other hoof sat with a blanket around her shoulders as everypony worked furiously. After Nexus finished doing something that Silver could care less about, he trotted over and sat down next to her.

"I suppose an you okay wouldn't cover it?" Nexus asked not making eye contact.

Silver didn't care, she was staring down at the ground. "You're bedside manner needs work."

"Yeah, I've never been that good at this kind of thing." Nexus looked to her and saw she wasn't looking at him. "Look, it's never easy losing somepony you're close to you. And I hate collateral damage. If we could save them all then we would but sometimes there's nothing we can do. That in it of itself is hard on me."

"Why? You're a soldier; death is an every other day thing for you."

"Just because I'm a soldier doesn't mean I'm without a heart. I lose friends every time I go out on a mission like this. There's nothing more dreadful than seeing less ponies come back to a room then when they left. Then there's writing the note to the next of kin. You're family member, during a raid on a changeling encampment was unfortunately killed in action by some horrible means. Here's a metal and a flag. We're sorry for your loss. I hate those letters so much. Hell, I have one written for myself just as generic."

"Why do you have one for yourself?"

"Because when you're in my line of work, you're never guaranteed tomorrow. And if I don't then somepony will and they'll ham it up."

"I don't think-"

"You'd be surprised what my Lieutenant can come up with when he's stressed. I still wonder why he's my second in command."

Silver stiffed back a giggle. "So what happens now?"

"We keep fighting. What else?"

"I want her head."

"Hm?"

"Chrysalis, I want to rip her head off."

"Revenge isn't always the answer. But if its changeling blood you want, then I can give it to you."

"How?"

"Hold on."

Nexus looked up towards the shield around them and pinched his lower lip with his teeth. He took in a sharp breath and let out a powerful whistle and echoed for what could have been miles. There was a silence for a moment then a sudden shriek, louder than Nexus' whistle, replied. What looked like a comet made of stars shot from the trees and towards the shield. With no resistance, the object passed through the shield and started in an upward arc towards them. As it got closer wings flapped and it began to slow.

Once the object slowed down, Silver realized it wasn't an object, it was a bird. A black and purple bird emanating a dark blue energy that shimmered like the stars in the sky. Nexus extended his right mechanical wings. The beautiful bird landed on the top and folded its wings and squawked happily.

"What is that?" Silver asked.

"This is my pet Nightmare Phoenix, Raven Wing. Say hi to Silver Bit buddy." the phoenix leaned over to Silver and nuzzled her with a content coo. "He's a people person. Anyways, the great thing about phoenixes is that they can fly fast enough to beat even the fastest pegasus or carrier pigeon so I use him for my most important letters."

"What does this-"

"I'm not done. Now that he has your scent, he can find you anywhere in the world. I won't use him if you don't agree to what I have to say."

"What is it?"

"I can promise you the death of Chrysalis, but I can't grantee that you'll be the one to kill her. But, if a time comes that I need you before then, I'll send Raven Wing."

"What do you want me to do?" Silver asked wary of the offer.

"When I call on you, can I count on you to fight at my side against the changelings? If I call you, it means we're going after her. But if you do go, I can't guarantee that you'll come back alive. But if we stumble upon her before then and we are able to kill her then I will send Raven Wing with a letter telling you so. So, are you in?"

Silver knit her brow for a moment. Revenge was all she wanted, not a full military deal. And the possibility of dying… That's almost always a deal breaker. But after what she's gone through the past few weeks, she was sure that she wasn't going to turn and run when trouble came up.

"I'm in."

"Are you sure about this? Like I said, death is a strong possibility. Doesn't that scare you?"

"Fear has hit me hard the past few weeks. But no matter how afraid you can get, no matter what you fear, if you can channel it to help you thrive, then anything is possible."

"I'm glad to hear you say that. We'll be in touch. Cutler!"

"Yes sir?" Orion said trotting over.

"Get a chariot and Silver Bit home safe."

"Yes sir. Let's go Silver."

"Alright. I'll be waiting Commander." Silver said getting up.

As Silver walked with Orion, all she could think about was making that thing pay for what she'd done to her. There was no way she'd let this go without somepony getting their neck broken. But what'll happen when the time comes? Her raid was nearly fatal. But to her, that was a bridge that needed to be crossed when she got to it. And in a few months time, she would see that the bridge was much more unstable than she thought.

To be Continued…

Author's Notes:

Nexus: So she works for me now?
Me: Yeah. That's obvious.
Nexus: So she's the Element of Courage?
Me: As much as you're the Element of Honor.
Nexus: Is this conversation going to be this cut and dry?
Me: Ayup.
Nexus: Don't do that again.
Me: I'm southern. Kind of what we say. Anyways. Thank y'all so much for reading. I hope you liked it and be sure to check out The Elements of Freedom to see what happens to them all. And as always; As you were and Stay Brony My Friends.
Nexus: Live, love, tolerate.
Me: When did you have an outro?
Nexus: Since now.
Me: Well alright then.