Ledger leaned back in his seat, stretching out to each side with his arms and relaxing into the cushions that formed the chair behind him. He closed his eyes and let his head lean back, fully hoping to get the most of this comfort. His right arm brushed across the satin cloth next to him, moving up and down the rest of the bench that he sat upon. He smiled to himself, enjoying it as best he could with the occasional jolting bump that would echo through the wooden body of the chariot. He sighed softly after one such event, far too low for anyone to here him, and reminisced about cars.

He really hadn't cared about them before, his brothers were mechanics and they knew far more about them then he ever did. To him it was just a means of transportation. But he now found himself wishing that his current means of transportation was that of a car, instead of this carriage. Satin or not, the bumps would never let him enjoy it for long, and then there was entirely different matter of how it was so much slower. Of course, in his current line of work, he often wished for an even slower transport, just so he would have a little bit more time before he had to do what he was hired for.

His attire was a fine purple suit of excellent weave, but even beyond that it was enchanted. The cloth wasn't rough, but solid, and it had the blessing of his employer carried through the stitches. It was hungry, a leech of the Aether, and it would protect him from any force of magic that sought to harm him by devouring it whole. It was common attire among those who worked for the queen, but what had been a handicap to keep others in line turned into a powerful armor for him. A kind of armor that the queen would not let go unwatched. She'd bound a leyline of power through her spell, and with the smallest whim could pull it out and turn the suit into nothing more than colorful rags.

A fact that he was always quick to remember whenever he felt growing rage towards her. A bad temper he had inherited from his father, and one he fought to curb as often as he could. He had been quick to keep it hidden when he'd been hired though, after seeing what happened to those who didn't. He shivered and forced his mind away from that, back to the satin, back to the comfort, back to the sleek joy of this carriage, and far away from the outside world.

Then the carriage came to a stop, and Ledger was forced to come to terms with reality. He grabbed the log book from the floor of the carriage and tucked it under his arm. He pulled one black leather glove over his hand, then opened the door the carriage before putting the second one on as he walked. He saw the two ponies who had brought his carriage here, bound in reins to the front of the carriage. He wanted to thank them, but he was in the complete wrong position to do so. Truth was, to all the ponies, he was a monstrous slave of Nightmare Moon. And mere words would never change that fact.

He was walking away when he spotted a streak of blood along the side of one of the stallions, and he forced himself to stop. As he approached the stallion a look of horror went through his eyes and he instantly turned his gaze away. Ledger felt a pain in his stomach about the response, but managed to hide it behind a look of indifference. “Is something the matter?” He asked the stallion, wanting only to help.

“No sir, just not use to it is all, I'll make it though. I promise.” There was a shaky fear to the words. Ledger paused. His moral compass tugging him one way and his mind pulling him the other.

“It's just chaffing sir.” Came the voice of the second stallion, and when Ledger looked at him he thought he looked familiar. “Just a dab of healing salve when we get back and he'll be fine.”

A plan came to mind for Ledger, a small plan. A useless plan. But it might actually make a small amount of difference for his troubled heart. “Why not put it on right now?”

“Not allowed to sir, only when we're not working.”

“Well too bad!” Anger welled in Ledger's voice. Or, at least, he hoped it did. “I'm not going to be late on the return trip because some pathetic stallion has a bad chaffing! Put the damned healing salve on him or I'll do it myself!”

“We don't have any currently sir. As I said, we can't use it unless we're not working, no point in packing extra weight.”

“Damn it all Caramel! Go buy some in the town then!” Ledger tossed several coins onto the ground at Caramel's hooves and angrily stomped away, seeing a spark of surprise in Caramel's eyes before he fully turned away. It was, he supposed on his way past the wall and into the town, slightly cheating to use his knowledge of the show for an affect of fear. He also supposed, though, the he didn't care in the slightest due to the nature of his position and the world that he found himself in. Besides, he suspected that his act was certainly good enough to give the stallions pause before they thought of him as a good guy.

He entered the town and immediately smelt campfire mixed with metal, a tell tale signature of a smithy. It was a piercing aroma, and it was certainly powerful, but it was far from the hardest thing to miss about the town. No, that award went to the giant tree house library that covered several houses in shadow due to the sun that was setting behind it. But then... the sun was always setting behind it. He'd been dodging this assignment for a long time now, at least half a year, and he wasn't looking forward to it anymore now than he was then.

He'd been hoping for a long time that all the famous characters had moved away from here, but those had all died away one by one. Now the only thing he wasn't certain of was if Twilight was here, but he knew that the other five definitely were. Ponies pushed themselves to the sides of the streets as he approached, each one having heard that he would be coming, and as they opened up his path he also easily began to spot each of the buildings he didn't want to see.

Sugar Cube Corner, or that's what it had been anyway, now he could see the forge outside it. Mr Cake fueled the flames while Roid Rage formed the steel. Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, were doing their best to cook bread in the fickle flames that licked their pans and cooking materials, forcing sweat out from their skin as they braved the heat. Pinkie's hair, he noted, was short and flat, but whether it had been cut on purpose or burned by the fire was impossible to tell.

He walked past them, keeping his eyes on the road and his log book tucked snugly under his arm. He didn't know if they looked at him as he passed, he hoped they hadn't. Something about being a tool of Nightmare Moon in Pinkie's eyes... it just seemed disturbing and wrong. But, in the end, he was as much a tool of the queen as these ponies were. It occurred to him as he passed that he hadn't seen if Pinkie had her Cutie Mark and he slightly regretted not trying to look for it. For the most part, the cutie marks seemed to be unaffected by this strange world. But he'd seen a few of them take on different meanings, despite having the same image.

He glanced to his right side for a mere moment before returning his gaze to the straight forward. The orchard was still in tact in seemed, he could see the tall bushy trees that he'd expected would mark it. He knew that it wasn't as vibrant. Even after only seeing the green he knew very well this is where the apples he ate came from. Colored like the red in them was dying. Closer to pink than anything else. His step picked up as he walked. He wanted out of here, and he wanted out of here as soon as possible.

Fluttershy's cottage was gone, but with the increase in attacks from the Everfree he knew she'd been forced to move inside the walls. She ran a small hotel, Cloud Zero, and it was the most accommodating hotel in all of Equestria. He'd been offered a room by Nightmare Moon before he left, and he knew she could have easily gotten him one, but he'd turned it down. He didn't intend to stay that long.

Absentmindedly he was looking for the cloud house now, or at least the shadow it would cast, but was interrupted as a warmth began to emanate from his right glove. Letting him know that Caramel had undone his harness. He allowed himself to smile softly for half a second before he forced it from off his face. It was good to know they were getting the help they needed and his heart seemed to ease itself out of the fit it had worked itself into.

He gave up on his search for the house. He hadn't expected to find it at any rate. Irregardless of her standing as captain of the guard, he doubted she'd be granted that much freedom. The queen, of all things she did, had everyone leashed securely. No one was truly free. And it was the kind of binding that would work under the skin of some ponies, and would lead them to a revolution. It was the light of his day to see Rainbow Dash and watch her try to hide what he knew she participated in.

Grimly, he looked towards the final destination of his walk, the tall building that loomed over him. It didn't matter really anyway, the revolution was doomed. The queen was far too strong for them and they didn't seem to grasp it yet. Nightmare Moon hadn't shown her full power in one thousand years, and they mistook the slivers of power she did display as the full extent of what she could do. It would be no surprise when Rainbow Dash would vanish one day, inexplicably. But he wouldn't be the one who caused it, he was determined that he would not make things worse than they already were.

Straightening out of his slump, Ledger knocked on the door to the boutique, and heard a shuffling inside. He waited patiently in silence, feeling the burning gaze of the town on his back as he waited. But it wasn't long before the door opened and Rarity looked out from the shrouded interior of her business with weary eyes. When she saw the large bipedal silhouette that stood in her doorway she was quick to back up and allow it entry, which he dutifully did. She'd been expecting him a while, he could tell, due mostly to the pristine tablecloth that had began to gather small specks of dust.

He sat down gratefully on the supplied seat and watched as Rarity did the same across the table, albeit far more gracefully than he had. He opened his log book and glanced down at it, he felt a tingle down his right arm inexplicably as he did so, but he ignored it, there were more important things than tingling arms. He sighed and looked across to her, ready to get the conversation underway. He looked at her and saw terror dancing in her eyes and nervous twitches shaking her body. He knew he was imposing to them, but Rarity wouldn't act this way. He knew it. He knew it without a doubt.

A soft out of place creak came from behind him and a tingle shot up his spine. He smiled softly to himself as he came to the conclusion only seconds before another tingle went down his left arm. The spell of protection was being stripped away by a powerful mage, and the cloth was beginning to feel rough, like a normal cotton now, that's why it had tingled. It was temporary, but it would be enough for an opening should they seek to bind him. He wasn't going to be conscious in a few minutes. Of course, there was nothing he could do with this knowledge. Because he was far too physically weak to combat any pony, especially without the enchantment on his suit. And they knew it.

It seemed some of the elements knew each other at least, and where would be the best place to capture him? In a small out of the way town. Nightmare Moon wouldn't expect him back for a week, they had set it up perfectly. If they didn't get the info they wanted in a few days they had more than enough time to get out and no one would the wiser as to who the culprits were.

He let a sad laugh out through his lips, and Rarity looked at him in fear, knowing he'd figured out the plan. She didn't see the terror that shook his bones or gripped his mind. “I'd been wondering where Twilight Sparkle got to.” His hand was shaking on top of the log book as looked at Rarity and smiled. “But I mean, since this is more of a brute force capture, I suppose Rainbow Dash is about to knock me out.” Fear fully encircling her eyes, Rarity nodded.

And then the lights went out.