Sugarcube Corner,
Ponyville...

The doors of the bakery were unlatched and opened for the earliest customers throughout the town. The many school ponies of varying age groups all carried with them their bits for the various choices that were offered. Some of the younger ones, namely those who attended the elementary school, joined with their parents and grabbed a sweet treat before heading off to school. The ones who were closer to middle school were a lot more varied, opting for strudels and danishes. The high school ponies were a lot more open with their options, going for full meals. Though that group was more liberal with their options, it was considered a smaller client base compared to their younger counterparts.

And thanks to those youngsters, the pink party pony often had her hooves full. "Two cream cheese danishes, three sunrise bagels, and a protein smoothie, coming right up!"

The day at Sugarcube Corner was always a bit busy on school days, but Monday was where the ponies looked for something a little sweeter to start off their week. And the Cake family were more than happy to oblige their customers. Cup and Carrot both worked hard in the kitchen, but with a warm smile to all their customers despite the hectic demand. For the two of them and their pink server, it was just another week.

Though today had an unexpected surprise.

An express mail carrier came rushing in, barreling towards the front counter before crashing into Pinkie Pie, who stressed her limbs to a comical degree in ensuring all the orders she carried didn't go spat to the floor. The clumsy gray mare with a blonde mane shook off the impact and quickly dug into her bag.

Pinkie sighed in relief over saving all her orders and address the mare. "Late for work again, Derpy?"

"Not today!" The mare replied with a smile, holding a letter in her mouth. She glanced down and saw that the address was for someplace else. The cross-eyed mare blushed as she started digging for another letter.

With her head being buried in her burlap sack, Pinkie darted around the room faster than a flash of lightening, delivering her orders to everyone who waited for them. In less than a second, the pink pony zipped back in place and replied to the mare. "Well you sure came busting in here like you were late for something. Possibly excited about your usual order?"

"I'll take this one to go today. Lots more letters to ship out to your other friends." She said before her head stopped bobbling. "Aha! Found it!"

As soon as the mare pulled her head out the bag, Pinkie was waiting with a brown bag in her muzzle. "I thought you'd like that to be carry out today. Usual tab?"

"Yes please." The mare answered. The two ponies traded items and the mail carrier gathered herself before flying out the front door. "You all have a good day now!"

"See you later, Derpy! Don't forget our mail in the laundromat again!"

"I won't this time!"

The pink pony picked up the letter and immediately saw the red wax seal, indicating that it was a royal letter. She quickly took it into the kitchen and showed it to her two employers. "Royal letter in from Canterlot."

"Goodness, express mail." Carrot said a bit antsy. "Another cake for some undisclosed reason?"

"Possibly a return on the formulaic commission we were issued to duplicate from the last delivery?" Cup muttered. "That red velvet recipe was awfully hard to crack. Still is."

Pinkie already opened the letter as the two started speculating on the topic. "Nope. Just an express delivery for a birthday cake." The two sighed in relief while Pinkie continued to read off the instructions. "Vanilla flavored, lemon cream frosting, twenty-two candles, Vivaldi script, enough to feed a party of thirty, and an inscription that says Happy Birthday, Nondis." The pink mare tilted her head. "Huh, that's funny. I don't remember Nondis telling me his birthday, maybe they're just celebrating it because they don't know what day it is."

Cup and Carrot had already started setting up a schedule to start baking the cake. "Well I suppose we can do that, that's not too terribly demanding for something that's to be done down the line." Carrot said.

The pink mare dropped the letter with a look of sad disbelief. Cup questioned the mare. "Pinkie, what's the matter?"

"Non-Non's birthday is... today."

The two looked at each other in dead silence for a moment and then back to the mare. "Well... what time did it say we should be pushing this order to?" Carrot questioned.

Cup picked up the letter and shrieked. "Sweet marzipan! It said we should have it shipped to Canterlot station by three this afternoon! This is a royal order!"

Pinkie's eyes began to well with tears. "Nonny didn't tell me..." She quickly sucked up her tears and her sadness was quickly replaced by frustration. "THAT JERK! How can you just keep living life without letting anypony know about your birthday!? Everypony's supposed to celebrate your birthday!" The pink pony quickly galloped to the kitchen's exit as she asked the other two. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake, can you handle that order for me? I gotta go tell the others!"

All that remained of the party pony was a pink cloud of dust as she left the bakery. Both the bakers looked at one another. "We're already down a pony!" Carrot shouted.

Cup stressfully replied. "No time to worry about it! We need to get baking!"

Later at Sweet Apple Acres...

A cold and snowy morning on the farm had very little action going on in the fields. Big Mac just patrolled the trees, making sure that none of the product had gotten impacted from the extreme weather. Apple Bloom had already set out for school, leaving just Granny Smith to bundle up by the fireplace and Applejack to check in on the livestock. The latter pony had finished checking in on her sleeping chickens as they warmed themselves for the winter.

"AAAPPPLLLEEEJAAAAAAAAACCCCKKKKK!"

The pink pony's voice rattled the very wood of the barn, leaving the chickens panicked and disoriented, attacking anything they deemed responsible. And since Applejack was the closest one, they decided to direct their egg-laden assault on her. Applejack ran from the barn, her mane and face covered in egg yolk.

She didn't have to run for long before she saw Pinkie zipping up to her with an open letter. "What in tarnation are ya on about this time, Pinkie?"

The pink mare slapped the letter to the farm pony's mane and shouted. "It's Non's birthday! It's today!"

Applejack stared in deadpan before wiping herself off. "Yer tellin' me that Ah had to get egged in the face till the cows came home 'cause ya cryin' over somepony's birthday?"

"But it's Nonny's birthday! Nopony's like Non-Non!"

"Girl Ah swear you're better off learning about this stuff in a straight jacket." She replied, still wiping the egg off of her face. "It's just his birthday. We can celebrate it whenever he comes back to town."

"They're celebrating it today, though!" Pinkie stressed. "We shouldn't miss it!"

The farm pony grumbled at her pink friend. "Land sakes. Fine! Ah guess Ah can gon'head plan my day a little different. Ain't much to do 'round here with all this snow covering this here orchard."

A loud crashing noise followed by a remorseful wail sounded from the direction of the barn. The two mares bolted for the source of the sound, only to discover it was Derpy trying to deliver some mail. Her head was covered in egg and snow as she appeared from a pile of snow outside the barn's entrance. She gleefully pulled out a similar letter addressed to Applejack. "Special delivery to Applejack!"

The farm pony looked at Pinkie and asked the clumsy mail carrier. "Is it similar to this here letter Pinkie shoved in my mane?"

The mailmare blushed as she saw the pink pony standing beside her. "Huh... guess you beat me here."

"That she did." Applejack answered.

Derpy wiped out her mane, only to find that the eggs in her mane had frozen because of all the snow. "...Best two of three?"

Later at the Carousel Boutique...

Pinkie rang the door bell of the local fashionista, hoping to gain an audience with her busy friend. As the Westminster Chimes sounded off in a light tinkling tone, the posh mare called out throughout the house. "I'm coming." Pinkie and Applejack waited in silence as the mare came down the stairs, answering the door. "Applejack, Pinkie Pie, what can I do for you two ladies on this lovely snowbound day?"

"Nondis is apparently having a birthday party over in Canterlot. Ya good to come with us if ya ain't too busy with all yer fru-fru dresses." Applejack answered.

"I'm sorry, I seemed to have misheard you." Rarity said, cleaning out her ears. "Did you say that you were celebrating a birthday?"

"Nondie's birthday is today." Pinkie added.

The mare gawked and sat herself down. She shook her head and laughed in denial. "Darling, come now. If what you say is indeed true, then that would me that I would have to stop whatever I'm doing, grab my fainting couch from the other room, mourn the fact that I wasn't able to grab a gift in time, then leave this place in a frantic dash for the downtown marketplace to find something to quickly put together for a gift. It takes half a day at least to come up with an outfit for him to wear."

The two earth ponies looked at each other, unimpressed. Pinkie then spoke. "Should we give you some time to get that done?"

Rarity's ears folded back as she realized that her friends weren't joking. "Oh... so this isn't some cruel prank Rainbow Dash had you two pull on me to see how I would react?"

"Ah could help ya with that there couch." Applejack suggested.

Rarity quietly turned around, used her magic to slide a couch from the other room, straightened her mane, clopped her hooves together and counted down herself. "Venting in five, four, three, two..."

Applejack closed the door with an unmoved face. She closed her eyes and clopped her hooves together. "Take one, scene infinity.... and.... action."

Without warning, the sound of a pony yelping in pain sounded from behind them. They looked over to see Derpy hanging upside down in a tree, her mane covered in twigs and dead leaves along with the frozen eggs. "I take it you might've told her already." She said despite the massive amount of overdramatic wailing taking place inside of the boutique.

"Eeyup." Applejack answered plainly in the fashion of her brother.

"Okay... best three of five?"

Rarity went a different direction than her friends, darting into the town market instead of accompanying the two earth ponies to pay a visit to Fluttershy. But what they didn't know was that Fluttershy was already gathered what winter birds she could find that would be willing to join her for a quick choir rehearsal.

As the two mares approached from the distance, Fluttershy continued to conduct the impromptu rehearsal. "Okay everyone, let try to run this from the top one last time and we can call it a morning. And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-one-two-three."

"FLUTTERSHYYYYYYY!" Pinkie called out from the other side of the bridge.

The birds that once congregate on the tree limbs had scattered wide in hearing the objectively sharp voice interrupting their rehearsal. Even the shy mare was stirred to where she had to hide in her own house. With the door cracked, she peeked through to see Pinkie and Applejack trotting up.

Fluttershy then walked out of her cottage, confident in seeing her friends. "Applejack, Pinkie. What are you doing here?"

The duo approached the mare as Applejack did the talking. "Well we just came in to ask if you had gotten the word yet."

"Nondis' birthday?" Fluttershy asked. "Discord told me about it last night."

"And he didn't bother to come out and tell us, but he can tell you, huh?" Pinkie asked feeling a bit bitter.

"Unfortunately, he's also told me who he's seeing right now. But out of respect for Twilight, I can't say who it is."

Applejack was the next to feel a bit slighted. "That so? Sure would've been nice to have a good friend let us in on who he was dumping poor lil' Twilight for. Anyways, what's been up with ya?"

"I was having a nice rehearsal with the Snowbird Choir, a last run-through before we headed up north for the party. But Pinkie shouted loudly and scared most of them off."

The pink mare took a deep breath and shouted. "SORRY MR. AND MRS. BIRDS!"

"Pinkie!" Fluttershy exclaimed at a significantly lower but sharper tone. "Quietly."

The pink mare adjusted herself. "Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Birds." She whispered.

Applejack still lingered on the thoughts of the draconequus. "So what's that lousy misbred varmit up to now?"

From seemingly nowhere, the eldritch creature's voice sounded out. "Well I've never." Applejack's had started to grow arms and unseat itself from the farm pony's head. The hat proceeded to flip itself upside down, reach inside and pull out a wild Discord as if he was a rabbit during a magic act. "I suppose it's fine to call me a 'misbred varmit', but I'll have you know that I am one-hundred percent the breed that ponies like you wish to be."

"No and thank-you." Applejack said as she snatched her Stetson away from the tall creature. "So how 'bout you come clean on what Nondis is doin."

"But I thought that you, Applejack, would be the one to respect the boundaries of all your friends." The draconequus replied with a mocking tone. "Surely you wouldn't want to betray Twilight's trust, now would you?"

The country mare grumbled and ground her teeth at the creature teasing her over her principles. She simply pouted as Pinkie greeted the creature. "So, any inter-dimensional rifts you've been tearing apart as of late?"

"Pinkie, even if breaking the boundaries of time and space are a practice of mine, I don't break those boundaries too often, just only when I'm rummaging through the internet."

"The what now?" Pinkie asked.

"Trust me, you're not ready for that kind of chaos." Discord warned cautiously before continuing. "But I can tell you that he is currently on patrol in the castle. Probably looking at the sun."

At that moment, Derpy found herself crashing into yet another tree branch, scaring off the birds that started to gather themselves once more. The mare angrily cursed at herself. "Ugh! Stupid wings! They always lock up on me in winter!"

"Rough flying today, Ms. Hooves?" Fluttershy asked the cross-eyed mare.

"You know I could help you with your issue." Discord called out.

"No thanks. Last time you tried that, I saw shadow demons for a week." Derpy said to the creature as she dusted herself off. "Got an important letter for you today, Fluttershy."

"Nondis' birthday?" Applejack called out.

The mare angrily threw her burlap sack to the ground. "Aw come on!"

"Well it would be three of five, but Fluttershy here already knew of it." The farm pony replied.

"That still makes my one to your two." Derpy announced. "I delivered one to Rainbow Dash earlier before getting to Pinkie Pie."

"I thought we were counting from after you first got to me." Pinkie said.

"Well in that case, it would be two even." She said as she pulled out a final letter. "Though I don't think my wings are gonna let me do much today. I flew through a dense cloud on the way to Sugarcube corner, haven't been right for me since. So it makes no sense in trying to fly through the Everfree forest to give this one up."

"A letter to Zecora?" Fluttershy asked.

"Frankly she's a nice pony, but her place kinda gives me the creeps. I'm just gonna head back to the office and warm up now."

"I could heat up your wings for you." Discord said, much to the chagrin of Fluttershy.

"And what would you be doing?" The timid yellow mare asked, being unusually firm and cold to the creature that was her self-proclaimed boyfriend.

"Just a small little jest, Fluttershy dear."

Later in the Everfree Forest
Zecora's Hut...

As the trio of ponies walked through the cold forest, they held on to the letter and started to speculate on what they would do and say when they got to Canterlot. For the three, it was between visiting a few of the places in town, seeing some old friends and connections, or just stopping by the market and buying a few things before setting back out. Applejack didn't have much of an idea in terms of gifts, but she at least felt that he would appreciate something simple. Fluttershy pondered on the thought of at lest offering something that was modest. Pinkie had much grander ideas swimming through her head instead.

The three continued to bounce ideas around until they got to Zecora's hut. When they arrived, they gave her the letter and extended the welcome to the zebra shaman. Her answer, however, surprised the trio of ponies.

"Absolutely not!"

The three mares watched, shocked that the invitation they gave to her was quickly ripped to shreds in front of their eyes. Pinkie felt confused for the mare. "Did something happen?"

"The two must've got into it, Ah guess." Applejack said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Zecora isn't usually this angry, girls." Fluttershy, especially being the closest thing to a next door neighbor to her, pointed that out about the zebra. She would be the first to directly confront her. "Zecora, did something happen between you two?"

The zebra did not rhyme while expressing her anger. "There is no possible way to excuse him for what he is doing! You cannot tell me that he is any less of a monster than Chrysalis for what he has done!"

"Whoa there, steady up now." Applejack said, trying to get the mare to calm down. "Now slow it down, and tell me what he did to make ya angry."

Zecora didn't waste any time, dragging the three ponies along the way. "Come, I will tell you along the way."

Later at Twilight's Castle...

Twilight and Spike went down a checklist of items and games she suggested they'd play at the party. As she did so, Rainbow Dash continued to hold a frown on her face while Rarity tried on an outfit for her to wear to the party. The rainbow-maned mare groaned with displeasure as she chided her friend. Starlight took amusement in seeing the two bicker on.

"Look, I'm not gonna be the one to say it, but I don't think we need to do all of this for him."

"Well we're going to be in the presence of royalty, darling. It's often best to go overdressed." Rarity argued.

"Rarity, Twilight is royalty. We see the princesses so often that we can walk through a checkpoint without anypony stopping us. Shining Armor even hangs out with us when we're around Cadance. We even got to attend their baby shower, an event that every loyalist from Las Pegasus to Manehattan's been dying to attend. We're always in the presence of royalty. Daily."

"She's right, you know." Twilight cosigned with her friend. "Besides, it's not like we're attending a gala. It's just a small birthday bash that won't even be an hour long. It won't be anything like mine."

"Yours was held in a castle, darling." Rarity rebutted.

"I live in a castle that has six thrones for all of my friends and a smaller one for Spike." The purple princess stated. "If you haven't already considered yourself to be in the inner circle of the royal loop already, I don't know what to tell you."

"Right, so let's just take this silly dress off so I can not feel weighed down by pointy pins and heavy material. I wanna feel my wings spread out." Rainbow Dash said as she started to remove the dress in front of the fashionista.

Rarity grumbled. "Always a thorn in my side, Rainbow Dash. I swear. Could I just get you to work with me for one single test run?"

The door to the throne room opened to a group of ponies. Accompanying them was the zebra shaman herself. Twilight broke her attention from the bickering duo and vested her interest into the entourage that walked in. "Girls! I'm glad you came. So is everything ready?"

Zecora stormed forward. "Twilight Sparkle, tell them it is true. Tell them of the sin that Nondis has committed to."

Twilight was taken by surprise as the three other mares just sat quietly, Applejack more visibly upset than the others. Rarity was more flabbergasted than anyone for the time being. "Wa-what? What's going on here?"

"Tell them of the girl he sent our way, and then tell of what he planned to do with her, what she said yesterday!"

Twilight looked around the room, seeing that everyone's eyes were on her. She took a deep breath and explained to them what was revealed to her and Zecora they previous day. "Okay. I guess I should probably start this off with saying─"

Zecora interrupted the princess. "I know you have a softness for him, Twilight. But you cannot continue to move on as if what we've witnessed was in any way right."

"Just tell the truth, Twilight." Applejack said quietly. "We need to know what's goin' on."

The mare continued to explain. "As I was about to say, this might be a controversial thing you're going to hear about. Even when I heard of it, I couldn't help but to be angry at him. But after some time, I thought about who he was and what his motives would be in doing what he did."

Starlight rose from her seat. "Oh, so he did a thing."

"What's this thing he did?" Rainbow asked to the purple unicorn. "What are we supposed to be outraged over?"

The princess closed her eyes as she came out with the news. "Nondis... might have an ownership of somepony."

The room fell deathly silent as the mares in the room tried to process what she had told them. For moments, they all looked to one another, trying to come up with some explanation for what was going on. After failing to find anything that could explain what was being done, Rainbow Dash stood on her throne. "Okay. So before we go to Canterlot and give this guy a few birthday licks, what exactly is taking place here?"

Twilight quickly replied trying to look past the statement that's put the most impact to everyone in the room. "That's what I don't truly know. The mare isn't even denying it, nor is she against it in any way. In fact, she's adamant in serving Nondis for some reason."

"It could be a celebrity factor involved." Rarity suggested, sitting in her chair to discuss the matter. "Nondis is well-known through the city and perhaps she's trying to keep up with an appearance."

"Maybe this mare is his current special somepony." Rainbow Dash noted. "Maybe that's why Nondis told Twilight to keep a lid on the relationship."

"That's not what's going on either." Twilight corrected the pegasus. "She's ensured to Zecora and I that there was no intimate relationship going on between them. She said that yesterday."

"But his reason for using her is for a bloodsport. An illegal underground tournament of some sort." The zebra shaman explained. "She described that to us against his will. And seeing the scars on her body, I'd say the proof is quite real."

"But she also said something about trying to set her free." Twilight added. "Maybe that's the reason why she's so stern in her position to serving him."

Pinkie rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Oh boy, here we go again."

"What's wrong, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked the party pony.

The pink mare climbed on top of the table and started pacing back and forth, explaining her theory. "He's doing it again, trying to play superhero when he doesn't even know how to defend himself. The first time he did it for me and got Caramel arrested, but he got put in the hospital because he couldn't throw a lick. Next he gets into a fight with Shining Armor to try and prove himself, broken arm. Saves Spike and Sweetie Belle, broken arm and shoulder. Saves Diamond Tiara and a few other ponies, broken ribs and a concussion. Saves Cheese from the changelings, gets abducted and we have to save him."

"Tries to save everypony from getting slaughtered on Arimaspi Mountain, nearly dies. Twice." Rainbow tacked on. "Gotta admit, there is a bit of a pattern here."

Starlight scoffs at the two mares trading comparisons. "And he tries to do some secret assignment, only for him to get caught in a bathroom and nearly gutted on the bathroom floor by some thugs from Canterrot. Yeah, I think there's an obvious correlation."

"Wait, what happened!?" Rarity screeched, slamming her hooves on the round table.

Starlight continued. "Nondis took combat magic lessons specifically, and now he's getting into the gritty parts of Canterrot for some dubious reason. Now here he is, possibly trapped in a world where they'll be looking to sell his body parts for profit. But hey, at least he manages to promise some girl her freedom... by putting her in death matches and himself in grave danger. The better question is where are these matches even taking place at exactly?"

Applejack shakes her head with tucked lips. "Ah don't see no place like Canterlot havin' all of that goin' round."

"And where even is this Canterrot place?" Fluttershy asked. "It sounds like some hidden town inside of the mountain itself."

Rarity rubbed her chin, thinking to herself. "I only heard rumors of the place. All I know is that it's somewhere all of my fashion connections tell me to avoid."

"I heard there's a bunch of druggies out that way." Rainbow said.

"I only know there is an underground market." Said Zecora. "So it wouldn't surprise me if there was some illegal sports scene alongside it."

Pinkie chimed in with her own thoughts. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake has it on their blacklist. All I know is that we don't do deliveries out that way, and we deliver to wherever, Equestria!"

"Aw, horeseapples. Ah bet it ain't more dangerous than the Flame Geyser Swamp." Applejack said proudly.

"It's more dangerous than that." Twilight said urgently, turning to the farm pony slowly. "Shining told me that it's a place where the misfits and economically disadvantaged citizens of Equestria go to try and strike it up on illegal trades. There's even an underground arena there."

"It's the one place that sells griffons meat out in the open market." Starlight added. "And they say that you can change yourself overnight to make your wishes come true. But as far as I know, it's all a lie. It's just another way of luring you into the nightmare that is Canterrot."

"Worst off, it hides in plain sight, the slums around it are infested with rampant crime, and there's not a politician looking to even come close to touching the place." Twilight concluded strongly. "City council members have repeatedly tried cleaning that place, but to no avail. They say that the kids who get caught in Canterrot, they're sold to the highest bidder, abused, and then meet with horrible fates. There's an urban legend of a teenage foal walking in, only to get caught by some dark magic abuser. They never walked back out, only being an enchanted head forced to live out an eternity without a single day of rest. Their body was possibly sold off for parts."

Every pony in the room shivered with chills down their spine. Spike started to look around the room nervously. "Wait, what does that mean for dragons?"

"It doesn't mean anything for you if you don't get involved." She warned her young assistant.

Zecora shook off her jitters as she spoke. "The mare, she hailed from a place called Corrotto─"

"District Six." Twilight interjected quietly. "The Corrotto District, crime rate at a whopping sixty-eight percent, conviction rate of three percent, homicide per capita is one in every four-hundred, putting Canterlot at the highest rate of unresolved murders in the nation, worse than Manehattan, Las Pegasus, and Fillydelphia combined. There are no witnesses who come forward willingly. And from what Shining verified, the highest use of illegal substances in the nation takes place there, also the highest number of drug-related deaths and overdoses."

"Just one wrong turn in Canterlot, and the sky suddenly becomes covered in rags and towels. Some even say that there are souls who bind themselves to those rags, trying to bring the place down. But it's never happened yet." Starlight also added.

Fluttershy shuddered with a sense of unease slowly crawling up her neck. "Why is it that a place as nice as Canterlot has to have a place like that?"

Applejack frowned as she thought of what Zecora had said. "And yer tellin' us that girl came from there? Talk about a barn you can't call home. What happened after y'all met her?"

"She was trying to remain by his side, even putting aside her own pride. I offered her a life of knowledge and magic, but she chose to return to that life instead, so tragic."

Pinkie waved her hoof in a circle as she spoke. "But of course, Non-Non does his Non-Non things. Pretty sure she's not even in Canterlot right now."

"Where else would she go?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight closed her eyes, trying to imagine where he would place her. She summoned her phone and started to go down the list of numbers in her phone. She saw the name of her ex, her old crush, followed by the missed call from Melanie. She immediately chose the human girl for reference. "Guess we'll find out if he brought someone else over to his world."

The phone produced a dialing tone for a little while, up until a familiar voice popped through the receiver. "Hello?"

"Melanie, it's me. Twilight." She said, putting the phone on speaker.

"Yeah, I have you locked in already. What's goin' on?"

"I was wondering if you've talked to Nondis yesterday. I know that the two of you are pretty close." Twilight said, only getting a dismayed groan from the woman.

"Nondis and I haven't talked since New Years day. You should probably probably ask his new girlfriend how he's doing. They couldn't stop locking lips when fireworks went off." The room watched Twilight as she instinctively grabbed at her chest. Melanie continued on. "Speaking of which, how long has these two been at it? I figured you'd know something since the two of you are so close."

Twilight quickly swapped the phone off of speaker and swept it up to her face. "Melanie, I'm in a meeting with the girls."

The woman appeared to get even louder. "Oh really? Hey girls! Nondis is tongue-wrestling with Celestia! How do you all feel now!?"

"You're not on speaker anymore." Twilight said angrily. "Can we please go back to what I called you about?"

The woman promptly replied. "Sure. I don't know what the fuck he's doing. I don't fucking care. He lied to me saying he was on an escort assignment, fucking find out he's on a date with the fucking de-facto queen of Equestria. And she's all like 'Where is he? Where's Nondis? Will I ever get to see him again? I need to borrow your phone so I can get my lips wet.' Fuck him."

Twilight grimaced as she ended the conversation. "Sorry for disturbing you. I've gotta go now."

"I know it's his birthday, but let him know that I want to punch him in his shit-eating face the next time I see him. Later!"

The call ended, Twilight just stood in place, indignation building in her mind before she took a quick breathing exercise to calm herself down. Spike took note of her disposition. "Twilight, you okay?"

"I'm fine Spike. I'm just a little more encouraged to go to Canterlot right now."

Zecora patted the alicorn on her shoulder. "I know you are filled with an anger that ever whirls, but we must get back to the topic about this Kalimba girl."

"You're right." Twilight said with a frown. "Cliff and Rickey were here yesterday, maybe I can talk to them instead."

She found Rickey's name and dialed the number. It didn't take too long before he would answer the call. "¿Hola?"

"Rickey, it's me, Twilight." She said, turning her phone back to speaker.

"Yeah, I see you. ¿Qué tal?"

While Twilight grew a bit confused about what he had just said at the end, Pinkie quickly picked up where she left off in the greeting. "¡Estamos bien, gracias! ¿Y tú? (We're good, thanks! And you?)"

Rickey immediately recognized the pink mare's voice. "¿Pinkie, hablo Español? (Pinkie, you speak Spanish?)"

"Hablo Español, perro muy poquito. (I speak Spanish, but a little.)" The party mare replied.

"You roll your r's too? You got it then." He said before going back to the purple mare. "So what's up, Twilight?"

The mare stopped staring at her pink friend for a moment to get back into the conversation at hand. "So that girl Nondis introduced you to yesterday. Do you know where he might have took her in your world?"

"The zebra girl? Oh she's not here. She's over at his old makeshift apartment. You know the run-down motel in the castle's shadow he used to room at? Yeah, he left her there. She has a phone, but I don't know the number."

"Do you know if she's there for the time being?" Twilight inquired.

"From what I know, he's got her over there to stay. She's been pretty happy with it so far, from what he's told me. Hard to tell though, she never smiles."

"Okay, that's all we wanted to know. Thanks."

"No prob. Tell Nondis we gotta do the usual birthday shit for him, so he needs to bring his ass over the frat house so he can collect."

"I'll relay that to him." The purple princess said before ending the call. "So she's at the motel he was living at."

Zecora firmly instructed to the group. "Then perhaps we should pay her a visit. Let us not waste another minute."

Five Minutes Later...

The entourage of mares gathered in the hall of the moderately updated motel. As they came across the door, they noticed that all the other doors were different to the one the human previously frequented. The group remained silent as Twilight knocked on the door. They waited for a moment before the door slowly cracked open. They could see the steel latch clasping at the hook on the door, denying them entrance while offering the occupant a window to speak through.

"Who are you?" She questioned, hiding behind the door.

Applejack answered. "Ain't nothin' to be afraid of. We're just checkin' in on ya."

"Why have you come?" She asked, still hiding behind the door.

Pinkie approached, trying to peek inside to see who was speaking. "Heeelloooooo? Anypony home?"

"Go away." The door shut after her blunt rebuttal. Pinkie appeared saddened in getting outright denied an audience. Twilight knocked on the door another time, earning a response from behind the door. "Go away! No visitors today!"

Twilight finally spoke out. "Kalimba, it's me."

"Who are you!? I do not simply open doors for strangers! I do not answer to 'It's me' when I am given no name. You have to leave. Go!"

Rarity muttered under her breath. "My, isn't she inviting."

"As inviting as a cactus in drought." Rainbow cosigned.

"Girls, remember that she's probably had a hard life. She might not be as open to us." Fluttershy noted.

"Then she will answer to me." Zecora said proudly. The zebra knocked on the door.

"GO! AWAY!"

"I am sure you are most comfortable in your cave. But you are in the presence of royalty, so behave." Zecora replied to the young zebra hiding in the room.

"Why in Equestria should I answer to you? Go away, I have more training to do!"

"And yet you know nothing, you have no reference! We offered you knowledge at the cost of your criminal severance! You denied us in saying that you wanted to stay loyal! Now you show high disrespect to that which is royal! Let us in so that we may talk, or at least join us for a simple walk!"

"All we want to do is hear you out." Twilight added. "Trust me, I know Canterlot isn't the safest place─"

"Quiet." Zecora said, putting a quick end to her statement. "Kalimba Mavembe, tell us why you are here. Though I may sound strict, your story is what we wish to hear. I know you feel like you need to devote your time to your new friend, and you've confessed that you'd follow him to even a desolate end. But your own account is what we wish to know, after that much, away we finally go."

The mare remained silent, Kalimba gave pause for the idea before cracking the door open again, the latch still attached to the steel hook. "And I will not be judged?"

"Kalimba, you're very pretty. If anyone tries to judge you for your looks or what you are, it won't be any of us here." Twilight reassured the mare. "The only thing we want to do for you is just let you know that we're here if you need help. Sure we may not agree with your lifestyle, but we promise not to impede on that." She took a moment to glance over to Applejack. "And I mean it."

Applejack took her hat off. "Not a word."

The mare finally peeked through the crack, her crimson eyes taking note of the eight mares standing in the hallway. "Dere are far too many of you to fit in dis room."

"You could always come out." Twilight suggested.

"...Inside." Kalimba closed the door for a second, removing the latch and opening the door to invite the party of mares inside. As they all stepped inside, each of them found a spot to sit themselves, whether it was on a bed, a chair, or even the floor. The door closed behind Zecora, who entered last. Kalimba appeared from the corner, wearing a cloak and hood as she hid her face. "None of you will judge what I am?"

"Not a word on your appearance." Twilight reassured.

The mare continued to hide her face. "You promise to not be like de others?

"If we were like anypony else, we wouldn't have stained glass murals of us in Canterlot." Rainbow said, bragging of how different they were. "I know, a bit much. But we're not like anypony else who's gonna make fun of you for any silly reason."

"Stop hiding, girl." Zecora urged the young zebra mare. "Reveal yourself."

She slowly turned to reveal her face. As her head started to straighten up, her horn made itself apparent, a crimson red glow started to manifest itself slightly, pulling the hood off of her head. The room quietly gasped as she shyly looked away.

"A zebra... unicorn?" Rarity questioned.

"Oh my, I can see why you would be concerned." Fluttershy said as she slowly walked up to meet with the mare. "I'm not too keen on strangers myself. But I can tell that we share some things alike."

"Wow, you are rare!" Starlight called out loudly. "Your parents must've really loved each other. Nondis might've had to pay a fortune for you."

"Starlight!" Twilight vehemently called out, scolding her student.

The mare looked away once more. "I am worth little. I am sickly and useless outside of fighting and comfort."

"Um... when you mean comfort, do you mean a little bit of... an escort of sorts?" Rarity inquired.

"My body has been sold and used for sex, if dat is what you wish to know."

"Gracious, darling!" Rarity said with an embarrassed blush. "I didn't mean to go quite that far."

Rainbow then suggested. "So you're pretty good at fighting. Why not be a guard? You'd be killer in a set of armor."

"You also have a face for modeling." Fluttershy added. "I'd think you'd be great walking a runway."

"She would be an exotic beauty to create a few dresses for." Rarity said, summoning a notepad and a pencil. "My mind is already swimming with ideas."

While the girls started to rave on about what the young zebra could do, Kalimba started to slowly withdraw herself. Fluttershy quickly noticed the mare's legs motioning backwards. "Okay, girls. Maybe we should ease up and let her breathe a little."

The mare stopped falling back as Zecora took more observations of her. "Hmm... I do not see what exactly makes you sick. You did not describe it to me. Tell me child, what ails you?"

Kalimba continued to cover much of her body. "It is a disease my mudda carried. When she got sick, it usually took a long time for her to recover. But one time was far too much for her, I lost her when I was ten."

Applejack was the first to look away. "Ah... that's familiar. Ah can't say our pain is any similar, but Ah lost my ma and pa when I was a youngin. Tried to trek across the Flame Geyser Swamp, a Chimera got the better of 'em. Only thing they could identify was this here hat, belonged to my pa." Applejack quietly placed her head in the hat for a moment. "Our family was never the same."

Kalimba didn't exactly share the sympathy. She went on to tell her story. "Your tragedy ended dat day. I know it must have taken months to adjust, but it did not end for me after my mudda's passing. My fadda found his solace in a nasty thing. So he traded me for a chance of being happy. I know not what happened to him, I was simply passed around in Corrotto until some four years ago. Prod Clod was de one to own me in dat time. He tried to sell me for a high bid, but found dat I was not worth selling anymore. Too used, too familiar, too untrained, not young enough. So I was made to fetch him clients, he would teach me nothing. And I remained dere for years on end."

Rarity covered her muzzle, trying to hold back tears. "Oh you poor thing. Ten years old and you're forced though all that."

Zecora looked down as she started to understand the young mare. "Hmm... I now know why I see so much of a child in you. It's because growing up soon became the only thing you knew. Too soon denied a mothers love and touch, too cruel a father to leave you for a temporary emotional crutch."

Pinkie sighed. "And... then comes Nonny. He comes running in to save the day, doing things that you only dream of, giving you a new life for the cost of his own."

"You speak as if you have some experience with him." Kalimba said. Everyone in the room hummed in acknowledgement.

Pinkie then continued. "Don't try to fall for that guy, he's just bad news."

"Personal experience, I presume?" Kalimba questioned the pink mare.

"Look, I tried it. Rarity tried it. Twilight had it but let it go. Winning move is not to even play. I only feel sorry for the poor lady who's got him all googly-eyed now."

Kalimba sagely nodded at the pink pony. "I shall take your advisement into consideration."

Zecora quietly walked beside the zebra and questioned her. "So now that we know how hard your life as become, tell us why a road of violence has become the beat of your drum."

Kalimba turned directly to the zebra, giving her a fierce scowl. "I am still not well with you. You vilified de very one who has dared to ask me for my help, de same who offered me dese things around me. For years now, I have had to shower in cold water, water dat often ran out after his use. I was given a mere twenty bits a month, an allowance was what he called it. He got to dine with his rich cockroaches, I had to compete with de very literal roaches in our cupboard. I slept on crates, he slept on a king size mattress. He would wake me to please him, clean him off with my mouth, sometimes cleaning after de worst possible things I dare not to even acknowledge."

"This guy seems like an awful lowlife!" Rarity affirmed, trying to rile up her friends to action. "Something should be done about him."

"Dere is no need! I took his life!" Kalimba confessed excitedly as she turned back to Zecora. "De captain who you vowed your anger to, he helped me to gain my freedom from him. It was all I needed, and yet he still chose to do more for me than anypony has ever done. My life was turned from dat misery to dis life of luxury. Warm water? A soft mattress? I went from twenty bits a month to ten-thousand every night I am used. De rent here is eleven hundred. I was told my budget was two-thousand a month for dat, food, and whatever else I had desired." The mare then levitated a book from her nightstand with very little strain, moving the book around the room. "My magic, a far leap better than what it was two days ago, because he took it upon himself to try to meet de expectations he gave me, and offered his own knowledge to impart to me. So tell me why should I not give my life for something like dis? He needs my help, ah. So I cannot imagine being unable to return de favor he has shown to me when it is I who owes him too much."

Zecora was silent, unable to reply to the young zebracorn. Twilight approached the mare and somberly hugged her. "We're sorry. We were too focused on what you told us you were doing, never giving you the chance to explain why you were doing it. The only thing we wanted to do was to get you out of that life, to start fresh."

Kalimba softened her expression towards the princess. "Even you said you would not teach me, out of fear dat de knowledge you give me would be lost soon after. I may not wish for death, but I am comfortable in knowing dat it will come. So while I can accept your apology, I cannot accept the reaction you gave to him."

"My reaction with him came from my knowing him and being with him. I was disappointed that he did this, that he would go so far... but then I remembered what the both of us know and what drives him to fight now, more than ever."

The zebracorn walked over to her night stand, putting the book back and opening the top drawer, staring at the dormant phone. "I wondered what it would be to live a normal life, to live my mudda's dream. But I find dat dis simple life in a small room is all I truly need. I may not smile, but I am happy."

Pinkie quickly interjected. "And that's where you're wrong." The room looked at the pink pony as she approached the zebra, placing a hoof on her cheek. "Wanting better isn't a bad thing. It's okay if you want to sleep in a warm, fuzzy king-size bed, dining in with some of the highest members of society. It's wonderful to have ambitions for more, you deserve it. In the future you're going to want better, you're gonna want to leave this place after a while and look for a house with two or three rooms, a walk-in closet, a stand-in shower and a jacuzzi. You're gonna want a husband who looks past the scars and your history and accept you for who you are deep down. And all of this around you, the change that you have in your life, I know you want to smile with appreciation. It's okay to smile, even past the hurt. It's okay to laugh, giggle, and hug ponies, just as it is to cry and scream."

"It ain't always gonna be like this, ya know." Applejack added, also walking up to the mare. "When it's all over, yer gonna put it all back together, not because it's the only thing you know, because you want to know more for yerself. Ya get to start learnin' things, doin' things, and then ya start teaching it to others."

Twilight walked to join with her three friends. "Life wasn't fair to you. But if there's anything we can do to make it a little better, tell us. We'll do our part in trying to give you that, if that's what you want."

The zebra shaman looked on as the group of heroes placed their best hoof forward. The young mare looked to the side, not wanting to openly display her emotions, but even she couldn't deny the tears attempting to well in her eyes. She took a few deep breaths, trying not to cry. Zecora approached the mare and whispered to her. "Even I have known my time in captivity, to unwillingly serve what I had treasured most. That is why I was so hard on you, on him. Because I knew how it felt to be helpless, even if for a short while. I will never know your pain, it is your life. But perhaps we could know one another." Zecora slowly approached the mare with her hooves outstretched to her, embracing her. "Come child. It is alright."

The young mare felt herself rocking from side to side, Zecora continued to hold her as she started to softly sing a song in her native language.

The young mare felt herself being soothed, becoming more at ease with the embrace she shared. The tears she tried to hold back eventually found their way to her cheeks. Her breaths became staggered and her balance weakened while Zecora sang to her.

The mare faltered, still being rocked as she quietly fell against the shaman's body. Her tears flowed down her cheeks, onto the forelegs of the mare who held her. Twilight and the others watched quietly as the two embraced like a mother holding her lost child. Her cloak fell completely from her body, revealing the many scars and marks that featured her striped periwinkle body. The zebracorn gritted her teeth while she tried to hold herself back again, but inevitably failed. Mournful cries left her lips as Zecora held her.

The elder zebra continued to hold Kalimba, singing to her until she would feel better.

After I finally got off of work, I couldn't help but to feel relieved that my twelve-hour shift had subsided. Even if it was just 4:30 in the afternoon, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep. So I meandered to my room and laid on my bed, rested my eyes for a moment and quietly dozed off. My mind had already subscribed to the idea of sleeping, so it was no surprise that I was feeling very groggy when there was a knock on my door.

I was already so out of it, I had to wipe the drool from off of my face before opening the door. "What's up?"

The guard saluted me with an apology. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, sir. But the princess has requested your presence in the dining hall."

Oh right, the shindig Celestia said she was throwing me. I never forgot about it, but I wasn't really in a partying mood.

I straightened myself up, made myself a little more presentable for the occasion, and stepped out into the hall. While I walked, I still heard a few whispers about what happened with me on Saturday. It seemed that many of the maids had assumed that I was on my way out the door. A few of the guards waited till I passed by until they finally expressed their eagerness for my being relieved. Others greeted me sheepishly before making a few comments about my track record.

I didn't sit around to listen to any of the commentary, I just walked until I found my way to the royal dining hall. I had also noticed that the guards posted out in front of the doors were guards that I had served with on the Arimaspi Mountain assignment. They opened the doors for me, allowing me inside. As I stepped in, I noticed that the entire room was empty. The doors quickly closed behind me, sealing me inside. I looked around, checking if there was anyone hiding under the table, nothing. But I did see a singular dinner plate, covered by a silver lid. I uncovered the lid to see a letter sitting on the plate. I read the note aloud.

The doors unsealed themselves, leaving me with free passage through the castle once more. As I walked into the halls, I noticed that the halls had become a lot quieter, almost as if the place was completely abandoned. I went back to the note and looked at the clue that was given, thinking hard about what place would hide heroes and be outside. The only thing I could think about was possibly a heroes exhibit, possibly something with statues. I know that there are plenty of heroes decorating the windows of this castle, but I don't recall any of these being more for the outside. So I went with my second option, possibly the royal garden. A place where heroes hide... statues of heroes maybe... The labyrinth has statues of some villains and heroes. Perhaps that's what this was hinting to.

I ran outside, encountering very few guards along the way. I made my way into the labyrinth and came across a few statues, looking for anything like the note that was presented to me. I kept looking until I was brought to a statue of Celestia raising the sun. At the foot of the statue was another plate with a silver lid. I popped it open to see yet another note.

This one was a no-brainer. Where the hell else would a guard get suited up for an attack other than the barracks? But she was right about something; I sure as hell didn't want to go back there after twelve hours of guard duty. I stumbled along the path and made my way out of the labyrinth and took a left turn to the barracks. From there, I had to search the various rooms until I went to the equipment room. When I got inside, I noticed the tuppaware bins I once stored in the portal room of Twilight's castle. Silver lid on plate, same setup. I read my next clue.

I thought of the one place I did have a speech in front of someone that may have been my enemy. And then I thought of Count DuMoneé, especially a speech I gave on how humans could be Equestria's most vital allies. So I moseyed on over to the parliament chamber, saw my next clue at the presenter's podium.

Her bedroom. I made an instant beeline for the residential halls, seeing a different setup this time. The letter was set in the crack of door, complete with a wax seal instead of the usual simple plate and lid. The outside was addressed to me with the words 'Read Quietly' in bold letters. I broke the wax seal and edged open the letter.

It took a little more thinking, this one. I heard a lot about how I've changed from various places, but since this was a search localized to the castle, the only thing I could hone in on was the portal room. If anything that was the best place for me to assume because a lot of people who saw me back home had said how much I've changed my appearance, I lost weight, I dress better, I toned up, grew a few inches, all that stuff. The same set up for last time, but it was notched into the very edge of the mirror's borders. I broke the wax seal and proceeded to read this letter silently.

Not much of a clue, just telling me where I'm going.

Along my way to the throne room, I started to realize how she had the notes set up and how the scenery all coincided with the particular milestones she highlighted. The idea that I went from being found outside of a forest because of a changeling summoning spell gone wrong, to being here in the presence of royalty and guarding these pristine halls, it humbled me tremendously. It warmed my heart to know that she was paying close attention to me the entire way. I finally approached the doors leading to the throne room. There were no guards around, no maids, no one. As I shrugged off my isolation, I opened the large wooden doors to the sight of the throne room.

My eyes bulged as everyone in the room shouted at me, startling me even as I was mentally prepared for it. Twilight and her friends had all come from Ponyville while Shining, Flash, and Cadance were coming in from the Crystal Empire. Blueblood, his wives, Luna, and Celestia were all standing by, applauding my entrance.

But it wasn't just the ponies.

Alex and Stanton cheered as they threw their hands up at me. Mom and dad had their hands on each side of the banner, celebrating my age. Cliff and Rickey both wore their letterman jackets while holding mine while shouting my name. Vanessa watched with her hands clasped together, excited to see my initial reaction. I looked up to see birds flying overhead, all twittering and chirping until they sat themselves on the rafters and sang a singular note. Fluttershy flew up and announced to the crowd throughout the room. "Okay everypony! That's our cue. One. Two. Sing!"

And on cue, everyone in the room sang with rejoicing, almost as if a large miniature musical number.

Fluttershy cut them off and shouted loudly. "In parts, everyone!" Without fail, everyone seemed to have burst into a giant choir as they sang the final line.

"♪Annnd many mooooooooreeee.♪" Pinkie crept in as she slowly pulled out a blue cannon beside me with the largest grin on her face. She jumped up and pressed the button the back of the cannon, unleashing a blast of air and confetti directly on to me. The sound of balloons squeaking and party blowers honking sounded with it's ignition. While I was covered in a manner of shimmering particles, everyone cheered loudly while I couldn't help but laugh.

"I dead-ass forgot you had that thing." I said to Pinkie.

She hopped up on her cannon and gave me a hug, but not without whispering in my ear. "How about you tell us when your birthday is next time. Parties take planning, you know."

"Noted." I replied.

A Few Hours Later...

The party had gone on for some time until everyone had finally started to thin out. Our time in the throne room was filled with a lot of games, conversation, and a few other questions inquiring about my current status. For being a year older, most other people would probably say that life's been good and pretty much uneventful aside from a few times you went to the bar or had a good laugh with friends. My case was a lot different, I had a lot of looking at myself from a year ago.

If I went back a year, I'd be the chubby, depressed, awkward guy that I once was. I wouldn't know how to handle pressure, I wouldn't know how to fight, I wouldn't even know how to do anything other than browse on the internet and hope that I'd too have a story of normalcy to share on some image board on the fringe of the dark web. Maybe I'd be enthusiastic about my chances to find an anime I'd really like this season. I guess I'd probably reject every phone call I got from my brothers out of spite, and I'd still call Melanie in hopes that she'd not directly send me to voicemail. Just a year ago, I was trying my hardest to fit in where I didn't know how, not because I was in the wrong place, but because of my being socially inept.

Being here, I didn't have internet, I didn't have a phone to play games on, I didn't have a PS4 to game the day away, I didn't have anything like that. All I had was a group of six girls to guide me through my stay in a world where nothing was familiar to me. I had to learn how to socialize, I had more than enough time to do so. And in the end, I was made better for it. I didn't have the luxury of driving everywhere, I walked. I didn't have huge meals with meat falling off the side of my plate, I had vegan alternatives. I didn't have a lot of things that fed my old lifestyle, and now I feel better about my own image. It feels nice to look down and actually see my toes cleanly. And I had friends who would talk with me whenever they saw me.

I learned a lot about myself being here, I learned a lot about what I'm willing to accept from others. I've learned patience, humility, and gratitude. I've also learned how to put my foot in someone's ass when they don't do right. I've even learned how to make others happy while trying to gauge what makes me happy. This one year taught me more life lessons than the four years I've spent at college.

Now that I think about that, I want a fucking refund.

Celestia dragged me along to help with the cleanup, but not before taking me to watch her set the sun. Much like she did earlier this morning, she requested that I reached out to the sun one more time. She watched as the sun bade us farewell for the day. It slowly hovered just above the horizon, but not before requesting another song out of me.

The princess smiled as the sun finally sank beyond the western horizon. Once she was finished with her work, she turned to me and asked. "Was that another part of the song you sang earlier this morning?"

"Yup. Third verse. I sang the first verse earlier."

"Then what's the second." The princess questioned.

"Meh, it's pretty short. Doesn't matter." I replied with a shrug.

The princess nudged me in retaliation of my not telling her. "You are just irritating sometimes."

"How irritating am I? Well I guess you'll have to figure that out yourself."

The princess smiled as the moon started to make it's way into the sky. She walked back into the warmth of her own bedroom. I followed closely behind her, watching as she removed every bit of her regalia. "Well today was a fun one. I can assume that you'll be heading off to your world now."

"Yeah, the boys at the frat ain't done with me yet." I answered.

She closed the curtains leading to the outside balcony, leaving us isolated in the room. She turned away from me with a smirk, pointed at her cheek, and proudly bragged. "Well, aren't you going to give me something? A thank you, maybe?"

I approached her from behind, sinking my arms around her as I hugged her. She quietly giggled as she sat herself down. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek for her work. "I had fun today."

She smirked as she summoned the letters she wrote for the scavenger hunt. "So you didn't have a problem with these?"

"Evidently not, the first one was probably the hardest one of all of them. But I guess you had to keep it easy for everyone to not be waiting around."

"That was my intention." She admitted.

She took a glance at the grandfather clock sitting across from her bed. "It's getting late, you should be moving."

I tilted her head to me, giving her a quick peck on the lips before letting her go. "I'll try to not get too drunk this time."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, captain."

"Goodnight, your highness."

I quietly stepped out of the room, closing the door behind me and leaned against the wooden frame. I looked up to the ceiling, extending my hand upwards as I remembered the hot tingling sensation running up my arm. The halls remained mostly empty with the exception of a few passing guards on patrol on the far end. After a few more lingering thoughts of the princess, knowing she made her way to the bath, I wandered off through the halls and made my way to the portal room. As I came around, I took notice that Cliff's portal was on today. I thought it was supposed to be closed for a good few weeks... And it has been a good few weeks.

Oh yeah, time's been gunning it recently.

I walked over to turn on Mel's portal so I could pass through. But as soon as I walked through, I felt like I had bumped into a wall. I fell back, seeing that the portal's surface was moving, indicating that I had crossed over. I quickly got back up and placed my hand through it, definitely feeling a wall. I pulled out my phone and called Mel to see if something had gone wrong or if someone had come through. She didn't answer her phone. I called again, same response. I shot her a text message, no reply. I slipped my hand through, feeling around for the borders of her mirror. While I did, I felt something swat at my hand.

What the hell is going on?

Delta Phi Fraternity Residence...

When I arrived, the other half of the party finally kicked off. Of course, the first thing they had to get out of the way was my twenty-two licks. Basically grab my left ankle, cup my balls, and take my college lashing like a bro. Finish that, take two shots, and scream at the top of my lungs like I did something. The frat house wasn't exactly lively this time of year, but for those who were out of state students, they pretty much used the house as a place to crash until the semester started back up. Then once those coed apartments start opening back up, they disappear like ghosts until the next party or meeting.

I sat on the couch, my ass still burning from the birthday bashing I received, but it was a lot more bearable in contrast to what I've been through. I leaned back and watched the two guys on the couch go back and forth with their game, both of them were playing NBA 2K. Cliff played as the San Antonio Spurs, one of our honorary members, Hermes, played as the Houston Rockets.

While Rickey and I watched them both go back and forth scoring on each other, Hermes was smugly calling out what Cliff would do next. "Don't post up. Don't post up. Don't try to stop me from driving. You're gonna get me on the line."

"Bruh, what is you talkin' bout? I'm finna' pick yo ass clean." Cliff replied.

And just on cue, a whistle blows. A yellow indicator over the scoreboard displayed a shooting foul. "Ah, so you running a charity now?"

Cliff wasn't pleased. "Man, they keep giving this nigga Harden free throws for days! Even in 2K the refs suck ass!"

I laughed at the two as number thirteen for Hermes' team queued up at the free throw line. "I just go with the better statistical team." Hermes announced. "If I see this team has a higher rate of free-throw attempts for the season, then it's better to force the foul."

"Bruh, you know you ain't been here a whole two weeks and you sittin' here talkin' like you know the game." Cliff said as he started to mash the buttons for crowd interference. Both free throws went in effortlessly. As soon as Cliff's team grabbed the ball, the whistle blew soon after, indicating the end of the game. The final score: 84-80 Rockets.

Rickey held his hand out. "You know what time it is. Sticks please."

"This some bullshit." Cliff pouted.

"Sticks please!" Rickey emphasized, finally getting the controller in his hands. "Yeah, you know house rules. Loser coughs up the sticks."

"Who you got?" Cliff asked.

"You already know my team. Let's go Thunder!" Rickey announced, picking the Oklahoma City Thunder for his team.

Cliff made fun of his choice. "Bruh, half that team is in injury reserve."

"Doesn't mean shit when injuries are off." Rickey replied.

Hermes glanced over at me and pointed over at Rickey. "He don't know what he's in for."

I shook my head, amazed at how casual this pony-turned-human has adapted to the human world. "So, how's your experience been here in the world of Austin, Texas?"

"It's great!" He said brightly. "This is nothing like the college I went to. So many courses, so much technology, not much magic but there's a lot of food. You guys have an entire franchise cornerstone dedicated to selling liquor every twenty blocks. And then I went to this one place for New Years called Handlebar, live music, awesome drinks, and when I come back here, there's a game already waiting on my system of choice. If I had to make an observation, this place is way better than Canterlot."

"How so?" Cliff asked.

"I mean you guys get around. And with the density being so high, everything's so close to each other. If I want food, I go one place, turn the corner and here I am back at the frat house. It's amazing."

I laughed as I gave him a warning. "Yeah, but you can't keep eating that stuff. Just cause the food is awesome doesn't mean you can go pig out everyday."

"I never knew how good meat can taste. That's a new thing for me, I love steak, I love ribs! I love it, it's awesome!"

"Same thing Shining and Blueblood said." Rickey pointed out. "We took them to a rib joint, them damn ribs turned to bones so goddamn quick. Fucking royalty, they didn't even care."

"No kidding. I could be as big as a castle. I know I saw some pretty particularly large humans wobbling about."

"Heh, man said wobble." Cliff joked to himself.

"Well as long as you know." I warned once more.

Hermes continued to play his team, running a play for one of his players to catch and shoot an open three-point shot. The shot clanked out and Rickey's team ran the other way. "So how's the investigation over in Canterlot? I know the last time we talked, you said something about that one mare I couldn't keep my mind off of."

"Blue Royal? Oh yeah, definitely Count's daughter." I confirmed.

"Wait, what's goin' on?" Cliff questioned. "That ugly ass, piss-on-my-new-J's lookin' ass, crushed-concrete-face-havin' ass, straight-up-sleeping-in-the-crypt dead ass nigga? He's got a kid!?"

"Two." I said, holding up the same number of fingers.

Cliff writhed with disgust. "EEEUuugh! Who the fuck loved that enough to have two kids. I swear he had to fuck some dusty-ass bitch off the corner and not pay his child support when he found out."

"Nope." I shook my head. "And I don't think I've told you that story. So here's all the shit as I know it. He was married, had two kids, wife committed suicide for some reason, both got shipped out separate ways that same day they found her body, some years passed, she came back wanting to reconnect, he raped her─"

Rickey paused the game and placed the controller to his side. "Hold up, you said he raped his daughter?"

"Yup. His own blood."'

Rickey shook his head with disgust and unpaused the game. "Man, I see why you have a counselor now. You deal with some fucked-up shit."

"All in a day's work." I replied grimly. "But yeah, she convened with the brother, they kept him on a joint account to measure out how much money he got. Oh yeah, I forgot to add this. The wife was a billionaire heiress, she locked him out of the will, the kids got everything. So he was actually a broke bum mooching off his kids' finances outside of what he was stealing from the royal budget, basically pocketing some funds that were for a few other things, what politicians here do. Now get this, he called the hit with some merc, the daughter caught wind of what he was doing, how much he was going to pay, and how he was going to break up the payment plan. She didn't like that, so she made the withdrawal from the joint account, that playground fund he had, paid the assassin the whole two hundred thousand plus out of that account. The brother bought a ten-thousand dollar bottle of wine to clean that bitch out. He had nothing until next payday."

"So he basically killed himself for being broke." Cliff concluded.

"Let me finish." I said, correcting him. "He was broke till next pay, but Alex brought up some shit against him in a summons while I was in my coma. So that put him under investigation, and it froze his checks. Now here's where it gets interesting, he had no money, but he also needed a certain fundage for a health issue. Rickey, you remember how he came to us and started attacking me in the wheelchair?"

"Yeah?"

"Hey Hermes, you said he was taking what meds?"

"Thiothixene."

"I looked that up. He was a fucking Schit."

Both of the men looked at me as Cliff sought to confirm what I had said. "You mean ol' dude was a Schizophreniac?"

"Affirmative." I said. "He didn't take his meds since then. He ran out. So he holed himself inside of his office for a while until he just snapped. Now, if I'm a believer of divine justice, I'd have to say that his wife, the one that killed herself, paid him more than a few visits. And from what I got from the daughter when he was getting buried next to her, he HATED being with her. So my guess is that he killed himself trying to run from that demon haunting his ass everywhere he went. Now my other guess, way back when, he got caught doing some shit his wife couldn't answer for. And I bet it had something to do with the inner-circle."

This time, it was Hermes who paused the game and looked at me. "Okay, now you have my undivided attention. How do you know about the inner circle?"

"Let's just say I've managed to pay my way into an exclusive underground club." I said, pulling out my cell phone. I pulled up a picture of the place and showed it to everyone.

"The arena? In Canterrot?" Hermes asked, surprised that I had gotten that far.

"The one that's quickly becoming a hot tourist destination among the low-income locals and gambling addicts? Yeah, that place. Quite the lively neon world you guys got down there, kinda has that Las Vegas nightclub aesthetic going on."

"How the hell did you get in!?" He asked.

"The daughter, she's apparently the creator of the social advocacy group Hooves-For-Humans. She gave me my starting funds, my playground money, and even my other installment fees. We're looking at around a million bits."

"A million bits!?" Hermes shouted, standing to his feet.

"So, a million of those gold doubloons, ain't they like solid gold?" Rickey asked.

I brushed aside the money talk and went back to the topic at hand. "Payments methods aside, I'm a VIP member now."

Hermes walked up to me and questioned me. "So you're working with Count's daughter?"

"It might also help that she has the hots for me and spite for her father. You tell me how that combination works out."

While the transformed stallion thought more on that topic, Rickey paid more attention to the fact that the girl had taken a liking to me. He raised his hand as if he were in a class. "So quick question, does Celestia know about this girl?" Both Cliff and I looked at him with disbelief. "What?" He asked.

I pointed out to him. "Not exactly alone here."

He took a quick glance to Hermes and slapped himself on the forehead. "Ah, fuck."

"Wait, what's going on with Princess Celestia?" Hermes asked curiously.

I quickly salvaged the situation by giving him the half-truth about my motive. "The princess gave me a green light to commence to a secret operation to find the interest groups and politicians looking to usurp the powers in place. As you know, you were deemed what we call in the business 'high-value cargo'. If the cargo gets damaged or destroyed, the mission is compromised. You already know what you know about Count, and apparently you also know something about the inner circle, especially if a member called for a hit on your head."

"Right, that's pretty much why I'm here." Hermes affirmed, accepting my answer as law.

"Yeah that's right. Though the guy they were using is dead now, his former slave got the better of him." I added.

"So you had to legit get him out the way, huh?" Cliff said.

"Rather solve that problem now than see it become one later on. Stupid people try to make peace when the option was never on the table. Better to play it safe."

Hermes walked towards the couch he originally sat on, and he calmly asked me a question. "If you don't mind me asking, how is it you're gonna do this? It's not easy to break into the ranks of the inner circle."

"Win enough fights and I'm in." I said with a shrug.

"That's not all to it."

I froze for a moment, appearing a bit confused. "Wait, what do you mean?"

He sat himself down as he started to explain his reasoning. "The inner circle isn't just some place you can pay your way into, or simply win enough fights to get included. I'm sure you were painfully made aware of the massive drawback to your plan as soon as you signed up. Well imagine that but times ten. You wanna be a member, you've got to do five things, not just one or two. Of course you pay your way in, but they don't just take anyone. They take those with a certain position of power that could be beneficial to their cause. Then they see if they're able to make good hires consistently for their respective coalition, so that's where the winning part comes into play. Your name is out there for everyone to know, so there's no hiding. You know those three, but not the other two."

"So what's the other two then?" Rickey inquired.

"It's simple, sell your life and prove you are one for the cause. If you can't do either, then you're better off just chatting it up with the other VIP members like the truly unimportant pawn you are."

I couldn't help but to notice how cold his tone had gotten, it was almost as if he was speaking from the experience he had with Count. Rather, the experience he had himself being there while being seen as unimportant. "What do you mean by 'sell your life'?"

"No secrets. They know everything about you, who you deal with, your desires, your fetishes, your finances, your family, your weaknesses, and even your past. There's no possible way for you to fit in because you have zero past in Equestria. What's a year of your being there in contrast to someone's fifty in the business while serving as a senator? You're already an outsider to the general public, so it's a no-brainer that you'd be kept outside the loop."

He basically explained to me why this was starting to look like a dire situation, my being clued in to the inner circle's dealings only meant that I was gonna have to find some way to supercede that. And if that's the fourth milestone to be crossed... "What's the last thing then?"

"Simply put, betray the royals. You have to show commitment to the cause, no playing the fence. You are either like everyone else, or you can find the will to put a blade in anyone closest to you. They don't accept token offerings either, if I were you and had to put anything on the line, your best offering..." He clasped his hands together, weaving his fingers between one another and covering his mouth. He gave me a cruel stare. "...would be miss Melanie."

Every last one of us in that room rose up with disgust and anger. Cliff shook his head. "Hell naw."

"Not gonna happen." Rickey strongly said, pointing to him.

Hermes remained calm and collected as he continued on. "Well there's a code to follow. Bits, gems, or blood. If you have more than enough wealth, then part ways with something close to you. Can't seal the deal, might as well go home."

I looked at how calm he was and inquired about something that bugged me since he started explaining more about the inner circle. "Answer this real quick, have you in any way achieved this status? Have you fulfilled the requirements to be considered a member?"

"Like hell I would." He answered angrily. "I'm not selling my family for something as silly as the idea of a coup, they don't even have a plan of government outside of the Parliament ruling over everything. That creates a power vacuum that no one pony could fill. Even the royal family has multiple members standing with Princess Celestia. Imagine if they had that power, then there would be a race to the top to see who would hold all the power. It's a flawed idea with catastrophic implications. Our representation is fine as it is, there's no need to destabilize the government."

At least I know where he stands on this. "So here's the bottom line, none of my friends and family are dying."

His response would be one stemmed from frustration. "Then find some other way of doing things. But I guarantee you that every attempt will end in failure. They know what they're doing, they're lawmakers. Can't break the law if you're rewriting them every ten seconds."

I sat myself back down and hunched over while folding my arms over my lap. "Okay. So what can I do?"

He himself started thinking of a plan, while also admitting the drawbacks to it. "The next best thing is to capture one of them, I guess. But you can't capture them if they've got security around for every aspect of their lives. Their days are already monitored in parliament, so a disappearance would be too substantial to ignore."

"And you can't drop some guy in to replace them?" Cliff questioned.

Hermes looked up to the ceiling. "They'd have to replace them in the inner circle as well. If whoever's replacing them doesn't have enough intimate knowledge of their life, they'll be killed. That's the whole reason why everyone's life is so easily exposed. If you aren't who you say you are, you're an intruder looking to get some information, information that could compromise their whole operation. Best to assume they'll defend that with their lives."

"Or in this case, however many lives they can throw at you." I replied.

"You understand that." He said as he came to the conclusion of there being no plan set in stone for us to execute. "So, what's your plan now? The only thing I can see you doing is abducting him yourself and illegally obtaining a testimony for the sake of the investigation. Doing that means your intel is void for action, you'd be right back at square one with everyone looking to see your head on a plate."

Admittedly, I had a grand but highly corrupt idea come to mind, but realized that I had killed off the potential chance of that happening with all those executions. "Fuck... if only we had some changeling insurrection or invasion to mask his disappearance. He'd be as good as gone."

"And you can't fake his death. They'll immediately know you're in on it." He tossed back.

"Yeah, that's tough." Rickey mumured.

"Too bad you can't seep into his brain or something and get the information you want." I suggested.

Hermes groaned. "That wouldn't work either, you'd have to have a testimony that's been authorized with a warrant. And believe me when I say the municipal forces at work will be against you."

I quickly replied to that statement. "I know someone in city council. They could be interested in cleaning up the place."

"That's good, but how does that help? Some guy on the city council, not even the mayor, what's that to the powers that be?"

"You're right." I said, admitting defeat in that regard. But I still had another potential ace in the hole. "Blue's brother, she says he's in the inner circle."

The transformed stallion drew a deep breath. "I know he's in there on the account that they enjoyed how he showed his dedication. Imagine if your son was a member of the inner circle like you, and you'd be force to talk a whole business transaction, while your son is making the guy across from you jackhammer his cock down his throat."

While Cliff and Rickey were astounded and unnerved by the revelation, I wasn't as surprised. "I've heard a story or two like that."

"Yeah, but the thing is who he tried to do it to first."

That one probably surprised me a little more. "Good ol' dad?"

"With the college try." He confirmed.

"How'd that go?"

"As well as you'd expect." He deadpanned.

I chuckled lightly, mainly out of astonishment. "Hasn't see his daughter in years, rapes her. Hasn't seen his son in years, the son comes out as gay in the worst way possible. Yeah, this family has a hell of a best-seller on it's hands."

Hermes also added. "Either way, each day the son announced his visits, Count wouldn't go on those nights."

I continued to piece the details together. "And if he isn't there, that gave Blue the space to sign herself in on the debauchery."

"Guarantees that they never meet." Hermes verified.

"Me thinks the brother did it out of love for his sister." I pointed out.

"It's a double K.O.. He didn't like seeing his son being gay, he wanted to see his daughter to repeat his offense. The inner circle would've loved to see that one unfold. Just imagine if the kids came around, and then he shows up..."

"The son would've tried to take on what daddy gave to his poor little girl." I concluded quietly. "Yeah, I see why she has drinking problems."

"Bruh, you could write a whole fucking novel off of this shit." Cliff said in disbelief.

I unfolded my arms and started tapping against my chin. "So... if I can talk to the brother─"

"He wants no business unless you're willing to play with him. Better to leave that one alone." Hermes warned.

"I bet I can put in a good word with his sister, see if she can get him to do me a favor?" I suggested.

"Not without payment." Hermes stated.

I grimaced and looked over to him. "How much?"

The transformed stallion grew mum for a moment before cringing at the thought. "He considers semen as an alternative for blood."

All of us in the room shuddered at the thought. "Uuugh that's a tough one." I said, compressing my arms into my chest.

The Next Day...
***Point of Perspective: Equus Nondis***

As per usual, my shift was pretty quiet. Of course while I had ran my patrols, there were a few others who murmured about my Saturday morning cuss-out by the princess. Rumors began to spread that I had gotten rebellious against the royal family because of that event and hedged their bets to see when I would get myself fired. But when I addressed them directly, it was all have-a-good-day-sir from them.

And as soon as my shift ended, I head over to my room to see a manila envelope sitting on the floor in my room. I opened it to see another notification from Blue. She apparently wanted me to come by tonight, at least to get familiar with the whole process of living the life of a VIP member. Thankfully, I had another twenty-thousand bits in gems to use, so getting a hire wouldn't be too hectic. I called up Kalimba and let her know I'd be needing her tonight. She didn't answer at first.

On my way out the door, I got a phone call back from Kalimba. She told me that she would try to be able to make the trip despite her feeling ill. She said she was running a high fever and was pretty much bedridden the entire day. She also apologized deeply for getting sick. I told her to take the night off, she refused and announced the time she'd try to be here. I again stated that she needed rest, she ignored me and reiterated her time of arrival. From there she hung up.

I couldn't help but kick something in frustration, she was already putting her life in danger working with me, there was no need to do the same for her health. I should've at least asked her how she was feeling before bringing up the offer. Now I know she's not going to be in fighting form.

Either way, what's done is done.

Just after two days of being a human, I was back to being a pony again. After a few moments of gathering my thoughts and getting ready for the mess to come, I settled out for the train station. As soon as I arrived, I saw Kalimba stumbling off the train, shivering all the while. I ran over to her and questioned the mare. "What the hell, why are you here?"

"I had to make it. Do not worry, I've had worse."

"You are going to kill yourself if you keep going like this. You need to rest." I strongly urged.

"I am strong. Do not take my condition into consideration."

I angrily grabbed one of her forelegs and draped it over my body. "Come on, we've got to get you to someplace warm."

"De worst is already over for me. Just let me work."

"Working for me is not a permission to work yourself to death." I replied.

She continued to ignore me, pushing herself onward. "We must go."

"To a doctor." I recommended.

She shook her head. "My fatigue is not what you have in mind. My fever has already been sweated out. Dis is more from my magic training earlier today."

I was almost at a loss for words. "You trained today, with a fever!?"

"I want to show you what all I've learned. I could be of more help to you." She said, pushing off of me and walking on her own wobbly legs. "Besides, I have done much worse under far more intense conditions. Do not confuse my mental drain for weakness."

She didn't bother to wait on me, hobbling off to the station's exit.

We made our way to the arena, reaching the VIP entrance. As soon as we approached, I could see Blue standing outside, leaning against the wall, her face turned away from me. She appeared upset about something. I walked over to her, quietly tapping her on the shoulder. She leapt forward, twisting herself around to see that I was standing there. Instead of being in upset about something, she appeared to be in a cold sweat.

"You okay there?" I asked her.

The mare quickly grabbed my foreleg and dragged me further down the hall. "Let's go be the general audience today." She said quickly, still latching on to me.

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked around. "Wait, what's going on?"

She looked past me to see Kalimba following up behind me. "You brought her here again!? What is wrong with you!?"

"Yeah, I tried to get her to rest up today, but she refused to listen to me." I explained, earning a retort from the zebra.

"I am not a burden to be concerned. So your cause for worry is nothing short of unearned."

Blue shuddered as the doors to the VIP lounge started to open. Almost in a whinny, she grabbed both of our forelegs and dragged us further down the hall. "I'm sorry, I should've never asked you to come by tonight. You need to go to general seating and enjoy the show."

We turned the corner to see a well-dressed stallion standing in the center of the hall, his back turned to us. He sported a maroon and gold suit, complete with a miniature top hat fashioned to his left side, all of which didn't quite fit with his forest green fur. Blue's hooves came to a screeching halt before she used her magic to guide us back onward through the hall we had just turned from. But as soon as we did, the same stallion stood in the center of the hall, his back turned towards us. The three of us turned back around to see the same stallion standing down the hall. I looked to the hall we turned into, seeing him standing there still, I turned to see further down the hall we would've went without turning, there he stood. I looked back and saw him standing there, but summoning a maroon and gold rod, matching his outfit. He slammed the rod into the ground, producing a loud ringing noise that decayed off slowly.

The rod spun and twirled in his possession, his head raised up high as his ears turned to the three of us. He tilted his head slowly in pattern to his slightly swaying body, motioning from side to side. He inevitably came to a halt after a while, the rod stopped twirling as if he was leading a parade down the street, suddenly raising up slowly as he was raising it to the ceiling above. I did so much as taking a breath to speak, but he quickly pointed that rod to me. "Shh.... listen." He sat on his haunches and raised both of his forelegs up, his hooves increasing their distance from the ground as a sudden crescendo of the crowd out in the bowl started to wash through the halls. He held his hooves up in the air for a while before he started to hug himself and wriggle slowly. "Oh yes, give praise my lowly common filth, you who continue to resist the coil of her nurturing embrace. Experience the fruits that have been bestowed upon you. Are you not entertained?"

The stallion flamboyantly tilted his head back and glanced over to me with the most appeased smile on his face.

"Are you not entertained?"

I turned to Blue and whispered to her. "Okay, who's this guy?"

"This guy is over here." He whispered into my ear. I turned to see him standing next to me, pressing his muzzle into my neck. He laughed with some twisted croak in his voice. "And he is engaged with this unique musk." He said, sniffing my neck before releasing a pleasured shudder. "I must say, I'm quite turned to you, captain."

I motioned myself to turn away from the stallion, but found that all four of my hooves were locked to the ground. I looked down to see my hooves attached to some bright orange glow, keeping me stationary to the ground. I looked up to see the stallion standing in front of me, holding his cane to my chin. The stallion's face showed some pale peach-colored swirls reaching all the way down his neck. As he got closer, he used his magic to hold my head still as he licked my muzzle. After all of that, he dropped me and strutted away proudly. As he turned back to look at me, he held his forelegs out and spun in a circle.

"Welcome to my Sanctum of Sacrilege, I am Umbra Sanctus. And you are the residential human, but in disguise. Please, tell me why you find yourself so eager to hide your true face."

I whispered over to Blue. "I thought my name and identity wasn't supposed to leave from behind those doors."

The stallion chuckled, suddenly appearing next to Blue Royal without so much as a prompt or hint of magic. He tilted her head upwards, kissing the mare against her neck. "Oh well she can very much tell you. I change the rules to whatever I see fit. And since you have graced my humble little hole in the wall, I couldn't help but to greet you myself. But it seems our patron here has had some other plans aside from my seeing you tonight." He bit into the distressed mare's neck and turned his sampling ways towards Kalimba. "And I must say that you brought about some interesting company. Kalimba my dear, how is our good friend Prod doing?"

Even as I looked over at the zebra, I could tell that she was just as unnerved as Blue was. She just tried to show less of it. "I am afraid dat he did not play his cards well. I am now under new ownership, as you can tell."

He sniffed the mare's mane and hummed. "Ah, I smell his blood on you. And I also smell the scent of our human here. Tell me, has he claimed you like Prod would've?"

"I would be willing to say, but it goes against my owner's way." She replied.

He placed a hoof on the mare's cheek, turning her head. "And still as sickly as ever, even now you are suffering some affliction of sort. I wonder what value you try to hold yourself to now. You're still just a broken toy, a misfit of sorts. You would be better off serving on my walls. Could you imagine the faces of those who'd see you, a unicorn zebra mix showing her best culminating expressions, broken like the common nymph you truly are. I wonder if he's ever seen you truly enjoy yourself like you would when you were brought in to service your high-paying clients. But then again, I suppose Prod would've happily reaped the benefits of your transactions. It's a shame, you figured your value was much higher and opted to have him removed, only to come to the realization that there's no place for you in this world. You're just a sick little blank-flank who has no real value to society. You should've been proud to admit that your position in this world is but one thing: Face-to-floor, ass-raised, tail-to-back, open for business."

She didn't reply to him on that end. That was already more than telling. She was adamant that her situation wasn't as severe as I made it out to be, she argues me up and down the street. He says something about it, even mocking her on the matter, the entire time with a twisted smile on his face... dead silence.

I had already made up in my mind I wasn't going to like this guy very much. But since I had no real pull in this situation, I continued to play the role I was assigned. His attention was brought right back to me, unfortunately coming with his very hooves-on approach. "Now back to you. I believe a demonstration of your particular set of skills are in order. I take it you're of the... growing garden variety. You obviously don't like telling, so I guess we'll have to see what you're made of."

I grimaced as I thought about what he would've wanted me to do, especially as handsy as he's been with me. And I was already feeling more than sick with him trying to push so hard at me. I wasn't in any way gay. I don't have a problem with people who like it, it's just not my comfort zone of knowing another man's touch. But remembering Kalimba's warning from last time, and seeing how this guy is apparently the one running the show, I didn't have a choice if I wanted this to come to my desired end. I just needed some reinforcement to help me alleviate the situation. "I can get a drink first, right? I'm a lot better when I have a bit of a buzz." Perhaps that spicy wine from the last time would get me over the hump, both figuratively and very literally.

The stallion laughed, waving his hoof in front of his face. "Of course not." He said with that sinister smile. "You, sober. I want you to show me exactly what you're capable of, especially if Kalimba of all ponies is keeping it secret. Besides, we hold no secrets in my little club, so I expect to see just how intimate you can really be."

I couldn't help but to feel an immense building of butterflies in my stomach as he pointed me in the direction of the VIP lounge. "Can I choose my victim of choice?"

"Of course... this time. But if I am pleased with your display, do not be surprised if my participation becomes sudden."

I winced as I looked to Kalimba and muttered. "I guess I'll be taking this exotic piece of work over here."

Blue stepped aside, looking away as Kalimba stepped forward without an ounce of shame to her name. "I suppose we will have to share our story with de world."

"Of course." I was already hating where this night was taking me.

As soon as we walked in, the patrons who were just as easily investing themselves in the many servants that lined themselves for their enjoyment, Umbra boisterously twirled his cane and marched into the room as if he was the drum major to a homecoming parade. From tossing the cane into the air and catching it after spinning himself around, to directing us to the position of where we had to go, he coordinated himself with the flair and flame of a lively performer.

"Come along, new guy! We've got a show to put on!" Both Kalimba and I approached the center of the room and stood there as he simply danced and pirouetted around where we stood. He stopped and pointed to the bartender and shouted to him. "Crème, hold the bar! We've got a show of our lovely new patron, he's going to demonstrate to us how good he can stick it to his guest." He twirled around to the line of servants. "You lot, stay right there, I need all eyes on our esteemed captain! Surely if he can grab the attention of a princess, he must have a performance worth remembering!"

Blue Royal quietly entered the room, turning to the bartender. Crème shrugged his shoulders as he shook his head at the mare. "Sorry sweetie, boss just closed out the bar."

"You got the stuff?" She asked quietly, but not without the astute Umbra slamming his cane into the ground, producing a loud ringing sound.

The two turned to see the flamboyant stallion standing with a smile on his face, head tilted with a hoof pointed to the two. "Blue... come here."

While Kalimba and I were getting set up, I watched as Blue slowly walked towards the jester-like owner and turn her eyes away from his gleaming countenance. He leaned into her ear and whispered something, only for her to collapse to the ground shortly after. She shook violently, tears welling up in her eyes as he turned around with that same smile on his face. A masked pony broke from the crowd and walked beside her, picking her up off the ground before hugging her.

Umbra quickly put an end to that. "Don't worry about her, she's fine. Blue, stand and come sit by me."

While I started to get angry with the stallion, Kalimba grabbed my head and immediately plunged her lips into mine. She broke off for a second, breathing into my ear. "Dat is not a game you wish to play. Continue with your role and look only my way." As Kalimba started to work herself towards my arousal, I was guided to touch her on her neck. I glanced over to the flamboyant owner who watched with Blue metaphorically chained to his side. Again, my head was turned around to the mare before me. She reached her hooves up and grabbed me, pulling me into her. She didn't smile, wearing a neutral face as she whispered to me once more. "If you want to stop his harassment for her sake, den it is a good show you should make."

That wasn't a warning, that was a request. I could at least tell she felt some concern over Blue's mental state, just as I did. When we showed up, she was already a lot less stable than usual. Something about this guy seemed to have gotten her so unbelievably discomforted. Goes without saying that she's in a bad spot, standing next to the very guy who whispered something in her ear and making her collapse on the spot. Every little thing that's off his agenda, he calls it out, and then puts them in restriction in front of everyone. Everything about him screams dangerous, from how flippant he is to how he smiles all the time. He even talked about Kalimba's past and condition like he was enjoying her discomfort. Hell, he's probably enjoying mine more than I'd like.

I'm gonna have to kill this guy.

As I reached my full state of arousal, I tried my best block out the crowd that watched us. Kalimba laid on her back, waiting patiently for me to actively partake in her body. I looked down to see the numerous scars all over her body, watching as her hindlegs splayed in submission of letting me take her. Her magic encircled my stallionhood and guided me towards her entrance. I closed my eyes to the numerous scars and focused on what I was doing, the ring of magic around my length, and the warmth between me.

With her guidance, I was set on my path to an unusual and uncomfortable climax. I admit that she felt wonderful to me, she was as embracing as any other. She took a deep breath and rocked her body into mine. I slowly thrust my hips into hers, trying to savor the moment we shared at least. And even in my state of forced arousal, I was invested in the work she put into keeping me an active participant. Her eyes would glance down and back up to me. She grabbed my head with her hooves, pulling me into her chest as my entire length sank into her. She elicited a few soft moans of approval. With each moment of withdrawal, I could feel the cold air convincing myself to stay enveloped. A few times, I ended up throbbing while reaching the end of her depths, with just an inch or two to spare.

As I breathed against her chest, her body began to give a musk. And since my current form was a very different beast in terms of my sense of smell, it started to overpower the logistics of my current situation. I sped up, but pushing myself even further in. The very few inches that were neglected prior were getting their fair share of her warmth. I allowed my equine instincts guide me on my next course of action. I nuzzled into the nape of her neck, kissing her skinny features, every scar, every dip, every ring on her neck.

Against me, I could tell she was starting to loosen up. Her body also started to become less and less stiff. Her whispers started turning into chirps. Her hooves went from grabbing at my cheeks to holding my back down, forcing me in closer with her. Even her sex, which gripped at me so harshly at the start, became more receptive to me, moistening and inviting me with every push, grasping at every pull. My head broke away from her neck, taking a better look at the mare's face. She appeared almost lost in the moment, she was obviously enjoying the difference in attention I gave her. Her forelegs traveled upwards, reaching for the atlas of my spine, she shoved me down into her, guiding me to kiss her neck even more. I heeded her suggestion, but also provided one of my own. My lips laid a few lingering impressions along the base of her jaw, trailing up to her ears. I stopped my rhythm momentarily to kiss her, giving her the undivided attention of my lips.

The sudden embrace made her shudder. I lightly bit into her neck, just below where her rings sat. That seemed to have set something off in her, she grabbed at me with all of her strength and flipped me over. From there she vied for control. She let out a grunt in doing so, raising herself to her hindlegs to stand on. She then grabbed one of my hindlegs for an anchor. As soon as she got settled, she dipped and shifted forwards, rocking back and forth as if she was the stallion and I was the mare.

I was genuinely surprised, moreso impressed with her technique. She became quite the aggressor to my endowment, panting and groaning as she worked. But I could feel her strength waning the longer she stood. Her eyes stopped locking on to me, rolling to the back of her head as she gritted her teeth. She took one final shove before I felt her clench against my length tightly. Her moistened depths pulsed, attempting to milk me of the fruitful appetizer I leaked into her.

She let me go and rolled over, savoring her orgasm. I stood to my hooves and walked over her. She looked up to me in her post-climax stupor and smirked a little. "I almost forgot, you are not done."

"Glad you remembered." I muttered to her, "As you already know, I'm built different. I can go for a while."

She faced forward and whispered. "Den stop with your chit-chat, ah, come claim dis rat." She said, using her magic to lift her tail out of the way for me to see the moistened mess that she made of herself.

I aligned myself and sank into her once more. "Far from a rat. I'd said I'd eat you alive." I replied, smacking her on her flanks.

The mare moaned quietly as I took my position above her and started shifting into her at a moderate rhythm. She raised her rear upwards, allowing me to lay claim to her depth a little better. As I continued, I used my magic to pull at her mane, raising her head high enough to where I could lean over and kiss her. We played with each others tongues for a moment before she winced in pain. I paused my motions for a moment as she described the instance of her discomfort. "A little sore from de first go. Keep at it."

While we went at it, I glanced up to see the flamboyant owner sitting on his haunches, but with only one foreleg to support himself. The other subtly rubbed himself, stroking in an upward motion before sinking back down. At the very least he was enjoying our show, giving Blue a more-than-needed reprieve from his bullying. She watched me in the midst of my performance, but shyly glanced to her side to see the stallion pleasuring himself slowly.

At least, he spoke out to halt our performance. "Alright, enough you two. I think I had my fair share of foreplay." He looked to the crowd and called out. "Bastard, come here." The same stallion who wore the mask from before approached him and sat before him. "I believe it's time for us to show what we're made of. So... shall we show them up?"

"Of course, sir." He replied. The masked stallion walked with Umbra to the center of the floor as both Kalimba and I started to walk off.

"Ah, wait!" He called out loudly, pointing his cane to the both of us. "Kalimba, that was quite the lively show you gave to us tonight. I'm sure Prod would've never pulled anything like it out of you. A round of applause for you." He rested the cane in his magic as he clopped his hooves together. "Everypony, a round for Kalimba and her spirited performance."

Almost as if a bright red sign had glowed above his head, the entire room gave their applause to the zebracorn, who quietly sauntered off. I followed in her hoofsteps, but found that same rod blocking my path, pointing to me.

"Now you..." He pointed his hoof to me and slowly turned his foreleg over to his left. As soon as it ran perpendicular to his chest, he pointed down and tilted his head. "Here."

"Wait, what!?" I said, still exposed for everyone in the room to see.

He straightened his head and hugged himself, letting his arousal and enjoyment show down below. "Surely I warned you. I said that if your performance was admirable or moving enough, I would intervene. I've made senseless merriment with everyone in this room. I'm quite proud of my capability to show my endless affection and joy to the world."

The stallion in the mask walked up to me and guided me over to the spot he pointed to. I sat myself in defiance. "But you said that I could choose my victim!"

"And I said it would be for then, well 'now' was then. And this... is now. So come along, I would hate to be rejected in front of my great and charitable patrons. You should be grateful that I allowed you here without setting you up for your demise." His smile suddenly turned into an even wider Cheshire-like grin. "Though... it's not that I have a problem with your not having a free will. You'd surely make merriment with me then."

The stallion by me whispered in my ear. "It's better if you go along with it. Keep yourself alive."

I turned around to see the green eyes staring at me from behind the mask before he pushed me over to where Umbra stood. As soon as I stopped stumbling, the maniacal jester giggled pressed his body into mine. As he started to sit himself, teasing his length, I glanced back to see the other masked stallion already at my tail, smelling my scent and admiring it for himself. I started to feel the pressure of my disgust rising from within my stomach as Umbra tilted my head to him, getting as close to where our muzzles touched. "I hope all those kisses you gave to Kalimba also go to me."

Blue glanced away from me, deeply saddened as she felt guilty for calling me here. She clenched her eyes shut, mouthing out repeatedly. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

Without warning, there was a loud banging at the door. It appeared that it was highly urgent for someone to start bashing at the door like they were. The flamboyant owner wore a smile the entire night. But the moment he had to be pulled from the very narrow inch of kissing me was the moment I saw his face slowly devolve into a scowl. The entire room experienced a paradigm shift as his face changed. In a simultaneous blink, the stallion warped from where I stood to the door. Umbra angrily flung the doors open and growled in a low voice. "What?"

If there was ever a way to terrify anyone, it would be that exact pronunciation of the word 'What'.

The security guard at the door whispered at the owner. Umbra took a deep breath and turned to me. "I guess we'll be continuing our time later, captain."

I turned away from him, thinking to myself how grateful I was that this wasn't going any further. But he warped in front of me, lifted my chin, and stole one from me anyways. It was angry, disgusting, and also filled with tongue. He shoved me off and went back to his smiling ways for a moment.

"Something to remember me by, dear husband." He warped away once more, turned to one of the bouncers by the door, and muttered to him. "That one, he never leaves this place. I'm not finished with him."

They both nodded with acknowledgement before he disappeared into the hall. As soon as the doors closed, Crème went back to wiping his glasses and announced to the room. "Bar's back open, everypony. If you want to take some of that edge off, you can come to me or one of our esteemed servers, we will be glad to service you in any way you see fit."

Blue sighed exasperatedly. "A bottle, just the whole fucking bottle."

The masked figure approached from behind me, placing a hoof on my back slowly. "You okay?"

I spat and gagged while trying to wipe my tongue on the bottom of my hooves, rather tasting the dirt than that son of a bitch again. "No. I can't. I'm done."

He whispered quietly to me. "I think we should talk."

"Get away from me!" I commanded, quickly getting up to my hooves and galloping for one of the press boxes. As I ran, I was also pursued. I ran inside and slammed the door, only for it to be met with a magic aura stopping it from closing. I quickly summoned a gun and held it up to the stallion who quietly and slowly entered the room. The stallion closed the door behind him, removing his mask.

"Nondis... we need to talk."

The mask dropped to the floor and the stallion raised his hooves up slowly. His head raised as his horn used a simple illumination spell to lighten the dark room, giving me a better view of his face. Upon seeing it, I became confused and hesitant. He appeared remorseful upon seeing my distraught face as I questioned him. "...Alabaster?" He deactivated the illumination spell and simply cut on the lights.

"All I want to do is talk."

"Why are you here?" I asked, still distressed from what happened to me earlier.

"I'm here because I belong." He replied quietly. "I do what I must for her sake."

"For her sake?" I questioned.

A knock came at the door. The two of us jumped while I continued to hold the gun to the stallion. I motioned the barrel over to the door twice, urging him to answer it. The stallion picked up the mask he dropped and reapplied it to his face. Once he finished with that, he answered the door and found Blue standing at the entrance, wiping her eyes as the bottle she nurtured was cradled in her magic. Her face was a tearful mess of mascara and eye liner. She walked into the room silently, closing the door behind her and using her magic to seal it closed. From there, she walked over to me slowly, to give me a hug. She continued to repeat into my chest. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

The mask came off again, and Alabaster stood quietly against the door, ensuring that no others would try to eavesdrop. He continued from there. "As I said, I do what I do for Blue's sake. I made a vow to protect her from whatever comes her way."

"Why?" I asked.

He placed the mask on a nearby table. "You do what you have to, to protect the ones you love. You protect your brothers, I protect my little sister. That's all."

I glanced down to the mare who continued to get eyeliner in my chest. "You mean your 'little sister' as in your best friend─"

"No." She whispered, rising off of my chest and standing next to the unmasked stallion. She wiped her eyes as he comforted her. "Alabaster Charm is my older brother."

"And a member of the Inner Circle." He finished quietly. "I work closely with Umbra, whom you can tell is the bastard that calls the shots around here. I do as he says, my sister stays safe."

I angrily questioned the pair. "How is your sister safe here!? How exactly is she safe!?"

Alabaster promptly answered me. "She's safe because she's here with me. Whatever he wishes to do to her, I do in her place. She's in my line of sight, she lives away from me, I keep her tabbed in on our dealings and encounters so that she can better guard herself. Even while this place is as dangerous as it is, she is much safer in here than out there where they can do whatever and however to her."

"And because my brother happens to be in the Inner Circle, he can vouch for my protection." Blue added.

"But because of that, Umbra actively seeks to harass her with every chance he gets." Alabaster continued. "Whether it's to bring up history of our father, or worse... He threatens her cooperation with his shitty little games."

I felt another shiver crawl up my spine as the very taste of his tongue still haunted mine. "You went along with his stupid fucking game, and you didn't even give a heads-up to either of us if he was coming or not. Why the fuck should I trust you now?"

Alabaster's ears folded back as he lowered his head. "I'm not asking you to, nor should I. But even he surprised me with this move, he told us that he wouldn't come around tonight, saying that he had more important things to do. I wanted to come tonight to at least explain things to you─"

"At a cost, right!?" I replied, pointing at him. "If it wasn't him, then it would've been you!"

"No! Not to you! Others, of course─"

"And me?" I angrily pointed to myself.

He dropped his head even further. "...I admit that I might have had my thoughts. It's true, It would've been nice to keep training you, then we'd develop an acquaintanceship, possibly a friendship. I'd help you become powerful in magic, you'd help me and my sister undo my father's legacy, as well as the legacy of those he worked closest with."

"So both of you admit that you tried to use me?"

Blue stepped up for her brother. "You knew this was what we were doing! I told you that when you asked me back at the Cloud Colosseum! Both my brother and I idolized you because of how you overcame the odds, even overcoming all of what my father set up against you! For the first time in years, we had confidence that things would finally change!"

Alabaster continued, closely standing next to his younger sibling. "We tried offering our support to you in every way possible. When I saw you at the City Centennial Celebration, I admit I was a bit flustered but I was also looking to give you every advantage the parliament would've tried to deny you. Everything our father spearheaded, we tried our best to nullify in some way. Even if it was a risk, we had to keep faith that you'd reach the same results regardless of the circumstance. We're truly sorry that it wound up being in a way that brought terrible harm to you. That's why we couldn't just sit by and let the parliament and the supremacists in the military deny you your benefits without some sort of fall-back."

I then argued in turn. "My best friend was the one who saved my life. No matter how much money you gave, it would've never saved me like she did. So don't go taking credit for her hard work, throwing your money at me. Not that I don't appreciate it, but that credit isn't yours to take."

Alabaster appeared crushed, backing away slowly as he spoke. "I know this wasn't how I wanted this to be. I thought it would've at least ended with me appreciating you from a distance, standing idly by. But when he gives me an order, I'm obligated to follow. I know now that this isn't a choice you'd willingly embrace, and I have to apologize for that being forced on you."

While he said that, all I could think of was the masked pony whispering into my ear as he pushed me forward. "You said it would be better to go along with it."

"To protect you! I didn't say that just to get something I'd want, I did it because I needed you to know that you'd have to put your own personal preferences aside. Being here is a cursed privilege, but you get things done being here. I hate saying that, but I look over to my sister and see how my father hasn't touched her once since I joined this place, I see how the worst hasn't come to her since I moved her away. Yes, my lifestyle... this part of me... it is who I am, but I will not force that on someone without knowing if they'd willingly be open to it or not."

"And you did just that to me. You could've stayed behind and watched, but you actively participated." I angrily called out.

Alabaster didn't refute my allegations. Instead, he turned away from me in shame. "...I know. And that's why I can accept you never forgiving me."

"Good... now leave me alone." I replied harshly.

He quietly whispered in response. "I can't."

"I SAID LEAVE!"

He quickly turned around, pointing to me. "Not without getting you out of here. I need to get you out, I can't leave you here. I'll take the brunt of letting you go as my payment to you." While I continued to brandish my weapon, he maintained a safe distance from me while speaking quietly enough where any possible eavesdroppers couldn't hear. "There's a secret passageway that leads to the abandoned mines, if you follow the red crystal walls, you'll meet with a junction of three other tunnels. Take the sapphire one, keep going left, you'll end up on the surface by South Canterlot High School. From there, you can travel the main road back to the castle."

"How do I know it's not an ambush?" I asked, being a bit cynical.

"My brother would never set you up like that." I glanced over to her, watching as she lowered her head. "Please. I know you're hurting and confused right now because of what happened, but we want to help you. Let us do something, please. If you want, we'll never involve ourselves with you again."

Another door.

Those words were yet another door, one of many I could've taken to leave everything behind. If I was anywhere near sane, I would've just simply left it at that, asked for the way out, and simply go back home. That would've been the sane response, but it would've also been the most naïve. To say that I could've went home and lived my life happily is nothing short of a display of hubris. Not only would I go home damaged psychologically, physically, and spiritually, but I'd be leaving a lot of things behind, a lot of doors open that no one else could hope to shut without consequence. What would I be other than a true murderer?

I don't mean that from the traditional sense of someone who has calculated the options and took the physical step to take the physical life from another physical being. I would be the person who calculated the options and took the physical step to take the many lives─physically, mentally, and spiritually─of other physical beings, the theft of many futures and dreams. I'd murder the two standing before me, the ones I promised to help, the unborn that hasn't drew breath yet, the ones who had long gone. My speeches to many would become the testament to my character, an abundance of lies with no real substance. And that would be yet another form of suicide, a self-inflicted murder. And I'm sure my grandfather would shake his head at the sight of me if I were to do that. Everyone back home who supported me up to now would question why I would even go this far and give up, as if to assassinate the logic of my staying here for so long.

Like hell I was going to waste almost a year of my being here for nothing.

"...Okay... I can't trust you, and I can't forgive you in any capacity for the foreseeable future. But my mission is bigger than me, it's bigger than what I want." I lowered my weapon and weighted before them my reasoning, even if I felt like I was watching millions of ants crawling all over my skin, just outright disgusted. "There's a little foal who's to be born to Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, they just passed some legislation to inspect their filly before the start of their first estrus. And if this place is anything to go by, the stories I've been told are true, then there is nothing that would stop them from possibly compromising that little girl's life and emotional future. Kalimba has showed me that much, that her life being altered at a young age could destroy her perception of what's normal and not. I know and heard of many others who have had that happen to them, who even died with that weight on them. Frankly, I'd rather we put ourselves in that path than the young ones of the immediate future."

The two siblings looked at one another, Blue quietly spoke from her slow withdrawal. "So you'll work with us?"

I looked over to Alabaster, who appeared to stand close to his sister. He seemed a little more hopeful. "If your father's only legacy is Law Processu Approbatio, then that's as far as I'd go. I won't do a damn thing more."

The stallion lightly smiled, looking away from me while speaking. "That's more than fair."

Blue trotted over to me and hugged me out of appreciation, alleviating a heavy sigh from her chest. She followed up with a kiss on my cheek. "I'll go get Kalimba."

While she galloped for the door, Alabaster placed on his mask and sat on the opposite side of the room. He started to shuffle his hooves while he looked away from me, but not without tossing a few uncertain glances my way. "...Soooo..."

"You being gay isn't anything special. I've seen a lot of that in high school."

The stallion finally faced me, also expressing much relief in hearing my opinion. "Oh thank goodness, I thought you would've been like everypony else if you found out."

I simply shook my head. "With all due respect, I don't move that way. I'll respect what you are as long as you respect what I am not."

While I know this conversation wouldn't be as civil with Umbra, I could tell that Alabaster was more than accommodating to my request. He walked over to the window and lifted the blinds to see the arena below. "That's fair."

I turned away from the stallion, one question still weighing on my mind. With the passage of an awkward minute, I was more drawn to asking it rather than staying silent. "...Why me?"

He giggled to himself, glancing over to me and back to the arena floor. "Better if you don't ask." He said, tapping against his chest. "I'm sure you'd rather not think about what's been roaming through my mind when I think of our training sessions. I do a lot of fantasizing about our size differences."

I shuddered once more and compressed myself to my seat. "That's fair."

Oh boy, life just keeps slinging at us, doesn't it?

The month of November was nothing short of contentious. As far as how I'm holding up, it's been a pretty ugly ride. Good news: I paid off the bills. I got the gigs to do just that and maybe a little more. But of course it's 2020, there's no such thing as good without bad. There's no such thing as hope within despair. There is no relief from the hell that is this year.

On Wednesday, November 18th, we got a phone call from the hospital telling us that my grandfather had suffered a serious stroke. At first, I was optimistic that he would find a way to recover... that was until the next morning. He fell into a coma and was unresponsive. My drunken uncle went on a binge, using the money he'd earn throughout the day and got back home with more beers than dollars earned. He refused to process any of this, so I had to man up and lock down my finances for the month. So I went on a gig binge, taking as many as four in one day to make some good money to pay the bills that Saturday.

That same day, my grandfather passed at 11:07 p.m..

In terms of the funeral, it took a while to get things processed. My uncle was the sole inheritor of his life insurance policy, but... he's serving a life sentence. My uncle in hearing that continued to destroy his liver with yet another destructive binge. And to this day, the family has yet to see a single dollar of what he earned go into this house. My aunt who moved from Denver is just as much of a deadbeat as he is. Her daughter, however, is trying her best to adjust to the move. That leaves me and my mother to shoulder the funeral arrangements, something our family could've coordinated together, but they're too busy being drawn to their vices.

I'm already on the thought that my aunt just came down to collect on the money. She's living with us, refused to live in with my grandfather when he was still alive and kicking, refused to squat the house he lived in, and now won't even think about going there to hold the fort. Because of her negligence, the house I'm now set to inherit has been broken into twice now. They stole a TV and a central heating unit, broke four windows, and left me with no other choice but to board the windows. I can't even get something good without some terrible floating around it.

I know I said I hate it here at least once, I know I said I would try and keep fighting, but it feels like it's just my mom and I are doing all the work. Hell, we ARE doing all the work. My little cousin is trying her best to contribute to the funeral tomorrow. It's sad to see her having to walk into this at 19 years old. I want her to escape this place. At least she has hope for a better future, more than I do at this point.

So yeah. That's my update.