1184 Years Ago...

In the castle of Everfree, there was a quiet peace that covered the land. The ponies who lived in it's walls had greeted one another with praises to the sun. The denizens all smiled and waved to one another, their foals running off with one another through the pristine streets of the city. They all laughed as they ran past the many courtyards, including the one that sat below the grand tower of the castle. Down below, many who passed by would look up and wave to it's occupants. They would call out. "Hail to the King! Hail to the Queen! Hail to the Royal Sisters!"

From high above, the fair queen stood on the balcony of her daughters' room. Queen Gaia looked on, waving to the subjects that passed by to greet her. Her long ethereal mane flowed brilliantly against the light of the sun. She patiently waved to each citizen that hailed her, at least until one voice had parted her attention from the crowd of commoners below. "Mother mother!"

The mare turned around to see the young unicorn princess standing beside her. "Yes, Celeste?"

"I wanna wear your crown today!" The young filly replied, jumping energetically. She eagerly awaited her mother's answer.

The mare giggled as she looked to the top of her head. "I'm not sure if you'd want to wear that old, dingy thing."

"But it so nice and shiny! I want to wear it just like you do!" The princess stated, jumping up with her hooves outstretched, trying to reach up for her towering mother's head.

Queen Gaia guided her young daughter from off of the balcony and into the room. "But I've already commissioned a crown for you, don't you like it?"

"It's nowhere near as pretty as yours!" She responded, walking past a number of silk curtains before they entered into a pink bedroom. Sitting behind them was a large golden sigil, a replication of the young filly's cutie mark. The young filly looked beside her and watched as her mother walked before her, kneeling down to speak with her.

"Celeste, your crown is the one I made to celebrate the gift of your beautiful eyes. Do you not like it?" The mother asked with concern.

"But I want to wear yours!" The young daughter answered emphatically, pleading with her mother. "I want to look as regal as you do! Pleeeasseee?"

The mare rolled her eyes in surrender. "Alright, just this once." The mare watched as her daughter clopped her hooves together with excitement. She ignited her white magic, removing the crown from off of her head and onto her daughters. "Careful, it's heavy."

The young filly felt the weight of her head shift slightly as the tiara was planted onto her head. Her eyes looked up to see the loose-fitting crown tilt over one side of her face before completely covering both of her eyes. The queen laughed with amusement. She tried her best to straighten the crown out for her before it fell down another time. Gaia did all she could to keep the crown from slipping, but to no avail.

"It's too big." Young Celeste pouted.

"Just like how you complain that you want wings." Noted the queen with a stifled giggle.

The filly answered her mother. "I want wings and I want them to be as big as yours!"

"Yes, I know." Gaia acknowledged.

"And I want my mane to move like yours!"

The young princess was embraced in a hug, almost ensnared by her mother's lengthy foreleg. The mare kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Celeste, all those things will come in time. For now, just wear what you've been given."

The princess still pleaded with her mother. "Can't you just make me a smaller replica of this one?"

Gaia, losing all ability to argue with her beloved child, thought of a compromise, a promise for her young daughter. She took the crown off the young filly's head and sat it to the center of the nightstand. "Tell you what, I'll leave this here for the morning, just this once. I'll let you look on it a little more, and then I have to take it back because I have some important business to attend to."

The young filly's lavender eyes were filled with such wonder and joy, so much that it almost brightened the room. The queen had to glance outside to see if the sun hadn't gotten too bright from her daughter's excitement. "Thank you so much, mother!"

The queen looked on outside, seeing the light of the sky dimming a tiny bit before evening back out to it's usual level. She glanced back to her daughter, seeing the smile on her adorable face. In her mind, she was already looking at the future of her daughter, but more importantly her waning control over the very object that she would often assist in raising. It amazed her that her daughter had so much control over the sun without even realizing it. But she embraced the tender moment, opting not to focus too much of her own fate.

She broke from her daughter and sat her in front of the mirror. "You know, when you get old enough, I may just give it to you."

"Really!?" Young Celeste inquired.

The mare pointed her to the mirror, guiding her hooves to the sides of the crown as if to pick it up. She pointed to the looking glass ahead. "Take a look in the mirror. This crown has a magical enchantment that can show you a glimpse of your future self. From this day on, when you hold that crown, I want you to see the future that's lies ahead for you."

She glanced to see herself in the mirror. But instead of the young unicorn filly with pink hair, she saw a filly of her same image glaring back at her. The princess that looked back at her had a mane with not just one color, but four. From her back sprouted wings of pearl white, complete with beautiful feathers.

"Wow. It's so pretty." The young filly said, not noticing how her mother was actually enchanting the mirror in front of her.

Gaia then whispered to her daughter, almost as if she was holding back tears. "Celestia, you will be such a beautiful princess. Oh how I wish I could see the wings you'll have, the mane you'll grow, the splendor you'll share with the world." The young filly held on to the crown, staring at it. The image in the mirror did the same in her young ascended state.

"Mother, do you think my wings will be as pretty as yours?"

"You, my dear, will be your own beauty."

1001 Years Ago...

The days have gone silent since the princess was reintroduced to the throne a day after her punishment had taken place. In place of her sister's bed was a grand chest filled with offerings and gifts from other dignitaries, many who knew nothing of what had taken place days prior. But that chest had long replaced her younger sister's bed well over a century ago.

The pain on her body, however, was still fresh.

Celestia whimpered with every move she made, trying to not say anything about what had taken place. How could she announce to the world that she was repeatedly abused, taken advantage of, and made a relief post for some dishonest aristocrats looking to boast about their experience with each time they pass by her? To the world outside, it would make the country appear weak. Equestrian citizens would lose their morale, or even seek to overthrow the system altogether. Blood and pain caused by the betrayal, she had her mother's country to protect.

The dying words of her mother were spent asking a promise to be made, one that the princess found herself questioning at every moment an ache surged through her body, at any point something reminded her of the humiliation she suffered at the hooves of those same loyalist advocates. Wounds that have yet to heal, scars repeatedly disturbed, all of the beauty she was told to have by the one she gave herself to willingly, stripped by the many who envied her decisions. All who swore to protect her did nothing but watch, all who pledged fealty to her did everything but help her, and those who pined for her did wrong by her. The complements her mother spared, they were a lie to her now. But one statement of hers remained true since she was passed the crown she always loved watching her mother wear.

It's weight was too much.

She sat quietly in front of the mirror, her mark eclipsed by her lifeless mane. Her wings were concealed by a crimson dress, her body hidden by a decorative cloak adorned in brilliant gold trim. The crown that sat on the nightstand remained there for the duration of her punishment. It was too much for her to wear her mother's keepsake, especially in the state she was in. Much of her ugly scars were highly visible, especially the mark that was crusted over her chest, the T that branded her as a traitor. Her eyes remained on her face, she dared not to touch the crown. She refused to see what the future had in store for her, she did not want to see that manifest. After all, what good could come from this?

A servant mare entered into the room, smiling brightly towards the victimized matriarch. "Your highness, you looks so beautiful today!"

Celestia looked at her through the mirror, staring as the mare quietly approached from behind her. The mare slowly embraced the royal.

"Princess, why don't you put on your crown? You'll look so regal with it on!"

The abused mare winced at the pain of being touched, as much of her body was still tender from pain and screaming that took place. Even the joints that were completely reconstituted, they remembered quite vividly the stress that was put on them. "It's dingy." Celestia replied, pulling herself away from the mare's touch.

The mare continued to smile brightly. "I'll assign a polisher to clean it for you, your highness!"

"It still doesn't change anything. It's too heavy for me to wear." She muttered, seeing the poor mare staring at her from across the looking glass.

"Oh that little thing, come now. We still have to keep you pretty." The mare said jubilantly, reaching over to anoint the princess with the undesired heirloom. She stepped in front of the mirror, smiling in the princess' face while she praised her. "You've always been incredibly beautiful!"

Celestia shuddered, partially filled with anger but mainly riddled with anxiety. "Do you not see me as I am?"

The mare continued to ignore the princess' words and ushered the matriarch through to door. "Come along, your highness! The Duke of Trottingham wishes to speak with you! We must move with haste!"

The princess remained seated in defiance, not wanting to see another aristocrat. "Leave me be."

The servant mare politely pulled at Celestia's foreleg, causing her cloak to fall off. Upon discovering the princess' cloak was incorrectly worn, she saw the many bloodied patches and sharp metallic spikes in the appendages that was once the pride and joy of the once-free-spirited matriarch. She quickly addressed the issue by placing her hooves on her shoulders, pulling down the dress, and picking at a metal scrap embedded in her flesh. "Princess, we mustn't allow you to wander with your wings being so dirty! Let me clean them for you!"

The princess' mind snapped back to the moment that unforgivable rake pulled at her wings, stripping them unceremoniously of their feathers. She snarled back at the servant. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" The servant leapt back in reply, almost terrified of her superior. Celestia shuddered, reaching down to grab her cloak, placing back on her dress, and covering her back. Her eyes started to brim with tears as she painfully pleaded. "Leave. Me."

As much as she didn't want to, she saw the image of herself wearing her mother's crown. But there was no luxurious flowing mane for it to rest upon, not that day. Her eyes was reddened from crying the night away. Her face appeared pale and drained of life, she looked older. She saw the blood stains on the back of her cloak and dress, her face contorted to show the hideous pain she endured. To even her own self, she was unrecognizable. And at that moment, all she could think about was the words her mother spoke when she was small. 'You, my dear, will be your own beauty.'

But this was her own nightmare. Celestia stifled her weeping, trying to apologize to a mother who could never speak to her again. She apologized for failing to protect her younger sister, for showing weakness, for being taken advantage of, for being reduced to such an existence. Not even the cheerful servant could offer words of encouragement.

Instead, she took her leave. "I'll give you some time to be alone, your highness."

Much later in the day, the streets continued to be relatively quiet. Many of the citizens were uncertain of what to think of their future, especially with the announcement of the Trottingham duke's proposed legislation to raise taxes on the farmers. It was already bad enough that the winter months were closing in, but knowing that their monthly tithes had gone up made many working stallions consider a possible move. And with the incensed protests coming from the residents outside, the parliament nonchalantly passed the charter to raise taxes that would only benefit the already powerful.

The curses and cries of the citizens reached up high, straight towards the balcony of the sole princess. Celestia walked in with bitter sadness and disappointment. As much as she tried to fight the proceedings, her voice was still weakened by the previous day's tribulations. The citizens knew of her attempts on their behalf, but were deeply angered that their once-proud ruler didn't raise her voice enough on this day.

Walking behind the sullen princess was her highly-optimistic servant. She didn't care too much into the politics, only doing what she was instructed to do, and that was to placate the princess by complementing her appearance. "Your highness, the day was a rousing success! You are the image of perfection!"

Little did the servant know, Celestia was growing more disgusted with the mare. She felt that the servant was more mocking her than doing what she could to boost her confidence. The matriarch glanced in the mirror, seeing her bleak self. In anger of seeing her mother's crown grace the head of a now-ugly being, she flung the crown at the mirror and walked towards her balcony. Upon impact, the mirror shattered into several fragments, leaving the sound of the princess crushing the shards under her hooves in the midst of her advance.

The servant quietly cleaned up behind the disturbed matriarch, glancing over at the tiara she threw aside. "Princess, if I may, the polisher will come in and clean your crown again. Since it's not to your satisfaction, I'll ensure that it is as shiny as possible."

The princess didn't care as she started to perform her daily duties of changing the sky. "Do what you will. Just leave me be."

Celestia closed her eyes, lowering her head, and ignited her horn to lower the setting sun. In doing so, she was reintroduced to it's immense weight. The mare struggled quietly, lowering the sun beneath the horizon. But when it came to the moon, she struggled quite audibly. The pain throughout her body, coupled with the emotional weight of what she was raising, gave her trouble breathing. Her forelegs buckled, her joints still aching, the princess raised her sister's moon into the sky. And once the moon was in place, Celestia's strength faltered. The princess painfully stumbled, and finally sat on her haunches.

For months, she had to look to the moon, with the shadow of her sister planted on it's surface. And in those nights, there would never be a star to shine beside her. It wasn't out of a self-imposed decree, but rather her not knowing how to place them up there like her sister could. Luna was always proud of her night, so much that she withheld the secret to placing the stars. And with her banishment, the stars remained dormant and the sky pitch black. There was only the moon, the shadow of her sister, and nothing else.

"I love when you raise the moon, your highness! Your skies are always so beautiful, both day and night!" The servant replied, woefully ignorant of how her statement made the princess feel.

Celestia tearfully looked to the moon. "My sister sits on that moon. If only she were here, we would have stars tonight."

The servant, again, spoke to her own logic. "Your highness, you did what you could for the good of the kingdom! History will be singing your praises for generations to come! You saved Equestria from malice! You should be proud of what you've done!"

The sole princess grew indignant of her servant, quietly recalling her younger sibling. "All Luna wanted was for the world to love her night. All she asked for was an extra hour. The ponies of this land didn't care for the work she put into her night, she wanted it to be beautiful to behold, for everyone to gaze at the falling stars, her gift to the world, shunned. I had to say no for the sake of the serfs, to keep our crops from wilting. And now here I am, praised for taking the glory from her."

Once more, the servant offered optimism to a pony who could reasonably find none. "She went mad, your highness! Surely your scars still ache from the bout you had with her! Your highness should hold your head up high, you have saved this realm!"

"All of this, for what?" Celestia argued, slowly turning to the servant. Her joints still pained from the punishment she endured the day prior.

The mare announced to her superior proudly. "You prevented a thousand years of endless night! You became the ruler you were meant to be, Equestria's true queen!"

It was that moment that it all started to make sense. Celestia saw the personality that she harbored, how it was so familiar to her. It was the same front that many aristocrats and senators posed in months past. How often would she hear those same words of praise, 'Equestria's one and only ruler'. How easily they went from decrees of loyalty to crown and country, to being barbarous towards her. Their one moment of showing their true loyalty was exposed when they had muttered musings of their time of claiming her unconscious body. How easy was it for them to decree their loyalty when the very princess they praised one month was seen as a traitor, then violated as such, only to flip their masks and run back to that loyalist persona.

As long as the princess held her image of being an unsullied symbol of purity, she could be praised. But let her step into her own personal decisions, she could be demonized, exercised, and stripped of her hope and individuality. Once that was done, she could assume her role as easily as she once did. And there was no punishing her handlers, no justice for the unborn life she lost. This mare was much like the others. And she couldn't live to be watched by them, to be invaded once more, repeatedly, until rendered mentally invalid, a puppet on strings.

The princess stood, looking past the balcony. "Tell me... Would you give your all to a nation that has betrayed you?"

"Your highness, I..." While the mare wanted to say something to ask why she was given such a question. But she took the moment to reflect within herself and answered. "I feel that the future of our kingdom is to be held in regard more than my measly little life. If one has to be punished for the sake of the many, then it's okay. I'd even give my life to serve Equestria, to serve you."

The princess raised her head to the moon. "Very well then..." The maid watched silently as the princess walked forward, glancing over the balcony's edge to the passing citizens below. While the evening crowd thinned, she raised her head to the moon another time. Words silently parted from her lips. "Sister, let's fly together."

The maid quickly lunged to the princess, but not before she flipped herself past the railing. Gravity took over, sending the mournful royal to the stones below. She closed her eyes, imagining how the pain she experienced would end. The servant screamed at the sight of the plummeting mare. But her own shriek was drowned by the several that were raised from the street as the princess' head crashed into the cobblestone road. A sickly smack sounded throughout the courtyard, the citizens screamed in horror at the sight of their princess' body bouncing off the ground and coming to rest. Many mares who witnessed the event sobbed profusely, stallions quickly looked up to see a solitary maid overlooking the balcony rail. They pointed to her, shouting. "Guards, guards!"

Meanwhile, the maid looked from up high as the princess' head was inverted from the acutely broken neck she suffered. Her eyes rolled back, bleeding from the impact, her jaw unhinged, her breathing erratic. Blood began to flow in the cracks and between the stones of the road. The maid shuddered, walking backwards until she rested against the broken glass of the princess' mirror.

The doors swung open, revealing a trio of well-armored guards, staring at the scene that took place.

The Next Day...

The halls of the parliament were filled with yelling. All the shouting was directed towards the center of the room, where a young mare was stripped of her pride. She stood before the unruly gathering, bound in chains as the world around her screamed for justice.

In return, she plead her innocence. "I assure you, I've done nothing! Please let me go! I'm innocent! She fell from the balcony, I swear!"

A hush started to grow in the room as the doors leading from the inner halls of the castle opened slowly. The one who approached through the door was none other than the princess herself. The crowd waited quietly for the princess to be guided into the room on a sedan chair, guided by four earth pony guards. Her neck was still recovering, but she couldn't move her head very much. The sedan was brought to a rest at the center of the room, ten feet in front of the accused servant. The judge spoke to the princess. "Your highness, if you are able, please point out the last one who was with you that fateful night."

Celestia wasn't even given the opportunity to point her hoof before the accused servant shouted to her. "Princess, please! Explain to them what happened!"

The royal raised her hoof slowly, pointing at the young mare with a lifeless glare. The judge then questioned her. "Have you anything else to say on the matter, your highness?"

A wheezing sound came from the princess' lips, notating the damage her trachea took in the fall. Her voice was of no service to her, so she instead whispered as best as she could. "...No."

The servant's pupils dilated at the thought of her being condemned by her superior. She strongly pleaded with her in front of the court. "Your highness, I didn't push you! Please tell them the truth! Help me, please!"

The judge had already decided he had heard enough. "The princess has spoken. You are hereby charged with high treason. The punishment is death."

The chains rattled and shook while the young mare screamed for her life. "Princess! Please!"

"Sentencing is to be carried out immediately." The judged then banged his gavel.

The princess was carried out of the court on her sedan, watched carefully by four more pegasi guards flying in the air. The four earth ponies who carried her marched quietly as they moved her to have the best view of the execution. Meanwhile, two guards trotted out with a black wagon in tow. On the back of the wagon was a crude iron cage. From within, the condemned was seen and berated on her journey from the parliament chamber to the gallows. There sat a small wooden stage, a wooden stock with an inward curvature at the top to guide the executioner's blade. The pony in charge of the act stood to it's side, his axe at rest to his side while a younger pony took a small grindstone and slowly prepared the blade.

The audience threw an assortment of rotten fruits and potatoes at the condemned servant, who wept openly in pleading for her life. "Tell them! Somepony please tell them I did nothing to you! Princess!"

The princess said nothing, watching silently atop her sedan. As the world was moved against her, the pleading mare cried her voice out in an attempt to make herself heard over the crowd. The quiet princess stared, face unmoving as the executioner brandished his newly-sharpened blade. A cleric approached from the side, holding a scroll in his possession as he began announcing to the crowd the official decree that was written.

"Hear ye, hear ye! The condemned by the name of Pretty Pence has been found guilty for the crimes of high treason and for the assassination attempt made on the life of our fair Princess Celestia! For these offenses, she shall be executed on this day, the Fifteenth of November in the year 5 C.D.V. by the method of beheading!" The mare was brought to the block, stood up and made to face the crowd, namely the princess sitting in the distance. "Any last words for the condemned?"

Being her own representation in the face of adversity, she made her final case to the citizenry. "I didn't do anything! I've done nothing! All I did was serve for the good of the realm! The princess fell from the balcony in a daze! She spoke of the moon─"

"Gag her." The cleric ordered, assuming the mare was simply constituting herself to the act of every condemned being; The act of trying to preserve herself in spite of her guilt.

She pleaded louder to the princess across the way, ducking her head from the rag they were trying to silence her with. The executioner then pulled out a potato sack to hood the mare while she fought for her life. "CELESTIA! HELP ME! MY GODDESS, MY ALMIGHTY MOTHER, PLEASE SPARE ME! CELESTIA!"

As she was being gagged and hooded, the princess was propped upwards to make her decision. She raised her left hoof to interrupt the process. All stood in silence as the princess summoned one of her guards to send forward a message to the executioner. She whispered her message, all while ordering her sedan to be closer to the stage. As she was on approach, her mouthpiece announced her request over the crowd. "Her royal majesty has ordered that we'd remove her gag and hood. She wishes to hear the words she has to say."

The disgraced servant whimpered, feeling that her words had finally gone through. She quietly spoke her request. "Your highness, please, you know my heart. I beseech you, spare my life, so that I may serve you for all time. My queen."

The princess stared back with a stoic expression. She lowered her left hoof, indicating her interruption. Instead, she raised her right hoof to signal for the continuation. In a swift motion, her right hoof stamped the floor of her sedan, confirming that the execution was still set to take place, and also to confirm that the mare's time would come to an end in the following seconds. The disgraced servant fell limp as the hoof came down, realizing that her life was indeed to meet it's end. In spite of her innocence, she was betrayed. And the servant made her final thoughts known throughout their hoisting her to the chopping block.

Her eyes remained fixated on the stoic royal, making her displeasure and anger widely known. "CELESTIA! I DID NOTHING BUT SERVE YOU! AND YOU WOULD BETRAY ME!? WHY!? WHY AM I TO BE CONDEMNED!? I DID EVERYTHING FOR YOU, MY LIFE WAS TO SERVE YOU! THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME!?" The princess' right hoof came down another time, signalling to the others her resolution. The condemned servant snarled her final words as the blade was raised slowly. "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME! I GAVE ALL OF MYSELF TO BE IN SERVICE OF YOU! YOU CURSE ME!? I CURSE YOU!!! I DAMN YOU, CELESTE DELANISE VALKYRIE!!! I CALL FROM BEYOND MY GRAVE TO LET JUSTICE BE DONE UPON YOU!!! I SPIT ON YOUR NAME, YOU TRAITOR!!! HELL WELCO─"

In opposite fashion to it's being raised, the blade of the axe swiftly sank through the mare's neck. Her voice still rang through the remnants of her vocal cords. What used to be a young voice brimming with life and vengeance was now a raspy howl of finality. Her lungs emptied of their air, her body limp. The head of the mare rolled a foot from her disconnected body, her eyes still glancing around at the world that betrayed her.

But before her world could go dark, she saw the pair of slender white forelegs approach her. The very last thing she mare saw before she passed on was the princess leaning in to whisper her final words to her in her face.

"In death, now do you know me and my strife."

Canterlot Castle
Present Day...

The once-defaced royal walked along the hall, smiling as she spoke with some of the local representatives of a neighboring district. Along her way, she waved hello to every maid that walked her halls, many of which she addressed by name. Passing by and addressing them, they politely greeted her back with genuine smiles. The princess flexed the feathers of her wings, feeling the freedom from the pain that once infested them in centuries past. Her tiara proudly sat atop her head as many paid little heed to it's condition, but rather the one wearing it.

It was a representation, an exact summation of the times changing from generations past to the present. And she appreciated the change. Granted there were many loyalists abound to her name and title instead of the individual. While she was fine with it in these days, they weren't as draconian as they once were in those much older days. Though she was comfortable with them displaying their loyalty, she kept them at a distance.

While memories of her shadowed past played through her head, she started to foster the mentality of looking towards the future. And it was thanks to a certain hard-headed individual who offered himself and his life to her, of course in the manner where her heart was truly vested. While she longed for that freedom, a long-lost feeling of deviancy festered in her mind. Curious intentions and even youthful urges awakened in the eleven-time centenarian princess. Some even causing her to shift her walk slightly, turn a certain way when talking, drifting often from the conversations at hoof. Though her age didn't show, her perpetually repressed freedom-loving personality displayed cracks in her usual regal persona. And in turn, she found her patience thinned to the point where she'd anticipated the coming of the night, where she could finally message the one man her mind's playlist set on repeat.

She was so distracted on him that she had failed to notice the guard calling out to her up until he tapped her side. "Princess?"

She didn't even break a bead of nervous sweat in trying to reply, she could at least hide that much. "Yes, what is it?"

The guard then informed her of the situation. "The humans are said to be congregating in the dining hall. From what they cite, there's been a breach."

The mare quietly contemplated using the opportunity to speak with her human captain, but mentally recited the reasoning for their appearance of separation in the public sphere. She nodded and played her alternative. "I'll have Blueblood and Luna look into it. My schedule is awfully tight today, I'm afraid."

The guard didn't bow out there either. "Also, your excellency, Prince Blueblood and Prince Shining Armor has recovered the exhumed remains of the late senator Count DuMoneé."

That part grabbed the attention of everyone in the group. "Exhumed?" Celestia questioned the guard.

The guard then finished his explanation. "The body was apparently cited in their world, specifically the living quarters of the human female."

The gathering quietly looked to one another, trying to understand what had taken place. Celestia, on the other hoof, had immediately resorted to the idea of there being some foul play involved. There was no way to dodge the idea, it was definitely something that had grasped at her attention, and probably wouldn't stop doing so until she intervened. And since she valued the relations with the humans so dearly, it became her single priority at the time. "Raven, clear my schedule."

"Yes, your highness." The young servant complied by tossing her scroll aside.

The princess briskly trotted down the halls towards the dining hall, from outside she could already hear the conversation taking place. There was a lot of shouting while some ponies stood around outside, questioning if something had gone horribly wrong. Her assistant Raven took up the task of dispersing the growing crowd. She saw seven humans sitting around the room along with Prince Shining Armor and Prince Blueblood, all of the nine were left frantically searching for answers. From there, she entered the room and paid attention to the conversation taking place.

"What I want to know is how the fuck the damn thing got there in the first place!" Rickey said loudly.

"Nondis, you're over security and shit. How the fuck does this happen, dude!?" Alex asked emphatically.

I crossed my arms, pacing back and forth. "That's my question. Every detail and shift change requires for the relieving squad to be present before the active squad is relieved, hence the name. How the fuck do they dig up a body, clear the checkpoints, getting past at least seven patrol units, sneak it into the castle without anyone smelling it, and then getting into Mel's place? I thought her portal was broken, or blocked by something."

Melanie quickly replied. "I had it turned to my wall! Who the fuck even walked in my apartment and had it turned around to begin with?"

"Whoever did it, they had it done while you were sleeping. That I don't like." Rickey stated.

"Nondis, full disclosure, who the hell are you dealing with?" Alex questioned, pointing towards me.

"Didn't you say you were working in Corrotto?" Hermes, the pony-turned-human, inquired.

Shining Armor tapped his hoof against his chin. "I don't find it likely that anyone in Corrotto would be able to bypass all those security measures."

Blueblood didn't look at the security so much as he did the overarching possibility of our already-corrupted structure. "That's not the problem, it's not about them getting past the assigned posts. It's more about who reassigned the times in the first place."

"Are you saying that someone may have undercut my prescribed security assignments?" I asked.

Hermes then added. "More like overruled. There's still the matter of the officer who signed on the list of ponies for the Arimaspi assignment. And if you still remember what all we discussed back on Monday, you'd recall that Count was a member of the Inner Circle."

"Which means the guy who signed the orders could've possibly changed that order on the spot." Alex summarized.

Hermes continued to supplement the conversation with more plausible motives. "There are a lot of ponies of power looking to get a ticket into the players club. Military officers of the highest rank have a better chance of making the cut."

While he wasn't wrong, it only made me curious of how they could've gotten in contact with one of those guys without a direct link. But then I remembered that Count wasn't the only senator in the parliament who was also a member of the Inner Circle.

Alex asked me another question. "Okay, I want to know this, just how close in are you with these guys?"

"It's an investigation. I have to be close to get anything of value." I replied.

"But these guys know about who you are." Cliff stated.

"Wait, they do!?" Melanie screeched.

"It's a prerequisite, they know who you are upon joining. As for the purpose of your joining, many members couldn't care less." Hermes explained.

"Except for those in this so-called Inner Circle, right?" Alex asked.

"That's about right." I answered.

Stanton walked over to the other side of the table, using some of the silverware and cutlery to demonstrate his point. "Okay, I'm no genius, but I think we all seen the movie Godfather, right? Ol dude wakes up in his king-size bed, blood's at his feet, pulls the covers, horse head. That was some mob shit. This kinda seems like some mob shit. Who'd you piss off?"

Melanie was completely on board with my younger brother's inquiry. "You had to piss someone off. Who the fuck is this Ummie bitch? She mentioned something about her eternal love and you being an escape artist. So what the fuck is this bitch's deal? She sounds like some crazy-ass hoe looking to ride your dick while keeping your family members hostage in a warehouse somewhere."

"Ummie? Who's this Ummie?" Alex asked.

"Is she another one of your contacts?" Cliff asked also.

I rolled my eyes and shuddered to myself in thinking about it. "...Yes. Yes. HE. Is."

"Fucker's a guy?" Rickey asked, seeming incredulous over the situation.

Cliff shook his head. "Yeah, that's kinda sus. Hey Hermes, know anything about an 'Ummie'?"

The human transplant folded his arms, trying to cross reference himself. "Ummie, Ummie... I've got a lot of names in my head, none of them being that."

My mind went back to the note that was signed. I began to place my wager in seeing if anything on it might bring an idea to his head. I summoned the note that was left on the casket, and handed it over to the transformed stallion. Mel grimaced in disgust. "Are you seriously touching that thing?"

"How good are you in identifying signatures?" I questioned Hermes.

"Adequate." He replied, using his own magic to hold the item. "It's magic script, but each unicorn has their own little flair. However, this one seems to be awfully ambiguous."

I grumbled to myself. "Figures, apparently I can't even say his name out loud. Supposed to be some shitty code telling me I can't do that or write it down."

While Hermes tilted his head at my statement, Melanie was more frustrated than anything else. "Fuck is his name, Lord Voldemort? We playing Harry Potter now?"

"...The doctor..." There was a icy cold realization that showed in the transformed pony's eyes. He quickly grabbed my shoulder and asked me. "You didn't run into The Doctor, did you?"

I threw my hands into the air. "Who the fuck is 'The Doctor'? I keep hearing about him, but for some odd reason all I know is that nobody in the club wants to even mention him."

"The Doctor is the one who runs the place." He quietly replied.

"...Oh. That guy." I placed my hand on my forehead and mentally called myself stupid for not putting it together.

"You've seen him. So did he do the thing?" He asked quickly.

"You talking about the zebra brew that's forever in his mouth? I've gotten word about it from a few sources."

Hermes sat himself down at new revelation. "So that's how he knows about everything. He kissed me once and I even found a letter in my mailbox one day, telling me a bunch of instructions to relay to Count."

"Slow down for a sec, so this guy knows everything about you... from a kiss?" Stanton questioned.

Hermes shook his head and covered his mouth. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Mel turned to me and slapped my shoulder angrily. "WHAT THE FUCK, NONDIS!"

"I didn't want shit! The bastard literally teleported in front of me and dived in. As you can tell, consent isn't the first consideration on this fucker's mind." I angrily explained.

"You have a gun!" She pointed out.

"And he has goonies around him to nullify that. That's why I took up magic defense training." I rebutted.

"So much for that then! Can't you just blast him away?" She replied.

"It's not that easy." Hermes began to explain. "The one thing that The Doctor is explicitly renowned for is his knowledge of the dark arts and forbidden magic. Taboos are a wet dream to him. If anything, he specializes in giving his victims an end that rivals even hell itself."

"So you're fucking with this guy now?" Alex was, to say the least, very displeased. In his mind, there was only one option to go with. "Nondis, this... You're done, okay? You're done, no more investigations. No more snooping around. It can't be helped. The end. Curtains. Roll credits. Leave this shit rotting like Pripyat after Chernobyl."

"It's not that easy!" Hermes interjected. "The Doctor knows about every one of us now! Here's everything he knows from the moment his lips hit yours. He knows where you live, where you work, how you sleep, your parents, any friends Nondis might've come into contact with, loved ones especially. Even my hiding out in the frat house is a moot point now. Nondis isn't the only one compromised here. The only advantage this brings is that they've literally fast-tracked his way through the door to the Inner Circle. Other than that, there's no going back."

As if the room wasn't already heavy with tension, the weight of uncertainty made the gravity that much stronger to fight against. Blueblood took a deep breath and added more to the flame. "Well that explains the negative headlines rolling around the press."

"What headlines?" Celestia asked, finally speaking for the first time since her appearance.

"Half of it is my magic training, the other half is bullshit." I dismissively replied.

"But why, why would they do all of this for him?" Mel asked.

"To make him see that there's no running away." Hermes answered.

"Or better yet, I do as they say and nothing bad happens... as long as I play nice." I went even further.

"How'd you get that answer." Blueblood inquired.

"Both of Count's kids discussed that with me." I announced.

Hermes seemed surprised with my answer. "So you've met the son finally?"

"Fun fact, I've been meeting with him. Didn't know who he was until late Tuesday night. We first met at the party where Cadance and I had our blowing up. After that, he threw me on the fast track to learn intermediate magic spells. Another fun fact, apparently Count was apparently a magic professor before he went into politics."

"That I can verify." Hermes nodded in confirmation. "Count has been an extremely gifted magic user, it's just that I hardly ever see it outside of Canterrot. Honestly, assassinating you was something he didn't want to do directly because he figured you were easy to get out of the way."

All I could think of at that moment was the image of his corpse being propped up to stare at me, with the way his lips rotted, almost smiling at me from beyond the grave. "My, how the mighty have fallen."

While the others were still catching up to what was discussed on Monday, Rickey was already moving ahead. "Quick question, where did he teach?"

Hermes shook his head again. "That I don't know. I only know he was a magic teacher from some ramblings over in the V.I.P. Lounge. As for where, that's just another mystery waiting to be solved."

"Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." The high princess announced, causing the room to turn towards her. "More specifically, the remedial development sector of School of Magic."

"That's your school, ain't it?" Alex questioned.

"No question of it. It's in the name." The princess confirmed.

"So... Count was a teacher, quit for some odd reason." Shining summarized.

Celestia corrected the young prince. "He resigned after the passing of his wife. He sent his resignation saying that he needed time to process the loss. I allowed him that opportunity. But in the end, he became a politician, abusing his power for his own benefit."

Cliff started going off on the history that we've collected. "Okay, so here's what we know on that story so far. He was a teacher, wife killed herself, he threw his teaching career away, became a politician, apparently got mad at his son for being gay, sexually abused his daughter─"

"He has a daughter!?" Alex exclaimed.

That's where I continued to expand on the history of the family. "Son started showing up to the lounge, got instant access to the I.C. because of how he initiated himself. Daddy didn't like it, stop coming on days his son shows up. Daughter comes in as a mode of insurance for the son to keep her safe from dad. Dad takes it out on other mares. Dad's also a schizo. Tries to assassinate me. Gets caught undersigning some military orders, tried for it, his wages are frozen as a result. Also lost his savings paying the griffon assassin. Can't pay for his meds. Can't pay for his membership in Corrotto. Son and daughter cleans the joint account he used. Dad goes apeshit, jumps out of a window, kills himself."

"And gives us a postmortem greeting in my apartment this morning. My fucking place smells like the dead." Melanie concluded on a grim note.

I placed a thumb over my chin, thinking aloud. "And I can't leave her there tonight because I don't know to what extent the security protocols might have been changed. Only solution is to do her like I did Kalimba, who I've already displaced elsewhere. So Mel's gotta stay in Ponyville for the time being."

She vehemently disagreed. "I'm not staying here! I'm a fucking target!"

Shining intervened. "You're a target until they can't identify you. And honestly, we can make that happen in the next five minutes."

"How!?" She asked, before looking at Hermes and getting an idea of what was to take place. "Oh no! No no no! You can go fuck yourself with that!"

"Too late, Mel. I've gotta keep you safe and as unsuspecting as possible. Mr. Doctor won't know what you look like as long as I keep you there and out of the usual hiding spots." I explained, trying to get her to understand that her situation was extremely limited in options. "As for Cliff and Rickey, same shit applies. They know how to hit you two up, so now I'll be displacing you two to the same location, same manner."

Rickey then asked. "What does that mean exactly?"

"It means you should be packing your PS4, your games, and maybe your hygiene products. No need for more than one outfit, so clothes is out of the running. I suggest you start doing that now."

Hermes shrugged, already in a compromising situation. "Well I know this puts me in a pretty sticky situation."

"I brought you over to protect you from any fucks trying to pull the same shit they did this morning, only with your body being in the casket. I have to relocate you as well."

"Where to?" He asked.

"I'll rent you an apartment at our complex. You'll stay low, keep the doors locked, you'll stay alive." I suggested.

"But you have to turn us into ponies?" Mel was adamantly against the idea of being transformed.

I glanced over to Celestia. "I won't know what you three will look like in pony form. And I'll prefer to keep it that way."

She immediately caught the hint. "I'll do the honors of transforming you all, but you will have to not bring attention to yourselves in any significant way. I'll notify Twilight of the situation so you three can have a smooth transition."

"How long is this shit going to last for?" Cliff asked.

Calculating Mel's discomfort and disdain, I gave myself a stricter time limit. "Give me a month from now to survey the situation from the inside. After that, you're back home."

Cliff chuckled as he looked down at his crotch. "Bruh, please tell me I ain't gon' have to find out some way to yank my shit with some goddamn hooves."

"Sorry man, spell runs on a lottery chance. You could be a unicorn, could be a pegasus. Only a 33% chance you don't get those options." I stated.

"What if something happens to us?" Rickey asked.

"Then you've got six super-powered heroines who'll find you in less time than I would." I replied assuredly.

"We didn't sign up for this." Mel argued once more.

I shuddered and clenched my eyes shut, trying to purge the memory from my brain. "I didn't sign up to be kissed by a guy, but here we are."

Cliff faked a cough and pointed towards the door. "I'mma just go pack my shit."

Two Hours Later...
***Point of Perspective: Equus Melanise***

Oh. My. God.

From the moment Celestia zapped us with some of her magic, I felt hot all over and then dizzy. From there I passed out. When I opened my eyes, I found that the world was much larger than what I was used to. I had to pick myself up, only to find that my arms were replaced with legs. I looked down to see two pink hooves in place of my hands. Looking further down, I saw that my chest was covered in fur of the same color. A lock of red hair fell over my face, I batted it away only to find it attached to my head. I looked up to the portal, seeing a pink pony with aqua eyes staring right back at me.

Those three words were the only thing I could say as soon as I saw myself. I admit that I was significantly cuter than I had any business being. My honest expectations were that I was going to see myself as some horse-looking amalgamation with no chance of appearing like I was warm-spirited. But here I was, probably good enough to get Nondis' attention. I saw the freckles on my face, the curly hair that coiled just over one of my eyes, my tiny little snoot, my small figure and was somewhat pleased with myself.

But then the reality hit me once I had gave myself a good look. I would've looked great as a unicorn, being able to still mimic the use of hands through some magic, after all that would've been a lot easier. Or maybe I could find myself exploring new horizons, taking to the sky and being able to express my newfound freedom with a set of wings on my back. It would've been pretty exciting to learn how to fly... but neither of those were the gifts I was given.

I was a plainly little equine in a world of magical talking ponies, a horse of a different color but that was it for me.

Meanwhile I look at Rickey, he's big, stocky, a nice shade of orange with this wild spiky dirty blond mane with mint green highlights. He was was looking at himself, spinning around in circles and falling down over the fact that he had wings protruding from his back. And Cliff, he was built the same exact way. Of course his coat was drastically different. He had a brown coat with a head full of dreadlocks, a few of them being a light shade of lavender. He struggled a lot to get on his hooves, but he also had a pair of wings on his back.

It was already bad enough that I felt like this transition was unfair to me just on the circumstances alone, but now I felt even more envious of the fact that they had a whole new aspect of living to discover. Nondis has a damn horn to use magic, but of course I get the shitty end of the gift lottery. I guess I have to adapt to life with hooves for hands.

Oh I was not happy about any of this shit now.

A while later, we get put on the train and told to lay low. They ship us out on a low traffic route, giving us the opportunity to have a car to ourselves. And in that car, we had come up with an assortment of ideas. All of it revolving around the concept of our new living arrangement. And once of those main topics was the issue of our names. We weren't very good with pony names off the rip, but we understood that they were usually an adjective, a noun, or even both. For a maximum method of authenticity, we went with the latter option of the three.

Of course, I still wasn't too thrilled about any of this.

Rickey started to quiz me on how we would address one another. "One more time. When you call my name, my name is?"

"Strapping Lad." I said with the most painful eye roll.

Secretly, he enjoyed the name he gave himself because he knew I would have to call him that for a month. He then pointed to Cliff. "And his name?"

"Cocoa Shea." I replied, while watching Cliff fiddle with his newfound wings, which really made me feel upset.

"And your name?"

"Dumb Bitch." I pouted as I leaned against the window.

"Aw, come on." Rickey cheered, trying to get me in a better mood.

Again, my being no different than being a basic human was already a driving point for my displeasure. "Why the fuck can't we use our initials!? MAB, CDS, RMS?

"Cause we'd go around sounding like a list of health problems. Now what's your name?" Cliff replied.

I was still a bit prickly over the spell's lottery giving me nothing while I had to look at both of these asshats with wings. "I don't see why I have to do this."

Rickey then propositioned me with a smile. "Do you want another decomposing body at your doorstep?"

I finally got over myself to an extent and answered his question. "...Cherry Balm."

"There you go." Rickey said in a condescending manner, as if he was praising a child.

I groaned loudly, throwing my hooves to the air. "I hate this! All of this, I fucking hate it!"

Rickey tried to assure me some positivity. "Mel─I mean Cherry Balm, it's not that bad."

"It's not just that, you asshole. Look at the both of you!" I tried to point out calmly.

Rickey didn't immediately get what I was point out. "What about us? I'm orange, he's brown, and you're pink."

"Do I really have to point out how one of these things is not like the other?" I tried to hint at the incredulous stallion.

Each of them just looked down between their legs. "We're boys." Cliff concluded.

"Wings, asshole. Both of you have WINGS." I angrily explained to them, finally pointing out why I was so aggressive.

The two stallions looked to one another like they were surprised to see it, but then shrugged at each other as Cliff replied to me. "Hey, we pulled a lucky draw."

I continued to complain. "I can't even get a horn for courtesy! I'm ground-bound as fuck, I can't stand my body, and for some odd fucking reason I feel like I want to open my travel bag and give Lucy a quick tour of the new place. I don't even have hands to make my shit work. How do I control Lucy with these fucking meat clubs?"

Rickey looked down at his forelegs. "Yeah, I gotta admit that my before-bed experience is gonna be a bit interesting."

"Oh please, you'll just be taking the phrase 'beating your meat' a bit more literally. What am I to do?" I answered back.

Rickey felt a smirk come across his muzzle. "There is a plus to your not being a human anymore."

"And what's that, asshole?" I asked.

"Aunt Flow ain't gonna harass you this month." He playfully joked.

I was seething with anger as soon as he said that. I immediately went for my travel bag and rummaged through the contents for what I was going to shove down his throat. "I'm gonna find Lucy right now, maybe she'll like spending time in some other hole than mine."

And he just kept going anyhow. "Just think about it. No more cramps, no more insane cravings, no more back pain, no more leaks, your bedroom won't look like a Russian gulag after you finish your jamming session."

Finally finding what I sought after, I pulled out the device and lunged at him with it. "Open wide."

"Hey hey hey hey!" Cliff jumped in between the both of us, pointing his hoof to Rickey first. "You, that was funny, but no." He then pointed his hoof to me. "You, what you about to do is funny, but no. Now can we stop fussing for ten minutes and get our shit together before this train comes to a stop? We need to be able to fit the part of our appearance. We got the lingo down, we got the bodies to match. Now all we need to do is lay low for a month, chill out for a bit, let Nondis do his shit, and we good to go. Let's try to look at this like an extended vacation instead of us hiding for our lives in a world where anyone around us could be coming for our throats. Got it?"

I still wanted to shove my dildo down his trachea, but I was willing to be civil for a while. "Fine." I harshly called out.

"Okay." He replied like he had nothing else to say.

Cliff took to his seat. "Alright then. Now we ain't got long before this train hits the station. So get in your brains how you're going to address yourselves and how we'll address one another."

"We also gotta look at some jobs to take on while we're there. Meaning we're there for a month don't mean we ain't gotta look suspicious. Us not doing shit is gonna look pretty bad. And all of us can't possibly work at the same damn place, it'll really look strange then." Rickey suggested.

I took a gander at the two stallions, noticing how awkward they sat themselves in their seats, trying to appear as human as they'd usually do. "How about we learn how to walk without falling first." I pointed out.

"How the fuck do you fuck up crawling." Rickey asked, getting a salty look from the stallion sitting next to him.

"Okay, well since you're soooo good at knowing your new body, how about you hover in the air for around five minutes." I argued.

Rickey leaned against the window as if he was trying to be a French model. "Lady, none of us have an extra set of limbs we can control for practice. How the fuck are we using our wings for anything."

Cliff, meanwhile, proceeded to try and tuck his wings back in against his sides. "Facts. These bitches stayed up since I got on the train." After successfully pulling them back in place, they sprung back out in the matter of a second.

"And I'm sure the other ponies your wings slapped into are as understanding as anyone." I stated.

Cliff set aside his own frustration while trying to be the voice of reason. "Look, that'll come in time. Let's just get ourselves into these apartments, we can deal with ourselves there."

As the train whistle sounded to give us notice that the train station was just around the corner, Rickey saw the platform slowly come to view. He also glanced back at me and noticed the object still out for his consumption. "Um... You wanna put that away?"

I admittedly snapped back at him in a rude manner. "I wanna make you gag all over it. Anything to shut you the fuck up."

He quietly whispered under his breath, joking like we were still together. "...Sit on my face?"

I quickly shut him down faster than the train could come to a complete stop. "We're not doing this again, Rick."

Ponyville Inn
Later That Evening...

After we arrived and met up with the land lady, Cliff, Rickey, and I started to practice on getting used to our new bodies. While the wings took a good while to get down for those two, I started to feel more and more isolated as time went by. The reason for it being that way was the idea of those two having an interaction with one another. Even in the midst of their learning, they were still having fun with one another. While they were falling over, crashing into walls, face-planting into the floor, and find ways to use their wings, they made fun of each other's appearances.

"You a ugly-ass boy, you know that?" Cliff would say.

"Shut your dumbass up, you look like you wear Jujubes in your head." And just like that, both Rickey and Cliff would be at each other's throat.

"I know you ain't talking with your extra-crispy, sun-burnt smellin' ass, who-burnt-my-peach-cobbler-on-Thanksgiving lookin' ass."

"Boy, your hair look like it's deciding whether to file a divorce from you scalp. Your hair's Facebook status is set on 'It's Complicated'."

"Your shit look like orange-juice-flavored toothpaste, your brown-Listerine-bottle built head-ass. You look like you got your hair pulled by El Chapo in bed last night. You look like a bargain brand basketball endorsed by the YMCA."

"Bruh, you look like a bargain brand Rick James. I bet them dreads were sponsored by grape-flavored Kool-Aid. Do they come with a free Grammy, or does it just come with a warranty saying 'Cocaine sold separately, batteries not included'."

"Bitch you look like the sultan of spray-tan. They use Tang tie-dye to get you your color. I bet you asked for a treatment and the attendant just looked at a picture of Donald Trump. Now you done came out all wrong, lookin' like you escaped your minimum wage job over at Charlie's Chocolate Factory, your Oompa Loompa short-bus lookin' ass."

The two went on for moments at a time, but they would try their best not to laugh at one another's roasts. It was made inherently funnier when they were trying to keep a straight face the entire time. It was like watching two best friends just rail on each other and see who could out-do the other. Even then, I didn't really feel connected on that level with those two.

Especially Rickey.

I was always trying to keep a distance from him ever since we broke off. I honestly thought he tossed my number away after I dumped him for Jasper. Little did I know his keeping it would be the answer for my prayers, in an unimaginable way. But since then, I was loosely associated with him, only being that way because he helped me find Nondis. And I kinda owed it to him for not giving up on the search.

But ever since he came back into my life, Nondis I mean, Rick has been trying to slowly reintroduce himself into my contacts. Just small comments, maybe a word or two on Nondis, or even a heads-up on his condition was what we started off with. But months in, I started losing ground in my attempts to be with the guy I spent nine months of my life looking for, even when they told us to quit. And it didn't go unnoticed. Each time, Rick tried to be there for me. Even when I was abused by Jasper, Rick was the first one to get in contact with me.

He was always like that. In fact, I want to say we had something good for a while. But when I noticed he still had habits of looking at girls, I felt like he was busy trying to find an out. And yeah, I wasn't always the best girlfriend either, I didn't give him sex as often as I led him to believe. Most of our relationship was spent on a search party, so my mind was heavy on finding Nondis, and not so much on what I had at the time. I would've felt bad about it, but then he got drunk and woke up in some other girls bed. I guess he got tired of waiting on me, I mean I saw the signs when he was peeking out other girls that would walk by.

It's really the reason why I don't truly talk to him anymore, at least on a personal level. I keep my distance, I try to push him back to the line he long-since crossed, reinforce my fort, and stare from the top of that bitch like he was trying to invade. And yet, he's still knocking on the front door like I'm supposed to answer.

No doubt in my mind with all that's happened today, he will be trying to do the same damn thing again. He'll try to get closer to me, and then he'll do what he thinks will make me feel better... No, he'll do exactly everything I told him to do to make me feel better. And then I'll let my guard down, and he'll feel like he can get in a little closer. And when that happens, I'll probably fall for it. Sex is something I haven't had since I opened my legs for Jasper, Nondis wouldn't give me that, so I'm sure he'll just try to make me feel better by giving me that outlet. Our situation is already sexually charged as it is. He made the jokes, I already pulled out the toy, the scent of him working hard had corrupted most facets of my brain, my new body was already trying to write checks I wasn't wanting to cash, and my mind was relaying back to the moment Luna had to be a bit of a whore to get Nondis to simmer down after his first transformation.

Oh God, the throbbing he did after a load that large...

I quickly locked myself in my room. I didn't talk to either of the two or watch them joke at their own expense. I gathered my things, went to my room, closed the door, and screamed into my pillow over all of this. All of these new senses were overloading my brain, and I couldn't adjust for anything. Everything was warmer, I could walk in the snow without a fucking problem. I'm sure the air system was at a subtle temperature, but it's very warm to me.

I looked in my travel bags, trying to pull out my cell phone, only for it to constantly slip out of my hooves. I tried to compromise with myself, opting to hash one out with the new body. I picked up Lucy, propped her up on the bed, and found enough of a grip to turn her on... but her batteries were dead. And of course, I forgot to pack those. All my other shit was left in the apartment. So I had to stare back at a dead dildo for thirty minutes, wondering if this warmth would ever subside.

It only got worse.

I spent another half hour on a rousing round of screaming into my pillow again. And the only thing I could think of was to find a way to get this done because that's all I wanted. All I wanted at that time was to be used. It didn't help that I felt myself being emotionally vulnerable to the idea of approaching Nondis in this form. Hell, I'd probably have an infinitely better chance to get him to look at me like I'm NOT his best friend. I'm sure he'd probably get to know me, do some grand favor for me, and I'd be right there in the line to get a moment or two of being held in his arms. I can imagine what a man that size would do to a small little poodle like me, I'd be tossed around the place easily, pinned down, probably overwhelmed with his size, his chest could be the size of my body. I know his hands would be large to me in this form, they were already kinda sizable to me as a human. I'm sure his arms would cage me in, a huge beast just panting and priming away at me.

...Okay, this heat got real bad, real quick.

I couldn't even stay still, everything just throbbed. Deep inside of me was this literal itch that I wanted scratched, the temperature of the room soared to an unbearable warmth, the back of my legs felt like I had sprung a leak, and even my tail brushing against it was too much of a tease. The only word that seemed to repeat in my mind ad nauseam was the word 'mate'. I found myself sitting on my bed, rolling my hips against the sheets. It felt good, but it wasn't enough. I glanced over at my dead vibrator and compromised. I propped it on the bed, trying to sit on it, but it kept falling over. I couldn't use my hooves to help me, they were too cumbersome. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. I just had to suffer.

The frustration was real. The fact that someone was knocking on my door had pissed me off far more than what I would normally had in terms of a reaction. I called out to the door. "Who is it!?"

"Hey, it's me. Strapping Lad. Is Cherry Balm in?" Richard, I fucking swear.

I shouted to the door. "GO THE FUCK AWAY!"

"I was knocking to let you know that Mrs. Land Lady finished up on dinner. You're free to eat with us if you want."

"I'll be there when I get there!" I hollered back.

And of course, he didn't leave. "Cherry Balm... I need to talk to you for a moment."

"Rick, go away."

"Mel, just..." He stopped himself short before he knocked on the door again, continuously until I got fed up and stormed to the door.

I hissed at him through the crack. "What the fuck do you want right now, can you please just not be a fucking dickweed and kindly take your ass someplace else?"

"Melanie, I just wanted to..." He paused for a second, sniffing the air around me. In the matter of seconds, he glanced back at himself and stepped back, trying to cover himself. "Um... sorry. I'll... yeah."

In the seconds it took for him to process all of that, it took me an even shorter time to do the same with him. His new body had a shameless way of displaying his honesty, and it was far more apparent than him wearing some gray sweatpants. I was in an absolute trance when I saw what his body had packing. And in my pony mind, that was justification enough.

Rick tried to dip out, but I chomped down on his outstretched wing before he could. He winced painfully as I guided him into the room. I pushed him inside, watching him stumbled all the way to the bed. I slammed the door shut behind me and panted in the strong musk he gave off.

It was far easier than trying to explain it. We just wanted it.

I propped myself against the bed, waiting. He got up and obliged. He hopped on top of me, leaning in against my ear. While I waited, I could feel him prodding at my legs, humping himself at anything that came into contact with his newfound endowment. He groaned in pleasure of being teased, in reality he was just missing the mark. I adjusted myself, giving him a better chance to find where I was. He got much closer, hitting against my openings. I tried to reach back to help him, not realizing I only had hooves to work with. So I pushed him off, and I flipped myself around. My legs were pushed aside as he found me a lot better than before.

The moment he took the plunge, I felt a high-voltage-like spark numb my legs. I couldn't even breathe over how amazing it felt. He just started and it was almost as if I was already finished. In fact, I really was. My sheets were already starting to soak in what I had left behind, I watched as my world blacked and then filled with stars before I was brought back to reality. The itch I had still remained, but the aches were being massaged away with every push. I felt more of him than I ever thought I would, but the surprise that grew more enticing to me was the very tip of his length getting almost twice the size of the rest of his manhood. I didn't question it too much, I was too busy trying to instinctively milk him for every drop he was going to leave within me.

I looked back at his face, he appeared strained. But not out of pain, he was very much enjoying the fact that he was pressing himself deep within my body. For the first time ever, I think I heard him moan. He grew so invested that he started using his thrusts to push me further onto the bed. When I got in enough, he fell out from within me with an audible plop, only for him to anchor down on the bed and go in again. He kept his eyes closed as he grunted away.

However, just as quick as I reached my climax, he soon found his. And the signs of it were so pronounced. As a human, you can't always tell when he's about to go. Sometimes you have to get a sense of the individual because they don't always tell you when it happens, sometimes it just do. But he gave all the signs I didn't know existed. His tip flared wide, almost with the intention to certify his seed the chance of fertilizing me. He was far more filling than I could've ever imagined, it was amazing that I could even accommodate for the girth. This throbbing within me was another experience entirely, it was like I was waiting. Everything about us in that moment just simply... fit.

Then it came. The warmth that was given to me at that moment started to flood the inside of my body, it was brimming with life. The itch I had further within, it was drowned out by what he had given. I was complete, I felt complete. He still flushed himself inside of me with a few subsequent thrusts, but gradually waned when it was all done. The snug fit he once was had started to dwindle, he was softening up on me. I looked up to see him still closing his eyes.

Right then, I felt a terrible sadness. The one moment I actually enjoyed about this whole pony body experience, it was like he was trying to avoid looking at the truth. So I just kicked him off of me. He looked at me like he wasn't sure of what he did wrong. I just turned over in the bed and wrapped myself in a blanket, not ever wanting to see his face again. He muttered my name. "Melanie─"

"Just go." That's all I had wanted to say to him. At least that's what I thought for the time being. I didn't want to see him, I don't need him lying to me again. I don't need to go to him with this ever again, I'll just suffer through it. Every fucking time, I do this shit and now I'm left with nothing again. So all I did was just cement the idea of my leaving him to the wolves.

He reached out to touch me, whispering to me. "Mel, please just─"

"Leave. Me. Alone."

He didn't argue any further. I waited quietly for him to leave the room. He walked over to the door, opened it, probably looked back at me, and then closed the door on his way out. As soon as I heard the latch of the lock click, I stopped suppressing my tears. All I could do was just let myself flow... on all ends.

I hate it here.

Later at the Corrotto District...
***Point Of Perspective: Equus Nondis***

Kalimba and I quietly made our way into the VIP lounge. Upon entering, we were greeted by Umbra amusing himself by making three servant do whatever he desired at the time. One such thing was to dance on their forelegs while trying not to get hit with small knives that were flicked his way. The other two watched in dead silence while they appeared incredibly tense. One young mare was particularly unnerved by the whole process. She tried to stop one of her hooves from shaking by crossing her foreleg over it.

He flicked another knife at the dancing stallion's direction before turning to me with a wide grin. "Ah, there's my little escape artist."

Over at the bar, I could see Blue hunched over the counter. Off on the other side of the room, Alabaster was applauding the performance from behind his mask. Kalimba looked at me before I started speaking. "You know, I didn't think you'd find a way to fuck me. But here we are, you get to sit there and smile while I'm looking around every corner after having to deal with you."

"Oh that's par for the course, my dear captain." The eccentric stallion replied. "See, it's much easier to be feared than loved. If you'll fear me, you do just as I say. If you love me, you'll do just enough to satisfy me. You could say you'll go the extra mile if you loved me, but let's be real... you wouldn't want to do what I'd really want you to do."

"So what, keep my mouth shut and we're good?" I asked.

He flicked a knife at the dancing pony. Next came an agonizing scream. The pony fell from his dance and started tending to the knife embedded in his hind leg. Umbra swiveled his seat to me while he spoke. "My dear captain, I'm not pleased by something so simple. If it were that easy, then this would just simply be some speak-easy locale with members running in and out on a time limit. You'd be a lot better off if it was that way. I'm not easy, you know."

"Then what is it you want?" I asked angrily.

He glanced over, looking at the pony who writhed in pain. "What I want is silence at this point, but we can't always get what we want, when we want it. If that was the case, then you'd have to act out on your own. But... you know all about that reality, don't you?"

I watched as he removed the knife from the stallion's leg, levitating his body by the injured leg. I had to stop everything within myself from helping the poor victim. "I know enough, but I know alternatives."

Umbra nodded in agreement. "Ah, alternatives! I like the way you think! So, if I had an alternative to stop the noise in my life, do you think I wouldn't explore that option? Let me tell you something, dear... I would not hesitate to try. So now I have to ask, what do you think would be the most logical approach to this situation right here? He's obviously injured, he's crying out in pain, and he's obviously wanting this to stop. What do I do to stop him from yelling out in pain?"

"Of course, you give him medical attention." I plainly answered.

Umbra pointed to me, walking up to me with a playful smirk. "That is the right answer. However, we believe in alternatives! So let's get creative for a second. He's hurting, what's a way to deal with it?"

I went with the next safest option. "...Gagging him, to cut off his sound."

He whispered in my ear, lightly trailing his hoof from the back of my head down my spine. "Tell me what else?"

I clenched my teeth as I went into the more morally reprehensible options. "Knock him unconscious."

He leaned into my neck, whispering to me. "You know... when a body dies, it can still moan. Not all the air escapes the lungs when you pass on, it's just happens to be that your diaphragm is in a relaxed state. You could always exhale a little more than what you'd normally process. But as long as the vocal cords are intact, the noise will continue." He started to lean in closer to me as continued to whisper. "So yes, the dead can and will make noise. The body isn't exactly motionless in death. And just like when you try and get a good night's sleep, the body will adjust until decomposition subsides. Now... what's the alternative you can present to me that avoids any and all noise?"

I turned my head away for a moment, trying not to get kissed a second time. I started pacing back and forth, not even realizing how everyone stopped and stared at me. "I suppose a bubble of silence?"

"That's one." Umbra confirmed. "Give me another."

"Spacial distortion spell."

"Ah, good one." He said with a chuckle. "Now let's see if you know a third."

"Sending them to an alternate dimension, or teleporting them to somewhere else."

The stallion suddenly appeared before me, without a single hint of teleportation. "That... is a damn good one."

I walked in the other direction, trying not to get in close to him. "So I take it you have ideas of just zapping him off to someplace else?"

He pointed to me with a cheesing grin. "Exactly! So instead of using him in my exclusive service, since he doesn't look the part of my pristine working staff, I suppose I could use him in other ways. So having that said, you need not to worry." In a split second, the stallion was teleported elsewhere. He then turned to me. "There, see? Out of sight, out of mind! No worries."

After that exchange, I finally got around to asking him the question I took the time to come here to ask. "So with all that shit aside, I have a grievance with something."

"Oh, you mean the housewarming gift." He replied with a chuckle. "Yeah, I just thought you could use the company."

"Wrong address." I firmly complained.

"Right address." He replied. "See, your friend came and got you, was probably upset that her place smelled a bit funny, and I'm sure my gift gave both of you quite the startle."

I looked over to the bar, seeing how Blue was quietly shuddering in her seat. I'm sure she or her brother wasn't aware of the fact that their father paid us a visit. After all, we did place a gag order on all the guards who were involved with the relocation of his remains. Still, I had to keep some measure of composure. I'm sure killing him would only make matters worse. "Yeah, it was real funny up until it wasn't. And that stopped being funny from the moment we caught whiff of the smell."

He slithered his forelegs around my neck, trying to seduce me. "You know, I do so miss Count DuMoneé. I bet if the both of you had gotten to know one another in a sense, you'd find that you and he were pretty similar in terms of your ambitions. Of course it's for a different cause, but you two were very much alike. You don't even realize it."

"In what way were we ANYTHING alike?" I questioned the eccentric stallion.

"I guess I can start with the fact that you both avoid me like the plague." He began. "You both use Single File as your accomplice. The two of you have a deep secret that would unravel your careers just as easily as they came into fruition. Both of you had no business indulging in specific lusts. Now of course, his was a little more niche. Yours... is a lot more controversial."

"I don't have a daughter to rape." I stated.

"No. But you do have three royal princesses you've sullied with that human body of yours." He started to nibble on my ear. "Quite the collection, I've grown more interested in you since I found that out. Each day goes by and I'm wondering what exactly has you pulling the tabs on almost all four of the alicorn tetrarchy. The four pillars of power, and you've accosted all of them while plundering all but one. I'm sure without Shining Armor in place, Princess Cadance would be no less of a victim than the others you've put your hands on. Just think on it, a foreign entity shows up and applies his tongue to awaken the dormant nethers of Princess Celestia herself, his hands to appease and soothe the lustful wrath of Princess Luna, and asserting himself to lay seed within the one and only Princess Twilight. Twice."

The room grew ghastly silent with his throwing my business in the air. Even the servants gawked at me with complete shock over my sexual history. He then went even further.

"But that's not all. You've gotten close to achieving the task with another element bearer, specifically the Element of Laughter herself. Oh, and I do believe that the Element of Generosity has contributed a lot to your method. She taught you everything you know." He turned around and pointed to the bar. "That one there, she's laid her tongue on you in fruitful unison with your champion, Kalimba. And of course... I haven't excluded the one you don't want to talk about, the one who you secretly chased after for a good seven years at least, your human female friend."

I tried to argue against him. "She's not interested in me."

"Oh to lie to me, when I know it all, so bold!" He cried out, pointing his cane to my face. "After all, I'm sure she took it hard once it was revealed to her that you and Celestia were secretly dating."

Even one of the servants gasped audibly. Everyone in the room stared at me, including both Blue and Alabaster.

The stallion giggled for a moment and shrugged. "I'm sure you're wondering how I came across all of this. And I'm sure you'd be worried that I would stop you from doing whatever you're trying to do while you're here. But here's the thing, this is far too fun to pass up. I couldn't just put all your laundry out for the masses, that would put too quick of an end to our little affair. Got to save some juice for the club to enjoy."

While I was trying my best not to assassinate this guy on spot, I knew that my doing so would probably give free license to release all of that information as a postmortem checkmate. That much information would probably unseat the entire royal family, possibly putting them in more danger. For the sake of my job, I had to play along. "So what games are you trying to play?"

The stallion smiled as he took his cane, spinning it as he pirouetted in place. "I'm interested in seeing how far you'll go to make ends meet. You'll obviously be here to see things through, but you may find it a bit harder to pull off. Some ways would be even easier, considering your closeness to the royal family. But I'm going to throw in a bit of my prescribed madness to wage a bet."

I looked over to Kalimba, who was uncharacteristically wide-eyed. She seemed absolutely terrified. I turned back over to him. "Whatever it is, you leave my family and friends out of it."

"Well that wouldn't be fair, it's just upping the stakes when I feel you've gotten complacent. So you'll have to deal with it from now on." He stopped himself, staring at me. My eyes remained locked on him as I felt more of an incentive to take his life. He slowly walked up to me and mumbled in my face. "Maybe if you weren't so quick to run from me, I wouldn't resort to these kinds of things to have you come back to me. Savvy?"

I had to catch myself from scowling holes into his body, imagining how many bullets I was wanting to put into his skull. He teleported next to me and gave me a cheshire grin.

"So. We're gonna have you play a little game for me for the next month. The terms and conditions may change up whenever I feel that you need a spike in difficulty. All you have to do is defeat the one enemy that stands in the way of your investigation. As for who it is, well that would be spoiling it a little too early. But I am a fair loser. If you're the last one standing, then you win. And in turn, I'll give you all the information you need, unfiltered, unredacted, unrestricted, unlimited access. So if you want the information of any Inner Circle member, it's all yours."

Everyone in the room looked to one another, those like Damper Trot and Alabaster simply glanced among themselves. I started to analyze the terms he provided, but questioned him of what he didn't say out loud. "And if I were to lose?"

"You'll know when you've lost." He simply replied. "After all, death is always a consequence of failure. Now of course, I will not be laying a hoof on you outside of when I desire the interaction. A month is all I ask for a bit of fun. And if you manage to win, you get to know every bit of information you'd need to unseat Law Processu Approbatio. It will be everything you'd need to allow for your clandestine relationship to become a little less restricted."

"How is the idea of my dying brings any enjoyment to you?" I asked him.

"Because... I am me." He said, before pointing his cane to everyone around the room. "And all of you know the rules. No cheating, no helping, and absolutely no hints." I remained cautious as the stallion pointed to me with his cane. "So how about it, your participation in my little game for my participation in your investigation. I'm sure it's a deal to die for."

I looked back to Kalimba, who was fearfully quiet. I turned to Umbra and gave him a warning. "My family, my friends, are not involved in this. You keep this between you and me."

The stallion chuckled, flipping his cane. "I'm afraid the terms and conditions I had set were already accepted from the moment you walked through the door tonight. You don't have a choice in how the contract's negotiated when I know all that I do about you. You either agree to my terms, or I purge your hopes and dreams from the moment you walk out the door. I'm sure Celestia wouldn't mind your being a banished eunuch for the rest of your days. And I'm certain that she'd enjoy a second helping of what was done to her in the olden days."

I wanted to watch him suffer, I wanted him to be slowly peeled alive like a blood and pus-filled orange. I wanted nothing more than to see him endure that agony, to see that final frame of despair frozen on his face with his last breath. I was sure the nightmares to follow would prove to be wet dreams for me. But considering who all was going to be under the same microscope, I had no other choice but to play his game... for my sake as well as theirs. Honestly, death would be an easier process as opposed to being a dick-less man. At the very least, I had no idea what the others look like or exactly where they are throughout the day. I'm just glad I anticipated this in the event of my situation being compromised again. I didn't plan everything I did just to fail.

I'm going to have to apologize to the others, I won't be seeing or talking to them for a while. "...So, what's first?"

The Next Day...
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

As soon as I got back in, I knew that the septic dispute was getting lined up to hit the back of the fan. The only method I could think of to counter any of Umbra's moves was to start off in the department of securing the portals. But it couldn't just end there, I had to also secure the hall leading into my room, the halls leading to the portal room, the main entrance to the castle, and finally my bedroom. There was no chance of me sparing any expense to getting this done. I had to make moves today, and I was going to see if our security issue was going to be as inconsistent as it was when they casually marched a coffin into Mel's apartment. And if that's the way they're going to sneak in and out of my world, they're going to find it much harder to do so without being noticed.

So today, I was working overtime.

I crossed back over to my world, took a trip to Home Depot, investigated a few measures in home security. I essentially went wireless, especially being that I wasn't exactly tool savvy. It also allowed me to quietly install everything without having to drill and put holes in places I couldn't afford to. Plus I didn't have the tools to drill holes in granite and marble columns while being up at least 15-20 feet in the air, which was about the height of the ceiling. So wireless was my best option, especially considering the mobility factor.

I picked out everything between motion sensors, infrared security cameras, HD cameras with night vision, motion sensitive cameras, and advanced security panels for modifications. I managed to get a few sensor bars for things like doors, windows, closets, and even the portals themselves. If anything breaks the beams, I will be notified of the change. If there was one shred of movement, I'd have a camera ready to grab footage. If there was one change of security detail that I didn't authorize, then I'll look out to see who left their post and where. After I had graciously walked myself to the checkout, the cashier started looking at me funny like I didn't know what all I was getting. And that price tag had even brought over a manager or two to oversee the purchase.

Here's the shake down. Motion sensors, $1,300. IR CCTV cameras, $6,500. Motion sensitive cameras, $5,500. 4K resolution night vision cameras, $10,800. Advanced home security panel with sensory pads, $1,600. The grand total plus tax: $28,268.97. The look on their faces when I paid it all from my debit card: Fucking. Priceless.

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else there a Wal-Mart Visa Card.

I got back to Canterlot and started mapping out the castle and how I was going to place what and where. That phase took me a good two hours to do before I was able to get started with my installations. I had Shining and Blueblood give me the best possible spots for a device to record from. And with their help in terms of the installation, it took us a good five hours to drastically upgrade the security from the equivalent of a 17th Century method to a awe-striking power dive to the 21st Century. It took me another hour to get everything locked in where I could view every camera from my phone. It took yet another hour on top of that to test everything around the castle grounds, including alarms.

When it was all finished, I was good and sweaty. After a ninety minute shopping trip, two hours of scouting, five of installation, another two for testing and routing, I wiped my brow from the near eleven hours of taking my job seriously, and called it a day. The three of us retired to the dining hall, admiring our work.

Shining and Blueblood shook their heads with amazement. "Holy fuck, this is all so wild to me." Shining announced.

I took out my phone and pointed to the corner at the end of the room, citing where the motion camera was stationed. "Yeah, as soon as we walk in, that son of a bitch right there starts recording."

"I can't help but to wonder if this will ever fall back on us in some cruel way." Blueblood inqured.

"Nobody here knows how to use a phone except for Shining and Celestia. They wouldn't be able to work the system to where they can go on the footage and zoom in on someone's face if need be. Safe to say we're good on that front."

Both Cadance and Celestia walked in through the door to the same chime we heard upon entering.

Cadance looked around, wondering where the voice originated from. "Who's goes there!?" She called out in an authoritative tone.

"That would be the sound of the new security system Nondis installed." Shining explained. "Just finished putting it together today."

I pulled up the ongoing security footage of the dining hall on my phone and showed it to the two royals. "Smile. You two are on TV."

While they looked down at the screen, the could see all three of us looking down at the phone. Cadance's head propped up to see from where we were being observed. Celestia gazed around until she noticed the small white camera hanging high up in the ceiling. She waved her hoof at the object, seeing herself wave in the feed. Cadance chuckled in awe. "You know, I can't help but to ponder the frightening headway we'd make if you'd put this same energy into your job daily."

"I'm an American, I work in bursts." I joked at my own expense. "If I go this hard everyday, then there'd be nothing that would surprise you anymore."

Celestia agreed with my sentiment. "Actually I'm all for it in this case. If the spontaneity of his approach can throw us off, then imagine what it does to those who are unfamiliar with his world's technology and his tactics. You could completely reinvent the way we do security."

"It'll be useful, I know that." Blueblood added enthusiastically. "Something on this scale isn't exactly doable with even all of the magic spheres in existence."

Shining stretched his forelegs. "You know, I'm wondering if there's any way we could install a similar system over in the Crystal Empire."

"I ain't doing this shit again." I said, shaking my head in denial. "This was eleven hours of work in a place I'm familiar with in terms of the floor-plan. Doing this in another castle, without any floor plans, in the cold tundra, at least a good five-hundred feet up, nah."

"We're on the side of a mountain several thousand feet up, I think you'll be fine up north." Cadance joined in with her husband.

"Cadance, I'm from a place that shuts down with the slightest mention of snow falling from the sky. You're talking about a lonely skyscraper with many open-air accesses in the pony equivalent of the North Pole. No." I reiterated strongly.

Celestia glanced down at the phone I gave her, tabbing over to the Instagram message feed. She looked down and saw that there were no new messages from me. She appeared moderately disappointed, but understood that the events from yesterday morning, compounded with my investigation and today's installations had consumed much of my attention. She made no visible attempt to bring attention to herself, but the way she approached me indicated that she wanted to know what exactly was on my mind.

Meanwhile Cadance was too busy swapping her attention from the phone's screen to the camera that pointed in our direction. "There appears to be a delay."

"The feed is always going to have some latency." I addressed to her. "It's transmitting data from the camera, to the server, and then over to my phone. It's still a second or two off, but I can see the entirety of the castle grounds. I haven't set up the monitors to do that yet."

"You mean you'll be using a selection of guards to oversee each area?" Cadance questioned.

"Not really." Celestia explained. "It's more of a rectangular viewing device that can be used to watch the various cameras. And I'm not exactly sure how many you have in terms of cameras. I just know that you will be needing a few of those screens to highlight a few problematic areas." She then turned to me. "Did I get that right?"

"Stellar." I praised the princess for her accuracy. "I actually installed a number of sensors and security feeds. I think we're using about 20 different servers for the castle grounds. The entire place is under my supervision, with the notable exception of the bedrooms."

Celestia ears flushed slightly red. "Oh my, that would've been embarrassing."

I summoned a copy of the castle blueprints, but with red dots indicating the locations the cameras, green for the sensors, and orange for the control panels. The princess was shocked and amazed over the immense number of dots she counted to herself. "...320. You have 320 of these cameras all over the castle, are you kidding me?"

"And I can look at each one on my phone." I pointed out. "Having that said, you might want to keep that in your safe, don't want to compromise this operation by having a bunch of prodding minds looking to thin the numbers. Might want to take me up on that."

She rolled the map up and teleported it away. "You have my upmost diligence, captain."

"Thank you."

As I glanced down at my phone, I noticed a message had come in on Instagram. She wanted to know how my day had went and if I needed anything special. I said no, just needed to keep my head clean. She also informed me that Luna would be available for a dream watch tonight.

Might be a good idea, if I can finally manage to fall asleep after yesterday's dose of nightmare fuel.

Today was a mix of emotions. A lot of my moments were trying to cope with what I allowed to happen yesterday, my having to wake up being different, and even trying to live my life as such. All this morning, I was waiting for the boys to finish with their breakfast before I even showed up. When I finished with that, I just kinda kept my distance. I didn't want to trigger a conversation with Rickey, all of it's too raw for me to handle. And I didn't want to trigger one with Cliff, because he would eventually get me to explain why I've been so distant. And knowing him, he'd probably make an argument with Rickey and get him to apologize, which is something I don't need right now. Instead of keeping my feet dry─hooves in this case─I wandered into town and actively started looking for opportunities of employment.

If I didn't want to be around, I needed to keep myself busy both mentally and physically.

So I took up signings around town. There were a lot of opportunities. I filed an application for this place called Quills & Couches, another place called Lilly's Floral, and even a place called Stand-In Sales. There was only one itty-bitty, teeny-weeny, tiny-winey, small problem with all of those listings.

All of them put me on the spot from the moment I walked up asking for the job. The first place, Quills & Couches, they wanted me to try and convince an old indecisive mare to buy a couch. Sounds easy, right? Oh no, she was barely walking faster than a sloth, she could never keep her eyes open, she decided to pick between two couches that were the EXACT SAME DAMN MODEL, same color, same material, same everything. It took her an hour and a half to pick one, and then paid for her purchase in bits... ONE BY ONE, SLOWLY. If. You. Could. Ever. Put. Into. Words. Hoooooow. Sllooooooow. Shheeeee. Waaaaassss, then you'd understand how hard it was to keep my hair on my head. I got relieved because I wasn't smiling enough, and they valued smiling workers putting up with absolute bullshit over employee mental health. I lost a good third of my brain cells and half of my life span dealing with that old lady.

Lilly's Floral, that was an unfortunate circumstance. The entire experience could be chalked up to the idea that I wasn't really in a bright and cheerful mood to sell flowers to begin with, especially after the last job. What happened with me there wasn't just the smile, it was more of my lack of floral knowledge. I didn't know the names of the roses and flowers on sale. I too readily called them everything but their known name. And I might've pissed off the manager when I picked out the wrong flowers to sell. She dropped me at that moment, didn't even last thirty minutes.

Stand-In Sales was pretty much a advertising firm that hired you on your looks and tried to get you to model for the product. And since it was the products I was modeling, I figured I had the minimum to pull off. No, not exactly. I couldn't hold lipstick up to my lips, I couldn't pull apart a quesadilla slowly without it looking like a crime scene, I sneezed at the perfume they put on me, my smile wasn't bright enough, and I couldn't walk down a catwalk without tripping over myself. That was a good three hours wasted, and I got no compensation for that.

As soon as they escorted me out, I found myself even more pissed off. I let myself bubble over and I found a good cart to kick over. An elderly voice called out to me angrily. "What in tarnation! Missy, ya done kicked over mah product!"

"I'm sorry! 'KAY!?" I shouted back, fed up with my experience.

The mare looked at me and squinted her eyes. She marched in front of me and pointed over to the cart I kicked over. "Well if yer any bit of sorry, how bout you clean up yer mess and march this here to mah farm!?"

I grumbled, pulling my hooves over my eyelids. "Lady, I can't do shit else unpaid, alright!?"

The entire town square just stopped and stared at me. One lady looked over to me after covering her son's ears. The green elderly mare quirked an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Potty-mouth, huh?"

I stopped for a moment, looking at the scene I had caused. There was a young kid crying in their stroller, a concerned mother marching with her son, covering his ears along the way, many onlookers looked down on me for my actions, and there was apples strewn all over the place. I took that moment of clarity and took a deep breath. "...Okay. I am sorry. It's been a long day, and I'm just getting here, trying to adapt."

The green elderly mare lowered her tone, but still remained stern with me. "Missy, ain't a day without some hard or work in it, that just life. Meanin' yer day ain't the easiest to start don't mean ya make it harder fer somepony else. All ya do is make yerself look bad, while makin' others feel bad."

"Yeah. I know." I replied somberly.

"Well if ya know it, then why'd ya do it? Why take it out on poor little ol' me and mah apples? They've had a rough goin' out already." She motioned me to help her, I complied. She pointed to one she picked up. "Ya see this one, she ain't had the easiest life, threats of fruit bats, parasprites, thieves, a few rough storms, and even bit of a bruisin, and she's hopin' to get picked on one day. She ain't the belle of the ball, but she looks her best. But now she's gotta go back home to the family after a day of showing her stuff, not once getting looked at."

I shook my head and continued to pick up the scattered apples. "You really do give those things a personality." I sarcastically pointed out.

"Missy, just hush up and listen. There's a lesson in this here story." The elderly mare replied. "Now, say she takes all that home with her, and she gives it all back to everyone around her. Now her pretty red coat turns brown from all the ugly, and the sale she could've made while at home, it ain't a sale no more because she done ruined the whole farm with it. That's what it means to have a rotten apple spoil a bushel. Now do ya think ya can sell that, or do ya think the pretty one who keeps it movin' can sell herself a little better?"

I just sighed, knowing she was right. "I guess the pretty one sells."

"Ya darn tootin'! She's gonna sell 'cause she puts her best forward and her worst behind her. Now, what are you gonna do? Are ya gonna rot all over, or are ya just gonna pick 'em up and strut yer stuff?"

Listening to her story managed to speed up my work, I straightened the cart and finished off my cleanup with a sincere apology. "I guess I'll clean up a little. I'm sorry about the mess."

The mare pulled out a small little sack of coins. "Now that's a bit better. Now how bout you lug that on over to mah farm so Ah can trade yer troubles for this here purse."

I nodded, positioning myself at the front of the cart. "I guess it's better than nothing."

Throughout my trip, I thought I would start to bemoan the idea of being forced to carry a huge load around town. But to my surprise, I was actually completely fine with it. Had to admit the road was a bit bumpy at parts and made it a little tricky to get around, but it was still just a matter of my walking forward. The elderly mare and I talked along the way, telling me of her past and how she got to help her family stake their claim on Ponyville. She seemed positive and upbeat for someone who was telling me that she wasn't really up for dragging the cart around, apparently her hips had gone sour over the years and she's trying to adjust to her declining health.

Still, the idea of her toting this damn thing around had showed me just how strong this lady was in her old age.

After all of her stories, we soon found ourselves at a bright red barn. The sun was sinking well past the horizon when we got there. The elderly mare stopped me dead in my tracks, unhooked the harness, and took inventory of her product. She pulled back out the purse and started doing some math.

"Alright, now let's see. Taking into account damages to product an' vehicle, a little bit of snapback, also a potty-mouth penalty─that's just the old swear jar, that puts ya down to around... ninety-eight bits."

She handed me the moderately deflated purse. I looked inside, quietly unimpressed but outwardly appreciative. "Thank you, ma'am. I just wish I could've ran into you sooner."

"Yeah, maybe yer disposition would've been a bit better dealin' with us instead of them fancy hirin' places."

I snickered for a moment, putting the purse inside of one of my bags. "Yeah. I just don't see how I was gonna be able to put up with that for a month straight."

"A month, huh? Is that all yer workin' fer?" The lady questioned me.

"Yes ma'am. I'm here while they clean out my old place. It'll be a month before I can go back."

She looked around and asked me quietly. "Ya got a coop to house yer hens?" I blanked out at her question, trying to put together what she was asking me. She then clarified herself. "Ya got a bed to lay in?"

"Oh! Okay, yeah. Sorry, I'm what you would call a city girl. But I do stay in an apartment." I replied.

"What's yer rent lookin' like?" She asked.

"Twelve-hundred."

"Awful lot fer a transplant. Could jus shack the barn fer five."

I started smiling and held a hoof to my chest, seeing just how nice this lady really was. And I also felt a bit of pain realizing that I was railing into her just a little while back. "Ma'am, that's too much."

"But yer still gonna need a job, right?"

I closed my eyes and tried to not become any bit of emotional. "Yes, I do."

"Well how bout this, ya show up bright an' early 'fore the rooster calls it, you can help mah granddaughter and her new striped friend work the south orchard. Nice crop of ghost apples comin' in this time of year, an' we're tryin' to keep up with the demand. This here farm is ran by mostly us gals, but don't be afraid to call my grandson Big Mac fer a task that might require a little force of will. 'Course Ah'd ask that there'd be no funny business with the stallion."

I giggled, wiping the tears that threatened to eclipse my eyes. "Yes ma'am."

Behind me, I could hear some sets of hooves clopping towards our direction. My ear instinctively flicked back to catch them before the got even closer. They also caught the voice of a boisterous mare. "Hoo-wee! Now that was a long day of gettin' at it!" Her voice was very familiar to me.

I turned around, seeing none other than Applejack coming in with a cart filled with apples. Standing next to her was a zebra with a horn. She looked to me with uncertainty. The elderly lady spoke with the orange mare. "Applejack, Kalimba, looks like y'all might get another set of hooves on tomorrow's pickin's. This here is... uh... never quite got yer name."

"Cherry. Cherry Balm." I quickly replied, extending a hoof out to shake.

As soon as she returned the favor, I felt the entire world jolt violently up and down while she shook my hoof repeatedly. "Well Ah'll be haughtier than a prized hog at the state fair, welcome aboard the Apple Family Orchard! We take pride in our work, this farm here was built on the backs of the good ponies who made their trek here. Well over a hundred moons of tradition, family, and moral values are all seeded on these grounds."

The elderly mare tapped the younger mare. "Applejack, don't talk the poor girl's ear off. Ah already told her that stuff on the way in." She didn't tell me that stuff on the way in, more like trying to spare me from Applejack's history lesson.

"Well why didn't ya say so, Granny Smith? Ah would've kept it to a name." She replied before addressing me. "Mah name's Applejack. This here is a temp worker like you, her name's Kalimba. She's comin' from Canterlot, gettin' away from a pretty bad place. So she's moved to Ponyville fer the time bein'. Ah hope all of us can be as good of workers as we can be friends."

While my hoof still pulsed from her greeting, I nodded. "I'm looking forward to that."

The Next Day...

Instead of using the one that's on my phone, I had used a more traditional alarm clock that had the bells and the mallet between them on the wind-up. I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock dinging in my ears. I reset the alarm and took my shower, gathered my thoughts, and ran out the door before the sun could start to really turn the sky a lighter shade of blue. All throughout my journey, I found a select few ponies gathering their goods for the impending day. It appeared so dormant in contrast to the usual morning rush on campus, but then again this was a Sunday.

When I arrived to the farm, I saw Granny Smith rocking in her chair on the front porch. Standing beside her was a young filly and Applejack. The zebra named Kalimba was coming from the direction of the barn, she didn't seem nearly as tired as I was. But I know I was a lot more alert in contrast to the young filly who yawned and stretched her hooves. Strangely enough, I didn't see any stallions present.

We all gathered in front of the house and waited for Granny Smith to say something. But on closer inspection, she was completely dozed out. Applejack tapped her to wake her, causing the elder to shake awake. "Huh-who-wha... Oh." She immediately noticed me then. "Well lookit here, don't ya look purty in the mornin' twilight. Nice to see ya came to work."

"I'm just here to earn my keep, ma'am." I quietly replied, still a bit tired.

Applejack looked over to see Granny Smith starting to doze off again, taking the opportunity to speak for her grandmother. "Alright now, we're gonna be workin' against the clock. Ghost apples don't take to the sunlight too well, ya gotta pick 'em quick before the sun really gets to the high arc of the day. These are some special enchanted apples made of ice, and when ya turn 'em into jam, they sell fer a good profit. The sooner we get these apples picked, the more we turn to jam, the more a profit we draw in, the more y'all get paid. So let's get a move on and get pickin'!"

The last word Applejack yelled grabbed Granny from her sleep. "Pickin' who!? Oh..." She turned to her granddaughter. "Ah take it ya done took the words right from my mouth again, huh?" Applejack just smiled back. "Oh well, off to it then. Apple Bloom and Ah'll be waitin' on ya."

The young filly tiredly laid down. "Just tell us when y'all bring in the stuff fer us to make the jam."

As we were walking to collect our baskets, I quietly asked the zebra about the stallion that was rumored to be on the farm. "Whatever happened to the stallion we're supposed to stay away from?"

"I take it dat he is on his rest day." She replied in an awfully thick African accent.

"But I thought Granny Smith told us to get him if the task gets a little too rough for us."

Applejack quickly intervened. "Granny Smith ain't mean nothin' bout it. Ah'm plenty strong for the job, if not a fortune stronger then he'll ever be. Just tell me what ya need and Ah'll get it done."

Kalimba nodded as she confirmed the farm girl's boast. "She is an element bearer, by fate she was given a great strength. So great dat few stallions possess what she has. It takes at least six of dem to compare to her, ah."

In other words, if you tried to fight her on sight, she'd knock you into next week. If there was no other testament to that, then I at least had the handshake from yesterday to serve as evidence. Guess I'm in good hooves as long as I stay working here.

As soon as we got to our assigned spot, the sun started to rise. Applejack jumped at the first dormant tree she saw and kicked it. Immediately, a bunch of thuds sounded on the ground around her. I got in closer to see what had fell since I couldn't actually see what dropped from the branches above. Looking down, I saw what appeared to be a glassy apple. I picked it up, noticing how cold it was to the touch. I quickly placed it into the basket and collected some others. Applejack started to explain the phenomenon.

"Ghost apples are rare apples that grow on the trees here. When ya turn em into jam, they produce this white and blue jelly that's super sweet to the tongue. And it's a great way to dress yer biscuits for breakfast. Sometimes it's used fer fillin' in some sweet pastries and doughnuts. Pair it with some cream cheese in a danish, an' ya got a rich and creamy danish that's great for a bitter cup of black coffee."

"A blue-collar worker's delight." I summarized.

"Blue collar?" Applejack questioned, appearing confused.

I then realized she had no idea what that meant. "What I mean to say is that it's for hard-working ponies who do a lot of physical labor. Usually indicated by a type of shirt."

Kalimba appeared confused, but Applejack quickly caught on. "Oh. So I guess that's what you humans call it."

"Yeah that's it." I said blindly, not exactly processing what she had just put out in the open. I jumped at the mare's accusation. "Wait a minute, I'm not a─"

Applejack snickered as she finished cleaning up the apples she knocked out of the tree. "Even if Twilight ain't told us what Celestia had relayed to her, I would've easily figured it out."

I was left flabbergasted, at a loss for words. "How so!?" I questioned.

"Fer starters, ya walk's a little janky, almost unnatural really." Applejack pointed out.

Kalimba went on to confirm. "De captain was dat exact same way when I first met him. He eventually learned how to be a natural at it."

Applejack continued her explanation. "Second, everypony knows who Granny Smith is. Her face is on advertisements across all of Equestria. Our apples are a national product, so her face is the first thing you'd see on the label."

Strange how I didn't notice that one.

"And thirdly, de terms 'blue collar' and 'white collar' have been explained to me as terms to describe de kind of jobs a human assumes, namely based on the clothing dey wear. No pony would know dat kind of information aside from those who are close to de humans." Kalimba concluded.

I mumbled to myself. "Shit."

"That's five bits." Applejack interjected. "Swear jar policy."

Shit. At least I can't get docked for what I think. "Crap. Well, guess I'm screwed." I said while dropping my head.

"Not really." Kalimba said as she picked many apples from a tree using her magic. "You are in a good position. Not only is Applejack as strong as she is, I am also a gifted fighter. So you are in a good place."

"Still though, ya gotta do a little better in your walkin' and street smarts before ya pass yerself as a pony." Applejack suggested politely. "Ah know yer new to it, and the new body ain't easy to figure. Just keep up the effort and you'll be a natural before ya even know it. Now come on over to this here tree." I nodded before walking over to another tree she pointed out. She quickly turned me around and started stretching my hind legs out. "Now what ya wanna do is not kick on this thick part right here, you'll sprain yer leg somethin' fierce. But hit up here on this part, and try not to put too much umph into it. Yer an earth pony, so it'll be good to measure out how much strength ya put out."

Knowing me, I took one glance at the tree and cocked my legs back, and launched them at full force. The next thing I felt was an entire branch fall on my back. I looked back and saw that it wasn't just the branch, but the entire tree that came crashing down on me. I was stunned to silence, unsure of what to even do at that point.

Applejack just giggled. "Earth pony strength, you'll get used to it."

Bun-n-Barrel Sports Bar, Canterlot
Later That Day...
***Point of Perspective: NONDIS***

After a pretty restful day, I took the invitation that was graciously given to me by a few of the barrack dwellers. We immediately sortied out to the local sports bar, at least where we could hear the radio that was previewing the primetime event of the week. It was like tuning in to Pay-Per-View Wrestling, only without the televised broadcast, the social media reaction, or the slim chance of catching some nudity. But when you get asked to a bar night with the boys, it's your duty to build bonds with your subordinates. It's no different from showing leadership on the field, you have to show that you're with them on and off the shift, it breeds morale faster than German cockroaches.

The place was bustling with guards, some with armor just coming from their shift, many without it who ended theirs a few hours before. The servants at the bar were mainly female, many could easily be considered as eye-candy for some young stud looking for a story to tell in the morning. But they gave out insults as easily as they did complements. Oh, and don't be that guy thinking you could cop a feel on one as she walks by, those hindlegs are just as deadly as any weapon issued.

The radio was cranked to max volume.

As the crowd started to settle down, I noticed some guards still wearing their armor started to remove their helmets. It was like they were preparing for the national anthem. And just on cue, the announcement sounded through the radio speakers that they would paused for the singing of the national anthem. I could hear the entire bar take a collective breath, a heavy one before the storm of mixed notes and tone-deaf melodies blow the windows clean off the place.

In a show of raucous patriotism, they all banged their cups together in a marvelous toast. It was like watching a bunch of drunks finishing the Star Spangled Banner after watching their prized American fighter take the title of the heavyweight championship in boxing.

One of the bartenders pushed a pint over to my direction. In doing so, she waved in a flirtatious manner. While I thanked her with a nod, another guard came up beside me and leaned on me where I sat. "Hey captain, I know you got an anthem from your home country, don't you!?"

I shook my head, just burying my lips in the malty beer I was provided.

Without warning, the cup was tapped away from my face and I was being bombarded by at least four others all cheering me to share my own country's anthem. I tried to play it down. "Guys, it's nothing special. I hear that shit almost every time we do something sports related. We're good."

A male bartender slammed down another pint in front of me and called me out in a deep raspy voice. "Aw, come on then! Regale the lads with a song of lore then! Or maybe a song of patriotism from your homeland!" The entire bar shouted in agreement over that later suggestion. I rolled my eyes and obliged. Before I even took a breath, I heard the radio being turned down all the way so that they could hear me sing. I got nervous immediately, but was further encouraged by the guards standing behind me. I closed my eyes, beginning to think of the words, hoping that I wouldn't mess them up. I then hummed myself a comfortable key. Everyone behind me droned that same key, almost like I had an accompaniment.

I then jumped the octave, which caught many off guard.

The bar was silent after that. Many onlookers quietly just stared at me, nodding with approval. I felt something tap against my arm, realizing it was a mug from the bartender. He raised his hoof and shouted to the bar. "Now ain't that the most damn patriotic thing we've heard? Your's sound like a land filled with pride!"

"More like a land overflowing with food, beer, and freedom." I said proudly, also with some sarcasm added. The crowd didn't seem to care too much about that, they were cheering me on for the song. The bartender raised a pint of his own and proudly called out to the crowd.

"A cheer for our captain, he serves away from his home for a land not his own!"

We all downed our mugs and let out a rowdy roar as the radio was cut back up to full volume, just in enough time for the undercard to start playing out. While that fight was going on, there was a few maids standing in front of a chalkboard taking up bets. The bits started flying right out of their pockets and the numbers started getting tallied for the main event. Over in the corner next to the chalkboard, I saw a group of four mares, still wearing their armor as they quietly nursed their mugs. While I glanced over, Humbreeze tapped me on the side. "What's the matter, captain? I thought you'd enjoy this."

"Oh yeah, I'm having fun. I'm just noticing the four guards over there. They aren't like the others" I pointed out.

Humbreeze chuckled. "Oh yeah, them. They're in here every other Sunday. Three of them are pretty wild if you wanna take a shot. But you might wanna not pull the short straw out of that bunch."

"Why not?" I asked.

"You might end up getting shut down by the ice queen herself." He warned grimly.

The bartender tapped me as well and nudged his head over in their direction. "Hey, it's better to wait until the ice queen leaves that pack. Then you gotta work your way through two more for the one you want. I heard the three others are a wild time."

"So what's the deal with this ice queen?" I asked.

The two gawked at me, as well as a few others when I asked that question. "Are you serious, you don't know about the Infamous Ice Queen of Canterlot?" Humbreeze asked.

"I heard she's been on the crawl up the ranks." Another guard whispered from behind me. "Twenty years and she can't even make captain."

Well that's a familiar story. "Oh... You mean Solemn Oath." I replied.

The bartender's eye bucked wide as he slid a mug before my mouth. "Hey now, you never know what kind of things will happen if you name-drop that one."

"So you do know about her?" Humbreeze confirmed. "Well then you already know the deal. Avoid her, go in with at least two of your best guys, take the one you want, let the others get their fill, all three of you go home happy."

I looked over to the bartender. "So what happens when you get caught by you-know-who?"

"You ever had beer and salted peanuts in your mane?"

"That's it?" I questioned, seeming pretty unimpressed with the consequences.

"Oh, but that ain't even the catch. Those other three will be looking to stall for time until the ice queen gets back." The bartender stated.

"They're really well-coordinated." Humbreeze cosigned. "Everything they do, they do together until you and two others can crack their code and get them separated. Other than that, the three are a challenge to get through to."

Another voice chimed in from beside me. "They play hard to get, but you crack one, you'll be in for a hell of a time while the other two try to intercept."

"They're already selective." Another mumbled.

"Financially secure, been in the guard for a while." Another whispered.

"Loads of disposable income. If you get serious, she'll spoil you rotten." The bartender muttered.

"And I take it that the objective is to get lucky on the first night, come back a second time to prove your wits, and see if it develops?" I asked.

"Well that's the rules to their game. But of course, there's the caveat." Humbreeze said with a defeated droan.

"Nobody's got picked up more than once." I concluded. Everyone around me nodded twice in affirmation. I shrugged my shoulders and tapped my mug for a refill. "Yeah, I got too much on my plate to be playing games like that. Sorry guys."

The group groaned in defeat. In my denial, I gained the attention of the four mares sitting at the table, including a deadly scowl from the usual candidate. I looked away and faced myself completely towards the bar. While the others kept their eyes on her. One of the boys whispered in a panic. "Oh shit, code frigid."

The bartender bobbed his head. "Let me get this one, boys."

The group of guards completely cleared out as she walked up to the bar, sitting directly next to me. I proceeded to mind my own business as she made her order. "Bartender, I want something hard and bitter."

"The usual?" He questioned.

"Nah, I want it to be a real drink. Just get me a whisky with dishwater."

I didn't even front like I wasn't watching past my shoulder every now and then. The bartender quickly grabbed a glass and poured her a glass. She eyed another maid who was wiping off a nearby table and levitated her cleaning rag from her. As soon as the bartender turned around with her drink, she grabbed the drink and cleaned the bar top underneath her. Following that, she glanced over to me and started cleaning under where my drink sat, I quickly moved my mug before her rag could tip it over. On the way of cleaning my area, I took notice of her orange magic grabbing at the bottom of my mug, seeming to be an attempt to get me to yank it hard enough that it would waste all over me if she let go. I simply held my pose while she finished up.

After all of that, she placed her glass down and wrung the towel from the dirty water into the drink. The bartender was more disgusted at her choice, but she smiled at him with a smug expression. "Oh no, I won't be drinking this, it isn't mine." She slid the drink over to me and stared. "You drink it."

I shook my head. "Shame. Waste of a good whisky." I then poured the drink onto the counter and grabbed a clean rag to clean my own mess.

She didn't like my reply very much. "So what, you're too high and mighty that you don't take a free drink?"

Her magic still clinched to the bottom of my mug. I left it to float while I ordered another. "My grandfather always told me to never take a witch's brew."

The bar gasped while I quickly placed my hand over the top of the mug before she could throw beer into my face. Instead, I had my hand covered in what would've been a really good beer. Meanwhile, she showed her animosity towards me again. "Excuse you, what did you call me?"

"I merely called the drink a witch's brew. As for the personal connotation it has against you, I guess you'll be taking words from my mouth. So it doesn't matter what I say."

She didn't miss the opportunity to try and throw my new drink at me. I didn't let her hit me with it, parrying it off to hit another unfortunate customer on the side of me. "You really don't know who you're dealing with."

"Frankly, I don't give a damn." I answered, flicking my beer-covered hand onto the counter. "I'm just here to be mellow and chill. We got a good vibe going on tonight, there's a fight on prime-time, the beer's nice and rich, and I'm on my buzz. Let's just try to have a good time."

She didn't take my suggestion to mind. Instead, she found the opportunity to grab a bottle of bourbon and splash some on my head. "You don't deserve a good time! You get everything given to you while most of us are working our entire lives to get where we are! All you did was play nice for the young naïve princess. You took advantage of her, rose to power, and stayed there while you have no business holding it any longer. You don't go out of your way to protect the princess in all hours of the day and night. I go through it all, I face off against the goons of Canterrot protecting the princess while you get to sleep in your bed at night! Tell me why you deserve a good time!"

My patience had completely worn thin. I slicked my hair back with all the bourbon that sat in it and turned to the envious mare. "Okay. Apparently my being here is pissing you off. I am merely here to enjoy the company of some coworkers. And you continue to assault me like I'm your cheap date who decided to split the check after you ordered the expensive steak and lobster meal."

The mare knocked my mug away from me, standing on her stool. "You don't deserve to serve a princess you're at odds with! So do the guard a favor and resign!"

Humbreeze quickly jumped in to my defense. "Hey! Now I know you may be angry about your rank, but he doesn't deserve the treatment you're giving him!"

Another guard behind me stood by him and shouted. "Yeah, show some respect!"

"He actually saved our lives! He could've sent us to fight those arimaspi on the first day, he instead threw himself out there to save us! What do you know about him deserving anything!?" Humbreeze emphatically questioned.

"Our captain stood up for us, who cares what happens after his breakup with the princess? He's on our side!"

She glanced back at the young Humbreeze and hopped off of her stool. "Oh yeah, so you'll talk back to your commanding officer?"

I threw my arm between the two. "We're out of uniform, we don't need to adhere to protocol. But there is a code of conduct that you've breached that's proving to be an embarrassment to the E.U.P.. Maybe you should lay off the drinks and take it home."

She took the bottle of bourbon from earlier and outright splashed it in my face. "Don't you DARE tell me what I can and cannot do, you undeserving monkey!"

The bar was deathly silent with the exception of a few tables and chairs being moved out of the way. The bartender glanced up to me, offering me a damp rag to wipe my face with. "You okay, sir?"

I looked over to see how everything was being moved around. Instead of the room being filled with a celebratory mood, it was cleared to reveal a wide circle with a magical seal on the floor. I glanced over to the board, seeing that the previous wagers had been erased, replaced with Solemn's name and my own. I couldn't help but to giggle at that. "Okay now, let's not do this. My buzz is what's keeping me in the good. Bartender, another drink?"

He quickly set me up with another pint, but I couldn't enjoy it because of her tipping it over the counter to spill into my lap. She glanced over to me with a dismissive shrug. "Oops, looks like you got in the way of my drink."

Yup, buzz is gone.

I stood up and pointed my thumb back at the magic circle on the ground. "Hey bartender, what's that for?"

"Primetime entertainment. We got another thirty minutes before the main event. I'm just making the space for you two to... talk things through."

I stretched my arms to the ceiling. "Okay. See what I'm not about to do is fight a mare."

Solemn took offense to my statement and hissed her words through her teeth. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not throwing hands with you. I don't want to do that. I just want to enjoy my evening and go home. It's been a rough week, I had to deal with a lot. So I'm not gonna vent my aggression towards you like that. I just want to enjoy my night, get a little tipsy, go home, and fall asleep for the first time in two whole days hoping the nightmares don't catch up."

She didn't seem to like my trying to diffuse the situation, revving up her aggression. She pushed Humbreeze using her magic and then aimed her magic towards me. "Nightmares? Sleep? Look at you! You're so pathetic, you don't know how to be a guard and deal with your problems outright, so you have to rely on drinking! You definitely don't deserve to serve the princess! So why don't you do the country a favor! Resign! Resign, and I don't bother you anymore."

Humbreeze stepped in the way one last time. "He's not resigning!"

"Maybe you should resign too." She harshly replied to the young stallion. "Obviously your whole drive for being in the guard is done. Your sister's not coming back to life if you stay in."

That was when I had enough.

I quickly wrapped my fingers around her horn, quenching every bit of her magic. "Yeah. You, you can get the fuck out with your bullshit. I'm tired of you looking down on everyone, thinking that it's cute. Just because you didn't get the promotion you wanted doesn't entitle you to treat everyone else as lesser than. So now I'm going to ask that you step your ass in that circle for some mandatory attitude correction." I then pointed to everyone in the room. "And I'm going to humbly ask that what you all are going to see stays inside of these four walls."

She started to playfully giggle. "Aw, are you finally taking something seriously?"

"Look bitch, no one likes you. No one likes a dry-pussy having-ass bitch. So how about you go experience the world, let others have their fun. Stop getting in the way. You don't help anyone. You're doing a disservice to the princess, if anything."

That appeared to be where she had enough of me. Her horn warmed up enough to get me to remove my hands. She quickly teleported over to the circle. She rubbed her head shortly after performing the feat, sparking her horn for an attack. "So what was all of that talk about you not fighting a mare?"

"Mares are ladies of sophistication and worth. Bitches ain't shit but hoes and thots. I'll teach a bitch before I touch a mare."

She didn't waste any time, not even letting me step into the circle all the way before she sent a magic blast my way. I quickly dodged her attack. She snickered as she revved her horn for another attack. "You won't get the chance to touch me."

"You know. You're completely right. I won't need to." I replied.

Solemn sent another blast of magic barreling at me, only to find that it hit the ground at my feet. She looked up to see me still standing in place. She sent another blast at me, same result. She sent three more, all reaching to about the same, all ending up hitting the same place. She snarled and charged herself for a larger attack before she found herself being knocked off balance. She looked back to see a small wooden tray next to her. When she tried to get back up, that same tray smacked her in the face, causing her to stumble back down. I just stood there with my arms folded.

"Are you done?"

She rubbed her forehead, wincing from the blow she took. She quickly got back on her hooves and charged at me, that was until her tail was suspended into the air, her entire body along with it. She glanced up to see a white aura grasping at her tail. Quickly, she was dragged over to where I was standing before the wooden serving tray from earlier was sent into her stomach. She lost track of her breath, collapsing to the ground. She glanced up at me, angrily calling me out. "You see!? You can't do anything on your own, you had someone else do magic for your dirty work!"

I shook my head and picked her up by her tail again, using the same method. She glanced up at the white aura around her tail. I pulled my right hand from under my arm, revealing to the room that it was glowing the same color as the aura around her tail. She gawked at me, much like everyone else in the room did. "My dirty work required me to learn about magic, it's mechanisms, it's flow patterns, it's cycles, it's limitations, and implementations. It's another course of action I must take for for my own self-defense. I'm also learning about the subtleties of using small motions for even larger actions. Up." I motioned my index and middle fingers to move her up to the ceiling, she was raised as such. "Down." I flicked them to the ground, causing her to fall harshly to the floor. The impact was great enough to cause her to lose her breath for a moment.

Everyone stared in silence while the radio played in the background. She cringed from the pain she endured and tried to gather herself. From there, she weakly wiggled her way to her hooves. I promptly replied by swiping two of my fingers to the side, using the wooden tray to sweep her hooves from under her. She fell over to her side.

"You talk about dedication, taking my job seriously. Well, I'm bout tired of taking you seriously. Close your mouth and learn to be humble for once in your conceited life, maybe you'll start getting what you want. If you stop judging things by what you see initially, maybe you'll assess your opposition a little better. Maybe if you stop pretending to be loyal and develop a personality, the princess wouldn't mind having you around a little more often. All of what you do is self-destructive. Stop trying to climb over people and shitting on them along the way. If you climb as a unit, you help others up the cliff so you don't fall as hard should you slip."

She slowly stood to her hooves again, only to get swept back down again. She vehemently screamed out at me. "Ugh, stop being a coward and fight me!"

"I told what I was going to do." I said calmly before pointing to the three other mares she sat with. "You three, names and ranks!"

"Gleaming Brass, rank Sargeant First Class, sir."

"Cobalt Blue, rank First Sergeant, sir."

"Dress Right, rank Master Sargeant, sir."

"So you three are NCO's. Good." I pointed down to the mare who was laid out on the floor. "Your orders are to escort First Lieutenant Solemn Oath to her to her quarters, she is done for the night. Tomorrow, she will be placed under administrative review."

A soft 'ooh' washed over parts of the bar. The defeated mare screamed at me a final time before being toted out by her friends. "You might know a little bit of magic, but nothing compares to the experience of being a guard for twenty years! You don't know anything!"

She continued to ramble on before she completely disappeared from the view of every patron in the bar. When she left, there was a loud cheer that roared throughout the place. I grabbed everyone's attention for a quick moment. "Okay, everyone listen up! The magic thing, y'all didn't see that, I don't know it. So are we good on that?"

"Yes sir!" Everyone hollered out.

"Okay then! Next round's on me!" I called out.

Before they could really break into a wild applause, the bartender slammed a mug on the counter. "You don't get to pay for shit tonight! It's on the house!"

The entire bar turned into a frenzy, everyone I walked by gave me a pat on whatever part of my body they could reach. When I got back to the counter, Humbreeze nudged me on my side. "Hey, I'm gonna have my report on Crackdown's desk tomorrow at first light. You got my back, I got yours."

Another voice called out. "I'll send in my witness report at dawn."

"I'll have mine in before breakfast." Yet another announced.

"She really thought she could do all of that and get away with it."

I shook my head and mumbled over to the bartender. "Hey man, sorry for the disturbance."

"I only saw a correction, sir. Ain't no asshole gonna disrespect my product like that and smile about it." He then slid me a mug, frothing at the top and drooling down the sides. "Now go and get your buzz back."

I gave the bartender a thumbs up before I pulled out my phone. I initially looked at the rather enticing beverage, thinking to take a picture of it. But instead, I realized that it would be better if I had notified Celestia of what had happened. I quickly pulled up my Instagram app and messaged her.

Well here's something I'd thought I'd never get around to doing. Bombs away.