Walking down the street, I intently listened for anything interesting enough. To say the least, it was kinda boring. Of course, I was wearing a pony's appearance. I have still yet to discard the foreign feeling of being stuck in a body that is not of mine.

   Anyways, I've only managed to catch irrelevant conversations and vague murmurs of this "expedition team" recently having arrived here. That's not all that I've heard, though. Here are some of the things I've learned through intense amounts of eavesdropping:

   Princess Cadance is apparently the one managing this place, and she is supposedly called as the "Princess of Love." Quite a peculiar title, isn't it?

   Heh, I'll never get tired of this place...

   The cold night breeze blew past through me, grazing my skin- er, coat. Seriously? Being a pony is extremely uncomfortable. I swear, I'll never get over the feeling of having fur everywhere. Well, I suppose I'll have to simply cope with it.

   Just a few feet away from me was a rather modest looking bench... made out of crystals. What a surprise. I only say that it was modest in appearance due to the fact that it looked as if it was literally carved out of a bigger crystal fragment, and it being made out of crystals does not make it special, considering that this entire place is almost comprised entirely of crystals.

    I looked upwards towards the night sky blotted with alluringly ominous clouds. The moon illuminated this particularly empty, lonely street, along with a couple of street lights. The orange glow emanated by the previously mentioned street lights bathed everything in its orange, warm glow.

   Finishing a rather tastier than usual apple that I definitely didn't stole from somewhere, I threw the remnants of the fruit away, deliberately discarding it on the street. Hey, I am not one for pollution, but you have to understand, I have to cause chaos, even if its seemingly pettily small.

   Although, I only managed to hear small bits of this, but, there was this shadowy guy, and he was the former dictator of this place, well, that was, until a dragon arrived and blew him up, or something... I dunno. I might want to research on this further.

   Also, guess what? There are more civilizations who are being controlled by even more ponies. Isn't that such a pleasant revelation?

   Oh, and lastly, I've heard that they're setting up a coffee shop just across this place thanks to the recent discovery of such thing. It's this town's first one ever. Interesting, isn't it?

   Actually, I can see it right now; a closed off building with a sign suspended on its glass-paneled door displaying the word 'Closed' in bold red letters. Oh. It's opening the next day, actually.

   You know, I never liked coffee... But hey, I've heard they're selling things other drinks other than that. Perhaps I should go there sometimes--

   Oops. Sorry. I'm getting sidetracked here.

   Back to the expedition team that has arrived here...

   Apparently, one of the aspects of the indigenous crystals is that they are extremely durable and malleable, making it a very coveted building material. In pursuit of obtaining these crystals, this expedition team traveled all the way here, and with them, lots and lots of equipment designed for mining.

   Wait, hold on for a minute. These guys would have need to gain permission from Princess Cadance herself before they could begin their mining operations. If I could just disguise as her and deny them of it-

   Then I'll proceed to spread rumors around about her wanting this place to say secluded and isolated. That should be more than enough to spark some mutiny, and perhaps bring some ruin to her image.

   Ack. I've forgotten--they're already setting up, that means that they already obtained it. What a pity. Eh, it doesn't matter, anyways. It wouldn't have too anarchic...

   And that would've meant that I would have to extract information on where the meeting would be held. I need to think of another plan. Something more chaotic....

   You know, it would be quite chaotic if their equipment caught on fire...

   Yup, You guessed it.  That is exactly what I'm planning to do--sabotaging them. Yes, screw resource exchange. I'm such a bastard, ain't I? Though, I don't even know where they're going to start their mining operations, I don't even know if their equipment can catch on fire. That's quite problematic...

   Eh, I'll find out about it some time later.

   Hm, wouldn't it be even better if I somehow managed to blame the damage on Princess Cadance? That would be like hitting two birds with one stone, but how would I do it?

   Hm...

   I got it.

   So, if this coffee shop is opening tomorrow, that means that it will become the only source of coffee in this place. Whenever there's coffee... there are aspiring, and hard-working employees. So, if I just happen to "encounter" one of the mining, and talk to him about his line of work, I might be able to discover some vital info.

   Oh, and let's say if anything was to happen to him, I might be generous enough to take his role.

   I chuckled a bit too grimly, "Oh this just might work..."

   Unfortunately, I have nowhere to sleep. I looked around, seeing nothing but buildings with locked doors. I sighed, hinting a bit of disappointment "I suppose this bench will suffice."

   I woke up early. Very early, in fact.

   I waited for hours upon hours for the coffee shop to open. The acquisition of the clerk's body must be attained as soon as possible. I will have a much greater chance of communicating with my target if manage to steal an employee's appearance.

   Hm. I might also be able to allow myself the leisure of luxuriating in drinking free coffee, but I shall refrain from doing so.

   As the rather large crowd gradually blockaded the entire not exactly spacious street, the one, who I presume is the founder of this establishment, opened the entrance to the shop, allowing the multitude of ponies entry.

   "It's about time," I said with a suppressed groan of irritation. I got up from the bench, my backside still recuperating from being ravaged by a terrible aching pain that originated from sleeping on said bench.

   I trotted, managing to avoid the myriad of ponies swarming into the cafe, albeit through a mishap of numerous awkward shuffling. "Argh. The hell? What's up with all these ponies?" I nearly tripped over as someone just happened to shove me by accident. "I suppose that either these ponies are curious on what coffee is, or it's just that this place is well-advertised."

   Finally entering the rather cramped cafe, I marveled at the interior of this building. It was quite spacious for a cafe, curiously enough. The lighting consisted entirely of modern-day lights; the ones that weren't too harsh, nor too dim. It was surprisingly cold in here, just below room temperature. There was no air-conditioner present, nor sounding, though.

   The tables were all carved out of a sky-blue crystal. Elegant and masterfully precise engravings were present on them. Quite the regal sight.

   Of course, there was a velvety, red carpet that was lengthy enough to stretch out from the entrance, all the way to the counter. There were some stairs leading up to a second floor, apparently.

   Although my visual perception was coordinated intently on the employee taking orders. "Great, now I have one more in my arsenal of masquerading."

   My eyes shifted from left to right, trying to see if I could discern one of the many ponies here as one of the expeditionary miners. None. They were all generic, non-descript, other than color, mane, mane size, that image on their butt, similar-looking bystanders.

   I sighed as I approached the stairs, "One of them will come eventually," I let out a semi-disgruntled sigh as I approached the stairs.

   Why was I so confident that one of them will come here? Well... this place sells coffee. What kind of person who presumably works a lot doesn't drink coffee? Well, I know a few, but I am certain that at least a few of them will come here.

   I waited longer than I anticipated, much to my growing boredom. Sipping on a cup of coffee that I managed to stealthily steal, I observed from a balcony-like platform overseeing the floor below. Suddenly, I saw something that made me squeak in triumph, "Finally!"

   Poking out from the crowd of indistinguishable ponies made of shiny rock, was a uniformed pony. What primarily made him stand out was the absence of crystals on him. He appeared completely out place.

   I took note on his appearance. He had a blackish brown coat, a cherry-red mane, and a pair of golden eyes. Oh, and he appears to be sporting a pair of glasses. Short-sighted, perhaps? Oh, and his butt-mark was a letter with a few gold coins placed beside it.

   Discarding the coffee cup, I moved towards a rather intricately wired, but very subtle switch. It was a tool of my making, really. I simply wired all the mechanical equipment, rigging all of them to either fall, or collapse apart, when I flip this switch. This should hopefully cause a panic.

   Yes, this was improvised, seeing that this guy would probably avoid from conversing with strangers, I thought that if I could lead him to safety, I'll get a better chance at talking to him. Besides, this is much more fun this way.

   Approaching the switch, "Hm. I wonder what their reaction will be-" I staggered as a random pony unknowingly collided with me from the side. I impacted an inconveniently placed pillar.

   I winced in pain as I grasped my forehead in agony, "Hey- why don't you-" Wait. Hand? I looked around in bewilderment. My human limbs and body were apparent, my mask laying on the floor. It appears that my disguise was cancelled by the bludgeoning.

   Several ponies' gazes were fixated on me. I could see their shocked, horrified faces.

   Seeing that I've been compromised, I snatched my mask from the floor, placing it on my head, and flipped the switch. Just before all the lights were forcibly shut down, I spoke in a rather cold tone,  "Lights out."

   The glass fell from their respective sockets subsequently as I flipped the switch, falling to the floor, shattering upon collision. I could hear mortified screams as sudden darkness conquered their vision. Accompanying the blackout were several other shattering sounds coming from the other rooms.

   Sparks and flickering flames illuminated every single room, screams and panicked running following it. Soon enough, flames started to ignite, overflowing the room with smoke. Much to my dismay, there was no fire-prevention water system installed, and there was a lack of a fire-exit.

   I guess I should have inspected the place a bit more, eh? Ugh...

   "Crap! Crap! This was a dumb idea!" I said in frenzy as I placed the mask on my face once more, "Well, at least I managed to find out about his appearance," with his appearance in my mind, I allowed the transformation take place.

   Much to my distaste, I find myself being in the body of a pony, though, those few seconds of walking- er, running on human legs was a relief.

   I quickly assessed my options. I couldn't go downstairs because the inferno is located primarily there. I looked around, nothing but fallen over debris immolated in flame was behind me, and I'm pretty much all alone now, seeing that the crowd of ponies flooded downstairs to escape via the main entrance.

   Unfortunately, the door was blockaded by some fallen debris. It seems that I've overestimated the integrity of the structure of this place...

   There's no time to dawdle, I've gotta find a way out. However, the only thing visible was the billowing smoke, and the orange, licking fires.  A small flame danced before me, illuminating the window.

   As if beckoning to be opened, I approached it. I peered through the glass. A crowd of extremely worried, distraught ponies was forming around the building. I looked downwards, cursing at the height from here to the ground, 'It's a rather long way down, but I think I can survive it...'

   The feeling of nausea cascaded over me, I thought with dread to myself, 'Then again, I am afraid of heights...' Suddenly, an unknown blast suddenly resounded from somewhere in this building.

   "Okay, never mind." Opening the window a bit too frantically, and with a lot of difficulty due to these damned hooves, I spoke to myself, "Wow. It was this easy? All I had to do to escape was open this window..."

   "I guess I frightened them a bit too much with my human form." Gulping in nervousness, I prepared to jump out of the window. "Calm down. The fall won't kill me... probably," I said to myself in an attempt to appease the hesitation within me.

   I hesitated, and hesitated. 'It seems that I won't be jumping out-' Suddenly another explosion came from the lower floor, causing me to act out of reflex and fright and jump out.

   And in seconds, I was in midair. Everything seemed to slow down as adrenaline surged through me. I could see the stunned gazes of the ponies below me. Relief washed over me, seeing that I've escaped a very painful death.

   Suddenly, the relief faded as I saw that I was inching closer to the ground. I almost screamed, but I was cut off as I landed without even feeling the slightest of pain.

   "Huh?" I spoke to myself in confusion. "Oh yeah, strong legs and what-not..." I spoke to myself in disbelief.

   "Hey!" I heard someone call out to me. "Are you alright?" a pony wearing a similar uniform to mine asked me, genuinely concerned.

   I shrugged. "Never better."

   "Let's go to the boss, I'm sure he'll give you a day-off for what you had to go through."

   I replied, "I guess... But what about the ponies trapped inside the cafe?"

   "There's nothing we can do, really." He said in disappointment, "Let's just hope that help arrives quickly." He gestures me to follow him as he started trotting, "Now come on."

   Slowly, I followed him. "Plan was a success, I think..." I muttered.