Author's Notes:

Arcticbrony: I cant apologice enough for this huge of a delay. Life has kept me busy, lost my place, had to move, lost my job, and the next one, it was only a few weeks since i finalyl got back on my feet properly and got a new place to live. So, to make it up to you, I give you two chapters immediatly.

Big thanks to Moldyshishkabob, Marcibel and Zeus for prereading and proofreading this, even after such a long pause. And with that enjoy the chapters^^

Moldy: "It's been a little while since we've had anything this dark, wouldn't you say? Hope you enjoyed this descent as much as I have and enjoy the rest as it's written!"

He woke with a start as the alarm went off. Half past seven, as always. He got out of bed with a groan, more out of habit than anything else, for he was truly looking forward to the day he had ahead of him.

The recent weeks living in Locksville had been quite outside the norm for him, but in a good way. After making his bed he trotted to the bathroom, and, after taking care of the morning necessities, trotted back out to the living room. It was a large room, taking up most of the space of his house since it was combined with the kitchen where he now started to make his morning coffee. He took a minute to admire his home while the coffee was brewing. His home was not luxurious, nor big, it was a medium cottage on the outskirts of the town, just big enough for two ponies, so he had more than enough room to himself.

It was furnished rather simply, a small sofa, and a couple of chairs stood around a table in front of the fireplace. It was where he usually spent his evenings, reading while enjoying the smell of burnt wood from the fire. His kitchen was not much to speak of either He had no kitchen table, so dinner was often just eaten outside by the table in the living room. He had a counter that was built into the wall so it looked like an extension of the house rather than an addition. It had numerous cabinets and drawers but no real stove to speak of. He had ordered one but the delivery had been delayed. So, he just made do with a small gas burner he had purchased at the local general store.

The kettle snapped him back to attention with a shrill whistle, signalling to him that the water was boiled and ready.

He grabbed the kettle in his magic and poured the steaming water into a nearby cup. Depositing a spoon of finely grounded coffee beans into the water, mixing it a little with a spoon and suddenly it was ready.

He trotted over to the sofa with his coffee floating besides him, he stopped by a window and glanced outside, squinting because of the bright morning light. He could see the morning ponies milling about on the street outside, a pink mare named Merry Goals was setting up her stand where she sold homemade ceramics. She had a lot of skill and her wares had a certain, rustic charm to them that a lot of ponies loved. His coffee cup was one of her works. She would greet him every morning when he walked past to his own job and she had given him the cup as a welcoming gift when he first moved to the village.

His first instincts had been to decline her gift, to keep to himself and take upon the role of a loner. He would be left alone to do whatever he wanted. But, protocol forced him to make nice with the locals, integration was key to a good cover story.

So, he had accepted her gift, and returned her greeting every morning when he passed her and her shining personality. Her smile that was always a little bigger than anypony else, truly, it was a little annoying just how happy she was all the time, or it had been. Over time, he had grown to tolerate her presence, and from there to actually enjoy it.

Still, it would be a little while until he would pass her, and he moved away from the window and back to the sofa. His breakfast was not much, just a steaming cup of coffee. He knew that he should eat more, and his coworkers always told him so.

But habits were hard to break, he had never been one for eating breakfast. His previous employment required him to stay up late, and wake up at irregular times at best. His internal clock has been nonexistent, and his appetite had suffered because of it.

“I tell ye Spirit, ye hafta get more grub in ya to do work like us, need the energy, eh?”

Spirit, that was him, the one that everyone at the village knew him as. For the safety of things it would be his permanent identity moving forward. Shady would be no more, Shady died the moment he set hoof in that village. There was only Spirit Misthoof from that point on.

His coat was changed, no longer the deep dark color he had been born with, but instead a misty grey to fit his new name. Changed with a deep illusion spell, that if powered and maintained correctly over a few months would become permanent. It went much deeper than any non magical products ever could, change the color at its base and would make it so that his body would no longer produce hairs of the old color. When complete, there would be no trace of magic, impervious to any and all dispelling attempts. The perfect disguise.

He had left his mane color alone, just changed the cut of it to a shorter one. But his cutiemark on the other hoof, that was trickier. True, he could place a short term illusion over it every day, but the innate magic of the mark made any permanent changes, impossible. So, it was what it had always been. A black hoof with mist around it.

“Good morning, Spirit!” And there it was.

“Hey there, Merry.” He greeted her as he moved past her and her stand. If he stopped to chat, she would never stop.

She giggled and tossed her mane out of her face. “Still the morning grump. You are coming to the gathering tonight though, right?” She asked.

In truth he had completely forgotten about it. They were gathering for a quiz night at the local pub. Some alcohol to raise the mood for those that needed it, and some friendly challenging. He could imagine better things he could spend his time on, but…

“Of course, wouldn't miss it.”

“Great, I'll see you there.” And she waved him off as he continued off to work. The quiz would be a nice opportunity to get to know some of the villagers he did not see that often, to further secure his position within the town. That, and dominating the others by acing the quiz did sound a little fun to him. None of the ponies in such a little town had the level of education of knowledge that a unicorn of his stature possessed.

His arrival at the workplace was uneventful.

“Oy, yer a bit late, scrawny!” Well, uneventful for that place at the very least. The comment came from the pony who, the first time they had met, had appointed himself as his new best friend. And with it came a tidal wave of hazing and shittalk.

“Not my fault, Hardhat, Merry held me up again. And you know how pouty she gets if you ignore her.” In truth, he was not late at all. If anything, he was early, his shift did not start for another ten minutes. It was just that the ass of a pony who greeted him liked to show up early, and expected him to do the same thing so he would have somepony to chat with.

“Ooh, been putting the ol’ charm on ‘er, have ya?” Hardhat wiggled his eyebrows at him.

“As I have told you time and time again, Hardhat, i'm not interested in her.” He dismissed his so-called friend and trotted past him into the construction site where he worked.

“Oy, ooy, what's the matter with ya?” Hardhat however, would not leave him alone and quickly caught up to him, trotting at the same pace. “Such a fine piece of flank, ye ain’t playing for the other team are ya? Riding the snake? Going bowbow, in the backd-”

“No, I can assure you that I quite like mares, thank you very much.” Spirit interrupted his partner, before the profanities escalated.

“Then when what is wrong with ya?” The annoyance shouted in disbelief. “Such a fine piece of flank, she is the beut of this lil’ town of ours. Erry stallion, is lusting after her.”

“Even you?”

“Especially me! The other mares in this town are witches and hags in comparison to er, and she is practically throwing herself at ye. N` what do ye do? Spit in the faces of all us other stallions combined, is what yer doing. If ye weren't me mate, I would have decked ye, long ago.” Spirit stopped next to a pile of steel beams and drew a deep breath, he needed it to deal with the amount of stupidity his “friend” was putting out.

“Did it ever occur to you, that I was not interested in a relationship? That she is not my type? “ He could not stop frustration from seeping into his voice, raising the volume as he ranted on. “That I have other things to focus on, instead of letting my every decision be decided by my fifth leg?” He was inches from Hardhat’s face as he finished his little outburst.

“Course not, yer just being silly.”

“Of course, what was I thinking.”

He did not care to listen to any more of Hardhat’s bullshit, so, instead of waiting for the rest of the workers to arrive, Spirit walked over to his worktable. It was filled with all kinds of different papers, plans and blueprints of what they were supposed to do, along with plenty of measuring tools. His horn lit up, and slowly but surely, a small, blue, scale replica of the finished building they were working on came into view.

“Phooie, never get tired of seeing that,” he hard Hardhard comment. “Helps out some of the boys too, seeing it in the final version instead of just these papers here.” The small magical scale shifted, and the outer layer of the house was peeled away.

“We are starting on the left side today, how's the progress coming along?” He asked his so-called friend. Hardhat was many things, a pain in the flank, a blabbermouth, but for all his faults, he was a hell of a worker, and was in charge of their little team.

“Well, we finished up the foundation so we gonna start working on them walls when the boys show up.” The magical replica shifted to the west side, showing the bare side, with only the foundation, the corner posts and stills. The things that were carrying the building. Slowly, yet again, it changed, layer upon layer appeared, the innermost layer of planks, isolation, pathways for the electrical and magical wires, before it ended with the outer wall. “Yeah, that seems about right, we won't get that far, just today, and some of the other boys gotta start other places, ain't enuff place for us all to work on one wall, but by the end of the week, it will be a beauty.” Hardhat slapped him on the back, making the magical constrict fizzle and drop. “You just scan regularly to check for faults and irregularities as usual, and help out where it's needed of course.”

Yes, that was his job. He had convinced the villagers, that his special talent had been for illusions, hence his use of the magical construct to compare the finished product to the blueprints, finding any irregularities, or faults. Technically it had not been a lie, Illusions were part of his talent, including persuasion along with controlling and using other ponies. But he kept that little part to himself.

His magical strength was also enough for him to be plenty useful in lifting materials and the like, so, when he discovered that the old planner and safety chief was having some marital problems… well, it did not take much for him to twist and corrupt the situation to his advantage. So, when that pony quit and moved town, it did not take much for “Spirit” to come in and take over. Yes, things were pretty much perfect….

They were getting closer

He had been running, but no matter how far he ran, they gained on him. But he was no coward, ShadySpirit never ran from an inferior opponent. So, he stopped in his tracks spun around and fired a magical bolt into the darkness.

His opponent was slippery, he would give him that. But while SpiritShady was no battlemage, he was no slouch when it came to magic either. He heard footsteps around him, and spun around once more and fired at their direction, hitting air once again.

“Show yourself!” He screamed, his horn crackling with power and frustration.

“You can never escape,” another voice whispered from the overwhelming darkness, it too was closing in.

“Fight me like a stallion!” He shouted once more, and fired multiple beams of magic, nothing hit their mark.

“Coward.” The same every voice whispered.

“I don't need this,” he powered up his horn to teleport away, but nothing happened, his spell just fizzled out.

“I have found you, Shady!” The voice was louder, and SpiritShady started to panic, he wanted to run again, but his legs wouldn't move. He could hear the footsteps closing in behind him. “I will break you, Shady.” It was right behind him, whispering in his ear. A long clawed appendage, crept out of his peripheral vision, grasping at his face. “Everyone will know, what you-”

His body shot up into a sitting position and his hoof went to his chest. He had awoken in a cold sweat, and he was practically hyperventilating. He was no newcomer to nightmares, they came with his past… but never had he had anything that intense. And… his horn felt, funny. He reached up and felt it with his hoof. It was warm to the touch, he had fired magic in his sleep?

And why was it so dark? He has just laid down for a quick nap, a quick fire spell lit the nearby candles he had in his living room. Yep, the broken cabinet door in his kitchen definitely proved that he had indeed had a accidental magic misfire.

“Not since I was a baby…” he groaned while getting up from the couch where he had napped. How his body aked, it had not been smart to sleep on that couch. Another glance over at the ruined cabinet made him sigh, he would need to get that replaced.

Forcing himself to get up, he trotted over to the window and looked out, it was pitch black. He could have sworn that he set his alarm clock to wake him up after just an hour or two, but when he turned back around, there was no alarm clock to be seen.

That also meant that he missed the quiz night, Merry would not be happy about that. He let out a small sigh and shook his head. Well, she would forgive him, she always did.

“Guess I won’t be sleeping tonight,” he said to himself, a habit he had picked up over the years of working alone. “Might as well get some work done…

“Well, somepony looks like shit.”

“Urgh, not today, Hardhat, i'm not in the mood.” He had practically dragged himself to work, and he could not wait for it to be finished.

“Careful with that bite, fella,” his annoying friend laughed. “Ye werent at the quiz last night either, something happen?”

“Just a nap that went a little longer than intended.” He had also taken a sidepath to work, avoiding Merry, he just could not deal with her that early when he felt that shitty.

“Well, ya better make it up to pretty Merry, or the rest of the boys will make ya regret it.” He threw out that casual threat with a laugh that made Spirit pause, was that a joke or not?

Well, he would deal with it later in either case. “Let’s just get to work.”

The day had been long enough, and he just wanted to get back home and fall into his bed, or couch, whichever came first. But fate would not be so kind to him, not just yet, as he was cornered by Merry on his way through town.

“Good afternoon, Spirit!” Her tone was a little less chipper than usual, maybe she had a long day as well. “We missed you last night, did something happen?” Concern overflowing in her tone, she was practically oozing it.

“Just a small slipup, nothing serious, I’m sorry I missed it.” In a strange way, he actually was. Dominating the other ponies with his extensive knowledge seemed like it would be amusing.

“Well, you did promise to show,” Merry made a small pout, something he was sure she used its cuteness to manipulate other stallions. “Luckily for you, I know how you can make it up to me!”

“Wait wha-

“I’m free tomorrow night, so you can come over to my place for some homemade dinner.” He pushed a little, she hadn't phrased that as a question, but rather a statement.

“How do you know that I don't have plans then?” He asked, but it only made her laugh.

“Oh silly, Spirit, you never have anything to do on your evenings, you spend almost all of your time alone in your house.” Well, she had him there, still, it annoyed him to hear her state it like that. “So, let me treat you, it will be my pleasure.”

He did owe her for missing the quiz night, and perhaps she would tone down her clinginess a little if he indulged her.

“You know that, that sounds nice.”

It took a little bit of effort for him to not take a nap, as he had not slept at all that last night, and he had bought a new alarm clock as the old one had seemingly disappeared. The next day passed rather quickly, and soon enough he found himself getting ready for the “date”.

He was freshly showered and groomed, he took pride in his look and looking his best was part in gaining the utmost respect from the other ponies.

He just sat by the window and sipped on a cup of coffee while he waited for his mane to dry. The broken cabinet door mocking him with its presence, reminding him of what he had yet to fix.

He would contact the local carpenter first thing in the morning, as for Merry… he was unsure how he would handle that business. If what Hardhat said was true, then she had a crush on him, and depending on how this date went, there was the possibility that she would be hoping for more. A relationship did have its advantages, it would let him further integrate himself into the town. He would no longer just be the newcomer, but instead the coltfriend of someone everypony knew.

But it also came with its setbacks, maintaining a relationship took work, lots of work, and if he did something wrong, he could harm his reputation, possibly even alienating himself from the other ponies in the village. That would mean he would have to relocate again, and he was not sure if he had the funds for that.

His magic fizzled out and he almost dropped his cup before catching it in his magic field once again. What was up with his magic? First the misfire while he was asleep, now his magic was failing him altogether? Was he coming down with something maybe? Now that he started to think about it, he was getting a little woozy, a spell of dizziness came over him and his eyes drooped. A visit to the local doctor did not sound all that b…..

His head was killing him, it felt like something was drilling on his skull from the inside, and he clutched his head with his hooves. What was wrong with him, the left side of his head felt like it was bleeding, his fur was matted with something wet and sticky.

“H-hello?” He called out in a weak voice, but as expected, no one answered. He definitely needed to see the doctor, but his head hurt way too much for him to even consider moving.

A crash and the sound of glass breaking made him open his eyes, and he immediately regretted it.

His vision was a blur, his room, if he even was in his room anymore, it was hard to tell. Everything was just a sea of swimming colors intermingling. It was faint, but he heard footsteps, light footsteps, not those from a hoof, somewhere in his house.

Intruder!

His old, finely honed reflexes tried to kick into action, he needed to get on his hooves. That, however, proved to be a futile effort, as he fell right back down onto his other side. The feeling of vertigo proved too strong for him to overpower.

The footsteps were coming closer, his breath caught in his throat, his heart was speeding up. He was Spirit Misthoof, previously, Shady, one of the most successful officers in The Weavers. He had been through countless missions, solved all problems that had been thrown in front of him. He did not panic!

But as his body started to shake, he knew he was wrong.

The footsteps were almost upon him, and despite his already crushing headache, he powered up his horn. Out of desperation, he kept pushing more and more magic into his spell, before he let it all loose. A blinding bright light and a deafening boom went off right in front of him.

He barely had a second before the feedback from the spell caused his head to rise to unimaginable levels, but, in that second, he was sure that he saw the outline of a tall figure. Then, everything became dark…

He awoke as he felt a few rays of sunshine strike his form, sending waves of warmth into his core. He was not dead. He felt like he should celebrate that, but all he managed was a weak groan.

When he opened his eyes, the world was back in focus, and he could see his living room, and was surprised to see that everything looked more of less like usual. His hoof went up to his head, as he remembered the pain and wetness, thinking he had been bleeding. But his hoof came back completely dry, in fact, it smelled faintly of soap, a hint of something sour that he could not quite put words to.

Getting up proved to be a small ordeal as well, his legs were weak, and a small headache throbbed as he steadied himself. After a minute or two, he stumbled towards and into the bathroom. The face that stared back to him from the mirror was the pony he had learnt to be the past few weeks. He inspected his head in the mirror, there was no wound, had he imagined that whole ordeal?

He stood like that, pondering the fragments he could remember, that was, until a sinking feeling caught up with him. Work. He had not checked the clock yet, but there was a good possibility that he was late to work because of that strange...dream?

“It did not feel like a dream though,” he pressed his hoof to the side of his head, and it did hurt a little, a small stinging pain.

He tried to draw on his experience, his previous job had him go through more than his fair share of questionable activities. But he had always been of the careful sort, using others when he could, the less risk to himself the better. So, he came up empty.

He needed time to think about it more, to analyze everything, and try to fill the gaps in his memory. But before that he had to head to work.

“I'll go there and explain that I need a sick day or two, shouldn't be a problem.” He had been a model worker up until that point, and he really did feel terrible. Yeah, seemed like a plan.

“There is mister big shot, what, last night turn out so good that ya couldn't make it here till midday?” There has been plenty of things Spirit had been prepared to hear when he arrived at work, but not that. He took a little too long to get his thoughts into order, because Hardhat just kept talking. “Don't hold out any details on us, how did it go with you and Merry?”

Right, Merry had invited him over. He had completely forgotten about that, that was not like him at all.

“I’m afraid I missed that,” the words had barely left his lips before Hardhat seemingly teleported up to hm, their faces mere inches from each other.

“Why?” Spirit froze for a spell from the surprise and tone his friend has suddenly taken.

“I… well, you see i was feeling really under the weather last night, still am actually.” He took a step back from Hardhat who had done the same. “Last night is just one big blur to me, I'm not too sure what happened, but I felt like garbage when I woke up.” His friend held a hoof to his chin and kept nodding as he spoke.

“I guess that makes sense, and now that you mention it, you do look a little worse for wear.” Hardhat keps scrutinizing him for a few more seconds before sighing. “Can't be helped I guess, hey, you didn't happen to see Merry on your way here did ya?” Now that he mentioned it, Merry has been missing from her usual spot at the market, strange, but he had not seen her, so he shook his head. “Hope she is doing alright.”

“Well, if you do see her, give her my apologies. I need to head back home before I pass out again though.” It was not too far from the truth, he was really dizzy.

“Yeah, yeah, you just take it easy and get well again. Though, before you go, you need to look over a small thing.” Before he could protest he was getting pushed over to his working station.

“What did you do now.” He groaned, it was all the enthusiasm he could muster.

“Well, it's more something we did a while ago. Lookie here,” he pointed down at the plans for their current project. “Some of the other boys think that everything is in order, but I’m sure that we made a mistake, look at these beams here.”

Why did he have to deal with that now, he thought. He focused on the blueprints, glancing over it, taking in the numbers.

“This is correct, this is how it's supposed to be done,” he said, tapping the paper with his hoof.

“Are ya sure?” His friend asked, looking at the blueprint and back to Spirit. “We have been following it the entire time, but if that's correct then we made a mistake. Quite a big one at that, it's not like the boys at all. You sure you don't want ta take a look yourself?” He gestured to the unfinished house.

“If we made a mistake then just fix it… urgh, please?” He winced as another spike of pain shot through his head. He would definitely take a detour by the doctor's office on his way home. “I went over these plans myself multiple times.”

“Well, you know what your talking bout I suppose.” Hardhat put his hood between his lips and gave a sharp whizzle. “Alright boys, group two and three, we have some fixing to do,” a chorus of groans echoed throughout the construction site, “I know, I know, ah don't like it either. But the faster we fix it the faster we can keep going, now, we have some support pillars to move, so I want…

Hardhat kept shouting commands but Spirit was not paying attention anymore, he was heading back home to get to the bottom of last nights mystery, and pick up some painkillers on the way.

The doctor had been more than accommodating, and Spirit rejoiced in the slight buzz that came with the painkillers. Perhaps a tad bit stronger than he needed, but he felt like he was allowed that little luxury. Manipulating the doctor had been foal’s play.

Sadly, there was no time to relax though, he still remembered bits and pieces from the `nightmare` he lived through. There was no footprints, that would have been too easy, but if somepony made their way into his house… how did they get in? He always locked his doors and windows, a healthy habit that came from the slight paranoia he had gained in his previous line of work.

He checked all the windows, and they were still locked, no one broken either. He came to the backdoor, it looked fine, was still locked even. He went to unlock it and… noticed a slight slark in the locking mechanism, it moved ever so slightly and made a faint metallic noise. It was not much, something one might even expect if the one who installed the lock was being a little lazy. But it had been perfect, he had made sure of that.

Had someone broken into his house? For what reason? Nopony knew of his real identity, he had been extra careful with not leaving any trails. Had he been assaulted? Apart from the pain in his head there was no signs of that, and why would they just leave him alone perfectly fine if that was the case. Nothing had been stolen either… could it be that he was a little too paranoid about all of this? That it had just been a dream, he had fallen out of the sofa during his nap, hit his head on the floor, the figure may just have been a figment of his imagination of that was the case.

Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, and so he started looking for tracks around the back entrance to his house. Footprints, broken twigs, anything out of the ordinary.

A sharp knocking forced him to stop, someone was visiting him?

He made his way to the door and spotted Merry standing out front, making him suppress a groan. He still had to deal with that.

“Hello, Merry,” he greeted her with a pained smile, he really wanted to be left alone.

“Good afternoon, Spirit. I was worried when you did not show up last night.” She did smile, but her usual giddiness was not there. “I sat there for so long, waiting for you. Maybe you were just late, I thought at first, then… then,” she started blinking rapidly, “why did you stand me up?”

The blinking continued, but she swallowed and he knew that she was forcing back the majority of her feelings, gathering herself in a stressful situation. That date had really meant a lot to her he realized.

“I thought the event at the quiz night had just been a coincidence. B-but after this, and you did not even show up this morning to my booth like you usually do. I…

Spirit stopped her, this was becoming uncomfortable, and he had other things to deal with apart from a distraught Merry. “Hey, hey, I'm sorry about what happened, I have not been feeling quite well recently. I didn't mean to stand you up, I really didn't.” His words started to calm her down, and she listened to him. “I started to get ready for the dinner at your home, I was really looking forward to it even. Then I passed out.”

“Oh my, are you feeling alright?” The previous feelings were gone in an instant, concern taking their place in full. “You really should not be up and about if that's the case.”

“Yes, yes I know. I already visited the doctor, and I’m supposed to take it easy for a few days.” Not his words, but he would be busy for the next few anyway. “I'm really sorry, Merry, I’ll make it up to you for sure.” He moved a few steps closer, and lifted her chin with his hoof. It was a little much, but it seemed to be working, if her blush was anything to go by.

“Ehehe, that sounds lovely. B-but don't think about that now, you get your flank back inside and rest properly!” She practically pushed him back inside.

“Alright, alright, take it easy.” Spirit laughed, as much as he pretended and played, she really was growing on him. “I'll let you know once I’m back to good health.”

“Be sure that you do!” She has started to turn to leave, but stopped half way, “do you want me to bring you your newspaper? I saw it stick out of your mailbox.”

“Don't bother, I doubt I'll do much reading over the next few days anyway.” He waved his hoof, dismissing the offer.

“Okay… get better soon.” And with that, Merry was prancing away from his house, and he could get back to his business. After a short rest perhaps, he really was feeling out of it.

On her way out, Merry took one last look at the newspaper, glancing at the front page headline.

“*Smuggler organization `The Weavers` taken down.*”

“At least all those bad ponies are caught now, wonder how big it was.” She pondered to herself, as she took the newspaper with her, reading as she went.