“And you're certain of this?” Said a distorted voice.

“Yes ma'am,” The messenger was quick to reply, “We have confirmed sightings of Lord Noblesse Oblige in Ponyville, he is most certainly no longer in Canterlot.”

“How is that possible?!” The distorted voice was equal parts upset and confused, “We had eyes on him at all times, what did my spies have to say for themselves?”

“They were never able to get eyes directly inside of the House Platinum Housing-Tower, he managed to get past our checkpoints without detection by unknown means,” The messenger was as upset as his mistress, he and the other servants had been keeping an eye on the young noblepony for a long time.

The colt had proven to be unexpectedly cunning in avoiding anypony sent to keep track of him. Not even Celestia had picked up on the carefully arranged accidents of late, thinking them to be mundane in cause. But Noblesse Oblige had shown incredible paranoia even before they had tried to put an end his life.

The messenger had more vital information to give to his employer, “He has taken residence in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters and instead of servants from his family's on-hoof staff, he imported servants and guards alike from the Under-Cities. By the time we realized he had escaped to Ponyville, there was no room to sneak in double agents.”

“Damn, he must be taking advantage of the security wards the Princesses etched into the leylines,” The distorted voice paused, pondering what orders to give, “Keep an eye on him and his new estate, try to find any vulnerabilities in his schedule or security measures and report to me. Ensure that my agents know not to take advantage of any such vulnerabilities without my say so.

“As you command Milady,” The magic in his amulet dispelled itself as his mistress cut her magic from her end.

'Calling Stones' were common magical artifacts that could be used by Ponies to talk to each other from great distances. They could be used as accents in clothing, disguised as gems decorating ornate mirrors, or even be used in jewelry. They were also untraceable, which made them invaluable assets when dealing with delicate issues that required urgent attention.

The inner magic in Calling Stones could also be attuned to distort the voice of the Pony on either side of the call, so anyone listening in wouldn't know who was on the other side.

The messenger recalibrated the magic in his Calling Stone to give the spies in Ponyville their mistress's orders. That monster will die at our hooves, thought the messenger darkly, We shall save Equestria and her peoples from that abomination.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle left the Everfree Palace with Noblesse Oblige in tow. Unknown to them Applejack was following them as well, though she knew to keep her distance.

The group of foals were walking to Sugarcube Corner when they heard urgent shouting, “Hey! Look out!” The voice was familiar to three of the foals as they were going to Sugarcube Corner to meet Dinky Doo.

The four foals turned to see what the new Crusader was shouting about, but their focus was taken by a wagon speeding towards them.

Applejack poked her head around the corner she was hiding behind to see what the shouting was about herself. Applejack cursed the distance she had used to follow her sister as she rushed to save her. Applejack knew that couldn't make it, but she still tried.

As the three founders of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were paralyzed in fear, Noblesse Oblige assumed a pensive look on his face.

How best to deal with this? thought the noblepony. I'm not good enough with telekinesis to catch the wagon, and I would rather not save myself at their expense. Noblesse looked to his terrified companions.

It might be moving to fast for me to catch it, but that doesn't mean I can't use telekinesis to stop it. A smile came his face when he realized there was a way he could not only save himself, but the three fillies he had become found of.

An inky black aura encased his horn. Not to soon either, the speeding wagon was mere feet away from his group at this point. But before the wagon could hit either of the foals an ebon bolt of eldritch power fired from Noblesse's horn, obliterating the wagon into tiny pieces that exploded in every direction. Every direction except for the direction it was speeding towards when Noblesse Oblige had stopped it.

Ponies nearby who were watching the event unfold in horror started to duck to the ground in hopes of dodging the shrapnel from the wagon. Even Applejack had to duck as a wheel speed over her, taking the hat she had worn that day.

A scream could be heard from behind Applejack as the wheel that nearly brained her smacked into a stallion, “Argh, My leg!” Noblesse Oblige looked in the direction of the scream and paused as he saw Applejack, “Sorry!” Noblesse decided to address the stallion he had inadvertently hurt, he would deal with Applejack later.

Applejack sped like an orange bullet to grab Apple Bloom, “Oh Apple Bloom! Are ya okay?” Applejack didn't care about secrecy any more, her sister's well being came first.

“Applejack?” Asked Apple Bloom, brought out of her terrified stupor by her sister's embrace and voice, “Yeah, I'm fine. But what'er ya doin' here? Ain't there a bunch of stuff at the farm ya have to do today?”

Noblesse Oblige was looking at Applejack with an unamused look, mentally berating the orange mare for stalking him. His attention was brought to two fillies as they raced down the street the wagon had been barreling down seconds ago.

One filly was a gray Unicorn with a blond mane. Noblesse Oblige also noted that this filly's coat was colored like a light storm cloud in contrast to his metallic coat. The other filly was a light pink Unicorn with a two-tone pink mane, it should also be noted that her coat was a different color from either tone of her mane.

I wonder if this filly has any blood ties to Dame Pinknamina, thought the incognito noblepony. It was rare for a pony to only be a single color, and those are things that are easily inherited.

The two fillies completely ignored the uniquely colored colt as they raced to their friends. This gave Noblesse Oblige the opportunity to look at their Cutie Marks, or lack of rather. Were these the fillies we were supposed to meet? It wasn't an unreasonable question. Noblesse Oblige already knew what the purpose of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was, and these fillies clearly knew the original three well.

“Ah need to get somethin' Ah fergot in town, Ah'll see you girls later,” Applejack set down her confused sister as she raced off to parts unknown.

“Well I'm glad only one Pony was hurt,” Noblesse's voice caught the attention of the five fillies, namely the two that had overlooked his existence in their haste.

Ruby Pinch and Dinky Doo paused at the colt's unusual appearance, though in silent agreement they refused to let that color their perception of him. He had just saved himself and their friends from a predicament that they had caused.

“Though I must ask, what happened?” Anypony reading the colt's thoughts would have been surprised that question had not been among his first.

“Oh! Uh,” Dinky Doo started, already embarrassed by her blunder, “Ruby and I were taking that wagon with us for one of our Crusades, and the harnesses broke off our backs and it raced down hill.”

At that moment Ruby Pinch and Dinky Doo realized that they had never seen this Pony before. Though what captured their curiosity was why out of all of the Ponies their friends were, they were with a colt.

Ruby started to giggle at how easy it was going to be to tease three of her friends, “I don't think I've seen you before, my name is Ruby Pinch. It's nice to meet you,” Ruby stuck out her hoof expecting a hoof shake.

She was surprised when the colt took his hoof in hers and kissed her pastern, “Mine name is Noblesse Oblige, a pleasure to make thy acquaintance.”

Ruby didn't know what to think of the colt's behavior or the way he talked. Dinky Doo however, noticed the colt's name, “Isn't that the name of the noblepony that's going to be living here?”

Noblesse Oblige nodded his head, “Aye, 'tis a common name in Canterlot. May I ask for thy name?”

Dinky blushed in embarrassment when she realized that she still hadn't introduced herself, “Oops, my name's Dinky Doo. It's nice to meet you Noblesse Oblige,” Dinky stuck out her hoof to the colt.

Dinky momentarily forgot the colt's behavior from before, so she was still surprised when he took her hoof and kissed her pastern, “A pleasure.”

“Now that's out of the way,” Ruby spoke with an excited voice, “Why were you three out and about with a colt?”

Dinky and Ruby started to giggle at the blushes of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Though he wasn't making noise like the two newer Crusaders, he knew that he was going to enjoy listening to the solid rounds of teasing that were guaranteed.

“I hate to interrupt,” Noblesse started, “But I don't think either of us will want to be here when the town guard comes.”

The five fillies looked around their surroundings to see damaged buildings and sidewalks from the pieces of the wagon that Noblesse destroyed. Many windows were either cracked or broken, their were pieces of metal and wood sticking out of the wooden structures. Even the concrete the sidewalks and road were paved with were not spared the damage, as jagged nails and wood poked like wartime caltrops.

“Crusaders!” Said Apple Bloom knowing how much they could get in, “Lets reconvene at the clubhouse.”

Nopony objected the movement as they followed their leader to Sweet Apple Acres. Noblesse Oblige followed as well. Though he wasn't a Crusader like the five fillies were, he had been invited to join in on their activities and he had nothing better to do.

Thunderlane and Rumble landed the courtyard of the cloud-house. In truth. 'house' was a severe understatement. The cloud-house the brothers had just landed next to was easily six stories high, maybe higher given who lived here. The identity of the owner was given away by the large waterfall of synthesized rainbow flowing into a recycling system similar to how a fountain recycles water.

“Are you sure that Rainbow Dash is going to be okay with me working with you today?” Asked Rumble, concerned that his big brother could get in trouble.

“That's why we're going to ask her. I don't think she would mind, especially sense you insist on doing it for free,” Thunderlane jovially replied.

Flitter and Cloud Chaser both had busy days today. Meaning that Rumble would be by himself all day. He was too new to Ponyville to have friends to play with, and Pinkie had been forbidden from hosting her usual welcome parties until work on the new Festival Hall was complete. While Rumble was more than old enough to look after himself, Thunderlane still didn't want to leave him alone.

Multiple businesses were increasing the work quotas for their employees in an effort to get them used to the work loads that would be expected of them. Given that Ponyville wasn't even on the map until the Elements of Harmony lived here little under a year ago, Lord Noblesse Oblige was most likely going to develop the town before more Ponies started moving here. This meant that businesses were going to see an increase in customers before they saw an increase in Ponies looking for jobs.

Noblesse Oblige had held a council meeting a short while ago. He revealed to the Ponies present that he had already arranged for construction workers to arrive in Ponyville shortly. The first thing that was going to constructed was temporary housing for said workers as Ponyville's only inn was no where near big enough to hold all of the workers and what few visitors that were already there.

Thunderlane, Mayor Mare, and Cheerilee in particular were giddy about what plans their new lord had already set in motion. The Town Hall was to be converted into a Festival Hall sense all of the local administrative staff was moving into the Everfree Palace. The lord had plans for an additional schoolhouse as well as additions to the current schoolhouse.

Noblesse Oblige had also arranged for the dungeon of the Everfree Palace to act as Ponyville's prison. This meant that Ponyville would no longer have spend enormous sums of money to send prisoners to the Canterlot Dungeons, it also meant that Thunderlane wouldn't have to delegate guardponies to watching over prisoner transfers or to guard prison cells. This would allow the on-hoof guardponies to watch over the construction workers, if only to deter saboteurs or looters. This ensured that Thunderlane would have enough guardponies for until Ponyville got late into it's upcoming development stage. That wasn't a problem as by that point, there would be enough untrained Ponies who needed jobs in Ponyville to recruit to the ranks of the town guard.

There was one thing that concerned Thunderlane, and he wasn't sure what to do about. Noblesse Oblige had told the Town Council about his plans to admit himself into the public education system. No one could deny him this as he had documentation that this was ordained by Princess Celestia herself. Thunderlane knew that Noblesse Oblige had been generous up to this point, but he didn't know how this young noblepony would interact with peasant foals. Thunderlane knew nothing about Noblesse's life up to this point, nor how his political opinions compared to that of his peers. Thunderlane would probably not think much of it, except that the only class Noblesse Oblige could be admitted to was the same class that Rumble would going to starting this coming Monday.

Thunderlane's thoughts were interrupted as his brother knock on Rainbow Dash's front door. Rumble knocked fairly hard considering the lack of urgency at the moment, yet at the same time Rainbow Dash's bedroom could be anywhere in six-plus story building.

Rainbow Dash woke up to obnoxiously loud pounding on her door. Rainbow Dash's bedroom was strategically placed on the first floor so she could get through her morning routine that much quickly. The next four floors of her mansion were mundane things like guestrooms, general storage rooms for what family heirlooms she kept, etcetera. The sixth floor of her cloud-house was dedicated to her shrine of the Wonderbolts. Everything from posters that she had collected to letters sent to her from Wonderbolt HQ were framed all throughout the sixth floor as well as other Wonderbolt related merchandise.

Anypony who grew up in a cloud-house would know that though the clouds could support physical objects, they were also thinner than paper. Who so ever was at the door was being incredibly rude and annoying.

Rainbow Dash didn't care much for manners, much to the chagrin of a certain white and purple Unicorn, but even Rainbow Dash had standards.

It probably wasn't a Unicorn or Earth Pony at the door because all of Rainbow Dash's close friends knew how cloud buildings worked, also you would still need a Pegasus to get up this high. Not even Twilight Sparkle would risk trying to teleport this high without somepony to catch if she fell, not the next time she tried anyway.

Rainbow Dash rushed to the door to tell whoever it was off using language that could land her in prison were she not a knight. When Rainbow Dash opened the door, she saw the two of the three Pegasi in all of Ponyville that had spent their entire lives living in homes of wood and stone.

Though Rainbow's anger had evaporated and she understood exactly why these two used so much force when knocking, she was still pretty annoyed as she glared at Thunderlane, “I was on the first floor.”

“I'm sorry Rainbow Dash,” Said Rumble, refusing to let Thunderlane take the rap for something he did, “I didn't know where in your house you were.”

Rainbow gave Rumble a surprised look, “There's no way a kid like you knocked that hard.”

Rumble raised his hoof to one of the walls of Rainbow's house, and started to knock obnoxiously again.

Thunderlane fell to the clouds laughing and Rainbow couldn't help smile and giggle, “Alright you smartallec, you knock it off.”

Rainbow Dash then turned to her friend and coworker and stomped him in stomach, sending him through the clouds her courtyard were made of, “So what did you two need to talk to me about?”

“Oh, Thunderlane wanted to know if it was okay for me to help at work today,” Explained Rumble as his brother plummeted to the ground.

Thunderlane caught his breath and shot through a different place in Rainbow's courtyard, “I could've been really hurt Rainbow Dash,” Thunderlane had an obviously fake hurt look on his face.

“Like that would've been a big deal,” Said Rainbow Dash dismissively, “Now Rumble, I don't care. Knock yourself out.”

“Thank you Rainbow Dash,” Rumble said plainly.

“Now if that's all,” Rainbow started, “I'm going to go back to bed,” She turned away from the two young stallions.

“I don't think so Rainbow Dash,” Thunderlane's tone of voice was amused.

“Oh, and why not?” Rainbow took Thunderlane's tone as being playful, “Why shouldn't I go back to bed?

Thunderlane gave his boss a deadpanned look, “Because you have work today too.”

Rainbow Dash took a moment to recollect the work schedule she herself had made, she also realized she was roughly a hour late, “Pony-feathers!” Rainbow Dash was off like a polychromatic missile.

“She left her front door open,” Rumble pointed out.

“Eh, not our problem,” Said the captain of the town guard ironically.

All the way to the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse, Ruby and Dinky ceaselessly teased Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle about how they've arranged to spend the evening with a colt. The two fillies tried to mess with Noblesse Oblige, but he simply laughed and went with it.

It wasn't until the group of six foals were actually at Sweet Apple Acres that they started before they started asking questions that weren't designed to embarrass or taunt their friends.

“So you meet him at the Everfree Palace and invited him to go with us?” Asked Dinky.

“Yeah,” Said Apple Bloom relieved that her friends had finally stopped teasing her, “The lord summoned us for something we can't talk about and saw this here colt. There wasn't anything for him to do at the castle since they just got a huge number of servants, and we thought it would be nice to have a new friend.”

Were Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle not looking away from their other friends, they would've seen their mouths agape in astonishment.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were surprised at Apple Bloom. No matter how many times they saw or heard it, they would always be amazed at how well their friend could lie. Apple Bloom rarely lied but when she did, she could get away with acts of deceit that make the Flim Flam Brothers blush.

“So where are you from, Noblesse?” Ruby was interested in her superiors' new friend. He looked and acted so differently than anypony else she knew in Ponyville, and it fascinated her.

“Me?” Asked the colt, “I am from Canterlot, in fact 'tis why I speak'st this way. Among the palace staff, 'tis tradition for the servants to speak like this and so, twas how I was taught.

The colt was lying blatantly. Though he was raised by staffmares and he was taught to speak in Classical Equine, he didn't think it was a good idea to mention his life in the Under-Cities of Equestia.

“So your parents are servants?” Asked Dinky.

“Nay. Though the Ponies that raised me were servants, they were not mine parents,” The noblepony explained.

A pang of guilt went through Ruby Pinch and Dinky Doo, “I'm so sorry,” Said Dinky quickly with her voice full of worry, “I didn't know-”

“Calm thyself,” Said Noblesse, his voice silencing the light gray Unicorn, “I never knew mine birth parents and I hold no shame at being an orphan, I also find thy questions neither offensive nor invasive.”

Dinky and Ruby nodded, somewhat startled that this colt who had been fairly quiet and friendly could command such authority without raising his voice.

“What of thy families?” Noblesse Oblige asked, “I would like to know of thy lives, whatever thou would'st share with a stranger,” His voice lost whatever intimidating quality he had been using before and betrayed his genuine curiosity.

Dinky and Ruby exhaled the breath they didn't realize they were holding and were happy to give some details of their families.

“I live with my mother and my aunt, Cheerilee,” Said Ruby Pinch plainly, “My mom runs the local inn and brewery. My aunt Cheerilee is the headmistress of Ponyville schools.

“I live with my mom, my dad, and my aunt,” Dinky was strangely happy to talk about her family, “My mom and aunt work together as both weather Ponies and mailponies. My dad however, is the lieutenant-captain of the town guard,” Though they were simply professions, Dinky was still proud of her family.

Before they could talk about the other three fillies' families, they had reached the clubhouse and went inside to discuss what to do now that 'Cutie Mark Crusaders: Wagon Racers' was out of the question.

Applejack had almost started working in the orchards, when she heard her sister and her friends laughing and talking. A smile came to Applejack's face when she saw Dinky Doo and Ruby Pinch, it was about time Apple Bloom made some new friends. Ditzy Doo and Berry Punch were good Ponies, Applejack also liked their kids. Maybe they'd steer Apple Bloom away from the mad schemes she, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were always coming with to get their Cutie Marks.

Applejack's smile faded instantly as soon as she saw Noblesse Oblige. She had forgotten that the Crusaders had invited Noblesse Oblige to be with them today, her usual focus centered around her work blurred as she worried about her sister.

Big Mac had been working in the fields close by when he saw his oldest sister seemingly staring off into space, that was very unlike Applejack. His worry over Applejack became annoyance as he traced his sister's gaze to the Cutie Mark Crusaders with a colt he'd never seen before. Big Mac started to go over to his sister to snap her out of her stupor, when he noticed that the colt had his Cutie Mark. Big Mac knew that his youngest sister had invited some new friends to 'Crusade' with her usual friend circle, but why would a Pony who already had his Cutie Mark be around the CMC. His younger sister was adamant about keeping Crusades between Crusaders, Big Mac pondered why Apple Bloom would invite a colt who already had his Cutie Mark to their Crusades.

Just then, the two older Apple siblings attention was draw away from the group of foals by a familiar voice, “Big Mac! Aj! What'er ya doing starin' off intah space?” Granny Smith's voice was not full of annoyance, but instead it was full of worry.

Granny Smith, though she older than the trees that stood in her family's orchards, was surprising fast and quiet. The older Apple siblings looked over to see their great grandmother (six or so times removed) standing on the other side of the nearby fence. Granny Smith walked through the gate of the fence as she approached her older grandfoals.

Big Mac was first to answer, “Apple Bloom's got some of 'er friends over, one of 'em's a colt that has 'is Cutie Mark.”

This seemed to confuse the elderly mare, “Well, so what? What's it matter if the colt's got 'is Cutie Mark?”

“Apple Bloom said that she'd be going on a Crusade today, and yah know how she is 'bout Ponies that aren't in her little club bein' apart of Crusades. Just strange is all,” Big Mac headed back to his work giving, his grandmother an apologetic bow of his head as he passed.

Unlike Big Mac, Granny Smith saw the horrified face on Applejack. Granny Smith traced her gaze like Big Mac had, and saw the metal colored colt. There was more to this and Granny Smith was going to get to the bottom of it.

“Aj!” Granny was right next to Applejack when she yelled.

“Gah!” Applejack jumped up startled and actually hit her head on a tree branch, causing some apples to fall into the buckets Apple Bloom set out early today.

“Land snakes girl,” Said Granny Smith, trying her hardest to hide her amusement, “Ah've never seen you this wound up over anythang befer'. What's wrong?”

“Well, yah see that there colt. He's the noblepony that's gonna rule Everfree Province, and Ah can't say I trust 'em to be with Apple Bloom, 'er any other foal fer that matter,” Applejack said, her worry doubling when she realized that she had lost sight of the group of foals.

“And why's that?” Asked Granny, trying to figure out why Applejack was so worried, “Why are you so afraid that colt's gonna do somethin' tah Apple Bloom?”

Applejack explained to her grandmother everything. From Celestia and Luna sharing the colt's past and their fears for his future, to his cold personality and his the magic he possesses.

The Friendship Express had stopped at Ponyville Station for the sixth time today. It was only recently that Ponyville would rarely see the intercontinental train stop more than once a month. Since the heir of Vanhoover and Everfree Province declared that he would be establishing his Provincial Capital in the small farming community, Ponies had been traveling to the town to see why the young lord would use such a small town as his Provincial Capital while others came to try and get ahead of the competition and secure plots of land in the town for housing and business alike.

Five of the Ponies who got off the train were indeed here for business, though not the kind of business that others were here for. No, these Ponies were here for mission. There was a creature residing in the town that needed to be purged, not just Equestria, but existence in general.

Many would call this murder or assassination, but this 'Pony,' if you can call it that, was an abomination to all Equine kind and a danger to the world.

The five Ponies walked in close formation. Their leader was in the front as his four subordinates followed in two lines slightly behind his flanks. They had joined the Royal Guard to protect Equestria from all that would threaten it's lands or it's people. Their quarry was in possession of dangerous magics and their Diarchs refused to do anything about it. Whether they under any one of the damned thing's illusions or if they planned to use for something later did not matter, either possibility was frightening and they would not allow either to come to fruition.

These five soldiers didn't seem different that any other Pony, they lacked armor or weapons, they didn't appear to have any muscle of scars that would give them away. The only clues that even hinted to their true ranking among the guard was the formation and the unreadable poker faces they kept.

“Sergeant,” Said one of the underlings, “How are we going to fight him? If he can use illusions that have taken the minds of our fair Princesses, then what chance do we have?”

It wasn't an unreasonable question. Only one of them was a Unicorn, two Earth Ponies and two Pegasi, “Her Radiance most likely didn't realize how dangerous the creature was until it was too late, she did see him as an infant after all, and that extra time only gave him unlimited opportunities to improve himself,” Explained the Unicorn, “We can brace ourselves before we engage in conflict, and if we can sneak up on it we won't even have to worry about it's magic.”

The Unicorn stopped to face his subordinates, his face filled with the wrath and resolve of the battle hardened and the righteous, “We slay the abomination this day. 'Lord' Noblesse Oblige will die at our hooves.”

Author's Notes:

Woohoo! Chapter 7 is complete! I'm sorry this took so long for me to get to. I go to online school, and it can be very demanding sometimes. Though I didn't actually plan it, this chapter is long than the other ones that have come before it. I hope that makes up for the long wait.

Now what is the deal with these five Ponies? If religious believes are confined to Equestria's underground, then why are these Ponies acting like zelots after heretics? Guess you'll just have to wait until I get around to posting the next chapter.