Winds Of Change: Disturbance

An earthpony mare took her gold-foiled armor off and let it fall on the floor of the changing room in the guardhouse behind Canterlot castle. The soft light of the fluorescent bulbs slid all over her pure white hair and made the little open window leading to the complete darkness outside just a square of ink.

"Finally free!" she let out a long breath of relief as her sweat-drenched mane and coat got loose from the confines of the steel plating, "Can't believe they are making us wear these in this unholy weather."

With summer in full swing, Royal Guards patrolling the city throughout the day turned from authority figures promising safety into poor victims of the ongoing heat wave. Granted, quite a lot of them enjoyed the array of free drinks and the occasional icecream pony merchants in the city offered for, let's say, looking the other way in certain things. Not exactly infringements on the law, but slightly shady dealings when seen in possibly completely imaginary context. It made the long hoof of the law get just a little faster to the scene of a bar brawl, maybe turn a blind eye to a pony selling wares of slightly lower quality than their certificate promised, or sometimes take a quick detour when seeing a supply cart parked where it should not be to give the offending sides a minute or two to clear the street.

Such is the grease helping the wheels of life turn, and nopony is bothered by it unless it goes too far.

"You know, Blackie, I've been at the comicon in Fillydelphia once," another guardsmare, a pegasus, undoing the straps of her helmet and armor followed the quiet complaint, "Let me tell you, the chainmail thongs and leather harnesses don't seem so ridiculous now."

The mare called 'Blackie' chuckled and took a step aside to let a batpony stallion carrying a full suit of silvery dark blue armor pass. He nodded as a thanks, put his cargo on a bench by the wall, and started putting it on.

Blackie, or Black Shield as she was more commonly known, let her eyes linger on the stallion just a little longer, and then felt a tickle rush through her body. Her white coat darkened, turning brown, but her blonde mane and hazel eyes remained the same. The enchanted suits of guard armor covered their bearers' cutie marks and changed their coats to either white or grey to help guards prevent their work following them home after hours. Outside observers sometimes hinted at the outdated concept of anonymous guards, but after their first few arrests and broken tavern fights the guards were extremely happy with no chance of being recognized in a dark alley.

"You and your little plastic pony toys, Petal," Black Shield planted her plot on a bench and stretched all four legs.

"Collectible figurines, thank you," the smaller mare frowned and shivered as her pristine white coat faded into dark green and blonde mane went pink, "They are hoof-made and extremely valuable ponyfications of comic personalities and-"

"Been to your place, saw some of your little stallion figurines' 'personalities'. And the body pillows... and other things," Black Shield blew her off, "Ponan the Barbarian sticks in memory for some reason."

"Ponan is from a book that helped define an entire genre of modern literature, you philistine!" grumbling Petal started picking the pieces of her suit of armor up into an easy to carry bundle.

"Never seen a book at your place, only comics and toys."

"Collectible-"

"I know, just teasing you," Black Shield raised her hoof to stop the huffing mare, "So, we up for a night at Prancing Pairs?"

Both Petal and Black Shield were about twenty-five and stuck either patrolling or standing in one spot during the day. Their inner mares needed some serious wild hunt every few days, and Prancing Pairs was a dance club for those looking for a good time.

"Of course, Blackie," Petal gave her friend a wide smile and leaned to her ear while giving the Nightguard stallion in the corner almost done with putting his platemail on a hungry glance, "If I'm lucky some batponies might just pop in tonight."

"Been reading Dusk again?"

"Shut up, vamponies are hot!"

The passing thestral coughed meaningfully as he left the changing room.

"That book has been nicknamed Toilet for a good reason."

"I'm not gonna discuss literature with somepony who thought the main difference between Pondalf the White and Grey was a cleaner robe."

"In my defense, the movies didn't explain much on that subject."

"That's only because you didn't see the extra long director's cut extended complete full remastered enhanced edition. That, or read the books."

Three exactly same knocks on the door interrupted the conversation. A mechanical pony, chassis silvery and shiny, stood there, blue circles in his completely black eyes measuring the two changing mares.

"Agent Bucket, is anything wrong, sir?" Black Shield asked, saluting the smaller and thinly built robot.

"A report of a disturbance on the Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns campus came five minutes ago. The shift change for the Nightguard was scheduled two minutes ago, which means the report falls under the jurisdiction of the Royal Guard. You two are the only free Royal Guards left. Considering the report is marked as urgent and came from a high-ranked wizard, you are bound to investigate and it will count into your overtime bonus," the robot explained methodically, but in a surprisingly equine voice.

A special agent would not have been sent unless this was important, so Black Shield just sighed, gave her suit of armor a sad look, kicked a bench, and shoved a helmet on her head again.

"Dammit!" Petal ground her teeth, "I can't do this, go home to take a shower, and then make it to Prancing Pairs before midnight."

Petal lived in lower Canterlot, a much less 'noble', but a lot cheaper, part of the city spanning the base of the Canterlot mountain. Black Shield didn't mind the higher rents in upper Canterlot as long as she didn't have to take over an hour of walking to and back from work every day.

"I can go check it out alone, Petal," her putting the armor on was much faster than her leisure pace of taking it off after a long day, "I doubt anypony would be stupid enough to try anything serious right under the noses of the most powerful wizards of Equestria. Some idiot probably just broke into their tool shed, stole some gardening equipment, and they are too busy with arcane experiments to go check it out themselves. It can't take that long, so... I don't know, see you at eleven at most? The evening at Prancing Pairs should be in full swing."

"You're the best, Blackie!" Petal put the bundle containing her full suit of armor on her back and shot out of the door. The round, body-hugging, shapes of guard armor for both branches, Royal Guard and Nightguard, allowed it to, when taken off, be put together into one quite small tube-like bundle. A miracle of design.

Ready and slightly less than willing, Black Shield took the incident report from waiting Bucket. The robot saluted and left for the castle while she made her way through the wide open castle lawns towards the city gate. The entire castle with its grounds and courtyards spanned the eastern end of what was upper Canterlot, a half-circle high up the side of Canterlot mountain. It was walled off from the rest of the city by its own gate, just like the city itself had only one gate on the western end which led to a wide road circling the mountainside and ending down at its base in lower Canterlot.

Poor Petal had to walk that route twice every day.

"Somepony climbed over the campus walls and broke into the northern workshop," Black Shield read in the light cast by her enchanted helmet while trotting on three legs, "Thought so. Unicorns. Of course they can't just go through due process of reporting a robbery, they need it sorted out right here and now. What would change if they let it lie for half an hour until Nightguard can send somepony? Whatever was stolen, if anything, is gone, and whoever stole it is gone as well. It was probably some students high on mercury fumes anyway."

Black Shield's gallop slowed down a little as she neared the highborne neighbourhood where the School for Gifted Unicorns was.

What if not, though? What if there really is somepony dumb enough to try to steal some experimental doomsday potion or whatever? Better sort it out before some wizard gets impatient and starts throwing fireballs at the damn workshop. Who knows? They might miscast and set fire to half of the city.

Why did this have to happen on Friday? Any other day I would just walk it off and got to my apartment an hour later, big whoop, but noooo, it had to happen on a day when I finally get to have some fun. I think it would even be fine if a gardener noticed, those guys have some common sense. It just HAD to be some bigwig mage to notice and 'require assistance of the law' immediately.

Riled up by her own internal speech, Black Shield arrived at the main gate to the School for Gifted Unicorns' campus in record time and only slightly gasping for breath.

"I am here to investigate a recently filed disturbance report," she approached a warden, showing her badge.

"Oh, come in, miss," the young warden, probably some honor student or maybe a student being punished, let her through the barred gate, "Just follow the wall north, the workshop is in the corner."

"You're not going to show me?"

"I've been instructed not to get close so that I don't mess anything up for a possible investigation. Sorry, miss. If you want some company you'll have to ask in the main building. I believe it was one of the archmages who sent for the guards."

"Thanks, I'll have a look myself first."

"As you wish, miss," the warden closed the gate and returned to watching the outside street.

Not gonna waste my precious time with some bureaucracy-obsessed mage who last saw the outside of his research laboratory on Hearth's Warming.

She slowed down as she saw the workshop. A spacious building barely overlooking the campus walls, white walls, several windows, near-flat roof, no signs of lights anywhere inside, no noise.

Black Shield unhinged her spear from her side where Royal Guard armor had a set of very helpful hooks for such purpose and let it drop on the grass. From what she could see, the building was a set of small rooms with low ceiling where an extended weapon like that would only hinder her movement. Not that she needed it per se. An earthpony of her training could, with the help of solid steel horseshoes, likely punch through the wall along with any miscreant in the way. The spear was mostly a sign of status. After all, impaling criminals and civilians was more than frowned upon.

Upon her wish, the light emanating from her entire armor dimmed, turning into a spotlight shining from the top of her helmet forward. She examined the open door.

Heavy, not fortified or anything, padlocked... no signs of damage. I'm not sure how easy it is to unlock a door with magic around here, but whoever was here definitely did not use force.

The light of her helmet faded completely as she entered.

Some sort of anti-magic influence then so no unlocking spells. Whoever got in here definitely had a key.

A shiver ran down her spine. All senses were telling her that this place was empty, but the little nagging in the back of her head kept saying otherwise. Quietly, she entered the main room. In the glints of light coming from outside she could make out rows of workbenches, chairs scattered around...

...and quiet breathing as if somepony was about to say something.

Black Shield didn't hesitate. She knew she should warn any criminal or possibly somepony investigating as well, but being this much on edge she just grabbed the nearest chair and threw it in the direction of the noise.

The chair froze in the air and was put down on the floor. So, a unicorn.

Black Shield quickly congratulated herself for such a good blind throw and jumped to tackle the shadow she could now that her eyes adjusted to the darkness identify as a robed pony figure.

Her legs failed to leave the floor.

"So this is who he sent me, an earthpony?" a male, uniterested and slightly annoyed voice commented on her effort to break the immobilizing spell. The robed unicorn whose horn shimmered with dim red walked over, circling around Black Shield, "I sure wish he would find somepony with more use, but sheer strength will just have to do," the unicorn slid his hoof over Shield's backplate, "Plus, I might just plow that plot later when I'm bored."

Who does this guy think he is, prizing me like a rodeo bull?

Now... come closer to the plot, you perv.

Aaand...

Asserting her earthpony strength and magic resistance, Black Shield broke the paralysis spell and bucked up with her hind legs.

The unicorn screamed.

Shield turned to punch him out.

She saw a dark purple muzzle, furious eyes, and rusty red mane illuminated by flaring red glow of the unicorn's magic.

Her body stopped as if hitting a wall, hard.

Red sparks started flying from her body to the unicorn's outstretched hoof. With each spark leaving her, she felt weaker and weaker and her vision blurred.

"Maybe you won't be as useless as I thought," the unicorn absorbed the sparks, making his bruised muzzle nearly kicked off by Shield cleanly recover.

Black Shield's heartbeat stopped and the hungry stare of her killer was the last thing she saw.

Winds Of Change: Old

Manehattan, the biggest city in all Equestria. A forest of shiny skyscrapers reaching to the sky everywhere the eye can see. Further away from the bustling business center of the metropolis lay the residential areas, warehouses and factory districts, but also the gated communities and mansions of nobles who still wanted to be seen as a part of the cosmopolitan life and yet enjoy the relative privacy and peace the outskirts had to offer.

One such white, three-story mansion was breaking the rule however. In contrast with all the others residences of nobility, the spread lawns surrounding the building were filled with ponies in states of exhaustion from merely sweating rivers to gasping for breath while collapsed on the well-maintained grass. With armored ponies forming some semblance of ranks even while barely standing and several figures walking around and observing them, the place looked more like an guard bootcamp rather than the house of a highborne.

Which is what it was. Over a year ago, the princesses had raised a certain earthpony into the status of a baron and granted him the property and resources belonging to a family stripped of their possessions for high treason, but that is a different story. These days the white lively mansion served as the headquarters of an organization called the Order of the Silver Sun, a reincarnation of a unification movement from days of princess Luna's banishment to the moon. Partially funded by the government, the place offered practical training to anypony, no matter species or social status, which was widely accepted by all sorts of military or guard forces all over Equestria and Crystal Empire.

Well, the 'efficient bashing over the head' part of the education, not the 'unimportant legal stuff you have to do before or after the bashing' part. All in all, after several months of harsh training with the Order, the prospective guards, soldiers, militia or police ponies were in such shape to be sought after even by elite Royal Guard branches in Canterlot and other big cities.

That, however, was only the official part of the Order's business, the one that paid the bills and allowed the Order members to gain information from all ranks of society. The unofficial part lay in the wish of the new Order's founder to provide training to those willing to put everything on the line in order to protect normal ponies from divine, magical, or other unnatural threats beyond the reach of the police or the Royal Guard. Sadly, from the original members of the new Order only few remained, and those had to deal with both the normal recruits and the currently nonexistent special ones.

In an office on the second floor of the mansion, a pure white griffon was sitting in an armchair, reading a newspaper with a weary look in his bright green eyes. The office was nothing special, shelves full of binders here, comfortable furniture for long hours of work there. The only thing out of ordinary was a square section of wooden inlay on a wall with multiple framed photos. There were several motives and different ponies in them, but the most common individuals were the sitting griffon himself, a red-maned, red-eyed batpony mare with black coat who would look like a textbook villain were it not for her friendly and mischievous smile, and a bronze-coated alicorn with blue eyes and blonde mane, tired but content look on his face. A picture of the three of them hugging and posing for the camera dominated the center of the space for what had to be memories.

In direct opposition to his self in the pictures, the real griffon was nowhere even close to a smile. What did remain, however, was his astonishing physique combining the godlike proportions of an antique statue with the kind of roguish charm that made mares swoon at the first playful wink. The griffon's name was Cromach, and he was currently the head of the entire Order, being one of the few survivors of a deadly incident which had been the new Order's first assignment. A double-headed battleaxe leaning against the wall behind him only confirmed what his well-built and toned body hinted at - this griffon wasn't and never would be some kind of office worker.

Knocking on the door made Cromach raise his eyes from the newspaper headline reading 'Hospital morgue broken into. Bodies nowhere to be found'.

"Yes?" Cromach's disinterested voice was deep, but not overly so, giving away what the world-weary look was hiding - the griffon was at most in his late twenties.

"Burying yourself in work again, sir?"

The direct question came from a unicorn mare entering the office. Several things about her would make anypony observant certain of two things - she was young, maybe little over twenty, and she had gone through the same harsh test of life as the griffon sitting behind his desk.

Her mane was white, straight, and cut in the impractical way of a unicorn thinking barbers were an unnecessary luxury. The unicorn mare's name was Contradiction, and it reflected in everything about her. Her pristine mane and tail contrasted with her charcoal black coat, one of her eyes was blue and the other one green, and her cutie mark depicted two crossed greatswords, one black and one white. In a darker time of her life before joining the Order, she had chosen the name herself. Not due to her physical characteristics, but to bear and display her fate with pride and a certain amount of masochism.

She had been born into a noble family as a physically frail unicorn filly, unable to use any magic at all. Her condition kept deteriorating and she was retained only as a possible bride for a different noble to be given away. When the situation arose she refused, was kicked out of her home, and disowned. For several years she survived on the streets, begging and selling her body. When she was lucky, that was. With her physical weakness, 'selling' was more a luxury than practice. When just about a year ago, before the Order's first assignment, Cromach was looking for ponies willing to accept an invitation into what any reasonable individual would call suicide squad, she gladly accepted. Food, getting out of the rain, and not being a living stress relief for anypony who would pay her out of pity and those would use her without being as generous had seemed worth it.

However, the Order members had met ponies with her condition. Unicorns unable to use even the simplest magic went against all laws of existence, and Contradiction was physically healthy, only extremely weak. They identified the root of her issues and put her through rigorous physical training difficult for somepony in her state. It wasn't drastic by any measures, but she was not allowed to take any breaks or days off. When she, after seeing the painfully slow progress, asked what good she was for when any earthpony could do what she could with one tenth of the exercise she did, she was told the details of her condition. There was no way for her to ever use magic, the ethereal veins focusing the power in her body were crippled and stretched. Unicorns lacking magic, being as tied to their power just as pegasi were tied to flying or earthponies to the contact with soil, suffered from their bodies deteriorating when not using their nature. However, just like flightless pegasi grew stronger by running, swimming, and other activities normally ignored by their kind, the stretched ethereal veins in magically-crippled unicorns' bodies allowed for dramatic increase in the power of telekinesis with the right training.

Over nearly a year, the frail and crippled unicorn mare grew into somepony who could raze a wall with the power of her mind. With the growth of her newfound power, her body followed and now she was a well-toned mare who, while she could never be considered distinctly beautiful, could make a pony passing by whistle just with a sway of her hips.

And yes, she was a huge perv. Being locked throughout most of her life inside a mansion and then, full of hormones, kicked out into the very horny dark alleys would make somepony give up the horizontal mambo forever, but she turned out a lot more practical about it. Chalk it up to yet another 'Contradiction' in her life.

"I'm not burying myself in anything, Connie, there's just always a lot to do," Cromach lied his wonderfully round ass off and Connie knew it.

"Sir, you barely leave the mansion, you don't talk to anypony whenever it's not a business thing, and just this week I caught you sleeping in here three times while gripping... that," she nodded to a hoof-sized alicorn statuette made of bronze and platinum with tiny sapphires for eyes on the workdesk the griffon started fumbling with unconsciously. She scrunched her muzzle, "Plus, this place reeks of cheap wine."

"It reminds me of him," Cromach just mumbled and shook his head, about to stop the topic immediately, "Nevermind, I'm doing my job just fine. We are finally earning enough money to stay afloat with the new batch of police academy cadets. Everything is completely fine."

"I know better than anypony that 'fine' is THE codeword for 'depressed as heck', sir. Trying to work yourself out of it is a good idea, but," she put her front legs on the desk and leaned towards Cromach. Her voice grew warmer, quieter, and full of concern, "but it's been half a year, sir. You're like a machine, just going through the motions. You need to get out, talk to ponies, regain some equinity... avianity... kittenity? Not sure how it is with you griffons."

"Connie, I blew my chance to be happy, that's it. I'm done. All that remains now is to keep this shindig going and fight while I can until I meet somepony stronger and faster who ends this. I don't enjoy talking to ponies anymore, I can't just go out and see a movie about giant monsters who attack Equus and are defeated with a microwave running on full. I've seen worse monsters, real monsters, with my own eyes. I know what is out there, waiting for a chance to strike. Talking to a simple pony, no matter how nice or friendly, just... just doesn't mean anything to me anymore. The only ponies who have been through that with me from the beginning are dead. Do you understand? Heavy Hoof, my friend and a pony who rebuilt this Order from the ground, killed. Choking Darkness, the mare who always kept me from getting complacent, killed! Blazing Light, my best friend and the love of my life," he grips the alicorn statuette tightly, "KILLED! All three of them plus the entire first 'special' team we put together to fight against unnatural threats are dead now. I don't want to do this, I never wanted to do anything like this. All I want is... him."

"Well I don't!" Connie said sharply, making Cromach twitch.

"What?"

The tiny, almost imperceptible growl in the griffon's voice told Connie that her unfortunate choice of words put her on ice thinner than the surface of a bubble. She knew Cromach well enough to know that he wasn't scared of any unnatural threat, or at least his fear wouldn't bother him in the slightest if his lover was still around. Her next words were very carefully thought through.

"Sir," always a good start with somepony just about to boil, "I don't know what you've gone through before the Order. However, you are forgetting, or avoiding, some key details. You, your friends, my team and I... we stopped a god. Not evil alicorn or some dark mage, a GOD. I wish it could have happened without the sacrifices just like you do, but that simply wasn't possible. On top of it, everypony aside from Blazing Light survived the final encounter. We did a fantastic job."

Cromach took a breath, but Connie's raised hoof stopped his desired response.

"I know that right now you would rather see all of us gone and him alive here instead," she shook her head, "but that is my point. You are not the griffon who inspired all of us to go to the sacrificial valley and fight against impossible odds anymore. You are turning into Blaze and... and we don't need-"

"You don't need a hero willing to give up everything just to save all of you from having to suffer? You don't need somepony responsible enough to see the big picture and sacrifice his own future for yours? You don't need-"

"We need a leader," Connie's cold tone interrupted Cromach, "Somepony to inspire us to cooperate, to give us the courage to go on when there is nothing left but pain. The Order doesn't need another reclusive half-myth who shoulders everything on his own with suicidal determination until it's too late. We are a group of ponies, not a single powerful alicorn. We need to work together in case a threat like the last one appears again, and we must start while we are still ahead. I don't want to badmouth Blaze in any respect, but even you must admit the perfect picture of him you are painting for yourself is a glorified nonsense."

"CONNIE!" the only reason Cromach didn't swing at her must have been the shock at somepony daring to disgrace his treasured memory.

"We need you back, sir," she saluted and stared firmly at the wall of pictures behind Cromach, waiting for the response and unwilling to look him in the eyes.

Crom had to reevaluate Connie's words. Every recruit had disliked Blaze at first, Connie being no exception, but in the end they all united under his command and stopped a threat to the entire world.

"I... admit Blaze had his darker and less than stable moments. Damn, I've been there for him whenever I could," Cromach stood up from his armchair and stretched. Connie couldn't stop herself from letting her eyes slide over the griffon's body and gulp down a string of drool, "BUT, you are talking about somepony you knew little to nothing about."

"And guess whose fault it was," she muttered.

That was the killing blow, something Cromach couldn't disprove no matter how hard he might try. No industrial-size rose-tinted goggles could deny the fact that his hero, friend, and lover had not been... the best mentally adjusted pony.

"Is that all?" he asked matter-of-factly in an attempt to bury the topic again. As he refused to return Connie's stare his gaze wandered to the neck of a half-empty wine bottle standing on the carpet.

"No, actually, that was just the first subject on today's agenda," Connie returned to her role of secretary slash assistant slash guardian against dark forces.

"You prepared an agenda?" the griffon facepalmed... facetaloned... something.

"No, not really, just changing the subject, but I've still got two things. First," she levitated a gold-embossed little card and read aloud, "With love and respect, we invite you to Canterlot in hope you attend the engagement ceremony of Leo Goldhorn and Fortune. Blah blah address, blah blah, reply if you're not coming," Connie slid it over the desk to Cromach, "Looks like Leo and Fortune personalized our invitations. Mine was from Fortune and read - come and watch me become a noble, you disowned bitch."

"You know she doesn't mean it," Cromach hid his beak into his talons, snorting. Fortune and Connie had both vied for the leadership of the Order's second special team. In light of Fortune's failure with the first one leading to the death of all other members, Contradiction got the responsibility. While the two competed far beyond any reasonable measure, they eventually used each other's talents to make success possible. Fortune had, after the fight with the god, left the Order with another member of the special team - a unicorn noble Leo Goldhorn. The inviation to their engagement ceremony was something that warmed Crom's heart a lot, although it also reminded him of his own loneliness.

"I can take a joke, sir, trust me. I already picked the perfect gift for her," Connie's evil chuckle could make any dark lord give up his job and go to MareDonald's for retraining," I couldn't be happier that those two are finally making it official."

"Did they invite Shadowstep and the guys?"

Cromach was talking about a unit of changelings currently responsible for training the normal Order recruits.

"Of course they did, however since you've been... neglecting the recruit lessons they are beyond busy. Plus, Starlight is in the Griffon Empire on business so Shadowstep has to do the unicorn recruits as well. They are sending gifts but they aren't coming."

"I'm not sure I should go. You know, not to ruin their special evening with... my baggage," Crom frowned.

"You are coming," Connie just shrugged. Mares with genuinely good intentions have some special talent for persuading stubborn guys, "It's on Tuesday. Strange timing if you ask me, but who am I to judge?"

"Alright," the griffon gave up. It was for his own good, he kept repeating himself in an attempt to believe it.

"Plus, there's a ton of nobles invited so you might get used to some company again."

"Don't push your luck, Connie."

"Just saying," she hummed angelically.

"So, you said three things on the 'agenda'."

"Oh, ehm, yes," the corners of Connie's mouth twitched, "With Leo, Fortune, and Straw leaving the Order and you making no moves to find new special recruits I could work with, the royal sisters thought it would be a good idea to... help."

"So, did they send some stuck up ex-Royal Guards? I mean, you were right in saying we need to start training them as soon as possible, especially with the increasing cases of rogue necromancers reported in all big cities," Cromach shook his head, "Damn, something must have happened to Void. He would never let this grow so much. I'll have to talk to the sisters to send me to his realm," he ended up mumbling to himself.

"Sir!" Connie gave a loud cough, "What did I say about not trying to do stuff alone? We will visit the alicorn of Death together when the time's right. I, for one, am not keen on meeting something that might have forced him to withdraw his protection from the departing souls. A trained team might help, wink -freaking- wink!" she blinked so hard her eyelids could snap a two-by-four.

The subtlety of a hammer to the face got through to Cromach who sighed.

"Fine, Celestia's driftwood. Guards then?"

"No, not exactly," Connie laughed nervously, "I just think the sisters may have taken the term 'special' a little too seriously."

"How many of them have only three legs?" Crom facetaloned again. He was getting good at it and had the feeling his practice wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"Oh, none."

"Good."

"Although two of them have only two and the last one... has a lot of teeth."

Winds Of Change: New

Following Contradiction through the red-carpeted hallways of the Order mansion, Cromach grumbled:

"First you tell me not to bury myself in work and now you're throwing more at me on Friday evening."

Connie flicked her tail, slapping Cromach's side.

"No, I'm not. Fridays are for drinking with friends and chilling out, and since I know you're not going to do either I wanted to pull you out of yourself in a different way. The newbies aren't work, more like a humorous distraction you so desperately need."

"I don't-"

"You DO, sir. With all due respect and all the other fake jazz."

"Seriously, what's wrong with them?"

"Well, the letter from princess Celestia said they had nowhere to go and could attend training immediately. I'll leave the details to you since there's a lot of light still left in the day."

"So, more desperate street urchins?"

Connie coughed meaningfully. Cromach looked away, scratching his head.

"Sorry. I didn't mean anything bad by that."

"I know, sir, just teasing."

"Now will you stop and tell me what could be so weird about them that you keep grinning every time I ask? I mean in our first group there was a minotaur, an earthpony, a satyr, you, and a dreamling."

Dreamlings were a strand of changelings arriving into this dimension by accident. The name came from the original of Nightmare changelings they got when their kind was twisted by victorious Nightmare Moon from a different plane of reality. They had succeeded in wiping out all life on their planet on Nightmare Moon's orders and in desperation they used an improvised travelling spell that led them to the Equestria we all know and love. It had been either that or starvation. Not under the influence of Nightmare anymore, their tiny hive quickly became stalwart protectors against any scheme Nightmare in this reality put in motion. The name change came mostly for public relations.

They both took few seconds of silence for the mentioned dead. Connie's face turned from mischievous to serious. She was supposed to be a part of the first Order team, but her lack of strength had prevented that from happening, pretty much saving her life. The second team that she had been the leader of had survived in its entirety, almost. Walter Grant, a griffon exiled from the Empire had laid down his life to save Connie when she made a fatally wrong decision in critical combat situation. Connie might not have been a great leader, but she at least remembered all those who deserved it.

"Fine, one's a minotaur, one's a satyr, and the last one... she looks sort of like a pony but I've never seen anything like her before. Princess Celestia's letter was kind of vague in that respect."

As they passed through ornate wooden gate of the mansion, the cool inside of the building gave way to still hot summer evening outside. Blinded by the sun, Cromach had to shield his eyes and admit he might have been spending just a little too much time inside. Their steps on the white cobblestone road leading from the mansion entrance to the barred and guarded gate separating Manehattan outskirts and the Order proper were completely lost in the gasping, screaming, and cursing of Order recruits undergoing their evening training. The mansion was surrounded by lawns on all sides which were cut off from the rest of the world by a wall forming a square with the building in its center. Considering the areas to the left of the mansion-outside gate road were still grass and not dead, stomped ground under the milling of the ponies in training, the Order gardener definitely deserved a raise.

The grassy ground to the right of the road was empty aside from three figures of varying sizes. Following Connie towards them, Cromach gave them a quick once-over.

One was a male satyr with short dark grey mane... hair or whatever they called it. Just like all of their kind, his body was covered in hair the same colour as those on his head from the waist down. Unlike ponies, satyrs usually wore clothes -at least according to Fortune, the only one Crom had met before- and this one was no exception in his unbuttoned white shirt and dark green pants. He jumped up when he saw the duo approach and stood to attention.

The other supposed new recruit was a minotaur female, and the top of the satyr's head was at her shoulder height. Minotaurs grew hair all over, and her dark yellow turning to brown covering rippled in soft wind. The only clothing on her muscular figure was a simple loincloth, and Cromach couldn't help cracking a twisted smile when he came close enough to spot the grey satyr's eyes dart to the minotaur's bare chest and barely covered behind. She herself was less than interested in her 'companions' and watched the training ponies across the road.

The final 'newbie' was indeed a strange creature. Overall, she looked like a smaller and lean earthpony mare, only with talons on her front legs, larger ears, and a long, prehensile tail ending in a little duster. Unusual, but definitely not as unsettling as Contradiction had made it seem. The bright pink eyes staring at approaching Cromach were alright as well, and her rusty brown coat and mane dotted with golden veins of freckles definitely leaned more towards adorable than sinister. However, that all changed when she smiled. Nopony should be able to bare that much razor-sharp teeth at once. In her presence, 'grinning from ear to ear' stopped being a figure of speech and became a terrifying reality.

It really, really didn't help that she looked genuinely happy to see Cromach and Connie, as betrayed by her -oh, gods, help, it's gonna eat me!- smile and wagging of her long tail.

Cromach had seen giant tentacle gods trying to eat the world, half-liquid and fully insane corrupted alicorns set on devouring his mind, and a batpony mare pissed off at him for trying to steal her coltfriend. In light of those, one weird mostly-a-pony trying to look helpful and failing rated only about three eldrich horrors out of ten.

The first one on Cromach's list was the minotaur. She was a good one to start with because unlike the other two she looked sure of herself...

...no, it definitely was NOT for the boobs, but they did get in the way when Cromach came close and looked up. Connie chuckled quietly to herself, she knew her boss.

The interview, however, started in a different fashion. The minotaur spoke first.

"Are you a leader worth following?" she asked, not bothering to hide her firm belief that the answer was a resounding 'no'.

"No," Cromach replied, completely calm, "You will be working under Contradiction," he nodded to Connie and winked. The unicorn grit her teeth to stop a grin aswering the minotaur's disbelieving and insulted expression. Cromach turned back and stared straight at the minotaur's clearly defined abs, "Name?"

"Under that skinny runt?" the minotaur stomped the grass, grinding her teeth and staring daggers at Connie.

"Her name is Anvil," Connie stoically levitated a letter from her compact saddlebag and unrolled it, "She comes from-"

"I can answer for myself, unicorn!" Anvil bellowed.

"Then do so and don't waste our time," Connie didn't even raise her voice, folded the letter neatly into its envelope, and hid it again into her saddlebag.

Anvil's eye twitched and the fingers on her right hand rolled into a fist. She huffed and looked down at Cromach who was losing interest with her every word. To him she was just another hothead.

"I come from Rift, the Heartseeker clan," Anvil calmed down, "I resided there for two months after my return from a tour with the Griffon Foreign Legion. The new capital city is a wonder in a sense, but it makes my kind soft. I came down from the northern tundra to seek a real challenge. So far, all I found was blistering heat and weaklings ogling what they can't handle," she folded her arms, pushing the mounds of her breasts up, and gave both Cromach and the satyr an amused and arrogant smile.

"Does the name Blazing Light ring a bell?" Cromach didn't bother defending himself and circled Anvil, taking in every detail of her body. He wasn't interested in it anymore, he just wanted to know how far the minotaur can be pushed.

"The Dark Prophet and warleader Darkhorn united the minotaur clans under single banner and founded Rift. The alicorn's statue graces the main square of the city. Every minotaur knows the name Blazing Light, both city dwellers and wild tribes."

"You asked if I was worthy leader," Cromach looked Anvil in her brown eyes, "In your twisted world it means if I am strong enough. Just let me tell you I gave your Dark Prophet's ponut both cream glaze and filling and made him beg for more."

The satyr blushed and looked straight down, Connie bit her hoof not to start laughing, the pony abomination tilted her head questioningly, and Anvil...

...Anvil swung at Cromach.

The griffon leaned away only a fraction, feeling Anvil's fist pass by his beak. Using as little movement as possible, he just grabbed her leg and pulled. Anvil lost her balance and made a perfect split on the grass, something she clearly was not used to as her agonized howl showed everyone around.

"Also, Blazing Light was an excellent unarmed fighter with whom I had many chances to spar."

Growling in pain, Anvil gathered herself a little and hissed:

"Insulting the Prophet is a crime amongst my kind, griffon."

Crom narrowed his eyes, his standing form casting shadow on the kneeling minotaur.

"I said nothing insulting or untrue. Blazing Light was my partner, the love of my life, and my best friend. You saying I would ever hurt his memory in any way is insulting to me."

Scowling Anvil looked him at him and met a steel stare full of pride and pain she couldn't handle. She bowed her head.

"If what you are saying is true, then I... apologize. If it is not, you better put all your affairs in order."

Without a word, Cromach moved towards the satyr. Standing on all fours, the griffon's head was at the height of his chest. The grey satyr attempted a salute, which meant shoving his hand somewhere in the vicinity of his forehead. He was clearly intimidated by Cromach.

"And you are?" the griffon's question came out significantly softer than the one for Anvil.

"As-Astray, sir," his voice was barely steady, "I am a satyr, sir. Half pony, half... well, something minotaur-like. I'm not really sure-"

"I know what a satyr is," Cromach's raised taloned arm stopped Astray's hasty explanation, "You are an orphan, I suppose."

Astray nodded hesitantly.

"Yes, sir. I was dropped off in the Crystal Empire."

"I've met one satyr before and she was an orphan as well. It seems that ponies drunk enough to sleep with whatever creature the other half of you is aren't the best parents."

"I cannot say, sir," the topic, while uncomfortable, made Astray calm down a little.

"Doesn't matter anyway. You are you, not an extension of your family's failure," Cromach smiled at Astray, "How did you get here?"

"I survived an expedition through the Badlands to the Forbidden Jungle in the south. We got attacked by a rogue group of changelings who lived there after the failed Canterlot invasion, cut off from the main hive. They had no idea about any peace treaty and just wanted me and the other members of the caravan as food. I, uh, offered myself as a willing sacrifice, which apparently means a lot more than just a stolen, hypnotized, and forcibly drained pony to them. A... friend who got me to the caravan was against it and when the fight was about to start I sort of, umm, hugged the leading changeling into submission."

Connie and Crom burst out laughing, Anvil rolled her eyes and mouthed 'idiot', and the abomination's pupils went wide as she stared at Astray like he was the biggest hero ever.

"Now that's a story I'll have to hear in full one day," Cromach nodded to the large bag behind Astray, "What have you got there?"

"Well, for reuniting the changelings with queen Chrysalis' hive and ensuring the caravan's safe passage through the Badlands and back, princess Celestia ordered a set of armor made for me. I wanted to join another caravan to get some experience and maybe become a professional caravan guard one day, but the princess offered me a chance to come here for training."

"Astray, you seem like a normal pony- person. Did the princess tell you what you are getting into?"

"She said it would be immensely dangerous, sir."

"And?"

"Sir, I... most ponies think I'm scary. I don't belong anywhere. The only reason I joined the nearly suicidal caravan trip was because I failed to find any job from Crystal Empire to Canterlot. Both here and with the caravan, I just wished to do at least some good before the inevitable end even if it meant only taking a blow for somepony worth it."

Cromach stared, memories of a bronze alicorn rushing through his head. He knew better than Astray could ever know where that mental road led. If pursued with enough conviction it ended in heroism... but the kind that left behind scars in others that would never ever heal.

He raised his arm to shake Astray's, who looked genuinely surprised. Talons met fingers, and Cromach said:

"Welcome to the Order. If you are lucky, you will find what you need here. If not, you will find what you seek.

Leaving slightly confused Astray, Cromach walked over to the only 'recruit' smaller than he was, but by a lot. The abomination's face portrayed slightly nervous, but helpful and happy expression toothier than a saw blade.

"And who or what in the gates of Tartarus are you?"

"My mom always said I wasn't a mistake but a happy little accident," the creature answered in a cheerful tone of a filly in a bouncy castle, not that squeaky and young, but doubly enthusiastic.

"Okay," Cromach had to shift gears for this one, "What do other ponies call you?"

"AAAAAAAAH!" it... she waved her legs in an attempt to depict somepony terrified beyond belief and probably about to die, "That, or 'Do not let it anywhere near me!'. 'Go away!' is short and good one if you need something to call me."

"Princess Celestia's letter said we should call her Bubbles," Connie interrupted, ignoring Anvil's horrified expression of realization what she was about to work with.

"Oh, and mom called me Bubbles," Bubbles finished as if nothing happened and she was planning to say that all along.

On Cromach's raised eyebrow, Connie skimmed through the letter again in case she had forgotten something, then she gave it to him.

"Her 'mom' was a demonologist in the high circles of Canterlot wizards. She kept consorting with pleasure demons and experimenting on murder demons until both of her interests went horribly wrong and she got pregnant. Bubbles here was locked in a mage tower for all of her life until her mother failed a summoning ritual and got killed. Celestia's note said to be nice to her and not think about it too hard."

Cromach looked at the end of the section about Bubbles. It really was there - don't think about it too hard. All signed and stamped with the royal seal. He decided he had enough for one evening and obeyed the suggestion.

"Is that all you can tell us about yourself?" he asked Bubbles.

"I can bite through steel rails and plate armor. I already apologized to the guard pony," she pouted. How she could fit all those teeth into a pony mouth was far beyond Crom.

"A useful talent if ever I saw one," he nodded. Something, maybe a little spark of annoyance at Celestia's and by extension Connie's interruption of his depressed evening, made itself remembered and he crumpled up the letter into a tight ball.

"Bubbles," Cromach smiled at the creature who wagged her tail and outclassed his smile tenfold, and swung his arm, "Fetch!"

The paper ball was in the air only a fraction of a second when Bubbles jumped three pony heights into the air and caught it in her mouth. She landed just few meters away from Crom.

"Here you go," she spat it out. Cromach didn't dare to touch the corroding and hissing paper, "Oops, sorry."

Cromach couldn't even tease Bubbles when her ears half bigger than those of a normal pony drooped and she looked as if expecting him to slap her.

"That's alright, I already read all the princess wrote," he ruffled Bubbles' mane. Her cheer returned instantly and Crom twitched away just in time to prevent her from licking his arm, "Connie?"

"Yes, sir?"

"They're all yours. See what they can do before we send them to Cross and he puts them through a blender."

"You're not going to do it yourself?"

"No, I'll write our official replies to Leo's invitations."

Connie nodded, a little warmer on the inside. She saw it in Cromach that they were both going to Canterlot together for sure.

"Alright, guys," her voice turned business-like, "We'll have a quick practice. Tomorrow, you'll start training under our grandmaster of arms who will beat you up. Astray, you're first. Anvil," Connie pointed to a shed nearby, "Go there, grab a grey crate, and bring it here."

"-"

"You can argue when you prove you are worth my time," Connie ended the minotaur's response before it began.

It was clear to everyone she wasn't messing around anymore. To Anvil's credit, she carried the heavy crate under one arm without even heavier breathing. When Connie opened it it proved to be full of fake swords, axes, and other weapons of varying sizes and shapes.

"Each of you find a weapon of choice. The ones we use for practical training are dull but weigh the same as real weapons. The ones you will use for style training with Cross are much heavier to build muscle."

"Heh," Anvil flexed her biceps, grabbing a heavy mace any other species would consider a two or even more handed weapon, or possibly something needing a group effort, in one hand. Connie rolled her eyes, clearly growing tired of the display.

"Alright, Astray, I'm an evil unicorn warrior trying to take over the world. Stop me or you'll be a slave pet for my twisted sexual desires."

"Wha-?" Astray lowered his practice sword just in time to recieve a levitating blade in his ribs. Connie didn't go overboard with the blow, but he would have serious bruises tomorrow.

"Don't get distracted," Connie gave him a sly smile, "Or maybe I should have said stop me or you won't be my sexy slave colt toy."

Astray didn't get baited a second time. Several wide swings followed, each easily blocked and proving that Astray has never had any real weapon training. Connie didn't even need to move. Her levitating sword stopped the satyr in his tracks, disarmed him, and tripped him up. Astray bit his lip at Anvil's snort of contempt at his lack of skill.

"Alright, a beginner. Cross likes beginners, they don't have any bad habits ingrained," Connie flourished her sword, "So, how about somepony with some really, really annoying bad habits?"

"Heh heh, and I almost thought you would chicken out and not ask," Anvil gripped her oversized weapon, "The griffon would be a worthy partner or mate. You, on the other hand-"

Anvil blocked the swing of Connie's flying blade.

"You talk too much, weakling," Contradiction's horn blazed with power directly contesting the pushback from Anvil.

Seeing her possible loss in contest of sheer power, Anvil spun to the side, misdirecting Connie's sword cleaving the ground. A quick lunge forward later, she swung wide with enough power to break the unicorn's bones even with a padded weapon. Connie wasn't anywhere inside the arc, though, but rather by Anvil's side. She turned and bucked up with her hind legs, knocking Anvil off balance. Connie's sword hit the knuckles on Anvil's hands, forcing her to drop her mace.

With Anvil disarmed and on the ground, Connie lowered her weapon and...

...recieved a full-strength kick from the minotaur. Even with no swing, just a powerful push, the blow made Connie spin in the air and roll on the ground.

"Evil 'warrior' disposed of, if a little mare like you can be called that," Anvil stood up, looking down on Connie shaking her head and seeing red.

In some way, Anvil was very stupid and now it was crystal clear. The monochromatic unicorn bleeding from her muzzle had a lesson to teach.

Anvil cracked her neck and raised her warmace again.

"Round two?"

"Round ONE. And by the way, call Cromach your worthy mate one more time, and I will flay you alive," Connie growled.

Winds Of Change: Sides

The grass around Contradiction trembled under unseen force.

Finger after finger, Anvil's grip was forcibly removed from her weapon. Rope-like muscles bulged in the attempt to fight the invisible pressure, and failed with each inch of the involuntary movement of Anvil's limbs. Connie licked the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

Anvil rose from the ground, her arms and legs bending against her will behind her back. The minotaur fought through each passing second, but the livid unicorn had none of it. In a series of cracks, Anvil screamed. Not with rage this time, but with pure agony of joints being torn in half.

Then it all stopped right before crippling Anvil for life and the limp minotaur fell on the grass, breathing heavily and twitching. Connie walked over, unsteady herself after such exhausting use of power, and rolled Anvil on her back. She groaned as her bodyweight fell again on her abused limbs, but still glared at Connie with defiance.

"Unicorns and their magic," Anvil hissed, "Fight me like a real-"

She shut up as she felt the skin of her throat tearing. Squinting to her neck, she saw nothing but Connie's hoof, but something had clearly cut her like a razor. Anvil was quick to guess, though. The unicorn was able to use her mind to create a grasp and pressure. Who was to say she couldn't make it form a blade?

"I will say this only once, so listen carefully, you oversized milk tank," Connie put her full weight on her other front leg crushing Anvil's breast. The minotaur could easily, if her arms didn't feel numb and yet filled with hot needles, raise Connie in one hand and likely throw her over the Order proper wall. She was well aware, though, that just under Connie's hoof, through the soft flesh of her mound, some muscle, and ribs, was her heart, something easy enough to reach with a thin and sharp object. In defeat, although possibly only a temporary one, Anvil nodded. Connie's hoof left her thick neck, "Everypony, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. My gift and curse at the same time is telekinesis, you may have thighs strong enough to crush Astray's skull, and he might even enjoy it," the satyr looked at Anvil's loincloth partially dislodged by the fall, blushed, and looked away, "but strength and skill can be trained. What is here," Connie gave Anvil's head a soft kick, "and here," her warm underhoof brushed over the minotaur's nipple. She DID mean the heart, but as her rage was fading she was feeling a little experimental with her submitted foe, "is more important. We will have to work as a team. We are all 'weaklings' in comparison to what we are to stand against, but together we just might be strong enough."

Connie walked off of Anvil, then turned around and kicked her hard in the ribs.

"And teammates should help each other, so if you ever attack me again after I'm done with you because you clearly lost, I will really tie your hands behind your back. Understood?"

Gritting her teeth, Anvil sat up, feeling up her hands and legs for any serious injuries. Connie could have pressured her, but she decided to give the minotaur time. Hesitating, Anvil finished her self check-up and looked straight at Connie.

"I will learn," she begrudgingly admitted. The minotaur turned her head to Astray and Bubbles, "but I expect others to keep up with me."

"Well said," Connie nodded, took a deep breath, and levitated her practice greatsword again, "Bubbles, you're next."

"Umm, mom always said I'm supposed to be nice to ponies so they aren't scared and don't try to set fire to me or bring a priest," Bubbles was unsure what to do.

"You are here to learn to protect ponies, sometimes from other ponies. I get you don't want to harm anypony, but you at least need to disarm the bad guys or save your friends from a dangerous blow."

"Oooh!" Bubbles grinned, sending shiver down Connie's spine. It was adorable, it really was, until one remembered that a platemail was not enough protection against a bite from that muzzle, "I can take a hit! Mom had a friend who had this big bat and a room with cages. We used to play for hours. I like bouncing."

"Uhh, what?" Connie tilted her head. That sounded like some weird kind of abuse. Perhaps Bubbles just had no idea what was going on at the time?

"Hit me, hit me!" Bubbles jumped up and down excitedly.

"Alright, I'm an evil whatsowhat and you're trying to stop me... or play baseball with me. I'm not really sure at this point."

"Wheeee!" the rusty pony-like thing jumped at Connie like a bullet.

The unicorn was ready, batting her away with the flat of the blade. Bubbles bounced off of the nearby wall, rolled a little, jumped back on all fours and ran at Connie one more time.

"Again! Again! Again!"

After few practice swings, some even with the 'edge' of the dull blade, Connie had to admit the half-demon in pony form had some enviable resistance to normal weapons. A final smack where Connie let herself go sent Bubbles away in a straight line at Astray. The demon was snatched mid-air by Anvil, sending them both rolling with the strength of the impact.

"Hee hee hee," Bubbles licked Anvil's face when they got untangled from a rolling ball, and stood back up.

The 'Oh shit I goofed!' expression of Contradiction gave way to relief when it was clear Anvil's muzzle was neither melting not disintegrating. Connie tried to restore some kind of order to the training.

"So, yes, you can take some serious punishment, I get it. You still need to learn to fight. Now, try and take away my weapon at least."

Bubbles pulled a practice sword out of the weapon crate and raised it up uncertainly in her front legs- taloned arms. Trying to imitate Anvil and Astray, she stood on her hind legs, made few wobbly steps, and then keeled over backwards under the sword's weight.

"Sorry," Bubbles mumbled, trying to hold the sword again.

"You know what? Try to hold the handle with your mouth, some ponies do that when they decide to use a sword," Connie gave her a tip.

"Okay!" was Bubbles' much happier answer.

"Now block my swing."

"Oophay!"

The practice blades met, Bubbles gripped the handle tightly, the impact shook her entire body, and something broke.

"Aw crap!" Connie facehoofed, trying with all her might to ignore Astray's chuckling and Anvil's open laughter.

Bubbles had bitten down so hard she was left with only a piece of the sword handle in her mouth after Connie's strike. The rest of the handle, the hilt and the blade lay on the grass next to her in pieces.

"Mom always made me sweep the lab whenever I broke something," Bubbles spat the handle out and gave Connie a helpful smile of a dragon mouth overdosed on Colgate. The toothpaste, not the pony. She looked down at the shiny remains of her sword, "This is going to be a lot of sweeping."

"Fine, one final time," Connie flourished her blade again, "This time try to take away my weapon using any way you think would work. If I hit you and you lose balance, I win. If you take my weapon, you win... and sir Cromach won't make you sweep the whole mansion."

Connie swung, and her blade suddenly became a lot heavier. Bubbles was holding the levitating weapon in her mouth while dangling from it like a ragdoll. Waving the blade around curiously, Connie made a mental note never to be on the recieving end of Bubbles' bite, because no matter how hard she tried, Bubbles held the blade in the way of a rabid pitbull.

"Ffuud Ah wet go?" Bubbles mumbled when Connie just let the blade hover in the air, watching it with disbelief and confusion.

"I'm still not disarmed."

Bubbles bit down and landed on all fours among a shower of metal shards.

"Phoo!" she spat out bits of steel.

"Hmmm, I think Cross might know something about diamond dog combat techniques," Connie shrugged, "If not, I'll think of something. Astray?"

"Yes, miss?" the satyr stood to attention.

"Help Anvil put the weapon crate back. Bubbles, pick all the mess up and put it in a trash bin in the tool shed. When you're done, ask the receptionist in the mansion lobby about where you'll be staying."

"Do I get my own closet?" Bubbles asked hopefully, "I mean, a cage is fine too. Just not the pet carrier, I didn't like the pet carrier," she ended with much less enthusiasm.

Connie and Astray looked at her in shock, and even Anvil grit her teeth. Bubbles was little below the size of an adult mare. Pet carriers... weren't.

"Ehm," Connie coughed when she recovered from the mental image, "Our rooms are usually meant for two or four ponies and at this time of the year the Order is pretty full. The Royal Guard starts recruiting during autumn so the guys training here want to be ready over summer. I think I can do some arrangements so you get one of the larger rooms. Anvil counts for two ponies anyway."

"So... no cage?" Bubbles clearly didn't understand.

"You get a bed in a shared room with those two and you can walk around the compound as much as you like, just don't bother other recruits during training."

Bubbles stared at her, paralyzed but with eyes wide, smile even wider, and tail whipping the ground so hard it made dirt fly.

"Clean up first," Connie couldn't stop a quiet laugh in the presence of such pure joy.

The rusty and gold blur rushing around with muzzle in the grass not to miss the tiniest piece of shattered metal was too precious to ignore.

"Oh, and you two," Connie winked at Anvil holding the weapon crate at chest height and Astray trying to help by propping it with his shoulder, "The shower schedule is up to you to figure out, but I would advise that Anvil takes the bottom bunk. Our beds are made for ponies, and if something happened to one you might end up having to share. But that wouldn't be a problem for such good teammates, would it?"

Astray looked up. Anvil looked down, eyes narrowing.

Connie left, she didn't want to cause even more mayhem. After all, there was always tomorrow.

She groaned under the assault of a splitting headache. She was lying on something cold and hard. No, everything was ice-cold. Her vision was swimming and her breath escaped her more like a long, shivering gasp. Everything was dark, but even without any visible light source she could make out blurry lines in her waking world.

She remembered only flickering images, each disappearing when she focused on it. Galloping, grass, building, darkness, shock, pain.

Forcing herself to calm down, she stopped her legs from twitching and concentrated just on breathing. It helped. The searing pain surging through her skull remained, but became manageable while she was distracted by moving her legs with better and better coordination. After several minutes, she was sure she could at least sit up without passing out again. As she did so, a strange sensation spread through her chest, something she had never felt before, and as she lowered her muzzle to have a look, she saw a barely-healed scar not covered by her brown coat.

A click.

Light blinded her merely for a fraction of a second before her eyes adjusted perfectly. She was in an enclosed room full of flasks, beakers, and other accessories normally associated with chemistry. Open books lay spread all over desks, depicting simple pentagrams and much more complicated magical symbols. She could easily make out even the smallest letters and pictures from where she sat, no detail escaped her. The room had to be some wizard's laboratory. Muscle memory returning like a rumbling river, she vaulted from the steel operating table she was on into the pose of a trained Royal Guard ready for anything.

"That took a lot less time than I expected."

She knew the voice. She had heard it only once before, but your murderer's voice is something to remember.

Black Shield's muscles tensed in preparation to lunge at the unicorn entering the lab...

... and she failed to move an inch.

"Now," the dark purple unicorn with rusty red mane smiled, "I am sure you will have plenty of time to explore your new body, slave."

The word slave sent jolts of pleasure throughout Shield's body, making her eyes roll to the back of her head. The unicorn noticed and his smile twisted into a sadistic grin.

"Carrot and a stick, always works except for the undead where the rule is a carrot and, well, you don't have any free will and can't feel much pain anyway. With that little show out of the way, let us begin. What is your name?"

Shield wanted to charge at the unicorn, trample him under her hooves, bring him to custody for questioning, or at least scream at him, but her body didn't react to anything other than when she finally gave up and said:

"Black Shield, and who are you?"

He had some sort of control over her, that was clear, and right now she had no way of countering it, earthpony or not. She had to think and observe.

The unicorn was skinny, just like any one of those sitting endlessly while studying arcane secrets. He was well-groomed, which told Shield he wasn't just some insane loner gone mad with power. This unicorn was a normal member of society, aside from attacking Royal Guards. A quick peek at his cutie mark depicting a glowing question mark sadly didn't give anything important away.

He might not have been a murderer either. After all, Shield was here and still standing. She felt better than ever - stronger, faster, senses flaring and taking in every little detail. Her muscles were warming up after what had to be a long sleep...

...no, they weren't. She was just getting more and more used to the eternal cold.

"You can call me 'master' or 'owner'. That is what I am to you," he said.

Shield panicked for a second, reports and newspaper articles about crimes associated with the dead, graverobbers, and dark magic spreading through Equestria racing through her mind. She forgot to breathe in shock.

Literally.

It didn't bother her. However, no words came out when she tried to speak so she had no choice but to do it again, this time consciously.

"You killed and raised me, you cr-" her mouth stopped the words 'crazy bastard'.

The unicorn raised an eyebrow and gave her a smug grin.

"Told you you'd have enough time to grow to understand your body."

Black Shield growled:

"Master..."

The perfect feeling of 'rightness', 'true purpose', and 'fulfillment of her destiny' coursing through her was better than any physical contact she'd ever had. The final part sent chill down her spine and she turned her head to look back at her flank. Her cutie mark, an obsidian shield, was well and truly gone.

Her master noticed the panicked look.

"Can't expect a mudpony to understand the intricacies of complex magic, so I'll tell you the basics."

"NO, WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" was all Black Shield's body allowed her to do. She was trying to avoid it, but the reality was beating at the walls of her mind without stopping.

"Are you familiar with skeletons? The necromantic constructs, not the definition of pony bone structure."

Shield closed her eyes, shaking, and nodded. Communicating was better than sorting out the consequences of her... death.

"Well, under normal circumstances they are just mindless dolls with limited use. On top of that, they need a lot of magic to keep going. You are a zombie."

Curiosity winning over blind horror, Shield forced herself to ask a question. Mostly because she felt zero desire for brains, grains, or to shuffle around like she remembered from the movies.

"Aren't... aren't those the same thing? Only infectious and with rotting flesh? Braaaaaains?" her body allowed her to raise her front legs and moan in a good likeness of a walking corpse. It did come naturally, Shield had to admit.

"Stories of commoners," the unicorn waved his hoof and started fiddling with chemical stuff on one of the workbenches. Shield wasn't good at 'chemical stuff'. To her the hissing concoctions might as well have been herbal tea mixes, "The infection part, that is. Zombies, of course, can be made into dolls just like skeletons but those smell, drop bits all the time, and the brains they crave don't help with their own stupidity. Maybe that's why they want more all the time. No, you are a different sort."

The master pointed to the operating table on which a magical symbol was drawn.

"Through a rather complicated ritual and several rare ingredients, a pony can be reconstructed just like a zombie but without the degenerative side effects. Plus, if the ritual is done right, it allows the summoner to harness the power of the original pony's mind to perform tasks without the need for direct control, but with the option. Let's say I need you to fight for me," master's voice took on a lecturing tone he seemed to be good at, "I have little to no experience with scrapping, but your mind would draw your best experience to fulfill my command. There are lots of rules and orders inside you which will prevent you from harming me or my plan, but you still remain, at least partially, yourself. Of course, as I'm sure you noticed, your obedience can feel very rewarding."

"So I'm not going to rot over time?"

"No, there is a power core inside your chest keeping the spell going. It just needs occasional recharging which is something only I can do."

Carefully taking few exploratory steps, Black Shield walked around the laboratory. Of course, when she set her mind to grabbing a glass vial and ramming it through the unicorn's eyesocket the thought didn't even reach her legs. Her mind denied any attempt to leave the room as well.

Still, she could move in a way. She had no idea how much time passed from her death and whether her family got the news, but her guard instincts took over. Magic of the level required to raise her into this state must have been something unusual. She needed to find out more about this unicorn and use what little freedom she had to think of a way to, if not stop, then at least hinder his plan... whatever it was.

"Why did you waste all this time and magic on me?" Shield asked. It seemed the spell didn't inhibit her thoughts, only actions. Rule one, discovered.

"You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, that is simply it. A pegasus, thestral, or a unicorn would be better, but we couldn't afford too much attention."

"A disappeared guard isn't too much attention?"

"Crimes caused by magic leave little trace if done correctly. You went into the workshop, there was a fight, you disappeared. Just another crime commited by just another necromancer for just another crazy reason," his tone clearly said he considered himself different which didn't go unnoticed by Shield. Guards were trained in methods of questioning ponies without seeming conspicuous.

While Shield pondered her situation again, her owner turned from his chemistry project and levitated a vial of bubbling blue goo towards her.

"Drink!"

She didn't even bother resisting and just snatched the hovering tube and emptied it. It tasted faintly of apples for some reason.

"Meh, you could use a bartending course," Shield muttered, partially in disbelief that she was allowed to say it, "What was it?"

"Just something to improve your body's functions. Strength, stamina, less reliance on oxygen for muscle use, and other things. I'll be pumping a lot of these into you over our time together. Now, we have two final things to take care of. First, a definite test of whether my control spell is working," the unicorn's horn flashed red, and a bound and gagged middle-aged mare wearing some sort of cleaning apron appeared on the operating table. She thrashed around, but the ropes binding her didn't budge.

"Open the box next to the table, my little pet, you'll know what to do next," he ordered.

Shield sighed, quickly realizing what somepony who didn't hesitate to murder a Guard would want her to do. The carboard box contained two things Shield knew painfully well - horseshoes with complex locks allowing two curved blades to slide out and be used as a melee weapon.

You'll know what to do next...

She decided to do another test. Next... next she should, quite obviously, put them on.

The locks clicked around the fetlocks of her front legs, and she looked at her master. Her body made no moves to hurt the mare staring at her with wide, terrified eyes.

I am sorry. I'm not going to be able to stop it when it comes, miss. I swear to you, though, that I will make this bastard pay for it if it is the last thing I do. It will be the last thing I do.

"Oh for stars' sake, slit her throat!" the unicorn scowled when he realized his command hadn't worked as he dramatically planned.

"MMMMMHM!" the mare resumed her thrashing and wiggling.

Shield's hoof pressed her firmly against the steel table. She was terrified at her own new strength. The blades slid out as she raised her hoof and flicked her fetlock in a way she'd done hundreds of times before. Slitting the mare's throat would make noise, cause mess, and possibly lead somepony here, wherever this place was, or at least leave a trace.

On the other hoof, the mare would die in agony. As a Royal Guard, no matter the circumstances, Shield couldn't allow that. He only wanted her dead, that's all. Shield aimed lower and drove the blade between the mare's ribs right to her heart. The violent movements stopped in mere seconds.

So there was a way to trick the spell, and it was connected to her perception of events.

"Done," Shield withdrew the hoof blades and turned to her master, raw hatred etched on her face.

The master raised his hoof, red glow enveloped the mare's body which dissipated into a shower of painfully familiar red sparks absorbed by the unicorn.

"You are quite the troublesome one," the unicorn didn't look displeased, "but I like the fire in you. It will be so much sweeter when I stomp it out!"

"This ends only in your death, mage," Black Shield spat out. Her owner just laughed.

"No, that's where it only begins, slave," the words distorted Shield's world again with pure need spreading from her loins, "Now, present yourself to your master."

Shield turned her back to him, pressed her muzzle to the floor and raised her backside.

"Yes, a unicorn or a pegasus would serve me better skill-wise, but an earthpony flank is something to be admired. As they say, all work and no play..."

The unicorn mounted her. Shield bit down on her steel horseshoe as he plowed her. It didn't take long, he was obviously not used to it, but it would have been easier for her if her body didn't force her to feel his every touch as distilled heaven.

"Those earthpony 'assets' might just grow on me," the master huffed, stepping away from the drooling mess Black Shield was after his ministrations, "Get up and stop panting. You'll get a lot more soon enough."

Rising on trembling legs, Shield couldn't speak. She could barely think, and most of her movement was just her body working on its own.

The unicorn pushed a shelf in the corner of the room to the side, making a panel on the wall behind it slide away and reveal a dark tunnel.

"Let's go, we have things to do."

Author's Notes:

End of chapter one. Still not bored?

Need For Power: Scouting

Nights in Canterlot were never dark. The number of glowing windows, electric, gas, and firefly lamps in the streets, and in some cases even unicorns themselves walking around surrounded by dim shimmer made the entire mountainside city cast a ray of light towards the sky like a searchlight. Aside from that, of course, ten o'clock during summertime wasn't the darkest affair anyway.

However, it was dark enough.

The shadow hiding a brown earthpony with only slightly withering blonde mane offered just the right amount of protection from prying eyes. Black Shield's head poked out of a trimmed bush surrounding a white, airy mansion she knew from her guard days belonged to archduke Elhart Goldhorn, a high-class noble held in high esteem among Canterlot nobility. This place wasn't his home, but rather a smaller affair near the city walls. Still, it held a ballroom rivalling the one in Canterlot castle, a tall observatory where one could see even Appleloosa on a good day, and enough garden space around to host several apartment buildings. It was pretty clear to Black Shield that the city would have much more space for normal ponies, possibly enough to accommodate the population of entire lower Canterlot if nobles didn't hog all the space.

Sneaking behind greenery whenever possible, she followed the mansion walls to a corner, pulled a head-sized sphere of blue crystal out of her saddlebags, dug out a small hole, and sat the item down into it. With how much space the thing took inside her bags, any observer would guess she had at least three more. Black Shield would correct such hypothetical observer by saying she had four left, and then she would knock him or her out. Thankfully, her orders were to position the crystal balls in each corner of the mansion plus on the observatory roof, and her 'master' had worded them in such way she could interpret them to herself as non-lethal to anypony trying to stop her. She hadn't been told what the balls were for, unfortunately.

Crawling behind the ornamental craft of some master gardener, she used the darkness to safely repeat the process of placing the ball three more times all around the mansion.

"Who's there?"

Almost safely.

She must have cast an outline against light coming from one of the mansion windows. The entire building was milling with servants and guests. Some event big for the nobility had to be going on inside. She had seen the line of ponies waiting to enter when her master deactivated the alarm spell on the walls separating the mansion grounds from the city and teleported them in. Such a big event, obviously, would be well-guarded, but she knew the habits of both private protection services and both Guard branches. Nopony would keep going in circle around a building over and over when all guests wanted to be inside, and thus nopony would catch them taking a little smoking break. Black Shield had used blind spots, places nopony sane would check, and lazy habits of guards to get where she was. Sadly, she stumbled on a vigilant one.

She bolted to the ground and froze. The guard knew she was there, but he would at least come close enough to cast light into the bush where she was to blind and surprise her. A unicorn. He would come close, activate the enchantment on his helmet to cast a cone of light spell, and then prep his magic for a counterattack if she tried to resist arrest. Unfortunately for the poor unicorn about to have his teeth knocked out, Black Shield's new body allowed for movement no guard was prepared for.

When the unicorn was not even in the spell's range, she shot out like a bullet, jumping several pony lengths with one leap and smashing him on the ground. He opened his mouth to scream but didn't even get a proper breath in when Shield's hoof shut him down. Her master may have improved her strength so that she could kill easier, but the same thing went for knocking somepony out, and Shield was not going to kill anypony unless directly ordered to and without a way to twist the command. She WAS a Royal Guard, and no mind-controlling criminal, no twisted magic was going to change that.

"Hmm," she pulled the unconscious unicorn into a thicker bush, checked his pulse, breathing, and the deep dent in his padded steel helmet, and smiled to herself, "Good, now the roof."

There was no way she could get inside, break into the observatory, and plant the crystal unnoticed. The entire plan she knew only a small fraction of stood completely on not being spotted. Looking up and down the wall of the three-story mansion full of alcoves, gargoyles, and balconies, Shield decided her body could use a real test. After all, if she fell and hurt herself enough it would prevent her master's plan for tonight completely. If not, then she would get a good gauge of her improvements.

A quick look around revealed no more watchful sentries about to spot her, and she set her eyes on a windowsil on the first floor. Shield jumped upwards experimentally, reaching about five pony heights into the air. It was impressive beyond belief, but still not enough. She was more than familiar with her weight and new overall strength though.

Hmm, if I grab that indent just above the ground floor window and prop myself on that ornamental ledge I just might make it.

That would make her briefly visible through said window, but she couldn't see any better way that didn't involve some unreal luck. She jumped, tapped the indent which sent her away from the wall rather than up.

Damn!

She swung her front leg towards the now too distant ledge, flicked her fetlock, and her curved hoofblades sliding out gave her just enough reach to gain a flash of stability in which she swung her other front leg towards the ledge and grabbed it. A wiggle is all it took for Shield to grab the ledge with both her hooves, now without the need for blades, and she hung there by her bent fetlocks.

Trembling only a little, and not at all from the exercise but just adrenaline, she pondered her next step, or swing. The first floor balcony was two pony heights above and slightly to the left from her. At about mid-point between her and the overhang but to her right an ornamental vampony gargoyle watched the mansion gardens.

If I make this then they can call me the princess of Saddle Arabia.

Testing her strength by pulling herself up few times, she heaved with her legs holding the ledge so hard she basically threw herself upwards. Hind legs coiled like springs, she kicked the ledge now under her and flew upwards. Correcting her trajectory with a quick kick to the gargoyle's head on the right, her front legs reached the decorated railing of the balcony and she pulled herself up and dropped on the floor not to be spotted through the glass panes in both the balcony door and windows. During the few seconds of heavy silence she heard a soft 'thud' from below. The gargoyle's head had cracked under her kick and landed in the shrubbery surrounding the mansion. No sounds came from the inside of the building, though. A quick peek through the balcony window to the first floor hallway showed a unicorn guard just rounding a corner. Thankfully, the bright lights inside completely blocked the vision of Shield in the darkness outside.

Yeah, all floors will be patrolled. Probably by one or two ponies at most, but that's still a problem. Wall again it is then.

After the guardspony left the visible hallway, Shield scanned the wall for more opportunities to climb. This time she could afford to take it slow, because the upper floors were less likely to be guarded, earthpony and unicorn guards rarely looked upwards, and she didn't want to end with all her limbs broken lying in the middle of the gardens. Granted, it would likely not hurt that much in her current state of un-life, but getting away with three legs broken and half of ribcage gone would be rather annoying. Being bound by the order to complete her mission successfully and without being spotted was testing her capabilities and limiting her chances to find a plausible way to stop her master before he could do what he'd come here to do.

After yet another fifteen minutes of climbing, now slow, thought through, and precise, she reached the domed roof of the observatory tower and planted the final crystal ball.

She looked down and finally remembered that her mission wasn't over with this.

Oh for Celestia's sake!

While it had been possible to climb up the dome using her horseshoes and unnatural strength, going down would be a short slide followed by a long fall. Sitting on the highest point of the roof, she looked down at the guests still arriving to the party.

Two chariots stopped outside and the queue of guests split before two majestic figures. Shield had joined the Guard to protect citizens of Canterlot, and had sworn her oath of service to one of the incoming alicorns. A spike of pain and sadness hit Shield when she imagined what would the princess of the Sun say to her in her current situation. She shook her head, there was no time for that.

Alright, no way around it. Gonna have to see how far this body can drop.

Inching herself on her belly down the thick glass dome, hoofblades leaving deep scratches in it and stabilizing her descent, Shield reached the wall and tried to grab some sort of twisted ornament sticking from it which had helped her get up. It couldn't hold her dropping weight, though, and broke.

She flailed her legs in an attempt to grab something, anything, and managed to slow herself down several times by breaking more gargoyles and ledges, but-

Crunch.

Some thirty pony heights under the top of the observatory on the main roof of the mansion, the motionless corpse of an earthpony mare stared up, stars reflecting in her lifeless eyes.

Minutes passed.

Shield's legs twitched. She blinked.

"That... sucked thousand ponuts," she relieved herself. Sometimes even the undead needed a good swear, or at least a decent one in a pinch. She carefully stood up, looking for bones poking through her skin. Nothing. She had fallen on her back, but her hardened though still yielding flesh cushioned the fall enough so that she could heal quickly, "Not doing that again in a hurry."

Walking towards the edge of the roof leading behind the mansion, Shield looked down again. This one would be easy.

This time she slipped right after the second windowsil and dropped only one story down. She landed on all fours easily with no damage done. All that remained for now was to return to the garden maze which she, after a good look around for any pegasi, batponies, and other guards, quickly did.

Her enhanced ears caught fragments of conversation coming from the maze.

"The set is here, Secret Seeker," said an unknown male voice, "the princesses brought both rings as a gift to the engaging couple. When your toy is done setting up the ritual all we need to wait for is the princesses releasing their hold over the rings. "

"Is the spell really going to put two alicorns out of action? I can't deal with them if they get loose, and I doubt you can," Black Shield's master's... Secret Seeker's voice was calm, but an experienced guard like Shield heard the harmonics of hesitation.

Well hello there, Secret Seeker. The master has a name after all. Now who is the other conspirator?

"It will work if you do it right. Just remember your role and your timing. There will be no resistance for a short time."

"And what if there is? Do I just teleport out?"

"You can't use translocation magic inside the mansion. If things go wrong for whatever reason just get out with the rings and then randomize your teleport location so they can't track you. It will be worth the short trip on hoof back."

"And then we part ways, you get one ring and I get the other."

"I thought of something better, Seeker."

"Oh?" Secret Seeker's voice filled with mistrust.

"You will get both rings. After all, somepony will go after you for the theft and you'll need to defend yourself. I doubt your flesh golem will be enough."

Thank you very much, whoever you are...

"You backing out of the entire deal at this point sounds too good to be true."

No, really?

"I am not backing out of anything, I am just being practical. I will still require you to present the rings to me for research, but when I'm not working with them directly you are free to use them as you please. After my work with them is done, you may keep them. I seek knowledge, not uncontrolled power."

"Deal."

"Just remember, I do not want bloodshed. A theft, even of two priceless antiques, is still forgotten more easily than a massacre. Use your magic very carefully, even for a distraction. You are an extremely powerful and talented individual, although you still lack precision," the other voice took a short break, "Your flesh golem is taking her time."

"Nothing major happened to her. I would know."

Nothing major? Oh screw you!

Black Shield stopped eavesdropping and snuck through the hedge maze only to find Secret Seeker waiting for her, completely alone.

"I had to knock one guard out, but the crystals are set," Shield reported.

"Excellent, now we wait," Seeker mumbled some words Shield didn't understand, and both of them turned see-through, "Let's find a good vantage point to see when the line of visitors is gone."

"Using this on me would have spared me having to climb up the freaking mansion," Shield hissed as they followed the outside wall to a corner where they had a clear view of the entrance and the incoming guests.

"Illusions and translocation spells don't work inside. Now shut up and wait, slave."

As usual, the word 'slave' turned Shield's legs to jelly and her crotch to a happy hot swamp. She was ecstatic for more reasons than the one forced on her by Seeker's magic, so she doubled down:

"Of course, master."

She could barely stop the surge of paralyzing pleasure at the admittance of her master's ownership, but she knew the real reason to be happy - now that she knew his name, she could get it out to somepony who could bring him to justice.

Secret Seeker...

She lay down onto the grass and watched each new guest. She knew some of them, nobles usually attenting princess Celestia's court with some request. Two figures arriving fashionably late, however, caught her attention. A well-built white griffon overshadowing anypony outside of princess Celestia herself, and a black and white unicorn mare by his side. They were not nobles, and yet she had seen them having personal hearings with either of the royal sisters. He was supposed to be some sort of ambassadorial contact between Griffon Empire Intelligence Service, and she was his assistant or something? Shield wasn't sure.

Oh well, if Seeker and his mate have everything planned out, it doesn't matter who anypony is. Anything that can stop two alicorns in their tracks can stop any normal pony or griffon.

Shield shrugged, trying to think of a better way to pass time.

Master, master, master, master, master...

"Oh stars this place smells like a whorsehouse in heat!" after a while, Secret Seeker's eyes bulged and nostrils flared, "What are you doing?"

"Just lying here, master," Shield moaned while grinning like a cheshire cat.

Seeker growled and rubbed his temples. This was going to be a long wait.

Need For Power: Reminiscing

Connie wasn't overly comfortable entering the mansion with guests milling all around her. It reminded her too much of her old 'home', something she believed life on the streets had beaten out of her. Nonetheless, she felt a tiny touch of pride as she drew the glances of both noble stallions and mares around. She hadn't bothered too much with makeup or styling her mane, just a little pink lipstick and incessant combing. However, she had chosen a set of clothes no other mare around would dare touch with a long pole.

The simplest explanation would be it was a set of stallion clothes cut for a mare. White, frilly shirt under navy blue and gold jacket covering her chest, and long, tight pants of the same colour scheme hugging her flank like yoga pants. The suit complimented her one blue eye, and made her pull off a classy and yet whorseish look at the same time.

Cromach was by her side and, while Connie drew interested stares that lasted only for a moment, his appearance made stallions burn with envy and mares with desire. His snow-white visage contrasted with black and gold jacket of Griffon Intelligence Service - the Black Ops, something feared and also admired in the ranks of high society with the knowledge of griffon hierarchy. He wasn't wearing anything other than the official jacket, showing off to the entire world the muscles of his waist, behind, and hind legs sliding hypnotically under white coat.

Noblemares didn't have enough self-control to avert their hungry eyes.

"Ambassador Cromach and lady Contradiction!" the earthpony usher with quite the pair of lungs on him called out the griffon and unicorn entering the ballroom.

If there was somepony who might have missed their entrance, they definitely got the memo about the importance of the arriving guests when the host of the evening, a white, blonde-maned unicorn noble in his early twenties hastily excused himself from the group of ponies he'd been talking to and strode over to Crom and Connie. Contrary to being the new lord of this mansion, the host of this celebration, and the unicorn about to be engaged to his beloved, Leo Goldhorn's red and gold clothes cut in a way similar to that of Royal Guard officers were easily lost in the blinding luxury of what his guests were wearing.

He wasn't alone. Halfway through the ballroom he was joined by a brown-haired satyr girl whose spring-green dress said she had very similar tastes to Connie. Figure-hugging, slipping in the crack of her behind with every step, and only accentuating every curve of her upper body. The curves were not voluptious, though, it was a toned and fit figure of somepony used to moving around and carrying heavy equipment, specifically griffon rifles and guns. Her name was Fortune, and she used to be an Order member just like Leo, one specialized in long-range projectile weaponry. It took a lot of strength to diveroll while shooting a sawed-off shotgun in one hand and keep a steady aim.

"So here is the promised couple," Connie smiled widely when Leo and Fortune walked over.

Fortune leaned down to Cromach who kissed her cheeks politely, smiling as well.

"Ah, screw it!" Fortune took Crom's head into her hands and gave him a deep kiss. She used to have a crush on the griffon before, and she knew her soon-to-be-engaged partner would understand. After all, both Fortune and Leo owed Cromach... if not everything than definitely a lot.

Alright, she used to be crazy about Cromach to the point of drooling insanity. Only a tiny fraction of that obsession remained, though.

"Hey, Connie, long time no see!" Leo took Connie's outstretched hoof and kissed it. Connie chuckled and hugged the noble unicorn.

"I'm glad things worked out for you, Leo," said Connie, "How is life with that firecracker anyway?" she nodded to Fortune still frenching Cromach who was starting to turn blue.

"I'm terrified to death each and every second that I'll do something dumb which will make her leave me," Leo smiled, "and it's totally worth it."

"Awwww," Fortune let Cromach go and gasp for breath, and ran her fingers down Leo's golden mane. She leaned to Connie and whispered loudly enough for all four of them to hear, "He has no idea I feel the same way."

Leo rubbed his muzzle against Fortune's toned belly. He wouldn't do this in the company of anypony else in the whole world, but Crom and Connie had been there as well, and knew what possible loss of everything meant. They understood that the open show of affection was nothing to be ashamed of.

"So, welcome to Leo's 'humble' abode," Fortune's fingers traced long lines over Leo's muzzle.

"OUR humble abode," Leo corrected her.

"Fancy," Connie had nothing much to say, she wasn't really interested in the building, no matter how extravagant. She looked Fortune up and down, "Gotta admit you look good in a dress. Up till now I couldn't imagine you wearing anything other than cargo pants filled with ammo and grenades and some oil-stained shirt."

Fortune's eyes twinkled and her mouth turned to a crooked grin.

"And how about you, all fancy and that too. I would have imagined you to arrive in something from a cheap night club to get some tail tonight," the satyr winked, "Or maybe, just guessing here, the tight pants are there to keep something from sliding out, perhaps something griffon-shaped, hmmm?"

Connie shuffled her hind legs nervously. The bipedal bitch could read her like an open book. It was mutual, though.

"Sadly, a poor, unloved mare like me must resort to such substitutions. That," she nudged Cromach watching them with amusement, "or I'm just stretching for the bigger fish, the one you failed to catch."

The crossed glares of the unicorn and the satyr could crush a brick between them.

"So, ehm, Leo," Cromach coughed to interrupt the staring contest, "I wasn't expecting you two to make it official so soon."

Fortune walked around and slapped Connie's plot right under the tail. Her palm did hit something hard. Connie huffed and walked away to the other side of Cromach, much to the satyr's laughter.

"Well, I've got some big advantages unicorns don't have an Leo likes," Fortune brushed away an invisible piece of dust from her dress at breast height, "and I enjoy his company. After I signed a pile of papers prepared by Leo's father's lawyers stating that I wouldn't try to rob him blind in case our relationship went south, there was nothing to wait for."

"I still don't understand what he sees in a shaved minotaur like you, foulmouth. For a misguided while I actually considered gunning for him," Connie snorted.

"I repeat, these?" Fortune squished her breasts together. She wasn't overly endowed in any respect, but it was still something most ponies lacked, and her coltfriend enjoyed immensely.

"Pfff," Connie waved her hoof dismissively, "Milktanks like a cow, big whoop. No well-maintained fur, tiny tongue that doesn't reach anywhere. Muzzle that can't even take his entire-"

"I guess you do know what makes stallions tick better than I do," Fortune gave her a smug look, knowing she would win this one, "I should thank my stars that Leo isn't like the hobos you had to sleep with to not starve on the streets, or maybe just to have something warm in your stomach for the day."

Leo placed a hoof on Fortune's hip.

"Honey, remember how she threw you through a wall back in the Order mansion? Yeah, I can't afford rebuilding this place, and we don't need new flesh-coloured wallpaper."

"In my defense," Fortune raised her hands, "she didn't throw me through a wall, she broke the wall first. Had she not done that, I would now be thin enough to become Photo Finish's model. Don't worry, Leo, we are just messing around, aren't we?"

Connie nodded, giving Leo a genuine warm smile again.

"Yeah, I'm ecstatic you two are finally making it official. What made you think I wasn't?"

"Well, I-" Leo started.

"Stallions, right?" Fortune interrupted him, winking at Connie.

"Exactly. No sense of humour."

They both joined in sinister laughter sending shivers down the spines of all stallions who could hear.

Leo just shrugged.

"Uhh, yeah. How about I leave the two of you to crazy it up in here and have a chat with sir Cromach?"

"Sure, hon," Fortune gave him a kiss and waved at Connie, "There's a bar in the corner, let's catch up on what's happened since we left the Order."

They walked away. Leo stopped a unicorn servant with a floating tray of drinks and levitated a glass of red wine for the griffon and fizzy champaigne for himself.

"So, how are you, Leo? Haven't seen you since you and Fortune left Manehattan," Cromach smacked his beak at the sweet taste of the fortified wine.

"To be completely and utterly honest - terrified and ecstatic at the same time."

"Happy you finally have somepony you can be yourself with and worried beyond all belief that you will fail her?" Crom gave the unicorn a knowing look.

"How...?"

"A - I heard what you said to Connie while Fortune was shoving her tongue down my throat. And b - it was exactly the same with me and Blaze. I can only wish your story has a more fairy tale ending than ours."

"I'm sorry," Leo lowered his head.

"Don't be. Connie said I needed a distraction, and now I have to agree. I've never been the party pooper before. I think I'll just enjoy the food and sights."

"There ARE several single mares looking for company. These parties are always a good place to find some. Stallions too if you want, although much less because nobility still frowns on those kinds of relationships," Leo nudged Crom.

"Let's not get hasty, Leo."

"Sir, it's been over half a year. I'm not talking about finding somepony else, but Connie wrote to us few times and said you wouldn't even go outside the manor. That's not the griffon who beat the spoiled unicorn brat out of me and inspired me to be more than just my father's son."

"Speaking of your father, how did he take the news?" Cromach tried to derail the topic. It was agonizing. He knew Blaze wouldn't want to see him like this, and yet just the thought of finding somepony else felt like a betrayal of his memory.

Leo let out a weary sigh.

"Nobility is nobility, sir. When he heard I wanted to be engaged to a satyr he threatened to disown me. Luckily, after your coltfriend's death princess Celestia kept very close tabs on all of us. I guess somepony told her about it and she pulled some strings. I got this mansion, a meager portion of my father's wealth in monthly payments, and a reward for my service from the princess herself. Honestly, I don't even know what to do with all this."

"Have you talked to your father after that? Maybe-"

"Don't get me wrong, he willingly agreed to help me with all this when the princess 'explained' what we achieved. He was happy I became sort of a hero, he just had to completely overhaul his expectations. Only thanks to him there are this many ponies here tonight to see me and raise my profile in society. Granted, both princesses promising to arrive and wish me and Fortune all the best must have helped. Even I only know a tiny fraction of all the visitors."

"Leo, I know you can handle being a noble and an example to your peers," Cromach embraced the unicorn, "If I ever have a son I'll be happy if he grows to be even a little like you."

"He he he. Sir, I doubt you can understand how much that means to me. Still, you're like four years older than I am. Not the right time to pull off the old pony speech."

Apprehensive coughing cut through their hushed laughter. A grey-coated, brown-maned hippogriff wearing a simple white shirt and brown pants stood there, looking happily at Leo and Cromach. He was young, just over twenty, but had a physique achievable only by training and hard work in the fresh air at the same time.

"STRAW?" Cromach's eyes went wide.

"You didn't think I would leave him out, did you?" Leo hugged the hippogriff, "Great to see you, Straw."

"Nice to see you too, Leo," Straw Basket, the final surviving member of Contradiction's team patted Leo's back, and when the unicorn let go he bowed to Cromach, "I'm glad you are here, sir. Connie wrote you needed some cheering up."

Fortune, rushing through the ballroom followed by Connie levitating four full glasses, exclaimed:

"The big hero himself!"

The satyr picked Straw up and pushed his muzzle against her chest. Straw wrapped his wings and forelegs ending in talons around her while balancing on his hind legs.

"Hey," Leo faked a frown at somepony else's muzzle buried somewhere where only his should be. He couldn't be happier Straw made it in time, though. The hippogriff was a great friend, but he lived in a small logging town on the southern frontier of Equestria, and train travel was not too frequent down there yet.

Straw pushed himself away. Rearing on his hind legs, he was almost as tall as Fortune. His talon poked the satyr's breast.

"I think these are only for Leo now, no?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I wish," Leo rolled his eyes, "She doesn't share as much as she could."

"You might need your own pair with how much you like them. I can't be glued to you twenty-four seven," Fortune stuck her tongue out at him.

"Sadly," Leo sighed wistfully to the laughter of everypony.

Connie levitated a glass of beer to Straw, rubbed her muzzle against his chest, and kissed him. There was a history between them, a short and warm affair which ended, just like with all of the old team members, in a friendship tempered by ride through hell.

Straw raised his glass and coughed.

"Leo, Fortune, I know the official ceremony is a bit later, but I wish you the best. You are perfect for each other, and I'm glad you are engaging this soon because you deserve as many days together as possible. Cheers!"

"Hear, hear!"

Five glasses went 'tink' as the old team's paths crossed once again.