Another Sunday has arrived, with all the time in the world, a familiar group of boys decided to spend it looking for costumes for the upcoming Halloween Ball. They decided to look around the Canterlot Mall, since lots of Halloween stores are open there during this time of year. Arriving at the first store, they began to browse around.

“Hm… what to wear, and what to wear to scare…”, Toxigo said.

Coppermane looked to Toxigo, “Why not just apply makeup to look like you’re possessed? Just add some eyeliner, and some extra makeup. I mean, your eyes already are looking like you’re possessed.”

Toxigo raised a brow as he looked to Coppermane.

Coppermane raised his hands up, “Not that it's a bad thing!”

“That could work, but what I’m looking for is something I can wear to dance with Sunset Shimmer. Something simple. If I have time, I can make it better, but just something to start with.”

“Well, we’ve got several days, and a couple weeks before we get there. You should still have some time on your hands,” Coppermane replied.

The boys walked inside the store and began looking around at the different costumes that were on display, and were around the shelves and in packages. Toxigo’s gaze went up and down as he began observing a pirate costume that was in a bag. He picked it up and squinted his eye as he took a look at it.

“Nope, not my size and it looks stupid,” Toxigo replied.

Flash looked on the left side of the store and he was looking through some science fiction costumes.

Toxigo leaned his head from the side, looking at what Flash was looking at.

“You into sci-fi?”

Flash looked back, “Actually it's Twilight who’s into sci-fi. I thought maybe I could go as a character from one of her favorite shows she likes.”

Toxigo smiled, “Aw, that’s sweet of you.”

Flash grinned and he looked back at the costumes. Could he pick this one? Would Twilight like this one?

Over with Coppermane, he was busy looking at a few superhero costumes that were available.

“Let's see… nope. Not my size.”

Coppermane looked at some of the masks and a grin came on his face. He began trying them on, and he looked at himself in a mirror seeing each one that went on his face. But by the time he pulled the third mask off, he froze when he saw a boy with gray-blue skin and black spiked hair standing behind him in the mirror.

“Neon…” Coppermane said, turning around with a sneer. “Have you come to start another fight?”

“I’m not here to fight Coppermane. Besides, we’re here in a public place. Fighting you out in public would be… unethical.”

Coppermane sneered, “Well why would you be here? You trying to reclaim your glasses? Which by the way, you don’t really need. You’re indoors, for god's sake.”

“I’m not here to reclaim my glasses. I’ve come here to talk to you,” Neon said.

“Me?” Coppermane raised a brow.

Neon nodded.

“I have some things I need to tell you. Things you need to know about your little friend… Tox.”

“Don’t even try to Neon, I already know everything about him,” Coppermane said turning around, looking back at the costumes.

“Well do you know this? Before he ever joined you Wondercolts, he was one of us,” Neon said.

“I know. He was a former Shadowbolt just like me,” Coppermane said without interest.

“Well did you know that he was our friend?”

“Yes,” Coppermane interrupted.

Neon’s eyes widened, “And how do you know that?”

Coppermane gave a smug look to Neon, “He told me.”

“Why would he tell you, of all people?” Neon hissed.

“Because I asked him,” Coppermane said. “He’s our friend, and he trusts us. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have costumes to look through.”

Coppermane turned his back, looking intently at the costumes on the shelf.

“You can’t win you know,” Neon huffed.

“And what makes you so sure?” Coppermane sneered.

“Because I know what you’re dealing with. We can take down you, your friends, your girlfriend, and your scrap pile of a friend all down. You think you can just waltz in with new magic at your beck and call?”

“What makes you think we were gonna do things with magic at all?” Coppermane said. “Do you not remember the Friendship Games? They used their magic to save us from being killed.”

“That’s what you think,” Neon said. “You know just as well as I do, you wanted to use that magic to cheat.”

“Just let it go already!” a voice yelled.

Neon turned his head to the side and entered in a boy with spiked up blue hair and a gray jacket. He crossed his arms, glaring at Neon.

“And who are you?” Neon asked.

“I’m the guy who’s gonna kick your ass if you threaten my friend,” Flash growled. “The Friendship Games happened months ago, just let it go already! It's not anything worth being this upset about!”

Neon rolled his eyes. Flash paused when he noticed he wasn’t wearing his usual pair of shades.

“Huh. You know you look better without the glasses. Why do you even wear them, you don’t even need them.”

Neon snarled, “Don’t even start with me on those.”

Flash and Coppermane sneered at Neon with ice cold glares.

“Why are you really here, Neon?”

Neon took a moment and paused. Then he stared at Flash and Coppermane with a serious look.

“Just want to leave a word of advice. Be careful around your new ‘friend’ Toxigo. He may have told you a few things, but I guarantee there so much more he hasn’t told you. Like maybe you don’t know this, but you actually have met him long before you or him ever went to CHS. Do you even remember him, Coppermane?”

Coppermane paused, “Um… no?”

Neon chuckled, “I thought so. But I should give you a fair warning, he’s keeping quiet about a few things.”

Coppermane and Flash looked to one another, and Neon chuckled.

“Is that a little distrust I see? Distrust for Tox? I think you’re having second thoughts about him now.”

“Back off. This is none of your business.”

Neon felt his skin go cold when he heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned around and he saw Toxigo leaning against the side of a wall, with his arms crossed, and with his own shades worn on Toxigo’s face. A sneer crept Toxigo’s face as he glared at Neon heavily.

“Consider yourself lucky I’m in a good mood. Now back away from my friends,” Toxigo snarled.

“Friends!? You actually call these two, friends!? Coppermane’s a total loser!”

Toxigo just stomped past Neon and stood next to Coppermane with a smug look on his face.

“Coppermane is so much more than you ever were, Neon. Unlike you, he has my back. He’s someone I can sympathize with. And he doesn’t attack or judge me without reason,” Toxigo said patting Coppermane’s shoulder.

Coppermane couldn’t help but feel smug. Three against one. Neon was outnumbered.

“Besides, you have thousands of pairs of sunglasses. One pair won’t make a difference.”

Toxigo’s cold metallic hand grasped the side of Neon’s face, making him freeze in place. Neon could feel the sharp little tips of the fingers touching the side; he could only hope that they wouldn’t be digging into his skin, scraping the flesh off his beautiful face.

“No… I suppose it won’t,” Neon replied.

Toxigo grinned, “Good. Its nice to see even someone like you can be reasonable as to not make a scene.”

Neon still left a sneer on his face as he glared at the three of them.

“I still don’t understand how these two would let in a junkheap like you into their kind. Canterlot has nothing on us,” Neon replied.

Tox felt his fist clench up, but he felt Coppermane’s hand pat his shoulder with a stern look on his face. Toxigo just simply exhaled and backed off.

“I think you’ve forgotten something Neon. You assaulted him. You and your friends drove him away from Crystal Prep. He’s with us now.”

“And if you think I’m gonna back down like I did before, you’re wrong. You can try as you might, I only get stronger,” Tox said as his clashed his metal fingers together, making some scraping noises. They sounded like swords clashing together just from the clanging.

Toxigo moved his hand up to take off the shades, exposing his red blood eye and his yellow fake replacement.

“If you didn’t fear be before… you will,” Toxigo growled. He noticed how Neon was looking at him. As if he was looking at a ghost.

“What are you gaping at?” Toxigo snarled.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Neon said.

“Good. You wouldn’t want to be near the tips of my fingers… you see these?” Tox presented his metallic fingertips in front of Neon’s eyes, giving him a view of the sharp ends that gleamed with luster. “These tips have been made from several kitchen knives and blades that I forged into my hand. Not just for cutting through food and material, but it has a strong grip and it can slice right through human skin. Amazing what you can do when you have all of the time in the summer to grow stronger and more powerful than you ever imagined.”

Neon still said nothing. His heart was pounding against his chest.

Tox smirked, “You’re scared aren’t you? I can see it in your eyes. Fear. Deep, lingering, delicious fear.”

Nothing was said. Not from Neon. Not from Coppermane or Flash. Neon stood still, seemingly paralyzed, still as if he was seeing a ghost.

“Tox?”

“What?!” he shouted, staring down Coppermane as he gradually shrunk down.

“Toxigo… just calm down,” Flash said.

“You too?” Toxigo said. “I’m just trying to protect you guys.”

“Tox, maybe take it back a notch,” Flash said. “You’re starting to freak me out.”

“What do you mean?” Toxigo asked.

“Tox… this doesn’t sound like you,” Coppermane said, holding his hands up defensively. “I know you hate Neon, I do too, but… you just sound sadistic.”

Toxigo stood for a moment, noticing how shaken Coppermane looked, cowering below him. He then noticed that his hand was clenched in a fist, as if he was about to punch one of them. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his fist and held his other hand out to Coppermane.

“Sorry, dude,” Toxigo said. “Not sure what came over me.”

Coppermane accepted his hand and Toxigo helped him up.

“N-No problem,” Coppermane stammered. “Um… you sure you’re okay?”

“I think so,” Toxigo said. “But now… back to business.”

Toxigo turned around, only to see that Neon had disappeared.

“Damn it! He got away!” Toxigo said.

“It’s alright,” Flash said. “If anything, I’m happy he’s gone. Now we can keep looking at costumes.”

“Oh yeah. I almost forgot,” Toxigo said.

After leaving the store with the supplies they had bought, the boys began to wander around, seeing what else they could do for the day.

But all through their wandering, Coppermane kept a small distance from Toxigo. The very thought of what Neon said had clouded his mind with worry. Was there a dark truth to his new friend that he didn’t know? But that wasn’t the only thing he thought about. Tox was starting to act very strange. This wasn’t like his normal behavior at all. Why did he act like that? When did he ever act so… sadistic?

Toxigo came to a stop when he saw Coppermane behind him.

“You okay there, buddy?” Tox asked.

“Huh?” Coppermane blinked.

“You okay? Looks like something’s on your mind.”

“Oh, I was just spacing out for a bit. Just thinking about what we could do for the Halloween party, that’s all. You mind if I talk with Flash alone?”

“Um, sure, yeah. Catch on up?”

“Yes, of course.”

Tox nodded and walked away, leaving Flash and Coppermane to talk alone.

Flash turned to look at Coppermane, “You doing okay, Coppermane?”

“Something’s going on with Toxigo. Is there something he’s not telling us?” Coppermane asked.

Flash wasn’t sure, “Um… maybe? I don’t know.”

“Well, think about it. At first, you and the girls didn’t know anything about him and he mostly kept to himself. But now that he’s back here with us engaged in a battle with Neon Lights and the Shadowbolts, he’s starting to tell us these things we didn’t even know about him. Stealing the Alicorn Amulet, Sunset even told us that his family isn’t completely gone. He even told me something personal when we had dinner before we met up with you and everyone else.”

“Really? What is it?” Flash asked.

“Oh, um…”, Coppermane bit his lip, “I’m not sure if I should tell you. It's kind of a sensitive subject for Tox, and I don’t want anyone else to bring it up to him.”

“I won’t tell anyone. What did he say?”

Coppermane sighed, “You swear you won’t speak of this?”

“I promise.”

Coppermane sighed. “I hope he won’t find out because he won’t be happy if anyone finds out. When I had dinner with him, he told me he was friends with Neon Lights and the rest of his groupies.”

“What!?”

Flash clamped his mouth shut with his hand, taking notice of how loud he reacted.

“Sorry. But, seriously?” Flash beckoned.

‘Yes. Jet, Royal, Upper, Trenderhoof, all of them,” Coppermane replied.

“Did he tell you why they aren’t friends anymore?”

“Unfortunately no. I tried asking him but I got a dent in my dining room table as an answer,” Coppermane said.

“Yikes.”

“Whatever happened between them must have been really bad. But I don’t think we’re gonna get him to tell us about happened.”

“But shouldn’t we know? We’re his friends,” Flash said.

“True as that may be, I don’t think he really wants to talk about it.”

“Okay I guess… but we’ve got to find out sometime. He can’t hide it forever,” Flash replied.

“I know. We can ask him another time. Come on, we better find him… where did he even go?”

Looking around, they saw a glimpse of his hair in the window of the store on their left. The store had pictures of puppies and kittens and other various animals. The two boys walked inside the store and they heard the sound of little puppies barking.

“So… where did he go?” Flash asked.

Coppermane looked to one of the people working in the store.

“Excuse me sir, did you happen to see a guy with a prosthetic arm come in here?”

“Yes, he’s right over there playing with the puppies,” the man said pointing off into another direction.

They walked over to the left side of the store and they were met with an adorable sight. Toxigo was sitting in one of the playpens, playing with some of the puppies that were trying to get on him. One of them that drew his attention was a gray, black and white fluffy puppy, with a black nose and jaw, along with a curled up tail.

“Hey girl, you’re not vicious are you? No, you’re a nice doggie,” Tox said as another puppy crawled on his lap. He picked up one of the puppies and hugged it as it kept licking his face. Flash and Coppermane couldn’t help but stifle a snicker.

Toxigo froze when he heard them and he gazed up to see them giving smirks to him. He froze as the puppies continued to play and attempt to climb on him.

“Um… hi,” Toxigo said with a slight blush on his face.

Coppermane and Flash still smiled, just watching the puppies jump and bounce all over him.

“I have a soft spot for puppies,” Toxgio said.

Tox was silent and he just looked away for a second. He looked to the puppy in his lap and he set it down with the other bouncing puppies.

“Sorry sweetie, I’m afraid I can’t adopt you. But I’ll make sure I’ll come visit you,” Tox said ruffling the fur on the puppy’s head. He got back up on his feet, and stepped out of the pen.

“Thanks for letting me visit sir,” Toxigo said to one of the people working. “I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat.”

The three boys each got their food and sat a table far off in a corner over in the food court. And out of all of them, Tox was the only one who didn’t seem very happy.

“So… is there a reason you like dogs?” Coppermane asked.

Toxigo just scowled in return, “I said, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Tox, there’s nothing wrong with liking dogs, we just want to know,” Flash replied.

Tox just glared and huffed, “Fine. You want to know why I do? It’s because back in Equestria when I still had all of my limbs, I had a dog that I loved very much but I lost him because he died! Okay? You happy?”

Toxigo’s hands clamped onto his face, scrunching it. Coppermane and Flash were about to speak up, but they could only hear a small sound muffled from behind his hands. It sounded like… crying?

“Tox? A-Are you okay?” Coppermane asked. “Buddy?”

Tox slowly removed his hands to receive a friendly look from Coppermane and Flash.

“It’s okay buddy,” Coppermane said, “We’re here for you. It's alright. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Tox took a moment to breathe in and out to calm down, “O-Okay…”

“Just know, if you do want to talk about this… it’s okay. We can talk to you about this.”

Tox sighed, “Thanks guys… I really appreciate this.”

“Hm… he seems to be staying relatively close with those two mortals. This will make things more difficult…”, Hoops said.

“Relax,” Score said, “We can get them soon enough. We just need to keep monitoring their progress and inform her.”

Score pulled out a phone from his pocket and he dialed in a number to call.

“The green one that you’re after… he’s staying very close with two friends of his.”

“Mmm… so I see. Keep monitoring their progress and report back to me. I am more than halfway to the power I need… once the time comes, then I’ll make my move. He has what I need, and if I’m going to regain my power, I need him!”

“Understood.”

The double of Score hung up on the phone and he smirked with the Hoops double.

“Enjoy your time with your friends Toxigo. It’ll be ending sooner than you think…”

Author's Notes:

Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Sorry it took so long. Those following this story, thanks for sticking with it, and we hope to see you next time. By "we" I mean myself and FourShadow.

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