The strange visitor, Overcast Vesper, had left everyone in a confused state. Cloud soon enough snapped to attention though, and grabbed Bravura to rush him back to Oregano for some medical attention. With a quick promise to return for Mawr, he flew off and away on a Support Circle, leaving the Changeling and Horse among the chaos.

“[Well!]” Said Kufn with a start. “[Ra seems to have disintegrated or otherwise vanished, I have a good bit of that gold to claim downstairs, I might even get a bonus for helping to rescue those children!]” He took a breath before exhaling with a grin. “[I’d call that a mission success!]” He gave a quick wink to Mawr before heading for the trapdoor. Mawr picked up a nearby dismembered Minotaur hand and flipped him off. Oh good, I have the energy to move. Mawr stood up slowly and shakily made her way towards the unconscious yellow Pegasus, picking up a stray knife along the way.

While a Phoenix transformation could stop a Changeling from dying in the immediate sense, it did not put them into good health. Her wounds were mended, but Mawr was very much without energy - emotional or otherwise - and was extremely vulnerable. Her chitin was softened to a state weaker than a fleshier creature such as a Pony or Horse, and her mind was without defense against any sort of mental attack. It had kept her alive, yes, but even the weakest attack from the weakest opponent would kill her in an instant.

Regardless, Mawr was a professional and had no plans to take it easy. She woke the Pegasus with a swift kick to the head.

“Daring Do,” Mawr croaked, her voice strained and slow, “we meet again...”

“Have… we met before?”

“Bitch I’m a Changeling, you’ll never know.”

“Uh…”

“You usually operate in Equestria.” Mawr held up the knife she’d grabbed. “You’re telling me how you planned how to get back there, or you’re losing an eye.”

“Where’s Ra?” Do asked. “What happened here?”

“Your boss? Heh, he warned you a certain stallion was coming, right?” No reason for her to know the truth, and I sure as hell don’t want notoriety from this. There’ll be no consequences pinning this on Cloud, definitely. None I care about anyway…

“Wait… That ‘Cloud Calculation’ he talked about…” Do’s eyes widened in disbelief, “...he beat Ra?!”

“Cloud is a stallion who’s fought actual gods, defeating some pretender was nothing to him.” Mawr held up the knife once more. “Stop avoiding the question. Tell me how you planned to return to Equestria.”

“I…” Do paused for a moment, glancing between Mawr and the knife. Finally, she gave a tired sigh and he shoulders dropped. “I had a deal with someone. Ra was collecting magical artifacts, and one of ‘em was too dangerous for him to get. I’d already planned to put an end to his operation and take the artifacts somewhere safe, but when I heard he was after the Tome of Consumption I had to be fast. The Tome… it’s dangerous, to say the least. It allows people to instantly learn different skills within seconds, but it curses them. It twists their mind, makes them obsessed with violence and death. I had to join him to stop him, he was already too much for me alone to stop, and I didn’t have time to get help from Princess Celestia with the Tome in danger of being taken-”

“Would you hurry this up?” Mawr tried to growl, instead coming out as a weakened beg. “I asked you how you plan to get back, not why you came here. Hurry up, asshole.” Before I pass out...

“I’m getting to it, okay?!” Do exclaimed. “Jeez… Anyway, I made a deal with Ra: I would help him to gather other artifacts, and in exchange he would give the Tome to me. But then…” Do frowned. “Then Calculation got to the Tome. It was being kept in one of Ra’s hideouts, he used the place for storing different books about magic - and fittingly enough marked the sign out front with the symbol for magic. Apparently he was smart enough to not use the Tome, and kept it there after he’d found it. Why Calculation went in there, I have no idea. He’s a Unicorn; maybe he thought he could steal some spells. Anyway, he was somehow able to take the Tome and use it, though I don’t get how he would: At minimum he’d need some sort of magical conductor, something that could channel magical energy, kinda like drinking it with a straw. I didn’t find any trace of one though. The Tome corrupts the conductor used as much as the person who uses it, it’s not the sorta thing someone would throw away. It’s not like you have to stop using it, as long as you have some way to learn something, usually books, you can still use it.”

A realisation suddenly struck Mawr. “Wait, so if a dictionary were to be used, for example…”

“The user would immediately have full comprehension of whatever language it was written in,” Do replied.

Mawr tried to groan but instead let out an exhausted sigh. That explains why he can speak Saddline all of a sudden. She sat down, as even standing had become extremely taxing.

“Though I doubt he used something as silly as a dictionary, it did look like Calculation used the Tome. He was in bad shape when I found him, and the Tome was missing, but then... I couldn’t find whatever he’d used as a conductor. Ra had some kind of magic alarm attached to the place, and he’d sent me to deal with whoever was there. Eventually Ra put the Tome’s magic into a crystal, but the curse of the Tome was just… gone. So-”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Mawr cut in, “so he kept using the crystal and wouldn’t give it to you, I know. You either suck at answering questions or you really wanna lose an eye.”

“I had a friend bring me to Saddle Arabia, a Dragon named Gaums. He brought me there because he owed me, but that was a one trip deal. In exchange for another trip back, I promised him I’d bring him a lot of Ra’s gold.”

“...Which you knew about, how exactly?”

“I might’ve sorta lied, but then I lucked out and it turns out Ra liked gold a lot.”

“‘A lot’ is putting it lightly…”

There was a grunt from across the room as Kufn lugged up the last of the gold. He took a moment to catch his breath before walking over to Mawr.

“[Alright tighty!]” Kun grinned. “[I have my payment - ‘two hundred sandpaper plus whatever I want to take from who we’re after’ - and you have your kidnapping victim. I’d say that’s a done deal! Good working with you!]” He stuck out a hoof to shake.

“[Yeah, change of plans,]” said Mawr. “[We need that gold to secure a ride back to Equestria.]”

Kufn’s eye twitched and his hoof returned to the ground, but his grin remained. “[...Excuse me?]”

“[My dislike for you aside, I don’t like being unreasonable when it comes to business. How’s this: I’m working for Princess Luna of Equestria. You stay with us until we’re back and safe, I’ll make sure you’re paid minimum the equivalent of that,]” she gestured to the gold, “[from the Royal Treasury itself. I say minimum because our original agreement entitled you to all that, and this new agreement means more work on your end. I’ll even throw in an airship ride to a location of your choice, if I’m able.]”

Kufn’s face was unreadable for a short time, before finally he laughed coldly. He walked close and whispered into her ear, “[if it’s not at least double, there will be consequences.]”

“[Uh huh. Anyway, I’m dangerously low on energy, so do me a favour and fuel me up, would you?]”

“[Nope,]” Kufn shook his head. “[No dick, no deal.]”

“[I don’t have the energy to-! Oh forget it…]” Mawr turned back to Do and held up the knife one more time. “Sit on my face.”

“...What?”

On the outskirts of the camp, the bushes began to rustle as something approached...

The One Eyed Snake was the seediest and scummiest nightclub in Canterlot. This made Fluttershy especially concerned that Twilight had asked her to go there at three in the morning.

Even as she approached from down the street, Fluttershy could see the lights flashing and music blaring loudly. It was exactly the kind of music she didn’t like; loud, odd bleeps and a pounding beat. She couldn’t even understand the lyrics, all she could hear was the lead singer yelling ‘hot pizza’ over and over. Why does it have to sound so unnatural? Why can’t people appreciate something something more natural like the voice of a songbird? Or something more calming like the sound of a river? Or the roars of a lion as it tears a gazelle to shreds?

Though the discomfort in her gut grew, she continued towards the nightclub. A large beige stallion with a shaved mane and orange tail stood at the door. He wore a black suit and dark sunglasses. Fluttershy questioned how he could see, with the night dark enough already. As she came to the door, she realised… he could not.

Well.

Fluttershy walked into the nightclub. The dancefloor stretched out before her, littered with colourful lights and raving ravers. On either side of the room were spiral staircases leading up to a second floor, filled with tables and booths for those wanting to sit and drink. Fluttershy saw little of this though; deafened by the music and hardly able to see as light flashed across her eyes to each beat of the song. How Twilight expected her to find her, Fluttershy had no idea. She found herself tempted to give up searching before she even began and walk right back outside. Before she could, however…

There’s a spiral staircase in front of you and to your right. Find it, then look for a table in the back.

Though startled enough to let out an unhearable “meep,” Fluttershy quickly enough regained her composure and slowly walked forward, keeping her body low to steady her nerves. Her eyes began to adjust, and she could make out the vague silhouette of the staircase Twilight had thought about. She made her way to it as she dodged past the people throwing themselves about and whipping their manes around. As she reached the top of the staircase, she could see Twilight waving her over from a booth against a wall, along with Pinkie sitting next to her bouncing to every beat. Applejack was on Twilight’s other side, watching Fluttershy with a cold smile. As Fluttershy came close to the table, the sound from the club lessened drastically, sounding almost muffled, as if she’d entered a quiet bubble.

“I cast a quiet bubble spell, before you ask,” said Twilight.

“Oh… I see…” Fluttershy mumbled. She slipped into the booth seat opposite Twilight.

“Take a seat.”

“But I’m already-”

“Well, girls, now that Flutters-High has done as I asked and everyone is gathered, we can begin. I asked you all to come here for a very important meeting between the Spirits of Harmony.”

“If, um…” Fluttershy started. “If it’s a meeting between all of us, where’s-?”

“The other two are in the bathroom, Rainbow Dash drank too much while we were waiting for everyone else to arrive, but I’ve got them linked via a passive telepathy spell. They they can hear us just fine, but we can’t hear them.”

“So Twilight! So Twilight! So Twilight!” Bounced Pinkie. “What’re we dooooing?!”

“Sitting down and being quiet, you loud piece of-”

“Why don’t you enlighten us as to why you gathered us here tonight, Twilight?” Asked Applejack, cool and composed. “We’re all rather eager to hear what you have to say.”

“Right, right…” Twilight closed her eyes as she composed herself, and sipped at her drink. Fluttershy glanced at Applejack with a slightly confused expression, but put the thought aside as Twilight replaced her drink on the table. “I need to tell you all about what’s been going on, and what kind of trouble we might be in…” Over the course of about an hour, Twilight explained everything she had learnt since the destruction of Ponyville: Her mentor’s involvement in shady activities, Cloud’s banishment and strange DNA, the truth behind the attack on her mother and Spike’s arrest, and how Princess Luna had shown her true colours. As she explained, the other two returned from the bathroom.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but notice that the song playing was being looped over and over. She supposed either the DJ or nightclub owner must really like ‘hot pizza’. Maybe they’re Itailian… The others hadn’t seemed to have noticed the music, too busy asking questions as Twilight continued to explain. All except Applejack, Fluttershy noticed, who instead watched each of them in turn - including Fluttershy herself - and gauged their reactions to the various things Twilight was saying. Her eyes went lower, and noticed Applejack’s tail. At first she thought it was swinging to the beat of the song, but after a moment she realised it was extremely off-beat.

“This is… a lot to take in…” Said Rainbow Dash, as Twilight finished. The sudden end of Twilight’s droning monologue snapped Fluttershy out of her trance, just in time for the next important observation.

“That’s what your mom said last night!”

“Shut up, Pinkie.”

“But, Twilight…” Fluttershy mumbled, “if all this is true, then… what can we do about it?”

“I’m glad you asked, Mumbleguy,” said Twilight, pausing for dramatic effect.

“That’s not my na-”

“I have a plan to put everything back to how it should be!” She smiled triumphantly. “But I’ll need help from all of you to do it. I’ve found a very dangerous spell, but it’s far too advanced for anyone to cast, even me. I have an idea on how we can remedy that, though! We’ll need to be secretive; we can’t afford to let either Princess know we’re after one...”

“You could have mentioned there was gonna be a Police raid!” Cloud exclaimed for the third time as he and Bravura flew back to the cult site.

“I had more pressing matters on my mind, thank you very much,” Bravura coughed in reply. Bravura had awoken soon after receiving basic treatment, though his body was still lathered with blood. His simple wounds had been healed easily, but his worst wounds were internal. The doctor they’d seen had given him a healing potion to sip on while he continued to deal with the day’s problems, though she’d made him give his word he would take time to rest and heal completely when everything was done with.

“She’s a known assassin, and he’s working for her!” Cloud continued. “You didn’t stop to think that maybe them being there when a Police raid was gonna happen was a bad idea?”

“Lord you’re obnoxiously loud…” Bravura rubbed his face in between sips. “No wonder you were banished so far, they were probably worried they’d still hear you on the same side of the world...”

“Well that’s just rude!”

“Would you be quiet?!” Bravura groaned. “Goddamn jackass…”

“Language!”

“Oh don’t you dare start that!”

The travel took some time, but the two finally arrived at the cult site. The Police raid had already begun, made clear by the plethora of Zebras in uniforms similar to those Cloud had seen in Oregano.

As Cloud flew them down to the ground, Bravura threw a consultant pass around Cloud’s neck. Before Cloud could question this, a black helmet was slammed onto his head, promptly knocking him out. The Support Circle under the two of them shattered, as did one of Cloud’s hindlegs as they crashed into the ground.

“{Bravura,}” greeted a nearby Police officer, “{nice of you to drop in.}”

“{Hey, Excess Plain.}” Bravura sucked in air through his clenched teeth. “{Ouch… Bad idea, in retrospect.} You okay, Cloud?”

”Why would you do this.”

“{Yeah, he’s fine.}”

“{Y’know, some of the artifacts they’ve got here are pretty amazing,}” Mr. Ex. Plain monologued, “{take this for example,}” Plain held up a stack of ivory playing cards, “{this is really strange. Lucky we have Daring Do around, else we’d never know what they did.}” He tossed one of the card at Cloud’s broken leg. The card slashed into it like a knife, making Cloud scream. The card exploded into a flurry of lights and Cloud’s leg lit up all the same, leading to Cloud screaming harder as every cell in his leg was incinerated and vaporised. In a very bloody explosion, a new leg ruptured out from his torso, replacing the one he’d just lost. Finally, the lights faded and disappeared.

“WHY-”

“{Impressive,}” nodded Bravura. “{Is Ms. Do awake now?}”

“{Yeah, she’s over yonder,}” Plain pointed in a vague direction behind himself. “{We found her in that temple, uh, ‘celebrating’ with her lady-friend.}”

“{Oh my.}”

As Bravura and Plain continued to talk, Cloud shakily climbed to his hooves. He look a look at his new left hindleg. A line of hairless scar tissue ran around the perimeter of his leg, just above the thigh. The leg itself seemed to be otherwise fine, responding perfectly well as he tried moving it in a few different ways. Its coat was noticeably lighter than the rest of his body. Well, that’’s just fucking great. Silly me for thinking my body wasn’t scarred and changed enough on this journey! For a moment, Cloud considered telling Bravura before walking off, but the anger growing in his gut suggested otherwise. He walked off towards the cathedral by himself.

He entered through the hole in the wall. Spread throughout the cathedral were various Police officers, most being Zebras but a few being Diamond Dogs.The Police were canvasing the area. Many of them tried to chalk out where various cultists’ bodies had been, this resulting in the floor looking as if bags of powdered chalk had exploded. Cloud flew over to the trapdoor, not wanting to disturb their definitely important and necessary work. After a small internal debate about whether to climb down the ladder or float down on the Circle, he decided to do both - standing on the Circle with his hind legs while gripping the ladder with his forelegs as he descended.

“Nailed it.”

“Hey! Shithead! Over here!”

Cloud turned to see who was calling, quickly spotting Mawr. Kufn and Do sat behind her, Do looking dazed and red in the face, Kufn singing under his breath as he polished his sword. Why does he keep saying ‘hot pizza’?

“Wow,” said Mawr, “you actually responded to ‘shithead’. I’m impressed.”

“I thought someone was calling for you,” Cloud responded cooly, “I was gonna pass on the message.” Ha! Yeah! I did it! I said a cool thing!

“Uh huh, whatever.” Dammit that was a good comeback! “Short version is; we’re stealing the gold to pay a Dragon to fly us back.”

“Um.”

“As for how to get the gold and get out,” Mawr continued, “you’re going to carry it with magic, that bitch,” she motioned to Do with her head, “is going to lead us through the mine, and when we’re far enough I’ll dig us out as a Diamond Dog. You ready to go or what?”

Cloud paused for a moment. “...Yeah. Just gimme a couple minutes.”

“Hurry it up.” Mawr clicked her tongue, and the two others got to work sealing the crates.

Cloud summoned a Support Circle, charged himself up, and, with a telepathy spell, sent Bravura one last message before he left:

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mONxonKBW0

---

So ends the Oregano sub-arc. I might revisit this later on, there was more I wanted to do with the location and characters. The doctor at the beginning was originally supposed to have a much bigger role, as was Toestel, and the whole subplot with the mayor was cut and so on and so forth. The main reason for all this being that I want to hurry up writing this story so it doesn't take a couple decades.

From this chapter onward, this story is now rated Mature. Mostly so I can have more freedom with the jokes. Partly because we were skating the line between T and M anyway.