The next day, Thursday, Freedom Fighter and Noble Blade were walking through the streets of Ponyville. While Noble Blade wasn't wearing armor, Freedom Fighter wore his combat bodysuit, which was for the most part unnecessary.

As they walked Noble Blade leaned next to Freedom Fighter's ear. "Are you comfortable?"

Freedom Fighter shrugged and gave a jerk of his head.

"You don't want to visit Rarity's boutique? Why?"

Freedom Fighter plucked at his black suit.

"Oh!" Noble nodded understandably. "You think she's going to make you something awful for you to wear?"

Freedom nodded emphatically.

"Is that it?" he asked. "Really?"

Freedom Fighter shot him a glare with his red eyes, as if to say You already know that's the only reason I need.

"If you really don't want to be here with me, you can always return to the castle."

Freedom Fighter shook his head no vehemently.

"I understand you. I want to be out of the castle and free and out in the town as well. Maybe after the boutique we can do other things. Maybe if you behave I could get you an ice cream," he offered with a grin.

Freedom Fighter rolled his eyes and pointed at his mouth indignantly.

Noble inhaled sharply. "Shoot, I forgot!" He let his eyes travel to the ground ashamedly. "You don't have a way to lick the ice cream."

They reached the carousel-shaped boutique and entered it. Inside were about fifteen other ponies checking out the clothes available on coat racks and hangars. Upon hearing the bell heralding their approach Rarity turned from the customer she was helping to face them and grew a smile. "Why hello, Noble! And Freedom Fighter too! What brings you here?"

"Just a simple errand, Miss Rarity," Noble Blade replied. "I was hoping I could browse through your racks of clothes and find what I'm looking for."

"Well, what are you looking for?" she asked with a strained smile.

"I want a suit for Friday," he said, moving to a clothing rack and pushing the clothes aside. "Nothing too extravagant. Just something functional and comfortable."

"Are you sure I can't make a new one for you?" Rarity asked. "I need to only take your measurements, and I can have a suit ready- "

"Sorry, Miss Rarity," Noble cut her off, "but I need the suit tomorrow. I need only search for some special suits you have made here in this rather spacious section here. Don't worry. You don't need to go to the trouble to measure out a new suit and make it by tomorrow."

"Well, yeah, but- " Rarity stuttered for a little, then said under her breath, "I wanted to take your measurements."

"You wanted to?" Noble Blade asked serenely, turning around to look at her. "Why?"

Rarity took a moment before responding. "Because I wanted to feel you." Her teeth were clenched.

Freedom Fighter held a hoof to his mouth and shook with laughter like he'd received an electric shock. Noble gave him a look, however, and he immediately stopped. Evidently Noble didn't want Rarity to feel bad in front of him.

Noble turned back again to look at her, with sympathy in his eyes. He had already deduced what Rarity wanted. "You like me," he said matter-of-factly.

Rarity nodded mutely. Her eyes were on the ground.

Noble was almost as uncomfortable as she was all of a sudden. "Should I apologize?" he asked.

Rarity's head snapped back up. "Nonononono," she rushed. "There's nothing wrong! Nothing wrong at all! It...it's my fault for, ah, taking an interest in you while you already have your, um, special somepony."

Noble reared his head. "Does...does Fluttershy really feel that way about me?"

"Yes," Rarity said. "Yesterday, she and I had a, ah, rather loud discussion at the spa about you."

Noble raised his eyebrows. "So that's where the scream yesterday came from," he mused quietly.

"Fluttershy told me that she...she really, really liked you. And that it's not a crime for me to continue for admire you, because feelings just naturally come, and trying to suppress them just makes it worse. So...yeah. I like you."

Noble Blade sat down on a low stool as Rarity said it. He didn't say anything hurtful or in denial. He just studied her. After a while he cleared his throat. "That's good to know."

Rarity perked her ears up. "What?"

"I mean, it's bad to be a part of, obviously, but knowing that...it makes me even luckier that I'm with Fluttershy." He winced. "Sorry, that came out bad."

"That's fine, dahling, that's fine!" Rarity consoled him. "It's hard to put right, but I believe what you're trying to say is...knowing that you're envied by other mares makes it even luckier for Fluttershy to be with you."

Noble blinked. Then he chuckled for just a second. "I'm imagining what your response would be if I had said that you," he explained. He looked at her intently, a little stiff on his stool. "You're really okay with letting me go after Fluttershy?"

"Of course!" she said, waving a hoof. "I want to be a generous friend, and that includes setting aside my own wants for other pony's needs. And if anypony needs a pony like you, it's her. Just be happy with her, all right?" She said it all with a smile, but there was just a hint of reluctance in her face.

Noble relaxed his composure. "You're sure?"

"Absolutely," she responded, and it looked like she meant it. "I will not lie, it's hard to see somepony so virtuous and kind be with somepony else, but...I realized that I simply can't have everything in the world that I want all the time. So I've accepted that, and suddenly I've felt a lot better about the situation I have no control over."

Noble Blade smiled then. "Nicely worded," he complimented her. "No second thoughts about this?"

"None whatsoever," she said brightly. "Fluttershy's yours. I won't change that for either of you."

Noble Blade let out an exhale in relief. "Thank you so much, Rarity. I was afraid I was hurting you."

"It's just water under the bridge now," she replied, remembering and using the exact same phrase she had used the last time he had visited her. "Now let us discard this conversation and never recover it. What was it you said you needed for your suit?"

Noble blinked at the abrupt change in conversation, then scratched his mane. "Just something simple that fits well and looks good. I'll gladly pay you- "

"Adadadada!" Rarity stopped him, holding up a hoof. "No more talk of payment. This is for a special night, and I will deliver you it at no additional expense."

"I think not," Noble replied evenly. "Right now I'm just a customer in your place. I still have an obligation to pay, just like everypony else. I will not bend the rules simply because we're friends." He smiled. "Besides, what's the point of being generous if you don't allow others to be generous to you in return?"

Rarity put a hoof to her chin. "You make a good point," she conceded. She looked at Freedom Fighter, who was looking in a mirror and trying to get something out of his nose. Upon seeing her glance in his direction, however, he abruptly spun around and snapped to attention like he had been yanked up by the top of his mane.

"Don't pretend like I didn't see that," Noble Blade said, pointing at him. Freedom Fighter narrowed his scarlet eyes at him.

"Do you need anything, Freedom Fighter?" Rarity politely asked. "Anything for you that I can offer? And aren't you getting a little tired of wearing that tired old thing all the time?" She indicated his thickly armored bodysuit.

Freedom Fighter widened his eyes all of a sudden and shook his head no rapidly. Behind Rarity, Noble Blade grew an expression of concern.

"Are you sure you don't want to buy something for you?" she pressured him. "I can take your measurements for something you might like myself, you know."

Freedom Fighter shook his head no even faster, backing away from her.

Rarity made a face then. "Do you ever take that thing off?" she asked him. "To wash?"

Freedom Fighter gave a slow nod.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I took your measurements for something new?" Rarity asked, and her magic ignited and a fold of Freedom Fighter's bodysuit was enveloped in light blue magic.

But she instantly stopped her magic when she saw Freedom Fighter snap a single combat baton off his hip and hold it out to the side threateningly, narrowing his eyes at her. Behind Rarity, Noble Blade gripped the sides of his stool hard and leaned back in fear when he had taken the baton off.

Rarity gulped. "F-freedom..."

"He says no," Noble said, a bit of desperation in his voice. "Don't make him scared or angry, okay?"

Rarity wheeled around. "Noble?"

"He'll be a challenge for me to control once he's provoked," Noble Blade told her, trembling upon seeing Freedom Fighter ready to fight. "Drop the issue, please?"

Freedom Fighter looked at both of them for an instant longer. All activities and noise in the boutique had ceased, and every shopper was looking at the black-covered pony. Freedom Fighter was looking at Rarity, waiting to see if she made any more movement towards him.

Then, with a snap of his wrist, Freedom folded the stick in half and reattached it to his flank. He sat on his haunches and pointed at himself, then at the door.

"You want to get out of here?" Noble asked.

He nodded, then made a few gestures.

"You want to explore the town on your own?" he asked to clarify.

A nod.

"Come on, I know it isn't just her doing that to you. You're feeling stuffy, aren't you?"

Freedom Fighter shrugged. Then he assumed a heroic pose on his hind legs and pretended to punch off several invisible attackers.

"Oh, so you want to be a vigilante for the day?" Noble asked. "Get back into the old routine of stopping trouble and danger, eh?"

Freedom Fighter nodded.

He shrugged. "All right, then. Just don't destroy a lot of public property or harm anypony too bad. I want to have the town not see you as a threat."

Freedom Fighter saluted, then walked over the boutique's door, opened it, and disappeared.

"A vigilante?" Rarity whispered to Noble Blade. "Like the Mysterious Mare Do Well?"

Noble Blade tilted his head. "Pardon?"

"It's something me and my friends came up with a few years back," Rarity explained, leading Noble Blade over to the Stallion section of the boutique. "We did it to deflate Rainbow Dash's ego."

"I've had to deflate Firestorm's ego from time to time as well," Noble conceded. "Although most of the time his bragging doesn't really mean anything, and he knows it. He does them anyway because he thinks he needs to be funnier than he really is in order for ponies to like him."

Rarity blinked. "Wow. That's...really disconcerting, actually. I didn't know that."

"It's part of his...condition," Noble Blade replied uncomfortably.

"Condition?" Rarity asked. "What do you mean?"

"Sometimes there are ponies that have something wrong with them, but they just don't show it," Noble Blade said. He exhaled a little bit, then said, "Firestorm doesn't want a lot of other ponies to know this, because it's a little degrading, but I think you need to know it, just to understand him and what he does." He paused for just a little bit, then said, "He has autism."

Rarity tilted her head. "Autism?" she asked curiously.

"He only has a twinge of it--enough to keep life interesting for him...and different than the lives of others." He sighed. "Autism...isn't like a spectrum, like a line with one end being severely autistic and the other end being slightly autistic. It's more like a wheel, and you're on a specific part of the wheel and that defines just what kind of trouble you have in public."

"From what I've seen, he doesn't have a lot of trouble interacting with other ponies in public," Rarity pointed out.

"The reason he's so strange and easy-going in public is because he's trying his hardest not to be scared that other ponies won't like him," Noble responded. "He also acts ridiculous because he just wants to, and he knows that he can get away with it because...who's going to stop him? It's a sort of freedom for him. Either that or because he just enjoys it. Why do you need a reason for the fun things you do?"

"How do you know so much about him?" Rarity asked. She felt a pit of shame in her stomach from scolding a pegasus that was slightly mentally misaligned.

"I've lived with him and grown closer to him than perhaps any other pony, with the exception of my parents and Freedom Fighter. It's impossible for me to be as close as we are without knowing these deep, dark secrets about each other."

Rarity shrugged. Then she grew a sly smile while she pushed aside a few hanging clothes on a nearby rack. It was time for a subject change. "Ah, Noble? What is it exactly that made you fall for Fluttershy?"

Noble exhaled and scratched his mane. "Where do I even begin?" he wondered aloud. Rarity was still listening patiently.

Finally after a prolonged pause, he said, "First, I think it'd be the fact that she's...demure. Reserved. Shy. Not boastful or egocentric. Humble. She doesn't know what makes her beautiful." He smiled. "And that's what makes her beautiful. She doesn't even need to try to make me fall to my knees. The way she moves, the way she talks, the way she holds herself, the way her mane falls out behind her, her colors, her eyes...they all contribute to her nature of somepony that's impossible not to love."

Rarity nodded, satisfied.

"If I had to go on, though, I wouldn't just stop at the fact that she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he rushed. "She cares for everything like...like they're sacred to her. She wants to love everypony, no matter how they don't match with her. She won't stop until her full care has been given. She's devoted, and good at staying with something until she's done." His voice dropped to a whisper. "And I...I want her to be the same with me."

Rarity turned around. "Dahling, if there's anypony that would be perfect for you, it'd be Fluttershy." She spotted something hanging up that caught her eye, but she pretended to ignore it and focus instead with Noble. "You know, she's not taken," she continued.

Noble leaned his head back so far he almost fell over. "She isn't?" he asked in surprise. Noble's mind was racing. It was too good to be true! How could somepony like Fluttershy not have a coltfriend yet?

"I'm telling you, Fluttershy isn't going out with anypony yet," Rarity insisted, her eyes going yet again to the article of clothing on the rack. "This is your big chance!"

Noble sat on his haunches. When Fluttershy had accepted his feeble offer of a date, he had thought she was only doing it because she didn't want him to feel bad. But now, knowing that she was single...It made his insides squeeze.

Rarity came out with an article of clothing in her magic. "Now, I believe this shall do nicely, don't you say?"

Noble Blade widened his eyes. "Absolutely," he agreed.

Freedom Fighter wasn't sure where to go at first. Should he clamber atop a nearby building and do silent brooding over Ponyville? That was what the Power Ponies did, after all. But on the other hoof, the Power Ponies operated in Maretropolis, a sprawling, massive city. Not a local village.

As he thought this he bounced his head on his shoulders. 'At least I'm not with Rarity anymore.'

You're telling me! That was a close one!

'Can you imagine how that would have turned out?'

I dunno. You might need to tell them sooner or later.

'I can't do that!'

Yes you do. All they've seen of you so far is your super-creepy red eyes, and that's all you allow to be seen of you, instead opting to wear all this black.

He plucked at his bodysuit. 'You know why I can't show them my body. They won't like it. Besides, I need to keep my identity safe. What if the Noxxa were to find out who I am?'

Do you see any Noxxa here? He looked around, instinctively half-drawing a thick combat knife from the front of his bodysuit.

'Well, if there were any here I would have killed them already,' he reasoned, and let the knife fall back into its sheath. He decided to empty his mind then. He didn't want any more depressing subject matter.

He reached the part of the town near Sugarcube corner. He stood in front of the sweetshop like he was guarding it so he could observe the town's activity and see if there were any problems he needed to solve.

There weren't any he could see immediately, however. Everywhere around him ponies were doing picturesque things in places of peace- smiling, laughing, playing games, buying things from vendors, talking with others about normal conversation topics like the weather schedule. Did you know it's going to rain on Sunday? Goodness, no, guess I need to cancel my date in the park that day.

Which made him jog his brain. What was today, anyway? Wed- no, no. Thursday. It was Thursday. And that meant tomorrow was Noble Blade's date with...what's the name...Fluttershy, that was it. Noble Blade was having his date tomorrow with the pony of his dreams. While he liked the fact that his friend was getting some action, he could also be a little downhearted that he couldn't also experience that...

His stomach rumbled uncomfortably, breaking him out of his thoughts. He glared at his stomach like it had offended him.

What did the stomach do to you?

'It rumbled!'

No need to get mad at him.

'I'll show him! He'll get so much food rammed into him he'll be moaning in discontentment!' And he turned to face Sugarcube Corner.

Discontentment? Nice employment of sophisticated vocabulary.

'You too,' he thought in a fancy voice. And with that thought he walked to the entrance and banged it open forcefully.

The force of his door-opening had startled a few ponies sitting at nearby counters, making them shoot their faces at Freedom Fighter with expressions of surprise. Freedom Fighter just stood at the entrance, watching them look at him.

'Did I do something?' he uneasily thought, looking around.

After a moment he inched his way inside and slammed the door. Mr. Cake saw him and offered him a smile. "Ah, a newcomer! You're that one pony we threw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' part for a few days ago, right?"

Remembering the party and the events that occurred there, like him drinking an entire bottle of hot sauce in one shot, Freedom Fighter nodded, drawing closer to the main counter.

"Well, it's good to have you back here! I'm Mr. Cake, and this," he indicated the store's surroundings, "is my sweet shop. I work here with my wife and my kids, Pound and Pumpkin. Everything in here has a story and a price. One thing I've learned after twenty-one years--you never know what's going to walk through that door." He pointed at the door Freedom Fighter had entered through.

At that precise moment the door jingled open and in came Fluttershy, who was looking dazed and distracted. She was looking around the sweet shop with an expression that suggested she didn't really notice anything.

Mr. Cake put both his front hooves on the table. "See? See what I'm talking about?"

Freedom Fighter stepped aside respectfully to allow Fluttershy room at the counter. She came over and started to look at the available options. "Oh, um, hi, Mr. Cake. Is Pinkie Pie here?"

Pinkie Pie popped her head out from behind the counter, startling Mr. Cake. "Yeperee! I'm here, 'Shy! Whadda ya need?"

Fluttershy glanced at a table. "Um, could you and I talk for a little bit? I have a few, um...questions."

"Okie-dokie-loki!" she responded cheerfully, and bounced with a squeak out from behind the counter. She looked at Freedom Fighter, and grew a bright grin. "Hiya, Freedom! How ya doing?" She waved at him.

Freedom Fighter only waved back. How else could he respond? He was a little startled by her seemingly reason-less happiness. What was it that made her so happy all the time? She was happy when she saw him...but why? He merely shook his head and turned back to the counter while Pinkie and Fluttershy went to an empty table.

He pointed at a platter of cookies. Mr. Cake looked at him. "Is that the one you want?"

He nodded.

"All right then. That'll be seven bits."

Freedom Fighter reached into one of his side pockets and took out a bag of bits, counted out seven of them, and slid them across the counter. Mr. Cake accordingly took out the cookies and gave them to Freedom Fighter, who then retreated to an empty table.

As he started to eat he noticed Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy at a nearby table, talking about something. Freedom Fighter leaned his head to the side to eavesdrop.

"Um, Pinkie? Can you help me with something?" Fluttershy was saying.

"Sure. What is it? Do you need help with your pets? Do you want a new book? Or a platter of food to give to somepony for a treat at random?" Pinkie suggested happily.

"Um, no. It's something else." Fluttershy was twirling her mane with her front hooves. "It, um...it's about...N-Noble B-Blade..."

Pinkie Pie leaned in close to her face, making Fluttershy lean back a little. "What about him?" she asked energetically.

Fluttershy just looked down, a shy smile coming to her lips. "Well, um...you see...he..." She twirled her hair a bit more.

"Yeeees?" Pinkie asked slowly.

Fluttershy let out a giggle. "I think he's cute!" she said quickly, then stopped smiling and put a hoof to her mouth like she had said a bad word, widening her eyes.

Pinkie just looked at her. "That's all?" she asked curiously.

Fluttershy looked back up. "Yeah..."

"Wow! That's great!" She stood up. "HEY EVERYPONY! FLUTTER- "

"Shh!" Fluttershy quickly said, pulling her down again. The ponies that had heard were looking their way, then they returned to their own business a moment later. Fluttershy whispered, "So what do I do?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Well, duh! Find out if you actually, really like him!"

"Pinkie, I'm not sure what you're saying."

"Well..." she said slowly. "Does your tummy feel really tight just looking at him and talking with him?"

Fluttershy nodded, smiling as she thought of Noble Blade and his kind, young face and his thick, bright blue mane and his dark, full blue eyes and his warm, calming voice.

"Do you want to spend all of your time with him?" Pinkie continued.

Fluttershy nodded again, imagining the scenario. Him and her, together, doing everything in life together. It was almost intoxicating to her.

"Do you want to kiss him?" Pinkie asked suddenly.

Fluttershy instantly went a shade of pink and let out an "Eep!" She sat lower in her seat. "K-k-kiss him?" she stammered.

Freedom Fighter, a few tables over, grinned under his cowl as he stuffed in a cookie that looked like it was red velvet, but didn't taste like anything, for obvious reasons. The conversation was a lot more interesting than before. The topic of kissing had been brought up. Now, if only he could experience that for himself...

That was yet another disadvantage to not having a tongue. He couldn't do those really intense, intimate kisses other ponies sometimes did. Who would want to kiss a tongue-less pony?

"Well, obviously you kiss him!" Pinkie was saying. "That's what you do to a pony you like, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Fluttershy looked to the side through the curtain of her mane. "I...I've never...kissed somepony before..."

"You've kissed animal's boo-boos before, haven't you?" Pinkie pointed out. "This is probably just like that, except it's to a pony you really, really, really like, and there's no going back from it, and it'll be on the lips and- "

"Eep!" Fluttershy sank lower in her seat. There was, however, a small smile on her face and a wonderful, blissful thought in her mind of him and her on her front porch kissing--softly, gently, their hooves running over their bodies and feeling each other and connecting in more ways than one as the sun set behind them-

The fantasy was broken when the bell over the door sounded and in trotted a light grey pegasus. Freedom Fighter almost spat out the bit of cookie he had in his mouth at the noise. He looked at her blonde mane. 'She looks familiar,' he thought, hiding under the table to observe without her noticing. Why was he trying not to be noticed again?

Oh yeah! he remembered. She's that one peculiar girl that offered us muffins when we were looking for Rainbow that one day!

'And we found her in that bar lying in a puddle of her own tears and spilled cider?'

Yeah, that's it!

"Good afternoon, Derpy," came Mr. Cake's voice near the counter. "Here for your muffins?"

Derpy? he thought, peeking under the table to observe. That's a name?

'Don't be rude!' he snapped at himself.

"Of course, Mister!" came a slightly loopy voice. Freedom Fighter could see most of her body from his position under the table. "I love muffins!"

Freedom Fighter shrugged. All right. Can't see anything wrong with her there.

There came an exchange of coins, and Derpy was now trotting out of the door of Sugarcube Corner with a large basket of muffins in her mouth. He saw the door open with a ring, and she disappeared out of the door.

'We should go out to her! Talk to her, thank her for the muffin?'

And how do you propose we do that?

Freedom Fighter then remembered his...disability. 'Oh yeah! Riiight. Forgot about that...' He paused, his eyes sweeping side to side on the ground. He sighed. 'I can still thank her for the muffin, though.'

You're welcome to try, but remember, not everypony knows Equestrian Sign Language.

And so he stuffed the final cookie into his mouth hurriedly and sped like a startled cat out from under the table, across the store, and through an open window. He got a few strange looks as he went out of the open window and landed in the street. As he got up he shook his head.

What was with that?

'What was with what?'

That special-ops move you executed! You could have just gone out of the door, you know!

'Well, yeah. I could have. But that wouldn't have been as fun! I want to have fun, you know! I haven't had a lot of fun in my life before...'

Don't you dare start reminiscing.

Freedom Fighter shook his head. 'I, uh, wasn't planning on it.' He swiveled his head from side to side. Derpy was nowhere to be seen.

'Where the heck did she go?'

Check behind the store--in that side street over there.

He did. And indeed, he could see her blonde tail swishing up and down as she trotted along away from him towards her destination. Looking around one final time, he begun to follow her.

He followed her discreetly for about a fourth of a mile. He would hide behind barrels, hop into spaces behind buildings, and blend into shadows near large objects. One time she looked behind her as if she had heard something. Then she shrugged and trotted off with the basket still held in her teeth.

Inside a very large barrel, Freedom Fighter yelled, What are you doing, dude?

'I'm following her discreetly!' he argued, peeking out of a crack in the barrel.

You don't have to be so sneaky about it! It looks like you're trying to assassinate her, for goodness' sakes! Now get out of the barrel and just walk casually!

Freedom Fighter hopped out of the empty barrel on the top of a parked cart and landed with a somersault on the ground.

Do you have to be that ostentatious with your acrobatics?

'Sorry! It's a habit!'

Looking ahead, he saw the light grey pegasus stop when she reached two other ponies that were waiting for her. One of them was a dark grey Earth Pony mare that had a long, rich black mane, a bow tie with a white collar, and vibrant purple eyes, almost like Twilight's. Upon seeing her, Freedom Fighter noticed it and took an interest instantly.

But it was the second pony that caught his full attention. She was a white unicorn with a neon blue mane and tail that was long and spiky. She had on a pair of pink-tinted shades and a pair of headphones in, and was bobbing her head slightly as she listened to her music with a smile.

Freedom Fighter didn't know why, but looking at her...he noticed she was really hot.

That made his mind churn. What should he do? He had a crush on Twilight, sure, but what about now? What did it mean for him when he observed that somepony else was hot?

The light grey pegasus turned her head to the side, offering the two ponies a muffin. The dark grey mare shook her head no, while the hot white unicorn only held up a hoof. Shrugging, the light grey pegasus continued on, and the two other mares went with her.

Freedom Fighter, still unnoticed, followed them at a distance.

They talked as they walked to their destination.

"Thanks for coming to our house party," the dark grey mare said to the light grey pegasus. "But why did it take you so late to respond? Did you forget again?"

"I an't ure I oul ome," the light grey pegasus responded with the basket handle firmly in her mouth.

"Sorry, Derpy, what was that?" the dark grey mare asked politely.

"I an't ure I oul ome," she reiterated.

Without even looking, the white unicorn's horn glowed pink and the basket was taken out of her mouth. It was now suspended in the air, a pink haze surrounding it. Derpy looked at it cross-eyed before saying, "Oh. That's what was in my mouth."

"You didn't know something was in your mouth?" the dark grey mare asked.

"Oh, I knew something was in my mouth," Derpy said to her. "I just forgot what it was." She smiled with an open mouth. "I wasn't sure I could come. The mail schedule's a little hard for me to read, and I wasn't sure I was available. Do you know what we're going to be doing?"

"Oh, you know...standard party activities. Food, games, maybe a movie. It's more of an excuse for us to gather together, you know. The only thing we haven't figured out yet is what the music is going to be." She glanced at the white unicorn. "Me and Vinyl...live in discordant harmony, let's say."

"What do you mean?" Derpy asked, trying to look at the dark grey mare but failing, as her eyes kept going in different directions.

"Well, you've probably noticed by now that me and her have...a similar interest, but in different styles," the dark grey mare explained. "We both love music, but whereas I adore classical music and instruments, she opts instead for a more...electronic style."

The white unicorn nodded in seeming agreement.

The dark grey mare turned to look at her roommate with a strange expression. "Okay, I have no idea how you're able to hear me with your earphones on." She paused. "Or was that nod just you bobbing your head to your music?"

Vinyl shrugged and kept on walking.

The dark grey mare pointed at Vinyl Scratch and whispered, "Okay, I've lived as her roommate ever since college, and I still barely understand her."

They were right near an alley that opened up into the dirt road they were walking on. As they passed by the alley's opening, they all heard a faint click from inside, with the exception of Vinyl Scratch. Derpy and Octavia, however, turned their necks to the sound once they heard it.

And suddenly Derpy felt a talon around her neck from behind. It was strong and unrelenting, and she felt herself be lifted off the ground as it squeezed. Her crossed eyes saw Vinyl and Octavia Melody be lifted up by other pairs of talons to either side of her, with a shocked face on Vinyl's as the shades slipped down her face.

"Scream, and you die," a voice hissed into her ear.

The creatures that had grabbed her two friends tossed the two of them into the alley, along with the basket of muffins that was in Vinyl's magic grip. Derpy soon followed.

The impact of the ground was a bang, and the pegasus saw white for an instant before reverting to her normal vision. Weakly, she lifted her head up.

The headache came first. It was searing hot in the back of her head, and she hunched over, grabbing the base of her scalp. "Ow..." she weakly murmured in pain. She then looked to the side to see her muffin basket, thrown to the ground.. The muffins had spilled out and were lying on the dirty ground in crumbs, the wrapping in tatters.

Derpy crawled over to the muffin's remains, a tear welling up in her eye. "I...I baked those only this morning..." she lamented.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up, Walleyes," a mean, coarse voice cracked, and she felt a balled-up fist slam into her neck. She fell back onto her stomach, crying aloud in pain.

Freedom Fighter was behind the three ponies by about twenty yards when he saw them be plucked from the streets like grapes and tossed forcefully into a side alley.

Anger boiling in his veins, the warrior sprinted forward on his hind legs, drawing a thick-bladed combat knife as he did so.

Vinyl Scratch's vision was unusually clear. She turned her head in confusion as she lay on the ground. She could also hear a lot better what was going on around her.

Then she spotted her shades and earphones lying on the ground in front of her. Vinyl reached for them, but a pair of talons grabbed them off the ground before she could reach them. "My, my. What do we have here?"

She lifted her head limply to see that the talons were attached to a pair of bird arms. On a lion body.

Griffons! she thought in terror.

"Let go of those!" a voice screamed. Vinyl turned to see it was Octavia, restrained on the ground by three more griffons. Their talons dug into her mane and back, drawing blood.

The griffon holding Vinyl's earphones and sunglasses contemplated a moment before replying, "No. I don't think I'll do that." His voice was gravelly and rough. "I think I'll hang on to these. Keep 'em nice and safe in my house, don't you think?" He then frowned at the pink glasses. "Actually, I don't really like pink all that much."

And he balled the fist holding Vinyl's pink glasses.

As the glasses shattered, so did Vinyl.

The griffon nonchalantly tossed the ruined shades at Vinyl's face, giving a cruel chuckle. Vinyl started to feel tears welling up. She had had those glasses ever since she had started her DJ career...Octavia had given them as a present. And now...

The frame was bent like paper, a few shards of pink glass stuck to the inside. It was irreparable. She would never wear them again.

Vinyl sobbed, covering her eyes.

The lead griffon looked at his fellow griffons holding the three ponies down and standing off to the sides. They numbered about a dozen. He then looked at the three emotionally broken ponies being pinned down. He was a black color, and his beak was broken on one side. "Forgive my manners. Let me introduce myself. I am Hunter the griffon. Me and my friends've been down on our luck on bits, so we've been forced to...redistribute other's resources evenly, let's say." There was a sinister smile on his face.

"You mean rob them?" Octavia demanded, devastated at the loss of a precious gift she had given to her closest friend. She struggled harder against her captors. "Get your dirty talons off of me!"

"Shut her up, Jeff," Hunter commanded a griffon next to him. Jeff came forward, unslinging a crossbow from his back, and put it so close to Octavia's face the point of the nocked arrow pressed against her forehead. Octavia swallowed hard, wincing, but she fell silent.

Hunter then reached down and picked up a remnant of a chocolate muffin. He took a bite, ignoring the mares. "Now," he said, wiping his mouth and making crumbs shower to the ground, "we can do this the easy way, or we can do this my way. Just hoof over everything you have on you, and we might just spare your lives."

"...All I had were those muffins," Derpy weakly said as a griffon searched her while lying on the ground.

Hunter came over to her. "Really?" he said in a disbelieving tone. "That's all you felt like you needed to have with you? That's all that's valuable to you? That's what you think is of the greatest worth to you? Not gold, or jewels, or fancy clothes- " He plucked at his clothes, which were inlaid with gems, " -but instead you want...muffins." He gave her a look.

Derpy grinned with an open mouth. "Sure do, Mister! That other stuff you talked about seems kind of bad to have a lot of. But I'm really happy when I have muffins! They make me happy! You can be happy with your stuff too."

Hunter thought about that. He thinned his mouth. Then he shrugged after a while. He then knelt so he was level with her. He looked her in the eyes--or at least, tried to, since hers were crossed. "You are worthless," he hissed.

Derpy's grin turned into an open mouth of sadness. It quivered.

"No wonder why you look so different. Look at yourself. You are weak. You are ambitionless. You you have nothing about yourself you should be proud of."

Derpy's eyes shook at impossibly huge sizes. Little squeaks came from her.

"Your eyes...oh, Celestia, stop pretending like they make you special. You are just a cross-eyed freak that will never do anything great or important in the world. And you will never be anything more."

And he kicked her in the head.

Derpy started to cry. She closed her eyes and clutched her head, whimpering.

"Do you still think muffins mean something to you?" he yelled at her.

"N-n-no..." she stammered before more tears flooded down.

"They mean nothing. They are garbage," he growled before throwing away the chocolate muffin he had picked up. "Now...what more do you have to hide?" he asked Vinyl Scratch. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and the griffon behind her got off of her to allow Hunter to yank up Vinyl. Her hooves still covered her eyes, and she was shuddering as she sobbed.

"Oh...is there something about your eyes you're ashamed of?" he asked smugly. He drew back a fist to try and hit her, standing on his hind legs.

Something sailed through the air.

As Hunter was about to hit Vinyl, he suddenly roared in pain and his arm went limp, dropping Vinyl Scratch and her headphones, in his other talon. He gave a heavy inhale and clutched his right shoulder. There was a thick combat knife embedded in it.

Everyone turned to the front of the alley. Derpy and Octavia craned their heads the best they could.

Freedom Fighter was there on his hind legs, with his hooves on the combat batons on his hips. His red eyes glowed with murder.

He had heard everything. Seen everything. Unrepentant sinners, that's what they were. With one deft movement he snapped the sticks off his hips, holding them out to the sides.

Hunter reached across his back and, wincing, forced the knife out of his shoulder. The blade was discolored to the hilt with fresh wet blood, and he dropped it with trembling talons. He glared at his entourage. "Are you blind?" he snarled. "Attack him! Twelve griffons against one little pony! What are you waiting for, you idiots?"

Freedom Fighter unhinged his sticks, doubling their length, then joined one end to the other to form his Bo Staff.

The griffons all charged at him, drawing their sabers and daggers. Three of them took to the air with their crossbows. They fired them in symphony, one after the other, at the dark-garbed pony.

All the arrows missed. He simply wasn't there anymore. Instead, he had sprung forward and slammed his staff on the first griffon's head like he was chopping wood. His head split open and blood rushed out as he collapsed to the earth. He then flipped in midair to land on another griffon's back with his tight grip around his neck. Another griffon took a swipe at him, but he had already jumped off of him and the saber swipe went into the griffon's neck instead.

He then slid a slot forward near the front, and a long, thin blade jutted out so he was holding a spear. He slammed the tip of the staff in between another griffon's eyes so hard it went into his brain. The griffon collapsed.

The other nine griffons, seeing three of their comrades taken out so quickly, were a lot more hesitant now to advance against him. They watched as Freedom Fighter twisted both ends of his staff until they gave a small click. Rivers of glowing yellow ran down the staff's grooves and sigils like rivers as the enchantments became activated.

Freedom Fighter threw the staff like a spear, and it plunged into a griffon like a stick into water. He twisted his left hoof, and the staff flew back to his grip like the throw was in reverse. It attached to his left hoof with a heavy click. Freedom Fighter then charged against the rest of them, his staff angled to the ground and humming with power. He brought it up to split a griffon's head in two vertically. The wound was cauterized slightly.

The griffons in the air, their crossbows reloaded now, fired again. The warrior dodged one bolt, and it went with a sickly crunch into the heart of a griffon sneaking up behind him. He knocked aside the second arrow with his staff. But the third one struck him dead center in his upper arm.

Freedom Fighter didn't feel a thing.

He instead hurled himself at another griffon, who desperately slashed at him, but Freedom Fighter knocked aside his weapon contemptuously. The griffon yelled and tried to hit him in the head with a closed fist, but hit his left arm instead.

It felt like he had punched a steel beam. The griffon winced and waved his hand in pain, but was soon cut off by Freedom Fighter dropping his staff and punching him in the face so hard his beak caved in with a snap. He lay rapid-fire punches on his head for the space of five seconds before bringing his hind leg up and kicking him in the face so hard he stumbled back into a wall and slumped lifelessly to the ground.
That left five griffons, three of them still flapping in the air, plus Hunter, who was trying unsuccessfully to stem the flow of blood from his shoulder. Hunter was glaring at Freedom Fighter. "Who are you?" he asked in wonder.

Freedom Fighter didn't bother with responding. He just plucked the crossbow bolt from his bodysuit armor and tossed it to the ground negligently. Then, fast as a whip, he ripped his staff out of the ground and hurled it at the two griffons on the ground. They saw it coming, and ducked and raised their sabers to try and block it, but the staff cut through both their blades like they were made of butter. It then went cleanly through both of their necks at the same time with a sizzle, and both their bodies dropped, side by side. The weapon landed point down in the ground next to Vinyl's head, who was still lying on the ground, covering her eyes.

Hunter lunged for the staff, kicking Vinyl Scratch in the head to make her roll to the side. He put his talons around the staff and tried to pull it out of the ground to wield it.

And he screamed. The staff was scalding hot, and it burned his talons deep in his flesh. He hurriedly took his talons off the glowing yellow staff and looked at his talons. They were smoking.

The staff suddenly flew out of the ground and hurled itself back to Freedom Fighter's left hoof. There was a glowing yellow pad on the base of his hoof that the staff was attached to. Freedom Fighter was glaring with baleful eyes at Hunter.

Hunter turned to the griffons in the air and snarled, "Get 'em out of here! We'll shake'em down later!" pointing at Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia. The three griffons obediently used their rear legs to clutch a pony and started to rise off the ground.

Freedom Fighter jerked his staff, and the hinges on the conjoined sticks hinged back to form a bow. A string of yellow energy ran from one end to the other, and he pulled the string back to his cheek. An arrow of pure dripping yellow energy formed where he had pulled on the string.

The griffons let out a collective scream of fear. Then one of them turned to a scream of pain as a yellow energy bolt passed through his chest with a sizzle. Octavia dropped two feet to the ground, and so did the dead griffon.

Freedom Fighter drew a second arrow and fired it at the griffon holding Derpy. The griffon jerked to the side, and Freedom Fighter silently cursed his luck as he drew it back a third time and sent it into his gut. The second griffon was a bit higher than the first, but Derpy awkwardly flapped her wings and managed to land roughly, staring with a tilted head at the warrior with red eyes.

The final griffon gained more altitude and fired his crossbow again. Freedom jumped over the arrow's path right before it hit him, nocked another arrow, and fired it. It sailed past the griffon's head with a deep hum.

He landed and fired three more times before finally hitting the griffon in the eye. The griffon's grip relaxed, and Vinyl dropped from twenty feet. She saw the ground rushing at her and let out a hoarse scream.

And then she felt an impact. But the impact didn't hurt, for some odd reason. Vinyl looked around and saw that she wasn't, in fact, on the ground. Freedom Fighter had lunged forward and caught her before she could hit the ground.

Still covering her eyes, she looked up and saw his body through the gaps in her hooves. She felt a sudden swell of gratitude and immense admiration as he gently settled her to the ground. Vinyl peeked and saw Hunter, several yards in front of her, staggering away, leaving a blood trail through his shoulder wound.

But Freedom Fighter leaped towards him, bow in hoof, and grabbed him. He shoved him forcefully against the left wall of the alley.

"P-please!" Hunter cried. "I-I was desperate, okay? J-just let me go, and I'll never do anything like this again! I swear!" He couldn't hold the glare of hatred Freedom Fighter was giving him, and Hunter closed his eyes to avoid looking at that bright, intense red. He braced for the pains of death.

A moment passed.

Then Freedom Fighter snapped the bow back into a staff and deactivated the enchantments, releasing Hunter from the wall. Hunter massaged his throat in relief and breathed a sigh. "Oh, thank you! Whew! That worked! Oh, good!"

Freedom Fighter slammed his staff into his face hard enough to knock him unconscious. He slumped to the ground and did not move.

The warrior took a few deep breaths, then disassembled his staff with a few quick snaps of his arms and put the separate sticks on his hips, dropping to all fours. He then turned to face the three ponies at the front of the alley.

There was silence for just a moment, interrupted only by Vinyl Scratch taking labored, shuddering breaths as she lay on the ground, covering her eyes.

Finally, Derpy asked him, "Are you the Mysterious Mare Do Well?"

Freedom Fighter tilted his head in confusion.

Derpy blinked at his action, then tilted her head as well with a small "Hm?", her eyes rolling up and down as she did so.

This only made Freedom Fighter tilt his head to the other side, trying to indicate his newfound confusion of her mimicry.

Derpy imitated this action as well with another small "Hm," higher in pitch than the last one.

Freedom Fighter reverted his head back to normal.

Derpy did the same, with another cute "Hm?"

Experimenting a little, Freedom Fighter crossed his eyes up and down.

Derpy took a deep breath and held it, then her eyes went straight forward.

Freedom Fighter, pleasantly startled, reverted his eyes back to their normal state.

Derpy's eyes went back to being crossed.

Freedom Fighter could not help but laugh at this adorable derp. Was that the word? No, no, of course not. It needed to be a portmanteau. The pegasus was...aderpable. Yeah, that was the word. Aderpable.

"Derpy, get away from him!" Octavia shakily told her, eyeing the griffon bodies in the alley. "He's dangerous! He'll hurt you!"

Freedom Fighter was not so much saddened by her words so much as he was exasperated. This happened all the time whenever he tried to save somepony when undertaking a secret mission. He would save the lives of innocent civilians, not even attacking them, and they would still look at him as being a threat to them! What was the deal with that? He just
saved their lives! What about that made it so that they would look at him and say, "Get away! You'll hurt me!" If he wanted to hurt them, he wouldn't have interfered, would he?

Well, it doesn't help that your appearance and your methods of repelling danger are...how do I say this...frightening?

He prodded at a griffon's corpse. 'Okay, you've got a point there,' he conceded.

Derpy did not heed Octavia's warning, however. After a bit, she instead said, "Wait a minute...I've seen you before! You were looking for Rainbow Dash that one time and I offered you a muffin! I remember now!" She extended a hoof to the space right of him. "Hi! I'm Derpy! Derpy Hooves!" She offered a wide open smile.

A moment passed before she realized she had put her hoof to the wrong area. "Oh," she said, before correcting herself by pointing her hoof at Freedom Fighter instead. Chuckling silently, the warrior shook her hoof.

"What's wrong?" Derpy asked. "Cat got your tongue?"

Freedom Fighter unzipped his mouth cover and opened his mouth wide.

Derpy looked inside, and instantly grew an expression of concern and shock. "Oh, my goodness! I'm so, so sorry about that! I must be so insensitive! Are you mad at me?"

Who can stay mad at a pony like her? he thought. He shrugged and shook his head, waving her words aside.

Derpy smiled again. "Oh, thank you," she said happily and gave him an embrace.

Freedom Fighter stood there awkwardly, unsure what to do about the sudden display of affection. After a bit he patted the back of her neck and hugged her back.

Octavia stared at the sight of her friend hugging a violent warrior- and seeing the warrior hugging her back. Once she was certain that no harm was coming to her friend, she cleared her throat and stood up, feeling a rush of pain where the talons had scratched into her back. "Excuse me, sir?"

Freedom Fighter broke off the hug and looked at her like he had never been called that before.

"Um...I suppose I should say...thank you. For rescuing me and my friends. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I..." She didn't know what to say. "I don't know what we would have done." She came forward and offered a hoof uncertainly. "I am Octavia Melody. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

Freedom Fighter shook her hoof, smiling so she could see his teeth. It only seemed to unnerve her, however.

"May I ask your name?" Octavia asked politely.

Freedom Fighter did nothing.

"Oh, right. Sorry. You...probably can't tell me." Octavia frowned. "Well, I suppose you're like Vinyl over there." She turned and raised Vinyl Scratch off the ground. "She's a bit of an introvert--she feels comfortable in her own little bubble. That's why she has her, ah, shades and headphones all the time. She never talks."

Freedom Fighter was now listening intently.

Vinyl was still covering her eyes. Her electric blue mane fell in front of her face and she was looking at the ground. Freedom Fighter indicated her face questioningly with a tilt of his head.

"Come on, Vinyl. Meet the pony that saved you," Octavia encouraged. She faced Freedom Fighter. "Her name's Vinyl Scratch, by the way."

"Who...are...you?" Vinyl weakly spoke. Her voice was raspy.

Octavia leaned back in shock. "Vinyl...did...did you just speak? You haven't spoken a word in ten years!"

Freedom Fighter went forward in front of her, trying to brush the hair out of her face.

"Dude...who- "she started, then stopped. Throught the crack in her hooves, she looked at the dark pony that looked imposing and scary. But what caught her attention was his eyes.

They were red.

Vinyl took her hooves away and looked at them with interest.

As Vinyl revealed her eyes, Freedom Fighter gazed at her eye color in surprise. Contrasting against the vivid blue of her mane and the ivory white of her body, her eyes were a wonderful shade of deep red.

Both looked into each other's eyes, mesmerized by each other. Their red eyes, once looked on by their respective owners as unnatural and disturbing, suddenly looked like the most beautiful things they had ever seen, and they could not look away. They tried to more than once, but the deep, rich red in each other's eyes just made them loo back. They could not look anywhere else.

After a while Vinyl Scratch whispered, "Dude, your eyes...they're just like mine."

Freedom Fighter nodded slowly again.

"I...um...want to know your name," she said nervously.

Freedom Fighter put his head down. That was something he wasn't sure how to tell her.

"Oh. I forgot...S-sorry, dude." Vinyl looked down as well. "Th-thank you for beating them off, by the way. I...I wouldn't have lasted much longer."

More silence. It was getting uncomfortable.

"Listen. Um...the next time we see each other, do you want...to tell me your name? Like, write it down or something?"

For the third time Freedom Fighter nodded.

"G-good," she said uncomfortably. "Sorry about my speech, by the way...I don't get a lot of practice. I just don't feel like talking most of the time." She gasped. "Hey, that's kinda like you! You're a quiet guy too, right? You're a wallflower too, right? We're a lot more similar than we look, eh?"

Freedom Fighter bit his lip and nodded. He then uncomfortably backed away from the punkish mare, waving his hoof in farewell.

Vinyl blinked at his sudden insistence to leave, then waved back as he disappeared out of the alley.

Octavia caught her in an embrace suddenly and she squealed. "Ooh! Oh my goodness! You talked! You finally did it! You opened up! I can't remember the last time I've heard you talk!"

Vinyl struggled against the hug. "I...I think I just didn't have a reason to," she told her, breaking free. She lifted the ruined glasses up to her eye level and sighed. "They were good, weren't they?" she asked, stifling a heavy breath.

"They were a part of you," Octavia agreed, clapping a hoof on her back.

Vinyl picked up her headphones next. She was grateful to see that there was no damage to it. "Should we let him know? That...they got crushed?"

"I don't see him," Derpy reported at the front of the alley. "He disappeared."

Vinyl and Octavia came to the front of the alley as well. Sure enough, Freedom Fighter was nowhere to be seen.

The body of Hunter had mysteriously disappeared.

For the rest of the day Freedom Fighter was out patrolling the town secretly, searching for any more troubles. None others seemed to manifest themselves, however. It was like fate picked particular days for bad things to happen. One time, he and the other Guardians had decided to lay siege to Arimaspi Mountain to rescue the magical Horn of Alanagora, stolen away and hidden in the mountain. And it had rained and rained and rained for the entire operation. The trenches that they had spent in alongside the Royal Guard were consequently muddy, slippery, and stinky that made their hooves soggy and painful to step on.

As Freedom Fighter made his way back to the crystal castle, the sun setting with an orange light over Ponyville, he was pondering on the events of the day.

That Vinyl Scratch character certainly was something, he thought. He gave an imaginary whistle.

'Oh, come off it! I already think Twilight's cute! I can't think other mares are pretty!' He stopped. 'Can I? I can do that?'

Of course you can! Besides, you won't get Twilight. She'll never go for a pony like you.

'How do you know that? We haven't talked to her yet about that!'

Simple logic. You are a murderer and a killer. She can do a lot better than you. Guys like you don't always find love in the first mare they think is pretty, all right? Move on. You're better than having an unstable crush. She is a royal princess that can give you commands that you have to follow. If she tells you, "Run" you will run. If she says "Fight" you will fight. If she says for you to never come near her again and never to let her know you think she's pretty...

'I can't believe I'm having this conversation,' he thought miserably.

And then he was struck with an idea. An idea that could allow him the best of both worlds. A way to let Twilight know, at least, how he felt--unlikely as it was that she liked him back. And a way to communicate with Vinyl Scratch while he was at it as well...

He bolted to the crystal tree as fast as he could.

Twilight was reading up on Theory of Magic in her favorite spot in the library when she heard a bang. She lifted her head up to see Freedom Fighter enter the room and shut the door with a loud boom.

"Oh, uh, hi, Freedom. What can I do for you?" she asked. From behind the chair Spike poked his head out.

Freedom Fighter began to tap on the ground feverishly in Horse Code. As Twilight listened, she made a few affirmative noises. "Uh huh...yes, I think I have something for that. I think I have a spell or two to help you. Don't worry. We'll solve that problem of yours in no time!