(Ponyville)
(That same day. 5 minutes later)

Rarity and Applejack were running throughout Ponyville in a frantic attempt to find something. “Where in tarnation could they have gone to? It ain’t like them to just run off for a whole night!” Something being the word that was subjective, someone working better for the two of them

“Where could my dear sister Sweetie Belle have gone?! I may not show it but I love her dearly and can’t stand the thought of her being in any danger!” Rarity exclaimed with a dramatic gesture of her arm

“Rarity! Ya need to calm down an just think, where could those three have gone lookin fer cutie marks?” Applejack’s question made them both stop and think about the possibilities. After pondering, Rarity came up with the location that made the most sense

“The Everfree Forest!” She bolted to the edge of the forest with Applejack right behind her. The two rushed through the town and nearly knocked over a number of mares and stallions that were in the way, once they made it to the edge of the forest they saw Fluttershy feeding her animal friends. “Fluttershy! Have you seen Sweetie Belle?!”

“Or Applebloom? We can’t find em anywhere and I know Scootaloo’s with em too!” Their tones made Fluttershy recoil and cower but she recovered

“N-No I haven’t seen them at all. Is there a problem?” She meekly asked but the other two didn’t reciprocate her calm tone

“We ain’t seen em since yesterday! We think they went into the forest for their cutie marks!”

“Well if they did, wouldn’t Zeko watch them and make sure they were safe?” She covered her face with her wings in anticipation but was calmed when both Rarity and Applejack sighed loudly, prompting Fluttershy to resume her previous actions

“I’d forgotten he decided to reside in that dreadful place. But how can we be sure that they’re with him?” The sound of large wings flapping caught their attention and when they looked up they saw a familiar face

“Oh Applejack and Rarity! How are you two today?” Nouka came down on his clay bird and landed near the still somewhat hysterical mares. “Zeko and Kotetsu ran off to do something and just left me and Celona and Mist and the Cute crusaders.”

“The cute cru- So Sweetie Belle is with you?!” Rarity scanned the bird but saw no sign of her sister

“Well technically they’re with Celona and Mist having a girl’s day or something but I don’t know and I just wanna find something to do on my own and a-glglglglglgl.” Nouka finished with his signature sound to the displeasure of both Applejack and Rarity

“Um Nouka darling, why do you do that? From what I’ve seen you’re the most well adjusted of your group and don’t seem to be openly violent but that noise is just so...”

“Kotetsu says it’s because of my brain missing some parts but my parents let me know that it’s fine. Zeko tells me it’s just what makes me... me and that anyone who has a problem with it can take it up with him but he still likes to say something’s wrong with me too.” Applejack took her Stetson off and looked at Nouka with sympathy

“How can ya call those two friends if they treat ya that way? That’s not how friends should act.” Rarity nodded in agreement before adding her own thoughts

“From what I’ve seen, friends should be there to help one another and the way they treat you is simply appalling.”

“You don’t get it, yes they’re both terrible and yes they treat me badly but that’s who they are. They aren’t even nice to each other but technically that’s how they show that they’re friends, I get back at them for it.”

“I think that ain’t friendship and if it was its been goin against what we’ve been learning from Princess Celestia. Twilight’s the expert and she’d say tha-“

“It’s friendship for them, it’s not what we’re used to but they mean it when they say that they’re friends. From what Kotetsu said they might be the best of them.” Nouka nodded while Applejack and Rarity’s mouths opened wider once they realized that even Twilight was convinced about their friendship and couldn’t believe what they’d heard. Nouka took the opportunity to climb on his bird once again and went elsewhere. “I couldn’t believe it either you two but maybe there’s more than just the friendship we know about.”

For a few minutes Nouka was casually being carried by his bird and was somewhat surveying the ground below since he’d in the past learned that anything below sees a bird and that he was always useful for reconnaissance. He hadn’t noticed anything strange until he heard a voice screaming,”HELP! PLEASE!” Looking down he saw a mare being gagged and thrown into a carriage by two large unicorn stallions

“That doesn’t look very good, I should help her.” Nouka thought, changing his bird’s flight making it perform a dive that put him a short distance from the stallions

“What the?! What do you want freak, can’t you see that we’re busy?” The taller stallion said, irritated at the nuisance that had shown up

“Yeah kid why don’t you go back to your herdmoms and leave the adults alone?” The other suggested cockily, brandishing a knife

“Actually I’m an adult, I turned eighteen a couple months ago, and a knife doesn’t scare me. I’m going to ask that you let that lady go.” He pointed to the carriage which had a lock on the door and occasional rustling from inside. “I saw you throw her in there and I can’t let you kidnap her.” Nouka reached into his bag and produced clay to the confusion of the taller stallion who quickly started laughing

“Hah! What? Are you gonna sculpt us into prison?” He managed to get out as his partner looked confused, even more so when Nouka put the clay into his mouth and began to chew it before spitting it out into four well formed spiders as large as hands

“What kinda magic is that? You some kind of art hero? It doesn’t matter anyway, you saw what we were doing so you gotta go, it’s not personal so don’t try to-“ He was cut off by the one spider lunging at him but he used his magic to grab it before it could do anything. “So what is thing supposed to do? Cause it’s not doing it.” He taunted right before the

*BOOM*

The spider detonated with enough force to launch the stallion against the carriage and leave a dent in the side while the other watched in shock. “Wha- You brat!” He tried to rush Nouka but the spiders were faster than he thought and clung to him, swaying him away from the carriage before detonating and knocking the stallion unconscious

“Don’t underestimate my clay a-yeeh!” Nouka formed a small clay centipede in his hands and sent it into the lock on the door which split into pieces shortly after revealing the mare who was bound and crying until she saw Nouka’s face. “Calm down miss, I stopped those two.” He undid the knots and removed the gag she had on, allowing her to get up and hug him then walk over to the stallions and kick their jaws as hard as she could before running off. Nouka took the opportunity to check the pockets of the stallions

“Might as well see why they tried to kidnap her, they have to have a note or- Ha! A note; ‘I gave you two a job you couldn’t ruin, all you have to do is find me some new girls for the business. And if you get caught I don’t know either of you.” Nouka read the note aloud and came to the conclusion that these two were a part of something bigger so he checked the carriage for clues and found a crystal that acted as a map to a place marked by an x and he figured that was where their base was.

Before he could leave he decided to tie the stallions up and coat their horns with clay, since Zeko told him it stops their telekinesis, and leave them next to the carriage with a note that read “Criminal” and explaining what he saw the doing. After that he took to the skies and followed the map to their base.

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After flying through over the badlands, admiring the cracked and desiccated earth below him, Nouka had found the indicated building but was taken back when he saw that it was a run down warehouse rather than a base for kidnapping ponies. “I can’t just blow this place up, there could be more inside.” As he thought of a plan he dropped a series of clay creatures, from spiders to malformed humanoid figures, onto the ground and directed the smallest ones to explode near the entrance. While this went on he landed and snuck through the rear entrance.

“What the buck was that?!”

“It doesn’t matter, go tell the boss, I’ll check it out!” Nouka heard two voices and then the sounds of somepony running away, he followed the sound and was nearly caught a few times but luckily his diversion was still available and perfectly timed detonations were his crutch. As he followed the stallion he noticed that the building was larger on the inside and there must have been a lower level since he was now sneaking past a lift.

“How far away is this boss guy?” Nouka covered his mouth once he realized his mistake and hid behind a barrel when the stallion looked behind him. “Ok he didn’t see me.” Nouka peered over the barrel and saw the stallion go into a lift hidden by a poster and quickly tossed a clay beetle to follow him into the lower level. “Ok let’s see what’s going on.” Nouka closed his eyes and saw through the beetle’s, the stallion was sweating from what he saw, he figured he was nervous from having to meet his boss.

The lift went down for what seemed like hours to the two but was only ten seconds and when it opened the stallion was grabbed by a massive claw and pulled out. “Why... you down here?” The sconces on the wall were flickering and revealing a blue dragon, not as large as the one Zeko, Kotetsu and Nouka dispatched but a competitor in size

“I have to tell the boss, something exploded by the entrance... might be mercenaries.” The stallion pleaded to not be crushed and was released by the dragon and ran down the large hallway and past a large metal door.

“Ok, I should probably do something about him or her... Can dragons be girls?” The beetle expanded and grew to the size of a dog and was noticed by the dragon who tried to squash it but missed. The beetle swelled more and burst revealing Nouka. “I like doing that. I’m gonna have to beat you dragon, I’m sorry for having to do this.” Nouka jumped back and threw a dragon of his own that quickly grew and slammed into the blue dragon’s chest and stuck like glue.

“That... not hurt... at all.” The dragon tried to swipe the human in front of it but just missed. It tried to crush Nouka only to stop and cough up blood. “What... you do... to me?”

“My tiny art attack, the dragon didn’t hurt but the tiny bits of clay inside of it started to explode once they hit you. Since they’re so small they technically start killing you without you noticing, the explosions go right through your nerves so you can’t feel it until it’s too late.” As Nouka explained, the dragon coughed more and more until it collapsed to the ground with a crater in its chest and stomach. Nouka walked to the metal door and blew the lock off with a spider. When he opened it he saw rows of cages with females of different races being trapped inside. “What the frick is all this? I gotta save them... but that boss guy needs to get taken care of.” He ran straight down to the door and opened it to see the stallion from before crash into the wall and fall unconscious.

“Nothing is getting down this far! The amount of anti-magic runes on this place, and the dragon are enough! If something wants to knock on our door then fine but if you think anypony’s getting to me you’ve got another- Who are you?”

“I’m the guy who beat your dragon and blew up your shack.” The leader was speechless until he began to chuckle, slowly picking up in mirth. “What’s so funny, you don’t believe me?”

“Oh no I do, you wouldn’t have gotten to me otherwise. It’s just that... you wouldn’t happen to know a Zayko would you?”

“You mean Zeko? Yeah he’s my friend even though he technically doesn’t act like it sometimes but I’m thankful that he’s such a good friend.”

“Not the brightest either, this couldn’t be more perfect.” He went to his table and sat on a cushioned chair. “Well let’s get introductions done, my name is Silver Tongue and I’m the leader of this little operation.”

“I’m Nouka and I’m going to stop you from... uh...whatever it is you do here.”

“You could call it pony trafficking.” He picked up a glass and poured a drink into it. “But the profit it brings in can’t be beat, now you killed my dragon which was my best guard so I want to offer you the chance to have that position. I know you’re thinking I’m a bad guy but I just make the money in the end, I’m not actually selling these girls and you won’t be either so what do you say?” During his explanation Nouka created a serpent and let it move to the corner

“I’m not joining you, you peasant! I can tell that selling another of your kind is wrong and you don’t deserve to keep living!”

Silver Tongue sighed and stood up with a sword in his hand. “Well I can’t get the revenge I wanted but killing you will suffice for now.” Silver rushes to cut Nouka but he was stopped by the snake from before, it coiled around him. “What is this thing? Get it off of me!”

“I’m sorry but I can’t just let you get away with all of this stuff, Kotetsu told me it’s fine to joke about kidnapping but if you do it you have to die.”

“You rotten-! Let me out of this no-mph!” The serpent had fully encased Silver Tongue as Nouka walked away with a horde of tiny spiders behind him

“Now I just need to break these locks and get the rest of the team here a-yeeh.” The spiders went to the cages and planted themselves into the locks, Nouka put his hands together and closed his eyes. “C-True: Fine art detonation!” The room with Silver Tongue exploded with enough force to cause the entire subterranean portion to vibrate and each lock on the cages shattered from the concentrated explosions

“W-Who are y-you? A-And why are you helping us?” A mare with ragged clothing asked out of suspicion but she didn’t receive an answer as Nouka had his eyes closed and didn’t notice the figure approaching him from behind with a sharp rod held high

“Die!” He thrust it down but didn’t hit his mark because a female changeling rammed into his side. “Urk! You-learn your place monster!” He struck her with the rod and knocked her against the bars of a cage allowing the noise to bring Nouka out of his trance and identify the horrifically charred figure as Silver Tongue

“Wha-How’d you survive my C-True? It’s the best explosion I can make without bringing the place down?”

“I put up a barrier around myself... it saved my life and from what I saw with that Zayko, you don’t have any energy to fight do you?” Nouka’s eyes widened once he was called out for low chakra, he planned on Silver being dead and the explosion to scare his goons away from the lower level until he could contact Kotetsu or Zeko. “That look tells me I’m right and without that you’re just a vulnerable little colt.” He walked closer to Nouka, wincing from pain with each step. Nouka was incredibly able with his clay but when it came to taijutsu he had no ability and was compared to a flailing baby by his friends

“Hey now, if you try and hurt me, my friends won’t be very happy! They’ll burn down what you care about.” Nouka tried to stall but Silver Tongue was only laughing maniacally in response. ”This isn’t good! I don’t have enough chakra for a bird or even a spider... Wait! I can try that thing Zeko showed me. The lary- laro- the lari- Lariat!” Nouka stood straight up and held his left arm, he ran forward to meet Silver head on. ”C-True lariat!” Nouka’s arm slammed into Silver Tongue, who took the hit as if it were nothing, Nouka however was gored on the rod.

“Looks like you weren’t as smart as you thought.” Silver Tongue pushed the rod further which made Nouka go limp. “I think I should celebrate my victory, where’s that changeling from earlier?” Silver Tongue looked around with a manic smile at the prospect of violating the one who made the mistake of attacking him but he stopped once he heard something hit the floor. Once he looked back he saw that the human wasn’t on the rod and the only thing there was a small lump of clay, it didn’t take long for him to notice Nouka standing not far from him,”Oh bu-AAAHH!” The explosion wasn’t as powerful as the previous ones but the charred stallion wasn’t in any condition to be so close to such an event and was blasted clear.

“How’s that for *pant* not smart?” Nouka collapsed backwards with the group of mares leaving their cages to see if their savior was ok. ”Hey uh Zeko, I need your help with something really important.” Nouka managed to send a telepathic message to his friends just before he passed out, hoping that the mares he rescued would be ok.

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Author's Notes:

I couldn’t be more sorry, the conclusion was left out somehow and you all couldn’t see what happened. If you didn’t read it until now then don’t mind this.

Who’d have thought the most simple one of the group would be so fun to write? And while yes he’s the weakest that’s only relative to Zeko and Kotetsu.

If you liked it comment why, if you didn’t, do the same I’ll take criticism. Stay tuned for the next chapter because things only can get better.