Twilight had returned to Klugetown with her new friends, her wounds had begun to heal on the return trip. As she arrived in the town with her four heavily armed allies, Stature with his axe, Crystal with her razor sharp claws and the breath that could turn any opponent into crystal on contact as well as the Griffons Twins Lionheart and Bladewing who together have slain thousands of foes.

They entered Capper’s home, Capper smiled “Hello Twilight who are…” His smile vanished “These are mercenaries, why are they here?”

Twilight smiled “They’ll be staying here until I can find a a place to become the centre for our Mercenary Band, they want me to be the leader.”

Capper frowned as he saw her wounds “How did you get hurt like this?”

She replied calmly “I let my enemy stab me to get an advantage and then cut his head off.”

Stature nodded “She earned all of our respect especially mine, I thought she was just a weak prissy little pony but she proved me wrong. I will not judge a book by it’s cover again.”

Twilight nodded “I will need to meet with the mayor in order to find a place for Mercenary Band.”

Crystal frowned “Verko is quite an arrogant soul, he won’t give you a building very easily.”

Twilight grinned as lifted up the sack of cash “Well maybe some money with the promise of more coming in as we get more work may change his mind.”

Capper smiled “You are really starting to figure this place out aren’t you.”

Twilight chuckled “Yes friendship doesn’t run things here but gold pieces certainly do” She turned to Stature “You mind coming with me to speak to him, I don’t want to be robbed after what I had to do to get this.”

Stature saluted “Of course, let’s go.” The two left Capper’s home and marched through the steam-punk town to what was clearly the largest building in the town, they knocked on the door of the building.

They heard a snivelling voice call out “Get the door!” The door was opened by two gruff looking sharks both as tall as Stature, the two entered the building as the two bouncers let them in. Twilight had to hold her muzzle in order to prevent herself from vomiting from look of the ugly looking Mole that approached them, Twilight put on a small smile as she removed her hoof and asked “You must be Mayor Verko I assume?”

Verko grinned “Yes, now what do I owe this visit?”

Twilight grinned back “I have a proposition for you, if you don’t mind.”

Verko smirked as he beckoned his bouncers to follow them up into his office, Twilight and Stature followed him as well, he took a seat and asked “What is it you want?”

Twilight sat opposite him “Well I have the idea of opening a mercenary band in the city and need to acquire a property to contain this band.”

Verko grinned “What’s in it for me?”

Twilight tossed a bag of gold coins with the Storm King’s face on them on the desk, she grinned “I believe that with time we will be able to recruit more mercenaries and bring more gold coins like this in in the future consider that a down payment.”

Verko laughed “You are my kind of person, very well there is an old abandoned warehouse, it does need a lot of work to get up and running but I have a feeling you can get it done.”

Twilight smiled “I’ll give you half all of profits fair.” Verko nodded eagerly with as his eyes turned to gold coins, he tossed them a map with the location of the Warehouse.

The duo returned to Capper’s house with a smile, Crystal laughed “I guess he bought the bribe.”

Twilight nodded “Hook, line and Sinker, of course he will be taking half of any profits we make. Of course profits are basically what I have left over after making sure all of our mercenaries are paid.”

Capper frowned “So what are you going to do now?”

Twilight smiled “We need to head to the warehouse and out fit it properly, we will need us to pool our remaining funds to get the building into shape then do more jobs to spread the word and get more recruits.”

One of the Griffon twins shouted “Come on let’s go, I want to see our new place.”

The other shouted “Not if I see it first!”

Twilight growled “Lionheart stop aggravating you brother.”

‘Lionheart’ shouted “I’m Blade Wing, he’s Lionheart!”

Twilight slumped “You know what I don’t care, let’s just go.”

Crystal smiled “Don’t worry about them, they have always been a pair of tricksters, you’ll get used to it in time.” Twilight grumbled something about not wanting to get used to it as they left for the abandoned warehouse.

One of twins groaned as they saw the massive rusty metal building “It looks like junk.”

Twilight scowled “Do you want to be the one who has to clean off all that rust because I will make you both do it!”

The other blinked “Why both of us?”

Twilight shouted “Because otherwise the both of you could just…” she grit her teeth a sharp bit of pain shot through her chest.

Stature growled “Stress and exertion are not good for her until she’s fully recovered and you two have been a major cause for both so I suggest you shut it.” Stature helped Twilight into the rusty building, it’s rusty metal walls were covered in dust and filled with cobwebs, Twilight groaned, Statute smiled “We’ll have all cleaned up quickly then one of us will stay with you while the rest of us go to get the necessary furniture.”

Twilight sat there as the two griffons, one dragon and one minotaur began dusting out the huge two story structure. Twilight rested a hoof over the bandages on her chest, the place was cleaned out within two hours, Crystal smiled “Me and the griffons will go, Stature will protect you.”

Stature sat beside her in the corner, Twilight frowned “How did I survive, I was stabbed clean through?”

Stature frowned “Simply put they used what a Zebran poultice that stops bleeding through Zebra magic, we don’t know exactly how it works but it does.”

Twilight frowned “I will definitely need to buy some books on magic for my own personal study as well as a few books on sword combat.”

Stature smiled “Books on magic are fairly cheap as few know how to use magic, combat books though are more expensive.”

Twilight nodded as she leaned against him, he asked “Can I treat you to dinner sometime?”

Twilight blinked confused “Why?”

Stature shrugged “No reason.”

Twilight smiled “Okay sure, I could use a nice meal.” The two sat there quietly awaiting the return of their fellow mercenaries.

Crystal pulled a large cart full of furniture and books into the room. The two griffons flew in after her, Crystal grinned “I see you two love birds are enjoying each other’s company.”

Twilight groaned “We aren’t like that he just asked me out to … “ she blushed “I completely missed that, I guess we may be like that.” She turned to him “I haven’t changed my mind but we will have to see if we can get anywhere more than just friends.”

Stature grinned “Good” the two griffons were about to comment when he cast a deep glare upon them, they instantly became silent.

Crystal smiled “I need to take Twilight for a bit, Stature do you mind assisting the boys setting up the base and giving the place a nice fresh coat of paint inside and out.”

Stature nodded “Sure just keep her safe.”

Crystal whispered in her ear “We are going to make you look fantastic for this date.” Before Twilight could respond she was dragged out the door rapidly with no chance to comment.

Author's Notes:

Twilight had a date, I hope you like the date chapter.