//------------------------------//
// Exposure 
// Story: Light in the Shadows 
// by Shadowbot739 
//------------------------------//

I woke up to find Dashio scratching my face “I’m up, I am up, you don’t have to do that anymore”
“Should I really care about what Luna said? It clearly would ease tension a little if I don’t use my armor, but I would be sacrificing my protection, and the ability to easily conceal my weapons. Considering the fact that this land is normally quite peaceful and I still would be carrying my saddle bags…leaving me use to my other more utility tools, and ‘Blade of Life’s Inevitability’ is small enough to fit”. I sighed, “I hope I am making the right choice” I said out loud while starting to peel off my armor, revealing my dark crimson fur.
I looked over to Daisho to find him eating a bird, “Daisho, you stay here and watch over my things, you know how valuable those daggers are”. The little dragon replied with a small roar and then continued on his meal.
Walking to the river near the town, I continued to feel uneasy about not using my armor. As usual I saw nothing out of the ordinary green grass and the cobblestone pathway into the town. Arriving to the river I took a look at my reflection for the first time in my pony form without armor. My eyes were amber colored as usual, but not very bright as they once been when I was younger “guess all those years of living in the shadows does that”. Retaining my hair color from my normal form, my mane is white.
“Hi mister, are you new to town?” a voice came from behind me.
I turned around, and saw the same filly I helped from the manticore many days back “Depends on your definition of new, Apple Bloom”
“Oh its you! I hardly could tell without your clothes” The filly said “oh and umm, thank you for saving me”
“I don’t let the young ones, such as you, get harmed; you got a right to live”
“How you get your cutie mark? I’ve never seen anything like it” Apple Bloom said eying my flank.
“I’m not going to answer that and before you even ask why, I’ll tell you I’m not answering that either”
“Why not?”
“What did I just tell you?”
“That you wouldn’t tell me why...” Apple Bloom said with sad eyes.
“I hate it when them children makes those faces at me, but it is best for her not to even have a hint of what a Rogue is” I thought. I stood up and turned back to Apple Bloom “I’m going to move on now”
“Can I come with you?”	
“I’m going to regret this”. “You may, but only if you don’t have anywhere to be”
“I ummm... got to help meh sister on the farm”
“Then you better go help her” I said, “well at least I will not have any pestering questions from a filly”.
I nodded to the filly and then walked into town. Right away I noticed that fewer eyes were peering on me compared to when I had my armor on, but there was still glancing at me as I was a complete stranger. I heard whispers of them wondering what my cutie mark was, but clearly none of them summoned the courage to ask me.
I looked up to the sky and noticed a cloud was following me “how the heck...that can’t be possible, but here it is and...it’s darkening...”. A lightning bolt shot out of the cloud and struck me “GAH, what the heck is wrong with that cloud”. I looked back up to the sky, but only to find that the cloud moved on “is nature itself trying to kill me now?”
“Are you okay?” a mint green pony asked while walking up to me.
“I’ll be fine, not the first time I been hit by lightning” I replied.
“Do I know you? It feels like I talked to you before...oh, you're the guy who also believe humans exists”
“I don’t believe it, I know it, but those matters aside, you have any idea what is wrong with that cloud?”
“You KNOW HUMANS EXIST? How, where?!”
“Way to mess up your cover with your correcting...honestly, my cover is falling apart by the day” I thought, “well I couldn’t take you to them if I tried, so umm...good luck with that”. I turn around to walk away, only to run into the green pony.
“Can you tell me more about them? What are they like? I got so many questions!”
“First of all, I don’t know your name; second, if we are going to have a decent conversation at all, this is not the place”
“My name is-”
“There you are Lyra” a pony with a pink and blue mane walked up to us, “and who are you?”
“Rather, who are you?” I countered questioned.
“Bon-bon, wait...your Accel aren't you?”
“Wow these names are almost more idiotic than the crazy people in Goldshire”. I stepped back a little, “I see that you heard of me”
“Hard not to, you're the strangest pony in town and from what I heard, you have a creature no pony have seen before with you at times. Also, according to Lrya, you believe in humans”
“What’s wrong with believing in something that no...pony or hardly no ponies thinks exist?” Looking out of the corner of my eye I saw Rarity and a few others going into Twilight’s tree “I better get in there soon as I can”
“Because they do not exist, and never had”
“Ok, humans are not real at all” I said while pushing as much sarcasm in my voice as I could, “I need to go now”. I started to walk into the nearby alley.
“Maybe we can talk later” I heard lyra say as I entered the alley.
Making sure there was no pony watching me, I entered my stealth mode and then sneaked my way to the tree. Trying the door, I noticed it was locked “If that doesn’t scream secret meeting of some sort... I don’t know what is”. Pulling out my lockpick, I easily picked the lock and squeezed my way in, being careful not to open the door widely.
After shutting the door softly as I could I saw six ponies in the room, five of them best known as Twilight’s friends: Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and of course Twilight herself is there. It quickly became clear to me that they did not notice the disturbance I caused as they did not comment or react to the door moving.
“Why did you call us here Applejack?” Twilight spoke.
“Well several of meh apples been disappearing, not enough to clearly notice either” Applejack responded.
“Those apples of yours been very helpful for keeping me from going hungry, I don’t want to risk having to eat in town...although I look the part, I’m still an omnivore and I’m quite sure I can’t stomach the wheat without it being bread of some sort”
“I bet it was that Accel creep” Rainbow Dash blurted out.
“I don’t think so, he have not really shown any real attitude for stealing, or much opinion at all, maybe it was that biped” Twilight responded. “What do you think Fluttershy?”
“I..I don’t know, he seemed to feel like he is misunderstood” Fluttershy said.
“Who? You mean Accel?” Rainbow Dash asked, and Fluttershy nodded. 
“You mean he actually told you things that actually have detail?” Twilight asked with shock, Fluttershy nodded again.
“Well this isn’t good, but I can’t intervene without making it much worse. This is bad” I thought.
“Well, when with this Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.
“When that Manticore attacked...” Fluttershy answered.
“You mean the one that ended up dead with only a few cuts?”
“Yes”
“Did you see what happened?” Applejack said, and Fluttershy nodded.
“What happened?” Applejack asked
“He.....he...killed it”
“He may look like he can run, but there is no way he could take on a manticore” Rainbow Dash said.
“Watch me fight some dragons and then try saying that again” I thought.
“We can try and ask him how and why he did that later, but what did you meant by he feels as he is misunderstood” Twilight said with concern.
“He says many call him things, and prejudge him and that he is being hunted down all the time” Fluttershy responded.
“Sounds like a criminal if you ask me” Applejack said.
“Rogues typically start like criminals, but many evolve from simple and petty thievery” I added in thoughts.
“Did he say anything on what his cutie mark is?” Twilight questioned
“He only said that he was a rogue” Fluttershy answered.
“Well I never heard of a rogue; sounds disgraceful if you ask me” Rarity commented.
“Oh and I would love to slap you too” I thought to myself.
“Wait what’s that?” Pinkie Pie said pointing to a small, leather bound book on the floor.
“Oh crap....how did I drop my journal. True, I don’t write in it very often, but that’s plenty enough information to learn about my recent encounters”
“That must be Accel’s” Twilight said while levitating the book to her. “He must have dropped it; we should return it to him”
“You better not read it in the process”
“What kind of book is it Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight opened the book to the first page and read out loud “If you’re reading this and I am still alive, put this down where you found it or return it to me. Otherwise I must have finally met the grave”. She quickly closed the book after reading those lines, “it must be a private journal. From what I read, he doesn’t want any pony to read what he wrote”
Suddenly the left half of my vision began to blur and I felt a warm liquid near my left eye “No, not now, that cut haven’t opened up at all for nearly a year. Daisho, I need you now”
I turned around and slowly slipped out of the door, but not without some drops of blood hitting the floor first. 
“Gah, forget covering my tracks, getting this old wound stabilized is more important, curse you Anetheron, and...no...I shall not even think of his name” I thought while sprinting through town still in stealth.
Reaching the forest edge, I dropped my stealth and then I yelled: “Daisho I need you now!”