Chaos Theory: Lone Wolf

by Littlepony115

Chapter 7: Smoke & Mirrors

‘Strange. Never has she slipped up this much,’ He thought, casting up an eyebrow as he took in the small magical projection in front of him. ‘Honestly, coming face to face with a captain and nobility. Using a teleportation booth? I was expecting better.’

With that being said, there was a lot he had expected from her. Too bad she continually fell short of his ideals. The others were doing well in places, a few wreaking havoc in their own little ways, his little phoenix was performing well and still more were taking advantage of the night for their reigns of terror. None had perplexed him as much as her, though – the little altered filly who clung so desperately to her conscience and morals despite her surroundings. He was quite certain that she had suffered enough under his watchful eye – not to mention before then – to have hated the world as a whole, and yet… She didn’t seem to. It infuriated him beyond belief. Soon, however, she would snap. She would have to; considering everything in store. Things were falling into place for her, and he hadn’t had to do a thing.

“You’ll break soon enough and when you do, you’ll complete the final few steps towards my Théorie Du Chaos,” He murmured, overly accenting the Prench. With a sly smirk and a wave of his hand, the projection shut off – severing his view of the pegasus. He supposed it was quite a nice change of pace, to have one of his unaware delegates befriend the world before their damage, as opposed to the usual brutality of the others. “A poetic betrayal, of sorts.”

It was difficult for Solar to place her finger on what she was feeling. It had only been a brief set of seconds as the amethyst-tinted light had consumed her, whisking her and her entourage away to Canterlot. But the feeling was… odd. Badly odd. As the world around her faded into view, she fell to her knees and held a hand to her mouth, making a vain attempt against her nausea; the feeling kicking in like a freight train. It was the first time she had teleported in years, and if her memories were anything to go off of, it was just as sickening. The idea of having to do this multiple times a day made her shudder. She simply didn’t know how ponies did it. Gathering her thoughts, she took a deep breath and stood up, checking around her for anything that could send this journey awry. Save for a few distracted guards further along the platform, she was alone. That’s just perfect.

Keeping an eye on the group, she strode away from them and jogged down the opposite side of the station, keeping a brisk pace as she followed the tiled floor out of the building. In all honesty, she had forgotten about the behemoth of a train station being the same hub for teleportation – as much sense as it made. Hindsight is 20/20. She supposed, coming to a small stair case that lead to the open cobbled roads. Thankful for the light of the streetlamps, she took in the buildings around her, hoping for something she more obviously recognised. Although… Thinking about it, she realised that there would be nothing strange about her feathers being on the floor here and the moon wouldn’t give those on the floor long enough to make out her suit. Not that they’d have the guts to report her at this hour. Grateful for the excuse, she unfolded her wings and ran a few steps forward before soaring upwards, each beat boosting her momentum; the wind rushing around her like a whirlwind. She was as free as a bird, coming to a hover above the city and grinning like the Cheshire Cat, managing to ignore the frigid temperatures of night at that height. I wonder if Twilight has that book in her library?

Something pushed softly on her shoulder and she was a little taken aback to see her favourite raven perched there. Apparently, he had been beside her the whole time, having been consumed by the rune’s magic as well. Knowing that made her feel better, since he had slipped her mind until then. It also reminded her that she would have to thank him properly for his quick thinking earlier. As she followed these train tracks of thought, it hit her that she knew the way from Canterlot Castle to Syndicate’s, and she could easily trace the journey with the city’s lights. Sure enough, she quickly connected the dots to the hideout and, with a whoop, flipped into a swan dive – cutting through the clouds like a hot knife through butter, a wispy trail left in her wake. Pulling out of the dive, she angled herself into a slow decent before connecting softly with the grassy surface of the front garden.

Double-checking that she was at the right house, she made her way up to the door and knocked intensely, hoping to get inside as soon as she possibly could. It was cold that night. She felt something warm on her abdomen and swore under her breath, realising her acrobatics had torn her wound slightly. Still, it was manageable, and the bandages would take care of the blood for now. No time could be spent on repairs. I want to have a little talk with Fancy.

Pushing open the door to the meeting room, she immediately spied the pony behind her troubles. His winning smile was, as-ever, plastered on his face in an attempt to put those around him at ease – a stark contrast from Solar’s own stormy expression. Striding up, she unbuckled her satchel and drew out the rolled-up plans, dropping them onto the table before a sleeping Syndicate as she passed. Fancy looked at her with a tinge of uncertainty, glancing to the stallion for some kind of reassurance. The blinking and bleary-eyed unicorn gave none, knowing better, and simply shook his head. With the strength of someone twice her size, Solar backhanded her most recent client across the face, making him stumble a good metre or so.

“Flammable, was it?” Solar snapped, the look she wore capable of making a stronger stallion tremble. “I don’t know if I would call it flammable.” She took a step closer towards her shocked target. “Explosive, yeah, maybe. Flammable, no. No, I wouldn’t say so.” There came a small ‘Oh.’ from Syndicate, who had been perplexed the minute he had seen her face. Fancy stammered slightly, searching around for something he could say. “I just didn’t think flammable meant it would explode and stab me full of shrapnel, is all,” She said, her voice back to its regular volume, as if the outburst was done and it was simple misunderstanding. A trickle of blood began leaking from her bandage and Fancy cringed, eyes glued to the liquid.

“We… We thought it was only flammable,” He began, pulling himself back to his feet. “How could we have known it wasn’t?” Solar sighed, knowing no good would come from pursuing the issue.

“That doesn’t change the holes in me, nor does it change my less than subtle exit after having half the building fucking explode,” She replied, chewing him out for all he was worth. “It also doesn’t change having to fly away with a crossbow bolt lodged in my stomach, it doesn’t change crash landing in a forest, it doesn’t change attempting to mend a river of blood.” Her words made Fancy flinch with every utterance. “There’d better be some kind of compensation for this.”

The sound of footsteps moved from behind her to beside her as Syndicate sidled up, taking a look at the sorry stallion before him. “Solar,” He began, resting a hand near her wound, “You’ve got a-

“I know. I’m fine,” She interjected, cutting him off and shaking the caring hand away. Turning to scoop up her stolen parchment, she offered it with a terse hand. “Just take your damned plans and give me my damned bits.” With a curt nod, Fancy fished a pouch from his belt and dropped it to the ligneous table where it landed with a rattle. Switching to a terse smile, she scooped up the pouch and weighed it in her hand, trying to estimate its value. Provided Fancy wasn’t using weights or anything of the sort, it did feel about right for a hundred bits. Such a pity she would have to bank it herself. Generally, Syndicate would transfer the money over to her account and no one would be any the wiser, but when she had the payment in coin it made things slightly difficult in regards to not showing up. With that being said, if Celestia really did know about her, then what more did she have to show?

Then it hit her. Every job she had done, every payment she had received… Every business owner and once-rich noble that had stepped foot into Canterlot Castle wailing about lost valuables… Each one would coincide with a payment to the account that she owned. It would be so easy for them to find the next few deposits of exactly one-hundred bits and then investigate each account until one matched. Okay, maybe I should keep that quiet.

It was no matter. One hundred bits could be kept in her house rather easily, she didn’t need to bank it. Even if it was rather a nuisance. Noticing her distant, thoughtful expression, Syndicate clicked his fingers in front of her face, snapping her out of her trance.

“So, is it all there?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at Fancy as he waited for the answer. She nodded, dropping the payment into her satchel with pursed lips. It was going to be a bother to deposit it bit by bit.

“As for you,” He continued, his glare hardening on Fancy, “I trust you’ll keep your word and stay quiet about our affairs?”

Fancy nodded, straightening his back and stretching. “Well, of course. It seems our business is done, wouldn’t you say?” He hinted, throwing a split-second glare at Solar. She caught his eye and smirked. To think, he resents me. Not the first, though, are you? She felt no remorse for her outburst, he’d deserved far more than that. “Come, Fleur, let us take our leave. I’m sure Celestia would love to know these two had nothing to do with the Jewel whatsoever.”

Immediately, Fleur skipped over to his side and the two strode towards the door with an unusual haste in their step. Solar darted forward, using the meeting table as springboard to land between them and their exit.

“That was some strange phrasing, my dear noble,” She quipped, leaning against the doorframe. “I really hope you don’t plan on telling her anything about us. Do you?” Her persuasion was laid thicker than icing and she hoped that her talents would give her at least a little aid here. A little unexpectantly, he actually did mull over her request, his eyes panning the floor as if searching for something he had lost. He was just thinking, of course, but it still amused her to no end. Little things like that tattled one’s thinking almost as easily as ‘Elixir de verité’ – a potion made specifically for forcing someone to spill the beans on anything they were asked. A favourite of the royals, if I remember correctly.

With his mind made up, Fancy smiled beseechingly and nodded, “But of course, I would never twist words so wickedly. It would go against my very nature! What would the Princess think if she couldn’t trust me to speak a lick of truth?”

Knowing that was as good as she was going to get, Solar sighed and stepped aside; allowing the two to carry on their way. As they left, Fleur gave her a small wave and an intricate smile filled with meanings that would take a more skilled pony far longer to unravel.

Turning the corner, they vanished from Solar’s sight, forced into her other senses as she heard their nauseatingly formal farewells to the doormare.

The silence that followed was broken by Syndicate clearing his throat, clearly prompting her attention.

“I don’t like them, Syndicate. I don’t like them at all. I’m certain, actually, that they are going to recount this entire thing to Celestia if they can. If I wasn’t on some kind of watch-list before, I will be now – there is no way that I’m living peacefully now,” She groaned, fuming over the whole ordeal.

“I know, I know. But what could I have done, eh?” Challenged Syndicate, his tone letting slip that he was just as annoyed. “Besides, this hurts me a lot more than it hurts you. They know what you look like and your name, big deal. They know everything about me now. I’ll have to find a new hideout, because they’ll know what account owns this building – so I’ll have to find some way of switching bank accounts, which’ll be pure Tartarus.”

Solar tuned him out as he ranted to the world in general and thought more about what he had just said. ‘They’ll know what account owns this building.’ You’re kidding. When he had given her the house… He had used the usual system, simply transferring the property to her name. To her false account. It would be incredibly easy to look at his history and see that a few days after the heist, he had given her a house and a good number of bits.

Dropping her head into her hands she laid back onto the table, letting out a defeated growl. That’s it then. They know where I live, and they’ll drop by to see the place. I’m fucked.

“Syndicate,” She stabbed, venomously interrupting his monologue.

“What?” He responded, annoyed at being interrupted yet again by this ungrateful mare.

“You gave me that house through the bank, didn’t you?”

He paled. Both he and her had fake names attached to their accounts but that would all be for nought now that Fancy and Fleur had seen his base of operations. There was no way to stop them from knowing exactly where the two of them lived and, more pressingly, to see exactly what accounts to monitor for payments. They would see payments that linked up to so many robberies, vandalisms and worse. His entire operation to undermine the monarchs would be up in smoke. Not only Solar, but all his operatives would be on that list. Who else would have business receiving undue payments from his account? Even… Even his receiving account would be seen to take payments, then that would lead to showing his client’s accounts. That was a good amount of Canterlot’s criminal network, all in one list.

“Oh,” He said simply, the words hanging in the air as the bleak reality set in.

“Yeah, fucking ‘oh’.”

“Well. In that case, I suppose I’ll see if he’ll stay true to his word,” He acquiesced, acting strangely calm. “Would you…” He sighed, shooting a look of concern to her direction. “Do you need something for that wound? It’s ruining the table.”

In her anger at Fancy and Syndicate, Solar had entirely forgotten about her bleeding crossbow wound that had now soaked through her poorly applied bandages. What she couldn’t believe was that he was joking at a time like this. Still, she supposed, I suppose it’s as good a coping mechanism as any. The anger in her fizzled out as her exhaustion caught up to her mind – leaving her more tired than she had ever remembered being.

“No. I just want to go… Home. I don’t care anymore. Mahogany Hollows, Syndicate, that’s where I want to be.” She swung her legs off the table and stood, staring sadly at the floor in front of her. With a sigh, she began walking away but stopped just as she reached the door.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?” He asked, giving her a quizzical look.

“Earlier, you said that this wouldn’t’ve happened if I didn’t let that captain live. You were right,” She explained, feeling a little numb. She’d been working for Syndicate for so long that she’d begun to see him as a bit of a father figure. He could never compare to Ironsights, but he could’ve easily passed as an uncle. To think that her ties to him might be severed was horrible.

“Well, don’t say things like that just yet. They may keep their word, for all we know,” He piped up, trying in vain to comfort her. To comfort himself.

She tried to fake a laugh but the dry chuckle that came out wouldn’t have fooled a mouse. Although, on the topic of mice, she was beginning to feel like one; forever trying to grab a piece of normality off the fragile spring of life. Ponyville was as close as she could get right now. I’m beginning to feel like a bit of a fool, too.

“Yeah, maybe.”

He nodded and walked out the room, leaving her to her merciless thoughts. She closed her eyes, heaving a sigh. Why did things have to go wrong now? She thought, looking back over the recent days. Everything had been going so well. Still, there was no use revelling in her misfortune. I’m too tired to figure this out.

“Hey, Solar,” Came Syndicate’s call from the hall. “I figured you’d rather get back in a more… Subtle outfit. Or at least, covering your not-so-intact one.” With that, he chucked something towards her.

Her tired eyes snapped open quickly but her flailing hand did little to catch the balled-up cloak as it hit her square in the chest. Spluttering, she tried to shoot him a disapproving glare, only to find he was already gone – having retreated further into the building.

To his credit, the cloak did surround her quite well and clasped together around her neck with several small but sturdy silver poppers. All things considered, she thought, I may as well drop my surreptitious air for a more casual one on my way back. I mean, there’s nothing like waving to guard after a robbery. She chuckled, recalling previous jobs. It was always fun to wander around society, knowing that – by all rights – she should be in jail. Still, the deed wouldn’t have been done had it not been ordered.

“Well, back home now I suppose, eh? Hopefully a shred of normality. Although, I’m not quite sure what that is exactly,” She said aloud, looking around for Corvus. It took her a second, but he was there, sitting placidly on the table – watching her with his usual judgemental look.

“What?” She shot, feigning irritation. “I’m not complaining as such, I do bad things for bad reasons. I can’t be a bad pony and expect good things to happen to me.”

His head tilted and his eyes narrowed somewhat.

“Garr,” She replied, bearing her fangs in mock-aggression. “You see? Bad, evil pony, sir.”

To her shock he actually shook his head, fluttering his wings to land on a shelf beside her. Face to face with her, he continued to shake his head subtly.

“Shut it, ok? You’re… You’re a bird. You couldn’t understand a damned thing about… this. About any of this. Why am I even talking to you?”

Spinning on her heel, she walked down the hall, pulling off her gloves as she did so and untucking her mask from her neck. Along with that, she slid her quiver down from her shoulder and tightened the strap around her waist, removing the bulge at the top of the cloak’s back. Her bow was a bit trickier, but she soon found that she could hang it over her quiver, hiding it too.

Once she’d unbuttoned her suit’s collar and stuffed away her accessories, she looked pretty normal. From the outside, at least. Just a regular traveller with a pretty large cloak. Giving the mare at the door a casual wave, she stepped out into the torrential rain of the outside world. A little shell-shocked it took her a few seconds to yank up her hood and pull the cloak tighter around her – hoping against all hopes that it would block out the freezing droplets. It didn’t. Or at least, not as much as she’d hoped. Gritting her teeth, she made her way to the train station – deciding that it would be the easiest way back to Ponyville. There was little need for secrecy or discretion right now.

The train was barren as she rode home, with only one other pony at the end of the carriage. She didn’t take much interest in them and took a seat by the window to watch the countryside fly by with lacklustre interest. Slowly the steady rumbling and rhythmic noise lulled her to sleep as the journey wore on.

When she finally woke, it was to feel something sharp hitting her shoulder and to see the distorted lights of night-time Ponyville through the sheet of glass and rain – the streaks of recent droplets carrying the light in veins across the view. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she twisted in her chair and waved Corvus off of her, a little annoyed that he couldn’t find a way of waking her that didn’t involve pecking her to pieces. Still, it got her up and moving – making her step down from the train and onto the platform, shooting a confused glance behind her into the now-empty carriage. Wasn’t there a… Huh.

Canterlot’s storm was, apparently, not quite big enough to pelt down in Ponyville and had made peace with a light drizzle. It was still uncomfortable, but more manageable than the downpour from before. As she followed the path to her home, she began to feel her eyes drooping with sleep. Sighing, she ran towards the house and reached for her handle, only to notice the door itself was open a crack. I closed this… The note is gone, too. She thought, backing away from the wall and creeping along its length before undoing her cloak and tucking it under her arm. I can’t fly with this thing on. Jumping up, she flew up to her balcony and landed as softly as she could – hoping the rain would mask the sound. She fished out her keys and unlocked the door, letting herself into her bedroom. Pushing past her curtains, she waited for Corvus to fly inside before closing and locking the door.

Okay, step one done. She dropped the cloak onto her desk and slung her satchel onto the floor, kicking it underneath the desk for now. One thing she was certain about was that she really didn’t want to stay in her torn uniform any longer. It wasn’t exactly something that screamed ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ and she knew that, if there was anyone here, they would be all-too keen to use that against her, so she peeled it off. Annoyingly, she’d applied her bandages over the suit, so those had to be unwrapped and pulled off – revealing her softly bleeding stomach wound and scarred calf. The calf stung only if she touched it, but the stomach throbbed with pain still. That was now her centre of attention. I guess this is step two, then. If only I was a unicorn, I could… She began thinking before something crossed her mind.

Pushing open her door and jogging down the stairs, one hand pushed against herself to stop the blood, she caught sight of her target standing smartly on the hall table; its reflective surface copying her battered body mockingly. The other bottle of wolf’s blood. Uncorking the stopper, she downed about a quarter of it – waiting patiently for it to kick in. Her tongue unconsciously fished through the corners of her mouth, savouring the flavourful, viscous liquid. The dark hall was tinged with the red glow of her eyes. A smile played on her lips as the throbbing ceased and the wound slowly closed, patching itself with a strong scab. The flesh itself patched together beneath the scab until it came loose, revealing a mild scar between her fur where the torn hole had once been. She was thankful that her body absorbed blood so well, considering internal bleeding was meant to be pretty dangerous.

“Now, I need to find whoever’s here,” She said aloud, corking the bottle, resisting the urge to drink the rest for the sheer taste, and sitting it back onto the table.

Ok, I’d rather hoped they would show themselves at that. Or move. Or breath. The eerie red glow faded away from the darkness of the hall, leaving her in the inky void once again. Casting a glance to her side, she flicked on the light switch and began slowly walking to the back of the house. Looking around, she allowed her primal vision to take priority. There were no signs of a glowing set of veins anywhere, save for Corvus’ small bundle. Still, that didn’t necessarily mean no one was there. With a grimace, she crept through each room, checking each corner thoroughly before moving on.

Great, just great. She thought, as her breath caught in her throat. The door to the house’s wine cellar was open – something she certainly did not do. Creeping closer, she peered down into the dark expanse of cellar and reluctantly stepped onto the cold stone. Unlike the floorboards of most rooms, the chiselled rock was freezing, and she was barefoot after pulling off her suit. Hissing in discomfort, she padded softly down the steps and reached along the cellar’s shelves until her fingers felt a switch. With a flick, the bulbs flickered on as magic flowed to their glass bodies – lighting up the room in a pale light. On edge, Solar crept between the aisles of wine, glancing down each for any movement.

Coming to the last one, she frowned. There hadn’t been even as much as a shimmer; that would have, at least, shown a hidden unicorn. Something did catch her eye, however. There was a note folded neatly on one of the shelves and closed with a red wax seal. Scooping it up, she took a few seconds to make out the design in the bad light before recognising the etched symbol.

“Well, well, well. That didn’t take you long,” She chuckled weakly, running a finger over the insignia of the Two Sisters – too tired to care. Leaning against the brick wall opposite the shelf, she slid to a sitting position and unfolded the paper clumsily.

Dear Solar,

Thank you for your help. While I know I promised not to ‘tell’ on your little… racket, I’m afraid that I never said anything about tattling on you. Please, enjoy your time in Ponyville. The Princesses will take their time considering what to do with you. I hope you weren’t under the impression that they had forgotten about your involvement with the Jewel. Oh, and you may rid yourself of the idea of disappearing. Need I remind you I said nothing about anypony else’s loose lips.

Sweet Dreams.

– Fancy.

Solar rolled the note back up and sighed in despair. It’s too late to deal with this. She thought, realising that it must be the early hours of the morning by now. Now she’d have to change her locks and find some way of stopping teleportation in the old home. There was no way it had the privacy runes most modern houses used. With a forced spring in her step, she traced her way through the cellar and flipped the light off before locking the door thoroughly.

Before she retreated upstairs for the night, she spotted yet another slip of paper beside the front door. It must’ve fallen there from the letterbox at some point. She thought, gingerly picking it up from the floor and unfolding it. A slightly relieving name was at the bottom. Fluttershy – just asking Solar to visit with Corvus for a check-up, whenever they were free.

While she hadn’t enjoyed double, and eventually, triple-checking every lock in the house, Solar did enjoy the snug feeling of wrapping herself up in a blanket on her bed with her lamp on and the curtains drawn. Despite being absolutely shattered, she had too many fractured pieces of information running through her mind from today’s events to fall asleep.

After lying in bed and staring at the ceiling for a solid fifteen minutes, it hit her that she had some reading material that could take her mind off of things for a while – so she swung herself out of bed and dragged her satchel from under her desk. Somewhere in here, I could’ve sworn. She thought, raking through odds and ends for the old, leather-bound book. A smile played across her lips when she saw the title and she pulled it towards her, letting the bag fall to the floorboards below. ‘Myths and Legends of Equus: Vampires’ It truly wasn’t the most attention-grabbing title for anyone else, but to her it was something of intense interest. Something that could tell more about herself than even she could.

There are many different interpretations of vampires in Equus’ cultures. Some regard them as oddly alluring creatures, possessing a divine beauty that is often used to manipulate and deceive ponies into trusting them or even courting them. Others can decide upon the creatures being disgusting, pale monsters with tough and dry skin – wearing long dark clothing to cover their sensitive skin from the damaging sunlight. There are simply too many variations to go into detail – but there are certainly a fair number of features that carry across between cultures.

For one, many, many areas believe that vampires can transform. Into what, you may ask? Well, into the animal that shares the name, of course. The vampire bat. This can be used for an easier mode of transport or to escape from tight situations – depending on the situation at hand. An alternative of this, however, is simple ‘teleportation’. Rarely is it like our own magical teleportation, though. It can vary between truly instantaneous teleportation, incredibly quick movement and, my personal favourite, the transformation into a fast-travelling smoke. Although, that one may share more relevance to the bat than teleportation. The more you dig into the variations, the more likenesses you can draw between these creatures and those that truly are proven to exist around us.

Solar drank in the stories and descriptions with an intense fascination – likening several of them to both herself and the tales she had heard. One that interested her in particular was the concept of an ‘Emphatic Vampire’. The way they thrived on positive emotions, such as love, reminded her strongly of the ‘Changelings’ she had heard about when buying her hood and mask. While she had been paying more attention to the transformative magic at the time, which was also similar to the descriptions of transformation in this book, she distinctly remembered the stallion behind the counter telling tales of the creatures’ Queen. How both she and they fed on the love of Equestria’s citizens. He seemed to be the only one concerned about the things, though, ending his ramblings with the reluctant admittance that they had been gone for a long time now. Still, there was an entry for the creatures in the book – showing illustrations of their black chitin shells and hole-punched limbs. They were strange and she briefly wondered if they were actually real or if the stall owner had simply heard the same stories as the writer of this book. They seemed so unrealistic and yet… So did Solar herself. There were certainly stranger things in Equestria.

Something else was on her mind, too. The mention of almost every type of vampire having some kind of natural transportation. She would have to try the things in the book at some point, even if it amounted to nothing. Perhaps tomorrow.

As she reached the end of her page, she folded the corner of her page into a dog ear – flipping the book shut and laying it onto her bedside table. She was oddly calm in comparison to before, even with the excitement of the book, and her exhaustion caught up to her just as she turned off her light for the night; making her body flop into her pillow while her mind fell into a flopped into the realm of sleep.

As the sun rose Solar felt the offending object casting a stream of light onto her eyelids, making her groan in discomfort. There are certainly nicer ways to wake up. She thought, as she sat up. She stretched and froze mid-motion. I didn’t have a nightmare.

With a grin, she pulled her covers off herself and decided that she should probably treat herself to a comforting shower – washing off the dried blood and grime of yesterday. Her wounds were heavy scars now, but the dark skin that made them up felt as sturdy as the fur-covered area around them, so she didn’t bother worrying about them. She pulled on a dark T-shirt, a casual shirt and a pair of jeans, enjoying the casual clothing after all the time in her suit. Speaking of, she would really have to get a new one. It was getting tight. Just as she was pulling on her belt, something caught her attention and she sighed in disappointment. The clock was pointing to a steady seven ‘o’clock. Which would have to be morning. It’s no wonder I didn’t have a nightmare. If I didn’t sleep for more than three hours, I barely had the time.

Deciding that she ought to get moving anyway, she figured that she should get business out of the way first. Dragging her satchel off the floor, she took her earlier payment down the cellar – somewhere that she figured should be safe enough for now. As she ran her fingers along the bottles of varyingly coloured liquids, she found one that stood out quite well. Its glass was etched with the initials S.A.A and the bottle was clearly of a high value, having twirling details that would have taken quite some skill to get right. What stood out to her the most, though, was the liquid inside. It was a swirling rainbow of colours, which would be perfect for a recognisable bottle. With a tad of curiosity, she slid the bottle out of its trough and held it up to the light, squinting to read the inscription on the back.

Sweet Apple Acres’ Zap Apple Cider is a one-of-a-kind home brew made with only the finest apples.

Raising an eyebrow, she chuckled at the image of Applejack seeing the cider in her cellar. That would be fun. She thought, considering how little that farmer trusted her as it was. Too bad the bottle dated back to before she came to town, or she’d have another thing to complain about. With a shake of her head, she stuffed the bag of bits into the back of the shelf and slid the bottle into position, which hid them quite well.

Locking the cellar door with a flourish, she thought back to Fancy’s little note and decided that she had little choice but to conform to his requests of ‘Enjoy your time in Ponyville.’ And to ‘Forget about disappearing.’ She really didn’t feel like breaking either of those regardless, so it was practically an excuse to hang out with whoever would take her. Or at the very least, to relax and take up a hobby. Speaking of… She jogged up the stairs to her room, gunning for the book on her table. I should try some of these.

Flipping open the book, she read through the descriptions of several abilities before faltering. She really shouldn’t try these in her house. That seemed like a recipe for disaster, not something she wanted right now. But where would be secretive and hidden enough for her practice?

“Oh, Corvus?” She cooed, hoping for something to bounce ideas off of. With a flutter, the black bird landed on the kitchen table and cocked his head to the side – staring intently at her. “Any ideas about where we could go to try these?” She asked, idly waving the book and half-expecting him to begin hopping wildly around, or pecking her, or something. To her surprise, he actually flew to the backdoor and perched on the handle, tilting his head. With a raised eyebrow, she slid the book away and opened the door; taking a second to look over the woodland outside. The sun was rather low in the sky and she was a little taken aback. That’s well up by seven in Canterlot…

A black blur flew past her, gliding down the garden and following the dirt trails. Running to keep up, she followed the raven along the paths as they carved a line down from her garden, along the side of the Sweet Apple Acres orchard and through the trees until it hit her.

“The Everfree?” She called to him, panting and trying to keep her breaths even as she sprinted, “The Castle, right?”

A caw answered her question and she laughed as she moved, each footfall putting her one step closer to the dark line between the Whitetail and Everfree’s trees. It had been a while since she’d last ran this hard for this long and her disorientation began to cause a few mistakes, tripping and stumbling at odd intervals. Through the twisting forest, the path soon became fraught with thick, brambled vines – completely blocking the pre-planned route. Ignoring this, she leapt into flight over them, gliding back into her run on the other side.

Through slightly blurred vision, something caught her foot and she rolled through the fallen leaves – haphazardly throwing the varying shades into the air like a party popper. Heaving gasp after gasp of air, she laid on the forest floor, letting everything settle down around her. It was peaceful, all things considered. Despite the overall darker themes, the forest was still just that. A forest. As untamed as it may be, it still held the tweets and calls of various animals and plenty of colourful greenery. If the sun wasn’t as suffocated by the tall, timber umbrellas that made up the area’s namesake, it would be a picturesque place.

Pulling herself to a sitting position, she checked around for her guide and quickly found him sitting on a large stone brick, barely visible in the shadow of one of the castle’s tall towers. She’d actually tumbled only mere metres from the castle’s walls. Striding over to the castle’s wall, she flew up to the wall’s allure, looking around at the once-great structure. There had once been a courtyard, which was now dotted with large bricks that stuck out of the grass at uneven angles, that would do nicely. Now all I have to do is… Figure out what I can do.

Whipping the book out, she leant it against one of the stone blocks and began reading. Transforming into a bat, eh? Well, it was as good a place to start as any. Besides, it would be easier to keep track of if she just tried in the book’s own order. Following the page numbers mentioned, she flicked to a more detailed description of the ability and scanned the words for a trigger. Supposedly it was an innate thing, kicking in when the vampire needed or wanted it as naturally as breathing. Oh, really? How descriptive. Grimacing, she kept reading as she hoped for something a little more concrete. Annoyingly, wishing didn’t seem to do much as the only other thing mentioned was a vampire falling from a great height, then transforming to save themselves. Alright.

Kicking off a nearby the stone brick, she soared to the tip of the Castle’s tallest tower – or what was left of it – to land neatly on the broken rock. With a glance down to the floor, she took a deep breath and dove back off the tower.

The wind roared past her, driving her clothing to cling to her body and blowing her mane around her face with a manic force. With the ground drawing closer, she soon bottled out and unfolded her wings to pull into smooth glide; soon landing back at the book.

“Alright, if I do have that then I can’t use it. My wings do the same job, anyway,” She muttered, with a tinge of disappointment in her voice. Next up, then.

The next thing listed was teleportation – triggered by desire or need. Once again, simply desiring didn’t seem to work. She cursed under her breath, wishing she had one of the vampiric parents the book seemed so certain taught these skills. Okay, need it is. She thought, unslinging an arrow from her quiver and locking it into her bow. Aiming into the air, she released the string and watched the arrow fade into obscurity as it shot off to the sky.

“Well, fuck,” She muttered, having hoped to watch the arrow fall down and step under it. Now she was just left with the uncertainty of a falling arrow at any point. “Back to the drawing board, it seems.” Turning her attention back down, she tapped her fingers, trying to imagine something that would force teleportation.

“Corvus?” She called, beckoning idly in his direction without even looking up from the book. She jumped slightly when he landed straight onto her gesturing hand. “Oh. Hey, yeah, can you take this arrow and fly at me with it as fast as you can?”

He bowed his head and his body shook in paroxysms of silent mirth, though he did as he was told, clasping the arrow in one claw as he took off; easing into a circle in the sky.

“Don’t laugh at me, this is serious!” Yelled Solar, folding her arms in defiance. “Okay, yeah, go.” At that, he dove down with the arrow head glinting in the sun. She waited patiently, watching the bird as he ploughed into her shoulder – embedding the arrow into her.

With a cry, she fell back onto the floor and grabbed the arrow, instinctively sliding it straight back out of herself. Luckily, he hadn’t hit anything vital and the wound began forming one of her signature scabs. It hasn’t been long since that wolf’s blood, I guess. She thought, watching the wound with interest.

“Okay, that,” She clenched her teeth as she stood up, “didn’t work, either. I’m also losing some faith in this book.” She chuckled a little, a word reminding her of something. “Thank Faust we are almost done with the transport stuff. I mean, Faust forbid there’s some kind of danger sense later on.” She chuckled. It had always amused her to mimic the religious phrases she’d heard over time. Up next in the book was the smoke travelling. That sounded unlikely. Much like the last ones, it was either innate or caused by a sense of true, aware danger.

An arrow thudded into the floor beside her with a lethal slam, making her yelp in shock and her vision darken slightly. “Oh, bloody Tartarus in a tin can!” She cursed, glaring at the feathered end of the now-buried arrow. That took its damn time falling down. With a sigh, she turned back to the book, only to see it wasn’t there. Neither was the rock she had leant it on. In fact, nothing was there. Or, at the least, nothing was where it should be. Everything felt off, like the world had been shifted too far to the side. She searched for some kind of an explanation, frantically panicking over what had just happened.

Side-stepping aside to the book, she took in the scene and thought back to what had happened. She had heard the arrow whistling, then had moved to the side out of reflex when it stabbed the floor. So why does everything… Suddenly, she realised what she should’ve the moment she saw the book. The arrow was pinned into the floor exactly where she had been standing – to the point, even, that if she had only sidestepped it would still have hit her. Then there is the matter of everything darkening… With wide eyes, she moved her hand around in front of her, willing it to shift into smoke. Maybe…

Her cry of shock when it complied rang out through the forest, raising the heads of deer and pricking the ears predators for miles. In a panic, she fell to the floor and watched on in horror as her hands, feet and boots began to fade into strange misty doppelgangers of their usual selves. The effect crawled its way up her legs and along her arms as she struggled to pull herself away from her own limbs, scrambling frantically in the dirt. Sweet Celestia, is this how I die? She thought, desperately crying out in panic. As her torso and neck dissolved into their wavering counterparts, she clenched her eyes shut – some desperate primal instinct telling her that, if she couldn’t see the danger, she would be fine. As she trembled, a strange distant sound filled her ears – somewhat reminiscent of a low wind.

It took around ten seconds of tense waiting before she dared to open one eye. The world around her was relatively normal, save for being darker than she remembered. It really felt as though someone had pulled a dark veil over her face – causing a vignette effect on her vision. There was something to be said for her looks now, though, as her body and clothing was now a translucent, dark, misty replica of what they had been. The mist seemed to curl off of her form, coiling itself around the floor’s foliage as it fell off of her figure. Oddly reminiscent of dry ice, it felt… Strange, to say the least.

Taking an unsteady and trepid step forward, she found that everything seemed relatively normal, for the most part. So, she took a few more steps. All good so far… She broke into a sprint and her form dissipated into a whirl of thick fog as she sped along the courtyard. It was faster than she could ever run, covering metres upon metres in a matter of a few seconds. The book has finally gotten something right, then? Slowing down, she saw herself reform around her – setting her back into her newfound, smoky self. Smiling to herself, she stepped back for a run-up and sprang into the air; quickly soaring into the sky in a streak of black. All that was left was to see if she could actually turn back. But first…

“Corvus?” She yelled, landing back to the floor and sending smoke billowing around herself at the impact. Spotting him, she waved – hoping to attract the attention of the bird as he sat with stunned shock nearby. He quickly hopped off his perch and swooped down beside her inky form with a confused squawk. Giving a peck at her legs from the floor, he simply tipped forwards onto his face with a cry. Righting himself, he stared at Solar with a tinge of betrayal.

“Surprisingly,” She scolded, kneeling down to his level, “That did still hurt. And I didn’t ask you to peck me, so wipe that look off your face.” Slowly, she was learning to read his subtle expressions. Even if they were satire. “Besides, don’t you see what this means? I feel so much… Faster like this! I move faster, fly faster, think faster. Look.” Gesturing for him to stay still, she reached over to her back and picked an arrow from her quiver – grabbing her bow with her other hand as she did so. Drawing the two together, she stopped in confusion as she realised both were also coated in the dark mist.

She raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder, trying to see if the quiver was as well. It was. Slowly, she realised that everything was. Her satchel, her clothes, her knife and weapons. Even the things my satchel are. She thought, glancing through the ajar zipper. She reached down, pinching the zipper to move it along, revealing the translucent contents.

“Alright, I’m a muddled now. We’ve done enough with this darned book for today,” She decided, marching over to the title with an accusatory expression. “You’ve done your fair share of nonsense for today.”

With that, she tried to scoop the book up and glared in annoyance when it refused to comply.

“Really, I mean, good lord,” She spluttered in anger and confusion. “What dictates what things I can or cannot touch, then?” The question was posed more to the world as a whole than anything else. Truth be told, she didn’t want an answer – considering she was the only thing anywhere nearby that could even talk. In an act of annoyance, she slapped a hand against her stomach and that too collided. “I’m a little sick of this gag, if I’m honest. I’d really rather go back to normal now, please,” She requested beseechingly, once again, to the world in general.

Nothing happened and she gave a mock sigh, not having really thought that merely asking would do the trick. No, I’ll have to want to turn back to normal. She figured, looking down at herself while imagining her body returning to normal. Come on, this should be as simple as blinking, right?

“Okay, maybe I’m overthinking this.”

In her mind, she accepted that she was back to normal. She expected to look down and see her regular body, just as one would expect something in a lucid dream. As her eyes panned down, they were met with her usual, physical self and she let out a groan of dissatisfaction.

“Lo and behold,” She spat, turning to Corvus as she spoke, “Lo and bloody well behold, it’s that arbitrary.” Picking the book up off the floor, she slid it into her satchel as easily as ever and stepped closer to him – using the poor raven as an outlet for her rant.

“I’ve always wondered how these kinds of things worked mentally, like a unicorn’s magic or the like. I figured it was quite like wings, some muscles that you just learnt how to use over time. Perhaps, if I woke up one day with four arms, the two new ones would hang limply at my sides until I learnt to flex them, but no.” She cackled like a hyena, spinning with her arms outstretched through the courtyard.

“No, I just expect it to happen. And.It. Does.” Slowly, she came to a subtle stop before the avian, knelt down to the rock he was perched on, leant her elbows against it and steepled her fingers. “Isn’t. That. Fascinating?”

With an uncertain hop, he backed away from her crazed gaze – returning her one of concern and confusion. Dropping the look, she stood up and stretched.

“Oh, get a sense of humour. It’s just stupid, is all I’m saying,” She groused, turning away and heading back to the first wall they came from. Flying up to the wall-walk, she began to precariously hop across the broken parapet, knocking chips of stone off of the loose brick.

“I’m done with that book for now, I got stabbed in the shoulder, – thanks for that by the way – slapped myself in the stomach, not to mention I’m getting rather sick of seeing my life flash before my eyes so often. It’s quite the set of spoilers for when it finally happens. I don’t want previews this often.”

Dropping off the castle’s wall and looking through the trees for the route home, she stopped in thought. “Or maybe I’m just too pessimistic about my own survival.” With that, she looked back to Corvus and flashed him a winning smile. “Try to keep up.” Hopping into a run, she shifted into mist and shot off, weaving through the trees in a trail of darkness.

As he watched her dash off, Corvus tittered uncertainly. Fluttershy never said I’d be staying with a mad-mare. Then again, she didn’t know the mare was dead, either. Lazily, he opened his wings to fly after her. It was easy to track her, considering that his senses screamed at the unnatural feel she left in her wake.

“Ah, so you caught up,” She called, as he finally emerged from the darker treeline, “I was beginning to think I’d never see the day.” She winced as she spoke and raised a hand to her forehead. Seems there is a downside to this thing… Guess I shouldn’t have used it so much.

In reality, it had only been a few minutes, if that, since she’d shifted – but that had been enough time for her to dart back through the Everfree and onto the Whitetail Woods’ friendly dirt path, all the while enjoying her new-found ability. She had to admit, she was feeling rather cocky by now.

Kicking herself into a casual stride, she meandered down the patchy dirt path as it slowly sported into a well-worn trail through the vegetation. Corvus landed lightly on her shoulder, leaning against her neck. Light cut through the leaves in the trees, each stream of sunlight dancing around the world in a perfect sway with the wind – it was if the world was in time to a silent song. Truly, the scene was serene, the soft sound of the wind in the trees paired with the odd birdcall, and Solar felt rather pleased with herself. She had a loyal friend perched on her shoulder, a new-found ability and things could’ve gone worse with Fancy. He did say he was leaving ‘our little racket’ alone, after all. Sure, she was in some hot water, but it would be foolish to take this time for granted.

She turned onto a route than ran along Sweet Apple Acres as she thought; the apple trees lining up like soldiers with the path setting a stony difference between the orchard and the forest.

A pang of hunger hit Solar and she ground to a halt, glancing uncertainly down at herself. I haven’t eaten in a good while… On the other hand, she did find her suit tighter than usual the other day. Maybe I should hold off on eating for now.

Another pang changed her mind and she bit her lip, starting up her walk as she thought of what to eat. She had nothing in her satchel, since food would often get squashed and wasn’t exactly something to carry on a job, anyway. There hadn’t been a need to put any in before she’d rushed out, either. Corvus didn’t exactly schedule his outburst. A peck on her neck caught her attention and she watched the raven in question hop off of her, gliding to the fence between them and the orchard. Flapping up, he disappeared into the branches of an apple tree, leaving Solar to tap her foot.

A few moments passed before the tree rustled and he flew down, clasping the stem of an apple in his beak, which he promptly dropped down to her. Catching it easily, she bit into it eagerly and grinned at the flood of juice that followed. For all of Applejack’s faults, she grows some damn good apples. Having already started, she greedily devoured the rest of the fruit.

“Well,” She began, looking at the skeleton of a core that remained, “That tasted great.” With a glance, she looked up to where she’d thought Corvus was perched, only to meet the gaze of someone else entirely.

“Howdy, archer. I’m glad yah think so. Will yah be paying for it?” Came a sardonic voice Solar recognised all too well. The farmer was leaning against her property’s fence, giving Solar a scrutinous, probing look – like a knight searching for a chink in its enemies’ armour.

A little taken aback at her comment, Solar chuckled uncertainly. “I don’t have any bits on me right now, but I could owe you the price for when I get home…”

Applejack raised an eyebrow and vaulted the fence, sitting atop the wood rather than leaning against it. “Yeah, you could do that, couldn’t you? I mean, surely yah wouldn’t expect my hard-earned work for free, just because nopony saw yah take it, right?”

“Of course not, what are you trying to say, Jack?” Solar replied, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. Don’t want to seem guilty now, do we? I wouldn’t take offence if I was innocent, right?

“What the hay did you just call me?” Applejack asked, her narrowed eyes of suspicion turning to widened ones of bewilderment.

Seizing the opportunity, Solar took a jab at the orange mare. “Jack. That’s short for Applejack, right? Or should I call you Apple? ‘Applejack’ is such a mouthful.” It wasn’t exactly an insult, but she did enjoy messing with the farmer.

“You,” Applejack huffed, “Call me Applejack. Friends, who I trust, call me AJ.” With a hop onto the path, she prodded a finger onto Solar’s chest. “I don’t trust yah yet. When I can, you and I’ll be just square, you see? I don’t care what the others say, you give me a real bad feeling.”

Holding her hands up, Solar sighed in mock defeat. “Well, you’ve clearly bested me. With your harsh words I am all but forced to admit the thousands of atrocities I have committed. It was I who killed Star Swirl the Bearded! It was I who brought back Nightmare Moon. It was I who stole the Jewel of Griffonia!” May as well brag a little while we’re here.

“I ain’t even heard o’ most of them, but I know you didn’t release Nightmare Moon, so yah ain’t showing me you won’t lie. I expect at least four bits whenever yah please,” Applejack countered, shaking her head in disapproval. Just as she began turning back to the orchard there came a call from between the apple trees.

“AJ! Where did you go?” Called the voice of Twilight, drawing nearer to the pair as she searched. A large basket of apples was floating casually beside her, her signature purple aura surrounding the wicker craftsmanship in a soft, flowing glow. “I don’t know what to do with the apples when yo-” She stopped abruptly as she saw the angry look on Applejack’s face and the offended one on Solar’s.

Dropping the look, Solar waved courteously, hoping the librarian could talk some sense into Applejack. The two are good friends, after all. “Hey, Twilight. Me and AJ were just about to have a nice chat on the price of apples, isn’t that right, AJ? I was just saying how four bits is a bit steep for an apple and how the market must be in tatters.” As she’d hoped, using the nickname got under Applejack’s skin and she whirled around, angry as a hornet.

“I told yah, I only let my trustworthy friends call me that! And, no, four bits is fine. These here apples are Sweet Apple Acres’ apples and are high quality, so it ain’t steep.”

Twilight looked a little mystified, her eyes darting from mare to mare as she joined the triangle. “Applejack,” She said, settling on who to address, “Your apples are, like, two bits in the market. If that. Four bits is about as much as your cider, why would she have to pay that for one apple? And why are you so angry, you let everyone else call you AJ. Should we stop?”

Why so much for one apple, indeed. Solar thought, rooting around in her bag to make sure she didn’t actually have any money. To the tune of Applejack’s attempt at an explanation, her fingers brushed by several of the hard, round coins and she latched onto them. Three. Pulling her attention back, she caught the end of Twilight’s almost parental berating of Applejack.

“No, she shouldn’t be charged more at all, if anything, she should be charged less for picking it herself. Besides, you let Rainbow sleep here while eating apples when she feels like it. Not to mention all of us have one or two while we’re here. You’ve never charged us like this before.”

Applejack seemed a little defeated, shooting a glare past Twilight to Solar in a final moment of defiance. “Right, fine. She doesn’t have to pay.” She sighed, strolling back to the field’s fence. “But,” She stopped, pointing back to Solar, “I would like to have a word with yah later.” Twilight gave her a hard stare. “Not about the apple.”

Giving the pair a smile, Solar put the bits back into her bag and hopped onto the fence, sitting on the highest panel. “So, what’cha doing anyway?” She asked, a little confused as to why Twilight was picking apples on the farm rather than dealing with whatever royal business the student of Princess Celestia should be dealing with. Also, did she even know about the necklace yet? Or had that gone totally unnoticed so far?

“I came to talk to Applejack, and she was harvesting apples, so I offered to help. It is much easier with a unicorn working, I’d… Say… Um, more importantly, why do you have a bow?” Twilight asked, noticing and eying the weapon uncertainly. Applejack rolled her eyes and beckoned Twilight back to the orchard, wanting to carry on with the task.

Hoping to tag along, Solar dropped down beside Twilight and followed her through two rows of the grove to a large cart filled with full and empty baskets – their designs were similar to the one Twilight held. The apples in Twilight’s were noticeably larger and redder than the cart’s, though. Cleaner, too.

“I use it as a sport. You know, competitive archery? It was a fairly big thing in Canterlot,” Solar explained, glancing over at Twilight’s rather perplexed expression. Shit, she’s from Canterlot, isn’t she?

“Spike!” Called Applejack, cutting off any reply Twilight had stocked and knocking on the side of the cart. There came a muffled reply from underneath the wickers and some movement was heard before Twilight’s… Son? What was he again? I think Fluttershy said… Honorary brother? Best friend? Sure. Twilight’s best friend backed out of the cart, holding a few empty baskets in one clawed hand and an apple in the other. Seeing the others, he raised the baskets above his head in triumph and spoke through the mouthful of shredded apple.

“I gock tha other barkskets, uh, where’g you guysh go? And who’s…” He swallowed the fruit and squinted at Solar, trying to remember where he’d seen her before. After connecting the dots, he chucked the baskets to the top of the pile. “Oh yeah, you, hey.” He paused, raising a hand to his stomach. “Uh, Twilight, I think yo-” He began, before spewing a plume of emerald green fire into the air. As the flames curled through the air, a scroll dropped from the heart of the inferno and landed neatly into Spike’s open grip.

Clearing his throat, he unfurled and scanned the scroll intensely, “Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, sheesh, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot on the 21^st day of November, eh, yadda, yadda, yadda, cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest.” As he pulled out two shining, metallic tickets, Twilight gasped and turned to Applejack with wide, open eyes.

“The Grand Galloping Gala!” They cheered in sync, grins painted over their countenances.

Solar gasped quietly, staring at the tickets with an incredulous expression. She mumbled a few words of restraint under her breath, resisting the urge to reach out and grab the absurdly rare slips of gold. The Gala was an incredibly exclusive celebration for those held in highest regard by the Princesses themselves. Nobles, foreign spokespeople and the richest ponies from around Equestria attended each year to socialise and discuss recent events in one of the classiest environments imaginable, flaunting their wealth to each other in the only way they knew how. Fancy clothing and an extravagant ball.

The tickets themselves were worth a fortune to any thief who could get it to a fence – being rarer than hens’ teeth, not to mention the fact they were made of thin slips of enchanted gold. They couldn’t be melted down, torn or ruined by the elements, but they could be given away. Or stolen. It made some sense that Twilight would receive a pair of tickets, considering her position as Princess Celestia’s protégé, but Solar was shocked that they were being sent out this early. It was a good few weeks until the actual date specified.

While she was spaced out, someone clicked their fingers in front of her eyes, and she blinked in confusion. “Sorry,” She began, apologetically, “I was just thinking about… Something.” She flashed a smile to the confused trio, hopefully; it wasn’t really that suspicious. Plenty of ponies would daydream after seeing those tickets. “What were you saying?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “I was just saying about how I wasn’t sure who to give the second ticket to,” Twilight explained, gazing down at the object in question, a look of thought plastered across her face.

“It’s, uh, clearly for Spike… Isn’t it?” Solar asked, a little taken-aback that Twilight hadn’t thought of that herself.

Spike drew his claw along his throat and shook his head rapidly. “Yes, but he doesn’t want to go, so I need to find someone else to give the ticket to,” Twilight said, shooting a teasing, parental look at him. He shrugged and turned on his heel, going back to the laborious task of picking golden delicious apples off of the nearby trees.

Applejack had a dreamy look on her face, her thoughts running wild with imagination. “I wish I could go. I’d set up a stool and sell a bunch’a apple fritters an’ pies an’ all. I betcha those rich city ponies ain’t never had a good taste of some home-made Apple-family food. I could make such a killin’ selling them, it’d be more than enough to fix ol’ Granny’s hip and to get Big Mac a new harness, too! I could fix up the farm and-”

“Why bother selling the food?” Solar interjected, “Just skip the middle mare and sell the ticket itself. That would be worth at least five-hundred bits. I’d imagine.” Applejack and Twilight glanced to one another with concerned looks and Applejack held her hands up in defeat, spinning on her heel to help Spike while Twilight opened her mouth to say something.

Before she could get a word in, Solar continued, “Of course, it also depends on how many people are selling the tickets and if that’s the only one, in whic-”

“Solar, selling those tickets is a felony. Like, a crime,” Twilight deadpanned, cutting her off with an eyebrow raised, “Why do you know so much about selling something that’s illegal to sell? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Solar felt herself flush, which, luckily, didn’t show up that well on her dark fur. “Oh, I was just… Imagining you could. You know, hypothetically,” She explained, trying her best to add an edge of conviction to her voice, her tone implying that such a thing was too obvious to state. Her talent was good, but it wasn’t flawless; she had to at least try to be convincing.

Twilight’s face cleared, “Oh, well, hypothetically you could. In a world where you were allowed to sell them, yeah.”

“Yup.” There came a silence as both mares idly stood, thinking of something that would fix the conversation. “Well, I’d best be heading off. I’ve got a few things I need to get done today, but let me know if you need me, okay?” Solar said, wanting to get away from the train wreck of a conversation as soon as she could. Thank Celestia she took that excuse.

Twilight nodded understandingly before piping up with an alarmed look, “Oh, Solar! Before I forget, Rarity asked me to ask you to go to her boutique to pick up the clothing you asked her to make.” She petered out towards the end of her sentence, seeming a little tied up over the sheer amount of ‘ask’s she’d managed to slide in.

“No problem, that was already on my list. I’ve got to see Fluttershy, too. I want to ask her about Corvus and she want to… Check him? Not to mention, Applejack said she wanted to ‘talk’ to me later.” There’s actually far too much to do.

Waving a goodbye to the trio, she hopped back over the fence and made her way back along the path. Having moved further down, she saw a streak of rainbow fly through the sky above her and a loud crash soon resounded from the farm, making her chuckle.

“This lot are quite strange, huh?” She murmured to Corvus as he landed softly on her shoulder and she got a small chirp of agreement for her troubles.

As much as she’d wanted to visit Rarity, Solar couldn’t help but feel like it would end up with her dressed up in some kind of gown, despite her asking for anything else, and that wouldn’t really work a visit to Fluttershy’s. The only issue is that she’d dropped off her bow and book at home before moving through town to find the cottage and now she was looking around the town with an air of confusion. She had no idea where it was. She hadn’t been entirely concentrating the first time they’d been there and all she could remember was that it was near the outskirts of Ponyville.

Now she stood, feeling a bit useless, before the Town Hall – hoping desperately to see some kind of signage along the many roads. Maybe a visitor map somewhere? Anything?

Annoyingly, Ponyville had few street signs and still fewer public maps. Although... She thought, rooting in her bag. This? No, not that. This! With a triumphant flourish, she whipped out the rather worn map Syndicate had given her when she’d moved. It was basic and the only real writing just showed the town centre, train station and Mahogany Hollows, but it was still a map and all she had to do was find the outlier. Scanning across the map, she spotted the little winding road to the north and the small circle that had to be Fluttershy’s home.

“Alright, I’m writing this in,” She announced aloud to herself, scooping out a quill from her satchel and dipping it into the deep, black ink of the small jar she kept alongside it. It was actually rather incredible that it hadn’t shattered yet. She scrawled in a few labels – starting with ‘Fluttershy’s Cottage’. After that came ‘Sweet Apple Acres’, ‘Golden Oaks Library’, ‘The Carousel Boutique’ and ‘Sugarcube Corner’. As she flicked the end of her final ‘r’, it hit her that she had no idea where Rainbow lived. She’d have to ask her next time they met. After a second of consideration, she marked in a small skull over the road she’d almost been mugged on the other night. Better safe than sorry.

Satisfied with the semi-finished map, she rolled it up and packed it away; shouldering her bag and whistling for Corvus, she made her way northward. Passing the town hall, it hit her that Ponyville wasn’t as small and quiet as everyone tried to make out. In fact, it was more of a bustling, busy town than a quiet and humble village. Ponies of various shades and hues carved their way through the town’s few cobbled roads and along the various expanses of dirt and grass to weave between stools and stores alike. It was interesting to watch, not unlike an ant farm in its fascinating patterns.

Still, Solar had things to do and ponies to meet, so she continued to stroll through the loose cliques – every now and then, she gave the map a double-check to ensure that she wasn’t wandering further away from Fluttershy’s. With its help, however, she quickly turned the corner to see a familiar scene of a lone cottage sitting across a bridged river and a winding road. There were an incredible amount of bird houses surrounding the area, some loaded on top of one another like a stack of flats. Holes that lead to burrows were dotted around the ground, a few small creatures darting around at infrequent intervals. Sure loves her animals, huh. Solar thought, raising a hand to knock on the thick door of the cottage.

She paused, hesitating slightly as she wondered what she would say. That her pet was uncharacteristically intelligent? That he understood her every word perfectly? I suppose, she thought, that she asked to see him, anyway. It wasn’t quite up to her to point things out if Fluttershy was the one to call the visit. Besides, she was talking to him before, wasn’t she? She probably wouldn’t think I’m crazy…

With that in mind, she rapped on the wood and waited for an answer – fiddling with her bag absent-mindedly. From inside came a loud kerfuffle of falling objects, paired with the strange little screams of some animal. The door burst open, knocking Solar off balance as a white blur shot out from the cottage and bounded down the path. A panicked yellow pegasus ran out after it, holding her hands to her face in a mask of dismay.

“Angel!” Fluttershy cried out, her eyes wide as the blur stopped dead in its tracks to look back at her, “Please, come back, you haven’t even finished your food.” The blur, it seemed, was actually a small rabbit, its face holding a sneer befitting of a more expressive creature. With an indignant face, it poked its nose to the air and bounded off again, growing closer to the town.

“Oh my, this is terrible,” Fluttershy whimpered, clasping her hands together and watching with shrunken pupils, “It takes so long to get him back, and he could get lost or hurt or…” Her voice died out as she spoke, and she let out a small squeak of concern.

Pulling herself off the floor, Solar brushed herself down and looked awkwardly at the scene. “Should I… Should I try and get him?” She asked, tentatively.

Fluttershy whirled around to her and yelped in surprise, stammering a sentence out as best she could. “Oh, Sol- I, um, yes… Please.”

With a nod, she whistled to Corvus, catching both his and Angel’s attention. She gave a flick of her head to Corvus and the raven soared high into the air before rocketing down to glide around Angel like a vulture. Keep him obvious, Corv, I’d hate to lose visual. Catching on to her idea, Angel began barrelling down the path to Ponyville, desperate to get anywhere but here. Solar concentrated, trying to shift into mist. The extra speed would be a great bonus for catching a rabbit. But something quickly gave her pause. Fluttershy… She couldn’t transform in front of the mare without having some explaining to do. Choosing instead to flare out her wings, she burst into a low flight, brushing past blades of emerald grass and leaving a wake of fluttering dust.

With an outstretched hand, she scooped up the rabbit and pulled him closely to her chest – broadening her wings to buffer the wind and slow herself as Ponyville grew closer. Too fast, damn it. Tensing up, she rocketed into a barrel, flipping her into a roll as she crashed to the floor. There was an angry cry from above her as she cracked an eye open.

A tall, red, muscled earth-pony was standing over her – his straggly, ginger mane framing his emerald green eyes as they glared down at Solar with annoyance. An apple rolled to a stop beside her head, now covered with an uneven coating of dust and mud from the road. You’re kidding. She thought, rolling onto her front and standing up, Angel still held to her chest as he struggled to break free.

“Ah, geez, I’m,” She began, but the stallion just sighed and held up a dismissive hand, stopping her apology before it could even begin. Leaning down, he pulled the still fairly full barrel from the ground with minimal effort and hefted it into the air. Sweet Celestia, how on Equus... As the stallion righted the barrel to its original position beside his stall, Fluttershy arrived, panting from the sprint she’d taken.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry, Big Mac. Angel got out and, and Solar was trying to get him, and she flew too fast, and…” She let out a small, anguished cry, feeling overwhelmed with the situation. This was why she didn’t like going out as much as her friends. If that had been a stranger, oh, I daren’t think of what could’ve happened.

Mac’s expression softened at the sight and he switched his tune fairly quickly, pausing his work to lay a hand on her shoulder. “Ahh, s’okay, Fluttershy. No harm done,” He said in a deep tone, comforting her to the best of his ability. It was an interesting dynamic to see; the huge farmer acting so carefully with the relatively tiny pegasus – his movements ones of someone afraid to break what they touch. That may not be too far from the truth, to be fair. Presumably, Big Mac worked at Sweet Apple Acres, judging by him selling apples under their name and wearing the usual setup she’d come to expect from Applejack. Flannel shirt top with rolled sleeves, jeans, faux leather boots and a belt. He was only missing the hat, which she was fairly certain was an Applejack-Only Accessory™.

It suddenly hit Solar that she was still holding the snow-white bunny, who’d given up his protestations by this point. She tentatively held him out to Fluttershy, making sure he couldn’t get free before she had a hold on him. “I’ve heard that holding a bunny can make you feel better,” She offered, uncertain of what to do.

Fluttershy nodded, gratefully taking Angle back into her arms. “Thank you,” She replied, letting out a long breath before perking up slightly, “Sorry, I just get overwhelmed so easily. If it’s all alright, Big Mac, then I suppose everything’s okay.”

“Eeyup,” He assured her, “You get back to your cottage, okay?”

She nodded, turning away and meandering back to her home, stroking Angel as she did so. Watching her go, Solar felt a titbit of annoyance. She’d wanted to talk, and Big Mac had just sent off her chances – not the best way to get chatting.

“And you,” The stallion of the hour huffed, swivelling to her and jabbing a finger into her chest, “AJ’s been complainin’ about you since the day you showed up. What’s it with you and getting under our skin?”

She was a little stunned by the confrontation, but quickly pulled herself together, seething a little at yet another accusation. “I’ve done next to nothing, actually, your boss just keeps condemning me of lying every time I take a breath. It’s not my fault she’s so paranoid about me!”

“She ain’t my boss, she’s my sister, an’ she’s reliable enough for me not to trust a damn word you say,” He scowled, fixing her with an aggravated glare, “A decent pony would’ve offered to pay for them apples. You didn’t.” With a swing of his arm, he gestured to the six or so apples that had rolled onto the floor.

Annoyed at yet another reason to be disliked, Solar dove a hand into her satchel and pulled out a handful of bits, counting twenty-four before pouring the rest back. “Here,” She conceded, “Here’s the damn bits.” Dropping them onto the stall’s counter, she muttered under her breath, “I would’ve paid if I wasn’t both dazed and holding a bloody rabbit.”

A little taken aback, Mac glanced between her and the large sum. “You know it’s only twelve bits, right? You read the sign? It says two bits ‘n apple. An’ I wouldn’t ‘ave even charged you full price, since you didn’t actually eat ‘em.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Solar groused, “According to your sister, I have a special ‘Solar Tax’ on my apples. Four bits a piece. If you could bring that up with her at some point, that’d be great.” Sighing, she span on her heel and strode off down the Ponyville roads, her eyes glued to the irregular cobbling. Truth be told, she didn’t have to freak out like that, but she was getting a bit annoyed with it all. She wasn’t used to feeling the obligation of acting… Polite. With Syndicate, she could poke fun, because he knew her and needed her. There was no need to be cordial among criminals because everyone either knew each other or didn’t – each had a strange level of respect for one another. If you knew someone, you were probably working together; if you didn’t, chances are they were better than you. Honour among thieves. What a joke.

And yet, in reality, the best jokes are bound in both darkness and truth. It was ironic that the criminal underbelly of the world was the section that made sense. Far more sense than the normality it skulked behind. She could steal a necklace, pick a pocket or a lock, charm a guard or climb a tower, but living a regular life was… Challenging. Especially when someone was throwing a spanner in the works. Scratch that, everyone’s throwing their spanners.

Still, the outburst had confused Big Mac, which was rather fun. Not to mention, it would make him question Applejack – which would make her final victory all the sweeter. Either Applejack is going to trust me, or her friends will trust me more than her.

“What’s next, do you reckon?” She asked, directing the question more to the world as a whole than the dark bird on her shoulder. Her question went unanswered and she sighed, pausing along the street to lean against one of Ponyville’s charming homes. Perhaps I shouldn’t have ever spoken to them at all. She thought, watching passers-by with a thoughtful expression. Using an index finger, she traced the unevenly painted wall, absent-mindedly fiddling with the hidden sheath of her knife as she did so. Things had been easier alone. They were always easier alone. Still, she’d paid Rarity to make her some clothes. She may as well collect them. Besides, the unicorn was fun enough to hang around. Maybe she’ll show me it was worth coming.

The harsh padding from Solar’s boots faded into a muffled rustle as she crossed across the grass towards Rarity’s tall, gaily coloured house. Truth be told, she found it weird that someone so obsessed with looks and fashion could bear to live in a building that was painted with such bright, garish colours. It was all varying shades of pink and purple that didn’t quite match up. Not to mention none of the other houses in Ponyville were coloured similarly. Possibly the most offensive item on the list was the chequered rooves – looking as if someone had taken a filly’s toy chessboard, stretched it over a blanket and tightly wrapped it over the boutique’s skyward-facing sections. She also found the mannequins grasping onto the carousel-like centre a little… Unsettling. They were clearly meant to be clothed and modelling various articles of clothing, but they hadn’t been in a long time. Probably didn’t want to ruin her fabric by having it up there. She supposed, turning her attention to the boutique’s door.

Three knocks resounded off the wood and Solar kicked the ground absent-mindedly, looking around her as she waited. The door swung open to reveal dishevelled-looking Rarity. A ball of measuring tape was hung loosely from her neck and she had a pair of red glasses perched on her face at a crooked angle.

“Oh, you’re here!” Rarity beamed, the smile a little too wide to be genuine, as she grabbed Solar by the shoulders and dragged her through the door. “Come in, come in,” she muttered, closing the entry with a violent shove that simply made it slam and rebound off its hinges. Turning away, she darted over the cacophony of fabrics that drew a colourful image of her distress across the floor and collided with a mannequin, knocking the pair to the ground. Propping herself up, she swiftly apologized to the object before hopping round a curtain and out of sight.

Solar stood, dumbfounded, beside the door. With an air of uncertainty, she gently closed the open entrance and picked a route through the piles of silk, linen and satin. The room was in quite a state, strewn with the aforementioned bits and pieces of clothing and several mannequins in oddly unsettling positions. Draws had been emptied and several piles of gems were scattered across the carpet.

As she passed it, she pulled the mannequin back up to its standing pose, resisting the urge to scoop up some nearby jewels, and stopped for a second, face to face with it. It stared back with a blank countenance, offering little comfort. Sighing, she moved past it and poked around the curtain to find a rather elaborate setup waiting her. Rarity was busying herself with pulling dark, thick fabrics out of draws, her horn glowing a brilliant blue as she stitched the pieces onto a posing figure. It was, of course, another mannequin, this one seemingly glaring at Solar with its reproachfully blank stare. It doesn’t even have eyes, damn it…

“Rarity?” She asked, soothingly, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know,” Rarity replied, sparing not an ounce of concentration on the conversation. “I was making some casual stuff for you, jeans and the like, when a friend of mine – Fancy – came by yesterday, just as I was finishing up, and put in an order for a client who wanted a… Suit. By tomorrow.”

Oh, trust him to be behind this. “Okay, that does sound fairly stressful. I could help with the suit, if you’d like?”

“NO!” She yelled, spinning around with wide eyes. “I mean,” She faltered, “No, thank you.”

“Well, I helped with making some lining for armours once, I cou-”

“It’s not that kind of suit. Well, it is that ki- It’s, it’s a… A different suit.” Her chest heaved as her breaths turned to hyperventilating pants of panic. “Oh, who am I kidding, you alre-”

“Rarity!” Solar snapped, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Calm down, okay? You’ll never finish the damn thing if you’re spending your time clawing for breath.” Rarity’s eyes locked with hers and she was a tad taken-aback to see something familiar brewing in the deep blue. Fear.

“Breath.” Rarity took a few shaking breaths before nodding softly, her wavy and ruined mane bobbing up and down with the movement. “Think about this logically.” Another nod. “This is an optional job and you know Fancy well. He would understand if you didn’t have enough time and you don’t have to do anything. Prioritise this but take it slowly. It’s no good giving him a ruined… Whatever it is, on time. Just… Just work at it. And… I’ll stay here. I’ll tidy up this mess and you –You just work on that. Okay?” She seemed to shake her head slightly at the mention of ‘optional’ but soon nodded again.

As Rarity set back to work, now at a more reasonable pace, Solar turned her attention to the wrecked shop and inwardly sighed. It was going to take a while to put all of this back in its rightful place. Certain things were obvious, such as the cupboard with several more mannequins that she could fill with the others. She chose not to mention the pair of scissors jammed into the forehead of one to the now humming unicorn. There were upturned chests beside the jewels with their corresponding gem inset into the lid, which were easily filled. The thing that really stumped her, though, was the sheer amount of fabrics. There were nowhere near enough rolls or shelves for it all.

Rolling up one long shawl of shimmering golden silk, Solar slid it into one of the specified racks and glanced back around the room. It was a lot cleaner, now with just a few more things to pack away before it was back to its neat and tidy state. Unfortunately, she wasn’t entirely sure where those things were meant to go – since she’d long since filled the fabric racks and draws.

“Hey, where do I put this if I’ve run out of room?” She asked, turning to the corner where Rarity had been working. Rarity’s humming stopped and she cast an eye on the roll with a critical eye.

“I have a studio upstairs. It’s where I usually do my work, but I moved down here yesterday for… Space issues.” With a nod, Solar flew up the stairs and clicked open the door on the second level, tossing the remaining fabrics into several of the unfilled shelves. Before she turned back, something caught her eye across the room. A massive mirror, lined with a silver frame, was mounted to one wall – reflecting the white cat that sat in front of it. The thing that confused her, however, was that it didn’t show her. She could see the door, the decorations on the walls on either side of the door, the hallway behind her… The hallways she was blocking.

Coming down the stairs, she flopped down into a chair beside Rarity, lolling her head down to rest on the chair’s back. “That’s a pretty mental mirror you’ve got up there, Rarity,” She prodded, hoping for some kind of magical explanation about ‘not showing ponies to better show clothes’ or something.

“Oh, yes. It is rather picturesque, isn’t it? A large silver-based mirror that a friend in Canterlot gave me. I do so love it – such an expensive backing on a mirror is so… Haute société. I could never afford to get any more. Although, it would be a bit of a waste of bits, even if I could…” She trailed off, shooting a glance to the more modern mirrors nearby.

“Ah, right.” I suppose the book was right about two things. “On a different subject, did you hear about Twilight getting a ticket to the Grand Gal-” Solar began, only for Rarity to laugh melodically.

“Oh yes, yes I did. And Applejack thinks she can take it to sell apples at the event! Fluttershy wants it to visit some animals and flowers, as if she hasn’t got enough. Rainbow Dash wants it to make a foal of herself in front of the Wonderbolts and Pinkie…” She faltered, pausing her sowing to think. “She just wants to go for the fun, I suppose. I can’t pretend to understand her. Such a prospect shouldn’t be squandered for fun.”

“I see,” Solar said, a little taken-aback by the sudden outburst. She hadn’t imagined such a competitive rant from little Miss Rarity. “And what, pray tell, would you do with the ticket?”

“Me?” Rarity asked, a dreamy look washing over her face, “I would use it to attend only the fantaisiste soiree in all of Equestria!”

“Oh yeah, I heard the Griffons have got it when it comes to parties.”

“And, of course, I would use that opportunity to meet with all the royals. They would be so simply enthralled with me that they would immediately ask me to spend the entire night by their side,” She continued, unabated by Solar’s comment.

“Sounds like a bit of drag, in my opinion.”

“Oh, but that’s where the best part comes in! With Princess Celestia being so taken with my stunning looks and grace, she would not hesitate to introduce me to only the most handsome stallion in all of Canterlot!”

“I thought you already knew Fancy?” Solar joked, dryly.

“He’s nice, but I mean her nephew, Prince Blueblood! Why, we would simply be such a stunning couple that he would not falter to ask for my hand in marriage – to which I would, of course, say ‘Yes!’ to! Then, I will officially be a princess, one married to the most desirable stallion ever!”

Sitting bolt-upright, Solar glanced over to Rarity and gave her a cautionary look-over. “You mean, Prince Blueblood… Will be at the Gala?”

“Why yes, of course he will be there, darling. He has to be. For him not to be there would do all of Equestria’s allies an injustice, which Celestia and Luna would certainly disallow.”

That changes things… Significantly. If Solar could get to Blueblood through this party, she could finally get some answers about… Everything. About herself. Looks like I have a new aim.

Having made up her mind, she took a moment to actually look at Rarity’s work so far and stopped in her tracks. She’d been right, the suit certainly wasn’t your regular tuxedo. In fact, it wasn’t a tuxedo at all. It was dark, tight and tough; the elbows held tough padding and the shoulders were coated with an even thicker material. It wasn’t unlike her own catsuit. Why in Equestria is she making that… Stepping over to the nearby table and leaning on the edge, she watched as Rarity’s needle wormed its way through the design, weaving an intermittent web of tight twine in its wake. The stitches were quite decorative, despite their clear necessity and similar colour.

“Out of interest, why would Fancy want that?” Solar piped up, innocently. The needles paused as Rarity mulled something over in silence. After a few seconds, Solar began to worry that she’d somehow offended the mare by asking, or that the reason was clearly obvious.

“Solar? Would you say that you’re a good mare?”

What a question to ask. “How do you mean?” It was unsettling for her to ask something so… Direct.

“I mean, in terms of morality and… Well, karma, I suppose,” Rarity responded, her fingers still clutching the needle like a lifeline.

“I don’t see… Why does that matter?” Solar quipped, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in her own fur.

Rarity sighed, pinning her needle into the outfit and turning to the pegasus; her face was difficult to judge, conveying both concern and disappointment. “Fancy trusts me to make this kind of equipment for his… Employees. The issue is, he tells me everything I need to know about them and not much else. With that being said, is there any reason your measurements line up with his new friend’s exactly?”

With her head now held low, Solar tried to avoid eye contact with the seamstress. For Pete’s sake. “I suppose… It’s a fairly common size.”

Rarity chuckled hollowly, shaking her head in disbelief. “As much as I want to believe you, darling, in all my years of making clothing to client’s specifications I have never once had the same measurement in every category. Ponies are different. It’s what makes us, us and it’s why my boutique is as successful as it is.” A soft padding filled the deathly silent room as she crossed the carpet, closing the distance between them.

“So, I ask again. Would you say you are a good mare?”

Rubbing her fingers together in agitation, Solar span away and made a beeline for the door, swinging it open before stopping briefly. Damn Fancy. Damn him to Tartarus.

“No. Okay? No, I wouldn’t say I am. And you can tell Fancy to fuck off. I’m sick of him already.” Angrily, she pulled door closed behind her and stepped away into the evening. She was really sick of this lot. All of this drama, and for what? It was useless.

As she started across the grass, entering the thicket of the woods rather than heading back to Ponyville, Corvus fluttered down to her and settled comfortably on her shoulder. “I just… I just want to go home. I just. I just want to have a home.” She vented, laying a hand onto his feathered head, tenderly stroking his feathers. It felt a little better, to have someone else here with her. Someone who hadn’t ran from her. He chirped in confusion and she shook her head.

“I have a house. I don’t have a home. A home has ponies you like. I had Syndicate.”

She hopped onto a nearby log, stretching her arms out for balance as she glared deep

into the darkening woodlands. “I don’t even know if he’s still free.”

It hit her that the pair hadn’t exactly parted on safe terms, considering he’d effectively had his entire operation uprooted by Fancy and Fleur. Knowing them, there was a pretty good chance he was either rotting in jail or… Somewhere else. I can’t help but feel they haven’t kept their word. An unexpected feeling of despair hit her as she thought it through. A bout of denial. Clenching her fists, she leapt off the log and her body shifted into a surge of dark smoke, whirling around the air as it made up her vague silhouette.

As much as she wanted to take this opportunity out of the public eye to simply run, she couldn’t – feeling the throbbing headache from earlier kicking in. The cold of night bit in as her body faded back into its rightful form.

How long was I at Rarity’s for? The moon’s high in the sky, that’s for sure. Despite everything, it really was a beautiful night tonight. The moonlight lovingly cosied up to the environment, giving the world a wonderful colour palette that was seldom appreciated for what it really was. An entirely different land. Lighting really made all the difference to this place – flipping from warm and fun to cold and soothing.

“I just had a temper tantrum, really,” She murmured, her eyes flicking between the stars in the sky as she tried to remember which ones made up which signs. Canis Minor, no, Canis Major. Yeah. Lying down on the forest floor and closing her eyes, she decided it wasn’t worth going back to the house. She was fairly comfortable where she was, not to mention completely shattered at this point.

“So, to-do. Go apologise to Rarity, pick up my clothes, I guess pick up that suit, too. Find a way of getting a ticket to the Gala – preferably without bothering Twilight. Although, with how much distress it’s causing, maybe that would be a blessing. Then,” She yawned, rolling onto her side and snuggling into the plush grass, “Make a plan for getting out of the Gala if things go wrong and prepare for meeting Blueblood. That’ll be fun. Oh, and I guess play along with Fancy’s little game of chess. I hope he realises the smallest pawn can still checkmate a king.”

Sleep ebbed in at last and her mind whisked away from reality, choosing, of course, to home in on the furthest troublesome memory.

She’d noticed, of course. He’d shaken his head in defiance, but the uncertainty was there. The seed had been planted and she’d water it until it blossomed into the delicious fruit of doubt. Soon enough he’d question his orders, question her position. And all it would take was one moment of ambiguity for her to find a way out. She just had to convince him she was the good guy here, that she was the victim. Although, to be fair, that part wasn’t exactly untrue.

The door clicked softly and she paused, waiting for any reason not to clear herself up. No, he was gone. Perfect. Raising her head, she brushed her mane away from her face and wiped the tears from her eyes – rubbing her fingers against her eyelids to clear her clouded vision. As much as she wanted to say she was feigning her breakdown solely for progress on her escape… She really couldn’t. She was angry that she’d been accused of murder, angry that she’d been stabbed and prodded with all sorts of devices. Angry that the one pony she thought she could rely had given her up, passed her off for a few bits. It was no matter, though. This situation was temporary and she was pretty much immune to punishment. She was fed only enough to survive, so they couldn’t restrict her food. She had nothing in her cell, so there was nothing to take. They could hurt her, yes, but she no longer cared. They couldn’t kill her, either, because then they’d lose their precious little experiment.

She had nothing to lose.