Lower Canterlot was a relic of old times. Times, when Equestria was untamed, wild land. Times, when only high walls and the watchful eyes of an Alicorn could guarantee safety. Times long gone. For centuries, ponies migrated away from this place, drawn to opportunities given by newly established cities and villages, as Equestria expanded its borders and secured new lands. Nowadays, the only inhabitants of this place were those too poor to move out, criminals, and people who were bound to Canterlot due to personal circumstances.
Shadow Flow was the second of those. A middle-aged pegasus, his forte was infiltrating noble houses, stealing and trading important information. He once managed to get into the Royal Palace itself, which was the best recommendation one could get in this line of work.
Despite all this, he still made a blunder. Now, he was desperately running through the empty streets, a thick file under his wing. His other one was dislocated, preventing him from flying. Not that he even wanted to, it would make him too easy to spot.
He managed to gain some distance, but he was running out of breath. He knew he needed a plan, a way to shake off the pursuit. In a corner of his eye, Shadow Flow spotted a large pile of rubbish, lying on the side of one of the alleys he was passing by. It seemed large enough to fully cover him. Not thinking much of it, he ran towards it, jumping in, desperately trying to hide.
And then all Tartarus broke loose.
******
Waking up to alarm spells going off in his head and the sight of someone charging at him, was not a first for August. It was still unpleasant though.
School of Silver was not focused on combat, but still offered classes about battle magic. August was never a slouch at those and attempts at his life, while rare, still happened, keeping him always on guard.
A sudden vortex of air, meant to primarily deflect any projectiles, rose around the still-concealed August. The unfortunate pegasus, caught in the middle of the jump, got carried by the winds and slammed at a wall, with a grunt of pain.
August didn’t even bother looking at it, his magic searching for any other threat as an opalizing barrier surrounded him, finally dispelling the illusion of a pile of garbage. Meanwhile, vines that covered the wall that the strange pony was slammed into, coiled around its limbs and pinned it to the wall.
Not sensing any more threats and realizing where and why he was, August realized that he might have overreacted. Not wanting to take risks, he kept the shield up but ordered the vines to let go of this strange ‘pony’ creature.
“Who art thee… no, thou… No, it was… yoo. Who art yoo?”
Still a bit disoriented after the sudden wake-up, August stumbled a bit with his speech, while trying to look menacingly at the pegasus now lying on the street. He never actually saw his muzzle in this new form and had no idea how his current expression looked for those creatures. He could only hope his body language was intimidating and not weird.
It seemed to matter little to the pony, as it didn’t even look up, trying to recover from getting slammed into the wall and having its wing dislocated even further. August patiently waited for it to get itself together and answer the question.
The awaited answer never came as from around the corner ran a brown ‘normal’ pony, however they called them here.
“He is here! Get him!” It shouted to someone behind it and rushed towards August, who frowned at the unexpected complication.
After a second of consideration, August decided to stick with a non-lethal approach. He quickly compressed the air around the pony head and instantly decompressed it back. The assailant stumbled and screamed in pain, stumbling on its feet and falling. August almost smirked. He might be fighting an unknown creature, but nothing that qualified as a mammal did well against that spell.
His magic picked something approaching him from above and three more presences running down the street. He quickly identified the airborne threat as one of the ‘pegasi’ and created multiple whirlwinds in the alleyway. His opponent must have sensed them somehow, as it instantly pulled up instead of flying into the turbulent winds and getting flattened on one of the walls.
With two other ‘normal’ ponies and a unicorn showing up, August let go of his non-lethal approach, quickly recollecting a plethora of more dangerous spells. He was starting to draw a matrix for Rynaxian Moonblade when suddenly the unicorn that just arrived shouted
“Enough! Stop, everypony stop! Can’t you idiots see that he is a mage?”
All the ponies around stopped, excluding the one that was still on the ground with ruptured eardrums. August, glad to have a chance to get out of this mess with a bit of diplomacy, also stopped his spellcasting. However, not fully trusting the other side, instead of dispelling everything completely, he attached a small chunk of his mana to each pony, making it much easier to aim his spells if fighting resumed.
The unicorn, with its head held high slowly approached August. Its forest-green fur seemed to glow slightly in the dim moonlight, and its creamy mane was well-groomed. It carried itself completely different then the rest of its group.
“I’m sorry for this disturbance, sir. I’m Stranded Leaf, also a mage. I finished the advanced course at SGU” The way it phrased the sentence suggested that it expected August to be impressed. While the SGU didn’t mean anything to August, the fact that Stranded Leaf dispelled the mana that August attached to it and its goons guaranteed that it was at least a semi-competent mage.
“This little thief” Leaf pointed at the pegasus that started the whole situation “stole something from our boss. If we could get him, we will not bother you anymore”
All the time Stranded Leaf had a small, benign smile on its face, as if debating some trivial matters at a local party. August pretended to think the matter through, but there was very little to think about. Either a life or death fight or giving away a stranger, and apparently a thief anyway. He nodded his head
“I take no offense with what happened. Temperaments get heated during a chase”
Stranded Leaf seemed lost for a moment, hearing the strange accent of the other unicorn, but the confusion didn’t last long
“Great. You helped in catching this rat, so I believe compensation is rightfully deserved. I promised those peasants some money for their help, but seeing that you, good sir, did most of the work, I think half of it should be yours.”
Even August, despite not knowing much about the body language of their species, could sense their displeasure. He took the small sac offered to him by Stranded Leaf anyway.
“I give yoo my thanks, Stranded Leaf. I wish yoo luck in the future.” With a shallow bow, August moved aside and watched as two 'normal' ponies lifted the unfortunate pegasus, who was now shaking in fear. Stranded Leaf meanwhile levitated a file full of papers from the ground.
“Aaand that’s it,” Leaf said after taking a look at the contents “Blaze, get here!”
At this command, the pegasus who earlier tried to attack August and quickly retreated into the air swooped down from the rooftops and landed on the ground
“Yes, sir?”
“Here is your half” The unicorn tossed a small sac at the pegasus “Get Shadow Flow to the mansion before dawn, I have to get the files back to my lord”
Without any other word, Stranded Leaf casted a spell and teleported away, leaving August alone with a group of thugs, right after giving him money.
'He really doesn’t like me. Or maybe them.’ thought August, waiting for the ponies to move. Two of them were busy holding the captive, the one August stunned before was back on his legs, despite looking drowsy. That left the lone pegasus as the only capable combatant. The pegasus that was now approaching him
“Hey ummm… sir” August expected many things, from threats to violence, but an awkward conversation starter wasn't one of them “I know that it’s a bit much, but we really need this money. I will give it back, I promise”
The pegasus seemed to almost prostrate itself in front of August, who was a bit lost in this situation
“For a group of thugs, ye truly are bad at robbery. Is this some local traditional way of exerting money?”
“No. I’m just not suicidal. I saw what you did with Boulder” The pegasus pointed its hoof at the temporarily deaf ‘normal’ pony “But I’m desperate enough to beg. Please, sir. If we don’t have the money by tomorrow, we will be in big trouble. I will give it back in full, I promise”
August took a long, good look at this pony while thinking through his options. It had orange fur and a long, red mane. Its feathers had an interesting pattern, Starting red and turning orange and yellow, making them look like miniature flames. Overall, a bit too bright a color palette for his liking.
“Nothing is for free in the world” August slowly started
“I know sir, but I promise I will give it back full…”
“Stay quiet while I talk” August didn’t let her finish, his voice still calm, but with a hint of threat “Luckily for yoo, I was looking for a place to stay and yoo seem a reasonable enough host. The streets of this city seem a bit too exciting for my liking.”
August tossed the sac he got from Leaf to the pegasus
“Take this as my payment for staying with yoo until I find myself a better residence. Do not bother me and do not try anything stupid”
Blaze seemed surprised for a moment but then bowed deeper
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. We will make sure your stay with us is pleasant.”
“Then lead the way. Yoo interrupted my sleep and I long to return to it”
******
A few minutes later a pegasus, a pony, and a unicorn were walking down the street. The other two ‘normal’ ponies split away to escort the prisoner. This left August with only Blaze and Boulder, the pony whom he injured. Rather awkward situation, but August had many in his life, so he used his usual strategy. He just stayed silent and looked cold and aloof. If everyone else felt more awkward than him, in his book it meant he won. Blaze had a different opinion
“So, my name is Blaze Strike. It’s nice meeting you.” The pegasus carefully started a conversation
“Nice meeting yoo too, Blaze Strike”
After waiting for a moment for anything more to come out of August's mouth, Blaze kept going
“Mind telling me your name? Or at least something I could call you?”
“My name is August…” Here August paused. His name didn’t fit the standard of this world. Those ponies already knew he wasn't just a nobody, but he still didn’t want to so brazenly admit that he wasn’t from those lands. He quickly thought about changing his answer but decided it would be too suspicious. It was still salvageable. Their names were mostly made of just two words put together. August was a word, not only a name. He just needed a second part. He quickly went through his options. He quickly realized both his names had meaning as a word. August Luciam of house Roltan.
“August Light. My name is August Light”
Perfect. And no one will catch him not reacting to his own name.
“Very grey coat for someone named after such a beautiful month”
“August as majestic and dignified. No one named me after a month”
“That makes more sense, actually.”
August looked at the pegasus, wondering if it was being sarcastic, but could spot nothing to suggest that it was the case. At some point he and Blaze started walking side by side, Boulder two steps behind. And despite August doing his best to seem distant, the pegasus seemed insistent on talking more
“Mind sharing what brought you to Canterlot? You don’t seem to be a local, judging by the accent”
“What happened with yoo calling me sir? At least yoo showed some respect back then”
August voiced his irritation, but Blaze seemed to take it as a joke and giggled
“Come on, we will be staying with us for a while and you helped us in a pickle. I thought you were one of those stuck-up upper-city unicorns, but you seem quite decent”
“I’m sure I never helped yoo with pickling anything. And while I might not be an upper-city unicorn, I still demand some respect” He stopped for a moment to look at Blaze, as walking and looking sideways in this new form might end unfortunately “You don’t have to call me sir, but I’m not a friend of thee, Blaze Strike. I am, begrudgingly, thy tenant. We can talk, but I would appreciate yoo keep thy distance”
After finishing his speech, August resumed his walk forward. Boulder behind him seemed a little unnerved, sensing some tension between Blaze and this dangerous mage. Blaze seemed slightly dejected for a moment, but a few minutes later started talking again, with slightly less vigor
“Then what brought you to Canterlot?”
August sighed deeply
“Accident, really. I’m just here to do some research and get home. With some luck, it will be quick”
“Oh, if it’s something quick, you can just stay with us. No need to search for a new location”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude for the few years it will most likely take” he didn’t add that he also didn’t want to spend more time than necessary with them
“Few years?! You said it was a quick research!”
“I surely didn’t use the word ‘quick’. Any research in the field of magic takes a long time, sometimes many generations. My only luck is that I’m just duplicating a research I had seen once.”
“You mages are insane”
“Dedicated is more fitting” rebutted August
After that, Blaze finally fell silent and August could enjoy the rest of their walk looking at the unfamiliar constellations that were shining above.
******
Soon they arrived in front of a two-story house. As all the other buildings in the area, this one also seemed to be in slight disrepair. Fortunately, it was still standing strong, so August happily went inside after Blaze opened the door.
Inside was an indistinctive room, a big table with few chairs in the middle and some cupboards. What intrigued August the most was the weird metal box. Judging by pots and cooking utensils clattered around it, it was probably somehow used for cooking. Something to check later. There were more important things now.
“Where is my room?” August asked, turning to Blaze
“First door left, upstairs. Just let me go and move my things out of there” Blaze seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking “Could you help Boulder in the meantime? We can’t afford a doctor, and him being deaf will make our work hard”
“I’m not a healer. The ears should heal in up to two months times, just don’t let any water get into them” Seeing the panicked look that Blaze had, August sighed “I can help him regenerate faster, in a week or so. It’s much easier than healing”
“That would be great, thanks,” Blaze said and went upstairs after making a few gestures towards Boulder, who sat down on a worn-out sofa in the corner.
August approached him with curiosity. Apparently, this was a male of their species. He recalled the mare that he asked for the way to the library and started circling Boulder, trying to spot any differences significant enough for him to be able to tell apart mares and stallions in the future.
His observation came up empty. Deciding that he wasn’t interested enough to try lifting Boulder's tail or do full body scans and try to find strange anatomical differences like the angle of hip bones, August decided to focus more on the particular specimen in front of him. ‘Normal’ pony, they had their own name he couldn’t remember now.
Muscular, without a doubt. He could see the muscles moving under his skin. Probably the reason he arrived first. From this close-up, August could see multiple scars hidden under his brown fur. He was also shorter than August.
That one came as a surprise, as Agust was used to being on the shorter side in any social gathering. That gave two options, either his height didn’t transfer properly to this new body, or unicorns were simply taller than other ponies. Stranded Leaf was also quite tall.
He was taken out of his musings by Blaze Strike coming back downstairs
“So, are you done with this healing thing?”
Oh, right. August quickly attuned his magic to Boulder's mana and pushed a simple spell matrix straight into his bloodstream. The pony winced in the process
“Yes, it is all done” he looked intently at Blaze, trying to decide if it was rather mare or a stallion, with no success. Maybe a larger observation sample was needed.
“What’s with that gaze? You looking for something?”
“Sexual dimorphism” August answered with a straight face
“The what?” asked Blaze, confused
“Nothing important. Show me my bed and do not bother me until I wake up myself”