//------------------------------//
// Prologue  
// Story: A Bit For Your Thoughts? 
// by Kihano 
//------------------------------//

													???? POV

"The stars are brighter than usual tonight..." I said to myself, as I stared up into the night sky sitting cross-legged on the grass, while leaning against a tree. For some reason on this particular evening, the stars were shining so bright, it was as if someone took each and every one of them, and polished them thoroughly before placing them back into the sky again. Although in a world like this, that could have very well been the case.

"Wouldn't you agree?" I asked rhetorically, looking at the mass of cloaked ponies and griffons who laid on the ground, groaning in pain, weapons that they had once used to threaten me with, now laid strewn about or broken into pieces courtesy of yours truly.

I sighed to myself as I stood up, dusting my hands on my pants and scratched lightly at my short, dark green hair. Odd choice for a hair color wasn't it? Looking around the clearing that held, the now wrecked, bandit camp, I started to search the tents for something in particular, and in no time at all I found it. No seriously, I entered one tent and it was literally placed on the damn table like it was nobody's business.

Radiant Blade.

Idiots the lot of them, to merely disregard this artifact as simply a mere object and focus on money, not even thinking of whether it was valuable or not. Although that fact could be consider a blessing in disguise, there stupidity was nothing short of mind-blowing.

I held the glowing blade up, admiring the way it seemed to hum with energy, before I carefully wrapped it with a cloth, and slung it over my back. Now all I needed to do was find the Dire Hilt, and I was good to go. I was about to leave when I felt something nudge my leg. Looking down, I saw that it was a small grey wolf cub, one that I was very familiar with. I knelt down and picked him up so that the both of us could see each other eye-to-eye

"Hey there, Fenrir," I said to him. "You got somethin' for me?"

A series of barks and growls was the response I received.

"Hmm, so Luna's back, huh?" That would explain why the night seemed fancier than usual. "No surprise there, any other major news?"

Fenrir shook his head in negative, and let out a bark.

"I see, well thanks for the info," I said to him, as I placed him back on the ground and stood up. "Keep an ear out for me, alright?"

He raised his little left paw to his head, giving me a mock salute, momentarily making my chest cringe at how adorable he looked, before he placed it back down and looked up at me expectantly. 

I rolled my eyes at this, and threw a random doggy treat from my pouch into the air, where it disappeared into the gaping maw of Fenrir, who happily munched on the crunchy treat. After he finished, he barked at me and ran out the tent, outside onto the clearing .

"Be careful!" I shouted after Fenrir as he disappeared completely into the woods, the shadows of the night ominously cloaking him.

I really hoped he heard that last warning, mainly because I had to save his hide last time when he provoked a pack of timber wolves. For some reason, even with the two kinds being mostly similar, they were always at odds no matter what the case.

Wolf goes to cave. It sees Timber Wolf passing by. Pounce and attack cause it looked at its cave funny. 

I walked out of the tent when I noticed that the bandits were still on the ground, still groaning in pain. I snorted to myself as I walked past them, bandits these days aren't quite what they used to be. I stopped just right at the edge of the clearing and took one long look at the night sky, the stars twinkling brightly.

'Things are gonna start to get hectic around here,' I smirked at this thought. 'Just the way I like it.'

Adjusting the wrapped blade slung over my back, I walked deeper into the woods, heading towards my own campsite. To be honest it wasn't that far, and the fact that my camp was close to another camp, filled with bandits at that, which also held a legendary artifact in its threshold was mere coincidence. Definitely didn't spend an entire month searching for even the faintest of rumors as to its whereabouts...

Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Moments Later

I leaned back on the wooden chair as I casually sipped my freshly brewed emerald tea. Sighing in content, I stood up from my chair and went straight to my workshop, the, still wrapped, Radiant Blade held in my hands. My workshop in actuality isn't really a workshop, It was just a section of the large tent I had where I dumped all of my crafting equipment and restored broken artifacts and weapons, whether they be legendary, like the Demon Edge for example, or something rather common, a fork for instance.

Removing the cloth, I placed the blade on a stand, which made it seem rather out of place due to its incomplete form. But that shall be rectified, as soon as I find its hilt, The Dire Hilt to be precise.

'But where the hell do I start looking for it?' I thought to myself as I paced around the workshop, glancing curiously at the map that was plastered on a wooden board, multiple red X's marking several locations. My eyes danced across the immensely detailed diagram, until they were glued to a particular spot, which caused me to grin to myself. 

'Well this would prove to be hilariously interesting,' I inwardly smirked at this, my mind racing with numerous scenarios. 'Now is as good time as any, I suppose.' 

As I took a small sip of my tea, I raised my other hand towards a quill and lightly focused on it, feeling vaguely satisfied when they both glowed a gentle, forest green. Levitating the quill towards the map, I marked 'White Tail Woods' with an X, and circled another location. A location which would most likely be a perfect source of strange artifacts, considering the current timeline. I levitated the quill back into its ink pot and turned away from the map, finishing the rest of the tea as I walked away to get a good night's rest.

For tomorrow, I head towards Ponyville.