1 Light Reading

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Sun shone down onto the sprawling urban city of St. Orangeberg, broadcasting the time to anyone unaware of it themselves. To the astute this meant that it was rapidly approaching noon. For some this meant lunch, for others it meant it was time to wake up, for others still it meant being the victim of an armed robbery.

For one particular unicorn this meant it was time to return to her book-saturated warehouse. This unicorn was a light purple colour and had a permanent scowl which had long ago swallowed any other expressions that might bless her face.

Opening a large metal door with her magic, Twilight Sparkle entered her warehouse without giving even a thought to the action, her attention primarily focused on reading a letter in front of her. With an equally practiced motion, the large metal door closed behind her with minimal noise, and the magenta glow around it faded.

Her mouth moving as she read the note quietly to herself, Twilight eyes were drawn to the large stacks and shelves of books that lined her warehouse. She briefly glanced over to the large pile of pallets containing cans of soup, a memento to the original purpose of her current living space. She momentarily considered that the soup probably should have gone bad in the four years since she...commandeered the storage space, but was in no hurry to question what kept her primary food source from going bad.

Returning to the letter for a moment she scanned the paper for the answer she had been internally asking herself. Externally too, as she spoke her thoughts aloud. "Let's see, was that aisle five or seven?" Her hooves having automatically brought her forward past two lines of shelves by this point, she didn't worry about being too far from her objective.

"Aisle twenty-six?!" Twilight shouted in exasperation as she reread the line to confirm the information. Taking a moment to look up and see where she was, she paused to read the marked numbers only to blink. "...good thing that happens to be where I'm standing."

Twilight looked down the row of books in front of her before her eyes narrowed and she returned her attention to the note. "Okay, next," She spoke again, walking up to the books themselves, "the instructions she gave me say it'll be a book on the top shelf."

"Perhaps this one?" She whispered to herself as a book on the top shelf illuminated in her signature magical magenta glow. As she pulled the book down to herself, as well as a few others from the same place she heard a voice come from nearby.

"How specific..." it said, but though Twilight didn't look away from her books, her glare narrowed.

"Lay off Spike, I really don't need your cynicism today." As her eyes read over the title of the book in front of her eyes she shook her head slightly, "No...not this one..."

With a sigh, the voice made itself known as being above Twilight. "Fine, but you're looking in the wrong aisle."

"No...no...no...seriously? How can it be none of these?" Twilight whispered to herself. Appreciating that Spike wasn't being as negative as he normally was, she looked through several other books, all floating around her. She still didn't turn her head to address Spike as she remembered he was there with her. "And what makes you so sure of yourself?"

"Because I'm holding your book in my claws right now."

That got Twilight's attention. She drew her eyes from the dozen or so books floating around herself to look toward Spike. He was a short, bipedal dragon with a mohawk of green spikes with rounded tips. He stood on top of a ladder further down the row towards a one of the metal walls. True to his word, a thick tome was held in his clutches. "I highly doubt that," Twilight spoke, unconvinced.

Rolling his eyes, Spike pointed at the book he was holding. "Take a look and see for yourself." He said without moving his mouth, though Twilight understood regardless.

Surprised, Twilight perked up slightly, "Wait, you seriously found it? I'm impressed."

"Yep," Spike said, looking down at the book on his claws, "The Theorist's Guide to Conspiracies and Other Paranormal Things."

Twilight forced a smile. "Thanks for the help." She offered, her smile fading immediately as her magic glow enveloped the book in Spike's grasp, pulling him with it. "Now give me that!" She snapped impatiently.

"Wha- Hey!" He startled as he was pulled off of the ladder and onto the floor by the book, falling probably fifteen feet down. The impact with the concrete below was hard but not damaging.

"Yes, perfect, thank you," Twilight spoke aloud, reading the cover of the book. "Now, if you will, clean up my mess - I'm teleporting to my reading spot."

"What mess?" Spike thought. His question was answered for him though as, in an instant, Twilight was gone, as was the book Spike had found. Her telekinetic grip on the roughly seventeen books had vanished along with her. The books clattered to the ground In a cascade. Spike stood up and looked dejected at the now present mess around him.

"Oh, well, forget I asked then."

---

Far from Spike, the mess, and the warehouse was an enclosed area covered in overgrown foliage. The sounds and smells of the city were a distant memory from this place. Regardless of where you looked, it seemed impossible to place the location relative to anywhere else if you had to. Wherever it was though, it looked as if it had been untouched for nearly twenty years.

Tall trees blocked out a large portion of the sun, but let enough through the canopy to allow the lost sanctum to flourish. Under one of the trees stood a fortress of solitude in the form of an old greenhouse, clover having long ago taken over the building. Just beside the lone structure was a small clearing maybe fifteen feet from end to end, and at the centre of this clearing sat Twilight, flipping through the pages of the Theorist's Guide.

Stopping for a moment, she tilted her head upward in thought. "I wonder if I was too hard on him," she considered, "he did find my book after all."

"For all I know he's planning revenge on me or something."

---

Climbing a ladder with a small stack of books balanced in his right claw, Spike raised an eyebrow. "What's her deal today? Kind of being a bitch for no reason."

He returned a book to its place, making sure it was organized correctly before shrugging, "Whatever, beats the hell out of working at Newhorseland Post."

---

"Screw it!" Twilight declared, "I don't actually care! Time to read."

Without another word, she brought her attention back to the pages of her tome, flipping forward twice before settling on a paragraph. "Okay, let's see here..." She considered before reading aloud, "There's an old district of St. Orangeberg’s that's haunted by the spirits of dead ponies looking for a good time."

Her face screwed up at the thought, "Good time? The hell?" She whispered before catching herself and refocusing on the book. "By summoning creatures of destruction, monsters of mayhem, and also just having actual ghost get-togethers, the spirits are humbled, and the citizens of the aptly named Partyville neighbourhood are left completely unaware of any ghosts."

Twilight took a moment to absorb this information before she shook her head. "Well that's stupid, why would ghosts have get-togethers?"

"UUUGGGHH..." Twilight groaned as her body slumped and her eyes rolled. "I know I have to show an interest in her hobbies, but this is dumb. Ghosts are dumb!"

Closing the book with a huff, Twilight looked at the canopy above her, frustrated at just the stupidity of the notion. She was about to work herself into a rant before she stopped and sighed in defeat. "Maybe I should meet her?" Twilight thought as she raised a hoof to her chin, the slightest hint of a smile forming on her lips. "She does live in Partyville after all, I'll surprise her."

Her smile began to grow the longer she thought about it. "Okay, just have to teleport back to Spike, and then make the long trek across St. Orangeberg." For a brief moment Twilight almost felt happy, but with the realization of the distance, her mood plummeted faster than she could blink.

"UUGGGGGGHHHHH..." She groaned again, her body slumping once more before she started getting up. Twilight looked back down at the book below her. It stared back at her silently, as if mocking the journey she was about to take. "That'll take at least six hours! Why is this city so stupidly big?!" Levitating the book from the ground, she teleported away, leaving the clearing to return to its isolation.

---

In the years that Twilight and Spike had lived together in the warehouse, and perhaps in all the time she'd lived in St. Orangeberg, she'd learned one very important thing: that you never surprise anyone. Fear of physical harm was ever-present, and so reflexes were honed. For this reason Twilight had never teleported into the warehouse proper, and instead always returned just in front of the door.

Opening the large piece of sheet metal that acted as their door, Twilight called to the purple dragon. "Spike! I hope you're not exhausted, because we have quite the jog ahead of us."

She walked into the warehouse and began to head toward aisle 26 before she spotted Spike lying down in on the floor in front of what counted as their couch. "Hmm?" He thought, not raising his head, "Oh no, I'm perfectly fine, just finished in fact." Twilight could tell he was being sarcastic, but before complaining about it she actually looked around.

She noted that their piles of garbage was gone, and her pile of books were returned to their shelves. She even noted that the air smelled faintly like some kind of room-freshening chemical as she shelved the Theorist's Guide.

Returning to the dragon she smiled as she offered a hoof to help him up. "It shows," She complimented, "the warehouse has never looked better."

Spike took the hoof and used it to stand up, "Glad to be of service," he quipped before looking up at her. "So where are we going, now?"

Looking at him with her signature condescending glare, Twilight spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "One of the outer districts, Partyville to be specific."

Spike just rolled his eyes, "Ah, I should have known."

2 Party of Two

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"So where does the map say to go?" Twilight asked curiously as the two walked through the quiet streets of St. Orangeberg.

The sun still reigned high in the sky, beating down on anyone unlucky enough to be caught in its grasp. It had, however, inched ever so slightly toward the evening horizon. The building rose towards the clouds around the street Twilight currently found herself in. There were other ponies of course, but they knew too well to leave alone anyone that didn't directly interact with them. Which was the exact reason the nearby pony running a newsstand not only didn't offer directions to whatever their destination may be, but completely ignored the unicorn altogether.

But this was to Twilight's liking. As a local to this district herself, she subscribed to the same rules of engagement, which was to say she knew to not. To talk with anyone often meant nothing good. The faded seven-inch scar running along her withers was an ever present reminder that you don't beg for food, you find it yourself.

Twilight knew that not all parts of St. Orangeberg were as bad as her district, but it was hardly nice anywhere. So leaving was out of the question, especially when physical violence was easy to deal with long term. Apparently downtown, where all the rich assholes lived, you could have your entire life destroyed for as little as being in the same room as somebody else.

To her credit though, Twilight had packed lightly for the trip ahead. The only thing she carried on her back was Spike, who himself only had two cans of soup in a backpack, some water, and a map. The directional piece of paper currently unrolled and held in his claws, his eyes tracing the streets leading from their current location to their destination.

Spike didn't raise his head from the map as he answered, "Pretty much everywhere," he thought with a touch of confusion, "but we're going the right direction right now."

Twilight nodded and returned to looking directly ahead of herself, very specifically noting that the buildings, factories, and parking lots that dotted the current environment were not directly challenging her lifespan. "Good to hear," She answered after a short moment of thought.

"So why Partyville anyway?" Spike asked Twilight, not averting his eyes from the map as he plotted the trip, "Meeting up with your girlfriend?"

Twilight's neutral and curious expression sizzled off as a hard glare trained itself on Spike, "Stop that, I don't want word getting out that I have feelings for her."

She quickly looked around herself to see if anyone had heard her, which she doubted, nobody in the vicinity gave any sort of notice. She was in the clear. Twilight let herself smile at her secret being kept and she turned back to Spike, "Besides, as far as she knows we're just friends."

Spike just shrugged, "Whatever, take a left up ahead."

---

The wind rustled through a tree in a park as Twilight and Spike looked out from behind a bush. The object of their interest was a busy street filled with ponies going about their lives. Twilight had an uneasy look on her face as she studied the ponies going about their work day, a noticeable majority wearing well-maintained suits.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" She asked, wanting to make sure they hadn't gotten lost so far.

Spike shrugged in return. "I dunno, are we even still in St. Orangeberg?”

---

Twilight was walking through a quiet residential neighbourhood filled with nicely kept suburban homes. She wore a smile on her face as she talked with Spike, who sat comfortably on her back. The thankfully deserted sidewalk provided a peaceful atmosphere to chat.

"So I read on," Twilight explained, "and it described what a ghost party actually looked like, apparently you can't tell the difference."

Spike's eyes lost focus as his vision began to swim. "Ghosts sound dumb." He declared, trying to comprehend Twilight's words.

"Right?"

---

"UUUGGGGHHHH..." Twilight groaned as she laid panting in a mall parking lot. Fortunately it was a large enough parking lot that only about a third of it was actually being used at any one time. The immediate area was devoid of any carts or the judgey ponies that drove them. Twilight was utterly exhausted as she panted lightly on the ground.

"C'mon Twilight, get up," Spike stood triumphantly above her, flaunting the fact that he was not only not tired, but looked energized. The smug coming off his grin could light a match. "We're about half of the way there."

Twilight, to her credit, steadied her breathing long enough to sigh. "Easy for you to say, I'm the one that's done all the walking so far."

---

Twilight was walking down a run down road in serious need of some maintenance with Spike by her side, he was looking at the map. His backpack was empty, the soup having gone missing at some point. There was a rolling field to their left, and to their right was a row of two-storey houses. They spoke of lesser wealth.

"Have you tried talking about this with her?" Spike asked as he focused on the map before nodding and beginning to roll it up.

Twilight just stared straight ahead, upset with the conversation. "I'd like to see YOU admit you're in love." She countered in an almost juvenile tone.

Spike just looked at her and raised an eyebrow as he returned the map to his backpack. "Twilight...I'm mute, I can't admit anything.”

There was silence for several seconds as Twilight stopped mid step to consider her response. She turned back to look at a smug-looking dragon before narrowing her eyes and beginning her stride once again. "Shut up, I knew that."

---

Spike sat out in front of a public library looking out of breath. The sun was noticeably lower in the sky and looked about four hours off from dipping below the horizon. Twilight stood beside him with an expression that, to the untrained eye might resemble some form of concern, but which Spike knew to be her heavily condescending gaze.

"Aww..." She mocked, lowering her head to be level with him, "Are your little legs tired? I'm sooooo sorry to hear that!"

Spike was far from impressed and just glared at her in return. "Piss off, you're a horse, I'm not made to walk for hours."

---

The sun shone down from its evening perch in the sky, the air slightly cooler as the day had begun to move towards night. The houses in the area looked run down, while at the same time lovingly maintained, almost as if they hadn't been touched by city workers in decades, but the people in the area took care of fixing problems themselves. A mountain range could be spotted in the distance, easy to see framing the area as the tallest building for quite a while was a three storey windmill about fifteen-hundred metres to Twilight's left.

She smiled a contentious smirk as she held her nose high above Spike, "Well you'll have to excuse me," she spoke, happy with herself, "I left my hoarding money back at the warehouse."

Spike, to his credit, did not look amused, though he also didn't look too upset, his frown being a bit closer to disappointment than anything else. "Ha ha, dragon jokes," he deadpanned, "haven't heard those before."

Looking to his left though, Spike raised an eyebrow before stopping his stride and looking down a street. "Say, isn't that your girlfriend over there?" He asked, clearly for Twilight's benefit.

Turning to look where Spike had pointed out, Twilight's eyes glazed over slightly and a genuine smile crept over her lips as her focus shifted to a mare walking toward the two of them. "This is it," Twilight thought to herself, "I'm finally meeting her, no more pen pal crap, This is the real deal."

The mare in question noticed the two of them and started walking over to them, her expression curious. Twilight smiled a beaming smile as a stray thought struck her mind, "I just hope she isn't too weird."

With a pair of curious blue eyes, the earth pony looked at Spike as she walked up to the two of them. Stepping within introduction range, her expression, while remaining interested, became a touch guarded as she looked at the unicorn. "What's with this silence?" Spike asked Twilight as he motioned to the newcomer. “We're finally here and you're not going to speak or anything?"

To her credit, Twilight was very alert, taking in all the information she could, though with her shifting eyes and uneasy expression, she came across as looking nervous. This was because she was nervous. "Say something, stupid," Spike prompted as he turned to look at Twilight, "You're both here and the time is right."

Twilight began to inwardly panic: what could she say? She didn't want to come off as too interested, or not interested enough. Thousands of thoughts flew through her head as she attempted to come up with anything to say. Her salvation came before the silence drew to abysmally awkward levels in the form of loud trance music nearby.

Her ears perked immediately and she drew attention toward wherever that music was coming from. "Do you hear that?" Twilight spoke stiffly, "That sound is loud music, do you want to go to that sound?"

Twilight and Spike both looked at the mare in front of them as she began to speak, "Well, I don't know who you are," She said, a bit of worry creeping into her voice. Hey curly mane bounced slightly as she started to talk, "I also don't know if you're even alive. You could be a bodysnatcher, or an escaped clone, or a new bog monster." Twilight's eyes widened at this, while Spike merely raised an eyebrow, "Really, you haven't introduced yourself, you could be anything. And that sound is most likely a party, which will have other ponies there that will probably judge me."

"Parties aren't really my thing," the pink mare concluded. Though, against all odds, her expression shifted from one of caution to one of amused delight. Twilight couldn't come up with any reason from the sudden shift. It didn't make sense. Whatever the reason though, the earth pony smiled, "But sure, I'll go 'to that sound' with you."

Before Twilight could catch that what she herself had said was probably really stupid, and not only that, but that the woman she loved just went along with it as if it was somehow adorable, Another thought engulfed her mind. "Oh god, she's so weird," Twilight thought to herself, "Half of what she said doesn't make any sense. I'm in love with a weirdo..."

Twilight blinked, a moment of pause enveloping her, not that the other mare noticed and began to walk to wherever the party was being held. "...well, shit..."

Spike broke Twilight out of her trance as he motioned to follow the mare. They walked behind her for all of 20 seconds before they entered a store called Oakfield’s. It was a two story affair with minimal window cover on the storefront, but looked to have rows of books, movies, magazines, and a rack of a variety of candy. The racks had been pushed aside though to make room for a couple dozen ponies dancing to a mellow beat, chatting, and generally looking like they were having a fun experience.

"Great, it's filled with ponies that can call me weird..." Twilight heard her not-girlfriend whisper to herself. Making sure all three of them were inside, she then turned back to Twilight, "Well, we're at the bookstore, and I was right, there is a party happening here," She spoke with a nod to herself, as if acknowledging the fact that her district was living up to it's name. She then looked at Twilight in consideration. "So who did you say you were?"

Twilight, for her part, had developed a bit of a contemplative frown over the last minute. "I'm Twilight, your pen pal, you recently visited me to gi-"

"TWILIGHT?!" The pink mare shouted excitedly, drowning Twilight out as she continued to talk.

"-ook you planted in my warehouse." Twilight finished, continuing to talk despite the interruption.

Twilight's friend didn't seem to notice though as she excitedly began to chatter. "Wow, I didn't even recognize you! I can't believe you're here! How was the walk over from Panhandlershot?" She asked, but Twilight didn't seem to be listening.

"Other ponies call Pinkie weird?" She thought to herself, her frown deepening as she looked over the party, "I don't know whether to be upset they insulted her or agree with them."

The obliviousness in conversation partner seemed to be contagious as Pinkie ignored Twilight's silence and conflicted expression. "I know you can't afford the train," she continued, "Or the bus for that matter, not that there's a bus stop within an hour of here, but you know."

"UUUGGGGGGHHHHHH..." Twilight groaned internally as she walked forward, her conflicted frown evolving into a conflicted glare as she trained her eyes forward and begun walking without a destination in mind; Pinkie followed. "And there she goes, rambling off whatever's on her mind, hasn't she heard of an indoor voice?"

"Oh I'm so happy you're here, I could use your experience," Pinkie blurted out, staring ahead but not really paying attention to where Twilight was leading her. "Some weird stuff has been going on recently, and you've dealt with weird stuff before. I know you said in your letters that you don't like to talk about it, but I hope you don't mind me bringing it up now."

"Well I clearly can't show her that I'm annoyed by her, that'd break her heart, but what do I do then?"

"We've been having some clone issues again, nothing too worrying, but it's still a concern. Plus the Ghost parties have been happening more and more. Did you find my book okay? I hope it was helpful, I know you were asking me about resources for dealing with Prometheans."

"I'm trapped between not wanting to be with her and never wanting to leave her" Twilight chanced a glance at Pinkie, who was still talking, before she returned hre deepening scowl forward. "I need a drink."

"And that book is the best for the topic, I don't know why you wanted to know about them though, did something happen recently?" Pinkie asked as the two mares stopped in front of a table at the back end of the store, one with a large bowl of punch and several different bottles of liquor and other alcohols.

"Here we go," Twilight thought as she eyed the different bottles, "A drink mixing stand." Taking a moment to consider her choice, she grabbed a red plastic cup in her magic aura, and placed it in front of herself before grabbing a dark green bottle and pouring some into the cup.

Pinkie walked up beside Twilight with a worried expression on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked, "You haven't said anything in awhile."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, because while Pinkie sounded worried, she also didn't actually look at Twilight for more than several seconds before turning away to talk to herself. "We've been pen pals for years, I thought she'd be quieter." Feeling satisfied with the level of her beverage, Twilight placed the bottle back where she got it from, "She was way more to the point in her letters, it's what I like about her."

"Oh, are you the silent type?" Pinkie asked, her worry fading slightly as she considered her new thought.

Bringing the cup to her lips Twilight took a sip while her eyes were distantly staring at nothing. "How can THIS be Pinkie Pie?" She asked herself, "Maybe I'm remembering wrong." Twilight placed the cup down, shaking her head slightly before she brought over a clear bottle with a bright red label and poured some into her drink. "I'll have to reread her letters, too bad I left them at the warehouse."

Beaming at her idea, Pinkie looked back at Twilight, who caught her eye as the unicorn brought the cup back to her lips. "This isn't what I expected, you always had so much to say in your letters." She brought a hoof to her chin in thought, "Maybe the walk was tiring?"

"But I can't walk back now," Twilight considered, lost in thought as she held the cup by her side in her magic. "It's pretty much night time and I'm exhausted. I'll have to make up an excuse to find somewhere and pass out."

Pinkie nodded in what she probably thought was a sagely way as she spotted a nearby staircase leading upstairs. "If so, there's a bedroom on the second floor you can use."

Twilight's far off gaze of contemplation faded away as she heard what Pinkie actually said. "That works," She thought as she gave a slight smile, signifying her gratitude.

"Thanks Pinkie." She finally said aloud for her not-girlfriend to hear as she and the drink floating by her side moved to the staircase. "Time to get some sleep."

Pinkie waved Twilight off and turned back towards the door. "Don't worry about it, no one really lives up there anyway."

Exiting the party, Pinkie lost her smile, ignoring anyone on her way out. And with Twilight having already gone upstairs, neither of them had left their own worlds for even half a second to notice that at some point during the party, the music had stopped and every party-goer was staring directly at them.

3 Happiness is a Warm Cookie

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At the top of the bookstore’s flight of stairs, Twilight found a large room. It was obvious that this was the living quarters. To her right was a small kitchenette with a run down fridge, a microwave, and a few cupboards; to her left was a small couch, equally as run down, and a worn down coffee table. Directly in front of her was was a desk in a cramped-looking alcove, and lining every wall was a mix of countless stacks and unorganized piles of large books. It looked as if whoever lived here left part way through organizing them.

Walking into the room, Twilight couldn't help but notice the smell, the air was potently stale. It reminded her of a tomb, which the thin layer of dust covering everything complemented in just the worst way. Scanning the room, she noted a half-stairway leading to a small sleeping nook in the space above the way in. In that small space was something that brought a genuine smile to her lips.

Dragging her hooves up the additional few stairs she looked at the bed. It was a simple affair, a box spring flat on the floor, no frame in sight, with a bare mattress and two pillows. Above the bed along the wall was a small window, currently locked, but Twilight completely ignored it as she unceremoniously flopped onto the bed. Dust was knocked into the air as the bed creaked painfully.

At first Twilight had been expecting to catch up on her sleep before grabbing Spike in the morning and just leaving. But her plan was halted the second her back hit the bed.

"OOOOH MMYYYY GOOOOD!" She screamed internally in pure ecstasy. "This feels SO MUCH BETTER than my refrigerator box back at the warehouse!" She was happy enough to jump off the bed and do a little victory dance, if she wasn’t too comfortable to move.

She stayed like this for several minutes before she finally turned to look around the sleeping nook. Spotting the pillow she wasn't using, she snatched it immediately in her hooves and brought it down to cover a portion of herself. "And it comes with a second pillow." She thought as she looked down at it, "SCORE! Now I won't be cold tonight!"

Turning her body to join her head, she pulled her back legs into herself to get as much pillow coverage as possible. "I may never leave this bed." She thought in bliss as she looked out the window; it was a bit opaque, but reflective enough that she could see herself.

She saw the beaming smile on her features and it looked...out of place. It suddenly brought her to the realization that she couldn't actually remember the last time she had sincerely enjoyed something. Reading was fun, but it served a practical purpose. Being self-sufficient was nice, but it was the end result of her lifetime of living in Panhandlershot. She supposed she could say she liked spending time with Spike, but really that was based more on trust and a desire to not be alone than actually liking him.

Twilight studied herself and, probably for the first time in years saw what everyone else would have: a moment of joy that didn't belong. The world was filled with garbage, idiots, and useless assholes with an inkling of power, there was nothing to be happy about. Her smile screwed up as she thought about how it felt to feel good in this dust-caked mattress in a rundown bookstore housing unit, and closed her eyes as she came to a conclusion.

"Happiness feels weird."

---

With the moon high in the sky and the sun having set some time ago, the small outer district of Partyville lay quiet in the late hours. Save, that is, for one pink earth pony.

Pinkie Pie trudged through the quiet streets of Partyville, her head downcast. True to its name, there was a party in a three storey apartment building down the street, but for the most part lights were off, shops closed, and ponies asleep. Pinkie's expression was distant as she passed by several buildings, each some form of business, until she stopped in front of one.

It was a bakery by the look of the decorations in the storefront window. The sign hanging above the glass door read 'Baking Thyme' and the door had its own sign signifying that the shop was closed. Like the bookstore, it too was two storeys. Pinkie took one look at her front window and sighed dejectedly as she pulled out her keys and unlocked the door, disappearing inside.

Moments later she exited the shop again with a spray bottle and cloth at the ready. She began to clean off the latest bit of graffiti that adorned her shop. She counted herself lucky that, for the most part, it was never anything too bad. The window currently told her a single word: Crazy. But Pinkie knew that it could be significantly worse. At least she still got plenty of business, and hey, no one had ever thrown a rock through her window. Not since Rabbit Punch left, anyway.

Still, it was disheartening, and it weighed heavily on Pinkie's mood. "Hey mom, check it out, it's that crazy lady that believes in ghosts," she said aloud as she wiped away the spray paint from her store window. "Don't look sweetie, if you ignore her, she'll go away."

Finishing up with the window, Pinkie re-entered her shop. "Now now dear, let her look, no harm can come from staring at that weirdo." She sighed again, dejectedly, as she locked the front door and made for the stairs. Walking up the stairs she passed by a light switch, which she flipped off as she reached the top step. "If only they knew the truth about living here." She whispered. Before her was a hallway leading in either direction. The left led to the bathroom, the right to a pair of bedrooms, and directly in front of her was a mirror. "That the only reason nobody sees the ghosts or ghouls is because they wipe everyone's memory."

"Everyone but me..." She spoke, looking at her reflection before turning to her right and entering the first room she came across. Inside was what was supposedly a bedroom, though in place of an actual bed there was a run-down looking couch, which Pinkie plopped her body onto as she closed her eyes.

"At least Twilight is here now," Pinkie mumbled with a yawn, "She'll believe me." And without another word her breathing steadied and she drifted off to sleep.

---

The sun was just barely stretching as it awoke for another peaceful day above the city of St. Orangeberg. The air was crisp, telling of the incoming winter season some four months away, with morning dew along the strips of grass that lined the streets. A rare pony was out at this early an hour, but a jogger or two could be seen.

Along the main street of Partyville district was shop after shop, all closed, but one or two with at least the lights on. In between the hardware store and the coffee shop sat one of St. Orangeberg's many microparks: a small alley that remained unpaved, with a covering of grass, a small tree, a bench, and several bushes.

This unnamed micropark stood silent alongside the businesses that framed it. That is, until one of the few bushes began to rustle and a large pink bow poked its way into the open. Following the bow was a mop of red hair, and the small yellow pony that they belonged to.

The yellow pony, Applebloom, couldn't have been more than a child, but as she opened her eyes and yawned, a fierce intelligence could be seen behind those orange spheres. She stretched out her back and looked up at the morning sky.

"Morning already? Aww..." She thought, disappointed, "Well I should probably go before somepony sees me.” Her eyes, looking more awake by the second, looked to her left and right as she stepped out of the micropark, making sure no one spotted her.

"Applebloom? Is that you?" She heard come from a couple dozen feet away. Applebloom mentally cursed herself for being careless, and allowing herself to be seen before she could get away from the micropark.

"Shoot! Is that Pinkie Pie?" She asked herself purposefully making her expression blank and neutral, despite the hasty thoughts that streamed through her head. "Quick, think up an excuse!"

The pink mare with the curly mane was walking over to Applebloom, slightly surprised, but no more alert than she normally was. A bit of a grin also adorned her face. "What are you doing out so early?" Pinkie asked. Applebloom, in reply, said nothing, her expression one of confusion that she carefully constructed to mask her panic. "Nevermind, I could use your help actually, are you free?"

To her credit, Applebloom continued to hold her composure. "Well...I mean..."

"Great, follow me!" Pinkie chirped, excitedly before motioning a couple buildings down the street.

Applebloom's eyes narrowed slightly, but after a short moment she shrugged and followed Pinkie, to her bakery, "Why not?" She asked herself, "Being with somepony crazy is better than being called crazy yourself. I'll look mundane by comparison."

The bakery, as it turned out, was actually on the other side of the Hardware store. Pinkie opened the door, it being unlocked, and held it open for Applebloom, who walked in and looked around. She couldn't remember ever having actually been inside Baking Thyme before. Pinkie smiled and lead her to the kitchen, behind the store's counter.

"Pinkie Pie's a lot friendlier than I thought she'd be," Applebloom thought as she studied the bakery's kitchen. She hadn't really put much thought towards it in the past, but she supposed she was curious what the back of this place looked like. It was surprisingly clean, with three ovens, a couple sinks, a table in the centre of the room, a fridge, and pans and measuring utensils lining the room. All equipment properly put away, at least for now.

Looking Pinkie in the eyes, Applebloom relaxed slightly. "So what do you need help with?" she asked, as Pinkie pulled out a cooking tray from under the table.

"Do you know how to bake?" Pinkie asked with a curious expression, when Applebloom didn't answer immediately, Pinkie continued. "It's early, and people are still asleep. I need to do baking before I open the shop...but I slept in, so that's in half an hour." She explained, rubbing the back of her neck.

Applebloom smiled mischievously, "Only if I get to eat what I make," She declared, a sly smile on her face.

Pinkie rolled her eyes out of sight of Applebloom, but kept a genuine smile on her face; not everyone in town was the worst. "Sure."

"What are we making?"

"Cookies to start," Pinkie answered pulling a mixing bowl down that was hanging from above her. "Can you grab the flour and cooking grease? Third drawer on the left."

Applebloom nodded, "Yep," before she checked Pinkie to make sure she wasn't looking. The Pink mare was focusing on finding something else. "Time to snoop the crazy pony’s kitchen."

Without the watchful eye of the baker behind her, Applebloom zipped to a cabinet on the other side of the kitchen. “What does she have in here?" Finding the flour, she moved onto the next door, and then the next. "More boring adult stuff, c'mon, I want some dirt." She rolled her eyes as she continued searching through a few drawers before she stopped at one in particular that made her stop.

"Whoa! Why does she have an iguana in here?" Tucked away in a drawer that Pinkie probably never actually used, there was a nest with a lizard sleeping. "I wonder what else is hiding around here!"

She closed the habitat just in time to see Pinkie turn around, "Find the flour yet?" She asked.

Shaking her head, Applebloom grinned sheepishly, "Nope, sorry."

4 Evasion and Distraction

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"So where are your friends?"

In the twenty minutes that Applebloom had been in Pinkie's kitchen things had been a blast of ordered chaos. Pinkie Pie rattled off ingredients and directions and Applebloom followed. It didn't take long for their cookies to be mixed and placed in the oven, followed by two dozen muffins and a batch of tarts, but at that point they'd run out of ovens to bake things in and just started storing things in the fridge to keep fresh while they waited for their turn in the oven.

All was going great workwise, but as far as conversation was concerned, nothing could be worse. Pinkie had tried a few times to spark a dialogue, but Applebloom gave non-committal answers, that were both short and disengaging. So after a false start or two, she cleared her throat and asked about the two whoevers that Applebloom liked to spend her time around.

Applebloom though, was only confused by the question, "huh?"

"You know, your two friends that you're always with," She clarified, "You three are never apart."

The look on Applebloom’s face was immediate, she spun her head to stare at Pinkie like a deer in the headlights. And while her eyes and slight frown may have given off the impression of being confused, a frantic mental debate was sparked just under the surface.

"WHAT?!" Applebloom screamed internally, "How can she know about them? NOPONY knows about them, they-HOW CAN SHE KNOW?! It doesn't matter now, just fix it! Nopony can know! If they ever found out anything I'd become outcasted. My entire life ruined! They'd call me crazy and spray paint my windows and I'd be exactly like PINKIE!"

"Just deny it, that always works. What friends?" Applebloom asked, her eyes narrowing as she glared up at Pinkie. "I don't have any friends. I'm always alone, didn't you know that?" She allowed herself a slight smirk at her lie. Pinkie was just another adult, and that meant she could be easily manipu-

"Right," Pinkie rolled her eyes knowingly, all but crushing Applebloom's smug grin in a fiery blaze of destruction. "Then how do you explain the orange one and the girl that looks like a younger Rarity?"

Applebloom had to forcibly stop her eyes from darting in every direction in search of an escape. Apparently Pinkie wasn't just some stupid adult and would probably notice if she acted suspiciously...more than she already had, anyway. "I don't know what you're talking about," Applebloom thought about saying before she changed tactics.

"So anything new in your life?"

This immediately stopped Pinkie in her tracks as a beaming smile overtook her features, Applebloom sighed in relief. "I haven't told you yet? Oh wow, okay! So I've had this pen pal for four years named Twilight Sparkle."

"Good," Applebloom thought, "she's distracted, now to think of an escape."

"And yesterday she came into town to help us fix some of the problems that have been going on around here! I bet she's already out there asking questions and piecing together different bits of information!"

---

A loud snoring sound could be heard from the second floor of the bookstore. Sun shone in through the cloudy windows, illuminating Twilight as she clung to one of her two pillows.

It seemed though that the sandpaper-on-bare-flesh of a sound that was coming out of Twilight’s throat was not meant to be as she stirred slightly, the light of the sun being a natural alarm clock. Slowing she began to open her eyes, only to close them again immediately and turn her head, groaning. She pulled the pillow over her head to get a semblance of darkness back.

She laid there unmoving for five minutes before she finally came to the conclusion that apparently her body wanted to betray her and wake up. She mentally cursed the fact that she hadn't decided to build a dependency on coffee to get up in the morning. "I wonder what time it is," Twilight threw the pillow aside, hearing it clatter to the room below. "I should probably get up."

Twilight opened up her eyes and slowly rose to sit on the bed, lazily looking at the room in front of her. "I wonder where Spike got off to last night, hope it wasn't too far, we need to get back to the warehouse."

She blinked as she saw the dust covered space in the daylight. Not much about it was different, though it did feel somewhat more comforting during the day. Less like a hostel and more like a safe house. With the only entrance being below her, it'd be easy to keep out of sight of anyone entering, and the windows were opaque enough to mean no one outside could see her unless they were looking for her. Really, it was sort of perfect, and with an assortment of books, she'd be well entertained.

But she shook her head before bringing her hoof up to rub her eyes, "No sense in dwelling on this place, I won't be seeing it again." she thought before she pushed herself off the bed and onto the landing. With her magic, Twilight brought the pillow back up onto the bed before she walked down into the room. She paused in thought, wondering if she forgot anything before she rolled her eyes at the assumption that she brought anything and made to leave the building.

On the first floor she blinked at the shelves being back where they belonged. She didn't remember hearing anyone moving furniture, whoever did it was good for something. She looked over at the cash register to see a single pony look up from a magazine and nod. Twilight briefly wondered why whoever this was didn't care that she spent the night in their shop, but didn't question the inaction. There was something to be said about keeping your mouth shut.

Twilight then considered for the shortest of moments that whoever guy was, he had an ulterior motive for not speaking out against her. She narrowed her eyes at him. He was a brown stallion with a goofy looking smile that was either genuine or an incredibly well practiced mask. His eyes spoke of sincerity, and he had a curly blond mane on his head.

His expression, the way he held himself and his body language spoke of somebody quiet but eager to please. He brought his hoof up to wave at Twilight, but she scowled and made to leave the building. She knew it was all an act, he probably intended to sell her organs on the black market for a quick profit. Wouldn't be the first time somebody tried.

"Well looks like I'm good to get out of here." She said to herself as she left the bookstore, making a note of the hours of operation, in case she ever planned on buying or stealing anything from here in the future. When she saw that there were no hours and instead just a sign taped to the inside of the glass door that said Always Open, she glared at the place.

After a second of being upset at the sheer idiocy of an always open business strategy, she turned back to the streets of Partyville and rolled her eyes. "I should probably find Pinkie and say goodbye, but really I like her better as letters anyway."

Without a second thought, Twilight turned and started walking in a direction, confident that, even if she couldn't find Spike, she could at least find someone she could ask about having seen him. Dragons weren't exactly common, she was confident that under different circumstances one wouldn't be caught dead spending time with a pony.

She'd been walking for about five minutes before she stopped and looked around, other than the actual trees a bit down the road and mountains behind them, Partyville basically looked like every part of St. Orangeberg. It was filled with shops, houses, and people walking around doing whatever they want. Twilight hated it more and more the longer she was here.

"Okay, where's Spike? He has the map," she said, concerned that she might have to actually talk to one of the people in the area, "Maybe he's this way? Where even am I?" She looked at everyone within eyesight, contemplating if she should care that they could hear her talking to herself. Opting to use the I'm-insane-I'll-gut-you-while-giggling excuse if she was threatened at any point, Twilight continued on, prepared for danger.

She looked around the buildings in the area, most having opened their doors at some point before she woke up, the people here looked chipper and happy to see each other. It made her question their motives. Not only the people though, it was the buildings, they all looked inviting, like the shop owners trusted whoever walked into their doors.

Walking to the end of the street Twilight came across something she didn't think could exist. A crop field. Obviously she knew food had to be grown, but she'd never been far enough out to see one in person. It was a surreal experience she hoped would end soon. Which was a sentence that could accurately describe her entire trip, actually. "This Partyville district is stupid, I can't believe ghosts apparently even gather here."

"GHOSTS?!" An excited voice abruptly shouted as the face it belonged to invaded her personal space. "What do you know about ghosts? Are you some kind of hunter or something?" The blue blur was less than a foot away from Twilight's face and this shocked her.

After a second Twilight glowered at this new pony. "Who are you?" She asked, not even trying to keep the disdain out of her voice, "But more importantly, why are you in my face?"

The mare smiled and stepped back, looking not at all guilty for the invasion of personal space, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear you talking to yourself." She unfurled her wings in excitement, "I'm Rainbow Dash!"

Twilight immediately didn't like her, she was loud, obnoxious, and the prismatic hair was kind of giving her a headache. Not only that, but just her inability to keep a distance from Twilight made her want to resort to violence, but she held back from defending herself for now.

"So you said something about ghosts?" Rainbow asked, to which Twilight rolled her eyes. "I love ghost stories and horror books. My favourite author, Dark Alley writes so many, I love all of them."

"Right," Twilight returned, Rainbow leaning in as she spoke, which was upsetting her. "Well as good as that is, It'd be better if you could move. You're in my way and I want to get as far away from here as possible."

Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to say something else before a new voice interrupted. "Wstrzymać!"

Both the unicorn and the pegasus stopped and turned to look in the direction of the shout. Much to Twilight's surprise, Rainbow actually seemed to get irritated at whoever this new person was. It didn't make her any less annoyed herself, but it was noteworthy that the last 45 seconds of excitement were ground to a halt in an instant.

Rainbow Dash turned her body completely to interact with an orange earth pony, and Twilight almost left, but it'd been awhile since she heard anything but English, so she watched this possible train wreck unfurl. "I told you I'm sorry! Jeeze!"

The mare, Twilight guessed based on the feminine voice, shouted angrily at Rainbow. "Nie jest ci przykro, gdybyś nie wpadł w mój cholerny sposób!" It sounded almost accusatory, but Twilight was busy focusing more on the language than anything, she couldn't place it.

"Why do you even respond!" Rainbow Dash shouted back, taking a defensive stance. "You know I can't understand!"

Twilight didn't care what the argument was about, or that it was one sided, or about any of the situation, really, but she did find herself wondering who this earth pony was. If for no other reason than because she was speaking a different language when no one else had so far. "Excuse me for sounding like I actually care," Twilight interrupted, "But who is this?"

The argument stopped immediately, which Twilight considered interesting, since this new mare had been acting as if she understood what was said. Rainbow Dash was the one to respond, having calmed down the instant Twilight spoke. "Oh, this is...I don't actually know her name. She ju-"

"Nazywam się Applejack," The orange mare interrupted, smiling warmly.

In response, Rainbow Dash spoke louder to drown Applejack out. "SHE JUST SHOWED up one day. But she does all our farming, so we don't really mind...even if we can't understand her."

"Why do they put up with her if no one can understand her?" Twilight thought. The ponies of Partyville just kept getting worse the more she thought about it. They're either too trusting, or up to something, or both. They made Pinkie feel like she wasn't wanted which...Twilight was still figuring out her feelings for. They're small thinkers, loud, quick to invade personal space, and for a reason she couldn't figure out, ghosts gathered here. Which infuriated her.

Finally, there was this Rainbow person who was emotionally unstable, and this farmer who...just showed up one day? That didn't make any sense. "Can you repeat that?"

Rainbow blinked in confusion, "Which part?"

Twilight stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "Nevermind, so she just showed up one day and nobody thought to question that?"

"Well we tried," Rainbow's eye twitched as her smile widened, "but we can't understand her."

About to say something say something in response, Twilight heard what she knew to be the thoughts of Applejack. "You'd probably understand me if you tried! It's not my fault English is impossible."

"Interesting..." Twilight thought, thankful that thoughts weren't actually bound to language and were instead abstract ideas at the best of times. Losing her scowl, Twilight looked back over to Rainbow, considering the situation. "And she only does farming? Nothing else?"

Rainbow closed her mouth as she thought about the question. She closed her eyes for a couple seconds before she gave a noncommittal shrug, "Well, I mean, I don't know. That's all I've ever seen her do."

Looking around the area for a moment, Twilight took in the fields of...she guessed corn. They spread out far into the distance. "Have you ever seen her anywhere except these fields?" Twilight asked curiously, bringing her attention back to the pegasus.

"...not really, why?"

"So she's Bound," Twilight thought, looking over Applejack for a second. "The language barrier is notable, given she understands what we say. I need to do some reading before I can leave." The life drained from Twilight's face as she lowered her head in defeat. "UUUUUUGGGGGHHHH...Why does this always happen whenever I want to leave a place?"

Rainbow looked at Applejack before she brought her attention back to Twilight, "Um, hello?"

Twilight raised her head and for a brief moment her eyes widened before she pulled up an embarrassed expression. "Shit, I can't let on that I know anything." She pulled a hoof to the back of her neck and rubbed up and down slightly, attempting to look bashful "Sorry, but I'm in kind of a hurry, can we talk later?"

Rainbow tilted her head to the side in ever mounting confusion, "Uh...well, sure?"

5 Extrications

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Twilight scowled deeply as she walked away from Applejack and Rainbow, she didn't really have a direction in mind, just...away. The direction that happened to be was back into town.

After maybe five minutes and a left turn to avoid returning to the bookstore, Twilight sighed, happy that Rainbow hadn't decided to follow her. "Finally away from her," she thought happily, though her expression stayed unpleasant, "WOW was she loud and annoying. At least Pinkie knows when to be useful."

Taking in her surroundings for the first time, Twilight stopped when she realized that she still didn't know how to get home, let alone where she was now. It appeared to be a residential neighbourhood though, townhouses lining the street. "I should probably find her and see if she has a book on being Bound."

---

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were nearly at each other's throats, the way they were staring at each other. "It's your fault she's leaving, you know that?" the pegasus accused, venom in her voice.

This more than upset the farmer as she looked downright offended. "Mówi kobieta, która zawsze stoi na przeszkodzie mojemu rolnictwu!"

---

Strolling through a new street, Twilight had a genuine smile on her face as she looked around. The dirt path she was travelling down was framed by two lines of trees, the flowers were in bloom, so the flowers opening up were all sorts of colours. And with few other ponies in the area, Twilight felt, well, comfortable.

"Well this sure is nice," She thought as she watched a squirrel go about it's day in one of the nearby tree's, "I didn't know any part of St. Orangeburg was able to look this good."

If Twilight had to be honest, she'd been surrounded by cityscape all her miserable life. By the concrete, smoggy skies, brick and metal. The fact that she could see so many trees, and fields was...refreshing. "I haven't even been threatened yet. The people here may be stupid, but-"

"WOAH," The voice of a nearby pony called out, grabbing Twilight's attention, "who are you?"

Her smile fell off a jaggy cliff and exploded as her peaceful walk was stolen by one of the local ponies she was hoping she'd be able to avoid while she was here. "...But that's now the end of my sentence." She thought, completing her observation after having taken into account the nuisance she now had to deal with.

"Nobody important, ignore me." Twilight said, providing her usual response to being interacted with in the streets. It was a well known fact of the survivors of Panhandlershot that you never draw attention to yourself, if you do than you make damn sure that whoever's bothering you thinks you aren't worth their time. You lie, you cheat, you do whatever you can to look as meaningless as possible.

Unfortunately that wasn't how things worked in the outer districts. The two ponies that were staring at here didn't take the the hint that Twilight wasn't worth their time. The yellow one on the left, the one that had stopped her in the first place opened her stupid mouth again. "But you're new! How'd you even get into Partyville?"

Twilight almost groaned at having to deal with another one of these ponies. They weren't a threat to her, and if anything, they only numbed her intelligence the more she talked to them. "I walked," she deadpanned, seeing no more reason to withhold her snark. "Just like I WAS doing before you interrupted me."

The violet pony beside the first spoke up, "How do you interrupt walking?" She asked, Twilight restraining herself from screaming her frustration out loud.

"While you're being stupid, can you tell me which way the bakery is?"

"Yes," The yellow mare apparently missed the insult, which just upset Twilight more, "It's just down Long Street."

---

"And that'll be six bits," Pinkie cheerfully reminded from behind her cash register. "Thanks and come again."

Her smile faltered as her customer didn't so much as utter a thanks when he grabbed his butter tarts and turned to leave the bakery. She wasn't upset in the slightest, it's not like she was constantly underpaid and ridiculed. No, if she got upset, she'd just be crazy. Everyone in Partyville loved working for next to no pay and enjoyed every second of the social excommunication.

Her eye twitched, but seeing as no one else was currently in her store front she allowed her frustration to show, at least for the time being. After all, bottling up your anger, as good as that is for business, isn't healthy for you. It's good to let it out when you can.

Sighing, Pinkie put the coins in her register and turned her head to the back room, she heard the oven open and let a small smile infect her features. "It's been two hours, I should probably give her a break." She thought as she did a final check of the storefront to make sure no one was about to enter. With the coast clear, Pinkie entered the kitchen.

The sight that greeted her was best described by a 5 year old making explosion noises. Flour was everywhere, several mixing bowls were in the sink, and a half mixed pile of batter was hardening to the floor that very second. None of this surprised her though, Applebloom wasn't exactly a master chef, she'd just stay late and do a more thorough cleaning.

At the centre of the mess was Applebloom. At some point she'd lost her signature giant pink bow and as well had gotten probably half a tub of margarine on her hooves. Pinkie noted that the cleanest part of the room was the cookbook. "Hey Applebloom," She greeted, "how are you doing back here?"

Applebloom, instead of answering, closed the oven door, having placed a tray of something in there, and huffed in exhaustion as she set the time. "Horribly, I'm not your slave, I'm just a filly, let me free!" She thought, but she knew tact matters more than emotions, so she let her shoulders slump before turning to look up at Pinkie, "Tired, how do you do this all the time?"

Pinkie just grinned, "You get used to it, plus you get to taste what you make."

Desperation held heavily in Applebloom's eyes, a look that didn't go unnoticed by Pinkie, but wasn't addressed either. "I can't take much more of this!" She thought, "It was fun at first, but I don't want to be here. It's like I'm working here, but I'm just a kid! I don't want a job." She began to lean against one of the counters as she closed her eyes, catching her breath slightly, "How do I escape? Every time I've tried she just smiles at me and tells me I'm doing a good job..."

"I need out!"

---

Standing outside the bakery was a purple unicorn with a scowl on her face. "Well this seems to be the place," Twilight said as she looked up at the name of the bakery. She didn't know what to think, it was a pun, which she hated, but also she wasn't sure anyone here was smart enough to make a pun. They all seemed pretty literal-minded when they talked. Can idiots even have a sense of humour?

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Twilight saw the open sign and walked into the small shop. There was a couple things on display, but for the most part the main thing that drew your eyes was the manu above the counter.

She didn't see Pinkie, but seeing as the place was open, Twilight assumed she was in the back. Listening for even half a second confirmed this as she heard Pinkie talking to someone. So seeing nobody else, Twilight went to the kitchen door and opened it, only to see the mess and become nauseated. "Wow, this is disgusting, who made this mess?"

Stopping herself from stepping on a glop of batter, Twilight narrowed her eyes, "I swear, if it's not being surrounded by morons, it's walking into a since tornado."

But before Twilight could ask why she was still here, Pinkie looked over from comforting the little girl. "Twilight!" Pinkie cheered, excited to see her friend, "Welcome to my bakery! Applebloom and I were just about to go on our fifteen minute break."

"Lovely," Twilight thought with a mental roll of her eyes, "There's a child here."

Twilight wasn't too against the existence of children, after all, she was one once, and they sort of existed to further ponykind. But she couldn't call herself a fan. They were loud, full of themselves, annoying, and often did nothing but get in her way. On the one hoof it wasn't just kids that did that, on the other, she wasn't a fan of adults either, so it was more a moot point than anything. Age didn't matter, if you got in Twilight's way, she wouldn't like you.

Pinkie motioned to a tray on top of the over, still cooling, "Would you like to try out her chocolate muffins?" Twilight could tell Pinkie liked them, but the unicorn also wasn't hungry, even if muffins were a thing she liked.

"No, I wouldn't," She answered plainly, which from her could have been seen as almost jovial by comparison. Twilight then turned to Applebloom, who had been quietly observing the new pony. "Hey kid, can you go outside? I need to talk to Pinkie alone for a second."

At this Applebloom's eyes widened and a smile exploded onto her her face. She ran up to Twilight and got really close to her face, very excited. "Thank you, thank you so much!" Immediately she ran for the kitchen door, "I'm free! HA!"

Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other. Pinkie shrugged, and as Twilight was about to ask they could hear the front door open and Applebloom laugh even louder, "HA HA HA!" To which Twilight closed her mouth and her features scrunched up in confusion.

After a moment Twilight just walked out of the kitchen and stared blankly ahead, caught off guard and unsure of really what to think. "Huh, what a weird kid," she said to no one in particular.

"Not really, she's just sort of rude and self-absorbed," Pinkie offered, having followed Twilight out of the kitchen.

Twilight nodded, "Yeah," she agreed in a distant sort of tone, "well I can relate to that.”

Pinkie watched Applebloom run off through the store's front window for a moment before she turned to look over at her friend. "So what brings you to the bakery, Twilight?"

Twilight, still lost in thought, didn't answer right away. Applebloom kind of reminded her of herself, maybe not from a younger age, since she was terrified of talking to the people in her neighbourhood, but her current self. Slightly odd, full of herself, wrapped up in something. The kid was worth talking to a second time.

But shaking out of her thoughts she turned to look at Pinkie, "I wanted to talk to you actually."

Pinkie smiled and nodded, moving back into the kitchen, "Sure, let me just close my shop."

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she turned to follow Pinkie, only to see the pink Earth pony return with a pair of keys. "Close your shop? Seriously?" The idea confused Twilight, she'd never owned a shop, but it stands that if it's open then she'd probably make money.

"Well in this town any conversation can turn into a three hour adventure." Moving to the front door, Pinkie turned the open sign over and locked it behind her, Twilight having followed her out.

"If you say so..." Twilight said, a bit disappointed, "right, forgot she's weird."

They were both quiet for a minute as they walked, Twilight because she didn't know what to say, but Pinkie for another reason. She was looking around her as they walked, it almost looked like she was making sure no one was following them. Once she was sure they were alone, at least as alone as they could get on a city street, she turned to Twilight. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Taking this time to drop her neutral expression, Twilight regained a scowl as she began to rant. "Well I could probably ramble on about how stupid the people here are. I've talked to a total of eight other people and every single one of them makes me want to smash my face against bricks." She took a breath and turned to look at Pinkie as they walked, "But I won't waste your time."

Pinkie, to Twilight's surprise actually narrowed her eyes and took on an aggressive tone herself, "Oh please, waste away!" She was just shy of shouting in frustration, "Everyone here is always talking behind my back, saying things about me, I hate them!"

Twilight didn't really expect that reaction, so far Pinkie had been nothing but friendly, even to Applebloom, who basically celebrated getting away from her. She couldn't help a little concern sneaking into her voice, "And yet you stay..."

"Well, Twilight," Pinkie added without missing a beat, "The library and bookstore here have the absolute best material on the paranormal in this entire city."

"Well that's certainly saying something considering how big this place is."

"Exactly."

Twilight shook her head, she was, surprisingly to herself, worried about Pinkie in a new way. When they met she judged too harshly, of course Pinkie was weird, she survived St. Orangeberg's outer districts; that was reason enough to be a bit odd. But Twilight decided she could ask about that later and stopped walking. "Well I'm glad you brought that up Pinkie, because I need your help finding something."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow, but had calmed down somewhat, it was telling that she knew how to hold her temper on a moment's notice. "You do?"

"Yes, I need information on those that are Bound."

6 Bound by Covers

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"You mean like a Guided Source?" Pinkie asked Twilight in confusion. The two of them were standing between a couple of shops. It was a quiet place to talk, Pinkie knew, due in part to being working hours, but primarily because the whole section of the street was low on business.

Corn Street, the pride and joy of Partyville...at least a decade ago it was. Nowadays, Corn Street was just a rundown location. Where the major shops that still stood the test of time had been receiving a number of customers matched only by their number of eviction notices. For that reason, Pinkie knew it was a good place to talk. Maybe some of the inner districts would have had crime take over abandoned areas, but in Partyville, little happened pony side. In many regards it was the perfect place to lean against the side of a store and chat about important and often secret information.

Twilight simply nodded in turn, "Exactly."

The eyebrow over Pinkie's right eye raised another inch higher. "Okay, but why?"

"You know I can't explain why out loud," Twilight said, her face becoming stoic and slightly distant.

Pinkie responded with a curious smile. "Sure, but what are you looking for exactly?" When Twilight raised an eyebrow of her own, Pinkie continued, "there's so much Source material on being Bound. There's location, duration, personification of the ghost or non-ghost. There's-"

"Wait," Twilight interrupted, "Non-ghost?"

Pinkie chuckled good-naturedly at Twilight's question, "Well yeah. It always involves a ghost, but being Bound doesn't just apply to the dead. It can affect the living, but in different ways."

Twilight considered that for a moment as she inspected a garbage can beside her. After she decided it wasn't worth her time, she turned back to Pinkie, her expression softening slightly. "For instance..?"

Smiling, Pinkie's eyes moved to the tops of her sockets as she continued to explain. "Well for instance, each spirit is most powerful at different parts of the day, regardless of location. If one were to Sprout its power onto someone they'd be Bound to whatever the ghost chooses at that time. It works for places, concepts, even hours of the day."

Twilight closed her eyes and smiled, happily listening to the earth pony talk, "There's the Pinkie I know." Though this went unnoticed.

"A ghost can only ever Sprout once though, so they never do it unless they have a good reason." Pinkie paused for a moment in thought as a realization came to her. She looked at Twilight, who had opened her eyes in the moment of pause and saw the expression on Pinkie's face. In that moment she knew exactly what her crush was going to say. Before Twilight could stop her though, Pinkie started voicing her realization. "Hey, I bet the reason you can't leave somewhere without helping a gho-"

"WE'RE DONE TALKING ABOUT THIS!" Twilight suddenly shouted, much to Pinkie's amusement. She knew from her letters that the unicorn was touchy about the topic, and with many of her secrets, she forced everyone around her not to talk about them. It wasn't a healthy behaviour, but it was Twilight, and Pinkie enjoyed their friendship. "Let's go and find a Guided Source book."

---

It'd been about an hour since Twilight and Pinkie ended up back at the bookstore.

The same brown stallion, Page Views as Pinkie identified him, had greeted them as they walked in. Twilight still wasn't having any of it and immediately acted as if he didn't exist. Pinkie smiled and waved, but didn't make to start conversation with him. Whether or not he wanted to start a conversation though didn't matter in the end, because after he waved them in it was clear they weren’t interested, so he turned back to his novel and began to ignore them.

Twilight immediately started searching the shelves for anything and everything related to being Bound. After realizing that it also had a sexual connotation she scoffed in disgust and instead asked Pinkie for more specific information. The two focused their search to the more paranormal section of the conspicuously large store.

They entered two separate aisles and searched silently for quite some time until Twilight rolled her eyes and left her aisle, frustrated and defeated at her lack of results. "Well I can't find anything," she said as she entered Pinkie's aisle and found her not on the floor where she expected, "Pinkie...why are you inside the bookshelf?" But instead the earth pony had shoved herself onto the middle shelf between several books, her ear pointed directly at a large blue, unmarked tome.

Pinkie's blue eyes were forgotten in the top corner of her sockets as she focused on the book beside her. "Believe it or not, Guided Sources have a spiritual nature to them." She answered, much to the doubt filled eyeroll of her unicorn friend. "I'm listening to see if they have anything to say."

Twilight shook her head slightly and levitated a large grey book to herself, "...right..." she thought, happy to have both Pinkie's help, and just her around. But Twilight was also still sorting how she felt about her pen pal crush.

Drawing her focus away from the book, Pinkie turned to look at Twilight, an inquisitive smile on her face. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask," she said, folding her legs underneath herself and she laid down in the shelf. "Where's that friend of yours from last night?"

Initially confused by the question, Twilight realized who Pinkie was talking about, "Oh, Spike? He...had to go, suddenly."

---

Yesterday, the sun was setting in the sky and Twilight, in her infinite wisdom, had assessed that staying indoors was the best bet. So she allowed Pinkie to bring her into the bookstore party. After all, she may have been weird, but she was smart, and knew the ways of the locals. Her assistant Spike was busy blurting out her secret love for Pinkie to everyone in the area, so Twilight had to silence him with her quick wit.

She did wonder where he was heading off to though, and because Spike highly respected her intelligence, had sated her curiosity. Just before ditching on the party, he told her that he was planning to go explore. Shocked and concerned, as she was capable of a wide array of emotions, she offered that if Spike ever found himself in trouble he should defend himself for safety purposes.

Of course she chose to spend time with Spike because he too had some semblance of intellect, and assured her that he'd be well protected. They had a moment of camaraderie before he ruined it with another one of his comments about Pinkie and Twilight ending up together. She had no choice but to shoo him away before anyone else found out her secret.

---

When Twilight didn't elaborate further, Pinkie raised an eyebrow. Not wanting to appear abnormal, Twilight decided silence probably wasn't the best bet. "We'll probably see him later today."

Accepting this, Pinkie shrugged and returned to listening, "Sounds good."

Suddenly it was silent again. Twilight rolled her eyes at the book in front of her before she closed it and placed on the floor beside her. Levitating the next book off the shelf, she read the title, flipped through the index, and repeated the process, getting more and more disgruntled as she went.

After the pile of books beside her grew to about cutie mark height, she sighed in annoyance. Turning back to the bookshelf itself, she read the titles on the book's spines. "Tea Time With The Blob, Inter-City Communications, Serious Talk...none of this is useful." She thought as she skimmed further titles, getting fed up with how useless what she was finding was turning out to be.

"Pinkie, do you have anything yet?" Twilight asked with a huff as she turned to the pink pony, "Most of these books are pretty useless."

Pinkie carefully pulled herself out of the shelf and stood up, shaking her head. "No, the Source Information is a bit preoccupied," Pinkie looked to the stack of books beside Twilight with a raised eyebrow, when Twilight shook her head, Pinkie nodded, understanding. "It's worried about something."

Twilight narrowed her eyes in doubt, "What could it possibly be worried about, it's INFORMATION!" She raised her voice.

Pinkie either didn't notice Twilight's skepticism or didn't react to it, and she merely took on a thoughtful expression. "I'm not sure," she started, "It feels like something foreboding, something you and I should be worried about. Maybe something is conspiring against us?"

Holding in a groan caused by the absurdity Pinkie had just uttered, Twilight actually considered the second half of the thought. "Well considering my history, that could basically be anything." Twilight stated without a hint of joke in her tone.

After yet another moment of silence, Pinkie nodded and looked at the top shelf above Twilight, "You mind if I look over there? I think they've got something."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she stepped back, looking progressively more done with the entire situation. "Sure Pinkie, show me what the books think they've found." Stepping aside, Pinkie filled the space and brought her pink mop of hair up with her in her quest to see the top shelf.

"Well let's see here..." She paused as she tilted her head slightly, "Give me a second while I look through these titles."

Twilight was far from amused, she felt the the idea that information itself could want or think about anything was stupid. Sure she wasn't exactly the expert in researching the paranormal, but she'd never seen or heard of anything like a book deciding it wanted to help you. Or know anything besides what's on its damn pages. Books were pieces of paper with words on them, they don’t think.

She briefly considered that maybe she was a bad Hunter for not knowing whatever the crap a Source Guide was, but quickly threw the thoughts out with any other doubt in her head. Pinkie was clearly well versed, and if she said the stupid books are worried about some kind of threat, then fine, they were worried about some threat. It was still stupid.

Moving down the aisle a bit, Twilight looked over a couple books that, based on their titles, might actually be useful. "...Right, well while you do that, I'll be looking over here."

"I bet Spike doesn't have to deal with stupid crap like this."

---

Among the streets of downtown Partyville, the day had fully begun. Ponies were walking up and down the sidewalks, smiling and happily greeting each other as they passed. One such pegasus pony waved as she passed a postal worker.

"Hello Sunny, how are you doing today?" The worker asked in passing. The Yellow pegasus nodded back, her long pink mane flopping over one of her eyes again, but she didn’t speak to the stallion. Sunny moved the hair out of her sight. Her eyes, while friendly, moved slowly across her vision, carefully. As if, instead of looking around, she was studying those around her.

She looked at a group of three ponies chatting outside a cafe chatting and for an almost imperceptible moment, her smile faltered slightly, giving way to a look of unfiltered disgust before returning to a friendly smile. "Another wasted morning," She thought as she glanced up at the large clock displayed above the shop across the street, "Surrounded by these stupid, mouth-breathing piles of equine garbage."

Sunny turned to see a pony looking up at the sky as she continued walking down the sidewalk, "Oh look, the sun!" She thought in an attempt to mock the mare she spotted, "Yeah, stare deeply at it you sniveling donkey mound, lick a spinning rotor while you're at it." She nearly scoffed as she continued on towards her destination.

As she approached the town plaza, Sunny stopped, spotting something that surprised her, raising an eyebrow for a moment, "Is that a dragon?"

---

Spike entered a more open space in Partyville carrying a filled backpack, it looked like carts could pass through, but that wasn't really the point of the place. There was a large fountain in the centre of several small mobile shop carts and stalls. Looking like a good old marketplace of yonder year.

He didn't care about that though. What he was interested in was an empty stall that looked like it hadn't been used in the last three months. "Vacant stall, eh?" He smirked, "This looks like the perfect place for a good old-fashioned scam routine."

Looking over the stall Spike placed his bag on the ground in front of him and searched through it. "The people here sure are stupid and trusting, wonder what sort of cons I can pull."

---

Sunny watched the dragon a small banner out of his bag and start setting up at one of the stalls. "Just fifteen minutes collecting some of his life force could sustain us for years." A voice spoke in her head. Her smile deepened slightly in return.

Before she moved towards the dragon, Sunny considered her actions for a moment. "Dragons are intelligent creatures, this'll require work. Which routine to go with though?"

"Run with Sweet and Solid Under Shade, and Run Around the Ramble." With a nod, Sunny spread her wings, adopted a very worried expression on her face, and flew with purpose towards Spike.

In less than a moment, she scooped him up in her front hooves and pulled him up into the air. "Oh, you poor, poor thing!" She doted with a voice filled with maternal worry. "Look at you, all alone out here, let's see if we can find your mommy, okay."

Spike, with no prior warning and no idea who this mare was, or where she came from, was filled with complete surprise. "Whoa! And I'm up here now." Sunny looked around frantically before she spotted something and flew towards it.

That something happened to be an alleyway away from the onlooking crowd. "Wow, I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd be so heavy, let me set you down."

With a moment to collect his thoughts, Spike immediately recognized the threat and began to reach behind his back. "Good, she dropped me, now to pull out my knife an-"

"And..." But Spike had no hope of escape. "FREEZE."

7 Chasing Shadows

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"Wow, it worked!" The yellow coated, pink maned pegasus known as Sunny excitedly cheered to herself, floating slightly above the unmoving form of Spike. The alley between two Partyville shops provided the perfect cover to avoid being spotted by any prying eyes. A cunning expression was frozen onto Spike's face, while Sunny's was wearing a far more justifiably pleased look.

"I sure didn't think I'd be good at magic!" Sunny continued, "Give yourself credit, Pastel, you're amazing!" She landed back on the ground and inspected Spike, smiling innocently at him, she then shook her head and turned to look around the alley. "No, you're just saying that."

"This particular dragon is potent, We'll be done in a tenth the time." A voice spoke in Pastel's head, she giggled to herself.

Not missing a single beat in her self conversation though, she did a twirl. "He, he, he, I'm so proud of me!" She looked back at Spike, who remained frozen in place. "Thank you so, so much for helping me test my spell." She began to pace back and forth. "I didn't think it would work, but I tell myself in the mirror every morning. I say 'Pastel Garden, you can do it!' and guess what? I did!"

Pastel did a small happy dance to herself before she brought her hoof to her mouth in contemplation. "I should celebrate. But how do you celebrate getting a spell right? Hmm..." She began to think harder, making a show of forcing thoughts to her head. After a short moment she relaxed and smiled. "Maybe I should invite my friends over? We can have chips and dip while I show off how well I can do my new spell."

"Begin to finish up, Fluttershy, we're quite well off now."

The pony who called herself Pastel Gardens shook her head, "No, I could never do that to them, they're my friends." She then smiled and, after a moment of thought looked back down at Spike, "I can't thank you enough for helping me test out my magic on you."

She stared at Spike for a moment, smile still on her face, but now silent. The quiet noise of nearby ponies chatting could be heard as Fluttershy had her eyes locked with Spike's.

Immediately her confidence crumpled and she looked remorseful. "Oh my gosh! I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry! I should have asked you first." She looked around frantically in a panic, distressed at having crossed a line. "I didn't mean to freeze you without asking first. Let me undo that!"

What Spike remembered next was blinking away a daze. He didn't know how much time had passed since whatshername unfroze him, but he wasn't happy about it. He looked around for her, but couldn't find any sign of yellow anywhere. He ground his teeth in anger and clenched his right claw around the handle of an experienced blade.

After a moment of his blood boiling he forced himself to relax. Letting out a sigh he returned his knife to where he'd grabbed it. "What a freakshow," He thought, bitter, "I swear, next time I see her, I'm shanking a bitch. Nobody holds me against MY will!"

Nodding at the reassertion of his identity, Spike took in his surroundings, noting for the first time that he was in an alleyway, and so he made his way out. Re-entering the townsquare, he located his stall and started rummaging through his bag one more time.

Being that he'd been taken by surprise only minutes earlier, Spike hated that he was caught a second time. "Wow! A snake!"

Spike practically jumped fifteen feet in the air before he grabbed his chest and turned around to face the voice. "Jesus SHIT you startled me." He thought as he looked up at the earth pony that decided to speak to him.

"I've never seen one of you before." She mused as she smiled to an unsettling degree. Suddenly, however, her entire form shifted from one of careful enthusiasm to dreaded epiphany. "Do you like having things?"

"There's things in my bag I can give you." She stated as she reached back into her saddlebags.

Spike, however, was exceedingly uncomfortable with the events unfolding in front of him. He'd always scammed people without remorse, a feat he considered an accomplishment considering he'd never once spoken a word to anyone. It took cunning, resources, and just a touch of luck, but he could part even the most crafty from their cash.

This mare had him backpedaling however. It was one thing to steal from good honest people, it was another thing entirely to do nothing at all and still be taking from others. It...stopped Spike, made him hesitate. "Wow," he thought, taking an actual step back, "Um...not even three seconds have passed you stupid, stupid horse..."

Spike was a picture perfect example of nervousness, he didn't know how to act around somebody so willing to part with their things at no prompt. The whole situation was unsettling him. It was immediately made worse when the pony finished rummaging through her bag and pulled out a pork pie, placing it on his head with a smile. "There you go, a hat!"

"I...I can't even," He thought, taking another step back. "I need to get out of this place."

---

Across the district, a clock tower extending into the sky from the roof of a library struck 10:30. The sky itself was a lightly-clouded affair, the sun was shining brightly through the air. In the town below said tower was a lone young pony of yellow, a look of deep concentration on her face.

Applebloom looked down at the ground intently, staring at what could only be a hoof print. "It must have gone this way." She thought as she studied the print, before she looked back up and behind herself in confusion, "Or maybe I've lost it?"

Rolling her eyes, she began to walk forward. She looked carefully at the ponies around herself, the adults she didn't care much for, the fillies that she knew but avoided. Their intellects clearly weren’t on par with her own.. Most of them thought that Partyville was a perfectly normal place to live. Particularly the mares and stallions, the adults were incredibly stupid.

Applebloom had her suspicion for why ponies seemed to get dumber as they got older. A curse, a disease, lead in the drinking water; In the end the the reason didn't matter, what mattered is that almost all of the fully grown ponies in Partyville were easy to manipulate and, if you're Applebloom, easy to convince that she's just another kid.

It made her activities a simple matter to hide, at any rate. She looked around and noted nobody was following her as she walked one of the roads that lead out of town. "Loads of different ways it could have gone." She contemplated deeply as a wave of sorrow washed over her. "Especially considering it disappears whenever it feels like.”

She shook her head, gathering her composure, "I'm sure I'm fine." Coming up on a street crossing sign her eyes narrowed. "If I mess this up I'll have to wait for the seasons to switch over again..." She continued walking, leaving the outer limits of St. Orangeberg. "That's in two months right? At least I'll be-"

As Applebloom passed a bush she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide open. She felt a hint of anticipation and excitement enter her as she stared ahead at someone. The someone in question was a hooded figure walking into the forest. It was difficult to make out identifying features, but Applebloom knew immediately that this was who she was searching for.

She stood staring for an imperceptible moment before she came to her senses and began to slowly follow the hooded figure. "Okay, breathe in, out, this is it. Finally going to catch a vampire."

The vampire paused shortly before continuing on. Appleblook suspected that she might be thinking too loud, but then scrapped the idea as superstitious. "Remember everything you've learned. This should be easy."

She continued to stare at the vampire while following it, making sure not to get too close. "Just keep it in eyesight and don't blink. Easy," She thought, her eyes already straining to stay open. "Even an adult could do this."

Something Applebloom was acutely aware of was the fact that the vampire was leading her into the think forest of the wilds. Clearly it knew she was tracing it, but she knew that as long as she kept her concentration, it couldn't do anything to stop her. Line of sight meant everything.

"Careful..." She thought to herself as she closed her left eye only, opened it, and followed with her right. "Careful..."

"Hey Applebloom, what are you up to?" A voice she recognized asked from behind her. It was hard to mistake the raspy hollowed echoey voice of Scootaloo. A friend who she didn't mind catching up with, but she was currently busy.

Turning around, Applebloom shook her head. "Can you hold on a second, I'm busy."

Another voice spoke up behind her, equally recognizable from it's raspy chill, "Doing what?" the second asked.

"I'm trying to c..." Turning her head back to look ahead, Applebloom deflated, "aaaaaaaattttccchh..." staring forward, she was disappointed to see no vampire.

"Aaaaawwww..."

8 To The Treehouse

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Outside of Partyville West was several kilometres of farmland. However, to the East of that there stood a thick forest with such a heavy canopy that sunlight barely dared to penetrate the leaf covering. It was considered a dangerous place to some, those that believed the rumours that monsters or muggers liked to jump out at you. Savvy observers however knew that the dense forest was actually no more dangerous than living in St. Orangeberg proper. If anything it was probably safer.

So it was in this place that Applebloom found herself standing alongside two other ponies she had come to consider her friends. The first was an orange pegasus with a messy purple mane that stood about an inch taller than Applebloom herself. She was a perpetually contrary filly that liked to be called Scootaloo. Applebloom had known her for some time now, almost three years. Though that paled in comparison to her other friend.

Sweetie Belle had deep lime eyes that held an air of contemplation, but that was countered nicely by a soft, and somewhat innocent, smile that Applebloom herself enjoyed seeing. It was what she liked about the white unicorn the most, and was probably something Applebloom looked the most forward to anytime she planned on seeing her.

Applebloom had known Sweetie Belle since back before she understood any of how the world worked. She smirked anytime she remembered that she thought Sweetie Belle was an imaginary friend. She knew more now than she probably had at any point, which she was thankful for. She hadn't hit the moron flip yet, and was determined to be one of the adults that still knew how to do math.

The three stood to the side of a path into the forest, Applebloom was laying on her back and staring up into the sky, currently wondering if she should blame her friends for distracting her, or blame herself for losing focus. She didn't want to be mad at her friends, but also didn't want to take fault for what happened...it was something of a dilemma.

"I'm so sorry about your vampire." Sweetie Belle apologized, which made Applebloom feel bad for even considering to blame her friends. Sweetie had this way to just make you feel guilty for wanting to take advantage of her. It was a good constant reminder not to lose her equinity or compassion, after all, some ponies weren't absolutely awful.

Applebloom looked up at Sweetie Belle, sitting beside her, with such an apologetic look on her face. She internally sighed as her problem of who to blame was solved for her. "It's fine, I can always catch another one." She offered, hoping to alleviate some of the fault.

"Yeah, in several months." Scootaloo stated matter-of-factly. Applebloom narrowed her eyes slightly at the pegasus. She was friends with Scootaloo for entirely different reasons than she was with Sweetie Belle. While Sweetie always reminded her to hold onto her emotions and ability to care about others, Scootaloo provided an intellectual challenge to overcome.

They'd often debate anything and everything, play devil's advocate to each other, and just in general sharpen their wits off each other. It was a more cynical type of friendship to contrast the warm fuzzy connection she had with Sweetie Belle. They both even played chess, which they were both again aware was cliche, they didn't care though. Unlike the years she knew Sweetie Belle, Applebloom had only known Scootaloo for about ten months, long enough to be friends, but still too short a time to know each other all that deeply.

Applebloom sat up and looked at Scootaloo's challenging expression. "Shut up," she offered the pegasus. Which was received with a smirk.

Sweetie Belle smiled as Applebloom got back up to her hooves, "So what's new? We haven't hung out in a few days."

Applebloom looked around her immediate surroundings, confirming for probably the fifth time that yes, they were alone. "Nothing much," She answered jovially, but then paused as she remembered some information. "Well, the clone issue has been picking up again, It's nothing to worry about, but still kind of concerning.”

"Mmhmm," Scootaloo deadpanned, clearly not very impressed.

Rolling her eyes, Applebloom motioned to her orange friend. "Fine, what about you then?"

Scootaloo rolled her own eyes before letting out a pained groan, showing signs of exhaustion in her back. "The parties have been getting more frequent."

Applebloom raised an eyebrow at this, "Back on cleaning duty?"

"To quote a friend of mine, 'shut up'."

"Heh."

Looking back into Partyville, which could still be made out from their location, Scootaloo turned towards the deeper forest. "We should get going." The other two shared nods before they all began to walk, leaving the cloudless day behind them.

Applebloom let Scootaloo walk up ahead slightly as she walked alongside Sweetie Belle. The unicorn seemed quieter than usual, which usually meant she had a lot on her mind. And considering what that meant, the earth pony couldn't just be quiet. "How about you, Sweetie?" She asked, keeping her voice level and calm, she didn't have depression herself, but knew how to handle a friend that did.

"Alright I guess," She sighed somberly, "C-Level readings are up since yesterday, but none are in range of any of my Hotspots. So I haven't gotten any myself."

Applebloom considered what to say. She didn't quite know where Sweetie's Hotspots were exactly, she remembered the conversations, but not the specifics. It didn't fully matter, having not really been required for the friendship, but she still felt bad for not knowing. She didn't fully know what to say until a thought hit her. "Well, nopony else will be taking her C-Levels from her."

"At least there's only one of you." She said aloud, her attempt at comforting her friend. She was a bit disappointed to see that it essentially bounced off the unicorn.

"Mmm..." Sweetie mumbled, lost in thought as they walked forward. Her voice was more hollow than normal, devoid of any life. "Maybe, but it still gets a bit lonely."

Applebloom exhaled slightly, she was never really all that good with moments like this, she tried, of course, but she always got the impression that anything she said was forgotten soon after the conversation. Stuck repeating the same pieces of advice and hills and valleys in their conversations. She looked forward at Scootaloo who respectfully stayed silent, she motioned to Sweetie Belle, Applebloom exhaled again and turned to her friend.

She didn't know what to really say, so went with the first thing that came to her mind. "I can understand that, without you guys I'm pretty lonely." She heard Scootaloo lightly bring her hoof to her forehead, but she said nothing.

"I guess," Sweetie sighed, staring down at her hooves as they brought her forward.

Thinking for a moment, Applebloom was struck with an idea. "I can't believe I forgot." She thought as an earnest smile spread across her features, leaning down she brought her face into Sweeties line of sight. "Well I may have some good news for you."

This actually seemed to pique the unicorns interest. "Hm?" And they met eyes, Sweetie lifting her head.

"Yeah, there's a new unicorn in town."

Sweetie actually perked at that information and looked as though she was about to say something when Scootaloo looked back and interrupted. "What does a new unicorn have to do with anything?" She asked.

Applebloom looked curiously at Sweetie Belle, a look both knew meant she was silently asking if Sweetie was okay. At a smile and a nod, the Earth pony sighed in relief before she turned to her orange friend. "Well," Applebloom started matter-of-factly, "Normally nothing, most adults are pretty stupid."

"Agreed."

Applebloom sped up her step slightly in order to match Scootaloo's "But this unicorn is different. She seems to actually know things."

They passed the point where the path ended, Partyville long behind them, but they walked with confidence, knowing their destination. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "What, like basic math?"

"Heh," Applebloom gave a small laugh, "More importantly though, according to Pinkie Pie, whatsername is here to fix Partyville's problems."

At the mention of Pinkie's name, Scootaloo scowled almost violently. "Can we not talk about that immune leech? 'Pinkie Pie' is not a topic I want to get started on."

Applebloom raised an eyebrow at this, "You know her?"

"What did I just say?" Scootaloo sounded downright angry, and while it wasn't directed at either of her friends, they seemed confused by the aggression. "We're not talking about it."

Passing through thick foliage, Applebloom rolled her eyes, "Well we're going to HAVE to. There's a situation forming there."

This remark stopped the pegasus dead in her tracks. The other two looked at her, and she looked like she was about to blow a gasket. Her teeth clenched painfully and her nostrils flared up. To anyone else, these would be good warning signs to immediately leave her alone before something violent happened to them. Applebloom though, merely waited for whatever reaction was about to happen.

It was only after fifteen solid, unbroken seconds of silence that Scootaloo deflated, "Fine," She lamented, "But let's at least wait until we get to the safehouse."

Applebloom nodded at that, knowing it was a good time to change the topic, maybe make a joke. "C'mon Scoots, it's called a clubhouse, get with it."

Sweetie Belle, who remained silent as she normally did during their exchanges, chose that time to speak up, "Um, guys?" She piped up, motioning in a separate way into the forest. "The clubhouse is the other direction."

She knew they knew which way they were going, but she also knew that they were prone to distract each other whenever they got talking about anything and missed obvious things.

---

The three were walking through a different portion of the forest. The trees were bigger both in height and width, and were further spread out, meaning the main foliage was a field of blue flowers they were currently working through.

"I'm not saying that,"Applebloom retorted to Scootaloo, the two walking side by side, "Really, there'd be no use breaking ties off when you can just ask for a new favour."

Scootaloo shrugged in return, "Well of course, that was never being doubted. Not everyone is amenable to continual favours without continual reminder of their motivation though."

Sweetie Belle, who was walking along behind them just rolled her eyes and sighed.

---

Pushing past a hole in an old worn out chain link fence, the three ponies entered a clearing large enough that sunlight shone down through the forest ceiling. Applebloom was the first to smile upon seeing their small cottage. From the outside it looked like what could once be called a treehouse. However, time played the large construction like a two-toned fiddle. It looked as though it was once suspended between three different trees high off the ground, only to fall one day, get rebuilt, and then weather the elements for a decade before getting rebuilt again.

Sweetie Belle sighed in relief as she appeared suddenly behind Applebloom. Scootaloo phasing through the fence instead of going through the hole. "Finally," the unicorn breathed, "I can't listen to you two argue for another fifteen minutes."

Applebloom turned back to Sweetie Belle and raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather silence?"

"I for one am just happy to do nothing and relax for a while." Scootaloo offered with an exhausted push past her friends. They knew she was tired because she worked, unlike the two of them, so they rarely cared when she pushed them around slightly in order to relax.

Applebloom followed Scootaloo up to the front door of their clubhouse. Scootaloo phased through the door, which Applebloom rolled her eyes at, "Some ponies have to actually use their hooves to open doors." she thought but kept herself from saying. After Applebloom tripped the security system, she walked in, making a note to set it back up the next time she left. Like always.

Closing the door behind her, she turned to find Scootaloo sitting on a comfortable looking bag-chair, groaning in comfort. On a small circular metal plate Sweetie Belle appeared in a small puff of white smoke. Applebloom nodded and headed over to her portion of the club room.

The 'clubhouse' didn't exactly have a square or even rectangular floor plan. Due to its multiple refurbishings and rebuildings, it was oddly shaped. While it was all one room it was roughly triangular. So early on the three friends decided that each third was essentially their own personal space. It wasn't room for much, maybe about 15 square metres, but it was enough room for a few small, simple things.

Scootaloo's space consisted of her chair, a shelf with a small assortment of books, and an old television on a wooden crate that the three watched from time to time. Sweetie Belle meanwhile, had her aforementioned plate, a bag-chair of her own, a small end table with several gadgets and pieces of disassembled tech, and a small stuffed doll that had certainly seen better days. Applebloom herself had a third bag-chair, and a shelf containing various things, though primarily board games. A license plate was nailed to the wall that read 'Haunted' and finally a small, three legged desk propped up by a stick with quite a few pieces of loose paper scattered among its surface. A standing lamp stood in the centre of the room, its power cord plugged directly into a blue crystal formation.

The three of them settled in their respective places in the clubhouse. Applebloom went over to her desk and began to read over her papers. And Sweetie just smiled, being with her friends, happy that they could be together even without talking. It wasn't until maybe three minutes after they arrived that Scootaloo raised her head to look over at Applebloom. "Alright, I'm ready, what's going on." She didn't exactly look happy, but she knew they had to talk about it.

Applebloom nodded, a smile forming. "I'm glad you asked, there's alot going on right now," She explained as she walked over to the centre of the clubhouse. "Including a new novel for you," Scootaloo nodded appreciatively. "A new unicorn asking questions for Sweetie." The white unicorn herself smiled at this information. "And a lead on a new deck of cards for all of us."

"Finally there's a situation forming with Pinkie and her pen pal." She looked over to Scootaloo, who still didn't seem happy about Pinkie Pie being involved, but to her credit, she shrugged.

"Well," Sweetie interjected, pushing aside some of her wiring and sitting up on her table, "What's going on there?"

Applebloom mentally weighed what she knew, it wasn't exactly the best news. "She was asking about you two, it seems she knows you're my friends." This got immediate reactions from the two of them.

Sweetie's expression dropped considerably, her shoulders slumping as she brought her hooves to her cheeks. Scootaloo, conversely, scowled at the information. "Of course she is." Scootaloo grunted as she got up from her chair, walking towards Applebloom, "The nosy loner can't keep to herself."

The yellow Earth pony’s expression hardened. Scootaloo knew very well what she was insinuating, and Applebloom knew it too. They both knew the perfect buttons to push to piss the other off. And it seemed that Scootaloo was in the mood to be yelled at. "And what is that supposed to mean?" Applebloom asked with a warning tone. She very specifically did not like when ponies talked about how she herself was nosy or a loner.

"Doesn't matter, the point is it's a problem." Scootaloo clarified, knowing that Applebloom was really asking - are you talking about Pinkie, or me? - and cutting the tension masterfully.

Applebloom stayed quiet for a moment, challenging Scootaloo to say more. When nothing more was said, she turned to look back over at Sweetie, who was staring blankly ahead, it seemed that the situation was taking its toll on her more than anyone. "Right," the Earth pony started talking, more to herself than anyone else. "Well I've been thinking of a number of ways to deal with that."

Sweetie Belle looked down at the ground, her eyes deeply saddened. "But if I'm discovered for real, I'll have to leave forever. And I love you girls."

Noticing that Applebloom entered one of her trains of thought, Scootaloo began to angrily pace back and forth. "It's just like that fucking outcast to pull something like this." She spat venomously.

Applebloom brought her hoof to her chin in contemplation. "The most viable option is murder, but it wouldn't be subtle enough, it'd draw too much attention."

"There's nowhere else for me to go..." Sweetie's voice began to waver slightly, but tears never came to her eyes, they remained empty.

"To know about me not even a year after I'm freed." Scootaloo was fuming at this point, "I'll fucking kill her."

Walking over to might have counted as a window once, Applebloom looked out of it as she considered her options. "I suppose it'd work if we tie it to somepony else. Who's smart enough to talk to, but dumb enough to manipulate." She stared out the remainder of the glass pane for a couple minutes while Scootaloo ranted in the background. She didn't care though, she was preoccupied.

Applebloom saw a bird land on a tree branch outside and narrowed her eyes. She stared at the bird, as if silently asking it to give her the answer to her question. She glared at the stupid bird for a moment before she noticed the reflection of the inside of the clubhouse overlay on the glass. From this particular angle, Scootaloo's bookshelf reflected back at her. It almost looked like the stupid bird was sitting on one of the books.

It was then that Applebloom's eyes widened in realization. "Holy shit," she whispered, "She's perfect."

9 Threats, Promises, and Suckers

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Scootaloo was pacing across the floor of the club house while she waited for Applebloom to return. The Earth pony had gotten some idea in her head about how to deal with the pink freak, but then immediately left to make some kind of call. It was apparently important enough to leave her friends alone together while she ran off.

Not that Scootaloo disliked Sweetie Belle, they got along fine enough, but they just had nothing in common, nothing to talk about. Their whole friendship hinged on Applebloom. They did both enjoy card games, thankfully, but after the last one was lost in the fire, they really didn't have much to do together.

Like now, Sweetie Belle was working on one of her gadgets. Scootaloo didn't know anything about modern day things, she was lucky she even knew what a phone was. Displacement truly was a terrible experience she didn't wish on anyone, not that she hadn't been adjusting. Reading gave her more joy than anything else anyway, but she knew to refrain from doing so while her friends were active. Which...nobody was at that particular moment, but that could change in the next thirty seconds for all she knew. But that had been true for the last 5 minutes, thus the pacing.

Thankfully though, Applebloom chose that time to walk back through the door. "Alright," She declared, with as much vocal seriousness as she had anytime she was planning something, "I made the call, that should take care of the pen pal."

Sweetie Belle put down a screwdriver she was holding in her magic and walked over as Scootaloo turned to Applebloom, slightly impatient. "What about Pinkie?" the pegasus asked.

At a nod, Applebloom motioned for her friends to get closer. "That's what's next, huddle up." When Scootaloo didn't immediately do so, Applebloom looked at her.

"Huddle up?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Applebloom rolled her eyes, "C'mon, Scoots, it's fun." She offered a playful smile before Scootaloo got in closer, Sweetie Belle as well. They each put their hooves on each others shoulders, forming something of a circle. The earth pony’s smile faltered again to make room for a calculated expression reserved for plan making. "So the plan is simple. We're going to kill Pinkie Pie."

Applebloom wasn't surprised when she was met with a lack of surprise from her two friends. They weren't experienced in killing, but somehow it just felt right. "We'll need a few things however."

"Like what?" Sweetie asked. Surprised or not, she was curious how it would happen.

"The first thing is a scapegoat," Applebloom explained as she looked between the two of them, "A pony to take the blame for us, I have the perfect mare in mind." At this, she turned to the unicorn, "The second thing we'll need is an alibi to distance ourselves further. Sweetie, can you take care of that?"

Sweetie Belle considered for a long moment. She knew she wouldn't be able to, not under normal circumstances. She wasn't very powerful for what she was, even with all the cool tricks; that’s exactly what they were, tricks. She hadn't exactly done anything...substantial? Not like the ghosts or clones had. The bog monster had scared everyone away from the next district over, but Pyrmidia was basically empty anyway, and that was a long time ago.

No one knew who or what she was, except her friends, and that wasn't good. She'd die eventually if she didn't get...well, she didn't want to think about it. Right then she needed to tell Applebloom the truth, that she could create an alibi, well, if she used some of her limited power anyway. "For you? Sure, I can do that." Applebloom was her friend after all.

Nodding, Applebloom turned to Scootaloo. "Third, we'll need somebody to take care of actually killing her." She raised an eyebrow at her pegasus friend. both were smirking.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy this." Scootaloo almost cheered, a dark grin enveloping her features. "You leave that future corpse to me."

Applebloom smiled and broke off the huddle. "Excellent, now to actually plan it and figure out disposal of the body. I hope neither of you had anything else planned because this is going to take a while."

---

"And break!" Applebloom cheered, checking the last thing off the paper in front of her on her desk. "Once we're all done we meet back here."

Scootaloo grinned maliciously "This is gonna be fun."

"Okay," Applebloom stated as she walked to the centre of the room to address her two friends. "Let's go over step one again for clarification’s sake. I'm going to be finding our bait. What will the two of you be doing?"

"I'm going to be drawing attention at one of my hotspots," Sweetie Belle answered with a smile.

Scootaloo was smiling just as brightly, though there was a bit more of a dark edge to hers. "And I'll be following that pink pile of puke."

"Good, that's good to hear," Applebloom answered jovially, before expression shifted to one of being dead serious. "Just be sure not to FUCK IT UP like last time."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both shifted uneasily, nodding.

"Remember that I'm still homeless because of the two of you."

---

Applebloom was walking down main street, her face carefully blank. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, meaning lunch to the masses. As such the sidewalks were packed with pedestrians, and the roads had a large number of carts driving by. Applebloom walked with purpose. She knew where she was going and didn't deviate from her path for anything. That said, she probably could have eaten something herself, but food could wait.

She passed by Partyville's most popular micropark and stopped. She knew a thing or two about plenty of the ponies in this slice of the big Orange. One of those things being the eating schedule of her target. She looked around for the mare as she considered her next move. "Right, so how do I wrangle somepony that's smarter than a bag of rocks, but still an idiot?"

As she looked around, Applebloom saw plenty of ponies, but none of them were the one she was looking for, "Well this is the place she usually spends her lunch hours, where is she?" She looked up at the tree to see if she could find any signs of the pegasus she was looking for, but nothing.

"Hmm..." She thought as she turned around and noted the store across the street. Applebloom looked through the windows, but from this distance, and with carts passing, it was difficult to see. But even so she didn't see the iconic mane of the mare she was looking for.

Applebloom walked into the park and sat down on one of the few benches that was still empty. "I suppose I could be early." She considered, but then quickly shook the idea out of her head, all the evidence suggested she was right on time. "Maybe she finally started doing something with herself."

"I'd be shocked to hear she actually got a job, but I suppose anything is possible." she thought, but as if by fate spiting the idea, a sky blue pegasus turned the corner around the general store and walked into the park. Applebloom grinned as she noticed the telltale signs of her scapegoat.

The mare in question was looking down at a piece of paper she was holding up with one of her hooves as she walked. She looked downtrodden, as if she had been rejected a dozen times for a date with somebody she really liked. "...leaves Ghastly's Ghouls, but I checked there last week, if they were going to order it, they would have told me."

Applebloom's lips curled into a smile as she observed the pony, listening to her speak over the several other ponies within earshot. "Perfect."

The Rainbow-maned pegasus, Rainbow Dash, sat down on the bench with Applebloom, seemingly not noticing her presence as she looked over her page, which seemed to be a list with eight or nine crossed out names. "I don't get it, the book came out a month ago, why does nobody have it?" She pulled a pen out of her mane and drew a line over the name three from the bottom, those below it remaining intact. "I mean, it's a popular series, do people just not read anymore?"

Applebloom grinned, noticing that Rainbow Dash still didn't know she was there. "Heh, this'll be easier than I expected."

---

Across the district of Partyville, beyond the lunch-seeking masses, and past the shopping market stood a resolute book store. Oakfields stood at the centre of a three way intersection, meaning you could see the store long down the middle street. With a parking lot to its left, and a museum to its right, it was the backbone of the intersection.

Among the few ponies out and about their day was a small purple dragon walking into the store. Spike looked around the front of the store, noticed it was pretty empty, and walked on. The shopkeeper stallion waved at him, but was promptly ignored. Spike looked around for Twilight, but upon not noticing her, spotted a doorway that wasn't a bathroom, and walked over to it.

Learning that it was a stairway, he walked up and found a small apartment, which Twilight was in. She turned to look at him, prepared scowl melting into a familiar smile and she waved him in. "Welcome back," She greeted.

"Hey, how's it going?" he returned as he looked around the place. Twilight was sitting on a pile of books in front of a desk, more books lining the thing. He rolled his eyes as he walked over to the couch and flopped onto it. It lost any firmness it had years ago, so he sighed silently in bliss at how much he sank into it.

Twilight stood up from her stack of books and walked over to Spike, taking a seat on the other half of the couch, smiling just as happily at the comfort from the old loveseat. After a moment she reopened her eyes and looked at the dragon. "So what'd you get up to out there?"

Immediately his expression shifted to one of displeasure. He rolled his eyes as he stood up. "God, where to start?" He thought indignantly, beginning to pace on the other side of the coffee table, occasionally looking back at Twilight, "First off, the prices on things here SUCK. I tried to buy lunch and it cost me almost half my money. Do NOT eat at Fresh Cut's diner." As he continued explaining, Twilight levitated a book over to herself and began to read while she listened. "After that, I tried to scam some of the locals."

Looking up from her book, Twilight rolled her eyes good-naturedly, "Sounds like a fun time for you," She mused, "They're REALLY stupid."

Spike brought his claw to his temple, squeezing it slightly in exasperation, "That's the problem, they're TOO stupid!" He wasn't actually all that upset at her, but she rarely knew what she was talking about when it meant dealing with others. Handling scams was his department, hers was...internal affairs, if he had to think of a way to word it. Really, she took care of the small things they both needed, the things he either didn't know how to do or considered monotonous and boring. It was that and just the idea of somebody that you could depend on that he trusted her and stuck around. There was also the fact that she was able to hear what he wanted to say, despite never speaking a word.

"Sure, but that'd make it easier."

...then again, she really *didn't* get how any of it worked. And his morning was just tiring enough that he didn't feel like going into detail with it and felt like playing along for now. "No, you don't get it, I was basically gifted half their crap."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the comment. "And that isn't a good thing? That's easy theft right there."

Having all but told Twilight to reply with that sentence word for word, Spike melodramatically acted offended. No manipulation was fun if you didn't overdo it a bit, after all. "Twilight, don't insult me, I like a challenge."

Spike mentally counted the seconds until Twilight's confused response. "...Spike, I will never understand you." Two and a half, seemed she was getting a bit more delayed.

With the topic over, Spike switched gears to something slightly more pressing. "Anyway," Spike thought, walking over to inspect the kitchen area. "Other than a few morons, I ran into this stupid bitch that froze me."

The tone in his thoughts was restrained rage, which Twilight was familiar with, Spike had a short fuse at times. "Froze you?" She asked, not wanting to set him off herself. Much preferring to just let it run its course.

"Yeah, you know, with magic?"

Twilight looked up from her undead lexicon to see Spike looking over the counter, it was mostly empty, but he looked like he was removing some dust. "Why didn't you shank her before that?"

"I DIDN'T GET THE CHANCE!" He yelled in his head, probably frustrated at the lack of vocal chords in that moment. As he did his butterfly knife was pulled out and stabbed into the counter. He was carving something into it. "Everything happened before I knew there was a threat."

She couldn't really tell, but if Twilight had to guess, Spike was carving a name into their countertop. "Sounds like she knew what she was doing, bitch tricked you."

"Either way," He thought, quickly slicing letters into the countertop, "Next time I see her, Ol' Trusty is going straight into her jugular."

Spike pulled away from the counter, leaving the name 'Pastel Garden' prominently carved into the wooden surface beside the microwave.

10 Lines of Inquiry

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Spike closed the fridge and turned back around to face Twilight. He'd calmed down since he'd carved the name of his new enemy into the counter, and in that time he inspected the kitchen area. He gathered from the lack of requests to leave or see the map that Twilight intended to say in Partyville, at least for a couple days, so he didn't feel the need to fully inspect the entire loft. Not with haste anyway.

Looking at the book Twilight was reading, Spike nodded to himself. It was always easy to tell what was going through her mind by the book she chose to read. Fiction meant she either wanted to escape, or was looking for ideas. Newspaper generally meant she was interested in what was going on around her, since she had moments like that sometimes.

Likewise, the book she was currently reading meant she specifically wanted to learn something. She was in no rush to leave meaning it had to do with the district or something in it. And the fact that it was a a dictionary about the undead meant it most likely had something to do with ghosts. It always seemed to be something with her.

"So," Spike thought, getting Twilight's attention, "How'd things go with your girlfriend?" The reaction was immediate, and Spike grinned at Twilight's upset expression; he sure did enjoy ribbing her. It was always fun to see her eyes narrow at him.

She rolled her eyes at him in a way that told him that she thought he was an idiot. "Yeah, still not happening."

He'd chuckle if he could, but with the joke passed he found himself actually curious how Twilight's day went. "Whatever, just tell me what happened?"

Twilight took maybe eight seconds to consider if she wanted to get into it or leave things be, but she did end up closing her book and levitating it back over to the desk and stood up. "For the most part," Twilight gave her full attention to the conversation as she began pacing. "Not a lot, she was rambling on and on last night, which really annoyed me."

Spike nodded casually, "As you do."

Rolling her neck, Twilight looked up at the ceiling, stopping her pacing temporarily to groan out, "Then this morning while I was out looking for you, I ran into some moronic fangirl and a Bound farmer who I think was speaking German, or maybe Polish."

"Right, can't forget that." Spike considered it for a moment, he wasn't as versed in the supernatural as Twilight was. He had, however, picked up on a couple things, and as far as he remembered, being Bound meant a ghost was chained to a place until they were either unBound or...well, not until they died, so just forever.

Twilight resumed her pacing, her signature scowl taking its rightly place on her features. "Following that I met with Pinkie at her bakery to discuss how to handle said farmer because, as you know-"

"You can't leave somewhere without first solving any problem you encounter." Spike interrupted, reciting what he knew about Twilight from memory. It was part of the reason she rarely interacted with anyone. There were a lot of strange and quite frankly arbitrary rules to how it worked, but that was it in a nutshell.

Twilight paused and leveled her glare at her friend. She was both aware of, and somewhat upset by, all the rules put in place that took away her control over her actions. "...right."

Spike was aware of it too, and like an actual friend, tended not to make fun of her for it. Theirs was a relationship of convenience mainly, and if they actually pissed each other off, well, that'd make it pretty inconvenient, and they both knew that. Spike pieced together what the book was for. "And I take it you came back to this book store to research how to do that."

She nodded, her glare having faded, mainly, "That, yes, this is the best place in St. Orangeberg for Source Material after all," She explained, walking over to the counter to actually see what Spike had carved into it. "But also I came into living up here, no questions asked...somehow."

Taking a moment to consider that, Spike considered himself impressed, he knew she hadn't actually done anything to steal the place, based on her comment, but results spoke for themself. He'd have to do some behind the scenes work to make sure there continued to be no questions asked. Right then though he noticed a considerable lack of pink Earth pony. "So where's your girl now?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at him as he smirked, she didn't dignify it in the way he wanted and instead answered the question. "When we couldn't find anything useful, she left to go back to work."

Spike sat back down on the couch, though he did raise an eyebrow to match his smirk, "Sounds like a quitter to me." When Twilight didn't respond, he assumed she wasn't in the mood, so he stepped off. Jokes were only funny when they got a reaction. "So what's the plan then?" He asked, curious what solutions she had to her new problem.

"Well," Twilight began, levitating a new book over to herself and quickly flipping to a page about halfway through, "I just spent the last three hours..." Her expression soured slightly before returning to normal, "I spent a while looking at books on the topic. And the main thing I've discovered is that I need to know more about whoever this farmer is."

Spike re-raised his eyebrow at the pause, something about saying 'three hours' made her halt her thought process. But he put the thought aside, while he was curious about that, he was more so about Twilight's plan, or lack thereof. "And how do you plan to do that? I doubt they have day classes teaching anything in this district, let alone any other languages."

A small chortle escaped Twilight's throat, "Yeah, I'm surprised this place didn't burn down years ago." She joked back, though dismissively, as she was focusing. "Regardless, the plan is simple." she was smiling as she began to pace again.

Motioning forward with one of his arms, Spike grinned, anticipating something either well thought out or really funny. “Lay it on me."

Twilight began to smile as she explained, "Now, the first thing you might suggest is that I go talk to the farmer." At a nod from Spike she continued. "However I can't just go ask her what binds her to Partyville. It just can't be done." She preempted his rebuttal, to which he shrugged his shoulders and listened.

"However, according to Rainbow whatsername, the farmer just appeared one day."

"Wait, hang on," Spike interrupted, doubt on his face, "A farmer just...what? Materialized?" He didn't believe a word of it, and more than that, he was surprised Twilight did.

"Apparently!" She blurted out, clearly as confused and disbelieving as he was, which was good, in Spike's opinion. She shook her head to clear out the stupidity, "Either way, asking the people around here what they know can't hurt, so that's where I plan to start."

Spike smirked as he leaned back, putting his arms behind his head, relaxing into what he guessed would be his bed that night. "I respectlessly disagree, but whatever, go ask the brainless masses what they think."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she headed for the staircase, getting the impression their conversation was over. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." She said sarcastically.

Just before she left, Spike sat back up, "And keep an eye out for that bitch Pastel Garden that froze me."

---

Twilight walked out of the book store with a scowl etched across her face: Page Views had greeted her again, and she absolutely did not trust him. Who just let people live in their business without saying a word? She'd probably never trust him until he dropped that fake cheeriness too. Getting it from the people that lived here was enough, but now she had to see it at her new safe house.

But she shook the thought from her head, he didn't matter at all, what mattered was unBinding the farmer so she could get back to her warehouse and feel safe again. And that meant questioning the locals, and that meant having to talk to the locals, and that meant having to hear the locals’ voices and actually treat them as viable sources of information.

Twilight shook her head again, "They can't be as bad as I think they are," she thought, "I'm just remembering wrong." Which she thought was entirely true, her memory wasn't hardly the best, not exactly bad, but not one to fully trust without additional evidence.

So fully removing the negative thoughts from her mind she looked down the three way intersection, determining the best path to take. She saw a small group of Earth ponies gathered around somebody, either doing a show, or protesting, or something, but she guessed that the best place to be was right there.

...which was probably a less comforting thought than she would have liked. Groups of people just...eeeh, but she'd put up with it now to not have to later. The lesser of two evils and all that. It took her more time than she'd have liked to building up the energy to engage them. "The only thing to really do is just start, standing here does nothing."

And on that thought she took a step forward and began walking over to the group. Just before she reached a green mare, she stopped, hesitating, but shook her head again, "There's no use in wasting time."

Twilight then cleared her throat and spoke with a practiced professionalism she only reserved for having to handle phone calls. "Excuse me ma'am, I'm sure you're busy, but I'd like to discuss a matter with you. Can I please have a moment of your time to ask you a few questions?" Twilight couldn't help but mentally groan at how robotic she sounded but pushed the thought aside.

"No," the mare gave a quick, flat response, obviously uninterested.

"Thank you, now, please tel-" But Twilight paused, backpedaling slightly, getting a response she didn't expect. "Ah."

The mare's expression soured before she lost patience with Twilight. "I said no, you should listen better."

Twilight, for her part, was silent. What? She thought they were all friendly, stupid, and annoying, but...apparently not. In fact, this is...sort of what she would have been expecting back in Panhandlershot. Well, she wasn't being held up at gunpoint, but it was the same type of response.

Weren't the people here supposed to be nice though? Pleasant? Able to be handled through clenched teeth, instead of being defensive about everything? She thought maybe it was just this mare, but no, it was the entire group, Twilight had seen several aside glances from them during her exchange with this woman. Why though? Did something change? They couldn't have known she was a hunter...could they?

Being silent for too long, the mare turned back to the crowd, putting the conversation behind herself. "Go away now."

---

As several more ponies entered the micropark, there was one specifically that chose to leave. A short earth pony with a large pink bow fastened to the back of her head. "Okay," Applebloom thought, "Rainbow Dash may just be another adult, but she's smarter than the rest, so I can't get cocky." Applebloom had determined that in order to draw Rainbow Dash's attention, she'd need to appear rushed, which you couldn't do if you were in the place your target already was.

So, considering herself fortunate enough that the rainbow haired airhead hadn't actually noticed her the entire time she was sitting beside her, "I'm going to have to play this just right if she's going to believe me." Applebloom quietly walked off. She left the park, turning the corner around the post office.

Only to, seconds later, run past, looking out of breath, Applebloom stopped in front of the park, looking into it. She scanned the ponies there for a short moment before her eyes met Rainbow Dash, she smiled before running up to the pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash!" She yelled, getting the attention of several ponies, but they quickly returned to their day. All except for one, that is.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked, she looked up from her list, being broken from her inner monologue to see Applebloom run up to her.

Applebloom stopped in front of her, breathing heavily, She took a short moment to level her breath before she looked up at the confused mare. "I'm so happy I found you," She declared, "I lost something really important and I need your help finding it."

Rainbow Dash looked around, unsure, but when nobody around seemed to be interrupting, she looked back at Applebloom. Her uncertainty didn't leave her though, and doubt had joined her tone. "You lost something?" She asked, if Applebloom lost something, it could have been anything, she was always doing something new. "Why don't you ask someone that can help you find it?"

"I AM ASKING SOMEPONY YOU FUC-" Applebloom was screaming in her head, but stopped herself before she let her expression change. "Keep it together, Bloom, you can get through this." She absolutely hated talking to adults, but it was part of a bigger plan, so she'd have to put up with it. There was a reason they called it a necessary 'evil'. "I need YOUR help, you're the only pony that can help me!"

Narrowing her eyes slightly, more in disbelief and doubt than distaste for her speaking partner, Rainbow Dash shook her head slightly. "Why am I the only one you can ask? I'm sure there's plenty of people that are better at finding things than I am."

Applebloom let out a sigh of disappointment, since that's how she was feeling, but as well it further played into her lie. She figured she'd get further into the conversation before Rainbow's self-doubt prevented her from playing into Applebloom's hooves, but you play the cards you're dealt, and lie cheat and steal to win if that hand is a flop.

"You're always reading those mystery books, and right now I need a detective." Applebloom asked, perfectly sounding desperate to her own ears. If she had to, she'd cry; it was one of the techniques she was proud of, being able to shed tears at a moments notice. It took quite a few months figuring that one out, but she was happy she did.

Rainbow Dash took a lot longer to make up her mind than would have been preferred; Applebloom had a schedule to keep to. "Tick-tock birdbrain, I haven't got all day."

After another minute, Rainbow Dash nodded, "Alright, I guess I'll help you, what are you looking for?" She asked, Applebloom cheered in her head, but externally she looked around before coming in close to whisper in Rainbow Dash's ear.

"You can't tell anypony what it is though," she explained quickly. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes lazily, before looking around herself. She then started walking out of the park, Applebloom grinned maliciously. She had her.

Turning onto the sidewalk with significantly less ears nearby, the pegasus turned back to see Applebloom had followed her. "So what is it?" She asked, never very invested, and a little hungry, but willing to be helpful.

Applebloom though shushed her. "I mean it! You can't tell anyone, it's super embarrassing!"

Rolling her eyes a bit, Rainbow dash looked around again, wondering if she had made a mistake, but her better judgement told her to listen to the little girl. "Okay, I promise not to tell anyone, what did you lose?" She spoke with probably the least enthusiasm any person had ever had.

Applebloom continued to smile internally, things were drifting downward slightly, but no operation was perfect, and she was still on track. "It's my mom's pendant."

11 Non-Random Encounters

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Lunch had ended. Which meant that Pinkie's business dropped back to less than active. She was used to getting maybe five customers an hour, and while it weighed on her, what didn't was what the lack of business also meant. And that was that she often had time to herself, like right now.

She was busy in the kitchen, humming to herself with a smile on her face, a far more genuine smile than was reserved for customers to her bakery. She felt genuinely happy. There was a cake in the oven and she was currently mixing the frosting. It was a green affair and while it might have reminded Pinkie of the forest that flanked the district, to a young pony observing Pinkie, it just looked like another mistake made by a disgusting freak.

Scootaloo looked down on Pinkie Pie with absolute disdain, her head phasing through the ceiling. "Why do I have to watch her?" Scootaloo thought to herself, mentally pleading with her friend, "I hate her, I want her dead like the insect she is."

"Fuck you Pinkie." She pulled her head out of the floor in the second storey hallway and began pacing, something she was aware was a problem of hers, but she absolutely did not care at that time. "If Applebloom didn't want you dead at a specific time," She thought, looking at her surroundings in hate, "You'd already be a blood-dripping corpse by now."

Scootaloo absolutely despised Pinkie Pie, not only did she know about her new life, free from her fucking shackles, but even when she was chained, she did nothing but make Scootaloo's life a living hell. Who had to clean up everything? Who had to spend days heavy lifting for something that lasted a couple hours? And who was the lowest fucking tier of the entire bullshit system ever since she was ripped from her home?

And Pinkie did nothing but make her shitty life an everlasting hell on Earth! Did she think that being immune to the wipes was just her own problem? Stupid bitch didn't understand a single thing. Pushing her head back through the floor, Scootaloo saw that Pinkie hadn't left the kitchen. Which was only good in the sense that she knew where the mare was. It was bad in the sense that she had to look at what was possibly the sole cause of everything wrong in her life ever since she was displaced here.

Pinkie saw something she probably thought was funny, which made Scootaloo fume. "We'll see who gets the last laugh tomorrow you everstanding slut."

Scootaloo immediately pulled her head back out of the floor, she regretted knowing that she wasn't the best at recognizing her own anger, but it was part of the reason she didn't die. Now, though, was a time she realized she needed to back down. Her teeth were clenched painfully and her front hooves were shaking slightly. Worst of all though she wanted to start breaking things. Which she was absolutely against.

Murder? Fine, sure, whatever, but Scootaloo would never purposefully destroy anything. She knew the work that went into building or moving things into place. The endless hours, the painful strain that put on your body, lifting, pulling, all the manual labour. If anyone ruined her work, she didn't know what she'd do. Probably kill them. And so she outright refused to ruin or destroy any construction.

Pinkie just made her so...PISSED though, so outrageously angry. As if displacement wasn't enough, it had to be to the worst possible time and place. Scootaloo thought back on her plans to stab Pinkie in the chest. "You'll be killed by my own hooves, then we'll see who likes being 300 years in the future you fucking whore!"

---

Sweetie Belle walked past the arts and crafts shop on her way to downtown Partyville, a smile on her face. Most ponies had gone back into their business', the ones that worked, so it wasn't too busy. Plus she really enjoyed walking around, so she always chose not to skip it. The birds in the sky, the gentle clouds rolling by, the sights and sounds of the carts in the street. even the smells of Partyville were something she enjoyed.

She wasn't always in the mood for appreciating the world around her, so she made it a point to do so any time she was feeling good. And since next to nobody ever saw her, well, it was always nice to stroll and explore. Today though she was on a mission for her friends, and she didn't want to disappoint them.

Not that she exactly agreed with what they were doing. Scootaloo was violent and reckless, and Applebloom was underhanded and devious, but...well that wasn't all they were. Scootaloo was also very thoughtful and hard working, and Applebloom was always so supportive and comforting. There was good in them, both of them, and even if it wasn't always on the surface, she would always be there with them. She loved her friends.

Still though, Applebloom asked her to be somewhere, and Sweetie Belle would not disappoint. She quickened her step, careful not to alert any of the older ponies walking around by bumping into them. Shortly, she arrived at her destination: a lone Information stand run by the one of the only ponies Sweetie Belle trusted outside her group of friends.

The stand was filled with a wide range of things. Newspapers, maps, pamphlets, and even a list of all the places to eat in Partyville. It truly was the most well-versed place that tourists could go to in order to learn about the district. The unicorn behind the stand looked somewhat bored as she approached, but that was normal.

Just before Sweetie got within sight of the stand, she allowed other ponies to see her again, always remembering the last time she forgot to do that and sort of ruined everything. Thankfully nobody lived in Pyrmidia anymore. She smiled genuinely as she noticed the white unicorn's face light up at her sight. "Sweetie Belle! It's good to see you again."

Sweetie Belle loved talking to the mare, she was almost like a sister to her. "Hi Vinyl, thank you, I've been okay." She greeted to the unicorn, walking over to the side of the stand, the place she usually stood when she came to this hotspot.

Vinyl Scratch, to her credit, had a beaming smile on her face. She was a chipper unicorn with an electric blue mane. Not only that though, she was probably the most connected pony in all of Partyville as well as the four adjacent districts. If you wanted information on any pony nearby, she was probably the one to ask. It always cost money though, so Sweetie was just happy not really knowing, and just being near her.

"So what brings you to my little slice of heaven today?" Vinyl asked, motioning around herself to the wheeled stall she'd often set up in the most populous of locations.

Smiling, Sweetie lightly hit a button on the side of the stand. From inside it a metal slab extended from the side. When Sweetie installed it, Vinyl was hesitant, but she often used it herself when she was on break and she wanted somewhere to sit. Sweetie climbed onto it and sat down. "It's been a while, I wanted to hear some of your stories."

Vinyl raised at eyebrow at the comment, "And see the ledger?" She asked, smiling, she regarded the young unicron as a friend, and so she was levitating a clipboard out from under the stand's small counter.

Sweetie blushed slightly, "If you don't mind, thank you." She knew that Vinyl didn't mind; she always looked at the ledger to see who bought what, when and how much they paid for which items. She'd never explain why of course, she wanted Vinyl to continue to like her, but she needed to.

"Hey," Vinyl said, leaning back inside the stand, a smile on her face as she watched Sweetie Belle studying the ledger, "I know my favourite kiddo, I don't know WHY you're always so curious, but it's charming."

Upon hearing the word ‘curious’, something innate inside Sweetie Belle turned on. Outwardly nothing changed, but inside, Sweetie began absorbing ambient levels of energy from around herself. Her levels were optimal, superoptimal even. She didn't know why, but the nearby levels were charged beyond what they'd ever been. She was absorbing more power than she knew what to do with. Was this just from the new unicorn in town? Had business picked up with Vinyl? were the clones responsible? She had no idea why the background levels of Curiosity had skyrocketed, but she was ecstatic about it.

But she knew that she needed to answer Vinyl, and also refrain from using her newfound power. It was three times the amount she normally got, but it wouldn't do to waste it just because she had it. Sweetie looked up and the mare and smiled, blushing slightly from losing focus on her friend. "Thanks Vinyl, and I just like seeing who's buying your things."

Vinyl smiled and put the clipboard back where she normally hung it. "Business is going fine, Sweetie, you don't need to worry." The blue-maned unicorn grinned. Sweetie Belle was a curious little kiddo, and it was nice to see the younger sort show an interest in the more experienced ponies.

Sweetie Belle knew without a shadow of a doubt that with wherever this extra power came from she'd absolutely be able to create an illusion; it'd use a lot, but she was now certain that she could. "Hey Vinyl?" She asked just before the mare was about to actually start telling one of her stories. "Would you like to meet my friends tomorrow?" She didn't like lying to people she cared about of course, but it was required.

The smile in return was more than enough answer.

---

As Twilight left the loft above Oakfields, Spike listened carefully. While he liked sharing the things he got up to, there was certain things he didn't think she was ready to know. For starters, nobody just sat quietly while somebody lived rent free above their store. It was either a favour, an agreement, or a plan.

Favours you do for friends or relatives, perhaps you owe somebody something. Agreements were either on the table or under it. Any lease or paperwork was an agreement. Plans were a different sort, and oftentimes went on behind the scenes. Spike didn't exactly know who was really in charge in the area, and finding out would require some grunt work, but it needed to be done.

But a lot of it could wait; the first thing that needed doing was figuring out how secure the place was. Nobody knew how easy it was to hide cameras and sensors. Fortunately, even if they were wireless, there was always a transmitter of some kind.

"Getting onto the roof shouldn't be a problem," He thought, getting off the couch and walking over to the window. Age had fused it shut, which was both good and bad in a few ways. Next he looked up at the ceiling. The building itself didn't have a slanted roof, but the ceiling was also quite a bit lower than the roof was, meaning a crawl space of some kind, possibly even an attic.

He made his way over to the staircase, paying close attention to just how heavily his steps were. He knew that any sudden changes meant unwanted attention. Listening closely he learned that he actually had a lighter step compared to Twilight. He nodded in approval, silence fit him well overall, as a person who didn’t speak.

"Time to see what the owner has to say." Spike thought, walking down the stairs. He saw the store in front of him, the aisles, the books, which he ignored on his way to the counter. The stallion working there had an unpleasant look on his face, almost like a more bearable Twilight when she was really pissed off. It was almost cute how much he wanted to look upset with Spike.

It was a problem though, considering he was friendly not even an hour ago. Something changed, and Spike had a sneaking suspicion that it was heavily in Twilight's department.

---

Twilight was distraught. This was a situation she had no idea how to handle. No one wanted to talk to her. She...it was...it wasn't like in Panhandlershot, this was far more disturbing, more wrong. She stepped back from the group in front of her, confused and anxious. It didn't make any sense.

She had to figure out what people knew about the farmer, but these people wouldn't talk to her. Twilight turned and saw a lone pony walking by himself, she decided to try him too. When she walked over to him though, even before she got into talking range, he leveled a warning glare at her.

Why though? Was it because she was smarter than them? She didn't remember actually insulting anyone out loud, it was all things she thought without saying, right? How fast did gossip travel in Partyville? This wasn't what they were like! They were talking to her, so nobody had cast a Disquiet spell. It was sudden, so it wasn't something somebody did to her. But what was it?

Twilight saw that even just standing still she was getting looks from people she didn't even intend to talk to, they were just upset with her...like she didn't belong.

Her eyes widened as she slowly backed into a wall, she needed to be away from here. Twilight needed to be away from judging eyes before she started hyperventilating. She picked a direction and ran. "Why?" she asked herself, "Why did everything change?" She didn't realize it, but she was continuing to repeat the question to herself as she ran, attempting to make sense of the situation.

The edges of her vision began to get foggy, but she knew that would subside as soon as she was alone. Thankfully she found an alley that, while still surrounded by shops and ponies that were glaring at her, was at least secluded from lines of sight. She ran into the alley and threw herself behind a dumpster, ignoring the smell as she breathed heavily, holding her hooves to the sides of her head.

"Why is everyone acting so wrong?" she asked herself as the rest of the world faded away around her, "How? How could they all just agree all at once to hate me? What happened?" Getting the questions out felt better, but she was still confused and anxious. "When did this even start? Was it a single event or a progression? IS somebody behind it all? Who could even do that? Where did this all start?"

Twilight couldn't even begin to understand the disgust on everyone elses’ faces. It all came out of nowhere, and she was inside for most of it. Spike was outside shortly before he went up to talk to Twilight, and he didn't mention anything of the sort. Maybe it was just her? If so it could have been a slow rumour that spread, but they were all idiots, how could they organize something this elaborate?

"No, they were clearly acting the entire time." She said, having now stopped shaking against the dumpster, "It was all acting, that's the only way any of this makes sense. None of them can be trusted." They all somehow knew she was a Hunter, and because Partyville is the ghost capital of St. Orangeberg, they were all against her, all from the very start, yesterday.

"Ha, ha, ha, wow, is that what you think? That this is all about you?" A feminine voice spoke out of Twilight's sight line, which meant it was someone walking into the alley behind her and her dumpster. "You're more self absorbed than I remember." Twilight almost recognized whomever was speaking, but couldn't quite place it.

Before she could even wonder why she was being spoken to, when clearly nobody wanted anything to do with her, the voice spoke again, "This is called an Information Lockout."

12 Pulling Strings

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"A...what?"

It was all Twilight could think to say. She was still off balance from dealing with whatever was wrong with the locals. Twilight tried to think of what an ‘Information Lockout’ could be, but nothing was coming to her mind. She had no idea what it could be, assuming she ever knew in the first place. She made to get up, if for no other reason than to see who this was. Whoever they were, she seemed familiar with Twilight.

Rising from the ground, Twilight looked ahead. The pony that the voice belonged to on the other side of the dumpster was slowly revealed as Twilight stood.. The first thing she saw was a unicorn horn. A blue one...

Her eyes widened immediately as a derisive laugh could be heard from what Twilight knew to be a mare. "And you don't even know what an Information Lockout is? Oh Twilight, you really are useless without help." She insulted, looking pityingly at the other unicorn.

"Trixie..." Twilight whispered under her breath. She couldn't believe that it'd taken her even this long to remember that voice, the one she assumed was permanently burned into her memory. She thought that no amount of time would be enough to forget, but apparently eight years was enough.

This blue unicorn, the owner of the smuggest grin Twilight had ever known, looked back at her, her amusement clear as day. "The one and only." She walked closer to Twilight, studying her features, before walking past. "With that look of utter confusion, I'd say it looks like you've seen a ghost."

She then laughed as she turned back around, Twilight having followed her with her eyes. Twilight was far less amused by the joke. "Though, that's the funny part isn't it? In our line of work, it's ironic that I see you haven't."

Twilight was upset, more than she thought she would be. How could Trixie be here, in Partyville, what did she have to gain from being here? "Why are you here?" Twilight asked, finding her voice.

At this question, Trixie raised an eyebrow, though she never lost her grin. Twilight felt her scowl returning. "Well now, that's the million dollar question, isn't it? What would a seasoned professional like myself be doing in such a lovely district as this one?" Trixie inspected the alley as she spoke, a particular piece of wall graffiti seemed to catch her interest. "There's so many places I could be; purging an infestation for the clans, tracking down a Sight, inscribing runes for somebody with more money than sense, I'm a busy woman after all. But I find myself here, why?"

Twilight couldn't help but feel a headache forming, Trixie was always bragging about how successful she was, about how much better than Twilight she was. It didn't matter how much time had passed, she'd never change. Twilight felt she had changed though, and while in the past she might get fed up and attempt to assert some kind of dominance, nowadays she was better than Trixie, she'd matured.

She wasn't just some kid that had a tantrum every time somebody upset her: Twilight was smarter than that. And while she may have just had a bit of a panic attack, a small one, she was feeling better. "Maybe you're just lying abo-"

"Oh I wonder," Trixie interrupted, probably knowing exactly what was about to be said, "What could possibly be worth my valuable time? Perhaps an old friend?"

That did it. "Friend?! We were never friends!" Twilight yelled, a vein forming on her forehead as she stomped a hoof into the ground in front of her.

Trixie just grinned. "No, we weren't, but we were partners once upon a time."

"Nobody cares!" Twilight almost said, but thought better of herself; they both knew that Trixie just wanted to get under her skin, just like she always did when they worked together. That did beg the question, though, of why was Trixie suddenly talking to Twilight after eight years of nothing? After a moment to calm down, Twilight narrowed her eyes. "What do you want with me right now?"

This got another laugh from the blue mare, her swirling toothpaste-coloured hair bouncing slightly with the movement. "Am I not allowed to come say hello to the great Twilight Sparkle? Has she gotten so powerful that I'm not worth her time?" She held her hoof to her forehead in mock offense.

Twilight was not amused, she wanted nothing more than to just no longer be anywhere near Trixie. Eight years wasn't long enough, and that was no more apparent than right then. Unfortunately for her, Trixie had information. She knew about whatever was going on, about why everyone is town was suddenly cold and closed off. But how could she ask about it without giving Trixie some kind of leverage over her?

That superiority complex was bad enough, she didn't need to lord her answers over Twilight's head as well. "What's an information lockout?" That was the question, that was what Twilight needed to know. She could guess what it was based on context clues, but she needed specifics in order to do anything about it, and she hadn't read anything about it the entire time she was researching earlier. So either it wasn't written about, or Trixie was full of it.

Well, Trixie may have been full of herself, but she wasn't a liar. If she claimed to know something that meant she did. Then again, had she? She was a master of word use, so did she actually claim to know what that was? Twilight inflated slightly, now having an in. "Do you even know what an Information Lockout is?"

The immediate laugh made Twilight deflate again. "Oh Twilight, how naive you are, trying to outsmart me. It's adorable really." Trixie brought her hooves to squeeze Twilight's face; the purple unicorn shot away from the touch before either of them could blink. "The only way you're getting through this conversation is by doing what I want."

"Who do you think you are?" Twilight thought in defiance. But she already knew, Trixie was the grand Hunter extraordinaire of Vaultly! There was nobody better. It made Twilight's blood boil, or at least it used to. She’d always told herself she changed, that she wasn't the same angry girl she used to be. Twilight was approaching her 30's, this was child’s play.

Trixie raised an eyebrow ever so slightly and leaned in to say, "Silence is unbecoming of you, you were never this speechless before." Twilight almost didn't think anything of the comment, but then, out or nowhere, Trixie grinned quite darkly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're in over your head."

"WHAT?!" That did it. Who did this bitch think she was? Twilight had been a Hunter for fourteen years! "What did you just say to me? In over my head? WHAT?!" Picking something up from the alley floor in her magic, Twilight flung it at Trixie fast enough to do serious damage. It never made impact.

Trixie's own magic easily deflected the projectile, as well as the next three Twilight decided to follow up with. Trixie rolled her eyes at the effort before giving an exaggerated yawn. "I do know better though, and what I know is that Twilight is well aware of what's going on, isn't she?"

The purple unicorn in question had stopped throwing things, but her teeth were grinding in anger, and her eyes were staring harshly at Trixie. "She hasn't been sitting around all these years, oh no, she's been keeping busy, and knows everything there is to know about being a Hunter." She began to walk around Twilight slightly as she spoke, "So as the gracious person I am, I'll allow her to enlighten me in just what a Lockout is."

Twilight was having trouble keeping herself from beginning to scream, but using every ounce of willpower she had, she managed to force a single sentence out through her unmoving teeth. "What is an Information Lockout, Trixie?"

Trixie raised her hoof to her chest in over-exaggerated surprise. "Oh, Twilight, are you even slightly suggesting the mere idea that you don't know what that is?" The shit-eating grin never left her face. "And here I thought you knew more on the subject than I did! Well, since you asked so nicely, I can't help but impart my wisdom to my old assistant."

Using her magic, Trixie pulled up a wooden crate from further in the alley to sit on, before silently motioning for Twilight to take a seat as well. when the purple unicorn didn't move, Trixie merely shrugged and got comfortable on her crate. "An Information Lockout, my dear Twilight, is what the learned among us have dubbed the phenomenon of being excommunicated by the local community."

Twilight was still just barely keeping herself from wrapping her hooves around the neck of her old partner, but she listened; it was useful information after all. "Specifically, it relates to a Hunter and a ghost community. When they find out one of us is nearby and seeking answers, they'll instill the local Breathers with aggression, noncompliance, and furthermore just an overall sass that's hardly appreciated."

"There's two main causes of a Lockout, both bringing with them some interesting implications." Trixie smiled smugly, "Twilight, just what have you been up to?"

Twilight was getting close to losing her mind: just having to spend these horrible couple minutes having to listen to this voice again was reminding her of all the days that Trixie would be there, talking down to her, making her feel like shit, constantly going on and on about how little Twilight actually knew or was able to handle. It was the exact reason she left in the first place.

The five years she spent learning under Trixie would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. Maybe not the voice, since Twilight had apparently forgotten that, but not the self-esteem issues. It was because of this bitch that she was so untrusting. So hesitant to talk to anyone, and especially for her fear of rejection.

But Twilight stopped, mid thought, when it occurred to her that she didn't actually need to deal with Trixie, not anymore. She could leave just like last time, so she did. Being angry was bad for your coat anyway. As she turned to walk away, though, she heard a laugh from behind her. Twilight exhaled through her nose before stopping again.

"Do you really think it's just that easy, Twilight?" came the harsh cutting question Twilight despised hearing. "The Colonies here are beyond you and your little pet dragon. Significantly so. While you could have gotten away with being so sloppy back in Vaultly, mistakes like yours won't cut it here."

Twilight was shaking, her head hanging down in an attempt at appearing calm. In truth she was far from okay. "Partyville is out of your league Twilight, give up. There's nothing for you here except more failure and disappointment. You're wasting your time, and quite frankly, everyone else’s."

"The only thing that will happen is you'll get yourself Bound or killed. And after that all Hunters will have to go into hiding because of your stupid mistakes. The balance will be toppled and the ghosts will take over. Is that what you want? To be responsible for the loss of our position on the city stage?"

She wasn't crying. She wasn't crying. She wasn’t. She wasn’t crying because she learned long ago that it served no purpose, it just made things worse. Showing weakness to anyone meant it'd be exploited by everyone. That's why she wasn't crying. No, what Twilight was doing was seething. She was breathing heavily, eyes seeing nothing but red. A small voice in her head told her she was just wasting time, but it was by far the quietest among every facet of her mind. Everything else told her to do one thing.

Twilight turned around, walked directly towards Trixie, brought back her hoof and swung it at the blue unicorn's jaw.

Or at least she thought she did.

When her vision came back into focus, she saw the blue magical field around Trixie, one that was probably put up in defense. She was unharmed, her stupid face remained unchanged in every regard except one. Trixie's face was completely serious, the grin was gone, and there wasn't an ounce of amusement in that stern glare.

Twilight took a step back, reeling both from the shift in expression and the pain in her hoof from hitting a magical field as hard as she could. Trixie, instead of being angry herself, looked impatient. It almost felt like instead of dealing with somebody attacking her, she was looking at a child throwing a tantrum.

"You don't get it do you?" Trixie asked, the air around her intense and bearing down on Twilight, "There's something bigger going on. This Lockout? The fact that it happened less than a day after you showed up? It's a sign that there's somebody pulling the strings. Somebody more powerful than any one Hunter."

Trixie stared directly into Twilight's eyes. "If you don't stop what you're doing you'll endanger everyone. No games, no jokes, nothing. Look me in the eyes and tell me you'll stay away from the farmer."

Twilight...felt something. She'd never seen Trixie this serious before, this scared. It frightened her. "The only thing more powerful than a Hunter is an Executioner, and they..." The thought made Twilight shiver, there was nothing more bone-chillingly terrifying than an Executioner, especially one that was working against the Hunters. She looked directly into Trixie's eyes and nodded. "I'll stay away from the farmer."

"Good. I don't know what an Executioner wants with a Bound farmer, but there's nothing you can do about it," Trixie finally said, before letting a silence fall on the alley way. Twilight slumped to the ground, emotionally exhausted, and Trixie sat back down, when had she stood up? Twilight didn’t know.

The silence lingered for several minutes before Trixie looked down at Twilight, irritation forming in her usually condescending eyes. "Because I don't trust you," she said, Twilight slowly lifting her head to look at Trixie, "I'll let you know what you can do something about."

"I'm listening." Twilight finally spoke, having been speechless for almost the entire encounter.

"A filly named Applebloom hired me to kill you, so she's probably worth looking into." Trixie stood up and started walking out of the alleyway, "And one final thing: if you screw this up, and anger the Executioner, I'll personally see to it that you're buried in multiple districts."

And just like that, Twilight was alone with her thoughts. The death threat from Trixie was nothing new, still intimidating of course, but nothing she wasn’t used to, just another part of her day. Somebody actually being hired to kill her wasn't though. Just who the fuck did Applebloom think she was?

Twilight had some words she wanted to share with that bow-wearing little bitch.

13 Imminent Death

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It was getting late. A few businesses had closed and the young ponies that went to school had finished their day. The sun hadn't quite decided to set yet, but it was certainly considering the idea. Many of the folks of Partyville that weren't still working were either at home or on their way to their homes.

The streets were alive during the rush hour home, people wanted to unwind and eat after all: thoughts of eating leftovers while watching their favourite evening programs with their families inspired them to get home all the faster.

One mare, however, was missing out on that commute. Out in front of a sporting goods store stood a pegasus that looked equal parts tired and confused. She wore what passed for a detective’s hat, though it sat crooked on her head; she was clearly done with today.

The pegasus was looking around a lamp post at the edge of the sidewalk as she stood beside a young yellow Earth pony. The filly, for her part, looked disinterested as well, almost bored. She watched the adult pony sigh and turn to her.

"I'm sorry Applebloom, I can't find it anywhere."

Applebloom looked up at Rainbow Dash with sad eyes. "Please Rainbow Dash, I know I left it somewhere." In her head, Applebloom was completely sick of following Rainbow Dash around. She thought Pinkie was annoying, but wow did Rainbow Dash love to complain. Not only that but she never once stopped talking about her stupid books, even going as far as giving a synopsis of it for her as they looked around for the non-existent pendant.

If anything, it only cemented how much she wanted this idiot killed. If she couldn't do that though, the next best thing was have her taken away for the death of Pinkie Pie, deal with both of them at the same time. The Blocker and the fangirl taken out both in one strike, it was going to be poetic really. All it required was finishing the set up today, and tomorrow, letting all the pieces fall into place; a lot could go wrong, of course, but assuming Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle did their jobs, more could go right.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, having had enough searching for today. Which was fine, that was part of the plan. "I'm sorry," she apologized again. Applebloom made sure she looked really disappointed; appearances were nine tenths of a lie after all.

"But..." Applebloom meeped, trying to sound as small and sad as possible. "But I thought..." she then turned to look away, making sure attention was on her. It was common practice for more innocent children to not want to be seen when they start crying, which was the look she was going for.

If Rainbow Dash didn't make a move she'd start crying herself, Applebloom knew how to make her eyes water on command, and it'd make things go just right. That wasn't needed, however, because Dash walked towards the earth pony, a sympathetic look on her face. "Hey, we tried, okay, and if you want, we can try again tomorrow."

The sound of a mousetrap springing was like sweet music to Applebloom. She forced her eyes to begin to get glossy and turned to look directly at Rainbow Dash, making sure to look as excited as she could get. "Really?!" Applebloom practically shouted. "You'll really help me out tomorrow too?!"

The volume might have been a bit much, she was still tweaking the sound of her own voice, but it'd do; Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly a genius. "Sure," The pegasus agreed, looking relieved. "I'll be here after breakfast I guess. Nine o'clock, we can meet up and continue looking."

It was at that point that Applebloom thanked whatever gods existed that she wasn't some cartoon character or something. Any time people on television explained something in oddly-placed detail, that meant it was about to be subverted somehow. Luckily, she knew the adults here just happened to talk that way. She wrapped her front hooves around Rainbow Dash. "Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash, thank you for helping me look for my mom's pendant!"

Applebloom let go and backed away, genuinely happy that she didn't have to continue touching the mare. Hugs may be good for deception, but she valued her personal space. Dash smiled and nodded before walking away. "Good night Applebloom."

"Night Rainbow Dash, and thank you again!" And without another word, Applebloom turned away and walked in the opposite direction from the adult, ecstatic that she was done dealing with the idiot. Phase one of the plan was complete, thankfully, and that was a blessing in and of itself.

Seven. That was the time she agreed to meet back up with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at the clubhouse. Lucky her, she was actually ahead of schedule. Applebloom looked around as she walked down the street, reading the names of the stores and shops as she debated what to do with her extra time.

"Food," she thought, not actually hungry, but wanting to eat anyway. "It's been forever since I've had shawarma."

It was an interesting day that Applebloom decided to eat meat for the first time. Normally she'd eat something spicy, but there was something about the smell coming from the nearby side street. She made a point to stay out of Partyville's Cattown, but she was doing something nearby and she smelled something she couldn't place.

She never thought she'd enjoy eating chicken, but after one bite, not even the weird aftertaste could make her dislike the satisfaction of eating something that used to be alive. Since that day she learned that all birds, when prepared by a carnivore, were amazing. Cows not so much, but that was fine. She even eventually stopped throwing up from her body rejecting the food, which was a plus.

As Applebloom was reminiscing over her past palate change she turned a corner around an electronics store. She was lost in thought, considering what to eat, so she almost missed who was standing in front of her, staring intensely down at her, waiting, angrily. Applebloom stopped and looked up at a scowl unlike any she'd seen. She was almost impressed by it, then she got a look at the mare giving it to her.

Twilight had spent the last hour and a half hunting down one young bow-wearing earth pony. The Lockout was really starting to get on her nerves: not only did no one talk to her, but they all actively discouraged each other from talking to her. She was on the verge of ripping every strand of hair out of her mane with her magic.

And to top it off, some Executioner was watching her and controlling her actions, which meant there was nothing she could do about all her frustration. Nothing except seek out some little shit that probably thought she was better than Twilight. Some grand manipulator that wanted to get rid of her? If Twilight wasn't so upset she'd probably laugh. Applebloom didn't know the first thing about manipulation.

She lived in Partyville, an outer district where nobody was violent, nobody carried knives, nobody made you recite their shitty poetry for their amusement. No, Applebloom didn't know the first thing about dealing with other people. And Twilight intended to teach her lesson number one: ‘Don't piss off a unicorn.’

And what a stroke of luck, Twilight found herself face to face with the little stain now.

Applebloom backed up, slightly confused as she stared up at Twilight. She then cursed internally "Fucking seriously?! Everything was going perfectly! That hunter was supposed to-" She thought.

Twilight didn't give her a chance to continue thinking though, as she grabbed Applebloom with her magic, lifting her off of the ground and bring her to eye level. "Big mistake, kid."

Applebloom was furious: her entire perfectly-organized plan was about to be unraveled because the best hunter in St. Orangeberg apparently couldn't get one loose end off her back. But despite her anger, she didn't let it show, not like this pen pal here. She made sure she looked scared, which is what the situation called for.

"Please don't hurt me!" Applebloom yelled, bringing her forelegs in front of her face. It was a surprise when the nearby adults didn't come to her rescue, they didn't even stop walking. "Hold on," Applebloom thought just before she was slammed against the wall of the store behind her.

"Hurt you?" Twilight asked, bringing herself inches in front of Applebloom, "I'm going to do so much more than hurt you."

Concern was beginning to race through Applebloom’s mind; sure the ponies here were stupid, but they weren't the type to ignore a filly under attack, she knew this first hand. Something was wrong. They were around her, and they looked at what was going on, but they weren't doing anything. "Please!" She yelled, trying again to catch the attention of the ponies nearby.

Twilight slammed her into the wall again. "And you can drop the act, I know exactly what you're doing you little shit. And you can't fool me."

Something wasn't adding up, and Applebloom was probably running low on time, plus being slammed against a brick wall wasn't exactly a painless experience. Why wasn't anyone stopping the clearly violent unicorn harming the filly? What was causing them to ignore the situation?

"You think you're smart, don't you?" Twilight asked, holding Applebloom against the wall as she herself backed up a step or two. "You think you have everything figured out, that you can do whatever you want behind everyone's backs just because they're idiots."

SLAM!

"Well let me tell you something you don't learn in the outer districts. There's always somebody smarter than you! ALWAYS! It doesn't matter what you do, how much you know, or what you think you can get away with. There's ALWAYS! SOMEBODY! SMARTER!"

Applebloom’s breathing came painfully; as it turned out, the wall was starting to hurt a lot. Twilight tossed her to the ground and stood over top of her, the setting sun behind her obscuring her face slightly, making her figure more imposing.

"And today that somebody is me. You want to kill me? You'll have to give it more than that." Twilight kicked Applebloom in the stomach. "I’m more of a threat than you are."

Twilight looked down at Applebloom with disdain. There was so much in her life she couldn't control; she wasn't safe, she wasn't happy, she wasn't comfortable, she wasn't even in control of when she could return to her own damn library. But in this bow-wearing excuse of a pony, and in this set of circumstances set up against her will, there was just enough of her own freedom to beat out her frustrations.

Twilight kicked again, but her hoof stopped dead in its tracks mere centimetres before hitting Applebloom in her face. Confused, she looked down at the Earth pony and saw something she didn't expect. There was a completely different expression.

Applebloom slowly looked up at Twilight with an expression as cold as ice. "You want me to drop my mask?" Twilight's eyes slowly opened and she stepped back. Applebloom began to rise from the ground, first to her hooves, then off them completely. The bruises that were starting to form faded away as Applebloom rose further into the air, hovering above Twilight.

The unicorn was shaking as she fell backwards on her flank. "No..." she whispered.

Air was shimmering off of Applebloom like heat off of a fire. "Fine, I'll show you who I really am." Her voice took on an echoey aspect, and she looked down on the scared Twilight. "And make you regret forcing my hoof."

Twilight was dead, that's what she knew. She could have attacked anyone at all and it would have been fine. But the one girl she angered had to be the Whisperer.

14 Whispers of Mercy

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The Whisperer...

Twilight felt despair take over as she stared into the eyes of her death. The young earth pony floated in the air above, staring down at her, her gaze so intense Twilight felt the weight of Applebloom's glare pull her even harder into the sidewalk.

Twilight trembled on the spot, her eyes watering, too afraid to even move. She could see the power behind the Whisperer's eyes, the unfiltered surge of absolute authority currently determining exactly how painful to make Twilight's death. She didn't know if she had 30 seconds left, or 30 minutes, but she still took the time to notice that her life wasn't flashing before her eyes. She also noticed how casual the thought seemed given the circumstances.

"PLEASE!" Twilight yelled suddenly, her vocal cords deciding then to twitch in pleading. "Pleasedon'tkillme!" She heavily suspected that begging for your life wouldn't actually accomplish anything though, especially since she completely deserved to be obliterated for how she'd acted just minutes ago. And maybe her splattered remains of her would do a better job handling the situation than she had. But she didn’t know what else to do, she was well and truly out of ideas.

She had two jobs as a Hunter. One was protecting the living from the dead, and the other was making sure not to disturb the balance between the two sides. And she'd failed both by provoking the Whisperer.

Of all the body-hopping immortals, she had to pick a fight with what amounted to the most powerful one in existence… which was the perfect end to her pitiful life. It was poetic really. Beat somebody for trying to outsmart you, all the while claiming to be better than them, only to be outsmarted in turn. Twilight bet that famous authors would find the entire thing perfectly ironic.

Tears were freely flowing from Twilight's eyes as she openly cried, not caring anymore about who used her weaknesses against her: her life was forfeit anyway.

Twilight felt the Whisperer's overwhelming magical power envelope her, lifting her from the ground. The unicorn's eyes had closed before she started crying and pleading to not be killed, so she didn't see the painful daggers of doom being stared into her flesh. She just knew, as she hovered above the sidewalk, that she was about to become a statistic.

"Twilight Sparkle." A voice exuding with ancient jurisdiction spoke, vibrating Twilight's bones. "Twenty-nine years old. Unicorn. Female. Hunter. You claim that you're more of a threat than me, that you're smarter than I am, and that you'll do much more than hurt me."

"You are a fool."

"You're a fool to think you're smarter than an Immortal."

"You're a fool that fails to see the bigger picture."

"And you're a fool that thinks less of herself than that of her peers."

Twilight started at the final comment in confusion. "W-w-wh-hat?" was all she could stammer out between sobs. That wasn't a threat, or a problem with her very being. It wasn't even true. Wasn't the Whisperer supposed to be killing her right about now for slighting her? She opened her eyes as she felt her hooves touch back onto the ground.

"Twilight Sparkle. A unicorn with a very small amount of good luck, and a life most ponies would pity." The Whisperer looked at Twilight as she lowered herself back onto the ground; she was smiling warmly. "You've had life working against you from the very beginning."

With nothing to actually say, Twilight nodded, still too afraid to move, tears continuing to flow freely from her eyes.

"And the first moment you finally think something good has come your way, it crumbles in front of you, the truth being that even your moment of relief is short lived."

The Whisperer walked up to Twilight, looking directly into her eyes, and despite the height difference, Twilight felt like a child compared to the ancient entity.

"Twilight Sparkle, whose life has been such that you're cynical and distrusting, especially of those who mean to do only good by you. Yours is a life defined by tragedy, so I do agree that it would be very poetic that I be the one to end it. However, I'm not much of a poet."

The Whisperer chuckled slightly before conjuring a bench behind her and having a seat on it. "I want to ask you a question, Twilight.” Looking back to stare directly into Twilight’s eyes, the Whisperer spoke, “Do you wish to die?"

Suddenly the world came rushing back to the forefront of Twilight's consciousness. The last… unit of time… had been a blur, and Twilight had been completely prepared to die, but when the Whisperer began talking to her it made her lose track of absolutely everything. She didn't have the mental faculty to know her own name. Only her hearing and sight were working properly.

But that question brought her back to the present, and all at once her awareness came back. She saw the young filly Applebloom. But Twilight still felt the immense power. It contrasted confusingly with how casually she was sitting, it left Twilight feeling… conflicted. She silently took a seat on the bench beside the Whisperer and looked into those ageless eyes.

"..no..." Twilight meekly answered in return, staring down at the ground in front of her. She'd stopped crying, but her eyes were still wet from tears. The entire situation left her unsure of how to feel.

The Whisperer put her hoof underneath Twilight's chin and gently turned her so they could look at each other. "Of course you don't, no Twilight is that weak. You all fight for what you believe in, whatever that may be."

The way the sentence was worded confused Twilight further, there was more than one of her? She...didn't understand.

The Whisperer smiled, lowering her hoof. "This world is poison. Around every corner is something new to oppose you, and there's always something working against you, be it other ponies or the very forces themselves. And it saddens me deeply that you're so much worse off than your sisters."

"But I'm...not...sister..." Twilight’s words tripped as they fell out of her mouth, her hesitation catching up to her innate desire to correct inaccuracies.

A simple laugh took hold of the cool air surrounding the two ponies. "It's okay, you don't have to understand; not many do to begin with. Pinkie might have if she weren't so limited, but you almost never do." She then sat back in her seat, watching Twilight for her response.

Twilight, to her credit, was taking the encounter reasonably well. She'd started off terrified, but after the threat stopped being a threat, she calmed down; mostly in confusion, but she was calm regardless. There was something about the situation that just… felt off. Something that Twilight couldn't explain, even after you considered the fact that The Whisperer had decided to reveal herself, as well as not take revenge for beating her.

"Are you happy, Twilight?" The Whisperer asked after a moment of silence. Twilight turned to see a completely humourless expression, if anything the face Applebloom wore was one of deep sorrow. The immortal spirit motioned in a sweeping gesture forward. "I want you to look around you and tell me what you see."

Twilight did as told. She saw that the sun was beginning to set, finally closing the long day. She saw shops both open and closed, the open ones with their lights on. She saw some ponies walking down the sidewalk, but… oddly enough there were almost none. From the moment she had arrived in Partyville, the streets were almost always packed with at least a dozen people in all directions. If you looked anywhere, you'd see plenty walking down the street.

Strangely enough though, things were...empty. The streets had two ponies walking around, one a red stallion with some sort of thing around his neck, and in the opposite direction, there was a blue mare standing around. Both had smiles on their faces though, looking very happy.

Turning back to the Whisperer, Twilight saw her nod. "Yes, it is quite empty. That's because of me. You see, due to the forces at play, whenever I'm not hidden away in my host, Applebloom, there's a large radius around me that makes ghosts more akin to real ghosts. They're invisible, intangible, and inaudible. It's like they don't exist at all."

"It's a truly lonely existence, mine, that I can't make friends of my own kind. It's why I hide in the first place. When I'm hidden away in my host's mind, things in this world return to their natural order. It's also why I'm protective of my host."

"Believe it or not, Applebloom is as troubled as you are. You both value your secrets, and you both have lower stations in life. It truly saddens me that you've been placed in these positions. But it's because of these circumstances that she's so private, and in turn, I respect her wishes. It's why I'm so protective of her secrets. It's what brings her the most happiness."

The Whisperer noticed Twilight beginning to squirm slightly on the bench beside her and smiled to calm her uneasy mind. "It's okay, Twilight Sparkle, you can tell me what's on your mind. I'm here to listen to you."

Twilight rubbed her hooves together, uncharacteristically bashful in front of the Whisperer. Truthfully she wasn't fully convinced that she wasn't just going to be killed at the end of the exchange, and that everything the immortal said was some elaborate lie in order to trick her into letting her guard down. But in practice that didn't make any sense. Who goes through so much effort to humiliate you if they're just going to slit your throat?

So what was happening then? Was the Whisperer going to kill her or not? It sure didn't seem to be the case; if anything it almost seemed like she genuinely wanted to help. Which… was something of an alien sensation. In Twilight's experience help was just a thinly veiled justification for screwing somebody else over; that was how the laws of St. Orangeberg’s inner districts operated.

Which begged the question: did the Whisperer really want to help Twilight? Because if so then she could solve the farmer situation without invoking the wrath of the Executioner. But… would that be asking too much? She didn't want to piss off the Whisperer any more than she already had by making excessively greedy demands.

Applebloom softly chuckled in that powerful echoey voice of hers. "I can read the confliction on your face as plain as any story. You wish for my help regarding your current problem."

"Y-yes," Twilight stammered, "If...that, that's al-alright, m-ma'am."

The Whisperer couldn't help but let out a cheerful laugh. After a short minute, however, she decided to get up off of her bench, and walk away from downtown. Twilight didn't wait for an invitation to follow her. "I've always liked Twilights. The way you all think and act, there's something deeply innocent about you and your sisters. No matter what obstacle you may face, you'll always respect others. For most that can be attributed to Ponyville, but for you..."

Twilight didn't understand what the Whisperer was saying, she knew it was profound, but didn't understand why. She still didn't know what the immortal meant by 'sisters' and it almost sounded like there was more than one of her.

Looking back at Twilight, the Whisperer smiled, "Well. I wish to help you, at any rate." She stopped and looked directly into Twilight's eyes. "I will Unbind Applejack for you.”

Twilight's jaw dropped immediately. Was...was it just going to be that easy? Was the somehow friendly Whisperer going to solve Twilight's problem for her without hesitation? What was the catch? Nothing was this good.

Applebloom held up her hoof in a way that indicated she wished for Twilight to repeat what she was about to say. When the unicorn also raised her hoof, the Whisperer smiled. "Repeat after me: I, Twilight Sparkle, unicorn and Hunter."

"I, Twilight Sparkle, unicorn and Hunter."

"Hereby invoke the power of Sound in order to guide my following course of action." As Twilight repeated the line, Applebloom conjured a gold-coloured apple. "I take this parting gift for the purpose of removing a Binding's hold." Twilight took the apple in her own hoof, certainty entering her expression. "And in return I protect the secret from minds untold."

"And in return I protect the secret from minds untold." At the last word, Twilight felt a flood of information enter her mind. She knew that the way to unbind Applejack was to have her eat the apple. She knew that the Executioner would be handled by the Whisperer. And finally she knew that...

...that...

...that she was now bound to the prevention of anyone finding out about Applebloom's secret...

Twilight screamed.

15 Shades of Freedom - Finale

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The dark oranges and pinks of the sunset hues were finally giving way to the light and dark blues of another night over St. Orangeberg. Much of the district had quieted down considerably from the day time hours. Some shops were still bound to be open, but the lights favoured homes over businesses.

A rare exception to both options stood resolute under the darkened sky. Not a home, a business, not even a service building, but a farm. A farm that stretched out into the wildly untamed yonder outside the Partyville outer border. Looking out on such a farm you'd find trees aplenty, fields of crops, and greenhouses dotting the landscape. And among that endless stretch of fertile land, a pony stood; a simple smile, a worn-out-looking stetson, and a hoe gripped in her hooves.

Applejack stood alone, as she often did, out on the farmland she was cursed to. It wasn't five years ago that she was going about her life, delivering fast food in her part time job at the wok, when 'Whoops! Guess that mugger wanted to eat more than your customer! Hope you like knives to the chest!' She refused the urge to scratch at the wound that didn't exist anymore.

But forget being dead, no, that's for chumps. As it turns out, ghosts are both real and have some kind of weird secret society, and the douche in charge takes away Applejack's ability to speak English, Binds her to some stupid plot of land and says, "get to work!"

Applejack rolled her eyes at the memory. Apparently there was some hierarchy to the whole system, but she didn't feel the need to bother with any of it; the whole thing was just a waste of time. They even had the gall to ask her to work for them and be higher up their dumb power system. She couldn't refuse faster.

The years really start to blend together when you don't need to eat or sleep. Truthfully she didn't know if she'd been a ghost for five years or fifty, but it didn't rightly matter. What mattered was that she had to do a thing and she did it. Yes, doing literally anything else would be a welcome distraction from her lackluster afterlife, but thoughts like these distracted her, so she shook her head, sighed, and got back to tilling the land.

That is until she saw a pony walking her direction. It was hard to make out who it was at first, but it specifically wasn't that freeloading waste of space Rainbow Dash, so at least Applejack didn't have to yell at anyone right now. She had to strain her eyes, but whoever it was, they were dragging their hooves in the path, looking almost defeated.

Applejack scraped her hoe across the soil for a minute longer before the pony got close enough to actually make out. It turned out to be the unicorn from earlier that morning. The… purple one that didn't introduce herself. The mare had a lot of questions about Applejack, suspicious questions that Rainbow Dash answered, before the unicorn looked like she was caught hiding something and then finally left.

Really, she was obviously hiding something. Which was further proved right when the head of the society came and looked at Applejack's thoughts. Not that the blonde mare minded, it was annoying sure, but the situation didn't involve her. Or at least she didn't think it did, she didn't want it to anyway.

The purple unicorn walked up to Applejack looking completely defeated. Her eyes were distant, she was quiet, and she just stood in place once she walked up to Applejack. The farmer though, would much rather have this unicorn do something, help her, or leave her alone.

"C-cześć?" Applejack cautiously greeted, she really had no idea what this unicorn's deal was, or how to approach the situation. She almost tried again when she saw a shiny golden apple being levitated over to her.

"Eat this," were the unicorn's only words. She stood there silently, looking down at the ground in front of her.

Applejack probably shouldn't have taken the apple. This unicorn was a stranger, and a suspicious one to boot, there was nothing trustworthy about her. But she was already a ghost, so what could be the harm?

The Earth pony took the yellow fruit, her teeth chopping a piece off into her mouth. Immediately she began to glow a deep golden as whatever magic was in the apple was transferred over to Applejack. She hardly had time to think about what was happening when, just as suddenly as it started, the magic swirling into her body vanished, dropping her to the ground.

Without pause, Applejack knew she could leave the farm. She… she could relearn English. She could be free!

APPLEJACK COULD BE FREE!

She pulled the unicorn into as large a hug as she could, tears of joy streaming down her face. "Dziękuję bardzo! Jesteś moim zbawicielem!"

The unicorn, who Applejack now knew was named Twilight, slumped out of the hug and started walking back towards town. Applejack followed, leaving the hoe on the ground behind her.

---

Wind blew through the trees under the darkened sky as Applebloom walked through the forest outside Partyville. She smiled contentedly as she strode forward with purpose. She didn't blame the Whisperer for showing pity to Twilight. Yeah she'd love to get a few return kicks in, but whatever, apparently the world was busy doing that for her.

She had to give it to the Whisperer though, tricking Twilight into protecting her secret was brilliant. Applebloom knew the thing in her head was smart, but this was next level. She was still giddy about the whole deal.

Good thing Twilight was so passive, otherwise the next while where they'd have to get to know each other would probably suck.

Applebloom's smile widened as she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing outside their clubhouse for her. And they were even talking to each other, which was a plus. "Hey guys," Applebloom called out to then as she walked closer.

They both turned to her and met her part way through the clearing. "So how did your part go?" Sweetie asked, noticing Applebloom's chipper attitude but asking regardless.

"The plan's off, girls," Applebloom explained, to her two friends’ immediate confusion. "Nona took care of everything."

Scootaloo looked like she was in the process of exploding before she heard the name and momentarily paused only to raise an eyebrow. "Nona?"

Sweetie Belle turned her head and nodded, "yeah, that's the name Applebloom gave the Whisperer."

Seeming to accept this answer, the pegasus returned to popping a blood vessel, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE PLAN'S OFF?!" She practically screamed. "You mean I followed that worthless freak around and I don't even get to kill her anymore?!"

"Relax Scoots." Applebloom waved off the threat nonchalantly, "I never said you can't, I just said we don't have to anymore." Applebloom walked past the two of them and headed inside their clubhouse. "Our problem is over, probably forever, and I'd rather focus on other things. Like getting that deck of cards."

Sweetie Belle smiled as she looked between Applebloom and Scootaloo - the latter having visibly relaxed - and deeply sighed. It turned out they wouldn't become murderers quite yet, and that sat right with her. If they could just spend all their time not planning to kill anyone, well, her life would be a good one.

The three headed inside, light spilled from the windows as the lamp was turned on. Shortly after that some moving of objects could be heard and finally the television sparked to life, filling the air with sounds of cheap entertainment.

---

Two Days Later

The sun was shining brightly over a peaceful Partyville; things were, while busy, peaceful. A certain blue pegasus was walking down the sidewalk with a list in her hooves, mumbling to herself as she walked.

Stopping at an intersection, she looked up at the final location on her list. If this place didn't have what she was looking for, no place did... and she'd have to start her search over again next week.

When the light changed she crossed the street and walked up to the door. Thankful that the shop was open, she entered.

"He-llo," greeted a heavily accented voice. Rainbow Dash turned to see who had spoke to her and saw three ponies at the counter. The first was a pink Earth pony that she could swear she'd seen before, who was talking with the second pony Rainbow Dash saw, Twilight!

Oh, and Applejack, but that didn't matter, her friend Twilight was here. Rainbow Dash didn't remember her working here the last time she came into Oakfield's, but here she was, behind the counter.

"Twilight!" A nasal voice called her as she was talking to Pinkie. It was excited and annoying, she thought. Twilight turned to see who it was only to see that it was that weirdo horror enthusiast. It was bad enough that she was stuck here, now she had to deal with this prism's wet dream of a horse.

"I didn't know you worked here! Now I can come visit you all the time!"

Twilight didn't answer, she didn't need to, she knew that her life in Partyville was going to be a headache inducing nightmare, and it wasn't even a week before the blue one found her. She dropped her head onto the counter in front of her.

"UUGGGGGGHHHHH..."

Author's Notes:

I'd like to thank everyone that followed along and read my story. It was a silly and serious romp into the unknown that is an AU two years in the making. I had fun from start to finish, except for the times I didn't, but I especially enjoyed porting the story from a comic into an actual fiction.

Truth be told I like this format a lot better, it allows for more creativity and freedom with the world I wanted to build. Which I believe is the strongest aspect.

If you have any questions about the characters, the story, or any detail that I purposefully left vague as I went, I'll gladly answer them in the comments section below.

A big shout out to run.trivena, my editor and the biggest source of kicking my ass to not be so lazy. Ghost Hunter Twilight wouldn't be a third the quality of what it is now without her.

Secondly I'd like to thank evg-zhabotinsky for regularly commenting on the chapters and engaging me in conversation. It's people like you that make these things fun to do.

But that's it, you heard the story, get out now, XD