1. Declassified, Part One

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Moon and stars, glinting down on the roofs of Canterlot, and Aydin returning to the Night Court after another day of pencil-pushing. If it wasn't that, it was field missions, but he supposed paperwork was more relaxing than hitting the streets, even if he hated it. A rare moment of peace, indeed.

He glanced up at the royal castle, eclipsing the moon as it began its ascent and he began his trek through the gardens. He looked around at the hedges kept impeccably trimmed and the bushes of flowers that always seemed to be in bloom, no matter the time of year. The castle doors were always open as well, very much unlike the noble elite of Acadia, his home country. If a common man were to even look at some highfalutin' baron's house the wrong way, he'd be living in a cardboard box faster than someone could snap their fingers. Aydin scoffed absentmindedly. The truth was, that might have happened hundreds of years ago, but continued contact with Equestria and the surrounding nations had mellowed them out. It was then Aydin overheard some whispering, indistinct, but close by, and he looked to his right to see two Lunar Guards standing around one of the topiary bushes muttering to each other. He couldn't make out what exactly they were talking about, but he could definitely hear the term "pinkskin" getting tossed around. Aydin slowed, faced them and crossed his arms, and coughed. The two guards looked in his direction and upon seeing the Moon Emissary, immediately straightened up as if they hadn't been doing anything. "As you were, gents, as you were," he chided under his breath before he turned and left.

Well, the men of Acadia had mellowed out somewhat.

Aydin passed through the halls and arched corridors of the princesses' castle. Even after three years, he couldn't get over how...fluid the architecture was. Curved corridors and domed ceilings, graceful gold and silver trim lining the details of doors and stained glass windows. Truly, he was one of the lucky ones to be accepted here, the Sun Emissary notwithstanding. But then again, he wasn't here for sightseeing, and he picked up his pace has he navigated the halls straight to the Night Court.

In time, Aydin came to a magnificent door colored a deep obsidian, watched by two sets of Lunar Guards. He did nothing but bow to them graciously before he rapped on the double doors three times. From behind it, he hard a woman's voice call, "Enter!"

And enter he did, into a massive circular room separated into two levels, a ground floor and seats in the upper section obviously meant for larger audiences. The ceiling was domed and covered in murals of Equestria, historical scenes of the ponies working side-by-side. There had been a recent addition that covered up some old empty space in the painting, a depiction of Canterlot diplomats meeting ambassadors from Tifervale, Acadia's capital, for the first time. On the floor was a massive mosaic. Celestia had one just like it, but it had been installed on the ceiling instead, and was drenched in the symbolism of day. This one was Luna's and an outer ring held the sun and moon on opposite ends, locked in their cycle, and inside that ring were stars and the constellations, and a stylized depiction of Luna dead in the center, wings spread, arms raised; part of the cycle through and through. In the back of the room, on the opposite side of the doors, was a throne chiseled of lapis lazuli and obsidian, laced with dark purple velvet cushions and flanked by two more guards. On that throne was the Diarch of Night herself. If there was one thing Aydin could admire about Canterlot, they never did a half-assed job.

He strode forward without missing a beat and knelt down a respectable distance from the throne; the architecture was old news to him by now. "Your Majesty," he said after glancing up.

Luna nodded once and commanded, "Rise." He did so, and suddenly she went from sitting straight up and staring straight through him to leaning back and resting her head on her fist. "And now that we're done with those formalities..."

"You and your formalities," Aydin responded with a chuckle. He pushed himself back up and continued, "Any news tonight?"

Luna rolled her eyes, deep in thought, and muttered, "Hmm..."

"Oh, come on," Aydin interrupted. "Don't tell me you haven't heard anything. I reckon that's highly unlikely."

"You have not even let me say anything!" Luna chided with a grin. Aydin only rolled his eyes as she sighed and continued, "Of course I have an assignment for you. I have been hearing reports of multiple disappearances in Vanhoofer." She stood up and looked to her left, and the guard quickly pulled out several pieces of paper and deftly handed it over. Luna took it and walked down the small ornamental stairwell to her throne while rifling through the papers. "These disappearances...started approximately two months ago, if I am not mistaken."

She held out her hand and Aydin took the invitation to read the papers over. The first page was part of a newspaper from Vanhoofer, and one of the headlines read, "Multiple Disappearances in the South Side of Vanhoofer Leaves Authorities Scratching Their Heads." Aydin pursed his lips and his mouth turned downward. He flipped the paper over, and on the next page he saw several pictures, each one attached to a name: Thunder Tail, Star Eyes, Solar Cupcake, Sandy Shadow, River Breeze, Lucy Swirl, and at least twenty others. He immediately rifled through the rest of the articles. Interesting stuff, barring the dark subject material; every single disappearance was taking place close by a major club, and if the profile pictures were anything to go by, the targets were in the sixteen-to-twenty seven year-old range, ratio of two females to one male, and every single one was a pony. No other humans to be found on the list of missing persons, which immediately tipped Aydin off to who might be behind it all. "Bit of an odd lineup for a missing person's, I'd say." He was talking to himself, but his tone gave away his suspicions.

Luna was silent for a moment before she sighed mournfully, crossed her arms and shook her head. "I truly wish our ponies would take some initiative to combat these problems, and tell the human leaders to pass laws against such horrid actions on our soil."

"They won't. What the elite can't profit off of, they ignore. Still leaves me to clean up the mess, of course," Aydin commented.

"At least we do not commit violence against our kin for violence's sake," Luna said.

Aydin scoffed. "Well, humans aren't made of sunshine, cotton candy, and lollipops." He took another look at the papers and said, "Either way, I'll get it sorted and send you my report after I'm done. Shouldn't take me longer than...two days."

Luna nodded solemnly. "I trust you will. You have not failed us yet."

"Boy, will that be a cold day in Gehenna. That all?"

"For now. I have no doubt something else will surface before the night is through." She pointed to the doors and said in her most commanding, regal voice, "'Where mine hand shall point..."

"'...Thine blade shall strike,'" Aydin finished. He knelt respectfully and then turned to leave. When he pushed the double doors open again, he strode forward and hung a hard right, down the same long hall he was just in, but away from the entrance. His destination was the armory, and by now, he could probably walk there blindfolded.

This was the reason Acadia's peacetime status was constantly "tentative." Equestria, Yakyakistan, Saddle Arabia, and almost every other country in the world was always on edge around them, and the actions of the few always reflected badly on the many, but more than that, it was obvious that humans and ponies (and every other species on the planet) had completely different mindsets. Ponies seemed to have an innate sense of trust built into them; for humans, that trust had to be earned. And ironically, the fact that humans could engineer machines that could duplicate even basic magical spells was both their greatest asset and greatest downfall. The machines had been introduced to pony society to jumpstart some of their technological advancements and in return, those same machines could be enchanted to do things once thought impossible. On the other side of the coin, using an enchanted glass-cutter and security spell-negation bombs to rob priceless artifacts was one of many causes for concern. Granted, there were also ponies who went power-hungry and tried to take as much as possible for themselves, but those cases were always handled by the Elements of Harmony; few, if any, humans could be trusted with that power without finding a loophole to abuse.

Hell, the entire point of the Sun and Moon Emissaries was a kind of peace treaty to make sure Celestia and Luna didn't raze Acadia to the ground (and if some rumors were to be believed, cause mutually-assured destruction). The Sun Emissary was always the face of Acadia, however. Whoever was chosen as the Moon Emissary was relegated to working behind a black curtain. He'd be lying if he said he didn't prefer working behind the scenes, though.

Aydin huffed as he continued climbing the massive staircase that led to the Royal Armory. He came to the top and was given a view of a long hallway, lined with large windows. There were no other rooms in this wing of the castle, because the door at the far end was all that was needed. Aydin proceeded forward, opened the door, and was greeted with weapon racks with swords, pikes, halberds, and body armor. On the left side, all the supplies were colored gold and white, accents of fiery reds and oranges. On the right, armor and weapons of deep blue, purple, and silver, but he was not interested in those. They were for the standard guards, and he walked past them, to a cross-connector in the middle of the room and turned right. There was another door at the end of the hall, which he strode up to and held out his arm, his palm facing the door and he muttered, "Ego diataso es, anoixe."

The door flashed blue and opened on its own after a second, revealing not an advanced stockpile of weapons, but instead, a utility belt, a scabbard, and some sort of thin, S-curved structure made of brass. Aydin took the belt and scabbard and attached both to his waist, and he pulled the hilt out, revealing the blade inside. It was a shortsword, though the cutting edge was slightly curved back near the tip. So maybe that made it some sort of cutlass or scimitar hybrid, he didn't care. The blade was actually colored blue, and the top ridge was dark purple to match Luna's fur. The hilt was forged from bright platinum and hammered into the shape of the crescent moon, and wrapped in dark leather. It was called "Knight's Fall," and according to Luna, an ancient earth-pony smith named Searchforge gifted it to her many, many years before she became corrupted by the Nightmare Force. The brass structure, on the other hand, was a more recent addition...

Aydin sheathed the sword and grabbed the twisted hunk of metal off the hooks it was hanging on. It was meant to conform to the curvature of the spine and Aydin threw the thing over his shoulders and held it over his back. When he brought it closer, he felt magical tendrils reaching out, latching onto his clothes, and when he let go, the brass mechanism locked itself into place. Aydin then reached back and pressed on two circular buttons on either side of the central ridge in the middle. They both popped open and the machinery inside shot out with them. It was some sort of semicircle piece of tech mirrored on each side, and Aydin grabbed both and pinched them together. They had been connected by wires, and he took the completed circle and placed it the back of his neck. It attached itself to his skin and began beeping, running calculations, and Aydin felt his pecs twitch involuntarily. He ignored it and walked away; the first time it had felt weird, of course, but he'd gotten used to it after three years. The door sensed he was leaving and closed itself up behind him.

He walked back down the hall and out of the armory, and back down the stairs he came from. He only went down one flight this time, because there was a balcony on the floor below him, just down the next hall and on the left. Aydin pushed the glass doors wide open and stepped out into the cool night air.

The door led to the other side of the castle, which meant he didn't get a view of Canterlot proper, just the outskirts and the train station that led from here to Ponyville and Fillydelphia. He did catch a glimpse of a blimp crossing the starlit sky, and judging by the earthly bronze color and added stabilizers and the smoke coming out of the back, it was an Acadian model. It was the only way humans could legally enter Canterlot.

Aydin took his eyes off the blimp and stared off into the distance. There were no lights, only long stretches of empty grassland between here and Vanhoofer. He cracked his neck, and with but a thought, wings popped out of the sides of his backpack. The supports were made of brass, and it was modeled after pegasus wings, and the chip attached to Aydin's neck allowed him to control them through electrodes connected to his brain and muscles. But again, it was mostly metal and synthetic fiber; by all accounts, there was no way it could carry a human. But the greatest human engineers and the brightest unicorn minds told those accounts to shove it and step aside, and the result...

Aydin stepped onto the marble railing, took a deep breath and flapped his wings once. They heaved, and just like that he was in the sky, and the wings kept flapping and he kept climbing until he was soaring among the clouds. He straightened himself out parallel to the ground and his wings angled themselves so that when they beat again, he was pushed forward. In no time, he was speeding along though the air, toward Vanhoofer.

The result was something truly magnificent in the right hands. There was a reason Aydin's codename was "Meteor Star."

Three clubs scanned and so far, no luck. Downtown Vanhoofer was packed and it should have given Aydin an ample stockpile of suspicious subjects, but so far...nothing looked out of place.

He snorted in frustration and stood up to full height. He'd been jumping from rooftop to rooftop, highrise to highrise, scoping out the streets below. The wings made him look like an ordinary pegasus with the lack of light from the moon landing on him, which, granted, he was hoping he didn't get spotted anyway, but it might at least allay suspicion from potential perpetrators for a few seconds. He had a flight machine on his back, not an invisibility cloak, for gods' sakes.

Aydin continued to watch the club front entrance and all the ponies stumbling out of it either intoxicated or trying to control their intoxicated friends. There was some shouting, some cheap dares going around, some spilled cider...the works. He kept watching as patrons kept filing out, one after the other, though not always immediately. Sometimes, there would be two or three in a row, then a long break, then three to five more would walk out later. Aydin didn't know exactly how long he'd been sitting there, but he wasn't willing to spend more than an hour on this one. The street was fairly busy, and while it wasn't an urban center, it was crowded enough that whoever was doing these kidnappings wasn't going to do it with so many watchful eyes in one location.

Even if some of them were wearing beer goggles.

"Ho-kay..." He stretched his back and heard several vertebrae pop back into place and groaned. "...Ow. Time to get a move on. What time is it?" He lifted his sleeve and took a peek at his watch. Almost eleven-thirty. "Damn, what a bloody slow night. Been at this for almost three hours and nothing to show. Hope my report won't look too dull," he muttered as he pivoted and began to walk away, his wings unfurling. Before he could take off, however, he thought he heard muttering, but he brushed it off. It wasn't until he heard someone laugh from the back alley below him that he took his hearing seriously and quickly dropped down to his knees and retracted the wings as he glanced over the edge of the building. It wasn't too high, only about four stories, so he could get a clear view of the alley from where he was, and what he saw found and kept his attention.

There were three humans standing around near some garbage cans and dumpsters, and one of them bashed another on the head with his fist, and must have done so pretty hard, because the receiver yelled a few expletives and covered the place he was hit with his hands and began to massage it. Aydin could barely make out what the offender, who wore some standard Tifervale high nobility robes, said afterward. "...cork in it, you scum-sucking fuc...Do you want...? We can't risk being spotte...before I get myself a new mai..."

Aydin squinted at them intensely, as if limiting his eyesight would suddenly make his hearing ten times sharper. He tried to hide himself as much as he could against the roof to limit his exposure. Sure, the three of them couldn't see him at the moment, but who's to say an errant shadow cast by the light of the moon would give him away? Either way, part of him knew he had his ticket. Whether it was his ticket to this missing persons fiasco or not was to be decided, but he knew he'd found something. The third one spoke up, but he was obviously a lot smarter than the other two hooligans, as he kept his voice too low for Aydin to hear. His body language, on the other hand, gave everything he needed to know away.

He spoke something to the others, and tossed his cigarette on the ground and put it out, and jerked his head back before he turned to leave. The other two followed him. Aydin had no idea what the speaker said, but all the same, he watched them walk down the alley, away from the main streets, and when they were a few paces ahead he stood back up and ran across the roof and leaped over to a next one over as he continued tailing the other three. Seeing any more than two humans anywhere that wasn't Los Pegasus or Canterlot was an unusual sight. More than two humans hanging out in some grimy alley and whispering to each other? Aydin would have swooped down and detained them right then and there if he didn't think tailing them would lead him where he wanted. He jumped across another gap between buildings and landed in a combat roll, muffling his sound and displacing the shock, then popped back up and kept himself low as he skittered to the edge and peered over.

The three humans were still grouped together, but they quickly took a turn down a straight alley, relative to Aydin. He glanced from them back to the skyline before he he huffed and grit his teeth. Aydin jogged back, pivoted, and ran full tilt back to the edge before launching himself across the gap, his wings acting as stabilizers that gave him just enough airtime to make it over, and he landed without a sound. Still, he took a cautious glance over the edge of the new building he was on just to make sure. From the looks of it, the three strangers were still walking at a leisurely pace. Aydin supposed he'd give himself the benefit of the doubt this once; none of those three looked like they knew how to tell if someone was following them without knowing someone was following them.

They kept walking up the alley until they came to a T-intersection and turned left, and Aydin followed them from the two-story building at the end and he glanced over the edge. To his surprise, he found his search over; the three of them filed through a rust old door. The building he'd stopped on must have been an office with a built-in factory floor, once upon a time; this was most likely his jackpot. He pulled away from the ledge and got a look around. This building was once one of many offices, if he had to hazard a guess. "Now if I was going to nab innocent people," Aydin mused to himself, "I'd stash'em all underground."

He walked over to the opposite side of the office building, back onto the roof of a lower story that was still connected. He also made a mental note to check whatever was in this part of the place when he got inside. Aydin approached a window and drew Knight's Fall from its scabbard. The hilt glinted in the moonlight, and Aydin raised it up as if he were studying the edge to ensure its sharpness...except he was holding the thing the wrong way.

After a moment, the blade began to leak celestial blue energy that coalesced into flames on the sword. Yet, no heat came from it, but Aydin could feel the magical energy radiating away in deep pulses. He wasn't a unicorn, or a pony at all, of course, which meant he could overload the thing with magical energy and not have to worry about the "backdraft" giving him a near-fatal aneurysm. Well, not completely. It was a standard byproduct of the arcano-augmentation process; it would take an extreme amount of magical energy from an artifact to cause one as opposed to the amount needed to cripple a pony, but using his innate magical power...that was a different story.

Without any more hesitation, he plunged the sword into the glass window in front of him, and the sword didn't stop until it was halfway through. Aydin pulled down, and the sword kept cutting the glass like a hot knife through butter. He pulled Knight's Fall out and immediately stuck it back in horizontally, dragging another line from the bottom of the cut he just made to the other side of the window. He repeated it twice more before he had cut the entire glass pane out, and he stuck the sword back into the top edge and pushed up on the hilt. Little by little, the glass became loose and easier to move before Aydin pulled it out with his fingers and set it down on the roof before he clambered inside.

He found himself in a small office that had been cleared out, a couple chairs had been fitted together to make an ad-hoc sofa, desks and cabinets were shoved up against the wall, and there was a well-designed but ultimately ratty throw rug on the floor. Aydin pursed his lips and glanced around once more before he stalked over to the door and pressed his ear against it. He didn't hear anything and he didn't see any light coming from under the frame, so he unlocked the door and pushed it open. The hall was dark, silent, and devoid of life, so Aydin crept out, shut the door behind him, and made for the stairs immediately to his right and took a precautionary glance around. When he didn't see anything moving, he began to sneak down the stairs as quietly as he could with a utility belt full of pouches and a sword in a boiled-leather scabbard. The journey was long, longer than usual due to Aydin creeping through obvious enemy territory and trying not to get caught out in the open and unaware. He was a good fighter and he knew it, hell, that's what he'd been trained in, but he didn't like overestimating his chances.

After several minutes of excruciating pain as he inched his way down the stairs, he reached the bottom, and was greeted with a beige metal door, and even a few feet away, he could hear a commotion on the other side of it. He huffed in annoyance and looked around for a moment before he spotted a vent cover to the upper-right of the door on the wall. He unsheathed his sword and wedged it under the bottom edge. "It's a good thing I never considered option one," he muttered to himself as he pushed one last time and the bottom screws screeched and flew out of their sockets. Aydin wasted no time clambering up and into the vent with the help of his wings. When he was inside fully, the vent cover rattled shut.

Just in time, too, because before he could crawl forward, he heard the door open along with some confused muttering, completely indistinguishable from the commotion inside whichever room they'd come from. He heard the door shut again and that was enough to spur him onward. Aydin crawled forward and then hung a left and kept moving. After another few seconds, he could hear voices, getting louder. He grinned to himself. He was getting closer to his target, he could feel it. He eventually found that the ventilation shaft went vertically up about seventeen to twenty feet and he clenched his jaw in thought for a moment before he placed his back against the wall and his feet on the opposite wall and began to work his way up the shaft the old-fashioned way. When he got to the top after several minutes and dozens of expletives, he gripped the edge with one hand, allowed his body to fall, then gripped with the other hand and pulled himself up into the next section. From there, it was a straight shot to another ventilation grate.

When Aydin peered through it, he could see an entire open floor, cleared out and now stuffed with people. The human kind. It must have been an assembly floor before the office was vacated for whatever reason, but now there were dozens, maybe a hundred humans all standing around and talking with each other. There were cigarettes, alcohol, and probably several different illegal substances in both Equestria and Acadia. After pushing his head into the vent walls to get a good view of the surroundings, Aydin found that, to his luck, the vent cover was directly over a horizontal beam. "Well, on the bright side, maybe this earbash is exactly what I need," he said as he reached over to grab his sword.

It took some fiddling, but he eventually managed to turn Knight's Fall around (after cutting into the ventilation shaft's walls) and stuck it into the upper half of the grate. Trying to push it down to break the vent open was a touch more difficult than normal, laying on his stomach, but the arcano-augmentations came through and he was able to force the grate. It clattered open, but over the conversations and the height difference, no one noticed as Aydin slinked his way out of the shaft and onto a support beam. From here, he could see the entire situation for what it was worth: all kinds of humans, gathered in an empty warehouse and surrounding a stage to Aydin's far left. There was another human standing on that stage, dressed in simple leather pants, boots, and a vest, and wearing sunglasses. Aydin watched him intently, and noticed, in the low light, there were other people moving behind the slaver, far away. He could barely make out something metal in the dim light, but the man's voice suddenly pulled him out of his concentration.

"Alright, alright, you mooks!" he bellowed into a megaphone. "Break time's over! Hopefully you've had your beer, or dragontail, or a pinch of snuff. Let's get back to the good part, shall we?"

This comment was met with scattered cheers and a couple "Hear, hear's" as the crowd began to congregate around the stage again. Aydin kept his eyes on them, but made sure to stare down the man onstage most of all. "Excellent," he exclaimed. "You folks really seemed to enjoy that last showcase! And you're in luck, because there's more where that came from!" This was met by more scattered cheers, some of them probably too drunk to see straight, and the man turned around and reached down to pick something up off the ground. The crowd went quiet enough that Aydin could make it out clearly; the metal he saw were chains.

In one grand motion, the announcer pulled on them, and out of the darkness came stumbling several ponies, shackled hand, hoof and neck. All of them cried out in pain, despair, and some in anger, but they were drowned out as the crowd erupted into excited hollering and whooping. The announcer kept holding the chains, glanced out to the crowd and smirked. "Whaddaya think?" This was met with more cheering. Aydin was stuck staring at him for a minute before his blood began to boil.

"Slaver," he muttered through gritted teeth.

"Now let's see..." the slaver began as he paced down the stage, eyeing the seven ponies he'd brought forward. "Who's going first?"

This was understandably met with looks of terror in the eyes of the ponies. A couple started to sob quietly to themselves as the slaver perused the row, but eventually he came upon a mare with a cherry-red coat and hair with pink highlights, and wearing a crimson red dress that was now ripped at its ends. The slaver glanced her over for a moment before he said, "Ah, what the hell? They always bid higher for the girls." He bent down, unlocked the shackle that kept her attached to the main line of ponies and grabbed the loose chain. He yanked on the cord and the poor mare stumbled forward and fell to her knees. There were bags under her eyes and several scrapes on her legs, but other than that she looked well. Of course, not all scars appeared on the surface. "Alright people, this lovely lady is premium. Do I hear fifty kronos?"

"Sixty," a thug in the back called.

"Sixty kronos." The slaver pointed at the buyer and called, "Sixty kronos, do I hear sixty-five?"

"Seventy!"

"Seventy kronos-"

"Eighty kronos!" someone else hollered.

The slaver pointed to the man who just spoke and called, "Eighty kronos, going to the gent in the fine fur coat! Going once-"

Someone else called out, "Eighty-five!" and the slaver pointed to them before someone else one-upped their bid with ninety, and then again with ninety-five kronos, then up to a hundred. "One hundred kronos! Do I hear anything else? like I said, this one's practically a steal!"

"A hundred an' fifteen!" someone else yelled.

"A hundred-"

"One hundred twenty!"

The slaver pointed at the man who just spoke, somewhere in the middle of all the chaos and declared, "A hundred twenty kronos for the lovely lady in the red dress, going once...going twice...going three times..."

No more offers.

"Sold."

There was a split-second before the crowd began either cheering or jeering whoever had won, but it was enough time for the context for all the shouting to change. It was joyful and excited for a less than a second before it rapidly switched to shock and horror as a blade flashed in the lights and the slaver's head was sliced off and hit the ground. On the stage was Aydin, weapon drawn and dripping with blood, facing the back wall after having dive-bombed down from the rafters and cut his head off in one swift motion. He immediately turned around and raised Knight's Fall over his head, and the blade began to burn with blue fire; he let loose a furious shriek and slammed it down as hard as he could, creating a line of raging cerulean inferno and crumpling a quarter of the stage. Not only that, but it also burnt a dozen humans to pathetic little cinders.

And that's when the massacre really got going.

Aydin threw himself into the crowd with reckless abandon, slashing at anything that was too close, and managed to cut down several more people in a whirlwind of blood. They could run, but Acadia's laws still applied to them, and the laws stated that no matter how the humans felt about the ponies, all crimes against them were liable for the harshest punishment; crimes committed on foreign soil were punishable by death. No questions asked.

He cut through another man in fine evening wear, covering his overcoat with blood and Aydin watched the life fade from his eyes. He always tried to go for the neck, as it was the fastest way to down a target, but sometimes he missed. Oh well, on to the next one, and all that. He caught a glimpse of someone else running at him in his peripheral vision. Some angry-looking woman brandishing a stiletto knife. He huffed and pivoted on his heel and pushed backwards, his wings keeping him balanced and upright. She swung, missed, and when she had bent forward, Aydin pushed himself back toward her, brought up his sword, and plunged it through the back of her neck. Acadia or Equestria, the high society is all the same, he thought to himself as she crumpled to the floor. The bogans think they know how to fight until they're watching themselves bleed out from the belly.

He swung his sword arm back on reflex and nicked another man on the chest; he'd turned those preemptive strikes into a habit. His assailant recoiled, glanced at his chest, and then came back in swinging, with about eight more people following him, carrying billy clubs, knives or their bare fists. Aydin grimaced as he blocked one blow from the front, knocking the one who tried to hit him off-balance, and he turned around to slash someone else's neck open. It distracted a couple others long enough for him to stab them both in the gut, jump over them, stab a couple more attackers, then turn his attention back to the first one who tried to hit him. He raised his arm and threw Knight's Fall, impaling the man straight through the head; he didn't drop until Aydin recalled the sword to his hand by force of will. "You're all a buncha no-hopers!"

Thoroughly riled up, the remaining members of the party came for him at once, and in their rage, he found his opening. He finally let loose, stabbing through the neck neck, slicing heads off, even flying circles around them to disorient them before he dove back in for the kill.

In no time at all, everyone on the warehouse floor was either dead or bleeding out slowly.

Aydin sheathed his sword and surveyed his handiwork. There was blood on the walls, the floor, arms and legs had been dismembered and flung in every direction, someone's intestines were slowly oozing down the brick wall to his right, all in all, the place was a mess. "...Transaction canceled. Sorry, mates," he muttered.

He nodded one last time, and turned around to face the stage. The ponies they'd enslaved were still cowering in the shadows in the back, and Aydin approached them slowly. The closer he got, the more he could hear them whisper: "Oh, Celestia, it's the Moon Emissary," "What's he gonna do? What's he gonna do?" and the like. Aydin ignored them. The job might have been thankless, but even he hated seeing innocent lives suffer. He walked up to the headless corpse of the emcee and began rooting around in his pockets and sure enough, he found the key.

Aydin stood up straight and held the key up as he walked toward the chained ponies. "Relax, kids, you'll be home free soon enough. Don't get your knickers in a twist." He approached the pony at the start of the line and unlocked his restraints, then moved on to the next one, and then the next one, and so on down the line. Eventually, all of them were free, conversing among themselves and consoling each other where need be. Aydin, on the other hand, was speaking with a mare who looked no older than him, colored bright yellow and dressed up in casual jeans and a tee shirt.

"And you said there were others?"

"Y...Yes," she said, "down in the basement. They were holding all of us there, ch-chained to the walls."

"...I see. On behalf of my people, I apologize. We'll find the ones this group of hooligans sold off and send'em back."

"It's...it's no big deal," she murmured.

But it was a big deal, and Aydin knew it. He thanked her for her time and let her return to her kin and face away from the gory mess he'd made, and Aydin himself hopped down and walked over to the wall, where a phone was hung up. He picked up the receiver and held it to his ear, and was met with droning white noise. The line was still operational. He nodded in satisfaction and held up his hand to the number pad, but before he could dial the proper authorities he noticed movement to his right, and turned his head on instinct.

What he saw was the glinting, shimmering outline of someone in a hooded robe, trying to make for a side exit out of the warehouse. It was obvious they had cast some sort of invisibility spell and counted on no one else being wise enough to notice, and in truth, he may have never noticed if they didn't decide to move when they did.

"Oi...!"

Aydin's call caused the outline to whip its head around to face him only for a second before the spell dropped. The figure was wearing a light-grey cloak, the hood covered up their face completely, and aside from that, they were wearing a multitude of violet robes under the cloak, embroidered with blue and silver. Not even one second later, they released a blast of magic from their hand and it threw the side exit door wide open and they dashed out. Aydin wasn't going to have any of that. "Oh, no you don't! Get your sissified arse back here!"

Aydin practically threw himself outside after the mysterious perp and glanced left and right to see them making a beeline down the alley to his right, toward the main roads. Aydin took off after him. "Hold it right there, ya loony!" he yelled after them. "If you stop now, I won't beat you within an inch of your life!"

The perpetrator said nothing in reply, but did launch a spell backward to try and hit him. He juked to the side and the spell went wide while the stranger themselves made a hard left around a corner, but Aydin kept pace with no problems. The masked perp threw a couple more spells back as he kept chasing, and he still dodged them both with no trouble. As soon as the second spell sailed past him, Aydin grunted, "Alright, mate, excessive use of force it is," and the brass wings spread out behind him. They flapped once, causing a gust of air to blow forward. It must have alerted the stranger something was up, because they turned around and seemed momentarily shocked. That was all Aydin needed to surge forward and yell, "You can't run from justice!"

What happened next went almost too fast for Aydin to process: he was sailing through the air for a moment, about to body-check the guy he was chasing hard enough to launch their skeleton out of their body, the runner turned around, and at the last possible second, landed a spell on him. It didn't kill him, but Aydin was suddenly sent tumbling into the gravel below as his wings locked up. He bounced, rolled over himself, and kept spouting curses the whole time until he finally stopped. Aydin lifted his head up and spat some loose gravel and dirt out of his mouth, but when he tried to lift himself up, his legs refused to move and he fell back to the ground pathetically. He rolled over to see what had happened, half-expecting the runner blew his legs off, but thankfully, that was not the case. There was only a magical binding over his legs and wings.

Easy fix. Aydin reached down, drew his sword, and swiped at the binding on his legs first and the spell came undone, and then he hacked away at the binding wrapped around his wings. First the right, then the left, then he was free. Aydin jumped up and glanced around. The suspect was gone, obviously, but Aydin didn't spend much time on the ground. He pushed himself into the air, far enough to see above all the buildings around him, but low enough he could make out whoever might be walking by. And yet, despite all that, he couldn't see the suspect he was tailing, no matter where he looked. It was like they'd just...disappeared.

He looked around for another moment in the air before he touched back down and started walking back toward the warehouse. "...Fuck me dead," he muttered under his breath. He moped all the way back to where he started, though he did feel a little bit better by the time he got back inside and resumed his earlier task of calling the Vanhoofer authorities. He remained in the warehouse room with the other ponies, idly making sure neither they got into trouble, nor did anyone else come looking for it. In time, the authorities surrounded the run-down office building and quickly set about escorting the captives out and back home. The head of city security, however, was busy chatting with Aydin to get his full input.

"...and that was when you decided to cause a ruckus, I'm guessin'?"

"Didn't bring enough biscuits and tea for us to chat over." Dry wit, thy name is Aydin Ambrose.

The head of security nodded as he scribbled on his notepad. "And how many of'em do you think were there? Roughly speakin'," he said.

Aydin quirked an eyebrow and gazed up at the night sky, deep in thought, before he answered, "Eh, eighty-seven, give or take."

There was a pause before the pony asked, "They all still in there?"

"...Whatever's left of them," Aydin shrugged.

The chief of security pursed his lips, nodded solemnly, and scribbled, "Another bloodbath," on his sketchpad. "...Alright, then," he said. "Thank you for letting us know, Sir Ambrose. We'll..." The old pony glanced back at the extra guards he'd brought with him and he had a feeling they were gonna need extra mopping buckets. "...We'll take it from here and notify Acadian customs they'll have bodies to identify."

"Thank you, and make sure you add notes for whoever raised them. Tell them they did a shit job," Aydin added as he turned and walked away. Before the other pony could interject, he was already up and away into the cold night air. In mere seconds, he was soaring above the highest rooftops of Vanhoofer and back toward Canterlot. He flew on in silence for a minute, before he decided that while he was in transit and not being useful, he may as well offer a progress report to Princess Luna. He reached down to his utility belt and picked up a small brass box on a tether. It was a state-of-the-art radio, built by the best artificers from Acadia, and enchanted to allow communication between two individuals in real-time without the need to keep it powered by batteries; which is to say, it was little more than a glorified walkie-talkie. Aydin lifted it up to his ear and spoke into it. "Princess Luna, you there?"

There wasn't even a brief pause before he heard her voice reply, "I am, Aydin. Is something wrong?" in crystal clear fidelity.

"No, nothin' wrong. Just checking in on what other scum-sucking fruitbaskets need to be dealt with."

"Ah." Luna went quiet for a minute, and Aydin heard papers being shuffled. "Yes, here we are. There have been a string of petty thefts in Detrot, in the Saddler Park area. If I may pry, however, how was your missing persons search?"

Aydin paused to consider his words before he replied plainly, "Eventful." He heard Luna scoff on the other end.

"Did the authorities bring enough body bags?" She meant it jokingly, but the accusatory edge to her voice was there. Subtle, quiet, and barely noticeable, but there.

"How should I bloody know? It's my job to kick arse and take names, I'm not a damn mortician," he replied with an eye roll. "By the way, I'll be sure to mention the full situation in my report, but one of'em gave me the slip."

he heard Luna pause, then murmur to herself. It was indiscernible but sounded concerned. "What did they look like?"

"Too wrapped up in cloth to tell. Must have been a unicorn, if the magic they were tossing around was anything to go by," Aydin replied.

"...I see." Aydin was expecting a lot of things, but being curt was last on that list. "Continue with your nightly routine and contact me if anything just as...intriguing arises."

"Will do. Goodbye." Aydin let go of the radio and let the wire it as attached to snap it back into place. With a swift about-face and a sharp twist of his torso, he adjusted himself to fly south by southwest, toward Detrot. Despite the fact that it was now definitely later than twelve-thirty in the morning, Aydin felt like it was going to be a long night. He couldn't see, of course, but all the way back in Canterlot, Luna was busy penning a letter. She didn't want to have to mail it...but it was better safe than sorry.

Connor awoke to a bright new day in his little cottage on the east outskirts of town. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and he already felt twenty years younger. Though he accounted that to how well he'd adjusted to Ponyville. He got himself out of bed, changed into his favorite brown tee and jeans, and set about making himself some breakfast. Protein options were rather limited in Equestria due to the prevalent veganism, but they were at least tolerant of importing and stocking actual meat. It wasn't like humans would ever try to to eat a pony anyway.

He slammed his coffee maker shut and let the machine press the liquid out of the beans, and while he waited, he pulled out some eggs and sausage. He was also about to pull out the pancake mix before he decided against it as something better left for a rainy day. Connor cracked the eggs into a shallow pan and took out a separate one for his sausage and lit his stove. The thing was charcoal-operated, due to the fact this house was one of the older ones in the town and hadn't been upgraded with everything an Acadian was used to, but he didn't mind. It was his house and he loved the place. Always homey, never too dull. While the eggs and sausage sizzled away, he slipped on a pair of grey loafers and opened the door up to the outside. It was clear and sunny as previously mentioned, and he also noticed the flag on his mailbox was up.

Connor walked up to it and turned the head on a pivot point built into the post itself and opened it up. He reached in and felt several envelopes; probably bills, ads, classifieds, bank notes, spam...

He froze when his hand brushed up against parchment that had no envelope over it and he remained still for a minute before he blinked and brought himself back to his senses and grabbed all his regular mail first and then reached inside again to pull out what had given him pause. What he retrieved was a scroll, rolled up and the wax was stamped into the shape of the royal crest. Connor stared at the letter for a moment before he haphazardly stuffed all his letters into one pocket, even ignoring the smaller ones that fell out, and unfurled the scroll.

His face went from curiosity, to confusion, to pensiveness, then to apathy before he rolled the scroll back up and walked back toward his front door (after gathering the letters he dropped). He sighed after a moment. "Sorry, Luna," he muttered, "I don't think I can help you out on this one."

2. Declassified, Part Two

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"Large flat white, double whipped cream with caramel sauce, double the snow, chai infusion, make it sing."

"One usual, comin' right up."

Aydin reached into his pocket and dropped twenty bits on the counter, which the barista took, placed in the register, and relayed the order to the kitchen while Aydin himself stepped out of line and found a chair near the window of the Jump Start Cafe. He frequented this place more often than the castle kitchen, simply because the coffee reminded him of home. He had brought his mail with him, most likely just bills, tax forms, spam, ads, and the like that he could sort through and toss anything he didn't need.

There was a lot of that in the mail today. Stupid ads he didn't care about and spam. Thankfully, he only got a couple letters from the Canterlot archives and the bank asking for bimonthly information. Kind of like taxes, but a little less boring and less stressful, which Aydin could never get enough of in his life (eustress, not taxes). He had made two stacks of letters, one mentally labeled "Important" and one labeled "I could care less," and placed another bank note in the important stack. Still, as he sorted letters, his mind couldn't help but drift back to the previous night. Something felt...wrong about that unicorn. What were they playing at? What made them so strong? And of course, why would a unicorn be at some slave auction in the first place? He was about to go back to sorting the mail when he heard his order rattled off and he quickly got up, took it, and got out of the cafe and made his way back through the streets toward Canterlot Castle.

He didn't think about much else besides how to elaborate on a few of the points he made in his report when Luna inevitably asked him about them as he entered the castle gates. There were guards marching about as usual, and he bustled by some rather snobbish aristocratic ponies as he entered the main foyer of the castle. They only made a quick glance filled with disdain at him before looking away. The air of haughtiness was so repugnant he almost choked, but he kept walking forward until he was in the back halls of the castle. He was still going over how to present his report about the incident before he noticed movement as someone came out of a perpendicular hallway and a lightning-fast jump backward was the only thing that kept them from colliding.

"Oh gods, Aydin! I didn't see you there, I'm sorry!" a human woman exclaimed. She had long, auburn hair and was wearing a lacy, gold and white dress to match, and her hands were full of scrolls and parchment.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Aydin replied. "Just trying to get to Princess Luna as fast as I can. This report's burning a hole in my satchel."

"...Am I really that ugly to you?" she joked.

Aydin only quirked an eyebrow and glared at her with an unamused expression. "Can this wait, Sienna? Seriously, this one's urgent."

"You always say that," Sienna retorted with a wry smile. "Besides, we both know I'm the only social interaction that keeps you sane." Aydin rolled his eyes and groaned quietly. "Anyway, how've you been? Haven't seen you for two whole days! Don't get me wrong, the guards are nice and I love Princess Celestia to death, but it wasn't the same without you."

After a second, Aydin grinned at her slyly and remarked, "Oh, I bet you do," he snickered. Sienna pursed her lips and looked away as a light blush graced her features. Aydin respected her enough not to tell another living soul, but that didn't stop him from teasing her about her crush. "But as for me, I was doing paperwork and sleeping," he continued. "Life's only two constants."

Sienna furrowed her brow and pointed out, "Aydin, I'm pretty sure the saying is 'death and taxes.'"

"Yeah, but both'll kill you. One if you have too much, the other if you don't get enough."

Sienna rolled her eyes. "Really, I don't think I'll ever understand how you manage to fly around all night, going into the dark of gods-know-where and stay both sane and in one piece. At first, I thought being the Sun Emissary sucked, but when I learned what you did night after night, I felt like Adrea herself had come down from heaven and told me to stop whining."

Aydin scoffed. "I manage it by being more bloodthirsty than the poor blokes I'm sent to do in."

"Oh, whatever." Sienna looked down at the watch on her wrist and said, "Anyway, I guess I've kept us both in the same place long enough. Celestia's got meetings booked throughout the whole morning and somepony's got to make sure the minutes are all written down." She huffed and added, "Gods, you're a lot alike. Sometimes I wish she'd just take a break."

Aydin flashed her a cheeky grin and said, "Maybe bat your eyelashes at her enough and she'll sit down and have lunch with you."

Sienna's face went red, which she tried to hide behind her scrolls as fast as she could. "S-shut up...!"

She raced away, leaving Aydin to chuckle and just as quickly wipe the grin off his face. He glanced around cautiously and then made his way back to Luna's court. He'd hoped no one had actually seen him smile, heaven forbid.

In no time, Aydin was in Luna's courtroom, and he raised himself up from kneeling in front of her; the princess herself descended the ornamental steps to talk to him in a more personal manner. "So..." she began, "how was your excursion to Detrot?"

"Bog-standard," Aydin relayed with a shrug. "Asked a few people which houses got robbed, hid behind a passing cloud, caught the thief in the act, had the police escort the bludger away."

Luna nodded, placated by his answer. "Well done, Aydin."

"Thank you, your majesty," he replied, bowing. "With that said...I'm guessing you read over my report about what I found with the missing persons incident? Or ponies. Whichever."

Luna's mane seemed to slow in its undulation, practically reflecting her mood. "I have," she said, "and I have...ugh."

Aydin quirked a brow. "Bad news?

"Mmm...not so much 'bad news' as it is a...necessary change of directive in this missing persons incident."

So "bad news," but phrased nicely. Aydin pursed his lips. Making changes to the plans set out were nothing new in his line of work, but that never made it any easier to take. "Well, great. What is it then? No leads? Already found the bodies? Shipped off to the other side of the world?"

"Oh, no, no, no, none of those," Luna explained. "It's...a bit more personal than that."

Fuck me dead. Aydin was silent, and he let it stay that way for a moment before he piped up, "...Perfect. Bloody perfect. What is it?"

It was Luna's turn to be dead silent. She stood still, her arms crossed over her chest, and sighed. She snapped her fingers and a scroll appeared in a flash of cerulean blue light in front of Aydin. He jumped slightly, but quickly took the scroll and the aura around it vanished and he unfurled it. Aydin only took one look at it before he glanced back up and deadpanned, "This is a list of three people."

"Indeed," Luna said. She paused a moment and gritted her teeth. "It is your team."

Aydin's response was instant and indignant. His gaze hardened and his mouth closed and became little more than a wiry line. "What?"

"Aydin," Luna decreed as she held up her hand, "before you get any rash ideas, let me speak."

"Absolutely not! I specifically told you when I first joined, that I would not, would never even consider forming teams! I work better alo-"

"AYDIN AMBROSE!"

Luna's booming voice made Aydin cease talking, but he certainly wasn't scared and didn't stop glaring at her. "We have read your report. We have studied the entire situation over the past two days, and it is our belief that there is far more to this case than meets the eye. Allowing you to work alone is a risk, and it is a risk neither we nor our sister are willing to take," she stated. "Now listen to us and listen well. You will go out. You will find everypony on that list. You will bring them back here, so we may brief them on your next step. Should my worries prove unfounded, you shall be free to disband this team and work at your own leisure."

"And what is it you're worried about, exactly?" Aydin shot back.

Luna sighed and seemed to compose herself a bit more. She ran a hand through her hair and said, "I...have given your description of the unidentified unicorn some further thought and my fear is you...may have to deal with a cult."

Silence.

"A cult. A fucking cult?" Aydin cried. "In Equestria? Okay, Tifervale, understandable, Ebonward, understandable, hell, even if I was being asked to look into a cult in Apurias, I wouldn't question it, but here? What kind of cult am I supposed to find here?"

"That is the other reason I'm worried," Luna explained. "Because I don't know. Equestria has never had any...secret society problems since before Celestia and I rose to power, so I am, erm...'out of the loop,' as it were."

The Emissary groaned and covered his forehead with his hand and quickly gritted his teeth. Forming a team had never sat well with him. He was convinced either they were too slow on the uptake and would botch his plans or they'd end up getting injured on his watch, and that wasn't going to reflect on him well. "Do I have to?"

"...You sound like a petulant child," she scolded. "So I will tell you 'yes,' you must. Don't even think about coming back here without all of them."

Aydin glared at Luna for another couple seconds before he turned on his heel abruptly and walked out of the court, grumbling the whole time he went up to the armory again.

If it took only two hours to get to Vanhoofer with the brass wings equipped, Ponyville was only about fifteen minutes away. Aydin cruised through the air at a comfortable altitude, further down than the city of Canterlot, and he could clearly see the sleepy village lying a few kilometers ahead. The sun was shining, the breeze was balmy, and there were almost no clouds in the sky. The pegasi weather teams had done a good job today.

Pity Aydin didn't have time to enjoy it. And even if he did, he'd be too busy being pissy about running around like a messenger boy to gather some people he didn't want to talk to into a team. He kept his gaze stone-cold as he approached Ponyville and took in the immediate area: town hall, which he could see from Canterlot on clear, sunny days, surrounded by cozy little cottages, and he could easily see the ponies who lived there going about their daily business, unaware that he was above them and on a god-given mission. Not a mission he liked undertaking, but Luna could probably fry him up crispy with a look, so...

Aydin pulled his body forward and the wings adjusted. He began to fall for a few meters until he dynamically touched down on the ground in front of town hall, bent over with one hand on the ground and his wings spread out behind him. Several ponies had stopped dead in their tracks and had their eyes fixed on him, but all Aydin did was stand up slowly and dust off his dull violet suit. "Move along folks, official business," he said. Most of the ponies who heard him quickly turned their heads and went back to their days, pretending he didn't exist. Aydin, on the other hand, marched forward with ironclad determination prevalent in his steps and his eyes.

He marched down one of the main streets, beset on all sides by cute little houses and cute little horses. Some of them took one look at him and promptly looked the other way; some would notice him, smile and wave. Aydin only nodded back. He could easily say he'd rather not be here, as the quiet life was not something he would ever get used to, nor something he wanted. At least he'd learned that much back in his childhood in Tifervale. After several minutes of walking, he came to a four-way crossing where more ponies were walking by, pulling carts, carrying fresh produce, manning little kiosks. Aydin looked around and sighed in annoyance. He didn't want to, but if he didn't ask for directions, he felt like he'd be running in circles. He clicked his tongue and spotted a mare with thick, curly orange hair and carrying a large rucksack on her back. Aydin could barely make out the cutie mark on the back of her hand, a bunch of carrots. "'Scuse me, miss?" She paused and looked around for a moment before her eyes locked with his. She pointed to herself with a quizzical look and Aydin continued, "Yes, you," as he took a step closer. "I need some help."

"Oh, of course!" she exclaimed, a smile instantly coming back to her lips. "Anything for...the Moon Emissary, right?"

"Yeah," Aydin said. Before she could say anything else, he asked, "I'm looking for someone. Bloke named 'Connor O'Malley,' I was told he lives here. Where can I find him?"

"Connor? He's usually at his house this time of day. You'll find it on the outskirts of town, shouldn't be hard to find. Look for the one that's got more brick and mortar on it than straw and wood," she said as she pointed away from the town center.

Aydin didn't stick around, and simply said, "Thank you, miss," before his wings extended and he took off again. He was in the sky for only a few minutes as he scanned the area, and lo and behold, he saw a lone house dozens of meters away from the outer ring of cottages that made up the crowded center. He flew toward it, and as he got closer, he could see it looked like some sort of horrid bastard child of a Ponyville cottage and a Bolgue townhouse: The roof was sloped like a Ponyville cottage, but it was all built with red brick and supported by ebony-black wood. The windows were angular, and he could see an iron fence around the whole thing. Aydin slowed his descent and touched down right in front of the front porch, which he stormed up and knocked on the door. "Connor O'Malley?" he called. No answer. Aydin grimaced and knocked harder. "Mister O'Malley!?" Still no answer. Aydin gritted his teeth, and this time, smashed his hand on the door so hard the hinges threatened to break out of the wall from the strain. "Connor O'Malley, open this goddamned door right now before I break the fucker down!"

"Gods, who's making all that ruckus!? Keep it down, will ya?"

Aydin paused and strained his ears. That voice didn't come from inside the house, it sounded too distant, not muffled. It sounded like it came from the backyard. He hopped off the patio and went around the bend, walked toward the backyard and found, to his surprise, a man wearing a sun hat, tee shirt, and shorts tending to a garden of tulips, lilies, asters, and begonias. In fact, the whole backyard was a garden, covered in flowerbeds, statuettes, and mischievous little gnomes in their pointy red caps. Aydin almost got lost in the humble splendor of the garden, but his mission quickly took center stage in his mind and he cleared his throat. "Connor O'Malley?" he asked.

The man glanced back at him and made eye contact. His skin was ruddy, his eyes golden. Laugh lines were developing at the corners of his mouth, made more pronounced by a light five'o'clock shadow and the fact he was smiling slightly at Aydin. "So, is this the guy who's threatening to break my door down?" he quipped. He stood up and adjusted his hat. "The Moon Emissary himself? Sheesh. Guess Princess Luna's conduct's worn off on you, all right."

Aydin paused a moment to process what Connor said before he sneered. "Awfully bold statement for someone within stabbing distance, you cheeky cunt."

"Aw, come on, I'm just havin' a bit of fun. Not often someone gets to talk to the arbiter of night himself."

"Yeah, because I'm not sent to do any talking. I'm sent to straighten buggers out." A pause, then Aydin added, "Either way, you need to come with me. Princess Luna wants to talk to you and a couple other people." He turned to leave, expecting Connor to follow him. Instead, the other human spoke.

"Oh, I know," he replied without skipping a beat. It caused Aydin to freeze in his tracks and whirl around to look at Connor with disbelief written on his face. "I got her letter a couple days ago."

"...Oh." Another long pause. Then, Aydin's steely will came back and he asked impatiently, "Well? We ain't got all year, and I'm a busy fucking guy."

Connor sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "About that...go back to Luna and tell her I can't help."

If he was dumbfounded before, Aydin was stunned speechless now. It didn't stop Connor from continuing, "It may not look like it, but I used to work for the princess, many a blue moon ago. But I'm a retired man now and I left that life behind me; let me have my garden and my little house and let me live in peace."

There was silence between them; only the gentle breeze and distant buzzing bees were the only indication noise hadn't been drained from the world. Connor remained there, resolute, arms still crossed and staring at Aydin. His mouth was neutral now, and he was determined to show Luna he wasn't about to come back after being burned...no, scorched. Of course, the worst part was that it was his own fault.

But then, something happened. Something Connor hadn't expected. Slowly, so slowly he thought he was imagining it at first, he saw a smile spread across Aydin's lips. His eyes widened, and Connor tilted his head as his eyes got wider, too. Then, the emissary started to laugh, and that got Connor to uncross his arms and stare at him in confusion. Aydin wiped his brow and exclaimed, "Whew! Oh man, you wouldn't believe how much of a headache you just saved me! Thank gods, I don't have to deal with more bloody people."

"What?" The corner of Connor's lip lifted and he tilted his head more.

"Princess Luna's got me running around, recruiting people for help." He scoffed. "'Help.' Gods. Like I need it. Thanks, mate, at least you're one less idiot I gotta deal with," he waved as he turned around and started walking away.

And yet, in the span of two seconds, hundreds of thoughts raced through Connor's mind. Most were him just reconfiguring his feelings, trying to make sense of a situation he actually didn't anticipate; he thought Aydin was going to drag him along on whatever Luna was planning for sure. Then, memories flooded in. He remembered that tone of voice Aydin used. He'd heard it once before, on a little girl who wanted to fight the world. When he looked up and saw Aydin's brass wings spread out, he felt his heart wrench and his stomach twist. His mind almost felt overloaded...until he made his choice.

"Wait...!"

Aydin stopped, his wings so close to flapping and sending him airborne, and he glanced back. There was now tangible annoyance written on his face. "Gods, now what?"

Connor had to take a moment to swallow the lump in his throat, but when he spoke, the uncomfortableness, the pain, drained away from his guts. "...I changed my mind."

It was Aydin's turn to freeze for a moment before he gritted his teeth and covered his forehead with both his hands and hot breath seethed through his teeth. "Oh, for fuck's sake, are you kidding me...? Why?" he hissed.

Connor sighed and shrugged. "Do I need a reason?"

"If you're gonna be working with me, you sure fucking do."

"...Eh. Spur-of-the-moment thing," Connor shrugged.

"Bullshit."

"If you wanna believe that," he replied. "Anyway, excuse me for a moment, I need to grab something real quick." Connor sidled past Aydin, who was still glaring at him hard enough that he might've spontaneously combusted if he was able to reliably cast magic, and rounded the corner and Aydin could clearly hear the front door open and close. He sighed in frustration and waited for a couple minutes before he walked up to the patio himself to keep waiting and make sure he didn't let Connor out of his sight. Soon enough, however, he came right back out, still wearing his tee shirt and shorts, but now sporting some sort of brass exoskeleton on his person. He was holding onto handles, and his feet were secured to hydraulics. On his back was a large tank of some sort, with switches and gauges poking out. He'd had also lost his sun hat and it made his dark green hair stand out, and it immediately made Aydin tense up.

"You...you were augmented...?"

Connor only smirked at him. "A'course. Practically a necessity for holding the esteemed position of 'Moon Emissary.'"

His comment managed to stun Aydin into silence for a couple seconds. "So that's what you meant by 'working for Luna.'" He scratched his chin and muttered, "Hmm. At least I won't have to supervise you like a six-year-old cripple, I guess," after awhile. He looked back at the...frankly garish contraption hooked up to Connor and asked, "So, what's that dodgy hunk of scrap supposed to be?"

In response, Connor only scoffed and clenched his fists. A pair of brass wings popped out of the sides. "It's the first version of your little fake wings. Gods, you kids these days...wouldn't know a good piece of Acadian tech if it slapped you in the face."

"...Oh." Aydin stared at the contraption for another couple minutes before he made direct eye contact and asked, "Will it still fly?"

Connor scoffed again. In a surprising burst of speed, he dashed past Aydin, flapped the wings twice, and he was off into the sky. Aydin himself watched him take off in surprise before he violently shook his head and raced after him. He lifted off and his wings flapped violently as he caught up to Connor, overtook him, and turned around. His wings compensated and beat in a manner that allowed him to face Connor; his arms were crossed and his face was set in a deep scowl. "Okay, you cheeky cunt," he started, "next time you want to show off, you'll bloody tell me, so I can shut you down before you get any bright ideas!"

"Aydin, where's your sense of humor?"

"That's 'Sir Ambrose' to you, you arse-munching sheepshagger!"

"Ah, stuck it up your ass fifteen years ago and never bothered getting it back out! No wonder you sound constipated!" Aydin's glare somehow got harder and he held up his hand and flashed his index and middle fingers at Connor, who only grinned and called, "That won't work on me, Sir Ambrose, I'm from Voliport!"

"Oh, rack off already!" he screeched back as he turned around to focus on the air ahead.

They went silent for another moment before Connor spoke up, still in high spirits. "So!" He laughed over the rushing wind, "Where are you dragging me next...!?"

Aydin reached into one of the satchels on his belt, unfurled the scroll, scanned it, and tied it back up before expertly putting it away in the high-altitude conditions. "Little place called 'Sunnytown,' it looks like. If I was you, I'd keep my damn mouth shut the whole way there."

"Whatever you say, boss," Connor snickered.

The afternoon sun was beating down on Equestria, harder on the dried grass surrounding the two neat little rows of houses and the magnificent tree at its very edge. Sunnytown was much, much smaller than Ponyville, as a given; there were only a few ponies out and about, and having two humans suddenly land right on the main road without so much as a how-do was bound to make a scene.

Aydin rose dramatically while Connor simply stood himself up, brushed off his shoulders, and smiled at all the ponies watching. Aydin glanced back, only to see the other man's happy smile flashed his way, and Aydin rolled his eyes and grimaced. He quickly looked off to the side and flagged down a pony with a tan coat and lush brown hair. "Oi, you!"

The pony and a couple others around him stopped and looked Aydin's way, and he pointed at his target. "Right there, in the fine polo and jeans, yeah. We're looking for a..." He trailed off and quickly pulled out the list to check the name before he finished, "'Night Glider.' Where is she?"

The pony flinched and looked around in a hurry before he pointed down the street, to where the tree was and said, "Um, down there, second house from the end of the row!"

Aydin only nodded at him and charged down the street. Connor stared after him for a second before he said, "Thanks, pal," and followed Aydin.

Every single house here looked exactly the same; Aydin was glad there weren't more than there needed to be. He approached the door of the second house from the end of the row and knocked loudly. He yelled, "Night Glider!" but when he got no answer, he scowled and knocked again. "Night Glider!"

The second knock did it. The door swung open revealing a mare dressed in an off-white bathrobe with minor bags under her eyes, moderate azure fur, and slicked back, white and light bluish-grey hair. "Geez, can't a mare get some sleep after a hard night on the job?" she muttered groggily.

"Well sorry, miss, but Princess Luna's requested me to retrieve you," Aydin said as he reached into his blazer and pulled out a small badge. It was carved from platinum, much like Knight Fall's hilt, and depicted the full moon with wings, and a large, unblinking eye in the center. It was his badge of office, but he rarely ever used it; it was usually reserved for actual detainment or situations like this, recruiting others to the cause...a function he was, obviously, reluctant to use. Night Glider saw the badge and her eyes bugged out. "Get yourself all presentable and we'll discuss where we need t-"

He was abruptly cut off as Night Glider slammed the door in his face, and it managed to hit him in the foot. His shoes were not meant to handle that much force being shunted onto them at once and he yelped in pain and jumped back, bouncing and holding his injured foot for a moment. The pain subsided after a couple seconds, but Aydin suddenly heard snickering, and glanced over his shoulder to see not only Connor covering his mouth to hide his smile, but a couple other ponies watched the whole thing unfold, too, and were also trying to stifle their giggling unsuccessfully. Aydin glared at all of them for a moment before he realized he had bigger things to worry about, as Night Glider was trying to dodge the draft.

Yes, that was definitely why she suddenly slammed the door on him.

Aydin glared back at the house, rolled his neck, and reared back on one foot, winding up a nasty haymaker. He drew his arm back to the breaking point, but just before he swung, the door opened back up to reveal Night Glider had not attempted to bolt, and instead had just changed into a sporty tank-top and jean shorts. Unfortunately, Aydin was too slow to process the information and swung anyway before he could stop himself. Luckily, Night Glider was much faster than he anticipated, and ducked down before the blow hit her.

On the other hand, that meant the kinetic energy was too much to control and Aydin was too slow in opening his wings to get his balance back. He stumbled through the door, tripped, and rolled head-over-heels across the floor until he finally crashed against the couch, upside down. There was now raucous laughter coming from outside, in the form of Connor and a couple other ponies who could see in laughing so hard it sounded like they might throw up. Not even Night Glider was safe, as she stared at him for a moment with her hand in front of her mouth and was biting her lip, trying to keep a straight face; she wasn't doing a good job. Aydin's mouth curved into a deep frown and his cheeks got slightly more red as he muttered to himself.

"...Gods, give me patience. 'Cause if you give me strength, I'll hurl someone into orbit."

Even as Connor and the other ponies were busy in hysterics, Night Glider quickly put on an apologetic face and walked over to help Aydin up. "Sorry, mister! I'm not usually so tired after a night of patrolling, but you caught me after the one time I had to work a couple hours over my shift," she explained.

She extended her hand, which Aydin swatted away before he rolled back onto his knees. "Brilliant," he muttered. "Now with that hilarious little misadventure out of the way, let's move." He stood up, brushed his suit off, and made for the door.

"Yeah, I'm honored and all, but I still gotta make some arrangements," she replied.

Why me...? Aydin groaned internally and squeezed his eyes shut. "You'll be compensated for every day you spend working for myself and Princess Luna, don't sweat those details," he said nonchalantly.

Night Glider laughed a bit and replied, "No, no, I mean, like...I gotta find somepony to watch my house, cover my security shift for town nightwatch, that sorta thing."

Aydin groaned and rolled his eyes as they both met up with Connor, still standing around in the street and grinning like a lunatic. "Did'ja have a nice trip, Sir Ambrose?"

There was a pause before Aydin growled something under his breath. He looked back at Night Glider and continued, in a less threatening voice, "Alright, alright, go get your affairs in order, or whatever it is you ponies do. Me, I'm gonna get a damn stubby. Where can I find drinks?"

Night Glider smirked and pointed down the rows of houses. "Party Favor's got a shop down there, third one from the end of the row on your left. It's not an actual diner or anything and he doesn't sell anything you humans would call a 'stiff drink,' but the cider's pretty good."

Aydin mumbled in displeasure again. If there was one thing he truly did not like about Equestria, is that if anyone went anywhere there wasn't a sizable human population, they'd be stuck drinking cider. Not even the hard cider they made could hold a candle to the stuff Acadia brewed. He huffed through his nose and glanced back and said, "You two should introduce yourselves." He looked at Night Glider, then pointed to Connor. "I think you'll like him. He's a fair dinkum dickhead, he is." Aydin didn't wait for a response, and he quickly trekked off toward Party Favor's shop while Night Glider looked back at Connor and extended her hand.

"Night Glider."

"Connor O'Malley, pleasure to meet'cha," he said as he grasped her hand. He bowed his head for good measure.

Night Glider chuckled. "Well, aren't you a gentlecolt?"

"Unlike some people around here," he said while shooting a sly glance at Aydin.

Aydin came back after only two minutes, complaining about the distinct lack of decent alcohol choices, and not long after, Night Glider excused herself and checked in with a friend just down the street to ask him about looking after her home while she was gone. The whole thing only took about fifteen minutes, but to Aydin, it felt like an entire year. "...And that's about all you need to know about where to find the cleaning supplies and how to use'em! Think you can handle it?"

"Can I?" Double Diamond replied with mock indignation. "Of course I can! What are friends for, anyway?"

Night Glider sighed in relief. "Thanks, Diamond. I owe you." She waved goodbye and pranced back to where Aydin and Connor were waiting for her, Connor doing some light window shopping and Aydin standing still at a statue, arms crossed and frowning at both of them.

"Are you done now?" he asked with an impatient edge to his voice when she came close.

Night Glider made a show of dusting her hands and said, "Yep! Everything's taken care of. You're free to drag me away now."

Aydin sighed in defeat and took a few steps as his wings unfurled. "Alright, folks. Follow me, single file." He wound his body up like a spring and pushed off, the brass wings flapped, and he was off. Connor followed in lockstep behind him and Night Glider brought up the rear. However, they hadn't been in the air for even a minute before Night Glider called, "Do we have to fly single file? It's actually a lot harder than it looks, Mister Aydin!"

"I really hope the last person on this list isn't a smartarse," Aydin muttered to himself. He ignored Night Glider's question and pulled out the list again. "Fuck me dead, does Princess Luna not read any census papers?" he asked no one in particular.

"What're you bellyachin' about now?" Connor called.

Aydin turned his upper body and yelled back, "Luna wrote down 'last seen in south Manehattan,' for the last person on this list." He angled his body to better catch the wind as they few southeast.

The two others followed his lead and Connor flew up beside him and suggested, "So ask around and see if anyone else's seen'em!"

"She didn't exactly specify where in south Manehattan, and that city's a big fucking place," Aydin countered.

There was a pause before Connor continued, "But I bet Luna told you not to come back until you found everypony on that list, right?"

"...I haven't even been a recruiter for one whole day and I'm already sick and tired of it."

The south neighborhoods of Manhattan were crowded with ponies, running every which way, and Aydin, Connor, and Night Glider were stuck right in the middle of all the foot traffic. They'd been asking around for the last member of Luna's list, mostly at bars and pubs where the public was most likely to gather. So far, no luck.

"Boy, Princess Luna picked a doozy for you, huh?" Connor asked as they sauntered down the sidewalk.

"Startin' to think the woman's lost her damn mind," Aydin muttered. They kept walking in silence until they came to the next crosswalk. The intersection was in the middle of a bunch of townhouses, and diagonally across from them was what looked to be a dentist's office. The sun was peeking around the higher skyscrapers, placing the time of day at about three in the afternoon. Of all the cities in Equestria, Manehattan was the most similar to Tifervale and every other major city in Acadia; the only thing missing was an industrial district with a perpetual layer of smog over it, along with diesel-powered cars racing over the streets. Equestia (or at least Manehattan) had taxis operated by ponies. Acadian dignitaries had thought it barbaric and equal to slavery, Equestria didn't see anything wrong since the ponies who manned those taxis had found their calling. Aydin looked back down from the skyline and pulled out his scroll again and unfurled it to look and shook his head.

Night Glider noticed his apprehension and said, "Hey, Luna said they were 'last seen' in the south side. They could be somewhere else in the city by now!"

Aydin snorted, "If you think I'm gonna run around this entire city looking for one person, you're crazier than the princess." He put the list away again and the trio waited for the street lights to allow them to cross before they continued walking down the street for about a minute before some subtle movement caught Aydin's eye; caught on the corner of a building that led into a back alley was a poster. Normally, he wouldn't have given it a second thought, but he could make out parts of words on it, and they seemed to be part of a name that looked very familiar by now. He quickly stepped to the side and snatched the poster up before the breeze could send it away and unfurled it. Night Glider and Connor stopped to watch him and read the poster as well.

It was of minimalist design, no lines and no detail besides the colors. In the center was a unicorn with an azure coat of fur and wearing a lavender cape, uniform, and wizard's hat on a stage, and that was where the simplistic design ended. She had her arms up, shooting sparks from her hands, all of it coalescing above her head in a kaleidoscope of purple, yellow, blue, and green, and from that cloud of magic came the title "The Great and Powerful Trixie: Magic Made Magnificent!" At the bottom, Aydin could clearly see, "Only at Carneighgie Hall."

He pulled out the list one last time and glanced at the whole thing. At the top was "Connor O'Malley. Current location, Ponyville," below him, "Night Glider. Current location, Sunnytown, directly north of Fillydelphia, northwest of Manehattan," and finally, "Trixie Lulamoon. Current location unknown, last seen in south Manehattan." Aydin lowered both, nodded, and turned to the other two and said, "Bingo. Let's move."

Aydin took a few steps forward as his wings unfurled and Connor and Night Glider were right behind him as he took off into the air. When they were all flying above some of the shorter apartments, Connor commented, "Astute deduction skills, Sir Ambrose."

"Shove it up your arse."

The flight to Carneighgie Hall took about ten minutes, and they all touched down right on the street in front of the doors; Aydin ran ahead of the other two who followed him, but lacked his fervor. Aydin practically kicked the doors down and he immediately walked up to one of the hosts and yelled, "Do you know where this woman went?" as he held up the poster.

The host, dressed in a snappy red suit and business skirt, immediately shrunk at the sight of the yelling human. "I, um, I think...no..." she stammered.

Aydin lowered the poster and his voice, but not by much. "Do you know who does?"

However, Aydin quickly found himself being restrained by Connor in the guise of putting his arms over his shoulders and gripping his arm in a friendly manner. "Sorry about breaking and entering, please forgive him. He's very high-strung," he said.

"I am not!" Aydin responded indignantly. "On the contrary, I want to get you people out of my hair before I pull it all out in frustration!"

Connor glanced back up at the host and joked, "Listen, I know we may not look it, but Princess Luna wants us to find the mare on that poster. Do you know somepony who does know where she is?"

"Uh...y-yes!" she stammered out. "I...I'll get the stage manager right away!" She dashed off and around a corner and was gone. After a couple minutes, Aydin glanced over his shoulder at Connor and quickly and roughly wormed out of his grip; Connor himself didn't seem to take it in bad taste, and it both amazed and disgusted Aydin that it seemed nothing could get under his skin.

The host returned with the stage manager, a stout old stallion with a walrus mustache, sideburns, and a light grey coat and darker suit to match. "A'right, whaddaya doin' in my theater scarin' my employees half to dea-"

Aydin reached into his suit and flashed his badge, causing the manager to choke, clutch his chest, and stumble back. "I'm here to find a recent visitor to this theater, 'Trixie Lulamoon,' by order of Princess Luna."

Night Glider grabbed the shoulder of Aydin's jacket and whispered, "Oh, and what're we...? Chopped lettuce?"

"You brick-brained brumbies're doing nothing but making my life way fucking harder than it needs to be," he hissed back.

It took another moment for the stage manager to compose himself and wipe some of the sweat off his brow from being scared half to death of the sudden appearance of the Moon Emissary, but when he did, he said, "Eherm, yes, well, about her, she, uh...I don't remember clearly, but I think her tour is taking her south, toward Baltimare, and she left yesterday-"

"Oh, for gods' sakes!" Aydin threw up his hands and turned around in a flash, and he was out the door again before anyone could get a word in edgewise. Night Glider was the first one to go out after him, and when she saw he was already up in the air, she took off, too.

Connor only paused a moment and watched them go. "Gotta admit, I admire his dedication." He turned back to the stage manager and host and nodded his head with a polite, "Thank you," before he turned and followed Night Glider and Aydin out of the building.

"...Now behold The Great and Powerful Trixie's greatest act to date: the legendary Chained Drake Dive!"

She then pantomimed levitating some chains and falling for about one second before Trixie brushed her hair back and muttered, "Then pretend one of the padlocks is stuck for drama, land mechanical dragon, escape, cue fireworks..." During periods of long travel, it's very important to have a hobby one can fall back on to pass the time. Reading, painting, craftwork, anything that may require concentration to make time go faster. Trixie didn't have any of that. What she did have was a flare for the dramatic which meant that her best way to kill time was to go over her show by herself, talking to thin air. Her wagon was crowded and lacked a bathroom, storage, or even a kitchenette, but she managed somehow.

"Those go off, Starlight steps up, throws some knives, axes, and shurikens, puts on the blindfold, blah, blah, blah..." She trailed off and absentmindedly began rubbing her chin. "Hmmm...I wonder if she'd go for throwing hammers. That were on fire." She paused to think for a moment and then went back to practicing her routine for a few minutes before she heard something from outside. At least, she thought she did. It sounded like someone yelled "Halt!" She perked her ears up to listen, but when no other sounds presented themselves, she shrugged it off; who even used "halt" unironically anyway? She continued for another moment before she heard it again

"Halt...!"

Trixie raised her head and looked around, now thoroughly confused, and then stepped lightly over the clutter in her caravan to one of the windows and opened it up. She poked her head out and didn't see anything, but she heard it:

"You better stop that caravan before I make it stop!"

Still confused and somewhat incensed, Trixie glanced up the road where the voice came from and subconsciously undid the spell that kept her wagon rolling. It ground to a halt and she ducked back inside, closed the window, and walked out the back door and around the caravan. At the front, blocking her path, were two humans and a single pegasus: Connor, Night Glider, and Aydin. Aydin had his hand on his sword and looked about ready to unsheathe it before Trixe appeared and he slowly slid the hilt back down. No one got a chance to speak before Trixie proclaimed, "Who are you, what do you want? You'd better have a good reason for stopping The Busy and Preoccupied Trixie on the road to her next show!"

Connor and Night Glider glanced at each other for a second; Connor looked more amused than anything, and Night Glider seemed ready to ask a few questions, but as soon as Trixie had finished talking, Aydin's stare hardened. He scowled as he slowly brought his arms up and crossed them over his chest. Connor was the one who cleared his throat and took a step forward. "Hello!" he exclaimed. "I, uh...guess you're Trixie, right?"

She nodded. "You are correct! No other pony has the same level of spectacle and finesse as The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Oh, you're a spectacle, all right," Night Glider chuckled under her breath.

"Oh, good! We've been looking for you. I-it's nothing bad, though!" Connor added, "We need your help."

"...Why, of course!" Trixie exclaimed after the realization set in. Her eyes were twinkling. "Trixie is always willing to help a fan!" She paused a moment and the happy expression on her face became more subdued. "Erm...although it might help if Trixie knew what she was supposed to be helping with..."

Night Glider pointed her thumb to her left, at Aydin. "You'd have to ask him."

All eyes turned to Aydin, who was still glaring daggers at Trixie and had his arms crossed over his chest. The silence went from dramatic, to awkward, to uncomfortable until Connor finally spoke up, "Uh...Aydin? You good...?"

Faster than anyone could react, Aydin took two steps forward, in long strides, so that he was face-to-face with Trixie and he stared her down. She tensed up and shrunk slightly; she was good at hiding her outward anxiety. After what felt like forever, Aydin finally spoke. "...I don't like your attitude."

"Attitude?" Trixie's mouth turned upward into a minor sneer. "What do you mean 'attitude?'"

"I mean exactly what I said. I'm a patient man, but your whole 'I like to talk in third-person' schtick is already old and I haven't even known you for more than five minutes," he growled.

"And what, pray tell, do you want Trixie to do about it...?"

"Drop it," Aydin stated through gritted teeth. "And pray that I never hear you doing it again, because if you do, I'm gonna duct-tape your mouth shut."

It was Trixie's turn to cross her arms. "You and what army?" Human or no, no one got to tell her how to run her own act.

"I am my own army," Aydin hissed as he jabbed his own thumb into his chest. "And this is what I was talking about when I said 'attitude.' Listen, missy, you may not like it, but this is my team you've been drafted into, which means you play by my rules, and if i don't want to hear you spout a bunch of complete and utter bullshit, you damn well better listen."

"Trixie will do as Trixie pleases, thank you very much!" she asserted. "Now, what about why you've come to enlist The Great and Powerful Trixie...?"

"I'm not enlisting you! Not for as long as you keep being a pompous prick!" Aydin yelled back. "I know your type. You're all fur coat and no knickers, say you'll do one thing and just go behind people's backs. You're so full of yourself that you think you can get away with anything!"

Trixie stared at Aydin wide-eyed for a moment before she felt her blood pump faster and her face heat up. "Well, for your information, I am nothing like that! Unlike you humans who would rather run from your own nation and come here, just to continually cheat and ruin other ponies' lives! At least I'm not some hairless monkey who gets their kicks by threatening the innocent!"

Aydin's face turned red in an instant, and he reached down to grab the hilt of Knight's Fall and roared, "You talk to me like that again and I'll cut your goddamned lips off...!"

Before either of them could come to blows, however, Connor interposed himself between the both of them with each hand placed squarely on Trixie and Aydin's shoulders. "Woah, woah, okay now..." he said as calmly as he could manage. "Let's uh...chill out for a moment, shall we...?" Aydin and Trixie struggled a little bit against his grip, but eventually settled down. "Hey, that's better. Now...whaddaya say we try this again? We all got off on the wrong foot. Or hoof."

Aydin and Trixie looked back up and glared at each other, searching each others' eyes, desperately looking for ammo to start a war. When he found none, however, Aydin squinted and said in a measured, slow tone, "Aydin Ambrose. Sixty-second Moon Emissary to Princess Luna."

"The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trixie. As you very well know," Trixie replied with the same air of coldness.

"Great!" Connor smiled at them both and relaxed his grip on their shoulders, but only slightly. "Now, can I trust you two to shake on it?"

Aydin and Trixie glared at each other for another minute before they both carefully extended their hands and shook, slowly and deliberately. It seemed to be enough to satisfy Connor as he smiled wider and stepped away from the both of them. "Hey, there we go! Getting along better already!"

Aydin took one step back and shoved his hands into his pockets and turned around. "Yeah, pleased to bloody meet you. Excuse me a minute." While Connor and Night Glider talked to Trixie and did some formal introductions and small talk, Aydin breathed in, out, and groaned. He reached down and plucked the radio from his belt and held it up. "Hello? Anyone there?"

"Hello, Aydin," Luna said over the receiver.

It had only been a dozen hours, but to Aydin, her voice felt like tasting red velvet cake. He sighed, and said, "Alright Luna, I got your little group of misfits together. We'll be on our way back soon." He glanced over his shoulder and looked at Trixie's caravan and grimaced. "...Expect us back in about two, three days...no thanks to you," he muttered.

Either she didn't hear him complain or she was hiding it really well. "That will be unnecessary, Aydin. However..." she trailed off. The pause made it sound like she was going to pull something she didn't want to. "We advise you and Mister O'Malley brace yourselves for a...a stressful trip."

Aydin's brow furrowed and he stared at the receiver for a second before the wheels turned and finally clicked into place. His eyes widened and he wheeled around and called, "Connor!"

The man himself glanced up from looking at a deck of cards in Trixie's hands, a puzzled look on his face. "Yeah?"

"Bite the pillow, Luna's bringing us back to Canterlot Castle!"

It took a moment for Connor to register what Aydin meant, but when he did, his face twisted into fear and he closed his eyes. Night Glider and Trixie looked confused for a moment before the area around them was bathed in deep cerulean light, it flashed, and just like that all four of them were standing in Luna's court. Night Glider and Trixie were the most surprised, obviously, and as she looked around and up at the ceiling, Night Glider drawled, "Woah...oh, damn..." She looked back down and called, "Wow, I never in my life thought I'd get to see the inside of Princess Luna's court! Connor, are you seeing..."

When she turned to look where he'd been standing, she saw him knelt on the ground and clutching his head and shuddering. It was then both she and Trixie became aware of another figure stumbling around close by. Aydin was busy holding his head as well, but unlike Connor, was staggering left and right and cursing to himself. Not yelling, but loud enough to be heard conversationally. She watched Aydin mutter a few more expletives before Night Glider looked back down at Connor and quickly knelt by his side. "Hey, uh...Mister O'Malley...? Are you...are you okay?" In response, Connor only extended his left arm. He seemed to be trying to reach for her, and Night Glider took his hand. "...Please, say something," she said, trying to keep her voice even and free of concern.

"I...I'm okay..." he gasped after another few seconds.

"What happened...?"

"Nothing...you need to worry about." Connor picked his head up and was smiling, albeit weakly, and he was still shaking like a leaf in gale-force winds. "If someone with arcano-augs get touched by a powerful magic spell, like a teleportation casting, the after effects are...not all that kind on the nervous system," he explained breathlessly. They all paused and whirled around when they heard something hit the floor behind them to see Aydin on his knees and still clutching his head. His face was barely visible, but he seemed to be bleeding from his nose and letting lose every swear he could think of. Connor smirked. "...Some of us just learn to handle it better as we age."

"Pardon my interruption, but do you believe you have your bearings now?" Everyone, except Aydin as he was still on the floor, turned to look at the throne in the back of the room. Luna sat on her throne, but not for long. She stood up and walked forward until she came within a few feet of the group and stopped. On reflex, all of them bowed down. She said nothing for a moment, but then...

"Aydin...?"

The other three took a quick glance over to see Aydin scramble to his feet and teeter like the town drunk for a moment before he settled down. There was a river of dried blood under his nose, which he tried to wipe off in a hurry. "...Call me an ambo first and I'll get back to ya."

Luna's eyes softened and she hurried over to Aydin and held him steady by his shoulders. "Oh, Aydin, I'm sorry! I know what happens when I use my teleport spell, but I did want to get you and your new team here in a timely fashion."

"What, you really think it's so urgent that you couldn't wait two days for us?" Aydin shot back as he massaged his temples.

The princess only grinned impishly at him. "No. I just know how impatient you can be."

"Oh, shaddap. And get off me, I'll be right."

Luna made a mock-indignant scoff and exclaimed, "And what makes you think you can take that tone with me...?"

"To be fair princess, you're hanging onto him like a doting mother." Luna turned her head to look at who had spoken, and saw that Connor had taken a step forward and was smiling at her; not his usual happy-go-lucky smile, but something a bit more...warm.

Luna stared at him for a moment before she smiled back and put her hands on her hips. "Well. It seems the years have not dulled your sense of humor."

Connor chuckled and took a light bow. "Best part about me, Your Highness. Can't let it go to waste."

"Wait." Everyone looked back at Trixie, who was busy staring at Connor and Luna. "Do you and the princess...know each other...?"

Connor, in response, lightly smacked his forehead and exclaimed, "Oh, right! I told him about it," as he gestured to Aydin, "but not you. But as it so happens, yes! You're speaking to the former sixty-first Moon Emissary!"

Trixie's jaw hung open and Night Glider's eyes widened and she whistled. "Wow. Guess I'm meeting all kinds of famous people today, huh?"

"Yeah, but about that," Aydin pointed out, "is there any reason you chose this gaggle of galloping goons over...oh, I don't know, literally anyone else?"

"Yes, but if I explained it to you, it would defeat the purpose of having you work with them," Luna said plainly. Aydin groaned, but she ignored it. "All the same, I have gathered you four and placed you together because I believe you will have the best chance of emerging victorious. Aydin Ambrose has made me aware of...something. Something I suspect to be linked to a cult of some sort, but what exactly, I am not certain, and what purpose they have must by found by you." Luna sighed and tented her fingers as she gazed up at the ceiling for a moment. "I wish I could give you more information, I truly do. But as it stands, it must be something you discover yourselves." She looked back down and asked, "But my question is, do you accept working on this team?"

The small group shifted a bit, but no one said a word...until Connor stepped forward. "Your Majesty..." he began. He looked up into her eyes; they were laced with something akin to sadness. Perhaps longing, but for what, only they knew. "I retired from your service ten years ago. I was the one who requested to be discharged, and you, against all reason, granted my wish." Luna's eyes got a little wider and her expression became more sullen. She shook her head subtly, but it didn't stop Connor from talking. "I suppose it would be in bad taste to dismiss yours."

"Connor, please..."

"Luna, please," he retorted with a smirk on his face. "I know I wasn't in...the best place when I left, but I'm back. And if you want me to walk through hell, I'll only ask which way I need to go."

Luna opened her mouth to speak after a long pause, but she closed it again and only nodded. She looked down at Night Glider and asked, "And you?"

Night Glider considered her words for a second before she shrugged and said, "Hell, I have zero idea why anypony would pick me for some super-secret-spy team, but I'm not gonna turn down a request from Princess Luna."

Some of Luna's smile came back through after that and she nodded to the last person in line. "Trixie...?"

Trixie only smirked at her. "Your Highness, there is nothing Trixie can't do! I'd be honored to help." She flicked her wrist and caused light pink sparks to fly out of her palm.

Satisfied with her answer, Luna turned back to look at Aydin. "Aydin," she began, "can I trust you to work with these ponies...and this person...as the sensible human I know you are?"

He stared at her, unblinking, for what felt like hours until his gaze softened and he said, "Of course. I can work with anyone on this team." A pause. "Except her...!" Aydin yelled as he pointed to Trixie on the far left.

"Wha...me...!?" she cried.

"This one's a liability! I'd rather be down one man than entrust my safety and well-being to some self-righteous wanker!" Aydin shouted as he stepped in front of Connor to get into her space.

"I am not self-righteous!" Trixie spat as she stepped around Night Glider to meet him. "I think you're the one proving to be an overly-sensitive bedroom hobby!"

"You take that back!"

"SILENCE...!"

Aydin and Trixie froze in place and turned their heads slowly to witness Luna towering over them, her eyes glowing blue and magic seeping out of the ground around her. Dread crept into both their stomachs and neither of them dared to move. "IF THOU CANNOT CONTROL THY TEMPER, AYDIN AMBROSE, THEN WE SHALL LOCK THEE IN THINE ROOM FOR A WEEK UNTIL THOU LEARNS'T TO CONTROL IT!

Aydin turned beet red and squeezed his eyes shut, while Trixie looked on with a smug grin on her face. "AND AS FOR THEE," Luna bellowed as she glared at Trixie, "DO NOT PROD AYDIN AMBROSE WHEN HIS TEMPER IS FLARED, TRIXIE LULAMOON! OR WE SHALL GLUE YOU TO HIM UNTIL THOU LEARNS'T TO HOLD THY TONGUE!" Trixie shrunk away from Aydin, who felt only slightly vindicated. Luna calmed herself from her outburst after a couple minutes; Connor looked unimpressed, though still cautious, and Night Glider had crouched down with her fingers plugged into her ears. "...Excuse my outburst," Luna sighed, "but I will not tolerate such antagonistic behavior in my court, a fact which you should be aware of, Aydin."

He turned an even deeper shade of red and Luna continued, "But let us put that behind us for now. I had servants prepare guest rooms for your arrival; you'll find them on the third floor of the west wing, to the right and all the way down the hall. I will discuss what must be done next at dinner...if you'd be willing to join me, of course."

"Of course," Night Glider said as she bowed.

"...W-why, The Grateful and Groveling Trixie would be a foal to refuse an offer for dinner with Princess Luna!"

Connor's smile returned in full force and he bowed graciously. "Your Highness, it'd be an honor." Luna only looked at him and shook her head with a smile of her own plastered across her muzzle.

"Sounds good. I'm gonna make myself scarce," Aydin said as he walked toward the exit. He was followed by Night Glider, then Connor, then Trixie, although she froze after a second.

"Wait!"

"Now what?" Aydin groaned.

Trixie said nothing to Aydin, but did give him an angry glare before she addressed Luna. "When you teleported us, Trixie was standing next to her cart, and now it's not here. You didn't-"

"It should be outside," Luna responded. She stared at Trixie for a moment before she noticed some desperation in her eyes; she must have loved that caravan more than she thought. "...You are free to stay there if you so wish. I imagine you'll stay in Canterlot for the night, so I'll have a servant fetch you for breakfast tomorrow."

Trixie's eyes lit up in an instant. "Trixie will happily take you up on that offer!"

She turned and dashed out of the court, leaving the remaining trio to bid Princess Luna and each other goodbye. Of course, when Trixie left, Aydin murmured a "Good riddance" under his breath.

3. All the Little Things

View Online

Connor opened the door to the room he'd been assigned, and for a moment, his breath was torn away. He remembered it; everything looked almost exactly the same. The king-size bed backed up against the wall, the velvet sofa next to the fireplace to the right, a walk-in closet next to it, the blue and silver throw rugs on the floor and the large glass door that led to a large, private balcony. He swallowed as he took it all in. "...It's like nothing changed at all," Connor murmured.

He walked over to the bedstand and looked more closely at it; the lamp had been changed, admittedly, but as he rifled through the drawers, he found...old photos. Old photos that had been left where he'd kept them, most likely untouched by Luna. There were old pictures of him when his beard and hair hadn't grown out; he looked so ridiculously young. He shuffled through the small deck and found another picture of him in his uniform, one arm resting against a handrail in the castle; that one was taken very soon after he was officially elevated to Moon Emissary. His uniform consisted of a royal-blue trenchcoat and burgundy polo with blue-grey slacks and boots. He sighed and smiled at the happy memories as he shuffled through a couple more photos before he found a picture of him and Princess Luna, side by side. She was at least an entire head taller than he was, but she was smiling for the camera. And his younger self, oh, he was beaming with pride. Connor still remembered that day, the first day he was sworn in. Still the best day he lived through.

He shuffled through a couple more photos, more happy memories, until he came to one with him in casual garb, in the castle gardens. he was carrying someone on his back, a filly of no more than eight, wearing plaid blue shirt, bright gold skirt, and several red ribbons in her dark violet hair. She was smiling. Laughing. They both were. Connor stared at the picture for another moment and then quickly reshuffled the pile and blinked away the mist forming in his eyes, then tapped the pile to straighten out the photos before he put them back. He slid the drawer shut and walked over to the glass door, opened it, and stepped outside. The sun was hanging low in the sky, Celestia's handiwork on display for all to see. Connor couldn't help but smile; he never got the chance to talk with her much, but she really was just as wise, caring, and beautiful as the stories from Acadia's founding days said she was. No wonder most young boys wanted to become the next Sun Emissary. He remained transfixed on the sky for another few minutes before he heard a gentle knock at his door, and then subsequently heard it open. He glanced back to see Luna herself stride through and into the room. He made no objections to his invasion of privacy and only smiled warmly at her. "Wow, time for dinner already?"

"Oh, no." Luna regarded him with a bright smile of her own. "I...came here because I wanted to talk to you. Do you still remember this room?"

"How could I forget? I only slept in here about...oh, a thousand times," Connor replied with a smug grin.

Luna quirked an eyebrow and kept smiling at him. "And was it to your liking?"

Connor chuckled and looked back out over the balcony's edge, and the castle gardens. "Oh, you can read me like a book." He paused a minute and then added, "I can't believe you kept all my old pictures."

"They were fond memories. I could not simply...throw them out," Luna said. "...How are you handling your, um...your..."

"Depression?"

Luna shrugged and her smile disappeared. "...I suppose that's one way to classify it."

"Ah...I'm working through it," Connor waved his hand dismissively. "Just my own little cross to carry." He looked back up at Luna and said, "I take it the hair-trigger temper is his 'defect?'"

Luna cast her gaze out across the sky and sighed, "Sometimes, I swear he's aware of it but doesn't wish to curb it."

Connor nodded solemnly and he joined Luna in her 'sun-gazing.' He broke the silence after a couple minutes. "They're so much alike," he mused. "Her and Mister Ambrose."

Luna placed a hand on his shoulder. "Connor." He turned his gaze back up to her. "Have you checked your wardrobe yet?"

Connor blinked a couple times before he took a nervous glance over his shoulder at the door to the walk-in closet. He slowly, deliberately let go of the handrail and walked back inside, with Luna right behind him. Each step felt like a herculean task, even though Connor had no idea what was waiting for him in that closet. Oh, he had an idea, sure, but no evidence to arrive at that conclusion. He took what felt like hours to reach the door, and the he cautiously gripped the knob. He twisted. He pushed. The door swung open. The closet was empty, save for three hangers to his left. On one rested a finely pressed burgundy polo, on the other a royal blue trenchcoat, on the last, blue-grey slacks, and under them resting on the floor were shin-length black boots. Connor's breath hitched in his throat, but after he over came the surprise, he took a step forward. He reached out slowly, and took the trenchcoat off its hanger first and regarded it with an artisan's eye; not a seam was different, not a thread out of place. None of his old clothes looked like they had aged a day. He stared at the trenchcoat for another moment before he began to shudder and embraced it like a long lost friend; in time, small sobs escaped his lips, and Luna quickly walked up to his side.

"After...after all this time..." he choked. Connor slowly looked up at Luna, fresh tears in his eyes. "I...I don't...c-can't believe th-that you...you kept it."

Luna regarded him warmly, and embraced him in a hug. "As if I would discard something so dear to me." Connor embraced her right back, sobbing lightly.

Somewhere else, on a rooftop garden holding arbors of ivy and potted plants of all colors and sizes, Aydin was busy. He wasn't training himself in the ways of combat, however, nor was he practicing his flight skills. Instead, his knees were bent and he was crouched down and staring intently at a group of flowers through a camera lens. His finger pressed down, there was a gentle click, and the Polaroid shutter snapped. After a couple seconds, a photo came out of the opening below the lens and Aydin snatched it out. He regarded his photograph fondly and nodded in satisfaction before he stood up and looked around the garden for his next subject.

He didn't need to look long. Right in front of him, framed by the wooden beams of the many arbors in the garden was the setting sun, its splendor written in pinks, oranges and vibrant reds across the sky. The clouds that covered it were bathed in color, making them look almost like oil paintings rather than natural weather patterns. "Ooh..." Aydin held up his camera and began straining his body in every direction to try and get a good angle. He stood up on his toes, then shrunk back down into a crouching stance, and tilted his upper body to the left, all the while turning the camera every which way to frame the shot perfectly. Eventually, he made a decision, kneeling down in the middle of the garden and getting the sun framed not only in the arbors, but also between two of the castle's spires as well, and he made sure to angle his field of view upward slightly for a more dramatic effect. He pressed down and the camera took a picture, and two seconds later, the photo was printed. Aydin snatched it out of the slit and looked it over; the more he did, the more his smile grew. "Aw, have a butcher's at this," he said to himself. He made a blow-kiss motion and muttered proudly, "What a beaut. I'll have to give this one to Princess Celestia."

Aydin walked over to a nearby table where he left a large folder and gently slid the two pictures he took inside. He then noticed, rounding a hedge, was Night Glider. As soon as she saw him, she perked up and waved. "Oh, hey, Mister Ambrose!"

His smile vanished and he muttered back, "...Aydin. And yeah, hi to you, too." Before she could keep talking, he turned his back and looked for more things to photograph, much to Night Glider's dismay. She didn't leave, though, instead opting to walk over and have a seat on one of the wooden benches nearby, a few feet away from the table. Aydin regarded her with a cautious look before he continued looking around the garden.

They spent the next few minutes in silence before Night Glider cleared her throat and said, "The princess really outdid herself, huh?"

"I guess."

Aydin glanced at a couple shrubs and brought his camera up. He hovered around them both for a moment before he took another picture, lifted it to his face, nodded, and continued on. He took a couple more pictures, one of a topiary bush from a worm's-eye view and one of a flower with a bee settled on one of the petals before Night Glider spoke again. "You, uh...really don't like talking, huh?" she asked.

Aydin glanced out from behind his camera and glared at her for a moment before he went back to his photography. "What tipped you off?" he said sarcastically. "No, I don't like talking to people. It's a distraction."

"Some distractions aren't all that bad, y'know," she replied. "And by the looks of it, you could use more."

"I have my camera and my job, thank you very much," Aydin replied flatly.

Night Glider leaned back and crossed a leg over the other. "Oh, come on. You have any friends?"

"Only Sienna."

"Who?"

"The Sun Emissary."

"Oh. Why haven't you made any more?"

"Because the more friends you make, the more likely you're gonna get burned." Aydin turned around and walked back to the folder with a few new pictures. "Sure, it might not be their fault, but so what? Doesn't just automatically take away the pain, now, does it?" As soon as those words left his mouth, Aydin's eyes seemed to widen and he glanced over at Night Glider, who was regarding him with a look of quizzical curiosity. He coughed and snapped his head away. "Erm...nevermind what I just said."

They both paused a moment before a smirk spread across Night Glider's face. "Well, and here I thought you just had a chip on your shoulder because it was fun," she replied snidely. "What was that little rant all about?"

"None of your damn business, piss off!" Aydin exclaimed defesively. He paused and looked to be going back to taking pictures for a moment before he stopped and faced Night Glider again. "And two, I do not have a chip on my shoulder!" He looked away again, and the two of them went silent for a few more minutes before Aydin seemed to calm down. He took another picture of one of the nearby spires, looking up at it from a worm's eye view, and then sighed and walked over to the table and picked up his portfolio. "Come on," he said, "dinner's probably ready by now. And if it ain't, we'll arrive early and make a good impression."

He walked away, and Night Glider got up and followed him. "Lead on, then."

Getting to the dining room took the better part of ten minutes from where Aydin and Night Glider had been. It was in a more centralized part of the castle, behind a frosted glass and oak door. He pushed the doors open first and stepped inside; the room was spacious and the walls had enough windows to allow ample sunlight inside. It was decorated with potted plants and a large gold chandelier hanging above the well-polished and wide dining table, and at said table were both princesses, Celestia at one end, Luna on her right and Sienna on her left. Next to Sienna was Connor, and next to him was Trixie. Aydin walked over to Luna's side of the table and took a seat next to her, and then looked up at Sienna; the fact that she was sitting next to Celestia wasn't lost on him, and he grinned maliciously and wiggled his eyebrows. She stared back wide-eyed and shook her head so slightly it was hard to see.

"Watcha smiling about, Aydin?" Connor piped up.

"...Nothing." He settled into his seat and Night Glider sat down next to him. After five seconds, a door on the far wall behind Celestia opened, and dozens of ponies came out with silver platters and carts full of food. They arranged themselves around the table and then quickly unloaded their many plates onto the table. Aydin reflexively leaned out of their way, as did Connor, though his movement wasn't as pronounced. Trixie and Night Glider were too enraptured by such a display of serving to give much thought to staying out of the servants' way; Celestia, Luna, and Sienna didn't move. Almost as quickly as they entered, the servants finished, and one of them, wearing a gold-plated name tag and epaulets, approached Celestia and muttered, "Princess...?"

Celestia looked over at the head servant and smiled happily. "Thank you, Miss Sassafras. Go ahead." The other mare bowed her head and made for the door that she and the other servants entered from. Not long after the door shut, Celestia stood up and gestured to the banquet laid before all seven of them. "I'm so glad you all could join us tonight. Go ahead and dig in!"

Aydin grinned and pulled the top of the platter off to reveal seared beef (imported from Acadia, of course), a side salad, and mashed potatoes. Connor had very much the same, Sienna had turkey sausages while the princesses and the other ponies had dandelion salads, hay-bacon, and black-bean patties. The rest of the table was laid with side dishes, condiments, and spices. Everyone at the table looked set to eat; Trixie licked her lips and immediately stabbed a fork into her salad, but when she picked it up and got a good look at what was on it, she screamed.

It was loud and sudden enough for everyone to look over at her, and they could all clearly see a severed finger stuck on one of the prongs of her fork. Sienna covered her mouth to stifle a horrified gasp while everyone else's eyes went wide. Luna, on the other hand, looked away from the scene. Aydin, inured to flying body parts and gore as he was, chuckled as he lifted a piece of meat up to his mouth and ate the whole thing. It hit his tongue and he found out that the barbecue sauce it was marinated in was, instead, "Devil's Drink" hot sauce.

He choked once, then screeched some incomprehensible gibberish that was halfway between a cry for help and a curse that would make the most pious priest of Acadia's church faint on the spot. Aydin reached for his glass of water, downed the whole thing in one gulp, realized it wasn't enough, and scrambled out of his chair and back into the kitchen. Sienna called after him and Night Glider looked down at her plate and scrutinized it for a second. She picked up a few lettuce leaves with her fork, stared at them for a moment, and then realized what was wrong. "...Why are there green pegasus feathers in my salad?"

Realizing he couldn't delay the inevitable, Connor gazed down at the platter and lifted the top up. Instead of a severed finger, feathers, or hot sauce, he found gummy worms sprinkled generously around the rim of his plate. He turned his eyes over to Luna, who had a hand in front of her mouth, trying to hide her smile. Connor grinned back and picked up one of the worms and deliberately bit into it without breaking eye contact with her. "Glad to see you really haven't changed a bit," he said.

Celestia herself watched the entire spectacle unfold in wide-eyed shock, and then slowly, deliberately glared over at Luna, who was still facing away. "Luna..." she began slowly.

"Ahem! Yes, dear sister...?" Luna swiveled her head back around and smiled innocently.

This, of course, did nothing to change Celestia's expression. "Did you sneak into the kitchen and put some...banned items on the dinner plates?" she interrogated, knowing full well that no matter how many of Luna's prank items she confiscated, her sister always seemed to have more lying around.

"Celestia!" Luna exclaimed in mock indignation. "You would accuse me of sabotaging my own guests' food? Do you not trust me?"

The conversation was interrupted when Aydin stumbled back through the kitchen doors, coughing like he caught the plague. He stopped, bent over, and placed both his hands on his knees before he shouted, "Goddammit, not again!"

Celestia glared at her. "Luna..."

"Hey, if it's any consolation," Night Glider chimed in, "I thought it was kinda funny."

Trixie was busy trying to get her breathing under control after she pitched the fake severed finger out of sight. "Speak for yourself," she murmured.

Everyone resumed eating with no further interruption, though Aydin now had a frown stuck on his face permanently. The minutes passed excruciatingly slowly with everyone under Luna's guidance knowing that, in the back of their heads, she'd be sending them back out soon. Eventually, they finished eating, and were conversing with each other...some more than others, of course.

"Oh, nothing special," Connor responded. Night Glider had asked him what he'd done before being enlisted as the old Moon Emissary. "I was just a dance instructor."

"Really? What kind?"

"Ballet."

Night Glider's eyes widened. "No way!"

Connor nodded, and Luna added, "Indeed. Under those robes, he's built like a brick house. I should know, I trained him."

"You certainly could have fooled Trixie. She thought you looked a little on the...'big-boned' side. N-no offense," Trixie said.

"None taken."

"Gods, I haven't been in Acadia in years," Sienna reminisced, "but I've been to Ponyville even less. How is it there? I heard the townsponies are incredibly laid-back."

Connor shrugged. "That's a bit of an undeserved rumor," he explained. "They're not so laid-back as they are just...slow. They do things slow all the time. If a human tells to you to call him soon, he'll be expecting it in a couple hours, maybe a day, tops. A pony tells you they need something 'soon?'" He took a quick swig of water from the glass still on the table and continued, "They mean anywhere from two to five days. The atmosphere's very relaxed there." Connor leaned back in his chair and sighed. "It's a good life. "

Silence reigned for a couple moments before Connor sat up and asked, "So, Aydin..." He turned his head to look at the current Emissary. "What about you? We've been working together for the better part of the day and you haven't said a word about how you got here. I thought I heard someone with the last name 'Ambrose' who owned and operated a journalism conglomerate out of Tifervale when I still lived in Voliport. You related...?"

Aydin said nothing; he only remained transfixed on his empty plate as if it were whispering the secrets of the universe to him, but he didn't stay quiet for long. He suddenly jerked his head and neck up rigidly, almost as if he wasn't in full control of himself. "...I think it's about time we got to the bloody point," as stated he slapped his palms on the table. "What are we supposed to be doing next?"

Everyone stared at him for a second before Celestia stood up and cleared her throat. "I suppose I had better leave you to it."

She turned and made for the door back to the main hall with Sienna following dutifully behind her. The silence remained when they left for a minute before Luna said, "Very well, 'Mister Impatient.' I received debriefing reports from the Vanhoofer police. They were all fairly standard...except two. One of the victims said they overheard their taskmaster talk about Cloudsdale. One other victim confirmed it, as they said they overheard something about some of the previous victims being shipped to a warehouse somewhere in the city; that is where you must go next, and find out who or what is acting 'as the middleman,' as your kind would put it."

Everyone was quiet again until Night Glider glanced around and asked, "What, that's it...? No...no spying on other ponies, no daring heist?"

"Hate to break it to you, mate, but this is what being the Moon Emissary's like," Aydin interrupted. He glanced back over at Luna and couldn't help but smirk. "Just takin' out the trash."

"It is not 'taking out the trash,'" Luna replied. She sounded only half-indignant. "You are doing both Equestria and Acadia great favors to ensure continued peace and cooperation between both nations." She stood up and quickly explained, "Back to the point, however, I don't imagine you will want to undertake this mission tonight. It is already late enough. You are free to turn in, and I shall see you off tomorrow. Any questions?" Luna paused long enough to see Connor raise his hand, and she continued, "Yes, Connor?"

"Are we free to have dessert...?"

The princess paused for a moment before a knowing smile crossed her face. "Yes, Mister O'Malley, you are always free to have dessert."

"Oh, hell yes." Connor immediately reached across the table, toward where Trixie was, to grab a bowl of chocolate-covered popcorn and he poured some onto his plate. Night Glider laughed and did the same, and then placed an apple danish in front of her; Trixie reached across the table with her magic aura to take a couple slices of strawberry cake. Aydin, however, did nothing, and only stood up and excused himself from the table and made for the doors to the castle halls. "C'mon, Aydin, where you goin'? Party's just starting!" Connor called after him.

He froze in place and turned his head to look at the other four still at the table, piling sweets on their plates. He only shook his head and waved Connor off. Didn't stop him from muttering, "Cunt," under his breath as he left the hall.

Her Majesty's Hidden Swords

by CaptainExtremis

1. Declassified, Part One

2. Declassified, Part Two

3. All the Little Things