StrongCopper

Being bumped into was a tradition for most cities that ranged from the harmless to the 'They stole my wallet!', but normally the acceptable response in busier cities to it was to make some kind of noise like an apologetic grunt; Canterlot didn't generally have enough ponies on the street at the same time for that, so an actual 'sorry' was expected, but honestly it was just routine to do it rather then an actual meaning or harm being done. Strong Copper had been about to dispense with this ritual when the source of the bump started talking more in-depth then he was actually expecting.

The barrage of talking did serve a wonderful purpose though; As Crystal Lily was talking, Strong Copper looked at the Changeling in question and felt an old fear stab itself into his heart as panic threatened to overwhelm him in a singular moment. Seeing a Changeling in Canterlot brought back terrible memories of the Wedding Invasion. Namely of the paranoid state of mind he was in as he barricaded himself in his family home, booby trapping the place and forcing the royal guard to waste several days trying to dig him out of the defensive position he had created for himself. Thankfully, despite his best efforts, no one was seriously hurt nor did they feel the need to press charges against him. 

It took several seconds for Strong Copper to force the fear down, but it lingered because fear sometimes wasn't a logical entity. The past was in the past, and a very pretty changeling mare was talking to him. "You're fine Crystal. I admit I was kind of distracted with some of the rather pleasant holiday smells myself and wasn't watching where I was going either." Granted he wasn't going at the time, but he could afford to be polite "I'm Strong Copper. So what brings you to Canterlot of all places?" She seemed to like talking, he was happy to just let her do so.   

He knew he was being foolish and reckless as he walked through the chilly streets of Maretime Bay. Even with the illusion up and with a little bit of confidence from his earlier surprise trip on a boat, Allegro still couldn't help but feel deeply conflicted and scared of attending an actual party. But the coastal cave that he called his home was chilly despite his best efforts to try and keep the cold out... and the bonfire that he had prepared in the center was reserved for the worst of nights and the weather simply hadn't turned that icy and cruel to justify the effort of rebuilding it with fresh wood yet.

It was also the time of year where his family would celebrate their winter traditions together... and the lack of both parents ached all the harder because of it. His father had always brought earth pony traditions to the holidays, even if the unity and love those traditions promised and tried to promote was limited to a small family of three rather then the wider community. The tradition of joining his mother in diving for clams, snails and other cold blooded sea life that came to a stop as the waters grew colder in order to add some sea food to dinner was always a treat... Winter clams were always the absolute best!

Of course, his current living arrangements made trying to create some of the recipes that his mother had created to take advantage of the range of ingredients that living on land provided that weren't a normal part of her people's traditional diets rather... difficult, but there was a rather simple one that he could prep in advance and actually cook once he got to the party easily enough. So while it felt wrong to go out along, he had gone diving out in the bay and gathered together enough clams to fill his old pot.. as well as scratch some money together in order to buy a few things from the store. Even as he traveled the streets with his sealed pot on his back, there were some... doubts in the back of his mind about trying to introduce the meal he had in mind to a crowd that might not be as open to the idea of sea food as his father had been... but it felt like it would have been a disservice to his mother not to at least try to introduce her cooking to the wider world. Worst case in his mind, if they didn't like it that just meant that there would be more for him to enjoy. 

As Allegro carefully walked down the street, he would pause on occasion to check the address on the invitational flier in his possession to make sure that he was heading in...vaguely the right direction. He had gotten turned around and lost at least twice, which made the fact that he had started a bit earlier all the more important. However, via the power of determination (and stopping to ask for directions at least twice) he finally found the building he was looking for! It was the correct address and even better, there was Sunny out the front!... with a winged pony who seemed to be prepared to attack her!.. Only to take a step back as whatever hostile intent disappeared in a flash.

Allegro's heart raced in his chest as he had felt... something almost happen, but the instant ceasing of hostile intent had snuffed it out before it had a chance to surface. Very skittish, the 'earth' pony slowly started to make his way forward before he softly and nervously asked "H-Hi Sunny. Is... this the place on the flier?" He even showed the flier in question as if to further cement it. Granted he didn't exactly look like much; Just an ill kept Earth pony that had a pot on their back and smelt strongly of sea salt.

While he had long since moved to Ponyville for professional reasons, there had been other considerations when Strong Copper had made the decision. One of those considerations was its location in regards to Canterlot, since all it took to visit his parents in the city for events like holidays and the like was a relatively short train trip; Even better, you didn't need to get up at the crack of dawn in order to catch the train to Canterlot because there were a couple of trips made in the course of a day!

As ponies put up Heart's Warming decorations despite the fact that the holiday itself was still about a month or so away, the chance to stop by the old family home to see his parents and get the holiday shopping out of the way while he was in the capital before the seasonal shopping madness kicked up was simply to good to pass up. Most of these gifts would be for family, but he did have a few friends in Ponyville that he felt inclined towards getting a present for. Zecora was going to be a challenge to shop for at least...

So was Spoiled now that he thought about it, but that was a challenge for a vastly different reason from Zecora. He didn't like Mayor Rich, nor did he consider her a friend. He was getting her something because it showed a willingness to co-operate with the local government, but he needed to come up with something that he knew Spoiled would hate... but at the same time enough thought and effort went into it that if presented with it publicly, Spoiled would have to accept it and keep it somewhere visible rather then throw it out or lock it in a cupboard somewhere. Even better, it had to appear like an actual attempt to get her a real present rather then the spiteful jab it truly was. A tall order to be sure...

But one which he had a few days to work on. As he strolled through the main food street (there were a few streets and alleys dedicated to food, but the main one was generally the most grand) Copper couldn't help but inspect and admire some of the changes that had occurred there since he was a young colt. The fact that a number of the restaurants had changed since then wasn't really the change that caught him off guard, but rather the sheer difference of what kinds of foods some of the new establishments were offering from each other. Canterlot restaurants tended to follow whatever trend was in motion and thus they tended to largely sell the same kinds of food in the past, but currently there was a variety of different styles and flavors wafting through the air, intermingling, enhancing and competing with each other in a grand tapestry of scents.

It was enough to make a stallion pause and enjoy the display of culinary skill, even if only briefly. 

As other ponies started to take up the task of talking, Allegro welcomed the chance to withdraw upon himself as the early signs of panic started to dig into his mind. Sure they were all talking now, but he had seen and heard the approval from all of them at the idea of hearing him sing... and now he was going to have to either back it up by doing it or leap off the ship and swim for it. The more he thought about it, the more that the latter idea seemed more and more appealing to him... and the only thing that stopped Allegro from quietly slipping away to do that was a timely glance towards Sunny.

Yes, she hadn't said much recently... but just gazing at her caused his heart to swell and ache at the very idea of just ditching her and running away. She was... his first friend and now that he had a friend he was loath to give it up without a fight.

With his anxieties and fears briefly beaten back by a desire not to look like a liar or a coward in front of Sunny, Allegro instead racked his mind for a song that he could sing when the opportunity for him to take the floor presented itself. It had been years since he had really listened to any of the songs that came out of Maretime Bay and honestly most of them had sounded so... artificial that he had disliked them even back then. The songs of his mother, while beautiful, would not be appropriate for this audience; They would likely recognize that it wasn't a pony song and that would raise all kinds of questions. 

One of dad's sea shanties might work through... Since they were on a boat it would at least match the theme.

Allegro's train of thought was briefly derailed as he decided to join in on the 'why ponies suck' conversation that seemed to be in progress as he asked without really thinking "Do Pegisi and Unicorns also occasionally band together to go out to the outskirts of their respective cities to break into and destroy the homes of the ponies living away from the herd or is that just an Earth Pony thing?" Surprisingly, despite the look of mild horror on his face of having drawn attention back to himself, Allegro didn't appear to be talking about Sunny's situation... mostly.

Having moved onto a subject that he was more comfortable with talking about since... well, he actually knew what he was talking about. Plus Sunny had said that she liked his name, which made Allegro fight down a strange but highly pleasant warmth running across his face. Still, he shook his head at her guess "My dad... was..." The slight pause in the sentence combined with the slight flash of disgust that briefly flared across his face suggested that Allegro wasn't sure he was using the right terminology and the world would be a better place if he was wrong. However, the brief pang of darkness was quickly brushed aside as the stallion continued "... And mum has told us both many times that the three primary reasons she didn't outright just live in the sea herself was her love for her family, basking in the sunlight on a warm patch of sand or a flat rock... and that sugary baked goods don't handle getting wet well. If I didn't pick up anything about the ocean or sailing from them I think they would have tried to work out what they did wrong."

The good cheer of having successfully managed to be completely truthful about his mother was quickly replaced by shock as Allegro's eyes grew wide at the news that Sunny and her family lived in the Lighthouse. It wasn't an unpleasant surprise by any means. In fact it further elevated Sunny in his eyes since the Lighthouse had not only been very important to his father's well being and work, but also more then once he had spent time at night just watching it do its job, captivated by the light it produced and pieced the darkness with. 

He wanted to talk to her about it more... and even offer her a chance to talk about her actual feelings about what happened with someone who actually understood the pain of losing a home to a bunch of idiotic earth ponies from the city proper but... this was a party and she was clearly putting on a smile in order to not drag down the mood. Even as socially isolated and naive as he was, Allegro wasn't going to ruin the party by talking about destruction and pain.

It was around this point that the pony with wings was called upon out of the blue in order to speak about herself and her people. Considering that she seemed to be actively trying to evolve a dislocatable jaw for the purposes of consuming a cupcake (a feat that actually reminded him of his mother actually) she had been caught off guard by the attention being put on her as anyone. The following speech, panic and flight from the room and up towards the upper deck proved it. In the awkward moment that followed where Allegro glanced at the other ponies to see if they should go after her or not, he elected to gulp as he glanced towards the rest of the party nervously in order to try and distract them from... he believed Sunny said her name was Pipp?

While shy due to the gathering being made up of a pony with a horn sticking out of their head and an earth pony mare who was actually really beautiful to gaze upon... through she seemed to lack the warmth that radiated from Sunny that had bewitched him to come and join the party in the first place, he managed to start "My... My parents say that I'm a really good singer. I took after mum in that regard actually, even if I'm nowhere near as good a singer as she is." Bashfully glancing down at the ground and scuffing a hoof against the floor, he pushed on despite his discomfort as he said "I've... never sung for anyone who wasn't family before but... maybe I can try here? I just... don't really know what kind of song to sing..."

While Pipp would return, privately Allegro hoped that by offering to sing a song he wouldn't have to talk about Maretime Bay or what living there entailed for him personally.

Allegro had not been intending to actually get on the boat; While a lot of that had to do with his own natural shyness, his concerns that he didn't exactly how long his appearance would remain that of an ordinary earth pony haunted the back of his mind like a grim, grinning ghost just waiting for the moment to strike. However, before he  could murmur out his actual intentions in his shy and timid manner, things were sped up for him when a pony who could have only been the captain of the boat (the very pony he had come here to double check for the existence of) had made it clear that it was time to cast off. 

Common sense and his reasonable fears should have been enough to convince him to stay off the boat and let those already on board go about their merry business and have fun... but he didn't walk away. Instead, he found himself walking up the gang plank and coming aboard to join what was apparently an actual party rather then just a gathering like he himself had used the word moments before. Maybe it was just all the years of not having anyone to talk to or spend time with outside of his parents finally catching up with him and demanding he take this chance... maybe it was the fact that a very pretty mare by the name of Sunny was not only talking to him, but from the moment she had laid eyes on him had been so overwhelmingly happy to see him and for him to be there that she asked him to come and join her and her friends on the spot without a second thought. He didn't fully know himself but... as timid as he might have been, he was on the boat.

"It...It's Allegro." He answered back softly, looking at Sunny as he gulped. "Th-Thank you for inviting me. I just wanted to check up on you guys because your paperwork down at the Harbor Master didn't have a captain listed for your day trip. I mean, since it was just planned as a simple day trip around the bay that's not a bad thing, ponies have to learn how to do things first hoof after all... I just... wanted to make sure you guys knew that with the Lighthouse not working, it can be dangerous to sail around the bay at night if you were new to it but... clearly you're not actually sailing and..." He trailed off, getting softer and softer as he finally brought his rambling to a stop. Anyone with even in slightest bit of social intelligence would have recognized this stallion as being so far out of his depth that they could have looked around for the wreckage of whatever vessel he had been sailing out here on.

Normally, finding out what route a ship or a boat was planning to take out of Maretime Bay required waiting until nightfall and a minor degree of stealth; Despite the general paranoia that seemed to be a cornerstone of Maretime's very culture, when it actually came to matters of practical security docking authority had always proved somewhat... lax when left to its own devices in terms of making sure all the windows and doors were locked when everyone went home or that the locks in question actually worked in the first place. While it had been a number of years since he had last seen his father, distant memories of dinner time conversations with his parents suggested that heads would have been butted with until they started doing their jobs to his standards. Alas, without the constant threat of being called out for lax standards the dock authority had fallen back into pre-North Star complacency.

For Allegro, this complacency proved rather beneficial. While he could spend all night patrolling the Bay in order to keep an eye out for incoming ships he did actually enjoy sleeping every now and then... and even if he did forgo sleep, the Bay itself was a rather large area to patrol and the chance to miss something was always there. So logically, slipping into the offices of the dock authority in order to have a look at travel plans, plotted courses and time tables that were generally required to be submitted so that if the worst should happen, somepony on land would know something had happened and had a general idea of where to start looking to find out what exactly that something was tended to make Allegro's self appointed task a lot easier.

However, for the first time in his life he wasn't sneaking into the building in the dead of night to have a snoop around. He had walked through the front doors, rather shyly and nervously said hello to a few ponies and had asked nicely if there were any ships heading out or planning to come back into harbor today, secretly frightened that the shimmering light that allowed him to interact with random strangers in relative safety would wink out and the lie it projected into the world vanish at the worst possible time. The worst hadn't happened through; Far from it. The pony at the desk proved friendly and more then happy to share the timetable for the day, as empty as it was. Only one ship was heading out and it was scheduled as nothing more then a day trip around the Bay. Allegro would have left the matter there but... when he had looked at the documentation he had failed to see a ship captain be registered for the trip.  

While it was properly nothing, he had left the office and traveled along the docks until he had at last found the dock number that he was looking for... alongside a ship in which several ponies, at least one of them with wings of all things while another had a horn, gathering. The sight of non-earth ponies was honestly shocking to Allegro. For a moment he didn't know how to process their presence since everything he had heard or seen of the earth ponies of Maretime Bay had suggested that they would actively try and drive out anything that was different from themselves (...or at least run away screaming at the sight of it). Rather then standing there like a fish out of water and drawing rather attention to himself, he took a deep breath and crossed the distance needed to get into talking range of the ship and its passengers.

"E-Excuse me, is this the..." He paused for a moment as he recalled the name of that the boat had been rented under "'S-Sunny Starscout' party?"

For his part, Strong Copper had little to say. Personally if he was questioned about his presence out on the streets at this late hour he fully intended to be honest; Granted he might neglect to go into full details, but unlike the government spooks he had the advantage that it was his job to interact with strange wild creatures and critters. All he really had to say was that some ponies had claimed to see something new in the area the last few nights and he was just checking it out and seeing if there was anything to worry about.

He was also not inclined towards using any kind of night vision spell or artifact, but that was more for theoretical reasons than anything. They were looking for a creature made out of shadows (at least that seemed to be what the evidence was suggesting) at night. While there was one train of thought that suggested that night vision options might make the hunt easier, Strong Copper had pondered the possibility that using magic or technology designed to allow someone to see in the dark might render a shadow entity that was made completely of darkness 'invisible'. To be fair he could have been completely wrong due to a lack of information on whatever they were looking for, thus why he hadn't brought the subject up, but if nothing else this was a good chance as any to be the control group and test his senses.

Still, he decided to go and get started while various spells and stuff was done. He wasn't going to use 'em and frankly he felt like it was only going to be a matter of time before Harle and the mare started bickering about something again and he would rather not be in hearing range of it when it happened. "Contact you all shortly."     

The hardest part of all of this, Strong Copper decided privately within the confines of his own head, was to keep himself from sighing and frowning at the fact, that despite all assurances that everyone could at least work together and be professional about all this, there was this cloud of doom that seemed to linger overhead. However, there was a good chance that it was just his own habit of seeing the worst case scenario getting the better of him again. All he could do was do the best he could, let them do the best that they could do... and hopefully at the end of all this it will be enough.

"Even if you don't see anything, try to send a small message every... maybe ten minutes or so? Just to let everyone know that you're fine." Strong Copper suggested, wordlessly accepting his assignment to get out the southern areas. If nothing else, it would be a lot less work on his part.

Spearmint hadn't had any questions that he felt the need to bring up (and those that he did were asked by others), so for the most part he had been content just to sit there and listen. However, there was a moment in which confusion managed to worm its way onto his face; The Archchancelor had just transformed from a stallion into a mare. The closest he had ever seen to such a thing had been a few years ago when that stallion had decided to wear a dress... and even years later, Spearmint's ears folded down against his head in a vain attempt to block out some of the venomous, heated words his mother had said to them after she had seen 'em.

It was funny in a strange way. She hadn't raised her voice or anything but... he remembered his mother speaking with the intensity and raw power of a thundering storm. It had been more then enough to cause the stallion to cry before walking away with his eyes cast downwards. Spearmint never did see that dress again... and honestly it was for the best. In his opinion it had been a rather hideous dress and the colors hadn't suited the stallion at all. 

Still, there was one thing he did feel the need to say aloud. It wasn't a question, but a loophole he had spotted that he suspected would be in everyone's best interest if it was closed before it had a chance to be exploited. "Chipper, I'm pretty sure the Archchancelor means that there will not be hunting of wildlife in general. Please do not organize a hunting party yourself because that actually sounds stupidly dangerous."

It wasn't often that Strong Copper needed to sit down in order to make use of his front hooves, either to rub his temples or bring them together in front of him in concern. Tonight had managed to make him do it twice as he watched as the divide between the two agencies seemed to grow wider as friction already started to dig in, despite the compromises made so far. The fact that reality had just been torn in a manner in which it really shouldn't have been also continued to flay his slowly fraying nerves. Taking a deep breath as his horn lit up and he accepted one of the headsets, he quickly slid it on as he politely said "Thank you Harle." before quickly muttering more for the group as a whole to hear "Can we please just get things underway before you start fighting each other and someone ends up in the hospital?"

"Because if you're not going to be able to work together without punching each others tee-..." he paused as he glanced towards Harle and caught himself before he finished the full saying "-lights out, then you might as well go home and get some sleep because I'm not here to be a peace keeper or a referee. We've got things to do." 

For his own part, Strong Copper listened to what had to be said. The GS calling themselves Tangent seemed to be the one that was in charge of the pair and they did seem to hold him in some degree of respectful regard, quite possibly because despite him being effectively an independent pony he had managed to largely work out what their organization had. Granted they clearly didn't like Harle, but that was clearly a combination of contrasting jurisdiction between governmental organizations and the presence of an artifact that, while authority to use it was granted, still seemed to give any unicorn that came near it a deep sense of 'nope'. On the plus side, Harle seemed to be willing to work under the GS' authority in order to prevent at least one of the sources of strife from sparking into full on conflict.

Clearing his own throat, Copper added "For what it's worth, I'm also willing to work under your direction. Considering my current plan had been to wander around and either get lucky and find it or have it decide to revel itself to me, I'm not against hearing a better one." Considering the somewhat... unearthly nature of the creature he had been searching for, having it come to him wasn't the worst idea in the world since tracking a shadow at night wasn't exactly a simple prospect. Still, if a better plan was presented he would love to hear it. "However, I must stress that we don't actually know if this thing we're looking for has malevolent intentions. There are enough stories and folklore about 'shadow entities' to suggest neutral or even benevolent examples exist as well. I'm not saying we shouldn't use caution, but coming at this thing with hostile intent from the get go is going to ensure a fight regardless of what it's intent actually is."    

In his line of work, Strong Copper had encountered a great deal of stories, folklore and tall tales in his day to day life. When dealing with folks who go out of their way to delve into areas where the strange and unseen tend to dwell, fact and fiction are often difficult to tell apart. However, there was a kind of story that arose every now and then; Government Spooks. The term 'Spook' was a somewhat uncommon one these days, since it was generally used to describe some kind of unknown shapeshifting creature and with Changelings having stepped into the light of the world stage a proper name had been given to most (but not all) of the creatures residing in such stories. Government Spooks were a different, albeit a similar kind of story. 

It was rare to have a situation where they was encountered, but there were generally a few tell tale signs. They tended to think everyone local was an idiot or a threat to them and they despised anyone knowing who they were, what they actually did for a living or anything related to questions in general directed towards them. They worked for the Equestrian government and actually had the pull to back that claim if they were forced to make it, but exactly what department they belonged generally didn't exist if anyone ever actually tried to look into it, the name itself as easily made up as the name of the pony who was actually on the ground. 

Government Spooks tended to be somewhat condescending and a special kind of insanity that only comes about from taking the long road via sanity with a gear or two warped to create a mindset that was logical and the rational understandable... but still fundamentally wrong in the process. They also only tended to appear when a situation was in the process of going rotten or had gone completely rotten and it was about to burst. Bad things were ahoof if a Government Spook showed up.

So Strong Copper instantly understood that the names of the two ponies were false and instantly discarded whatever value 'League' might have had to reveling who they were. They were simply Government Spooks and if they were here, there was something active in Ponyville at the moment. All he needed to know really. 

Upon being asked if he had a license or anything... Strong Copper sighed before his horn lit up and he brought out his wallet. Two cards were flashed in short order. One was a simple ID card that had his name, occupation ect on it... while the other was a bit more interesting in that the Equestrian government recognized one Strong Copper as having been legally approved to use his expert judgement to act when it came to wild, magical or 'mythical' animals in relation to settled zones, trade routes and generally whenever a species recognized as being sapient enough to be recognized as a possible citizen of Equestria was endangered. 

Putting the cards back and the wallet away, he decided to ask the spooks a question. "Okay. You wouldn't be here if it was nothing so... how bad is the situation in Ponyville currently and what are we dealing with?"

For his part, Spearmint didn't feel the need to raise a hoof and ask a question. Anything he might have asked already had been but... just in general, he wasn't used to (or encouraged) to ask questions of authority figures. They said, you did. Didn't matter if you didn't really understand why you were doing it, just as long as it was being done.

"Please stop drawing any more attention to that abomination of magic then it's mere presence warrants. I don't like feeling my skin crawl." Strong Copper muttered darkly... before he took a deep breath and decided to refocus on the two ponies because they had wasted enough time with this back and forth and he had work to do.

"My job and talent is to investigate and handle the magical, paranormal or supernatural entities and creatures that roam this world. Preferably in a manner in which all parties involved can live content lives, but sometimes that can't happen. This can be a dangerous line of work." Having felt the need to stress the reality of his job a little, Copper gestured towards himself as he explained "I've trained for this, with almost a lifetime worth of research, first hoof experience and luck to give me a firm foundation to work with no matter what happens." Turning his hoof towards Harle, he continued "I've only just met Harle, but I'm guessing that if Princess Twilight Sparkle is willing to send her into a situation like this, this delightful example of griffonkind likely also have enough history with dangerous, possibly unknown situations to be trusted being sent into them." A little bit of flattery hopefully would help ease the tension between them since it was clear he didn't like her magical do-hicky. There was likely going to be a conversation about it in the near future.

Looking back at the two ponies, he finally made the point "So please, for your own well being and safety, go back to where you are staying for the night. There is a very good chance that this is just a situation where a pony believed they saw something and riled up the rest of the herd, making them prone to jumping at shadows that aren't really there. But on the chance that it isn't, your safety should be the number one concern." 

His wording sounded official enough... but  a keen observer might have noticed the fact that he completely failed to answer the question about if he was actually working for the palace directly or not. He was qualified to be doing it for sure, but if he was actually drawing a paycheck for his work... that was left unsaid.

Strong Copper needed to sit down on the ground for just a moment so that he could use his front hooves to pinch the bridge of his nose properly. This whole situation had just... gotten frustratingly out of control and he needed a moment to center himself and resist the urge to blast the griffin who kept using that dark magic artifact that kept triggering his sense of fight or flight alongside making his skin crawl.

Deciding not to acknowledge the counter point that he hadn't gone far at all or continue to bicker with anyone at the moment because there were bigger things to worry about, the copper colored unicorn let out a breath before lowering his hooves back to the ground and drawing on his mark to give him the strength to pull rank despite the fact that legally, he was probably the only one here who didn't have some kind of government job to lend him any actual authority as he barked "Alright! I think it's time we got some things cleared up before we go forward."

Turning to Harle first, he decided to explain "My name is Strong Copper. Over the last couple of nights ponies have been seeing something vaguely pony shaped made out of living shadow. Likely some kind of shadow entity, which before you say anything, such beings have been confirmed to exist but very little is actually known for sure so we don't know if it is hostile or a threat to anyone. I wanted to confirm one way or the other before calling others in, but since you're already here we'll make use of you."

Turning towards the two ponies, who almost certainly listened to what he had just said to the griffin, he looked serious as he said "As for you two..." He paused for a moment, turning to the unicorn mare first and... seeming more relaxed with her then the stallion he was suspect of as he said "It's a pleasure to meet you, but while I won't fault your bravery in jumping into a possibly dangerous situation, unless you can give me a good reason why you should be here I'm going to have to ask you to go home." Looking at the stallion, his gaze hardened again. "Remember that offer I made earlier? About how if this was all some kind of prank you were pulling that you should speak up now? Last chance to do so. Because from here on out, if it turns out you were behind things not only will you have two people who are very annoyed on being out here on a wild goose chase, but you will be brought before Princess Twilight Sparkle to explain to her personally what made you think this was 'funny'."

He wasn't going to stereotype all griffins as the sort to be jerks or who would resort to physical violence if properly motivated by irritation, but Harle did seem like if she found out she came all this way at short notice, cutting into her sleep because some jerk was pulling a prank and didn't know when to stop, someone was going to be roughed up... which was fine, because he would be helping out.

There were some sensations that you encountered in Strong Copper's line of work. Having all your skin decide that it wanted to be the furthest point away from something at the exact same moment was one of them... and generally a sign that you were dealing with something very, very bad because all the ponies who encountered it that didn't get this feeling and/or were unlucky enough not to have a means of getting out of the area fast enough tended not to have children. The fact that the owner of the item in question didn't seem to take having a stunning spell fired in her general direction or claimed to be from the government didn't exactly help the unicorn relax after the dark magic gauntlet stopped doing its vileness.

"Oh I'm sorry, maybe next time you're walking through town in the middle of the night alone, looking for an unknown entity that may or may not be hostile to you I'll just arrange for some griffin to randomly face plant into the ground behind you before using some unholy magical artifact so you can show me how a professional should handle themselves." Strong Copper snapped sarcastically in annoyance at Harle... and that was before his attention turned towards one of the two ponies who seemed to have appeared in response to his spell going off... and his gaze narrowing. "...For somepony who had several minutes head start to walk in the other direction, you got here remarkably quickly." Copper was clearly not a happy pony as he made this minor accusation, the shock of encountering 'a thing that should not be'  unexpectedly clearly having shaken him somewhat, but physically it was possible to tell that he was reigning that in when he finally turned to the newly arrived unicorn who had clearly bringing a spell to bare.

In a much calmer, more gentle voice then when he had spoken to Harle and... currently unnamed suspect number 1, Strong Copper told the scarlet mare "Everything is fine Miss. Harle here merely decided that the best way to great someone was to give them a jump scare is all." Hopefully him calming down would encourage some calming down in others... before he looked at Harle again. "Just so we're on the same page... Princess Twilight Sparkle sent you here after Spike returned to her?" The title was stressed a little.

As much as Strong Copper might have wanted to say otherwise, the stallion was his own pony and was free to make his own decisions... even if they were unwise, strange and possibly idiotic. So... he let the stallion go. If he was legit just going back to where he was spending the night, good. If this whole thing was some kind of prank he set up, then Copper was simply going to have to unmask him and likely beat the snot out of him for getting everyone in a tizzy and keeping him from a quiet night inside, reading a book where it was warm.

Lowering the light  from his horn a little, Strong Copper stepped back into the darkness of the night alone once again. Now that there was true quiet in the streets it was possible to pick up the sound of his hoofsteps touching Ponyville's paths, but the noise was deceptively soft; It suggested that he was actually a lot further away then he actually was, which meant following him via sound alone would have been problematic for anypony actually doing something so strange and incriminating as to follow him on a dark night like this after claiming they were turning in.

Copper had only just had a few moments to continue his search when the airship flying overhead was noticed. For a moment he paused and actually considered the possibility that Princess Twilight had called in some quite literal big, magical firepower in response to a somewhat vague threat to Ponyville, but unless she decided to teleport it here herself (and that certainly had to be very noticeable), this was likely unrelated. Turning his attention away from the irrelevant airship, Strong Copper didn't notice anything leap off of it. At least, not until something heavy landed suddenly to the side and slightly behind him, causing the unicorn to spin around with an opening stunning spell already traveling to his horn and being too far gone to stop when he had spotted the difference between an attacker or a shadow entity and a face planting griffin. Forcing his horn upwards, the magical bolt of orange light slammed into a wall rather then into the griffin's feathery face with a bright flash and a solid bang of sound. 

"WHA-" Copper started, only to stop himself because it was the dead of night and enough ponies were likely already going to be annoyed at being jostled from their sleep by the noise that had already happened "What do you think you are doing?" Strong Copper asked at a much lower tone, glancing around to get better situational awareness. "Look, I'm sorry about  almost stunning you, but you really shouldn't have dropped in like that. You're going to get yourself hurt if you do stuff like that."   

As Chipper, Kettle and Morning were given a light scalding for their running in the halls and covering the archchancellor in buttered popcorn, Spearmint silently and politely waited nearby. While he recognized that he wasn't in trouble for anything, he kind of wanted to offer his roommate his silent support... while also showing the Archchancellor due respect in order to be in his good graces going forward. The idea of being in the bad graces  of the local authority that was now in charge of his life sent a shiver down his spine that left him feeling cold inside.

So it was that when Archchancellor Blueblood turned to him and addressed him by name with a smile on his face, Spearmint tried to return the gesture... but the older ponies nearby likely would be able to see that the young colt didn't seem to know how to respond to this situation properly. Spearmint didn't know what the Archchancellor expected of him and it caused a terrible moment of indecision that paralyzed him in an unsure smile and panic lingering just behind his eyes before he forced himself to swallow and bow his head. "A... a pleasure to meet you too Sir. I hope I can live up to the standards of your school." While on the one hoof submitting to authority like this felt wrong... on the other it felt incredibly natural. This was the primary stallion who's guidelines and rules would be shaping his stay at the school after all.

Still, in time he would need to go and find a seat for orientation. While naturally he would have liked to find a seat next to Chipper, his own nerves about being up and walking around to long caused him to take the first empty seat next to someone he knew... which turned out to be Morning Glow.     

The young dragon made some pretty solid points... with the exception of that bluff about dragons 'being pure of heart' and 'unable to tell lies'; That was just complete horse apples as far as Strong Copper was concerned, but he wasn't going to out the dragon's attempt to capitalize on the ignorance of others in pursuit of the truth. However, as much as the possibility of... actually, did that stallion ever mention what his name was?... well, as much as that stallion pointing that he swear he saw something move was a possible distraction tactic to try and change the subject, Strong Copper did have to take a look around for the sake of confirming that there wasn't anything currently there. 

It was around that point where Spike vanished into a puff of purple smoke, leaving Strong Copper with the spellshard from before... and deciding to slip it into a pocket of his jumper for safe keeping rather then just holding it in his magic at all times. Lighting his horn up in order to cast some proper light and make it easier to see in the alleyway (and make it harder for a shadowy entity to successfully move around in theory), Copper sighed as he looked at the stallion. "Alright. Where are you staying? I'll escort you there for your own safety."

Strong Copper couldn't help but raise his eyebrow a little as he looked at the stallion who continued to insist not to let word reach the powers that be. Out of the three of them, Copper seemed to be the most at ease of the group; A bit part of this likely was because he had actually elected to get involved in a possible hunt while the others didn't, but having had some experience in this kind of field likely didn't hurt in the slightest. Looking at the stallion in question, he decided to state in a no nonsense tone of voice "If this whole situation is nothing more than a prank on your part, now would very much be the time to admit to it while we're still at the stage were some ponies might feel a little silly but they'll laugh about it afterwards."

Turning back to Spike, Copper decided to try and rebuild some credibility with the young dragon after stopping him from disappearing earlier. "For what it's worth, I wouldn't mind having a dragon like yourself at my side. Even a young dragon like yourself is a force to be reckoned with... but since we have the option rather then being forced into a situation in which you couldn't just teleport out of, it would be wrong to ask a child like yourself to possibly risk themselves if this turns out to be malevolent in nature." 

Strong Copper's expression slowly morphed into that of awkward embarrassment as Spike not only proved to have more crystals to call upon, but also listened to the full explanation that no, it would not be as big a deal as Copper believed it would be if word got back to Princess Twilight Sparkle. Silently offering the crystal he was holding in his magic back to the little dragon because some random stallion having the ability to teleport into the Princess' presence without her permission or knowledge would be a terrible idea, he rather humbly and politely said "Sorry... You're right. I just... didn't want to waste her time if it turned out to be nothing is all."

His pride as a professional aside, he didn't really have any objections for other experts in the field to come in to have a look around. After all, Ponyville was kind of big and there was a lot of ground to cover where any sort of being could hide and the fact was since he didn't exactly have a trail to start with, Copper was just walking around, hoping he got lucky and came across the thing. So Spike would get no more objections from him... the other stallion through...

Where physical speed and might seemed to fail, magic succeeded. Strong Copper's horn had lit up briefly in order to prevent Spike's crystal from hitting the ground by catching it mid air.  Considering his reaction time to it, his decision to stop Spike from teleporting away to talk to Princess Sparkle was independent of whatever fear had gripped the earth pony stallion. Holding the crystal in his horn, Copper sighed as he explained himself a little to the little dragon "As I've said a few times, I don't actually know if there is anything actually here. For all we know, somepony believed they saw something that wasn't there and got spooked before spreading the story and putting others in the state of mind to think that a shadow over there moved. I've only met Princess Twilight once back when she visited during the mayoral elections and I don't want to drag her away from whatever important work she's doing solely for rumors and hearsay."

Strong Copper did actually pause for a moment as he looked at Spike and remembered what he had been talking about before. "At least... I thought she would be doing something important or sleeping. What exactly is she doing?" the possibility that letting the young dragon go get the Princess in order to get her mind off of whatever strange track it was currently on was an idea that Copper had never had to consider before.

Strong Copper... actually seemed to get a little more confident as he was asked follow up questions. "Okay that's a completely fair statement but still..." He answered the dragon, before turning to look at the stallion. "Truthfully... I'm not sure."

Sighing softly as he reached up to rub the back of his head, he explained for the benefit of his two person audience "From what I've heard and the research I've done into it, what's reportedly been seen is referred to as a shadow entity... or shadow pony since it generally takes on a pony shape when equines see it. The problem is that there are so many conflicting stories about such entities that it's hard to know what's fact, what's fiction or even if there are more then one type of shadow entity in existence and we just haven't been able to tell the difference. On the chance that this entity is actually in Ponyville tonight, I don't know if it's actually dangerous or means any ill will to anyone; For all I know at this stage it could just be content doing its own thing without bothering anyone or maybe even be some kind of predator towards things that do have ill intent. But if there is one here in Ponyville... I have to locate it and find out the truth."